Japanese Girls and Women — Court Life, Part 2

A court lady is a personage of distinction, and lives in comparative ease and luxury, with plenty of servants to do all the necessary work.

Besides her salary, which of course varies with the rank and the duties performed, but is always liberal enough to cover the necessary expenses of dress, the court lady receives many presents from the Emperor and Empress, which make her position one of much luxury.

The etiquette of the imperial household is very complicated and very strict, though many of the formalities of the olden times have been given up.

The court ladies are models of conservatism.

In order to be trained for the life there and its duties, they usually enter the court while mere children of ten or eleven, and serve apprenticeship to the older members.

In the rigid seclusion of the palace they are strictly, almost severely, brought up, and trained in all the details of court etiquette.

Cut off from all outside influences while young, the little court maidens are taught to go through an endless round of formalities which they are made to think indispensable.

These details of etiquette extend not only to all that concerns the imperial household, but to curious customs among themselves, and in regard to their own habits.

Many of these ideas have come down from one generation to another, within the narrow limits of the court, so that the life there is a curious world in itself, and very unlike that in ordinary Japanese homes.

But among all the ladies of Japan to-day,--charming, intellectual, refined, and lovely as many of them are,--there is no one nobler, more accomplished, more beautiful in life and character, than the Empress herself.

The Emperor of Japan, though he may have many concubines, may have but one wife, and she must be chosen out of one of the five highest noble families.

[29] Haru Ko, of the noble family of Ichij[=o], became Empress in the year 1868, one year after her husband, then a boy of seventeen, had ascended the throne, and the very year of the overthrow of the Sh[=o]gunate,[30] and the restoration of the Emperor to actual power and the leading part in the government.

Reared amid the deep and scholarly seclusion of the old court at Ky[=o]to, the young Empress found herself occupying a position very different from that for which she had been educated,--a position the duties and responsibilities of which grow more multifarious as the years go by.

Instead of a life of rigid seclusion, unseeing and unseen, the Empress has had to go forth into the world, finding there the pleasures as well as the duties of actual leadership.

With the removal of the court to T[=o]ky[=o], and the reappearance of the Emperor, in bodily form, before his people, there came new opportunities for the Empress, and nobly has she used them.

From the time when, in 1871, she gave audience to the five little girls of the samurai class who were just setting forth on a journey to America, there to study and fit themselves to play a part in the Japan of the future, on through twenty years of change and progress, the Empress Haru Ko has done all that lay within her power to advance the women of her country.

[*157] Many stories are afloat which show the lovable character of the woman, and which have given her an abiding place in the affections of the people.

[29] The Empresses of Japan are not chosen from any branch of the imperial family, but from among the daughters of the five of the great _kugé_, or court nobles, who are next in rank to the imperial princes.

The choice usually rests with the Emperor or his advisers, and would be naturally given to the most worthy, whether in beauty or accomplishments.

No doubt one reason why the Empress is regarded as far below the Emperor is, that she is not of royal blood, but one of the subjects of the Empire.

In the old times, the daughters of the Emperor could never marry, as all men were far beneath them in rank.

These usually devoted their lives to religion, and as Shint[=o] priestesses or Buddhist nuns dwelt in the retirement of temple courts or the seclusion of cloisters.

[30] Tokugawa Sh[=o]guns were the military rulers of the Tokugawa family, who held the power in Japan for a period of two hundred and fifty years.

They are better known to Americans, perhaps, under the title of _Tycoon_ (Great Prince), a name assumed, or rather revived, to impress the foreigners when Commodore Perry was negotiating in regard to treaties.

The Sh[=o]gun held the daimi[=o]s in forced subjection,--a subjection that was shaken in 1862, and broken at last in the year 1868, when, by the fall of the Sh[=o]gunate, the Emperor was restored to direct power over his people.

Some years ago, when the castle in T[=o]ky[=o] was burned, and the Emperor and Empress were obliged to take refuge in an old daimi[=o]'s house, a place entirely lacking in luxuries and considerably out of repair, some one expressed to her the grief that all her people felt, that she should have to put up with so many inconveniences.

Her response was a graceful little poem, in which she said that the narrowness of her abode would not limit her love for her people, and that for them she would endeavor to explore wisely the unlimited fields of knowledge.

Upon another occasion, when Prince Iwakura, one of the leaders of Japan in the early days of the crisis through which the country is still passing, lay dying at his home, the Empress sent him word that she was coming to visit him.

The prince, afraid that he could not do honor to such a guest, sent her word back that he was very ill, and unable to make proper preparation to entertain an Empress.

To this the Empress replied that he need make no preparations for her, for she was coming, not as an Empress, but as the daughter of Ichij[=o], his old friend and colleague, and as such he could receive her.

And then, setting aside imperial state and etiquette, she visited the dying statesman, and brightened his last hours with the thought of how lovely a woman stood as an example before the women of his beloved country.

