Chapter XXII: Baron Eichi Shibusawa 315 (13)

The eight ships which had been lying in Shinagawa waters, and which were to have been given up to the Imperial Government when Yedo was finally surrendered, suddenly left there, however, on October 4th, 1898, under the command of Admiral Enomoto, and it became known that he had stolen away to Hakodate. There, in conjunction with three other supporters of the Shogun’s lost cause, he presently proclaimed the “Republic of Yeso,” the other signatories being Otori Keisuke (subsequently pardoned, and at a later date the faithful and energetic representative of Japan at the Court of Korea) Matsudaira Taro,—a relative, as his name implied, though in this case a distant one, of the Tokugawa family, and Arai Ikunosuke, subsequently appointed to an office under the Colonisation Department in Yeso, and in which he evinced no little talent as an organiser.

Admiral Enomoto declared that his reason for going to Hakodate with his squadron was that he and his friends had resolved to guard the Northern Gate for the Emperor, and to till the soil, as yet wholly uncultivated, of the island of Yeso.

“Men who have the hearts of Samurai,” they pleaded, “cannot turn into farmers or merchants, so it appeared to us that there was nothing for us but to starve. And considering the untilled state of the island of Yeso we petitioned the Government that we might remove thither, but all in vain.” In sheer despair they had sailed north at their own risk, using force only against the fortified places, Hakodate and Matsumai (now Fukuyama). “The farmers and merchants are unmolested, going about their business without fear, and are sympathising with us, so that already,” they added, “we have brought some land under cultivation. We pray that this portion of the Empire may be conferred upon our late lord, Tokugawa Kamenosuké, and in that case we shall repay your beneficence by our faithful guardianship of the Northern Gate.” The newly appointed head of the Tokugawa clan, here alluded to as Kamenosuké, now Prince Tokugawa Iyesato, President of the House of Peers, was ordered to go to Yeso and restrain his clansmen, but it was asked that as this young prince was then only a child of five years old, the ex-Shogun Keiki might be given control. This, however, was refused, lest his prestige might still be employed by his followers to incite others to rebellion and thus prolong a useless struggle.

“Why should we quit this spot?” asked Enomoto afterwards, when told he must surrender: “If his Majesty the Emperor will take pity on us and give us a portion of this barren northern region, our men shall guard the gate till death, whilst for the crime of having opposed the Imperial army, we two [Matsudaira and himself] will gladly suffer capital punishment.”

It was not until the following spring that the newly formed Central Government at Yedo found itself able to turn its attention seriously to the subjugation of the little band of malcontents up north, and then the Imperial fleet steamed away from the anchorage at the head of the bay, off Shinagawa, intending to rendezvous at Hakodate where the rebels were making a last stand. The chief hope of the Satsuma officers lay in their recent acquisition, the _Stonewall_, to which had been given the Japanese title of _Adzuma_. She had been employed in the American Civil War before she came into Japanese hands, as one of the Federal Squadron in the assault on Vicksburg.

The _Adzuma_ though of small tonnage, was an ironclad, and with her mighty ram she presented a most sinister appearance. Altogether the collective fleet made a very good beginning, and the Imperialists were justly proud of it as marking an appreciable advance on the agglomeration of war junks with which the nation’s sea-fighting had been done under the old conditions.

The _Stonewall_ (or _Adzuma_) had been bought in America by the agents of the Shogunate, and she dropped anchor in Yokohama on the 24th of April 1868, only a few days before the Prince Tokugawa Keiki resigned his office. She was never delivered to the Shogun’s government, but was, by order of the American Minister, retained in port at Yokohama under the Stars and Stripes ensign, though as a matter of fact she had flown the flag of Japan on her voyage thither from the United States. There was some little heart-burning at this, for it was thought that had she been available for use by the Shogunate party which had bought her, she might with her far greater power have made short work of the imperial fleet. But, as we have seen, the Shogun was then ready to resign, and all prospect of success vanished with his submission to the Emperor five days after the ironclad’s arrival in Japanese waters.

With the resignation of the Shogun she naturally came into the hands of the Imperialists, to whom the United States authorities were no doubt justified under the circumstances in delivering her, and she set out bravely enough with the remainder of the imperial squadron for the north in 1869. But less than twenty-four hours had elapsed before she was in difficulties with her engines, and it was with much trouble and anxiety that she was navigated as far towards Yeso as the harbour of Miyako, a little to the north of Sendai Bay, and about half way to Hakodate. Here she might have been captured, but for good luck, for she had entered to coal and her crew were ashore, not scenting danger, as they had no expectation that any of Admiral Enomoto’s vessels were in the vicinity. While she was lying at anchor the _Eagle_, flying the Shogunate ensign, steamed in, and catching sight of the ram, charged her at full speed. It was magnificent, but it was not war, and the _Eagle’s_ bow was severely damaged by the exploit. There was a tussle on the deck of the _Adzuma_, and several were killed on either side, but numbers were with the Imperialists, and the _Eagle_ was obliged to seek safety as best she could in flight. She ultimately reached port at Hakodate, though her consort, the _Ashuelot_ gunboat, which was waiting for her outside Miyako, contrived to run ashore, it being rather a foggy time of year, and was captured with all hands, by the Imperial fleet, which followed as soon as steam could be got up, and went to Aomori Bay, on the south side of the Straits of Tsugaru, opposite to Hakodate.

