Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 Read Online Free PDF Page B

princes and princesses as well as to high-ranking nobles. It may have seemed as if Ky ō to’s old glory had at least temporarily been restored, although the buildings of the Gosho had suffered from neglect during the emperor’s absence in T ō ky ō . 23
    That night, quite unknown to those who attended these ceremonies at the court, a group of young men (described as “private school students”) raided the army ammunition dump at S ō muda in Kagoshima, the first clash of the Satsuma Rebellion.
    The immediate cause of this action by “students”—samurai who had attended the private schools 24 founded by Saig ō Takamori—was the report that the national army, disturbed by reports of unrest, had sent a steamship to transfer ammunition stored in Kagoshima to the Ō saka Artillery Arsenal. Attacks on army ammunition dumps and on the arsenal attached to the naval shipyard continued during the following week. The vice commandant of the shipyard repeatedly asked the governor of Kagoshima for police protection, but he was ignored. On February 3 the vice commandant closed the shipyard, suspecting that the governor’s failure to act was occasioned by his sympathy for the attackers. Two days later the “students” occupied the shipyard and began to manufacture weapons and ammunition.
    Behind these actions were the frustration and anger felt by Saig ō Takamori and other Kagoshima samurai when his request to be sent to Korea as an ambassador was finally rejected. After returning to Kagoshima they decided that the samurai needed special training to make them effective defenders of the prefecture, which—in their view—was an all but independent country. In June 1874 Saig ō founded a school outside the city of Kagoshima at the foot of Shiroyama in buildings that had been the stables of the Satsuma clan. A branch school, smaller in size, was founded within the city itself, and other branches were soon established elsewhere in the prefecture. The guiding spirit of these “private schools” was Saig ō Takamori. A set of maxims, penned by Saig ō himself, was displayed at each school, including one declaring that reverence for the monarch and compassion for the people were the foundation of learning. If thoroughly investigated, this principle would enable the samurai to perform their Heaven-appointed duties in a righteous manner. 25
    The instruction given at these schools emphasized the reading of the Chinese classics, especially those relating to the art of war, and the study of the traditions of the samurai class. 26 No guidance was provided in Japanese learning (such as Shint ō or poetry composition) or in Western technology. The purpose of the schools was to make members of the samurai class aware that although they were neglected by the government in T ō ky ō , they were the repositories of Japanese tradition. Even though they emphasized the importance of study, the private schools closely resembled political parties; the students were committed to a program of action; and their interest in learning was in no sense academic.
    Some Kagoshima samurai, particularly those who came from places outside the city, were reluctant to attend the schools, but social pressure eventually obliged them to show solidarity with others of their class. The schools enjoyed the covert support of the governor, who appointed “students” to local political offices.
    In December 1876 the government sent a police officer named Nakahara Hisao and various other men 27 to Kagoshima to investigate reports of subversive activities by the private schools. Soon after arriving they were captured by students of these schools and accused of being spies. Later they were accused of an even graver crime: their mission, it was charged, was to assassinate Saig ō . Nakahara was tortured and forced to sign a confession admitting his guilt. 28 He later repudiated the confession, but it was widely believed in Kagoshima—even by Saig ō —that the