Many of the charities and schools of new Japan are under the Empress's special patronage; and this does not mean simply that she allows her name to be used in connection with them, but it means that she thinks of them, studies them, asks questions about them, and even practices little economies that she may have the more money to give to them.

There is a charity hospital in T[=o]ky[=o], having in connection with it a training school for nurses, that is one of the special objects of her care.

Last year she gave to it, at the end of the year, the savings from her own private allowance, and concerning this act an editorial from the "Japan Mail" speaks as follows:-- "The life of the Empress of Japan is an unvarying routine of faithful duty-doing and earnest charity.

The public, indeed, hears with a certain listless indifference, engendered by habit, that her Majesty has visited this school, or gone round the wards at that hospital.

Such incidents all seem to fall naturally into the routine of the imperial day's work.

Yet to the Empress the weariness of long hours spent in classrooms or in laboratories, or by the beds of the sick, must soon become quite intolerable did she not contrive, out of the goodness of her heart, to retain a keen and kindly interest in everything that concerns the welfare of her subjects.

That her Majesty does feel this interest, and that it grows rather than diminishes as the years go by, every one knows who has been present on any of the innumerable occasions when the promoters of some charity or the directors of some educational institution have presented, with merciless precision, all the petty details of their projects or organizations for the examination of the imperial lady.

The latest evidence of her Majesty's benevolence is, however, more than usually striking.

Since the founding of the T[=o]ky[=o] Charity Hospital, where so many poor women and children are treated, the Empress has watched the institution closely, has bestowed on it patronage of the most active and helpful character, and has contributed handsomely to its funds.

Little by little the hospital grew, extending its sphere of action and enlarging its ministrations, until the need of more capacious premises--a need familiar to such undertakings--began to be strongly felt.

The Empress, knowing this, cast about for some means of assisting this project.

To practice strict economy in her own personal expenses, and to devote whatever money might thus be saved from her yearly income to the aid of the hospital, appears to have suggested itself to her Majesty as the most feasible method of procedure.

The result is, that a sum of 8,446 yen, 90 sen, and 8 rin has just been handed over to Dr. Takagi, the chief promoter and mainstay of the hospital, by Viscount Kagawa, one of her Majesty's chamberlains.

There is something picturesque about these sen and rin.

They represent an account minutely and faithfully kept between her Majesty's unavoidable expenses and the benevolent impulse that constantly urged her to curtail them.

Such gracious acts of sterling effort command admiration and love."

Not very long ago, on one of her visits to the hospital, the Empress visited the children's ward, and took with her toys, which she gave with her own hand to each child there.

When we consider that this hospital is free to the poorest and lowest person in T[=o]ky[=o], and that twenty years ago the persons of the Emperor and Empress were so sacred in the eyes of the people that no one but the highest nobles and the near officials of the court could come into their presence,--that even these high nobles were received at court by the Emperor at a distance of many feet, and his face even then could not be seen,--when we think of all this, we can begin to appreciate what the Empress Haru has done in bridging the distance between herself and her people so that the poorest child of a beggar may receive a gift from her hand.

In the country places to this day, there are peasants who yet believe that no one can look on the sacred face of the Emperor and live.

The school for the daughters of the nobles, to which I have before referred, is an institution whose welfare the Empress has very closely at heart, for she sees the need of rightly combining the new and the old in the education of the young girls who will so soon be filling places in the court.

At the opening of the school the Empress was present, and herself made a speech to the scholars; and her visits, at intervals of one or two months, show her continued interest in the work that she has begun.

Upon all state occasions, the scholars, standing with bowed heads as if in prayer, sing a little song written for them by the Empress herself; and at the graduating exercises, the speeches and addresses are listened to by her with the profoundest interest.

The best specimens of poetry, painting, and composition done by the scholars are sent to the palace for her inspection, and some of these are kept by her in her own private rooms.

When she visits the class-rooms, she does not simply pass in and pass out again, as if doing a formal duty, but sits for half an hour or so listening intently, and watching the faces of the scholars as they recite.

In sewing and cooking classes (for the daughters of the nobles are taught to sew and cook), she sometimes speaks to the scholars, asking them questions.

Upon one occasion she observed a young princess, a newcomer in the school, working somewhat awkwardly with needle and thimble.

"The first time, Princess, is it not?"

said the Empress, smiling, and the embarrassed Princess was obliged to confess that this was her first experience with those domestic implements.

Sometimes in her leisure hours--and they are rare in her busy life--the Empress amuses herself by receiving the little daughters of some imperial prince or nobleman, or even the children of some of the high officials.

In the kindness of her heart, she takes great pleasure in seeing and talking to these little ones, some of whom are intensely awed by being in the presence of the Empress, while others, in their innocence, ignorant of all etiquette, prattle away unrestrainedly, to the great entertainment of the court ladies as well as of the Empress herself.