The engagement which shortly afterwards took place on land and sea at Hakodate itself was described by eye-witnesses as a splendidly contested affair from first to last. The besiegers advanced under a very heavy and well-sustained fire, and Admiral Enomoto’s defence of his vessels, on the other hand, was skilful and resolute. The _Kwan-gun_ or Imperialist forces, which had come to the straits overland from Tokio, were landed on Hakodate Head in the rear of the town of Hakodate, while the rebels held the battery at Benten, and the villages of Chiyoga-oka and Goriokaku. They were under the command of Matsudaira Taro, Otori Keisuke, and Arai Ikunosuke, while Admiral Enomoto was afloat, one of his captains being the present Ambassador in London, Viscount Hayashi. Despite their undoubted bravery, the Tokugawa men were overmatched, for the Imperialists acquired a position which dominated the fortifications of the town from the hill behind, and when at last he saw that it would merely prolong the strife and cause useless bloodshed if he persisted in his opposition, Admiral Enomoto, yielding to the earnest remonstrances of the Imperialist Army, surrendered, and the Shogun’s followers finally laid down their arms.

Admiral Enomoto and many of those with him were imprisoned for a time, but there was no desire to treat harshly those who had been loyal to the party which had a claim on their services, notwithstanding that they had of necessity been classed as rebels, and Enomoto was himself given a high post as Minister of the Colonisation Department then newly established under the title of the Kai-taku-shi, its operations being specially directed to the development of this northernmost island of the Empire. Thus in some degree Enomoto had his wish gratified, of being entrusted with the guardianship of the Northern Gate, but in 1874 he was despatched to St Petersburg on a mission to arrange with the Russian Government for the exchange, in conformity with Russia’s request, of the southern half of Sakhalin island for the northern half of the chain of islets forming the Kuriles Archipelago. When he returned from Russia he was again occupied with the work of Colonisation, and in 1882 he went to China as Japan’s representative at the Court of Peking.

He has occupied a seat in the Cabinet on several occasions, having held the portfolios, at various times, of the Navy, Foreign Affairs, Education, Communications, and Agriculture and Commerce. The last-named office he occupied in the Second Ito Ministry at the close of 1896, and was similarly placed in the Second Matsukata Ministry which fell in December 1897.

It was characteristic of him that when the conflict was over at Hakodate in 1869 he sent to the Imperialist Generals two volumes on Naval Tactics which he had studied while in Holland prior to 1866. They were very valuable books, he said, and were otherwise unobtainable in the Empire and he could not bear that they should be destroyed. The Imperialist leaders acknowledged the gift, and in return sent to the Admiral five kegs of _saké_, the native wine. Enomoto and Matsudaira were both resolved on putting an end to their lives by the traditionally honourable act of _seppuku_, but they were closely watched and were prevented from doing so, and they finally surrendered and were taken prisoners to Yedo, where, as already explained, their punishment was only of brief duration.

Happily, Admiral Enomoto, though no longer on the active List of the Navy, is still in the enjoyment of good general health at seventy years of age. He is rightfully regarded by the younger men as the father, to all intents and purposes, of the Japanese Navy, and his exploits at the beginning of the Meiji era certainly entitle him to a high place in the affections of those who recognise in the fleet as it exists to-day a bulwark of defence against invasion and a force which has proved itself capable of making the flag of the Rising Sun Empire everywhere respected.

XXI

ADMIRAL TOGO HEIHACHI

If Admiral Enomoto was the first to obtain the title by having handled a modern Japanese fleet in actual warfare, it will be acknowledged that Admiral Togo has caused his own doings to be for ever associated with the later developments of Japan’s sea-power, and that it is his name which will descend to posterity as that of the commander who, by his skilful leading and marked ability, combined with personal attributes of a kind to inspire the loftiest esteem and even affection in all those who came into contact with him, made the Japanese fleet the tremendous fighting machine that it is to-day. It is true that the late Count Katsu (known in the pre-Restoration days as Katsu Awa-no-Kami, the personal friend of Saigo Takamori) was Minister of the Navy under the Shogunate, and commanded the first Japanese steamship that ever crossed the Pacific Ocean from Yokohama, an armed vessel which took out the Oguri Embassy to America in 1859, but the rise of the Navy must be attributed to a somewhat later period, when the rival forces fought in Awa Bay in 1868, and at Hakodate in the next year, and the leader who on those occasions most distinguished himself was Admiral Viscount Enomoto, whose adventures have been recorded. Admiral Togo represents the polished and perfected machine: Enomoto was answerable for the quality of the metal employed in its construction. Togo has all the credit of having given impetus and direction, by the force of his own example, to the studies of the Japanese naval officer and thus contributed extensively to the making of the Navy as it now exists.

The Admiral is a Satsuma man, born in the castle town of Kagoshima on the 6th of December 1847, and comes of Samurai stock, his father being one of the retainers of the _daimio_ Shimadzu Saburo. When only sixteen he was placed aboard one of the small war vessels then owned by the principality, and was in the engagement with Admiral Kuper’s Squadron when the British bombarded Kagoshima in 1863. As is elsewhere explained, the Satsuma men realised that modern Western appliances gave great power to those who wielded them as weapons of warfare, and with the conviction uppermost that they had made as good a fight as could have been expected with rather antiquated guns, they forthwith prepared to be good friends with their late antagonists, and to learn all they could with the object of making the Satsuma clan a tower of strength in view of the Restoration of Imperial rule.

