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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
Volume 1
Yokohama, c.1870s – Westerners in Japanese clothes posing for a picture. Courtesy: Yokohama Archives of History
Culture, Power and Politics in Treaty-port Japan, 1854–1899 KEY PAPERS, PRESS AND CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS VOLUME 1: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
Edited by
J. E. Hoare
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899 KEY PAPERS, PRESS AND CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS
First published 2018 by RENAISSANCE BOOKS P O Box 219 Folkestone Kent CT20 2WP Renaissance Books is an imprint of Global Books Ltd ISBN 978-1-898823-61-2 Hardback [2-volume set] ISBN 978-1-898823-62-9 eBook [2-volume set]
© Renaissance Books 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publishers have made every effort to contact the authors/copyright-holders of the works reprinted in Culture, Power and Politics in Treaty-Port Japan, 1854-1899. This has not been possible in every case and we would welcome correspondence from those individuals and organizations we have been unable to trace.
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Lafcadio Hearn to Basil Hall Chamberlain, Jan. 1895 (see no. 15) The sensation of foreign life... is very unpleasant, after life in the interior. A foreign interior is a horror to me; and the voices of the foreign women - China-Coast tall women - jar upon the comfort of existence. Can’t agree with you about the ‘genuine men and women’ in the open ports. There are some - very, very few. (Thank the Gods I shall never have to live among them!) ‘The Journalist at Kobe’ from 5HVLGHQWLDO5K\PHV (see no. 17) Ye Journalists of Kobe Who curse and never bless, Whose sermons grew intenser When based on Herbert Spenser, Beware, lest Anglo-phoby Corrupt the native press. (Ye Journalists of Kobe Who curse and never bless!) Bishop Smith on the early days of Yokohama (see no. 66) A considerable trade has sprung up at Yokohama in silk, tea, copper, vegetable oil, and other CTVKENGUQH,CRCPGUGRTQFWEG$WVVJGFKHſEWNVKGUQHOQPG[GZEJCPIGCPFVJGCTDKVTCT[XCNWG placed on native coin, have operated as serious obstructions to the development of foreign commerce at the port. A more serious hindrance to the enlargement of trade is apprehended from the policy of the government in endeavouring to limit foreigners to this new settlement and RTGXGPVKPIVJGKTTGUKFGPEGDG[QPFEGTVCKPCRRQKPVGFDQWPFCTKGU6JG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUUGGOVQ be bent on the determination to form a second Deshima at this port, and to cut off Yokohama from the adjoining country ... Contemporaneously with this ... they have also endeavoured to render Yokohama an attractive locality to young unmarried foreigners by establishing at the edge of the settlement... one of those infamous public institutions ... containing its two hundred female inmates over a spacious series of apartments and all under government regulations and control... It is to be feared that the snare has not been set in vain; and Kanagawa was represented to me by persons generally well informed on local matters, as a deplorable scene QHFGOQTCNKUCVKQPCPFRTQƀKICVGNKHG
By the same author Korea: An Introduction ,1988 (with Susan Pares) Korea (World Bibliographical Series, vol. 204, 1997 (with Susan Pares) Beijing (World Bibliographical Series, vol. 226 (with Susan Pares) Japan’s Treaty Ports and Foreign Settlements: The Uninvited Guests, Japan Library, 1994 Simple Guide to Customs & Etiquette in Korea, Simple Guides, 1994 (with Susan Pares) Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and their Embassies in China etc., Japan Library, 1999 %QPƀKEVKP-QTGC, 1999 (with Susan Pares) Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea, 2nd ed., 2004 (with Andrew Nahm) North Korea in the 21st Century, Global Oriental, 2005 (with Susan Pares) Political and Economic Dictionary of East Asia, 2008 (with Susan Pares) Culture Smart! Korea, Kuperard, 2010 Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of Korea, 2012 Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea, 3rd ed, 2015 Edited volumes Korea: The Past and the Present, 2 vols, Global Oriental, 2008 (with Susan Pares) Critical Readings on North and South Korea, 3 vols, Brill, 2013
Contents VOLUME 1: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES Acknowledgements Map of Japan’s open ports and cities List of Plates
xiii xiv xv
Introduction and Restrospective J.E. HOARE
xvii
1. Convention between Great Britain and Japan 1854, in M. Paske Smith, Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa in Tokugawa Days, 1930, 138–139
3
2. Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 1858, text in F. C. Jones Extraterritoriality in Japan (1931), 165–174
5
3. Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and Japan, 1894, text in F. C. Jones, Extraterritoriality in Japan, (1931), 175–186
13
4. Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Empire of Japan, 1869, in Treaties and Conventions Concluded between Japan and Foreign Nations, VQIGVJGTYKVJ0QVKſECVKQPU4GIWNCVKQPU/CFGHTQO6KOGVQ6KOGŌ 1871, title + 187–194
23
5. Land Regulations, etc., in Treaties and Conventions Concluded between ,CRCPCPF(QTGKIP0CVKQPUVQIGVJGTYKVJ0QVKſECVKQPU4GIWNCVKQPU/CFGHTQO 6KOGVQ6KOGŌ 1871, title + 199–228
33
6. That ‘Naughty Yankee Boy’: Edward H. House and Meiji Japan’s Struggle for Equality Nanzan Review of American Studies, No. 6 (2000) 39–54 JAMES L. HUFFMAN
77
7. Early Western Architecture in Japan’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 13, No.2 (May 1954), 13–18 K. ABE
93
8. Japan and the Western Powers, The North American Review, Vol. 27, No. 265 (Nov.–Dec. 1878), 406–426 MATSUYAMA MAKOTO
104
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9. The Bund: Littoral Space of Empire in the Treaty Ports of East Asia, Social History Vol. 27, No. 2 (May 2002) JEREMY E. TAYLOR
120
10. Western Entrepreneurs and the Opening of Japanese Ports, European Business History Association [2008, Bergen] FERRY de GOEY
140
11. The First Women Religious in Japan: Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot and the French Connection, [The Catholic Historical Review Vol. 87, No. 4, 2001, 603–623] ANN M. HARRINGTON 12. Gentlemanly Capitalism and the Club: Expatriate Social Networks in Meiji Kobe [2012, The Electronic Journal of Japanese Studies at JVVRYYYLCRCPGUGUVWFKGUQTIWMGLELUXQNKUUUYCPUQPJVON] DARREN L. SWANSON 13. Imposed Efſciency of the Treaty Ports: Japanese Industriali\ation and Western Imperialist Institutions [2011, ISS Discussion Paper Series (F-142)] MASAKI NAKABAYASHI 14. The Revision of Japan’s Early Commercial Treaties [1999, Discussion Paper No. IS/99/377 (The Suntory Centre)] Contributed papers from: HUGH CORTAZZI – The First Treaties with Japan (1853–1868) J.E. HOARE – Japan’s Treaty Ports and Treaty Revision: Delusions of Grandeur? NIGEL BRAILEY – Ernest Satow and the Implementation of the Revised Treaties in Japan AYAKO HOTTA-LISTER – The Anglo-Japanese Treaty Revision of 1911
167
185
212
243 244 252 260 270
15. Lafcadio Hearn on Foreign Settlements, in The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn], London, Constable, 1906 ELIZABETH BISLAND
282
16. An Englishman’s Right to Hunt: Territorial Sovereignty and Extraterritorial Privilege in Japan Monde(s), 1/2012 (N° 1), 193-211 DOUGLAS HOWLAND
283
17. ‘Residential Rhymes: Sympathetically Dedicated to Foreigners in Japan’ [1899] OSMAN EDWARDS
299
18. Parkes (Sir Harry), in Things Japanese, 1905, 360–363 BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
305
19. Treaties with Foreign Powers, in Things Japanese, 1905, 488–497 BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
308
CONTENTS
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20. .RNXVDL.HNNRQ and Meiji Japan, JRC Seminar, SOAS, 1–17, 2000 ITSUKO KAMOTO
314
21. What the Passport Requires, in Life in Japan, 1900, 24 ELLA GARDNER
328
22. All Things to All Men, in A Maker of the New Orient, 165–167, 1902 W.E. GRIFFIS
330
23. Two Remarkable Australians of Old Yokohama, Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, XII, 1975, 51–69 HAROLD S. WILLIAMS
332
24. Tourist Guide, 4–5, 1880
346
25. Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894, Journal of Oriental Studies, XIII, 2, 1975, 137–145 I.H. NISH 26. Extraterritoriality in Japan, 1858–1899, Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, XVIII, 1983, 71–97 JAMES E. HOARE 27. The Chinese in the Japanese Treaty Ports, 1858–1899: The Unknown Majority, Proceedings, British Association for Japanese Studies, 1977, 18–33 JAMES E. HOARE 28. The Stage Is the World: Theatrical and Musical Entertainment in Three Japanese Treaty Ports, Asian Cultural Studies, 23, 3, 1997, 137–159 AARON M. COHEN 29. ‘Shades of the Past’: The Introduction of Baseball into Japan, The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, 1976, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 HAROLD S. WILLIAMS 30. ‘Competitors with the English sporting men’. Civili\ation, Enlightenment and Horse Racing: Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1860–2010. Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. VII, Folkestone, Global Oriental, 2010, 553–564 ROGER BUCKLEY
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361
380
393
418
425
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VOLUME 2 : THE TREATY PORTS Plate section faces page 258
HAKODATE 31. Dr. John Batchelor, British Scholar and Friend of the Natives of Hokkaido, Proceedings, Japan Society of London, 105, 1986, 20–32 HUGH CORTAZZI 32. Thomas Wright Blakiston: The Blakiston Line, in Foreign Pioneers: A Short History of the Contribution of Foreigners to the Development of Hokkaido. Hokkaido Prefectural Government, 1968, 85–95 33. Hakodadi, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 1867, 612–617 W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS & C. KING 34. The Murder of Ludwig Haber, in 6TCFKPIWPFGT5CKNQHH,CRCPŌ The Recollections of Captain John Baxter Will, Sailing-Master and Pilot, Tokyo, Sophia University, 1968, 83–87 GEORGE ALEXANDER LENSON (ed.) 35. Hokkaido (E\o: Some Impressions of British Visitors (1854–1873, Lecture at the Oriental Club, December 1987, Proceedings, Japan Society of london No. 112 (Winter 1989), 9–28. Extracts HUGH CORTAZZI
3
19 25
30
33
36. Departure from Japan in Ten Weeks in Japan, London, Longman’s, Green and Roberts, 1861, 427–428 GEORGE SMITH
50
37. Mr. Enslie’s Grievances: The Consul, the Ainu and the Bones, Bulletin, Japan Society of London, 78, 1976, 14–19 J.E. HOARE
52
KOBE 38. History of Kobe, The Japan Chronicle, Jubilee Number, Ō, 1918, 1–36. Extracts GERTRUDE COZAD 39. Mr. Van Valkenburgh to Mr. Seward: No.1, US Legation, Osaka, 2 February 1868, US Diplomatic Correspondence, 610–612 40. A Swede in Meiji Japan: Herman Trot\ig (1832–1919, Center for 2CEKſE#UKC5VWFKGUCV5VQEMJQNO7PKXGTUKV[ 9QTMKPI2CRGT title + 1–32. BERT EDSTRÖM
63
91
95
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NAGASAKI 41. Nagasaki: The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 555–578 W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS & C. KING
118
42. British Inƀuence in the Foreign Settlement at Nagasaki, Proceedings, Japan Society, 125, 1995, 48–59 LANE EARNS
130
43. City of Nagasaki: Chinese in Nagasaki, 1859–60, in Ten Weeks in Japan, 1861, 78–84 GEORGE SMITH
142
44. Italian Inƀuence in the ‘Naples of Japan’, 1859–1941,1998 From Crossroads: A Journal of Nagasaki History and Culture, No. 6 (Autumn 1998) LANE R. EARNS 45. Thomas Glover of Nagasaki, Bulletin, Japan Society of London, 88, 1979, 10–15 IRENE DARDEN FIELD
146
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YOKOHAMA 46. ‘Yokuhama’, in Ten Weeks in Japan, 1861, 249–267 GEORGE SMITH 47. Mr. Van Valkenburgh, Letter to Mr. Seward: No.64. Legation of the United States in Japan. Yedo, November 1867. Arrangements for the GUVCDNKUJOGPVQHC,CRCPGUGOWPKEKRCNQHſEGHQTVJGHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPVU of Yokohama. US Diplomatic Correspondence, 1867, 73 48. The Vocabulary of the Japanese Ports Lingo, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,/ Cambridge University Press, 12, 3/4, 1948, 805–823 F.J. DANIELS 49. Treaty Port Attitudes. Extract from Exchange of Letters between Russell Robertson, British Consul at Yokohama, and the Firm of Wilkies and 4QDKUQPŌ0CVKQPCN#TEJKXGU(QTGKIP1HſEG4GEQTFU(1
163
172
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50. Yokohama, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 1867, 579–595 W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS, & C. KING
196
51. The First Six Months of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, 12, 1975, 10–20 DOUGLAS MOORE KENRICK
206
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52. Yokohama before the Catastrophe, in The Death of Old Yokohama in the Great Earthquake of 1923, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1968, 17–28 OTIS MANCHESTER POOLE 53. The Gankiro Teahouse and No. 9 in Old Yokohama, Lecture at the Oriental Club, Proceedings, Japan Society of London Proceedings, No. 112 (1989), 29–42 NEIL PEDLAR 54. Life in a Buddhist Temple at Kanagawa, in A Maker of the New Orient: Samuel Robbins Brown: pioneer educator in China, America, and Japan The story of his life and work, 1902, 147–149 W.E. GRIFFIS 55. The Story of Yokohama Union Church, 1872–1923, 2012 . Extracts 56. Yokohama in 1872: A rambling account of the community in which the Asiatic Society of Japan was founded. Asiatic Society of Japan, 1963, vi + 1–60 PAUL C. BLUM 57. Revised and Enlarged Edition of Exercises in the Yokohama Dialect, Yokohama, 1879, 1–32 ‘BISHOP OF HOMOCO’
215
222
234 236
239
302
58. British Consuls and British Merchants, Japan Weekly Mail, 1886, 569–599
333
59. Yokohama Ballads, c.1890, 1–8
342
Bibliography
351
Acknowledgements
THANKS ARE DUE to the many libraries and archives that I have been able to use
over the years. In Britain, they include the now disbanded Foreign and CommonYGCNVJ1HſEG.KDTCT[VJG$TKVKUJ.KDTCT[KPENWFKPIVJG0GYURCRGT.KDTCT[ the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the University of London Senate House Library. In Japan, I was long ago able to use the National Diet Library in Tokyo, the Toyo Bunko, the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo, Tenri University Library, and, latterly, the Yokohama Archives of History. More recently, the resources of the internet have made life a lot easier, and I am grateful to those who put in such a lot of work to make old and new texts available. My debts to the late Professors S.T. Bindoff and W. G. Beasley are mentioned below but deserve further acknowledgement as does Professor Ian Nish. My publisher, Paul Norbury, has been a most patient and helpful friend over many years, even if he must have doubted that this collection would ever appear. I also wish to thank the Japan Society of London and the Asiatic Society of ,CRCPHQTIKXKPIRGTOKUUKQPVQKPENWFGXCTKQWUEQPVTKDWVKQPUVJCVſTUVCRRGCTGFKP their publications (nos 23, 26, 31, 35, 37, 42, 45, 51, 53, 56). I am also grateful to the Electronic Journal of Japanese Studies for permission to include Darren Swanson’s study on the Kobe Club (no. 12). Finally, as always, my wife Susan has been supportive of this as indeed all my other undertakings, even if she, too, must have had her doubts that it would see the light of day. J. E. HOARE
Publisher’s Note
The content of this work has been assembled from diverse sources and other than the texts reproduced as facsimiles (nos 48, 56, 57) all documents have been reset and, as far as possible, respect the original spelling and punctuation. The key documents in volume 1 (nos 1-5) have been reset to mirror their original layouts. 'ZVTCEVUCUUWEJCTGKFGPVKſGFKPVJGUQWTEGCEMPQYNGFIGOGPVCPFEJCRVGTJGCFU and within the text using the editing convention [...]. xiii
List of Plates
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.
Yokohama near the bay, 1880s Honcho dori, Yokohama, 1890s ‘Yoshida bridge’, Yokohama, 1880s Main Street, Yokohama,1890s Woodblock print of a merchant in his carriage, 1860 Western couple in Yokohama. Woodblock print by Yoshikazu, 1861 Woodblock print of a Western butcher, 1870 Front cover of Eliza Scidmore’s Westword to the Far East, 1894 Yokohama Grand Hotel. Postcard, 1890s View of Yokohama from Camp Hill, 1890 Contemporary advertisement for the Yokohama Grand Hotel, c.1890s Mississippi Bay, Yokohama, 1860s Yokohama West Pier, 1860s Curio shop, Yokohama, 1860s English hospital, Yokohama, c.1890 Benten dori, Yokohama, 1890s Yokohama racecourse, 1860s Gaiety theatre, Yokohama, 1870s Yokohama central station, c.1890 Promotion of a sports meeting at Yokohama, from Japan Herald, 16 April 1894 Silver Jubilee celebrations at Yokohama, 1887 British legation, Yokohama, 1860s Osonobashi pier, Yokohama, 1900 Postcard of Tsukiji foreign settlement,Tokyo, c.1900 Residential Rhymes – the Missionary Residential Rhymes – the Merchant at Yokohama Residential Rhymes – the Minister at Chuzenji Front cover of Residential Rhymes Paper bag from the Yokohama Archives of History, c. 1997 Nagasaki in the 1860s Glover Garden, Nagasaki, 1984 xv
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32. US consulate, Nagasaki, 1880s 33. Postcard of Kobe Street, c.1890s 34. Kobe Club 35. Hand-drawn map of Kobe, c. 1860 36, 37, 38 British consulate, Hakodate, today 39. Yokohama foreign cemetery 40. Christ Church, Yokohama, today 41. Plan of Yokohama foreign general cemetery 42. Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Tokyo 43. Yokohama Union Church, c.1880s 44. Sir Harry Parkes, head of mission at the British Legation, Tokyo, 1865-1883 45. Thomas Wright Blakiston, 1832-1891 46. John Carey Hall, 1844-1921, British Consul-General at Yokohama, 1902-1914 47. John A. Bingham (1815-1900), US minister to Japan 1873-1885 48. Sir Harry Parkes prepares for treaty revision. Cartoon from Japan Punch, December 1881 49. The terrors of the coming of the New Treaties. Cartoon by Georges Bigot, 1899 50. ‘Mr Punch’ by Charles Wirgman 51. The imperial powers of Japan and Britain look down on their ‘children’ – China and Korea. Cartoon by Georges Bigot, 1902
Introduction
THE DOCUMENTS
THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS explain the origins of this, no doubt idiosyncratic, colNGEVKQP6JGIGPGTCNUGEVKQPVTKGUVQIKXGVJGQXGTCNNƀCXQWTQHCNNVJGRQTVUCPFKU followed by material on individual places. There is an abundance of such matter for Kobe, Nagasaki and Yokohama but beyond that, what is available is very limited. 5JKOQFCDTKGƀ[CPQRGPRQTVDGVYGGPCPFJCFPQHQTGKIPRQRWNCVKQP apart from the American consul, Townsend Harris, and is not represented here. There is some material on Hakodate and a tiny amount relating to Niigata. A few items deal with the afterlife of the treaty ports, which is also included in the plate selection. Taken altogether, the collection should be a useful adjunct to monographs and other YQTMUQP,CRCPŏUOQFGTPJKUVQT[CPFURGEKſECNN[QPKVUHQTGKIPTGNCVKQPU 6JGFQEWOGPVUVJCVOCMGWRVJKUEQNNGEVKQPCTGCPCVVGORVVQƀGUJQWVVJG outline given above. They represent but a small fraction of the available material, YJKEJEQWNFRTQDCDN[ſNNUGXGTCNOQTGXQNWOGU 6QVJGRWDNKUJGTŏUJQTTQTVJG ſTUVUGNGEVKQPYCUGZCEVN[FQWDNGYJCVKUKPENWFGFJGTGCPFYCUKPKVUGNHDWVC HTCEVKQPQHVJGOCVGTKCN+JCFEQNNGEVGFQXGTVJG[GCTU9JGP+ſTUVUVCTVGFRWVVKPI together the original collection, it was as an aid to writing my PhD 1971 thesis, described more fully in the ‘Retrospective’ section that follows this Introduction. In those days before the internet, collecting such material was largely a question of physically transcribing it, which I did with a number of the shorter pieces, or paying for very expensive photocopying. The latter has now become very cheap, with most home printers able to provide reasonable copies, while the availability of material on the internet has also made collecting easier. +UWURGEVVJCVVJGſTUVKVGOVJCV+EQPUEKQWUN[MGRVHQTHWVWTGTGHGTGPEGYCUVJG pamphlet by the supposed ‘Bishop of Homoco’ on Exercises in the Yokohama Dialect, published in Yokohama in 1879 (no. 57), but how or where I acquired it, I have long since forgotten. While some scholars have taken this seriously (see Professor F. J. Daniels’ paper on ‘The Vocabulary of the Japanese Ports Lingo,’ no. 48), I have always been convinced that it was a spoof, given that there was no such bishop, while ‘Homoco’ apparently refers to the district of Honmoku, now a respectable part of Yokohama but with an ill–reputation in the treaty-port days. Later additions included examples of treaty-port poetry: see Residential Rhymes (no. 17) and Yokohama Ballads (no. 59). The poems are perhaps a somewhat acquired taste and xvii
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
often need knowledge of long–forgotten incidents to be understood. But they help to lighten the tone a little and to bring out the more playful side of treaty-port life, ponderous though they may sometimes seem. Beyond these relatively light–hearted inclusions, are serious materials such as treaties and land and other regulations (see nos 1–5). Some of these are to be found scattered among various historical studies of Japan, others, such as the 1869 Austro– Hungarian Treaty, and regulations, matters governing municipal affairs and such NKMGOCVVGTUCTGXGT[FKHſEWNVVQſPFQWVUKFGVJGCTEJKXGU;GVVJG[OCVVGTGFCVVJG time. The Austro–Hungarian Treaty (no. 4), for example, was the last treaty with C9GUVGTPRQYGTCPFVJGTGKUOQTGVQKVVJCPCVſTUVOGGVUVJGG[G#NVJQWIJPQOinally Austro–Hungarian, it was in fact largely negotiated by the British Minister, Sir Harry Parkes. Parkes used it as a means, he hoped, of tidying up loose ends in matters such as extraterritoriality, the legal system under which foreigners lived in Japan in this period, in earlier treaties. Then, through the use of the ‘most–favoured nation’ principle, it would apply to all countries that had signed treaties. This material is complemented by several papers dealing with extraterritoriality (nos 6, 8, 14, 16, 19, 25, 26). Contemporary sources have provided many extracts, often quite short. They include extracts from Bishop Smith, the Anglican (Episcopalian) Bishop of Hong Kong, whose Ten Weeks in Japan (nos 36, 43, 46) was mocked at the time for being the worst sort of ‘globetrotter’s’ writing, but which often contains useful comments about the new ports and the people in them. The great compendium on the Treaty Ports of China and Japan PQUEQORKNGFD[VYQ$TKVKUJEQPUWNCTQHſEGTUCPFCNKGWVGPCPVKP the Royal Marines, published in 1867, devotes most of its attention to China but the shorter section on Japan contains much of interest. The same can be said of Basil Hall Chamberlain’s Things Japanese (nos 18, 19), which has gone through many editions since its original publication in 1890. Chamberlain was a man of strong, and some contrary, views who did not hesitate to express them as those who read the extracts here will ſPF#PQVJGTEQPVGORQTCT[RKGEGVJCVUVKNNTGVCKPUKPVGTGUVKUVJGGUUC[D[/CVUW[COC Makoto (no. 8), published in 1876 in 6JG0QTVJ#OGTKECP4GXKGY Like his fellow Japanese Babu Tatsui, he was not impressed by the foreigners of the treaty ports or the policies of their countries. The bulk of the material is drawn from the scholarship of more recent years. It attempts to cover all aspects of the ports, both at work and play. It also includes some forgotten aspects of treaty-port life, such as the missionaries, including the non–Anglo–Saxon missionaries such as Roman Catholic nuns – see no. 11. An example of the role of churches in the foreign communities is covered by The Story of Yokohama Union Church (no. 55). Harold S. Williams, an Australian devotee of the treaty ports was a charming man, who wrote many anecdotal accounts of treaty-port life. These are generally available (see Bibliography). His style and his interests is shown by one paper from the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, no. 23. Williams was also an assiduous collector of treaty-port related materials. His collection, now housed in the National Library of Australia,1 has provided the basis for a number interesting studies by Darren Swanson, represented here by his essay on the role of the club in
CONTENTS
xix
the ports (no. 12). Several contributions are drawn from the papers of the Asiatic Society of Japan, since 1872 one of Japan’s main intellectual organizations that brings together Japanese and foreign scholars. While few of its early papers were EQPEGTPGFYKVJVJGVTGCV[RQTVUVJGTGJCUDGGPCOCTMGFEJCPIGUKPEGVJG2CEKſE War, with numerous papers relating to the subject. Two are included: Paul Blum’s ;QMQJCOCKP, published as a separate pamphlet to mark the Society’s centenary (no. 56), and Douglas Moore Kendrick’s The First Six Months of the Asiatic Society of Japan, in 1975 (no. 51). The largest group of foreigners in the treaty ports were the Chinese, whose presence was often neglected in early accounts. In recent years, however, the community JCUTGEGKXGFOQTGCVVGPVKQPHTQOUEJQNCTUCPFVJKUKUTGƀGEVGFKPUGXGTCNQHVJGRCRGTU
DWVUGGGURGEKCNN[PQ6JG$TKVKUJYGTGVJGPGZVNCTIGUVITQWRCPFVJGTGHQTGſIWTG prominently in this collection, as do Americans, the third largest group. But smaller EQOOWPKVKGUCTGPQVPGINGEVGF4GCFGTUYKNNſPFRCRGTUQP#WUVTCNKCPU VJGPQH course, seen as British) (no.23), Italians (no.44) and a Swede (no 40). Some papers throw light on the less serious side of treaty-port life. They include Neil Pedlar on the famous (or notorious?) Gankiro Teahouse in Yokohama (no.53), Harold Williams on the introduction of baseball (no. 29), which proved to be a far more successful implant than cricket, and Aaron Cohen on theatrical and musical entertainment (no. 28). Horse racing, promoted by the British as early as 1860 and destined to become one of the most popular forms of entertainment at Yokohama (and post-war a multi-billion Yen enterprise), has been well researched by Roger Buckley (no.30). Finally, there is what I have called below the ‘afterlife’ of the Japanese treaty ports, a theme that I examine in more detail in a forthcoming paper.2 By this I mean the way in which the Japanese people appear to have happily taken the treaty-port period into their historical narrative. There is none of the ambivalence that prevails in China over the role of the ports and their communities.3
THE BACKGROUND
+6JGQTKIKPUCPFGUVCDNKUJOGPVQHVJG,CRCPGUGVTGCV[RQTVU[UVGO The origins of Japan’s treaty ports and open cities owed very little to Japan. While in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, foreigners, including Westerners, had traded extensively with Japan, the bulk of such contacts had been in the far southwest of the country. When Japan’s rulers turned against the outsiders in the years after 1603, trading contracts were increasingly concentrated at Nagasaki, a long way from the centre of government in Edo (now Tokyo). Here, the two outside groups allowed to trade, the Dutch and the Chinese, were corralled and prevented from penetrating further into the country. As the pressure from Western countries to open links with Japan built up in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the ruling Bakufu tried to push all contacts to Nagasaki, but were increasingly unsuc-
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cessful. The foreign ships again and again appeared near the capital or arrived in other sensitive areas. By the time that the ‘opening of Japan’ took place in the 1850s, a blueprint had emerged in China for how to treat Westerners. China, too, had tried to keep foreignGTUYGNNCYC[HTQOVJGECRKVCNEQPſPKPIVJGOVQVJGRQTVQH)WCPI\JQW %CPVQP far to the south. This failed to satisfy the foreigners, and eventually led to war with $TKVCKPKP(TQOVJCVEQPƀKEVGOGTIGFCPGYYC[QHJCPFNKPIHQTGKIPGTUVJG treaty-port system. This bore some resemblance to the Guangzhou arrangements and also drew on Western practices in India and South-East Asia. Foreigners would be allowed to settle at other ports apart from Guangzhou – although not in the capital – and would be protected from Chinese law and control by ‘extraterritoriality’, a concept derived from the protection accorded to diplomatic envoys. Under the Treaty of Nanjing (Nanking) signed in 1842, several coastal cities were open to foreign residence and a system of consular courts began to operate. By the time of the Japanese treaties, just ten years after the Nanjing treaty, the system was bedded down, helped by the weakness of the Chinese empire in the face of both the Western onslaught and internal rebellions.4 6JGſTUV,CRCPGUGVTGCVKGUOCFGD[PCXCNQHſEGTUYGTGPQVIGPGTCNN[EQPEGTPGF with trade but with the needs of military vessels and other shipping for refuge and supplies at time of need. Two ports were opened, Hakodate in the far north of Japan, and Shimoda, some 190 kilometres south-west of Edo. These treaties were soon replaced by those negotiated in 1858, which were to form the real basis of the treaty-port system in Japan. The approach of both the American consul, Townsend Harris, who negotiated the US Treaty of 1858 and the British envoy, Lord Elgin, responsible for the British treaty later the same year, drew on the China experience. The new treaties formally opened Nagasaki, Hakodate and Kanagawa to foreign trade from July 1859, though a semi-clandestine trade began earlier. The ports of Hyogo and Niigata, and the cities of Osaka and Edo, were to be opened by 1863. In the event, this YCURQUVRQPGFVQCV,CRCPŏUTGSWGUV0CICUCMKCPF*CMQFCVGQRGPGFYKVJPQFKHſculty but Kanagawa proved more of a problem. Kanagawa was on the Tokaido, the main east-west highway and the busiest road in the country, along which passed many daimyo and samurai. Fearing that this would lead to confrontations if foreigners were also using it, the Japanese built a whole new town at the village of Yokohama. Diplomats protested that the treaty named Kanagawa as the foreign settlement but foreign merchants ignored the protests and were happy to take up what the Japanese offered. In the expectation that Nagasaki would continue to be a major centre for foreign trade, many merchants and others settled there in the beginning, yet it was soon seen as a backwater. A small Western community was there, as well as a large Chinese one, but many of the early arrivals moved to Yokohama. Hakodate, too, remained small, VJGJCWPVQH0QTVJ2CEKſEYJCNGTUCPFUQOGFKUVKPEVN[GEEGPVTKEEJCTCEVGTU$QVJ ports had small Russian communities, adding to the sense of difference. As a mercantile centre, Yokohama thrived. Within a few years, it had newspapers, a theatre, clubs, a racecourse and other features of a modern city. Through ſTOUWUKPIGORNQ[GGUDTQWIJVHTQOVJG%JKPCEQCUVCPFCITQYKPIPWODGTQH Japanese, it quickly became the centre for foreign trade. Large numbers of seamen
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and foreign troops added to its population. What it did not have was a working system of municipal government. To attract settlers, the Japanese government had made no charge for the lots created at Yokohama, and had only charged ground rent. Most early inhabitants of the foreign settlements did not see themselves as long-term sojourners and had little interest in anything but the short term. That would change over time but by then it was too late. Despite several valiant attempts, municipal affairs at Yokohama passed into the hands of the Japanese authorities and remained there. There were other tensions. Most foreigners made little effort to learn Japanese or the ways of the Japanese. A curious pidgin developed that, like its counterpart in China, persisted well into the twentieth century. Mutual suspicions over trading methods caused much friction and demands for consular action, while at the same time, merchants and other residents were often resentful of what they saw as the RTKXKNGIGFRQUKVKQPQHEQPUWNCTCPFFKRNQOCVKEQHſEGTU+PVWTPUQOGQHVJGNCVVGT became exasperated at what they saw as the unreasoning intransigence of their fellow EQWPVT[OGPQXGTKUUWGUUWEJCUJQYVQVTGCV,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUCPFNCVGTVJGXGZGF issue of treaty revision. But until the middle of the 1860s, the greatest cause of tension was fear of the Japanese and especially of the samurai, the ‘two-sworded men’. Yokohama, still near enough to the Tokaido to bring foreigners and Japanese into close contact, suffered OQUV#UJQTTKſECUVJGCVVCEMUVJGOUGNXGUYGTGVJGHTKIJVHWNYQWPFUKPƀKEVGFYGTG recorded in ghoulish detail in the photographs that quickly circulated among the HQTGKIPEQOOWPKV[CPFHWTVJGTCſGNF6QIGVJGTYKVJRKEVWTGUQHGZGEWVGFCVVCEMGTU these added to the sense of danger.5 Gradually, the danger died away especially after the Meiji Restoration and the abolition of the samurai class. The memory lingered on, however, and revived in the 1890s when anti-foreignism appeared again. But it never reached anything like the peak years before the Restoration. ++6JG6TGCV[2QTVUŌ Hyogo, Niigata, Edo (soon to be renamed Tokyo) and Osaka were opened to foreign residence in 1868, just as Japan plunged into the turmoil of the Restoration. Of these, only Hyogo – or rather the nearby village of Kobe, which soon became the treaty port – prospered. The development of the Tokyo foreign settlement at Tsukiji was undermined by the willingness of the Japanese government to allow its foreign employees to live anywhere in the city. Tsukiji became a backwater, home mainly to a small number of missionaries. Osaka should have been an important settlement, given the city’s role as Japan’s main commercial centre. But few foreigners wanted to live there, preferring Kobe with its easy access to the sea. As in Tokyo, the foreign settlement did not disappear but it was mainly home to missionaries. Niigata, which the British minister, Sir Harry Parkes was keen to see opened, proved a total failure. A sandbar across the harbour entrance prevented ships coming close inshore. During the early 1870s, a few foreigners gravitated to the city and there were even consular QHſEGTUCRRQKPVGFVQUGTXGKV$WVGCTN[GPVJWUKCUOHCFGFKPVJGHCEGQHVJGFKHſEWNVKGU and it had effectively ceased to function by 1880.
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Hyogo–Kobe was, by contrast, a success story. Here Parkes’ interest proved more fruitful. Having seen the problems at Yokohama, he set out to make sure that they would not be repeated. So the new port had proper land regulations and a municipal fund to pay for community needs such as clean water and street lighting. The tenUKQPUDGVYGGPEQPUWNCTQHſEGTUCPFVJGNQECNHQTGKIPEQOOWPKV[VJCVJCFOCTMGF Yokohama’s early days were absent. There might be occasional run–ins between local ,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUCPFHQTGKIPGTUGURGEKCNN[QXGTVTCFGKUUWGUDWV-QDGUGGOUQPVJG whole to have been less prone to them than Yokohama. In the 1880s, it became the ſTUVHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPVVQJQPQWTVJG'ORGTQT/GKLKFWTKPICXKUKVVQVJGEKV[ $[VJGPVJGHQTGKIPEQOOWPKVKGUJCFDGEQOGOQTGUGVVNGF6JGCKTQHŎTWHſCPKUOŏ that some had detected in the early days dissipated as foreign residents stayed longer and began to regard the ports as home. Only Hakodate retained something of a frontier air, YKVJYJCNGTUCPFUGCNJWPVGTUTGIWNCTN[WUKPIKVCUCDCUG+VCNUQYKVPGUUGFJGCX[ſIJVing during the civil war that followed the Meiji Restoration, although foreigners were little affected. Generally, the state of fear that had been evident among the small foreign communities in the earlier days largely evaporated. The disarming of the samurai soon after the Restoration helped, as did limited concessions for recreational travel outside the treaty limits. Direct trade outside those limits continued to be barred despite foreign GHHQTVU0QFQWDVUQOGQHVJGUEKGPVKſEQTTGETGCVKQPCNVTKRUCNNQYGFD[VJG,CRCPGUG were in fact covers for trade. The Japanese largely ignored such infringements but they would make no general concession on the issue of access to the interior. This was an important bargaining chip in the treaty revision negotiations that would eventually lead to the end of the foreign settlements altogether.
The treaties had contained provisions for revision. To most foreigners in Japan, this meant that improvements could be negotiated over issues such as travel in the interior or tariffs. As we have seen, a few minor adjustments did take place, including, the postponement of the opening of certain ports and cities. But as the Japanese realized the restrictions imposed upon them, they began to think in terms of a major revision of the treaties in order to regain full sovereignty rather than tinkering at the margins. 6JGFKHſEWNVKGUQHFQKPIVJKUYGTGDTQWIJVJQOGVQUGPKQT,CRCPGUGCVVJGVKOGQHVJG Iwakura Mission to the United States and Europe in 1872–1873. Japanese hopes of an early resumption of full control over their foreign relations foundered in the face of Western opposition.6 The Japanese learnt the lesson that the process would be a long one and that there would need to be changes in law and attitudes before they could expect to succeed. So began a programme of legal reform designed to bring Japanese law up to a standard VJCVHQTGKIPRQYGTUYQWNFſPFCEEGRVCDNG(QTGKIPNGICNCFXKUGTURTQXKFGFCUUKUVCPEGCPF new laws began to appear. Foreigners remained sceptical and noted that old practices such as the use of torture did not disappear. But the Japanese pressed on. For some time, hopes were pinned on the United States, generally regarded as the most friendly country to Japan. A revised treaty was concluded in 1878 but it only covered commercial matters, not the end of extraterritoriality that had been hoped for. In any case, its implementation
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was dependent on other countries reaching similar agreements. This failed to happen and it remained a dead letter. At the same time, the 1870s saw the Japanese sending out mixed signals. They concluded a treaty with China in 1871, which provided for mutual extraterritoriality. When they negotiated a treaty with Korea in 1876, it followed the lines of Western treaties. The irony of this was not lost on the foreign language press in Japan, which loudly accused the Japanese of hypocrisy in perpetuating a system in another Asian country that they wanted to end for themselves. Such criticism did nothing to shift the Japanese from their chosen course of ending extraterritoriality, which took on a new intensity after Inoue Kaoru became foreign OKPKUVGTKP+PQWGŏUUWIIGUVKQPUHQTOKPQTOQFKſECVKQPUVQCNNQYVJG,CRCPGUGLWTKUFKEVKQPKPNGUUGTECUGUOGVCUVQP[TGEGRVKQP6JGKFGCUYGTGTGXKXGFHQTVJGſTUVOCLQT conference on treaty revision, held in 1882, but the Japanese were by then pushing for further concessions. Over the next twelve years, a variety of proposals were put forward. There would be mixed courts, or there might be foreign judges. But by the late 1880s, VJG,CRCPGUGIQXGTPOGPVJCFPQVQPN[VQEQPVGPFYKVJVJGEQPƀKEVKPIFGOCPFUQHVJG foreign powers but also had to take account of a developing Japanese public opinion that was unhappy at the compromises that such proposals entailed. There were vociferous protests from the treaty ports, whose inhabitants seemed to prefer to continue in their restricted enclaves rather than to seize the opportunities offered by access to the interior. The Japanese persisted, using a system of divide and rule among the powers to end the old treaties. Instead of conferences involving all foreign powers, they engaged in bilateral negotiations with the most important one, Great Britain, which ultimately agreed to give up extraterritoriality and other privileges in 1894. Other countries followed the British lead and the old treaties came to an end in 1899, although it was not until 1910 that Japan regained full tariff autonomy. There had been much trepidation at the prospect, with rumours of special jails being prepared for foreigners but they all proved unfounded. Foreigners found the new system worked without discrimination. +++6JGCHVGTNKHGQHVJGVTGCV[RQTVU +PCPKNNWOKPCVKPIGUUC[QPCſEVKVKQWU%JKPGUGVTGCV[RQTV4QDGTV$KEMGTUCPF+UCDGNNC Jackson have described how the Chinese treaty ports and settlements developed and declined, in the process fading from foreign memory but recently coming to the fore in Chinese minds as part of their country’s own history, rather than just a manifestation of imperialism.7 Japan was not like that. In the beginning, alongside the hostility that led to numerous foreign deaths, there was also a fascination with these new aliens, just as there had long been with the Chinese and the Dutch at Nagasaki. The traditional woodblock prints that showed scenes in Nagasaki were quickly adapted to show Yokohama. They depicted all aspects of foreign life, from the ships in the harbour, to the new buildings and the daily activities of foreigners. Carriages rolled forth along the UVTGGVUQHVJGHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPVYJKNGHQTGKIPVTQQRUYKVJDCPFUCPFƀCIURCTCFGFQP a Sunday. From the mid-1870s or thereabouts, scenes of foreign activity tended to give way to more Japanese developments but the fascination with the foreign communities was clear. The fascination did not disappear with the passage of time but showed in new ways as photographs, and later picture postcards, replaced the prints of the early
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[GCTU9JKNGKVYCUHQTGKIPGTUYJQſTUVFGXGNQRGFVJKUVTCFGVJG,CRCPGUGVQQMVQKV with alacrity, and Japanese photographers and their products soon rivalled Western practitioners not only in Japan but in China and Korea as well. And as well as scenes of Japanese life and scenery, the treaty ports remained a popular theme.8 6JGUGVVNGOGPVUECWIJVVJG,CRCPGUGKOCIKPCVKQPKPQVJGTYC[UCUYGNN6JGſTUV substantial history of any of the ports was a two-volume account of Kobe published in Japanese in 1897 to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the port opening.9 Yokohama seems to have ignored its fortieth anniversary in 1899 – perhaps the onset of the new treaties was too traumatic – but a commemorative volume appeared in 1908 for the ſHVKGVJCPPKXGTUCT[RWDNKUJGFKP'PINKUJD[VJGEKV[CWVJQTKVKGU10 Such works continued to appear until the 1930s; Yokohama city published a collection of original documents in 1931, for example. The destruction of much of the original settlement of Yokohama in the 1923 earthquake did not stop the nostalgic portrayal of the area CURCTVQH,CRCPŏUJKUVQT[DWVCU,CRCPOQXGFVQCYCTHQQVKPICPFKPVQEQPƀKEVYKVJ the West, it was no doubt deemed not wise to refer back to the earlier period. Post-war, it was different. With destruction all about, the Japanese seem to have seized upon what had survived with enthusiasm. New histories appeared. To mark its centenary, Yokohama city began a multi-volume history in 1958. Parts of Nagasaki that escaped the atomic bomb included several buildings from treaty-port days which were gathered together in Glover Park, named after the British businessman sometimes YTQPIN[KFGPVKſGFCUEQPPGEVGFYKVJVJGŎ/CFCO$WVVGTƀ[ŏUVQT[%JCPIKPIEKTEWOstances led post-war Britain to abandon most of its consular buildings in Japan. Some of these were taken over as local history centres. At Yokohama, the former British consulate general, which dated from the late 1920s, became the site of the Yokohama Archives of History. This was founded in 1981 to mark the city as ‘the frontier between Japan and the world’. It has extensive archives relating to treaty-port days and mounts regular exhibitions. Hakodate, too, has turned the former British consulate into a commemorative site, as has Shimonoseki. This last city was not a treaty port but opened following the end of the old treaties, yet has capitalized on the nostalgia for the period. Tokyo also makes much of the few buildings that have survived from the early days. As well as marking the Western presence, the Chinese role has also become part of the treaty-port heritage, and today there are Chinatowns in Nagasaki, Kobe, Tokyo and Yokohama. Much is made of the long Chinese presence at Nagasaki, dating back to the around 1600 but all the Chinatowns are modern constructions, albeit on old sites since not much survived the earthquakes and wars of the last 100 years. Yet the continuity is stressed and they are popular destinations for local and international visitors, particularly because of the great variety of restaurants and the colourful parades that regularly take place.11 +86TGCV[2QTVU-G[VQOQFGTP,CRCP! There has long been a debate over the role that the treaty ports and settlements played in China and Japan; while there were similar places elsewhere, none matched those in these two countries. It is possible to argue that in the Chinese case, where some of the ports existed for a hundred years, especially since they became centres of foreign
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manufacturing after 1895, they were instrumental in creating the basis on which modern China developed. They were the source of knowledge of the trappings of modernity such as newspapers, street lighting, department stores and services such as RQNKEGCPFſTGDTKICFGU;GVGXGPVJGNCTIGUVQHVJGO5JCPIJCKPWODGTGFKVUHQTGKIP population (Westerners and Japanese) only in the tens of thousands compared with the millions of Chinese.12 The Japanese settlements were far smaller. The total number of foreign residents in Japan in 1894, as the new treaties were being negotiated, was a mere 9,800, of whom some 5000 were Chinese. The Chinese numbers dropped heavily as a result of the 1894–95 Sino–Japanese War. By 1896, the foreigners numbered 4,700, with VJG$TKVKUJVJGNCTIGUVUKPINGITQWR%JKPGUGſIWTGUDGICPVQRKEMWRD[+VKU COQQVRQKPVYJGVJGTVJGUGUOCNNPWODGTUTGCNN[JCFCITGCVFGCNQHKPƀWGPEGQXGT how Japan developed, especially given the Japanese government’s determination not to allow parts of government machinery to slip out of its control as had happened in China with the Customs’ Service. The squabbling merchants of Yokohama intrigued Japanese but it is hard to see them as a major role model. Nostalgia and the needs of VJGVQWTKUVKPFWUVT[JCXGRGTJCRUIKXGPVJGOCNCTIGTRTQſNGVJCPVJG[TGCNN[FGUGTXG
However, one group of foreigners that did make an impact on Japan was the foreign employees – the yatoi. They included teachers at all levels, medical staff, administrators, lawyers, naval and military experts, engineers, architects and many others. Their numbers ran into hundreds, employed by the government and by private organizations. They included representatives from many nationalities, including Chinese, YJQYGTGKORQTVCPVKPVJGVGCVTCFG6JGKTKPƀWGPEGNKPIGTUQPKPDWKNFKPIUUWEJCU the lighthouses erected under the supervision of the British engineer Henry Brunton, CPFVJGVTCFKVKQPUQHVJG,CRCPGUG0CX[ /CTKVKOG5GNHŌ&GHGPEG(QTEGYJKEJTGƀGEVU British training. Some of these employees lived in the foreign settlements, especially in the years before the Meiji Restoration. But as the country settled down after the turmoil of 1868–69, the foreign employees fanned out across the country, often living in very remote parts. Many missionaries, usually working as teachers, welcomed the ability to get away from the foreign communities, since it gave them access to a wider Japanese audience. A few employees always remained within the settlements, including people with families or who found the company of other foreigners more congenial than living in an all-Japanese environment. One such was J. F. Lowder, former British EQPUWNCTQHſEGTYJQDGECOGNGICNCFXKUGTVQVJG,CRCPGUG%WUVQOUŏ5GTXKEGCPFNCVGT a strong opponent of treaty revision. Others, especially those living in Tokyo, where VJG,CRCPGUGCWVJQTKVKGUOCFGPQCVVGORVVQEQPſPGHQTGKIPGTUVQVJGUGVVNGOGPVCV 6UWMKLKEQWNFGPLQ[VJGDGPGſVUQHDQVJVJGECRKVCNCPFQHVJG;QMQJCOCUGVVNGOGPV after 1872 only a short rail journey away. This clearly suited a man such as Basil Hall Chamberlain, professor at the Imperial University, who seems to have retained a strong affection for Yokohama, although he did not live there. Quotations from Chamberlain, and others of the yatoi, are quoted in the documents in this selection
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but as a group, their story belongs to the wider history of Japan, not the narrow world of the foreign settlements. ____________________ RETROSPECTIVE
IT IS OVER ſHV[[GCTUUKPEG+UVCTVGFVJGUVWF[QH,CRCPŏUVTGCV[RQTVUCPFHQTGKIP settlements, longer than the treaty ports existed. My research took place under the auspices of Professor W. G. Beasley, then Professor of the History of the Far East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. I came by a curious route to the study of Japan, about which I scarcely knew anyVJKPIKP#XCIWGMPQYNGFIGQHVJG2CEKſE9CTJCFDGGPUWRRNGOGPVGFD[C single lecture on Japan as part of a course on world history since c.1600 to 1919, where history stopped in those days. But Professor S. T. Bindoff of Queen Mary College, YJGTG+FKFO[ſTUVFGITGGRGTUWCFGFVYQQHWUVJCVVJGTGYCUCYKFGTYQTNFQWV there, worth studying. So I abandoned American history and moved to what I was assured was the expanding world of Japanese studies in the wake of the 1961 Hayter report on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies.13 In those far-off FC[UVJGTGUGGOGFPQFKHſEWNVKGUCDQWVſPCPEGCPF$KPFQHHCPF$GCUNG[WPFGTVQQM VQſPFCNVGTPCVKXGHWPFUUJQWNF+FGEKFGVQIQDCEMVQ#OGTKECPUVWFKGUCHVGTVT[KPI ‘things Japanese’ for a year. That did not happen. Beasley was then working on his major study of the Meiji Restoration.14 What he YCPVGFYCUCPCEEQWPVQHVJGRQTVUKPQTFGTVQUGGJQYKHCVCNNVJG[KPƀWGPEGFVJG developments during the Restoration period. He was of course, very familiar with the background. His own thesis was on Britain’s role in the ‘opening’ of Japan,15 and he had written other studies relating to this early experience. He had also recently UWRGTXKUGFCVJGUKUVJCVFGCNVYKVJVJGſTUV[GCTUCHVGTVJGQRGPKPIQHVJGRQTVU16 I was given to understand that what he wanted was a study of what happened to the foreign settlements in and after the Restoration. There was at that stage no academic study of the subject. The role of the ports and the foreigners in nineteenth-century Japan was of course touched upon in many works. These included that of Sir Rutherford #NEQEM$TKVCKPŏUſTUVOKPKUVGTKPCPFVJGQPGVKOGUVWFGPVKPVGTRTGVGTCPF later minister, Sir Ernest Satow, plus numerous guidebooks and travellers’ tales, all highly selective and limited in what they wrote about the treaty ports.17 In addition, the Australian Harold S. Williams (1898–1987) had produced three books about the doings of foreigners in Japan. Fortunately for me, these were entertaining but not academic, though they remain good reads.18 For me, Beasley proved the ideal supervisor. He calmed me down when I panicked as a result of discovering an advertisement from Pat Barr asking for any original material for a book she planned on the Japanese treaty ports and similarly when Grace Fox’s study of Britain and Japan appeared in 1969.19 In addition, he gave me guidance on sources, arranged Japanese-language training and for me to spend six months in Japan. While he was prepared to read anything that I submitted to him, he did not insist on seeing VJGYJQNGVGZVDGHQTGKVYCUUWDOKVVGF+PVJQUGFC[UVJGTGYCUNKVVNGRTGUUWTGVQſPKUJ
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SWKEMN[CPFKVYCUPQVWPVKNVJGGPFQHVJCVVJGVGZVſPCNN[YGPVKP6JGXKXCYCU held early in 1971. It was far less fraught than I had expected – wild rumours regularly seized the postgraduate community about hostile viva examinations but mine, conducted by Professors Ian Nish of the LSE and Richard Storry of St. Antony’s, Oxford, was without incident. A few challenges about references were easily handled and once we began discussing brothels in Hakodate, I knew I was home and dry. By then, I was working in the Research Department of the Foreign and ComOQPYGCNVJ1HſEGPQVJCXKPIIQVVJGJQRGFHQTCECFGOKERQUV+JCFGXGT[KPVGPVKQP of turning my thesis into a book, and Ian Nish even arranged an interview for me with Faber and Faber on a possible book on all the East Asian treaty ports. I fear that I did not come up to their expectations; one remarked in my hearing about a sample chapter that I had submitted: ‘He is no Maurice Collis, is he?’20 But work and marriage proved too much of a distraction from Japan’s treaty ports. I wrote one academic paper for Modern Asian Studies21 and had others published in a variety of outlets and various conference collections. But working on China and later South and South East Asia, plus a second marriage, meant that the treaty ports got pushed back in my list of priorities. Then in 1981, I was posted to the British Embassy in Seoul. Thinking that I would have plenty of leisure time, I packed my thesis manuscript to work on while away. 6JKURTQXGFVQDGCHCNUGFCYP6JGVJGUKUUCVKPCDQZKPO[QHſEGCPFVJGGZRGEVGF leisure time never materialised as work on Korea proved all embracing and fascinating, while leisure writing was concerned with Korea rather than Japan. The nearest I got to working on the thesis was to have numerous copies made, thanks to the cheap photocopying facilities available, and to spend some time examining what remained of Korea’s own treaty-port tradition. Alas, it was not a lot. Also, through the good QHſEGUQH5KT*WIJ%QTVC\\KVJGP*/CODCUUCFQTKP6QM[Q+YCUKPXKVGFVQOCMG a presentation to the Asiatic Society of Japan on ‘Extraterritoriality in Japan’, which was duly published.22 On our return to London in 1985, I fear that things Korean took over from things Japanese, as my wife and I produced a general introduction to that country. Work was also busy. Japan was only one preoccupation. The next posting, to Beijing in 1988, coincided with the publication of Korea: an Introduction, but Beijing was a bigger and busier post than Seoul and while the photocopied volume came with me, it remained untouched. Finally, on return to London and on secondment to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, I turned once again to treaty ports. Encouraged by the late Gerry Segal of IISS and Paul Norbury of the ,CRCP.KDTCT[+ſPCNN[RTQFWEGFVJGDQQMQHVJGVJGUKUQPN[VYGPV[VJTGG[GCTU after my thesis was accepted. It was, perhaps a little like Punch’s famous curate’s egg – ‘good in parts’. I have not been an assiduous collector of reviews but those I did see were mixed. By that stage, I had become involved in the Japan Society’s Britian & Japan: Biographical Portraits series, prompted by Hugh Cortazzi, the originator of the conEGRVCPF+CP0KUJGFKVQTQHVJGXQNWOGKPYJKEJO[ſTUVEQPVTKDWVKQPCRRGCTGF The treaty ports were not going to disappear! I had also to decide what to do with the articles, transcribed extracts and other material relating to the ports that I had been
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UVGCFKN[CEEWOWNCVKPIUKPEGVJGUYJKEJPQYſNNGFUGXGTCNDQZGU5QNKMGOCP[ others, I thought of a collection of treaty-port-related material and submitted it to Paul Norbury for consideration. Paul, who had published other similar collections, proved keen and by mid-2000, I was ready to go. Unfortunately – the attentive reader YKNNFKUEGTPCRCVVGTPŌDGHQTG+EQWNFIGVRTQRGTN[UVCTVGF+YCUCUMGFVQDGVJGſTUV British representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK–North Korea). Thoughts of treaty-port collections had to be put aside while I was in Pyongyang. Even after I returned to London in December 2002, things Korean tended to dominate. Only in 2015 did I again take up the idea of a collection. Beasley once said to me that I would not be a treaty-port man all my life. In one sense, he was right. I have done much besides, both in the FCO and outside. My only teaching has been about Korea, for example, rather than, as I had expected, about Japan. Most of my published output has been the same. But a part of me always looked at the treaty ports with affectionate nostalgia and I am glad that this collection has ſPCNN[CRRGCTGF ENDNOTES 1 2
3
4
5 6 7 8 9
See below, n.18. J. E. Hoare, ‘Memories of times past: the legacy of Japan’s treaty ports’, in Donna Brunero and Stephanie Villalta Puig, eds. Life in Treaty Port China and Japan. London: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming. Robert Bickers and Isabella Jackson, ‘Introduction: law, land and power: treaty ports and concessions in modern China’, in Robert Bickers and Isabella Jackson, eds., Treaty Ports in Modern China: Law, land and power. (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016), pp. 1–22. The standard work is still John King Fairbank, Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: 6JG1RGPKPIQHVJG6TGCV[2QTVUŌ, (Stanford CA: 1969, originally published in two volumes in 1953). More recently, Professor Robert Bickers of the University of Bristol has published much on the Chinese treaty-port system, including The Scramble for China: Foreign &GXKNUKPVJG3KPI'ORKTGŌ (London: Penguin 2012). On extraterritoriality, the standard work is G. W. Keeton, The Development of Extraterritoriality in China (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 2 vols. 1928). Again there are many new studies. See, for example, Cassell, Pär Kristoffer, Grounds of Judgement: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). For the development of photography in Japan, see Terry Bennett, Photography in Japan Ō (Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2006). A recent study of the Iwakura Mission is Ian Nish, ed. The Iwakura Mission in America and Europe: A New Assessment (Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1998). Bickers and Jackson, ‘Introduction: law, land and power: treaty ports and concessions in modern China’, pp. 1–22. A useful collection of such early postcards can be found at http://www.oldtokyo.com/ Kobe kaiko sanjunenshi (The 30–Year History of Kobe Open Port), 2 vols. Kobe 1897, reprinted in a facsimile edition, Kobe: Chugai Publishers, 1966).
CONTENTS
10 11 12
13
14 15 16
17
18
19
xxix
Yokohama-shi, 6JGEKV[QH;QMQJCOCRCUVCPFRTGUGPV Yokohama: Yokohama Publishing 1HſEG A useful recent study of the Yokohama Chinatown is Eric C. Han, Rise of a Japanese %JKPCVQYP;QMQJCOCŌ. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. See the essay by Bickers and Jackson, passim. The most dismissive view of the Chinese experience appeared in Rhoads Murphey, The Chinese Treaty Ports and Chinese ModernK\CVKQP9JCV9GPV9TQPI Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, 1970. See also Nicholas Clifford, Spoilt Children of Empire: Westerners in Shanghai and the Chinese RevoNWVKQPQHVJGU (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1991), especially pp. 1–15. Report of the Sub-Committee on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies. .QPFQP *GT /CLGUV[ŏU 5VCVKQPCT[ 1HſEG (QT ,CRCPGUG UVWFKGU CPF VJG *C[VGT Report, see Peter Kornicki, ‘A Brief History of Japanese Studies in Britain - from the UVQVJG6YGPV[ſTUV%GPVWT[ŏKP*WIJ%QTVC\\KCPF2GVGT-QTPKEMKGFUJapanese Studies in Britain: A Survey and History, Folkestone, Kent: Renaissance Books, 2016, pp. 26 et. seq. W. G. Beasley, The Meiji Restoration (Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1972). W. G. Beasley, )TGCV$TKVCKPCPFVJG1RGPKPIQH,CRCPŌLondon: Luzac, 1951. This was John McMaster’s ‘British trade and traders to Japan 1859–1869’, unpub. PhD thesis, University of London, 1962. Curiously, Beasley never suggested that McMaster and I should meet, and we never have done. Sir Rutherford Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon: A Narrative of a Three Years Residence in ,CRCPLondon: Longmans, 2 vols. 1863, Sir Ernest Satow, #&KRNQOCVKP,CRCPLondon: Seeley Service and Co., 1921. Many of the guidebooks and travellers’ tales are listed in the bibliography of my thesis and in the printed version that eventually appeared in 1994 – see below. These were Tales of the Foreign Settlements in Japan (1958), Shades of the Past: Indiscreet Tales of Japan (!959), and Foreigners in Mikadoland (1963), all published by Charles E. Tuttle Company of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, (now Tuttle Publishing). He also wrote an account of the Kobe Regatta and Athletic Club, while a two-volume posthumous collection of other writings, with sketches by his wife, appeared as West meets East: the foreign experience of Japan (Rushcutters Bay, NSW: Hallstead Press, 1996. His collected papers and books now form the Harold S. Williams Collection in the National Library of Australia – see https://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/harold-s-williams-collection He was a charming man, and we exchanged occasional letters after I met him in Tokyo in 1976. Pat Barr, 6JG%QOKPIQHVJG$CTDCTKCPU#5VQT[QH9GUVGTP5GVVNGOGPVKP,CRCPŌ London: Macmillan, 1967 and 6JG&GGT%T[2CXKNKQP#5VQT[QH9GUVGTPGTUKP,CRCPŌ . London: Macmillan, 1968, She later wrote a life of Isabella Bird Bishop. We met a few times and talked about sources. I realized that our purposes differed when she complained about how dirty archive material was. Grace Fox, $TKVCKPCPF,CRCPŌLondon: Clarendon Press, 1969, was much more of a challenge but was less than feared because of her chosen time span.
xxx
20
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
Author of Foreign Mud (London: Faber and Faber 1946). In this study of the Opium War, apparently without making clear to the company, Collis had used the Jardine Matheson papers as the basis for a condemnatory account of the lead-up to the war. Jardines were not best pleased, and introduced stricter controls on access to the papers. J. E. Hoare, ‘The “Bankoku Shimbun” Affair: Foreigners, the Press and Extraterritoriality in Early Modern Japan’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 9, no. 3 (1975), pp. 289–302. J. E. Hoare, ‘Extraterritoriality in Japan 1858–1899’, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 3rd series, XVIII (1983), 71–97.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
Source: ‘Conventions between Great Britain and Japan, 1854’ in M.Paske-Smith, Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa in the Tokugawa Days, 1930, 138–139
1
Convention between Great Britain and Japan, 1854
Signed at Nagasaki, October 14th, 1854. 4CVKſGFD[*GT$TKVCPPKE/CLGUV[,CPWCT[TF 4CVKſECVKQPUGZEJCPIGFCV0CICUCMK1EVQDGTVJ I T IS AGREED between Sir James Stirling, Knight, Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-chief of the ships and vessels of Her Britannic Majesty in the East Indies and seas adjacent, and Mezi-no Chekfu-no Kami, Obunyo of Nagasaki, and Nagai Evan Ocho, Omedski of Nagasaki, ordered by His Imperial Highness the Emperor of Japan to act herein; that –
I.
The ports of Nagasaki (Hizen) and Hakodate (Matsumae) shall be opened to British ships for the purposes of effecting repairs, and obtaining fresh water, provisions, and other supplies of any sort they may absolutely want for the use of the ships. II.
Nagasaki shall be open for the purposes aforesaid from and after the present date; CPF*CMQFCVGHTQOCPFCHVGTVJGGPFQHſHV[FC[UHTQOVJG#FOKTCNŏUFGRCTVWTG from this port. The rules and regulations of each of these ports are to be complied with.
3
4
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
III.
Only ships in distress from weather or unmanageable will be permitted to enter QVJGTRQTVUVJCPVJQUGURGEKſGFKPVJGHQTGIQKPI#TVKENGUYKVJQWVRGTOKUUKQP from the Imperial Government.
IV.
$TKVKUJUJKRUKP,CRCPGUGRQTVUUJCNNEQPHQTOVQVJGNCYUQH,CRCP+HJKIJQHſEGTU or commanders of ships shall break any such laws, it will lead to the ports being closed. Should inferior persons break them, they are to be delivered over to the Commanders of their ships for punishment.
V.
In the ports of Japan either now open, or which may hereafter be opened, to the ships or subjects of any foreign nation British ships and subjects shall be entitled to admission and to the enjoyment of an equality of advantages with those of the most favoured nation, always excepting the advantages accruing to the Dutch and Chinese from their existing relations with Japan.
VI.
This %QPXGPVKQP UJCNN DG TCVKſGF CPF VJG TCVKſECVKQPU UJCNN DG GZEJCPIGF CV Nagasaki on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, and on behalf of His Highness the Emperor of Japan, within twelve months from the present date.
VII.
9JGPVJKU%QPXGPVKQPUJCNNDGTCVKſGFPQJKIJQHſEGTEQOKPIVQ,CRCPUJCNN alter it. +PYKVPGUUYJGTGQHYGJCXGUKIPGFVJGUCOGCPFJCXGCHſZGFQWTUGCNUVJGTGunto, at Nagasaki, this fourteenth day of October, 1854. (L. S.) J. S. STIRLING.
5QWTEG 6TGCVKGU CPF %QPXGPVKQPU DGVYGGP VJG 7PKVGF 5VCVGU CPF 1VJGT 2QYGTU Ō pp. 601–606.
2
Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 1858
%QPENWFGF,WN[4CVKſECVKQPU'ZEJCPIGFCV9CUJKPIVQP May 22, 1860; Proclaimed May 23, 1860 THE PRESIDENT OF the United States of America and His Majesty the Tycoon QH,CRCPFGUKTKPIVQGUVCDNKUJQPſTOCPFNCUVKPIHQWPFCVKQPUVJGTGNCVKQPUQH peace and friendship now happily existing between the two countries, and to secure the best interests of their respective citizens and subjects by encouraging, facilitating, and regulating their industry and trade, have resolved to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce for this purpose, and have therefore named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say: Negotiators
The President of the United States, His Excellency Townsend Harris, Consul General of the United States of America for the Empire of Japan, and His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan, their Excellencies Inooye, Prince of Sinano, and Iwasay, Prince of Hego: Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, and found them to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:
ARTICLE I
Peace and amity
There shall henceforward be perpetual peace and friendship between the United States of America and His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan and his successors.
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
Diplomatic agents
The President of the United States may appoint a Diplomatic Agent to reside at the city of Yedo, and Consuls or Consular Agents to reside at any or all of the ports in Japan which are opened for American commerce by this treaty. The Diplomatic Agent and Consul General of the United States shall have the right to travel freely in any part of the Empire of Japan from the time they enter on VJGFKUEJCTIGQHVJGKTQHſEKCNFWVKGU The Government of Japan may appoint a Diplomatic Agent to reside at Washington, and Consuls or Consular Agents for any or all of the ports of the United States. The Diplomatic Agent and Consul General of Japan may travel freely in any part of the United States from the time they arrive in the country.
ARTICLE II
Mediator
The President of the United States, at the request of the Japanese Government, will act as a friendly mediator in such matters of difference as may arise between the Government of Japan and any European power. Ships of war of United States may aid Japanese vessels
The ships of war of the United States shall render friendly aid and assistance to such Japanese vessels as they may meet on the high seas, so far as can be done without a breach of neutrality; and all American Consuls residing at ports visited by Japanese vessels shall also give them such friendly aid as may be permitted by the laws of the respective countries in which they reside.
ARTICLE III
Ports opened
In addition to the ports of Simoda and Hakodade, the following ports and towns shall be opened on the dates respectively appended to them, that is to say: Kanagawa, on the (4th of July, 1859) fourth day of July, one thousand and GKIJVJWPFTGFCPFſHV[PKPG0CICUCMKQPVJG VJQH,WN[HQWTVJFC[QH ,WN[QPGVJQWUCPFGKIJVJWPFTGFCPFſHV[PKPG0GGGICVCQPVJG UVQH,CPWCT[ſTUVFC[QH,CPWCT[QPGVJQWUCPFGKIJVJWPFTGFCPFUKZV[*KQIQ QPVJG UVQH,CPWCT[ſTUVFC[QH,CPWCT[QPGVJQWUCPFGKIJVJWPFTGF and sixty-three.
TREATY OF AMITY AND COMMERCE, 1858
7
Regulations regarding residence of Americans in Japan
If Nee-e-gata is found to be unsuitable as a harbour, another port on the west coast of Nipon shall be selected by the two Governments in lieu thereof. Six months after the opening of Kanagawa the port of Simoda shall be closed as a place of residence and trade for American citizens. In all the foregoing ports and towns American citizens may permanently reside; they shall have the right to lease ground, and purchase the buildings thereon, and may erect FYGNNKPIUCPFYCTGJQWUGU$WVPQHQTVKſECVKQPQTRNCEGQHOKNKVCT[UVTGPIVJ shall be erected under pretence of building dwelling or warehouses; and to see that this article is observed, the Japanese authorities shall have the right to inspect, from time to time, any buildings which are being erected, altered, or repaired. The place which the Americans shall occupy for their buildings, and the harbour regulations, shall be arranged by the American Consul and the authorities of each place; and if they cannot agree, the matter shall be referred to and settled by the American Diplomatic Agent and the Japanese Government. No wall, fence, or gate shall be erected by the Japanese around the place of residence of the Americans, or anything done which may prevent a free egress and ingress to the same. (TQO VJG UV QH ,CPWCT[ ſTUV FC[ QH ,CPWCT[ QPG VJQWUCPF GKIJV hundred and sixty-two, Americans shall be allowed to reside in the city of ;GFQCPFHTQOVJG UVQH,CPWCT[ſTUVFC[QH,CPWCT[QPGVJQWUCPF eight hundred and sixty-three, in the city of Osaca, for the purposes of trade only. In each of these two cities a suitable place within which they may hire houses, and the distance they may go, shall be arranged by the American Diplomatic Agent and the Government of Japan. Americans may freely buy from Japanese and sell to them any articles that either may have for sale, without the KPVGTXGPVKQPQHCP[,CRCPGUGQHſEGTUKPUWEJRWTEJCUGQTUCNGQTKPOCMKPIQT receiving payment for the same; and all classes of Japanese may purchase, sell, keep, or use any articles sold to them by the Americans. The Japanese Government will cause this clause to be made public in GXGT[ RCTV QH VJG 'ORKTG CU UQQP CU VJG TCVKſECVKQPU QH VJKU VTGCV[ UJCNN DG exchanged. Munitions of war shall only be sold to the Japanese Government and foreigners. No rice or wheat shall be exported from Japan as cargo, but all Americans resident in Japan, and ships, for their crews and passengers, shall be furnished YKVJUWHſEKGPVUWRRNKGUQHVJGUCOG6JG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVYKNNUGNNHTQO time to time at public auction, any surplus quantity of copper that may be produced. Americans residing in Japan shall have the right to employ Japanese as servants or in any other capacity.
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
ARTICLE IV
Duties
Duties shall be paid to the Government of Japan on all goods landed in the country, and on all articles of Japanese production that are exported as cargo, according to the tariff hereunto appended. +HVJG,CRCPGUGEWUVQOJQWUGQHſEGTUCTGFKUUCVKUſGFYKVJVJGXCNWGRNCEGF on any goods by the owner, they may place a value thereon, and offer to take the goods at that valuation. If the owner refuses to accept the offer, he shall pay duty on such valuation. If the offer be accepted by the owner, the purchase-money shall be paid to him without delay, and without any abatement or discount. Supplies for the United States Navy
Supplies for the use of the United States navy may be landed at Kanagawa, HakoFCFGCPF0CICUCMKCPFUVQTGFKPYCTGJQWUGUKPVJGEWUVQF[QHCPQHſEGTQH the American Government, without the payment of any duty. But, if any such supplies are sold in Japan, the purchaser shall pay the proper duty to the Japanese authorities. Opium
The importation of opium is prohibited, and any American vessel coming to Japan for the purposes of trade, having more than (3) three catties’ (four pounds avoirdupois) weight of opium on board, such surplus quantity shall be seized and destroyed by the Japanese authorities. All goods imported into Japan, and which JCXGRCKFVJGFWV[ſZGFD[VJKUVTGCV[OC[DGVTCPURQTVGFD[VJG,CRCPGUGKPVQ any part of the Empire without the payment of any tax, excise, or transit duty whatever. No higher duties shall be paid by Americans on goods imported into Japan VJCPCTGſZGFD[VJKUVTGCV[PQTUJCNNCP[JKIJGTFWVKGUDGRCKFD[#OGTKECPU than are levied on the same description of goods if imported in Japanese vessels, or the vessels of any other nation.
ARTICLE V
Foreign coin
All foreign coin shall be current in Japan and pass for its corresponding weight of Japanese coin of the same description. Americans and Japanese may freely use foreign or Japanese coin, in making payments to each other.
TREATY OF AMITY AND COMMERCE, 1858
9
As some time will elapse before the Japanese will be acquainted with the value of foreign coin, the Japanese Government will, for the period of one year after the opening of each harbour, furnish the Americans with Japanese coin, in exchange for theirs, equal weights being given and no discount taken for recoinage. Coins of all description (with the exception of Japanese Copper coin) may be exported from Japan, and foreign gold and silver uncoined. ARTICLE VI
Jurisdiction over offences
Americans committing offences against Japanese shall be tried in American consular courts, and when guilty shall be punished according to American law. Japanese committing offences against Americans shall be tried by the Japanese authorities and punished according to Japanese law. The consular courts shall be open to Japanese creditors, to enable them to recover their just claims against American citizens, and the Japanese courts shall in like manner be open to American citizens for the recovery of their just claims against Japanese. Forfeitures and penalties under this treaty
All claims for forfeitures or penalties for violations of this treaty, or of the articles regulating trade which are appended hereunto, shall be sued for in the consular courts, and all recoveries shall be delivered to the Japanese authorities. Neither the American nor Japanese Governments are to be held responsible for the payment of any debts contracted by their respective citizens or subjects.
ARTICLE VII
Limits of opened harbors
In the opened harbours of Japan, Americans shall be free to go where they please within the following limits: At Kanagawa, the River Logo (which empties into the Bay of Yedo, between Kawasaki and Sinagawa), and (10) ten ri in any other direction. At Hakodade, (10) ten ri in any direction. At Hiogo, (10) ten ri in any direction, that of Kioto excepted, which city shall not be approached nearer than (10) ten ri. The crews of vessels resorting to Hiogo shall not cross the River Enagawa, which empties into the bay between Hiogo and Osaca. The distances shall be measured inland from the Goyoso, or town hall, of each of the foregoing harbours, the ri being equal to (4,275) four thousand two JWPFTGFCPFUGXGPV[ſXG[CTFU#OGTKECPOGCUWTG
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
Loss of the right of permanent residence
At Nagasaki, Americans may go into any part of the imperial domain in its vicinity. The boundaries of Nee-e-gata, or the place that may be substituted for it, shall be settled by the American Diplomatic Agent and the Government of Japan. Americans who have been convicted of felony, or twice convicted of misdemeanors, shall not go more than (1) one Japanese ri inland from the places of their respective residences; and all persons so convicted shall lose their right of permanent residence in Japan, and the Japanese authorities may require them to leave the country. A reasonable time shall be allowed to all such persons to settle their affairs, and the American consular authority shall, after an examination into the circumstances of each case, determine the time to be allowed, but such time shall not in any case exceed one year, to be calculated from the time the person shall be free to attend to his affairs. ARTICLE VIII
Religious freedom
Americans in Japan shall be allowed the free exercise of their religion, and for this purpose shall have the right to erect suitable places of worship. No injury shall be done to such buildings, nor any insult be offered to the religious worship of the Americans. American citizens shall not injure any Japanese temple or mia, or offer any insult or injury to Japanese religious ceremonies, or to the objects of their worship. The Americans and Japanese shall not do anything that may be calculated to excite religious animosity. The Government of Japan has already abolished the practice of trampling on religious emblems. ARTICLE IX
Deserters
When requested by the American Consul, the Japanese authorities will cause the arrest of all deserters and fugitives from justice, receive in jail all persons held as prisoners by the Consul, and give to the Consul such assistance as may be required to enable him to enforce the observance of the laws by the Americans who are on land, and to maintain order among the shipping. For all such services, and for the UWRRQTVQHRTKUQPGTUMGRVKPEQPſPGOGPVVJG%QPUWNUJCNNKPCNNECUGURC[CLWUV compensation.
TREATY OF AMITY AND COMMERCE, 1858
11
ARTICLE X
Ships of war
The Japanese Government may purchase or construct, in the United States, ships of war, steamers, merchant-ships, whale-ships, cannon, munitions of war, and arms of all kinds, and any other things it may require. It shall have the TKIJVVQGPICIGKPVJG7PKVGF5VCVGUUEKGPVKſEPCXCNCPFOKNKVCT[OGPCTVKUCPU of all kinds, and mariners to enter into its service. All purchases made for the Government of Japan may be exported from the United States, and all persons engaged for its service may freely depart from the United States: Provided, That no articles that are contraband of war shall be exported, nor any persons engaged to act in a naval or military capacity, while Japan shall be at war with any power in amity with the United States.
ARTICLE XI
Regulations appended
The articles for the regulation of trade, which are appended to this treaty, shall be considered as forming a part of the same, and shall be equally binding on both the contracting parties to this treaty, and on their citizens and subjects.
ARTICLE XII
Treaty of March 31, 1854
Such of the provisions of the treaty made by Commodore Perry, and signed at -CPCICYCQPVJGUVQH/CTEJCUEQPƀKEVYKVJVJGRTQXKUKQPUQHVJKU treaty are hereby revoked; and as all the provisions of a convention executed by the Consul General of the United States and the Governors of Simoda, on the 17th of June, 1857, are incorporated in this treaty, that convention is also revoked. The person charged with the diplomatic relations of the United States in Japan, in conjunction with such person or persons as may be appointed for that purpose by the Japanese Government, shall have power to make such rules and regulations as may be required to carry into full and complete effect the provisions of this treaty, and the provisions of the articles regulating trade appended thereunto.
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
ARTICLE XIII
Duration of treaty
After the (4th of July, 1872) fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, upon the desire of either the American or Japanese Governments, and on one year’s notice given by either party, this treaty, and such portions of the treaty of Kanagawa as remain unrevoked by this treaty, together with the regulations of trade hereunto annexed, or those that may be hereafter introduced, shall be subject to revision by commissioners appointed on both sides for this purpose, who will be empowered to decide on, and insert therein, such amendments as experience shall prove to be desirable.
ARTICLE XIV
This treaty shall go into effect on the (4th of July, 1859) fourth day of July, in the [GCTQH1WT.QTFQPGVJQWUCPFGKIJVJWPFTGFCPFſHV[PKPGQPQTDGHQTGYJKEJ FC[VJGTCVKſECVKQPUQHVJGUCOGUJCNNDGGZEJCPIGFCVVJGEKV[QH9CUJKPIVQPDWV KHHTQOCP[WPHQTGUGGPECWUGVJGTCVKſECVKQPUECPPQVDGGZEJCPIGFD[VJCVVKOG the treaty shall still go into effect at the date above mentioned. 4CVKſECVKQPU
6JGCEVQHTCVKſECVKQPQPVJGRCTVQHVJG7PKVGF5VCVGUUJCNNDGXGTKſGFD[VJG signature of the President of the United States, countersigned by the Secretary of 5VCVGCPFUGCNGFYKVJVJGUGCNQHVJG7PKVGF5VCVGU6JGCEVQHTCVKſECVKQPQPVJG RCTVQH,CRCPUJCNNDGXGTKſGFD[VJGPCOGCPFUGCNQH*KU/CLGUV[VJG6[EQQP CPFD[VJGUGCNUCPFUKIPCVWTGUQHUWEJQHJKUJKIJQHſEGTUCUJGOC[FKTGEV This treaty is executed in quadruplicate, each copy being written in the English, Japanese, and Dutch languages, all the versions having the same meaning and intention, but the Dutch version shall be considered as being the original. In witness whereof, the above-named Plenipotentiaries have hereunto set their hands and seals, at the city of Yedo, this twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of QWT.QTF1PGVJQWUCPFGKIJVJWPFTGFCPFſHV[GKIJVCPFQHVJG+PFGRGPFGPEG of the United States of America the eighty-third, corresponding to the Japanese GTCVJGPKPGVGGPVJFC[QHVJGUKZVJOQPVJQHVJGſHVJ[GCTQH#PUGK [seal]
TOWNSEND HARRIS
Source: Text in F.C. Jones, Extracterritoriality in Japan (1931), 175–186
3
Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and Japan
Signed at London, July 16, 1894 HER MAJESTY THE Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, being equally desirous of maintaining the relations of good understanding which happily exist between them, by extending and increasing the intercourse between their respective States, and being convinced that this object cannot better be accomplished than by revising the Treaties hitherto existing between the two countries, have resolved to complete such a revision, based upon principles of GSWKV[CPFOWVWCNDGPGſVCPFHQTVJCVRWTRQUGJCXGPCOGFCUVJGKT2NGPKpotentiaries, that is to say: Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, the Right Honourable John, Earl of Kimberley, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, &c., &c., Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; #PF*KU/CLGUV[VJG'ORGTQTQH,CRCP8KUEQWPV#QMK5KW\Q,WPKKſTUVENCUU of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, His Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of St. James’; Who, after having communicated to each other their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:
ARTICLE I
The subjects of each of the two High Contracting Parties shall have full liberty to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the dominions and possessions of the other Contracting Party, and shall enjoy full and perfect protection for their persons and property. 13
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They shall have free and easy access to the Courts of Justice in pursuit and defence of their rights; they shall be at liberty equally with native subjects to choose and employ lawyers, advocates, and representatives to pursue and defend their rights before such Courts, and in all other matters connected with the administration of justice they shall enjoy all the rights and privileges enjoyed by native subjects. In whatever relates to rights of residence and travel; to the possession of goods and effects of any kind; to the succession to personal estate, by will or otherwise, and the disposal of property of any sort in any manner whatsoever which they may lawfully acquire, the subjects of each Contracting Party shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other the same privileges, liberties, and rights and shall be subject to no higher imposts or charges in these respects than native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation. The subjects of each of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other entire liberty of conscience, and, subject to the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations, shall enjoy the right of private or public exercise of their worship, and also the right of burying their respective countrymen, according to their religious customs, in such suitable and convenient places as may be established and maintained for that purpose. They shall not be compelled, under any pretext whatsoever, to pay any charges or taxes other or higher than those that are, or may be, paid by native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE II
The subjects of either of the Contracting Parties residing in the dominions and possessions of the other shall be exempted from all compulsory military service whatsoever, whether in the army, navy, National Guard, or militia; from all contributions imposed in lieu of personal service; and from all forced loans or military exactions or contributions.
ARTICLE III
There shall be reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation between the dominions and possessions of the two High Contracting Parties. The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties may trade in any part of the dominions and possessions of the other by wholesale or retail in all kinds of produce, manufactures, and merchandise of lawful commerce, either in person or by agents, singly, or in partnerships with foreigners or native subjects; and they may there own or hire and occupy the houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises which may be necessary for them, and lease land for residential and
TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
15
commercial purposes, conforming themselves to the Laws, Police and Customs Regulations of the country like native subjects. They shall have liberty freely to come with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and rivers in the dominions and possessions of the other which are or may be opened to foreign commerce, and shall enjoy, respectively, the same treatment in matters of commerce and navigation as native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation, without having to pay taxes, imposts, or duties, of whatever nature or under whatever denomination levied in the name or for the RTQſVQHVJG)QXGTPOGPVRWDNKEHWPEVKQPCTKGURTKXCVGKPFKXKFWCNU%QTRQTCVKQPU or establishments of any kind, other or greater than those paid by native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation, subject always to the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations of each country.
ARTICLE IV
The dwellings, manufactories, warehouses, and shops of the subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties in the dominions and possessions of the other, and all premises appertaining thereto destined for purposes of residence or commerce, shall be respected. It shall not be allowable to proceed to make a search of, or a domiciliary visit to, such dwellings and premises, or to examine or inspect books, papers, or accounts, except under the conditions and with the forms prescribed by the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations for subjects of the country.
ARTICLE V
No other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, from whatever place arriving; and no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, from whatever place arriving, than on the like article produced or manufactured in any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of either of the High Contracting Parties, into the dominions and possessions of the other, from whatever place arriving, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like article, being the produce or manufacture of any other country. This last provision is not applicable to the sanitary and other prohibitions occasioned by the necessity of protecting the safety of persons, or of cattle, or of plants useful to agriculture.
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
ARTICLE VI
No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the dominions and possessions of either of the High Contracting Parties on the exportation of any article to the dominions and possessions of the other than such as are, or may be, payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from the dominions and possessions of either of the two Contracting Parties to the dominions and possessions of the other which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other country.
ARTICLE VII
The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other exception from all transit duties, and a perfect equality of treatment with native subjects in all that relates to warehousing, bounties, facilities, and drawbacks.
ARTICLE VIII
All articles which are or may be legally imported into the ports of the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan in Japanese vessels may likewise be imported into those ports in British vessels, without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges of whatever denomination than if such articles were imported in Japanese vessels; and reciprocally, all articles which are or may be legally imported into the ports of the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty in British vessels may likewise be imported into those ports in Japanese vessels, without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges of whatever denomination than if such articles were imported in British vessels. Such reciprocal equality of treatment shall take effect without distinction, whether such articles come directly from the place of origin or from any other place. In the same manner there shall be perfect equality of treatment in regard to exportation, so that the same export duties shall be paid and the same bounties and drawbacks allowed in the dominions and possessions of either of the High Contracting Parties on the exportation of any article which is or may be legally exported therefrom, whether such exportation shall take place in Japanese or in British vessels, and whatever may be the place of destination, whether a port of either of the Contracting Parties or of any third Power.
TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
17
ARTICLE IX
NO duties of tonnage, harbour, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding duties of whatever denomination, levied in the name or for the RTQſVQHVJGIQXGTPOGPVRWDNKEHWPEVKQPCTKGURTKXCVGKPFKXKFWCNU%QTRQTCVKQPU or establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the ports of the dominions and possessions of either country upon the vessels of the other country which shall not equally and under the same conditions be imposed in the like cases on national vessels in general or vessels of the most favoured nation. Such equality of treatment shall apply reciprocally to the respective vessels, from whatever port or place they may arrive, and whatever may be their place of destination.
ARTICLE X
In all that regards the stationing, loading, and unloading of vessels in the ports, basins, docks, roadsteads, harbours, or rivers of the dominions and possessions of the two countries, no privilege shall be granted to national vessels which shall not be equally granted to vessels of the other country; the intention of the High Contracting Parties being that in this respect also the respective vessels shall be treated on the footing of perfect equality.
ARTICLE XI
The coasting trade of both the High Contracting Parties is excepted from the provisions of the present Treaty, and shall be regulated according to the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations of Japan and of Great Britain respectively. It is, however, understood that Japanese subjects in the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, and British subjects in the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, shall enjoy in this respect the rights which are or may be granted under such Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations to the subjects or citizens of any other country. A Japanese vessel laden in a foreign country with cargo destined for two or more ports in the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, and a British vessel laden in a foreign country with cargo destined for two or more ports in the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, may discharge a portion of her cargo at one port, and continue her voyage to the other port or ports of destination where foreign trade is permitted, for the purpose of landing the remainder of her original cargo there, subject always to the Laws and Customhouse Regulations of the two countries. The Japanese Government, however, agrees to allow British vessels to continue, as heretofore, for the period of the duration of the present Treaty, to carry
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cargo between the existing open ports of the Empire, excepting to or from the ports of Osaka, Niigata, and Ebisuminato.
ARTICLE XII
Any ship of war or merchant-vessel of either of the High Contracting Parties which may be compelled by stress of weather, or by reason of any other distress, VQVCMGUJGNVGTKPCRQTVQHVJGQVJGTUJCNNDGCVNKDGTV[VQTGſVVJGTGKPVQRTQEWTG all necessary supplies, and to put to sea again, without paying any dues other than such as would be payable by national vessels. In case, however, the master of a merchant-vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a part of his cargo in order to defray the expenses, he shall be bound to conform to the Regulations and Tariffs of the place to which he may have come. If any ship of war or merchant-vessel of one of the Contracting Parties should run aground or be wrecked upon the coasts of the other, the local authorities shall inform the Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent of the district of the occurrence, or if there be no such %QPUWNCTQHſEGTVJG[UJCNNKPHQTOVJG%QPUWN)GPGTCN%QPUWN8KEG%QPUWNQT Consular Agent of the nearest district. All proceedings relative to the salvage of Japanese vessels wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial waters of Her Britannic Majesty shall take place in accordance with the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations of Great Britain, and reciprocally, all measures of salvage relative to British vessels wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial waters of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan shall take place in accordance with the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations of Japan. Such stranded or wrecked ship or vessel, and all parts thereof, and all furnitures and appurtenances belonging thereunto, and all goods and merchandize saved therefrom, including those which may have been cast into the sea, or the proceeds thereof, if sold, as well as all papers found on board such standard or wrecked ship or vessel, shall be given up to the owners or their agents, when claimed by them. If such owners or agents are not on the spot, the same shall be delivered to the respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents upon being claimed D[VJGOYKVJKPVJGRGTKQFſZGFD[VJGNCYUQHVJGEQWPVT[CPFUWEJ%QPUWNCT QHſEGTUQYPGTUQTCIGPVUUJCNNRC[QPN[VJGGZRGPUGUKPEWTTGFKPVJGRTGUGTXCVKQP of the property, together with the salvage or other expenses which would have been payable in the case of a wreck of a national vessel. The goods and merchandise saved from the wreck shall be exempt from all the duties of the Customs unless cleared for consumption, in which case they shall pay the ordinary duties. When a ship or vessel belonging to the subjects of one of the Contracting Parties is stranded or wrecked in the territories of the other, the respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents shall be
TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
19
authorized, in case the owner or master, or other agent of the owner, is not presGPVVQNGPFVJGKTQHſEKCNCUUKUVCPEGVQVJGUWDLGEVUQHVJGTGURGEVKXG5VCVGU6JG same rule shall apply in case the owner, master, or other agent is present, but requires such assistance to be given.
ARTICLE XIII
All vessels which, according to Japanese law, are to be deemed Japanese vessels, and all vessels which, according to British law, are to be deemed British vessels, shall, for the purposes of this Treaty, be deemed Japanese and British vessels respectively.
ARTICLE XIV
The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents of each of the Contracting Parties, residing in the dominions and possessions of the other, shall receive from the local authorities such assistance as can by law be given to them for the recovery of deserters from the vessels of their respective countries. It is understood that this stipulation shall not apply to the subjects of the country where the desertion takes place.
ARTICLE XV
The High Contracting Parties agree that, in all that concerns commerce and navigation any privilege, favour, or immunity which either Contracting Party has actually granted, or may hereafter grant, to the Government, ships, subjects, or citizens of any other State, shall be extended immediately and unconditionally to the Government, ships, subjects, or citizens of the other Contracting Party, it being their intention that the trade and navigation of each country shall be placed, in all respects, by the other on the footing of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE XVI
Each of the High Contracting Parties may appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Pro-Consuls, and Consular Agents in all the ports, cities, and places of the other, except in those where it may not be convenient to recQIPK\GUWEJQHſEGTU
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
This exception, however, shall not be made in regard to one of the Contracting Parties without being made likewise in regard to every other Power. The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Pro-Consuls, and Consular Agents may exercise all functions, and shall enjoy all privileges, exemptions, and KOOWPKVKGUYJKEJCTGQTOC[JGTGCHVGTDGITCPVGFVQ%QPUWNCTQHſEGTUQHVJG most favoured nation. ARTICLE XVII
The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other the same protection as native subjects in regard to patents, VTCFGOCTMUCPFFGUKIPUWRQPHWNſNOGPVQHVJGHQTOCNKVKGURTGUETKDGFD[NCY
ARTICLE XVIII
HER Britannic Majesty’s Government, so far as they are concerned, give their consent to the following arrangement: The several foreign Settlements in Japan shall be incorporated with the respective Japanese Communes, and shall thenceforth form part of the general municipal system of Japan. The competent Japanese authorities shall thereupon assume all municipal obligations and duties in respect thereof, and the common funds and property, if any, belonging to such Settlements, shall at the same time be transferred to the said Japanese authorities. When such incorporation takes place the existing leases in perpetuity under YJKEJRTQRGTV[KUPQYJGNFKPVJGUCKF5GVVNGOGPVUUJCNNDGEQPſTOGFCPFPQ conditions whatsoever other than those contained in such existing leases shall be imposed in respect of such property. It is, however, understood that the Consular authorities mentioned in the same are in all cases to be replaced by the Japanese authorities. All lands which may previously have been granted by the Japanese Government free of rent for the public purposes of the said Settlements shall, subject to the right of eminent domain, be permanently reserved free of all taxes and charges for the public purposes for which they were originally set apart.
ARTICLE XIX
The stipulations of the present Treaty shall be applicable, so far as the laws permit, to all the Colonies and foreign possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, excepting to those hereinafter named, that is to say, except to –
TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
India The Dominion of Canada Newfoundland The Cape Natal New South Wales
21
Victoria Queensland Tasmania South Australia Western Australia New Zealand
Provided always that the stipulations of the present Treaty shall be made applicable to any of the above-named Colonies or foreign possessions on whose behalf notice to that effect shall have been given to the Japanese Government by Her Britannic Majesty’s Representative at Tokio within two years from the date of VJGGZEJCPIGQHTCVKſECVKQPUQHVJGRTGUGPV6TGCV[
ARTICLE XX
The present Treaty shall, from the date it comes into force, be substituted in place of the Conventions respectively of the 23rd day of the 8th month of the 7th year of Kayei, corresponding to the 14th day of October, 1854, and of the 13th day of the 5th month of the 2nd year of Keiou, corresponding to the 25th day of June, 1866, the Treaty of the 18th day of the 7th month of the 5th year of Ansei, corresponding to the 26th day of August, 1858, and all Arrangements and Agreements subsidiary thereto concluded or existing between the High Contracting Parties; and from the same date such Conventions, Treaty, Arrangements, and Agreements shall cease to be binding, and, in consequence, the jurisdiction then exercised by British Courts in Japan, and all the exceptional privileges, exemptions, and immunities then enjoyed by British subjects as a part of or appurtenant to such jurisdiction, shall absolutely and without notice cease and determine, and thereafter all such jurisdiction shall be assumed and exercised by Japanese Courts.
ARTICLE XXI
6JGRTGUGPV6TGCV[UJCNNPQVVCMGGHHGEVWPVKNCVNGCUVſXG[GCTUCHVGTKVUUKIPCture. It shall come into force one year after His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Government shall have given notice to Her Britannic Majesty’s Government of its wish to have the same brought into operation. Such notice may be given at any time after the expiration of four years from the date hereof. The Treaty shall remain in force for the period of twelve years from the date it goes into operation. Either High Contracting Party shall have the right, at any time after eleven years shall have elapsed from the date this Treaty takes effect, to give notice to
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
the other of its intention to terminate the same, and at the expiration of twelve months after such notice is given this Treaty shall wholly cease and determine.
ARTICLE XXII
6JGRTGUGPV6TGCV[UJCNNDGTCVKſGFCPFVJGTCVKſECVKQPUVJGTGQHUJCNNDGGZEJCPIGF at Tokio as soon as possible, and not later than six months from the present date. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same and JCXGCHſZGFVJGTGVQVJGUGCNQHVJGKTCTOU Done at London, in duplicate, this sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four. [L.S.] KIMBERLEY. [L.S.] AOKI.
Source: Printed and Published at the Daily Japan Herald Tokyo, 1871, from ‘Treaties and %QPXGPVKQPU%QPENWFGFDGVYGGP,CRCPCPFHQTGKIP0CVKQPUVQIGVJGTYKVJ0QVKſECVKQPU Regulations Made from Time to Time. 1854–1870’
4
Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Empire of Japan
Signed in Yedo, on the 18th October, 1869
HIS MAJESTY THE Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, Ac., and Apostolic King of Hungary on the one part, And, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan on the other part, being desirous to place the relation between the two Empires on a permanent and friendly footing, and to facilitate the Commercial intercourse between their respective subjects, have resolved to enter into a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation and have for that purpose appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty: The Rear Admiral Baron Anthony Petz, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy in Extraordinary Mission, Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, &c., &c., &c. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan: Sawa Kiyowara no Ason Nobuyoshi, Principal Minister for Foreign Affairs, invested with the second degree of the third rank, and Terashima Fujiwara no Ason Munenori, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, invested, with the second degree of the fourth rank, Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full Powers, and found them to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles: I.
There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between the high contracting Powers and their respective subjects. 23
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
II.
His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty shall have the right to appoint a Diplomatic Agent, a Consul-General, and for every port or town in Japan open to HQTGKIPVTCFGC%QPUWN8KEG%QPUWNQT%QPUWNCT#IGPVVJGUGQHſEKCNUUJCNNJCXG the same privileges and rights as those of the most favoured nation. The Diplomatic Agent appointed by his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, as well, as the Consul-General, shall have the right to travel freely in any part of the Japanese Empire. .KMGYKUGVJQUG+ORGTKCNCPF4Q[CN%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUYJQCTGGPVTWUVGFYKVJ judicial powers, shall have the right, whenever an Austro-Hungarian ship is wrecked, or an attack is made upon the life and property of an Austro-Hungarian Citizen, within the limits of their jurisdiction, to proceed to the spot, in order to collect such evidence as may be necessary. But in every such case the Imperial and 4Q[CN%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUUJCNNKPHQTOVJG,CRCPGUGNQECN#WVJQTKVKGUKPYTKVKPI of the object of their journey, and the place to which they intend to proceed, and UJCNNWPFGTVCMGVJKULQWTPG[QPN[KPVJGEQORCP[QHCJKIJ,CRCPGUGQHſEGTVQDG appointed by the Japanese Authorities. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan may appoint a Diplomatic Agent at the %QWTVQH8KGPPCCPF%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUCVCP[RQTVQTVQYPQHVJG#WUVTQ*WPICTKCP/QPCTEJ[YJGTG%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUQHCP[QVJGT2QYGTCTGCFOKVVGFVQ reside. 6JG&KRNQOCVKE#IGPVCPFVJG%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUQH,CRCPUJCNNWPFGTVJG condition of reciprocity, enjoy in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the same rights, privileges and immunities which those of any other Power now enjoy or may hereafter enjoy. III.
The ports and towns of Yokohama (in the district of Kanagawa) Hiogo, Osaka, Nagasaki, Niigata, Ebisuminato on the island of Sado, Hakodate and the City of Tokei (Yedo) shall, from the day on which this Treaty comes into operation, be opened to the Citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and to their trade. In the above ports and towns Austro-Hungarian citizens may permanently reside; they shall have the right therein to lease land, to purchase houses, and to erect dwellings and warehouses. The place where Austro-Hungarian citizens shall reside, and where they shall erect their buildings, shall be determined on by the Imperial and Royal Consular 1HſEGTUKPEQPLWPEVKQPYKVJVJGEQORGVGPVNQECN#WVJQTKVKGUVJGJCTDQWTTGIWlations shall be arranged in a similar manner. +HVJG+ORGTKCNCPF4Q[CN%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUCPFVJG,CRCPGUG#WVJQTKVKGUECPnot agree, the matter shall be submitted to the Diplomatic Agent and the Japanese Government.
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No wall, fence, or gate shall be erected by the Japanese around the place where Austro-Hungarian citizens reside, and nothing shall be done there, which may prevent free egress or ingress. Austro-Hungarian citizens shall be free to go where they please within the following limits: – At Yokohama (in the district of Kanagawa) – to the river Kokugo and ten ri in any other direction. At Hiogo – in the direction of Kioto as far as ten ri from that city, and ten ri in any other direction. At Osaka – on the South from the mouth of the Yamatogawa to Funabashimura, and from the latter place within the limits of a line drawn from there through Kiokojemura to Sado. The town of Sakai lies outside these limits, but Austro-Hungarian citizens shall be allowed to visit it: At Nagasaki – in any part of the Nagasaki district; At Niigata – and Hakodate ten ri in any direction; At Ebisuminato – throughout the whole island of Sado ; At Tokei (Yedo) – within the following boundaries : from the mouth of the Shintonegawa to Kanamahi, and from there along the high road to Mito as far as Senji; from there along the river Sumida as far as Furuyakamigo, and thence through Omuro, Takakura, Koyata, Ogiwara, Mivadera, Mitsugi and Tanaka to the ferry of Hino on the river. Kokugo. The distances of ten ri shall be measured on land from the Saibansho or Townhall of each of the above mentioned places. One Ri is equal to: – 12,367 feet Austrian measure. 4,275 yards English „ 3,910 metres French „ #WUVTQ*WPICTKCPEKVK\GPUYJQVTCPUITGUUVJGUGNKOKVUUJCNNDGNKCDNGVQCſPG QHQPGJWPFTGF/GZKECP&QNNCTUHQTVJGſTUVQHHGPEGCPFHQTCUGEQPFQHHGPEGVQ CſPGQHVYQJWPFTGFCPFſHV[/GZKECP&QNNCTU
IV.
Austro-Hungarian citizens residing in Japan shall be allowed the free exercise of their religion, and for this purpose they shall have the right to erect within the limits of their Settlement suitable places of worship.
V.
All questions in regard to rights, whether of property, or of person, arising between Austro-Hungarian citizens residing in Japan, shall be subject to the
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
jurisdiction of the Imperial and Royal Authorities. In like manner the Japanese Authorities shall not interfere in any question which may arise between Austro-Hungarian citizens and the subjects of any other Treaty Power. If an Austro-Hungarian citizen has a complaint or grievance against a Japanese subject, the case shall be decided by the Japanese Authorities. If, on the contrary, a Japanese has a complaint or grievance against a citizen of the said Monarchy, the case shall be decided by the Imperial and Royal Authorities. Should any Japanese subject fail to discharge debts incurred to an AustroHungarian citizen, or should he fraudulently abscond, the competent Japanese Authorities will do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to enforce recovery of the debts. And, should any Austro-Hungarian citizen fraudulently abscond or fail to discharge debts incurred by him to a Japanese subject, the Imperial and Royal Authorities will do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to enforce recovery of the debts. Neither the Austro-Hungarian nor the Japanese Authorities shall be held responsible for the payment of any debts contracted by Austro-Hungarian or Japanese subjects.
VI.
Austro-Hungarian citizens, who may commit any crime against Japanese subjects, or the subjects of any other nation shall be brought before the ImpeTKCNCPF4Q[CN%QPUWNCT1HſEGTCPFRWPKUJGFCEEQTFKPIVQVJGNCYUQHVJGKT country. Japanese subjects who may commit any crime against Austro-Hungarian citizens, shall be brought before the Japanese Authorities and punished according to Japanese laws.
VII.
#P[ECUGKPXQNXKPICRGPCNV[QTEQPſUECVKQPD[TGCUQPQHCP[DTGCEJQHVJKU Treaty, the Trade-Regulations, or the Tariff annexed thereto, shall be brought before the Imperial and Royal Consular Authorities for decision, every penalty GPHQTEGFQTEQPſUECVKQPOCFGD[VJGUG#WVJQTKVKGUUJCNNDGNQPIVQCPFDGCRRTQpriated by the Japanese Government. Goods which are seized shall be put under the seals of both the Japanese and Consular Authorities, and shall be kept in the Godowns of the Custom House until the Imperial and Royal Consul shall have given his decision. If this decision is in favour of the Owner or Consignee of the Goods, they shall be immediately placed at the disposal of the Consul; but should the Japanese
TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
27
Government wish to appeal against the decision of the Consul, the Owner or Consignee shall be bound to deposit their value at the Imperial and Royal ConUWNCVGWPVKNVJGſPCNFGEKUKQPJCUDGGPRTQPQWPEGF Should the seized goods be of a perishable nature, they shall be handed over to VJG1YPGTQT%QPUKIPGGGXGPDGHQTGVJGſPCNFGEKUKQPDGIKXGPQPJKUNQFIKPI the amount of their value at the Imperial and Royal Consulate. VIII.
At each of the Ports open, or to be opened to trade, Austro-Hungarian citizens shall be at full liberty to import from their own or any other ports, and sell there, and purchase therein and export to their own or to any other ports, all manner of merchandise not contraband, paying the duties thereon as laid down in the tariff annexed to this Treaty, and no other charges whatsoever. In estimating ad valoremFWVKGUKHVJG%WUVQO*QWUGQHſEGTUCTGFKUUCVKUſGF with the value placed by a merchant on any of his goods they may themselves place a value thereon, and offer to take the goods at that valuation. If the owner refuses this offer, he shall pay the duty on the valuation which the Japanese CusVQO*QWUGQHſEGTUJCXGOCFG+HQPVJGEQPVTCT[VJGQYPGTCEEGRVUVJGQHHGT the Custom House valuation shall be paid to him without delay, and without any abatement or discount. IX.
Austro-Hungarian citizens having imported merchandise into one of the open Ports of Japan, and having paid the duty due thereon, shall be entitled to demand HTQOVJG,CRCPGUG%WUVQO*QWUG#WVJQTKVKGUCEGTVKſECVGUVCVKPIVJCVUWEJRC[OGPVJCUDGGPOCFGCPFUJCNNDGCVNKDGTV[D[XKTVWGQHVJKUEGTVKſECVGVQTGGZport the same merchandise and land it in any other of the open ports without the payment of any additional duty whatever. X.
The Japanese Government engages to erect in all the open ports, warehouses, in which imported goods may be stored on the application of the importer or owner without payment of duty. The Japanese Government will be responsible for the safe custody of these goods so long as they remain in their charge, and during such time will adopt all the precautions necessary to render the said goods insurable CICKPUVſTG9JGPVJGQYPGTQTKORQTVGTYKUJGUVQTGOQXGVJGIQQFUHTQO VJGUCKFYCTGJQWUGUJGOWUVRC[VJGFWVKGUſZGFD[VJGVCTKHHCPPGZGFVQVJKU
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
treaty, but if he should wish to re-export them, he may do so without payment of duty. Storage charges must be paid in any case on delivery of the goods. The amount of these charges, as well as the regulations necessary for the management of the said warehouses, will be established by common consent of the high contracting parties.
XI.
Citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire shall be at liberty to ship all kinds of Japanese produce brought in one of the open ports in Japan to another open port in Japan without the payment of any duty. When Japanese products are shipped by an Austro-Hungarian citizen from one of the open ports to another, the said citizen shall deposit at the Custom House the amount of duty, which would have to be paid, if the same goods were exported to foreign countries. This amount shall be returned by the Japanese Authorities to the said citizen immediately, and without any objection QPVJGKTRCTVWRQPVJGRTQFWEVKQPYKVJKPUKZOQPVJUQHCEGTVKſECVGHTQOVJG Custom House at the port of destination, stating that the said goods have been landed there. In the case of goods, the export of which to foreign ports is absolutely prohibited, the shipper must deposit at the Custom House the amount of duty, which would have to be paid, if the same were exported to foreign Countries. This amount shall be returned by the Japanese Authorities to the said citizen immediately, and without any objection on their part, upon the production within six OQPVJUQHCEGTVKſECVGHTQOVJG%WUVQO*QWUGCVVJGRQTVQHFGUVKPCVKQPUVCVKPI that the said goods have been landed there. In the case of goods, the export of which to foreign ports is absolutely prohibited, the shipper must deposit at the Custom House a written declaration, binding himself to pay to the Japanese Authorities the full value of the said IQQFUKPECUGJGUJQWNFHCKNVQRTQFWEGVJGCHQTGUCKFEGTVKſECVGYKVJKPVJGVKOG above mentioned. Should a vessel, bound from one of the open ports to another, be lost on the XQ[CIGRTQQHQHVJGNQUUUJCNNVCMGVJGRNCEGQHVJG%WUVQO*QWUGEGTVKſECVGCPF a term of one year shall be allowed to the Austro-Hungarian citizen to furnish this proof.
XII.
All goods imported by citizens of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy into one of the open ports in Japan, on which the duties stipulated by the present Treaty
TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
29
have been paid, may – whether they are in the possession of Austro-Hungarian citizens or of Japanese subjects – be transported by the owners into any part of the Japanese Empire without the payment of any tax or transit-duty whatever. All articles of Japanese production may be conveyed by Japanese subjects from any place in Japan to any of the open ports without being liable to any tax or transit duty, with the exception of such tolls as are levied equally on all traders for the maintenance of roads or navigation.
XIII.
Austro-Hungarian citizens shall be at liberty to buy from Japanese and sell to VJGOCNNCTVKENGUYKVJQWVVJGKPVGTXGPVKQPQHCP[,CRCPGUG1HſEGTGKVJGTKPUWEJ purchase or sale, or in making or receiving payment for the same. All Japanese shall be at liberty to buy any articles from Austro-Hungarian citizens either within the limits of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or in the open RQTVUQH,CRCPYKVJQWVVJGKPVGTXGPVKQPQHCP[,CRCPGUG1HſEGTCPFVJG[OC[ either keep and use the articles which they have thus bought, or re-sell them. In their commercial transactions with Austro-Hungarian citizens, the Japanese shall not be subject to higher taxation than that usually paid by them in their transactions with each other. Likewise all Japanese subjects may, on condition of observing the laws, visit the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as the open ports of Japan, and there transact business with citizens of the said Empire freely and without the intervention of ,CRCPGUG1HſEGTURTQXKFGFCNYC[UVJG[UWDOKVVQVJGGZKUVKPIRQNKEGTGIWNCVKQPU and pay the established duties. All Japanese subjects may ship goods of Japanese or foreign origin to, from or between the open ports in Japan, or from or to foreign ports either in vessels owned by Japanese, or by citizens of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
XIV.
The Regulations of trade and the Tariff annexed to this Treaty, shall be considered as forming a part of the Treaty, and therefore as binding on the high contracting parties. The Diplomatic Agent of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in Japan, in conLWPEVKQPCPFD[OWVWCNCITGGOGPVYKVJUWEJ1HſEGTUCUVJG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPV may designate for this purpose, shall have power to make for all ports open to trade, such rules as are necessary to carry out the provisions of the annexed Regulations of Trade. The Japanese Authorities will adopt at each port such measures as they may judge most proper to prevent fraud and smuggling.
30
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
XV.
The Japanese Government will not prevent citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy residing in Japan from taking Japanese into their service as interpreters, teachers, servants, etc, or from employing them in any way not forbidden by law; provided always that in case such Japanese shall commit a crime, he shall be subject to Japanese law. Japanese shall also be at liberty to take service in any capacity on board of ships belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Japanese in the service of Austro-Hungarian citizens shall, on application to the local authorities, obtain permission to accompany their employers abroad. Furthermore, all Japanese, on being provided with regular passports from their Authorities, according to the proclamations of the Japanese Government dated the 23rd of May 1866, may travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire for purposes of study or trade. XVI.
The Japanese Government engage to improve immediately the manufacture of ,CRCPGUGEQKP6JG,CRCPGUGRTKPEKRCNOKPVCUYGNNCUVJGURGEKCN1HſEGUVQDG organised at all of the open ports will then receive from Foreigners and Japanese, without distinction of rank, foreign coins of all kinds as well as silver and gold bullion, and will exchange the same for Japanese coin of the same intrinsic value, FGFWEVKPICEGTVCKPEJCTIGHQTEQKPCIGVJGCOQWPVQHYJKEJYKNNDGſZGFD[ consent of the high contracting powers. Citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Japanese subjects may freely use foreign or Japanese coin in making payments to each other. Coins of all description (with the exception of Japanese copper coin), as well as foreign bullion in gold and silver may be exported from Japan. XVII.
The Japanese Government will provide all ports open to the trade of AustroHungarian citizens with such lighthouses, lights, buoys and beacons as may be necessary to facilitate and render secure the navigation of the approaches to the said ports. XVIII.
If any vessel of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy be wrecked or stranded on the coasts of Japan, or be compelled to take refuge in any Japanese port,
TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION
31
the competent Japanese Authorities, on being apprised of the fact, shall immediately render to the vessel all the assistance in their power. The persons on board shall receive friendly treatment, and be furnished, if necessary, with the means of conveyance to the nearest Austro-Hungarian Consular station.
XIX.
Supplies of all kinds for the use of the Austro-Hungarian Navy may be landed at the open ports of Japan, and stored in warehouses in the custody of Austro*WPICTKCP1HſEGTUYKVJQWVVJGRC[OGPVQHCP[FWV[$WVKHCP[UWEJUWRRNKGU are sold to Foreigners or Japanese, the purchasers shall pay the proper duty to the Japanese authorities.
XX.
It is hereby expressly stipulated, that the Austro-Hungarian Government, and the citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy shall, from the day on which their Treaty comes into operation, participate in all privileges, immunities and advantages, which have been granted, or may hereafter be granted by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan to the Government or subjects of any other nation.
XXI.
It is agreed that either of the high contracting Parties may demand a Revision of this Treaty, of the Trade Regulations, and the Tariff annexed thereto, on and after the 1st July 1872, with a view to the insertion therein of such OQFKſECVKQPUQTCOGPFOGPVUCUGZRGTKGPEGUJCNNRTQXGVQDGGZRGFKGPV+VKU necessary however, that one year’s notice must be given, before such Revision can be claimed. In case however, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan should desire the Revision of all the Treaties, before the above mentioned date, and obtain thereto the consent of all the other Treaty Powers, the Austro-Hungarian Government will also join, at the request of the Japanese Government, in the negotiations relating to the same.
XXII.
#NNQHſEKCNEQOOWPKECVKQPUCFFTGUUGFD[VJG+ORGTKCNCPF4Q[CN&KRNQOCVKE #IGPVQT%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUVQVJG,CRCPGUG#WVJQTKVKGUUJCNNDGYTKVVGPKPVJG
32
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
German language. In order, however, to facilitate the transaction of business, these communications will, for a period of three years from the date, on which this, Treaty comes into operation, be accompanied by an English or Japanese translation.
XXIII.
The present treaty is written in Seven Copies, viz: two in the Japanese, three in the English, and two in the German language. All these versions have the same meaning and intention, but in case of dispute the English Text shall be considered as the original one.
XXIV.
6JGRTGUGPV6TGCV[UJCNNDGTCVKſGFD[*KU/CLGUV[VJG'ORGTQTQH#WUVTKCCPF Apostolic King of Hungary, and His Majesty the Emperor of Japan under their JCPFUCPFUGCNUCPFVJGTCVKſECVKQPUUJCNNDGGZEJCPIGFYKVJKPVYGNXGOQPVJU from this date, or sooner, if possible. It is also agreed, that this Treaty shall come into operation from the present date. In token whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed this Treaty. Done at Tokei (Yedo), this eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine; or the fourteenth day of the ninth month of the second year of Meiji, according to Japanese reckoning.
[L. S.] [L. S.]
[L. S.] (SIGNED) FREIHERR VON PETZ %1064'#&/+4#. SAWA KIYOWARA NO ASON NOBUYOSHI. TERASHIMA FUYIWARA NO ASON MUNENORI.
Source: Printed and Published at the Daily Japan Herald Tokyo, 1871, from ‘Treaties and %QPXGPVKQPUEQPENWFGFDGVYGGP,CRCPCPF(QTGKIP0CVKQPUVQIGVJGTYKVJ0QVKſECVKQPU Regulations made From Time to Time’, 1854–1870
5
Land Regulations etc
(No. 39.)
Yokohama, December 18th, 1864. Sir, Enclosed I forward to you for general circulation copies of two Conventions recently entered into by my colleagues and myself with the Japanese AuthoriVKGUVJGſTUVJCXKPITGHGTGPEGVQEGTVCKPKORTQXGOGPVUCPFCTTCPIGOGPVUHQTVJG extension of the Foreign Settlement, which have been agreed to by the Japanese Government; and the second to the allotment agreed upon in respect to all land JGT CHVGTVQDGCESWKTGFHQT(QTGKIPQEEWRCVKQPCPFRTKXCVGWUGYKVJKPVJGNKOKVU URGEKſGF One of the main objects of the Representatives of the Four Treaty Powers, has been to put an end to all national rivalries and attempts to secure exclusive advantages in the appropriation of land. And also as regards individuals, perfect equality and fairness of distribution irrespective of nationalities, of whatever land may be available. As the present extension has certainly not been obtained for the RWTRQUGQHGPEQWTCIKPICVTCHſEKPNCPFQTOQPQRQN[QHGNKIKDNGNQVUHQTVJGCFXCPtage of a few and the prejudice of the many, but to secure to all now unprovided, and others hereafter to come, the necessary accommodation for the transaction of business, I think it desirable that no time should be lost in giving publicity to the CTTCPIGOGPVUGPVGTGFKPVQYKVJV CVXKGY I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, RUTHERFORD ALCOCK.
To Charles A.. Winchester, Esq., &C., &C., &C.,
Sir Rutherford ALCOCK, K.C.B., H.B.M’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, to their Excellencies THE MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 33
34
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
/CP[FKHſEWNVKGUJCXKPIJKVJGTVQDGGPGZRGTKGPEGFKPVJGCNNQVOGPVQHITQWPFHQT the nations having treaties with Japan the Representatives of Great Britain, France, the United States of America and the Netherlands, have thought it desirable to act in concert in this matter, and lay down certain principles to serve as a basis for any future allotments, whether at Yokohama or any other open port, and as regards their own countrymen, to insist upon their observance. These bases being intended to secure perfect equality and impartiality in the distribution of lots for all foreigners, the subjects of Treaty Powers, and to remove by anticipation any ground for future complications and embarrassment both, to the Japanese Authorities and Foreign Representatives have now been reduced to a clear and practical shape. And having been signed by the Representatives of the HQWT6TGCV[2QYGTUCDQXGURGEKſGFCEQR[KUJGTGYKVJHQTYCTFGFVQ[QWT'ZEGNlencies for approval and adoption, in the hope that the result of such accord will be to facilitate the ready allotment of all such land as may hereafter be required to enlarge the limits of existing Foreign Settlements, and in a manner that will be desirable in the common interest, and perfectly fair to all Foreigners without distinction of nationality. With respect and consideration, (Signed,)
RUTHEREFORD ALCOCK.
MEMORANDUM.
In reference to future allotments of land at the open Ports. It being desirable in the common interest to agree and determine upon some plan for the appropriation of all such land as may be required to enlarge the limits of the existing foreign Settlement at Yokohama, as also at the other open ports, in such manner as shall be equitable and fair to all, without favor or distinction of nationalities, and in order to put such plan in a clear and practical shape, the following bases have been accepted and approved by the undersigned.
I.
#NNNCPFJGTGCHVGTVQDGCESWKTGFD[VJGſNNKPIWRQHVJGUYCORCV;QMQJCOCQT recovered from the sea at Nagasaki and Hakodate, to be allotted by the Consuls in concert, and in such portions as the requirements of trade may from time to time suggest, at an upset price to be regulated by the market value of land. This price to be set upon each lot by the said Consuls in common accord. If they do not agree, then the upset price to be determined by vote of the Majority.
LAND REGULATIONS ETC
35
II.
6JGUGNQVUVQDGſTUVQHHGTGFVQCNNVJQUGUWDLGEVUQH6TGCV[2QYGTUYJQUJCNNDG at the time unprovided, and who for legitimate purpose of Trade and not for VTCHſEKPNCPFQTCUOGTGKPXGUVOGPVUUJCNNJCXGTGIKUVGTGFVJGKTPCOGUCVVJGKT respective Consulates, and each lot to be assigned in order of date of registry, irrespective of nationality.
III.
#P[QHVJGUGNQVUKHPQVCEEGRVGFCVVJGTCVGſZGFVQDGVJGPRWVWRVQCWEVKQP with a public notice, of at least 15 days, and particulars as to situation, dimensions and upset price. If this price should not be offered, the lots to be withdrawn from the sale and reserved for subsequent sale or appropriation.
IV.
The Title-deeds to be issued on the requisition of the Consuls of Treaty Powers by the Governor of the Port, and countersigned by the Consul of the nation to which the leaseholder belongs.
V.
The proceeds of any such sales shall constitute a municipal fund, under such conditions as the Consuls may conjointly agree upon. These rules to apply to any new extension of land that may be obtained in any other direction, except that when the Japanese Government will not be KPFGOPKſGFHQTVJGGZRGPUGQHVJGKORTQXGOGPVUD[TGPVQPNCPFDGHQTGXCNWGless, one half the proceeds derived from the sale thereof shall be paid to the said Government, and the remaining half retained for the said municipal fund ; and when the Japanese shall be dispossessed of any land a reasonable compensation will be paid to cover the expense of the removal of their buildings to some other locality, and no allotment of land to any foreigner for private use or advantage shall be required or sanctioned by the Consuls, and a communication to be made to the Gorogio to this effect. For public purposes the undersigned have already, in their memorandum of the 22nd of July, 1864, formally disclaimed and renounced any title to exclusive advantage whatever, in respect to concessions of land or territory, either in the open ports, or elsewhere in Japan, as whatever is granted to one may, with equal right and justice, be claimed by all in virtue of the most favored nation clause in
36
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
all existing treaties. It is to be hoped that the Tycoon’s Government, fully advised of this, will, in their own interest, avoid making exceptional grants of land to any one nation, Minister or Consul, or other authority, or without reference to the rest, and to the equal rights of all. Finally, all past experience in China and Japan having shown that any appropriation of land or concessions to distinct nationalities is a fertile source of trouble and a grave disadvantage in the end to all, raising questions of diverse jurisdiction for municipal purposes, distinct bodies of police, and tending to RTQFWEGEQPƀKEVUQHLWTKUFKEVKQPKPETGCUGFGZRGPUGCPFKORGTHGEVTGUWNVKPQTFGT and security, besides perpetuating a mischievous error that the interests of different nations in Japan are distinct, and may be promoted at each other’s expense, whereas in truth they are identical and are best promoted by union and common CEVKQPVJGWPFGTUKIPGFJCXGFGVGTOKPGFVQOCMGCPQHſEKCNTGRTGUGPVCVKQPD[ a Note Identique to the Government of the Tycoon, suggesting that upon no other bases should land be allocated for the occupation of Foreigners, at any open port in Japan, and pledging themselves to uphold this arrangement as the only one consistent with equity and the best interests of all the Treaty Powers without distinction. Yokohama, December 3rd, 1864. (Signed)
RUTHERFORD ALCOCK.
H. B. M. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan,
Leon Roches. Minister Plenipotentiare de S. M. L’Empereur des Français au Japon. ROBERT H. PRUYN. Minister Resident of the United States. D. DE GRAEFF VAN POLSBROEK. H. N. M.’s Consul General and Political Agent. 1HſEKCN0QVKſECVKQP
MEMORANDUM.
Certain proposals for the enlargement of the Settlement at Yokohama and other public objects connected therewith having been discussed and generally agreed upon by the Undersigned Foreign Representatives on the one part, and Shibata Hiunga no Kami and Shirashi Shimosa no Kami on the other, on the 8th Septem-
LAND REGULATIONS ETC
37
ber, 24th October and 8th of this present month, as recorded in minutes of each signed by the aforesaid Representatives, it has now been resolved to put on record, in a clear and practical shape, the bases and conditions of such improvements, GZVGPUKQPCPFRWDNKEYQTMUCUPQYſPCNN[CITGGFWRQPVQYJKEJVJGUKIPCVWTGUQH the said Foreign Representatives and Japanese Commissioners shall be appended HQTVJGTCVKſECVKQPQHVJG)QXGTPOGPVQHVJG6[EQQPCV;GFQYKVJKPſXGFC[U from, the date of these presents. It has accordingly been agreed and resolved as follows: –
I.
An allotment of ground already marked out on the other side of the Consulate, giving a circuit of the English mile (eighteen Japanese chô) to be made and designated in perpetuity for a parade and exercise ground for all nations, also for a Racecourse HQTVJG(QTGKIP%QOOWPKV[6JGITQWPFDGKPIPQYCOCTUJVQDGſNNGFWRD[VJG Japanese Government at their own expense, and as it is for common occupation both, by Japanese and Foreigners as a place of exercise no rental to be claimed for the same, with exception of the outside circle destined for a Race Course, for which TGPVUJCNNDGRCKFCVCTCVGJGTGCHVGTVQDGſZGF
II.
A site and temporary huts having been provided for naval, military and Civil Smallpox patients of all nations – it is understood that an addition of either one or two huts being essential to complete the accommodation, these shall be put up by the ,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVKPVJGſTUVKPUVCPEGCVVJGTGSWKUKVKQPQHVJG(QTGKIP%QPUWNU to avoid delay, on the latter undertaking to repay the cost of erection.
III.
#HWTVJGTGZVGPUKQPYKVJKPVJGNKOKVUCNTGCF[FGſPGFQHVJGITQWPFHQTC%GOGtery for all nations to be granted, contiguous with that already so appropriated, on the joint application of the Consuls.
IV.
A site having been allotted by the sea-shore for the building of abattoirs, &c., necessary to relieve the settlement of a great nuisance, unsightly alike to Japanese and
38
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
Foreigners, and prejudicial to health, it has now been agreed that the necessary buildings according to plans already furnished, shall be erected without delay by the Japanese Government, to be let under the control of the Foreign Consuls only to such butchers as they shall duly license; – the said butchers to rent the premises when completed, paying a yearly rental of ten per cent upon the cost of erection. But it is distinctly understood that the total cost shall not exceed about $10,000, a little more or less, the exact amount to be settled with the Consuls. V.
6JGYJQNGQHVJGUYCORQPVJKUUKFGQHVJGECPCNVQDGſNNGFWRD[VJG,CRCPGUG Government and at their expense. When this is effected, the Kôsakimachi, now situated in the midst, to be removed to the end farthest from the Foreign UGVVNGOGPV +P VJG GXGPV QH ſTG CPF VJG DWTPKPI FQYP QH VJKU GUVCDNKUJOGPV before the completion of this work, it is agreed that it shall not be rebuilt on the present site. 1HVJKUUYCORITQWPFYJGPſNNGFWRVJG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVUJCNNTGUGTXG for Foreign occupation, to be actually allotted to them from time to time, in such portions as may be required on the joint requisition of the Consuls, the space lying between the Otamachi and the canal called Okagawa, on a line with the street between the Custom-house and the Consular lot as marked in red in the plan annexed No. 1 ; the proceeds arising from such disposal to be added to a Municipal fund, which shall be employed for the making and drainage of roads, &c., and keeping them in a state of repair. It is understood that rent shall be paid as for all other allotments within the Foreign Settlement.
VI.
The location and site now being cleared and actually assigned for Consular resiFGPEGUCPFQHſEGUOCTMGFKPVJGCPPGZGFRNCPVJGUCOGVQDGENGCTGFEQORNGVGN[ of all buildings or tenements and delivered over to the Consuls for appropriatiation to such uses and divided as heretofore agreed upon by the Consuls among themselves, without further intervention of the Japanese Authorities, rentals being paid by the respective tenants as in other portions of the Foreign settlement.
VII.
The whole of the ground extending from Custom-house Hatoba along the sea-front to the lot recently assigned to the French at Benten and backward to
LAND REGULATIONS ETC
39
the Main street, (sec. No. 3 in plan annexed), to be held available for Foreign occupation and appropriated at. public sale, open to competition by Foreigners and Japanese, in such proportions or quantity as from time to time may be found expedient. The Japanese Government undertakes, when these appropriations are in progress, to extend the present Bund of the Foreign settlement, from the Customhouse Hatoba to the French lot at Benten. Towards the expense of this work already agreed upon in the former conferences of the 8th Sept., and 24th Oct., and recorded in the memoranda before mentioned, one-half the proceeds of sale or prices paid for right of location in this new extension of settlement along the seaside (after paying expenses and indemnities for loss or removal of the present Japanese tenants), to be paid to the Governor of Kanagawa so long as the YJQNGGZRGPUGUJCNNPQVJCXGDGGPTGKODWTUGFCEEQTFKPIVQXGTKſGFGUVKOCVGU and contracts for the work done. It is understood that the rent shall be paid the same as for all other allotments.
VIII.
As the Ministers of the Treaty powers are not at present enabled to resume their residence at Yedo, it may be necessary to make provision for the temporary location of one or more at Yokohama. With this object in view, the French and Dutch Representatives having already locations assigned to them at Benten (as also the Prussian Consul) it is expressly agreed and provided that the remaining portion of the sea-front of Benten extending from the Prussian lot to the Western corner and marked No. 4 in the annexed plan, shall be reserved for the Ministers or Diplomatic Representatives of Great Britain and the United States, and if not immediately required, shall not be otherwise appropriated for any use, except as at present occupied, without reference to them, and their consent obtained; the size of the location to be settled afterwards, between the Japanese Government and the Representatives of the above named two nations.
IX.
An adequate site for a Clubhouse for the United Services of all nations having been promised, either on the site of the buildings now occupied by the British Commissariat, marked No. 5, in the plan annexed, or in its close vicinity, it is agreed that quick possession shall be secured, and the Trustees of the Club shall pay the estimated value of any buildings thereon or pay all the expenses of their removal by the owners, and be subject to rental in like manner as all other Foreigners holding land.
40
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
X.
A conveniently situated Market being a great desideratum for Japanese for the sale of provisions, it is agreed that the open space now in use for that purpose, and marked No. 6 in the annexed plan, shall be further enlarged and levelled, and at one extremity a series.of stalls erected under a piazza or covered way for the sale of provisions.
XI
As under the present state of affairs the Japanese Government desire Foreigners to ride on the Tokaido as little as possible, they undertake to make a good riding TQCFHQTVJGGZGTEKUGQH(QTGKIPGTUHQWTQTſXGOKNGUKPGZVGPVYKPFKPITQWPF and through the Mississippi Valley, not less than twenty feet wide, to be made and kept in good order by the Japanese Government in accordance with the plans agreed upon and already being put in execution under the direction and UWRGTKPVGPFGPEGQH/CLQT9C[CEJKGHGPIKPGGTQHſEGT
XII.
Finally, in order to avoid all further discussion about the keeping of roads, drainage, cleaning of streets and other Municipal objects for which hitherto the Japanese local authorities have been held responsible in view of the high rental paid by all Foreign leaseholders, it has been agreed that these objects shall henceforth be secured by the Foreign Land-renters themselves, and towards the expenses that must be incurred annually there shall be a deduction of 20 % from the yearly rent paid by all lands leased to foreigners, to be paid into the Municipal fund. In witness whereof we, the undersigned Foreign Representatives and Japanese Commissioners, duly empowered to that effect, hereto set our hands and seals this 19th day of December 1864. Done in Quintruplicate. (S’d) RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, H. B. M’s Envoy Extraordinary Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan. (S’d) LEON ROCHES, Ministre Plenipotentiare de S. M. L’Empe-reur des Francais, au Japan. (S’d) ROBERT H. PRUYN, Minister Resident of the United States. (S’d) D. DE GRAEFF VAN POLSBROEK, N. M.’s Consul General and Political Agent in Japan. (S’d) SHIBATA HIUNGA-NO-KAMI.
LAND REGULATIONS ETC
41
„ Shibaishi Shimosa-no-Kami. Japanese Commissioners.
2WDNKE0QVKſECVKQP
DUTY ON TIMBER.
