Filipino students in Tokyo laying flowers on the grave of María Ángeles López Montero, the wife of Isabelo de los Reyes (1864-1938), on the first anniversary of her death on 10 February 1911. De los Reyes was a prominent Filipino nationalist and revolutionary who founded the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) as well as the first labor union in the Philippines, the Union Obrera Democratica (UOD). His wife died in childbirth during a short family sojourn in Tokyo in 1909. The students considered him a father figure when he was in Japan and thus took it upon themselves to honor the memory of de los Reyes’ wife in her family’s absence.
Among the assistants, special note deserves Mariano K. Kison from Lipa, Batangas, who served as an assistant to the world famous bacteriologist Dr. Kitasato at the Empress Medical College. Dr. Kitasato was greatly admired by Filipino ilustrados, such as the chemist Antonio Luna (1866-1899) for his contributions to science. For his part, Martin Alcantara, who could not come because he was ill but nevertheless sent flowers, was said to be an “exemplary” student of languages at the Kanda Foreign Language School who was fluent in five languages, including Chinese.
According to the article, they are “all brilliant youths who will contribute to the glory of their nation.”
Laudatory report on Marquise Ōyama
The article, on Marquise Ōyama and her husband, the Marquess Iwao Ōyama, reveals Filipino admiration for the decisive Japanese victory against Russia in the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905). The event proved to Filipinos that Asian nations could defeat powerful European powers in battle.
General Ōyama played an important role in this victory and thus became universally revered for his aptitude in the field of battle. The article lauded what it saw as the Japanese traditions of simplicity and humility which he embodied. On the other hand, his wife, the Marquise Sutematsu Ōyama (1860-1919) was the first Japanese woman to receive a college degree. She received her education as part of the famed Iwakura Mission to the USA. Though she was fluent in English and other languages, the article asserts that she did not succumb to the customs and behavior of Americans, like so many others who had studied in the USA. She was also said to have been well-versed on the sciences as well as on the plays of Shakespeare.
She is quoted as having said about her husband, during the Russo-Japanese War that, “I would be deeply saddened if he were to think about his wife and child in the midst of the fighting, and did not squarely face the defense of the nation’s interests. While fighting, his life and spirit are not mine but wholly possessed by the Emperor and the nation.” This is taken as proof of her outstanding patriotic fervor.
The article on the “last Shogun,” Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913), who was also known as “Keiki”, portrays him as the last representative of the “legendary and poetic” nation of the Rising Sun before the intrusion of Western civilization. Using the American anthropologist Frederick Starr’s (1858-1933) notes during a personal visit to Keiki, the author speculates about the reasons for Keiki’s abdication to the Emperor (Mitsuhito) in 1867. Was the reason mere irresolution or cowardice? After further reflection, the article ends with the insight that Keiki “accomplished one of the greatest acts of renunciation in History.”
Tagalog translation of poem by Emperor Meiji
Another article in the same issue is a stanza-by-stanza translation from Japanese to Tagalog of a poem by the Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) (Mitsuhito). The translator, using the penname Gat-Lotus, wonders in a short introduction about the fact that such a master of the world, at whose hands poets often die, would occupy himself with writing poetry.