In 1868 Togo Heihachi was an officer aboard one of the three Satsuma ships that then came to Kobé, and fought with Admiral Enomoto’s squadron in January in Awa Bay. She was the _Kiang-Su_, later named _Kasuga-Kan_, and she routed her enemy, the _Kwai-Ten_. The _Kasuga-Kan_ had originally been Admiral Sherard Osborn’s flagship when the “Lay flotilla” was taken out to China, and as the Chinese did not want her, she was sold to the prince of Satsuma. She was a fairly fast vessel of the paddle-wheel type, and did good service for the Imperial Government after the Restoration. In the year 1871 Togo Heihachi came to England and was for the ensuing seven years in H.M.S. _Worcester_ at Greenhithe, and the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. In 1878 the _Kon-go Kan_ and _Hi-yei Kan_ composite corvettes were completed in Great Britain for the Japanese Government to the designs of Sir Edward Reed, and Togo Heihachi went out in the _Hiyei_.

From that time nothing was heard of him until the famous affair of the _Kowshing_, at the commencement of the Japan and China War, in 1894, when he commanded the _Naniwa Kan_, a Second-class Cruiser built at Elswick-on-Tyne in 1885. During the long interval he had been steadily climbing the ladder, and had gone through all the stages to the attainment of the rank of Commander. A thorough seaman, he did not disdain to personally instruct those under him in the most ordinary duties, translating naval technicalities from English text-books into Japanese for the puzzled junior officers who had not been out of Japan for their education. Later, the _Naniwa_ was one of the flying squadron of four ships under Admiral Tsuboi that preceded the main squadron under Admiral Ito into action with the Chinese fleet off Hai-Yang Island, the engagement being known as the Naval Battle of the Yalu. After the fight was over the _Naniwa_ was sent westward to reconnoitre Wei-Hai-Wei, Chifu, and Port Arthur.

When the prospect of war with Russia in 1903 necessitated much preparation at Tokio, Togo was summoned by Admiral Yamamoto, his old friend and schoolfellow, to the Capital, and he rose from a sick-bed to go, replying to his wife’s remonstrances, “I shall be well the moment I set foot on deck and drink in the salt-laden air.” It is recorded of him that while stationed at Maizuru, the naval depot on the west coast of the main island, facing Korea, he practically lived in his office, and scarcely spoke to any of his officers, merely saluting as he passed in and out. His taciturnity is proverbial, yet children in Japan find nothing forbidding in him and crowd round him with delight. He resides in an exceedingly modest dwelling-house in a Tokio suburb, its furniture and decorations being of the simplest kind. So imperturbable is he that had he been aboard his flagship the _Mikasa_ when she went down recently in harbour at Sasebo it is certain that he would not have lost his self-possession for an instant, and to those who know him best he is the “silent one,” who loves to be alone with his tiny silver tobacco pipe. His recreations are hunting game with his breech-loader and his dogs, or trout-fishing in some mountain stream. Madame Togo has said that when he went to join the United Squadrons a short time prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1904, he merely asked her to be kind enough to take care of his dogs.

Even for a Japanese the Admiral is short, and rather stout, of figure, and people marvel when they see him that he can be “the great Togo, the Nelson of Japan.” But the energy of the man is revealed in his quick, piercing glance. He is a strict disciplinarian, and a hater, above all things, of display, or of public homage. A story is current at Sasebo that before the fleet sailed for Port Arthur he called all his officers on board the _Mikasa_ and briefly addressed them to the effect:—“We sail to-night, and our enemy flies the Russian flag.” On a tray in front of him lay one of those short daggers which in former times were used to commit _Seppuku_. As the officers filed past him he looked each one in the eyes, and all of them understood his meaning. None would have survived the disgrace of a defeat. It is his practice, it may be added, as showing his indifference to danger, to direct operations during an engagement entirely from the bridge, and he has had some narrow escapes.

The incidents of the Naval campaign of 1904-5 are so fresh in everyone’s memory that it would be tedious to go into minute details. On the night of the 8th of February 1904, the Russian fleet, which lay conveniently for Admiral Togo’s purpose outside the harbour of Port Arthur, found itself attacked. Two Russian battleships and one cruiser were torpedoed, and next day the assault was renewed with the result that another battleship and three more cruisers were badly damaged. Five days later Admiral Togo sent his destroyers to the attack in a snowstorm, and another Russian cruiser was torpedoed. On the 24th of the month an attempt was made to seal Port Arthur by sinking steamers which officers of Admiral Togo’s fleet navigated, and on the 9th and 10th March there was another destroyer attack, followed by a bombardment on the 21st and 22nd.

Five days later another desperate effort was made to block Port Arthur by sinking steamers, and on the 13th of April a Russian Squadron was decoyed out of harbour and the _Petropavlovsk_, with the Russian Admiral Makharoff on board, was sunk by a mine. At last on the 3rd of May Port Arthur was at all events temporarily blocked, for battleships and cruisers, but on the 15th Admiral Togo had the misfortune to lose two of his finest battleships, the _Hatsusé_ and _Yashima_, both built on the Tyne, having run upon drifting torpedoes. There was a naval sortie on the 23rd June, which was easily repulsed by the Japanese fleet, and on the 10th of August took place the memorable battle in the Yellow Sea, when the Russian fleet, issuing from Port Arthur, was defeated and dispersed, some of the ships getting back to harbour at the fortress, but others making for neutral ports, where they were interned until the conclusion of the war. On this occasion the Russian Admiral Vitoft was killed in action. There was a long running fight in which the _Mikasa_ greatly distinguished herself, and at 6.12 P.M. a 12-inch shell came aboard her and burst close to her bridge on the port side. Admiral Togo, with his Chief of Staff, and the captain of the ship, with five others, were on the bridge at the time, and four of the eight persons were hit by fragments, but the admiral was untouched. He had been on the bridge throughout the action, from the first exchange of shots at one o’clock, but his subordinates were resolved that he should stay there no longer, and by efforts little short of an application of physical force, he was induced to enter the conning-tower. At 8 P.M. the Russian ships had fallen into inextricable confusion, and it was left to the Japanese torpedo craft to continue the fight, with what result was never precisely ascertained. The Russian vessels at Port Arthur were ultimately sunk by their Commanders prior to the Capitulation of the 2nd January 1905, but most of them have since been raised and taken over to Japan.