It being provided by Article II. of the Convention of Yedo that, six months after the signature of that Convention, the duty on timber may be changed upon the demand of any of the Contracting Parties, from an ad valorem to C URGEKſE TCVG VJG 7PFGTUKIPGF JGTGD[ PQVKſGU HQT VJG IGPGTCN KPHQTOCVKQP of Her Majesty’s subjects, that he and his colleagues, the Representatives of France, the United States and Holland, have concluded with the Japanese Government the following arrangement, which will take effect on and from the First day of March next: –
I. – Duty on Soft Woods,
All kinds, as Hinoki (Spruce), Mutsu (Pine), Todo (Fir), Sugi (Cedar), etc., whether in the rough, cut or dressed, average value per 100 kokus, 120 Bus – Duty 6 Bus. II. – Duty on Hard Woods,
All kinds, as Nara (Oak), Tamo (Elm), Sen (Ash), Bunno (Beech), Itaya (Maple), Kuri (Chestnut), Ha (Alder), Kaba (Birch), Katsura, Ho, S’koro, Yas’se, Keaki, Kashi, Is’su, Kusonaki, Kuragaki, etc., whether in the rough, cut or dressed, average value per 100 kokus, 152 Bus – Duty 7 Bus 60 cents. The above duties will be levied at the Port of Hakodate only; at Yokohama and Nagasaki the ad valorem rate will continue in force. NOTE. – The koku measures 10 cubic feet English, or 120 feet American timber measure of one inch in thickness. HARRY S. PARKES. *$./ŏU'PXQ['ZVTCQTFKPCT[CPF/KPKUVGT 2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[KP,CRCP
42
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
H. B. M,’s LEGATION, Yedo, 1st February, 1867. 0QVKſECVKQP
The Undersigned hereby makes known to all subjects of Her Britannic Majesty that the port of Hiogo and the city of Osaka are this day opened to British trade, in accordance with the stipulations of the London agreement of the 6th of June, 1862, by which the execution of the provisions of the Treaty of Yedo in respect to the said port and city was deferred until this date. The Regulations of Trade attached to the said Treaty will therefore come into effect at Hiogo on and from this date, in the same manner as at the other open ports; and the Undersigned has agreed with the Japanese Government that British trade at Osaka shall be conducted in accordance with the annexed Regulations, until experience shall UJGYKPYJCVOCPPGTVJGUGOC[DGCFXCPVCIGQWUN[OQFKſGF Pending the receipt of Her Majesty’s Commissions, Francis Gerard Myburgh, 'USWKTGPQY*GT/CLGUV[ŏU%QPUWNCV-CPCICYCYKNNQHſEKCVGCU%QPUWNHQTVJG Consular district of Hiogo and Osaka, and John Frederick Lowder, Esquire, will act as Vice Consul for the same district. The Consul will for the present be stationed at the port of Hiogo, and the Vice Consul at the city of Osaka. The Undersigned has to direct the attention of Her Majesty’s subjects to his NotiſECVKQPQHVJGVJQH/C[CUEQPVCKPKPIVJGEQPFKVKQPUWRQPYJKEJDWKNFKPI land may be leased by British subjects at Hiogo and Osaka, and, in order to estimate VJGPWODGTQHNQVUVJCVUJQWNFDGRWVWRCVVJGſTUVRWDNKEUCNGKVKUFGUKTCDNGVJCV British subjects wishing to lease land at either of these places should signify their intention to the Consul or Vice Consul respectively at an early date. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and /KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[KP,CRCP
H. B. M.’s Legation, Osaka, January 1st, 1866.
Regulations for the Trade and Residence of Foreigners at Osaka. I.
As Osaka is not an open port no foreign merchant vessel can anchor there. Until arrangements shall be made for the establishment of a Custom-house at Osaka,
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foreigners wishing to import goods into that city must enter them at the Custom-house at Hiogo according to the Regulations of Trade attached to the Treaties, and must pay duty there, unless duty has already been paid on the same at some other open port of Japan. In the same way, all goods exported from Osaka by foreigners must also be cleared from, and pay duty at Hiogo, before they can be shipped onboard any foreign vessel at that port. II.
Lighters, towboats, and passage boats, propelled by steam or sails, and belonging to foreigners, may ply between Hiogo and Osaka for the conveyance of cargo and passengers, under the Regulations hereto annexed, and subject to the provisions of the Regulations of Trade attached to the Treaties.
III. Foreigners living at Osaka shall be free to go where they please within the following boundaries, namely; On the south the Yamatogawa from its mouth as far as Funabashimura; and a line drawn from that place through Kiokojimura to Sada. The town of Sakai is outside the limits, but foreigners will be at liberty to visit it. The road between Osaka and Hiogo lies outside the limit of ten ri from Kioto. No obstruction shall be opposed to the free circulation of foreigners either by land or water in every part of the city of Osaka open to the Japanese public. IV.
REGULATIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOWBOAT, LIGHTER AND PASSAGE BOAT SERVICE, BETWEEN HIOGO AND OSAKA. 1.
No Foreign lighter, towboat or passage boat, may ply between Hiogo and Osaka, unless furnished with a license by the Japanese Authorities.
2.
Whenever application is made for a license, the Governor of Hiogo and the Consul of the Nation to which the boat belongs, shall consider the application and
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
determine whether a license shall be granted. Each license must be signed by the Governor, and countersigned by the Consul, and must contain a full description of the boat, in their respective languages. 3.
Each license must be cancelled or renewed, as the Governor and Consul may determine, at the expiration of each year, and a fee of one ichibu per ton measurement, payable to the Japanese Government will be charged on the issue or renewal of each licence. 4.
No license shall be issued to any foreign boat or vessel drawing more than eight feet of water. 5.
6JG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVOC[RWV%WUVQO*QWUG1HſEGTUQPDQCTFCP[NKEGPUGF DQCVYJGPGXGTVJG[OC[VJKPMRTQRGTQTOC[CRRQKPVQHſEGTVQCEEQORCP[VJG said boats on the pasage between Hiogo and Osaka. 6.
All goods taken on board a licensed boat at Hiogo must be accompanied by FWV[RCKFQTFWV[HTGGEGTVKſECVGUCPFCNNIQQFUNCPFGFCV1UCMCYKVJQWVUWEJ EGTVKſECVGUYKNNDGNKCDNGVQUGK\WTGCPFEQPſUECVKQP 7.
A licensed boat may only take in and discharge goods at Hiogo and Osaka at the wharves indicated by the Japanese authorities, or by means of boats authorised for the purpose by the Japanese Government.
8.
No licensed boat may be employed in any other way than for the conveyance of goods and passengers, or the towage of licensed boats between Hiogo and Osaka,
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nor may they communicate with any other place, or with any native or foreign vessel on the passage.
9.
The Foreign crews of licensed boats or vessels, with the exception of the masters, will not be allowed to land at Osaka. 10.
Any breach of these Regulations, or of any other Regulations that may subsequently be made on this subject, may be punished by forfeiture of license, in addition to such penalty as may be imposed by the Consul of the nation to which the boat belongs under the powers vested in him by his Government for securing the observances of Treaties and Conventions by his countrymen.
0QVKſECVKQP The undersigned hereby makes known to Her Britannic Majesty’s Subjects that the Government of the Mikado have consented to open the port of Osaka to the 5JKRRKPIQH6TGCV[2QYGTUHTQOVJGſTUVFC[QH5GRVGODGTPGZV By this arrangement, Articles I and II of the Regulations for the trade and Residence of Foreigners at Osaka and published by the Undersigned in his NotiſECVKQPQHVJGſTUVFC[QH,CPWCT[CTGECPEGNNGFCPFQPCPFCHVGTVJGſTUV day of September next, British vessels may anchor and trade at Osaka subject to the Regulations (attached to the Treaty) under which British Trade is conducted at the open ports of Japan. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES. Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extradinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan.
H. B. M’s. LEGATION, Yokohama, July 30, 1868. 0QVKſECVKQP
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
The undersigned, in common with the Representatives of the other Treaty Powers, has been requested by the Japanese Government to make known, for the information of their respective Countrymen, the determination of the Japanese Government to enforce the provisions of the Treaties in respect to the trading of foreign vessels in non-opened Ports in Japan. The undersigned has accordingly to warn British Subjects of the penalties they incur by the commission of any breach of the aforesaid stipulations. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES.
*$/ŏU'PXQ['ZVTCQTFKPCT[CPF/KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[
H. B. M. Legation. Yedo, December 21st, 1869.
0QVKſECVKQP The undersigned publishes, for the general information of Her Britannic Majesty’s Subjects, the annexed translation of a Communication which he has received from the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, informing him of certain reductions KPVJGFWVKGUQP5KPINGVUCPF&TCYGTUYJKEJVCMGGHHGEVQPCPFHTQOVJGſTUVQH January next. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES.
*$/ŏU Envoy'ZVTCQTFKPCT[/KPKUVGTRNGPKRQVGPVKCT[
H. B. M.’s Legation. Yedo, December 21st, 1869. TRANSLATION. November 23rd, 1869. Sir, We have the honor to inform you that in consequence of an arrangement, made when the Treaty was concluded with the North German Confederation, the following reductions have been made in the import duties on the articles mentioned below, which are found under the heading “Cotton and Woolen Mixtures” in the Tariff. %QVVQP5KPINGVUCPF&TCYGT [per dozon.. boo cent. Former duty ................... ............................................. ............... 30 Reduced duty..... ... .... ... ...
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9QQNNGP5KPINGVUCPF&TCYGTU [per dozen Former duty ..................................... .............. ... ... 100 Reduced duty 80 Cotton and Woollen Mixed Singlets and Drawers [per dozen... boo cent. Former duty ... ... .......................................................... 60 Reduced duty ................. ... ....................................... 50 6JGCDQXGTGFWEVKQPUYKNNEQOGKPVQQRGTCVKQPHTQOVJGſTUVFC[QH,CPWCT[ 1870. 9GJCXGVJGJQPQWTVQTGSWGUV[QWVQKUUWGCPQVKſECVKQPUVQ$TKVKUJ5WDLGEVU to the above effect. We have &C. (Signed)
SAWA ,75#0+-+;19#4#014+;15*6/KPUVGTHQT
(QTGKIP#HHCKTU
TERASHIMA JU SHI I FUJIWARA MUNENORI, Vice Minister for (QTGKIP#HHCKTU
His Excellency Sir HARRY S. PARKES K. C. B. &C., &C., &C., 0QVKſECVKQP
The Undersigned hereby makes known for the general information of H. B. M.’s subjects, that by an arrangement concluded between the Representatives of the Treaty Powers, and the Japanese Government, all native coal exported in foreign steamers shall be held to be shipped for ship’s use and shall therefore be passed by the Customhouse free of Duty; while all native coal exported in foreign sailing vessels shall pay the export Duty of the Tariff attached to the Convention of Yedo 1866. H. B. M,’s Legation. Yedo, Dec. 2 st. 1869. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES.
*$/ŏU'PXQ['ZVTCQTFKPCT[CPF/KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[
2WDNKE0QVKſECVKQP
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary, Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul General in Japan, hereby makes known to all Her Majesty’s subjects in Japan that he has this day concluded with Plenipotentiaries on the part of the Japanese Government, and in concert with his colleagues, the Representatives of France, the United States of America, and Holland, the HQNNQYKPI#ITGGOGPVHQTVJGKORTQXGOGPVUGEWTKV[HTQOſTGCPFGZVGPUKQPQH the settlement of Yokohama. HARRY S. PARKES.
H. B. M.’s LEGATION, Yedo, December 29th, 1869.
AGREEMENT. +VDGKPIPGEGUUCT[KPQTFGTVQIWCTFCICKPUVVJGFCPIGTQHſTGVJCVVJGEGPVTGQH the settlement of Yokohama should be reconstructed upon an improved plan, and it being desirable to reconsider in this connection certain provisions of the Convention of the 19th Dec. 1864, and also to make other arrangements for the well being of the settlement, the Japanese government have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries for the above purposes Oguri Kodzukenoske, a Commissioner of Finance, Shibata Hiunga no Kami, a Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, and Midzono Wakasa no Kami, Governor of Kanagawa, who, having met in consultation the undesigned Foreign Representatives, have concluded with them the following agreement in twelve Articles. –
I.
The stipulations contained in Article I of the aforesaid Convention relative VQ VJG ſNNKPI KP QH VJG /CTUJ CV VJG DCEM QH VJG 1MCICYC %CPCN HQT C TCEG course, parade, and exercise ground, are hereby annulled ; and in return for this concession, the Japanese Government agree to substitute the race course now completed on the plateau overlooking Negishi bay, and to enlarge, lay out, and plant as a public garden, to be used both by foreigners and Japanese, VJGUKVGQHVJGQNF-QUCMK/CEJ YJKEJKUVQDGTGOQXGFVQVJGUQWVJUKFGQH the Okagawa Canal. No rent will be charged for this garden by the Japanese Government, but the Governor of Kanagawa and the foreign Consuls will concert measures for defraying the expenses of preserving the grounds and maintaining order therein.
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II.
The Undersigned Foreign Representatives resign the right conceded to Foreigners by the Article VII of the aforesaid Convention, to compete with the Japanese in RWTEJCUKPICVRWDNKE#WEVKQPNGCUGUQHVJGNCWFQPVJGUGCHÆQPVDGVYGGPVJG%WUVQO House Hatoba and Benten and backwards to the Main Street of the Japanese Settlement; and the Japanese Government agree, in return for this concession, VQEQPUVTWEVVJGHQNNQYKPITQCFUſTUVCTQCFQHUKZV[HGGVKPYKFVJVQDGECTTKGF from the west end of the present Bund to the head of the wide street fronting the French Legation; second, a road in continuation of the said street and of similar width and level, to run in a direct line to the Yoshida Bridge ; third, a road of sixty feet in width, to ran from the said bridge along the north bank of the Okagawa Canal to the Nishino Bridge. The Japanese government agree to complete these roads within fourteen months from the date of this agreement, and keep them in a state of good repair.
III.
In order to improve the foreign and native portions of the settlement, and to RTQVGEVDQVJCICKPUVVJGURTGCFQHſTGKVKUCITGGFVJCVCUVTGGVQTTQCFQH feet in width shall be carried through the centre of the settlement from the seafront to the public garden above referred to ; that the low ground in the middle of this space shall be raised to the level of the ground in the front and rear of it, and that the whole space when thus raised shall be levelled with a fall for drainage towards the Okagawa Canal, and shall then be laid ont according to the annexed plan (A.) in eight blocks. The Consular Lot and three new blocks on the Eastern side of the centre road will be reserved for the occupation of foreigners in the manner hereinafter provided ; and the Custom House Lot and the three new blocks on the western side of the said Road will be reserved for the occupation of Japanese, or may be otherwise disposed of in such manner CU VJG ,CRCPGUG )QXGTPOGPV OC[ UGG ſV 6JG ſNNKPI KP CPF NGXGNNKPI UVKRWlated in this article shall be completed within seven months from the date of this agreement.
IV.
Of the three new blocks of ground which willl thus be formed on the Eastern side of the Centre Road, one shall be reserved for public buildings required by the foreign community and approved by the Consuls : such as Town Hall, 2WDNKE4QQOU2QUVCPF2QNKEGQHſEGU(KTG'PIKPG*QWUGEVJGWUWCNTGPV of Twenty seven dollars and ninety seven cents per hundred Tsubos being paid
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
annually for the same to the Japanese Government. But in consideration of the expense which will be incurred by the Japanese Government in improving the centre of the town, raising the ground, and laying out the Roads according to the annexed plan (A.) and draining the same, it is agreed that the Japanese Government may dispose of the leases of the ground contained in the remaining two blocks on the East side of the Centre Road to foreigners at public Auction, due notice of which shall be given to the Foreign Consuls for the information of their respective countrymen.
V.
The Centre Road aforesaid and the two streets which will be formed parallel thereto, together with the various cross streets laid down in the annexed plan (A.) shall be well made, thoroughly drained, and kept in good repair by the Japanese Government. The size and direction of these drains shall be determined by the Governor of Kanagawa and the Foreign Consuls in consultation together. A sidewalk of twenty feet in width shall be constructed on each side of the Centre Road, and a row of trees shall be planted on the outer edge of each sidewalk. The two new streets parallel to the Centre Road shall be provided with sidewalks of ten feet in width.
VI.
Every building erected upon any lot of ground comprised within the annexed plan (A.) whether in the occupation of Foreigners or of Japanese, must be of a substantial character. The roofs must be tiled and the walls constructed of bricks, stone or thick piaster. The holder of any of these lots, whether foreigner or Japanese, committing a breach of any of the aforesaid conditions, and failing, after due notice given by the Japanese Government, to rectify the same, will forfeit his title to such lot, which will then revert to the Japanese Government to be disposed of according to the established rules. VII.
6JCVRCTVQHVJG8#TVKENGQHVJGCHQTGUCKFEQPXGPVKQPYJKEJTGNCVGUVQVJGſNNKPI in of the swamp on the north side of the Okagawa Canal having been only parVKCNN[HWNſNNGFKVKUJGTGD[UVKRWNCVGFVJCVVJG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVUJCNNEQORNGVG VJGſNNKPIKPQHVJGUYCORDGJKPFVJG,CRCPGUGRQTVKQPQHVJGUGVVNGOGPVYKVJKP seven months from this date, and that satisfactory provision shall be made for the draining of the same.
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VIII.
The lot of ground denoted for that purpose in the annexed plan (A.) shall be appropriated for the market place stipulated in Article X of the aforesaid Convention, and the covered stalls therein agreed to shall he provided by the Japanese Government, and let by them, at moderate rents. The limits of the extension of the Cemetery for all nations stipulated in the third ArtiENGQHVJGCHQTGUCKF%QPXGPVKQPCTGPQYFGſPGFD[VJGRNCP $CPPGZGFVQ this agreement.
IX.
The Okagawa Canal, which is becoming shallow at its Eastern entrance shall be dredged by the Japanese Government, who will maintain throughout its course round the settlement a depth of not less than four feet at low water.
X.
After three months from the date of this Agreement, ground on the hills on the Eastern side of the settlement may he leased by foreigners from the Japanese Government at a rental of $12 per hundred tsuboos per Annum and the Japanese Government may dispose of the leases of the said ground at public Auction and will use the premia thus obtained for the improvement of the said locality. The hill lot of which a plan (C.) is annexed to this agreement, shall be reserved for the use of the foreign community as a public park, at a low rental of six dollars per hundred Tsubos, provided that application be made for the same upon these terms through the foreign Consuls, within three months from the date of this Agreement; and the Japanese Government undertake to preserve in the meantime the trees now standing on the said lot. And to transfer them with the land free of further charge in the event of the said lot being appropriated for the abovementioned purpose. The ground occupied by the Race Course referred to in Article I, is shown in the annexed plan (D.) and the rent thereof shall be ten dollars per hundred tsubos to he paid annually in advance. The course is made at the expense of the Japanese Government, but is to be kept in repair by the foreign community.
XI.
The lands reserved for public buildings, cemetery, public Park, and race course, as provided in Articles IV, VIII, and X of this agreement shall be given over to
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
the foreign Consuls in trust for the use of the Foreign Community. Title Deeds to be approved by the Foreign Representatives. The foreign Consuls will provide that these lands shall be used for no other purposes than those indicated in this agreement. They will see that the stipulated rents are paid to the Japanese government, and they will prevent the erection of any buildings thereon, excepting such as may be required for the promotion of the objects herein named. In the event of any of these condition being infringed, and of failure on part of the foreign Consuls to correct such infringement upon formal application made to them by the Governor of Kanagawa, the Japanese government may, with the concurrence of the foreign representatives, re-enter into possession of that portion of the said lands upon which the infringement may have been committed. Upon the same principle, the Japanese government may annul the title deed of any portion of the land in the Consular Lot that may be used for any other RWTRQUGVJCP%QPUWNCTTGUKFGPEGUCPFQHſEGUVJCVDGKPIVJGURGEKCNQDLGEVHQT which the grant of the said land was made by the Japanese government under the VI th Article of the aforesaid convention.
XII.
When all the ground within the limits of the present Foreign settlement shall have been occupied, or when the foreign Representatives are of opinion that more ground is really required by foreign residents, the Japanese Government will be prepared to provide for the extension of the settlement on the Hom’mura side of the Creek, on terms hereafter to be agreed upon, by conceding for the use of foreigners all the space between the canal and the hills as far as the commencement of the new Road, as shown in the annexed plan (B.) ; provided that application for this space be not made earlier than four years from the date of this agreement. The Japanese who will in that case have to give up their present tenements, will receive a fair compensation for the cost or loss incurred by removal from the foreigner for whose convenience they are required to quit. The temples however, will be preserved. In witness whereof the Undersigned Foreign Representatives and Japanese Plenipotentiaries aforesaid have hereunto set their hands and seals at Yedo this twenty ninth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty six : and the four plans, severally marked A. B. C. and D. which are annexed to this Agreement, are also authenticated by the signatures of the Undersigned. (Here follow the signatures.) 0QVKſECVKQP
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The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, hereby publishes for the general information of Her Majesty’s subjects, the subjoined correspondence between himself and the Japanese Government relative to the formation of foreign settlements at Hiogo and Osaka. HARRY S. PARKES,
Osaka, May 17th, 1867.
Her Britannic Majesty’s Enjoy Extraordinary and /KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[KP,CRCP
May 16th, SIR, The enclosed are rules which we propose to make for the establishment of foreign settlements at the port of Hiogo and at Osaka, and we shall be obliged by your informing us whether they meet with your approval. We have, etc. (S’d) ITAKURA IGA-NO-KAMI. “INABA MINO-NO-KAMI. “OGASAWARA IKI-NO-KAMI.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS AT THE PORT OF HIOGO AND AT OSAKA. I.
The Japanese Government will form at Hiogo a settlement for foreigners of all nations having Treaties with Japan on the ground situated between the town of Kobé and the Ikuta river. The Japanese Government will raise that portion of the ground coloured red on the annexed plan, and will give it such an incline towards the sea as is necessary for the thorough drainage of the site. They will also construct an embankment faced with stone on the sea front of the said site, of not less than four hundred ken in length and will provide such roads and drains as may hereafter be determined on.
II.
As soon as all the ground thus prepared in accordance with the preceding article for the use of the foreigners above-named is occupied and more space is required, the settlement may be extended towards the hills at the back as far as may be
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
found necessary, and Japanese owning ground or buildings in the town of Kobé will then be at liberty to lease the same to foreigners if they wish to do so.
III.
The Japanese Government will set aside the site shown in the annexed plan and coloured red, within which foreigners may, in the terms of the Treaties, hire houses and reside at Osaka. But no Japanese shall be compelled to rent any building to foreigners within the said site against his will, and as the Japanese Government are willing that foreigners of those nations having Treaties with Japan should enjoy at Osaka the same facilities for leasing ground and building houses as are secured to them by Treaty at the ports, the Japanese Government are prepared to lease to foreigners for building purposes, that portion of land on the same plan which is coloured blue. The Japanese Government will raise the ground now under cultivation on the west face of the latter site to the level of the other portion of the ground within it, and will embank it with stone. The necessary roads and drains will be provided, and the trees will be carefully preserved.
IV.
The abovementioned site for building purposes shall be extended in a southerly direction as far as may be found necessary, whenever it shall have been occupied by the foreigners above named, and more space is required for their use.
V.
The Japanese Government will prepare the said sites at Hiogo and Osaka in the manner above stated, in time for the occupation of foreigners on the 1st of January next. VI.
The Japanese Government will be reimbursed the cost of preparing the said sites for the use of the foreigners above-named by the sale of the leases of the ground. The land will be divided into lots, and prices placed upon the different lots, which will vary with the eligibility of the situation, but will amount in the aggregate to the total outlay incurred by the Japanese Government. This outlay will form the basis for calculating the upset prices at which the lots will be offered to foreigners at auction. The foreigners of all nations having Treaties with Japan may bid at
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these auctions, and each bidder may obtain as much land as he requires. The money realized above the upset prices will be retained by the Japanese Government as compensation for deprivation of interest on capital, and for the risk that may be incurred of not recovering the outlay.
VII.
All the ground leased to foreigners at Osaka and Hiogo will be subject to the RC[OGPVQHCPCPPWCNTGPVECNEWNCVGFCVCTCVGVJCVYKNNDGEQPUKFGTGFUWHſEKGPV to meet the expenses of keeping in repair the roads and drains, the cleansing and lighting of and maintaining order in the settlements, and the ordinary land tax payable at the present date to the Japanese Government.
VIII.
The Japanese Government will not grant or dispose of any of the ground set aside by the preceding articles for the establishment of foreign settlements at Hiogo and Osaka to any foreign government, company or individual for building or other purposes, except at public auction, in the manner laid down in the preceding articles. The Foreign Consuls will not be provided with separate grants of land by the Japanese Government either within or without the foreign settlements. IX.
In determining the upset price of all the land to be thus leased to foreigners at Hiogo and Osaka, the amount of annual rent, the number and size of the streets, lots and drains, the quantity of ground to be put up to auction at one time, the conditions and date of sale and the formation of the cemeteries hereinafter mentioned, the Japanese Government will consult the foreign Representatives. X.
Insurable warehouses, in which the goods of foreigners may be stored in bond, will be provided by the Japanese Government both at Hiogo and Osaka, in the same manner as is stipulated in the Convention of Yedo. At the former place the space coloured blue on the annexed plan will be reserved by the Japanese )QXGTPOGPVHQTVJKUCPFQVJGTQHſEKCNRWTRQUGUCPFVJGFQEMPQYEQOOGPEGF will be removed.
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
XI.
The Japanese Government will form a Cemetery for the use of all nations at Hiogo, on the hill in the rear of the foreign settlement, and another at Osaka at Zuikenzan. The Japanese Government will lay out the cemeteries and surround them with fences; the expenses of maintaining and repairing the cemeteries will be borne by the foreign communities.
XII.
The Japanese Government will select, at Yedo, in concert with the foreign Representatives, a port on the West Coast at which a foreign settlement may be formed, as well as the place within which houses may be rented by foreigners at Yedo. These will be made in accordance with the Treaty and Convention abovementioned, and on the basis of the present arrangments. Translated by (SIGNED)
E. SATOW.
Osaka, May 17th, 1867. The Undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary has received from the Japanese Ministers for Foreign Affairs their note dated the 16th Instant, enclosing a copy of the arrangements which they have made for the establishment of foreigners at Hiogo and Osaka on the 1st January next; and he hereby begs to inform their Excellencies that he considers these arrangements suitable and proper, and that he accepts them on the part of his Government. The Undersigned takes the opportunity of expressing to their Excellencies the high sense which he entertains of the desire manifested on this occasion by the Taikun’s Government to carry out the Treaties with Foreign Powers in a liberal manner, as well as of the friendly spirit which their Excellencies have evinced in conducting the negociations which have resulted in the above arrangements. The undersigned, etc. (SIGNED)
Their Excellencies The Japanese Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
HARRY S. PARKES
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0QVKſECVKQP The undersigned publish for the information and guidance of their respective Countrymen, the annexed translations of two letters which they have received from the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs at this Port With regard to the latter, it is of course to be understood that this arrangement will not interfere with the payment of duties at the rate stipulated by the Treaties.
(Signed) (Signed) (Signed) (Signed) (Signed)
A. J. BAUDUIN, * N. /ŏU%QPUWN Fred. LOWDER, */ŏU#EVKPI%QPUWN J. VIAULT, 8%QPUWNGFG(TCPEGGVCIGPV%QPUWNCKTUFŏ +VCNKG PAUL FRANK, 75 %QPUWNCT#IGPV C. IWERSEN, Acting Consular Agent for Prussia. TRANSLATION. 30TH MARCH, 1868.
SIR, – I have the honour to inform you that in accordance with an arrangement concluded at Kioto on the 26th instant between the Mikado’s Government and the Representatives of France, England and Holland, Foreigners and Japanese may in future make agreements between themselves and at their own convenience. for leasing land or houses at this port ; and that having purchased houses, (from Japanese) Foreigners are at liberty to take them down and erect others themselves within the following boundaries, namely: – From the Ikuta-gawa on the East to the Uji-kawa on the West; and from the hills on the North to the beach on the South. From this arrangement, however, must be excepted the Concession ground prepared under the Convention of May 1867, for the use of Foreigners ; and also a strip of land of one hundred feet in width along the whole beach to the West of the settlement which must be preserved as a public thoroughfare. This line of beach will be gradually cleared of the timber at present placed there ; and foreigners should also remove the few temporary constructions they have recently put up on the said beach line, as soon as they are called upon to do so by the Japanese Authorities through their respective Consuls. When a Foreigner and Japanese have made an agreement for leasing ground or purchasing houses within these limits, each agreement must be reported by the respective parties to the Japanese Authorities, and to the Consul of the nation
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concerned, in order that the agreement may be sealed and registered on both sides, as a proof of validity. All foreigners occupying ground or houses within the said limits will be liable to the payment of the same Municipal charges or Government land tax as are paid by Japanese. With respect, [L.S.] (Signed) ITO SHUNSKE.
TRANSLATION. 80th March, 1868. 5KTŌ+JCXGVJGJQPQWTVQKPHQTO[QWVJCVC0QVKſECVKQPJCXKPIDGGPKUUWGFD[ the Government to all Japanese Subjects that the Mexican Dollar is to pass current CVVJGTCVGQHVJTGGDWURGTFQNNCTKPHWVWTGVJGTGYKNNDGPQFKHſEWNV[YJCVGXGT in its circulation at this rate in mercantile transactions between foreigners and Japanese. In this relation I have further been instructed by my Government to inform you that their intention of changing dollars at this port at the rate of three bus for the future instead of at the rate at which they have hitherto been exchanged was represented to the Ministers of France, England and Holland by Members of the Mikado’s Government at Kioto on the 26th instant, and that this intention was approved by the said three Ministers. With respect, (Signed)
ITO SHUNSKE.
0QVKſECVKQP
The Undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, hereby publishes, for the information of Her Majesty’s subjects, the subjoined correspondence between himself and the Japanese Ministers in accordance with which the sale of leases of land within the sites set apart in May 1867 for the residence of foreigners at Hiogo and Osaka, will be proceeded with QPVJGſTUVFC[QH5GRVGODGTPGZVQTCUUQQPCHVGTVJCVFCVGCUOC[DGHQWPF practicable by the local Japanese and Consular Authorities. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES.
Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary CPF/KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[KP,CRCP
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H. B. M.’s Legation, Yokohama, August 8,1868.
TRANSLATION August 7th,1868. SIR, – We have the honour to forward to you three enclosures consisting of the Regulations, E which we have had the honour of discussing with yourself and your colleagues of the Treaty Powers in the several interviews which we have held on the subject of the sale of the foreign settlements at Osaka and Hiogo. We have the honour to request to be informed at your earliest convenience whether they meet with your approval. We have, &c., (Signed) HIGASHI KUZE CHIUJO (L.S.) (Signed) HIZEN JIJIU (L.S.) Translated by (Signed) Ernest Satow. H. E. SIR HARRY S. PARKES, K.C.B. &c., &c., &c.
ARRANGEMENT.
I.
The leases of all the land at Osaka contained in the site granted for the use of foreigners by the Japanese Government under the arrangements of 1867 shall be put up to public sale on the 1st day of September next, or on any day subsequent to, but as near to that date as can be arranged by the local Japanese and Consular authorities. 6JGQHſEKCNRNCPQHVJKUUKVGYJKEJJCUCNTGCF[DGGPRWDNKUJGFYKNNDGCFJGTGF VQCUHCTCURQUUKDNG/QFKſECVKQPUWPCPKOQWUN[CRRTQXGFD[VJGNQECN,CRCPGUG and Con- sular authorities may be introduced, but shall be made public at Osaka PQVNGUUVJCPſXGFC[UDGHQTGVJGFC[QHUCNG
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
II.
At Hiogo the local Japanese and Consular authorities shall determine the quantity and the position of the land on the Foreign Concession which shall be put up at VJGſTUVRWDNKEUCNGQHNGCUGUCPFCNUQVJGFCVGQHVJGUCNG6JG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVUJCNNRTQXKFGHQTRWDNKEKPURGEVKQPCV*KQIQPQVNGUUVJCPſXGFC[UDGHQTG the day of sale, a plan of the land to be thus disposed of, shewing the number and location of the lots and the proposed roads and drains. The lots shall vary in size from two hundred to six hundred tsubos,and the streets or roads shall not be less than forty feet in width. III.
The upset price of land to be thus leased at Osaka and Hiogo shall be eight Bus per tsubo, of which six Bus shall be retained by the Japanese Government, in reimbursement of the money already expended by them in preparing the said sites, as building ground for foreigners, and the remaining two Bus shall be transferred by the Japanese Government to a Municipal fund to be formed at each settlement, and to be used for the construction or repairs of roads and drains, lighting the streets, or other Municipal purposes. The Japanese Government consent to relinquish for the uses of this fund a moiety of all money that may be realized at the public sales of land at Osaka and Hiogo over and above the aforesaid upset price. IV.
The sale of the leases of lots at Osaka and Hiogo shall be conducted upon the conditions annexed to this arrangement. All land without the said sites remaining unsold shall be put up again at Auction, at such subsequent dates as may be determined by the local Japanese and Consular Authorities, and in each case a month’s notice shall be given of such intended sale. V.
The Annual Rent of the said ground at Osaka and Hiogo shall be one Bu per tsubo which shall be paid in advance into the Municipal Fund.of each place, and shall be appropriated to the repairs of roads and drains, lighting the streets, or QVJGT/WPKEKRCNRWTRQUGUŌUWDLGEVJQYGXGTVQCſTUVEJCTIGQHQPGVJQWUCPFſXG hundred and twenty four Bus at Osaka, and one thousand six hundred and forty one Bus at Hiogo, which sums shall be paid annually to the Japanese Government, as the ordinary land tax due on the said ground.
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VI.
In consideration of the formation of the Municipal fund at each settlement as aforesaid, the Japanese Government will not be held responsible for the construction or repairs of roads, drains, lighting the streets, or other Municipal expenses, except in the event of serious damage being occasioned by extraordinary action of the elements. In such case, the share to be borne by the Japanese Government in making good such damage, shall be determined by mutual agreement.
VII.
All payments to be made by the Land Renters under this arrangement to the aforesaid Municipal Funds shall be paid by them to their respective Consular Authorities, and shall be transferred by the latter to the said funds. The administration of the said funds shall be conducted at each settlement by the local Japanese and Consular Authorities, in conjunction with a standing Committee of the foreign community, to consist of not more than three members, who shall be elected from and by the registered foreign residents. The mode of GNGEVKPIVJGUCKF%QOOKVVGGCPFVJGKTVGTOQHQHſEGUJCNNDGFGVGTOKPGFD[ the Consular Authorities.
VIII.
In order to provide for the cost of a foreign Police Force at the settlement of Hiogo or Osaka, in the event of such a force being required, each land renter shall be liable to pay annually to the Municipal Fund a sum not exceeding one-third of a Bu per tsubo. The amount to be paid each year and the time of payment shall be determined by the local Japanese and Consular Authorities, together with the standing Committee mentioned in the preceding Article.
IX.
The Japanese Government will keep in good order at their own expense the Beach and River walls, parapets and landing places of both the said sites, and will maintain at the landing places such a depth of water as shall enable persons to land there at all times of tide.
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CONDITIONS OF THE PUBLIC SALE OF THE LEASES OF LAND IX THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENT AT HIOGO AND AT OSAKA.
I
The land in each Settlement will be put up in lots, in consecutive order, as numDGTGFQPVJG1HſEKCNRNCPUWPVKNCNNVJGNQVUUJCNNJCXGDGGPQHHGTGFHQTUCNG%QRKGU of the plans duly stamped by the local Japanese Authorities, will be lodged at the )QXGTPOGPVQHſEGCPFCVVJGQHſEGUQHVJGUGXGTCNHQTGKIP%QPUWNCVGUCV*KQIQ and Osaka respectively.
II.
The highest bidder shall be the purchaser, and in the event of any dispute arising between two or more bidders the lot shall be put up again and resold.
III.
6JGCFXCPEGQPGCEJDKFUJCNNPQVDGNGUUVJCPſXGEGPVUQHC$WRGTVUWDQ6JG bidding must be made in an audible voice. The Auctioneer will not be allowed to bid either for himself or any other person. On the fall of the hammer the party in whose name the Title deed is to be made out shall be announced by the Auctioneer and at once registered, and the Title deed shall not be made out in any other name.
IV.
The highest bidder for any lot must, on the fall of the hammer and before the next lot is put up for sale, pay down as a deposit the sum of four hundred Bus, which will be de- ducted from the sum due on the delivery of the Title deed. Should this deposit not be immediately paid, the bidder will lose all title to the lot, which will again be put up before any other lot is sold.
V.
The Title deeds which will be made out in the annexed form, will be dated the day of 1868, and will be ready for delivery on that day. No Title deed
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will be delivered to any other person than to the party in whose name it is made out, unless the applicant produce a power of attorney or other satisfactory evidence authorizing the purchase of the lot or the delivery of the Title &GGFYJKEJFQEWOGPVQTCEGTVKſGFEQR[QHKVYKNNDGTGVCKPGFD[VJGNQECN Japanese Authorities. Should any purchaser fail to complete the purchase by the day of 1868, he will lose all right to the lot, which will be put up to sale at the next Auction. In that case the deposit money will be forfeited to the Japanese Government.
VI.
A fee of twenty Bus will be paid to the local Japanese Authorities on the delivery of each Title deed.
VII.
In addition to the purchase money the purchaser of any lot or lots, or his heirs or assigns, shall pay an annual rent of one Bu per tsubo at Hiogo and Osaka in the manner provided in Article V of the annexed arrangement.
VIII In addition to the above-named rent the holder of any lot will be liable to a yearly charge of a sum not exceeding one-third of a Bu per tsubo to be paid as a contribution to the maintenance of a Foreign Police force for the Settlement in which the lot is situated in the manner provided by the annexed arrangement.
IX.
No Title deed shall be issued to any person who cannot prove himself to be a subject or citizen of a Power having a treaty with Japan.
FORM OF TITLE DEED.
In consideration of the sum of Bus, the payment whereof is hereby acknowledged, the undersigned, acting on behalf of the Japanese Government,
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
hereby leases in perpetuity to ............ his heirs and assigns VJGNQVQHNCPFPWODGTGFCPFFGUETKDGFKPVJGQHſEKCNRNCPQH the foreign settlement at ............ as No............ and containing ............ tsubos, more or less, on the following conditions: – Firstly, that the said, ............ his heirs or assigns shall pay in advance on the ............ day of ............ in each year to his Consular authority the sum of ............ Bus as rent, being at the rate of one Bu per tsubo as provided by Art. V. of the arrangement concluded between the Japanese Government and the Foreign Representatives on the 7 th day of August, one thousand eight hundred and sixty eight: Secondly, that the said ............ his heirs or assigns shall pay annually to his Consular authority such charge for the maintenance of a Foreign Police Force in the said Settlement of ............ not exceeding one-third of a Bu per tsubo shall, as be determined in the manner provided by Art. VIII. of the aforesaid agreement: and Thirdly, that every transfer of the said lot No ............ or any portion thereof shall be made to no other person than a subject or citizen of a Power having a Treaty with Japan, and shall be executed before the Consular authorities of the parties concerned. For non performance of any of the aforesaid conditions, proceedings may be instituted against the said ............, his heirs or assigns before his or their Consular authorities. Done in duplicate, one copy being given to the Renter and the other being ſNGFD[VJGUCKFNQECN,CRCPGUGCWVJQTKVKGUVJKUFC[QHKPVJG[GCTQPGVJQWUCPF eight hundred and [L.S.] Signature of local Japanese Authority.
British. Legation, Yokohama, August 7th, 1868. The undersigned has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of Their Excellencies HIGASHI KUZE CHIUJO and HIZEN JIJIU of this date communicating the arrangements relative to the sale of leases of land at Hiogo and Osaka which have been agreed to at the varions conferences held between Their Excellencies and the Foreign Representatives. The Undersigned hereby records his acceptance of these arrangements. The Undersigned, etc. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES.
*$ /’S 'PXQ['ZVTCQTFKPCT[CPF/KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[
Their Excellencies HIGASHI KUZE CHIUJO. HIZEN JIJIU.
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1HſEKCN0QVKſECVKQP
The Undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[KP,CRCPJGTGD[PQVKſGUHQTVJGKPHQTOCVKQPQH*GT/CLGUV[ŏU Subjects that the negociations in which he and his colleagues the Representatives of France, Holland, and the United States of America have been engaged with the Japanese Government, relative to the opening to foreign trade of the city of Yedo, and a port on the west coast of Japan, have resulted in the subjoined arrangements which have been accepted by the undersigned on the part of Her Majesty’s Government. Niigata having been chosen as the Port on the West Coast, it has been CTTCPIGFKPQTFGTVQUWRRN[VJGFGſEKGPEKGUQHVJCVCPEJQTCIGCVEGTVCKPUGCUQPU of the year, that use may be made by foreign vessels of the adjacent harbour of Ebisuminato, in the island of Sado, and that facilities shall be afforded both for the storage of merchandise at the latter place, and also for its conveyance from thence to Niigata. As the preparations for the opening of the said three places cannot however DGEQORNGVGFD[VJGſTUVFC[QH,CPWCT[PGZVQPYJKEJFCVGVJGTKIJVVQVTCFG at Yedo and at a Port on the west coast, might be claimed from the Japanese Government by the undersigned and the Foreign Representatives above named, in accordance with the stipulations of their respective Treaties, the undersigned, in common with his colleagues, has consented, at the request of the Japanese Government, to defer the opening of Yedo, Niigata, and Ebisu- minato, until VJGſTUVFC[QH#RTKN (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES.
Yedo, November 26th, 1867.
ARRANGEMENTS FOE THE SETTLEMENT OF FOREIGNERS AT YEDO. I.
Within the limits colored red in the annexed plan [Not available], foreigners of nations having treaties with Japan may hire houses and reside for purposes of trade. But no Japanese shall be compelled to rent any buildings to foreigners within the said limits against his will. Moreover, as the Japanese Government are willing that foreigners of those nations having treaties with Japan should enjoy at
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Yedo the same faciliting for leasing ground and building houses that are secured to them by treaty at the ports, the Japanese Government are prepared to lease to foreigners for building purposes that portion of land on the same plan which is colored blue.
II.
Whenever the above named building ground shall have been occupied by foreigners, and more space is required for their use, the Japanese Government will prepare the adjoining space marked A. A. on the same plan, which in that case will be provided with a surrounding road of not less than forty feet in width. Should more land be subsequently required, the above named building ground will be further extended, as may from time to time be desirable, within the limits coloured red.
III.
Before the opening of the city to foreign trade, the Japanese Government will clear the ground colored blue in the same plan, and will surround it with a road, which shall be properly drained, of not less than forty feet in width. The ground within this site not required for roads will be leased to foreigners in the manner provided in Articles 6, 7, 8, and 9, of the arrangements for the formation of foreign settlements at Hiogo and Osaka.
IV.
The Japanese Government will see that the canals passing through the limits coloured red are cleared before the opening of the city to foreign trade, and are subsequently kept in good order. All expenses connected with the cleansing of these canals will be borne by the Japanese Government.
V.
The Japanese Government engage to push on with all the expedition possible the foreign hotel which is being built on the site marked B. in the same plan, with a view to its being completed before the opening of the city to foreign trade. The management of the hotel will be in the hands of Japanese.
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VI.
The Japanese Government will construct, at the point marked C. a convenient landing place, to be provided with suitable sheds, at which all goods belonging to foreigners must be landed or shipped. As Yedo, however, is not an open port, no foreign merchant vessel can anchor there, and all goods belonging to foreigners must be entered at the Custom House at Yokohama, according to the Regulations of Trade attached to the Treaties, and must pay duty there, or at some other open port, before they they can be imported into Yedo. For the present also, and until it shall be found convenient to collect export duties on foreign trade at Yedo, all goods exported from that city by foreigners must be cleared from and pay duty at the Custom House at Yokohama, before they can be shipped on board any foreign vessel at that port.
VII.
Lighters, towboats and passage boats, propelled by steam or sails, and belonging to foreigners, may ply between Yedo and Yokohama, for the conveyance of cargo and passengers under the Regulations annexed to this Agreement, and subject to the provisions of the Regulations of Trade attached to the Treaties.
VIII.
In order to give due effect to the provisions of the Treaties, which relate to the residence of foreigners at Yedo, every foreigner coming to Yedo, unless he be an QHſEGTQHC(QTGKIP)QXGTPOGPVCPFKPWPKHQTOOWUVDGHWTPKUJGFYKVJCRCUUport from the Consular authority of his nation at Yokohama, which must be vised by the Governor of Kanagawa. Persons coming from Yokohama by land will be required to show their passports at the ferry at Kawasaki, while those coming by sea will have to exhibit them on arriving off the forts at Yedo. Any person, QVJGTVJCPCPQHſEGTCUCDQXGPCOGFCTTKXKPICV;GFQYKVJQWVCRCUURQTVOC[ be arrested and conveyed before his Consul.
IX.
Foreign lighters, towboats and passage boats, and all other foreign boats, with the exception of those belonging to veseels-of-war, will be required, on arriving off Yedo, to enter by the channel between the two forts marked with white beacons. Each boat must stop or heave to on passing between these forts, in order VJCVKVOC[DGDQCTFGFD[C,CRCPGUGQHſEGT6JGOCUVGTQHGCEJHQTGKIPDQCV
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OWUVFGNKXGTVQVJGDQCTFKPIQHſEGTCNKUVQHCNNVJGRCUUGPIGTUQPDQCTFCPFGCEJ HQTGKIPRCUUGPIGTOWUVGZJKDKVJKURCUURQTVVQVJGDQCTFKPIQHſEGTKHVJGNCVVGT requires him to do so.
X.
The Japanese Government undertake to lay down marks or buoys in the above-named channel, from its entrance at the two said forts to the foreign Settlement.
XI.
Foreigners living at Yedo shall be free to go where they please within the following boundaries, namely : – The Shinto-negawa (Yedo gawa), from its mouth as far as the guard-house at Kanamachi. From Kanamachi to Senji, by the Mito Road. From Senji along the course of the Funitagawa to Furuya no Kamigô. From the latter place a line drawn through the following villages: – Omuro, Takakura, Koyata, Ogiwara, Miya dera, Ishibatake, Mitsugi and Tanaka, to Hino. From Hino to the mouth of the Tamagawa. No obstruction shall be opposed to the free circulation of foreigners either by land or water, in every part of the city of Yedo, open to the Japanese public.
REGULATIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOWBOAT, LIGHTER, AND PASSAGE BOAT SERVICE, BETWEEN YEDO AND YOKOHAMA. 1st.- – No Foreign lighter, towboat or passage boat may ply between Yedo and Yokohama, unless furnished with a license by the Japanese Authorities. 2nd. – Whenever application is made for a license, the Governor of Kanagawa and the Consul of the Nation to which the boat belongs, shall consider the application and determine whether a license shall be granted. Each license must be signed by the Governor, and countersigned by the Consul, and must contain of the boat, in their respective languages. 3rd. – Each license must be cancelled or renewed as the Governor and Consul may determine at the expiration of each year, and a fee of one ichibu per ton measurement, payable to the Japanese Government will be charged on the issue or renewal of each license. 4th. – -No license shall be issued to any foreign boat or vessel drawing more than six feet of water when loaded, and no boat or vessel thus licensed, may discharge or take in cargo or passengers outside the forts at Yedo, except under
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unusual circumstances, and by special written permission from the Japanese Authorities. VJ|Ō6JG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVOC[RWV%WUVQO*QWUG1HſEGTUQPDQCTF CP[NKEGPUGFDQCVYJGPGXGTVJG[OC[VJKPMRTQRGTQTOC[CRRQKPVQHſEGTUVQ accompany the said boats, on the passage between Yedo and Yokohama. 6th. – All goods taken on board a licensed boat at Yokohama must be accompaPKGFD[FWV[RCKFQTFWV[HTGGEGTVKſCECVGUCPFCNNIQQFUNCPFGFCV;GFQYKVJQWV UWEJEGTVKſECVGUYKNNDGNKCDNGVQUGK\WTGCPFEQPſUECVKQP 7th. – A licensed boat may only take in and discharge goods at Yedo or Yokohama, at the wharves indicated by Japanese authorities, or by means of boats authorised for the purpose by the Japanese Government. 8th. – No licensed boat may be employed in any other way than for the conveyance of goods and passengers or the towage of licensed boats between Yedo and Yokohama, nor may they communicate with any other place, or with any native or foreign vessel on the passage. 9th. – The Foreign crews of licensed boats or vessels, with the exception of the masters, will not be allowed to land at Yedo. 10th. – Any breach of these Regulations, or of any other Regulations that may subsequently be made on this subject, may be punished by forfeiture of license, in addition to such penalty as may be imposed by the Consul of the nation to which the boat belongs, under the powers vested in him by his Government for securing the observance of Treaties and Conventiona by his countrymen.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF FOREIGNERS AT NIIGATA AND EBISUMINATO.
I.
The Japanese Government will construct at Ebisuminato, in the island of Sado, proper warehouse accommodation in accordance with the requirements of the trade, in which foreign imports may be stored rent free for the space of thirty days.
II.
'HſEKGPVNKIJVGTUUJCNNDGEQPUVTWEVGFHQTVJGNCPFKPICPFUJKRRKPIQH/GTEJCPdise at Niigata and Ebisuminato. Lighters shall also be constructed for the safe
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conveyance of merchandise between Niigata and Ebisuminato. A fair charge shall be made for lighterage.
III.
In order to facilitate communication between Niigata and Ebisuminato the Japanese Government will provide steamers for the conveyance of passengers and merchandise, as well as for the towage of lighters, between those places. A fair charge shall be made for these services, but foreigners shall be at liberty to employ steamers and lighters of their own for these purposes.
IV.
In case it should be found inconvenient to land and ship merchandise on the sea shore at Ebisuminato, the Japanese Government will open a passage into the lake at the back of the town.
V.
The Japanese Government will erect a suitable lighthouse near the mouth of the TKXGTCV0KKICVCCPFRNCEGVJGTGKPCNKIJVQHVJGſTUVQTFGT/CTMUQTDWQ[UYKNNDG placed on the bar, in order to facilitate the passage in and out of the river.
VI.
Bonded warehouses shall be erected at Niigata in the same manner as at the other ports, and a convenient landing place for the landing or shipping of goods shall be constructed.
VII.
Foreigners may freely rent or purchase from Japanese at Niigata and Ebisuminato, lodgings, residences or godowns. They may also freely lease land for their lawful requirements at both these places. No special settlements will be constructed. At Niigata foreigners may lease land within the limits formed by the sea and by the river on the north and east of the town, and on the south and west by the DQWPFCT[RQUVUQHVJGRTGUGPVLWTKUFKEVKQPQHVJGIQXGTPQTQH0KKICVC4KEGſGNFU
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arable land and other ground paying tribute to the Government, shall not be TGPVGFFKTGEVN[HTQOVJG,CRCPGUGJQNFGTUYKVJQWVCRRNKECVKQPſTUVDGKPIOCFG to the Governor for his permission.
VIII.
At Niigata the limits within which foreigners may go shall be settled at ten ri OQTGQTNGUUKPCP[FKTGEVKQPHTQOVJG)QXGTPQTŏUQHſEKCNTGUKFGPEGCEEQTFKPI VQVJGRQUKVKQPUQHVJGTKXGTUCPFQVJGTPCVWTCNQDLGEVU0QNKOKVUYKNNDGſZGFKP the island of Sado.
0QVKſECVKQP
The undersigned hereby publishes for the information of Her Britannic Majesty’s subjects the subjoined correspondence recording the arrangements concluded between himself and the other Foreign Representatives and the Japanese Government, relative to the Foreign settlement at Yedo, in accordance with which, a sale of leases of land within that settlement will be held at that city on the 2nd June next. (Signed)
HARRY S. PARKES. *$/ŏU'PXQ['ZVTCQTFKPCT[CPF/KPUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[.
H. B. M.’s Legation, Yedo, 4th May, 1870. TRANSLATION. May 4, 1870. SIR – I have the honor to forward the documents which I discussed with you and your colleagues at our interview some days since relative to the Foreign Settlement. at Yedo, namely : the “Farther Arrangement,” the “Conditions of Public Bale,” the “Form of Title Deed,” and two maps. I have the honor to request to be informed at your earliest convenience whether they meet with your approval. I have, &c. (S.d.) TERASHIMA JUSHI-I FUJIWARA MUNENORI, 8KEG/KPKUVGTHQT(QTGKIP#HHCKTU
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To His Excellency, Sir HARRY S. PARKES, K.C.B. &c., &c., &c.
British Legation, Yedo, May 4, 1870. The undersigned has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of His Excellency TERASHIMA JUSHI-I FUJIWARA MUNENORI of this date, comOWPKECVKPIVNÆGCTTCIGOGPVUTGNCVKXGVQVJGUCNGQHNGCUGUQH.CPFVQHQTGKIPGTUCV Yedo which have been agreed upon between His Excelleney and the Foreign Representatives. The undersigned hereby records his acceptance of these arrangements. The undesigned, &c. (Sd.) HARRY S. PARKES, *$/ŏU'PXQ['ZVTCQTFKPCT[CPF/KPKUVGT2NGPKRQVGPVKCT[ To His. Excellency, TERASHIMA JUSHI-I FUJIWARA MUNENORI. &c., &c., &c.,
FURTHER ARRANGEMENT RELATIVE TO THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENT AT YEDO. I.
The limits within which foreigners may hire Houses are shewn by the red line on the annexed plan. It is now agreed that, within these limits, Japanese may let their JQWUGUVQHQTGKIPGTUHQTCP[RGTKQFPQVGZEGGFKPIſXG[GCTUYKVJVJGQRVKQPQH renewal on terms to be negotiated between the parties. Foreigners renting houses from Japanese within the said quarter will pay the same charges as are paid by Japanese for keeping in order roads, drains or canals. II.
With reference to articles I and II of the arrangements for the settlement of foreigners at Yedo, dated November 1867, it is now agreed that the land within the
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blue line shewn in the annexed plan shall be leased by the Japanese Government to foreigners. This site shall be separated on the North side from the adjoining Japanese quarter by a road of one hundred feet in width, and the front block marked A shall be cleared of Japanese houses as soon as the two adjoining blocks marked B B, and the three rear blocks marked C C C shall have been leased to foreigners. When all the ground within the blue line shall have been occupied by foreigners, the Settlement shall be extended to the canal marked D D D on the annexed plan.
III.
The leases of all lots contained in the two front blocks marked B B and the three rear blocks marked C C C on the annexed plan shall be put up to public auction QPVJGPFFC[QH,WPGPGZV6JGWRUGVRTKEGQHCNNVJGNQVUKPVJGſXGDNQEMU above mentioned shall be six Bus per tsubo, and the annual rent one Bu and a half per tsubo. The upset price of lots within the block marked A, and within the quarter DQWPFGFD VJGECPCNOCTMGF&&&UJCNNDGGKIJV$WURGTVUWDQCPFVJGCPPWCN rent one Bu and a half per tsubo. IV.
The sale of the leases shall be conducted on the conditions annexed to this arrangement ; a month’s notice will be given by the Japanese Government of all subsequent UCNGUQHNGCUGUQHNCPFYKVJKPVJGUCKFNKOKVUYJKEJUCNGUOC[DGJGNFD VJGOGKVJGT on the information of the foreign Consuls that more land is required by foreigners, or whenever the Japanese Government themselves may deem desirable. V.
In consideration of the payment by foreigners of the rent aforesaid, the Japanese Government agree to construct in a solid manner, and to keep in good order and repair, the sea or canal walls, and all the streets or thoroughfares of the said settlement, and also to drain and light the said streets.
VI.
In order to provide for the cost of employing foreigners in the Police force of the said settlement, in the event of such a measure being agreed to both by the
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Japanese Government and the Foreign Representatives, each foreign renter shall be liable to pay an annual charge not exceeding half a Bu on each tsubu of land held under the said leases. The rate to be paid each year and the date of payment shall be determined by the local Japanese and Consular authorities.
VII.
If, at any future date, it should be considered desirable to make arrangements for the Municipal Government, of the foreign settlement at Yedo, of a similar character to those now in force at Hiogo and Osaka, the Japanese Government will consider any proposals brought forward for this purpose by the Foreign Representatives.
CONDITIONS OF THE PUBLIC SALE OF THE LEASES OF LAND IN THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENT AT YEDO.
I.
The land will be put up in lots, lot by lot, in such order as may be deemed desirable by the Japanese Government at the time of auction, until all the lots shall have been offered for sale. Plans of the land, duly stamped by the local .Japanese CWVJQTKVKGUYKNNDGNQFIGFCVVJG)QXGTPOGPVQHſEGUCPFCVVJGQHſEGUQHVJG several foreign Consulates at Yedo and Yokohama.
II.
The highest bidder shall be the purchaser, and in the event of any dispute arising between two or more bidders, the lot shall be put up again and resold.
III.
6JGCFXCPEGQPGCEJDKFUJCNNPQVDGNGUUVJCPſXGEGPVUQHC$WRGTVUWDW6JG bidding must be made in an audible voice. The auctioneer will not be allowed to bid either for himself or any other person. On the fall of the hammer the party in whose name the Title-deed is to be made out, shall be announced by the auc-
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tioneer and at once registered, and the Title-deed. shall not be made out in any other name.
IV.
The highest bidder for any lot must, on the fall of the hammer and before the next lot is put for sale, pay down, as a guarantee deposit that the full amount of purchase money shall be paid the sum of four hundred Bus, which will be deducted from the sum due on the delivery of the Title-deed. Should this deposit not be immediately paid, the bidder will lose all title to the lot, which will again be put up before any other lot is sold.
V.
The Title-deeds, which will be made out in the annexed form, will be dated the 1st day of July, 1870, and will be ready for delivery on that day. No Title-deed will be delivered to any other person than the party in whose name it is made out, unless the applicant produce a power of attorney or other satisfactory evidence authorising the purchase of the lot or the delivery of the Title-deed, YJKEJFQEWOGPVQTEGTVKſGFEQR[QHKVYKNNDGTGVCKPGFD[VJGNQECN,CRCPGUG authorities. Should any purchaser fail to complete the purchase by the 1st day of July 1870, he will lose all right to the lot which will be put up to sale at the next Auction, and the guarantee deposit will be forfeited to the Japanese Government.
VI.
A fee of twenty Bus shall be paid to the local Japanese authorities on the delivery of each Title-deed.
VII.
In addition to the purchase money, the Lessee of any lot or lots, or his heirs or assigns, shall pay an annual rent of one Bu and a half per tsubo, and will also be liable to a yearly rate not exceeding half a Bu per tsubo, as a contribution to the maintenance of a Police force for the settlement, in the manner provided by Articles III. and VI. of the arrangement concluded between the Japanese Government and the Foreign Representatives on the Fourth day of May, 1870.
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VIII.
No Title-deed shall be issued to any person who cannot prove himself to be a subject or a citizen of a Power having a treaty with Japan,
FORM OF TITLE DEED. FOREIGN SETTLEMENT, YEDO.
Lot. No. Bus, the payment whereof is hereby acknowlIn consideration of the sum of , acting on behalf of the Japanese edged, the undersigned , his heirs and assigns, the Lot of Government, here by leases in perpetuity to .CPFPWODGTGFCPFFGUETKDGFKPVJGQHſEKCNRNCPQHVJGHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPVCV;GFQ , and containing tsubos more or less, on the following conditions. as No , his heirs or assigns, shall pay in advance on the (KTUV– That the said day of , in each year the sum of Bus as rent, being at the rate of one Bu and a half per tsubo, as provided by Article III. of the arrangement concluded between the Japanese Government and the Foreign Representatives on the Fourth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and seventy. , his heirs or assigns, shall pay annually to bis 5GEQPF – That the said Consular authority such charge for the maintenance of a Police Force in the said settlement, not exceeding half of a Bu per tsubo, as shall be determined in the manner provided by Article VI. of the aforesaid arrangement. , or any portion thereof, Third. – That every transfer of the said Lot No shall be made to no other person than a subject or citizen of a Power having a treaty with Japan, and shall be executed before the Consular authorities of the parties concerned, and shall be registered by the local Japanese authorities. For non-performance of any of the aforesaid conditions, proceedings may be , his heirs or assigns, before his or their Consular institnted against the said authorities and in case of non-payment of rent the Japanese authorities shall be entitled to a judgment for the amount found due, and also to a penalty of two per cent. per month on the said amount and to the costs of suit, and the said judgment shall bear the same rate of interest by way of penalty until paid. &QPGKPFWRNKECVGQPGEQR[DGKPIIKXGPVQVJG.GUUGGCPFVJGQVJGTDGKPIſNGF day of in the year one thousand by the Japanese authorities, this eight hundred and seventy. (L.S) Signature of .QECN,CRCPGUG#WVJQTKV[
Source: Nanzan Review of American Studies, Volume 22, No. 6 (2000), 39–54
6
That ‘Naughty Yankee Boy,’ Edward H. House, and Meiji Japan’s Struggle for Equality JAMES L. HUFFMAN*
AMERICA’S FIRST REGULAR correspondent in Japan was Edward H. House (1836– 1901), who went to Tokyo in the third year of Meiji for Horace Greeley’s New ;QTM6TKDWPG A native Bostonian, House had gained early prominence in two ways: through his devil-may-care lifestyle as a member of the New York Pfaff beer cellar’s bohemian gang, which included the likes of Walt Whitman and Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and through his graphic reports for the Tribune on John Brown’s execution at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. He also wrote a much-discussed series of articles for the 6TKDWPGKPVJGURTKPIQHQPVJGſTUV,CRCPGUGGODCUU[VQVJG7PKVGF5VCVGU+P the next decade, House created a sensation with his coverage of the Civil War, helped to launch Mark Twain’s eastern seaboard career, accompanied the humorist Artemus Ward on his British debut, and managed the London theater where the ShakespearGCPCEVQT*GPT[+TXKPIYQPUQOGQHJKUGCTNKGUVGPVJWUKCUVKEPQVKEGU0QVUCVKUſGF merely with journalistic prominence, the restless House sailed to Japan in 1870, as the Tribune’sſTUVTGIWNCT6QM[QTGRQTVGTCPFYKVJKPYGGMUJGJCFDGIWPVQKTTKVCVG OCP[QHVJGRTQſVUGGMKPIHQTGKIPGTUYKVJJKUGPVJWUKCUVKEGUUC[UQP,CRCPGUGEWUVQOU CPFRTQITGUU$[VJGGPFQHVJCV[GCTJGJCFNKVGTCNN[CFQRVGFVJG2CEKſECTEJKRGNCIQ as a new homeland, and by the middle of the decade a Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shim-bun writer would say, on hearing that he was about to launch his own newspaper: “Mr. House ... neither sneers at Japan nor scorns the Japanese. That makes him unusual among foreigners.”1 6JGCWVJQTKU*1TVJ*KTV2TQHGUUQTQH*KUVQT[CV9KVVGPDGTI7PKXGTUKV[5RTKPIſGNF1* 45504 . A former journalist, he has specialized for three decades in Japan’s nineteenth-century press, having written numerous articles, as well as a biography of Fukuchi Gen’ichiro, the father of Japan’s modern press, and a general history of the Meiji press (Creating a Public, University of Hawai’i Press, 1997). Currently he is writing a book-length biography of House. He is the editor of Modem Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism and chairs the editorial board of the Association for Asian Studies. *
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House’s life merits scrutiny for many reasons. His articles and lobbying efforts with opinion leaders helped shaped early American attitudes and policies toward Japan; indeed, when the United States returned its share of the Shimonoseki indemnity to Japan in 1883, House was given the lion’s share of the credit. His editorials in support of issues like treaty revision and better treatment of women provide a lucid summary of many key features of Japan’s public discourse in the 1870s and 1880s. And his role in several diplomatic crises sheds a powerful light on the imperialist environment that shaped Meiji Japan’s struggle toward modernity. This article, however, will focus more narrowly – on House’s threeand-a-half-year stewardship of the Tokio Times (1877–80), where his experiences JCXGOWEJVQVGNNWUCDQWVVJGOCPPGTKPYJKEJGCTN[/GKLK,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNU ordered their relations with the Western powers, as well as the complicated ways in which the Tokyo-Yokohama foreign community of that era related to Japan’s struggle with modernity. Although the Tribune described House as its “regular” correspondent when he arrived on 26 August 1870, the title did not mean “full time.” In addition to writing a major newspaper piece once every three weeks, he also took a well-paid job ($3,000 a year) in January 1871 as an English teacher at the newly established &CKICMW0CPMQLQKPKPI9KNNKCO'NNKQV)TKHſUCPF)WKFQ8GTDGEMKPVGCEJKPI an amazing group of boys that included a future prime minister (Takahashi Korekiyo), a foreign-minister-to-be (Komura Jutaro), a lad who would dominate Japan’s intellectual world (Sugiura Shigetake), and his favorite, Mitsukuri KikuEJKYJQYQWNFDGEQOGVJGEQWPVT[ŏUſTUVRTQHGUUQTQH\QQNQI[CHVGTUVWF[KPIHQT UGXGTCN[GCTUKPVJG7PKVGF5VCVGUYKVJ*QWUGŏUſPCPEKCNUWRRQTV2 He also taught QEECUKQPCNENCUUGUCV6QM[QŏUſTUVRWDNKEUEJQQNHQTIKTNU6CMGDCUJK,QICMMQCPF eventually adopted one of his brightest students, Aoki Koto, after learning that she was contemplating suicide over a failed marriage.3 But teaching always remained second among House’s priorities; his passion was reporting. In the summer of 1872, he played a major role in publicizing the Maria Luz incident, an episode in which the Japanese released 130 Chinese coolies trapped in slave-ship conditions on a boat bound for Peru. He personally visited the ship and described a “reeking and sweltering . . . atmosphere which would extinguish the life of an American or European in half a day,” and he lambasted the American minister Charles DeLong for showing sympathy for the ship’s Peruvian captain.4 Two years later, he gave up teaching altogether to take on the biggest reporting experience of his Asian life to that time, a war correspondent’s assignment with the Japanese expedition to punish Taiwanese tribesmen who had OCUUCETGFſHV[HQWTUJKRYTGEMGF4[WM[WKUNCPFGTUQXGTYJQO,CRCPENCKOGFUQXGTGKIPV[*QWUGŏUCTVKENGUQPVJGUQNFKGTUŏFTCOCVKEOKNKVCT[GPEQWPVGTUſNNGFVJG pages of his new paper, the New York Herald, in the summer of 1874, and his book on the episode, The Japanese Expedition to Formosa, became the standard account. House never made a secret of his sympathies for Japan. Shortly after his arrival, he wrote to his Tribune editor that “existence here is a perpetual delight. . . . The climate
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is lovely; the people (natives, I mean) are kind ...; the language is easy to attain . . . ; the scenery is inexhaustably attractive.”5 And his articles adopted the same tone, praising Japan’s progress, advocating revision of the unequal treaties, and sneering at foreigners who thought Japan backward. He was never simplistic in his commendations; indeed, he criticized the new Meiji government almost as often as he lauded it. But his general acceptance of the Japanese as competent and intelligent equals set him apart from other foreigners in the treaty ports and made him a favorite of several ,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNURCTVKEWNCTN[1MWOC5JKIGPQDWVJG[QWPIUGETGVCT[IGPGTCNQHVJG 6CKYCP#DQTKIKPGU1HſEGYJQJCFDGEQOGCRQYGTKPVJGſPCPEGCPFHQTGKIPOKPistries by the mid-1870s. As a result, about midway through the Taiwan expedition, UGXGTCNQHſEKCNUDGICPVCNMKPICDQWVJQYXCNWCDNGKVOKIJVDGKH*QWUGYGTGVQDGIKP CRCRGTQHJKUQYPCTIWKPIVJCVCXQKEGNKMGJKUŌKPƀWGPVKCNCUJGYCUKP#OGTKEC and sympathetic as he was to Japan – would be useful in securing better treatment for Japan in the United States and Great Britain. The nature of those talks, as well as the paper that eventuated from them, tell us a great deal about Japan’s approach to international diplomacy in the early Meiji years. The idea of using journalism to improve Japan’s international image was PQVPGYVQ,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNU6JGIQXGTPOGPVCNTGCF[JCFDGIWPVQEQWPVGT its domestic opposition by giving sympathetic Japanese editors special access to news sources and by purchasing large lots of their papers for circulation in the provinces. And the Finance Ministry had lubricated the relationship with the friendliest (or at any rate, the least antagonistic) of the foreign papers in 1873 by paying W. G. Howell, the owner and editor of the Japan Mail, 5,000 yen a year to have 500 copies of each issue sent to opinion leaders abroad – quite a deal in a world where circulations rarely ranged above 300. Howell had proved an obstreperous ally, however, in part because he kept asking for more money and in part because his views were erratic; so by 1874 Okuma and his colleague Okubo Toshimichi had begun looking elsewhere. They were encouraged in this approach by Charles LeGendre, an American CFXKUQTQP6CKYCPYJQYTQVGCſHVGGPRCIGOGOQVQ1MWOCQP,WN[WTIing the creation of a new, government-supported, English-language newspaper. No FGXGNQRKPIUVCVGEQWNFOCMGIGPWKPGRTQITGUUYKVJQWVVJGEQPſFGPEGQHVJGKORGTKalist powers, LeGendre wrote, and the anti-Japanese approach of the British-owned 'PINKUJNCPIWCIGPGYURCRGTUKP;QMQJCOCOCFGUWEJEQPſFGPEGJCTFVQYKP(QT that reason, Japan should create “an organ of its own,” to be edited by “a man of experience, who has been brought up to the profession, and has learned it in the best journals of England and America.” Such a project, he projected, would cost about $4,000 in start-up costs, plus a thousand dollars a month in salaries, contributors’ fees, “and other expenses.” In December, LeGendre repeated his arguments in a massive memo to Okuma on Japan’s relations with other countries, declaring that VJGIQXGTPOGPVPGGFGFVQETGCVGCPQTICPVJCVőUJCNND[UWHſEKGPVFKUVTKDWVKQPKP the capitals of Europe,. . . create a new interest in, and a more complete comprehenUKQPQHVJG,CRCPGUGUKVWCVKQPŒ*GYCPVGFVJKULQWTPCNVQJCXGVYQRCTVUCPQHſEKCN
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UGEVKQPHQTYJKEJVJGIQXGTPOGPVYQWNFDGFKTGEVN[TGURQPUKDNGCPFCPWPQHſEKCN section in which divergent opinions would be expressed freely.6 By early 1875, he was suggesting House as the editor of such a paper, proposing at one point an annual salary of $11,000 to get him to publish a paper, at another that House and Tokyo Nichi Nichi editor Fukuchi Gen’ichiro put out a joint English/Japanese weekly at an annual cost of $14,280, and in still a third memo that the government buy the Japan Mail for $15,000 from Howell and put it under an investment company, with House as editor. Okuma apparently liked this last proposal, but House demurred after learning that the MailYCUPQVOCMKPICRTQſV7 *QWUGŏUKPVGTGUVKPVJGRTQLGEVOKIJVJCXGUGGOGFUWTRTKUKPID[VYGPV[ſTUV century standards. He had, after all, been quite an independent spirit, notorious HQTJKUſIJVUYKVJJKUGFKVQTUPGXGTYKNNKPIVQDGPFCMPGGVQCP[QPGYKVJYJQO he did not agree. How could he accept a contract that would make him, in effect, an agent of the Japanese government? What about his journalistic independence? His insistence over the past two decades on the right, always, to say just what he thought, even when it was controversial or unpopular? We have no records of his reaction, but if the proposed arrangement gave him pause, he hid that fact to his dying. What we do know is that the idea of close ties between journalists and governments was not the issue, or the taboo, then that it has become in more recent years. We also know that House despised the anti-Japan tirades that appeared regularly in the Yokohama papers. And we know that he had a history QHſIJVKPIHQTWPFGTFQIECWUGU5QKVRTQDCDN[UJQWNFPQVUWTRTKUGWUVJCVQPEG terms were settled, he agreed with alacrity to sign Okuma’s contract and launch a new paper called the 6QMKQ6KOGU #EQPſFGPVKCNCITGGOGPV(naimitsu gian) was inked between House, Okuma, Okubo, and Iwakura Tomomi on 11 October 1876, providing the Bostonian with 15,000 yen over a twenty-eight month period, or nearly 6,500 yen a year, to publish a weekly newspaper. The restrictions on what he could include in the paper were VYQHQNFJGCITGGFVQRWDNKUJCP[OCVGTKCNUUGPVVQJKOURGEKſECNN[D[1MWOC and Okubo, and he agreed that “all essays and editorials on Japan will be written truthfully and impartially, with the well being of the government in mind.” The contract also stipulated that the government would send 500 copies of each issue to opinion leaders in Japan and abroad and that if House were to become ill or die, the subsidy would continue only at the government’s discretion. A separate agreement provided that the Times would be printed by Fukuchi’s company, the Nipposha. The contract was renewed at its expiration in 1878, with a 1,000 yen increase in postal and printing fees, after Okuma’s colleague Hirai Kisho reported that the Times was “commanding great respect abroad” and assisting in the treaty revision struggle.8 6JGſTUVKUUWGQHVJGRCRGTECOGQWVQP,CPWCT[CPFVJGTGYCUPQ question for anyone who saw that day’s issue what kind of paper it would be. First, it would be an intellectual journal, with essays – both those written by House and reprints of domestic and foreign editorials – consuming nearly half
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of the space. It also would have a good deal of news, a full complement of ads, shipping reports, and the best writing in Japan. Both friends and rivals commented on its professionalism and erudition. The missionary educator Guido Verbeck called the Times “a most excellent journal conducted by a trained journalist.” The British journalist W. B. Mason described “the sure touch of the accomplished man of letters, the polished diction, the apt phrase and allusion.” The competitor Mail said the Times’s writing was “smooth and easy, and of excellent texture.” And years later the journalist Tokutomi Soho would remark: “Not many people today could put out that intelligent a journal.” House’s prose tended toward overkill at times; Tokutomi likened it to “murdering tofu with CMKVEJGPMPKHGŒ$WVKVCNYC[UYCUENGCTCNYC[UKPVGNNKIGPVCNYC[UſNNGFYKVJ the colorful phrases that would attract 350 weekly subscribers by 1878, not an impressive number by Western standards, but the highest readership of any of Japan’s English-language papers.9 The fact that the English teacher House wrote nearly all of the paper’s essays personally meant that lucidity was consistent across the columns. Even the short new reports from government bureaus as often as not glistened with colorful metaphors or acerbic asides. And the editorial essays typically were gems of logic and fountains of literary allusion. House’s touch also provided the Times with endless witticisms. When the editor heard, for example, that a government bureau had hung a portrait of a recently departed, unpopular foreign attaché, he quoted CENGTMVQVJGGHHGEVVJCVVJGJCPIKPIYCUőCſPGUVTQMGQHRQNKE[ŒDGECWUGőVJG RQTVTCKVYKNNDGLWUVCUCEVKXGCPFGHſECEKQWUCUVJGQTKIKPCNGXGTYCUCPFYKNNEQUV PQVJKPIDG[QPFVJGſTUVQWVNC[Œ10 House informed his readers on one occasion that Eve must have played tennis well in the Garden of Eden, because she was unencumbered by clothes. Even more important than the Times’ s lucid prose were the broad scope of its coverage and the vigor of its editorial comment. The paper was especially strong on VTCXGNUVQTKGUDGECWUG*QWUGJKOUGNHJCFVTCXGNGFYKFGN[FWTKPIJKUſTUVOQPVJU in Japan (he had climbed Mt. Fuji, for example, in September 1870, less than two weeks after his arrival) and loved its landscapes and people. The paper also provided exceptionally detailed reports on diplomatic appointments and bureaucratic developments, along with columns of trade statistics and endless discussions of government budgets. Typically, accounts of a personnel shift at a ministry or of some KORGPFKPIPGYQTFKPCPEGYQWNFCRRGCTſTUVKPVJGEQNWOPUQHVJGKPUKFGT*QWUG The Times also excelled in theater and music coverage, primarily because House was himself an expert in the arts, having been a composer, a critic, a theater manager, and an accomplished pianist before leaving the West. And above all, the paper excelled in comment, with many of its editorials sparking tantrums among the Yokohama editors, who had been irritated enough by House’s pro-Japanese stance when he was merely a reporter and now found his polemics intolerable. The Times’s columns also nettled many Western diplomats, whose favor he curried QPN[KHJGTGURGEVGFVJGO#PFVJG[GXGPUVKTTGFVJGKTGQH,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUOQTG
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often than one might have predicted, because House never hesitated to criticize the things that he disliked in Japan. 1PGQHVJGſTUVVJKPIUVJCVUVTKMGUVJGTGCFGTQHVJGRCRGTKUVJGUGTKQWUPGUUYKVJ which House took Japanese policies. This country was not just a site for making CRTQſVQTHQTEQPXGTVKPIVJGJGCVJGPŌQTGXGPHQTFGOQPUVTCVKPIVJGUWRGTKQTity of Western civilization. It was a place where intelligent, rational people were grappling with nation-building tasks, and House looked on their efforts with respect, sometimes greater respect even than Japanese intellectuals did. Frequently that attitude yielded editorials praising Japan’s rapid progress – from a position of “frail decrepitude” in the 1860s to “friendly and respected intercourse with the powers of the earth” a decade later.11 Other times it produced essays about the UWEEGUUQHURGEKſETGHQTOUVJGGHſEKGPE[QH,CRCPŏURQUVQHſEGVJGCTTKXCNQHVJG ſTUVUJKRDGCTKPIC,CRCPGUGƀCIKP.QPFQPVJGTCRKFKV[YKVJYJKEJ,CRCPYCU opening new national banks, the vitality of Japanese art. But at other times, more often than one might have predicted, House’s respect led to editorials criticizing Japanese customs and government policies. Indeed, few things illustrated the seriousness with which he took the Japanese better than his willingness to engage them in debate and to criticize things he disliked. No sycophant, he discussed the issues of the day with the vigor of one to YJQOVJGCNVGTPCVKXGUOCVVGTGF1HVGPJKUETKVKEKUOUFGCNVYKVJURGEKſEQPGVKOG incidents: the “economic absurdity” of some merchants’ scheme to sell silkworms VQ+VCN[VJGDCFGZCORNGUGVD[QHſEKCNUYJQDWKNVGZVTCXCICPVTGUKFGPEGUVJG JCTUJGPHQTEGOGPVQHRTGUUNCYUYKVJPGKVJGTőUWHſEKGPVTGCUQPPQTPGEGUUKV[Œ+P ,WPGHQTGZCORNGJGICXGPGCTN[CEQNWOPVQVJGſTKPIQHVJG-CKUGK)CMMQ teacher Horace Wilson, who had introduced baseball to Japan, to make way for a Japanese employee. He sympathized with the desire to hire Japanese nationals őCUURGGFKN[CURQUUKDNGŒDWVSWGUVKQPGFYJ[QHſEKCNUYQWNFFKUOKUURGQRNGőYJQ know their work and do it zealously and well” while retaining “others who are . . . destitute of zeal.”12 Just as often, House’s criticisms were ongoing. For months Times editorials raged over the government’s failure to regulate the charges of rickshaw pullGTUYJKNGQVJGTGUUC[UGZRTGUUGFTGRGCVGFDCHƀGOGPVCV6QM[QŏUQWVFCVGFſTGſIJVKPI OGVJQFU #HVGT C &GEGODGT ſTG VJCV FGUVTQ[GF JKU QYP JQOG *QWUGŏU RGP YCU YKVJGTKPI JG ECNNGF VJG ſTG ſIJVKPI FGRCTVOGPV őWUGNGUUŒ hopelessly conservative, and “utterly dishonest and corrupt,” and concluded VJCV VJTGG VJKPIU YGTG PGGFGF NGUU ƀCOOCDNG EQPUVTWEVKQP OCVGTKCNU DGVVGT ſTG ſIJVKPI GSWKROGPV CPF C UQWPF KPUWTCPEG U[UVGO13 The Times also criticized broader social practices regularly, particularly the way women were VTGCVGFD[VJGKTJWUDCPFUCPFHCOKNKGU*KUſTUVNGPIVJ[VTGCVOGPVQHVJKURCTticular topic appeared on 2 March 1878, in response to an essay in which Fukuzawa Yukichi had suggested that Japanese not put their daughters in Westerners’ schools lest too much emphasis on nonessential learning make them poor marriage candidates. House said Fukuzawa’s view implied that women had no pur-
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pose other than to be “assistants in their husbands’ households,” an attitude he found contemptuous. The real reason for Fukuzawa’s caution, he suggested, was that Japanese men feared that broadly educated women “will presently become intractable and insubordinate, and resolve themselves into an element hostile to the welfare of the state.” He found such fears “ludicrous,” but added that if men could not do as well as women in an equal system, then “the interests of the nation would be best served by as speedy a transfer as possible of all sorts of control to those who may prove themselves better entitled to leadership.” The implicit premise of Fukuzawa’s argument, he added, was that if women were educated broadly they might “perchance lose some of their value as menial drudges.” Space RTGENWFGUUWOOCTK\KPI*QWUGŏUUWDUGSWGPVGFKVQTKCNUQPYQOGPUWHſEGKVVQUC[ that they were numerous and equally hard hitting. And they made it clear that JGTGURGEVGF,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUVQQOWEJVQRCVTQPK\GVJGOYKVJGKVJGTUKNGPEGQT insincere approval of practices he thought wrong. More to the liking of his Japanese supporters – and more distasteful to his rival foreign editors – was the greatest of House’s crusades: his attacks on the evils of Western imperialism. No issue so thoroughly aroused him during the Times years as the way the European powers had appointed themselves world arbiters, speakKPIVJGNCPIWCIGQHLWUVKEGYJKNGFGXKUKPITWNGUVJCVDGPGſVGFVJGOUGNXGUCNQPG+P the eighth issue of his paper, House reprinted a Tokyo Nichi Nichi analysis of the imperialist system, which argued: “We cannot arrive at an equality with foreign powers, because they maintain their conduct not by reason or on moral principles, but depend upon force.” And he wrote his own variations on that theme almost weekly. The attacks went in many directions. Frequently, it was trade that angered House, the fact that the diplomats tailored their policies to the merchants’ CRRGVKVGHQTRTQſV0GCTN[CUQHVGPJGYTQVGCDQWVVJGKPEQORGVGPEGQH9GUVern diplomats serving in Japan. Sometimes he talked about the Europeans’ and Americans’ ignorance of Asia, and their willingness to use derogatory stereotypes or epithets such as “Japs.” And in almost every issue, he discussed what he saw as imperialism’s chief villain: the British trade system, backed up by its military might. He was so relentless, in fact, in his attacks on the British that a respected twentieth-century ambassador, Hugh Cortazzi, would write (without apparent evidence) that House had been “employed to write anti-British propaganda.”14 House’s feelings about imperialism were revealed most forcefully in scores of editorials on treaty revision. Indeed, he ran more than a hundred editorials and articles on the treaties during his years at the Times, and he discussed revision at least that many times more as a side issue in articles with another focus. His underlying principle was that Japan had been forced by ignorance and military weakness in the 1850s to sign treaties that robbed her of sovereignty, dignity, and economic opportunity – and that even though she had become a strong, civilized nation since then, the treaty powers continued to deny her justice. To regain FKIPKV[CPFCEJKGXGRTQURGTKV[,CRCPOWUVſPFCOGCPUCHQTEGHWNOGCPUKHPGEGUUCT[VQVJTQYQHHVJGQNFVTGCVKGU5JGOWUVſPFCYC[VQGPFVJGGZVTCVGTTKVQTKCN
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system under which foreigners committing crimes in Japan were tried by their own consular courts, and she must be given (or seize, if need be) autonomy in the setting of tariff rates. House was not naive about what it would take to accomplish treaty revision; he agreed with Fukuzawa that “foreign relations are governed, not by reason, but by passion,” and he never held out much hope that the British would give up the advantages of the unequal system without a great deal of pressure. But none of the obstacles daunted him much. He had no doubt about the justice of his position, and he felt sure that means were available for bringing treaty equality to fruition, particularly after the Japanese government decided in VJGHCNNQHVQPGIQVKCVGFKTGEVN[YKVJQHſEKCNUDCEMKP#OGTKECCPF'WTQRG rather than in Tokyo, where the foreign representatives usually acted as a bloc.15 The largest number of House’s treaty articles concentrated on trade and tarKHHU*GTCKUGFVJCVVQRKEſTUVKPC/CTEJGFKVQTKCNQP,CRCPŏUVTCFG statistics, arguing that “a higher duty” would improve the country’s commercial position. Then, on 31 March he launched a series of eight long letters by the Philadelphia economist Henry C. Carey, advocating protectionism as a source QHRTQURGTKV[#PFQP#RTKNJGTCPVJGſTUVOCLQT Times editorial on tariffs, showing how British Minister Harry Parkes’s interpretation of the treaties enabled British steamers to transport 2.5 million piculs of coal duty free to Japan GCEJ[GCTCVCNQUUQHOQTGVJCPKPVCTKHHUQTCHWNNſHVJQHVJGEWUVQOU house’s annual revenues. One point that House pounded home, again and again, was that Japan badly needed the lost revenue. He noted that British merchants had to pay less duty when they sent goods to Japan than when they exported items to Europe, and that even Great Britain, the “declared exponent and advocate” of free trade, took in more customs revenue than Japan did. And he endlessly lauded the value of protectionism in building native industries – anywhere. Bismarck’s Germany was committed to protective tariffs; protectionists were in the majority in France now; even Switzerland, “the free trade country of Europe,” was putting high tariffs on goods from countries that excluded Swiss products. House called the move to protection a “sweeping wave.” He also argued that America’s growing silk industry had been helped by sixty-percent tariffs, while the absence of duties in England had enabled the French to invade the British silk market. “There were upwards of 14,000 looms going ... at Bedford Leigh” before the British signed a treaty with the French to eliminate the duties, he said, “but the treaty swept them all away. . . . Destitution followed wherever silk was manufactured.”16 Equally important to the Times was the question of fairness. Tariff autonomy was a matter of national right; if strong nations denied that right to weaker ones, they were acting unjustly. When the Japan Mail called on Japan to exhibit “a fair and liberal spirit” in treaty negotiations in 1877, House huffed that the Japanese would of course be fair and liberal – but that they were not “bound” to negotiate “in any spirit excepting that which pleases them. .. . The truth should never be
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lost sight of, that the regulation of a customs tariff is a national right.” He said the “fetters” of tariff limits were “imposed in her hours of extremest weakness,” and now that Japan was a healthy participant in international affairs they should be removed. His trump card on this argument came in another long essay that quoted 6QYPUGPF*CTTKUVJG#OGTKECPPGIQVKCVQTQHVJGſTUVEQOOGTEKCNVTGCV[YKVJ Japan, as personally opposing the continued imposition of the tariff limits. House had written Harris in 1875, asking for a comment on the limits, since the diplomat’s name often was “quoted in a sort of defence of the claims made by the present envoys.” Harris replied quickly, saying he had intended the tariff limits to be only a temporary measure until the Japanese understood international affairs YGNNGPQWIJVQTGXKUGVJGO*GCFOKVVGFVQYTKVKPIVJGVTGCV[CPFſZKPIVJG limits, because of “the ignorance of the Japanese of a tariff of duties on imports and of the manner in which customs should be collected.” But he had made sure VJCVVJGVTGCV[URGEKſECNN[UVKRWNCVGFVJCVTCVGUEQWNFDGTGXKUGFKPCHGY[GCTUCV Japan’s initiative. He wrote: I constantly told the Japanese commissioners that before the time came around for revising the Treaty they would have gained such experience as would enable them intelligently to deal with this matter themselves; remarking that while ten years was an important part of a man’s life it was as nothing in the life of a nation. I never, for a moment, claimed a right to interfere in matters which purely belong to the municipal affairs of every nation. Such interference is the result of absolute conquest, and not of any international right. 0QY*QWUGUCKFYGőUGGYJCVVJGOQVKXGUVJCVKPƀWGPEGF/T*CTTKUTGCNN[ were.” The Harris letter created quite a furor; it was reprinted quickly in Tokyo Nichi Nichi for Japanese consumption; American minister John Bingham was upset by what he saw as Harris’s attempt “to steal my thunder” in the treaty reform campaign; and Harris’s thoughts kept rippling through the journalistic and diplomatic communities for years to come.17 During 1878 the Times expressed optimism about the prospects of changing the tariff system, thanks especially to the support Bingham and the U.S. State Department now had thrown behind revision. House began proposing alternatives to the present system, even if the British would not go along. In the summer of 1878, he raised the idea of Japan simply renouncing the treaties and setting tariffs as it pleased. No one would go to war over that, he asserted. All of the negotiations, “the endless iterations of conference, negotiation, correspondence,” had “brought forth nothing – not even a mouse.” It was time for Japan to take a bold initiative. “One sturdy breath of independence, and the swollen bubble so long blown by diplomatic arrogance and assumption tumbles back into the froth of which it was composed.” A more realistic kind of “diplomatic ingenuity,” he suggested later,
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would be for Japan to form an alliance with one of the great powers – preferably the United States, or if that were not possible, France, Germany, or Russia – in which each would grant the other major concessions, such as the elimination of all duties on each other’s goods. He did not see this as a permanent arrangement (after all, it contradicted his protectionist theories), but as a temporary measure to break the log jam. Trade between the two countries would soar, and the other treaty powers would be forced to negotiate new treaties. “To gain ‘a great right,’ it might be necessary to sanction ‘a little wrong’.”He also held out great hope for the unilateral negotiations being conducted that year between Japan and the United States. And when agreement actually was reached on a bilateral treaty that gave Japan tariff autonomy, he was elated. House’s optimism turned to disappointment, however, when the Japanese, acting under a misperception of American demands, added a clause making the bilateral treaty effective only when the other treaty powers had agreed to similar changes. The impact of that clause was to render the new treaty meaningless. House called it “the most deplorable diplomatic blunder committed by Japanese agents since the original surrender of sovereign rights, twenty years ago.” To ratify the treaty with the new clause “would be just as useful” as “to submit the FQEWOGPVVQƀCOGUCPFTCVKH[VJGCUJGUŒ*GUCKFVJGFTCHVJCFDGGPGZEGNNGPVQVJerwise; it restored to Japan the right of “regulating customs duties and controlling foreign commerce”; it also gave her the right to protect “the coasting trade.” But with the added stipulation, the treaty had become hostage to Great Britain. “A whole agreement is carefully put together, like a child’s toy structure, only to be MPQEMGFKPVQHTCIOGPVUD[VJGſPCNVQWEJŒ6JGYQTMQPVTGCV[TGXKUKQPYQWNF have to start again – this time with more baggage, since the bilateral negotiations had created new resentments and the blunder had taken away the Japanese government’s leverage. In an early 1879 editorial, he would conclude: “When Japan is prepared to say, ‘This I want and this I will have,’ – she will get it, and not before.” He no longer expected that soon.18 The other treaty revision that drew major comment from House was extraVGTTKVQTKCNKV[CPFJGTGVQQJGEKVGF*CTTKUYJQUCKFſTUVVJCVVJGLWTKUFKEVKQPCN clause of the treaty “was against my conscience”; second, that the secretary of state at the time had regarded extraterritoriality as an “unjust interference” with national sovereignty that had to be included to satisfy Congress; and third, that “I HGCTVJCV+UJCNNPQVNKXGVQUGGVJKUWPLWUVRTQXKUKQPUVTWEMQWVQHQWTVTGCVKGUŒ19 But jusVKEGYCUPQVVJGUQNGKUUWG*QWUGUCKF#VNGCUVCUICNNKPIYGTGVJGURGEKſECDWUGU the system engendered. He gave issue after issue to reports (with an abundance of comment, of course) on iniquitous decisions that issued from the consular courts, all the while building a powerful argument against the system as a whole. #OQPI VJG ſTUV QH VJG GRKUQFGU VJCV CVVTCEVGF *QWUGŏU RGP YCU C RCKT QH parallel, nearly identical, cases in 1877 that produced opposite judgments in two different consular courts. Two residents of the Tsukiji foreign quarters, one a Briton, the other an American, had refused for months to pay rent to
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their Japanese landlords. When the Japanese government sued, the British court ordered the offender to pay the back rent, while the American court ruled for the defendant. Noting that the cases illustrated the “absurdity of the ex-territorial system,” House ran a piece from Hochi Shimbun, which asked: “How are HQTGKIPGTULWUVKſGFKPUC[KPIVJCVVJGKTOGVJQFUQHFKURGPUKPILWUVKEGCTGVJGQPN[ trustworthy ones?” A month later, he ran a paragraph from the journal Celestial Empire calling the two cases “splendid illustrations of the vaunted impartiality of Justice as administered in foreign law courts.” The following May, House talked about the “growing scandal” of Yokohama sailors – “a notoriously ignorant, irresponsible, and, when vinously excited, quarrelsome class” – who got involved in violent scrapes and went away with little or no punishment. And CPECUGKPYJKEJC$TKVKUJUGCOCPPCOGF4QUUOWTFGTGFVJGQHſEGTQH an American ship, drew a lengthy list of the extraterritoriality system’s abuses: inadequate policing of the treaty ports, a woefully weak licensing system for bars and saloons, and jurisdictional disputes of every kind. The system increased the likelihood of violent crimes such as this, House wrote; even though Ross had been sentenced to death, the jurisdictional controversies made it unclear whether he ever would be punished – “all because of that ever patent absurdity which still grows a luxuriant perennial crop of abuses, – the distorted phenomenon of extra-territoriality.”20 The episode that drew House’s most fearsome attack followed the arrival of the German ship Hesperia in Yokohama’s outer harbor in July 1879. Since the vessel had spent most of the previous month loading and unloading cargo and passengers in Kobe, where a cholera epidemic had broken out, the Japanese ordered it under quarantine, whereupon the German minister von Eisendecher objected, saying the treaties gave the Japanese no jurisdiction over German ships. After having the boat inspected by a German doctor and by Germany’s consul general, von Eisendecher permitted the ship to unload its passengers and cargo on 14 July, over the objections QHC,CRCPGUGQHſEGTYJQőCDUQNWVGN[HQTDCFGVJGECRVCKPVQNGCXGVJGUVCVKQPŒ(QTmer U.S. President Ulysses Grant, on tour in Tokyo at the time, suggested that ,CRCPſTGCVVJG)GTOCPUJKRCPF75/KPKUVGT$KPIJCOYTQVGJQOGVJCVVJG death toll from the cholera epidemic “would not have been nearly so great if the Government of Japan had been aided and not resisted, as she was by certain foreign powers.” House published numerous articles on the episode, using phrases such as “outrage,” “diplomatic law-breaking,” and the “utter poverty” of the Germans’ defense of their actions. In December, House wrote that the Hesperia episode had touched off a debate in Germany and England that betokened an end to the extraterritorial system, perhaps even within a decade: “The doors of debate have at length been thrown open, and . . . we may now look for that publicity which, in England, heralds the death blow of any system of unprincipled oppression and arrogant injustice.” He predicted that Harry Parkes, the man he held responsible for inspiring von Eisendecher, would be recalled, if only the Japanese government would suggest it.21
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Rumors were rife when House shut down the Times on 26 June 1880. The rival Yokohama editors proclaimed that its readership was small (though theirs was smaller) and that the paper no longer was viable (an inaccurate assumption), due to House’s alienation from mainstream foreign thought. Some said dissension in government circles had undermined Japanese support for the paper’s subsidy, while others suggested that House had offended his supporters by insisting on the TKIJVVQCVVCEMQHſEKCNRQNKEKGU6JGVTWVJCEVWCNN[YCUOQTGEQORNGZVJCPVJG[ could have imagined. First, House did indeed – as he had claimed publicly – have VQTGVWTPVQ#OGTKECVQJCPFNGHCOKN[ſPCPEKCNCHHCKTUDGECWUGJKUWPENGCPF business agent had died unexpectedly the previous winter, leaving House without ENQUGTGNCVKXGUCPFRNWPIKPIJKUſPCPEKCNCHHCKTUKPVQőCUGTKQWUEQPHWUKQPŒ5GEQPF he was suffering by now from a case of the gout so serious that he would have to be carried aboard the ship bound for America; he hoped that doctors in New York might be able to give him relief. And third, Okuma had decided to send JKOQPCSWKGVVTKRVQ'WTQRGCPF#OGTKECVQNQDD[RQNKVKEKCPUCPFQHſEKCNUHQT a more sympathetic ear in the treaty revision talks, an assignment House liked very much, since it combined two of his passions, fair treatment for Japan and the political/cultural swirl of Paris and London. He said in the last issue that some people had urged him temporarily to turn the paper over to a surrogate, but he had rejected that because the Times had been “the vehicle of expression for the views of a single person”; to give control to someone else would destroy “the GHſECE[QHVJGRWDNKECVKQPŒ22 The years that followed would take House’s odyssey with Japan in tortuous and dynamic new directions: continued magazine campaigns against the unequal treaties, unsuccessful lobbying efforts to be named American consul-general in Yokohama, endless correspondence with American intimates like Grant, John Hay, and John Russell Young about Japanese affairs, a tumultuous and eventually quite public relationship with Mark Twain, a return to war reporting (from a wheel chair) during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, even directorship of the ſTUV9GUVGTPU[ORJQP[D[VJG'ORGTQT/GKLKŏUEQWTVOWUKEKCPUVQYJQOJG taught Western-style music on Western instruments, at the request of the empress. But the Tokio Times years tell us more than any of those later experiences about the complex ways in which sympathetic foreigners and the early Meiji government worked together in Japan’s march toward modernity. They also provide intriguing insights into questions about Japan’s overseas lobbying efforts and source disclosure that even today trigger heated discussions. And they illustrate how complicated the relationships among the expatriates themselves were – and always will be. One of the most disheartening, yet at times most charming, characteristics of the Tokio Times was this last feature: its struggles with the Herald, Gazette, and Mail in Yokohama. John Russell Young wrote in 1879: “If you take sides with the eastern nations, in this far east, you bring upon you the rancor of the foreigners. . . . You are bribed, bought, corrupted. You are possessed of the devil.”23 House
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stirred strong responses and a good deal of opposition. Sometimes the attacks were humorous, as when the Japan Punch printed a cartoon of him carrying an #OGTKECPƀCIYKVJCTKUKPIUWPKPVJGOKFFNGQHKVWPFGTVJGECRVKQPő6JGPGY ƀCIQH,CRCPŌCNC6QMKQ6KOGU%QŒQTYJGPKVNCDGNGFJKOőVJGPCWIJV[ Yankee boy who would throw coals at the British Lion.”24 At other times, they could be vicious. In 1879, for example, after House had criticized Parkes, the Gazette wrote about the Times’s ‘“damnable iteration’ of insult, its simulated KPFKIPCVKQPHQTYTQPIPGXGTKPƀKEVGFKVUXGPQOQWUOCNKEGŒ25 And while House averred that he wanted to maintain a civil tone, he saw no choice but to respond in kind. “Gentle persuasion or moderate debate would be a senseless affectation,” he wrote. “As well seek to extinguish the blaze of a furnace with perfumed oil. . . . Courtesy and soft speech . . . would be mistaken for timidity.”26 As a result, he sneered often at his rivals’ journalistic sloppiness, at their mistakes, at their “all-embracing ignorance,” at the Gazette’s “shrill, unnatural voice,”27 and he tore apart their arguments with a zest that suggested more than unavoidable self-defense. It was little wonder that when the Times announced its own demise, the Herald sniped that the paper “has gone out with a stink, and society is well rid of a weekly and nasty nuisance.”28 The animosity between the pro- and anti-Japanese foreigners was not just a pose; it was deep and real. The editors’ goals differed CUOWEJCUVJGKTRGTUQPCNKVKGU6JG;QMQJCOCLQWTPCNKUVUUQWIJV$TKVKUJRTQſV above all and regarded the Japanese as inferior, while those of House’s ilk sought a world order that treated the Japanese as equals and granted treaty sovereignty to any nation capable of exercising it. Less obvious but even more important were the things the Times experience has to tell us about the methods the Meiji government used in its drive to win a place in the imperialist system. A great deal has been written about that government’s public treaty revision efforts: the diplomatic negotiations in Tokyo and in foreign capitals, the conference approaches, the suggestions of novel, sometimes halfway measures toward equal treatment. House’s story shows that the public activities were, however, only a part of the narrative. Although space limitations preclude a detailed analysis, it is important to note that the subtler, behind-the- scenes attempts at creating a climate conducive to international acceptance consumed CUOWEJQHVJG/GKLKQHſEKCNUŏGPGTI[CUVJGDGVVGTMPQYPWRHTQPVCEVKXKVKGU#V least four points need to be made in this regard. First, the handling of House and the TimesKNNWUVTCVGULWUVJQYUGPUKVKXGQHſEKCNU were to the fact that international success depended as much on creating a milieu as it did on building a military, developing an economy, or engaging in direct negotiations. It did not take LeGendre’s memos to tell them that Japan needed the EQPſFGPEGQH'WTQRGCPPCVKQPUKHKVYCUVQIGVVJGKTEQQRGTCVKQPPQTFKFKVVCMG JKUCFXKEGVQOCMGVJGOCYCTGVJCVVJKUSWGUVHQTEQPſFGPEGFGOCPFGFRWDNKE TGNCVKQPUCNOQUVCUOWEJCUKVFKFURGEKſERQNKEKGU+PCYQTNFKPYJKEJVJG;QMQhama papers daily lambasted Japan as inept, greedy, and backward, the need for a friendly voice – for an organ that explained Japanese policies sympathetically, in
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a language that foreign leaders could read – was self-evident. That was the reason VJGIQXGTPOGPVYQWNFſPFKVKORQTVCPVVQUGPFEQRKGUCYGGMVQQRKPKQP leaders in the Western world. Second, the treatment of House showed the early leaders’ understanding that UQHVINQXGUYQTMGFDGVVGTVJCPDCTGſUVUKPUGEWTKPIHTKGPFU6JGUGETGVEQPVTCEV establishing the Times contained only two clauses (out of nine) that restricted what the TimesEQWNFRWDNKUJ6JGſTUVTGSWKTGF*QWUGVQRWDNKUJCP[VJKPIVJCV 1MWOCCPF1MWDQURGEKſECNN[TGSWGUVGFVJGUGEQPF #TVKENG(KXGUVKRWNCVGF that “all essays and editorials on Japan will be written truthfully and impartially, with the well being of the government in mind.”29 Such clauses could, of course, have been used to regulate the paper’s contents quite severely, but the reality was that House was given almost total freedom. As we have seen, he criticized Japan as vociferously as he praised it, and his attacks on practices like the treatment of wives and lavish spending hit at the very people who supported his subsidies. That he looked out for the government’s (and Japan’s) interests is undeniable, but he had been doing that since the day he stepped ashore at Yokohama, indeed since the day he covered the Japanese ambassadors to Washington in 1860. The TimesEQNWOPUVJWUOCMGKVENGCTVJCVVJGQHſEKCNUVQYJQOJGCPUYGTGFICXG him as much latitude as his own inclinations demanded. They seem to have understood that the best censorship is self-censorship. House probably would not have accepted any other arrangement, and though his independence surely caused men like Okuma to squirm at times, they were savvy enough to give him the space that he demanded, knowing that his essential, pro-Japanese message would come through most effectively when he spoke from conviction rather than from fetters. Third, the Times experience highlights the lack of unity within Japanese government circles. Not everyone was as astute as Okuma and Okubo when it came to shaping opinion. Nor did everyone see quite so clearly how important it was to shape foreign opinion. Thus, when House returned to Tokyo in 1882, planning to revive the paper, he was blocked – not by journalistic rivals but by the fact that his sponsors were no longer around. Okubo had been assassinated before the Times shut down, and Okuma had been forced from the government a few months after House left for Europe. For years, the Bostonian would write about the “tragedy” for Japan of that ouster. It is clear in hindsight that it also was a misfortune for House, because without Okuma to patronize him, he was not able VQUGEWTGUWHſEKGPVHWPFUVQTGXKXGVJGRCRGT Finally, House’s efforts add new dimensions to our understanding of the nature and role of the oyatoi gaikokujin, or foreign employees, who helped Meiji ,CRCPCNQPIVJGRCVJVQOQFGTPKV[6JG[OCMGKVENGCTVJCVKPVJGſGNFQHLQWTnalism, just as in most other areas, there were foreigners who gave themselves to the Japanese cause not out of greed, or because they were power seekers, but because they were committed quite genuinely to the progress of a land that VJG[JCFEQOGVQNQXG(TQOJKUſTUVFC[UKP6QM[Q*QWUGYCUKPHCVWCVGF with this “fantastic and delightful country.”30 And his espousal of its causes
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never wavered, regardless of who was paying his checks. As he wrote midway through his Times career, he had kept up “an unchanging front throughout half a dozen years of tolerably active controversy.” Surely, he added, that “counts for something.”31 Not everyone was convinced by his arguments (though one Hartford clergyman wrote that “you have made a good deal of a Japanese patriot of me”32), but even his opponents would have agreed that he represented an important group of foreigners who served the Japanese cause not primarily from avarice or ambition, but because they had come to love and respect Japan itself. 9QTMKPIDQVJDGUKFGCPFDGPGCVJCPGPNKIJVGPGFITQWRQHQHſEKCNUYJQYGTGCU good at public relations as they were at nation building, those foreigners played CUKIPKſECPVTQNGKPUJCRKPIVJGFKTGEVKQP,CRCPVQQMCUKVGPVGTGFCYJQNN[PGY international sphere. NOTES 1 2
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Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, 18 Dec. 1876. House’s salary and Daigaku Nanko experiences are discussed in UNESCO Higashi Ajia Bunka Kenkyu Senta, ed., Shiryo oyatoi gaikokujin (Tokyo: Shogagukan, 1975), pp. 163, 193; Showa Joshi Daigaku, ed., “E. H. Hausu,” Kindai bungaku kenkyu sosho, vol. 5 (Tokyo: Showa Joshi Daigaku, 1957), pp. 395–400; and Shigehisa Tokutaro, Oyatoi gaikokujin (Kagoshima: Kagoshima Kenkyujo Shuppankai, 1968), p. 161. See Usui Chizuko, Joshi kyoiku no kindai to gendai: Nichibei no hikaku kyoiku gakuteki shiron (Tokyo: Kindai Bungei, 1994), p. 191; also Aoki Koto, “The Story of My Life,” 20 June 1874, 9KNNKCO'NNKQV)TKHſU%QNNGEVKQP4WVIGTU7PKXGTUKV[*GPUJW+KPMCKGFZa yatoi: oyatoi gaikokujin no sogoteki kenkyu (Tokyo: Shibunkaku Shup-pan, 1987), p. 144. New York Tribune, 23 Sept., 28 Nov. 1872. E. H. House to Whitelaw Reid, 21 Sept. 1870, Whitelaw Reid Papers, Library of Congress. The subsidies to the Mail are discussed in Yamamoto Fumio, Shimbun hattatsu shi (Tokyo: Ito Shoten, 1944), pp. 166–67, and Ebihara Heihachiro, Nihon Oji shimbun zasshi shi (Tokyo: Taikaido, 1934), pp. 81–86. Howell’s demand for more money is found in a memo from Charles LeGendre to Okuma Shigenobu, 8 July 1874, Okuma monjo (OM), No. C462, Waseda University. The LeGendre memos are in OM C462 (8 July 1874) and OM C479 (23 &GEYKVJRRŌFGCNKPIURGEKſECNN[YKVJVJGETGCVKQPQHCRCRGT LeGendre’s 1875–76 memos to Okuma about using House (OM, Waseda University: LeGendre memos of 1 Jan. and 5 Apr. 1875; 5 Mar. 1876; and Okuma memo to LeGendre, 9 Sept. 1876) are discussed in Kasahara Hidehiko, “Rujiyandoru to seifukei Oji shimbun,” Shimbun Gaku Hyoron Ō6JG,CPWCT[OGOQ 1/0QYCUVJGſTUV mentioning House by name. The contract is in OM, No. A1115 (1 Oct. 1876). The extension (24 June 1878) and Hirai’s discussion (24 Apr. 1878) are found in OM, No. A1116. Evaluations of House are found in W. B. Mason, “The Foreign Colony: Early Meiji Days: III – Edward H. House, Editor of the First English Journal in Tokyo,” The New East 2, no. /CT9')TKHſUVerbeck of Japan (New York: Revell, 1918), p. 289; Japan Weekly Mail, 6 Jan. 1877; Tokutomi Soho, “Hausu sensei no omoide,” Shimbun kisha to shimbun 6QM[Q/KPŏ[WUJCRRŌ(QTEKTEWNCVKQPſIWTGUUGGTokio Times, 6 July 1878, p. 2, and 3 Jan. 1880, p. 14. Tokio Times, 10 Feb. 1877. Tokio Times, 6 Jan. 1877.
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22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
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6QMKQ6KOGUUKNMYQTOGZRQTVU,WPGRTGUUNCYGPHQTEGOGPV,CPſTKPIQH Horace Wilson, 2 June 1877. Tokio Times, 3 Jan. 1880. Ian Nish, ed., Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. I (Kent, U.K.: Japan Library, 1994), p. 16. Tokio Times, 14 Dec. 1878. Tokio Times: British income from tariffs, 20 Oct. 1877; the sweeping wave, 17 May 1879; British silk industry, 24 Apr. 1880. Tokio Times: 28 July 1877 (“a national right”), 24 Nov. 1877 (Harris’s letter; italics in Tokio Times but not in letter itself). House’s letter to Harris was written 17 January 1875; Harris’s reply was sent 22 March 1875; copies of both are in the Charles LeGendre Papers, Library of Congress. For Bingham’s response, see Payson J. Treat, Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Japan, 1893–1895, vol. II (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1932), p. 33. Treat suggests that Harris probably did not intend his letter to be published, but the HCEVVJCV*CTTKUTGURQPFGFURGEKſECNN[VQCTGSWGUVHTQO*QWUGCLQWTPCNKUVUWIIGUVUVJCV Treat was mistaken. Tokio Times: 27 July 1878 (unilateral renunciation of treaty); 10 Aug. 1878 (alliance with a strong nation); 1 Feb. 1879 (the fatal clause); 19 Apr. 1879 (“this I want”). From Tokio Times, 24 Nov. 1877; Charles LeGendre Papers, Library of Congress. The emphasis is in the Times but not in the letter. The last line of the letter said, “I fondly hope that you [rather than “others”] may see it fully abrogated”; otherwise the quotations follow the Harris letter precisely. Tokio Times: 8 Sept. 1877 (Tsukiji cases); 6 Oct. 1877 (Celestial Empire, emphasis in original); 18 May 1878 (violent sailors); 12 June 1880 (seaman Ross). Tokio Times: 9 Aug. 1879 (general account of Hesperia episode); 19 July 1879 (“diplomatic law-breaking”); 13 Dec. 1879 (discussion in England and Germany). For statements of Grant and Bingham, see Treat, Diplomatic Relations, II, p. 88. Tokio Times, 26 June 1880. Tokio Times, 27 Dec. 1879. Japan Punch:0QX őPGYƀCIŒ(GD őPCWIJV[;CPMGGŒ Japan Gazette, 4 Jan. 1879. Tokio Times, 27 Dec. 1879. Tokio Times: 13 Dec. 1879 (“ignorance”); 26 June 1880 (“unnatural voice”). Japan Daily Herald, 26 June 1880. Naimitsu gian, Articles 4 and 5, OM, No. A1115, Waseda University Library. Letter from House to Whitelaw Reid, 21 Sept. 1870; Whitelaw Reid Paper, Library of Congress. Tokio Times, 6 July 1878. Joseph Twichell letter to House, 9 June 1879, Mark Twain Papers, University of CaliforniaBerkeley Library.
Source: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historions, Vol. 13, No. 2 (May 1954), 13–18
7
Early Western Architecture in Japan K. ABE†
1
A BOUT THE MIDDLE of the nineteenth century a great revolution in architecture broke out in Japan. Although Japanese architecture had been affected several times by other countries before this revolution, the chief characteristics of Japanese architecture – the wooden structure and the trabeated style – had been preserved unchanged throughout the preceding two thousand years. The revolution of the nineteenth century which was caused by the introduction of Western architecture was in building material and architectural style; the traditional wooden structure began to give place to brick or stone construction and consequently the trabeated style had to give place to the new arcuated style. We can divide the history of Japanese architecture into two periods by this revolution; it may be said that Japanese architecture had developed continuously without its style being changed before this revolution and since then it has developed KPVQ OQFGTP CTEJKVGEVWTG WPFGT VJG UVTQPI KPƀWGPEGU QH VJG 9GUV +V KU therefore, very important for us to solve the following two problems: (1) When and by whom was the Western style introduced into Japan? (2) How has the new style developed into the modern style? On the second RTQDNGOUWHſEGKVVQUC[JGTGVJCVTGKPHQTEGFEQPETGVGEQPUVTWEVKQPYCUKPVTQduced into our country early in the twentieth century and since then the new problem of the relation between construction and design in the modern sense QHVJGYQTFJCUEQOGVQVJGHTQPV+PVJKURCRGT+YKNNVCMGWRVJGſTUVRTQDNGO to show the early development of Western architecture in Japan. 6JGRTQDNGOOWUVDGHQEWUGFQPVJGſTUVUGXGP[GCTUQHVJG/GKLK'TC Ō 1911), i.e., 1868–1874. The earlier year, 1868, means the Meiji Restoration and †
Kimimasa Abe is Lecturer in Aesthetics at the National University of Yokohama. He holds degrees from Tokyo University in both architecture and aesthetics. 93
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at that time things Western began to be introduced rapidly in consonance with the general trend of thought. The latter year, 1874, means the time when almost all the public buildings came to be erected by the Building Bureau of the Ministry of Engineering, established in 1870, and thereafter several foreign experts in CTEJKVGEVWTGſPGCTVUCPFEKXKNGPIKPGGTKPIKPXKVGFD[VJGIQXGTPOGPVDGICPVQ introduce Western architecture into our country. Prominent among the newcomers were C. de Boinville (1849–?), a Frenchman, G. V. Cappelletti (?-1887), an Italian, and J. Conder (1852–1920), an Englishman. Furthermore, VJGTG CRRGCTGF VJG ſTUV HQWT ITCFWCVGU HTQO VJG őJQWUGDWKNFKPIŒ EQWTUG QH the College of Engineering and since then Western architecture has been used by Japanese architects as well as by foreigners in Japan. I want to investigate Western-style architecture before 1874 in order to show the beginning of the KPƀWGPEGQHVJG9GUV The new government began to make a positive effort to introduce Western EKXKNK\CVKQPCHVGTCPFKPVJGſGNFQHCTEJKVGEVWTGVJGVTCFKVKQPCNUV[NGDGICP to be westernized, keeping step with the times. This tendency was promoted by the immediate demand that the Government erect large buildings with dignity to keep up with the various foreign countries. The cause of this tendency was the belief then current that westernization was the only way to be enlightened; we can see such eager desire in the records written in those days. Westernization QHDWKNFKPIUYCUſTUVTGCNK\GFKPRWDNKEDWKNFKPIUCPFUJQRU$GECWUGQHVJGFKHſculty of getting new material and its high price it was some years before dwelling houses were westernized. It goes without saying that this westernization of buildings went along with the changes in economic, social, and technological conditions. It is very important, I think, to trace this parallel phenomenon, but here I will try to discuss the early Western style mainly from the aesthetic point of view. We can classify the several Western-style architectures of those early days into two general types – one may be called semi-foreign, i.e., a compromise between Japanese and Western styles which was evolved by Japanese builders, and the other may be called purely Western and includes the styles which were employed by foreigners who came to our country. These two types are both eclectic; the one is a compromise between two heterogeneous styles while the other is a group of various Western historical styles, each the favorite style of the designer’s own country. Although such a phenomenon can generally be observed when one culture suddenly comes in contact with a heterogeneous culture, these two types of ,CRCPGUGCTEJKVGEVWTGCTGGURGEKCNN[VQDGPQVGFHQTVYQTGCUQPU C6JGſTUVV[RG is based on exoticism and a study of this type will let us know how far Japanese builders understood Western architecture in those early days, (b) The problem of which to adopt, the semi-foreign style or a pure Western style, comes to be discussed again and again in the early twentieth century and even today this problem is unavoidable for us who are always suffering from the heterogeneity of Western and Eastern art.
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2
6JGſTUVV[RGYCUFGXGNQRGFD[QTFKPCT[,CRCPGUGDWKNFGTU9JGPCPFJQYFKF they learn about Western style? Since Commodore Perry’s visit to Japan in 1853 several Western-style buildings had been erected in the concessions of open ports, such as Yokohama and Nagasaki. They were foreign mercantile houses and consulates, generally built of wood faced with stone, which were of the so-called colonial style. Today we can see how these houses looked from block-prints (Nishikie), which were almost all of westernized subjects in those days. These Western-style buildings were designed by foreigners and erected by Japanese builders. For instance, in 1861 four Japanese builders were appointed contractors for the foreign buildings in Yokohama. Thus they got a chance to know directly the foreign buildings and consequently came to be able to build Western-style buildings on their own. In VJGſGNFUQHGEENGUKCUVKECNCPFHCEVQT[CTEJKVGEVWTG9GUVGTPUV[NGDWKNFKPIUFGUKIPGF by foreign engineers or clergymen were erected before the Meiji Era. Examples are the Roman Catholic Church (6GPUJWFę) in Nagasaki (1862–64), the Roman Catholic Church in Yokohama (1862), and a cotton-mill in Kagoshima (1867). The two churches were of timber frame construction and the mill was of stone.
Fig. 1. Hotel Tsukiji, Tokyo, by K. Shimizu, 1868. (From a contemporary wood-block print)
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The semi-foreign compromise style began to be used extensively after the Restoration of 1868. Those buildings were all of timber frame construction faced with stone or stucco; frequently the outer walls were decorated with semicircular VKNGUQPCƀCVITQWPF VJGPECNNGFNamako-kabe – a name derived from the shape of tiles) (Fig. 1), or faced with clapboards. In those early days when brick buildings as symbols of civilization could never be designed without foreign engineers’ help, Japanese builders could only imitate Western style using ordinary timber frame construction. It seems VJCVVJKUYCUPQVFKHſEWNVHQTVJGOUQVJCVVJKUUGOKHQTGKIPUV[NGYCUTCRKFN[ popularized not only by the government but also by the private builders. #OQPIVJQUGRKQPGGTUVYQCTGMPQYP%JijLQ*C[CUJK Ō!YJQYCUKP the service of the Public Works Bureau, and Kisuke Shimizu (1815–1881), who was the second director of the Shimizugumi (one of the most famous building ſTOUKP,CRCP Shimizu came to Edo (now called Tokyo) in the eighteen-thirties in order to work as a carpenter. He was one of the four builders who were appointed contractors for foreign buildings. Hotel Tsukiji (1867–68), Tokyo, (Fig. 1) was his masterpiece and very representative of the early Western-style architecture employed by the Japanese.1 This hotel for foreigners visiting Tokyo was built on a picturesque site by the bay; it was surrounded by grounds very tastefully NCKFQWVYKVJRCVJUCOQPIƀQYGTDGFUUJTWDDGT[CPFITCUU[MPQNNU+VYCU of timber frame construction faced with stucco and was 240 feet in length by 200 feet in width, with a central tower 93 feet high which commanded from its top an extensive prospect of the city. Symmetrical plan and elevation, painted wooden members and shutters for the glass windows – these were characterKUVKEUQHVJGPGYUV[NG$WVYGECPſPFUGXGTCNVTCFKVKQPCNGNGOGPVUKPFGVCKNU such as the window (-CVęOCFQ) of the tower framed by a sort of foiled arch, and the bell-shaped decorations hanging down from the weather-vanes – these were characteristic elements used in the Buddhist temples. It seems that this hotel provided good accommodations. S. MossOCP UC[U ő6JGTG VJG VTCXGNNGT EQWNF ſPF C DWKNFKPI YKVJ TQQO[ CRCTVments, equal in comfort to some of the best hotels in Europe or America. . . . The accommodation was suitable for about one hundred visitors, according to the size of apartments in Japan hotels; in Europe it would be made to suit three hundred. In addition to the dining-hall, there was a billiard-room and drawing-room, with long corridors and verandahs.”2 There are some Japanese references to this building from which we can see that it was highly esteemed as a symbol of civilization by the Japanese who had just emerged from the feudal age. Shimizu afterwards erected several foreign mercantile houses in Yokohama and the First Bank of Mitsui (1871–72) in Tokyo (Fig. 2), which was called Mitsuigumi House at that time. This building was of timber frame construction faced with stone with galleries on the two stories.3 Columns and balustrade on the second gallery were of bronze. Here also we can see Western and traditional forms mingled: while
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Fig. 2. The First Bank of Mitsui, Tokyo, by K. Shimizu, 1872.
outer wall, cornice and other mouldings were faced with stucco, the roof over the third story followed the style of Japanese traditional architecture. Like the Hotel 6UWMKLKVJKUDWKNFKPIJCFCEGPVTCNVQYGTHGGVJKIJ KPENWFKPICƀCIUVCHHCPF on the exterior some traditional forms were preserved. Here we can see how far the Japanese understood Western style in those early days. We may say that theirs was an eclectic attitude based on exoticism. Besides these buildings Shimizu built several commercial buildings all of which expressed the same eclecticism. It was very natural that the Western UV[NGYCUſTUVWUGFKPVJGſGNFQHEQOOGTEKCNDWKNFKPIYKVJVJGKPVTQFWEVKQPQH the new systems of banking and company organization and means of communication. Those buildings were representative of Western architecture in the city. In those early days people thought that the features of Western style consisted of such details as capitals or mouldings and consequently they could not understand the essential relationship between material and style. This means, in other words, that Japanese builders of those days could not yet understand the essential qualities of Western architecture, not being able to get past the stage of exoticism. Here we can see the characteristics of Western-style architecture in the transition period. Hayashi, who was formerly a carpenter, came to Yokohama in 1865 and learned the art of building from an Englishman and an American. Afterwards, as architect of the Public Works Bureau, he erected many public buildings in Tokyo such as the -CKUGK)CMMę (KIVJGRTGFGEGUUQTQH6QM[Q7PKXGTUKV[6JGUGDWKNFKPIU were timber frame construction faced with stucco, often faced with stone at the corners of the outer wall. This may also be called a semi-foreign style, but here we can
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Fig. 3. The Kaisei Gakko, Tokyo, by C. Hayashi, 1873.
see more simple design though many traditional decorations were used in details. The -CKUGK)CMMęYCUVCMGPCUCOQFGNCPFOCP[RTKOCT[UEJQQNUYGTGDWKNVKPVJKUUV[NG Thus many public buildings were gradually westernized in style. We are able to become familiar with one type of early Western style through these examples. I say again that it was based on exoticism, with the consequence that it was destined to give place to pure Western style sooner or later if a new style could not be created.
3
Now let us turn our eyes to the second type of architecture, that group of styles introduced by the foreigners. Before the Meiji Era the Tokugawa shogunate had decided to erect the dockyards in Nagasaki and Yokosuka for the purposes of defense and foreign trade, and invited in Dutch and French experts. After the Meiji Restoration (1868) those employés went on increasing in number year after year. According to a report in 1872, there were 214 employés. Of these we must take up two men – T. J. Waters, an Englishman, and R. P. Bridgens, an American – who endeavoured to build in Western styles. Through the buildings designed by them we shall be able to know the phases of the second type as distinguished HTQOVJGſTUVQTUGOKHQTGKIPUV[NG T. J. Waters,4 who came to Japan in 1868 at the age of 37 or 38, was employed on the Mint and the Public Works Bureau of the Ministry of Finance and rendered great service in the development of building in our country. When the Government determined to establish the Mint in 1868 Waters was asked to design this building on the recommendation of the English merchant T. B. Glover. The Mint was established at Osaka in 1871. It was a group of several buildings lying along the river. Two of these buildings were very well designed : the main foundry to mint coins (Fig. 4) and the reception building (Fig. 5). 6JGHQWPFT[YJKEJYCUVJGſTUVOQFGTPHCEVQT[KP,CRCPYCUDWKNVQHDTKEM and stone and was an example of Classic Revival architecture. We can see that
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Fig. 4. The Mint (main foundry), Osaka, by T. J. Waters, 1871.
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Fig. 5. The Mint, “Sempukan” (reception building), Osaka, by T. J. Waters, 1871.
simple design now in the portico of triangular pediment and stone columns which has been preserved as the porch of the Memorial Hall in the reconstruction of 1928. According to a report, Waters made a brick-kiln in Japan out of imported bricks. The reception building or Sempukan, also of brick faced with plaster and of stone, was built in the Renaissance manner and is still preserved CUKVYCU+VURNCPKUCNOQUVUSWCTGCPFGCEJƀQQTKUUWTTQWPFGFD[ICNNGTKGU on three sides. Waters’ favorite style will be seen on the façade, composed of the simple pediment, stone columns symmetrically arranged and wooden balustrade of simple design. Through these buildings and other notable works such as the Takehashi Barracks (1871) and the British legation (1872), we see JKUEQPUKUVGPVKPVGTGUVKPTGXKXKPIENCUUKECNCTEJKVGEVWTGTGLGEVKPIUWRGTƀWQWU decoration. It is worth special mention that Waters helped greatly in the popularization of brick building. The Commercial Museum (6CVUWPQMWEJK-CPMęDC (1871) FGUKIPGFD[JKOYCUVJGſTUVDTKEMDWKNFKPIKP6QM[QKVYCUCXGT[UOCNNDWKNFKPIYKVJCƀQQTURCEGQHQPN[USWCTGHGGV5+PCITGCVſTGDTQMGQWV
Fig. 6. Ginza Street buildings, Tokyo, by T. J Waters, 1873.
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in Tokyo and the government then determined to substitute brick buildings for wooden ones in that part of the main street which lay between Shimbashi CPF0KJQODCUJK6JKUUGEVKQPPCOGFVJG)KP\CYCUVJGſPGUVEQOOGTEKCN thoroughfare in the city. Waters as the leader of this reconstruction work DGICPYKVJVJGGTGEVKQPQHCMKNPKPQTFGTVQRTQFWEGUWHſEKGPVDTKEMU6JKU reconstruction was executed by the Building Bureau and the main street was EQORNGVGFKP6JWUVJGTGCRRGCTGFHQTVJGſTUVVKOGYGNNQTFGTGFUVTGGVU a row of trees planted between sidewalk and roadway, gas lamps standing at the important points and a row of brick buildings with colonnades (Fig. 6). This was so splendid a view that many writings describing it are now preserved. Somewhat fanatic expressions are found in those writings. For example, the sentence, “Here we feel as if we were in a splendid foreign country for a while,” reminds us again that at that time they thought things Western were symbols of civilization. This reconstruction work of the Ginza is important because KVYCUVJGſTUVUVTGGVKORTQXGOGPVKPQWTEQWPVT[CPFKVRQRWNCTK\GFVJGPGY brick construction. R. P. Bridgens came to Japan in about 1868 as a private architect and worked in Tokyo and Yokohama. Among his works were the Shimbashi Railway StaVKQP (KIVJG;QMQJCOC4CKNYC[5VCVKQP CPFVJG*ęTCKUJC QHſEGDWKNFKPI 6JGVYQUVQT[5JKODCUJK5VCVKQPEQPUKUVGFQHCEGPVTCN block and two wings; it was of timber frame construction faced with stone. In the regular fenestration, triangular and round pediments over the windows, the cornices, and the whole symmetrical composition, we can see a somewhat different style from Waters’. This was an excellent example of the pure Western style of stone building using a timber frame. Bridgens’ two other buildings
Fig. 7. Shimbashi Railway Station, Tokyo, by R. P. Bridgens, 1872. (From a wood-block print by Hiroshige)
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mentioned above were of the same construction and style. Although he must have erected some other buildings besides these, since he was the only private architect who came to Japan in those early days, very little is known about Bridgens’ career. While most of the buildings in Western style were erected in the large cities, there were also some examples in Western style designed by foreigners in VJGRTQXKPEGU#PGZCORNGQHVJKUITQWRKUVJG1HſEGQHVJG%QOOKUUKQPGT QH%QNQPK\CVKQP KP*QMMCKFę (KI6JKUDWKNFKPIYCUGTGEVGFWPFGT the guidance of Horace Caplon who was advisor to the commissioner of EQNQPK\CVKQPKP*QMMCKFę+VYCUHGGVKPNGPIVJD[HGGVKPYKFVJYKVJ a domical tower 84 feet high. It is said that the pure Western style of this building was much admired by Japanese of those days as a copy of American public buildings. At about the same time two notable buildings of the College of Engineering6 YGTGGTGEVGFKPCOQFKſGF)QVJKE4GXKXCNUV[NGD[#NGZCPFGT/ŏ8GCPCPF9KNliam Anderson. 9GſPFVYQEJCTCEVGTKUVKEUQHVJKUUGEQPFV[RGQH9GUVGTPCTEJKVGEVWTGKP,CRCP The buildings were all completed in one or another purely Western style and most of them were built of brick and stone.
(KI1HſEGQHVJG%QOOKUUKQPGTQH%QNQPK\CVKQP5CRRQTQ*QMMCKFQD[*%CRNQP
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Fig. 9. The Crown Prince’s Palace, Tokyo, by T. Katayama, 1909.
4
Now we must ask the question, how were these two types of architecture – the semi-foreign style developed by Japanese and based on exoticism and the series of purely Western styles employed by some foreigners – developed later? The number of invited foreign architects and civil engineers went on increasKPICHVGTCPFVJGTGIWNCTCTEJKVGEVWTCNGFWECVKQPYCUEQPFWEVGFEJKGƀ[D[ J. Conder. In addition, the output of cement and brick gradually increased and consequently those buildings of timber frame construction faced with stone or stucco of the early days gave place to those of brick construction, which made the adoption of Western style easier. Accordingly, the semi Western style disappeared and there developed the earnest desire to imitate Western architecture as exactly as possible. And at the end of the Meiji Era Japanese architects became able to GTGEV9GUVGTPUV[NGDWKNFKPIUD[VJGOUGNXGU1PGQHVJGſPGUVUVTWEVWTGUKPUWEJ a style is the Crown Prince’s Palace (1899–1909) (called Akasaka Detached Palace and now used by the Diet Library) designed by T. Katayama (Fig. 9). 0QYJQYGXGTVJGſTUVCTEJKVGEVWTCNV[RGQHVJGGCTN[FC[UŌVJGRCTV9GUVGTP part traditional Japanese – must be considered again. About 1889 there appeared VJGUVTQPIFGUKTGVQCRRTGEKCVGVJGVTCFKVKQPCNUV[NGKPVJGſGNFQHCTEJKVGEVWTCNJKUVQT[&T%+Vę ŌCPF&T65GMKPQ ŌDGICPVQQTICPK\GVJG study of history of Japanese and Oriental architecture and established chairs in VJGUGſGNFUCVVJG6QM[Q7PKXGTUKV[6JWUVJGEQORTQOKUGDGVYGGP9GUVGTPCPF Japanese style again came under discussion and in 1910 the question of architectural style was presented in the debating society held under the leadership of the Architectural Institute of Japan. Although Japanese architects of those days could not come VQCP[FGſPKVGEQPENWUKQPKVOC[DGUCKFVJCVVJGVYQV[RGUQHYGUVGTPK\CVKQPVJCV were seen in the early days were always a serious subject for consideration by the Japanese, and even now, I think, we are somewhat in the same state as our seniors were.
