TADASU HAYASHI: THE JAPANESE
DIPLOMAT WHO BECAME AN
ENGLISH FREEMASON
M.W. Brother Johnston, PGM of Masons in Japan, serves as Grand
Historian of the Grand Lodge of Japan. He has shared this paper with
M.S.A. in hopes that it will serve to point up the universality of
Freemasonry and promote a better understanding. We thank him for
sharing this fascinating account with our readers.
Variously described as a great, brilliant Diplomat and Statesman,
an Anglophile, a world famous figure, patriotic, and a man who lived
up to the noble teachings of Freemasonry, Tadasu Hayashi served
Japan with uncommon devotion and dedication throughout his life.
He was born in Shomofussa Province (now a part of Chiba
Prefecture) on February 22, 1850 into the Sato family and given the
boyhood name of Shingoro. His father was a progressive physician
who practiced and taught Dutch (western) medicine. At an early age
he was adopted into the Hayashi family who lived in Edo (now Tokyo)
and were the heredity physicians to the Tokugawa Shogunate. His
surname thus became Hayashi and his first name was changed to
Tadasu.
At the age of twelve Hayashi was sent to Yokohama to study English
under Dr. James C. Hepburn, an American medical missionary, who was
credited with romanizing the Japanese language, translating the
Bible into Japanese, and compiling the first Japanese-English
dictionary. Dr. Hepburn was alluded to by the Japanese as "Kunshi,"
a term signifying a superior person, and Mrs. Hepburn was
responsible for establishing the first co-educational school in
Japan. The Hepburns considered Hayashi one of the family and through
them he received a thorough foundation in the English language.
In 1866--thirteen years after Commodore Matthew C. Perry (a member
of Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York City) had made his first visit to
Japan--Hayashi was among the fourteen youths selected by the
Tokugawa Shogunate to study the English language, manners and cus-
toms in London. At first the students lived in a lodging house, but
Hayashi disliked this arrangement (recalling his experience with
the Hepburns) since all of them tended to speak only Japanese except
when they were attending the University College School. He
petitioned to have the group separated and live with private
families which was granted.
In 1868 the Tokugawa Shogunate was in process of being
overthrown by the Restoration forces and the students returned to
Japan. Hayashi joined the Tokugawa loyalists commanded by Admiral
Takeaki Enomoto, was captured at the Battle of Goryokaku at
Hakodate, Hokkaido and incarcerated at the infamous Kangoku prison
located at Tenma-cho, Nihonbashi, Tokyo where hundreds of
prisoners were executed. Mrs. Hepburn visited him and petitioned
for his acquittal which was finally effected during 1870.
In 1871 Hayashi was selected to be an interpreter with the rank
of Second Secretary with the Iwakura Mission (considered as "One of
the most remarkable journeys in world history") that visited the
United States and Europe to study their political systems and
material culture. When the mission arrived in London, Hayashi
returned to Japan with Takayoshi Kido who had been recalled.
Count Munemitsu Mutsu (later to become Ambassador to the United
States and also Foreign Minister under Hirobumi Ito), observing
Hayashi's vast potential, was instrumental in guiding his career for
the next few years. Hayashi received appointments to the Industrial
and Imperial Household Bureaus, the Ministry of Public Works, and
served as Governor of Kanagawa and Hyogo Prefectures in 1888 and
1889. By 1891 he had become Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. In
this position Hayashi successfully coordinated the Tripartite
Intervention negotiations for the relinquishing of Port Arthur, and
participated in finalizing the Shimonoseki Treaty which ended the
Chinese-Japanese War.
Hayashi was appointed Minister to China in 1895 and received the
rank of Baron. In 1897 he became Minister of Sweden and Denmark. Two
years later he was Minister to Russia and also a delegate to the
International Peace Conference at The Hague, and in 1900 received a
Ministerial appointment to England.
Significant in Hayashi's career was the signing of the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902 and being elevated to the rank of
Viscount. He was also responsible for the expansion and renewal of
the Alliance in 1905. When the Japanese Legation in London was
raised to Embassy status in 1905, Hayashi became the first Japanese
Ambassador to the Court of St. James. He was the recipient of
honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, translated several
English and European classical works on politics and political
economy into Japanese, and wrote "For His People" in English.
In 1906 Hayashi was recalled to Japan to fill the Minister of
Foreign Affairs post, and had to deal with the difficult situation
in Manchuria the American immigration issues, and the problem
subsequent to the Russo-Japanese War. He also concluded agreements
with France and Russia for maintaining the status quo. The rank of
Count was conferred on him in 1907. In 1911 he was concomitantly the
Foreign Minister ad interim and the Minister of Transportation and
Communications. By this time Hayashi was suffering from acute
diabetes and at his request retired in 1912. An exception to the
general rule, he had not acquired a fortune like other statesmen.
He sold his home in Tokyo and moved to Hayama. During 1913 Hayashi
fractured his leg in a ricksha accident and amputation was required.
He did not recover and died on July 10th. The Government of Japan
posthumously conferred upon him the Junior Grade Second Court Rank
and donated the sum of five thousand yen for his funeral (a
considerable sum in those days).
Brother Hayashi's Masonic career was no less remarkable. He was
initiated in Empire Lodge No. 2108, E.C., London, on February 24,
1903. There were over 150 in attendance at either the ceremony or
subsequent proceedings, including Grand Lodge Officers, civic
officials of London, officials from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the
Channel Islands, and many members of Parliament. He was then
passed on March 24th, raised on May 29th, and installed as Master on
January 20, 1904. In 1905 he was honored with the rank of Past
Senior Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England by the Most
Worshipful Grand Master, the Duke of Connaught. He resigned from the
Lodge in 1907. Due to his Masonic activities during his residence in
London (according to A. M. Pooley, a former Tokyo-based Reuters
correspondent), Brother Hayashi was excluded from the Sumitsuin--
Privy Council, or Advisors to the Emperor, a position which should
have been his reward for eminent services--by the political
manipulations of Shuzo Aoki and Prime Minister Taro Katsura.
Clearly, Brother Hayashi was a Masonic pioneer because then
Masonic membership in Japan was restricted to only the foreign
population with the agreement that no Japanese would be accepted
into membership. Today, if our esteemed Brother Hayashi could visit
the Masonic community in Japan, what would he encounter? He would
find Freemasonry operating without restraint; not only a
universally recognized Grand Lodge of Japan with constituent Craft
Lodges from Hokkaido to Okinawa, but also Craft Lodges under the
English, Scottish, Massachusetts and Philippine Constitutions. He
would learn that the ritual and related material had been translated
into the Japanese language and that hundreds of Japanese had become
Masons, in cluding Prime Ministers Naruhiko Higashikuni and Ichiro
Hatoyama. He would also observe a broad spectrum of Masonic
appendant bodies and groups, including the Scottish and York Rites,
Red Cross of Constantine, Order of Eastern Star, DeMolay, Rainbow,
Shrine and High Twelve Clubs. He would be pleased and honored that
in 1984 Pro Grand Master Lord Cornwallis of the United Grand Lodge
of England had visited his final resting place in Tokyo's Aoyama
Cemetery, and he could visit the modern Tokyo Masonic Center and see
his name on the Honor Roll in the lobby.
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