Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life Part 24

We discovered afterwards that this was quite an innovation, as the Viceroy had never before seen a white woman. Anyhow, he seemed just as amused at seeing us as we were at seeing him, and asked every sort of question both about public matters in England and about our domestic affairs.

He wanted to know what would be done with my jewellery when I died and why I did not wear ear-rings. Of course he inquired about the Queen, also about the British Parliament. Concerning the latter the interpreter translated the pertinent question, "His Excellency wants to know how five hundred men can ever settle anything"--I fear that my husband could only laugh in reply.

The Viceroy and his attendants remained for about an hour. We were seated at a long table facing the Great Man, and Mr. Watters and the Vice-Consul at either end. When our guest and his followers had departed Mr. Watters told us that they had been carefully watching lest anything should have been said in Chinese which could have been construed as derogatory to the British. Only once, he said, had a term been used with regard to the Queen's sons which was not absolutely the highest properly applied to Princes. The Viceroy was, however, in such a good temper and the whole interview went off so well that they thought it wiser to take no notice of this single lapse from diplomatic courtesy.

It was, probably still is, necessary to keep eyes and ears open in dealing with the "childlike and bland" race. The late Lord Loch once described to me a typical scene which took place when he was Governor of Hong-Kong. A great review of British troops was being held at which a prominent Chinese Governor or General (I forget which) was present and a number of Chinese were onlookers. The Chinese official was exceedingly anxious to edge out of his allotted position to one a little in front of Lord Loch, who was of course taking the salute. If he had succeeded in doing so his countrymen would have at once believed in the Chinese claim that all foreign nations were tributary to the Son of Heaven and have accepted the salute as a recognition of the fact. Lord Loch therefore stepped a little in advance each time that his guest moved forward, and this continued till both, becoming aware of the absurdity of the situation, burst out laughing and the gentleman with the pigtail perforce resigned his "push."

Thanks to Mr. Watters we were able to buy some exceptionally good Mandarins' coats and embroideries, as he found dealers who had really fine things and made them understand that Jersey meant business.

From Hong-Kong we sailed in an American s.h.i.+p for j.a.pan, and landed at Kobe towards the middle of April. We had a very pleasant captain, who amused me by the plaintive way in which he spoke of the cross-examination to which he was subjected by many pa.s.sengers. One man was much annoyed by the day lost in crossing 170 longitude. "I tried to explain as courteously as I could," said the captain, "but at last he exclaimed, 'I don't believe you know anything about it, but I have a brother-in-law in a bank in New York and I shall write and ask him!'"--as if they kept the missing day in the bank.

[Sidenote: j.a.pANESE SCENERY]

Kobe is approached through the beautiful inland sea, but unfortunately it was foggy as we pa.s.sed through, so we lost the famous panorama, but we soon had every opportunity of admiring the charms of Nature in j.a.pan. We had always heard of the quaint houses and people, of their valour and their art, but somehow no one had told us of the beauty of the scenery, and it was quite a revelation to us.

I do not attempt any account of the wonderful towns, tombs, and temples which we saw during our month's sojourn in the country, as travellers and historians have described them again and again, and Lafcadio Hearn and others who knew the people well have written of the spirit and devotion of the j.a.panese; but I venture to transcribe a few words from an article which I wrote just after our visit for _The Nineteenth Century_, giving my impressions of the landscape in spring:

"j.a.panese scenery looks as if it ought to be etched. Large broad ma.s.ses of light and shade would fail to convey the full effect.

Between trees varied in colouring and delicate in tracery peep the thatched cottage roofs and the neat grey rounded tiles of little wooden houses standing in gardens gay with peach blossom and wisteria; while the valleys are mapped out into minute patches of green young corn or flooded paddy-fields interspersed here and there with trellises over which are trained the spreading white branches of the pear. Everywhere are broad river-courses and rus.h.i.+ng mountain streams, and now and again some stately avenue of the sacred cryptomeria leads to a temple, monastery, or tomb. Nothing more magnificent than these avenues can be conceived. The tall madder-pink stems rear their tufted crests in some cases seventy or eighty feet into the air, and the ground below is carpeted with red pyrus j.a.ponica, violets, ferns, and, near the romantic monastery of Doryo-San, with a kind of lily or iris whose white petals are marked with lilac and yellow. The avenue leading to Nikko extends in an almost unbroken line for over fifteen miles, the trees being known as the offering of a daimio who was too poor to present the usual stone or bronze lantern at the tomb of the great Shogun Ieyasu."

