sand. Quick as lightning, white-hat leaps nimbly
off the saddle, and before his horse is on his hoofs
again scoops up the ball and whirls it over the
wicket. A tempest of clapping hands from the
ladies and shouts from the men greet the victor,
who, without pausing to acknowledge the applause,
is in saddle again, the white lacquer of his helmet,
as the sun strikes it, dazzling his admirers.



A GAME OF POLO. 307

A number of lively episodes and passes and some
splendid feats of horsemanship fill up the game
toward the last. It is evident that in spite of the
fine playing of two of the He'ike', the Genji have the
advantage of coolness and practice. One of the reds
has been put hors du combat, with a bruised right
arm and a broken spoon. The tilt for the last ball
is at hand. All the balls are over and out; one
alone remains. To bag the last ball is even a greater
honor than the first. Now for the final tug ! Eleven
men and horses after one tiny ball ! Now backward,
now forward, now in mid-air, tossed on the top of
the netted sticks like a ball on a fountain jet, now
hurled back a dozen horse-lengths ! See how they
dash to it ! What a clash and mass of horse legs,
manes, heads, gilt saddle-flaps, with clanging of metal
stirrups, banging of spoons ! It reminds one of the
battle of the centaurs with the Lapithae, at the mar-
riage of Hippodamia and Pirithous. Snap ! a spoon
has been crushed by a hoof, and a white-hat is un-
hurt, but hors du combat. " Hai ! hai ! hai ! " shouts a
red-hat, and the ball is thrown by a back stroke far
on toward the goal. Out dashes another red from
the mass of centaurs. His helmet on his shoulders,
his top-knot all awry, his hair loose, his face stream-
ing with perspiration, his eye flashing, yet cool and
sure of triumph, he defiantly awaits his rival. The
spoon of one is within a foot of the prize, when,
with a yell, he lifts it and sends it flying through
and fifty feet beyond the wickets. The applause
is tumultuous, and in it even the dignified daimios,



308 HONDA THE SAMURAI.

bride and groom, ladies and gentlemen in waiting,
and all, except the judges, join.

The He"ik6 in the red helmets have won. The
riders now pass by the judges, salute, and stall their
horses. The gentlemen riders adjust dress, hair, and
toilet, and soon re-appear as spectators.

Several other games of dakiu followed the first
by fresh relays of Genji and He"ik6 youth. After
the final score the prizes were presented. Of the
three games played, the crack contestants, the white-
hats, or Genji, won two. The daimio presented with
his own hands a roll of figured white silk, a gold-
emblazoned helmet with the armorial bearing of the
Genji upon it, and a porcelain vase of red Kaga
ware. To the subordinate players the daimio's son,
Fujimaro, gave scrolls of ornamented Echizen paper,
with his autograph written thereon.

Thus ended the polo tournament in honor of the
young couple and the Higo guests, with all the im-
posing surroundings of feudal display. The value
in affording good exercise, health, enjoyment, and
discipline to eye, nerve, and muscle seemed exceed-
ingly great. It had all the excitements of war, with
only an extremely low per cent of its danger, and
was evidently one of the best of the manly sports
of "the country of brave warriors."

So the days passed sweetly away during the whole
summer in which Kiku-himd was a bride. Nor did
her heart once become homesick for her southern
home.



CHAPTER XXV.

SEEKERS AFTER GOD.

npHE castle in Fukui, begun in the twelfth cent-
-L ury, enlarged in the sixteenth, and again re-
planned in the eighteenth by Iye*yasu himself, and,
rebuilt by his son, occupied the larger portion of the
city. It was surrounded by a triple line of stone
walls surmounted by ramparts and surrounded by
moats or ditches, which were fed by three streams
coming in from the north, all emptying into the
large river which flows along the front of the city.
In this manner the moats were kept full of clean,
bright running water.

If we cross the drawbridge of the castle and enter
the main part of the citadel, we shall find that there
is in progress a large school which is devoted to the
mastery of the native literature, to the Chinese char-
acters, and also to the Dutch, the only foreign lan-
guage then studied by progressive samurai. If we
enter this school in the early part of the year 1859
we shall find our old friend Honda Jiro. He is no
longer a would-be destroyer of foreigners, but ap-
parently only a commonplace teacher. The school-
room consists of a large apartment, covered on the
floor with mats. On these mats young men are kneel-
ing, or rather sitting upon their heels, before a low

309



310 HONDA THE SAMUEAI.

table not more than a foot high. They are commit-
ting to memory page after page of the Japanese his-
torical books, and they are repeating the words to
themselves out loud, so that the noise of the room is
like Babel.