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NOTES
1.
Although some reports tell that Bridgens, the American architect, took some part in the design of this building, it is thought from the treatment of details that the main plan was laid out by Shimizu. 2. S. Mossman, New Japan (1873), p. 351. This is the only contemporary reference to this building in English. 6JGICNNGT[QPVJGſTUVUVQT[YCUNCVGTTGDWKNVCUKVCRRGCTUKP(KI 4. This spelling was derived by Dr. S. Horikoshi, but one report gives “Waltres.” We have no positive information because the reports of those days were written in the Japanese alphabet and the word pronounced “wo : trs.” I will use “Waters.” 5. There were several brick buildings besides these, such as the lighthouses. According to the report of the Lighthouse Bureau in 1870 four brick lighthouses had already been erected by Verny, a French engineer. #NVJQWIJVJGRTGFGEGUUQTQHVJG%QNNGIGYCUCNTGCF[GUVCDNKUJGFKPCUCPCHſNKCVGQH the Building Bureau a “house-building” course was inaugurated a little later in 1875.
Source: The North American Review, Vol. 27, No.265 (Nov.–Dec. 1878), 406–426
8
Japan and the Western Powers MATSUYAMA MAKOTO
AFTER AN EXTENDED sojourn as a student, in Europe and America, for nearly eight [GCTU+NCVGN[TGVWTPGFJQOGſNNGFYKVJYKNFGZRGEVCVKQPUKPTGICTFVQVJGITGCV improvements now universally acknowledged. I am obliged to say, however, that in the habits of the people and public improvements generally there has been less progress than I expected to see. But that the country has undergone a complete revolution in sentiment, both social and political, is beyond question. In this particular I am agreeably surprised. The numerous journals which have sprung into being since 1872, and whose editorials may fairly be taken as expressing the opinions of that class of people mostly interested in the welfare of the empire, teem with intelligent discussions, both of a social and political nature. The most prominent and noteworthy questions discussed are those bearing upon the subject of the revision of the existing treaties; and it is evident that both the Government and people are in perfect accord on this subject. It is also evident that they are now wide-awake from the seeming slumber of the years just past; and they are no longer dreaming of the blissfulness of the “Tariff Convention,” nor yearning after the blessedness of “extra-territorial jurisdiction.” It was in 1853 that Commodore M. C. Perry arrived in Japanese waters, in command of the United States squadron, bearing a letter from the President of the United States to the Government of Japan. On the 30th of March, 1854, a “treaty of peace and amity” was signed by Commodore Perry and the commissioners of the Tycoon. A similar convention, but providing for the opening of Nagasaki, was signed October 14, 1854, by the commissioners of the Tycoon Government and Sir James S. Knight, H. B. M. rear-admiral in the East Indies. On the 26th of February, 1855, a treaty was made with Russia; and in the spring of 1856 Holland made a somewhat more extended treaty, but no additional privileges were granted by Japan. In June, 1857, Mr. Townsend Harris, United States consul general, made another convention, more commercial in its character, but this was revoked by 104
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the treaty of 1858. This was followed on the 16th of October by the Netherlands, and a convention was made, as a supplementary treaty to the previous one. Russia also followed the same course October 24, 1857. We now come to the more important treaty of July 29, 1858, with the United States, upon which I must dwell more than on the preceding, for this one served especially as the model of all the other treaties subsequently made, and now existing. On this account I propose to point out such of its provisions as are quite peculiar to itself, and very uncommon in the treaties between sovereign powers. It provides that – “The President of the United States, at the request of the Japanese Government, will act as a friendly mediator in such matters of difference as may arise between the Government of Japan and any European power. The ships-of-war of the United States shall render friendly aid and assistance to such Japanese vessels as they may meet on the high-seas, so far as can be done without a breach of neutrality, and all American consuls residing at ports visited by Japanese vessels shall also give them such friendly aid as may be permitted by the laws of the respective countries in which they reside.” It is fair and proper to remark that these provisions are absent from all the other treaties, thereby showing that the United States was most forward to treat with Japan in a friendly spirit. Again: “The place which the Americans shall occupy for their buildings, and the harbor regulations, shall be arranged by the American consul and the authorities of each place; and, if they cannot agree, the matter shall be referred to and settled by the American diplomatic agent and the Japanese Government.” *GTGCRRGCTUVJGſTUVőENQXGPHQQVŒCUVJKUCTVKENGUVTKRUVJG,CRCPGUG)QXernment of its absolute and sovereign power to establish harbor and municipal regulations. Imagine England dictating the municipal laws or harbor regulations of an American city! But to continue: “Duties shall be paid to the Government of Japan on all goods landed in the country, and on all articles of Japanese production that are exported as cargo, according to the tariff hereunto appended:” also “all goods which are imported into ,CRCPCPFYJKEJJCXGRCKFVJGFWV[ſZGFD[VJKUVTGCV[OC[DGVTCPURQTVGFD[ the Japanese into any part of the empire, without the payment of any tax, excise, or VTCPUKVFWV[YJCVGXGT” Here Japan is again strangled; her hands and feet are alike tied. Nor are these all the odious provisions; additional and more onerous burdens are placed upon her shoulders by the “Tariff Convention” of 1866, but these will be discussed in their proper place. And again: “All foreign coin shall be current in Japan, and pass for its corresponding weight of Japanese coin of the same description; and Americans and Japanese may freely use foreign or Japanese coin in making payments to each other.”
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Owing to the greater intrinsic value of Japanese coin, the practical effect of VJKUENCWUGYCUVQFGRNGVGVJGEQWPVT[QHKVUVTGCUWTGCPFYJKNG,CRCPYCUƀQQFGF with unnecessary merchandise at extravagant prices from European countries, the old coins – gold and silver – of the empire were recoined in remote capitals, and VJGPDGCWVKſGFYKVJVJGXKUCIGUQHEKXKNK\GFRQVGPVCVGU+VYCUUWDUGSWGPVN[HQWPF however, that this monetary arrangement was not without some alloy, and so it YCURTCEVKECNN[PWNNKſGFD[VJGő6CTKHH%QPXGPVKQPŒQH Furthermore: “Americans committing offenses against Japanese shall be tried in American consular courts, and when found guilty shall be punished according to American law. Japanese committing offenses against Americans shall be tried by the Japanese authorities, and punished according to Japanese law.” Although probably disputed by highly-intelligent diplomatists, it seems to me that a fair construction of these clauses entitles both governments to establish in each other’s country judicial courts. The United States has had its consular courts in all the open ports of Japan for many years; and it is no novelty to say that they have exhibited at times the most curious proceedings and results, which were in keeping with anything but the spirit and letter of law. On the other hand, Japan has not as yet had any occasion to establish similar courts in the United States. It need hardly be said that the attraction will be great when a Japanese consular court or some other “authority” shall be created in a metropolis like New York, and a trial shall take place when the plaintiff is an American and the defendant a Japanese! Is it likely that the American judges would feel any “exceeding joy” because they were thus much relieved of their labors? And once again: “In the opened harbors of Japan, Americans shall be free to go where they please, within a limit of about twenty miles in all directions.” #PFſPCNN[ “The articles for the regulation of trade which we append to this treaty shall be considered as forming a part of the same, and shall be equally binding on both the contracting parties to this treaty, and on their citizens and subjects.” This makes it binding upon the Japanese Government to strictly observe the “regulations of trade,” which cannot be changed in the least degree, however incompatible with the interests of Japan, without the most elaborate “diplomatic” negotiations with, and “consent” of, the foreign representatives. How would America like VQCFQRVUWEJVTCFGTGIWNCVKQPUCVJQOG!&QYGPQVſPFKPVJKUCDGCWVKHWNCRRNKECtion of the golden precept to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us?” The trade regulations conclude by providing that – “Five years after the opening of Kanagawa, which took place in 1859, the import and export duties shall be subject to revision, if the Japanese Government FGUKTGUKV” We shall presently return to this clause and show how its spirit and letter were alike ignored, and a tariff of an entirely different nature was adopted. The
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above text was adopted by the other powers, as one would adopt an India-rubber suit, and several treaties were signed as follows: Russia, August 7, 1858; Holland, August 18, 1858; Great Britain, August 26, 1858; France, October 9, 1858; Portugal, August 3, 1860; Prussia, January 24, 1861; and Switzerland, February 6, 1864. Then came the famous “Tariff Convention” of June 25, 1866, with “bonded warehouse regulations,” followed by Belgium, August 1, 1866; Italy, August 25, 1866; Denmark, January 1,1867; Sweden and Norway, January 11, 1868; Spain, November 12, 1868; North Germany, February 20, 1869; and Austria, October 18, 1869. It will thus be seen that America led the rest of the world in its intercourse with the empire of the “Rising Sun.” +VYCUVJG7PKVGF5VCVGUVJCVOCFGVJGſTUVVTGCV[QHRGCEGCPFCOKV[YKVJ ,CRCPKVYCUVJCVTGRWDNKEYJKEJOCFGVJGſTUVVTGCV[HQTőTGIWNCVKPIVJGKPVGTcourse of American citizens within the empire of Japan;” it was the United States CNUQYJKEJOCFGVJGſTUVVTGCV[QHőCOKV[CPFEQOOGTEGŒCPFKPPQPGQHVJGUG FQYGſPFCUEWPPKPIFGXKEGUQHFKRNQOCVKEKORQUKVKQPCUJCXGUKPEGDGGPKPCWgurated by later “diplomats.” The course of American diplomacy was appreciated then, is appreciated now, and will be in the future, shining brightly in the pages QHJKUVQT[#HVGTVJGſTUVVTGCV[JCFDGGPUKIPGFCPFVJGUKPEGTKV[QH#OGTKECPHTKGPFUJKREQPſFGFKPD[VJG,CRCPGUGCWVJQTKVKGUCUYCUVJGECUGKVYQWNF have been comparatively easy to impose any stipulation which might ultimately destroy the prosperity of the empire, upon those who hardly knew what a treaty meant. But America would not attempt such an unjust policy against a people enfeebled by long isolation from the family of nations, and by the suicidal policy of the Tokugawa despotism. The friendly and conscientious course of the United States in dealing with Japan in those days cannot be over-estimated. That republic, I must repeat, led others in making reasonable treaties, but not in inaugurating the cowardly policy of “cooperation” – a policy introduced at a NCVGTFCVGVQECTT[QWVVJGRWTGN[UGNſUJQDLGEVQHHQTEKPIVJGRTQFWEVUQH/CPEJGUter upon unwilling markets. It was the fair and manly action of the American minKUVGTCVVJGVKOGVJCVUGEWTGFVJGEQPſFGPEGQHVJG6[EQQPŏUCWVJQTKVKGUCPFYGTG KVPQVHQTVJKUEQPſFGPEGVJWUGCTN[QDVCKPGFVJGCIGPVUQHQVJGTRQYGTUYQWNF surely have met with anything but success in their endeavors to make treaties with Japan. To show the correctness of this view, it is enough to say that even the British Government presented to Mr. Harris a gold snuff-box, in acknowledgment QHJKUIQQFQHſEGUCPFCUUKUVCPEGYJGP.QTF'NIKPYCUPGIQVKCVKPIHQTCVTGCV[CPF that his name is often resorted to by some of the foreign representatives in justiſECVKQPQHVJGENCKOVJCVVJGő6CTKHH%QPXGPVKQPŒQHOWUVCNYC[UTGOCKPKP force, because the system was inaugurated by him, “the faithful friend of Japan.” But they cannot convince us that his motive in attaching the tariff stipulation to the treaty of 1858 was to perpetuate a system; but it was merely a temporary expedient, to remain in force only until such time as Japan should become familiar with the ways of enlightened foreigners. The whole career of this diplomat,
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whatever he may have been, proves him to have been a true friend of Japan, as well as entirely loyal to his own country. Returning to the concluding provision of the trade regulations, above cited, let us examine the details and circumstances under which the “Tariff Convention” was signed. Instead of carrying out that provision, namely, that the tariff shall be subject VQTGXKUKQPſXG[GCTUCHVGTVJGQRGPKPIQH-CPCICYCCEEQTFKPIVQVJGFGUKTG of the Japanese Government, the foreign representatives forced upon the Yedo Government the adoption of the “Tariff Convention” of 1866. This nefarious transaction was done at the time when Japan was convulsed by internal commotion, growing directly or indirectly out of her sudden association with the family of nations. The old system of feudalism was falling to pieces, the relation of retainer to his hereditary prince was being discussed, the dual government of Mikado and Tycoon was being criticised, peasant and noble saw that a great change was impending, clans were gathering, men were muttering, and Japan found herself in the throe of a revolution. Notwithstanding all this, the Japanese Government was faithfully carrying out its treaty obligations; but with the general discontent prevailing it was impossible to control every action of irresponsible people, or to prevent individual Japanese and foreigners from occasionally coming into collision. Such collisions were infrequent, but, when they did occur, were always magPKſGFCPFTGRCTCVKQPCPFKPFGOPKV[FGOCPFGFHTQOVJG)QXGTPOGPVCPFVJWU in addition to internal troubles, were added perplexing and unnecessary complications and demands – made for the purpose (as the Japanese will always believe) QHKPETGCUKPIVJGFKHſEWNVKGUQHVJG)QXGTPOGPVCPFD[YGCMGPKPIKVRNCEKPI it in a condition in which it might be coerced. These foreign demands, as they became known, increased the popular commotion, and resulted, as they were bound to do, in unfriendly acts and outrages upon several foreigners by irresponsible Japanese. But there were indeed many cases where fatal collisions were purposely provoked by foreigners, the results of which were no more a matter of satisfaction to us than of regret. Such was precisely the case of Richardson, the Englishman who willfully tried to ride through the train of the state procession of “Prince Satsuma,” and was killed by a retainer of the prince, an act which, at that VKOGQHHGWFCNKUOYCUGPVKTGN[LWUVKſCDNGDGECWUGUWEJFKUEQWTVGU[VQCRTKPEGN[ retinue was deemed an unpardonable outrage. It was in retaliation for the death of Richardson that a British squadron, in 1863, bombarded the city of Kagoshima, destroying a large part of the place and property to the value of several millions QHFQNNCTUCPFPQVUCVKUſGFYKVJVJKUVJG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVYCUEQORGNNGF to pay the British representatives an indemnity of over four hundred thousand dollars. About this time a certain French vessel and an American merchant-vesUGNYGTGſTGFWRQPD[VJGTGEMNGUUUQNFKGTUKPVJGHQTVTGUUQH5JKOQPQUGMKCPF prompt retaliation was meted out by the naval forces of the respective countries so offended. Even an indemnity was demanded in the case of the United States
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vessel, and duly paid by the Tycoon. But the English authority in Japan (although PQ'PINKUJXGUUGNJCFDGGPCVVCEMGFYCUPQVUCVKUſGFYKVJUWEJNGPKGPVRWPKUJment and limited indemnity. Hence, in spite of his instructions, he concocted a famous naval expedition; and thus, on a certain day in 1864, was fought the great and memorable battle of Shimonoseki, between a prince of Japan on the one hand and Great Britain, Holland, France, and the United States, on the other. 6JGEQODKPGFƀGGVQHVJGHQTGKIPRQYGTUEQPUKUVGFQHGKIJVGGPXGUUGNUECTT[KPI IWPUYJKNGVJG2TKPEGQH%JQUJKPYCUHQTVKſGFYKVJCHGYETWFGDCVVGTKGU CPFJCFVJTGGUOCNNXGUUGNUſVVGFQWVCUIWPDQCVUCPFCHGYDCVVCNKQPUQHKTTGIWNCT soldiers. His batteries were spoiled and razed; the boats were sunk; and the town of Shimonoseki destroyed. It was indeed a glorious victory! And what else? A convention was subsequently forced upon the Tycoon’s government, and reluctantly signed by the latter, the substance of which was as follows: 6JGCOQWPVRC[CDNGVQVJGHQWTRQYGTUKUſZGFCVVJTGGOKNNKQPUQHFQNNCTU ($3,000,000), etc. 2. The whole sum to be payable quarterly, etc. 3. Insomuch as the receipt of money has never been the object of the said powers, but the establishment of better relations with Japan, and a desire to place these on a more satisfactory and mutually advantageous footing is still the leading object in view: therefore, if his Majesty the Tycoon wishes to offer, in lieu of the payment of the sum claimed, and as a material compensation for loss and injury sustained, the opening of Shimonoseki, or some other eligible port in the Inland Sea, it shall be at the option of the said foreign governments to accept the same, or insist on the payment of the indemnity in money, under the conditions above stipulated. 6JKUEQPXGPVKQPVQDGHQTOCNN[TCVKſGFD[VJG6[EQQPŏUIQXGTPOGPVYKVJKP ſHVGGPFC[UHTQOVJGFCVGVJGTGQH As this indemnity was declared by the American Secretary of State to have been most unjustly exacted, and as the United States is the only Government which has thus far, by the votes of its national Legislature, acknowledged that indemnity to have been a gross wrong against the law of nations, as well as against Japan, we are once more enabled to draw a contrast, in their line of conduct, between the European powers and the United States. A most “eligible port,” that of Kobe, on VJG+PNCPF5GCYCUFGOCPFGFD[VJGHQTGKIPTGRTGUGPVCVKXGUDCEMGFD[VJGƀGGVU of the four nations, and was subsequently opened and settled; and yet, the last farthing of the indemnity was insisted upon. Was not this a handsome business? Did those representatives imagine that such dealings with a feeble nation would glorify their names in the pages of history, and be read without a blush by future generations? Passing over, for want of space, some details in this connection, let us now DTKGƀ[GZCOKPGVJGKORQTVCPVCPFWPKSWGHGCVWTGUQHVJGő6CTKHH%QPXGPVKQPŒ itself. It begins as follows:
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“The representatives of Great Britain, France, the United States of America, and Holland, having received from their respective governments identical instrucVKQPUHQTVJGOQFKſECVKQPQHVJGVCTKHHQHKORQTVCPFGZRQTVFWVKGUEQPVCKPGFKP the trade regulations annexed to the treaties concluded by the aforesaid powers YKVJVJG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVKPYJKEJOQFKſECVKQPKURTQXKFGFHQTD[ the seventh of those regulations” (what glaring violation there has been of the spirit and letter of that article!); that “the Japanese Government promised, during VJGKTXKUKVVQ1UCMCKPVQTGXKUGVJGVCTKHHQPVJGIGPGTCNDCUKUQHſXGRGTEGPV duty on both imports and exports” (this reminds the writer of a few powerful and muscular men holding a child by the throat and exacting from it a promise!); that “the Japanese Government, being desirous of affording a fresh proof of their wish to promote trade and to cement the friendly relations which exist between their country and foreign nations” (what a sweet phrase this is! Must the poor and weak give up his all to cement the friendship with the opulent?); that “the contracting parties formally accept, as binding upon the subjects of their respective sovereigns and the citizens of their respective countries, the tariff thereby established and annexed to the present convention; that this tariff is substituted for the original tariff attached to the treaties of 1858; that the new tariff shall come into effect in the port of Yokohama on the 1st day of July, 1866, and is subject to revision on and after the 1st day of July, 1872” (remember this convention was signed on the 25th of June, 1866!); “that all articles of Japanese production conveyed to the open ports shall be free of tax; that one hundred Mexican dollars shall be received at the custom-house as substitutes for 311 ichiboos” (Japanese old silver coins); “that upon their concurrence the Japanese Government was to enlarge the mint to secure an adequate issue of native coins, so as to exchange these with foreign coins from time to time, as the merchants might desire, and the seigniorage was to be determined by the common consent of the contracting parties; and that the foreign consuls and the governor of each port were to make jointly, and by mutual consent, such regulations as would facilitate custom-house business. ” The convention concludes with the following words: “The undersigned being of opinion that it is unnecessary that this convention UJQWNFDGUWDOKVVGFVQVJGKTTGURGEVKXGIQXGTPOGPVUHQTTCVKſECVKQPDGHQTGKV comes into operation, it will take effect on and from the 1st day of July, 1866.” A mere perusal of this concluding clause, when compared with the foregoing provisions, must convince any impartial reader that, either the contracting parties on one side regarded the whole subject as trivial, or, knowing the exact bearing of it, as they ought to have known, they forced it upon the other party, which amounted to nothing less than an unworthy deception. Yes, a treaty depriving a feeble nation of the power to legislate in regard to its tariff, thus ETKRRNKPIKVUPCVKQPCNſPCPEGUCPFKPFWUVTKGUGXGPVJTGCVGPKPIKVUXGT[GZKUVGPEG was regarded by “the undersigned” as being too unimportant to require a proper TCVKſECVKQPőDGHQTGKVEQOGUŒKPVQQRGTCVKQPCPFſXGFC[UCHVGTVJGVTGCV[YCU signed it went into operation.
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(QTYCPVQHURCEGYGECPPQVJGTGGZCOKPGCVNGPIVJVJGVCTKHHKVUGNHUWHſEGKV to say that all articles of both imports and exports, with few exceptions, are subLGEVGFVQCFWV[QHſXGRGTEGPVopium being the only article CDUQNWVGN[RTQJKDKVGF As the inevitable result of this convention, Japan alone has suffered. During the last eight and a half years preceding June 30, 1876, the average amount of annual trade was $40,895,390; that of imports over exports, $7,255,164; while the aggregate amount of trade was $347,610,818, and the total balance against Japan amounted to $61,668,892 (an amount equal to that of the annual revenue of the empire), and eight-tenths at least of this sum have found their way into the pockets of Englishmen. Should such an order of things continue forever? It is proper to state that the year ending June 30, 1877, was somewhat better. The total amount of trade was $52,625,355, and the exports from Japan over the imports amounted to $2,207,917. But this, however, is attributable entirely to an accidental cause. The production in silk having failed abroad for that year, the demand for Japanese silk was unusually large, causing a favorable result in a degree. As is seen from the customs returns, so far as published for the recently GPFGFſUECN[GCTVJGDCNCPEGQHVTCFGECPPQVDWVDGCICKPUV,CRCP1PGVJKPIKU certain, that something must be done to check this state of affairs, if Japan means to live long! Japan now fully recognizes her responsibility as a member of the family of nations, and this through the instrumentality of the United States. As mentioned GNUGYJGTGCNNVJGVTGCVKGUYGTGſTUVUKIPGFYKVJVJG7PKVGF5VCVGUGZEGRVKPIVJG “Shimonoseki Convention” and the “Tariff Convention,” which were the result of the unworthy intrigues of other parties; and, although it is true that the United States was a party to them, she was not the leading spirit, but, by force of circumstances, she simply joined with the rest. This is known and recognized by all parties. Having said this much, let us pause a moment and meditate. Is there not a certain amount of moral responsibility on the part of the United States regarding the future welfare of Japan? If there is, will she not see to it that Japan’s just demand, to resume, as an independent nation, the legislative power regarding her foreign commerce and customs tariff, shall be complied with? Will it not be extremely proper for her also to lead other powers in delivering Japan from these entangling arrangements, as she did in regard to the old treaty? Whatever may be the idea entertained by the United States and other powers regarding their moral responsibilities for the prosperity of Japan, there is no alternative for us but that we must regain, at any cost, that inherent right to legislate independently of the treaty powers on the customs tariff and foreign commerce. Surely we cannot, nay, will not, submit ourselves any longer to this slow but sure process of “capitulation” – the death of the national life. Look at the history of the Ottoman Empire: what was the condition of her native industry about a century ago, and what is it now? Read the pitiful story in this connection, recorded by J. R. McCulloch, as well as the statistics of the time.
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Must Japan calmly await the time – which will surely come, if not warded off – when her fate will be like that of Turkey, deplorable in the extreme? The conduct of the foremost foreign agent in Japan seems to say “Yes, Japan must wait.” Is it because Japan is a heathen nation that the avowedly Christian and civilized powers abuse and persecute her to the extreme? Must the heathen nation turn the other cheek that the Christian may smite? Judging from the sentiments advocated by the English organs at Yokohama for many years past, no other conclusion can be reached than that at least the people whom these organs represent expect us to submit for ever to the onerous conditions of “capitulation.” In reference to the proposed abolition of the “Tariff Convention,” they expressed their aversion to it, making a series of assertions of VJGOQUVRTGRQUVGTQWUPCVWTGſVQPN[HQTVJQUGFGXQKFQHTGCUQPCPFCUGPUGQH decency. It was declared by one of these organs that though Japan might desire to exercise freely her own judgment in matters affecting the customs tariff, England would kindly advise her as an elder sister would a younger, saying, “My dear sister, you wish to do this and that, but I think you are not capable of judging, and I cannot consent to your doing so.” This affectionate admonition contrasts beautifully with the fact that the Japanese exports to England amounted to less than $4,000,000 in 1866, and $9,000,000 in 1877, while the English exports to Japan in 1866 were very nearly $15,000,000, and over $15,000,000 in 1877. +PVJGHCEGQHVJGUGſIWTGUCPFQVJGTſIWTGUGNUGYJGTGOGPVKQPGFFQVJG[ still expect Japan to accept the tender counsels of “the elder sister,” following the footsteps of the Ottoman Empire to the very end of self-destruction? Away, I say, with such a delusion! It is well known that in the year 1872 the Japanese embassadors had a negotiation with the Government of the United States for the general revision of treaties, and, for some reasons not clear to outsiders, the negotiation fell through; and until recently nothing more was heard regarding the revision. But it is now authentically stated that a formal proposition to revise the existing treaties has lately been made to all the treaty powers. What Japan desires by this treaty to accomplish seems to be very simple and extremely reasonable. It desires, KPVJGſTUVRNCEGVJCVVJGő6CTKHH%QPXGPVKQPŒQHCPFVJGőVTCFGTGIWNCVKQPUŒ attached to the treaty of 1858 shall be annulled, so as to enable Japan to legislate independently upon matters connected with her tariff and foreign commerce; and, secondly, she proposes to open, to the people and vessels of the countries which UJCNNCEEGRVVJGſTUVRTQRQUKVKQPUWEJCFFKVKQPCNRQTVUCUYKNNDGDGUVECNEWNCVGF for commercial purposes. To my mind there cannot be a more reasonable proposition. It is not to be doubted that those powers which entertain the slightest feeling of justice and sympathy toward Japan, and whose eyes are open to the wider interests of their future commercial relations with her, will not hesitate to comply with the expressed desire of Japan. But just here I cannot restrain myself from expressing my surprise that our Government does not boldly demand that the “extra-territorial jurisdiction” shall be also given up. It must be plain to the
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rulers that, so long as this remains in force, a decent government is an impossibility. How long are they willing to endure this sort of imposition? We, the people, cannot certainly continue much longer to suffer the double yokes upon our necks. I say “double,” because we are subjected to the prompt execution of our strict law – civil and criminal – whenever resorted to; while a foreign subject is allowed to violate our laws with impunity, if such violation be not the violation at the same time of the law of the nation to which he belongs; and it is also true that, even when he violates the law of his nation, he is too often only nominally punished. The effect of all this is to compel us, the people of the soil, to socially and legally humble ourselves in dealing with the favored alien, an invader of the soil. It will not be out of place here to give a few facts to corroborate these grievances. A certain American captain, by the name of Batchelder, has been a tenant for the last six or seven years in the Tsukiji settlement, Tokio. The payment of ſXG[GCTUŏTGPVYCUYKVJJGNFVJGNCPFNQTFVJGOWPKEKRCNIQXGTPOGPVQH6QMKQ sued before the American consular court for the recovery of the rent. The plea QHVJGFGHGPFCPVYCUDTKGƀ[CUHQNNQYUVJCVVJG,CRCPGUG)QXGTPOGPVJCXKPI established by convention a settlement for foreign people, it had thus by implication bound itself not to allow foreigners to live without the said settlement; that notwithstanding this the Japanese Government did allow foreigners this freedom to some extent, thereby causing loss to the defendant’s holding; therefore he had the right to withhold the payment of rent as well as to occupy the said premises. The American judge decided in favor of the defendant. Shortly after a precisely similar case to the above was brought against a Mrs. Blackley in the British court; the plea was similar, and the British judge decided that “the defendant must be compelled to pay” the rent. In the mean time the Japanese Government was moving for a new trial of Batchelder’s case. One day, to the great surprise of the authorities and the public, an overture was made by the captain to pay the whole COQWPVQHſXG[GCTUŏTGPVFGURKVGVJGLWFIOGPVCYCTFGFKPJKUHCXQTCPFVJG municipal authority of Tokio quietly accepted it. Thus was wound up the whole affair of the ground-rent cases. No comment or explanation is needed regarding the vast difference between VJGTGUWNVUQHVJGVYQECUGU6JGTGKUCPQVJGTCPFOQTGTGEGPVKPUVCPEGQHCƀCITCPV violation of the treaty under cover of “the extra-territorial jurisdiction” clause. During the last spring a certain English merchant, Hartley by name, was detected while trying to smuggle through the custom-house a large quantity of opium. The customs authority, of course, seized it, and brought an action CICKPUV *CTVNG[ DGHQTG VJG $TKVKUJ EQWTV HQT VJG ſPG CU URGEKſECNN[ RTQXKFGF in the treaty. After a long and exhaustive trial Mr. H. S. Wilkinson, “acting law-secretary of H. B. Majesty’s legation” in Tokio, sitting as judge in a British court, decided in favor of the defendant; and a decree was recorded that he, and as matter of course all English subjects, might freely import opium as a medicinal article, after paying an ad valoremFWV[QHſXGRGTEGPVő6JGITQWPF upon which the acting law-secretary based his judgment was that the opium
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in question was in his opinion ‘medicinal opium,’ and as such not subject to the prohibitory clause of the treaty.” But our readers will remember that the prohibition of opium, set forth in the treaty, is absolute and unconditional. Shortly afterward the same party, Hartley, endeavored again to smuggle opium concealed in a package of gum-arabic; and trial ensued as before. This time Mr. Wilkinson ruled that, “as all the goods which were capable of being duly entered YGTGUQGPVGTGFVJGTGEQWNFDGPQEQPſUECVKQPŒCPFFGETGGFVJCVVJGQPEGEQPſUECVGFCTVKENGUJQWNFVJGTGHQTGDGFGNKXGTGFQXGTVQ*CTVNG[ It is needless to say that each and all of these cases are extremely anomalous and arbitrary. Even the most absolute and despotic monarch of this nineteenth century would not dare to be so inconsistent and arbitrary in dealing with the least of his subjects! And yet a certain foreign agent, sitting, as it were, on a phantom throne called “ex-territorial jurisdiction” smiles at and encourages all these outrages with apparent impunity. The very plot, now existing, of forcing opium KPVQ,CRCPſPFUKVKUEQPEGFGFIGPGTCNN[KVUQTKIKPKPVJGUGNHUCOGKPFKXKFWCN YJQſIWTGFXGT[EQPURKEWQWUN[KPVJGDNQQF[1RKWO9CTKP%JKPCCDQWVVYGPV[ years ago. It is no wonder that he should help to complicate the new opium agitation, when we recollect how reckless his actions were in the attempt to rescue the Arrow, the famous opium-smuggler, from the Chinese authorities. By dearly-bought experience our rulers very well know that, whatever may be its nature, any proposition made by our Government is twisted, distorted and subjected to all sorts of procrastination; and that all past attempts to accomplish an end, by means of reconciliation, with the pretended assistance of the shrewd diplomats, have failed. Since the failure of the Washington negotiation, over six years ago, what has been accomplished in the direction of treaty revision? Absolutely nothing – so far as we know – and time is passing swiftly. Shall another decade be permitted to roll away before our Government will have courage to demand the repeal of the “extra-territorial jurisdiction” incubus? Or is it the intention of our rulers to delay this step until the time shall arrive when they will be compelled, by some event like a general uprising of the people, to make an untimely effort? If not so, why is it that they do not promptly act, when there is as good a chance and as absolute a right to attain the object as at any future time? O ye rulers of my country, ye are responsible for the future destiny of Japan! “Wake up,” I beseech you, and do something better for us than you have hitherto done, in regard to our foreign policy! Why so timid and over-careful? Are ye all afraid of the “black vessels” and “guns?” Threatening as they may appear, they cannot, in these days, be made to work without good and ample cause. No power would dare to declare war, because we had demanded and insisted that the “odious provision” should be abrogated, on the ground that “it is an absolute burden upon” Japan, and that she can suffer it no longer. The treaty powers, each and all, have long since accepted – and now hold it as an inviolable maxim in their mutual intercourse – that “ every nation has certain rights called Primary and Absolute Rights, with regard to other
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nations, which pertain to its moral being as an independent political body, and the enjoyment of which is indispensable to its existence as such.” Among these “ the most essential, and as it were the Cardinal Right, upon which all others hinge, is that of self-preservation,” and that any other rights which may be called “Secondary or Conditional Rights ” are the outgrowth of the free exercise of those absolute rights. We, who have adopted them, have a perfect right to expect that the treaty powers will not trespass upon these principles in their intercourse with Japan. Now that the experience of the last twenty years convinces us that the sanction of the “extra-territorial jurisdiction” was a grave error – though committed by the free exercise of those absolute rights – we now desire that it shall be abolished. It is well-nigh threatening the national existence, and this the treaty powers know full well. What right has any one of them to refuse a demand to abrogate this “odious burden?” I cannot believe, as some of our dignitaries seem to believe, that the nation claiming superiority in justice and civilization will forever try to “bully” a young and good-hearted nation. But, if by some accident they should, why shall we not abrogate the whole of our commercial treaties, and resume the original and absolute rights of our independent nation, and open the whole empire to all who obey the laws? This is a simple proposition; but, in the opinion of my readers, am I too rash and forgetful of the multifarious threats of the past? Nay! I remember them too well. Wineglasses and tumblers, at a stately conference, may be smashed on the table, and these words be uttered: “If you do not this nor concede that, your country will be smashed after this manner!” Failing at a negotiation with the proper authority, the premier may be reached and intimidated with the usual threats; a marine corps or two may be landed without permission and without cause; seaport cities and towns may have been hastily bombarded YKVJQWVUWHſEKGPVECWUGVJGQRGTCVKQPQHVJGRQUVCNWPKQPVTGCV[OC[DGTGVCTFGF for fourteen months by an annoying interference of a representative; the alleged right to have a voice in framing the quarantine regulations may be claimed, and FGſGFYKVJCPQWVURQMGPVJTGCVVQTGUQTVVQHQTEGVJG;QMQJCOCőQTICPUŒOC[ be encouraged to criticise all acts of the Government; and they may have upheld to the last moment the fallen cause of the rebels, or created rumors derogatory to the imperialists in the trying hours of the late insurrection. But all these, annoying as they have been, simply amounted to threats and “bullying,” and not to a declaration of war; nor, indeed, have they helped the consummation of the latent object – to force the whole country open, while perpetually retaining “the extra-territorial jurisdiction;” while on the contrary we have been more fully convinced than ever how dangerous it is to open our country a step further without our laws being obeyed by foreigners. How long must Japan be compelled to withhold all its privileges from foreign people? New Japan does not wish to perpetuate this sort of unnatural intercourse with other nations. She is perfectly ready today to open her heart to all who will abide by her laws! It is almost needless to point out that the speedy arrangement
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to open the whole country on the one side, and to abide by the laws of Japan on the other, cannot fail to be of vast advantage to both. There has been on the part of our foreign friends, it is true, a feeling of reluctance to give up the right of “the extra-territorial jurisdiction,” while assuming an attitude demanding that the whole country should be opened to foreign commerce, and all the while knowing so well that the “unexpected loss” to Japan, arising out of the very “odious provision” – “the extra-territorial jurisdiction clause” – has been incommensurate with VJGKTőCPVKEKRCVGFCFXCPVCIGŒHTQOCYKFGTſGNFQHKPXGUVOGPV$WVVJG[UJQWNF in justice to themselves, as well as to us, remember that, “if one or other of the EQPVTCEVKPIRCTVKGUOWUVUCETKſEGCTKIJVKVYKNNDGCNGUUXKQNCVKQPQHGSWKV[VJCV the one should forego an anticipated advantage than that the other should suffer an unexpected loss. It is the famous distinction between ‘de lucro captando et de damo vitando;’” and we do not intend to demand this much either. What we want is simply a fair exchange and nothing more! Fair-play is the fundamental principle of human association, and mutual advantage, in matters of commerce, is its own mother. In the absence of these, the association must of necessity decline, and the commerce perish. I cannot help expressing my wonder that our foreign friends, with their keen intelligence, will not see that Japan cannot, under any circumstances, open itself entirely until the “odious provision” is given up, and that the advantages which may accrue to them, from a much wider investment of their capital and labor, clearly outweigh the supposed importance of the “extraterritorial jurisdiction.” It is true that there have been some enterprising merchants who heartily desired the adoption of this arrangement; even some of the representatives entertained the same view. But a few powers combined, worked hard, and defeated its consummation. Such powers seem, indeed, to have misguided, instead of leading aright, their own people; and such effort cannot fail to be prejudicial to all amicable understanding, inasmuch as it would seem to “be contrary to morality for nations to combine for the purpose of retarding the innocent growth of the power of a state.” 4GHGTTKPIVQVJGſIWTGUYJKEJJCXGCNTGCF[DGGPRTGUGPVGFKPVJKURCRGTYG TGCEJVJGEQPENWUKQPVJCVVJGő6CTKHH%QPXGPVKQPŒJCUPQVRTQXGFVQDGDGPGſEKCN to a majority of the treaty powers – notably to the United States – and that Great Britain has been the principal gainer. The reason is too apparent to require any expatiation. In short, so far as the trade of Japan is concerned, England has the entire monopoly; and yet, for reasons quite incomprehensible to us, and perhaps equally so to themselves, some other powers seem to be inclined to support the views inculcated by the English school, in favor of perpetuating the “Tariff Convention.” By so doing they are unwittingly helping, I fear, British trade to VJGFGVTKOGPVQH,CRCPYJKNGPQVDGPGſVKPIVJGKTQYPKPVGTGUV6JG[CNNGXGP England, must remember the fact that no country has ever existed which could continually buy more than she had to sell, in one form or other, and that “it is not wise to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
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The very country whose representative in Japan has been so notorious in preaching the doctrine of coercion and “cooperation,” and availed himself of every opportunity to obtain additional concessions from us, in all matters whatever, has, both morally and commercially speaking, gained no more than she might have expected by the opposite policy. We do not mean to insinuate a doubt as to the patriotic intention and earnestness of the agent, but we do greatly doubt whether he is conversant with the sentiment of the better classes at home; and we doubt whether he is capable of foreseeing that his course will prove to be, and is already beginning to be demonstrated as, directly inimical to the interests of his country. It would seem to be an essential requirement of this agent in the East to so conduct himself as to make the people actually hate the English. If not so, we fail to comprehend why England does not send an agent to Japan who will truly represent that great power; for surely gentlemen endowed with a sense of decency, and mindful of diplomatic courtesies, are not scarce in England! During the last eight years the aggregate amount of our trade has not greatly increased, nor has the trade with Great Britain, to the extent that was anticipated. And surely even the full aggregate cannot be taken as the ultimate capacity of Japan for foreign trade. Our empire has more than thirty-four millions of souls; they must eat and drink, to live; they must clothe themselves; nor are they incapable of studying comfort, and of adopting a more luxurious mode of living; they too, like other nationalities, have a taste for foreign articles, from the shoe to the hat, from the needle to “iron telegraph-posts.” All this means foreign trade. But wherewith can they buy when competed with by foreign traders under peculiar advantages, and their “fabrics are supplanted” and ultimately ruined? It is self-evident that if the aggregate amount of our foreign trade were increased, under the yoke of the “Tariff Convention,” it only indicates the drain of our capital, not accumulated wealth. We are now perfectly aware of that, and without a change we must follow the footsteps of nations that have been ruined by similar circumstances. Hence the contraction of foreign trade must necessarily follow – a loss to foreign merchants as well as to Japan. By way of proving that the line of thought I have been pursuing is not unreasonable, I would now direct the attention of my reader to a certain occurrence of the present summer. I allude to what the Tokio Times has denominated “dirty diplomacy.” In one of the Yokohama “organs” appeared the assertion that the Government had submitted to the foreign powers a schedule of customs tariff, as a basis upon which it was willing to negotiate a new commercial treaty. Contrary as was this idea to all the usages of honorable diplomacy, all those organs which speak as one man, if not for one man, expressed their satisfaction with the scheme, and manifested an unusual lot of solemn hilarity. It so happened, however, that, within one week after the alleged facts had been promulgated, the Tokio Times and the Japanese papers exposed this “dirty diplomacy.” The whole story was denounced upon authority as utterly false, and was proved to be a most dishonorable and unwarrantable proceeding; and a demand was made
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upon the Government to investigate the whole business, and place the odium where it belonged. That any of the Continental powers of Europe had been connected with this diplomatic outrage was not believed by any intelligent Japanese, while the zeal of those “organs,” and various other transactions that have hitherto taken place in our empire, inclined public opinion to settle upon a very decided conclusion. As the Tokio Times has very justly remarked, it was “an intrigue set on foot for the purpose of placing Japan in a false position, and surrounding her with embarrassments from which, in the opinion of those who are interested, she OC[ſPFKVGCUKGTVQGZVTKECVGJGTUGNHD[CPGYCDCPFQPOGPVQHRTKPEKRNGVJCP by boldly proclaiming and defending her prerogatives.” But before this story of diplomatic treachery had been fully exploded, the same distinguished actor made his appearance in a new but characteristic part. When QWTCWVJQTKVKGUYGTGCDQWVVQGUVCDNKUJSWCTCPVKPGTGIWNCVKQPUHQTVJGDGPGſVQH VJGYJQNGGORKTGŌNQCPFDGJQNFYGſPFVJKUOCPFGENCTKPIJKUTKIJVVQCXQKEG KPHTCOKPIVJGO$GKPIQHEQWTUGTGHWUGFVJKUTKIJVJGőVJTGCVGPGFFGſCPEGKP case an attempt is made to execute them, and he has more than hinted at employKPIHQTEGKPCPGZVTGOKV[VQGPCDNGUJKRUUCKNKPIWPFGTJKUƀCIVQXKQNCVGVJG precautionary enactments of this empire.” +VYCUVJKUUCOGOCPYJQUQOGVYGPV[[GCTUCIQYJGPJQNFKPIVJGQHſEG of consul, “contrived to drag his country into an unrighteous war with China, and committed such an outrage in China that he was severely condemned by the Parliament; and, of the affair in which he then distinguished himself, Lord Elgin wrote from Hong-Kong, declaring it ‘a scandal to us and so considered by all except the few who are personally compromised.’ ‘Nothing could be more contemptible than the cause of our existing quarrel.’” And now he would, forsooth, throw the harbors of Japan open to pestilence – “all and again for trade.” As I recall some of the wayside incidents of that empire’s history, I am forced to inquire “How long, O Lord! are these tyrannies to endure?” So grasping has that insular empire been in the past, that she has not spared even her own colonies. It was a quarrel about tea which brought on the American Revolution, and comRGNNGFCHCKVJHWNEJKNFVQECUVQHHCPWPMKPFCPFUGNſUJRCTGPVYJKEJGXGPVJQYever, resulted in the birth of the “Great Republic.” Read the story of India, and see how war and famine have overrun that great garden of the world – crushing millions of human hearts into the dust, and all for the sole purposes of acquiring something and creating an “Empress of India.” Think also of China, and realize, if possible, the character of that policy which permits a Christian nation to force WRQPCJGCVJGPGORKTGCUWHſEKGPVCOQWPVQHQRKWOVQIKXGJGTCTGXGPWGQH nearly sixty million dollars. Look also at Canada, and witness how that colony is really kept in poverty by the lovingkindness of the mother-empire! Read also the latest proceedings of the Australian Parliament, and take in the idea that, while that colony would fain institute the doctrine of protection for her own welfare, the ruling empire would say, “No, you should not interfere with the trade of the mother-empire!” And coming down to the present hour, witness the result
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of England’s long-continued sympathy for “poor, oppressed Turkey,” by which Cyprus becomes her possession and Asiatic Turkey virtually her protectorate. All this I know is very jolly for, as the Americans would say, the great “Bulldozer” of Europe; but are these things to continue forever? Possibly they may – but a voice from New Japan very decidedly, and once for all, declares this is impossible – so far as her national interests are concerned. Tokio, Japan, August, 1878.
MATSUYAMA MAKOTO.
Source: Social History, Vol. 27, No. 2 (May 2002)
9
The Bund: Littoral Space of Empire in the Treaty Ports of East Asia 1
JEREMY E. TAYLOR
INTRODUCTION
THE SHANGHAI BUND – that celebrated stretch of waterfront in China’s most populous of cities – looms large in the western imagination. As a site of nostalgic partKPIUCPFCTTKXCNUVJGUWDLGEVQHſEVKQPCPFVJGDCEMFTQRVQſNO *QNN[YQQFCPF *QPI-QPICNKMGKVKUVJGUVWHHQHWTDCPNGIGPF+PſEVKQPCNCPFSWCUKJKUVQTKECN depictions of ‘old Shanghai’, the bund is everywhere, and is written as a romantic setting around which the intrigues of the treaty port world are woven.2 Likewise VJGNKVGTCVWTGQHſPCPEGCPFDWUKPGUUKPYJKEJ5JCPIJCKJCUDGGPFGUETKDGFCUVJG URGEKſENQECVKQPQHCNKVVQTCN%JKPGUGKFGPVKV[ITQWPFGFKPOCTMGVECRKVCNKUOCPF entrepreneurialism.3 For such histories, the towering buildings of the Shanghai $WPFCPFKVUƀCUJKPIPGQPUVTGGVUECRGUJCXGDGEQOGVJGENCUUKEU[ODQNUQH%JKnese economic strength and vigour. The Shanghai Bund is perhaps one of the world’s most recognizable skylines. Hugging the banks of the Whampoa river, it is one of China’s most photographed and written-about urban localities (see Figure 1). Yet the bund is more than just a streetscape – it is the single most important spatial reminder of an 1
2
3
I would like to thank Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom and Miriam Lang for their suggestions and comments on earlier drafts of this article. A version of this article was presented at the International Symposium on Urban and Architectural Histories under Colonial Rule in Asia, YJKEJYCUJGNFCVVJG+PUVKVWVGQH6CKYCP*KUVQT[2TGRCTCVQT[1HſEG#ECFGOKC5KPKEC Taipei, on 6 and 7 September 2000. Thanks are due to the organizers of this conference, especially Huang Lan-shiang. Any errors are of course my own. For some typical examples, see Henry de Golen, Une nuit à Shanghai [A Night in Shanghai] (Paris, 1938); Vicki Baum, Shanghai ’37, trans. Basil Creighton (New York, 1939). For a more recent example, see Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans (London, 2000). One of the best critiques of this genre can be found in Ellen Hertz, The Trading Crowd: An Ethnography of the Shanghai Stock Market (Cambridge, 1998), especially 97–100. 120
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(KIWTGThe Shanghai Bund, early 1930s. The Custom House with its distinctive clock tower stands centre-left
entire social system and lifestyle that came to East Asia in the wake of British UWEEGUUQXGT%JKPCKPVJGſTUV1RKWO9CTCPFVJGCTTKXCNQH#FOKTCN2GTT[ŏU gunboats in Japanese waters shortly afterwards. The treaty port system meant far more than import/export statistics and diplomatic manoeuvres. Above all it meant a social system of exclusion and exploitation that was unique in the imperialist movement of the western powers during the mid- to late- nineteenth century, and into the early years of the twentieth century. This system brought with KVURGEKſEEQPEGRVUTGICTFKPIURCEGCPFRQYGTCPFVTCPUHGTTGFUWEJEQPEGRVU onto the environments of Asia’s riverine and coastal ports. The most distinctive of these was the bund – a spatial form that emerged not only in Shanghai, but in many other ports open to foreign trade throughout mainland China, Taiwan and Japan. Predictably, most work on bunds in the Anglophone Academy has tended to focus exclusively on Shanghai, and little has been written outside the TGIKQPCN EQPſPGU QH Ŏ%JKPC 5VWFKGUŏ ,QP *WGDPGTŏU TGUGCTEJ QP 5JCPIJCK for instance, looks in depth at the development of the architecture which has made the Shanghai Bund what it is today.4 Huebner reveals how architecture on the bund in Shanghai was in essence a parade of monuments to particular institutions associated with a non-Chinese treaty presence in the city. These included the British Consulate-General, which commanded a prime position at VJGPQTVJGTPGZVTGOKV[QHVJGDWPFCPFVJGQHſEGUQHXCTKQWUHQTGKIPſTOUŌ 4
Jon W. Huebner, ‘Architecture on the Shanghai Bund’, Papers on Far Eastern History, xxxix (March 1989), 127–54.
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Jardine Matheson, the Japanese shipping giant Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Banque de l’lndochine and so on. Huebner shows that the bund developed into a site at YJKEJFKHHGTGPVſTOUCPFCIGPEKGUCVVGORVGFVQŎQWVFQŏQVJGTUKPEQOOKUUKQPKPIGXGTOQTGRCNCVKCNGFKſEGUTKIJVVJTQWIJWPVKNVJGQWVDTGCMQHVJG2CEKſE War. Recent work by scholars from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has similarly tended to concentrate on architecture when examining the bund. The architectural historian, Wu Jiang of Tongji University in Shanghai, for instance, JCU PQVGF VJG TQNG QH VJG GZRCVTKCVG CTEJKVGEVWTCN ſTO 2CNOGT CPF 6WTPGT KP designing many of the Shanghai Bund’s landmarks in the early decades of the twentieth century and in introducing western styles such as Bauhaus and art deco to the city’s waterfront.5 ;GVFGURKVGVJGEQPVTKDWVKQPUVJCVUWEJUVWFKGUJCXGOCFGVQVJGſGNFQHCTEJKVGEtural history, most do not address the role that the bund played as a generic spatial form. Nor do they explore how this form was linked to the treaty port experience so unique to East Asia or, indeed, to the power relations that existed within the VTGCV[RQTVU1PGTGCUQPHQTVJKUOC[UKORN[DGVJCVVJGDWPFCUCURCEGKUFKHſEWNVVQECVGIQTK\GCPFFGſPG9JGPYGVCNMQHDWPFUDGVJG[KP5JCPIJCKQTCP[ other port city in Asia, do we mean the actual buildings along the waterfront, the roadway in front of them, the embankment where land meets sea or the harbour? In many cases, bunds included one or a combination of these; usually, it included all of them. And when we speak of the bund, might we also be talking about a social system or lifestyle that existed (and some may argue still exists) in and around the treaty port waterfront? The question of what bunds meant and how they HWPEVKQPGFCUUQEKCNURCEGUURGEKſEVQVJGVTGCV[RQTVUTGOCKPUNCTIGN[WPVQWEJGF In this article, I do not propose to attempt a full typology of the bund. Yet I FQJQRGVQTCKUGCPWODGTQHKORQTVCPVSWGUVKQPUCDQWVVJGTQNGCPFUKIPKſECPEG of the bund as a spatial concept in the treaty ports and, further, to examine how in some ways it helped to sustain a certain treaty port lifestyle among European residents therein. Since the publication of such seminal works as Henri Lefebvre’s The Production of Space, urban space and its effects on social relations have DWTIGQPGFCUCſGNFQHUVWF[HQTJKUVQTKCPU6 In recent decades, an increasing trend towards interdisciplinary research has led historians to expand into areas such as human geography and urban anthropology when trying to comprehend the relationship between space and power over time. Studies of the impact that the late Victorian era of European imperial expansion had on urban spatial forms throughout the world, such as those produced by the likes of John MacKenzie7 5
6 7
Wu Jiang, Shanghai bai nian jianzhu shi [A Hundred Year Architectural History of Shanghai] (Shanghai, 1997). For other recent Chinese scholarship on the architectural history of the Shanghai Bund, see Chen Congzhou and Zhang Ming, Shanghai jindai jianzhushi gao [Papers on the Modern Architectural History of Shanghai] (Shanghai, 1988); Yu Jixing, Lao mingxinpian: jianzhu bian [Old Postcards: Architectural Volume] (Shanghai, 1997). Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Spacey trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (Oxford, 1991). John M. MacKenzie (ed.), Imperialism and the Natural World (Manchester and New York, 1990).
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and Anthony King8KPTGEGPV[GCTUTGƀGEVVJKUIGPGTCNVTGPF6JG#ECFGO[JCU been slow to apply much of the same interest in urban space beyond better known examples of imperial metropoles or so-called ‘colonial cities’, however, and little JCUDGGPFQPGQPQVJGTWTDCPEGPVTGUYJKEJRGTJCRUſVWPGCUKN[KPGKVJGTQHVJGUG categories.9 The treaty ports were important parts of the Victorian world and, as such, questions about the nature of space and social relations within them need to be addressed. With this in mind, this article aims to focus on the treaty ports and their bunds, like the generic ‘post-colonial’ city of which Bill Schwarz wrote so succinctly in a recently published essay, as spaces very much unique, yet ‘neither random nor indecipherable’.10 As a qualifying note, this article predominantly makes reference to English language texts. I justify this by pointing out that the concept of the bund was born of European expansion in Asia and that the construction of bunds was in most cases (though as we shall see, not always) funded and designed by organizations dominated by European, and especially British, expatriates. While it is important to bear in mind that the treaty ports most of all meant something to the local Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese people who lived in them, this article is mainly concerned with the role that the bund played in strengthening and aiding what was essentially a social system of western creation.
THE RISE OF A TERM
Shanghai is the only place in which the term ‘bund’ is still used as a toponym in the English vernacular today. Outside Shanghai, the word now only exists as jargon in the harbour construction and related industries. In the late nineteenth century, however, almost every treaty port in mainland China, Taiwan and Japan had its own bund. The term ‘bund’ was part of an Anglo-Indian vocabulary which stormed through Asia, from the Indian subcontinent to Japan, on the back of mercantile British imperialism, appropriating words from Indian, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese languages as it progressed eastwards. 8
9
10
Anthony D. King, Urbanism, Colonialism, and the World-economy: Cultural and Spatial Foundations of the World Urban System (London and New York, 1990). There has, of course, been an entire genre of scholarly writing about Shanghai, but this has mainly been produced within the domain of Sinology and East Asia Area Studies. For further discussion of Shanghai studies as a subgenre of Chinese studies, see Jeffrey 09CUUGTUVTQOŎ.QECVKPI1NF5JCPIJCKJCXKPIſVUCDQWVYJGTGKVſVUŏKP,QUGRJ9'UJGTick (ed.), 4GOCMKPIVJG%JKPGUG%KV[/QFGTPKV[CPF0CVKQPCN+FGPVKV[Ō (Honolulu, 2000), 192–210. Bill Schwarz, ‘Postcolonial times: the visible and the invisible’ in Felix Driver and David Gilbert (eds), Imperial Cities: Landscape, Display and Identity (Manchester and New York, 1999), 268.
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The Australian-based linguist Karl Lentzner listed the term ‘bund’ in 1891 CUOGCPKPIŎCPCTVKſEKCNDCPMQTYJCTHŏ115KIPKſECPVN[.GPV\PGTPQVGFVJGWUG of the term in South and Southeast Asia, but also in ‘the Anglo-Chinese ports’, where it was ‘applied to the embanked quay above the shore of the settlements’.12 This reference to ‘the Anglo-Chinese ports’ is echoed in Sir Henry Yule’s muchquoted Hobson-Jobson ŌQPEGEQPUKFGTGFVJGFGſPKVKXGYQTMQHKVUMKPF QP#PINQ+PFKCPVGTOKPQNQI[ŌKPYJKEJVJGVGTOKUFGſPGFCUŎCP[CTVKſEKCN embankment, a dam, a dyke, or causeway’.13 Yule lists the origins of the word as being both Sanskrit and Persian,14 and belonging to a particular site in Persia, KGVJG$GPFCOGGT $CPFCOĄTŌŎ#RQRWNCTPCOGCVNGCUVCOQPIHQTGKIPGTU of the River Kut’.15 Twentieth-century work by South Asian scholars suggests that the term is related to other words of Indian subcontinental origin, such as bunder ‘a landing-place or quay; a seaport; a harbour (and sometimes also a Custom House)’.16 6JGſTUVRNCEGKPYJKEJVJGVGTODWPFYCUWUGFQWVUKFGQHVJG+PFKCPRQTVU YCUCNOQUVEGTVCKPN[%CPVQP )WCPI\JQW6JKUYCUVJGſTUVOCLQT%JKPGUG port to be opened to European trade – with the exceptions of Macau and Amoy (Xiamen)17 – and became the laboratory in which European and North American ſTOUGZRGTKOGPVGFYKVJPGYURCVKCNCTTCPIGOGPVUGIVJGHCEVQTKGUIQFQYPU and verandahs that the hongs KG'WTQRGCPſTOUKPXQNXGFKPVJG%JKPCVTCFG 11
12 13
14
15 16
17
Karl Lentzner, A Glossary of Australian, Anglo-Indian, Pidgin English, West Indian, and South African Words .QPFQP(QTCPQVJGTNCVGPKPGVGGPVJEGPVWT[FGſPKVKQPQHVJG term, see George C. Whitworth, An Anglo-Indian Dictionary: A Glossary of Indian terms used in English or other Non-Indian terms as have obtained special meanings in India (London, 1885), 54. KDKF 61. Sir Henry Yule, Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of col loquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive, new edition ed. William Crooke (London, 1903), 127. There is some symbolism in the inheritance of a Persian word (i.e. the language of an imperial predecessor in South Asia) for the vocabulary of Britain’s new empire in the ‘Far East’. Yule, QREKV., 83. G. S. Rao, Indian Words in English: A Study in Indo-British Cultural and Linguistic Relations (Oxford, 1969), 108. The southern Chinese city of Amoy is now generally known as Xiamen, while the city of Canton is now more often listed as Guangzhou. During the early years of the twentieth century, a system of romanization known as the Postal System was developed for Asian toponyms by European residents in the treaty ports. This system listed many toponyms according to their pronunciation in local dialects, Amoy and Canton both being examples. In the People s Republic of China, where a system of romanization known as Hanyu pinyin is now used, however, the Postal System has become archaic. In Taiwan, while some toponyms retain the Postal System spelling (such as the town of Tamsui), in cases such as the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung (known as Takow during the nineteenth century), however, rather more esoteric spellings have now become the norm. In this article, and for the sake of consistency, I list treaty port toponyms according to the Postal System when referring to events or occurrences in the treaty port period. However, I also provide, where appropriate, the more common spellings of toponyms as they are used today.
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constructed in their new environment (the word hong is itself derived from Cantonese).18 The term was then used in Shanghai at least as early as the 1850s, YJGTGCPGZKUVKPIVTCEMCNQPIVJGYCVGTHTQPVJCFDGGPCFCRVGFD[HQTGKIPſTOU and land adjoining this track was let to foreigners. In the wake of the second Opium War, and the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin (Tianjin) in 1858, the term was being used to describe quays as well as their adjoining buildings and infrastructure in most of China and Taiwan’s treaty ports. This was the same period in which the term was being applied to the waterfront areas in Japanese ports such as Yokohama and Nagasaki, as they were also forcibly opened by 'WTQRGCPCPF#OGTKECPQRRQTVWPKUO$WPFUVJWUUKIPKſGFOQTGVJCPGODCPMments themselves, and indeed more than the houses along the waterfront. The term came to signify the entire space along the port side which, despite being littoral in nature, actually formed the centre of European life in the treaty ports (see Figure 2). Some of the only work which addresses the bund in this regard is that of the historian Robert Bickers. In his book Britain in China (1999), Bickers touches upon the strong symbolic role that bunds played, not only in Shanghai, but throughout China, in remaining ‘symbolic of the Western space created and maintained among Chinese chaos, and of the remaking of the Chinese environment by Western technology and enterprise’.19 This is supported by the work of Frances Wood, who locates the bund within an entire set of institutions, including municipal councils and hill stations, which European residents in the treaty ports of China, Japan and Taiwan transplanted from the subcontinent and other colonial settings to make sense of and control their built environments.20 In literature produced by the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service (ICMCS – an organization that will be discussed in greater detail below) bunds appear not to have been considered an actual part of ports in any of the towns open to trade, and the limits of ports were not bound by bunds.21 None the less, bunds were as much edges22 between spaces as they were spaces per se, marking out the difference between sea or river (owned by the maritime empires of Britain, and in the twentieth century, Japan and the United States) and hinterlands. As shall become clear as we look at some examples below, the idea of the bund not 18
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21
22
See Jacques M. Downs, The Golden Ghetto: The American Commercial Community at Canton CPFVJG5JCRKPIQH#OGTKECP%JKPC2QNKE[Ō (Bethlehem, 1997), Robert Bickers, $TKVCKPKP%JKPC%QOOWPKV[%WNVWTGCPF%QNQPKCNKUOŌ (Manchester and New York, 1999), 141. Frances Wood, 0Q&QIUCPFPQVOCP[%JKPGUG6TGCV[2QTV.KHGKP%JKPCŌ (London, 1998). The ICMCS did not mention bunds as representing the boundaries of ports under their jurisdiction. See M. A. Abbass, Manual of Customs’ Practice at Shanghai under the various treaties entered into between China and the foreign powers (Shanghai, 1894), 137–55. Indeed, such spaces, precisely because they are edges, often attract greater architectural activity. See Kevin Lynch, ‘The city and its environments’ in Richard T. Legates and Frederic Stout (eds), The City Reader, 2nd edn (New York, 1996), 478–82.
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Figure 2. Map of Yokohama showing the bund in relation to the Custom House and the French Consulate (Source: 9KNNKCO(TGFGTKEM/C[GTU0KEJQNCU$GNſGNF&GPP[UCPF%JCTNGU-KPIThe Treaty Ports of China and Japan: a complete guide to the open ports of those countries together with Peking, Yedo, Hong Kong and Macao (London and Hong Kong, 1867), no page reference.)
only meant this ‘edge space’, but included the architecture alongside it, piers and jetties, and indeed roads that travelled parallel to the waterside.
TREATY PORTS AND COLONIES
+PQTFGTCEVWCNN[VQGZCOKPGVJGUKIPKſECPEGCPFHWPEVKQPQHDWPFUJQYGXGT it is also necessary to understand what constituted a treaty port. The term ŎVTGCV[RQTVŏKUVQQQHVGPGORNQ[GFYKVJQWVTGICTFHQTOGCPKPIQTFGſPKVKQP the result being that it is frequently used incorrectly and sometimes applied VQ GXGT[ #UKCP RQTV EKV[ YJKEJ NC[U ENCKO VQ C 'WTQRGCP KPƀWGPEG QH UQOG kind.23 Yet it is vitally important that we try to understand the way in which the treaty port system worked (or did not work) in China and Japan, as this has a heavy bearing on the way in which waterfront spaces were created, maintained and utilized. 23
Hong Kong, for instance, was technically never a treaty port, but rather a colony. A relevant note here is that the Hong Kong waterfront promenade was not referred to as a‘bund’, but rather by the Portuguese-derived term of ‘Praya’, perhaps suggesting that Hong Kong’s coloniality was enough to necessitate a word of European (as opposed to subcontinental) origin for its harbourside space. Other well-known parts of the ‘treaty port’ universe such as Weihaiwei and Tsingtao were not treaty ports or colonies at all. Most examples of this type were established purely for naval purposes, with little if any civilian or mercantile role in their administration.
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(TCPEGU9QQFŏUYQTMQPVJKUVQRKERTQXKFGUWUYKVJCUWEEKPEVFGſPKVKQPQHVJG treaty port. Wood suggests that ‘treaty ports’ were those ports opened to trade by the various treaties that the western powers forced upon China and Japan from the 1840s onwards.24+TQPKECNN[CPQVJGTFGſPKVKQPKUVJCVYTKVVGPQPN[CFGECFG after the ‘unequal treaties’ had been dissolved; Allen and Donnithorne’s ethnocentrically entitled Western Enterprise in Far Eastern Economic Development (1954) includes in its description of the treaty ports in China both ‘settlements’ and ŎEQPEGUUKQPUŏYKVJFGſPKVKQPUQHDQVJDCUGFWRQPNCPFQYPGTUJKR25 The authors describe ‘settlements’ as those places in which foreigners were permitted by treaty to live, though where the land upon which they settled belonged legally to the Chinese government. In ‘concessions’, however, the land was actually leased out to foreign governments who in turn subleased land lots to foreign nationals.26 Treaty ports included both settlements and concessions. Treaties not only opened ports to foreign trade, but also granted nationals of the treaty powers the right of extraterritoriality – meaning they remained outside the jurisdiction of Chinese and, in the nineteenth century at least, Japanese, law. Unlike in colonies or mandated territories, troops from foreign countries were not permitted to be permanently stationed in the treaty ports. Treaties further permitted European governments to establish consular representation in these towns. Another key feature of the treaty ports in China was the existence of the ICMCS, a body that was nominally owned by the Chinese government but staffed by high-ranking foreign ‘experts’ of diverse nationality. As the majority of ports were opened to numerous powers, the foreign population in any given port might at the same time contain British, German, French, American, Japanese and other nationals. Western populations invariably experienced a large turnover, and with the exception of missionaries, there was little contact with non-European peoples outside the sphere of commerce. From the outset of the Victorian era of expansion in the East Asian region, KVJCFDGGPHQTGKIPſTOUVJCVJCFRWUJGFIQXGTPOGPVDQFKGUVQUGEWTGVTCFKPI rights through treaties. In keeping with the laissez-faire mood of the period, the so-called ‘Thirteen Hongs’ of Canton, foreign companies whose main concern 24
25
26
Wood, QREKVŌ9QQFCNUQRQKPVUQWVVJCVVJGFGſPKVKQPKUKPHCEVYKFGTVJCPVJKUCPFCNUQ includes ports that were opened to trade by the Chinese government in the early twentieth century, without the authorities being forced to do so through treaties. G. C. Allen and A. D. Donnithorne, Western Enterprise in Far Eastern Economic Development (London, 1954), 267. KDKF 267. The question is even more complicated by the inclusion of terms such as ‘open ports’ and ‘ports of call’ which, depending on context, did or did not include the treaty ports. #NKUVQHVTGCV[RQTVURTQFWEGFD[VJG$TKVKUJ(QTGKIP1HſEGKPJKIJNKIJVUVJGGZVGPV VQYJKEJCHWNNFGſPKVKQPQHVJGVTGCV[RQTVUKUCNOQUVKORQUUKDNG5GGŎ6TGCV[2QTVU2QTVU of Call, and Places open to Foreign Trade in the Far East’ in National Archives of Australia: Governor General; A6661, Correspondence and printed matter arranged according to subject
Ŏ5RGEKCN2QTVHQNKQŏ,CPWCT[Ō,CPWCT[.KUVQH6TGCV[2QTVUGVEKPVJG(CT 'CUV
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was the opening of the Chinese market to the opium trade, were instrumental in determining the wording of the original Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) in 1842. For this reason the hongs, particularly larger ones such as Jardine Matheson, were in many ways the driving force behind the establishment of the treaty port system. Overall, the system was a complicated one that differed in many key respects from the way in which colonies were run, but was close enough to colonialism for many PRC scholars to use the terms ‘semi-imperialism’ and ‘semi-colonialism’ when referring to it. Most important for our understanding of the bund is that the treaty ports operated under local sovereignty, foreign extraterritoriality, and were derived from laissez-faire capitalism, all these having profound effects on the way the ports themselves were spatially arranged.
SPACE AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE TREATY PORTS
As Stephen Lau and Lee Ho Yin of the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Architecture have suggested in their work on the urban environments of Hong Kong and Singapore, there existed a predictable and common system of spatial arrangements at work in colonies acquired by Britain in the Victorian age.27 Lau and Lee argue that in most colonial cities established within this period, there existed a quadra-partite division of European colonial power, that being: 1 2 3 4
a Governor-General or equivalent body which held executive power; law courts or like bodies that held judicial power; the military (i.e. representing military power); and the Church (i.e. representing moral/spiritual power).
This division was in turn symbolized in the space of city centres, with each of these four main arms of European colonial power establishing itself through spatial and architectural forms: executive power came in the form a Governor’s palace or residence; the military by way of a parade ground and/or garrison; judicial power in court buildings; and religion in the form of a church or cathedral.28 Robert Home’s work on British colonial city planning further suggests that the layout of colonial towns was based upon the so-called ‘grand model’ of British colonial expansion, which stressed the importance of grid-based city planning in the colonies, the rectangular shape of towns, and the design of extraordinarily Stephen S. Y. Lau and Lee Ho Yin, ‘Central Hong Kong: Urbanism in the Heart of a Laissezfaire City’ (paper presented at the Megacities 2000 Conference, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 8–10 February 2000). 28 +PUQOGECUGUQHCRCTVKEWNCTN[OGTECPVKNGPCVWTGUWEJCU*QPI-QPIſPCPEKCNKPUVKVWVKQPU would also take a prominent position among the above mentioned. See KDKF 27
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wide streets as well as central town squares.29 Home further argues that colonial expansion created an entire new set of industries and professions, from civil engineering to town planning, which consciously translated colonial philosophies QPVQVJGUVTGGVUECRGUQH#UKC#HTKECCPFVJG2CEKſE However, the spatial layout of treaty ports was markedly different from that present in colonies. This layout represented a distinct division of European power that was far more complicated than that of the colonial experience. The institutions present and central to the treaty port system of trade and governance displayed a quite different mix from that of colonies, and included, in this order: VJGJQPIUYJQYGTGTGRTGUGPVGFKPVJGKTQHſEGUHCEVQTKGUYJCTXGUIQFQYPU and in some instances their own railway tracks and roads; the ICMCS, the job of which was to monitor trade and collect revenue, and which constructed in most ports open to trade its own Custom House; consulates, which represented the limited executive and judicial powers of foreign governments; and the temporary institution of the gunboat, i.e. warships which belonged to the navies of foreign powers – ‘the decks of their ships ... a part of Britain [or any other treaty power] itself’.30 As in colonies, the division of western power was quadra-partite, yet it differed from the colonial situation in certain ways.31 Absent was a permanent military RTGUGPEGCPFC)QXGTPQT)GPGTCNŏUQHſEGRTGUGPVYGTGVJGEQPUWNCTTGRTGUGPVCtives of not a single colonial power, but competing imperial powers. Even more intriguing was that none of these four groups could claim absolute power over the other. Though all were active agents in a system created by western imperial expansion, they remained true to their laissez-faire philosophy, and competed endlessly against and within each other. Indeed, there often arose disputes between competing groups, even when members of these groups shared a common national origin (or were members of the same municipal council!). Unlike colonies, in which space was often conceptualized as rectangular or wide, and where in most cases emphasis was placed on the ability to acquire plots of territory in terms of actual square miles, in the treaty ports space was predominantly thought of as elongated and thin. Land was not so much a commodity in itself, but merely a means through which other commodities could be shipped in and out or bought and sold. The great expanses of each port’s hinterland for the most part remained off-limits to foreigners. Access to great expanses of water, meanwhile, was perceived as highly valuable, given the prime importance of 29
30
31
Robert Home, Of Planting and Planning: The Making of British Colonial Cities (London, 1997), 1–15. Jane Samson, Imperial Benevolence: Making 1998), 142 Though her study focuses on the 2CEKſEKUNCPFU5COUQPOCMGUUQOGKPVGTGUVKPIRQKPVUCDQWVVJG$TKVKUJWUGQHIWPDQCVUKP the nineteenth century in general. Other spaces, such as cemeteries and churches, were also important additions to treaty ports. These often adjoined other institutions, such as Consulates and Custom Houses.
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water for travel, communications and trade – indeed, even more important than the harbours of colonies, which often had the option of overland communications routes. Without water, the treaty port lost its very meaning. The result of this unique combination of capitalist imperial competition and strong desire for proximity to the waterfront was an arrangement in which no single group could claim advantage over the other in access to the river or harbour. As such, space was not divided and packaged out among foreign institutions representing power; rather, institutions were forced to be lined up, one alongside the other, creating an elongated space along the coast, as each competed for access to the waterfront. Though the actual embankments which formed the basis of bunds were created by various institutions, the bund as an entire space in fact created itself. The bund faced the water, with little concern for the vast geography that lay behind its factories and shop-houses. It determined that treaty ports were predominantly littoral spaces which were long instead of wide. The treaty ports could never be drawn as coloured blocks on maps in the way colonies could, even if a colour scheme could ever have been worked out for municipal councils. Treaty ports were simply too thin to be drawn as anything more than lines or dots.32 There were other factors which determined the shape and nature of the bund space too. In many cases, and contrary to most of the colonial land seized by European governments in the latter half of the nineteenth century, a good number of treaty ports had a limited history of immediate prior human habitation.33 In the cases where there had been a history of human habitation, the port infrastructure was often built on the site of disused graveyards.34 In other cases, they were built on land reclaimed from the sea. The case of bunds, as the border where land met water, was very much tied up in this. In the port of Swatow (Shantou), for example, it was the ‘Bund Bureau’ of the customs service that was in charge of land reclamation as well as bund construction.35 Another contributing factor was a general feeling and recognition that EuroRGCPUYGTGQPN[KPVTGCV[RQTVUVGORQTCTKN[6JKUKPKVUGNHJCFCOCTMGFKPƀWGPEG on the building and layout of communities and their institutions. Though sizeable permanent European communities did eventually establish themselves in many of the treaty ports, the nature of life in these ports was one of high turnover. This was especially the case in Japan, where the treaties lasted only until the turn of the twentieth century. In China, by the 1920s, the retrocession of a number of ports 32
33
34 35
A point made in John Keay, .CUV2QUV6JG'PFQH'ORKTGKPVJG(CT'CUV (London, 1997), 104–41. Though this was not the case with Shanghai, where the bund had been a walkway prior to the arrival of European and Japanese traders. See J. D.Clark, A Short History of Shanghai (Shanghai, 1921), 2. Wood, QREKV 20–1. ICMCS, &GEGPPKCN4GRQTVUQPVJG6TCFG+PFWUVTKGUGVEQHVJG2QTVUQRGPVQ(QTGKIP%QOOGTEG and on Conditions and Development of the Treaty Port Provinces (Shanghai, 1933), 164.
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alerted many European and North American residents to the case of a possible end to the ‘semicolonial’ system.36
BUNDS AS MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACE
6JGHWPEVKQPQHDWPFUYCUOWNVKRNGCPFTGƀGEVGFVJGFKXGTUGEQPƀKEVUQHRQYGT VJCV GZKUVGF YKVJKP VTGCV[ RQTVU $GNQY + UJCNN FKUEWUU DTKGƀ[ VJTGG QH VJGUG functions which were perhaps the most important – commercial, military and recreational.
COMMERCIAL
The entire treaty port world was one of a commercial making, with the hongs of the opium trade being instrumental in the opening of China and Japan to foreign VTCFG$WPFUTGƀGEVGFVJKU$WPFUDGPGſVGFVJGEGPVTCNCEVQTUKPVJGVTGCV[RQTV RNC[D[CNNQYKPIVJGOENQUGCEEGUUVQTKXGTCPFUGCVTCHſEHTQOYJGPEGVJGKTHQTtunes were made. In the port of Yokohama, Jardine Matheson established itself at one of the most prominent positions on the bund, symbolically addressed ‘Building Number One’. It did likewise in other ports where it dominated trade. In the Taiwanese ports it was the Boyd, Dent and Mannich hongs that copied Jardine’s lead in the 1860s. Such jockeying for position on the bund continued VJTQWIJQWVVJGGPVKTGVTGCV[RQTVGTC6JGUJKRRKPIſTO$WVVGTſGNFCPF5YKTG went so far as to claim part of the Nanking water front as ‘our bund’ by the early years of the twentieth century.376JGUCOGſTOENCKOGFCRTQOKPGPVUKVGQPVJG Shameen (Shamian) Bund in Canton, as well as on the French Bund in Shanghai.38 And ‘Spare no expense, but dominate the bund!’ was the famed response from the *GCF1HſEGQHVJG*QPI-QPICPF5JCPIJCK$CPMKPI%QTRQTCVKQPYJGPHCEGFKP the early 1920s with the possibility of going over budget in the construction of its PGYQHſEGQPVJG5JCPIJCK$WPF39 Hongs would habitually construct their own LGVVKGUVJCVLWVVGFQWVHTQOVJGDWPFCPFNGFUVTCKIJVVQVJGFQQTUQHVJGKTQHſEGU Some accounts suggest that Shanghai’s bund was indeed created in this fashion, 36
37 38 39
Bickers, QREKV 143. Added to this was the nature of laissez-faire capitalism as it worked in the Victorian age, especially its concentration on transience, progress and movement as opposed to permanence. Treaty ports were the means in which to accumulate wealth, yet wealth earned by traders therein was mostly sent elsewhere (e.g. into large Hong Kong or metropolitan bank accounts). Charles Drage, Taikoo (London, 1970), 147. Robert Blake, Jardine Matheson: Traders of the Far East (London, 1999), 219. Christopher L. Yip, ‘Four major buildings in the architectural history of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’ in Frank H. H. King (ed.), Eastern Banking: Essays in the History of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (London, 1983), 123.
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YKVJCUGTKGUQHCFLQKPKPIJQPIUſNNKPIKPOWFF[NCPFDGVYGGPVJGKTHTQPVFQQTU and the waters of the river.40 Also of particular importance in regard to the commercial functions of bunds was the role of the ICMCS. Almost every single bund had on it a Custom House ŌCPQHſEGQHVJG+%/%5+PFGGFUQEGPVTCNYCUVJGTQNGQHTGXGPWGEQNNGEVKQPD[ the customs service in determining the location and nature of bunds that bunds themselves often developed out of landing stages in front of Custom Houses. The reason for this was that the ICMCS, as technically an organ of the Chinese state, had access to urban planning revenue and a leading role in the infrastructure decision-making process. The bund was of central importance to the ICMCS because it facilitated the movement of goods to and from ships in the port, and provided easy access for customs staff to the cargoes of incoming vessels. A Custom House would often sit at the centre of the bund’s horizontal line, its unmistakable clock tower rising above other buildings in the vicinity, from which it could see and be seen by all arrivals in port. The presence of the Custom House stated that the bund was there essentially for the purposes of trade and commerce and, like the treaty port itself, was only nominally in the hands of local sovereignty. The Shanghai Bund, for instance, was from its earliest date linked to the customs service. The Custom House itself was designed to be located in the centre of the bund. J. D. Clark claims that the ‘oldest relic connecting the Bund with the early days of Shanghai was the old Custom House’.41 And it was no coincidence that the Shanghai Municipal Council decided to erect a statue in commemoration of the longest standing head of the ICMCS, Sir Robert Hart, ‘on a prominent site on the Bund at Shanghai’ shortly after his death.42 Outside Shanghai, another example might be found in the Yochow (Yuezhou) Bund, the embankment of which was constructed from scratch under the guidance of Customs Commissioner H. B. Morse. John Fairbank recalls that Morse ensured the most favourable site on the Yochow Bund was reserved for the Custom House.43 Moreover, reports produced by the Marine Department of the ICMCS up until the Second World War continued to include regular statements on the upkeep of bunds in most of the ports under the organization’s control. These would appear most often under the subheading of ‘conservancy’ in those sections of reports dealing with harbour maintenance.44 Even in Japan, where the customs UGTXKEGYCUPQVOQPQRQNK\GFD['WTQRGCPUHQTGKIPſTOUTGEQIPK\GFVJGPGGFHQT bunds to be connected to Custom Houses. Writing in 1864, Rutherford Alcock, 40
41 42
43
44
F. L. Hawks Potts, A Short History of Shanghai: Being an account of the growth and development of the International Settlement (Shanghai, 1928), 21. Clark, QREKV 3. T. R. Banister, The Coastwise Lights of China: An Illustrated Account of the Chinese Maritime Customs Lights Service (Shanghai, 1932), 1. J. K. Fairbank, M. H. Coolidge and R. J. Smith, *$/QTUG%WUVQOU%QOOKUUKQPGTCPF Historian of China (Lexington, 1995), 153 See, for instance, the report on the state of the Amoy bund as recorded in ICMCS, Miscellaneous Report Number 38: Report of the Marine Department, 1927 (Shanghai, 1928), 27.
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representative of British interests in Japan, called upon the Japanese government to aid the foreign community in Yokohama by ‘extend[ing] the present Bund of the Foreign Settlement from the Custom-House Hatoba to the French Lot at Benten’.45 6JGEWUVQOUUGTXKEGCNUQEQQRGTCVGFCVVKOGUYKVJRTKXCVGſTOUVQICKPRCTVKCN funding for the construction of bunds and in return reciprocated by ensuring that the hongs were serviced accordingly. Take this example from an ICMCS report dated 1880, which describes the construction of the bund in the southern Taiwanese port of Anping originating out of the Custom House itself, but linking VJKUKPUVKVWVKQPYKVJVJGQHſEGUQHVJGVQYPŏUJQPIU A substantial bund has been built during the year at Anping. Continuing the Custom House Bund and running along the frontage of Messrs. MANNICH & Co.’s and Messrs. BOYD & Co.’s properties; and a solid mud road faced with wattled bamboos has also been constructed, which, passing the south frontage of Messrs. ELLES & Co.’s property, runs to the edge of the creek which forms the entrance to the so-called ‘Gunboat Harbour’.46 MILITARY
The reference to ‘Gunboat Harbour’ is a timely one, for bunds also provided an important function for foreign military bodies in the treaty ports. By treaty, foreign governments were not permitted to station military troops permanently on Chinese and Japanese soil. But foreign navies were frequently present in ports all the same. The foreign powers all regularly sent naval ships to the coastal ports of China following the precedent to do so that had been established during the Opium Wars. Naval gunboats were regularly sent to ‘shell the bush’47 behind bunds and the non-European quarters of towns, either in retaliation for perceived harm that had been done to one of their nationals or in the desire to extract further concessions from local authorities. By the early years of the twentieth century, and with naval technology perfected during the First World War, Britain, Japan and the United States had established regular naval patrols in coastal and riverine Chinese ports. As the work of James Cable suggests, such gunboat diplomacy remained an important part of foreign policy in Asia for European and American governments until very recently.48 ‘Memorandum for the Foreign Settlement at Yokohama’ in Port of Yokohama (ed.), Yokohama koshi [The History of Yokohama Harbour] (Yokohama, 1990),840–1. 46 ICMCS, ‘Takow trade report for the year 1880’ in Fu-san Huang, Man-houng Lin and Kaim Ang (eds), /CTKVKOG%WUVQOU#PPWCN4GVWTPUCPF4GRQTVUQH6CKYCPŌ8QNWOG+ (Taipei, 1997), 466. 47 A phrase I borrow from Joseph Conrad, who used it in reference to French naval bombardment he witnessed on the West African coast. See Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (London, 1995), 30. 48 %CDNGFGſPGUIWPDQCVFKRNQOCE[VJWUŎ#P[WUGQTVJTGCVQHNKOKVGFPCXCNHQTEGQVJGTYKUG than as an act of war, may constitute an instance of gunboat diplomacy if it is committed 45
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Naval authorities regularly used bunds as instruments in which to display their strength of arms. The bund, as an elongated space, meant that soldiers or sailors could be displayed in full formation and with powerful visual effect. Bunds also provided perfect temporary marching grounds in the absence of large parks that were so commonly used for the same purpose in colonies.49 In Yokohama, the bund was on occasion lined with foreign troops of all kinds in order to intimidate ,CRCPGUGIQXGTPOGPVQHſEKCNUKPVQHWTVJGTEQPEGUUKQPU50 Another example might be found in Canton where, in response to the Boxer uprising of 1900, the United 5VCVGUFKURCVEJGFCIWPDQCVVQVJGRQTVYJKEJſTGFUCNWVGUCPFNCVGTNKPGFVJG Shameen Bund with marines who paraded up and down it alongside staff of the ICMCS.51 The same bund was witness to the massacre of protesting Chinese by British consular troops on 23 June 1925.52 Furthermore bunds acted as a means through which evacuation of foreign nationals could be facilitated in times of civil unrest or hostility, in such cases being used not for loading cargo but people.53 Bunds facilitated the speedy movement of foreign nationals onto barks and in turn onto naval vessels from whence retreat to the civilization of colonial Hong Kong could be arranged. An example of this was the case of the bunds at Tamsui and Takow (Kaohsiung) during the Japanese expedition to Taiwan in 1895 (see Figure 3). At that time, German and British gunboats waited alongside bunds in respective harbours, ready to take their nationals from the bunds in each of these towns should civil disturbances have eventuated.54
RECREATIONAL
$WPFUCNUQJCFCNGUUXKQNGPVHWPEVKQP[GVQPGYJKEJUVKNNTGƀGEVGFVJGXCNWGUCPF social structures of the treaty port era. They were often adapted for recreational
49 50
51
52
53
54
either in the furtherance of an international dispute or else against foreign nationals within the territory of their own state’. See James Cable, )WPDQCV&KRNQOCE[Ō2QNKVKECN Applications of Limited Naval Force, 3rd edn (London, 1994), 10. For more of Cable’s work on the same topic, see James Cable, Diplomacy at Sea (London, 1985), especially 143–53. Though parks did, of course, also exist in treaty ports. J. E. Hoare, ,CRCPŏU6TGCV[2QTVUCPF(QTGKIP5GVVNGOGPVU6JG7PKPXKVGF)WGUVUŌ (Folkestone, 1994), 172. Ironically, as Hoare points out, the man who ordered foreign troops onto the Yokohama Bund, Sir Harry Parkes, was later honoured with a statue built on the Shanghai Bund. Paul King, In the Chinese Customs Service: A personal record of forty-seven years (London, 1924), 143–4. For more on the Shakee (Shaji) incident, as this massacre came to be known, see Virgil Kit-yin Ho, ‘The limits of hatred: popular attitudes towards the West in Republican Canton’, East Asian History, II (December 1991), 87–104. And continue to do so today, to which the recent examples of Sierra Leone and the Solomon Islands attest. Fairbank, Coolidge and Smith, QREKV 129.
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purposes. Robert Bickers has noted that in many instances, such as in the Chinese town of Kiukiang (Jiujiang), this also meant that bunds were largely off limits to local people, as foreigners preferred to partake of leisure activities in the company of each other rather than with members of ‘native’ populations.55 Municipal councils, where they existed, would often line bunds with amenities to encourage the use of this space as a place from which to escape the trials of the trading life. Other than decorative and commemorative monuments, these included trees which afforded shade from the tropical sun and pleasant scenery for approaching ships, and in many cases seats which suggested that the place was used for resting. H. Staples Smith, in writing the history of the foreign settlement on the island of Shameen in Canton, recalled that early in the twentieth century the bund in that port had been provided with benches for the use of foreign residents.56 Similarly, Paul King of the ICMCS reminisced about the bund at the port of Tientsin as being a place where pony rides could be enjoyed on days off: We had learnt to love Tientsin . . . and my wife and I delighted to ride the ‘Bund ponies’, very often discarded ‘racers’ kept by Chinese for chance hire to the bluejackets of the British navy ship which was detailed for guard duty, ‘frozen in’ opposite the British Consulate on the Bund each winter . . . we . . . continued to keep a large stud on the Bund.57 Writing a few years later, though, regarding the very same bund in Tientsin, H. G. W. Woodhead lamented the dilapidated state of ‘the thoroughfare along the waterfront which used to be a pleasant walk’, as the bund had apparently fallen into disrepair once management of parts of it was handed over to the Chinese government.58 It was not simply a case of bunds being places for recreational strolls, then, but rather of these spaces only functioning as such under European control. Victorian attitudes towards fresh air and health had a major impact on the recreational uses of bunds. In colonies, the construction of public parks was supposed to ensure the health and goodwill of the inhabitants. In the treaty ports, however, along with the establishment of gardens, this meant either escaping to Simla-inspired hill stations, or else accessing the fresh sea breezes of the harbour.59 55 56
57 58
59
Bickers, QREKV 141. H. Staples Smith, Diary of Events and the Progress on Shameen, 1859 1938 (Canton, circa 1938), 32. King, QREKV 80. H. G. W. Woodhead, Extraterritoriality in China: The Case against Abolition (Tientsin, 1929), 40–1. For an excellent discussion on the link between climate, hill stations and health in the British imperial mentality, see Dane Kennedy, ‘The perils of the midday sun: climatic anxieties in the colonial tropics’ in John M. MacKenzie (ed.), Imperialism and the Natural World (Manchester and New York, 1990), 118–40.
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(KIWTG An 1881 map of the treaty port Takow (now Kaohsiung) in southern Taiwan, showing the bund emanating east from the town’s fort (Source: Fu-san Huang, Man-houng Lin and Kaim Ang (eds), Maritime Customs Annual Returns and 4GRQTVUQH6CKYCPŌ(Taipei, 1997), i, 580.)
Monopolization of spaces that were open to rivers or the sea also meant access to cool breezes in the tropical or subtropical zones of southern China and Taiwan, thus increasing the appeal of bunds as places for recreational walks, watching river QTJCTDQWTVTCHſECPFUQEKCNK\KPI The attraction of the bund as a place of aesthetic attraction and a setting for recreational walks is further articulated in F. L. Hawks Potts’s A Short History of Shanghai (1928), in which the bund in that city is described as ‘a beautiful promenade’ and again as a ‘beautiful esplanade’.60 This account also suggests that aesthetic concerns at times overrode commercial ones, as larger ships were barred from docking alongside that part of the bund in front of the International Settlement lest the views there turn as unpleasant as those of the ‘French Bund’.61 With the advent of electricity and the associated technology of the motor car in the early twentieth century, the aesthetic and recreational functions of the bund increased. Neon lighting, and the move to have monuments and buildings lit on bunds (as well as the effect of this light on water), made bunds in larger centres 60 61
Hawks Potts, QREKV 21, 115. KDKF 115.
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such as Shanghai and Canton attractive to frequent in the evening,62 while larger bunds were increasingly widened in the post-First World War era so as to cope with the growing demand placed upon them by motorists.
CONCLUSION: THE END OF THE BUND?
Towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth century, bunds came to be emulated by Asian governments, often in the hope that the perceived success of earlier efforts by Europeans might transform port cities into economic powerhouses and pleasant localities. A British consular report from Taiwan for the year 1899 points out how it was, in fact, Japanese colonial authorities in that country who were responsible for creating a bund along the riverfront in the northern tea-trading township of Twatutia (Da Dao Cheng): Towards the end of the year the much needed work of ‘bunding’ the river frontage at Twatutia was undertaken under Government contract, and has now been successfully completed. By its means much security JCUDGGPQDVCKPGFHQTDQCVUCPFHQTNQPIUJQTGRTQRGTV[KPVKOGUQHƀQQF and a shore line of uniform level provided for unloading cargo and for the carriage of goods by land along the river side.63 And in the report of the following year: General Remarks. Twatutia Bund. The Bund has now been completed, and the question of extending it still further up river to the suburb of Banca (Wanhua) is under consideration.64 The process of emulation of western imperial spatial arrangements went on in Republican China too. Edward Lee wrote as late as 1936 about efforts in Canton to create a bund along the Pearl river waterfront, describing the process as such: Although the whole Inner Harbour project involves expenditure of CNOQUVſXGOKNNKQPFQNNCTUVJG2GCTN4KXGT$WPFQPVJGPQTVJGTPDCPM of the Pearl River and the Honam Bund on the Southern bank of the 62
63
64
Joachim Schlor suggests that modernity only arrives in historic narratives alongside electricity and public lighting. See Joachim Schlor, Nights in the Big City, trans. Pierre Gottfried Imhoff and Dafydd Rees Roberts (London, 1998), 47. H. B. M. Consulate, Tamsui, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Japan, Report for the year 1899 on the Trade of North Formosa, No. 2525, 12. KDKF4GRQTVHQTVJG[GCTQPVJG6TCFGQH0QTVJ(QTOQUC No. 2728, 10.
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Pearl River have already been completed and the harbour for ocean-going vessels for thousand tons or under is pending completion.65 Bunds did not, then, die with the end of the treaty port system. Though many were made obsolete by continual programmes of land reclamation66 and considering that so much of urban China, Taiwan and Japan was damaged by the ravCIGUQHVJG2CEKſE9CTKVOC[UGGOUWTRTKUKPIVJCVDWPFUEQPVKPWGVQFQOKPCVG the cityscapes of many East Asian port cities today. Yet if we take into account the ways in which Asian governments themselves appropriated this space in the post-colonial world, or indeed the efforts in more recent times that have been made to renovate bunds in cities such as Yokohama, Guangzhou, Kaohsiung and, where this article began, Shanghai, we might be tempted to consider that the bund CUCPKORGTKCNURCEGKUHCTHTQOſPKUJGF The bund was created by, and represented, a system of Victorian mercantile imperialism. Based on ideas of laissez-faire capitalism, this sysVGO RTQOQVGF EQORGVKVKQP CPF EQPƀKEV PQV QPN[ DGVYGGP EQNQPK\GTU CPF colonized (or ‘semi-colonized’, as is perhaps more appropriate a term in the treaty ports), but also between various groups that were themselves a part of the empire-building project. In the treaty ports, where such ideologies were granted free reign, competing claims for access to the waterfront ensured that the littoral space of the bund became the central point of any given port. It is not simply a question, as some recent studies have suggested, of whether or not western traders YGTGCUſPCPEKCNN[UWEEGUUHWNQP#UKCPEQCUVUCUVJG[JCFJQRGFVQDGQTYJGVJGT NQECN%JKPGUGCPF,CRCPGUGVTCFGTUOCPCIGFVQOCMGITGCVGTRTQſVUVJCPVJGKT European rivals.67 For this system went beyond economics – it determined the very shape and spatial dynamics of many harbour and riverine cities throughout the region. The almost century-long reign of the treaty ports, lasting from the 1RKWO9CTUVQVJGGPFQHVJG2CEKſE9CTRTQFWEGFOWEJQH'CUV#UKCCUYG know it today. The high prices that are paid for sea-views and waterfront properties the world over suggest that a society of spatial segregation so prominent in the treaty ports is still very much alive, especially in the port cities of East Asia where an inherited waterfront infrastructure makes the construction of exclusive harbourside residential schemes and other amenities so easy. Increasing nostalgia for the treaty port era, witnessed in waterfront renovation projects that smack of ‘Old Shanghai’ in many of the cities discussed above, may also point to the survival of the bund not as a military or economic space, but one that has an overwhelmingly recreational future. 65 66 67
Edward B. Lee, Modern Canton (Shanghai, 1936), vi. Creating what might perhaps be termed ‘the rolling bund’. See, for instance, Eiichi Motono, %QPƀKEVCPF%QQRGTCVKQPKP5KPQ$TKVKUJ$WUKPGUUŌ The Impact of the Pro-British Commercial Network in Shanghai (London, 2000), especially 166–70.
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Many questions remain unanswered. How did bunds feature in the lives of local Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese residents of the treaty ports? Further exploration of the Chinese and Japanese language literature of the period is called for in this regard. Other questions might also be asked regarding how bunds were physically constructed; or about the sociology of professions such as civil engineers and customs commissioners in the creation of bunds. Through this article, however, I hope to have at least raised a number of issues concerning this unique spatial concept in treaty port Asia. I also hope that through asking questions about VJGHWPEVKQPCPFUKIPKſECPEGQHVJGDWPFHWVWTGFGDCVGQPVJGSWGUVKQPUQHURCEG and power in the treaty ports might be stimulated.
Source : European Business History Association (EBHA). August 21–23, 2008, Bergen (Norway). 6TCPUCEVKQPUCPFKPVGTCEVKQPUVJGƀQYQHIQQFUUGTXKEGUCPFKPHQTOCVKQP5GUUKQP8++#UKCP European encounters
10
Western Entrepreneurs and the Opening of Japanese Ports (c. 1858–1868) FERRY DE GOEY
FROM 1641 UNTIL 1858, Japan pursued a policy of seclusion from world affairs.1 This started with a series of edicts from the Shogun, the military ruler of Japan, forbidding Japanese to travel abroad or to conduct trade with foreign countries YKVJQWVQHſEKCNNKEGPUGU2 These laws also banned foreigners from entering Japan. After 1641, only the Dutch East-India Company (VOC), in Japan since 1609, was allowed to stay and to trade.3 This exceptional position of the Dutch lasted until 1858 when Japan concluded a number of treaties with western powers that opened the country for international trade. The treaties called for the opening of a number of Japanese ports and cities. Until 1898, when the treaties were revised, foreign trade in Japan was conducted in these Treaty Ports. In this paper we will investigate why Japan gave up its isolation and what role the Dutch played in the opening of these ports. Furthermore, we will look at how trade developed between 1859 and 1868. How many westerners came to Japan? From which countries did they came? How did they respond to the contact with the Japanese and vice versa?
1
2 3
For the history prior to 1858 see L.M. Cullen, #JKUVQT[QH,CRCPŌ+PVGTPCN and external world (Cambridge 2003); C. Howe, The origins of Japanese trade supremacy (London 1996) 3–72. The Japanese term sakoku (‘closed country’) was not used until after 1800. Leonard Blusse, 8KUKDNG%KVKGU%CPVQP0CICUCMKCPF$CVCXKCCPFVJGEQOKPI of the Americans (Cambridge Mass. 2008) 49. On sakoku see also Tashiro Kazui and Susan Downing Videen, ‘Foreign relations during the Edo period: sakoku reexamined’, Journal of Japanese Studies 8:2 (Summer 1982) 282–306. John L. McClain, Japan: a modern history (New York 2002) 44–45. Femme S. Gaastra, Geschiedenis van de VOC (Zutphen 1991) 53, 127–130; L. Blusse, W. Remmelink en I. Smits (red.), $GYQIGPDGVTGMMKPIGPLCCT0GFGTNCPF,CRCP (Ede 2000). 140
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THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY IN JAPAN
In April 1600 a Dutch sailing vessel called De Liefde (‘The Love’) stranded on the shores of the island Kyushu.4 Its journey began in 1598 when it left the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands together with four other ships. The expedition was organized by two exiled Flemish merchants: Pieter van der Haagen and Johan van der Veeken.5 The Dutch received a trading passport in 1609 from Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) and they settled in Hirado. This direct trade with Japanese merchants was largely free of interference from the government.6 In Japan other European traders were active, but by 1639 these had left (the English in 1623) or were forced to leave (the Spaniards in 1624 and the Portuguese in 1639). In 1641, Ieyasu ordered the Dutch to tear down their trading post at Hirado and to move to Nagasaki. Here they could live on a fan shaped man-made island, called Deshima. It was possible to walk around the island with its two small streets and CFQ\GPUJGFUCPFJQWUGUKPCDQWVſXGOKPWVGU7 Until 1858, the Dutch traded with the Japanese from this small island, which they leased from the Japanese. The 10 to 12 clerks, doctors and the opperhoofd (chief merchant) could not leave without permission and at night, the land gate connecting Deshima to Nagasaki YCUENQUGFCPFVJGMG[TGOCKPGFKPVJGJCPFUQHVJGNQECNQHſEKCNU8 Each year, later every four years, the opperhoofd went a trip to Edo (after 1868: Tokyo) where the Shogun had its palace. Here they exchanged gifts and provided valuable information on world affairs.9 The Dutch accepted the rather humiliating treatment in the interest of their trading privileges. Already in 1633, the VOC issued an order that their servants should adapt to the local culture as much as possible and act like the Japanese, which meant they had to be modest, humane and obedient.10 This submissive attitude was perhaps favorable for trading, but bad for the status of the Dutch in Japan. Japan was a feudal society until 1868 with a strict societal hierarchy and traders ranked amongst the lowest status groups in Japanese society. The effect was that, when international pressure on Japan to give up its isolationist policy grew, the Dutch offer to help was turned down. Japan 4
5
6
7
8 9 10
The ship’s original name was Erasmus after Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and on the back of the ship a wooden sculpture representing Erasmus was attached. This remained in Japan and ended up in the Ryuko temple. The Japanese believed it was the saint Houdi, DWVKPKVYCUKFGPVKſGFCU'TCUOWU Gaastra, Geschiedenis van de VOC, 16–23; N. De Roy van Zuydewijn, ‘Zuid-Nederlanders als gangmakers’, in M. van der Heijden en P. van de Laar (red.), Rotterdammers en de VOC. Handelscompagnie, stad en burgers (1600–1800) (Amsterdam 2002) 56–77. Details on Shoguns and Emperors in Louis Frederic, Japan Encyclopedia (Cambridge Mass. 2002). Herman J. Moeshart (inleiding en annotatie), Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek 1857–1870. Belevenissen van een Nederlandse diplomaat in het negentiende eeuwse Japan (Assen/Maastricht 1987) 14–15. Huibert Paul, 0GFGTNCPFGTUKP,CRCPŌ&G81%QR&GUJKOC 9GGUR Blusse, Visible Cities, Idem, 21, 35.
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had no diplomatic relations with the Netherlands only trading relations and on UGXGTCNQEECUKQPUVJG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUTGOKPFGFVJG&WVEJQHVJGKTJWODNGUVCVWU Besides the Dutch, another group of merchants operated in Nagasaki. These were the Chinese, at times they numbered more than 5,000, and they too were relocated to a small island: the tojin yahiki (Chinese quarter).11 All international trade of Japan was now concentrated in Nagasaki. The Shogun and the Bakufu (the Japanese government) controlled this trade that provided them with valuable products.12 From 1698, this trade was handled by the Nagasaki kaisho or ‘Clearing House’ (Geldkamer in Dutch). The Dutch trade consisted of two parts: the Company or comps trade (trade by the VOC, mostly on behalf of the Shogun and landlords) and the private trade by VOC merchants (the kambang trade).13 2TKXCVGVTCFGCNVJQWIJQHſEKCNN[HQTDKFFGPYCUSWKGVN[CEEGRVGFKPCNNVTCFKPI posts of the VOC in South East Asia.14 #VſTUVVJGVTCFGYKVJ,CRCPRTQXGFXGT[RTQſVCDNGHQTVJG81%DWVCHVGTVJG Japanese began to restrict the export of high value commodities, including gold, UKNXGTCPFUKNMRTQſVUFGENKPGFUJCTRN[15 From 1715 only two Dutch trading ships per year could enter Nagasaki and after 1790 this was further limited to one. Only copper was traded during the later decades. The VOC was liquidated in 1799 and the Dutch government took over all its possessions and debts, including the trading post (‘factorij’) at Deshima. The private trade was farmed out by the government to merchants in the Dutch East Indies and Netherlands. From the UſPCPEKCNTGUWNVUQHVJGVTCFGYKVJ,CRCPYGTGOQUVN[PGICVKXG6JG&WVEJ could have left Japan, and this was indeed discussed on several occasions, but in the end it was decided to stay ‘in the interest of trade’.16 The Japanese saw the Dutch as providers of valuable products, knowledge and information; they offered a window on the (western) world. Between 1785 and 1860, the Japanese ordered CDQWVUEKGPVKſEDQQMUHTQOVJG&WVEJ17 John McMaster says that the Japanese had maintained the Dutch factory principally as an ‘intelligence agency’.18 When C.T. van Assendelft de Coningh (see below) visited Deshima in May 1851 as captain of the annual ship from Batavia, he found conditions on the island much depressed. ‘Most buildings on Deshima are warehouses, the upper part of some of which are, like mine, adapted as living quarters; all, except the house of the opperhoofd, are extremely dilapidated, and it is high time to renovate things. 11 12 13 14 15
16 17
18
Marius B. Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World (Cambridge Mass. 1992) 5–11. Idem, 31; Blusse, Visible Cities, 44–50. Kambang means ‘signboard’. Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk Graeff van Polsbroek, 30. J. Feenstra Kuiper, Japan en de buitenwereld in de achttiende eeuw (Den Haag 1921). %GGU%COHHGTOCPCPF6GTTGPEG'%QQMGŎ6JGRTQſVUQHVJG&WVEJ'CUV+PFKC%QORCP[ŏU Japan trade’, Abacus 40:1 (2004) 49–75. Gaastra, Geschiedenis van de VOC, 53, 127–130. R.H. Hesselink, Twee spiegels op cambang (Utrecht 1984) 21. These books were translated into Japanese. John McMaster, ‘The Japanese Goldrush of 1859’, Journal of Asian Studies 19:3 (May 1960) 273–287.
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I doubt, however, if this will happen soon, unless, as in 1794, everything is burned down’.19*GHWTVJGTPQVGFVJCVTGUVTKEVKQPUTGOCKPGFſTOCPFGXGPCHVGTOQTG than 200 years Japanese spies kept a watchful eye on the Dutch. 6JGQRGPKPIQH,CRCP Ō
Until about 1800, the Dutch monopoly in Japan remained virtually unchallenged. However, after the 1780s, the number of foreign ships sighted near the Japanese coast increased steadily.20 In most cases these were merchant vessels driven off course on their way to China or just nosey whaling ships.21 Besides these merchant and whaling ships, the number of naval ships with diplomats grew. The Russians took the lead in these military and diplomatic missions that remained largely unsuccessful.22 Between 1795 and 1814, when the Netherlands was part of France, the British tried to break the Dutch monopoly in Deshima on several occasions but failed to do so.23 Because of the increasing number of foreign ships near the Japanese coast, the Shogun issued a new order in 1825. This instructed the daimyo, the landlords, on the coastal domains to shoot at these ships without delay. The Shogun also ordered the modernization and improvement of coastal defenses, but DGECWUGQHſPCPEKCNEQPUVTCKPVUVJGUGYQTMUYGTGPQVHWNN[KORNGOGPVGF#HVGTVJG First Opium War in China (1839–1842), the Shogun relaxed these orders because it could provoke western countries to attack Japan. Foreigners washed ashore would get a better treatment and were transferred to Deshima to leave Japan on the next possible occasion with the Dutch ship. In the Netherlands worries about the future of Japan and the Dutch position in Deshima grew.24 King William II (1792–1849, king 1840–1849) decided to write a letter to ‘his friend’ the Japanese Emperor (the Shogun).25 The letter and accompanying presents arrived in Nagasaki in the autumn of 1844. William II pointed out Citation in Huibert Paul, ‘De Coningh on deshima. Mijn Verblijf in Japan, 1856’, Monumenta Nipponica 32:3 (Autumn 1977) 347–364 (354). 20 George Feifer, $TGCMKPIQRGP,CRCP%QOOQFQTRGTT[.QTF#DGCPF#OGTKECPKORGTKCNKUO in 1853 (New York 2006) 37; Arthur Walworth, $NCEMUJKRUQHH,CRCP6JGUVQT[QH%QOOQFQTG Perry’s Expedition (New York 1946) 3. 21 McClain, Japan, 135. 22 J.C. Thomson, P.W. Stanley and J.C. Perry, 5GPVKOGPVCN KORGTKCNKUVU 6JG #OGTKECP experience in East Asia (New York 1981) 61–79. 23 Paul E. Eckel, ‘Challenges to Dutch monopoly of Japanese trade during the wars of Napoleon’, The Far Eastern Quarterly 1:2 (February 1942) 173–179. 24 Ph. F. Von Siebold , Met oorkonden gestaafd vertoog van de pogingen door Nederland en Rusland gedaan tot openstelling van Japan voor de scheepvaart en den zeehandel van alle natien (Zaltbommel 1854); J.A. van der Chijs, Neerlands streven tot openstelling van Japan XQQTFGPYGTGNFJCPFGNWKVQHſEKGGNGITQQVGPFGGNUQPWKVIGIGXGPDGUEJGKFGPVQGIGNKEJVOGV vijf bijlagen, behelzende eene geschiedenis van het Nederlandsch marine-detachement in Japan (Amsterdam 1867). 25 Besides the Shogun, Japan had an Emperor (in Kyoto), but he had no political power. Foreigners had only a vague notion of this and addressed the Shogun usually as ‘Emperor’. Americans and British spoke of the Tycoon when they meant the Shogun. 19
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the progress of western civilizations and technological changes (including steam ships), that made the Japanese isolationism no longer viable. He offered to help Japan to adjust to the new world order in exchange of better trading conditions for the Dutch. The Shogun’s reply made it clear that the Japanese would hold on to their policy. They furthermore made it clear that Japan had no diplomatic TGNCVKQPUYKVJVJG0GVJGTNCPFU9KNNKCO++YCUCUMGFRQNKVGN[DWVſTON[PGXGT ever to send such an offending letter to the Shogun.26 Panic broke out in Edo when in 1845 the much feared British navy surveyed the coastal area of southern Japan and the entrance of the port of Nagasaki.27 The British, however, had no interest in Japan at that time because they HQEWUGF QP VJG RTQſVCDNG %CPVQP 6TCFG KP VJGG EJKPC YCTG CPF QRKWO +P 1852, the Russians again tried to start diplomatic relations with Japan. The mission included several Japanese castaways that the Russians wanted to return to their homeland. Other countries, including the French and Americans, used the same tactic but the Japanese would not give in. The options to open Japan peacefully were by now exhausted and another, more forceful strategy was necessary.
Commodore Matthew C. Perry First visit of Perry in Japan 1853
THE UNITED STATES, ASIA AND JAPAN 1853–1854
American merchants on the east coast imported Chinese thee, silk, china ware and exported cotton since the 1780s. This important China or Canton Trade probably also fostered their interest in Japan.28 The Napoleonic period, when 26
27
28
Els M. Jacobs, ‘Met alleen woorden als wapens. De Nederlandse poging tot openstelling van Japanse havens voor de internationale handel (1844)’, Bijdragen en Mededelingen voor de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden (BMGN) I (1990) 54–77. William McOmie, The opening of Japan 1853–1855. A comparative study of the American, British, Dutch and Russian Naval Expeditions to compel the Tokugawa Shogunate to conclude treaties and open ports to their ships (Kent 2006) 35. Feifer, Breaking open Japan, 185; Blusse, Visible Cities, 1–32; Howe, Japanese trade supremacy, 47–49.
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J.H.Donker Curtius, Dutch Kommissaris in Japan
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Townsend Harris, American Consul-General in Japan
the Netherlands was under control of France, hindered the government in Batavia to send its annual ship to Nagasaki and it had to resort to American, Danish and Brandenburg ships.29$GECWUGVJGUGEJCTVGTGFUJKRUƀGYVJG&WVEJ ƀCICPFWUGFVJGUGETGVƀCIKUUWGFGCEJ[GCTD[VJG,CRCPGUGVJG#OGTKECP ECRVCKPU GPVGTGF VJGUG YCVGTU YKVJQWV DGKPI ſTGF CV +PVGTGUV KP ,CRCP ITGY further after the annexation of California in 1848. The Gold Rush in that same year led to a fast growth of the population and cities on the American west EQCUV6JKUQRGPGFVJGRQUUKDKNKV[QHVTCFGCETQUUVJG2CEKſE1EGCP5VGCOUJKRU TGSWKTGFUWHſEKGPVRQTVUHQTVJGKPVCMGQHEQCNCPF,CRCPJCRRGPGFVQNKGQP the route from San Francisco to Shanghai. However, besides these economic motives, other arguments were important. Americans believed that Japan was basically an uncivilized country because it lacked democracy, freedom and modern industry.30 Christianity was unknown and it was the obligation of the Americans to change all this (the idea of ‘Manifest Destiny’).31 Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884), a missionary and translator on the Perry expedition once said: ‘I have a full conviction that the seclusion policy of the nations of Eastern Asia is not according to God’s plan of mercy to these peoples, and their government must change them through fear of force (...)’.32 This American imperialistic attitude towards non-western cultures was comparable to that found in many other Western-European countries who wanted to
29 30
31 32
Blusse, Visible Cities, 91–95. Micheal Adas, &QOKPCPEGD[FGUKIP6GEJPQNQIKECN+ORGTCVKXGCPF#OGTKECŏU%KXKNK\KPI Mission (Cambridge Mass. 2006) 133. McClain, Japan, 135. Citation in McClain, Japan, 135.
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bring ‘commerce, civilization and Christianity’ to all nations, preferably in this order.33 Stories printed in newspapers, some true and others made-up, on the maltreatment of shipwrecked sailors by the Japanese enraged the American public. In 1849, the American Aaron H. Palmer, director of the American and Foreign Agency in New York, published a plan for a military operation against ,CRCPKPVJGKPƀWGPVKCNLQWTPCNThe National Era.34 Palmer strongly criticized the Netherlands for its submissiveness towards the Japanese and holding on to its trading monopoly. ‘Such degrading acts of homage and submission with the UGTXKNGQDUGSWKQWUPGUUQHVJG&WVEJ4GUKFGPVUVQVJG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUQPCNN occasions, for upwards of 200 years, with the object of maintaining their paltry trade at Deshima, have inspired the court of Yedo with a profound contempt for foreigners of the Western Nations’.35 In the beginning of 1852, the American government ordered Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794–1858) to sail to Japan and negotiate a treaty thus opening Japan for the wider world.36#VſTUV Perry was not at all enthusiastic about this commission and instead preferred an assignment in the Mediterranean, but later he changed his mind and saw the historic opportunity to make a name for himself and the United States.37 The letter President Millard Fillmore (1800–1874, President 1850–1853) wrote to the Japanese Emperor (Shogun) was extremely polite and began with the exalted salutation ‘Great and good friend’.38 The accompanying letter, written by the Secretary of State, instructed Perry, when all other means had failed, to keep a resolute attitude. In the absence of the Secretary of State, Perry had written most parts of the letter himself and it thus provided ‘large discretionary powers’.39 To prepare himself, Perry read books and articles on Japan. The available books, about 40, were mostly in Dutch or German, written by former merchants and civil servants of the VOC or the Dutch government. Perry therefore turned to sailors in ports on the east coast (e.g. the Port of New York). From this intelligence gathering Perry concluded: ‘It is manifest, from past experience, that arguments or persuasion to this people, unless they be seconded by some imposing manifestation of 33
34
35 36
37 38
39
Micheal Adas, &QOKPCPEGD[FGUKIP6GEJPQNQIKECN+ORGTCVKXGCPF#OGTKECŏU%KXKNK\KPI Mission (Cambridge Mass. 2006) 1–33. Established in 1847 in Washington, D.C., by the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. With its considerable circulation, this paper exerted a strong political and moral KPƀWGPEG#OQPIKVUEQPVTKDWVQTUYGTG0CVJCPKGN*CYVJQTPG,QJP)TGGPNGCH9JKVVKGT and Theodore Parker. From: Encyclopedia Britannica. Palmer quoted in Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 4. Samuell Eliot Morison, “1NF$TWKPŒ%QOOQFQTG/CVVJGY%2GTT[Ō(Boston 1967); J.H. Schroeder, Matthew Calbraith Perry: Antebellum Sailor and Diplomat (Annapolis 2001). Feifer, Breaking open Japan, 11 W.G. Beasley, 5GNGEVFQEWOGPVUQP,CRCPGUGHQTGKIPRQNKE[Ō(London 1967, reprint) 99–101. Walworth, Black ships off Japan, 27.
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power, will be utterly unavailing’.40#ƀGGVQHOQFGTPUVGCOUJKRUYQWNFFGNKXGT the required display of force, but the Navy turned down his request and he had to content himself with two steamships and two sailing ships.41 To make clear his determination, Perry decided to go directly to the center of Japanese power: the Bay of Edo. He would not go to Nagasaki even if the Japanese pressed him to do so, because he feared that he would have to accept a posture similar to the Dutch. Perry suspected that the Dutch would do everything they could to frustrate the mission in order to protect their monopoly. He was wrong, like many other westerners at the time. The Dutch eagerly followed the preparations of Perry and thanks to their consul they were kept will informed of its progress. To assist Perry in his mission, the American government requested charts from the Dutch, but they responded that it was not allowed to make maps of the Japanese coast. The Americans therefore ordered copies of some old maps of Japan from Dutch mapmakers.42 The &WVEJIQXGTPOGPVYQTTKGFCDQWVCRQUUKDNGOKNKVCT[EQPƀKEVDGVYGGP,CRCPCPF the United States and its consequences for the Dutch position in Japan. Would Japan request the military support of the Netherlands? Should the Netherlands meet this request? The Dutch not only informed the Japanese of the Perry expedition, but again tried to change the policy of seclusion. The newly appointed opperhoofd at Deshima, Mr. J.H. Donker Curtius (1813–1879, chief between 1852 and 1860), should explain to the Japanese that the Netherlands could assist Japan in preventing a military clash with the United States if they accepted a Dutch proposal. This proposal, that was kept secret for the moment, was in fact a new trading agreement, drafted by Ph. F. Von Siebold (1796–1866).43 Trade would remain in the hands of the Shogun and concentrated in Nagasaki, but Japan would open other ports for the intake of coal and the repairing of ships. The drafttreaty furthermore suggested allowing freedom of religion, extraterritoriality for HQTGKIPGTUCPFKPECUGQHEQPƀKEVUVJG&WVEJYQWNFQHHGTVJGKTCUUKUVCPEG44 The ,CRCPGUGCVſTUVTGHWUGFVQCEEGRVVJG&WVEJNGVVGTDWVKPVJGGPFVJG[RTQOKUGF to deliver it to the Shogun if the Dutch accepted that no reply was required. The ,CRCPGUGJQYGXGTYGTGKPVTKIWGFD[VJG&WVEJŎUQNWVKQPŏVQRTGXGPVCEQPƀKEV with the United States and they urged Donker Curtius to reveal the content of the proposal. Once the content of the draft-treaty was revealed to the Japanese they immediately rejected it. It is, however, interesting to note that the treaties 40 41 42
43
44
McOmie, 6JGQRGPKPIQH,CRCPŌ 71 Walworth, Black ships off Japan, Appendix A, 239. Worth about $ 30,000. C. Crow, *GQRGPGFVJGFQQTQH,CRCP6QYPUGPF*CTTKUCPFVJG story of his amazing adventures in establishing American relations with the Far East (New York/London 1939) 100–101. The German Von Siebold worked as physician in Deshima between 1823 and 1829. In 1829 the Japanese suspected him of espionage and banned him from Japan. This ban was lifted in 1859 and Von Siebold returned as advisor of the Dutch Trading Association (NHM). Feifer, Breaking open Japan, 42–43.
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Japan concluded with foreign countries resembled most of the Dutch proposals, including the opening of three ports.45
WITH PERRY IN JAPANESE WATERS
Before Perry arrived in the Bay of Edo, he visited the port of Naha on the Ryukyu Islands on 26 May 1853.46 This visit was in fact a dress rehearsal for his show later near Edo.47 Perry probably knew that spies would report his visit to the Shogun CPFJGGZRGEVGFVJCVVJKUYQWNFRTQXGDGPGſEKCNVQJKUGZRGFKVKQP1PVJGGXGning of 8 July 1853, the squadron entered the Bay of Edo, creating much unrest COQPIUVVJGNQECNU(QTVJGſTUVVKOGVJG[UCYCUSWCFTQPQHYGNNCTOGFPCX[ ships.48 Perry added to the anxiety by staying in his cabin and communicating YKVJVJG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUVJTQWIJJKUQHſEGTU2GTT[OCFGKVENGCTVJCVJGTGHWUGF VQPGIQVKCVGYKVJCP[,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNQHCNQYGTTCPMVJCPJKOUGNH+VUGGOU unlikely the Japanese had a clue what the rank and status of a Commodore in the US navy was and they simply upgraded local authorities to deal with Perry. From a military point of view the squadron posed no threat to the Japanese. The coastal batteries could have easily destroyed the wooden ships, before Perry could have armed his canons.49 According to John Black, Perry disregarded all international rules of diplomacy and by entering Japanese waters without permission he violated Japanese sovereignty. Black rightly asks what the United States would have done, had Japanese ships entered American ports without permission.50 Even more critical was his translator S. Wells Williams who wrote in his memoirs: ‘Perry cares no more for right, for consistency, for his country, than will advance his own aggrandizement and fame, and makes his ambition the test of all his conduct towards the Japanese’.51 The local authorities time after time asked Perry to sail to Nagasaki, because the bay of Edo was closed. Perry had anticipated this and he categorically 45
46
46 47 48 49 50
51
R. van Lente, ‘Door goeden raad en onderwijs’. Nederland en de opening van Japan 1844–1858 (MA thesis, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam 2008) 117–120. See also Payson Jackson Treat, The early diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan (Baltimore 1917) 22 (note 36) 1HſEKCNN[CPKPFGRGPFGPVMKPIFQODWVWPFGT,CRCPGUGEQPVTQN/E1OKGThe opening of ,CRCPŌ 36–39. Feifer, Breaking open Japan, 31 Walworth, Black ships off Japan, 45–59. Feifer, Breaking open Japan, 31. Thomson, Stanley and Perry, Sentimental imperialists, 63. John Black, Young Japan .QPFQP8QNWOG5GGCNUQ+PC\Q 1VC0KVQDGThe KPVGTEQWTUG DGVYGGP VJG 7PKVGF 5VCVGU CPF ,CRCP #P JKUVQTKECN UMGVEJ (Baltimore 1891); M. Itoh, )NQDCNK\CVKQPQH,CRCP,CRCPGUGUCMWMQOGPVCNKV[CPF75GHHQTVUVQQRGP,CRCP (New York 1998). Wells quoted in John Ashmead, 6JGKFGCQH,CRCPŌ,CRCPCUFGUETKDGFD[#OGTKECP and other travelers from the West (New York/London 1987) 63.
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refused to comply. After three days of negotiations, using Dutch as a shared language, both parties agreed at what time and place the letter of the American president could be delivered. On 14 July, this momentous occasion took place in a purpose built reception hall at Kurihama, near Uraga in the Bay of Edo. Both sides distrusted each other. Perry mobilized his forces and moved the ships near the reception hall with canons loaded. The Japanese JKFVGPUCOWTCKWPFGTPGCVJVJGƀQQTHWNN[CTOGFVQCVVCEMCVCIKXGPUKIPCN52 The reception went ahead without any incidents. Perry explained that he would TGVWTPKPCHGYOQPVJUYKVJCPGXGPNCTIGTƀGGVCPFJGVJWUGZRGEVGFVJCVVJG Japanese would decide favorably to the American request for a treaty. Back in Shanghai, Perry met the Russian and French commanders who informed him of their plans to sail to Japan. This annoyed Perry very much. On September 26, he informed to Washington: ‘I learn indirectly that the French government contemplates sending a force to Japan, and yet I can hardly believe it to be true, as it would be unfair to intermeddle just at this time’.53 As a result Perry UJQTVGPGFJKUXKUKVVQ5JCPIJCKCPFTGVWTPGFVQ,CRCPGCTN[*GFGſPKVGN[ YCPVGFVQDGVJGſTUVRGTUQPVQPGIQVKCVGCVTGCV[YKVJ,CRCPCPFVQOCMGC name in history.54 The visit of Perry required a Japanese response, but opinions on how to deal with these ‘barbarians’ diverged widely. Foreign policy had not been a priority HQTOQTGVJCP[GCTU9JGPCUMGFD[VJG5JQIWPVJGNCPFNQTFUICXGEQPƀKEVing replies, although most agreed on a kind of ‘containment policy’ that allowed trade for the moment, but kept the foreigners out of Japan.55 In November 1853, &QPMGT%WTVKWUCPFNQECNQHſEKCNUKP0CICUCMKOGVVQFKUEWUUCRQUUKDNG,CRCPGUG reaction to the American request. Donker Curtius advised the Japanese to comply with American wishes and open two ports for the intake of coal, ship repair and provisioning.56 Japan was much impressed by the two steamships of Perry and asked if the Dutch could provide similar military ships for defensive purposes. The Japanese request, although understandable, increased the possibility of Dutch involvement in a military clash and it led to long discussions in The Hague and Batavia. On 12 February 1854, Perry returned for his second visit. For his squadron he JCFCFFGFOQTGſTGRQYGTCPFKVEQPUKUVGFQHVJTGGUVGCOGTUHQWTUCKNKPIUJKRUCPF two supply ships. Negotiations lasted until 31 March, when Japan and the United States concluded the Treaty of Peace and Amity (also: 6TGCV[QH-CPCICYC57 The 52 53 54
55
56 57
Feifer, Breaking open Japan, 122. Walworth, Black ships off Japan, 126. In May 1853, Perry prevented a fast Russian expedition to Japan by buying up all available coal in Shanghai. Walworth, Black ships off Japan, 127. Conrad Totman, ‘From Sakoku to Kaikoku. The transformation of foreign-policy attitudes, 1853–1868’, Monumenta Nipponica 35:1 (Spring 1980) 1–19. Van Lente, ‘Door goeden raad en onderwijs’, 121–122. Michael R. Auslin, Negotiating with imperialism: the unequal treaties and the culture of Japanese diplomacy (Cambridge 2004); Beasley, Select documents on Japanese foreign policy,
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treaty stipulated that two ports would be opened for American ships immediately:
Shimoda and Hakodate. Nagasaki remained closed for the Americans. Foreign sailors washed ashore would be treated with respect. The treaty furthermore provided for the exchange of consuls and included a most favored nation (MFN) clause (article 9).58 In October 1854, Donker Curtius received a letter from the Japanese authorities in which they explained their ‘foreign policy’ and the treaty concluded with Perry. The Dutch would always be seen as ‘most trusted nation’ of Japan and were allowed to use the ports of Hakodate and Shimoda, without resorting to gunboat diplomacy.59 Back in the United States, Perry received a splendid reception and a big reward. 6JG#OGTKECP%QPITGUUCNUQTGUGTXGFHWPFUHQTVJGQHſEKCNRWDNKECVKQPQHVJG report of the expedition.60 Perry died on 4 March 1858, in New York, shortly after the second and third volumes of the report were published.61 The Treaty of Kanagawa, negotiated by Perry, was ‘little more than a shipwreck convention’ and certainly no trading agreement.62*QYGXGTGXGPDGHQTGVJGTCVKſECVKQPQH the treaties, American merchants came to Japan. In February 1855, the clipper Lady Pierce arrived in Edo and one month later the schooner %CTQNKPG'(QQVG entered the port of Shimoda. The merchants were told that they could not remain in Japan because the treaty simply did not allow this.63 New treaties with the Netherlands
In the Netherlands the government was still discussing the Japanese request for a modern steam powered naval ship. Building a new ship would take months to complete and it was decided to provide Japan with an electro-magnetic telegraph. This equipment would be delivered by the paddle wheel steamship Soembing,
58
59 60
61
62
62
63
119–123. Shinya Murase, ‘The Most-Favored Nation treatment in Japan’s treaty practice during the period 1854–1905’, The American Journal of International Law 70:2 (April 1976) 273–297. Moeshart, ,QWTPCCNXCP,QPMJGGT&KTMFG)TCGHHXCP2QNUDTQGMŌ, 6. Francis L. Hawks (compiled), %QOOQFQTG2GTT[CPFVJG1RGPKPIQH,CRCP0CTTCVKXGQHVJG 'ZRGFKVKQPQHCP#OGTKECPUSWCFTQPVQVJG%JKPC5GCUCPF,CRCPŌ6JG1HſEKCN Report of the Expedition to Japan (Stroud 2005, originally 1856–1858). Perry received $ 20,000 and Congress reserved $ 400,000 for publication of the report. In Newport, Rhode Island, in the Touro Park a statue of Perry was unveiled in 1868. Its TGUVQTCVKQPKPYCURCTVN[ſPCPEGFD[IKHVUHTQOVJG,CRCPGUGVQYP5JKOQFC(GKHGT Breaking open Japan,6JGſTUVDKQITCRJ[CRRGCTGFKP9')TKHſU Matthew %CNDTCKVJ2GTT[#V[RKECN#OGTKECPPCXCNQHſEGT (Boston 1887). Henry Heusken, ,CRCP,QWTPCNŌ (transl. and edited by J.C. van der Corput and R.A. Wilson) (New Brunswick 1964) xviii. Herman Stapelkamp, )GTJCTFWU(CDKWU ŌGGPNGXGPXQQTFGOCTKPG (Amsterdam 1999); Van Lente, ‘Door goeden raad en onderwijs’. 128–130. Patt Barr, 6JGEQOKPIQHVJGDCTDCTKCPU6JGQRGPKPIQH,CRCPVQVJGYGUV(New York 1967) 43–44; H.F. Van Zandt, Pioneer American Merchants in Japan (Tokyo 1981).
