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diff --git a/27604.txt b/27604.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80e7d13 --- /dev/null +++ b/27604.txt @@ -0,0 +1,51227 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of A History of the Japanese People, +by Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A History of the Japanese People + From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era + + +Author: Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi + + + +Release Date: December 23, 2008 [eBook #27604] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE +PEOPLE*** + + +E-text prepared by Geoffrey Berg from digital material generously made +available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/historyofjapanes00briniala + + + + + +A HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE + +From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era + +by + +CAPT. F. BRINKLEY, R. A. + +Editor of the "Japan Mail" + +With the Collaboration of BARON KIKUCHI + +Former President of the Imperial University at Kyoto + +With 150 Illustrations Engraved on Wood by Japanese Artists; +Half-Tone Plates, and Maps + + + + + + + +DEDICATED BY GRACIOUS PERMISSION TO HIS MAJESTY MEIJI TENNO, THE LATE +EMPEROR OF JAPAN + + + + +FOREWORD + +It is trite to remark that if you wish to know really any people, it +is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of their history, including +their mythology, legends and folk-lore: customs, habits and traits of +character, which to a superficial observer of a different nationality +or race may seem odd and strange, sometimes even utterly subversive +of ordinary ideas of morality, but which can be explained and will +appear quite reasonable when they are traced back to their origin. +The sudden rise of the Japanese nation from an insignificant position +to a foremost rank in the comity of nations has startled the world. +Except in the case of very few who had studied us intimately, we were +a people but little raised above barbarism trying to imitate Western +civilisation without any capacity for really assimilating or adapting +it. At first, it was supposed that we had somehow undergone a sudden +transformation, but it was gradually perceived that such could not be +and was not the case; and a crop of books on Japan and the Japanese, +deep and superficial, serious and fantastic, interesting and +otherwise, has been put forth for the benefit of those who were +curious to know the reason of this strange phenomenon. But among so +many books, there has not yet been, so far as I know, a history of +Japan, although a study of its history was most essential for the +proper understanding of many of the problems relating to the Japanese +people, such as the relation of the Imperial dynasty to the people, +the family system, the position of Buddhism, the influence of the +Chinese philosophy, etc. A history of Japan of moderate size has +indeed long been a desideratum; that it was not forthcoming was no +doubt due to the want of a proper person to undertake such a work. +Now just the right man has been found in the author of the present +work, who, an Englishman by birth, is almost Japanese in his +understanding of, and sympathy with, the Japanese people. It would +indeed be difficult to find any one better fitted for the task--by no +means an easy one--of presenting the general features of Japanese +history to Western readers, in a compact and intelligible form, and +at the same time in general harmony with the Japanese feeling. The +Western public and Japan are alike to be congratulated on the +production of the present work. I may say this without any fear of +reproach for self-praise, for although my name is mentioned in the +title-page, my share is very slight, consisting merely in general +advice and in a few suggestions on some special points. + +DAIROKU KIKUCHI. + +KYOTO, 1912. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + +During the past three decades Japanese students have devoted much +intelligent labour to collecting and collating the somewhat +disjointed fragments of their country's history. The task would have +been practically impossible for foreign historiographers alone, but +now that the materials have been brought to light there is no +insuperable difficulty in making them available for purposes of joint +interpretation. That is all I have attempted to do in these pages, +and I beg to solicit pardon for any defect they may be found to +contain. + +F. BRINKLEY. + +TOKYO, 1912. + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + + I. The Historiographer's Art in Old Japan + + II. Japanese Mythology + + III. Japanese Mythology (Continued) + + IV. Rationalization + + V. Origin of the Japanese Nation: Historical Evidences + + VI. Origin of the Nation: Geographical and Archaeological + Relics + + VII. Language and Physical Characteristics + + VIII. Manners and Customs in Remote Antiquity + + IX. The Prehistoric Sovereigns + + X. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued) + + XI. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued) + + XII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns + + XIII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns (Continued) + + XIV. From the 29th to the 35th Sovereign + + XV. The Daika Reforms + + XVI. The Daiho Laws and the Yoro Laws + + XVII. The Nara Epoch + + XVIII. The Heian Epoch + + XIX. The Heian Epoch (Continued) + + XX. The Heian Epoch (Continued) + + XXI. The Capital and the Provinces + + XXII. Recovery of Administrative Authority by the Throne + + XXIII. Manners and Customs of the Heian Epoch + + XXIV. The Epoch of the Gen (Minamoto) and the Hei (Taira) + + XXV. The Epoch of the Gen and the Hei (Continued) + + XXVI. The Kamakura Bakufu + + XXVII. The Hojo + + XXVIII. Art, Religion, Literature, Customs, and Commerce in the + Kamakura Period + + XXIX. Fall of the Hojo and Rise of the Ashikaga + + XXX. The War of the Dynasties + + XXXI. The Fall of the Ashikaga + + XXXII. Foreign Intercourse, Literature, Art, Religion, Manners, + and Customs in the Muromachi Epoch + + XXXIII. The Epoch of Wars (Sengoku Jidai) + + XXXIV. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu + + XXXV. The Invasion of Korea + + XXXVI. The Momo-Yama Epoch + + XXXVII. Christianity in Japan + + XXXVIII. The Tokugawa Shogunate + + XXXIX. First Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu; from the First + Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, to the Fourth, Ietsuna + (1603-1680) + + XL. Middle Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu; from the Fifth + Shogun, Tsunayoshi, to the Tenth Shogun, Ieharu + (1680-1786) + + XLI. The Late Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu. The Eleventh + Shogun,Ienari (1786-1838) + + XLII. Organization, Central and Local; Currency and the + Laws of the Tokugawa Bakufu + + XLIII. Revival of the Shinto Cult + + XLIV. Foreign Relations and the Decline of the Tokugawa + + XLV. Foreign Relations and the Decline of the Tokugawa (Continued) + + XLVI. The Meiji Government + + XLVII. Wars with China and Russia + + + APPENDIX + + 1. Constitution of Japan, 1889 + + 2. Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 1905 + + 3. Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905 + + + INDEX + + + HISTORICAL MAPS + + Japan about 1337: Northern and Southern Courts + + Japan in Era of Wars, 1577: Distribution of Fiefs + + Japan in 1615: Feudatories + + Japan, Korea and the Mainland of Asia + + + FULL PAGE HALF-TONES + + Capt. F. Brinkley, R. A. + + The Emperor Jimmu + + The Shrine of Ise + + Prehistoric Remains: Plate A + + Prehistoric Remains: Plate B + + Prince Shotoku + + Kaigen Ceremony of the Nara Daibutsu + + Thirty-six Versifiers (Painting by Korin) + + Cherry-Viewing Festival at Mukojima + + Kamakura Daibutsu + + Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) + + Court Costumes + + Tokugawa Shrine at Nikko + + The Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) + + Sinking of the Russian Battleship Osliabya + + Admiral Togo + + + WORKS CONSULTED + + + +ENGRAVING: MT. FUJI SEEN FROM THE FUJI-GAWA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HISTORIOGRAPHER'S ART IN OLD JAPAN + +MATERIALS FOR HISTORY + +IN the earliest eras of historic Japan there existed a hereditary +corporation of raconteurs (Katari-be) who, from generation to +generation, performed the function of reciting the exploits of the +sovereigns and the deeds of heroes. They accompanied themselves on +musical instruments, and naturally, as time went by, each set of +raconteurs embellished the language of their predecessors, adding +supernatural elements, and introducing details which belonged to the +realm of romance rather than to that of ordinary history. These +Katari-be would seem to have been the sole repository of their +country's annals until the sixth century of the Christian era. Their +repertories of recitation included records of the great families as +well as of the sovereigns, and it is easy to conceive that the favour +and patronage of these high personages were earned by ornamenting the +traditions of their households and exalting their pedigrees. But when +the art of writing was introduced towards the close of the fourth +century, or at the beginning of the fifth, and it was seen that in +China, then the centre of learning and civilization, the art had been +applied to the compilation of a national history as well as of other +volumes possessing great ethical value, the Japanese conceived the +ambition of similarly utilizing their new attainment. For reasons +which will be understood by and by, the application of the +ideographic script to the language of Japan was a task of immense +difficulty, and long years must have passed before the attainment of +any degree of proficiency. + +Thus it was not until the time of the Empress Suiko (593-628) that +the historical project took practical shape. Her Majesty, at the +instance, doubtless, of Prince Shotoku, one of the greatest names in +all Japan's annals, instructed the prince himself and her chief +minister, Soga no Umako, to undertake the task of compiling +historical documents, and there resulted a Record of the Emperors +(Tennoki), a Record of the Country (Koki), and Original Records +(Hongi) of the Free People (i.e., the Japanese proper as +distinguished from aliens, captives, and aborigines), of the great +families and of the 180 Hereditary Corporations (Be). This work was +commenced in the year 620, but nothing is known as to the date of its +completion. It represents the first Japanese history. A shortlived +compilation it proved, for in the year 645, the Soga chiefs, +custodians of the documents, threw them into the fire on the eve of +their own execution for treason. One only, the Record of the Country, +was plucked from the flames, and is believed to have been +subsequently incorporated in the Kojiki '(Records of Ancient +Things).' No immediate attempt seems to have been made to remedy the +loss of these invaluable writings. Thirty-seven years later the +Emperor Temmu took the matter in hand. One of his reasons for doing +so has been historically transmitted. Learning that "the chronicles +of the sovereigns and the original words in the possession of the +various families deviated from the truth and were largely amplified +with empty falsehoods," his Majesty conceived that unless speedy +steps were taken to correct the confusion and eliminate the errors, +an irremediable state of affairs would result. + +Such a preface prepares us to learn that a body of experts was +appointed to distinguish the true and the false, and to set down the +former alone. The Emperor did, in fact, commission a number of +princes and officials to compile an authentic history, and we shall +presently see how their labours resulted. But in the first place a +special feature of the situation has to be noted. The Japanese +language was then undergoing a transition. In order to fit it to the +Chinese ideographs for literary purposes, it was being deprived of +its mellifluous polysyllabic character and reduced to monosyllabic +terseness. The older words were disappearing, and with them many of +the old traditions. Temmu saw that if the work of compilation was +abandoned solely to princely and official litterateurs, they would +probably sacrifice on the altar of the ideograph much that was +venerable and worthy to be preserved. He therefore himself undertook +the collateral task of having the antique traditions collected and +expurgated, and causing them to be memorized by a chamberlain, Hiyeda +no Are, a man then in his twenty-eighth year, who was gifted with +ability to repeat accurately everything heard once by him. Are's mind +was soon stored with a mass of ancient facts and obsolescent +phraseology, but before either the task of official compilation or +that of private restoration had been carried to completion the +Emperor died (686), and an interval of twenty-five years elapsed +before the Empress Gemmyo, on the 18th of September, 711, ordered a +scholar, Ono Yasumaro, to transcribe the records stored in Are's +memory. Four months sufficed for the work, and on the 28th of +January, 712, Yasumaro submitted to the Throne the Kojiki (Records of +Ancient Things) which ranked as the first history of Japan, and which +will be here referred to as the Records. + +THE NIHONGI AND THE NIHON SHOKI + +It is necessary to revert now to the unfinished work of the classical +compilers, as they may be called, whom the Emperor Temmu nominated in +682, but whose labours had not been concluded when his Majesty died +in 686. There is no evidence that their task was immediately +continued in an organized form, but it is related that during the +reign of Empress Jito (690-696) further steps were taken to collect +historical materials, and that the Empress Gemmyo (708-715)--whom we +have seen carrying out, in 712, her predecessor Temmu's plan with +regard to Hiyeda no Are--added, in 714, two skilled litterateurs to +Temmu's classical compilers, and thus enabled them to complete their +task, which took the shape of a book called the Nihongi (Chronicle of +Japan). + +This work, however, did not prove altogether satisfactory. It was +written, for the most part, with a script called the Manyo syllabary; +that is to say, with Chinese ideographs employed phonetically, and it +did not at all attain the literary standard of its Chinese prototype. +Therefore, the Empress entrusted to Prince Toneri and Ono Yasumaro +the task of revising it, and their amended manuscript, concluded in +720, received the name of Nihon Shoki (Written Chronicles of Japan), +the original being distinguished as Kana Nihongi, or Syllabic +Chronicles. The Nihon Shoki consisted originally of thirty-one +volumes, but of these one, containing the genealogies of the +sovereigns, has been lost. It covers the whole of the prehistoric +period and that part of the historic which extends from the accession +of the Emperor Jimmu (660 B.C.) to the abdication of the Empress Jito +(A.D. 697). The Kojiki extends back equally far, but terminates at +the death of the Empress Suiko (A.D. 628). + +THE FUDOKI + +In the year 713, when the Empress Gemmyo was on the throne, all the +provinces of the empire received orders to submit to the Court +statements setting forth the natural features of the various +localities, together with traditions and remarkable occurrences. +These documents were called Fudoki (Records of Natural Features). +Many of them have been lost, but a few survive, as those of Izumo, +Harima, and Hitachi. + +CHARACTER OF THE RECORDS AND THE CHRONICLES + +The task of applying ideographic script to phonetic purposes is +exceedingly difficult. In the ideographic script each character has a +distinct sound and a complete meaning. Thus, in China shan signifies +"mountain," and ming "light." But in Japanese "mountain" becomes yama +and "light" akari. It is evident, then, that one of two things has to +be done. Either the sounds of the Japanese words must be changed to +those of the Chinese ideographs; or the sounds of the Chinese +ideographs must alone be taken (irrespective of their meaning), and +with them a phonetic syllabary must be formed. Both of these devices +were employed by a Japanese scholar of early times. Sometimes +disregarding the significance of the ideographs altogether, he used +them simply as representing sounds, and with them built up pure +Japanese words; at other times, he altered the sounds of Japanese +words to those of their Chinese equivalents and then wrote them +frankly with their ideographic symbols. + +In this way each Japanese word came to have two pronunciations: +first, its own original sound for colloquial purposes; and second, +its borrowed sound for purposes of writing. At the outset the spoken +and the written languages were doubtless kept tolerably distinct. But +by degrees, as respect for Chinese literature developed, it became a +learned accomplishment to pronounce Japanese words after the Chinese +manner, and the habit ultimately acquired such a vogue that the +language of men--who wrote and spoke ideographically--grew to be +different from the language of women--who wrote and spoke +phonetically. When Hiyeda no Are was required to memorize the annals +and traditions collected and revised at the Imperial Court, the +language in which he committed them to heart was pure Japanese, and +in that language he dictated them, twenty-nine years later, to the +scribe Yasumaro. The latter, in setting down the products of Are's +memory, wrote for the most part phonetically; but sometimes, finding +that method too cumbersome, he had recourse to the ideographic +language, with which he was familiar. At all events, adding nothing +nor taking away anything, he produced a truthful record of the myths, +traditions, and salient historical incidents credited by the Japanese +of the seventh century. + +It may well be supposed, nevertheless, that Are's memory, however +tenacious, failed in many respects, and that his historical details +were comparatively meagre. An altogether different spirit presided at +the work subsequently undertaken by this same Yasumaro, when, in +conjunction with other scholars, he was required to collate the +historical materials obtained abundantly from various sources since +the vandalism of the Soga nobles. The prime object of these +collaborators was to produce a Japanese history worthy to stand side +by side with the classic models of China. Therefore, they used the +Chinese language almost entirely, the chief exception being in the +case of the old poems, a great number of which appear in the Records +and the Chronicles alike. The actual words of these poems had to be +preserved as well as the metre, and therefore it was necessary to +indite them phonetically. For the rest, the Nihon Shoki, which +resulted from the labours of these annalists and literati, was so +Chinese that its authors did not hesitate to draw largely upon the +cosmogonic myths of the Middle Kingdom, and to put into the mouths of +Japanese monarchs, or into their decrees, quotations from Chinese +literature. "As a repertory of ancient Japanese myth and legend there +is little to choose between the Records and the Chronicles. The +former is, on the whole, the fuller of the two, and contains legends +which the latter passes over in silence; but the Chronicles, as we +now have them, are enriched by variants of the early myths, the value +of which, for purposes of comparison, is recognized by scientific +inquirers. But there can be no comparison between the two works when +viewed as history. Hiyeda no Are's memory cannot be expected to +compete in fullness and accuracy with the abundant documentary +literature accessible to the writers of the Chronicles, and an +examination of the two works shows that, in respect to the record of +actual events, the Chronicles are far the more useful authority".* + +*Aston's Nihongi. + +It will readily be supposed, too, that the authors of both works +confused the present with the past, and, in describing the manners +and customs of by-gone eras, unconsciously limned their pictures with +colours taken from the palette of their own times, "when the national +thought and institutions had become deeply modified by Chinese +influences." Valuable as the two books are, therefore, they cannot be +accepted without large limitations. The Nihon Shoki occupied a high +place in national esteem from the outset. In the year following its +compilation, the Empress Gensho summoned eminent scholars to the +Court and caused them to deliver lectures on the contents of the +book, a custom which was followed regularly by subsequent sovereigns +and still finds a place among the New Year ceremonials. This book +proved to be the precursor of five others with which it is commonly +associated by Japanese scholars. They are the Zoku Nihongi +(Supplementary Chronicles of Japan), in forty volumes, which covers +the period from 697 to 791 and was finished in 798; the Nihon Koki +(Later Chronicles of Japan), in forty volumes--ten only +survive--which covers the period from 792 to 833; the Zoku Nihon Koki +(Supplementary Later Chronicles), in twenty volumes, which covers the +single reign of the Emperor Nimmyo (834-850) and was compiled in 869; +the Montoku Jitsu-roku (True Annals of Montoku), in ten volumes, +covering the reign of Montoku (851-858), and compiled in 879, and the +Sandai Jitsu-roku (True Annals of Three Reigns) in fifty volumes, +covering the period from 859 to 887 and compiled in 901. These five +compilations together with the Nihon Shoki are honoured as the Six +National Histories. It is noticeable that the writers were men of the +highest rank, from prime ministers downwards. In such honour was the +historiographer's art held in Japan in the eighth and ninth +centuries. + +CHRONOLOGY + +Before beginning to read Japanese history it is necessary to know +something of the chronology followed in its pages. There have been in +Japan four systems for counting the passage of time. The first is by +the reigns of the Emperors. That is to say, the first year of a +sovereign's reign--reckoning from the New Year's day following his +accession--became the 1 of the series, and the years were thenceforth +numbered consecutively until his death or abdication. This method +might be sufficiently accurate if the exact duration of each reign +were known as well as the exact sequence of the reigns. But no such +precision could be expected in the case of unwritten history, +transmitted orally from generation to generation. Thus, while +Japanese annalists, by accepting the aggregate duration of all the +reigns known to them, arrive at the conclusion that the first +Emperor, Jimmu, ascended the throne in the year 660 B.C., it is found +on analysis that their figures assign to the first seventeen +sovereigns an average age of 109 years. + +The second system was by means of periods deriving their name (nengo) +from some remarkable incident. Thus, the discovery of copper in Japan +was commemorated by calling the year Wado (Japanese copper), and the +era so called lasted seven years. Such a plan was even more liable to +error than the device of reckoning by reigns, and a specially +confusing feature was that the first year of the period dated +retrospectively from the previous New Year's day, so that events were +often recorded as having occurred in the final year of one period and +in the opening year of another. This system was originally imported +from China in the year A.D. 645, and is at present in use, the year +1910 being the forty-third of the Meiji (Enlightenment and Peace) +period. + +The third system was that of the sexagenary cycle. This was operated +after the manner of a clock having two concentric dials, the +circumference of the larger dial being divided into ten equal parts, +each marked with one of the ten "celestial signs," and the +circumference of the smaller dial being divided into twelve equal +parts each marked with one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The +long hand of the clock, pointing to the larger dial, was supposed to +make one revolution in ten years, and the shorter hand, pointing to +the small dial, revolved once in twelve years. Thus, starting from +the point where the marks on the two dials coincide, the long hand +gained upon the short hand by one-sixtieth each year, and once in +every sixty years the two hands were found at the point of +conjunction. Years were indicated by naming the "celestial stem" and +the zodiacal sign to which the imaginary hands happen to be pointing, +just as clock-time is indicated by the minutes read from the long +hand and the hours from the short. The sexagenary cycle came into use +in China in 623 B.C. The exact date of its importation into Japan is +unknown, but it was probably about the end of the fourth century A.D. +It is a sufficiently accurate manner of counting so long as the tale +of cycles is carefully kept, but any neglect in that respect exposes +the calculator to an error of sixty years or some multiple of sixty. +Keen scrutiny and collation of the histories of China, Korea, and +Japan have exposed a mistake of at least 120 years connected with the +earliest employment of the sexagenary cycle in Japan. + +The fourth method corresponds to that adopted in Europe where the +number of a year is referred to the birth of Christ. In Japan, the +accession of the Emperor Jimmu--660 B.C.--is taken for a basis, and +thus the Occidental year 1910 becomes the 2570th year of the Japanese +dynasty. With such methods of reckoning some collateral evidence is +needed before accepting any of the dates given in Japanese annals. +Kaempfer and even Rein were content to endorse the chronology of the +Chronicles--the Records avoid dates altogether--but other Occidental +scholars* have with justice been more sceptical, and their doubts +have been confirmed by several eminent Japanese historians in recent +times. Where, then, is collateral evidence to be found? + +*Notably Bramsen, Aston, Satow, and Chamberlain. + +In the pages of Chinese and Korean history. There is, of course, no +inherent reason for attributing to Korean history accuracy superior +to that of Japanese history. But in China the habit of continuously +compiling written annals had been practised for many centuries before +Japanese events began even to furnish materials for romantic +recitations, and no serious errors have been proved against Chinese +historiographers during the periods when comparison with Japanese +annals is feasible. In Korea's case, too, verification is partially +possible. Thus, during the first five centuries of the Christian era, +Chinese annals contain sixteen notices of events in Korea. If Korean +history be examined as to these events, it is found to agree in ten +instances, to disagree in two, and to be silent in four.* This record +tends strongly to confirm the accuracy of the Korean annals, and it +is further to be remembered that the Korean peninsula was divided +during many centuries into three principalities whose records serve +as mutual checks. Finally, Korean historians do not make any such +demand upon our credulity as the Japanese do in the matter of length +of sovereigns' reigns. For example, while the number of successions +to the throne of Japan during the first four centuries of the +Christian era is set down as seven only, making fifty-six years the +average duration of a reign, the corresponding numbers for the three +Korean principalities are sixteen, seventeen, and sixteen, +respectively, making the average length of a reign from twenty-four +to twenty-five years. It is, indeed, a very remarkable fact that +whereas the average age of the first seventeen Emperors of Japan, who +are supposed to have reigned from 660 B.C. down to A.D. 399, was 109 +years, this incredible habit of longevity ceased abruptly from the +beginning of the fifth century, the average age of the next seventeen +having been only sixty-one and a half years; and it is a most +suggestive coincidence that the year A.D. 461 is the first date of +the accepted Japanese chronology which is confirmed by Korean +authorities. + +*Aston's essay on Early Japanese History + +In fact, the conclusion is almost compulsory that Japanese authentic +history, so far as dates are concerned, begins from the fifth +century. Chinese annals, it is true, furnish one noteworthy and much +earlier confirmation of Japanese records. They show that Japan was +ruled by a very renowned queen during the first half of the third +century of the Christian era, and it was precisely at that epoch that +the Empress Jingo is related by Japanese history to have made herself +celebrated at home and abroad. Chinese historiographers, however, put +Jingo's death in the year A.D. 247, whereas Japanese annalists give +the date as 269. Indeed there is reason to think that just at this +time--second half of the third century--some special causes operated +to disturb historical coherence in Japan, for not only does Chinese +history refer to several signal events in Japan which find no place +in the latter's records, but also Korean history indicates that the +Japanese dates of certain cardinal incidents err by exactly 120 +years. Two cycles in the sexagenary system of reckoning constitute +120 years, and the explanation already given makes it easy to +conceive the dropping of that length of time by recorders having only +tradition to guide them. + +On the whole, whatever may be said as to the events of early Japanese +history, its dates can not be considered trustworthy before the +beginning of the fifth century. There is evidently one other point to +be considered in this context; namely, the introduction of writing. +Should it appear that the time when the Japanese first began to +possess written records coincides with the time when, according to +independent research, the dates given in their annals begin to +synchronize with those of Chinese and Korean history, another very +important landmark will be furnished. There, is such synchronism, but +it is obtained at the cost of considerations which cannot be lightly +dismissed. For, although it is pretty clearly established that an +event which occured at the beginning of the fifth century preluded +the general study of the Chinese language in Japan and may not +unreasonably be supposed to have led to the use of the Chinese script +in compiling historical records, still it is even more clearly +established that from a much remoter era Japan had been on terms of +some intimacy with her neighbours, China and Korea, and had exchanged +written communications with them, so that the art of writing was +assuredly known to her long before the fifth century of the Christian +era, to whatever services she applied it. This subject will present +itself again for examination in more convenient circumstances. + +ENGRAVING: YUKIMIDORO (Style of Stone Lantern used in Japanese +Gardens) + +ENGRAVING: "YATSUHASHI" STYLE OF GARDEN BRIDGE + + + +CHAPTER II + +JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY + +KAMI + +THE mythological page of a country's history has an interest of its +own apart from legendary relations; it affords indications of the +people's creeds and furnishes traces of the nation's genesis. In +Japan's mythology there is a special difficulty for the +interpreter--a difficulty of nomenclature. It has been the constant +habit of foreign writers of Japan's story to speak of an "Age of +Gods" (Kami no yo). But the Japanese word Kami* does not necessarily +convey any such meaning. It has no divine import. We shall presently +find that of the hundreds of families into which Japanese society +came to be divided, each had its Kami, and that he was nothing more +than the head of the household. Fifty years ago, the Government was +commonly spoken of as O Kami (the Honourable Head), and a feudatory +frequently had the title of Kami of such and such a locality. Thus to +translate Kami by "deity" or "god" is misleading, and as the English +language furnishes no exact equivalent, the best plan is to adhere to +the original expression. That plan is adopted in the following brief +summary of Japanese mythology. + +*Much stress is laid upon the point by that most accurate scholar, +Mr. B. H. Chamberlain. + +COSMOGONY + +Japanese mythology opens at the beginning of "the heaven and the +earth." But it makes no attempt to account for the origin of things. +It introduces us at once to a "plain of high heaven," the dwelling +place of these invisible* Kami, one of whom is the great central +being, and the other two derive their titles from their productive +attributes. But as to what they produced or how they produced it, no +special indication is given. Thereafter two more Kami are born from +an elementary reedlike substance that sprouts on an inchoate earth. +This is the first reference to organic matter. The two newly born +Kami are invisible like their predecessors, and like them are not +represented as taking any part in the creation. They are solitary, +unseeable, and functionless, but the evident idea is that they have a +more intimate connexion with cosmos than the Kami who came previously +into existence, for one of them is named after the reed-shoot from +which he emanated, and to the other is attributed the property of +standing eternally in the heavens. + +*The expression here translated "invisible" has been interpreted in +the sense that the Kami "hid their persons," i.e., died, but the true +meaning seems to be that they were invisible. + +Up to this point there has not been any suggestion of measuring time. +But now the record begins to speak of "generations." Two more +solitary and invisible beings are born, one called the Kami who +stands eternally on earth, the other the "abundant integrator." Each +of these represents a generation, and it will be observed that up to +this time no direct mention whatever is made of sex. Now, however, +five generations ensue, each consisting of two Kami, a male and a +female, and thus the epithet "solitary" as applied to the first seven +Kami becomes intelligible. All these generations are represented as +gradually approximating to the exercise of creative functions, for +the names* become more and more suggestive of earthly relations. The +last couple, forming the fifth generation, are Izanagi and Izanami, +appellations signifying the male Kami of desire and the female Kami +of desire. By all the other Kami these two are commissioned to "make, +consolidate, and give birth to the drifting land," a jewelled spear +being given to them as a token of authority, and a floating bridge +being provided to carry them to earth. Izanagi and Izanami thrust the +spear downwards and stir the "brine" beneath, with the result that it +coagulates, and, dropping from the spear's point, forms the first of +the Japanese islands, Onogoro. This island they take as the basis of +their future operations, and here they beget, by ordinary human +processes--which are described without any reservations--first, "a +great number of islands, and next, a great number of Kami." It is +related that the first effort of procreation was not successful, the +outcome being a leechlike abortion and an island of foam, the former +of which was sent adrift in a boat of reeds. The islands afterwards +created form a large part of Japan, but between these islands and the +Kami, begotten in succession to them, no connexion is traceable. In +several cases the names of the Kami seem to be personifications of +natural objects. Thus we have the Kami of the "wind's breath," of the +sea, of the rivers, of the "water-gates" (estuaries and ports), of +autumn, of "foam-calm," of "bubbling waves," of "water-divisions," of +trees, of mountains, of moors, of valleys, etc. But with very rare +exceptions, all these Kami have no subsequent share in the scheme of +things and cannot be regarded as evidence that the Japanese were +nature worshippers. + +*The Kami of mud-earth; the Kami of germ-integration; the Kami of the +great place; the Kami of the perfect exterior, etc. + +A change of method is now noticeable. Hitherto the process of +production has been creative; henceforth the method is transformation +preceded by destruction. Izanami dies in giving birth to the Kami of +fire, and her body is disintegrated into several beings, as the male +and female Kami of metal mountains, the male and female Kami of +viscid clay, the female Kami of abundant food, and the Kami of youth; +while from the tears of Izanagi as he laments her decease is born the +female Kami of lamentation. Izanagi then turns upon the child, the +Kami of fire, which has cost Izanami her life, and cuts off its head; +whereupon are born from the blood that stains his sword and spatters +the rocks eight Kami, whose names are all suggestive of the violence +that called them into existence. An equal number of Kami, all having +sway over mountains, are born from the head and body of the +slaughtered child. + +At this point an interesting episode is recorded. Izanagi visits the +"land of night," with the hope of recovering his spouse.* He urges +her to return, as the work in which they were engaged is not yet +completed. She replies that, unhappily having already eaten within +the portals of the land of night, she may not emerge without the +permission of the Kami** of the underworld, and she conjures him, +while she is seeking that permission, not to attempt to look on her +face. He, however, weary of waiting, breaks off one of the large +teeth of the comb that holds his hair*** and, lighting it, uses it as +a torch. He finds Izanami's body in a state of putrefaction, and amid +the decaying remains eight Kami of thunder have been born and are +dwelling. Izanagi, horrified, turns and flees, but Izanami, enraged +that she has been "put to shame," sends the "hideous hag of hades" to +pursue him. He obtains respite twice; first by throwing down his +head-dress, which is converted into grapes, and then casting away his +comb, which is transformed into bamboo sprouts, and while the hag +stops to eat these delicacies, he flees. Then Izanami sends in his +pursuit the eight Kami of thunder with fifteen hundred warriors of +the underworld.**** He holds them off for a time by brandishing his +sword behind him, and finally, on reaching the pass from the nether +to the upper world, he finds three peaches growing there with which +he pelts his pursuers and drives them back. The peaches are rewarded +with the title of "divine fruit," and entrusted with the duty of +thereafter helping all living people***** in the central land of +"reed plains"****** as they have helped Izanagi. + +*It is unnecessary to comment upon the identity of this incident with +the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. + +**It will be observed that we hear of these Kami now for the first +time. + +***This is an obvious example of a charge often preferred against the +compilers of the Records that they inferred the manners and customs +of remote antiquity from those of their own time. + +****Again we have here evidence that the story of creation, as told +in the Records, is not supposed to be complete. It says nothing as to +how the denizens of the underworld came into existence. + +*****The first mention of human beings. + +******This epithet is given to Japan. + +This curious legend does not end here. Finding that the hag of hades, +the eight Kami of thunder, and the fifteen hundred warriors have all +been repulsed, Izanami herself goes in pursuit. But her way is +blocked by a huge rock which Izanagi places in the "even pass of +hades," and from the confines of the two worlds the angry pair +exchange messages of final separation, she threatening to kill a +thousand folk daily in his land if he repeats his acts of violence, +and he declaring that, in such event, he will retaliate by causing +fifteen hundred to be born. + +In all this, no mention whatever is found of the manner in which +human beings come into existence: they make their appearance upon the +scene as though they were a primeval part of it. Izanagi, whose +return to the upper world takes place in southwestern Japan,* now +cleanses himself from the pollution he has incurred by contact with +the dead, and thus inaugurates the rite of purification practised to +this day in Japan. The Records describe minutely the process of his +unrobing before entering a river, and we learn incidentally that he +wore a girdle, a skirt, an upper garment, trousers, a hat, bracelets +on each arm, and a necklace, but no mention is made of footgear. +Twelve Kami are born from these various articles as he discards them, +but without exception these additions to Japanese mythology seem to +have nothing to do with the scheme of the universe: their titles +appear to be wholly capricious, and apart from figuring once upon the +pages of the Records they have no claim to notice. The same may be +said of eleven among fourteen Kami thereafter born from the pollution +which Izanagi washes off in a river. + +*At Himuka in Kyushu, then called Tsukushi. + +But the last three of these newly created beings act a prominent part +in the sequel of the story. They are the "heaven-shining Kami" +(Amaterasu-o-mi-Kami), commonly spoken of as the "goddess of the +Sun;" the Kami of the Moon, and the Kami of force.* Izanagi expresses +much satisfaction at the begetting of these three. He hands his +necklace to the Kami of the Sun and commissions her to rule the +"plain of heaven;" he confers upon the Kami of the Moon the dominion +of night, and he appoints the Kami of force (Susanoo) to rule the +sea-plain. The Kami of the Sun and the Kami of the Moon proceed at +once to their appointed task, but the Kami of force, though of mature +age and wearing a long beard, neglects his duty and falls to weeping, +wailing, and fuming. Izanagi inquires the cause of his discontent, +and the disobedient Kami replies that he prefers death to the office +assigned him; whereupon he is forbidden to dwell in the same land +with Izanagi and has to make his abode in Omi province. Then he forms +the idea of visiting the "plain of high heaven" to bid farewell to +his sister, the goddess of the Sun. + +*Mr. Chamberlain translates the title of this Kami "brave, swift, +impetuous, male, augustness." + +But his journey is attended with such a shaking of mountains and +seething of rivers that the goddess, informed of his recalcitrancy +and distrusting his purpose, makes preparations to receive him in +warlike guise, by dressing her hair in male fashion (i.e. binding it +into knots), by tying up her skirt into the shape of trousers, by +winding a string of five hundred curved jewels round her head and +wrists, by slinging on her back two quivers containing a thousand +arrows and five hundred arrows respectively, by drawing a guard on +her left forearm, and by providing herself with a bow and a sword. + +The Records and the Chronicles agree in ascribing to her such an +exercise of resolute force that she stamps her feet into the ground +as though it had been soft snow and scatters the earth about. +Susanoo, however, disavows all evil intentions, and agrees to prove +his sincerity by taking an oath and engaging in a Kami-producing +competition, the condition being that if his offspring be female, the +fact shall bear condemnatory import, but if male, the verdict shall +be in his favour. For the purpose of this trial, they stand on +opposite sides of a river (the Milky Way). Susanoo hands his sword to +Amaterasu-o-mi-Kami, who breaks it into three pieces, chews the +fragments, and blowing them from her mouth, produces three female +Kami. She then lends her string of five hundred jewels to Susanoo +and, he, in turn, crunches them in his mouth and blows out the +fragments which are transformed into five male Kami. The beings thus +strangely produced have comparatively close connexions with the +mundane scheme, for the three female Kami--euphoniously designated +Kami of the torrent mist, Kami of the beautiful island, and Kami of +the cascade--become tutelary goddesses of the shrines in Chikuzen +province (or the sacred island Itsuku-shima), and two of the male +Kami become ancestors of seven and twelve families, respectively, of +hereditary nobles. + +On the "high plain of heaven," however, trouble is not allayed. The +Sun goddess judges that since female Kami were produced from the +fragments of Susanoo's sword and male Kami from her own string of +jewels, the test which he himself proposed has resulted in his +conviction; but he, repudiating that verdict, proceeds to break down +the divisions of the rice-fields laid out by the goddess, to fill up +the ditches, and to defile the palace--details which suggest either +that, according to Japanese tradition, heaven has its agriculture and +architecture just as earth has, or that the "plain of high heaven" +was really the name of a place in the Far East. The Sun goddess makes +various excuses for her brother's lawless conduct, but he is not to +be placated. His next exploit is to flay a piebald horse and throw it +through a hole which he breaks in the roof of the hall where the +goddess is weaving garments for the Kami. In the alarm thus created, +the goddess* is wounded by her shuttle, whereupon she retires into a +cave and places a rock at the entrance, so that darkness falls upon +the "plain of high heaven" and upon the islands of Japan,** to the +consternation of the Kami of evil, whose voices are heard like the +buzzing of swarms of flies. + +*According to the Records, it is the attendants of the goddess that +suffer injury. + +**Referring to this episode, Aston writes in his Nihongi: +"Amaterasu-o-mi-Kami is throughout the greater part of this narrative +an anthropomorphic deity, with little that is specially +characteristic of her solar functions. Here, however, it is plainly +the sun itself which witholds its light and leaves the world to +darkness. This inconsistency, which has greatly exercised the native +theologians, is not peculiar to Japanese myth." + +Then follows a scene perhaps the most celebrated in all the +mythological legends; a scene which was the origin of the sacred +dance in Japan and which furnished to artists in later ages a +frequent motive. The "eight hundred myriads" of Kami--so numerous +have the denizens of the "plain of high heaven" unaccountably +become--assemble in the bed of the "tranquil river"* to confer about +a means of enticing the goddess from her retirement. They entrust the +duty of forming a plan to the Kami of "thought combination," now +heard of for the first time as a son of one of the two producing +Kami, who, with the "great central" Kami, constituted the original +trinity of heavenly denizens. This deity gathers together a number of +barn-yard fowl to signal sunrise, places the Kami of the "strong arm" +at the entrance of the cave into which the goddess has retired, +obtains iron from the "mines of heaven" and causes it to be forged +into an "eight-foot" mirror, appoints two Kami to procure from Mount +Kagu a "five-hundred branched" sakaki tree (cleyera Japonica), from +whose branches the mirror together with a "five-hundred beaded" +string of curved jewels and blue and white streamers of hempen cloth +and paper-mulberry cloth are suspended, and causes divination to be +performed with the shoulder blade of a stag. + +*The Milky Way. + +Then, while a grand liturgy is recited, the "heaven-startling" Kami, +having girdled herself with moss, crowned her head with a wreath of +spindle-tree leaves and gathered a bouquet of bamboo grass, mounts +upon a hollow wooden vessel and dances, stamping so that the wood +resounds and reciting the ten numerals repeatedly. Then the +"eight-hundred myriad" Kami laugh in unison, so that the "plain of +high heaven" shakes with the sound, and the Sun goddess, surprised +that such gaiety should prevail in her absence, looks out from the +cave to ascertain the cause. She is taunted by the dancer, who tells +her that a greater than she is present, and the mirror being thrust +before her, she gradually comes forward, gazing into it with +astonishment; whereupon the Kami of the "strong arm" grasps her hand +and drags her out, while two other Kami* stretch behind her a rope +made of straw, pulled up by the roots,** to prevent her return, and +sunshine once more floods the "plain of high heaven." + +*These two are the ancestors of the Kami of the Nakatomi and the +Imibe hereditary corporations, who may be described as the high +priests of the indigenous cult of Japan. + +**This kind of rope called shime-nawa, an abbreviation of +shiri-kume-nawa may be seen festooning the portals of any Shinto +shrine. + +The details of this curious legend deserve attention for the sake of +their close relation to the observances of the Shinto cult. Moreover, +the mythology now takes a new departure. At the time of Izanagi's +return from hades, vague reference is made to human beings, but after +Susanoo's departure from the "plain of high heaven," he is +represented as holding direct converse with them. There is an +interlude which deals with the foodstuffs of mortals. Punished with a +fine of a great number of tables* of votive offerings, his beard cut +off, and the nails of his fingers and toes pulled out, Susanoo is +sentenced to expulsion from heaven. He seeks sustenance from the Kami +of food, and she responds by taking from the orifices of her body +various kinds of viands which she offers to him. But he, deeming +himself insulted, kills her, whereupon from her corpse are born rice, +millet, small and large beans, and barley. These are taken by one of +the two Kami of production, and by him they are caused to be used as +seeds. + +*The offerings of food in religious services were always placed upon +small, low tables. + +Thereafter Susanoo descends to a place at the headwaters of the river +Hi (Izumo province). Seeing a chop-stick float down the stream, he +infers the existence of people higher up the river, and going in +search of them, finds an old man and an old woman lamenting over and +caressing a girl. The old man says that he is an earthly Kami, son of +the Kami of mountains, who was one of the thirty-five Kami borne by +Izanami before her departure for hades. He explains that he had +originally eight daughters, but that every year an eight-forked +serpent has come from the country of Koshi and devoured one of the +maidens, so that there remains only Lady Wonderful, whose time to +share her sisters' fate is now at hand. It is a huge monster, +extending over eight valleys and eight hills, its eyes red like +winter cherries, its belly bloody and inflamed, and its back +overgrown with moss and conifers. Susanoo, having announced himself +as the brother of the Sun goddess, receives Lady Wonderful and at +once transforms her into a comb which he places in his hair. He then +instructs the old man and his wife to build a fence with eight gates, +placing in every gate a vat of rice wine. + +Presently the serpent arrives, drinks the wine, and laying down its +heads to sleep, is cut to pieces by Susanoo with his ten-span sabre. +In the body of the serpent the hero finds a sword, "great and sharp," +which he sends to the Sun goddess, at whose shrine in Ise it is +subsequently found and given to the famous warrior, Yamato-dake, when +he is setting out on his expedition against the Kumaso of the north. +The sword is known as the "Herb-queller." Susanoo then builds for +himself and Lady Wonderful a palace at Suga in Izumo, and composes a +celebrated verse of Japanese poetry.* Sixth in descent from the +offspring of this union is the "Kami of the great land," called also +the "Great-Name Possessor," or the "Kami of the reed plains," or the +"Kami of the eight thousand spears," or the "Kami of the great land +of the living," the last name being antithetical to Susanoo's title +of "Ruler of Hades." + +*"Many clouds arise, +On all sides a manifold fence, +To receive within it the spouse, +They form a manifold fence +Ah! that manifold fence." + +Several legends are attached to the name of this multinominal +being--legends in part romantic, in part supernatural, and in part +fabulous. His eighty brethren compel him to act as their servant when +they go to seek the hand of Princess Yakami of Inaba. But on the way +he succours a hare which they have treated brutally and the little +animal promises that he, not they, shall win the princess, though he +is only their baggage-bearer. Enraged at the favour she shows him, +they seek in various ways to destroy him: first by rolling down on +him from a mountain a heated rock; then by wedging him into the cleft +of a tree, and finally by shooting him. But he is saved by his +mother, and takes refuge in the province of Kii (the Land of Trees) +at the palace of the "Kami of the great house."* Acting on the +latter's advice, he visits his ancestor, Susanoo, who is now in +hades, and seeks counsel as to some means of overcoming his eighty +enemies. But instead of helping him, that unruly Kami endeavours to +compass his death by thrusting him into a snake-house; by putting him +into a nest of centipedes and wasps, and finally by shooting an arrow +into a moor, sending him to seek it and then setting fire to the +grass. He is saved from the first two perils through the agency of +miraculous scarves given to him by Princess Forward, Susanoo's +daughter, who has fallen in love with him; and from the last dilemma +a mouse instructs him how to emerge. + +*A son of Susanoo. Under the name of Iso-Takeru he is recorded to +have brought with him a quantity of seeds of trees and shrubs, which +he planted, not in Korea, but in Tsukushi (Kyushu) and the eight +islands of Japan. These words "not in Korea" are worthy of note, as +will presently be appreciated. + +A curious episode concludes this recital: Susanoo requires that the +parasites shall be removed from his head by his visitor. These +parasites are centipedes, but the Great-Name Possessor, again acting +under the instruction of Princess Forward, pretends to be removing +the centipedes, whereas he is in reality spitting out a mixture of +berries and red earth. Susanoo falls asleep during the process, and +the Great-Name Possessor binds the sleeping Kami's hair to the +rafters of the house, places a huge rock at the entrance, seizes +Susanoo's life-preserving sword and life-preserving bow and arrows as +also his sacred lute,* and taking Princess Forward on his back, +flees. The lute brushes against a tree, and its sound rouses Susanoo. +But before he can disentangle his hair from the rafters, the +fugitives reach the confines of the underworld, and the enraged Kami, +while execrating this visitor who has outwitted him, is constrained +to direct him how to overcome his brethren and to establish his rule +firmly. In all this he succeeds, and having married Princess Yakami, +to whom he was previously engaged,** he resumes the work left +unfinished by Izanagi and Izanami, the work of "making the land." + +*Sacred because divine revelations were supposed to be made through a +lute-player. + +**In the story of this Kami, we find the first record of conjugal +jealousy in Japan. Princess Forward strongly objects to her husband's +excursions into novel fields. + +The exact import of this process, "making the land," is not +discernible. In the hands of Izanagi and Izanami it resolves itself +into begetting, first, a number of islands and, then, a number of +Kami. At the outset it seems to have no more profound significance +for the Great-Name Possessor. Several generations of Kami are +begotten by him, but their names give no indication of the parts they +are supposed to have taken in the "making of the land." They are all +born in Japan, however, and it is perhaps significant that among them +the one child--the Kami of wells--brought forth by Princess Yakami, +is not included. Princess Forward has no children, a fact which +doubtless augments her jealousy of her husband's amours; jealousy +expressed in verses that show no mean poetic skill. Thus, the +Great-Name Possessor on the eve of a journey from Izumo to Yamato, +sings as he stands with one hand on his saddle and one foot in the +stirrup:-- + + Though thou sayest thou willst not weep + If like the flocking birds, I flock and depart, + If like the led birds, I am led away and + Depart; thou wilt hang down thine head like + A single Eulalia upon the mountain and + Thy weeping shall indeed rise as the mist of + The morning shower. + Then the Empress, taking a wine-cup, approaches and offers it to + him, saying: + Oh! Thine Augustness, the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! + Thou, my dear Master-of-the-Great-Land indeed, + Being a man, probably hast on the various island headlands thou + seest, + And on every beach-headland that thou lookest on, + A wife like the young herbs. But as for me, alas! + Being a woman, I have no man except thee; I have no spouse except + thee. + Beneath the fluttering of the ornamented fence, + Beneath the softness of the warm coverlet, + Beneath the rustling of the cloth coverlet, + Thine arms, white as rope of paper-mulberry bark softly patting + my breast soft as the melting snow, + And patting each other interlaced, stretching out and pillowing + ourselves on each other's arms, + True jewel arms, and with outstretched legs, will we sleep.* + + *B. H. Chamberlain. + +"Having thus sung, they at once pledged each other by the cup with +their hands on each other's necks." It is, nevertheless, from among +the children born on the occasion of the contest between the Sun +goddess and Susanoo that the Great-Name Possessor first seeks a +spouse--the Princess of the Torrent Mist--to lay the foundation of +fifteen generations of Kami, whose birth seems to have been essential +to the "making of the land," though their names afford no clue to the +functions discharged by them. From over sea, seated in a gourd and +wearing a robe of wren's feathers, there comes a pigmy, Sukuna +Hikona, who proves to be one of fifteen hundred children begotten by +the Kami of the original trinity. Skilled in the arts of healing +sickness and averting calamities from men or animals, this pigmy +renders invaluable aid to the Great-Name Possessor. But the useful +little Kami does not wait to witness the conclusion of the work of +"making and consolidating the country." Before its completion he +takes his departure from Cape Kumano in Izumo to the "everlasting +land"--a region commonly spoken of in ancient Japanese annals but not +yet definitely located. He is replaced by a spirit whose coming is +thus described by the Chronicles: + +After this (i.e. the departure of Sukuna), wherever there was in the +land a part which was imperfect, the Great-Name Possessor visited it +by himself and succeeded in repairing it. Coming at last to the +province of Izumo, he spake and said: "This central land of reed +plains had always been waste and wild. The very rocks, trees, and +huts were all given to violence... But I have now reduced it to +submission, and there is none that is not compliant." Therefore he +said finally: "It is I, and I alone, who now govern this land. Is +there, perchance, anyone who could join with me in governing the +world?" Upon this a divine radiance illuminated the sea, and of a +sudden there was something which floated towards him and said: "Were +I not here, how couldst thou subdue this land? It is because I am +here that thou hast been enabled to accomplish this mighty +undertaking." Then the Great-Name Possessor inquired, saying, "Then +who art thou?" It replied and said: "I am thy guardian spirit, the +wonderous spirit." Then said the Great-Name Possessor: "True, I know +therefore that thou art my guardian spirit, the wonderous spirit. +Where dost thou now wish to dwell?" The spirit answered and said, "I +wish to dwell on Mount Mimoro in the province of Yamato." Accordingly +he built a shrine in that place and made the spirit go and dwell +there. This is the Kami of Omiwa.* + +*Aston's Translation of the Nihongi. + +After the above incident, another begetting of Kami takes place on a +large scale, but only a very few of them--such as the guardian of the +kitchen, the protector of house-entrances, the Kami of agriculture, +and so forth--have any intelligible place in the scheme of things. + +ENGRAVING: CRESTS + + + +CHAPTER III + +JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY (Continued) + +THE SUBJUGATION OF JAPAN + +THE dividing line between mythological tradition and historical +legend is now reached. It will have been observed that, after the +descent of Susanoo, the Kami on the "plain of high heaven" took no +further part in "making" or "ruling" the "ever fruitful land of +reed-covered moors, and luxuriant rice-fields," as Japan was called. +Everything was left in the hands of Susanoo, the insubordinate Kami, +who had been expelled from heaven for his destructive violence. His +descendant in the sixth generation, the Great-Name Possessor, now +held supreme sway over the islands, in conjunction with a number of +his own relations, his seat of power being in the province of Izumo. +At this juncture the goddess of the Sun decided that a sovereign +should be sent down to govern the land of many islands, and she chose +for this purpose the son of the eldest* of the five Kami born from +her necklace during the procreation competition with Susanoo. + +In the first place, however, it was considered necessary to reduce +the country to order, observation having shown it to be in a state of +tumult. For that purpose the second of the five necklace +Kami--considered "the most heroic" of all the beings on the "plain of +high heaven"--was despatched. But he "curried favour" with the +Great-Name Possessor and took up his abode in Japan. At the end of +three years,** seeing that he had not returned, it was decided by the +Kami in council to send another envoy, the Heavenly Young Prince. But +he proved even more disloyal, for he married the daughter of the +Great-Name Possessor, famous for her beauty,*** and planning to +succeed his father-in-law as sovereign of the land, remained in Izumo +for eight years. A third conclave of the Kami was now convened by the +Sun goddess and her coadjutor, the Great-Producing Kami,* and they +decided to despatch a pheasant to make observations. + +*This Kami married a daughter of one of the two Great-Producing Kami +who belonged to the original trinity, and who co-operates with the +Sun goddess throughout. + +**This is the first mention of a measure of time in the Records. + +***She was called Princess Undershining, because her beauty shone +through her raiment. + +The bird flew down and lit on a cassia tree at the gate of the +Heavenly Young Prince's dwelling, whereupon the prince, at the +instigation of a female spy, taking a bow given to him originally by +the Great-Producing Kami, shot a shaft which pierced the bird's bosom, +and, reaching the Milky Way where sat the Sun goddess and the +Great-Producing Kami, was recognized by the latter, who threw it back +to earth, decreeing that it should strike the prince were he guilty +of treason, and leave him unharmed if the blood on the arrow was that +of the earthly Kami whom he had been sent to quell. The shaft struck +the prince and killed him. + +At this point the course of the history is interrupted by an +unintelligible description of the resulting obsequies--held in heaven +according to the Chronicles, on earth according to the Records. Wild +geese, herons, kingfishers, sparrows, and pheasants were the +principal officiators; the mourning rites, which included singing, +and dancing,* continued for eight days and eight nights, and the +proceedings were rudely interrupted by the prince's brother-in-law, +who, coming to condole and being mistaken for the deceased, is so +enraged by the error that he draws his sword, cuts down the mortuary +house, and kicks away the pieces. + +*It has been conjectured, with much probability, that this singing +and dancing was a ceremony in imitation of the rites performed to +entice the Sun goddess from her cave. The motive was to resuscitate +the dead. + +These two failures did not deter the Great-Producing Kami and the Sun +goddess. They again took counsel with the other beings on the "plain +of high heaven," and it was decided to have recourse to the Kami born +from the blood that dropped from Izanagi's sword when he slew the +Kami of fire. To one of these--the Kami of courage--the mission of +subduing the land of many islands was entrusted, and associated with +him in the work was the Kami of boats, a son of Izanagi and Izanami. +The two descended to Izumo. They carried swords ten hand-breadths +long, and having planted these upside down, they seated themselves on +the points and delivered their message to the Great-Name Possessor, +requiring him to declare whether or not he would abdicate in favour +of the newly named sovereign. + +The Great-Name Possessor replied that he must consult his son, who +was absent on a hunting expedition. Accordingly, the Kami of boats +went to seek him, and, on being conducted into his father's presence, +the latter declared his willingness to surrender, sealing the +declaration by suicide.* There remained, then, only the second son of +the Great-Name Possessor to be consulted. He did not submit so +easily. Relying on his great strength, he challenged the Kami of +courage to a trial of hand grasping. But when he touched the Kami's +hand it turned first into an icicle and then into a sword-blade, +whereas his own hand, when seized by the Kami, was crushed and thrown +aside like a young reed. He fled away in terror, and was pursued by +the Kami as far as the distant province of Shinano, when he saved his +life by making formal submission and promising not to contravene the +decision of his father and elder brother. + +*He stepped on the side of his boat so as to upset it, and with hands +crossed behind his back sank into the sea. + +Then the Great-Name Possessor, having "lost his sons, on whom he +relied," agreed to abdicate provided that a shrine were built in +memory of him, "having its pillars made stout on the nethermost +rock-bottom, and its cross-beams raised to the 'plain of high +heaven.'"* He handed over the broad-bladed spear which had assisted +him to pacify the land, and declaring that if he offered resistance, +all the earthly Kami, too, would certainly resist, he "hid in the +eighty road-windings." + +*This hyperbolical language illustrates the tone of the Records and +the Chronicles. Applied to the comparatively humble buildings that +served for residences in ancient Japan, the description in the text +is curiously exaggerated. The phrase here quoted finds frequent +reproduction in the Shinto rituals. + +Thus, already in the eighth century when the Records and the +Chronicles were compiled, suicide after defeat in battle had become a +recognized practice. The submission and self-inflicted death of the +Great-Name Possessor did not, however, save his followers. All the +rebellious Kami were put to the sword by the envoys from the "plain +of high heaven." This chapter of the annals ends with an account of +the shrine erected in memory of the Great-Name Possessor. It was +placed under the care of a grandson of the Kami born to Izanagi and +Izanami, who is represented as declaring that he "would continue +drilling fire for the Kami's kitchen until the soot hung down eight +hand-breadths from the roof of the shrine of the Great-Producing Kami +and until the earth below was baked to its nethermost rocks; and that +with the fire thus drilled he would cook for him the fish brought in +by the fishermen, and present them to him in baskets woven of split +bamboos which would bend beneath their weight." + +THE DESCENT UPON TSUKUSHI + +It had been originally intended that the dominion of Japan should be +given to the senior of the five Kami born of the five-hundred-jewel +string of the Sun goddess. But during the interval devoted to +bringing the land to a state of submission, this Kami's spouse, the +Princess of the Myriad Looms of the Luxuriant Dragon-fly Island,* had +borne a son, Hikoho no Ninigi, (Rice-Ears of Ruddy Plenty), and this +boy having now grown to man's estate, it was decided to send him as +ruler of Japan. A number of Kami were attached to him as guards and +assistants, among them being the Kami of "thought combination," who +conceived the plan for enticing the Sun goddess from her cave and who +occupied the position of chief councillor in the conclave of high +heaven; the female Kami who danced before the cave; the female Kami +who forged the mirror, and, in short, all the Kami who assisted in +restoring light to the world. There were also entrusted to the new +sovereign the curved-jewel chaplet of the Sun goddess, the mirror +that had helped to entice her, and the sword (herb-queller) which +Susanoo had taken from the body of the eight-headed serpent. + +*"Dragon-fly Island" was a name anciently given to Japan on account +of the country's shape. + +These three objects thenceforth became the three sacred things of +Japan. Strict injunction was given that the mirror was to be regarded +and reverenced exactly as though it was the spirit of the Sun +goddess, and it was ordered that the Kami of "thought combination" +should administer the affairs of the new kingdom. The fact is also to +be noted that among the Kami attached to Hikoho no Ninigi's person, +five--three male and two female--are designated by the Records as +ancestors and ancestresses of as many hereditary corporations, a +distinctive feature of the early Japan's polity. As to the manner of +Hikoho no Ninigi's journey to Japan, the Chronicles say that the +Great-Producing Kami threw the coverlet of his couch over him and +caused him to cleave his way downwards through the clouds; but the +Records allege that he descended "shut up in the floating bridge of +heaven." + +The point has some interest as furnishing a traditional trace of the +nature of this so-called invasion of Japan, and as helping to confirm +the theory that the "floating bridge of heaven," from which Izanagi +thrust his spear downwards into the brine of chaos, was nothing more +than a boat. It will naturally be supposed that as Hikoho no Ninigi's +migration to Japan was in the sequel of a long campaign having its +main field in the province of Izumo, his immediate destination would +have been that province, where a throne was waiting to be occupied by +him, and where he knew that a rich region existed. But the Records +and the Chronicles agree in stating that he descended on +Kirishimayama* in Tsukushi, which is the ancient name of the island +of Kyushu. This is one of the first eight islands begotten by Izanagi +and Izanami. Hence the alternative name for Japan, "Land of the Eight +Great Islands." + +*Takachiho-dake is often spoken of as the mountain thus celebrated, +but Takachiho is only the eastern, and lower, of the two peaks of +Kirishima-yama. + +It was, moreover, to a river of Tsukushi that Izanagi repaired to +cleanse himself from the pollution of hades. But between Kyushu +(Tsukushi) and Izumo the interval is immense, and it is accentuated +by observing that the mountain Kirishima, specially mentioned in the +story, raises its twin peaks at the head of the Bay of Kagoshima in +the extreme south of Kyushu. There is very great difficulty in +conceiving that an army whose ultimate destination was Izumo should +have deliberately embarked on the shore of Kagoshima. The landing of +Ninigi--his full name need not be repeated--was made with all +precautions, the van of his army (kume) being commanded by the +ancestor of the men who thenceforth held the highest military rank +(otomo) through many centuries, and the arms carried being bows, +arrows, and swords.* + +*The swords are said to have been "mallet-headed," but the term still +awaits explanation. + +All the annals agree in suggesting that the newcomers had no +knowledge of the locality, but whereas one account makes Ninigi +consult and obtain permission from an inhabitant of the place, +another represents him as expressing satisfaction that the region lay +opposite to Kara (Korea) and received the beams of the rising and the +setting sun, qualifications which it is not easy to associate with +any part of southern Kyushu. + +At all events he built for himself a palace in accordance with the +orthodox formula--its pillars made stout on the nethermost +rock-bottom and its cross-beams made high to the plain of heaven--and +apparently abandoned all idea of proceeding to Izumo. Presently he +encountered a beautiful girl. She gave her name as Brilliant Blossom, +and described herself as the daughter of the Kami of mountains one of +the thirty-five beings begotten by Izanagi and Izanami who would seem +to have been then living in Tsukushi, and who gladly consented to +give Brilliant Blossom. He sent with her a plentiful dower--many +"tables"* of merchandise--but he sent also her elder sister, +Enduring-as-Rock, a maiden so ill favoured that Ninigi dismissed her +with disgust, thus provoking the curse of the Kami of mountains, who +declared that had his elder daughter been welcomed, the lives of the +heavenly sovereigns** would have been as long as her name suggested, +but that since she had been treated with contumely, their span of +existence would be comparatively short. Presently Brilliant Blossom +became enceinte. Her lord, however, thinking that sufficient time had +not elapsed for such a result, suspected her of infidelity with one +of the earthly Kami,*** whereupon she challenged the ordeal of fire, +and building a parturition hut, passed in, plastered up the entrance, +and set fire to the building. She was delivered of three children +without mishap, and their names were Hosuseri (Fire-climax), Hohodemi +(Fire-shine), and Hoori (Fire-subside). + +*This expression has reference to the fact that offerings at +religious ceremonials were always heaped on low tables for laying +before the shrine. + +**The expression "heavenly sovereign" is here applied for the first +time to the Emperors of Japan. + +***The term "earthly" was applied to Kami born on earth, "heavenly" +Kami being those born in heaven. + +THE CASTLE OF THE SEA DRAGON + +At this stage the annals digress to relate an episode which has only +collateral interest Hosuseri and Hohodemi made fishing and hunting, +respectively, their avocations. But Hohodemi conceived a fancy to +exchange pursuits, and importuned Hosuseri to agree. When, however, +the former tried his luck at angling, he not only failed to catch +anything but also lost the hook which his brother had lent him. This +became the cause of a quarrel. Hosuseri taunted Hohodemi on the +foolishness of the original exchange and demanded the restoration of +his hook, nor would he be placated though Hohodemi forged his sabre +into five hundred hooks and then into a thousand. Wandering +disconsolate,* by the seashore, Hohodemi met the Kami of salt, who, +advising him to consult the daughter of the ocean Kami,** sent him to +sea in a "stout little boat." + +*"Weeping and lamenting" are the words in the Records. + +**One of the Kami begotten by Izanagi and Izanami. + +After drifting for a time, he found himself at a palace beside which +grew a many-branched cassia tree overhanging a well. He climbed into +the tree and waited. Presently the handmaidens of Princess Rich Gem, +daughter of the ocean Kami, came to draw water, and seeing a shadow +in the well, they detected Hohodemi in the cassia tree. At his +request they gave him water in a jewelled vessel, but instead of +drinking, he dropped into the vessel a gem from his own necklace, and +the handmaidens, unable to detach the gem, carried the vessel to +their mistress. Then the princess went to look and, seeing a +beautiful youth in the cassia tree, "exchanged glances" with him. The +ocean Kami quickly recognized Hohodemi; led him in; seated him on a +pile of many layers of sealskins* overlaid by many layers of silk +rugs; made a banquet for him, and gave him for wife Princess Rich +Gem. + +*Chamberlain translates this "sea-asses' skins," and conjectures that +sea-lions or seals may be meant. + +Three years passed tranquilly without the bridegroom offering any +explanation of his presence. At the end of that time, thoughts of the +past visited him and he "sighed." Princess Rich Gem took note of this +despondency and reported it to her father, who now, for the first +time, inquired the cause of Hohodemi's coming. Thereafter all the +fishes of the sea, great and small, were summoned, and being +questioned about the lost hook, declared that the tai* had recently +complained of something sticking in its throat and preventing it from +eating. So the lost hook was recovered, and the ocean Kami instructed +Hohodemi, when returning it to his brother, to warn the latter that +it was a useless hook which would not serve its purpose, but would +rather lead its possessor to ruin. He further instructed him to +follow a method of rice culture the converse of that adopted by his +brother, since he, the ocean Kami, would rule the waters so as to +favour Hohodemi's labours, and he gave him two jewels having the +property of making the tide ebb and flow, respectively. These jewels +were to be used against Hosuseri, if necessary. + +*Pagrus major. + +Finally the Kami of the ocean instructed a crocodile to carry +Hohodemi to his home. This was accomplished, and in token of his safe +arrival, Hohodemi placed his stiletto on the crocodile's neck for +conveyance to the ocean Kami. + +The programme prescribed by the latter was now faithfully pursued, so +that Hosuseri grew constantly poorer, and finally organized a fierce +attack upon his younger brother, who, using the tide-flowing jewel, +overwhelmed his assailants until they begged for mercy, whereupon the +power of the tide-ebbing jewel was invoked to save them. The result +was that Hosuseri, on behalf of himself and his descendants for all +time, promised to guard and respectfully serve his brother by day and +by night. In this episode the hayabito had their origin. They were +palace guards, who to their military functions added the duty of +occasionally performing a dance which represented the struggles of +their ancestor, Hosuseri, when he was in danger of drowning. + +BIRTH OF THE EMPEROR JIMMU + +After the composition of the quarrel described above, Princess Rich +Gem arrived from the castle of the ocean Kami, and built a +parturition hut on the seashore, she being about to bring forth a +child. Before the thatch of cormorants' feathers could be completed, +the pains of labour overtook her, and she entered the hut, conjuring +her husband not to spy upon her privacy, since, in order to be safely +delivered, she must assume a shape appropriate to her native land. +He, however, suffered his curiosity to overcome him, and peeping in, +saw her in the form of an eight-fathom crocodile. It resulted that +having been thus put to shame, she left her child and returned to the +ocean Kami's palace, declaring that there should be no longer any +free passage between the dominions of the ocean Kami and the world of +men. "Nevertheless afterwards, although angry at her husband's having +wished to peep, she could not restrain her loving heart," and she +sent her younger sister, Good Jewel, to nurse the baby and to be the +bearer of a farewell song to Hohodemi. + +The Records state that the latter lived to the age of 580 years and +that his mausoleum was built to the west of Mount Takachiho, on which +his palace stood. Thus for the first time the duration of a life is +stated in the antique annals of Japan. His son, called Fuki-ayezu +(Unfinished Thatch), in memory of the strange incident attending his +birth, married Princess Good Jewel, his own aunt, and by her had four +sons. The first was named Itsuse (Five Reaches) and the youngest, +Iware (a village in Yamato province). This latter ultimately became +Emperor of Japan, and is known in history as Jimmu (Divine Valour), a +posthumous name given to him many centuries after his death.* From +the time of this sovereign dates and events are recorded with full +semblance of accuracy in the Chronicles, but the compilers of the +Records do not attempt to give more than a bald statement of the +number of years each sovereign lived or reigned. + +*Posthumous names for the earthly Mikados were invented in the reign +of Kwammu (A.D. 782-805), i.e., after the date of the compilation of +the Records and the Chronicles. But they are in universal use by the +Japanese, though to speak of a living sovereign by his posthumous +name is a manifest anomaly. + +THE EXPEDITION TO YAMATO + +According to the Chronicles, the four sons of Fuki-ayezu engaged in a +celebrated expedition from Tsukushi (Kyushu) to Yamato, but one +alone, the youngest, survived. According to the Records, two only +took part in the expedition, the other two having died before it set +out. The former version seems more consistent with the facts, and +with the manner of the two princes' deaths, as described in the +Records. Looking from the east coast of the island of Kyushu, the +province of Yamato lies to the northeast, at a distance of about 350 +miles, and forms the centre of the Kii promontory. From what has +preceded, a reader of Japanese history is prepared to find that the +objective of the expedition was Izumo, not Yamato, since it was to +prepare for the occupation of the former province that the Sun +goddess and her coadjutors expended so much energy. No explanation +whatever of this discrepancy is offered, but it cannot be supposed +that Yamato was regarded as a halfway house to Izumo, seeing that +they lie on opposite coasts of Japan and are two hundred miles +distant. + +The Chronicles assign the genesis of the enterprise to Prince Iware, +whom they throughout call Hohodemi, and into whose mouth they put an +exhortation--obviously based on a Chinese model--speaking of a land +in the east encircled by blue mountains and well situated, as the +centre of administrative authority. To reach Yamato by sea from +Kyushu two routes offer; one, the more direct, is by the Pacific +Ocean straight to the south coast of the Kii promontory; the other is +by the Inland Sea to the northwestern coast of the same promontory. +The latter was chosen, doubtless because nautical knowledge and +seagoing vessels were alike wanting. + +It is not possible, however, to speak with confidence as to the +nature of the ships possessed by the Japanese in early times. The +first mention of ships occurs in the story of Susanoo's arrival in +Japan. He is said to have carried with him quantities of tree seeds +which he planted in the Eight Island Country, the cryptomeria and the +camphor being intended to serve as "floating riches," namely ships. +This would suggest, as is indeed commonly believed, that the boats of +that era were simply hollow trunks of trees. + +Five centuries later, however, without any intervening reference, we +find the Emperor Sujin urging the construction of ships as of +cardinal importance for purposes of coastwise transport--advice which +is hardly consistent with the idea of log boats. Again, in A.D. 274, +the people of Izu are recorded as having built and sent to the Court +a vessel one hundred feet long; and, twenty-six years later, this +ship having become old and unserviceable, was used as fuel for +manufacturing salt, five hundred bags of which were distributed among +the provinces with directions to construct as many ships. + +There is no mention in either the Chronicles or the Records of any +marked change in the matter of marine architecture during all these +years. The nature of the Kyushu expeditionary ships must therefore +remain a matter of conjecture, but that they were propelled by oars, +not sails, seems pretty certain. Setting out from some point in +Kyushu probably the present Kagoshima Bay the expedition made its way +up the east coast of the island, and reaching the Bungo Channel, +where the tide is very rapid, obtained the services of a fisherman as +pilot. Thence the fleet pushed on to Usa in the province of Buzen, at +the north of Kyushu, when two local chieftains built for the +entertainment and residence of the princes and their followers a "one +pillared palace"--probably a tent. The next place of call was Oka (or +Okada) in Chikuzen, where they passed a year before turning eastward +into the Inland Sea, and pushing on to one of the many islands off +the coast of Aki, they spent seven years before proceeding to another +island (Takashima) in Kibi, as the present three provinces of Bingo, +Bitchu, and Bizen were then called. There they delayed for eight +years the Chronicles say three--in order to repair the oars of their +vessels and to procure provisions. + +Up to this time there had been no fighting or any attempt to effect a +lodgment on the mainland. But the expedition was now approaching the +narrow westerly entrance to the present Osaka Bay, where an army +might be encountered at any moment. The boats therefore sailed in +line ahead, "the prow of each ship touching the stern of the other." +Off the mouth of the river, now known as the Yodo, they encountered +such a high sea that they called the place Nami-hana (Wave +Flowers), a name subsequently abbreviated to Naniwa. Pushing +on, the expeditionary force finally landed at a place--not now +identifiable--in the province of Kawachi, which bounds Yamato on the +west. + +The whole voyage had occupied four years according to the Chronicles, +sixteen according to the Records. At Kusaka they fought their first +battle against the army of Prince Nagasune and were repulsed, Prince +Itsuse being wounded by an arrow which struck his elbow. It was +therefore decided to change the direction of advance, so that instead +of moving eastward in the face of the sun, a procedure unpleasing to +the goddess of that orb, they should move westward with the sun +behind them. This involved re-embarking and sailing southward round +the Kii promontory so as to land on its eastern coast, but the +dangerous operation of putting an army on board ship in the presence +of a victorious enemy was successfully achieved by the aid of +skilfully used shields. + +On the voyage round Kii, where stormy seas are frequent, the fleet +encountered a heavy gale and the boats containing two of the princes +were lost.* Prince Itsuse had already died of his wound, so of the +four brothers there now remained only the youngest, Prince Iware. It +is recorded that, at the age of fifteen, he had been made heir to the +throne, the principle of primogeniture not being then recognized, and +thus the deaths of his brothers did not affect that question. Landing +ultimately at Kumano on the southeast of Kii, the expeditionary force +was stricken by a pestilence, the prince himself not escaping. But at +the behest of the Sun goddess, the Kami of thunder caused a sword of +special virtue to come miraculously into the possession of an +inhabitant of Kii, who carried it to the prince, and at once the +sickness was stayed. When, however, the army attempted to advance +into the interior, no roads were found and precipitous mountains +barred the progress. In this dilemma the Sun goddess sent down the +three-legged crow of the Sun** to act as guide. + +*In the Chronicles the two princes are represented as having +deliberately entered the stormy sea, angered that such hardships +should overtake the descendants of the ocean Kami. + +**The Yang-wu, or Sun-crow (Japanese Yata-garasu), is a creature of +purely Chinese myth. It is supposed to be red in colour, to have +three legs, and to inhabit the sun. + +Thus indiscriminately are the miraculous and the commonplace +intermixed. Following this bird, the invading force pushed on into +Yamato, receiving the allegiance of a body of men who fished with +cormorants in the Yoshino River and who doubtless supplied the army +with food, and the allegiance of fabulous beings with tails, who came +out of wells or through cliffs. It is related that the invaders +forced the elder of two brothers into a gyn which he had prepared for +their destruction; and that on ascending a hill to reconnoitre, +Prince Iware observed an army of women and a force of eighty +"earth-hiders (Tsuchi-gumo) with tails," by which latter epithet is +to be understood bandits or raiders who inhabited caves. + +How it fared with the amazons the annals do not say, but the eighty +bandits were invited to a banquet and slaughtered in their cups. +Still the expeditionary force encountered great opposition, the roads +and passes being occupied by numerous hostile bands. An appeal was +accordingly made for divine assistance by organizing a public +festival of worship, the vessels employed--eighty platters and as +many jars--being made by the hands of the prince himself with clay +obtained from Mount Kagu in Yamato.* Several minor arrangements +followed, and finally swords were crossed with the army of Nagasune, +who had inflicted a defeat on the invaders on the occasion of their +first landing at Kusaka, when Prince Itsuse received a mortal wound. +A fierce battle ensued. Prince Iware burned to avenge his brother's +death, but repeated attacks upon Nagasune's troops proved abortive +until suddenly a golden-plumaged kite perched on the end of Prince +Iware's bow, and its effulgence dazzled the enemy so that they could +not fight stoutly.** + +*The Chronicles state that the prince made ame on the platters. Ame +is confectioned from malted millet and is virtually the same as the +malt extract of the Occident. + +**This tradition of the golden kite is cherished in Japan. The "Order +of the Golden Kite" is the most coveted military distinction. + +From this incident the place where the battle occurred was called +Tabi-no-mura, a name now corrupted into Tomi-no-mura. It does not +appear, however, that anything like a decisive victory was gained by +the aid of this miraculous intervention. Nagasune sought a conference +with Prince Iware, and declared that the ruler of Yamato, whom he +served, was a Kami who had formerly descended from heaven. He offered +in proof of this statement an arrow and a quiver belonging to the +Kami. But Prince Iware demonstrated their correspondence with those +he himself carried. Nagasune, however, declining to abstain from +resistance, was put to death by the Kami he served, who then made act +of submission to Prince Iware. + +The interest of this last incident lies in the indication it seems to +afford that a race identical with the invaders had already settled in +Yamato. Prince Iware now caused a palace to be built on the plain of +Kashiwa-bara (called Kashihara by some historians), to the southwest +of Mount Unebi, and in it assumed the imperial dignity, on the first +day of the first month of the year 660 B.C. It is scarcely necessary +to say that this date must be received with all reserve, and that the +epithet "palace" is not to be interpreted in the European sense of +the term. The Chronicles, which alone attempt to fix the early dates +with accuracy, indicate 667 B.C. as the year of the expedition's +departure from Kyushu, and assign to Prince Iware an age of +forty-five at the time. He was therefore fifty-two when crowned at +Kashiwa-bara, and as the same authority makes him live to an age of +127, it might be supposed that much would be told of the last +seventy-five years of his life. + +But whereas many pages are devoted to the story of his adventures +before ascending the throne, a few paragraphs suffice for all that is +subsequently related of him. While residing in Kyushu he married and +had two sons, the elder of whom, Tagishi-mimi, accompanied him on his +eastward expedition. In Yamato he married again and had three sons, +the youngest of whom succeeded to the throne. The bestowing of titles +and rewards naturally occupied much attention, and to religious +observances scarcely less importance seems to have been attached. All +references to these latter show that the offices of priest and king +were united in the sovereign of these days. Thus it was by the +Emperor that formulae of incantation to dissipate evil influences +were dictated; that sacrifices were performed to the heavenly Kami so +as to develop filial piety; and that shrines were consecrated for +worshiping the Imperial ancestors. Jimmu was buried in a tumulus +(misasagi) on the northeast of Mount Unebi. The site is officially +recognized to this day, and on the 3rd of April every year it is +visited by an Imperial envoy, who offers products of mountain, river, +and sea. + +TRACES OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE + +What traces of Chinese or foreign influence are to be found in the +legends and myths set down above? It is tolerably certain that +communication existed between China and Japan from a date shortly +prior to the Christian era, and we naturally expect to find that +since China was at that time the author of Asiatic civilization, she +contributed materially to the intellectual development of her island +neighbour. Examining the cosmogonies of the two countries, we find at +the outset a striking difference. The Chinese did not conceive any +creator, ineffable, formless, living in space; whereas the Japanese +imagined a great central Kami and two producing powers, invisible and +working by occult processes. + +On the other hand, there is a marked similarity of thought. For, as +on the death of Panku, the giant toiler of Chinese myth on whom +devolved the task of chiselling out the universe, his left eye was +transmitted into the orb of day and his right into the moon, so when +the Japanese Kami returned from his visit to the underworld, the sun +emerged from the washing of his left eye and the moon from the +washing of his right. Japanese writers have sought to differentiate +the two myths by pointing out that the sun is masculine in China and +feminine in Japan, but such an objection is inadequate to impair the +close resemblance. + +In truth "creation from fragments of a fabulous anthropomorphic being +is common to Chaldeans, Iroquois, Egyptians, Greeks, Tinnehs, +Mangaians, and Aryan Indians," and from that fact a connexion between +ancient Japan and West Asia might be deduced by reference to the +beings formed out of the parts: of the fire Kami's body when Izanagi +put him to the sword. On the other hand, the tale of which the birth +of the sun and the moon forms a part, namely, the visit of Izanagi to +hades in search of Izanami, is an obvious reproduction of the +Babylonian myth of Ishtar's journey to the underworld in search of +Du'uzu, which formed the basis of the Grecian legend of Orpheus and +Eurydice. Moreover, Izanami's objection to return, on the ground of +having already eaten of the food of the underworld, is a feature of +many ancient myths, among which may be mentioned the Indian story of +Nachiketas, where the name Yama, the Indian god of the lower world, +bears an obvious resemblance to the Japanese yomi (hades), as does, +indeed, the whole Indian myth of Yami and Yama to that of Izanagi and +Izanami. + +Is it not also more than a mere coincidence that as all the Semitic +tribes worshipped the goddess Isis, so--the Japanese worshipped, for +supreme being, the goddess of the Sun? Thus, here again there would +seem to have been some path of communication other than that via +China between Japan and the west of Asia. Further, the "river of +heaven"--the Milky Way--which so often figures in Japanese mythology, +is prominent in Chinese also, and is there associated with the +Spinning Damsel, just as in the Japanese legend it serves the Kami +for council-place after the injury done by Susanoo's violence to the +Sun goddess and her spinning maidens. It has been remarked +[Chamberlain] that the chop-stick which Susanoo found floating down +a river in Izumo, and the sake (rice-wine) which he caused to be made +for the purpose of intoxicating the eight-headed serpent, are +obviously products of Chinese civilization, but as for the rescue of +the maiden from the serpent, it is a plain replica of the legend of +Perseus and Andromeda, which, if it came through China, left no mark +in transit. + +Less palpable, but still sufficiently striking, is the resemblance +between the story of Atalanta's golden apples and the casting down of +Izanagi's head-dress and comb as grapes and bamboo sprouts to arrest +the pursuit of the "hag of hades." But indeed this throwing of his +comb behind him by Izanagi and its conversion into a thicket are +common incidents of ancient folk-lore, while in the context of this +Kami's ablutions on his return from hades, it may be noted that Ovid +makes Juno undergo lustration after a visit to the lower regions and +that Dante is washed in Lethe when he passes out of purgatory. Nor is +there any great stretch of imagination needed to detect a likeness +between the feathered messenger sent from the Ark and the three +envoys--the last a bird--despatched from the "plain of high heaven" +to report upon the condition of disturbed Japan. This comparison is +partially vitiated, however, by the fact that there is no tradition +of a deluge in Japanese annals, though such phenomena are like ly to +occur occasionally in all lands and to produce a great impression on +the national imagination. "Moreover, what is specially known to us as +the deluge has been claimed as an ancient Altaic myth. Yet here we +have the oldest of the undoubtedly Altaic nations without any legend +of the kind." [Chamberlain.] + +It appears, further, from the account of the Great-Name Possessor's +visit to the underworld, that one Japanese conception of hades +corresponded exactly with that of the Chinese, namely, a place where +people live and act just as they do on earth. But the religion out of +which this belief grew in China had its origin at a date long +subsequent to the supposed age of the Gods in Japan. The peaches with +which Izanagi pelted and drove back the thunder Kami sent by Izanami +to pursue him on his return from the underworld were evidently +suggested by the fabulous female, Si Wang-mu, of Chinese legend, who +possessed a peach tree, the fruit of which conferred immortality and +repelled the demons of disease. So, too, the tale of the palace of +the ocean Kami at the bottom of the sea, with its castle gate and +cassia tree overhanging a well which serves as a mirror, forms a page +of Chinese legendary lore, and, in a slightly altered form, is found +in many ancient annals. + +The sea monster mentioned in this myth is written with a Chinese +ideograph signifying "crocodile," but since the Japanese cannot have +had any knowledge of crocodiles, and since the monster is usually +represented pictorially as a dragon, there can be little doubt that +we are here confronted by the Dragon King of Chinese and Korean +folk-lore which had its palace in the depths of the ocean. In fact, +the Japanese, in all ages, have spoken of this legendary edifice as +Ryu no jo (the Dragon's castle). + +The eminent sinologue, Aston, has shrewdly pointed out that the term +wani (crocodile) may be a corruption of the Korean word, wang-in +(king), which the Japanese pronounced "wani." As for the "curved +jewels," which appear on so many occasions, the mineral jade, or +jadelike stone, of which many of them were made, has never been met +with in Japan and must therefore have come from the continent of +Asia. The reed boat in which the leech, first offspring of Izanagi +and Izanami, was sent adrift, "recalls the Accadian legend of Sargon +and his ark of rushes, the biblical story of Moses as an infant and +many more," though it has no known counterpart in Chinese mythology. + +It is noticeable that in spite of the honour paid to the stars in the +Chinese cosmogony, the only star specially alluded to in Japanese +myth is Kagase, who is represented as the last of the rebellious Kami +on the occasion of the subjugation of Izumo by order of the Sun +goddess and the Great-Producing Kami. So far as the Records and the +Chronicles are concerned, "the only stars mentioned are Venus, the +Pleiades, and the Weaver," the last being connected with a Chinese +legend, as shown above. + +Two other points remain to be noticed. One is that divination by +cracks in a deer's roasted shoulder blade, a process referred to more +than once in the Records and the Chronicles, was a practice of the +Chinese, who seem to have borrowed it from the Mongolians; the other, +that the sounding arrow (nari-kabura) was an invention of the Huns, +and came to Japan through China. It had holes in the head, and the +air passing through these produced a humming sound. As for the +Chronicles, they are permeated by Chinese influence throughout. The +adoption of the Chinese sexagenary cycle is not unnatural, but again +and again speeches made by Chinese sovereigns and sages are put into +the mouths of Japanese monarchs as original utterances, so that +without the Records for purposes of reference and comparison, even +the small measure of solid ground that can be constructed would be +cut from under the student's feet. + +ENGRAVING: BUNDAI SUZURI BAKO (A WRITING SET) + +ENGRAVING: 'NO' MASKS + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RATIONALIZATION + +GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES + +THE southwestern extremity of the main island of Japan is embraced by +two large islands, Kyushu and Shikoku, the former lying on the west +of the latter and being, in effect, the southern link of the island +chain which constitutes the empire of Japan. Sweeping northward from +Formosa and the Philippines is a strong current known as the +Kuro-shio (Black Tide), a name derived from the deep indigo colour of +the water. This tide, on reaching the vicinity of Kyushu, is +deflected to the east, and passing along the southern coast of Kyushu +and the Kii promontory, takes its way into the Pacific. Evidently +boats carried on the bosom of the Kuro-shio would be likely to make +the shore of Japan at one of three points, namely, the south, or +southeast, of Kyushu, the south of Shikoku or the Kii promontory. + +Now, according to the Records, the first place "begotten" by Izanagi +and Izanami was an island called Awa, supposed to be in the vicinity +of Awaji. The latter is a long, narrow island stretching from the +northeast of Shikoku towards the shore of the main island--which it +approaches very closely at the Strait of Yura--and forming what may +be called a gate, closing the eastern entrance to the Inland Sea. +After the island of Awa, the producing couple gave birth to Awaji and +subsequently to Shikoku, which is described as an island having four +faces, namely, the provinces of Awa, Iyo, Tosa, and Sanuki. + +Rejecting the obviously allegorical phantasy of "procreation," we may +reasonably suppose ourselves to be here in the presence of an +emigration from the South Seas or from southern China, which debarks +on the coast of Awaji and thence crosses to Shikoku. Thereafter, the +immigrants touch at a triplet of small islands, described as "in the +offing," and thence cross to Kyushu, known at the time as Tsukushi. +This large island is described in the Records as having, like +Shikoku, one body and four faces, and part of it was inhabited by +Kumaso, of whom much is heard in Japanese history. From Kyushu the +invaders pass to the islands of Iki and Tsushima, which lie between +Kyushu and Korea, and thereafter they sail northward along the coast +of the main island of Japan until they reach the island of Sado. + +All this--and the order of advance follows exactly the procreation +sequence given in the Records--lends itself easily to the supposition +of a party of immigrants coming originally from the south, voyaging +in a tentative manner round the country described by them, and +establishing themselves primarily on its outlying islands. + +The next step, according to the Records, was to Yamato. About this +name, Yamato, there has been some dispute. Alike in ancient and in +modern times the term has been applied, on the one hand, to the whole +of the main island, and, on the other, to the single province of +Yamato. The best authorities, however, interpret it in the latter +sense for the purposes of the Izanagi-and-Izanami legend, and that +interpretation is plainly consistent with the probabilities, for the +immigrants would naturally have proceeded from Awaji to the Kii +promontory, where the province of Yamato lies. Thereafter--on their +"return," say the Records, and the expression is apposite--they +explored several small islands not identifiable by their names but +said to have been in Kibi, which was the term then applied to the +provinces of Bingo, Bitchu, and Bizen, lying along the south coast of +the Inland Sea and thus facing the sun, so that the descriptive +epithet "sun-direction" applied to the region was manifestly +appropriate. + +In brief, the whole narrative concerts well with the idea of a band +of emigrants carried on the breast of the "Black Tide," who first +make the circuit of the outlying fringe of islands, then enter the +mainland at Yamato, and finally sail down the Inland Sea, using the +small islands off its northern shore as points d'appui for +expeditions inland. + +JAPANESE OPINION + +Japanese euhemerists, several of whom, in former times as well as in +the present, have devoted much learned research to the elucidation of +their country's mythology, insist that tradition never intended to +make such a demand upon human credulity as to ask it to believe in +the begetting of islands by normal process of procreation. They +maintain that such descriptions must be read as allegories. It then +becomes easy to interpret the doings of Izanagi and Izanami as simple +acts of warlike aggression, and to suppose that they each commanded +forces which were to have co-operated, but which, by failing at the +outset to synchronize their movements, were temporarily unsuccessful. +It will seem, as we follow the course of later history, that the +leading of armies by females was common enough to be called a feature +of early Japan, and thus the role assigned to Izanami need not cause +any astonishment. At their first miscarriage the two Kami, by better +organization, overran the island of Awaji and then pushed on to +Shikoku, which they brought completely under their sway. + +But what meaning is to be assigned to the "plain of high heaven" +(Takama-ga-hara)? Where was the place thus designated? By a majority +of Japanese interpreters Takama-ga-hara is identified as the region +of Taka-ichi in Yamato province. The word did not refer to anything +supernatural but was used simply in an honorific sense. In later ages +Court officials were called "lords of the moon" (gekhei) or +"cloud-guests" (unkaku), while officials not permitted to attend the +Court were known as "groundlings" (jige); the residence of the +Emperor was designated "purple-clouds hall" (shishin-deri); to go +from the Imperial capital to any other part of the country was to +"descend," the converse proceeding being called to "ascend," and the +palace received the names of "blue sky" and "above the clouds." + +To-day in Yamato province there is a hill called Takama-yama and a +plain named Takama-no. The Records say that when the Sun goddess +retired to a rock cave, a multitude of Kami met at Taka-ichi to +concert measures for enticing her out, and this Taka-ichi is +considered to be undoubtedly the place of the same name in Yamato. +But some learned men hold that Takama-ga-hara was in a foreign +country, and that the men who emigrated thence to Japan belonged to a +race very superior to that then inhabiting the islands. When, +however, the leader of the invaders had established his Court in +Yamato the designation Takama-ga-hara came to be applied to the +latter place. + +Whichever theory be correct--and the latter certainly commends itself +as the more probable--it will be observed that both agree in +assigning to Takama-ga-hara a terrestrial location; both agree in +assigning the sense of "unsettled and turbulent" to the "floating, +drifting" condition predicated of the country when the Kami first +interested themselves in it, and both agree in interpreting as an +insignium of military authority the "jewelled spear" given to Izanagi +and Izanami--an interpretation borne out by the fact that, in +subsequent eras of Japanese history, it was customary for a ruler +to delegate authority in this manner. Applying the same process +of reasoning to the socalled "birth" of Kami, that process +resolves itself very simply into the creation of chieftains and +administrators. + +RATIONALIZATION OF THE LEGEND OF THE VISIT TO HADES + +It would seem that from Yamato the invaders prosecuted their campaign +into the interior, reaching Izumo on the west coast. The Records +say that after Izanami's death in giving birth to the Kami of fire, +she was buried at Mount Kagu on the confines of Izumo and Hoki. +Now the land of Yomi generally interpreted "underworld"--which +Izanagi visited in search of Izanami, was really identical with +Yomi-shima, located between the provinces of Hoki and Izumo, and +Ne-no-Kuni*--commonly taken to mean the "netherland"--subsequently +the place of Susanoo's banishment, was in fact a designation of +Izumo, or had the more extensive application of the modern Sanin-do +and Sanyo-do (districts in the shadow of the hill and districts on +the sunny side of the hill), that is to say, the western provinces +and the south coast of the Inland Sea. + +*In the language of ancient Japan ne meant "mountain," and Ne-no-Kuni +signified simply "Land of Mountains." + +What the allegory of the visit to hades would seem to signify, +therefore, was that Izanami was defeated in a struggle with the local +chieftains of Izumo or with a rebellious faction in that province; +was compelled to make act of submission before Izanagi arrived to +assist her--allegorically speaking she had eaten of the food of +hades--and therefore the conference between her and Izanagi proved +abortive. The hag who pursued Izanagi on his retreat from Yomi +represents a band of amazons--a common feature in old Japan--and his +assailant, the Kami of thunder, was a rebel leader. + +As for the idea of blocking the "even pass of hades" with rocks, it +appears to mean nothing more than that a military force was posted at +Hirasaka--now called Ifuyo-saka in Izumo--to hold the defile against +the insurgent troops under Izanami, who finally took the field +against Izanagi. It may be inferred that the struggle ended +indecisively, although Izanagi killed the chieftain who had +instigated the rebellion (the so-called "Kami of fire"), and that +Izanami remained in Izumo, becoming ruler of that province, while +Izanagi withdrew to the eastern part of Tsukushi (Kyushu), where he +performed the ceremony of grand lustration. + +THE STORY OF SUSANOO + +The story of Susanoo lends itself with equal facility to +rationalization. His desire to go to his "mother's land" instead of +obeying his father and ruling the "sea-plain" (unabara)--an +appellation believed by some learned commentators to apply to +Korea--may easily be interpreted to mean that he threw in his lot +with the rebellious chiefs in Izumo. Leading a force into Yamato, he +laid waste the land so that the "green mountains were changed into +withered mountains," and the commotion throughout the country was +like the noise of "flies swarming in the fifth month." Finally he was +driven out of Yamato, and retiring to Izumo, found that the local +prefect was unable to resist the raids of a tribe from the +north under the command of a chief whose name--Yachimata no +Orochi--signified "eight-headed serpent." + +This tribe had invaded the province and taken possession of the hills +and valleys in the upper reaches of the river Hi, whence tradition +came to speak of the tribe as a monster spreading over hills and +dales and having pine forests growing on its back. The tribute of +females, demanded yearly by the tribe, indicates an exaction not +uncommon in those days, and the sword said to have been found by +Susanoo in the serpent's tail was the weapon worn by the last and the +stoutest of Orochi's followers. + +There is another theory equally accordant with the annals and in some +respects more satisfying. It is that Susanoo and his son, Iso-takeru, +when they were expelled from Yamato, dwelt in the land of +Shiragi--the eastern of the three kingdoms into which Korea was +formerly divided--and that they subsequently built boats and rowed +over to Izumo. This is distinctly stated in one version of the +Chronicles, and another variant says that when Iso-takeru descended +from Takama-ga-hara, he carried with him the seeds of trees in great +quantities but did not plant them in "the land of Han" (Korea). +Further, it is elsewhere stated that the sword found by Susanoo in +the serpent's tail was called by him Orochi no Kara-suki (Orochi's +Korean blade), an allusion which goes to strengthen the reading of +the legend. + +THE DESCENT OF NINIGI + +Omitting other comparatively trivial legends connected with the age +of Susanoo and his descendants, we come to what may be called the +second great event in the early annals of Japan, namely, the descent +of Ninigi on the southern coast of Tsukushi (Kyushu). The Records and +the Chronicles explicitly state that this expedition was planned in +the court at Takama-ga-hara (the "plain of high heaven"), and that, +after sending forces to subdue the disturbed country and to obtain +the submission of its ruler, the grandson (Ninigi) of the Sun goddess +was commissioned to take possession of the land. It is also clearly +shown that Izumo was the centre of disturbance and that virtually all +the preliminary fighting took place there. Yet when Ninigi descends +from Takama-ga-hara--a descent which is described in one account as +having taken place in a closed boat, and in another, as having been +effected by means of the coverlet of a couch--he is said to have +landed, not in Izumo or in Yamato, but at a place in the far south, +where he makes no recorded attempt to fulfil the purpose of his +mission, nor does that purpose receive any practical recognition +until the time of his grandson Iware. The latter pushes northward, +encountering the greatest resistance in the very province (Yamato) +where his grandfather's expedition was planned and where the Imperial +Court was held. + +It is plain that these conditions cannot be reconciled except on one +of two suppositions: either that the Takama-ga-hara of this section +of the annals was in a foreign country, or that the descent of Ninigi +in the south of Japan was in the sequel of a complete defeat +involving the Court's flight from Yamato as well as from Izumo. + +Let us first consider the theory of a foreign country. Was it Korea +or was it China? In favour of Korea there are only two arguments, one +vague and the other improbable. The former is that one of Ninigi's +alleged reasons for choosing Tsukushi as a landing-place was that it +faced Korea. The latter, that Tsukushi was selected because it +offered a convenient base for defending Japan against Korea. It will +be observed that the two hypotheses are mutually conflicting, and +that neither accounts for debarkation at a part of Tsukushi +conspicuously remote from Korea. It is not wholly impossible, +however, that Ninigi came from China, and that the Court which is +said to have commissioned him was a Chinese Court. + +In the history of China a belief is recorded that the Japanese +sovereigns are descended from a Chinese prince, Tai Peh, whose father +wished to disinherit him in favour of a younger son. Tai Peh fled to +Wu in the present Chekiang, and thence passed to Japan about 800 B.C. +Another record alleges that the first sovereign of Japan was a son of +Shao-kang of the Hsia dynasty (about 850 B.C.), who tattooed his body +and cut off his hair for purposes of disguise and lived on the bank +of the Yangtsze, occupying himself with fishing until at length he +fled to Japan. + +That Ninigi may have been identical with one of these persons is not +inconceivable, but such a hypothesis refuses to be reconciled with +the story of the fighting in Izumo which preceded the descent to +Tsukushi. The much more credible supposition is that the Yamato +Court, confronted by a formidable rebellion having its centre in +Izumo, retired to Tsukushi, and there, in the course of years, +mustered all its followers for an expedition ultimately led by the +grandson of the fugitive monarch to restore the sway of his house. +This interpretation of the legend consists with the fact that when +Jimmu reached Yamato, the original identity of his own race with that +of the then ruler of the province was proved by a comparison of +weapons. + +THE CASTLE OF THE OCEAN KAMI + +With regard to the legend of the ocean Kami, the rationalists +conceive that the tribe inhabiting Tsukushi at the time of Ninigi's +arrival there had originally immigrated from the south and had +gradually spread inland. Those inhabiting the littoral districts were +ultimately placed by Ninigi under the rule of Prince Hohodemi, and +those inhabiting the mountain regions under the sway of Prince +Hosuseri. The boats and hooks of the legend are symbolical of +military and naval power respectively. The brothers having quarrelled +about the limits of their jurisdictions, Hohodemi was worsted, and by +the advice of a local elder he went to Korea to seek assistance. +There he married the daughter of the Ocean King--so called because +Korea lay beyond the sea from Japan--and, after some years' +residence, was given a force of war-vessels (described in the legend +as "crocodiles") together with minute instructions (the tide-ebbing +and the tide-flowing jewels) as to their skilful management. These +ships ultimately enabled him to gain a complete victory over his +elder brother. + +WHAT THE JAPANESE BELIEVE + +These rationalizing processes will commend themselves in different +degrees to different minds. One learned author has compared such +analyses to estimating the historical residuum of the Cinderella +legend by subtracting the pumpkin coach and the godmother. But we are +constrained to acknowledge some background of truth in the annals of +old Japan, and anything that tends to disclose that background is +welcome. It has to be noted, however, that though many learned +Japanese commentators have sought to rationalize the events described +in the Records and the Chronicles, the great bulk of the nation +believes in the literal accuracy of these works as profoundly as the +great bulk of Anglo-Saxon people believes in the Bible, its +cosmogony, and its miracles. + +The gist of the Japanese creed, as based on their ancient annals, may +be briefly summarized. They hold that when the Sun goddess handed the +three sacred objects to Ninigi--generally called Tenson, or "heavenly +grandchild"--she ordained that the Imperial Throne should be coeval +with heaven and earth. They hold that the instructions given with +regard to these sacred objects comprised the whole code of +administrative ethics. The mirror neither hides nor perverts; it +reflects evil qualities as faithfully as good; it is the emblem of +honesty and purity. The jewel illustrates the graces of gentleness, +softness, amiability, and obedience, and is therefore emblematic of +benevolence and virtue.