On the 12th of April Admiral Rojdestvensky arrived at Kamranh Bay in Indo-China, and on the 22nd left there under pressure from France after Japanese protests had been lodged against infractions of neutrality. The battle of the Sea of Japan was fought on the 27th and 28th of May 1905, and Admiral Togo succeeded in annihilating the Russian Baltic Fleet.

After peace was made the Japanese vessels remained for a time at Sasebo, where an explosion occurred on board the _Mikasa_ and she sank at her moorings, but was not wholly submerged, the work of refloating her being one that it was fully expected would be completed early in 1906. In October the Combined Fleet was reviewed by the Japanese Emperor at its moorings, drawn up in seven lines, in the bay of Tokio, extending from the mouth of the Rokugo river at Kawasaki to the vicinity of Hommoku Point, near Yokohama. Prior to the fleet’s arrival in Tokio Bay it had paid a visit to Isé Bay, which opens out of the Pacific in lat. 34° 30´ North, and was formerly known as Owari Gulf. The assembly of the combined squadrons in the bay was an imposing spectacle, and Admiral Togo, with his staff-officers, visited the sacred shrines of the Imperial ancestors, at Yamada, which is near Toba harbour. Hundreds of thousands of the people had assembled from far and near. Admiral Togo was the recipient of the greatest honours that his admiring countrymen could pay, both there and afterwards at Tokio, where they gathered absolutely to the number of a quarter of a million to bid him welcome on his safe return to his home.

On the 29th of October he visited the beautiful Cemetery at Aoyama, in the Capital, to take part in an impressive Shinto Ceremony in honour of the departed naval heroes of the war, the spot chosen being close to that where lies Captain Hirosé, the officer who lost his own life while trying to succour a subordinate in the second attempt to block Port Arthur. The central figure of the gathering was Admiral Togo, who was escorted by a detachment of his sailors, unarmed. After the religious rites had been solemnly performed, he moved to the altar, and standing alone while all the officers and men present came to the salute, he read an address to the spirits of the dead. It ran somewhat as follows:—

The clouds over land and sea have dispersed, children welcome
us and their parents await us at the gates. Looking back we
recall the heat and cold of the times when we fought side by
side with you against our powerful foe. The result could not
then be foreseen. The bravery you showed brought us splendid
victories in all our combats. Now that the contest is over,
we who are at home feel it deeply that our rejoicings cannot
be shared by you. Yet your deaths have made this day possible.
Your fidelity and bravery shall remain with our navy for ever,
and inspirit it to protect perpetually this, the Imperial Land.
I have prepared this ceremony to your manes, as worthy of all
honour, and I take leave to say to you: Be at peace,—Accept our
offerings.

There was no sound but that of the Admiral’s voice, and in profound silence all those present made their obeisances before the Altar of Memory.

It may be useful here to give some idea of the character of the training that the Japanese Naval Officer undergoes.

Most Japanese youths intended for the sea begin their naval training at the Etajima College, close to the arsenal of Kure, near Hiroshima, in the “Inland Sea,” which separates the main island from Shikoku and Kiushiu. The entrance to this college is by competitive examination, and students come from all parts of the country, though not a few of the successful ones are prepared at a special school in Tokio,—the Higher Naval College. The Etajima establishment is open to every male subject between the ages of fifteen and twenty, but marriage is a bar, likewise bankruptcy or previous subjection to any serious punishment. Everything is done at Government expense. Failure to pass the physical examination disqualifies the youth for the educational tests, which cover a wide field. There are three foreign languages which are optional as studies—viz. French, German, and Russian, but English is compulsory. The course lasts three years, and a cadet who is once entered must not change his mind, but must continue his studies unless disqualified in some recognisable way. Sea duties are taught aboard one of the several tenders attached to Etajima. The daily programme is:—

5.30 A.M. Rise, sweep room, make bed, arrange
clothes, wash and dress.
6.10 ” Inspection by officer on duty.
6.30 ” Breakfast.
7.45 ” Second inspection by the captain.
8. 0-12. 0 noon. Lessons.
12. 5- 1. 0 P.M. Dinner.
2.15- 3.30 ” Special studies—_e.g._ fencing, wrestling,
bayonet drill, rowing, sailing,
hygiene, history, law, etc.
3.30- 5.30 ” Recreation.
5.30 ” Supper.
6.30- 9.30 ” Preparation.
10 ” Bed.

Though Etajima is an out-of-the-way spot, and there is nothing on the island but the college and its grounds, there are three training ships and five launches at the disposal of the institution, so that life is not by any means dull or uneventful.

After midshipmen quit the college they continue their work at sea, and the sister ships _Matsushima_, _Itsukushima_, and _Hashidate_, all of which were prominent in the war with China of 1894-5, and are each 4200 tons, are employed for this purpose. At the end of two months from joining the captain examines a sub-lieutenant in ships’ stations, regulations, etc., and subjects are set for essays, for which rewards are given.

