Literature

Sixteen picture postcards from Venceslau de Morais

In the Asian Library in Kyoto University of Foreign Studies there is a collection of colour picture postcards sent by Venceslau de Morais to members of his family from 1907 until 1912, the final part of the Meiji Period.

Venceslau de Morais had been living in Kobe from 1898. In 1899 he was appointed Consul of Kobe and Osaka. By the time when he was writing these postcards, he had already published some of his most important books. In 1895, Traços do Extremo Oriente (Sketches of the Far East) had come out followed by Dai-Nippon in 1897. He had already published some of the "Cartas do Japão" (Letters from Japan) which were sent to the Portuguese newspaper O Comércio do Porto from 1902 to 1913, O Culto do Chá (The Tea Cult) in 1905, and Paisagens da China e do Japão (Landscapes of China and Japan) in 1906, a book dedicated to "the memory of two great men", João Vasco and Camilo Pessanha, both of whom he had met in Macau.

During the period covered by this correspondence, Japan had emerged as the foremost power in Asia. From 1894 onwards, Japan had entered a new stage in its international relations, starting with the war against China and culminating in a full-blooded military victory against Tzarist Russia. A series of social and economic reforms had followed and 1886 to 1905 saw the beginning of modern Japan's development. Industry was modernized. Kobe, like Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama, was to become one of the most important centres for heavy industry and flourishing business activity. Now that the war against Russia was over, the "Dai Nippon Teikoku" was established- a powerful empire which included Taiwan, the Liaotung Peninsula and later Korea.

Morais greatly admired Emperor Mitsuhito (Meiji), the head of this new empire, usually seen riding on horse-back magnificently attired in the uniform of a field-marshal. This was a time of strident, extreme nationalism. In 1905, Japan had won two battles against foreign enemies. The wars against China and Russia had been full-scale and had required the maximum efforts of the entire Japanese population. A new temple, the Yasukuni Jinja, became the focus of fervent nationalism calling for total sacrifice. In just a few decades, Japan had developed a formidable army and a united nation whose symbol was the Meiji Emperor. The Meiji Restoration had a unique character: a capitalist revolution organized by the samurai in the service of the nationalist cause. The Restoration prepared the way for Japan's present dynamism.

The Meiji Period saw extreme nationalist literature come to light (Niku Dan, 1906, Kono Issen, 1911) although the most important work of the period, Ippei Sotsu (1908) by Tayama Katai, concentrated on the futility of the bloody sacrifices in the war against Russia.

Mutsuhito's death in 1912 was the symbolic end of a period of great triumphs. An imperial state had been established and the population had been welded together into a united block.

The collection of postcards published here shows that Morais identified with the Japanese people and the official aims of the Meiji Period.

The postcards deal with much the same topics as were covered in the Cartas Íntimas (Private Letters) published in 1944. Most of them were sent to Joaquim de Morais Costa, Morais' nephew. Joaquim was the son of Emília Reginna Perpétua de Morais, the writer's eldest sister. Joaquim Costa spoke admiringly of his uncle in 1944 when discussing his correspondence:

"These writings were not intended for the printing press and they were written in a careless manner but for this very reason they allow us a genuine insight into his delicate, affectionate soul. At each step we find evidence of friendship, solicitous interest as to the health of his mother, sisters, and even his nieces and nephews with whom he had lived for only a few months when they were only knee-high. This collection of letters cannot be compared to his excellent literary output, the value of which has long been rightly recognized. It is for the heart to appreciate them and the reader will certainly encounter many moving passages. Even today, I still read these precious papers, now yellow with age, with delight and I have always found some worthwhile advice in them, a breath of fresh air in a moment of despondency. And now I am turning them over to the confident hands of the authors of "Amores", and I do this in the firm belief that this is a gesture of due respect and admiration for my uncle, whom I regard as having been a second father to me." (3)

This belief is corroborated by existing correspondence. In a letter of 1902, Morais had written: "The lad must be growing into a man now that he is seventeen years old, if I'm not mistaken. It seems that he is sensible and applies himself, which is the main thing. You can depend on him to bring you many more years of joy, earning his way in the world honestly. As I have already told you, when the time comes for him to look for a job, if you don't have enough contacts, perhaps I can do something for him. Get in touch with me then, if need be. I can still remember the boy's affection, it was really nice when he came to hug me in the street, and also the little girl, no bigger than a flea then. Good times! I'll still see them some day..." Morais was to keep his promise. He contacted friends of his at the time, Carlos Campos, Vicente Almeida d'Eça and João Moreira de Sá, and obtained employment for Joaquim in the Nyassa Company. In a letter of 1903, he turns down any attempt to thank him for his assistance and gives further advice: "My three friends can still be of great use to him, but he ought to make use of this because they are also his friends". In another letter in 1904, he returns to the same subject: "I am delighted with the good news about Joaquim, happy in his studies and valued by his superiors: just as well that it has turned out like this". According to a further note, Joaquim continued in the Niassa Company "where he eventually became General Secretary after his predecessor, Vicente de Almeida de Eça died". His death came in 1929.