* The sword indicates the virtues of strength, +sharpness, and practical decision, and is thus associated with +intelligence and knowledge. So long as all these qualities are +exercised in the discharge of administrative functions, there can be +no misrule. + +*It must be remembered that the jewel referred to was a piece of +green or white jade. + +They further hold that when the Sun goddess detailed five Kami to +form the suite of Ninigi, these Kami were entrusted with the +ministerial duties originally discharged by them, and becoming the +heads of five administrative departments, transmitted their offices +to generation after generation of their descendants. Thus Koyane was +the ancestor of the Nakatomi family who discharged the priestly +duties of worship at the Court and recited the Purification Rituals; +Futodama became the ancestor of the Imibe (or Imbe), a hereditary +corporation whose members performed all offices connected with +mourning and funerals; Usume became ancestress of the Sarume, whose +duties were to perform dances in honour of the deities and to act as +mediums of divine inspiration; Oshihi was the ancestor of the Otomo +chief who led the Imperial troops, and Kume became the ancestor of +the Kumebe, a hereditary corporation of palace guards. Further, they +hold that whereas Ninigi and his five adjunct Kami all traced their +lineage to the two producing Kami of the primal trinity, the special +title of sovereignty conferred originally on the Sun goddess was +transmitted by her to the Tenson (heavenly grandchild), Ninigi, the +distinction of ruler and ruled being thus clearly defined. Finally +they hold that Ninigi and these five adjunct Kami, though occupying +different places in the national polity, had a common ancestor whom +they jointly worshipped, thus forming an eternal union. + +ENGRAVING: ANCIENT CIVIL AND MILITARY HEAD-GEAR + + + +CHAPTER V + +ORIGIN OF THE JAPANESE NATION: HISTORICAL EVIDENCES + +IN considering the question of the origin of the Japanese nation four +guides are available; namely, written annals, archaeological relics, +physical features, and linguistic affinities. + +WRITTEN ANNALS + +The annals, that is to say, the Records and the Chronicles, speak of +six peoples; namely, first, Izanagi and his fellow Kami, who, as +shown above, may reasonably be identified with the original +immigrants represented in the story of the so-called "birth" of the +islands; secondly, Jimmu and his followers, who re-conquered the +islands; thirdly, the Yemishi, who are identical with the modern +Ainu; fourthly, the Kumaso; fifthly, the Sushen; and sixthly the +Tsuchi-gumo (earth-spiders). By naming these six separately it is not +intended to imply that they are necessarily different races: that +remains to be decided. It will be convenient to begin with the +Sushen. + +THE SUSHEN + +The Sushen were Tungusic ancestors of the Manchu. They are first +mentioned in Japanese annals in A.D. 549, when a number of them +arrived by boat on the north of Sado Island and settled there, living +on fish caught during spring and summer and salted or dried for +winter use. The people of Sado regarded them as demons and carefully +avoided them, a reception which implies total absence of previous +intercourse. Finally they withdrew, and nothing more is heard of +their race for over a hundred years, when, in A.D. 658, Hirafu, omi +of Abe and warden of Koshi (the northwestern provinces, Etchu, +Echizen, and Echigo), went on an expedition against them. + +Nothing is recorded as to the origin or incidents of this campaign. +One account says that Hirafu, on his return, presented two white +bears to the Empress; that he fought with the Sushen and carried back +forty-nine captives. It may be assumed, however, that the enterprise +proved abortive, for, two years later (660), he was again sent +against the Sushen with two hundred ships. En route for his +destination he took on board his own vessel some of the inhabitants +of Yezo (Yemishi) to act as guides, and the flotilla arrived +presently in the vicinity of a long river, unnamed in the annals but +supposed to have been the Ishikari, which debouches on the west coast +of Yezo. There a body of over a thousand Yemishi in a camp facing the +river sent messengers to report that the Sushen fleet had arrived in +great force and that they were in imminent danger. The Sushen had +over twenty vessels and were lying in a concealed port whence Hirafu +in vain sent messengers to summon them. + +What ensued in thus told in the Chronicles: "Hirafu heaped up on the +beach coloured silk stuffs, weapons, iron, etc.," to excite the +cupidity of the Sushen, who thereupon drew up their fleet in order, +approached "with equal oars, flying flags made of feathers tied to +poles, and halted in a shallow place. Then from one of their ships +they sent forth two old men who went round the coloured silk stuffs +and other articles which had been piled up, examined them closely, +whereafter they changed the single garments they had on, and each +taking up a piece of cloth went on board their ship and departed." +Meanwhile the Japanese had not made any attempt to molest them. +Presently the two old men returned, took off the exchanged garments +and, laying them down together with the cloth they had taken away, +re-embarked and departed. + +Up to this Hirafu seems to have aimed at commercial intercourse. But +his overtures having been rejected, he sent to summon the Sushen. +They refused to come, and their prayer for peace having been +unsuccessful, they retired to "their own palisades." There the +Japanese attacked them, and the Sushen, seeing that defeat was +inevitable, put to death their own wives and children. How they +themselves fared is not recorded, nor do the Chronicles indicate +where "their own palisades" were situated, but in Japan it has always +been believed that the desperate engagement was fought in the Amur +River, and its issue may be inferred from the fact that although the +Japanese lost one general officer, Hirafu was able on his return to +present to the Empress more than fifty "barbarians," presumably +Sushen. Nevertheless, it is recorded that in the same year (A.D. +660), forty-seven men of Sushen were entertained at Court, and the +inference is either that these were among the above "savages"--in +which case Japan's treatment of her captured foes in ancient times +would merit applause--or that the Sushen had previously established +relations with Japan, and that Hirafu's campaign was merely to repel +trespass. + +During the next sixteen years nothing more is heard of the Sushen, +but, in A.D. 676, seven of them arrived in the train of an envoy from +Sinra, the eastern of the three kingdoms into which Korea was then +divided. This incident evokes no remark whatever from the compilers +of the Chronicles, and they treat with equal indifference the +statement that during the reign of the Empress Jito, in the year A.D. +696, presents of coats and trousers made of brocade, together with +dark-red and deep-purple coarse silks, oxen, and other things were +given to two men of Sushen. Nothing in this brief record suggests +that any considerable intercourse existed in ancient times between +the Japanese and the Tungusic Manchu, or that the latter settled in +Japan in any appreciable numbers. + +THE YEMISHI + +The Yemishi are identified with the modern Ainu. It appears that the +continental immigrants into Japan applied to the semi-savage races +encountered by them the epithet "Yebisu" or "Yemishi," terms which +may have been interchangeable onomatopes for "barbarian." The +Yemishi are a moribund race. Only a remnant, numbering a few +thousands, survives, now in the northern island of Yezo. Nevertheless +it has been proved by Chamberlain's investigations into the origin of +place-names, that in early times the Yemishi extended from the north +down the eastern section of Japan as far as the region where the +present capital (Tokyo) stands, and on the west to the province now +called Echizen; and that, when the Nihongi was written, they still +occupied a large part of the main island. + +We find the first mention of them in a poem attributed to the Emperor +Jimmu. Conducting his campaign for the re-conquest of Japan, Jimmu, +uncertain of the disposition of a band of inhabitants, ordered his +general, Michi, to construct a spacious hut (muro) and invite the +eighty doubtful characters to a banquet. An equal number of Jimmu's +soldiers acted as hosts, and, at a given signal, when the guests were +all drunk, they were slaughtered. Jimmu composed a couplet expressing +his troops' delight at having disposed of a formidable foe so easily, +and in this verselet he spoke of one Yemishi being reputed to be a +match for a hundred men. + +Whether this couplet really belongs to its context, however, is +questionable; the eighty warriors killed in the muro may not have +been Yemishi at all. But the verse does certainly tend to show that +the Yemishi had a high fighting reputation in ancient times, though +it will presently be seen that such fame scarcely consists with the +facts revealed by history. It is true that when next we hear of the +Yemishi more than seven and a half centuries have passed, and during +that long interval they may have been engaged in a fierce struggle +for the right of existence. There is no evidence, however, that such +was the case. + +On the contrary, it would seem that the Japanese invaders encountered +no great resistance from the Yemishi in the south, and were for a +long time content to leave them unmolested in the northern and +eastern regions. In A.D. 95, however, Takenouchi-no-Sukune was +commissioned by the Emperor Keiko to explore those regions. He +devoted two years to the task, and, on his return in 97, he submitted +to his sovereign this request: "In the eastern wilds there is a +country called Hi-taka-mi (Sun-height). The people of this country, +both men and women, tie up their hair in the form of a mallet and +tattoo their bodies. They are of fierce temper and their general name +is Yemishi. Moreover, the land is wide and fertile. We should attack +it and take it." [Aston's translation.] It is observable that the +principal motive of this advice is aggressive. The Yemishi had not +molested the Japanese or shown any turbulence. They ought to be +attacked because their conquest would be profitable: that was +sufficient. + +Takenouchi's counsels could not be immediately followed. Other +business of a cognate nature in the south occupied the Court's +attention, and thirteen years elapsed before (A.D. 110) the +celebrated hero, Prince Yamato-dake, led an expedition against the +Yemishi of the east. In commanding him to undertake this task, the +Emperor, according to the Chronicles, made a speech which, owing to +its Chinese tone, has been called apocryphal, though some, at any +rate, of the statements it embodies are attested by modern +observation of Ainu manners and customs. He spoke of the Yemishi as +being the most powerful among the "eastern savages;" said that their +"men and women lived together promiscuously," that there was "no +distinction of father and child;" that in winter "they dwelt in holes +and in summer they lived in huts;" that their clothing consisted of +furs and that they drank blood; that when they received a favour they +forgot it, but if an injury was done them they never failed to avenge +it, and that they kept arrows in their top-knots and carried swords +within their clothing. How correct these attributes may have been at +the time they were uttered, there are no means of judging, but the +customs of the modern Ainu go far to attest the accuracy of the +Emperor Keiko's remarks about their ancestors. + +Yamato-dake prefaced his campaign by worshipping at the shrine of +Ise, where he received the sword "Herb-queller," which Susanoo had +taken from the last chieftain of the Izumo tribesmen. Thence he +sailed along the coast to Suruga, where he landed, and was nearly +destroyed by the burning of a moor into which he had been persuaded +to penetrate in search of game. Escaping with difficulty, and having +taken a terrible vengeance upon the "brigands" who had sought to +compass his destruction, he pushed on into Sagami, crossed the bay to +Kazusa and, sailing north, reached the southern shore of Shimosa, +which was the frontier of the Yemishi. The vessels of the latter +assembled with the intention of offering resistance, but at the +aspect of the Japanese fleet and the incomparably superior arms and +arrows of the men it carried, they submitted unconditionally and +became personal attendants on Yamato-dake. + +Three things are noticeable in this narrative. The first is that the +"brigands of Suruga" were not Yemishi; the second, that the Yemishi +offered no resistance, and the third, that the Yemishi chiefs are +called in the Chronicles "Kami of the islands" and "Kami of the +country"--titles which indicate that they were held in some respect +by the Japanese. It is not explicitly recorded that Yamato-dake had +any further encounter with the Yemishi, but figurative references +show that he had much fighting. The Chronicles quote him as saying, +after his return to Kii from an extended march through the +northeastern provinces and after penetrating as far as Hi-taka-mi +(modern Hitachi), the headquarters of the Yemishi, that the only +Yemishi who remained unsubmissive were those of Shinano and Koshi +(Echigo, Etchu, and Echizen). But although Yamato-dake subsequently +entered Shinano, where he suffered much from the arduous nature of +the ground, and though he sent a general to explore Koshi, he +ultimately retired to Owari, where he died from the effects of +fatigue and exposure according to some authorities, of a wound from a +poisoned arrow according to others. His last act was to present as +slaves to the shrine of Ise the Yemishi who had originally +surrendered and who had subsequently attached themselves to his +person. They proved so noisy, however, that the priestess of the +shrine sent them to the Yamato Court, which assigned for them a +settlement on Mount Mimoro. Here, too, their conduct was so turbulent +that they received orders to divide and take up their abode at any +place throughout the five provinces of Harima, Sanuki, Iyo, Aki, and +Awa, where, in after ages, they constituted a hereditary corporation +of Saeki (Saekibe). + +These details deserve to be recorded, for their sequel shows +historically that there is an Yemishi element in the Japanese race. +Thus, in later times we find the high rank of muraji borne by a +member of the Saekibe. Fifteen years (A.D. 125) after the death of +Yamato-dake, Prince Sajima was appointed governor-general of the +fifteen provinces of Tosan-do (the Eastern Mountain circuit); that is +to say, the provinces along the east coast. He died en route and his +son, Prince Mimoro, succeeded to the office. During his tenure of +power the Yemishi raised a disturbance, but no sooner was force +employed against them than they made obeisance and threw themselves +on the mercy of the Japanese, who pardoned all that submitted. + +This orderly condition remained uninterrupted until A.D. 367, when +the Yemishi in Kazusa made one of the very few successful revolts on +record. They killed Tamichi, a Japanese general sent against them, +and they drove back his forces, who do not appear to have taken very +effective measures of retaliation. In 482 we find the Yemishi +rendering homage to the Emperor Kenso, a ceremony which was repeated +on the accession of the Emperor Kimmei (540). + +But, though meek in the presence of peril, the Yemishi appear to have +been of a brawling temperament. Thus, in 561, several thousands of +them showed hostility on the frontier, yet no sooner were their +chiefs threatened with death than they submitted. At that time all +the provinces in the northeast and northwest--then included in Mutsu +and Dewa--were in Yemishi possession. They rebelled again in 637, and +at first gained a signal success, driving the Japanese general, +Katana, into a fortress where he was deserted by his troops. His wife +saved the situation. She upbraided her husband as he was scaling the +palisades to escape by night, fortified him with wine, girded his +sword on herself, and caused her female attendants--of whom there +were "several tens"--to twang bowstrings. Katana, taking heart of +grace, advanced single handed; the Yemishi, thinking that his troops +had rallied, gave way, and the Japanese soldiers, returning to their +duty, killed or captured all the insurgents. + +No other instance of equally determined resistance is recorded on the +part of the Yemishi. In 642, several thousands made submission in +Koshi. Four years later (646), we find Yemishi doing homage to the +Emperor Kotoku. Yet in 645 it was deemed necessary to establish a +barrier settlement against them in Echigo; and whereas, in 655, when +the Empress Saimei ascended the throne, her Court at Naniwa +entertained ninety-nine of the northern Yemishi and forty-five of the +eastern, conferring cups of honour on fifteen, while at the same time +another numerous body came to render homage and offer gifts, barely +three years had elapsed when, in 655, a Japanese squadron of 180 +vessels, under the command of Hirafu, omi of Abe, was engaged +attacking the Yemishi at Akita on the northwest coast of the main +island. + +All this shows plainly that many districts were still peopled by +Yemishi and that their docility varied in different localities. In +the Akita campaign the usual surrender was rehearsed. The Yemishi +declared that their bows and arrows were for hunting, not for +fighting, and the affair ended in a great feast given by Hirafu, the +sequel being that two hundred Yemishi proceeded to Court, carrying +presents, and were appointed to various offices in the localities +represented, receiving also gifts of arms, armour, drums, and flags.* + +*It is related that these flags had tops shaped like cuttlefish. + +An interesting episode is recorded of this visit. One of the Yemishi, +having been appointed to a high post, was instructed to investigate +the Yemishi population and the captive population. Who were these +captives? They seem to have been Sushen, for at the feast given by +Hirafu his Yemishi guests came accompanied by thirty-five captives, +and it is incredible that Japanese prisoners would have been thus +humiliated in the sight of their armed countrymen. There will be +occasion to recur to this point presently. Here we have to note that +in spite of frequent contact, friendly or hostile, and in spite of so +many years of intercourse, the Yemishi seem to have been still +regarded by the Japanese as objects of curiosity. For, in the year +654, envoys from Yamato to the Tang Emperor of China took with them a +Yemishi man and woman to show to his Majesty. + +The Chinese sovereign was much struck by the unwonted appearance of +these people. He asked several questions, which are recorded verbatim +in the Chronicles; and the envoys informed him that there were three +tribes of Yemishi; namely, the Tsugaru* Yemishi, who were the most +distant; next, the Ara Yemishi (rough or only partially subdued), and +lastly, the Nigi Yemishi (quiet or docile); that they sustained life +by eating, not cereals, but flesh, and that they dispensed with +houses, preferring to live under trees and in the recesses of +mountains. The Chinese Emperor finally remarked, "When we look at the +unusual bodily appearance of these Yemishi, it is strange in the +extreme." + +*The Story of Korea, by Longford. + +Evidently whatever the original provenance of the Yemishi, they had +never been among the numerous peoples who observed the custom of +paying visits of ceremony to the Chinese capital. They were +apparently not included in the family of Far Eastern nations. From +the second half of the seventh century they are constantly found +carrying tribute to the Japanese Court and receiving presents or +being entertained in return. But these evidences of docility and +friendship were not indicative of the universal mood. The Yemishi +located in the northeastern section of the main island continued to +give trouble up to the beginning of the ninth century, and throughout +this region as well as along the west coast from the thirty-eighth +parallel of latitude northward the Japanese were obliged to build six +castles and ten barrier posts between A.D. 647 and 800. + +These facts, however, have no concern with the immediate purpose of +this historical reference further than to show that from the earliest +times the Yamato immigrants found no opponents in the northern half +of the island except the Yemishi and the Sushen. One more episode, +however, is germane. In the time (682) of the Emperor Temmu, the +Yemishi of Koshi, who had by that time become quite docile, asked for +and received seven thousand families of captives to found a district. +A Japanese writing alleges that these captives were subjects of the +Crown who had been seized and enslaved by the savages. But that is +inconsistent with all probabilities. The Yamato might sentence these +people to serfdom among men of their own race, but they never would +have condemned Japanese to such a position among the Yemishi. +Evidently these "captives" were prisoners taken by the Yamato from +the Koreans, the Sushen, or some other hostile nation. + +THE KUMASO + +There has been some dispute about the appellation "Kumaso." One high +authority thinks that Kuma and So were the names of two tribes +inhabiting the extreme south of Japan; that is to say, the provinces +now called Hyuga, Osumi, and Satsuma. Others regard the term as +denoting one tribe only. The question is not very material. Among all +the theories formed about the Kumaso, the most plausible is that they +belonged to the Sow race of Borneo and that they found their way to +Japan on the breast of the "Black Tide." Many similarities of custom +have been traced between the two peoples. Both resorted freely to +ornamental tattooing; both used shields decorated with hair; both +were skilled in making articles of bamboo, especially hats; both were +fond of dancing with accompaniment of singing and hand-clapping; and +both dressed their hair alike. Japanese annals use the word "Kumaso" +for the first time in connexion with the annexation of Tsukushi +(Kyushu) by the Izanagi expedition, when one of the four faces of the +island is called the "land of Kumaso." Plainly if this nomenclature +may be taken as evidence, the Kumaso must have arrived in Japan at a +date prior to the advent of the immigrants represented by Izanagi and +Izanami; and it would further follow that they did not penetrate far +into the interior, but remained in the vicinity of the place of +landing, which may be supposed to have been some point on the +southern coast of Kyushu. Nor does there appear to have been any +collision between the two tides of immigrants, for the first +appearance of the Kumaso in a truculent role was in A.D. 81 when they +are said to have rebelled. + +The incident, though remote from the capital, was sufficiently +formidable to induce the Emperor Keiko to lead a force against them +in person from Yamato. En route he had to deal with "brigands" +infesting Suwo and Buzen, provinces separated by the Inland Sea and +situated respectively on the south of the main island and the north +of Kyushu. These provinces were ruled by chieftainesses, who declared +themselves loyal to the Imperial cause, and gave information about +the haunts and habits of the "brigands," who in Suwo had no special +appellation but in Buzen were known as Tsuchi-gumo, a name to be +spoken of presently. They were disposed of partly by stratagem and +partly by open warfare. But when the Yamato troops arrived in Hyuga +within striking distance of the Kumaso, the Emperor hesitated. He +deemed it wise not to touch the spear-points of these puissant foes. +Ultimately he overcame them by enticing the two daughters of the +principal leaders and making a show of affection for one of them. She +conducted Japanese soldiers to her father's residence, and having +plied him with strong drink, cut his bow-string while he slept so +that the soldiers could kill him with impunity. It is recorded that +Keiko put the girl to death for her unfilial conduct, but the +assassination of her father helped the Japanese materially in their +campaign against the Kumaso, whom they succeeded in subduing and in +whose land the Emperor remained six years. + +The Kumaso were not quelled, however. Scarcely eight years had +elapsed from the time of Keiko's return to Yamato when they rebelled +again, "making ceaseless raids upon the frontier districts;" and he +sent against them his son, Yamato-dake; with a band of skilled +archers. This youth, one of the most heroic figures in ancient +Japanese history, was only sixteen. He disguised himself as a girl +and thus gained access to a banquet given by the principal Kumaso +leader to celebrate the opening of a new residence. Attracted by the +beauty of the supposed girl, the Kumaso chieftain placed her beside +him, and when he had drunk heavily, Yamato-dake stabbed him to the +heart,* subsequently serving all his band in the same way. After +this, the Kumaso remained quiet for nearly a century, but in the year +193,** during the reign of the Emperor Chuai, they once more +rebelled, and the Emperor organized an expedition against them. He +failed in the struggle and was killed by the Kumaso's arrows. +Thenceforth history is silent about them. + +*The Chronicles relate that when the Kumaso was struck down he asked +for a moment's respite to learn the name of his slayer, whose prowess +astounded him. On receiving an answer he sought the prince's +permission to give him a title, and declared that instead of being +called Yamato Oguna, the name hitherto borne by him, he should be +termed Yamato-dake (Champion of Japan) because he had conquered the +hitherto unconquerable. The prince accepted the name, and then gave +the Kumaso his coup de grace. + +**It should be understood that these dates, being prehistoric, are +not wholly reliable. + +Who, then, were they? It is related in the Chronicles that, after +breaking the power of the Kumaso, the Emperor Keiko made a tour of +inspection in Tsukushi (Kyushu), and arriving at the district of +Kuma, summoned two brothers, princes of Kuma, to pay homage. One +obeyed, but the other refused, and soldiers were therefore sent to +put him to death. Now Kuma was the name of the three kingdoms into +which the Korean peninsula was divided in ancient times, and it has +been suggested [Aston] that the land of Kuma in Korea was the parent +country of Kuma in Japan, Kom in the Korean language having the same +meaning (bear) as Kuma in the Japanese. This, of course, involves the +conclusion that the Kumaso were originally Korean emigrants; a theory +somewhat difficult to reconcile with their location in the extreme +south of Kyushu. + +The apparent silence of the annals about the subsequent career of the +tribe is accounted for by supposing that the Kumaso were identical +with the Hayato (falcon men), who make their first appearance upon +the scene in prehistoric days as followers of Hosuseri in his contest +with his younger brother, Hohodemi, the hero of the legend about the +palace of the sea god. Hohodemi according to the rationalized version +of the legend having obtained assistance in the shape of ships and +mariners from an oversea monarch (supposed to have reigned in Korea), +returned to Tsukushi to fight his brother, and being victorious, +spared Hosuseri's life on condition that the descendants of the +vanquished through eighty generations should serve the victor's +descendants as mimes. + +"On that account," says the Chronicles, "the various Hayato, +descended from Hosuseri to the present time, do not leave the +vicinity of the Imperial palace enclosure and render service instead +of watch-dogs." The first mention of the name Hayato after the +prehistoric battle in Kyushu, occurs in the year 399, when Sashihire, +one of the tribe, was induced to assassinate his master, an Imperial +prince. This incident goes to show that individual members of the +tribe were then employed at Court; an inference confirmed fifty-one +years later, when, on the death of Emperor Yuryaku, "the Hayato +lamented night and day beside the misasagi (tomb) and refused the +food offered to them, until at the end of seven days they died." + +It can scarcely be doubted that we have here a reversion to the old +custom which compelled slaves to follow their lords to the grave. The +Hayato serving in the Court at that epoch held the status generally +assigned in ancient days to vanquished people, the status of serfs or +slaves. Six times during the next 214 years we find the Hayato +repairing to the Court to pay homage, in the performance of which +function they are usually bracketted with the Yemishi. Once (682) a +wrestling match took place in the Imperial presence between the +Hayato of Osumi and those of Satsuma, and once (694) the viceroy of +Tsukushi (Kyushu) presented 174 Hayato to the Court. + +THE TSUCHI-GUMO + +In ancient Japan there was a class of men to whom the epithet +"Tsuchi" (earth-spiders) was applied. Their identity has been a +subject of much controversy. The first mention made of them in +Japanese annals occurs in connexion with the slaughter of eighty +braves invited to a banquet by the Emperor Jimmu's general in a +pit-dwelling at Osaka.* The Records apply to these men the epithet +"Tsuchi-gumo," whereas the Chronicles represent the Emperor as +celebrating the incident in a couplet which speaks of them as +Yemishi. It will be seen presently that the apparent confusion of +epithet probably conveys a truth. + +*This incident has been already referred to under the heading +"Yemishi." It is to be observed that the "Osaka" here mentioned is +not the modern city of Osaka. + +The next allusion to Tsuchi-gumo occurs in the annals of the year +(662 B.C.) following the above event, according to the chronology of +the Chronicles. The Emperor, having commanded his generals to +exercise the troops, Tsuchi-gumo were found in three places, and as +they declined to submit, a detachment was sent against them. +Concerning a fourth band of these defiant folk, the Chronicles say: +"They had short bodies and long legs and arms. They were of the same +class as the pigmies. The Imperial troops wove nets of dolichos, +which they flung over them and then slew them." + +There are four comments to be made on this. The first is that the +scene of the fighting was in Yamato. The second, that the chiefs of +the Tsuchi-gumo had Japanese names--names identical, in two cases, +with those of a kind of Shinto priest (hafuri), and therefore most +unlikely to have been borne by men not of Japanese origin. The third, +that the presence of Tsuchi-gumo in Yamato preceded the arrival of +Jimmu's expedition. And the fourth, that the Records are silent about +the whole episode. As for the things told in the Chronicles about +short bodies, long limbs, pigmies, and nets of dolichos, they may be +dismissed as mere fancies suggested by the name Tsuchi-gumo, which +was commonly supposed to mean "earth-spiders." If any inference may +be drawn from the Chronicles' story, it is that there were Japanese +in Yamato before Jimmu's time, and that Tsuchi-gumo were simply bands +of Japanese raiders. + +ENGRAVING: AINUS (INHABITANTS OF HOKKAIDO, THE NORTHERN ISLAND) + +They are heard of next in the province of Bungo (on the northeast of +Kyushu) where (A.D. 82) the Emperor Keiko led an army to attack the +Kumaso. Two bands of Tsuchi-gumo are mentioned as living there, and +the Imperial forces had no little difficulty in subduing them. Their +chiefs are described as "mighty of frame and having numerous +followers." In dealing with the first band, Keiko caused his bravest +soldiers to carry mallets made from camellia trees, though why such +weapons should have been preferred to the trenchant swords used by +the Japanese there is nothing to show. (Another account says +"mallet-headed swords," which is much more credible). In dealing with +the second, he was driven back once by their rain of arrows, and when +he attacked from another quarter, the Tsuchi-gumo, their submission +having been refused, flung themselves into a ravine and perished. + +Here again certain points have to be noticed: that there were +Tsuchi-gumo in Kyushu as well as in Yamato; that if one account +describes them as pigmies, another depicts them as "mighty of frame," +and that in Kyushu, as in Yamato, the Tsuchi-gumo had Japanese names. +Only once again do the annals refer to Tsuchi-gumo. They relate +curtly that on his return from quelling the Kumaso the Emperor Keiko +killed a Tsuchi-gumo in the province of Hizen. The truth seems to be +that factitious import has been attached to the Tsuchi-gumo. Mainly +because they were pit-dwellers, it was assumed for a tune that they +represented a race which had immigrated to Japan at some date prior +to the arrival of the Yemishi (modern Ainu). This theory was founded +on the supposed discovery of relics of pit-dwellers in the islands of +Yezo and Itorop, and their hasty identification as Kuro-pok-guru--the +Ainu term for underground dwellers--whose modern representatives are +seen among the Kurilsky or their neighbours in Kamchatka and +Saghalien. But closer examination of the Yezo and Itorop pits showed +that there was complete absence of any mark of antiquity--such as the +presence of large trees or even deep-rooted brushwood;--that they +were arranged in regular order, suggesting a military encampment +rather than the abode of savages; that they were of uniform size, +with few exceptions; that on excavation they yielded fragments of +hard wood, unglazed pottery, and a Japanese dirk, and, finally, that +their site corresponded with that of military encampments established +in Yezo and the Kuriles by the Japanese Government in the early part +of the nineteenth century as a defence against Russian aggression. + +Evidently the men who constructed and used these pit-dwellings were +not prehistoric savages but modern Japanese soldiers. Further very +conclusive testimony has been collected by the Rev. John Batchelor, +who has devoted profound study to the Ainu. He found that the +inhabitants of Shikotan, who had long been supposed to be a remnant +of pre-Ainu immigrants, were brought thither from an island called +Shimushir in the Kurile group in 1885 by order of the Japanese +Government; that they declared themselves to be descended from men of +Saghalien; that they spoke nothing but the Ainu language, and that +they inhabited pits in winter, as do also the Ainu now living in +Saghalien. If any further proof were needed, it might be drawn from +the fact that no excavation has brought to light any relics whatever +of a race preceding and distinct from the Yemishi (Ainu), all the +pits and graves hitherto searched having yielded Yamato or Yemishi +skulls. Neither has there been found any trace of pigmies. + +An Ainu myth is responsible for the belief in the existence of such +beings: "In very ancient times, a race of people who dwelt in pits +lived among us. They were so very tiny that ten of them could easily +take shelter beneath one burdock leaf. When they went to catch +herrings they used to make boats by sewing the leaves together, and +always fished with a hook. If a single herring was caught, it took +all the strength of the men of five boats, or ten sometimes, to hold +it and drag it ashore, while whole crowds were required to kill it +with their clubs and spears. Yet, strange to say, these divine little +men used even to kill great whales. Surely these pit-dwellers were +gods."* + +*"The Ainu and their Folk-lore," by Batchelor. + +Evidently if such legends are to be credited, the existence of +fairies must no longer be denied in Europe. Side by side with the +total absence of all tangible relics may be set the fact that, +whereas numerous place-names in the main island of Japan have been +identified as Ainu words, none has been traced to any alien tongue +such as might be associated with earlier inhabitants. Thus, the +theory of a special race of immigrants anterior to the Yemishi has to +be abandoned so far as the evidence of pit-dwelling is concerned. +The fact is that the use of partially underground residences +cannot be regarded as specially characteristic of any race or as +differentiating one section of the people of Japan from another. To +this day the poorer classes in Korea depend for shelter upon pits +covered with thatch or strong oil-paper. They call these dwellings um +or um-mak, a term corresponding to the Japanese muro. Pit-dwellers +are mentioned in old Chinese literature, and the references to the +muro in the Records and Chronicles show that the muro of those days +had a character similar to that of the modern Korean um-mak [Aston]. +We read of a muro being dug; of steps down to it; and we read of a +muro big enough to hold 160 persons at one time. The muro was not +always simply a hole roofed over: it sometimes contained a house +having a wooden frame lashed together with vine-tendrils, the walls +lined with sedges and reeds and plastered with a mixture of grass and +clay. The roof was thatched with reeds; there was a door opening +inwards, and a raised platform served for sleeping purposes. A +dwelling closely resembling this description was actually unearthed +near Akita in O-U, in 1807. Muro were used in ancient times by the +highest as Well as the poorest classes. Susanoo is said by the Izumo +Fudoki to have made for himself a muro; Jimmu's sort is represented +as sleeping in a great muro, and the Emperor Keiko, when (A.D.82) +prosecuting his campaign in Kyushu, is said to have constructed a +muro for a temporary palace. "In fact, pit-dwelling in northern +climates affords no indication of race." + +CONCLUSION FROM HISTORICAL EVIDENCE + +Thus the conclusion suggested by historical evidence is that the +Japanese nation is composed of four elements: the Yamato; the Yemishi +(modern Ainu); the Kumaso (or Hayato), and the Sushen. As to the last +of these, there is no conclusive indication that they ever immigrated +in appreciable numbers. It does not follow, of course, that the +historical evidence is exhaustive, especially Japanese historical +evidence; for the annalists of Japan do not appear to have paid any +special attention to racial questions. + +ENGRAVING: ANCIENT HANGING BELLS + +ENGRAVING: FUTAMI-GA-URA (The Husband and Wife Rocks) + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ORIGIN OF THE NATION: GEOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RELICS + +JAPAN'S CONNEXION WITH THE ASIATIC CONTINENT + +THE group of islands forming Japan may be said to have routes of +communication with the continent of Asia at six places: two in the +north; two in the southwest, and two in the south. The principal +connexion in the north is across the narrow strait of Soya from the +northwest point of Yezo to Saghalien and thence to the Amur region of +Manchuria. The secondary connexion is from the north-east point of +Yezo via the long chain of the Kuriles to Kamchatka. The first of the +southwestern routes is from the northwest of Kyushu via the islands +of Iki and Tsushima to the southeast of Korea; and the second is from +the south of the Izumo promontory in Japan, by the aid of the current +which sets up the two southern routes. One of these is from the +southwest of Kyushu via the Goto Islands to southeastern China; the +other is from the south of Kyushu via the Ryukyu Islands, Formosa, +and the Philippines to Malaysia and Polynesia. It has also been +proved geologically* that the islands now forming Japan must at one +time have been a part of the Asiatic continent. Evidently these +various avenues may have given access to immigrants from Siberia, +from China, from Malaysia, and from Polynesia. + +*There have been found in the gravel Tertiary mammals including +elephas primigenius, elephas Namadicus, stegodon Clifti, and unnamed +varieties of bear, deer, bison, ox, horse, rhinoceros, and whale. +(Outlines of the Geology of Japan; Imperial Geological Survey). + +CULTURE + +Archaeological research indicates the existence of two distinct +cultures in Japan together with traces of a third. One of these +cultures has left its relics chiefly in shell-heaps or embedded in +the soil, while the remains of another are found mainly in sepulchral +chambers or in caves. The relics themselves are palpably distinct +except when they show transitional approach to each other. + +The older culture is attested by more than four thousand residential +sites and shell-heaps. Its most distinctive features are the absence +of all metallic objects and the presence of pottery not turned on the +wheel. Polished, finely chipped, and roughly hewn implements and +weapons of stone are found, as are implements of bone and horn. + +It was, in short, a neolithic culture. The vestiges of the other +culture do not include weapons of stone. There are imitations of +sheath-knives, swords, and arrow-heads, and there are some models of +stone articles. But the alien features are iron weapons and hard +pottery always moulded on the wheel. Copper is present mainly in +connexion with the work of the goldsmith and the silversmith, and +arrow-heads, jingle-bells, mirrors, etc., are also present. The +former culture is identified as that of the aboriginal inhabitants, +the Yemishi; the latter belongs to the Yamato race, or Japanese +proper. Finally, "there are indications that a bronze culture +intervened in the south between the stone and the iron phases."* + +*Munro's Prehistoric Japan. + +PRIMITIVE CULTURE + +The neolithic sites occur much more frequently in the northern than +in the southern half of Japan. They are, indeed, six times as +numerous on the north as on the south of a line drawn across the main +island from the coast of Ise through Orai. The neighbourhood of the +sea, at heights of from thirty to three hundred feet, and the +alluvial plains are their favourite positions. So far as the +technical skill shown by the relics--especially the pottery--is +concerned, it grows higher with the latitude. The inference is that +the settlements of the aborigines in the south were made at an +earlier period than those in the north; which may be interpreted to +mean that whereas the stone-using inhabitants were driven back in the +south at an early date, they held their ground in the north to a +comparatively modern era. + +That is precisely what Japanese history indicates. Jimmu's conquests, +which took place several centuries before the Christian era, carried +him as far as the Ise-Omi line, but Yamato-dake's expedition against +the Yemishi north of that line was not planned until the second +century after Christ. Apart from the rough evidence furnished by the +quality of the relics, calculations have been made of the age of an +important shell-heap by assuming that it originally stood at the +seaside, and by estimating the number of years required to separate +it by the present interval from the coast at a fixed annual rate of +silting. The result is from five thousand to ten thousand years. A +book (the Hitachi Fudoki), published in A.D. 715, speaks of these +kaizuka (shell-heaps) as existing already at that remote period, and +attributes their formation to a giant living on a hill who stretched +out his hand to pick up shell-fish. This myth remained current until +the eighteenth century, and stone axes exhumed from the heaps were +called thunder-axes (rai-fu) just as similar relics in Europe were +called elf-bolts or thunder-stones. + +There is great diversity of size among the shell-heaps, some being of +insignificant dimensions and others extending to five hundred square +yards. They are most numerous in the eight provinces forming the +Kwanto. In fact, in these ancient times, the Yamato race and the +aborigines had their headquarters in the same localities, +respectively, as the Imperial and Feudal governments had in mediaeval +and modern times. But there are no distinct traces of palaeolithic +culture; the neolithic alone can be said to be represented. Its +relics are numerous--axes, knives, arrow-heads, arrow-necks, +bow-tips, spear-heads, batons, swords, maces, sling-stones, needles, +drill-bows, drill and spindle weights, mortars and pestles, paddles, +boats, sinkers, fishing-hooks, gaffs, harpoons, mallets, chisels, +scrapers, hoes, sickles, whetstones, hammers, and drills. + +It must be premised that though so many kinds of implements are here +enumerated, the nomenclature cannot be accepted as universally +accurate. The so-called "hoe," for example, is an object of disputed +identity, especially as agriculture has not been proved to have been +practised among the primitive people of Japan, nor have any traces of +grain been found in the neolithic sites. On the other hand, the +modern Ainu, who are believed to represent the ancient population, +include in their religious observances the worship of the first cakes +made from the season's millet, and unless that rite be supposed to +have been borrowed from the Yamato, it goes to indicate agricultural +pursuits. + +There is, indeed, one great obstacle to any confident differentiation +of the customs and creeds prevalent in Japan. That obstacle consists +in the great length of the period covered by the annals. It may +reasonably be assumed that the neolithic aborigines were in more or +less intimate contact with the invading Yamato for something like +twenty-five centuries, an interval quite sufficient to have produced +many interactions and to have given birth to many new traditions. An +illustration is furnished by the mental attitude of the uneducated +classes in Japan towards the neolithic implements. So completely has +all memory of the human uses of these implements faded, that they are +regarded as relics of supernatural beings and called by such names as +raifu (thunder-axe), raitsui (thunder-club), kitsune no kuwa +(fox-hoe), raiko (thunder-pestle), and tengu no meshigai (rice-spoon +of the goblins). Many of the neolithic relics show that the people +who used them had reached a tolerably high level of civilization. + +This is specially seen in the matter of ceramics. It is true that the +wheel was not employed, and that the firing was imperfect, but the +variety of vessels was considerable,* and the shapes and decorations +were often very praiseworthy. Thus, among the braziers are found +shapes obviously the originals of the Japanese choji-buro +(clove-censer) and the graceful rice-bowl, while community of +conception with Chinese potters would seem to be suggested by some of +the forms of these ancient vases. Particularly interesting are +earthenware images obtained from these neolithic sites. Many of them +have been conventionalized into mere anthropomorphs and are rudely +moulded. But they afford valuable indications of the clothing and +personal adornments of the aborigines. + +*Cooking-pots and pans, jars and vases, bowls and dishes, cups, +bottles, nipple pots, lamps, braziers, ewers, strainers, spindles or +drill weights, stamps, ornaments, images, and plaques (Munro's +Prehistoric Japan). + +What end these effigies were intended to serve remains an unsettled +question. Some suggest that they were used as substitutes for human +sacrifices, and that they point to a time when wives and slaves were +required to follow their husbands and masters to the grave. They may +also have been suggested by the example of the Yamato, who, at a very +remote time, began to substitute clay images for human followers of +the dead; or they may have been designed to serve as mere mementoes. +This last theory derives some force from the fact that the images are +found, not in graves or tombs, but at residential sites. No data have +been obtained, however, for identifying burying-places: sepulture may +have been carried out in the house of the deceased. Whichever +explanation be correct, the fact confronts us that these clay +effigies have no place in the cult of the modern Ainu. History +teaches, however, that degeneration may become so complete as to +deprive a nation of all traces of its original civilization. Such +seems to have been the case with the Ainu. + +INTERMEDIATE CULTURE + +Traces of a culture occupying a place intermediate between the +primitive culture and that of the Yamato are not conclusive. They are +seen in pottery which, like the ware of the neolithic sites, is not +turned on the wheel, and, like the Yamato ware, is decorated in a +very subdued and sober fashion. It is found from end to end of the +main island and even in Yezo, and in pits, shell-heaps, and +independent sites as well as in tombs, burial caves, and cairns of +the Yamato. Thus, there does not seem to be sufficient warrant for +associating it with a special race. It was possibly supplied to order +of the Yamato by the aboriginal craftsmen, who naturally sought to +copy the salient features of the conquering immigrants' ware. + +BRONZE VESTIGES + +There are also some bronze vestiges to which considerable interest +attaches, for evidently people using bronze weapons could not have +stood against men carrying iron arms, and therefore the people to +whom the bronze implements belonged must have obtained a footing in +Japan prior to the Yamato, unless they came at the latter's +invitation or as their allies. Moreover, these bronze relics--with +the exception of arrow-heads--though found in the soil of western and +southern Japan, do not occur in the Yamato sepulchres, which feature +constitutes another means of differentiation. Daggers, swords, +halberds, and possibly spear-heads constitute the hand-weapons. The +daggers have a certain resemblance to the Malay kris, and the swords +and halberds are generally leaf-shaped. But some features, as +overshort tangs and unpierced loops, suggest that they were +manufactured, not for service in battle but for ceremonial purposes, +being thus mere survivals from an era when their originals were in +actual use, and possibly those originals may have been of iron. Some +straight-edged specimens have been classed as spear-heads, but they +closely resemble certain ancient bronze swords of China. As for +bronze arrow-heads, they occur alike in Yamato sepulchres and in the +soil, so that no special inference is warranted in their case. The +bronze hand-weapons have been found in twelve provinces of southern +and western Japan: namely, five provinces of northwest Kyushu; three +on the Inland Sea; one facing Korea and China, and the rest on the +islands of Iki and Tsushima. + +These localities and the fact that similar swords have been met with +in Shantung, suggest that the bronze culture came from central and +eastern Asia, which hypothesis receives confirmation from the +complete absence of bronze vestiges in the southern provinces of +Kyushu, namely, Osumi and Satsuma. Bronze bells, of which there are +many, belong to a separate page of archaeology. Though they have been +found in no less than twenty-four provinces, there is no instance of +their presence in the same sites with hand-weapons of bronze. In +Kyushu, Higo is the only province where they have been seen, whereas +in the main island they extend as far east as Totomi, and are +conspicuously numerous in that province and its neighbour, Mikawa, +while in Omi they are most abundant of all. They vary in height from +about one foot four inches to four and a half feet, and are of highly +specialized shape, the only cognate type being bells used in China +during the Chou dynasty (1122-225 B.C.) for the purpose of giving +military signals. A Chinese origin is still more clearly indicated by +the decorative designs, which show a combination of the circle, the +triangle, and the spiral, obviously identical with the decorative +motive* on Chinese drums of the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220). The +circle and the triangle occur also in the sepulchral pottery of the +Yamato sites, and considering the fact together with the abundance of +the bells in districts where the Yamato were most strongly +established, there seems to be warrant for attributing these curious +relics to the Yamato culture. + +*This resemblance has been pointed out by a Japanese archaeologist, +Mr. Teraishi. Dr. Munro states that the same elements are combined in +an Egyptian decorative design. + +To this inference it has been objected that no bells have been found +in the tombs of the Yamato. The same is true, however, of several +other objects known to have belonged to that people. If, then, the +bells be classed as adjuncts of the Yamato culture, shall we be +justified in assigning the bronze weapon to a different race? On the +whole, the most reasonable conclusion seems to be that all the bronze +relics, weapons, and bells alike, are "vestiges of the Yamato +procession at a time anterior to the formation of the great dolmens +and other tombs" [Munro]. A corollary would be that the Yamato +migrated from China in the days of the Chou dynasty (1122-225 B.C.), +and that, having landed in the province of Higo, they conquered the +greater part of Tsukushi (Kyushu), and subsequently passed up the +Inland Sea to Yamato; which hypothesis would invest with some +accuracy the date assigned by the Chronicles to Jimmu's expedition +and would constitute a general confirmation of the Japanese account +of his line of advance. + +YAMATO CULTURE + +The ancient Yamato are known chiefly through the medium of relics +found in their sepulchres. Residential sites exist in comparatively +small numbers, so far as research ha hitherto shown, and such sites +yield nothing except more or less scattered potsherds and low walls +enclosing spaces of considerable area. Occasionally Yamato pottery +and other relics are discovered in pits, and these evidences, +combined with historical references, go to show that the Yamato +themselves sometimes used pit-dwellings. + +The tombs yield much more suggestive relics of metal, stone, and +pottery. Some four thousand of such sepulchres have been officially +catalogued, but it is believed that fully ten times that number +exist. The most characteristic is a tomb of larger dimensions +enclosing a dolmen which contains a coffin hollowed out from the +trunk of a tree, or a sarcophagus of stone,* the latter being much +more commonly found, as might be expected from its greater +durability. Burial-jars were occasionally used, as were also +sarcophagi of clay or terracotta,** the latter chiefly in the +provinces of Bizen and Mimasaka, probably because suitable materials +existed there in special abundance. Moreover, not a few tombs +belonged to the category of cists; that is to say, excavations in +rock, with a single-slabbed or many-slabbed cover; or receptacles +formed with stone clubs, cobbles, or boulders. + +*The stone sarcophagus was of considerable size and various shapes, +forming an oblong box with a lid of a boatlike form. + +**The terracotta sarcophagi were generally parallel, oblong or +elongated oval in shape, with an arched or angular covering and +several feet. One has been found with doors moving on hinges. + +There is great difficulty in arriving at any confident estimate of +age amid such variety. Dolmens of a most primitive kind "exist side +by side with stone chambers of highly finished masonry in +circumstances which suggest contemporaneous construction" so that +"the type evidently furnishes little or no criterion of age," and, +moreover, local facilities must have largely influenced the method of +building. The dolmen is regarded by archaeologists as the most +characteristic feature of the Yamato tombs. It was a chamber formed +by setting up large slabs of stone, inclined slightly towards each +other, which served as supports for another slab forming the roof. +Seen in plan, the dolmens presented many shapes: a simple chamber or +gallery; a chamber with a gallery, or a series of chambers with a +gallery. Above the dolmen a mound was built, sometimes of huge +dimensions (as, for example, the misasagi* of the Emperor Tenchi--d. +A.D. 671--which with its embankments, measured 5040 feet square), and +within the dolmen were deposited many articles dedicated to the +service of the deceased. Further, around the covering-mound there are +generally found, embedded in the earth, terracotta cylinders +(haniwa), sometimes surmounted with figures or heads of persons or +animals. + +*By this name all the Imperial tombs were called. + +According to the Chronicles, incidents so shocking occurred in +connexion with the sacrifice of the personal attendants* of Prince +Yamato at his burial (A.D. 2) that the custom of making such +sacrifices was thenceforth abandoned, clay images being substituted +for human beings. The Records speak of a "hedge of men set up round a +tumulus," and it would therefore seem that these terracotta figures +usually found encircling the principal misasagi, represented that +hedge and served originally as pedestals for images. Within the +dolmen, also, clay effigies are often found, which appear to have +been substitutes for retainers of high rank. Had the ancient custom +been effectually abolished in the year A.D. 3, when the Emperor +Suinin is recorded to have issued orders in that sense, a simple and +conclusive means would be at hand for fixing the approximate date of +a dolmen, since all tombs containing clay effigies or encircled by +terracotta haniwa would necessarily be subsequent to that date, and +all tombs containing skeletons other than the occupants of the +sarcophagi would be referable to an earlier era. But although +compulsory sacrifices appear to have ceased from about the first +century of the Christian era, it is certain that voluntary sacrifices +continued through many subsequent ages. This clue is therefore +illusory. Neither does the custom itself serve to connect the Yamato +with any special race, for it is a wide-spread rite of animistic +religion, and it was practised from time immemorial by the Chinese, +the Manchu Tatars, and many other nations of northeastern Asia. + +*They are said to have been buried upright in the precincts of the +misasagi. "For several days they died not, but wept and wailed day +and night. At last they died and rotted. Dogs and crows gathered and +ate them." (Chronicles. Aston's translation.) + +The substitution of images for living beings, however, appears to +have been a direct outcome of contact with China, for the device was +known there as early as the seventh century before Christ. It would +seem, too, from the researches of a learned Japanese archaeologist +(Professor Miyake), that the resemblance between Japanese and Chinese +burial customs was not limited to this substitution. The dolmen also +existed in China in very early times, but had been replaced by a +chamber of finished masonry not later than the ninth century B.C. In +the Korean peninsula the dolmen with a megalithic roof is not +uncommon, and the sepulchral pottery bears a close resemblance to +that of the Yamato tombs. It was at one time supposed that the highly +specialized form of dolmen found in Japan had no counterpart anywhere +on the continent of Asia, but that supposition has proved erroneous. + +The contents of the sepulchres, however, are more distinctive. They +consist of "noble weapons and armour, splendid horse-trappings, +vessels for food and drink, and various objects de luxe," though +articles of wood and textile fabrics have naturally perished. Iron +swords are the commonest relics. They are found in all tombs of all +ages, and they bear emphatic testimony to the warlike habits of the +Yamato, as well as to their belief that in the existence beyond the +grave weapons were not less essential than in life. Arrow-heads are +also frequently found and spear-heads sometimes.* The swords are all +of iron. There is no positive evidence showing that bronze swords +were in use, though grounds exist for supposing, as has been already +noted, that they were employed at a period not much anterior to the +commencement of dolmen building, which seems to have been about the +sixth or seventh century before Christ. The iron swords themselves +appear to attest this, for although the great majority are +single-edged and of a shape essentially suited to iron, about ten per +cent, are double-edged with a central ridge distinctly reminiscent of +casting in fact, a hammered-iron survival of a bronze leaf-shaped +weapon.** Occasionally these swords have, at the end of the tang, a +disc with a perforated design of two dragons holding a ball, a +decorative motive which already betrays Chinese origin. Other swords +have pommels surmounted by a bulb set at an angle to the tang,*** and +have been suspected to be Turanian origin. + +*The most comprehensive list of these objects is that given in +Munro's Prehistoric Japan: "Objects of iron--(1), Swords and daggers; +(2), Hilt-guards and pommels; (3), Arrow-heads; (4), Spear-heads and +halberd-heads; (5) Armour and helmets; (6), Stirrups and bridle-bits; +(7), Ornamental trappings for horses; (8), Axes, hoes, or chisels; +(9), Hoes or spades; (10), Chains; (11), Rings; (12), Buckles; (13), +Smith's tongs or pincers; (14), Nails; (15), Caskets, handles, +hinges, and other fittings. Objects of copper and bronze--(1), +Arrow-heads; (2), Spear-heads; (3), Hilt-guards and pommels; (4), +Scabbard-covers and pieces of sheet-copper for ornamental uses; (5), +Helmets; (6), Arm-and-leg guards; (7), Shoes; (8), Horse-trappings; +(9), Belts; (10), Mirrors; (11), Bracelets and rings; (12), Various +fittings. Silver and gold were employed chiefly in plating, but fine +chains and pendants as well as rings of pure gold and silver have +been met with. + +"The stone objects may be divided into two classes, viz: + +"A. Articles of use or ornaments--(1), Head-rest; (2), Mortar and +pestle; (3), Caskets and vessels; (4), Cups and other vessels; (5), +Bracelets; (6), Magatama; (7), Other ornaments; (8), Plumb-line +pendant; (9), Spindle-weight; (10), Objects of unascertained +function. + +"B. Sepulchral substitutes--(1), Swords and daggers; (2), +Sheath-knife; (3), Arrow-head; (4), Spear-head; (5), Shield; (6); +Armour; (7), Wooden dogs; (8), Mirror; (9), Comb; (10), Magatama; +(11), Cooking-knife; (12), Sickle or scythe-blade; (13), Hoe or +chisel; (14), Head of chisel or spear; (15), Bowl; (16), Table; (17), +Sword-pommel; (18), Nondescript objects." The above list does not +include pottery. + +**The leaf-shaped bronze sword is found over all Europe from the +Mediterranean to Lapland, but generally without a central ridge. + +***Mr. Takahashi, a Japanese archaeologist, suggests that these +weapons were the so called "mallet-headed swords" said to have been +used by Keiko's soldiers (A.D. 82) against the Tsuchi-gumo. The name, +kabutsuchi, supports this theory, kabu being the term for "turnip," +which is also found in kabuya, a humming arrow having a turnip-shaped +head perforated with holes. + +Yet another form--found mostly in the Kwanto provinces and to the +north of them, from which fact its comparatively recent use may be +inferred--was known in western Asia and especially in Persia, whence +it is supposed to have been exported to the Orient in connexion with +the flourishing trade carried on between China and Persia from the +seventh to the tenth century. That a similar type is not known to +exist in China proves nothing conclusive, for China's attitude +towards foreign innovations was always more conservative than +Japan's. Scabbards, having been mostly of wood, have not survived, +but occasionally one is found having a sheeting of copper thickly +plated with gold. Arrow-heads are very numerous. Those of bronze +have, for the most part, the leaf shape of the bronze sword, but +those of iron show many forms, the most remarkable being the +chisel-headed, a type used in Persia. + +Spear-heads are not specially suggestive as to provenance, with the +exception of a kind having a cross-arm like the halberd commonly used +in China from the seventh century before Christ. Yamato armour +affords little assistance to the archaeologist: it bears no +particularly close resemblance to any type familiar elsewhere. There +was a corset made of sheet iron, well rivetted. It fastened in front +and was much higher behind than before, additioned protection for the +back being provided by a lattice-guard which depended from the helmet +and was made by fastening strips of sheet iron to leather or cloth. +The helmet was usually of rivetted iron, but occasionally of bronze, +with or without a peak in front. There were also guards of copper or +iron for the legs, and there were shoulder-curtains constructed in +the same manner as the back-curtain pendant from the helmet. Shoes of +copper complete the panoply. + +The workmanship of these weapons and armour is excellent: it shows an +advanced stage of manufacturing skill. This characteristic is even +more remarkable in the case of horse-trappings. The saddle and +stirrups, the bridle and bit, are practically the same as those that +were used in modern times, even a protective toe-piece for the +stirrup being present. A close resemblance is observable between the +ring stirrups of old Japan and those of mediaeval Europe, and a much +closer affinity is shown by the bits, which had cheek-pieces and were +usually jointed in the centre precisely like a variety common in +Europe; metal pendants, garnished with silver and gold and carrying +globular jingle-bells in their embossed edges, served for horse +decoration. These facts are learned, not from independent relics +alone, but also from terracotta steeds found in the tumuli and +moulded so as to show all their trappings. + +Other kinds of expert iron-work have also survived; as chains, rings +and, buckles, which differ little from corresponding objects in +Europe at the present day; and the same is true of nails, handles, +hinges, and other fittings. Tools used in working metal are rarely +found, a fact easily accounted for when we remember that such objects +would naturally be excluded from sepulchres. + +There is another important relic which shows that the Yamato were +"indebted to China for the best specimens of their decorative art." +This is a round bronze mirror, of which much is heard in early +Japanese annals from the time of Izanagi downwards. In China the art +of working in bronze was known and practised during twenty centuries +prior to the Christian era; but although Japan seems to have +possessed the knowledge at the outset of the dolmen epoch, (circ. 600 +B.C.), she had no copper mine of her own until thirteen centuries +later, and was obliged to rely on Korea for occasional supplies. This +must have injuriously affected her progress in the art of bronze +casting. + +Nevertheless, in almost all the dolmens and later tombs mirrors of +bronze were placed. This custom came into vogue in China at an early +date, the mirror being regarded as an amulet against decay or a +symbol of virtue. That Japan borrowed the idea from her neighbour can +scarcely be doubted. She certainly procured many Chinese mirrors, +which are easily distinguished by finely executed and beautiful +decorative designs in low relief on their backs; whereas her own +mirrors--occasionally of iron--did not show equal skill of technique +or ornamentation. Comparative roughness distinguished them, and they +had often a garniture of jingle-bells (suzu) cast around the rim, a +feature not found in Chinese mirrors. They were, in fact, an inferior +copy of a Chinese prototype, the kinship of the two being further +attested by the common use of the dragon as a decorative motive. +Bronze vases and bowls, simple or covered, are occasionally found in +the Yamato sepulchres. Sometimes they are gilt, and in no case do +their shapes differentiate them from Chinese or modern Japanese +models. + +It might be supposed that in the field of personal ornament some +special features peculiar to the Yamato civilization should present +themselves. There is none. Bronze or copper bracelets,* closed or +open and generally gilt, recall the Chinese bangle precisely, except +when they are cast with a garniture of suzu. In fact, the suzu +(jingle-bell) seems to be one of the few objects purely of Yamato +origin. It was usually globular, having its surface divided into +eight parts, and it served not only as part of a bangle and as a +pendant for horse-trappings but also as a post-bell (ekirei), which, +when carried by nobles and officials, indicated their right to +requisition horses for travelling purposes. + +*Jasper also was employed for making bracelets, and there is some +evidence that shells were similarly used. + +To another object interest attaches because of its wide use in +western Asia and among the Celtic peoples of Europe. This is the +penannular (or open) ring. In Europe, it was usually of solid gold or +silver, but in Japan, where these metals were very scarce in early +days, copper, plated with beaten gold or silver, was the material +generally employed. Sometimes these rings were hollow and sometimes, +but very rarely, flattened. The smaller ones seem to have served as +earrings, worn either plain or with pendants. + +Prominent among personal ornaments were magatama (curved jewels) and +kudatama (cylindrical jewels). It is generally supposed that the +magatama represented a tiger's claw, which is known to have been +regarded by the Koreans as an amulet. But the ornament may also have +taken its comma-like shape from the Yo and the Yin, the positive and +the negative principles which by Chinese cosmographists were +accounted the great primordial factors, and which occupy a prominent +place in Japanese decorative art as the tomoye.* The cylindrical +jewels evidently owed their shape to facility for stringing into +necklaces or chaplets. The Chronicles and the Records alike show that +these jewels, especially the magatama, acted an important part in +some remarkable scenes in the mythological age.** Moreover, a sword, +a mirror, and a magatama, may be called the regalia of Japan. But +these jewels afford little aid in identifying the Yamato. Some of +them--those of jade, chrysoprase, and nephrite***--must have been +imported, these minerals never having been found in Japan. But the +latter fact, though it may be held to confirm the continental origin +of the Yamato, gives no indication as to the part of Asia whence they +emigrated. + +*Professor Takashima has found magatama among the relics of the +primitive culture, but that is probably the result of imitation. + +**The goddess of the Sun, when awaiting the encounter with Susanoo, +twisted a complete string, eight feet long, with five hundred +magatama. Lesser Kami were created by manipulating the jewels. When +Amaterasu retired into a cave, magatama were hung from the branches +of a sakaki tree to assist in enticing her out. Several other +reverential allusions are made to the jewels in later times. + +***The jewels were of jasper, agate, chalcedony, serpentine, +nephrite, steatite, quartz, crystal, glass, jade (white and green), +and chrysoprase. Mention is also made of rakan, but the meaning of +the term is obscure. Probably it was a variety of jade. + +YAMATO POTTERY + +The pottery found in the Yamato tombs is somewhat more instructive +than the personal ornaments. It seems to have been specially +manufactured, or at any rate selected, for purposes of sepulture, and +it evidently retained its shape and character from very remote if not +from prehistoric times. Known in Japan as iwaibe (sacred utensils), +it resembles the pottery of Korea so closely that identity has been +affirmed by some archaeologists and imitation by others. It has +comparatively fine paste--taking the primitive pottery as +standard--is hard, uniformly baked, has a metallic ring, varies in +colour from dark brown to light gray, is always turned on the wheel, +has only accidental glaze, and is decorated in a simple, restrained +manner with conventionalized designs. The shapes of the various +vessels present no marked deviation from Chinese or Korean models, +except that, the tazzas and occasionally other utensils are sometimes +pierced in triangular, quadrilateral, and circular patterns, to which +various meanings more or less fanciful have been assigned. + +There is, however, one curious form of iwaibe which does not appear +to have any counterpart in China or Korea. It is a large jar, or +tazza, having several small jars moulded around its shoulder,* these +small jars being sometimes interspersed with, and sometimes wholly +replaced by, figures of animals.** It is necessary to go to the +Etruscan "black ware" to find a parallel to this most inartistic kind +of ornamentation. + +*This style of ornamentation was called komochi (child-bearing), the +small jars being regarded as children of the large. + +**Mr. Wakabayashi, a Japanese archaeologist, has enumerated seven +varieties of figures thus formed on vases: horses, deer, wild boars, +dogs, birds, tortoises; and human beings. + +With regard to the general decorative methods of the iwaibe potters, +it is noticeable, first, that apparent impressions of textiles are +found (they are seldom actual imprints, being usually imitations of +such), and, secondly, that simple line decoration replaces the rude +pictorial representations of a primitive culture and suggests +propagation from a centre of more ancient and stable civilization +than that of the Yamato hordes: from China, perhaps from Korea--who +knows? As for the terracotta figures of human beings and sometimes of +animals found in connexion with Yamato sepulchres, they convey little +information about the racial problem.* The idea of substituting such +figures for the human beings originally obliged to follow the dead to +the grave seems to have come from China, and thus constitutes another +evidence of intercourse, at least, between the two countries from +very ancient times. + +*Chinese archaic wine-pots of bronze sometimes have on the lid +figures of human beings and animals, but these served a useful +purpose. + +It has been remarked that "the faces seen on these images by no means +present a typical Mongolian type; on the contrary, they might easily +pass for European faces, and they prompt the query whether the Yamato +were not allied to the Caucasian race." Further, "the national +vestiges of the Yamato convey an impression of kinship to the +civilization which we are accustomed to regard as our own, for their +intimate familiarity with the uses of swords, armour, horse-gear, and +so forth brings us into sympathetic relation to their civilization." +[Munro.] + +SUMMARY + +It will be seen from the above that archaeology, while it discloses +to us the manners and customs of the ancient inhabitants of Japan, +does not afford material for clearly differentiating more than three +cultures: namely, the neolithic culture of the Yemishi; the iron +culture of the Yamato, and the intermediate bronze culture of a race +not yet identified. There are no archaeological traces of the +existence of the Kumaso or the Tsuchi-gumo, and however probable it +may seem, in view of the accessibility of Japan from the mainland, +not only while she formed part of the latter but even after the two +had become separate, that several races co-existed with the Yemishi +and that a very mixed population carried on the neolithic culture, +there is no tangible evidence that such was the case. Further, the +indications furnished by mythology that the Yamato were +intellectually in touch with central, if not with western Asia, are +re-enforced by archaeological suggestions of a civilization and even +of physical traits cognate with the Caucasian. + +ENGRAVING: DRUM AND MASK + +ENGRAVING: "NO" MASKS + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LANGUAGE AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS + +LANGUAGE + +HOWEVER numerous may have been the races that contributed originally +to people Japan, the languages now spoken there are two only, Ainu +and Japanese. They are altogether independent tongues. The former +undoubtedly was the language of the Yemishi; the latter, that of the +Yamato. From north to south all sections of the Japanese nation--the +Ainu of course excepted--use practically the same speech. Varieties +of local dialects exist, but they show no traits of survival from +different languages. On the contrary, in few countries of Japan's +magnitude does corresponding uniformity of speech prevail from end to +end of the realm. It cannot reasonably be assumed that, during a +period of some twenty-five centuries and in the face of steady +extermination, the Yemishi preserved their language quite distinct +from that of their conquerors, whereas the various languages spoken +by the other races peopling the island were fused into a whole so +homogeneous as to defy all attempts at differentiation. The more +credible alternative is that from time immemorial the main elements +of the Japanese nation belonged to the same race, and whatever they +received from abroad by way of immigration became completely absorbed +and assimilated in the course of centuries. + +No diligent attempt has yet been made to trace the connexion--if any +exist--between the Ainu tongue and the languages of northeastern +Asia, but geology, history, and archaeology suffice to indicate that +the Yemishi reached Japan at the outset from Siberia. The testimony +of these three sources is by no means so explicit in the case of the +Yamato, and we have to consider whether the language itself does not +furnish some better guide. "Excepting the twin sister tongue spoken +in the Ryukyu Islands," writes Professor Chamberlain, "the Japanese +language has no kindred, and its classification under any of the +recognized linguistic families remains doubtful. In structure, though +not to any appreciable extent in vocabulary, it closely resembles +Korean, and both it and Korean may possibly be related to Mongol and +to Manchu, and might therefore lay claim to be included in the +so-called 'Altaic group' In any case, Japanese is what philologists +call an agglutinative tongue; that is to say, it builds up its words +and grammatical forms by means of suffixes loosely soldered to the +root or stem, which is invariable." + +This, written in 1905, has been supplemented by the ampler researches +of Professor S. Kanazawa, who adduces such striking evidences of +similarity between the languages of Japan and Korea that one is +almost compelled to admit the original identity of the two. There are +no such affinities between Japanese and Chinese. Japan has borrowed +largely, very largely, from China. It could scarcely have been +otherwise. For whereas the Japanese language in its original form--a +form which differs almost as much from its modern offspring as does +Italian from Latin--has little capacity for expansion, Chinese has +the most potential of all known tongues in that respect. Chinese may +be said to consist of a vast number of monosyllables, each expressed +by a different ideograph, each having a distinct significance, and +each capable of combination and permutation with one or more of the +others, by which combinations and permutations disyllabic and +trisyllabic words are obtained representing every conceivable shade +of meaning. + +It is owing to this wonderful elasticity that Japan, when suddenly +confronted by foreign arts and sciences, soon succeeded in building +up for herself a vocabulary containing all the new terms, and +containing them in self-explaining forms. Thus "railway" is expressed +by tetsu-do, which consists of the two monosyllables tetsu (iron) and +do (way); "chemistry" by kagaku, or the learning (gaku) of changes +(ka); "torpedo" by suirai, or water (sui) thunder (rai); and each of +the component monosylables being written with an ideograph which +conveys its own meaning, the student has a term not only appropriate +but also instructive. Hundreds of such words have been manufactured +in Japan during the past half-century to equip men for the study of +Western learning, and the same process, though on a very much smaller +scale, had been going on continuously for many centuries, so that the +Japanese language has come to embody a very large number of Chinese +words, though they are not pronounced as the Chinese pronounce the +corresponding ideographs. + +Yet in spite of this intimate relation, re-enforced as it is by a +common script, the two languages remain radically distinct; whereas +between Japanese and Korean the resemblance of structure and +accidence amounts almost to identity. Japanese philologists allege +that no affinity can be traced between their language and the tongues +of the Malay, the South Sea islanders, the natives of America and +Africa, or the Eskimo, whereas they do find that their language bears +a distinct resemblance to Manchu, Persian, and Turkish. Some go so +far as to assert that Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit are nearer to +Japanese than they are to any European language. These questions +await fuller investigation. + +PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES + +The Japanese are of distinctly small stature. The average height of +the man is 160 centimetres (5 feet 3.5 inches) and that of the woman +147 centimetres (4 feet 10 inches). They are thus smaller than any +European race, the only Occidentals over whom they possess an +advantage in this respect being the inhabitants of two Italian +provinces. [Baelz.] Their neighbours, the Chinese and the Koreans, +are taller, the average height of the northern Chinese being 168 +centimetres (5 feet 7 inches), and that of the Koreans 164 +centimetres (5 feet 5.5 inches). Nevertheless, Professor Dr. Baelz, +the most eminent authority on this subject, avers that "the three +great nations of eastern Asia are essentially of the same race," and +that observers who consider them to be distinct "have been misled by +external appearances." He adds: "Having made a special study of the +race question in eastern Asia, I can assert that comity of race in +general is clearly proved by the anatomical qualities of the body. In +any case the difference between them is much smaller than that +between the inhabitants of northern and southern Europe." + +The marked differences in height, noted above, do not invalidate this +dictum: they show merely that the Asiatic yellow race has several +subdivisions. Among these subdivisions the more important are the +Manchu-Korean type, the Mongol proper, the Malay, and the Ainu. To +the first, namely the Manchu-Korean, which predominates in north +China and in Korea, Baelz assigns the higher classes in Japan; that +is to say, the men regarded as descendants of the Yamato. They have +"slender, elegant and often tall figures, elongated faces with not +very prominent cheek-bones, more or less slanting eyes, aquiline +noses, large upper teeth, receding chins, long slender necks, narrow +chests, long trunks, thin limbs, and often long fingers, while the +hair on the face and body is scarce." Dr. Munro, however, another +eminent authority, holds that, "judging from the Caucasian and often +Semitic physiognomy seen in the aristocratic type of Japanese, the +Yamato were mainly of Caucasic, perhaps Iranian, origin. These were +the warriors, the conquerors of Japan, and afterwards the +aristocracy, modified to some extent by mingling with a Mongoloid +rank and file, and by a considerable addition of Ainu." He remarks +that a white skin was the ideal of the Yamato, as is proved by their +ancient poetry. + +As for the Mongol-proper type, which is seen in the lower classes and +even then not very frequently, its representative is squarely built, +and has prominent cheek-bones, oblique eyes, a more or less flat nose +with a large mouth. The Malay type is much commoner. Its +characteristics are small stature, good and sometimes square build, a +face round or angular, prominent cheek-bones, large horizontal eyes, +a weak chin, a short neck, broad well-developed chest, short legs, +and small delicate hands. As for the Ainu type, Dr. Baelz finds it +astonishing that they have left so little trace in the Japanese +nation. "Yet those who have studied the pure Ainu closely will +observe, particularly in the northern provinces, a not insignificant +number of individuals bearing the marks of Ainu blood. The most +important marks are: a short, thickly set body; prominent bones with +bushy hair, round deep-set eyes with long divergent lashes, a +straight nose, and a large quantity of hair on the face and body all +qualities which bring the Ainu much nearer to the European than to +the Japanese proper." + +GENERAL PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS + +In addition to physical characteristics which indicate distinctions +of race among the inhabitants of Japan, there are peculiarities +common to a majority of the nation at large. One of these is an +abnormally large head. In the typical European the height of the head +is less than one-seventh of the stature and in Englishmen it is often +one-eighth. In the Japanese is it appreciably more than one-seventh. +Something of this may be attributed to smallness of stature, but such +an explanation is only partial. + +Shortness of legs in relation to the trunk is another marked feature. +"Long or short legs are mainly racial in origin. Thus, in Europe, the +northern, or Teutonic race--namely Anglo-Saxons, North Germans, +Swedes, and Danes--are tail; long-legged, and small-headed, while the +Alpine, or central European race are short of stature, have short +legs and large heads with short necks, thus resembling the Mongolian +race in general, with which it was probably originally connected." +[Baelz.] + +In the Japanese face, too, there are some striking points. The first +is in the osseous cavity of the eyeball and in the skin round the +eye. "The socket of the Japanese eye is comparatively small and +shallow, and the osseous ridges at the brows being little marked, the +eye is less deeply set than in the European. Seen in profile, +forehead and upper lid often form one unbroken line." Then "the shape +of the eye proper, as modelled by the lids, shows a most striking +difference between the European and the Mongolian races; the open eye +being almost invariably horizontal in the former but very often +oblique in the latter on account of the higher level of the outer +corner. But even apart from obliqueness the shape of the corner is +peculiar in the Mongolian eye. The inner corner is partly or entirely +covered by a fold of the upper lid continuing more or less into the +lower lid. This fold, which has been called the Mongolian fold, often +also covers the whole free rim of the upper lid, so that the +insertion of the eyelashes is hidden. When the fold takes an upward +direction towards the outer corner, the latter is a good deal higher +than the inner corner, and the result is the obliqueness mentioned +above. The eyelashes are shorter and sparser than in the European, +and whereas in the European the lashes of the upper and the lower lid +diverge, so that their free ends are farther distant than their +roots, in the Japanese eye they converge, the free ends being nearer +together than the insertions. Then again in the lower class the +cheek-bones are large and prominent, making the face look flat and +broad, while in the higher classes narrow and elongated faces are +quite common. Finally, the Japanese is less hairy than the European, +and the hair of the beard is usually straight." [Baelz.] + +VIEWS OF JAPANESE ETHNOLOGISTS + +It may well be supposed that the problem of their nation's origin has +occupied much attention among the Japanese, and that their +ethnologists have arrived at more or less definite conclusions. The +outlines of their ideas are that one of the great waves of emigration +which, in a remote age, emerged from the cradle of the human race in +central Asia, made its way eastward with a constantly expanding +front, and, sweeping up the Tarim basin, emerged in the region of the +Yellow River and in Manchuria. These wanderers, being an +agricultural, not a maritime, race, did not contribute much to the +peopling of the oversea islands of Japan. But in a later--or an +earlier--era, another exodus took place from the interior of Asia. It +turned in a southerly direction through India, and coasting along the +southern seaboard, reached the southeastern region of China; whence, +using as stepping-stones the chain of islands that festoon eastern +Asia, it made its way ultimately to Korea and Japan. + +Anterior to both of these movements another race, the neolithic +Yemishi of the shell-heaps, had pushed down from the northeastern +regions of Korea or from the Amur valley, and peopled the northern +half of Japan. The Korean peninsula, known in Chinese records as Han, +appears in the form of three kingdoms at the earliest date of its +historical mention: they were Sin-Han and Pyon-Han on the east and +Ma-Han on the West. The northeastern portion, from the present +Won-san to Vladivostok, bore the name of Yoso, which is supposed to +have been the original of Yezo, the Yoso region thus constituting the +cradle of the Yemishi race. + +Japanese ethnologists interpret the ancient annals as pointing to +very close intercourse between Japan and Korea in early days,* and +regard this as confirming the theory stated above as to the +provenance of the Yamato race. Connexion with the colonists of +northern China was soon established via Manchuria, and this fact may +account for some of the similarities between the civilization as well +as the legends of the Yamato and those of Europe, since there is +evidence that the Greeks and Romans had some hazy knowledge of China, +and that the Chinese had a similarly vague knowledge of the Roman +Empire,** possibly through commercial relations in the second century +B.C. + +*The annals state of Princes Mikeno and Inahi, elder brothers of +Prince Iware (afterwards Jimmu Tenno). that the former "crossed over +to the Eternal Land" (Tokoyo-no-kuni) and the latter went down to the +sea plain, it being his deceased mother's land. Japanese +archaeologists identify "mother's land" as Shiragi in Korea, and +Tokoyo-no-kuni as the western country where the sun sets, namely +China. They further point out that Susanoo with his son, Itakeru, +went to Shiragi and lived at Soshi-mori, for which reason Susanoo's +posthumous title was Gozu Tenno, gozu being the Japanese equivalent +for the Korean soshi-mori (ox head). Susanoo is also quoted as +saying, "there are gold and silver in Koma and it were well that +there should be a floating treasury;"* so he built a vessel of pine +and camphor-wood to export these treasures to Japan. The "Korea" here +spoken of is the present Kimhai in Kyongsan-do. It is further +recorded that Susanoo lived for a time at Kumanari-mine, which is the +present Kongju. Again, a Japanese book, compiled in the tenth century +A.D., enumerates six shrines in the province of Izumo which were +called Kara-kuni Itate Jinja, or shrine of Itakeru of Korea. A much +abler work, Izuma Fudoki, speaks of Cape Kitsuki in Izumo as a place +where cotton-stuffs were imported from Shiragi by Omitsu, son of +Susanoo. There are other evidences to the same effect, and taken in +conjunction with the remarkable similarity of the Korean and Japanese +languages, these facts are held to warrant the conclusion that the +most important element of the Japanese nation came via Korea, its Far +Eastern colony being the ultima thule of its long wanderings from +central Asia. + +**See Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. 6, p. 189 b. + +The first mention of Japan in Chinese records is contained in a book +called Shan-hai-ching, which states that "the northern and southern +Wo* were subject to the kingdom of Yen." Yen was in the modern +province of Pechili. It existed as an independent kingdom from 1 122 +to 265 B.C. That the inhabitants of Japan were at any time subject to +Yen is highly improbable, but that they were tributaries is not +unlikely. In other words, intercourse between Japan and northern +China was established in remote times via the Korean peninsula, and +people from Japan, travelling by this route, carried presents to the +Court of Yen, a procedure which, in Chinese eyes constituted an +acknowledgement of suzerainty. The "northern and southern Wo" were +probably the kingdom of Yamato and that set up in Kyushu by Ninigi, a +supposition which lends approximate confirmation to the date assigned +by Japanese historians for the expedition of Jimmu Tenno. It is also +recorded in the Chronicles of the Eastern Barbarians, a work of the +Han dynasty (A.D. 25-221), that Sin-Han, one of the three Korean +kingdoms, produced iron, and that Wo and Ma-Han, the western of these +Korean kingdoms, traded in it and used it as currency. It is very +possible that this was the iron used for manufacturing the ancient +double-edged swords (tsurugi) and halberds of the Yamato, a +hypothesis strengthened by the fact that the sword of Susanoo was +called Orochi no Kara-suki, Kara being a Japanese name for Korea. + +*This word was originally pronounced Wa, and is written with the +ideograph signifying "dwarf." It was applied to the Japanese by +Chinese writers in earliest times, but on what ground such an epithet +was chosen there is no evidence. + +ENGRAVING: JAPANESE SADDLE, BRIDLE, AND STIRRUPS + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN REMOTE ANTIQUITY + +If it be insisted that no credence attaches to traditions unsupported +by written annals, then what the Records and the Chronicles, compiled +in the eighth century, tell of the manners and customs of Japan +twelve or thirteen hundred years previously, must be dismissed as +romance. A view so extreme is scarcely justified. There must be a +foundation of truth in works which, for the most part, have received +the imprimatur of all subsequent generations of Japanese. Especially +does that hold as to indications of manners, customs, and +institutions. These, at least, are likely to be mirrored with a +certain measure of accuracy, though they may often reflect an age +later than that to which they are referred, and may even have been +partially moulded to suit the ideas of their narrators. In briefly +epitomizing this page of history, the plan here pursued is to adhere +as far as possible to Japanese interpretations, since these must of +necessity be most intelligent. + +THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE + +At the basis of the social structure stand the trinity of Kami, +mythologically called the Central Master (Naka-Nushi) and the two +Constructive Chiefs (Musubi no Kami). The Central Master was the +progenitor of the Imperial family; the Constructive Chiefs were the +nobility, the official class. What was originally involved in the +conception of official functions, we learn from incidents prefatory +to the expedition conducted by Ninigi for the subjugation of Japan. +Amaterasu (the Sun goddess) attached to the person of her grandson +four chiefs and one chieftainess. To two of the former (Koyane and +Futodama) she entrusted all matters relating to religious rites, and +they became respectively the ancestors of the Nakatomi and the Imibe +families. To the female Kami (Usume) was entrusted the making of +sacred music and she founded the Sarume family. Finally, all military +functions were committed to the chiefs, Oshihi and Kume, whose +descendants constituted the Otomo and Kume families. + +In every case these offices were hereditary for all time, and the +families of their holders constitute the aristocracy of the nation, +marrying among themselves and filling the highest offices from +generation to generation. Their members bore the title of hiko (son +of the Sun) and hime (daughter of the Sun), and those that governed +towns and villages were called tomo no miyatsuko, while those that +held provincial domains were entitled kuni no miyatsuko. + +This was the origin of the Japanese polity. The descendants of +Amaterasu, herself a descendant of the Central Master, occupied the +throne in unbroken succession, and the descendants of the two +Constructive Chiefs served as councillors, ministers, and generals. +But the lineage of all being traceable to three chiefs who originally +occupied places of almost equal elevation, they were united by a bond +of the most durable nature. At the same time it appears that this +equality had its disadvantage; it disposed the members of the +aristocratic families to usurp the administrative power while +recognizing its source, the Throne, and it encouraged factional +dissensions, which sometimes resulted disastrously. As to the middle +and lower classes, no evidence bearing on their exact composition is +forthcoming. It is plain, however, that they accepted a subordinate +position without active protest, for nothing like a revolt on their +part is alluded to, directly or indirectly, in the Records or the +Chronicles. The term for all subjects was tomobe. + +DWELLING-HOUSES + +The palace of the sovereign--called miya or odono--corresponded in +appearance and construction with the shrines of the deities. It was +built by erecting central pillars--originally merely sunk in the +ground but in later times having a stone foundation--from which +rafters sloped to corner posts, similarly erected, the sides being +clapboarded. Nails were used, but the heavy timbers were tied +together with ropes made by twisting the fibrous stems of climbing +plants. A conspicuous feature was that the upper ends of the rafters +projected across each other, and in the V-shaped receptacle thus +formed, a ridge-pole was laid with a number of short logs crossing it +at right angles. This disposition of timbers was evidently devised to +facilitate tying and to impart stability to the thatch, which was +laid to a considerable thickness. + +It is not certain whether in the earliest times floors were fully +boarded, or whether boarding was confined to a dais running round the +sides, the rest of the interior being of beaten mud. Subsequently, +however, the whole floor was boarded. Chimneys were not provided; +charcoal being the principal fuel, its smoke did not incommode, and +when firewood was employed, the fumes escaped through openings in the +gable. For windows there were holes closed by shutters which, like +the doors, swung upon hooks and staples. Rugs of skin or of rush +matting served to spread on the boarded floor, and in rare cases silk +cushions were employed. + +The areas on which buildings stood were generally surrounded by +palisades, and for a long time no other kind of defence save these +palings seems to have been devised. Indeed, no mention of castles +occurs until the first century B.C., when the strange term +"rice-castle" (ina-ki) is found; the reference being apparently to a +palisade fortified with rice-bags, or to a rice-granary used as a +fortress. The palace of the sovereign towered so high by comparison +that it was termed Asahi-no-tada-sasu-miya (miya on which the morning +sun shines direct), or Yuhi-no-hiteru-miya (miya illumined by the +evening sun), or some other figurative epithet, and to the Emperor +himself was applied the title 0-mikado (great august Gate). The +dwellings occupied by the nobility were similarly built, though on a +less pretentious scale, and those of the inferior classes appear to +have been little better than huts, not a few of them being partially +sunk in the ground, as is attested by the fact that the term "enter" +took the form of "creep in" (hairu). + +ADMINISTRATION AND WORSHIP + +In the instruction said to have been given by Amaterasu to her +grandson Ninigi, on the eve of his expedition to Japan, the words are +recorded: "My child, regard this mirror as you regard me. Keep it in +the same house with yourself, and make it the mirror of purity." +Accordingly the insignia--the mirror, the jewel, and the sword--were +always kept in the main hall of the palace under the care of the +Nakatomi and the Imibe families. An ancient volume (Kogo-shui) +records that when the palace of Kashihara was reached by Jimmu's +army, the grandson of the founder of the Imibe family--cutting timber +with a consecrated axe (imi-ono) and digging foundations with a +consecrated spade (imi-suki)--constructed a palace in which he placed +the mirror, the jewel, and the sword, setting out offerings and +reciting prayers to celebrate the completion of the building and the +installation of the insignia. + +"At that time the sovereign was still very close to the Kami, and the +articles and utensils for the latter were little distinguished from +those for the former. Within the palace there stood a store house +(imi-kura), the Imibe family discharging daily and nightly the duties +relating to it." Thus it is seen that in remote antiquity religious +rites and administrative functions were not distinguished. The +sovereign's residence was the shrine of the Kami, and the term for +"worship" (matsuri) was synonymous with that for "government." + +RELIGIOUS RITES + +The ceremony spoken of above--the Odono matsuri, or consecration of +the palace--is the earliest religious rite mentioned. Next in +importance was the "harvest festival." In the records of the +mythological age it is related that Amaterasu obtained seeds of the +"five cereals," and, recognizing their value as food, caused them to +be cultivated, offering a part to the Kami when they were ripe and +eating some herself. This became a yearly custom, and when Ninigi set +out to conquer Japan, his grandmother gave rice seed to the ancestors +of the Nakatomi and the Imibe families, who thenceforth conducted the +harvest festival (nii-name, literally "tasting the new rice") every +autumn, the sovereign himself taking part, and the head of the +Nakatomi reciting a prayer for the eternity of the Imperial line and +the longevity of the Emperor. Other important rites were the "great +purification" (Oharai) performed twice a year, on the last day of the +sixth month and the last day of the twelfth month; the "fire-subduing +fete," the "spirit-tranquillizing fete," etc. + +Of all these rites the principal features were the recitation of +rituals and the offering of various objects, edible or otherwise +useful. The rituals (norito) being, in several cases, set formulas, +lent themselves with special facility to oral transmission from +generation to generation. It is certain that they were familiar to +the compilers of the Records and the Chronicles, and they contain +expressions dating from such a remote era as to have become +incomprehensible before history began to be written in Japan. In the +year A.D. 927, seventy-five of the norito were transcribed into a +book (Yengi-shiki, or Ceremonial Law) which contains, in addition to +these rituals, particulars as to the practice of the Shinto religion; +as to the organization of the priesthood--which included ten virgin +princesses of the Imperial family, one each for the two great temples +of Watarai in Ise and Kamo in Yamashiro--and as to the Shinto shrines +qualified to receive State support. These shrines totalled 3132, +among which number 737 were maintained at the Emperor's charges. +Considering that the nation at that time (tenth century) did not +comprise more than a very few millions, the familiar criticism that +the Japanese are indifferent to religion is certainly not proved by +any lack of places of worship. The language of the rituals is +occasionally poetic, often figurative and generally solemn,* but they +are largely devoted to enumeration of Kami, to formulae of praise for +past favours, to petitions for renewed assistance, and to +recapitulations of the offerings made in support of these requests. +As for the offerings, they comprise woven stuffs, and their raw +materials, models of swords, arrows, shields, stags' antlers, hoes, +fish (dried and fresh), salt, sake, and, in some cases, a horse, a +cock, and a pig. In short, the things offered were essentially +objects serviceable to living beings. + +*The Norito of the Great Purification Service has been translated by +Mr. W. G. Aston in his Japanese Literature. + +THE KAMI + +The Kami may be broadly divided into two groups, namely, those +originally regarded as superior beings and those elevated to that +rank in consideration of illustrious deeds performed during life. Of +the former group the multitudinous and somewhat heterogenous +components have been supposed to suggest the amalgamation of two or +more religious systems in consequence of a blending of races alien to +one another. But such features may be due to survivals incidental to +the highest form of nature religion, namely, anthropomorphic +polytheism. + +There were the numerous Kami, more or less abstract beings without +any distinguishing functions, who preceded the progenitors of the +Yamato race, and there was the goddess of the Sun, pre-eminent and +supreme, together with deities of the Moon, of the stars, of the +winds, of the rain, of fire, of water, of mountains, of mines, of +fields, of the sea, of the trees, and of the grass--the last a female +divinity (Kaya-no-hime). The second group those deified for +illustrious services during life--furnished the tutelary divinities +(uji-gami or ubusuna-Kami) of the localities where their families +lived and where their labours had been performed. Their protection +was specially solicited by the inhabitants of the regions where their +shrines stood, while the nation at large worshipped the Kami of the +first group. Out of this apotheosis of distinguished mortals there +grew, in logical sequence, the practice of ancestor worship. It was +merely a question of degrees of tutelary power. If the blessings of +prosperity and deliverance could be bestowed on the denizens of a +region by the deity enshrined there, the same benefits in a smaller +and more circumscribed measure might be conferred by the deceased +head of a family. As for the sovereign, standing to the whole nation +in the relation of priest and intercessor with the deities, he was +himself regarded as a sacred being, the direct descendant of the +heavenly ancestor (Tenson). + +THERIANTHROPIC ELEMENTS + +That the religion of ancient Japan--known as Shinto, or "the way of +the gods"--had not fully emerged from therianthropic polytheism is +proved by the fact that, though the deities were generally +represented in human shape, they were frequently conceived as +spiritual beings, embodying themselves in all kinds of things, +especially in animals, reptiles, or insects. Thus, tradition relates +that the Kami of Mimoro Mountain appeared to the Emperor Yuryaku +(A.D. 457-459) in the form of a snake; that during the reign of the +Emperor Keitai (A.D. 507-531), a local deity in the guise of a +serpent interfered with agricultural operations and could not be +placated until a shrine was built in its honour; that in the time of +the Emperor Kogyoku, the people of the eastern provinces devoted +themselves to the worship of an insect resembling a silkworm, which +they regarded as a manifestation of the Kami of the Moon; that the +Emperor Keiko (A.D. 71-130) declared a huge tree to be sacred; that +in the days of the Empress Suiko (A.D. 593-628), religious rites were +performed before cutting down a tree supposed to be an incarnation of +the thunder Kami; that on the mountain Kannabi, in Izumo, there stood +a rock embodying the spirit of the Kami whose expulsion from Yamato +constituted the objective of Ninigi's expedition, and that prayer to +it was efficacious in terminating drought, that the deity +Koto-shiro-nushi became transformed into a crocodile, and that "the +hero Yamato-dake emerged from his tomb in the shape of a white swan." + +Many other cognate instances might be quoted. A belief in amulets and +charms, in revelations by dreams and in the efficacy of ordeal, +belongs to this category of superstitions. The usual form of ordeal +was by thrusting the hand into boiling water. It has been alleged +that the Shinto religion took no account of a soul or made any +scrutiny into a life beyond the grave. Certainly no ideas as to +places of future reward or punishment seem to have engrossed +attention, but there is evidence that not only was the spirit (tama) +recognized as surviving the body, but also that the spirit itself was +believed to consist of a rough element (am) and a gentle element +(nigi), either of which predominated according to the nature of the +functions to be performed; as when a nigi-tama was believed to have +attached itself to the person of the Empress Jingo at the time of her +expedition to Korea, while an ara-tama formed the vanguard of her +forces. + +Some Japanese philosophers, however--notably the renowned +Motoori--have maintained that this alleged duality had reference +solely to the nature of the influence exercised by a spirit on +particular occasions. Shinto has no sacred canon like the Bible, the +Koran, or the Sutras. Neither has it any code of morals or body of +dogma. Cleanliness may be called its most prominent feature. +Izanagi's lustrations to remove the pollution contracted during his +visit to the nether world became the prototype of a rite of +purification (misogi) which always prefaced acts of worship. A +cognate ceremony was the harai (atonement). By the misogi the body +was cleansed; by the harai all offences were expiated; the origin of +the latter rite having been the exaction of certain penalties from +Susanoo for his violent conduct towards the Sun goddess.* The two +ceremonies, physical cleansing and moral cleansing, prepared a +worshipper to approach the shrine of the Kami. In later times both +rites were compounded into one, the misogi-harai, or simply the +harai. When a calamity threatened the country or befell it, a grand +harai (o-harai) was performed in atonement for the sins supposed to +have invited the catastrophe. This principle of cleanliness found +expression in the architecture of Shinto shrines; plain white wood +was everywhere employed and ornamentation of every kind eschewed. In +view of the paramount importance thus attached to purity, a +celebrated couplet of ancient times is often quoted as the unique and +complete canon of Shinto morality, + +*His nails were extracted and his beard was plucked out. + + "Unsought in prayer, + "The gods will guard + "The pure of heart."* + + *Kokoro dani + Makoto no michi ni + Kanai naba + Inorazu tote mo + Kami ya mamoran. + +It is plain, however, that Shinto cannot be included in the category +of ethical religions; it belongs essentially to the family of nature +religions. + +CRIMES + +The acts which constituted crimes in ancient Japan were divided into +two classes: namely, sins against heaven and sins against the State. +At the head of the former list stood injuries to agricultural +pursuits, as breaking down the ridges of rice-fields, filling up +drains, destroying aqueducts, sowing seeds twice in the same place, +putting spits in rice-fields, flaying an animal alive or against the +grain, etc. The crimes against the State were cutting and wounding +(whether the living or the dead), defilement on account of leprosy or +cognate diseases, unnatural offences, evil acts on the part of +children towards parents or of parents towards children, etc. Methods +of expiating crime were recognized, but, as was the universal custom +in remote times, very cruel punishments were employed against +evil-doers and enemies. Death was inflicted for comparatively trivial +offences, and such tortures were resorted to as cutting the sinews, +extracting the nails and the hair, burying alive, roasting, etc. +Branding or tattooing seems to have been occasionally practised, but +essentially as a penalty or a mark of ignominy. + +DIVINATION + +As is usually the case in a nation where a nature religion is +followed, divination and augury were practised largely in ancient +Japan. The earliest method of divination was by roasting the +shoulder-blade of a stag and comparing the cracks with a set of +diagrams. The Records and the Chronicles alike represent Izanagi and +Izanami as resorting to this method of presaging the future, and the +practice derives interest from the fact that a precisely similar +custom has prevailed in Mongolia from time immemorial. Subsequently +this device was abandoned in favour of the Chinese method, heating a +tortoise-shell; and ultimately the latter, in turn, gave way to the +Eight Trigrams of Fuhi. The use of auguries seems to have come at a +later date. They were obtained by playing a stringed instrument +called koto, by standing at a cross-street and watching the passers, +by manipulating stones, and by counting footsteps. + +MILITARY FORCES + +It has been related that when the "heavenly grandson" undertook his +expedition to Japan, the military duties were entrusted to two +mikoto* who became the ancestors of the Otomo and the Kume families. +There is some confusion about the subsequent differentiation of these +families, but it is sufficient to know that, together with the +Mononobe family, they, were the hereditary repositories of military +authority. They wore armour, carried swords, spears and bows, and not +only mounted guard at the palace but also asserted the Imperial +authority throughout the provinces. No exact particulars of the +organization of these forces are on record, but it would seem that +the unit was a battalion divided into twenty-five companies, each +company consisting of five sections of five men per section, a +company being under the command of an officer whose rank was +miyatsuko. + +*"August being," a term of respect applied to the descendants of the +Kami. + +FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION + +No mention is made of such a thing as currency in prehistoric Japan. +Commerce appears to have been conducted by barter only. In order to +procure funds for administrative and religious purposes, officers in +command of forces were despatched to various regions, and the +inhabitants were required to contribute certain quantities of local +produce. Steps were also taken to cultivate useful plants and cereals +and to promote manufactures. The Kogo-shui states that a certain +mikoto inaugurated the fashioning of gems in Izumo, and that his +descendants continued the work from generation to generation, sending +annual tribute of articles to the Court every year. Another mikoto +was sent to plant paper-mulberry and hemp in the province of Awa (awa +signifies "hemp"), and a similar record is found in the same book +with regard to the provinces of Kazusa and Shimosa, which were then +comprised in a region named Fusa-kuni. Other places owed their names +to similar causes. + +It is plain that, whatever may have been the case at the outset, this +assignment of whole regions to the control of officials whose +responsibility was limited to the collection of taxes for the uses of +the Court, could not but tend to create a provincial nobility and +thus lay the foundations of a feudal system. The mythological +accounts of meetings of the Kami for purposes of consultation suggest +a kind of commonwealth, and recall "the village assemblies of +primitive times in many parts of the world, where the cleverness of +one and the general willingness to follow his suggestions fill the +place of the more definite organization of later times."* But though +that may be true of the Yamato race in the region of its origin, the +conditions found by it in Japan were not consistent with such a +system, for Chinese history shows that at about the beginning of the +Christian era the Island Empire was in a very uncentralized state and +that the sway of the Yamato was still far from receiving general +recognition. A great Japanese scholar** has contended that the +centralization which prevailed in later ages was wholly an imitation +of Chinese bureaucracy, and that organized feudalism was the original +form of government in Japan. The annals appear to support that view +to a limited extent, but the subject will presently be discussed at +greater length. + +*B. H. Chamberlain. + +**Hirata Atsutane. + +RAIMENT + +In the use of clothing and the specialization of garments the early +Japanese had reached a high level. We read in the ancient legends of +upper garments, skirts, trousers, anklets, and head-ornaments of +stones considered precious.* The principal material of wearing +apparel was cloth woven from threads of hemp and mulberry bark. +According to the annals, the arts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing +were known and practised from the earliest age. The Sun goddess +herself is depicted as seated in the hall of the sacred loom, reeling +silk from cocoons held in her mouth, and at the ceremony of enticing +her from her retirement, the weaving of blue-and-white stuffs +constituted an important adjunct. Terms are used (akarurtae and +teru-tae) which show that colour and lustre were esteemed as much as +quality. Ara-tae and nigi-tae were the names used to designate coarse +and fine cloth respectively; striped stuff was called shidori, and +the name of a princess, Taku-hata-chiji, goes to show that corrugated +cloth was woven from the bark of the taku. Silken fabrics were +manufactured, but the device of boiling the cocoons had not yet been +invented. They were held in the mouth for spinning purposes, and the +threads thus obtained being coarse and uneven, the loom could not +produce good results. Silk stuffs therefore did not find much favour: +they were employed chiefly for making cushions, cloth woven from +cotton, hemp, or mulberry bark being preferred for raiment. Pure +white was the favourite colour; red, blue, and black being placed in +a lower rank in that order. It has been conjectured that furs and +skins were worn, but there is no explicit mention of anything of the +kind. It would seem that their use was limited to making rugs and +covering utensils.** Sewing is not explicitly referred to, but the +needle is; and in spite of an assertion to the contrary made by the +Chinese author of the Shan-hai-ching (written in the fourth century +A.D.) there is no valid reason to doubt that the process of sewing +was familiar. + +*B. H. Chamberlain. + +**In China the case was different. There, garments made of skins or +covered with feathers were worn in remote antiquity before the art of +weaving had become known. The Records recount that in the age of the +Kami "there came" (to Japan) "riding on the crest of the waves, a +kami dressed in skins of geese," and this passage has been quoted as +showing that skins were used for garments in Japan. But it is pointed +out by Japanese commentators that this Kami Sukuna-bikona is +explicitly stated to have come from a foreign country, and that if +the passage warrants any inference, it is that the visitor's place of +departure had been China. + +As to the form of the garments worn, the principal were the hakama +and the koromo. The hakama was a species of divided skirt, used by +men and women alike. It has preserved its shape from age to age, and +is to-day worn by school-girls throughout Japan. The koromo was a +tunic having tight sleeves reaching nearly to the knees. It was +folded across the breast from right to left and secured by a belt of +cloth or silk tied round the loins. Veils also were used by both +sexes, one kind (the katsugi) having been voluminous enough to cover +the whole body. "Combs are mentioned, and it is evident that much +attention was devoted to the dressing of the hair."* Men divided +theirs in the middle and bound it up in two bunches, one over each +ear. Youths tied theirs into a top-knot; girls wore their locks +hanging down the back but bound together at the neck, and married +ladies "dressed theirs after a fashion which apparently combined the +last two methods." Decoration of the head was carried far on +ceremonial occasions, gems, veils, and even coronets being used for +the purpose. "There is no mention in any of the old books of cutting +the hair or beard except in token of disgrace; neither do we gather +that the sexes, but for this matter of head-dress, were distinguished +by a diversity of apparel or ornamentation."* + +*B. H. Chamberlain. + +FOOD AND DRINK + +Rice was the great staple of diet in ancient, as it is in modern, +times. The importance attaching to it is shown by the fact that the +Sun goddess herself is represented as engaging in its cultivation and +that injuring a rice-field was among the greatest offences. Barley, +millet, wheat, and beans are mentioned, but the evidence that they +were grown largely in remote antiquity is not conclusive. The flesh +of animals and birds was eaten, venison and wild boar being +particularly esteemed. Indeed, so extensively was the hunting of deer +practised that bows and arrows were often called kago-yumi and +kago-ya (kago signifies "deer"). Fish, however, constituted a much +more important staple of diet than flesh, and fishing in the +abundantly stocked seas that surround the Japanese islands was +largely engaged in. Horses and cattle were not killed for food. It is +recorded in the Kogo-shui that the butchering of oxen to furnish meat +for workers in a rice-field roused the resentment of a Kami called +Mitoshi. There does not appear to have been any religious or +superstitious scruple connected with this abstention: the animals +were spared simply because of their usefulness. Vegetables occupied a +large space in the list of articles of food. There were the radish, +the cabbage, the lotus, the melon, and the wild garlic, as well as as +several kinds of seaweed. Salt was used for seasoning, the process of +its manufacture having been familiar from the earliest times. Only +one kind of intoxicating liquor was ever known in Japan until the +opening of intercourse with the Occident. It was a kind of beer +brewed* from rice and called sake. The process is said to have been +taught by Sukuna, who, as shown above, came to Japan from a foreign +country--probably China--when the Kami, Okuni-nushi, was establishing +order in the Japanese islands. + +*The term for "brew" being kamu or kamosu, the former of which is +homonymous with the equivalent for "to chew," some commentators have +supposed that sake was manufactured in early times by grinding rice +with the teeth. This is at once disproved by the term for "yeast," +namely, kabi-tachi (fermenting). + +COOKING AND TABLE EQUIPAGE + +From time immemorial there were among the officials at the Imperial +Court men called kashiwa-de, or oak-leaf hands. They had charge of +the food and drink, and their appellation was derived from the fact +that rice and other edibles were usually served on oak leaves. +Earthenware utensils were used, but their surface, not being glazed, +was not allowed to come into direct contact with the viands placed on +them. In this practice another example is seen of the love of +cleanliness that has always characterized and distinguished the +Japanese nation. Edibles having been thus served, the vessels +containing them were ranged on a table, one for each person, and +chop-sticks were used. Everything was cooked, with the exception of +certain vegetables and a few varieties of fish. Friction of wood upon +wood provided fire, a fact attested by the name of the tree chiefly +used for the purpose, hi-no-ki, or fire-tree. To this day the same +method of obtaining a spark is practised at the principal religious +ceremonials. Striking metal upon stone was another device for the +same purpose, and there is no record in Japan, as there is in China, +of any age when food was not cooked. Various vessels of unglazed +pottery are mentioned in the Records, as bowls, plates, jars, +and wine-holders, the last being often made of metal. These +were all included in the term suemono, which may be translated +"table-utensils." + +ARMS, ARMOUR, AND GEMS + +It has already been stated that archaeological research shows the +Yamato race to have been in possession of iron swords and spears, as +well as metal armour and shields, from a very early period, probably +the date of these colonists' first coming to Japan. They also used +saddles, stirrups, bridles, and bits for horses, so that a Yamato +warrior in full mail and with complete equipment was perhaps as +formidable a fighting man as any contemporary nation could produce. +Bows and arrows were also in use. The latter, tipped with iron or +stone and feathered, were carried in a quiver. The swords employed by +men were originally double-edged. Their names* show that they were +used alike for cutting and thrusting, and that they varied in length +from ten "hands" to five. There was also a small single-edged sword** +carried by women and fastened inside the robe. The value attached to +the sword is attested by numerous appellations given to blades of +special quality. In later times the two-edged sword virtually fell +out of use, being replaced by the single-edged. + +*Tsurugi (to pierce) and tachi (to cut). + +**This was originally called himo-kala-ha, which literally means +"cord single edge." subsequently kala-ha became katana, by which term +all Japanese swords are now known. + +Sometimes a spear was decorated with gems. It is curious that gems +should have been profusely used for personal adornment in ancient +times by people who subsequently eschewed the custom well-nigh +altogether, as the Japanese did. The subject has already been +referred to in the archaeological section, but it may be added here +that there were guilds of gem-makers (Tama-tsukuri-be) in several +provinces, and that, apart from imported minerals, the materials with +which they worked were coral, quartz, amber, gold, silver, and +certain pebbles found in Izumo. + +AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY + +It appears that when the Yamato immigrants reached Japan, the coast +lands were overgrown with reeds and the greater part of the island +was covered with primeval forests. Fabulous accounts are given of +monster trees. Thus, in the Tsukushi Fudoki we read of an oak in +Chikugo which towered to a height of 9700 feet, its branches shading +the peaks of Hizen in the morning and the mountains of Higo in the +evening. The Konjaku Monogatari tells of another oak with a stem +measuring 3000 feet in circumference and casting its shadow over +Tamba at dawn and on Ise at sunset. In the Fudoki of other provinces +reference is made to forest giants in Harima, Bungo, Hitachi, etc., +and when full allowance has been made for the exaggerations of +tradition, there remains enough to indicate that the aboriginal +inhabitants did not attempt any work of reclamation. + +Over regions measuring scores of miles perpetual darkness reigned, +and large districts were often submerged by the overflow of rivers. +There is no mention, however, of a deluge, and Professor Chamberlain +has called attention to the remarkable fact that a so-called "Altaic +myth" finds no place in the traditions of "the oldest of the +undoubtedly Altaic nations." + +The annals are eloquent in their accounts of the peopling of the +forests by wild and fierce animals and the infesting of the vallies +by noxious reptiles. The Nihongi, several of the Fudoki, the Konjaku +Monogatari, etc., speak of an eight-headed snake in Izumo, of a +horned serpent in Hitachi, and of big snakes in Yamato, Mimasaka, +Bungo, and other provinces; while the Nihon Bummei Shiryaku tells of +wolves, bears, monkeys, monster centipedes, whales, etc., in Harima, +Hida, Izumo, Oki, Tajima, and Kaga. In some cases these gigantic +serpents were probably bandit chiefs transfigured into reptiles by +tradition, but of the broad fact that the country was, for the most +part, in a state of natural wilderness there can be little doubt. + +Under the sway of the Yamato, however, a great change was gradually +effected. Frequent allusions are made to the encouragement of +agriculture and even its direct pursuit by the Kami. The Sun goddess +is represented as having obtained seeds of the five cereals from the +female Kami, Ukemochi,* and as having appointed a village chief to +superintend their culture. She had three regions of her own specially +devoted to rice growing, and her unruly brother, Susanoo, had a +similar number, but the latter proved barren. The same goddess +inaugurated sericulture, and entrusted the care of it to a princess, +who caused mulberry trees to be planted and was able to present silk +fabrics to Amaterasu. In the reign of Jimmu, hemp is said to have +been cultivated, and Susanoo, after his reformation, became the +guardian of forests, one of his functions being to fix the uses of +the various trees, as pine and hinoki (ground-cypress) for house +building, maki (podocarpus Chinensis) for coffin making, and +camphor-wood for constructing boats. He also planted various kinds of +fruit-trees. Thenceforth successive sovereigns encouraged +agriculture, so that the face of the country was materially changed. + +*The Sun goddess, Amaterasu, and the goddess of Food (Ukemochi no +Kami) are the two deities now worshipped at the great shrine of Ise. + +In the matter of farming implements, however, neither archaeology nor +history indicates anything more than iron spades, wooden hoes shod +with bronze or iron, hand-ploughs, and axes. As to manufacturing +industries, there were spinners and weavers of cotton and silk, +makers of kitchen utensils, polishers of gems, workers in gold, +silver, copper, and iron, forgers of arms and armour, potters of +ornamental vessels, and dressers of leather. In later eras the +persons skilled in these various enterprises formed themselves into +guilds (be), each of which carried on its own industry from +generation to generation. + +The fact that there must have been an exchange of goods between these +various groups is almost the only indication furnished by the annals +as to trade or commerce. In the name of a daughter of Susa (Princess +Kamu-o-ichi) we find a suggestion that markets (ichi) existed, and +according to the Wei Records (A.D. 211-265) there were, at that time, +"in each province of Japan markets where the people exchanged their +superfluous produce for articles of which they were in need." But +Japanese history is silent on this subject. + +About the be, however, a great deal is heard. It may be described as +a corporated association having for purpose the securing of +efficiency by specialization. Its members seem to have been at the +outset men who independently pursued some branch of industry. These +being ultimately formed into a guild, carried on the same pursuit +from generation to generation under a chief officially appointed. +"Potters, makers of stone coffins, of shields, of arrows, of swords, +of mirrors, saddlers, painters, weavers, seamstresses, local +recorders, scribes, farmers, fleshers, horse-keepers, bird-feeders, +the mibu who provided wet-nurses for Imperial princes, palace +attendants, and reciters (katari) were organized into be under +special chiefs who were probably responsible for their efficient +services. It would appear, however, that 'chief of be' was sometimes +a title bestowed for exceptional service and that it was occasionally +posthumous."* + +*Munro. + +Be were also organized for the purpose of commemorating a name quite +irrespective of industrial pursuits. "The religious be were for +general or special purposes. For instance, there was a be of +sun-worshippers, while the Imibe, a body of abstainers, were obliged +to avoid ritual contamination or impurity. They carried out a +technique of spiritual aseptics, both in their persons and through +the utensils which they employed, much as a modern surgeon guards +against infection of his patient. Thus they were prepared to perform +sacred functions."* + +*Munro. + +NAVIGATION AND FISHING + +No information is obtainable as to the nature of the boats used in +very early times, but it may reasonably be inferred that the Yamato +and other immigrant races possessed craft of some capacity. Several +names of boats are incidentally mentioned. They evidently refer to +the speed of the craft--as bird-boat (tori-fune), pigeon-boat +(hato-fune)--or to the material employed, as "rock-camphor boat" +(iwa-kusu-bune). "The presence of neolithic remains on the islands +around Japan proves that the boats of the primitive people were large +enough to traverse fifty miles, or more, of open sea."* Only one +distinct reference to sailing occurs, however, in the ancient annals. +On the occasion of the alleged expedition to Korea (A.D. 200) under +the Empress Jingo, the Chronicles say, "Sail was set from the harbour +of Wani." At a date nearly three centuries earlier, there appears to +have been a marked deficiency of coasting vessels, for the Chronicles +quote an Imperial decree issued B.C. 81, which says: "Ships are of +cardinal importance to the Empire. At present the people of the +coast, not having ships, suffer grievously by land transport. +Therefore let every province be caused to have ships built;"* and it +is related that, a few months later, the building of ships was begun. +Again, in A.D. 274, a vessel (the Karano) one hundred feet in length, +was constructed in the province of Izu, and twenty-six years later, +according to the Chronicles, the Emperor issued this order: "The +Government ship named Karano was sent as tribute by the Lord of Izu. +It is rotten and unfit for use. It has, however, been in the +Government use for a long time, and its services should not be +forgotten. Shall we not keep the name of that ship from being lost +and hand it down to after ages?" The Karano was then broken and her +timbers being employed as firewood for roasting salt, the latter was +given to the various provinces, which, in return, were caused to +build ships for the State, the result being a fleet of five hundred +vessels. + +*Aston's Nihongi. + +It would seem that there was always an abundance of fishing-boats, +for fishing by traps, hooks, and nets was industriously carried on. A +passage in the Records speaks of a thousand-fathom rope of +paper-mulberry which was used to draw the net in perch fishing. +Spearing was also practised by fishermen, and in the rivers +cormorants were used just as they are to-day. + +MARRIAGE + +It does not appear that the marriage tie possessed any grave +significance in ancient Japan, or that any wedding ceremony was +performed; unless, indeed, the three circuits made by Izanagi and +Izanami prior to cohabitation round a "heavenly august pillar" be +interpreted as the circumambulatory rite observed in certain +primitive societies. Pouring water over a bride seems, however, to +have been practised and is still customary in some provinces, though +as to its antiquity nothing can be said. An exchange of presents is +the only fact made clear by the annals. There did not exist in Japan, +as in China, a veto on marriages between people of the same tribe, +but this difference does not signify any reproach to Japan: the +interdict was purely political in China's case, and corresponding +conditions did not exist in Japan. + +On the other hand, the Japanese system permitted a degree of licence +which in the Occident is called incest: brothers and sisters might +intermarry provided that they had not been brought up together. To +understand this condition it is necessary to observe that a bride +generally continued to live in her family dwelling where she received +her husband's visits, and since there was nothing to prevent a +husband from contracting many such alliances, it was possible for him +to have several groups of children, the members of each group being +altogether unknown to the members of all the rest. In a later, but +not definitely ascertained era, it became customary for a husband to +take his wife to his own home, and thereafter the veto upon such +unions soon became imperative, so that a Prince Imperial in the fifth +century who cohabited with his sister forfeited the succession and +had to commit suicide, his conduct being described in the Chronicles +as "a barbarous outrage." + +In all eras sisters might marry the same man, and polygamy was +common. A Chinese book, compiled in the early years of the Christian +epoch, speaks of women being so numerous in Japan that nobles had +four or five wives and commoners two or three. Of course, the reason +assigned for this custom is incorrect: not plenitude of females but +desire of abundant progeny was primarily the cause. It is notable +that although the line between nobles and commoners was strictly +drawn and rigidly observed, it did not extend to marriage in one +sense: a nobleman could always take a wife or a concubine from the +family of an inferior. In fact, orders were commonly issued to this +or that province to furnish so many ladies-in-waiting (uneme)--a term +having deeper significance than it suggests--and several instances +are recorded of sovereigns summoning to court girls famed for beauty. +That no distinction was made between wives and concubines has been +alleged, but is not confirmed by the annals. Differentiation by rank +appears to have been always practised, and the offspring was +certainly thus distinguished. + +BIRTH AND EDUCATION + +A child in ancient Japan was born under considerable difficulties: +its mother had to segregate herself in a parturition hut (ubuya), +whence even light was excluded and where she was cut off from all +attendance. This strange custom was an outcome of the Shinto canon of +purity. Soon after birth, a child received from its mother a name +generally containing some appropriate personal reference. In the +most ancient times each person (so far as we can judge) bore one +name, or rather one string of words compounded together into a sort +of personal designation. But already at the dawn of the historical +epoch we are met by the mention of surnames and of "gentile names +bestowed by the sovereign as a recompense for some noteworthy deed."