On May 9, 1891, Crown Prince Nicholas (later Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia) arrived in Kobe, Japan, and they took a train to Kyoto to stay at the newly built Tokiwa Hotel. Tokiwa Hotel has both Western-style and Japanese-style rooms, and Nikolai chose a Japanese-style room because he felt that he wanted to go into the countryside.
At that time, Japan was still a backward small country, and attached great importance to the visit of the Russian Crown Prince, and even held a "Five Mountains To Send Fire" ceremony for Nikolai to enjoy, expressing the highest standard of welcome to the distinguished guests.
Crown Prince Nicholas
Nikolai's visit to Japan was not his main task, his main task was to go to Vladivostok to preside over the opening ceremony of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and since he had come, he would just visit Japan by the way— an island nation that was rising after the Meiji Restoration, which was very interesting to the Russians. Before the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway, it took half a year to reach the Far East from Moscow, and it was not easy to make a trip, so I visited Japan nearby.
Nikolai put the first car on the Trans-Siberian Railway
Gion, Kyoto's largest geisha district, has been in business since the time of the Edo shogunate, and many Japanese celebrities have lingered here, and foreigners must come here to visit and feel the Japanese geisha culture.
On the night of May 9, Nikolai disguised himself and took a few retinues to Gion to have fun. The geisha's graceful dancing attracted Nikolai, who played until after 2 a.m. the next day before returning to the hotel.
The next day, on the evening of May 10th, I went to Gion again, and I also played late. After returning home, Nikolai even praised the geisha's dancing style in his diary.
On the morning of May 11, Nikolai and Prince George of Greece rode a rickshaw to Lake Biwa and Kinkaku-ji Temple. On the way back to Kyoto, the Japanese crowd of onlookers was crowded, and Nikolai felt the enthusiasm of the Japanese people and was in a good mood.
Nikolai tour of kinkaku temple
At this time, the Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzo, who was originally responsible for maintaining law and order at the scene, suddenly pulled out his sabre and slashed at Nikolai...
This Tsuda Sanzo was a fanatical patriot of the samurai class, and he swore allegiance to the emperor to the death. As an adult, Tsuda joined the Japanese New Army and participated in the "Southwest War" to suppress the rebellion of the Kagoshima Samurai Clique led by Saigo Takamori. During the war, Tsuda Sanzo contracted a serious illness and was forced to turn back to the rear and arranged for him to become a garrison officer.
Tsuda Sanzo slashed Nikolai twice, and the blood flowed instantly. Nikolai pulled out his leg and fled, while Tsuda Sanzo chased after him with a knife.
Prince George of Greece, who was with Nikolai, knew some boxing and foot kung fu, was keen on boxing and fencing, and he immediately grabbed the Japanese cane he had just bought and went after Tsuda Sanzo.
Prince George poked Tsuda Sanzo with his cane as he ran, and this time the force was so great that he poked Tsuda Sanzo to the ground.
Rickshasaburo Hata, the rickshaw driver who pulled the car for Nikolai, also came to help. He was a local mafia and was arrested for opening a casino and brothel. After being released from prison, he turned to a legitimate business and made a living by pulling rickshaws.
Hata Jizaburō held Tsuda Sanzo to death, preventing him from getting up and continuing the attack. Another rickshaw puller pulling a cart was rushed forward by Ichitaro Kaichi, picked up the knife that Tsuda Sanzo had dropped, and slashed Tsuda Sanzo twice— two that were not fatal. At this time, the police who reacted grabbed Tsuda Sanzo.
Nikolai was lucky, and although he was slashed twice, neither was fatal. But he has a family genetic disease hemophilia, once the wound bleeding is difficult to stop, so the bleeding has been constantly bleeding. After the doctor's treatment Nikolai finally stopped bleeding, there was a 9 cm wound on the right side of the head.
Luguo is the Japanese name for Russia
About an hour after the incident, the Minister of the Interior in Tokyo learned of Nikolai's assassination, and the cabinet was shocked and shocked. Emperor Meiji was even more affected, and his most trusted Itō Hirobumi was in Hakone at the time, so he had to send Prince Norihisa of Kita-Shirakawa Palace to visit Nikolai on his behalf.
At 6:00 a.m. on May 12, the day after the incident, Emperor Meiji left for Kyoto to visit Nikolai in person, while also apologizing. The Emperor's tour originally required various preparations, but this time all the red tape was skipped, from which one could feel the Emperor's strong will, believing that it might endanger relations with Russia and offend him.