From the practical training given at Etajima it is possible to select officers who go to Tokio for further theoretical training at the Naval Academy. There the courses are four in number, the first,—of two years—being intended to equip the lieutenants with a knowledge of strategy—naval and military,—tactics—naval and military,—fortification, torpedoes, shipbuilding, navigation, and the higher education of the general course. The officers are sent out to take part in manœuvres or visit forts and naval stations. The next year is devoted to special studies of gunnery, torpedoes, and navigation, and then the officers pass to a three months’ practical course at the gunnery or torpedo schools. Side by side with these there are the practical courses for officers and men at Yokosuka. In all that she has done Japan has closely followed the example of Britain, and in other branches than that referred to here, which is of course the executive of the navy, the same care is taken that the training shall be of a thorough kind, in faithful adherence to the principles on which the instruction first derived from Admiral Douglas and his staff, in 1873, was based.

In his own country Admiral Togo Heihachi is esteemed above everything for his absolute sincerity and singleness of purpose, his overwhelming sense of duty which prompts him to make complete sacrifice of personal considerations, and his observance of strict courtesy towards all men. His services entitled him to a rest, and he has been given the post of Chief of the Naval Staff. In his farewell address to the officers and men of the Combined Fleet which he had commanded he emphasised the need of incessant training, pointing to the example of the British navy, and concluded thus:—

“Providence will confer honour on those who work hard in the
study of their duties, and thus virtually win the victory
before fighting, whilst denying honour to those who are
satisfied with a temporary success only, and seek personal
pleasures in time of peace instead of devoting their leisure to
useful research. An ancient adage warns us:

“Katte, kabuto no O wo shimero!”

(If victorious, tighten your helmet-cords!)

In other words, “Never relax your efforts,—on the contrary, be
prepared to exert yourselves still more!”

XXII

BARON EICHI SHIBUSAWA

In the making of a nation its commerce must be fostered and facilities given for the legitimate expansion of all branches of trade, since it is in proportion to the prosperity of its industries and resultant wealth that its political influence will in the main be appreciated. Baron Shibusawa’s career has been essentially that of a business man, for although he occupied at one time a prominent position as an official of the Finance Department, and ranked next to Count Inouye, circumstances ordained that his energies should be applied to tasks more or less directly associated with commerce and the financial progress of his country. If it may be said that the Bank of Japan (Nippon Ginko) owes its existence to Count Matsukata, the First National Bank (Dai-ichi Ginko) was established by the efforts of Baron Shibusawa. Eichi Shibusawa was brought up in the metropolitan province of Musashi, having been born in the village of Chi-arai-jima, in the county of Hanzawa, about forty-five miles from the capital, in 1840. The village is one of many in that region whereof the population is occupied partly in sericulture and substantially in agriculture, millions of cocoons being annually produced in the cottages of the husbandmen, and a great variety of crops gathered from the fields, including some indigo. The Shibusawa family was concerned with both these industries, and had been so for generations. Saitama district, indeed, which comprises in great part what was formerly the province of Musashi, was in the days of the Shogunate, like the neighbouring districts to the west and north, devoted to the rearing of the silkworm, and for the reason that good paddy land is scarce thereabouts a large percentage of the inhabitants still regard sericulture as their most profitable occupation. The industry dates in Japan from the fourth year of the Emperor Chuai’s reign, corresponding to A.D. 195, when a Chinese prince named Koman went over to Japan and was naturalised there, at the same time introducing the Chinese species of silkworm, which from that period was largely cultivated in the Japanese empire. In 283 A.D., while the Emperor Ojin sat on the throne (he was deified as Hachiman, the god of war) a number of Chinamen settled in Japan and taught silk-weaving, the Court itself taking great pains to encourage the industry, by causing mulberry-trees to be planted, and rearing the worms. The taxes were then paid to some degree in silk fabrics. At a later date silk raising and weaving had grown to be the principal productive industry of the country, and was almost universal, though some regions were especially famous for the quality of the output, among them that which is to-day known as Saitama Ken. During the “age of wars” which lasted from the middle of the tenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth, the work could only be carried on in secluded and out-of-the-way places comparatively free from the ravages of fire and sword.

Under the Tokugawa regime the prosperity of sericulture revived, for the feudal chiefs were anxious to see their people engaged in settled occupations, and recognised the value of this industry in particular.

Throughout that region in which Baron Shibusawa spent his boyhood the silkworm is an object of the keenest interest to the people, for everything hinges upon its preservation in a good state of health, and at certain stages of the worm’s existence it is regarded, even at the inns where travellers have to put up for the night when on the road, as a creature whose interests it is necessary to study far more carefully than those of a guest. The “Kaiko-sama” must on no account be disturbed. Shibusawa Eichi received the rudiments of education at his home, and was a close student of history. He read the Chinese classics with a scholar residing in an adjoining village, and helped his father in the manufacture and sale of indigo. By the time he was nineteen years old the cry of Jo-I (Out with the barbarians) which then was being raised in Yedo, little more than a long day’s tramp away from him, had penetrated to the remote village in which he dwelt, and by degrees the whole region grew to be in an uproar. Shibusawa soon betook himself to the capital, to see for himself what it all meant. There he continued his studies under the famous Gyo-son Kai-ho, a classical scholar of repute, and he was a pupil of the no less celebrated fencing master, Chiba Shusaku. From Yedo he travelled to the then seat of learning, Kioto, where he made many friends and finally was received into the Hitotsubashi clan, one of the branches of the Tokugawa family, and from which the last dynasty of Shoguns sprang. The Hitotsubashi branch was that into which the present Prince Tokugawa Keiki, “the last of the Shoguns,” was adopted,—though really a scion of the Mito house—and whose name he bore in the days immediately antecedent to the Restoration of Imperial Rule. The head of the Hitotsubashi house when Shibusawa owned allegiance to it was a very distinguished nobleman, who was instrumental in founding a modernised military system for the Tokugawas and did good service in connection with its finances. Soon afterwards Prince Keiki was called upon to succeed Iyemochi as Shogun at Yedo, and removed thither from Kioto, taking with him Shibusawa Eichi, who became an officer of the Shogunate Government or “Bakufu.” In 1867, the prince Mimbu-taiyu, a younger brother of the Shogun, was sent to France to study Western sciences and institutions, and in his suite was Shibusawa, at that time twenty-seven years of age. The opportunity was one of which he availed himself to the uttermost, and he diligently acquired all the information possible on matters that it had been his main ambition to know more about, passing no inconsiderable portion of his time in England. His stay in Europe lasted until the close of 1868, and he reached home only to find his former chief, the Shogun Tokugawa Keiki, taking up his residence in retirement at Shidzuoka, in Suruga province, 100 miles from the capital. The Restoration had been effected a few months previously.