* +These names constantly occur. The principal of them are suzerain +(atae), departmental suzerain (agata-no-atae), departmental lord +(agata-no-nushi), Court noble (ason), territorial lord (inaki), lord +(iratsuko), lady (iratsume), duke (kimi), ruler (miyatsuko), chief +(muraji), grandee (omi), noble (sukune), and lord (wake). In the case +of the Emperors there are also canonical names, which were applied at +a comparatively late date in imitation of Chinese usages, and which +may be said to have completely replaced the names borne during life. +Thus, the Emperor known to posterity as Jimmu was called Iware in +life, the Emperor named Homuda while he sat on the throne is now +designated Ojin, and the Emperor who ruled as Osazaki is remembered +as Nintoku. In the Imperial family, and doubtless in the households +of the nobility, wet-nurses were employed, if necessary, as also were +bathing-women, washing-women, and rice-chewers.** + +*B.H. Chamberlain. + +**"Rice, which is mainly carbohydrate, is transformed into grape-sugar +by the action of the saliva. This practice is still common in China +and used to be so in Japan where it is now rarely met with. It was +employed only until dentition was complete." (Munro.) + +"To what we should call education, whether mental or physical, there +is absolutely no reference made in the histories. All that can be +inferred is that, when old enough to do so; the boys began to follow +one of the callings of hunter or fisherman, while the girls stayed at +home weaving the garments of the family. There was a great deal of +fighting, generally of a treacherous kind, in the intervals of which +the warriors occupied themselves in cultivating patches of ground."* + +*B.H. Chamberlain. + +BURIAL OF THE DEAD + +Burial rites were important ceremonials. The house hitherto tenanted +by the deceased was abandoned--a custom exemplified in the removal of +the capital to a new site at the commencement of each reign--and the +body was transferred to a specially erected mourning-hut draped +inside with fine, white cloth. The relatives and friends then +assembled, and for several days performed a ceremony which resembled +an Irish wake, food and sake being offered to the spirit of the dead, +prayers put up, and the intervals devoted to weird singing and solemn +dancing. Wooden coffins appear to have been used until the beginning +of the Christian era, when stone is said to have come into vogue. + +At the obsequies of nobles there was considerable organization. Men +(mike-hito) were duly told off to take charge of the offerings of +food and liquor; others (kisari-mochi) were appointed to carry the +viands; others (hahaki-mochi) carried brooms to sweep the cemetery; +there were females (usu-me) who pounded rice, and females (naki-me) +who sung dirges interspersed with eulogies of the deceased. The +Records mention that at the burial of Prince Waka a number of birds +were used instead of these female threnodists. It appears, further, +that those following a funeral walked round the coffin waving +blue-and-red banners, carrying lighted torches, and playing music. + +In the sepulchres the arms, utensils, and ornaments used daily by the +deceased were interred, and it was customary to bury alive around the +tombs of Imperial personages and great nobles a number of the +deceased's principal retainers. The latter inhuman habit was +nominally abandoned at the close of the last century before Christ, +images of baked clay being substituted for human sacrifices, but the +spirit which informed the habit survived, and even down to modern +times there were instances of men and women committing suicide for +the purpose of rejoining the deceased beyond the grave. As to the +nature of the tombs raised over the dead, the main facts have been +stated in Chapter VI. + +TEETH BLACKENING AND FACE PAINTING + +The habit of blackening the teeth has long prevailed among married +women in Japan, but the Yamato tombs have thus far furnished only one +example of the practice, and no mention occurs in the ancient annals. +Face painting, however, would seem to have been indulged in by both +sexes. Several of the pottery images (haniwa) taken from the tombs +indicate that red pigment was freely and invariably used for that +purpose. It was applied in broad streaks or large patches, the former +encircling the face or forming bands across it; the latter, covering +the eyes or triangulating the cheeks. It is probable that this +bizarre decoration was used only on ceremonial occasions and that it +appears in a greatly accentuated form on the haniwa. + +AMUSEMENTS + +As to amusements in prehistoric times little information is +furnished. Hunting the boar and the stag was the principal pastime, +and hawking is described as having been practised in the fourth +century of the Christian era. Music and dancing seem to have been in +vogue from time immemorial, but there is nothing to tell what kind of +musical instruments were in the hands of the early Yamato. The koto, +a kind of horizontal lute, and the flute are spoken of in the +Chronicles, but the date of their introduction is not indicated. +Wrestling, cockfighting (with metal spurs), picnics, a kind of +drafts, gambling with dice, and football are all referred to, and +were probably indulged in from a very early date. + +SLAVERY + +The institution of slavery existed among the Yamato. It will be +presently spoken of. + +POSITION OF WOMEN + +There is evidence to show that in the prehistoric age a high position +was accorded to women and that their rights received large +recognition. The facts that the first place in the Japanese pantheon +was assigned to a goddess; that the throne was frequently occupied by +Empresses; that females were chiefs of tribes and led armies on +campaign; that jealous wives turned their backs upon faithless +husbands; that mothers chose names for their children and often had +complete charge of their upbringing--all these things go to show that +the self-effacing rank taken by Japanese women in later ages was a +radical departure from the original canon of society. It is not to be +inferred, however, that fidelity to the nuptial tie imposed any check +on extra-marital relations in the case of men: it had no such effect. + +ENGRAVING: "IKEBANA" FLOWER ARRANGEMENT + +ENGRAVING: ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB OF THE EMPEROR JIMMU IN UNEBI-YAMA + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PREHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS + +JIMMU + +IT is held by eminent Japanese historians that the Emperor Jimmu, +when he set out for Yamato, did not contemplate an armed campaign but +merely intended to change his capital from the extreme south to the +centre of the country. This theory is based on the words of the +address he made to his elder brothers and his sons when inviting them +to accompany him on the expedition "Why should we not proceed to +Yamato and make it the capital?"--and on the fact that, on arriving +in the Kibi district, namely, the region now divided into the three +provinces of Bizen, Bitchu, and Bingo, he made a stay of three years +for the purpose of amassing an army and provisioning it, the +perception that he would have to fight having been realized for the +first time. Subsequently he encountered strongest resistance at the +hands of Prince Nagasune, whose title of Hiko (Child of the Sun) +showed that he belonged to the Yamato race, and who exercised +military control under the authority of Nigihayahi, elder brother of +Jimmu's father. This Nigihayahi had been despatched from the +continental realm of the Yamato--wherever that may have been--at a +date prior to the despatch of his younger brother, Ninigi, for the +purpose of subjugating the "land of fair rice-ears and fertile reed +plains," but of the incidents of his expedition history takes no +notice: it merely shows him as ruling in Yamato at the time of +Jimmu's arrival there, and describes how Nigihayahi, having been +convinced by a comparison of weapons of war that Jimmu was of his own +lineage, surrendered the authority to him and caused, Prince Nagasune +to be put to death. + +From a chronological point of view it is difficult to imagine the +co-existence of Jimmu and his great-granduncle, but the story may +perhaps be accepted in so far as it confirms the tradition that, in +prosecuting his Yamato campaign, Jimmu received the submission of +several chieftains (Kami) belonging to the same race as himself. +Reference to these facts is essential to an understanding of the +class distinctions found in the Japanese social system. All the +chieftains who led the expedition from Kyushu were subsequently +designated Tenshin--a term which may be conveniently rendered "Kami +of the descent"--and all those who, like Nigihayahi, had previously +been in occupation of the country, were styled kum-tsu-Kami, +or "territorial Kami." Another method of distinguishing was +to include the former in the Kwobetsu and the latter in the +Shimbetsu--distinctions which will be more fully explained +hereafter--and after apotheosis the members of these two classes +became respectively "deities of heaven" and "deities of earth," a +distinction possessing historical rather than qualificatory force. + +As for subdivisions, the head of a Kwobetsu family had the title of +omi (grandee) and the head of a Shimbetsu family that of muraji +(chief). Thus, the organization of the State depended primarily on +the principle of ancestor worship. The sceptre descended by divine +right without any regard to its holder's competence, while the +administrative posts were filled by men of the same race with a +similar hereditary title. Aliens like the Yezo, the Tsuchi-gumo, and +the Kumaso were either exterminated or made slaves (nuhi). + +THE TERM "YAMATO" + +As to the term "Yamato," it appears that, in the earliest times, the +whole country now called Japan was known as Yamato, and that +subsequently the designation became restricted to the province which +became the seat of government. The Chinese, when they first took +cognizance of the islands lying on their east, seem to have applied +the name Wado--pronounced "Yamato" by the Japanese--to the tribes +inhabiting the western shores of Japan, namely, the Kumaso or the +Tsuchi-gumo, and in writing the word they used ideographs conveying a +sense of contempt. The Japanese, not unnaturally, changed these +ideographs to others having the same sounds but signifying "great +peace." At a later time the Chinese or the Koreans began to designate +these eastern islands, Jih-pen, or "Sunrise Island," a term which, in +the fifteenth century, was perverted by the Dutch into Japan. + +THE FIRST NINE EMPERORS + +In attempting to construct coherent annals out of the somewhat +fragmentary Japanese histories of remote ages, the student is +immediately confronted by chronological difficulties. Apart from the +broad fact that the average age of the first seventeen Emperors from +Jimmu downwards is 109 years, while the average age of the next +seventeen is only sixty-one and a half years, there are +irreconcilable discrepancies in some of the dates themselves. Thus, +according to the Records, the eighth Emperor, Kogen, died at +fifty-seven, but according to the Chronicles he ascended the throne +at fifty-nine and reigned fifty-six years. Again, whereas the ninth +sovereign, Kaikwa, is by the Records given a life of only sixty-three +years, the Chronicles make him assume the sceptre at fifty-one and +wield it for fifty-nine years. Such conflicts of evidence are fatal +to confidence. Nor do they disappear wholly until the beginning of +the fifth century, at which time, moreover, the incidents of Japanese +history receive their first confirmation from the history of China +and Korea. + +It is therefore not extravagant to conclude that the first ten and a +half centuries covered by Japanese annals must be regarded as +prehistoric. On the other hand, the incidents attributed to this long +interval are not by any means of such a nature as to suggest +deliberate fabrication. An annalist who was also a courtier, applying +himself to construct the story of his sovereign's ancestors, would +naturally be disposed to embellish his pages with narratives of great +exploits and brilliant achievements. Neither the Records nor the +Chronicles can be said to display such a propensity in any marked +degree. The Chronicles do, indeed, draw upon the resources of Chinese +history to construct ethical codes and scholarly diction for their +Imperial figures, but the Records show no traces of adventitious +colour nor make an attempt to minimize the evil and magnify the good. + +Thus, while it is evident that to consolidate Jimmu's conquest and to +establish order among the heterogeneous elements of his empire he +must have been followed by rulers of character and prowess, the +annals show nothing of the kind. On the contrary, the reigns of his +eight immediate successors are barren of all striking incident. The +closing chapter of Jimmu himself is devoted chiefly to his amours, +and the opening page in the life of his immediate successor, Suisei, +shows that the latter reached the throne by assassinating his elder +brother. For the rest, the annals of the eight sovereigns who reigned +during the interval between 561 and 98 B.C. recount mainly the +polygamous habits of these rulers and give long genealogies of the +noble families founded by their offspring--a dearth of romance which +bears strong witness to the self-restraint of the compilers. We learn +incidentally that on his accession each sovereign changed the site of +his palace, seldom passing, however, beyond the limits of the +province of Yamato, and we learn, also, that the principle of +primogeniture, though generally observed, was often violated. + +HSU FUH + +A Japanese tradition assigns to the seventy-second year of the reign +of Korei the advent of a Chinese Taoist, by name Hsu Fuh. Korei, +seventh in descent from Jimmu, held the sceptre from 290 to 215 B.C., +and the seventy-second year of his reign fell, therefore, in 219 B.C. +Now, to the east of the town of Shingu in Kii province, at a place on +the seashore in the vicinity of the site of an ancient castle, there +stands a tomb bearing the inscription "Grave of Hsu Fuh from China," +and near it are seven tumuli said to be the burial-places of Hsu's +companions. Chinese history states that Hsu Fuh was a learned man who +served the first Emperor of the Chin dynasty (255-206 B.C.), and that +he obtained his sovereign's permission to sail to the islands of the +east in search of the elixir of life. Setting out from Yentai (the +present Chefoo) in his native province of Shantung, Hsu landed at +Kumano in the Kii promontory, and failing to find the elixir, +preferred to pass his life in Japan rather than to return +unsuccessful to the Court of the tyranical Chin sovereign, burner of +the books and builder of the Great Wall. A poem composed in the Sung +dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) says that when Hsu Fuh set out, the books had +not been burned, and that a hundred volumes thus survived in his +keeping. Of course, the date assigned by Japanese tradition to the +coming of Hsu may have been adapted to Chinese history, and it +therefore furnishes no evidence as to the accuracy of the Chronicles' +chronology. But the existence of the tomb may be regarded as proving +that some communication took place between China and Japan at that +remote epoch.* + +*The route taken by Hsu Fuh namely, from Chefoo down the China Sea +and round the south of Japan is difficult to understand. + +THE TENTH EMPEROR, SUJIN + +The reign of this sovereign (97-30 B.C.) is the first eventful period +since the death of Jimmu. It is memorable for the reorganization of +religious rites; for the extension of the effective sway of the +Throne, and for the encouragement of agriculture. When the first +Emperor installed the sacred insignia in the palace where he himself +dwelt, the instinct of filial piety and the principle of ancestor +worship were scarcely distinguishable. But as time passed and as the +age of the Kami became more remote, a feeling of awe began to pervade +the rites more strongly than a sense of family affection, and the +idea of residing and worshipping in the same place assumed a +character of sacrilege. This may have been directly suggested by a +pestilence which, decimating the nation, was interpreted as implying +the need of greater purity. A replica of the sacred mirror was +manufactured, and the grandson of the great worker in metal +Mahitotsu, the "One-eyed" was ordered to forge an imitation of the +sacred sword. These imitations, together with the sacred jewel, were +kept in the palace, but the originals were transferred to Kasanui in +Yamato, where a shrine for the worship of the Sun goddess had been +built. But though the pestilence was stayed, it brought an aftermath +of lawlessness and produced much unrest in the regions remote from +Yamato. Sujin therefore organized a great military movement, the +campaign of the Shido shogun, or "Generalissimo of the four +Circuits."* + +*The term "do" indicates a group of provinces. + +The leaders chosen for this task were all members of the Imperial +family--a great-uncle, an uncle, a younger brother, and a first +cousin of the Emperor--and the fields of operation assigned to them +were: first, to the west along the northern shore of the Inland Sea; +secondly, to the northwest into Tamba, Tango, and Tajima; thirdly, to +the north along the sea of Japan, and finally to the east along the +route now known as the Tokaido. No attempt is made by the writers of +either the Records or the Chronicles to describe the preparations for +this extensive campaign. Tradition seems to have preserved the bare +fact only. + +One interesting interlude is described, however. Before the first +body of troops had passed beyond range of easy communication with +Mizugaki in Yamato, where the Court resided, the prince in command +heard a girl singing by the wayside, and the burden of her song +seemed to imply that, while foes at home menaced the capital, foes +abroad should not be attacked. The prince, halting his forces, +returned to Mizugaki to take counsel, and the Emperor's aunt +interpreted the song to signify that his Majesty's half-brother, +Haniyasu, who governed the adjacent province of Yamato, was plotting +treason. Then all the troops having been recalled, preparations to +guard the capital were made, and soon afterwards, news came that +Haniyasu, at the head of an army, was advancing from the direction of +Yamashiro, while his wife, Ata, was leading another force from Osaka, +the plan being to unite the two armies for the attack on Yamato. The +Emperor's generals at once assumed the offensive. They moved first +against Princess Ata, killed her and exterminated her forces; after +which they dealt similarly with Haniyasu. This chapter of history +illustrates the important part taken by women in affairs of State at +that epoch, and incidentally confirms the fact that armour was worn +by men in battle. + +The four Imperial generals were now able to resume their temporarily +interrupted campaigns. According to the Chronicles they completed the +tasks assigned to them and returned to the capital within six months. +But such chronology cannot be reconciled with facts. For it is +related that the generals sent northward by the western seaboard and +the eastern seaboard, respectively, came together at Aizu,* one +reaching that place via Hitachi, the other via Echigo. Thus, it would +result that Yamato armies at that remote epoch marched hundreds of +miles through country in the face of an enemy within a few months. +Further, to bring the aboriginal tribes into subjugation, an isolated +campaign would have been quite inadequate. Some kind of permanent +control was essential, and there is collateral evidence that the +descendants of the four princely generals, during many generations, +occupied the position of provincial magnates and exercised virtually +despotic sway within the localities under their jurisdiction. Thus in +the provinces of Omi, of Suruga, of Mutsu, of Iwashiro, of Iwaki, of +Echigo, of Etchu, of Echizen, of Bizen, of Bitchu, of Bingo, of +Harima, of Tamba, and elsewhere, there are found in later ages noble +families all tracing their descent to one or another of the Shido +shoguns despatched on the task of pacifying the country in the days +of the Emperor Sujin. The genealogies which fill pages of the Records +from the days of Jimmu downwards point clearly to the growth of a +powerful feudal aristocracy, for the younger sons born to successive +sovereigns bear, for the most part, names indicative of territorial +lordship; but it seems justifiable to conclude that the first great +impetus to that kind of decentralization was given by Sujin's +despatch of the Shido shoguns. + +*Hence the term "Aizu," form, signifies "to meet." + +AGRICULTURE AND TAXATION + +The digging of reservoirs and tunnels for irrigating rice-fields +received unprecedented attention in the reign of this Emperor, and +mention is for the first time made of taxes--tributes of "bow-notches +and of finger-tips," in other words, the produce of the chase and the +products of the loom. A census was taken for taxation purposes, but +unhappily the results are nowhere recorded. The Court gave itself +some concern about maritime transport also. A rescript ordered that +ships should be built by every province, but nothing is stated as to +their dimensions or nature. In this rescript it is mentioned that +"the people of the coast not having ships, suffer grievously by land +transport." What they suffered may be inferred from a description in +the Chronicles where we read that at the building of the tomb of a +princess, "the people, standing close to each other, passed the +stones from hand to hand, and thus transported them from Osaka to +Yamato." + +FOREIGN INTERCOURSE + +Korea, when Japanese history is first explicitly concerned with it, +was peopled by a number of semi-independent tribes, and the part of +the peninsula lying southward of the Han River--that is to say, +southward of the present Seoul--comprised three kingdoms. Of these +Ma-Han occupied the whole of the western half of the peninsula along +the coast of the Yellow Sea; while Sin-Han and Pyong-Han formed the +eastern half, lying along the shore of the Sea of Japan. The three +were collectively spoken of as Sam-Han (the three Han). But Japan's +relations with the peninsula did not always involve these major +divisions. Her annals speak of Shiragi (or Sinra), Kara, Kudara, and +Koma. Shiragi and Kara were principalities carved respectively out of +the southeast and south of Pyong-Han. Thus, they lay nearest to +Japan, the Korea Strait alone intervening, and the Korea Strait was +almost bridged by islands. Kudara constituted the modern Seoul and +its vicinity; Koma, (called also Korai and in Korea, Kokuli), the +modern Pyong-yang and its district. These two places were rendered +specially accessible by the rivers Han and Tadong which flowed +through them to the Yellow Sea; but of course in this respect they +could not compare with Shiragi (Sinra) and Kara, of which latter +place the Japanese usually spoke as Mimana. + +There can scarcely be any doubt that the Korean peninsula was largely +permeated with Chinese influences from a very early date, but the +processes which produced that result need not be detailed here. It +has been also shown above that, in the era prior to Jimmu, +indications are found of intercourse between Japan and Korea, and +even that Susanoo and his son held sway in Shiragi. But the first +direct reference made by Japanese annals to Korea occurs in the reign +of Sujin, 33 B.C. when an envoy from Kara arrived at the Mizugaki +Court, praying that a Japanese general might be sent to compose a +quarrel which had long raged between Kara and Shiragi, and to take +the former under Japan's protection. It appears that this envoy had +travelled by a very circuitous route. He originally made the port of +Anato (modern Nagato), but Prince Itsutsu, who ruled there, claimed +to be the sole monarch of Japan and refused to allow the envoy to +proceed, so that the latter had to travel north and enter Japan via +Kehi-no-ura (now Tsuruga.) + +Incidentally this narrative corroborates a statement made in Chinese +history (compiled in the Later Han era, A.D. 25-220) to the effect +that many Japanese provinces claimed to be under hereditary rulers +who exercised sovereign rights. Such, doubtless, was the attitude +assumed by several of the Imperial descendants who had obtained +provincial estates. The Emperor Sujin received the envoy courteously +and seemed disposed to grant his request, but his Majesty's death (30 +B.C.) intervened, and not until two years later was the envoy able to +return. His mission had proved abortive, but the Emperor Suinin, +Sujin's successor, gave him some red-silk fabrics to carry home and +conferred on his country the name Mimana, in memory of Sujin, whose +appellation during life had been Mimaki. + +These details furnish an index to the relations that existed in that +era between the neighbouring states of the Far East. The special +interest of the incident lies, however, in the fact that it furnishes +the first opportunity of comparing Japanese history with Korean. The +latter has two claims to credence. The first is that it assigns no +incredible ages to the sovereigns whose reigns it records. According +to Japanese annals there were only seven accessions to the throne of +Yamato during the first four centuries of the Christian era. +According to Korean annals, the three peninsular principalities had +sixteen, seventeen, and sixteen accessions, respectively, in the same +interval. The second claim is that, during the same four centuries, +the histories of China and Korea agree in ten dates and differ in two +only.* On the whole, therefore, Korean annals deserve to be credited. +But whereas Japanese history represents warfare as existing between +Kara and Shiragi in 33 B.C., Korean history represents the conflict +as having broken out in A.D. 77. There is a difference of just 110 +years, and the strong probability of accuracy is on the Korean side. + +*For a masterly analysis of this subject see a paper on Early +Japanese History by Mr. W. G. Aston in Vol. XVI of the "Translations +of the Asiatic Society of Japan." + +THE ELEVENTH SOVEREIGN, SUININ (29 B.C.--A.D. 70) + +Suinin, second son of his predecessor, obtained the throne by a +process which frankly ignored the principle of primogeniture. For +Sujin, having an equal affection for his two sons, confessed himself +unable to choose which of them should be his successor and was +therefore guided by a comparison of their dreams, the result being +that the younger was declared Prince Imperial, and the elder became +duke of the provinces of Kamitsuke (now Kotsuke) and Shimotsuke. +Suinin, like all the monarchs of that age, had many consorts: nine +are catalogued in the Records and their offspring numbered sixteen, +many of whom received local titles and had estates conferred in the +provinces. In fact, this process of ramifying the Imperial family +went on continuously from reign to reign. + +There are in the story of this sovereign some very pathetic elements. +Prince Saho, elder brother of the Empress, plotted to usurp the +throne. Having cajoled his sister into an admission that her brother +was dearer than her husband, he bade her prove it by killing the +Emperor in his sleep. But when an opportunity offered to perpetrate +the deed as the sovereign lay sleeping with her knees as pillow, her +heart melted, and her tears, falling on the Emperor's face, disturbed +his slumber. He sought the cause of her distress, and learning it, +sent a force to seize the rebel. Remorse drove the Empress to die +with Prince Saho. Carrying her little son, she entered the fort where +her brother with his followers had taken refuge. The Imperial troops +set fire to the fort--which is described as having been built with +rice-bags piled up--and the Empress emerged with the child in her +arms; but having thus provided for its safety, she fled again to the +fort and perished with her brother. This terrible scene appears to +have given the child such a shock that he lost the use of speech, and +the Records devote large space to describing the means employed for +the amusement of the child, the long chase and final capture of a +swan whose cry, as it flew overhead, had first moved the youth to +speech, and the cure ultimately effected by building a shrine for the +worship of the deity of Izumo, who, in a previous age, had been +compelled to abdicate the sovereignty of the country in favour of a +later descendant of the Sun goddess, and whose resentment was +thereafter often responsible for calamities overtaking the Court or +the people of Japan. + +THE ISE SHRINE AND THE PRACTICE OF JUNSHI + +Two events specially memorable in this reign were the transfer of the +shrine of the Sun goddess to Ise, where it has remained ever since, +and the abolition of the custom of junshi, or following in death. The +latter shocking usage, a common rite of animistic religion, was in +part voluntary, in part compulsory. In its latter aspect it came +vividly under the notice of the Emperor Suinin when the tomb of his +younger brother, Yamato, having been built within earshot of the +palace, the cries of his personal attendants, buried alive around his +grave, were heard, day and night, until death brought silence. In the +following year (A.D. 3), the Empress having died, a courtier, +Nomi-no-Sukune, advised the substitution of clay figures for the +victims hitherto sacrificed. Nominally, the practice of compulsory +junshi ceased from that date,* but voluntary junshi continued to find +occasional observance until modern times. + +*Of course it is to be remembered that the dates given by Japanese +historians prior to the fifth century A.D. are very apocryphal. + +WRESTLING + +The name of Nomi-no-Sukune is associated with the first mention of +wrestling in Japanese history. By the Chronicles a brief account is +given of a match between Nomi and Taema-no-Kuehaya. The latter was +represented to be so strong that he could break horns and straighten +hooks. His frequently expressed desire was to find a worthy +competitor. Nomi-no-Sukune, summoned from Izumo by the Emperor, met +Kuehaya in the lists of the palace of Tamaki and kicked him to death. +Wrestling thereafter became a national pastime, but its methods +underwent radical change, kicking being abolished altogether. + +FOREIGN INTERCOURSE + +It is believed by Japanese historians that during the reign of Suinin +a local government station (chinju-fu) was established in Anra +province of Mimana, and that this station, subsequently known as +Nippon-fu, was transferred to Tsukushi (Kyushu) and named Dazai-fu +when Japan's influence in Mimana waned. The first general (shoguri) +of the chinju-fu was Prince Shihotari, and the term kishi--which in +Korea signified headman--was thenceforth incorporated into his family +name. To the members of that family in later generations was +entrusted the conduct of the Empire's foreign affairs. But it does +not appear that the Imperial Court in Yamato paid much attention to +oversea countries in early eras. Intercourse with these was +conducted, for the most part, by the local magnates who held sway in +the western regions of Japan. + +It was during the reign of Suinin, if Japanese chronology be +accepted, that notices of Japan began to appear in Chinese history--a +history which justly claims to be reliable from 145 B.C. Under the +Later Han dynasty (A.D. 25-220), great progress was made in +literature and art by the people of the Middle Kingdom, and this +progress naturally extended, not only to Korea, which had been +conquered by the Chinese sovereign, Wu-Ti, in the second century +before Christ and was still partly under the rule of Chinese +governors, but also to the maritime regions of Japan, whence the +shores of Korea were almost within sight. China in those ages was +incomparably the greatest and most enlightened country in the Orient, +and it had become the custom with adjacent States to send emissaries +to her Court, bearing gifts which she handsomely requited; so that +while, from one point of view, the envoys might be regarded as +tribute-carriers, from another, the ceremony presented the character +of a mere interchange of neighbourly civilities. In Japan, again, +administrative centralization was still imperfect. Some of the local +magnates had not yet been brought fully under the sway of the Yamato +invaders, and some, as scions of the Imperial family, arrogated a +considerable measure of independence. Thus it resulted that several +of these provincial dukes--or "kings," as not a few of them were +called--maintained relations with Korea, and through her despatched +tribute missions to the Chinese Court from time to time. + +In these circumstances it is not surprising to find the Chinese +historians of the first century A.D. writing: "The Wa (Japanese) +dwell southeast of Han* (Korea) on a mountainous island in midocean. +Their country is divided into more than one hundred provinces. Since +the time when Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) overthrew Korea, they (the +Japanese) have communicated with the Han (Korean) authorities by +means of a postal service. There are thirty-two provinces which do +so, all of which style their rulers 'kings' who are hereditary. The +sovereign of Great Wa resides in Yamato, distant 12,000 li (4000 +miles) from the frontier of the province of Yolang (the modern +Pyong-yang in Korea). In the second year of Chung-yuan (A.D. 57), in +the reign of Kwang-wu, the Ito** country sent an envoy with tribute, +who styled himself Ta-fu. He came from the most western part of the +Wa country. Kwang-wu presented him with a seal and ribbon." [Aston's +translation.] + +*It is necessary to distinguish carefully between the Han dynasty of +China and the term "Han" as a designation of Korea. + +**The ideographs composing this word were pronounced "I-to" at the +time when they were written by the Hou-Han historians, but they +subsequently received the sound of "Wo-nu" or "wa-do." + +These passages have provoked much discussion, but Japanese annalists +are for the most part agreed that "Ito" should be read "I-no-na," +which corresponds with the ancient Na-no-Agata, the present Naka-gori +in Chikuzen, an identification consistent with etymology and +supported by the fact that, in 1764, a gold seal supposed to be the +original of the one mentioned above, was dug out of the ground in +that region. In short, Na-no-Agata is identical with the ancient +Watazumi-no-Kuni, which was one of the countries of Japan's +intercourse. Further, the Yamato of the Hou-Han historians is not to +be regarded as the province of that name in central Japan, but as one +of the western districts, whether Yamato in Higo, or Yamato in +Chikugo. It has been shrewdly suggested* that the example of Korea +had much influence in inducing the local rulers in the western and +southern provinces to obtain the Chinese Court's recognition of their +administrative status, but, whatever may have been the dominant +motive, it seems certain that frequent intercourse took place between +Japan and China via Korea immediately before and after the beginning +of the Christian era. Again, that Koreans came freely to Japan and +settled there is attested by the case of a son of the King of Shiragi +who, coming to the Tajima region, took a Japanese wife and +established himself there, founding a distinguished family. The +closing episode of the Emperor Suinin's life was the despatch of +Tajima Mori, this immigrant's descendant, to the country of Tokoyo, +nominally for the purpose of obtaining orange-seeds, but probably +with the ulterior motive of exploration. + +*By Dr. Ariga, an eminent Japanese authority. + +The reader is already familiar with this Tokoyo-no-Kuni (Eternal +Land). We hear of it first as the home of "long-singing birds" +summoned to take part in enticing the Sun goddess from her cave. Then +it figures as the final retreat of Sukuna-hikona, the Aescalapius of +the mythological age. Then we find one of Jimmu's elder brothers +treading on the waves to reach it. Then we hear of it as the +birthplace of the billows that make Ise their bourne, and now it is +described by Tajima Mori in his death-song as the "mysterious realm +of gods and genii," so distant that ten years were needed to reach it +and return. It appears in fact to have been an epithet for China in +general, and the destination of Tajima Mori is believed to have been +Shantung, to reach which place by sea from Japan was a great feat of +navigation in those primitive days. Tajima Mori returned to find the +Emperor dead, and in despair he committed suicide. + +AGRICULTURE AND ADMINISTRATION + +The reclamation of land for purposes of rice cultivation went on +vigorously during Suinin's reign. More than eight hundred ponds and +aqueducts are said to have been constructed by order of the sovereign +for irrigation uses throughout the provinces. It would seem, too, +that the practice of formally consulting Court officials about +administrative problems had its origin at this time. No definite +organization for the purpose was yet created, but it became customary +to convene distinguished scions of the Imperial line and heads of +great subject-families to discuss and report upon affairs of State. +Another innovation referred to in this era was the offering of +weapons of war at the shrines. We read of as many as a thousand +swords being forged to form part of the sacred treasures at the +shrine of Ise-no-Kami, and the occasion was seized to organize a +number of hereditary corporations (be) of arm-makers and armourers. +These were placed under the control of Prince Inishiki, another of +the captains of the Imperial life-guards (mononobe-no-Obito). It is +thus evident that something more than a religious rite was involved +in these measures. + +THE TWELFTH EMPEROR, KEIKO (A.D. 71--130) + +According to the Records, Keiko was ten feet two inches high, and his +shank measured four feet one inch. His nomination as Prince Imperial +was an even more arbitrary violation of the right of primogeniture +than the case of his predecessor had been, for he was chosen in +preference to his elder brother merely because, when the two youths +were casually questioned as to what they wished for, the elder said, +"a bow and arrows," and the younger, "the empire." The delusive +nature of the Nihongi's chronology in these prehistoric epochs is +exemplified in the annals of this sovereign, for he is represented as +having been in his eighty-third year when he ascended the throne, +yet, in the third year of his reign, he took a consort who bore him +thirteen children, and altogether his progeny numbered eighty sons +and daughters by seven wives. His plan of providing for these +numerous scions constituted the first systematization of a custom +which had been observed in a fitful manner by several of his +predecessors. They had given to their sons local titles and estates +but had not required them to leave the capital. Keiko, however, +appointed his sons, with three exceptions, to the position of +provincial or district viceroy, preserving their Imperial connexion +by calling them wake, or branch families. This subject will present +itself for further notice during the reign of Keiko's successor. + +One of the most memorable events in this epoch was the Emperor's +military expedition in person to quell the rebellious Kumaso (q.v.) +in Kyushu. There had not been any instance of the sovereign taking +the field in person since Jimmu's time, and the importance attaching +to the insurrection is thus shown. Allowance has to be made, however, +for the fact that the territory held by these Kumaso in the south of +Kyushu was protected by a natural rampart of stupendous mountain +ranges which rendered military access arduous, and which, in after +ages, enabled a great feudatory to defy the Central Government for +centuries. In connexion with this expedition a noteworthy fact is +that female chieftains were found ruling in the provinces of Suwo and +Bingo. They were not aliens, but belonged to the Yamato race, and +their existence goes far to account for the appellation, "Queens' +Country," applied by Chinese historians to the only part of Japan +with which the people of the Middle Kingdom were familiar, namely, +Kyushu and the west-coast provinces. Keiko's reign is remarkable +chiefly for this expedition to the south, which involved a residence +of six years in Hyuga, and for the campaigns of one of the greatest +of Japan's heroes, Prince Yamato-dake. The military prowess of the +sovereign, the fighting genius of Yamato-dake, and the administrative +ability of Takenouchi-no-Sukune, the first "prime minister" mentioned +in Japanese history, combined to give signal eclat to the reign of +Keiko. + +Arriving at this stage of the annals, we are able to perceive what an +influence was exercised on the fortunes of the country by its +topographical features. The southwestern sections of the islands are +comparatively accessible from the centre (Chogoku or Kinai), whether +by sea or by land, but the northeastern are guarded by mountain +chains which can be crossed only by arduous and easily defended +passes. It was, therefore, in these northeastern provinces that the +Yemishi maintained their independence until their strength was broken +by the splendid campaign of Yamato-dake; it was in these northeastern +provinces that the bushi, noblest product of Japanese civilization, +was nurtured; it was in the same provinces that the Taira family made +its brilliant debut, and it was by abandoning these provinces for the +sweets of Kyoto that the Taira fell; it was in the north-eastern +provinces that Minamoto Yoritomo, the father of military feudalism, +established himself, to be followed in succession by the Hojo, the +Ashikaga, and the Tokugawa, and it is in the northeastern provinces +that the Meiji Government has its seat of power. + +We can not wonder, therefore, that modern historiographers have +devoted much labour to tracing the route followed by Yamato-dake's +troops and rationalizing the figurative or miraculous features of the +narratives told in the Kojiki and the Nihongi. It is enough to know, +however, that he overran the whole region stretching from the +provinces along the Eastern Sea as far as Iwaki; crossed westward +through Iwashiro to Echigo on the west coast, and turning southward, +made his way through Shinano and Mino to Owari, whence, suffering +from a wound caused by a poisoned arrow, he struggled on to Ise and +died there. This campaign seems to have occupied ten years, and +Yamato-dake was only thirty at the time of his death. He had marched +against the Kumaso in the south at the age of sixteen. The Chronicles +relate that when crossing the Usui Pass and looking down on the sea +where his loved consort had cast herself into the waves to quell +their fury, the great warrior sighed thrice and exclaimed, "My wife, +my wife, my wife!" (Ago, tsuma haya), whereafter the provinces east +of the mountain were designated Azuma. + +It was imagined until quite recent times that the pass referred to +was the well-known Usui Toge on the Nakasendo road; but Dr. Kume has +shown that such a supposition is inconsistent with any rational +itinerary of Yamato-dake's march, and that the sea in question cannot +be seen from that defile. The pass mentioned in the Chronicles is +another of the same name not far from the Hakone region, and the term +"Azuma" "had always been used to designate the Eastern Provinces." +Throughout the Records and the Chronicles frequent instances occur of +attempts to derive place-names from appropriate legends, but probably +in many cases the legend was suggested by the name. In connexion with +Yamato-dake's career, a circumstance is recorded which indirectly +points to the absence of history at that period. In order to +immortalize the memory of the hero, hereditary corporations (be) +called after him were created. These Take-be gave their names to the +districts where they lived, in Ise, Izumo, Mimasaka, and Bizen. + +FEMALE HOSTAGES + +Another custom inaugurated by this sovereign was to require that the +rulers of provinces should send to the Yamato Court female hostages. +The first example of this practice took place on the occasion of an +Imperial visit to the regions overrun by Yamato-dake's forces. Each +of twelve kuni-yatsuko (provincial rulers) was required to send one +damsel for the purpose of serving in the culinary department of the +palace. They were called makura-ko (pillow-child) and they seem to +have been ultimately drafted into the ranks of the uneme +(ladies-in-waiting). Japanese historians hold that the makura-ko were +daughters of the local magnates by whom they were sent, though the +fact of that relationship is not clearly stated in either the Records +or the Chronicles. + +TABE AND MIYAKE + +In the annals of Suinin's reign brief reference is made to granaries +(miyake) erected by order of the Court. The number of these was +increased in Keiko's time, and it is further mentioned that a +hereditary corporation of rice-field cultivators (tabe) were +organized for service on the Imperial estates. The miyake were at +once storehouse and offices for administering agricultural affairs. + +THE THIRTEENTH EMPEROR, SEIMU (A.D. 131--190) + +The thirteenth Emperor, Seimu, occupied the throne for fifty-nine +years, according to the Chronicles, but the only noteworthy feature +of his reign was the organization of local government, and the +details of his system are so vaguely stated as to be incomprehensible +without much reference and some hypotheses. Speaking broadly, the +facts are these: Imperial princes who had distinguished themselves by +evidences of ability or courage were despatched to places of special +importance in the provinces, under the name of wake, a term conveying +the signification of "branch of the Imperial family." There is reason +to think that these appointments were designed to extend the prestige +of the Court rather than to facilitate the administration of +provincial affairs. The latter duty was entrusted to officials called +kuni-no-miyatsuko and agata-nushi, which may be translated +"provincial governor" and "district headman." The word miyatsuko +literally signifies "honourable (mi) servant (yatsuko or yakko)." + +In the most ancient times all subjects were yakko, but subsequently +those holding office at Court were distinguished as omi (grandee). +Persons eligible for the post of provincial governor seem to have +been chosen from among men of merit, or Imperial princes, or chiefs +of aboriginal tribes. There was little exclusiveness in this respect. +The rate of expansion of the area under Imperial sway may be inferred +from the fact that whereas there were nine provinces (kuni) in +Jimmu's time, one was added by Kaikwa, eleven by Sujin, seven by +Keiko, and sixty-three by Seimu, making a total of ninety-one. Yet, +though by the time of the last named sovereign almost the whole of +the southern and central regions were included in the administrative +circle, the northern provinces, some of the western, and certain +regions in the south (Kyushu) were not yet fully wrested from the +Yemishi and the Kumaso. In subsequent reigns the rate of growth was +as follows: Chuai (A.D. 192-200), two provinces; Ojin (270-310), +twenty-one; Nintoku (313-399), seven; Hansho (406-411) and Inkyo +(412-453), one each; Yuryaku (457-459), three; Keitai (507-531), one; +and eight others at untraceable periods, the total being one hundred +thirty-five. + +The agata was a division smaller than a province (kuni). It +corresponded to the modern kori or gun, and its nearest English +equivalent is "district." A distinction must be made, however, +between agata and mi-agata. The latter were Imperial domains whence +the Court derived its resources, and their dimensions varied greatly. +A smaller administrative district than the agata was the inagi.* This +we learn from a Chinese book--the Japanese annals being silent on the +subject--consisted of eighty houses, and ten inagi constituted a +kuni. The terra inagi was also applied to the chief local official of +the region, who may be designated "Mayor." + +*Supposed to be derived from ine (rice) and oki (store). + +THE FOURTEENTH EMPEROR, CHUAI (A.D. 192--200) AND THE EMPRESS JINGO +(A.D. 201--269) + +Were the Records our sole guide, the early incidents of Chuai's reign +would be wrapped in obscurity. For when we first meet him in the +pages of the Kojiki, he is in a palace on the northern shores of the +Shimonoseki Strait, whence he soon crosses to the Kashii palace in +Kyushu. His predecessors, while invariably changing their residences +on mounting the throne, had always chosen a site for the new palace +in Yamato or a neighbouring province, but the Records, without any +explanation, carry Chuai to the far south after his accession. The +Chronicles are more explicit. From them we gather that Chuai--who was +the second son of Yamato-dake and is described as having been ten +feet high with "a countenance of perfect beauty"--was a remarkably +active sovereign. He commenced his reign by a progress to Tsuruga +(then called Tsunuga) on the west coast of the mainland, and, a month +later, he made an expedition to Kii on the opposite shore. While in +the latter province he received news of a revolt of the Kumaso, and +at once taking ship, he went by sea to Shimonoseki, whither he +summoned the Empress from Tsuruga. An expedition against the Kumaso +was then organized and partially carried out, but the Emperor's force +was beaten and he himself received a fatal arrow-wound. Both the +Records and the Chronicles relate that, on the eve of this disastrous +move against the Kumaso, the Empress had a revelation urging the +Emperor to turn his arms against Korea as the Kumaso were not worthy +of his steel. But Chuai rejected the advice with scorn, and the +Kojiki alleges that the outraged deities punished him with death, +though doubtless a Kumaso arrow was the instrument. His demise was +carefully concealed, and the Empress, mustering the troops, took +vengeance upon the Kumaso. + +Thereafter her Majesty became the central figure in a page of +history--or romance--which has provoked more controversy than any +incident in Japanese annals. A descendant of the Korean prince, +Ama-no-Hihoko, who settled in the province of Tajima during the reign +of the Emperor Suinin, she must have possessed traditional knowledge +of Shiragi, whence her ancestor had emigrated. She was the third +consort of Chuai. His first had borne him two sons who were of adult +age when, in the second year of his reign, he married Jingo,* a lady +"intelligent, shrewd, and with a countenance of such blooming +loveliness that her father wondered at it." To this appreciation of +her character must be added the attributes of boundless ambition and +brave resourcefulness. The annals represent her as bent from the +outset on the conquest of Korea and as receiving the support and +encouragement of Takenouchi-no-Sukune, who had served her husband and +his predecessor as prime minister. A military expedition oversea led +by a sovereign in person had not been heard of since the days of +Jimmu, and to reconcile officials and troops to such an undertaking +the element of divine revelation had to be introduced. At every stage +signs and portents were vouchsafed by the guardian deities. By their +intervention the Empress was shown to be possessed of miraculous +prowess, and at their instance troops and ships assembled +spontaneously. The armada sailed under divine guidance, a gentle +spirit protecting the Empress, and a warlike spirit leading the van +of her forces. The god of the wind sent a strong breeze; the god of +the sea ruled the waves favourably; all the great fishes accompanied +the squadron, and an unprecendented tide bore the ships far inland. +Fighting became unnecessary. The King of Shiragi did homage at once +and promised tribute and allegiance forever, and the other monarchs +of the peninsula followed his example. In short, Korea was conquered +and incorporated with the dominions of Japan. + +*It should be clearly understood that the names by which the +sovereigns are called in these pages, are the posthumous appellations +given to them in later times when Chinese ideographs came into use +and Chinese customs began to be followed in such matters. The +posthumous was compiled with reference to the character or +achievements of the sovereign, Thus Jingo signifies "divine merit," +on account of her conquests; "Chuai" means "lamentable second son," +with reference to his evil fate, and "Keiko" implies "great deeds." +These three sovereigns were called during life, Okinaga-Tarashi, +Tarashi-Nakatsu, and 0-Tarashi, respectively. + +CRITICISM OF THE ALLEGED CONQUEST OF KOREA + +By some learned historiographers the whole of the above account is +pronounced a fiction. There was no such invasion of Korea, they say, +nor does the narrative deserve more credit than the legend of the +Argonauts or the tale of Troy. But that is probably too drastic a +view. There can indeed be little doubt that the compilers of the +Nihongi embellished the bald tradition with imaginary details; used +names which did not exist until centuries after the epoch referred +to; drew upon the resources of Chinese history for the utterances +they ascribe to the Empress and for the weapons they assign to her +soldiers, and were guilty of at least two serious anachronisms. + +But none of these faults disfigures the story as told in the pages of +the Kojiki, which was written before the Nihongi. It has always to be +remembered that the compilers of the latter essayed the impossible +task of adjusting a new chronology to events extending over many +centuries, and that the resulting discrepancies of dates does not +necessarily discredit the events themselves. It has also to be +remembered that the same compilers were required to robe their facts +in Chinese costume and that the consequent ill-fits and +artificialities do not of necessity vitiate the facts. In the +particular case under consideration did the Kojiki stand alone, +little doubt would ever have been entertained about the reality of an +armed expedition to Korea, under the Empress Jingo. The sober and +unexaggerated narrative of that history would have been accepted, +less only the miraculous portents which accompany it. + +As to the date of the invasion, however, it must have remained +obscure: the Kojiki's narrative furnishes one clue. According to +Korean history, an apparently unimportant descent upon Sinra +(Shiragi) took place in A.D. 219; a more serious one in 233, when the +Japanese ships were burned and their crews massacred, and a still +more formidable one in 249, when a Sinra statesman who had brought on +the invasion by using insulting language towards the sovereign of +Japan in presence of a Japanese ambassador, gave himself up to the +Japanese in the hope of appeasing their anger. They burnt him, and +proceeded to besiege Keumsyong, the Sinra capital, but were +ultimately beaten off. "No less than twenty-five descents by Japanese +on the Sinra coast are mentioned in Korean history in the first five +centuries of the Christian era, but it is impossible to identify any +one of them with Jingo's expedition." [Aston.] Nevertheless, modern +Japanese historians are disposed to assign the Jingo invasion to the +year 364, when Nai-mul ruled Shiragi, from which monarch's era +tribute seems to have been regularly sent to Yamato. Indeed the pages +of the Nihongi which deal with the last sixty years of Jingo's reign +are devoted almost entirely to descriptions of incidents connected +with the receipt of tribute and the advent or despatch of envoys. The +chronology is certainly erroneous. In no less than four several cases +events obviously the same are attributed by the Korean annals to +dates differing from those of the Nihongi by exactly two cycles; and +in one important instance the Japanese work assigns to A.D. 205 an +occurrence which the Tongkan* puts in the year 418. + +*Korean history. Its full title is Tong-kuk-lhong-kan. + +Whichever annals be correct--and the balance sways in favour of the +Korean so far as those protohistoric eras are concerned--"there can +be no doubt that Japan, at an early period, formed an alliance with +Paikche" (spoken of in Japan as "Kudara," namely, the regions +surrounding the modern Seoul), "and laid the foundation of a +controlling power over the territory known as Imna (or Mimana), which +lasted for several centuries." [Aston.] One evidence of this control +is furnished in the establishment of an office called uchi-tsu-miyake +in addition to the chinju-fu already spoken of. From early times it +had been customary in Japan that whenever any lands were acquired, a +portion of them was included in the Imperial domain, the produce +being thenceforth stored and the affairs of the estate managed at a +miyake presided over by a mikoto-mochi. Thus, on the inclusion of +certain Korean districts in Japan's dominions, this usage was +observed, and the new miyake had the syllables uchi-tsu ("of the +interior") prefixed to distinguish it as a part of Japan. It is on +record that a mikoto-mochi was stationed in Shiragi, and in the days +of Jingo's son (Ojin) the great statesman, Takenouchi-no-Sukune, took +up his residence for a time in Tsukushi to assist this mikoto-mochi +and the chinju-fu, should occasion arise. Modern Japanese historians +describe this era as the first period of Japanese national +development, for an almost immediate result of the oversea relations +thus established was that silk and cotton fabrics of greatly improved +quality, gold, silver, iron, implements, arts, and literature were +imported in increasing quantities to the great benefit of +civilization. + +SHIFTING OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE + +An important change dates from the reign of Jingo. It has been shown +above that, from a period prior to the death of Suinin, the power and +influence of the Imperial princes and nobles was a constantly growing +quantity. But the political situation developed a new phase when the +Sukune family appeared upon the scene. The first evidence of this was +manifested in a striking incident. When the Emperor Chuai died, his +consort, Jingo, was enceinte* But the Emperor left two sons by a +previous marriage, and clearly one of them should have succeeded to +the throne. Nevertheless, the prime minister, Takenouchi-no-Sukune, +contrived to have the unborn child recognized as Prince Imperial.** +Naturally the deceased Emperor's two elder sons refused to be +arbitrarily set aside in favour of a baby step-brother. The principle +of primogeniture did not possess binding force in those days, but it +had never previously been violated except by the deliberate and +ostensibly reasonable choice of an Emperor. The two princes, +therefore, called their partisans to arms and prepared to resist the +return of Jingo to Yamato. Here again Takenouchi-no-Sukune acted a +great part. He carried the child by the outer sea to a place of +safety in Kii, while the forces of the Empress sailed up the Inland +Sea to meet the brothers at Naniwa (modern Osaka). Moreover, when the +final combat took place, this same Takenouchi devised a strategy +which won the day, and in every great event during the reign of the +Empress his figure stands prominent. Finally, his granddaughter +became the consort of the Emperor Nintoku (313-399), an alliance +which opened a channel for exercising direct influence upon the +Throne and also furnished a precedent adopted freely in subsequent +times by other noble families harbouring similarly ambitious aims. In +short, from the accession of the Empress Jingo a large part of the +sovereign power began to pass into the hands of the prime minister. + +*As illustrating the confused chronology of the Nihongi, it may be +noted that, calculated by the incident of Chuai's career, he must +have been fully one hundred years old when he begot this child. That +is marvellous enough, but to add to the perplexity the Nihongi says +that Chuai died at fifty-two. + +**The legend says of this child that its birth was artificially +delayed until the return of the empress from the Korean expedition, +but the fact seems to be that the Emperor died at the end of June and +the Empress' accouchement took place in the following April. + +ENGRAVING: DEVIL WITH DRAGON HEAD (Sculptured Wood Figure in the +Museum at Kyoto) + +ENGRAVING: HORSE RACE IN OLD JAPAN + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PREHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS (Continued) + +THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION + +AT the beginning of the previous chapter brief reference was made to +the three great divisions of the inhabitants of Japan; namely, the +Shimbetsu (Kami class) the Kwobetsu (Imperial class) and the Bambetsu +(aboriginal class). The Shimbetsu comprised three sub-classes; +namely, first, the Tenjin, a term used to designate the descendants +of the great primeval trinity and of the other Kami prior to the Sun +goddess; secondly, the Tenson, or descendants of the Sun goddess to +Jimmu's father (Ugaya-fukiaezu), and thirdly, the Chigi, an +appellation applied to the chiefs found in Izumo by the envoys of the +Sun goddess and in Yamato by Jimmu--chiefs who, though deprived of +power, were recognized to be of the same lineage as their conquerors. +It is plain that few genealogical trees could be actually traced +further back than the Chigi. Hence, for all practical purposes, the +Shimbetsu consisted of the descendants of vanquished chiefs, and the +fact was tacitly acknowledged by assigning to this class the second +place in the social scale, though the inclusion of the Tenjin and the +Tenson should have assured its precedence. The Kwobetsu comprised all +Emperors and Imperial princes from Jimmu downwards. This was the +premier class. The heads of all its families possessed as a +birthright the title of omi (grandee), while the head of a Shimbetsu +family was a muraji (group-chief). The Bambetsu ranked incomparably +below either the Kwobetsu or the Shimbetsu. It consisted of +foreigners who had immigrated from China or Korea and of aboriginal +tribes alien to the Yamato race. Members of the Ban class were +designated yakko (or yatsuko), a term signifying "subject" or +"servant." + +THE UJI + +In addition to the above three-class distribution, the whole Yamato +nation was divided into uji, or families. An uji founded by one of +the Tenson took precedence of all others, the next in rank being one +with an Imperial prince for ancestor, and after the latter came the +families of the Tenjin and Chigi. All that could not thus trace their +genealogy were attached to the various uji in a subordinate capacity. +It is not to be supposed that one of these families consisted simply +of a husband and wife, children, and servants. There were great uji +and small uji, the former comprising many of the latter, and the +small uji including several households. In fact, the small uji +(ko-uji) may be described as a congeries of from fifty to ninety +blood relations. + +In the uji the principle of primogeniture was paramount. A successor +to the headship of an uji must be the eldest son of an eldest son. +Thus qualified, he became the master of the household, ruled the +whole family, and controlled its entire property. The chief of an +ordinary uji (uji no Kami) governed all the households constituting +it, and the chief of a great uji (o-uji no Kami) controlled all the +small uji of which it was composed. In addition to the members of a +family, each uji, small and great alike, had a number of dependants +(kakibe or tomobe). In colloquial language, an o-uji was the original +family; a ko-uji, a branch family. For example, if the Abe family be +considered, Abe-uji is a great uji (o-uji), while such names as Abe +no Shii, Abe no Osada, Abe no Mutsu, etc., designate small uji +(ko-uji). If a great uji was threatened with extinction through lack +of heir, the proper Kami of a small uji succeeded to the vacant +place. As for the kakibe or tomobe, they were spoken of as "so and so +of such and such an uji:" they had no uji of their own. + +All complications of minor importance were dealt with by the Kami* of +the uji in which they occurred, consultation being held with the Kami +of the appropriate o-uji in great cases. Reference was not made to +the Imperial Court except in serious matters. On the other hand, +commands from the sovereign were conveyed through the head of an +o-uji, so that the chain of responsibility was well defined. An +interesting feature of this ancient organization was that nearly +every uji had a fixed occupation which was hereditary, the name of +the occupation being prefixed to that of the uji. Thus, the uji of +gem-polishers was designated Tamatsukuri-uji, and that of boat +builders, Fune-uji. + +*An uji no Kami was called uji no choja in later ages. + +There were also uji whose members, from generation to generation, +acted as governors of provinces (kuni no miyatsuko) or headmen of +districts (agata-nushi). In these cases the name of the region was +prefixed to the uji; as Munakata-uji, Izumo-uji, etc. Finally, there +were uji that carried designations given by the sovereign in +recognition of meritorious deeds. These designations took the form of +titles. Thus the captor of a crane, at sight of which a dumb prince +recovered his speech, was called Totori no Miyatsuko (the +bird-catching governor), and Nomi-no-Sukune, who devised the +substitution of clay figures (haniwa) for human sacrifices at +Imperial obsequies, was designated as Hashi no Omi (the Pottery +Grandee). + +THE TOMOBE + +The tomobe (attendants)--called also mure (the herd) or kakibe +(domestics)--constituted an important element of the people. They +were, in fact, serfs. We find them first spoken of in an active role +as being sent to the provinces to provide foodstuffs for the Imperial +household, and in that capacity they went by the name of provincial +Imibe. Perhaps the most intelligible description of them is that they +constituted the peasant and artisan class, and that they were +attached to the uji in subordinate positions for purposes of manual +labour. By degrees, when various kinds of productive operations came +to be engaged in as hereditary pursuits, the tomobe were grouped +according to the specialty of the uji to which they wore attached, +and we hear of Kanuchibe, or the corporation of blacksmiths; Yumibe, +or the corporation of bow-makers; Oribe, or the corporation of +weavers, and so on. + +It is not to be supposed, however, that all the tomobe were thus +organized as special classes. Such was the case only when the +uji to which they belonged pursued some definite branch of +productive work. Moreover, there were corporations instituted +for purposes quite independent of industry; namely, to perpetuate +the memory of an Imperial or princely personage who had died without +issue or without attaining ancestral rank. Such tomobe were +collectively known as nashiro (namesakes) or koshiro (child +substitutes). For example, when Prince Itoshi, son of the Emperor +Suinin, died without leaving a son to perpetuate his name, the +Itoshibe was established for that purpose; and when Prince +Yamato-dake perished without ascending the throne, the Takebe was +formed to preserve the memory of his achievements. A be thus +organized on behalf of an Emperor had the title of toneri +(chamberlain) suffixed. Thus, for the Emperor Ohatsuse (known in +history as Yuryaku) the Hatsuse-be-no-toneri was formed; and for +the Emperor Shiraga (Seinei), the Shiraga-be-no-toneri. There can be +little doubt that underlying the creation of these nashiro was the +aim of extending the Imperial estates, as well as the number of +subjects over whom the control of the Throne could be exercised +without the intervention of an uji no Kami. For it is to be observed +that the sovereign himself was an o-uji no Kami, and all tomobe +created for nashiro purposes or to discharge some other functions +in connexion with the Court were attached to the Imperial uji. + +TAMIBE + +Another kind of be consisted of aliens who had been naturalized in +Japan or presented to the Japanese Throne by foreign potentates. +These were formed into tamibe (corporations of people). They became +directly dependent upon the Court, and they devoted themselves to +manufacturing articles for the use of the Imperial household. These +naturalized persons were distinguished, in many cases, by technical +skill or literary attainments. Hence they received treatment +different from that given to ordinary tomobe, some of them being +allowed to assume the title and enjoy the privilege of uji, +distinguished, however, as uji of the Bambetsu. Thus, the descendants +of the seamstresses, E-hime and Oto-hime, and of the weavers, +Kure-hatori and Ana-hatori, who were presented to the Yamato Court by +an Emperor of the Wu dynasty in China, were allowed to organize +themselves into Kinu-nui-uji (uji of Silk-robe makers); and that a +Hata-uji (Weavers' uji) was similarly organized is proved by a +passage in the records of the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 284) which relates +that the members of the Hata-uji had become scattered about the +country and were carrying on their manufacturing work in various +jurisdictions. This fact having been related to the Throne, steps +were taken to bring together all these weavers into the Hata-uji, and +to make them settle at villages to which the name of Kachibe was +given in commemoration of the weavers' ancestor, Kachi. The records +show that during the first four centuries of the Christian era the +people presented to the Yamato Court by the sovereigns of the Wu +dynasty and of Korea must have been very numerous, for no less than +710 uji were formed by them in consideration of their skill in the +arts and crafts. + +SLAVES + +The institution of slavery (nuhi) existed in ancient Japan as in so +many other countries. The slaves consisted of prisoners taken in war +and of persons who, having committed some serious offence, were +handed over to be the property of those that they had injured. The +first recorded instance of the former practice was when Yamato-dake +presented to the Ise shrine the Yemishi chiefs who had surrendered to +him in the sequel of his invasion of the eastern provinces. The same +fate seems to have befallen numerous captives made in the campaign +against the Kumaso, and doubtless wholesale acts of self-destruction +committed by Tsuchi-gumo and Kumaso when overtaken by defeat were +prompted by preference of death to slavery. The story of Japan's +relations with Korea includes many references to Korean prisoners who +became the property of their captors, and that a victorious general's +spoils should comprise some slaves may be described as a recognized +custom. Of slavery as a consequence of crime there is also frequent +mention, and it would appear that even men of rank might be overtaken +by that fate, for when (A.D. 278) Takenouchi-no-Sukune's younger +brother was convicted of slandering him, the culprit's punishment +took the form of degradation and assignment to a life of slavery. The +whole family of such an offender shared his fate. There is no +evidence, however, that the treatment of the nuhi was inhuman or even +harsh: they appear to have fared much as did the tomobe in general. + +THE LAND + +There are two kinds of territorial rights, and these, though now +clearly differentiated, were more or less confounded in ancient +Japan. One is the ruler's right--that is to say, competence to impose +taxes; to enact rules governing possession; to appropriate private +lands for public purposes, and to treat as crown estates land not +privately owned. The second is the right of possession; namely, the +right to occupy definite areas of land and to apply them to one's own +ends. At present those two rights are distinct. A landowner has no +competence to issue public orders with regard to it, and a lessee of +land has to discharge certain responsibilities towards the lessor. It +was not so in old Japan. As the Emperor's right to rule the people +was not exercised over an individual direct but through the uji no +Kami who controlled that individual, so the sovereign's right over +the land was exercised through the territorial owner, who was usually +the uji no Kami. The latter, being the owner of the land, leased a +part of it to the members of the uji, collected a percentage of the +produce, and presented a portion to the Court when occasion demanded. +Hence, so long as the sovereign's influence was powerful, the uji no +Kami and other territorial magnates, respecting his orders, refrained +from levying taxes and duly paid their appointed contributions to the +Court. + +But in later times, when the Throne's means of enforcing its orders +ceased to bear any sensible ratio to the puissance of the uji no Kami +and other local lords, the Imperial authority received scanty +recognition, and the tillers of the soil were required to pay heavy +taxes to their landlords. It is a fallacy to suppose that the Emperor +in ancient times not only ruled the land but also owned it. The only +land held in direct possession by the Throne was that constituting +the Imperial household's estates and that belonging to members of the +Imperial family. The private lands of the Imperial family were called +mi-agata.* The province of Yamato contained six of these estates, and +their produce was wholly devoted to the support of the Court. Lands +cultivated for purposes of State revenue were called miyake.** They +existed in several provinces, the custom being that when land was +newly acquired, a miyake was at once established and the remainder +was assigned to princes or Court nobles (asomi or asori). The +cultivators of miyake were designated ta-be (rustic corporation); the +overseers were termed ta-zukasa (or mi-ta no tsukasa), and the +officials in charge of the stores were mi-agata no obito. + +*The prefix mi (honourable) was and is still used for purposes of +courtesy. + +**In ancient Japan, officials and their offices were often designated +alike. Thus, miyake signified a public estate or the store for +keeping the produce, just as tsukasa was applied alike to an overseer +and to his place of transacting business. + +As far back as 3 B.C., according to Japanese chronology, we read of +the establishment of a miyake, and doubtless that was not the first. +Thenceforth there are numerous examples of a similar measure. +Confiscated lands also formed a not unimportant part of the Court's +estates. Comparatively trifling offences were sometimes thus +expiated. Thus, in A.D. 350, Aganoko, suzerain of the Saegi, being +convicted of purloining jewels from the person of a princess whom he +had been ordered to execute, escaped capital punishment only by +surrendering all his lands; and, in A.D. 534, a provincial ruler who, +being in mortal terror, had intruded into the ladies' apartments in +the palace, had to present his landed property for the use of the +Empress. These facts show incidentally that the land of the country, +though governed by the sovereign, was not owned by him. Lands in a +conquered country were naturally regarded as State property, but +sufficient allusion has already been made to that custom. + +THE SPHERE OF THE SOVEREIGN'S RULE + +It is related in the Records that, in prehistoric days, the last of +the chieftains sent by Amaterasu to wrest Japan from its then holders +addressed the leaders of the latter in these terms, "The central land +of reed plains owned (ushi-haku) by you is the country to be governed +(shirasu) by my son." Japanese historiographers attach importance to +the different words here used. Ushi-haku signifies "to hold in +intimate lordship"--as one wears a garment--whereas shirasu means "to +exercise public rights as head of a State." A Japanese Emperor +occupied both positions towards mi-nashiro (q.v.), toward naturalized +or conquered folks, towards mi-agata, miyake, and confiscated +estates, but his functions with regard to the people and the land in +general were limited to governing (shirasu). + +If the ancient prerogatives of the sovereign be tabulated, they stand +thus: + +(1) to conduct the worship of the national deities as general head of +all the uji; + +(2) to declare war against foreign countries and to make peace with +them, as representative of the uji, and (3) to establish or abolish +uji, to nominate uji no Kami, and to adjudicate disputes between +them. The first of these prerogatives remains unaltered to the +present day. The second was partly delegated in medieval times to the +military class, but has now been restored to the Throne. As for the +third, its exercise is to-day limited to the office of the hereditary +nobility, the Constitution having replaced the Crown in other +respects. + +Two thousand years have seen no change in the Emperor's function of +officiating as the high priest of the nation. It was the sovereign +who made offerings to the deities of heaven and earth at the great +religious festivals. It was the sovereign who prayed for the aid of +the gods when the country was confronted by any emergency or when the +people suffered from pestilence. In short, though the powers of the +Emperor over the land and the people were limited by the intervention +of the uji, the whole nation was directly subservient to the Throne +in matters relating to religion. From the earliest eras, too, war +might not be declared without an Imperial rescript, and to the +Emperor was reserved the duty of giving audience to foreign envoys +and receiving tribute. By foreign countries, China and Korea were +generally understood, but the Kumaso, the Yemishi, and the Sushen +were also included in the category of aliens. It would seem that the +obligation of serving the country in arms was universal, for in the +reign of Sujin, when an oversea expedition was contemplated, the +people were numbered according to their ages, and the routine of +service was laid down. Contributions, too, had to be made, as is +proved by the fact that a command of the same sovereign required the +various districts to manufacture arms and store them in the shrines. + +THE THRONE AND THE UJI + +The sovereign's competence to adjudicate questions relating to the +uji is illustrated by a notable incident referred to the year A.D. +415, during the reign of Inkyo. Centuries had then passed since the +inauguration of the uji, and families originally small with clearly +defined genealogies had multiplied to the dimensions of large clans, +so that much confusion of lineage existed, and there was a +wide-spread disposition to assert claims to spurious rank. It was +therefore commanded by the Emperor that, on a fixed day, all the uji +no Kami should assemble, and having performed the rite of +purification, should submit to the ordeal of boiling water +(kuga-dachi). Numerous cauldrons were erected for the purpose, and it +was solemnly proclaimed that only the guilty would be scalded by the +test. At the last moment, those whose claims were willingly false +absconded, and the genealogies were finally rectified. + +Instances of uji created by the sovereign to reward merit, or +abolished to punish offences, are numerously recorded. Thus, when +(A.D. 413) the future consort of the Emperor Inkyo was walking in the +garden with her mother, a provincial ruler (miyatsuko), riding by, +peremptorily called to her for a branch of orchid. She asked what he +needed the orchid for and he answered, "To beat away mosquitoes when +I travel mountain roads." "Oh, honourable sir, I shall not forget," +said the lady. When she became Empress, she caused the nobleman to be +sought for, and had him deprived of his rank in lieu of execution. +There is also an instance of the killing of all the members of an uji +to expiate the offence of the uji no Kami. This happened in A.D. 463, +when Yuryaku sat on the throne. It was reported to the Court that +Sakitsuya, Kami of the Shimotsumichi-uji, indulged in pastimes +deliberately contrived to insult the occupant of the throne. Thus he +would match a little girl to combat against a grown woman, calling +the girl the Emperor and killing her if she won; or would set a +little cock with clipped wings and plucked feathers to represent the +sovereign in a fight with a big, lusty cock, which he likened to +himself, and if the small bird won, he would slaughter it with his +own sword. The Emperor sent a company of soldiers, and Sakitsuya with +all the seventy members of his uji were put to death. + +ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION + +The administrative organization in ancient Japan was simply a +combination of the uji. It was purely Japanese. Not until the seventh +century of the Christian era were any foreign elements introduced. +From ministers and generals of the highest class down to petty +functionaries, all offices were discharged by uji no Kami, and as the +latter had the general name of kabane root of the uji the system was +similarly termed. In effect, the kabane was an order of nobility. +Offices were hereditary and equal. The first distribution of posts +took place when five chiefs, attached to the person of the Tenson at +the time of his descent upon Japan, were ordered to discharge at his +Court the same duties as those which had devolved on them in the +country of their origin. The uji they formed were those of the +Shimbetsu,* the official title of the Kami being muraji (group chief) +in the case of an ordinary uji, and o-muraji (great muraji) in the +case of an o-uji, as already stated. These were the men who rendered +most assistance originally in the organization of the State, but as +they were merely adherents of the Tenson, the latter's direct +descendants counted themselves superior and sought always to assert +that superiority. + +*The distinction of Shimbetsu and Kwobetsu was not nominally +recognized until the fourth century, but it undoubtedly existed in +practice at an early date. + +Thus, the title omi (grandee) held by the Kami of a Kwobetsu-uji was +deemed higher than that of muraji (chief) held by the Kami of a +Shimbetsu-uji. The blood relations of sovereigns either assisted at +Court in the administration of State affairs or went to the provinces +in the capacity of governors. They received various titles in +addition to that of omi, for example sukune (noble), ason or asomi +(Court noble), kimi (duke), wake (lord), etc. + +History gives no evidence of a fixed official organization in ancient +times. The method pursued by the sovereign was to summon such omi and +muraji as were notably influential or competent, and to entrust to +them the duty of discharging functions or dealing with a special +situation. Those so summoned were termed mae-isu-gimi (dukes of the +Presence). The highest honour bestowed on a subject in those days +fell to the noble, Takenouchi, who, in consideration of his services, +was named O-mae-tsu-gimi (great duke of the Presence) by the Emperor +Seimu (A.D. 133). Among the omi and muraji, those conspicuously +powerful were charged with the superintendence of several uji, and +were distinguished as o-omi and o-muraji. It became customary to +appoint an o-omi and an o-muraji at the Court, just as in later days +there was a sa-daijin (minister of the Left) and an u-daijin +(minister of the Right). The o-omi supervised all members of the +Kwobetsu-uji occupying administrative posts at Court, and the +o-muraji discharged a similar function in the case of members of +Shimbetsu-uji. Outside the capital local affairs were administered by +kuni-no-miyatsuko or tomo-no-miyatsuko* Among the former, the heads +of Kwobetsu-uji predominated among the latter, those of +Shimbetsu-uji. + +*Tomo is an abbreviation of tomo-be. + +VALUE OF LINEAGE + +It will be seen from the above that in old Japan lineage counted +above everything, alike officially and socially. The offices, the +honours and the lands were all in the hands of the lineal descendants +of the original Yamato chiefs. Nevertheless the omi and the muraji +stood higher in national esteem than the kuni-no-miyatsuko or the +tomo-no-miyatsuko; the o-omi and the o-muraji, still higher; and the +sovereign, at the apex of all. That much deference was paid to +functions. Things remained unaltered in this respect until the sixth +century when the force of foreign example began to make itself felt. + +ENGRAVING: FISHERMAN'S BOAT AND NET + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PREHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS (Continued) + +THE FIFTEENTH SOVEREIGN, OJIN (A.D. 270-310) + +The fifteenth Sovereign, Ojin, came to the throne at the age of +seventy, according to the Chronicles, and occupied it for forty +years. Like a majority of the sovereigns in that epoch he had many +consorts and many children--three of the former (including two +younger sisters of the Emperor) and twenty of the latter. Comparison +with Korean history goes to indicate that the reign is antedated by +just 120 years, or two of the sexagenary cycles, but of course such a +correction cannot be applied to every incident of the era. + +MARITIME AFFAIRS + +One of the interesting features of Ojin's reign is that maritime +affairs receive notice for the first time. It is stated that the +fishermen of various places raised a commotion, refused to obey the +Imperial commands, and were not quieted until a noble, Ohama, was +sent to deal with them. Nothing is stated as to the cause of this +complication, but it is doubtless connected with requisitions of fish +for the Court, and probably the fishing folk of Japan had already +developed the fine physique and stalwart disposition that distinguish +their modern representatives. Two years later, instructions were +issued that hereditary corporations (be) of fishermen should be +established in the provinces, and, shortly afterwards, the duty of +constructing a boat one hundred feet in length was imposed upon the +people of Izu, a peninsular province so remote from Yamato that its +choice for such a purpose is difficult to explain. There was no +question of recompensing the builders of this boat: the product of +their labour was regarded as "tribute." + +Twenty-six years later the Karano, as this vessel was called, having +become unserviceable, the Emperor ordered a new Karano to be built, +so as to perpetuate her name. A curious procedure is then recorded, +illustrating the arbitrary methods of government in those days. The +timbers of the superannuated ship were used as fuel for roasting +salt, five hundred baskets of which were sent throughout the maritime +provinces, with orders that by each body of recipients a ship should +be constructed. Five hundred Karanos thus came into existence, and +there was assembled at Hyogo such a fleet as had never previously +been seen in Japanese waters. A number of these new vessels were +destroyed almost immediately by a conflagration which broke out in +the lodgings of Korean envoys from Sinra (Shiragi), and the envoys +being held responsible, their sovereign hastened to send a body of +skilled shipmakers by way of atonement, who were thereafter organized +into a hereditary guild of marine architects, and we thus learn +incidentally that the Koreans had already developed the shipbuilding +skill destined to save their country in later ages. + +IDEALISM OF THE THIRD CENTURY + +In connexion with the Karano incident, Japanese historians record a +tale which materially helps our appreciation of the men of that +remote age. A portion of the Karano's timber having emerged unscathed +from the salt-pans, its indestructibility seemed curious enough to +warrant special treatment. It was accordingly made into a lute +(koto),* and it justified that use by developing "a ringing note that +could be heard from afar off." The Emperor composed a song on the +subject: + + "The ship Karano + "Was burned for salt: + "Of the remainder + "A koto was made. + "When it is placed on + "One hears the saya-saya + "Of the summer trees, + "Brushing against, as they stand, + "The rocks of the mid-harbour, + "The harbour of Yura." [Aston.] + +*The Japanese lute, otherwise called the Azuma koto, was an +instrument five or six feet long and having six strings. History +first alludes to it in the reign of Jingo, and such as it was then, +such it has remained until to-day. + +LAW, INDUSTRY, LOYALTY + +Five facts are already deducible from the annals of this epoch: the +first, that there was no written law, unless the prohibitions in the +Rituals may be so regarded; the second, that there was no form of +judicial trial, unless ordeal or torture may be so regarded; the +third, that the death penalty might be inflicted on purely ex-parte +evidence; the fourth, that a man's whole family had to suffer the +penalty of his crimes, and the fifth, that already in those remote +times the code of splendid loyalty which has distinguished the +Japanese race through all ages had begun to find disciples. + +An incident of Ojin's reign illustrates all these things. Takenouchi, +the sukune (noble) who had served Ojin's mother so ably, and who had +saved Ojin's life in the latter's childhood, was despatched to +Tsukushi (Kyushu) on State business. During his absence his younger +brother accused him of designs upon the Emperor. At once, without +further inquiry, Ojin sent men to kill the illustrious minister. But +Maneko, suzerain (atae) of Iki, who bore a strong resemblance to +Takenouchi, personified him, and committing suicide, deceived the +soldiers who would have taken the sukune's life, so that the latter +was enabled to return to Yamato. Arriving at Court, he protested his +innocence and the ordeal of boiling water was employed. It took place +on the bank of the Shiki River. Takenouchi proving victorious; his +brother with all his family were condemned to become tomo-be of the +suzerain of Kii. + +THE GRACE OF LIFE + +Side by side with these primitive conditions stands a romantic story +of Ojin's self-denial in ceding to his son, Osazaki, a beautiful girl +whom the sovereign has destined to be his own consort. Discovering +that the prince loved her, Ojin invited him to a banquet in the +palace, and, summoning the girl, made known by the aid of poetry his +intention of surrendering her to his son, who, in turn, expressed his +gratitude in verse. It is true that the character of this act of +renunciation is marred when we observe that Ojin was eighty years old +at the time; nevertheless the graces of life were evidently not +wanting in old-time Japan, nor did her historians deem them unworthy +of prominent place in their pages. If at one moment they tell us of +slanders and cruelty, at another they describe how a favourite +consort of Ojin, gazing with him at a fair landscape from a high +tower, was moved to tears by the memory of her parents whom she had +not seen for years, and how the Emperor, sympathizing with her filial +affection, made provision for her return home and took leave of her +in verse: + + "Thou Island of Awaji + "With thy double ranges; + "Thou Island of Azuki + "With thy double ranges + "Ye good islands, + "Ye have seen face to face + "My spouse of Kibi." + +FOREIGN INTERCOURSE + +The most important feature of the Ojin era was the intercourse then +inaugurated with China. It may be that after the establishment of the +Yamato race in Japan, emigrants from the neighbouring continent +settled, from early times, in islands so favoured by nature. If so, +they probably belonged to the lowest orders, for it was not until the +third and fourth centuries that men of erudition and skilled artisans +began to arrive. Modern Japanese historians seem disposed to +attribute this movement to the benign administration of the Emperor +Ojin and to the repute thus earned by Japan abroad. Without +altogether questioning that theory, it may be pointed out that much +probably depended on the conditions existing in China herself. Liu +Fang, founder of the Han dynasty (202 B.C.), inaugurated the system +of competitive examinations for civil appointments, and his +successors, Wen-Ti, Wu-Ti, and Kwang-wu, "developed literature, +commerce, arts, and good government to a degree unknown before +anywhere in Asia." It was Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) who conquered Korea, +and unquestionably the Koreans then received many object lessons in +civilization. The Han dynasty fell in A.D. 190, and there ensued one +of the most troubled periods of Chinese history. Many fugitives from +the evils of that epoch probably made their way to Korea and even to +Japan. Then followed the after-Han dynasty (A.D. 211-265) when China +was divided into three principalities; one of which, since it ruled +the littoral regions directly opposite to Japan, represented China in +Japanese eyes, and its name, Wu, came to be synonymous with China in +Japanese years. + +It was, however, in the days of the Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-317) and +in those of the Eastern Tsin (A.D. 317-420) that under the pressure +of the Hun inroads and of domestic commotions, numbers of emigrants +found their way from China to Korea and thence to Japan. The Eastern +Tsin occupied virtually the same regions as those held by the Wu +dynasty: they, too, had their capital at Nanking, having moved +thither from Loh-yang, and thus the name Wu was perpetuated for the +Japanese. In the year A.D. 283, according to Japanese chronology, +Koreans and Chinese skilled in useful arts began to immigrate to +Japan. The first to come was a girl called Maketsu. She is said to +have been sent by the monarch of Kudara, the region corresponding to +the metropolitan province of modern Korea. It may be inferred that +she was Chinese, but as to her nationality history is silent. She +settled permanently in Japan, and her descendants were known as the +kinu-nui (silk-clothiers) of Kume in Yamato. In the same year (A.D. +283), Yuzu (called Yutsuki by some authorities), a Chinese Imperial +prince, came from Korea and memorialized the Yamato Throne in the +sense that he was a descendant of the first Tsin sovereign and that, +having migrated to Korea at the head of the inhabitants of 120 +districts, he had desired to conduct them to Japan, but was unable to +accomplish his purpose owing to obstruction offered by the people of +Sinra (Shiragi). Ojin sent two embassies--the second accompanied by +troops--to procure the release of these people, and in A.D. 285 they +reached Japan, where they received a hearty welcome, and for the sake +of their skill in sericulture and silk weaving, they were honoured by +organization into an uji--Hata-uji (hata in modern Japanese signifies +"loom," but in ancient days it designated silk fabrics of all kinds). + +An idea of the dimensions of this Chinese addition to the population +of Japan is furnished by the fact that, 175 years later, the Hata-uji +having been dispersed and reduced to ninety-two groups, steps were +taken to reassemble and reorganize them, with the result that 18,670 +persons were brought together. Again, in A.D. 289, a sometime subject +of the after-Han dynasty, accompanied by his son, emigrated to Japan. +The names of these Chinese are given as Achi and Tsuka, and the +former is described as a great-grandson of the Emperor Ling of the +after-Han dynasty, who reigned from A.D. 168 to 190. Like Yuzu he had +escaped to Korea during the troublous time at the close of the Han +sway, and, like Yuzu, he had been followed to the peninsula by a +large body of Chinese, who, at his request, were subsequently +escorted by Japanese envoys to Japan. These immigrants also were +allowed to assume the status of an uji, and in the fifth century the +title of Aya no atae (suzerain of Aya) was given to Achi's +descendants in consideration of the skill of their followers in +designing and manufacturing figured fabrics (for which the general +term was aya). + +When Achi had resided seventeen years in Japan, he and his son were +sent to Wu (China) for the purpose of engaging women versed in making +dress materials. The title of omi (chief ambassador) seems to have +been then conferred on the two men, as envoys sent abroad were +habitually so designated. They did not attempt to go by sea. The +state of navigation was still such that ocean-going voyages were not +seriously thought of. Achi and his son proceeded in the first +instance to Koma (the modern Pyong-yang) and there obtained guides +for the overland journey round the shore of the Gulf of Pechili. They +are said to have made their way to Loh-yang where the Tsin sovereigns +then had their capital (A.D. 306). Four women were given to them, +whom they carried back to Japan, there to become the ancestresses of +an uji known as Kure no kinu-nui and Kaya no kinu-nui (clothiers of +Kure and of Kaya), appellations which imply Korean origin, but were +probably suggested by the fact that Korea had been the last +continental station on their route. The journey to and from Loh-yang +occupied four years. This page of history shows not only the +beginning of Japan's useful intercourse with foreign countries, but +also her readiness to learn what they had to teach and her liberal +treatment of alien settlers. + +THE ART OF WRITING + +It is not infrequently stated that a knowledge of Chinese ideographs +was acquired by the Japanese for the first time during the reign of +Ojin. The basis of this belief are that, in A.D. 284, according to +the Japanese chronology--a date to which must be added two sexagenary +cycles, bringing it to A.D. 404--the King of Kudara sent two fine +horses to the Yamato sovereign, and the man who accompanied them, +Atogi by name, showed himself a competent reader of the Chinese +classics and was appointed tutor to the Prince Imperial. By Atogi's +advice a still abler scholar, Wani (Wang-in), was subsequently +invited from Kudara to take Atogi's place, and it is added that the +latter received the title of fumi-bito (scribe), which he transmitted +to his descendants in Japan. But close scrutiny does not support the +inference that Chinese script had remained unknown to Japan until the +above incidents. What is proved is merely that the Chinese classics +then for the first time became an open book in Japan. + +As for the ideographs themselves, they must have been long familiar, +though doubtless to a very limited circle. Chinese history affords +conclusive evidence. Thus, in the records of the later Han (A.D. +25-220) we read that from the time when Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) overthrew +Korea, the Japanese of thirty-two provinces communicated with the +Chinese authorities in the peninsula by means of a postal service. +The Wei annals (A.D. 220-265) state that in A.D. 238, the Chinese +sovereign sent a written reply to a communication from the "Queen of +Japan"--Jingo was then on the throne. In the same year, the Japanese +Court addressed a written answer to a Chinese rescript forwarded to +Yamato by the governor of Thepang--the modern Namwon in Chollado--and +in A.D. 247, a despatch was sent by the Chinese authorities +admonishing the Japanese to desist from internecine quarrels. These +references indicate that the use of the ideographs was known in Japan +long before the reign of Ojin, whether we take the Japanese or the +corrected date for the latter. It will probably be just to assume, +however, that the study of the ideographs had scarcely any vogue in +Japan until the coming of Atogi and Wani, nor does it appear to have +attracted much attention outside Court circles even subsequently to +that date, for the records show that, in the reign of the Emperor +Bidatsu (A.D. 572-585), a memorial sent by Korea to the Yamato Court +was illegible to all the officials except one man, by name +Wang-sin-i, who seems to have been a descendant of the Paikche +emigrant, Wan-i. + +Buddhism, introduced into Japan in A.D. 552, doubtless supplied the +chief incentive to the acquisition of knowledge. But had the Japanese +a script of their own at any period of their history? The two oldest +manuscripts which contain a reference to this subject are the +Kogo-shui, compiled by Hironari in A.D. 808, and a memorial (kammori) +presented to the Throne in A.D. 901 by Miyoshi Kiyotsura. Both +explicitly state that in remote antiquity there were no letters, and +that all events or discourses had to be transmitted orally. Not until +the thirteenth century does the theory of a purely Japanese script +seem to have been conceived, and its author* had no basis for the +hypothesis other than the idea that, as divination was practised in +the age of the Kami, letters of some kind must have been in use. +Since then the matter has been much discussed. Caves used in ancient +times as habitations or sepulchres and old shrines occasionally offer +evidence in the form of symbols which, since they bear some +resemblance to the letters of the Korean alphabet (onmuri), have been +imagined to be at once the origin of the latter and the script of the +Kami-no-yo (Age of the Kami). But such fancies are no longer +seriously entertained. It is agreed that the so-called "letters" are +nothing more than copies of marks produced by the action of fire upon +bones used in divination. The Japanese cleverly adapted the Chinese +ideographs to syllabic purposes, but they never devised a script of +their own. + +*Kanekata, who wrote the Shaku Nihongi in the era 1264--1274. + +ETHICAL EFFECTS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LITERATURE + +A generally accepted belief is that the study of the Chinese classics +exercised a marked ethical influence upon the Japanese nation. That +is a conclusion which may be profitably contrasted with the views of +Japan's most distinguished historians. Mr. Abe Kozo says: +"Acquaintance with the Chinese classics may be supposed to have +produced a considerable moral effect on the people of Japan. Nothing +of the kind seems to have been the case. The practical civilization +of China was accepted, but not her ethical code. For any palpable +moral influence the arrival of Buddhism had to be awaited. Already +the principles of loyalty and obedience, propriety, and righteousness +were recognized in Japan though not embodied in any written code." +Dr. Ariga writes: "Our countrymen did not acquire anything specially +new in the way of moral tenets. They must have been surprised to find +that in China men did not respect the occupants of the throne. A +subject might murder his sovereign and succeed him without incurring +the odium of the people." Rai Sanyo says: "Moral principles are like +the sun and the moon; they cannot be monopolized by any one country. +In every land there are parents and children, rulers and ruled, +husbands and wives. Where these relations exist, there also filial +piety and affection, loyalty and righteousness may naturally be +found. In our country we lack the precise terminology of the +classics, but it does not follow that we lack the principles +expressed. What the Japanese acquired from the classics was the +method of formulating the thought, not the thought itself." + +THE SIXTEENTH SOVEREIGN, NINTOKU (A.D. 313-399) + +This sovereign is represented by the Chronicles as having reigned +eighty-six years, and by the Records as having died at the age of +eighty-three. The same Chronicles make him the lover of a girl whom +his father, also her lover, generously ceded to him. This event +happened in A.D. 282. Assuming that Nintoku was then sixteen, he +cannot have been less than 133 at the time of his death. It is thus +seen that the chronology of this period, also, is untrustworthy. +Nintoku's reign is remembered chiefly on account of the strange +circumstances in which he came to the throne, his benevolent charity, +and the slights he suffered at the hands of a jealous consort. His +father, Ojin, by an exercise of caprice not uncommon on the part of +Japan's ancient sovereigns, had nominated a younger son, +Waka-iratsuko, to be his heir. But this prince showed invincible +reluctance to assume the sceptre after Ojin's death. He asserted +himself stoutly by killing one of his elder brothers who conspired +against him, though he resolutely declined to take precedence of the +other brother, and the latter, proving equally diffident, the throne +remained unoccupied for three years when Waka-iratsuko solved the +problem by committing suicide. + +Such are the simplest outlines of the story. But its details, when +filled in by critical Japanese historians of later ages, suggest a +different impression. When Ojin died his eldest two sons were living +respectively in Naniwa (Osaka) and Yamato, and the Crown Prince, +Waka-iratsuko, was at Uji. They were thus excellently situated for +setting up independent claims. From the time of Nintoku's birth, the +prime minister, head of the great Takenouchi family, had taken a +special interest in the child, and when the lad grew up he married +this Takenouchi's granddaughter, who became the mother of three +Emperors. Presently the representatives of all branches of the +Takenouchi family came into possession of influential positions at +Court, among others that of o-omi, so that in this reign were laid +the foundations of the controlling power subsequently vested in the +hands of the Heguri, Katsuragi, and Soga houses. In short, this epoch +saw the beginning of a state of affairs destined to leave its mark +permanently on Japanese history, the relegation of the sovereign to +the place of a faineant and the usurpation of the administrative +authority by a group of great nobles. + +Nintoku had the active support of the Takenouchi magnates, and +although the Crown Prince may have desired to assert the title +conferred on him by his father, he found himself helpless in the face +of obstructions offered by the prime minister and his numerous +partisans. These suffered him to deal effectively with that one of +his elder brothers who did not find a place in their ambitious +designs, but they created for Waka-iratsuko a situation so +intolerable that suicide became his only resource. Nintoku's first +act on ascending the throne explains the ideographs chosen for his +posthumous name by the authors of the Chronicles, since nin signifies +"benevolence" and toku, "virtue." He made Naniwa (Osaka) his capital, +but instead of levying taxes and requisitioning forced labour to +build his palace of Takatsu, he remitted all such burdens for three +years on observing from a tower that no smoke ascended from the roofs +of the houses and construing this to indicate a state of poverty. +During those three years the palace fell into a condition of +practical ruin, and tradition describes its inmates as being +compelled to move from room to room to avoid the leaking rain.* + +*Doubts have been thrown on the reality of this incident because a +poem, attributed to Nintoku on the occasion, is couched in obviously +anachronistic language. But the poem does not appear in either the +Records or the Chronicles: it was evidently an invention of later +ages. + +Under Nintoku's sway riparian works and irrigation improvements took +place on a large scale, and thus the eminent historian, Rai Sanyo, +may not be without warrant for attributing to this ruler the +sentiment quoted in the Chronicles: "A sovereign lives for his +people. Their prosperity is his enrichment; their poverty, his loss." +Yet it is in connexion with Nintoku's repairs of the Manda river-bank +that we find the first mention of a heinous custom occasionally +practised in subsequent ages--the custom of sacrificing human life to +expedite the progress or secure the success of some public work. + +At the same time, that habits indicating a higher civilization had +already begun to gain ground is proved by an incident which occurred +to one of the Imperial princes during a hunting expedition. Looking +down over a moor from a mountain, he observed a pit, and, on inquiry, +was informed by the local headman that it was an "ice-pit." The +prince, asking how the ice was stored and for what it was used, +received this answer: "The ground is excavated to a depth of over ten +feet. The top is then covered with a roof of thatch. A thick layer of +reed-grass is then spread, upon which the ice is laid. The months of +summer have passed and yet it is not melted. As to its use--when the +hot months come it is placed in water or sake and thus used." +[Aston's Nihongi.] Thenceforth the custom of storing ice was adopted +at the Court. It was in Nintoku's era that the pastime of hawking, +afterward widely practised, became known for the first time in Japan. +Korea was the place of origin, and it is recorded that the falcon had +a soft leather strap fastened to one leg and a small bell to the +tail. Pheasants were the quarry of the first hawk flown on the moor +of Mozu. + +Light is also thrown in Nintoku's annals on the method of +boatbuilding practised by the Japanese in the fourth century. They +used dug-outs. The provincial governor* of Totomi is represented as +reporting that a huge tree had floated down the river Oi and had +stopped at a bend. It was a single stem forked at one end, and the +suzerain of Yamato was ordered to make a boat of it. The craft was +then brought round by sea to Naniwa, "where it was enrolled among the +Imperial vessels." Evidently from the days of Ojin and the Karano a +fleet formed part of the Imperial possessions. This two-forked boat +figures in the reign of Nintoku's successor, Richu, when the latter +and his concubine went on board and feasted separately, each in one +fork. + +*This term, "provincial governor," appears now for the first time +written with the ideographs "kokushi." Hitherto it has been written +"kuni-no-miyatsuko." Much is heard of the koushi in later times. They +are the embryo of the daimyo, the central figures of military +feudalism. + +THE FAMILY OF TAKENOUCHI-NO-SUKUNE + +For the better understanding of Japanese history at this stage, a +word must be said about a family of nobles (sukune) who, from the +days of Nintoku, exercised potent sway in the councils of State. +It will have been observed that, in the annals of the Emperor +Keiko's reign, prominence is given to an official designated +Takenouchi-no-Sukune, who thereafter seems to have served sovereign +after sovereign until his death in the year 368, when he must have +been from two hundred to three hundred years old. This chronological +difficulty has provoked much scepticism. Dr. Kume, an eminent +Japanese historian, explains, however, that Takenouchi was the name +not of a person but of a family, and that it was borne by different +scions in succeeding reigns. The first was a grandson of the Emperor +Kogen (B.C. 214-158), and the representatives of the family in +Nintoku's era had seven sons, all possessing the title sukune. They +were Hata no Yashiro, Koze no Ogara, Soga no Ishikawa, Heguri no +Tsuku, Ki no Tsunu, Katsuragi no Sotsu, and Wakugo. + +From these were descended the five uji of Koze, Soga, Heguri, Ki, and +Katsuragi. Although its founder was an Emperor's grandson and +therefore entitled to be called "Imperial Prince" (O), the family +connexion with the Throne naturally became more remote as time +passed, and from the reign of Ojin we find its members classed among +subjects. Nevertheless, the Empress Iwa, whose jealousy harrassed +Nintoku so greatly, was a daughter of Katsuragi no Sotsu, and, as +with the sole exception of the Emperor Shomu, every occupant of the +throne had taken for his Empress a lady of Imperial blood, it may be +assumed that the relationship between the Imperial and the Takenouchi +families was recognized at that time. The roles which the five uji +mentioned above acted in subsequent history deserve to be studied, +and will therefore be briefly set down here. + +THE KOZE-UJI + +This uji had for founder Koze no Ogara. The representative of the +fourth generation, Koze no Ohito, held the post of o-omi during the +reign of the Emperor Keitai (A.D. 507-531), and his great-grandson +was minister of the Left under Kotoku (A.D. 545-654). Thereafter, the +heads of the uji occupied prominent positions under successive +sovereigns. + +THE SOGA-UJI + +Soga no Ishikawa founded this uji. His son, Machi, shared the +administrative power with Heguri no Tsuku in the reign of Richu (A.D. +400-405), and Machi's great-grandson, Iname, immortalized himself by +promoting the introduction of Buddhism in the reign of Kimmei (A.D. +540-571). Iname's son, Umako, and the latter's son, Yemishi, will be +much heard of hereafter. No family, indeed, affected the course of +Japanese history in early days more than did the Soga-uji. + +THE HEGURI-UJI + +During the reign of the Emperor Richu (A.D. 400-405), Heguri no +Tsuku, founder of this uji, shared in the administration with Soga no +Machi. His son, Heguri no Matori, was minister under Yuryaku (A.D. +457-459), and the fate which he and his son, Shibi, brought upon +their family is one of the salient incidents of Japanese history. + +THE KI-UJI + +The representatives of this uji, from the days of its founder, Ki +no Tsunu, took a prominent share in the empire's foreign affairs, +but served also in the capacity of provincial governor and +commander-in-chief. + +THE KATSURAGI-UJI + +Nintoku's Empress, Iwa, was a daughter of the ancestor of this uji, +Katsuragi no Sotsu, and the latter's great-granddaughter, Hae, was +the mother of two sovereigns, Kenso (A.D. 485-487) and Ninken (A.D. +488-498). + +ENGRAVING: TOBACCO PIPE AND POUCH + +ENGRAVING: HINOMI YAGURA (FIRE WATCH TOWER) + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE PROTOHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS + +The 17th Sovereign, Richu A.D. 400-405 + +" 18th " Hansho " 406-411 + +" 19th " Inkyo " 412-453 + +" 20th " Anko " 454-456 + +" 21st " Yuryaku " 457-479 + +RICHU'S REIGN + +THE prehistoric era may be said to terminate with the accession of +Richu. Thenceforth the lives and reigns of successive sovereigns +cease to extend to incredible lengths, and though the chronology +adopted by the writers of the Nihongi may not yet be implicitly +accepted, its general accuracy is not open to dispute. The era of the +five sovereigns standing at the head of this chapter--an era of +fifty-nine years--inherited as legacies from the immediate past: a +well-furnished treasury, a nation in the enjoyment of peace, a firmly +established throne, and a satisfactory state of foreign relations. +These comfortable conditions seem to have exercised demoralizing +influence. The bonds of discipline grew slack; fierce quarrels on +account of women involved fratricide among the princes of the blood, +and finally the life of an Emperor was sacrificed--the only instance +of such a catastrophe in Japanese history. + +Immediately after Nintoku's death this evil state of affairs was +inaugurated by Prince Nakatsu, younger brother of the heir to the +throne, who had not yet assumed the sceptre. Sent by the Crown Prince +(Richu) to make arrangements for the latter's nuptials with the lady +Kuro, a daughter of the Takenouchi family, Nakatsu personified Richu, +debauched the girl, and to avoid the consequences of the act, sought +to take the life of the man he had betrayed. It does not redound to +the credit of the era that the debaucher found support and was +enabled to hold his own for a time, though his treachery ultimately +met with its merited fate. At this crisis of his life, Richu received +loyal assistance from a younger brother, and his gratitude induced +him to confer on the latter the title of Crown Prince. In thus +acting, Richu may have been influenced by the fact that the +alternative was to bequeath the throne to a baby, but none the less +he stands responsible for an innovation which greatly impaired the +stability of the succession. It should be noted, as illustrating the +influence of the Takenouchi family that, in spite of the shame she +had suffered, the lady Kuro became the Emperor's concubine. In fact, +among the four nobles who administered the affairs of the empire +during Richu's reign, not the least powerful were Heguri no Tsuku and +Soga no Machi. Moreover, Richu, as has been stated already, was a son +of Iwa, a lady of the same great family, and his two successors, +Hansho and Inkyo, were his brothers by the same mother. + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS + +The annals of Richu's reign confirm a principle which received its +first illustration when the Emperor Keiko put to death for parricide +the daughter of a Kumaso chief, though she had betrayed her father in +the interest of Keiko himself. Similar deference to the spirit of +loyalty led to the execution of Sashihire in the time of Richu. A +retainer of the rebellious Prince Nakatsu, Sashihire, assassinated +that prince at the instance of Prince Mizuha, who promised large +reward. But after the deed had been accomplished, Heguri no Tsuku +advised his nephew, Mizuha, saying, "Sashihire has killed his own +lord for the sake of another, and although for us he has done a great +service, yet towards his own lord his conduct has been heartless in +the extreme." Sashihire was therefore put to death. That this +principle was always observed in Japan cannot be asserted, but that +it was always respected is certain. + +In Richu's reign there is found the first clear proof that tattooing +was not practised in Japan for ornamental purposes. Tattooing is +first mentioned as a custom of the Yemishi when their country was +inspected by Takenouchi at Keiko's orders. But in Richu's time it was +employed to punish the muraji of Atsumi, who had joined the rebellion +of Prince Nakatsu. He was "inked" on the face. It appears also that +the same practice had hitherto been employed to distinguish +horse-keepers, but the custom was finally abandoned in deference to +an alleged revelation from Izanagi, the deity of Awaji, on the +occasion of a visit by Richu to that island. In the context of this +revelation it is noticeable that belief in the malign influence of +offended deities was gaining ground. Thus, on the occasion of the +sudden death of Princess Kuro, the voice of the wind was heard to +utter mysterious words in the "great void" immediately before the +coming of a messenger to announce the event, and the Emperor +attributed the calamity to the misconduct of an official who had +removed certain persons from serving at a shrine. + +The annals of this reign are noteworthy as containing the earliest +reference to the compilation of books. It is stated that in the year +A.D. 403 "local recorders were appointed for the first time in the +various provinces, who noted down statements and communicated the +writings of the four quarters." An eminent critic--Mr. W. G. +Aston--regards this as an anachronism, since the coming of the Korean +scholar, Wani (vide sup.), did not take place until the year 405, +which date probably preceded by many years the appointment of +recorders. But it has been shown above that the innovation due to +Wani was, not the art of writing, but, in all probability, a +knowledge of the Chinese classics. + +Another institution established during this era was a treasury (A.D. +405), and the two learned Koreans who had come from Paikche (Kudara) +were appointed to keep the accounts. A work of later date than the +Chronicles or Records--the Shokuin-rei--says that in this treasury +were stored "gold and silver, jewels, precious utensils, brocade and +satin, saicenet, rugs and mattresses, and the rare objects sent as +tribute by the various barbarians." + +HANSHO + +The Emperor Hansho's short reign of five years is not remarkable for +anything except an indirect evidence that Chinese customs were +beginning to be adopted at the Japanese Court. In the earliest eras, +the ladies who enjoyed the sovereign's favour were classed simply as +"Empress" or "consort." But from the days of Hansho we find three +ranks of concubines. + +INKYO + +Inkyo was a younger brother of his predecessor, Hansho, as the latter +had been of Richu. No formal nomination of Inkyo as Prince Imperial +had taken place, and thus for the first time the sceptre was found +without any legalized heir or any son of the deceased sovereign to +take it. In these circumstances, the ministers held a council and +agreed to offer the throne to Inkyo, the elder of two surviving sons +of Nintoku. Inkyo was suffering from a disease supposed to be +incurable, and, distrusting his own competence, he persistently +refused to accept the responsibility. The incident responsible for +his ultimate consent was the intervention of a concubine, Onakatsu, +afterwards Empress. Under pretext of carrying water for the prince +she entered his chamber, and when he turned his back on her entreaty +that he would comply with the ministers' desire, she remained +standing in the bitter cold of a stormy day of January, until the +water, which she had spilled over her arm, became frozen and she fell +in a faint. Then the prince yielded. A year later envoys were sent to +seek medical assistance in Korea, which was evidently regarded as the +home of the healing science as well as of many other arts borrowed +from China. A physician arrived from Sinra, and Inkyo's malady was +cured. + +In this reign took place a celebrated incident, already referred to, +when the lineage of the nobles was corrected by recourse to the +ordeal of boiling water. But a much larger space in the annals is +occupied with the story of an affair, important only as illustrating +the manners and customs of the time. From an early period it had been +usual that Japanese ladies on festive occasions should go through the +graceful performance of "woven paces and waving hands," which +constituted dancing, and, in the era now occupying our attention, +there prevailed in the highest circles a custom that the danseuse +should offer a maiden to the most honoured among the guests. One +winter's day, at the opening of a new palace, the Empress Onakatsu +danced to the music of the Emperor's lute. Onakatsu had a younger +sister, Oto, of extraordinary beauty, and the Emperor, fain to +possess the girl but fearful of offending the Empress, had planned +this dance so that Onakatsu, in compliance with the recognized usage, +might be constrained to place her sister at his disposal. It fell out +as Inkyo wished, but there then ensued a chapter of incidents in +which the dignity of the Crown fared ill. Again and again the +beautiful Oto refused to obey her sovereign's summons, and when at +length, by an unworthy ruse, she was induced to repair to the palace, +it was found impossible to make her an inmate of it in defiance of +the Empress' jealousy. She had to be housed elsewhere, and still the +Imperial lover was baffled, for he dared not brave the elder sister's +resentment by visiting the younger. Finally he took advantage of the +Empress' confinement to pay the long-deferred visit, but, on learning +of the event, the outraged wife set fire to the parturition house and +attempted to commit suicide. "Many years have passed," she is +recorded to have said to the Emperor, "since I first bound up my hair +and became thy companion in the inner palace. It is too cruel of +thee, O Emperor! Wherefore just on this night when I am in childbirth +and hanging between life and death, must thou go to Fujiwara?" Inkyo +had the grace to be "greatly shocked" and to "soothe the mind of the +Empress with explanations," but he did not mend his infidelity. At +Oto's request he built a residence for her at Chinu in the +neighbouring province of Kawachi, and thereafter the compilers of the +Chronicles, with fine irony, confine their record of three +consecutive years' events to a repetition of the single phrase, "the +Emperor made a progress to Chinu." + +It is not, perhaps, extravagant to surmise that the publicity +attending this sovereign's amours and the atmosphere of loose +morality thus created were in part responsible for a crime committed +by his elder son, the Crown Prince Karu. Marriage between children of +the same father had always been permitted in Japan provided the +mother was different, but marriage between children of the same +mother was incest. Prince Karu was guilty of this offence with his +sister, Oiratsume, and so severely did the nation judge him that he +was driven into exile and finally obliged to commit suicide. With +such records is the reign of Inkyo associated. It is perplexing that +the posthumous name chosen for him by historians should signify +"sincerely courteous." Incidentally, four facts present +themselves--that men wore wristbands and garters to which grelots +were attached; that a high value was set on pearls; that metal was +used for the construction of great men's gates, and that the first +earthquake is said to have been experienced in A.D. 416. + +ANKO + +The records of this sovereign's reign make a discreditable page of +Japanese history. Anko, having ascended the throne after an armed +contest with his elder brother, which ended in the latter's suicide, +desired to arrange a marriage between his younger brother, Ohatsuse, +and a sister of his uncle, Okusaka. He despatched Ne no Omi, a +trusted envoy, to confer with the latter, who gladly consented, and, +in token of approval, handed to Ne no Omi a richly jewelled coronet +for conveyance to the Emperor. But Ne no Omi, covetous of the gems, +secreted the coronet, and told the Emperor that Okusaka had rejected +the proposal with scorn. Anko took no steps to investigate the truth +of this statement. It has been already seen that such investigations +were not customary in those days. Soldiers were at once sent to +slaughter Okusaka; his wife, Nakashi, was taken to be the Emperor's +consort, and his sister, Hatahi, was married to Prince Ohatsuse. + +Now, at the time of his death, Okusaka had a son, Mayuwa, seven years +old. One day, the Emperor, having drunk heavily, confessed to the +Empress, Nakashi, that he entertained some apprehension lest this boy +might one day seek to avenge his father's execution. The child +overheard this remark, and creeping to the side of his step-father, +who lay asleep with his head in Nakashi's lap, killed him with his +own sword. Such is the tale narrated in the Chronicles and the +Records. But its incredible features are salient. A deed of the kind +would never have been conceived or committed by a child, and the +Empress must have been a conniving party. + +To what quarter, then, is the instigation to be traced? An answer +seems to be furnished by the conduct of Prince Ohatsuse. Between this +prince and the throne five lives intervened; those of the Emperor +Anko, of the latter's two brothers, Yatsuri no Shiro and Sakai no +Kuro, both older than Ohatsuse, and of two sons of the late Emperor +Richu, Ichinobe no Oshiwa and Mima. Every one of these was removed +from the scene in the space of a few days. Immediately after Anko's +assassination, Ohatsuse, simulating suspicion of his two elder +brothers, killed the o-omi, who refused to give them up. Ohatsuse +then turned his attention to his grand-uncles, the two sons of Richu. +He sent a military force to destroy one of them without any pretence +of cause; the other he invited