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Page 48
But the most remarkable novelty of this sort yet produced is a kind
of _toko-niwa_ recently on display at a famous shop in Ginza. A label
bearing the inscription, _Ka�-t�� no Ikken_ (View of the Ocean-Bed)
sufficiently explained the design. The _su�bon_, or "water-tray,"
containing the display was half filled with rocks and sand so as to
resemble a sea-bottom; and little fishes appeared swarming in the
fore-ground. A little farther back, upon an elevation, stood Otohim�,
the Dragon-King's daughter, surrounded by her maiden attendants, and
gazing, with just the shadow of a smile, at two men in naval uniform
who were shaking hands,--dead heroes of the war: Admiral Makaroff and
Commander Hiros�!... These had esteemed each other in life; and it was
a happy thought thus to represent their friendly meeting in the world
of Spirits.
* * * * *
Though his name is perhaps unfamiliar to English readers, Commander
Takeo Hiros� has become, deservedly, one of Japan's national heroes.
On the 27th of March, during the second attempt made to block the
entrance to Port Arthur, he was killed while endeavoring to help a
comrade,--a comrade who had formerly saved him from death. For five
years Hiros� had been a naval attach� at St. Petersburg, and had made
many friends in Russian naval and military circles. From boyhood his
life had been devoted to study and duty; and it was commonly said of
him that he had no particle of selfishness in his nature. Unlike most
of his brother officers, he remained unmarried,--holding that no man
who might be called on at any moment to lay down his life for his
country had a moral right to marry. The only amusements in which
he was ever known to indulge were physical exercises; and he was
acknowledged one of the best _j[=u]jutsu_ (wrestlers) in the empire.
The heroism of his death, at the age of thirty-six, had much less to
do with the honors paid to his memory than the self-denying heroism of
his life.
Now his picture is in thousands of homes, and his name is celebrated
in every village. It is celebrated also by the manufacture of
various souvenirs, which are sold by myriads. For example, there
is a new fashion in sleeve-buttons, called _Kinen-botan_, or
"Commemoration-buttons." Each button bears a miniature portrait of
the commander, with the inscription, _Shichi-sh[=o] h[=o]koku_, "Even
in seven successive lives--for love of country." It is recorded that
Hiros� often cited, to friends who criticised his ascetic devotion to
duty, the famous utterance of Kusunoki Masashig�, who declared, ere
laying down his life for the Emperor Go-Daigo, that he desired to die
for his sovereign in seven successive existences.
But the highest honor paid to the memory of Hiros� is of a sort now
possible only in the East, though once possible also in the West, when
the Greek or Roman patriot-hero might be raised, by the common love of
his people, to the place of the Immortals.... Wine-cups of porcelain
have been made, decorated with his portrait; and beneath the portrait
appears, in ideographs of gold, the inscription, _Gunshin Hiros�
Ch[=u]sa_. The character "gun" signifies war; the character "_shin_"
a god,--either in the sense of _divus_ or _deus_, according to
circumstances; and the Chinese text, read in the Japanese way, is
_Ikusa no Kami_. Whether that stern and valiant spirit is really
invoked by the millions who believe that no brave soul is doomed to
extinction, no well-spent life laid down in vain, no heroism cast
away, I do not know. But, in any event, human affection and gratitude
can go no farther than this; and it must be confessed that Old Japan
is still able to confer honors worth dying for.
* * * * *
Boys and girls in all the children's schools are now singing the Song
of Hiros� Ch[=u]sa, which is a marching song. The words and the
music are published in a little booklet, with a portrait of the late
commander upon the cover. Everywhere, and at all hours of the day, one
hears this song being sung:--
_He whose every word and deed gave to men an example of what
the war-folk of the_ _Empire of Nippon should be,--Commander
Hiros�: is he really dead?_
_Though the body die, the spirit dies not. He who wished to
be reborn seven times into this world, for the sake of
serving his country, for the sake of requiting the Imperial
favor,--Commander Hiros�: has he really died?_
_"Since I am a son of the Country of the Gods, the fire of the
evil-hearted Russians cannot touch me!"--The sturdy Takeo who
spoke thus: can he really be dead?..._
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