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under the command of Gerhardus Fabius (1801–1888).64 The arrival of the Soembing in Nagasaki on August 22, 1854, immediately attracted a lot of interest of VJG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNU0QVQPN[DGECWUGKVYCUCYGNNCTOGFOQFGTPUVGCOUJKR but perhaps also because Fabius was a soldier and in Japan their status was higher than simple traders like Donker Curtius. During his stay in Nagasaki, Fabius lectured on naval techniques, steam technology and made several outings with NQECNQHſEKCNUQPDQCTF In March 1954, the Crimean War began that spurred the opening of Japan.65 )TGCV$TKVCKPCPF(TCPEGUWRRQTVGFVJG6WTMUKPVJGKTſIJVCICKPUVVJG4WUUKCPU One effect of the war was the coming of naval ships to Japanese ports. These included Russian, British and French ships. As a result, the Japanese concluded treaties with these countries, much like to the Treaty of Kanagawa.66 The Dutch got the impression that Japan was willing to negotiate treaties with other western countries but not with the Netherlands. In The Hague, members of parliament CUMGFVJG&WVEJIQXGTPOGPVVQVCMGCſTOUVCPFCICKPUV,CRCP6JG[FKUEWUUGF alternative measures including leaving Japan altogether and to give up the Dutch monopoly. The Dutch government decided to give the Japanese a steamship as a present in exchange of a new treaty. The choice fell on the Soembing, because the Japanese already knew the ship and it had made a favorable impression.67 It was also decided to change the old fashioned and outdated name ‘opperhoofd’ (chief merchant), used by the VOC, in ‘Nederlandsch Kommissaris in Japan’ (Dutch Commissioner in Japan). Donker Curtius received permission to buy a tailor-made costume with decorations to impress the Japanese.68 On 21 July 1855, the Soembing and its captain Fabius arrived for the second time in Nagasaki. Drills, excursions and education should make a favorable impression on the Japanese that would result in a new trading agreement. On November 9, the Netherlands and Japan did indeed conclude a new ‘provisional treaty’.69 The articles included: ownership of Deshima was transferred to the Netherlands, the key of the land gate to Nagasaki was kept by the Dutch commissioner, the Dutch could leave Deshima and visit Nagasaki without hindrance and body UGCTEJGUYGTGUWURGPFGF6JKUŎRTQXKUKQPCNVTGCV[ŏJQYGXGTYCUPGXGTTCVKſGF because it was soon replaced by a trading agreement on 30 January 1856, later 64
65
66 67
68 69
Herman Stapelkamp¸ )GTJCTFWU(CDKWU ŌGGPNGXGPXQQTFGOCTKPG(Amsterdam 1999); Van Lente, ‘Door goeden raad en onderwijs’. 128–130. Paul E. Eckel, ‘The Crimean War and Japan’, The Far Eastern Quarterly 3:2 (February 1944) 109–118. W.G. Beasley, )TGCV$TKVCKPCPFVJGQRGPKPIQH,CRCPŌ (Kent 1995). J. Stellingwerff (inleiding en uitgave), Zijne Majesteits radarstoomschip Soembing overgedragen CCP,CRCPFGFTKGFKRNQOCVKGMGTGK\GPXCPMCRKVGKP)(CDKWUVGTQRGPKPIXCP&GUJKOCGP Nagasaki in 1854,1855 en 1856 (Zutphen 1988). Van Lente, ‘Door goeden raad en onderwijs’, 136. *GTOCP,/QGUJCTVŎ6JGEQPENWUKQPQHVJGſTUV&WVEJVTGCV[YKVJ,CRCPŏCrossroads: A journal of Nagasaki history and culture, No. 5 (1997) http://www.uwosh.edu/home pages/ faculty staff/earns/
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extended by ‘additional articles’ (16 October 1857). The Japanese believed that the Dutch treaty of 1856 could serve as a model for similar treaties with Russia, Great Britain and the United States. After the handing over of the Soembing it was renamed Kankd Maru ŎſTG ship’). The Dutch provided for a naval school in Nagasaki, headed by Lieut. G.J.C. Pels Rijken and later (September 1857) by W.J.C. Ridder Huyssen van Kattendyke (1816–1866).70 In Akunoura, near Nagasaki, the Dutch also built a small shipyard and machine shop, managed by H. Hardes.71 These became part of the Mitsubishi shipbuilding company. The newly built screw propelled naval steamer (Japan) arrived in the autumn of 1857 and was renamed -CPTKP/CTW In KVYCUVJGſTUV,CRCPGUGXGUUGNVQUCKNVQ5CP(TCPEKUEQYKVJCPCNOQUVYJQNN[ Japanese crew.72
TOWNSEND HARRIS AND THE AMERICAN TRADING AGREEMENT OF 1858
International political developments became ever more important for the Japanese national policy.73 We have already seen how during the Crimean War naval ships entered Japanese ports and forced Japan to conclude treaties with Russia, Great Britain and France. British and French military operations in China during the First Opium War increased pressure on the Japanese to end their seclusion. Great Britain and France forced China to open additional Treaty Ports and to allow foreigners (including merchants and missionaries) unrestricted travel in China. These demands in particular frightened the Shogunate and it undertook all possible actions to prevent this from happening in Japan. 1P#WIWUVVJGſTUV#OGTKECP%QPUWN)GPGTCNKP,CRCP6QYPUGPF Harris (1804–1878) arrived in Shimoda.74 He was accompanied by Henry Heusken, actually called Hendricus Conradus Joannes Heusken (1832–1861), born in Amsterdam and migrated to the United States in 1853. Their arrival came as a complete surprise to the Japanese, because according to their reading of the Treaty of Kanagawa, no article provided for the unilateral stationing of a consul. In his diary Heusken wrote: ‘In consequence, they would be delighted if His Excellency, the Consul-General, didn’t mind leaving and coming back in a year or two. The Consul answered that he could do nothing of the kind, that he had to obey the orders of his government’.75 After long negotiations they were allowed His diary is published in W.J.C. Ridder Huyssen van Kattendyke, Uitreksel uit het dagboek IGFWTGPFG\KLPXGTDNKLHKP,CRCPKPGP(Den Haag 1860). 71 Jan de Vries, ‘Diplomatieke en culturele betrekkingen’, in: M. Van Opstal et al, Vier eeuwen 0GFGTNCPFGP,CRCP-WPUVYGVGPUEJCRVCCNGPJCPFGN (Lochem 1983) 50–57. 72 ,CRCP\QWOGGT OCTKPGUEJGRGPKP0GFGTNCPFDGUVGNNGP\QCNUKPFG-CK[ę/CTWDKLFG scheepswerf van C. Gips in Dordrecht. Zie hiervoor: R. Spruit, -CK[ę/CTW(Wormer 1997). 73 Marius B. Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan (Cambridge Mass/London 2000) 257–294. 74 Crow, He opened the door of Japan, 89. 75 Heusken, Japan Journal, 84–85. 70
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to enter Japan and housed in the Gyokusenji temple, about eight kilometers from Shimoda. According to Heusken, the temple would be their prison, making it impossible to establish contact with ordinary Japanese. Both Americans would indeed be isolated for a long time, although occasionally a merchant ship arrived from America and Dutch naval ships from Nagasaki. They also met with local QHſEKCNUDGECWUG*CTTKUYCUGCIGTVQIGVCTGEGRVKQPD[VJG5JQIWPCUUQQPCU RQUUKDNGDWVVJGQHſEKCNUOCFGKVENGCTVJCVVJKUYCUQWVQHVJGSWGUVKQP76 Harris rejected the Dutch treaty of 1856 and wanted to negotiate a new, more extended treaty that allowed free trade. In the following months, both Harris and Donker Curtius increased their pressure on Japanese authorities to conclude a trading agreement. They told the Bakufu that now that the war in China was over, the powerful British and French navy would soon arrive in Japan and demand diplomatic and trading arrangements.77 The result was the Convention of Shimoda (June 17, 1857) signed between Harris and Japanese negotiators that would be followed by a full trading agreement in 1858. The Netherlands was able to conclude an ‘additional treaty’ with forty articles on 16 October 1857. The treaty lifted most restrictions on the private trade (kambang trade), the number of ships allowed to call at Japanese ports, the volume of goods handled and the number of private traders. The Dutch even received permission to bring their wives and children to Japan.78 With this treaty the Dutch in fact received the long sought after unrestrained trade in Japan, although certain limitations remained in force. An almost similar treaty was conducted between Japan and Russia in November 1857.79 Now that the private trade was liberated, Dutch ships could sail to Nagasaki. The First Dutch merchant vessel to enter the Bay of Nagasaki under the new regulations was the schooner Cornelia Hendrika a few days after the conclusion of the additional treaty of 1857.80 +P &GEGODGT *CTTKU CPF *GWUMGP ſPCNN[ OGV VJG 5JQIWP KP 'FQ In the spring of 1858 they also spoke with Donker Curtius in Edo, who had his meeting with the Shogun on 13 May.81 Despite strong protests from the Japanese authorities in Nagasaki, Donker Curtius persisted in his wish to visit Edo as Dutch Commissioner in Japan. On his journey overland he was accompanied by Dirk Graeff van Polsbroek (see below), administrative clerk in Deshima.82 After long talks, Donker Curtius and the Japanese negotiators 76 77 77 78 79
80 81 82
Idem, 86. Rutherford Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon (London 1863, reprint 2000) Volume I, 210. Beasley, Select documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 128–156. Beasley, Select documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 128–156. Gordon Daniels, 5KT*CTT[2CTMGU$TKVKUJTGRTGUGPVCVKXGKP,CRCPŌ (Richmond 1996) 20–21. Huyssen van Kattendyke, Uitreksel uit het dagboek, 29. Moeshart, ,QWTPCCNXCP,QPMJGGT&KTM)TCGHHXCP2QNUDTQGMŌ 46–47. J.LC. Pompe van Meerdervoort, 8KLHLCTGPKP,CRCP Ō(Leiden 1868) Volume Ō6JKUYCUCEVWCNN[VJGſTUVVKOGCYGUVGTPFKRNQOCVOCFGCPGZEWTUKQPKPVQVJG
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came to an agreement on 7 July that would be signed at a later date. A week later he and De Graeff van Polsbroek left Edo to start their long journey back to Deshima. During his meeting with the Shogun, Harris pointed out that the world had changed and new powerful nations existed. If Japan persisted in its isolation from world trade, these countries would certainly resort to force. ‘The English Government hopes to hold the same kind of intercourse with Japan as she holds with other nations, and is ready to make war with Japan. (...) If war should break out between England and Japan, the latter would suffer much more than the former. (…) The President is of opinion that if Japan makes a treaty with the United States, all other foreign countries will make the same kind of a treaty, and Japan will be safe thereafter. The President wants to make a treaty that will be honorable to Japan, without war, in a peaceable manner, after deliberate consultation’.83 This treaty could serve as a model for successive treaties and it would spare the Japanese a possible humiliating defeat against Great Britain. The Arrow War in China, mentioned by Harris, hastened Japan to sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce on 29 July 1858.84 The treaty provided for the opening QHUGXGTCNRQTVUCPFEKVKGUCEEQTFKPICſZGFUEJGFWNG0CICUCMKCPF-CPCICYC (replacing Shimoda) would open on 1 July 1858, Niigata on 1 January 1860, Hyogo (Kobe) on 1 January 1863. Two cities would be opened for trade: Edo on 1 January 1862 and Osaka on 1 January 1963. Americans were allowed to live in these ports, but they could only trade in the two cities. Merchants were not allowed to travel freely in Japan. Diplomats would be housed in Edo and EQWNFVTCXGNHTGGN[#FFKVKQPCNCTVKENGUTGIWNCVGFVTCFGCPFſZGFFWVKGU6JGVTGCV[ Harrish concluded would indeed serve as a model for other treaties (the Ansei Treaties) concluded in 1858: Netherlands (18 August), Russia (19 August), Great Britain (28 August) and France (10 October).85 These treaties opened Japan for international trade. In the following months, JQYGXGTRQNKVKECNVGPUKQPUKP,CRCPOQWPVGF(QTVJGVTGCVKGUVQDGEQOGQHſEKCN they needed to be signed by the Emperor in Kyoto. When asked by the Shogunate, he refused to do so. This further increased the resistance against the Shogun and the Bakufu by the landlords (daimyo). The succession of the childless Shogun Iesada added to the turmoil and a regent was appointed: Ii Naosuke (1815–1860). His manipulations led to the nomination of Tokugawa Iemochi (1846–1866,
83 84 85
interior of Japan. Donker Curtius’s trip is summarized in ‘Journey from Nagasaki to Jeddo’, Journal of the American Geographical and Statistical Society 1:10 (December 1859) Ō6JGENCKOOCFGD[5KT4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEMVJGſTUV$TKVKUJ%QPUWN)GPGTCNKU thus wrong. See Rutherford Alcock, ‘Narrative of a journey in the interior of Japan, ascent of Fusiyama, and visit to the hot sulphur-baths of Atami, in 1860’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 31 (1861) 321–356. http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob76.html Beasley, Select documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 157–195. Thereafter Japan concluded treaties with many other countries including Prussia, Belgium, Swiss, and Portugal.
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Shogun 1858–1866). As a temporary solution, the Emperor agreed to respect the treaties but the Shogunate had to promise to revise the ‘unequal treaties’, expel the ‘western barbarians’ and restore the seclusion as soon as possible.86 6JG9GUVGTPRQYGTUYGTGMGRVKPVJGFCTMQHVJGKPVGTPCNRQNKVKECNFKHſEWNVKGUKP Japan, but they soon discovered, through numerous murderous attacks, that the Shogun was in trouble getting the treaties signed. In the mean time the Shogun began sending diplomatic and intelligence gathering missions to the United States and Europe to have the treaties revised. He also introduced some changes. The landlords of Chosu and Satsuma felt that these changes progressed too slowly and that the Shogun wanted to control trade as much as possible. They decided to illegally send their own missions to the west and started buying second hand ships, including naval ships. 87
THE CONSTRUCTION OF FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS IN JAPANESE PORTS
The Japanese policy to contain the foreigners and keep them at a distance, physically and mentally, led to the construction of separate settlements. In Nagasaki, Deshima provided the required separation and it became a template for other settlements starting with Kanagawa (Yokohama). The new settlements had a wooden palisade and a large gate provided access to a Japanese village with local traders. At night the gate closed and samurai guarded the settlement. To further increase the distance between foreigners and Japanese the settlements were separated from the main land by a swamp, marsh lands, a canal or river. Prior to the coming into force of the Ansei Treaties on the beginning of July 1859, the Japanese constructed a Foreign Settlement near a swamp by Yokohama.88 Until the building of the Foreign Settlement, Yokohama was a small ſUJKPIXKNNCIGNQECVGFQPVJGQVJGTUKFGQH-CPCICYC+VUNQECVKQPYCUCNUQUGXGTCN kilometers off the important trading road: the 6QMCKFQ Early June the newly appointed Dutch vice-consul and merchant Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (1833– 1916) arrived in Kanagawa and, according to his diary, made it clear that he would reside there on behalf of the Dutch government. The Japanese, however, were determined that all westerners would stay at Yokohama. They told him that his safety was not guaranteed in Kanagawa, but De Graeff van Polsbroek would not EJCPIGJKUOKPFCPFYCUſPCNN[IKXGPQPGQHVJGVGORNGUCUJKUTGUKFGPEG$GECWUG he was for the moment the only diplomat at Kanagawa, foreign merchants awaiting the opening of the port relied very much on him. In his diary he noted: 86 87
88
Daniels, Sir Harry Parkes, 21–22. W.G. Beasley, ,CRCPGPEQWPVGTUVJGDCTDCTKCP,CRCPGUGVTCXGNGTUKP#OGTKECCPF'WTQRG (New Haven & London 1995). Harold S. Williams, Tales of the foreign settlements in Japan (Tokyo 1958) 17–27. The Dutch treaty mentioned 4 July 1859 as date of opening. Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de )TCGHHXCP2QNUDTQGMŌ, 53.
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Dutch Consul Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek with his guards.
The body of Henry Heusken after the attack 1861.
Western merchants at Glover's house in Nagasaki. Albert Bauduin, agent of the dutch Trading Association (NHM) in Nagasaki.
‘Especially the English behaved very impudent and brute, beyond comparison. They imaged to life in an uncivilized and conquered land’.89 6JGſTUV$TKVKUJ%QPUWN)GPGTCN5KT4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEM ŌCTTKXGF in Yokohama on the opening day only to discover that the Japanese had constructed ‘a second Deshima’.90+PJKUOGOQKTU#NEQEMTGEQWPVGFJKUſTUVKORTGUsions: ‘They had gone to vast expense in building a causeway across the lagunes and marshy ground for nearly two miles (...). I found solid granite piers and landing-places had already been built: and an extemporized town for Japanese traders, with a number of small houses and go-downs for the foreign merchants (...)’.91#NEQEMKUOKUVCMGPDGECWUGCEVWCNN[QPN[ſXGYQQFGPJQWUGUYGTGDWKNV HQTVJGFKRNQOCVUQHVJGſXGVTGCV[RQYGTU6JGOGTEJCPVUTGOCKPGFQPDQCTF 89 90 91
Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 54. Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon, volume I, 136–145. Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon, volume I, 144,135–136.
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of their ships or slept in tents. According to Alcock several foreign ships with dozens of merchants on board anchored in the vicinity of Yokohama.92 In the weeks after the opening of the port the merchants rented plots of land and constructed primitive wooden sheds and houses. This was much to the chagrin of the diplomats because they rejected the site at Yokohama. The treaty mentioned Kanagawa and not Yokohama, but the merchants did not care about that and the diplomats had to accept the reality.93 The Japanese thus got their way and had built a second Deshima in Yokohama. Like De Graeff van Polsbroek, the other diplomats refused to stay at Yokohama and lived at Kanagawa for several years. The development of the trade in Japan
'XGPDGHQTGVJGQHſEKCNQRGPKPIQHVJGRQTVUQH0CICUCMK;QMQJCOC -CPCICYC and Hakodate, traders came to Japan. According to the memoirs of the Dutch physician in Deshima, J.L.C. Pompe van Meerdervoort (1829–1908, physician 1857–1863), some British merchants arrived in 1858 using the Dutch treaty to start trading in Deshima.94 Between September 1858 and June 1859, about 118 ships entered the port of Nagasaki, including 80 merchant vessels.95 Most merchants came from Treaty Ports on the Chinese coast, where similar Foreign Settlements had been built after the Opium Wars.96 ‘The lucky few traders in Nagasaki who JCFUVTWEMKVTKEJVTKGFVQMGGREQPſFGPVKCNVJGRTQſVUVJG[YGTGOCMKPIVQ 400 per cent was common but the secret was soon out. Many adventurers decided to move from the China coast to Japan to cash in’.97 By the time Alcock arrived in 0CICUCMKQPJKUYC[VQVJG$TKVKUJNGICVKQPKP'FQKP,WPGVJGſTUVVTCFGTU had settled in Deshima and the town. Amongst them were agents and managers from the large British merchant houses Jardine, Matheson & Company and Dent & Company, and the American traders John E. Walsh, Richard J. Walsh and John Hall (later: Walsh, Hall & Co.).98 The Dutch Trading Association (NHM), until then active in the Dutch East Indies, came to Japan to start to trade. Shortly DGHQTGVJGVTCFGTUCTTKXGFCſTGKP/CTEJFGUVTQ[GFOQUVQHVJGJQWUGU on Deshima. The Dutch trader J.A.C. Gerlach, a ship captain stranded on the EQCUVQH0CICUCMKYJQVJGTGCHVGTUVCTVGFVJGſTO)GTNCEJ%QQHHGTGFURCEG to Albert J. Bauduin (1829–1890), agent of the NHM in April 1859. According 92 93
94 95 96
97 98
Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon, volume I, 137–138. M. Paske-Smith, 9GUVGTP$CTDCTKCPUKP,CRCPCPF(QTOQUCKP6QMWICYCFC[UŌ (Kobe 1930) 266. Pompe van Meerdervoort, Vijf jaren in Japan, Volume 2, 150. Huyssen van Kattendyke, Uitreksel uit het dagboek, 189–190. E. Hoare, ,CRCPŏU 6TGCV[ 2QTVU CPF (QTGKIP 5GVVNGOGPVU 6JG WPKPXKVGF IWGUVU Ō (Folkstone 1994) 5. Alexander McKay, 6JQOCU$NCMG)NQXGTŌ5EQVVKUJ5COWTCK(Edinburgh 1997) 17. Paske-Smith, Western barbarians, 230. The diary of the American merchant Francis Hall provides many details. F.G. Notehelfer (ed.), ,CRCPVJTQWIJ#OGTKECPG[GU6JGLQWTPCNQH Francis Hall (Boulder 2001).
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to the journalist John Black the atmosphere in these months was excellent. ‘The RTQſVCDNGTGUWNVUQHCNOQUVGXGT[VTCPUCEVKQPVJCVYCUGPVGTGFKPVQMGRVCNNKP good spirits, and as the society was very limited, everybody knew everybody, and kind feeling and good fellowship were the rule’.99 The westerners soon discovered that the Japanese authorities tried to regulate and monopolize the trade as much as possible. They also found that the diplomatic corps held very negative views of them. Alcock once said that they belonged to ‘the scum of the earth’. He was promptly barred from entering the British Club in Yokohama. Tensions also ITGYDGVYGGPOGTEJCPVUŎ VJG[CTGCNYC[UUSWCDDNKPICPFſIJVKPIŏ100 The traders operated mostly isolated from world affairs, because communication and transport were slow. A telegraph line between Nagasaki and Shanghai was not operational before 1871.101 In 1859 the Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company (P&O) began sailing between Shanghai and Nagasaki, after 1864 including Yokohama. In 1862 the China and Japan Steam Navigation Company (later: China Navigation Company) started a competing line and after 1865 the French line Compagnie des Services Maritimes Imperiales (after 1872: Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes) started to operate a regular service. The American UJKRRKPIEQORCP[2CEKſE/CKN5VGCOUJKR%QORCP[QRGPGFCſZGFTQWVGHTQO San Francisco to Hong Kong via Japan in 1867.102 Because of the slow communication and transport ‘...trading in those days was at times not much more than a form of gambling. Three months or more could pass between shipment in Japan and arrival in the West and wild changes in the price of goods were common’.103 Most merchants liked Nagasaki because it was much cleaner and healthier than Shanghai or Hong Kong. After the opening of the port in 1859, the number of merchants was soon too large to be housed at Deshima. Opposite of Deshima, at 1WTCCPGY(QTGKIP5GVVNGOGPVYCUGUVCDNKUJGF+PVJGſTUVJQVGNQRGPGFCPF shortly thereafter the British Nagasaki Club opened its doors. Entertainers came from Shanghai to perform in the local theatre. Butchers, bakers and churches gave VJGUGVVNGOGPVCYGUVGTPCODKCPEG+PVJGOGTEJCPVUGUVCDNKUJGFVJGſTUV Chamber of Commerce in Japan, followed by a sailors’ home and Freemasons’ lodge.104 Competition mostly came from the Chinese, who controlled almost half of the foreign trade. The Chinese sometimes worked for western traders, because they often could not speak Japanese.105#OQPIUVVJGſTUVVTCFGTUKP0CICUCMK YGſPF9KNNKCO,#NV #NV%QCPF6JQOCU$NCMG)NQXGT ŌHTQO 5EQVNCPF)NQXGTCTTKXGFKP0CICUCMKCHGYYGGMUCHVGTVJGQHſEKCNQRGPKPICUCP agent for Jardine, Matheson & Company. In 1861 he established his own part99 100 101 102 103 104 105
Black, Young Japan, I, 51. Hoare, Japan’s Treaty Ports, 14. S. Sugiyama, ,CRCPŏUKPFWUVTKCNK\CVKQPKPVJGYQTNFGEQPQO[Ō (London 1988) 37. Idem, 36–37. McKay, Thomas Blake Glover, 37. Paske-Smith, Western barbarians, 202. Howe, Japanese trade supremacy,
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nership (Glover & Co) to trade in rice, seaweed, sugar, silk, copper, and cotton. Glover constructed a processing plant for thee leaves in Nagasaki that employed several hundred Japanese and Chinese workers. He made a fortune selling (illegally) ammunition, weapons and second hand ships to landlords including the rebellious Satsuma and Chosu. Later he accepted orders for new ships, mostly constructed in Aberdeen. After 1867–1868, the selling of ships and weapons was PQNQPIGTRTQſVCDNGCPF)NQXGTKPXGUVGFKPPGYRTQLGEVUKPENWFKPIVJG6CMCUJKOC coal mine near Nagasaki. This led to his bankruptcy in 1870 and he was forced to sell his share in the coal-mine to his creditors, including the Dutch NHM. Its agent, Bauduin hired Glover to manage the mine, until it was taken over by the Japanese government in 1871.106 Although Nagasaki was the principal port in the early years, it was soon surpassed by Yokohama. Already in 1859, the British consul predicted ‘(...) it is the opinion of merchants here that Kanagawa is in many respects much better situated both as regards exports and in its position for the distribution of imports to the country’.107 At the end of 1859, more than forty merchants JCFUGVVNGFKP;QMQJCOCDWVVJGPWODGTQHOGTEJCPVUƀWEVWCVGFYKNFN[108 The large trading houses on the China coast had established agencies in Yokohama, including Jardine, Matheson & Company, Dent & Company, Barnett & Company and Flectcher & Company.109 In the second year after the opening the value of the trade had risen to £1,000,000. 110 The fast growing trade led to shortages of housing and storage facilities. The American trader Francis Hall, in Yokohama from the start in July 1859, wrote in his diary in November 1863: ‘Yokohama is crowded with foreign industry. We are, all told English, Americans, Dutch, French, Prussians, Swiss, Portuguese, and non-descript, HQWTJWPFTGFUQWNUCNTGCF[UVKƀKPIHQTTQQOŏ111 British merchants dominated foreign trade in Yokohama. In 1865 there were about 300 foreign merchants in Yokohama, according to reports written by the consuls. About half of them were British nationals. Of the 170 ships visiting Yokohama, 100 came from Great Britain.112 6JG 7PKVGF 5VCVGU OC[ JCXG DGGP VJG ſTUV VQ QRGP ,CRCP they soon lost the initiative to the British. One explanation for this is the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861–1865). After the war, Americans again entered Japan in numbers and were able to gain a share in the foreign trade of Japan. The British took the initiative to organize the merchants and 106
107 108 109
110 111 112
McKay, 6JQOCU$NCMG)NQXGT See also the historical novel based on the life of Glover: Alan Spence, De drijvende wereld (Amsterdam 2006). Paske-Smith, Western barbarians, 221. Hoare, Japan’s Treaty Ports. John McMaster, ‘The Japanese Gold Rush of 1859’, Journal of Asian Studies 19:3 (May 1960) 282. Barr, The coming of the barbarians, 100. Notehelfer, Japan through American eyes, 17. F.V. Dickens, The life of Sir Harry Parkes sometime her majesty’s minister to China and Japan (London/New York 1894) Volume 2, 29.
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to protect their interests they established a Municipal Council. In 1864 this was followed by a Chamber of Commerce. By 1868 Yokohama’s Foreign SetVNGOGPVKPENWFGFſXGJQVGNUCPFVYQDCPMU*QTUGTCEGUCETKEMGVſGNFCPFC shooting range provided the necessary amusement. Compared to Nagasaki and Yokohama, Hakodate in the North of Japan remained a very small and unimportant port. It was mainly frequented by whalers. In 1863 its Foreign Settlement housed three British subjects (including the consul) and several Russians.113 Trade developed slowly and remained well below the level of Nagasaki and Yokohama. The total value of Japanese export increased between 1860 and 1867 from about 7.5 million Yen to 13.6 million Yen; the total value of the import grew from 3.1 million Yen to 23.5 million Yen.114 The development of trade can also be assessed by looking at the number of ships. Between 1859 and 1864 the annual number of western ships entering Japanese ports increased from 150 to 369.115 The precise number of foreigners in Japan between 1858 and 1868 is unknown, because their registration started after 1860 and some foreigners were left out of the records including the Chinese, sailors, soldiers, females, and tourists. About 10,000 sailors came to Yokohama during this period. Until 1868, the British outnumbered all foreigners in Japan, followed by the Americans, Dutch, French, Russians and Germans. Besides these nationalities, there were Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, Swiss, Scandinavians and even Indian merchants. The total number of foreign merchants in 1862 was about 340.116 In 1868 this had risen to about 1,000, including the Chinese in Nagasaki.117
DUTCH MERCHANTS IN JAPAN
There were several Dutch entrepreneurs in Japan besides the large trading company of NHM, but their names and histories are largely forgotten or unknown. Examples include Gerrit Batteke, Jr en Petrus J. Batteke (agents of Textor & Co.), C. Bavink, J.N. Besier (Hartmans & Besier), J. Van Berkem (J. Van Berkem & Co.), R. Bousema (Lake & Co.; Hansard & Co.; owner of the New Amsterdam Hotel in Nagasaki), C.E. de Eerens (N. Mess & Co.), T.A.A. Groenervont (J. Schut & Co.; Lesent & Co.), A.A. Pistorius (Adrian & Co.) en Henri P.M. Wachtels (Gaymans & Co.). An interesting Dutch merchant and diplomat was Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (1833–1916). In 1853 he went to the Dutch East Indies to work in Batavia with his nephew, but in 1857 he became an undersecretary at Deshima. He joined 113 114 115 116 117
Paske-Smith, Western barbarians, 203. Howe, Japanese trade supremacy, 80. Paske-Smith, Western barbarians, 222. Idem, 218. Hoare, Japan’s Treaty Ports, 21–24.
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Donker Curtius on his trip in 1858 to Edo to negotiate a new Dutch trading agreement. He later resigned because he expected that with the liberalization of trade UVCTVKPIQP,WN[JGYQWNFDGUGPVDCEMVQ$CVCXKC*GUVCTVGFCVTCFKPIſTO in Yokohama with Carl Julius Textor (1816–?) under the name of Textor & Co. Textor, born in Germany, but employed by the Dutch government in Batavia and later Deshima, was an expert of agricultural crops (‘cultures’) from the Dutch East Indies. While Textor went to Java in early 1859, De Graeff van Polsbroek began VQUGVWRVJGDWUKPGUU&WTKPIVJGſTUVVYQOQPVJUKP;QMQJCOCVJG[GCTPGFC small fortune that allowed them to erect two large sheds and a house. In Yokohama De Graeff van Polsbroek met Henry Heusken who requested a position as secretary in Deshima, probably because of Harris’ alcoholism.118 This request, not mentioned in the Heusken diary, was superseded because of the assassination of Heusken in January 1861 by Japanese swordsmen.119 Because the Dutch had no diplomat in Yokohama, De Graeff van Polsbroek accepted a post as acting vice-consul on 18 June 1859. In those days traders often acted as part time (vice) consuls. They represented the interests of their fellow countrymen and acted as judge. According to De Graeff van Polsbroek one merchant in particular J. Schut Jr. behaved very rude and impolite towards the Japanese, including the staff from the consulate. He proposed to put him under arrest for 7 to 14 days or to punish JKOYKVJCſPGKHJGEQPVKPWGFVQDGJCXGNKMGVJKU&G)TCGHHXCP2QNUDTQGMYCU appointed Dutch consul in Kanagawa on 30 March 1861 and he probably resigned CUCRCTVPGTHTQOVJGſTO6GZVQT%QCVVJCVFCVG+PJGUWEEGGFGF/T,- de Wit who had become Consul-General in July 1861, replacing Donker Curtius. The Dutch merchant Cornelis Theordoor van Assendelft de Coningh (1821– 1890) arrived in Yokohama on 4 September 1859 on the sailing ship #TIQPCWV120 He returned to the Netherlands after about two years. It was his third visit to Japan, because in 1845 and 1851 he was in Deshima as captain of the annual ship from Batavia. From these visits De Coningh learned much about Japan and the Japanese. He thought very admirably about them. De Coningh established a VTCFKPIſTOKPKP#OUVGTFCOCPFCHVGTVJGQRGPKPIQHVJG,CRCPGUGRQTVU in July 1859 he sailed for Yokohama. According to his interesting memoirs published in 1879, he owned part of the ship that was laden with cargo from Europe. He had hoped to sell the brand new ship, but the Japanese were only interested in steam ships. On his arrival he met two fellow countrymen and PQVKEGFVJGKTſTGCTOU6JG[GZRNCKPGFVJGFCPIGTQWUUKVWCVKQPKP;QMQJCOC Japanese swordsmen frequently attacked the westerners in an attempt to prevent 118
119 120
De Graeff van Polsbroek writes about Townsend Harris: ‘This otherwise friendly person had the habit of becoming drunk once a month, staying in bed for three days, while drinking. On the fourth day he got up and ate, while drinking a cup of thee’. Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 57. Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 14–15. C.T. van Assendelft, Ontmoetingen ter zee en te land (Haarlem 1879). Volume 2: De pionier in Yokohama.
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them from starting to trade. On the next day he met the vice-consul, De Graeff van Polsbroek, although he does not mention his name. De Coningh severely criticized the vice-consul and the Dutch diplomats in Japan. The Commissaris Donker Curtius opted to remain in Deshima that was comfortable and relatively safe from Japanese attacks. However, because of the large distance between Deshima and Edo, the Dutch lost all contact with other western diplomats and VJGKTKPƀWGPEGKP,CRCPJCFXKTVWCNN[FKUCRRGCTGF6JKUWPFGTOKPGFVJGVTCFing possibilities of the Dutch in Japan. De Coningh furthermore complains that before the opening several clerks (De Graeff van Polsbroek included) had received permission to trade and were thus able to make a small fortune before the arrival of the merchants. When De Coningh arrived in Yokohama, there YGTGQPN[ſXGYQQFGPJQWUGUDWKNVHQTVJGYGUVGTPFKRNQOCVU0QJQWUGUJCF been built for the merchants and they remained on board of the ships that had carried them to Japan. Some decided to temporarily live in tents on the beach. Because the diplomats refused to accept Yokohoma as port and wanted to stay at Kanagawa, where they eventually lived in temples, the houses had been given to UQOGQHVJGſTUVOGTEJCPVU+PGCEJJQWUGHQWTQTſXGOGTEJCPVUNKXGFVQIGVJGT Later arrivals had to wait for the construction of new houses. Because he knew some of the Japanese translators from his days in Deshima, De Coningh was able to rent a farm from a Japanese family.121 Here he lived with a strong shipmate from the Argonaut as his servant and protector. At nightfall they loaded their YGCRQPUCPFMGRVCNKIJVDWTPKPI+P&GEGODGT&G%QPKPIJEQWNFſPCNN[ rent a house. He says that 80 merchants lived in Yokohama at the end of 1859, of which about 25 from the Netherlands. These merchants lived in Yokohama largely unprotected by their navy, DGECWUG PQ PCXCN UJKRU UVC[GF KP VJG RQTV KP VJG ſTUV VYQ [GCTU 6JG FKRNQmats, including the English, French and Americans, frequently complained to the Japanese, threatened with military action and demanded compensation when a countryman was killed or badly wounded. However without military protection from their country they could do little more then protest and the ,CRCPGUGMPGYVJCVXGT[YGNN+PVJGOKFFNGQH,CPWCT[CſTGFGUVTQ[GF most of the wooden houses of the Foreign Settlement. De Coningh’s home and his goods were spared because he lived at the edge of the settlement. Although KVYCUPQVRQUUKDNGVQRTQXGVJCVKVYCUKPVGPVKQPCNVJGſTGNGFVQVJGQTICPKzation of the merchants. They established the ‘Yokohama Volunteers’, about 60 or 70 merchants from western countries who patrolled the streets at night. &GURKVG VJKU ſTGU CPF CVVCEMU EQPVKPWGF VQ QEEWT +P (GDTWCT[ ,CRCnese ronin (masterless samurai) killed two Dutch ship captains. Although De Coningh remains rather secretive about his business he was able to sell his 121
According to Moeshart the farm was deserted, but the memoirs of De Coningh make it clear that this was not the case at all. The Japanese farmer and his family rented the farm to De Coningh and moved to another place nearby. Herman J. Moeshart, Arts en koopman in ,CRCPŌ'GPUGNGEVKGWKVFGDTKGXGPXCPFGIGDTQGFGTU$CWFWKP(Amsterdam 2001) 17.
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OGTEJCPFKUGVQVJG,CRCPGUGCPFOCFGCJCPFUQOGRTQſV+PVJGſTUVOQPVJU some merchants, De Coningh speaks rather negative about them although he envied them for their shrewdness, made a fortune buying golden Japanese coins (Kobans) and selling them in Shanghai at much higher prices. According VQ,QJP/EOCUVGTJQYGXGTŎVJGRTQſVUHTQOVJG,CRCPGUG)QNF4WUJYGTG comparatively low’.122 Probably one of the largest Dutch traders in Japan was the NHM.123 The NHM was set up in 1824 to promote trade between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. Although a private organization, it was largely controlled by the Dutch government. The NHM monopolized the plantations in the East Indies, QTICPK\GFUJKRRKPICPFCEVGFCUKPXGUVQTCPFDCPM6JGſTUVCIGPVQHVJG0*/ Albert Johannes Bauduin, arrived on 3 April 1859 in Nagasaki with a shipload of trade goods from the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies.124 Bauduin noted in his diary that the NHM had arrived rather late, because other major British and American companies were already trading in Deshima. These trading houses could easily buy and sell products from their warehouses on the China coast, while the NHM had to sail to Batavia. Soon after his arrival Bauduin decided for the moment not to open an agency in Yokohama because he believed that Deshima offered better opportunities. Japan was not ready to produce for world markets and the demand for East Indian products remained low. He noted how the Shogun interfered with the trade wherever and whenever possible. The consignment sent from the East Indies proved unmarketable. In 1860, the conditions improved and Bauduin ordered new products from Batavia. In May 1861 he sailed to Yokohama and concluded that it had surpassed Nagasaki as the major Japanese port. He thus changed his mind and proposed to open an agency in Yokohama. The Directors of the NHM in Batavia did not agree. An important export product from Yokohama silk had become worthless because the American Civil War had destroyed the demand for silk in that country. Instead, Japanese cotton was much KPFGOCPFDGECWUG#OGTKECPRTQFWEVKQPJCFFGENKPGF+PVJG0*/ſPCNN[ decided to send a permanent agent to Yokohama. Back in Nagasaki, Bauduin advised the sale of new and second hand ships to the Japanese Shogun and several landlords. From 1864, the NHM and Glover & Company began working together. When the American Civil War ended, prices of cotton and thee plummeted and the large trading houses lost substantial amounts of money, including the NHM. Bauduin decided to try his luck in sugar production in Satsuma, but the quality was inferior. Luckily, after 1866 the silk trade picked up again. After VJG0*/QRGPGFUGXGTCNQHſEGU KPENWFKPIKP1UCMCCPF*[QIQDWVRWNNGF 122 123
124
McMaster, ‘The Japanese Gold Rush’, 273–287. Moeshart, Arts en koopman in Japan. The NHM developed into a bank, the Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN), later ABN-AMRO, and in 2008 it was acquired by Fortis, Bank of Scotland and Bank of Santander. His brother, Anthonius Franciscus (Toon) Bauduin (1820–1885) succeeded Dr. L.J.C. Pompe van Meerdervoort in 1862 as physician in Nagasaki.
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out of Japan after 1880. In 1874, Bauduin returned to the Netherlands and became Japanese consul in the Japanese legation in The Hague until his death. Many of the UOCNNGTVTCFKPIſTOU GI6GZVQT%QENQUGFCHVGTVJGCDQNKVKQPQHVJGFQOCKPU in 1871 that had become major trading partners of the Dutch in the 1860s. The long history of Dutch presence in Japan, their knowledge of the country and culture and the head start during the negotiations of the Ansei Treaties, resulted in few economic advantages. Japan lost its interest in the Netherlands soon after the opening of the ports, because they learned that no foreigner was able to speak Dutch. Learning English was much more important.125
HOSTILE CONDITIONS AND THE MEIJI RESTORATION 1858–1868
Living in the Foreign Settlements resembled a ‘wild east’, with its shootings and MKNNKPIUDGUKFGUVJGTGIWNCTGCTVJSWCMGUV[RJQQPUCPFſTGUKIPKVGFQPRWTRQUG or by accident that destroyed property. The merchants discovered that they not only had to deal with the Japanese government and their own diplomats, but also with anti-western Japanese. This applied mainly to the newly opened ports (e.g. ;QMQJCOCYJGTGYGUVGTPGTUCPF,CRCPGUGſTUVOGVCPFVJGEWNVWTGUJQEMYCU noticeable. During the Deshima-period foreign trade was strongly regulated and limited in value and volume. After the opening of the ports in July 1859, dozens of ships entered Japanese ports to trade but the economy was not prepared for this transition. It led to shortages of commodities and foodstuffs, including rice. FurVJGTOQTGKPƀCVKQPTCVGUKPETGCUGFCPFDQVJHCEVQTUHGFCPVKYGUVGTPUGPVKOGPVU These sentiments found expression in numerous attacks. Between 1859 and 1869 CDQWVſHV[YGUVGTPGTUKPENWFKPIQHſEGTUUCKNQTUFKRNQOCVUCPFOGTEJCPVUYGTG murdered by the Japanese.126 Hardly one month after the opening of the port in Nagasaki two Russian sailors were brutally killed and six months later a Dutch merchant was slaughtered. A climax occurred in early 1861 when Henry Heusken, the Dutch translator of Harris who was very popular with the merchants and the Japanese women in Yokohama, was killed.127 The diplomats decided to temporally leave Edo and retreated to Yokohama (Harris, however, remained in Edo). Despite Japanese protests the British and French stationed soldiers in Yokohama and naval ships anchored in the port. The atmosphere in Yokohama worsened: ‘Everywhere men still carried revolvers, and overall Europe and the 125
126 126 127
For this see the autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835–1901). N. Tamaki, Yukichi (WMW\CYCŌ6JGURKTKVQHGPVGTRTKUGKPOQFGTP,CRCP (Basingstoke 2001). Ashmead, 6JGKFGCQH,CRCPŌ 340. Daniels, Sir Harry Parkes, 31. Heusken was a kind of ‘lady killer‘ and had several affairs with Japanese women, including Otsuru who had borne a child. Moeshart, Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 15; Reinier H. Hesselink, ‘The Assassination of Henry Heusken’, Monumenta Nipponica 49:3 (Autumn 1994) 331–351.
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United States had only an uneasy foothold on the shore of Japan’.128 Rumors about imminent Japanese attacks only fed the anxiety of the foreigners. 6JGEQPƀKEVDGVYGGPVJG5JQIWPCPF'ORGTQTCPFDGVYGGPVJG5JQIWPCPF the landlords affected foreign trade. Glover on 26 May 1863 informed the Jardine, /CVJGUQPQHſEGKP5JCPIJCKŎ QYKPIVQVJGRQNKVKECNVTQWDNGU6TCFGKUCNOQUV completely stopped’.129 Consul-General Alcock concluded that the Shogun no longer held absolute power in Japan and to not undermine his position further, he agreed to postpone the opening of additional ports and cities, including Osaka, Edo, Hyogo and Niigata. According to the London Protocol (1862) these cities remained closed until 1868. This did not stop the attacks on the westerners. In August 1862, the British legation in Edo was attacked a second time. Shortly thereafter, samurai murdered the British merchant Charles L. Richardson. Both attacks called for a strong reaction by the western powers. Edo was required to apologize and the attackers should be captured and punished. The Shogun and the landlord of Satsuma, held responsible for the murdering of Richardson, YGTGVQRC[CNCTIGſPCPEKCNEQORGPUCVKQP$GECWUGKP#WIWUVPQVJKPIJCF happened with these claims, the western powers decided to attack Satsuma. Four British warships bombarded the castle of the landlord of Satsuma. To show their determination, the western powers also attacked Chosu that had blockaded the Street of Shimonseki. In September 1864, British, French and a Dutch warship CVVCEMGF%JQUW6JGFGHGCVGFFQOCKPUEQPENWFGFVJCVVJG[YGTGVQQYGCMVQſIJV the western powers and that it was thus necessary to modernize as soon possible. This was, however, hampered by the Shogun who kept control of foreign trade. They decided to jointly bring down the Shogunate. In 1864, Sir Harry Parkes replaced Alcock. Parkes would defend the British interest in Japan without choosing the side of the Shogun or the rebellious southern domains Satsuma and Chosu. In contrast, the French openly supported the Shogun in an attempt to further the interest of French traders in Japan and to oppose British dominance. The French strategy failed. In September 1866 Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi died. He was succeeded by Togukawa Yoshinobu (also known as Keiki) (1837–1913). He was to be the last Shogun and, although, anti-western during his youth, he initiated a number of reforms to consolidate the power of the Bakufu. These reforms came too late. Early 1866,the Emperor Komei (1831–1867) died and he was succeeded by the pro-western Emperor Meiji (1852–1912). By the end of November 1867, soldiers from Satsuma and Chosu captured the Shogunal palace and in January 1868 they ‘restored’ the Emperor Meiji to its former power. 6JGſPCNXKEVQT[ECOGQP0QXGODGTYJGPVJG'ORGTQTOQXGFVQ'FQ that was renamed Tokyo. This ended Tokugawa rule in Japan.
128 129
Daniels, Sir Harry Parkes, 31. McKay, Thomas Blake Glover, 46.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
Western pressure opened Japanese ports and ended its seclusion. The opening QH,CRCPYCUPGXGTCYJQNN[#OGTKECPCHHCKTCNVJQWIJVJGſTUVVTGCV[YCUEQPducted between America and Japan. This treaty could not have been concluded without the involvement of other western countries including the Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain and France. Internal developments in Japan are equally important in explaining the opening of Japan. The Netherlands tried on several occasions to change the Japanese isolationist policy, but it was in Japanese eyes only a trader. Soldiers had a higher standing in society and modern warships made a bigger impression, as Perry and Fabius experienced. After 1859, trade was concentrated in a few ports where Japan created Foreign Settlements. Until 1868 this trade was highly speculative and not without danger. The Foreign Settlements acquired the ambiance of small western villages, with hotels, bakeries, butchers, churches, theaters, and horse racing. Western entrepreneurs introduced new institutions including Chambers of Commerce and banks. After the opening of the ports, the British dominated foreign trade and they would do so until after 1868. Dutch merchants, although present from the start, lost their interest in Japan. They seemed to prefer the Dutch East Indies that was opened for private investors after 1870. The Japanese lost their interest in the Netherlands after they discovered that the Netherlands was no longer a super power as in the seventeenth century. Internal tensions between pro and anti-western Japanese hindered trade. It led in 1868 to a coup by pro-western landlords that restored power to the Emperor. After 1868 Japan quickly modernized and industrialized. $[VJGUKVJCFDGECOGCYQTNFRQYGTCPFYCUſPCNN[CDNGVQGPHQTEGCTGXKsion of the ‘unequal treaties’ of 1858.
Source: The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 87, No. 4 (Oct., 2001),
11
The First Women Religious in Japan: Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot and the French Connection ANN M. HARRINGTON
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY was a heady time for Roman Catholicism as Western Christianity insinuated itself into Asian countries populated by millions of potential converts, souls that Catholic missionaries believed needed to be brought into the light of the Catholic faith. Japan was seen as especially attractive because of the aborted efforts toward conversion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. When the military government of Japan, the Tokugawa Bakufu, decided in 1614 VQDCPVJKUHQTGKIPTGNKIKQP%JTKUVKCPUJCFVJGQRVKQPQHECOQWƀCIGCRQUVCU[ or death, as Japan’s doors closed in 1639 until the mid-nineteenth century. Many Japanese died for their faith, creating a zeal in the missionaries once again to bring Catholicism to Japan. Their enthusiasm grew with the re-emergence of Christianity after its long underground period, when a group of Christian descendants made themselves known in 1865 to Bernard Petitjean (1829–1884), a Paris Foreign Mission priest.1 A part of the story that is not so well known is the work of Roman Catholic women religious who went to Japan initially in 1872 (Soeurs de l’Enfant-Jesus, also known as the Dames de Saint-Maur), 1877 (Soeurs de l’Enfant-Jesus de Chauf1
The Société des Missions-Étrangères de Paris (M.E.P.), or the Paris Foreign Mission Society, was founded in 1660 for the exclusive purpose of training priests for missionary work. The permission for exclusive proselytizing rights was granted to the Paris Foreign Mission priests by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith; thus were the only Roman Catholic priests in Japan in the nineteenth century. See Jeanè, Les Missions-Étrangres (Paris, 1963), p. 270. Also, Adrien Launay, Histoire gènèrale Sociètè des Missions-Étrangères (Paris, 1894). For the story of the Hidden chrishtians, see Ann M. Harrington Japan’s Hidden Christians (Chicago, 1993). For more information on Bernard Petitjean, see G. Anderson (ed.), Biographical Dictionary Christian Missions (New York, 1998), pp. 530–531. 167
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failles), and 1878 (Soeurs de Saint-Paul de Chartres). All three of these French congregations sent sisters to Japan at the request of the Paris Foreign Mission Society priests, who had argued for exclusive proselytizing rights in Japan; they wanted VQCXQKFTGRGCVKPIVJGEQPƀKEVUYJKEJJCFGTWRVGFCOQPIVJG,GUWKVU(TCPEKUECPU &QOKPKECPUCPF#WIWUVKPKCPUKPVJGſTUV%JTKUVKCPRGTKQF Ō2CTKU (QTGKIP/KUUKQPRTKGUVUCTTKXGFKPDWVJCFVQEQPſPGVJGKTUGTXKEGUVQVJG foreign Catholics residing in Japan. Once the Japanese government stopped the persecutions, the priests invited women religious to Japan. 'PINKUJUQWTEGUGZCOKPKPIVJGNKHGCPFYQTMQHVJGUGſTUVYQOGPTGNKIKQWU in Japan are nonexistent. This study begins to remedy that and seeks to answer several questions: How did it happen that these women went to Japan? Who were they? What did they do in the early years of their life in Japan? How did they view Japan and the Japanese? How can we account for their immediate usefulness in early Meiji Japan despite the small numbers of converts to Roman Catholicism? An examination of the historical context reveals an unusual set of circumstances which made ripe the time for the introduction of French women religious into Japan. The life and work of Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot, whose time in Japan spanned almost the entire Meiji era (1868–1912), provides the focus for this study. 9GNGCTPYJCVYQOGPYQTMKPIKPVJGOKUUKQPſGNFYGTGCDNGVQDTKPIVQVJG Japan mission, despite coming from a patriarchal France; we investigate how VJGKTYQTMURTQXGFGURGEKCNN[DGPGſEKCNVQ,CRCPGUGYQOGPCPFEJKNFTGPYJQ experienced hardships in the last quarter of the nineteenth century; and we are left with questions about the over-all impact of the sisters in relation to cultural KORGTKCNKUO$WVſTUVVJGUVQT[ /QVJGT5CKPV/CVJKNFGNGFVJGſTUVITQWRQHUKUVGTUVQ,CRCPHTQO(TCPEGXKC Singapore in 1872, even though she herself did not take up permanent residence in Japan until 1876. During the intervening years, she made at least twelve trips to Japan.2 Unlike most foreigners in Japan in the late nineteenth century, Mother Saint Mathilde was neither so-journer nor settler; she was neither politician nor business woman. She was in Japan at the request of the priests of the Paris Foreign Mission Society to help them as they preached Christianity to the Japanese. Being a Roman Catholic sister in the nineteenth century, Mother Saint Mathilde was not, strictly speaking, a missionary. That term, according to the canon law at the time, referred exclusively to clerics subject to the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith.3 The best term one can come up with 2
3
See the manuscript “Vie de la Rèvèrende Mère Sainte Mathilde,” p. 562, by Marie-Louise Flachaire de Roustan (1858–1921), Paris, Archives of the Soeurs de l’Enfant-Jèsus, Nicolas Barré, Yokohama Collection. Hereafter cited as “Vie,” SEJ, YC. At this time, the trip from ;QMQJCOCVQ5KPICRQTGQTFKPCTKN[VQQMHTQOſHVGGPVQUGXGPVGGPFC[U The word “missionary” applied to women religious became somewhat common usage by the 1880s but the canon itself did not change until 1983. Canon 784 now says that missionaries “may be secular clerics, members of institutes of consecrated life or of societies of apostolic life, or other lay members of the Christian faithful.” See James A. Coriden GVCN (eds.), The Code of Canon Law:A Text and Commentary (New York, 1983), p. 561.
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is that she and the French sisters who went to Japan in the nineteenth century were “assistants” to the priests. Mother Saint Mathilde was born in France on February 9, 1814, in the town of Suriauville, situated between Domremy and Matlaincourt in the province of Lorraine. She was baptized on February 10 as Marie-Justine Raclot. Her grandfather was a longtime mayor of Suriauville. Marie-Justine was a typical child, mischievous and curious. In 1826 she was sent to study at Saint Maur in Langres, which was run by the Dames de Saint Maur, also known as the Soeurs de l’Enfant-Jesus, a religious order of women founded in the seventeenth century by Nicholas Barré (1621–1686).4 The Institute began as part of a movement toward an intermediate state of religious life, one not cloistered (enclosed), but active. Barré, as part of this trend, invited groups of women to teach the poor, without involving the women in the legal and canonical issues of the religious life of the day. Their numbers expanded rapidly as did their schools. Louis XIV asked for sisters in the Midi, and Mme de Maintenon wanted them at Saint-Cyr in Paris. When invited to become a monastic community, the Saint Maur sisters refused and withdrew from Saint-Cyr. Mme de Maintenon nonetheless remained a lifelong supporter of the group. By the end of the seventeenth century, this style of religious life became acceptable, and the nun-educator in the Catholic church was born.5 Marie-Justine herself entered this congregation of sisters on October 15, 1832, and donned the garb of the sisters February 2, TGEGKXKPIVJGTGNKIKQWUPCOGő5CKPVG/CVJKNFGŒ5JGRTQPQWPEGFJGTſTUV vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience on March 19, 1835. Sister Saint Mathilde began her apostolate in southern France, in Bagnols, Beziers, and Sète in the region of Languedoc. While in Sète, the major superior at the Paris motherhouse called her to “leave all and come.” This was on September 14, 1852. She left for Paris that same day and was told on arrival that she would be going to Penyang, Malaysia, as the mother superior because the sister sent as superior, Mother Saint PaulinRodot (1821–1852), had died en route of a rapidly advancing case of pulmonary tuberculosis.6 So with two days to prepare, on 6JGQHſEKCNPCOGQHVJGQTFGTKU%QPITGICVKQPFGU5QGWTUFGNŏNPUVTWEVKQP%JCTKVCDNGFW Saint Enfant-Jesus. For more information on Nicholas Barré, see New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 123. 5 Elizabeth Rapley, The Devotes: Women and Church in Seventeenth-Century France (Montreal, 1990), pp. 126–130; 195–196. Their informal beginnings in 1667 saw them teaching children of the working poor and assisting the clergy as auxiliaries in their work of Christianization. It was not until 1871 that they began living in community. “The years of Louis XIV’s personal rule (1660–1715) saw the creation [of] at least seventeen female teaching congregations” (p. 113). 6 “Vie,” pp. 245; 199–200, SEJ, YC. Mother St. Paulin Rodot was buried at sea. She was part QHVJGſTUVITQWRQHUKUVGTUUGPVVQ/CNC[UKC+PVJQUGFC[UVJGEQPITGICVKQPWUGFVJGVGTO “mere” for the sister who was named superior of a mission. MathildeRaclot held the title because she was superior of the Malaysia mission. An account by Mother Mathilde of the beginnings of the Malaysian mission,“Debuts de la mission en Malaisie,” is found in the Penang Registry 1851–1878, pp. 3–28, SEJ. 4
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September 17, Mother Saint Mathilde and three other sisters left for Southampton CPFQP5GRVGODGTHQT5KPICRQTGCPF/CNC[UKC6JG[CTTKXGFCVVJGKTſPCN destination on October 28. The departure for Japan was also very quick, and again the sisters received little advance notice. But in this case, Mother Saint Mathilde was predisposed to go. She apparently had had a strong desire to labor for Japan after hearing about the work of the Jesuit, St. Francis Xavier. In I860 the Paris Foreign Mission priest, Prudence S. Girard (1821–1867), who was superior of the newly established Japan mission, stopped in Singapore and told the sisters about Japan, where his priests had just arrived the year before. He asked whether any of their sisters might be willing to leave their establishment in Malaysia and, when religious liberty was achieved, to go to Japan to live in a poor, small Japanese house. The sisters were ſNNGFYKVJGZEKVGOGPVD[VJGKFGCCPFYQWNFPQVNGVJKONGCXGWPVKNJGRTQOKUGF that they would be called on just as soon as it was possible to go to Japan. But Girard died on December 9, 1867; so it would not be his decision.7 Meanwhile, Mother Saint Mathilde’s fervor was kept alive when she heard of the discovery of the ancient Christians in 1865 and when she met a young missionary, Simon-Marie-Antoine-Just Ranfer de Bretenieres (1838–1866), on his way to Korea in that same year. The news of his martyrdom in Korea in 1866 made her burn “with desire to walk in his footsteps, to go to Japan, another land of martyrs.”8 In 1867 she planted the idea of such a venture in the head of her order in Paris, the Reverend Mother Francois de Sales de Faudoas (1799–1877).9 While it would UVKNNDGCPQVJGTſXG[GCTUDGHQTGVJGQRRQTVWPKV[VQIQVQ,CRCPCTQUGGXGPVUCU early as 1870 were moving to make this possible. In that year, another Paris Foreign Mission priest, Bishop Ferdinand Dupond (1809–1872), asked for sisters to establish a school in Bangkok, but Dupond died before realizing his dream.10 Four sisters, however, had been sent to Singapore for that purpose and were awaiting reassignment. The sisters’ presence there was setting the stage for the beginning of the Japanese mission, as will become clear.11 The Japan that these women were about to enter had been forced to open its doors in 1854 by the United States envoy, Commodore Matthew C. Perry. The Japanese reasoned that they had no choice but to accept the unequal treaties offered by the West, beginning with that negotiated by Townsend Harris for the United States (July 28, 1858). Britain, France, Holland, and Russia followed within weeks to achieve their own similar unequal treaties, through which Japan had to accept semi-colonial status until it could make itself strong enough to 7
8 9
10 11
“Vie,” p. 499, SEJ, YC. For more information on Girard, see R. Streit et al., Bibliotheca Missionum (Aachen, 1938), X, 40–41 “Vie,” p. 502. See Streit QREKV: 438–439, for details on Ranfer de Bretenieres. The title “Reverend Mother” was used for the superior general of the congregation, residing at the mother house in Paris. See Streit, QREKV:N 168. +DKF pp. 502, 503. Dupond’s full given name was Ferdinand-Aime-Augustin-Joseph.
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negotiate as an equal with Western powers. This meant Japan agreed to open for foreign trade the ports of Kanagawa (Yokohama), Edo (Tokyo), Kobe, Nagasaki, and Niigata; to allow international control over their tariffs; and to grant extraterritoriality. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 overthrew the Tokugawa Bakufu, the same government that had banned Christianity, and ushered in an era of political, economic, and social change aimed at strengthening Japan. One statement from the Charter Oath of 1868 augured well for allowing the import of Western religion and education: “Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to broaden and strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.” The new government also agreed to honor the treaties signed by the old government. However, what did not augur well was the continuation of the policy which forbade Christianity. The last wave of persecutions against Christians broke out in April of 1867, and lasted until 1872, precisely because the new government endorsed the old policy. The persecutions were sparked by the emergence of Christian descendants in the Nagasaki area who openly allied themselves with the French priests. Because Christianity was still forbidden by Bakufu law, thousands of Christians were arrested, relocated, some tortured, and asked to apostatize. Western governments represented in Japan began to complain as early as 1870, their protests becoming OQTGKPFKIPCPVCUVKOGRCUUGF+VDGECOGKPETGCUKPIN[FKHſEWNVHQTVJG,CRCPGUG government to condone attacks on Japanese Christians. Also, members of the Iwakura Mission (1871–1873), a government sponsored attempt to equalize relations with the United States and Europe, heard complaints about the persecutions from more than a dozen of the countries they visited. As a consequence of what was learned abroad, and the disfavor on the part of foreign envoys, Soejima Taneomi, minister of foreign affairs in the new Meiji government, announced in 1873 that exiled Christians would be freed and the sign boards banning Christianity would be taken down. The proclamation of religious freedom did not occur until the Meiji Constitution became effective (1889). Religious persecutions had ceased for all intents and purposes in 1872, promptKPI$GTPCTF2GVKVLGCPYJQJCFDGGPPCOGF,CRCPŏUſTUVDKUJQRQHVJGTGUVQTGF %CVJQNKEOKUUKQPKPVQKPXKVGTGNKIKQWUUKUVGTUVQ,CRCP*GſTUVCUMGFVJG Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction of Nevers, in France, who had apparently made some earlier commitment to go to Japan. In a letter dated December 14, 1871, from Japan, he asked for four sisters in good health, with three of the HQWTDGVYGGPVYGPV[ſXGCPFVJKTV[[GCTUQHCIGDGECWUGKHVJG[YGTGQNFGT learning Japanese would be too hard, perhaps impossible. The fourth sister, the superior, could be older. And he asked that they leave in March for Yokohama, Japan. The sisters were to be given a trousseau double what they would be given in France, because even though one could purchase anything one needed in Japan, he explained that the prices were terribly high. Finally, he asked that they write ſHVGGPFC[UDGHQTGVJGFGRCTVWTGQHVJGUKUVGTUUQVJCVJGEQWNFTGPVCFYGNNKPIHQT
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őVJGFGCTEJKNFTGP[QWCTGEQPſFKPIVQOGŒ12 Perhaps that phrase best indicates the status of women religious in the eyes of the clergy or at least in the estimation of Petitjean. The Sisters of Nevers refused the request because the majority of the Chapter (governing body) felt that the needs of the French houses, in full expansion, would not permit such an undertaking at that time.13 In a letter dated April 23 Petitjean made his request to Mother Saint Mathilde, who was still superior in Malaysia. He invited the sisters to Japan to instruct and educate the young daughters born of European parents or of a European father and a Japanese mother. Petitjean also suggested they might possibly direct a general hospital. He was aware of the four sisters in Malaysia who were to have gone to Bangkok, and, since Dupond’s death, had not yet been reassigned. Petitjean indicated that the Japan mission could not afford to pay their passage or housing in Japan, but he assured them that the tuition of the students would quickly reimburse them for their expenses. It appears that the refusal of the sisters of Nevers came as a surprise, because Petitjean wrote to Mother Saint Mathilde, It is necessary upon the receipt of this letter that you are able to respond ŎYGCEEGRVŏCPFſHVGGPFC[UNCVGT[QWTJQN[DCPFVCMGRCUUCIGHQT;QMQhama. In the event you are obliged before accepting to ask for authorization from your Paris motherhouse, regard my request as never made. For very special reasons, I have to have your response immediately, if it is favorable.14 Petitjean’s urgency stemmed from the fact that he had immediate plans for an educational center in Yokohama. When he learned that the Sisters of Nevers were unable to send sisters, he quickly invited the Saint Maur sisters already in Singapore. If Mother Saint Mathilde had had to write for permission and await the reply, it would have taken too long. It seems entirely possible that Petitjean had also made promises to the French citizens in the Tokyo-Yokohama area in terms of schooling for their children and he wanted to keep them. Mother Saint Mathilde received the letter on May 19, 1872, the Saturday before Pentecost. Realizing that she could not make such a decision without consulting Paris, she called on Bishop Michel-Esther Leturdu, vicar-apostolic in charge of their Singapore mission. He suggested contacting the superior general by telegram. A note in the Paris archives suggests that the telegraph line between 12
13
14
Letter of M. Petitjean, copy sent to author from the Archives of the Soeurs de la Char- iteet l’lnstruction Chretienne de Nevers, Nevers, France. Francois Veuillot, Dom de Laveyne et la congregation des Soeurs de la Charite et de I’Instruction chretienne de Nevers (Paris, 1948), p. 213. The Sisters of Nevers sent sisters to Japan for the ſTUVVKOGKP Copy of the letter, SEJ, YC. See also Shibukawa Hisako and Shimada Tsuneko, San Morushudokaitokyohyakunen no ayumi (Tokyo, 1981).
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Singapore and Europe had opened just the previous day, and that this may have DGGPKVUſTUVWUG/QVJGT5CKPV/CVJKNFGŏUVGNGITCOTGCFő,CRCPCUMUHQTUKUVGTU immediately. Can we send. Siam not ready. Msgr. approves. Telegraph response. Mathilde.” At eight o’clock on Monday morning, May 21, the return telegram arrived from Paris giving the permission.15 The small band of sisters, Mother Saint Mathilde, Mother Saint Norbert Levesque (1834–1875), Sister Saint Gèlase Crespin (1843–1903), Sister Saint Ferdinand Constantin (1847–1872), and an Irish sister, Sister Saint Grègoire Conolly (1829–1885), left on June 10, 1872. They traveled from Singapore to Hong Kong without incident, and there transferred to a smaller ship, both vessels belonging to the French company Messageries Maritimes. Between Hong Kong and Japan they encountered a typhoon which buffeted them for two days. The fear of the other passengers amused them when they realized they had nothing to fear from death in a storm when they were voluntarily traveling to the land of the martyrs.16 /QVJGT5CKPV/CVJKNFGFGUETKDGUJGTſTUVXKGYQH,CRCPŏUEQCUVNKPGő5QWPGXGP its numerous and verdant hills, its bays, the lighthouses, the small villages, its VJQWUCPFUQHſUJKPIDQCVUIQKPIKPCNNFKTGEVKQPU9GUCY(WLK[COCVJGJKIJGUV and most famous mountain in Japan.”176JG[CTTKXGFKP;QMQJCOC,CRCPCVſXG o’clock in the morning on June 28, 1872. Yokohama is a port city about twenty miles southwest of Tokyo and at the time it was designated as a foreign trade city open to the West. Originally, it was divided into two sections: kan nai (inside the barrier, where the foreigners lived), and kan nai (outside the barrier). In 1859 it YCUQPN[CUOCNNſUJKPIXKNNCIG$[KVYCUCEKV[YKVJCRQRWNCVKQPQH Bishop Petitjean sent two missionaries to welcome the sisters. They escorted VJGſXGUKUVGTUQHHVJGUJKRCPFYCNMGFYKVJVJGOKPUKNGPEGVQVJGEJWTEJYJGTG Petitjean was waiting for them on the porch, dressed in his liturgical vestments. He blessed each of them and then proceeded to celebrate Mass.18 As the sisters were being led to their lodgings, Mother Saint Mathilde reported the initial Japanese reaction, writing: “Our dress excited great curiosity. The Japanese came out of their homes to look at us and asked one another what sex we could be and why we were in their country. Many followed us right to the top of the hill where our house was located.”19 Their initial housing was too small for VJGKTPGGFUNCEMKPIURCEGHQTCPQTCVQT[UWHſEKGPVCTGCVQECTT[QWVVJGKTYQTMU and distance enough from their charges to provide some area of quiet. However, they remained there until their newly built Yokohama convent was ready two years later in September of 1874. 15 16 17
18 19
“Vie,” p. 506, SEJ, YC. “Ibid.,” p. 511, SEJ, YC. “Relation de Mere Sainte Mathilde” (Account of the Japan mission by Mother Saint Mathilde), p. 17, SEJ, YC. Hereafter cited as “Relation.” Ibid. Ibid. p. 18.
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It is instructive to follow the progress of the building, because it gives insights into the lines of authority. The Paris Foreign Mission priests were directly under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide), and so Petitjean as a bishop, reported to this congregation. He and his priests were in charge of the mission and funded the buildings used for charitable works. The sisters, as noted in the bishop’s letter, had to pay their own living expenses. The leasing of land for their new lodgings was carried out through a letter of request made to the French Consul in Japan, who did the negotiating with the Japanese government. Communication was then conveyed by him to the sisters, through the Paris Foreign priests.20 What also becomes clear is that the sisters were totally in charge of the construction plans and their execution.21 The long delay in the sisters’ relocation was caused by a request for a larger tract of land than the Japanese government initially allocated, by the necessity to cut costs because the sisters could not afford what they originally deemed necessary, and the need for Mother Saint Mathilde to be on site to see the plans through.22 As noted above, Mother Saint Mathilde was still stationed in Singapore as the superior of the Asia mission, but she OCFGPWOGTQWUVTKRUVQ,CRCPDGVYGGPCPFVJGVKOGQHJGTſPCNOQXG to Japan in 1876. How did Mother Saint Mathilde view Japan and the Japanese, a country and people so newly opened to the Western world? There are many comments about learning the language. Mother Saint Mathilde talks about the language lesson given them by Petitjean on the morning of their arrival. He dictated RJTCUGUCPF/QVJGT5CKPV/CVJKNFGTGƀGEVUő*QYVQWPFGTUVCPFVJKUWPMPQYP language? How even to understand these words so strange to the European ear? Where do they begin? Where do they end? It is a mystery. Writing is another complication [in learning the language].”23 In a letter written June 30, 1872, just days after their arrival, she said, “We are into the study of Japanese. This is PQUOCNNVJKPIŒ(KXG[GCTUNCVGT,CPWCT[UJGOGPVKQPGFVJGFKHſEWNV[ of the language, how they were all studying but still did not know enough to teach by themselves.24 Her remarks concerning the Japanese are generally favorable. She described them as sweet, docile, and polite but also very easily offended (February 25, 1876).25Another of the sisters, Mother Saint Norbert Levesque, in a letter of May 20
21 22
23 24 25
See letter from Henri Armbruster (1842–1896), a Paris Foreign Mission priest who, from 1870 to 1874, was in charge of the material or temporal aspects of the mission (procure de la OKUUKQP See Compte Rendu des Missions-Etrangeres de Paris, 1896, p. 344. He wrote this letter from Yokohama in the absence of Petitjean, November 28, 1872, SEJ, YC. Letter from Petitjean to Mere Sainte Mathilde January 8, 1873, SEJ, YC. Letters from Mere St. Norbert to Paris mother house, November 10,1872; January 5, 1873; January 18, 1874, SEJ, YC. “Vie,” pp. 513–514, SEJ, YC. Letters from Mother Mathilde to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, SEJ, YC. Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, SEJ, YC.
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18,1874, wrote that almost all the Japanese could read and write.26 Clearly, this was not true, but it is interesting that this was her observation. Japan at this time is estimated to have had a male literacy rate of about 40%. On the negative side, Mother Saint Mathilde remarked that the Japanese love music but she found their music horrible (affreux), which did not hinder them from singing wherever they were.27 Regarding their food, she quipped, “I do not know of a people who eat more poorly than the Japanese. Never meat, never fat QTQKNQTDWVVGTKPVJGRTGRCTCVKQPQHVJGKTſUJQTVJGKTXGIGVCDNGU6JGKTHTWKVU are without taste, and they don’t ripen.”28 On a more serious note, she related that some Japanese, instead of destroying the child they could not feed, brought the baby to the sisters.29 And at another time she spoke of the costs of Japan’s modernization. A young girl of six was brought to them. “This child is one of a number of victims of the profound misery of the Japanese; they are already poor because they are out of work, and in addition, the Japanese government imposes on them a number of taxes in order to establish railroads, telegraphs, etc.; they think of everything except the unfortunates.”30One of the priests explained to Mother Saint Mathilde that in doing business with the Japanese, “they are long on affairs (or business) and it is in their nature to make people wait.”31 Finally, reference was made by Mother Saint Mathilde to houses of prostitution, described as “bad houses which are numerous here.”32 Since the primary aim of the sisters’ work was to aid the priests in their attempt to win souls over to the Catholic religion, Japanese religious beliefs were spoken of generally in pejorative terms. On December 3, 1873, Mother Saint Mathilde wrote after having visited a shrine in Chiba: “monstrous statues of dragons, terrible serpents, the worst ones in the best places, the most respected.” She went on to explain that the Japanese had remorse. They feared these kami (Shinto gods) a great deal because it was the kami that seized people and caused all sorts of mental agony.33 In a letter of January 14, 1877, Mother Saint Mathilde described what she says was rather common in those days, the practices of a devotee of Amida Buddha YJQYCUHWNſNNKPIJKUXQYUTWPPKPIVJTQWIJVJGUVTGGVUIGUVKEWNCVKPIUETGCOKPI and singing. He was scarcely clothed. Apparently even the little he had on was due to the complaints of the Europeans. Her recounting ends with the words, “My God, when then will the divine light enlighten with its sweet rays the hearts of these foolish (insensès) people. Why can we bring the light [of faith] to only a small number? Why so few fathers of families?”34 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, SEJ, YC. Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas July 17, 1872, SEJ, YC. Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, July 7, 1877, SEJ, YC. “Relation,” p. 43, SEJ, YC. Ibid. Letter from Petitjean to M?re Sainte Mathilde in Singapore, January 8, 1873, SEJ, YC Letter, March 10,1877, SEJ, Tokyo Collection, hereafter cited as TC. Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, SEJ, YC. Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, SEJ, YC.
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In answering her own questions, she suggested two reasons. First, she lamented the fact that the representatives of France and England lacked faith. Instead, “they have a lot of prudence, of worldly wisdom, and do not aim for anything higher than those virtues.” She believed that, if the missionaries could have gotten into the interior of the country where the people were more docile, they would have had more converts.35 Second, she felt that they got bad example from the Christian Westerners involved in commerce. She elaborated on this last point, saying how sad it was to see the traders able to go anywhere, even to the palace of the princes, “in order to fool them and steal their gold.”36 A third reason for the lack of conversions to Catholicism is sprinkled throughout her letters: the seemingly enormous sums that the Protestant missionaries had to further their work. In a letter to the Saint-Enfance, a fundraising group in 2CTKUUJGYTQVGKPő6JG2TQVGUVCPVUCTGRTQſVKPIHTQOQWTRQXGTV[HTQO our powerlessness, to establish themselves throughout Japan. They already have OQTGVJCPſHV[OKPKUVGTUYKVJVJGKTYKXGUCPFEJKNFTGPKPVJGECRKVCNYJGTG they spend considerable sums of money building churches, opening schools in all the big centers; almost every trunk from England and America brings them aid. To counter-balance all that, the missionaries and the sisters have only weeping (gemissements) and tears.”37 She remarked,“The Japanese feel the absurdity of their [the Protestants’] religion and desire to know the truth. It is painful to see here apostles of lies and errors more numerous than the envoys of the Holy Church. It is true that the former make more noise than work, but they are not the less an obstacle to good.”38 35
36
37
38
Letters from Mère Sainte Mathilde to the Reverend Mother de Faudoasjuly 17, 1872, SEJ, YC. Ibid. January 14, 1877. This same idea is expressed by Grace Fox in $TKVCKPCPF,CRCPŌ 1883 (Oxford, 1969): “Japanese and missionaries alike realized that the most exasperating obstacles to Japan’s acceptance of Christianity was the bad examples set by nominal Christians at the treaty ports. Their arrogant, predatory behavior and dishonesty in business, their drunken brawls, and profanity, and their brutality to natives showed a wide divergence between the profession and practice of the Christian faith. If they represented Christian ethics, the teachings of Confucius, Buddha, and those of the Imperial Ancestors appeared to the Japanese for superior. To prove otherwise, a scattering of missionaries in the great cities of Japan had a lonely and often unrewarding struggle. The merchant community held them in contempt and delighted in gossip over usually unfounded scandals about them. ‘Men of business and leisure,’ dedicated to diametrically opposite goals, were utterly unable to understand a missionary’s work or purpose “ (p. 517). Letter to the Saint-Enfance from Singapore, September 9, 1875, SEJ, TC. The author has no notion of whether this is just a perception on the part of Mother Saint Mathilde or really a fact. Since her letter is to a fundraising group, she may be exaggerating the poverty. While QPGEQWNFIGVUQOGPQVKQPQHVJGſPCPEGUQHVJG%CVJQNKEOKUUKQPCVVJKUVKOGKVYQWNF DGFKHſEWNVVQCUEGTVCKPVJGTGUQWTEGUQHVJG2TQVGUVCPVOKUUKQPUUKPEGVJGTGYGTGCPWODGT of different groups. On another point, note how Mother Saint Mathilde distinguishes the sisters from the missionaries. Clearly, the sisters at that time did not see themselves as missionaries. Letter, March 19, 1876, SEJ, YC.
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Several social needs in the rapidly changing Japan matched the talents of the newly arrived sisters. One of the works that the sisters moved into almost immediately was the care of children who had been orphaned or abandoned or one of whose parents asked the sisters to take the child and care for her. The sisters began their work by opening orphanages for four reasons. First, they could care for infants without knowing Japanese. Second, working with the very young could lead to conversions to Catholicism, not only for the child but for the parents. Third, the Sainte-Enfance, a fundraising group managed from Paris, donated money for the running of orphanages in Asia.39 Finally, there was a need in Japan. The historian Mikiso Hane mentions that “in the city of Tokyo alone, hundreds of babies were abandoned in public places. . . ”40 The sisters took KPEJKNFTGPYJQJCFNQUVVJGKTRCTGPVUKPPCVWTCNFKUCUVGTUQTKPVGTPCNEQPƀKEVU who were abused, abandoned, or whose parents were too poor to care for them. In a letter dated February 23, 1877, Mother Saint Mathilde referred to the war between the north and the south in Japan (the Satsuma Rebellion) as causing yet more orphans.41 As early as 1873, Petitjean reported that the girls’ school in Yokohama had ſHVGGP'WTQRGCPDQCTFGTUCPFVJKTV[UKZQTRJCPU42 Eventually, after opening CUEJQQNCPFQTRJCPCIGKP6QM[QVJGKTGUVCDNKUJOGPVUKPDQVJEKVKGUſNNGFVQ capacity. By 1877, there were eighty young girls under the care of the sisters, VYGPV[UOCNNDQ[UCPFſHV[EJKNFTGPCRQTVKQPQHVJGONKXKPIKPVJGUWTTQWPFing areas with families that agreed to tend them for the sisters.43 When one considers that there were orphanages being run by the Protestants as well, we can see that this was a social problem being given much aid by the Europeans and Americans. A recounting of the mission written in 1889 by Father Alfred Francois-Desire Ligneul (1847–1922), a Paris Foreign Mission priest, explained that the words “orphan” and “orphanage” were no longer acceptable because the Japanese found them odious. All Japanese, male or female, in order to be considered human persons must have a family, either their own or another, it makes little difference, to which they belong, and have a name, and a residence recorded in the town hall. That is why, in the interests of the children raised by the sisters, before admitting them, when they do not have parents, one searches 39
40 41
42 43
This group grew out of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith with priority given to works serving Asian Children. See Annales de l’Oeuvre de la Sainte-Enfance, Vol. 1, no. 1 (1846), 27. Hereafter cited as Annales. Peasants, Rebels, & Outcasts: The Underside of Modern Japan (New York, 1982), p. 209. Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, February 23, 1877, SEJ, YC She reiterates this statement in another letter of April 8, 1877, as the war continues, ibid. Compte Rendu des Missions ?trang?res de Paris, 1873, p. 43, SEJ, YC. J. B. Piolet, Les Missions Catholiques fran?aises au XIXe Siècle, vol. 3: Chine et fapon (Paris, 1902), p. 458.
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for some, has them adopted by someone of good will, who will speak for them before the civil law, and who is assumed to be caring for them.44 One can see sensitivity here on both sides. The sisters were responding to the ,CRCPGUGTGSWGUVD[CVVGORVKPIVQſPFUQOGMKPFQHHCOKN[HQTVJGEJKNFTGPWPFGT their care. At the same time, the Japanese were allowing the sisters to continue their work. They saw that the sisters were caring for children who might otherwise have been neglected. Another common practice in Japan at this time was the sale of young girls to brothels. The sisters interceded in such cases when sought. For example, Mother Saint Mathilde writes of the mother of a poor family with numerous children who asked Mother Saint Mathilde to take three of her daughters, aged 8, 12, and 14, who were going to be sold into prostitution. Mother Saint Mathilde agreed on the condition that the children stay with the sisters until the age of 20, and that they be allowed to become Catholics. There is nothing in the records to indicate that students were ever forced to convert to Catholicism; the choice was always theirs. For some time, all went well. Then one day, the girls’ mother came to the sisters and told them that the girls’ grandmother was very sick and wanted to see at least the oldest child. Instead of going to see the grandmother, however, she was sold to a “disreputable American.” Mathilde was so incensed when she learned of this that she wrote to the American and eventually got the girl back.45 Japan at this time was in the throes of industrialization and modernization in order to be able to compete with the Western powers. The selling of daughters to brothels increased with industrialization as the cities grew in size and men increasingly outnumbered women.46 How does one assess the work of the sisters? The tasks the sisters engaged in initially, namely, the running of orphanages, schools, and clinics for those ,CRCPGUGJKVJCTFGUVD[VJGEJCPIKPIVKOGUKP,CRCPJCFVQDGPGſV,CRCP(QT example, in the four orphanages run by the sisters which existed in 1902 in the Tokyo area (which includes Yokohama), there were 868 children.47 In the letters of the sisters concerning their schools and orphanages, one gets the impression VJCVVJG[YGTGCNYC[UſNNGFVQECRCEKV[6JGUCOGECPDGUCKFHQTVJGKTENKPKEU Certainly Christianity and Western values were being imparted with education and medication, but meeting some of the needs of Japan’s less fortunate classes could not but have helped.48 In addition, it must be remembered that conversion was not a condition for receiving service from the sisters. 44
45 46 47 48
July 27, 1902, SEJ, TC. This report was submitted to the Paris mother house of the sisters; the Paris Foreign Mission Society Archives do not appear to have a copy. See Streit, QREKV : 101, for more information on Ligneul. Letter of Mere Sainte Mathilde, March 10, 1877, SEJ, TC. Hane, QREKV p. 210. Piolet, QREKV p. 501. These sisters also ran schools for the Japanese students who could pay. Perhaps their most famous is the Futaba school in the Kojimachi area of Tokyo, where the current empress
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Japan’s history of helping the destitute (orphans, the severely ill or disabled, and the aged) during the Tokugawa Bakufu (1603–1868), relied heavily on the assistance of the surrounding local family and community. When these avenues failed, the local magistrate might investigate and grant assistance. In Edo (Tokyo) by the late 1700s, relief operations were handled by the newly established machi-kaisho VQYPQHſEG$WVCUVJGPWODGTUQHPGGF[ITGYUQFKF the struggle between the central bureaucracy and the local self-government regarding who would exert control over the burgeoning population. “Alarmed D[VJGJWIGGZRGPFKVWTGUCPFD[VJGEQORGVKVKQPHQTKPƀWGPEGVJG6QM[QRTGfectural government abolished the machi-kaisho in 1872. This action severely curtailed the provision for poor relief in Tokyo.”49 The sisters’ arrival at this time appears fortuitous. An important element introduced by the sisters’ example is the concept of Christian religious life lived in community, with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Although the Paris Foreign Mission priests had organized groups of pious women, some of whom took the same vows privately, women who chose VQLQKPGUVCDNKUJGFQHſEKCNTGNKIKQWUEQPITGICVKQPUDGICPFQKPIUQQPN[CHVGTVJG sisters arrived. In a society where marriage was de rigueur, the sisters’ life style provided an option for Christian women. By December of 1878, the Saint Maur sisters had two young women who FGUKTGFVQLQKPVJGKTTCPMU6JGſTUVEJQQUKPIVJGPCOGQH/CTKCCVJGTEQPXGTUKQP to the Catholic faith, was a married woman. On the day of her baptism, she and her husband expressed the desire to separate, and Maria entered the Sisters of Saint Maur and her husband entered the seminary. Another woman was a Christian by birth, and she had suffered during the Japanese government’s persecution of %JTKUVKCPUKPGCTN[/GKLK#VJKTF.WEKCFGſGFJGTRCTGPVUŏYKUJGUKPLQKPKPIVJG sisters. When, shortly after her decision, her grandfather died and a new nephew was born, she chose not to attend the funeral or birth ceremonies because of the religious associations in both cases.50 Becoming Christian in those days was culVWTCNN[GZVTGOGN[FKHſEWNVVQUC[PQVJKPIQHVJGEWNVWTCNEQUVUCPFKUQNCVKQPVJCV might come to Japanese women joining a religious order. Nevertheless, as early CUVJGTGYGTGſXGYQOGPKPVGTGUVGFKPLQKPKPIVJGUKUVGTUQH5CKPV/CWT51
49
50 51
studied for three years; and Futaba Denencho-fu school, where the wife of the crown prince was educated. The sisters also have schools in Yokohama, Fukuyama, Nagasaki, Shizuoka, and Okinawa. Sheldon Garon, Molding Japanese Minds: The State in Everyday Life (Princeton, 1997), p. 35. )CTQPCNUQPQVGUVJCVőKPVJGVQYPQHſEGQTmachi-kaisho gave temporary assistance to a staggering 941,686 people (18.7 percent of the population), and granted ongoing assistance to 16,568 people (0.3 percent) the following year. Given the scale of this assistance program, prefectural authorities complained that they could not hope to compete for the ‘loyalty’ of the people ‘if wealthy merchants of the city’ continued to oversee the provision of poor relief’ KDKF Earlier, Garon indicated “Japan did not have anything approaching a comprehensive public assistance law until 1929” (p. 32). Annales, no. 189 (August, 1879), 267–269. Today, virtually all of the Soeurs de l’Enfant-Jesus in Japan are Japanese.
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Given this work in Japan, what can we learn about Mother Saint Mathilde herself as a French woman religious in Japan? First, in Mother Saint Mathilde’s letters, there is never any hint of self-doubt, no wavering in her commitment to Japan and the Japanese people. She went to Japan under her vow of obedience; yet it is clear that she worked toward this through her prayers, and in her conXGTUCVKQPUYKVJCPFNGVVGTUVQVJGOQVJGTUWRGTKQTKP(TCPEG5JGYCUFGſPKVGN[ actively engaged in the directions her life took. One catches some of her intense commitment and her awareness of the limits placed on her as a woman in a letter to the motherhouse dated June 30, 1872. Awaiting the possible visit of two QHſEKCNUHTQOVJGGORGTQTŏUEQWTVUJGYTQVGő&QPQVDGUWTRTKUGFKH[QWJGCT the Mikado himself (the emperor) visits us. If I wore pants, I think that I would not wait until he summoned me.”52 On another occasion, she refused to accept boys in her orphanage, which she said made many people angry. “We cannot do everything so it is better to concentrate on the young girls. I take only the smallest, completely abandoned [boys]. I leave the others to the care of the missionaries. It would be good if they took care of them. I’ve encouraged them with vigor to get some good teachers for them [the boys] .”53 Again in 1877 she says if the priests saw as she did, they would start schools for the boys.54 She accepted the limitations imposed upon her by her gender and place in the mission, but she also recognized that were she allowed to do so, she would act. #UVTKMKPIEQPVTCUVKUHQWPFKPVJGUKUVGTYJQYCUUGPVCUVJGſTUVUWRGTKQTQH the Japan mission, Mother Saint Norbert Levesque. Even though Mother Saint /CVJKNFGNGFVJGITQWRVQ,CRCP/QVJGT5CKPV0QTDGTVYCUPCOGFVJGſTUVNQECN superior in Japan, while Saint Mathilde retained her position as superior of the Malaysia mission and her jurisdiction over the Asia mission. Mother Saint NorDGTVŏUNGVVGTUCTGſNNGFYKVJJGTUGPUGQHKPCFGSWCE[5JGVCNMUCDQWVVJGUKUVGTUŏ KUQNCVKQPKP,CRCPCDQWVJQYVJGFKHſEWNVKGUKP,CRCPCTGQXGTJGTJGCF5JG pleads often with the mother superior in Paris to send Mother Saint Mathilde to take over. She says that God permitted her illness so that Mother Saint Mathilde JCFVQEQOGCPFVQſPKUJVJGFGVCKNUQHVJGHQWPFCVKQPVJCVVJG[YGTGDGIKPPKPI in Tokyo.55 Mother Saint Norbert died in 1875 at the age of 41; Mother Saint Mathilde then left Malaysia for good and began her full-time efforts in Japan in January of 1876. She was 62 years old and she spent the remainder of her life in Japan, dying in 1911 at the age of 97. In order to live somewhat as they were accustomed and to provide living space for their boarders and the children with whom they worked, the sisters needed buildings. As we saw above, it is clear that the Paris Foreign Mission priests worked through the French consul, who requested land from the Japa52 53 54 55
Letter to Reverend Mother de Faudoas, SEJ, YC. June 13, 1876, SEJ, YC. January 15, 1877, SEJ, YC. Letters from Mother St. Norbert, February 16, 1873; March 31, 1873; January 18, 1874; February, May, and July, 1875, to the superior general in Paris, SEJ, YC.
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nese. Mother Saint Mathilde, in overseeing the construction, evidently did not hesitate to get involved. Not too impressed with the Japanese wood-and-paper style of buildings, Mother Saint Mathilde took it upon herself to show the Japanese workmen how to make good mortar. It is interesting to note that Mother Saint Mathilde hired a Chinese entrepreneur to complete the work.56 By 1875 VJG%JKPGUGEQPUVKVWVGFVJGUKPINGNCTIGUVITQWRQHVJGſXGVJQWUCPFHQTGKIPGTU in Japan, numbering more than half.57 A Japanese entrepreneur impressed Mother Saint Mathilde when she pursued enlarging a building in Tokyo where they had expanded their mission in 1875, but there was not enough room between the existing buildings for the addition. To take the building down and rebuild it would have been too costly; so the Japanese entrepreneur proposed moving the whole building.To Mother Saint Mathilde’s astonishment, in two days he put it on wheels and moved it where she wanted it. There was even an elderly sick woman lying on her mat inside the building who was left undisturbed under her covers throughout the process. Mother Saint Mathilde indicated that this was not a rare phenomenon in Japan.58 Her ability to appreciate the ingenuity of the Japanese shows her openness to the culture and the people. Also winning Mother Saint Mathilde’s admiration were the Japanese police. In a letter written in 1890 (the month is not clear), Mother Saint Mathilde talks of a cholera epidemic that hit their area. She says it began around midnight when an elderly person of 87 died, then a child of 8, then another child. Shortly, three more children died. By 6 a.m., YJGPVJGFQEVQTCTTKXGFJGEQPſTOGFKVYCU indeed cholera and that they had to inform the police, who arrived around eleven o’clock. Any sick children were sent to a hospital for cholera victims, and ultiOCVGN[UKZVGGPFKGF$GVYGGPHQTV[CPFſHV[OGPCTTKXGFCUOCP[JGNRGTUCU QHſEGTUVQTGOQXGCP[VJKPIVJCVEQWNFDGDWTPGF6JQUGYJQFKFPQVNGCXG VJCVſTUVFC[JCFVQUVC[VJGFQQTYCUIWCTFGFD[VJGRQNKEGEQOOKUUKQPGFCPF PQPEQOOKUUKQPGFQHſEGTUFC[CPFPKIJVHQTQPGYGGM6JGNGVVGTKPFKECVGUVJCV CNNVJGQHſEGTUYKVJQWVGZEGRVKQPYGTGOQUVMKPF#PFVJGNGVVGTOGPVKQPUVJCV the newspapers, in reporting the epidemic, said nothing against the sisters. That the sisters were accepted in these early days is evident from several examRNGU IKXGP KP VJGKT EQTTGURQPFGPEG +P VJGTG YCU C ſTG KP VJGKT CTGC QP the Bluff in Yokohama. The Japanese living nearby ran to help them save their furniture. A neighbor woman even took the chickens the sisters were raising, kept them and fed them for several days until the sisters could take them back.59 56 57
58
59
“Vie,” p. 528, SEJ, YC. J. E. Hoare, ,CRCPŏU6TGCV[2QTVUCPF(QTGKIP5GVVNGOGPVU6JG7PKPXKVGF)WGUVUŌ (Folkestone, Kent, 1994), p. 21. “Vie,” pp. 542–543, SEJ, YC. See also Michael Cooper, S.J. (ed.), They Came to Japan: An Anthology of European Reports on Japan (Berkeley, California, 1965), p. 217, where the same observation is made by the Jesuit Joao Rodrigues (1561–1634). “Relation” p. 26, SEJ, YC.
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On another occasion, an artisan named Take, who helped the sisters on various occasions, risked his life during a typhoon. He climbed up on the roof to secure it at the height of the damaging winds. When asked why he would do such a thing, he said, “For the reverend Mother, for all of you who love my country, I would do anything.”60 After the earthquake of 1894, when dormitory buildings had been damaged and some children had no lodgings, people from the countryside came, some from great distances, who had cared for the children when they were infants, and offered to take the children in until the houses were reconstructed. They refused money saying that the sisters were already doing enough good for the children of “our country” so that they would now do their part when the sisters suffered misfortune. Finally, a group of Japanese women who associated themselves with the Yokohama establishment as “helpers” witnessed to the fact VJCV/QVJGT5CKPV/CVJKNFGMGRVKPVQWEJYKVJVJQUGYJQſPKUJGFUEJQQN5JGYCU likened to a grandmother, and once a year she brought them back for a reunion. One woman said, “She never spoke of us as ‘the orphans,’ but as ‘our children.”’61 Mother Saint Mathilde came from a country that had seen a marked restriction on women’s rights imposed by the Napoleonic Civil Code of 1804, which made women legally subordinate to men. The historian Ralph Gibson saw a direct connection between the curtailment of women’s rights and the phenomenal growth in religious orders of women in nineteenth-century France. In them YQOGPEQWNFſPFCőUCVKUHCEVQT[HQTOQHHGOCNGUQEKCDKNKV[CPFEQNNGEVKXG action.”62 In addition, they were “about the only institutions in nineteenth-century France to offer women a real vocation in life” apart from motherhood, and “they appealed to young women with a desire to serve their fellow beings.”63 So it was that in nineteenth-century France congregations of women religious were providing social services that the state, as yet, was unwilling to provide, such as primary and secondary education and “a wide array of paramedical” services.64 It makes eminent sense that the French priests engaged in trying to win Japanese converts to Catholicism would call upon women religious to provide similar services in Japan. Also, the sisters would be able to reach Japanese women in a way that would have been impossible for the priests. Some modem Japanese scholars critique the works performed by the sisters because no effort was made to include the Japanese in the sisters’ projects, nor was there any nationally co-ordinated plan. Rather, their efforts sprung up here and there to meet immediate needs. This is cited as a reason for the lack of any Japanese statistics on the work of the sisters. The sisters are seen as insensitive to 60 61 62 63
64
“Vie,” p. 656, SEJ, YC. Ibid., p. – #5QEKCN*KUVQT[QH(TGPEJ%CVJQNKEKUOŌ (New York, 1989), pp. 118–119. Ibid., p. 118. In 1808 there were 12,300 women religious; 1815—15,000; 1830— 30,000; 1850— 66,0000; 1861 —104,000; 1878—135,000. See Claude Langlois, Le catholicisme au feminin: Les ³ congregations francaises àUWRGTKGWTGIGPGTCNGCW:+:UKGcle (Paris, 1984), p. 321. Ibid., pp. 119–120.
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Japanese culture because they placed poor children and orphans together with middle- and upper-class children in their early schools.65 Nonetheless, for their time, the work of the sisters was extraordinary. That the services the sisters provided met some immediate needs of the day emerges clearly from the above. The options the sisters provided for Japanese girls in terms of education in those early years cannot be easily dismissed when one realizes that in 1890, 70% of the female children did not have access to education, and in 1895, 87% of the primary school teachers were men.66 In addition, the option for Japanese women to choose religious life instead of marriage offered not only an alternate lifestyle, but afforded these women an outlet for their many talents. For GZCORNGVQFC[YGſPFVJGGUVCDNKUJOGPVUHQWPFGFD[VJKUſTUVEQPITGICVKQPKP Japan in the hands of their Japanese sisters.67 The sisters were, of course, part of the cultural imperialism inherent in promoting Christianity in a country which had little choice but to accept the semi-colonial UVCVWUKORQUGFD[9GUVGTPRQYGTU6JGUGTGNKIKQWUYQOGPCNUQDGPGſVGFHTQO the privileges granted France through the unequal treaties. But they certainly did not exemplify the worst of imperialism. They did not set out to exploit the people of Japan for the gain of imperial France. The comments quoted above show that they were critical of the behavior of some of their fellow countrymen. And even though they represented the Catholic Church to a certain degree, strictly speaking, they were not missionaries, they had no say in Church law or practice, nor did they limit their services to Catholics or make conversion to Catholicism a condition for their services. Further study is needed to assess whether or not the services provided and the institutions created by the sisters “actively depended on the subordination of their heathen sisters,” as expressed by the historian Susan Thorne in her discussion of what she calls “missionary-imperial feminism” in relation to the missionary work of the British women in the Victorian period.68 Mother Saint Mathilde is just one of many women who dedicated their lives to bettering, in their view, the life of the Japanese. Even though there is much we do not know about her because she did not like to draw attention to herself, her works, or her congregation,69JGTNKHGFGOQPUVTCVGUJQYVJGEQPƀWGPEGQH circumstances in France and Japan brought about the entrance of women religious into Japan. Through her we learn about a very different kind of western presence in Japan; we see Meiji Japan through new eyes, and we add valuable pages to the history of women. Many more such stories remain that need to be told. Meanwhile, let us end with what was probably considered high praise at 65 66
67 68
69
Tashiro Kikuo. Nihon Katorikkushakaijigyoshikenkyu (Tokyo, 1989), pp. 88–89. Byron K. Marshall, Learning to be Modern:Japanese Political Discourse on Education (Boulder, Colorado, 1994), pp. 75–76. By 1905 20% of the teachers were women and 90% of the girls were being educated. See note 48. “Missionary-Imperial Feminism” in Gendered Missions: Women and Men in Missionary Discourse and Practice, ed. Mary Taylor Huber and Nancy C. Lutkehaus (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1999), p. 60. “Vie,” p. 1, SEJ, YC.
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the time, namely, the words of Father Alfred Ligneul, a longtime missionary in Japan and, at one point, the Paris Foreign Mission priest in charge of the Tokyo-Yokohama mission. Like Mother Saint Mathilde, he recognized different roles for men and women in the nineteenth century, and Mother Saint Mathilde clearly won his admiration. In summing up what he referred to as Mother Saint Mathilde’s “virile” and “entrepreneurial character,” he wrote,“ ‘Mother Mathilde: But she’s a man!”70
70
Bulletin de la Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris 18eannee, n. 213 (September, 1939), 623. Another example of this type of compliment in nineteenth-century France is King LouisPhilippe of France, in 1833, saying of Mother Anne-Marie Javouhey, founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny,‘She is a great man!’” cited in Mary Grey, “She is a Great Man!” International Review of Mission, LXXXI (April, 1992), 201–212.
Source: #WVJQTŏUPQVG6JKUCTVKENGſTUVCRRGCTGFKPThe Electronic Journal of Japanese Studies www.japanesestudies.org.uk. Issue 12, Vol. 1
12
Gentlemanly Capitalism and the Club: Expatriate Social Networks in Meiji Kobe DARREN L. SWANSON
INTRODUCTION
FOREIGN POPULATIONS IN-QDGJCXGWPFGTIQPGVJTGGFKUVKPEVUVCIGUQHƀWZ6JG ſTUVRJCUGECPDGOCTMGFD[VJGCTTKXCNQHVJGſTUVHQTGKIPGTUYJQUGVVNGFKPVJG ƀGFINKPI*[QIQRQTVVJGCTGCCFLQKPKPIVJGEWTTGPVEKV[CPFYJCVYQWNFNCVGT be incorporated into the wider city of Kobe in 1868. From this point onwards, foreign communities thrived in the city throughout the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras until the advent of WWII, which saw the population haemorrhage due to the outbreak of hostilities between the Allies and Japan. During the war, only foreign nationals whose countries were allied with the Japanese or whose countries remained neutral were allowed to live and work in the city as normal. The hostilities marked the second transitional period for Kobe’s foreign population as many of those who left before the war failed to return. A few did choose to return JQYGXGTCPFVJGKPƀWZQHPGYémigrés in the years after the war changed the city’s demographic once again. While the foreign population began to thrive once more in the city as the Japanese economy recovered, the foreign nationals living KP,CRCPPGXGTTGICKPGFCUOWEJKPƀWGPEGCUVJG[JCFFQPGDGHQTGVJGYCT6JG VJKTFCPFſPCNUVCIGHQTVJGEKV[ŏUGZRCVTKCVGEQOOWPKV[YCUOCTMGFD[VJG)TGCV Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. While the disaster affected every resident living in the affected area, Japanese or otherwise, the community was again disrupted as many of the workplaces associated with expatriates in Kobe, such as shipping and foreign consular work, were relocated to nearby Osaka. Visitors eager to sample the nostalgia of bygone Japan generally head to the EKV[ŏUCHƀWGPV-KVCPQEJQYJGTGVQWTKUVUCTGHGTTKGFWRVJGJKNNKPCShowa-teki bus to see picturesque ‘foreign’ houses perched at the foot of the Mt. Rokko range. There almost seems to be a national longing among the Japanese for a purer, more innocent Japan that is perceived to have existed before the war. A Japan free of the 185
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concrete towers that pepper the horizon making one city indistinguishable from the next; a halcyon period where jinrikshas weaved among the trams or chinchin densha, where rosy-cheeked children sipped ramune, their laughter intermingling with the clip-clop sounds of women’s geta. It’s an alluring image. It was also the era whereby Japan slowly spiraled into the disaster of militarism, masqueraded in the form of -ęFęKUO that would eventually lead to the destruction of most of the Japanese urban landscape, paving the way for the now familiar modern sprawl of glass and steel. Incidentally, Ramune,,CRCPŏUQVJGTPCVKQPCNFTKPMCſ\\[NGOonade with a distinct bottle, is as much of a symbol of the history of interaction with the West as the treaty port. The drink owes its origins to a one Alexander Cameron Sim, a Scottish pharmacist and founding member of the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, which in itself, was also a product of the Meiji era. Foreigner’s clubs appeared in nearly all of Japan’s treaty ports soon after the terms for extraterritoriality were written up. Kobe was no exception, with two such institutions, namely the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club and the Kobe Club, forming the locus of the Western community in the region for well over a hundred years. The Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, known locally as the K. R. & A. C., founded in 1870 is the oldest existing institution of its kind, foreign or QVJGTYKUGKP,CRCP)TCFWCNN[CUVJGEKV[ŏUFGOQITCRJKEGDDGFCPFƀQYGFFWGVQ varying political and economic circumstances, these institutions have now found themselves facing a crisis of survival and the possibility of disappearing forever. The original K. R. & A. C. building has, alas, followed the same fate as much of ,CRCPŏURTGYCTCTEJKVGEVWTGCPFPQUVCNIKCDWHHUOC[DGFKUCRRQKPVGFVQſPFVJCV VJGQPEGITCPFGFKſEGUQH-QDGŏUHCOQWUENWDUJCXGNQPIFKUCRRGCTGFCPFVJG clubs now exude little of their former glory. However, these institutions were once the beating heart of the pre-war foreign community. It would even be a safe assumption to state that opting out of any kind of social activity involving the clubs was virtually social suicide for any foreign national involved in any kind of business in the city before, and perhaps even after, WWII. Foreign club culture was not unique to Kobe, however, the resilience of these VYQKPUVKVWVKQPUVJTQWIJQWVVJGVWTDWNGPVJKUVQT[QHVJGEKV[OCMGVJGOCUKIPKſECPV historical entity around which to base a wider study of the social networks of the foreign community and how they interacted, or more often than not, how they remain still very much on the periphery of Japanese society. As the cultures of the world’s most developed economies become increasingly homogenous, the foreign community in Kobe has adapted accordingly to these changes that have taken place within Japanese society. As such, the phenomena of globalization has in many ways rendered these institutions obsolete; essentially they remain as an anachronistic relic QHVJGEQNQPKCNGTC7RQPO[CTTKXCNKP,CRCPQXGTHQWT[GCTUCIQVJGſTUVVJKPIVJCV struck me was how much in common Japan seemed to have with North America. Similarly, Ed Ruscha’s 1982 piece, Japan is America, somewhat cynically conduces toward the notion of just how far the Euro-American capitalist system has spread throughout the globe. As Buruma has stated, Japan now seems like a distorted mir-
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ror image of the country that tried so very hard to shape it after the war.1 While convenience stores, brand name logos and the neon signs of corporations abound, the existence of a Western club culture in Kobe seemed to me to represent an older, more European aspect of Kobe life that the city has become famous for. Stepping QXGTVJGVJTGUJQNFQHVJG-QDG4GICVVC#VJNGVKE%NWDHQTVJGſTUVVKOGKVYCU almost as if I had left Japan and returned to one of the historical sports clubs that are scattered throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Indeed, despite the diversity of membership at the club there remains something distinctly Anglophile about the clubs giving them a characteristic reminiscent of similar institutions that existed wherever the British had a formal or informal imperial role.
Fig. 1. The Kobe Club circa. 1900.2
The European club was an institution that emerged virtually as a direct result of imperialist expansion, and as such, they can be found in any country that has had a history of economic or social interaction with the United Kingdom, and to some extent, other European nations with imperialistic tendencies. While by no means a purely British phenomenon, the gentleman’s club tends to evoke images of the upper strata of the British elite. Not suprisingly, London had so many clubs that the area of St James’s is still often referred to by some as ‘clubland’. Many of the clubs owed their origins to the seventeenth-century English coffeehouses; places where individuals could hold public gatherings and talk in an environment with an air QHEQPſFGPVKCNKV[#P[YJGTGKPVJGYQTNFVJCVVJG$TKVKUJGUVCDNKUJGFthemselves, 1 2
Buruma, I. 2003. +PXGPVKPI,CRCPŌLondon. pp. 152. Japan Chronicle, Nov. 28th, 1900.
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the creation of some kind of private space for social gathering was of the highest priority.3 Central to this study is P. J. Rich’s theory that the clubs acted as institutions that represented the metropole of the home nation in the peripheral society of whichever country they happened to be in. In this sense, the research outlined below will argue that the clubs can be viewed as satellites of Western meteropole society whereby among their varied roles as places of amusement and relaxation, they were also used as arenas for the propagation of Western hegemonic ideologies.4
CLUBLAND DESCENDS ON KOBE:
During the era of British overseas expansion there emerged what Bowen has termed as an ‘international British elite’ or ‘transoceanic imperial elite’ through the ‘Anglicization’ of international high society.5 Cain and Hopkins6 have idenVKſGFVJKUGNKVGUQEKGV[CUCPCNNKCPEGQHOWVWCNDGPGſVHQTIGFDGVYGGPTGRTGUGPVCVKXGUQHNCPFQYPGTUCPFVJGJGCFUQHVTCFKPICPFſPCPEKCNKPUVKVWVKQPU6JGKT term, ‘Gentlemanly Capitalists’, has now become synonymous with the historical analysis of the phenomena of globalization. They have argued that Gentlemanly Capitalists were at the very heart of the expansionist process, most notably in VJGKPETGCUKPIN[RQYGTHWNſPCPEKCNUGTXKEGUGEVQTQH.QPFQPKPVJGPKPGVGGPVJ EGPVWT[YJGTGD[VJG[YGTGCDNGVQCNNQECVGTGUQWTEGUUJCRGQRKPKQPCPFKPƀWence decision making. It should therefore come as no surprise that coinciding YKVJVJGTKUGQH.QPFQPCUCPKPVGTPCVKQPCNſPCPEKCNJWDYGUGGVJGGOGTIGPEG of a network of elite social clubs that came into being as a direct result of the forOCVKQPQHVJGſPCPEKCNUGEVQTCPFYJQUGRTGOKUGUYGTGYKVJKPYCNMKPIFKUVCPEG from the London Stock Exchange. Effectively, clubs were a kind of conduit for those entering a life in service of the empire. Clubs were a training ground for the uninitiated, and being considered ‘clubbable’, as Dr. Johnson once famously described James Boswell, was often all one needed to get ahead in life. As a concept, ‘Gentlemanly Capitalism’ certainly has a certain ring to it, howGXGTKPVQFC[ŏU'PINKUJNGZKEQPVJGVGTOEQPLWTGUWRKOCIGUQHFQHſPIJCVU monocles and walrus moustaches. Photographs of A. C. Sim and other members of the K. R. & A. C. certainly hold true to that image, as seen below in Figure 2. Nevertheless, gentlemanly conduct was an ideology actively promoted by the British public school system via the secular trinity of imperialism, militarism and 3 4
5
6
Sinha (2001) See Rich, P.J. Chains of Empire: English public schools, Masonic Cabalism, Historical Causality, and Imperial Clubdom, London. Bowen, H. V. 2002. Gentlemanly Capitalism and the Making of a Global British Empire: Some Connections and Contexts, 1688–1815, in Akita, S (eds) Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism and Global History, London. Cain, P. J & Hopkins, A. G. 1987. Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Expansion Overseas II: New Imperialism, 1850–1945, in The Economic History Review, NS, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Feb), pp. 1–26.
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athleticism.7 Many of the traders who had set up shop in the Kobe settlement were of humble beginnings; self-made men, no doubt, with gentlemanly aspirations. A. C. Sim himself was an indefatigable athleticist, and as has always been the case, excellence in sport was a fast-track way of gaining the admiration of one’s peers. Sim’s legendary sporting prowess were stuff of Kobe legend. He was famous for winning a race between the settlement and nearby Mt. Maya, a climb of 2,300 feet, in under an hour and a half.8 Quite impressive even by today’s standards, however, there were only two participants in the race.
Fig 2: A. C. Sim seen standing on the far left with other K. R. & A. C. members.9
While the sporting achievements of the foreigners in the settlement were no doubt looked upon with quaint amusement by the Japanese, athleticism played a central role in the imperial system. Games were crucial in the development of qualities, such as physical courage and team spirit; attributes that were considered essential in coping with the psychological rigors of imperial duty.10 7
8 9
10
Mangan, J. A. Play up and Play the Game: Victorian and Edwardian Public School Vocabularies of Motive, in British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Oct 1975), pp. 324. Japan Chronicle, Nov. 28th, 1900. Newman, D. 2000. 6JG,9*GPFGTUQP%QNNGEVKQPQH,CRCPGUG2JQVQITCRJUHQTOGFŌ London, pp. 59. Mangan (Ibid)
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There was a genuine fear at the time of a Conradesque descent into madness, and a general disdain for those who were seen to have ‘gone native’. An early CEEQWPVQHC'WTQRGCPVTCFGTKP-QDGJKUPCVKQPCNKV[KUWPURGEKſGFPQFQWDVVQ protect his dignity, is mentioned at length in a column in a Hiogo & Osaka News edition of 1868. He appears to have been reprimanded by his peers for having conducted business with the ‘Celestials’, a thinly veiled racist barb aimed at the Chinese, who had a healthy business presence in the port. The editor informs us that he was quietly encouraged to,’come out of that, and back into the fold of the white community.11 It seems clear that the ‘internationalism’ of the settlement was not intended to include the Chinese. Similarly, an incident of what appears to have been vigilantism involving founding members of the K. R. & A. C., Arthur Hasketh Groom and Edward Fischer, towards a group of Chinese gamblers in July of 1872,12 highlights that the men who formed and ran the clubs, also ran the settlement. Early editions of the Hiogo & Osaka News,-QDGŏUſTUV'PINKUJNCPIWCIGPGYUpaper, often have a haughty tone about them, and it is easy to deduce that the paper saw itself as the voice of reason among the foreign community. Robert Young, the eventual owner of the paper’s successor and much superior, Kobe/ Japan Chronicle, was responsible for inviting such scholarly mavericks as Lafcadio Hearn and Bertrand Russell to write for the %JTQPKENG He was also one of the founding members of the K. R. & A. C., as well as senior member of the settlement’s International Committee. While Japan was never incorporated into any foreign imperial body in any formal capacity, during the period of extraterritoriality (1853–1899), the foreign communities of Japan’s treaty ports were effectively autonomous regions governed by their own laws and not subject to Japanese jurisdiction. While quite distinct from colonialism, the system did impinge on the sovereignty of Japan, in a way reminiscent of what has been termed as ‘informal imperialism’. This term, however, is laden with historical overtones that do not necessarily represent all of the political and social interchanges that took place between the 9GUVGTP2QYGTUCPFEGTVCKP#UKCPPCVKQPU5QOGYJCVUKIPKſECPVN[ European colonial expansion had entered a ‘winding down’ period in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The two most dominant colonial powers in Asia, the British CPFVJG&WVEJJCFUQWIJVVQEQPUQNKFCVGVJGKTEQNQPKCNKPƀWGPEGCOQPIUVVJGKT established overseas territories rather than embarking on new colonial endeavors. Consequently, China and Japan were opened coercively to the Western world economy in a manner that would be seen as an assault on national sovereignty by today’s standards.136JG%JKPGUGUKVWCVKQPKPVJGPKPGVGGPVJEGPVWT[CPFſTUVJCNH of the twentieth century is a typical example of an ‘informal empire’ in relation to 11 12 13
Hiogo & Osaka News, Sept. 28th , 1868. *$/ŏU2TQXKPEKCN%QWTV4GEQTF/5/H/ſ,9$/ 1872, Kobe Chuo Library. Strang, D. 1996, ‘Contested Sovereignty: the construction of colonial imperialism’, in Weber, C. & Biersteker, T. (eds). State Sovereignty as Social Construct, Cambridge.
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the other Asian countries, such as British India, which fell into the more concrete example of ‘formal empire’ with regard to it’s relationship to Britain. In regard VQ,CRCP#MKVCJCUCTIWGFVJCVVJG$TKVKUJQXGTUGCUKPƀWGPEGUVGOOGFPQVQPN[ from traditional hold over its formal and informal empires, but perhaps more URGEKſECNN[VQVJGINQDCNPGVYQTMQHVJGſPCPEKCNJWDQHVJG%KV[QH.QPFQPCPF KVUKPƀWGPEGQPVJGſPCPEKCNUGEVQTUQHVJGECRKVCNKUVYQTNFGEQPQO[14 Specialists in Anglo-Japanese relations, such as Ian Nash; have theorized that after the signing of an alliance with Japan in 1902, the British considered the Japanese a trusted ally rather than as part of the British informal empire.15 This theory, however, does evoke the opinion that before this agreement, Japan may have been tacitly viewed as falling within the informal empire sphere by the British. 9JKNGVJG$TKVKUJIQXGTPOGPVENGCTN[DGPGſVVGFHTQOOCKPVCKPKPIVJGUVCVWU quo of the extraterritorial system, in 1894, Japan and Britain signed a treaty eliminating consular jurisdiction and revised the tariff rates (Japan would wait until 1911, however, for full tariff autonomy). The other Western powers soon followed Britain’s lead.16 Asserting a country’s legal sovereignty in such a way as this can be basically summed up as legal imperialism.17 In regard to legal jurisdiction over their citizens, the so-called Great Powers of the day just didn’t recognise the Japanese as being ‘civilised’ enough at the Tokyo Conference on treaty revision in 1882. Because of its extended period of self-isolation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Japanese found themselves occupying, what might be termed as the ‘Goldilocks zone’ of the geopolitical landscape by the late 1800s. In this sense, Japan was deemed as neither ‘not too warm’ nor ‘not too cold’ in terms of development, and the relatively short period of extraterritoriality that it GPFWTGFYCUUGGPCUCUWHſEKGPVCOQWPVQHVKOGVQDTKPIJGTUVCPFCTFUWRVQVJQUG viewed as acceptable to the eyes of the West. The astonishing speed whereby the Japanese changed, from a feudal society with an agrarian economy to a modern industrial nation, is perhaps one of the greatest transformations of the past two hundred years. Whereas the the transoceanic elite and gentlemanly ‘way of doing’ had been centuries in the making in the West, the Japanese were late arrivals to the party. As such, Japanese high society lurched somewhat awkwardly onto the path of Westernization. Western style buildings began to house newly formed ministries and proponents of the Western way, like Mori Arinori, even went as far as suggesting that English replace Japanese as the national language.18 The abolition of extraterritoriality was something that the Japanese had long strived for and justly received in 1899. There was some apprehension among the 14 15
16
17
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Akita, S. (eds). 2002. Gentlemanly Capitalism, imperialism, and global history, New York. Nish, I. 1966. 6JG#PINQ,CRCPGUG#NNKCPEG6JG&KRNQOCE[QH6YQ+UNCPF'ORKTGUŌ London. Perez, Louis G. 2000. Japan Comes of Age: Mutsu Munemitsu and the Revision of the Unequal 6TGCVKGU London. Kayaoglu, T. 2007. Legal Imperialism: Sovereignty and Extraterritoriality in Japan, the Ottoman Empire, and China, Cobbing, A. 1998.6JG,CRCPGUG&KUEQXGT[QH8KEVQTKCP$TKVCKP Japan Library, London.
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foreign community in Kobe and the editorials of The Kobe Chronicle in the weeks RTGEGFKPIVJGQHſEKCNJCPFQXGTQHVJGHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPVJKPVCVVJGHCEVVJCVVJGRTQUpect was not welcomed by the foreign merchants as it was to end their monopoly on trade. Lafcadio Hearn’s insight into the relationships between the two communities also gives a clear picture that things were far from the ‘mutual cooperation’ that historians both Japanese and Western alike are so fond of commenting on.19 In Nagasaki, the former Nagasaki Club was renamed the International Club on the eve of the transition from extraterritoriality. The Nagasaki Press gave an account of the affair as being attended by twenty Europeans and Americans and over one hundred CPFVYGPV[ſXG,CRCPGUG6JGPGYQTICPK\CVKQPŏU express purpose was to create ‘a good understanding between Japanese and foreign residents in Nagasaki’, this statement perhaps being evidence that the two communities hitherto had been quite separate.20 #NUQYQTVJ[QHPQVGKUVJGUJGGTPWODGTQH,CRCPGUGKPCVVGPFCPEGPGCTN[ſXGVKOGU as many as foreigners. It was at this stage that the phase for all things foreign was DGIKPPKPIVQTGCEJKVURGCM/CP[QHVJGUGPKQTſIWTGUQHVJG/GKLKTGUVQTCVKQPJCF been almost fanatic in their belief that the future security of the country lay in adopting almost exclusively European culture often at the expense of their own culture. The German physician Dr. T. Baelz noted that during the early Meiji era that VJGTGYCUCPGOGTIKPIVTGPFCOQPIUVUGPKQT,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUOCP[QHYJQOJCF studied for long periods abroad, who felt a contempt for their own native achievements, and even looked on them as something to be ashamed of.21 The symbol of what Shively has described as ‘absurdly overwhelming’ westernisation was the Rokumeikan, an elaborate building designed by English architect Josiah Conder in 1883 at a cost of 140,000 yen.22 As incredible as it seems today, Japan’s Meiji oligarchy were determined to drag Japan kicking and screaming into the sphere of Western modernism, even if it meant aping European manners and customs. The Rokumeikan would become a symbol of Meiji excess, ridiculed by many Japanese as shameless pandering towards a disinterested West. Japanese couples in full European garb failed to impress Pierre Loti who dismissed the spectacle as a ‘monkey show’.23%QOOKUUKQPGFD[+PQWG-CQTWVJGUVTWEVWTGVQQMPGCTN[ſXG[GCTUVQ complete and was seen as the crystallization of the tumultuous transition of the Meiji era.24 Everything from Western style dress to holding lavish ballroom dances 19
20 21
22
23 24
Hearn’s ‘A Glimpse of Tendencies’ deals with the simmering resentment of the extraterritorial system amongst the Japanese at the tend of the century. Hearn, L. 1896. Kokoro: hints and echoes of Japanese inner life, London. pp.120–55. Nagasaki Press, March 8th, 1899. Baelz, T. (eds) 1932. Awakening Japan: the diary of a German doctor, E. & C. Paul (tr), London. pp. 72. Shively, D. 1971. The Japanization of the Middle Meiji, in Shively, D. (ed.) Tradition and Modernization in Japanese Culture, London. pp. 122–177. Buruma, I. 2003. +PXGPVKPI,CRCPŌ London. p. 46. Watanabe, T. 1996. Josiah Conder’s Rokumeikan: architecture and national representation in Meiji Japan, in Art Journal, vol. 55, no. 3, Japan 1868–1945: Art, Architecture, and National Identity. pp. 21–27.
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became part of the new ruling class’ strategy of Europeanization. Foreign clubs and social networking were clearly deemed as part of this process in the 1880s. Spaces such as the Rokumeikan and the Tokyo Club were designed to provide an environment that would allow for a better intercourse between the foreign residents and the Japanese. Ballroom dances, such as the fuanshi bõru held at Ito Hirobumi’s residence in April 20th, 1887 was attended by many distinguished guests.25 In the same year in Kobe, a large ball was held by the then Hyogo Governor, Tadakatsu Utsumi (later Baron and Minister of Home Affairs).26 The event was attended by over two hundred guests, including six members of the Imperial household, Ito Hirobumi and his wife and Viscount General Takashima.27 9JKNGUWEJCEVUOC[UGGOUWRGTſEKCNVQFC[VJG[YGTGENGCTN[XKGYGFD[VJG highest levels of government as forming a crucial role in Japan’s integration into the modern economic world system. It also highlights the central role that social networking institutions had as centres of power within the foreign community. So much so that they were replicated on many levels throughout the Meiji period and were initially viewed by the ruling Japanese classes as forming a crucial part of the ‘civilising process’. Watanabe has argued that for promoters of the westernisation of Japanese society, like Inoue Kaoru, the Rokumeikan became the focal point of the political process of Japanese modernization, and a visible sign of its political maturity. 28 Events such as the fuanshi bõru helped to ritualise this process by acting in a manner that was seen by many Western observers as aping Western customs.29 Improvement societies (karyoukai) began to form all over the country almost all of which were dedicated to the westernisation of some aspect of life and culture. However, a backlash from philosophers, educators and various critics of policies of the pro-Western QHſEKCNUUWEJCU+PQWG-CQTWITCFWCNN[NGFVQEQPVGORQTCTKGUNKMG(WMW\CYC Yukichi, a one time advocate of the British style of ‘civilisation and enlightenOGPVŏVQFKUVCPEGVJGOUGNXGUHTQOCEVUVJCVCRRGCTGFHTKXQNQWUCPFUWRGTſEKCN from the outset.30 Not all Western observers were so ambivalent towards the new Japan. In 1898, Kobe resident and naturalist, Richard Gordon Smith, was mesmerized by the elegance of Tokyo’s Maple Club, commenting, ‘ there is nothing to see and yet there is everything to see. So clean and so absolutely artistic in every detail that you are left in wonder and to wonder to yourself, are you the civilized Briton, really civilized at all? What is your house or your club in comparison to this?31 25 26
27 28 29
30 31
Shively, D. 1971, p. 95. Williams, H. S. 1972. Things Japanese or Kobe’s Grandest Ball, in The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, (Feb) pp. 36–38. Williams, H. S. (Ibid.) Watanabe, T. 1996. pp. 25. Cortazzi, H. 1991. The Japan Society: a hundred year history, in Cortazzi, H. (eds) Britain and Japan: themes and personalities, London. pp. 1–54. Shively, D. 1971, pp. 95–110. Gordon-Smith, R. 1898. Travels in the Lands of the Gods, London, pp. 34.
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Fig. 3. Ukiyo-e by Chikanobu depicting ballroom dancing at the Rokumeikan, Tokyo, Japan, 1888.
THE RISE OF A NEW TRANSOCEANIC ELITE:
In the case of the United Kingdom and the United States, Susan Strange’s historical analysis of these two countries roles in the shaping of a Modern World System has been argued as ‘structural power’.325VTCPIGŏUFGſPKVKQPYCUHQTOWNCVGF CTQWPFVJGVJGQT[VJCVVJGUVTWEVWTCNRQYGTEQWNFGHHGEVKXGN[GZGTVKVUKPƀWGPEG upon a global scale irrespective of territories. In this respect, Britain’s role as the premier European colonial power in the nineteenth century allowed it to exert KPƀWGPEGQXGTPQVQPN[KVUHQTOCNEQNQPKCNVGTTKVQTKGUDWVCNUQVQYCTFUQVJGT European powers and non-European independent powers, such as Japan. It should DGTGOGODGTGFVJCVVJKUKPƀWGPEGYCUGHHGEVKXGN[OCPGWXGTGFD[CTGNCVKXGN[ small percentage of the national populations and as such the social aspects of their KPƀWGPEGYCUGZGTVGFVJTQWIJOCP[EJCPPGNU6JGYQTMQHVJGCDQXGCWVJQTYJQ has largely focused on the changes that took place within a context of human geography and economic policy. However, there is room for a similarly interdisciplinary approach to the role of the social-networks that developed in cities such as Kobe, a city which emerged from direct interaction with Gentlemanly Capitalists. There were many foreign actors involved in Japan’s modernisation, France and Germany, in particular, were instrumental in advising the Japanese during the reformation of their education system.33 The military and the navy also relied heavily on the expertise of Prussia and Britain in the art of modern warfare. This pattern 32 33
Strange, S. 1988. States and Markets, London. The Japanese employed a whole host of foreign ‘experts’ during the Meiji era. For more QP VJG )GTOCP CPF (TGPEJ KPƀWGPEG QP VJG /GKLK GTC GFWECVKQP U[UVGO UGG ᕷẸ: shimin] and so on, were translated from English into Japanese in early Meiji period, are indispensable for Japanese people today. Zakkon [㞧፧], which was the word for word translation of the English word, mixed marriage, was one of them. However, Zakkon is no longer used in Japan. It was at the beginning of twentieth century when the term, kokusai kekkon, DGECOGRQRWNCT6JGYQTFECPDGUGGPHQTVJGſTUVVKOGKPCNGVVGTFCVGF&GEGOber in the 44th year of Meiji (1911), which was written by a Japanese man who married an English woman.1 This paper will make clear the difference between Zakkon and kokusai kekkon HTQOCUQEKQNQIKECNRQKPVQHXKGYCPFCNUQVJGUKIPKſECPEGQHkokusai kekkon for Meiji Japan.
ZAKKON (MIXED MARRIAGE) AND KOKUSAI KEKKON
;QWYKNNſPFFKHſEWNVKGUKPVTCPUNCVKPI kokusai kekkon into English or in thinking of the expression for a marriage between two different nationalities. Zakkon or 1
Naigai Jinmin Konin Zakken 4, Gaimusyo Gaikou Shiryou Kan (Archives of Minister of Foreign Affairs in Japan ) 314
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mixed marriage is one of intermarriage. In Western academic journals, the terms of intermarriage are always expressed as an inter-something marriage, such as inter-racial marriage, inter-religious marriage, inter-faith marriage, and inter-cultural marriage, et cetera. Those adjectives in between ‘inter’ and marriage show boundaries, which have been constructed historically in Western society. #P#OGTKECPUQEKQNQIKUV4QDGTV/GTVQPICXGCFGſPKVKQPQHKPVGTOCTTKCIG that is ‘marriage of person deriving from those different in-groups and out-groups other than the family that are culturally conceived as relevant to the choice of a spouse.’2 Merton omitted ‘internationality-marriage’ from intermarriage. Because marriage between persons with grandparents of different nationalities, ‘are socially and culturally in-marriages, not intermarriages’.3 A society like the USA, had to establish the nationality of the United States of America, otherwise, people would still remain as English, French, Italian or German. It was the same year as the Meiji reform when the Congress of the United States in an act of 1868 proclaimed that expatriation, in another words, to abandon one’s nationality, was regarded as a natural right. Whichever nationality you used to have, once you become an American, you are member of the United State of America. Nationality has no importance for them and it is merely an institution. What distinguishes Zakkon or mixed marriage from kohusai kekkon is the boundary. For the former, the boundary is race, religion, ethnicity or culture, which divides marriages into ‘regular ’ and ‘irregular’ marriages. For the latter, no matter what race or ethnicity the foreigner is, a foreigner is a foreigner, not Japanese. Nationality is still the most important boundary for Japanese. Not only Japanese scholars but also Westerners misunderstand the difference between Zakkon (mixed marriage) and MQMWUCKMGMMQP For example, in Mary Fraser’s book, A Diplomatist’s Wife in Japan, the phrase ‘the daughters of mixed marriages’4 is translated into Japanese;‘kokusai kekkon de umareta >ᅜ㝿⤖፧࡛⏕ࡲࢀ ࡓ], those who were bom of kokusai kekkon parentage. This phrase refers to when Mary herself visited the house for orphans in Japan in the summer of 1889. ‘Mixed marriage’ in those days should have been translated as Zakkon, not MQMWUCKMGMMQP Takahashi Yoshio [ᑦᶫ⩏㞝], recommended Japanese men to do Zakkon, that is marry white women in his book, Nihon Jinsyu Kairyo Ron [᭣ᮏே✀ᨵⰋㄽ] (Essay on How to Improve the Japanese Race) in 1884.5 He was one of followers of Fukuzawa Yukichi [⚟ἑㄽྜྷ], who was well known for his thoughtful idea of bunmei kaika (civilization and enlightenment)ᩥ᫂㛤, expressed in his publication entitled Ŏ#P1WVNKPGQHC6JGQT[QH%KXKNK\CVKQPŏ His name can be found in the preface of Takahashi’s book. According to Fukuzawa Yukichi Zensyu 2 3 4
5
Merton, op. cit., p 219 Merton, op. cit., p 219 Fraser, Marj’, #&KRNQOCVKUVŏU9KHGKP,CRCP.GVVGTUHTQO*QOGVQ*QOG Hutchi son and Co., London. 1904, p. 78 Takahashi, Yoshio, Nihon Jinsyu Kairyo Ron (Theory of Improvement Japanese Race) 1884
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(The Collection of Fukuzawa’s work), it was written by Takahashi himself and Fukuzawa permitted him to use his name.6 The main aim for Takahashi was how Japanese as a nation could become a more ‘civilized race’ or ‘improved race’. He introduced two ways for that; one was through training both physically and mentally, and the other one was genetic KORTQXGOGPV+VEQWNFDGFGſPGFCUCPKPVTQFWEVQT[YQTMQHGWIGPKEUVJTQWIJ intermarriage between ‘superior’ white and ‘inferior’ race. The idea of intermarrying with white woman was not taken from his mentor but from one prevailing idea of those days. For example, Minami Teisuke [༡ຓ], who married Eliza Pittman in England in 1872, confessed in his autobiography that he had the same idea as Takahashi. Not having any children, he had to divorce her because she became mad since he had taken her to Japan and she left there only the year after she had arrived. Their ideas seem naive, however, it was a crucial point how Meiji government tried to be considered as a Nation-State by so-called ‘civilized’ countries in those days. For both Takahashi and Minami, the Japanese race was equal to the Japanese nation who had to be civilized like the ‘white’ race. On the other hand, for those who must take up the white man’s burden according to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, ‘white’ shall never melt into ‘yellow’. Clara Whitney, who came to Japan from the U.S in her teens, never dreamed that she YQWNFDGOCTTKGFVQC,CRCPGUG1PGFC[UJGUCYCſPGCPFIQQFNQQMKPI,CRCPGUG gentleman passing in a jinrikisha, she was told by her Japanese friend that wife of the gentleman was English. In her diary dated on Friday, 17, December 1875, she wrote as follows: 6JGNCF[OWUVJCXGDGGPCPZKQWUHQTCJWUDCPF+HUJGEQWNFPQVſPF one among the brave, handsome, and gay of her country or mine, there might have been some excuse, but I did not ask the circumstances under which the members of two nations, so different in every way, married, but hastened to change the subject, for it disgusted me that a member of the Anglo-Saxon race should contrive such intimate relations with a Mongolian. Still this is not as bad as the American, yes American (I blush to write it) girl, blue-eyed, gold-haired, who mated with a Chinaman. Yes, pigtail, almond eyes and all complete. Disgraceful. It is painful to dwell upon, so I dismiss the subject.7 Her diary may be the most honest one among dairies, which were written by western women about Meiji Japan. She also had a good relationship with essential people for the Meiji era such as Fukuzawa, Katsu Kaisyu [Ლᰢኴ㒄] who was a 6
7
Koyama also mentioned this in his article. Fukuzawa Yukichi Zensyu 21, Iwanami Shoten, 1964, pp 342–343 Whitney, Clara.A.N. %NCTCŏU&KCT[#P#OGTKECP)KTNKP/GKLK,CRCP Ed. by M.William Steele and Tamiko Ichimata, Kodansa International Ltd, 1979
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6QIWICYCQHſEKCNCPFRNC[GFCPKORQTVCPVTQNGKPVJGVTCPUKVKQPRGTKQFHTQO Togugawa to Meiji. About ten years later, Clara married Kaji Umetarou [Ლᰢ ኴ㒄], an illegitimate son of Katsu and his concubine -CLK-WOC The marriage QH%NCTCCPF7OGVCTQYCUCFOKVVGFD[&GETGGYJKEJYCUVJGſTUVTWNGHQT kokusai kekkon established by the Japanese government in 1873. It is impossible for us to know what happened to her because she did not keep her diary during the interesting time period of 1884 and 1887. This American girl’s reaction to Mongolian in her early days in Japan was ‘universal’ in the USA. Mixed marriage such as one between Japanese and a white person was miscegenation, that is an inappropriate relation. An anti-miscegenation law was enacted in California in 1880. It prohibited ‘the marriage of a white person with a Negro, mulatto, or Mongolian’.8 This is Zakkon or mixed marriage—marriage that is not willingly expected to take place in the society. When Katsu died, Clara divorced Umetaro, who had to depend upon his father, and went back with her children to the States. Both Zakkon and kokusai kekkon is intermarriage. If Merton had known the history of kokusai kekkon, he would have taken it as one of intermarriage.