Emperor Meiji arrived in Kyoto at 9 p.m. that day.
The site of Nikolai's assassination
Nikolai decided to return to Moscow. On 13 May, Nikolai and his party departed Kyoto for a Russian warship anchored in the port of Kobe. It is said that nikolai's first words after boarding the warship were: "Uncivilized Japanese monkeys!" It can be seen that he is very angry about the assassination.
After recuperating for a few days on the warship, Nikolai plans to return to Russia on May 19.
After receiving this news, the Japanese side was very anxious, and no matter what, it asked Nikolai to stay a few more days to make up for the mistake. The Emperor's opinion was that if Nikolai insisted on leaving, he would have to dispel the misunderstanding before he left and accept the Japanese apology. Otherwise, the Russian fleet might launch a retaliatory attack upon Nikolai's return.
Nikolai with the crew of a Russian warship
After the assassination of the Russian crown prince, the whole of Japan was in a panic, festivals were cancelled everywhere, the grand sumo was temporarily closed, and the sound and color venues were suspended. The Japanese deeply felt sorry for Nikolai, and they were ashamed that they did not receive their distinguished guests well.
The Russian legation received more than 10,000 letters and telegrams from all over Japan to congratulate Nikolai, as well as a large number of condolences. According to Nikolai's diary, the Russian legation delivered letters and condolences to Russian warships, where snacks and wine piled up, and birds and fish were delivered. The Japanese did everything in their power to hope to dispel Nikolai's resentment.
Condolences to the Japanese people on board the warship
At that time, a young Japanese woman in her 20s even killed herself with a razor in front of the Kyoto Prefectural Office in order to express her apology to Nikolai. The Japanese woman is said to have believed that the assassination of the Russian crown prince in Japan would anger the powerful Russia and lead to the fall of Japan. In order to save the country, she voluntarily exchanged a human life for the Russians to calm down and not attack Japan.
This Japanese woman was naturally a little simple, and if Russia was determined to destroy Japan, of course, she would not give up the attack because of her sacrifice. At the level of national war, the death of an ordinary citizen has nothing to do with the overall situation.
May 18 is Japan's last chance. The Emperor invited Nikolai to the Kobe Imperial Introspection Villa for lunch before leaving, hoping to establish a relationship of trust between Japan and Russia by personally hosting a banquet, thus defusing a possible war.
For the emperor's invitation, Nikolai gladly accepted. However, his attendants and cronies were strongly opposed, fearing that the crown prince would encounter an accident after leaving the warship. It can be seen from this that the Russians have no confidence in the Japanese security measures.
In the end, they discussed that they could have lunch with the emperor on a Russian warship, changing from a banquet to a banquet.
New questions arose about the Russian feast. In Japan, there was never a precedent for an emperor to go to a foreign warship, and they were even afraid that the Russians would kidnap the emperor on board the warship as a threat.
Emperor Meiji said to his courtiers, "Russia is a country of advanced civilization, how dare it commit barbaric acts as worried as Er? So he accepted Nikolai's invitation.
Emperor Meiji
At noon on May 19, Russian warships fired one hundred and one salutes to welcome the emperor and his party on board. Emperor Meiji and Nikolai had lunch. Also attending the dinner were Prince Akihito of The Kikawa Palace, Prince Nohisa of kita-Shirakawa Palace, and many others.
According to the Meiji Emperor Chronicle, Russians used to smoke during meals, and Nikolai took out a cigarette and asked the emperor to smoke it with him, so the emperor took the cigarette from his clothes and handed it to Nikolai. Emperor Meiji never usually carried a cigarette on his body, indicating that this was his intention, humble and humble, leaving a sincere impression on the Russian crown prince.
During the meal, Emperor Meiji expressed deep apologies for the assassination. Nikolai's sincerity to the Japanese has been eliminated by more than half, and he said that no matter which country there will be crazy people, it has nothing to do with the Japanese government.
The banquet was very smooth, both sides reached an understanding, Nikolai's mood became good, and a big stone hanging in the heart of the Japanese side finally landed.
At 4:00 p.m., the emperor and his party disembarked to bid farewell, and Nikolai set off on a warship and sailed from Kobe Port to Vladivostok.