At Tokyo we were hospitably entertained at the Legation by Mr. (now Sir Maurice) de Bunsen, Charge d'Affaires, in the absence of the Minister. The Secretary of Legation, Mr. Spring Rice (afterwards Sir Cecil), added greatly to our pleasure by his knowledge of things j.a.panese and the trouble he took to explain them.

A letter to my mother, dated April 1893, resumes many of my impressions of a j.a.pan of nearly thirty years ago when it was still only emerging from its century-long seclusion.

"You cannot imagine what a delightful country j.a.pan is. Not only is it so pretty, but it is so full of real interest. I had imagined that it was rather a joke full of toy-houses and toy-people--on the contrary one finds great feudal castles with moats and battlements, gigantic stones fifteen feet long, and the whole place full of legends of knights and their retainers, ghosts and witches and enchantments....

The Clan-system here was in full-swing till just the other day, when Sir Harry Parkes routed out the Mikado, and the Shoguns (Tyc.o.o.ns) or Great War Lords, who had ruled the country for centuries, had at last to give way.

"Even now the representatives of the greatest clans hold chief places in the Ministry and Naval and Military Departments, and the question in Parliament here is whether the radical opposition can break up the clan-system and distribute the loaves and fishes of Government patronage evenly amongst the people. Meantime I doubt if the Mikado, or Emperor as it is most proper to call him, is very happy in his new life. He thinks it correct to adapt himself to 'Western civilisation,'

but very evidently prefers the seclusion of his ancestors and has credit for hating seeing people. There was to have been a garden party--the Cherry Blossom Party--at the Palace last Friday, but unfortunately it pelted, so it was promptly given up and everyone said that His Imperial Majesty was very glad not to have to 'show.'

[Sidenote: INTERVIEW WITH THE EMPRESS]

"However G. had an audience with him yesterday and all of us with the Empress. It was rather funny. In the first place there was great discussion about our clothes. G. went in uniform, but the official doc.u.ments granting audience specified that the ladies were to appear at 10 a.m., in high gowns--and in the middle of the j.a.panese characters came the French words 'robes en traine.' The wife of the Vice-Chamberlain--an Englishwoman--also wrote to explain that we must come without bonnets and with high gowns with trains! So we had to write back and explain that my latest Paris morning frock had but a short train and M's smartest ditto none at all.

"However, they promised to explain this to the Empress, and we arrived at the Palace, which we found swarming with gold-laced officials, chamberlains, vice-chamberlains, and pages, and ladies in their regulation costume--high silk gowns just like afternoon garments but with long tails of the same material, about as long as for drawing-rooms--how they could have expected the pa.s.sing voyager to be prepared with this peculiar fas.h.i.+on at twenty-four hours' notice I know not, and I think it was lucky that I had a flowered brocade with some kind of train to it.

"The saloons were very magnificent--built five years ago--all that was j.a.panese in them first-cla.s.s--the European decorations a German imitation of something between Louis XV and Empire, which I leave to your imagination. G. was carried off in one direction whilst we were left to a trained little lady who fortunately spoke a little English, and after a bit we were taken to a corridor where we rejoined G. and Mr. de Bunsen and were led through more pa.s.sages to a little room where a little lady stood bolt upright in a purple gown with a small pattern of gold flowers and an order--j.a.panese, I believe. She had a lady to interpret on her right, and two more, maids of honour, I suppose, in the background. The interpreting lady appeared to be alive--the vitality of the others was doubtful. We all bowed and curtsied, and I was told to go up to the Empress, which I did, and when I was near enough to avoid the possibility of her moving, she shook hands and said something almost in a whisper, interpreted to mean that she was very glad to see me for the first time. I expressed proper gratification, then she asked as to the length of our stay, and finally said how sorry she was for the postponement of the garden party, to which I responded with, I trust, true Eastern hyperbole that Her Majesty's kindness in receiving us repaid me for the disappointment. This seemed to please her, and then she shook hands again, and went through her little formulae with M. and G., giving one sentence to the former and two to the latter, after which with a great deal more bowing and curtsying we got out of the room and were shown through the other apartments. I heard afterwards that Her Majesty was very pleased with the interview, so she must be easily gratified, poor dear. I am told 'by those who know' that she is an excellent woman, does a great deal for schools and hospitals to the extent on at least one occasion of giving away all her pocket-money for the year and leaving herself with none. The poor woman has no children, but the Emperor is allowed other inferior spouses--with no recognised position--to the number of ten. I do not know how many ladies he has, but he has one little boy and two or three girls. The little boy is thirteen and goes to a day-school, so is expected to be of much more social disposition than his papa."

