Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 1: Great Spirit of Tokyo
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Part 4: The Imperial Capital Renovation Plan
Chapter 15: The Secret Meeting at Shibusawa Eiichi's Residence
Around 2:00 p.m. on June 4th at Kabuto Shrine, it was raining. That was normal; it was the middle of the rainy season. This kind of deluge was a bit unusual, though. It had been raining since dawn and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. The day was dark and gloomy, chilly and lonely. The streets were nearly deserted. The rain pelted the few paper umbrellas carried by people who'd decided to brave the weather.
It was so dark. Oda Kanshi hurried to Shibusawa Eiichi's residence on foot, following the line of the Otonashi River. Along the riverside, his gaze alighted on a small, dimly visible shrine.
“Hah! So Mr. Shibusawa has even brought our Taira no Masakado out to this rural part of Oji,” Mr. Oda muttered to himself, stopping in his tracks to observe the shrine.
Kabuto Shrine was the guardian shrine of Nihonbashi, where Shibusawa Eiichi had previously lived. The area around the shrine used to be called Kabutoyama. The shrine was located near the First National Bank, which Shibusawa founded. When Tawara Tōta defeated Taira no Masakado, the enemy general’s helmet was buried at this site.1 The small shrine Oda was looking at had been established by transferring the deity from its original shrine in Nihonbashi.
“Masakado is the guardian deity of Edo. With Kabuto Shrine so close to the residence, I should be able to receive some of Masakado’s divine favor." Mr. Shibusawa was fond of saying things like that.
Mr. Oda thought statements like this were ridiculous, and had told Mr. Shibusawa so once before. "In Tokyo, there are place names related to Masakado absolutely everywhere! Asukayama, Myōjin, Torigoe, Tsukiji, Kanda—all of them have some connection to Taira no Masakado. Tokyo is essentially a sacred place for Taira no Masakado’s soul.”
Chuckling at the memory, Mr. Oda spun his umbrella around and kept walking. Raindrops traced white arcs through the air. He headed for the main entrance of the Shibusawa residence in Asukayama as briskly as possible.
At the entrance of the residence, Mr. Oda closed his umbrella, brushed the raindrops off his jacket and then followed a maid toward a parlor.
The heavy doors of the parlor opened, revealing an elegant room that had a solemn atmosphere. Mr. Oda sensed tension in the air, though he couldn't tell why at a glance. Several guests had already arrived. Two men were engaged in a heated debated across a Western-style dining table.
Seven guests were present, and they were all seated except for Oda. The elderly Mr. Shibusawa sat at the head of the table, smiling magnanimously.
Feeling uncharacteristically intimidated, Mr. Oda cleared his throat in an exaggerated manner and addressed Mr. Shibusawa as he sat down in the only remaining seat. That seat was directly across from Mr. Shibusawa.
"It's good to see you again, Mr. Shibusawa," Mr. Oda said.
Baron Shibusawa Eiichi looked up at his old friend with a smile. His arms were folded across his chest. "Mr. Oda! I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Oh? I heard the meeting was to start at two o’clock.”
“Indeed. However, you see that there is a heated dispute among the other guests. I was hoping that you might assist us in resolving it. Your voice is always heeded in such matters. I'd like you to calm our combatants so that the 2:00 meeting can proceed as planned."
Mr. Oda looked around at the guests, then sat down heavily in an empty seat.
“So, what’s the problem here?”
“Excuse me, but who are you?” one of the guests asked. He appeared to be a gentleman in his forties and sported a mustache that didn’t quite suit him. He was probably a minor government official.
Far from being put out by such rudeness, Mr. Oda put on his public speaking face and said, “My name is Oda Kanshi. I’m just an old man who was invited to today’s meeting by Mr. Shibusawa. But things seem unsettled even before we’ve started. What exactly is the dispute here?”
Mr. Shibusawa explained the situation to Mr. Oda.
“Well, you see, it seems I made a mistake in arranging the committee members. It was fine to have a representative from the Tsuchimikado family come from Kyōtō, but I completely forgot that we also invited an official from the Central Meteorological Observatory. They've been arguing from the moment they met."
“No, Baron, that’s a misunderstanding. I simply asked if this project was originally undertaken at the request of the Tsuchimikado family,” the mustachioed government official interrupted. “I’ve said this many times, but when it comes to the Imperial Capital Renovation Plan, we should not be entertaining silly ideas like astrology and demon gates." He sniffed dismissively. "It seems that the representative of the Tsuchimikado family is only capable of discussing such trivial matters."
A middle-aged man in traditional Japanese clothing stood up. “How rude! To say that we are only capable of talking about astrology and demon gates—what nonsense! That is a clear insult to the Tsuchimikado family. I demand you retract that statement!”
“I have said nothing but the truth. Let me ask you this: After the Meiji Restoration, His Majesty dismissed the Shogunate Astronomical Office and entrusted all matters of calendar reform to the yin-yang sorcerers. Despite this, they neglected to thoroughly investigate and introduce the solar calendars of advanced Western nations. In the end, it was our government that carried out the calendar reform of 1873 (Meiji 6). Isn’t that so?”
The man said nothing.
“As a professional calendar specialist, you have always boasted about serving as the Head of Astronomy and Chief Diviner like the Heian period’s famous sorcerer, Abe no Seimei. But with the advent of the Meiji Restoration's civilization and enlightenment, you all became nothing more than a useless group of charlatans!"
“Ridiculous!” the middle-aged man retorted sharply. “The Tsuchimikado family has overseen Japan’s astronomical and calendrical laws. We are responsible for selecting a new era name whenever it changes. We prepare official documents regarding disaster planning for natural disasters and foretell good or bad fortune in times of national crisis. These are extremely important duties that we have performed for generations of Emperors. Even His Imperial Majesty the Emperor entrusted the management of the calendar to the heads of the Tsuchimikado family, Harechika and Haretake. We are the proud guardians of Japan’s calendrical tradition.”
