Read Online Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey From East to West and Back by Janice P. Nimura - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Janice P. Nimura
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resistance remained. More than a thousand of the deposed shogun’s men had formed a base at a temple in Ueno, barely a mile away. On the morning of Takashi’s wedding day, the emperor’s forces, wearing blue Western-style uniforms and the shaggy “red bear” wigs of the southern samurai, attacked.
All day long Shige and her family listened to the whoosh and thump of shells. Smoke from acres of burning houses darkened the air. The groom hurried off with the other men of the house, their wedding finery discarded in favor of whatever weapons were at hand. “The bride was left alone with mother and the little ones,” Shige recalled, “but the house was in great commotion[,] for friends came hurrying in to take shelter from the shells.” By evening, the battle of Ueno was over, the last holdouts of the shogun’s forces routed. The heads of the losers were mounted on poles, and Shige was taken to gaze at them. “It was a terrible sight.”
The city was in chaos, and especially dangerous for anyone who harbored loyalties to the losing side. Because Shige’s father and brother hadmade their careers in the service of the shogun, their family was directly threatened. Triumphant imperial soldiers roamed the streets, harassing Tokugawa loyalists for sport. Takashi had already lost two sisters to disease in early childhood, and he was determined not to lose another. To keep Shige safe, he decided the best course was to give her away.
Takashi’s friend Gen’ei Nagai, a doctor he had met while serving in the shogun’s cavalry, was moving his family out of Tokyo with the exiled shogun’s retinue. Nagai would adopt Shige and take her far from the turbulent capital. With bewildering speed, Shige had a new surname, a new family, and a new home. Riding in a kago, she swayed and bumped along dusty roads for five days to the village of Mishima, southwest of Tokyo, which for the next three years would be her home.
Thanks to the influence of well-placed friends on the winning side, Takashi soon secured a position in the Ministry of Finance. When the call for female students went out, he was intrigued. Not bothering to inform his little sister or her foster family, he submitted an application to the Hokkaido Colonization Board on Shige’s behalf. The Nagai family was startled when one day a horseman clattered up to their house, bearing word from Tokyo of Shige’s imminent departure for America.
Ten-year-old Shige was stunned. After three years at the temple school in the village, she could read and write in Japanese, but she had never uttered a word of English. How could she possibly fulfill the government’s expectations for her future? Takashi had played a hunch, however, when he submitted his sister’s application. Shige’s situation was hardly idyllic: her adoptive mother, who took a harsh approach to child rearing, had never warmed to her. Frightening as the prospect of America seemed, the unknown future might offer an improvement over the difficult present. Shige was not sorry to say goodbye to the Nagais.
T WO DAYS AND nights of nausea passed in the cramped cabin. Well-wishers had sent the girls off with boxes of sweets that were now stacked to the ceiling, making the small space even smaller. Chinese waiters broughtunrecognizable meals they could not bring themselves to touch. Mrs. DeLong, their chaperone, spoke no Japanese, and the men of the delegation, while occasionally helpful as interpreters, knew nothing about the needs of young girls. Their stewardess had been taught the Japanese for “what do you want?” but the girls had no words to respond with in English. When hunger did penetrate their queasiness, they picked at the pile of sweets, which only made things worse.
On the third day they had a visit from the delegate in the cabin next door. A dapper, outspoken Finance Ministry official who would go on to become a pioneer of Japanese journalism, Gen’ichiro Fukuchi was a veteran of two previous overseas
All day long Shige and her family listened to the whoosh and thump of shells. Smoke from acres of burning houses darkened the air. The groom hurried off with the other men of the house, their wedding finery discarded in favor of whatever weapons were at hand. “The bride was left alone with mother and the little ones,” Shige recalled, “but the house was in great commotion[,] for friends came hurrying in to take shelter from the shells.” By evening, the battle of Ueno was over, the last holdouts of the shogun’s forces routed. The heads of the losers were mounted on poles, and Shige was taken to gaze at them. “It was a terrible sight.”
The city was in chaos, and especially dangerous for anyone who harbored loyalties to the losing side. Because Shige’s father and brother hadmade their careers in the service of the shogun, their family was directly threatened. Triumphant imperial soldiers roamed the streets, harassing Tokugawa loyalists for sport. Takashi had already lost two sisters to disease in early childhood, and he was determined not to lose another. To keep Shige safe, he decided the best course was to give her away.
Takashi’s friend Gen’ei Nagai, a doctor he had met while serving in the shogun’s cavalry, was moving his family out of Tokyo with the exiled shogun’s retinue. Nagai would adopt Shige and take her far from the turbulent capital. With bewildering speed, Shige had a new surname, a new family, and a new home. Riding in a kago, she swayed and bumped along dusty roads for five days to the village of Mishima, southwest of Tokyo, which for the next three years would be her home.
Thanks to the influence of well-placed friends on the winning side, Takashi soon secured a position in the Ministry of Finance. When the call for female students went out, he was intrigued. Not bothering to inform his little sister or her foster family, he submitted an application to the Hokkaido Colonization Board on Shige’s behalf. The Nagai family was startled when one day a horseman clattered up to their house, bearing word from Tokyo of Shige’s imminent departure for America.
Ten-year-old Shige was stunned. After three years at the temple school in the village, she could read and write in Japanese, but she had never uttered a word of English. How could she possibly fulfill the government’s expectations for her future? Takashi had played a hunch, however, when he submitted his sister’s application. Shige’s situation was hardly idyllic: her adoptive mother, who took a harsh approach to child rearing, had never warmed to her. Frightening as the prospect of America seemed, the unknown future might offer an improvement over the difficult present. Shige was not sorry to say goodbye to the Nagais.
T WO DAYS AND nights of nausea passed in the cramped cabin. Well-wishers had sent the girls off with boxes of sweets that were now stacked to the ceiling, making the small space even smaller. Chinese waiters broughtunrecognizable meals they could not bring themselves to touch. Mrs. DeLong, their chaperone, spoke no Japanese, and the men of the delegation, while occasionally helpful as interpreters, knew nothing about the needs of young girls. Their stewardess had been taught the Japanese for “what do you want?” but the girls had no words to respond with in English. When hunger did penetrate their queasiness, they picked at the pile of sweets, which only made things worse.
On the third day they had a visit from the delegate in the cabin next door. A dapper, outspoken Finance Ministry official who would go on to become a pioneer of Japanese journalism, Gen’ichiro Fukuchi was a veteran of two previous overseas
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