[Sidenote: THE SACRED MIRROR OF THE SUN-G.o.dDESS]

The boy in question is now Emperor and has unfortunately broken down in health. Mrs. Sannomya (afterwards Baroness), wife of the Vice-Chamberlain, told me that he was very intelligent, and that the Empress, who adopted him in accordance with j.a.panese custom, was fond of him. She also told me that the secondary wives were about the Court, but that it was not generally known which were the mothers of the Prince and Princesses. Mrs.

Sannomya personally knew which they were, but the children were to be considered as belonging to the Emperor and Empress, the individual mothers had no recognised claim upon them. I believe that this Oriental "zenana"

arrangement no longer exists, but meanwhile it a.s.sured the unbroken descent of the Imperial rulers from the Sun-G.o.ddess. We were a.s.sured that the reigning Emperor still possessed the divine sword, the ball or jewel, and the mirror with which she endowed her progeny. The mirror is the symbol of s.h.i.+nto, the orthodox faith of j.a.pan, and it derives its sanct.i.ty from the incident that it was used to attract the Sun-G.o.ddess from a cave whither she had retired in high dudgeon after a quarrel with another deity. In fact it seems to have acted as a pre-historic heliograph. By the crowing of a c.o.c.k and the flas.h.i.+ng of the mirror Ten sho dai jin was induced to think that morning had dawned, and once more to irradiate the universe with her beams.

Though s.h.i.+ntoism, the ancient ancestral creed, was re-established when the Emperor issued from his long seclusion, the ma.s.s of the population no doubt prefer the less abstract and more ritualistic Buddhism of China and j.a.pan. What the educated cla.s.ses really believe is exceedingly hard to discover. A very charming j.a.panese diplomatic lady remarked to me one Sunday at Osterley in connection with church-going that "it must be very nice to have a religion." Viscount Hayas.h.i.+ summed up the popular creed, in answer to an inquiry on my part, as "the ethics of Confucius with the religious sanction of Buddhism": perhaps that is as good a definition as any other.

It seems doubtful whether Christianity has made solid progress, though treated with due respect by the Government. Mr. Max Muller told me that when the j.a.panese were sending emissaries to the various Western Powers with instructions to investigate their methods both in war and peace, two of these envoys visited him and asked him to supply them with a suitable creed. "I told them," said he, "'Be good Buddhists first and I will think of something for you.'" An English lady long resident in j.a.pan threw some further light on the j.a.panese view of ready-made religious faith. At the time when foreign instructors were employed to start j.a.pan with her face turned westward, a German was enlisted to teach court etiquette, no doubt including "robes montantes en traine." While still in this service a Court official requested him to supply the full ceremonial of a Court _Christening_. "But," returned the Teuton, "you are not Christians, so how can I provide you with a Christening ceremony?" "Never mind," was the reply, "you had better give it us now that you are here; we never know when we may want it."

[Sidenote: CHRISTIANITY IN j.a.pAN]

St. Francis Xavier, who preached Christianity to the j.a.panese in the sixteenth century, records the testimony of his j.a.panese secretary, whom he found and converted at Goa, as to the effect likely to be produced on his fellow-countrymen by the saintly missionary. "His people," said Anjiro of Satsuma, "would not immediately a.s.sent to what might be said to them, but they would investigate what I might affirm respecting religion by a mult.i.tude of questions, and above all by observing whether my conduct agreed with my words. This done, the King, the n.o.bility, and adult population would flock to Christ, being a nation which always follows reason as a guide."