TRANSITION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN
Kokusai kekkon did not exist from 1636 to 1872 because of the seclusion policy for 200 years. Before this policy began, there were unions between foreign men and Japanese women and there was no intervention from the Tokugawa shogunate to them. Consequently there were children who were born from mixed parentage. As the policy was undertaken, several ships with those children and parents headed to Jakarta or Macao in the 1630s. Among them, a girl named spring, Oharu, became well-known for the letter she sent to Japanese relatives from Jakarta as jagatara-bumi [ࢪࣕຊࢱࣛᩥ]. Because she had an Italian father and a Japanese mother, she could not return to Japan as well as her sister. The isolation policy was based on the ban of Christianity. From when Francisco Xavier came as a Jesuit to Japan in 1549 to the beginning isolation policy in the 1630s, Western historians usually call this Japan’s ‘Christian century’. Some feudal clans became Christian. The Tokugawa shogunate was afraid that the equality thought under God was against the Japanese hierarchical social order. The Catholic Church was eager to convert Japan. Thus, Portugal and Spain were banished. England closed her factory voluntarily in 1623 since she had lost the EQORGVKVKQPYKVJ&WVEJ#PFſPCNN[VJGVTCFKPIRQTVYCUVQDGNKOKVGFVQ0CICsaki, the city of southwest Japan. The Dejima [ฟᓥ] Island was a fan-shaped
8
Takaki, Ronald, Strangers from a Different Shore—A History of Asian Americans, New York, Penguin Book, 1998 1995, pp. 6–7.
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CTVKſEKCNKUNCPFHQTVJG&WVEJCPFToujin Yashiki [၈ேᒇᩜ] was reserved for the Chinese. Only these two countries could trade with the 6QMWICYC5JQIWP ,CRCPGUGQHſEGTUCPFYujo >㑊@, playgirls, were permitted to have interaction with foreigners in a limited sphere. Yujo YCUCUGOKQHſEKCNYQTMGTDGECWUG she had to carry kansatsu [㚷ᮐ], a kind of passport, to get into those places, which were not exactly foreign countries but only foreigners lived there. If she were faithful to her job, it would be quite a natural for her to have babies from foreigners. Otherwise they had abortions. However, some of them, especially if a baby’s father was of high status, could survive. Oine [࣎࡞], who became a female doctor, was a daughter of Phillip Franz von Siebold and a [WLQ6æMK []. Her father was the German doctor and stayed at the Nagasaki Dutch station from 1823 to 1828. He pretended to be Dutch accounting for his German accent by stating he was from a mountainous area in Holland. He was permitted to set up the Narutaki juku, [ཱྀ㫽ሿ|, an academy for Japanese to learn things about the West from him. This shows how he was treated as a VIP. No matter how he loved his yujo and daughter, he could not take them back to his country because the yujo could never become a wife or any Japanese could not go outside of Japan. In other words, it was impossible to build a matrimonial relationship between a Japanese and a foreigner until 1873.[᪥⹒ὶ 0 0 ࿘ᖺ ࡀᖺࠋࣛࢹࣥࡣࢩ࣮࣎ࣝࢺࡢᐙࡀ࠶ࡾࠊࡑࡇࡀ༤≀㤋࡞ࡗࡓࡇ ࢆⱥㄒ࡛࡞ࢇ࠸࠺? ]
With the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853, the shogunate was forced to abandon its seclusion policy. More foreigners than ever came from different countries, more yujo including both professional and amateur came to have intimate relationships with those foreign men. Moreover, rasyamen >ധ͌ὒ@, meaning concubines for Westerners or foreigners became popular. In this circumstance, the British Consul in Yokohama asked about mixed OCTTKCIGKPVJG'PINKUJUGPUG+VYCUVJG$TKVKUJ%QPUWNHQTVJGſTUVVKOGVJCV CUMGFVYKEGCDQWVVJGTWNGHQTOKZGFOCTTKCIGKP,CRCP6JGſTUVVKOGYCULWUV prior to the beginning of the Meiji period in 1868 and once more in 1872. A few months later after the second inquiry, Decree 103 of the 6th year of Meiji (DajyouMCPHWMQMW), which allowed marriage between Japanese and foreigners after obtaining permission form the Japanese government, was declared in 1873. Decree 103 was called naigai jinmin konin joki [ෆእேẸ፧ጻ᮲つ@: rules for marriage between in-people and out-people. ‘In-people’ meant Japanese and ‘out-people’ non-Japanese. It did not matter which race you were. This was established under pressure from the British Consul and had been effective at least for ,CRCPGUGWPVKNVJGſTUV0CVKQPCNKV[.CY>ᅜ⡠ἲ; kokuseki hou@in Meiji 32, 1899. This is the beginning of the history of kokusai kekkon, but the word itself had not been created yet. It took about a quarter century for the word, kokusai kekkon, not only to enter the Japanese language but also to become real MQMWUCKMGMQP
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Whether kokusai kekkon could become real or not did depend on whether Japan could be acknowledged to be a Nation-State by ‘civilized’ countries. This time period of the late nineteenth century was extremely important for Japan to make itself into a modern Nation-State. One of the most important issues for Meiji government was to revise the unequal treaties with Western powers. In order to accomplish this, Japan had to establish political and legal institutions, which had to be at the same level as Western countries. The way to a Nation-State was simultaneous with the way to the real MQMWUCKMGMMQP
THE BRITISH CONSUL AND KOLUSAI KEKKON
ᑠᒣࡉࢇࡢ࢚ࣆࢯ୍ࢻࠊ When I was collecting materials, which I will GZRNCKPNCVGT+JCFCITGCVEQPſFGPEGVJCVO[2J&YQWNFDGEQOGVJGNCPFOCTM KPVJKUſGNFUKPEGPQDQF[WUGFVJGUGOCVGTKCNU1PGFC[+HQWPFCPCFXGTVKUGOGPV for Mr Koyama’s book. I rushed into the bookshop and I got hold of a copy. My face paled. He used exactly the same materials which I was collecting and also made lists of kokusai kekkon that I also started with. For a week I could not do anything other than sighing with distress, thinking that I had to quit getting my Ph.D. My supervisor told me: ‘You have a different perspective as a sociologist. Why are you so concerned about this?’ Reading his book again and again and criticizing him a lot in the Ph.D, I had to overcome Mr Koyama. But please believe me. I thank him from the bottom of my heart. He is a very nice librarian at Cambridge University and he always helps me. There is no clear evidence why the British Consul made such enquiries. Koyama Noboru [ᑠᒣ㦐?KPUKUVUVJCVVJGſTUVQPGYCUTGNCVGFVQVJGCOGPFOGPVQHVJG British Consular Marriage Act, 1849. Before that, marriage could be solemnized in the chapel or house of any British ambassador or minister, or in the chapel belonging to any British factory abroad. A British consul was added to those who could perform marriage in the Consular Marriage Act. The British Consular Marriage Act, 1868, has a fairly long title: ‘An Act for removing Doubts as to the Validity of certain Marriages between British Subjects in China and elsewhere, and for amending the Law relating to the Marriage of British Subjects in Foreign Countries.’ Judging from this, Koyama suggests this OWUVDGTGNCVGFVQVJGſTUVKPSWKT[HTQOVJG$TKVKUJ%QPUWNKP9 Indeed, the Act of 1868 says ‘All marriages, both or one of the parties being Subjects or a Subject of this Realm’ could be solemnized by whom are mentioned above. The point is whether ‘all marriages’ included those between Japanese and British 5WDLGEVU$WVVJG#EVQHFKFPQVFGſPGVJGRTQEGFWTGYJGPUWEJCOCTTKCIG would take place. 9
Koyama Noboru, -QMWUCK MGMMQP &CK KEJK IQWō/GKLK ,KP VCEJKPQ \CMMQP MQVQJCLKOG Kodansha Tokyo,
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Taking the British Naturalization Act, 1870, into consideration, it is more related to marriage between British subjects and aliens. This Act was the amendment of the Naturalization Act, 1844, which said that ‘Any woman married, or who shall be married to a natural-born subject or person naturalized shall be deemed and taken to be herself naturalized, and have all rights and privileges of a natural-born subject’.10 And the Act of 1870 also proclaimed ‘a married woman shall be deemed to be a subject of the state of which her husband is for the time being subject’.116JKU0CVWTCNK\CVKQP#EVYCUGUVCDNKUJGFWPFGTVJGKPƀWGPEGVJG Napoleonic code in terms of changing nationality of wife to that of husband. It is very likely to say that there is no direct relation between those British acts and thoese enquiries from the British Consul. There are two things intertwined with each other. Naturalization in Britain through marriage is one thing, admitting those marriages as ‘legitimate’ is another. Let us leave this issue for now. We will come back to this with a case later. It was obvious that the second enquiry from British Consul in 1872 asked how the Japanese government would cope with a marriage between an English man and a Japanese woman. In this case, according to the British Naturalization act, a Japanese woman would be naturalized English after her marriage. However, we should take account of the traditional relationship between Yujo and foreigner, which were based on the seclusion policy. Moreover, no Japanese was allowed to travel to foreign countries until 1866. Even though Koyama denies that the actual mixed marriage did effect those enquires,12UGXGTCNECUGUOKIJVJCXGJCFUQOGKPƀWGPEGQPVJGO5WEJCUVJG case of Thomas Glover and Turu >ࢶࣝ@, who is considered to be the model for /CFCO$WVVGTƀ[D[JGTFGUEGPFCPV0QFC-C\WMQ=㔝⏣Ꮚ],13 and could have KPƀWGPEGFDQVJVJG$TKVKUJ%QPUWNCPFVJG/GKLK)QXGTPOGPV+H[QWIQVQVJG )NQXGTJQWUGCPFICTFGPKP0CICUCMK[QWECPſPFOCPPGSWKPUQHKORQTVCPV ſIWTGUKP/GKLK,CRCPUWEJCU5CMCOQVQ4[QOC-CVUW-CKU[WCPFIto Hirofumi. +VKUCNUQJCTFVQKIPQTGVJGHCEVVJCVVJGſTUVFCWIJVGTQHTakeda Kane [Ṋ⏣ ව] and Ernest Satow, who was a secretary of British Consul at that time, died around the time when Decree 103 was established. According to Olive Checkland, in the case of Satow, she says: Satow ‘never married’. Yet Satow’s dilemma was that of hundreds of other young men. In his case it would have been unthinkable for him to 10 11 12
13
Section 16,7&8 Vict, c 66. Section 10,33 Vict, c 14. -Q[COCUC[UVJCVVJGſTUVGPSWKT[QHHTQOC$TKVKUJEQPUWNOC[JCXGDGGPTGNCVGF to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Laws of Marriage, which was published in 1868, rather than to an actual mixed marriage. Koyama Noboru, ‘Marriages between Japanese and foreigners Meiji6 - Meiji 30 (1873–1897)’, pp158–163, in Papers of the British Association for Korean Studies vol.6, Nationality and Nationalism in East Asia, ed. Sanders, Alan J.K., 1996, London.
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have continued in his chosen career as a diplomat had knowledge of his Japanese wife become public.14 Actually, they never married under either Japanese or English law. Most Western scholars took their Japanese ‘wives’ as their mistresses. However, they never mentioned what a regular marriage between British and non-British was. /CP['PINKUJOGPDGECOG,CRCPGUGUQKNCPF[QWECPſPFVJGKT,CRCPGUGYKXGUŏ tombs and theirs together. Most Japanese wives would never dream of going outside of Japan. Was it reasonable therefore, for them to become ‘foreign women’ due to Decree 103 or British Law? Man does not live for bread alone. Some might treat Japanese women as mistresses; some might respect their partner as a wife even if they did not obtain permission from either countries. Of course, contemporary marriage took place quite often. In the Madam ButVGTƀ[QRGTCVJGTGKUCUEGPGYJGTGKP%KQ%KQUCPCPF2KPMGTVQPOCMGCEQPVTCEV of their ‘marriage’. The same contract can be seen in Pierre Loti’s novel, Madam %JT[UCPVJGOWO And his dairy also mentioned that he did the same thing in the Japanese police station in Nagasaki. This must be the contract of yatoi mekake = NV E?YJKEJKUTQQVGFin the Japanese custom of OGMCMGEQPEWXKPG The Meiji Government admitted to have a legal mekake for Japanese men only until 15th of Meiji, 1882. But for foreigners the government abolished the name yatoi mekake in 1874, right after Decree 103. Simply put, they changed names from mekake to ‘servants’ whose jobs were the same as OGMCMG
DECREE 103 AND NAPOLEONIC CODE
The blue print of Decree 103 of Meiji 6 (1873) was the Napoleonic code. By that time Mitukuri Rinsyo [⭦స㯌⚈] JCFVTCPUNCVGFCNNſXG(TGPEJNCYEQFGU Eto Shipei [Ụ᪂ᖹ], who was a head of the administration of justice, suggested ‘merely translate the French civil code verbatim, call it the ‘Japanese Civil Code, and promulgate it immediately’.15 The whole of Eto’s dream did not come true though; Decree 103 greatly resembled the clause in the Napoleonic code that pertained to marriage between French nationals and others. According to the latter, the nationality of a husband takes priority over his wife and consequently determines their child’s nationality. This can be called the French model of ‘parVTKCTEJCNKUOŏQTŎRCVTKCTEJ[ŏYJKEJYCUKPƀWGPVKCNVJTQWIJQWV However, Decree 103 sharply differed from French law or any other Western laws on the point concerning son-in-laws. In order to understand intermarriage in early Meiji we must take account of two types of marriage in Japan. The most 14
15
Checkland, Olive, Britain’s Encounter with Meiji Japan, Ō, Macmillan, 1989 London, Note 59 p. 274 Hozumi Nobushige Hoso yawa, Iwanami, Japan, 1980, pp. 210–13.
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common one called yome-iri > ᎑ ධ ࡾ @ marriage, in which a bride becomes a member of her husband’s family. The other less common type is muko-iri >፵ ேࡾ@marriage, in which a bridegroom becomes a member of his wife’s family and in most of the cases the bridegroom is marrying to maintain a family line. He becomes the heir of his father-in-law and takes over his wife’s family name. It would be better to say ‘adopted husband’16 as Ruth Benedict describes muko yoshi ፵㣴ࢼ (adopted-son-in-laws) as such. In Japan, marriage still tends to be a contract between two families; IEs>፵㣴ࢼ@(households) rather than simply a contract between two individuals. Thus we can, theoretically, categorize intermarriage in the following ways: Type yome-iri A; A Japanese woman marrying a foreign man Type muko-iri B; A foreign man adopted by a Japanese woman’s family Type yome-iri C; A foreign woman marrying a Japanese man Type muko-iri D; A Japanese man adopted by a foreign woman’s family But in fact there is no case of type D because the Meiji government did not allow any Japanese man to be naturalized in a foreign country. In Decree 103 the word koku seki >ᅜ⡠@ nationality, cannot be found. Instead of it, the expression, nihon-jin taruno bungen [᪥ᮏேࢱࣀࣞࣀศ㝈], is used. A foreign man of type B should get Japanese bungen [ศ㝈] as well as a foreign woman of type C. Japanese woman type A shall lose her Japanese DWPIGP Thus a foreign man had to become Japanese. This can be called the Japanese model of ‘patriarchalism’ or ‘patriarchy’. According to the wide-used Japanese-English dictionary in those days, the Wa-Ei gorin syusei [ⱥㄒᯘ㞟ᡂ], edited by James Hepburn, an American Presbyterian medical missionary who came to Japan in 1859, bungen is explained as Condition; place; social position; circumstances; station in life. There is no reference to ‘nationality’. Even though bungen is considered the same as nationality by scholars of law, especially Japanese nationality law, bungen must not be taken as nationality. In one of the classics for Japanese Studies, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture, Ruth Benedict pointed out that any attempt to understand the Japanese must begin with their version of what it means to ‘take one’s proper station.' 17 Decree 103 gave a foreigner to take his or her proper station as a yome (a bride) or a muko (a bridegroom) of a Japanese family. Through kokusai kekkon, he or she could have a social position in Japan. Basil Hall Chamberlain wrote about naturalization in his work, Things Japanese in late nineteenth century. He said: 16
17
Benedict, Ruth The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture, Houghton /KHƀKP%QORCP[$QUVQP(KTUVRWDNKUJGFKP)TGCV$TKVCKP.QPFQP4QWVNGFIG and Kegan Paul Ltd.p. 49. Benedict, op. cit., p. 30.
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Until quite recently the sole way in which a foreigner could be naturalised was by getting a Japanese with a daughter to adopt him, and then marrying the daughter. This may sound like a joke, but it is not. It is a sober, legal fact, recognised as such by the various judicial and consular authorities and acted on in several well-authenticated instances. Indeed, it is still the easiest method to be pursued by those desirous of naturalising themselves in this country.18 The most well known case of muko-iri B must be Lafcadio Hearn. He was a journalist, an English teacher and a writer of Japanese folk tales in English. He changed his name to Koizumi Yakumoa [Ἠ?㞼] becase he entered the Koizumi family. Koizumi Setsu [Ἠ⠇] was a good story-teller and provided her husband with a lot of inspiration. He had an acquaintance with Chamberlain, too. They had totally different ideas concerning Japanese woman. The ideal woman that Hearn describes in his works must help to keep alive the idea that an obedient Japanese woman is the best type of wife. On the other hand, Chamberlain felt that such an idea would keep them subordinate in Japanese society. I am not going to argue their discrepancies, but would like to point out the ambiguity of Hearn is case. Becoming an adopted-son-in-law into the Koizumi family, he had already divorced a woman who had mixed parentage between white and black in the United States. Hearn himself was of Irish and Greek descent. Most children who were born of mixed parentage tend to be sensitive CDQWVVJGKTKFGPVKV[CPFUQOGVKOGUVJG[UVTWIINGVQſPFVJGKTQYPKFGPVKV[6JG[ feel that they do not belong anywhere. Hearn’s ambiguity enabled him to explore Japanese folk tales in his writings. This was something, that Chamberlain was unable to do. As Chamberlain wrote about Muko-iri B type as a topic of naturalization, there were no laws concerning nationality during the time Decree 103 was in force. Moreover, there was neither a constitution until 1889 nor a civic code until 1899. Decree 103 of 1873 was put in place too hastily.
THE NUMBER OF KOKUSAI KEKKON BETWEEN 1873 and 1899
The documents on kokusai kekkon are to be found in different places. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs played an important role as for as these marriages were concerned because they were ‘foreign affairs’, albeitlan at individual level. So that there are many correspondents between this organization and others like embassies or consulates including both Japanese and foreign. The Diplomatic Records 1HſEG [እົ┬እྐᩱ㤋?RTQXKFGU[QWYKVJVJGſPGUVTGEQTFUQHKPVGTOCTTKCIGU 18
Chamberlain, Basil Hall, Things Japanese, 6th ed., Kelly and Walsh Ltd. London and Tokyo, 1939, p. 11.
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in those days. The National Archives [ᅜ❧බᩥ᭩ßᐁ] has some records, but most of them are not available to the public in order to protect privacy. Some of the records that have been kept by local governments are accessible, but it depends on the local government policy. Documents at the Nagasaki Prefectural Library [㛗ᓮ┴❧ᅗ᭩㤋] and the Tokyo Metropolitan Archives [ᮾி㒔බᩥ ᭩㤋] are open to the public. Drawing on the records from those libraries or archives, a total of 266 cases can be divided into three types; Type A is 72%, Type B is 6%, Type C is 22%. Of EQWTUGVJGUGPWODGTUFQPQVCNYC[UTGƀGEVVJGTGCNKV[ Those foreigners who married Japanese woman in Type A were almost all in proportion to the number whom lived in foreign settlement in Japan. Chinese (Qing Empire) 35% (67), British 28% (53), German 8% (16), French 6% (12), Netherlands 3% (5), Russia 3% (5), Others 12% (22). Most of the Japanese women used to work as ‘servants’ before marrying their ‘masters’. As far as a Chinese-Japanese couple is concerned, some of Japanese women may have been treated as a second wife. In contrast to this, none of Japanese men had a Chinese woman as a wife. Chamberlain must have been surprised by the fact that the British were most eager to become an adopted-son-in-law of Japanese. Those who applied for Type B were; 7 British, 2 Indian under the British Empire, 3 Chinese, 2 American, one Dutch, and one Portuguese. In those days, foreigners had to obtain permission if they wanted to go outside of the foreign settlement for safety reasons or for reasons of trade. Through muko-iri B, a foreign man could become Japanese so that he could pursue his business inside of Japan freely. The Japanese government rejected applications from two Chinese because their cases were not considered as marriage but as business. On the other hand, the Japanese government did not reject the application of an English man who was presumed to be a homosexual. The attitude of foreign Consuls towards obtaining Japanese bungen varied and TGƀGEVGFVJGCEMPQYNGFIGOGPVQHPCVKQPCNKV[6JG$TKVKUJ%QPUWNYCUUVTQPIN[ against the case when British men had to lose his rights as a British subject, but did not care at all about Indians. The American consul said that the laws and polity granted to every citizen the fullest liberty to change his nationality at will, so that he had no objection to this matter. Those foreign women in Type C met their Japanese husbands in their own country, to which Japanese men went in order to learn how to be civilized. German 32% (19), the U.S.A. 20% (12), British 19% (11), French 10% (6) and others 19% (11). Only Clara found her Japanese husband in Japan.
MARRIAGE IN A ‘HEATHEN COUNTRY’
The most important kokusai kekkon between British and Japanese categorized yome-iri A type was the one of Francis Brinkley and Tanaka Yasu >⏣୰ࣖࢫ] , that was solemnized under Decree 103 in 1886. They took their marriage to
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a British court. It seems that Koyama as well as James Hoare misunderstood $TKPMNG[ŏURWTRQUGUKPEGVJG[CUUWOGFVJCV$TKPMNG[YCPVGFJKUſTUVUQPCPF daughter registered as British. (By the way, I was quite surprised when I read the JRC Newsletter. The next speaker of this seminar, on the 3 May, is Dr James Hoare. He got his Ph.D. from SOAS and writes about Brinkley in Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits Volume III, which was edited by him and published last year. In this article he refers to those children.19 The fast is that there were two children fathered by Brinkley, one of them in from his mistress, another was from a girl whose mother was Yasu Tanaka. Their names can be found in the document, which was reported to the Japanese authorities when applying for permission. This indicates they were born before permission was given from the Japanese government. Their father, Brinkley did not mention these children in the English court, instead, he referred to the second UQPYJQYCUDQTPCHVGTJKUQHſEKCNOCTTKCIGVQ;CUW The Family Records Centre MGGRUCŎ%GTVKſGF%QR[QHCP'PVT[QH$KTVJYKVJKPVJG&KUVTKEVQHVJG$TKVKUJ8KEG Consulate at Tokio’, which shows the birth of this second son and the second daughter who was bom in 1890. One boy and one girl became British citizens. But they were not the children who were bom before the marriage of their parents. There was correspondence between the Governor of Tokyo and the British Consul in Tokyo. The Vice British consul said there was no problem for him as far as Brinkley and Yasu marrying under Japanese law, Decree 103 was concerned. He said, however, it would be a different thing if they tried to take it to Britain and to required that their marriage, which was solemnized by the Japanese Government, be valid after under the British law. As previously noted, the two things are intertwined: Naturalization in Britain through marriage is one thing, admitting those marriage as ‘legitimate’ is another. It would be no problem to be naturalized through the British law. Admitting Brinkley’s case as ‘legitimate’ is another. Brinkley’s aim was to force the English court to admit his marriage, which was approved by Decree 103. He must have noticed that the British court had rejected all polygamous marriages. This was the reason why he made the Ŏ#HſFCXKVQH2GVKVKQPGTŏ20 very carefully. First he stated his date and place of birth and he did not forget to emphasis that he had served Her Majesty as a Captain in the Royal Artillery; secondly he said that his temporary residence was in Tokyo and he showed he had no intention of living there permanently; third on the 25 day of March 1886 he was married in Japan to Yasu Tanaka; HQWTVJVJGTGYGTGUGXGTCNEGTVKſECVKQPU YKVJVTCPCUNCVKQPUHTQOVJG,CRCPGUG CWVJQTKVKGUſHVJJGDGNKGXGFVJCVJKUOCTTKCIGYCUXCNKFCEEQTFKPIVQVJGNCYU in force in Japan and he was thereby precluded from intermarrying with any 19
20
Hoare J.E., %CRVCKP(TCPEKU$TKPMG[ Ō;CVQK5EJQNCTCPF#RQNQIKUV Ed. by Hoare J.E., $TKVCKPCPF,CRCP$KQITCRJKECN2QTVTCKVU Volume III, Japan Library, 1999. (Japan Society publication). ,6JG2WDNKE4GEQTF1HſEG7-
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other woman during the subsistence of the said marriage; sixth, he refereed to his son who was bom on March 1887 as the result of their marriage. Lastly, he stated: ‘There is no collusion or connivance between myself and any person other than my said Wife.’ The Times Law Reports, dated 8 February 1890, referred to this as a marriage in a ‘heathen Country’21 declared as an effective marriage under British law for VJGſTUVVKOG#EEQTFKPIVQVJG1ZHQTF'PINKUJ&KEVKQPCT[ŎJGCVJGPŏOGCPU ‘Applied to persons or races whose religion is neither Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim; pagan; Gentile. In earlier times applies also to Muslims; but in modem usage, for the most part, restricted to those holding polytheistic beliefs, esp. when uncivilized or uncultured’. In those days almost no Japanese were Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. The monotheistic belief still does not exist in Japan. The Brinkley case can be readily found in books on English law as Brinkley v Attorney General (1890). In The Laws of England, however, right after his case mentioned in the footnote, it says: ‘Otherwise all marriages celebrated between Jews be invalid’.22 This means Jews were considered as ‘heathen’. Consequently the word ‘a heathen country’ in The Times Law Report meant an uncivilized country which approves polygamous marriages. This is why Brinkley did not say the fact that he had had a mekake (concubine) and a son from her. He must have realized that his victory was not merely for himself as an individual but also for the Japanese government, looking to establish itself as a Nation-state, or ‘civilized country.' It should also be borne in mind that Japanese government supported Brinkley's business as a journalist and as the owner of the ,CRCP/CKN Furthermore, he had a close relationship with various bureaucrats and politicians in Japan. He always favoured Japan. He would have been so pleased when the president declared the validity of his marriage in the English court. The president said. We all know that Japan has long taken its place among civilized nations, whose forms and laws and ceremonies are not to be treated as on the same footing with those of the Baralong tribe of South Africa. I have, therefore, come to the conclusion that .….. a valid marriage can take place in Japan between an Englishman and a Japanese woman according in this country and everywhere else.23 In the end, Brinkley won this trial against the Attorney General. The British court declared the marriage before the civil authority in Tokyo as a valid marriage. 21 22
23
The Times Law Reports VI 1889–90, pp191–192. Earl of Halsbury, Lords Simonds, The Laws of England, London, Butterworth and Co. ltd, 1954, p. 59. Law Reports Probate Division, Vol.. XV, 1888–1890, p. 80.
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CONCLUSION
What makes kokuai kekkon different from Zakkon (mixed marriage) is the boundary. Nationality, which divides people into Japanese and non-Japanese, has been the most distinguished boundary in Japan. I would like to express it in English as ‘intemationality marrriage’. Sociologically speaking, kokusai kekkon is marriage between Japanese and non-Japanese and must be Institutionalized marriage, which is recognized by not QPN[,CRCPDWVCNUQCPQVJGTPCVKQPUVCVG6JWUVJGECUGQH$TKPNGM[KUVJGſTUV ‘real’ kokusai kekkon between Japanese and British. Kokusai kekkon itself is not unique. Because marriages between different nationalities are common as long as modem nation-states cover the whole earth. But it can be said that the historical background of kokusai kekkon was unique. Incidentally, kokusai kekkon provides a particular insight into one of important phases of Nation-building in Japan. The Napoleonic code, which was established in the early nineteenth century, YCUKPƀWGPVKCNVJTQWIJQWV'WTQRG6JGTGKUQPN[VJTGG[GCTUDGVYGGPVJGRTQOulgation of the Naturalization Act 1870 in England and Decree 103 in Japan. Therefore, the rules for kokusai kekkon was not so far behind ‘civilized’ countries. Mixed marriage, in this sense between religions or faiths, for Britons is not my topic in this paper, but we should think why there is no English expression for kokusai kekkon in England or in the British Empire. Japan was not the only ‘heathen country’ at that time. What happened in other countries? It will be important to explore not only what a regular marriage between British and non-British was in the British Empire but also what a regular marriage was in Britain. Britishness or Japaneseness arose in the nineteenth century, as Linda Colley UCKF6JG[FGſPGFVJGOUGNXGUKPUJQTVPQVLWUVVJTQWIJCPKPVGTPCNCPFFQOGUVKE dialogue but in conscious opposition to the Other beyond their shores.24 I hope British academics or researcher will examine this matter as their own problem from the view of MQMWUCKMGMMQP If there are already other studies on this topic, I would always welcome any information.
24
Colley Linda, “Britishness and Otherness: An Argument”, Journal of British Studies, vol. 31, 1992, 316
Source: Ella Gardner, ‘What the Passport Requires,’ Life in Japan, 1900
21
What the Passport Requires Expires October 20, 1897.
Legation of the United States Tokyo, October 21, 1896.
THE BEARER OF this passport is expressly cautioned to observe in every particular the directions of the Japanese government printed in Japanese characters on the back of his passport, an English translation of which is given herewith, and he is expected to conduct himself in an orderly and conciliatory manner toward the Japanese authorities and people. EDWIN DUN, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. Name of Bearer: Miss Ella Gardner. Period for which this passport is granted: 12 months. This Passport must be returned to the U. S. Legation upon expiration. Translation of the directions printed in Japanese on back of passport and to be borne in mind by citizens of the United States traveling in the interior. I. II. III.
The bearer of this passport must obey all local regulations while traveling in the interior. 6JGRCUURQTVOWUVDGTGVWTPGFVQVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGCUUQQP as possible after its expiration. The bearer while traveling in the interior must produce this RCUURQTVHQTKPURGEVKQPWRQPVJGTGSWGUVQHCP[NQECNQHſEKCN QTRQNKEGQHſEGTQTQHVJGNCPFNQTFQHVJGKPPCVYJKEJJG may lodge. Refusal for any reason so to produce it renders the bearer liable to be sent back to the nearest open port. 328
WHAT THE PASSPORT REQUIRES
IV. V. VI. VII.
329
This passport is not transferable. The bearer of this passport is not permitted to trade or make contracts while in the interior. The bearer is not permitted under this passport to rent houses or to reside in the interior. Even those who have licenses to hunt are not permitted to FKUEJCTIGſTGCTOUQTJWPVICOGQWVUKFGQHVJGVTGCV[NKOKVU
NOTE.—The local regulations above referred to forbid the following and similar acts : 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Traveling at night in a carriage without a light. #VVGPFKPICſTGQPJQTUGDCEM Disregarding notices of “No Thoroughfare.” Rapid driving on narrow roads. Neglecting to pay ferry and bridge tolls. Injuring notice boards, house signs and mile posts. Scribbling on temples, shrines or walls. Injuring crops, shrubs, trees or plants on the roads or in the gardens. 6TGURCUUKPIQPſGNFUGPENQUWTGUQTICOGRTGUGTXGU .KIJVKPIſTGUKPYQQFUQTQPJKNNUQTOQQTU Ella Gardner Life in Japan (1900)
Source: ‘All Things To All Men,’ in A Maker of the New Orient, 1902
22
Dr. S.R.Brown W.E.GRIFFIS
THE PRESENT BRITISH minister to Peking, Sir Ernest M. Satow, one of the greatest QHVJGHQWTQTſXGITGCV'PINKUJURGCMKPI,CRCPGUGUEJQNCTUKPVJGYQTNFJCU gladly acknowledged his indebtedness to S. R. Brown. On his arrival in Japan, having entered the British Consular service as student interpreter, he was taken by his fellow student Russell Robertson over to Kanagawa to call on Dr. Brown and Dr. Hepburn. There existed at that time only a rather poor collection of sentences rendered into Japanese by the Rev. S. Liggins, and an essay on Japanese grammar, by Sir Rutherford Alcock, of very little practical use. Dr. Brown was LWUVVJGPRTKPVKPIVJGſTUVUJGGVUQHJKUDQQMColloquial Japanese and kindly gave them some spare proofs, and on these the two young men made a start in the language. This was the beginning of the superb scholarship in Japanese for which the minister to China is noted. In October Colonel Neale sanctioned the arrangement by which Dr. Brown ICXGVJGVYQ[QWPIOGPVYQJQWTUŏVGCEJKPIGXGT[YGGM6JGſTUVDQQMVJG[ read under their teacher was the famous popular sermons of the Buddhist priest which A. B. Mitford has given in translation in volume i. of his classic, Tales of 1NF,CRCP These lessons continued until 1863. In a letter written from the legation in Peking to the biographer, 2, June 1901, Sir Ernest writes: Dr. Brown’s teaching was of the greatest assistance to me and instilled KPVQOGCVCUVGHQT,CRCPGUGNKVGTCVWTGCRCTVHTQOVJGUVWF[QHQHſEKCN documents to which a student interpreter has to apply himself. He was an extremely kind and faithful teacher, and without his help it would JCXGDGGPXGT[FKHſEWNVVQOCMGCP[RTQITGUUYKVJVJGNCPIWCIGHQTKP those days there existed nothing in the shape of a colloquial grammar. . . I have the most vivid recollection of Dr. Brown’s kindly countePCPEGJKUſPGCSWKNKPGPQUGDTKIJVG[GUCPFVJGITC[JCKTCNVQIGVJGT a noble head. 330
DR S.R.BROWN
331
From the second Sunday after his arrival, in November, 1859, he had begun religious services with preaching once a day, and these were continued at Dr. Hepburn’s house for about eight months. In June Rev. John Nevius, from Ningpo, came over to recruit his wife’s health and relieved him on alternate Sundays. In July, 1860, at the request of English-speaking merchants in Yokohama, he went across the bay and preached to a congregation of eight gentlemen. The very next week a request came for continuous, permanent public worship. A room was procured and the congregation, averaging thirty, occasionally rose over forty. A EQOOKVVGGQHDWUKPGUUOGPYCUCRRQKPVGFVQRWTEJCUGCNQVHQTCEJWTEJGFKſEG and procure subscriptions for the building of a church, and the salary of a chaplain—to be a clergyman of the Church of England. The amount raised was over four thousand dollars. Except the French Catholic Church, this was the only outward sign of a Christian community in Yokohama. The thousand dollars necessary to print Colloquial Japanese was voluntarily furnished by a Scottish merchant in Yokohama, while the passage to and from Shanghai to oversee the printing of the book was given by a Jewish gentleman, so that this publication cost the Board nothing. Let us read here an incident told by Mr. Brown’s sister-in-law in 1901: It was said of him at his funeral, by Dr. Stout, a fellow missionary, that he was equally popular with foreigners and natives. This was not, in most cases, considered a compliment, as it implied a slacking of religious character, but in Dr. Brown’s case it was the result of a general spirit of fellowship and common sense, which gave him a common ground with all sorts of men. One sea captain, returning to this country, said, I have found one real missionary—I was very sick, and I think the surgeon thought I was going off this time. He spoke of sending for Mr. Brown, whom I had met in America, but I said, No, I don’t want to see any misUKQPCT[9JGPJGECOGCVſTUV+YQWNFJCXGPQVJKPIVQUC[VQJKODWV he had a friendly way of talking, and when he said, Eh, Roger, have you got any tobacco? that broke the ice, he could say all he wanted to then.
Source: Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, Third Series, Vol. XII, 1975, 51–69
23
Two Remarkable Australians of Old Yokohama HAROLD S. WILLIAMS
BEFORE TELLING YOU about these two remarkable Australians, I should explain that around a hundred and ten years or so ago, quite a number of foreigners came to Japan from Australia, or via Australia. They had been attracted to #WUVTCNKCD[VJGDQQOQPVJGPGYN[HQWPFIQNFſGNFUQTVJGRTQURGEVUQHGUVCDlishing themselves in business in that colony. But when the boom came to an end, many of them decided to try their luck elsewhere. They looked around and moved on to Japan, which had by then been opened to foreign trade. Some became very successful businessmen. For example, to name only one, E. H. Hunter came to Japan via Australia, and, as you may know, he established, among other enterprises, the Osaka Iron Works which eventually grew into the great Hitachi Dockyard. But of the two remarkable persons of whom I am going to speak tonight, one YCUCPCVWTCNDQTP#WUVTCNKCP6JGQVJGTJCFNKXGFKP#WUVTCNKCHQTHQTV[ſXG[GCTU We may therefore fairly claim them as Australians. One, a boy, was brought to ,CRCPD[JKURCTGPVUCVVJGCIGQHCDQWVſXG[GCTUCPFUWDUGSWGPVN[DGECOGC famous professional Japanese story-teller. The other a widow came to Japan at VJGCIGQHſHV[GKIJVYKVJVJGFGVGTOKPCVKQPVQUWRRQTVJGTUGNHVGCEJKPIOWUKE singing, dancing and deportment. First I shall tell you about the boy. #TQWPFſHV[[GCTUCIQCVVJGVKOGQHJKUFGCVJKPCVVJGCIGQHUKZV[ſXG obituaries appeared in some of the newspapers in Japan and later there were occasional magazine articles in which he was erroneously referred to as having been an Englishman or a Scot. I have therefore taken the precaution of bringing with me tonight a photostat copy of the registration of his birth. I received it
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through the courtesy of Dr D. C. S. Sissons of Canberra. It is dated at Adelaide, South Australia, on 1 February 1859. The details of his birth were declared to be true by Anna Burnett, who presumably was the family servant or the midwife. +VKUKPVGTGUVKPIVQPQVGVJCVUJGEQWNFPQVYTKVGCPFVJGTGHQTGCHſZGFJGTOCTM an ‘X’, instead of a signature to the Birth Register. It declares that Henry James Black, for such was his name, was born at North Adelaide on 22 December 1858. And so, I repeat, we Australians can fairly claim him as being an Australian.
His mother was Elizabeth Charlotte Black and his father John Reddie Black. The name J. R. Black will be familiar to most of you. J. R. Black was born in Scotland of English parents. He attended the Blue Coat School before training for a career in the Royal Navy, but he soon realized that success for him was WPNKMGN[CUCPCXCNQHſEGT*GVJGTGHQTGFGEKFGFVQVCMGJKUYKHGVQ#WUVTCNKCCPF to establish himself there in business. Dr D. C. S. Sissons, a researcher and Fellow of the Australian National University at Canberra, has traced in the ‘Shipping Intelligence’ published in the Adelaide Times of 1 November 1854, mention that ‘Mr & Mrs Black and female servant’ were among the passengers who arrived in Adelaide on 29 October on the barque Irene, 447 tons, almost three full months out of London. 6JGKTſTUVEJKNF*GPT[,COGU$NCEMCNTGCF[TGHGTTGFVQYCUDQTPVJGTGHQWT years later. Unhappily his father, J. R. Black, failed in business in Australia, as he did in most other places. He was an amiable and popular man. His industry was great, but his business experiences were seldom crowned with success. #NVJQWIJWPUWEEGUUHWNKPDWUKPGUUCPFCUCOKPGTQPVJGIQNFſGNFUJGFKF CEJKGXGEQPUKFGTCDNGFKUVKPEVKQPCUCEQPEGTVUKPIGTQPVJGIQNFſGNFUCPFGNUGYJGTG when his search for gold failed. Around 1864, or so (there is some uncertainty about the exact date) he came to Japan with his wife and their son, who was then CDQWVſXG#VſTUVJGYCUCPCWEVKQPGGTKP;QMQJCOCDWVVJGPUQQPHQWPFJKU niche in journalism. That profession brought him fame but little wealth. Until his FGCVJJGEQPVKPWGFVQUVTWIINGOCPHWNN[YKVJſPCPEKCNFKHſEWNVKGU#U[QWMPQY he wrote that well-known-history ;QWPI,CRCP He was an early member of the Asiatic Society of Japan. It is, however, in his son, Henry James Black, that we are tonight interested. Children can pick up a foreign language with great ease, and young Black was no exception. After a residence of about ten years in Yokohama, he was taken home to England by his mother together with a younger brother and sister, who had been born in Japan, whilst his father left for Shanghai to carry on there his journalistic career. But young Black, now about eighteen years of age, did not ſPFNKHGKP'PINCPFVQJKUVCUVGCPFJGUQQPTGVWTPGFVQ,CRCPYJGTGJKUHCVJGT whose health had broken down in Shanghai, rejoined him. His mother arrived later, and just shortly before her husband’s death. Young Black was thus compelled at an early age to make his own way in the YQTNF#VſTUVJGVCWIJV'PINKUJDWVJKUKPETGCUKPICPFGZVTCQTFKPCT[ƀWGPE[
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in the Japanese language enabled him to carve out an unusual career for himself. It was a time of political turmoil and political meetings were popular. GraduCNN[[QWPI$NCEMYKVJJKUIQQFRTGUGPEGCPFCſPGXQKEGDGECOGCHCXQWTKVG speaker. The wealth of anecdotes which his speeches contained, and the interest they created, raised the suggestion that he should become a professional Japanese storyteller. Thus, for the rest of his life he was to be a professional entertainer. He married a Japanese and for professional reasons he was then adopted into her family and became a naturalized Japanese subject, popularly known as Ishii-Buraku. In those days there were restrictions on foreigners travelling outside treaty-port areas, but as a Japanese subject he could move freely about the country. He travelled all over Japan, learned the dialects and accumulating an extraordinary fund of knowledge of the folklore of the country which he added to his knowledge of the Western world. Rarely has anyone been able to so cast aside his own way of life and to enter so thoroughly into Japanese life as did Ishii-Buraku. He, of course, adopted Japanese dress and followed the mannerisms and technique of the traditional Japanese storytellers. On occasions, when necessary, he donned formal Western attire. Thus, I have photographs of him in both Japanese and Western dress. He soon became a star in the Japanese vaudeville world and later had a troupe of his own of twenty or thirty performers, among whom was an adopted son known on the stage as Professor Hosuke. Ishii-Black had no children of his own. His wife pre-deceased him by many years and in his later years he lived a very TGVKTGFNKHG*GFKGFKP6QM[QKPJKUUKZV[ſHVJ[GCTPKPGVGGPFC[UCHVGTVJGITGCV earthquake of September 1923, a rather lonely man. This surely was a most remarkable man. It might, however, occur to some of you that during the post-war period there have been quite a number of foreigners in Japan who have been TV announcers, professional entertainers, and so on, but please remember most of them were born in Japan, and some received a part or most of their education at Japanese schools or universities. Young Black, however, was not born here. He did not come to Japan until he YCUCDQWVſXG[GCTUQHCIGJKURGTKQFQHTGUKFGPEGJGTGYCUDTQMGPYJGPJGNGHV Japan about ten years later to attend school in England, and he did not return to Japan until he was about eighteen years of age. In such circumstances it is indeed TGOCTMCDNGVJCVJGTGCEJGFUWEJRKPPCENGUQHRTQſEKGPE[ He had none of his father’s literary energy, and he never acquired more than an elementary knowledge of the Japanese written language. But apparently he did inherit his father’s ear for music and so of sounds and intonations, out of which RGTJCRUITGYJKUCUVQPKUJKPIƀCKTHQTVJG,CRCPGUGNCPIWCIG J. R. Black, his father, had two other children, both of whom were born in Japan, but their story does not enter into my talk this evening, except that I should mention that the second son was named after his father. Thus he was J. R. Black II. He eventually came to Kobe from Yokohama and became an insurance agent
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and cargo surveyor. Like his father, he was no great success as a businessman, but he was industrious and served the foreign community well in community affairs. Like his father, he also was of a pleasing and amiable manner. He was married to an English lady, and they had three daughters, who were young ladies in Kobe when I was a young man there. He eventually became president of the Kobe Club, which in pre-war days was considered the social pinnacle in Kobe, and his wife was one of the leading lights in the best afternoon tea parties on the *KNNKP-KVCPQEJę You may therefore understand me when I say that the family formed no great opinion of Uncle Henry for becoming a naturalized Japanese and a professional entertainer at that. Indeed they rather banished him from their thoughts, and it was always a pain when it was reported in the newspapers, or told to them by their servants or others, that Uncle Henry was performing in one of the nearby temple grounds. Around eighty years or so ago, there were not many public halls where Japanese troupes of entertainers, or individual celebrities could put on a performance, and so it was not at all unusual for them to perform under canvas in one of the temple or shrine grounds, especially during the matsuri festivals. That such an exalted member of the foreign community as the president of the Kobe Club should have a brother who was performing as a professional storyteller in some nearby temple compound was something that family preferred not to talk about, and in fact it had become largely forgotten in the post-war period, until I commenced my writings about remarkable foreigners of earlier days. I told the story of Ishii-Black, and I claimed that he was the most remarkable of all the Black family, and no less famous than his illustrious father. +VYCUVJGP+JCFVJGUCVKUHCEVKQPCPFRNGCUWTGQHſPFKPIVJCVCUCTGUWNVQHO[ writings the few surviving members of the Black family, now living abroad, have taken back into the family fold their Uncle Henry and are proud to relate the story of Ishii-Black. That concludes my story about one remarkable Australian.
I am now going to tell you the story of a remarkable Australian woman. It is CUKORNGUVQT[DWV+DGNKGXG[QWYKNNſPFKVQHUQOGKPVGTGUVDGECWUGKVTGECNNU for us life within the foreign communities of Japan around the beginning of the century. My interest in Mrs Emily Sophia Patton—for that was the lady’s name—grew out of a letter to the editor which appeared in the Japan Times of 1 November 1962. The NGVVGTYCUHTQOCPCXCNRGVV[QHſEGTKP2N[OQWVJ'PINCPFKPSWKTKPIHQTKPHQTOCVKQP concerning a Mrs. Emily Sophia Patton as to ‘when, how and where’ she had died. Sensing that this inquiry gave promise of a literary adventure, I searched through my old directories and then forwarded to the inquirer in England all the information I had
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been able to gather. My letter appears to have been the only response he had. Anyhow, it commenced a correspondence which passed between us for some years and later branched out to three continents.
At the same time, I directed an inquiry to that remarkable private publication Japan Queries and Answers which Mr Don Brown, an American national, at great personal effort and cost, so enthusiastically conducted from May 1955 to June 1964, and which he distributed gratis to these who were known to have an especial interest in ‘Things Japanese’. His publication ran into twenty-nine issues, totaleng 375 pages; the pages being of about the same size as Time magazine. He printed therein 409 lengthy queries, most of which, but not all, elicited answers from the select group to which the publication was distributed. In June, 1964, with the twenty-ninth issue, it eventually came to an end, as do all good things, but not, I understand, because Mr. Brown grew weary of the task. Everybody NKMGFTGCFKPIVJGRWDNKECVKQPDWVPQVUWHſEKGPVQHVJGOEQPVTKDWVGFCPUYGTUVQ enable it to continue. (I diverted for a moment from my subject of Mrs Patton to tell you something about this publication, because it is but another example of the real effort which has been made by foreign residents in Japan to learn more about, and to understand, this country in which they live, just as Mrs Patton’s life here was another interesting example. I do not know for sure that Japanese residents abroad make similar efforts. But I hope these examples will prove to be an inspiration for them to do so.) 0QYTGVWTPKPIVQ/T$TQYPŏURWDNKECVKQPKPFWGEQWTUGſXGCPUYGTUEQPcerning Mrs Patton appeared in ,CRCP3WGTKGUCPF#PUYGTUThey gave some details of her residence in Yokohama, and of her death there in 1912 at the age of eighty years. Those clues enabled me to start on an enthusiastic research. She was one of a great company of worthy and famous persons, who over the years found their last resting place in the historic Yokohama General Foreign Cemetery. +PTGRN[VQO[XCTKQWUNGVVGTUVJGPCXCNRGVV[QHſEGTKP2N[OQWVJ'PINCPF wrote and explained how he came to be interested in Mrs Patton. He mentioned, with some regret, that when he visited Japan, while attached to the British Far Eastern Squadron from 1946 onwards into the 1950s, his time ashore was spent in the usual manner of young sailors, and so he missed the opportunity of delving into what had since become for him an absorbing interest, namely the Meiji era of Japan. He has also become an enthusiastic collector of books covering that period, and haunts secondhand bookshops during his spare time. Early in 1962, he inserted an advertisement in a newspaper in England to the effect that he wanted to buy ‘literature on Japan’. To this he received a reply from a certain gentleman stating that he had a number of old letters which he thought might be of interest to a collector. They had been received by an English lady, long since dead, who had been a pen-friend of a Mrs Patton of Yokohama. Mrs Patton had met her son, Fleet Paymaster Keyes, when he was in Yokohama in
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the early 1890s, and from that meeting a correspondence had grown up between the paymaster’s mother (Mrs Keyes) in England, and Mrs Patton in Japan. Mrs Keyes had carefully preserved all the letters, including several photographs and other material, which she had received. Following Mrs Keyes’ death more than sixty years ago, the collection had been in the possession of several members of the family. The last holder had no need of them and asked only 12/6d for the whole lot. At that price it proved to be a fabulous bargain. The main item in the collection was a packet of printed circular letters. It had been customary for Mrs Patton to dispatch such letters annually to her friends abroad. Those circular letters ranged from fourteen pages for the year 1895 to ſHV[HQWTRCIGUHQT6JG[YGTGRTKPVGFQPRCRGTQHVJKPVGZVWTGCPFVJG pages of each year’s letter were held together with a silk thread. 1PTGCFKPIVJGOKVDGECOGCRRCTGPVVQVJGRGVV[QHſEGTVJCVJGJCFDGGPHQTtunate enough to obtain an unusual literary curiosity, which in fact was a candid commentary on happenings within Japan and particularly within the Yokohama foreign community, extending over a period of nine years from 1895 onwards—a pot-pourri of personal news, reminiscences, extracts from books and newspaper articles concerning Japan and Mrs Patton’s own personal opinions and impressions of current happenings. It was in the hope of discovering more about the writer of those circular letters VJCVVJGRGVV[QHſEGTKP'PINCPFJCFFGURCVEJGFJKUKPSWKT[VQVJGGFKVQTQHVJG ,CRCP6KOGU In the meantime, with the assistance of an enthusiastic friend in Brisbane, Australia, I had extended my inquiries to various historical societies in that country CPFVQVJGHCOQWU/KVEJGNN.KDTCT[KP5[FPG[YJKEJJCUVJGſPGUVEQNNGEVKQPQH Australiana. Soon, there came trickling back a great deal of biographical information concerning Mrs Patton. She was born in England, the only daughter of Arthur Todd Holroyd, a doctor of medicine who gave up his profession to study law and to be called to the Bar. A successful career in England was opening up before him. However, he decided to take his family to New Zealand. From there he soon moved to Sydney, Australia. Thus, his daughter Emily grew up in Australia from the age of about fourteen. Her father, then a distinguished barrister, had joined the Bar at Sydney and afterwards entered politics, where he gained ministerial rank in the New South Wales Cabinet. Later, he was appointed Master-in-Equity and became a judge in the Supreme Court. His daughter Emily, at the age of twenty-four, married a Frederick Terry, who although a business man belonged to a well-known theatrical family of that name. Unfortunately, Terry died prematurely three years later, leaving her a widow at twenty-seven years of age with one young child, a son. It was then, because of JGTNCVGJWUDCPFŏUHCOKN[EQPPGEVKQPUYKVJVJGVJGCVTGVJCVJGTſTUVKPVTQFWEVKQP to theatrical life began. Six months after her husband’s death, she was offered a
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vacancy in a well-known Australian theatrical company. She appeared on the stage under her maiden name of Emily Holroyd. Two years later she married a Mr Patton, but as he was averse to her remaining on the stage she abandoned her theatrical career. Some years later, a daughter, Gwendoline, was born of this marriage, and later, in order to supplement the HCOKN[ŏUſPCPEGU/TU2CVVQPDGECOGCVGCEJGTQHOWUKEUKPIKPICPFFCPEKPI Young Nellie Mitchell, who subsequently became the world renowned prima donna Madame Melba, was her most promising pupil. In 1887, her father, Judge Holroyd, died, and in the same year she lost her only UQP6JGPKPVJGHQNNQYKPI[GCTJGTCKNKPIJWUDCPFFKGF#VVJGCIGQHſHV[UGXGP she was once again a widow. The shock of these several bereavements within a short space of time gave the lady such a distaste for Australia, where she had then been living for about HQTV[ſXG[GCTUVJCVUJGFGVGTOKPGFVQOKITCVGVQ,CRCPYKVJJGTFCWIJVGT)YGPdoline, the only one of her family remaining. She had been assured by friends that with her musical accomplishments she would be able to earn a living there. #VſTUVUJGJCFJQRGFHQTCPCRRQKPVOGPVVQVJG6QM[Q/WUKE#ECFGO[DWV when that was not forthcoming she established herself on the Bluff at Yokohama as a teacher of music, singing, dancing and deportment. That was a busy and at ſTUVCJCRR[RGTKQFHQTJGT*GTG+ECPPQVFQDGVVGTVJCPSWQVGHTQOCNGVVGT which I received not so long ago from one of her pupils, Mr Otis Manchester Poole, now aged ninety-three and living in Virginia, U.S.A. Some of you may know that Mr Poole, a U. S. national, came to Yokohama at the age of seven with his parents. His father was a tea expert with Smith, Baker %QQPGQHVJGNCTIG#OGTKECPVGCGZRQTVſTOUKP;QMQJCOC6JGUQPYCU educated in the foreign schools in Yokohama and became a successful businessOCP*GLQKPGFVJGſTOQH&QFYGNN%Q.VFCPFGXGPVWCNN[DGECOGCFKTGEVQT of the company. You may also recall he wrote that very interesting book entitled The Death of Old Yokohama, being an account of the great earthquake of 1923. Mr Poole recalls with admiration and affection that remarkable woman, Mrs Patton. I quote from his letter: ;QWTGPSWKT[QRGPUVJGƀQQFICVGUQHO[OGOQT[#U[QWUC[UJGYCU CP#WUVTCNKCPCYKFQYKPJGTſHVKGUYJQYKVJJGTUVTCRRKPIJCPFUQOG daughter, Gwendoline, conducted a school of music and dancing for foreign children on the Bluff. They lived at 142 Bluff, beside what was then known as ‘The Gap’ or ‘The White Railings’, where the Bluff road momentarily touched the edge of the cliff above Tokyo Bay. Below lay ‘Dare’s Beach’, later to become ‘The Reclaimed Ground’. There she conducted her classes in different age groups; and it was quite the thing for Yokohama mothers to send their children. I was ten years old when my brother, sister and I started attending with all the other children we knew. She was a characterful woman of many parts,
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very rugged (she seemed to us) and forthright, and rustled in black silk and a whale-bone bodice that converted her into a doughty oak tree. 4CVJGTCſPGſGTEGJGCFCPFUJGDTQQMGFPQPQPUGPUG*GTFCWIJVGT Gwendo¬line, about 21 or so in neat blue-serge sailor suit was supple and strong as a lioness. She would stand with feet apart, one hand on her hip, and the other arm stretched sideways, and let us kids swing on her wrist. I remember our sorrow when she was suddenly taken from us by cholera, after a few hours illness. In bounding health one day when we attended the class, and gone a few days later. Mrs Patton, indomitable as ever, kept right on. She taught us all the dances of the day—The Waltz, Polka, Barn Dance, the Lancers, the Caledonians and Scottish Reels, the Spanish Waltz and the Sailors Hornpipe. She knew them all. Mrs Patton was versatile, she also taught music exceedingly well, both vocal and instrumental. She used colour to emphasize the quality of a note. And she taught deportment—how to sit on a chair properly, how to ask for a dance, bowing with your right hand over your heart, and how to YCNMITCEGHWNN[CETQUUCDCNNTQQOƀQQT#PFUJGFKFPŏVOKPEGJGTYQTFU +TGOGODGTVQQPGRQQTIKTNYJQOQXGFUVKHƀ[UJGGZENCKOGFŎ0Q No, No! My dear! Don’t walk as if you’d just wet your drawers’ I remember there was quite a row over her remark. That was the end of Mr Poole’s letter. But I might mention I have traced several others of her pupils who still have fond memories of her. One, a retired elderly missionary lady in the United States, and the other a Eurasian lady in Kobe. And there are, I believe, several residents still in Yokohama who were her pupils or who remember her. Following the tragic death of her daughter, she was alone in the world. But again misfortune struck at her when the Oriental Bank Corporation, once regarded as the strongest of the foreign banks in Japan failed and swallowed up her life’s savings. Thereafter, from the age of sixty-two and for nearly twenty years until her death she had to keep herself solely by her own exertions. During that period she travelled extensively and did a good deal of journalistic work, much of which appeared in the Japan Gazette and other publications. Some found its way to Sydney and Melbourne papers. For example, during 1897–98 she twice visited the island of Saghalien, and thereafter published in booklet form an account of her journey. Then, following the Russo-Japanese 9CTUJGXKUKVGFVJGDCVVNGſGNFUQH2QTV#TVJWTCPFEQPVTKDWVGFCUGTKGUQHCTVKcles to the 6QYP%QWPVT[,QWTPCNFor a lady of over seventy that was surely quite an accomplishment.
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In addition, she had written two books. One was Japanese Topsyturvydom, an illustrated and artistic book printed on crepe paper, the other was the text of an art book depicting characteristic types of Japanese as seen in the shops and streets. In addition to her journalistic work, each year commencing from 1895 and continuing until 1911, she wrote a circular letter which was printed and then sent to her friends abroad. Those annual letters contained an account of her activities and a running commentary on happenings in Japan, but mainly within the foreign community of Yokohama. It was a collection of those circular letters, comprising Nos. 2 to 15 and coverKPIVJGRGTKQFVQYJKEJVJGRGVV[QHſEGTKP'PINCPFYCUUQHQTVWPCVG CUVQDGCDNGVQRWTEJCUGHQTVJGVTKƀKPIUWOQHFCU+JCXGCNTGCF[TGNCVGF A larger collection of those letters, extending up to 1911, is to be found in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Perhaps other of her letters may be in private hands, but thus far I have not located any. The foreign communities in Japan in those days were vastly different entities from what they are today. They were more cohesive and closely knit to the extent VJCVVJGHQTGKIPGTUNKXGFKPOQTGEQPſPGFCTGCUCPFYGTGPQVYKFGN[UECVVGTGF throughout the Kanto and Kansai regions as nowadays. But at the same time it was a rather caste-ridden society with plenty of snobbery. The foreign shopkeepers, for example, were a category remote from the merchants, and they in turn from the missionaries and the teachers. Those foreigners who were born in Japan were lumped by some of the newer arrivals into a class known, as B. I. J.’s. (I was, and am, rather proud of the fact that my elder daughter was a B. I. J, although there was a time much earlier than that when the expression was spoken of in a rather hushed tone as being something a person did not boast about.) The fathers and grandfathers of the B. I. J’s had come to Japan in the early days and made permanent homes here. The children had been born in the family home, had grown up and gone to school here, had married, and many of them expected to die here and to be buried in the family plot in the Foreign Cemetery. Some were successful and wealthy while others were struggling to make a living. And of course in the foreign settlements there were the new arrivals always coming in CUOGODGTUQHVJGUVCHHUQHVJGGUVCDNKUJGFHQTGKIPſTOU$WVCUVJGKPKVKCNVQWTQH FWV[KPVJQUGFC[UHQTUWEJOGPYCUſXG[GCTUYKVJGXGT[GZRGEVCVKQPQHVJGKT contracts being renewed many times, until maybe they eventually would become taipans, those new arrivals generally settled down and soon adopted a long-term view in all personal and community problems. They planned far ahead and hoped VQUQſTON[GUVCDNKUJVJGHQTGKIPEQOOWPKV[KPUVKVWVKQPUVJGENWDUVJGEJWTEJGU and schools, no less than their own homes, that their children also would gain the advantage of them. And in these endeavours they were aided by foreign-owned newspapers, which kept the foreign community well informed, both on its rights and also on its obligations and duties.
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+VYCUPQVCNNUOQQVJIQKPI6JGTGYGTGFKHſEWNVKGUCPFFKUITCEGUDWVCNNKPCNN the foreign communities can well be proud of what they achieved. Despite the sensational reports which appear from time to time in the Japanese press, the foreign communities were on the whole most respectable and law-abiding elements in Japan. It was realized that the disgrace of one was, in the eyes of the Japanese, the disgrace of all. It was this realization which stirred Mrs Patton and others to strong condemnation of wrong behaviour. Mrs Patton’s writings in those letters were as different from so many other accounts of Yokohama life as was Mrs Patton from her contemporaries. At times she portrayed Yokohama life with Dickensian detail, but did not always mention names. For example there was her account of the death of a single man by his own hands from the effects of delirium tremens, who had long been a resident in Yokohama and who had moved in the best circles. When his married sister came to take possession of his effects and to put his affairs in order, she found among his papers love letters from so many married women in the community that she was unable to call in the assistance of a gentleman friend to help her in settling her brother’s affairs, because many of the letters were from that man’s wife. It must not, however, be imagined that Mrs Patton’s circular letters were scandal sheets. Indeed, on the contrary, most of them contained much scorching criticism, and where a scandal was related in detail, it was by way of pointing to what she described as ‘some of the hollowness of the society around me’. At the same time, she wrote (and I quote): ‘It must, however, be understood that there are many honourable exceptions, and that there are as good and nice people to be found here as anywhere else.’ She sometimes tells us more in one of her letters than Baroness d’Anethan, for example, succeeded in doing in that bulky and beautifully produced volume of froth entitled (QWTVGGP;GCTUQH&KRNQOCVKE.KHGKP,CRCP The Baroness, who was the sister of Rider Haggard, inherited the family ability of being able to write, but as the wife of the doyen of the Diplomatic Corps she was so handicapped by the PGGFVQDGFKUETGGVVJCVOQUVQHYJCVƀQYGFHTQOJGTRGPYCUCPGHHGTXGUEGPEG of afternoon teas and formal dinners. Adulterers and business sharpsters had to be spoken of by the Baroness in nice words and even the Carew arsenic poisoning case, which held the entire foreign population of Japan enthralled for weeks on end, was innocuously dealt with by the Baroness in seventeen rather short sentences scattered about on seven different pages. But Mrs Patton’s writings were not of that type. Some of her circular letters rather abound in the doings of snobs, inebriates, suicides and successful Lotharios, although not to the exclusion, by any means, of more important happenings. From time to time well known personalities bob up in her letters often with interesting reminscences concerning them, which are not to be found in other publications. Concerning Lafcadio Hearn she wrote:
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It is a matter of lasting regret to me that he never would make the acquaintance of English or Americans. I made several attempts to induce him to make an exception in my favour, knowing how much our sympathies and views were alike with regard to the Japanese, but I suppose he classed me in the same category with the generality of women he had met before coming to Japan, to whom we know he had the greatest antipathy, so that I never had the chance of meeting him. Personally I feel that Mrs Patton need not have regretted her inability to meet Hearn. I believe Hearn was the loser thereby, not Mrs Patton. There were more agreeable persons for her to meet than that unhappy introvert, such for example as Edward H. House, the controversial American newspaperman and proprietor of the 6QM[Q6KOGU She relates in one of her letters that after sending him a morning glory pot plant in July of 1899, when he was a very sick man, she received from him a characteristic and brave acknowledgement. Fortunately, she reproduced it in her next circular letter, otherwise that little gem would have been lost to us. It reads: Dear Mrs Patton, Extra Morning Glory Bulletin. Total number of blossoms this am 27. Total number of leaves this am 21. I thought the Morning Glory had reached its limit of brilliance YJGPPKPGVGGPƀQYGTUCRRGCTGFCHGYFC[UCIQDWVVJKUOQTPKPIKPC burst of noble ambition, it shone out with twenty-seven blooms—six more than there are leaves on the plant. This seems to me a remarkable demonstration. I don’t believe this record can be surpassed, but if ever a larger number come to view I shall take pleasure in letting you know. Very sincerely yours, E. H. H. In another of her circular letters she described House (and I quote) as: ŗDQTPCLQWTPCNKUVCPFCOWUKEKCP+VYCUKPVJGNCVVGTECRCEKV[VJCV+ſTUV made his acquaintance and we became great friends, for his sympathies and mine on all questions relating to Japan and the Japanese were idenVKECN*GJCFDGGPHQTſXGCPFVYGPV[[GCTUCETKRRNGYKVJTJGWOCVKUO and had entirely lost the use of his legs, and to a great extent his hands also—so that he could never come to see me, and I could only visit him on rare occasions, he living in Tokyo, I in Yokohama. For the last few
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years of his life his was truly a living death, only cheered by the devotion of his adopted daughter (a Japanese) who repaid him in his later days for all he had done for her in her youth, when he had taken her to America, and given her an excellent education. It was Mr House’s wish to be buried in a Japanese cemetery with no funeral rites, and of course his wishes were carried out when he died about seven years ago—and he lies in a small out-of-the-way Buddhist burial ground close to a Temple never visited by foreigners. The priests of the Temple only gave permission for him to be buried there on condition that there was to be no Christian Service performed over him, and no Christian inscription on the stone, and as this was in accordance with his own wish, of course, it was carried out. Therefore the stone above his remains only bears his initials E. H. H. on one side, and on the other a long inscription in Japanese, setting forth all he had done for many years in the cause of music and journalism in Tokio. . . Thus, Mrs Patton, a lovable example of the solid middle classes of the Victorian age, a woman endowed with far more than the average quota of courage, determination, independence and sound commonsense, continued to write her circular letters year after year. +P CV VJG CIG QH UGXGPV[ DGKPI WPCDNG VQ OWUVGT UWHſEKGPV RWRKNU KP Yokohama, she moved to Shanghai and started once again as a teacher of music and singing. However, she retained her small bungalow in Kose, near Karuizawa, and returned to Japan each year to spend the summer there. In this she was just one of many hundreds of foreigners from Shanghai and along the China Coast who packed the mountain resorts of Japan each summer to escape the dreadful China heat and humidity. She continued to write her Circular Letters and articles for the Press up to 1911, when she decided to return to Japan and end her days here. Her last literary effort was entitled ‘Lecturette on Dancing’ and was printed by the North China Daily News. It was not a manual of instruction, but a farewell to her Shanghai pupils and friends. And so this proud and self-reliant woman returned once again to Japan, this VKOGCVGKIJV[[GCTUQHCIGVQGCTPUWHſEKGPVKPQTFGTVQUWRRQTVJGTUGNH+PFQKPI so she lamented in one of her letters that at eighty she did not have the same courage to start life over again as she did at the age of sixty. Nevertheless, that did not deter her from the determination to do so. With declining health and approaching old age, Mrs Patton, while in Shanghai, became concerned with the possibility that she might soon die. She had always disciplined herself to the task of taking care of her own problems rather than troubling other people with them. It was therefore characteristic of this grand old lady that while alive she should herself attend as far as possible to those tasks which most people leave to others to handle after their death, such for example
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CUVJGRTGRCTCVKQPQHCPQDKVWCT[PQVKEGCPFVJGPQVKſECVKQPQHFGCVJVQTGNCVKXGU and friends. She therefore had cards printed and delivered to her reading : DIED ON AT OF AFTER AGED EMILY SOPHIA PATTON Widow of the late Horatio W. Patton of Melbourne, Australia and only daughter of the late Arthur Todd Holroyd Esq., for many years Master in Equity, Sydney, N. S. W.
6JGDNCPMURCEGUYGTGVQDGſNNGFKPCHVGTJGTFGCVJ These cards were then placed by her in envelopes which she herself addressed to her many friends abroad, whom she wished to be informed eventually of JGTFGCVJ#UUJGYCUVJGPNKXKPIKP5JCPIJCKUJGCHſZGFC%JKPGUGUVCORVQ each envelope, so that it would be ready for posting after details of her death had been written in the blank spaces. When she left Shanghai and returned to Yokohama, she carried these envelopes and cards with her and added a Japanese stamp to each envelope so that it would be ready for use when necessary. 9JGPVJG[YGTGGXGPVWCNN[ſNNGFKPVJG[TGCFCUHQNNQYU ON ……………. AT ……………. OF …………… AFTER ……… AGED ……….
DIED 7th January, 1912 Her Residence, 141, Bluff, Yokohama. Heart Failure Suddenly 80
The envelopes were posted in Yokohama and reached the addressees with the Japanese stamp duly cancelled, but of course with the Chinese postage stamp, YJKEJUJGJCFCHſZGFYJKNGKP5JCPIJCKPQVECPEGNNGF In accordance with her instructions, her remains were cremated and the ashes were placed in the same grave in the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery with those of her daughter Gwendoline. An inscription was then added to the other side of the monument, and in accordance with her wishes the following words were engraved on the base:
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Transient are all: They being born, must die : And, being born, are dead : And, being dead, are glad to be at rest. (Buddhist writings) Mrs Patton being a Rationalist, there was no religious burial service, but the British Consul-General read an eloquent address, which concluded with the words: ‘The honesty, sincerity, benevolence and strenuous industry of our late friend and teacher will ever be an example to us all . . . Good-bye, old friend.’
Source: Japan - A Tourist Guide, 1880
24
Visitors to Japan
VISITORS TO JAPAN are not allowed to go beyond Treaty Limits without a Passport; but this is readily obtained in a few days, by application to their Consuls and the payment of a trilling fee. The Treaty Limits are:— At Yokohama—to the river Tamagawa and ten ri in any other direction. At Hiogo—in the direction of Kioto as far as ten ri from that city, and ten ri in any other direction. At Osaka—on the South from the mouth of the Yamatogawa to Funabashimura, and from the latter place within the limits of a line drawn from there through Kiokojemura to Sado. The town of Sakai lies outside these limits, but foreigners are allowed to visit it. At Nagasaki—into any part of the Nagasaki district. At Niigata and Hakodate—ten ri in any direction. At Tokio—within the following boundaries; from the mouth of the Shintonegawa to Kanamahi, and from there along the high road to Mito as far as Senji; from there along the river Sumida as far as Furuyakamigo, and thence through Omura, Takakura, Koyata, Ogiwara, Miyudera, Mitsugi and Tanaka to the ferry of Hino on the river Tamagawa. The distance of ten ri shall be measured by land from the Saibansho (Townhall) of each of the above mentioned places. Shooting licenses can be obtained at the Kencho (Prefecture) for the sum or ten yen, which remain in force from the 15th of October until the 15th of April of the following year, and are only available within the Treaty Limits. It is not easy to say, with precision, what fees should be paid for the hire of jinrikisha (man-eart-power), as the fares vary considerably in different localities; but the following estimate may be considered liberal: A jinrikisha and one coolie during a day of 9 hours }50 Sen. 346
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with frequent and long rests……………………} Ditto with two coolies ….. 1 Rio. When the coolies have to run fast and stop but little, as in going from Yokohama to Odawura, at least double the above amount should be paid. When a jinrikisha is engaged by distance, 10 sen to each coolie per ri, may be quoted CUHCKT+PſPGYGCVJGTCPFQXGTIQQFTQCFUVYQOGPYKNNTWPQPGri in thirty minutes. In every case it is better to make a bargain before starting, to prevent after disputes. Those Japanese who partake of the best native food, generally pay one bu and a half (37½ sen for their supper, bed andDTGCMHCUV A foreigner should always take a receipt before leaving each hotel, as evidence for obtaining redress, in case of extortion; and to show at other hotels should the charges have been moderate. Japanese frequently interpret the word ri—mile. When enquiring of an English-speaking native, the distance to or from. any place, it is well to ask whether ri or English mile is meant. It is well to be provided with ten and twenty sen paper-money, as they are found VJGOQUVEQPXGPKGPVVJGTGDGKPIQEECUKQPCNN[UQOGFKHſEWNV[KPIGVVKPIEJCPIG for large sums. Mexican and American dollars are not current in the country. The traveller is recommended not to cumber himself with eatables when going KPVQVJGKPVGTKQTHQTWPNGUUCPKPXCNKFQTXGT[RCTVKEWNCTJGYKNNſPFCVGXGT[ TGURGEVCDNG JQVGN C UWHſEKGPV XCTKGV[ QH IQQF CPF YJQNGUQOG HQQF VQ UCVKUH[ ordinary requirements. Bass or Alsopp’s Ale is to be obtained at the Tobutsuya (foreign shops) in every little village; and Claret and Spirits of a very drinkable quality, in the towns. Butchers’ meat is not always to be procured; but in lieu thereof, there is generCNN[CHCKTCUUQTVOGPVQHICOGRQWNVT[CPFſUJ6JG,CRCPGUGEQQMſUJKPUWEJ a manner as would shame many French cooks. Game and poultry are prepared, unless otherwise directed, by separating the bone from the meat, cutting the latter into small pieces, and stewing it with leeks, sugar, soy and a substance, made of beans, etc., called miso. This dish is seldom refused. It is customary to take off boots or shoes before entering the matted rooms of an hotel or other house. On the arrival of any visitor at a hotel, he should be met at VJGGPVTCPEGD[VJGJQUVQTJQUVGUUYJQRNCEKPIJKUQTJGTJGCFQPVJGƀQQTQT mat bows in Japanese fashion, (vide General Description of Japan) saying: Ohayo gozarimasu a very polite way of expressing: ‘You have come quickly, Sir.’ The guest makes no reply, but enters the room allotted him. A cushion is placed on the mats for him to sit upon, and in winter, a brasier of charcoal to warm his hands. Afterwards, tea and cakes are brought as refreshments. The preliminaries being attended to, the host, hostess and those servants attending upon the visitor depart.
Source: Journal of Oriental Studies Vol. XIII, 2, 1975, 137–145
25
Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894 I. H. NISH*
T HE REVISION WAS the issue that dominated the foreign affairs of the New Japan for almost three decades. Yet it has been one of the neglected subjects in the field of Japanese diplomatic history. This is the more inexplicable because, at the one end of the spectrum, the Meiji restoration has been intensively studied in both its foreign and domestic aspects, while at the other, the story of Japan’s wars with China and Russia is still being examined in detail. This article is an attempt to explore one small part of this field: the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1894, which brought Japan within sight of achieving her goal of treaty revision and was an important landmark in her struggle for recognition as a world power. 1 6JGIQXGTPOGPVUTGURQPUKDNGHQTPGIQVKCVKPIVJKUVTGCV[YGTGVJG+VęOKPKUVT[ (1892–6) and, in Britain, the Liberal ministries of W. E. Gladstone (1892–4) and .QTF4QUGDGT[ Ō%QWPV+Vę*KTQDWOKQPGQH,CRCPŏUGNFGTUVCVGUOGPRTGsided over a ‘cabinet of all the talents’ and his foreign minister, Mutsu Klunemitsu, cautious, prudent and secretive, was responsible for taking this new initiative in amending the treaties. By contrast, the revision of Japan’s treaties was a small issue for cabinets in Britain, which were preoccupied with problems nearer home. The constant factor was Lord Rosebery who, as foreign secretary under Gladstone and later as his successor as prime minister, bore the ultimate responsibility for conducting the negotiations. Lord Kimberley, who became foreign secretary for the critical half-year of negotiations in 1894, was over 70 and suffered from poor health. The Liberal ministries were in real disarray over foreign affairs. The problem YCUVJCV5KT9KNNKCO*CTEQWTVCPKPƀWGPVKCNOGODGTQHVJGRCTV[YCUQRRQUGF * Reader in International History, London School of Economics, University of London. 1 This paper was originally included in the proceedings of the Hongkong conference on Asian history in 1964 and has now been re-written in the light of new evidence. 348
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on most points to Rosebery and Kimberley. As leader of the House of Commons, Harcourt was inconveniently privy to diplomatic secrets and was inclined to be opinionated and meddlesome.2 Kimberley complained of his sending a letter on the affairs of China and Japan which ‘displays in its worst form his combined ignorance and arrogance’. For this among other reasons, Kimberley felt that the ECDKPGVYCUDGTGHVQHCFGſPKVGHQTGKIPRQNKE[QPCNOQUVCNNVJGOQUVKORQTVCPV questions of the day.3 Negotiation to revise the treaties had had a chequered history. The original treaties, that with Britain being the Treaty of Edo of 1858, granted foreigners privileges in certain prescribed ports and the right to try their nationals in their consular courts. Associated with this was the freezing of duties on imported foreign IQQFUCVſXGRGTEGPVCFXCNQTGO These treaties were branded by the Japanese as ‘unequal’ and were regarded as humiliating. This was frankly stated by successive governments and even more strongly by the political parties. After the Diet came into existence in 1890, the parties upset two schemes for treaty revision, an issue they used as a weapon to attack the government. Those in power had to follow a middle-of-the-road course: they could not give in to the parties for the result would be unacceptable to the foreign negotiators; they could not meet all the desires of the foreign powers because it would lead to bitter domestic opposition. 1XGTVYQFGECFGUQHſEKCNUJCFHQWPFKVKORQUUKDNGVQFGXKUGCHQTOWNCYJKEJ would accommodate the wishes of the domestic opposition and of foreign powers. There was a widespread notion that the main impediment to the achievement of treaty revision over the past two decades had been the attitude of Britain.4 It is not the purpose of this article to decide on the merits of this view. But we must record that Sir Harry Parkes, Britain’s minister (1865–83), was unbending towards the Japanese—the ‘last of the daimyo’ VJG[ECNNGFJKO1VJGT$TKVKUJQHſEKCNU thought his attitude was a grave error. Thus, Ernest Satow, the Japanese secretary in the legation in Parkes’ day, wrote that Britain ‘made a great mistake here in pursuing an unfriendly, harsh policy towards the government, the knowledge of which has come to the ears of the common people, and has caused them to look on foreigners in general, and Sir Harry Parkes in particular, as their enemy. You would not credit to what extent he is the bugbear of the Japanese public and in the popular estimation he occupies much the same position as ‘Boney’ with us 50 years ago’.5 Treaty negotiation continued after Parkes left the Tokyo legation in 1883 and Britain showed some willingness to proceed, especially under Hugh Fraser, minister in Japan (1889–94). By the 1890s the British view was, as expressed by J. H. Gubbins, the Japanese secretary at the Tokyo legation, ‘England has the &WHHGTKP 2CRGTU $GNHCUV 4GEQTF 1HſEG &2 & * 4 /WPTQ(GTIWUQP VQ Dufferin, 7 July 1894. 3 Rosebery Papers (Scottish National Library, Edinburgh), Kimberley to Rosebery, 6 April 1894 4 F. H. Conroy, The Japanese seizure of Korea (Philadelphia, 1960) pp. 221–222. 5 5CVQY2CRGTU 2WDNKE4GEQTF1HſEG'/5CVQYVQ58&KEMKPU1EVQDGT 2
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credit (quite untruly) of the failure of the Treaty Revision negotiations’.6 This assessment was shared by G. N. Curzon, M.P. and traveller in the east, who wrote: ‘Though it has frequently appeared in print, particularly in America, that Great Britain alone stands in the way of Treaty Revision in Japan, the facts which I have elsewhere displayed will have shown the baselessness of the charge, which none know better than the Japanese statesmen themselves’.7 Perhaps the Japanese government did not attribute too much blame to Britain. 6JG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUCUFKUVKPEVHTQOVJGRCTV[RQNKVKEKCPUCEEGRVGFVJCVKVYCU reasonable for Britain to make some preconditions before giving up its earlier treaty rights. In any case, there were many who favoured close relations with Britain. Viscount Aoki in Berlin discussed with the British ambassador, Lord Ampthill (Odo Russell), the possibilities of an Anglo-Japanese alliance in 1883. Yamagata, in penning his famous memorandum urging caution against Russia in 1890, seemed to suggest that Britain was a country whose cooperation should be sought and would be necessary at some time in the future.8 Then there is the point that, when the critical negotiations started in 1892, they were started in London. It has been conventional to interpret this as evidence that it was desirable to take VJGOCVVGTWRſTUVYKVJVJGEQWPVT[YJKEJJCFDGGPOQUVQDUVTWEVKXGKPVJGRCUV But this point can equally well be argued the other way. It may be suggested that Britain was by the 1890s considered to be the most sympathetic country or, at least, more sympathetic than it had been in the days of Parkes.9 Mutsu, whose personal experience of Britain had been pleasant, took over TGURQPUKDKNKV[HQTVTGCV[TGXKUKQPHTQO#WIWUV6JG+VęECDKPGVQRGTCVGF secretively, announcing nothing, from the time that Mutsu Munemitsu took QHſEGCUHQTGKIPOKPKUVGT9KVJKPUKZOQPVJUVJGNQYGTJQWUGQHVJG&KGVRCUUGF an address to the throne, calling for the treaties to be unilaterally denounced CPFHQT,CRCPVQTGUWOGVJGTKIJVVQſZKVUVCTKHHUD[KVUGNH+VYCUVGORVKPIHQT Mutsu to adopt this course with the popular acclaim which would accompany it. Foreign observers certainly expected that the unilateral abolition of extraterritoriality would follow.10 But Mutsu was determined to take the initiative out of the hands of party politicians. In his memoirs, he wrote that Japan had by 1890 adopted a constitution of an occidental kind, achieved substantial progress and could no longer accept a system of one-sided treaties which gave unilateral concessions to foreign nationals.11 He set out to devise a treaty 6 7 8
9
10
11
FO Japan 478, note by J. H. Gubbins, 20 April 1894. C. N. Curzon, Problems of the Far East (London, 1894), I, p. 430. Sakane Yoshihisa (ed.), Aoki Shijzę jiden (Tokyo, 1970), p. 111; Kawamura Kazuo, ‘Aoki ICKUJęPQ-CPMQMWPKMCPTGPUWTWVCK4QM[ęMęUGKUCMWPQJCVVGPVK0KEJK'KFęOGKPQ seiritsu to no kankei’, Chęsen gakuhę 63: 129 ff (1972). Hagihara Nobutoshi (ed.,) Nihon no meicho, 35, Mutsu Munemitsu (Tokyo, 1973), p. 115. Also )CKOWUJQPQPGP(Tokyo, 1969), I, pp. 298–305. S. Gwynn (ed.), The letters and friendships of sir Cecil Spring Rice (London, 1920), I, pp. 145–146. Hagihara, Mutsu, pp. 116–117.
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which would recognize the progress which Japan had made, while ensuring the legitimate rights of those countries enjoying treaty rights. For Mutsu to conduct his negotiations in Japan would be to encourage the displeasure of anti-government forces and the hostility of foreign merchants resident in the treaty ports. He decided, therefore, to conduct the negotiations with complete secrecy in foreign capitals, despite the additional administrative complications which this would entail. $TKVCKPYCUVQDGVJGHQEWUQH/WVUWŏUſTUVQXGTVWTGU6GEJPKECNN[URGCMKPI negotiations were already in progress between Britain and Japan and rested with Lord Salisbury’s draft treaty of 1890. This had at least envisaged the eventual surrender of Britain’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. Since this point was conceded, there was every reason for approaching Britain as the most prominent country in the Far East, as a country with a large share of Japan’s external trade and with the largest number of foreign nationals resident in the treaty RQTVU QH ,CRCP 6JGTG UGGOU VQ JCXG DGGP PQ URGEKCN UKIPKſECPEG KP VJG HCEV that Japan was approaching Britain while it was under a Liberal government. The Japanese had discussed treaty revision with both Liberal and Conservative ministries and had found party differences on a topic as technical as this to be QHOKPQTUKIPKſECPEG Mutsu presented his draft of a new treaty to the prime minister on 5 July 1893. It contained a new formula bringing it into force after the lapse of some years during which the Japanese legal codes would be revised and fully introduced. Only at the end of that period would consular jurisdiction and foreign settlements be abolished. On 8 July the cabinet approved Mutsu’s proposals and authorized the initial approaches being made to Britain and Germany. A tentative approach in Berlin showed that reaction there was far from favourable. The task of making QXGTVWTGUVQ$TKVCKPHGNNVQ#QMK5Jij\ęCHQTOGTHQTGKIPOKPKUVGTYJQYCUVJGP serving as minister to Germany. He was the only Japanese diplomat in Europe of UWHſEKGPVECNKDTGVQJCPFNGCP[PGIQVKCVKQPUKP.QPFQP+P5GRVGODGTJGTGEGKXGF instructions to visit Britain and was given a mandate to hold private discussions with Hugh Fraser, the British minister to Japan, who was then on furlough. The $TKVKUJIQXGTPOGPVYCUUWHſEKGPVN[U[ORCVJGVKEVQVJGVCNMUVQCITGGVQ(TCUGTŏU return to Japan being deferred for the time being. The private discussions between them made only slight progress. The new Japanese draft was less favourable to British nationals than the Salisbury draft of 1890, and Fraser urged his government to state that it could not go further. He told Aoki that Britain insisted on greater safeguards about the legal codes under which British subjects would have to live before consular jurisdiction could be withdrawn. Aoki was inclined to accept VJG$TKVKUJQDLGEVKQPUCPFTGEQOOGPFGF6QM[QVQOCMGUQOGOQFKſECVKQPKP the draft. Mutsu prepared a revised draft and, after obtaining approval by the cabinet and the emperor, sent it to Aoki in October. He hoped that the parleys EQWNFDGRNCEGFQPCPQHſEKCNDCUKUCPFVQVJKUGPFCRRQKPVGF#QMKCUOKPKUVGT plenipotentiary to London. While Aoki continued to spend some time in Berlin,
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he took over his duties in Britain on 27 December, when he handed over the amended draft.12 December saw an outburst of anti-foreign feeling in Japan. This wave of xenophobia which was touched off by speeches in the Diet had its effect on relations with Britain. On 28 December, Archdeacon Shaw, the chaplain to the British legation, was attacked while he was out walking in Tokyo. He called for help from a policeman who was looking on, but in vain. A great furore broke out among $TKVKUJTGUKFGPVUKP,CRCP9JGP#QMKPGZVECNNGFCVVJG(QTGKIP1HſEG4QUGDGT[ told him that, in view of the anti-foreign movement, he could not entertain any resumption of negotiations for treaty revision.13 Without delay the Tokyo government gave assurances to Britain, took stern measures against the police and prohibited certain political societies and newspapers which were thought to be behind the anti-foreign agitation. Meanwhile in the Diet the opposition, which was trying to embarrass the government, moved a lengthy address to the throne which criticized the government for failing to enforce the existing treaties. When this came up for discussion on 29 December, Mutsu made an important speech attacking ‘the misguided reasoning of one group of conservatives of the exclusionist type’, which wanted to prevent ‘mixed residence’ of Japanese and foreigners in the interior of Japan, and declared that he would take strong measures against anti-foreign agitation, though he concealed the fact that negotiations were being resumed with Britain. On the following day the government took the serious step of dissolving the Diet.14 'CTN[KPVJGPGY[GCTVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGFKUEWUUGFKVUEQWTUGQHCEVKQP6JG question was whether, assuming Britain was prepared to revise its treaties, it should proceed immediately or wait until there was evidence that the anti-foreign movement was truly under control. Francis Bertie, who had recently been CRRQKPVGFCUUKUVCPVWPFGTUGETGVCT[CVVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGFKUEWUUGFVJGRTQDNGO with Cecil Spring Rice who had just returned from a tour of duty as second secretary at Tokyo. Spring Rice took the view that, if the proposals of the Japanese ministers were turned down by Britain, they would appeal to the country and the result would be to ‘unite the anti-foreign elements with themselves’. But, if Britain were to meet them half-way, ‘the result will be that the statesmen at presGPVKPQHſEGYJQCTGQPVJGYJQNGHCKTCPFLWUVYKNNUGGVJCVYGCTGTKIJVCPFVJCV the opposition will be deprived of any show of reason’.15+PVJGſTUVECUG,CRCP would merely denounce the treaties and Britain would be left without either trade advantages or extraterritorial jurisdiction; in the second, which was what Spring Rice advised, Britain would show her confidence in the Itę cabinet to handle treaty revision in a broad and friendly spirit. Bertie accepted this 12
13 14 15
FO Japan 445, minute by Fraser, 18 September 1893; Nihon gaikę buinsho: jęyaku kaisei kankei (Tokyo, 1950), IV, nos. 9, 20, 27, 33, 42 and 58 (Hereafter cited as NGB JKK). FO Japan 439, Rosebery to do Bunsen, 11 January 1894; NGB JKK, IV, no. 58. NGB JKK, IV, no. 56; Hagihara, Mutsu, pp. 116–117. FO Japan 445, memorandum by Spring Rice, 15 January 1894.
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view. In the event of Japan denouncing the treaties, Britain could not uphold them against Japan’s army, navy and coastal defences. Moreover, Bertie wrote, ‘the great object which Japan and China have in common and which is also an English interest is to keep Russia out of Korea’; it was essential for Britain not to alienate the Itę ministry because of the balance of power in the Far East. The permanent under-secretary, Sir Thomas Sanderson, noted that ‘we should do wisely to move in a leisurely manner in the direction of negotiation’ and Rosebery commented that ‘this seems to sum up our policy at this moment’.16 This vigilance was all the more necessary because Japan was immersed in an election campaign and government spokesmen were making two-edged remarks about denouncing the treaties. In the general election on 1 March, Itę’s party was returned comfortably. As the custom of politicians is, the threatening statements were emphatically denied. In all this the British were not being purely dilatory. They were determined not to make concessions under duress.17 2TGOKGT+VęCPPQWPEGFVJCVJGYQWNFIQCNNQWVHQTŎVJGTGEQXGT[QH,CRCPŏU sovereign rights’. On 28 March Aoki extracted from Lord Kimberley, the new HQTGKIPUGETGVCT[JKUCRRTQXCNHQTQHſEKCNPGIQVKCVKQPUVQRTQEGGF+VYCUQP #RTKNVJCVVJGſTUVPGIQVKCVKPIUGUUKQPVQQMRNCEGKPCEQPEKNKCVQT[URKTKV$WVKV did not lead to the expected series of joint meetings and the speedy conclusion of a treaty, as the Japanese hoped. Reports reached London that Mutsu in a priXCVGUVCVGOGPVCPF+VęKPCRWDNKEQPGJCFKPUKPWCVGFVJCVKHVJG[EQWNFPQVIGV satisfaction over treaty revision, they might be forced to renounce the present treaties. Britain declined to negotiate under ‘threats’ of this kind and only agreed to continue when, on enquiry, the statements were disowned and appropriate assurances were given.18 On this basis, regular conferences were held at fortnightly intervals, while the technical details were worked out by the Japanese with J. H. Gubbins, the Japanese secretary at the Tokyo legation, who was in London on leave.19 Similarly, detailed scrutiny of the new tariff was carried out by Gubbins in consultation with various British government departments. In this way, things CFXCPEGFU[UVGOCVKECNN[WPVKNVJGſPCNEQPHGTGPEGQP,WN[YJGPCNNQWVUVCPFing points of a commercial nature were resolved. The point of decision had been reached. It was complicated by the prospect of war in Korea between Japan and China which the European powers wanted to RTGXGPV-KODGTNG[JCFDGGPWUKPIJKUIQQFQHſEGUYKVJDQVJRCTVKGUHTQOGCTN[ KP,WN[DWVYKVJQWVUWEEGUU*GYCUXGT[ECTGHWNVQCXQKFŎOGFKCVKPIŏCPFEQPſPGF himself to offering ‘friendly advice to both parties’. In a letter to Rosebery on 13 ,WN[JKUEQPENWUKQPYCUŎ+COCHTCKFVJG[YKNNſIJVŏ*GHWTVJGTTGRQTVGFVJCVŎYG 16 17
18 19
FO Japan 445, memorandum by Bertie, 12 January 1894 Compare the view of Conroy, Japanese seizure of Korea, p. 222: ‘the British [were] ready to delay the proceeding at the slightest provocation’. NGB JKK, IV, nos. 78–81. The conferences were held on 2 and 24 April; 7 and 25 May; 7 and 27 June; 12 and 13 July.
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have almost concluded the commercial treaty with Japan. The Board of Trade have been, of course, consulted throughout. I shall probably sign it tomorrow with Aoki’20. It is worth pointing out how slight was the consultation in Britain QXGTVJKUVTGCV[6JG(QTGKIP1HſEGUVCHHō$GTVKG KPVJGNGCF(TCUGT DGHQTGJKU return to Japan), de Bunsen and Gubbins—had steered it through. Board of Trade QHſEKCNUJCFDGGPMGRVKPHQTOGF-KODGTNG[JCFPQVJKOUGNHPGIQVKCVGF4QUGDGT[ had probably not heard of it since he ceased to be foreign secretary. It appears to have been regarded as a technical matter which required the cabinet’s blessing rather than a policy issue which required cabinet sanction. The other point of interest is that Kimberley treated the likely war in the Far East as a quite separate topic and declined to use the commercial treaty as a lever to prevent Japan going to war. Mutsu for his part was seriously aware of the risk of British intervention. On 8 July he wrote of Britain’s ‘friendly advice’ succeeding in bringing about direct negotiations between Japan and China. By 12 July he was convinced that British initiatives had failed and began taking a tougher stance. Perhaps he had gleaned from London that there would be no attempt to link treaty revision with the Korean issue. At all events, he told Aoki to make all possible haste to sign the treaty, even to the extent of yielding every point of difference since the complications with China had become very critical.21 9JGP#QMKECNNGFCVVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGHQTVJGUKIPKPIEGTGOQP[-KODGTNG[ refused to proceed until he had received assurances about further anti-British activities. He had been informed that the Japanese minister in Korea was calling for the dismissal of Lieutenant Callwell, a British naval instructor with that government. Aoki received a prompt reply from Tokyo denying the truth of the rumour and assuring Britain that, if it were true, the demand would be withdrawn at once. It should be observed that Whitehall came to accept the Japanese version of the Callwell incident and reprimanded its consul-general in Seoul for misleading the 1HſEGVJCV,CRCPJCFYCPVGF%CNNYGNNVQDGFKUEJCTIGF22 In any event, Mutsu had acted with despatch to scotch the statement with categorical assurances. The treaty was signed by Aoki and Kimberley on 16 July. The foreign secretary told Aoki that it was far more important for Japan to conclude such a treaty than to bring about the defeat of the great armies of China. Aoki himself was convinced that, by making Korea into a protectorate shared between China and Japan, war might, and should, be prevented. But he was out of line with Tokyo’s thinking YJKEJYCUPQNQPIGTUCVKUſGFYKVJVJGRTQURGEVQHPGIQVKCVKPI#QMKENCKOGFVJCV he had for six months been preparing British minds over Korea: ‘When the crisis took a turn for the worse recently, the foreign secretary respected my ideas in 20
21 22
Rosebery Papers 91, Sanderson to Rosebery, 2 July 1894; and 68, Kimberly to Rosebery, 12 July 1894. NGB JKK, IV, no. 101, Mutsu to Aoki, 12 July 1894. FO 405/60, Kimberley to O’Conor, 26 September 1894. Cf. Conroy, p. 257.
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various cordial conversations; and I think I have succeeded in separating China from Britain’.23 Had Britain still wanted to prevent what Rosebery was to call ‘this Celestial CIQP[ŏKVEQWNFJCXGFGNC[GFTCVKſECVKQP5QVQQEQWNFVJG,CRCPGUGFKUUKFGPVU Aoki urged that ‘the importance of this treaty is great’ and the emperor should KUUWGCTGUETKRVYJGPKVYCUTCVKſGF24 His intention was to pacify those in oppoUKVKQPNKMG6CPK-CPLęYJQYGTGWPTGEQPEKNGFVQVJGPGYVTGCV[CPFVJGRCTV[ politicians, who were still its opponents. Mutsu certainly wanted no unnecessary FGNC[6JGTCVKſECVKQPYCUEQORNGVGFQP#WIWUV +P.QPFQPVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGNGICNCFXKUGTYCUUVTQPIN[QRRQUGFVQKOOGFKCVGTCVKſECVKQP$GTVKGYJQJCFDGGPVJGUGPKQTQHſEKCNOQUVKPXQNXGFKPVJG negotiations, ‘thought we could secure ourselves by other means [than delay] and at the same time do a good stroke of policy’.25 Lord Kimberley accepted VJKUCFXKEG4CVKſECVKQPUYGTGCEEQTFKPIN[GZEJCPIGFKP6QM[QQP#WIWUV ,CRCPJCFCNTGCF[FGENCTGFYCTQP%JKPCQP#WIWUV6JWUTCVKſECVKQPVQQM place despite the outbreak of war and regardless of the failure of all attempts to prevent it. But Britain held that the scope for preventing war was in any case slight. Thus Kimberley wrote to the prime minister on the eve of war: ‘friendly advice to both parties may be said to have failed in its object. Japan is evidently bent on war and the Chinese, though they hesitate to formally declare war, are in practice accepting the challenge. ... In the present state of affairs, interference must take the form of armed mediation and will really be directed against Japan who is the aggressor. If we take this step it must be in conjunction with Russia who I expect would not be sorry to coerce Japan. The Japs are very uppish, and would probably not be very easy to bring to reason, but they could not resist the pressure of ourselves and Russia if applied in common. . , . On the whole I incline to leaving the Chinese and Japanese alone as the least of two evils provided the Russians abstain from active interference.’26 On receipt of this, Prime Minister Rosebery commented: ‘If then we take [joint action with Russia] it must be in reality against Japan. Would this be politic on our part? In my opinion it would not. We should weaken and alienate a Power of great magnitude in those seas and which is a bulwark against Russia’. 27 How far had the two signatories succeeded in achieving their aim of keeping things secret? A contemporary journalist summed it up well by saying, ‘The reason why Mutsu succeeded where his predecessors had repeatedly failed over treaty revision, was that he was fearless but at the same time prudent’. He was fearless in the boldness of his approach and in forcing the pace. He was prudent in Nihon gaikę bunshę#QMKVQ/WVUW,WN[ *GTGCHVGTEKVGFCU0)$ Ibid. Rosebery Papers 69, Rosebery to Kimberley, 7 October 1894. 25 %WT\QP2CRGTU +PFKC1HſEG.KDTCT[/55'WT($GTVKGVQ%WT\QP1EVQDGT 26 Rosebery Papers 68, Kimberley to Rosebery, 30 July 1894. 27 Rosebery Papers 91, note by Rosebery, 30 July 1894. 23 24
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acting as far as possible in secret and in private. The same source stated, ‘During the talks on the commercial treaty with Britain, Mutsu met the genro accidentally in the Privy Council. They asked him about the progress and he appeared not to conceal anything, explaining the series of discussions for several hours. But he let nothing slip about his future diplomatic tactics. Even after speaking to him for a long time, it was impossible for anyone to deduce how he intended to complete the negotiations’.28 By a strange coincidence strict secrecy was observed on both sides. In Britain it was so because the subject was not of wide public interest and was of great technical complexity. In Japan it was because of the danger of disturbances and demonstrations which might be sparked off by any leakages. The secret was well kept. Secrecy within Japan suited both sides. Just as Mutsu had a horror of what the Diet might do, so Britain feared the storm which might blow up among the British community in Japan. After it was published, one British observer commented, ‘Of course Yokohama, hates the Treaty, & was bound to hate it whenever it came. The [British] Legation [in Tokyo] as now constituted, is also all against it, Trench having had nothing to do with this last negotiation’.29 The young Sir Edward, Grey, the parliamentary under-secretary at the Foreign 1HſEGVQNFVJG*QWUGQH%QOOQPUVJCVŎVJGVKOGJCFEQOGYJGPFGCNKPIUYKVJ Japan might be put on the same equal terms as exist between nations of European origin’.30 This caused ‘surprise and anxiety’ to the China Association of London and the British communities in the East that it represented. They therefore sought, without knowing the terms, to draw the government’s attention to their own criticisms. But Kimberley declined on 16 August to discuss the treaty’s RTQXKUKQPUDGHQTGKVYCUTCVKſGFCPFRWDNKUJGF.CVGTKPVJG[GCTVJG/CPEJGUter Chamber of Commerce sent a deputation of protest which complained that ‘experts’, by which they clearly meant themselves, had not been consulted in drawing up the treaty. Grey replied that the treaty was ‘based upon certain large principles, which were not a matter for experts at all’; ‘the principle of admitting Japan on equal terms to the rights of civilized nations involved the concession to her of such rates of duty as are usually obtained by other civilized countries of protectionist views’.31 Increases in import duty would inevitably result and would mainly affect British trade. The British mercantile community was not attuned to the new treaty. By a strange irony, the British government, whose Far Eastern policy, it is CNYC[UUCKFTGƀGEVUOGTECPVKNGEQPUKFGTCVKQPUFKFPQVEQPUWNVEQOOGTEKCNEKTENGU about the Japanese treaty. To be sure, Kimberley, in giving his blessing to proceed with the treaty, wrote that he accepted the proposals of his staff, provided that
*CIKJCTC 0QDWVQUJK Ŏ/WVUW /WPGOKVUWŏ KP MCOKUJKOC ,KTę GF Kenryoku no shisę (Tokyo, 1965), p. 163 ff. 29 Curzon Papers, MSS. Eur. F. 111/81, de Bunsen to Curzon, 22 October 1895. 30 E. Grey, 6YGPV[ſXG[GCTU–1916 (London, 1925), I, p. 23. 31 FO Japan 447, memorandum by E. Grey, 27 December 1894. 28
JAPAN REVERSES THE UNEQUAL TREATIES
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all proper advice was taken.32 But the mercantile opinion that was consulted was the Board of Trade, not the chambers of commerce or the trade associations. For QXGTUGCUKPVGTGUVUVJG%QNQPKCN1HſEGCPFQVJGTFGRCTVOGPVUYGTGCRRTQCEJGF QPURGEKſERQKPVU$TKVCKPCEVGFHTQOCUGPUGQHLWUVKEGCPFQWVQHCURKTKVQHIQQFwill to the New Japan but also had a shrewd notion of its own political advantage. The British were happy about the outcome for various reasons which are not self-evident. The reasons are alluded to in a private letter from [Sir] Maurice de $WPUGPCPQHſEKCNYJQJCFURGPVVJTGG[GCTUKP6QM[QCUUGETGVCT[CPFEJCTIÃ d’affaires had had a hand in the London negotiations and who was made a C.B. in 1895 for his achievement.33 Britain decided to push through the Japanese treaty because: Germany and the United States were both anxious to take the lead, & would have done so if we had not accepted the negotiation, & surely we should have been foolish to give up the lead. The Treaty was bound to come soon, whatever we did, & the past history of the negotiations plainly shows that each postponement led to increased Japanese demands.34 6JKUOCMGUCTVKEWNCVGYJCVECPDGEQPſTOGFHTQOQVJGTGXKFGPEGQPVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGſNGUYJGTGKVKUPQVUQEQIGPVN[RWV$TKVCKPJQRGFD[CUUWOKPIVJG leadership in revising the treaties, to mould them to her own needs and to outdo her competitors. On the broader question of preventing the China war, de Bunsen has this to say : No one can now say we were forced to [sign the treaty] by Japanese successes in war, for it was signed before war was declared. [Sir Nicholas O’Conor, British minister in Peking] thinks it was a fatal blunder, & induced Japan to go to war. This I utterly disbelieve. I think we are lucky to have signed before the war, & that our having done so would enormously strengthen our position in Japan if we wanted to bring pressure to bear upon the Government.35 +PVJKUVJGYTKVGTYCUVQQUCPIWKPGDWVOC[JCXGTGƀGEVGFVJG9JKVGJCNNCVVKVWFG of the time. The Anglo-Japanese treaty of 1894 consisted of three documents: the treaty YJKEJRTQXKFGFHQTVJGGPFKPIQHGZVTCVGTTKVQTKCNKV[PQVGCTNKGTVJCPſXG[GCTU after its signature; an agreed tariff; and a protocol introducing the new tariff one 32 33
34 35
FO Japan 445, note by Kimberley, 24 April 1894. Rosebery Papers 88, Rosebery to M. de Bunsen, 28 June 1895. See also E. T. S. Dugdale, Maurice de Bunsen, diplomat and friend (London, 1934). Curzon Papers MSS. Eur. F. 111/81, de Bunsen to Curzon, 22 February 1895. +DKF
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OQPVJCHVGTVJGGZEJCPIGQHTCVKſECVKQPU.GPIVJ[PGIQVKCVKQPUVQQMRNCEGKP Tokyo whereby the ad valorem duties in the import tariff should be converted VQURGEKſEFWVKGU6JGUWRRNGOGPVCT[EQPXGPVKQPYCUGXGPVWCNN[UKIPGFKP6QM[Q ,WN[PG[GCTCHVGTVJGſTUVVTGCV[4CVKſECVKQPUYGTGſPCNN[GZEJCPIGF in November.36 #EEQTFKPIVQVJG,CRCPGUGEQPEGRVKQPVJG$TKVKUJVTGCV[YCUQPN[CſTUVUVGR in a series of negotiations with other powers. It was the vital step insofar as it set the pattern for later negotiations. Japan had some grounds for satisfaction. The )GTOCPQHſEKCNUEQPITCVWNCVGF#QMKQP,CRCPŏUŎUEQQRŏKPVJCVKVJCFGZVTCEVGF from Britain more than Germany was prepared to yield.37 The British concessions would therefore be a useful lever. Of course, Mutsu was largely hoping for speedy acceptance of the British formula by a small number of key powers. He gave Britain to understand that Japan ‘had no intention to wait for smaller Powers when once she had squared the important Powers. Moreover what Japan wanted [from $TKVCKP?YCUC6TGCV[TGCNN[EQPENWFGFCPFTCVKſGFUQCUVQIQVQYQTMYKVJVJG other Powers’.38 In fact, the negotiation dragged on longer than Mutsu expected, especially in Germany. But slowly the other countries proceeded to revise their treaties. By 30 June 1899, the Emperor was able to issue a rescript looking to the revised treaties coming into force with heartfelt joy and calling on his loyal subjects to treat the ‘people from far-off lands with cordiality’. On 4 August all the new treaties came into operation. For its part, Japan was divided. The government felt that it had been generously treated by Britain. In reviewing his negotiations Aoki wrote that it was not an unsatisfactory agreement: ‘we may congratulate ourselves that we have at one stroke ended the humiliation of the last 30 years and with one stride entered into the “Fellowship of Nations”.’396JQUGKPVJG+VęCFOKPKUVTCVKQPYGTGUKOKNCTN[ aware of the success which they had achieved and were grateful to Britain. Japan’s gains were substantial: Japan was to secure the complete abolition of extraterritorial jurisdiction; Japan had freely negotiated an ‘equal treaty’; Japan had obtained bilateral terms which laid down the rights of Japanese in Britain as much as they did for. British nationals in Japan. But there were shortcomings. Tariff autonomy was not secured, the rates of duty being laid down in the schedule to the treaty; the ‘perpetual leases’ enjoyed by foreigners in the treaty ports had to be continued; Britain’s right to share in the carrying trade between most of the open ports in Japan was conceded. The treaty, therefore, fell below the hopes of many Japanese; CPFUQOGQHſEKCNUJGNFVJCV#QMKJCFPQVPGIQVKCVGFCUTKIQTQWUN[CUJGUJQWNF have done.40 Another point is touched on by Bertie. ‘Though in theory Japan can put the Treaty with us into force in 5 years, in practice she cannot do so until she 36 37 38 39 40
British Parliamentary Papers, C. 7588 (1895); C. 7598 (1895); and C. 7931 (1896). Aoki jiden, p. 275. Curzon Papers, MSS Eur. F. 111/93, de Bertie to Curzon, 9 October 1895. NGB 27/1, no. 56, Aoki to Mutsu, 19 July 1894. A. M. Pooley (ed.,), Secret memoirs of Count Hayashi (London, 1915), pp. 8–9.
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has made similar arrangements with other Foreign Powers, for any advantages thereby accorded to us would likewise have to be given to other Foreign Powers under their present M.F.N. clauses and such Powers could at the same time refuse to be bound by servitudes in our Treaty such as submission to Japanese laws etc & our Tariff. . . In the same way the Tariff though theoretically applicable YKVJKPCOQPVJQHVJGTCVKſECVKQPQHVJG6TGCV[ YJKEJVQQMRNCEGOQTGVJCPC year ago) cannot be enforced till Japan has made a similar arrangement with the other Powers’.41 The government had kept the proceedings a secret to prevent opposition from RQNKVKEKCPU9JGP2TKOG/KPKUVGT+VęJCFOCFGCUVCVGOGPVKPVJG&KGVQP/C[ on the urgency of treaty revision even if it meant making concessions, he was greeted with cries of derision: ‘Don’t be sweet on foreigners and harsh to your fellow-countrymen’. The Diet had been dissolved shortly after; but hostility could be formidable outside parliament. When the British treaty was published, it did not please the government’s opponents. They thought that time was 0n the side of Japan and that the treaties would inevitably be revised before long. They concluded that Britain’s action was merely Japan’s entitlement rather than an act of grace. But, with the coming of war with China and its early successes in August, much of the expected vituperation did not emerge. Turning to the broader considerations which seem to spring from this paper, it does not seem to me that the Anglo-Japanese treaty of 1894 was a vital turning-point in Britain’s relations with Japan. The argument runs that from this treaty onwards Britain, which had hitherto been hostile to Japan, began to cultivate a friendship which ultimately led to the alliance between them in 1902. I do not believe that Britain was traditionally the friend of China and the enemy of Japan. Minister Aoki certainly thought so in 1893 and spared no pains to KPƀWGPEGVJG$TKVKUJRTGUUGURGEKCNN[ The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Chronicle. But Aoki’s was an exaggerated view. This paper has argued that Britain was quite anxious to do justice to Japan over treaty revision. Nor is there a marked change after the treaty. Kimberley described Japan as ‘uppish’ and its refusal of mediation as objectionable. It is premature to talk of friendship existing QTGOGTIKPI6JGUVTKEVPGWVTCNKV[YJKEJVJGIQXGTPOGPVCPPQWPEGFCUKVUQHſEKCN CVVKVWFGVQVJGYCTIGPWKPGN[TGƀGEVGFKVUHGGNKPIUCVVJGVKOG 6JGQVJGTNQPIVGTOEQPUKFGTCVKQPKUVJGUKIPKſECPEGQHVJG#PINQ,CRCPGUG treaty in the outbreak of war between Japan and China. Here the argument runs that Japan would not have declared war on China until the treaty had been concluded and that Britain could, by refusing to sign, have prevented the war. Such an action on Britain’s part would not have been out of line with the style of intervention commonly adopted by the powers in east Asia during the nineteenth century. Despite the fact that he clearly did not welcome the war, Kimberley signed the treaty. He left it on record that, although signature of the treaty ‘has no 41
Curzon Papers MSS Eur. F. 111/93, Bertie to Curzon, 9 October 1895.
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reference to the Corean [sic] question, it may possibly have the effect of making the Japanese Government more inclined to accept the advice of Her Majesty’s Government.42 Thus the foreign secretary declined to use the commercial treaty as a trump card to prevent the war but still hoped to exploit it in using his good QHſEGUYKVJ,CRCP+PVJKUJGUGGOUVQJCXGQXGTGUVKOCVGFVJGFGITGGQH,CRCPŏU appreciation; but that was his underlying intention. 'XGPDGHQTGVJGGHſEKGPE[QHJGTCTOGFHQTEGUYCUTGXGCNGFKPVJGYCTYKVJ China, Japan had been released from the ignominy of her unequal treaties. Britain had in effect recognized that Japan was fully entitled to the rights of civilized PCVKQPUCPFJCFDGGPVJGſTUVVQCEMPQYNGFIGVJKU6JGUGCTGVJGOQUVUKIPKſECPV aspects of the 1894 agreement. They may perhaps have been obscured because commercial agreements are, alas, the Cinderellas of the world of treaty-making.43
42 43
FO China 1202, Kimberley to O’Conor, 16 July 1894. I am deeply grateful for help in the preparation of this paper to Mr Hagihara Nobutoshi, Dr Chandran Jeshurun and Dr Gordon Daniels. Professor Inou Tentaro, the leading Japanese expert in this field, has given me his sage advice. His Nihon gaikę shisęshi ronkę XQNU 6QM[QCPFŎ0KEJK'KUJKPLę[CMWUGKTKVUWVQVęLK[QTQPPQKRRCPŏKPTaigai keneki to shakai Keizai, being essays in honour of Professor Mori, (Tokyo, 1968) and F. C. Jones, Extraterritoriality in Japan and the diplomatic relations resulting in its abolition, 1843–99
0GYJCXGPCTGVJGUVCPFCTFYQTMUKPVJGſGNF
Source: Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, Third Series, Vol. XVIII, 1983, 71–97
26
Extraterritoriality in Japan, 1858–1899 JAMES E. HOARE
DURING THE BAKUMATSU and early Meiji periods, most foreigners in Japan lived under the legal system known as extraterritoriality. Extraterritoriality has been surprisingly little studied in Japanese or English. There is an extensive literature on the origins of the Japanese treaties and on treaty revision, especially in Japanese, but the framework and operation of extraterritoriality in Japan have been neglected. The late Professor F. C. Jones’s work Extraterritoriality in Japan was written before the archives were open and did not use other available material which would have illuminated his subject. His book was far more concerned with treaty revision than with extraterritoriality. Professor Keeton wrote extensively on extraterritoriality in China, and in some of his later works touched upon the Japanese experience, but Japan was always inciFGPVCNVQJKUOCKPſGNF1 Yet extraterritoriality, and the way it operated in Japan, is vital to an understanding of one of the main motives behind the Japanese campaign for treaty revision. There is little doubt that the Japanese were anxious to recover tariff autonomy, but there is equally little doubt that the main thrust of the campaign against the Bakumatsu-period treaties was the desire to end extraterritoriality and its slur on Japan’s rights as a sovereign state. It was not fortuitous that the Japanese were prepared to postpone full tariff autonomy until 1911 in exchange for the abandonment of extraterritoriality in 1894–1898. 6JKURCRGTHCNNUPCVWTCNN[KPVQVJTGGRCTVU6JGſTUVFGCNUYKVJVJGQTKIKPUCPF establishment of extraterritoriality in Japan in the Bakumatsu period; although some of Japan’s treaties fall outside this period, basically the system was complete by 1869. The second part describes the operation of that system after 1869, and the third outlines the Japanese campaign against the system, plus the foreign ſIJVDCEM 1
F. G. Jones, Extraterritoriality in Japan, London & New York, 1931; G. W. Keeton, The Development of Extraterritoriality in China, London, 2 vols., 1928. 361
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It is worth taking a brief look at the origins of extraterritoriality. From ancient times, there have always been certain people who, although resident in a country, were not subject to its laws. Such people were “exterritorial”. Extraterritoriality is, in the words of Sir Francis Piggott, former legal adviser to the Japanese government, “. . . the government of these privileged people by their own authorities from home.”2 The concept was extended to a new body of people, the professional diplomats, which began to appear in 15th-century Italy. It was given a new and powerful lease of life in the same period with the arrival of the Ottoman Turks on the edge of 'WTQRG+P+UNCONCYYCUTGNKIKQWUCPFKVUGGOGFTKIJVVQVJG6WTMUVJCVKPſFGNU UJQWNFDGGZENWFGFHTQOVJGDGPGſVUQHCNCYFGUKIPGFHQTVJGHCKVJHWN$QVJVJG Turks and the outsiders felt that law was something which an individual took with him and it was fair to deal with a foreigner under laws which he understood. There was no element of superiority in this. One writer has described the capitulations — the general term used to describe grants of extraterritorial jurisdiction in the Middle East — as ”…in no sense derogation from Ottoman sovereignty imposed by superior force; they were privileges granted as a result of treaties freely negotiated between equals.”3 With the arrival of European traders in Eastern Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries, a similar development took place. In China, the authorities were generally willing to allow foreigners to settle disputes amongst themselves according to their own laws, but if an offence was committed against a Chinese, then the offender YCUFGCNVYKVJD[%JKPGUGQHſEKCNUWPFGT%JKPGUGNCY +PVJGVJEGPVWT[CƀQWTKUJKPIVTCFGFQOKPCVGFD[VJG$TKVKUJ'CUV+PFKC Company, grew up at Canton. The East India Company tried to control its employees, but had little power over other British citizens who came to Canton and none at all over other foreigners. The Chinese, while willing to ignore disputes COQPIHQTGKIPGTUYGTGſTOKPFGOCPFKPIVJGTKIJVVQRWPKUJVJQUGYJQEQOOKVted offences against Chinese. Increasingly, as the numbers of foreigners grew larger, such demands were resisted. Clashes between the two sides were eventually to be a major factor leading to the Anglo-Chinese war, which culminated in the Treaty of Nanking, 1842. That treaty, plus the other treaties with Western powers concluded around that period and the attendant regulations for trade, were not one-sided. Professor Fairbank pointed out long ago that the British treaties — and the same applied to all the others — were not “British-made blueprints” but “Anglo-Chinese compromises”. The treaties were the end product of a century of Anglo-Chinese relations. In subsequent years, however, foreigners in China were able to push the privileges granted them by treaty far beyond the original terms.4 2
3
4
(62KIIQVVExterritoriality: The Law Relating to Consular Jurisdiction and to Residence in Oriental Countries,.QPFQPRPQVG J. Marlow, Anglo-Egyptian Relations, Ō London, 1954, p. 85; see also S. Shindo, Le privilege d’exterritorialité, Tokyo, 1919, pp. 28–123. J. K. Fairbank, Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, Ō Cambridge, mass., 1953, I, P. 57.
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Foreigners who reached Japan before the 16th century had been compelled to obey the local laws,5 but a different attitude was taken towards the Europeans who began to arrive in that century. Individual daimyo allowed the Portuguese, VJGſTUV'WTQRGCPUVQTGCEJ,CRCPEQORNGVGEQPVTQNQXGTVJGKTQYPCHHCKTUCPF indeed in some circumstances they were permitted to exercise jurisdiction over the Japanese.6 The agreement between the shogun and the Englishman John Saris in 1613, however, made the English subject to Japanese laws, but provided that, “The punishment of English offenders would be entrusted to the head of the English factory.”7 When Japan cut off relations with the outside world in 1635, the Dutch and the Chinese who were allowed to trade at Nagasaki were left alone to manage their own affairs, but were compelled to obey Japanese laws on such matters as the prohibition of Christianity and smuggling.8 None of this past experience counted when the Western countries pressed for the opening of Japan in the 1850s. The Japanese were Oriental and what little was known of their legal system indicated that it was as savage as that of China. Foreigners needed the same type of protection. The Perry Convention and the other early treaties had no part to play in the subsequent development of extraterritoriality. The treaties that mattered were those concluded between 1858 and 1869. By these treaties a complex system of extraterritorial jurisdiction was established which removed foreigners from Japanese legal control. As in China, the “most-favoured nation” clause meant that all the treaties were interconnected and that the later treaties could be, and were, used to remedy defects, or perceived defects, found in the earlier ones.9 Whether the Japanese realised exactly what they were giving away is hard to say. It has been argued that Japan’s rulers were accustomed to leaving legal matters to local rulers and that they probably saw extraterritoriality in the same way.10 What the rulers of Japan did not expect was that foreigners would not obey Japanese laws. In any event, in the unsettled state of the country in the 1860s, it would have been impossible to assert control over foreigners in case this should lead to further foreign intervention. 5
6 7
8
9
10
Ishii R., ed., 0KJQP*ęUGKUJK (“History of the Japanese Legal System”), Tokyo, 1954, pp. 312–13. Jones, pp. 3–4. Text in Kajima Morinosuke, Nichi-Ei Gaikõshi (“History of Anglo-Japanese Relations”), Tokyo, 1957, pp. 3–4. Ishii, pp. 313–14. G. W. Keeton, “Extraterritoriality in International and Comparative Law”, in Academie de droit international, Recueil des Cours, Paris, 1948, i, p. 306, and Keeton, Development, i, Chapter 3. Texts of the various treaties can be found in Japanese Foreign Ministry, Treaties and Conventions between the Empire of Japan and Other Powers, Tokyo, 1884. See also Yokata F., ‘Nihon ni okeru Chigaihdken’ (‘Extraterritoriality in Japan’), in Kokkagakkai Goju- shunen Kinen, Tokyo, 1957, for textual analysis of the treaties. J. McMaster, ‘British Trade and Traders to Japan, 1859–1869’, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London, 1962, pp. 13–14.
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9JKNG VJG #OGTKECP 6TGCV[ YCU VJG ſTUV UKIPGF KV YCU VJG $TKVKUJ 6TGCV[ in 1858 which laid the foundation for extraterritoriality. Lord Elgin had been instructed to make sure that his treaty included a provision for extraterritoriality which was to be “clear, easily enforceable” and was not to give reciprocal rights to the Japanese.11 The treaty laid down that in all criminal matters British subjects were to be tried by British authorities. All matters relating to the personal status of British citizens were also to be dealt with by British authorities. Civil cases between Japanese and British citizens were to be arranged by consultation between the EQORGVGPVQHſEKCNUQHVJGVYQEQWPVTKGU0QRTQXKUKQPYCUOCFGHQTEKXKNECUGU between British subjects and those of other foreign powers. Subsequent treaties added little to the British. The Austro-Hungarian Treaty of 1869 did, however, break new ground. It was in effect a second British treaty, for the Austro-Hungarian plenipotentiary willingly accepted a draft proposed by the British Minister. The treaty made clear that Austro-Hungarian subjects were removed from Japanese legal control in all matters, even where earlier treaties had been silent or ambiguous. They were also to be punished under Austro-Hungarian law. At Japanese insistence, the treaty further laid down that there would be an Austro-Hungarian envoy resident in Japan and that consuls would be paid QHſEKCNUPQVOGTEJCPVU12 After 1869, there were three further treaties. Those with Hawaii in 1871 and Peru in 1873 added nothing to the earlier treaties; the Chinese Treaty of 1871, was sui generis and is not covered here. I have dealt with it elsewhere.13 Implementation of this treaty system largely followed the pattern of China in that only the British government made proper efforts to establish the rule of law in Japan. For this, there was the well-tried system from China on which to DWKNF$[1TFGTUKP%QWPEKNVJGſTUVKP/CTEJVJGUGEQPFKP/CTEJC comprehensive system of British courts was established in Japan. Until 1865, the British courts were established under the consul, and the consuls reported to the British Minister Resident. After 1865, the consular courts became circuit courts under the control of a supreme court in Shanghai. The consuls, although they still administered the courts, no longer were answerable to the British Minister in Japan but to the Chief Justice at Shanghai. From 1865 onwards the British 11
12
13
L. Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin3U/KUUKQPVQ%JKPCCPF,CRCPKPVJG[GCTUŌŌ, New York, 1860, p. 466. Text in Japanese Foreign Ministry, Treaties and Conventions, I, pp. 1–9. For the British KPXQNXGOGPVUGG(QTGKIP1HſEG*COOQPF2CRGTU (5KT*CTT[2CTMGUVQ5KT' Hammond, 8 October 1869. For the Japanese position on merchant consuls, see F0391/15, Parkes to Hammond, 23 October 1869. J. E. Hoare, ‘The Chinese in the Japanese Treaty Ports, 1858–1899: The Unknown Majority’, in G. Daniels & P. Lowe, ed., Proceedings of the British Association for Japanese Studies, n: 1 (1977); see pp. 23–25 for the treaty and its operation. For other treaties, see Hanabusa Nagamichi, Meiji Gaikoshi (“History of Meiji Diplomacy”), Tokyo, 1966, pp. 21–24.
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Minister could make regulations binding upon British subjects to cover circumstances which applied in Japan but not in Britain.14 To staff this system, there were British consuls who were professionals and not allowed to engage in trade. They were encouraged to study for the bar, but even if they had not done so, they were expected to have acquired some legal knowledge. From 1864 onwards they were also expected to speak Japanese.15 The system was not perfect, of course. The courts lacked certain types of jurisdiction; matrimonial cases could not be decided in Japan and had to go to Shanghai for adjudication, which was slow, expensive, and cumbersome. Appeals, too, had to go to Shanghai. The volume of work, which increased rapidly as the treaty ports grew in size, also proved FKHſEWNVVQJCPFNGCULWFKEKCNECUGUKPETGCUGFCVVJGUCOGVKOGCUFKFQVJGTCURGEVU of consular work.16 At the time of the opening of the Japanese ports, the American system of consular jurisdiction, which had a poor reputation in China, was under challenge in the California courts. This was an inauspicious beginning to consular jurisdiction in Japan.17 New legislation passed by Congress in June 1860, which provided the power of jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases to both consuls and ministers, proved to be cumbersome and confusing. The American consular CPFFKRNQOCVKEQHſEGTUKP,CRCPCVNGCUVKPVJGXKGYQHVJGTGVKTKPI7PKVGF5VCVGU consul at Yokohama in 1869, were poor in quality. Merchant consuls were UQOGVKOGUWUGFCPFGXGPVJGRCKFEQPUWNUVGPFGFVQNCEMRTQRGTSWCNKſECVKQPU There was no money to administer the system; the Yokohama consulate lacked law books. Nor did the consul at Yokohama have a gaol for his prisoners; they usually had to be kept in the British gaol, which was designed only for shortterm prisoners.18 The French provided a better system, and had an adequate legal backup. The system was ponderous, however, in that appeals lay until 1869 to Pondicherry and thereafter to Saigon. Where the French did not wish to appoint full-time consular QHſEGTUVJG[WUGFVJGIQQFQHſEGUQHVJGKT$TKVKUJEQWPVGTRCTVU19 14 15
16
17
18
19
The 1865 Order in Council is analysed in detail in Piggott, pp. 108–14. Sir E. Hornaby, +PUVTWEVKQPUVQ*GT/CLGUV[ŏU%QPUWNCT1HſEGTUKP%JKPCCPF,CRCPQPVJG Mode of Conducting Judicial Business, Shanghai, 1867; there is also much material in the archives. See, for example, F0262/153, L. Fletcher to Sir Harry Parkes, No. 21, 25 June 1868, and F0656 (Records of the Court at Shanghai)/14, M. Flowers to Sir E. Hornaby, No. 4, 16 June, and No. 6, 15 August 1866. For the background to the American system, see T. Tong, United States Diplomacy in China, Ō Seattie, 1964, pp. 10, 30–35, 57–58, & 104–07, and also Keeton, Development, n, Appendix 61. For the view of the U.S. Consul at Yokohama in 1869, see Department of State Records M659/135/4, J. Stahel to Under-Secretary Davies, 2 September 1869. On gaols, see M659/135/5, C. O. Shepherd to Davies, No. 8, 16 May 1871. ‘De quelques regies exceptionelles au droit commune applicable aux Frangaises etablies dans les Etats barbaresques’, in L’Echo du Japon, 7 & 8 March 1878. See also Yokata, pp. 207–209. For the arrangement with the British, see F0262/180/R.23, M. Outrey (French Minister)
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The lesser powers, as might be expected, did little to implement their grant of extraterritoriality. The Portuguese, prominent in the treaty ports because of the proximity of Macao, had signed a treaty with Japan in 1860, but failed to implement it effectively. All cases involving Portuguese defendants had to be heard at Macao, whose Governor General was also Portuguese Minister to Japan.20 Other smaller powers often used merchant consuls, some of whom made little secret QHVJGHCEVVJCVVJG[UCYVJGKTQHſEKCNRQUKVKQPCUCPGCU[YC[QHOCMKPIOQPG[ Some were not above circularising business houses in Europe and America, pointKPIQWVVJGCFXCPVCIGUQHVJGKTQHſEKCNRQUVU21 But, of course, the system set up by the treaties did not concern only the Western powers. The Japanese too had a part to play in the system of extraterritoriality. The treaties had all referred to Japanese offenders or defaulters being dealt with “according to the laws of Japan”. This seemed straightforward and clear; the Japanese had accepted the terms of the treaties, and could therefore be expected to carry them out. The negotiators certainly appeared to have expected that Japanese laws and courts corresponded to some extent to what they themselves recognised, even if such courts and laws were not suitable for foreigners. They found no such thing. The laws of Japan were vague by Western standards, and whole areas of conduct seemed to lie outside their scope. There were distinctions made between the social classes which were translated into legal terms. To most foreigners in Japan it was a cardinal principle of law that a man should DGCDNGVQſPFQWVYJCVVJGNCYFGOCPFGFKP,CRCPMPQYNGFIGQHVJGNCYYCU limited as far as possible to those who administered it. Nor was there a regular constituted judiciary. Both criminal and civil law seemed quite out of keeping with anything recognisable.22 Civil law in particular remained a perpetual source of mystery to foreigners. In commercial communities, the law on bankruptcy was one of the most important, and foreigners complained bitterly of “the glorious uncertainty of not getting redress under Japanese law.” So inconvenient had the lack of a proper bankruptcy law become at Yokohama by 1867 that the British consul tried to institute a mixed court to handle cases in which British subjects were plaintiffs. It eventually collapsed in the face of Japanese opposition.23 This was the system that had been developed by the time of the fall of the shogun. The Japanese on the whole did not criticise the operation of extraterritoriality. Those Japanese who opposed the treaties did so on all counts, not just to Parkes, 28 January 1869; F0262/181/R.70, Outrey to Parkes, February 1869; and F0262/177, Parkes to J. Lowder, draft No. 16, 29 April 1869. 20 /Ŏ/GOQTCPFWOD[VJG,CRCPGUG(QTGKIP1HſEG,WN[JCPFGFVQVJG United States’ Secretary of State, 11 October 1892.’ 21 Japan Times, n.d., in Hiogo News, 20 November 1869. 22 For Japan’s feudal laws, see J. G. Hall, ‘Japanese Feudal Laws, III’, in TASJ, xxxvm (1911), First Series, pp. 269–331, and XLI (1913), pp. 683–804. 23 “1867”, Japan Times (Overland Mail), 29 January 1868. For one form of joint jurisdiction, see Hoare, pp. 22–23.