to a hunting expedition and +treacherously shot. If Ohatsuse did not contrive the murder of Anko, +as he contrived the deaths of all others standing between himself and +the throne, a great injustice has been done to his memory. + +LOYALTY + +These shocking incidents are not without a relieving feature. They +furnished opportunities for the display of fine devotion. When Prince +Okusaka died for a crime of which he was wholly innocent, two of his +retainers, Naniwa no Hikaga, father and son, committed suicide in +vindication of his memory. When Prince Sakai no Kuro and Mayuwa took +refuge in the house of the o-omi Tsubura, the latter deliberately +chose death rather than surrender the fugitives. When Prince Kuro +perished, Nie-no-Sukune took the corpse in his arms and was burned +with it. When Prince Ichinobe no Oshiwa fell under the treacherous +arrow of Prince Ohatsuse, one of the former's servants embraced the +dead body and fell into such a paroxysm of grief that Ohatsuse +ordered him to be despatched. And during this reign of Yuryaku, when +Lord Otomo was killed in a fatal engagement with the Sinra troops, his +henchman, Tsumaro, crying, "My master has fallen; what avails that I +alone should remain unhurt?" threw himself into the ranks of the +enemy and perished. Loyalty to the death characterized the Japanese +in every age. + +YURYAKU + +This sovereign was the Ohatsuse of whose unscrupulous ambition so +much has just been heard. Some historians have described him as an +austere man, but few readers of his annals will be disposed to +endorse such a lenient verdict. He ordered that a girl, whose only +fault was misplaced affection, should have her four limbs stretched +on a tree and be roasted to death; he slew one of his stewards at a +hunt, because the man did not understand how to cut up the meat of an +animal; he removed a high official--Tasa, omi of Kibi--to a distant +post in order to possess himself of the man's wife (Waka), and he +arbitrarily and capriciously killed so many men and women that the +people called him the "Emperor of great wickedness." One act of +justice stands to his credit. The slanderer, Ne no Omi, who for the +sake of a jewelled coronet had caused the death of Prince Okusaka, as +related above, had the temerity to wear the coronet, sixteen years +subsequently, when he presided at a banquet given in honour of envoys +from China; and the beauty of the bauble having thus been noised +abroad, Ne no Omi was required to show it at the palace. It was +immediately recognized by the Empress, sister of the ill-starred +prince, and Ne no Omi, having confessed his crime, was put to death, +all the members of his uji being reduced to the rank of serfs. One +moiety of them was formed into a hereditary corporation which was +organized under the name of Okusakabe, in memory of Prince Okusaka. + +ARTS AND CRAFTS + +The reign of Yuryaku is partially saved from the reproach of selfish +despotism by the encouragement given to the arts and crafts. It has +already been related that the members of the Hata-uji, which had been +constituted originally with artisans from China, gradually became +dispersed throughout the provinces and were suffering some hardships +when Yuryaku issued orders for their reassembly and reorganization. +Subsequently the sovereign gave much encouragement to sericulture, +and, inspired doubtless by the legend of the Sun goddess, inaugurated +a custom which thereafter prevailed in Japan through all ages, the +cultivation of silkworms by the Empress herself. At a later date, +learning from a Korean handicraftsman (tebito)--whose name has been +handed down as Kwan-in Chiri--that Korea abounded in experts of +superior skill, Yuryaku commissioned this man to carry to the King of +Kudara (Paikche) an autograph letter asking for the services of +several of these experts. This request was complied with, and the +newcomers were assigned dwellings at the village of Tsuno in Yamato;* +but as the place proved unhealthy, they were afterwards distributed +among several localities. + +*There were potters, saddlers, brocade-weavers, and interpreters. + +It is also recorded that, about this time, there came from China a +man called An Kiko, a descendant of one of the Wu sovereigns. He +settled in Japan, and his son, Ryu afterwards--named Shinki--is +reputed to have been the first exponent of Chinese pictorial art in +Japan. In the year A.D. 470, there was another arrival of artisans, +this time from Wu (China), including weavers and clothiers. They +landed in the province of Settsu, and to commemorate their coming a +road called the "Kure-saka" (Wu acclivity) was constructed from that +port to the Shihatsu highway. The descendants of these immigrants +were organized into two hereditary corporations (be) of +silk-clothiers, the Asuka no Kinu-nui-be and the Ise no Kinu-nui-be. +Two years later (472), orders were issued for the cultivation of +mulberry trees in all suitable provinces, and at the same time the +previously reassembled members of the Hata-uji were once more +distributed to various localities with the object of widening their +sphere of instruction. + +In the year 473 a very interesting event is recorded. The muraji of +the Hanishi was ordered to furnish craftsmen to manufacture "pure +utensils" for serving viands daily in the palace. These Hanishi are +first spoken of as having been employed at the suggestion of +Nomi-no-Sukune, in the days of the Emperor Suinin (A.D. 3), to make +clay substitutes for the human beings thitherto inhumed at the +sepulchres of notables. In response to this order the muraji summoned +his own tami-be (private hereditary corporation) then located at +seven villages in the provinces of Settsu, Yamashiro, Ise, Tamba, +Tajima, and Inaba. They were organized into the Nie no Hanishibe, or +hereditary corporation of potters of table-utensils. Ceramists had +previously come from Kudara (Paikche), and there can be no doubt that +some progress was made in the art from the fifth century onwards. But +there does not appear to be sufficient ground for a conclusion formed +by some historians that the "pure utensils" mentioned above were of +glazed pottery. The art of applying glaze to ceramic manufactures was +not discovered until a much later period. + +RELATIONS WITH KOREA + +When Yuryaku ascended the throne, Japan still enjoyed her original +friendship with Paikche (Kudara), whence ladies-in-waiting were sent +periodically to the Yamato Court. She also retained her military post +at Mimana (Imna) and kept a governor there, but her relations with +Shiragi (Sinra) were somewhat strained, owing to harsh treatment of +the latter's special envoys who had come to convey their sovereign's +condolences on the death of the Emperor Inkyo (453). From the time of +Yuryaku's accession, Shiragi ceased altogether to send the usual +gifts to the Emperor of Japan. In the year 463, Yuryaku, desiring to +possess himself of the wife of a high official, Tasa, sent him to be +governor of Mimana, and in his absence debauched the lady. Tasa, +learning how he had been dishonoured, raised the standard of revolt +and sought aid of the Shiragi people. Then Yuryaku, with +characteristic refinement of cruelty, ordered Tasa's son, Oto, to +lead a force against his father. Oto seemingly complied, but, on +reaching the peninsula, opened communication with his father, and it +was agreed that while Tasa should hold Imna, breaking off all +relations with Japan, Oto should adopt a similar course with regard +to Paikche. This plot was frustrated by Oto's wife, Kusu, a woman too +patriotic to connive at treason in any circumstances. She killed her +husband, and the Court of Yamato was informed of these events. + +From that time, however, Japan's hold upon the peninsula was shaken. +Yuryaku sent four expeditions thither, but they accomplished nothing +permanent. The power of Koma in the north increased steadily, and it +had the support of China. Yuryaku's attempts to establish close +relations with the latter--the Sung were then on the throne--seem to +have been inspired by a desire to isolate Korea. He failed, and +ultimately Kudara was overrun by Koma, as will be seen by and by. It +is scarcely too much to say that Japan lost her paramount status in +Korea because of Yuryaku's illicit passion for the wife of one of his +subjects. + +CHRONOLOGY + +The first absolute agreement between the dates given in Japanese +history and those given in Korean occurs in this reign, namely, the +year A.D. 475. The severest critics therefore consent to admit the +trustworthiness of the Japanese annals from the third quarter of the +fifth century. + +TREASURIES + +In the record of Richu's reign, brief mention has been made of the +establishment of a Government treasury. In early days, when religious +rites and administrative functions were not differentiated, articles +needed for both purposes were kept in the same store, under the +charge of the Imibe-uji. But as the Court grew richer, owing to +receipt of domestic taxes and foreign "tribute," the necessity of +establishing separate treasuries, was felt and a "domestic store" +(Uchi-kura) was formed during Richu's reign, the Koreans, Achi and +Wani, being appointed to keep the accounts. In Yuryaku's time a third +treasury had to be added, owing to greatly increased production of +textile fabrics and other manufactures. This was called the Okura, a +term still applied to the Imperial treasury, and there were thus +three stores, Okura, Uchi-kura, and Imi-kura. Soga no Machi was +placed in supreme charge of all three, and the power of the Soga +family grew proportionately. + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS + +It is observable that at this epoch the sovereigns of Japan had not +yet begun to affect the sacred seclusion which, in later ages, became +characteristic of them. It is true that, after ascending the throne, +they no longer led their troops in war, though they did so as +Imperial princes. But in other respects they lived the lives of +ordinary men--joining in the chase, taking part in banquets, and +mixing freely with the people. As illustrating this last fact a +strange incident may be cited. One day the Emperor Yuryaku visited +the place where some carpenters were at work and observed that one of +them, Mane, in shaping timber with an axe, used a stone for ruler but +never touched it with the axe. "Dost thou never make a mistake and +strike the stone?" asked the monarch. "I never make a mistake," +replied the carpenter. Then, to disturb the man's sang-froid, Yuryaku +caused the ladies-in-waiting (uneme) to dance, wearing only +waist-cloths. Mane watched the spectacle for a while, and on resuming +his work, his accuracy of aim was momentarily at fault. The Emperor +rebuked him for having made an unwarranted boast and handed him over +to the monono-be for execution. After the unfortunate man had been +led away, one of his comrades chanted an impromptu couplet lamenting +his fate, whereat the Emperor, relenting, bade a messenger gallop off +on "a black horse of Kai" to stay the execution. The mandate of mercy +arrived just in time, and when Mane's bonds were loosed, he, too, +improvised a verse: + + "Black as the night + "Was the horse of Kai. + "Had they waited to + "Saddle him, my life were lost + "O, horse of Kai!" + +The whole incident is full of instruction. A sovereign concerning +himself about trivialities as petty as this pretext on which he sends +a man to death; the shameful indignity put upon the ladies-in-waiting +to minister to a momentary whim; the composition of poetry by common +carpenters, and the ride for life on a horse which there is not time +to saddle. It is an instructive picture of the ways of Yuryaku's +Court. + +In truth, this couplet-composing proclivity is one of the strangest +features of the Yamato race as portrayed in the pages of the Records +and the Chronicles. From the time when the fierce Kami, Susanoo, put +his thoughts into verse as he sought for a place to celebrate his +marriage, great crises and little crises in the careers of men and +women respectively inspire couplets. We find an Emperor addressing an +ode to a dragon-fly which avenges him on a gad-fly; we find a prince +reciting impromptu stanzas while he lays siege to the place whither +his brother has fled for refuge; we find a heartbroken lady singing a +verselet as for the last time she ties the garters of her lord going +to his death, and we find a sovereign corresponding in verse with his +consort whose consent to his own dishonour he seeks to win. + +Yet in the lives of all these men and women of old, there are not +many other traces of corresponding refinement or romance. We are +constrained to conjecture that many of the verses quoted in the +Records and the Chronicles were fitted in after ages to the events +they commemorate. Another striking feature in the lives of these +early sovereigns is that while on the one hand their residences are +spoken of as muro, a term generally applied to dwellings partially +underground, on the other, we find more than one reference to high +towers. Thus Yuryaku is shown as "ordering commissioners to erect a +lofty pavilion in which he assumes the Imperial dignity," and the +Emperor Nintoku is represented as "ascending a lofty tower and +looking far and wide" on the occasion of his celebrated sympathy with +the people's poverty. + +ENGRAVING: ANCIENT ACROBATIC PERFORMANCE + +ENGRAVING: DAIRISAMA (KINO) AND OKUSAMA (QUEEN) OF THE FEAST OF THE +DOLLS + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PROTOHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS (Continued) + +The 22nd Sovereign, Seinei A.D. 480-484 + + " 23rd " Kenso " 485-487 + + " 24th " Ninken " 488-498 + + " 25th " Muretsu " 499-506 + + " 26th " Keitai " 507-531 + + " 27th " Ankan " 534-535 + + " 28th " Senkwa " 536-539 + +DISPUTE ABOUT THE SUCCESSION + +THE Emperor Yuryaku's evil act in robbing Tasa of his wife, Waka, +entailed serious consequences. He selected to succeed to the throne +his son Seinei, by Princess Kara, who belonged to the Katsuragi +branch of the great Takenouchi family. But Princess Waka conspired to +secure the dignity for the younger of her own two sons, Iwaki and +Hoshikawa, who were both older than Seinei. She urged Hoshikawa to +assert his claim by seizing the Imperial treasury, and she herself +with Prince Iwaki and others accompanied him thither. They +underestimated the power of the Katsuragi family. Siege was laid to +the treasury and all its inmates were burned, with the exception of +one minor official to whom mercy was extended and who, in token of +gratitude, presented twenty-five acres of rice-land to the o-muraji, +Lord Otomo, commander of the investing force. + +THE FUGITIVE PRINCES + +The Emperor Seinei had no offspring, and for a time it seemed that +the succession in the direct line would be interrupted. For this lack +of heirs the responsibility ultimately rested with Yuryaku. In his +fierce ambition to sweep away every obstacle, actual or potential, +that barred his ascent to the throne, he inveigled Prince Oshiwa, +eldest son of the Emperor Richu, to accompany him on a hunting +expedition, and slew him mercilessly on the moor of Kaya. Oshiwa had +two sons, Oke and Woke, mere children at the time of their father's +murder. They fled, under the care of Omi, a muraji, who, with his +son, Adahiko, secreted them in the remote province of Inaba. Omi +ultimately committed suicide in order to avoid the risk of capture +and interrogation under torture, and the two little princes, still +accompanied by Adahiko, calling themselves "the urchins of Tamba," +became menials in the service of the obito of the Shijimi granaries +in the province of Harima. + +Twenty-four years had been passed in that seclusion when it chanced +that Odate, governor of the province, visited the obito on an +occasion when the latter was holding a revel to celebrate the +building of a new house, it fell to the lot of the two princes to act +as torch-bearers, the lowest role that could be assigned to them, and +the younger counselled his brother that the time had come to declare +themselves, for death was preferable to such a life. Tradition says +that, being invited to dance "when the night had become profound, +when the revel was at its height and when every one else had danced +in turn," the Prince Woke, accompanying his movements with verses +extemporized for the occasion, danced so gracefully that the governor +twice asked him to continue, and at length he announced the rank and +lineage of his brother and himself. The governor, astonished, "made +repeated obeisance to the youths, built a palace for their temporary +accommodation, and going up to the capital, disclosed the whole +affair to the Emperor, who expressed profound satisfaction." + +Oke, the elder of the two, was made Prince Imperial, and should have +ascended the throne on the death of Seinei, a few months later. +Arguing, however, that to his younger brother, Woke it was entirely +due that they had emerged from a state of abject misery, Oke +announced his determination to cede the honour to Woke, who, in turn, +declined to take precedence of his elder brother. This dispute of +mutual deference continued for a whole year, during a part of which +time the administration was carried on by Princess Awo, elder sister +of Woke. At length the latter yielded and assumed the sceptre. His +first care was to collect the bones of his father, Prince Oshiwa, +who had been murdered and buried unceremoniously on the moor of Kaya +in Omi province. It was long before the place of interment could be +discovered, but at length an old woman served as guide, and the bones +of the prince were found mingled in inextricable confusion with those +of his loyal vassal, Nakachiko, who had shared his fate. + +The ethics of that remote age are illustrated vividly in this page of +the record. A double sepulchre was erected in memory of the murdered +prince and his faithful follower and the old woman who had pointed +out the place of their unhonoured grave was given a house in the +vicinity of the palace, a rope with a bell attached being stretched +between the two residences to serve as a support for her infirm feet +and as a means of announcing her coming when she visited the palace. +But the same benevolent sovereign who directed these gracious doings +was with difficulty dissuaded from demolishing the tomb and +scattering to the winds of heaven the bones of the Emperor Yuryaku, +under whose hand Prince Oshiwa had fallen. + +THE VENDETTA + +In connexion with this, the introduction of the principle of the +vendetta has to be noted. Its first practical application is +generally referred to the act of the boy-prince, Mayuwa, who stabbed +his father's slayer, the Emperor Anko (A.D. 456). But the details of +Anko's fate are involved in some mystery, and it is not until the +time (A.D. 486) of Kenso that we find a definite enunciation of the +Confucian doctrine, afterwards rigidly obeyed in Japan, "A man should +not live under the same heaven with his father's enemy." History +alleges that, by his brother's counsels, the Emperor Kenso was +induced to abandon his intention of desecrating Yuryaku's tomb, but +the condition of the tomb to-day suggests that these counsels were +not entirely effective. + +BANQUETS + +The annals of this epoch refer more than once to banquets at the +palace. Towards the close of Seinei's reign we read of "a national +drinking-festival which lasted five days," and when Kenso ascended +the throne he "went to the park, where he held revel by the winding +streams," the high officials in great numbers being his guests. On +this latter occasion the ministers are said to have "uttered +reiterated cries of 'banzai'"*, which has come into vogue once more in +modern times as the equivalent of "hurrah." + +*Banzai means literally "ten thousand years," and thus corresponds to +viva. + +THE EMPEROR NINKEN + +The twenty-fourth sovereign, Ninken, was the elder of the two +brothers, Oke and Woke, whose escape from the murderous ambition of +the Emperor Yuryaku and their ultimate restoration to princely rank +have been already described. He succeeded to the throne after the +death of his younger brother, and occupied it for ten years of a most +uneventful reign. Apart from the fact that tanners were invited from +Korea to improve the process followed in Japan, the records contain +nothing worthy of attention. One incident, however, deserves to be +noted as showing the paramount importance attached in those early +days to all the formalities of etiquette. The Empress dowager +committed suicide, dreading lest she should be put to death for a +breach of politeness committed towards Ninken during the life of his +predecessor, Kenso. At a banquet in the palace she had twice +neglected to kneel when presenting, first, a knife and, secondly, a +cup of wine to Ninken, then Prince Imperial. It has already been +related that the Empress Onakatsu, consort of Inkyo, was disposed to +inflict the death penalty on a high official who had slighted her +unwittingly prior to her husband's accession. There can be no doubt +that differences of rank received most rigid recognition in early +Japan. + +THE EMPEROR MURETSU + +This sovereign was the eldest son of his predecessor, Ninken. +According to the Chronicles, his reign opened with a rebellion by the +great Heguri family, whose representative, Matori, attempted to usurp +the Imperial dignity while his son, Shibi, defiantly wooed and won +for himself the object of the Emperor's affections. Matori had been +Yuryaku's minister, and his power as well as his family influence +were very great, but the military nobles adhered to the sovereign's +cause and the Heguri were annihilated. In the Records this event is +attributed to the reign of Seinei in a much abbreviated form, but the +account given in the Chronicles commands the greater credence. The +Chronicles, however, represent Muretsu as a monster of cruelty, the +Nero of Japanese history, who plucked out men's nails and made them +dig up yams with their mutilated fingers; who pulled out people's +hair; who made them ascend trees which were then cut down, and who +perpetrated other hideous excesses. Here again the Records, as +well as other ancient authorities are absolutely silent, and the +story in the Chronicles has attracted keen analyses by modern +historiographers. Their almost unanimous conclusion is that the +annals of King Multa of Kudara have been confused with those of the +Emperor Muretsu. This Korean sovereign, contemporary with Muretsu, +committed all kinds of atrocities and was finally deposed by his +people. There are evidences that the compilers of the Chronicles drew +largely on the pages of Korean writers, and it is not difficult to +imagine accidental intermixing such as that suggested by the critics +in this case. + +KEITAI + +The death of the Emperor Muretsu left the throne without any +successor in the direct line of descent, and for the first time since +the foundation of the Empire, it became necessary for the great +officials to make a selection among the scions of the remote Imperial +families. Their choice fell primarily on the representative of the +fifth generation of the Emperor Chuai's descendants. But as their +method of announcing their decision was to despatch a strong force of +armed troops to the provincial residence of the chosen man, he +naturally misinterpreted the demonstration and sought safety in +flight. Then the o-omi and the o-muraji turned to Prince Odo, fifth +in descent from the Emperor Ojin on his father's side and eighth in +descent from the Emperor Suinin on his mother's. Arako, head of the +horse-keepers, had secretly informed the prince of the ministers' +intentions, and thus the sudden apparition of a military force +inspired no alarm in Odo's bosom. He did, indeed, show seemly +hesitation, but finally he accepted the insignia and ascended the +throne, confirming all the high dignitaries of State in their +previous offices. From the point of view of domestic affairs his +reign was uneventful, but the empire's relations with Korea continued +to be much disturbed, as will be presently explained. + +ANKAN + +The Emperor Keitai had a large family, but only one son was by the +Empress, and as he was too young to ascend the throne immediately +after his father's death, he was preceded by his two brothers, Ankan +and Senkwa, sons of the senior concubine. This complication seems to +have caused some difficulty, for whereas Keitai died in 531, Ankan's +reign did not commence until 534. The most noteworthy feature of his +era was the establishment of State granaries in great numbers, a +proof that the Imperial power found large extension throughout the +provinces. In connexion with this, the o-muraji, Kanamura, is quoted +as having laid down, by command of the Emperor, the following +important doctrine, "Of the entire surface of the soil, there is no +part which is not a royal grant in fee; under the wide heavens there +is no place which is not royal territory." The annals show, also, +that the custom of accepting tracts of land or other property in +expiation of offences was obtaining increased vogue. + +SENKWA + +Senkwa was the younger brother of Ankan. He reigned only three years +and the period of his sway was uneventful, if we except the growth of +complications with Korea, and the storing of large quantities of +grain in Tsukushi, as a "provision against extraordinary occasions," +and "for the cordial entertainment of our good guests" from "the +countries beyond the sea." + +RELATIONS WITH KOREA + +With whatever scepticism the details of the Empress Jingo's +expedition be regarded, it appears to be certain that at a very early +date, Japan effected lodgement on the south coast of Korea at Mimana, +and established there a permanent station (chinju-fu) which was +governed by one of her own officials. It is also apparent that, +during several centuries, the eminent military strength of Yamato +received practical recognition from the principalities into which the +peninsula was divided; that they sent to the Court of Japan annual +presents which partook of the nature of tribute, and that they +treated her suggestions, for the most part, with deferential +attention. This state of affairs received a rude shock in the days of +Yuryaku, when that sovereign, in order to possess himself of the wife +of a high official named Tasa, sent the latter to distant Mimana as +governor, and seized the lady in his absence. Tasa revolted, and from +that time Japan's position in the peninsula was compromised. The +Koreans perceived that her strength might be paralyzed by the sins of +her sovereigns and the disaffection of her soldiers. Shiragi (Sinra), +whose frontier was conterminous with that of the Japanese settlement +on the north, had always been restive in the proximity of a foreign +aggressor. From the time of Yuryaku's accession she ceased to convey +the usual tokens of respect to the Yamato Court, and, on the other +hand, she cultivated the friendship of Koma as an ally in the day of +retribution. + +It may be broadly stated that Korea was then divided into three +principalities: Shiragi in the south and east; Kudara in the centre +and west, with its capital at the modern Seoul, and Koma in the +north, having Pyong-yang for chief city. This last had recently +pushed its frontier into Manchuria as far as the Liao River, and was +already beginning to project its shadow over the southern regions of +the peninsula, destined ultimately to fall altogether under its sway. +In response to Shiragi's overtures, the King of Koma sent a body of +troops to assist in protecting that principality against any +retaliatory essay on the part of the Japanese in Mimana. But the men +of Shiragi, betrayed into imagining that these soldiers were destined +to be the van of an invading army, massacred them, and besought +Japanese succour against Koma's vengeance. The Japanese acceded, and +Shiragi was saved for a time, but at the cost of incurring, for +herself and for Japan alike, the lasting enmity of Koma. Shiragi +appears to have concluded, however, that she had more to fear from +Koma than from Japan, for she still withheld her tribute to the +latter, and invaded the territory of Kudara, which had always +maintained most friendly relations with Yamato. The Emperor Yuryaku +sent two expeditions to punish this contumacy, but the result being +inconclusive, he resolved to take the exceptional step of personally +leading an army to the peninsula. + +This design, which, had it matured, might have radically changed the +history of the Far East, was checked by an oracle, and Yuryaku +appointed three of his powerful nobles to go in his stead. The +Shiragi men fought with desperate tenacity. One wing of their army +was broken, but the other held its ground, and two of the Japanese +generals fell in essaying to dislodge it. Neither side could claim a +decisive victory, but both were too much exhausted to renew the +combat. This was not the limit of Japan's misfortunes. A feud broke +out among the leaders of the expedition, and one of them, Oiwa, shot +his comrade as they were en route for the Court of the Kudara +monarch, who had invited them in the hope of composing their +dissensions, since the existence of his own kingdom depended on +Japan's intervention between Koma and Shiragi. + +Owing to this feud among her generals, Japan's hold on Mimana became +more precarious than ever while her prestige in the peninsula +declined perceptibly. Nevertheless her great military name still +retained much of its potency. Thus, ten years later (A.D. 477), when +the King of Koma invaded Kudara and held the land at his mercy, he +declined to follow his generals' counsels of extermination in +deference to Kudara's long friendship with Yamato. It is related +that, after this disaster, the Japanese Emperor gave the town of +Ung-chhon (Japanese, Kumanari) to the remnant of the Kudara people, +and the latter's capital was then transferred from its old site in +the centre of the peninsula--a place no longer tenable--to the +neighbourhood of Mimana. Thenceforth Yuryaku aided Kudara zealously. +He not only despatched a force of five hundred men to guard the +palace of the King, but also sent (480) a flotilla of war-vessels to +attack Koma from the west coast. The issue of this attempt is not +recorded, and the silence of the annals may be construed as +indicating failure. Koma maintained at that epoch relations of +intimate friendship with the powerful Chinese dynasty of the Eastern +Wei, and Yuryaku's essays against such a combination were futile, +though he prosecuted them with considerable vigour. + +After his death the efficiency of Japan's operations in Korea was +greatly impaired by factors hitherto happily unknown in her foreign +affairs--treason and corruption. Lord Oiwa, whose shooting of his +fellow general, Karako, has already been noted, retained his post as +governor of Mimana for twenty-one years, and then (487), ambitious of +wider sway, opened relations with Koma for the joint invasion of +Kudara, in order that he himself might ascend the throne of the +latter. A desperate struggle ensued. Several battles were fought, in +all of which the victory is historically assigned to Oiwa, but if he +really did achieve any success, it was purely ephemeral, for he +ultimately abandoned the campaign and returned to Japan, giving +another shock to his country's waning reputation in the peninsula. If +the Yamato Court took any steps to punish this act of lawless +ambition, there is no record in that sense. The event occurred in the +last year of Kenso's reign, and neither that monarch nor his +successor, Ninken, seems to have devoted any special attention to +Korean affairs. + +Nothing notable took place until 509, when Keitai was on the throne. +In that year, a section of the Kudara people, who, in 477, had been +driven from their country by the Koma invaders and had taken refuge +within the Japanese dominion of Mimana, were restored to their homes +with Japanese co-operation and with renewal of the friendly relations +which had long existed between the Courts of Yamato and Kudara. Three +years later (512), Kudara preferred a singular request. She asked +that four regions, forming an integral part of the Yamato domain of +Mimana, should be handed over to her, apparently as an act of pure +benevolence. Japan consented. There is no explanation of her +complaisance except that she deemed it wise policy to strengthen +Kudara against the growing might of Shiragi, Yamato's perennial foe. +The two officials by whose advice the throne made this sacrifice were +the o-muraji, Kanamura, and the governor of Mimana, an omi called +Oshiyama. They went down in the pages of history as corrupt statesmen +who, in consideration of bribes from the Kudara Court, surrendered +territory which Japan had won by force of arms and held for five +centuries. + +In the following year (513) the Kudara Court again utilized the +services of Oshiyama to procure possession of another district, Imun +(Japanese, Komom), which lay on the northeast frontier of Mimana. +Kudara falsely represented that this region had been wrested from her +by Habe, one of the petty principalities in the peninsula, and the +Yamato Court, acting at the counsels of the same o-muraji (Kanamura) +who had previously espoused Kudara's cause, credited Kudara's story. +This proved an ill-judged policy. It is true that Japan's prestige in +the peninsula received signal recognition on the occasion of +promulgating the Imperial decree which sanctioned the transfer of the +disputed territory. All the parties to the dispute, Kudara, Shiragi, +and Habe, were required to send envoys to the Yamato Court for the +purpose of hearing the rescript read, and thus Japan's pre-eminence +was constructively acknowledged. But her order provoked keen +resentment in Shiragi and Habe. The general whom she sent with five +hundred warships to escort the Kudara envoys was ignominiously +defeated by the men of Habe, while Shiragi seized the opportunity to +invade Mimana and to occupy a large area of its territory. + +For several years the Yamato Court made no attempt to re-assert +itself, but in 527 an expedition of unprecedented magnitude was +organized. It consisted of sixty thousand soldiers under the command +of Keno no Omi, and its object was to chastise Shiragi and to +re-establish Mimana in its original integrity. But here an +unforeseeable obstacle presented itself. For all communication with +the Korean peninsula, Tsukushi (Kyushu) was an indispensable basis, +and it happened that, just at this time, Kyushu had for ruler +(miyatsuko) a nobleman called Iwai, who is said to have long +entertained treasonable designs. A knowledge of his mood was conveyed +to Shiragi, and tempting proposals were made to him from that place +conditionally on his frustrating the expedition under Keno no Omi. +Iwai thereupon occupied the four provinces of Higo, Hizen, Bungo, and +Buzen, thus effectually placing his hand on the neck of the +communications with Korea and preventing the embarkation of Keno no +Omi's army. He established a pseudo-Court in Tsukushi and there gave +audience to tribute-bearing envoys from Koma, Kudara and Shiragi. + +For the space of a twelvemonth this rebel remained master of the +situation, but, in A.D. 528, the o-muraji, Arakahi, crushed him after +a desperate conflict in the province of Chikugo.* Iwai effected his +escape to Buzen and died by his own hand in a secluded valley. +Although, however, this formidable rebellion was thus successfully +quelled, the great expedition did not mature. Keno, its intended +leader, did indeed proceed to Mimana and assume there the duties of +governor, but he proved at once arrogant and incompetent, employing +to an extravagant degree the ordeal of boiling water, so that many +innocent people suffered fatally, and putting to death children of +mixed Korean and Japanese parentage instead of encouraging unions +which would have tended to bring the two countries closer together. + +*In the Chikugo Fudoki a minute description is given of Iwai's +sepulchre, built during his lifetime but presumably never occupied by +his body. The remarkable feature of the tomb was a number of stone +images, several representing grave-guards, and one group being +apparently designed to represent the judicial trial of a poacher. + +In all her relations with Korea at this epoch, Japan showed more +loyalty than sagacity. She was invariably ready to accede to +proposals from her old friend, Kudara, and the latter, taking astute +advantage of this mood, secured her endorsement of territorial +transfers which brought to the Yamato Court nothing but the enmity of +Kudara's rivals. By these errors of statesmanship and by the +misgovernment of officials like Keno, conditions were created which, +as will be seen hereafter, proved ultimately fatal to Japan's sway in +the peninsula. Meanwhile, every student of Japanese ancient annals +cannot but be struck by the large space devoted to recording her +relations with Korea. As the eminent historian, Rai Sanyo, said in +later times, her soldiers were wearied by constant campaigns oversea, +and her agriculturists were exhausted by frequent requisitions for +supplies. During the epoch of Jingo and Ojin, Japan was palpably +inferior to her peninsular neighbour in civilization, in wealth, and +in population. But in one respect the superiority was largely on her +side; namely, in the quality of her soldiers. Therefore, she utilized +her military strength for campaigns which cost comparatively little +and produced much. The peninsula, at that time, verified the term +commonly applied to it, Uchi-tsurmiyake, or the "Granary of the +Home-land." But as the material development of Japan and her +civilization progressed, she stood constantly to lose more and gain +less by despatching expeditions to a land which squandered much of +its resources on internecine quarrels and was deteriorating by +comparison. The task of maintaining Mimana and succouring Kudara then +became an obligation of prestige which gradually ceased to interest +the nation. + +FINANCE + +In the period now under consideration no system of land taxation had +yet come into existence. The requirements of the Court were met by +the produce of the mi-agata (Imperial domains), and rice for public +use was grown in the miyake districts, being there stored and devoted +to the administrative needs of the region. Occasionally the contents +of several miyake were collected into one district, as, for example, +when (A.D. 536) the Emperor Senkwa ordered a concentration of +foodstuffs in Tsukushi. The miyake were the property of the Crown, as +were also a number of hereditary corporations (be), whose members +discharged duties, from building and repairing palaces--no light +task, seeing that the site of the palace was changed with each change +of occupant--to sericulture, weaving, tailoring, cooking, and arts +and handicrafts of all descriptions, each be exercising its own +function from generation to generation, and being superintended by +its own head-man (obito or atae). + +Any insufficiency in the supplies furnished by the sovereign's own +people was made good by levying on the tomo-no-miyatsuko. It will be +seen that there was no annual tax regularly imposed on the people in +general, though universal requisitions were occasionally made to meet +the requirements of public works, festivals or military operations. +Hence when it is said that the Emperor Nintoku remitted all taxes for +the space of three years until the people's burdens were lightened, +reference is made only to the be and tomobe belonging to the Throne +itself. Doubtless this special feature of Yamato finance was due in +part to the fact that all the land and all the people, except those +appertaining to the Crown, were in the possession of the uji, without +whose co-operation no general fiscal measure could be adopted. When +recourse to the nation at large was necessitated to meet some +exceptional purpose, orders had to be given, first, to the o-omi and +o-muraji; next, by these to the Kami of the several o-uji; then, by +the latter to the Kami of the various ko-uji, and, finally, by these +last to every household. + +The machinery was thorough, but to set it in motion required an +effort which constituted an automatic obstacle to extortion. The +lands and people of the uji were governed by the Emperor but were not +directly controlled by him. On the other hand, to refuse a +requisition made by the Throne was counted contumelious and liable to +punishment. Thus when (A.D. 534) the Emperor Ankan desired to include +a certain area of arable land in a miyake established for the purpose +of commemorating the name of the Empress, and when Ajihari, suzerain +(atae) of the region, sought to evade the requisition by +misrepresenting the quality of the land, he was reprimanded and had +to make atonement by surrendering a portion of his private property. +There can be no doubt, however, that as the population increased and +as uncultivated areas grew less frequent, the arbitrary establishment +of koshiro or of nashiro became more and more irksome, and the pages +of history indicate that from the time of Keitai (A.D. 507-531) this +practice was gradually abandoned. + +CRIMINAL LAW + +Although the use of the ideographic script became well known from the +fifth century, everything goes to show that no written law existed at +that time, or, indeed, for many years afterwards. Neither are there +any traces of Korean or Chinese influence in this realm. Custom +prescribed punishments, and the solemnity of a judicial trial found +no better representative than the boiling-water ordeal. If a man took +oath to the deities of his innocence and was prepared to thrust his +arm into boiling mud or water, or to lay a red-hot axe on the palm of +his hand, he was held to have complied with all the requirements. The +familiar Occidental doctrine, "the King can do no wrong," received +imperative recognition in Japan, and seems to have been extended to +the Crown Prince also. There were no other exemptions. If a man +committed a crime, punishment extended to every member of his family. +On the other hand, offences might generally be expiated by presenting +lands or other valuables to the Throne. As for the duty of executing +sentences, it devolved on the mononobe, who may be described as the +military corporation. Death or exile were common forms of punishment, +but degradation was still more frequent. It often meant that a +family, noble and opulent to-day, saw all its members handed over +to-morrow to be the serfs or slaves of some uji in whose be they were +enrolled to serve thenceforth, themselves and their children, through +all generations in some menial position,--it might be as +sepulchre-guards, it might be as scullions. + + +Tattooing on the face was another form of penalty. The first mention +of it occurs in A.D. 400 when Richu condemned the muraji, Hamako, to +be thus branded, but whether the practice originated then or dated +from an earlier period, the annals do not show. It was variously +called hitae-kizamu (slicing the brow), me-saku (splitting the eyes), +and so on, but these terms signified nothing worse than tattooing on +the forehead or round the eyes. The Emperor Richu deemed that such +notoriety was sufficient penalty for high treason, but Yuryaku +inflicted tattooing on a man whose dog had killed one of his +Majesty's fowls. + +Death at the stake appears to have been very uncommon. This terrible +form of punishment seems to have been revived by Yuryaku. He caused +it to be inflicted on one of the ladies-in-waiting and her paramour, +who had forestalled him in the girl's affections. The first instance +is mentioned in the annals of the Empress Jingo, but the victim was a +Korean and the incident happened in war. To Yuryaku was reserved the +infamy of employing such a penalty in the case of a woman. Highly +placed personages were often allowed to expiate an offence by +performing the religious rite of harai (purification), the offender +defraying all expenses. + +ARCHITECTURE + +As Chinese literature became familiar and as the arts of the Middle +Kingdom and Korea were imported into Japan, the latter's customs +naturally underwent some changes. This was noticeable in the case of +architecture. Lofty buildings, as has been already stated, began to +take the place of the partially subterranean muro. The annals make no +special reference to the authors of this innovation, but it is +mentioned that among the descendants of the Chinese, Achi, and the +Korean, Tsuka, there were men who practised carpentry. Apparently the +fashion of high buildings was established in the reign of Anko when +(A.D. 456) the term ro or takadono (lofty edifice) is, for the first +time, applied to the palace of Anko in Yamato. A few years later +(468), we find mention of two carpenters,* Tsuguno and Mita, who, +especially the latter, were famous experts in Korean architecture, +and who received orders from Yuryaku to erect high buildings. It +appears further that silk curtains (tsumugi-kaki) came into use in +this age for partitioning rooms, and that a species of straw mat +(tatsu-gomo) served for carpet when people were hunting, travelling, +or campaigning. + +*It should be remembered that as all Japanese edifices were made of +timber, the carpenter and the architect were one and the same. + +SHIPS + +Occasional references have been made already to the art of +shipbuilding in Japan, and the facts elicited may be summed up very +briefly. They are that the first instance of naming a ship is +recorded in the year A.D. 274, when the Karano (one hundred feet +long) was built to order of the Emperor Ojin by the carpenters of Izu +promontory, which place was famed for skill in this respect; that the +general method of building was to hollow out tree-trunks,* and that +the arrival of naval architects from Shiragi (A.D. 300) inaugurated a +superior method of construction, differing little from that employed +in later ages. + +*Such dug-outs were named maruki-bune, a distinguishing term which +proves that some other method of building was also employed. + +VEHICLES + +A palanquin (koshi) used by the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 270-310) was +preserved in the Kyoto palace until the year 1219, when a +conflagration consumed it. The records give no description of it, but +they say that Yuryaku and his Empress returned from a hunting +expedition on a cart (kuruma), and tradition relates that a man named +Isa, a descendant in the eighth generation of the Emperor Sujin, +built a covered cart which was the very one used by Yuryaku. It is, +indeed, more than probable that a vehicle which had been in use in +China for a long time must have become familiar to the Japanese at an +early epoch. + +MEDICAL ART + +For relief in sickness supplication to the gods and the performance +of religious rites were chiefly relied on. But it is alleged* that +medicines for internal and external use were in existence and that +recourse to thermal springs was commonly practised from remote times. + +*By the Nihon Bummei Shiryaku. + +PICTORIAL ART + +While Yuryaku was on the throne, Korea and China sent pictorial +experts to Japan. The Korean was named Isuraka, and the Chinese, +Shinki. The latter is said to have been a descendant of the Emperor +Wen of the Wei dynasty. His work attracted much attention in the +reign of Muretsu, who bestowed on him the uji title of Ooka no Obito. +His descendants practised their art with success in Japan, and from +the time of the Emperor Tenchi (668-671) they were distinguished as +Yamato no eshi (painters of Yamato). + +POETRY + +If we credit the annals, the composition of poetry commenced in the +earliest ages and was developed independently of foreign influences. +From the sovereign down to the lowest subject, everyone composed +verses. These were not rhymed; the structure of the Japanese language +does not lend itself to rhyme. Their differentiation from prose +consisted solely in the numerical regularity of the syllables in +consecutive lines; the alternation of phrases of five and seven +syllables each. A tanka (short song) consisted of thirty-one +syllables arranged thus, 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7; and a naga-uta (long +song) consisted of an unlimited number of lines, all fulfilling the +same conditions as to number of syllables and alternation of phrases. +No parallel to this kind of versification has been found yet in the +literature of any other nation. The Chronicles and the Records abound +with tanka and naga-uta, many of which have been ascribed by skeptics +to an age not very remote from the time when those books were +compiled. But the Japanese themselves think differently. They connect +the poems directly with the events that inspired them. Further +reference to the subject will be made hereafter. Here it will suffice +to note that the composing of such verselets was a feature of every +age in Japan. + +UTA-GAKI + +A favourite pastime during the early historic period was known as +uta-gaki or uta-kai. In cities, in the country, in fields, and on +hills, youths and maidens assembled in springtime or in autumn and +enjoyed themselves by singing and dancing. Promises of marriage were +exchanged, the man sending some gifts as a token, and the woman, if +her father or elder brother approved, despatching her head-ornament +(oshiki no tamakatsura) to her lover. On the wedding day it was +customary for the bride to present "table-articles" (tsukue-shiro) to +the bridegroom in the form of food and drink. There were places +specially associated in the public mind with uta-gaki--Tsukuba +Mountain in Hitachi, Kijima-yama in Hizen, and Utagaki-yama in +Settsu. Sometimes men of noble birth took part in this pastime, but +it was usually confined to the lower middle classes. The great +festival of bon-odori, which will be spoken of by and by, is said to +be an outgrowth of the uta-gaki. + +SUPERSTITIONS + +No influences of alien character affected the religious beliefs of +the Japanese during the period we are now considering (fourth, fifth, +and sixth centuries). The most characteristic feature of the time was +a belief in the supernatural power of reptiles and animals. This +credulity was not limited to the uneducated masses. The Throne itself +shared it. Yuryaku, having expressed a desire to see the incarnated +form of the Kami of Mimoro Mountain, was shown a serpent seventy feet +long. In the same year a group of snakes harrassed a man who was +reclaiming a marsh, so that he had to take arms against them and +enter into a compact of limitations and of shrine building. Other +records of maleficent deities in serpent shape were current, and +monkeys and dragons inspired similar terror. Of this superstition +there was born an evil custom, the sacrifice of human beings to +appease the hostile spirits. The Kami of Chusan in Mimasaka province +was believed to be a giant ape, and the Kami of Koya, a big reptile. +The people of these two districts took it in turn to offer a girl at +the shrines of those Kami, and in the province of Hida another +colossal monkey was similarly appeased. There were further cases of +extravagant superstition. + +ARTS AND CRAFTS + +Of the development of sericulture and of the arts of weaving and +ceramics in this era enough has already been written; but, as showing +the growth of refinement, it may be noted that among the articles +ordered by the Emperor Yuryaku were a silk hat and a sashiha, or +round fan with a long handle. The colour of the fan was purple, and +it is said to have been hung up as an ornament in the palace. + +FORM OF GOVERNMENT + +The original form of government under the Yamato seems to have been +feudal. The heads of uji were practically feudal chiefs. Even orders +from the Throne had to pass through the uji no Kami in order to reach +the people. But from the time of Nintoku (313-349) to that of Yuryaku +(457-479), the Court wielded much power, and the greatest among the +uji chiefs found no opportunity to interfere with the exercise of the +sovereign's rights. Gradually, however, and mainly owing to the +intrusion of love affairs or of lust, the Imperial household fell +into disorder, which prompted the revolt of Heguri, the o-omi of the +Kwobetsu (Imperial families); a revolt subdued by the loyalty of the +o-muraji of the Shimbetsu (Kami families). + +From the days of the Emperor Muretsu (499-506), direct heirs to +succeed to the sceptre were wanting in more than one instance, and a +unique opportunity thus offered for traitrous essays. There was none. +Men's minds were still deeply imbued with the conviction that by the +Tenjin alone might the Throne be occupied. But with the introduction +of Buddhism (A.D. 552), that conviction received a shock. That the +Buddha directed and controlled man's destiny was a doctrine +inconsistent with the traditional faith in the divine authority of +the "son of heaven." Hence from the sixth century the prestige of the +Crown began to decline, and the puissance of the great uji grew to +exceed that of the sovereign. During a short period (645-670) the +authority of the Throne was reasserted, owing to the adoption of the +Tang systems of China; but thereafter the great Fujiwara-uji became +paramount and practically administered the empire. + +For the sake, therefore, of an intelligent sequence of conception, +there is evidently much importance in determining whether, in remote +antiquity, the prevailing system was feudal, or prefectural, or a +mixture of both. Unfortunately the materials for accurate +differentiation are wanting. Much depends on a knowledge of the +functions discharged by the kuni-no-miyatsuko, who were hereditary +officials, and the kuni-no-tsukasa (or kokushi) who were appointed by +the Throne. The closest research fails to elucidate these things with +absolute clearness. It is not known even at what date the office of +kokushi was established. The first mention of these officials is made +in the year A.D. 374, during the reign of Nintoku, but there can be +little doubt that they had existed from an earlier date. They were, +however, few in number, whereas the miyatsuko were numerous, and this +comparison probably furnishes a tolerably just basis for estimating +the respective prevalence of the prefectural and the feudal systems. +In short, the method of government inaugurated at the foundation of +the empire appears to have been essentially feudal in practice, +though theoretically no such term was recognized; and at a later +period--apparently about the time of Nintoku--when the power of the +hereditary miyatsuko threatened to grow inconveniently formidable, +the device of reasserting the Throne's authority by appointing +temporary provincial governors was resorted to, so that the +prefectural organization came into existence side by side with the +feudal, and the administration preserved this dual form until the +middle of the seventh century. There will be occasion to refer to the +matter again at a later date. + +ANNALS OF THE UJI + +It is essential to an intelligent appreciation of Japanese history +that some knowledge should be acquired of the annals of the great +uji. + +From the time of Nintoku (A.D. 313-399) until the introduction of +Buddhism (A.D. 552), there were four uji whose chiefs participated +conspicuously in the government of the country. The first was that of +Heguri. It belonged to the Imperial class (Kwobetsu) and was +descended from the celebrated Takenouchi-no-Sukune. In the days of +the Emperor Muretsu (499-506), the chief of this uji attempted to +usurp the throne and was crushed. The second was the Otomo. This uji +belonged to the Kami class (Shimbetsu) and had for ancestor Michi no +Omi, the most distinguished general in the service of the first +Emperor Jimmu. The chiefs of the Otomo-uji filled the post of general +from age to age, and its members guarded the palace gates. During the +reign of Yuryaku the office of o-muraji was bestowed upon Moroya, +then chief of this uji, and the influence he wielded may be inferred +from the language of an Imperial rescript where it is said that "the +tami-be of the o-muraji fill the country." His son, Kanamura, +succeeded him. By his sword the rebellion of Heguri no Matori was +quelled, and by his advice Keitai was called to the Throne. He served +also under Ankan, Senkwa, and Kimmei, but the miscarriage of Japan's +relations with Korea was attributed to him, and the title of o-muraji +was not conferred on any of his descendants. + +The uji of Mononobe next calls for notice. "Monono-be" literally +signifies, when expanded, a group (be) of soldiers (tsuwamono). In +later times a warrior in Japan was called mono-no-fu (or bushi), +which is written with the ideographs mono-be. This uji also belonged +to the Kami class, and its progenitor was Umashimade, who surrendered +Yamato to Jimmu on the ground of consanguinity. Thenceforth the +members of the uji formed the Imperial guards (uchi-tsu-mononobe) and +its chiefs commanded them. Among all the uji of the Kami class the +Mononobe and the Otomo ranked first, and after the latter's failure +in connexion with Korea, the Mononobe stood alone. During the reign +of Yuryaku, the uji's chief became o-muraji, as did his grandson, +Okoshi, and the latter's son, Moriya, was destroyed by the o-omi, +Soga no Umako, in the tumult on the accession of Sushun (A.D. 588). + +The fourth of the great uji was the Soga, descended from +Takenouchi-no-Sukune. After the ruin of the Heguri, this uji stood at +the head of all the Imperial class. In the reign of Senkwa (536-539), +Iname, chief of the Soga, was appointed o-omi, and his son, Umako, +who held the same rank, occupies an important place in connexion with +the introduction of Buddhism. It will be observed that among these +four uji, Heguri and Soga served as civil officials and Otomo and +Mononobe as military. + +There are also three other uji which figure prominently on the stage +of Japanese history. They are the Nakotomi, the Imibe, and the Kume. +The Nakatomi discharged the functions of religious supplication and +divination, standing, for those purposes, between (Naka) the Throne +and the deities. The Imibe had charge of everything relating to +religious festivals; an office which required that they should +abstain (imi suru) from all things unclean. The Kume were descended +from Amatsu Kume no Mikoto, and their duties were to act as +chamberlains and as guards of the Court. + +Finally, there was the Oga-uji, descended from Okuninushi, which +makes the eighth of the great uji. From the time of the Emperor Jimmu +to that of the Empress Suiko (A.D. 593-628), the nobles who served in +ministerial capacities numbered forty and of that total the Mononobe +furnished sixteen; the Otomo, six; the o-omi houses (i.e. the +Kwobetsu), nine; the Imibe, one; the Nakatomi, six; and the Oga, two. +Thus, the military uji of Mononobe and Otomo gave to the State +twenty-two ministers out of forty during a space of some twelve +centuries. + +ENGRAVING: PROFESSIONAL STORY-TELLER + +ENGRAVING: SHIGURETEI AND KASA-NO-CHAYA IN THE KODAIJI (Examples of +Ancient Tea Houses) + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FROM THE 29TH TO THE 35TH SOVEREIGN + +The 29th Sovereign, Kimmei A.D. 540-571 + + " 30th " Bidatsu " 572-585 + + " 31st " Yomei " 586-587 + + " 32nd " Sushun " 588-592 + + " 33rd " Suiko " 593-628 + + " 34th " Jomei " 629-641 + + " 35th " Kogyoku " 642-645 + +THE seven reigns five Emperors and two Empresses commencing with the +Emperor Kimmei and ending with the Empress Kogyoku, covered a period +of 105 years, from 540 to 645, and are memorable on three accounts: +the introduction of Buddhism; the usurpation of the great uji, and +the loss of Japan's possessions in Korea. + +THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM + +During the reign of the Emperor Ming of the Hou-Han dynasty, in the +year AD. 65, a mission was sent from China to procure the Buddhist +Sutras as well as some teachers of the Indian faith. More than three +centuries elapsed before, in the year 372, the creed obtained a +footing in Korea; and not for another century and a half did it find +its way (522) to Japan. It encountered no obstacles in Korea. The +animistic belief of the early Koreans has never been clearly studied, +but whatever its exact nature may have been, it certainly evinced no +bigotry in the presence of the foreign faith, for within three years +of the arrival of the first image of Sakiya Muni in Koma, two large +monasteries had been built, and the King and his Court were all +converts. + +No such reception awaited Buddhism in Japan when, in 522, a Chinese +bonze, Shiba Tachito, arrived, erected a temple on the Sakata plain +in Yamato, enshrined an image, of Buddha there, and endeavoured to +propagate the faith. At that time, Wu, the first Emperor of the Liang +dynasty in China, was employing all his influence to popularize the +Indian creed. Tradition says that Shiba Tachito came from Liang, and +in all probability he took the overland route via the Korean +peninsula, but the facts are obscure. No sensible impression seems to +have been produced in Japan by this essay. Buddhism was made known to +a few, but the Japanese showed no disposition to worship a foreign +god. Twenty-three years later (545), the subject attracted attention +again. Song Wang Myong, King of Kudara, menaced by a crushing attack +on the part of Koma and Shiragi in co-operation, made an image of the +Buddha, sixteen feet high, and petitioned the Court of Yamato in the +sense that as all good things were promised in the sequel of such an +effort, protection should be extended to him by Japan. Tradition says +that although Buddhism had not yet secured a footing in Yamato, this +image must be regarded as the pioneer of many similar objects +subsequently set up in Japanese temples. + +Nevertheless, A.D. 552 is usually spoken of as the date of Buddhism's +introduction into Japan. In that year the same King of Kudara +presented direct to the Yamato Court a copper image of Buddha plated +with gold; several canopies (tengai), and some volumes of the sacred +books, by the hands of Tori Shichi (Korean pronunciation, Nori +Sachhi) and others. The envoys carried also a memorial which said: +"This doctrine is, among all, most excellent. But it is difficult to +explain and difficult to understand. Even the Duke Chou and Confucius +did not attain to comprehension. It can produce fortune and +retribution, immeasurable, illimitable. It can transform a man into a +Bodhi. Imagine a treasure capable of satisfying all desires in +proportion as it is used. Such a treasure is this wonderful doctrine. +Every earnest supplication is fulfilled and nothing is wanting. +Moreover, from farthest India to the three Han, all have embraced the +doctrine, and there is none that does not receive it with reverence +wherever it is preached. Therefore thy servant, Myong, in all +sincerity, sends his retainer, Nori Sachhi, to transmit it to the +Imperial country, that it may be diffused abroad throughout the home +provinces,* so as to fulfil the recorded saying of the Buddha, 'My +law shall spread to the East.'"** It is highly probable that in the +effort to win the Yamato Court to Buddhism, King Myong was influenced +as much by political as by moral motives. He sought to use the +foreign faith as a link to bind Japan to his country, so that he +might count on his oversea neighbour's powerful aid against the +attacks of Koma and Shiragi. + +*That is to say, the Kinai, or five provinces, of which Yamato is the +centre. + +**The memorial is held by some critics to be of doubtful +authenticity, though the compilers of the Chronicles may have +inserted it in good faith. + +A more interesting question, however, is the aspect under which the +new faith presented itself to the Japanese when it first arrived +among them as a rival of Shinto and Confucianism. There can be no +doubt that the form in which it became known at the outset was the +Hinayana, or Exoteric, as distinguished from the Mahayana, or +Esoteric. But how did the Japanese converts reconcile its acceptance +with their allegiance to the traditional faith, Shinto? The clearest +available answer to this question is contained in a book called +Taishiden Hochu, where, in reply to a query from his father, Yomei, +who professed inability to believe foreign doctrines at variance with +those handed down from the age of the Kami, Prince Shotoku is +recorded to have replied: + +"Your Majesty has considered only one aspect of the matter. I am +young and ignorant, but I have carefully studied the teachings of +Confucius and the doctrine of the Kami. I find that there is a plain +distinction. Shinto, since its roots spring from the Kami, came into +existence simultaneously with the heaven and the earth, and thus +expounds the origin of human beings. Confucianism, being a system of +moral principles, is coeval with the people and deals with the middle +stage of humanity. Buddhism, the fruit of principles, arose when the +human intellect matured. It explains the last stage of man. To like +or dislike Buddhism without any reason is simply an individual +prejudice. Heaven commands us to obey reason. The individual cannot +contend against heaven. Recognizing that impossibility, nevertheless +to rely on the individual is not the act of a wise man or an +intelligent. Whether the Emperor desire to encourage this creed is a +matter within his own will. Should he desire to reject it, let him do +so; it will arise one generation later. Should he desire to adopt it, +let him do so; it will arise one generation earlier. A generation is +as one moment in heaven's eyes. Heaven is eternal. The Emperor's +reign is limited to a generation; heaven is boundless and +illimitable. How can the Emperor struggle against heaven? How can +heaven be concerned about a loss of time?" + +The eminent modern Japanese historiographer, Dr. Ariga, is disposed +to regard the above as the composition of some one of later date than +the illustrious Shotoku, but he considers that it rightly represents +the relation assigned to the three doctrines by the Japanese of the +sixth and seventh centuries. "Shinto teaches about the origin of the +country but does not deal with the present or the future. +Confucianism discusses the present and has no concern with the past +or the future. Buddhism, alone, preaches about the future. That life +ends with the present cannot be believed by all. Many men think of +the future, and it was therefore inevitable that many should embrace +Buddhism." + +But at the moment when the memorial of King Myong was presented to +the Emperor Kimmei, the latter was unprepared to make a definite +reply. The image, indeed, he found to be full of dignity, but he left +his ministers to decide whether it should be worshipped or not. A +division of opinion resulted. The o-omi, Iname, of the Soga family, +advised that, as Buddhism had won worship from all the nations on the +West, Japan should not be singular. But the o-muraji, Okoshi, of the +Mononobe-uji, and Kamako, muraji of the Nakatomi-uji, counselled that +to bow down to foreign deities would be to incur the anger of the +national gods. In a word, the civil officials advocated the adoption +of the Indian creed; the military and ecclesiastical officials +opposed it. That the head of the Mononobe-uji should have adopted +this attitude was natural: it is always the disposition of soldiers +to be conservative, and that is notably true of the Japanese soldier +(bushi). In the case of the Nakatomi, also, we have to remember that +they were, in a sense, the guardians of the Shinto ceremonials: thus, +their aversion to the acceptance of a strange faith is explained. + +What is to be said, however, of the apparently radical policy of the +Soga chief? Why should he have advocated so readily the introduction +of a foreign creed? There are two apparent reasons. One is that the +Hata and Aya groups of Korean and Chinese artisans were under the +control of the Soga-uji, and that the latter were therefore disposed +to welcome all innovations coming from the Asiatic continent. The +other is that between the o-muraji of the Kami class (Shimbetsu) and +the o-omi of the Imperial class (Kwobetsu) there had existed for some +time a political rivalry which began to be acute at about the period +of the coming of Buddhism, and which was destined to culminate, forty +years later, in a great catastrophe. The Emperor himself steered a +middle course. He neither opposed nor approved but entrusted the +image to the keeping of the Soga noble. Probably his Majesty was not +unwilling to submit the experiment to a practical test vicariously, +for it is to be noted that, in those days, the influence of the Kami +for good or for evil was believed to be freely exercised in human +affairs. + +This last consideration does not seem to have influenced Soga no +Iname at all. He must have been singularly free from the +superstitions of his age, for he not only received the image with +pleasure but also enshrined it with all solemnity in his Mukuhara +residence, which he converted wholly into a temple. + +Very shortly afterwards, however, the country was visited by a +pestilence, and the calamity being regarded as an expression of the +Kami's resentment, the o-muraji of the Mononobe and the muraji of the +Nakatomi urged the Emperor to cast out the emblems of a foreign +faith. Accordingly, the statue of the Buddha was thrown into the +Naniwa canal and the temple was burned to the ground. Necessarily +these events sharply accentuated the enmity between the Soga and the +Mononobe. Twenty-five years passed, however, without any attempt to +restore the worship of the Buddha. Iname, the o-omi of the Soga, +died; Okoshi, the o-muraji of the Mononobe, died, and they were +succeeded in these high offices by their sons, Umako and Moriya, +respectively. + +When the Emperor Bidatsu ascended the throne in A.D. 572, the +political stage was practically occupied by these two ministers only; +they had no competitors of equal rank. In 577, the King of Kudara +made a second attempt to introduce Buddhism into Japan. He sent to +the Yamato Court two hundred volumes of sacred books; an ascetic; a +yogi (meditative monk); a nun; a reciter of mantras (magic spells); a +maker of images, and a temple architect. If any excitement was caused +by this event, the annals say nothing of the fact. It is briefly +related that ultimately a temple was built for the new-comers in +Naniwa (modern Osaka). Two years later, Shiragi also sent a Buddhist +eidolon, and in 584--just sixty-two years after the coming of Shiba +Tachito from Liang and thirty-two years after Soga no Iname's attempt +to popularize the Indian faith--two Japanese high officials returned +from Korea, carrying with them a bronze image of Buddha and a stone +image of Miroku.* These two images were handed over, at his request, +to the o-omi, Umako, who had inherited his father's ideas about +Buddhism. He invited Shiba Tachito, then a village mayor, to +accompany one Hida on a search throughout the provinces for Buddhist +devotees. They found a man called Eben, a Korean who had originally +been a priest, and he, having resumed the stole, consecrated the +twelve-year-old daughter of Shiba Tachito, together with two other +girls, as nuns. The o-omi now built a temple, where the image of +Miroku was enshrined, and a pagoda on the top of whose central pillar +was deposited a Buddhist relic which had shown miraculous powers. + +*The Sanskrit Maitreya, the expected Messiah of the Buddhist. + +Thus, once more the creed of Sakiya Muni seemed to have found a +footing in Japan. But again the old superstitions prevailed. The +plague of small-pox broke out once more. This fell disease had been +carried from Cochin China by the troops of General Ma Yuan during the +Han dynasty, and it reached Japan almost simultaneously with the +importation of Buddhism. The physicians of the East had no skill in +treating it, and its ravages were terrible, those that escaped with +their lives having generally to lament the loss of their eyes. So +soon as the malady made its second appearance in the immediate sequel +of the new honours paid to Buddhism, men began to cry out that the +Kami were punishing the nation's apostacy, and the o-muraji, Moriya, +urged the Emperor (Bidatsu) to authorize the suppression of the alien +religion. Bidatsu, who at heart had always been hostile to the +innovation, consented readily, and the o-muraji, taking upon himself +the duty of directing the work of iconoclasm, caused the pagoda and +the temple to be razed and burned, threw the image into the canal, +and flogged the nuns. But the pestilence was not stayed. Its ravages +grew more unsparing. The Emperor himself, as well as the o-omi, +Umako, were attacked, and now the popular outcry took another tone: +men ascribed the plague to the wrath of Buddha. Umako, in turn, +pleaded with the Emperor, and was permitted to rebuild the temple and +reinstate the nuns, on condition that no efforts were made to +proselytize. + +Thus Buddhism recovered its footing, but the enmity between the +o-muraji and the o-omi grew more implacable than ever. They insulted +each other, even at the obsequies of the sovereign, and an occasion +alone was needed to convert their anger into an appeal to arms. + +DISPUTES ABOUT THE ACCESSION + +When the Emperor Bidatsu died (A.D. 585) no nomination of a Prince +Imperial had taken place, and the feud known to exist between the +o-omi and the o-muraji increased the danger of the situation. The +following genealogical table will serve to elucidate the relation in +which the Soga-uji stood to the Imperial Family, as well as the +relation between the members of the latter: + + \ + | Prince Shotoku****** + / Emperor Yomei** > (married to a daughter + / \ | (originally Prince Oe)| of Soga no Umako) + |Princess Kitashi| | / + |(consort of >< Empress Suiko***** + |Emperor Kimmei* | | (originally consort + | / | of Emperor Bidatsu*** +Soga | \ + no < +Iname | \ / + |Oane-kimi | | Prince Anahobe******* + |(consort of >< + |Emperor Kimmei) | | Emperor Sushun**** + | / \ + | + |Omako-Emishi-Iruka + \ + +*The Emperor Kimmei was the elder brother-in-law of Soga no Umako. +**The Emperor Yomei was the nephew of Soga no Umako. +***The Emperor Bidatsu was a nephew of Umako. +****The Emperor Sushun was a nephew of Umako. +*****The Empress Suiko was a niece of Umako. +******Prince Shotoku was son-in-law of Umako. +*******Prince Anahobe was a nephew of Umako. + +It is thus seen that the great uji of Soga was closely related to all +the Imperial personages who figured prominently on the stage at this +period of Japanese history. + +THE EMPEROR YOMEI + +The Emperor Yomei was the fourth son of the Emperor Kimmei and a +nephew of the o-omi, Umako. The Chronicles say that he "believed in +the law of Buddha and reverenced Shinto" which term now makes its +first appearance on the page of Japanese history, the Kami alone +having been spoken of hitherto. Yomei's accession was opposed by his +younger brother, Prince Anahobe (vide above genealogical table), who +had the support of the o-muraji, Moriya; but the Soga influence was +exerted in Yomei's behalf. Anahobe did not suffer his discomfiture +patiently. He attempted to procure admission to the mourning chamber +of the deceased Emperor for some unexplained purpose, and being +resisted by Miwa Sako, who commanded the palace guards, he laid a +formal complaint before the o-omi and the o-muraji. In the sequel +Sako was killed by the troops of the o-muraji, though he merited +rather the latter's protection as a brave soldier who had merely done +his duty, who opposed Buddhism, and who enjoyed the confidence of the +Empress Dowager. To Umako, predicting that this deed of undeserved +violence would prove the beginning of serious trouble, Moriya +insultingly retorted that small-minded men did not understand such +matters. Moriya's mind was of the rough military type. He did not +fathom the subtle unscrupulous intellect of an adversary like Umako, +and was destined to learn the truth by a bitter process. + +SHOTOKU TAISHI + +Umayado, eldest son of the Emperor Yomei, is one of the most +distinguished figures in the annals of Japan. He has been well called +"the Constantine of Buddhism." In proof of his extraordinary +sagacity, the Chronicles relate that in a lawsuit he could hear the +evidence of ten men without confusing them. From his earliest youth +he evinced a remarkable disposition for study. A learned man was +invited from China to teach him the classics, and priests were +brought from Koma to expound the doctrine of Buddhism, in which faith +he ultimately became a profound believer. In fact, to his influence, +more than to any other single factor, may be ascribed the final +adoption of the Indian creed by Japan. He never actually ascended the +throne, but as regent under the Empress Suiko he wielded Imperial +authority. In history he is known as Shotoku Taishi (Prince Shotoku). + +FINAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE MONONOBE AND THE SOGA + +In the second year of his reign, the Emperor Yomei was seized with +the malady which had killed his father. In his extremity he desired +to be received into the Buddhist faith to which he had always +inclined, and he ordered the leading officials to consider the +matter. A council was held. Moriya, o-muraji of the Mononobe, and +Katsumi, muraji of the Nakatomi, objected resolutely. They asked why +the Kami of the country should be abandoned in a moment of crisis. +But Umako, o-omi of the Soga, said: "It is our duty to obey the +Imperial commands and to give relief to his Majesty. Who will dare to +suggest contumely?" Buddhist priests were then summoned to the +palace. It was a moment of extreme tension. Prince Umayado (Shotoku) +grasped the hands of the o-omi and exclaimed, "If the minister had +not believed in Buddhism, who would have ventured to give such +counsel?" Umako's answer is said to have been: "Your Imperial +Highness will work for the propagation of the faith. I, a humble +subject, will maintain it to the death." Moriya, the o-muraji, made +no attempt to hide his resentment, but recognizing that his adherents +in the palace were comparatively few, he withdrew to a safe place and +there concentrated his forces, endeavouring, at the same time, to +enlist by magic rites the assistance of the Kami against the +disciples of the foreign faith. Meanwhile the Emperor's malady ended +fatally. His reign had lasted only one year. At the point of death he +was comforted by an assurance that the son of Shiba Tachito would +renounce the world to revere his Majesty's memory and would make an +image of the Buddha sixteen feet high. + +Buddhism had now gained a firm footing at the Yamato Court, but its +opponents were still active. Their leader, the o-muraji, thought that +his best chance of success was to contrive the accession of Prince +Anahobe, whose attempt to take precedence of his elder brother, the +Emperor Yomei, has been already noted. The conspiracy was discovered, +and the Soga forces, acting under the nominal authority of the +deceased Emperor's consort, Umako's niece, moved against Anahobe and +Moriya, who had not been able to combine their strength. The +destruction of Prince Anahobe was easily effected, but the work of +dealing with the o-muraji taxed the resources of the Soga to the +utmost. Moriya himself ascended a tree and by skill of archery held +his assailants long at bay. Archery had been practised assiduously by +the Yamato warrior from time immemorial, and arrows possessing +remarkable power of penetration had been devised. During the reign of +Nintoku, when envoys from Koma presented to the Court iron shields +and iron targets, a Japanese archer, Tatebito, was able to pierce +them; and in the time of Yuryaku, a rebel named Iratsuko shot a shaft +which, passing through his adversary's shield and twofold armour, +entered the flesh of his body to the depth of an inch. There was an +archery hall within the enclosure of the palace; whenever envoys or +functionaries from foreign countries visited Yamato they were invited +to shoot there; frequent trials of skill took place, and when oversea +sovereigns applied for military aid, it was not unusual to send some +bundles of arrows in lieu of soldiers. + +Thus, the general of the Mononobe, perched among the branches of a +tree, with an unlimited supply of shafts and with highly trained +skill as a bowman, was a formidable adversary. Moriya and his large +following of born soldiers drove back the Soga forces three times. +Success seemed to be in sight for the champion of the Kami. At this +desperate stage Prince Shotoku--then a lad of sixteen--fastened to +his helmet images of the "Four Guardian Kings of Heaven"* and vowed +to build a temple in their honour if victory was vouchsafed to his +arms. At the same time, the o-omi, Umako, took oath to dedicate +temples and propagate Buddhism. The combat had now assumed a +distinctly religious character. Shotoku and Umako advanced again to +the attack; Moriya was shot down; his family and followers fled, were +put to the sword or sent into slavery, and all his property was +confiscated. + +*The "Four Guardian Kings" (Shi-Tenno) are the warriors who guard the +world against the attacks of demons. + +An incident of this campaign illustrates the character of the +Japanese soldier as revealed in the pages of subsequent history: a +character whose prominent traits were dauntless courage and romantic +sympathy. Yorozu, a dependent of the o-muraji, was reduced to the +last straits after a desperate fight. The Chronicles say: "Then he +took the sword which he wore, cut his bow into three pieces, and +bending his sword, flung it into the river. With a dagger which he +had besides, he stabbed himself in the throat and died. The governor +of Kawachi having reported the circumstances of Yorozu's death to the +Court, the latter gave an order by a stamp* that his body should be +cut into eight pieces and distributed among the eight provinces."** +In accordance with this order the governor was about to dismember the +corpse when thunder pealed and a great rain fell. "Now there was a +white dog which had been kept by Yorozu. Looking up and looking down, +it went round, howling beside the body, and at last, taking up the +head in its mouth, it placed it on an ancient mound, lay down close +by, and starved to death. When this was reported to the Court, the +latter, moved by profound pity, issued an order that the dog's +conduct should be handed down to after ages, and that the kindred of +Yorozu should be allowed to construct a tomb and bury his remains." + +*A stamp in red or black on the palm of the hand. + +**This custom of dismembering and distributing the remains was +practised in Korea until the time, at the close of the nineteenth +century, when the peninsula came under Japanese protection. It was +never customary in Japan. + +BUILDING OF TEMPLES + +After order had been restored, Prince Shotoku fulfilled his vow by +building in the province of Settsu a temple dedicated to the Four +Guardian Kings of Heaven (Shitenno-ji), and by way of endowment there +were handed over to it one-half of the servants of the o-muraji, +together with his house and a quantity of other property. The o-omi, +Umako, also erected a temple called Hoko-ji in Asuka near Kara. It +has been shown above that Soga no Iname converted one of his houses +into a temple to receive the Buddhist image sent by Myong in 552, and +that his son, Umako, erected a temple on the east of his residence to +enshrine a stone image of Miroku, in 584. But these two edifices +partook largely of the nature of private worship. The first public +temples for the service of Buddhism were Shotoku's Shitenno-ji and +Umako's Hoko-ji erected in 587. + +AMOUNT OF THE O-MURAJI'S PROPERTY + +In the Annals of Prince Shotoku (Taishi-deri) it is recorded that the +parts of the o-muraji's estate with which the temple of the Four +Kings was endowed were 273 members of his family and household; his +three houses and movable property, together with his domain measuring +186,890 shiro, and consisting of two areas of 128,640 shiro and +58,250 shiro in Kawachi and Settsu, respectively. The shiro is +variously reckoned at from 5% to 7.12 tsubo (1 tsubo = 36 square +feet). Taking the shiro as 6 tsubo, the above three areas total 1000 +acres approximately. That this represented a part only of the +o-muraji's property is held by historians, who point to the fact that +the o-omi's wife, a younger sister of the o-muraji, incited her +husband to destroy Moriya for the sake of getting possession of his +wealth. + +THE EMPEROR SUSHUN + +The deaths of Prince Anahobe and Moriya left the Government +completely in the hands of Soga no Umako. There was no o-muraji; the +o-omi was supreme. At his instance the crown was placed upon the head +of his youngest nephew, Sushun. But Sushun entertained no friendship +for Umako nor any feeling of gratitude for the latter's action in +contriving his succession to the throne. Active, daring, and astute, +he judged the o-omi to be swayed solely by personal ambition, and he +placed no faith in the sincerity of the great official's Buddhist +propaganda. Meanwhile, the fortunes of the new faith prospered. When +the dying Emperor, Yomei, asked to be qualified for Nirvana, priests +were summoned from Kudara. They came in 588, the first year of +Sushun's reign, carrying relics (sarira), and they were accompanied +by ascetics, temple-architects, metal-founders, potters, and a +pictorial artist. + +The Indian creed now began to present itself to the Japanese people, +not merely as a vehicle for securing insensibility to suffering in +this life and happiness in the next, but also as a great protagonist +of refined progress, gorgeous in paraphernalia, impressive in rites, +eminently practical in teachings, and substituting a vivid rainbow of +positive hope for the negative pallor of Shinto. Men began to adopt +the stole; women to take the veil, and people to visit the hills in +search of timbers suited for the frames of massive temples. Soga no +Umako, the ostensible leader of this great movement, grew more and +more arrogant and arbitrary. The youthful Emperor unbosomed himself +to Prince Shotoku, avowing his aversion to the o-omi and his +uncontrollable desire to be freed from the incubus of such a +minister. Shotoku counselled patience, but Sushun's impetuosity could +not brook delay, nor did he reflect that he was surrounded by +partisans of the Soga. + +A Court lady betrayed his designs to the o-omi, and the latter +decided that the Emperor must be destroyed. An assassin was found in +the person of Koma, a naturalized Chinese, suzerain of the Aya uji, +and, being introduced into the palace by the o-omi under pretence of +offering textile fabrics from the eastern provinces, he killed the +Emperor. So omnipotent was the Soga chief that his murderous envoy +was not even questioned. He received open thanks from his employer +and might have risen to high office had he not debauched a daughter +of the o-omi. Then Umako caused him to be hung from a tree and made a +target of his body, charging him with having taken the Emperor's +life. "I knew only that there was an o-omi," retorted the man. "I did +not know there was an Emperor." Many others shared Koma's comparative +ignorance when the Soga were in power. At the Emperor Yomei's death, +only one person honoured his memory by entering the Buddhist +priesthood. When Soga no Umako died, a thousand men received the +tonsure. The unfortunate Sushun was interred on the day of his +murder, an extreme indignity, yet no one ventured to protest; and +even Prince Shotoku, while predicting that the assassin would +ultimately suffer retribution, justified the assassination on the +ground that previous misdeeds had deserved it. + +Shotoku's conduct on this occasion has inspired much censure and +surprise when contrasted with his conspicuous respect for virtue in +all other cases. But the history of the time requires intelligent +expansion. Cursory reading suggests that Umako's resolve to kill +Sushun was taken suddenly in consequence of discovering the latter's +angry mood. The truth seems to be that Sushun was doomed from the +moment of his accession. His elder brother had perished at the hands +of Umako's troops, and if he himself did not meet the same fate, +absence of plausible pretext alone saved him. To suffer him to reign, +harbouring, as he must have harboured, bitter resentment against his +brother's slayer, would have been a weakness inconsistent with +Umako's character. Sushun was placed on the throne as a concession to +appearance, but, at the same time, he was surrounded with creatures +of the o-omi, so that the latter had constant cognizance of the +sovereign's every word and act. + +When the o-omi judged the time fitting, he proposed to the Emperor +that an expedition should be despatched to recover Mimana, which had +been lost to Japan some time previously. An army of twenty thousand +men, commanded by a majority of the omi and muraji, was sent to +Tsukushi, and all potential opponents of the Soga chief having been +thus removed, he proceeded to carry out his design against the +Emperor's life. The very indignity done to Sushun's remains testifies +the thoroughness of the Soga plot. It has been shown that in early +days the erection of a tomb for an Imperial personage was a heavy +task, involving much time and labour. Pending the completion of the +work, the corpse was put into a coffin and guarded day and night, for +which purpose a separate palace was* erected. When the sepulchre had +been fully prepared, the remains were transferred thither with +elaborate ceremonials,** and the tomb was thenceforth under the care +of guardians (rioko). + +*Called Araki-no-miya, or the "rough palace." The interval during +which time the coffin remained there was termed kari-mo-gari, or +"temporary mourning." + +**Known as kakushi-matsuri, or the "rite of hiding." It would seem +that the term of one year's mourning prescribed in the case of a +parent had its origin in the above arrangement. + +All these observances were dispensed with in the case of the Emperor +Sushun. His remains did not receive even the measure of respect that +would have been paid to the corpse of the commonest among his +subjects. Nothing could indicate more vividly the omnipotence of the +o-omi; everything had been prepared so that his partisans could bury +the body almost before it was cold. Had Prince Shotoku protested, he +would have been guilty of the futility described by a Chinese proverb +as "spitting at the sky." Besides, Shotoku and Umako were allies +otherwise. The Soga minister, in his struggle with the military +party, had needed the assistance of Shotoku, and had secured it by +community of allegiance to Buddhism. The prince, in his projected +struggle against the uji system, needed the assistance of Buddhist +disciples in general, and in his effort to reach the throne, needed +the assistance of Umako in particular. In short, he was building the +edifice of a great reform, and to have pitted himself, at the age of +nineteen, against the mature strength of the o-omi would have been to +perish on the threshold of his purpose. + +THE EMPRESS SUIKO + +By the contrivance of Umako, the consort of the Emperor Bidatsu was +now placed on the throne, Prince Shotoku being nominated Prince +Imperial and regent. The Soga-uji held absolute power in every +department of State affairs. + +THE CONSTITUTION OF SHOTOKU + +One of the most remarkable documents in Japanese annals is the +Jushichi Kempo, or Seventeen-Article Constitution, compiled by +Shotoku Taishi in A.D. 604. It is commonly spoken of as the first +written law of Japan. But it is not a body of laws in the proper +sense of the term. There are no penal provisions, nor is there any +evidence of promulgation with Imperial sanction. The seventeen +articles are simply moral maxims, based on the teachings of Buddhism +and Confucianism, and appealing to the sanctions of conscience. +Prince Shotoku, in his capacity of regent, compiled them and issued +them to officials in the guise of "instructions." + +I. Harmony is to be valued, and the avoidance of wanton opposition +honoured. All men are swayed by class feeling and few are +intelligent. Hence some disobey their lords and fathers or maintain +feuds with neighbouring villages. But when the high are harmonious +and the low friendly, and when there is concord in the discussion of +affairs, right views spontaneously find acceptance. What is there +that cannot be then accomplished? + +II. Reverence sincerely the Three Treasures--Buddha, the Law, and the +Priesthood--for these are the final refuge of the Four Generated +Beings* and the supreme objects of faith in all countries. What man +in what age can fail to revere this law? Few are utterly bad: they +may be taught to follow it. But if they turn not to the Three +Treasures, wherewithal shall their crookedness be made straight? + +*Beings produced in transmigration by the four processes of being +born from eggs, from a womb, from fermentation, or from +metamorphosis. + +III. When you receive the Imperial Commands fail not to obey +scrupulously. The lord is Heaven; the vassal, Earth. Heaven +overspreads; Earth upbears. When this is so, the four seasons follow +their due course, and the powers of Nature develop their efficiency. +If the Earth attempt to overspread, Heaven falls in ruin. Hence when +the lord speaks, the vassal hearkens; when the superior acts, the +inferior yields compliance. When, therefore, you receive an Imperial +Command, fail not to carry it out scrupulously. If there be want or +care in this respect, a catastrophe naturally ensues. + +IV. Ministers and functionaries should make decorous behavior their +guiding principle, for decorous behavior is the main factor in +governing the people. If superiors do not behave with decorum, +inferiors are disorderly; if inferiors are wanting in proper +behaviour, offences are inevitable. Thus it is that when lord and +vassal behave with propriety, the distinctions of rank are not +confused; and when the people behave with propriety, the government +of the State proceeds of itself. + +V. Refraining from gluttony and abandoning covetous desires, deal +impartially with the suits brought before you. Of complaints +preferred by the people there are a thousand in one day: how many, +then, will there be in a series of years? Should he that decides +suits at law make gain his ordinary motive and hear causes with a +view to receiving bribes, then will the suits of the rich man be like +a stone flung into water,* while the plaints of the poor will +resemble water cast on a stone. In such circumstances, the poor man +will not know whither to betake himself, and the duty of a minister +will not be discharged. + +*That is to say, they will encounter no opposition. + +VI. Chastise that which is evil and encourage that which is good. +This was the excellent rule of antiquity. Conceal not, therefore, the +good qualities of others, and fail not to correct that which is wrong +when you see it. Flatterers and deceivers are a sharp weapon for the +overthrow of the State, and a pointed sword for the destruction of +the people. Sycophants are also fond, when they meet, of dilating to +their superiors on the errors of their inferiors; to their inferiors, +they censure the faults of their superiors. Men of this kind are all +wanting in fidelity to their lord, and in benevolence towards the +people. From such an origin great civil disturbances arise. + +VII. Let every man have his own charge, and let not the spheres of +duty be confused. When wise men are entrusted with office, the sound +of praise arises. If unprincipled men hold office, disasters and +tumults are multiplied. In this world, few are born with knowledge: +wisdom is the product of earnest meditation. In all things, whether +great or small, find the right man, and they will surely be well +managed: on all occasions, be they urgent or the reverse, meet with +but a wise man and they will of themselves be amenable. In this way +will the State be eternal and the Temples of the Earth and of Grain* +will be free from danger. Therefore did the wise sovereigns of +antiquity seek the man to fill the office, and not the office for the +sake of the man. + +*A Chinese expression for the Imperial house. + +VIII. Let the ministers and functionaries attend the Court early in +the morning, and retire late. The business of the State does not +admit of remissness, and the whole day is hardly enough for its +accomplishment. If, therefore, the attendance at Court is late, +emergencies cannot be met: if officials retire soon, the work cannot +be completed. + +IX. Good faith is the foundation of right. In everything let there be +good faith, for in it there surely consists the good and the bad, +success and failure. If the lord and the vassal observe good faith +one with another, what is there which cannot be accomplished? If the +lord and the vassal do not observe good faith towards one another, +everything without exception ends in failure. + +X. Let us cease from wrath, and refrain from angry looks. Nor let us +be resentful when others differ from us. For all men have hearts, and +each heart has its own leanings. Their right is our wrong, and our +right is their wrong. We are not unquestionably sages nor are they +unquestionably fools. Both of us are simply ordinary men. How can +anyone lay down a rule by which to distinguish right from wrong? For +we are all, one with another, wise and foolish like a ring which has +no end. Therefore, although others give way to anger, let us, on the +contrary, dread our own faults, and though we alone may be in the +right, let us follow the multitude and act like them. + +XI. Give clear appreciation to merit and demerit, and deal out to +each its sure reward or punishment. In these days, reward does not +attend upon merit, nor punishment upon crime. Ye high functionaries +who have charge of public affairs, let it be your task to make clear +rewards and punishments. + +XII. Let not the provincial authorities or the kuni no miyatsuko levy +exactions on the people. In a country there are not two lords; the +people have not two masters. The sovereign is the master of the +people of the whole country. The officials to whom he gives charge +are all his vassals. How can they, as well as the Government, presume +to levy taxes on the people? + +XIII. Let all persons entrusted with office attend equally to their +functions. Owing to illness or despatch on missions their work may +sometimes be neglected. But whenever they are able to attend to +business, let them be as accommodating as though they had cognizance +of it from before, and let them not hinder public affairs on the +score of not having had to do with them. + +XIV. Ministers and functionaries, be not envious. If we envy others, +they, in turn, will envy us. The evils of envy know no limit. If +others excel us in intelligence, it gives us no pleasure; if they +surpass us in ability, we are envious. Therefore it is not until +after the lapse of five hundred years that we at last meet with a +wise man, and even in a thousand years we hardly obtain one sage. But +if wise men and sages be not found, how shall the country be +governed? + +XV. To turn away from that which is private and to set one's face +towards that which is public this is the path of a minister. If a man +is influenced by private motives, he will assuredly feel resentment; +if he is influenced by resentment, he will assuredly fail to act +harmoniously with others; if he fails to act harmoniously with +others, he will assuredly sacrifice the public interest to his +private feelings. When resentment arises, it interferes with order +and is subversive of law. Therefore, in the first clause it was said +that superiors and inferiors should agree together. The purport is +the same as this. + +XVI. Let the employment of the people in forced labour be at +seasonable times. This is an ancient and excellent rule. Let them be +employed, therefore, in the winter months when they have leisure. But +from spring to autumn, when they are engaged in agriculture or with +the mulberry trees, the people should not be employed. For if they do +not attend to agriculture, what will they have to eat? If they do not +attend to the mulberry trees, what will they do for clothing? + +XVII. Decisions on important matters should not be rendered by one +person alone: they should be discussed by many. But small matters +being of less consequence, need not be consulted about by a number of +people. It is only in the discussion of weighty affairs, when there +is an apprehension of miscarriage, that matters should be arranged in +concert with others so as to arrive at the right conclusion.* + +*The above is taken almost verbatim from Aston's translation of the +Nihongi. + +For a document compiled at the beginning of the seventh century these +seventeen ethical precepts merit much approbation. With the exception +of the doctrine of expediency, enunciated at the close of the tenth +article, the code of Shotoku might be taken for guide by any +community in any age. But the prince as a moral reformer* cannot be +credited with originality; his merit consists in having studied +Confucianism and Buddhism intelligently. The political purport of his +code is more remarkable. In the whole seventeen articles there is +nothing to inculcate worship of the Kami or observance of Shinto +rites. Again, whereas, according to the Japanese creed, the sovereign +power is derived from the Imperial ancestor, the latter is nowhere +alluded to. The seventh article makes the eternity of the State and +the security of the Imperial house depend upon wise administration by +well-selected officials, but says nothing of hereditary rights. How +is such a vital omission to be interpreted, except on the supposition +that Shotoku, who had witnessed the worst abuses incidental to the +hereditary system of the uji, intended by this code to enter a solemn +protest against that system? + +*It is a curious fact that tradition represents this prince as having +been born at the door of a stable. Hence his original name, Umayado +(Stable-door). + +Further, the importance attached to the people* is a very prominent +feature of the code. Thus, in Article IV, it is stated that "when the +people behave with propriety the government of the State proceeds of +itself;" Article V speaks of "complaints preferred by the people;" +Article VI refers to "the overthrow of the State" and "the +destruction of the people;" Article VII emphasises "the eternity of +the State;" that "the sovereign is the master of the people of the +whole country;" that "the officials to whom he gives charge are all +his vassals," and that these officials, whether miyatsuko or +provincial authorities, must not "presume, as well as the Government, +to levy taxes on the people." All those expressions amount to a +distinct condemnation of the uji system, under which the only people +directly subject to the sovereign were those of the minashiro, and +those who had been naturalized or otherwise specially assigned, all +the rest being practically the property of the uji, and the only +lands paying direct taxes to the Throne were the domains of the +miyake. + +*The word used is hyakusho, which ultimately came to be applied to +farmers only. + +Forty-two years later (A.D. 646), the abolition of private property +in persons and lands was destined to become the policy of the State, +but its foundations seem to have been laid in Shotoku's time. It +would be an error to suppose that the neglect of Shinto suggested by +the above code was by any means a distinct feature of the era, or +even a practice of the prince himself. Thus, an Imperial edict, +published in the year 607, enjoined that there must be no remissness +in the worship of the Kami, and that they should be sincerely +reverenced by all officials, In the sequel of this edict Prince +Shotoku himself, the o-omi, and a number of functionaries worshipped +the Kami of heaven and of earth. In fact, Shotoku, for all his +enthusiasm in the cause of Buddhism, seems to have shrunk from +anything like bigoted exclusiveness. He is quoted* as saying: "The +management of State affairs cannot be achieved unless it is based on +knowledge, and the sources of knowledge are Confucianism, Buddhism, +and Shinto."** He who inclines to one of these three, must study the +other two also; for what one knows seems reasonable, but that of +which one is ignorant appears unreasonable. Therefore an +administrator of public affairs should make himself acquainted with +all three and should not affect one only, for such partiality +signifies maladministration. + +*In the Sankyo-ron. + +**The order of this enumeration is significant. + +DEATH OF SHOTOKU TAISHI + +Prince Shotoku died in the year 621. The Records do not relate +anything of his illness: they say merely that he foresaw the day and +hour of his own death, and they say also that when the Buddhist +priest, Hyecha of Koma, who had instructed the prince in the "inner +doctrine," learned of his decease, he also announced his +determination to die on the same day of the same month in the +following year so as "to meet the prince in the Pure Land and, +together with him, pass through the metempsychosis of all living +creatures." + +The last months of Shotoku's life were devoted to compiling, in +concert with the o-omi Umako, "a history of the Emperors; a history +of the country, and the original record of the omi, the muraji, the +tomo no miyatsuko, the kuni no miyatsuko, the 180 be, and the free +subjects." This, the first Japanese historical work, was completed in +the year 620. It was known afterwards as the Kujihongi, and +twenty-five years later (645) when--as will presently be seen--the +execution of the Soga chief took place, the book was partially +consumed by fire. Yet that it had not suffered beyond the possibility +of reconstruction, and that it survived in the Ko-jiki was never +doubted until the days (1730-1801) of "the prince of Japanese +literati," Motoori Norinaga. The question of authenticity is still +unsettled. + +Shotoku's name is further connected with calendar making, though no +particulars of his work in that line are on record. Japanese +historians speak of him as the father of his country's civilization. +They say that he breathed life into the nation; that he raised the +status of the Empire; that he laid the foundations of Japanese +learning; that he fixed the laws of decorum; that he imparted a new +character to foreign relations, and that he was an incarnation of the +Buddha, specially sent to convert Japan. The Chronicles say that at +his death nobles and commoners alike, "the old, as if they had lost a +dear child, the young, as if they had lost a beloved parent, filled +the ways with the sound of their lamenting." + +THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM AND THE CONTROL OF ITS PRIESTS + +The roots of Japanese Buddhism were watered with blood, as have been +the roots of so many religions in so many countries. From the day of +the destruction of the military party under the o-muraji Moriya, the +foreign faith flourished. Then--as has been shown--were built the +first two great temples, and then, for the first time, a Buddhist +place of worship was endowed* with rich estates and an ample number +of serfs to till them. Thenceforth the annals abound with references +to the advent of Buddhist priests from Korea, bearing relics or +images. The omi and the muraji vied with each other in erecting +shrines, and in 605, we find the Empress Suiko commanding all high +dignitaries of State to make 16-foot images of copper** and of +embroidery. Buddhist festivals were instituted in 606, and their +magnificence, as compared with the extreme simplicity of the Shinto +rites, must have deeply impressed the people. In a few decades +Buddhism became a great social power, and since its priests and nuns +were outside the sphere of ordinary administration, the question of +their control soon presented itself. It became pressing in 623 when a +priest killed his grandfather with an axe. The Empress Suiko, who was +then on the throne, would have subjected the whole body of priests +and nuns to judicial examination, a terrible ordeal in those days of +torture; but at the instance of a Korean priest, officials +corresponding to bishops (sojo), high priests (sozu) and abbots +(hotto) were appointed from the ranks of Buddhism, and the duty of +prescribing law and order was entrusted to them. This involved +registration of all the priesthood, and it was thus found (623) that +the temples numbered 46; the priests 816, and the nuns 569. + +*The endowment of religious edifices was not new in Japan. A +conspicuous instance was in A.D. 487, when rice-fields were dedicated +to the Moon god and to the ancestor of the Sun goddess. + +**The metal employed was of gold and copper; in the proportion of one +part of the former to 430 of the latter. It is related that when +these images were completed, the temple door proved too low to admit +them, and the artisan--Tori the Saddle-maker--whose ingenuity +overcame the difficulty without pulling down the door, received large +honour and reward. + +INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA + +That not a few Chinese migrated to Japan in remote times is clear. +The Records show that in the year A.D. 540, during the reign of +Kimmei, immigrants from Tsin and Han were assembled and registered, +when their number was found to be 7053 households. The terms "Tsin" +and "Han" refer to Chinese dynasties of those names, whose sway +covered the period between 255 B.C. and A.D. 419. Hence the +expression is too vague to suggest any definite idea of the advent of +those settlers; but the story of some, who came through Korea, has +already been traced. It was in A.D. 552, during the reign of this +same Kimmei, that Buddhism may be said to have found a home in Japan. +China was then under the sceptre of the Liang dynasty, whose first +sovereign, Wu, had been such an enthusiastic Buddhist that he +abandoned the throne for a monastery.. Yet China took no direct part +in introducing the Indian faith to Japan, nor does it appear that +from the fourth century A.D. down to the days of Shotoku Taishi, +Japan thought seriously of having recourse to China as the +fountain-head of the arts, the crafts, the literature, and the moral +codes which she borrowed during the period from Korea. + +Something of this want of enterprise may have been attributable to +the unsettled state of China's domestic politics; something to the +well-nigh perpetual troubles between Japan and Korea--troubles which +not only taxed Japan's resources but also blocked the sole route by +which China was then accessible, namely, the route through Korea. But +when the Sui dynasty (A.D. 589-619) came to the Chinese throne, its +founder, the Emperor Wen, on the one hand, devoted himself to +encouraging literature and commerce; and on the other, threw Korea +and Japan into a ferment by invading the former country at the head +of a huge army.* This happened when Shotoku Taishi was in his +sixteenth year, and though the great expedition proved abortive for +aggressive purposes, it brought China into vivid prominence, and when +news reached Japan of extensions of the Middle Kingdom's territories +under Wen's successor, the Japanese Crown Prince determined to open +direct intercourse with the Sui Court; not only for literary and +religious purposes, but also to study the form of civilization which +the whole Orient then revered. This resolve found practical +expression in the year 607, when the omi Imoko was sent as envoy to +the Sui Court, a Chinese of the Saddlers' Corporation, by name +Fukuri, being attached to him in the capacity of interpreter. China +received these men hospitably and sent an envoy of her own, with a +suite of twelve persons, to the Yamato sovereign in the following +year. + +*Reputed to have mustered 300,000 strong. + +The annals contain an instructive description of the ceremony +connected with the reception of this envoy in Japan. He was met in +Tsukushi (Kyushu) by commissioners of welcome, and was conducted +thence by sea to Naniwa (now Osaka), where, at the mouth of the +river, thirty "gaily-decked" boats awaited him, and he and his suite +were conducted to a residence newly built for the occasion. Six weeks +later they entered the capital, after a message of welcome had been +delivered to them by a muraji. Seventy-five fully caparisoned horses +were placed at their disposal, and after a further rest of nine days, +the envoy's official audience took place. He did not see the Empress' +face. Her Majesty was secluded in the hall of audience to which only +the principal ministers were admitted. Hence the ceremony may be said +to have taken place in the court-yard. There the gifts brought by the +envoy were ranged, and the envoy himself, introduced by two high +officials, advanced to the front of the court, made obeisance twice, +and, kneeling, declared the purport of his mission. The despatch +carried by him ran as follows: + +The Emperor greets the sovereign of Wa.* Your envoy and his suite +have arrived and have given us full information. We, by the grace of +heaven, rule over the universe. It is Our desire to diffuse abroad +our civilizing influence so as to cover all living things, and Our +sentiment of loving nurture knows no distinction of distance. Now We +learn that Your Majesty, dwelling separately beyond the sea, bestows +the blessings of peace on Your subjects; that there is tranquillity +within Your borders, and that the customs and manners are mild. With +the most profound loyalty You have sent Us tribute from afar, and We +are delighted at this admirable token of Your sincerity. Our health +is as usual, notwithstanding the increasing heat of the weather. +Therefore We have sent Pei Shieh-ching, Official Entertainer of the +Department charged with the Ceremonial for the Reception of Foreign +Ambassadors, and his suite, to notify to you the preceding. We also +transmit to you the products of which a list is given separately.** + +*It has already been stated that Japan was generally known in China +and Korea by the term "Wa," which, being written with an ideograph +signifying "dwarf" or "subservient," was disliked by the Japanese. +The envoy sent from Yamato in 607 was instructed to ask for the +substitution of Nippon (Place of Sunrise), but the Sui sovereign +declined to make the change and Japan did not receive the designation +"Nippon" in China until the period Wu Teh (A.D. 618-626) of the Tang +dynasty. It is not certain at what time exactly the Japanese +themselves adopted this nomenclature, but it certainly was before the +seventh century. + +**Translated by Aston in the Nihongi. + +When the reading of the document was concluded, a high noble stepped +forward, took it from the envoy's hands and advanced with it towards +the audience-hall, from which another noble came out to meet him, +received the letter, deposited it on a table before the chief +entrance, and then reported the facts to the Empress. This ended the +ceremony. The haughty condescension of the Chinese despatch does not +appear to have offended the Japanese, nor did they cavil at the +omission of one important ideograph from the title applied to their +Empress. China's greatness seems to have been fully recognized. When, +a month later, the envoy took his departure, the same Imoko was +deputed to accompany him, bearing a despatch* in which, to China's +simple "greeting," Japan returned a "respectful address;" to China's +expression of ineffable superiority Japan replied that the coming of +the embassy had "dissolved her long-harboured cares;" and to China's +grandiloquent prolixity Japan made answer with half a dozen brief +lines. Imoko was now accompanied by eight students four of literature +and four of religion. Thus was established, and for long afterwards +maintained, a bridge over which the literature, arts, ethics, and +philosophies of China were copiously imported into Japan. + +*In this despatch Japan called herself "the place where the sun comes +forth," and designated China as "the place where the sun sets." The +idea, doubtless, was merely to distinguish between east and west, but +the Sui sovereign resented the diction of this "barbarian letter." + +RANKS + +It will be recognized by considering the uji system that while many +titles existed in Japan, there was practically no promotion. A man +might be raised to uji rank. Several instances of that kind have been +noted, especially in the case of foreign artists or artisans +migrating to the island from Korea or China. But nothing higher was +within reach, and for the hereditary Kami of an uji no reward offered +except a gift of land, whatever services he might render to the +State. Such a system could not but tend to perfunctoriness in the +discharge of duty. Perception of this defect induced the regent, +Shotoku, to import from China (A.D. 603) the method of official +promotion in vogue under the Sui dynasty and to employ caps as +insignia of rank.* Twelve of such grades were instituted, and the +terminology applied to them was based on the names of six moral +qualities--virtue, benevolence, propriety, faith, justice, and +knowledge--each comprising two degrees, "greater" and "lesser." The +caps were made of sarcenet, a distinctive colour for each grade, the +cap being gathered upon the crown in the shape of a bag with a border +attached. The three highest ranks of all were not included in this +category. + +*In China to-day the distinguishing mark is a button of varying +material fastened on the top of the cap. + +THE EMPEROR JOMEI AND THE EMPRESS KOGYOKU + +In the year 626, the omnipotent Soga chief, the o-omi Umako, died. +His brief eulogy in the Chronicles is that he had "a talent for +military tactics," was "gifted with eloquence," and deeply reverenced +"the Three Precious Things" (Buddha, Dharma, and Samgha). In the +court-yard of his residence a pond was dug with a miniature island in +the centre, and so much attention did this innovation attract that +the great minister was popularly called Shima (island) no o-omi. His +office of o-omi was conferred on his son, Emishi, who behaved with +even greater arrogance and arbitrariness than his father had shown. +The Empress Suiko died in 628, and the question of the accession at +once became acute. Two princes were eligible; Tamura, grandson of the +Emperor Bidatsu, and Yamashiro, son of Shotoku Taishi. Prince +Yamashiro was a calm, virtuous, and faithful man. He stated +explicitly that the Empress, on the eve of her demise, had nominated +him to be her successor. But Prince Tamura had the support of the +o-omi, Emishi, whose daughter he admired. No one ventured to oppose +the will of the Soga chieftain except Sakaibe no Marise, and he with +his son were ruthlessly slain by the orders of the o-omi. + +Prince Tamura then (629) ascended the throne--he is known in history +as Jomei--but Soga no Emishi virtually ruled the empire. Jomei died +in 641, after a reign of twelve years, and by the contrivance of +Emishi the sceptre was placed in the hands of an Empress, Kogyoku, a +great-granddaughter of the Emperor Bidatsu, the claims of the son of +Shotoku Taishi being again ignored. One of the first acts of the new +sovereign was to raise Emishi to the rank held by his father, the +rank of o-omi, and there then came into prominence Emishi's son, +Iruka, who soon wielded power greater than even that possessed by his +father. Iruka's administration, however, does not appear to have been +altogether unwholesome. The Chronicles say that "thieves and robbers +were in dread of him, and that things dropped on the highway were not +picked up." But Emishi rendered himself conspicuous chiefly by aping +Imperial state. He erected an ancestral temple; organized +performances of a Chinese dance (yatsura) which was essentially an +Imperial pageant; levied imposts on the people at large for the +construction of tombs--one for himself, another for his son, +Iruka--which were openly designated misasagi (Imperial sepulchres); +called his private residence mikado (sacred gate); conferred on his +children the title of miko (august child), and exacted forced labour +from all the people of the Kamutsumiya estate, which belonged to the +Shotoku family. + +This last outrage provoked a remonstrance from Shotoku Taishi's +daughter, and she was thenceforth reckoned among the enemies of the +Soga. One year later (643), this feud ended in bloodshed. Emishi's +usurpation of Imperial authority was carried so far that he did not +hesitate to confer the rank of o-omi on his son, Iruka, and upon the +latter's younger brother also. Iruka now conceived the design of +placing upon the throne Prince Furubito, a son of the Emperor Jomei. +It will be remembered that the Soga chief, Emishi, had lent his +omnipotent influence to secure the sceptre for Jomei, because of the +latter's affection for Emishi's daughter. This lady, having become +one of Jomei's consorts, had borne to him Prince Furubito, who was +consequently Iruka's uncle. Iruka determined that the prince should +succeed the Empress Kogyoku. To that end it was necessary to remove +the Shotoku family, against which, as shown above, the Soga had also +a special grudge. Not even the form of devising a protest was +observed. Orders were simply issued to a military force that the +Shotoku house should be extirpated. Its representative was Prince +Yamashiro, the same who had effaced himself so magnanimously at the +time of Jomei's accession. He behaved with ever greater nobility on +this occasion. Having by a ruse escaped from the Soga troops, he was +urged by his followers to flee to the eastern provinces, and there +raising an army, to march back to the attack of the Soga. + +There is reason to think that this policy would have succeeded. But +the prince replied: "I do not wish it to be said by after generations +that, for my sake, anyone has mourned the loss of a father or a +mother. Is it only when one has conquered in battle that one is to be +called a hero? Is he not also a hero who has made firm his country at +the expense of his own life?" He then returned to the temple at +Ikaruga, which his father had built, and being presently besieged +there by the Soga forces, he and the members of his family, +twenty-three in all, committed suicide. This tragedy shocked even +Emishi. He warned Iruka against the peril of such extreme measures. + +ENGRAVING: FUJIWARA KAMATAKI + +There now appears a statesman destined to leave his name indelibly +written on the pages of Japanese history, Kamatari, muraji of the +Nakatomi-uji. The Nakatomi's functions were specially connected with +Shinto rites, and Kamatari must be supposed to have entertained +little good-will towards the Soga, who were the leaders of the +Buddhist faction, and whose feud with the military party sixty-seven +years previously had involved the violent death of Katsumi, then +(587) muraji of the Nakatomi. Moreover, Kamatari makes his first +appearance in the annals as chief Shinto official. Nevertheless, it +is not apparent that religious zeal or personal resentment was +primarily responsible for Kamatari's determination to compass the +ruin of the Soga. Essentially an upright man and a loyal subject, he +seems to have been inspired by a frank resolve to protect the Throne +against schemes of lawless ambitions, unconscious that his own +family, the Fujiwara, were destined to repeat on a still larger scale +the same abuses. + +The succession may be said to have had three aspirants at that time: +first, Prince Karu, younger brother of the Empress Kogyoku; secondly, +Prince Naka, her son, and thirdly, Prince Furubito, uncle of Soga no +Iruka. The last was, of course, excluded from Kamatari's +calculations, and as between the first two he judged it wiser that +Prince Karu should have precedence in the succession, Prince Naka not +being old enough. The conspiracy that ensued presents no specially +remarkable feature. Kamatari and Prince Naka became acquainted +through an incident at the game of football, when the prince, having +accidently kicked off his shoe, Kamatari picked it up and restored it +to him on bended knee. The two men, in order to find secret +opportunities for maturing their plans, became fellow students of the +doctrines of Chow and Confucius under the priest Shoan, who had been +among the eight students that accompanied the Sui envoy on his return +to China in the year 608. + +Intimate relations were cemented with a section of the Soga through +Kurayamada, whose daughter Prince Naka married, and trustworthy +followers having been attached to the prince, the conspirators +watched for an occasion. It was not easy to find one. The Soga +mansion, on the eastern slope of Mount Unebi, was a species of +fortress, surrounded by a moat and provided with an armoury having +ample supply of bows and arrows. Emishi, the o-omi, always had a +guard of fifty soldiers when he went abroad, and Iruka, his son, wore +a sword "day and night." Nothing offered except to convert the palace +itself into a place of execution. On the twelfth day of the sixth +month, 645, the Empress held a Court in the great hall of audience to +receive memorials and tribute from the three kingdoms of Korea. All +present, except her Majesty and Iruka, were privy to the plot. Iruka +having been beguiled into laying aside his sword, the reading of the +memorials was commenced by Kurayamada, and Prince Naka ordered the +twelve gates to be closed simultaneously. At that signal, two +swordsmen should have advanced and fallen upon Iruka; but they showed +themselves so timorous that Prince Naka himself had to lead them to +the attack. Iruka, severely wounded, struggled to the throne and +implored for succour and justice; but when her Majesty in terror +asked what was meant, Prince Naka charged Iruka with attempting to +usurp the sovereignty. The Empress, seeing that her own son led the +assassins, withdrew at once, and the work of slaughtering Iruka was +completed, his corpse being thrown into the court-yard, where it lay +covered with straw matting. + +Prince Naka and Karaatari had not been so incautious as to take a +wide circle of persons into their confidence. But they were +immediately joined by practically all the nobility and high +officials, and the o-omi's troops having dispersed without striking a +blow, Emishi and his people were all executed. The Empress Kogyoku at +once abdicated in favour of her brother, Prince Kara, her son, Prince +Naka, being nominated Prince Imperial. Her Majesty had worn the +purple for only three years. All this was in accord with Kamatari's +carefully devised plans. They were epoch making. + +RELATIONS WITH KOREA DURING THE SEVEN REIGNS FROM KIMMEI TO KOGYOKU +(A.D. 540-645) + +The story of Japan's relations with Korea throughout the period of +over a century, from the accession of Kimmei (540) to the abdication +of Kogyoku (645), is a series of monotonously similar chapters, the +result for Japan being that she finally lost her position at Mimana. +There was almost perpetual fighting between the petty kingdoms which +struggled for mastery in the peninsula, and Kudara, always nominally +friendly to Japan, never hesitated to seek the latter's assistance +against Shiragi and Koma. To these appeals the Yamato Court lent a +not-unready ear, partly because they pleased the nation's vanity, but +mainly because Kudara craftily suggested danger to Mimana unless +Japan asserted herself with arms. But when it came to actually +rendering material aid, Japan did nothing commensurate with her +gracious demeanour. She seems to have been getting weary of expensive +interference, and possibly it may also have occurred to her that no +very profound sympathy was merited by a sovereign who, like the King +of Kudara, preferred to rely on armed aid from abroad rather than +risk the loss of his principality to his own countrymen. + +At all events, in answer to often iterated entreaties from Kudara, +the Yamato Court did not make any practical response until the year +551, when it sent five thousand koku of barley-seed (?), followed, +two years later, by two horses, two ships, fifty bows with arrows, +and--a promise. Kudara was then ruled by a very enterprising prince +(Yo-chang). Resolving to strike separately at his enemies, Koma and +Shiragi, he threw himself with all his forces against Koma and gained +a signal victory (553). Then, at length, Japan was induced to assist. +An omi was despatched (554) to the peninsula with a thousand +soldiers, as many horses and forty ships. Shiragi became at once the +objective of the united forces of Kudara and Japan. A disastrous +defeat resulted for the assailants. The Kudara army suffered almost +complete extermination, losing nearly thirty thousand men, and +history is silent as to the fate of the omi's contingent. +Nevertheless the fear of Japanese vengeance induced Shiragi to hold +its hand, and, in the year 561, an attempt was made twice to renew +friendly relations with the Yamato Court by means of tribute-bearing +envoys. Japan did not repel these overtures, but she treated the +envoy of the victorious Shiragi with less respect than that extended +to the envoy of the vanquished Kudara. + +In the spring of the following year (562), Shiragi invaded Mimana, +destroyed the Japanese station there and overran the whole region +(ten provinces). No warning had reached Japan. She was taken entirely +unawares, and she regarded it as an act of treachery on Shiragi's +part to have transformed itself suddenly from a tribute-bearing +friend into an active enemy. Strangely enough, the King of Shiragi +does not appear to have considered that his act precluded a +continuance of friendly relations with the Yamato Court. Six months +after his invasion of Mimana he renewed the despatch of envoys to +Japan, and it was not until their arrival in Yamato that they learned +Japan's mood. Much to the credit of the Yamato Court, it did not +wreak vengeance on these untimely envoys, but immediately afterwards +an armed expedition was despatched to call Shiragi to account. The +forces were divided into two corps, one being ordered to march under +Ki no Omaro northwest from Mimana and effect a junction with Kudara; +the other, under Kawabe no Nie, was to move eastward against Shiragi. +This scheme became known to the Shiragi generals owing to the seizure +of a despatch intended for Kudara. They attempted to intercept +Omaro's corps, but were signally defeated. + +The movement under Kawabe no Nie fared differently. Japanese annals +attempt to palliate his discomfiture by a story about the abuse of a +flag of truce, but the fact seems to have been that Kawabe no Nie was +an incompetent and pusillanimous captain. He and his men were all +killed or taken prisoners, the only redeeming feature being the +intrepidity of a Japanese officer, Tsugi no Ikina, who, with his wife +and son, endured to be tortured and killed rather than utter an +insult against their country. + +It is difficult to interpret the sequence of events after this +catastrophe. Japan immediately despatched a strong army--from thirty +to forty thousand men--but instead of directing it against Shiragi, +sent it to the attack of Koma, under advice of the King of Kudara. +Possibly the idea may have been to crush Koma, and having thus +isolated Shiragi, to deal with the latter subsequently. If so, the +plan never matured. Koma, indeed, suffered a signal defeat at the +hands of the Japanese, Satehiko, muraji of the Otomo, but Shiragi +remained unmolested, and nothing accrued to Japan except some +attractive spoils--curtains of seven-fold woof, an iron house, two +suits of armour, two gold-mounted swords, three copper belts with +chasings, two variously coloured flags, and two beautiful women. Even +as to the ultimate movements of Satehiko and his army the annals are +silent. + +Things remained thus for nine years. Tribute-bearing envoys arrived +at intervals from Koma, but with Shiragi there was no communication. +At last, in 571, an official was sent to demand from Shiragi an +explanation of the reasons for the destruction of Mimana. The +intention may have been to follow up this formality with the +despatch of an effective force, but within a month the Emperor +Kimmei died. On his death-bed he is said to have taken the Prince +Imperial--Bidatsu--by the hand and said: "That which comes after +devolves on thee. Thou must make war on Shiragi and establish Mimana +as a feudal dependency, renewing a relationship like that of husband +and wife, just as it was in former days. If this be done, in my grave +I shall rest content." + +Twelve years passed before Bidatsu took any step to comply with this +dying injunction. During that long interval there were repeated +envoys from Koma, now a comparatively feeble principality, and +Shiragi made three unsuccessful overtures to renew amicable +relations. At length, in 583, the Emperor announced his intention of +carrying out the last testament of his predecessor. To that end his +Majesty desired to consult with a Japanese, Nichira, who had served +for many years at the Kudara Court and was thoroughly familiar with +the conditions existing in Korea. Nichira came to Japan, but the +annals indicate that his counsels were directed wholly against +Kudara, which was ostensibly on the friendliest terms with Japan, and +not at all against Shiragi, whose punishment was alone in question. +Besides, instead of advising an appeal to arms, he urged the +necessity of developing Japan's material resources, so that her +neighbours might learn to count her formidable and her people might +acquire ardour in her cause. Whether the wisdom of this advice +appealed to Bidatsu, or whether the disputes consequent upon the +introduction of Buddhism paralyzed his capacity for oversea +enterprise, he made no further attempt to resolve the Korean problem. + +In the year 591, the ill-fated Emperor Sushun conceived the idea of +sending a large army to re-establish his country's prestige in the +peninsula, but his own assassination intervened, and for the space of +nine years the subject was not publicly revived. Then, in 600, the +Empress Suiko being on the throne, a unique opportunity presented +itself. War broke out between Shiragi and Mimana. The Yamato Court at +once despatched a force of ten thousand men to Mimana's aid, and +Shiragi, having suffered a signal defeat, made act of abject +submission, restoring to Mimana six of its original provinces and +promising solemnly to abstain from future hostilities. The Japanese +committed the error of crediting Shiragi's sincerity. They withdrew +their forces, but no sooner had their ships passed below the horizon +than Shiragi once more invaded Mimana. It seemed at this juncture as +though the stars in their courses fought against Japan. Something, +indeed, must be ascribed to her own methods of warfare which appear +to have been overmerciful for the age. Thus, with the bitter +experience of Shiragi's treachery fresh in her recollection, she did +not execute a Shiragi spy seized in Tsushima, but merely banished him +to the province of Kozuke. Still, she must be said to have been the +victim of special ill-fortune when an army of twenty-five thousand +men, assembled in Tsukushi for the invasion of Shiragi, was twice +prevented from sailing by unforseeable causes, one being the death of +Prince Kume, its commander-in-chief; the other, the death of the +consort of his successor, Prince Taema.