Whether convinced by reason or example it is certain that the j.a.panese of the day accepted Christianity in large numbers, and that many held firm in the terrible persecution which raged later on. Nevertheless the Christian faith was almost exterminated at the beginning of the seventeenth century, only a few lingering traces being found when the country was reopened to missions in the latter half of the nineteenth.

Nowadays the j.a.panese idea unfortunately appears to be that Christianity has not much influence on the statesmans.h.i.+p of foreign countries, and their leading men in compet.i.tion with the West seem too keen on pus.h.i.+ng to the front in material directions to trouble much about abstract doctrines.

Belief in a spirit-world, however, certainly prevailed among the ma.s.ses of the people whom we saw frequenting temples and joining in cheerful pilgrimages.

The great interests of our visit from a social and political point of view was finding an acute and active-minded race in a deliberate and determined state of transition from a loyal and chivalrous past to an essentially modern but still heroic future. Neither the war with China nor that with Russia had then taken place, but foundations were being laid which were to ensure victory in both cases. The Daimios had surrendered their land to the Emperor and received in return modern t.i.tles of n.o.bility, and incomes calculated on their former revenues. The tillers of the soil were secured on their former holdings and instead of rent paid land-tax. Naturally everything was not settled without much discontent, particularly on the part of the peasants, who thought, as in other countries, that any sort of revolution ought to result in their having the land in fee-simple. Much water, however, has flowed under the Sacred Bridges of j.a.pan since we were there, and I do not attempt to tread the labyrinths of the agrarian or other problems with which the statesmen of New j.a.pan had or have to deal.

[Sidenote: DAIMIOS OF OLD j.a.pAN]

One thing, however, was evident even to those who, like ourselves, spent but a short time in the country. The younger n.o.bles gained more than they lost in many ways by the abandonment of their feudal prominence. Their fathers had been more subservient to the Shoguns than the French n.o.bility to Louis XIV. The third of the Tokugawa line, who lived in the seventeenth century, decreed that the daimios were to spend half the year at Yedo (the modern Tokyo), and even when they were allowed to return to their own estates they were obliged to leave their wives and families in the capital as hostages. The mountain pa.s.ses were strictly guarded, and all persons traversing them rigidly searched, crucifixion being the punishment meted out to such as left the Shogun's territory without a permit. On the sh.o.r.es of the beautiful Lake Hakone at the foot of the main pa.s.s villas were still pointed out where the daimios rested on their journey, and we were told that a neighbouring town was in other times largely populated by hair-dressers, who had to rearrange the elaborate coiffures of the ladies who were forced to take their hair down before pa.s.sing the Hakone Bar.

True, the daimios lived and travelled with great state and had armies of retainers, but at least one great n.o.ble confessed to me that the freedom which he then enjoyed fully compensated him for the loss of former grandeur.

My daughter who "came out" at Hong-Kong had quite a gay little season at Tokyo, as we were hospitably entertained by both j.a.panese and diplomats, and amongst other festivities we thoroughly enjoyed a splendid ball given by Marquis Nabos.h.i.+ma, the Emperor's Master of Ceremonies.

We were also fortunate in seeing the actor Danjolo, commonly called the "Irving of j.a.pan," in one of his princ.i.p.al characters. The floor of the theatre was divided into little square boxes in which knelt the audience, men, women, and children. From the main entrance of the house to the stage ran a gangway, somewhat elevated above the floor; this was called the Flowery Path, and served not only as a means of access to the boxes on either side, but also as an approach by which some of the princ.i.p.al actors made a sensational entrance on the scene. A large gallery, divided like the parterre, ran round three sides of the house and was reached from an outside balcony. European spectators taking seats in the gallery were accommodated with chairs.

The main feature wherein the j.a.panese differed from an English stage was that the whole central part of the former was round and turned on a pivot.

The scenery, simple but historically correct, ran across the diameter of the reversible part; so while one scenic background was before the audience another was prepared behind and wheeled round when wanted. To remove impedimenta at the sides or anything which had to be taken away during the progress of a scene, little black figures with black veils over their faces, like familiars of the Inquisition, came in, and j.a.panese politeness accepted them as invisible.