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on the question of the control of foreigners. The Japanese, however, did object to the use of merchants in positions of authority as consuls or as diplomatic agents.24 After 1869, there was little alteration to the system created in the years 1858– 1869. The net result was that the foreigners were not infrequently under a less GHſEKGPVLWTKUFKEVKQPKPVJCPVJG[JCFDGGPKP+PFGGFQHCNNVJGRQYGTU it was only Britain which continued to polish and modify the system created in these earlier years. From 1870, the growth of work in the British courts in Japan was felt to be UWHſEKGPVVQYCTTCPVVJGCRRQKPVOGPVQHCHWNNVKOGLWFKEKCNQHſEGTCPFVJG#UUKUtant Judge at Shanghai thereafter established a court at Yokohama. In 1878, this became the “Court for Japan”, with its own judge and the consul at Yokohama GZQHſEKQCUUKUVCPVLWFIG#RRGCNUHTQOVJGQVJGTEQWTVUKP,CRCPPQYNC[KPVJG ſTUVKPUVCPEGVQ;QMQJCOCCPFVJGPVQ5JCPIJCK#RRGCNUHTQO;QMQJCOCNC[ to Shanghai. Provision was also made for the Yokohama court to hear cases with a jury.25 (WTVJGTOQFKſECVKQPUQHVJG$TKVKUJU[UVGOECOGKP&QWDVUCTQUGDGECWUG of certain regulations which Sir Harry Parkes had issued in 1866, and it was also felt necessary to provide some means of jurisdiction over foreign seamen serving on British ships. The China and Japan Order in Council of 25 October 1881 gave the British Minister in China or Japan authority to make regulations dealing with mortgages, bills-of-sale, and co-partnerships; it also granted them the authority to make joint regulations with their diplomatic colleagues for municipal purposes; CPFſPCNN[KVCVVGORVGFVQUQNXGVJGSWGUVKQPQHLWTKUFKEVKQPQXGTHQTGKIPGTUD[ laying down that a foreigner appearing in a British court had to have the permission of his own authorities to do so and had also to agree to accept the jurisdiction of the court. When the British courts began to apply this, there was an outcry from the other consuls who protested at what they considered was an attempt to extend British jurisdiction beyond that sanctioned by treaty. At Kobe, the British demand led the American consul to refuse to hear cases brought by British subjects. Before long the Japanese too objected to an apparent increase in jurisdiction claimed by $TKVCKP'XGPVJG$TKVKUJEQPUWNCTQHſEGTUYGTGPQVJCRR[UKPEGVJG0GY1TFGT dealt only with civil cases. It seemed likely, therefore, to damage their relations with their fellow consuls without in fact doing anything to solve the question of jurisdiction over seamen which related to criminal jurisdiction.26 24
25
26
The Japanese would not accept an American merchant as the Hawaiian Minister in 1867. Hilary Gonroy, 6JG,CRCPGUG(TQPVKGTKP*CYCKKŌ Berkeley, 1953, p. 17. See also (4#$/KVHQTFVQ2CTMGU%QPſFGPVKCN,WN[ F0262/189, Lord Clarendon to Parkes, consular No. 20, 7 April 1870; “The Supreme Court for China and Japan”, in Japan Mail, 30 August 1878. For the 1881 Order in Council and its consequences, see Piggott, pp. 91–93. For some of the problems, see M659/135/13, Van Buren to W. Davies, No. 632, 21 June 1882; F0262/387, W. G. Aston to Parkes, Nos. 23 & 25, 25 July & 26 August 1882. For the Japanese objection, see F0262/538, Inoue Kaoru to Parkes, No. 57, 26 August 1882.
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Parkes therefore sought legal advice from the Crown Advocate at Shanghai. The latter replied that, as far as he knew, there had been no intention to claim anything new in the 1881 Order. Parkes informed the Japanese and his fellow representatives; he also promised the Japanese Foreign Minister, Inoue Kaoru, to refer the matter to London.27 0QTGRN[YCUTGEGKXGFWPVKNYJGPCPGY1TFGTKP%QWPEKNOQFKſGFVJCV of 1881. In future, it was to be left to the discretion of each court to decide whether or not it wanted permission from a non-British subject’s own authorities that a case could be brought by such a person. It was also no longer necessary for such a RGTUQPVQDTKPICHQTOCNEGTVKſECVGHTQOJKUCWVJQTKVKGUUJQWNFVJGEQWTVFGOCPF that he obtain their consent; all that was needed was a statement that there was no objection to the plaintiff appearing in a British court. The Japanese government UQWIJVCPFQDVCKPGFTGCUUWTCPEGVJCVKVFKFPQVPGGFVQKUUWGCEGTVKſECVGQHKVU own willingness to appear in a British court in a case in which the government or its representative was the plaintiff. This was not made public, but the point was made clear in the case of “P & O vs Government of Japan” in 1893.28 The 1884 Order in Council for China, Japan, and Corea was mainly concerned with Korea. One effect on Japan was to extend the Fugitive Offenders Act to Japan, a move not welcomed by the Japanese. The British continued to insist that the system should be operated by capable and trained men. Knowledge of Japanese remained essential for promotion, and each new entrant had to spend a year doing judicial work following his language VTCKPKPICPFPQPNGICNVTCKPKPI1HſEGTUYGTGCNUQUVKNNGPEQWTCIGFVQTGCFHQT the bar. The British government too made sure that its citizens remained under an effective jurisdiction. The minutiae of changes in consular appointments and VJGUVCHſPIKPXCTKQWURQUVUPGGFPQVEQPEGTPWUDWVWPVKNVJGGPFQHVJGVTGCV[ all the treaty ports were covered. British subjects were also required to register, which they tended to resent, but upon which the British government insisted until 1899. The British were the only foreigners who had such a requirement.29 The British system continued to be plagued after 1868 by the cheeseparing attitude of the Treasury. Repairs to the consular gaol at Yokohama were only effected in 1891 after a prisoner had nearly died.30 There were more serious defects as well. On paper the system looked good, but VJGWUGQHQHſEGTUGKVJGTKPGZRGTKGPEGFKPNCYQTKPGZRGTKGPEGFYKVJVJGEWUVQOU of Japan sometimes created considerable problems. The needs of the service at VKOGURNC[GFJCXQEYKVJVJGKFGCNQHNGICNN[VTCKPGFQHſEGTUJCPFNKPILWFKEKCNYQTM 27 28
29
30
F0262/381, Parkes to Granville, draft No. 136, 5 October 1882. FO282/581, Inoue to F. Plunkett, No. 8, 3 February 1887; FO262/572, P. Currie to Plunkett, No. 44, 14 February 1887. ‘The Treaties and Orders in Council’, in Japan Mail
5WOOCT[,WPG(1.CY1HſEGTUVQVJG(QTGKIP1HſEG&GEGODGT 1893. F0262/446, R. Robertson to Plunkett, No. 61, 15 July 1885. For objections, see London and China Express, 22 April 1887. F0262/648, T. H. Saunderson to H. Fraser, Consular No. 15, 18 April 1891.
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Ernest Satow, for example, in 1880 found himself Acting Vice-Consul at Tokyo. He wrote: “Fancy me an acting vice consul. Such is the truth. It is quite absurd. I did not know how to register a birth until the constable showed me. Now I live in daily terror lest a case should be brought in my court and I am compelled to sit in judgement. Not having the faintest idea how to preside. To say nothing of complete ignorance of the law.”31 (QTOCP[[GCTUKPGZRGTKGPEGFQHſEGTUYGTGFKUEQWTCIGFHTQOUGGMKPICFXKEG from the court at Shanghai,32 and in the vagaries of the system, it was not uncommon for cases decided by a non-lawyer to be appealed to another non-lawyer. An CRRGCNHQTGZCORNGHTQOVJGEQWTVCV-QDGNC[ſTUVVQ;QMQJCOC6JGCUUKUVCPV judge at Yokohama was in fact the consul, who might or might not have legal training. A further appeal from there lay to Shanghai, where the consul, who again might or might not have legal training, was also assistant judge.33 Whatever the failures of the British system, it was much better than any the other countries provided. In the American case, the only powers granted to the Minister to make regulations came from federal law and dealt with matters which belonged to the federal sphere. Unfortunately, as Charles De Long pointed out in 1871,34 most legal matters were left to state control rather than federal law. De Long had grave doubts about his regulatory power, and these doubts were EQPſTOGFKPCPFURGEVCEWNCTN[KPCECUGQHHTCWFCV;QMQJCOCKP34 The whole question of the American system’s validity was thrown into confusion by the President’s annual message to Congress on foreign affairs in 1881, which indicated that there was considerable doubt in American government circles about the legal validity of any American court in Japan.35 A remedy for defects in some aspects of American jurisdiction appeared to exist in the argument that American citizens were obliged to obey Japanese laws. In 1876, for example, the State Department ruled that American citizens were bound VQQDG[VJG,CRCPGUGRTGUUNCYUCPFKPUVTWEVGFVJG/KPKUVGTVQKUUWGCPQVKſECVKQP accordingly.36 31
32
33
34
35
36
Satow Papers (PR030/33) 11/5, Satow to F. V. Dickins, 22 August 1880. Satow later read for the Bar. F0656/18, Hornaby to F. Vyse, draft No. 1, 16 November 1865. This discouragement stopped in 1877. F0262/301, No. 77, 13 December 1877. ‘Lex’ to the editor, Japan Daily Herald, 21 October 1878; ‘Mr Dohmen’s Appointment’, in Japan Gazette, 2 April 1879. United States, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 1871, pp. 586–87,- C. De Long to H. Fish, 8 March 1871; ‘People of the United States vs E. P. Smith’, in Japan Herald, January 1873; United States, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 1878, pp. 514–18, J. Bingham to Evarts, No. 873, 7 October 1878; Jones, p. 67. See also H. J. Jones, Live Machines: Hired Foreigners and Meiji Japan, Vancouver, 1980, p. 60. F083/885, L. Sackville West to Lord Granville, No. 1, 2 January 1882, enclosing the President’s Message, 19 December 1881. See also Sackville West to Granville, No. 383, 21 December 1881. United States, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 1876, pp. 367–68, H. Fish to Bingham, No. 224, 2 May 1876.
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Here appeared the required substitute for the absent ministerial power. But in practice this was not the case. The United States courts in Japan, like all United States courts, could recognise only American law. Unless Japanese law YCUEQPXGTVGFKPVQ7PKVGF5VCVGUNCYGKVJGTD[EQPITGUUKQPCNſCVQTD[TGIWNCtions drawn up by the Minister, it had no force whatsoever in American courts. As one of the local English-language newspapers pointed out, the effect of the State Department ruling was that “the Japanese Government may prohibit you doing anything they choose if it be not specially permitted by treaty — but there is no penalty for doing it!”37 The Japanese were not fooled by this apparent concession. The government-owned Nichi Nichi Shimbun put it in 1880 that VJG#OGTKECPPQVKſECVKQPUYGTGőGORV[EGTGOQPKGUGZRTGUUKQPUQHIQQFYKNN perhaps, but nothing more”.38 .CEMQHOQPG[KPGZRGTKGPEGFCPFPQPRTQHGUUKQPCNQHſEGTURNWUCNCEMQH NGICNN[VTCKPGFQHſEGTUEQPVKPWGFVQCFFVQVJGRTQDNGOUQHVJG#OGTKECPU[UVGO As late as 1878, the Consul-General at Yokohama had no law library of his own. A gaol was built at Yokohama, although the work was “so badly done as to make the building a complete deception and a fraud,” but no gaols were provided at Kobe and Nagasaki.396JG#OGTKECPIQXGTPOGPVRTQXKFGFTGIWNCTEQPUWNCTQHſEGTUCV Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki, but failed to do so at Hakodate. Yet Hakodate was in the 1880s and 1890s an extremely important port for the American sealers. At one point the situation grew so bad that the Japanese threatened to assume jurisdiction over Americans at Hakodate.40 The American system would have been comprehensively reformed if the Pendleton Bill, which came before Congress in 1883, 1884, and 1885, had been passed. This bill would have remedied all the defects in the existing system and would have provided as good a legal framework for the operation of United States’ jurisdiction as that of the British. The bill died through lack of congressional interest and the belief that, as far as Japan was concerned, the revision of the treaties was imminent. The Japanese opposed the bill secretly, since they did not wish to see extraterritoriality strengthened. For similar reasons, they did not seek to exploit the defects in American jurisdiction.41 Interestingly enough, in spite of all the 37 38
39
40
41
‘The Middleton Shooting Case’, in Hiogo News, 5 January 1876. F046/267, J. G. Kennedy to Lord Salisbury, No. 24, 11 February 1880. The Japanese Foreign Minister privately admitted that the American position was no more than an GZRTGUUKQPQHIQQFYKNN(-GPPGF[VQ5CNKUDWT[FTCHV0Q%QPſFGPVKCN January 1880. For adverse comments, all by Americans, see E. S. Morse, ‘Old Satsuma’, in Harper’s Monthly Magazine (European edition), xvi (1886), p. 523, note; E. J B. Greene, A New Englander in Japan, Boston, 1927, p. 218; M659/135/15, T. Van Buren to T. Bayard, 7 April 885. For the gaol, see M659/135/9, Van Buren to F. W. Seward, 8 February 1878. Japan Foreign Ministry, Nihon Gaiko Bunsho: Joyaku Kaisei Kankei (‘Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy relating to Treaty Revision’), Tokyo, n (1941–1953), No. 460. See also ‘Old Sailor’ to the editor, in Japan Mail, 27 June 1892. For the Pendleton Bill, see Japan Weekly Mail, 31 March 1883, 16 February 1884, & 2 May 1885. For Japanese opposition, see Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, n, Nos. 1362 & 1344–52.
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defects of the system, the Americans continued to use it in China and were, in these same years, extending it to Korea.42 In the case of all other countries represented in Japan, there was a deterioration in the way extraterritoriality was administered as the years went by. In the French case, for most of the period from 1870 to 1890, French interests in Japan, apart HTQO;QMQJCOCYGTGKPVJGJCPFUQH$TKVKUJQHſEGTU6JGNCVVGTJCFHGYOGCPU of regulating the French.43 Several other powers too relied on Britain to provide them with a consular UGTXKEG$TKVKUJQHſEGTUTGRTGUGPVGF#WUVTQ*WPICTKCPKPVGTGUVUCVCNNRQTVUCPF were provided with judicial powers over Austro-Hungarian citizens. Other powers did the same. At the beginning of 1875, for example, the British consul at Nagasaki was also in charge of the interests of France, Austro-Hungary, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Sweden and Norway.44 It must have DGGPFKHſEWNVVQMGGRVTCEMQHVJGFKHHGTGPVNGICNU[UVGOUVQUC[VJGNGCUV+PVJGUG circumstances, disputed judgements could lead to nationalistic outbursts against the foreigner giving the judgement and sometimes to threats of violence. Merchant consuls continued to be employed regularly. In 1873 there were 9 OGTEJCPVEQPUWNUCICKPUVECTGGTEQPUWNUKP,CRCP+PVJGſIWTGUYGTG to 33. The use of such consuls continued to be opposed by the Japanese and by VJQUGYJQYGTGECTGGTEQPUWNU9JGPCſTOŏURCTVPGTUYGTGCNUQEQPUWNUVJGTG YGTGGPFNGUUQRRQTVWPKVKGUHQTVWTPKPIQHſEKCNRQUVUVQEQOOGTEKCNCFXCPVCIG45 The worst offender in matters of extraterritoriality remained Portugal. And the nearness of Macao ensured that the lack of effective jurisdiction over Portuguese subjects caused problems in Japan. Under strong Japanese pressure, VJG 2QTVWIWGUG YGTG RGTUWCFGF VQ CRRQKPV QHſEGTU HTQO VKOG VQ VKOG DWV such arrangements never lasted very long. Finally in 1892, the Portuguese decided to close down all their consular posts in Japan, apparently for reasons of economy. Japan protested and asked what provision the Portuguese intended to make for the 140 Portuguese citizens in Japan. No reply was received and Japan announced that all Portuguese citizens would in future be under Japanese jurisdiction. There was a belated Portuguese protest, to no avail, and the Japanese continued thereafter to exercise jurisdiction over the Portuguese.46 42
43 44 45
46
See M. Deuchler, %QPHWEKCP)GPVNGOGPCPF$CTDCTKCP'PXQ[U6JG1RGPKPIQH-QTGCŌ 1885, Seattle & London, 1977, pp. 120–22, for the most recent account. F0262/404, J. C. Hall to Parkes, No. 12, 23 April 1883. F0262/272, Parkes to Derby, draft consular No. 5, 11 January 1875. On merchant consuls, see Japan Mail, 22 October 1873; Manchester Guardian,10 & 30 September 1884, in Japan Weekly Mail, 22 November 1884. For Japanese objections, see Memorandum by Inoue, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 29 July 1882, in Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, n, Nos. 266–67. Japanese Memorandum, 14 July 1892: see n. 20, above. Also, ‘Mr J. Loueiro and His Traducers’, in Japan Weekly Mail, 6 August 1892; F0262/664; M. de Bunsen ‘ to Roseberry, 0QUFTCHV%QPſFGPVKCN,WN[0QXGODGT
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In spite of all the defects, however, the system worked, particularly because the XCTKQWUVTGCV[RQYGTUHGNVVJCVKVYCUDGVVGTVQEQQRGTCVGVJCPſIJVCOQPIUVVJGOselves. Disputes over jurisdiction were sometimes pursued with great fervour, but no power ever pressed for compensation. Lawyers were normally permitted to practice in all the courts, and concessions over the language to be used were a RTCEVKECNPGEGUUKV[7PVKNVJGGPFQHVJGQNFVTGCVKGUGXGPVJQUGQHſEGTUYJQJCF doubts about the value of continuing the system continued to co-operate amongst themselves in its actual day-to-day operation. The main reason for this was the increasing pressure they were under from the Japanese. While the system of extraterritoriality remained largely unaltered after 1869, the same could not be said of Japanese law. The leaders of the Meiji Restoration made it clear that they intended to regain for Japan the autonomy which they felt the Western powers had taken away, but at the same time they accepted that to do this there would need to be far-ranging changes in Japan especially in law. The development of Japanese law during the Meiji period has been well documented and it need not concern us here in any great detail.47 Between 1873 and 1898, a full Western-style legal system emerged in Japan. There were not only new penal codes, but also new commercial and civil codes and a large body of WPEQFKſGFCFOKPKUVTCVKXGNCYGODQFKGFCVſTUVKPCFOKPKUVTCVKXGQTFGTUCPF eventually in parliamentary laws. At the same time, there emerged courts where the new laws could be put into effect and a judiciary to administer them. The NCVVGTCVſTUVRQQTN[VTCKPGFCPFWPUWTGQHKVUUVCVWUEQWNFENCKOD[VQ have become a respectable body which had established its independence from government control. There were also new police forces modelled on those of the West. #VſTUVOWEJQHVJGNGIKUNCVKQPKPVTQFWEGFYCUFGUKIPGFOQTGYKVJHQTGKIPGTŏ wishes and Japan’s desire to end extraterritoriality in mind than with the needs of Japan itself, but in time this attitude was replaced by the desire to evolve a code of laws which would meet the needs of Japan.48 Foreigners, especially the foreign community in Japan, watched all this with interest. As the new legal codes took effect, particularly the commercial codes, VJGTQNGQHEQPUWNCTCPFOKPKUVGTKCNQHſEGTUCUKPVGTOGFKCTKGUHQTVJGKTHGNNQY countrymen gradually disappeared.49 47
48
49
K. Takayanagi, ‘A Century of Innovation: The Development of Japanese Law, 1868–1961’, in A. T. von Mehren, ed., Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society, Cambridge, Mass., 1963, pp. 5–40. See also Jones, Extraterritoriality, Chapters 5 & 6, and S. Okuma, ed., Fifty Years of New Japan, London, 1910, i, Chapter 9. There is an interesting discussion on motives for and sources of legal reform in the Meiji period in R. W. Rabinowitz, ‘Law and the Social Process in Japan’, in TASJ, X, Third Series (1968), pp. 11–43. The role of foreign legal advisers in this process is dealt with in Jones, Live Machines, p. 42ff. For another example, see Umetani N., O-yatoi Gaikokujin (‘Foreign Employees’), Tokyo, 1965, pp. 106–108. Japan Mail, 26 May 1881.
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There were problems with the new legal codes. The Japanese were after all trying to do in a short period what had taken centuries to evolve elsewhere. The commercial codes were of prime importance to foreigners since the majority of foreigners in Japan were there for trading purposes. In general, any commercial code was better than nothing, but it was not long before foreigners found much to criticise in the new codes. The system of guarantors for contracts, for example, exempted the guarantor from any penalty for three years from the breach of contract. Parkes felt it necessary to issue a warning to British subjects against relying on “such fallacious security”.50 The long-drawn-out case of Jardine, Mathe-son & Co vs Goto Shojirõ in 1878–1879 showed up some of the major defects in the bankruptcy laws. Appeals to the Japanese government to intervene to remedy such defects were by 1879 no longer acceptable.51 Copyright and patent infringements were another fruitful source of complaint.52 %JCPIGUKPVJGETKOKPCNEQFGYGTGCVſTUVYCVEJGFYKVJFGVCEJOGPV7PVKNVJG mid-1880s, it was generally believed in the foreign community that the Japanese criminal codes would have little effect on foreigners for the foreseeable future. That was probably just as well, as for many years foreigners were unhappy with Japanese criminal law. The continued use of torture, vagaries in procedure and sentencing, and the extreme hostility towards witnesses, all helped to prejudice foreigners against the new system.53 The detachment of the foreign community did not last long. By the mid-1870s, the Japanese had made it quite clear that they intended both to seek revision of the old treaties and to re-assert jurisdiction in areas where inexperience or weakness had allowed the foreign powers to go beyond the judicial power that they could legitimately claim under the treaties. This new departure had two principal causes. 6JGſTUVYCUVJGUGNHEQPſFGPEGQHVJGPGYTWNGTUQH,CRCPQPEGVJG4GUVQTCVKQP government had established itself and overcome opposition. The second was probably advice from the foreign lawyers who were employed from 1871 onwards.54 50 51
52
53
54
F0262/286, Parkes to Lord Derby, draft No. 157, 30 September 1878. F0262/330/R.109, Jardine Matheson & Go. to Parkes, 30 September 1878; F0262/331/R.128, Parkes to Jardines, draft, 23 October 1878. F0262/345, M. Dohmen to Parkes, No. 59, 30 June 1879, contains a series of memoranda by the leading foreign lawyers of Yokohama on their experience of the Japanese bankruptcy laws. I have examined this at some length in ‘The Japanese Treaty Ports, 1868–1899: A Study of the Foreign Settlements’, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London, 1971, pp. 178–81. See also P. J. Trent, Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Japan, Ō Stanford, 1938, Chapter 2. For public complaints against the Japanese criminal codes and their operation, see ‘Saibansho Justice’, in Japan Gazette, 21 May 1881; ‘Curiosities of Japanese Criminal Procedure’, in Japan Daily Herald, 21 February 1879; ‘Treaty Revision and the Yokohama Chamber of Commerce’, in Japan Weekly Mail, 23 February 1884. G. Parker Ness, ‘Foreign Jurisdiction in Japan’, in Law Magazine and Law Review, 4th series, xi (1885–1886), pp. 354–58. Torture continued until at least 1891: PR030/33/ 6/1, J. G. Hall to Satow, 5 October 1896. Some of the prominent foreign lawyers are listed in Jones, Live Machines, pp. 39–40. Contemporaries too saw them behind the campaign: F0262/252/R.38, Hornaby to
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,CRCPŏUſTUVUVGRHQTYCTFYCUCUQOGYJCVTGNWEVCPVQPGPCOGN[VJGCUUGTtion of control over non-treaty-power, or stateless, for eigners. Under the shogunate, a form of mixed jurisdiction to deal with such people emerged at Yokohama in 1867, and the Restoration government extended it to the other foreign settlements in 1870.55 But in two cases in 1872, one involving a Tunisian ship, the ss Zadakia, the other involving a Peruvian coolie ship, the Maria Luz, the Japanese took over full responsibility for settling legal cases involving non-treaty-power subjects. There were protests, but the Japanese were not shifted from their position. 56 After 1872, they handled all cases involving non-treaty-power subjects without consulting the foreign representatives in Japan.57 At the same time as they achieved control over non-treaty-power subjects, the Japanese began to make regulations to cover such matters as hunting, drugs, and the spread of dangerous diseases. Few foreigners would have denied that such regulations were necessary, but equally few foreigners were willing to accept that regulations made by the Japanese should apply to foreigners. This was partly because they were not impressed by the way the Japanese administered regulations, such as those governing trade which did affect foreigners Ō VJG ,CRCPGUG YGTG TKIKF CPF KPƀGZKDNG KP CNN OCVVGTU VQ FQ YKVJ VJG VTCFG regulations until the 1890s58 The real problem, as seen by Sir Harry Parkes, was that to admit the Japanese claim was to undermine the whole basis of extraterritoriality.59 The Japanese began by attempting to control shooting by foreigners, with a set of regulations issued in 1870, which they asked should be applied to foreigners. This was a new departure. In previous years, the Japanese had merely said to the foreign representatives that such and such an action was prohibited to Japanese, and asked that it also be prohibited to foreigners. No attempt had been made to dictate in what form the prohibition should take. The foreign representatives ignored the Japanese request, which was not pressed then, but was repeated in the following year. Then the foreign representatives declined to re-issue the Japanese regulations, although they did promise to make their own regulations to govern
55
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58
59
Watson, No. 3, 25 March 1873. Yokohama-shi Henshushitsu, Yokohama-shi Shi (‘History of Yokohama’), 1958–, hi: 2, pp. 860–69; Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, in, Nos. 621–29. For the Zadakia, see F0262/236, R. Robertson to R. Watson, Nos. 2, 4 & 71: 1 & 11 June, & 23 December 1872. For the Maria Luz, see Kanagawa Kencho, The Peruvian Barque ‘Maria Luz’, Yokohama, 1874; Yokohama-shi Shi, m: 2, pp. 883–85, and Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, n, Nos. 395–419. E.g., Hiogo News, 28 June 1879; Japan Weekly Mail, 5 December 1891, 23 January & 19 March 1892. For examples, see F0262/387, W. G. Aston to J. G. Kennedy, No. 4, 10 January 1882; F0262/634, Viscount Aoki to H. Fraser, No. 9, 14 February 1890. F0262/333, Parkes to Salisbury, draft No. 61, 29 March 1879.
EXTRATERRITORIALITY IN JAPAN, 1858–1899
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shooting.60 Neither would they endorse Japanese regulations which would have allowed travel outside the ports.61 $GHQTGNQPICHWTVJGTEQPƀKEVJCFCTKUGPQXGTSWCTCPVKPGTGIWNCVKQPU6JKU became particularly bitter, with Parkes asserting in 1878, during a major cholera outbreak, that the rights of British subjects were of greater moment than the Japanese health regulations. In the following year, his German counterpart refused to allow the ss Hesperia to be kept in quarantine. When the Japanese tried to insist, the ship was escorted out by HIGMS 9QNH Reacting to this, a foreign missionary wrote: “The truth is that the life of a Japanese is not of much account when it stands in the way of trade. . . General Grant, former president of the United 5VCVGUYCUTGRQTVGFVQJCXGUCKFVJCVVJG,CRCPGUGYQWNFJCXGDGGPLWUVKſGFKP sinking the *GURGTKC62 The rigid application of the same principle that the Japanese could not legislate for foreigners led to a Japanese refusal to do anything to control or improve harbour facilities at the open ports. An attempt by the Japanese authorities to restrict the number of jetties in use at Yokohama to reduce congestion, led Parkes to threaten to resist with force, if necessary, “aggression by the Customs Police”. Rather than allow foreign vetting of Japanese laws, the Foreign Minister told the British charge in 1881 that Japan would prefer to see all the ports silt up.63 British subjects were not prosecuted for smuggling medicinal opium because of the same principle.64 Solutions were found to the comparatively minor problems of the shooting regulations. Both were cumbersome, but both worked to the satisfaction of the Japanese and the foreign representatives, although perhaps not always to that of the foreign residents.65 By the end of the 1870s, the Japanese were also well on the way to winning their main point, although paradoxically enough, this came about on the one occasion that they were prepared to forego their point of principle in order to achieve a more immediate purpose. When John Reddie Black, a veteran Yokohama journalist, began to publish a Japanese-language newspaper in Tokyo in 1876, the Japanese authorities were so anxious to have it suppressed that they did 60
61
62
63
64 65
M662/163/2, Japanese Minister in Washington Kiyanori to H. Fish, 14 March 1876, is a contemporary Japanese account of the dispute. See also Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, iv, Nos. 247–56. Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, iv, No. 286, German Minister M. von Brandt to Foreign Minister Ueno, 2 July 1873; Japan Herald (Mail Summary), 22 May 1874. ‘Quarantine Regulations’, in Tokio Times, 27 July 1878; F0262/333, Parkes to Salisbury, draft No. 61, 29 March 1879. For the Hesperia case, see ‘Quarantine Regulations and the Hesperia’, in Japan Mail, 28 July 1879, and F0262/334, Parkes to Salisbury, draft No. 145, 12 August 1879. This includes the published correspondence between the German Minister and the Japanese Foreign Minister. F0262/507, Parkes to Foreign Minister Terashima, draft No. 56, 9 May 1874; F0262/362, Kennedy to Granville, draft No. 71, 12 July 1881. F0262/264, Robertson to Parkes, No. 44, 13 June 1874. Hoare, ‘Japanese Treaty Ports’, pp. 200–202.
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not ask Parkes to enforce the Japanese Press Laws, which made it an offence to publish a newspaper without authority. Instead, they merely asked him to act to have the newspaper suppressed. When Parkes offered to issue a regulation making it an offence for British subjects to publish Japanese-language newspapers, they accepted without question. The consequences of this action were to undermine all that Parkes had been arguing for against the Japanese during the previous seven years. When Black UQWIJVTGFTGUUHQTJKUNQUUGUVJGOCVVGTYGPVVQ.QPFQP6JGTGVJG.CY1HſEGTU of the Crown stated categorically in 1878 that Japanese law did apply to British UWDLGEVUWPNGUUURGEKſECNN[GZGORVGFD[VTGCV[CPFVJCVKVUJQWNFDGCEEGRVGF YKVJQWVSWGUVKQPYJCVGXGTKVUFGHGEVU2CTMGUYCUVQſIJVCNQPITGCTIWCTFCEVKQP to no avail. After 1879, Britain no longer claimed that Japanese law did not apply to British subjects. The position was not made public, but it was soon clear in practice. Because of Britain’s pre-eminent position in japan, because of Parkes’s hostility to the Japanese claim, and because the British Minister had the power to convert Japanese law into regulations which British courts had to implement, this YCUCHCTOQTGUKIPKſECPVFGXGNQROGPVVJCPJCFDGGPVJG7PKVGF5VCVGUŏUVCVGOGPV of the same principle in 1876.66 This long struggle over the applicability of Japanese law to foreigners was one of the strands which convinced the Japanese that they must end extraterritoriality. The treaties allowed for the possibility of revision from 1872, but although the foreign powers drew up lists of possible changes, the Japanese did not seem anxious to raise the question. By the mid-1870s, they were prepared to discuss treaty revision and in particular the ending of extraterritoriality. During negotiations with the United States for a commercial treaty in 1878, the Japanese made it clear that they would be prepared to open the whole of Japan to Americans if the principle of extraterritoriality was abandoned. The treaty was signed, but remained a dead letter.67 A concerted campaign for the abrogation of the old treaties began with the appointment of Inoue Kaoru to the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1880.68 From the start it was obvious that what the Japanese really wanted was not a reviUKQPDWVVJGGPFQHVJGQNFU[UVGO+PQWGŏUſTUVRTQRQUCNGPXKUCIGFVJG,CRCPGUG FGCNKPIYKVJEKXKNECUGUKPXQNXKPIſPGUQHWRVQĨCPFETKOKPCNECUGUYJGTG the maximum penalty was three months’ imprisonment. This was opposed by the foreign representatives, but was revived in 1881–1882. By then, the Japanese were already beginning to regard it as far too limited in scope. By 1886–1887, the 66
67
68
J. E. Hoare, ‘The Bankoku Shimbun Affair: Foreigners, the Japanese Press and Extraterritoriality in Early Meiji Japan’, in Modern Asian Studies, ix: 3 (1975), pp. 289–302. For the 1876 U.S. position, see United States, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 1876, pp. 367–68, H. Fish to J. Bingham, No. 224, 2 May 1876. The Japanese learnt of the change WPQHſEKCNN[KPCPFQHſEKCNN[KPNihon Gaiko Bunsho, i, No. 317, & ii, No. 227. For the 1878 Treaty, see Kajima Morinosuke, Nichi-Bei Gaikdshi (“History of JapaneseAmerican Diplomatic Relations”), Tokyo, 1958, pp. 27–32. For treaty revision, the only comprehensive account in English is Jones, 'ZVTCVGTTKVQTKCNKV[
EXTRATERRITORIALITY IN JAPAN, 1858–1899
377
Japanese were considering a period when the foreign courts would operate in the treaty ports, but foreigners living or travelling outside those areas would come WPFGT,CRCPGUGEQWTVU#HVGTſXG[GCTUVJGTGYQWNFDGCU[UVGOQHOKZGFEQWTVU with foreign judges. When discussions were revived in 1890, the Japanese were no longer prepared to consider anything but the complete end of the old treaties, as far as jurisdiction was concerned. It was on this basis that the revised treaties, beginning with the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1894, were negotiated.69 Japan’s ultimate success was the result of a number of factors. There was growing division of interest between the powers. The 1882 conference on treaty revision had revealed that both Germany and the United States were prepared to make concessions over jurisdiction in return for commercial advantages.70 Subsequent years saw the powers jostling one another for position, each prepared to UCETKſEGFKRNQOCVKEWPKV[KHVJGRTKEGYCUTKIJV+P$TKVCKPD[VJG$QCTFQH Trade was anxious that Britain should not lose out on Japanese trade because of its failure to concede Japan’s demands over extraterritoriality.71 The Japanese, aware of the disagreements between the various countries, conducted the negotiations of 1889–1890 and 1894–1895 with the individual powers. As the foreigners became disunited, the Japanese became more united. By the mid-1880s, there had developed a marked Japanese public opinion opposed to the old treaties and unwilling to see the foreign powers gain any further advances. Thus the government, which had been unable to obtain the modest demands of 1880 because of foreign opposition, was unable to take advantage of the much greater concessions offered by the powers in 1887 because of internal Japanese opposition.72 Extraterritoriality in Japan was becoming unworkable by the late 1880s. New legal problems had arisen which the framers of the early treaties had never considered. The old treaties were decrepit, the powers were divided amongst themselves, and the Japanese were jealously watching for opportunities to assert their control over foreigners. There were even those in the foreign community, including some traders and most missionaries, who were eager to see the end of the old system so that they would have unrestricted access to the interior of Japan.73 The 1880 proposals were leaked by the Dutch Representative to the Japan Daily Herald (see 16 & 17 July 1880). For the 1886 proposals, see F0262/555, Plunkett to Salisbury, draft 0Q%QPſFGPVKCN,WPG(QTVJGPGIQVKCVKQPUNGCFKPIVQVJG6TGCV[UGG Ian Nish, “Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo- Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894”, in Papers of the Hong Kong International Conference on Asian History, No. 20. 70 Baron A. von Siebold, Japan’s Accession to the Comity of Nations, London, 1901, pp. 75–81. 71 (/GOQTCPFWOD[2%WTTKG/C[$QCTFQH6TCFGVQVJG(QTGKIP1HſEG No. C.2263, 27 May 1886. 72 / /KPKUVGT 6CVGPQ VQ )TGUJCO UGOKQHſEKCN /CTEJ HQTYCTFKPI ‘Memorandum giving a synopsis of Treaty Revision in Japan’. See also Delmer Brown, Nationalism in Japan, Berkeley, 1955, p. 112. 73 I have examined one way in which the old treaties were inadequate in ‘Japan Undermines Extraterritoriality: Extradition in Japan, 1885–1889’, in Ian Nish & Charles Dunn, eds., European Studies on Japan, Tenterden, Kent, 1979, pp. 125–29. For support for the end of VJGVTGCVKGUUGG((TCUGTVQ5CNKUDWT[FTCHV0Q%QPſFGPVKCN#WIWUV 69
378
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The general foreign reaction in Japan was opposition to the ending of the old treaties. People were reluctant to accept that their special position guaranteed by treaty and upheld by determined ministers such as Sir Harry Parkes or his German counterpart should disappear. But the foreign community’s protests, however vociferous, were generally ignored, and in the end the old treaties ended without any of the legal or other safeguards which the foreign community sought. The foreigners fought a rearguard action, but to no avail.74 It eventually dawned on the foreign community that the old order of things YCUFGſPKVGN[GPFKPIKPVJGUWOOGTQH5QOGNGHVDWVVJGOCLQTKV[VWTPGF to the task of preparing for the new order. Pamphlets and articles poured off the foreign presses advising both Japanese and foreigners of how to make the transition an easy one. At Kobe and Yokohama committees of local residents were organised to bring Japanese and foreigners together.75 Extraterritoriality and all the special legal rights for foreigners came to an end at midnight on 4 August 1899. The foreign courts continued for some months longer, but only to clear up outstanding cases; otherwise the new order ECOGVQUVC[6JGTGYGTGUQOGQHſEKCNEGNGDTCVKQPUDWVIGPGTCNHGGNKPIYTQVG one newspaper, was of the “subdued feeling of importance of the occasion”.76 There were no mass arrests, no raids by Japanese policemen armed with books of minute regulations. Instead, the new regime was given a more practical test when an American ran amok some ninety minutes after it came into operation and killed three people at Yokohama. He was sentenced to death, but was reprieved.77 As time passed, the old fears proved false. The mass arrests and the policemen with their regulations never did materialise, and there were no reports of foreigners being tortured. After a year or so, the foreign residents were left wondering what their fears had been all about. It was true that there were some who, with Basil Hall Chamberlain, looked back to a golden age when Yokohama could be as proud of its independence as Shanghai continued to be, but they were not many. Yet extraterritoriality and opposition to it left their legacy. Foreigners did not lose the arrogance that their special legal status had made so easy, and the Japanese did not forget the long struggle necessary to regain what they considered as rightfully theirs. The pro-foreign feeling and 74
75
76 77
‘Protest of the Yokohama Branch of the China Association against the action of Her Majesty’s Government in the matter of the Treaty concluded with Japan by Great Britain, 55 forwarded by the Secretary of the China Association, R. S. Grundy, to Lord Kimberley, 12 February 1895, in F046/459. See also Nihon Gaiko Bunsho, IV, No. 162, Matsu to Aoki, telegram No. 5, 5 April 1895, and ‘France and Japan’,55 in London and China Express, 2 December 1898. ‘Why Foreigners are Leaving Japan’,55 in Kobe Chronicle, 5 July 1899; ‘To Smoothe the Way’,55 in Japan Times, 10 March 1898. Eastern World, 5 August 1899. A. Diosy, ‘Some Account of My Recent Visit to Japan’, in Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society of London, V (1898–1901), pp. 126–27.
EXTRATERRITORIALITY IN JAPAN, 1858–1899
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the admiration for things Western which had been such a marked feature of Japan after the Restoration turned sour in the course of the struggle. A veteran Roman Catholic missionary, Père Everand, remarked to Sir Ernest Satow in 1895 that it was a great pity the treaties had not been revised in 1882. Attitudes JCFDGEQOGſZGFCPFVQQOWEJJCFDGGPUCKFYJKEJEQWNFPQVDGHQTIQVVGP by 1894.78
78
PR030133/15/17, diary entry for 21 October 1895.
Source: Proceeding, BritishAssociation for Japanese Studies 1977, 18–33
27
The Chinese in the Japanese Treaty Ports, 1858–1899: The Unknown Majority 1
J.E.HOARE
THE CHINESE COMMUNITY in Japan in the Bakumatsu and early Meiji periods had its origins in two distinct sources. One was the survival, in tradition and to some extent in form, of the Chinese quarter (the Tęjin yashiki) and the Chinese guild of traders at Nagasaki. The Dutch presence and trade at Nagasaki during the sakoku period is well known outside Japan, but little is known about the Chinese. Yet the Chinese were the more important group in many ways. Chinese trade was more important in terms of the amounts involved and in the numbers of men and ships which took part. Up to the 1680s, hundreds of Chinese ships arrived at Nagasaki each year, and there was a large Chinese community established permanently on shore. From then onwards, it is true, the trade and numbers of the Chinese were both restricted, especially from the second decade of the eighteenth century, yet both still remained larger than those of the Dutch. The Dutch enclave at Nagasaki ended with the opening of the treaty ports to Western settlers in the 1850s and in particular with the Dutch treaty of January 1856. The old system of trade with China and the Chinese settlement at Nagasaki continued, however, into the new era.2 1
2
An earlier version of this paper was presented to a seminar on China and Japan during the last hundred years, held at the Contemporary China Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 1975. I am grateful for the comments made at that seminar which have been taken into account in this revised version. As far as I can trace, no study of the Chinese in Japan in the nineteenth century has appeared anywhere. Certainly none is listed in the standard bibliographies. For the Chinese in Japan during the sakoku period, see the following G. B. Sansom, A History of Japan (3 vols., London, 1958–64) , III 144 5; T. Iwao, Sakoku (Tokyo, 1966), pp. 413–19. For the Dutch see C. R. Boxer, ,CP%QORCIPKGKP,CRCPŌ, (The Hague, 1936) and Iwao, Sakoku, pp. 369–99. 380
THE CHINESE IN THE JAPANESE TREATY PORTS, 1858–1899
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The other source of the Chinese community in Japan in the later nineteenth century was as a by-product of those same treaties which swept away the old order for the Dutch settlement at Nagasaki. There was no formal treaty sanction which allowed the foreigners who were permitted to reside in Japan under the various treaties negotiated in VJGUto bring in with them non-treaty country citizens as servants or as employees, but that did not prevent it happening. (TQOVJGXGT[ſTUVOCP[HQTGKIPGTUDTQWIJVYKVJVJGOVJGKT%JKPGUGUGTXCPVU to whom they had grown accustomed on the China coast. Even more important than the domestic servants were the clerks, warehousemen and other semi-skilled YQTMGTUYJKEJVTCFKPIſTOUDTQWIJVYKVJVJGO/QUVKORQTVCPVQHCNNYGTGVJG compradores, the skilled Chinese negotiators whom the China port merchants had grown accustomed to using as middle-men in most commercial transactions involving Chinese traders.3 Until the beginning of the Meiji period, the number of Chinese in Japan, outside Nagasaki, remained small, as indeed, did the total number of foreign residents KPVJQUGWPEGTVCKP[GCTU+VKUFKHſEWNVVQGUVCDNKUJRTGEKUGſIWTGUHQTVJG%JKPGUG population of those years. Statistics are few and cannot easily be checked.4 There were a handful of Chinese at Yokohama by the end of 1859, when the port had been opened some seven months, perhaps four out of a total foreign population of about twenty. Ten years later, when the total Western population in Japan hovered around a hundred, the Chinese, including those still living at Nagasaki, appear to have reached about two hundred. By then, the numbers at Nagasaki seem to have fallen, so many of the two hundred were at Yokohama. From the Meiji Restoration and the opening of additional ports and cities in 1868–69, the numbers of Chinese in Japan grew rapidly. Sometimes this growth can be attributed to natural disasters in China, but the main reason for it seems to have been the growing opportunities for money making in Japan. The establishment of Sino-Japanese relations on western lines in 1871 may also have helped the growth of the Chinese. Whatever the reasons, by about 1875, the total Chinese population in the Japanese treaty ports and cities was about 2,500 out of a total foreign population of some 5,000. By 1885, the total was around 6,800, of which 4,500 were Chinese. In 1894, on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, the total foreign population of Japan was some 9,800, and the Chinese accounted for over 3
4
For early arrivals of Chinese, see, for example, J. Heco, The Narrative of a Japanese, edited by J. Murdoch (2 vols, Yokohama, 1899), I 207. I have examined the problem of trying to establish statistics for foreign residents in Japan during the treaty port period, including the problem of the Chinese, in my unpublished Ph.D. thesis, ’The Japanese Treaty Ports, 1868–1899: A study of the Foreign Settlements’, (University of London, 1971), pp. 44–48. The Chinese in Japan were a very small group EQORCTGFYKVJVJGQVJGTOCLQTITQWRUKP'CUV#UKCCPFVJG2CEKſE$[VJGGCTN[UHQT example, there were probably some 1,500,000 in Thailand alone, and at the same period there were about 25,000 in the United States. See V. C. Purcell, The Chinese in South East Asia, (London, 1951), p. 133, and Betty Lee Sung, Mountain of Gold:The Story of the Chinese in America, (New York, 1967), P. 22.
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5,000 of this. The Chinese population fell following the Sino-Japanese War, but when peace was restored, it was not long before the Chinese were once again the predominant group of foreigners in Japan. The bulk of the Chinese settlers, like the bulk of all foreigners, were to be found at Yokohama. For most of the period, the Chinese accounted for at least JCNHVJGHQTGKIPRQRWNCVKQPQH;QMQJCOC6JKUſIWTGTQUGVQUKZV[RGTEGPVKPVJG years 1890–94, when there were some three thousand Chinese there. Numbers fell in I894–96, but by 1900, there were again over three thousand Chinese at YokoJCOC-QDGſTUVQRGPGFKP1868, quickly established itself as the second treaty RQTVKP,CRCPCHVGT;QMQJCOC*GTGVQQVJG%JKPGUGYGTGPGXGTNGUUVJCPſHV[ per cent of the total foreign population, except in the period of the Sino-Japanese war, when the numbers fell by half.50CICUCMKſTUVEGPVTGQHVJG%JKPGUGKP,CRCP had become a backwater for foreign settlement by the early 1870s. Its foreign population varied between 800 and 1,000 all through the period; the Chinese CEEQWPVGFHQTUQOGVYQVJKTFUQHVJKUſIWTG1UCMCVQQYCUCDCEMYCVGTCHVGT its opening in 1868. Its foreign population was never more than 250. The Chinese accounted for about 200 of this total, and the rest was largely foreign missionaries. Hakodate and Niigata attracted few foreigners of any nationality, but the former probably had its maximum number of Chinese – about 100 – in 1894. It is now impossible to tell for certain, but it seems highly probable that some at least of these Chinese were passing seamen rather than permanent residents. Tokyo, which always remained overshadowed as a trading centre by Yokohama during the period of the open ports, attracted few Chinese. Mention has already been made of Chinese seamen. By the end of the 1870s, thousands of foreign seamen were passing through the open ports of Japan each year. In 1878, Yokohama alone had 10–15,000 passing through, and even remote Hakodate had six hundred or more per annum. These transients were an important element in the economy of the ports, providing an occupation for public-house keepers, hostel and hotel keepers and many others. The effect on the general life of the ports too could be quite extensive, although not welcome to the more law abiding permanent residents. Large numbers of seamen, determined to enjoy themselves ashore and with money to spend, tended to put considerable strain on the usually inadequate resources of the small police forces of the ports. It is impossible to say what proportion of seamen were of Chinese origin. But it is clear that by the time one of the major European shipping lines, the Blue Funnel line, had begun to use Chinese sailors in their Far Eastern runs in the 1890s, they were CNTGCF[NCVGKPVJGſGNF6 It seems likely that on wholly Far Eastern runs such as would be done by most vessels operating out of the Japanese ports, a high proportion of seamen were Chinese by the 1880s. 5
6
Entries on ’Kobe’ in The Chronicle and Directory for China, Corea, Japan, The Philippines (etc), (Hong Kong, 1862 onwards), 1894 and editions. F. E. Hyde (assisted by J. R. Harris) Blue Funnel: A History of Alfred Holt and Co. of Liverpool from 1865 to 1914 (Liverpool, 1956) p. 88
THE CHINESE IN THE JAPANESE TREATY PORTS, 1858–1899
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There are few contemporary indications of where the Chinese who settled in Japan came from. Such evidence as there is, for example tombstones in the Chinese cemeteries which existed at the larger ports, indicates that, like the overseas Chinese in general, those in Japan came largely from Kwantung, Kwangsi and Fukien provinces.7
As has been stated already, there was no formal treaty sanction HQTVJGKPƀWZ of Chinese following the opening of Japan in the late 1850s. The Chinese came as an appendage of other foreigners who did have the right to come. No attempt seems to have been made by the Bakufu to stop foreigners bringing in Chinese servants or employees. 0GKVJGTFQGUVJG$CMWHWUGGOVQJCXGVJQWIJVCVſTUVVJCV it or its QHſEKCNUEQWNFFQCP[VJKPICDQWVVJQUG%JKPGUGYJQCTTKXGFCPFYGTG not under the aegis of a treaty port resident. In some cases foreign consuls assumed control over the Chinese servants of their nationals, or, at least, attempted to make their fellow-countrymen responsible for some possible transgressions by their servants.8 By the middle 1860s, the numbers of Chinese had grown too large to be ignored, and increasingly the Chinese were not foreigners’ servants but clearly engaged in activities of their own. The Japanese authorities at the open ports soon found themselves under increasing pressure from foreign consuls to take over control of the Chinese and such other non-treaty power subjects as happened to be in Japan. This pressure went furthest at Yokohama, where, as a result partly of the collapse of foreign attempts at municipal self-government, responsibility, for municipal affairs passed to the Japanese. And with responsibility for municipal affairs went control over the Chinese community. This control was to be exercised with ‘the advice and assistance’ of the foreign consuls.9 This last provision appears to have been designed EJKGƀ[VQRTQVGEVVJGKPVGTGUVUQHHQTGKIPGTUYJQFKFPQVYCPVVJGKT servants to pass fully under Japanese control. Following the restoration, the new government began to take an interest in a number of problems which its predecessor had not settled. One of these was the question of the Chinese. Indeed, shortly before its demise, the Bakufu seems to have begun to raise the question of the Chinese with the Ch’ing Court, but these 7
8
9
Yokohama shiritsu daigaku keizai kenkyujo, Yokohama keizai-bunka jiten, (Yokohama,1958), pp. 62–53. For the origins of the overseas Chinese in general, see Purcell, The Chinese in South East Asia, p. 30. See the British Consul at Nagasaki’s regulations issued in May i860. The text may be seen in F.0. 345/35 and in M. Paske-Smith, Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa in the Tokugawa period, (Kobe, 1930), pp. 240–42. Sir Rutherford Alcock’s regulations of 1861 enjoined British subjects to prevent their Chinese servants from ’furious riding’, text in F.O. 345/35 and in Japan Herald 30 Nov. 1861. The agreement on municipal affairs at Yokohama of Dec. 1867 can be found in Japanese Foreign Ministry, Treaties and Conventions between the Empire of Japan and other Powers, together with Universal Conventions, Regulations and Communications since March 1854, (2 vols., Tokyo, 1884 and 1889), I, 1049–52. See also Yokohama-shi henshushitsu, Yokohamashi shi, (Yokohama 1958 onwards), III, pt. 2, 860–69. For an example of this arrangement working, see F.O. 262/200, J. F. Lowder, acting consul at Yokohama, to Parkes, no. 25, 1 July 1870.
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overtures came to nothing.10 The Meiji government began to control the Chinese communities by means of registration, severe punishments and deportation for wrong-doers. On the whole, these moves were welcome to the other members of the foreign community, although, as always, some doubts were expressed about the wisdom of allowing the Japanese full control over foreigners’ servants.11 To some extent, foreign doubts were allayed in 1870, when the Japanese extended the arrangements operating at Yokohama under the 1867 agreement to all open ports and cities. Everywhere, therefore, the Chinese and other non-treaty power residents would be dealt with by the local Japanese authorities, assisted by the foreign consuls.12 With the signing of the Sino-Japanese treaty of 1871, the Chinese were to become subject to their own laws and under the jurisdiction of their own consuls. Until the Chinese government appointed diplomatic and consular representatives in Japan, however, the Chinese were to be under Japanese control.136JGVTGCV[YCUTCVKſGFKPDWVKVYCUPQVWPVKN1878 that the Ch’ing government appointed diplomatic and consular staff to Japan. In the meantime, following the Maria Luz case at Yokohama in 1872, the Japanese government asserted its right to full control over all non-treaty power residents in Japan, including the Chinese.14 This right was put into practice in October 1874, when the Japanese government issued regulations for the Chinese at all the ports and cities. These laid down that all Chinese must register annually, must carry a registration document, and could not move from one port to another without permission. These regulations seemed to have worked well, although it was noted that the Japanese police and judicial authorities were sometimes inclined to be particularly harsh towards the Chinese who came within their power.15 10 11
12 13
14
15
0KJQP)CKMę$WPUJQ, (cited as NGB) , II, pt. 1, F.O. 262/149, Lowder, at Yokohama, to Parkes, no. 60, 4 Aug. 1868; F.O. 262/173 M. Flowers, Consul at Nagasaki, to Parkes, no. 5, 22 Feb. 1869. NGB, III, 621–29. Text in Japanese Foreign Ministry, -[ij,Q[CMW+UCP, (Tokyo, 1931), I, pt. 1, 393–409. For the negotiations, see N. Hanabusa, Meiji Gaikoshi, (Tokyo, revised edition, 1966) p. 19; T. F. Tsaing, ‘Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, I870–94’ , in Chinese Social and Political Science Review, XVII, (1933), 4–13; and G. Fox, Britain CPF,CRCPŌ (Oxford, 1969), PP- 275–77. The Maria Luz was a Peruvian coolie ship which arrived at Yokohama in 1872. Eventually all the coolies were freed by the Japanese, which led to an arbitration case in which the Czar of Russia upheld the Japanese position. For an account of the case, see Kanagawa kencho, The Peruvian Barque ‘Maria Luzŏ ;QMQJCOCVJGQHſEKCNCEEQWPV5GGCNUQ Yokohama-shi shi, III, part 2, 883–85. For the Japanese case as presented to arbitration, and in particular, for the attack on the status of the 1867 agreement, see NGB, II, 374–487, especially pp. 395–419. F.O. 262/506, Foreign Minister Terashima to Parkes, no. 168, 9 Oct. 1874. These regulations had been agreed with Peking. For foreign comment on their working, see F.O. 262/277, Flowers to Parkes, no. 13, 7 May 1875 and Hiogo News, 20 Sept, 1876.
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In 1878 VJG %JKPGUG IQXGTPOGPV CRRQKPVGF KVU ſTUV FKRNQOCVKE TGRTGUGPtative in Tokyo, as well as a consul at Yokohama. The latter was given full jurisdiction over all Chinese in Japan, although this was not within the strict letter of the treaty. The Japanese government accepted this claim.16 From then until 1894, the Chinese community remained under the control of their own authorities. From time to time, Chinese consuls were appointed to both Kobe CPF0CICUCMKDWVVJGQPN[EQPUWNCTRQUVYJKEJUGGOUVQJCXGDGGPſNNGFQP a regular basis was that at Yokohama. This regime did not work well. The Japanese had resented having had to grant extraterritorial rights to another oriental power in 1 8 7 1 , and Chinese extraterritoriality was a lever as effective as that of the western powers. The Japanese authorities at the various ports were frequently able to assert jurisdiction over the Chinese, partly because of ambiguities in the 1871 treaty and partly because of the doubts surrounding the extent of jurisdiction enjoyed by the Chinese consuls. Frequently, action was taken against Chinese without consulting the Chinese authorities, and often there were complaints about excessive brutality used by the Japanese police when dealing with Chinese offenders.17 This then was the legal framework in which the Chinese lived. What else is there to say about them? In some ways, there is not a great deal. The Chinese, unlike other foreigners in Japan, ran no newspapers, and, as far as is known, wrote no books. They kept themselves, or were kept, apart from the generality of other foreigners in Japan. Clearly, the Japanese did not regard them as they did other foreigners, yet in many ways they were as invisible to the Japanese who wrote books and ran newspapers as they were to the Europeans. Yet their presence was noted. One particular source for the foreign community in the Bakumatsu and early Meiji periods does reveal the Chinese and indicates their importance in the foreign communities of the treaty ports. This source is the prints the Yokohama ukiyo-eVJGŎ;QMQJCOCƀQCVKPIYQTNFŏ18 +PVJGYQTNFQHVJGRTKPVUVJG%JKPGUGCTGſTON[KFGPVKſGFYKVJVJGYGUVGTPGTU9GMPQYVJCVVJKUKFGPVKſECVKQPYCUOCFGHTQOQVJGT evidence, too; a Chinese was killed in 1859 at Yokohama, probably DGECWUGJGYCUKFGPVKſGFYKVJVJG Europeans whom he served.19 The Chinese appear again and again in the prints, often on what seems to be terms of easy familiarity with westerners. One scene, 16
17
18
19
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ministry of Justice, 23 Jan. 1878, from Japan Herald 13 Feb. 1878. See also F.O. 262/319, Parkes to Lord Derby, no. 10 draft, 18 Feb. 1878. ‘Status of Chinese in Japan’, Japan Weekly Mail, 27 Oct. 1883. There were two cases at Nagasaki, one in 1883, the other in 1886, in which allegations of excessive brutality by the Japanese police at that port against Chinese were made and to some extent sustained. There are many such prints available in published works. Amongst these collections, I have used in particular two by T. Tamba: ;QMQJCOCWMK[QG4GƀGEVKQPUQHVJGEWNVWTGQH Yokohama in the days of the port opening) , (Tokyo,1962) and Nishiki-e ni miru Meiji tennę to Meiji jidai, (Tokyo, 1966). R. Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon: a narrative of a Three Years Residence in Japan, (2 vols., London, 1863) 1, 280.
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published in 1860, shows a seated Chinese man chatting to a Western woman. In another, also from 1860, an American holding binoculars and a French woman are waited upon by a Chinese servant. The rather curious half-world of the Chinese is indicated in another print which shows a Chinese dressed in a mixture of Chinese and western clothes. He is holding a dog on a lead and staring at a western ship. Yet another shows a group of Europeans playing musical instruments while a Chinese dances with what seems to be gay abandon. The prints which show general street scenes, of which there are many, invariably show a number of Chinese in long robes and pigtails mixing with the other foreigners. But the prints do not only show that the Chinese were part of the foreign community of Japan in the nineteenth century. They also indicate the great importance of the Chinese in the economic life of the ports from the very early days. The Chinese appear supervising the unloading of foreign ships by Japanese coolies. They are shown bargaining with Japanese traders and engaged in what appear to be three way deals involving Japanese, Chinese and westerners. Prints of shipping in the Japanese ports invariably show Chinese junks, which in the prints if not always in reality, are every bit as large as western ships. The evidence from colour prints begins to fade out soon after the early years of the Meiji government. In part the prints them selves were replaced by newer methods of providing information, such as newspapers. In part, the lack of evidence about the Chinese communities from the prints indicates the fading of the foreign settlements as a major interest by circa 1871–72. The print makers had found new subjects. But the large and growing Chinese community did not of course become invisible. A large number of Chinese continued to follow the traditional role of domestic servants. Many foreign visitors’ accounts of staying in Japan with members of the diplomatic community or with wealthy. foreigners noted the widespread use of Chinese domestic servants in preference to Japanese. Another traditional role, and one which was in many ways far more important, was that of compradore, VJGGUUGPVKCNIQDGVYGGPKPCNNVTCPUCEVKQPUDGVYGGPCYGUVGTPſTOCPF,CRCPGUG traders. So widespread was the use of Chinese staff by foreigners in Japan that the much travelled Miss Bird noted in the late 1870s that ‘ . . . i f they were suddenly removed, business would come to an abrupt halt’.20 Miss Bird’s view was one which many other visitors shared. It was also one which many foreign merchants shared too, as was shown by the great concern expressed at the damage to foreign businesses which would be done if war broke out between China and Japan in 1894, because of the possible internment of Chinese compra dores.21 Beneath the compradore, there were other Chinese staff, some paid, others not. These would include skilled men such as bookkeepers and 20
21
I. Bird, Unbeaten tracks in Japan, (2nd edition, London, 1911) P.15. For some more praise of the Chinese from a casual visitor, see II. Knollys, Sketches of Life in Japan, (London, 1887), pp. 226–7. See below, page 32.
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accountants, as well as day labourers and others who must have found it hard to compete with their Japanese counterparts.22 One or two fraud cases involving Chinese indicated that they might, in a NCTIGſTODG trusted with considerable sums of money.23 In many other ways too, the Chinese worked with and beside the other foreigners in Japan. A number appear to have worked in the numerous small printing works which somehow managed to make a living in the treaty ports.24 The Chinese found employment as policemen at a number QHVJG,CRCPGUGUGVVNGOGPVU6JG[YGTGſTUVCRRQKPVGFCV-QDGHQTGZCOple, in about 1874–75, and according to one contemporary source, made up the bulk of the police force in the foreign settlement there by 1879. They were also an important element in the police force at Osaka. The main reason for their use was that they would work for lower wages than either Europeans or Japanese. This apparently for some years outweighed the disadvantage that they were under Japanese jurisdiction.25 As elsewhere, the Chinese engaged in service industries. Chinese laundries and tailors’ shops were as much a feature of Yokohama and Kobe by the mid-1870s CU VJG[ YGTG QH *QPI -QPI 5JCPIJCK CPF GXGP HWTVJGT CſGNF 4GUVCWTCPVU serving Chinese and western food were then, as now, very much the mark of a Chinese community. The Chinese were also well-represented in what were regarded by many foreign residents as less-reputable trades. The foreign consuls at Nagasaki complained as early as November 1869 that all the gaming houses at Nagasaki, a considerable source of trouble, were run by Chinese. A similar complaint was made at Yokohama in 1884.26 Low-class public houses, invariably described by their opponents as ‘grog-shops’, also seem to have attracted the Chinese.27 22
23
24 25
26
27
In 1900, Swires at Yokohama had a compradore, Ah Fook, who managed a Chinese staff of nine: C. Drage, Taikoo (London, 1970) , p. 113. Compradores from China continued to be used in Japan well into the twentieth century: See O. M. Poole,The death of old Yokohama in the Great Japanese Earthquake of 1923, (London, 1968), p. 30. The funeral of Leong Lai Tong, in 1886, attracted a large western and Japanese turnout, a testimony to one compradore’s importance: Japan Weekly Mail, 17 Nov. 1886. Drage, Taikoo, pp. 111–13. The rarity of such cases is in fact a striking testimony to the honesty of the large numbers of compradores who appear to have been employed in Japan. Yokohama keizai-bunka jiten, pp. 52–53. Entry on ‘Kobe’ in Japan Directory, (Yokohama), 1879 issue; Hiogo News, 24 July, 16 Sept. and 2 Oct. 1880. See also F.O. 262/370, W.G. Aston, acting consul at Kobe to J. G. Kennedy, charge d’affaires, no. 6, 12 Feb. 1881. F.O. 796 /43, Nagasaki consuls to Hanji, draft, 5 Feb. 1869; Japan Weekly Mail, 1 March 1884. These were two complaints among many. See F.O. 262/565, R. Robertson, consul at Yokohama, to F. Plunkett, no. 25, 25 March 1886. Robertson, however, made it clear that the Chinese were not the worst group to be involved in this trade; at Yokohama in 1886, it was American grog-ship keepers who led VJGſGNFYKVJ$TKVKUJCPF(TGPEJENQUGDGJKPF
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
However, the majority of Chinese were not engaged in these activities, but were trading on their own account. Trade between China and Japan, which totalled ¥146,680,000 in 1873, reached ¥248,100,000 by 1893. There were, it is true, some marked variations in this trade during the twenty year period, but taken as a whole, the China-Japan market was an important one. Although the Chinese merchants faced EQORGVKVKQPHTQOYGUVGTPſTOUCPFKPETGCUKPIN[HTQO ,CRCPGUGſTOUVJG[ENGCTN[JCPFNGFCEQPUKFGTCDNGRQTVKQPQHVJKUVTCFG28 Reporting on the commerce of Japan in 1881, the British Minister, Sir Harry Parkes, noted that there were then about 78%JKPGUGſTOU operating in the JapCPGUGRQTVU6JGTGYGTGCDQWV$TKVKUJſTOUCPFCDQWVHTQOCNNQVJGT nationalities combined.29 J. J. Rein, writing in 1883, reported 180 Chinese trading ſTOUCV;QMQJCOCCNQPGYKVJCV-QDGCPFCV0CICUCMK30 By 1890, one UQWTEGPQVGFVJGTGYGTGUQOG%JKPGUGſTOUCV;QMQJCOCEQORCTGFVQ British, 19 German, 17 American and 13 others.31 The value of these various items of information is perhaps somewhat reduced by the constant failure to indicate what was meant by a ‘ſTO’, but it is clear that in all cases something more substantial than a small shop or a public house was intended. 6JG%JKPGUGſTOUCRRGCTVQJCXGGPICIGFKPOQUVHQTOUQHVTCFG and were not WPCFXGPVWTQWUKPDTCPEJKPIQWVKPVQPGYſGNFU+P for example, the Japan Mail noted interest on the part of one Chinese company in Japan in breaking into the Japan coastal trade, while Joseph Heco noted in the same year that a number QH%JKPGUGſTOU were engaged in the camphor trade out of Kobe.32 But probably the bulk of Chinese trade conducted by the Chinese merchants lay in the staples which Sir Harry Parkes noted in 1877: seaweed, salt and dried ſUJHTQO,CRCP and sugar, raw cotton and Chinese goods out of China.33 Many foreigners acknowledged that Chinese merchants displayed considerable CDKNKV[RCTVKEWNCTN[KPDGKPICDNGVQOCMGRTQſVUYJGTGQVJGTHQTGKIPGTUHQWPF it impossible. This ability was often resented by foreign merchants, or at least by those who claimed to speak for them. Foreign newspapers often hinted at dark, though invariably un substantiated, practices, which it was claimed, helped VJG%JKPGUGVQOCMGRTQſVUYJGPQVJGTUEQWNFPQV34 But as one British consul reported, the truth was that the Chinese learned the market and its needs, anticipating the latter with success.35 Certainly Chinese merchants seem to have had 28
29
30 31 32 33 34 35
Kokushi kenkyushitsu and Kyoto daigaku bungaku-bu, Nihon kindai-shi jiten, (Tokyo , 1958), p. 882, Table 42. Some of the Japanese exports to China were clearly for re-export. Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1882, Commercial Reports 1881 Part II: Report on the commerce of Japan for 18816CDNG86JKUVCDNGUJQYUVJGƀWEVWCVKQPUKPVJGPWODGTU QHCNNHQTGKIPſTOUDGVYGGP1874 and 1881. J. J. Rein, The Industries of Japan, (London and New York, 1889), pp. 529–32. F.O. 262/636, J. J. Enslie, acting consul at Yokohama to H. Fraser, no. 16, 17 April 1890. Japan Weekly Mail, 23 June 1886; Heco, Narrative of a Japanese, II, 236. F.O. 262/303, Parkes to Derby, no. 164 draft, 31 Dec. 1877. Nagasaki Shipping List, 11 June 1870; Tokei Journal, 12 Sept. 1874. Parliamentary Papers House of Commons, 1882, Commercial Report from Nagasaki.
THE CHINESE IN THE JAPANESE TREATY PORTS, 1858–1899
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NKVVNGFKHſEWNV[KPRGTUWCFKPIHQTGKIP DCPMUCPFſTOUVQCFXCPEGVJGOEQPUKFGTable sums as credit. The very rare cases of fraud by Chinese merchants indicate that very large sums indeed were lent to Chinese merchants on slight security, a sign, contemporaries argued, of the general good faith of the Chinese.36 Like other foreigners, therefore, the majority of Chinese were in Japan to make money, and it is this aspect of their lives which is the best documented. But there was another side to their lives, albeit one which seldom seems to have caught the attention of the other foreigners beside whom they lived, or of the Japanese. As has been stated already, the Chinese seem to have written little if anything which has survived. They also kept very much to themselves. Yet it is possible to give a tentative picture of the Chinese community in Japan when it was not about its prime business of making money. 5WEJſIWTGUCUGZKUVŌCPFCNNVJGGCTNKGTYCTPKPIUCDQWVUWEJUVCVKUVKEUUJQWNFDG remembered – indicate’ that the Chinese community in Japan had a comparatively high proportion of females to males, as high as one-third. Proximity to China was one reason for this; another may have been the lack of any attempt to prevent the Chinese from becoming permanently established in Japan. The Chinese tended to congregate in the original area of the various foreign settlements; as the Japanese allowed the settlements to be extended, so the other foreigners moved out to the newer, more healthy areas, leaving places such as ‘The Swamp’ at Yokohama to the Chinese. The often already poor health standards of the original settlements were made worse by the apparently none too careful sanitary habits of the Chinese. Because of this and the apparent hostility of Chinese to outsiders, these areas were often given a wide berth by other foreigners. The large numbers of grog-shops and cheap hotels, plus the resulting drunken sailors,were probably further reasons for avoiding such areas.37 +VYCUPQVJQYGXGTCVCNGUQNGN[QHFTWPMGPUCKNQTUCPFſIJVKPIDGJKPFVJG invisible walls of the Chinese ghettos. The Chinese celebrated traditional festivals YKVJOWEJTGLQKEKPICPFOCP[ſTGETCEMGTU6JGſTGETCEMGTUespecially drew other foreigners’ somewhat disapproving attention to such celebrations and so they are remembered.38 On at least one occasion, the Emperor of China’s birthday was celebrated at Yokohama.39 The Chinese seem to have been careful, too, of the heritage which they had brought from China; there were, for example, protests from them in 1872 when Japan abandoned the traditional calendar for that in use in the west.40 Like the other foreigners, the Chinese in Japan appear to have set about providing themselves with various amenities to make life more comfortable. There 36 37
38 39 40
F.O. 262/632, J. H. Longford to Fraser, no. 42, 19 Sept. 1890. For a rather lurid description of the Chinese quarter at Yokohama in the early years of this century, see Poole, Death of Old Yokohama, p. 20. F.O. 262/173, Flowers to Parkes, no. 17, 22 Feb. 1869. Japan Mail (summary), 3 Aug. 1880. 9')TKHſUThe Mikado’s Empire, (2 vols, 10th edition, New York, 1903), II, 636.
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were temples at Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki dedicated to a whole range of Chinese deities and, at Nagasaki at least, to Confucius.41 The Chinese ran their own cemetery at Nagasaki from theearliest days of the open port, and probably did so elsewhere as well.42 By the late 1890s, if not earlier, there was a Chinese school at Yokohama which provided education for both children and adults, while Yokohama also had a Chinese hospital by 1880.43 The Chinese community took an interest in their countrymen at home, contributing to charitable funds from time to time, though perhaps not always as generously as might have been expected.44 When it came to providing assistance nearer home, however, the Chinese in Japan tended to be more forthcoming. At the time of the Maria Luz case in 1872, the Chinese community at Yokohama provided a counsel for the coolies during the various legal hearings. Again, during the 1883 incidents at Nagasaki when it was alleged that the Japanese police had used excessive force and some brutality towards Chinese, the local Chinese community held a series of protest meetings against the alleged brutality and interested themselves in the case in other ways as well.45 By 1899, the Chinese EQOOWPKV[JCFDGEQOGUWHſEKGPVN[YGNNQTICPKUGFVQCTTCPIGCFKPPGT for representatives of some Japanese newspapers so that they could put the Chinese point of view on access to the interior of Japan following the coming into force of the revised treaties.46 There are also occasional indications during the Meiji period of the Chinese and other foreigners coming together over some issues. At Hakodate in 1879, a Chinese merchant put his name to a petition from the foreign merchants of that port on the question of treaty revision.47 In March 1886, the Japan Mail noted that Chinese merchants at Yokohama were beginning to contribute to the funds for the upkeep QHVJGXQNWPVCT[ſTGDTKICFG48 The example of the closest co-operation came in 1894, when the prospect of war between China and 41
42 43 44 45
46 47
48
A full page photograph of a Chinese temple at Yokohama appeared in the Far East, II, no. 8, 16 Sept. 1871. According to the New China News Agency (NCNA) in 1976, a temple to Confucius at Nagasaki, established in 1893, became the ’New China Propaganda Hall’ as part of the anti-Confucius campaign then being conducted. NCNA April 1976 in BBC Summary of World Broadcasts , Part III, FE/ 5190/A3/3 of 23 April 1976. F.O. 262/404, J. C. Hall, acting consul at Nagasaki, to Parkes, separate, 16 Feb. 1880. Kobe Chronicle, 15 Oct. 1898; Japan Mail, 26 Jan.1880. Cosmopolitan Press, no date, in Japan Herald(Mail Summary), supplement, 21 April 1877. F.O. 262/225, R. G. Watson, charge d’affaires, to Lord Granville, no. 119, draft, 30 Sept. 1872; Rising Sun and Nagasaki Express, 22 Sept. 1883. ‘The Chinese in Japan’, Japan Times, 29 June 1899. F.O.262/347/R. 70, A.P.Porter to Parkes, 15 June 1879, enclosing a letter from the foreign community of Hakodate, 4 June 1879. Japan Weekly Mail, 6 March 1886.
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Japan loomed large. The Chinese and other foreign merchants at Yokohama held a series of joint meetings in an attempt to prevent the massive dislocation of trade which would be caused by the withdrawal of Chinese from foreign business enterprises.49 In the event, although the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War led to a drop in the numbers of Chinese in Japan, the feared mass deportations of Chinese did not take place. Neither did the punitive taxation which many Chinese seem to have believed the Japanese would impose to compel the Chinese in Japan to pay for the cost of the war. The Japanese merely required that the Chinese who remained should register, and no further action was taken against them.50 The war did have an effect on the Chinese in Japan, for it provided the Japanese with an opportunity to end the 1 8 7 1 treaty and with it the Chinese right of extraterritoriality. Although the Manchu government was reluctant VQ CITGG VQ VJKU CPF CVVGORVGF VQ RWV WR C ſIJV QP VJG OCVVGT VJG Japanese, having concluded a treaty with Britain on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War which provided for the end of British extraterritoriality, were in no mood to allow the Chinese to continue what seemed an outdated privilege.51 In practice, these moves on the diplomatic plane probably made little difference to those Chinese who had remained at the ports in spite of the war. The ending of all the extraterritorial rights enjoyed by foreigners in 1899 brought some problems for the growing Chinese community, for by then there were many Japanese who wished to restrict Chinese rights to settle in the interior of Japan.52 In the event the Chinese, like other foreigners, seem generally to have preferred to remain living in the old foreign settlements, and no major problems arose. By 1900, there were signs of changes in the Chinese community in Japan, however, which did lead some away from the old areas of settlement. Japan’s success 49
50
51
52
‘The meeting of the ninth inst.’, Japan Weekly Mail, 18 Aug. I894; U.S. Consular Records, M659/135/20, Consul General Mclvor to under sec. Uhl, no. 50, 13 Aug. I894. M659/135/20, Mc Ivor to Uhl, no. 50, 13 Aug. 1894. For Chinese fears, see Japan Weekly Mail, 21 July 1894. Inevitably, there were some unpleasant incidents involving Chinese. See F.O. 262/703, Enslie to P. Le Poer Trench, no. 54, 17 Dec. 1894. The Japanese had made an unsuccessful attempt to end Chinese extraterritoriality in 1886: see NGB, XVIII, 137–144 For the 1896 negotiations, see NGB, XXIX, 376–573, especially a telegram from Foreign Minister Mutsu to Hayashi, plenipotentiary in China, 5 May1896, on p. 441. See Japan Times, 4 May, 15 and 16 June and 29 July 1899. The question had come up but had not been resolved in 1896; NGB, XXIX, 494–5, Hayashi to Chinese plenipotentiary Chang, 21 July 1896. It had long been a fear of some foreigners that opening the country YQWNFNGCFVQCƀQQFQH%JKPGUG5GGJapanWeeklyMail, 5 June 1886.
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in the Sino-Japanese War led many Chinese to come to Japan to study the ways of the victor. These newcomers had little in common with the traders of the ports. These new arrivals also led to the Chinese government taking more interest in its citizens in Japan. But the story of the Chinese in Japan in the twentieth century is one which lies outside the scope of this paper.
Source: Asian Cultural Studies, 23, 3, 1997
28
The Stage Is the World: Theatrical and Musical Entertainment in Three Japanese Treaty Ports AARON M. COHEN
I. PROLOGUE IN NAGASAKI, DECEMBER, 1869
The Prologue! What about? What can I say As introduction to our play? +VKUPŏVFKHſEWNVVQſPFVJGVKOG ... Cool, pleasant Winter comes on us once more, In this “deserted village” on the shore: We have no snow-clad hills, no ice-bound streams; Our homely Winter dwells but in our dreams; No chill November’s surly blast is here; No shrouding snow attends the dying year. Even Christmas comes as if t’ were out of place, And New - Year scarcely shows its face; 6JGTGCTGPQOGTT[ICVJGTKPIUCUYGſPF At home, to call that well-loved home to mind. Still, we would wish to help you all we can To make you fancy you’re not in Japan; And so our meetings may make some amends For what we miss – society and friends. ... I thought of talking about business cares, But there’s no business here, as it appears:—Exports are principally tea—and, with Regard to these, you’d best ask Cha-sze Sm-th. 393
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Imports! When cargo comes, it’s always found That consignees look glum if it is sound. The only money’s made from survey-fees, Auction commissions, and such things as these. In days of kinsats and of nibookin1— (Though some bad niboos may have been called in)—One can but sit and note the wondrous rage Of that cantankerous article, Exchange; Or muse and mutter, with a clouded brow,— 0KDQQUHQWTVYGPV[ſXG9JGTGCTGYGPQY! That’s not exciting; and excitement’s scarce; ... And now my duty calls on me once more T’apologize for our Dramatic Corps: Last season we were but a small array— Now envious Kobe’s called our best away; If they were any good to them, we’d let them, But when they only spoil them when they get them. Our two new members I need scarcely name, Save as they hold, with us, a common aim Of pleasing you. And now, I’d only ask Your kind indulgence in our arduous task. Professionals we don’t profess to be— We’re but The NAGASAKI A.D.C.1
II. THE STAGE IS THE WORLD +ntroduction
This lengthy prologue (abridged here) was recited by the principal actor, Mr. Drinkwater, before the Nagasaki Amateur Dramatic Corps took the stage at the Olympic Theatre to start its season in December, 1869. It tells us much of the circumstances of the foreign settlement in Nagasaki, circumstances a part of which—remoteness from familiar aspects of home—also motivated members of the community to establish the Corps. In recitations such as this, Drinkwater CPFQVJGTUJGNFWRCOKTTQTVQVJGEQPſPGFVT[KPIYQTNFQHVJG[QWPIHQTGKIP settlements in Japan. It was a mirror, too, of their personal fears and worries. Taking the entire business—the performances, the plays, the performers and their groups, the location of the performances and so on—in a social context shows that A version of this paper was presented on May 11, 1996 at the Forty-First International ConferGPEGQH'CUVGTP5VWFKGU URQPUQTGFD[VJG6ęJę)CMMCK * Japanese currency units. The nibukin in particular was used for trade settlements.
THE STAGE IS THE WORLD
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FTCOCFQGUPQVKOKVCVGNKHGDWVKUKPVGITCNVQKV6JGTGƀGEVKQPQHVJGUGCOCVGWT efforts, more than 120 years after the fact, is of the reality in which the performers and their audiences lived. Those efforts, moreover, encompass events of some importance in the history of the performing arts in modem Japan, that have not been examined by theatrical and music historians. Relying on contemporary newspapers, I therefore have reconstituted a sort of annals of the Western stage and Western music in Japan just before and after the restoration of the Emperor Meiji as reigning monarch. In doing this I seek to describe a little-known aspect of the history of performing arts in modern Japan, and of early cultural exchange.2 The precedent for treaty ports, extraterritoriality and settlement communities was China (Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hankow in particular), and relations between the settlement communities in China and Japan were close.3 The precedents, too, for amateur theatricals, for visits by touring performers and for programs given by sailors, are to be found in the settlements in China. The latter precedents, moreover, were based on many commonalities. The British were the largest foreign national group in both Chinese and Japanese open ports (excluding the Chinese in Nagasaki). There was considerable movement QHKPFKXKFWCNU IQXGTPOGPVQHſEKCNUOGTEJCPVUCPFDWUKPGUUOGPCPFOKNKVCT[ men) between Chinese and Japanese ports. Steamers traveling between Europe and Japan made port in China, and there was shuttle service between China and Japan. Touring performers who visited Chinese and Japanese ports often gave the same show in both, and plays or other works given by local amateurs or military men were often the same in Japan as in China, and the same as what was popular in England. The English newspapers in China and Japan, especially in the early days, freely and frequently quoted each other. Examples from China will therefore be a good introduction to what took place in Japan. Touring performers who appeared in Shanghai included Lewis’ Australian Dramatic Company,4 that gave, in November, 1864, works including Aurora Floyd and the lesser companion pieces Household Fairy and Wonderful Scamp,CNNQPVJGUCOGDKNN4KEJCTF$TKPUNG[5JGTKFCPŏUſXGCEVEQOGF[ The Rivals, and a burlesque, #NCFFKP The performers appeared at the Shanghai settlement’s Lyceum Theatre, and a group of Christy Minstrels, from the United States, were also in the city at that time. Amateur productions, moreover, appear to have been common. When the Shanghai Volunteer Corps Amateur Theatrical Company gave its last performance of the 1863-4 season, the program consisted of J.M. Morton’s Whitebait at Greenwich, C.J. Mathews’ Little Toddlekins, and Morton’s Poor Pillicoddy, that were given to a crowded house. They opened the following season on December 14, 1865, with Woodcock’s Little Game by Morton, Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady by J.R. Planché, and Boots at the Swan by C. Selby. In May of that year, the Shanghai Mounted Rangers had presented The Knights of the Round Table by Planché and The Wandering Minstrel by H. Mayhew. The community also had its own Amateur Burlesque Company at about this time, and the band of the British Sixty-Seventh
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Regiment gave two performances a week on the bund from the spring of 1864.5 The Shanghai Amateur Dramatic Club in 1869 gave T.J. Williams’ “screaming farce” Found in a Four Wheeler, Hugo’s Ruy Blas, Sheridan’s The Critic (1779), Heads and Tails, and other works. When French opera singers visited Shanghai in 1866, there were enough amateur musicians in the international community to form a string band to support the vocalists. At performances by amateurs in Shanghai and Hankow, prologues similar to the one in Nagasaki, quoted above, were recited. Apart from the English activities, the French and Germans too, in Shanghai, formed their respective amateur dramatic corps and music groups. There also were amateur productions in Hankow6 and Hong Kong. Foreign residents other than Chinese in Japanese treaty ports during the last days of the Edo Period and the early years of the Meiji Period had no lack of TGETGCVKQPCNCEVKXKVKGUIQUUKRKPI[CEJVCPFTQYDQCVTCEGUTKƀGT[EQPVGUVU VJG ;QMQJCOC4KƀGT[#UUQEKCVKQPYCUHQTOGFKPETKEMGVOCVEJGURQP[TKFKPI and horse racing (certainly one of the most popular of activities), foot races (often for a donated purse), gymnastics (a Gymnastics Club was formed in Yokohama in 1871), bowling, billiards, the old standby pursuits of drinking and diverse other grog-house activities, gambling, and social diversions with Japanese women were some.7 Excursions, of groups of ten or more accompanied by their bettoes, would be made to Kamakura, to the great Buddha statue there, on which occasion the men strapped revolvers to their sides for protection.8 The years that the ports were actually opened for residence by a small number of foreigners were: Kanagawa (Yokohama), Nagasaki (where there had been foreigners, isolated on Deshima, since long before), and Hakodate, 1859; Kobe (also called Hyogo or Hiogo) and Osaka, 1867; and Niigata, 1868. But it was not until the 1870s that the major communities—Nagasaki, Kobe, Yokohama— began to acquire substantial amenities. Until the following decade they were little more than outposts of civilization, reluctantly tolerated on the fringes of a nation bloodied by the forced death of a feudal regime. Quite distant outposts. Among the news items in the June 17, 1869 edition of the Hiogo News is mention that a steamer had arrived with the English mail of April 23. “Aquarius,” in a letter to the editor published on that day, pleaded, Here in this distant spot, where most of the pleasures common to the civilized world are either entirely out of reach, or the opportunities for their practice occur at such rare intervals as but to tantalize us . . . Could we not have a small Regatta?9 The early arrivals from England and the colonies, from continental Europe and the United States, and from settlement communities in China, participated in recreational activities, but were somewhat deprived of regular entertainment, other than what they themselves contrived. This is not to say that there was no entertainment at all.
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The earliest recorded instance of a performance in Yokohama was by Robbio, a violinist, and two singers, one a man named Sipp and the other an WPKFGPVKſGFNCF[4QDDKQJCFCRRGCTGFKP5JCPIJCKCUYGNN OGTKVKPIHCXQTCDNG reviews); whether he was a travelling musician, a merchant, or someone else is not known. Four decades later, one of the men present in Yokohama recollected that the entertainment had been in the brand-new Commercial Hotel, VJCVJCFPQV[GVDGGPſPKUJGFő&WTKPIVJGRGTHQTOCPEGŒJGVQNFVJG;QMQhama Literary Society, “which was rather mediocre, there was some rough horseplay indulged in by the larkish set, and I remember Sam Maine’s big black retriever yelping at intervals, and afterwards discovered that this accompaniment was produced by the dog accidentally getting its tail under the heel of Main’s friend, Downie.”10 'xternal Sources of Entertainment
One source of entertainment was from outside the settlement communities, and from overseas, as in the case of performances given by navy crews. Navy vessels needed at least a few musicians or a small band, for ceremonial purposes, and some or perhaps many had either a band or amateur minstrel group, that gave performances when they made port. A man of war of 200 horsepower class would often carry a crew one hundred strong, an ample number for such a group to be formed. The precedent for such entertainment in Japan was auspicious, and occurred in 1854, after Commodore Matthew C. Perry had dropped anchor at a port in Japan for the second time, to negotiate and sign the Kanagawa Treaty, that was the direct cause of opening of the ports and, eventually, the entire nation. As part of the events planned for the occasion, some of his men smudged their faces with burnt cork, shook tambourines, rattled bones, sang and danced to entertain the RQMGTHCEGF,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNU2GTHQTOCPEGUD[DCPFUOCFGWRQH2GTT[ŏUUCKNQTU OQTGQXGTICXG,CRCPQPGQHKVUſTUVUWDUVCPVKCNQRRQTVWPKVKGUVQJGCT9GUVGTP music. Other than limited experience through early contacts with Christian missionaries and (in Nagasaki) Dutchmen and their slaves or servants, these are the ſTUVKPUVCPEGUQHFKTGEVEWNVWTCNGZEJCPIGDGVYGGPVJG9GUVCPF,CRCPKPVJG performing arts. The Japanese returned the favor by staging demonstrations by sumo wrestlers.11 The bands played between demonstrations by the wrestlers, CPFVJGKTRGTHQTOCPEGVJGPCPFCVEGTGOQPKGUYGTGVJGſTUVUVKOWNWUVJCVGPEQWTaged the Japanese to later form their own military bands, with the assistance of foreign experts. These bands were an important means whereby Western music was introduced to Japan. An early instance of band performance for an international community in Japan took place in Yokohama in 1862, when the band of the French HIMS Monge played on Mondays at the Race Course. The community was so grateful that it collected $452 for the musicians when their ship left. This was a formidable sum and may be an accurate measure of audience appreciation. On
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occasion, entertainment was provided aboard ship. The sailors of HMS Perseus, that had participated in the shelling of Shimonoseki, gave three plays to invited guests aboard ship while it was moored at Yokohama, on December 17, 1863.12 Other instances are when the band of the HBMS Ocean played in front of the Nagasaki Customs House at Megasaki, in September 187013 and the Glee Club of the USS Alaska put on a minstrel show in that city on September 27, 1871. No details of these two programs are available. As American minstrel shows had become popular even in England, they were also given by crewmen of British ships, such as when the HMS Zebra was anchored in Kobe in March, 1870. In keeping with the diversity inherent to minstrel shows, Her Majesty’s tars included in their program the overture for Hernani and a selection from ++6TQXCVQTGSuch performances were common for many years thereafter; in 1879, for example, the band of the German frigate Prinz Adalbert played many times on occasions when the Yokohama Amateur Corps Dramatique put on shows. Thus, sailor-musicians sometimes performed with local residents in the treaty ports. The performance of these Verdi compositions by the Zebra musicians shows QPGCURGEVQHVJGUKIPKſECPEGQHVJGGCTN[HQTGKIPEQOOWPKV[KPENWFKPIOKNKVCT[ men stationed in Yokohama: they gave the premiere performance in Japan of many Western songs, works for the stage or musical compositions. Touring performers, whether a circus troupe that might stay a week or longer, or the likes of a couple who might give a performance and sail a day or two later on the same ship, were occasional diversions, and another kind of entertainment from outside the community. A typical itinerant performer was Enrico Grossi, a basso who had been with the Theatre Royal, Copenhagen. After a concert in Shanghai, he made appearances in Yokohama starting on March 20, 1865, and RTQDCDN[YCUVJGſTUV+VCNKCPVQUKPIKP,CRCP#NUQVJGTGYGTG/TCPF/TU George Case (she being professionally known as Grace Egerton), who sailed on the Costa Rica on the Shanghai-Yokohama run in 1869, and made port in Nagasaki and Kobe (then better known as Hyogo). They appeared at the Hiogo Hotel on June 24 and 25, she emoting and he playing the concertina and violin,14 before they proceeded to Yokohama. Similarly, Fanny Raynor and her husband, Mr. W. $GPPGGVTCXGNKPIQPCPQVJGT2CEKſE/CKNUVGCOGTVJGNew York, performed A Happy Pair and Locked up with a Lady while in Kobe in early 1870,15 after giving a one-act comedy called Hunting a Turtle, the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet (certainly a Japan premiere, though the performance was not complete), and Bombastes Furioso by W.B. Rhodes in November in Yokohama,16 but attracted an audience in the latter city only when they were assisted by members of the Yokohama Amateur Corps Dramatique. Troupes that visited included Thorne’s, that had appeared in Shanghai and Hongkong,17VJGPDTKGƀ[KP;QMQJCOCVJG performance in the latter port having been during February, 1865, en route to San Francisco. In Kobe on May 8, 1871, the Eureka Variety Troupe, made up of two men and one woman, gave a program including two farces, comic songs and
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banjo music. In 1876, a small French group, the L’Aunãy-Céphas Opera Buffo Company, that had performed in Shanghai, appeared at the Gaiety Theatre, and performed Offenbach’s .C2ÃTKEJQNG In 1879, a magician, Hermann Rode, gave a performance at the Gaiety Theatre, in Yokohama.18 Although minor in importance, there also were occasional musical performances, that were part of gatherings held for other purposes. For example, in 1866 when her husband displayed dioramas about “The Holiday Trip, or Tour of Europe,” for the Yokohama community, Mrs. Birch played the piano and harmonium. Lewis’ company had a veteran actor, Henry Birch, who appeared in Shanghai in 1864-65; he probably was the same man who visited Yokohama in 1866.19 In 1870, a concertina and cornet performance accompanied display of dioramas in Yokohama. Because events such as these usually were not very ambitious, and may not have been common, this third kind of entertainment, from outside or inside the community, has but a minor position in the context of this study. +PVGTPCN5QWTEGUQH'PVGTVCKPOGPV
The second source of entertainment was the community itself. An early concern of the settlement communities was to raise money to buy an organ for the church. The Yokohama community decided to replace their “present instrument of torture known as the harmonium” with an organ in August, $GECWUGQHVJGJKIJEQUVCPFFKHſEWNV[QHOCKPVCKPKPICPQTICPKPIQQF working order in the Japanese climate, considerable attention was given to the purchase. In time, the missionaries became an important element in the introduction of Western music and singing to Japan, and in the familiarization of the Japanese with that aspect of imported culture. Because the subject of this study is entertainment, and the press reported few details, consideration of church music QTRTQITCOUQHOWUKECVEJWTEJKUPQVOCFGJGTG+VOC[UWHſEGVQOGPVKQPCUCP example a program of music given at the Christ Church, Yokohama, on July 23, 1874. It included a chorus with organ accompaniment of part of Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and Bach’s Fugue in G /KPQT Nevertheless, the high importance of the missionaries in the broader context of this study, namely the introduction of Western music to Japan, deserves mention,20CPFVJGUKIPKſECPEGQHVJGEJWTEJ activities in general relation to the pool of musical ability in the community should not be overlooked.21 Simultaneously part of the community, yet distinct from it, were the French and British troops stationed in Yokohama.22 In particular the activities of the British Second Battalion, Twentieth Regiment (Royal Artillery) and, after that detachment left in May, 1866, its replacement, the First Battalion, Tenth Regiment, were important. The former, that had arrived at the end of 1864, not only had a band but also put on “garrison theatricals,” during 1865-1866.23 They performed melodramas, dramas and even Daniel Auber’s operetta, Fra Diavolo,
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and a burletta extravaganza by H.J. Byron, The Maid and the Magpie, that had been based on the opera .C)C\\C.CFTCMoreover, the bands of the two groups performed frequently and in various places. The Xth Regiment band, for example, played “a varied selection of music” in the Bluff Gardens in September, 1870, YJGPVJGEQOOWPKV[JCFC%CTPKXCNYKVJ,CRCPGUGCPF%JKPGUGſTGYQTMUUQOG of which were feeble, but strong enough at one time to add to the evening’s pleasures by displaying naked Japanese “highly suggestive of Adam and Eve” when VJGYJGGNUQHſTGYQTMUƀCTGFWR&WTKPIVJCVOQPVJVJGDCPFCNUQRGTHQTOGF at the “Chinese Theatre” in Yokohama when a newly-written farce, The Irish Compradore, was given together with Cox and Box to raise money for the organ fund. The performance was reviewed in detail in Japan Weekly Mail, October 1, 1870. A few programs were published, in addition to the press reports, so we can know something about what these bands played.24 The last time garrison troops performed for the settlement was in 1871. The bands made a great impression on the Japanese, who were able to see them on such occasions as when the band of the Second XXth led a parade of troops of the IXth Regiment from their landing in Yokohama to the Bluff, in May, 1866. 6JG(TGPEJCPF$TKVKUJQHſEGTURTQDCDN[HGNVVJGTGYCUUQOGXCNWGKPRTQXKFKPI reminders of their presence to the Japanese, through parades and playing. The Japanese, for their part, observed the soldiers closely, and made many woodblock prints of them, some showing the men on parade. Moreover, the bands also made frequent appearances when Yokohama amateur actors performed. Because QHOCVVGTUKPENWFKPIRTGUWOCDN[FKHſEWNVKGUKPCTTCPIKPIVQTGJGCTUGVQIGVJGT the bands in all or nearly all instances played intermezzos or overtures, but not during performance of the plays. The Yokohama Amateur Dramatic Corps, in addition to presenting plays, gave promenade concerts. Although it is not known how permanent or long-lived it was, an Amateur Brass Band existed in Yokohama and performed in the Bluff Gardens in May, 1873.25 National groups other than the British were active. Singing and making music were activities popular among the early German-speaking residents of ;QMQJCOC9JGPVJG)GTOCPKC%NWD VJCVJCFDGGPſTUVDWKNVKPYCU rebuilt and reopened, in Yokohama on April 24, 1869, it was provided with a Music Room and some of the important entertainments during the next few years took place there. In March, 1870, amateurs gave Ein Bengalischer Tiger and )WVGP/QTIGP*GTT(KUEJGT German amateurs were active later as well, as the Theatre Verein of the club gave six entertainments during the 1873-1874 season, including Wer Zuletzt Lacht and Sachsen in Preussen on February 13,1874, 26 ending with a comedy, Ein Gebildeter Barbier, and a dialect piece with music, 9GT+UV/KVV! In September of that year, the German Club was used for a production of Cox and Box on behalf of the church organ fundraising campaign. When a concert was given there December 9, 1870, one of the works performed was part of Beethoven’s 5[ORJQP[0QKP&/CLQT Residents were joined by
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sailors from the Hertha and Medusa; their music and song raised $600 for the war effort, as Prussia was then at war with France. These activities by the German community are of interest in the historical context of the later, deliberate introduction of Western music to Japan, because Germans were dominant among the early foreign instructors of music and the Japanese were inclined to start learning about Western music by using German compositions. There may have been a French dramatic group in Yokohama, Les Amateurs du Theatre Français, but evidence of French performances around the time of the Restoration is lacking.28 The Franco-Prussian War provided the incentive for a concert in Yokohama FWTKPI,CPWCT[VQDGPGſVVJG(TGPEJYQWPFGF+VYCUIKXGPCVVJG)CKGV[ 6JGCVTG QP VYQ GXGPKPIU DGECWUG C PGCTD[ ſTG CHVGT VJG ſTUV RCTV RTGXGPVGF EQORNGVKQPQHVJGEQPEGTVQPVJGſTUVQEECUKQP6JGVJGCVGTYCUFGEQTCVGFHQT VJGQEECUKQPYKVJCUOCNNDTCUUſGNFRKGEGQPGKVJGTUKFGQHVJGRTQUEGPKWOCPF on the walls were stars and shields formed by swords and bayonets. The interior was made more commodious also by the simple device of leaving the New Year’s decorations in place. More than seven hundred tickets were sold and nearly three thousand dollars were collected for the French.29 By late 1880, a Yokohama Choral Society had been formed. On December 16, a concert including compositions by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Rossini and Weber YCUIKXGPCVVJG)CKGV[6JGCVTGHQTVJGDGPGſVQH%JTKUV%JWTEJ30 Despite the turmoil of revolution, the residents of Nagasaki, Kobe, and Yokohama thus had a certain amount of entertainment, but they thus also felt the urge to create their own entertainment, as part of larger efforts to create a community similar to the one at home. Thus, the residents put on amateur theatricals, another important form of entertainment. The presence of the Royal Artillery and the larger population of Yokohama, including French and German contingents, were reasons that residents of that city had more entertainment activity than Nagasaki and Kobe. Another factor that distinguished Yokohama from the others was the scale of cultural activities in nearby Edo, renamed Tokyo in 1868 (and sometimes called “Tokei” in the early days). Because of the scale of early theatrical and musical activities by Yokohama’s foreign settlement, and the longevity of the amateur dramatic club activities, the club went on for many years and give performances for decades.31 An attempt was made at staging an amateur theatrical program in Hakodate. The players grandly called themselves the Royal Theatrical Company and must have been British. The members included, or were, Mrs. Blakeston, and Misters Alfred Howell (a clerk for Dent and Co., in Hakodate) and W. George Atkinson (editor of the Japan Daily Mail). In February of 1865 they presented The Bandit’s Wife, that had been written by Mrs. John Robertson (wife of the Oriental Bank’s representative) for the occasion, and Cox and Box, together with comic songs and dance. The press reported that “all of the Foreign Consuls, the Governor CPFUWKVGUGXGTCNQHVJGJKIJQHſEGTUQH5JGPFCK KG5GPFCK0CODW#KFUW KG
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Aizu) and Tsugaru, and other Japanese” were present. It seems doubtful, from what we know of activities elsewhere, that there was an attempt at organizing a permanent group in this remote city. Nevertheless, this performance is of interest in that this is only the second instance during this early period when presence of Japanese at a dramatic program was recorded. Apart from the matter of what plays and musical compositions were performed in Japan, the issue of underlying interest—how the small foreign communities tried to enrich daily life by their own activity, in a time of great change and amidst an alien culture—is well demonstrated not only by success but also by failure, in VJCVHCKNWTGVQQKUCEQPUGSWGPEGQHCPGHHQTV6JG;QMQJCOCRNC[GTUETGCVGFCſPG community tradition; those in Nagasaki and Kobe tried against the odds, could not prevail, and have been forgotten. The following sections examine what the VJTGGEQOOWPKVKGUFKF6JGTGYGTGPQGHHQTVUQHUKIPKſECPEGD[VJG;QMQJCOC community itself, or others, in 1868 and until the events recorded below. This would be explainable on the grounds of the Restoration’s taking place. Information about performances that did take place, however, may be lost or very well concealed today. The relative newness of the communities, and the great change that was going on around them, may well be the major reasons for the apparent lack of locally-inspired activity in 1868. The primary period of concern here, then, is the Sixties and Seventies, and especially 1869 to 1871; within those three years the two communities created and then temporarily lost amateur acting groups.
III. DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE (CEKNKVKGUCPF#WFKGPEGU
Efforts by the residents of each settlement to create a community and entertain themselves included building and operating facilities such as churches, race courses, public halls, libraries, hospitals and theaters. In Nagasaki, there was a delay between opening of the port and agreement on the site of the settlement; once agreement was reached, construction of a church and hospital followed, in 1862. Development of Yokohama was rapid compared to that at Nagasaki, because the Japanese erected buildings for foreigners prior to port opening—to keep them there rather than at Kanagawa, that had been agreed as the port and hence settlement site. Subsequently, the proximity to the capital assured Yokohama of much greater growth potential than the other treaty ports, and the development of amateur performances in Yokohama was much more substantial than elsewhere. In the case of Yokohama, many improvements were made in 1864 CPFKPENWFKPIEQPUVTWEVKQPQHJQVGNU9JGPVJGſTUVMPQYPRGTHQTOCPEG by a touring performer was given, in 1861, it was in “the upstairs room of the Commercial Hotel,” a building that had just been completed and was still in
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rough condition.32#NVJQWIJVJG4Q[CN*QVGNYCUőRCTVN[VTCPUOQITKſGFKPVQC Theatre” as of June, 1864, and a “Beer and Concert Hall” was opened at the rear of the United Service Club on May 1, 1865,33 entertainment facilities were no more adequate than the other rudimentary amenities available. Further, expressions and names such as these cannot be taken at face value, as it appears likely that VJGPCOGUYGTGCMKPFQHOQTCNGDQQUVGTCNGıURTGVGPFCRRTQCEJQHHVJGUVCIG The Royal Olympic Theatre was only an amphitheatre, and probably little more than benches and sheds. A relevant example of community-building is the effort to construct a theater adjacent to the Racket Court in Yokohama. From March 22, 1867, the Japan Herald carried a paid notice soliciting $8,000 for the Yokohama Theatre Company Limited. The result of this effort is not clear, but it must have helped prepare for establishment of the Gaiety Theatre, a Yokohama landmark that was opened on December, 1870. The theater at the Royal was destroyed by a typhoon in August, 1869, so greater need for a new facility existed by 1870. Occasional use had been made of the Chinese Theatre, but apparently it was not feasible to continue to do so. In view of the small size of the Nagasaki settlement (and despite it being the oldest foreign community in Japan, adjacent to the fan-shaped island Deshima where foreigners had been permitted to reside prior to opening of the ports), the size and amenities of the “Olympic Theatre,” that “opened” in 1870 and was in the part of Nagasaki known as Sagaramatz (also called Sagaromatch)—it is hardly likely to have been built as a theater, and probably was only a godown or the public meeting hall at best—can hardly have been substantial.34 This must be deduced from the overall nature of the settlement, and the situation in Yokohama, where the bowling alley of the United Service Club was decorated for use as a theater in 1863, and where “with the aid of plenty of lanterns, a few evergreens, and a goodly supply of bunting, a respectable theatre was improvised” in a godown, for amateur performances.35 The Nagasaki Express, nevertheless, stated that “our little theatre KUYCTOCPFEJGGTHWNKUUWHſEKGPVN[YGNNNKIJVGFJCUEQOHQTVCDNGUGCVUCPFVJG building (is) excellent in every respect,”36DWVVJKUKUPQVUWHſEKGPVHQTWUVQVGNN what sort of building it was, if the quoted sentence was indeed true. Most likely, the “theatre” was the Club, established by the British since June of 1861, at Lot 31. In Yokohama, the Royal Olympic Theatre of the mid-1860s was an amphitheatre built for a circus, by “Professor” Richard Risley and Mr. E. Yeamans, and opened KP#RTKN2GTJCRUVJKUYCUYJCVVJGőVTCPUOQITKſECVKQPŒYCUCDQWV4KUNG[ a worldwise American, had brought a circus to Japan earlier that year, and was both a promoter and an entrepreneur. Mr. and Mrs. Yeamas had appeared on the Shanghai stage in (at least) 1864.37 Mrs. Yeamans was an amateur performer YJQYCUUWEJCPCEVKXGCPFUGNƀGUURTQOQVGTQHVJGCVTKECNUKPVJGUGVVNGOGPVVJCV CICTTKUQPVJGCVTKECNYCUIKXGPHQTJGTDGPGſVYJGPUJGNGHV;QMQJCOC As for the audience, exclusive of the Chinese, the resident population in Nagasaki during 1869 declined slightly and at year-end totaled 208. By nationality, the composition of the community was:
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British American Dutch North German French Portuguese
80 40 23 23 19 13
Belgian Norwegian, Swedish Austro-Hungarian Swiss Danish Russian
2 3 2 1 1 1
2NC[UCPF2GTHQTOGTU
Because of the high proportion of British subjects among the population of the treaty ports, almost all of the comedies, burlesques and farces mentioned here and, probably, all or most of the performers, were from Britain. In view of this, it can certainly be said, as was asserted in the local press,38 that the British contribution to this beginning of Western drama in Japan was particularly high. Almost all of the plays were contemporary comedies or farces,39 as amateurs are prone to select, and as such may have been suitable enough to the circumstances in the post-Restoration port settlements. Many of the plays had been performed commercially in England, and many had been given in Shanghai by local amateurs. It is possible that several had been, or also had been, written and published for amateur performance. There were complaints, however, that the YADC was performing burlesques only,40 and that the same play (Black-Eyed Susan by D.W. Jerrold) had been given too often. Some but not substantial details about the content of the plays, the scenery and staging, music, and the number in the audience (though there were indications of good attendance) are provided in the contemporary press accounts. It must be remembered, however, that these papers were modest of scale, content and circulation. Regarding the plays, however, some further information is provided below. The plots of the plays are not relevant to this study. Press comments on the acting, which were always polite and ranged from appreciative to critical (of forgetting of lines, inaudible speaking, etc.), are omitted here. Criticism of musical performances by amateurs of the community was, in contrast, frequently pointedly serious, but names were almost never mentioned. Preservation of the anonymity of performers had been practiced in Shanghai, prior to Japan. (1 Nagasaki The performances described below, given at the Olympic Theatre, comprise VJGNCUVRGTHQTOCPEGQHVJGſTUVUGCUQPCPFHQWTRGTHQTOCPEGUQHVJGUGEQPFCPF NCUVUGCUQPHQTVJG0#&%&GVCKNUQHVJGſTUVUGCUQPJCXGDGGPNQUVDWVYGMPQY VJCVUVCTVKPIYKVJVJGſTUVRGTHQTOCPEGQP/CTEJVGPHCTEGUYGTGIKXGPVYQ QPGCEJQHſXGQEECUKQPU#VVJGUVCTVQHVJGUGCUQPVJG0#&%JCFGKIJVOGObers, but was decimated by loss of the best actor and one other person after the second performance.
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6JG0CICUCMKRGTHQTOGTUYGTGKFGPVKſGFKPVJGRTGUUD[UVCIGPCOGUUWEJCU that of Miss Nomer, a pun on misnomer that suggests a gender switch. All of the names may have been false, although the name of the Corps’ secretary, Drummond Hay, certainly is true. A journalist in China and Japan for many years, Hay was also an acclaimed amateur actor who undoubtedly was one of the performers.41 6JGſHVJCPFNCUVRGTHQTOCPEGQHVJGſTUVUGCUQPYCUQP,WPGCPF consisted of two farces, A Slice of Luck and .CTMKPUŏ.QXG.GVVGTU The program ended with an epilogue by Miss Toddles in which she expressed appreciation for the warm applause that compensated for labors over the stage and page, and CHſTOGFFGVGTOKPCVKQPVQECTT[QP 9GHGCTGFQWTRTQOKUGYQWNFPGŏGTDGHWNſNNGF$WV[QWTWPHCKNKPIEQPſFGPEGKPUVKNNGF Fresh daring in our hearts, and your applause Raised to new life what was a drooping cause ....
6JGſTUVRTQITCOQHVJGUGEQPFUGCUQPYCUIKXGP&GEGODGTCPFEQPUKUVGF of Heads or Tails, billed as a comedietta (one-act comedy), and two farces, titled An Ample Apology, and Grimshaw, Bigshaw and Bradshaw, by J. Maddison Morton, who was better known as the author of the script for $QZCPF%QZ42 The cast included second-season veterans Misters Drinkwater, Straw and Chimer, joined by Miss Toddles and the two new members, Mr. O. Kay and Miss Nomer. (One miss or both may have been male, despite the gender designation.) The next program, given February 19,1870, consisted of a one-act comedy by Tom Taylor, titled To Oblige Benson, followed by the duet from Flotow’s opera Stradella, sung by Signor Spectalini and Baron von Hohennlohe, accompanied by a pianist.43 It was the only time the two—whose identities are not known— performed with the Corps. Then a one-act farce, My Wife’s Maid, by Thomas ,9KNNKCOUEQORNGVGFVJGRTQITCO6JGſTUVRNC[YCUCUKVEQOYKVJTQNGUHQT Misses Toddles and Nomer, and Misters Drinkwater, Straw and Kay. The closing farce had all the performers in the comedy as well as Miss Bel Chimer (sic) CPF/T5CPF[/E0CDYJQJCFCRRGCTGFHQTVJGſTUVVKOG+PCFXGTVKUKPIVJG RTQITCO/T*C[PQVKſGFVJGRWDNKEVJCVő(QTVJGEQOHQTVQHCNNEQPEGTPGF subscribers are kindly requested not to take dogs to the theatre with them.”44 The penultimate program, given March 22, 1870, started with Trying It On, that was not successful, and Little Toddlekins, that was favorably received.45 No RNC[YTKIJVYCUKFGPVKſGFKPEQPPGEVKQPYKVJVJGUGRNC[U6JKURTQITCOKPENWFGF the sayonara performance by Miss Nomer, who was to depart from Nagasaki in the near future. Her place in the Corps was taken over by Miss Alexandrina McNab, who was given only one opportunity to demonstrate ability and zeal.
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The last program, on May 5, 1870, started with a repeat of Grimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw, followed by the one-act A Happy Pair, by S. Theyre Smith, that had had its premiere in London two years earlier and had been given in Japan by the Raynor-Bennee couple.46 A 40-minute domestic sitcom, it was played by Drinkwater and Miss Toddles, as the happy Honeytons. It was followed by a revival of the farce the Nagasaki Express said had been successfully given in December (but may have been given a December ago), The Turkish Bath, by Williams and F.C. Burnand. Miss McNab made her debut in this, with repeaters Misters Toddles and Drinkwater joined by the Misters Kay, Chimer and Straw, the latter man having DGGPYKVJVJG%QTRUHTQOKVUſTUVRGTHQTOCPEG The NADC ceased activities, as further explained below, but an effort was made to reorganize, and plays were given by the self-named Yoso no Hito Club in 1877.47 (2 Kobe Meanwhile, the contemporary Kobe equivalent of the NADC, the Hiogo and Osaka Amateur Corps Dramatique, ICXGKVUſTUVRGTHQTOCPEGQP,CPWCT[ 9, 1869, followed it with another on April 10, and on June 14 gave its third and last performance of the season.481PVJGſTUVCPFNCUVKHPQVCNNVJTGGQEECUKQPU a Japanese theatre (near the premises of A. Marks and Co., a store keeper and general importer) was used. The performers added simple decorations, relying OCKPN[QPƀCIUNCPVGTPUCPFITGGPDQWIJU7UGQHVJG,CRCPGUGVJGCVGTNGFVJG press to encourage efforts by the performers to collect a subscription fund to build a theater.49 “Aquarius” must have been delighted when, in September of the following year, the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club was formed, with a Gymnasium that was used for entertainment as well as sports and physical training. 6JGKTſTUVRTQITCOKP,CPWCT[YCUCool as a Cucumber by Jerrold and Ticket QH.GCXG A string band consisting of crew members of the Maumee made music to round out the program. In April they gave two farces, A Regular Fix and Turn Him Out, of which the latter had been given in Japan three years earlier by members of the XXth Regiment.50 During the intermission, the band played again. The performers included Misters James (a local favorite) and Nobbles, and Misses Lavinia and Rose. A more ambitious plan, that strained the resources of the performers despite their use of a prompter, was made for the third performance, when they offered three farces (Turn Him Out, Found in a 4-Wheeler, and Cool as a Cucumber)CUYGNNCUOWUKED[CPCOCVGWTQTEJGUVTCQHWPURGEKſGF UK\GOCMKPIKVUſTUVRWDNKECRRGCTCPEG6KEMGVUHQTVJGNCVVGTRTQITCOYGTG that was equivalent to the price of two meals prepared by the French cook at the Sweetmeat Castle, an Osaka boarding house. The performers included Misters #8*5YKNNGT őCſTUVENCUUNQYEQOGFKCPŒYJQJCFCRRGCTGFYKVJVJG0#&% James, Tyrer, Carorlus, Cabby 93 (probably from Nagasaki) and Upton, and the Misses Lavinia and Smiles. They had a small improvement to help them this time, as the Hiogo and Osaka Herald noted that the lighting was better than it had been.
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Later, in the summer of 1870, the group decided to join forces with a German glee club, the Liedertafel, to give a charity concert at the Union Club on August 15, for the Kobe General Hospital. This program opened with a piano rendition by two persons of the overture to Merry Wives of Windsor, followed by a farce, Our New Man, a scene from Alessandro Stradella, two quartet performances including one of Aennchen von Tharan, then A Slice of Luck, and two more German quartet songs that were acclaimed as the best part of the evening’s entertainment. This seems to have been the most ambitious of all amateur programs given during the period. When Box and Cox was given in March,51 though it was not a part of the group’s scheduled programs, two of the actors of the group appeared and were joined by an Australian, Benjamin Seare, a partner in the Yokohama merchant ſTOQH4KEMGTD[9GUVYQQFCPF5GCTG5GCTGJCFIKXGPőNGEVWTCNŒGPVGTVCKPOGPVU in Shanghai in 1857 (reading Dickens), 1864 and 1865 before departing for Japan where he successfully gave a one-man program of recitations and monologues in Yokohama, in 1866.52 Some time after that gala program, the wish of “Aquarius” having been realized, the group was renamed the Amateurs of the Kobe Regatta and Athletic %NWDCPFCUUWEJICXGKVUſTUVRTQITCO/CTEJCVVJG)[OPCUKWO53 and followed it with a second, the last of the season, on May 24. The March program opened with Belle of the Barleymow, followed by 6JG$QQVUCVVJG5YCP To EQXGTVJGDCTGYCNNUQHVJGDWKNFKPICPFETGCVGCRNGCUCPVCVOQURJGTGƀCIUYGTG mounted, but it was necessary to borrow implements from the Hook and Ladder Company for that purpose. Representations of Comedy and Tragedy adorned the two sides of the proscenium. This was the evening for Miss Nomer to make JGTſTUVCRRGCTCPEGKP-QDGCPFUJGYCUHCXQTGFD[CPCWFKGPEGQHVQ perhaps the largest assemblage for indoor entertainment that Kobe’s international settlement ever had. She was joined by Misters Swiller, Nobbles and K. Ockney
YJQJCFCRRGCTGFYKVJVJG0#&%KPKVUſTUVUGCUQPCPF/KUUGULavinia (who had painted the scenery), Henrietta S. Banks and Jane Townley, as well as Master Nomer. Piano music was provided during the intermission, and one of the two plays. In May, two farces, Caught by the Cuff and The Turkish Bath were given; tickets were still $2. In this, the last performance of the season, Misters Swiller, Ockney, Nobbles, Toddles and Miss Townley appeared, but had to play to a halfempty house, and were not able to decorate the Gymnasium, except to display ƀCIU6JGőNCFKGUTQYŒYCURCTVKEWNCTN[GORV[CPFCNVJQWIJVJGHiogo News came up with four reasons for the poor attendance, the impression received is one of incipient dissolution of the Corps. After these early vicissitudes, the Kobe Amateur Dramatic Club managed to continue at least until 1937.54 (3 Signiſcance for Japan In assessing the meaning to Japanese culture of these performances, what would DGOQUVKORQTVCPVCTGVJGRQUUKDNGőſTUVKP,CRCPŒRGTHQTOCPEGU
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The amateur actors preferred to give comedies, farces and burlesques, especially of works suitable for amateur performance, so their productions have little sigPKſECPEGKPVJKUTGICTF6QWTKPIRGTHQTOGTU RTQHGUUKQPCNUCPFVQCNGUUGTGZVGPV the garrison performers occasionally gave operettas, as shown above. These may PQVJCXGDGGPHCKVJHWNVQVJGQTKIKPCNUPQTEQORNGVGDWVCTGRTQDCDNGőſTUVUŒLWUV the same. The musical performances, more than these other forms of performing art, are where music history can be sought. #NUQKVECPJCTFN[DGEQPUKFGTGFVQJCXGKORQTVCPEGGZEGRVCUCőſTUVŒDWV when the YADC presented A Cup of Tea as a curtainraiser and Black-Eyed Susan on April 18, 1871, the scenery had been painted by a Japanese, under the supervision of Corps members.55 Although there were some Japanese persons present at dramatic performances YGECPPQVFGOQPUVTCVGVJCVVJG,CRCPGUGGKVJGTVQQMPQVGQHQTYGTGKPƀWGPEGFKP any way by these performances. Nevertheless, there were some events of historiECNUKIPKſECPEGHQTOQFGTPRGTHQTOKPICTVUKP,CRCPCPFHQT,CRCPŏUEWNVWTCNKPVGTaction with the West. Years later, in Yokohama, the doings of the international community were familiar to many Japanese, through notices and reviews in their own newpapers, but that also was because Tokyo and Yokohama were the more important centers for entertainment and talent. The program at Yokohama’s Gaiety Theatre was announced in the ;QMQJCOC$QGMK5JKORę a local newspaper, this arrangement having been facilitated by the cosmopolitan atmosphere of that city. Nagasaki’s Japanese population in 1870, for example, was estimated at about only 80,000, and although there were Japanese “theatres” here and in the other port cities, some were little more than shacks. In the late Meiji Period, and short 6CKUJę2GTKQFCHVGTKV,CRCPGUGRTQHGUUKQPCNVTQWRGUUQOGVKOGUYGNEQOGFTGUKFGPV foreigners who were amateur actors, to take non-Japanese roles in commercial productions in Tokyo. Moreover, the amateurs of Yokohama and Tokyo from VKOGVQVKOGKPVJG6CKUJęCPFGCTN[5JęYC[GCTURGTHQTOGFKP6QM[QVJGCVTGU UWEJCUVJG;ijTCMW\CCPF+ORGTKCN6JGCVTGCPFVJGTGOWUVJCXGDGGPCUOCNNEQPtingent of avant-garde or curious Japanese in the audiences on those occasions, but these performances were much later than the period studied here. In later years, even when the performers were not Japanese, such programs were the object of interest of international-minded Japanese including performers, so through this mechanism a small foreign contribution to development of Japanese drama was made. No such possibility existed in Nagasaki, or Kobe.
III. EPILOGUE: THE WORLD THE STAGE
It is Nagasaki that most clearly enables us to see local activities on stage as representative of the larger environment. The original “made in Japan” (and especially in Nagasaki) portions of the programs—that is, prologues and epilogues, which were common adjuncts to
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dramatic performances in general at that time—are of much greater interest and value for present purposes than the plays they accompanied. It is in them where YGſPFUKIPUQHVJGEQPVGORQTCT[RTQDNGOUCPFQHEJCPIGKPVJGEQOOWPKV[VJCV explain why the Nagasaki group could not survive. Moreover, the information from Nagasaki demonstrates that the world and stage are integral. 6JG%QOOGTEKCN$CEMITQWPF
Drinkwater’s epilogue (quoted below) delivered after the last performance, re-em- phasizes the economic plight of the community.56 Trade passing through Nagasaki was not great in absolute terms. In 1869 the port had only about 14% of gross trade handled at the treaty ports (Kanagawa, Kobe and Osaka combined, Hakodate and Nagasaki). Its shares were 15% of imports and 11% of exports. Exports of silk (raw silk, cocoons and silkworm eggs) were almost exclusively through Yokohama and were 5.7 times greater than all the exports from Nagasaki, that comprised $507,000 worth of tea and $805,000 worth of miscellaneous products. It should be noted that because of under-reporting and smuggling, trade returns during this period are suspect. At this time, Nagasaki’s trade may have been weak relative to that of other ports, but it was increasing from year to year in volume terms. In 1870, however, Nagasaki suffered from a slight decline in both imports and exports. But the causes of the decline are important. While Kobe may have siphoned off some of the trade, and depreciation of the currency cut into imports further, there was a sharp drop in imports of one of the most RTQſVCDNGQHCNNECVGIQTKGUQHIQQFUPCOGN[CTOUCOOWPKVKQPCPFQVJGTOGCPU of death and destruction. On the export side, the chief product, tea, was in much less demand in export markets. Overall, Nagasaki seems to have had its best days behind it. The gloomy atmosphere in Nagasaki was not duplicated in Kobe, judging from YJCVYCUUCKFQPVJGUVCIG(WTVJGTKPTGXKGYKPIVTCFGUVCVKUVKEUHQTVJGſTUVJCNH of 1869, the Hiogo News commented that relative to Yokohama, “The result is more favorable to Kobe than anyone could have expected. There are few who had an idea that our trade in most items would so soon nearly equal that of our elder sister.”57 Silk, silkworm eggs and tea exported by Yokohama accounted for almost all of the difference. The tone of the prologue recited by one of Kobe’s amateur performers on January 9, 1869, accordingly, was somewhat different from that heard in Nagasaki, in declaiming Kobe’s bright future: ... Now with prophetic vision I descry A noble city tow’ring towards the sky, Palatial godowns meet th’enraptured view, Cramm’d with the wealth of India and Peru. When Yokohama crumbled to decay, And Nagasaki too has had its day
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Till settlement renowned as Kobeopolis Shall be of Nippon the proud metropolis Sweet Kobe! loveliest spot in fair Japan, ... Here let me dwell, here make my future home. …58 The statistics support such optimism. Despite a later start compared to Nagasaki, the population in Kobe (excluding Chinese) at the end of 1869 was already 185, and an additional 65 foreigners were living in nearby Osaka. During the following year, Kobe’s population grew to 271, largely on a near-doubling of the British population from 64 to 112. By way of contrast, Nagasaki’s population declined in 1870 to 193. The size of the Kobe population suggests that, even allowing for some visitors from elsewhere, most of the community had attended the theatrical program in May, 1871. Not much different from today, exchange rates were a major challenge to OGTEJCPVU*GTGOC[DGQPGECWUGHQTRQQTGTRTQſVCDKNKV[VJCVOC[JCXGDGGP more of a problem than a low rate of expansion of trade, but even if this was a problem it would not have been unique to Nagasaki. The prologue delivered in Kobe in January, 1869, declared; ... yet still tis very plain That th’Almighty Dollar, and potent Boo, Absorb our thoughts awake and sleeping too; That from the sale of Kinsats and Exchange Our minds are seldom allowed to range . . .59 Throughout 1869 the value of the Japanese “tinsel currency” had fallen rapidly: niboos were 325-330 per $100 (Mexican dollars, the Asian trade currency) in January, and 430 in November before recovering modestly, as Mr. Drinkwater FGENCKOGFVQNCVGKPVJG[GCT6JGFGRTGEKCVKQPYCUUQTCRKFCUVQKPƀWGPEG VJGRTQſVCDKNKV[QHECUJ URQVUCNGUPQVOGTGN[UCNGUYKVJNQPIFCVGU NQPIRGTKQFU to delivery and settlement). The new Japanese government had weak control over currency, which was debased, and issued paper money (kinsats[u]) which was not readily accepted at the outset. Moreover, counterfeit money was a problem60 and the daimyo (called “princes” in the English-language press) were issuing their own currencies. It was not until 1871 that the government started phasing out local currencies, and the process required years to complete. When the niboos were called in, the Japanese government had such low capacity to recoin them that the coins were sent to California for melting. In 1870, the currency market was relatively stable.
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2 ETHNIC CONFLICT
Mr. Drinkwater, in his epilogue, complained of the loss of business, as he had done in the prologue that opened the season, but when he returned to this subject he also declared that the Chinese merchants were to blame. The Chinese were receiving, or, almost certainly, buying favorable treatment compared to the British and other Western merchants, when assessed duties and fees, and may have done more mis- or under-reporting than British and other Western OGTEJCPVU4GCEVKQPVQVJKUPQYMPQYPCUVJGőNGXGNRNC[KPIſGNFŒRTQDNGO has a contemporary ring to us today. The Nagasaki Express stated that “The remedy for this anomalous state of things? Simple equality with the Chinese; inmunity (sic) from all charges to which they are exempt . .. ”61 Or, “we must endeavour to keep our own, by entering more actively into competition ... All we must ask for, is fair play. ... if in spite of fair play, the Chinese still take the trade from our hands, then the fault is ours.”62 A degree of control over the Chinese—who did not possess treaty rights—was imposed by local authorities, and the inspection process was improved so as to deter unfair declarations of tea exports. No doubt this was fostered by the acknowledgment by the government in Peking in 1869 of Japanese jurisdiction over Chinese nationals in Japan.63 Two years later, China and Japan signed a treaty of amity and commerce, including a tariff agreement.64 The Chinese had been living in two districts, the Chinese Quarter Vęjin yashiki and New Land (ShinchiDWVYGTGPQVIKXGPCURGEKſERNCEG to live by the agreement, leaving open the legal question of whether they had extraterritorial rights.65 The Chinese had been doing business in Nagasaki for over two hundred years prior to the opening of Nagasaki as a treaty port. Not only had they become established before the Europeans arrived (putting the Dutch on Deshima aside) but they had an established social organization of sorts, and an edge in written communication. In 1868 there were 629 Chinese enterprises in Nagasaki, and 215 owned and run by Europeans, Americans and others. By 1873, the Chinese had increased to 723, and the others to 226.66 This tabulation undoubtedly omits the many Chinese who had been brought from China by the European and other non-Chinese merchants as employees. As to why the Chinese were felt to be a threat, in terms of trade volume there is an explanatory factor. That is, compared to the other ports, at Nagasaki the share in imports of what statistics called “Eastern produce,” mainly rice, cotton and sugar, was 28%, a percentage exceeding that at other ports, signifying a higher share for Chinese merchants. Some export goods were exclusively handled by the %JKPGUG6JG[YGTGFTKGFſUJIKPUGPICPFQVJGTOGFKEKPGKUKPINCUUOWUJTQQOU and planks. More im-portant were the substantial shares they had in other categories. So great were these that when the British acting consul tabulated his estimate for these “chow-chow” goods they came to 52% of Nagasaki’s export trade in 1869.67 The Chinese were thus relatively strong in Nagasaki.
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The proximity to China not only meant that Nagasaki had a relatively large share of Chinese trade but also of Chinese merchants, and there was little potential for others to engage in China-Japan trade. They were also thought to be better organized than the Westerners, but this did not carry over to social affairs in a meritorious way. That is, there were also non-economic reasons for vilifying the Chinese. The Nagasaki correspondent of the Hiogo News wrote in August, 1869, that “Chinese brothels, gambling hells and opium-smoking shops . .. abound,” in a fetid quarter of the city, where “Horrid-looking courtesans, with disease stamped QPVJGKTHCEGUJCPIVJGKTNKORDQFKGUQWVQHGCEJſTUVƀQQTYKPFQYōRGTJCRUVQ obtain a respite from the inhalation of opium.”68 In addition to the problem of the Chinese presence—that was not limited to 0CICUCMKōTGUKFGPVUQHVJG9GUVGTPUGVVNGOGPVUUQOGVKOGUHCEGFFKHſEWNVKGUKP their relations with the Japanese.69 The nation, and its collective emotions, were UVKNNHCTHTQOUGVVNGFKPVJGU6JGUGFKHſEWNVKGUKPUQOGECUGUYGTGDCUGFQP matters related to national politics and included assassinations, accomplished or only attempted, and other times were localized, involving problems such as open UGYGTU$GUKFGUVJGUGRTQDNGOUYGTGVJQUGQHſTGVJGHVQEECUKQPCNGZRNQUKQPQH ship boilers, and, at times, trading with the Japanese. Before and during the early years of the Meiji Period, written contracts were not used. Among the foreigners themselves, there was no end to litigation through the consular courts, and trade-related disputes. The merchants complained at times that their life was dull— in 1870, the Yokohama correspondent of the North-China Daily News wrote to his paper, “The Races being over, we have all fallen asleep again”—but the political and social turmoil had not ended, and this aspect of the environment too received attention.70 Mr. James’epilogue of June 14, 1869, spoke of this: We must not reckon, though, without our host, For Kobe may have yielded up the ghost Before the close of this eventful year. Already rumours reach the affrighted ear That in Osaka certain sons of strife Have vow’d with Kobe war unto the knife71 0CICUCMKŏU.CUV'RKNQIWG
The immediate cause of disbanding the Corps in Nagasaki was the departure from Nagasaki of three more performers, Misters Drinkwater (Drummond Hay, who went to Shanghai and Straw (who was to return to England), and Miss Toddles.72 But the epilogue suggests with eloquence and an unrestrained sense of reality, its grimness concealed by humor, the basic reason for their departure, and the demise of the Corps. The last Nagasaki recital (abridged):
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... How sad we feel that we must say farewell Farewell! and why! Alas! the cause is known— Our occupation’s like Othello’s gone. For look! where’er you cast your eyes you see 6JG%JKPGUGƀQWTKUJNKMGCITGGPDC[VTGG And who the fault if Chinese everywhere Take all our business and pollute our air? Whose but our own, who gave them house and land, And sowed our ruin with a heedless hand? What use to cry or raise the voice of woe? The Chinamen are here and we must go Our future prospect! Ah! too well we know it— ... Suppose, a few years hence, some one of us returns To Nagasaki;—thus the change he mourns:— “Where the creek’s perfume rises to the sky, “Where once the club-house caught the passing eye, “The low roofed house, (it’s nearly falling now, “I’m quite afraid to enter it, I vow) “Which in the past was wont oft to resound “With jovial laughter as the balls went down, “Is now deserted, the Celestials there “Have made themselves a vile and loathsome lair. “Ah! there no more the foreign crowd shall rally, “For sleeping Chinamen snore on each alley. ... “The Consulates that were our noble pride, “Changed! with Tea gardens bloom on every side “And the Olympic’s turned into a hole, “Where lazy Tohjins [Chinese] sell new Karratz [Karatsu] coal, ő (QTKP+OCTKVJG[GZRGEVVQſPF “Gold, Silver, mineral wealth of every kind.) “The Bellevue [Boarding house] echoes the Celestial song, “And Chinamen play billiards all day long. “E’en in the Church, alas! no praise we hear “There a vile Tojin bottles Bass’s Beer. “The Settlement is Chinese to the core, “And foreign mirth and manners are no more!” Thus may he mourn: but let us change the strain The old, old question we must ask again; ...