* + +*Early Japanese history furnishes several examples showing that wives +often accompanied their husbands on campaigns. + +These things happened in the year 603, and for the next five years +all relations with Korea seem to have been severed. Then (608) a +brief paragraph in the Chronicles records that "many persons from +Shiragi came to settle in Japan." It is certainly eloquent of the +Yamato Court's magnanimity that it should have welcomed immigrants +from a country with which it was virtually at war. Two years later +(610), Shiragi and Mimana, acting in concert, sent envoys who were +received with all the pomp and ceremony prescribed by Shotoku +Taishi's code of decorum. Apparently this embassy was allowed to +serve as a renewal of friendly relations, but it is not on record +that the subject of former dispute was alluded to in any way, nor was +the old-time habit of annual tribute-bearing envoys revived. Visitors +from Korea were, indeed, few and far-between, as when, in 616, +Shiragi sent a golden image of Buddha, two feet high, whose +effulgence worked wonders; or in 618, when an envoy from Korea +conveyed the important tidings that the invasion of the peninsula by +the Sui sovereign, Yang, at the head of three hundred thousand men, +had been beaten back. This envoy carried to Yamato presents in the +form of two captive Chinese, a camel, and a number of flutes, +cross-bows, and catapults (of which instruments of war mention is +thus made for the first time in Japanese history). + +The Yamato Court had evidently now abandoned all idea of punishing +Shiragi or restoring the station at Mimana; while Shiragi, on her +side, was inclined to maintain friendly relations though she did not +seek frequent intercourse. After an interval of five years' +aloofness, she presented (621) a memorial on an unrecorded subject, +and in the following year, she presented, once more, a gold image of +Buddha, a gold pagoda, and a number of baptismal flags.* But Shiragi +was nothing if not treacherous, and, even while making these valuable +presents to the Yamato Court, and while despatching envoys in company +with those from Mimana, she was planning another invasion of the +latter. It took place that very year (622). When the news reached +Japan, the Empress Suiko would have sent an envoy against Shiragi, +but it was deemed wiser to employ diplomacy in the first place, for +the principalities of Korea were now in close relations with the +great Tang dynasty of China and might even count on the latter's +protection in case of emergency. + +*"The Buddhist baptism consists in washing the top of the head with +perfumed water. The baptismal flags were so called because they had +the same efficiency, raising those who passed under them, first, to +the rank of Tchakra Radja, and, ultimately, to that of a Buddha." +(Aston.) + +Two plenipotentiaries were therefore sent from Japan. Their mission +proved very simple. Shiragi acquiesced in all their proposals and +pledged herself once for all to recognize Mimana as a dependency of +Japan. But after the despatch of these plenipotentiaries, the +war-party in Japan had gained the ascendancy, and just as the +plenipotentiaries, accompanied by tribute-bearing envoys from Shiragi +and Mimana, were about to embark for Japan, they were astounded by +the apparition of a great flotilla carrying thousands of armed men. +The exact dimensions of this force are not on record: it is merely +described as having consisted of "several tens of thousands of men," +but as it was commanded by two generals of the first rank and seven +of the second, it must have been a very formidable army, and nothing +is more remarkable about it than that it was assembled and embarked +in the space of a few weeks. Shiragi did not attempt to resist. The +King tendered his submission and it was accepted without a blow +having been struck. But there were no tangible results. Japan did not +attempt to re-establish her miyake in Mimana, and Shiragi refrained +from sending envoys to Yamato except on special occasions. Friendly, +though not intimate, relations were still maintained with the three +kingdoms of Korea, mainly because the peninsula long continued to be +the avenue by which the literature, arts, and crafts of China under, +the Tang dynasty found their way to Japan. Since, however, the office +in Mimana no longer existed to transact business connected with this +intercourse, and since Yamato was too distant from the port of +departure and arrival--Anato, now Nagato--a new office was +established in Tsukushi (Kyushu) under the name of the Dazai-fu. + +LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN JAPAN AND KOREA + +The record of Japan's relations with Korea, so far as it has been +carried above--namely, to the close of the Empress Kogyoku's reign +(A.D. 645)--discloses in the Korean people a race prone to +self-seeking feuds, never reluctant to import foreign aid into +domestic quarrels, and careless of the obligations of good faith. In +the Japanese we see a nation magnanimous and trustful but of +aggressive tendencies. + +IMPORTATION OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION + +Although Japan's military influence on the neighbouring continent +waned perceptibly from the reign of Kimmei (540-571) onwards, a +stream of Chinese civilization flowed steadily into the Island Empire +from the west, partly coming direct from the fountain head; partly +filtering, in a more or less impure form, through Korean channels. +Many of the propagandists of this civilization remained permanently +in Japan, where they received a courteous welcome, being promoted to +positions of trust and admitted to the ranks of the nobility. Thus a +book (the Seishi-roku), published in 814, which has been aptly termed +the "peerage of Japan," shows that, at that time, nearly one-third of +the Japanese nobility traced their descent to Chinese or Korean +ancestors in something like equal proportions. The numbers are, +China, 162 families; Kudara, 104; Koma, 50; Mimana, 9; Shiragi, 9; +doubtful, 47. Total, 381 Chinese and Korean families out of a grand +aggregate of 1177. But many of the visitors returned home after +having sojourned for a time as teachers of literature, art, or +industrial science. + +This system of brief residence for purposes of instruction seems to +have been inaugurated during the reign of Keitai, in the year 513, +when Tan Yang-i, a Chinese expounder of the five classics, was +brought to Yamato by envoys from Kudara as a gift valued enough to +purchase political intervention for the restoration of lost +territory; and when, three years later, a second embassy from the +same place, coming to render thanks for effective assistance in the +matter of the territory, asked that Tan might be allowed to return in +exchange for another Chinese pundit, Ko An-mu. The incident suggests +how great was the value attached to erudition even in those remote +days. Yet this promising precedent was not followed for nearly forty +years, partly owing to the unsettled nature of Japan's relations. +with Korea. + +After the advent of Buddhism (552), however, Chinese culture found +new expansion eastward. In 554, there arrived from Kudara another +Chinese literatus, and, by desire of the Emperor, Kimmei, a party of +experts followed shortly afterwards, including a man learned in the +calendar, a professor of divination, a physician, two herbalists, and +four musicians. The record says that these men, who, with the +exception of the Chinese doctor of literature, were all Koreans, took +the place of an equal number of their countrymen who had resided in +Japan for some years. Thenceforth such incidents were frequent. Yet, +at first, a thorough knowledge of the ideographic script seems to +have spread very slowly in Japan, for in 572, when the Emperor +Bidatsu sought an interpretation of a memorial presented by the Koma +sovereign, only one man among all the scribes (fumi-bito), and he +(Wang Sin-i) of Chinese origin, was found capable of reading the +document. + +But from the accession of the Empress Suiko (593), the influence of +Shotoku Taishi made itself felt in every branch of learning, and +thenceforth China and Japan may be said to have stood towards each +other in the relation of teacher and pupil. Literature, the +ideographic script,* calendar compiling, astronomy, geography, +divination, magic, painting, sculpture, architecture, tile-making, +ceramics, the casting of metal, and other crafts were all cultivated +assiduously under Chinese and Korean instruction. In architecture, +all substantial progress must be attributed to Buddhism, for +it was by building temples and pagodas that Japanese ideas of +dwelling-houses were finally raised above the semi-subterranean type, +and to the same influence must be attributed signal and rapid +progress in the art of interior decoration. The style of architecture +adopted in temples was a mixture of the Chinese and the Indian. +Indeed, it is characteristic of this early epoch that traces of the +architectural and glyptic fashions of the land where Buddhism was +born showed themselves much more conspicuously than they did in later +eras; a fact which illustrates Japan's constant tendency to break +away from originals by modifying them in accordance with her own +ideals. + +*The oldest ideographic inscription extant in Japan is carved on a +stone in Iyo province dating from A.D. 596. Next in point of +antiquity is an inscription on the back of an image of Yakushi which +stands in the temple Horyu-ji. It is ascribed to the year A.D. 607. + +ENGRAVING: THE KONDO, HALL or THE HORYU-JI TEMPLE (Ji means temple) + +None of the religious edifices then constructed has survived in its +integrity to the present day. One, however,--the Horyu-ji, at +Nara--since all its restorations have been in strict accord with +their originals, is believed to be a true representative of the most +ancient type. It was founded by Shotoku Taishi and completed in 607. +At the time of its construction, this Horyu-ji was the chief academy +of Buddhist teaching, and it therefore received the name of +Gakumon-ji (Temple of Learning). Among its treasures is an image of +copper and gold which was cast by the Korean artist, Tori--commonly +called Tori Busshi, or Tori the image-maker--to order of Shotoku; and +there is mural decoration from the brush of a Korean priest, Doncho. +This building shows that already in the seventh century an imposing +type of wooden edifice had been elaborated--an edifice differing from +those of later epochs in only a few features; as, slight inequality +in the scantling of its massive pillars; comparatively gentle pitch +of roof; abnormally overhanging eaves, and shortness of distance +between each storey of the pagoda. These sacred buildings were roofed +with tiles, and were therefore called kawara-ya (tiled house) by way +of distinction, for all private dwellings, the Imperial palace not +excepted, continued to have thatched roofs in the period now under +consideration,* or at best roofs covered with boards. The annals show +that when the Empress Kogyoku built the Asuka palace, timber was +obtained from several provinces; labour was requisitioned throughout +a district extending from Omi in the east to Aki in the west; the +floor of the "great hall"** was paved with tiles; there were twelve +gates, three on each of the four sides, and the whole was in the +architectural style of the Tang dynasty. Yet for the roofs, boards +alone were used. + +*Down to A.D. 645.1 + +**It was here that the assassination of Soga no Iruka took place. + +PAINTING + +Little is recorded about the progress of painting in this epoch. It +has been shown above that during Yuryaku's reign pictorial experts +crossed to Japan from Korea and from China. The Chronicles add that, +in A.D. 604, when the Empress Suiko occupied the throne, two schools +of painters were established, namely, the Kibumi and the Yamashiro. +It is elsewhere explained that the business of those artists was to +paint Buddhist pictures, the special task of the Kibumi men being to +illuminate scrolls of the Sutras. We read also that, in 603, on the +occasion of the dedication of the temple of Hachioka, Prince Shotoku +painted banners as offerings. These had probably the same designs as +those spoken of a century later (710) when, at a ceremony in the +great hall of the palace, there were set up flags emblazoned with a +crow,* the sun, an azure dragon, a red bird, and the moon, all which +designs were of Chinese origin. Shotoku Taishi himself is +traditionally reported to have been a skilled painter and sculptor, +and several of his alleged masterpieces are preserved to this day, +but their authenticity is disputed. + +*The three-legged crow of the sun. + +AGRICULTURE + +In the field of agriculture this epoch offers nothing more remarkable +than the construction of nine reservoirs for irrigation purposes and +the digging of a large canal in Yamashiro province. It is also +thought worthy of historical notice that a Korean prince +unsuccessfully attempted to domesticate bees on a Japanese mountain. + +COMMERCE + +Considerable progress seems to have been made in tradal matters. +Markets were opened at several places in the interior, and coastwise +commerce developed so much that, in A.D. 553, it was found expedient +to appoint an official for the purpose of numbering and registering +the vessels thus employed. The Chinese settler, Wang Sin-i, who has +already been spoken of as the only person able to decipher a Korean +memorial, was given the office of fune no osa (chief of the shipping +bureau) and granted the title of fune no fubito (registrar of +vessels). Subsequently, during the reign of Jomei (629-641), an +akinai-osa (chief of trade) was appointed in the person of Munemaro, +whose father, Kuhi, had brought scales and weights from China during +the reign of Sushun (558-592), and this system was formally adopted +in the days of Jomei (629-641). There had not apparently been any +officially recognized weights and measures in remote antiquity. The +width of the hand (ta or tsuka) and the spread of the arms (hiro) +were the only dimensions employed. By and by the Korean shaku (foot), +which corresponds to 1.17 shaku of the present day, came into use. In +Kenso's time (485-487) there is mention of a measure of rice being +sold for a piece of silver, and the Emperor Kimmei (540-571) is +recorded to have given 1000 koku of seed-barley to the King of +Kudara. But it is supposed that the writer of the Chronicles, in +making these entries, projected the terminology of his own time into +the previous centuries. There were neither coins nor koku in those +eras. + +COSTUME AND COIFFURE + +Up to the time (A.D. 603) of the institution of caps as marks of +rank, men were in the habit of dividing their hair in the centre and +tying it above the ears in a style called mizura. But such a fashion +did not accord with the wearing of caps which were gathered up on the +crown in the shape of a bag. Hence men of rank took to binding the +hair in a queue on the top of the head. The old style was continued, +however, by men having no rank and by youths. A child's hair was +looped on the temples in imitation of the flower of a gourd--hence +called hisago-bana--and women wore their tresses hanging free. The +institution of caps interfered also with the use of hairpins, which +were often made of gold and very elaborate. These now came to be +thrust, not directly into the hair, but through the cord employed to +tie the cap above. It is recorded that, in the year 611, when the +Empress Suiko and her Court went on a picnic, the colour of the +ministers' garments agreed with that of their official caps, and that +each wore hair-ornaments which, in the case of the two highest +functionaries, were made of gold; in the case of the next two, of +leopards' tails; and in the case of lower ranks, of birds' tails. + +On a more ceremonious occasion, namely, the reception of the Chinese +envoys from the Sui Court, the Chronicles state that Japanese princes +and ministers "all wore gold hair-ornaments,* and their garments were +of brocade, purple, and embroidery, with thin silk stuffs of various +colours and patterns." Costume had become thus gorgeous after the +institution of Buddhism and the establishment of intercourse direct +with the Sui, and, subsequently, the Tang dynasty. Even in the manner +of folding the garments over the breast--not from right to left but +from left to right--the imported fashion was followed. Wadded +garments are incidently mentioned in the year A.D. 643. + +*These were called usu. They were, in fact, hairpins, generally +shaped like a flower. + +MUSIC AND AMUSEMENTS + +It has already been recorded that, in the middle of the sixth +century, musicians were sent from the Kudara Court to the Yamato, and +since these are said to have taken the place of others then +sojourning in Japan, the fact is established that such a visit was +not then without precedent. Music, indeed, may be said to have +benefitted largely by the advent of Buddhism, for the services of the +latter required a special kind of music. The first foreign teacher of +the art was a Korean, Mimashi, who went to Japan in A.D. 612, after +having studied both music and dancing for some years in China. A +dwelling was assigned to him at Sakurai (in Yamato) and he trained +pupils. At the instance of Prince Shotoku and for the better +performance of Buddhist services, various privileges were granted to +the professors of the art. They were exempted from the discharge of +official duties and their occupation became hereditary. Several +ancient Japanese books contain reference to music and dancing, and in +one work* illustrations are given of the wooden masks worn by dancers +and the instruments used by musicians of the Wu (Chinese) school. +These masks were introduced by Mimashi and are still preserved in the +temple Horyu-ji. + +*The Horyu-ji Shizai-cho, composed in A.D. 747. + +In the matter of pastimes, a favourite practice, first mentioned in +the reign of the Empress Suiko, was a species of picnic called +"medicine hunting" (kusuri-kari). It took place on the fifth day of +the fifth month. The Empress, her ladies, and the high functionaries, +all donned gala costumes and went to hunt stags, for the purpose of +procuring the young antlers, and to search for "deer-fungus" +(shika-take), the horns and the vegetables being supposed to have +medical properties. All the amusements mentioned in previous sections +continued to be followed in this era, and football is spoken of as +having inaugurated the afterwards epoch-making friendship between +Prince Naka and Kamatari. It was not played in the Occidental manner, +however. The game consisted in kicking a ball from player to player +without letting it fall. This was apparently a Chinese innovation. +Here, also, mention may be made of thermal springs. Their sanitary +properties were recognized, and visits were paid to them by invalids. +The most noted were those of Dogo, in Iyo, and Arima, in Settsu. The +Emperor Jomei spent several months at each of these, and Prince +Shotoku caused to be erected at Dogo a stone monument bearing an +inscription to attest the curative virtues of the water. + +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE + +That Buddhism obtained a firm footing among the upper classes during +the first century after its introduction must be attributed in no +small measure to the fact that the throne was twice occupied by +Empresses in that interval. The highly decorative aspects of the +creed appealing to the emotional side of woman's nature, these +Imperial ladies encouraged Buddhist propagandism with earnest +munificence. But the mass of the people remained, for the most part, +outside the pale. They continued to believe in the Kami and to +worship them. Thus, when a terribly destructive earthquake* occured +in 599, it was to the Kami of earthquakes that prayers were offered +at his seven shrines in the seven home provinces (Kinai), and not to +the Merciful Buddha, though the saving grace of the latter had then +been preached for nearly a cycle. The first appeal to the foreign +deity in connexion with natural calamity was in the opening year +(642) of the Empress Kogyoku's reign when, in the presence of a +devastating drought, sacrifices of horses and cattle to the Shinto +Kami, changes of the market-places,** and prayers to the river gods +having all failed to bring relief, an imposing Buddhist service was +held in the south court of the Great Temple. "The images of Buddha, +of the bosatsu, and of the Four Heavenly Kings were magnificently +adorned; a multitude of priests read the Mahayana Sutra, and the +o-omi, Soga no Emishi, held a censer, burned incense, and prayed." +But there was no success; and not until the Empress herself had made +a progress to the source of a river and worshipped towards the four +quarters, did abundant rain fall. + +*Only three earthquakes are recorded up to the year A.D. 645, and the +second alone (A.D. 599) is described as destructive. + +**This was a Chinese custom, as was also the sacrificial rite +mentioned in the same context. + +Such an incident cannot have contributed to popularize the Indian +creed. The people at large adhered to their traditional cult and were +easily swayed by superstitions. The first half of the seventh century +was marked by abnormal occurrences well calculated to disturb men's +minds. There were comets (twice); there was a meteor of large +dimensions; there were eclipses of the sun and moon; there were +occultations of Venus; there was snow in July and hail "as large as +peaches" in May, and there was a famine (621) when old people ate +roots of herbs and died by the wayside, when infants at the breast +perished with their mothers, and when thieves and robbers defied +authority. It is not, perhaps, surprising in such circumstances, and +when witches and wizards abounded, that people fell into strange +moods, and were persuaded to regard a caterpillar as the "insect of +the everlasting world," to worship it, and to throw away their +valuables in the belief that riches and perpetual youth would be thus +won. A miyatsuko, by name Kawakatsu, had the courage to kill the +designing preacher of this extravagance, and the moral epidemic was +thus stayed. + +ENGRAVING: ONE OF THE STATUES OF "SHITENNO" IN THE KAIDAN-IN, TODAIJI +(Tembyo Sculpture, Eighth Century) + +ENGRAVING: UTENSILS USED IN THE TEA CEREMONY (CHA-NO-YU) + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DAIKA REFORMS + +THE THIRTY-SIXTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOTOKU (A.D. 645-654) + +AFTER the fall of the Soga and the abdication of the Empress Kogyoku, +her son, Prince Naka, would have been the natural successor, and such +was her own expressed wish. But the prince's procedure was largely +regulated by Kamatari, who, alike in the prelude and in the sequel of +this crisis, proved himself one of the greatest statesmen Japan ever +produced. He saw that the Soga influence, though broken, was not +wholly shattered, and he understood that the great administrative +reform which he contemplated might be imperilled were the throne +immediately occupied by a prince on whose hands the blood of the Soga +chief was still warm. Therefore he advised Prince Naka to stand aside +in favour of his maternal uncle, Prince Karu, who could be trusted to +co-operate loyally in the work of reform and whose connexion with the +Soga overthrow had been less conspicuous. But to reach Prince Karu it +was necessary to pass over the head of another prince, Furubito, +Naka's half-brother, who had the full sympathy of the remnant of the +Soga clan, his mother having been a daughter of the great Umako. The +throne was therefore offered to him. But since the offer followed, +instead of preceding the Empress' approval of Prince Karu, Furubito +recognized the farce, and knowing that, though he might rule in +defiance of the Kamatari faction, he could not hope to rule with its +consent, he threw away his sword and declared his intention of +entering religion. + +Very soon the Buddhist monastery at Yoshino, where he received the +tonsure, became a rallying point for the Soga partisans, and a war +for the succession seemed imminent. Naka, however, now Prince +Imperial, was not a man to dally with such obstacles. He promptly +sent to Yoshino a force of soldiers who killed Furubito with his +children and permitted his consorts to strangle themselves. Prince +Naka's name must go down to all generations as that of a great +reformer, but it is also associated with a terrible injustice. Too +readily crediting a slanderous charge brought against his +father-in-law, Kurayamada, who had stood at his right hand in the +great coup d'etat of 645, he despatched a force to seize the alleged +traitor. Kurayamada fled to a temple, and there, declaring that he +would "leave the world, still cherishing fidelity in his bosom," he +committed suicide, his wife and seven children sharing his fate. +Subsequent examination of his effects established his innocence, and +his daughter, consort of Prince Naka, died of grief. + +THE DAIKA, OR "GREAT CHANGE" + +Not for these things, however, but for sweeping reforms in the +administration of the empire is the reign of Kotoku memorable. Prince +Naka and Kamatari, during the long period of their intimate +intercourse prior to the deed of blood in the great hall of audience, +had fully matured their estimates of the Sui and Tang civilization as +revealed in documents and information carried to Japan by priests, +literati, and students, who, since the establishment of Buddhism, had +paid many visits to China. They appreciated that the system +prevailing in their own country from time immemorial had developed +abuses which were sapping the strength of the nation, and in sweeping +the Soga from the path to the throne, their ambition had been to gain +an eminence from which the new civilization might be authoritatively +proclaimed. + +Speaking broadly, their main objects were to abolish the system of +hereditary office-holders; to differentiate aristocratic titles from +official ranks; to bring the whole mass of the people into direct +subjection to the Throne, and to establish the Imperial right of +ownership in all the land throughout the empire. What these changes +signified and with what tact and wisdom the reformers proceeded, will +be clearly understood as the story unfolds itself. Spectacular effect +was enlisted as the first ally. A coronation ceremony of +unprecedented magnificence took place. High officials, girt with +golden quivers, stood on either side of the dais forming the throne, +and all the great functionaries--omi, muraji, and miyatsuko--together +with representatives of the 180 hereditary corporations (be) filed +past, making obeisance. The title of "Empress Dowager" was conferred +for the first time on Kogyoku, who had abdicated; Prince Naka was +made Prince Imperial; the head of the great uji of Abe was nominated +minister of the Left (sa-daijiri); Kurayamada, of the Soga-uji, who +had shared the dangers of the conspiracy against Emishi and Iruka, +became minister of the Right (u-daijiri), and Kamatari himself +received the post of minister of the Interior (nai-daijin), being +invested with the right to be consulted on all matters whether of +statecraft or of official personnel. + +These designations, "minister of the Left"*, "minister of the Right," +and "minister of the Interior," were new in Japan.** Hitherto, there +had been o-omi and o-muraji, who stood between the Throne and the two +great classes of uji, the o-omi and the o-muraji receiving +instructions direct from the sovereign, and the two classes of uji +acknowledging no control except that of the o-omi and the o-muraji. +But whereas the personal status of Kurayamada was only omi (not +o-omi), and the personal status of Kamatari, only muraji (not +o-muraji), neither was required, in his new capacity, to take +instructions from any save the Emperor, nor did any one of the three +high dignitaries nominally represent this or that congeries of uji. A +simultaneous innovation was the appointment of a Buddhist priest, +Bin, and a literatus, Kuromaro, to be "national doctors." These men +had spent some years at the Tang Court and were well versed in +Chinese systems. + +*The left takes precedence of the right in Japan. + +**The offices were borrowed from the Tang system of China a remark +which applies to nearly all the innovations of the epoch. + +The next step taken was to assemble the ministers under a patriarchal +tree, and, in the presence of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and +the Prince Imperial, to pronounce, in the names of the Kami of heaven +and the Kami of earth--the Tenshin and the Chigi--a solemn +imprecation on rulers who attempted double-hearted methods of +government, and on vassals guilty of treachery in the service of +their sovereign. This amounted to a formal denunciation of the Soga +as well as a pledge on the part of the new Emperor. The Chinese +method of reckoning time by year-periods was then adopted, and the +year A.D. 645 became the first of the Daika era. But before +proceeding to really radical innovations, two further precautions +were taken. In order to display reverence for the foundations of the +State, the sovereign publicly declared that "the empire should be +ruled by following the footsteps of the Emperors of antiquity," and +in order to win the sympathy of the lower orders, his Majesty +directed that inquiry should be made as to the best method of +alleviating the hardships of forced labour. Further, a solemn +ceremony of Shinto worship was held by way of preface. + +Then the reformers commenced their work in earnest. Governors +(kokushi) were appointed to all the eastern provinces. These +officials were not a wholly novel institution. It has been shown that +they existed previously to the Daika era, but in a fitful and +uncertain way, whereas, under the system now adopted, they became an +integral part of the administrative machinery. That meant that the +government of the provinces, instead of being administered by +hereditary officials, altogether irrespective of their competence, +was entrusted for a fixed term to men chosen on account of special +aptitude. The eastern provinces were selected for inaugurating this +experiment, because their distance from the capital rendered the +change less conspicuous. Moreover, the appointments were given, as +far as possible, to the former miyatsuko or mikotomochi. An ordinance +was now issued for placing a petition-box in the Court and hanging a +bell near it. The box was intended to serve as a receptacle for +complaints and representations. Anyone had a right to present such +documents. They were to be collected and conveyed to the Emperor +every morning, and if a reply was tardy, the bell was to be struck. + +Side by side with these measures for bettering the people's lot, +precautions against any danger of disturbance were adopted by taking +all weapons of war out of the hands of private individuals and +storing them in arsenals specially constructed on waste lands. Then +followed a measure which seems to have been greatly needed. It has +been already explained that a not inconsiderable element of the +population was composed of slaves, and that these consisted of two +main classes, namely, aborigines or Koreans taken prisoners in war, +and members of an uji whose Kami had been implicated in crime. As +time passed, there resulted from intercourse between these slaves and +their owners a number of persons whose status was confused, parents +asserting the manumission of their children and masters insisting on +the permanence of the bond. To correct these complications the whole +nation was now divided into freemen (ryomin) and bondmen (senmin), +and a law was enacted that, since among slaves no marriage tie was +officially recognized, a child of mixed parentage must always be +regarded as a bondman. On that basis a census was ordered to be +taken, and in it were included not only the people of all classes, +but also the area of cultivated and throughout the empire. + +At the same time stringent regulations were enacted for the control +and guidance of the provincial governors. They were to take counsel +with the people in dividing the profits of agriculture. They were not +to act as judges in criminal cases or to accept bribes from suitors +in civil ones; their staff, when visiting the capital, was strictly +limited, and the use of public-service horses* as well as the +consumption of State provisions was vetoed unless they were +travelling on public business. Finally, they were enjoined to +investigate carefully all claims to titles and all alleged rights of +land tenure. The next step was the most drastic and far-reaching of +all. Hereditary corporations were entirely abolished, alike those +established to commemorate the name of a sovereign or a prince and +those employed by the nobles to cultivate their estates. The estates +themselves were escheated. Thus, at one stroke, the lands and titles +of the hereditary aristocracy were annulled, just as was destined to +be the case in the Meiji era, twelve centuries later. + +*Everyone having a right to use public-service horses was required to +carry a token of his right in the shape of a small bronze bell, or +group of bells, indicating by their shape and number how many horses +the bearer was entitled to. + +This reform involved a radical change in the system and method of +taxation, but the consideration of that phase of the question is +deferred for a moment in order to explain the nature and the amount +of the new fiscal burdens. Two kinds of taxes were thenceforth +imposed, namely, ordinary taxes and commuted taxes. The ordinary +consisted of twenty sheaves of rice per cho* (equivalent to about +eight sheaves per acre), and the commuted tax--in lieu of forced +labour--was fixed at a piece of silk fabric forty feet in length by +two and a half feet in breadth per cho, being approximately a length +of sixteen feet per acre. The dimensions of the fabric were doubled +in the case of coarse silk, and quadrupled in the case of cloth woven +from hemp or from the fibre of the inner bark of the paper-mulberry. +A commuted tax was levied on houses also, namely, a twelve-foot +length of the above cloth per house. No currency existed in that age. +All payments were made in kind. There is, therefore, no method of +calculating accurately the monetary equivalent of a sheaf of rice. +But in the case of fabrics we have some guide. Thus, in addition to +the above imposts, every two townships--a township was a group of +fifty houses--had to contribute one horse of medium quality (or one +of superior quality per two hundred houses) for public service; and +since a horse was regarded as the equivalent of a total of twelve +feet of cloth per house, it would follow, estimating a horse of +medium quality at L5, ($25.), that the commuted tax in the case of +land was above 5s.4d., ($1.30) per acre. Finally, each homestead was +required to provide one labourer as well as rations for his support; +and every two homesteads had to furnish one palace waiting-woman +(uneme), who must be good-looking, the daughter or sister of a +district official of high rank, and must have one male and two female +servants to attend on her--these also being supported by the two +homesteads. In every homestead there was an alderman who kept the +register, directed agricultural operations, enforced taxes, and took +measures to prevent crime as well as to judge it. + +*The cho was two and a half acres approximately. + +Thus it is seen that a regular system of national taxation was +introduced and that the land throughout the whole empire was +considered to be the property of the Crown. As for the nobles who +were deprived of their estates, sustenance gifts were given to them, +but there is no record of the bases upon which these gifts were +assessed. With regard to the people's share in the land, the plan +pursued was that for every male or female over five years of age two +tan (about half an acre) should be given to the former and one-third +less to the latter, these grants being made for a period of six +years, at the end of which time a general restoration was to be +effected. A very striking evidence of the people's condition is that +every adult male had to contribute a sword, armour, a bow and arrows, +and a drum. This impost may well have outweighed all the others. + +SEPULCHRES + +Another important reform regulated the dimensions of burial mounds. +The construction of these on the grand scale adopted for many +sovereigns, princes, and nobles had long harrassed the people, who +were compelled to give their toil gratis for such a purpose. What +such exactions had entailed may be gathered from Kotoku's edict, +which said, "Of late the poverty of our people is absolutely due to +the construction of tombs." Nevertheless, he did not undertake to +limit the size of Imperial tombs. The rescript dealt only with those +from princes downwards. Of these, the greatest tumulus permitted was +a square mound with a side of forty-five feet at the base and a +height of twenty-five feet, measured along the slope, a further +restriction being that the work must not occupy more than one +thousand men for seven days. The maximum dimensions were similarly +prescribed in every case, down to a minor official, whose grave must +not give employment to more than fifty men for one day. When ordinary +people died, it was directed that they should be buried in the ground +without a day's delay, and, except in the case of an Emperor or an +Empress, the custom of temporary interment was strictly vetoed. +Cemeteries were ordered to be constructed for the first time, and +peremptory injunctions were issued against self-destruction to +accompany the dead; against strangling men or women by way of +sacrifice; against killing the deceased's horse, and against cutting +the hair or stabbing the thighs by way of showing grief. It must be +assumed that all these customs existed. + +ABUSES + +Other evil practices are incidentally referred to in the context of +the Daika reforms. Thus it appears that slaves occasionally left +their lawful owners owing to the latter's poverty and entered the +service of rich men, who thereafter refused to give them up; that +when a divorced wife or concubine married into another family, her +former husband, after the lapse of years, often preferred claims +against her new husband's property; that men, relying on their power, +demanded people's daughters in marriage, and in the event of the girl +entering another house, levied heavy toll on both families; that when +a widow, of ten or twenty years' standing, married again, or when a +girl entered into wedlock, the people of the vicinity insisted on the +newly wedded couple performing the Shinto rite of harai (purgation), +which was perverted into a device for compelling offerings of goods +and wine; that the compulsory performance of this ceremony had become +so onerous as to make poor men shrink from giving burial to even +their own brothers who had died at a distance from home, or hesitate +to extend aid to them in mortal peril, and that when a forced +labourer cooked his food by the roadside or borrowed a pot to boil +his rice, he was often obliged to perform expensive purgation. + + +OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION + +At the head of all officials were the sa-daijin (minister of the +Left), the u-daijin (minister of the Right) and the nai-daijin +(minister of the Interior), and after them came the heads of +departments, of which eight were established, after the model +of the Tang Court in China. They were the Central Department +(Nakatsukasa-sho); the Department of Ceremonies (Shikibu-sho); the +Department of Civil Government (Jibu-sho); the Department of Civil +Affairs (Mimbu-sho); the Department of War (Hyobu-sho); the +Department of Justice (Gyobu-sho); the Treasury (Okura-sho), and the +Household Department (Kunai-sho). These departments comprised a +number of bureaux. All officials of high rank had to assemble at the +south gate of the palace in time to enter at sunrise, and they +remained there until some time between 11 A.M. and 1 P.M. + +In a province the senior official was the governor, and under him +were heads of districts, aldermen of homesteads (fifty houses), +elders of five households--all the houses being divided into groups +of five for purposes of protection--and market commissioners who +superintended the currency (in kind), commerce, the genuineness of +wares, the justness of weights and measures, the prices of +commodities, and the observance of prohibitions. Since to all +official posts men of merit were appointed without regard to lineage, +the cap-ranks inaugurated by Prince Shotoku were abolished, inasmuch +as they designated personal status by inherited right only, and they +were replaced by new cap-grades, nineteen in all, which were +distinguished partly by their borders, partly by their colours, and +partly by their materials and embroidery. Hair-ornaments were also a +mark of rank. They were cicada-shaped, of gold and silver for the +highest grades, of silver for the medium grades, and of copper for +the low grades. The caps indicated official status without any +reference to hereditary titles. + +RATIONALE OF THE NEW SYSTEM + +The radical changes outlined above were all effected in the short +space of eight years. If it be asked what motive inspired the +reformers, the obvious answer is that experience, culminating in the +usurpations of the Soga, had fully displayed the abuses incidental to +the old system. Nothing more memorable than this flood of reforms has +left its mark upon Japan's ancient history. During the first thirteen +centuries of the empire's existence--if we accept the traditional +chronology--the family was the basis of the State's organization. +Each unit of the population either was a member of an uji or belonged +to the tomobe of an uji, and each uji was governed by its own omi or +muraji, while all the uji of the Kwobetsu class were under the o-omi +and all those of the Shimbetsu class, under the o-muraji. Finally, it +was through the o-omi and the o-muraji alone that the Emperor +communicated his will. In other words, the Japanese at large were not +recognized as public people, the only section that bore that +character being the units of the hereditary corporations instituted +in memory of some Imperial personage and the folk that cultivated the +miyake (State domains). + +All these facts, though already familiar to the reader, find a +fitting place in the context of the great political development of +the Daika era. For the main features of that development were that +the entire nation became the public people of the realm and the whole +of the land became the property of the Crown, the hereditary nobles +being relegated to the rank of State pensioners. This metamorphosis +entailed taking an accurate census of the population; making a survey +of the land; fixing the boundaries of provinces, districts, and +villages; appointing officials to administer the affairs of these +local divisions, and organizing the central government with boards +and bureaux. The system of taxation also had to be changed, and the +land had to be apportioned to the people. In former days, the only +charges levied by the State on the produce of the land were those +connected with religious observances and military operations, and +even in imposing these the intervention of the heads of uji had to be +employed. But by the Daika reforms the interest of the hereditary +nobility in the taxes Avas limited to realizing their sustenance +allowances; while as for the land, it was removed entirely beyond +their control and partitioned among the people, in the proportion +already noted, on leases terminable at the end of six years. + +Of course, whatever political exigency may have dictated this +short-tenure system, it was economically unsound and could not remain +long in practice. The measures adopted to soften the aspect of these +wholesale changes in the eyes of the hereditary nobility whom they so +greatly affected, have been partly noted above. It may here be added, +however, that not only was the office of district governor--who +ranked next to the provincial governor (kokushi)--filled as far as +possible by former kuni no miyatsuko, but also these latter were +entrusted with the duty of observing and reporting upon the conduct +of the new officials as to assiduity and integrity, to which duty +there were also nominated special officials called choshu-shi. By the +aid of these and other tactful devices, the operation of the new +system was guaranteed against disturbance. Nothing was deemed too +trivial to assist in promoting that end. Even such a petty incident +as the appearance of a white pheasant was magnified into a special +indication of heaven's approval, and a grand Court ceremony having +been held in honour of the bird, the Emperor proclaimed a general +amnesty and ordered that the name of the period should be changed to +Haku-chi (White Pheasant). Something of this may be set down frankly +to the superstitious spirit of the time. But much is evidently +attributable to the statecraft of the Emperor's advisers, who sought +to persuade the nation that this breaking away from all its venerable +old traditions had supernatural approval. + +There was, indeed, one defect in the theory of the new system. From +time immemorial the polity of the empire had been based on the family +relation. The sovereign reigned in virtue of his lineage, and the +hereditary nobles owed their high positions and administrative +competence equally to descent. To discredit the title of the nobles +was to disturb the foundation of the Throne itself, and to affirm +that want of virtue constituted a valid reason for depriving the +scions of the gods of their inherited functions, was to declare +constructively that the descendant of Amaterasu also held his title +by right of personal worthiness. That was the Chinese theory. Their +history shows plainly that they recognized the right of men like Tang +or Wu to overturn tyrants like Chieh of the Hsia dynasty, and Chou of +the Yen dynasty. The two Japanese Emperors, Kotoku and Tenchi +(668-671), seem to have partially endorsed a cognate principle. But +nothing could be at greater variance with the cardinal tenet of the +Japanese polity, which holds that "the King can do no wrong" and that +the Imperial line must remain unbroken to all eternity. + +ENVOYS TO CHINA + +The importance attached to intercourse with China during the reign of +Kotoku was illustrated by the dimensions of the embassies sent to the +Tang Court and by the quality of the envoys. Two embassies were sent +in 653, one consisting of 121 persons and the other of 120.* The +former included seventeen student-priests, and among them was the +eldest son of Kamatari himself. Another embassy was despatched in +654, and the records show incidently that the sea route was taken, +for after a voyage lasting some months and therefore presumably of a +coasting character, the envoys landed at Laichou in Shantung. They +finally reached Changan, the Tang capital, and were most hospitably +received by the Emperor Kao-sung. The hardships of the journey are +attested by the fact that three of the student-priests died at sea. +One remained in China for thirty-six years, and Joye, Kamatari's son, +did not return to Japan for twelve years. + +*The ship carrying the embassy was wrecked off the south coast of +Japan, and out of 120 persons only five escaped. + +In short, when these students left their country in search of +literary, religious, and political lore, they had no assurance of +ever thereafter finding an opportunity to see their homes again. The +overland journey was almost impossible without guides and guards, and +communication by sea seems to have been fitful and uncertain. The +last of the above three embassies was led by no less a person than +the renowned scholar, Kuromaro, who had been associated with the +priest, Bin, in modelling the new administrative system of Japan. +Kuromaro never returned from China; he died there. A few months +before the despatch of Kuromaro as envoy, his illustrious coadjutor, +Bin, expired in the temple of Azumi. The Emperor repaired in person +to the sick priest's chamber, and said, "If you die to-day, I will +follow you to-morrow." So great was the reverence showed towards +learning and piety in that era. Thus, hazardous and wearisome as was +the voyage to China over stormy waters in a rude sailing boat, its +successful accomplishment established a title to official preferment +and high honour. It will be seen by and by that similar treatment was +extended in the nineteenth century to men who visited Europe and +America in the pursuit of knowledge. + +THE THIRTY-SEVENTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS SAIMEI (A.D. 655-661) + +On the demise of Kotoku, in 654, his natural successor would have +been Prince Naka, who, ten years previously, had chosen to reform the +empire rather than to rule it. But the prince deemed that the course +of progress still claimed his undivided attention, and therefore the +Empress Kogyoku was again raised to the throne under the name of* +Saimei--the first instance of a second accession in Japanese history. +She reigned nearly seven years, and the era is remarkable chiefly for +expeditions against the Yemishi and for complications with Korea. To +the former chapter of history sufficient reference had already been +made, but the latter claims a moment's attention. + +*It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that all +the names given in these pages to Japanese sovereigns are +posthumous. Thus Saimei, during her lifetime, was called +Ame-toyo-takara-ikashi-hi-tarashi-hime. + +RELATIONS WITH KOREA + +It has been shown how, in A.D. 562, the Japanese settlement in Mimana +was exterminated; how the Emperor Kimmei's dying behest to his +successor was that this disgrace must be removed; how subsequent +attempts to carry out his testament ended in failure, owing largely +to Japan's weak habit of trusting the promises of Shiragi, and how, +in 618, the Sui Emperor, Yang, at the head of a great army, failed to +make any impression on Korea. + +Thereafter, intercourse between Japan and the peninsula was of a +fitful character unmarked by any noteworthy event until, in the +second year (651) of the "White Pheasant" era, the Yamato Court +essayed to assert itself in a futile fashion by refusing to give +audience to Shiragi envoys because they wore costumes after the Tang +fashion without offering any excuse for such a caprice. Kotoku was +then upon the Japanese throne, and Japan herself was busily occupied +importing and assimilating Tang institutions. That she should have +taken umbrage at similar imitation on Shiragi's part seems +capricious. Shiragi sent no more envoys, and presently (655), finding +herself seriously menaced by a coalition between Koma and Kudara, she +applied to the Tang Court for assistance. The application produced no +practical response, but Shiragi, who for some time had been able to +defy the other two principalities, now saw and seized an opportunity +offered by the debauchery and misrule of the King of Kudara. She +collected an army to attack her neighbour and once more supplicated +Tang's aid. This was in the year 660. The second appeal produced a +powerful response. Kao-sung, then the Tang Emperor, despatched a +general, Su Ting-fang, at the head of an army of two hundred thousand +men. There was now no long and tedious overland march round the +littoral of the Gulf of Pechili and across Liaotung. Su embarked his +forces at Chengshan, on the east of the Shantung promontory, and +crossed direct to Mishi-no-tsu--the modern Chemulpo--thus attacking +Kudara from the west while Shiragi moved against it from the east. +Kudara was crushed. It lost ten thousand men, and all its prominent +personages, from the debauched King downwards, were sent as prisoners +to Tang. But one great captain, Pok-sin, saved the situation. +Collecting the fugitive troops of Kudara he fell suddenly on Shiragi +and drove her back, thereafter appealing for Japanese aid. + +At the Yamato Court Shiragi was now regarded as a traditional enemy. +It had played fast and loose again and again about Mimana, and in the +year 657 it had refused safe conduct for a Japanese embassy to the +Tang Court. The Empress Saimei decided that Kudara must be succoured. +Living in Japan at that time was Phung-chang,* a younger brother of +the deposed King of Kudara. It was resolved that he should be sent to +the peninsula accompanied by a sufficient force to place him on the +throne. But Saimei died before the necessary preparations were +completed, and the task of carrying out a design which had already +received his endorsement devolved upon Prince Naka, the great +reformer. A fleet of 170 ships carrying an army of thirty-seven +thousand men escorted Phung-chang from Tsukushi, and the kingdom of +Kudara was restored. But the conclusive battle had still to be +fought. It took place in September, 662, at Paik-chhon-ku (Ung-jin), +between the Chinese under Liu Jen-kuei, a Tang general, and the +Japanese under Atsumi no Hirafu. The forces were about equal on each +side, and it was the first signal trial of strength between Chinese +and Japanese. No particulars have been handed down by history. +Nothing is known except that the Japanese squadron drove straight +ahead, and that the Chinese attacked from both flanks. The result was +a crushing defeat for the Japanese. They were shattered beyond the +power of rallying, and only a remnant found its way back to Tsukushi. +Kudara and Koma fell, and Japan lost her last footing in a region +where her prestige had stood so high for centuries. + +*He was a hostage. The constant residence of Korean hostages in Japan +speaks eloquently of the relations existing between the two +countries. There were no Japanese hostages in Korea. + +Shiragi continued during more than a hundred years to maintain a +semblance of deferential intercourse, but her conduct became +ultimately so unruly that, in the reign of Nimmyo (834-850), her +people were prohibited from visiting Japan. From Kudara, however, +after its overthrow by China, there migrated almost continuously for +some time a number of inhabitants who became naturalized in Japan. +They were distributed chiefly in the provinces of Omi and Musashi, +Son-Kwang, a brother of the former King of Kudara, being required to +live in Naniwa (Osaka) for the purpose of controlling them. Koma, +also, when it fell into Chinese hands, sent many settlers to Japan, +and during the reign of the Empress Gemmyo (708-715), they were +transferred from the six provinces of Suruga, Kai, Sagami, Kazusa, +Shimosa, and Hitachi to Musashi, where the district inhabited by them +was thenceforth called Koma-gori. Thus, Japan extended her +hospitality to the men whose independence she had not been able to +assert. Her relations with her peninsular neighbour ended humanely +though not gloriously. They had cost her heavily in life and +treasure, but she had been repaid fully with the civilization which +Korea helped her to import. + +THE THIRTY-EIGHTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR TENCHI (A.D. 668-671) + +It will be observed that although the thirty-seventh sovereign, the +Empress Saimei, died in the year 661, the reign of her successor, +Tenchi, did not commence historically until 668. There thus appears +to have been an interregnum of seven years. The explanation is that +the Crown Prince, Naka, while taking the sceptre, did not actually +wield it. He entrusted the administrative functions to his younger +brother, Oama, and continued to devote himself to the great work of +reform. He had stood aside in favour of Kotoku sixteen years +previously and in favour of the Empress Saimei six years previously, +and now, for seven years longer, he refrained from identifying +himself with the Throne until the fate of his innovations was known. +Having assumed the task of eradicating abuses which, for a thousand +years, had been growing unchecked, he shrank from associating the +Crown directly with risks of failure. But in the year 668, judging +that his reforms had been sufficiently assimilated to warrant +confidence, he formally ascended the throne and is known in history +as Tenchi (Heavenly Intelligence). + +Only four years of life remained to him, and almost immediately after +his accession he lost his great coadjutor, Kamatari. Of the four men +who had worked out the "Daika restoration," Kuromaro, the student, +died in China a year (654) after the demise of the illustrious +priest, Bin; Kamatari barely survived until success came in sight, +and Prince Naka (Tenchi) was taken two years later (671). It is +related that in the days when the prince and Kamatari planned the +outlines of their great scheme, they were accustomed to meet for +purposes of conference in a remote valley on the east of the capital, +where an aged wistaria happened to be in bloom at the most critical +of their consultations. Kamatari therefore desired to change his uji +name from Nakatomi to Fujiwara (wistaria), and the prince, on +ascending the throne, gave effect to this request. There thus came +into existence a family, the most famous in Japanese history. The +secluded valley where the momentous meetings took place received the +name of Tamu* no Mine, and a shrine stands there now in memory of +Kamatari. The Emperor would fain have attended Kamatari's obsequies +in person, but his ministers dissuaded him on the ground that such a +course would be unprecedented. His Majesty confined himself therefore +to conferring on the deceased statesman posthumous official rank, the +first instance of a practice destined to became habitual in Japan. + +*"Tamu" signifies to converse about military affairs. + +THE OMI STATUES AND THE CENSUS REGISTER + +During the reign of Tenchi no rescript embodying signal +administrative changes was issued, though the reforms previously +inaugurated seem to have made steady progress. But by a legislative +office specially organized for the purpose there was enacted a body +of twenty-two laws called the Omi Ritsu-ryo (the Omi Statutes), Omi, +on the shore of Lake Biwa, being then the seat of the Imperial Court. +Shotoku Taishi's Jushichi Kempo, though often spoken of as a +legislative ordinance, was really an ethical code, but the Omi +Ritsu-ryo had the character of genuine laws, the first of their kind +in Japan. Unfortunately this valuable document did not survive. Our +knowledge of it is confined to a statement in the Memoirs of Kamatari +that it was compiled in the year 667. Two years later--that is to +say, in the year after Tenchi's actual accession--the census +register, which had formed an important feature of the Daika reforms, +became an accomplished fact. Thenceforth there was no further +occasion to appeal to the barbarous ordeal of boiling water +(kuga-dachi) when questions of lineage had to be determined. + +THE THIRTY-NINTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOBUN (A.D. 672-672) + +Among four "palace ladies" (uneme) upon whom the Emperor Tenchi +looked with favour, one, Yaka of Iga province, bore him a son known +in his boyhood days as Prince Iga but afterwards called Prince Otomo. +For this lad his father conceived a strong affection, and would +doubtless have named him heir apparent had he not been deterred by +the consideration that during his own abstention from actually +occupying the throne, administrative duties would have to be +entrusted mainly to the hands of a Prince Imperial, and Otomo, being +only thirteen years of age, could not undertake such a task. Thus, on +Tenchi's younger brother, Oama, the dignity of Crown Prince was +conferred, and he became the Emperor's locum tenens, in which +position he won universal applause by sagacity and energy. But during +these seven years of nominal interregnum, the fame of Prince Otomo +also grew upon men's lips. An ancient book speaks of him as "wise and +intelligent; an able administrator alike of civil and of military +affairs; commanding respect and esteem; sage of speech, and rich in +learning." When the Emperor actually ascended the throne, Otomo had +reached his twentieth year, and four years later (671) the sovereign +appointed him prime minister (dajo daijin), an office then created +for the first time. + +Thenceforth the question of Tenchi's successor began to be +disquieting. The technical right was on Oama's side, but the paternal +sympathy was with Otomo. Tradition has handed down a tale about a +certain Princess Nukata, who, having bestowed her affections +originally on Prince Oama, was afterwards constrained to yield to the +addresses of the Emperor Tenchi, and thus the two brothers became +enemies. But that story does not accord with facts. It is also +related that during a banquet at the palace on the occasion of +Tenchi's accession, Prince Oama thrust a spear through the floor from +below, and the Emperor would have punished the outrage with death had +not Kamatari interceded for the prince. These narratives are cited to +prove that the Emperor Tenchi's purpose was to leave the throne to +Otomo, not Oama. There is, however, no valid reason to infer any such +intention. What actually occurred was that when, within a few months +of Otomo's appointment as dajo daijin, the sovereign found himself +mortally sick, he summoned Oama and named him to succeed But Oama, +having been warned of a powerful conspiracy to place Otomo on the +throne, and not unsuspicious that it had the Emperor's sympathy, +declined the honour and announced his intention of entering religion, +which he did by retiring to the monastery at Yoshino. The +conspirators, at whose head were the minister of the Left, Soga no +Akae, and the minister of the Right, Nakatomi no Kane, aimed at +reverting to the times when, by placing on the throne a prince of +their own choice, one or two great uji had grasped the whole +political power. The prime mover was Kane, muraji of the Nakatomi. + +Immediately after Tenchi's death, which took place at the close of +671, and after the accession of Prince Otomo--known in history as the +Emperor Kobun--the conspirators began to concert measures for the +destruction of Prince Oama, whom they regarded as a fatal obstacle to +the achievement of their purpose. But the Emperor Kobun's consort, +Toichi, was a daughter of Prince Oama, and two sons of the latter, +Takaichi and Otsu, were also in the Court at Omi. By these three +persons Yoshino was kept fully informed of everything happening at +Omi. Oama fled precipitately. He did not even wait for a palanquin or +a horse. His course was shaped eastward, for two reasons: the first, +that his domains as Prince Imperial had been in Ise and Mino; the +second, that since in the eastern provinces the Daika reforms had +been first put into operation, in the eastern provinces, also, +conservatism might be expected to rebel with least reluctance. + +The struggle that ensued was the fiercest Japan had witnessed since +the foundation of the empire. For twenty days there was almost +continuous fighting. The prince's first measure was to block the +passes on the eastward high-roads, so that the Omi forces could not +reach him till he was fully ready to receive them. Thousands flocked +to his standard, and he was soon able to assume the offensive. On the +other hand, those whom the Omi Court summoned to arms declined for +the most part to respond. The nation evidently regarded Prince Oama +as the champion of the old against the new. The crowning contest took +place at the Long Bridge of Seta, which spans the waters of Lake Biwa +at the place where they narrow to form the Seta River. Deserted by +men who had sworn to support him, his army shattered, and he himself +a fugitive, the Emperor fled to Yamazaki and there committed suicide. +His principal instigator, muraji of the Nakatomi and minister of the +Right, with eight other high officials, suffered the extreme penalty; +Akae, omi of the Soga and minister of the Left, had to go into exile, +but the rest of Kobun's followers were pardoned. Not because of its +magnitude alone but because its sequel was the dethronement and +suicide of a legitimate Emperor, this struggle presents a shocking +aspect to Japanese eyes. It is known in history as the "Jinshin +disturbance," so called after the cyclical designation of the year +(672) when it occurred. + +THE FORTIETH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR TEMMU (A.D. 673-686) + +Prince Oama succeeded to the throne and is known in history as the +fortieth Sovereign, Temmu. During the fourteen years of his reign he +completed the administrative systems of the Daika era, and asserted +the dignity and authority of the Court to an unprecedented degree. +Among the men who espoused his cause in the Jinshin struggle there +are found many names of aristocrats who boasted high titles and owned +hereditary estates. Whatever hopes these conservatives entertained of +a reversion to the old-time-order of things, they were signally +disappointed. The Daika reformers had invariably contrived that +conciliation should march hand in hand with innovation. Temmu relied +on coercion. He himself administered State affairs with little +recourse to ministerial aid but always with military assistance in +the background. He was especially careful not to sow the seeds of the +abuses which his immediate predecessors had worked to eradicate. +Thus, while he did not fail to recognize the services of those that +had stood by him in the Jinshin tumult, he studiously refrained from +rewarding them with official posts, and confined himself to bestowing +titles of a purely personal character together with posthumous rank +in special cases. + +It has been shown that in the so-called "code" of Shotoku Taishi +prominent attention was directed to the obligations of decorum. This +principle received much elaboration in Temmu's reign. A law, +comprising no less than ninety-two articles, was enacted for guidance +in Court ceremonials, the demeanour and salutation of each grade of +officials being explicitly set forth. It is worthy of note that a +veto was imposed on the former custom of kneeling to make obeisance +and advancing or retreating in the presence of a superior on the +knees and hands; all salutations were ordered to be made standing. +Further, the clear differentiation of official functions, which had +been commenced under the sway of Tenchi, was completed in this reign. + +But, though relying on military force in the last resort, Temmu did +not neglect appeals to religion and devices to win popularity. On the +one hand, we find him establishing a War-Office (Heisei-kan) and +making it second in grade and importance to the Privy Council +(Dajo-kwan) alone; on the other, he is seen endowing shrines, +erecting temples, and organizing religious fetes on a sumptuous +scale. If, again, all persons in official position were required to +support armed men; if the provincials were ordered to practise +military exercises, and if arms were distributed to the people in the +home provinces (Kinai), at the same time taxes were freely remitted, +and amnesties were readily granted. Further, if much attention was +paid to archery, and if drastic measures were adopted to crush the +partisans of the Omi Court who still occasionally raised the standard +of revolt, the sovereign devoted not less care to the discharge of +the administrative functions, and his legislation extended even to +the realm of fishery, where stake-nets and other methods of an +injurious nature were strictly interdicted. The eating of flesh was +prohibited, but whether this veto was issued in deference to Buddhism +or from motives of economy, there is no evidence to show. + +One very noteworthy feature of Temmu's administration was that he +never appointed to posts in the Government men who did not give +promise of competence. All those who possessed a claim on his +gratitude were nominated chamberlains (toneri), and having been thus +brought under observation, were subsequently entrusted with official +functions commensurate with their proved ability. The same plan was +pursued in the case of females. With regard to the titles conferred +by this sovereign in recognition of meritorious services, they were +designed to replace the old-time kabane (or sei), in that whereas the +kabane had always been hereditary, and was generally associated with +an office, the new sei was obtained by special grant, and, though it +thereafter became hereditary, it was never an indication of office +bearing. Eight of these new titles were instituted by Temmu, namely, +mahito, asomi, sukune, imiki, michi-no-shi, omi, muraji, and inagi, +and their nearest English equivalents are, perhaps, duke, marquis, +count, lord, viscount, baron, and baronet. It is unnecessary to give +any etymological analysis of these terms; their order alone is +important. But two points have to be noted. The first is that the +title imiki was generally that chosen for bestowal on naturalized +foreigners; the second, that a conspicuously low place in the list is +given to the revered old titles, ami and muraji. This latter feature +is significant. The new peerage was, in fact, designed not only to +supplant, but also to discredit, the old. + +Thus, in the first place, the system was abolished under which all +uji having the title of omi were controlled by the o-omi, and all +having the title of muraji by the o-muraji; and in the second, though +the above eight sei were established, not every uji was necessarily +granted a title. Only the most important received that distinction, +and even these found themselves relegated to a comparatively low +place on the list. All the rest, however, were permitted to use their +old, but now depreciated kabane, and no change was made in the +traditional custom of entrusting the management of each uji's affairs +to its own Kami. But, in order to guard against the abuses of the +hereditary right, an uji no Kami ceased in certain cases to succeed +by birthright and became elective, the election requiring Imperial +endorsement. + +The effect of these measures was almost revolutionary. They changed +the whole fabric of the Japanese polity. But in spite of all Temmu's +precautions to accomplish the centralization of power, success was +menaced by a factor which could scarcely have been controlled. The +arable lands in the home provinces at that time probably did not +exceed 130,000 acres, and the food stuffs produced cannot have +sufficed for more than a million persons. As for the forests, their +capacities were ill developed, and thus it fell out that the +sustenance fiefs granted to omi and muraji of the lower grades did +not exceed a few acres. Gradually, as families multiplied, the +conditions of life became too straightened in such circumstances, and +relief began to be sought in provincial appointments, which furnished +opportunities for getting possession of land. It was in this way that +local magnates had their origin and the seeds of genuine feudalism +were sown. Another direction in which success fell short of purpose +was in the matter of the hereditary guilds (be). The Daika reforms +had aimed at converting everyone in the empire into a veritable unit +of the nation, not a mere member of an uji or a tomobe. But it proved +impossible to carry out this system in the case of the tomobe (called +also kakibe), or labouring element of the uji, and the yakabe, or +domestic servants of a family. To these their old status had to be +left. + +THE FORTY-FIRST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS JITO (A.D. 690-697) + +The Emperor Temmu died in 686, and the throne remained nominally +unoccupied until 690. A similar interregnum had separated the +accession of Tenchi from the death of his predecessor, the Empress +Saimei, and both events were due to a cognate cause. Tenchi did not +wish that his reforms should be directly associated with the Throne +until their success was assured; Temmu desired that the additions +made by him to the Daika system should be consolidated by the genius +of his wife before the sceptre passed finally into the hands of his +son. Jito had stood by her husband's side when, as Prince Oama, he +had barely escaped the menaces of the Omi Court, and there is reason +to think that she had subsequently shared his administrative +confidence as she had assisted at his military councils. The heir to +the throne, Prince Kusakabe, was then in his twenty-fifth year, but +he quietly endorsed the paternal behest that his mother should direct +State affairs. The arrangement was doubtless intended to be +temporary, but Kusakabe died three years later, and yielding to the +solicitations of her ministers, Jito then (690) finally ascended the +throne. + +Her reign, however, was not entirely free from the family strife +which too often accompanied a change of sovereigns in Japan's early +days. In addition to his legitimate offspring, Kusakabe, the Emperor +Temmu left several sons by secondary consorts, and the eldest +survivor of these, Prince Otsu, listening to the counsels of the Omi +Court's partisans and prompted by his own well-deserved popularity +and military prowess, intrigued to seize the throne. He was executed +in his house, and his fate is memorable for two reasons: the first, +that his young wife, Princess Yamanobe, "hastened thither with her +hair dishevelled and her feet bare and joined him in death;" the +second, that all his followers, over thirty in number, were +pardoned--rare clemency in those days. Prince Otsu is said to have +inaugurated a pastime which afterwards became very popular--the +composition of Chinese verses. + +SLAVES + +The most important legislation of the Empress Jito's reign related to +slaves.* In the year of her accession (690), she issued an edict +ordering that interest on all debts contracted prior to, or during +the year (685) prior to Temmu's death should be cancelled. Temmu +himself had created the precedent for this. When stricken by mortal +illness, he had proclaimed remission of all obligations, "whether in +rice or in valuables," incurred on or before the last day of the +preceding year. But Jito's edict had a special feature. It provided +that anyone already in servitude on account of a debt should be +relieved from serving any longer on account of the interest. Thus it +is seen that the practice of pledging the service of one's body in +discharge of debt was in vogue at that epoch, and that it received +official recognition with the proviso that the obligation must not +extend to interest. Debts, therefore, had become instruments for +swelling the ranks of the slave class. + +*The senmin, or slave class, was divided into two groups, namely, +public slaves (kwanko ryoko, and ko-nuhi), and private slaves (kenin +and shi-nuhi). + +But while sanctioning this evil custom, the tendency of the law was +to minimize its results. In another edict of the same reign it was +laid down that, when a younger brother of the common people +(hyakusei) was sold by his elder brother, the former should still be +classed as a freeman (ryomin), but a child sold by its father became +a serf (senmin); that service rendered to one of the senmin class by +a freeman in payment of a debt must not affect the status of the +freeman, and that the children of freemen so serving, even though +born of a union with a slave, should be reckoned as freemen. It has +been shown already that degradation to slavery was a common +punishment or expiation of a crime, and the annals of the period +under consideration indicate that men and women of the slave class +were bought and sold like any other chattels. Documents certainly not +of more recent date than the ninth century, show particulars of some +of these transactions. One runs as follows: + + Men (nu) 3 + Women (hi) 3 + -- + Total 6 + + 2 at 10000 bundles of rice each + 2 at 800 bundles of rice each. + 1 at 700 bundles of rice. + 1 at 600 bundles of rice. + ----- + Total 4900 bundles + + 1 man (nu) named Kokatsu; age 34; with a mole under the left eye + Price 1000 bundles of rice. + The above are slaves of Kannawo Oba of Okambe in Yamagata district. + +Comparison of several similar vouchers indicates that the usual price +of an able-bodied slave was one thousand bundles of rice, and as one +bundle gave five sho of unhulled rice, one thousand bundles +represented fifty koku, which, in the modern market, would sell for +about six hundred yen. It is not to be inferred, however, that the +sale of freemen into slavery was sanctioned by law. During the reign +of the Emperor Temmu, a farmer of Shimotsuke province wished to sell +his child on account of a bad harvest, but his application for +permission was refused, though forwarded by the provincial governor. +In fact, sales or purchases of the junior members of a family by the +seniors were not publicly permitted, although such transactions +evidently took place. Even the manumission of a slave required +official sanction. Thus it is recorded that, in the reign of the +Empress Jito, Komaro, an asomi, asked and obtained the Court's +permission to grant their freedom to six hundred slaves in his +possession. Another rule enacted in Jito's time was that the slaves +of an uji, when once manumitted, could not be again placed on the +slaves' register at the request of a subsequent uji no Kami. Finally +this same sovereign enacted that yellow-coloured garments should be +worn by freemen and black by slaves. History shows that the sale and +purchase of human beings in Japan, subject to the above limitations, +was not finally forbidden until the year 1699. + +THE MILITARY SYSTEM + +It has been seen that the Emperors Kotoku and Temmu attached much +importance to the development of military efficiency and that they +issued orders with reference to the training of provincials, the +armed equipment of the people, the storage of weapons of war, and the +maintenance of men-at-arms by officials. Compulsory service, however, +does not appear to have been inaugurated until the reign of the +Empress Jito, when (689) her Majesty instructed the local governors +that one-fourth of the able-bodied men in each province should be +trained every year in warlike exercises. This was the beginning of +the conscription system in Japan. + +THE ORDER OF SUCCESSION OF THE THRONE + +That the throne should be occupied by members of the Imperial family +only had been a recognized principle of the Japanese polity from +remotest epochs. But there had been an early departure from the rule +of primogeniture, and since the time of Nintoku the eligibility of +brothers also had been acknowledged in practice. To this latitude of +choice many disturbances were attributable, notably the fell Jinshin +struggle, and the terrors of that year were still fresh in men's +minds when, during Jito's reign, the deaths of two Crown Princes in +succession brought up the dangerous problem again for solution. The +princes were Kusakabe and Takaichi. The former had been nominated by +his father, Temmu, but was instructed to leave the reins of power in +the hands of his mother, Jito, for a time. He died in the year 689, +while Jito was still regent, and Takaichi, another of Temmu's sons, +who had distinguished himself as commander of a division of troops in +the Jinshin campaign, was made Prince Imperial. But he too died in +696, and it thus fell out that the only surviving and legitimate +offspring of an Emperor who had actually reigned was Prince Kuzuno, +son of Kobun. + +To his accession, however, there was this great objection that his +father, though wielding the sceptre for a few months, had borne arms +in the Jinshin disturbance against Temmu and Jito, and was held to +have forfeited his title by defeat and suicide. His assumption of the +sceptre would have created a most embarrassing situation, and his +enforced disqualification might have led to trouble. In this dilemma, +the Empress convened a State council, Prince Kuzuno also being +present, and submitted the question for their decision. But none +replied until Kuzuno himself, coming forward, declared that unless +the principle of primogeniture were strictly followed, endless +complications would be inevitable. This involved the sacrifice of his +own claim and the recognition of Karu, eldest son of the late +Kusakabe. The 14th of March, 696, when this patriotic declaration was +made, is memorable in Japanese history as the date when the principle +of primogeniture first received official approval. Six months +afterwards, the Empress abdicated in favour of Prince Karu, known in +history as forty-second sovereign, Mommu. She herself was honoured by +her successor with the title of Dajo-Tenno (Great Superior). + +ENGRAVING: ONE OF THE ORNAMENTAL GATES USED IN JAPANESE GARDENS + +ENGRAVING: SWORDS + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE DAIHO LAWS AND THE YORO LAWS + +THE FORTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MOMMU (A.D. 697-707) + +THE Emperor Mommu took for consort a daughter of Fuhito, +representative of the Fujiwara family and son of the great Kamatari. +She did not receive the title of Empress, that distinction having +been hitherto strictly confined to spouses chosen from a Kwobetsu +family, whereas the Fujiwara belonged to the Shimbetsu. But this +union proved the first step towards a practice which soon became +habitual and which produced a marked effect on the history of Japan, +the practice of supplying Imperial consorts from the Fujiwara family. + +THE DAIHO LEGISLATION + +On Mommu's accession the year-period took his name, that being then +the custom unless some special reason suggested a different epithet. +Such a reason was the discovery of gold in Tsushima in 701, and in +consequence the year-name was altered to Daiho (Great Treasure). It +is a period memorable for legislative activity. The reader is aware +that, during the reign of Tenchi, a body of statutes in twenty-two +volumes was compiled under the name of Omi Ritsu-ryo, or the "Code +and Penal Law of Omi," so called because the Court then resided at +Shiga in Omi. History further relates that these statutes were +revised by the Emperor Mommu, who commenced the task in 681 and that, +eleven years later, when the Empress Jito occupied the throne, this +revised code was promulgated. + +But neither in its original nor in its revised form has it survived, +and the inference is that in practice it was found in need of a +second revision, which took place in the years 700 and 701 under +instructions from the Emperor Mommu, the revisers being a committee +of ten, headed by Fuhito of the Fujiwara family, and by Mahito (Duke) +Awada. There resulted eleven volumes of the Code (ryo) and six of the +Penal Law (ritsu), and these were at once promulgated, expert jurists +being despatched, at the same time, to various quarters to expound +the new legislation. Yet again, seventeen years later (718), by order +of the Empress Gensho, revision was carried out by another committee +headed by the same Fujiwara Fuhito, now prime minister, and the +amended volumes, ten of the Code and ten of the Law, were known +thenceforth as the "New Statutes," or the "Code and Law of the Yoro +Period." They were supplemented by a body of official rules (kyaku) +and operative regulations (shiki), the whole forming a very elaborate +assemblage of laws. + +The nature and scope of the code will be sufficiently understood from +the titles of its various sections: (1) Official Titles; (2) Duties +of Officials; (3) Duties of Officials of the Empress' Household; (4) +Duties of Officials in the Household of the Heir Apparent; (5) Duties +of Officials in the Households of Officers of High Rank; (6) Services +to the Gods; (7) Buddhist Priests; (8) the Family; (9) the Land; (10) +Taxation; (11) Learning; (12) Official Ranks and Titles; (13) The +Descent of the Crown and Dignities of Imperial Persons; (14) +Meritorious Discharge of Official Duties; (15) Salaries; (16) Court +Guards; (17) Army and Frontier Defences; (18) Ceremonies; (19) +Official Costumes; (20) Public Works; (21) Mode of addressing Persons +of Rank; (22) Stores of Rice and other Grain; (23) Stables and +Fodder; (24) Duties of Medical Officers attached to the Court; (25) +Official Vacations; (26) Funerals and Mourning; (27) Watch and Ward +and Markets; (28) Arrest of Criminals; (29) Jails, and (30) +Miscellaneous, including Bailment, Finding of Lost Goods, etc.* + +This "Code and the Penal Law" accompanying it went into full +operation from the Daiho era and remained in force thereafter, +subject to the revisions above indicated. There is no reason to doubt +that the highly artificial organization of society which such +statutes indicate, existed, in outline at all events, from the reign +of Kotoku, but its plainly legalized reality dates, so far as history +is concerned, from the Daiho era. As for the rules (kyaku) and +regulations (shiki), they were re-drafted: first, in the Konin era +(810-824) by a commission under the direction of the grand +councillor,* Fujiwara Fuyutsugu; next, in the Jokwan era (859-877) by +Fujiwara Ujimune and others, and finally in the Engi era (901-923) by +a committee with Fujiwara Tadahira for president. These three sets of +provisions were spoken of in subsequent ages as the "Rules and +Regulations of the Three Generations" (Sandai-kyaku-shiki). It will +be observed that just as this remarkable body of enactments owed its +inception in Japan to Kamatari, the great founder of the Fujiwara +family, so every subsequent revision was presided over by one of his +descendants. The thirty sections of the code comprise 949 articles, +which are all extant, but of the penal laws in twelve sections there +remain only 322 articles. + +*Tarring, in the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan." + +It may be broadly stated that the Daika reformation, which formed the +basis of this legislation, was a transition from the Japanese system +of heredity to the Chinese system of morality. The penal law (ritsu), +although its Chinese original has not survived for purposes of +comparison, was undoubtedly copied from the work of the Tang +legislators, the only modification being in degrees of punishment; +but the code, though it, too, was partially exotic in character, +evidently underwent sweeping alterations so as to bring it into +conformity with Japanese customs and traditions. Each of the +revisions recorded above must be assumed to have extended this +adaptation. + +The basic principle of the Daiho code was that the people at large, +without regard to rank or pedigree, owed equal duty to the State; +that only those having special claims on public benevolence were +entitled to fixed exemptions, and that not noble birth but +intellectual capacity and attainments constituted a qualification for +office. Nevertheless Japanese legislators did not find it possible to +apply fully these excellent principles. Habits of a millennium's +growth could not be so lightly eradicated. Traces of the old obtrude +themselves plainly from between the lines of the new. Thus the "Law +of Descent" (Keishi-ryo), which formed the thirteenth section of the +code, was a special embodiment of Japanese social institutions, +having no parallel in the Tang statutes, and further, while declaring +erudition and intelligence to be the unique qualifications for +office, no adequate steps were taken to establish schools for +imparting the former or developing the latter. In short, the nobles +still retained a large part of their old power, and the senmin +(slave) class still continued to labour under various disabilities. + +That several important provisions of the Land Code (Den-ryo) should +have fallen quickly into disuse will be easily comprehended when we +come presently to examine that system in detail, but for the neglect +of portions of the Military Code (Gumbo-ryo), of the Code of Official +Ranks and Titles, and of the Code relating to the Meritorious +Discharge of Official Duties, it is necessary to lay the +responsibility on the shoulders of the hereditary nobles, whose +influence out-weighed the force of laws. It may indeed be broadly +stated that the potency of the Daiho code varied in the direct ratio +of the centralization of administrative authority. Whenever feudalism +prevailed, the code lost its binding force. In the realm of criminal +law it is only consistent with the teaching of all experience to find +that mitigation of penalties was provided according to the rank of +the culprit. There were eight major crimes (hachi-gyaku), all in the +nature of offences against the State, the Court, and the family, and +the order of their gravity was: (1) high treason (against the State); +(2) high treason (against the Crown); (3) treason; (4) parricide, +fratricide, etc.; (5) offences against humanity; (6) lese majeste; +(7) unfilial conduct, and (8) crimes against society. But there were +also six mitigations (roku-gi), all enacted with the object of +lightening punishments according to the rank, official position, or +public services of an offender. As for slaves, being merely a part of +their proprietor's property like any other goods and chattels, the +law took no cognizance of them. + +OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION + +Under the Daiho code a more elaborate system of administrative +organization was effected than that conceived by the Daika reformers. +In the Central Government there were two boards, eight departments, +and one office, namely: (1). The Jingi-kwan, or Board of Religion +(Shinto). This stood at the head of all, in recognition of the divine +origin of the Imperial family. A Japanese work (Nihon Kodaiho +Shakugi) explains the fundamental tenet of the nation's creed thus: +"If a State has its origin in military prowess, which is essentially +human, then by human agencies also a State may be overthrown. To be +secure against such vicissitudes a throne must be based upon +something superior to man's potentialities. Divine authority alone +fulfils that definition, and it is because the throne of Japan had a +superhuman foundation that its existence is perennial. Therefore the +Jingi-kwan stands above all others in the State." In another, book +(Jingi-ryo) we find it stated: "All the deities* of heaven and earth +are worshipped in the Jingi-kwan. On the day of the coronation the +Nakatomi performs service to the deities of heaven and the Imibe +makes offerings of three kinds of sacred articles." + +*The eight Kami specially worshipped in the Jingi-kwan were +Taka-mi-musubi, Kammi-musubi, Tamatsume-musubi, Iku-musubi, +Taru-musubi, Omiya no me, Miketsu, and Koto-shiro-nushi. + +Thus, though the models for the Daiho system were taken from China, +they were adapted to Japanese customs and traditions, as is proved by +the premier place given to the Jingi-kwan. Worship and religious +ceremonial have always taken precedence of secular business in the +Court of Japan. Not only at the central seat of government did the +year commence with worship, but in the provinces, also, the first +thing recorded by a newly appointed governor was his visit to the +Shinto shrines, and on the opening day of each month he repaired +thither to offer the gohei.* Religious rites, in short, were the +prime function of government, and therefore, whereas the office +charged with these duties ranked low in the Tang system, it was +placed at the head of all in Japan. + +*Angular bunches of white paper stripes, representing the cloth +offerings originally tied to branches of the sacred cleyera tree at +festival time. + +(2). The Daijo-kwan (called also Dajo-kwari), or Board of Privy +Council. This office ranked next to the Board of Religion and had the +duty of superintending the eight State departments. Its personnel +consisted of the prime minister (daijo-daijin or dajo-daijin), the +minister of the Left (sa-daijiri), and the minister of the Right +(u-daijiri). + +(3). The Nakatsukasa-sho, or Central Department of State (literally, +"Intermediate Transacting Department"), which was not an executive +office, its chief duties being to transmit the sovereign's decrees to +the authorities concerned and the memorials of the latter to the +former, as well as to discharge consultative functions. + +(4). The Shikibu-sho, or Department of Ceremonies. This office had to +consider and determine the promotion and degradation of officials +according to their competence and character. + +(5). The Jibu-sho, or Department of Civil Government, which examined +and determined everything concerning the position of noblemen, and +administered affairs relating to priests, nuns, and members of the +Bambetsu,* that is to say, men of foreign nationality residing in +Japan. + +*The reader is already familiar with the terms "Kwobetsu" and +"Shimbetsu." All aliens were classed as Bambetsu. + +(6). The Mimbu-sho, or Department of Civil Affairs. An office which +managed affairs relating to the land and the people, to taxes and to +forced services. + +(7). The Gyobu-sho, or Department of Justice. + +(8). The Okura-sho, or Department of Finance. + +(9). The Kunai-sho, or Imperial Household Department. + +(10). The Hyobu-sho, or Department of War. + +(11). The Danjo-dai, or Office of Censorship, This office had the +duty of correcting civil customs and punishing and conduct on the +part of officials. In the year 799, Kwammu being then on the throne, +a law was enacted for the Danjo-dai. It consisted of eighty-three +articles, and it had the effect of greatly augmenting the powers of +the office. But in the period 810-829, it was found necessary to +organize a special bureau of kebiishi, or executive police, to which +the functions of the Danjo-dai subsequently passed, as did also those +of the Gyobu-sho in great part. These two boards, eight departments, +and one office all had their locations within the palace enclosure, +so that the Imperial Court and the Administration were not +differentiated. + +LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY + +For administrative purposes the capital was divided into two +sections, the Eastern and the Western, which were controlled by a +Left Metropolitan Office and a Right Metropolitan Office, +respectively. In Naniwa (Osaka) also, which ranked as a city of +special importance, there was an executive office called the +Settsu-shoku--Settsu being the name of the province in which the town +stood--and in Chikuzen province there was the Dazai-fu (Great +Administrative Office), which had charge of foreign relations in +addition to being the seat of the governor-generalship of the whole +island of Kyushu. In spite of its importance as an administrative +post, the Dazai-fu, owing to its distance from the capital, came to +be regarded as a place of exile for high officials who had fallen out +of Imperial favour. + +The empire was divided into provinces (kuni) of four classes--great, +superior, medium, and inferior,--and each province was subdivided +into districts (kori) of five classes--great, superior, medium, +inferior, and small. The term "province" had existed from remote +antiquity, but it represented at the outset a comparatively small +area, for in the time of the Emperor Keitai (A.D. 507-531), there +were 144 kuni. This number was largely reduced in the sequel of +surveys and re-adjustments of boundaries during the Daika era +(645-650), and after the Daiho reforms (701-704) it stood at +fifty-eight, but subsequently, at an uncertain date, it grew to +sixty-six and remained permanently thus. The kori (district) of the +Daika and Daiho reforms had originally been called agata (literally +"arable land"), and had been subdivided into inaki (granary) and mura +(village). A miyatsuko had administered the affairs of the kuni, +holding the office by hereditary right, and the agata of which there +were about 590, a frequently changing total as well as the inaki and +the mura had been under officials called nushi. But according to the +Daika and Daiho systems, each kuni was placed under a governor +(kokushi), chosen on account of competence and appointed for a term +of four years; each district (kori) was administered by a cho +(chief). + +MILITARY INSTITUTIONS + +In the capital there were three bodies of guards; namely, the emon-fu +(gate guards); the sa-eji-fu and the u-eji-fu (Left and Right +watches). There was also the sa-ma-ryo and the u-ma-ryo (cavalry of +the Left and of the Right), and the sa-hyogo-ryo and the u-hyogo-ryo +(Left and Right Departments of Supply). These divisions into "left" +and "right," and the precedence given to the left, were derived from +China, but it has to be observed in Japan's case that the metropolis +itself was similarly divided into left and right quarters. Outside +the capital each province had an army corps (gundan), and one-third +of all the able-bodied men (seitei), from the age of twenty to that +of sixty, were required to serve with the colours of an army corps +for a fixed period each year. From these provincial troops drafts +were taken every year for a twelve-month's duty as palace guards +(eji) in the metropolis, and others were detached for three-years' +service as frontier guards (saki-mori) in the provinces lying along +the western sea board. + +The army corps differed numerically according to the extent of the +province where they had their headquarters, but for each thousand men +there were one colonel (taiki) and two lieutenant-colonels (shoki); +for every five hundred men, one major (gunki); for every two hundred, +one captain (koi); for every one hundred, a lieutenant (ryosui), and +for every fifty, a sergeant-major (taisei). As for the privates, they +were organized in groups of five (go); ten (kwa), and fifty (tai). +Those who could draw a bow and manage a horse were enrolled in the +cavalry, the rest being infantry. From each tai two specially robust +men were selected as archers, and for each kwa there were six +pack-horses. The equipment of a soldier on campaign included a large +sword (tachi) and a small sword (katana or sashi-zoe) together with a +quiver (yanagui or ebira); but in time of peace these were kept in +store, the daily exercises being confined to the use of the spear, +the catapult (ishi-yumi) and the bow, and to the practice of +horsemanship. When several army corps were massed to the number of +ten thousand or more, their staff consisted of a general (shogun), +two lieutenant-generals (fuku-shogun), two army-inspectors (gunkan), +four secretaries (rokuji), and four sergeants (gunso). If more than +one such force took the field, the whole was commanded by a +general-in-chief. + +APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION + +The law provided that appointment to office and promotion should +depend, not upon rank, but upon knowledge and capacity. Youths who +had graduated at the university were divided into three categories: +namely, those of eminent talent (shusai); those having extensive +knowledge of the Chinese classics (meikei), and those advanced in +knowledge (shinshi). Official vacancies were filled from these three +classes in the order here set down, and promotion subsequently +depended on proficiency. But though thus apparently independent of +inherited rank, the law was not so liberal in reality. For admission +to the portals of the university was barred to all except nobles or +the sons and grandsons of literati. Scions of noble families down to +the fifth rank had the right of entry, and scions of nobles of the +sixth, seventh, and eighth ranks were admitted by nomination. + +OFFICIAL EMOLUMENT + +Remuneration to officials took the form of revenue derived from lands +and houses, but this subject can be treated more intelligently when +we come to speak of the land. + +THE PEOPLE + +According to the Daiho laws one family constituted a household. But +the number of a family was not limited: it included brothers and +their wives and children, as well as male and female servants, so +that it might comprise as many as one hundred persons. The eldest +legitimate son was the head of the household, and its representative +in the eyes of the law. A very minute census was kept. Children up to +three years of age were classed as "yellow" (kwo); those between +three and sixteen, as "little" (sho); those members of the household +between sixteen and twenty, as "middling" (chu); those between twenty +and sixty, as "able-bodied" (tei), and those above sixty as "old" or +"invalids," so as to secure their exemption from forced labour +(kayaku or buyaku). The census was revised every six years, two +copies of the revised document being sent to the privy council +(Daijo-kwan) and one kept in the district concerned. It was +customary, however, to preserve permanently the census of every +thirtieth year* for purposes of record, and moreover the census taken +in the ninth year of Tenchi's reign (670)** was also kept as a +reference for personal names. To facilitate the preservation of good +order and morality, each group of five households was formed into an +"association of five" (goho or gonin-gumi) with a recognized head +(hocho); and fifty households constituted a village (sato or mura), +which was the smallest administrative unit. The village had a mayor +(richo), whose functions were to keep a record of the number of +persons in each household; to encourage diligence in agriculture and +sericulture; to reprove, and, if necessary, to report all evil +conduct, and to stimulate the discharge of public service. Thus the +district chief (guncho or gunryo) had practically little to do beyond +superintending the richo. + +*This was called gohi-seki; i.e., comparative record for a period of +five times six years. + +**It was designated the Kogoanen-seki, from the cyclical name of the +year. + +THE LAND + +The land laws of the Daiho era, like those of the Daika, were based +on the hypothesis that all land throughout the country was the +property of the Crown, and that upon the latter devolved the +responsibility of equitable distribution among the people. Rice being +the chief staple of diet and also the standard of exchange, +rice-lands--that is to say, irrigated fields--were regarded as most +important. The law--already referred to in connexion with the Daika +era but here cited again for the sake of clearness--enacted that all +persons, on attaining the age of five, became entitled to two tan of +such land, females receiving two-thirds of that amount. Land thus +allotted was called kubun-den, or "sustenance land" (literally, +"mouth-share land"). The tan was taken for unit, because it +represented 360 bu (or ho), and as the rice produced on one bu +constituted one day's ration for an adult male, a tan yielded enough +for one year (the year being 360 days).* + +*The bu in early times represented 5 shaku square, or 25 square shaku +(1 seki = 1 foot very nearly); but as the shaku (10 sun) then +measured 2 sun (1 sun = 1.2 inch) more than the shaku of later ages, +the modern bu (or tsubo) is a square of 6 shaku side, or 36 square +shaku, though in actual dimensions the ancient and the modern are +equal. + +The theory of distribution was that the produce of one tan served for +food, while with the produce of the second tan the cost of clothes +and so forth was defrayed. The Daika and Daiho legislators alike laid +down the principle that rice-fields thus allotted should be held for +a period of six years only, after which they were to revert to the +Crown for redistribution, and various detailed regulations were +compiled to meet contingencies that might arise in carrying out the +system. But, of course, it proved quite unpracticable, and though +that lesson obviously remained unlearned during the cycle that +separated the Daika and the Daiho periods, there is good reason to +think that these particular provisions of the land law (Den-ryo) soon +became a dead letter. + +A different method was pursued, however, in the case of uplands (as +distinguished from wet fields). These--called onchi*--were parcelled +out among the families residing in a district, without distinction +of age or sex, and were held in perpetuity, never reverting to the +Crown unless a family became extinct. Such land might be bought or +sold--except to a Buddhist temple--but its tenure was conditional +upon planting from one hundred to three hundred mulberry trees +(for purposes of sericulture) and from forty to one hundred +lacquer trees, according to the grade of the tenant family. +Ownership of building-land (takuchi) was equally in perpetuity, +though its transfer required official approval, but dwellings or +warehouses--which in Japan have always been regarded as distinct from +the land on which they stand--might be disposed of at pleasure. It +is not to be inferred from the above that all the land throughout +the Empire was divided among the people. Considerable tracts +were reserved for special purposes. Thus, in five home provinces +(Go-Kinai) two tracts of seventy-five acres each were kept for the +Court in Yamato and Settsu, and two tracts of thirty acres each in +Kawachi and Yamashiro, such land being known as kwanden (official +fields), and being under the direct control of the Imperial Household +Department. + +*Called also yenchi--These uplands were regarded as of little value +compared with rice-fields. + +There were also three other kinds of special estates, namely, iden, +or lands granted to mark official ranks; shokubunden, or lands given +as salary to office-holders; and koden, or lands bestowed in +recognition of merit. As to the iden, persons of the four Imperial +ranks received from one hundred to two hundred acres, and persons +belonging to any of the five official grades--in each of which there +were two classes--were given from twenty to two hundred, females +receiving two-thirds of a male's allotment. Coming to salary lands, +we find a distinction between officials serving in the capital +(zaikyo) and those serving in the provinces (zaige). Among the +former, the principal were the prime minister (one hundred acres), +the ministers of the Left and Right (seventy-five acres each) and the +great councillor (fifty acres). As for provincial officials, the +highest, namely, the governor of Kyushu (who had his seat at the +Dazai-fu), received twenty-five acres, and the lowest, one and a half +acres. Governors of provinces--which were divided into four classes +(great, superior, medium, and inferior)--received from four acres to +six and a half acres; an official (dai-hanji), corresponding to a +chief-justice, had five acres; a puisne justice (sho-hanji), four +acres; an officer in command of an army corps, four acres, and a +literary professor (hakushi), four acres. Grants of land as salaries +for official duties were made even to post-towns for the purpose of +defraying the expense of coolies and horses for official use. +Finally, there were koden, or lands bestowed in recognition of +distinguished public services. Of such services four grades were +differentiated: namely, "great merit" (taiko), for which the grant +was made in perpetuity; "superior merit" (joko), which was rewarded +with land held for three generations; "medium merit" (chuko), in +which case the land-title had validity to the second generation only, +and "inferior merit" (geko), where the land did not descend beyond a +son or a daughter. It is worthy of note that in determining the order +of eligibility for grants of sustenance land (kubunden), preference +was given to the poor above the rich, and that the officials in a +province were allowed to cultivate unoccupied land for their own +profit. + +TAXATION + +There were three kinds of imposts; namely, tax (so), forced service +(yo or kayaku) and tribute (cho). The tax was three per cent, of the +gross produce of the land--namely, three sheaves of rice out of every +hundred in the case of a male, and two out of sixty-six in the case +of a female. The tribute was much more important, for it meant that +every able-bodied male had to pay a fixed quantity of silk-fabric, +pongee, raw-silk, raw-cotton, indigo (675 grains troy), rouge (the +same quantity), copper (two and a quarter lbs.), and, if in an +Imperial domain, an additional piece of cotton cloth, thirteen feet +long. Finally, the forced service meant thirty days' labour annually +for each able-bodied male and fifteen days for a minor. Sometimes +this compulsory service might be commuted at the rate of two and a +half feet of cotton cloth for each day's work. Exemption from forced +labour was granted to persons of and above the grade of official rank +and to their families through three generations; to persons of and +above the fifth grade and to their families for two generations; to +men of the Imperial blood; to the sick, the infirm, the deformed, +females, and slaves. Forced labourers were allowed to rest from noon +to 4 P.M. in July and August. They were not required to work at +night. If they fell sick so as to be unable to labour out of doors, +they were allowed only half rations. If they were taken ill on their +way to their place of work, they were left to the care of the local +authorities and fed at public charge. If they died, a coffin was +furnished out of the public funds, and the corpse, unless claimed, +was cremated, the ashes being buried by the wayside and a mark set +up. Precise rules as to inheritance were laid down. A mother and a +step-mother ranked equally with the eldest son for that purpose, each +receiving two parts; younger sons received one part, and concubines +and female children received one-half of a part. There were also +strict rules as to the measure of relief from taxation granted in the +event of crop-failure. + +IMPORTANCE OF DAIHO LAWS + +What has been set down above constitutes only a petty fraction of the +Daiho legislation, but it will suffice to furnish an idea of Japanese +civilization in the eighth century of the Christian era a +civilization which shared with that of China the credit of being the +most advanced in the world at that time. + +ENGRAVING: HATSUNE-NO-TANA (A Gold-lacquered Stand or Cabinet) + +ENGRAVING: STATUES OF SHAKA AND TWO BOSATSUS IN THE KONDO OF THE +HORYU-JI + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NARA EPOCH + +THE FORTY-THIRD SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS GEMMYO (A.D. 708-715) + +THE Empress Gemmyo, fourth daughter of the Emperor Tenchi and consort +of Prince Kusakabe, was the mother of the Emperor Mommu, whose +accession had been the occasion of the first formal declaration of +the right of primogeniture (vide Chapter XV). Mommu, dying, willed +that the throne should be occupied by his mother in trust for his +infant son--afterwards Emperor Shomu. + +REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL TO NARA + +In ancient times it was customary to change the locality of the +Imperial capital with each change of sovereign. This custom, dictated +by the Shinto conception of impurity attaching to sickness and death, +exercised a baleful influence on architectural development, and +constituted a heavy burden upon the people, whose forced labour was +largely requisitioned for the building of the new palace. Kotoku, +when he promulgated his system of centralized administration, +conceived the idea of a fixed capital and selected Naniwa. But the +Emperor Tenchi moved to Omi, Temmu to Asuka (in Yamato) and the +Empress Jito to Fujiwara (in Yamato). Mommu remained at the latter +place until the closing year (707) of his reign, when, finding the +site inconvenient, he gave orders for the selection of another. But +his death interrupted the project, and it was not until the second +year of the Empress Gemmyo's reign that the Court finally removed to +Nara, where it remained for seventy-five years, throughout the reigns +of seven sovereigns. Nara, in the province of Yamato, lies nearly due +south of Kyoto at a distance of twenty-six miles from the latter. +History does not say why it was selected, nor have any details of its +plan been transmitted. To-day it is celebrated for scenic beauties--a +spacious park with noble trees and softly contoured hills, sloping +down to a fair expanse of lake, and enshrining in their dales ancient +temples, wherein are preserved many fine specimens of Japanese art, +glyptic and pictorial, of the seventh and eighth centuries. Nothing +remains of the palace where the Court resided throughout a cycle and +a half, nearly twelve hundred years ago, but one building, a +storehouse called Shoso-in, survives in its primitive form and +constitutes a landmark in the annals of Japanese civilization, for it +contains specimens of all the articles that were in daily use by the +sovereigns of the Nara epoch. + +JAPANESE COINS + +There is obscurity about the production of the precious metals in old +Japan. That gold, silver, and copper were known and used is certain, +for in the dolmens,--which ceased to be built from about the close of +the sixth century (A.D.)--copper ear-rings plated with gold are +found, and gold-copper images of Buddha were made in the reign of the +Empress Suiko (605), while history says that silver was discovered in +the island of Tsushima in the second year of the Emperor Temmu's +reign (674). From the same island, gold also is recorded to have come +in 701, but in the case of the yellow and the white metal alike, the +supply obtained was insignificant, and indeed modern historians are +disposed to doubt whether the alleged Tsushima gold was not in +reality brought from Korea via that island. On the whole, the +evidence tends to show that, during the first seven centuries of the +Christian era, Japan relied on Korea mainly, and on China partially, +for her supply of the precious metals. Yet neither gold, silver, nor +copper coins seem to have been in anything like general use until the +Wado era (708-715). + +Coined money had already been a feature of Chinese civilization since +the fourth century before Christ, and when Japan began to take models +from her great neighbour during the Sui and Tang dynasties, she +cannot have failed to appreciate the advantages of artificial media +of exchange. The annals allege that in A.D. 677 the first mint was +established, and that in 683 an ordinance prescribed that the silver +coins struck there should be superseded by copper. But this rule did +not remain long in force, nor have there survived any coins, whether +of silver or of copper, certainly identifiable as antecedent to the +Wado era. It was in the year of the Empress Gemmyo's accession (708) +that deposits of copper were found in the Chichibu district of +Musashi province, and the event seemed sufficiently important to call +for a change of year-name to Wado (refined copper). Thenceforth, +coins of copper--or more correctly, bronze--were regularly minted and +gradually took the place of rice or cotton cloth as units of value. + +It would seem that, from the close of the seventh century, a wave of +mining industry swept over Japan. Silver was procured from the +provinces of Iyo and Kii; copper from Inaba and Suo, and tin from +Ise, Tamba, and Iyo. All this happened between the years 690 and 708, +but the discovery of copper in the latter year in Chichibu was on +comparatively the largest scale, and may be said to have given the +first really substantial impetus to coining. For some unrecorded +reason silver pieces were struck first and were followed by copper a +few months later. Both were of precisely the same form--round with a +square hole in the middle to facilitate threading on a string--both +were of the same denomination (one won), and both bore the same +superscription (Wado Kaiho, or "opening treasure of refined copper"), +the shape, the denomination, and the legend being taken from a coin +of the Tang dynasty struck eighty-eight years previously. It was +ordered that in using these pieces silver should be paid in the case +of sums of or above four mon, and copper in the case of sums of or +below three won, the value of the silver coin being four times that +of the copper. But the silver tokens soon ceased to be current and +copper mainly occupied the field, a position which it held for 250 +years, from 708 to 958. During that interval, twelve forms of sen* +were struck. They deteriorated steadily in quality, owing to growing +scarcity of the supply of copper; and, partly to compensate for the +increased cost of the metal, partly to minister to official greed, +the new issues were declared, on several occasions, to have a value +ten times as great as their immediate predecessors. Concerning that +value, the annals state that in 711 the purchasing power of the mon +(i.e., of the one-sen token) was sixty go of rice, and as the daily +ration for a full-grown man is five go, it follows that one sen +originally sufficed for twelve days' sustenance.** + +*The ideograph sen signified originally a "fountain," and its +employment to designate a coin seems to have been suggested by an +idea analogous to that underlying the English word "currency." + +**"At the present time the wages of a carpenter are almost a yen a +day. Now the yen is equal to 1000 mon of the smaller sen and to 500 +mon of the larger ones, so that he could have provided himself with +rice, if we count only 500 mon to the yen, for sixteen years on the +wages which he receives for one day's labour in 1900." (Munro's Coins +of Japan.) + +Much difficulty was experienced in weaning the people from their old +custom of barter and inducing them to use coins. The Government seems +to have recognized that there could not be any effective spirit of +economy so long as perishable goods represented the standard of +value, and in order to popularize the use of the new tokens as well +as to encourage thrift, it was decreed that grades of rank would be +bestowed upon men who had saved certain sums in coin. At that time +(711), official salaries had already been fixed in terms of the Wado +sen. The highest received thirty pieces of cloth, one hundred hanks +of silk and two thousand mon, while in the case of an eighth-class +official the corresponding figures were one piece of cloth and twenty +mon.