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Paper short abstract:

In 1879, a new kabuki Gosannen Ōshū gunki dramatizing the Gosannen War, was staged to welcome General Grant. The play was also influenced by Henry V. The play’s message was like Grant and Henry V, the leaders of the Meiji Government won Japanese civil wars because they were virtuous.

Paper long abstract:

Meiji government established itself by winning two civil wars, Boshin War in 1868-69 and Seinan War in 1877. In 1879, former President of the United States, U. S. Grant, who was visiting Japan as a part of his World tour, was invited to a special production at Shintomi-za, the most important kabuki theater in Tokyo. The play produced was Gosannen Ōshū gunki [A Chronicle of the Latter Three-Year Campaign in the Far Province], which depicts Gosannen War in the Heian period, fought between powerful military lords, Minamoto no Yoshiie and Kiyohara no Takehira. The play also praises Grant’s military achievement in American Civil War, using a technic of recasting a historical episode within the framework of another historical episode, a device often used by Tokugawa playwrights to avoid the bakufu’s censorship.

In Gosannen Ōshū gunki, playwright Kawatake Mokuami used this device to transform Grant’s military campaign into an adventure of the popular Japanese hero Yoshiie, with Grant as Yoshiie, and General Lee represented by the rebel leader Takehira. The playwright used many devices to emphasize the parallelism between Yoshiie and Grant. The last scene reflects the dignity and kindness with which Grant treated the defeated Lee. Takehira‘s last speech, which praises Yoshiie saying “You are the president [daitōryō, the great lord] of Japanese samurai!” also emphasizes the parallelism.

It is also likely that the play was inspired by Henry V, which the members of the Iwakura mission had witnessed in Manchester in 1872. Fukuchi Ōchi, a renowned Journalist who was an adviser to Mokuami in writing the play was also a former member of the Iwakura mission. Actually, Yoshiie’s transformation from a foolish youth to a heroic lord does resemble Henry’s transformation from the irresponsible Prince Hal to an ideal king.

I would argue that by producing the play in front of Grant, Ōchi, who was a close friend of a leader of the Meiji government, Itō Hirobumi, tried to convey the message to Grant that like Yoshiie, Grant and Henry V, the leaders of the Meiji Government won two civil wars because they were brave and virtuous.