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When you are resting from your toil and strife, Some kind remembrance of the A.D.C. May blend with happy thoughts in memory So since our Corps must die from any cause Let it expire amid thunders of applause.
EXEUNT NOTES * KQIQ0GYU, December 11, 1869, p. 583. 2. The intrinsic, cultural aspects of musical performances were much more evident in the stage presentations than in musical performances, largely because of the addition of prologues and epilogues to the former. Regarding performances in later years, see Masahiko Masumura, Geeteza—/GKLK6CKUJęPQ5GK[ę)GMK\ę [The Yokohama Gaiety Theatre: Western 6JGCVTGKPVJG/GKLKCPF6CKUJę2GTKQFU ;QMQJCOC+YCUCMK/WUGWO=UGEQPFGF in Japanese]. 3. Regarding extraterritoriality in Japan, see James E. Hoare, “Extraterritoriality in Japan, 18591899,” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Third Series, 18 (July, 1983), pp. 71-98. See also George Woodcock, The British in the Far East (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969), esp. Chapter 13, “The Social World”. 4. This troupe, led by G.G.W. Lewis, also performed over a period of several weeks in Shanghai in 1864. See J.H. Haan, Thalia and Terpsichore on the Yangtze: Foreign Theatre and Music KP5JCPIJCK (Amsterdam: The Sino-Western Miscellany, I [2nd ed., 1993]), p. 9, 64f. (North-China Herald, October 8, 1864) and 1873 (North-China Daily News, July 2, 7 [p. 23], 15 [p. 52], 24 [p. 83] et passim) and undoubtedly appeared there and in other cities over CRGTKQFQHUGXGTCN[GCTU.GYKUŏſTUVXKUKVVQ%JKPCYCUVQ*QPIMQPIKPUWDUGSWGPVN[ in 1862 he brought trick riders to Shanghai (Haan, QREKV p. 53). 0 QTVJ%JKPC*GTCNF May 28, 1864, p. 86. 0QTVJ%JKPC*GTCNF May 11, 1865, p. 39 gives one instance. The North-China Daily News of November 11, 1869, p. 6747, announced the start of the Hankow ADC’s season on November 10, with the one-act Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady and the three-act farce, 4CKUKPIVJG9KPFTheir second program of the season was on November 22 and consisted of The Wandering Minstrel and Mad as a Hatter (North-China Daily News, November 30, 1869, p. 6883). The third program in the 1870-71 season was A Kiss in the Dark and The Area Belle (North-China Daily News, February 23, 1871, p. 8295). In November, 1873, the Hankow ADC gave the one-act farce The Irish Tutor and T.J. Williams’ Peace and Quiet (reviewed in North-China Daily News, December 7, 1873, p. 173). 7. On life in Nagasaki and Yokohama, see M. Paske-Smith, Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa (New York: Paragon Books, 1982 [reprint ed.]), pp. 259-78 et RCUUKO , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN December 5, 1903, p. 631, from which: “From all ports the same story reaches us—“the Chinaman is gradually monopolizing all the business’ . . . They are eminently industrious, frugal and persevering, and lastly they are not withheld by such
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scruples of commercial morality as bind with greater or less force the dealings of other foreign merchants.” *KQIQ0GYU June 17, 1869. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN December 5, 1903, p. 637. 11. This entertainment has been said to have included a performance by Kabuki actors, but I have not been able to substantiate this. Japan Weekly Mail, December 5, 1903, p. 637. , CRCP*GTCNF December 19, 1863, p. 147. 0CICUCMK'ZRTGUU September 24, 1870, p. 146. *KQIQ0GYU July 3, 1869, p. 398f. *KQIQ0GYU January 15, 1879, p. 19. 16. Reviewed in Japan Times and Overland Mail, November 19, 1869, p. 145f. They appeared in Shanghai in September, 1869, performing three times, including A Morning Call, Mary Queen of Scots, Hamlet, and A Pair of Pigeons given at the Lyceum on September 16 (NorthChina Daily News, September 13, p. 6511). When they returned to Shanghai from Japan they could not attract enough of an audience and canceled an engagement. 17. Haan, QREKV p. 10, 97. .ŏ'EJQFW,CRQP, December 5, 1879, n. p., with the program given in an advertisement. 19. Haan, QREKV p. 68, 76. 20. Several papers presented at the conference Cultural Encounters in the Development of Modem East Asia (Kyoto, 1996) relate to this, e.g., Mamiko Naka, “The Multi-Layer Quality of Cultural Intersections As Seen in the Reception of Christian Music in China and Japan,” Rey Akai’s “The Organ as a Tool of Missionary Work and School Education,” and Ewald Henseler and Mayumi Adachi, “Hymnals of the Catholic Church—Presentation of Source Materials.” 21. For example, the popular soprano, Nobuko Hara, became interested in music through singing of psalms at home. Composer Kôçak Yamada was related by marriage to E. Gauntlett, COKUUKQPCT[YJQYCUCMG[ſIWTGKPVJGRQRWNCTK\CVKQPQHQTICPOWUKE , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN May 10, 1873, p. 302. 23. See Konami Nakatake, “Actual Conditions of the English and British Soldiers Stationed in ;QMQJCOCKPVJG$CMWOCVUW4GUVQTCVKQP2GTKQFCPF6JGKT+PƀWGPEGŒ;QMQJCOC-CKMę ShíryÐMCP-K[ę 12 (March, 1994), p. 1-32 (in Japanese). 24. See for example, Japan Weekly Mail, February 5, 1870, p. 29. ,CRCP9GGMN[/CKNMay 10, 1873, p. 302. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN February 14, 1874, p. 118f. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN May 14, 1874, p. 342. 28. Masumoto, QREKV p. 20; p. 28f, note 20, quotes a 1909 source regarding their having given performances in 1867. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN January 7, 1871, p. 5f. and January 14, p. 20f. & CKN[,CRCP*GTCNF December 9, 1880. 31. The history of foreign residents’amateur theatricals in Japan is largely a history of the Yokohama players, that has been the subject of a book by Hans Carl, Bubble, Bubble, Toil CPF6TQWDNG(TCIOGPVUQHVJG*KUVQT[QH;QMQJCOCHTQOVQ (Elms Court, Ilfracomb [Devon, England]: Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd., 1991)
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, CRCP9GGMN[/CKN December 5, 1903, p. 631. , CRCP*GTCNF May 13, 1865, p. 650B. 34. See Masahiko Masumoto, “The Nagasaki Public Hall,” 0CICUCMKMGP%JKJęUJK6C[QTK, 29 (March 31, 1987), pp. 16-20 (in Japanese). , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN December 5, 1903, p. 631. 36. Issue of February 26, 1870, p. 27. 37. Haan, QREKVR 61. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN June 24, 1871, p. 340. 39. A rare exception was the production in Yokohama of an adaptation of Samuel Foote’s The Liar (1702) on June 29, 1871. Garrison theatricals, however, tended to be more ambitious. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN April 15, 1871, p. 177f. 0QTVJ%JKPC*GTCNF May 27, 1910, p. 519, and Japan Weekly Mail, May 28, 1910, p. 812, have his obituary. The former states, regarding his stay in China, that it is in connection with the local amateur dramatic society that he will be best remembered. It is because of this that we judge him to be the “Mr. Drinkwater” who left Nagasaki for Shanghai, as mentioned elsewhere. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN April 30, 1870, p. 184. 43. Advertised in Nagasaki Express, Supplement, February 19, 1870, and reviewed in the same paper’s February 26, 1870 issue, p. 27, and Hiogo News, March 5, 1870, p. 74. 0CICUCMK'ZRTGUU, February 19, 1870, Supplement, n. p. 0CICUCMK'ZRTGUU March 19, 1870, p. 39, and March 26, 1870, p. 42. 0CICUCMK'ZRTGUU, May 17, 1870, p. 67; Hiogo News, May 21, 1870, p.163. 6QMKQ6KOGU, March 10, 1877, p. 117. 48. Announced in Hiogo and Osaka Herald, May 29, 1869, p. 164; advertised in Hiogo News, June 3, 1869. It was delayed two days after the announcement because of inclement weather (Hiogo News, June 17, 1869, p. 390). 49. Hiogo News, June 10, 1869, p. 386. The paper took up this matter again November 10, 1869 (p. 546), citing the precedent of the Shanghai community and estimating construction cost at $1,000. *KQIQCPF1UCMC*GTCNF Weekly Extra, April 14, 1869, p. 1. *KQIQCPF1UCMC*GTCNF Weekly Extra, March 24, 1869, p. 1. 52. Searle’s recitations on February 16, 1866, included Hamlet’s Instructions to the Players, by Shakespeare and a selection from /KFUWOOGT0KIJVŏU&TGCOA band played the overture to Auber’s Masaniello, and to Rossini’s William Tell (Japan Times, February 17, 1866, p. 160; reviewed in the same paper, issue of February 23, 1866, p. 165. Regarding his activities in Shanghai, see Haan, QREKV p. 38f). *KQIQ0GYU March 18, 1871, p. 86. 54. Personal communication from Masahiko Masumoto. , CRCP9GGMN[/CKN April 22, 1871, p. 193ff. 56. For background, see E.M. Gull, British Economic Interests in the Far East, (New York: AMS 2TGUUPF=1TKIKPCNN[RWDNKUJGFKP0GY;QTMD[VJG+PUVKVWVGQH2CEKſE4GNCVKQPU
THE STAGE IS THE WORLD
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and Shinya Sugiyama, Japan’s Industrialization in the World Economy 1859-1899, (London: Athlone Press, 1988). 57. Edition of March 5, 1870, p. 74. ,CRCP6KOGUŏ1XGTNCPF/CKN February 12, 1869, p. 36. ,CRCP6KOGUŏ1XGTNCPF/CKN February 12, 1869, p. 35. *KQIQ0GYU August 13, 1870. 0CICUCMK'ZRTGUU March 19, 1870, p. 39. 0CICUCMK'ZRTGUU March 26, 1870, p. 42. 0QTVJ%JKPC&CKN[0GYU February 15, 1869. 64. Nagasaki Prefecture, History of Nagasaki Prefecture: Foreign Relations (Tokyo: Yoshikawa -[ęDWPMCPR KP,CRCPGUG + DKF p. 757f. 66. Y. Hara “A Primary Study of Activities of Foreign Hongs at Nagasaki Settlements in Meiji Era” UKE-GK\CKICMWMGPM[ij (English-language journal title, Journal of Political Economy; published by Kyushu Daigaku Keizai Gakkai), 57:2 (June, 1991), p. 58 (in Japanese). This paper is largely concerned with Chinese traders but includes Bakumatsu activities and non-Chinese foreign traders as well. See also Sugiyama, QREKV p. 41. 67. Adolphus A. Annesley, “State of Trade at Nagasaki,” Japan Weekly Mail, April 16, 1870, pp. 179-84, esp. p. 182. *KQIQ0GYU September 1, 1869, p. 467. 69. See Japan Weekly Mail, May 14, 1870, p. 201f. 0QTVJ%JKPC&CKN[0GYU November 9, 1870, p. 6707. *KQIQ0GYU June 17, 1869, p. 391. &TKPMYCVGTCRRGCTGFKPVJGſTUVRGTHQTOCPEGQHVJGUGCUQPKP5JCPIJCKCVVJG%NWD Concordia, when Take that Girl Away and a farce, In the Pigskin, were given (North-China Daily News, October 14, 1872, p. 363).
Source: Journal, American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, 1976, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21
29
‘Shades of the Past’: The Introduction of Baseball into Japan HAROLD S. WILLIAMS.
1873 IS THE year which is popularly quoted as the date of the introduction of baseball into Japan. That is not correct. Baseball was introduced into Japan through the Foreign Settlements nearly fourteen years before 1873, and in fact, very soon after the opening of the treaty ports in 1859. Several persons at one time or another have claimed credit for the introduction of baseball into Japan, and many more have had that honour thrust posthumously upon them. Certainly many baseball enthusiasts did on occasions make important individual contributions towards popularizing the game in various schools, uniXGTUKVKGUENWDUCPFQVJGTRNCEGUDWVVJGPCOGUQHVJQUGYJQCEVWCNN[ſTUVKPVTQduced the game into Japan is something which never will be known. Furthermore PQDQF[MPQYUPQDQF[ECPGXGTMPQYGZCEVN[YJGTGQTRTGEKUGN[YJGPVJGſTUV game was played. Certainly it would have been a very modest and informal affair. There appears to be an irresistible urge on the part of writers, concerning VJGGCTN[FC[UVQFGUETKDGCEGTVCKPJCRRGPKPICUDGKPIVJGőſTUVŒQHKVUMKPF without troubling to do any research on the subject. For example we are told QHVJGſTUVEQYVQDGUNCWIJVGTGFHQTOGCVVJGſTUVDWVEJGTUUJQRVJGſTUVDGGH TGUVCWTCPV VJG ſTUV DCMGTŏU UJQR VJG ſTUV HQTGKIPGT VQ XKUKV UQOG RCTVKEWNCT NQECNKV[KP,CRCPVJGſTUVRGTUQPUVQKPVTQFWEGDCUGDCNNCPFUQQPYKVJQWVGPF I advise readers to look withUWURKEKQPQPCP[őſTUVUŒTGICTFKPIVJGGCTN[FC[U CPFKPFGGFQPVJQUGYJQTGNCVGVJGO4CTGN[JCXG+HQWPFCP[UWEJőſTUVUŒ which have stood up to a close investigation. From time to time one reads a glamourous account of how some famous team of baseballers visited Japan and played an exhibition game at which some important dignitary was present, whereupon the sport was adopted by the JapCPGUG+PUQOGUQECNNGFQHſEKCNJKUVQTKGUQHHQTGKIPURQTVUKP,CRCPUGXGTCNUWEJ lively accounts are given of the introduction of various other sports also. The
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fact, however, is that foreign sports were not introduced in that fashion. Actually they usually crept in unobserved, as it were, and gradually spread, until suddenly people realized they were here. Baseball is said to have been invented in 1839 by Abner Doubleday, an American, although, of course, he had merely elaborated on still earlier games which had been played with a bat and ball. Its popularity spread rapidly, and there is every reason to believe that some crew members of American warships stationed in the newly opened treaty ports KP,CRCPHTQOQPYCTFUYGTGCESWCKPVGFYKVJVJGICOG/QUVNKMGN[VJGſTUV game of baseball in Japan was played by some of those who came ashore for recreation and exercise, bringing with them a few bats, balls and gloves, in expectation that a work-out, or better still a game would be possible. We d o in act know from English language newspapers of the early 1860s that crew members did come ashore from time to time bringing with them sports equipment with which to exercise on any suitable vacant lot of ground which happened to be close to the landing stage – and there were plenty of such vacant lots. It is recorded in the foreign newspapers that some crews were able to arrange informal baseball games and even issued challenges to the crews of other vessels. Local foreign residents were invited to join in. Such games were staged without fanfare. There would probably have been only a score or so of spectators, including a sprinkling of Japanese who happened to be passing by at the time. The latter would have carried the story back to their villages, where the youths would have attempted to imitate the game using whatever crude substitutes for bats and balls were at hand. In such informal fashion baseball came unheralded to Japan. The Yokohama foreign newspapers contain the earliest references to such happenings, but the same sequence of events occurred in all the treaty ports. For example in Kobe, on 4th August, 1869, about eighteen months after the port was opened, The Hiogo News reported: one evening last week we saw as many as 7 or 8 men playing cricket and a still larger number playing baseball. Gradually these games assumed a more formal nature. As foreign residents made up a team they began challenging visiting U.S. warships to a game. The results such games YGTGDTKGƀ[TGRQTVGFKPVJGHQTGKIPQYPGFPGYURCRGTUQHVJGVKOG6JWUVJGTGKUC record of the opening phases of baseball in Japan. Japanese students heard of those games, and a few may have been fortunate enough to have seen a game of baseball being played in one of the Foreign Settlements. On some memorable occasions, when the game was over, a battered ball a split bat or a worn-out glove might have been given to them. They would have carried it to their school ground or their villages and there they would have endeavoured to imitate the OQXGOGPVUQHRKVEJKPIDCVVKPICPFECVEJKPI#VſTUVVJGYC[UQHVJG9GUVCNNUGGOGF XGT[FKHſEWNVDWVVJG[YGTGNGCTPKPIHCUV6JWUHTQOVJGVKOGVJGVTGCV[RQTVUQH Yokohama and Nagasaki were opened in 1859, and Kobe and Osaka in 1868, there
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was an opportunity for a few Japanese to watch an occasional baseball game, or in other words to observe the introduction of baseball into Japan. Soon they were seeking information from their foreign teachers regarding that and other foreign sports. Many of their teachers would have responded and would have given such assistance as they were capable of doing. #OQPIVJGOCP[#OGTKECPVGCEJGTUCPFOKUUKQPCTKGUYJQOCFGUKIPKſECPV contributions by coaching, and so popularizing the game at one school or another, the names of such enthusiasts as Horace Wilson, E. H. Mudgett of the Kaisei Gakko School (the predecessor of Tokyo University), Dr. T. M. MacNair, F. /GTTKſGNFCOQPIQVJGTUCTGQHVGPOGPVKQPGF2TQDCDN[DGECWUGQHVJGKTCUUQEKation with the prestigious Kaisei Gakko, the names of Horace Wilson and E. H. /WFIGVVCTGOQUVHTGSWGPVN[SWQVGFCPFKPHCEVVJGNGIGPFKUPQYſTON[RNCPVGF in Japanese baseball circles that in 1873 they introduce - ed the game of baseball into Japan. As has already been shown the introduction of the game into Japan went back thirteen or fourteen years before 1873, but nobody can ever know what group QTVJGPCOGUQHVJQUGYJQCEVWCNN[YGTGVJGſTUVVQRNC[CICOGQHDCUGDCNNQP Japanese soil. 9JGPVJGICOGTGCEJGF,CRCPGUGJKIJGTUEJQQNUKVFKFPQVCVſTUVOWEJTGUGODNGCDCUGDCNNICOGCUYGPQYMPQYKV(QTGZCORNGVJGſTUV,CRCPGUGUWFGPVUVQ stage games did not wait until they could acquire uniforms and proper equipment. The regular students clothing of those days consisted of kimono and pleated split skirts (hakama). In some such informal fashion almost every sports was introduced into Japan, notwithstanding the more colourful accounts which one may read in so-called histories, or which are retailed by lecturers. While baseball was becoming ever more popular in Japanese schools, it had NQPI DGEQOG ſTON[ GUVCDNKUJGF CU C URQTV KP VJG HQTGKIP EQOOWPKVKGU QH VJG treaty ports. During the 1870s foreign baseball clubs were operating in most of the treaty ports. For example The Tokio Times of 19 May, 1877. reported that the baseball season in Yokohama opened with a game between a team representing the foreign baseball clubs of Tokyo and Yokohama and a team picked from the officers of the U.S.S. Tennessee and Alert then visiting Yokohama. For the foreign residents General Thos. B. Van Buren, U. S. Consul General, was reported to have played a most excellent game, with some fine double play. In 1878 a more formal baseball club called the Shimbashi Club was organized in Tokyo with a membership of about 23, including foreign businessmen, missionaries, teachers, and some Japanese enthusiasts. By the 1880s Japanese inter-school competition had started, and by the 1890s games between foreigners and Japanese schools and universities were quite common. In 1896/7 annual Interport Baseball matches between the foreign communities of Kobe and Yokohama commenced. Thereafter they carried on for
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2JQVQITCRJUCKFVQJCXGDGGPVCMGPCDQWVQHVJGHQTGKIPDCUGDCNNVGCOKP-CTWKKCYC+PVJGDCEMTQYſHVJHTQO left is A. K. Reischauer (Karl) father of Dr. Edwin O. Reischauer, U.S. Ambassador to Japan 1961 /66.
many decades. And because of the predominance of American nationals among the missionaries, baseball games were a common feature in the missionary communities and centers. There are for example a number of excellent photographs still in existence showing some of the early foreign baseball teams at Karuizawa, and the Japanese student players’ who were invited to participate. One such photograph, which appears to have been taken about 1906, accompanies this article as an illustration. The names of the participants in that photograph are now mostly forgotten, although some are readily recognizable. For example the family likeness of Dr. Edwin O. Reischauer, U. S. Ambassador to Japan 1961/1966, can be seen in that of his father, Karl Reischauer, in a white shirt, standing in the middle of the rear row. By the beginning of the century baseball was being played by students in most of the higher schools throughout Japan, but there was no indication then that it would ever become the most popular sport in Japan, or that it would eventually rank ſTUVKPVGTOUQHVJGPWODGTQHCEVWCNRCTVKEKRCPVUCPFCNUQCUC professional spectacular sport. +P,CRCPGUGHCPUJCFVJGKTſTUVINKORUGQH#OGTKECP/CLQT.GCIWGDCUGDCNN when a team from the States, including such oldtime luminaries as Patsy Flaherty and Ed Delahanty toured Japan and played against various college teams.
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It might come as a surprise to some of my American friends who do not hold English cricket in much esteem, to learn that it was the Cricket Club which kept baseball alive during its thin days in Kobe at the beginning of the century. The reason for that odd happening was precisely the same as occurred in Shanghai, namely there were not enough American players to stage a game. Although the Shanghai Baseball Club used to claim (with what accuracy I do not know) to be older even than any similar organization in America, for it was in existence before Abraham Lincoln was elected president, nevertheless a time came when there were so few American players in Shanghai that the game would have faded out had British cricketers not obligingly learned to play baseball in order to help out. Some became so keen that they regularly attended to watch every baseball game even if they were not playing themselves. I regret, however, that I cannot positively report that any Americans attended cricket matches! The reason for the shortage of American players in Kobe, and in Shanghai, was an interesting phenomena traceable to a dwindling of American business RGTUQPPGNKPVJG'CUV#VſTUVQYKPIVQVJGRCUUKPIQHVJGQNFENKRRGTUJKRUCPF the disappearance of old style whaling, and to changes in the fur, tea and other trades, and then owing to the boom of industrial developments in America, there was a reluctance on the part of young Americans to go abroad, especially to such a country as Japan, where opportunities appeared to be few. They became unwilling to pass up the prospects of carving out a career for themselves amid the rapidly developing possibilities of advancement in their own country, and therefore they preferred to stay at home. The result was that for quite some years the executives of the International Banking Corporation, the 2CEKſE/CKN5VGCOUJKR%QVJG American Trading Co., and others, were often not Americans, but English or Scotsmen. This in turn accounted for the shortage of American baseball players. (Incidentally I do recall that when I came to Japan in 1919 the manager of the International Banking Corporation in Kobe was a Scotsman, and he remained manager until at least 1925, but by then the tide had long since turned and young Americans were again looking westwards to the Far East.) There were occasions in Japan when there was not a single American on the baseball team. Certainly there were many players among the American missionaries, but as they were mostly living outside the treaty port areas they could not help out. Anyhow in order to participate in baseball in Kobe, in those times, one had to join the Kobe Cricket Club. The baseball interports of around the pre-World War I era, between the foreigners in Kobe and Yokohama, were important happenings in the foreign communities. Recently I received a letter from Ewell W. Slade, an American resident of long standing who was born here eighty years ago, but has long been living in retirement in California. He played in three interports and described them as follows: In those days an interport match was a social event as well an athletic competition. The ladies came in all their splendour, sat in the pavilion
‘SHADES OF THE PAST’
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and served tea and other refreshments. The one and only brass band was hired to play between innings. Their repertoire was pretty much limited to what was then the latest hit — Alexander’s Rag Time Band. This was played over and over again. At the conclusion of the series there was always an elaborate stag dinner at the leading foreign hotel and after numerous toasts, the Interport Pennant which went back to 1896 was presented to the winning team. Unquestionably baseball as played in the various foreign communities of Japan over the decades, since they started in 1859, was an important factor in leading to it becoming popular throughout the country. But it required the visit of a number of American Major League players around the early 1930s to start baseball along the road to becoming Japan’s national sport. In 1934 Connie Mack, Babe Ruth, Lefty O’Doul and other leading American baseball giants came here and batted out a total of 47 home runs which did much to popularize the game among the masses, and to set Japanese professional baseball well on the road to becoming big business. It was then that Japanese entrepreneurs YGTGSWKEMVQUGGVJGRQUUKDKNKVKGUKPVJGICOGCPFVJGſTUVUKIPUQHCDCUGDCNN boom became clear. 6JGQWVDTGCMQHVJG2CEKſE9CTHQTEGFCPGPFHQTCYJKNGVQDQVJEQNNGIGCPF professional baseball. In an effort to placate the militarist’s opposition to it as being an enemy sport, the professional league had changed all the English baseball terminology to Japanese. However that was not enough. Most of the players were soon drafted into the Forces, and the League had to disband. With the end of the war, the U. S. Occupation authorities encouraged the revival of all sports, and the individual U. S. military units vied with one another in presenting free baseball equipment to the local youths and clubs in the regions where they were stationed. Those were times of dire shortage and such generosity enabled young Japanese to participate in sports again, many years earlier than would otherwise have been possible. Baseball thus soon regained its popularity. Once more home runs are being hit at such a rate that it would have been quite beyond the belief of those U. S. seamen who, shortly after the opening of the treaty ports in 1859, came ashore with bats, balls, and gloves for a work out, and so introduced baseball into Japan.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Harold S. Williams, native of Melbourne, Australia, had early leanings toward Japan, and as a consequence found himself on a Japanese holiday in 1919 which began his lifelong residence in the Kobe Osaka area. He is proprietor of A. Cameron & Co., Ltd., and was the sole trustee of the James Estate at Shioya until it was disposed of by sale in 1961. Mr. Williams has written, in addition to numerous articles in publications here and abroad, three books dealing with the Settlement days in Japan, namely, Tales of the Foreign Settlement in Japan, Shades of the Past or Indiscreet Tales of Japan and Foreigners in Mikadoland, all of which were published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo. In addition he has written three books on specialized subjects, namely The Story of *QNOG4KPIGTU%Q.VFKP9estern Japan, 1868-1968, The First Hundred Years, Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, and The Kobe Club; and in collaboration with Hiroshi Naito The Kamakura Murders of 1964. For about 13 years he wrote the column “Shades of the Past” for the Mainichi Daily News, and also has been a frequent contributor to THE JOURNAL of the ACCJ, the Asahi Evening News, Japan Times, This is Japan, The Japan Quarterly and others. Mr. Williams is an honorary member of The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. This is the sixteenth article which he has contributed to The JournaN
Source: Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. VII, Folkestone, Global Oriental, 2010, 553–564
30
‘Competitors with the English sporting men’. Civilization, Enlightenment and Horse Racing: Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1860–2010 ROGER BUCKLEY
INTRODUCTION
PLEASURE AND RECREATION deserve inclusion in any survey of Anglo-Japanese history. The British connection was critical to the development of Western-style horse racing in Japan from the 1860s onwards and has continued VQ KPƀWGPEG YJCV KU VQFC[ CP KORQTVCPV EQORQPGPV QH VJG PCVKQPŏU NGKUWTG KPFWUVT[4CEKPIOCVVGTUKP,CRCP9JCVDGICPFKHſFGPVN[CUNKVVNGOQTGVJCP an amateurish diversion for the tiny expatriate communities of the treaty ports has evolved into a vast multi-billion Yen enterprise that provides entertainment, employment and a substantial return to the exchequer through the highest betting turnover in the world. The sport also has important interPCVKQPCN TCOKſECVKQPU CPF TCEKPI ECP DG UGGP HTQO KVU GCTNKGUV FC[U VQ JCXG mirrored, however approximately, the general state of Japan’s ties with the outside world. Yet it remains a neglected story for students of British links with Japan. Despite the fact that the early years of racing are covered in voluminous detail in the rival nineteenth-century English-language newspapers, racing rarely receives more than a brief mention in the standard texts. There does not appear to be anything remotely comparable to Austin Coates’ valuable treatise on racing in Hong Kong and elsewhere on the China coast, 1 although the one hundred CPFſHVKGVJCPPKXGTUCT[QHVJGQRGPKPIQH;QMQJCOCTGEGPVN[RTQORVGFUWEJ illustrated material as the Equine Cultural Foundation of Japan’s nicely titled ‘Civilization[,] enlightenment and horse racing’.2 What follows is very much a UGVQHVGPVCVKXGſPFKPIUQPCUWDLGEVYJGTGJKUVQTKECNEWNVWTCNCPFUQEKQNQIKECN work has barely begun. 425
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EARLY DAYS
6JGFKHſEWNVKGUQHVCEMNKPIVJGGXQNWVKQPQHTCEKPIKP,CRCPUQNQPICHVGTVJGGXGPV DGEQOGTGCFKN[CRRCTGPVYJGPUGCTEJKPIHQTVJGFCVGQHVJGſTUVTCEGOGGVKPI #NVJQWIJQHſEKCNCPFWPQHſEKCNUQWTEGUCTGEQPVGPVVQGPFQTUGFKHHGTKPI[GCTU KVECPPQYDGUVCVGFYKVJCFGITGGQHEQPſFGPEGVJCVQTICPK\GF9GUVGTPJQTUG racing began on Saturday 1 September 1860. The most reliable source to this date is the statement of the pioneering American businessman and journalist Francis Hall. He noted in his journal: Today is famous in the annals of western civilization on the shores of ,CRCPCUKPCWIWTCVKPIVJGſTUVJQTUGTCEG6JGHQTGKIPEKVK\GPUCEEQTFKPI to programme held the Yokohama races 1st season on a spot of ground RTGRCTGFPGCTVJG$NWHHU+VYCUCJCNHOKNGEQWTUGQPCſTOUCPF[DQVVQO Its situation was picturesque. Bordering the home stretch were the undulating hills of the bluff covered with profuse vegetation. On the other sides were the green vegetation of the plain and the town of Yokohama. The course was marked off by posts and ropes. A judge’s stand, and UVCPFHQTURGEVCVQTUYCUGTGEVGFYJKEJYCUſNNGFYKVJHQTGKIPRQRWNCtion. Numerous entries were made. The contest was amusing at the least. There was running and trotting. Some horses would not go at all, others went where their riders did not wish them to go, and riders went where they did not wish to go. The animal showed his native stubbornness to the full. Several gentlemen were unhorsed but fortunately nobody [was] hurt. A Hurdle race was the most exciting in which interpreter BleckOCPŏUJQTUGUJKGFVJGVTCEMCPFRKVEJGFJKUOCUVGTKPVQVJGſGNF3 Such detailed reportage rings true as Hall was both an energetic horseman himself CPFVJGRTQNKſENQECNEQTTGURQPFGPVHQTThe New York Tribune. The beginnings of organized horse racing in modern Japan could hardly have been more modest. There were a number of half-hearted attempts to gain an adeSWCVGXGPWGDGHQTGſPCNUWEEGUUYCUCEJKGXGFD[GZEJCPIKPIŎVJG=QTKIKPCN?UKVG in the rear of the settlement for a race-course near Mississippi bay; as it would be OQTGGCUKN[OCFGVJCPD[ſNNKPIKPVJG=GCTNKGT?5YCORCPFCVCPKPſPKVGN[NGUU expense. This was agreed to, and certainly the present race-course, though fully two miles from the settlement is as admirable for its purpose as it is noticeable for the beauty of its site.’4 By 1866 the ‘Yokohama Race Club’, formed from among diplomats, the military garrison and members of rival Yokohama clubs, was in charge of the newly-acquired site at Negishi, paying an annual rent of $1,600.5 Negishi itself was to have a chequered history, beginning as the proud standard bearer of Western-style racing before ending its days as no more than an abandoned grandstand incorporated during the occupation era within a minor US base facility aside a public park. Past aspirations of civilization and enlightenment were
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to lead nearly a century and a half later to no more than a crumbling off-limits structure that does little credit to either the Japanese or American authorities. It is surely more than time for the architectural and historical importance of the vast multi-tiered Negishi grandstand to be fully recognized and to call for its proper restoration to something approximating to its past glory. Yet both the general chaos and the sheer enjoyment of the early years of racKPIKPVTGCV[RQTV;QMQJCOCECPDGUVDGXKXKFN[EQPſTOGFVJTQWIJVJGYTKVKPIU and cartoons of Wirgman’s Japan Punch where things invariably go wrong and individuals seem set on personal vendettas.6 Gradually though by the late 1860s and 1870s seasonal meetings appear to have been conducted with some regularity as both Yokohama and Kobe established race courses where expats could race VJGKTJQTUGU KPVTWVJRQPKGUKPVJGOCKPHQTRNGCUWTGRTGUVKIGCPFCNKVVNGRTQſVKH they were particularly fortunate. Indeed it would have been surprising if the traders, bankers, clerks and speculators of the Japanese treaty-ports had not followed the convention of exercising their ponies cross country and then racing competitively with their peers. The process was more or less automatic, following along earlier British traditions in the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia. Race meetings as well as consulates, clubs, churches, botanical gardens and amateur theatricals all came out of the same pattern book. Any self-respecting settlement would be expected to organize its own race club and to hold a Spring carnival if it wanted to be taken seriously. The British role in the emergence of horse racing in Japan is clear. It was built on a general enthusiasm for the sport that is apparent in the very second number of the Nagasaki Shipping ListVJGſTUV'PINKUJNCPIWCIGRCRGTKP,CRCPYJGTG what was little more than a single sheet of splodgy newsprint was careful to report the result of the St. Leger. What is harder to chart is the manner in which Japanese individuals and organizations gradually took over the sport. Two early dates therefore are of interest in establishing at least some information on this gradual transformation. Wirgman in The Illustrated London News made great play of both TGEQTFKPICPFUMGVEJKPIVJGOQOGPVYJGPJGENCKOGF,CRCPGUGTKFGTUſTUVTQFG in an organized race meeting prior to the establishment of Yokohama’s Negishi track. He wrote as ‘Our Special Artist and Correspondent at Yokohama’ that FWTKPIVJG5RTKPIOGGVKPIQHŎ1PVJKUQEECUKQPHQTVJGſTUVVKOGVJG,CRCPGUGQHſEGTULQKPGFKPVJGURQTV6JGKTTKFKPIECWUGFWPKXGTUCNCFOKTCVKQP6JG[ kept well together, and the winner was received by the Spectators with thundering cheers.’ The prize - inconceivable in today’s politically correct climate - was ‘a UOCNNTGXQNXGTŏJCPFGFQXGTD[Ŏ/KUU'Ŏ9KTIOCPVJGPſPKUJGUJKUUVQT[D[ adding that ‘[o]nly two of these Japanese gentlemen riders were thrown off, but even they showed much pluck, and later in the evening, they had another race, which was equally well ridden.’ He concluded: ‘It is certainly pleasing to see the Japanese thus coming out as competitors with the English sporting men, and I VJKPMKVFQGUVJGOITGCVETGFKV6JG[YGTGCNNQHſEGTUCPFUQOGQHVJGOSWKVG young. I inclose [sic] you a Sketch of the proceedings.’ 7
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The engraving depicted eight Japanese riders at the start in full kit carrying what appear to be long whips in front of a large, mixed crowd. Spectators are to be seen both inside a small grandstand and all the way round the edges of the course and VJGKPſGNF(QTVWPCVGN[HQTVJGJKUVQTKCP%JCTNGU9KTIOCPYCUHCTHTQOCNQPG in paying considerable attention to the sport; other journalists in the treaty ports also turned out regular and highly detailed stories that underline the apparent RQRWNCTKV[QHTCEKPIVJCVECPDGEQPſTOGFVQQHTQORJQVQITCRJKEGXKFGPEG 6JG distinguished photographer Felice Beato seconded the motion to approve the accounts at the AGM for the Yokohama Race Club in January 1875.) The sport clearly relied on the efforts of whole sections of the small foreign communities in ;QMQJCOCCPF-QDG/GGVKPIUTGSWKTGFQTICPK\GTUUWHſEKGPVſPCPEGVQRC[VJG ground rent and to aid publicity, to say nothing of an adequate supply of horse ƀGUJLQEMG[UUVGYCTFUVKODGTITCPFUVCPFUCPFVJGCNNKORQTVCPVRTGUGPEGCPF voice of bookmakers. Racing in its early days should be seen as a largely amateur undertaking where no one had the right to expect a decent replica of an English RTQXKPEKCNOGGVKPI6JGHWPFKPIOWUVJCXGDGGPFKHſEWNVVQTCKUGVJG%JKPGUGCPF Japanese ponies may not have been up to much and any institutional success hard to build upon given the shifting population and the limited resources on hand, particularly when some of those members attending the Yokohama Race Club’s CPPWCNIGPGTCNOGGVKPIUJCFPGINGEVGFVQRC[VJGKTUWDUETKRVKQPU%QPƀKEVUQH interest certainly kept cropping up over whether the same individual was entitled to race his ponies and to act simultaneously as handicapper, while others were disappointed that a few select owners often monopolized the prize money with the Morrison stable in Yokohama doing particularly well in the initial years. All who held posts at the Club went unpaid and could expect controversial decisions to lead to abuse on the course and to immediate challenge in the press where the lack of any genuine esprit de corps amongst race-goers was noted. (Given the rough, claustrophobic treaty port world of the early 1870s the same individual could chair both the race committee and the Yokohama chamber of commerce.) One particularly valuable piece of reportage on the progress of the sport is contained in The Japan Herald Mail Summary for May 1876. This strongly suggests that little else occupied the attention of the foreign community during the days QHVJGKT5RTKPIOGGVKPI+VCNUQEQPſTOUVJCVVJCVVJGMG[TQNGQHQTICPK\KPIUWEJ an event was the task of the British-dominated Yokohama Race Club under the secretary-ship of J.A. Fraser. On its shoulders was placed the job of running what would usually have been a consecutive three day meet, though in this particular instance it had to cope also with the postponement of the third day’s racing for twenty-four hours. 6JGPGYURCRGTTGRQTVUVGNNWUVJCVVJGſTUVVYQFC[UDQVJEQORTKUGFPKPGTCEGU though invariably there were events with very few entries, the starts could be ragged, horses might get attacked in running by dogs and the fact that there was at least one walk over was about par for the course. Most races were for ‘China RQPKGUŏVCMKPIRCTVKPFKUVCPEGUHTQOſXGHWTNQPIUHQT6JG)TKHſPUŏ2NCVGVQC
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mile and three quarters for The Challenge Cup. The latter had a value of 150 dollars and in this, as with all other races, there do not appear to have been any Japanese jockeys. Yet the Japanese presence is already clear both in the naming of races, as in The Fujiyama Cup and The Ito Cup, and in the active sponsorship QHTCEGUD[,CRCPGUGEQTRQTCVKQPUCPFQHſEKCNFQO8 The opening race of the second day, for example, was for ‘The Misu Bishi Cup’ and the next race was The -CPCICYC%WRŎ2TGUGPVGFD[VJG-GPEJQ=RTGHGEVWTCNQHſEG?5CKDCPUJQ=VJGNCY EQWTVU?CPF%WUVQOUŏ 6JGſPCNTCEGQHVJGVJKTFFC[YCURTGFKEVCDN[PCOGF ‘The Sayonara Stakes’.) A year later further evidence of Japanese interest in what might be termed the early international politics of horse racing appears in The Tokio Times. Under the byline of ‘Personal Intelligence’, the 21 July 1877 number reports of ‘a very memorable’ Derby Day. In decidedly gushing prose the anonymous journalist records ŎVJGXKUKVHQTVJGſTUVVKOGQHVJTGGTGRTGUGPVCVKXGUQH'CUVGTPPCVKQPU6JG,CRanese and Chinese ministers with their suites and the Envoy of the Ameer of Kashgar, besides an unusually large number of royal and noble visitors could not fail to excite the attention of the great multitude of people, who, indeed, paid as much regard to them as to Silvio, the winner, himself.’ The despatch concluded that ‘[t]he two envoys from the extreme East occupied open carriages opposite the Royal Pavilion, while the representative of Yakub Beg was in one of the private boxes of the Grand Stand. Judging from the animation they are all reported to have displayed during the several stages of the races, they must have been greatly impressed with the lively sport of the world renowned Epsom Downs.’ 9
LATER DEVELOPMENT
A century and a quarter later the contrast between the overall state of racing in both Japan and the Hong Kong SAR with the current parlous realities in Britain hardly needs underlining. The proud leader of the 1870s has a great deal to learn today from its twin Asian competitors. It should be recalled, however, that racing on the China coast was far in advance of the initial steps undertaken by its Japanese neighbour throughout the nineteenth century. In the early years of racing in Japan there were frequent complaints that the larger stables in Yokohama with their more experienced jockeys drawn from the China settlements had an unfair advantage over their younger cousins who had only raced in the Japanese treaty ports. This led to mutterings in the English-language press that some of those who had previously ridden in Shanghai had forgotten that the ‘Yokohama Race Club was established for sport, and that alone.’10 One obvious manner in which the China model was applied wholesale to racing in Yokohama is in the CFQRVKQPQHTCEKPIVGTOUITKHſPUCPFDGVVQGUHQTOCKFGPUCPFITQQOUCTGVYQ key examples - from the established nomenclature on the coast. Indeed, it was RGTJCRUPQVWPVKNVJGRTQURGTQWURQUV2CEKſE9CTFGECFGUVJCV,CRCPEQWNFDGUCKF
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to have emerged as a major racing nation with important international connections: only then would comparisons between Shanghai and Hong Kong on the QPGJCPFCPF6QM[QCPF1UCMCQPVJGQVJGTTGƀGEV,CRCPŏUITGCVGTFQOKPCPEG in prize money and bloodstock. Yokohama’s initial efforts depended in the last resort on Japanese assistance and labour. The races were held on Japanese soil thanks to agreement in 1864 between Sir Rutherford Alcock and the governor of Kanagawa, the facilities were renovated through Japanese goodwill, the stables could only function with Japanese bettoes, who also are reported to have had their own series of races following the 1875 Spring Meeting, and the crowds quickly became largely Japanese. (The value of tickets sold at the meetings in 1875 already exceeded the revenue brought in from members’ annual and half-yearly subscriptions.) The expatriate populations of Yokohama and Kobe, it must be assumed, simply could not have GCUKN[ſPCPEGFCP[NCTIGUECNGQRGTCVKQPUHTQOVJGKTQYPRQEMGVU11 In the case of Yokohama we know too that dissension on almost all issues was rife. This could lead to acres of print in the often short-lived newspapers on the probity of those elected to serve as starters or stewards for the race meetings or equally to the running of the Yokohama United Club or over acrimonious commercial disputes that invariably found their way to the consular courts. If a more professional style of horse racing were to take root in this brash, rootless environment, it would sooner or later have to become an increasingly Japanese-run enterprise. In the process it might also be interpreted by outsiders as evidence of Japan’s general progress on VJGTQCFVQOQFGTPK\CVKQP6JGCDKNKV[QHCPCVKQPVQEQPFWEVCPGHſEKGPVTCEKPI programme was part of what the Victorians regarded as civilized conduct. Thus the many entertaining and informative cartoons by Wirgman in his Japan 2WPEJECPRTQXGUNKIJVN[FGEGRVKXG*KUUMGVEJGUTGƀGEVVJGEQPFWEVQHTCEKPIKP Yokohama in its early days as viewed through the eyes of his loyal readership.12 There is rarely a Japanese in sight, though the antics of his swells before the races in 1871 and their general despondency in the aftermath has its counterparts still regardless of nationality. Equally topical is the report by ‘our sporting editor’ in 1878 that begins ‘[w]ent. Saw. Lost (one dollar). Felt blue. Drank. Became red. Fell in love. Turned white’ and ends ‘[t]he dance music was too much for my legs which carried me round in revolving gyrations of a cyclonic nature communicating the impetus to all corners. The wheel of fortune went round. The horses went round. Everything went round.’ Such general attitudes probably left the burden of organizing a regular series of meetings a hit and miss affair where Japanese assistance was quickly called for.13 Evidence that foreigners were not having everything their own way is apparent by the late 1870s. The Tokio Times reported in June 1877 that ‘paper hunts’ in the neighbourhood of Yokohama will probably be discontinued. The damage suffered by farmers in the injury or destruction of their crops has led to earnest remonUVTCPEGCPFVJG$TKVKUJEQPUWNJCUCVVJGTGSWGUVQHVJGNQECN,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNU warned his countrymen ‘against giving further cause of complaint’. He points
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out that ‘not only will the Japanese seek their remedy’, if the ‘offense is repeated, by actions of trespass, but they may be prompted to forcibly resist any intrusion on their “grounds” ‘. There were also problems over the importation of horses. Correspondence in May 1877 suggested that the bringing of American horses into Japan might lead to ‘swindling’, though it is not clear how this would be possible since they were not intended to be used either for racing or for breeding with Japanese ponies.14 The paper, invariably anti-British in tone, felt this concern was WPLWUVKſGFRQKPVKPIQWVVJCV$TKVKUJDNQQFUVQEMJCFDGGPGPQTOQWUN[KORTQXGF by continental and Arabian breeds. Yet of far greater importance than these concerns was the fact that in 1884 the Yokohama Race Club was itself transformed KPVQVJG0KRRQP4CEG%NWD6JGEJCPIGQHPCOGKUUWTGN[UKIPKſECPVCPFRCTCNNGNU the manner in which the Kanagawa bureaucracy gradually took over the provision of more adequate municipal services in the port area. The evolution of horse racing in Japan may be seen to have parallels with the general state of Anglo-Japanese relations from their beginnings in the mid-nineVGGPVJEGPVWT[VQVJGGCTN[VYGPV[ſTUVEGPVWT[6JGQXGTCNN$TKVKUJKORCEVYCU clearly greatest in the early days when, much to the dismay of at least one anonymous American journalist, the lack of Republican backbone among his own countrymen had led to an excessive aping of English ways by both Americans CPF,CRCPGUG5RQTVHQNNQYGFVJGƀCICUGZRCVTKCVGVTCFGTUGUVCDNKUJGFVJGKTQYP initially private, racing clubs based on the China coast model and British tradition. ;GVHQTTCEKPIVQƀQWTKUJKVJCFVQVCRHCTNCTIGTUQWTEGUQHHWPFKPICPFCVVTCEV sizeable crowds from the local districts, thus requiring a gradual takeover of foreign endeavours by Japanese individuals and organizations. The interest displayed by Japanese parties in Western-style racing had been immediate from the outset. Francis Hall, much like Wirgman, was already recording in his diary for 6 April 1865 that the ‘most striking feature’ of the Garrison races had been a ‘race ridden by several Japanese, all Samurai, some of them boys, UQPUQHJKIJNQECNQHſEKCNU6JGKTIGPGTCNIQQFTKFKPIYCUITGCVN[CFOKTGFCPFVJG victors were handsomely rewarded by the spectators.’15 Exactly forty years on and three Japanese princes were acting as patrons of the Yokohama races, while their compatriots served on the mixed nationality committee and all the races appear to have been won by Japanese jockeys on horses with Japanese owners. To balance things slightly though the racing secretary was still British and the President of the Club was Sir Claude MacDonald, who had called for three cheers after Baron Sannomiya had presented the Emperor’s Cup at ‘the event of the meeting’.16 MacDonald may well have been the last British representative to have entered his own horse in a Japanese race meeting. This gradual transformation of racing in Japan from its British origins to racing run very largely by Japanese was surely almost complete by the 1920s. It could appear by then to be a cooperative, international venture but the fact that ownership of most of the more successful horses and ponies was in Japanese hands underlines the power reality in this as in any other racing venture. The British
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ambassador might still be President of the Nippon Race Club in 1922 and the executive committee to be largely European, yet such foreign connections as there YGTGTCTGN[YQPUWDUVCPVKCNRTK\GOQPG[6JGſPCNFGOKUGQH$TKVKUJKPXQNXGment in Japanese racing is perhaps best symbolized in the decision to appoint an American architect to draw up highly ambitious plans for an ultra- modern grandstand at Negishi. The towering ferro-concrete building by Jay H. Morgan FGOQPUVTCVGUVJGQDXKQWUſPCPEKCNUWEEGUUQHTCEKPIKP,CRCPD[VJGNCVGU and its ability to offer facilities that could stand worthy comparison with other major racing nations.17 Racing in Japan was clearly more than self-supporting and in the case of the Kyoto Race Club in the mid-1920s, for example, the only PQPKPFKIGPQWUKPƀWGPEGYCUQXGTVJGKORQTVCVKQPQHŎ#WUVTCNKCP)TKHſPUŏVQTWP in meetings that on some days could comprise as many as thirteen races linked to large pari-mutuel wagerings.18 $[VJGſTUVVJKTFQHVJGVYGPVKGVJEGPVWT[,CRCPEQWNFDQCUVQHCNCTIGPWODGT of tracks, including a short-lived one in Ueno, and racing was by then a fully established and highly commercialized spectator activity fuelled by betting. Yet it was still seen as something of a second-rate sport until the postwar era, since racKPIYCUYKFGN[JGNFVQDGEQTTWRVCPFDCFN[NCEMKPIVJGFKUEKRNKPGQHCPGHſEKGPV centralized structure. It was only after Japan started to work its way back into KPVGTPCVKQPCNUQEKGV[CHVGTVJGFKUCUVGTUQHKVUYCTUKP#UKCCPFVJG2CEKſEVJCVVJG racing industry began to be more conscious of what other nations were doing to clean up and promote the sport. Links with racing bodies in Europe, North America and Australasia were then either restored or developed and by the 1980s the Japan Racing Association could begin a concerted process of internationalization VJCVEQPVKPWGUEQPſFGPVN[VQVJKUFC[6JGRTK\GOQPG[CPFRWDNKEKV[CVVCEJGFVQ the Japan Cup, inaugurated in 1981 for three year olds and upwards, is the outstanding example of the JRA’s work to put their nation on the map.19 The fact that after some hesitation Japanese horses are now beginning to run abroad and that its more enterprising owners, such as Yoshida Teruya, have rightly earned international reputations is additional evidence that Japan is in the premier league and intends to stay there.20 Attitudes are changing and Japan’s increasing prominence KUTGƀGEVGFVJTQWIJUQOGOCLQTTCEGUPQYYGNEQOKPIGPVTKGUQHQXGTUGCUJQTUGU although it should be noted that problems persist over ‘the degree of openness to foreign horses, the stable system and racehorse ownership registration.21 Japan’s record over hosting cross-border races still requires more attention, even though the days of its quasi-isolation and the existence of what were once seen as racing’s equivalent of trade barriers have long gone.
JAPANESE RACING TODAY
Contemporary Anglo-Japanese racing ties should be seen as one important part of this process. Awareness of the historical foundations of all racing through
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the thoroughbred, the Stud Book and the Jockey Club in addition to the treaty port racing legacy clearly play their part in cementing this relationship. These links still have resonance too through the manner in which the Japan Racing Association (JRA) models the major races in its annual calendar along the lines QHVJG'PINKUJENCUUKEUYJKNGURGEKſETCEGUUWEJCUVJG)3WGGP'NK\CDGVJ++ Commemorative Cup run each November in Kyoto, are an additional reminder of this connection. The fact that most races in Japan are run on turf and that VJG,4#JCUCTGRTGUGPVCVKXGQHſEGKP.QPFQPHWTVJGTCEVUVQUVTGPIVJGPVJG relationship. Yet, as with other aspects of Anglo-Japanese affairs, there are obvious limits to drawing on the past. Nothing can easily disguise the current weaknesses QH$TKVKUJTCEKPIYJGPEQORCTGFYKVJVJGUVTQPIGTſPCPEKCNHQQVKPIVJCVVJG sport displays in Japan where successful breeding programmes and much larger crowds enable the industry to cope far better with economic downturns. Britain has nothing comparable to the JRA’s four ‘Autumn International Races’ that in 2009 were calculated to have a total value of 12.8 million dollars.22 The nation that once could claim to have been ‘[t]he world’s leader’ has indeed ‘problems in terms of international competitiveness’ that are prompting some to call for ‘radical management’ and the establishment of a new racing department within Whitehall.23 Ultimately the possibility of improved Anglo-Japanese sporting ties have to hinge on the revamping of the entire $TKVKUJJQTUGTCEKPIKPFWUVT[ŌQPN[YJGPKVKUHWNN[ſVHQTRWTRQUGECPQPG anticipate a future strengthening of what was once a close and collaborative relationship.
NOTES 1
2 3 4 5 6 7
Austin Coates ‘China Races’ (Hong Kong, 1983). Some discussion of the cultural features of contemporary racing can be found in the chapter by Nagashima Nobuhiro entitled ‘The Cult of Oguricap or How Women Changed the Social Value of Japanese Horse-Racing’ in D.P. Martinez (ed.) The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures (Cambridge,1998). Racing is virtually ignored though in William W. Kelly and Sugimoto Atsuo (eds) This Sporting Life: Sports and Body Culture in Modern Japan (New Haven, 2007) beyond being seen as part of the so-called shadow sports sector through its gambling aspects. Akinaga Kazuhiro Bunmei kaika to kindai keiba (Yokohama, 2009). This contains short biographies of prominent early British racing activists, such as T. Thomas, and W. Marshall. F.G. Notehelfer (ed) Japan Through American Eyes: The Journals of Francis Hall, Kanagawa CPF;QMQJCOCŌ(Princeton,1992) p. 217 John R. Black Young Japan vol I (Oxford, 1968 ) p. 407. See also Sir Ernest Satow A Diplomat in Japan (London, 1921) p. 27. Black vol II p. 11. Betting was an intrinsic part of racing in Japan from the outset. The Illustrated London News, 8 July 1865
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6JGCEEQOOQFCVKPIPCVWTGQH,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNFQOYKVJTGICTFVQTCEGEQWTUGOCVVGTUOC[ have been motivated in part by a wish to keep the foreigner tied down within the agreed treaty port limits. The ample provision of bars and brothels in Yokohama also may have been linked to such policies. 9 The following month The Tokio Times reported Yakub Beg’s death and suggested that %JKPCYQWNFPQYTGPGYKVUCIITGUUKQPCICKPUVJKUſGHFQO 10 The Japan Weekly Mail, 6 May 1871. It should not be overlooked that a whole range of ancillary services had immediately sprung up in connection with horseracing, including auctioneering, stabling and the sale of sweepstakes and lotteries. 11 The English-language press published the detailed annual accounts of the race club. See, for example, The Japan Gazette, 28 January 1875. During this AGM it was also reported casually that the grandstand had been burnt down, though the same member added ‘it was high time it was rebuilt’ and suggested that lotteries could be started for this purpose. 12 See Jozef Rogala The Genius of Mr Punch Life in Yokohama’s Foreign Settlement [,] Charles Wirgam and the Japan Punch, 1862–1887 (Yokohama, 2004). Rogala’s valuable compilation has an entire chapter on sports with cartoons on paper chases where ‘[c]ompetent surgeons will follow the hunt accompanied by stretchers and lint’ and one fatality per hunt would be assumed, as well as delightful material on racing. In his Press Cup sketch of 1869 /T2WPEJUCWPVGTURCUVVJGYKPPKPIRQUVYCXKPIJKUYJKRCUJKUƀQWPFGTKPIQRRQPGPVU 13 Keeping the course in some kind of decent repair was clearly a task and a half. The press reported in 1871 that installation of new rails and renovation of the grandstand had been ‘done at no expense to the Club, the Japanese authorities having performed the work, and we believe supplied the material, without charge’. See The Japan Weekly Mail, 6 May 1871. 4CEKPIHTQOKVUGCTN[FC[UYCUUGGPD[,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNFQOCUCPCRRTQRTKCVGXGPWGYJGTG its elite and the foreign community might meet on equal terms. By the turn of the century illustrations in popular publications would depict top-hatted Japanese and their ladies packing the stands and cheering enthusiastically as the winner was steered home. The fact that the supreme prize in the racing calendar was by then the Emperor’s Cup underlines the social acceptance of racing even though it most certainly continued to have its share of controversies over the legality or otherwise of betting. 14 Thoroughbreds may have been imported into Japan from 1895. 15 Hall, op. cit., p.600. 16 The Japan Gazette, 6 May 1905 17 Morgan’s work was featured in the ‘Architects and Architecture in Yokohama 1850s-1950s’ exhibition held at the Museum of Yokohama Urban History in the summer of 2009. 18 The Japan Weekly Chronicle, 23 December 1926 19 The invitation Japan Cup was inaugurated (1981) amidst great publicity and it is now reckoned to offer the highest prize money for any race in the world. To date there have been four successes for trainers based in Britain. 20 For evidence of the scale of the Yoshida racing empire see 5JCFCK5VCNNKQP5VCVKQPŎ5VCNlions’ (Tokyo, 2009). Unfortunately the role played by British horses within this breeding empire is slight when compared against the dominance of American stallions and the increasing success of domestic bred horses. 21 Part of the frank comments by Dr Naoki Koike, President of the Japan Association for International Horse Racing, in *QTUG4CEKPIKP,CRCPŌ 22 These comprise the Queen Elizabeth II Commemoration Cup, the Mile Championship, the Japan Cup and the Japan Cup Dirt. All are G1 races for three year olds. 23 Lord Donoughue in House of Lords debate, 25 January 2000. For equally pessimistic views see also Laura Thompson ‘Gosden: my fears for Flat racing’, Racing Post, 25 October 2009.
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
Volume 2
Yokohama, c.1870s – Westerners in Japanese clothes posing for a picture. Courtesy: Yokohama Archives of History
Culture, Power and Politics in Treaty-port Japan, 1854–1899 KEY PAPERS, PRESS AND CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS VOLUME 2: THE TREATY PORTS
Edited by
J. E. Hoare
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899 KEY PAPERS, PRESS AND CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS
First published 2018 by RENAISSANCE BOOKS P O Box 219 Folkestone Kent CT20 2WP Renaissance Books is an imprint of Global Books Ltd ISBN 978-1-898823-61-2 Hardback [2-volume set] ISBN 978-1-898823-62-9 eBook [2-volume set]
© Renaissance Books 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publishers have made every effort to contact the authors/copyright-holders of the works reprinted in Culture, Power and Politics in Treaty-Port Japan, 1854-1899. This has not been possible in every case and we would welcome correspondence from those individuals and organizations we have been unable to trace.
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Lafcadio Hearn to Basil Hall Chamberlain, Jan. 1895 (see no. 15) The sensation of foreign life... is very unpleasant, after life in the interior. A foreign interior is a horror to me; and the voices of the foreign women - China-Coast tall women - jar upon the comfort of existence. Can’t agree with you about the ‘genuine men and women’ in the open ports. There are some - very, very few. (Thank the Gods I shall never have to live among them!) ‘The Journalist at Kobe’ from 5HVLGHQWLDO5K\PHV (see no. 17) Ye Journalists of Kobe Who curse and never bless, Whose sermons grew intenser When based on Herbert Spenser, Beware, lest Anglo-phoby Corrupt the native press. (Ye Journalists of Kobe Who curse and never bless!) Bishop Smith on the early days of Yokohama (see no. 66) A considerable trade has sprung up at Yokohama in silk, tea, copper, vegetable oil, and other CTVKENGUQH,CRCPGUGRTQFWEG$WVVJGFKHſEWNVKGUQHOQPG[GZEJCPIGCPFVJGCTDKVTCT[XCNWG placed on native coin, have operated as serious obstructions to the development of foreign commerce at the port. A more serious hindrance to the enlargement of trade is apprehended from the policy of the government in endeavouring to limit foreigners to this new settlement and RTGXGPVKPIVJGKTTGUKFGPEGDG[QPFEGTVCKPCRRQKPVGFDQWPFCTKGU6JG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUUGGOVQ be bent on the determination to form a second Deshima at this port, and to cut off Yokohama from the adjoining country ... Contemporaneously with this ... they have also endeavoured to render Yokohama an attractive locality to young unmarried foreigners by establishing at the edge of the settlement... one of those infamous public institutions ... containing its two hundred female inmates over a spacious series of apartments and all under government regulations and control... It is to be feared that the snare has not been set in vain; and Kanagawa was represented to me by persons generally well informed on local matters, as a deplorable scene QHFGOQTCNKUCVKQPCPFRTQƀKICVGNKHG
By the same author Korea: An Introduction ,1988 (with Susan Pares) Korea (World Bibliographical Series, vol. 204, 1997 (with Susan Pares) Beijing (World Bibliographical Series, vol. 226 (with Susan Pares) Japan’s Treaty Ports and Foreign Settlements: The Uninvited Guests, Japan Library, 1994 Simple Guide to Customs & Etiquette in Korea, Simple Guides, 1994 (with Susan Pares) Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and their Embassies in China etc., Japan Library, 1999 %QPƀKEVKP-QTGC, 1999 (with Susan Pares) Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea, 2nd ed., 2004 (with Andrew Nahm) North Korea in the 21st Century, Global Oriental, 2005 (with Susan Pares) Political and Economic Dictionary of East Asia, 2008 (with Susan Pares) Culture Smart! Korea, Kuperard, 2010 Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of Korea, 2012 Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea, 3rd ed, 2015 Edited volumes Korea: The Past and the Present, 2 vols, Global Oriental, 2008 (with Susan Pares) Critical Readings on North and South Korea, 3 vols, Brill, 2013
Contents VOLUME 1: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES Acknowledgements Map of Japan’s open ports and cities List of Plates
xiii xiv xv
Introduction and Restrospective J.E. HOARE
xvii
1. Convention between Great Britain and Japan 1854, in M. Paske Smith, Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa in Tokugawa Days, 1930, 138–139
3
2. Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 1858, text in F. C. Jones Extraterritoriality in Japan (1931), 165–174
5
3. Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and Japan, 1894, text in F. C. Jones, Extraterritoriality in Japan, (1931), 175–186
13
4. Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Empire of Japan, 1869, in Treaties and Conventions Concluded between Japan and Foreign Nations, VQIGVJGTYKVJ0QVKſECVKQPU4GIWNCVKQPU/CFGHTQO6KOGVQ6KOGŌ 1871, title + 187–194
23
5. Land Regulations, etc., in Treaties and Conventions Concluded between ,CRCPCPF(QTGKIP0CVKQPUVQIGVJGTYKVJ0QVKſECVKQPU4GIWNCVKQPU/CFGHTQO 6KOGVQ6KOGŌ 1871, title + 199–228
33
6. That ‘Naughty Yankee Boy’: Edward H. House and Meiji Japan’s Struggle for Equality Nanzan Review of American Studies, No. 6 (2000) 39–54 JAMES L. HUFFMAN
77
7. Early Western Architecture in Japan’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 13, No.2 (May 1954), 13–18 K. ABE
93
8. Japan and the Western Powers, The North American Review, Vol. 27, No. 265 (Nov.–Dec. 1878), 406–426 MATSUYAMA MAKOTO
104
vii
viii
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9. The Bund: Littoral Space of Empire in the Treaty Ports of East Asia, Social History Vol. 27, No. 2 (May 2002) JEREMY E. TAYLOR
120
10. Western Entrepreneurs and the Opening of Japanese Ports, European Business History Association [2008, Bergen] FERRY de GOEY
140
11. The First Women Religious in Japan: Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot and the French Connection, [The Catholic Historical Review Vol. 87, No. 4, 2001, 603–623] ANN M. HARRINGTON 12. Gentlemanly Capitalism and the Club: Expatriate Social Networks in Meiji Kobe [2012, The Electronic Journal of Japanese Studies at JVVRYYYLCRCPGUGUVWFKGUQTIWMGLELUXQNKUUUYCPUQPJVON] DARREN L. SWANSON 13. Imposed Efſciency of the Treaty Ports: Japanese Industriali\ation and Western Imperialist Institutions [2011, ISS Discussion Paper Series (F-142)] MASAKI NAKABAYASHI 14. The Revision of Japan’s Early Commercial Treaties [1999, Discussion Paper No. IS/99/377 (The Suntory Centre)] Contributed papers from: HUGH CORTAZZI – The First Treaties with Japan (1853–1868) J.E. HOARE – Japan’s Treaty Ports and Treaty Revision: Delusions of Grandeur? NIGEL BRAILEY – Ernest Satow and the Implementation of the Revised Treaties in Japan AYAKO HOTTA-LISTER – The Anglo-Japanese Treaty Revision of 1911
167
185
212
243 244 252 260 270
15. Lafcadio Hearn on Foreign Settlements, in The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn], London, Constable, 1906 ELIZABETH BISLAND
282
16. An Englishman’s Right to Hunt: Territorial Sovereignty and Extraterritorial Privilege in Japan Monde(s), 1/2012 (N° 1), 193-211 DOUGLAS HOWLAND
283
17. ‘Residential Rhymes: Sympathetically Dedicated to Foreigners in Japan’ [1899] OSMAN EDWARDS
299
18. Parkes (Sir Harry), in Things Japanese, 1905, 360–363 BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
305
19. Treaties with Foreign Powers, in Things Japanese, 1905, 488–497 BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
308
CONTENTS
ix
20. .RNXVDL.HNNRQ and Meiji Japan, JRC Seminar, SOAS, 1–17, 2000 ITSUKO KAMOTO
314
21. What the Passport Requires, in Life in Japan, 1900, 24 ELLA GARDNER
328
22. All Things to All Men, in A Maker of the New Orient, 165–167, 1902 W.E. GRIFFIS
330
23. Two Remarkable Australians of Old Yokohama, Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, XII, 1975, 51–69 HAROLD S. WILLIAMS
332
24. Tourist Guide, 4–5, 1880
346
25. Japan Reverses the Unequal Treaties: The Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894, Journal of Oriental Studies, XIII, 2, 1975, 137–145 I.H. NISH 26. Extraterritoriality in Japan, 1858–1899, Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, XVIII, 1983, 71–97 JAMES E. HOARE 27. The Chinese in the Japanese Treaty Ports, 1858–1899: The Unknown Majority, Proceedings, British Association for Japanese Studies, 1977, 18–33 JAMES E. HOARE 28. The Stage Is the World: Theatrical and Musical Entertainment in Three Japanese Treaty Ports, Asian Cultural Studies, 23, 3, 1997, 137–159 AARON M. COHEN 29. ‘Shades of the Past’: The Introduction of Baseball into Japan, The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, 1976, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 HAROLD S. WILLIAMS 30. ‘Competitors with the English sporting men’. Civili\ation, Enlightenment and Horse Racing: Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1860–2010. Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. VII, Folkestone, Global Oriental, 2010, 553–564 ROGER BUCKLEY
348
361
380
393
418
425
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VOLUME 2 : THE TREATY PORTS Plate section faces page 258
HAKODATE 31. Dr. John Batchelor, British Scholar and Friend of the Natives of Hokkaido, Proceedings, Japan Society of London, 105, 1986, 20–32 HUGH CORTAZZI 32. Thomas Wright Blakiston: The Blakiston Line, in Foreign Pioneers: A Short History of the Contribution of Foreigners to the Development of Hokkaido. Hokkaido Prefectural Government, 1968, 85–95 33. Hakodadi, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 1867, 612–617 W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS & C. KING 34. The Murder of Ludwig Haber, in 6TCFKPIWPFGT5CKNQHH,CRCPŌ The Recollections of Captain John Baxter Will, Sailing-Master and Pilot, Tokyo, Sophia University, 1968, 83–87 GEORGE ALEXANDER LENSON (ed.) 35. Hokkaido (E\o: Some Impressions of British Visitors (1854–1873, Lecture at the Oriental Club, December 1987, Proceedings, Japan Society of london No. 112 (Winter 1989), 9–28. Extracts HUGH CORTAZZI
3
19 25
30
33
36. Departure from Japan in Ten Weeks in Japan, London, Longman’s, Green and Roberts, 1861, 427–428 GEORGE SMITH
50
37. Mr. Enslie’s Grievances: The Consul, the Ainu and the Bones, Bulletin, Japan Society of London, 78, 1976, 14–19 J.E. HOARE
52
KOBE 38. History of Kobe, The Japan Chronicle, Jubilee Number, Ō, 1918, 1–36. Extracts GERTRUDE COZAD 39. Mr. Van Valkenburgh to Mr. Seward: No.1, US Legation, Osaka, 2 February 1868, US Diplomatic Correspondence, 610–612 40. A Swede in Meiji Japan: Herman Trot\ig (1832–1919, Center for 2CEKſE#UKC5VWFKGUCV5VQEMJQNO7PKXGTUKV[ 9QTMKPI2CRGT title + 1–32. BERT EDSTRÖM
63
91
95
CONTENTS
xi
NAGASAKI 41. Nagasaki: The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 555–578 W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS & C. KING
118
42. British Inƀuence in the Foreign Settlement at Nagasaki, Proceedings, Japan Society, 125, 1995, 48–59 LANE EARNS
130
43. City of Nagasaki: Chinese in Nagasaki, 1859–60, in Ten Weeks in Japan, 1861, 78–84 GEORGE SMITH
142
44. Italian Inƀuence in the ‘Naples of Japan’, 1859–1941,1998 From Crossroads: A Journal of Nagasaki History and Culture, No. 6 (Autumn 1998) LANE R. EARNS 45. Thomas Glover of Nagasaki, Bulletin, Japan Society of London, 88, 1979, 10–15 IRENE DARDEN FIELD
146
153
YOKOHAMA 46. ‘Yokuhama’, in Ten Weeks in Japan, 1861, 249–267 GEORGE SMITH 47. Mr. Van Valkenburgh, Letter to Mr. Seward: No.64. Legation of the United States in Japan. Yedo, November 1867. Arrangements for the GUVCDNKUJOGPVQHC,CRCPGUGOWPKEKRCNQHſEGHQTVJGHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPVU of Yokohama. US Diplomatic Correspondence, 1867, 73 48. The Vocabulary of the Japanese Ports Lingo, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,/ Cambridge University Press, 12, 3/4, 1948, 805–823 F.J. DANIELS 49. Treaty Port Attitudes. Extract from Exchange of Letters between Russell Robertson, British Consul at Yokohama, and the Firm of Wilkies and 4QDKUQPŌ0CVKQPCN#TEJKXGU(QTGKIP1HſEG4GEQTFU(1
163
172
174
50. Yokohama, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 1867, 579–595 W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS, & C. KING
196
51. The First Six Months of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Transactions, Asiatic Society of Japan, 12, 1975, 10–20 DOUGLAS MOORE KENRICK
206
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52. Yokohama before the Catastrophe, in The Death of Old Yokohama in the Great Earthquake of 1923, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1968, 17–28 OTIS MANCHESTER POOLE 53. The Gankiro Teahouse and No. 9 in Old Yokohama, Lecture at the Oriental Club, Proceedings, Japan Society of London Proceedings, No. 112 (1989), 29–42 NEIL PEDLAR 54. Life in a Buddhist Temple at Kanagawa, in A Maker of the New Orient: Samuel Robbins Brown: pioneer educator in China, America, and Japan The story of his life and work, 1902, 147–149 W.E. GRIFFIS 55. The Story of Yokohama Union Church, 1872–1923, 2012 . Extracts 56. Yokohama in 1872: A rambling account of the community in which the Asiatic Society of Japan was founded. Asiatic Society of Japan, 1963, vi + 1–60 PAUL C. BLUM 57. Revised and Enlarged Edition of Exercises in the Yokohama Dialect, Yokohama, 1879, 1–32 ‘BISHOP OF HOMOCO’
215
222
234 236
239
302
58. British Consuls and British Merchants, Japan Weekly Mail, 1886, 569–599
333
59. Yokohama Ballads, c.1890, 1–8
342
Bibliography
351
THE TREATY PORTS
Source: The Japan Society of London, Proceedings, 105, 1986, 20–32. Originally delivered as a speech in Japanese at Sapporo on 22 October 1985
31
Dr. John Batchelor, British Scholar and Friend of the Natives of Hokkaido HUGH CORTAZZI
I DO NOT KNOWYJQYCUVJGſTUV'PINKUJOCPVQNCPFKP'\QQT*QMMCKFQDWV COQPIVJGſTUVVQRCUUVJGUJQTGUQH*QMMCKFQYGTGVJG$TKVKUJGZRNQTGTUQHVJG 2CEKſEKPVJGNCVGGKIJVGGPVJEGPVWT[#OQPIVJGUGYCU%CRVCKP9KNNKCO4QDGTV Broughton who, in 1797, surveyed the Ryukyu Islands, the south coast of Kyushu and the coast of Honshu as far as the Tsugaru Straits. Before this, the British, the Europeans and the Americans, and most Japanese too, had little idea of the geography of Northern Japan. They thought of Matsumae as a small island and Ezo as perhaps part of the Asian Continent! 6JG$TKVKUJQHſEKCNN[ECOGVQ*QMMCKFQKP1EVQDGTYJGPVJGſTUV$TKVKUJ /KPKUVGT4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEMCEEQORCPKGFVQVJGRQUVQH*CMQFCVGVJGſTUV$TKVish Consul, Mr. Pemberton Hodgson, and his family. The British party arrived in HMS *KIJƀ[GT6JG[HQWPF*CMQFCVGCDNGCMſUJKPIXKNNCIGYKVJCDQWVC thousand houses and 6,000 inhabitants, mostly very poor. The main street was little more than a collection of huts and shops, mostly one storey buildings with roofs held down by pebbles and boulders. There were only four temples. Three were already occupied by Russians and the fourth was destined for the new Governor. Alcock and Hodgson were unwilling to accept the hut offered them and eventually obtained a lease on the temple destined for the Governor who was forced to share with his predecessor. Hodgson records that at the British Minister’s dinner with the Governor, the British band played various martial tunes but also Annie Laurie and Ye Banks and Braes. These had ‘a wonderful effect’. The Governor, who beat time with the music, said that he had never heard such music before. Local inhabitants crowded round to hear the barbarian orchestra. Alcock was reasonably optimistic about the commercial value of the treaty port of Hakodate. There was a secure and accessible harbour and a good anchor3
4
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
age. He found the people friendly and quiet. There was plenty of salmon and potatoes, as well as pheasant and wild duck. Bear, otter, and deer skins were for sale and there was sulphur and lead. William Keswick of Jardine Matheson & Co. who had visited Hakodate earlier was less optimistic. He found Hakodate a most miserable place and ‘was quite certain there would be no business worth looking after’. +PVJGſTUVHGY[GCTUQHKPVGTEQWTUGYKVJVJG9GUV*CMQFCVGKPFGGFCVVTCEVGF few foreign merchants. The Bakufu Authorities were obstructive to foreign trade while Mr. Consul Hodgson was bad-tempered and drank too much. His successors Enslie and Vyse were not much better and were involved in a very unfortunate incident involving the desecration of Ainu graves. Mr Consul Eusden who arrived in Hakodate in July 1869 and stayed until 1880 re-established the British good name. His small stature led him to be called affectionately ‘Mame Ryoji’. Mrs Eusden UWRGTXKUGFVJGEQPUVTWEVKQPQHVJGſTUV$TKVKUJRWDNKEICTFGPKP*CMQFCVGCPF taught Western methods of laundry in Japanese schools. Mr and Mrs Eusden played a prominent part in welcoming the Emperor Meiji to Hakodate in 1876. The merchant community in Hakodate grew slowly. There were only seven foreign merchants in residence in 1865. One problem was the continuing interferGPEGD[QHſEKCNUYJQVTKGFVQRTGXGPVKPVGTEQWTUGYKVJHQTGKIPGTU6JGTGUVQTCVKQP and civil war of 1868 brought more ships to the port and British naval vessels were stationed in Hakodate between December 1868 and October 1869. But the trade boom was short-lived and the establishment of a regular service of U.S. 2CEKſE/CKNUVGCOGTUNGFVQCTGFWEVKQPKPVJGPWODGTQH$TKVKUJUJKRUXKUKVKPI VJGRQTV*QYGXGTVJG2CEKſE/CKNUVGCOGTUEGCUGFVQECNNCV*CMQFCVGKP British ships once again began to call regularly but direct trade between Britain and Hokkaido hardly existed. British imports from Hokkaido vastly exceeded her exports to the island. Japanese merchants preferred to purchase imported goods in Yokohama and transport them in Japanese ships at high freights rather than buy direct through foreigners in Hakodate. Although in the early years of Meiji the foreign community never exceeded ſHV[ VJG $TKVKUJ CNYC[U YGTG KP C OCLQTKV[ 1PG QH VJG OQUV KPƀWGPVKCN YCU Thomas Wright Blakiston (1832–1891) who arrived in Hakodate in 1861 and UVC[GFWPVKN*GGUVCDNKUJGFVJGſTOQH$NCMKUVQP/CTTVQVTCFGYKVJ4WUUKC and China, to manufacture ice and process timber. In 1864 he imported a sawmill. He made plans for Hokkaido harbours, founded a regular steamship service between Hakodate and Aomori and planned a water system for Hakodate. In JGTCPKPVQVTQWDNGYKVJVJGNQECNCWVJQTKVKGUQXGTJKUſTOŏUKUUWGQH5JQken1 which he intended to be used in the context of a shipping route connecting Hakodate with Yokohama and Shanghai. In 1876 he was forbidden by the British Consul to issue these Shoken. Blakiston’s most important contribution however YCUUEKGPVKſE*GYCUC\QQNQIKUVCPFJGJCFQDUGTXGFVJGFKHHGTGPEGUDGVYGGP the animal life in Hokkaido and in Northern Honshu. His friend, the British seismologist James Milne, named the boundary the Blakiston Line. Blakiston made the collection of 1,314 Japanese birds now held by Hokkaido University
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
5
and published a catalogue of Japanese birds. Among his other contributions to Hokkaido was the inauguration of a sailboat race in Hakodate harbour. #PQVJGTKORQTVCPV$TKVKUJſIWTGKP*QMMCKFQKPVJGUGGCTN[FC[UYCUC,* Thomson who founded a shipyard in Hakodate in 1865 to build Western-style ships, schooners and boats. The shipyard closed after Thompson’s death in 1888. But of all the Englishmen who have lived in and contributed to the development of Hokkaido perhaps the most devoted to this island was Dr John Batchelor who spent some sixty-four years here. His Ainu dictionary and his books about the Ainu and their folklore make him one of the outstanding scholars of the Ainu people and their language. I realise that the word Ainu is generally avoided these days and the word Dojin preferred. I would however point out that according to Batchelor the word Ainu comes from ‘Yainu’ meaning ‘to think’. There is nothing derogatory whatsoever in this word but I recognise that it has been generally avoided because of the danger of it being confused with the contemptuous and deplorable word ‘aino’ which appears to have come from the word ‘ainoko’ implying that the Ainu were descended from a dog and a woman. Batchelor resented this word as much as did the Ainu and was delighted when it was shown that Ainu were just as intelligent as Japanese. Alas, by the time this was recognised the race had been reduced to a few thousand and the existence of their separate culture and language was in real jeopardy. I hope that I shall be forgiven if in this paper I use the word Ainu rather than Dojin as Ainu was the word which Batchelor himself used in writing about the people and their language and I would stress that it was a word which he used with affection and respect. I have known about Dr Batchelor for a long time and as long ago as 1949 bought a copy of Batchelor’s The Ainu of Japan which was published in London in 1892. But I had not until recently given much thought to his life and work. It happens however that we now live in East Sussex in Southern England and I learnt D[EJCPEGNCUV[GCTVJCV&T$CVEJGNQTYCUDWTKGFKP7EMſGNF%GOGVGT[UQOG to 20 kilometres away from our home, and that there was a Memorial Stone to him in the churchyard there with a map of Hokkaido engraved on it. I then heard that there were some people called Batchelor living in our village of Vines Cross. They apparently had an old trunk of papers and photographs about Japan. When I made contact with them they agreed to let me go through the papers. Among the papers were copies of a typescript of some memoirs by Dr John Batchelor entitled ‘Steps by the Way’. These consisted of a series of what Batchelor called cameos and were reminiscences mainly about his early life in Japan. As however they had DGGPFKEVCVGFKPJKUſPCN[GCTUVJG[CTGWPUVTWEVWTGFCPFFKUEWTUKXG$WVYJGP I read them it occurred to me that Japanese in Hokkaido might be interested in some account of Batchelor’s life as revealed in these memoirs. However I did not want merely to repeat what was already known about Batchelor so I made some enquiries and found in the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London a book entitled John Batchelor, Ainu no Chichi published in 1963 by Professor Nitami Iwao, who was born in the same year as myself.
6
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
I also found that he had produced a book entitled Batchelor no Tegami. Professor Nitami’s biography is clearly based on much detailed research as well as on a piece of autobiography by Dr Batchelor published in 1928 entitled Waga Kioku wo Tadorite. I found that there were some differences between Batchelor’s recollections as recorded by Professor Nitami and Steps by the Way. The two books were written for different audiences and at different times. (Interestingly in Steps by the Way Batchelor never refers to Waga Kioku wo Tadorite.) In looking through Batchelor’s own books I also found that some of the anecdotes about the Ainu which he relates in Steps by the Way had appeared in some of his books on the Ainu; for instance in Ainu Life and Lore. Nevertheless, I felt that some account of Batchelor’s memories from Steps by the Way might be of interest. I have also been able to talk to Mrs Ellen Lloyd, a grand-niece of Dr Batchelor, who visited him in Hokkaido before the war and who was given a warm welcome when she revisited Hokkaido in the 1960s when her husband was the British Consul General in Osaka. In presenting the following account of Batchelor’s life I should like to emphasise that: (a) I do not claim to be a scholar of the Ainu or to be an expert like Professor Nitami on the life of Dr John Batchelor. (b) I am giving an account of his life as seen by Batchelor in old age. He was critical of the Japanese Government’s attitude towards the Ainu in the early days and these criticisms cannot be suppressed. John Batchelor was born on 20 March 1845 at Number 6 White Rails in UckſGNF5WUUGZYJGTGJKUHCVJGTYCUVJG2CTKUJ%NGTM*KUEJKNFJQQFUGGOUVQJCXG been uneventful until in 1873 at the age of nineteen he heard a sermon which FGVGTOKPGFJKOVQDGEQOGCOKUUKQPCT[*GUVWFKGFDTKGƀ[WPFGTVYQENGTI[men and at the college of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in Islington in London, but was not ordained at this time. On 22 September 1875, he went with a group of other young missionaries on the P & O ship Poona bound for Hong Kong. He arrived there after an uneventful but uncomfortable voyage on 11 November 1875. At Hong Kong he came under the tutelage of Bishop Burdon and began the study of Chinese. The Hong Kong climate did not, however, agree with him. He found that he could only breathe properly when he was up on the peak. He suffered from boils and from malaria. Early in March 1876 the doctor said that he must leave as soon as possible for a cooler climate and three hours later he was placed on a French ship bound for Yokohama, where he arrived on 21 March 1876. He was taken by the railway, which had only recently been constructed, to Tokyo to stay in Tsukiji with the Reverend John Piper who was the Secretary of the CMS. Professor Nitami explains that following a further medical examination it was considered that Batchelor should live in a more northern climate and this was why it was decided to send him to Hokkaido. However, owing to the troubles KP5QWVJGTP,CRCP YCUVJG[GCTQHVJG5GKPCP9CTKVYCUFKHſEWNVVQQDVCKP a passage to Hakodate in Hokkaido where he was being sent. But eventually on 10 April 1876 he boarded the Ocean Pearl a small American schooner.
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
7
There were only four members of the crew and Batchelor helped with the sails. They were becalmed for a couple of days and did not reach Hakodate until 1 May, 1876. Batchelor had now reached his new home where he was to remain, with brief intervals of leave in England, until 1942 when he was forced to leave for the last time. At Hakodate he was taken to the CMS House where the Reverend James Williams and his wife were in charge. He registered at the consulate where Mr Eusden was the British Consul. He also made the acquaintance of Bishop Nicolai of the Greek Orthodox Church and found that the sounds of their church bells reminded him of home. But he quarrelled with another Greek Orthodox priest who had asked him to go up to the top of the Hakodate Mountain and cast down the stone idols there into the sea. Batchelor refused, asking the priest how he would like it if someone broke into his room and destroyed his icons of the Virgin. $CVEJGNQTKOOGFKCVGN[UVCTVGFVQUVWF[,CRCPGUG*KUſTUVVGCEJGTYCUC/T6GTCVC who had been a member of the Hakodate garrison. Terata had hated the Christians CPFJCFCVſTUVFGVGTOKPGFVQMKNNVJG4GXGTGPF&GPKPIYJQYCUVJGPKPEJCTIGQH Hakodate. (Dening himself began the study of the Ainu language and remained with the CMS mission until 1 January 1883. Dening’s son, Walter, also became a missionary in Japan and wrote a book in English about Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His grandson, Esler Dening, joined the Consular Service and eventually became Ambassador to Japan from 1951 to 1956.) Batchelor recalls how Terata one day took him to the place outside *CMQFCVGYJGTGETWEKſZKQPUCPFGZGEWVKQPUCVVJG-WDKMKTKDCVQQMRNCEG He also describes a visit to the local market at the Eikokubashi where all UQTVUQHICOGCPFſUJYGTGQPUCNG*GUCYCFXGTVKUGFVJGTGŎPGYNCKFGIIUŏ and opposite the rather extraordinary sign ‘new laid milk’. He also visited Teramachi to see how the Buddhists went about their religion. Batchelor took other lessons from a Mr Ogawa, a refugee from Aizu after the defeat of his clan in the Boshin War of 1868. Batchelor comments that Ogawa had a good sense of humour (as did Batchelor himself). When rebuked by Batchelor for resting his head on a Chinese bible he responded by asking what better pillow could there be. Batchelor was shocked by another young Japanese with whom he was studying and who taught him the aphorism ‘Uso wa nihon no takara’.2 He YCUCNUQJQTTKſGFVQJGCTCOQVJGTUC[VQCOCKFYJQYCUVT[KPIVQIGVCEJKNF home ‘Damashite tsurete koi’.3 $CVEJGNQTOCFGJKUſTUVCESWCKPVCPEGYKVJ&QLKPQT#KPWKP*CMQFCVGKP He and Ogawa met two Ainu bear-hunters who had just sold the meat and skin. They wanted Batchelor to buy the gall-bladder which they said was good for stomach troubles. They explained they came from Piratori and Batchelor promised to pay them a visit as soon as he could. He described them thus: ‘They wore no head or foot gear and were dressed in coats woven from elm bark reaching just below the knees. They had well developed calves and stout arms well covered with hair. Their voices were gentle and their faces good tempered and well pleasing to look at.’ Thus began Batchelor’s affection for the Ainu.
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Batchelor seems to have made good progress with his Japanese but he confesses that he made some mistakes, such as when he asked a lady how many children UJGJCFWUKPIVJGPWOGTKECNENCUUKſGTŎ*KMKŏ4 He also had to learn the differences between men’s and women’s Japanese. So he decided that he needed a professional teacher. He secured the services of an ex-Samurai called Mr Jinno, but he offended the latter by talking back to his teacher. In 1877, Batchelor heard that all letters home reporting about his illness and despatches to Japan had been lost in a shipwreck. He was however still on the books of St Paul’s College in Hong Kong as Japan was at that time in the diocese of Bishop Burdon of Hong Kong. It was agreed that he would be paid a quarterly allowance for his keep. As it seemed now clear that he was to stay in Hokkaido JGFGVGTOKPGFVQIQVQ2KTCVQTKVQHWNſNJKURTQOKUGVQVJGDGCTJWPVGTU+PVJQUG FC[UWPFGTVJGſTUV%QOOGTEKCN6TGCVKGUDGVYGGP,CRCPCPFVJG9GUVGTP2QYGTU foreigners were not allowed outside the settlements or their immediate vicinity without special permission. Batchelor therefore had to obtain a passport. This he did for the purpose of studying the Ainu language. In the summer of 1877, he UGVQWVHTQO*CMQFCVGGPVKTGN[QPJKUQYP(QTVJGſTUVVJKTV[OKNGUJGYGPVKP a four-wheel carriage over rough roads. The next stage was by a one-pony twowheeled cart. There followed two stages on a pony. The post stations, he notes, were about twelve miles apart and the charge 6 sen a mile during the day and double after dark. He fastened two willow hampers on either side of the wooden pack-saddle on which he placed two cushions. Progress was slow. En route to Piratori he called at Sapporo to see a Mr Ito whom he had got to know in Hakodate. Ito was one of the thirty students then resident at the college (now the University of Hokkaido) at Sapporo where the population then was, Batchelor asserted, only about 2,600. Three days after leaving Sapporo he reached Piratori where he was given a warm welcome by the local Chief Penri and his wife, but Penri’s mother, the so-called Fuji or old grandmother, scowled ſGTEGN[CVJKO'XGPVWCNN[JGYGPVQHHVQC,CRCPGUGXKNNCIGUQOGVYGNXGOKNGUCYC[ and bought some sugar and tobacco. With these as presents he managed to obtain her goodwill. Penri’s greeting was to kiss the back of one of Batchelor’s hands while his wife gently stroked him down the sides of his coat. Penri then took Batchelor to the hearth and gave him a saké tub to sit on, there being neither stool, chair, table nor bedstead in the hut. When Batchelor asked for tea he found there was neither tea nor tea-pot so he opened his basket and produced a packet of Lipton’s tea. He found an empty CNEQJQNDQVVNGYJKEJCHVGTYCUJKPIYCUſNNGFYKVJHTGUJURTKPIYCVGT*GVJGPUVWEM KVKPVQVJGſTG9JGPKVYCUCVDQKNKPIRQKPVJGRWVUQOGVGCKPVJGPGEMCPFUJQQM KVYGNNŎ+PſXGOKPWVGUŏVKOG+FTCPMQPGQHVJGDGUVOWIUQHVGC+JCXGGXGTVCUVGFŏ When night came ‘a small platform was set up by the head of the hearth’ for him to sleep on. This was hard; so he was given a bear-skin on which to lie, but VJKUYCUHWNNQHƀGCU+PVJGOQTPKPIJKUUQEMUYGTGHWNNQHGCTYKIU.CVGTJG had some mats hung up round his bed to give him a little privacy and as defence
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
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against falling soot and insects. He noted that the husband, wife and daughters slept on the right-hand side of the hearth while the boys and men slept on the left-hand side. The hearth was sacred and Chief Penri was very punctilious in JKUFCKN[YQTUJKRQHVJGſTGQPJKUJGCTVJ6JGſTGKPKVUDWTPKPIUWDUVCPEGYCU ECNNGFŎ#DGŏDWVVJGURKTKVQHVJGſTGYCUŎ(WLKŏQTŎITCPFOQVJGTŏ2GPTKCNYC[U offered three drops of his stew to the Goddess of Fire and to the eastern corner before any guest was served. Over the years Batchelor developed a great respect and affection for Chief 2GPTKYJQFKGFQP0QXGODGTCVCDQWVGKIJV[ſXG[GCTUQHCIG2GPTK was, he declared, his closest friend among the Ainu, but Penri never became a Christian because he always adhered to his traditional practices. He also loved his UCMÃWPVKNJKUF[KPIFC[CPF$CVEJGNQTHQTJKURCTVYCUCſTOVGGVQVCNNGT$CVEJGlor even refused to sip a farewell drink with Penri when he went on home leave. Batchelor noted that Penri acted as a go-between for the Ainu in their relations with the Japanese. Penri presided at marriages, funerals and other ceremonies. He checked the Ainu garden plots. On ceremonial occasions Penri wore a Jimbaori given him by the Japanese as a sign of his authority. As a kind of local judge, he was responsible for awarding punishments. These YGTG WUWCNN[ $CVEJGNQT PQVGF ſPGU EQPUKUVKPI QH XCTKQWU JGKTNQQOU $WV HQT breaking into a food-store the points of the noses of the culprits were cut off and Chief Penri could be as severe as other Ainu chiefs. He was also, as Batchelor recorded in relation to a visit to Ainu in Sakhalin, just as venal as other people. Penri for his part clearly had a great affection for Batchelor. Penri noted the similarity between Ainu and English words such as ‘Wakka’ meaning ‘water’, ‘Chip’ meaning ‘ship’, ‘Tu’ for ‘two’ and ‘Re’ for ‘three’. He accordingly suggested on one occasion that Batchelor and he must be brothers and he wanted to pierce Batchelor’s ears to demonstrate their brotherhood. Of Penri’s wife, Crosia, Batchelor says: “She was of a very gentle dispoUKVKQP5JGYCURTQRGTN[VCVVQQGFQPJGTCTOUCPFſPIGTUCPFTQWPFJGT mouth. Her black hair was thick and coarse and reached to her shoulders as with the other native dames. Her voice was quite musical and her eyes brown and bright. Her smile was spoiled because of the tattoo incision gashes made round her lips. As in duty-bound she was always about her home attending to her housewifely needs or in her garden cultivating millet and vegetables. She told me that it was the woman’s part in life to provide all the family cereal and vegetable food while the work of the OGPEQPUKUVGFKPJWPVKPICPFſUJKPIUQCUVQQDVCKPCPKOCNHQQFŒ5JG eventually became a Christian. Batchelor soon learnt to eat the millet which was the staple food of the Ainu and thought it rather like porridge. There were good vegetables and occasionally bear-meat. He also had a little venison, badger and wild duck. Salmon and trout were caught in the rivers.
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$CVEJGNQTURGPVOQUVQHJKUVKOGUVWF[KPIVJG#KPWNCPIWCIG*GſTUVUVCTVGFD[ asking the names of objects around him such as sky (Kando), wood (Ni). He then went on to study the adjectives and verbs. After about 2 months he found that he could understand most of the stories told around the hearth in the evenings. Thus, he began his study of Ainu folklore and customs. His memoirs contain a number of folk stories but as most of them were included in one form or another in his books about the Ainu I do not need to repeat them here. But one or two of them are personal to Batchelor. He noted that one day when he was studying, a madman came to see him, said that he had lost his soul and asked Batchelor if he YQWNFVT[VQſPFKVHQTJKOCPFJCPIKVWRKPVJGTKIJVRNCEG6JKUJGNRGF$CVEJelor to understand the Ainu belief in devil possession. He noted in this context that in the Ainu language a fool was a Rama sakguru, i.e. someone without a soul or understanding. At Piratori, Batchelor once met a famous bear-hunter called Tunkamarek from a village called Oukotnai, seventeen miles up the Saru River from Piratori. Tunkamarek’s family kept a tiny bear cub as a pet until it was too big when it was placed in a cage prior to being killed and eaten. Batchelor noted that when a bear was taken, the villagers from round about came to the killer’s home and after the dead bear had been worshipped the meat was cut up and divided. Eventually, Tunkamarek wanted to be baptised but he was worried that his beloved dogs might not go to the same heaven with him. Batchelor, who himself had a favourite dog called Bess, understood this problem and told Tunkamarek that if for his happiness dogs were really needed in heaven then he was sure that God would ensure that dogs were there. Tunkamarek, before he got a gun, used to hunt bears with a bow and arrow and aconite poison. These he would use in specially made traps. In the end Tunkamarek died from an accident with one of his own poisoned arrows. One day when he was staying with Chief Penri, they were sitting by the hearth talking as usual when dust and soot suddenly began to fall upon them from inside the roof. On looking up to see what was happening they discovered a big snake worming its way along the inside thatch. The Chief had a long Japanese spear lying across the house beams which Batchelor quickly seized and pierced the reptile with it. To his great surprise the Chief roared out in anger because he said he had killed the snake with his spear. He now declared that the spear belonged to Batchelor and not to him. He disowned it altogether explaining, ‘Snake vengeance always falls on the person who possesses an instrument with which he has killed any of the snake kind. You killed that snake and the spear is yours. All vengeance will fall to you’. After some months at Piratori, Batchelor returned to Hakodate to continue his work at the mission there under Mr and Mrs Williams. In the summer of 1878, he set out on a second visit to Piratori. This time he travelled via Junsainuma and 1UCOCODGRCUUKPICNQPIVJGUGCUJQTGUGXGTCN,CRCPGUGCPF#KPWſUJKPIXKNNCIGU At Osamambe he met two Ainu elders at the porch to the Japanese inn as they
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
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were not permitted by Japanese custom to enter. They had brought bottles of Shochu to underline their welcome for Batchelor but the latter, because of his teetotal beliefs, had to refuse. However, he was pleased by the warmth of their greetings. From Osamambe he crossed the Repunge Pass where he found a dark and very dirty inn. His next stop was Usu where the inn was clean and spacious. Here he visited the Temple of Zenkoji. He also went to the nearby volcano which had once erupted and buried an Ainu village. On this visit he accompanied two Ainu men who were going up to the crater to worship there the Goddess of Fire. *KUſPCNUVQRYCUCV5CTWDKVQYJGTGJGHQWPFOCP[#KPWUWHHGTKPIHTQOOCNCTKC He used up his stock of quinine to treat them. On his arrival at Piratori, he was again received warmly and shown the room which at his own request, had, been made for him. It turned out to be a minute cubicle, 6 feet by 9 feet, with a low EGKNKPICPFCPKNNſVVKPIYKPFQYYKVJPQTQQOHQTUJGNXGU6JGTGYCULWUVTQQO for his camp bed but at least it gave him some privacy. He again stayed at Piratori for some months before returning to Hakodate. On JKUYC[DCEMJGECOGVQCTKXGTYJKEJJGJCFVQETQUUKPCƀCVDQVVQOGFDQCV*G was riding with his luggage on top of the pack-saddle. On reaching the boat he dismounted but his pony refused to go on to the ferry. The boatman told him to jump the horse into the boat. This he succeeded in doing but in the middle of the river the pony suddenly sprang into the water. So Batchelor and all his clothes, books, tea and sugar, went under the water and were soaked. However, at the inn on the other side he had a good meal while his clothes were drying. He was not however pleased to discover that the woodcock he was given to eat at the end had been found dead the previous day! He survived. In the following summer of 1879, Batchelor learnt that he had been accepted as a member of the CMS Mission in Japan and was asked to pay special attention to the Ainu. It is not clear whether he paid a further visit to Piratori that summer but until early 1880 he seems to have spent at least the winter months in Hakodate. He records that in 1879 the Denings had returned with their two daughters, son and a governess. A church was built in Hakodate to hold 250 people. At its opening in October 1879 the church bells were rung in celebration. But these were taken by local RGQRNGCUſTGDGNNUCPFRQNKEGCPFſTGGPIKPGUECOGTWUJKPIWR6JGEJWTEJJCF to promise not to ring the bells in future. However, only two months later on 6 December 1879, the church and the Dening’s house were consumed in a general EQPƀCITCVKQP+PVJGEQWTUGQHVJKU$CVEJGNQTOCPCIGFVQTGUEWGVJG&GPKPIEJKNdren from their house. The Denings then occupied the house at 25 Motomachi, Hakodate, which had been built for the Williams but which Batchelor had been using at the time. This was on the site of a former Russian hospital. Early in 1880, Batchelor again set out to re-visit his Ainu friends. This time he took the old route D[VJGUGCEQCUVCPFTGCEJGF6QOCMQOCKKPſXGFC[U Early in 1882, he returned to England. Professor Nitami recorded that Dening considered Batchelor uncouth and uneducated and had urged that Batchelor be given further training. While in England Batchelor studied at the CMS colleges at Islington
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and at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Batchelor was however back in Hakodate in February 1883 where the Reverend Walter Andrews was then in charge of the mission. The Reverend Andrews, whose wife had died leaving him with three children to look after, brought with him his sister, Louisa, to look after the children and help with the mission. Louisa was eleven years older than Batchelor, but they were soon engaged to be married and on 26 December 1883 he, the Reverend Andrews and Louisa left Hakodate together arriving four days later after bad weather at sea at Yokohama. On 31 December 1883, Louisa Andrews and John Batchelor were married at the British Legation in Tokyo. Batchelor records that the wedding took place at 7 a.m. on 1 January 1884, YKVJ$KUJQR2QQNGCPFVJG4GXGTGPF#PFTGYUQHſEKCVKPI6JG$TKVKUJ/KPKUVGT/TNG Peor Trench, gave a breakfast for them in the Legation dining room. After paying New ;GCTECNNUKP6QM[QVJG[URGPVVJGKTſTUVVYQPKIJVUVQIGVJGTCVVJG)TCPF*QVGNCV Yokohama, going off to Atami on 3 January for a week’s honeymoon before returning to Hakodate. At Hakodate, the newly-married couple occupied a house belonging to a Mr Thompson, an English shipbuilder. They found the house on the sea-shore very comfortable. Because of the cold, the rules forbidding foreigners to rent houses outside the settlements and the absence of passports, they were not immediately able to return to his Ainu haunts. So Batchelor sent to Piratori and persuaded Chief Penri to come to Hakodate. Batchelor then re-commenced his Ainu studies and began to translate portions of the New Testament and the Psalms into the Ainu language. At the same time he helped the Reverend Andrews with the work of the mission. So he had plenty to do. Mrs Batchelor for her part persuaded Penri to allow her to paint his portrait despite the Ainu fear of representations of themselves in photographs. In the spring of 1884, Batchelor applied once more to the British Consul, who was then Mr Woolley, for a new passport to re-visit the Ainu. But on this occasion the passport was refused as a law suit had been brought against Batchelor in the Consular Court. $TKVKUJEKVK\GPUYGTGCVVJCVVKOGWPFGTVJGſTUVVTGCVKGURTQXKFKPIHQTGZVTCVGTritorial jurisdiction, subject only to consular jurisdiction. Batchelor was accused of (1) having built a home in the interior (i.e. his tiny room 9 feet by 6 feet!), (2) having shot outside the Treaty limits (but he had both a passport and a gun licence for which he had paid 10 yen and he had only shot game for food on which to live), and (3) having out-stayed the time limit provided for in his permit. The third charge was the only substantial one but it was, Batchelor commented, based on a linguistic misunderstanding. When the Ainu witness brought against him said he had been in the house ‘Hito tsuki hambun’ this was interpreted as meaning a-month-and-a-half rather than half-a-month as it should have been. Batchelor accordingly protested against the trial being conducted in Japanese and asked that it should either be in English or in Ainu, but he was urged not to persist with this request. Batchelor did as he was asked and a mistake of a whole month was made in the charge. The case was then postponed for three weeks until the JapaPGUGEQWNFRTQFWEGCPGHſEKGPVKPVGTRTGVGT+PVJGGPF$CVEJGNQTŏUKPVGTRTGVCVKQP was proved correct and the charge fell through. The Consul asked the Japanese QHſEKCNYJQJCFDTQWIJVVJGECUGYJ[JGJCFFQPGUQ*GCVſTUVCTIWGFOGTGN[
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
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that ‘If Mr Batchelor has broken the law he should be punished for having done so.’ But he eventually admitted that the case had been brought by the Authorities because ‘Mr. Batchelor is trying to make the Ainu language live while we desire it to die out.’ 6JGQHſEKCNYCUFKURNGCUGFCVNQUKPIVJGECUGYJKEJJGCUUGTVGFYCUFWGVQKVUDGKPI brought under British law not Japanese law. He also asked if Mrs Batchelor could not be charged with contempt of court as she had sat knitting while the case was on! Before the case Chief Penri had called on Batchelor to tell him that he and other Ainu had been summoned to give evidence. Penri asked Batchelor what they should say. Batchelor sternly instructed him to tell only the truth! This was not the only occasion on which the Japanese authorities showed their opposition to Batchelor’s efforts to study the Ainu language. On one visit to Piratori Batchelor had told Penri that he wished to go up-river to visit other village chiefs. When Penri said that this was not permitted, Batchelor pointed out that his passport permitted him to visit the whole district and he was determined to go. Penri was clearly very upset and worried but in the end found a way round his instructions. He took Batchelor by boat on the grounds that his instructions had said that Batchelor was not to be taken by the path! It seems indeed that Penri was throughout instructed to keep an eye on Batchelor and to report his movements to the police. Batchelor also encountered a good deal of opposition from Japanese people in Hokkaido to his efforts to preach Christianity. When one Japanese warned Penri not to teach Batchelor the Ainu language or allow him to preach, Batchelor told Penri to IQVQVJG/QODGVUWRQNKEGUVCVKQPVQEQPſTOVJGNGICNRQUKVKQP On another occasion, a Japanese forced his way into Penri’s house and sat on Batchelor’s old saké tub inveighing against the Christians and the foreigners. Batchelor eventually got rid of the unwanted visitor. After the visitor had left Mrs Penri, to show her contempt, turned her backside towards the door and gave it a smack. As soon as the law suit was settled, Batchelor again applied for a passport which was granted. They went via Bembe and Sapporo to Piratori where Mrs Batchelor was well TGEGKXGFD[VJG#KPWNCFKGUQHVJGXKNNCIG5JGYCUVJGſTUV9GUVGTPYQOCPVJG[JCF seen. Mrs Batchelor found their tiny rooms much too small and sitting in the smokey hut hurt her eyes. They therefore went on to Nikap where an Ainu who had two Japanese-style rooms let them have these for a month. They made many Ainu acquaintances VJGTGCPFKPFWGEQWTUGOCFGOQTGVJCPſHV[EQPXGTVUCV0KMCR After a pleasant month at Nikap, Mr and Mrs Batchelor set out on their return journey to Hakodate. After two days journey they reached Horobetsu, some twelve miles from Muroran. Here they had to stay for a few days as Batchelor YCUCHƀKEVGFD[CDQKNQPJKUDQVVQO9JKNGJGTGUVGFJKUYKHGUMGVEJGFCNKVVNG house behind the inn. The lady of the house noted Mrs Batchelor frequently stooping towards her sketch-book, thought that these were bows, and responded accordingly to these friendly gestures! She later called and her husband turned out to be the mayor of the village. Meanwile, an elderly Ainu called on Batchelor for a friendly chat. At the end of the conversation he expressed his condolences on Batchelor’s boil, but urged
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him to be comforted as the Ainu have a saying that when boils come this was a sign of a good bean crop! Later, the Ainu head-man called and offered to make a lean-to at the end of his house for the Batchelors if they would stay. There would be a study/dining room, a bedroom, a kitchen and lavatory ready for them the following spring. Batchelor accepted this offer. On 21 March 1886, the Batchelors, having got new passports, set off once again for Horobetsu to occupy their lean-to. Batchelor noted, ‘Comparing this to Chief Penri’s very smokey hut, 9 foot by 6 foot room, and the smarting eyes one got there, we were in bliss.’ Batchelor had indeed begun to suffer from semi-permanent laryngitis as a result of talking in smokey huts. Horobetsu at this time was a ‘mixed XKNNCIGQH#KPWCPF,CRCPGUGſUJGTOGPYKVJCUJQRQTVYQCPFCFQEVQT6JG[ were also not far from Muroran where there was a ship’s chandler’. In the river by Muroran there were salmon but there was no bridge and the river had to be forded QTETQUUGFD[HGTT[1PEGYJGP$CVEJGNQTYCUHQTFKPIVJGTKXGTJKUJQTUGƀQRRGF down into the water and began to roll around. Batchelor jumped off, but all he could do was to stand in the water holding the reins until his horse had had enough. Batchelor indeed seems to have had a lot of trouble with the ponies he had to use in Hokkaido. And Mrs Batchelor clearly disliked riding them. Some of VJGOUGGOVQJCXGDGGPRTGVV[FKHſEWNVDGCUVU1PGYCUUQDCFVJCV$CVEJGNQT named the horse Beelzebub —‘he was a very demon. A cunning, spiteful, wicked DGCUV#UUQQPCU+OQWPVGFJKOJGICXGOGCſGPFKUJNQQMCPFVTKGFVQPKRO[ HQQV$GHQTGYGIQVYGNNCYC[+UCYJKUGCTUHCNNƀCVQPJKUJGCFYJGPJGCICKP showed the whites of his eyes, bared his great yellow teeth and attempted another nip.’ Later, he got another nag to ride. This one had a trick of suddenly bolting forward and then as suddenly stopping. Yet another would rush among the trees and shrubs trying to brush Batchelor out of the saddle. Shiraoi, near Horobetsu, was another Ainu settlement and Batchelor was soon active as a preacher there. It had only been in 1885 however (the previous year) VJCVCHVGTPKPG[GCTUQHYQTMJGJCFOCFGJKUſTUVEQPXGTV$WVJGYCUPQV[GV ordained as a priest and baptism had to be given in Hakodate by the Reverend Andrews, Batchelor’s brother-in-law. Back in Horobetsu in 1887 Batchelor had a visit from the Reverend F. Wigram from CMS in London. Wigram was shocked by Batchelor’s accommodation and told him to get better quarters, but Batchelor’s passport did not permit him to hire or build a house and he had to put up with what he had got. Another visitor that summer was the famous Japanologist, Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, who was on his way to Sapporo. Chamberlain spent three weeks with the Batchelors studying the Ainu language. As they had no spare bedstead or bedroom, the Batchelors borrowed six empty saké barrels, put a few boards and tatami on them, and made Chamberlain a sleeping place in their study bedroom. Chamberlain was suffering from insomnia at the time but he slept well enough and Batchelor put this down to the fumes of the saké from the barrels!
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
15
At Horobetsu the Batchelors employed the head-man’s brother-in-law, Parapita, as ‘horse tender’ and his wife as helper in the house. Batchelor also secured a small plot of land on which he planted potatoes, but his Ainu helper refused VQOCPWTGVJGITQWPFDGECWUGŎ+VYQWNFDGCPKPUWNVVQVJG)QFUVQURTGCFſNVJ on the ground. They would give what they wanted us to have of their own free YKNNŒ5Q$CVEJGNQTFKFVJGOCPWTKPIJKOUGNHCPFCUCTGUWNVIQVCIQQFETQR*G also bought some ducks which he trained to walk in a row but they played truant QPGFC[CPFIQTIGFVJGOUGNXGUVQ$CVEJGNQTŏUFKUIWUVQPſUJGPVTCKNU$CVEJGNQT was not however only a farmer. He soon hired a room nearby in which to hold meetings and Mrs Batchelor formed a choir to sing hymns in the Ainu language. +P&GEGODGTJGCVNCUVVQQMVJGſTUVUVGRVQDGEQOKPICRTKGUVYJGPJGYCU ordained deacon by Bishop Bickersteth in St Andrew’s Church in Shiba, Tokyo. On the Batchelor’s return to Hokkaido in 1888 he worked in Hakodate, Horobetsu, Piratori (where the meeting house was then established), Nikap and Kushiro. Finally, in December 1889 he was ordained priest and immediately left for England on home leave. (Batchelor does not explain why it took so long for him to be ordained, but Mrs Lloyd thinks that he may have hesitated as he wanted to devote his life to the Ainu and may have feared that as an ordained priest he would be more restricted in what JGEQWNFFQ9JKNGKP'PINCPFQPVJKUQEECUKQP$CVEJGNQTVTCPUNCVGFVJGſTUVVJTGG Gospels and the Book of Jonah into the Ainu language. In 1891, the Batchelors returned to work in Hakodate, Horobetsu, Usu, Piratori and 0KMCROCMKPI7UWVJGKTJGCFSWCTVGTUQPVJKUQEECUKQP$CVEJGNQTYJQJCFſTUVUGGP Usu in 1877 described it as one of the most beautiful villages he had ever seen. Converts remained few and Batchelor recorded that it was only in 1896 that his two servants and their adopted daughter, Yaeko, were baptised by Bishop Bickersteth. It seems to have been about this time that Batchelor was approached by a Japanese farmer who asked him to go to his village some eight miles away and instruct the villagers in the Christian faith. Batchelor was delighted to comply and rode there once a week whatever the weather. After three months the farmer told him the villagers were ready to be baptised and wanted to know how much money Batchelor would give them! Batchelor concealed his surprise and asked how much the farmer expected. The farmer replied 25 yen for himself, 20 yen for so-and-so, 15 for someone else and 10 for another. Batchelor had to disappoint them! At another time a Japanese called and asked if Batchelor would send a teacher to his village as they had neither priest nor temple and wanted someone to bury their dead and read the sutras! Batchelor meanwhile continued his work on the Ainu language and his translation of the New Testament into Ainu appeared in 1897. In his memoirs he sadly records that the translations had become obsolete as the Ainu language ceased to be used and was superseded by Japanese. Batchelor recorded a story against himself at this time. While at Usu he was affected one day by the smoke, while preaching and he borrowed a kotatsu to use as a seat. The frame, however, broke with a loud snap and in the middle of his sermon he landed on his bottom with his legs in the air!
16
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
In 1891, the Japanese Authorities gave Batchelor permission, at the request of the college students there, to reside at Sapporo where his stated objective was that he should do temperance work. The Batchelors arrived from Hakodate via Otaru on the Takasago Maru and on 2 January 1892 took up residence near the University Gardens where there were the remains of one or two pit dwellings. Batchelor started to hold services and Mrs Batchelor to teach knitting and foreign cooking. 6JGKTſTUV,CRCPGUGEQPITGICVKQPKP5CRRQTQCUUGODNGFKPVJGKTJQOGQP,WN[ 1892 with three Ainu and fourteen Japanese present. Batchelor continued to travel among the Ainu whom he found ‘in a very sorry plight. They were poor and with no legal standing.’ There were he noted no schools in the villages, nor doctors, medicines or hospitals. In 1895, he managed to hire a plot of land near his house and built a small rest-house so that such of their Ainu friends as were sick could come in from the mountains and get medical treatment. Batchelor particularly commended the work of one of his Japanese doctor friends, a Dr Sekiba of the City Hospital, who attended the patients free of charge. It was not an easy task to treat these Ainu patients as they lacked the basic education needed to understand the way medicine worked. One man who had been given medicine for three days took it all in one go thinking that he would be able to get well quicker and go home sooner. Fortunately he survived. Another was so distressed at being given sweet medicine that he was sure the demons of sickness would never leave him. So Batchelor had to get some bitter medicine for him. Others would continue to combine Western medicines with traditional remedies such as slithers of stag horn or of the bill of a large sea fowl. Soon after the rest-house had been established Mrs Batchelor set up a school for Ainu girls. In 1896, the Batchelors were joined by a Miss E.M. Bryant, an Australian, who had trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London. After studying the Ainu language for eighteen months with the Batchelors, she moved to Piratori where she established a bible class. She remained in Hokkaido working among the Ainu until 1922 when she YCUUKZV[ſXGCPFTGVKTGFVQ'PINCPF5JGFKGFKP,CPWCT[CVVJGCIGQHUGXGPty-seven. In 1903, at the request of Professor Starr of Chicago and of Baron Sonoda, the Governor of Hokkaido, the Batchelors got together a few Ainu to attend an exposition in St. Louis. In 1907, Batchelor was given permission to visit the Ainu in Sakhalin. Batchelor records that while staying at Otomari on his return, the Governor asked him to address the judges and police on matters Ainu and in particular on how the Ainu should be treated. Batchelor’s work was now beginning to receive the recognition it deserved and in June 1909, while on home leave in England, he was awarded by the Japanese Government the Fourth Class of the Order of the Sacred Treasure. On his way back to Hokkaido in 1910 he had the JQPQWTQHDGKPIRTGUGPVGFVQVJG'ORGTQT/GKLKCVCPQHſEKCNICTFGPRCTV[*G records that he felt a thrill of excitement running through his hands. This may have had something to do with the special sensitivity he felt in his hands. This apparently gave him an ability to treat sufferers from migraine and stomach disorders. Mrs Lloyd records that when he felt the power coming on in his hands and
DR. JOHN BATCHELOR, BRITISH SCHOLAR AND FRIEND OF THE NATIVES
17
did not have the occasion to use it he became very uncomfortable experiencing ‘pins and needles’ in his hands. Mrs Lloyd has also told me that Dr Batchelor had a ‘sixth sense’ or ‘hunches’. For instance with Hirohito according to her he warned the then Emperor (presumably Emperor) not to visit one of the places on his schedule as an attack would be made on him. The warning proved correct. In 1911, Bishop Andrews was appointed to the diocese of Hokkaido and after a time decided to move from Hakodate to Sapporo. So the Batchelors gave up their house and moved to Usu, building a new house there. The Bishop soon found Sapporo less convenient than he expected and returned to Hakodate. The Batchelors, however, decided to stay on at Usu where Mrs Batchelor ran a bible class and sewing school. A few years later, however, they returned once again to Sapporo. $CVEJGNQTPQVGUVJCVJGQHſEKCNN[TGVKTGFKP 2TQHGUUQT0KVCOKIKXGUVJG date as 1923) but he continued to work for the Ainu, being appointed a member of the Ainu Education Protection and Social Service. In 1923, he was received by the Crown Prince, later, Emperor (Akihito).* And in 1924 he built a dormitory for Ainu students at Sapporo. In 1932, he was granted 1,000 yen from His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu to further his studies of the Ainu language and culture. In 1933, he was promoted to the Third Class of the Order of the Sacred Treasure and in 1936 before leaving for England he was invited to a banquet given D[VJG'ORGTQTHQTVJGQHſEGTUQHVJGCTO[CPFEKVK\GPUQH5CRRQTQ+P1EVQDGT 1936, he dined with the Emperor and had the honour of ‘Addressing his Majesty on the Ainu’. In 1937, he was recognised in his own country by being appointed D[VJG-KPICP1HſEGTQHVJG1TFGTQHVJG$TKVKUJ'ORKTG Mrs Batchelor died in 1936 at the age of ninety-three and was buried at Maruyama in Sapporo. Mrs Lloyd has told me that despite the difference in age and the absence of children of their own, John and Louisa Batchelor had a very happy marriage. Louisa $CVEJGNQTYCUVQWIJCPFKPVTGRKFRWVVKPIWRYKVJOCP[FKUEQOHQTVUCPFFKHſEWNVKGUKP supporting Dr Batchelor in his endeavours for the Ainu. Towards the end of her life she suffered from heart trouble. To help her upstairs Dr Batchelor contrived a machine with ropes and handle to wind her up and down stairs. In 1937, Batchelor brought out to Hokkaido his niece, Miss Andrews, to help with his scholarly work. He remained in Japan until 1941 when he had to leave VJGNCPFCPFRGQRNGJGJCFEQOGVQNQXG6JG[YGPVſTUVVQ%CPCFCYJGTGVJG[ spent some time hoping for an early end to the war and the chance to return to ,CRCP$WVKPVJGGPFVJG[YGPVQPVQ'PINCPFƀ[KPIJQOGXKC2QTVWICN$CVEJelor died at the old family home in Hertford on 2 April 1944, aged ninety, but YCUCU+JCXGUCKFDWTKGFCV7EMſGNFJKUDKTVJRNCEG Batchelor must have been greatly saddened at the attitude of the Japanese regime towards his church and Christians generally in the years before the last war. He must also have felt some bitterness at being forced to leave his Ainu and Japanese friends and the land where he had spent most of his life. But his memoirs contain no words of reproach or of bitterness against Japan. Nor does he com-
18
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
ment on the comparative failure of his efforts to convert the Ainu to Christianity and temperance or on the number of relapses among those who were baptised. But it is clear that for Batchelor the greatest cause for sadness was the decline in the numbers of Ainu people, in Ainu culture and in the use of the Ainu language to whose study he had dedicated so much time and effort.
NOTES *. 1. 2. 3. 4.
sic Akihito was not born untill 1933. Hirohito was Crown Prince in 1923. Shoken = securities, bills uso wa nihon no takara = ‘lies are Japan’s treasure’ damashite tsurete koi = ‘deceive the child and bring him here’ hikiPWOGTCNENCUUKſGTHQTCPKOCNU
Source: Foreign Pioneers: A Short History of the Contribution of Foreigners to the Development of *QMMCKFQ Hokkaido Prefectural Government, 1968, 85–95
32
Thomas Wright Blakiston: The Blakiston Line
A SOLDIER WHO LOVED WILD BIRDS
THOMAS WRIGHT BLAKISTONYCUVJGſTUVRGTUQPVQGUVCDNKUJVJCVCPKOCNUKP
Hokkaido belong to the Northern Asian family and differ in appearance from those in Honshu. As a result of Blakiston’s work, the narrow sea called the Tsugaru Straits, which divides Hokkaido from Honshu, became known as an important border in the distribution of animal species. The straits are internationally known in biology as the ‘Blakiston Line’ +VYCUKPCVVJGCIGQHVYGPV[GKIJVVJCVVJKUTGOCTMCDNGOCPſTUVECOGVQ Hokkaido. A former soldier, he was then called Captain Thomas Wright Blakiston. Born of noble family in Lymington, Hampshire, England, he came into the world on 27 December, 1832. Brought up in a wealthy family, he was interested from early childhood in birds. In his youth he entered the Royal Military Academy and became a soldier. In 1854, when England fought against Russia, he went VQVJGHTQPVKPVJG%TKOGCCUCPCTVKNNGT[QHſEGTCPFYCURTQOQVGFVQECRVCKP because of distinguished service. After retiring from the army Blakiston went to Canada, joining the Pareeza expeditionary force which was engaged mostly in surveying. He also studied the wild birds he had been interested in since childhood, writing a notable essay on Canadian birds in Ibis, a world-famous ornithological magazine. From Canada he went to the East, investigating the upper banks of the Yangtze River in China, then under the Ching Dynasty. At the same time, he studied the Miao people, making the results of his study public through the Royal Geographical Society of England and receiving a reward from the society. Soldier that he was, Blakiston was also an excellent scholar. But he came to Japan not as a scholar or soldier but as a businessman. He intended originally to operate a lumbering mill in Eastern Siberia. 19
20
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
RESIDENCE IN HAKODATE
For that purpose, he returned once again to England from China, obtained all the machines and tools necessary for lumbering, and sent them on board three ships around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean, and to the East. With his wife, he himself made his way on land across Siberia. At that time, there was no Siberian railway and he had a very hard trip. At last, however, he managed to arrive at the mouth of the Amur River. He wanted to wait for the arrival of the ships he had dispatched earlier in order to start lumbering there, cutting down the rich forests on the Siberian coast of the Okhotsk Sea. But, unable to obtain permission from the Russian government, he was obliged to go to Hokkaido, and settled at Hakodate. Such was his story up to 1861. Having unloaded all the lumbering machinery at Hakodate, Blakiston started cutting the abundant forests in Hokkaido and made plans to send the lumber to China, where wood was in short supply. Such was the beginning of sawing lumber by machinery in Japan. But in those days transportation was so poor that his raw timber resouces soon became scarce. In 1879, he had to close the saw mill at *CMQFCVGCPFOQXGQPVQ-WUJKTQ#V-WUJKTQJQYGXGTJGCICKPHQWPFKVFKHſcult to transport the lumber and eventually had to give up lumbering altogether as uneconomical. 4GVWTPKPIVQ*CMQFCVGJGGUVCDNKUJGFVJGUJKRRKPIſTOQH$NCMKUVQP/CTT & Company, a joint investment with Marr, a friend of his. The company was awarded contracts as a regular line along the coast of Hokkaido with three ships of its own, the Akindo-maru, the Asuri-maru, and the Kankai-maru. They also transported the products of Hokkaido to Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki, and occasionally engaged in exporting various products of the sea to Chefoo and Hong Kong in China. While he was still in the lumbering business, an unusual incident occurred. A battle had broken out in Hakodate and Blakiston agreed to transport military supplies on his ships from Yokohama to Hakodate. In those days, foreign ships were privileged with extraterritorial jurisdiction, and thus ran no risk of being caught. Furthermore, many soldiers of the rebellion asked Blakiston for his help and made narrow escapes to Aomori on board his ships. Many Japaneses families who were on good terms with Blakiston and were thus able to escape capture and war damage, all this because Blakiston, who wisely utilized his privileges as a foreigner, treated the interests of his friends as his own. Thus, he was greatly trusted by many citizens of Hakodate.
THE INTRODUCTION OF MODERN METEOROLOGY TECHNIQUES
There lived in Hakodate a man called Tokichi Yanagida who was on especially friendly terms with Blakiston. Yanagida was from Morioka and had come to Hakodate some six years before Blakiston. He had been engaged in trading, under
THOMAS WRIGHT BLAKISTON
21
the company name of ‘Yanagiya’. Becoming friendly with Blakiston, Yanagida made use of Blakiston’s ships in transporting the tangle, salmon, and herring of Hokkaido to Honshu and bringing back rice and oranges. He became a wellknown merchant, thanks to Blakiston’s kind help, carrying on a wide trade with merchants in China. It is said that Yanagida was even taught by Blakiston how to wear foreign-style clothes. A man called Seiichi Momokawa from Aomori also came to know Blakiston well and learned mathematics, modern surveying, and English from him in 1866. In 1859, a meteorological observatory was established at Hakodate when it became an open port for foreign ships. Nagasaki and Yokohama also became open ports at that time. Hakodate was very poorly equipped. Voluntarily working in the observatory, Blakiston brought new instruments from England and in fact helped greatly in setting up modern methods of weather observation. In fact, this soldier, scholar and businessman made the acquaintance of many Japanese and tried in various ways to introduce Western culture to Japan. In 1869, a man called Kahei Nakagawa, inspired by Blakiston’s example, also started an ice DWUKPGUUOCMKPIWUGQHVJGOQCVQHVJG)QT[QMCMWHQTVTGUU6JKUYCUVJGſTUVKEG business in Japan to be run by a Japanese. As an engineer, Blakiston made plans for the water supply and the harbour of Hakodate that proved to be important foundations of the planning carried on by the Kaitakushi. Blakiston’s achievements have unfortunately not been so well known, because most of the foreign advisors to the Kaitakushi at that time were Americans and YGTGCEVKPIKPCPQHſEKCNECRCEKV[$WVJGKVYCUYJQKPVTQFWEGF9GUVGTPEWNVWTG KPVQ*CMQFCVGPQVCDN[KPƀWGPEKPIFCKN[NKHGVJGTG
UNSUCCESSFUL IN BUSINESS BUT FAMOUS OTHERWISE
Blakiston was a strict gentleman who did not drink or smoke. His only fault was his short temper, and his marriage was not a happy one. Because of his temper, his wife, who herself was somewhat nervous, divorced him and went back to England. When one of his servants who had been scolded by him committed suicide, Blakiston had to defend himself in court. However, he was very kind to the citizens and was a ‘boss-type’, so to speak, in the Japanese style. One incident showing this was the sailboat race he sponsored in Hakodate Bay where he gave sizeable prize money to the winners, thus patronizing the improvement of sailboats. While he was working at Hakodate as a merchant, Blakiston also studied birds, publishing some essays on the subject. Visiting remote and isolated inland areas of Hokkaido and Honshu as well, he made close observations of nature, leaving OCP[XCNWCDNGTGEQTFU#DQXGCNNJKUCEEQWPVECNNGFő,CRCP5GGPKP*QMMCKFQŒ is an excellent piece of writing on the natural phenomena of Hokkaido in the early Meiji period. It is now preserved in the Hakodate Library.
22
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
It is said that Blakiston unsuccessfully invested large sums of money in business. But not all of the money he brought from his homeland was spent on business. In fact, he lavished a considerable sum of money on his hobby, the study of birds. Although he was not successful in business, he became world-famous in ornithology. In 1884, he terminated his work in Hokkaido, where he had lived for twenty-three years, and left for America. He then went home to England, but returned VQ#OGTKECCICKP#VVJGCIGQHſHV[VYQJGOCTTKGFVJGUGEQPFGNFGUVUKUVGTQH Edwin Dun, another man who spent his later life in Japan, contributing to the colonization of Hokkaido as an employee of the Kaitakushi. Blakiston spent the rest of his life in the West of the United States, living in San Diego, Calif. He died CVVJGCIGQHſHV[GKIJVHTQORPGWOQPKCQP1EVQDGT In August 1911, twenty years after Blakiston’s death, a memorial meeting was held in Hakodate. To talk of Blakiston’s great achievements, many celebrities assembled, including the British Consul and Professor Saburo Hatta of the Agricultural Department of Tohoku Imperial University (the present Hokkaido University), who was a leading authority in zoology.
SPECIMENS PRESENTED
Blakiston, noted for the ‘Blakiston Line’ and other pioneering observations, also preserved many bird specimens, and 1,331 specimens of his collection are now in the museum attached to the Agricultural Dept. of Hokkaido University. They are undamaged and almost in their original condition, and serve as important data for ornithological study. Blakiston collected and stuffed the specimens himself, which even a hundred years later are considered very excellent work. Naritoyo Fukushi, a surveying engineer from the Kaitakushi, helped Blakiston as an assistant in collecting wild birds in Hokkaido. In return Blakiston favoured Fukushi very much, teaching him the techniques of surveying and secrets of taxidermy. $NCMKUVQPVTKGFVQUGPFJKUſTUVURGEKOGPUD[UJKRVQVJG$TKVKUJ/WUGWO Unfortunately, however, the ship was caught in a typhoon and many of the specimens were damaged or lost, some of them being sent back to him. He then decided he had better give the valuable specimens he had collected as a gift to the town of Hakodate, where he had been treated with so much good-will, rather than sending them to England at such great risk. In 1880, he contributed 1,338 specimens of stuffed birds and animals to the Kaitakushi. In return for his contribution, the -CKVCMWUJKVTKGFVQRTGUGPVJKOUQOGUGCQVVGTUMKPUDWVJGſTON[TGHWUGFVJGO accepting only a trigonometric survey map and two letters of appreciation, one in English and the other in Japanese. 6JGURGEKOGPUJGEQPVTKDWVGFYGTGſTUVRTGUGTXGFKPVJG*CMQFCVGOWUGWO under the jurisdiction of the Kaitakushi. When the Hokkaido government was
THOMAS WRIGHT BLAKISTON
23
properly established in 1886, following Hokkaido’s division into three prefectures, the museum was sold to Hakodate. But the town used the museum as an exhibition gallery for marine products, and the specimens contributed by Blakiston were transferred to the Hakodate Commercial School, obviously not appreciated for their true value. The Hakodate Commercial School did not take good care of Blakiston’s collection, even losing the attached list ultimately. A Mr. Thompson, an Englishman who visited Hakodate and saw this, was so surprised and angry that he insisted QPNQFIKPICUVTKEVQHſEKCNRTQVGUVYKVJVJGCWVJQTKVKGUKPEJCTIGCICKPUVUWEJNQQUG administration. But, because of somebody’s arbitration, the matter was settled amicably. Later, in 1895, Blakiston’s collection was divided into three parts; one was left in Hakodate Middle School, another was moved to Sapporo Middle School and the rest to the Sapporo Agricultural School, and the specimens were in even further danger of being damaged or lost. In 1908, Professor Saburo Hatta of the Sapporo Agricultural School, ashamed of the fact that the specimens contributed by Blakiston were under such lax care, KPUKUVGFYKVJUQOGFKHſEWNVKGUQPJCXKPIVJGYJQNGEQNNGEVKQPDTQWIJVWPFGTVJG charge of the Agricultural Dept. of Tohoku Imperial University (the former Sapporo Agricultural school). These are the specimens now preserved in the museum of the Agricultural Dept. of Hokkaido University. Although seven of them are missing, the rest have been preserved, with labels in Blakiston’s own writing.