The old method of study was first to know all the
characters on the page of a book. Without any
regard to the meaning, the scholar must learn to
know the sound to the ear and the shape to the eye
of the Chinese ideographs, and also to reproduce
them by the pen on paper. After that had been ac-
complished, the teacher explained the meaning of the
characters, the student construed and translated, and
the text of the book was slowly mastered and its
contents were understood.

Somewhat as Latin school-books are to English
are the Chinese text-books, in which most of the
standard Japanese books or history are written, to
Japanese. The young men were accustomed to
commit the text to memory and then stand with
their backs to the teacher in order not to look upon
the books before them, and recite to him the whole
page from memory. The writing lesson consisted
of copying out numbers of Chinese characters and
then writing and re-writing them from memory.
The Chinese characters are very clear and beautiful
to the eye, and when one becomes master of them
there is a great fascination in reproducing them with
ink on paper.

On the tables were writing materials, consisting
of large ink-stones, which were of a dark color with



SEEKEKS AFTER GOD. 311

a hollow place cut in them for the ink when made
liquid by rubbing sticks of solid ink with water.
The black fluid was used with pencils, or pens,
which were brushes made of fine hair. The copy-
books were of thick paper cut into leaves a foot
square, which were so repeatedly covered with ink
as to be without a spot of white. After every writ-
ing lesson the bpoks were hung out upon lines to
dry, and the next day new writing exercises were
practiced upon the old thick layers of ink which
had been used the day before. The wet ink easily
showed plainly on the dry and caked deposits of
previous exercises.

One may wonder at the great change which had
come over Mr. Honda Jiro, that he should turn from
becoming a would-be assassin into a quiet teacher;
but the truth is that years of reflection, in addition
to the constraint and instruction derived from the
good and discreet Professor Koba and the kindness
of the daimios of Echizen, had wrought a trans-
formation. In the first place, Mr. Rai had hinted to
Honda, when first out of the Yedo prison, that the
real object of Professor Koba was to restore the
Mikado to ancient power, but that his plan was to
do it in a different way than by killing the foreign-
ers. In the second place, the prince himself had
assured him that the best way, in the long run, to
overcome the foreigners and to keep Japan safe, was
to adopt their learning, weapons, and moral princi-
ples ; while Mr. Rai had been most wise and kind
and helpful in assisting Honda to understand that
the pen and the book were mightier than the sword.



312 HONDA THE B AMUR At.

During all the time of his "domiciliary confine-
ment," Professor Koba had been in correspondence
with Honda, and his letters contained noble senti-
ments and ideas about duty and man's relation to
heaven, upon which the young man deeply pondered.
In these letters were many things said about the
Creator, providence, sin, and holiness, but wholly
of a different cast of thought from, what either the
Buddhist priests, Shinto lecturers, or Confucian
teachers taught. Yet never was the name of Christ,
elsewhere so publicly proclaimed in Japan and her-
alded as infamous, mentioned in these letters, though
it was often hinted at; for Mr. Koba feared lest
the ubiquitous spies to the government should open
his letters, and thus defeat his purpose, and send both
of them again to prison and to death. When, how-
ever, Honda came back to Fukui, Professor Koba
boldly told him that his teacher was no other than
the one outlawed in Japan, Jesus. Christ, whom the
Japanese called Yasu, and that tiie book he loved
most to read was the New Testament of that same
Yasu. Both together then became earnest students
and readers of the Chinese New Testament which
Professor Koba had secured through the Chinese
captain of a junk at Nagasaki.

" I am in hope," said Professor Koba, one day as
they met secretly together, "that many of our think-
ing men will study this book ; for I hear from Mito
that the enlightened daimio of that province is look-
ing into the doctrines of Christianity. I know he has
some Christian books, and images and pictures of



SEEKERS AFTER GOD. 313

the Virgin Mary and the saints; but this Portuguese
and Spanish form of the Jesus-doctrine does not
commend itself to me. I am puzzled to account for
the cruelties of the Inquisition, and at some of the
political things done by the rulers of the religion at
Rome, for they do not seem to accord with what
Jesus teaches. However, I hope at some time to
meet with a teacher from England or America. The
Hollanders hinted that there was a great difference
between the forms of the Jesus-religion in northern
and in southern Europe."

