Robert Van Bergen

A Wife's Noble Act

Before Iyeyasu died, he gave large territories to his sons, and made provision in case one of his successors died without leaving a male heir, that he should adopt an heir from one of the three high families descended from him. Such a case happened when a regent lost his only son by an accident. But this man, who possessed none of the excellent qualities of his ancestor, determined to adopt as son and heir a boy, who was the child of a favorite, and of inferior birth.

Imagine the scandal this project caused in a court where high birth and rank were regarded with the utmost respect and reverence. The prime minister sought his master, and plainly told him that the act he meditated would rouse not only the daimio unfavorable to the regent's family, but also those of the blood of Iyeyasu, and their friends, and that indeed this step would probably cause the downfall of his house. As the regent would not yield to argument, the prime minister took the unheard-of step of consulting the regent's wife. This lady was the daughter of a Tennô, and was proud and high-spirited. She listened quietly to the prime minister's remarks, and when she was fully informed of the danger involved in her husband's purpose, bade the alarmed official be of good cheer, saying she would undertake to avert the threatened peril. She declined, however, to inform him concerning her plans.

Time passed on, and finally the regent appointed the day when the adoption should take place. The court was aghast, for the daughter of the Heaven Child had given no sign of her proposed action. At, last only one day was left, when the regent's wife, long neglected by her wicked husband, sent him a message requesting that he would condescend to partake of sake in her apartments. He consented, and in due time made his appearance. She received him as if nothing had happened, and, according to Japanese customs, served him humbly. While he was drinking, she withdrew for a few moments to her private room, and there wrote and forwarded a note to the prime minister, in which she summoned him to the palace. Then, after placing in her girdle a beautiful dagger, she returned to the room occupied by her husband.

The regent, was in high spirits, and willingly granted her request for a private audience, whereupon she dismissed the attendants.

"My lord," she said, "is all-powerful, and can easily grant the request his humble slave would submit."

"And what is this request?" asked the regent, thinking that it might concern some departure from established palace rules.

"Now let my lord deign to promise me," she insisted; but the regent would not pledge himself until he knew her wishes. Seeing that her husband could not be induced to give the desired promise, she plainly stated the facts:—

"I am informed that you have decided to adopt a young friend as your heir. My honored lord, has it occurred to you that this step would arouse the fury of your most powerful kinsmen, and that they would prefer to see the empire ruined rather than submit to this public insult and disgrace? I implore you, therefore, to abandon your purpose."

"What!" exclaimed the regent, in surprise and wrath. "Since when does a woman presume to speak about affairs of state! What madness is this? Think you that I who take advice from no man, will be influenced by a woman's foolish notions? I forbid you to speak to me again, nor shall I ever honor you with another visit."

The regent rose to go; but his wife, detaining him by the sleeve, and for a moment casting aside her accustomed submission to her husband's will, protested:

"Reflect, O my lord and master! Deign to remember that naught but anxiety for your welfare causes me to make this request. If you carry out your plan, rebellion will soon destroy your house. May I not live to see that day!"

"No more of this!" exclaimed the regent, his anger now aroused to the highest pitch. His wife saw that nothing could move him from the resolution he had taken; so, seizing a moment when he stood facing her, she plunged her dagger twice into his breast. Her hand was steady, and the regent fell dead at his wife's feet.

She knelt by his side, and implored him to forgive her for having employed the only means within her power to secure the regency to the house of Iyeyasu, of which, since her marriage, she was an insignificant member. "Do not think, my lord and master, that I care to live, now that I have slain you. I have raised my hand against you and know the punishment." She bared her breast, and stabbed herself with the dagger, still red with her, husband's blood.

The prime minister had received the letter, and hurried to the palace. But a great deal of time was consumed before a high official could leave the house. First, the norimono must be prepared, and the bearers called together. The bodyguard must assemble and be ready to surround the master's conveyance. And finally the heralds, loudly shouting: "Down on your knees! Hita ni iru!" (shta nee-eeru), must have a fair start, so that common passers-by may show proper reverence to their lord.

"Down on your knees!"

Thus it happened that when the regent's palace was finally reached, and the minister was conducted to the apartments of the regent's wife, he found the two corpses, life being wholly extinct. After gazing upon the sight before him, the minister exclaimed: "Japan is saved, and by a woman! But for her daring act, to-morrow's sun would have witnessed riot and rebellion and the downfall of an illustrious race!"

In her letter to the minister the woman, knowing that she was facing death, had calmly given instructions as to the measures to be taken if anything should happen to the regent. The prime minister, full of admiration for the dead woman's courage and devotion, obeyed her orders, and the legal heir was proclaimed regent. The prime minister received an ample reward, and the disappointed candidate was raised to the rank of daimio, and obtained a grant of land. Japanese writers express great admiration for the heroic conduct of this regent's wife.

In the laws made by Iyeyasu, Japanese women did not have many privileges. A great many girls were taught to read and write, but it was only that they might be the more impressed with the one all-absorbing duty of women,—obedience. To render, when unmarried, blind, immediate obedience to parents, or, if these were dead, to the head of the family; to enter into marriage without being at all consulted, and after marriage to transfer this obedience to husband and family, this was the fate of a Japanese girl. When Mutsuhito (who became emperor in 1867) assumed the government, many changes were made, and it seemed for some time as if Japan would adopt our customs. But, so far as women are concerned, the Japanese have returned to their old modes of thinking, and they are now of the opinion that their treatment of a woman is the best.