4. All the absurd usages of former times should be disregarded, and the impartiality and justice displayed in the workings of nature be adopted as the basis of action.
5. Wisdom and ability should be sought after in all quarters of the world for the purpose of firmly establishing the foundations of the empire.
The promise in the first article to establish a deliberative assembly was watched with the greatest solicitude. And when during the same year the kogisho[326] (parliament) was called together, great hopes were entertained of its usefulness. It was composed of persons representing each of the daimiates, who were chosen for the position by the daimyōs. It was a quiet peaceful debating society,[327] whose function was to give advice to the imperial government.
That it was a thoroughly conservative body is apparent from the result of its discussion upon several of the traditional customs of Japan. On the proposition to recommend the abolition of the privilege of hara-kiri the vote stood: Ayes 3, noes 200, and not voting 6. On the proposition to abolish the wearing of swords, which was introduced and [pg 382] advocated by Mori Arinori, the final vote was unanimously against it in a house of 213.[328] After a short and uneventful career the kogisho was dissolved in the autumn of the same year in which it was summoned. It had been a step, but not a very important step, in the direction of parliamentary government.
We must now give an account of the most remarkable event in the modern history of Japan. We refer to the termination of feudalism by the voluntary surrender of their feudal rights on the part of the daimyōs. This action was a logical consequence of the restoration of the executive power into the hands of the emperor. It was felt by the statesmen of this period that in order to secure a government which could grapple successfully with the many questions which would press upon it, there must be a centralization of the powers which were now distributed among the powerful daimyōs of the empire. To bring this about by force was impossible. To discover among the princes a willingness to give up their hereditary privileges and come down to the position of a powerless aristocracy was something for which we have hitherto looked in vain.
Mori Arinori.
Doubtless the fainéant condition of nearly all the daimyōs at this time made the accomplishment of this event more easy. With only a few exceptions, the hereditary princes of the provinces had come to be merely the formal chiefs of their daimiates. The real power was in the hands of the energetic and [pg 383] capable samurai, who were employed to manage the affairs. They saw that any scheme for transferring the political authority of the daimyōs to the central government would render more important their services. They would become not merely the formal administrative functionaries, but the real officers to whom responsible duties and trusts would be confided. Some of this class of subordinates had already [pg 384] in the new imperial government tasted the savoriness of this kind of service, and they were ready to carry out a plan which seemed to have patriotism and practicability in its favor.
The most notable circumstance in this series of events was the presentation to the emperor of an elaborate memorial signed by the daimyōs of Chōshū, Satsuma, Tosa, Hizen, Kaga, and others, offering him the lists of their possessions and men. This memorial[329] appeared in the official gazette March 5, 1869. Its preparation is attributed to Kido Takayoshi, and bears supreme evidence to his learning and statesmanship. With lofty eloquence the memorial exclaims: “The place where we live is the emperor's land, and the food which we eat is grown by the emperor's men. How can we make it our own? We now reverently offer up the lists of our possessions and men, with the prayer that the emperor will take good measures for rewarding those to whom reward is due and taking from those to whom punishment is due. Let the imperial orders be issued for altering and remodelling the territories of the various classes.... This is now the most urgent duty of the emperor, as it is that of his servants and children.”
The example thus set by the most powerful and influential daimyōs was followed rapidly by others. Two hundred and forty-one[330] of the daimyōs united [pg 385] in asking the emperor to take back their hereditary territories. And in the end only a small number remained who had not so petitioned. Prince Azuki in his memorial says: “1. Let them restore the territories which they have received from the emperor and return to a constitutional and undivided country. 2. Let them abandon their titles and under the name of kwazoku (persons of honor) receive such properties as may serve for their wants. 3. Let the officers of the clans abandoning that title, call themselves officers of the emperor, receiving property equal to that which they have hitherto held.”