Shibusawa received the appointment of Chief treasurer of the Shidzuoka household, under the prince Kamenosuké, who had been installed as chief of the clan, and who is now the President of the House of Peers. In this post Shibusawa found ample employment in rearranging the finances of the Tokugawa family, but he presently relinquished it on being made tax controller in the department of Finance under the newly formed Imperial Government at Tokio. In the same service he was next promoted to be Assistant Vice-minister of Finance, and also Chief Inspector of Trade, and in the performance of his duties in these offices he supervised the establishment of several joint-stock enterprises, the first of their kind undertaken in Japan. The members of these companies were merchants of Kioto and Osaka, and their enterprises extended to shipbuilding, land reclamation, etc.; the joint-stock principle thus early in the history of New Japan having begun to find favour. Soon afterwards Shibusawa was appointed Junior Vice-Minister of Finance to Inouye Bunda, as he then was—the present Count Inouye—and in 1873 both resigned in consequence of their views relative to the apportionments to different departments of the public service in the budget estimates not meeting with the support of the Ministry headed by Prince Sanjo Sanetomi. Count Inouye subsequently resumed his place as Vice-Minister of the department but Shibusawa Eichi retired altogether from the Government service, and applied himself to commercial pursuits.

Prior to the Restoration Japan possessed no institutions exactly corresponding to the modern bank. There was what was termed a “rice bank” which advanced rice to the retainers of the Shogun, and this, it is declared, dated back at least as far as the days of Iyemitsu, in 1724. The plan of operations was for certain business houses in Yedo to receive the grain as it came from the domains under the direct control of the Shogunate, and to distribute it among the Shogun’s officers in remuneration for their services. In this way the houses in question were often called on to advance sums on account of the forthcoming crops, the liabilities of the retainers to be met out of the proceeds of the grain when received from the farmers and sold. Needless to say, the normal condition of many of the samurai was one of indebtedness to the “rice banks.” When, in 1870, the present Marquis Ito was authorised to proceed to the United States to investigate financial affairs in America, especially with respect to the public debt, banking, and the monetary standard, he aroused extraordinary interest by his report on the National Bank Act of the United States, a copy of which he sent to Tokio for perusal. The need of some such system was much felt in the then existing crisis in monetary matters, and though the proposal made at that time could not be adopted in its entirety, the financiers were led to consider the advisability of setting up a bank on those lines in the near future. The reception of the idea was quickened by the cumbersome method in vogue of paying taxes in rice, a plan which not only caused delay, but resulted in loss owing to difficulties attendant on the transport of large quantities of grain from places at a distance. The question arose, should the tax be still paid in rice or in legal currency according to the market price of the commodity? If it were allowable to pay in money, then there ought to be some institution at which rice could be exchanged for ready cash. The necessities of the hour pointed to a bank as the medium which must forthwith be established.

But there was another thing that made the notion additionally attractive, and this was the position of the country’s finances in respect of the inconvertible paper currency termed “Da-Jo-Kwan Satsu”—notes issued by the Government, which were depreciated, though not to any great extent so far, and it was deemed unwise to keep them floating so long as thirteen years, the period assigned for their redemption. It had been ascertained that the United States had established a National Bank to facilitate the management of the inconvertible notes issued at the time of the Civil War, known as “Greenbacks,” and the similarity of the situation at the moment in Japan to that of America in 1860 struck everyone.

Messrs Inouye and Shibusawa, then together in the Finance Department at Tokio, cordially agreed with the proposals of Ito Hirobumi, as conveyed in his reports from America, and began to take the needful steps for establishing a National Bank of Japan on a small scale. Mr Shibusawa was made Chairman of a Committee of Investigation into the system of national banks, and after careful study the Committee framed regulations which were put into force by the Government under the National Bank Act in November 1872.

The Dai-Ichi Ginko, _lit._: No. 1 Bank, prospectus appeared in December 1872, the proposers—two of them members of the renowned house of Mitsui, two of the firm of Ono, and Minomura Rizayemon, five well-known men, subscribed 2,000,000 yen, and offered 1,000,000 yen for public subscription. It illustrates the change which has come over Japan in more recent years that, notwithstanding every effort, in 1873, when the list closed, only 4408 shares had been taken in the new venture, and the capital of the bank was reduced to 2,440,800 yen, equal at present rates to about £250,000 sterling. The public had not sufficient understanding of the corporation system to be able to appreciate the new enterprise. A few years later the joint-stock concerns were numbered by the hundred. The Dai-ichi Gin-ko began business on the 20th July 1873, in the picturesque block at Nihonbashi, in Tokio, which had belonged to the Mitsui Company, and had been bought from them for 128,500 yen, and it continued thenceforward to transact a general banking business, and to act as accountant of the Finance Department, for at that time every department of the Government had its own accountant and kept its own independent set of accounts.