These visits always end with some choice toy or gift, which the child takes home and keeps among her most valued treasures in remembrance of her imperial hostess.

In this way the Empress relieves the loneliness of the great palace, where the sound of childish voices is seldom heard, for the Emperor's children are brought up in separate establishments, and only pay occasional visits to the palace, until they have passed early childhood.

[31] [31] The Emperor's children are placed, from birth, in the care of some noble or high official, who becomes the guardian of the child.

Certain persons are appointed as attendants, and the child with its retinue lives in the establishment of the guardian, who is supposed to exercise his judgment and experience in the physical and mental training of the child.

The present life of the Empress is not very different from that of European royalty.

Her carriage and escort are frequently met with in the streets of T[=o]ky[=o] as she goes or returns on one of her numerous visits of ceremony or beneficence.

Policemen keep back the crowds of people who always gather to see the imperial carriage, and stand respectfully, but without demonstration, while the horsemen carrying the imperial insignia, followed closely by the carriages of the Empress and her attendants, pass by.

The official Gazette announces almost daily visits by the Emperor, Empress, or other members of the imperial family, to different places of interest,--sometimes to various palaces in different parts of T[=o]ky[=o], at other times to schools, charitable institutions or exhibitions, as well as occasional visits to the homes of high officials or nobles, for which great preparations are made by those who have the honor of entertaining their Majesties.

Among the amusements within the palace grounds, one lately introduced, and at present in high favor, is that of horseback-riding, an exercise hitherto unknown to the ladies of Japan.

The Empress and her ladies are said to be very fond of this active exercise,--an amusement forming a striking contrast to the quiet of former years.

The grounds about the palaces in T[=o]ky[=o] are most beautifully laid out and cultivated, but not in that artificial manner, with regular flower beds and trees at certain equal distances, which is seen so often in the highly cultivated grounds of the rich in this country.

The landscape gardening of Japan keeps unchanged the wildness and beauty of nature, and imitates it closely.

The famous flowers, however, are, in the imperial gardens, changed by art and cultivated to their highest perfection, blooming each season for the enjoyment of the members of the court.

Especially is attention given to the cultivation of the imperial flower of Japan, the chrysanthemum; and some day in November, when this flower is in its perfection, the gates of the Akasaka palace are thrown open to invited guests, who are received in person by the Emperor and Empress.

Here the rarest species of this favorite flower, and the oddest colors and shapes, the results of much care and cultivation, are exhibited in spacious beds, shaded by temporary roofs of bamboo twigs and decorated with the imperial flags.

This is the great chrysanthemum party of the Emperor, and another of similar character is given in the spring under the flower-laden boughs of the cherry trees.

In these various ways the Empress shows herself to her people,--a gracious and lovely figure, though distant, as she needs must be, from common, every-day life.

Only by glimpses do the people know her, but those glimpses reveal enough to excite the warmest admiration, the most tender love.

Childless herself, destined to see a child not her own, although her husband's, heir to the throne, the Empress devotes her lonely and not too happy life to the actual, personal study of the wants of daughters of her people, and side by side with Jingo,[32] the majestic but shadowy Empress of the past, should be enshrined in the hearts of the women of Japan the memory of Haru Ko, the leader of her countrywomen into that freer and happier life that is opening to them.

[32] Jingo K[=o]g[=o], like many of the heroic, half mythical figures of other nations, has suffered somewhat under the assaults of the modern historical criticism.

Many of the best Japanese historians deny that she conquered Corea; some go so far as to doubt whether she had right to the title of Empress; all are sure that much of romance has gathered about the figure of this brave woman; but to the mass of the Japanese to-day, she is still an actual historic reality, and she represents to them in feminine form the Spirit of Japan.

Whether she conquered Corea or no, she remains the prominent female figure upon the border line where the old barbaric life merges into the newer civilization, just as the present Empress, Haru Ko, stands upon the border line between the Eastern and the Western modes of thought and life.

Each marks the beginning of a new era,--the first, of the era of civilization and morality founded upon the teachings of Buddha and Confucius; the second, of the civilization and morality that have sprung from the teachings of Christ.

Buddhism and Confucianism were elevating and civilizing, but failed to place the women of Japan upon even as high a plane as they had occupied in the old barbaric times.

To Christianity they must look for the security and happiness which it has never failed to give to the wives and mothers of all Christian nations.

[*168] CHAPTER VII. LIFE IN CASTLE AND YASHIKI.

[33] The seclusion of the Emperors and the gathering of the reins of government into the hands of Sh[=o]guns was a gradual process, beginning not long after the introduction of Chinese civilization, and continuing to grow until Iyéyas[)u], the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty, through his code of laws, took from the Emperor the last vestige of real power, and perfected the feudal system which maintained the sway of his house for two hundred and fifty years of peace.