* The edict for promoting economy embodied a schedule according +to which, broadly speaking, two steps of executive rank could be +gained by amassing twenty thousand mon and one step by saving five +thousand. + +*These figures sound ludicrously small if translated into present-day +money, for 1000 mon go to the yen, and the latter being the +equivalent of two shillings, 20 mon represents less then a +half-penny. But of course the true calculation is that 20 mon +represented 240 days' rations of rice in the Wado schedule of values. + +Observing that the fundamental principle of a sound token of exchange +was wholly disregarded in these Wado sen, since their intrinsic value +bore no appreciable ratio to their purchasing power, and considering +also the crudeness of their manufacture, it is not surprising to find +that within a few months of their appearance they were extensively +forged. What is much more notable is that the Wado sen remained in +circulation for fifty years. The extraordinary ratio, however, by +which copper and silver were linked together originally, namely, 4 to +1, did not survive; in 721 it was changed to 25 to 10, and in the +following year to 50 to 10. Altogether, as was not unnatural, the +early treatment of this coinage question by Japanese statesmen showed +no trace of scientific perception. The practice, pursued almost +invariably, of multiplying by ten the purchasing power of each new +issue of sen, proved, of course, enormously profitable to the +issuers, but could not fail to distress the people and to render +unpopular such arbitrarily varying tokens. + +The Government spared no effort to correct the latter result, and +some of the devices employed were genuinely progressive. In that +epoch travellers had to carry their own provisions, and not +uncommonly the supply ran short before they reached their +destination, the result sometimes being death from starvation on the +roadside. It was therefore ordered that in every district (korf) a +certain portion of rice should be stored at a convenient place for +sale to wayfarers, and these were advised to provide themselves with +a few sen before setting out. It is evident that, since one of the +Wado coins sufficed to buy rice for twelve days' rations, a traveller +was not obliged to burden himself with many of these tokens. Wealthy +persons in the provinces were also admonished to set up roadside +shops for the sale of rice, and anyone who thus disposed of one +hundred koku in a year was to be reported to the Court for special +reward. Moreover, no district governor (gunryo), however competent, +was counted eligible for promotion unless he had saved six thousand +sen, and it was enacted that all taxes might be paid in copper coin. +In spite of all this, however, the use of metallic media was limited +for a long time to the upper classes and to the inhabitants of the +five home provinces. Elsewhere the old habit of barter continued. + +THE FORTY-FOURTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS GENSHO (A.D. 715-723) + +In the year 715, the Empress Gemmyo, after a reign of seven years, +abdicated in favour of her daughter, Gensho. This is the only +instance in Japanese history of an Empress succeeding an Empress. + +HISTORICAL COMPILATION + +The reigns of these two Empresses are memorable for the compilation +of the two oldest Japanese histories which have been handed down to +the present epoch, the Kojiki and the Nihongi; but as the +circumstances in which these works, as well as the Fudoki (Records of +Natural Features), were written have been sufficiently described +already (vide Chapter I), it remains only to refer to a custom +inaugurated by Gemmyo in the year (721) after the compilation of the +Nihongi, the custom of summoning to Court learned men (hakase) and +requiring them to deliver lectures on that work. Subsequent +generations of sovereigns followed this example, and to this day one +of the features of the New Year's observances is a historical +discourse in the palace. The writing of history became thenceforth an +imperially patronized occupation. Six works, covering the period from +697 to 887, appeared in succession and were known through all ages as +the Six National Histories. It is noticeable that in the compilation +of all these a leading part was taken by one or another of the great +Fujiwara ministers, and that the fifth numbered among its authors the +illustrious Sugawara Michizane. + +THE FORTY-FIFTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SHOMU (A.D. 724-748) + +When the Emperor Mommu died (707), his son, the Prince Imperial, was +too young to succeed. Therefore the sceptre came into the hands of +Mommu's mother, who, after a reign of seven years, abdicated in +favour of her daughter, the Empress Gensho, and, eight years later, +the latter in turn abdicated in favour of her nephew, Shomu, who had +now reached man's estate. Shomu's mother, Higami, was a daughter of +Fujiwara Fuhito, and as the Fujiwara family did not belong to the +Kwobetsu class, she had not attained the rank of Empress, but had +remained simply Mommu's consort (fujiri). Her son, the Emperor Shomu, +married another daughter of the same Fujiwara Fuhito by a different +mother; that is to say, he took for consort his own mother's +half-sister, Asuka. This lady, Asuka, laboured under the same +disadvantage of lineage and could not properly be recognized as +Empress. It is necessary to note these details for they constitute +the preface to a remarkable page of Japanese history. Of Fujiwara +Fuhito's two daughters, one, Higami, was the mother of the reigning +Emperor, Shomu, and the other, Asuka, was his consort. The blood +relationship of the Fujiwara family to the Court could scarcely have +been more marked, but its public recognition was impeded by the +defect in the family's lineage. + +THE FUJIWARA CONSPIRACY + +Immediately after Shomu's accession, his mother, Higami, received the +title of Kwo-taifujin (Imperial Great Lady). But the ambition of her +family was to have her named Kwo-taiko (Empress Dowager). The Emperor +also desired to raise his consort, Asuka, to the position of Empress. +Consulting his ministers on the subject, he encountered opposition +from Prince Nagaya, minister of the Left. This prince, a +great-grandson of the Emperor Temmu, enjoyed high reputation as a +scholar, was looked up to as a statesman of great wisdom, and +possessed much influence owing to his exalted official position. He +urged that neither precedent nor law sanctioned nomination of a lady +of the Shimbetsu class to the rank of Empress. The Daiho code was +indeed very explicit on the subject. In China, whither the drafters +of the code went for models, no restrictions were imposed on a +sovereign's choice of wife. But the Japanese legislators clearly +enacted that an Empress must be taken from among Imperial princesses. +Prince Nagaya, in his position as minister of the Left, opposed any +departure from that law and thus thwarted the designs of the +Fujiwara. + +The lady Asuka bore a son to the Emperor three years after his +accession. His Majesty was profoundly pleased. He caused a general +amnesty to be proclaimed, presented gratuities to officials, and +granted gifts to all children born on the same day. When only two +months old, the child was created Prince Imperial, but in his +eleventh month he fell ill. Buddhist images were cast; Buddhist +Sutras were copied; offerings were made to the Kami, and an amnesty +was proclaimed. Nothing availed. The child died, and the Emperor was +distraught with grief. In this incident the partisans of the Fujiwara +saw their opportunity. They caused it to be laid to Prince Nagaya's +charge that he had compassed the death of the infant prince by charms +and incantations. Two of the Fujiwara nobles were appointed to +investigate the accusation, and they condemned the prince to die by +his own hand. He committed suicide, and his wife and children died +with him. The travesty of justice was carefully acted throughout. A +proclamation was issued promising capital punishment to any one, of +whatever rank or position, who compassed the death or injury of +another by spells or incantations, and, six months later, the lady +Asuka was formally proclaimed Empress. + +In one respect the Fujiwara conspirators showed themselves clumsy. +The rescript justified Asuka's elevation by reference to the case of +Iwa, a daughter of the Takenouchi, whom the Emperor Nintoku had made +his Empress. But the Takenouchi family belonged to the Kwobetsu +class, and the publication of a special edict in justification could +be read as self-condemnation only. Nevertheless, the Fujiwara had +compassed their purpose. Thenceforth they wielded the power of the +State through the agency of their daughters. They furnished Empresses +and consorts to the reigning sovereigns, and took their own wives +from the Minamoto family, itself of Imperial lineage. To such an +extent was the former practice followed that on two occasions three +Fujiwara ladies served simultaneously in the palace. This happened +when Go-Reizei (1222-1232) had a Fujiwara Empress, Kwanko, and two +Fujiwara consorts, Fumi and Hiro. At one moment it had seemed as +though fate would interfere to thwart these astute plans. An epidemic +of small-pox, originating (735) in Kyushu, spread over the whole +country, and carried off the four sons of Fuhito--Muchimaro, +Fusazaki, Umakai, and Maro--leaving the family's fortunes in the +hands of juniors, who occupied only minor official positions. But the +Fujiwara genius rose superior to all vicissitudes. The elevation of +the lady Asuka to be Empress Komyo marks an epoch in Japanese +history. + +COMMUNICATIONS WITH CHINA + +In spite of the length and perils of a voyage from Japan to China in +the seventh and eighth centuries--one embassy which sailed from +Naniwa in the late summer of 659 did not reach China for 107 +days--the journey was frequently made by Japanese students of +religion and literature, just as the Chinese, on their side, +travelled often to India in search of Buddhist enlightenment. This +access to the refinement and civilization of the Tang Court +contributed largely to Japan's progress, both material and moral, and +is frankly acknowledged by her historians as a main factor in her +advance. When Shomu reigned at Nara, the Court in Changan had entered +the phase of luxury and epicurism which usually preludes the ruin of +a State. Famous literati thronged its portals; great poets and +painters enjoyed its patronage, and annalists descanted on its +magnificence. Some of the works of these famous men were carried to +Japan and remained with her as models and treasures. She herself +showed that she had competence to win some laurels even amid such a +galaxy. In the year 716, Nakamaro, a member of the great Abe family, +accompanied the Japanese ambassador to Tang and remained in China +until his death in 770. He was known in China as Chao Heng, and the +great poet, Li Pai, composed a poem in his memory, while the Tang +sovereign conferred on him the posthumous title of "viceroy of +Luchou." Not less celebrated was Makibi,* who went to China at the +same time as Nakamaro, and after twenty years' close study of +Confucius, returned in 735, having earned such a reputation for +profound knowledge of history, the five classics, jurisprudence, +mathematics, philosophy, calendar making, and other sciences that the +Chinese parted with him reluctantly. In Japan he was raised to the +high rank of asomi, and ultimately became minister of the Right +during the reign of Shotoku. + +*Generally spoken of as "Kibi no Mabi," and credited by tradition +with the invention of the katakana syllabary. + +Such incidents speak eloquently of the respect paid in Japan to +mental attainments and of the enlightened hospitality of China. In +the realm of Buddhism perhaps even more than in that of secular +science, this close intercourse made its influence felt. Priests went +from Japan to study in China, and priests came from China to preach +in Japan. During the Nara era, three of these men attained to special +eminence. They were Doji, Gembo, and Kanshin. Doji was the great +propagandist of the Sanron sect, whose tenets he had studied in China +for sixteen years (701-717). From plans prepared by him and taken +from the monastery of Hsi-ming in China, the temple Daian-ji was +built under the auspices of the Emperor Shomu, and having been richly +endowed, was placed in Doji's charge as lord-abbot. Gembo, during a +sojourn of two years at the Tang Court, studied the tenets of the +Hosso sect, which, like the Sanron, constituted one of the five sects +originally introduced into Japan. Returning in 736, he presented to +the Emperor Shomu five thousand volumes of the Sutras, together with +a number of Buddhist images, and he was appointed abbot of the +celebrated temple, Kofuku-ji. The third of the above three religious +celebrities was a Chinese missionary named Kanshin. He went to Japan +accompanied by fourteen priests, three nuns, and twenty-four laymen, +and the mission carried with it many Buddhist relics, images, and +Sutras. Summoned to Nara in 754, he was treated with profound +reverence, and on a platform specially erected before the temple +Todai-ji, where stood the colossal image of Buddha--to be presently +spoken of--the sovereign and many illustrious personages performed +the most solemn rite of Buddhism under the ministration of Kanshin. +He established a further claim on the gratitude of the Empress by +curing her of an obstinate malady, and her Majesty would fain have +raised him to the highest rank (dai-sojo) of the Buddhist priesthood. +But he declined the honour. Subsequently, the former palace of Prince +Nittabe was given to him as a residence and he built there the temple +of Shodai-ji, which still exists. + +RELIGION AND POLITICS + +The great Confucianist, Makibi, and the Buddhist prelate, Gembo, met +with misfortune and became the victims of an unjust accusation +because they attempted to assert the Imperial authority as superior +to the growing influence of the Fujiwara. Makibi held the post of +chamberlain of the Empress' household, and Gembo officiated at the +"Interior monastery" (Nai-dojo) where the members of the Imperial +family worshipped Buddha. The Emperor's mother, Higami, who on her +son's accession had received the title of "Imperial Great Lady" (vide +sup.), fell into a state of melancholia and invited Gembo to +prescribe for her, which he did successfully. Thus, his influence in +the palace became very great, and was augmented by the piety of the +Empress, who frequently listened to discourses by the learned +prelate. Makibi naturally worked in union with Gembo in consideration +of their similar antecedents. Fujiwara Hirotsugu was then governor of +Yamato. Witnessing this state of affairs with uneasiness, he +impeached Gembo. But the Emperor credited the priest's assertions, +and removed Hirotsugu to the remote post of Dazai-fu in Chikuzen. +There he raised the standard of revolt and was with some difficulty +captured and executed. The Fujiwara did not tamely endure this check. +They exerted their influence to procure the removal of Makibi and +Gembo from the capital, both being sent to Tsukushi (Kyushu), Makibi +in the capacity of governor, and Gembo to build the temple +Kwannon-ji. Gembo died a year later, and it was commonly reported +that the spirit of Hirotsugu had compassed his destruction, while +more than one book, professing to be historical, alleged that his +prime offence was immoral relations with the "Imperial Great Lady," +who was then some sixty years of age! There can be little doubt that +the two illustrious scholars suffered for their fame rather than for +their faults, and that their chief offences were overshadowing renown +and independence of Fujiwara patronage. + +BUDDHISM IN THE NARA EPOCH + +From what has been related above of the priests Kanshin and Gembo, it +will have been observed that the Emperor Shomu was an earnest +disciple of Buddhism. The heritage of administrative reforms +bequeathed to him by Tenchi and Temmu should have engrossed his +attention, but he subserved everything to religion, and thus the +great national work, begun in the Daika era and carried nearly to +completion in the Daiho, suffered its first check. Some annalists +have pleaded in Shomu's behalf that he trusted religious influence to +consolidate the system introduced by his predecessors. However that +may be, history records as the most memorable event of his reign his +abdication of the throne in order to enter religion, thus +inaugurating a practice which was followed by several subsequent +sovereigns and which materially helped the Fujiwara family to usurp +the reality of administrative power. Shomu, on receiving the tonsure, +changed his name to Shoman, and thenceforth took no part in secular +affairs. + +In all this, however, his procedure marked a climax rather than a +departure. In fact, never did any foreign creed receive a warmer +welcome than that accorded to Buddhism by the Japanese after its +first struggle for tolerance. Emperor after Emperor worshipped the +Buddha. Even Tenchi, who profoundly admired the Confucian philosophy +and whose experience of the Soga nobles' treason might well have +prejudiced him against the faith they championed; and even Temmu, +whose ideals took the forms of frugality and militarism, were lavish +in their offerings at Buddhist ceremonials. The Emperor Mommu enacted +a law for the better control of priests and nuns, yet he erected the +temple Kwannon-ji. The great Fujiwara statesmen, as Kamatari, Fuhito, +and the rest, though they belonged to a family (the Nakatomi) closely +associated with Shinto worship, were reverent followers of the Indian +faith. Kamatari approved of his eldest son, Joye, entering the +priesthood, and sent him to China to study the Sutras. He also gave +up his residence at Yamashina for conversion into a monastery. +Fujiwara Fuhito built the Kofuku-ji, and his son, Muchimaro, when +governor of Omi, repaired temples in the provinces, protected their +domains, and erected the Jingu-ji. + +That among the occupants of the throne during 165 years, from 593 to +758, no less than seven were females could not but contribute to the +spread of a religion which owed so much to spectacular effect. Every +one of these sovereigns lent earnest aid to the propagation of +Buddhism, and the tendency of the age culminated in the fanaticism of +Shomu, re-enforced as it was by the devotion of his consort, Komyo. +Tradition has woven into a beautiful legend the nation's impression +of this lady's piety. In an access of humility she vowed to wash the +bodies of a thousand beggars. Nine hundred and ninety-nine had been +completed when the last presented himself in the form of a loathsome +leper. Without a sign of repugnance the Empress continued her task, +and no sooner was the ablution concluded than the mendicant ascended +heavenwards, a glory of light radiating from his body. It is also +told of her that, having received in a dream a miniature golden image +of the goddess of Mercy (Kwannon) holding a baby in her arms, she +conceived a daughter who ultimately reigned as the Empress Koken.* + +*The resemblance between the legend and the Buddhist account of the +Incarnation is plain. It has to be remembered that Nestorians had +carried Christianity to the Tang Court long before the days of Komyo. + +In spite, however, of all this zeal for Buddhism, the nation did not +entirely abandon its traditional faith. The original cult had been +ancestor worship. Each great family had its uji no Kami, to whom it +made offerings and presented supplications. These deities were now +supplemented, not supplanted. They were grafted upon a Buddhist stem, +and shrines of the uji no Kami became uji-tera, or "uji temples."* +Thenceforth the temple (tera) took precedence of the shrine +(yashiro). When spoken of together they became ji-sha. This was the +beginning of Ryobu Shinto, or mixed Shinto, which found full +expression when Buddhist teachers, obedient to a spirit of toleration +born of their belief in the doctrines of metempsychosis and universal +perfectibility, asserted the creed that the Shinto Kami were avatars +(incarnations) of the numerous Buddhas. + +*Thus, Kofukuji, built by Kamatari and Fuhito was called O-Nakatomi +no uji-tera; Onjo-ji, erected by Otomo Suguri, was known as Otomo no +uji-tera, and so forth. + +The Nara epoch has not bequeathed to posterity many relics of the +great religious edifices that came into existence under Imperial +patronage during its seventy-five years. Built almost wholly of wood, +these temples were gradually destroyed by fire. One object, however, +defied the agent of destruction. It is a bronze Buddha of huge +proportions, known now to all the world as the "Nara Daibutsu." On +the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the fifteenth year of +Tembyo--7th of November, 743--the Emperor Shomu proclaimed his +intention of undertaking this work. The rescript making the +announcement is extant. It sets out by declaring that "through the +influence and authority of Buddha the country enjoys tranquillity," +and while warning the provincial and district governors against in +any way constraining the people to take part in the project, it +promises that every contributor shall be welcome, even though he +bring no more than a twig to feed the furnace or a handful of clay +for the mould. The actual work of casting began in 747 and was +completed in three years, after seven failures. The image was not +cast in its entirety; it was built up with bronze plates soldered +together. A sitting presentment of the Buddha, it had a height of +fifty-three and a half feet and the face was sixteen feet long, while +on either side was an attendant bosatsu standing thirty feet high. +For the image, 986,030,000 lbs. of copper were needed, and on the +gilding of its surface 870 lbs. of refined gold were used. + +These figures represented a vast fortune in the eighth century. +Indeed it seemed likely that a sufficiency of gold would not be +procurable, but fortunately in the year 749 the yellow metal was +found in the province of Mutsu, and people regarded the timely +discovery as a special dispensation of Buddha. The great hall in +which the image stood had a height of 120 feet and a width of 290 +feet from east to west, and beside it two pagodas rose to a height of +230 feet each. Throughout the ten years occupied in the task of +collecting materials and casting this Daibutsu, the Emperor solemnly +worshipped Rushana Buddha three times daily, and on its completion he +took the tonsure. It was not until the year 752, however, that the +final ceremony of unveiling took place technically called "opening +the eyes" (kaigan). On that occasion the Empress Koken, attended by +all the great civil and military dignitaries, held a magnificent +fete, and in the following year the temple--Todai-ji--was endowed +with the taxes of five thousand households and the revenue from +twenty-five thousand acres of rice-fields. + +PROVINCIAL TEMPLES + +While all this religious fervour was finding costly expression among +the aristocrats in Nara, the propagandists and patrons of Buddhism +did not neglect the masses. In the year 741, provincial temples were +officially declared essential to the State's well-being. These +edifices had their origin at an earlier date. During the reign of +Temmu (673-686) an Imperial rescript ordered that throughout the +whole country every household should provide itself with a Buddhist +shrine and place therein a sacred image. When the pious Empress Jito +occupied the throne (690-696), the first proselytizing mission was +despatched to the Ezo, among whom many converts were won; and, later +in the same reign, another rescript directed that a certain +Sutra--the Konkwo myo-kyo, or Sutra of Golden Effulgence--should be +read during the first month of every year in each province, the fees +of the officiating priests and other expenses being defrayed out of +the local official exchequers. + +ENGRAVING: PAGODA OF YAKUSHI-JI, NARA + +During Mommu's time (697-707), Buddhist hierarchs (kokushi) were +appointed to the provinces. Their chief functions were to expound the +Sutra and to offer prayers. The devout Shomu not only distributed +numerous copies of the Sutras, but also carried his zeal to the +length of commanding that every province should erect a sixteen-foot +image of Shaka with attendant bosatsu (Bodhisattva), and, a few years +later, he issued another command that each province must provide +itself with a pagoda seven storeys high. By this last rescript the +provincial temples (kokubun-ji) were called into official existence, +and presently their number was increased to two in each province, one +for priests and one for nuns. The kokushi attached to these temples +laboured in the cause of propagandism and religious education side by +side with the provincial pundits (kunihakase), whose duty was to +instruct the people in law and literature; but it is on record that +the results of the former's labours were much more conspicuous than +those of the latter. + +GYOGI + +It is said to have been mainly at the instance of the Empress Komyo +that the great image of Todai-ji was constructed and the provincial +temples were established. But undoubtedly the original impulse came +from a priest, Gyogi. He was one of those men who seem to have been +specially designed by fate for the work they undertake. Gyogi, said +to have been of Korean extraction, had no learning like that which +won respect for Kanshin and Gembo. But he was amply gifted with the +personal magnetism which has always distinguished notably successful +propagandists of religion. Wherever he preached and prayed, thousands +of priests and laymen flocked to hear him, and so supreme was his +influence that under his direction the people gladly undertook +extensive works of bridge building and road making. Like Shotoku +Taishi, his name is associated by tradition with achievements not +properly assignable to him, as the invention of the potter's +wheel--though it had been in use for centuries before his time--and +the production of various works of art which can scarcely have +occupied the attention of a religious zealot. By order of the Empress +Gensho, Gyogi was thrown into prison for a time, such a disturbing +effect did his propagandism produce on men's pursuit of ordinary +bread winning; but he soon emerged from durance and was taken into +reverent favour by the Emperor Shomu, who attached four hundred +priests as his disciples and conferred on him the titles of Dai-Sojo +(Great Hierarch) and Dai-Bosatsu (Great Bodhisattva). + +The enigma of the people's patience under the stupendous burdens +imposed on them by the fanatic piety of Shomu and his consort, Komyo, +finds a solution in the co-operation of Gyogi, whose speech and +presence exercised more influence than a hundred Imperial edicts. It +is recorded that, by way of corollary to the task of reconciling the +nation to the Nara Court's pious extravagance, Gyogi compassed the +erection of no less than forty-nine temples. But perhaps the most +memorable event in his career was the part he took in reconciling the +indigenous faith and the imported. However fervent Shomu's belief in +Buddhism, the country he ruled was the country of the Kami, and on +descent from the Kami his own title to the throne rested. Thus, +qualms of conscience may well have visited him when he remembered the +comparatively neglected shrine of the Sun goddess at Ise. Gyogi +undertook to consult the will of the goddess, and carried back a +revelation which he interpreted in the sense that Amaterasu should be +regarded as an incarnation of the Buddha. The Emperor then despatched +to Ise a minister of State who obtained an oracle capable of similar +interpretation, and, on the night after receipt of this utterance, +the goddess, appearing to his Majesty in a vision, told him that the +sun was Birushana (Vairotchana Tathagata); or Dainishi (Great Sun) +Nyorai. + +Thus was originated a theory which enabled Buddhism and Shinto to +walk hand in hand for a thousand years, the theory that the Shinto +Kami are avatars of the Buddha. Some historians contend that this +idea must have been evolved and accepted before the maturity of the +project for casting the colossal image at Nara, and that the credit +probably belongs to Gembo; others attribute it to the immortal priest +Kukai (Kobo Daishi), who is said to have elaborated the doctrine in +the early years of the ninth century. Both seem wrong. + +SUPERSTITIONS + +Side by side with the vigorous Buddhism of the Nara epoch, strange +superstitions obtained currency and credence. Two may be mentioned as +illustrating the mood of the age. One related to an ascetic, En no +Ubasoku, who was worshipped by the people of Kinai under the name of +En no Gyoja (En the anchorite). He lived in a cave on Katsuragi Mount +for forty years, wore garments made of wistaria bark, and ate only +pine leaves steeped in spring water. During the night he compelled +demons to draw water and gather firewood, and during the day he rode +upon clouds of five colours. The Kami Hitokotonushi, having been +threatened by him for neglecting his orders, inspired a man to accuse +him of treasonable designs, and the Emperor Mommu sent soldiers to +arrest him. But as he was able to evade them by recourse to his art +of flying, they apprehended his mother in his stead, whereupon he at +once gave himself up. In consideration of his filial piety his +punishment was commuted to exile on an island off the Izu coast, and +in deference to the Imperial orders he remained there quietly +throughout the day, but devoted the night to flying to the summit of +Mount Fuji or gliding over the sea. This En no Gyoja was the founder +of a sect of priests calling themselves Yamabushi. + +The second superstition relates to one of the genii named Kume. By +the practice of asceticism he obtained supernatural power, and while +riding one day upon a cloud, he passed above a beautiful girl washing +clothes in a river, and became so enamoured of her that he lost his +superhuman capacities and fell at her feet. She became his wife. +Years afterwards it chanced that he was called out for forced labour, +and, being taunted by the officials as a pseudo-genius, he fasted and +prayed for seven days and seven nights. On the eighth morning a +thunder-storm visited the scene, and after it, a quantity of heavy +timber was found to have been moved, without any human effort, from +the forest to the site of the projected building. The Emperor, +hearing of this, granted him forty-five acres, on which he built the +temple of Kume-dera. + +Such tales found credence in the Nara epoch, and indeed all through +the annals of early Japan there runs a well-marked thread of +superstition which owed something of its obtrusiveness to intercourse +with Korea and China, whence came professors of the arts of +invisibility and magic. A thunder deity making his occasional abode +in lofty trees is gravely spoken of in the context of a campaign, and +if at one moment a river is inhabited by a semi-human monster, at +another a fish formed like a child is caught in the sea. There is, of +course, an herb of longevity--"a plant resembling coral in shape, +with clustering leaves and branches; some red, others purple, others +black, others golden coloured, and some changing their colours in the +four seasons." In the reign of the Empress Kogyoku, witches and +wizards betray the people into all sorts of extravagances; and a +Korean acolyte has for friend a tiger which teaches him all manner of +wonderful arts, among others that of healing any disease with a magic +needle. Later on, these and cognate creations of credulity take their +appropriate places in the realm of folk-lore, but they rank with +sober history in the ancient annals. In this respect Japan did not +differ from other early peoples. + +THE FORTY-SIXTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS KOKEN (A.D. 749-758) + +In July, 749, the Emperor Shomu abdicated in favour of his daughter, +Princess Abe, known in history as Koken. Her mother was the +celebrated Princess Asuka, who, in spite of the Shimbetsu lineage of +her Fujiwara family, had been made Shomu's Empress, and whose name +had been changed to Komyo (Refulgence) in token of her illustrious +piety. The daughter inherited all the mother's romance, but in her +case it often degenerated into a passion more elementary than +religious ecstasy. Shomu, having no son, made his daughter heir to +the throne. Japanese history furnished no precedent for such a step. +The custom had always been that a reign ceased on the death of a +sovereign unless the Crown Prince had not yet reached maturity, in +which event his mother, or some other nearly related princess, +occupied the throne until he came of age and then surrendered the +reigns of government to his hands. Such had been the practice in the +case of the Empresses Jito, Gemmyo, and Gensho. Shomu, however, not +only bequeathed the throne to a princess, but while himself still in +the prime of life, abdicated in her favour. + +Thereafter, at the recognized instance of the all-powerful Fujiwara +family, Emperors often surrendered the sceptre to their heirs, +themselves retiring into religious life with the secular title of +Da-joko (Great ex-Emperor) and the ecclesiastical designation of Ho-o +(pontiff). Shomu was the originator of this practice, but the annals +are silent as to the motive that inspired him. It will be presently +seen that under the skilful manipulation of the Fujiwara nobles, this +device of abdication became a potent aid to their usurpation of +administrative power, and from that point of view the obvious +inference is that Shomu's unprecedented step was taken at their +suggestion. But the Buddhist propagandists, also, were profoundly +interested. That the sovereign himself should take the tonsure could +not fail to confer marked prestige on the Church. It is probable, +therefore, that Shomu was swayed by both influences--that of the +Buddhists, who worked frankly in the cause of their creed, and that +of the Fujiwara, who desired to see a lady of their own lineage upon +the throne. + +KOKEN AND NAKAMARO + +The fanaticism of the Emperor Shomu and his consort, Komyo, bore +fruit during the reign of Koken. In the third year after Shomu's +abdication, a decree was issued prohibiting the taking of life in any +form. This imposed upon the State the responsibility of making +donations of rice to support the fishermen, whose source of +livelihood was cut off by the decree. Further, at the ceremony of +opening the public worship of the great image of Buddha, the Empress +in person led the vast procession of military, civil, and religious +dignitaries to the temple Todai-ji. It was a fete of unparalleled +dimensions. All officials of the fifth grade and upwards wore full +uniform, and all of lesser grades wore robes of the colour +appropriate to their rank. Ten thousand Buddhist priests officiated, +and the Imperial musicians were re-enforced by those from all the +temples throughout the home provinces. Buddhism in Japan had never +previously received such splendid homage. + +In the evening, the Empress visited the residence of the grand +councillor, Fujiwara no Nakamaro. Fourteen hundred years had elapsed, +according to Japanese history, since the first of the Yamato +sovereigns set up his Court, and never had the Imperial house +incurred such disgrace as now befell it. Fujiwara no Nakamaro was a +grandson of the great Kamatari. He held the rank of dainagon and was +at once a learned man and an able administrator. From the time of +that visit to the Tamura-no-tei (Tamura mansion), as his residence +was called, the Empress repaired thither frequently, and finally made +it a detached palace under the name of Tamura-no-miya. Those that +tried to put an end to the liaison were themselves driven from +office, and Nakamaro's influence became daily stronger. + +THE FORTY-SEVENTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR JUNNIN (758-764 A.D.) + +In August, 758, the Empress, after a reign of four years, nominally +abdicated in favour of the Crown Prince, Junnin, but continued to +discharge all the functions of government herself. Her infatuation +for Nakamaro seemed to increase daily. She bestowed on him titles of +admiration and endearment under the guise of homonymous ideographs, +and she also bestowed on him in perpetuity the revenue from 3000 +households and 250 acres of land. But Koken's caprice took a new +turn. She became a nun and transferred her affection to a priest, +Yuge no Dokyo. Nakamaro did not tamely endure to be thus discarded. +He raised the standard of revolt and found that the nun could be as +relentless as the Empress had been gracious. The rebellion--known by +irony of fate as that of Oshikatsu (the Conqueror), which was one of +the names bestowed on him by Koken in the season of her +favour--proved a brief struggle. Nakamaro fell in battle and his +head, together with those of his wife, his children, and his devoted +followers to the number of thirty-four, was despatched to Nara. The +tumult had a more serious sequel. It was mainly through Nakamaro's +influence that Junnin had been crowned six years previously, and his +Majesty naturally made no secret of his aversion for the new +favourite. The Dowager Empress--so Koken had called herself--did not +hesitate a moment. In the very month following Nakamaro's +destruction, she charged that the Emperor was in collusion with the +rebel; despatched a force of troops to surround the palace; dethroned +Junnin; degraded him to the rank of a prince, and sent him and his +mother into exile, where the conditions of confinement were made so +intolerable that the ex-Emperor attempted to escape, was captured and +killed. + +ENGRAVING: THE KASUGA JINJA SHRINE AT KARA + +THE FORTY-EIGHTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS SHOTOKU (765-770 A.D.) + +The nun Koken now abandoned the veil and re-ascended the throne under +the name of Shotoku. Her affection for Dokyo had been augmented by +his constant ministrations during her illness while on a visit to the +"detatched palace" at Omi, and she conferred on him a priestly title +which made him rank equally with the prime minister. All the civil +and military magnates had to pay homage to him at the festival of the +New Year in his exalted capacity. Yet her Majesty was not satisfied. +Another step of promotion was possible. In the year after her second +ascent of the throne she named him Ho-o (pontiff), a title never +previously borne by any save her father, the ex-Emperor Shomu. Dokyo +rose fully to the level of the occasion. He modelled his life in +every respect on that of a sovereign and assumed complete control of +the administration of the empire. He not only fared sumptuously but +also built many temples, and as the Empress was not less extravagant, +the burden of taxation became painfully heavy. But the priestly +favourite, who seems to have now conceived the ambition of ascending +the throne, abated nothing of his pomp. Whether at his instigation or +because his favour had become of paramount importance to all men of +ambition, Asomaro, governor of the Dazai-fu, informed the Empress +that, according to an oracle delivered by the god of War (Hachiman) +at Usa, the nation would enjoy tranquillity and prosperity if Dokyo +were its ruler. + +The Empress had profound reverence for Hachiman, as, indeed, was well +known to Asomaro and to Dokyo. Yet she hesitated to take this extreme +step without fuller assurance. She ordered Wake no Kiyomaro to +proceed to Usa and consult the deity once more. Kiyomaro was a +fearless patriot. That Shotoku's choice fell on him at this juncture +might well have been regarded by his countrymen as an intervention of +heaven. Before setting out he had unequivocal evidence of what was to +be expected at Dokyo's hands by the bearer of a favourable revelation +from Hachiman. Yet the answer carried back by him from the Usa shrine +was explicitly fatal to Dokyo's hope. "Since the establishment of the +State the distinction of sovereign and subject has been observed. +There is no instance of a subject becoming sovereign. The successor +of the throne must be of the Imperial family and a usurper is to be +rejected." Dokyo's wrath was extreme. He ordered that Kiyomaro's name +should be changed to Kegaremaro, which was equivalent to substituting +"foul" for "fair;" he banished him to Osumi in the extreme south of +Kyushu, and he sent emissaries whose attempt to assassinate him was +balked by a thunder-storm. But before he could bring any fresh design +to maturity, the Empress died. Dokyo and Asomaro were banished, and +Kiyomaro was recalled from exile. + +Historians have been much perplexed to account for the strangely +apathetic demeanour of the high dignitaries of State in the presence +of such disgraceful doings as those of the Empress and her favourite. +They specially blame Kibi no Makibi, the great scholar. He had +recovered from his temporary eclipse in connexion with the revolt of +Fujiwara Hirotsugu, and he held the office of minister of the Right +during a great part of Koken's reign. Yet it is not on record that he +offered any remonstrance. The same criticism, however, seems to apply +with not less justice to his immediate predecessors in the post of +ministers of the Right, Tachibana no Moroe and Fujiwara no Toyonari; +to the minister of the Left, Fujiwara no Nagate; to the second +councillor, Fujiwara no Matate, and to the privy councillors, +Fujiwara no Yoshitsugu, Fujiwara no Momokawa, and Fujiwara no Uwona. +It was with the Fujiwara families that the responsibility rested +chiefly, and the general conduct of the Fujiwara at that period of +history forbids us to construe their apparent indifference in a +wholly bad sense. Probably the simplest explanation is the true one: +Koken herself was a Fujiwara. + +STATE OF THE PROVINCES + +In the days of Shomu and Koken administrative abuses were not limited +to the capital, they extended to the provinces also. Among the Daika +and Daiho laws, the first that proved to be a failure was that +relating to provincial governors. At the outset men of ability were +chosen for these important posts, and their term of service was +limited to four years. Soon, however, they began to petition for +reappointment, and under the sway of the Empress Koken a via media +was found by extending the period of office to six years. Moreover, +whereas at first a newly appointed governor was supposed to live in +the official residence of his predecessor, it quickly became the +custom to build a new mansion for the incoming dignitary and leave +the outgoing undisturbed. + +What that involved is plain when we observe that such edifices were +all constructed by forced labour. These governors usually possessed +large domains, acquired during their period of office. The Court +endeavoured to check them by despatching inspectors (ansatsu-shi) to +examine and report on current conditions; but that device availed +little. Moreover, the provincial governors exercised the power of +appointing and dismissing the district governors (gunshi) in their +provinces, although this evil system had been prohibited in the time +of Gemmyo. In connexion, too, with the rice collected for public +purposes, there were abuses. This rice, so long as it lay in the +official storehouses, represented so much idle capital. The +provincial governors utilized it by lending the grain to the farmers +in the spring, partly for seed purposes and partly for food, on +condition that it should be paid back in the autumn with fifty per +cent, increment. Subsequently this exorbitant figure was reduced to +thirty per cent. But the result was ruin for many farmers. They had +to hand over their fields and houses or sell themselves into bondage. + +Thus, outlaws, living by plunder, became a common feature of the +time, and there arose a need for guards more capable than those +supplied by the system of partial conscription. Hence, in the reign +of Shomu, the sons and brothers of district governors (gunshi) +proficient in archery and equestrianism were summoned from Omi, Ise, +Mino, and Echizen, and to them was assigned the duty of guarding the +public storehouses in the provinces. At the same time many men of +prominence and influence began to organize guards for their private +protection. This was contrary to law, but the condition of the time +seemed to warrant it, and the authorities were powerless to prevent +it. The ultimate supremacy of the military class had its origin in +these circumstances. The Government itself was constrained to +organize special corps for dealing with the brigands and pirates who +infested the country and the coasts. + +It has been well said by a Japanese historian that the fortunes of +the Yamato were at their zenith during the reigns of the three +Emperors Jimmu, Temmu, and Mommu. From the beginning of the eighth +century they began to decline. For that decline, Buddhism was largely +responsible. Buddhism gave to Japan a noble creed in the place of a +colourless cult; gave to her art and refinement, but gave to her also +something like financial ruin. The Indian faith spread with wonderful +rapidity among all classes and betrayed them into fanatical +extravagance. Anyone who did not erect or contribute largely to the +erection of a temple or a pagoda was not admitted to the ranks of +humanity. Men readily sacrificed their estates to form temple domains +or to purchase serfs (tera-yakko) to till them. The sublimity of +these edifices; the solemn grandeur of the images enshrined there; +the dazzling and exquisite art lavished on their decoration; the +strange splendour of the whole display might well suggest to the +Japanese the work of some supernatural agencies. + +In the Nara epoch, the Government spent fully one-half of its total +income on works of piety. No country except in time of war ever +devoted so much to unproductive expenditures. The enormous quantities +of copper used for casting images not only exhausted the produce of +the mines but also made large inroads upon the currency, hundreds of +thousands of cash being thrown into the melting-pot. In 760 it was +found that the volume of privately coined cash exceeded one-half of +the State income, and under pretext that to suspend the circulation +of such a quantity would embarrass the people, the Government struck +a new coin--the mannen tsuho--which, while not differing appreciably +from the old cash in intrinsic value, was arbitrarily invested with +ten times the latter's purchasing power. The profit to the treasury +was enormous; the disturbance of values and the dislocation of trade +were proportionately great. Twelve years later (772), another +rescript ordered that the new coin should circulate at par with the +old. Such unstable legislation implies a very crude conception of +financial requirements. + +RECLAIMED UPLANDS + +It has been shown that the Daika reforms regarded all "wet fields" as +the property of the Crown, while imposing no restriction on the +ownership of uplands, these being counted as belonging to their +reclaimers. Thus, large estates began to fall into private +possession; conspicuously in the case of provincial and district +governors, who were in a position to employ forced labour, and who +frequently abused their powers in defiance of the Daika code and +decrees, where it was enacted that all profits from reclaimed lands +must be shared with the farmers.* So flagrant did these practices +become that, in 767, reclamation was declared to constitute +thereafter no title of ownership. Apparently, however, this veto +proved unpractical, for five years later (772), it was rescinded, the +only condition now attached being that the farmers must not be +distressed. Yet again, in 784, another change of policy has to be +recorded. A decree declared that governors must confine their +agricultural enterprise to public lands, on penalty of being punished +criminally. If the language of this decree be read literally, a very +evil state of affairs would seem to have existed, for the governors +are denounced as wholly indifferent to public rights or interests, +and as neglecting no means of exploiting the farmers. Finally, in +806, the pursuit of productive enterprise by governors in the +provinces was once more sanctioned. + +*The term "farmers," as used in the times now under consideration, +must not be interpreted strictly in the modern sense of the word. It +meant, rather, the untitled and the unofficial classes in the +provinces. + +Thus, between 650 and 806, no less than five radical changes of +policy are recorded. It resulted that this vascillating legislation +received very little practical attention. Great landed estates +(shoen) accumulated in private hands throughout the empire, some +owned by nobles, some by temples; and in order to protect their +titles against the interference of the Central Government, the +holders of these estates formed alliances with the great Court nobles +in the capital, so that, in the course of time, a large part of the +land throughout the provinces fell under the control of a few +dominant families. + +In the capital (Nara), on the other hand, the enormous sums +squandered upon the building of temples, the casting or carving of +images, and the performance of costly religious ceremonials gradually +produced such a state of impecuniosity that, in 775, a decree was +issued ordering that twenty-five per cent, of the revenues of the +public lands (kugaideri) should be appropriated to increase the +emoluments of the metropolitan officials. This decree spoke of the +latter officials as not having sufficient to stave off cold or +hunger, whereas their provincial confreres were living in opulence, +and added that even men of high rank were not ashamed to apply for +removal to provincial posts. As illustrating the straits to which the +metropolitans were reduced and the price they had to pay for relief, +it is instructive to examine a note found among the contents of the +Shoso-in at Nara. + +STATEMENT OF MON (COPPER CASH) LENT + + Total, 1700 Mon. Monthly interest, 15 per hundred. + + Debtors Sums lent Amounts to be returned + +Tata no Mushimaro 500 mon 605 mon, on the 6th of the 11th month; + namely, original debt, 500 mon, and + interest for 1 month and 12 days, 105 mon + +Ayabe no Samimaro 700 mon 840 mon, on the 6th of the 11th month; + namely, original debt, 700 mon, and + interest for 1 month and 10 days, 140 mon + +Kiyono no Hitotari 500 mon 605 mon, on the 6th of the 11th month; + namely, original debt, 500 mon, and + interest for 1 month and 12 days, 105 mon + +The above to be paid back when the debtors receive their salaries. +Dated the 22nd of the 9th month of the 4th year of the Hoki era. +(October 13, 773.) + +Another note shows a loan of 1000 mon carrying interest at the rate +of 130 mon monthly. The price of accommodation being so onerous, it +is not difficult to infer the costliness of the necessaries of life. +When the Daika reforms were undertaken, the metropolitan magnates +looked down upon their provincial brethren as an inferior order of +beings, but in the closing days of the Nara epoch the situations were +reversed, and the ultimate transfer of administrative power from the +Court to the provincials began to be foreshadowed. + +THE FUJIWARA FAMILY + +The religious fanaticism of the Emperor Shomu and his consort, Komyo, +brought disorder into the affairs of the Imperial Court, and gave +rise to an abuse not previously recorded, namely, favouritism with +its natural outcome, treasonable ambition. It began to be doubtful +whether the personal administration of the sovereign might not be +productive of danger to the State. Thus, patriotic politicians +conceived a desire not to transfer the sceptre to outside hands but +to find among the scions of the Imperial family some one competent to +save the situation, even though the selection involved violation of +the principle of primogeniture. The death of the Empress Shotoku +without issue and the consequent extinction of the Emperor Temmu's +line furnished an opportunity to these loyal statesmen, and they +availed themselves of it to set Konin upon the throne, as will be +presently described. + +In this crisis of the empire's fortunes, the Fujiwara family acted a +leading part. Fuhito, son of the illustrious Kamatari, having +assisted in the compilation of the Daika code and laws, and having +served throughout four reigns--Jito, Mommu, Gemmyo, and Gensho--died +at sixty-two in the post of minister of the Right, and left four +sons, Muchimaro, Fusazaki, Umakai, and Maro. These, establishing +themselves independently, founded the "four houses" of the Fujiwara. +Muchimaro's home, being in the south (nan) of the capital, was called +Nan-ke; Fusazaki's, being in the north (hoku), was termed Hoku-ke; +Umakai's was spoken of as Shiki-ke, since he presided over the +Department of Ceremonies (Shiki), and Maro's went by the name of +Kyo-ke, this term also having reference to his office. The +descendants of the four houses are shown in the following table: + + / + / | Toyonari--Tsugunawa + | Muchimaro < Nakamaro (Emi no Oshikatsu) + | (Nan-ke) | Otomaro--Korekimi + | \ + | + | / / + | | Nagate | Nagayoshi (Mototsune) + | Fusazaki < Matate--Uchimaro--Fuyutsugu < adopted + | (Hoku-ke) | Kiyokawa | Yoshifusa--Mototsune-+ + | \ \ | + | | + | / | + | | Hirotsugu | + | Umakai < Yoshitsugu--Tanetsugu-- / Nakanari | + | (Shiki-ke) | --Kiyonari \ Kusuko | + | | Momokawa--Otsugu | +Kamatari- | \ | +Fuhito < | + | +-----------------------------------------------------+ + | Maro | + | (Kyo-ke) | Tokihira / + | Miyako | Nakahira / | Koretada + | (Consort | | Saneyori | Kanemichi + | of Mommu) | Tadahira < Morosuke-- < Kaneiye ----+ + | | | Morotada | Tamemitsu | + | \ \ | Kinsuye | + | \ | + | Asuka | + | (Empress | + | of Shomu) | + \ | + | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | + | / Korechika + | Michitaka < + | \ Takaiye + | Michikane + | / Yorimichi--Morozane--Moromichi -------+ + | Michinaga < | + \ \ Norimichi | + | + | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | + | / Tadamichi + | Tadazane < + | \ Yorinaga + \ + +It has already been related how the four heads of these families all +died in one year (736) during an epidemic of small-pox, but it may be +doubted whether this apparent calamity did not ultimately prove +fortunate, for had these men lived, they would have occupied +commanding positions during the scandalous reign of the Empress Koken +(afterwards Shotoku), and might have supported the ruinous disloyalty +of Nakamaro or the impetuous patriotism of Hirotsugu. However that +may be, the Fujiwara subsequently took the lead in contriving the +selection and enthronement of a monarch competent to stem the evil +tendency of the time, and when the story of the Fujiwara usurpations +comes to be written, we should always remember that it had a long +preface of loyal service, a preface extending to four generations. + +THE FORTY-NINTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KONIN (A.D. 770-781) + +When the Empress Shotoku died, no successor had been designated, and +it seemed not unlikely that the country would be thrown into a state +of civil war. The ablest among the princes of the blood was +Shirakabe, grandson of the Emperor Tenchi. He was in his sixty-second +year, had held the post of nagon, and unquestionably possessed +erudition and administrative competence. Fujiwara Momokawa warmly +espoused his cause, but for unrecorded reason Kibi no Makibi offered +opposition. Makibi being then minister of the Right and Momokawa only +a councillor, the former's views must have prevailed had not Momokawa +enlisted the aid of his brother, Yoshitsugu, and of his cousin, +Fujiwara Nagate, minister of the Left. By their united efforts Prince +Shirakabe was proclaimed and became the Emperor Konin, his youngest +son, Osabe, being appointed Prince Imperial. + +Konin justified the zeal of his supporters, but his benevolent and +upright reign has been sullied by historical romanticists, who +represent him as party to an unnatural intrigue based on the alleged +licentiousness and shamelessness of his consort, Princess Inokami, a +lady then in her fifty-sixth year with a hitherto blameless record. +Much space has been given to this strange tale by certain annalists, +but its only apparent basis of fact would seem to be that Momokawa, +wishing to secure the succession to Prince Yamabe--afterwards Emperor +Kwammu--compassed the deaths of the Empress Inokami and her son, +Osabe, the heir apparent. They were probably poisoned on the same +day, and stories injurious to the lady's reputation--stories going so +far as to accuse her of attempting the life of the Emperor by +incantation--were circulated in justification of the murder. Certain +it is, however, that to Momokawa's exertions the Emperor Kwammu owed +his accession, as had his father, Konin. Kwammu, known in his days of +priesthood as Yamabe, was Konin's eldest son, and would have been +named Prince Imperial on his father's ascent of the throne had not +his mother, Takano, been deficient in qualifications of lineage. He +had held the posts of president of the University and minister of the +Central Department, and his career, alike in office and on the +throne, bore witness to the wisdom of his supporters. + +As illustrating the religious faith of the age, it is noteworthy that +Momokawa, by way of promoting Prince Yamabe's interests, caused a +statue to be made in his likeness, and, enshrining it in the temple +Bonshaku-ji, ordered the priests to offer supplications in its +behalf. The chronicle further relates that after the deaths of the +Empress (Inokami) and her son (Osabe), Momokawa and Emperor Konin +were much troubled by the spirits of the deceased. That kind of +belief in the maleficent as well as in the beneficent powers of the +dead became very prevalent in later times. Momokawa died before the +accession of Kwammu, but to him was largely due the great influence +subsequently wielded by the Fujiwara at Court. It is on record that +Kwammu, speaking in after years to Momokawa's son, Otsugu, recalled +his father's memory with tears, and said that but for Momokawa he +would never have reigned over the empire. + +The fact is that the Fujiwara were a natural outcome of the +situation. The Tang systems, which Kamatari, the great founder of the +family, had been chiefly instrumental in introducing, placed in the +hands of the sovereign powers much too extensive to be safely +entrusted to a monarch qualified only by heredity. Comprehending the +logic of their organization, the Chinese made their monarchs' tenure +of authority depend upon the verdict of the nation. But in Japan the +title to the crown being divinely bequeathed, there could be no +question of appeal to a popular tribunal. So long as men like Kotoku, +Tenchi, and Temmu occupied the throne, the Tang polity showed no +flagrant defects. But when the exercise of almost unlimited authority +fell into the hands of a religious fanatic like Shomu, or a +licentious lady like Koken, it became necessary either that the +principle of heredity should be set aside altogether, or that some +method of limited selection should be employed. + +It was then that the Fujiwara became a species of electoral college, +not possessing, indeed, any recognized mandate from the nation, yet +acting in the nation's behalf to secure worthy occupants for the +throne. For a time this system worked satisfactorily, but ultimately +it inosculated itself with the views it was designed to nullify, and +the Fujiwara became flagrant abusers of the power handed down to +them. Momokawa's immediate followers were worthy to wear his mantle. +Tanetsugu, Korekimi, Tsugunawa--these are names that deserve to be +printed in letters of gold on the pages of Japan's annals. They +either prompted or presided over the reforms and retrenchments that +marked Kwammu's reign, and personal ambition was never allowed to +interfere with their duty to the State. + +IMPERIAL PRINCES + +Contemporaneously with the rise of the Fujiwara to the highest places +within reach of a subject, an important alteration took place in the +status of Imperial princes. There was no relation of cause and effect +between the two things, but in subsequent times events connected them +intimately. According to the Daika legislation, not only sons of +sovereigns but also their descendants to the fifth generation were +classed as members of the Imperial family and inherited the title of +"Prince" (0). Ranks (hon-i) were granted to them and they often +participated in the management of State affairs. But no salaries were +given to them; they had to support themselves with the proceeds of +sustenance fiefs. The Emperor Kwammu was the first to break away from +this time-honoured usage. He reduced two of his own sons, born of a +non-Imperial lady, from the Kwobetsu class to the Shimbetsu, +conferring on them the uji names of Nagaoka and Yoshimine, and he +followed the same course with several of the Imperial grandsons, +giving them the name of Taira. + +Thenceforth, whenever a sovereign's offspring was numerous, it became +customary to group them with the subject class under a family name. A +prince thus reduced received the sixth official rank (roku-i), and +was appointed to a corresponding office in the capital or a province, +promotion following according to his ability and on successfully +passing the examination prescribed for Court officials. Nevertheless, +to be divested of the title of "Prince" did not mean less of princely +prestige. Such nobles were always primi inter pares. The principal +uji thus created were Nagaoka, Yoshimine, Ariwara, Taira, and +Minamoto. + +THE TAIRA FAMILY + +Prince Katsurabara was the fifth son of the Emperor Kwammu. +Intelligent, reserved, and a keen student, he is said to have +understood the warnings of history as clearly as its incentives. He +petitioned the Throne that the title of should be exchanged in his +children's case for that of Taira no Asomi (Marquis of Taira). This +request, though several times repeated, was not granted until the +time (889) of his grandson, Takamochi, who became the first Taira no +Asomi and governor of Kazusa province. He was the grandfather of +Masakado and great-grandfather of Tadamori, names celebrated in +Japanese history. For generations the Taira asomi were appointed +generals of the Imperial guards conjointly with the Minamoto, to be +presently spoken of. The name of Taira was conferred also on three +other sons of Kwammu, the Princes Mamta, Kaya, and Nakano, so that +there were four Tairahouses just as there were four Fujiwara. + +THE MINAMOTO FAMILY + +The Emperor Saga (810) had fifty children. From the sixth son +downwards they were grouped under the uji of Minamoto. All received +appointments to important offices. This precedent was even more +drastically followed in the days of the Emperor Seiwa (859-876). To +all his Majesty's sons, except the Crown Prince, the uji of Minamoto +was given. The best known among these early Minamoto was Tsunemoto, +commonly called Prince Rokuson. He was a grandson of the Emperor +Seiwa, celebrated for two very dissimilar attainments, which, +nevertheless, were often combined in Japan--the art of composing +couplets and the science of commanding troops. Appointed in the +Shohyo era (931-937) to be governor of Musashi, the metropolitan +province of modern Japan, his descendants constituted the principal +among fourteen Minamoto houses. They were called the Seiwa Genji, and +next in importance came the Saga Genji and the Murakami Genji.* + +*That is to say, descended from the Emperor Murakami (947-967). Gen +is the Chinese sound of Minamoto and ji (jshi) represents uji. The +Minamoto are alluded to in history as either the Genji or the +Minamoto. Similarly, hei being the Chinese pronunciation of Taira, +the latter are indiscriminately spoken of Taira or Heike (ke = +house). Both names are often combined into Gen-pei. + +UJI NO CHOJA AND GAKU-IN NO BETTO + +The imperially descended uji spoken of above, each consisting of +several houses, were grouped according to their names, and each group +was under the supervision of a chief, called uji no choja or uji no +cho. Usually, as has been already stated, the corresponding position +in an ordinary uji was called uji no Kami and belonged to the +first-born of the principal house, irrespective of his official rank. +But in the case of the imperially descended uji, the chief was +selected and nominated by the sovereign with regard to his +administrative post. With the appointment was generally combined that +of Gaku-in no betto, or commissioner of the academies established for +the youths of the uji. The principal of these academies was the +Kwangaku-in of the Fujiwara. Founded by Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, +minister of the Left, in the year 821, and endowed with a substantial +part of his estate in order to afford educational advantages for the +poorer members of the great family, this institution rivalled even +the Imperial University, to be presently spoken of. It was under the +superintendence of a special commissioner (benkwari). + +Next in importance was the Shogaku-in of the Minamoto, established by +Ariwara Yukihira in the year 881. Ariwara being a grandson of the +Emperor Saga, a member of the Saga Genji received the nomination of +chief commissioner; but in the year 1140, the minister of the Right, +Masasada, a member of the Murakami Genji, was appointed to the +office, and thenceforth it remained in the hands of that house. Two +other educational institutions were the Junna-in of the O-uji and the +Gakukwan-in of the Tachibana-iyt, the former dating from the year 834 +and the latter from 820. It is not on record that there existed any +special school under Taira auspices. + +AGRICULTURE + +One of the principal duties of local governors from the time of the +Daika reforms was to encourage agriculture. A rescript issued by the +Empress Gensho in the year 715 declared that to enrich the people was +to make the country prosperous, and went on to condemn the practice +of devoting attention to rice culture only and neglecting upland +crops, so that, in the event of a failure of the former, the latter +did not constitute a substitute. It was therefore ordered that barley +and millet should be assiduously grown, and each farmer was required +to lay down two tan (2/3 acre) annually of these upland cereals. +Repeated proclamations during the eighth century bear witness to +official solicitude in this matter, and in 723 there is recorded a +distribution of two koku (nearly ten bushels) of seeds, ten feet of +cotton cloth, and a hoe (kuwa) to each agriculturist throughout the +empire. Such largesse suggests a colossal operation, but, in fact, it +meant little more than the remission of about a year's taxes. +Necessarily, as the population increased, corresponding extension of +the cultivated area became desirable, and already, in the year 722, a +work of reclamation on a grand scale was officially undertaken by +organizing a body of peasants and sending them to bring under culture +a million cho (two and a half million acres) of new land. This +interesting measure is recorded without any details whatever. + +Private initiative was also liberally encouraged. An Imperial +rescript promised that any farmer harvesting three thousand koku +(fifteen thousand bushels) of cereals from land reclaimed by himself +should receive the sixth class order of merit (kun roku-to), while a +crop of over a thousand koku and less than three thousand would carry +lifelong exemption from forced labour. The Daika principle that the +land was wholly the property of the Crown had thus to yield partially +to the urgency of the situation, and during the third decade of the +eighth century it was enacted that, if a man reclaimed land by +utilizing aqueducts and reservoirs already in existence, the land +should belong to him for his lifetime, while if the reservoirs and +aqueducts were of his own construction, the right of property should +be valid for three generations.* From the operation of this law the +provincial governors were excepted; the usufruct of lands reclaimed +by them was limited to the term of their tenure of office, though, as +related already, legislation in their case varied greatly from time +to time. + +*This system was called Sansei-isshin no ho. It is, perhaps, +advisable to note that the Daika system of dividing the land for +sustenance purposes applied only to land already under cultivation. + +For a certain period the system of "three generations, or one life" +worked smoothly enough; but subsequently it was found that as the +limit of time approached, farmers neglected to till the land and +suffered it to lie waste. Therefore, in the year 743, the Government +enacted that all reclaimed land should be counted the perpetual +property of the reclaimer, with one proviso, namely, that three years +of neglect to cultivate should involve confiscation. The recognition +of private ownership was not unlimited. An area of five hundred cho +(1250 acres) was fixed as the superior limit, applicable only to the +case of a "First Class" prince, the quantities being thereafter on a +sliding scale down to ten cho (twenty-five acres). Any excess +resulting from previous accretions was to revert to the State. +Evidently the effective operation of such a system predicated +accurate surveys and strict supervision. Neither of these conditions +existed in Japan at that remote period. The prime purpose of the +legislators was achieved, since the people devoted themselves +assiduously to land reclamation; but by free recourse to their power +of commanding labour, the great families acquired estates largely in +excess of the legal limit. A feature of the Nara epoch was the +endowment of the Buddhist temples with land by men of all classes, +and the sho-en, or temple domain, thus came into existence. + +STOCK FARMING + +Information on the subject of stock farming is scanty and indirect, +but in the year 713 we find a rescript ordering the provincials of +Yamashiro to provide and maintain fifty milch-cows, and in 734, +permission was given that all the districts in the Tokai-do, the +Tosan-do, and the Sanin-do might trade freely in cattle and horses. +Seven years later (741), when Shomu occupied the throne, and when +Buddhism spread its protecting mantle over all forms of life, an +edict appeared condemning anyone who killed a horse or an ox to be +flogged with a hundred strokes and to be fined heavily. Only one +other reference to stock farming appears in the annals of the Nara +epoch: the abolition of the two pastures at Osumi and Himeshima in +the province of Settsu was decreed in 771, but no reason is recorded. + +SERICULTURE + +From the remotest times sericulture was assiduously practised in +Japan, the ladies of the Imperial Court, from the Empress downwards, +taking an active part in the pursuit. The wave of Buddhist zeal which +swept over Japan in the eighth century gave a marked impulse to this +branch of industry, for the rich robes of the priests constituted a +special market. + +ORANGES + +It is recorded in the Chronicles that Tajimamori, a Korean emigrant +of royal descent, was sent to the "Eternal Land" by the Emperor +Suinin, in the year A.D. 61, to obtain "the fragrant fruit that grows +out of season;" that, after a year's absence, he returned, and +finding the Emperor dead, committed suicide at his tomb. The +"fragrant fruit" is understood to have been the orange, then called +tachibana (Citrus nobilis). If the orange really reached Japan at +that remote date, it does not appear to have been cultivated there, +for the importation of orange trees from China is specially mentioned +as an incident of the early Nara epoch. + +INDUSTRIES + +One of the unequivocal benefits bestowed on Japan by Buddhism was a +strong industrial and artistic impulse. Architecture made notable +progress owing to the construction of numerous massive and +magnificent temples and pagodas. One of the latter, erected during +the reign of Temmu, had a height of thirteen storeys. The arts of +casting and of sculpture, both in metal and in wood, received great +development, as did also the lacquer industry. Vermilion lacquer was +invented in the time of Temmu, and soon five different colours could +be produced, while to the Nara artisans belongs the inception of +lacquer strewn with makie. Lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl was +another beautiful concept of the Nara epoch. A special tint of red +was obtained with powdered coral, and gold and silver were freely +used in leaf or in plates. As yet, history does not find any Japanese +painter worthy of record. Chinese and Korean masters remained supreme +in that branch of art. + +TRADE + +Commerce with China and Korea was specially active throughout the +eighth century, and domestic trade also nourished. In the capital +there were two markets where people assembled at noon and dispersed +at sunset. Men and women occupied different sections, and it would +seem that transactions were subject to strict surveillance. Thus, if +any articles of defective quality or adulterated were offered for +sale, they were liable to be confiscated officially, and if a buyer +found that short measure had been given, he was entitled to return +his purchase. Market-rates had to be conformed with, and purchasers +were required to pay promptly. It appears that trees were planted to +serve as shelter or ornament, for we read of "trees in the Market of +the East" and "orange trees in the market of Kaika." + +HABITATIONS + +The Buddhist temple, lofty, spacious, with towering tiled roof, +massive pillars and rich decoration of sculpture and painting, could +not fail to impart an impetus to Japanese domestic architecture, +especially as this impressive apparition was not evolved gradually +under the eyes of the nation but was presented to them suddenly in +its complete magnificence. Thus it is recorded that towards the close +of the seventh century, tiled roofs and greater solidity of structure +began to distinguish official buildings, as has been already noted. +But habitations in general remained insignificant and simple. A poem +composed by the Dowager Empress Gensho (724) with reference to the +dwelling of Prince Nagaya is instructive: + + "Hata susuki" (Thatched with miscanthus) + "Obana sakafuki" (And eularia) + "Kuro-ki mochi" (Of ebon timbers built, a house) + "Tsukureru yado wa" (Will live a myriad years.) + "Yorozu yo made ni." + +This picture of a nobleman's dwelling in the eighth century is not +imposing. In the very same year the Emperor Shomu, responding to an +appeal from the council of State, issued an edict that officials of +the fifth rank and upwards and wealthy commoners should build +residences with tiled roofs and walls plastered in red. This +injunction was only partly obeyed: tiles came into more general use, +but red walls offended the artistic instinct of the Japanese. Nearly +fifty years later, when (767-769) the shrine of Kasuga was erected at +Nara in memory of Kamatari, founder of the Fujiwara family, its +pillars were painted in vermilion, and the fashion inaugurated found +frequent imitation in later years. + +Of furniture the houses had very little as compared with Western +customs. Neither chairs nor bedsteads existed; people sat and slept +on the floor, separated from it only by mats made of rice-straw, by +cushions or by woollen carpets, and in aristocratic houses there was +a kind of stool to support the arm of the sitter, a lectern, and a +dais for sitting on. Viands were served on tables a few inches high, +and people sat while eating. From the middle of the seventh century a +clepsydra of Chinese origin was used to mark the hours. + +The first of these instruments is recorded to have been made in A.D. +660, and tradition does not tell what device had previously served +the purpose. When temple bells came into existence, the hours were +struck on them for public information, and there is collateral +evidence that some similar system of marking time had been resorted +to from early eras. But the whole story is vague. It seems, however, +that the method of counting the hours was influenced by the manner of +striking them. Whether bronze bell or wooden clapper was used, three +preliminary strokes were given by way of warning, and it therefore +became inexpedient to designate any of the hours "one," "two," or +"three." Accordingly the initial number was four, and the day being +divided into six hours, instead of twelve, the highest number became +nine, which corresponded to the Occidental twelve.* + +*There were no subdivisions into minutes and seconds in old Japan. +The only fraction of an hour was one-half. + +BELLS + +Concerning the bells here mentioned, they are one of the unexplained +achievements of Japanese casters. In Europe the method of producing a +really fine-toned bell was evolved by "ages of empirical trials," but +in Japan bells of huge size and exquisite note were cast in apparent +defiance of all the rules elaborated with so much difficulty in the +West. One of the most remarkable hangs in the belfry of Todai-ji at +Nara. It was cast in the year 732 when Shomu occupied the throne; it +is 12 feet 9 inches high; 8 feet 10 inches in diameter; 10 inches +thick, and weighs 49 tons. There are great bells also in the temples +at Osaka and Kyoto, and it is to be noted that early Japanese bronze +work was largely tributary and subsidiary to temple worship. Temple +bells, vases, gongs, mirrors and lanterns are the principal items in +this class of metal-working, until a much later period with its +smaller ornaments. + +Very few references to road making are found in the ancient annals, +but the reign of the Empress Gensho (715-723) is distinguished as the +time when the Nakasen-do, or Central Mountain road, was constructed. +It runs from Nara to Kyoto and thence to the modern Tokyo, traversing +six provinces en route. Neither history nor tradition tells whether +it was wholly made in the days of Gensho or whether, as seems more +probable, it was only commenced then and carried to completion in the +reign of Shomu (724-748), when a large force of troops had to be sent +northward against the rebellious Yemishi. Doubtless the custom of +changing the capital on the accession of each sovereign had the +effect of calling many roads into existence, but these were of +insignificant length compared with a great trunk highway like the +Nakasen-do. + +Along these roads the lower classes travelled on foot; the higher on +horseback, and the highest in carts drawn by bullocks. For +equestrians who carried official permits, relays of horses could +always be obtained at posting stations. Among the ox-carts which +served for carriages, there was a curious type, distinguished by the +fact that between the shafts immediately in front of the dashboard +stood a figure whose outstretched arm perpetually pointed south. This +compass-cart, known as the "south-pointing chariot," was introduced +from China in the year 658. There was also a "cloud-chariot," but +this served for war purposes only, being a movable erection for +overlooking an enemy's defensive work, corresponding to the turris of +Roman warfare. Borrowed also from China was a battering engine which +moved on four wheels, and, like the cloud-chariot, dated from 661, +when a Tang army invaded Korea. + +HABILIMENTS + +A reader of the Chronicles is struck by the fact that from the close +of the seventh century much official attention seems to have been +bestowed on the subject of costume. Thus, during the last five years +of the Emperor Temmu's reign--namely, from 681--we find no less than +nine sumptuary regulations issued. The first was an edict, containing +ninety-two articles, of which the prologue alone survives, "The +costumes of all, from the princes of the Blood down to the common +people, and the wearing of gold and silver, pearls and jewels, +purple, brocade, embroidery, fine silks, together with woollen +carpets, head-dresses, and girdles, as well as all kinds of coloured +stuffs, are regulated according to a scale, the details of which are +given in the written edict." In the next year (682), another edict +forbids the wearing of caps of rank, aprons, broad girdles, and +leggings by princes or public functionaries, as well as the use of +shoulder-straps or mantillas by palace stewards or ladies-in-waiting. +The shoulder-strap was a mark of manual labour, and its use in the +presence of a superior has always been counted as rude in Japan. + +A few days later, this meticulous monarch is found commanding men and +women to tie up their hair, eight months being granted to make the +change, and, at the same time, the practice of women riding astride +on horseback came into vogue, showing that female costume had much in +common with male. Caps of varnished gauze, after the Chinese type, +began to be worn by both sexes simultaneously with the tying-up of +the hair. Two years later, women of forty years or upwards were given +the option of tying up their hair or letting it hang loose, and of +riding astride or side-saddle as they pleased. At the same time, to +both sexes, except on State occasions, liberty of choice was accorded +in the matter of wearing sleeveless jackets fastened in front with +silk cords and tassels, though in the matter of trousers, men had to +gather theirs in at the bottom with a lace. By and by, the tying up +of the hair by women was forbidden in its turn; the wearing of +leggings was sanctioned, and the colours of Court costumes were +strictly determined according to the rank of the wearer red, deep +purple, light purple, dark green, light green, deep grape-colour and +light grape-colour being the order from above downwards. + +All this attention to costume is suggestive of much refinement. From +the eighth century even greater care was devoted to the subject. We +find three kinds of habiliments prescribed--full dress (reifuku), +Court dress (chofuku) and uniform (seifuku)--with many minor +distinctions according to the rank of the wearer. Broadly speaking, +the principal garments were a paletot, trousers, and a narrow girdle +tied in front. The sleeves of the paletot were studiously regulated. +A nobleman wore them long enough to cover his hands, and their +width--which in after ages became remarkable--was limited in the Nara +epoch to one foot. The manner of folding the paletot over the breast +seems to have perplexed the legislators for a time. At first they +prescribed that the right should be folded over the left (hidarimae), +but subsequently (719) an Imperial decree ordered that the left +should be laid across the right (migimae), and since that day, nearly +twelve hundred years ago, there has not been any departure from the +latter rule. Court officials carried a baton (shaku), that, too, +being a habit borrowed from China. + +FOOD + +When the influence of Buddhism became supreme in Court circles, all +taking of life for purposes of food was interdicted. The first +prohibitory decree in that sense was issued by Temmu (673-686), and +the veto was renewed in more peremptory terms by Shomu (724-748), +while the Empress Shotoku (765-770) went so far as to forbid the +keeping of dogs, falcons, or cormorants for hunting or fishing at +Shinto ceremonials. But such vetoes were never effectually enforced. +The great staple of diet was rice, steamed or boiled, and next in +importance came millet, barley, fish of various kinds (fresh or +salted), seaweed, vegetables, fruit (pears, chestnuts, etc.), and the +flesh of fowl, deer, and wild boar. Salt, bean-sauce, and vinegar +were used for seasoning. There were many kinds of dishes; among the +commonest being soup (atsumono) and a preparation of raw fish in +vinegar (namasu). In the reign of Kotoku (645-654), a Korean named +Zena presented a milch cow to the Court, and from that time milk was +recognized as specially hygienic diet. Thus, when the Daiho laws were +published at the beginning of the eighth century, dairies were +attached to the medical department, and certain provinces received +orders to present butter (gyuraku) for the Court's use. + +MARRIAGES AND FUNERALS + +Very little is known of the marriage ceremony in old Japan. That +there was a nuptial hut is attested by very early annals, and from +the time of the Emperor Richu (400-405) wedding presents are +recorded. But for the rest, history is silent, and it is impossible +to fix the epoch when a set ceremonial began to be observed. + +As to funerals, there is fuller but not complete information. That a +mortuary chamber was provided for the corpse pending the preparation +of the tomb is shown by the earliest annals, and from an account, +partly allegorical, contained in the records of the prehistoric age, +we learn that dirges were sung for eight days and eight nights, and +that in the burial procession were marshalled bearers of viands to be +offered at the grave, bearers of brooms to sweep the path, women who +prepared the viands, and a body of hired mourners. But the Kojiki, +describing the same ceremony, speaks of "making merry" with the +object of recalling the dead to life, as the Sun goddess had been +enticed from her cave. From the days of the Emperor Bidatsu +(572-585), we find the first mention of funeral orations, and +although the contents of tombs bear witness to the fact that articles +other than food were offered to the deceased, it is not until the +burial of the Emperor's consort, Katachi, (612) that explicit mention +is made of such a custom. On that occasion Tori, omi of the Abe-uji, +offered to the spirit of the dead "sacred utensils and sacred +garments, fifteen thousand kinds in all." Fifty years later, white is +mentioned as the mourning colour, but when next (683) we hear of +funerals, it is evident that their realm had been invaded by Chinese +customs, for it is recorded that "officials of the third rank were +allowed at their funerals one hearse, forty drums, twenty great +horns, forty little horns, two hundred flags, one metal gong, and one +hand-bell, with lamentation for one day." At Temmu's obsequies (687) +mention is made of an "ornamented chaplet," the first reference to +the use of flowers, which constitute such a prominent feature of +Buddhist obsequies. + +But there is no evidence that Buddhist rites were employed at +funerals until the death of the retired Emperor Shomu (756). +Thereafter, the practice became common. It was also to a Buddhist +priest, Dosho, that Japan owed the inception of cremation. Dying in +the year 700, Dosho ordered his disciples to cremate his body at +Kurihara, and, two years later, the Dowager Empress Jito willed that +her corpse should be similarly disposed of. From the megalithic tombs +of old Japan to the little urn that holds the handful of ashes +representing a cremated body, the transition is immense. It has been +shown that one of the signal reforms of the Daika era was the setting +of limits to the size of sepulchres, a measure which afforded to the +lower classes much relief from forced labour. But an edict issued in +706 shows that the tendance of the resting place of the dead was +still regarded as a sacred duty, for the edict ordered that, alike at +the ancestral tombs of the uji and in the residential quarter of the +common people, trees should be planted. + +Not yet, however, does the custom of erecting monuments with +inscriptions seem to have come into vogue. The Empress Gemmyo (d. +721) appears to have inaugurated that feature, for she willed not +only that evergreens should be planted at her grave but also that a +tablet should be set up there. Some historians hold that the donning +of special garments by way of mourning had its origin at that time, +and that it was borrowed from the Tang code of etiquette. But the +Chronicles state that in the year A.D. 312, when the Prince Imperial +committed suicide rather than occupy the throne, his brother, +Osasagi, "put on plain unbleached garments and began mourning for +him." White ultimately became the mourning colour, but in the eighth +century it was dark,* and mourning habiliments were called +fuji-koromo, because they were made from the bark of the wisteria +(fuji). Among the Daiho statutes was one providing that periods of +mourning should be of five grades, the longest being one year and the +shortest seven days. + +*"On the death of the Emperor Inkyo (A.D. 453), the Korean Court sent +eighty musicians robed in black, who marched in procession to the +Yamato palace, playing and singing a dirge as they went." + +PASTIMES + +Foremost among the pastimes of the Japanese people in all epochs was +dancing. We hear of it in the prehistoric age when the "monkey +female" (Sarume) performed a pantominic dance before the rock cave of +the Sun goddess; we hear of it in protohistoric times when Inkyo's +consort was betrayed into an offer that wrecked her happiness, and we +hear of it in the historic epoch when the future Emperor Kenso danced +in the disguise of a horse-boy. But as the discussion of this subject +belongs more intelligently to the era following the Nara, we confine +ourselves here to noting that even the religious fanatic Shomu is +recorded as having repaired to the Shujaku gate of the palace to +witness a performance of song and dance (utagaki) in which 240 +persons, men and women, took part; and that, in the same year (734), +230 members of six great uji performed similarly, all robed in blue +garments fastened in front with long red cords and tassels. + +The tendency of the Japanese has always been to accompany their +feasting and merry-making with music, versifying, and dancing. At the +time now under consideration there was the "winding-water fete" +(kyoku-sui no en), when princes, high officials, courtiers, and noble +ladies seated themselves by the banks of a rivulet meandering gently +through some fair park, and launched tiny cups of mulled wine upon +the current, each composing a stanza as the little messenger reached +him, or drinking its contents by way of penalty for lack of poetic +inspiration. There were also the flower festivals--that for the plum +blossoms, that for the iris, and that for the lotus, all of which +were instituted in this same Nara epoch--when the composition of +couplets was quite as important as the viewing of the flowers. There +was, further, the grand New Year's banquet in the Hall of +Tranquillity at the Court, when all officials from the sixth grade +downwards sang a stanza of loyal gratitude, accompanying themselves +on the lute (koto). It was an era of refined effeminate amusements. +Wrestling had now become the pursuit of professionals. Aristocrats +engaged in no rougher pastime than equestrian archery, a species of +football, hawking, and hunting. Everybody gambled. It was in vain +that edicts were issued against dicing (chobo and sugoroku). The vice +defied official restraint. + +LITERATURE AND POETRY + +Having no books of her own, Japan naturally borrowed freely from the +rich mine of Chinese literature. By the tutors of the Imperial +family, at the colleges of the capital, and in the provincial schools +the classics constituted virtually the whole curriculum. The +advantages of education were, however, enjoyed by a comparatively +small element of the population. During the Nara epoch, it does not +appear that there were more than five thousand students attending the +schools and colleges at one time. The aim of instruction was to +prepare men for official posts rather than to impart general culture +or to encourage scientific research. Students were therefore selected +from the aristocrats or the official classes only. There were no +printed books; everything had to be laboriously copied by hand, and +thus the difficulties of learning were much enhanced. To be able to +adapt the Chinese ideographs skilfully to the purposes of written +Japanese was a feat achieved by comparatively few. What the task +involved has been roughly described in the opening chapter of this +volume, and with what measure of success it was achieved may be +estimated from the preface to the Records (Kojiki), written by Ono +Yasumaro, from the Chronicles (Nihon Shoki) and from the Daiho +Ritsu-ryo, which three works may be called the sole surviving prose +essays of the epoch. + +Much richer, however, is the realm of poetry. It was during the Nara +epoch that the first Japanese anthology, the Manyo-shu (Collection of +a Myriad Leaves), was compiled. It remains to this day a revered +classic and "a whole mountain of commentary has been devoted to the +elucidation of its obscurities." [Chamberlain.] In the Myriad Leaves +are to be found poems dating nominally from the reigns of Yuryaku and +Nintoku, as well as from the days of Shotoku Taishi, but much more +numerous are those of Jomei's era (629-641) and especially those of +the Nara epoch. The compiler's name is not known certainly; he is +believed to have been either Tachibana no Moroe or Otomo no +Yakamochi. Old manuscripts and popular memory were the sources, and +the verselets total 4496, in twenty volumes. Some make love their +theme; some deal with sorrow; some are allegorical; some draw their +inspiration from nature's beauties, and some have miscellaneous +motives. Hitomaru, who flourished during the reign of the Empress +Jito (690-697), and several of whose verses are to be found in the +Myriad Leaves, has been counted by all generations the greatest of +Japanese poets. Not far below him in fame is Akahito, who wrote in +the days of Shomu (724-749). To the same century--the eighth--as the +Manyo-shu, belongs the Kiraifu-so, & volume containing 120 poems in +Chinese style, composed by sixty-four poets during the reigns of +Temmu, Jito, and Mommu, that is to say, between 673 and 707. Here +again the compiler's name is unknown, but the date of compilation is +clear, November, 751. + +From the fact that, while bequeathing to posterity only two national +histories and a few provincial records (the Fudo-ki), the Nara epoch +has left two anthologies, it will be inferred readily that the +writing of poetry was a favourite pursuit in that age. Such, indeed, +was the case. The taste developed almost into a mania. Guests bidden +to a banquet were furnished with writing materials and invited to +spend hours composing versicles on themes set by their hosts. But +skill in writing verse was not merely a social gift; it came near to +being a test of fitness for office. + +"In their poetry above everything the Japanese have remained +impervious to alien influences. It owes this conservation to its +prosody. Without rhyme, without variety of metre, without elasticity +of dimensions, it is also without known counterpart. To alter it in +any way would be to deprive it of all distinguishing characteristics. +At some remote date a Japanese maker of songs seems to have +discovered that a peculiar and very fascinating rhythm is produced by +lines containing 5 syllables and 7 syllables alternately. That is +Japanese poetry (uta or tanka). There are generally five lines: the +first and third consisting of 5 syllables, the second, fourth and +fifth of 7, making a total of 31 in all. The number of lines is not +compulsory: sometimes they may reach to thirty, forty or even more, +but the alternation of 5 and 7 syllables is compulsory. The most +attenuated form of all is the hokku (or haikai) which consists of +only three lines, namely, 17 syllables. Necessarily the ideas +embodied in such a narrow vehicle must be fragmentary. Thus it +results that Japanese poems are, for the most part, impressionist; +they suggest a great deal more than they actually express. Here is an +example: + + Momiji-ha wo + Kaze ni makasete + Miru yori mo + Hakanaki mono wa + Inochi nari keri + +This may be translated: + +More fleeting than the glint of withered leaf wind-blown, the thing +called life."* + +*See Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, article "Japan." + +The sketchy nature of Japanese poetry, especially in this five-line +stanza, may be illustrated further by two poems quoted by Prof. B. H. +Chamberlain in his "Things Japanese" (pp. 375-376), + +The first: + + Hototogisu + Nakitsuru kata wo + Nagamureba-- + Tada ari-ake no + Tsuki zo nokoreru + +is literally translated by Professor Chamberlain as follows: + +"When I gaze towards the place where the cuckoo has been singing, +nought remains but the moon in the early dawn." + +And the conventional and pictorial character of the literary form is +illustrated again in the lines: + + Shira-kumo ni + Hane uchi-kawashi + Tobu kari no + Kazu sae miyuru + Aki no yo no tsuki! + +which the same eminent scholar translates: "The moon on an autumn +night making visible the very number of the wild-geese that fly past +with wings intercrossed in the white clouds." It is to be noted that +this last is, to Occidental notions, a mere poetic phrase and not a +unit. + +Of course, the very exigencies of the case make the three-line stanza +(or hokku), containing only 17 syllables, even more sketchy--hardly +more indeed than a tour de force composed of a limited number of +brush strokes! The Western critic, with his totally different +literary conventions, has difficulty in bringing himself to regard +Japanese verse as a literary form or in thinking of it otherwise than +as an exercise in ingenuity, an Oriental puzzle; and this notion is +heightened by the prevalence of the couplet-composing contests, which +did much to heighten the artificiality of the genre. + +RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SEXES + +There was probably no more shocking sexual vice or irregularity in +the Nara epoch than there had been before nor than there was +afterwards. The only evidence adduced to prove that there was +anything of the sort is the fact that laws were promulgated looking +to the restraint of illicit intercourse. These laws seem to have +accomplished little or nothing and the existence of the laws argues +rather a growing sense of the seriousness of the evil than any sudden +increase in the prevalence of the evil itself. There can be no +question, however, of the wide diffusion of concubinage in this +period. Not morals nor repute nor public opinion, but the wealth and +wishes of each man limited him in his amours of this sort. The +essential of a virtuous woman was that she be faithful to her husband +or lover; no such faithfulness was expected of him. And neither in +the case of man nor woman did the conventions of the period depend at +all on the nature of the relationship between the two. Wives no +longer lived in their fathers' homes after marriage, but the +newly-wedded husband built new rooms for his wife's especial use, so +that, by a fiction such as the Oriental delights in and Occidental +law is not entirely ignorant of, her home was still not his. Before +betrothal, girls were not allowed to call themselves by a family +name. At the betrothal her affianced first bound up in a fillet the +hair that she had formerly worn loose around her face. Even more +symbolical was the custom upon lovers' parting of tying to the +woman's undergarment a string from the man's; this knot was to be +unloosed only when they met again. + +THE SHOSO-IN + +At Nara, in Yamato province, near the temple of Todai-ji, a store +house built of wood and called the Shoso-in was constructed in the +Nara epoch, and it still stands housing a remarkable collection of +furniture and ornaments from the Imperial palace. There is some +question whether this collection is truly typical of the period, or +even of the palace of the period; but the presence of many utensils +from China, some from India (often with traces of Greek influence), +and a few from Persia certainly shows the degree of cosmopolitan +culture and elegance there was in the palace at Nara. At the present +day, strangers may visit the collection only by special permission +and only on two days each year; and the museum has always had a +mingled imperial and sacred character. When the power of the +shogunate was at its height, the Shoso-in was never opened except by +orders of the Emperor. Among the contents of this museum are: +polished mirrors with repousse backs, kept in cases lined with +brocaded silk; bronze vases; bronze censers; hicense-boxes made of +Paulownia wood or of Chinese ware; two-edged swords, which were tied +to the girdle, instead of being thrust through it; narrow leather +belts with silver or jade decoration; bamboo flutes; lacquer +writing-cases, etc. + +ENGRAVING: OUTLINE SKETCH OF THE SHOSO-IN AT NARA + +REFORM OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS + +To the Emperor Konin belongs the credit of correcting some flagrant +abuses in provincial administration. There was an inconvenient +outcome of the religious mania which pervaded the upper classes +during the reigns of Shomu and Koken. To meet the expense of building +temples and casting images, men of substance in the provinces were +urged to make contributions of money, cereals, or land, and in return +for this liberality they were granted official posts. It resulted +that no less than thirty-one supernumerary provincial governors were +borne on the roll at one time, and since all these regarded office as +a means of recouping the cost of nomination, taxpayers and persons +liable to the corvee fared ill. In 774, Koken issued an edict that +provincial governors who had held office for five years or upwards +should be dismissed at once, those of shorter terms being allowed to +complete five years and then removed. + +Another evil, inaugurated during the reign of Shomu, when faith in +the potency of supernatural influences obsessed men's minds, was +severely dealt with by Konin. Office-seekers resorted to the device +of contriving conflagrations of official property, rewarding the +incendiaries with the plunder, and circulating rumours that these +calamities were visitations of heaven to punish the malpractices of +the provincial governors in whose jurisdictions they occurred. It is +on record that, in several cases, these stories led to the dismissal +of governors and their replacement by their traducers. Konin decreed +that such crimes should be punished by the death of all concerned. +These reforms, supplemented by the removal of many superfluous +officials, earned for Konin such popularity that for the first time +in Japan's history, the sovereign's birthday became a festival*, +thereafter celebrated through all ages. + +*Called Tenchosetsu. + +THE MILITARY SYSTEM + +It has been shown that compulsory military service was introduced in +689, during the reign of the Empress Jito, one-fourth of all the +able-bodied men in each province being required to serve a fixed time +with the colours. It has also been noted that under the Daiho +legislation the number was increased to one-third. This meant that no +distinction existed between soldier and peasant. The plan worked ill. +No sufficient provision of officers being made, the troops remained +without training, and it frequently happened that, instead of +military exercises, they were required to labour for the enrichment +of a provincial governor. + +The system, being thus discredited, fell into abeyance in the year +739, but that it was not abolished is shown by the fact that, in 780, +we find the privy council memorializing the Throne in a sense +unfavourable to the drafting of peasants into the ranks. The memorial +alleged that the men lacked training; that they were physically +unfit; that they busied themselves devising pretexts for evasion; +that their chief function was to perform fatigue-duty for local +governors, and that to send such men into the field of battle would +be to throw away their lives fruitlessly. The council recommended +that indiscriminate conscription of peasants should be replaced by a +system of selection, the choice being limited to men with some +previous training; that the number taken should be in proportion to +the size of the province, and that those not physically robust should +be left to till the land. These recommendations were approved. They +constituted the first step towards complete abolishment of compulsory +service and towards the glorifying of the profession of arms above +that of agriculture. Experience quickly proved, however, that some +more efficient management was necessary in the maritime provinces, +and in 792, Kwammu being then on the throne, an edict abolished the +provincial troops in all regions except those which, by their +proximity to the continent of Asia, were exposed to danger, namely, +Dazai-fu in Kyushu, and in Mutsu, Dewa, and Sado in the north. Some +specially organized force was needed also for extraordinary service +and for guarding official storehouses, offices, and places where +post-bells (suzu) were kept. To that end the system previously +practised during the reign of Shomu (724-749) was reverted to; that +is to say, the most robust among the sons and younger brothers of +provincial governors and local officials were enrolled in corps of +strength varying with the duties to be performed. These were called +kondei or kenji. We learn from the edict that the abuse of employing +soldiers as labourers was still practised, but of course this did not +apply to the kondei. + +The tendency of the time was against imposing military service on the +lower classes. During the period 810-820, the forces under the +Dazai-fu jurisdiction, that is to say, in the six provinces of +Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Buzen, and Bungo, were reduced from +17,100 to 9000. Dazai-fu and Mutsu being littoral regions, the +conscription system still existed there, but in Mutsu there were not +only heishi, that is to say, local militiamen of the ordinary type +and kenji or kondei, but also chimpei, or guards who were required to +serve at a distance from home. Small farmers, upon whom this duty +devolved, had no choice but to take their wives and children with +them, the family subsisting on the pittance given as rations eked out +by money realized from sales of chattels and garments. Thus, on the +expiration of their service they returned to their native place in a +wholly destitute condition, and sometimes perished of hunger on the +way. In consideration of the hardships of such a system, it was +abolished, and thus the distinction between the soldier and the +peasant received further accentuation. + +There is no record as to the exact dimensions of Japan's standing +army in the ninth century, but if we observe that troops were raised +in the eight littoral provinces only--six in the south and two in the +north--and in the island of Sado, and that the total number in the +six southern provinces was only nine thousand, it would seem +reasonable to conclude that the aggregate did not exceed thirty +thousand. There were also the kondei (or kenji), but these, since +they served solely as guards or for special purposes, can scarcely be +counted a part of the standing army. The inference is that whatever +the Yamato race may have been when it set out upon its original +career of conquest, or when, in later eras, it sent great armies to +the Asiatic continent, the close of the fifth cycle after the coming +of Buddhism found the country reduced to a condition of comparative +military weakness. As to that, however, clearer judgment may be +formed in the context of the campaign--to be now spoken of--conducted +by the Yamato against the Yemishi tribes throughout a great part of +the eighth century and the early years of the ninth. + +REVOLT OF THE YEMISHI + +It has been shown that the close of the third decade of the eighth +century saw the capital established at Nara amid conditions of great +refinement, and saw the Court and the aristocracy absorbed in +religious observances, while the provincial governments were, in many +cases, corrupt and inefficient. In the year 724, Nara received news +of an event which illustrated the danger of such a state of affairs. +The Yemishi of the east had risen in arms and killed Koyamaro, warden +of Mutsu. At that time the term "Mutsu" represented a much wider area +than the modern region of the same name: it comprised the five +provinces now distinguished as Iwaki, Iwashiro, Rikuzen, Rikuchu, and +Mutsu--in other words, the whole of the northeastern and northern +littoral of the main island. Similarly, the provinces now called Ugo +and Uzen, which form the northwestern littoral, were comprised in the +single term "Dewa." Nature has separated these two regions, Mutsu and +Dewa, by a formidable chain of mountains, constituting the backbone +of northern Japan. Within Dewa, Mutsu, and the island of Yezo, the +aboriginal Yemishi had been held since Yamato-dake's signal campaign +in the second century A.D., and though not so effectually quelled as +to preclude all danger of insurrection, their potentialities caused +little uneasiness to the Central Government. + +But there was no paltering with the situation which arose in 724. +Recourse was immediately had to the Fujiwara, whose position at the +Imperial Court was paramount, and Umakai, grandson of the renowned +Kamatari, set out at the head of thirty thousand men, levied from the +eight Bands provinces, by which term Sagami, Musashi, Awa, Kazusa, +Shimosa, Hitachi, Kotsuke, and Shimotsuke were designated. The +expanded system of conscription established under the Daiho code was +then in force, and thus a large body of troops could easily be +assembled. Umakai's army did not experience any serious resistance. +But neither did it achieve anything signal. Marching by two routes, +it converged on the castle of Taga, a fortress just constructed by +Ono Azumahito, the lord warden of the Eastern Marches. The plan +pursued by the Yamato commanders was to build castles and barriers +along the course of rivers giving access to the interior, as well as +along the coast line. Taga Castle was the first of such works, and, +by the year 767, the programme had been carried in Mutsu as far as +the upper reaches of the Kitakami River,* and in Dewa as far as +Akita. + +*A monument still stands on the site of the old Taga Castle. It was +put up in A.D. 762, and it records that the castle stood fifty miles +from the island of Yezo. + +History has nothing further to tell about the Yemishi until the year +774, when they again took up arms, captured one (Mono) of the +Japanese forts and drove out its garrison. Again the eight Bando +provinces were ordered to send levies, and at the head of the army +thus raised a Japanese general penetrated far into Mutsu and +destroyed the Yemishi's chief stronghold. This success was followed +by an aggressive policy on the part of the lord-warden, Ki no +Hirozumi. He extended the chain of forts to Kabe in Dewa, and to +Isawa in Mutsu. This was in 780. But there ensued a strong movement +of reprisal on the part of the Yemishi. Led by Iharu no Atamaro, they +overwhelmed Hirozumi's army, killed the lord-warden himself, and +pushed on to Taga Castle, which they burned, destroying vast stores +of arms and provisions. It was precisely at this time that the State +council, as related above, memorialized the Throne, denouncing the +incompetency of the provincial conscripts and complaining that the +provincial authorities, instead of training the soldiers, used them +for forced labour. The overthrow of the army in Mutsu and the +destruction of Taga Castle justified this memorial. + +The Court appointed Fujiwara Tsugunawa to take command of a punitive +expedition, and once again Bando levies converged on the site of the +dismantled castle of Taga. But beyond that point no advance was +essayed, in spite of bitter reproaches from Nara. "In summer," wrote +the Emperor (Konin), "you plead that the grass is too dry; in winter +you allege that bran is too scant. You discourse adroitly but you get +no nearer to the foe." Konin's death followed shortly afterwards, but +his successor, Kwammu, zealously undertook the pursuit of the +campaign. Notice was sent (783) to the provincial authorities +directing them to make preparations and to instruct the people that +an armed expedition was inevitable. News had just been received of +fresh outrages in Dewa. The Yemishi had completely dispersed and +despoiled the inhabitants of two districts, so that it was found +necessary to allot lands to them elsewhere and to erect houses for +their shelter. + +The Emperor said in his decree that the barbarian tribes, when +pursued, fled like birds; when unmolested, gathered like ants; that +the conscripts from the Bando provinces were reported to be weak and +unfit for campaigning, and that those skilled in archery and +physically robust stood aloof from military service, forgetting that +they all owed a common duty to their country and their sovereign. +Therefore, his Majesty directed that the sons and younger brothers of +all local officials or provincial magnates should be examined with a +view to the selection of those suited for military service, who +should be enrolled and drilled, to the number of not less than five +hundred and not more than two thousand per province according to its +size. Thus, the eight Bando provinces must have furnished a force of +from four to sixteen thousand men, all belonging to the aristocratic +class. These formed the nucleus of the army. They were supplemented +by 52,800 men, infantry and cavalry, collected from the provinces +along the Eastern Sea (Tokai) and the Eastern Mountains (Tosan). so +that the total force must have aggregated sixty thousand. The command +in chief was conferred on Ki no Kosami, thirteenth in descent from +the renowned Takenouchi-no-Sukune, who had been second in command of +the Fujiwara Tsugunawa expedition nine years previously. A sword was +conferred on him by the Emperor, and he received authority to act on +his own discretion without seeking instructions from the Throne. + +Meanwhile, the province of Mutsu had been ordered to send 35,000 koku +(175,000 bushels) of hulled rice to Taga Castle, and the other +provinces adjacent were required to store 23,000 koku (115,000 +bushels) of hoshi-i (rice boiled and dried) and salt at the same +place. The troops were to be massed at Taga, and all the provisions +and munitions were collected there by April, 789. These figures are +suggestive of the light in which the Government regarded the affair. +Kosami moved out of Taga at the appointed time and pushed northward. +But with every forward movement the difficulties multiplied. Snow in +those regions lies many feet deep until the end of May, and the thaw +ensuing brings down from the mountains heavy floods which convert the +rivers into raging torrents and the roads into quagmires. On reaching +the bank of the Koromo River, forty-five miles north of Taga, the +troops halted. Their delay provoked much censure in the capital where +the climatic conditions do not appear to have been fully understood +or the transport difficulties appreciated. Urged by the Court to push +on rapidly, Kosami resumed his march in June; failed to preserve +efficient connexion between the parts of his army; had his van +ambushed; fled precipitately himself, and suffered a heavy defeat, +though only 2500 of his big army had come into action. His casualties +were 25 killed, 245 wounded, and 1036 drowned. A truce was effected +and the forces withdrew to Taga, while, as for Kosami, though he +attempted to deceive the Court by a bombastic despatch, he was +recalled and degraded together with all the senior officers of his +army. + +It would seem as though this disaster to one comparatively small +section of a force aggregating from fifty to sixty thousand men need +not have finally interrupted the campaign, especially when the enemy +consisted of semi-civilized aborigines. The Government thought +differently, however. There was no idea of abandoning the struggle, +but the programme for its renewal assumed large dimensions, and +events in the capital were not propitious for immediate action. The +training of picked soldiers commenced at once, and the provision of +arms and horses. Kosami's discomfiture took place in 789, and during +the next two years orders were issued for the manufacture of 2000 +suits of leather armour and 3000 of iron armour; the making of 34,500 +arms, and the preparation of 1 10,000 bushels of hoshi-i. To the +command-in-chief the Emperor (Kwammu) appointed Saka-no-ye no +Tamuramaro. + +This selection illustrates a conclusion already proved by the annals, +namely, that racial prejudice had no weight in ancient Japan. For +Tamuramaro was a direct descendant of that Achi no Omi who, as +already related, crossed from China during the Han dynasty and became +naturalized in Japan. His father, Karitamaro, distinguished himself +by reporting the Dokyo intrigue, in the year 770, and received the +post of chief of the palace guards, in which corps his son, +Tamuramaro, thereafter served. Tradition has assigned supernatural +capacities to Tamuramaro, and certainly in respect of personal +prowess no less than strategical talent he was highly gifted. In +June, 794, he invaded Mutsu at the head of a great army and, by a +series of rapidly delivered blows, effectually crushed the +aborigines, taking 457 heads, 100 prisoners, and 85 horses, and +destroying the strongholds of 75 tribes. Thereafter, until the year +of his death (811), he effectually held in check the spirit of +revolt, crushing two other insurrections--in 801 and 804--and +virtually annihilating the insurgents. He transferred the garrison +headquarters from Taga to Isawa, where he erected a castle, +organizing a body of four thousand militia (tonden-hei) to guard it; +and in the following year (803), he built the castle of Shiba at a +point still further north. + +NATIONALITY OF THE INSURGENTS + +Annals of historical repute are confined to the above account. There +is, however, one unexplained feature, which reveals itself to even a +casual reader. In their early opposition to Yamato aggression, the +Yemishi--or Ainu, or Yezo, by whatever name they be called--displayed +no fighting qualities that could be called formidable. Yet now, in +the eighth century, they suddenly show themselves men of such prowess +that the task of subduing them taxes the resources of the Yamato to +the fullest. Some annalists are disposed to seek an explanation of +this discrepancy in climatic and topographical difficulties. Kosami, +in his despatch referring to the Koromo-gawa campaign, explains that +12,440 men had to be constantly employed in transporting provisions +and that the quantity carried by them in twenty-four days did not +exceed eleven days' rations for the troops. The hardship of +campaigning in a country where means of communication were so +defective is easily conjectured, and it has also to be noted that +during only a brief period in summer did the climate of Mutsu permit +taking the field. But these conditions existed equally in the eras of +Yamato-dake and Hirafu. Whatever obstacles they presented in the +eighth century must have been equally potent in the second and in the +seventh. + +Two explanations are offered. They are more or less conjectural. One +is that the Yemishi of Mutsu were led by chieftains of Yamato origin, +men who had migrated to the northeast in search of fortune or +impelled by disaffection. It seems scarcely credible, however, that a +fact so special would have eluded historical reference, whereas only +one passing allusion is made to it and that, too, in a book not fully +credible. The other explanation is that the Yemishi were in league +with hordes of Tatars who had crossed from the mainland of Asia, or +travelled south by the islands of Saghalien and Yezo. The main +evidence in support of this theory is furnished by the names of the +insurgent leaders Akuro-o, Akagashira, and Akahige. Ideographists +point out that the character aku is frequently pronounced o, and with +that reading the name "Akuro-o" becomes "Oro-o," which was the term +used for "Russian." As for "Akagashira" and "Akahige," they frankly +signify "red head" and "red beard," common Japanese names for +foreigners. In a shrine at Suzuka-yama in Ise, to which point the +insurgents pushed southward before Tamuramaro took the field, there +used to be preserved a box, obviously of foreign construction, said +to have been left there by the "Eastern Barbarians;" and in the +Tsugaru district of the modern Mutsu province, relics exist of an +extensive fortress presenting features not Japanese, which is +conjectured to have been the basis of the Tatar invaders. But all +these inferences rest on little more than hypothesis. + +RISE OF MILITARY HOUSES + +What is certain, however, is that a collateral result of these +disturbances was to discredit the great Court nobles--the Otomo, the +Tachibana, the Ki, and the Fujiwara--as leaders of armies, and to lay +the foundation of the military houses (buke) which were destined to +become feudal rulers of Japan in after ages. Ki no Hirozumi, Ki no +Kosami, Otomo Yakamochi, Fujiwara Umakai, and Fujiwara Tsugunawa +having all failed, the Court was compelled to have recourse to the +representatives of a Chinese immigrant family, the Saka-no-ye. By +those who trace the ringer of fate in earthly happenings, it has been +called a dispensation that, at this particular juncture, a descendant +of Achi no Omi should have been a warrior with a height of six feet +nine inches,* eyes of a falcon, a beard like plaited gold-wire, a +frown that terrified wild animals, and a smile that attracted +children. For such is the traditional description of Tamuramaro. +Another incidental issue of the situation was that conspicuous credit +for fighting qualities attached to the troops specially organized in +the Bando (Kwanto) provinces with the sons and younger brothers of +local officials. These became the nucleus of a military class which +ultimately monopolized the profession of arms. + +*The height recorded is five feet eight inches, but as that would be +a normal stature, there can be little doubt that "great" (dai) +measure is referred to and that the figures indicate six feet nine +inches. + +RELATIONS WITH KOREA + +During the eighth century relations of friendship were once more +established with Koma. A Manchurian tribe, migrating from the valley +of the Sungali River (then called the Sumo), settled on the east of +the modern province of Shengking, and was there joined by a remnant +of the Koma subjects after the fall of the latter kingdom. Ultimately +receiving investiture at the hands of the Tang Court, the sovereign +of the colony took the name of Tsuying, King of Pohai, and his son, +Wu-i, sent an envoy to Japan in 727, when Shomu was on the throne. +Where the embassy embarked there is no record, but, being blown out +of their course, the boats finally made the coast of Dewa, where +several of the envoy's suite were killed by the Yemishi. The envoy +himself reached Nara safely, and, representing his sovereign as the +successor of the Koma dynasty, was hospitably received, the usual +interchange of gifts taking place. + +Twenty-five years later (752), another envoy arrived. The Empress +Koken then reigned at Nara, and her ministers insisted that, in the +document presented by the ambassador, Pohai must distinctly occupy +towards Japan the relation of vassal to suzerain, such having been +the invariable custom observed by Koma in former times. The +difficulty seems to have been met by substituting the name "Koma" for +"Pohai," thus, by implication, admitting that the new kingdom held +towards Japan the same status as that formerly held by Koma. +Throughout the whole of her subsequent intercourse with the Pohai +kingdom, intercourse which, though exceedingly fitful, lasted for +nearly a century and a half, Japan uniformly insisted upon the +maintenance of that attitude. + +ENGRAVING: EMPEROR KWAMMU + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE HEIAN EPOCH + +THE FIFTIETH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KWAMMU (A.D. 782-805) + +JAPANESE history divides itself readily into epochs, and among them +not the least sharply defined is the period of 398 years separating +the transfer of the Imperial palace from Nara to Kyoto (794) and the +establishment of an administrative capital at Kamakura (1192). It is +called the Heian epoch, the term "Heian-jo" (Castle of Peace) having +been given to Kyoto soon after that city became the residence of the +Mikado. The first ruler in the epoch was Kwammu. This monarch, as +already shown, was specially selected by his father, Konin, at the +instance of Fujiwara Momokawa, who observed in the young prince +qualities essential to a ruler of men. Whether Kwammu's career as +Emperor reached the full standard of his promise as prince, +historians are not agreed. + +Konin receives a larger meed of praise. His reforms of local abuses +showed at once courage and zeal But he did not reach the root of the +evil, nor did his son Kwammu, though in the matter of intention and +ardour there was nothing to choose between the two. The basic trouble +was arbitrary and unjust oppression of the lower classes by the +upper. These latter, probably educated in part by the be system, +which tended to reduce the worker with his hands to a position of +marked subservience, had learned to regard their own hereditary +privileges as practically unlimited, and to conclude that well nigh +any measure of forced labour was due to them from their inferiors. +Konin could not correct this conception, and neither could Kwammu. +Indeed, in the latter's case, the Throne was specially disqualified +as a source of remonstrance, for the sovereign himself had to make +extravagant demands upon the working classes on account of the +transfer of the capital from Nara to Kyoto. Thus, although Kwammu's +warnings and exhortations were earnest, and his dismissals and +degradations of provincial officials frequent, he failed to achieve +anything radical. + +TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL TO KYOTO + +The reign of Kwammu is remarkable for two things: the conquest of the +eastern Yemishi by Tamuramaro and the transfer of the capital from +Nara to Kyoto. Nara is in the province of Yamato; Kyoto, in the +neighbouring province of Yamashiro,* and the two places lie twenty +miles apart as the crow flies. It has been stated that to change the +site of the capital on the accession of a sovereign was a common +custom in Japan prior to the eighth century. In those early days the +term "miyako," though used in the sense of "metropolis," bore chiefly +the meaning "Imperial residence," and to alter its locality did not +originally suggest a national effort. But when Kwammu ascended the +throne, Nara had been the capital during eight reigns, covering a +period of seventy-five years, and had grown into a great city, a +centre alike of religion and of trade. To transfer it involved a +correspondingly signal sacrifice. What was Kwammu's motive? Some have +conjectured a desire to shake off the priestly influences which +permeated the atmosphere of Nara; others, that he found the Yamato +city too small to satisfy his ambitious views or to suit the quickly +developing dimensions and prosperity of the nation. Probably both +explanations are correct. Looking back only a few years, a ruler of +Kwammu's sagacity must have appreciated that religious fanaticism, as +practised at Nara, threatened to overshadow even the Imperial Court, +and that the influence of the foreign creed tended to undermine the +Shinto cult, which constituted the main bulwark of the Throne. + +*Previously to becoming the metropolitan province, Yamashiro was +written with ideographs signifying "behind the mountain" (yama no +ushiro), but these were afterwards changed to "mountain castle" +(yamashiro). + +We shall presently see how this latter danger was averted at Kyoto, +and it certainly does not appear extravagant to credit Kwammu with +having promoted that result. At all events, he was not tempted by the +superior advantages of any other site in particular. In 784, when he +adopted the resolve to found a new capital, it was necessary to +determine the place by sending out a search party under his most +trusted minister, Fujiwara Tanetsugu. The choice of Tanetsugu fell, +not upon Kyoto, but upon Nagaoka in the same province. There was no +hesitation. The Emperor trusted Tanetsugu implicitly and appointed +him chief commissioner of the building, which was commenced at once, +a decree being issued that all taxes for the year should be paid at +Nagaoka where also forced labourers were required to assemble and +materials were collected. The Records state that the area of the site +for the new palace measured 152 acres, for which the owners received +compensation amounting to the equivalent of L2580 ($12,550); or an +average of L17 ($82) per acre. The number of people employed is put +at 314,000,* and the fund appropriated, at 680,000 sheaves of rice, +having a value of about L40,800 ($200,000) according to modern +prices. + +*This does not mean that 314,000 persons were employed +simultaneously, but only that the number of workmen multiplied by the +number of days of work equalled 314,000. + +The palace was never finished. While it was still uncompleted, the +Emperor took up his abode there, in the fall of 784, and efforts to +hasten the work were redoubled. But a shocking incident occurred. The +Crown Prince, Sagara, procured the elevation of a member of the Saeki +family to the high post of State councillor (sangi), and having been +impeached for this unprecedented act by Fujiwara Tanetsugu, was +deprived of his title to the throne. Shortly afterwards, the Emperor +repaired to Nara, and during the absence of the Court from Nagaoka, +Prince Sagara compassed the assassination of Tanetsugu. Kwammu +exacted stern vengeance for his favourite minister. He disgraced the +prince and sent him into exile in the island of Awaji, which place he +did not reach alive, as was perhaps designed. + +ENGRAVING: COURTYARD OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE, AT KYOTO + +These occurrences moved the Emperor so profoundly that Nagaoka became +intolerable to him. Gradually the work of building was abandoned, +and, in 792, a new site was selected by Wake no Kiyomaro at Uda in +the same province. So many attractions were claimed for this village +that failure to choose it originally becomes difficult to understand. +Imperial decrees eulogized its mountains and rivers, and people +recalled a prediction uttered 170 years previously by Prince Shotoku +that the place would ultimately be selected for the perpetual capital +of the empire. The Tang metropolis, Changan, was taken for model. +Commenced in April, 794, the new metropolis was finished in December, +805. + +The city was laid out with mathematical exactness in the form of a +rectangle, nearly three and one-half miles long, from north to south, +and about three miles wide, from east to west. In each direction were +nine principal thoroughfares, those running east and west crossing +the north and south streets at right angles. The east and west +streets were numbered from 1 to 9, and, although the regularity of +structure and plan of the city has been altered by fire and other +causes in eleven hundred years, traces of this early system of +nomenclature are still found in the streets of Kyoto.