The government official listened to these words and sneered. "Your so-called proud family clings to foolish tradition and superstition. That stubbornness led to Japan adopting the Gregorian calendar far too late. We are behind the other world powers because you're still stupid enough to believe in magic. You mentioned that you were involved in selecting era names--did you choose the name 'Meiji' yourself? I don't think so. The decision to use ‘Meiji’ was made when His Majesty personally drew lots before the gods, rather than following the usual procedure of selection. The old-fashioned practice of searching through ancient Chinese prophecy books to find suitable words for a new era name will soon disappear. The Tsuchimikado family's official role has become obsolete.
"And yet, you blame us for your own downfall, when it was your attachment to outdated authority that dug your own grave. I am astonished by the strength of your resentment. I'm only doing your job, which you failed so badly at.”
The guest from Kyōtō’s face turned red with anger. He stood up and moved to grab the official. Yoichirō quickly rose and stepped between them.
“Please calm down, Mr. Kamo!”
Mr. Shibusawa also sharply rebuked the official who had provoked the Tsuchimikado representative. He raised his voice, saying, “Let me say something on behalf of the Tsuchimikado family as well. It is true that, at first, the Meiji government intended to give all authority over astronomy and the calendar to the Tsuchimikado family. However, the government soon began to absorb that authority into its own institutions. Certainly, there were surface-level reasons for this, such as the Tsuchimikado family’s inefficiency in distributing calendars throughout Japan, or their continued focus on sorcerous methods about lucky and unlucky days. We also saw calendar discrepancies in an era when the rest of the world was using the solar calendar. But for all that, the Tsuchimikado family has been the greatest authority in Japan on the management of magic for the past eight hundred years. Mr. Kamo, if my words have caused any offense, please forgive me. I do not use the word 'magic' in a demeaning sense. Quite the opposite.
"The truth is, when the government suddenly issued an order on November 9th of 1872 (Meiji 5) to adopt a new calendar, there was another reason behind it. The government did not intend to snub the Tsuchimikado family. Moreover, even though the imperial edict was issued in November, they declared that, starting from December 3rd—just the third day of the following month—Japan would switch to a foreign calendar completely unfamiliar to the Japanese people. Isn’t that an unreasonable edict? Why was there such urgency to change the calendar?
"Well, I'll tell you. The person responsible was Ōkuma Shigenobu, the Minister of Finance at the time. He told me so at a private meeting sometime later. Mr. Ōkuma used no magic to depose the Tsuchimikado family--his magic was political maneuvering, that's all. "
Tatsuya Yoichirō sensed that the discussion was heading in an unfavorable direction. He hurriedly interjected, “Baron, perhaps that is a sufficient explanation? There's no need to draw things out, is there?”
Oda Kanshi, chuckling, said, “No, go ahead, Mr. Shibusawa. You should lay everything out. We are discussing government affairs, after all.”
Shibusawa Eiichi smiled and then continued, “Since we’re on the topic, I might as well tell you all the rest. Today is the first meeting of our secret project. In the spirit of transparency, I should lay all the facts on the table even if they don't paint me in a very favorable light. So, here’s what happened: In August of 1872 (Meiji 5), Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu was shocked when he saw the calendar for the following year, which had arrived from the Hanreki Trading Company—of course, it was the old lunar calendar. 2 In the next year, 1873 (Meiji 6), there was going to be an entire leap month--an extra month of June.
"Ōkuma Shigenobu collapsed into a chair in exhaustion as he looked over the calendar. In 1872 (Meiji 5), the government’s finances were in an extremely dire state—so tight that there was no way to squeeze blood from that stone, as the saying goes. To make matters worse, the government had just switched the officials’ salaries from an annual payment system to a monthly payment system. In 1873 (Meiji 6), they would have to pay salaries thirteen times.
"Mr. Ōkuma desperately thought about how to escape this predicament. After racking his brain, Okuma made up his mind to carry out an extraordinary policy: to make 1873 (Meiji 6) consist of only twelve months. There was only one way to do this—abandon the old lunar calendar and adopt the solar calendar. What’s more, the imperial edict had to be issued before the end of 1872 (Meiji 5). That’s why the change was announced on November 9 and implemented on December 3.
"This calendar reform not only reduced the number of salary payments the following year by one month, but since December of 1872 (Meiji 5) ended up having only the 1st and 2nd, they didn’t have to pay for December, either! That’s what you call killing two birds with one stone.
"But the whole of Japan was thrown into unexpected chaos. The government intended to spend much more time preparing for the calendar reform, you see, but that was impossible. The Tsuchimikado family bears no fault for any of that. Let me also say this to Mr. Kodachi of the Meteorological Observatory: this secret project was put into practice based on my own selfish desire. The Tsuchimikado family has done nothing underhanded. They aren't trying to sneak divination or feng shui into the Imperial Capital Renovation Plan. That was my idea, not theirs."
"An amusing explanation," Mr. Oda said. "Mr. Kodachi, please don't speak as if you represent the interests of the imperial government. There are still many people who hold grudges against the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance.3 It’s best not to say things that would offend the people of Edo. Mr. Kamo, you should calm down as well. Now, let’s all listen to what Mr. Shibusawa has in mind for his secret project."
Translator's Notes
1
Kabuto means "helmet" in
Japanese. ↩
2 頒暦: Hanreki literally means "to distrubute a
calendar. ↩
3 薩長: The
Satsuma–Chōshū Alliance, or Satchō Alliance was a powerful military alliance
between the southwestern feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866
to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa
shogunate of Japan. ↩
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