So then Honda had given up all hope of fighting
the foreigners or drawing their blood, and had given
himself to the patient task of enlightening the young
men of his own province. Further, he had, by means
of the wise assistance of Doctor Sano, made his
peace even with the young lady, Asai, who, misin-
formed and in a fit of passion, had once desired that
the god Fudo might take his life. They had been
married, and wer^ now living in quiet and comfort
in a beautiful little house within the inclosure of
the castle. Her father had purchased the rank and
privileges of a samurai, and now wore two swords
and lived within the castle precincts, having retired
from active business.

Usually a merchant who thus purchased rank and
honors, and had nothing else than his money-bags to
recommend him, was apt to be snubbed, insulted, and
ignored at first by the samurai of hereditary rank,
who sneeringly spoke of him as a "money-lifted
samurai." In this case, however, Mr. Asai's repu-



314 HONDA THE SAMURAI.

tation as a man of integrity and public spirit was
so high, and since the liberal sura paid by him was
immediately applied to educational purposes by the
daimio, all parties were mutually pleased. Each
one of Mr. Asai's family was treated with respect,
and Honda Jiro's course highly approved ; few, how-
ever, knowing the secret of "the Hour of the Ox."

Even Professor Koba himself, who had purposely
remained single until long past forty, thought it was
high time for him to cease living alone. He there-
fore made a journey to his native province, and
there took to himself a wife a lovely and accom-
plished lady, one among the many of that province
who were noted for their beauty and had brought
her to Fukui, where he was now living. He had
enlarged his circle of pupils and friends, who were
learning from him the glorious ethical studies of the
great Chinese masters, as well as receiving a new and
wonderful stimulus to both discussion and action.
For in Mr. Koba's lectures and conversations there
were many strange expressions and even ideas, which
somehow or other extremely interested the hearers
and provoked inquiry ; but Mr. Koba did not tell the
origin of his thoughts. He enjoyed more than ever
the confidence of the daimio of the province, who
gave him more and more power in carrying out the
reforms which he desired to see effected.

Among other things he was exceedingly success-
ful in abolishing from the dominions of the daimio
every species of gambling; so that the dreadful
vice, which was so prevalent in some other prov-



SEEKERS AFTER GOD. 315

inces, was almost unknown in Echizen. Further-
more certain other evil practices, so often indulged
in by the gentlemen of the province, were banished
to the sea-ports and places outside of the capital
city, so that if one desired to indulge in that which
is unseemly he was compelled to go to other places.
No one could live long within the province of Echi-
zen but would feel a healthful glow of intellectual
inquiry and love of study. He would also note the
hopeful expectation of a better state of things for
all Japan, as well as a general dissatisfaction with
that which was low and immoral and sensual. In a
word, this daimio's court in the little inland city
of Fukui was one of the bright spots of light and
civilization at this time.

A beginning was even made in the direction of
elevating the eta and hi-nin to something like hu-
manity ; and many of the cruel practices and cus-
toms of which the eta were victims were prohibited,
and they were treated with comparative kindness.
For years the most miserable of these creatures had
had no houses to live in, but only huts of straw ; or
they found shelter under the great bridge, to be
alternately drowned out or killed by the miasma of
the damp mud. The better portion of them, how-
ever, had houses, but no rights before the law.
Their name, eta, as the scholars discussed it, came
from , meaning flesh, especially of cows or horses
after flaying, and tori, taker or gatherer. The fact
that these people handled or sold meat or dead ani-
mals put them under the ban, first of Buddhism,



316 HONDA THE SAMUBAI.

and then of society, so that any reform in their
behalf was a blow to Buddhism, and hence was
opposed by the priests.

In the cautious discussions of political affairs, it
was generally agreed by Mr. Koba and the prince, and
nearly all of the enlightened men, that everything
should be done in national affairs by taking counsel
of all the different daimios, and that nothing arbi-
trary should take place. Since foreigners had come
upon the soil the old dual system of the Throne and
the Camp would soon be disturbed, and this should
be carefully modified by wise counsels and not by
any one-man power. In a word, the study of mod-
ern history was beginning to bear fruit.