* Running north +from the centre of the south side was a great avenue, two hundred and +eighty feet wide, which divided the city into two parts, the eastern, +called "the left metropolis" (later Tokyo, "eastern capital"), and +"the right metropolis" (or Saikyo, "western capital"),--the left, as +always in Japan, having precedence over the right, and the direction +being taken not from the southern entrance gate but from the Imperial +palace, to which this great avenue led and which was on the northern +limits of the city and, as the reader will see, at the very centre of +the north wall. Grouped around the palace were government buildings +of the different administrative departments and assembly and audience +halls. + +*The Kyoto of today is only a remnant of the ancient city; it was +almost wholly destroyed by fire in the Onin war of 1467. + +The main streets, which have already been mentioned as connecting the +gates in opposite walls, varied in width from 80 feet to 170 feet. +They divided the city into nine districts, all of the same area +except the ones immediately east of the palace. The subdivisions were +as formal and precise. Each of the nine districts contained four +divisions. Each division was made up of four streets. A street was +made up of four rows, each row containing eight "house-units." The +house-unit was 50 by 100 feet. The main streets in either direction +were crossed at regular intervals by lanes or minor streets, all +meeting at right angles. + +The Imperial citadel in the north central part of the city was 4600 +feet long (from north to south) and 3840 feet wide, and was +surrounded by a fence roofed with tiles and pierced with three gates +on either side. The palace was roofed with green tiles of Chinese +manufacture and a few private dwellings had roofs made of +slate-coloured tiles, but most of them were shingled. In the earlier +period, it is to be remembered, tiles were used almost exclusively +for temple roofs. The architecture of the new city was in general +very simple and unpretentious. The old canons of Shinto temple +architecture had some influence even in this city built on a Chinese +model. Whatever display or ornament there was, appeared not on the +exterior but in inner rooms, especially those giving on inner court +yards. That these resources were severely taxed, however, cannot be +doubted, especially when we remember that the campaign against the +Yemishi was simultaneously conducted. History relates that +three-fifths of the national revenues were appropriated for the +building. + +INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA AND BUDDHIST PROPAGANDISM + +The fact that the metropolis at Changan was taken for model in +building Kyoto prepares us to find that intercourse with the Middle +Kingdom was frequent and intimate. But although China under the Tang +dynasty in the ninth century presented many industrial, artistic, and +social features of an inspiring and attractive nature, her +administrative methods had begun to fall into disorder, which +discredited them in Japanese eyes. We find, therefore, that although +renowned religionists went from Japan during the reign of Kwammu and +familiarized themselves thoroughly with the Tang civilization, they +did not, on their return, attempt to popularize the political system +of China, but praised only her art, her literature, and certain forms +and conceptions of Buddhism which they found at Changan. + +ENGRAVING: PRIEST SAICHO, AFTERWARD KNOWN AS DENGYO DAISHI + +The most celebrated of these religionists were Saicho and +Kukai--immortalized under their posthumous names of Dengyo Daishi and +Kobo Daishi, respectively. The former went to Changan in the train of +the ambassador, Sugawara Kiyokimi, in 802, and the latter accompanied +Fujiwara Kuzunomaro, two years later. Saicho was specially sent to +China by his sovereign to study Buddhism, in order that, on his +return, he might become lord-abbot of a monastery which his Majesty +had caused to be built on Hie-no-yama--subsequently known as +Hiei-zan--a hill on the northeast of the new palace in Kyoto. A +Japanese superstition regarded the northeast as the "Demon's Gate," +where a barrier must be erected against the ingress of evil +influences. Saicho also brought from China many religious books. + +Down to that time the Buddhist doctrine preached in Japan had been of +a very dispiriting nature. It taught that salvation could not be +reached except by efforts continued through three immeasurable +periods of time. But Saicho acquired a new doctrine in China. From +the monastery of Tientai (Japanese, Tendai) he carried back to +Hiei-zan a creed founded on the "Lotus of the Good Law"--a creed that +salvation is at once attainable by a knowledge of the Buddha nature, +and that such knowledge may be acquired by meditation and wisdom. +That was the basic conception, but it underwent some modification at +Japanese hands. It became "a system of Japanese eclecticism, fitting +the disciplinary and meditative methods of the Chinese sage to the +pre-existing foundations of earlier sects."* This is not the place to +discuss details of religious doctrine, but the introduction of the +Tendai belief has historical importance. In the first place, it +illustrates a fact which may be read between the lines of all +Japanese annals, namely, that the Japanese are never blind borrowers +from foreign systems: their habit is "to adapt what they borrow so as +to fit it to what they possess." In the second place, the Tendai +system became the parent of nearly all the great sects subsequently +born in Japan. In the third place, the Buddhas of Contemplation, by +whose aid the meditation of absolute truth is rendered possible, +suggested the idea that they had frequently been incarnated for the +welfare of mankind, and from that theory it was but a short step to +the conviction that "the ancient gods whom the Japanese worshipped +are but manifestations of these same mystical beings, and that the +Buddhist faith had come, not to destroy the native Shinto, but to +embody It into a higher and more universal system. From that moment +the triumph of Buddhism was secured."** It is thus seen that the +visit of Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) to China at the beginning of the +ninth century and the introduction of the Tendai creed into Japan +constitute landmarks in Japanese history. + +*Developments of Japanese Buddhism, by the Rev. A. Lloyd. M. A. + +**The doctrines that the Shinto deities were incarnations of the +Buddhas of Contemplation (Dhyani) had already been enunciated by +Gyogi but its general acceptance dates from the days of Dengyo +Daishi. The doctrine was called honchi-suishaku. + +ENGRAVING: PRIEST KOKAI, AFTERWARD KNOWN AS KOBO DAISHI + +KOBO DAISHI + +Contemporary with and even greater in the eyes of his countrymen than +Dengyo Daishi, was Kobo Daishi (known as Kukai during his lifetime). +He, too, visited China as a student of Buddhism, especially to learn +the interpretation of a Sutra which had fallen into his hands in +Japan, and on his return he founded the system of the True Word +(Shingori), which has been practically identified with the Gnosticism +of early Christian days. Kobo Daishi is the most famous of all +Japanese Buddhist teachers; famous alike as a saint, as an artist, +and as a calligraphist. His influence on the intellectual history of +his country was marked, for he not only founded a religious system +which to this day has a multitude of disciples, but he is also said +to have invented, or at any rate to have materially improved, the +Japanese syllabary (hira-gana). + +THE SUBSERVIENCE OF SHINTO + +That the disciples of the Shinto cult so readily endorsed a doctrine +which relegated their creed to a subordinate place has suggested +various explanations, but the simplest is the most convincing, +namely, that Shinto possessed no intrinsic power to assert itself in +the presence of a religion like Buddhism. At no period has Shinto +produced a great propagandist. No Japanese sovereign ever thought of +exchanging the tumultuous life of the Throne for the quiet of a +Shinto shrine, nor did Shinto ever become a vehicle for the +transmission of useful knowledge. + +ENGRAVING: OKUNO-IN (Kobo Daishi's shrine) AT MT. KOYASAN + +With Buddhism, the record is very different. Many of its followers +were inspired by the prospect of using it as a stepping-stone to +preferment rather than as a route to Nirvana. Official posts being +practically monopolized by the aristocratic classes, those born in +lowlier families found little opportunity to win honour and +emoluments. But by embracing a religious career, a man might aspire +to become an abbot or even a tutor to a prince or sovereign. Thus, +learned and clever youths flocked to the portals of the priesthood, +and the Emperor Saga is said to have lamented that the Court nobility +possessed few great and able men, whereas the cloisters abounded in +them. On the other hand, it has been observed with much reason that +as troublers of the people the Buddhist priests were not far behind +the provincial governors. In fact, it fared with Buddhism as it +commonly fares with all human institutions--success begot abuses. The +example of Dokyo exercised a demoralizing influence. The tonsure +became a means of escaping official exactions in the shape of taxes +or forced labour, and the building of temples a device to acquire +property and wealth as well as to evade fiscal burdens. Sometimes the +Buddhist priests lent themselves to the deception of becoming nominal +owners of large estates in order to enable the real owners to escape +taxation. Buddhism in Japan ultimately became a great militant power, +ready at all times to appeal to force. + +THE FIFTY-FIRST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR HEIJO (A.D. 806-809) + +Heijo, the fifty-first sovereign, was the eldest son of Kwammu. The +latter, warned by the distress that his own great expenditures on +account of the new capital had produced, and fully sensible of the +abuses practised by the provincial officials, urged upon the Crown +Prince the imperative necessity of retrenchment, and Heijo, on +ascending the throne, showed much resolution in discharging +superfluous officials, curtailing all unneeded outlays, and +simplifying administrative procedure. But physical weakness--he was a +confirmed invalid--and the influence of an ambitious woman wrecked +his career. While still Crown Prince, he fixed his affections on +Kusu, daughter of Fujiwara Tanetsugu, who had been assassinated by +Prince Sagara during Kwammu's reign, and when Heijo ascended the +throne, this lady's influence made itself felt within and without the +palace, while her brother, Nakanari, a haughty, headstrong man, +trading on his relationship to her, usurped almost Imperial +authority. + +Heijo's ill-health, however, compelled him to abdicate after a reign +of only three years. He retired to the old palace at Nara, entrusting +the sceptre to his brother, Saga. This step was profoundly +disappointing to Kusu and her brother. The former aimed at becoming +Empress--she possessed only the title of consort--and Fujiwara +Nakanari looked for the post of prime minister. They persuaded the +ex-Emperor to intimate a desire of reascending the throne. Saga +acquiesced and would have handed over the sceptre, but at the +eleventh hour, Heijo's conscientious scruples, or his prudence, +caused a delay, whereupon Kusu and her brother, becoming desperate, +publicly proclaimed that Heijo wished to transfer the capital to +Nara. Before they could consummate this programme, however, Saga +secured the assistance of Tamuramaro, famous as the conqueror of the +Yemishi, and by his aid Fujiwara Nakanari was seized and thrown into +prison, the lady Kusu being deprived of her rank as consort and +condemned to be banished from Court. Heijo might have bowed to +Nakanari's fate, but Kusu's sentence of degradation and exile +overtaxed his patience. He raised an army and attempted to move to +the eastern provinces. In Mino, his route was intercepted by a force +under Tamuramaro, and the ex-Emperor's troops being shattered, no +recourse offered except to retreat to Nara. Then the Jo-o (Heijo) +took the tonsure, and his consort Kusu committed suicide. Those who +had rallied to the ex-Emperor's standard were banished. + +THE FIRST JAPANESE THAT ENTERED INDIA + +When Heijo ceded the throne to Saga, the former's son, Takaoka, was +nominated Crown Prince, though Saga had sons of his own. Evidently +that step was taken for the purpose of averting precisely such +incidents as those subsequently precipitated by the conspiracy to +restore Heijo. Therefore on the day following Heijo's adoption of the +tonsure, Takaoka was deprived of his rank.* Entering the priesthood, +he called himself Shinnyo, retired to Higashi-dera and studied the +doctrine of the True Word (Shingori). In 836, he proceeded to China +to prosecute his religious researches, and ultimately made his way to +India (in his eighty-first year), where he was killed by a tiger in +the district now known as the Laos States of Siam. This prince is +believed to have been the first Japanese that travelled to India. His +father, the ex-Emperor Heijo, was a student of the same Buddhist +doctrine (Shingon) and received instruction in it from Kukai. Heijo +died in 824, at the age of fifty-one. + +*His family was struck off the roll of princes and given the uji of +Ariwara Asomi. + +THE FIFTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SAGA (A.D. 810-823) + +It is memorable in the history of the ninth century that three +brothers occupied the throne in succession, Heijo, Saga, and Junna. +Heijo's abdication was certainly due in part to weak health, but his +subsequent career proves that this reason was not imperative. Saga, +after a most useful reign of thirteen years, stepped down frankly in +favour of his younger brother. There is no valid reason to endorse +the view of some historians that these acts of self-effacement were +inspired by an indolent distaste for the cares of kingship. Neither +Heijo nor Saga shrank from duty in any form. During his brief tenure +of power the former unflinchingly effected reforms of the most +distasteful kind, as the dismissal of superfluous officials and the +curtailing of expenses; and the latter's reign was distinguished by +much useful legislation and organization. Heijo's abdication seems to +have been due to genuine solicitude for the good of the State, and +Saga's to a sense of reluctance to be outdone in magnanimity. +Reciprocity of moral obligation (giri) has been a canon of Japanese +conduct in all ages. + +SANGI AND KURANDO + +One of the earliest acts of Saga's reign was to establish the office +of Court councillor (sangi) definitely and to determine the number of +these officials at eight. The post of sangi had been instituted more +than a century previously, but its occupants had neither fixed +function, rank, nor number: they merely gave fortuitous advice about +political affairs. Another office, dating from the same time (810), +was that of kurando (called also kurodo). This seems to have been +mainly a product of the political situation. At the palace of the +retired Emperor in Nara--the Inchu, as it was called--the ambitious +Fujiwara Nakanari and the Imperial consort, Kusu, were arrogating a +large share of administrative and judicial business, and were +flagrantly abusing their usurped authority. Saga did not know whom to +trust. He feared that the council of State (Dajo-kwan) might include +some traitors to his cause, and he therefore instituted a special +office to be the depository of all secret documents, to adjudicate +suits at law, to promulgate Imperial rescripts and decrees, to act as +a kind of palace cabinet, and to have charge of all supplies for the +Court. Ultimately this last function became the most important of the +kurando's duties. + +KEBIISHI AND TSUIHOSHI + +It has already been explained that the Daiho legislators, at the +beginning of the eighth century, having enacted a code (ryo) and a +penal law (ritsu), supplemented these with a body of official rules +(kyaku) and operative regulations (shiki). The necessity of revising +these rules and regulations was appreciated by the Emperor Kwammu, +but he did not live to witness the completion of the work, which he +had entrusted to the sa-daijin, Fujiwara Uchimaro, and others. The +task was therefore re-approached by a committee of which the +dainagon, Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, was president, under orders from the +Emperor Saga. Ten volumes of the rules and forty of the regulations +were issued in 819, the former being a collection of all rescripts +and decrees issued since the first year of Daiho (701), and the +latter a synopsis of instructions given by various high officials and +proved by practice since the same date. Here, then, was a +sufficiently precise and comprehensive body of administrative guides. +But men competent to utilize them were not readily forthcoming. The +provincial governors and even the metropolitan officials, chosen from +among men whose qualifications were generally limited to literary +ability or aristocratic influence, showed themselves incapable of +dealing with the lawless conditions existing in their districts. + +This state of affairs had been noticeable ever since the reign of +Shomu (724-749), but not until the time of Saga was a remedy devised. +It took the form of organizing a body of men called kebiishi, upon +whom devolved the duty of pursuing and arresting lawbreakers. At +first this measure was on a small scale and of a tentative character. +But its results proved so satisfactory that the system was extended +from the capital to the provinces, and, in 830, a Kebiishi-cho (Board +of Kebiishi) was duly formed, the number and duties of its staff +being definitely fixed four years later. The importance attaching to +the post of chief of this board is attested by the fact that only the +emon no Kami or the hyoye no Kami* was eligible originally, the bushi +(military men) in the hereditary service of these high dignitaries +being entrusted--under the name of tsuiho-shi--with the duty of +enforcing the law against all violators. Ultimately the judicial +functions hitherto discharged by the Efu (Guard Office), the +Danjo-dai (Police Board) and the Gyobu-sho (Department of Justice) +were all transferred to the Kebiishi-cho, and the latter's orders +ranked next to Imperial decrees. + +*Three corps of military guards formed part of the organization. The +senior corps were the Imperial guards (konoe): then came the military +guards (hyoye) and then the gate-guards (yemon). Each was divided +into two battalions; a battalion of the Left and a battalion of the +Right. Then there were the sa-konye and the u-konye, the sa-hyoye and +the u-hyoye, the sa-yemon and the u-yemon. These six offices were +known as roku-yefu, and the officer in chief command of each corps +was a kami. + +These kebiishi and tsuiho-shi have historical importance. They +represent the unequivocal beginning of the military class which was +destined ultimately to impose its sway over the whole of Japan. Their +institution was also a distinct step towards transferring the conduct +of affairs, both military and civil, from the direct control of the +sovereign to the hands of officialdom. The Emperor's power now began +to cease to be initiative and to be limited to sanction or veto. The +Kurando-dokoro was the precursor of the kwampaku; the Kebiishi-cho, +of the so-tsuihoshi. + +FUJIWARA FUYUTSUGU + +Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, who, as mentioned above, took such an important +part in the legislation of his era, may be adduced as illustrating +the error of the too common assertion that because the Fujiwara +nobles abused their opportunities in the later centuries of the Heian +epoch, the great family's services to its country were small. +Fujiwara Fuyutsugu was at once a statesman, a legislator, an +historian, and a soldier. Serving the State loyally and assiduously, +he reached the rank of first minister (sa-daijiri) though he died at +the early age of fifty-two, and it is beyond question that to his +ability must be attributed a large measure of the success achieved by +his Imperial master, Saga. The story of his private life may be +gathered from the fact that he established and richly endowed an +asylum for the relief of his indigent relatives; a college (the +Kwangaku-iri) for the education of Fujiwara youths, and an uji-tera +(Nanyen-do) at Nara for soliciting heaven's blessing on all that bore +his name. + +THE JAPANESE PEERAGE + +An interesting episode of Saga's reign was the compilation of a +record of all the uji (family names). Originally the right to use a +family name had been guarded as carefully as is a title of nobility +in Europe. The uji was, in truth, a hereditary title. But, as has +been occasionally noted in these pages, an uji was from time to time +bestowed on families of aliens, and thus, in the course of ages, +confusion gradually arose. From the middle of the eighth century, +efforts to compile a trustworthy record were made, and in Kwammu's +reign a genealogical bureau (kankei-jo) was actually organized, its +labours resulting in a catalogue of titles (seishi mokuroku). This +proved defective, however, as did a subsequent effort in Heijo's +time. Finally, the Emperor Saga entrusted the task to Prince Mamta, +who, with a large staff of assistants, laboured for ten years, and, +in 814, produced the Seishi-roku (Record of Uji) in thirty volumes. +Though not absolutely exhaustive, this great work remained a classic +down to modern times. It divided into three classes the whole body of +uji--1182--enrolled in its pages: namely, Kwobetsu, or those of +Imperial lineage; Shimbetsu, or those descended from the Kami, and +Bambetsu, or those of alien origin (Chinese or Korean). A few who +could not be clearly traced were placed in a "miscellaneous list." +This paragraph of history suggests the quality of Japanese +civilization in the ninth century. + +ENGRAVING: HYO-NO-MA ROOM IN THE KOHOAN OF DAITOKU-JI, AT KYOTO + +THE FIFTY-THIRD SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR JUNNA (A.D. 824-833) + +Junna was Kwammu's third son. He ascended the throne on the +abdication of his elder brother, Saga, and he himself abdicated in +favour of the latter's son, Nimmyo, nine years later. Junna's reign +is not remarkable for any achievement. No special legislation was +inaugurated nor any campaign against abuses undertaken. The three +brothers, Heijo, Saga, and Junna, may be said to have devoted +paramount attention to the study of Chinese literature. History +refuses, however, to connect this industry with a desire for ethical +instruction. Their efforts are said to have been limited to the +tracing of ideographs and the composition of verselets. A perfectly +formed ideograph possesses in Japanese eyes many of the qualities +that commend a pictorial masterpiece to Western appreciation. Saga +achieved the distinction of being reckoned among the "Three Penmen" +of his era,* and he carried his enthusiasm so far as to require that +all the scions of the aristocracy should be instructed in the Chinese +classics. Junna had less ability, but his admiration was not less +profound for a fine specimen of script or a deftly turned couplet. It +is, nevertheless, difficult to believe that these enthusiasts +confined themselves to the superficialities of Chinese learning. The +illustrations of altruism which they furnished by abdicating in one +another's favour may well have been inspired by perusing the writings +of Confucius.** However that may be, the reign of Junna, though not +subjectively distinguished, forms a landmark in Japanese history as +the period which closed the independent exercise of sovereign +authority. When Junna laid down the sceptre, it may be said, as we +shall presently see, to have been taken up by the Fujiwara. + +*The other two were Kobo Daishi, and Tachibana Hayanari. + +**Vide the remarks of the Chinese sage on Tai-pei, Chou-kung, +Wen-wang, and Wu-wang. + +ENGRAVING: "SHAKUHACHI," FLUTES MADE OF BAMBOO + +ENGRAVING: "KARAMON" GATE OF NISHI HONGWAN-JI TEMPLE, AT KYOTO + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE HEIAN EPOCH (Continued) + +54th Sovereign, Nimmyo A.D. 834-850 + +55th " Montoku 851-858 + +56th " Seiwa 859-876 + +57th " Yozei 877-884 + +58th " Koko 885-887 + +59th " Uda 888-897 + +60th " Daigo 898-930 + +BEGINNING OF FUJIWARA SUPREMACY + +THE events that now occurred require to be prefaced by a table: + + / + | Heijo + | + | Saga--Nimmyo (m. Jun, / Prince Michiyasu + | daughter of < (Emperor Montoku) + Kwammu < Fujiwara Fuyutsugu) \ + | + | / + | Junna (m. Masa, < Prince Tsunesada + | daughter of Saga) \ + \ + +In the year 834, Junna abdicated in favour of his elder brother +Saga's second son, who is known in history as Emperor Nimmyo. The +latter was married to Jun, daughter of Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, and had a +son, Prince Michiyasu. But, in consideration of the fact that Junna +had handed over the sceptre to Nimmyo, Nimmyo, in turn, set aside the +claim of his own son, Michiyasu, and conferred the dignity of Prince +Imperial on Prince Tsunesada, Junna's son. A double debt of gratitude +was thus paid, for Tsunesada was not only Junna's son but also Saga's +grandson, and thus the abdications of Saga and Junna were both +compensated. The new Prince Imperial, however, being a man of much +sagacity, foresaw trouble if he consented to supplant Nimmyo's son. +He struggled to avoid the nomination, but finally yielded to the +wishes of his father and his grandfather. + +While these two ex-Emperors lived, things moved smoothly, to all +appearances. On their demise trouble arose immediately. The Fujiwara +family perceived its opportunity and decided to profit by it. +Fujiwara Fuyutsugu had died, and it chanced that his son Yoshifusa +was a man of boundless ambition. By him and his partisans a slander +was framed to the effect that the Crown Prince, Tsunesada, harboured +rebellious designs, and the Emperor, believing the story--having, it +is said, a disposition to believe it--pronounced sentence of exile +against Prince Tsunesada, as well as his friends, the celebrated +scholar, Tachibana no Hayanari, and the able statesman, Tomo no +Kowamine, together with a number of others. It is recorded that the +sympathy of the people was with the exiles. + +These things happened in the year 843. The Fujiwara sought a +precedent in the action of their renowned ancestor, Momokawa, who, in +772, contrived the degradation and death of the Crown Prince Osabe on +a charge of sorcery But Momokawa acted from motives of pure +patriotism, whereas Yoshifusa worked in the Fujiwara interests only. +This, in fact, was the first step towards the transfer of +administrative power from the Throne to the Fujiwara. + +FRESH COMPLICATIONS ABOUT THE SUCCESSION + +Another table may be consulted with advantage: + + \ + Emperor Heijo--Prince Aho--Ariwara no Narihira | + > + / | + | Aritsune--a daughter | + | / + Ki no Natora < \ + | Shizu--a daughter | + \ | + > Prince Koretaka + Emperor Montoku | + / + \ + Emperor Montoku | + | + \ > Prince Korehito + Fujiwara Yoshifusa | | (Emperor Seiwa) + Princess Kiyo > Aki (Empress Somedono) | + (daughter of Saga) | / + / + +In the year 851, the Emperor Montoku ascended the throne, and +Fujiwara Yoshifusa was appointed minister of the Right. Yoshifusa +married Princess Kiyo, daughter of the Emperor Saga. She had been +given the uji of Minamoto in order to legalize this union, and she +bore to Yoshifusa a daughter who became Montoku's Empress under the +name of Somedono. By her, Montoku had a son, Prince Korehito, whose +chance of succeeding to the crown should have been very slender since +he had three half-brothers, the oldest of whom, Prince Koretaka, had +already attained his fourth year at the time of Korehito's birth, and +was his father's favourite. In fact, Montoku would certainly have +nominated Koretaka to be Prince Imperial had he not feared to offend +the Fujiwara. These let it be seen very plainly what they designed. +The baby, Korehito, was taken from the palace into Yoshifusa's +mansion, and when only nine months old was nominated Crown Prince. +The event enriched Japanese literature. For Montoku's first born, +Prince Koretaka, seeing himself deprived of his birthright, went into +seclusion in Ono at the foot of Mount Hiei, and there, in the shadow +of the great Tendai monastery, devoted his days to composing +verselets. In that pastime he was frequently joined by Ariwara no +Narihira, who, as a grandson of the Emperor Heijo, possessed a title +to the succession more valid than even that of the disappointed +Koretaka. In the celebrated Japanese anthology, the Kokin-shu, +compiled at the beginning of the tenth century, there are found +several couplets from the pens of Koretaka and Narihira. + +THE FUJIWARA REGENCY + +It was in the days of Fujiwara Yoshifusa that the descendants of +Kamatari first assumed the role of kingmakers. Yoshifusa obtained the +position of minister of the Right on the accession of Montoku (851), +and, six years later, he was appointed chancellor of the empire (dajo +daijin) in the sequel of the intrigues which had procured for his own +grandson (Korehito) the nomination of Prince Imperial. The latter, +known in history as the Emperor Seiwa, ascended the throne in the +year 859. He was then a child of nine, and naturally the whole duty +of administration devolved upon the chancellor. This situation fell +short of the Fujiwara leader's ideal in nomenclature only. There had +been many "chancellors" but few "regents" (sessho). In fact, the +office of regent had always been practically confined to princes of +the Blood, and the qualifications for holding it were prescribed in +very high terms by the Daiho statutes. Yoshifusa did not possess any +of the qualifications, but he wielded power sufficient to dispense +with them, and, in the year 866, he celebrated the Emperor's +attainment of his majority by having himself named sessho. The +appointment carried with it a sustenance fief of three thousand +houses; the privilege of being constantly attended by squadrons of +the Right and Left Imperial guards, and the honour of receiving the +allowances and the treatment of the Sangu, that is to say, of an +Empress, a Dowager Empress, or a Grand Dowager Empress. Husband of an +Empress, father of an Empress Dowager, grandfather of a reigning +Emperor, chancellor of the empire, and a regent--a subject could +climb no higher. Yoshifusa died in 872 at the age of sixty-eight. +Having no son of his own, he adopted his nephew, Mototsune, son of +Fujiwara Nagara. + +SEIWA'S EMPRESS + +Seiwa abdicated in 876, at the age of twenty-seven. Some historians +ascribe his abdication to a sentiment of remorse. He had ascended the +throne in despite of the superior claims of his elder brother, +Koretaka, and the usurpation weighed heavily on his conscience. It is +at least credible that since, in taking the sceptre he obeyed the +dictates of the Fujiwara, so in laying it down he followed the same +guidance. We cannot be sure as to the exact date when the great +family's policy of boy-sovereigns first took definite shape, but the +annals seem to show that Yoshifusa conceived the programme and that +his adopted son, Mototsune, carried it out. A halo rests on Seiwa's +head for the sake of his memorable descendants, the Minamoto chiefs, +Yoritomo, Takauji, and Ieyasu. Heaven is supposed to have compensated +the brevity of his own tenure of power by the overwhelming share that +his posterity enjoyed in the administration of the empire. + +But Seiwa was undoubtedly a good man as well as a zealous sovereign. +One episode in his career deserves attention as illustrating the +customs of the era. Mention has already been made of Ariwara no +Narihira, a grandson of the Emperor Heijo and one of the most +renowned among Japanese poets. He was a man of singular beauty, and +his literary attainments, combined with the melancholy that marked +his life of ignored rights, made him a specially interesting figure. +He won the love of Taka, younger sister of Fujiwara Mototsune and +niece of Yoshifusa. Their liaison was not hidden. But Yoshifusa, in +default of a child of his own, was just then seeking some Fujiwara +maiden suitable to be the consort of the young Emperor, Seiwa, in +pursuance of the newly conceived policy of building the Fujiwara +power on the influence of the ladies' apartments in the palace. Taka +possessed all the necessary qualifications. In another age the +obstacle of her blemished purity must have proved fatal. Yoshifusa's +audacity, however, was as limitless as his authority. He ordered the +poet prince to cut his hair and go eastward in expiation of the crime +of seeking to win Taka's affections, and having thus officially +rehabilitated her reputation, he introduced her into the household of +the Empress Dowager, his own daughter, through whose connivance the +lady soon found her way to the young Emperor's chamber and became the +mother of his successor, Yozei. + +Nor was this all. Though only a Fujiwara, and a soiled Fujiwara at +that, Taka was subsequently raised to the rank of Empress. +Ultimately, when Empress Dowager, her name was coupled with that of +the priest Zenyu of Toko-ji, as the Empress Koken's had been with +that of Dokyo, a hundred years previously, and she suffered +deprivation of Imperial rank. As for Narihira, after a few years he +was allowed to return from exile, but finding that all his hopes of +preferment were vain, he abandoned himself to a life of indolence and +debauchery. His name, however, will always stand next to those of +Hitomaro and Akahito on the roll of Japanese poets. + +ENGRAVING: FUJIWARA SEIWA + +YOZEI, UDA, AND THE KWAMPAKU + +The fifty-seventh sovereign was Yozei, offspring of the Emperor +Seiwa's union with the lady Taka. He ascended the throne in the year +877, at the age of ten, and Fujiwara Mototsune--Yoshifusa had died +five years previously--became regent (sessho), holding also the post +of chancellor (dajo-daijin). When Yozei was approaching his +seventeenth year he was overtaken by an illness which left him a +lunatic. It is related that he behaved in an extraordinary manner. He +set dogs and monkeys to fight and then slaughtered them; he fed toads +to snakes, and finally compelling a man lo ascend a tree, he stabbed +him among the branches. The regent decided that he must be dethroned, +and a council of State was convened to consider the matter. There had +never been an example of an act so sacrilegious as the deposition of +an Emperor at the dictate of his subjects. The ministers hesitated. +Then one of the Fujiwara magnates (Morokuzu) loudly proclaimed +that anyone dissenting from the chancellor's proposal would have +to answer for his contumacy. Thereafter, no one hesitated--so +overshadowing was the power of the Fujiwara. When carried to a +special palace--thenceforth called Yozei-in--and informed that he +had been dethroned for killing a man, the young Emperor burst into a +flood of tears. + +No hesitation was shown in appointing Yozei's successor. Prince +Tokiyasu, son of the Emperor Nimmyo, satisfied all the requirements. +His mother, a daughter of Fujiwara Tsugunawa, was Mototsune's +maternal aunt, and the Prince himself, already in his fifty-fifth +year, had a son, Sadami, who was married to the daughter of Fujiwara +Takafuji, a close relation to Mototsune. There can be no doubt that +the latter had the whole programme in view when he proposed the +dethronement of Yozei. Shortly after his accession, Prince +Tokiyasu--known in history as the Emperor Koko--fell ill, and at +Mototsune's instance the sovereign's third son (Sadami) was nominated +Prince Imperial. He succeeded to the throne as Emperor Uda on the +death of his father, which occurred (887) after a reign of two years. + +This event saw fresh extension of the Fujiwara's power. Uda was +twenty-two years of age when he received the sceptre, but recognizing +that he owed his elevation to Mototsune's influence and that his +prospects of a peaceful reign depended upon retaining the Fujiwara's +favour, his first act was to decree that the administration should be +carried on wholly by the chancellor, the latter merely reporting to +the Throne. This involved the exercise of power hitherto +unprecedented. To meet the situation a new office had to be created, +namely, that of kwampaku. The actual duties of this post were those +of regent to a sovereign who had attained his majority, whereas +sessho signified regent to a minor. Hence the kwampaku was obviously +the more honourable office, since its incumbent officiated in lieu of +an Emperor of mature years. Accordingly, the kwampaku--or mayor of +the palace, as the term is usually translated--took precedence of all +other officials. A subject could rise no higher without ceasing to +yield allegiance. As Mototsune was the first kwampaku, he has been +called the most ambitious and the least scrupulous of the Fujiwara. +But Mototsune merely stood at the pinnacle of an edifice, to the +building of which many had contributed, and among those builders not +a few fully deserved all they achieved. The names of such members of +the Fujiwara family as Mimori, Otsugu, Yoshino, Sadanushi, Nagara, +Yoshisuke, and Yasunori, who wrought and ruled in the period from +Heijo and Saga to Montoku and Seiwa, might justly stand high in any +record.* + +*The office of Kwampaku was continued from the time of its creation, +882, to 1868. + +THE AKO INCIDENT + +The Emperor Uda, as already stated, owed everything to the Fujiwara. +He himself did not possess even the claim of primogeniture, since he +was the third among several sons, and he had stepped out of the ranks +of the Imperial princes by accepting a family name. His decree +conferring administrative autocracy on Mototsune was thus a natural +expression of gratitude. + +Yet this very document proved a source of serious trouble. It was +drafted by Tachibana Hiromi, a ripe scholar, whose family stood as +high on the aristocratic roll as did that of the Fujiwara themselves. +At that time literary attainments conferred immense prestige in +Kyoto. To be skilled in calligraphy; to be well versed in the +classics; to be capable of composing a sonorous decree or devising a +graceful couplet--such accomplishments constituted a passport not +only to high office but even to the love of women. Tachibana Hiromi +was one of the leading literati of his era. He rendered into most +academical terms the Emperor's intentions towards Mototsune. From +time immemorial it has always been a canon of Japanese etiquette not +to receive anything with avidity. Mototsune declined the rescript; +the Emperor directed Hiromi to re-write it. Thus far the procedure +had been normal. But Hiromi's second draft ran thus: "You have toiled +for the welfare of the country. You have aided me in accordance with +the late sovereign's will. You are the chief servant of the empire, +not my vassal. You will henceforth discharge the duties of ako." This +term "ako" occurs in Chinese history. It signifies "reliance on +equity," a name given by an early Emperor to the administration of +the sage, I Yin. Hiromi inserted it solely to impart a classical +flavour to the decree and in all good faith. + +But Fujiwara Sukeyo, a rival literatus who possessed the confidence +of Mototsune, persuaded the latter that the epithet "ako" could not +apply to the discharge of active duties. What followed was +characteristic. Mototsune caused a number of horses to be let loose +in the city, his explanation being that, as he had no official +functions to discharge, neither had he any need of horses. Naturally +a number of horses running wild in the streets of the capital caused +confusion which soon came to the notice of the palace. The Emperor at +once convoked a meeting of literati to discuss the matter, but these +hesitated so long between their scholarly convictions and their +political apprehensions that, for several months, a state of +administrative anarchy prevailed, and the Emperor recorded in his +diary a lament over the corruption of the age. At last, by the advice +of the minister of the Left, Minamoto Toru, his Majesty sacrificed +Hiromi. A third decree was drafted, laying the blame on Hiromi's +shoulders, and Mototsune graciously consented to resume the duties of +the first subject in the empire. Just forty-five years previously, +Hayanari, another illustrious scholar of the Tachibana family, had +been among the victims of the false charge preferred against the +Crown Prince, Tsunesada, by the Fujiwara partisans. Mototsune may +well have been desirous of removing from the immediate neighbourhood +of the throne the representative of a family having such a cause of +umbrage against the Fujiwara. + +At the same time, it is only just to note that he found ready +coadjutors among the jealous schoolmen of the time. Rival colleges, +rival academies, and rival literati quarrelled with all the rancour +of medieval Europe. The great luminaries of the era were Sugawara +Michizane, Ki no Haseo, Koze no Fumio, Miyoshi Kiyotsura, and +Tachibana Hiromi. There was little mutual recognition of talent. +Kiyotsura abused Haseo as a pundit inferior to any of his +predecessors. Michizane ridiculed Fumio's panegyric of Kiyotsura, The +pupils of these men endorsed their teachers' verdicts. Ajnong them +all, Tachibana Hiromi occupied the most important position until the +day of his downfall. He practically managed the affairs of the Court +under Yozei, Koko, and Uda. Fujiwara Sukeyo, a greatly inferior +scholar, served as his subordinate, and was the willing tool in +contriving his degradation. It did not cause the Fujiwara any serious +concern that in compassing the ruin of Hiromi, they effectually +alienated the sympathies of the sovereign. + +CESSATION OF EMBASSIES TO CHINA + +It may be supposed that in an era when Chinese literati attracted so +much attention, visits to the Middle Kingdom were frequent. But from +the closing years of the eighth century, the great Tang dynasty began +to fall into disorder, and the embassies sent from Japan reported a +discouraging state of affairs. The last of these embassies +(kento-shi) was in the year 838. It had long ceased to take the +overland route via Liaoyang; the envoys' vessels were obliged to go +by long sea, and the dangers were so great that to be named for this +duty was regarded with consternation. In Uda's reign a project was +formed to appoint Sugawara Michizane as kento-shi, and Ki no Haseo as +his lieutenant. There is reason to think that this suggestion came +from Michizane's enemies who wished to remove him from a scene where +his presence threatened to become embarrassing. The course Michizane +adopted at this crisis showed moral courage, whatever may be thought +of its expediency. He memorialized the Throne in the sense that the +dangers of the journey were not compensated by its results. The +memorial was approved. Since the days of the Empress Suiko, when the +first kento-shi was despatched by Prince Shotoku, 294 years had +elapsed, and by some critics the abandonment of the custom has been +condemned. But it is certain that China in the ninth century had +little to teach Japan in the matter of either material or moral +civilization. + +THE AFFAIR OF THE ENGI ERA + +The Emperor Uda not only possessed great literary knowledge but was +also deeply sensible of the abuse that had grown out of the virtual +usurpation of administrative authority by one family. As illustrating +his desire to extend the circle of the Throne's servants and to +enlist erudite men into the service of the State, it is recorded that +he caused the interior of the palace to be decorated* with portraits +of renowned statesmen and literati from the annals of China. Fate +seemed disposed to assist his design, for, in the year 891, the +all-powerful Fujiwara Mototsune died, leaving three sons, Tokihira, +Nakahira, and Tadahira, the eldest of whom was only twenty-one. +During the life of Mototsune, to whom the Emperor owed everything, it +would not have been politically or morally possible to contrive any +radical change of system, and even after his death, the Fujiwara +family's claim to the Throne's gratitude precluded any direct attempt +on Uda's part to supplant them. Therefore, he formed the plan of +abdicating in favour of his son, as soon as the latter should attain +a suitable age--a plan inspired in some degree by his own feeble +health and by a keen desire to pass the closing years of his life in +comparative retirement. He carried out this design in the year 897, +and was thenceforth known as Uda-in.** + +*It is on this occasion that we hear of Koze no Kanaoka, the first +Japanese artist of great repute. + +**The suffix in was now first used for the names of retired Emperors. + +His son, Daigo, who now ascended the throne, was thirteen years old, +but no Fujiwara regent was appointed, Tokihira, the one person +eligible in respect of lineage, being precluded by youth. Therefore +the office of minister of the Left was conferred on Tokihira, and +Sugawara Michizane (called also Kwanko) became minister of the Right. + +It was to this Michizane that the ex-Emperor looked for material +assistance in the prosecution of his design. The Sugawara family +traced its descent to Nomi no Sukune, the champion wrestler of the +last century before Christ and the originator of clay substitutes for +human sacrifices at burials, though the name "Sugawara" did not +belong to the family until eight hundred years later, when the +Emperor Konin bestowed it on the then representative in recognition +of his great scholarship. Thenceforth, the name was borne by a +succession of renowned literati, the most erudite and the most famous +of all being Michizane. + +The ex-Emperor, on the accession of his thirteen-year-old son, Daigo, +handed to the latter an autograph document known in history as the +Counsels of the Kwampei Era. Its gist was: "Be just. Do not be swayed +by love or hate. Study to think impartially. Control your emotion and +never let it be externally visible. The sa-daijin, Fujiwara Tokihira, +is the descendant of meritorious servants of the Crown. Though still +young, he is already well versed in the administration of State +affairs. Some years ago, he sinned with a woman,* but I have no +longer any memory of the event. You will consult him and be guided by +his counsels. The u-daijin, Sugawara Michizane, is a man of profound +literary knowledge. He is also acquainted with politics. Frequently I +have profited by his admonitions. When I was elected Crown Prince I +had but Michizane to advise me. Not only has he been a loyal servant +to me, but he will be a loyal servant to my successor also." Plainly +the intention of the document was to place Michizane on a footing at +least equal to that of Tokihira. Michizane understood the perils of +such preferment. He knew that the scion of a comparatively obscure +family would not be tolerated as a rival by the Fujiwara. Three times +he declined the high post offered to him. In his second refusal he +compared himself to a man walking on thin ice, and in the third he +said: "If I myself am astounded at my promotion, how must others +regard it? The end will come like a flash of lightning." But the +Emperor and the ex-Emperor had laid their plans, and Michizane was an +indispensable factor. + +*A liaison with his uncle's wife. + +Events moved rapidly. Two years later (900), the Emperor, in concert +with the cloistered sovereign, proposed to raise Michizane to the +post of chancellor and to entrust the whole administration to him. +This was the signal for the Fujiwara to take action. One opportunity +for slandering Michizane offered; his daughter had been married to +Prince Tokiyo, the Emperor's younger brother. A rumour was busily +circulated that this meant a plot for the dethronement of Daigo in +favour of Tokiyo. Miyoshi Kiyotsura, an eminent scholar, acting +subtly at the instance of the Fujiwara, addressed a seemingly +friendly letter to Michizane, warning him that his career had become +dangerously rapid and explaining that the stars presaged a revolution +in the following year. At the same time, Minamoto Hikaru, son of the +Emperor Nimmyo; Fujiwara Sadakuni, father-in-law of Daigo, and +several others who were jealous of Michizane's preferment or of his +scholarship, separately or jointly memorialized the Throne, +impeaching Michizane as a traitor who plotted against his sovereign. + +ENGRAVING: SUGAWARA MICHIZANE + +Supplemented by Miyoshi's "friendly" notice of a star-predicated +cataclysm, this cumulative evidence convinced, and doubtless the +number and rank of the accusers alarmed the Emperor, then only in his +seventeenth year. Michizane was not invited to defend himself. In the +first year (901) of the Engi era, a decree went out stripping him of +all his high offices, and banishing him to Dazai-fu in Kyushu as +vice-governor. Many other officials were degraded as his partisans. +The ex-Emperor, to whose pity he pleaded in a plaintive couplet, made +a resolute attempt to aid him. His Majesty repaired to the palace for +the purpose of remonstrating with his son, Daigo. Had a meeting taken +place, Michizane's innocence would doubtless have been established. +But the Fujiwara had provided against such an obvious miscarriage of +their design. The palace guards refused to admit the ex-Emperor, and, +after waiting throughout a winter's day seated on a straw mat before +the gate, Uda went away in the evening, sorehearted and profoundly +humiliated. Michizane's twenty-three children were banished to five +places, and he himself, having only a nominal post, did not receive +emoluments sufficient to support him in comfort. Even oil for a +night-lamp was often unprocurable, and after spending twenty-five +months in voluntary confinement with only the society of his sorrows, +he expired (903) at the age of fifty-eight, and was buried in the +temple Anraku-ji in Chikuzen. + +ENGRAVING: SHRINE OF SUGAWARA MICHIZANE AT KITANO, KYOTO + +No figure in Japanese history has received such an abundant share of +national sympathy. His unjust fate and the idea that he suffered for +his sovereign appealed powerfully to popular imagination. Moreover, +lightning struck the palace in Kyoto, and the three principal +contrivers of Michizane's disgrace, Fujiwara Tokihira, Fujiwara +Sugane, and Minamoto Hikaru, all expired within a few years' +interval. At that epoch a wide-spread belief existed in the powers of +disembodied spirits for evil or for good. Such a creed grew logically +out of the cult of ancestor worship. It began to be whispered abroad +that Michizane's spirit was taking vengeance upon his enemies. The +Emperor was the first to act upon this superstition. He restored +Michizane's titles, raised him to the first grade of the second rank, +and caused all the documents relating to his exile to be burned. +Retribution did not stop there. Forty-five years after Michizane's +death, the people of Kyoto erected to his memory the shrine of Temman +Tenjin,* and in the year 1004, the Emperor Ichijo not only conferred +on him the posthumous office of chancellor with the unprecedented +honour of first grade of the first rank, but also repaired in person +to worship at the shrine. In later times, memorial shrines were built +in various places, and to this day he is fervently worshipped as the +deity of calligraphy, so high was he elevated by the Fujiwara's +attempt to drag him down. + +*Michizane was apotheosized under the name of Tenjin. He is known +also as Kan Shojo, and Temmangu. + +ENGRAVING: SAMISEN (A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT) + +ENGRAVING: SANJU-SANGEN-DO TEMPLE AT KYOTO + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE HEIAN EPOCH (Continued) + +60th Sovereign, Daigo (Continued) +61st " Emperor Shujaku A.D. 931-946 + +THE ENGI ERA (A.D. 901-923) + +In the year 909, Fujiwara Tokihira died and was followed to the +grave, in 913, by Minamoto Hikaru. For an interval of some years no +minister of State was nominated; the Emperor Daigo himself +administered affairs. For this interregnum in the sway of the +Fujiwara, the Engi era is memorable. + +It is memorable for other things also; notably for the compilation of +documents which throw much light on the conditions then existing in +Japan. The Emperor, in 914, called upon the Court officials to submit +memorials which should supply materials for administrative reforms. +The great scholar, Miyoshi Kiyotsura, responded with ability so +conspicuous that posterity has been disposed to question the justice +of the charges against him in connexion with Michizane's fate. He set +out by stating that, in the early times, the national sentiment had +been kind and simple; the people loyal to the Throne and obedient to +parents; the taxes moderate. But, thereafter, customs had gradually +deteriorated. Laws and regulations were promulgated with bewildering +rapidity. Taxes and forced labour grew heavier day by day. Cultivated +lands were suffered to lie fallow. Buddhism established such a hold +upon men's minds that people of all classes impoverished themselves +to build places of worship and to cast images. Upon the erection of +the provincial temples (Kokubun-ji) five-tenths of the national taxes +were expended; and in connexion with the removal of the capital to +Kyoto and the building of new palaces, a further sum of three-tenths +was paid out. Again, the Emperor Nimmyo's (834-850) love of luxury +and display led to architectural extravagance entirely unprecedented, +and involved the squandering of yet another tenth of the remaining +income of the State. Thereafter, in the Jokwan era (859-876), +frequent conflagrations destroyed the Imperial edifice, and its +restoration cost a tenth of the remaining revenue, so that only +one-twentieth was ultimately available for general expenses. + +As illustrating the state of the rural regions, the memorialist +instanced the case of Bitchu, a province on the Inland Sea, where he +held an official appointment in the year 893. The local records +(Fudoki) showed that a levy made there about the middle of the +seventh century had produced twenty thousand able-bodied soldiers,* +whereas a century later, there were found only nineteen hundred; yet +another century afterwards, only seventy; at the close of the ninth +century, nine, and in the year 911, not one. To such a state of +desolation had the district been reduced in the space of 250 years, +and its story might be taken as typical. + +*The district was consequently named Nima, an abbreviation of ni +(two) man (ten thousand). + +Passing to the question of religion, the memorialist declared that +the Shinto ceremonials to secure good harvests had lost all +sincerity. The officials behaved as though there were no such thing +as deities. They used the offerings for their own private purposes, +sold the sacred horses, and recited the rituals without the least +show of reverence. As for Buddhist priests, before asking them to +pray for the welfare of their parishioners, they must be asked to +purge themselves of their own sins. The priests who ministered at the +provincial temples had lost all sense of shame. They had wives, built +houses, cultivated lands, and engaged in trade. Was it to be supposed +that heaven would hearken to the intervention of such sinners? + +Meanwhile, luxury and extravagance had reached an extreme degree. On +one suit of clothes a patrimony was expended, and sometimes a year's +income barely sufficed for a single banquet. At funeral services all +classes launched into flagrant excesses. Feasts were prepared on such +a scale that the trays of viands covered the entire floor of a +temple. Thousands of pieces of gold were paid to the officiating +priests, and a ceremony, begun in mourning, ended in revelry. +Corresponding disorder existed with regard to the land. The original +distribution into kubunden, as we saw, had been partly for purposes +of taxation. But now these allotments were illegally appropriated, so +that they neither paid imposts nor furnished labourers; and while +governors held worthless regions, wealthy magnates annexed great +tracts of fertile land. Another abuse, prevalent according to Miyoshi +Kiyotsura's testimony, was that accusations were falsely preferred by +officials against their seniors. Provincial governors were said to +have frequently indulged in this treacherous practice and to have +been themselves at times the victims of similar attacks. The Court, +on receipt of such charges, seldom scrutinized them closely, but at +once despatched officers to deal with the incriminated persons, and +in the sequel, men occupying exalted positions were obliged to plead +on an equal footing with officials of low grade or even common +people. Self-respecting persons chose to stand aside altogether from +official life rather than to encounter such risks. + +This was an almost inevitable result of the exceptional facilities +given to petitioners under the Daika and Daiho systems. Miyoshi +Kiyotsura urged that all petitioning and all resulting inquiries by +specially appointed officials should be interdicted, except in +matters relating to political crime, and that all offenders should be +handed over to the duly constituted administrators of justice. As to +these latter, he spoke very plainly. The kebiishi, he wrote, who, +being appointed to the various provinces, have to preserve law and +order within their jurisdictions, should be men specially versed in +law, whereas a majority of those serving in that capacity are +ignorant and incompetent persons who have purchased their offices. To +illustrate further the want of discrimination shown in selecting +officials, he refers to the experts appointed in the maritime +provinces for manufacturing catapults, and declares that many of +these so-called "experts" had never seen a catapult. + +ENGRAVING: FAMILY LIFE OF NOBLES, HEIAN EPOCH, A.D. 782-1192 + +It is against the Buddhist priests and the soldiers of the six guards +that he inveighs most vehemently, however. He calls them "vicious and +ferocious," Those who take the tonsure, he says, number from two to +three thousand yearly, and about one-half of that total are wicked +men--low fellows who, desiring to evade taxation and forced labour, +have shaved their heads and donned priests vestments, aggregate +two-thirds of the population. They marry, eat animal food, practise +robbery, and carry on coining operations without any fear of +punishment. If a provincial governor attempts to restrain them, they +flock together and have recourse to violence. It was by bandits under +the command of wicked priests that Fujiwara Tokiyoshi, governor of +Aki, and Tachibana Kinkado, governor of Kii, were waylaid and +plundered. + +As for the soldiers of the guards, instead of taking their monthly +term of duty at the palace, they are scattered over the country, and +being strong and audacious, they treat the people violently and the +provincial governors with contumacy, sometimes even forming leagues +to rob the latter and escaping to the capital when they are hard +pressed. (These guardsmen had arms and horses of their own and called +themselves bushi, a term destined to have wide vogue in Japan.) It is +interesting to note that they make their historical debut thus +unfavourably introduced. Miyoshi Kiyotsura says that instead of being +"metropolitan tigers" to guard the palace, they were "rural wolves" +to despoil the provinces. + +APPRECIATIONS OF THE MIYOSHI MEMORIAL + +This celebrated document consisted of twelve articles and contained +five thousand ideographs, so that nothing was wanting in the matter +of voluminousness. The writer did not confine himself to enumerating +abuses: he also suggested remedies. Thus he urged that no man, having +become an equerry (toneri) of the six corps of guards, should be +allowed to return to his province during his term of service; that +the spurious priests should be all unfrocked and punished; that the +office of kebiishi should be restricted to men having legal +knowledge; that the upper classes should set an example of economy in +costumes and observances; that the ranks of the Buddhist priesthood +should be purged of open violators of the laws of their creed, and so +forth. Historians have justly eulogized the courage of a memorialist +who thus openly attacked wide-spread and powerful abuses. But they +have also noted that the document shows some reservations. For +generations the Fujiwara family had virtually usurped the governing +power; had dethroned Emperors and chosen Empresses; had consulted +their own will alone in the administrations of justice and in the +appointment and removal of officials. Yet of these things Miyoshi +Kiyotsura says nothing whatever. The sole hope of their redress lay +in Michizane; but instead of supporting that ill-starred statesman, +Miyoshi had contributed to his downfall. Could a reformer with such a +record be regarded as altogether sincere? + +ADMINISTRATION OF THE EMPEROR DAIGO + +The Emperor Daigo, who ruled thirty-two years--from 898 to 930--is +brought very close to us by the statement of a contemporary historian +that he was "wise, intelligent, and kind-hearted," and that he always +wore a smiling face, his own explanation of the latter habit being +that he found it much easier to converse with men familiarly than +solemnly. A celebrated incident of his career is that one winter's +night he took off his wadded silk garment to evince sympathy with the +poor who possessed no such protection against the cold. Partly +because of his debonair manner and charitable impulses he is +popularly remembered as "the wise Emperor of the Engi era." But close +readers of the annals do not fully endorse that tribute. They note +that Daigo's treatment of his father, Uda, on the celebrated occasion +of the latter's visit to the palace to intercede for Michizane, was +markedly unfilial; that his Majesty believed and acted upon slanders +which touched the honour of his father no less than that of his +well-proved servant, and that he made no resolute effort to correct +the abuses of his time, even when they had been clearly pointed out +by Miyoshi Kiyotsura. The usurpations of the Fujiwara; the +prostitution of Buddhism to evil ends; the growth of luxurious and +dissipated habits, and the subordination of practical ability to +pedantic scholarship--these four malignant growths upon the national +life found no healing treatment at Daigo's hands. + +THE CLASSICAL AGE OF LITERATURE + +The Engi era and the intervals of three or four decades before and +after it may be regarded as the classical age of literature in Japan. +Prose composition of a certain class was wholly in Chinese. All works +of a historical, scientific, legal, or theological nature were in +that language, and it cannot be said that they reached a very high +level. Yet their authors had much honour. During the reigns of Uda +and Daigo (888-930), Sugawara Michizane, Miyoshi Kiyotsura, Ki no +Haseo, and Koze no Fumio, formed a quartet of famous masters of +Chinese literature. From one point of view, Michizane's overthrow by +Fujiwara Tokihira may be regarded as a collision between the +Confucian doctrines which informed the polity of the Daika epoch and +the power of aristocratic heredity. Kibi no Makibi and Sugawara no +Michizane were the only two Japanese subjects that attained to be +ministers of State solely in recognition of their learning, but +several litterateurs reached high office, as chief chamberlain, +councillor of State, minister of Education, and so forth. Miyoshi +Kiyotsura ranks next to Michizane among the scholars of that age. He +was profoundly versed in jurisprudence, mathematics (such as they +were at the time), the Chinese classics, and history. But whereas +Michizane bequeathed to posterity ten volumes of poems and two +hundred volumes of a valuable historical work, no production of +Kiyotsura's pen has survived except his celebrated memorial referred +to above. He received the post of minister of the Household in 917 +and died in the following year. + +It must be understood that the work of these scholars appealed to +only a very limited number of their countrymen. The ako incident (pp. +239-240) illustrates this; the rescript penned by Tachibana no Hiromi +was not clearly comprehended outside a narrow circle of scholars. +Official notices and enactments were intelligible by few men of the +trading classes and by no women. But a different record is found in +the realm of high literature. Here there is much wealth. The Nara +epoch gave to Japan the famous Manyo-shu (Myriad Leaves), and the +Engi era gave her the scarcely less celebrated Kokin-shu, an +anthology of over eleven hundred poems, ancient and modern. As +between the two books, the advantage is with the former, though not +by any means in a marked degree, but in the abundance and excellence +of its prose writings--pure Japanese writings apart from the Chinese +works referred to above--"the Heian epoch leaves the Nara far behind. +The language had now attained to its full development. With its rich +system of terminations and particles it was a pliant instrument in +the writer's hands, and the vocabulary was varied and copious to a +degree which is astonishing when we remember that it was drawn almost +exclusively from native sources. The few words of Chinese origin +which it contains seem to have found their way in through the spoken +language and are not taken straight from Chinese books, as at a later +stage when Japanese authors loaded their periods with alien +vocables." + +This Heian literature "reflects the pleasure-loving and effeminate, +but cultured and refined, character of the class of Japanese who +produced it. It has no serious masculine qualities and may be +described in one word as belles-lettres--poetry, fiction, diaries, +and essays of a desultory kind. The lower classes of the people had +no share in the literary activity of the time. Culture had not as yet +penetrated beyond a very narrow circle. Both writers and readers +belonged exclusively to the official caste. It is remarkable that a +very large and important part of the best literature which Japan has +produced was written by women. A good share of the Nara poetry is of +feminine authorship, and, in the Heian period, women took a still +more conspicuous part in maintaining the honour of the native +literature. The two greatest works which have come down from Heian +time are both by women.* This was no doubt partly due to the +absorption of the masculine intellect in Chinese studies. But there +was a still more effective cause. The position of women in ancient +Japan was very different from what it afterwards became when Chinese +ideals were in the ascendant. The Japanese of this early period did +not share the feeling common to most Eastern countries that women +should be kept in subjection and as far as possible in seclusion. +Though the morality which the Heian literature reveals is anything +but strait-laced, the language is uniformly refined and decent, in +this respect resembling the best literature of China."** + +*The Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu, and the Makura Soshi by +Sei Shonagon. + +**Japanese Literature, by W. G. Aston. + +With the Heian epoch is connected the wide use of the phonetic script +known as kana, which may be described as a syllabary of forty-seven +symbols formed from abbreviated Chinese ideographs. There are two +varieties of the kana--the kata-kana and the hiragana* The former is +said to have been devised by Makibi, the latter by Kobo Daishi +(Kukai), but doubts have been cast on the accuracy of that record, +and nothing can be certainly affirmed except that both were known +before the close of the ninth century, though they do not seem to +have been largely used until the Heian epoch, and even then almost +entirely by women. + +*Katakana means "side kana" because its symbols are fragments (sides) +of Chinese forms of whole ideographs. + +ENGRAVING: MURASAKI SHIKIBU (COURT LADY AND POETESS) + +"Much of the poetry of this time was the outcome of poetical +tournaments at which themes were proposed to the competitors by +judges who examined each phrase and word with the minutest critical +care before pronouncing their verdict. As might be expected, the +poetry produced in those circumstances is of a more or less +artificial type, and is wanting in the spontaneous vigour of the +earlier essays of the Japanese muse. Conceits, acrostics, and +untranslatable word-plays hold much too prominent a place, but for +perfection of form the poems of this time are unrivalled. It is no +doubt to this quality that the great popularity of the Kokin-shu is +due. Sei Shonagon, writing in the early years of the eleventh +century, sums up a young lady's education as consisting of writing, +music, and the twenty volumes of the Kokin-shu."* + +*Japanese Literature, by W. G. Aston. + +The first notable specimen of prose in Japanese style (wabun) was the +preface to the Kokin-shu, written by Ki no Tsurayuki, who contended, +and his own composition proved, that the introduction of Chinese +words might well be dispensed with in writing Japanese. But what may +be called the classical form of Japanese prose was fixed by the +Taketori Monogatari,* an anonymous work which appeared at the +beginning of the Engi era (901),** and was quickly followed by +others. Still, the honour in which the ideograph was held never +diminished. When Tsurayuki composed the Tosa Nikki (Tosa Diary), he +gave it out as the work of a woman, so reluctant was he to identify +himself with a book written in the kana syllabary; and the Emperor +Saga, Kobo Daishi, and Tachibana Hayanari will be remembered forever +in Japan as the "Three Calligraphists" (Sampitsu). + +*The expression "monogatari" finds its nearest English equivalent in +"narrative." + +**An excellent translation of this has been made by Mr. F. V. Dickins +in the "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," Jan., 1887. + +In short, an extraordinary love of literature and of all that +pertained to it swayed the minds of Japan throughout the Nara and the +Heian epochs. The ninth and tenth centuries produced such poets as +Ariwara no Yukihira and his younger brother, Narihira; Otomo no +Kuronushi, Ochikochi no Mitsune, Sojo Henjo, and the poetess Ono no +Komachi; gave us three anthologies (Sandai-shu), the Kokin-shu, the +Gosen-shu, and the Shui-shu, as well as five of the Six National +Histories (Roku Kokushi), the Zoku Nihonki, the Nihon Koki, the Zoku +Nihon Koki, the Montoku Jitsuroku, and the Sandai Jitsuroku; and saw +a bureau of poetry (W aka-dokoro) established in Kyoto. Fine art also +was cultivated, and it is significant that calligraphy and painting +were coupled together in the current expression (shogwa) for products +of pictorial art. Kudara no Kawanari and Koze no Kanaoka, the first +Japanese painters to achieve great renown, flourished in the ninth +and tenth centuries, as did also a famous architect, Hida no Takumi. + +INTERVAL BETWEEN THE CAPITAL AND THE PROVINCES + +Thus, in the capital, Kyoto, where the Fujiwara family constituted +the power behind the Throne, refinements and luxury were constantly +developed, and men as well as women amused themselves composing +Chinese and Japanese poems, playing on musical instruments, dancing, +and making picnics to view the blossoms of the four seasons. But in +the provincial districts very different conditions existed. There, +men, being virtually without any knowledge of the ideographic script, +found the literature and the laws of the capital a sealed book to +them, and as for paying periodical visits to Kyoto, what that +involved may be gathered from the fact that the poet Tsurayuki's +return to the capital from the province of Tosa, where he had served +as acting governor, occupied one hundred days, as shown in his Tosa +Nikki (Diary of a Journey from Tosa), and that thirteen days were +needed to get from the mouth of the Yodo to the city. The pageant of +metropolitan civilization and magnificence never presented itself to +provincial eyes. + +ORIGIN OF THE SHOEN + +Much has already been said on the subject of land tenure; but as this +problem is responsible for some cardinal phases of Japanese history, +a brief resume will be useful here. There were four chief causes for +the existence of shoen, or manors. The first was reclamation. In the +year 723, it was decreed that persons who reclaimed land should +acquire a de facto title of tenure for three generations, and, twenty +years later, the tenure of title was made perpetual, limits of area +being fixed, however--1250 acres for princes and nobles of the first +rank, and thereafter by various gradations, to twenty-five acres for +a commoner. But these limits were not enforced, and in the year 767 +it became necessary to issue a decree prohibiting further +reclamation, which was followed, seventeen years later, by a rescript +forbidding provincial governors to exact forced labour for tilling +their manors. + +That this did not check the evil is proved by an official record, +compiled in 797, from which it appears that princes and influential +nobles possessed manors of great extent; that they appointed +intendants to manage them; that these intendants themselves engaged +in operations of reclamation; that they abused their power by +despoiling the peasants, and that dishonest farmers made a practice +of evading taxes and tribute by settling within the bounds of a +manor. These abuses reached their acme during the reigns of Uda and +Daigo (888-930), when people living in the vicinity of a manor were +ruthlessly robbed and plundered by the intendant and his servants, +and when it became habitual to elude the payment of taxes by making +spurious assignments of lands to influential officials in the +capital. In vain was the ownership of lands by powerful nobles +interdicted, and in vain its purchase by provincial governors: the +metropolis had no power to enforce its vetoes in the provinces, and +the provincials ignored them. Thus the shoen grew in number and +extent. + +The second factor which contributed to the extension of manors was +the bestowal of estates in perpetuity on persons of conspicuous +ability, and afterwards on men who enjoyed Imperial favour. Land thus +granted was called shiden and enjoyed immunity from taxation. Then +there were tracts given in recognition of public merit. These koden +were originally of limited tenure, but that condition soon ceased to +be observed, and the koden fell into the same category with manors +(shoen). + +Finally we have the jiden, or temple lands. These, too, were at the +outset granted for fixed terms, but when Buddhism became powerful the +limitation ceased to be operative, and moreover, in defiance of the +law, private persons presented tracts, large or small, to the temples +where the mortuary tablets of their families were preserved, and the +temples, oh their own account, acquired estates by purchase or by +reclamation. The jiden, like the other three kinds of land enumerated +above, were exempt from taxation. Owned by powerful nobles or +influential families, the shoen were largely cultivated by forced +labour, and as in many cases it paid the farmers better to rent such +land; and thus escape all fiscal obligations, than to till their own +fields, the latter were deserted pan passu with the development of +the manor system, and thus the State revenues suffered dual +reduction. + +During the last quarter of the tenth century peremptory edicts were +issued to check this state of affairs, but the power of the Court to +exact obedience had then dwindled almost to cipher. History records +that during the Ho-en era (1135-1140), the regent Fujiwara +Tadamichi's manor of Shimazu comprised one-fourth of the province of +Osumi. On these great manors, alike of nobles and of temples, armed +forces soon began to be maintained for purposes nominally of police +protection but ultimately of military aggression. This was especially +the case on the shoen of the puissant families of Taira and Minamoto. +Thus, Minamoto Yoshitomo came to own fifteen of the eastern +provinces, and in the tumult of the Heiji era (1159-1160), he lost +all these to Taira no Kiyomori, who, supplementing them with his own +already large manors and with the shoen of many other nobles and +temples, became owner of five hundred districts comprising about +one-half of the empire. Subsequently, when the Minamoto crushed the +Taira (1185), the whole of the latter's estates were distributed by +the former among the nobles who had fought under the Minamoto +standard. + +In that age the holders of manors were variously called ryoshu, +ryoke, shoya, or honjo, and the intendants were termed shocho, shoji, +kengyo, betto, or yoryudo, a diversity of nomenclature that is often +very perplexing. In many cases reclaimed lands went by the name of +the person who had reclaimed them. Such manors were spoken of as +myoden (name-land), and those owning large tracts were designated +daimyo (great name), while smaller holders were termed shomyo. Yet +another term for the intendants of these lands was nanushi-shoku. + +It will be readily seen that in the presence of such a system the +lands paying taxes to the Central Government became steadily less and +less. Thus, in the reign of the Emperor Toba (1108-1123), the State +domains administered by the provincial governors are recorded to have +been only one per cent, of the area of the provinces. In these +circumstances, the governors deemed it unnecessary to proceed +themselves to their posts; they remained in Kyoto and despatched +deputies to the provinces, a course which conspired to reduce the +authority of the Crown. + +For the sake of intelligent sequence of ideas, the above synopsis +makes some departure from the chronological order of these pages. +Returning to the early part of the tenth century, the historian may +affirm that the salient features of the era were virtual abrogation +of the Daiho laws imposing restrictions upon the area and period of +land-ownership; rapid growth of tax-free manors and consequent +impoverishment of the Court in Kyoto; the appearance of provincial +magnates who yielded scant obedience to the Crown, and the +organization of military classes which acknowledged the authority of +their own leaders only. + +REVOLT OF TAIRA NO MASAKADO + +The above state of affairs soon bore practical fruit. In the year +930, the Emperor Daigo died and was succeeded by his son Shujaku, a +child of eight, whose mother was a daughter of Fujiwara Mototsune. In +accordance with the system now fully established, Fujiwara Tadahira +became regent. History depicts this Tadahira as an effeminate +dilettante, one of whose foibles was to have a cuckoo painted on his +fan and to imitate the cry of the bird whenever he opened it. But as +representative of the chief aristocratic family in an age when to be +a Fujiwara was to possess a title superior to that conferred by +ability in any form and however conspicuous, his right to administer +the government in the capacity of regent obtained universal +recognition. + +It had become the custom at that time for the provincial magnates to +send their sons to Kyoto, where they served in the corps of guards, +became acquainted with refined life, and established relations of +friendship with the Taira and the Minamoto, the former descended from +the Emperor Kwammu, the latter from the Emperor Seiwa. Thus, at the +time of Daigo's death, a scion of the Taira, by name Masakado, was +serving under Tadahira in the capital. Believing himself endowed with +high military capacity, Masakado aspired to be appointed kebiishi of +his native province, Shimosa. But his archery, his horsemanship, and +his fencing elicited no applause in Kyoto, whereas a relative, +Sadabumi, attracted admiration by a licentious life. + +Masakado finally retired to Shimosa in an angry mood. At first, +however, the idea of revolt does not seem to have occurred to him. On +the contrary, the evidence is against such a hypothesis. For his +military career began with family feuds, and after he had killed one +of his uncles on account of a dispute about the boundaries of a +manor, and sacked the residence of another in consequence of a +trouble about a woman, he did not hesitate to obey a summons to Kyoto +to answer for his acts of violence. Such quarrels were indeed of not +uncommon occurrence in the provinces, as is shown by the memorial of +Miyoshi Kiyotsura, and the capital appears to have left them severely +alone, so far as practical interference was concerned, though the +pretence of jurisdiction might be preserved. Thus, Masakado was +acquitted after the formality of investigation had been satisfied. +Naturally this judgment did not prove a deterrent; on the contrary, +it amounted to a mandate. + +On his return to Kwanto, Masakado was soon found once more in the +arena. The details of his campaign have little interest except as +indicating that the provincial officials followed the example of +Kyoto in suffering local disturbances to settle themselves, and that +the abuses catalogued in the Miyoshi memorial were true to fact. A +raid that Masakado made into Musashi province is memorable as the +occasion of the first collision between the Taira and the Minamoto,* +which great families were destined ultimately to convert all Japan +into a battlefield. Finally, Masakado carried his raids so far that +he allowed himself to be persuaded of the hopelessness of pardon. It +was then that he resolved to revolt. Overrunning the whole eight +provinces of the Kwanto, he appointed his own partisans to all posts +of importance and set up a court after the Kyoto model. A letter +written by him at this time to the regent Tadahira affords an +interesting guide to the ethics of the era: + +"The genealogy of my house shows that I am the fifth in descent from +the Emperor Kwammu. Therefore, though I hold one-half of a province, +that cannot be attributed to mere good fortune. In the history of +ancient times there are occasions where a whole country was +appropriated by force of arms. Nature has endowed me with military +talent. None, I presume, excels me in that respect. You, however, had +no praise to bestow on me. Rather was I frequently reprimanded when I +served in the capital, so that my shame was unendurable, whereas your +sympathy would have delighted me. While Masakado was still a youth he +served Tadahira, the prime minister, for tens of years, and when +Tadahira became regent, Masakado never entertained his present +project. I have no words to express my regret. Though I have +conspired to revolt, I will not forget my old master, and I hope that +he will make allowances for the circumstances in which I am placed." + +*The vice-governor of Musashi, Minamoto Tsunemoto, was at feud with +the governor, Prince Okiyo, and Masakado espoused the latter's cause. + +Had it rested with Kyoto to subdue this revolt, Masakado might have +attained his goal. But chance and the curious spirit of the time +fought for the Court. A trifling breach of etiquette on the part of +Masakado--not pausing to bind up his hair before receiving a +visitor--forfeited the co-operation of a great soldier, Fujiwara +Hidesato, (afterwards known as Tawara Toda), and the latter, joining +forces with Taira Sadamori, whose father Masakado had killed, +attacked the rebels in a moment of elated carelessness, shattered +them completely, and sent Masakado's head to the capital. The whole +affair teaches that the Fujiwara aristocrats, ruling in Kyoto, had +neither power nor inclination to meddle with provincial +administration, and that the districts distant from the metropolis +wore practically under the sway of military magnates in whose eyes +might constituted right. This was especially notable in the case of +the Kwanto, that is to say the eight provinces surrounding the +present Tokyo Bay, extending north to the Nikko Mountains. Musashi, +indeed, was so infested with law-breakers that, from the days of the +Emperor Seiwa (859-876), it became customary to appoint one kebiishi +in each of its districts, whereas elsewhere the establishment was one +to each province. The kebiishi represented the really puissant arm of +the law, the provincial governors, originally so powerful, having now +degenerated into weaklings. + +THE REVOLT OF FUJIWARA SUMITOMO + +Another event, characteristic of the time, occurred in Nankai-do (the +four provinces of the island of Shikoku) contemporaneously with the +revolt of Masakado. During the Shohei era (931-937) the ravages of +pirates became so frequent in those waters that Fujiwara no Sumitomo +was specially despatched from Kyoto to restrain them. This he +effected without difficulty. But instead of returning to the capital, +he collected a number of armed men together with a squadron of +vessels, and conducted a campaign of spoliation and outrage in the +waters of the Inland Sea as well as the channels of Kii and Bungo. +Masakado's death, in 939, relieved the Court from the pressure in the +east, and an expedition was despatched against Sumitomo under the +command of Ono no Yoshifuru, general of the guards. + +Yoshifuru mustered only two hundred ships whereas Sumitomo had +fifteen hundred. The issue might have been foretold had not the +pirate chief's lieutenant gone over to the Imperial forces. Sumitomo, +after an obstinate resistance and after one signal success, was +finally routed and killed. Some historians* have contended that +Masakado and Sumitomo, when they were together in Kyoto, conspired a +simultaneous revolt in the east and the south; but such a conclusion +is inconsistent with the established fact that Masakado's treason was +not premeditated. + +*Notably the authors of the Okagami and the Nihon Gwaishi. + +That the two events synchronized is attributable wholly to the +conditions of the time. We have seen what was the state of affairs in +Kwanto, and that of Kyushu and Shikoku is clearly set forth in a +memorial presented (946) by Ono Yoshifuru on his return from the +Sumitomo campaign. In that document he says: "My information is that +those who pursue irregular courses are not necessarily sons of +provincial governors alone. Many others make lawless use of power and +authority; form confederacies; engage daily in military exercises; +collect and maintain men and horses under pretext of hunting game; +menace the district governors; plunder the common people; violate +their wives and daughters, and steal their beasts of burden and +employ them for their own purposes, thus interrupting agricultural +operations. Yesterday, they were outcasts, with barely sufficient +clothes to cover their nakedness; to-day, they ride on horseback and +don rich raiment. Meanwhile the country falls into a state of decay, +and the homesteads are desolate. My appeal is that, with the +exception of provincial governors' envoys, any who enter a province +at the head of parties carrying bows and arrows, intimidate the +inhabitants, and rob them of their property, shall be recognized as +common bandits and thrown into prison on apprehension." + +In a word, the aristocratic officialdom in Kyoto, headed by the +Fujiwara, though holding all the high administrative posts, wielded +no real power outside the capital, nor were they competent to +preserve order even within its precincts, for the palace itself was +not secure against incendiarism and depredation. When the heads of +the Minamoto and the Taira families were appointed provincial +governors in the Kwanto, they trained their servants in the use of +arms, calling them iye-no-ko (house-boys) or rodo (retainers), and +other local magnates purchased freedom from molestation by doing +homage and obeying their behests. Taira Masakado, Minamoto Tsunemoto, +Fujiwara Hidesato, and Taira Sadamori, who figure in the above +narrative, were all alike provincial chiefs, possessing private +estates and keeping armed retinues which they used for protection or +for plunder. The Imperial Court, when confronted with any crisis, was +constrained to borrow the aid of these magnates, and thus there came +into existence the buke, or military houses, as distinguished from +the kuge, or Court houses. + +ENGRAVING: UMBRELLAS + +ENGRAVING: KINKAKU-JI, AT KYOTO + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CAPITAL AND THE PROVINCES + +RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COURT AND THE FUJIWARA + +We now arrive at a period of Japanese history in which the relations +of the Fujiwara family to the Throne are so complicated as greatly to +perplex even the most careful reader. But as it is not possible to +construct a genealogical table of a really helpful character, the +facts will be set down here in their simplest form. + +THE SIXTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MURAKAMI (A.D. 947-967) + +Murakami, son of Daigo by the daughter of the regent, Fujiwara +Mototsune, ascended the throne in succession to Shujaku, and Fujiwara +Tadahira held the post of regent, as he had done in Shujaku's time, +his three sons, Saneyori, Morosuke, and Morotada, giving their +daughters; one, Morosuke's offspring, to be Empress, the other two to +be consorts of the sovereign. Moreover, Morosuke's second daughter +was married to the Emperor's younger brother, Prince Takaaki, who +afterwards descended from princely rank to take the family name of +Minamoto. Saneyori, Morosuke, and Takaaki took a prominent part in +the administration of State affairs, and thus indirectly by female +influence at Court, or by their own direct activity, the Fujiwara +held a supreme place. Murakami has a high position among Japan's +model sovereigns. He showed keen and intelligent interest in +politics; he sought to employ able officials; he endeavoured to check +luxury, and he solicited frank guidance from his elders. Thus later +generations learned to indicate Engi (901-923), when Daigo reigned, +and Tenryaku (947-957), when Murakami reigned, as essentially eras of +benevolent administration. But whatever may have been the personal +qualities of Murakami, however conspicuous his poetical ability and +however sincere his solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, he +failed signally to correct the effeminate tendency of Kyoto society +or to protect the lives and property of his people. Bandits raided +the capital, broke into the palace itself, set fire to it, and +committed frequent depredations unrestrained. An age when the +machinery for preserving law and order was practically paralyzed +scarcely deserves the eulogies of posterity. + +THE SUCCESSION + +The lady with whom Murakami first consorted was a daughter of +Fujiwara Motokata, who represented a comparatively obscure branch of +the great family, and had attained the office of chief councillor of +State (dainagori) only. She bore to his Majesty a son, Hirohira, and +the boy's grandfather confidently looked to see him named Prince +Imperial. But presently the daughter of Fujiwara Morosuke, minister +of the Right, entered the palace, and although her Court rank was not +at first superior to that of the dainagon's daughter, her child had +barely reached its third month when, through Morosuke's irresistible +influence, it was nominated heir to the throne. Motokata's +disappointment proved so keen that his health became impaired and he +finally died--of chagrin, the people said. In those days men believed +in the power of disembodied spirits for evil or for good. The spirit +of the ill-fated Sugawara Michizane was appeased by building shrines +to his memory, and a similar resource exorcised the angry ghost of +the rebel, Masakado; but no such prevention having been adopted in +the case of Motokata, his spirit was supposed to have compassed the +early deaths of his grandson's supplanter, Reizei, and of the +latter's successors, Kwazan and Sanjo, whose three united reigns +totalled only five years. + +A more substantial calamity resulted, however, from the habit of +ignoring the right of primogeniture in favour of arbitrary selection. +Murakami, seeing that the Crown Prince (Reizei) had an exceedingly +feeble physique, deemed it expedient to transfer the succession to +his younger brother, Tamehira. But the latter, having married into +the Minamoto family, had thus become ineligible for the throne in +Fujiwara eyes. The Emperor hesitated, therefore, to give open +expression to his views, and while he waited, he himself fell +mortally ill. On his death-bed he issued the necessary instruction, +but the Fujiwara deliberately ignored it, being determined that a +consort of their own blood must be the leading lady in every Imperial +household. Then the indignation of the other great families, the +Minamoto and the Taira, blazed out. Mitsunaka, representing the +former, and Shigenobu the latter, entered into a conspiracy to +collect an army in the Kwanto and march against Kyoto with the sole +object of compelling obedience to Murakami's dying behest. The plot +was divulged by Minamoto Mitsunaka in the sequel of a quarrel with +Taira no Shigenobu; the plotters were all exiled, and Takaaki, +youngest son of the Emperor Daigo, though wholly ignorant of the +conspiracy, was falsely accused to the Throne by Fujiwara Morotada, +deprived of his post of minister of the Left, to which his accuser +was nominated, and sent to that retreat for disgraced officials, the +Dazai-fu. Another instance is here furnished of the readiness with +which political rivals slandered one another in old Japan, and +another instance, also, of the sway exercised over the sovereign by +his Fujiwara ministers. + +THE SIXTY-THIRD SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR REIZEI (A.D. 968-969) + +THE SIXTY-FOURTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR ENYU (A.D. 970-984) + +The reigns of Reizei and Enyu are remarkable for quarrels among the +members of the Fujiwara family--quarrels which, to be followed +intelligently, require frequent reference to the genealogical table +(page 203). Fujiwara Morosuke had five sons, Koretada, Kanemichi, +Kaneiye, Tamemitsu, and Kinsuye. Two of these, Koretada and Kaneiye, +presented one each of their daughters to the Emperor Reizei, and +Koretada's daughter gave birth to Prince Morosada, who afterwards +reigned as Kwazan, while Kaneiye's daughter bore Okisada, +subsequently the Emperor Sanjo. After one year's reign, Reizei, who +suffered from brain disease, abdicated in favour of his younger +brother, Enyu, then only in his eleventh year. Fujiwara Saneyori +acted as regent, but, dying shortly afterwards, was succeeded in that +office by his nephew, Koretada, who also had to resign on account of +illness. + +Between this latter's two brothers, Kanemichi and Kaneiye, keen +competition for the regency now sprang up. Kanemichi's eldest +daughter was the Empress of Enyu, but his Majesty favoured Kaneiye, +who thus attained much higher rank than his elder brother. Kanemichi, +however, had another source of influence. His sister was Murakami's +Empress and mother of the reigning sovereign, Enyu. This Imperial +lady, writing to his Majesty Enyu at Kanemichi's dictation, conjured +the Emperor to be guided by primogeniture in appointing a regent, and +Enyu, though he bitterly disliked Kanemichi, could not gainsay his +mother. Thus Kanemichi became chancellor and acting regent. The +struggle was not concluded, however. It ended in the palace itself, +whither the two brothers repaired almost simultaneously, Kanemichi +rising from his sick-bed for the purpose. In the presence of the boy +Emperor, Kanemichi arbitrarily transferred his own office of kwampaku +to Fujiwara Yoritada and degraded his brother, Kaneiye, to a +comparatively insignificant post. The sovereign acquiesced; he had no +choice. A few months later, this dictator died. It is related of him +that his residence was more gorgeous than the palace and his manner +of life more sumptuous than the sovereign's. The men of his time were +wont to say, "A tiger's mouth is less fatal than the frown of the +regent, Kanemichi." + +THE SIXTY-FIFTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KWAZAN (A.D. 985-986) + +THE SIXTY-SIXTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR ICHIJO (A.D. 987-1011) + +Eldest son of the Emperor Reizei, Kwazan ascended the throne in 985. +His mother was a daughter of Fujiwara Koretada, and Yoritada, whose +appointment as regent has just been described, continued to act in +that capacity. Kaneiye's opportunity had now come. Kwazan having +succeeded Enyu, nominated the latter's son to be Crown Prince, +instead of conferring the position on his own brother, Prince Okisada +(afterwards Sanjo). Now the Crown Prince was the son of Kaneiye's +daughter, and that ambitious noble determined to compass the +sovereign's abdication without delay. Kwazan, originally a fickle +lover, had ultimately conceived an absorbing passion for the lady +Tsuneko. He could not be induced to part with her even at the time of +her pregnancy, and as there was no proper provision in the palace for +such an event, Tsuneko died in labour. Kwazan, distraught with grief, +was approached by Kaneiye's son, Michikane, who urged him to retire +from the world and seek in Buddhism the perfect peace thus alone +attainable. Michikane declared his own intention of entering the +"path," and on a moonlight night the two men, leaving the palace, +repaired to the temple Gwangyo-ji to take the tonsure. There, +Michikane, pretending he wished to bid final farewell to his family, +departed to return no more, and the Emperor understood that he had +been deceived. + +Retreat was now impossible, however. He abdicated in favour of +Ichijo, a child of seven, and Kaneiye became regent and chancellor. +He emulated the magnificence of his deceased brother and rival, +Kanemichi, and his residence at Higashi-Sanjo in Kyoto was built +after the model of the "hall of freshness" in the palace. He had five +sons, the most remarkable of whom were Michitaka, Michikane, and +Michinaga. It will be presently seen that in the hands of the last +the power of the Fujiwara reached its zenith. On the death of Kaneiye +the office of kwampaku fell to his eldest son, Michitaka, and, in +993, the latter being seriously ill, his son, Korechika, looked to be +his successor. But the honour fell to Michitaka's brother, Michikane. +Seven days after his nomination, Michikane died, and, as a matter of +course, men said that he had been done to death by the incantations +of his ambitious nephew. Again, however, the latter was disappointed. +Kaneiye's third son, Michinaga, succeeded to the regency. + +Almost immediately, the new regent seems to have determined that his +daughter should be Empress. But the daughter of his elder brother, +the late Michitaka, already held that position. This, however, +constituted no sort of obstacle in the eyes of the omnipotent +Michinaga. He induced--"required" would probably be a more accurate +expression--the Empress to abandon the world, shave her head, and +remove to a secluded palace, (the Kokideri); where-after he caused +his own daughter to become the Imperial consort under the title of +chugu,* her residence being fixed in the Fujitsubo, which was the +recognized palace of the Empress. + +*A lady on introduction to the palace received the title of jokwan. +If the daughter of a minister of State, she was called nyogo. Chugu +was a still higher title devised specially for Michinaga's purpose, +and naturally it became a precedent. + +It is not to be imagined that with such a despotic regent, the +Emperor himself exercised any real authority. The annals show that +Ichijo was of benevolent disposition; that he sympathized with his +people; that he excelled in prose composition and possessed much +skill in music. Further, during his reign of twenty-four years many +able men graced the era. But neither their capacity nor his own found +opportunity for exercise in the presence of Michinaga's proteges, +and, while profoundly disliking the Fujiwara autocrat, Ichijo was +constrained to suffer him. + +THE SIXTY-SEVENTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SANJO (A.D. 1012-1017) + +THE SIXTY-EIGHTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-ICHIJO (A.D. 1017-1036) + +Prince Okisada, younger brother of the Emperor Kwazan, ascended the +throne at the age of thirty-six, on the abdication of Ichijo, and is +known in history as Sanjo. Before his accession he had married the +daughter of Fujiwara Naritoki, to whom he was much attached, but with +the crown he had to accept the second daughter of Michinaga as chugu, +his former consort becoming Empress. His Majesty had to acquiesce in +another arbitrary arrangement also. It has been shown above that +Michinaga's eldest daughter had been given the title of chugu in the +palace of Ichijo, to whom she bore two sons, Atsunari and Atsunaga. +Neither of these had any right to be nominated Crown Prince in +preference to Sanjo's offspring. Michinaga, however, caused Atsunari +to be appointed Prince Imperial, ignoring Sanjo's son, since his +mother belonged to an inferior branch of the Fujiwara. Further, it +did not suit the regent's convenience that a ruler of mature age +should occupy the throne. An eye disease from which Sanjo suffered +became the pretext for pressing him to abdicate, and, in 1017, +Atsunari, then in his ninth year, took the sceptre as Emperor +Go-Ichijo, or Ichijo II. Michinaga continued to act as regent, +holding, at the same time, the office of minister of the Left, but he +subsequently handed over the regency to his son, Yorimichi, becoming +himself chancellor. + +Go-Ichijo was constrained to endure at Michinaga's hands the same +despotic treatment as that previously meted out to Sanjo. The +legitimate claim of his offspring to the throne was ignored in favour +of his brother, Atsunaga, who received for consort the fourth +daughter of Michinaga. Thus, this imperious noble had controlled the +administration for thirty years; had given his daughters to three +Emperors; had appointed his son to be regent in his place, and had +the Crown Prince for grandson. Truly, as his historians say, he held +the empire in the hollow of his hand. His estates far exceeded those +of the Crown; the presents offered to him by all ranks reached an +enormous total; he built for himself a splendid mansion (Jotomon) +with forced labour requisitioned from the provinces, and for his wife +a scarcely less magnificent residence (Kyogoku) was erected at the +charges of the Emperor Go-Ichijo. At the approach of illness he took +refuge in Buddhism, but even here the gorgeous ostentation of his +life was not abated. He planned the building of a monastery which +should prove a worthy retreat for his declining years, and it is on +record that his order to the provincial governor was, "though you +neglect your official duties, do not neglect to furnish materials and +labour for the building of Hojo-ji." Even from the palace itself +stones were taken for this monastery, and the sums lavished upon it +were so enormous that they dwarfed Michinaga's previous +extravagances. Michinaga retired there to die, and on his death-bed +he received a visit from the Emperor, who ordered three months' Court +mourning on his decease. There is a celebrated work entitled Eigwa +Monogatari (Tales of Splendour), wherein is depicted the fortunes and +the foibles of the Fujiwara family from the days (889) of the Emperor +Uda to those (1092) of the Emperor Horikawa. Specially minute is the +chronicle when it treats of the Mido kwampaku, as Michinaga was +called after he set himself to build the monastery Hojo-ji. + +Loyal Japanese historians shrink from describing this era, when the +occupants of the throne were virtually puppets in the hands of the +Fujiwara. There was, however, one redeeming feature: amid this luxury +and refinement literature flourished vigorously, so that the era of +Tenryaku (947-957) lives in the memory of the nation as vividly as +that of Engi (901-923). Oye Tomotsuna, Sugawara Fumitoki, Minamoto +Shitago--these were famous litterateurs, and Minamoto Hiromasa, +grandson of the Emperor Uda, attained celebrity as a musical genius. +Coming to the reigns of Kwazan, Enyu, and Ichijo (985-1011), we find +the immortal group of female writers, Murasaki Shikibu, Izumi +Shikibu, Sei Shonagon, and Akazome Emon; we find also in the Imperial +family, Princes Kaneakira and Tomohira; we find three famous scribes, +Fujiwara Yukinari, Fujiwara Sari, and Ono no Tofu, and, finally the +"Four Nagon" (Shi-nagori), Fujiwara Yukinari, Fujiwara Kinto. +Minamoto Narinobu, and Minamoto Toshikata. + +It is observable that in this necessarily brief summary the name +"Minamoto" occurs several times, as does that of "Fujiwara" also. But +that the scions of either family confined themselves to the arts of +peace, is not to be inferred. There were Fujiwara among the military +magnates in the provinces, and we shall presently see the Minamoto +taking the lead in the science of war. Already, indeed, the Fujiwara +in the capital were beginning to recognize the power of the Minamoto. +It has been related above that one of the rebel Masakado's earliest +opponents was a Minamoto, vice-governor of Musashi. His son, +Mitsunaka, a redoubtable warrior, assisted the Fujiwara in Kyoto, and +Mitsunaka's sons, Yorimitsu and Yorinobu, contributed materially to +the autocracy of the regent Michinaga. Yorimitsu was appointed by the +regent to command the cavalry of the guard, and he is said to have +brought that corps to a state of great efficiency. + +There was, indeed, much need of a strong hand. One had only to emerge +from the palace gates to find oneself among the haunts of bandits. +The names of such robber chiefs as Hakamadare no Yasusuke, Kidomaru, +Oeyama Shutendoji, and Ibaraki-doji have been handed down as the +heroes in many a strange adventure and the perpetrators of many +heinous crimes. Even the Fujiwara residences were not secure against +the torches of these plunderers, and during the reign of Ichijo the +palace itself was frequently fired by them. In Go-Ichijo's tune, an +edict was issued forbidding men to carry bows and arrows in the +streets, but had there been power to enforce such a veto, its +enactment would not have been necessary. Its immediate sequel was +that the bandits broke into Government offices and murdered officials +there. + +THE INVASION OF JAPAN BY THE TOI + +In the spring of 1019, when Go-Ichijo occupied the throne, a large +host of invaders suddenly poured into the island of Tsushima. There +had not been any warning. Tsushima lies half-way between the south of +Korea and the northeast of Kyushu, distant about sixty miles from +either coast. Since the earliest times, its fine harbours had served +as a military station for ships plying between Japan and Korea, but +such intercourse had long been interrupted when this invasion took +place. + +The invaders were the Toi, originally called Sushen or Moho, under +the former of which names they make their appearance in Japanese +history in the middle of the sixth century. They inhabited that part +of the Asiatic continent which lies opposite to the island of Ezo, +but there is nothing to show what impulse they obeyed in making this +sudden descent upon Japan. Their fleet comprised some fifty vessels +only, each from forty to sixty feet long and propelled by thirty or +forty oars, but of how many fighting men the whole force consisted, +no record has been preserved. As to arms, they carried swords, bows, +spears, and shields, and in their tactical formation spearmen +occupied the front rank, then came swordsmen, and finally bowmen. +Every man had a shield. Their arrows were short, measuring little +over a foot, but their bows were powerful, and they seem to have +fought with fierce courage. + +At first they carried everything before them. The governor of +Tsushima, being without any means of defence, fled to the Dazai-fu in +Kyushu, and the inhabitants were left to the mercy of the invaders, +who then pushed on to the island of Iki. There the governor, Fujiwara +Masatada, made a desperate resistance, losing his own life in the +battle. It is said that of all the inhabitants, one only, a Buddhist +priest, escaped to tell the story. + +Ten days after their first appearance off Tsushima, the Toi effected +a landing in Chikuzen and marched towards Hakata, plundering, +burning, massacring old folks and children, making prisoners of +adults, and slaughtering cattle and horses for food. It happened, +fortunately, that Takaiye, younger brother of Fujiwara Korechika, was +in command at the Dazai-fu, whither he had repaired partly out of +pique, partly to undergo treatment for eye disease at the hands of a +Chinese doctor. He met the crisis with the utmost coolness, and made +such skilful dispositions for defence that, after three days' +fighting, in which the Japanese lost heavily, Hakata remained +uncaptured. + +High winds and rough seas now held the invaders at bay, and in that +interval the coast defences were repaired and garrisoned, and a fleet +of thirty-eight boats having been assembled, the Japanese assumed the +offensive, ultimately driving the Toi to put to sea. A final attempt +was made to effect a landing at Matsuura in the neighbouring province +of Hizen, but, after fierce fighting, the invaders had to withdraw +altogether. The whole affair had lasted sixteen days, and the +Japanese losses were 382 killed and 1280 taken prisoners. Two hundred +and eighty of the latter--60 men and 220 women--were subsequently +returned. They were brought over from Koma six months later by a Koma +envoy, Chong Cha-ryang, to whom the Court presented three hundred +pieces of gold. + +Kyoto's attitude towards this incident was most instructive. When the +first tidings of the invasion reached the capital, the protection of +heaven was at once invoked by services at Ise and ten other shrines. +But when, on receipt of news that the danger had been averted, the +question of rewarding the victors came up for discussion, a majority +of the leading statesmen contended that, as the affair had been +settled before the arrival of an Imperial mandate at the Dazai-fu, no +official cognizance could be taken of it. This view was ultimately +overruled since the peril had been national, but the rewards +subsequently given were insignificant, and the event clearly +illustrates the policy of the Central Government--a policy already +noted in connexion with the revolt of Masakado--namely, that any +emergency dealt with prior to the receipt of an Imperial rescript +must be regarded as private, whatever its nature, and therefore +beyond the purview of the law. + +A more effective method of decentralization could not have been +devised. It was inevitable that, under such a system, the provincial +magnates should settle matters to their own liking without reference +to Kyoto, and that, the better to enforce their will, they should +equip themselves with armed retinues. In truth, it is not too much to +say that, from the tenth century, Japan outside the capital became an +arena of excursions and alarms, the preservation of peace being +wholly dependent on the ambitions of local magnates. + +A history of all these happenings would be intolerably long and +tedious. Therefore only those that have a national bearing will be +here set down. Prominent among such is the struggle between the Taira +and the Minamoto in the Kwanto. The origin of these two families has +already been recounted. Some historians have sought to differentiate +the metropolitan section of the Minamoto from the provincial +section--that is to say, the men of luxury and literature who +frequented the capital, from the men of sword and bow who ruled in +the provinces. Such differentiation is of little practical value. +Similar lines of demarcation might be drawn in the case of the Taira +and Fujiwara themselves. If there were great captains in each of +these famous families, there were also great courtiers. To the former +category belonged Taira Tadatsune. For generations his family had +ruled in the province of Shimosa and had commanded the allegiance of +all the bushi of the region. Tadatsune held at one time the post of +vice-governor of the neighbouring province of Kazusa, where he +acquired large manors (shoen). In the year 1028, he seized the chief +town of the latter province, and pushing on into Awa, killed the +governor and obtained complete control of the province.* The Court, +on receiving news of these events, ordered Minamoto Yorinobu, +governor of Kai, and several other provincial governors to attack the +Taira chief. + +*Murdoch, in his History of Japan, says that in three years +Tadatsune's aggressions "reduced the Kwanto to a tangled wilderness. +Thus, in the province of Shimosa, in 1027, there had been as much as +58,000 acres under cultivation; but in 1031 this had shrunk to +forty-five acres." + +Yorinobu did not wait for his associates. Setting out with his son, +Yoriyoshi, in 1031, he moved at once against Tadatsune's castle, +which stood on the seashore of Shimosa, protected by moats and +palisades, and supposed to be unapproachable from the sea except by +boats, of which Tadatsune had taken care that there should not be any +supply available. But the Minamoto general learned that the shore +sloped very slowly on the castle front, and marching his men boldly +through the water, he delivered a crushing attack. + +For this exploit, which won loud plaudits, he was appointed +commandant of the local government office, a post held by his +grandfather, Tsunemoto, whom we have seen as vice-governor of Musashi +in the days of Masakado; by his father, Mitsunaka, one of the pillars +of the Minamoto family, and by his elder brother, Yorimitsu, who +commanded the cavalry of the guards in Kyoto. The same post was +subsequently bestowed on Yorinobu's son, Yoriyoshi, and on the +latter's son, Yoshiiye, known by posterity as "Hachiman Taro," +Japan's most renowned archer, to whom the pre-eminence of the +Minamoto family was mainly due. Tadatsune had another son, Tsunemasa, +who was appointed vice-governor of Shimosa and who is generally +spoken of as Chiba-no-suke. The chief importance of these events is +that they laid the foundation of the Minamoto family's supremacy in +the Kwanto, and thus permanently influenced the course of Japanese +history. + +THE CAMPAIGN OF ZEN-KUNEN + +It is advisable at this stage to make closer acquaintance with the +Japanese bushi (soldier), who has been cursorily alluded to more than +once in these pages, and who, from the tenth century, acts a +prominent role on the Japanese stage. History is silent as to the +exact date when the term "bushi" came into use, but from a very early +era its Japanese equivalent, "monono-fu," was applied to the guards +of the sovereign's palace, and when great provincial magnates began, +about the tenth century, to support a number of armed retainers, +these gradually came to be distinguished as bushi. In modern times +the ethics of the bushi have been analysed under the name "bushido" +(the way of the warrior), but of course no such term or any such +complete code existed in ancient days. The conduct most appropriate +to a bushi was never embodied in a written code. It derived its +sanctions from the practice of recognized models, and only by +observing those models can we reach a clear conception of the thing +itself. + +ENGRAVING: HALL OF BYODOIN TEMPLE (1052), AT UJI + +To that end, brief study may be given to the principal campaigns of +the eleventh century, namely, the century immediately preceding the +establishment of military feudalism. It must be premised, however, +that although the bushi figured mainly on the provincial stage, he +acted an important part in the capital also. There, the Throne and +its Fujiwara entourage were constrained to enlist the co-operation of +the military nobles for the purpose of controlling the lawless +elements of the population. The Minamoto family were conspicuous in +that respect. Minamoto Mitsunaka--called also Manchu--served at the +Court of four consecutive sovereigns from Murakami downwards, was +appointed governor of several provinces, and finally became +commandant of the local Government office. Yorimitsu, his son, a +still greater strategist, was a prominent figure at five Courts, from +the days of Enyu, and his brothers, Yorichika and Yorinobu, rendered +material assistance in securing the supremacy of the great Fujiwara +chief, Michinaga. Indeed, the Minamoto were commonly spoken of as the +"claws" of the Fujiwara. It was this Yorinobu who won such fame by +escalading the castle of Taira Tadatsune and who established his +family's footing in the Kwanto. His uncle, Yoshimitsu, had a large +estate at Tada in Settsu, and this branch of the family was known as +Tada Genji.