Conservative Dissatisfaction with the Modern Emperors

CONSERVATIVE DISSATISFACTION WITH THE MODERN EMPERORS

Ben-Ami Shillony

The Tragic Fate of Assertive Emperors

In Japan, nationalism has usually been centered on the monarchy. The traditional belief in an unbroken line of emperors, descending from the sun goddess, has long provided the Japanese with national pride and a sense of uniqueness. However, unlike kings and emperors of most other countries, the Japanese monarchs have never been national lead- ers. They have not initiated policies, presented theories or addressed crowds. Since ancient times, the emperors of Japan have been ritual- performing sacred ﬁ gures, manipulated by others who wielded power. There were very few assertive emperors in Japan, and their abortive attempts to actually rule had tragic results. The most famous emperor who wished to rule was Go-Daigō (r. 1319–1339) in the fourteenth century. His attempt to run the state on the Chinese model brought about a protracted civil war and a 56-year schism in the imperial family (1336–1392). Although Go-Daigō’s ‘Southern Court’ came eventually to be regarded as the legitimate branch, it was the illegitimate “Northern Court” that had prevailed and from which all the subsequent emperors have stemmed. In the middle of the nineteenth century, when Japan was coerced into opening its doors to the west, another assertive emperor, Kōmei (r. 1846–1867), occupied the throne. Alarmed by the prospect of western barbarians deﬁ ling the soil of Japan, he found himself in a quandary. On the one hand, he opposed the opening of the country and sup- ported the nationalists who wished to drive out the ‘barbarians.’ But, on the other hand, he insisted on preserving the internal political status quo, and resisted the nationalists who wished to overthrow the shogunal government (bakufu), which had just opened the doors of Japan. He was thus for jōi (‘expel the barbarians’) and against sonnō (‘revere the emperor’), opposing the reformist samurai and nobles who wished to open the country and ‘restore’ power to the emperor. 138 ben-ami shillony

Unlike his predecessors, Kōmei could not be persuaded to change his convictions. In January 1858 he wrote to Chancellor Kujō Hisatada: Do they suppose I can be bought? If, as long as I am the ruler of the country, I allow myself to become a mere dummy and permit trading with foreign barbarians, I shall lose the confi dence of the people and will leave a shameful reputation for generations to come.1 Kōmei dispatched envoys to the leading Shinto shrines, asking the gods to send a divine wind (kamikaze) that would destroy the ‘barbarians’ and punish the ‘disloyal’ Japanese who colluded with them.2 By this behavior, Kōmei became an obstacle to the opening of the country and to the establishment of a modern state.3 The unprecedented dilemma of how to cope with an emperor who endangers the interests of his country, opposes the policies of his government, and at the same time acts against those who wish to restore him to power, was solved by Kōmei’s sudden death in January 1867 at the age of thirty-six. The offi cial explanation given for his death was smallpox, but well-informed fi gures, such as the British envoy Ernest Satow and Counselor Nakayama Tadayasu (Emperor Meiji’s maternal grandfather), believed that he had been poisoned. Satow wrote: I was assured by a Japanese well acquainted with what went on behind the scenes that he had been poisoned. He was by conviction utterly opposed to any concessions to foreigners, and had therefore been removed out of the way by those who foresaw that the coming downfall of the Bakufu would force the court into direct relations with Western Powers.4 Nakayama Tadayasu wrote in his diary that he thought Emperor Kōmei had been assassinated and that this fact had been kept as top secret information.5 Although the assassination theory has never been substan- tiated, the fact that knowledgeable people at the time believed it shows that the sanctity of an emperor could not protect him from murder.

1 Donald Keene, Emperor of Japan (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 712 n. 26. 2 Keene, Emperor of Japan, p. 38. 3 Fujita Satoru, Bakumatsu no tennō (Tokyo: Kōdansha sensho, 1994). 4 Ernest Satow, A Diplomat in Japan (London: Oxford University Press, 1968. Reprint from the 1921 original edition), pp. 185–186; See also: Keene, Emperor of Japan, pp. 94–97. 5 Asukai Masamichi, Meiji taitei (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1989), p. 103.