When the first train line opened between Tokyo and Yokohama on Oct. 14, 1872, one of the first passengers on the inaugural ride was Emperor Meiji (1852-1912). While it may have been one of his first train rides*, it was far from the last. Travel was important for Meiji and during his 45 year reign he would travel Japan like no other emperor before him.

Emperors in the Edo era, such as his father, lived and died within the Imperial Palace walls in Kyoto with little regard as to what went on outside the city. After a sequestered childhood, Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji, ascended the Chrysanthemum throne at 14 and became the head of a new national government. He realized early on that he governed a land he knew little about so he traveled the still-uniting country to learn about it, meet his people and by maintaining his high visibility profile reinforce his position as their ruler.

During his travels Meiji used whatever train was available locally if need be, such as when he visited Hokkaido in the far north, but his personal carriages on the imperial train or “Omeshi Ressha,” combined comfort and luxurious interior designs that made them as much works of art as practical transportation. Gilded and decorated by master artists and craftsman,  don’t think of them as passenger carriages but as mobile extensions of the Imperial Palace living quarters complete with a bedroom, dining room, lounge, servant’s quarters and even a porcelain throne room. Beginning in 1876, special imperial carriages were commissioned and during his life time six would be produced for the emperor and empress. These were the earliest of the Imperial trains but would include the most magnificent.

The final carriage built for Meiji and that of his wife, Empress Shoken (1849-1914), are preserved at Meiji-mura open-air architectural park in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture. Fittingly, they are housed inside a carriage workshop of the Shimbashi Factory where they were built more than a century ago. (Meiji-mura is composed of Meiji-era buildings gathered from all around Japan and preserved like a small town.)

The 1889 carriage factory workshop itself is very modest but also notable; it’s one of the earliest examples of an iron building in Japan. An industrial space for constructing and maintaining wooden railway carriages, it stands in contrast to the rolling artistry contained within. Imperial Carriage No. 6 was built in 1910 for Emperor Meiji’s personal use and was the final Imperial carriage constructed in the Meiji era (1868-1912). According to Meiji-mura it is considered the most magnificent carriage ever built for a Japanese emperor.

Emperor Meiji’s carriage is on the left; Empress Shoken’s is on the right.

Its hard to tell from the photos, but these are rather exception carriages made of teak wood covered in crimson lacquer. No. 6’s interior is entirely covered in hand-painted golden details, fine gold cloth, hand-woven brocades, mother of pearl and cloisonné work. (At least that’s what the guidebook says; it’s really hard to see inside) The golden interior decoration drew inspiration from the artistry of the Momoyama period (1573-1615) and combined with the Western-style furniture puts a Japanese spin on Victorian elegance.

Empress Shoken’s carriage; due to the lighting I couldn’t get any good interior shots. Gomen ne.

Beside it is Imperial Carriage No. 5, which was built in 1902 for Empress Shoken. It was the first carriage built for Japan’s empress. Shorter than her husband’s, has interior paintings from masters Kawabata Gyokusho and Hashimoto Gaho. Again, due to the dim lighting is really hard to appreciate. Both carriages were designated ‘railway heritages’ in 1959.

These are No. 5 and 6, but are not the only preserved Imperial Carriages. The first carriages, No. 1 and No. 2, are on display at the Railway Museum in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, as are several post-Meiji carriages. Kyoto Railway Museum also possesses one of Emperor Showa’s carriages and two steam engines that were designated for use by the imperial family. When we’re free to travel again I hope to visit Saitama and see the original carriages to append this story.

I was excited to see my favorite emperor’s carriages, but the current Omeshi Ressha still generates excitement today when it passes by with the emperor onboard. Whereas the passage of the imperial palanquin in Meiji’s day once led to reverent bowing the Omeshi Ressha now sends teenage girls squealing as if seeing a rock star. The current iteration is an E655 ‘Nagomi’, which is a chartered five-car electric-diesel which becomes the imperial train with the addition of a single special car in the center.

Though he rarely travels by train anymore, the train system itself partly had roots in the emperor’s need to travel. It’s outside the scope of this article to get too far into, but the era’s modernization process was all encompassing and prohibitively expensive. During the early days of the Meiji government there was some disagreement over the value of constructing a transportation network capable of quickly shuttling goods and people across the entire country. Who really needs that?

One of the arguments for the necessity of a railway system that held weight involved the distance between Kyoto and Edo/Tokyo and the politics of the early 1870s. When Emperor Meiji “visited” Edo in 1869, the imperial court assured Kyoto that they were still the capital city and always would be. The emperor’s “visit” lasted eight years and after a brief stay at home went back to Tokyo for another “visit” which ended with his death in 1912. (Fun Meiji-fact: Tokyo was never officially made the capital over Kyoto. They just kind of migrated all government organs to the Eastern Capital over the decades and all new government work was begun there.)

As related in Early Japanese Railways:1853-1914, Oki Tamihara, Tokyo’s governor and future Minister of Railways argued that the emperor needed to be able to travel comfortably between his capital and his other capital and that subjecting him to the hardships of frequent long-distance travel by traditional means was practically an act of lèse-majesté.

Emperor’s Carriage

References

Meiji-mura Guidebook

Emperor of Japan: Meiji and his World by Donald Keene

Early Japanese Railways: 1853-1914 by Dan Free

*Before the official opening, a limited train service ran between Yokohama Station and Shinagawa Station, the next to last station on the line, beginning on Jun. 12, 1872. After arriving in Yokohama via government steamship Aug. 15 Meiji made the impromptu decision to take the train back to Tokyo.