On leaving, Nikolai wrote in his diary: "It is inconceivable that leaving this interesting country is so sentimental. I really liked everything about this country from the beginning... Even the events of that kind did not leave me with sad or unpleasant memories. ”
Nikolai during his visit to Japan
In contrast to Nikolai's angry remark about "uncivilized Japanese monkeys" when he first boarded the ship, the diary is now full of beauty, indicating that his anger has indeed subsided. Of course, there are more than 10,000 letters of condolence sent by the Japanese, as well as the sincere apologies of the Japanese government and the low posture and humility of the Japanese emperor.
It is worth mentioning that the two rickshaw pullers who helped capture the Assassins were also invited to board the warship before Nikolai left, and they were welcomed by Russian naval soldiers and were awarded the Order of Santa Ana and a prize of 2500 yen. Later, the Japanese government also awarded them medals, as well as pensions.
Two rickshaw pullers who help Nikolai
So, in retrospect, why did the assassin Tsuda Sanzo assassinate the Russian crown prince?
It turned out that Tsuda Sanzo was an ultra-nationalist who was extremely dissatisfied with the Treaty of Exchange between the Kuril Islands on Sakhalin Islands signed by Japan and Russia in 1875.
The treaty stipulated that Japan would relinquish sovereignty over Birch (Sakhalin Island) to Russia in exchange for sovereignty over the entire Kuril Islands. This treaty is not an unequal treaty, and the two sides exchange land according to their own interests. Japan controlled only part of the southern part of Sakhalin Island, and the rest was controlled by Russia; at the same time, Japan only controlled the Southern Kuril Islands and the northern part was controlled by Russia. In such an exchange, both sides obtained a complete piece of land that did not interfere with each other.
But Tsuda Sanzo did not think so, and in the eyes of ultra-nationalists like him, no piece of land could be abandoned. In his view, the Treaty of Exchange between the Kuril Islands on Sakhalin Islands was unequal and the result of Russia's oppression of Japan.
Tsuda also believed that crown prince Nikolai of Russia's visit to Japan was actually a military inspection to gather intelligence for the future invasion of Japan. Therefore, he must be strong first and kill the future Tsar.
After the assassination of Tsuda Sanzo, the common voice of Japanese public opinion was: Death is not a pity!
The Japanese people were so outraged by such a brainless and fanatical patriotic thief that they proposed that Tsuda Sanzo be sentenced to death. The Russian side's demand for this incident is also to sentence the assassin to death.
The voices at home and abroad are so consistent that it seems that Tsuda Sanzo will undoubtedly die. The Japanese court deliberately invoked the "great treason" stipulated in Article 116 of the Japanese Criminal Law and sentenced Tsuda Sanzang to death.
At that time, only kojima, the president of the Supreme Court of The Great Court (then the supreme court of Japan), believed that the imposition of the death penalty was not in line with the law.
Kojima, 1837-1908
Kojima believes that the "great crime of rebellion" only applies to members of the Japanese imperial family, and if the Japanese assassinate members of the Japanese imperial family, the sentence of "great rebellion" is beyond reproach. However, the "great rebellion" does not apply to foreign royalty, so the foreign imperial family has the same status as ordinary people in The Japanese criminal law, and it is inconsistent with the law to sentence Tsuda Sanzang to death for the crime of "great rebellion".
According to some historical records, some cabinet officials of the Japanese government at that time said to Kojima: "If Russia is dissatisfied with the verdict and sends troops to retaliate, Japan may perish!" ”
Kojima heard this and then took the case and said, "If the judiciary is not independent, it will be better to let the country perish!" ”
Of course, this is Kojima's angry words, but this sentence reveals a message that Kojima's consistent advocacy is that "a country ruled by law must abide by the law."
In the struggle between administrative and judicial independence, Kojima Held On, and the Assassin Tsuda Mizo was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment according to law. The Japanese administrative apparatus was disappointed and disgraced, resulting in the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Interior, and the Minister of Justice.
Unexpectedly, however, this verdict was praised by Western countries, who could not believe that the emerging small Japanese country had achieved judicial independence, and the Achievements of the Meiji Restoration were remarkable, which made people have to look up to it. This incident made Japan begin to be respected in the international community.
Just a few months later, on September 29, 1891, Tsuda died of acute pneumonia in prison. Later, some people also questioned whether some politicians affected by the assassination had bought murders. Exactly what it was about remains a mystery to this day.
More than a hundred years after the assassination of the Russian crown prince in Japan, it is worth pondering the reckless behavior of fanatical patriotic thieves, which plunged the entire country into panic, and the subsequent sentencing of the Assassins, the important impact on the independence of Japan's judiciary.