Mr Shibusawa,—as he was then,—on resigning his post of Junior Vice-Minister of Finance, was elected General Superintendent of the Dai-ichi Gin-ko, and discharged the duties of president.

Speaking some time ago of those early days of banking in Japan, the Baron explained that “It was the 1st day of August 1873 when the First National Bank received the certificate of authorisation. From that time we issued the new bank-notes for circulation, little by little, but there were none who came to make demands for the redemption thereof. It was our idea to have them circulated in the country districts rather than in the cities and open ports. The people of the country districts, although they were very unfavourably impressed by the old Government paper, were now better disposed to circulate the notes issued by a bank under strict Government inspection, and the general public began to put more confidence in these notes than in those which had been issued before. But we were very careful not to put too many of them into circulation, because we were well aware of the possibility of fluctuation in the price of gold and silver that would seriously affect the value. So, at first we kept back a large quantity of the paper in our vaults....” And thus by prudent management the First National Bank passed its first year with a record of 112,000 yen net profit, out of which 11,000 yen were carried at once to a reserve fund.

At the end of 1874 the bank received a severe blow by the failure of the Ono firm, which had been one of the largest shareholders, and owed the bank a considerable sum. At a general meeting it was resolved that the Ono house’s obligation would be met by the shares of 1,000,000 yen which it owned, and consequently the capital was reduced by that amount. Mr Shibusawa was elected first president of the bank, and as the Government had been a little alarmed by the Ono affair, and was determined thenceforward to establish an accountant bureau in each department of State under its own charge, the First National Bank had to hand over all Government moneys left in its control, and seek to extend its business solely among the people. It was believed that no fears need be entertained of the result, and it has, as a matter of fact, done well. In recent years it has been the chief financial organ of the Japan-Korea trade, and has floated loans for the Imperial Household and Government of Korea with complete satisfaction. The Dai-ichi Ginko notes are the recognised medium of circulation in Korea still and are facilitating the commerce of that country.

It was in May 1900 that a peerage was conferred on Baron Shibusawa, and it was the first instance in which such a mark of imperial favour had ever been extended to a business man in Japan, the rank being in his case accorded in recognition of his past services to the State. It was on his initiative, supported by Marquis Ito and Count Okuma, that the Tokio Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1878, with himself as its president, an honour which he still enjoys. He has played a distinguished part in connection with the municipal affairs of Tokio, and was mainly instrumental in establishing an Asylum for the Poor. When at a later date the Tokio municipality abolished this useful institution, he took upon himself the work of raising a fund for an asylum to exist purely as a private establishment, and to be maintained wholly independently of official aid. In the end it was taken over by the municipality, with Baron Shibusawa as its president, and he continues to be the head of the institution, which is the largest and best equipped of its kind in the land.

Before he quitted the Government service in 1873 he had taken the first steps to establish a mail steamship service to China and Korea, and around the Japanese coasts. The Company formed to undertake this work was afterwards amalgamated with the Mitsu-Bishi (Three diamonds) Shipping Company, and subsequently, when another concern was started and a fierce competition arose for the coastwise trade, Baron Shibusawa induced the opponents to make terms with each other and unite in one Company which is now among the great Shipping Organisations of the world, and known as the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, or Japan Mailboat Company. He is still one of its directors, and has helped, moreover, very materially to establish a trans-Pacific line,—the Toyo Kisen Kaisha,—which runs mail steamers from Yokohama to Hong Kong and San Francisco.

In the cotton-spinning industry he is prominent, having founded the Osaka and Miye Spinning Mills, and he has either promoted or started numerous undertakings for the supply of gas or electric light, for silk or cotton weaving, hemp and rope manufacturing, brickworks, cement factories, sugar refining, and many other enterprises for the utilisation of the knowledge which modern science has conferred on his fellow-countrymen. He is deeply concerned with railway extension, not only in Japan but in Korea, he is interested in harbour construction, and reclamation works, in farming, the breeding of horses and cattle, the manufacture of artificial manures, hat-making, and a variety of other ventures that need not be particularised. Altogether, including several banks other than the Bank of Japan of which he is president—_e.g._ the Yokohama Specie Bank, the Industrial Bank, and the Japan Credit Mobilier—the Baron is connected with upwards of thirty companies in the capacity of either president or director. He founded the Tokio Clearing-House, the Commercial Agency, and other business institutions, and in Korea he has from the outset taken a leading part, the construction of the railway from Fusan to the Capital, and between Seoul and Chemulpo, having been due principally to his efforts. When the railway development of Southern Manchuria is seriously undertaken this line from Fusan to Seoul, and thence to Wiju, is destined to form a link in the long chain of railway communication which will stretch from London to Tokio, with short breaks at the Straits of Dover and the Straits of Korea which divide Fusan from Shimonoseki in South-west Japan. There are incomplete links, notably between the Yalu river and Liao-Yang, but a military line exists, which needs only to be strengthened, so the permanent establishment of that section should present correspondingly fewer difficulties. Ultimately it is to be expected that England will be brought within a fortnight by rail of Japan.

