BURYING A MIKADO.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1546, 16 September 1912, Page 5

BURYING A MIKADO.

STRANGE CEREMONIES

GENERAL NOQI COMMITS

SUICIDE,

IMPRESSIVE SCENES IN TOKIO

HUdE ASSEMBLAGE OF TROOPS

By Telegraph-Press Association-Conyrieht

(lice. September 15, 5-5 P-'"-)

Tokio, September 11. The funeral ceremonies of the Into Mikado begun vestdrdny, and are being witnessed by enormous crowds. As already announced the interment, is to take place at Kioto, the ancient capital at Jnpnn, and tho progress thither from lokio, and the final ceremonies, will not be completed nn,til to-morrow. The coffin was carried yesterday evening on a car drawn by five oxen from the Imperial Palace to the Aoyamma Parade Ground.' Hundreds of retainers escorted the car bearing ancient symbols and he streets were ablaze with funeral torches and lanterns. The procession was witnessed by a dense, silent crowd. Five hundred British Bluejackets were m attendance. '~,-■ The Empress, with dishevelled hair saluted tho car. The service culminated at midnight with the Emperor's lamentation, the Empress and the Imperial Family also doing homage to the (lead. 'A gun announced the supreme moment to the nation and all work was suspended for three, minutes. Later the coffin was entrained for Kioto.

General Nogi Cuts His Throat.

General Count Nogi, one of the heroes of the war with Russia, who occupied a modest home at Akasaki, cut his throat, with a short sword and his wife similarly stabbed lfersclf in the stomach at tho moment the gun announced the departure of tho funeral procession from the Palnce.

Both the General and his wife wore in full Japanese costume. They drank a farewoll draught of sake from cups presented to the General by the late Emperor, whose draped portrait hang on the wall. A letter addressed to the Emperor was found beside the bodies. A student, resident with General Nogi, found both breathing their last. The double suicide caused everywhere the deepest sensation and profoundest

Royalties From Europe. Foreign sailors participated in the procession which was a mile in length. Tho Hall of Aoyamma accommodated ten thousand soldiers, sailors, and civilians. Tho new Emperor wns in the uniform of a generalissimo, Prince Arthur of Connanglit (representing King George), Prince Henry of Prussia (brother of tho Kaiser), nnd other European Royal envoys were in a prominent position in. the hall. The Empre«-Dowager, the Empress, and tho Court ladies wore hemp clothes.^

The coffin, consisting of several inner and outer caskets, measured ten feet by five, and weighing a ton and a half, was covered with white cloth.

Tho ear wheels emitted scv?n melancholy sounds as they revolved. When the coffin'was placed on the car the Imperial sword was laid at the head and the'torches were lit. A Huge Guard. Tho military guard consisted of 25,000 men, and the naval guard of 10,000 men. Many of ■ the 'attendants, bore white and yellow banners, bows and arrows, shields 'and halberds,. and sun and moon banners. The musicians wero playing the ancient instruments of .Tapau. Eight hundred torch-bearers were in attendance. The decoration of the streets cost .625,000. 11l going through the polace grounds the procession > passed between giant mourning trees 'hung with black and white streamers, with torches between the arc lights. Every sixty feet were Venetian masts swathed in black and yellow. Every house displayed mourning lanterns, which were distributed to the poorest free.

The pall-bearers -included General Kuroki, Marshal Oku, Admiral Togo, Boron Saito (Minister for Marine), Admiral Ijuin.

The fact'that Prince Katsuru, the e.xPrime Minister, rode in the same carriage with the Emperor, has been much commented on. A Striking Moment, A striking moment in the ceremony in the hall was when the Emperor, kneeling alone, prayed'silently and then read on nddre-ss of lamentation.

The Empress next advanced and offered a- prayer, and the princes and princesses paid their respects. Long patriotic addresses weTe read, and all the notabilities and tliHr wives did homage successively, and the Imperial members then retired.

A squadron in Tolcio Ray saluted on the departure of the procession towards Kioto.

Tho official peers and other notables met the train on ifis arrival at the Imperial estate at Momontama, near Kioto, where (lie interment is to take placo. General Nogi's.Last Day. General Nogi yesterday had himself and his wife photographed. He attended the ceremony at the palace, viewed the lying in state, and then wrote letters explaining hie action: Included in the letters was one particularly apologising to Prince Arthur of Connaught, and explaining that the General's countrymen, regarded suicide as a magnificent act of devotion. The Emperor has decreed an amnesty, and granted a million yon (.£208,333) to charities, assigning two hundred thousand (■EII.GGG) to Korea. BRITISH MOURNING. London, September 13. Flags on British warships are ot halfmast on the occasion of the late Emperor of Japan's funeral. THE WORSHIP OF THE MIKADO.