Danjolo, who acted the part of a wicked uncle, proved himself worthy of his reputation and was excellently supported by his company. All the parts were taken by men; some plays were in those days acted by women, but it was not then customary for the two s.e.xes to perform together. Now I believe that the barrier has been broken down and that they do so freely.

When we had a j.a.panese dinner at the Club the charming little waitresses gave dramatic performances in intervals between the courses.

Certainly the j.a.panese are prompt in emergency. A j.a.panese of high rank once told me how the Rising Sun came to be the National Flag. A j.a.panese s.h.i.+p arrived at an American port and the harbour authorities demanded to know under what flag she sailed. This was before the days when j.a.pan had entered freely into commercial relations with other lands, and the captain had no idea of a national ensign. Not to be outdone by other mariners, he secured a large piece of white linen and painted upon it a large red orb.

This was offered and accepted as the National Flag of j.a.pan, and is still the flag of her merchant fleet. With rays darting from it, it has become the ensign of her wars.h.i.+ps, and, as a gold chrysanthemum on a red ground, represents the Rising Sun in the Imperial Standard. According to my informant, who told me the tale at a dinner-party in London, the whole idea sprang from the merchant captain's readiness of resource.

Whatever changes j.a.pan may undergo, it must still retain the charm of its pure, transparent atmosphere with the delicate hues which I never saw elsewhere except in Greece. In some respects, unlike as they are physically, the j.a.panese recall the quick-witted, art-loving Greeks.

Again, j.a.pan, with its lovely lakes and mountains and its rich vegetation, has something in common with New Zealand, and, like those happy Islands, it has the luxury of natural hot springs. I shall never forget the hotel at Miyanos.h.i.+ta where the large bathrooms on the ground-floor were supplied with unlimited hot and cold water conducted in simple bamboo pipes direct from springs in a hill just behind the house.

[Sidenote: j.a.pANESE FRIENDS]

Still more vividly do I recall the j.a.panese who did so much for our enjoyment at Tokyo. Amongst others was the delightful Mrs. Inouye, whose husband, as Marquis Inouye, has since been Amba.s.sador in London.

Marchioness Inouye has remained a real friend, and constantly sends me news from the Island Empire. Nor must I forget how much we saw under the guidance of my cousin, the Rev. Lionel Cholmondeley, for many years a missionary in j.a.pan, and Chaplain to the British Emba.s.sy there.

CHAPTER XV

JOURNEY HOME--THE NILE--LORD KITCHENER

Our sojourn in j.a.pan was all too short, and we sailed from Yokohama in a s.h.i.+p of the Empress Line on May 12. Capturing a spare day at 170 longitude, we reached Vancouver on the Queen's Birthday. Our thirteen days' voyage was somewhat tedious, as I do not think that we pa.s.sed a single s.h.i.+p on the whole transit. The weather was dull and grey, and there was a continuous rolling sea, but I must say for our s.h.i.+p that no one suffered from sea-sickness. She lived up to the repute which we had heard concerning these liners; they were broad and steady, and I for one was duly grateful.

[Sidenote: THE WELL-FORGED LINK OF EMPIRE]

We had some pleasant fellow-pa.s.sengers, including Orlando Bridgeman (now Lord Bradford) and his cousin Mr. William Bridgeman (now a prominent politician). A voyage otherwise singularly devoid of excitement was agitated by the discovery of one or more cases of small-pox among the Chinese on board. Every effort was made to keep this dark, but when the ukase went forth that every pa.s.senger who had not been vaccinated recently must undergo the operation, no doubt remained as to the truth of the rumours current. Fortunately my husband, my daughter, myself, and my maid had all been vaccinated just before leaving Sydney, but we still felt anxious about possible quarantine at Victoria--the port on the Island of Vancouver--the town being on the mainland. Nothing happened, however, and _if_ the s.h.i.+p's doctor perjured himself, and _if_ the captain did not contradict him, I trust that the Recording Angel did not set it down, as the relief of the pa.s.sengers was indeed great.