Baron Shibusawa was nominated by the Emperor as a member of the newly formed House of Peers in 1890, when the Imperial Diet was first opened, but he resigned that post a year later, and afterwards occupied the chair of the Higher Council of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry, and he has served on many commissions appointed by the Sovereign to make investigations on various subjects of importance to the nation.

In the domain of philanthropy Baron Shibusawa’s exertions have tended materially to the establishment and support of schools, orphanages, reformatories, hospitals, and kindred benevolent institutions designed to confer public benefit, on the directorates of which his name is frequently to be found, for he has ever been an active worker in the cause of charity.

In 1902 he again visited England, and was entertained by the London Chamber of Commerce, his speech on that occasion containing the happiest allusions to the growth of commercial relations between Japan and Great Britain. He was able to point with satisfaction to the existence in his own country of no fewer than 2534 banks possessing an aggregate paid-up capital of £35,000,000 sterling. After the Chino-Japan war the number of joint-stock companies rose, as he explained, with phenomenal rapidity, for in 1900 the total number was not less than 6176, and their paid-up Capital amounted to 440,476,000 yen, or over £44,000,000 sterling. The volume of the export and import trade, as he was able to assure his audience, had risen from 50,000,000 yen in 1877 to 138,330,000 in 1890, and 506,160,000 in 1901. Though Japan has since been at war with Russia the volume of her trade for the year 1905 will in all probability show a very appreciable increase over any intervening year, and with the immense commercial activity which she has developed subsequent to the conclusion of peace the figures for the fiscal year ending with March 1907 must inevitably exhibit a degree of progress and an expansion of international trade in which her people may justifiably take the utmost pride.

Speaking as a business man to men of business, Baron Shibusawa proceeded to refer in his speech to the then recently concluded Anglo-Japanese Agreement of 30th January 1902. His remarks may be said to apply with equal force to the extended form of that Agreement entered into on the 12th of August 1905.

“It is true,” he said, “our manners and customs are so
different from yours that it would be impossible to make them
common to both nations; but, as judging from past experience we
are getting ever nearer to and assimilating with each other,
and especially as there is no racial or national distinction in
economic affairs, I firmly believe that the future development
of commerce and industry in our country must be cosmopolitan
in its character, that is to say, we should freely invite the
co-operation of knowledge, experience, and capital from the
most advanced nations of the West, not only for the further
development of industry and commerce in Japan, but also for the
opening up of the great natural resources of China and Korea.
Our country is geographically so near to these countries and
has so much of literature and art in common with them that we
can understand the manners and desires of their people much
better than you do, and your country has the advantage of being
rich in capital as well as in the knowledge and experience of
modern scientific appliances. There is no reason, it seems
to me, why we should not co-operate in the Far East to our
mutual advantage, since we have so many interests in common,
and especially now that we are so closely knit together by the
Anglo-Japanese Agreement of Alliance.

“Just as I was planning to leave Japan on my present tour, the
United Chambers of Commerce were holding their General Meeting
in Tokio, and they passed a resolution requesting me to convey
their unanimous desire to bring the business world of Japan
into closer relation with that of Europe and America, and to
reach a better understanding of the real business conditions of
each other’s countries. Vague as such a resolution must sound,
its ultimate aim can be no other than what I have stated,—the
co-operation of Japanese and foreign capitalists for the
industrial and commercial development of the Far East,—and I
trust that if there be anything in our business methods and
customs which will obstruct the realisation of this happy
union, our people will not spare their utmost efforts to
remove it. I sincerely hope that not only will your Chamber
take note of this desire on the part of the Japanese business
world, but that it will kindly help to convey this desire to
all other Chambers of Commerce in your country as well as to
the business world at large. It is more than thirty years since
I first visited your land, as a petty government official,
but I now am here as a business man, and I cannot but admire
the wonderful development of industry and commerce which is
here exhibited. May the Anglo-Japanese Alliance be the means
of realising the richest results in the pacific expansion of
commerce and industry in the Far East, and may it thus be a
source of inestimable blessing to the nations of the world!”

The wish to which Baron Shibusawa gave utterance in 1902 is one that finds its echo in the hearts of the people of both nations to-day, and one with which this humble effort to spread a knowledge of Japan and her affairs may fittingly conclude.

INDEX

Abdication of Shogun, 82

Academies of Bakufu, 96

Accumulation of specie, 291

Ama-no-terasu, goddess, 11

Ancient sword on Takachiho-miné, 203

Ancient shrine in Hiuga, 203

Adams, William, vi, 67, 68

“Advance, Japan,” xv

_Adzuma_ ironclad, 302

Aidzu clan, 25, 29, 84, 86

Alcock, Sir Rutherford, xv, 16, 80

Arisugawa, Prince Taruhito, 3, 4, 49

Arisugawa, Prince Takehito, 4, 144

“Ashigaru” rank, 66

Ashikaga Shogunate, 55, 57

Anglo-Japanese relations, 68, 80

Attachment to throne, 6

Attempt on Sir H. Parkes’ life, 32

Awa bay, battle of, 30, 89, 300

Awa, Count Katsu of, 29

Awaji island, 11, 30

Bakufu (Shogunate), 76, 77

Bank of Japan established, 289

Barons’ revenues, 61

_Barrosa_, H.M.S., 122, 123

Battle of Awa bay, 30, 89

— Fushimi, 31

— Shimonoseki, 123

— Shinagawa, 90

Biddle, Commodore, vii

Biwa lake, 74

Bizen men run amok, 32

Bombardment of Kagoshima, 78

Buddha (Daibutsu) at Kamakura, 55