A JAPANESE RELIGION. An idea of the intensity of the personal loyalty of the Japanese towards the Emperor may be. gained by the following extract from «n artiele contributed (o tho 1/mdoii "Daily Mail" by MV. Voshio Jtarkiuo at the time, of the late 'Emperor's den 111: — During the Rii??o-.lannne?e war, whenever Japan was victorious the. jjenerals and admirals always informed to Uio Mikado, "The merit of this victory 1-c---loiirs to the Serene Dignity of your Majesty." Ssiiue English friends pointed this to me. and said: "I don't understand Hint. It .'coins .so unnatural. It was tins officers, soldiers, and sailors who won the war. The Mikado had dnnn ,nothin'; at all!" ( said (o them, ".A!i._ I lien, you don't know our country yet." Now let. juf W rite why. First of nil. you understand what the Mikmlo means to his nation. lie is qnile divine. 'Now, then, during Die late war this divine Mikado left his own palace and went to live in nn uncomfortable temporary dwelling in Hiroshima, where nil I lie (ißlitiiifr men embarked. This fact nlono moved the whole nation's hearts. Then, moreover, he listened personally to all the news from tho fronl. ami very often he would nol deep in the How id lh\s encourage all thr mon in Hie front! Inhss von flre Hot. a .Japanese von r.iiuin imairke ffhdt that meant, To sneak it

short; in the scientific term. it. was Ilio TOiiconliiilioii o!' (lit , WiimciV mollis. Wlin ol'v could over make such n linn and slning roui'i'iitrnliini in fine single mass except the so-worshipped Mikado by (hem? All soldiers and sailors were ready to die lor their Miknrio, ami the generals and admirals, t-co, commanded those soldiers and sailors with their own devotion towards the Mikado. Could it not he the merit of the Mikado then?

"With this unbounded merit of the Spreiip. Mikado ho lias succeeded to make the now Japan. With this merit ho conquered China, with this merit our AngkiJni>aiiPsc alliance has been carried on successfully, ami with this Japan shall become quite prosperous. These is no doubt about that.

If (hi! Mohammedans concentrate their smils by the fnith in Mohammed, and if the Christians concentrated their 1 souls by tho faith in Christ, the result should be all the same. I often meet so-called philosophers who an , laughing at the superstitions of the. religions people or tho Mikado-worshipping of. Japanese. However right and accurate may be their reasoning, I must say their philosophies am only too shallow. They ought to proceed one step further and tliink what influence has the concentration nf (he whole" nation's souls! The concentration of our hearts and souls is itself our own God who reigns over us. Even the Evils, when concentrated into one big mass, they can defeat many good individuals who have no affinity. Beware, you Britons, for this rather critical moment in your country. Now, coming back to the Mikado. I am very proud that our concentrator of tho nation's souls is always a good Mikado.

GENERAL NOGI'S CAREER. THE VICTOR OF POUT ARTIIUR. The late General Count Xogi was lwrn in Choslm sixty-three years ago. Ho fought as a captain in the Japanese Civil War of 1877, commanded a brigade at the battle of Kiuchow in the war with China in 18! M, and was uNo present at the subsequent capture'-of Port Arthur from the Chinese. (Jn the conclusion of the campaign he was rewarded with a peerage, and was for a short while GovernorGeneral of Formosa, but he soon returned to military life ns commander of the 11th Division of tho army. He resigned his post in 1000, but on the outbreak of war with Russia in 1905 he wa? appointed to the command of the Third Army, and conducted the famous siege of . Port Arthur, which lasted from May 10, 1001, until the capitulation of the Russians on January i, 1005. The losses of the Japanese uttaekers during this .period were perhaps, the most appalling in the conduct of any siege known to modern warfare. The s'iege is said to stand alone for the difficulties which had to bo overKluo'aml tho ferocity and determination with which it was pressed home. The losses of Nogi s ■army totalled no fewer than 92,000 dead and wounded, and of these 58,000 represented casualties and 34,000 losses by sickness. In the attack on .303 Metre Hill the loss amounted to 10,000 men in three

days. The siege is the only instance in the history of warfare where a first-class fortress with work constructed on the enponniere plan has ever been assaulted. After the fall of> Port Arthur Nogis armv joined tho field armies under Marshal Oyanm in time to lake part in the battle of Mukden, the biggest field action, in modern war, and formed the left wing. In this battle Nogi carried out the great flanking movement by which all the Hussion positions west of Mukden were successfully turned and driven in. ■ During the war the General lost Jus two sons, both young, officers in a division ot his'nrmv, and much sympathy was tclt for him 'in Japan and abroad. Last year General Nogi went to London on Hie suite of Prince I'ushinii at the Coronation of Kin" George. At the time of his death he was a member of the Supremo, Military Council of Japan, and he was also president of the Nobles' School at which the present Emperor was educated.