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35 - Story of Japan by Robert van Bergen · Story of Japan

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty five of the Story of Japan. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Colin McMahon. The Story of Japan by Robert
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  Speaker 1: van Bergen Saigo Takumori. You must not suppose that among
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  Speaker 1: the four hundred thousand members of the samurai class there
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  Speaker 1: were not some who disapproved of the acts of the
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  Speaker 1: new government. The worthless ones, and they are to be
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  Speaker 1: found among all classes of society, had indeed been weeded out.
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  Speaker 1: But of those who had kept to their caste, although
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  Speaker 1: all were impelled by love of their country, there were
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  Speaker 1: quite a number who honestly thought that the Tennau's advisers
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  Speaker 1: were bringing the country to rack and ruin. Some of
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  Speaker 1: the councilors who had resigned were very bitter against their
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  Speaker 1: former friends, and several of them, as for instance at Oshimpei,
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  Speaker 1: raised the standard of rebellion. But enough of the clans
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  Speaker 1: remained loyal in those early days to maintain the authority
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  Speaker 1: of the government, and when more serious trouble occurred afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: the government was provided with a loyal army and navy,
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  Speaker 1: and a single clan could not hope to cope with
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  Speaker 1: a united Japan. Although the most progressive of the Tenno's advisers, Okubo,
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  Speaker 1: was a Satsuma man, that powerful and warlike clan was
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  Speaker 1: among the most dissatisfied, and the government was afraid to
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  Speaker 1: invoke strong measures. When the departments were abolished and the
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  Speaker 1: different provinces were administered by officers sent from Tokyo, and
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  Speaker 1: the helpless daimyo were ordered to retire into private life
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  Speaker 1: as kazuko or nobles, the clan of Satsuma alone was
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  Speaker 1: permitted to administer its own affairs. Shimadzusaburo, the acting and
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  Speaker 1: real Daimyo, had withdrawn in high dudgeon to his seat
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  Speaker 1: at Kagashima, and it required a personal letter from the Tenno,
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  Speaker 1: added to the persuasion of a high court noble Iwakora,
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  Speaker 1: to induce him to visit Tokyo. He protested against everything
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  Speaker 1: that he could not understand. Why cut off the topknot
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  Speaker 1: why discard the Japanese dress? Why ape these foreigners in everything?
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  Speaker 1: Is this the country of the gods or not? Such
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  Speaker 1: were some of the questions asked by him, and although
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  Speaker 1: the government offered him high and influential positions. He refused
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  Speaker 1: the bait and sturdily declined to follow the prevailing fashion,
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  Speaker 1: but continued to show himself in topknot Japanese dress and
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  Speaker 1: the inevitable two swords. Staunch old Shimadzu thought that he
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  Speaker 1: was representing the samurai class. Indeed, he did represent a
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  Speaker 1: part of them, and his klansmen deeply sympathized with him
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  Speaker 1: and were intensely loyal. Among those klansmen, none had more
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  Speaker 1: influence than Saigo Takamori. He was the ideal samurai of
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary height for a Japanese. He stood over six feet
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  Speaker 1: and the Japanese are a very small stature. He was
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  Speaker 1: of corresponding strength and excelled in all the warlike exercises
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  Speaker 1: for which the Satsuma men were famous. He was, besides
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  Speaker 1: very courteous and kind, and withal remarkably brave. You have
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  Speaker 1: read how he was banished by the Tokugawa government in
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  Speaker 1: the expiring days of the Yedo rule, and how he
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  Speaker 1: was made commander in chief of the Imperial forces under
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  Speaker 1: Prince Arusagawa. He brought to the civil war to a
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  Speaker 1: close and was rewarded with a pension for life. This
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  Speaker 1: he refused to accept, stating modestly that he had done
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  Speaker 1: only his duty, but he was compelled to receive it
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  Speaker 1: by special orders from the Tenau himself. We have seen
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  Speaker 1: how as member of the Council, Saigo advised war with Korea.