The prince had greatly admired the action of the
Yedo government in calling together a council of
the daimios to deliberate upon the propositions made
by Commodore Perry, and he trusted that this was a
good precedent which would be continued to be fol-
lowed, so that Japan would possess something like a
parliament, in which national affairs could be dis-
cussed by the samurai.



CHAPTER XXVI.

"EXPEL THE BAKBAEIANS."

IN the summer of 1858 the Tycoon in Yedo was
taken ill, and late in August he died. The
prince of Echizen knew that a political crisis was
likely to occur, since the Tycoon was childless, and
an heir must be appointed. The regent, or prime
minister, who had the greatest power was named li
Karnon no Kami. He was an arbitrary man and
inclined to do very much as he pleased, and to give
himself up to his own selfish pleasures without tak-
ing counsel from the other daimios or ministers of
state. At least this was what his critics said.

The prince of Echizen, leaving Fukui, came quickly
to Yedo, to be present as a relative of the Tokugawa
family, and assist with his advice. With the prince
of Owari, and others, he wished that Ke"iki, the
seventh son of the prince of Mito, should be made
Tycoon. This gentleman was of age, accomplished
and popular ; but the prime minister paid no atten-
tion whatever to the good advice of the daimios, and
chose an heir who was only twelve years of age, and
who would not have any influence ; so that the prime
minister, as it seemed, could take all power to him-
self. They now began to call him, " The Swaggering
Prime Minister."

317



318 HONDA THE SAMURAI.

While the view we have stated was the honest
opinion of many Japanese of the years 1858-60, it
must be remembered that to a few progressive men
then, and many of them now, it was not a true judg-
ment upon li Kamon no Kami, whose motives were
not bad. He sincerely loved his country, and wished
to open it peacefully to western civilization. The
foreign vessels, British, Dutch, Russian, and French,
were now visiting the coast of Japan in increasing
numbers, and nearly all of them demanded that
treaties should be made. Above all, Mr. Townsend
Harris, the American minister, who had come from
Shimoda to live permanently in Yedo, visited fre-
quently the headquarters of the premier, and de-
manded that the Yedo government should hurry
up the authorities in Kyoto to take immediate action
and make a commercial treaty. The prime minister,
being afraid that some accident would happen by
which Japan would be involved in war, as were China
and India, and be invaded or conquered, determined
himself to expedite matters. In fact, he resolved to
do this if necessary even at what seemed to be the
expense of all propriety, and in defiance of the opin-
ion of men who thought themselves as well able to
judge as himself. He therefore put his seal and
signature to a new treaty, without the sanction of the
Mikado. He knew that the Japanese were not then
prepared to resist the pressure brought upon them.

When the prince of Echizen, and other lords who
were blood relations of the Tycoon, found out that
" the swaggering prime minister " had made a treaty



"EXPEL THE BARBADIANS." 319

with Mr. Harris, the American minister, entirely on
his own account, without consulting others, or with-
out going through the forms which were so properly
observed at the time of the coming of Commodore
Perry, they at once ordered their palanquins, and
going to the palace desired an interview with the Ty-
coon, to protest against making treaties with foreign
nations without orders from the Mikado and the im-
perial court. According to the native historians
their request for an interview with the Tycoon was
refused by the prime minister, who saw them himself,
insulted them, sent them away, and told them never
to come back into the castle again. Then, so it is
said, he gave himself to pleasure at the expense of
the public funds, while at the same time he sent his
spies to Kyoto and other places throughout the
country and arrested all the patriots whom he sup-
posed were interfering with his arbitrary purposes.

These men were not so much opposed to foreign-
ers as they were desirous of having things done
according to enlightened public opinion and with
some form of representative government. Indeed, a
great many of the more respectable of them " veiled
their larger purpose " under the cry which now
arose throughout the country, and which afterward
swelled to the proportions of a storm, " Honor the
Mikado and expel the barbarians ! " Though at
first few, these " Mikado-reverencers " and " foreigner-
haters " gradually enlarged their numbers, until there
were organizations of them all over the empire. In
their ardor to destroy the Yedo despotism, and to



320 HONDA THE SAMUKAI.

unify their nation by exalting their sovereign, they
were ready to do any deed of violence. In order to
checkmate the desires and the policy of the prime
minister, the more loyal, upright, and calm-minded
men refrained from sympathy with these " Mikado-
reverencers " and " barbarian-expellers," but desired
rather that things should be done according to
public opinion. Many of the more active patriots,
among whom were the brother of Doctor Sano, Nog
Toro, and Ban Saburo, were seized in Kyoto and
brought in cages to Yedo, where were already so
many victims of the prime minister's high-handed
policy that every ward of the great prison was
crowded.