THE BLAKISTON LINE
With excellent foresight, Professor Hatta recognized the permanent value of Blakiston’s specimens and kept strict supervision of them. In 1932, the specimens YGTGQHſEKCNN[OCFGRWDNKEVQVJGUEKGPVKſEYQTNFDGKPIDTQWIJVWRVQFCVGYKVJ VJGCFFKVKQPQHUEKGPVKſENKUVURTGRCTGFD[6GVUWQ+PWMCK EJKGHQHVJGOWUGWO and successor to Hatta), who was assisted by Yoshimaro Yamashina, one of the authorities of the Ornithological Society of Japan. $NCMKUVQPQHVGPRWDNKUJGFKPUEKGPVKſEOCIC\KPGUTGEQTFUQHJKUGZRNQTCVKQPU and his study of birds and animals in Hokkaido. The name ‘Blakiston Line’ was FGTKXGFHTQOCPGUUC[QHJKURWDNKUJGFD[VJG#UKCVKE5QEKGV[QH,CRCPCUEKGPVKſE group organized at the time by some European and American scholars in Japan who lived mainly around Tokyo and Yokohama. The subject of the essay is the ‘Zoological Evidence of the Japanese Islands and the Asian Continent Having Been Connected in Ancient Times’. The essay was published in 1883. It received extraordinary attention and all the people who were EQPEGTPGFYKVJUWEJOCVVGTUTGEQIPK\GFYKVJMGGPKPVGTGUVVJGITGCVUEKGPVKſE UKIPKſECPEGQHVJG6UWICTW5VTCKVUYJGTGWRQPCVCUWIIGUVKQPHTQO,QJP/KNPG a noted seismologist who then lived in Japan, they decided to call the Tsugaru Straits the ‘Blakiston Line’, in order to honour Blakiston for a great achievement.
24
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
At the time when Blakiston worked in Hokkaido as a businessman, nobody had ever investigated nature in Hokkaido. Then came this man, with wide experience through explorations of the Yangtze River and Canada. Attracted by the charm of nature in Hokkaido, he devoted himself to a full study of its birds and animals. +PVJQUGFC[UUEKGPVKſEUVWF[KP,CRCPYCUUVKNNKPKVUKPHCPE[CPFRGQRNGQPN[ vaguely recognized that the animals in Hokkaido were different from those in Honshu. Blakiston discovered many remarkable things, such as the fact that the bears and wolves in Hokkaido belong to Asian species, closely resembling those in Siberia, while in Honshu there live Japanese bears and wolves of very different appearance from those in Hokkaido. Furthermore, he found that monkeys do not live in Hokkaido, the Straits being the northernmost limit for simians. Blakiston connected these facts to the origin of the islands of Japan. The main import of the Blakiston Line thesis is that, noting the geological fact that the Mamiya and the Soya Straits are shallower than that of the Tsugaru, the latter existed in ancient times, when Sakhalin and Hokkaido were peninsulas of the Asian continent, separated by the Japan Sea from the main islands of Japan. The theory also states that animals in the northern continent were prevented from going south because of the Tsugaru Straits, and animals in the southern area were prevented from coming up north for the same reason. It further maintains that, because of the geological change caused later with the appearance of the Mamiya and the Soya Straits, Sakhalin and Hokkaido respectively became islands, and animals then living in those islands were left there, producing the distribution seen today.
HONOUR CAME BY BIRDS
Blakiston published surveying records, various essays on birds in Japan and some accounts of his explorations in the Tohoku district, besides the accounts of his expedition along the Yangtze River and his essays on birds in Canada. But it was the so-called ‘Blakiston Line’ essay on the Tsugaru Straits that brought him everlasting fame. He showed admirable insights in his travels across Siberia, capped D[JKUUEKGPVKſEJ[RQVJGUGU /QUVQHJKUUEKGPVKſEGUUC[UCTGPQYUVQTGFKPVJG*CMQFCVG%KV[.KDTCT[ together with his favourite hunting gun, bullet-bag, collection-bag, whip, telescope, stick and some bills he issued. Kenzo Okada, a former chief of the library, devoted extraordinary efforts to collecting these things. The total number of specimens collected and stuffed by Blakiston amounts to several thousand, including the 1,331 birds mentioned above, which are now stored in the museum of Hokkaido University. Others were sent and stored in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, U.S.A., some in the British Museum in London, and some in Paris. All of them are very valuable evidence concerning the famous Blakiston distribution-line of animals.
Source: The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London, Trübner & Co., 1867
33
Hakodadi: General Geographical Description
W.F. MAYERS, H.B. DENNYS & C. KING
HAKODADI,
OR, AS it is more properly pronounced and spelt, Hakodate, is the most Northern of the treaty ports in Japan, and is situated in the South of Yesso on the straits of Sangar, which separate that island from the larger CPFOQTGKORQTVCPVQPGQH0KRJQP+VNKGUKPNCVuŏŒ0CPFNQPIu ŏŒ'CPFKURNGCUCPVN[RNCEGFQPVJGUJQTGUQHVJG*CTDQWTQHVJGUCOG name, which, bounded on the North and West by the main land, and on the East and South East by the isthmus and promontory of Hakodadi head, is an almost land-locked bay, and but for its exposure to the winds that blow from VJG2CEKſECETQUUVJGKUVJOWUOKIJVTCPMYKVJVJGDGUVKPVJG'ORKTG*KVJGTVQ KVJCUDGGPEJKGƀ[WUGFCUCTGUQTVD[YJCNGTUCPFQVJGTXGUUGNUVTCFKPIKPVJG Northern seas. It is somewhat out of the way on account of there being no regular communication as yet established, the arrival of a mail by some chance ship being quite an event to the community. The anchorage is good, having a fair holding ground of black mud with 5 or 6 fathoms of water. The whole of the surrounding country is very hilly and highly volcanic, but the range of mountains lying to the North of the bay slope down to a well-cultivated plain intersected by numerous small rivers, which, with the isthmus, forms the boundary of the waters of the bay to the North and East. Beyond this range lies an undulating country, the valleys of which are occupied by several beautiful lakes surrounded by wooded hills and most picturesque scenery; from the shores of the largest called lake ‘Cnoma’ rises the still semi-active Volcano of Coming-na-takè to the height of about 3,500 feet. The isthmus is low and sandy, but has on its sea coast a few low sandhills, beside which some wretched ſUJKPI XKNNCIGU CTG UECVVGTGF YJKNG VJG RTQOQPVQT[ QH *CMQFCFK JGCF TKUGU abruptly from the sea to the height of 1136 feet, in its highest part. The lowest point is about 840 feet in height and is intersected by a small river which runs into the harbour. Hence it is not unlike Gibraltar in general character and position, but is far less imposing. 25
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
DESCRIPTION OF TOWN—The town itself, built on the northern shore of the peninsula, is rather a long straggling village than anything else, and boasts but few DWKNFKPIUGZEGRVVJGTQYQHſPGVGORNGUYJKEJNKPGVJGJKNNUKFGCDQXGKVCPF whose huge picturesque roofs serve to break the monotony of the rows of single storied homes forming the native settlement. One long street runs through it from end to end, and a few narrow side and cross streets lie parallel, or otherwise, to it in the wider parts, The town extends from the most westerly point of Hakodadi head along its Northern base, and some short distance up the isthmus, forming a total length, of about 2 miles, with a width in its widest part of about a quarter QHCOKNG+VUUJCRGKUJGPEGXGT[KTTGIWNCTCPFKVUCTGCFKHſEWNVVQFGVGTOKPGCU in the direction of the isthmus, the buildings become much scattered. BUILDINGS, &C.—The buildings are the same in style as those throughout the whole of the empire, being simple wooden erections divided into several parts by OQXGCDNGYQQFGPUETGGPUYKVJVJGƀQQTTCKUGFCDQWVCHQQVHTQOVJGITQWPFVQ keep the mats which here take the place of European carpets, at a distance from the damp earth. Their only peculiarity is in the roofs which are of thin wood shingle, kept down by quantities of stones which are prevented from rolling off by a ledge placed around the eaves. They hence answer two purposes, that of preventing the roof being blown away during the frequent gales and typhoons, CPFKPECUGUQHſTGCEVKPICUCNKVGTCNőETWUJGTŒVQVJGƀCOGUYJGPCUKUIGPGTCNN[ VJGECUGVJGJQWUGUCTGRWNNGFFQYPVQRTGXGPVVJGURTGCFKPIQHCEQPƀCITCVKQP There is no regular European settlement, for although a large portion of ground, forming two square plots projecting from the western side of the peninsula at its junction with the promontory, was reclaimed and levelled for foreign buildings, the few Europeans present had already settled in Japanese houses, slightly OQFKſGFVQUWKVVJGEQOHQTVUCPFVCUVGUQHHQTGKIPGTUCPFVJGőPGYITQWPFŒCUKV is called remains unoccupied. In the grounds of one of the most central temples lying on the hill slope above the town, is situated the American Consulate and a short distance from it, towards the East, is a large space on which formerly stood the British Consular building and where preparations are being made to rebuild KV#VRTGUGPVCVGORQTCT[QHſEGKUNQECVGFKPCUOCNNDWK+FKPIYJKEJKUUJCFGFQP VJGUQWVJCPFYGUVD[CITQXGQHXGT[ſPGſTVTGGU(WTVJGTQPKUVJG(TGPEJ%QPUWNCVGCPFDGJKPFKVKUVJG4WUUKCP%QPUWNCTQHſEGYKVJCUOCNNSWCKPVN[URKTGF Greek Church in its immediate vicinity. Hotels are not numerous. A restaurantkept by a M. Menard is situated at the entrance of the temple on the western side of, and next to, the American Consulate, and another, which is much patronised D[4WUUKCPQHſEGTUKUVQDGHQWPFCVVJGNCPFKPIRNCEGENQUGVQVJGPCVKXGJQWUGU A large pentagonal redoubt with the apex pointing towards the centre of the Harbour, is situated on a sand spit at the eastern end of the town, and mounts UQOGHQTV[QTſHV[RQWPFGTIWPUőGPDCTDGVVGŒRTQVGEVGFD[JKIJVTCXGTUGU between every three guns; on the land side it is only protected from attack by a OWUMGVT[FGHGPEGVJGTGCTHCEGPQVDGKPIſVVGFHQTECPPQP
HAKODADI: GENERAL GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION
27
CLIMATE, TEMPERATURE, &C.—The greatest charm of Hakodadi is its cool and temperate climate, which rarely reaches a high temperature even during the warmest summer months of August and September. The highest temperature generally occurs in August, when the thermometer rises to about 92°; during the winter months the cold is often very severe, sinking to about 18° or 19°, and sleighing takes the place of riding or driving. The mean temperature throughout the year is about 48°. SHOPS, &C.—·In the town itself there are but few articles to be obtained as the majority of the shops only contain the commonest articles of every day life, nearly all of which are imported. The only things generally considered worth DW[KPICTGVJGEGNGDTCVGF*CMQFCVGőYJCVPQVUŒUSWCTGQTVTKCPIWNCTKPUJCRG and consisting of a series of small tables graduated in size from about 2 feet to 8 or 10 inches square. They are lacquered and gilt, and are useful for displaying the numberless small curiosities which visitors are apt to buy in the Japanese towns, and the price asked—some 26 to 38 Boos—is not exhorhitant. MARKETS, &C—Provisions are not readily obtainable, and the supply of beef is rather irregular, often depending on the number of men of war or merchant vessels in the harbour, as the settlement is scarcely large enough to warrant contractors in providing a more regular supply. Salmon is very plentiful in the autumn, as well as wild duck, teal, geese and wild fowl generally. Bear and deer are also occasionally brought into the market. The subjoined list of prices will show the expense of market articles at Hakodadi:— Fowls, per pair,
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... $1.00
Eggs, per 100,
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1.50
Beef, per lb.,
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Sheep,
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9.00
Wild Duck,
... ... ... ... ... ... ... Itchilboo 1.00
Salmon,
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3.00
Vegetables, per lb.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Cents
17
3.00
AMUSEMENTS, OBJECTS OF INTEREST, &C.—The principal amusement in Hakodadi is riding; horses, or rather ponies, can be obtained for about 4 boos a day from VJGUVCDđGUMGRVD[,CRCPGUGCPFVJGTQCFUCTGIGPGTCNN[IQQFYJKNGVJGXCUV plain near at hand affords a capital exercise ground. The little village at Kameda, where are situated the houses of most of the government yakonins and that of the
28
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
governor, is a favourite place of visit and is situated about 5 miles from the town; while by keeping to the right along the sandy hills which rise from the Eastern beach of the isthmus, the hot springs may be reached, and a bath taken by the visitor. The springs are situated under a small shed surrounded by houses, on the bank of a small rivulet; they are much frequented by the Japanese, and generally three or four of both sexes may be seen indiscriminately taking a bath and a pipe at the same time. But the trip par excellence is to Cnoma, lake situated beyond the range of the hills that rise from the plain at a distance of from 18 to 20 miles from Hakodadi. The road is readily traceable along the shores of the harbour and passes through many small villages, which, but for their difference in architecture, and the costumes of the people occupying them, might be well taken for English JCONGVU1PCTTKXKPICVVJGVQRQHCUVGGRIQTIGVJGXKUKVQTQDVCKPUCOCIPKſEGPV view on the one side over the plain he has just traversed, with Hakodadi head rising abruptly from the sea in the background, and on the other the calm waters of the lake, embosomed in the hills which rise in masses of rich forest green from KVUUWTHCEGCPFTGƀGEVKPIQPKVURNCEKFDQUQOVJGNQHV[CPFTWIIGFUWOOKVQH the still active volcano of Coming-na-take. The road descends the hill and then follows the irregular outline of the lake through beautiful scenery, and at every few miles is found a quiet road side tea-house where refreshment can be obtained, and where foreigners who desire to explore the neighbourhood can remain at a very moderate expense. Three quarters of a boo for the lodging, &c. of the betto, 1 boo a day for stable and feed for poney, and 2 boos for each European, is the general charge. NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, TRADE, &C.—The neighbourhood of Hakodadi seems to be rich in minerals. Coal, though of an inferior quality, is procurable, and lead mines, which supply the greater part ofthe empire, are situated a few miles from the settlement. Water and provisions are to be got in abundance, and salmon and geese are plentiful. Hides and deer horns are exported, but the chief items are őDGEJGFGOGTŒUGCYGGFCPFQVJGTCTVKENGUQHCUKOKNCTFGUETKRVKQPHQTVJG%JKnese market. Japanese raw tow at £121 to £140 is also to be got. The import trade EJKGƀ[EQPUKUVUQHTKEGYJGCVRWNUGXGIGVCDNGUE5KT4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEMKPJKU work on Japan (vol II. p. 383) thus speaks of the prospects of this port in 1861: ‘During this period, just two years and a half from the opening of the ports, trade has been nearly limited to the two Southern ports Kanagawa and Nagasaki — the ſTUVD[HCTVJGOQUVKORQTVCPV#UVQ*CMQFCFKKPVJG0QTVJPQVJKPIFGUGTXKPI VJGPCOGQHVTCFGJCFDGGPHQWPFRQUUKDđGCPFCVVJKUVKOGPQVCUKPING$TKVKUJ merchant or agent is left on the spot nor are there residents of any other nation who could really be placed in the category of merchants.' The late minister had evidently but a poor opinion of the capabilities of the Northern port; and though its prospects are now somewhat brighter, until a more extended communication is effected, Hakodadi will not take a prominent place COQPIUVVJGő6TGCV[2QTVUŒQH,CRCP
HAKODADI: GENERAL GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION
29
VEGETATION, ANIMALS, &C.—Vegetation in the neighbourhood of Hakodadi is scanty. The usual lofty trees may be seen in the temple grounds, and a portion of a dense forest clothes the hill side immediately above the town, while on the plain, small thickets, consisting more of under-growth and shrubs than large trees, indicate the position of the villages. Further inland, however, the country is rich in timber, and dense masses of ferns and other plants, including a species of wild vine which bears clusters of purple grapes small in size and rough and sour to the taste, generally surround the trunks of the loftier trees and afford capital shelter to the bears and deer which abound in all parts of Yesso. On the coast is found, in large quantities, the erico or béche-de-mér, and the awabee, a. species of univalve, the shell of which has its outer edge pierced with a row of natural holes and which forms one of the chief exports in the native craft. Wild ducks and geese are obtainable in the cold weather on all the surrounding waters.
Source: 6TCFKPIWPFGT5CKNQHH,CRCPŌ6JG4GEQNNGEVKQPUQH%CRVCKP,QJP$CZVGT9KNN Sailing-Master and Pilot, Tokyo, Sophia University, 83–87, 1968
34
The Murder Of Ludwig Haber GEORGE ALEXANDER LENSEN (ed.)
A TRAGIC EVENT happened in Hakodate during the month of August [l874]. This
was nothing less than the murder of Mr [Ludwig] Haber, the German consul at Hakodate. Mr Haber was living pro tem in the Blakiston, Marr, & Co. house, where I also lived while on shore. Mr Haber, previous to coming to Japan, had been for some years in Central America, where he contracted malaria fever which seemed to come back on him at times in this country. In appearance he was a small, weak man at his best, and he had been laid up for a week or more with this OCNCTKCEQPſPGFVQVJGJQWUG It being August and the college summer holidays, one of the professors, a German friend of Mr Haber’s, came to spend his holidays in Hakodate. We were all dining together between 1 and 2 p.m. — the professor and Mr Haber and the rest belonging to the house. In conversation during the meal a difference of opinion QEEWTTGFDGVYGGP/T*CDGTCPFO[UGNH#UVJGOGCNYCUſPKUJGF/T*CDGT CTQUGNCWIJKPIUC[KPIVJCVYGYQWNFUGVVNGVJGCTIWOGPVCVVGCVKOG+VYCUCſPG FC[CPFJGCPFVJGRTQHGUUQTYGTGIQKPIHQTCYCNM*CXKPIDGGPEQPſPGFVQVJG house so long by fever [he was weak], but his friend was a big, burly man and would be able to carry him if he broke down. They started and walked out on the new-made road to the tea houses at Yatsugashira, where they rested for some time. Mr Haber felt so well that he suggested to the professor that they should take different roads back, Mr Haber taking the old road, the professor the road they had followed going out, and he said that JGYQWNFTGCEJVJGJQWUGſTUV5QVJG[UGRCTCVGFCEEQTFKPIVQVJGRTQHGUUQTŏU account of the parting. The murderer had come up to Hakodate from Akita prefecture. He was one of those samurai who had sworn to kill foreigners and up to that time in his own country had never come across one he could tackle with a chance of success; at that time few if any foreigners were to be met with in Akita. Hakodate being 30
THE MURDER OF LUDWIG HABER
31
the nearest open port, he had come seeking his chance. I believe he had been here some weeks, taking stock of all the foreigners he met. He had followed the American consul’s son several times, but could not get him by himself in a quiet place. Anyhow, John Hawes, the consul’s son, was a tall, active, young lad, for his age, and would not have stood to be cut down. When the professor and Mr Haber parted, taking different roads, the man must have been close behind them. [He must have decided to follow Mr Haber] as Mr Haber was the smallest and certainly the weakest man and was taking the QNFTQCFYJKEJDGUKFGUDGKPICVſTUVUVGGRYCUXGT[NQPGN[5KPEGVJGPGYTQCF had been cut through the ridge, there was only one house on it and a small one at that, with a little patch of garden on the slope of the hill. The man carried a common Japanese umbrella as well as a concealed sword. When they got opposite the little house, he got up to Mr Haber and poked him in the back with the umbrella to make him turn around to see if he was a foreigner; then he threw away the umbrella, drew the sword, and cut at him. Mr Haber, seeing the house and garden, must have run to it, but as far as I could learn there was nobody in it, and if there had been, I question if they would have interfered. Samurai were still feared by the common people. Anyhow, the man followed him, and killed him in the middle of the garden. I found the DQF[VJGTGDGKPIVJGſTUVYKVJVJGGZEGRVKQPQHCUQNKVCT[RQNKEGOCPQPVJG scene of the tragedy. After seeing that his victim was dead, the murderer took the hat and watch off the body, walked into town to the government authorities, and told them what he had done, giving them the hat and watch. The governor immediately sent word to Blakiston, Marr, & Co., in whose house Mr Haber had been living, also sending word to the British, American and French consuls in Hakodate. As my work was mostly night work, I used to sleep afternoons. This afternoon while sleeping, I heard unusual noise outside, got up and went to see what was the matter. Found Captain Blakiston trying to make one of his clerks understand. He wanted him to take four of the boatmen, some rope and a pole, and go as quick as possible to the place where Mr Haber’s body was lying. To save further trouble, I volunteered to go and, telling the men to get ready, YGPVVQRWVO[ENQVJGUQPCPFVJGſXGQHWUYGPVQHHCVVJGFQWDNG After we had gone some distance, it struck me, as I had only been told that Mr. Haber had been cut down not that he was dead, that I ought to have brought some brandy or other spirits with me. I was about to send a man back, when Captain Blakiston’s last words came back to me—that he would call at the consulate and follow us up. So we started off again. When we came to the place, I found a policeman standing on the roadway, about forty yards from where the body was lying with its head down hill. I went into the garden patch to have a look and see if there was any life, but one look was enough. The body was fully stretched out, lying a little on its left side. I wanted to turn it over, but the policeman who had followed me up said I must not touch KVVKNNVJGQHſEKCNUECOG
32
CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
#HVGTUQOGVKOGVJGIQXGTPOGPVQHſEKCNUFQEVQTUCPFHQTGKIPEQPUWNUDGICP VQVWTPWR6JGPVJGVGORQTCT[GZCOKPCVKQPQHVJGDQF[DGICP9JGPſPKUJGF+ YCUCUMGFVQVCMGEJCTIGQHVJGEQTRUGCPFIGVKVVQVJGIQXGTPOGPVQHſEGCUSWKEM as possible. My men got a door and tatami [mat] from the house on the grounds. When trying to put the body on the mat, we found one leg and one arm hanging by the skin only and three cuts on the head that almost divided it. 9JGPYGIQVVQVJGIQXGTPOGPVQHſEGYGHQWPFCNNVJGQHſEKCNUEQPUWNUCPF doctors there, sitting in judgment on the murderer, who was kneeling on what they called the soroban, with a heavy stone on his knees, to keep him down. This YCUO[ſTUVUKIJVQHJKO*GNQQMGFNKMGCPQTFKPCT[,CRCPGUGVQOGPQVJKPI ferocious about him. As the dead body was in the same room in front of him, I wondered what he thought. As time was getting on, and the men and myself were both tired and hungry, I asked leave to go and get some food as the case seemed to be getting on very slowly. I was told we might go for an hour, but must come back and take the body to the temporary hospital, where the doctors would strip and thoroughly examine the wounds. It was nearly midnight when we left the hospital. I heard next day the doctors wrought all night at it, examining the wounds and putting it together where it YCUDCFN[UGXGTGF6JG[HQWPFYQWPFUQPVJGDQF[ſXGQHYJKEJYQWNFJCXG been, singly, fatal. I was sent away next day with a bark and a junk in tow to Kushiro. On my return I was sent with the steamer to Nagasaki to see if the Japanese government would buy her for a steam water tank, General Saigo being at this time down on the east side of Formosa trying to teach the aboriginees of that island. In Nagasaki I heard that the murderer of Mr Haber was beheaded at Hakodate in the presence of all the foreign consuls to teach the Japanese to behave civilly to strangers and not eat them.
Source: Japan Society of London Proceedings, No. 112 (winter 1989), 9–28. Lecture given at the Oriental Club, December 1987
35
Hokkaido (Ezo): Some Impressions of British Visitors, 1854–1873 HUGH CORTAZZI
ONLY A FEWQHVJGſTUV$TKVKUJXKUKVQTUVQ'\QQT*QMMCKFQCUKVYCUTGPCOGF after the Meiji restoration, travelled outside the limited area around Hakodate which was open to foreigners under the Treaty Port system established by the Treaties of 1854 and 1858 with the United States and the European powers. Travel outside this area became more frequent in the 1870s and Isabella Bird was able in 1878 to travel quite extensively among the Ainu (see her Unbeaten Tracks in Japan published in 1880). It was about this time that the young missionary John Batchelor began his studies of the Ainu, their language and culture and spent part of each year among them. By the early 1880s when A.H. Savage Landor travelled among the Ainu, the island had been, at least partly, opened up and his experiences related in his book Among the Hairy Ainu (1893) were probably not as unique an adventure as Landor made out. Landor in his account of his travels reveals himself as a particularly obnoxious type of Victorian Englishman and it is easy to understand why he travelled ‘alone’. In my book Victorians in Japan: In and Around the Treaty Ports I have edited some of the British accounts of life in Hakodate in the nineteenth century. For reasons of space I had to omit accounts of the area outside the Treaty limits, but some of the accounts which have been preserved of journeys in Ezo, as I propose to call the island, are worth recalling. In what follows I have tried to piece together some of the more interesting accounts from the available materials. Apart from UQOG8KEVQTKCPDQQMUNQPIQWVQHRTKPVCPFFKHſEWNVVQſPF+JCXGFTCYPQP contributions to the Royal Geographical Society. 1PGQHVJGſTUV$TKVKUJQHſEGTUVQXKUKV'\QYCU,/6TQPUQPYJQCEEQOpanied Admiral Sir John Stirling to Japan in 1854 for the negotiations with the $CMWHWYJKEJNGFVQVJGſTUV$TKVKUJ6TGCV[YKVJ,CRCP*KUCEEQWPVKPA Voyage to Japan, Kamtschatka, Siberia, Tartary and Various Parts of Coast of China in 33
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CULTURE, POWER AND POLITICS IN TREATY-PORT JAPAN, 1854–1899
*/5$CTTCEQWVC was published in 1859. His main visit to Hakodate and Ezo was in 1856, but he saw little of the island outside the Hakodate area. Much the same has to be said about the account of Henry Arthur Tilley who visited Japan on the Imperial Russian corvette Rynda in 1858–60 (,CRCPVJG#OQQTCPFVJG2CEKſE published in London in 1861), but his view was rather different from that of a $TKVKUJPCXCNQHſEGT%CRVCKP*%5V,QJPQHVJG4Q[CN0CX[XKUKVGF*CMQFCVG in 1855, 1863 and 1871 and was involved in survey work around Ezo. His book Notes and Sketches from the Wild Coasts of Nipon was published in Edinburgh in 1880. He was particularly interested in Japanese wild life. 6JGſTUV$TKVKUJ%QPUWNKP*CMQFCVG ŌYCUVJGGEEGPVTKE%2GODGTVQP Hodgson who made four visits outside the Treaty Port area. The accounts which JGICXGQHVJGUGVQWTUYGTGUGPVVQ4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEMVJGſTUV$TKVKUJ/KPKUVGT and Consul General to Japan. The drafts have been preserved by the Royal Geographical Society and versions were included in his book A Residence at Nagasaki and Hakodate6JKUYCUſTUVRWDNKUJGFKP Commander C. S. Forbes R.N. did a tour in southern Ezo in August 1865 and read a paper about his trip to the Royal Geographical Society in May 1866. The title of his paper was ‘The Western Shores of Volcano Bay Yesso’. An early diplomatic traveller in Ezo was Mr R. G. Watson, British Chargé d’Affaires. His paper to the Royal Geographical Society entitled ‘Notes of a Journey in the Island of Yezo in 1873 and on the Progress of Geography in Japan’ was read to the Society in March 1874. The most interesting and comprehensive early British account of Ezo was that QH%CRVCKP6$NCMKUVQPYJQKPYCURTQDCDN[VJGſTUVHQTGKIPGTVQVTCXGN round the island. Blakiston’s paper ‘A Journey in Yezo’ was read to the Royal Geographical Society in February 1872. Blakiston is remembered in Japan for VJGUQECNNGFŎ$NCMKUVQP.KPGŏ*GPQVGFVJGOCTMGFFKHHGTGPEGKPƀQTCCPFHCWPC between Ezo and northern Honshu and his ‘line’ marks the boundary.
Ezo was known at one time as Watarijima. In pre-Tokugawa times it had hardly been explored, let alone colonised, by the Japanese and was the home of the Ebisu, the aboriginal people of Japan who had been gradually forced northwards as the Japanese expanded their hold on Honshu. The Ebisu came to be known as the Ainu inhabitants of Ezo. In many old maps, European and Japanese, until the end of the seventeenth century and later, the shape of the island shown was totally divorced from the reality. Indeed, some maps showed Ezo as being joined to the mainland. In the sixteenth century the Japanese made some attempts to colonise Ezo under the leadership of Takeda Nobuhira, but few Japanese could be induced to move to what was regarded as an inhospitable and barbarous land. One of Takeda Nobuhira’s descendants, Matsumae Yoshihiro, was however recognised
HOKKAIDO (EZO): SOME IMPRESSIONS OF BRITISH VISITORS, 1854–1873
35
D[6QMWICYC+G[CUWVJGſTUV6QMWICYC5JQIWPKPCUVJGHGWFCNNQTF QH'\QCPFVJGſGHQH/CVUWOCGYCUGUVCDNKUJGFYKVJKVUECUVNGCV/CVUWOCGKP south-western Ezo. As a result, the name Matsumae tended to be used to describe VJGYJQNGKUNCPF6JG/CVUWOCGſGHDGJCXGFKPFGRGPFCPVN[CPFYCUFKUKPENKPGF to take orders from Edo, but it never attempted or pretended to control the whole of the island. In the eighteenth century Russian expansion in Siberia and through Kamschatka and Saghalin to the Kurile islands and towards Ezo forced the Bakufu to pay more attention to their northern frontier, although their actions were at best desultory and often ineffectual. In the nineteenth century whaling ships and sealers, primarily from the United States, began to appear off the coasts of Ezo and Japanese isolationism was gradually undermined. Following the arrival of %QOOQFQTG2GTT[ŏUŎ$NCEM5JKRUŏKPVJGſTUV6TGCVKGUYKVJ#OGTKECCPFVJG European powers were forced on the Japanese and one of the two ports initially opened to foreign ships was Hakodate (with Nagasaki). Hakodate rather than /CVUWOCGYCUEJQUGPRTGUWOCDN[DGECWUGKVYCUENQUGTVQVJG2CEKſE1EGCPCPF was easier to defend because of its natural position. (It has been called the Gibraltar of Japan.) The Bakufu appointed its own governor in Hakodate, the MachiBugyo, but the Bakufu did little in its declining years to colonise or develop Ezo. In the civil war of 1868–69 Enomoto Takeaki who commanded the Shogun’s ƀGGVGUVCDNKUJGFJKOUGNHKP*CMQFCVGCPFRTQENCKOGFVJGKUNCPFCUCPKPFGRGPFGPV UVCVG+PJQYGXGTVJG5JQIWPŏUHQTEGUYGTGſPCNN[FGHGCVGFCPF*CMQFCVG fell to the Imperial forces. Ezo was then placed under a special administration, the so-called Kaitakushi, which took over the outposts or kaisho of the old Matsumae ſGH/CP[QHVJGUCOWTCKYJQJCFDGGPQPVJGNQUKPIUKFGKPVJGEKXKNYCTGKVJGT volunteered or were forced to emigrate to Ezo and the colonisation of the island D[VJG,CRCPGUGDGICPKPGCTPGUVGXGPKHRTQITGUUYCUCVNGCUVCVſTUVUNQY6JG Meiji authorities, in order perhaps to demonstrate a break with the past and their determination to develop the whole island established a new centre at Sapporo, much nearer to the centre of the island than either Hakodate or Matsumae. In 1881, the Kaitakushi was replaced by three prefectures — those of Hakodate, Sapporo and Nemuro — but in 1886 these were amalgamated and the Docho or prefectural government of Hokkaido was established in Sapporo. In the early days the Kaitakushi employed many foreign experts; in particular an American economic mission, under General Capron, provided material help and expertise for the development of agricultural, mining and communications in the island. The Japanese soon vastly outnumbered the indigenous Ainu whose numbers dwindled and whose culture and language gradually disappeared. 6JGJWOCPRQRWNCVKQPQH'\QKPVJGſPCN[GCTUQHVJG$CMWHWYCUUVKNNXGT[ small. Even in 1873 when Watson visited the island and colonisation had begun KP GCTPGUV VJGTG YGTG CEEQTFKPI VQ VJG ſIWTGU YJKEJ JG QDVCKPGF HTQO VJG Japanese authorities, only some 124,000 people in Ezo (Hokkaido). Of these VJGTGYGTGVJQWIJVVQDGQPN[#KPW6JKUNCUVſIWTGOC[JCXGDGGPCP underestimate, but Batchelor, writing in 1892, noted that there were not more
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than sixteen or seventeen thousand Ainu left and Papinot, in his Dictionary of the History and Geography of Japan, published in 1910, recorded that, according to the latest census, their number did not exceed 18,000. Ezo was thus to a large GZVGPVCPWPURQKNVYKNFGTPGUUYJGPVJGſTUV$TKVKUJXKUKVQTUECOGVQVJGKUNCPF and it was understandable that they were impressed by the wild life which they found there. The early British visitors, like their contemporaries elsewhere, GPLQ[GF JWPVKPI UJQQVKPI CPF ſUJKPI (QT VJGO '\Q RTQXKFGF YQPFGTHWN opportunities for sport. But this was also the era of the plant collectors. Hodgson, for instance, wrote that he had been making a collection of Ezo plants for Sir James Hooker, the famous botanist at Kew. Unfortunately, Robert Fortune who contributed so much to the botanical collections in Britain did not get as far as Ezo when he visited Japan in 1860 and 1861 (Edo and Peking: A Narrative of a Journey to the capitals of Japan and China published in 1863). Arthur Adams, another Victorian naturalist, did manage to visit Hakodate, but he does not seem to have travelled beyond the Treaty limits (Travels of a Naturalist in Japan and Manchuria, published in 1870).
‘Enormous numbers’ of deer were, according to Blakiston, to be found in Ezo and deer’s horns were one of the principal exports of the island. Blakiston was able to approach within two or three hundred yards of some herds. He noted that when they were alarmed they made a kind of whistling cry, and then started off. ‘The Ainu can imitate a call note they have tolerably perfectly, which often induces VJGFGGTVQUVQRCPFNKUVGPCHVGTVJG[JCXGUVCTVGFCPFUQIKXGUCſPGQRRQTVWPKV[ for a shot.’ St John, while travelling some 400 miles along the north-east coast of the island from Nemuro, stayed at a small mixed Ainu and Japanese settlement. In rambling through the ‘oak forests’, where he too saw a great number of deer, his coxswain ECOGCETQUUCDGCTKPCVTGG*GſTGFCEJCTIGQHUNWICVVJGDGCTDWVŎVJKUQPN[ seemed to tickle the beast, which got down the tree as fast as he could and made off’. Returning home from his walk St John …exchanged an old pair of sandals for a cub about as large as a big spaniel. The little beast was brought down to the beach by an Ainu woman who, tying it to a post, squatted beside it and began to weep most profusely. Inquiring the reason for such grief, I was told she had brought it up from a very small thing, when its mother was caught and killed in the spring, and that she had suckled it as one of her own children until it was able to manage for itself. This mode of rearing the cub when quite young I afterwards found was quite a common occurrence. It took four of my blue-jackets to secure and carry the cub to the boat, which was not done without many scratches and bites. For two days I kept her tied up, then
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allowed her to go loose, with a short piece of rope round her neck. For a week or so she took every opportunity of slipping overboard and swimming for the shore. Afterwards she never attempted to do so, but became perfectly happy and playful. On hot summer days she regularly enjoyed a swim round the ship, and would then remain in the screw well, stretched on the banjo frame, during the heat of the day. In a year’s time she was so large and powerful that I feared mischief might happen, and I therefore gave her a dose of strychnine. Blakiston had an encounter with a bear on his way to Iwanai. As he was trudging along a path he suddenly came in view of three bears, ‘an old one and two cubs’ about twenty yards away. ‘They did not seem at all scared, so I shouted and waved O[CTOUCPFƀCRUQHO[YTCRRGTYJKEJECWUGFVJGQNFQPGVQOQWPVQPJGT hind legs and take a better look at me.’ He wished that he had had his gun with him, but this was with his horse and he had walked on ahead! Hodgson who heard many ‘rumours of bears’ gave it as his opinion that the interior of Ezo was ‘uninhabited except by bears and animals’ (sic). He noted that at the entrance to an Ainu village ‘heads of bears formed, if not a noble, a suitable őDCTTKGTGŒDWVVJGTGVJGTGYCUPQőQEVTQKŒ FWV[RC[CDNGQPGPVT[KPVQCVQYP to pay. For ages, the sires, grandsires, and progenitors had staked these proofs of their valour before their huts.’ Other wild animals such as foxes and otters were common in Ezo in those days. Around the settlements there were a few cattle. Tilley thought it ‘a curious fact that the cows of Japan will not produce milk except for their calves’. He ‘was assured by several Europeans who tried to form a dairy that they found it impossible to obtain milk from the animal under any circumstances’! (Hokkaido is now the main centre of Japan’s dairy industry!)
'\QJCFCPCDWPFCPEGQHſUJ/QUVQHVJGKUNCPFŏURQRWNCVKQPNKXGFCNQPIVJG EQCUVCPFOCFGVJGKTNKXKPICUſUJGTOGPQTEQNNGEVQTUQHUGCYGGF6JGOCKPſUJ caught were salmon, herrings and pilchards or sardines. 6JG+UJKMCTKTKXGTUGGOGFVQ$TKVKUJXKUKVQTUVJGOCLQTEGPVTGHQTUCNOQPſUJing. St John was told that between August when the salmon entered the river CPFVJGDGIKPPKPIQH0QXGODGTYJGPſUJKPIEGCUGFVQPUQHUCNOQPYGTG ‘caught and salted on this few miles of river’. He heard many fabulous stories CDQWVVJGSWCPVKV[QHſUJGPVGTKPIVJGTKXGTōŎVJCVVJGKTDCEMUCTGXKUKDNGCPF VJCVVJGYCVGTTKUGUCNQPIVJGDCPMUCUVJGſTUVTWUJVCMGURNCEGQXGTVJGDCTCV high tide’. When he was at anchor surveying off the port, from which the Ishikari river salmon where shipped to the main islands of Japan, he counted one day more than two hundred large junks, all laden with salmon, starting for southern ports.
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Salmon on the Ishikari river were, according to Blakiston, caught in seine nets QXGTCFKUVCPEGQHCDQWVOKNGUKPNCPFWPFGTCDQWVſUJKPIOCUVGTU6JGDQCVU WUGFKPVJGUCNOQPſUJGT[YGTGŎUCORCŏYJKEJYGTGCDQWVHGGVNQPICPFHGGV wide. Blakiston described these boats as follows:Built with very great shear, high prow, and curved stem, they are good to ride in a sea, and easily hauled out stern foremost on the beach. Each boat carries a crew of about 20 men, 16 of whom ply short oars on the foreparts; the skipper stands on a raised platform at the stem, guiding the boat with a large steering oar, two or three others attend to paying out the net, which is carried amidships. Blakiston noted that large numbers of salmon were caught in other rivers such CUVJG0KUJKDGVUWPGCT0GOWTQ*GNGCTPVVJCVKPſUJYGKIJing over one thousand tons were caught and salted from this small river. On another river he saw salmon being speared. The spears used were of two kinds. ‘One was the ordinary four-pronged graino’; the other was the Ainu gaff ‘with YJKEJVJGſUJKUUVTWEMKPVJGUCOGYC[CUYKVJVJGURGCTDWVD[CPKPIGPKQWU EQPVTKXCPEGYJGPVJGYGKIJVQHVJGſUJEQOGUQPKVVJGJQQMTGXGTUGUKVUGNH CPFCEVUCUCPQTFKPCT[ſUJKPIICHHUQVJCVVJGTGKUPQFCPIGTQHVJGſUJIGVVKPI off, as there is with the other spear when the water is deep.’ He noted, that the Ainu were very expert at spearing salmon, which they pursue sometimes by torchlight. Salmon were naturally very cheap in Ezo in those days, Watson was told by one English merchant in Hakodate that tinned salmon which then sold in London at 9d a tin might be placed in London at 21/2dKHVJGſUJGTKGUKP'\QYGTGQRGP to foreign enterprise. #UKVKUVJGſUJGTKGUQH'\QCUCVRTGUGPVOCPCIGFQPDGJCNHQHVJG,CRCnese government, although they even now supply a great proportion of the revenue derived from the island, afford but a very small proportion of the revenue which under better management ought to be extracted from them. The revenue system adopted is that the Government receive QPGſUJKPUQOCP[CPFKPQTFGTVQGPUWTGVJCVVJG)QXGTPOGPVUJQWNF TGEGKXGKVUFWGRTQRQTVKQPQHſUJVJGTGKUGORNQ[GFCVVJGſUJGTKGUC JQUVQH)QXGTPOGPVQHſEKCNU#UQPGQHVJG#OGTKECPQHſEGTUGZRTGUUGF KVVQOGKPCPUYGTVQO[KPSWKTKGUŎ5KTVJGTGŏUCPQHſEKCNHQTGXGT[ſUJ caught.’ Pilchards which, according to Tronson, were of the variety Clupea pilchardus, were caught off shore in large numbers. These too were caught in seine nets which were drawn along by boats towards the shore. Herrings which were also abundant off the coasts of Ezo seem to have been caught and treated in the same way to make oil, the residue being used for manure.
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Whaling ships and sealers called frequently at Hakodate. Tilley came across some deserters from American whaling ships on a ledge of rocks by a cave on the south-west side of the Hakodate peninsular. He noted that though men on whaling ships were paid a percentage of the proceeds of the voyage, they received PQſZGFYCIGCPFFGUGTVKQPUYGTGHTGSWGPV1PGYJCNGTJCFNQUVJCNHJGTOGPKP Hakodate as a result of desertions. Another whaler arrived and also lost half her men. The deserters would not rejoin. The captain of the whaler ‘had recourse to a stratagem’. He put to sea with his few hands, but returned in the night with CPCTOGFDQCVCPFECTTKGFQHHCNNVJGOGPJGEQWNFſPF6KNNG[EQOOGPVGFVJCV …it seems to be a practice among whalers in these seas, where men are not to be had, to deliver up their deserters one to another, but that does not prevent their being smuggled on board by the sailors, and stowed away till the ship puts to sea. If the Captain has any suspicion of such practices, he has recourse to an infallible method of unearthing the men, by smoking the ship with pepper, when they soon make their appearance. Not surprisingly seals and sea-lions were also to be found off the coast of Ezo. Sea-weed (konbuCMKPFQHMGNRKUPQVCſUJDWVUJQWNFDGOGPVKQPGFJGTG+V was an important export to China and the rest of Japan. It was collected in large quantities between July and October. According to Blakiston, the sea-weed was collected by three or four men working together. When three men were involved, VYQYGPVŎQWVKPCUMKHHKPſPGYGCVJGTDGVYGGPCPFCDQWVVJGKUNCPFUCPFſUJWR the weed by means of a pole with a crook on it; while their comrade remains on shore in charge of their straw hut, cooking, and looking after the sea-weed lying out to dry. On getting a full boat-load they return, and haul out the seaweed on the beach, laying out the strips in parallel lines.’ Blakiston added that the weed had to be protected against rain, as if it got wet it would quickly spoil. It dried in two or three days and was then tied up in bundles. (The method does not seem to have changed much!) Both Japanese and Ainu were engaged in this work.
$KTFUNCTIGN[WPFKUVWTDGFD[OCPƀQWTKUJGFKPVJGKTPCVWTCNJCDKVCVKP'\QKP those days. St John was particularly interested in the birds he saw in Japan, especially in Ezo. He noted that in April wild geese were plentiful around Hakodate ‘but only as passers-by, wending their way north’. He shot some of the whitefronted geese and found them ‘in excellent condition’. At Akishi on the east coast of Ezo he came across a large lagoon connected by a narrow channel to the bay. This lagoon, with its numerous dry patches and low grassy islets, was the rendezvous of immense numbers of duck and waders. Oyster Catchers were busily breeding. I found their eggs surrounded by frozen snow. Ten
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species of duck, and a few swans and geese, still remained, as if loath to leave their favourite resort. I shot one swan, which proved to be Cygnus musicus, and excellent eating it was. Numerous skeletons of this bird lay scattered round the margin of the lagoon; they had been killed by the Ainu for their downy skins, which were used as part of their winter dress. At Hamanaka he found the rocky shores were …‘swarming with duck. Foxes walked about quite at home and fearlessly. 5GCNURNC[GFCPFſUJGFKPVJGSWKGVRQQNUWPFGTVJGENKHHUCPFUGCIWNNUKP large numbers revelled in perfect security on the long sandy beach which stretched away to the westward from both islands. On two rocky points of the biggest island I found eagles breeding; both nests had a single young QPGCPFKPQPGYCUCPGII+UCVFQYPENQUGVQVJGPGUVYKVJVJGOCIPKſEGPV old birds wheeling round my head, the female only a few yards off, but the male kept at a safe distance, only occasionally swooping down within shot. They were in perfect plumage, with the head, upper part of the neck, and tail, quite white. Remains of wild-duck covered the ground for many yards round the nest, and my retriever, being enticed to sniff at this debris, was immediately attacked by the female bird, and had a very narrow escape from going over the cliff, which bounded one side of the point.’ St John also recorded that the large snipe (Gallinago australis) was busily breeding near Nemuro in the month of June. He numbered forty-eight species of birds in that place that June. On another occasion, after he had shot a dozen snipe, a beautiful white-headed eagle which had been watching his movements from the branches of a dead tree, ‘thought he would try a closer inspection, and sailed lazily down towards me, passing two or three times round my head, and then returning to the hill side.’ Among other birds which he noted was the blue rock-thrush which had ‘a short, peculiar little song’. He also heard a Japanese nightingale sing. Among the birds which he listed as having found in Ezo were the grasshopper warbler, Calamodyta pragmitis, and the hedge sparrow, Accentor modularis. Birds noted by Blakiston included ‘harlequin and other salt-water species (of duck), cormorants, white-tailed sea-eagles, sandpipers, thrushes and, of course, crows and gulls. Hodgson saw quail, landrails, bronze-winged pidgeons, woodcocks, partridges, snipe and heron’.
Crops noted by British visitors around Hakodate were rye, barley, potatoes and pulse. (Rice does not seem to have been grown in Ezo at this period.) Orchards contained apples, pears, plums and nuts, but the fruit was not very good. The landscape reminded Tilley of Germany. Vines were noted by Tronson; these were
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cultivated on trellises before the doors of country cottages, but the grapes were very small. Vines also grew wild on the hillsides. Wild strawberries and raspberries were found and Hodgson was delighted to discover some red currants. The trees seemed to the visitors similar to those found in Britain. Hodgson wrote that he had seen chestnuts, oaks, sycamores, silver birch, elm, alder and hazel. He also found various roses, honeysuckle, rhododendron, magnolia, leontodon vicias, platanus, orchids, convallarias, potentillas and many kinds of clematis. St John noted one species of lily ‘much favoured by bears’. (In southern Japan he was impressed by one lily ‘grand in proportion, beautiful in colour, and matchless in perfume. It is white, pure and simple, about three feet high, and by no means common, but these were only found in the warm regions of the south and only in the deepest shade’.) In Ezo he came across ‘the most perfect gem of a primula (the Primula Japonica) of a delicate pink colour, clustering, on a stem eighteen inches high, with leaves of a yellow-green tint.’ He walked through miles of beautiful lilies of the valley and ‘hedges of honeysuckle sweet as our own, but OWEJUOCNNGTKPVJGƀQYGT&CTMTGFDWTPGVTQUGUITQYQPVJGUCPF[JKNNQEMU along the shore, delicious in scent.’ ‘The most delicious scent appeared to spring from the ground.’ He traced it to a large magnolia-tree covered with blossom. He PQVGFVJCVŎCNCTIGLCUOKPGVJGƀQYGTDGKPICDQWVVYQCPFCJCNHKPEJGUKPFKCOeter’ was ‘found in abundance all over the country, strong in delicious fragrance.’ He does not say where in Ezo he saw this. The autumn colours in Ezo greatly impressed Blakiston and reminded him of the northern regions of America.
The Ainu, so racially different from the Japanese and with such a different lanIWCIGCPFEWNVWTGPCVWTCNN[KPVGTGUVGFVJGſTUV$TKVKUJXKUKVQTUDWVVJGKTQDUGTXCVKQPUYGTGUWRGTſEKCNCPFVGPFGFVQTGƀGEV,CRCPGUGRTGLWFKEGU0QFGVCKNGFUVWF[ of the Ainu and their customs had been made and the visitors did not understand VJG#KPWVQPIWG6JGſTUVHQTGKIPGTVQOCMGCTGCNGHHQTVVQWPFGTUVCPFVJG#KPW was John Batchelor who did not reach Japan until 1876. The meetings which the visitors had with the Ainu tended to be brief and casual and cannot be compared with the tour which Isabella Bird made among them in 1878 (see Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, published in 1880). But some of their comments are of interest. All the visitors seem to have agreed that the Japanese treated the Ainu with contempt. Watson declared: ‘[the Ainu] are a remarkably strong race and are individually very courageous, though collectively in abject terror of the Japanese. Their language KUOGNNKƀWQWUCPFVJGKTOCPPGTUCTGIGPVNGVQYCTFUUVTCPIGTUCDLGEVVQ ,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNU6JQWIJHQTOGTN[QRRTGUUGFVJG[JCXGDGGPDGVVGT treated since the revolution of 1868. They worship the sun and the idea
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of a Japanese power which means merely force; they likewise adore their ancestors. They have no idea of computation and refer dates to certain events, such as the catching of a whale or the advent of a great shoal of ſUJŏ Watson also told the Royal Geographical Society that the Japanese Government planned to civilise the Ainu by providing them with Japanese wives. He said that KPVJG'\QEQNQPKUCVKQPFGRCTVOGPVVJGTGYCUCUEJQQNCVYJKEJſHV[,CRCPGUG girls were being educated at the public expense by Dutch instructresses to become YKXGUQH#KPWOGP#$/KVHQTFNCVGTVJGſTUV.QTF4GFGUFCNGYJQJCFDGGP in Japan between 1866 and 1870, was present at the lecture and commented that since Watson left Japan this (improbable) story had been denied by the Japanese authorities. Mitford added that the Japanese regarded the Ainu ‘entirely as an inferior race, and justly so; for although the Ainu were an interesting and harmless people, they had never shown any capability for development’. Mitford had not been in Ezo and was not speaking from personal experience; he was merely TGƀGEVKPIYJCVJGJCFJGCTFHTQOJKU,CRCPGUGHTKGPFU Captain Forbes in 1865 commented on the Ainu in similar terms to those used by Watson noting that their manner with the Japanese was ‘abject and timid’. He thought that but ‘for their soft blue eyes they would have a decidedly savage appearance’. St John declared that the Ainu who had been largely drawn to the coastal settlements were ‘worked and treated as slaves’, but they were ‘partially clothed and fed, and not unkindly or harshly dealt with’ (The two comments seem rather contradictory!) He understood that the Ainu race was decreasing and he predicted that it ‘would in all probability become extinct before many generations pass’. He thought that the Japanese endeavoured to keep the Ainu ‘in complete ignorance. They speak of them as beings of a very inferior description to themselves and place their origin on a very low platform indeed.’ The Japanese attitude towards the Ainu was brought home to Tronson when he mistook a little boy for an Ainu. The little fellow, quite indignantly declared: ‘I, Niphon, Ainu no good. Yes! Ainu no good.’ Blakiston’s view was somewhat different. He thought ‘a well-fed male Ainu... not a bad specimen of humanity, but the women are not to be compared with them. They seem to age very soon, and get shrivelled up in their features, caused perhaps partly by the hard work they undergo, as they carry wood and water, and perform other menial services. But I have seen some young girls very good-looking, save and except always their lips, which are invariably tattooed.’ There were practically no roads in Ezo in the Tokugawa era and even in the ſPCN[GCTUQHVJG5JQIWPCVGUWEJRCVJUCUGZKUVGFYGTGTQWIJCPFPCTTQY+P rain they became deep with mud. Many of the fords became impassable and such bridges, as there were, tended to be mere narrow planks. There were only a few RTKOKVKXGTGUVJQWUGUCVVJGMCKUJQQTQWVRQUVUQHVJGſGH6JGKPVGTKQTQHVJGKUNCPF had not been properly explored or surveyed. Journeys had to be made on horse-
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DCEMQTQPHQQVCPFYJGPVJGIQKPIDGECOGGURGEKCNN[FKHſEWNVVTCXGNNGTUJCFVQ or preferred to, take a boat round the coast until a better path could be found. Hodgson, however, did not believe in roughing it, if he could avoid it. On JKUſTUVLQWTPG[QWVUKFGVJGVTGCV[NKOKVUJGYCUCEEQORCPKGFD[JKUYKHGJKU daughter, the wife of the Russian doctor and a maid. He also took with him all his ‘Japanese servants with a red belt, bearing Her Majesty’s Arms, around them and trusting to that symbol of peace, I went unarmed, my only weapon being my court sword, which of course I had a right to carry, although of no use for attack or defence’! He added, ‘I was not quite sure of the result or the success of my expedition with so many petticoats in train; but Church and State have always supported Great Britain, and so they will, please God, in Japan’! He had no intention of living off the country! He took plenty of provisions including claret and beer. He ensured reasonable comfort by taking his bedding. On his fourth expedition he recorded that at one place his ‘Chinaman had arranged us a PKEGTQQOCPFHGCUVQZVCKNUQWRUCNOQPJCOUPKRGEJKEMGPQOGNGVVGCWZſPGU herbes, pommes de terre maitre d’hôtel, cucumbers, French beans, plum pudding, TKEGRWFFKPIFGUUGTVGVVQWVCWPCVWTGNWPFGTCDQYGTQHTWUJGUCPFƀQYGTUŏ However he ‘longed for a vulgar dish, — a leg of mutton and some greens. PreUGTXGFOGCVUCTGDGVVGTVJCPUGCYGGFQPN[D[CVTKƀGŏ#HVGTENKODKPIVJGPGCTD[ volcano he ‘had that famous standby, a good ham, three fowls, sardines, bread and tea. Their demoniac mightinesses (i.e. of the volcano) sent us sulphur for salt and alum for pepper, but they did not even then spoil our appetites.’ Blakiston, when he started round Ezo in 1869, had few encumbrances. He took with him only ‘a fowling piece, powder, shot, and bullets, a couple of pairs of blankets, a change of clothes, a good pair of boots, a pocket compass and note-books and a Japanese map of the island... to pursue a journey hitherto unattempted by any foreigner.’ Like other foreigners Blakiston found travelling on Ezo ponies using Japanese packsaddles very uncomfortable. He was ‘perched on the top of my baggage with my legs hanging down on either side of the horse’s neck, the pommel of the saddle right under me, and its cantle against my spine.’ He felt as if at any moment he was ‘liable to be pitched between the horse’s ears, and it was only by clutching the back of the saddle whenever we made anything of a steep descent, and somewhat shifting my position occasionally as I got a chance, that I managed to maintain the indispensable equilibrium, but it was at the expense of a painful cramping of my thighs and some loss of leather.’ He much regretted that he had left his saddle behind and he urged all subsequent travellers in Ezo to take their own saddle and a good pair of boots. For his part he had ‘thick good, strong, corduroy trousers, which, tucked into a pair of English-made knee-boots, with a ƀCPPGNUJKTVCP#KPWENQVJEQCVCTGFYQTUVGFUCUJTQWPFO[YCKUVCPQNFHGNV hat, and a loose wrapper to put on in wet weather, completed a costume which, if not picturesque, was both comfortable and serviceable.’ Typical of the rest houses or ‘tomaru dokoro’ (he called them tomaro doko) which he used was one PGCT5JKDGVUW+VYCUőſVVGFWRCUCPQTFKPCT[FYGNNKPICPFJCUCUOCNNYQQFGP
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UVQTGJQWUGCVVCEJGFYJGTGƀQQTOCVURQVUMGVVNGUUQOGUNGGRKPISWKNVUCPFC small supply of provisions in case of need, are kept for travellers.’ He noted that these rest-houses were kept up at the expense of the lessee of the district in which VJG[YGTGUKVWCVGF6JG[YGTGPGEGUUCT[QPN[YJGPVJGſUJKPIUVCVKQPUYGTGUQ far apart that the distance between them could not be travelled in a day or, ‘as in this instance, where the road leaving the shore strikes into the interior to avoid an impassable shore.’ At the Abashiri kaisho he found a rest house, ‘furnished with most of the conveniences to be found in the best houses at Hakodate and Matsumae.’ The old man who ran the place had used the best timber available and had been ‘dependant on the south only for the wall and window paper.’ Before supper JGYCUKPXKVGFVQVCMGCYCTODCVJYJKEJJGŎGPLQ[GFKPCPKEGYCUJTQQOſVVGF WRKPVJGUV[NGQHCſTUVENCUUPCVKXGJQVGN+OC[QDUGTXGVJCVVJKUYCUCNWZWT[+ seldom resorted to, preferring the clear running stream of some cold mountain VQTTGPVVQVJGGPGTXCVKPIőHWTQŒŏ *QFIUQPQPJKUHQWTVJLQWTPG[HQWPFCJQV spring ‘alum’ bath with a temperature of 125 degrees fahrenheit. ‘Into this all our Japanese jumped incontinently... and enjoyed themselves much.’ Hodgson did not follow their example.)
Blakiston took with him a Japanese map of Ezo. He did not say what map this was. It was probably based on the survey made in the early 1800s by the great Japanese cartographer Ino Tadataka, who went to Ezo in 1800. His maps were TGOCTMCDN[CEEWTCVGEQPUKFGTKPIVJGFKHſEWNVKGUWPFGTYJKEJJGQRGTCVGF$WVKV would not have much detail about the interior of Ezo. When Blakiston left Hakodate on his journey round the island he began by taking a boat to a spot beyond Kushiro. He noted that there was a fair anchorage on the eastern side of Cape Erimo. An island marked on the chart, about eight miles east, as ‘Kumoiwatara’, I am assured by captains of vessels does not exist, which information is EQPſTOGFD[PQUWEJKUNCPFDGKPINCKFFQYPQP,CRCPGUGOCRU+PHCEV the whole coastline of Ezo to the eastward of Tsugaru Strait is not only imperfect, but so untrue on the British Admiralty and other foreign charts — which are but copies — that it can hardly be said to be a guide at all for navigation in those waters; consequently, before a commander has become personally aquainted with the coast it would be prudent for him to provide himself with a native pilot. At the present time commanders of Japanese vessels generally sail by foreign charts, for although there exists a fair enough map of Ezo, one of the four sheets called ‘Quan-han gisoku Nipon chize’ published at Edo, it is only a map, having so far no pretensions to a coast chart, that neither reefs nor rocks, and in many cases not even islands, are delineated
HOKKAIDO (EZO): SOME IMPRESSIONS OF BRITISH VISITORS, 1854–1873
45
on it, while the depth of water is nowhere indicated, but the whole sea CNQPIVJGEQCUVKUEQXGTGFYKVJPCOGUQHſUJKPIUVCVKQPUUQVJKEMN[VJCV no room is left for the insertion of other information. As a map of the interior it is most elaborate, and great praise is due to both the native surveyors and compilers of it, if it is as true in all parts as those I have had opportunity of roughly checking. But, like most other Japanese plans, the mountains are laid down in elevation, and even in that way only the very highest ones are delineated clearly, while all the rest of the land is completely covered with pyramids, also in elevation to denote high land or yama’. Blakiston considered such a plan ‘almost useless’ for geographical or nautical purposes, ‘it being impossible to discover where mountains are in ranges or detached masses, or which is high coast or low’. Although he did not carry the necessary instruments to take accurate observations, Blakiston thought that the map was ‘in error in latitude and probably much more so in longitude.’ He declared that as a coast chart it had to be rejected. This map was, he noted, after the survey of, KHPQVEQORKNGFD[/CVUWWTC6CMGUJKTQCPQHſEKCNQHVJG'\Q-CKVCMWUJKKP'FQ In 1873, Watson learnt that the whole island of Ezo was being surveyed under VJGFKTGEVKQPQHC/T9CUUQPQPGQHVJGQHſEGTUQH)GPGTCN%CRTQPŏUOKUUKQP which had been recruited in the USA in 1871, to develop the resources of the island and which had reached Ezo in 1872. The coasts of Ezo had meanwhile been surveyed by HMS Sylvia, on which Captain St John served. It was hardly surprising that many vessels, including foreign ones, were wrecked off the coast of Ezo. One of these was HMS Rattler which was wrecked in the Soyuz Strait in September 1868. On 25 October 1869, Blakiston stayed at Soya ‘for the purpose of inspecting the guns, stores, and material saved from HMS Rattler... which I had the orders of the Japanese Government to do’. The crew of HMS Rattler were luckier than the crews of some other vessels which were wrecked off Ezo in those days. St John tells the story of the sinking in 1871 of the British brig Eliza Corry. After leaving Hakodate on 9 January 1871 it ran into a south-west gale, sprang a leak, and became unmanageable. It was carried on to the rocks. Strenuous efforts were made to save the crew. The long boat capsized in the waves and members of the crew who tried to reach the shore, lashing themselves to spars, died in the attempt. The captain’s ‘kangaroo hound’ was washed away, whilst the Captain’s wife, ‘with a life-buoy lashed to her, was dashed about the deck with such violence that the life-buoy was torn from her, and she died almost immediately afterwards in her husband’s arms.’ Eventually, the captain jumped into the sea, managed to grasp a spar and was carried on to the beach. Eleven persons were killed, only the captain being saved. He was later found and taken to the nearby village of Tago. ‘Then followed a series of acts of kindness and forethought on the part of the natives far too numerous to relate.’ A doctor
46
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was sent for. “They made clothes for him after the European fashion. When he began to feel better they sent miles away for a chicken, with which they made broth. A Japanese sleeping-dress was procured from a town twenty miles away, and as soon as he could be moved he was taken to Noshiro’ (the nearest town). Here he was lodged in the best house. A severe cold and spitting of blood again laid the captain prostrate. ‘Every possible remedy was procured, and impossible ones invented and tried.’ Eventually, when he was well enough he was placed in a ‘sort of travelling-box’ and carried across country to Hakodate. When he arrived VJGTGVJG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUYQWNFPQVCEEGRVCP[TGOWPGTCVKQPHQTCNNVJGVTQWDNG and expense they had been put to. In due Course the consul persuaded the chief QHſEKCNVQCEEGRVCUKNXGTYCVEJCUCVQMGPQHTGICTF
There were not many places of importance in Ezo outside Hakodate in those days and our visitors had little of interest to say about them. The only one to visit the new centre of Sapporo was Watson who went there in 1873. He described it thus:The town of Sapporo, being built entirely of wood, presents a much more ſPKUJGFCRRGCTCPEGVJCPCVQYPQHUWEJTGEGPVFCVGEQWNFRTGUGPVWPFGT other circumstances. It is connected by a small canal with the Ishikari river, which is 15 miles distant. The main industry now apparent in Sapporo is the preparation of wood, two steam saw-mills being constantly in operation under American superintendence. The city and port of Muroran had not yet come into existence, when Watson made his tour, but he was impressed by the natural advantages of the location. He FGUETKDGF/WTQTCPCUŎQPGQHVJGſPGUVPCVWTCNJCTDQWTUYJKEJEQWNFDGCP[YJGTG met with.’ Watson thought it ‘somewhat singular that the Japanese Government in framing their scheme for opening up the island, should have overlooked the facilities which would be afforded towards the realisation of that scheme, by transferring to Endermo (i.e. Muroran) the seat of the local government, which is now at Hakodate, and by opening the former port to foreign commerce.’ He thought that if ‘Ezo ever became settled to any considerable extent’ it ‘must of necessity supersede Hakodate.’ /CVUWOCGVJGECUVNGVQYPQHVJG'\QſGHYCUIGPGTCNN[QXGTNQQMGFQTHQTIQVten by the early British visitors to Ezo. Tronson, however, did see the city. He described it in these terms: The city of Matsumae is very large, and situated on the side of a hill, which rises above it to the height of seven hundred feet. Rugged ledges of rock, taking the bend of the coast, extend towards the shore in parallel lines. The houses are large, whitewashed, and contrast prettily with the
HOKKAIDO (EZO): SOME IMPRESSIONS OF BRITISH VISITORS, 1854–1873
47
dark green trees which shoot up in every open space. The temples are handsome, with projecting eaves and quaint roofs rising at each extremity into upright points. The dwelling (i.e. the castle or shiro) of the Governor (i.e. the Daimyo), who is a prince, is situated at a little distance right of the town; it is a large and handsome structure, snow-white, built in the Chinese (sic) style, but having turrets on either end; it is surrounded by gardens, full of evergreens, and sheltered in the rear by large trees: JGTGCNUQCTGVJGTGUKFGPEGUQHVJGQHſEKCNUCVVGPFKPIQPVJG2TKPEG6JG whole is enclosed by a low white parapet with many embrasures, through which peeped some guns. Hundreds of junks were at anchor before the city. The anchorage is unsafe, being so much exposed to the south wind. Near the city there are broad green plains, on which we saw droves of cattle and horses.
In those early days the mineral resources of Ezo had hardly been assessed, let alone exploited, but the resources of Ezo impressed the early British visitor. The lead mines, some 25 miles from Hakodate, were visited by Rutherford Alcock, the ſTUV$TKVKUJ/KPKUVGTCPF%QPUWN)GPGTCNCPFQVJGTU UGGVJG*CMQFCVGEJCRVGT of my book Victorians in Japan). The coal mines at Iwanai were visited by Blakiston in 1869. They lay, he said some ‘80 miles in a direct line north of Hakodate’. The Iwanai mines were being exploited by the Japanese Government. They had apparently been discovered in D[CPQHſEGTKPVJGUGTXKEGQHVJG5JQIWP+PVJGCTGCJCFDGGPXKUKVGFD[ Mr E.H.M. Gower, with his brother, then H.M. Consul at Hakodate. He had recommended the ‘reopening’ of the mines. Mr Gower was subsequently appointed superintending engineer, and under his direction a tramway from the mines to the sea was commenced. This work was interrupted by the civil war of 1868, but in the autumn of 1869 Mr James Scott was sent up by the government to complete the works, which he had just accomplished, when I arrived there, and had the ITCVKſECVKQPQHUGGKPIVJGſTUVEQCNTWPFQYPVJGVTCOYC[KPHCEV+OC[UC[VJG QRGPKPIQHVJGſTUVTCKNTQCFKP,CRCPŏ6JGOKPGQRGPGFD[/T)QYGTYCUPGCT the top of the mountain on the south west side. The main gallery followed a seam of coal +8K1/2 feet thick. The gallery was 8 feet wide by 10 feet high and, when the mine was visited by Blakiston, penetrated between 50 and 60 yards. There YGTGVJTGG[CMWPKP ,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUCPFOGPYQTMKPIQPVJGUKVGWPFGTVJG direction of Mr Scott. He noted that the Iwanai coal was superior in quality to most other Japanese kinds and ‘competes favourably’ with Sakhalin coal. ‘It is a ſPGENGCPEQCN'CUKN[KIPKVGFKVDWTPUHTGGN[YKVJCYJKVKUJUOQMGCPFOCKPVCKPU a red heat a longish time. It would be called by engineers a rather-quick coal.’ In 1873 Watson met a Mr Lyman, the geologist on General Capron’s mission. Lyman told him that, in different parts of Ezo, traces of silver and lead, manganese,
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iron pyrites, iron-sand, copper, zinc, rock-oil, and gypsum had been found as well as an abundance of sulphur. Coal was, however, the main mineral resource in the KUNCPF9CVUQPEQPENWFGFVJCVVJG'\QEQCNŎVJQWIJPQVQHVJGſPGUVFGUETKRVKQP KURGTHGEVN[UGTXKEGCDNGHQTUVGCOKPIRWTRQUGUCPFYGTGVJGUGEQCNſGNFUVJTQYP open to the general markets of the world, there can be little doubt that, from their accessible situation, their produce would be in great request, and would, whilst affording large returns to Japan, greatly cheapen the price of coal on the Eastern Seas.’ The coal of Hokkaido was, of course, developed, but coal mining in Japan has been run down in recent years, because Japanese coal is relatively expensive CPFQHNQYECNQTKſEXCNWG
In selecting these snapshots of Ezo, as seen by early British visitors, I have tried to pick out items which show up the differences between the situation as it was some 120 years ago and as it is today. The contrast is striking. Hokkaido is still underpopulated in comparison with the rest of Japan, but, with a population of over six million, inevitably the wilderness in which the wild life of the island thrived has been largely destroyed. There are very few pure Ainu left and their culture has been preserved largely as a tourist attraction. Agriculture has contributed greatly to the prosperity of the island. The mineral resources have been exploited, but are now being run down and Hokkaido faces various economic problems in trying to build up a high technology industry and ensure that living standards do not fall too far behind those in Honshu. But in this respect Hokkaido’s problems, though of a different order, are not dissimilar to those of other regions outside the over-developed and crowded area between the urban complexes of Tokyo and Osaka. The most interesting early British accounts are those of Blakiston and St John. Blakiston’s story of his journey indeed deserves to be reprinted in full. The most GEEGPVTKECEEQWPVKUVJCVQH%2GODGTVQP*QFIUQPVJGſTUV$TKVKUJ%QPUWNKP Hakodate. The consuls sent to Hakodate, at least in the early days of the port, were an odd lot, Some were perhaps sent there because of the remoteness of the RNCEGHTQOVJGEGPVTGUQH$TKVKUJVTCFGCPFKPƀWGPEG A suitable ending to this review is perhaps the following extract from Hodgson’s report of his fourth tour, as sent to his superior Mr (later Sir) Rutherford Alcock, Her Majesty’s Minister and Consul General in Edo, on 27 August 1860, after visiting a volcano:1WVECOGVJGUVGCOHTQOVJGOQWVJUQHſHV[QWVTCIGFHWTPCEGUYJQUG maiden decency we had attacked. We tried to caress them, but their touches’ refused our tenderest appeal; so down we sat, and after lighting our pipes as His Sulphuric Majesty’s palace, we loaded our guns (brought only for bears and salamanders) and discharged numerous volleys to
HOKKAIDO (EZO): SOME IMPRESSIONS OF BRITISH VISITORS, 1854–1873
the honour of our Sovereigns. At this demonstration His Sulphuric Majesty’s subjects, visionary personages, and only recognisable by the GEJQGUCPFWRTQCTVJG[OCFGGCEJVKOGYGſTGFIQVXGT[KTCVGCPF told us to be off.’
49
Source: Ten weeks in Japan, London, Longman’s, Green and Roberts, 1861, 427-8
36
Departure from Japan GEORGE SMITH
THE OTHER NEWLY-OPENED port of Hakodadi in the northern island of Yesso
did not appear to me, in point of number of European residents or general interGUVQHUWHſEKGPVKORQTVCPEGVQEQORGPUCVGHQTVJGFGNC[CPFQVJGTKPEQPXGPKGPEGU of a voyage in a sailing vessel thither and back of 1000 miles. The opportunities were also very few and uncertain. By omitting this part of my intended Japanese tour, I was providentially preserved in all probability from the melancholy and disastrous fate of H.M.S. Camilla which foundered with the loss of every person on board during a typhoon on her return voyage from Hakodadi to Kanagawa in the beginning of September 1860. *CMQFCFKKUQHUOCNNKORQTVCPEGCUCRNCEGQHVTCFGCPFKUXCNWCDNGEJKGƀ[ as the resort of whaling vessels and a depôt for coal of a bituminous quality which abounds in the neighbourhood. It contains only about thirty European residents. Its chief exports are the bêche de mer or sea-slug, and various kinds of FTKGFUJGNNſUJ6JGGZVTGOGUQHEQNFCTGOWEJITGCVGTVJCPCV0CICUCMKCPF Kanagawa, where the tepid waters of a gulf-stream and their more southern latitude combine in causing the prevalence of mild winters and a moderate range of temperature. I append an extract from the North China Herald of a year’s meteorological observations for 1859. The neighbourhood of Hakodadi seems to have its full participation in the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of the Japanese coast. +VYCUYKVJOKPINGFCPFEQPƀKEVKPIHGGNKPIUVJCV+ſPCNN[SWKVVGFVJGUEGPGU of my pleasant wanderings in Japan, and the society of the kind friends beneath whose hospitable roof I found the comforts of a Christian home amid this pagan population. To all the missionaries, to several of the mercantile residents, and to the British and American Consuls during my ten weeks’ stay in Japan I was indebted for many acts of friendly kindness. My dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Brown at Kanagawa and Mr. Williams at Nagasaki claim a special 50
DEPARTURE FROM JAPAN
51
prominence of grateful mention for all their many acts of considerate attention during the time of my residence with them. Embarking in a small American OGTEJCPVXGUUGNDQWPFVQ%CNKHQTPKC+ſPCNN[UCKNGFQWVQHVJG$C[QH;GFFQ QP,WPGVJCPFCHVGTCXQ[CIGQHPGCTN[OKNGUCETQUUVJG0QTVJ2CEKſE arrived in thirty-eight days.
Source: Bulletin, Japan Society of London, No. 78, 1976, 14–19
37
‘Mr. Enslie’s Grievances’ : The Consul, The Ainu and The Bones J. E. HOARE
THERE
EXISTS AMONGVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGTGEQTFUKPVJG2WDNKE4GEQTF1HſEG a ‘case history’ volume entitled ‘Mr. Enslie’s Grievances’.1 Case history volumes were special collections of all the papers relating to a particular incident which YGTGDQWPFVQIGVJGTYJGTGCUVJGPQTOCN(QTGKIP1HſEGRTCEVKEGVJGPYCUVQ collect all papers in chronological order. When writing my Ph.D., I glanced at this volume and found it rather fascinating, but could make little direct use of it. Yet the story it leads into is a fascinating one and one worth telling which throws a number of interesting sidelights on Anglo-Japanese affairs in the 1860s — a stirring time by all accounts. Who was Mr. Enslie, and what were his grievances? Both questions are easily answered. Mr. Enslie became an interpreter in Japan in February or March 1861. In those days, an interpreter in Japan, of course, meant a Dutch interpreter, since correspondence and exchanges between the Bakufu and the foreign powers were conducted in that language. Quite what Mr. Enslie’s connections with the Netherlands were, I am not sure, but they appear to have been close. The then 2GTOCPGPV7PFGT5GETGVCT[QHVJG(QTGKIP1HſEG5KT'FOQPF*COOQPFPQVGF in November 1866 that: ‘The Queen of Holland takes a great interest in him, on account I believe of his family, and is always urging his promotion . . .’2 But CNVJQWIJ/T'PUNKGŏUQTKIKPCNSWCNKſECVKQPYCUKP&WVEJJGJCFRWVJKOUGNHFKNigently to work on Japanese, and by 1864 it seems he was a good oral interpreter. Indeed, Mr. Enslie, never one to be slow at blowing his own trumpet, wrote in 18793VJCVD[JGYCUŎCOQUVGHſEKGPV,CRCPGUGKPVGTRTGVGTŏ For most of the early 1860s, Mr. Enslie enjoyed a successful career, but then he fell well behind his contemporaries.4 In 1879, he noted that he was earning only dC[GCTYKVJPQQWVſVCNNQYCPEGYJKNGVJGNQYGUVUCNCT[GCTPGFD[CP[QHJKU QTKIKPCNKPVGTRTGVGTEQPVGORQTCTKGUYCUdRNWUdQWVſVCNNQYCPEG#PFVJCV 52
MR ENSLIE’S GRIEVANCES
53
is the answer to the second question. Mr. Enslie’s grievance, spelled out in great FGVCKNYCUNCEMQHRTQOQVKQP*GſTUVTCKUGFVJGOCVVGTYKVJ.QPFQPKPCPF had then been told that promotion was a matter for Sir Harry Parkes, the British Minister in Japan. When the matter was referred to Parkes in Tokyo, he had laid down that Enslie should pass an examination in Japanese. Mr Enslie obtained a EGTVKſECVGHTQO'TPGUV5CVQY,CRCPGUG5GETGVCT[CVVJG.GICVKQPYJKEJUVCVGF VJCVJGYCURTQſEKGPVKPQTCN,CRCPGUG Mr. Enslie returned to the charge in May 1876, when he was on leave in LonFQPTGCFKPIHQTVJG$CT$WVKPURKVGQHINQYKPIVGUVKOQPKCNUDQVJQHſEKCNCPF WPQHſEKCNYJKEJJGYCUCDNGVQRTQFWEGYJGPVJGOCVVGTYCUCICKPTGHGTTGFVQ Sir Harry Parkes, the latter replied in August 1876 that no vacancies had occurred since 1871 and that even if a vacancy did occur, there were others to be considered. Mr. Enslie appears to have gritted his teeth, and concentrated on his legal studies; he was called to the Bar at Lincolns Inn in 1877. Back in Japan, he again QEEWRKGFC(KTUV#UUKUVCPVRQUVKP;QMQJCOC UVKNNCVVJCVVKOGQHſEKCNN[MPQYP in Britain as ‘Kanagawa’). Mr Enslie made no sustained protest at a number of acting appointments which ignored his claim, but the last straw appears to have come in March 1879, when he learned that Sir Harry Parkes proposed to make Martin Dohmen, the Vice-Consul in Tokyo, Acting Consul at Yokohama while the Consul was on leave. This was a somewhat exceptional move by Parkes. Enslie was on the spot and was popular locally — a local newspaper, the Japan Herald, even ran a paragraph praising him and it had been customary to give such acting appointments to the man on the spot. After a series of acrimonious meetings and exchanges of letters, Enslie forwarded through Parkes a long detailed letter (76 paragraphs long) to Lord Salisbury in London, setting out his case. Parkes duly forwarded this, together with copies of the letters exchanged between Enslie and himself. How had it come about that Mr. Enslie, a man as I have said, popular in the 6TGCV[2QTVUCOCPQHUQOGCDKNKV[KP,CRCPGUGCPFOQTGQXGTCOCPSWCNKſGFCV the Bar, should be so frequently passed over? The answer to that, at least a partial answer to that, lies with the story in the second half of my title. And for that we have to return to the year 1865. In December 1865, the Japanese Governor of Hakodate came to the British Consul at that port, Captain Francis Howard Vyse and laid a complaint that three Englishmen from Hakodate had been involved in grave-robbing amongst the Ainu villages some way from the Treaty Port. The three men concerned were Henry Trone, the constable at the British Consulate, George Kernish, the jailer for the British Consulate and Henry Whitely, an English naturalist visiting Hakodate. The Governor demanded that the three men be punished and that the Ainu bones and skulls should be restored.5 In reporting this event to Sir Harry Parkes, Captain Vyse rather played down VJGUKIPKſECPEGQHVJGITCXGTQDDKPI#EEQTFKPIVQJKUCEEQWPVVJG)QXGTPQTJCF not acted until he had been put up to it by two local foreigners, one an English-
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man called Duns and the other the American Vice-Consul at Hakodate named Rice. However, whatever his doubts about the case, Captain Vyse duly held a court on 18 December 1865 in which the three men were accused of having desecrated the Ainu graves. He quickly dismissed most of the evidence supplied by VJG,CRCPGUGCUJGCTUC[CPFFGEKFGFVJCVVJGTGOCKPKPIGXKFGPEGYCUPQVUWHſEKGPV to convict the men. In those days there were no juries in British courts in Japan. Instead, in more serious cases the judge, normally a Consul or Vice-Consul, was aided by two assessors chosen from the local British community. On this occasion the two assessors, J. Marr and A. Howell, two British merchants of Hakodate, dissented from the Consul’s decision, saying that the defendants’ evidence was not fully consistent, and that there should be a more thorough investigation of the case since the Japanese had not produced their main witnesses. Faced with this dissent, Consul Vyse, instead of deciding the case as he was legally obliged to do, referred the matter to Sir Harry Parkes, suggesting that the latter should also, as well as deciding the case, ‘adopt some strong measure in order to deter other Englishmen from endeavouring to arouse the animosity of the natives against their fellow Englishmen by making an example of Mr Duns’. 6JG)QXGTPQTYCUENGCTN[PQVUCVKUſGFYKVJ8[UGŏUEQPFWEVQHVJGECUG*G continued to demand, to the Consul’s annoyance, that the three men be found guilty. He was equally insistent that the skulls and the bones must be found and returned to the village from which they had been taken. Sir Harry Parkes was later to comment that he found the Governor’s attitude perfectly understandable, but Consul Vyse thought differently. On 26 December he reported that the conduct of the Governor throughout had been ‘most unseemly and indecorous’, and suggested that a complaint should be made to the central authorities about this conduct. By that time the Governor had found a new source of evidence for his statement that the three men had committed the crime of which they were accused, The Japanese servant of one of them had been apprehended by the Japanese authorities, and was interrogated — no doubt by the extremely harsh methods allowed under Tokugawa law — as to what had happened on the three foreigners’ expedition into the interior. A rescue attempt, which failed, by the three accused on 23 December, added to the Governor’s suspicions. It is at this point that Mr. Enslie re-enters our story. Mr. Enslie was then Acting Vice-Consul at Hakodate. On 28 December (he later claimed solely at his own KPUVKICVKQPJGCTTCPIGFCOGGVKPIYKVJEGTVCKP,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUCVVJG*CMQFCVG%WUVQOU*QWUG'PUNKGCUMGF8[UGCPFCPQVJGT%QPUWNCTQHſEKCN4WUUGNN Robertson, also to attend, although it was said that they were ‘in utter ignorance CUVQ/T'PUNKGŏUOQVKXGKPFGOCPFKPICPKPVGTXKGYQHVJG%JKGH1HſEGTUCVVJG Customs House until they heard the following from Mr. Enslie’s lips’. Mr. Enslie then went on to say that should the servant be released then he would see to it that the bones were returned. However, in reply to a question he declined to say whether or not he knew exactly where the bones were and added that he would
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never, under any circumstances, divulge the names of those involved should he ſPFQWVYJQVJG[YGTG+VCRRCTGPVN[FKFPQVQEEWTVQ/T'PUNKGVJCVKPMGGRKPI this evidence to himself, he was interfering with justice. It was perhaps not surprising that a week later, the Governor claimed that the skulls were in fact hidden in Mr. Enslie’s house. However, a search failed to produce them. Around this time also, the Governor began to make it clear to Consul Vyse that he would shortly be in a position to prefer a second charge of the same nature against the three men. At this point the three confessed that they had in fact robbed Ainu graves. Their story was as follows: At about the beginning of November 1865, they had raided a graveyard at Mori and had brought back to Hakodate the contents of three graves plus one additional head. However, on returning to Hakodate they found that the ‘heads and one of the bodies emitted such a stench’ that they had thrown them into the sea. Having been disappointed QPVJGKTſTUVGZRGFKVKQPVJG[FGEKFGFVQIQCICKPDWVVJKUVKOGVQDTKPIDCEMQPN[ heads. They then gave details of where these were concealed and they were duly recovered. The three accused concluded their letter of confession by saying that ‘we also beg to state that were the complaint regarding the thirteen skulls made solely by the Governor the skulls would have at once been given up. But being so disgusted that Foreigners (Messrs. Rice and Duns) should have complained to the Japanese authorities of the acts of other foreigners we determined to keep the skulls as long as possible’. Even now, with an explicit confession in front of him. Consul Vyse refused to handle the case, referring it all to Parkes for a decision. It was not until the end of January 1866 that Parkes replied. (This implies no dilatoriness on Parkes’ part. In those days communications between Hakodate and Yokohama were slow and complicated. As late as June 1868, the then Consul at Hakodate writing to Parkes noted that he was sending his Despatch by Chefoo and Shanghai ‘as it may reach you sooner than by a ship direct for Yokohama’.6) The arrival of the news of the Ainu grave-robbing at Hakodate must have caused Parkes some considerable concern, although his reply to Consul Vyse is notably restrained. Parkes would have been concerned at this incident, which seemed to open up the possibility of anti-foreign feeling developing at Hakodate, for up until then that port had been remarkably free of those acts of hostility including assassination, which had been so frequent at the other Treaty Ports. Not only that, but at Hakodate, again in contrast to the other Treaty Ports, foreigners had been allowed considerable freedom of access to the hinterland for recreation and indeed, albeit illegally, for trading. Parkes thus did not view the matter as lightly as Vyse. He pointed out that since he was not Vyse’s judicial superior but only his Consular superior, it was not for him to pronounce a decision on a judicial case. If there was any doubt about the matter, Vyse should have referred it to the Court of Shanghai. But clearly Parkes did not share Vyse’s doubt about the case. In his view the Governor had been right and indeed had acted with moderation throughout. It was clearly unfair that the case should have been closed on the very day it had opened, given that the chief witnesses must come from some
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distance from Hakodate. Hoping that he was not being presumptious, Sir Harry Parkes suggested that the court be re-opened and that the confession should be accepted. The men should then be convicted and sentenced under Section 100 of the 1865 Order in Council. Parkes noted that in his view Vyse’s conduct of the whole case had been ‘irregular in a marked degree’. As for Mr Enslie’s actions, he could neither ‘approve nor understand’ the course taken by Enslie and the Consul when they had visited the Japanese Customs House on 28 December. While he was prepared to give Mr Enslie the credit for attempting to save the Japanese servant, he implied that his action was, to put it no higher, strange. In the circumstances, it was perhaps unsurprising that Parkes also noted that he was taking immediate action to remove Vyse from control of the Hakodate Consulate. In the meantime, Vyse was to arrange to visit the area concerned to express the ‘deep repugnance’ of the British Minister and to distribute some thousand ichibu to the Ainu (c. Mexican $335). Parkes wrote to Lord Clarendon on 31 January 1866 forwarding the various despatches from Consul Vyse and summing up his view of the case. The same day he wrote to his friend the Consul at Shanghai: ‘Vyse has made a great botch of a disgraceful case that has occurred at Hakodate, in which three Englishmen . . . JCXGIQPGKPVQVJGEQWPVT[CPFTKƀGF#KPWVQODUQHUMWNNUCPFUMGNGVQPU8[UG tried the men, but hesitated to commit or acquit, and then referred the case to me for decision. Afterwards, when all doubt was cleared up by the confession of the prisoners, he again applied to me to sentence the men.’ 7 Parkes was next in a position to write to Lord Clarendon on 15 April 1866. By that time, Consul Vyse had reported that he had duly re-opened the case and sentenced Trone and Kernish to 13 months jail with hard labour and Whitely to 12 months with hard labour. Trone and Kernish had been given an extra month because they had attempted to rescue their Japanese servant from the Governor’s jail. But Parkes had also to report that the Governor continued to insist that four skulls and a skeleton, which it would be recollected, the defendants had said they had thrown into the sea because they smelled so badly, should be returned. Parkes noted that he had found the Governor’s persistence KPVJKUOCVVGTVQDGLWUVKſGFDGECWUGYJGPJGJCFSWGUVKQPGFVJGVJTGGRTKUQPers while they had been passing through Yokohama on their way to Shanghai in March 1866 he had learned that in fact the skulls and the skeleton had been sent to England. Parkes was able to report that the prisoners had now written to England to ask for the return of the missing skulls and skeleton. In another despatch of the same date, Parkes forwarded letters exchanged between himself and Vyse and Enslie over his disapproval of the latter two’s conduct in the case. Vyse’s failure to handle the case properly, he was willing to agree, was probably largely a result of inexperience. Vyse frequently was unwilling to decide cases.8$WVJGYCUWPCDNGVQſPFCP[LWUVKſECVKQPHQT'PUNKGŏUEQPFWEV at the Customs House on 28 December. Nevertheless, he was willing to give 'PUNKGVJGDGPGſVQHVJGFQWDV*GYTQVG
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Without probably being aware that the remark is not quite suited to the occasion. Mr. Enslie expresses his ‘surprise and regret’ that I should have disapproved of these proceedings. I will only add therefore, that if Your Lordship should be of the opinion that the object he had in effecting the release of the innocent servant, Shotaro, and of not appearing as an KPHQTOGTCICKPUVVJGRTKUQPGTULWUVKſGFVJGEQWTUGJGCFQRVGF+UJCNNQPN[ be too happy to correct the unfavourable opinion I have formed of the judgment he exercised on this occasion. Enslie’s letter to Parkes of 28 February, enclosed in the above despatch, stated that Trone and Kernish had called at his house on 13 December and there deposited a number of packets. Enslie had not known what was in the packets. He had only learned of their contents some time later. Nor at that time had he been aware that any Ainu bones had been taken. As Parkes noted, ‘some time’ was something of a misnomer. It was the very next day, i.e. 14 December that the Governor laid the charge of stealing Ainu bones against Trone, Kernish and Whitely. But according to Enslie, ‘great was my annoyance and surprise when at 9 a.m. on 27 December Trone came to my house and informed me that the packages he had asked leave to place in my house contained the missing skulls and bones, and that the servant, who had accompanied him into the cemetery, had been seized the night previous’. He went on to say that ‘The things were instantly removed from my house ...’ but, having no desire to be the accuser in such a case, he decided not to mention the matter. On the evidence of these two despatches, it is clear that up until this point — i.e. to the beginning of March 1866, the date to which the events described by Parkes in these letters relate — Parkes was of the opinion that Vyse’s errors in handling the court case were less important than Enslie’s error of judgment in concealing the information as to where the missing bones were kept. But in an un-numbered despatch of 16 April 1866, Parkes forwarded some further information based on an interview he had had with the three prisoners on 30 March which was to throw a different light on the case. Trone and Kernish insisted that the bones had been thrown into the sea. Henry Whitely, however, eventually admitted that this was not the case but that they had been sent to an address in England. For some time he refused to give this address but eventually, after he talked with the other two prisoners, he wrote down that the bones had been sent to ‘Colonel Vyse, Stoke Park, Windsor’, the name and address of a brother of Consul Vyse. Parkes noted that Consul Vyse had been present at the interview with Whitely, and had expressed great surprise at what Whitely had said. When asked by Parkes for his views on Whitely’s statement, Vyse wrote that the three men had committed repeated falsehoods and that their word was not to be relied upon, but he requested leave, which was due to him, to go to the U.K. to clear his brother’s name. This was duly permitted. 6JGUEGPGPQYUJKHVUVQ.QPFQP6JG(QTGKIP1HſEGJCFCNTGCF[CRRTQXGF Parkes’ action as recounted in his despatch of 31 January; on 19 May his further
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actions as recorded in the despatches of 15 April were approved. Enquiries were set in hand regarding the box of bones sent to England. The Chairman of the Board of Customs minuted on 9 June that three packages had arrived via the ‘Earl of Dalhousie’ on 13 April addressed to ‘Colonel Vyse’, consigned to Smith Elder and Company of Cornhill. ‘Two of them were examined and contained bones. The third was said to contain a human skeleton, which was stated to be that of a Neinio or Nenia woman, obtained from the interior of the country at great cost. It is very small.’ There was no indication as to who had sent them. On 13 June, Captain Vyse reported his arrival in the U.K, to the Foreign 1HſEG+VYCUUWDUGSWGPVN[TGICTFGFCUUKIPKſECPVVJCVVJKUNGVVGTCPFCPWODGTQH QVJGTNGVVGTUHTQO%CRVCKP8[UGYGTGCFFTGUUGFHTQOCNCY[GTŏUQHſEGKP.KPEQNPU Inn Fields. The Permanent Under-Secretary wrote to Vyse on 21 June saying that as Parkes had told them he had come to London to investigate the question of the Ainu bones, Lord Clarendon would be grateful to know what he had found. On 28 June, Vyse replied that he had traced the bones and sent them back to Japan. *GCNUQRQKPVGFQWVVJCVJGFKFPQVſPFVJGDQPGUCVVJGTGUKFGPEGQHJKUDTQVJGT It is perhaps unnecessary to say that this reply was not regarded as being very satisfactory. It is also perhaps unnecessary to go into the details of the long EQTTGURQPFGPEGYJKEJHQNNQYGFDGVYGGPVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGCPF%QPUWN8[UG VJTQWIJQWVVJGUWOOGTCPFGCTN[CWVWOPQH5WHſEGKVKUVQUC[VJCV%CRtain Vyse continued to write letters which were generally found to provide no adequate explanation of what had happened at Hakodate the previous autumn. $[,WN[VJGQRKPKQPYCUHQTOKPIYKVJKPVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGVJCVKVUGGOGFJKIJN[ likely that Captain Vyse had been a party to the original raids for Ainu bones. By the beginning of September, it seems clear that Captain Vyse was under EQPUKFGTCDNG UVTCKP 9JCVGXGT GZRNCPCVKQP JG UWRRNKGF VQ VJG (QTGKIP 1HſEG appeared to be regarded as unsatisfactory. He then made a move which tended VQEQPſTOVJGCNTGCF[FGXGNQRKPIUWURKEKQPUQHJKUQYPEQORNKEKV[KPVJGECUG *GHQTYCTFGFVQVJG1HſEGEQRKGUQHYJCVJGENCKOGFYGTGXQNWPVCT[UVCVGOGPVU OCFGD[6TQPG-GTPKUJCPF9JKVGN[6JGCNNGIGFCHſFCXKVUFCVGF,CPWCT[ 1866, said that the reports then circulating in Hakodate that Vyse had instigated the excursion to the country for the bones were ‘mean lies’. +PVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGVJGUGCHſFCXKVUYGTGTGEGKXGFYKVJUQOGUEGRVKEKUO+V was odd, it was pointed out, that Vyse had not produced them sooner since they were dated 6 January. It was also odd that, given that they were dated 6 January, they referred to reports linking Captain Vyse with the bones raid; certainly at that time Vyse had not reported that such rumours were circulating, and had expressed himself as being very surprised at Whitely’s statement to Sir Harry Parkes on 30 March that the bones were to be sent to his brother. By the end of the month, VJGRGTOCPGPVQHſEKCNUYKVJKPVJG1HſEGYGTGQHVJGQRKPKQPVJCV8[UGYQWNF have to be dismissed from the Service. But he was still given an opportunity to clear himself. When asked why he JCFFGNC[GFUQNQPIKPHQTYCTFKPIVJGCHſFCXKVU8[UGTGRNKGFQP1EVQDGT
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that he had forwarded them as soon as copies had been available. Unfortunately, this was a transparent falsehood, since there had not been time to send VQ,CRCPHQTEQRKGUQHCHſFCXKVUJGNFKPVJG%QPUWNCVGſNGUCPFVQTGVWTPVJGO to the U.K. 9JCVGXGT FQWDVU TGOCKPGF KP VJG EQNNGEVKXG (QTGKIP 1HſEG OKPF D[ VJG end of November 1866, and they were few, were removed following a call by Captain Vyse’s brother on Lord Stanley, who had now become Foreign Secretary, on 5 December. From Lord Stanley’s notes taken on that occasion, it was clear that the Consul had been implicated in the grave robbing from the very beginning. It seemed that Vyse had hoped to make money from selling VJGDQPGUYJKEJYGTGVQDGQHHGTGFſTUVVQVJG$TKVKUJ/WUGWOCPFVJGPVQ Mr. Davis, a naturalist in Staffordshire. Later, he had written to his brother saying that there was a row about the bones and that they should not be sold but instead should be given away. A third letter asked that they be returned to Japan unopened exactly as they came. That same day, Lord Stanley wrote to Colonel Vyse suggesting that the best thing would be for his brother to resign from the Service because if he did not he would be removed. Colonel Vyse replied that he received this letter with some regret although not with surprise. He asked that he should be given copies of the letters which had led to this decision since he had only his brother’s letters to go upon. His brother, he added, persisted in his innocence. Lord Stanley replied that his brother already had the correspondence. Captain Vyse’s resignation was duly received on 7 December, together with a request that he should be given the reasons for it. On 9 December, his brother wrote again to Lord Salisbury — an extremely sad letter. Since his brother had persisted that he was innocent he had asked him to provide a written statement: This he did, and it differed so entirely from my knowledge of the affair of the bones and the skeleton, its knowledge was obtained entirely from my brother’s letters written from Japan on the business, that when I acknowledged the receipt of it I told my brother that the statement might be true as regarded some transaction of which I had no knowledge, but as regarded the only transaction of which I had any knowledge, it was entirely and wholly the reverse of the facts of the case. For the next few months Captain Vyse, who had resigned on 7 December, conVKPWGFVQDQODCTFVJG1HſEGYKVJQEECUKQPCNNGVVGTUCPFEQRKGUQHCHſFCXKVUD[ Kernish, Whitely and Trone, sworn at various parts of the world, claiming that he was innocent. But clearly there was no hope of a reversal of the decision in his case. Certain other pieces of evidence came to light which strongly indicated his guilt. A copy of a letter from Sir Edmund Hornaby, Judge at Shanghai, to Vyse, WRQPYJKEJVJG1HſEGCUMGFHQT*QTPCD[ŏUEQOOGPVUVWTPGFQWVVQJCXGDGGP altered in rather important passages. No trace could be found in the Consulate TGEQTFUCV*CMQFCVGQHVJGCHſFCXKVUQH,CPWCT[
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6JGCHHCKTQHVJG#KPWDQPGUYCUſPCNN[UGVVNGFKP/C[YJGPVJGVJTGG boxes containing ‘one body, three heads and trunks’ were returned to the Japanese authorities at Hakodate for onward transhipment to the Ainu village concerned. The Governor expressed his satisfaction, and the Ainu were contented. Captain Vyse fades from our story. I do not know of his subsequent career, but he died in 1891.9
And what of Mr. Enslie in all this? Although the earlier opinion of Sir Harry Parkes was that Enslie had committed the greater fault in concealing the whereabouts of the bones, whatever the original view of Mr. Enslie’s behaviour had been, by November 1866 it was clear that Captain Vyse’s offence had been the ITGCVGTQPG$WVVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGVQQMCXGT[UGXGTGXKGYQH'PUNKGŏUDGJCXKQWT The Permanent Under-Secretary wrote on 18 November: ‘I think the conduct of Mr. Enslie on his own showing, incapacitates him from ever being employed in a place of trust even if it does not call for severer notice in the shape of dismissal from the Service altogether.’ And when, in January 1867, Lord Stanley wrote to Sir Harry Parkes, giving him details of the outcome of the investigations of the previous year, he noted that he could not ignore Enslie’s proceedings since ‘knowing where the bones were secreted and the person who was concerned in the robbery’ he had refused to divulge this information unless a Japanese prisoner was released. Lord Stanley noted that it had not apparently occurred to Enslie that he had a public duty to inform his superiors of what he knew. He had, in effect, ignored his letter of appointment which had said that he should conduct himself with discretion and temper in interviews with the Japanese authorities and people. Parkes’ comments on Enslie’s conduct were ‘perfectly well-grounded’ and Enslie JCFUJQYPJKOUGNHCNVQIGVJGTWPSWCNKſGFVQJQNFCP[RQUKVKQPQHCWVJQTKV[YJKEJ would bring him into contact with the Japanese authorities unless he was closely supervised. He was to be furnished with a copy of this despatch and informed of Lord Stanley’s ‘strong displeasure at his conduct. . .’ Finally, he was never to be left in charge of a Consulate in Japan again. But in fact, this stringent sentence was not enforced for very long. As he himUGNHPQVGFKPD['PUNKGJCFCRRCTGPVN[TGICKPGFVJGEQPſFGPEGQH5KT Harry Parkes and had been appointed Acting Vice-Consul for Hyogo and Osaka, a post he had held for four years. In 1871, he was appointed Acting Consul at Niigata. Because of lingering doubts about the 1867 ruling, this appointment was suspended until it could be referred to London, but in due course Enslie had been allowed to take up the acting appointment. From then on, as we have seen, however, Mr Enslie had failed to advance in the Service, and by 1879 he was an GZVTGOGN[DKVVGTOCP9JGPVJGRCRGTUYGTGGZCOKPGFKPVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGKP London in 1879, the conclusion was that he indeed had a genuine grievance. It was VTWGVJCVJGYCUCFKHſEWNVOCPVQFGCNYKVJ#PWPUKIPGFOKPWVGQH,WPG
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bound in with these papers, and apparently coming from the China Department QHVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGUVCVGFŎ9GJCXGJCFRCKPHWNGZRGTKGPEGKPVJG%JKPC&GRV of Mr. Enslie who is a most tiresome and persistent person, and always manages VQJCXGCITKGXCPEGŏ0GXGTVJGNGUUCUVJG%JKGH%NGTMYTQVGKVYCUFKHſEWNVVQ avoid the conclusion ‘that Mr. Enslie, his want of judgment and undoubtedly improper tone which he adopt(ed) towards Harry Parkes notwithstanding, (had) scarcely been treated with fairness in the matter of promotion’. 5KT*CTT[2CTMGUKVKUENGCTHTQOVJGUGRCRGTUYCUMPQYPKPVJG(QTGKIP1HſEG to have favourites. So, he was instructed to go ahead with the appointments he had arranged, if he so desired, but if he should choose ‘to pass over Mr. Enslie again’, he was asked to furnish a reason for so doing. Parkes wrote to Lord Salisbury in October declining, in effect, to go ahead with his appointments or to vary them, UKPEGYJCVGXGTJGFKFYQWNFCRRGCTVQKORN[VJCVJGCEEGRVGFVJG(QTGKIP1HſEGŏU judgment that he had unfairly passed over Enslie. This he denied. He argued that due account had to be taken of the 1867 censure, and that the effect was that Enslie had lost his claims to seniority above his contemporaries. In any case, he claimed, OCP[QHVJQUGEQPVGORQTCTKGUYGTGOQTGSWCNKſGFKP,CRCPGUGVJCP'PUNKGYCU He did not agree that Enslie had been hard done by but he could sympathise with the letter’s concern at having had to wait so long for a permanent appointment, however ‘promotions are dependent upon vacancies, and vacancies occur but rarely in a Service so small as that of Japan’. Parkes expressed himself as willing to give Enslie an acting appointment at Hakodate when the Consul there applied for leave; alternatively he could be made Acting Vice-Consul at Niigata, but the lack of work at Niigata — where there YGTGHGYHQTGKIPTGUKFGPVUōJCTFN[UGGOGFVQLWUVKH[VJKUſPCNN[KVOKIJVDG possible to give him a personal rank of Vice-Consul and retain him at Yokohama, but doing similar work to that which he was then doing. At this point Sir Harry Parkes went on leave. Then, in the summer of 1880, an opportunity occurred, probably to everybody’s relief, which allowed Mr Enslie to DGIKXGPCRQUKVKQPEQOOGPUWTCVGYKVJJKUSWCNKſECVKQPUCPFCDKNKVKGUCPFYJKEJCV the same time avoided the issue of promotion within the Consular Service for the time being. The post of Acting Registrar and Crown Prosecutor with the Court in ,CRCPPGGFGFVQDGſNNGFCPF/T'PUNKGYCUQHHGTGFCPFCEEGRVGFKVKP,WN[10 From then on, Mr. Enslie’s career took a turn for the better. He was Acting Consul at Yokohama from November 1881 to February 1883, while at Yokohama, he was nominally promoted Vice-Consul at Hakodate in April 1882. To this post, he added the Vice-Consulship at Niigata in March 1884. In September 1884, he was nominated, provisionally, Consul at Nagasaki — the ‘provisionally’ may have been the last remnant of the censure of 1867. Be that as it may, in May 1886 he was appointed to the Nagasaki post without strings. Two years later he moved to Kobe as Consul. He held that post until his death in June 1896, spending VYQRGTKQFUFWTKPIVJQUG[GCTUCU1HſEKCVKPI%QPUWNCV;QMQJCOCVJGRTGOKGT British consular appointment in Japan.
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In all these posts, Mr. Enslie appears to have found favour with the local British community. On his occasional moves from post to post the local community would present him with an illuminated address, a practice by no means universal CVVJGFGRCTVWTGQHEQPUWNCTQHſEGTUKP,CRCP'XGPVJG6TGCV[2QTVRTGUUPQECUWCN RTCKUGTQHEQPUWNCTQHſEGTUCRRCTGPVN[HQWPF/T'PUNKGCUCVKUHCEVQT[QHſEGT11 It would be nice to conclude this talk on this note of satisfaction. But one should point out that Mr. Enslie continued to have grievances. Perhaps a certain bitterness had entered his soul through those long years when it must have seemed he would be passed over for promotion for ever. It is true that the main grievance had gone but as he moved around Japan from post to post, a stream of letters went home to London. The furniture in one house wasn’t satisfactory, the water supply elsewhere. Reading these one cannot but have a certain sympathy with that unknown clerk already quoted who said that Mr. Enslie was ‘a most tiresome and persistent person (who) always manages to have a grievance’.
NOTES (QTGKIP1HſEG%QTTGURQPFGPEG,CRCP (1XQN F.O.46/88, ‘Case of Captain Vyse. Aino Bones. 1866 and 1867.’ 3. F.O.46/254, J. J. Enslie to Lord Salisbury, 29 April 1879. 4. For details of his career, see (QTGKIP1HſEG List, 1897 edition, p.234. 5. Most details of this story are taken from F.O.46/88. For a Japanese account, see T. Otsuka, Bakumatsu gaikoshi no kenkyu (Tokyo, 1952), pp. 373–89. 6. (QTGKIP1HſEG'ODCUU[CPF%QPUWNCT4GEQTFU,CRCP (1%QPUWN'WUFGPVQ Parkes, no. 22, 13 June 1868. 7. S. Lane-Poole and F. V. Dickens, Life of Sir Harry Parkes (London, 1894), II, 68–9. 8. (QTGKIP1HſEG'ODCUU[CPF%QPUWNCT4GEQTFU%JKPC4GEQTFUQHVJG5WRTGOG%QWTV at Shanghai (F.O.656)/18, Sir Edmund Hornaby to Consul Vyse, draft, nos. 1 and 3, 16 November and 28 December 1865. (QTGKIP1HſEG.KUV 1891 edition, p.187. 10. See correspondence and minutes on F.O.46/282. 11. For example, see Japan Weekly Mail, 5 May 1888 and Japan Mail (Summary), 7 January 1889, ‘Consular Appointments’. 1. 2.
Source: The Japan Chronicle,WDKNGG0WODGTŌ1918
38
Kobe’s Modern History [ROBERT YOUNG – extracts]
EARLY FOREIGN REFERENCES TO HYOGO
AS ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR to this Jubilee Number shows, the vicinity of Kobe has not been destitute of those historical incidents which give interest and distinction to a locality. But it may safely be said that until the coming of foreigners to Japan and even for some years after that event, Kobe was practically unknown, alike to foreigners and Japanese. In 1859, when Yokohama was opened to foreign VTCFG-QDGYCUCNKVVNGſUJKPIXKNNCIGQPVJGGCUVGTPUKFGQH*[QIQVJGPCRQTV of considerable importance, and once in days long past the seat of a Mikado. With its deep and safe harbour Hyogo offered refuge to junks that in stormy weather hesitated to encounter the shoals of the Osaka bar in a west wind or the turbulence of the Akashi strait when a gale was blowing out of the north-west. Richard Cocks, chief of the factory which the East India Company established at Hirado (near Nagasaki) in 1613, and which was withdrawn in 1623 after a somewhat chequered business career, speaks of arriving at Hyogo, or Fiongo as he calls it, on a journey through the Inland Sea to Osaka, on 9 December 1621, 'having made xvij leagues this day, not without danger, seeing a greate bark, laden with rise, cast away in passing the straits at Fiongo’. No doubt the reference is to the Akashi straits, which in a tempestuous wind such as is often experienced in the winter months, and without any mark to indicate the shoal at its eastern entrance such as now exists, often proved fatal to junks. On the following day (10 December 1621) Cocks writes of departing from Fiongo, 'having laden two DCTMGUſTUVYKVJQWTOGTEJCPFK\VQNKIJVGPQWTDCTMUJGFTCYKPIOWEJYCVGT CPFPQYPGRGVKFGUŏ0GXGTVJGNGUUŎCUYGRCUUGFVJGƀCVVGUQH1UCEMC[YGYGTG on grownd divers tymes; yet, God be praised, we gott well affe againe, and arived at Osackay at 3 a clock in thafter nowne; but at the same place saw one bark cast away, laden with stones for the making of the castell, but all the people saved.' 6JKUYCUPQVVJGſTUVQEECUKQPVJCV%QEMUJCFXKUKVGF*[QIQHQTJGYTKVGUKPJKU 63
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diary of being there on Christmas Day in 1618 (three hundred years ago), having put in ‘per meanes of contrary wind’. Cocks further reports that he gave rice CPFſUJŎVQCNNQWTDCTMOGPVQF[PGTVJKUFC[YKVJCbarso of wine, in respect of Christmas Day’. No doubt the Dutch, on their annual journey to Yedo for the maintenance of their privilege to trade at Nagasaki, often touched at Hyogo, or passed through the town when travelling by land. Engelbert Kaempfer, the German doctor attached to the Dutch colony in Nagasaki between 1690 and 1692, has quite a long passage concerning Hyogo in his account of the journey via the Inland Sea to Yedo in 1691, some seventy years after Cocks had passed that way. After mentioning Taromi and Sijwoja and also Summa, he speaks of arriving at the city and harbour of Piogo, as he spells the name of the port. Towards the sea side, on the south, he says in his description of Hyogo, the town is defended by a broad sandy dike, which from the mountains behind Suma runs eastward into the sea for about one-third of a German mile. This dike he describes as having been built by the ‘Emperor Feki. who had a mind to make a good harbour of it’. ‘It cost an immense deal of labour and expense, and the life of many a man, before it was brought to perfection, the stormy and furious sea having several times spoiled and twice entirely FGUVTQ[GFKV0QTEQWNFKVDGſPKUJGFVKNNC,CRCPGUGJGTQCUVJGKTJKUVQT[TGNCVGU (some speak of thirty men) with the boldness and courage of that noble Roman Curtius, suffered himself to be buried alive in the foundations of this work, which VJG[UC[GPVKTGN[RCEKſGFVJGCPIT[)QFQHVJG5GCŏ 5WEJUVQTKGUQHJWOCPUCETKſEGVQOCMGHQWPFCVKQPUUCHGCTGXGT[EQOOQPKP Japan, as they are in Europe, and no doubt represented real immolation at one time. If the story concerning the harbour of Hyogo has any truth, it implies that UWEJJWOCPUCETKſEGURTGXCKNGFCUNCVGCUVJGVYGNHVJEGPVWT[YJGP-K[QOQTK built his palace at Fukuwara in Kobe and the port was improved by running out a breakwater or dike on its western side. Kaempfer describes Hyogo as of much importance in his day. ‘It is the last good harbour we come to in our voyage from Simonoseki to Osacca, and is so much frequented, that upon our arrival there we found no less than three hundred barges lying at anchor. The city of Fiogo has no castle, and is almost as big as Nagasaki, not indeed quite so broad, but longer, and built round the semi-circular shores of its harbour. The front houses, or those next the harbour, are all poor small cottages, but those behind are much larger and neater, and better seated, being built on a rising ground, running up towards a pleasant hill planted with trees, behind which appears the top of a barren mountain, which they say hath very rich mines, yielding a good quantity of gold.’ There was no trace of gold mines in the vicinity when foreigners took up their residence in Kobe, but there was a mine at Miki in the neighbourhood of Takatori from which surface coal of a poor quality was extracted; the workings were long ago abandoned. Kaempfer drew a chart of his voyage, which is described as ‘A Particular Map of the Voyage from Kokura to Simonoseki, and thence to Osacca.’ On this map
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CRRGCTUŎ-QQDGŏCRRCTGPVN[VJGſTUVQEECUKQPQPYJKEJVJGRNCEGKUOGPVKQPGF in any foreign work. In the rear of Kobe is Mayasan, so spelled, and apparently regarded by the voyager as of some importance, as it is marked as a place of residence.
VISIT OF SIR RUTHERFORD ALCOCK
The next foreign visitor to Hyogo of whom we have record passed through Kobe UGXGPV[[GCTUNCVGT6JKUYCU5KT4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEMVJGſTUV$TKVKUJ/KPKUVGTVQ Japan, who in 1861 undertook a journey from Nagasaki to Yedo by way of the Inland Sea. He describes Hyogo as the shipping port of Osaka, containing perhaps 20,000 inhabitants, pleasantly situated along the edge of a sandy shore, with a range of wooded hills and mountains rising with gentle slope from 1,000 to 2,000 HGGVDGJKPF+VYCUYKVJUQOGFKHſEWNV[VJCV5KT4WVJGTHQTF#NEQEMUWEEGGFGFKP UGGKPICP[VJKPIQHVJGVQYPQPUJQTG6JG,CRCPGUGQHſEKCNUWTIGFWRQPJKOVJCV grave dangers might be incurred if he persisted in landing, that the country was in a disturbed state, that ronin were on the watch, and so on. Sir Rutherford declined to be persuaded, and, accompanied by Mr. de Wit, the head of the Dutch Mission, went ashore on a June morning in 1861 to see what he could of a port which the Japanese had undertaken to open eighteen months later. Sir Rutherford Writes: Near to our hongen or resting-place, there was a beach gradually rising HTQOVJGYCVGTYJKEJYQWNFCHHQTFCſPGUKVGHQTCP[HWVWTGHQTGKIPUGVVNGOGPV9JGVJGTVJGQHſEGTCEEQORCP[KPIOGFKXKPGFYJCVYCURCUUKPI through my mind, or really contemplated the opening of the port at the VKOGſZGFD[VTGCV[CPFYKUJGFVQVJTQYQWVCHGGNGT+MPQYPQVDWVVQ my surprise he asked what I thought of the site for a foreign location; and I had no hesitation in telling him that I thought it was excellent. As we pursued our route, I found all the shops shut, and the population either JKFCYC[KPVJGKTJQWUGUQTEQWſPGFVQVJGUVTGGVUYJKEJNC[QWVQHQWT road. It required a very vigorous remonstrance to put a stop to this singular method of showing a town. First, it was for our protection; then it was a mistake which would not occur in future; and at last, driven from all their positions, the orders were rescinded, the shops opened, and the people were allowed to attend to their business. The conclusion to which Sir Rutherford came after inspecting the town was that *[QIQYCUEJKGƀ[FGXQVGFVQVJGOCMKPIQHUCMGCPFJGTGHGTUVQNCTIGFKUVKNNGTKGU and warehouses lining the seashore. […] On the occasion of the visit of Sir Rutherford Alcock to Hyogo, Captain J. S. Watts, of H.M.S. Ringdove, took the opportunity of making an examination of both Hyogo and Kobe Bay. The latter he spells ‘Corvee,’ and the point made by
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the Ikuta river he calls ‘Neuter’ Point. The land he described as highly cultivated CPFVJGUGCUYCTOKPIYKVJſUJ
THE DELAY IN THE OPENING OF HYOGO
By the Elgin Treaty with Japan, signed in 1858, Hakodate, Kanagawa, and Nagasaki were to be opened to foreign trade on 1 July 1859, Niigata in 1860, and Hyogo on the 1st of January, 1863. Nothing is said about Osaka. As the time CRRTQCEJGFHQTVJGHWNſNOGPVQHVJGVJKTFEQPFKVKQPVJG5JQIWPCVG)QXGTPOGPV DGECOGXGT[WPGCU[CPFſPCNN[UGPVCOKUUKQPVQ'WTQRGWTIKPICRQUVRQPGOGPV to the 1st of January, 1868. Lord John Busnell, in consenting to the postponement, urged the opening of a port on Tsushima, with a view to checking the southward march of Russia, but the advice was not taken. After the bombardment of Shimonoseki in 1804 by the Allied Squadrons, the convention signed with the Japanese authorities agreed to the payment of three million dollars by way of indemnity. In the discussions that ensued, the proposal was made to forego two-thirds of the indemnity if consent was given to the immediate opening of Hyogo and to the addition of Osaka as one of the open ports. The Japanese authorities declined the alternative. They said payment of the indemnity would certainly strain their resources, but they decidedly preferred to meet this obligation rather than consent to the immediate opening of the two ports. At the time it was believed that the objection rested on mere hostility to an extension of foreign intercourse. What the Bakufu feared, however, was that the opening of Hyogo and Osaka would precipitate the gathering storm by exasperating the anti-foreign and RTQ/KMCFQRCTV[CPFVJWUKPXQNXGVJG5JQIWPCVGKPCFFKVKQPCNFKHſEWNVKGU6JCV VJGTGYCULWUVKſECVKQPHQTVJKUXKGYUGGOURTQXGFD[VJGHCEVVJCVVJGGXGPVWCN QRGPKPIQH*[QIQCPF1UCMCKPOCTMGFVJGſPCNEQNNCRUGQHVJG5JQIWWCVG CPFRTQDCDN[JCFUQOGKPƀWGPEGKPRTGEKRKVCVKPIVJGECVCUVTQRJG5CVUWOCYCU especially opposed to the opening of the two ports, because of the increased revenue that would thus be obtained by the Shogun, all of the open ports being WPFGT5JQIWPCVGQHſEKCNUCPF%WUVQOUFWVKGUDGKPIRCKFKPVQVJG5JQIWPCVG treasury. In 1865, when Sir Harry Parkes and the other foreign Ministers came FQYPVQVJG1UCMC$C[KPVJGKTYCTUJKRUYKVJVJGQDLGEVQHUGEWTKPICTCVKſECVKQP of the treaties by the Mikado and a settlement of the question concerning the QRGPKPIQHVJGRQTVUCOGOQTKCNYCUUGPVVQVJG/KMCFQHTQOVJGJKIJQHſEGTU of Satsuma saying that although it was not known exactly what were the objects of the ‘barbarians’ in bringing their ships into the harbour of Hyogo, it was believed that an arrangement had been arrived at by which Hyogo was to be opened to foreign trade. ‘Now your Majesty is well aware,’ said the memorialists, ‘that Hyogo is in the vicinity of your sacred residence, and a very important port in the Inland Sea. We are, for this reason, far from thinking that your Maj-
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esty will for a moment entertain the idea of the opening of Hyogo. Since the Americans came and trampled on our land, the resolution of your Majesty has been immovable.’ The explanation of the last sentence is that the Mikado had repeatedly issued instructions that the ‘ugly barbarians’ should be driven into the sea, and Shimadzu Saburo offered the services of the Satsuma clan to undertake the work. The memorial probably had its effect, for the Mikado refused to ratify the provision of the treaties for the opening of Hyogo. But this fact was concealed from the Foreign Ministers, who were told that the Mikado had yielded QPCNNRQKPVUCPFVJCVVJGVTGCVKGUJCFHQTVJGſTUVVKOGTGEGKXGFHWNNTCVKſECVKQP Though Osaka was added to Hyogo as one of the ports to be opened in 1868, it was without the consent of the Mikado. The Ministers returned to Yedo without MPQYKPIVJCVVJGTCVKſECVKQPYCUPQVEQORNGVG9JCVYQWNFJCXGJCRRGPGF when the deception was discovered must remain a matter of speculation. Perhaps the Bakufu trusted that circumstances would have changed before the day came for the opening of the ports. If that was so tJG[YGTGLWUVKſGFD[GXGPVU$GHQTG three years had passed and the time came to implement the contract, both the Mikado and the Shogun were dead. The young Emperor Meiji had begun his long and memorable reign, and Hitotsubashi, the new Shogun, was able without OWEJFKHſEWNV[VQQDVCKPVJG+ORGTKCNEQPUGPVVQVJGQRGPKPIQHVJGVYQRQTVU as agreed, on 1 January 1868.
CHOOSING A SITE FOR THE ROREIGN SETTLEMENT AT KOBE
Though Sir Harry Parkes failed to obtain the immediate opening of Hyogo and Osaka when the naval demonstration was made in 1865, he took the opportunity of choosing a site for the new Foreign Settlement at Hyogo, and also, it may be presumed, at Osaka, though nothing is said as to the latter place. It is a curious circumstance that the port of Hyogo, strictly speaking, was not really opened to foreigners until some thirty years later, when the event was celebrated by a fete. The location which Sir Harry Parkes chose was situated on the shores of the bay of Kobe, and foreign trade was begun and carried on there. Hyogo proper remained closed for many years, it being illegal for foreign ships to enter the port. One of the Legation staff who accompanied Sir Harry Parkes to Osaka Bay in 1863 wrote of the site of the proposed settlement:— Hyogo will be a pleasant place of residence! Its neighbourhood is quite as pretty as that of Yokohama to my taste. The settlement is at some distance from Hyogo proper, and is in a little bay of its own with good anchorage, and plenty of water for big ships. The hills are at a distance of about a ri or a ri and a half at the back of the settlement, and rise, much CHVGTVJGOCPPGTQHVJQUGCDQWV0CICUCMKVQCJGKIJVQHCDQWVſHVGGP hundred feet.
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Sir Harry Parkes, in a dispatch to Earl Russell, refers to the demeanour of the people as being quite friendly, and indeed this was generally the case throughout Japan in the early days, except as regards the two-sworded class. ‘During the three YGGMUVJCVVJGƀGGVJCUNCKPCVVJKUCPEJQTCIGŏYTQVGVJG$TKVKUJ/KPKUVGTHTQO the ‘Princess Royal, off Hyogo’, on 25 November 1865, ‘constant communication JCUDGGPMGRVWRYKVJVJGUJQTGCPFRCTVKGUQHQHſEGTUKPVJGEQWTUGQHFCKN[ walks or excursions, have traversed the country in many directions. They have, been invariably treated with marked goodwill by the private orders of the people, who in return have been freely permitted to visit our vessels. Our endeavours to RTQOQVGVJKUKPVGTEJCPIGQHEKXKNKVKGUTGEGKXGFCVſTUVCEJGEMHTQOVJGCWVJQTKVKGU at Osaka, who issued a notice forbidding the people to go on board the ships; but on being informed of this circumstance. I insisted upon the interdict being withdrawn as publicly as it had been imposed, and during the last days of our XKUKVPWOGTQWU,CRCPGUGQHVGPCEEQORCPKGFD[VJGKTHCOKNKGUUCVKUſGFD[RGTUQPCN inspection the universal curiosity and admiration which the size and equipment QHVJGƀCIUJKRQEECUKQPGF’
THE ATTACK OF BIZEN MEN ON FOREIGNERS AT HYOGO
[…] On Tuesday, the 4th February, a party of Bizen soldiers under Ikeda Ise and Taki Zensaburo landed at Hyogo with the object of marching to Osaka to join the Imperialist forces. Their route lay along the road to the north of the Settlement, the high road to Osaka and Kyoto. Flushed with the triumph of the cause they were espousing and believing it was only a matter of days before VJGHQTGKIPGTYQWNFPQNQPIGTDGUWHHGTGFVQFGſNGVJGUQKNQH,CRCPVJG[YGTG KPCOQQFYJGPCVTKƀKPIKPEKFGPVYCUUWHſEKGPVVQCTQWUGVJGOVQFCPIGTQWU anger. As they passed with the customary shout of shita ni iro (“Down on your MPGGUŒVJG,CRCPGUGDQYGFFQYPDWVPCVWTCNN[VJGHQTGKIPGTUYJQYGTGYCVEJing the cavalcade pass refused to do so. This roused the fury of the Bizen Lien. An American was attacked by one of the samurai, but succeeded in getting away. Two French marines crossed the line of procession, which, as usual, was not a close formation like the march of European soldiers, and the order was given to cut them down. One managed to escape unhurt, and the other received a slight YQWPF6JG$K\GPOGPVJGPQRGPGFſTGTKIJVCPFNGHVQPGXGT[HQTGKIPGTVJG[ saw, but their marksmanship was very wild, for they succeeded in wounding one man only, an American sailor. Sir Harry Parkes, who had only arrived back in Kobe two days earlier, happened to be walking across the new Settlement with one of his escort when the fusillade began. He hurried to the building where the Legation was housed and turned out the guard, ordering signals for assistance to be made to the men-of-war, which in a very few minutes landed a substantial body of men. Putting himself at the head of the mounted escort and the detachment from the 9th Regiment which acted as guard, Sir Harry went in pursuit of the
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samurai. By this time the rear of the Bizen procession had reached the guard-house which stood close to the two pillars marking the entrance to the road leading to the Ikuta temple. A small force of American marines, about twenty strong, with CſGNFRKGEGECOGWRYKVJVJG$K\GPOGPſTUVCPFſTGFCVVJGTGVTGCVKPIYCTTKQTU YJKNGCDQF[QH(TGPEJOCTKPGUETQUUGF/QVQOCEJKKPVQVJGſGNFUDG[QPFCRRCTGPVN[YKVJVJGJQRGQHEWVVKPIVJGOQHHHTQOVJGJKNNUCPFDGICPſTKPIVJGUCOG VKOG6JGUCOWTCKſPFKPIVJCVVJKPIUYGTGPQYDGIKPPKPIVQIGVUGTKQWUCPFPQV then being educated up to the point of proferring death to victory, made off at the double. The British force took up the pursuit. Reaching a bamboo grove, the $K\GPOGPOCFGCUVCPFCPFſTGFQPVJGCFXCPEKPIHQTGKIPHQTEGDWVTGEGKXKPI a hot fusillade in return, they broke and scattered. As they ran they threw away their baggage and arms and thus unencumbered disappeared into the hills. After a barren chase the foreign soldiers and sailors returned from the pursuit with no samurai prisoners but laden with quite an interesting collection of trophies. The shooting had been very wild. There was not a single fatality on the foreign side, GXGPCOQPIVJGURGEVCVQTUYJQJCFſTUVTGEGKXGFVJGUCOWTCKXQNNG[VJQWIJCU stated, one or two people were wounded But the foreign marksmanship was no better. Not a single samurai appears to have been wounded, or if hit, to be so UGXGTGN[JWTVCUVQDGWPCDNGVQGUECRGCPFVJGQPN[TGUWNVQHCNNVJGſTKPIQPVJG foreign side was that an old woman was accidentally shot in the leg, while the one prisoner taken proved to be an aged coolie too decrepit to run.
KOBE IN A STATE OF SIEGE
The ludicrous nature of the affair naturally did not impress itself at the time upon those who took part in it. Had the warship and military guards not been on the spot, the attack on unarmed foreigners might easily in the temper of the samurai have become a wholesale massacre, with the possible effect of changing the whole course of Japanese modern history. When the soldiers and sailors returned from the chase, Sir Harry Parkes considered the situation serious enough to put the Settlement into a state of defence. Earthworks were thrown up in the neighbourhood of the Customs house, and others on a point commanding the road to Hyogo, each mounting two 24-pound howitzers. The building occupied by the British Legation was protected by two Armstrong guns. The Americans raised sand-bag breastworks and placed a guard on the road leading to Hyogo. The French were equally zealous in measures of precaution. A conference was held between the foreign representatives, who, in default of a recognised Japanese authority, issued a proclamation denouncing the attack upon foreigners by the Bizen contingent, and warning all concerned that reparation would be exacted. They went further. By their instructions all the Japanese steamers in the port of Hyogo were seized by the men-of-war and held as hostage. At the same time all peaceable Japanese were assured that they need be under no apprehensions, and
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that all unarmed persons were at perfect liberty to proceed about their business. The efforts of the foreign Ministers to prevent a panic were aided by certain %JQUJWQHſEKCNU — no doubt under the direction of Ito — who issued a similar proclamation with a view to allaying disquiet among the people. An endeavour YCUCNUQOCFGD[VJG5CVUWOCCPF%JQUJWQHſEKCNUKPVJGRQTVVQDTKPICDQWV CUGVVNGOGPVQHVJGFKHſEWNV[DWVVJGHQTGKIPTGRTGUGPVCVKXGUFGENKPGFVQNKUVGP VQCP[FGNGICVGWPNGUUJGYCUGORQYGTGFD[VJG/KMCFQVQVTGCV6JGKTſTOness aroused Kyoto to the seriousness of the position. On the ‘th [sic] February Higashi Kuze, an Envoy from the Mikado, came to Hyogo from Kyoto, and assured the foreign representatives that it was the sincere desire of his Majesty to uphold and carry out the engagements entered into by the Shogun, and that foreigners would be protected from any assault and disturbers of the peace punished. A proclamation to that effect was issued on the 8th February. The foreign representatives thereupon put an end to the state of siege, the ships were released, and the bluejackets and marines returned to their ships. On the 10th, the Envoy returned to Kobe and formally announced that Ito Shunske was appointed Governor of Hyogo. Thus ended the most dramatic incident of the history of Kobe since it was QRGPGFVQHQTGKIPKPVGTEQWTUG+VUKPƀWGPEGYCUQHHCTOQTGRQNKVKECNKORQTVCPEG than has been generally recognised. There can be no doubt that the promptitude with which Sir Harry Parkes and his fellow-Ministers acted produced a salutary effect on the new Government, which hastened to allay the anti-foreign spirit which had been encouraged when the object was to excite hatred against VJG5JQIWPCVG6JGKPƀWGPEGQHVJGKPEKFGPVQPHQTGKIPGTUFKHHGTGFCEEQTFKPIVQ VGORGTCOGPV(QTUQOGKVYCUFKUVWTDKPIVQſPFVJGOUGNXGUVJGQDLGEVQHFGGR hostility from the samurai when their only object was peaceful trade. These left VJGRQTVCPFUQWIJVCNGUUGZEKVKPIſGNFHQTVJGGZGTEKUGQHVJGKTCEVKXKVKGU$WVVJG greater number remained, many declining even to go on board the ships for refWIGYJGPVJGſTUVCNCTOYCUIKXGPCPFQHHGTKPIVJGKTUGTXKEGUKPMGGRKPIIWCTF They believed that things would soon settle down quietly, and they proved to be correct in this view.
PUNISHMENT OF BIZEN LEADER
The new Government took prompt action against the Daimyo of Bizen, who was held responsible for the acts of his troops. It was decreed that he should pay all FCOCIGUKPEWTTGFYJKNG6CMK