ng been completely eclipsed by the Shogun since the end
of the twelfth century. During this long period, the Mikado seems to
have been regarded by the common people with reverence as a holy
personage, but he was allowed no voice in affairs, was treated with
contempt by the Shogun, was sometimes deposed if he misbehaved, and was
often kept in great poverty.

Of so little importance was the Imperial person in the days of
early foreign intercourse that the Jesuits hardly knew of the
Emperor's existence. They seem to have thought of him as a
Japanese counterpart of the Pope of Rome, except that he had no
aspirations for temporal power. The Dutch writers likewise were
in the habit of referring to the Shogun as "His Majesty," and on
their annual pilgrimage from Dashima to Yedo, Kyoto (where the
Mikado lived) was the only city which they were permitted to
examine freely. The privilege was probably accorded by the
Tokugawa to show the foreigners how lightly the Court was
regarded. Commodore Perry delivered to the Shogun in Yedo the
autograph letter to the Emperor of Japan, from the President of
the United States, and none of the Ambassadors of the Western
Powers seem to have entertained any suspicion that in dealing
with the authorities in Yedo they were not approaching the
throne.

In the light of these facts, some other explanation of the
relations between the Shogunate and the Imperial Court must be
sought than that which depends upon the claim now made by
Japanese historians of the official type, that the throne,
throughout this whole period, was divinely preserved by the
Heavenly Gods.[46]

What happened, in outline, seems to have been a combination of very
different forces. There were antiquarians who observed that the Mikado
had had real power in the tenth century, and who wished to revert to the
ancient customs. There were patriots who were annoyed with the Shogun
for yielding to the pressure of the white men and concluding commercial
treaties with them. And there were the western clans, which had never
willingly submitted to the authority of the Shogun. To quote McLaren
once more (p. 33):--

The movement to restore the Emperor was coupled with a form of
Chauvinism or intense nationalism which may be summed up in the
expression "Exalt the Emperor! Away with the barbarians!" (Kinno!
Joi!