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  Speaker 1: In this he acted on behalf of those samurai who,
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  Speaker 1: like himself, too old to learn new methods or to
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  Speaker 1: acquire new tactics, were thrown out of all prospect of
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  Speaker 1: honorable employment. When he found his advice rejected, he resigned
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  Speaker 1: and withdrew to Kagashima, where, with the pension received from
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  Speaker 1: the government, he established and maintained military schools, to which
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  Speaker 1: a number of dissatisfied samurai from all parts of Japan
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  Speaker 1: flocked Here. They were instructed in the tactics of arms,
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  Speaker 1: and especially in the use of that deadly weapon, the
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  Speaker 1: old Japanese sword. The government was of course perfectly aware
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  Speaker 1: what was going on, and it was an anxious time
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  Speaker 1: when etoshimpe revolted, but Saigo remained neutral, and the government
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  Speaker 1: began to hope that patriotism would prevail and that Satsuma
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  Speaker 1: would submit. At last, several years passed by, and the
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  Speaker 1: railroad to Kyoto was finished in eighteen seventy eight. It
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  Speaker 1: had been decided to celebrate this event, and the Teno
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  Speaker 1: himself was going to visit the capital of his ancestors
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  Speaker 1: together with the ministers. This program was carried out. Kyoto
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  Speaker 1: was in festive array and everything was ready when the
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  Speaker 1: news came that Satsuma had raised the standard of rebellion
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  Speaker 1: and that Saigo had seized the arsenal Kagashima and was
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  Speaker 1: with a large force of samurai on his march through Kyushu.
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  Speaker 1: The reports were true. To disguise the danger of the situation,
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  Speaker 1: the railroad was opened with the appointed ceremonies, but the
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  Speaker 1: perturbed ministers decided to make Kyoto the temporary headquarters of
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  Speaker 1: the emperor. The government feared what Saigo's advisors had counted upon,
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  Speaker 1: that the dissatisfied samurai of other clans would create serious
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  Speaker 1: disturbances elsewhere, and it is more than probable that at
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  Speaker 1: this time promises and concessions were made, whereby they were
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  Speaker 1: assured that henceforward the samurai alone should occupy official positions.
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  Speaker 1: But although seriously disturbed and naturally anxious, the ministers made
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  Speaker 1: excellent use of the modern inventions and improvements introduced by them.
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  Speaker 1: The telegraph carried orders with lightning speed, steamships were chartered
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  Speaker 1: or purchased, and Saigo's old commander in chief, Prince Arisugawa,
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  Speaker 1: was placed in command. It is very doubtful to me,
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  Speaker 1: who knew Sigo well, whether that brave man ever intended
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  Speaker 1: to rebel. It is far more probable that his advisers
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  Speaker 1: had deceived him into taking up arms. It has indeed
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  Speaker 1: been proved that a man of humble position was arrested
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  Speaker 1: in Kagashima, who, under torture, was made to confess that
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  Speaker 1: he had been sent by the Tenos ministers to assassinate
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  Speaker 1: the Satsuma leader. Whether Sigo believed this absurd story or not,
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  Speaker 1: the other leaders of the clan thought that the moment
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  Speaker 1: for action had arrived, and the old samurai spirit of
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  Speaker 1: loyalty to the clan impelled Sigo to place himself at
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  Speaker 1: its head. Addresses were prepared in which it was stated
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  Speaker 1: that the clan did not make war upon the Emperor,
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  Speaker 1: but upon his advisers, who were ruining the country by
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  Speaker 1: the reforms which they had instituted. The Imperial arsenal, a
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  Speaker 1: Kagashima in charge of a Satsuma officer was surrendered to
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  Speaker 1: the rebels without a blow, and if they had marched promptly,
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  Speaker 1: it is not improbable that Japan would have entered upon
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  Speaker 1: a reactionary career. The island of Kyushu is very mountainous
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  Speaker 1: and has many difficult passes. The leaders of the Imperial
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  Speaker 1: Army at once decided to surround the revolted province so
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  Speaker 1: as to prevent the rebellion from spreading and the insurgents
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  Speaker 1: from receiving aid or reinforcement. They succeeded, but only after
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  Speaker 1: many hard and desperate battles, in which the old Samurai
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  Speaker 1: spirit showed at its best and the Japanese sword maintained
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  Speaker 1: its old reputation. The government was even compelled to organize
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  Speaker 1: a band of swordsmen to cope with the expert Satsuma men.
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  Speaker 1: The clan seemed determined to fight to the death, and
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  Speaker 1: despair lent strength to the arms of the Samurai, but
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  Speaker 1: they could not contend against the organized forces of the government.
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  Speaker 1: Kagashima was taken and the rebels were hemmed in, but Saigo,
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  Speaker 1: with a small band of faithful men, broke through the
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  Speaker 1: circle recaptured Kagashima, and fortified himself upon a steep hill
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  Speaker 1: beyond the town. Here he defended himself to the last,
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  Speaker 1: and when the hill was taken and the leader wounded,
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  Speaker 1: a friend performed the last service by cutting off his head.
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  Speaker 1: When this gory trophy was brought to the General in
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  Speaker 1: command of the Imperial Forces, he reverently washed it and
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  Speaker 1: had it decently buried. Thousands of samurai visit every year
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  Speaker 1: the tomb of one who, although he died a rebel,
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  Speaker 1: is considered the last of the old samurai of old Japan.
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  Speaker 1: End of section thirty five, recording by Colleen mc mahon