The collection also includes two letters written to Joaquim's wife.

Most of the postcards were written either in 1907 or 1910, four of them being written in the former year and five in the latter. There is nothing sensational about the contents. In the first group, Morais refers to a Luís Guimarães, the Brasilian business attaché in Tokyo, an obscure budding journalist and the author of some "Cartas Japonesas" ("Japanese Letters") which were apparently published in Novidades. Morais admired neither the literary output nor the personality of this fellow Portuguese speaker. On other postcards there are references to family trips to Montachique and Belas, places which lent themselves to walks in the country air. There is a reference to his nephew's honeymoon in Sintra. Other postcards are more of a routine nature conveying thanks for birthday greetings and returning Christmas wishes. Some postcards mention close friends and family members such as Virgínia, the old servant, or his niece, Maria. Two of the postcards written in 1910 mention Vicente Almeida d'Eça and Sebastião Peres Rodrigues who were close friends at the time. Morais was to break from both of them years later.

The photographs on the postcards are of more interest as they reflect Morais' tastes and attitudes. Five of the seventeen postcards show graceful female figures dressed in kimonos, one shows the wildlife of Japan, eight portray landscapes and monuments (including Buddhist and Shinto temples), and two recall the war between Japan and Russia which Morais followed with a passionate interest. Thus, the majority of these postcards evoke a traditional world which was rapidly being overtaken by the speedy modernization of a country which only four decades before had been a feudal society. There are images of chrysanthemum displays, cherry blossom in the spring, young women beside rickshaws or practising traditional arts, ancient temples in places overflowing with historical references such as Sumadera. In civilian terms, the modernization of the country is shown only by the image of a railway. Modern Japan is best reflected by two symbols of formidable military might: the cruiser Akashi and General Nogi. This general was to be praised in the Cartas do Japão in pages brimming with enthusiasm, part of his fame arising from the fact that he finished his samurai days by committing seppukku (ritual suicide). It is a well known fact that Morais preferred feudal Japan, in particular the Tokugawa Period. What he admired most about modern Japan was the militarism which allowed the country to resist western imperialism successfully..

During the time that these letters were written, Venceslau de Morais became a well-known writer in Portugal. He was admired by men like Fialho de Almeida and Alberto Osório de Castro who were exponents of 19th century fin-de-siècle decadence. In 1912, Morais went to Suma with O-Yoné to visit the grave of Atsumori, a young warrior who was celebrated in Japan's plays and epic literature. But 1912 was a fated year: O-Yoné was to die months later.

This set of postcards finishes in this tragic year for the author of Dai-Nippon. Jaime do Inso, who saw Morais in Kobe in November of 1912, described him thus at this most bitter point in his life: "A certain air of sadness, unhappiness, perhaps even physical exhaustion, shows through in his appearance, his beard is getting white and, moreover, his words are sometimes filled with bitterness".(5)

From 1912 onwards, the shadows which hung over him were to make his last years much more gloomy. Increasingly, Morais was to escape into himself in search of peace and solitude. The final stage of his life began in 1913 with his mournful exile to Tokushima.

NOTES

(1)Armando Martins Janeira: "Cronologia", Wenceslau de Moraes, Antologias Universais, (Lisbon, Portugália Editora, 1971), LXXVII.

(2)E. H. Norman: Japan's Emergence as a Modern State: Political and Economic Problems of the Meiji Period, (New York, 1940); John Whitney Hall: Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times, (New York, Delacorte, 1970), pp. 305-307;

Richard Storry: A History of Modern Japan, (New York, 1960); J. N. Westwood: Witnesses of Tsushima, (Tokyo, Sophia University Press and Talahassee, Florida, Diplomatic Press, 1970).

(3)Letter from Joaquim de Morais Costa dated Lisbon, 27th of February, 1904, addressed to Ângelo Pereira. Cartas Íntimas de Wenceslau de Moraes. Preface and notes by Ângelo Pereira and Oldemiro César (Lisbon, Empresa Nacional de Publicidade,1944), p.9.

(4)Letters addressed to Emília from Venceslau de Morais dated Kobe, 4th of March, 1902, 24th of March, 1903 and 24th of June, 1904. Ibid., pp. 59-60. In the Asian Library of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies there is correspondence from Morais to Carlos Campos. In a letter dated Kobe, 10th November, 1902, Morais names the friends whom he asked for help in finding work for Joaquim: Carlos Campos, Vicente Almeida d'Eça and João Moreira de Sá.

(5)Jaime do Inso, "O Exilado de Tokushima", Visões da China, (Lisbon, 1933), pp.307-314.

*Portuguese teacher in the University of Kyoto. Researcher, author and essayist having published several works dealing with the Portuguese in the East and particularly in Japan.

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