The hopes of the moderate men, like Koba and
the daimio of Echizen, that the example set by the
Tycoon, in calling together an assembly of daimios
to consider the treaty of Commodore Perry, would
be followed by the gradual formation of something
like a national body for the discussion of public
affairs, were totally disappointed ; for the prime min-
ister, instead of relaxing, became still more fixed
in his views of despotic government. He now gave
full rein to his despotic ideas, and when the prince
of Mito and others pressed upon the Yedo govern-
ment the idea of honoring the emperor by canceling
the treaties and expelling the foreigners from Japan,
the prime minister found it necessary to take violent
action. He ordered Mito to be put into perma-
nent imprisonment and his son into exile, while the
princes of Echizen, Owari, Tosa, and Uwajima were



" EXPEL THE BARBARIANS." 321

compelled to resign their offices into the hands of
their sons, and to live in their secondary yashikis in
Yedo. When in the height of his career he ordered
to the death over twenty upright and honorable men
who had opposed his views. Among the patriots
compelled to commit hara-kiri was Doctor Sano's
brother, an accomplished scholar and gentleman.

The news of these doings created a tremendous
excitement all through the country, especially in the
capitals of the princes who had been in prison or
sent into exile. A desperate band of ronins made a
conspiracy to destroy the life of li, the prime minis-
ter. On the great holiday of the third day of the
third month, that is, the twenty- third of March, 1860,
while going in his palanquin to the palace, his train
of retainers was set upon, during a snow-storm, by
a body of armed men, most of whom were Mito
ronins. In the sword-battle which ensued, the head
of the prime minister was cut off and his body left
a bleeding trunk. On the persons of the captured
assassins was a paper charging li with five crimes,
the chief of which was that of " being frightened by
the empty threats of the foreign barbarians into mak-
ing treaties with them, and, under the plea of politi-
cal necessity, of doing this without the Mikado's
sanction." The assassins called themselves " repre-
sentatives of divine anger." Two days later, as so
reported, the head cut off in Yedo was tossed into
the garden of the daimio of Mito, fifty miles away
from the Camp City. Historical research proves the
rumor baseless.



322 HONDA THE SAMUEAI.

This tragic event only served to loosen still more
the whole feudal system of Japan. The samurai
daily deserted their masters, the daimios, and be-
came organized bands of ronin. Their sole pretext
was to see the Mikado restored to supreme power,
while most of them were also jo-i, or alien-haters.
Thoy lived by extorting money and food from the
merchants and farmers. Early in the winter of 1861
a party of the cowardly wretches lay in wait in the
streets of Yedo for Mr. Heusken, a young Hollan-
der, and the secretary of Mr. Harris, the American
minister. Returning from the Prussian legation, he
was attacked in the darkness. So sharp are Japan-
ese swords that, in time of excitement, a man may
receive many and fatal wounds without knowing
until too late their seriousness. Though he reached
the American legation, he lived but two hours.
This was the eighth foreigner killed since 1859.

The foundations of society were threatened with
. dissolution, as the whole empire seemed to be swarm-
ing with bands of men who owned no allegiance to
the daimios ; for while little or no national senti-
ment existed among the farmers and lower class
people, they looked to their local lords as their
only rulers and to the Mikado as only a shadowy
and far-off being. The political heavens were gath-
ering blackness and all hearts feared. It was true,
as one of the most high-souled ronins of the time
expressed it, " the empire is on the point of becom-
ing a hell."

Indeed, in the system of terrorism, such as the



" EXPEL THE BARBARIANS." 323

government of Japan was under the Tycoon's mili-
tary system, the only method of redress seemed to
be by assassination, and the only sure weapon the
sword. There existed no provision or opportunity
for the expression of the views of patriots. In the