* + +Then there were: + +The Yamato Genji descended from Yorichika + + " Suruga " " " Mitsumasa + + " Shinano " " " Mitsunaka + + " Uda " of Omi, called also the Sasaki family + + " Saga " of Settsu " " " Watanabe + + " Hizen " of Hizen " " " Matsuura + +The Taira family became famous from the time of Sadamori, who quelled +the insurrection of Masakado. Of this clan, there were these +branches: + +The Daijo-uji of Hitachi, so called because for generations they held +the office of daijo in Hitachi. + +The Ise-Heishi of Ise, descended from Korehira, son of Sadamori. + + " Shiro-uji of Mutsu, Dewa, Shinano, and Echigo, descended from +Shigemori and Koremochi + + " Nishina-uji " " " " " " " " + + " Iwaki-uji " " " " " " " " + + " Miura-no-suke of Musashi, Kazusa, and Shimosa, descendants of +Taira no Yoshibumi + + " Chiba-no-suke " " " " " + + " Chichibu-uji " " " " " + +Soma family, who succeeded to the domains of Masakado. + +*"Gen" is the alternative pronunciation of "Minamoto" as "Hei" is of +"Taira." The two great families who occupy such a large space in the +pages of Japanese history are spoken of together as "Gen-Pei," and +independently as "Genji" and "Heishi," or "Minamoto" and + +The Fujiwara also had many provincial representatives, descended +mainly from Hidesato, (called also Tawara Toda), who distinguished +himself in the Masakado crisis. There were the Sano-uji of +Shimotsuke, Mutsu, and Dewa; and there were the Kondo, the Muto, the +Koyama, and the Yuki, all in different parts of the Kwanto. In fact, +the empire outside the capital was practically divided between the +Minamoto, the Taira, and the Fujiwara families, so that anything like +a feud could scarcely fail to have wide ramifications. + +The eleventh century may be said to have been the beginning of such +tumults. Not long after the affair of Taira Tadatsune, there occurred +the much larger campaign known as Zen-kunen no Sodo, or the "Prior +Nine Years' Commotion." The scene of this struggle was the vast +province of Mutsu in the extreme north of the main island. For +several generations the Abe family had exercised sway there, and its +representative in the middle of the eleventh century extended his +rule over six districts and defied the authority of the provincial +governors. The Court deputed Minamoto Yoriyoshi to restore order. The +Abe magnate was killed by a stray arrow at an early stage of the +campaign, but his son, Sadato, made a splendid resistance. + +In December, 1057, Yoriyoshi, at the head of eighteen hundred men, +led a desperate assault on the castle of Kawasaki, garrisoned by +Sadato with four thousand picked soldiers. The attack was delivered +during a heavy snow-storm, and in its sequel the Minamoto general +found his force reduced to six men. Among these six, however, was his +eldest son, Yoshiiye, one of the most skilful bowmen Japan ever +produced. Yoshiiye's mother was a Taira. When she became enceinte her +husband dreamed that the sacred sword of the war deity, Hachiman, had +been given to him, and the boy came to be called Hachiman Taro. This +name grew to be a terror to the enemy, and it was mainly through his +prowess that his father and their scanty remnant of troops escaped +over roads where the snow lay several feet deep. + +On a subsequent occasion in the same campaign, Yoshiiye had Sadato at +his mercy and, while fixing an arrow to shoot him, composed the first +line of a couplet, "The surcoat's warp at last is torn." Sadato, +without a moment's hesitation, capped the line, "The threads at last +are frayed and worn,"* and Yoshiiye, charmed by such a display of +ready wit, lowered his bow. Nine years were needed to finish the +campaign, and, in its sequel, Yoriyoshi was appointed governor of +Iyo, and Yoshiiye, governor of Mutsu, while Kiyowara Takenori, +without whose timely aid Sadato could scarcely have been subdued, +received the high post of chinju-fu shogun (commandant of the local +Government office). Yoshiiye's magnanimity towards Sadato at the +fortress of Koromo-gawa has always been held worthy of a true bushi. + +*The point of this couplet is altogether lost in English. It turns +upon the fact that the word tate used by Yoshiiye means either a +fortress or the vertical threads in woven stuff, and that koromo was +the name of the fortress where the encounter took place and had also +the significance of "surcoat." + +Sadato was ultimately killed, but his younger brother Muneto had the +affection and full confidence of Yoshiiye. Muneto, however, +remembered his brother's fate and cherished a desire to take +vengeance on Yoshiiye, which mood also was recognized as becoming to +a model bushi. One night, the two men went out together, and Muneto +decided that the opportunity for vengeance had come. Drawing his +sword, he looked into the ox-carriage containing Yoshiiye and found +him sound asleep. The idea of behaving treacherously in the face of +such trust was unendurable, and thereafter Muneto served Yoshiiye +with faith and friendship. The confidence that the Minamoto hero +reposed in the brother of his old enemy and the way it was +requited--these, too, are claimed as traits of the bushi. + +Yet another canon is furnished by Yoshiiye's career--the canon of +humility. Oye no Masafusa was overheard remarking that Yoshiiye had +some high qualities but was unfortunately ignorant of strategy. This +being repeated to Yoshiiye, he showed no resentment but begged to +become Masafusa's pupil. Yet he was already conqueror of the Abe and +governor of Dewa. + +THE GO-SANNEN CAMPAIGN + +Thereafter the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa were again the scene of +another fierce struggle which, since it began in the third year +(1089) of the Kwanji era and ended in the fifth year (1091), was +called the "After Three-years War." With regard to the nature of this +commotion, no enumeration of names is necessary. It was a family +quarrel between the scions of Kiyowara Takenori, a magnate of Mutsu +who had rendered conclusive assistance to Yoshiiye in the Nine-years' +War; and as a great landowner of Dewa, Kimiko Hidetake, took part, +the whole north of Japan may be said to have been involved. It fell +to Yoshiiye, as governor of Mutsu, to quell the disturbance, and very +difficult the task proved, so difficult that the issue might have +been different had not Fujiwara Kiyohira--who will be presently +spoken of--espoused the Minamoto cause. + +When news of the struggle reached Kyoto, Yoshiiye's younger brother, +Yoshimitsu, who held the much coveted post of kebiishi, applied for +permission to proceed at once to his brother's assistance. The Court +refused his application, whereupon he resigned his office and, like a +true bushi, hastened to the war. Yoshimitsu was a skilled performer +upon a musical instrument called the sho. He had studied under a +celebrated master, Toyohara Tokimoto, now no more, and, on setting +out for the field of battle in the far north, he became apprehensive +lest the secrets imparted to him by his teacher should die with him. +He therefore invited Tokimoto's son, Tokiaki, to bear him company +during the first part of his journey, and to him he conveyed all the +knowledge he possessed. The spectacle of this renowned soldier giving +instruction in the art of music to the son of his deceased teacher on +moonlit nights as he travelled towards the battlefield, has always +appealed strongly to Japanese conception of a perfect samurai, and +has been the motive of many a picture. + +This Go-sannen struggle furnished also another topic for frequent +pictorial representation. When about to attack the fortress of +Kanazawa, to which the approaches were very difficult, Yoshiiye +observed a flock of geese rising in confusion, and rightly inferred +an ambuscade of the enemy. His comment was, "Had not Oye Masafusa +taught me strategy, many brave men had been killed to-night." Yet one +more typical bushi may be mentioned in connexion with this war. +Kamakura Gongoro, a youth of sixteen, always fought in the van of +Yoshiiye's forces and did great execution. A general on the enemy's +side succeeded in discharging a shaft which entered the boy's eye. +Gongoro, breaking the arrow, rode straight at the archer and cut him +down. A shrine in Kamakura was erected to the memory of this intrepid +lad. + +When Yoshiiye reported to the Throne the issue of this sanguinary +struggle, Kyoto replied that the war had been a private feud and that +no reward or distinctions would be conferred. Yoshiiye therefore +devoted the greater part of his own manors to recompensing those that +had followed his standard. He thus won universal respect throughout +the Kwanto. Men competed to place their sons and younger brothers as +kenin (retainers) in his service and the name of Hachiman-ko was on +all lips. But Yoshiiye died (1108) in a comparatively low rank. It is +easy to comprehend that in the Kwanto it became a common saying, +"Better serve the Minamoto than the sovereign." + +THE FUJIWARA OF THE NORTH + +Fujiwara Kiyohira, who is mentioned above as having espoused the +cause of the Minamoto in the Go-sannen, was descended from Hidesato, +the conqueror of Masakado. After the Go-sannen outbreak he succeeded +to the six districts of Mutsu which had been held by the insurgent +chiefs. This vast domain descended to his son Motohira, and to the +latter's son, Hidehira, whose name we shall presently find in large +letters on a page of Japanese history. + +The Mutsu branch of the Fujiwara wielded paramount sway in the north +for several generations. Near Hiraizumi, in the province of Rikuchu, +may still be seen four buildings forming the monastery Chuson-ji. In +one of these edifices repose the remains of Kiyohira, Motohira, and +Hidehira. The ceiling, floor and four walls of this Konjiki-do +(golden hall) were originally covered with powdered gold, and its +interior pillars are inlaid with mother-of-pearl on which are traced +the outlines of twelve Arhats. In the days of Kiyohira the monastery +consisted of forty buildings and was inhabited by three hundred +priests. + +ENGRAVING: A CONJUROR + +ENGRAVING: SIDE VIEW OF THE "KOHO-AN" OF DAITOKU-JI, AT KYOTO + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +RECOVERY OF ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY BY THE THRONE + +The 69th Sovereign, the Emperor Go-Shujaku A.D. 1037-1045 + + 70th " " Go-Reizei 1046-1068 + + 71st " " Go-Sanjo 1069-1072 + + 72nd " " Shirakawa 1073-1086 + + 73rd " " Horikawa 1087-1107 + + 74th " " Toba 1108-1123 + + 75th " " Sutoku 1124-1141 + + 76th " " Konoe 1142-1155 + + 77th " " Go-Shirakawa 1156-1158 + +DECADENCE OF FUJIWARA AUTOCRACY + +During two centuries the administrative power remained in the hands +of the Fujiwara. They lost it by their own timidity rather than +through the machinations of their enemies. When the Emperor +Go-Shujaku was mortally ill, he appointed his eldest son, Go-Reizei, +to be his successor, and signified his desire that the latter's +half-brother, Takahito, should be nominated Crown Prince. Fujiwara +Yorimichi was then regent (kwampaku). To him, also, the dying +sovereign made known his wishes. Now Takahito had not been born of a +Fujiwara mother. The regent, therefore, while complying at once in +Go-Reizei's case, said that the matter of the Crown Prince might be +deferred, his purpose being to wait until a Fujiwara lady should bear +a son to Go-Reizei. + +In thus acting, Yorimichi obeyed the policy from which his family had +never swerved through many generations, and which had now become an +unwritten law of the State. But his brother, Yoshinobu, read the +signs of the times in a sinister light. He argued that the real power +had passed to the military magnates, and that by attempting to stem +the current the Fujiwara might be swept away altogether. He therefore +repaired to the palace, and simulating ignorance of what had passed +between the late sovereign and the kwampaku, inquired whether it was +intended that Prince Takahito should enter a monastery. Go-Reizei +replied emphatically in the negative and related the facts, whereupon +Yoshinobu declared that the prince should be nominated forthwith. It +was done, and thus for the first time in a long series of years a +successor to the throne was proclaimed who had not the qualification +of a Fujiwara mother. + +There remained to the kwampaku only one way of expressing his +dissent. During many years it had been customary that the Prince +Imperial, on his nomination, should receive from the Fujiwara regent +a famous sword called Tsubo-kiri (Jar-cutter). Yorimichi declined to +make the presentation in the case of Prince Takahito on the ground +that he was not of Fujiwara lineage. The prince--afterwards +Go-Sanjo--had the courage to deride this omission. "Of what service +is the sword to me?" he said. "I have no need of it." + +Such an attitude was very significant of the changing times. During +more than twenty years of probation as Crown Prince, this sovereign, +Go-Sanjo, had ample opportunity of observing the arbitrary conduct of +the Fujiwara, and when he held the sceptre he neglected no means of +asserting the authority of the Crown, one conspicuous step being to +take a daughter of Go-Ichijo into the palace as chugu, a position +created for a Fujiwara and never previously occupied by any save a +Fujiwara. + +Altogether, Go-Sanjo stands an imposing figure in the annals of his +country. Erudition he possessed in no small degree, and it was +supplemented by diligence, high moral courage and a sincere love of +justice. He also set to his people an example of frugality. It is +related that, observing as he passed through the streets one day, an +ox-carriage with gold mountings, he stopped his cortege and caused +the gold to be stripped off. Side by side with this record may be +placed his solicitude about the system of measures, which had fallen +into disorder. With his own hands he fashioned a standard which was +known to later generations as the senshi-masu of the Enkyu era +(1069-1074). The question of tax-free manors (shoen) also received +much attention. During the reign of Go-Shujaku, decrees were +frequently issued forbidding the creation of these estates. The +Fujiwara shoen were conspicuous. Michinaga possessed wide manors +everywhere, and Yorimichi, his son, was not less insatiable. Neither +Go-Shujaku nor Go-Reizei could check the abuse. But Go-Sanjo resorted +to a really practical measure. He established a legislative office +where all titles to shoen had to be examined and recorded, the Daiho +system of State ownership being restored, so that all rights of +private property required official sanction, the Court also becoming +the judge in all disputes as to validity of tenure. + +These orders came like a clap of thunder in a blue sky. Many great +personages had acquired vast manorial tracts by processes that could +not endure the scrutiny of the Kiroku-jo (registrar's office). +Yorimichi, the kwampaku, was a conspicuous example. On receipt of the +order to register, he could only reply that he had succeeded to his +estates as they stood and that no documentary evidence was available. +Nevertheless, he frankly added that, if his titles were found +invalid, he was prepared to surrender his estates, since the position +he occupied required him to be an administrator of law, not an +obstacle to its administration. This was the same noble who had +refused to present the sword, Tsubo-kiri, to Go-Sanjo when the latter +was nominated Crown Prince. The Emperor might now have exacted heavy +reparation. But his Majesty shrank from anything like spoliation. A +special decree was issued exempting from proof of title all manors +held by chancellors, regents, or their descendants. + +SALE OF OFFICES AND RANKS + +Another abuse with which Go-Sanjo sought to deal drastically was the +sale of offices and ranks. This was an evil of old standing. Whenever +special funds were required for temple building or palace +construction, it had become customary to invite contributions from +local magnates, who, in return, received, or were renewed in their +tenure of, the post of provincial governor. Official ranks were +similarly disposed of. At what time this practice had its origin the +records do not show, but during the reign of Kwammu (782-805,) the +bestowal of rank in return for a money payment was interdicted, and +Miyoshi Kiyotsura, in his celebrated memorial to Daigo (898-930), +urged that the important office of kebiishi should never be conferred +in consideration of money. But in the days of Ichijo, the acquisition +of tax-free manors increased rapidly and the treasury's income +diminished correspondingly, so that it became inevitable, in times of +State need, that recourse should be had to private contributions, the +contributors being held to have shown "merit" entitling them to rank +or office or both. + +Go-Sanjo strictly interdicted all such transactions. But this action +brought him into sharp collision with the then kwampaku, Fujiwara +Norimichi. The latter built within the enclosure of Kofuku-ji at Nara +an octagonal edifice containing two colossal images of Kwannon. On +this nanen-do the regent spent a large sum, part of which was +contributed by the governor of the province. Norimichi therefore +applied to the Emperor for an extension of the governor's term of +office. Go-Sanjo refused his assent. But Norimichi insisted. Finally +the Emperor, growing indignant, declared that the kwampaku's sole +title to respect being derived from his maternal relationship to the +sovereign, he deserved no consideration at the hands of an Emperor +whose mother was not a Fujiwara. It was a supreme moment in the +fortunes of the Fujiwara. Norimichi angrily swept out of the +presence, crying aloud: "The divine influence of Kasuga Daimyojin* +ceases from to-day. Let every Fujiwara official follow me." Thereat +all the Fujiwara courtiers flocked out of the palace, and the Emperor +had no choice but to yield. Victory rested with the Fujiwara, but it +was purchased at the loss of some prestige. + +*Titulary deity of the Fujiwara-uji. + +CAMERA SOVEREIGNTY + +Their obviously selfish device of seating a minor on the throne and +replacing him as soon as he reached years of discretion, had been +gradually invested by the Fujiwara with an element of spurious +altruism. They had suggested the principle that the tenure of +sovereign power should not be exercised exclusively. Go-Sanjo held, +however, that such a system not only impaired the Imperial authority +but also was unnatural. No father, he argued, could be content to +divest himself of all practical interest in the affairs of his +family, and to condemn the occupant of the throne to sit with folded +hands was to reduce him to the rank of a puppet. Therefore, even +though a sovereign abdicated, he should continue to take an active +part in the administration of State affairs. This was, in short, +Go-Sanjo's plan for rendering the regent a superfluity. He proposed +to substitute camera government (Insei) for control by a kwampaku. +But fate willed that he should not carry his project into practice. +He abdicated, owing to ill health, in 1073, and died the following +year. + +SHIRAKAWA + +Go-Sanjo was succeeded by his eldest son, Shirakawa. He had taken for +consort the daughter of Fujiwara Yorimichi. This lady, Kenko, had +been adopted into the family of Fujiwara Morozane, and it is recorded +that Yorimichi and Morozane shed tears of delight when they heard of +her selection by the Crown Prince--so greatly had the influence of +the Fujiwara declined. Shirakawa modelled himself on his father. He +personally administered affairs of State, displaying assiduity and +ability but not justice. Unlike his father he allowed himself to be +swayed by favour and affection, arbitrarily ignored time-honoured +rules, and was guilty of great extravagance in matters of religion. +But he carried into full effect the camera (or cloistered) system of +government, thereafter known as Insei. For, in 1086, after thirteen +years' reign, he resigned the sceptre to an eight-year-old boy, +Horikawa, his son by the chugu, Kenko. The untimely death of the +latter, for whom he entertained a strong affection, was the proximate +cause of Shirakawa's abdication, but there can be little doubt that +he had always contemplated such a step. He took the tonsure and the +religious title of Ho-o (pontiff), but in the Toba palace, his new +residence, he organized an administrative machine on the exact lines +of that of the Court. + +ENGRAVING: KO-NO-MA (ROOM) NISHI (WEST) HONGWAN-JI TEMPLE, AT KYOTO +(An example of "Shoinzukuri" building) + +Thenceforth the functions of Imperialism were limited to matters of +etiquette and ceremony, all important State business being transacted +by the Ho-o and his camera entourage. If the decrees of the Court +clashed with those of the cloister, as was occasionally inevitable, +the former had to give way. Thus, it can scarcely be said that there +was any division of authority. But neither was there any progress. +The earnest efforts made by Go-Sanjo to check the abuse of sales of +rank and office as well as the alienation of State lands into private +manors, were rendered wholly abortive under the sway of Shirakawa. +The cloistered Emperor was a slave of superstition. He caused no less +than six temples* to be built of special grandeur, and to the +principal of these (Hosho-ji) he made frequent visits in state, on +which occasions gorgeous ceremonies were performed. He erected the +Temple of the 33,333 Images of Kwannon (the Sanjusangen-do) in Kyoto; +he made four progresses to the monastery at Koya and eight to that at +Kumano; he commissioned artists to paint 5470 Buddhist pictures, +sculptors to cast 127 statues each sixteen feet high; 3150 life-size, +and 2930 of three feet or less, and he raised twenty-one large +pagodas and 446,630 small ones. + +*These were designated Roku-sho-ji, or "six excellent temples." + +His respect for Buddhism was so extreme that he strictly interdicted +the taking of life in any form, a veto which involved the destruction +of eight thousand fishing nets and the loss of their means of +sustenance to innumerable fishermen, as well as the release of all +falcons kept for hawking. It has even been suggested that Shirakawa's +piety amounted to a species of insanity, for, on one occasion, when +rain prevented a contemplated progress to Hosho-ji, he sentenced the +rain to imprisonment and caused a quantity to be confined in a +vessel.* To the nation, however, all this meant something very much +more than a mere freak. It meant that the treasury was depleted and +that revenue had to be obtained by recourse to the abuses which +Go-Sanjo had struggled so earnestly to check, the sale of offices and +ranks, even in perpetuity, and the inclusion of great tracts of State +land in private manors. + +*This silliness was spoken of by the people as ame-kingoku (the +incarceration of the rain). + +TOBA + +Horikawa died in 1107, after a reign of twenty years, and was +succeeded by his son Toba, a child of five. Affairs of State +continued to be directed by the cloistered sovereign, and he chose +for his grandson's consort Taiken-mon-in, who bore to him a son, the +future Emperor Sutoku. Toba abdicated, after a reign of fifteen +years, on the very day of Sutoku's nomination as heir apparent, and, +six years later, Shirakawa died (1128), having administered the +empire from the cloister during a space of forty-three years. + +As a device to wrest the governing power from the grasp of the +Fujiwara, Go-Sanjo's plan was certainly successful, and had he lived +to put it into operation himself, the results must have been +different. But in the greatly inferior hands of Shirakawa this new +division of Imperial authority and the segregation of its source +undoubtedly conspired to prepare the path for military feudalism and +for curtained Emperors. + +Toba, with the title of Ho-o, took the tonsure and administered from +the cloister after Shirakawa's death. One of his first acts after +abdication was to take another consort, a daughter of Fujiwara +Tadazane, whom he made Empress under the name of Kaya-no-in; but as +she bore him no offspring, he placed in the Toba palace a second +Fujiwara lady, Bifuku-mon-in, daughter of Nagazane. By her he had +(1139) a son whom he caused to be adopted by the Empress, preparatory +to placing him on the throne as Emperor Konoe, at the age of three. +Thus, the cloistered sovereigns followed faithfully in the footsteps +of the Fujiwara. + +SOLDIER-PRIESTS + +A phenomenon which became conspicuous during the reign of Shirakawa +was recourse to violence by Buddhist priests. This abuse had its +origin in the acquisition of large manors by temples and the +consequent employment of soldiers to act as guards. Ultimately, great +monasteries like Kofuku-ji, Onjo-ji, and Enryaku-ji came to possess +thousands of these armed men, and consequently wielded temporal +power. Shirakawa's absorbing belief in Buddhism created opportunities +for the exercise of this influence. Keenly anxious that a son should +be born of his union with Kenko, the daughter of Fujiwara Yorimichi, +his Majesty bespoke the prayers of Raigo, lord-abbot of Onjo-ji. It +happened that unsuccessful application had frequently been made by +the Onjo-ji monks for an important religious privilege. Raigo +informed the Emperor that, if this favour were promised, the prayer +for a prince would certainly be heard. Shirakawa made the promise, +and Kenko gave birth to Prince Atsubumi. But when the Emperor would +have fulfilled his pledge, the priests of Enryaku-ji (Hiei-zan), +jealous that a privilege which they alone possessed should be granted +to priests of another monastery, repaired to the Court en masse to +protest. Shirakuwu yielded to this representation and despatched Oye +no Masafusa to placate Raigo. But the abbot refused to listen. He +starved himself to death, passing day and night in devotion, and +shortly after his demise the little prince, born in answer to his +prayers, died of small-pox. + +In an age when superstition prevailed widely the death of the child +was, of course, attributed to the incantations of the abbot. From +that time a fierce feud raged between Onjo-ji and Enryaku-ji. In the +year 1081, the priest-soldiers of the latter set the torch to the +former, and, flocking to Kyoto in thousands, threw the capital into +disorder. Order was with difficulty restored through the exertions of +the kebiishi and the two Minamoto magnates, Yoshiiye and Yoshitsuna, +but it was deemed expedient to guard the palace and the person of +the Emperor with bushi. Twelve years later (1093), thousands of +cenobites, carrying the sacred tree of the Kasuga shrine, marched +from Nara to Kyoto, clamouring for vengeance on the governor of +Omi, whom they charged with arresting and killing the officials +of the shrine. This became a precedent. Thereafter, whenever the +priests had a grievance, they flocked to the palace carrying the +sacred tree of some temple or shrine. The soldier cenobites of +Enryaku-ji--yama-hoshi, as they were called--showed themselves +notably turbulent. They inaugurated the device of replacing the +sacred tree with the "divine car," against which none dare raise a +hand or shoot an arrow. If their petition were rejected, they would +abandon the car in the streets of the capital, thus placing the city +under a curse. + +A notable instance occurred, in 1095, when these yama-hoshi of +Hiyoshi preferred a charge of blood-guiltiness against Minamoto +Yoshitsuna, governor of Mino. They flocked to the palace in a +truculent mob, but the bushi on duty, being under the command of a +Minamoto, did not hesitate to use their bows. Thereupon the +yama-hoshi discarded the divine car, hastened back to the temple, and +assembling all the priests, held a solemn service invoking the wrath +of heaven on the State. In an age of profound superstition such +action threw the Court into consternation, and infinite pains were +taken to persuade Shinto officials of an independent shrine to carry +the divine car back to Hiei-zan. + +Instances of such turbulence were not infrequent, and they account in +part for the reckless prodigality shown by Shirakawa in building and +furnishing temples. The cenobites did not confine themselves to +demonstrations at the palace; they had their own quarrels also. +Kofuku-ji's hand was against Kimbusen and Todai-ji, and not a few +priests doffed the stole and cassock to engage in temporary +brigandage. The great Taira leader, Tadamori, and his son, +Kiyomori--one of the most prominent figures on the stage of medieval +Japan--dealt strongly with the Shinto communities at Hiyoshi and +Gion, and drove the Kofuku-ji priests out of the streets of Kyoto, +the result being that this great military family became an object of +execration at Kofuku-ji and Enryaku-ji alike. With difficulty the +Court kept peace between them. It is related of Shirakawa Ho-o that +the three things which he declared to defy his control were the +waters of the Kamo River, the fall of the dice, and the yama-hoshi. + +ENGRAVING: PLAYING BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK (From a painting) + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE HEIAN EPOCH + +GENERAL SUMMARY + +THE period we are considering is a long one which owes its unity to +the sole fact that the capitol was at Kyoto. It is, therefore, unsafe +to generalize on its manners and customs. But we may say with a +degree of accuracy that the epoch was marked by an increasing luxury +and artificiality, due largely to the adoption of Chinese customs. +The capital city was built on a Chinese pattern and the salient +characteristics of the Court during the period named from the new +capital are on the Chinese pattern too. The Chinese idea of a civil +service in which worth was tested by examinations was carried to a +pedantic extreme both in administration and in society. In these +examinations the important paper was in Chinese prose composition, +which was much as if Latin prose were the main subject to prove the +fitness of a candidate for an English or American administrative +post! And the tests of social standing and the means of gaining fame +at Court were skill in verse-writing, in music and dancing, in +calligraphy and other forms of drawing, and in taste in landscape +gardening. + +Ichijo was famed as a musician and a prose writer, and Saga as a +calligraphist. The Ako incident (see p. 240) illustrates the lengths +to which pedantry was carried in matters of administration. And the +story of the ill-success at the capital of the young soldier Taira +Masakado, contrasted with the popularity of his showily vicious +kinsman Sadabumi (see p. 253), illustrate what Murdoch means when he +says that the early emperors of the Heian epoch had an "unbalanced +craze for Chinese fashions, for Chinese manners, and above all for +Chinese literature." Remarkable though the power of the Japanese +people always seems to have been to assimilate foreign culture in +large doses and speedily, it is hardly to be expected that at this +period, any more than at a later one when there came in a sudden +flood of European civilization, the nation should not have suffered +somewhat--that it should not have had the defects of its qualities. + +LUXURY OF THE COURT + +Of Nimmyo's luxury and architectural extravagance we have already +spoken, and of the arraignment of prodigality in dress, banquets, and +funerals in the famous report of Miyoshi Kiyotsura (see p. 246). +Indeed, we might almost cite the madness of the Emperor Yozei as +being a typical, though extreme, case of the hysteria of the young +and affected court nobles. Two of the Fujiwara have been pilloried in +native records for ostentation: one for carrying inside his clothes +hot rice-dumplings to keep himself warm, and, more important, to +fling them away one after another as they got cold; and the other for +carrying a fan decorated with a painting of a cuckoo and for +imitating the cuckoo's cry whenever he opened the fan. + +CONVENTION AND MORALITY + +If the men of the period were effeminate and emotional, the women +seem to have sunk to a lower stage of morals than in any other era, +and sexual morality and wifely fidelity to have been abnormally bad +and lightly esteemed. The story of Ariwara Narihira, prince, poet, +painter and Don Juan, and of Taka and her rise to power (see p. 238) +has already been told; and it is to be noted that the Fujiwara +working for the control of the Throne through Imperial consorts +induced, even forced, the Emperors to set a bad example in such +matters. But over all this vice there was a veneer of elaborate +etiquette. Even in the field a breach of etiquette was a deadly +insult: as we have seen (p. 254) Taira Masakado lost the aid of a +great lieutenant in his revolt because he forgot to bind up his hair +properly before he received a visitor. At Court, etiquette and +ceremony became the only functions of the nominal monarch after the +camera government of the cloistered ex-Emperors had begun. And +aristocratic women, though they might be notoriously unfaithful, kept +up a show of modesty, covering their faces in public, refusing to +speak to a stranger, going abroad in closed carriages or heavily +veiled with hoods, and talking to men with their faces hid by a fan, +a screen, or a sliding door, these degrees of intimacy being nicely +adjusted to the rank and station of the person addressed. Love-making +and wooing were governed by strict and conventional etiquette, and an +interchange of letters of a very literary and artificial type and of +poems usually took the place of personal meetings. Indeed, literary +skill and appreciation of Chinese poetry and art were the main things +sought for in a wife. + +ENGRAVING: ARIWARA NARIHARA (Poet and Painter) + +AMUSEMENTS + +The pastimes of Court society in these years differed not so much in +kind as in degree from those of the Nara epoch. In amusement, as in +all else, there was extravagance and elaboration. What has already +been said of the passion for literature would lead us to expect to +find in the period an extreme development of the couplet-tournament +(uta awase) which had had a certain vogue in the Nara epoch and was +now a furore at Court. The Emperor Koko and other Emperors in the +first half of the Heian epoch gave splendid verse-making parties, +when the palace was richly decorated, often with beautiful flowers. +In this earlier part of the period the gentlemen and ladies of the +Court were separated, sitting on opposite sides of the room in which +the party was held. Later in the Heian epoch the composition of love +letters was a favorite competitive amusement, and although canons of +elegant phraseology were implicitly followed, the actual contents of +these fictitious letters were frankly indecent. + +Other literary pastimes were: "incense-comparing," a combination of +poetical dilletantism and skill in recognizing the fragrance of +different kinds of incense burned separately or in different +combinations; supplying famous stanzas of which only a word or so was +given; making riddles in verse; writing verse or drawing pictures on +fans,--testing literary and artistic skill; and making up lists of +related ideographs. The love of flowers was carried to extravagant +lengths. The camera Court in particular organized magnificent picnics +to see the cherry-trees of Hosho-ji and the snowy forest at Koya. +There were spring festivals of sunrise at Sagano and autumn moonlight +excursions to the Oi River. The taste of the time was typified in +such vagaries as covering trees with artificial flowers in winter and +in piling up snow so that some traces of snowy landscapes might still +be seen in spring or summer. Such excess reminds the student of +decadent Rome as portrayed by the great Latin satirists. + +Other favorite amusements at Court were: gathering sweet-flag in +summer and comparing the length of its roots, hawking, fan-lotteries, +a kind of backgammon called sugoroku, and different forms of +gambling. Football was played, a Chinese game in which the winner was +he who kicked the ball highest and kept it longest from touching the +ground. + +Another rage was keeping animals as pets, especially cats and dogs, +which received human names and official titles and, when they died, +elaborate funerals. Kittens born at the palace at the close of the +tenth century were treated with consideration comparable to that +bestowed on Imperial infants. To the cat-mother the courtiers sent +the ceremonial presents after childbirth, and one of the +ladies-in-waiting was honoured by an appointment as guardian to the +young kittens. + +ENGRAVING: SKETCH OF "SHINDENZUKUBI" (Style of Dwelling House of +Nobles in the Heian Epoch) + +MUSIC AND DANCING + +With the growth of luxury in the Heian epoch and the increase of +extravagant entertainment and amusement, there was a remarkable +development of music and the dance. Besides the six-stringed harp or +wagon, much more complex harps or lutes of thirteen or twenty-five +strings were used, and in general there was a great increase in the +number and variety of instruments. Indeed, we may list as many as +twenty kinds of musical instruments and three or four times as many +varieties of dance in the Heian epoch. Most of the dances were +foreign in their origin, some being Hindu, more Korean, and still +more Chinese, according to the usual classification. But imported +dances, adaptations of foreign dances, and the older native styles +were all more or less pantomimic. + +ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING + +Except in the new capital city with its formal plan there were no +great innovations in architecture. Parks around large houses and +willows and cherry-trees planted along the streets of Kyoto relieved +this stiffness of the great city. Landscape-gardening became an art. +Gardens were laid out in front of the row of buildings that made up +the home of each noble or Court official. + +Convention was nearly as rigid here as it was in Court etiquette. In +the centre of this formal garden was a miniature lake with bridges +leading to an island; there was a waterfall feeding the lake, usually +at its southern end; and at the eastern and western limits of the +garden, respectively, a grotto for angling and a "hermitage of spring +water"--a sort of picnic ground frequented on summer evenings. The +great artist, Kanaoka, of the end of the ninth century worked at +laying out these rockeries and tiny parks. A native school of +architects, or more correctly carpenters, had arisen in the province +of Hida. There was less temple building than in the Nara epoch and +more attention was given to the construction of elegant palaces for +court officials and nobles. But these were built of wood and were far +from being massive or imposing. As in other periods of Japanese +architecture, the exterior was sacrificed to the interior where there +were choice woodworking and joinery in beautiful woods, and +occasionally screen-or wall-painting as decoration. There was still +little house-furnishing. Mats (tatami), fitted together so as to +cover the floor evenly, were not used until the very close of the +period; and then, too, sliding doors began to be used as partitions. +The coverings of these doors, silk or paper, were the "walls" for +Japanese mural paintings of the period. As the tatami came into more +general use, the bedstead of the earlier period, which was itself a +low dais covered with mats and with posts on which curtains and nets +might be hung, went out of use, being replaced by silken quilts +spread on the floor-mats. Cushions and arm-rests were the only other +important pieces of furniture. + +COSTUME + +In the Heian epoch, Court costume was marked by the two +characteristics that we have seen elsewhere in the +period--extravagance and convention. Indeed, it may be said that +Chinese dress and etiquette, introduced after the time of Kwammu were +the main source of the luxury of the period. Costume was extreme, not +alone in being rich and costly, but in amount of material used. +Princely and military head-dresses were costly, jewelled, and +enormously tall, and women wore their hair, if possible, so that it +trailed below their elaborate skirts. Men's sleeves and trousers were +cut absurdly large and full; and women's dress was not merely baggy +but voluminous. At a palace fete in 1117 the extreme of elegance was +reached by ladies each wearing a score or so of different coloured +robes. In this period the use of costly and gorgeous brocades and +silks with beautiful patterns and splendid embroideries began. + +Women at Court, and the Court dandies who imitated them, painted +artificial eye-brows high on the forehead, shaving or plucking out +the real brows, powdered and rouged their faces and stained their +teeth black. + +ART + +Ceramics did not advance in the Heian epoch, but in all other +branches of art there were rapid strides forward. The development of +interior decoration in temples, monasteries, and palaces was due to +progress on the part of lacquerers and painters. Gold lacquer, +lacquer with a gold-dust surface (called nashi-ji), and lacquer +inlaid with mother-of-pearl were increasingly used. Thanks in part to +the painters' bureau (E-dokoro) in the palace, Japanese painters +began to be ranked with their Chinese teachers. Koze Kanaoka was the +first to be thus honored, and it is on record that he was engaged to +paint figures of arhats on the sliding doors of the palace. The epoch +also boasted Fujiwara Tameuji, founder of the Takuma family of +artists, and Fujiwara Motomitsu, founder of the Tosa academy. The +sculpture of the time showed greater skill, but less grandeur of +conception, than the work of the Nara masters. Sculpture in wood was +important, dating especially from the 11th century. Jocho, possibly +the greatest of the workers in this medium, followed Chinese models, +and carved a famous Buddha for Michinaga's temple of Hosho-ji (1022). +Jocho's descendant Unkei was the ancestor of many busshi or sculptors +of Buddhist statues; and Kwaikei, a pupil of Unkei's brother Jokaku, +is supposed to have collaborated with Unkei on the great +gate-guardians of the Todai-ji temple. It is important to note that, +especially in the latter half of the Heian epoch, painters and +sculptors were usually men of good family. Art had become +fashionable. + +Two minor forms of sculpture call for special attention. The +decoration of armour reached a high pitch of elaboration; and the +beautiful armour of Minamoto Yoshitsune is still preserved at Kasuga, +Nara. And masks to be used in mimetic dances, such as the No, +received attention from many great glyptic artists. + +ENGRAVING: RAKAN (BUDDHIST DISCIPLE) (Carving in Stone at Horiuji) + +AGRICULTURE + +In the year 799, cotton-seed, carried by an Indian junk which drifted +to the coast of Mikawa, was sown in the provinces of Nankai-do and +Saikai-do, and fifteen years later, when Saga reigned, tea plants +were brought from overseas and were set out in several provinces. The +Emperor Nimmyo (834-850) had buckwheat sown in the home provinces +(Kinai), and the same sovereign encouraged the cultivation of +sorghum, panic-grass, barley, wheat, large white beans, small red +beans, and sesame. It was at this time that the ina-hata (paddy-loom) +was devised for drying sheaves of rice before winnowing. Although it +was a very simple implement, it nevertheless proved of such great +value that an Imperial command was issued urging its wide use. In +short, in the early years of the Heian epoch, the Throne took an +active part in promoting agriculture, but this wholesome interest +gradually declined in proportion to the extension of tax-free manors +(shoen). + +TRADE + +The story of trade resembled that of agriculture prosperous +development at the beginning of the era, followed by stagnation and +decline. Under Kwummu (782-805) and his immediate successors, canals +and roads were opened, irrigation works were undertaken, and coins +were frequently cast. But coins were slow in finding their way into +circulation, and taxes were generally paid in kind. Nevertheless, for +purposes of trade, prices of staples were fixed in terms of coin. +Thus in the year 996, a koku (about 5 bushels) of rice was the +equivalent of 1000 cash (ik-kan-mon); a koku of barley was valued at +2500 cash, and a hiki (25 yards) of silk at 2000 cash. Yet in actual +practice, commodities were often assessed in terms of silk or rice. +Goods were packed in stores (kura) or disposed on shelves in shops +(machi-ya), and at ports where merchantmen assembled there were +houses called tsuya (afterwards toiya) where wholesale transactions +were conducted on the commission system. + +The city of Kyoto was divided into two parts, an eastern capital +(Tokyo) and a western capital (Saikyo). During the first half of +every month all commercial transactions were conducted in the eastern +capital, where fifty-one kinds of commodities were sold in fifty-one +shops; and during the second half the western capital alone was +frequented, with its thirty-three shops and thirty-three classes of +goods. After the abolition of embassies to China, at the close of the +ninth century, oversea trade declined for a time. But the inhabitants +of Tsukushi and Naniwa, which were favourably located for voyages, +continued to visit China and Korea, whence they are reported to have +obtained articles of value. Other ports frequented by foreign-going +ships were Kanzaki, Eguchi, Kaya, Otsu, and Hakata. + +SUPERSTITION + +Turning to the inner life of the people in the Heian epoch, we may +say with little fear of exaggeration that the most notable thing was +the increase of superstition. This was due in part at least to the +growth in Japan of the power of Buddhism, and, be it understood, of +Buddhism of a degraded and debased form. The effort to combine +Buddhism and Shinto probably robbed the latter of any power it might +otherwise have had to withstand superstition. Although men of the +greatest ability went into the Buddhist monasteries, including many +Imperial princes, their eminence did not make them better leaders and +guides of the people, but rather aided them in misleading and +befooling the laity. Murdoch in speaking of the beginning of the 12th +century says: "At this date, Buddhism in Japan from a moral point of +view was in not a whit better case than was the Church of Rome +between the death of Sylvester II and the election of Leo IX." An +interesting parallel might be drawn between Japanese and European +superstition, as each was consequent on the low standards of the +clergy of the times. The famous report of Miyoshi Kiyotsura, to which +we have so often alluded, spoke in no measured terms of the greed and +vice of the Buddhist priests. And the character of these hireling +shepherds goes far to explain the gross superstition of the tune. We +have told (p. 274) the story of the abbot Raigo and how the Court was +forced to purchase from him intercessory prayers for the birth of an +heir,--and of the death of the heir in apparent consequence of +Raigo's displeasure. Near the end of the ninth century one Emperor +made a gift of 500,000 yen for prayers that seemed to have saved the +life of a favourite minister. Prayers for rain, for prolonged life, +for victory over an enemy, were implicitly believed to be efficient, +and priests received large bribes to make these prayers. Or they +received other rewards: the privilege of coming to Court in a +carriage was granted to one priest for bringing rain after a long +drought and to another for saving the life of a sick prince in 981. +As men got along in years they had masses said for the prolongation +of their lives,--with an increase in the premium each year for such +life insurance. Thus, at forty, a man had masses said in forty +shrines, but ten years later at fifty shrines in all. + +In this matter, as in others, the influence of the Fujiwara was +great. They were in a close alliance with the priests, and they +controlled the Throne through consorts and kept the people in check +through priests and superstitions. + +With the widespread belief in the power of priestly prayer there was +prevalent a fear of spirits and demons. Oda received a promise in a +dream that he would become Emperor. In the next generation the +Emperor Daigo exiled Sugawara Michizane to Kyusml, where the exile +died in two years. Soon afterwards the Emperor fell sick; and this, +the disaster of 930 when a thunderstorm killed many nobles in the +Imperial palace, and the sudden death of Michizane's accusers and of +the Crown Prince were explained as due to the ill-will of the injured +man's spirit. His titles were restored and everything possible was +done to placate the ghost (see p. 244). To an earlier period belongs +the similar story of Kwammu and his efforts to placate the spirit of +his younger brother whom he had exiled and killed. Kwammu, fearing +that death was coming upon him, built a temple to the shade of this +brother. A cloud over the palace of another Emperor was interpreted +as a portentous monster, half monkey and half snake, and one of the +Minamoto warriors won fame for his daring in shooting an arrow at the +cloud, which then vanished. Equally foolhardy and marvellous was the +deed of Fujiwara Michinaga, who alone of a band of courtiers in the +palace dared one dark night to go unattended and without lights from +one end of the palace to the other. + +When the new city of Kyoto was built, a Buddhist temple was put near +the northeast gate to protect the capital from demons, since the +northeast quarter of the sky belonged to the demons; and on a hill a +clay statue was erected, eight feet high and armed with bow, arrows +and cuirass, to guard the city. So implicit was the belief in the +power of this colossal charm that it was said that it moved and +shouted to warn the city of danger. + +ENGRAVING: EARTHEN-WARE HOUSE FOR ORNAMENT + +EDUCATION + +There was, of course, no organized system of schools in this period, +but education was not neglected. A university was established in the +newly built capital, and there were five family schools or academies +for the youth of the separate uji. A school and hospital, founded by +Fujiwara Fuyutsugu in 825, received an Imperial endowment. At almost +exactly the same time (823) the Bunsho-in was founded by Sugawara. +The Sogaku-in was founded in 831 by Arihara Yukihara. In 850 the +consort of the emperor Saga built the Gakkwan-in for the Tachibana +family; and in 841 the palace of Junna became a school. And there was +one quasi-public school, opened in 828, in the Toji monastery south +of the capital, which was not limited to any family and was open to +commoners. + +ENGRAVING: NETSUKE (Hand-carvings in Ivory) + +ENGRAVING: ARCHERY IN OLD JAPAN + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE EPOCH OF THE GEN (MINAMOTO) AND THE HEI (TAIRA) + +SUPREMACY OF THE MILITARY CLASS + +DESCRIBED superficially, the salient distinction between the epochs +of the Fujiwara and the Gen-pei was that during the former the +administrative power lay in the hands of the Court nobles in Kyoto, +whereas, during the latter, it lay in the hands of the military +magnates in the provinces. The processes by which this change was +evolved have already been explained in part and will be further +elucidated as we advance. Here, however, it is advisable to note that +this transfer of authority was, in one sense, a substitution of +native civilization for foreign, and, in another, a reversion to the +conditions that had existed at the time of the Yamato conquest. It +was a substitution of native civilization for foreign, because the +exotic culture imported from China and Korea had found its chief +field of growth in the capital and had never extended largely to the +provinces; and it was a reversion to the conditions existing at the +time of the Yamato conquest, because at that time the sword and the +sceptre had been one. + +The Mononobe and the Otomo families constituted the pillars of the +State under the early Emperors. Their respective ancestors were +Umashimade no Mikoto and Michi no Omi no Mikoto. The Japanese term +monobe (or mononofu) was expressed by Chinese ideographs having the +sound, bushi. Thus, though it is not possible to fix the exact date +when the expression, bushi, came into general use, it is possible to +be sure that the thing itself existed from time immemorial. When the +Yamato sovereign undertook his eastward expedition, Umashimade with +his monobe subdued the central districts, and Michi no Omi with his +otomo and Okume-be consolidated these conquests. Thereafter the +monobe were organized into the konoe-fu (palace guards) and the otomo +into the emon-fu (gate guards). Not military matters alone, but also +criminal jurisdiction, belonged to the functions of these two. + +THE BUSHI + +The earliest type of the Yamato race having thus been military, it +becomes important to inquire what tenets constituted the soldier's +code in old Japan. Our first guide is the celebrated anthology, +Manyo-shu, compiled in the ninth century and containing some poems +that date from the sixth. From this we learn that the Yamato +monono-fu believed himself to have inherited the duty of dying for +his sovereign if occasion required. In that cause he must be prepared +at all times to find a grave, whether upon the desolate moor or in +the stormy sea. The dictates of filial piety ranked next in the +ethical scale. The soldier was required to remember that his body had +been given to him by his parents, and that he must never bring +disgrace upon his family name or ever disregard the dictates of +honour. Loyalty to the Throne, however, took precedence among moral +obligations. Parent, wife, and child must all be abandoned at the +call of patriotism. Such, as revealed in the pages of the Myriad +Leaves, were the simple ethics of the early Japanese soldier. And it +was largely from the Mononobe and Otomo families that high officials +and responsible administrators were chosen at the outset. + +When Buddhism arrived in the sixth century, we have seen that it +encountered resolute opposition at the hands of Moriya, the o-muraji +of the Mononobe family. That was natural. The elevation of an alien +deity to a pedestal above the head of the ancestral Kami seemed +specially shocking to the soldier class. But the tendency of the time +was against conservatism. The Mononobe and the Otomo forfeited their +position, and the Soga stepped into their place, only to be succeeded +in turn by the Fujiwara. These last, earnest disciples of Chinese +civilization, looked down on the soldier, and delegated to him alone +the use of brute force and control of the criminal classes, reserving +for themselves the management of civil government and the pursuit of +literature, and even leaving politics and law in the hands of the +schoolmen. + +In these circumstances the military families of Minamoto (Gen) and +Taira (Hei), performing the duties of guards and of police, gradually +acquired influence; were trusted by the Court on all occasions +demanding an appeal to force, and spared no pains to develop the +qualities that distinguished them--the qualities of the bushi. Thus, +as we turn the pages of history, we find the ethics of the soldier +developing into a recognized code. His sword becomes an object of +profound veneration from the days of Minamoto Mitsunaka, who summons +a skilled swordsmith to the capital and entrusts to him the task of +forging two blades, which, after seven days of fasting and prayer and +sixty days of tempering, emerge so trenchant that they are thereafter +handed down from generation to generation of the Minamoto as +treasured heirlooms.* + +*The swords were named "Knee-cutter" and "Beard-cutter," because when +tested for decapitating criminals, they severed not only the necks +but also the beard and the knees. + +That the bushi's word must be sacred and irrevocable is established +by the conduct of Minamoto Yorinobu who, having promised to save the +life of a bandit if the latter restore a child taken as a hostage, +refuses subsequently to inflict any punishment whatever on the +robber. That a bushi must prefer death to surrender is a principle +observed in thousands of cases, and that his family name must be +carefully guarded against every shadow of reproach is proved by his +habit of prefacing a duel on the battle-field with a recitation of +the titles and deeds of his ancestors. To hold to his purpose in +spite of evil report; to rise superior to poverty and hardship; not +to rest until vengeance is exacted for wrong done to a benefactor or +a relation; never to draw his sword except in deadly earnest--these +are all familiar features of the bushi's practice, though the order +and times of their evolution cannot be precisely traced. + +Even more characteristic is the quality called fudoshin, or +immobility of heart. That this existed in practice from an early era +cannot be doubted, but its cultivation by a recognized system of +training dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the +introspective tenet (kwanshin-ho) of the Zen sect of Buddhism taught +believers to divest themselves wholly of passion and emotion and to +educate a mind unmoved by its environment, so that, in the storm and +stress of battle, the bushi remains as calm and as self-possessed as +in the quietude of the council chamber or the sacred stillness of the +cloister. The crown of all his qualities was self-respect. He rated +himself too high to descend to petty quarrels, or to make the +acquisition of rank his purpose, or to have any regard for money. + +THE MILITARY ART + +As for tactics, individual prowess was the beginning and the end of +all contests, and strategy consisted mainly of deceptions, surprises, +and ambushes. There were, indeed, certain recognized principles +derived from treatises compiled by Sung and 'Ng,* two Chinese +generals of the third century A.D. These laid down that troops for +offensive operations in the field must be twice as numerous as the +enemy; those for investing a fortress should be to the garrison as +ten to one, and those for escalade as five to one. Outflanking +methods were always to be pursued against an adversary holding high +ground, and the aim should be to sever the communications of an army +having a mountain or a river on its rear. When the enemy selected a +position involving victory or death, he was to be held, not attacked, +and when it was possible to surround a foe, one avenue of escape +should always be left to him, since desperate men fight fiercely. In +crossing a river, much space should separate the van from the rear of +the crossing army, and an enemy crossing was not to be attacked until +his forces had become well engaged in the operation. Birds soaring in +alarm should suggest an ambush, and beasts breaking cover, an +approaching attack. There was much spying. A soldier who could win +the trust of the enemy, sojourn in his midst, and create dissensions +in his camp, was called a hero. + +*See Captain Calthrop's The Book of War. + +Judged by this code of precepts, the old-time soldier of the East +has been denounced by some critics as representing the lowest +type of military ethics. But such a criticism is romantic. The +secret-intelligence department of a twentieth-century army employs +and creates opportunities just as zealously as did the disciples of +Sung and 'Ng. It is not here that the defects in the bushi's ethics +must be sought. The most prominent of those defects was indifference +to the rights of the individual. Bushido taught a vassal to sacrifice +his own interest and his own life on the altar of loyalty, but it did +not teach a ruler to recognize and respect the rights of the ruled. +It taught a wife to efface herself for her husband's sake, but it did +not teach a husband any corresponding obligation towards a wife. In a +word, it expounded the relation of the whole to its parts, but left +unexpounded the relation of the parts to one another. + +A correlated fault was excessive reverence for rank and rigid +exclusiveness of class. There was practically no ladder for the +commoner,--the farmer, the artisan, and the merchant--to ascend into +the circle of the samurai. It resulted that, in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, gifted men of the despised grades sought in the +cloister an arena for the exercise of their talents, and thus, while +the bushi received no recruits, the commoners lost their better +elements, and Buddhism became a stage for secular ambition. It can +not be doubted that by closing the door of rank in the face of merit, +bushido checked the development of the nation. Another defect in the +bushido was indifference to intellectual investigation. The schoolmen +of Kyoto, who alone received honour for their moral attainments, were +not investigators but imitators, not scientists but classicists. Had +not Chinese conservatism been imported into Japan and had it not +received the homage of the bushi, independent development of original +Japanese thought and of intellectual investigation might have +distinguished the Yamato race. By a learned Japanese philosopher (Dr. +Inouye Tetsujiro) the ethics of the bushi are charged with +inculcating the principles of private morality only and ignoring +those of public morality. + +MILITARY FAMILES AND THEIR RETAINERS + +It has been noticed that the disposition of the Central Government +was to leave the provincial nobles severely alone, treating their +feuds and conflicts as wholly private affairs. Thus, these nobles +being cast upon their own resources for the protection of their lives +and properties, retained the services of bushi, arming them well and +drilling them assiduously, to serve as guards in time of peace and as +soldiers in war. One result of this demand for military material was +that the helots of former days were relieved from the badge of +slavery and became hereditary retainers of provincial nobles, nothing +of their old bondage remaining except that their lives were at the +mercy of their masters. + +FIEFS AND TERRITORIAL NAMES + +As the provincial families grew in numbers and influence they +naturally extended their estates, so that the landed property of a +great sept sometimes stretched over parts, or even the whole, of +several provinces. In these circumstances it became convenient to +distinguish branches of a sept by the names of their respective +localities and thus, in addition to the sept name (uji or sei), there +came into existence a territorial name (myoji or shi). For example, +when the descendants of Minamoto no Yoshiiye acquired great +properties at Nitta and Ashikaga in the provinces of Kotsuke and +Shimotsuke, they took the territorial names of Nitta and Ashikaga, +remaining always Minamoto; and when the descendants of Yoshimitsu, +younger brother of Yoshiiye, acquired estates in the province of Kai, +they began to call themselves Takeda. + +It is unnecessary to pursue the subject further than to note that, +while the names of the great septs (uji) were few, the territorial +cognomens were very numerous; and that while the use of myoji (or +shi) was common in the case of the Fujiwara, the Taira, and the +Minamoto septs, the uji alone was employed by the Abe, the Ono, the +Takahashi, the Kusakabe, the Ban, the Hata, and certain others. It +will readily be conceived that although the territorial sections of +the same sept sometimes quarrelled among themselves, the general +practice was that all claiming common descent supported each other in +war. The Minamoto (Gen) bushi recognized as the principal family line +that of Tsunemoto from whom were descended the following illustrious +chiefs: + + Minamoto (Gen) no Tsunemoto, commander-in-chief of local Governments + | + Mitsunaka + | + +---------+--------+ + | | + Yorimitsu Yorinobu + | + Yoriyoshi + | + Yoshiiye + | + +----------+------------+-----+-----+-----------+-----------+ + | | | | | | + Yoshimune Yoshichika Yoshikuni Yoshitada Yoshitoki Yoshitaka + | + Tameyoshi + | + +----------+------------+-----------+ + | | | | + Yoshitomo Yoshikata Tametomo Twenty others + | | + | Yoshinaka + | (of Kiso) + | + +----------+---------+-----------+------------+ + | | | | + Yoritomo Noriyori Yoshitsune Six others + +A similar table for the Taira (Hei) runs thus: + + Taira (Hei) no Sadamori (quelled the Masakado revolt). + | + Korehira (of Ise province) + | + ------- + | + ------- + | + Masamori (governed Ise, Inaba, Sanuki, etc.; + | quelled the rebellion of Minamoto + +----------+ Yoshichika). + | | + Tadamasa Tadamori (served the Emperors Shirakawa, + | Horikawa, and Toba;* subdued the + | pirates of Sanyo-do and Nankai-do) + | + Kiyomori (crushed the Minamoto and temporarily + | established the supremacy of the Taira). + | + Shigemori + +In its attitude towards these two families the Court showed +short-sighted shrewdness. It pitted one against the other; If the +Taira showed turbulence, the aid of the Minamoto was enlisted; and +when a Minamoto rebelled, a Taira received a commission to deal with +him. Thus, the Throne purchased peace for a time at the cost of +sowing, between the two great military clans, seeds of discord +destined to shake even the Crown. In the capital the bushi served as +palace guards; in the provinces they were practically independent. +Such was the state of affairs on the eve of a fierce struggle known +in history as the tumult of the Hogen and Heiji eras (1150-1160). + +*It is of this noble that history records an incident illustrative of +the superstitions of the eleventh century. The cloistered Emperor +Shirakawa kept Tadamori constantly by his side. One night, Shirakawa, +accompanied by Tadamori, went to visit a lady favourite in a detached +palace near the shrine of Gion. Suddenly the two men saw an +apparition of a demon covered with wirelike hair and having a +luminous body. The Emperor ordered Tadamori to use his bow. But +Tadamori advanced boldly and, seizing the demon, found that it was an +old man wearing straw headgear as a protection against the rain, and +carrying a lamp to kindle the light at the shrine. This valiant deed +on Tadamori's part elicited universal applause, as indeed it might in +an era of such faith in the supernatural. + +THE HOGEN INSURRECTION + +It has been related in Chapter XXII that Taiken-mon-in, consort of +the Emperor Toba, was chosen for the latter by his grandfather, the +cloistered Emperor Shirakawa, and that she bore to Toba a son who +ultimately ascended the throne as Sutoku. But, rightly or wrongly, +Toba learned to suspect that before she became his wife, the lady's +relations with Shirakawa had been over-intimate and that Sutoku was +illegitimate. Therefore, immediately after Shirakawa's demise, Toba +took to himself an Empress, Kaya-no-in, daughter of Fujiwara +Tadazane; and failing offspring by her, chose another Fujiwara lady, +Bifuku-mon-in, daughter of Nagazane. For this, his third consort, he +conceived a strong affection, and when she bore to him a prince, Toba +placed the latter on the throne at the age of three, compelling +Sutoku to resign. This happened in the year 1141, and there were +thenceforth two cloistered Emperors, Toba and Sutoku, standing to +each other in the relation of grandfather and grandson. The baby +sovereign was called Konoe, and Fujiwara Tadamichi, brother of +Bifu-ku-mon-in, became kwampaku. + +Between this Tadamichi and his younger brother, Yorinaga, who held +the post of sa-daijin, there existed acute rivalry. The kwampaku had +the knack of composing a deft couplet and tracing a graceful +ideograph. The sa-daijin, a profound scholar and an able economist, +ridiculed penmanship and poetry as mere ornament. Their father's +sympathies were wholly with Yorinaga, and he ultimately went so far +as to depose Tadamichi from his hereditary position as o-uji of the +Fujiwara. Thus, the enmity between Tadamichi and Yorinaga needed only +an opportunity to burst into flame, and that opportunity was soon +furnished. + +The Emperor Konoe died (1155) at the early age of seventeen, and the +cloistered sovereign, Sutoku, sought to secure the throne for his son +Shigehito, whom Toba's suspicions had disqualified. But +Bifuku-mon-in, believing, or pretending to believe, that the +premature death of her son had been caused by Sutoku's incantations, +persuaded the cloistered Emperor, Toba, in that sense, and having +secured the co-operation of the kwampaku, Tadamichi, she set upon the +throne Toba's fourth son, under the name of Go-Shirakawa (1156-1158), +the latter's son, Morihito, being nominated Crown Prince, to the +complete exclusion of Sutoku's offspring. So long as Toba lived the +arrangement remained undisturbed, but on his death in the following +year (1156), Sutoku, supported by the sa-daijin, Yorinaga, planned to +ascend the throne again, and there ensued a desperate struggle. +Stated thus briefly, the complication suggests merely a quarrel for +the succession, but, regarded more closely, it is seen to derive +rancour chiefly from the jealousies of the Fujiwara brothers, +Yorinaga and Tadamichi, and importance from the association of the +Minamoto and the Taira families. For when Sutoku appealed to arms +against the Go-Shirakawa faction, he was incited by Fujiwara Yorinaga +and his father Tadazane, and supported by Taira Tadamasa as well as +by jthe two Minamoto, Tameyoshi and Tametomo; while Go-Shirakawa's +cause was espoused by Fujiwara Tadamichi, by Taira no Kiyomori, and +by Minamoto Yoshitomo. + +Among this group of notables the most memorable in a historical sense +are Minamoto Tametomo and Taira Kiyomori. Of the latter there will +presently be occasion to speak again. The former was one of those +born warriors illustrated by Yamato-dake, Saka-no-ye no Tamura-maro, +and Minamoto no Yoshiiye. Eighth son of Minamoto Tameyoshi, he showed +himself so masterful, physically and morally, that his father deemed +it wise to provide a distant field for the exercise of his energies +and to that end sent him to Bungo in the island of Kyushu. Tametomo +was then only thirteen. In two years he had established his sway over +nearly the whole island, and the ceaseless excursions and alarms +caused by his doings having attracted the attention of the Court, +orders for his chastisement were issued to the Dazai-fu, in +Chikuzen--futile orders illustrating only Kyoto's ignorance. +Tameyoshi, his father, was then removed from office as a punishment +for his son's contumacy, and thereupon Tametomo, esteeming filial +piety as one of the bushi's first obligations, hastened to the +capital, taking with him only twenty-five of his principal retainers. +His age was then seventeen; his height seven feet; his muscular +development enormous, and he could draw a bow eight feet nine inches +in length. His intention was to purchase his father's pardon by his +own surrender, but on reaching Kyoto he found the Hogen tumult just +breaking out, and, of course, he joined his father's party. + +The relationship of the opposing nobles deserves to be studied, as +this was probably one of the most unnatural struggles on record. + + CLOISTERED EMPEROR'S SIDE REIGNING EMPEROR'S SIDE + + Sutoku (the Jo-o) Go-Shirakawa, younger brother of Sutoku. + + Fujiwara Yorinaga Fujiwara Tadamichi, son of Tadazane + and brother of Yorinaga. + + Fujiwara Tadazane + + Minamoto Tameyoshi Minamoto Yoshitomo, son of Tameyoshi + and brother of Tametomo. + + Minamoto Tametomo + + Taira no Tadamasa Taira no Kiyomori, nephew of Tadamasa + +Sutoku's party occupied the Shirakawa palace. Unfortunately for the +ex-Emperor the conduct of the struggle was entrusted to Fujiwara +Yorinaga, and he, in defiance of Tametomo's advice, decided to remain +on the defensive; an evil choice, since it entailed the tenure of +wooden buildings highly inflammable. Yoshitomo and Kiyomori took full +advantage of this strategical error. They forced the Shirakawa +palace, and after a desperate struggle,* the defenders took to +flight. Thus far, except for the important issues involved and the +unnatural division of the forces engaged, this Hogen tumult would not +have differed materially from many previous conflicts. But its sequel +acquired terrible notoriety from the cruel conduct of the victors. +Sutoku was exiled to Sanuki, and there, during three years, he +applied himself continuously to copying a Buddhist Sutra, using his +own blood for ink. The doctrine of the Zen sect had not yet prevailed +in Japan, and to obtain compensation in future happiness for the +pains he had suffered in life, it was essential that the exile's +laboriously traced Sutra should be solemnly offered to the Buddha. He +sent it to Kyoto, praying that the necessary step should be taken. +But by the orders of his own brother, the Emperor, the request was +refused, and the manuscript returned. Superstition ultimately +succeeded where natural affection had failed; for the ex-Emperor, +having inscribed maledictions on each of the five volumes of the +Sutra with blood obtained by biting his tongue, and having hastened +his demise by self-inflicted privations,--he died (1164) eight years +after being sent into exile--the evils of the time were attributed to +his unquiet spirit and a shrine was built to his memory. + +*One incident of the fight has been admiringly handed down to +posterity. The duty of holding the west gate of the Shirakawa palace +fell to Tametomo and his handful of followers. The duty of attacking +it happened to devolve on his brother, Yoshitomo. To avert such an +unnatural conflict, Tametomo, having proclaimed his identity, as was +usual among bushi, drew his bow with such unerring aim that the arrow +shore off an ornament from Yoshitomo's helmet without injuring him in +any way. Yoshitomo withdrew, and the Taira took up the attack. + +Not less heartless was the treatment of the vanquished nobles. The +Fujiwara alone escaped. Yorinaga had the good fortune to fall on the +field of battle, and his father, Tadazane, was saved by the +intercession of his elder son, Tadamichi, of whose dislike he had +long been a victim. But this was the sole spot of light on the sombre +page. By the Emperor's orders, the Taira chief, Kiyomori, executed +his uncle, Tadamasa; by the Emperor's orders, though not without +protest, the Minamoto chief, Yoshitomo, put to death his father, +Tameyoshi; by the Emperor's orders all the relatives of Yorinaga were +sent into exile; by the Emperor's orders his nephew, Prince +Shigehito, was compelled to take the tonsure, and by the Emperor's +orders the sinews of Tametomo's bow-arm were cut and he was banished +to the Izu island.* In justice it has to be noted that Go-Shirakawa +did not himself conceive these merciless measures. He was prompted +thereto by Fujiwara Michinori, commonly known as Shinzei, whose +counsels were all-powerful at the Court in those days. + +*The celebrated litterateur, Bakin, adduced many proofs that Tametomo +ultimately made his way to Ryukyu and that his descendants ruled the +island. The great soldier himself died ultimately by his own hand in +the sequel of an unsuccessful engagement with the forces of the +vice-governor of Izu. + +GO-SHIRAKAWA + +Go-Shirakawa, the seventy-seventh sovereign, occupied the throne +during two years only (1156-1158), but he made his influence felt +from the cloister throughout the long period of thirty-four years +(1158 to 1192), directing the administration from his "camera palace" +(Inchu) during the reigns of five Emperors. Ambition impelled him to +tread in the footsteps of Go-Sanjo. He re-opened the Office of +Records (Kiroku-jo), which that great sovereign had established for +the purpose of centralizing the powers of the State, and he sought to +recover for the Throne its administrative functions. But his +independence was purely nominal, for in everything he took counsel of +Fujiwara Michinori (Shinzei) and obeyed that statesman's guidance. +Michinori's character is not to be implicitly inferred from the cruel +courses suggested by him after the Hogen tumult. He was a man of keen +intelligence and profound learning, as learning went in those days: +that is to say, he knew the classics by heart, had an intimate +acquaintance with Buddhism and astrology, and was able to act as +interpreter of the Chinese language. With his name is associated the +origin of the shirabyoshi, or "white measure-markers"--girls clad in +white, who, by posture and gesture, beat time to music, and, in after +ages, became the celebrated geisha of Japan. To the practice of such +arts and accomplishments Michinori devoted a great part of his life, +and when, in 1140, that is to say, sixteen years before the Hogen +disturbance, he received the tonsure, all prospect of an official +career seemed to be closed to him. But the accession of Go-Shirakawa +gave him an opportunity. The Emperor trusted him, and he abused the +trust to the further unhappiness of the nation. + +THE HEIJI TUMULT + +Go-Shirakawa's son, Morihito, ascended the throne in 1159 and is +known in history as Nijo, the seventy-eighth sovereign of Japan. From +the very outset he resented the ex-Emperor's attempt to interfere in +the administration of affairs, and the two Courts fell into a state +of discord, Fujiwara Shinzei inciting the cloistered Emperor to +assert himself, and two other Fujiwara nobles, Tsunemune and +Korekata, prompting Nijo to resist. These two, observing that another +noble of their clan, Fujiwara Nobuyori; was on bad terms with +Shinzei, approached Nobuyori and proposed a union against their +common enemy. Shinzei had committed one great error; he had alienated +the Minamoto family. In the Hogen struggle, Yoshitomo, the Minamoto +chief, an able captain and a brave soldier, had suggested the +strategy which secured victory for Go-Shirakawa's forces. But in the +subsequent distribution of rewards, Yoshitomo's claims received scant +consideration, his merits being underrated by Shinzei. + +This had been followed by a still more painful slight. To Yoshitomo's +formal proposal of a marriage between his daughter and Shinzei's son, +not only had a refusal been given, but also the nuptials of the youth +with the daughter of the Taira chief, Kiyomori, had been subsequently +celebrated with much eclat. In short, Shinzei chose between the two +great military clans, and though such discrimination was neither +inconsistent with the previous practice of the Fujiwara nor +ill-judged so far as the relative strength of the Minamoto and the +Taira was concerned for the moment, it erred egregiously in failing +to recognize that the day had passed when the military clans could be +thus employed as Fujiwara tools. Approached by Nobuyori, Yoshitomo +joined hands with the plotters, and the Minamoto troops, forcing +their way into the Sanjo palace, set fire to the edifice and killed +Shinzei (1159). The Taira chief, Kiyomori, happened to be then absent +in Kumano, and Yoshitomo's plan was to attack him on his way back to +Kyoto before the Taira forces had mustered. But just as Fujiwara +Yorinaga had wrecked his cause in the Hogen tumult by ignoring +Minamoto Tametomo's advice, so in the Heiji disturbance, Fujiwara +Nobuyori courted defeat by rejecting Minamoto Yoshitomo's strategy. +The Taira, thus accorded leisure to assemble their troops, won such a +signal victory that during many years the Minamoto disappeared almost +completely from the political stage, and the Taira held the empire in +the hollow of their hands. + +Japanese historians regard Fujiwara Shinzei as chiefly responsible +for these untoward events. Shinzei's record shows him to have been +cruel, jealous, and self-seeking, but it has to be admitted that the +conditions of the time were calculated to educate men of his type, as +is shown by the story of the Hogen insurrection. For when Sutoku's +partisans assembled at the palace of Shirakawa, Minamoto Tametomo +addressed them thus: "I fought twenty battles and two hundred minor +engagements to win Kyushu, and I say that when an enemy is +outnumbered, its best plan is a night attack. If we fire the +Takamatsu palace on three sides to-night and assault it from the +fourth, the foe will surely be broken. I see on the other side only +one man worthy to be called an enemy. It is my brother Yoshitomo, and +with a single arrow I can lay him low. As for Taira Kiyomori, he will +fall if I do but shake the sleeve of my armour. Before dawn we shall +be victors." + +Fujiwara Yorinaga's reply to this counsel was: "Tametomo's method of +fighting is rustic. There are here two Emperors competing for the +throne, and the combat must be conducted in a fair and dignified +manner." To such silliness the Minamoto hero made apt answer. "War," +he said, "is not an affair of official ceremony and decorum. Its +management were better left to the bushi whose business it is. My +brother Yoshitomo has eyes to see an opportunity. To-night, he will +attack us.". It is true that Tametomo afterwards refrained from +taking his brother's life, but the above proves that he would not +have exercised any such forbearance had victory been attainable by +ruthlessness. History does not often repeat itself so exactly as it +did in these Hogen and Heiji struggles. Fujiwara Yorinaga's refusal +to follow Tametomo's advice and Fujiwara Nobuyori's rejection of +Yoshitomo's counsels were wholly responsible for the disasters that +ensued, and were also illustrative of the contempt in which the +Fujiwara held the military magnates, who, in turn, were well aware of +the impotence of the Court nobles on the battle-field. + +The manner of Yoshitomo's death, too, reveals something of the ethics +of the bushi in the twelfth century. Accompanied by Kamada Masaie and +a few others, the Minamoto chief escaped from the fight and took +refuge in the house of his concubine, Enju, at Awobaka in Owari. +There they were surrounded and attacked by the Taira partisans. The +end seemed inevitable. Respite was obtained, however, by one of those +heroic acts of self-sacrifice that stand so numerously to the credit +of the Japanese samurai. Minamoto Shigenari, proclaiming himself to +be Yoshitomo, fought with desperate valour, killing ten of the enemy. +Finally, hacking his own face so that it became unrecognizable, he +committed suicide. Meanwhile, Yoshitomo had ridden away to the house +of Osada Tadamune, father of his comrade Masaie's wife. There he +found a hospitable reception. But when he would have pushed on at +once to the east, where the Minamoto had many partisans, Tadamune, +pointing out that it was New Year's eve, persuaded him to remain +until the 3d of the first month. + +Whether this was done of fell purpose or out of hospitality is not on +record, but it is certain that Tadamune and his son, Kagemune, soon +determined to kill Yoshitomo, thus avoiding a charge of complicity +and earning favour at Court. Their plan was to conceal three men in a +bathroom, whither Yoshitomo should be led after he had been plied +with sake at a banquet. The scheme succeeded in part, but as +Yoshitomo's squire, Konno, a noted swordsman, accompanied his chief +to the bath, the assassins dared not attack. Presently, however, +Konno went to seek a bath-robe, and thereupon the three men leaped +out. Yoshitomo hurled one assailant from the room, but was stabbed to +death by the other two, who, in their turn, were slaughtered by the +squire. Meanwhile, Masaie was sitting, unsuspicious, at the +wine-party in a distant chamber. Hearing the tumult he sprang to his +feet, but was immediately cut down by Tadamune and Kagemune. At this +juncture Masaie's wife ran in, and crying, "I am not faithless and +evil like my father and my brother; my death shall show my +sincerity," seized her husband's sword and committed suicide, at +which sight the dying man smiled contentedly. As for Konno, after a +futile attempt to lay hands on Tadamune and Kagemune, he cut his way +through their retainers and rode off safely. The heads of Yoshitomo +and Masaie were carried to Kyoto by Tadamune and Kagemune, but they +made so much of their exploit and clamoured for such high reward that +Kiyomori threatened to punish them for the murder of a close +connexion--Kiyomori, be it observed, on whose hands the blood of his +uncle was still wet. + +Yoshitomo had many sons* but only four of them escaped from the Heiji +tumult. The eldest of these was Yoritomo, then only fourteen. After +killing two men who attempted to intercept his flight, he fell into +the hands of Taira Munekiyo, who, pitying his youth, induced +Kiyomori's step-mother to intercede for his life, and he was finally +banished to Izu, whence, a few years later, he emerged to the +destruction of the Taira. A still younger son, Yoshitsune, was +destined to prove the most renowned warrior Japan ever produced. His +mother, Tokiwa, one of Yoshitomo's mistresses, a woman of rare +beauty, fled from the Minamoto mansion during a snow-storm after the +Heiji disaster, and, with her three children, succeeded in reaching a +village in Yamato, where she might have lain concealed had not her +mother fallen into the hands of Kiyomori's agents. Tokiwa was then +required to choose between giving herself up and suffering her mother +to be executed. Her beauty saved the situation. Kiyomori had no +sooner seen her face than he offered to have mercy if she entered his +household and if she consented to have her three sons educated for +the priesthood. Thus, Yoshitsune survived, and in after ages people +were wont to say of Kiyomori's passion and its result that his +blissful dream of one night had brought ruin on his house. + +*One of these sons, Tomonaga, fell by his father's hand. Accompanying +Yoshitomo's retreat, he had been severely wounded, and he asked his +father to kill him rather than leave him at Awobake to fall into the +hands of the Taira. Yoshitomo consented, though the lad was only +fifteen years of age. + +THE TAIRA AND THE FUJIWARA + +In human affairs many events ascribed by onlookers to design are +really the outcome of accident or unforseen opportunity. Historians, +tracing the career of Taira no Kiyomori, ascribe to him singular +astuteness in creating occasions and marked promptness in utilizing +them. But Kiyomori was not a man of original or brilliant +conceptions. He had not even the imperturbability essential to +military leadership. The most prominent features of his character +were unbridled ambition, intolerance of opposition, and unscrupulous +pursuit of visible ends. He did not initiate anything but was content +to follow in the footsteps of the Fujiwara. It has been recorded that +in 1158--after the Hogen tumult, but before that of Heiji--he married +his daughter to a son of Fujiwara Shinzoi. In that transaction, +however, Shinzei's will dominated. Two years later, the Minamoto's +power having been shattered, Kiyomori gave another of his daughters +to be the mistress of the kwampaku, Fujiwara Motozane. There was no +offspring of this union, and when, in 1166, Motozane died, he left a +five-year-old son, Motomichi, born of his wife, a Fujiwara lady. This +boy was too young to succeed to the office of regent, and therefore +had no title to any of the property accruing to the holder of that +post, who had always been recognized as de jure head of the Fujiwara +family. Nevertheless, Kiyomori, having contrived that the child +should be entrusted to his daughter's care, asserted its claims so +strenuously that many of the Fujiwara manors and all the heirlooms +were handed over to it, the result being a visible weakening of the +great family's influence.* + +*See Murdoch's History of Japan. + +RESULTS OF THE HOGEN AND HEIJI INSURRECTIONS + +The most signal result of the Hogen and Heiji insurrections was to +transfer the administrative power from the Court nobles to the +military chiefs. In no country were class distinctions more +scrupulously observed than in Japan. All officials of the fifth rank +and upwards must belong to the families of the Court nobility, and no +office carrying with it rank higher than the sixth might be occupied +by a military man. In all the history of the empire down to the +twelfth century there had been only one departure from this rule, and +that was in the case of the illustrious General Saka-no-ye no +Tamura-maro, who had been raised to the third rank and made dainagon. + +The social positions of the two groups were even more rigidly +differentiated; those of the fifth rank and upwards being termed +tenjo-bito, or men having the privilege of entree to the palace and +to the Imperial presence; while the lower group (from the sixth +downwards) had no such privilege and were consequently termed +chige-bito, or groundlings. The three highest offices (spoken of as +san-ko) could not be held by any save members of the Fujiwara or Kuga +families; and for offices carrying fifth rank upwards (designated +taifu) the range of eligible families extended to only four others, +the Ariwara, the Ki, the Oye, and the Kiyowara. All this was changed +after the Heiji commotion. The Fujiwara had used the military leaders +for their own ends; Kiyomori supplemented his military strength with +Fujiwara methods. He caused himself to be appointed sangi (councillor +of State) and to be raised to the first grade of the third rank, and +he procured for his friends and relations posts as provincial +governors, so that they were able to organize throughout the empire +military forces devoted to the Taira cause. + +These steps were mere preludes to his ambitious programme. He married +his wife's elder sister to the ex-Emperor, Go-Shirakawa, and the +fruit of this union was a prince who subsequently ascended the throne +as Takakura. The Emperor Nijo had died in 1166, after five years of +effort, only partially successful, to restrain his father, +Go-Shirakawa's, interference in the administration. Nijo was +succeeded by his son, Rokujo, a baby of two years; and, a few months +later, Takakura, then in his seventh year, was proclaimed Prince +Imperial. Rokujo (the seventy-ninth sovereign) was not given time to +learn the meaning of the title "Emperor." In three years he was +deposed by Go-Shirakawa with Kiyomori's co-operation, and Takakura +(eightieth sovereign) ascended the throne in 1169, occupying it until +1180. Thus, Kiyomori found himself uncle of an Emperor only ten years +of age. Whatever may have been the Taira leader's defects, failure to +make the most of an opportunity was not among them. The influence he +exercised in the palace through his sister-in-law was far more +exacting and imperious than that exercised by Go-Shirakawa himself, +and the latter, while bitterly resenting this state of affairs, found +himself powerless to correct it. Finally, to evince his discontent, +he entered the priesthood, a demonstration which afforded Kiyomori +more pleasure than pain. On the nomination of Takakura to be Crown +Prince the Taira leader was appointed--appointed himself would be a +more accurate form of speech--to the office of nai-daijin, and within +a very brief period he ascended to the chancellorship, overleaping +the two intervening posts of u-daijin and sa-daijin. This was in the +fiftieth year of his life. At fifty-one, he fell seriously ill and +took the tonsure by way of soliciting heaven's aid. People spoke of +him as Dajo Nyudo, or the "lay-priest chancellor." Recovering, he +developed a mood of increased arrogance. His residence at Rokuhara +was a magnificent pile of building, as architecture then went, +standing in a park of great extent and beauty. There he administered +State affairs with all the pomp and circumstance of an Imperial +court. He introduced his daughter, Toku, into the Household and very +soon she was made Empress, under the name of Kenrei-mon-in. + +Thus completely were the Fujiwara beaten at their own game and the +traditions of centuries set at naught. A majority of the highest +posts were filled by Kiyomori's kinsmen. Fifteen of his family were +of, or above, the third rank, and thirty were tenjo-bito. +"Akitsushima (Japan) was divided into sixty-six provinces. Of these +thirty were governed by Taira partisans. Their manors were to be +found in five hundred places, and their fields were innumerable. +Their mansions were full of splendid garments and rich robes like +flowers, and the spaces before their portals were so thronged with +ox-carriages and horses that markets were often held there. Not to be +a Taira was not to be a man."* + +*Gen-pei Seisuiki (Records of the Vicissitudes of the Minamoto and +the Taira). + +It is necessary to note, too, with regard to these manors, that many +of them were tax-free lands (koderi) granted in perpetuity. Such +grants, as has been already shown, were not infrequent. But they had +been made, for the most part, to civilian officials, by whose serfs +they were farmed, the proceeds being forwarded to Kyoto for the +support of their owners; whereas the koden bestowed on Taira officers +were, in effect, military fiefs. It is true that similar fiefs +existed in the north and in the south, but their number was so +greatly increased in the days of Taira ascendancy as almost to +constitute a new departure. Kiyomori was, in truth, one of the most +despotic rulers that ever held sway in Japan. He organized a band of +three hundred youths whose business was to go about Kyoto and listen +to the citizens' talk. If anyone was reported by these spies as +having spoken ill of the Taira, he was seized and punished. One day +Kiyomori's grandson, Sukemori, met the regent, Fujiwara Motofusa, and +failing to alight from his carriage, as etiquette required, was +compelled by the regent's retinue to do so. On learning of this +incident, Kiyomori ordered three hundred men to lie in wait for the +regent, drag him from his car and cut off his cue. + +PLOTS AGAINST THE TAIRA: KIYOMORI'S LAST YEARS + +All these arbitrary acts provoked indignation among every class of +the people. A conspiracy known in history as the "Shishi-ga-tani +plot," from the name of the place where the conspirators met to +consult, was organized in 1177, having for object a general uprising +against the Taira. At the Court of the cloistered Emperor the post of +gon-dainagon was filled by Fujiwara Narichika, who harboured +resentment against Kiyomori's two sons, Shigemori and Munemori, +inasmuch as they held positions for which he had striven in vain, +the Left and Right generals of the guards. There was also a bonze, +Saiko, who enjoyed the full confidence of Go-Shirakawa. In those days +any cause was legitimized if its advocates could show an Imperial +edict or point to the presence of the sovereign in their midst. +Thus, in the Heiji insurrection, the Minamoto received their severest +blow when Fujiwara Korekata contrived that, under cover of darkness, +the Emperor, disguised as a maid-of-honour in the household +of the Empress, should be transported in her Majesty's suite, +from the Kurodo palace to the Taira mansion at Rokuhara. The +Minamoto were thus transformed into rebels, and the Taira became +the representatives of Imperial authority. Therefore, in the +Shishi-ga-tani plot the part assigned to the priest Saiko was to +induce Go-Shirakawa to take active interest in the conspiracy and to +issue a mandate to the Minamoto bushi throughout the country. No such +mandate was issued, nor does it appear that the ex-Emperor attended +any of the meetings in Shishi-ga-tani, but there can be no doubt +that he had full cognizance of, and sympathized with, what was in +progress. + +The conspiracy never matured. It was betrayed by Minamoto Yukitsuna. +Saiko and his two sons were beheaded; Narichika was exiled and +subsequently put to death, and all the rest were banished. The great +question was, how to deal with Go-Shirakawa. Kiyomori was for leading +troops to arrest his Majesty, and to escort him as a prisoner to the +Toba palace or the Taira mansion. None of the despot's kinsmen or +adherents ventured to gainsay this purpose until Kiyomori's eldest +son, Shigemori, appeared upon the scene. Shigemori had contributed +much to the signal success of the Taira. Dowered with all the +strategical skill and political sagacity which his father lacked, he +had won victories for the family arms, and again and again had +restrained the rash exercise of Kiyomori's impetuous arrogance. The +Taira chief had learned to stand in awe of his son's reproaches, and +when Shigemori declared that he would not survive any violence done +to Go-Shirakawa, Kiyomori left the council chamber, bidding Shigemori +to manage the matter as he thought fit.* Thus, Go-Shirakawa escaped +all the consequences of his association with the conspirators. But +Kiyomori took care that a copy of the bonze Saiko's confession, +extracted under torture and fully incriminating his Majesty, should +come into the Imperial hands. + +*It is recorded that, on this occasion, Kiyomori, learning of his +son's approach, attempted unsuccessfully to conceal under priestly +robes the armour he had donned to go to the arrest of Go-Shirakawa. + +A final rupture between the ex-Emperor and the Taira leader became +daily imminent. Two events contributed to precipitate it. One was +that in the year following the Shishi-ga-tani conspiracy, Kiyomori's +daughter, Toku, bore to Takakura a prince--the future Emperor Antoku +(eighty-first sovereign). The Taira chief thus found himself +grandfather of an heir to the throne, a fact which did not tend to +abate his arrogance. The second was the death of Shigemori, which +took place in 1179. + +Shigemori's record shows him to have been at once a statesman and a +general. He never hesitated to check his father's extravagances, and +it has to be recorded in Kiyomori's favour that, however, intolerant +of advice or opposition he habitually showed himself, his eldest +son's remonstrances were seldom ignored. Yet, though many untoward +issues were thus averted, there was no sign that growing +responsibility brought to Kiyomori any access of circumspection. From +first to last he remained the same short-sighted, passion-driven, +impetuous despot and finally the evil possibilities of the situation +weighed so heavily on Shigemori's nerves that he publicly repaired to +a temple to pray for release from life. As though in answer to his +prayer he was attacked by a disease which carried him off at the age +of forty-two. There is a tradition that he installed forty-eight +images of Buddha in his mansion, and for their services employed many +beautiful women, so that sensual excesses contributed to the +semi-hysterical condition into which he eventually fell. That is not +impossible, but certainly a sense of impotence to save his father and +his family from the calamities he clearly saw approaching was the +proximate cause of his breakdown. + +ENGRAVING: KIYOMIZU-DEKA TEMPLE, AT KYOTO + +Results soon became apparent. The ex-Emperor, who had truly estimated +Shigemori's value as a pillar of Taira power, judged that an +opportunity for revolt had now arrived, and the Taira chief, deprived +of his son's restraining influence, became less competent than ever +to manage the great machine which fortune had entrusted to his +direction. The first challenge came from the ex-Emperor's side. It +has been related above that one of Kiyomori's politic acts after the +Heiji insurrection was to give his daughter to the regent; that, on +the latter's death, his child, Motomichi, by a Fujiwara, was +entrusted to the care of the Taira lady; that a large part of the +Fujiwara estates were diverted from the regent and settled upon +Motomichi, and that the latter was taken into a Taira mansion. The +regent who suffered by this arbitrary procedure was Fujiwara +Motofusa, the same noble whom, a few years later, Kiyomori caused to +be dragged from his car and docked of his queue because Motofusa had +insisted on due observance of etiquette by Kiyomori's grandson. +Naturally, Motofusa was ready to join hands with Go-Shirakawa in any +anti-Taira procedure. + +Therefore, in 1179, on the death of Kiyomori's daughter, to whose +care Motomichi had been entrusted in his childhood, the ex-Emperor, +at the instance of Motofusa, appropriated all her manors and those of +Motomichi. Moreover, on the death of Shigemori shortly afterwards, +the same course was pursued with his landed property, and further, +Motomichi, though lawful head of the Fujiwara family, son-in-law of +Kiyomori, and of full age, had been refused the post of chunagon, the +claim of a twelve year-old son of Motofusa being preferred.* The +significance of these doings was unmistakable. Kiyomori saw that the +gauntlet had been thrown in his face. Hastening from his villa of +Fukuhara, in Settsu, at the head of a large force of troops, he +placed the ex-Emperor in strict confinement in the Toba palace, +segregating him completely from the official world and depriving him +of all administrative functions; he banished the kwampaku, Motofusa, +and the chancellor, Fujiwara Moronaga; he degraded and deprived of +their posts thirty-nine high officials who had formed the entourage +of Go-Shirakawa; he raised Motomichi to the office of kwampaku, and +he conferred on his son, Munemori, the function of guarding Kyoto, +strong bodies of soldiers being posted in the two Taira mansions of +Rokuhara on the north and south of the capital. + +*See Murdoch's History of Japan. + +THE YORIMASA CONSPIRACY + +In 1180, at the instance of Kiyomori and partly, no doubt, because of +the difficult position in which he found himself placed with regard +to his imprisoned father, the Emperor Takakura, then in his twentieth +year, resigned the throne in favour of Kiyomori's grandson, Antoku +(eighty-first sovereign), a child of three. This was the culmination +of the Taira's fortunes. There was at that time among the Kyoto +officials a Minamoto named Yorimasa, sixth in descent from Minamoto +Mitsunaka, who flourished in the tenth century and by whose order the +heirloom swords, Hige-kiri and Hiza-kiri, were forged. This Yorimasa +was an expert bowman, a skilled soldier, and an adept versifier, +accomplishments not infrequently combined in one person during the +Heian epoch. Go-Shirakawa, appreciating Yorimasa's abilities, +nominated him director of the Imperial Estates Bureau (Kurando) and +afterwards made him governor of Hyogo. + +But it was not until he had reached the age of seventy-five that, on +Kiyomori's recommendation, he received promotion, in 1178, to the +second grade of the third rank (ju-sammi), thus for the first time +obtaining the privilege of access to the Imperial presence. The +explanation of this tardy recognition is, perhaps, to be sought in +Yorimasa's preference of prudence to loyalty. In the year of Heiji, +he held his little band of bushi in the leash until the issue of the +battle could be clearly forseen, and then he threw in his lot with +the Taira. Such shallow fealty seldom wins its way to high place. Men +did not forget Yorimasa's record. His belated admission to the ranks +of the tenjo-bito provoked some derision and he was commonly spoken +of as Gen-sammi (the Minamoto third rank). + +But even for one constitutionally so cautious, the pretensions of the +Taira became intolerable. Yorimasa determined to strike a blow for +the Minamoto cause, and looking round for a figure-head, he fixed +upon Prince Mochihito, elder brother of Takakura. This prince, being +the son of a concubine, had never reached Imperial rank, though he +was thirty years of age, but he possessed some capacity, and a noted +physiognomist had recognized in him a future Emperor. In 1170, at +Yorimasa's instance, Prince Mochihito secretly sent to all the +Minamoto families throughout the empire, especially to Yoritomo at +his place of exile in Izu, a document impeaching the conduct of the +Taira and exhorting the Minamoto to muster and attack them. + +Yorimasa's story shows that he would not have embarked upon this +enterprise had he not seen solid hope of success. But one of the aids +he counted on proved unsound. That aid was the Buddhist priesthood. +Kiyomori had offended the great monasteries by bestowing special +favour on the insignificant shrine of Itsukushima-Myojin. A +revelation received in a dream having persuaded him that his fortunes +were intimately connected with this shrine, he not only rebuilt it on +a scale of much magnificence, but also persuaded Go-Shirakawa to +make three solemn progresses thither. This partiality reached its +acme at the time of Takakura's abdication (1180), for instead of +complying with the custom hitherto observed on such occasions--the +custom of worshipping at one or more shrines of the three +great monasteries--Enryaku (Hiei-zan), Kofuku (Nara), or Onjo +(Miidera)--Takakura, prompted by Kiyomori, proceeded to Itsukushima.* + +*See Murdoch's History of Japan. + +A monster demonstration on the part of the offended monasteries was +temporarily quieted, but deep umbrage rankled in the bosoms of the +priests, and Yorimasa counted on their co-operation with his +insurrection. He forgot, however, that no bond could be trusted to +hold them permanently together in the face of their habitual rivalry, +and it was here that his scheme ultimately broke down. At an early +stage, some vague news of the plot reached Kiyomori's ears and he +hastened from his Fukuhara villa to Kyoto. But it soon became evident +that his information was incomplete. He knew, indeed, that Prince +Mochihito was involved, but he suspected Go-Shirakawa also, and he +entertained no conception of Yorimasa's complicity. Thus, while +removing Go-Shirakawa to Rokuhara and despatching a force to seize +Mochihito, he entrusted the direction of the latter measure to +Yorimasa's son, Kanetsuna, who, it need scarcely be said, failed to +apprehend the prince or to elicit any information from his followers. + +Presently Kiyomori learned that the prince had escaped to Onjo-ji +(Miidera). Thereupon secret negotiations were opened between Rokuhara +and Enryaku-ji (Hiei-zan), not that the Taira chief suspected the +latter, but because he appreciated that if Hiei-zan joined Miidera, +the situation would become formidable. Meanwhile, his trust in +Yorimasa remaining still unshaken, he sent him to attack Onjo-ji, +which mission the old Minamoto warrior fulfilled by entering the +monastery and joining forces with the prince. Yorimasa took this step +in the belief that immediate aid would be furnished from Hiei-zan. +But before his appeal reached the latter, Kiyomori's overtures had +been accepted. Nothing now remained for Yorimasa and Mochihito except +to make a desperate rush on Kyoto or to ride away south to Nara, +where temporary refuge offered. The latter course was chosen, in +spite of Yorimasa's advice. On the banks of the Uji River in a dense +fog they were overtaken by the Taira force, the latter numbering +twenty thousand, the fugitives three or four hundred. The Minamoto +made a gallant and skilful resistance, and finally Yorimasa rode off +with a handful of followers, hoping to carry Mochihito to a place of +safety. Before they passed out of range an arrow struck the old +warrior. Struggling back to Byodo-in, where the fight was still in +progress, he seated himself on his iron war-fan and, having calmly +composed his death-song, committed suicide. + +CHANGE OF CAPITAL AND DEATH OF KIYOMORI + +These things happened in May, 1180, and in the following month +Kiyomori carried out a design entertained by him for some time. He +transferred the capital from Kyoto to Fukuhara, in Settsu, where the +modern town of Kobe stands. Originally the Taira mansions were at the +two Fukuhara, one on the north of Kyoto, the other on the south, the +city being dominated from these positions. But Kiyomori seems to have +thought that as the centres of Taira strength lay in the south and +west of the empire, the province of Settsu would be a more convenient +citadel than Kyoto. Hence he built at Fukuhara a spacious villa and +took various steps to improve the harbour--then called Muko--as well +as to provide maritime facilities, among which may be mentioned the +opening of the strait, Ondo no Seto. But Fukuhara is fifty miles from +Kyoto, and to reach the latter quickly from the former in an +emergency was a serious task in the twelfth century. Moreover, Kyoto +was devastated in 1177 by a conflagration which reduced one-third of +the city to ashes, and in April of 1180 by a tornado of most +destructive force, so that superstitious folk, who abounded in that +age, began to speak ominously of the city's doom. + +What weighed most with the Taira leader, however, was the propinquity +of the three great monasteries; Hiei-zan on the north, Miidera on the +east, and Nara on the south. In fact, the city lay at the mercy of +the soldier-priests. At any moment they might combine, descend upon +the capital, and burn it before adequate succour could be marshalled. +That such a peril should have been dreaded from such a source seems +strange; but the Buddhist priests had shown a very dangerous temper +more than once, and from Kiyomori's point of view the possibility of +their rising to restore the fortunes of the Fujiwara was never +remote. + +Kiyomori carried with him to Fukuhara the boy-Emperor (Antoku), the +ex-Emperor (Takakura), the cloistered Emperor (Go-Shirakawa), the +kwampaku (Motomichi), and all the high Court officials with rare +exceptions. The work of construction at Fukuhara not being yet +complete, Go-Shirakawa had to be lodged in a building thirty feet +square, to which men gave the name of the "jail palace." Kyoto, of +course, was thrown into a state of consternation. Remonstrances, +petitions, and complaints poured into the Fukuhara mansion. Meanwhile +the Minamoto rose. In August of 1180, their white flag was hoisted, +and though it looked very insignificant on the wide horizon of Taira +power, Kiyomori did not underrate its meaning. At the close of the +year, he decided to abandon the Fukuhara scheme and carry the Court +back to Kyoto. On the eve of his return he found an opportunity of +dealing a heavy blow to the monasteries of Miidera and Nara. For, it +having been discovered that they were in collusion with the newly +risen Minamoto, Kiyomori sent his sons, Tomomori and Shigehira, at +the head of a force which sacked and burned Onjo-ji, Todai-ji, and +Kofuku-ji. Thereafter a terrible time ensued for Kyoto, for the home +provinces (Kinai), and for the west of the empire. During the greater +part of three years, from 1180 to 1182 inclusive, the people +suffered, first from famine and afterwards from pestilence. Pitiful +accounts are given by contemporary writers. Men were reduced to the +direst straits. Hundreds perished of starvation in the streets of +Kyoto, and as, in many cases, the corpses lay unburied, pestilence of +course ensued. It is stated that in Kyoto alone during two months +there were forty-two thousand deaths. The eastern and western +regions, however, enjoyed comparative immunity. By the priests and +the political enemies of the Taira these cruel calamities were +attributed to the evil deeds of Kiyomori and his fellow clansmen, so +that the once omnipotent family gradually became an object of popular +execration. Kiyomori, however, did not live to witness the ruin of +his house. He expired at the age of sixty in March, 1181, just three +months after the restoration of Kyoto to metropolitan rank. Since +August of the preceding year, the Minamoto had shown signs of +troublesome activity, but as yet it seemed hardly possible that their +puny onsets should shake, still less pull down, the imposing edifice +of power raised by the Taira during twenty years of unprecedented +success. Nevertheless, Kiyomori, impatient of all reverses, bitterly +upbraided his sons and his officers for incompetence, and when, after +seven days' sickness, he saw the end approaching, his last commission +was that neither tomb nor temple should be raised to his memory until +Yoritomo's head had been placed on his grave. + +ENGRAVING: ARTIST'S SEAL + +ENGRAVING: SWORD-GUARDS (Tsuba) HAND-CARVED IN BRONZE + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE EPOCH OF THE GEN AND THE HEI (Continued) + +OPENING OF THE CONFLICT + +WHEN, after the great struggle of 1160, Yoritomo, the eldest of +Yoshitomo's surviving sons, fell into the hands of Taira Munekiyo and +was carried by the latter to Kyoto, for execution, as all supposed, +and as would have been in strict accord with the canons of the time, +the lad, then in his fourteenth year, won the sympathy of Munekiyo by +his nobly calm demeanour in the presence of death, and still more by +answering, when asked whether he did not wish to live, "Yes, since I +alone remain to pray for the memories of my father and my elder +brothers." Munekiyo then determined to save the boy if possible, and +he succeeded through the co-operation of Kiyomori's step-mother, whom +he persuaded that her own son, lost in his infancy, would have grown +up to resemble closely Yoritomo. + +It was much to the credit of Kiyomori's heart but little to that of +his head that he listened to such a plea, and historians have further +censured his want of sagacity in choosing Izu for Yoritomo's place of +exile, seeing that the eastern regions were infested by Minamoto +kinsmen and partisans. But Kiyomori did not act blindly. He placed +Yoritomo in the keeping of two trusted wardens whose manors were +practically conterminous in the valley of the Kano stream on the +immediate west of Hakone Pass. These wardens were a Fujiwara, Ito +Sukechika, and a Taira, who, taking the name Hojo from the locality +of his manor, called himself Hojo Tokimasa. The dispositions of these +two men did not agree with the suggestions of their lineage. +Sukechika might have been expected to sympathize with his ward in +consideration of the sufferings of the Fujiwara at Kiyomori's hands. +Tokimasa, as a Taira, should have been wholly antipathetic. Yet had +Tokimasa shared Sukechika's mood, the Minamoto's sun would never have +risen over the Kwanto. + +The explanation is that Tokimasa belonged to a large group of +provincial Taira who were at once discontented because their claims +to promotion had been ignored, and deeply resentful of indignities +and ridicule to which their rustic manners and customs had exposed +them at the hands of their upstart kinsmen in Kyoto. Moreover, it is +not extravagant to suppose, in view of the extraordinary abilities +subsequently shown by Tokimasa, that he presaged the instability of +the Taira edifice long before any ominous symptoms became outwardly +visible. At any rate, while remaining Yoritomo's ostensible warden, +he became his confidant and abettor. + +This did not happen immediately, however. Yoritomo was placed +originally under Sukechika's care, and during the latter's absence in +Kyoto a liaison was established between his daughter and the Minamoto +captive, with the result that a son was born. Sukechika, on his +return, caused the child to be thrown into a cataract, married its +mother to Ema Kotaro, and swore to have the life of his ward. But +Yoritomo, warned of what was pending, effected his escape to +Tokimasa's manor. It is recorded that on the way thither he prayed at +the shrine of Hachiman, the tutelary deity of his family: "Grant me +to become sei-i-shogun and to guard the Imperial Court. Or, if I may +not achieve so much, grant me to become governor of Izu, so that I +may be revenged on Sukechika. Or, if that may not be, grant me +death." With Tokimasa he found security. But here again, though now a +man over thirty, he established relations with Masa, his warden's +eldest daughter. In all Yoritomo's career there is not one instance +of a sacrifice of expediency or ambition on the altar of sentiment or +affection. He was a cold, calculating man. No cruelty shocked him nor +did he shrink from any severity dictated by policy. It is in the last +degree improbable that he risked his political hopes for the sake of +a trivial amour. At any rate the event suggests crafty deliberation +rather than a passing passion. For though Tokimasa simulated +ignorance of the liaison and publicly proceeded with his previous +engagement to wed Masa to Taira Kanetaka, lieutenant-governor of Izu, +he privately connived at her flight and subsequent concealment. + +This incident is said to have determined Yoritomo. He disclosed all +his ambitions to Hojo Tokimasa, and found in him an able coadjutor. +Yoritomo now began to open secret communications with several of the +military families in Izu and the neighbouring provinces. In making +these selections and approaches, the Minamoto exile was guided and +assisted by Tokimasa. Confidences were not by any means confined to +men of Minamoto lineage. The kith and kin of the Fujiwara, and even +of the Taira themselves, were drawn into the conspiracy, and although +the struggle finally resolved itself into a duel a l'outrance between +the Taira and the Minamoto, it had no such exclusive character at the +outset. + +In May, or June, 1180, the mandate of Prince Mochihito reached +Yoritomo, carried by his uncle, Minamoto Yukiiye, whose figure +thenceforth appears frequently upon the scene. Yoritomo showed the +mandate to Tokimasa, and the two men were taking measures to obey +when they received intelligence of the deaths of Mochihito and +Yorimasa and of the fatal battle on the banks of the Uji. + +Yoritomo would probably have deferred conclusive action in such +circumstances had there not reached him from Miyoshi Yasunobu in +Kyoto a warning that the Taira were planning to exterminate the +remnant of the Minamoto and that Yoritomo's name stood first on the +black-list. Moreover, the advisability of taking the field at once +was strongly and incessantly urged by a priest, Mongaku, who, after a +brief acquaintance, had impressed Yoritomo favourably. This bonze had +been the leading figure in an extraordinary romance of real life. +Originally Endo Morito, an officer of the guards in Kyoto, he fell in +love with his cousin, Kesa,* the wife of a comrade called Minamoto +Wataru. His addresses being resolutely rejected, he swore that if +Kesa remained obdurate, he would kill her mother. From this dilemma +the brave woman determined that self-sacrifice offered the only +effective exit. She promised to marry Morito after he had killed her +husband, Wataru; to which end she engaged to ply Wataru with wine +until he fell asleep. She would then wet his head, so that Morito, +entering by an unfastened door and feeling for the damp hair, might +consummate his purpose surely. Morito readily agreed, but Kesa, +having dressed her own hair in male fashion and wet her head, lay +down in her husband's place. + +*Generally spoken of as "Kesa Gozen," but the latter word signifies +"lady." + +When Morito found that he had killed the object of his passionate +affection, he hastened to confess his crime and invited Wataru to +slay him. But Wataru, sympathizing with his remorse, proposed that +they should both enter religion and pray for the rest of Kesa's +spirit. It is related that one of the acts of penance performed by +Mongaku--the monastic name taken by Morito--was to stand for +twenty-one days under a waterfall in the depth of winter. +Subsequently he devoted himself to collecting funds for +reconstructing the temple of Takao, but his zeal having betrayed him +into a breach of etiquette at the palace of Go-Shirakawa, he was +banished to Izu, where he obtained access to Yoritomo and counselled +him to put his fortune to the test.* + +*Tradition says that among the means employed by Mongaku to move +Yoritomo was the exhibition of Yoshitomo's bones. + +THE FIRST STAGE OF THE STRUGGLE + +The campaign was opened by Hojo Tokimasa on the 8th of September, +1180. He attacked the residence of the lieutenant-governor of Izu, +Taira Kanetaka, burned the mansion, and killed Kanetaka, whose +abortive nuptials with the lady Masa had been celebrated a few months +previously. Yoritomo himself at the head of a force of three hundred +men, crossed the Hakone Pass three days later en route for Sagami, +and encamped at Ishibashi-yama. This first essay of the Minamoto +showed no military caution whatever. It was a march into space. +Yoritomo left in his rear Ito Sukechika, who had slain his infant son +and sworn his own destruction, and he had in his front a Taira force +of three thousand under Oba Kagechika. It is true that many Taira +magnates of the Kwanto were pledged to draw the sword in the Minamoto +cause. They had found the selfish tyranny of Kiyomori not at all to +their taste or their profit. It is also true that the Oba brothers +had fought staunchly on the side of Yoritomo's father, Yoshitomo, in +the Heiji war. Yoritomo may possibly have entertained some hope that +the Oba army would not prove a serious menace. + +Whatever the explanation may be, the little Minamoto band were +attacked in front and rear simultaneously during a stormy night. They +suffered a crushing defeat. It seemed as though the white flag* was +to be lowered permanently, ere it had been fully shaken out to the +wind. The remnants of the Minamoto sought shelter in a cryptomeria +grove, where Yoritomo proved himself a powerful bowman. But when he +had tune to take stock of his followers, he found them reduced to six +men. These, at the suggestion of Doi Sanehira, he ordered to scatter +and seek safety in flight, while he himself with Sanehira hid in a +hollow tree. Their hiding-place was discovered by Kajiwara Kagetoki, +a member of the Oba family, whose sympathies were with the Minamoto. +He placed himself before the tree and signalled that the fugitives +had taken another direction. Presently, Oba Kagechika, riding up, +thrust his bow into the hollow tree, and as two pigeons flew out, he +concluded that there was no human being within. + +*The Taira flew a red ensign; the Minamoto, a white. + +ENGRAVING: MINAMOTO YORITOMO + +From the time of this hairbreadth escape, Yoritomo's fortunes rose +rapidly. After some days of concealment among the Hakone mountains, +he reached the shore of Yedo Bay, and crossing from Izu to Awa, was +joined by Tokimasa and others. Manifestoes were then despatched in +all directions, and sympathizers began to flock in. Entering Kazusa, +the Minamoto leader secured the cooperation of Taira Hirotsune and +Chiba Tsunetane, while Tokimasa went to canvass in Kai. In short, +eight provinces of the Kwanto responded like an echo to Yoritomo's +call, and, by the time he had made his circuit of Yedo Bay, some +twenty-five thousand men were marshalled under his standard. +Kamakura, on the seacoast a few miles south of the present Yokohama, +was chosen for headquarters, and one of the first steps taken was to +establish there, on the hill of Tsurugaoka, a grand shrine to +Hachiman, the god of War and tutelary deity of the Minamoto. + +Meanwhile, Tokimasa had secured the allegiance of the Takeda family +of Kai, and was about to send a strong force to join Yoritomo's army. +But by this time the Taira were in motion. Kiyomori had despatched a +body of fifty thousand men under Koremori, and Yoritomo had decided +to meet this army on the banks of the Fuji river. It became +necessary, therefore, to remove all potential foes from the Minamoto +rear, and accordingly Hojo Tokimasa received orders to overrun Suruga +and then to direct his movements with a view to concentration on the +Fuji. Thither Yoritomo marched from Kamakura, and by the beginning of +November, 1180, fifty thousand Taira troops were encamped on the +south bank of the river and twenty-seven thousand Minamoto on the +north. A decisive battle must be fought in the space of a few days. +In fact, the 13th of November had been indicated as the probable +date. But the battle was never fought. The officer in command of the +Taira van, Fujiwara no Tadakiyo, laboured under the disadvantage of +being a coward, and the Taira generals, Koremori and Tadamori, +grandson and youngest brother, respectively, of Kiyomori, seem to +have been thrown into a state of nervous prostration by the +unexpected magnitude of the Minamoto's uprising. They were debating, +and had nearly recognized the propriety of falling back without +challenging a combat or venturing their heads further into the +tiger's mouth, when something--a flight of water-birds, a +reconnaissance in force, a rumour, or what not--produced a panic, and +before a blow had been struck, the Taira army was in full retreat for +Kyoto. + +YOSHITSUNE + +In the Minamoto camp there was some talk of pursuing the fugitive +Taira, and possibly the most rapid results would thus have been +attained. But it was ultimately decided that the allegiance of the +whole Kwanto must be definitely secured before denuding it of troops +for the purpose of a western campaign. This attitude of caution +pointed specially to the provinces of Hitachi and Shimotsuke, where +the powerful Minamoto families of Satake and Nitta, respectively, +looked coldly upon the cause of their kinsman, Yoritomo. Therefore +the army was withdrawn to a more convenient position on the Kiso +River, and steps, ultimately successful, were taken to win over the +Nitta and the Satake. + +It was at this time that there arrived in Yoritomo's camp a youth of +twenty-one with about a score of followers. Of medium stature and of +frame more remarkable for grace than for thews, he attracted +attention chiefly by his piercing eyes and by the dignified +intelligence of his countenance. This was Yoshitsune, the youngest +son of Yoshitomo. His life, as already stated, had been saved in the +Heiji disturbance, first, by the intrepidity of his mother, Tokiwa, +and, afterwards, by the impression her dazzling beauty produced upon +the Taira leader. Placed in the monastery of Kurama, as stipulated by +Kiyomori, Yoshitsune had no sooner learned to think than he became +inspired with an absorbing desire to restore the fortunes of his +family. Tradition has surrounded the early days of this, the future +Bayard of Japan, with many romantic legends, among which it is +difficult to distinguish the true from the false. What is certain, +however, is that at the age of fifteen he managed to effect his +escape to the north of Japan. The agent of his flight was an +iron-merchant who habitually visited the monastery on matters of +business, and whose dealings took him occasionally to Mutsu. + +At the time of Yoshitsune's novitiate in the Kurama temple, the +political power in Japan may be said to have been divided between the +Taira, the provincial Minamoto, the Buddhist priests, and the +Fujiwara, and of the last the only branch that had suffered no +eclipse during the storms of Hogen and Heiji had been the Fujiwara of +Mutsu. It has been shown in the story of the Three Years' War, and +specially in the paragraph entitled "The Fujiwara of the North," that +the troops of Fujiwara Kiyohira and Minamoto Yoshiiye had fought side +by side, and that, after the war, Kiyohira succeeded to the six +districts of Mutsu, which constituted the largest estate in the hands +of any one Japanese noble. That estate was in the possession of +Hidehira, grandson of Kiyohira, at the time when the Minamoto family +suffered its heavy reverses. Yoshitsune expected, therefore, that at +least an asylum would be assured, could he find his way to Mutsu. He +was not mistaken. Hidehira received him with all hospitality, and as +Mutsu was practically beyond the control of Kyoto, the Minamoto +fugitive could lead there the life of a bushi, and openly study +everything pertaining to military art. He made such excellent use of +these opportunities that, by the time the Minamoto standard was +raised anew in Izu, Yoshitsune had earned the reputation of being the +best swordsman in the whole of northern Japan. + +This was the stripling who rode into Yoritomo's camp on a November +day in the year 1180. The brothers had never previously seen each +other's faces, and their meeting in such circumstances was a dramatic +event. Among Yoshitsune's score of followers there were several who +subsequently earned undying fame, but one deserves special mention +here. Benkei, the giant halberdier, had turned his back upon the +priesthood, and, becoming a free lance, conceived the ambition of +forcibly collecting a thousand swords from their wearers. He wielded +the halberd with extraordinary skill, and such a huge weapon in the +hand of a man with seven feet of stalwart stature constituted a +menace before which a solitary wayfarer did not hesitate to surrender +his sword. One evening, Benkei observed an armed acolyte approaching +the Gojo bridge in Kyoto. The acolyte was Yoshitsune, and the time, +the eve of his departure for Mutsu. Benkei made light of disarming a +lad of tender years and seemingly slender strength. But already in +his acolyte days Yoshitsune had studied swordsmanship, and he +supplemented his knowledge by activity almost supernatural. The giant +Benkei soon found himself praying for life and swearing allegiance to +his boy conqueror, an oath which he kept so faithfully as to become +the type of soldierly fidelity for all subsequent generations of his +countrymen. + +KISO YOSHINAKA + +Looking at the map of central Japan, it is seen that the seven +provinces of Suruga, Izu, Awa, Kai, Sagami, Musashi, and Kazusa are +grouped approximately in the shape of a Japanese fan (uchiwa), having +Izu for the handle. Along the Pacific coast, eastward of this fan, +lie the provinces of Shimosa and Hitachi, where the Nitta and the +Satake, respectively, gave employment for some time to the diplomatic +and military resources of the Minamoto. Running inland from the +circumference of the fan are Shinano and Kotsuke, in which two +provinces, also, a powerful Minamoto resurrection synchronized with, +but was independent of, the Yoritomo movement. + +The hero of the Shinano-Kotsuke drama was Minamoto no Yoshinaka, +commonly called Kiso Yoshinaka, because his youth was passed among +the mountains where the Kiso River has its source. In the year 1155, +Yoshitomo's eldest son, Yoshihira,* was sent to Musashi to fight +against his uncle, Yoshikata. The latter fell, and his son, +Yoshinaka, a baby of two, was handed to Saito Sanemori to be +executed; but the latter sent the child to Shinano, where it was +brought up by Nakahara Kaneto, the husband of its nurse. Yoshinaka +attained an immense stature as well as signal skill in archery and +horsemanship. Like Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, he brooded much on the +evil fortunes of the Minamoto, and paid frequent visits to Kyoto to +observe the course of events. In the year 1180, the mandate of Prince +Mochihito reached him, and learning that Yoritomo had taken the +field, he gathered a force in Shinano. Between the two leaders there +could be no final forgetfulness of the fact that Yoritomo's brother +had killed Yoshinaka's father, and had ordered the slaying of +Yoshinaka himself. But this evil memory did not obtrude itself at the +outset. They worked independently. Yoshinaka gained a signal victory +over the Taira forces marshalled against him by the governor of +Shinano, and pushing thence eastward into Kotsuke, obtained the +allegiance of the Ashikaga of Shimotsuke and of the Takeda of Kai. +Thus, the year 1180 closed upon a disastrous state of affairs for the +Taira, no less than ten provinces in the east having fallen +practically under Minamoto sway. + +*This Yoshihira was a giant in stature. He shares with Tametomo the +fame of having exhibited the greatest prowess in the Hogen and Heiji +struggles. It was he who offered to attack Kyoto from Kumano a +measure which, in all probability, would have reversed the result of +the Heiji war. + +CONTINUATION OF THE CAMPAIGN + +Kiyomori expired in March, 1181, as already related. His last behest, +that the head of Yoritomo should be laid on his grave, nerved his +successors to fresh efforts. But the stars in their courses seemed to +be fighting against the Taira. Kiyomori's son, Munemori, upon whom +devolved the direction of the great clan's affairs, was wholly +incompetent for such a trust. One gleam of sunshine, however, +illumined the fortunes of the Heike. Two months after Kiyomori's +death, a Taira army under Shigehira attacked Yukiiye, Yoritomo's +uncle, who had pushed westward as far as Owari. This Yukiiye never +showed any qualities of generalship. He was repeatedly defeated, the +only redeeming feature of his campaigns being that he himself always +escaped destruction. On this occasion he was driven out of Owari and +forced to retire within the confines of the Kwanto. + +But now the home provinces and the west fell into the horrors of +famine and pestilence, as described above; and in such circumstances +to place armies in the field and to maintain them there became +impossible. The Taira had to desist from all warlike enterprises +until the summer of 1182, when a great effort was made to crush the +rapidly growing power of the Minamoto. Commissions of provincial +governor were sent to Jo no Nagashige, a puissant Taira magnate of +Echigo; to Taira no Chikafusa, of Etchu, and to Fujiwara Hidehira, of +Mutsu, who were all ordered to attack Yoritomo and Yoshinaka. +Hidehira made no response, but Nagashige set in motion against +Yoshinaka a strong force, swelled by a contingent from Kyoto under +Michimori. The results were signal defeat for the Taira and the +carrying of the white flag by Yoshinaka into Echigo, Etchu, Noto, and +Kaga. + +DISSENSIONS AMONG THE MINAMOTO + +Meanwhile discord had declared itself between Yoritomo and Yoshinaka. +It has been shown that the records of the two families afforded no +basis of mutual confidence, and it has also been shown that the +Takeda clan of Kai province were among the earliest adherents of the +Minamoto cause. In view of Yoshinaka's brilliant successes, Takeda +Nobumitsu proposed a marriage between his daughter and Yoshinaka's +son, Yoshitaka. This union was declined by Yoshinaka, whereupon +Nobumitsu suggested to Yoritomo that Yoshinaka's real purpose was to +ally his house with the Taira by marriage. Whether Nobumitsu believed +this, or whether his idea had its origin in pique, history does not +indicate. But there can be no hesitation in concluding that a rupture +between the two Minamoto chiefs was presaged by Yoritomo's entourage, +who judged that two Richmonds could not remain permanently in the +field. + +Things gradually shaped themselves in accordance with that forecast. +The malcontents in Yoritomo's camp or his discomfited opponents began +to transfer their allegiance to Yoshinaka; a tendency which +culminated when Yoritomo's uncle, Yukiiye, taking umbrage because a +provincial governorship was not given to him, rode off at the head of +a thousand cavalry to join Yoshinaka. The reception given by +Yoshinaka to these deserters was in itself sufficient to suggest +doubts of his motives. Early in the year 1183, Yoritomo sent a force +into Shinano with orders to exterminate Yoshinaka. But the latter +declined the combat. Quoting a popular saying that the worst enemies +of the Minamoto were their own dissensions, he directed his troops to +withdraw into Echigo, leaving to Yoritomo a free hand in Shinano. +When this was reported to Yoritomo, he recalled his troops from +Shinano, and asked Yoshinaka to send a hostage. Yoshinaka replied by +sending his son Yoshitaka, the same youth to whom Takeda Nobumitsu +had proposed to marry his daughter. He was now wedded to Yoritomo's +daughter, and the two Minamoto chiefs seemed to have been effectually +reconciled. + +ADVANCE OF YOSHINAKA ON KYOTO + +Yoshinaka's desire to avoid conflict with Yoritomo had been partly +due to the fact that the Taira leaders were known to be just then +straining every nerve to beat back the westward-rolling tide of +Minamoto conquest. They had massed all their available forces in +Echizen, and at that supreme moment Yoritomo's active hostility would +have completely marred Yoshinaka's great opportunity. In May, 1183, +this decisive phase of the contest was opened; Koremori, Tamemori, +and Tomonori being in supreme command of the Taira troops, which are +said to have mustered one hundred thousand strong. At first, things +fared badly with the Minamoto. They lost an important fortress at +Hiuchi-yama, and Yukiiye was driven from Kaga into Noto. But when the +main army of the Minamoto came into action, the complexion of affairs +changed at once. In a great battle fought at Tonami-yama in Echizen, +Yoshinaka won a signal victory by the manoeuvre of launching at the +Taira a herd of oxen having torches fastened to their horns. +Thousands of the Taira perished, including many leaders. + +Other victories at Kurikara and Shinowara opened the road to Kyoto. +Yoshinaka pushed on and, in August, reached Hiei-zan; while Yukiiye, +the pressure on whose front in Noto had been relieved, moved towards +Yamato; Minamoto no Yukitsuna occupied Settsu and Kawachi, and +Ashikaga Yoshikiyo advanced to Tamba. Thus, the capital lay at the +mercy of Yoshinaka's armies. The latter stages of the Minamoto march +had been unopposed. Munemori, after a vain attempt to secure the +alliance of the Hiei-zan monks, had recalled his generals and decided +to retire westward, abandoning Kyoto. He would have taken with him +the cloistered Emperor, but Go-Shirakawa secretly made his way to +Hiei-zan and placed himself under the protection of Yoshinaka, +rejoicing at the opportunity to shake off the Taira yoke. + +RETREAT OF THE TAIRA + +On August 14, 1183, the evacuation of Kyoto took place. Munemori, +refusing to listen to the counsels of the more resolute among his +officers, applied the torch to the Taira mansions at northern and +southern Rokuhara, and, taking with him the Emperor Antoku, then in +his sixth year, his Majesty's younger brother, and their mother, +together with the regalia--the mirror, the sword, and the +gem--retired westward, followed by the whole remnant of his clan. +Arrived at Fukuhara, they devoted a night to praying, making sacred +music, and reading Sutras at Kiyomori's tomb, whereafter they set +fire to all the Taira palaces, mansions, and official buildings, and +embarked for the Dazai-fu in Chikuzen. They reckoned on the +allegiance of the whole of Kyushu and of at least one-half of +Shikoku. + +EIGHTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-TOBA (A.D. 1184-1198) + +The Taira leaders having carried off the Emperor Antoku, there was no +actually reigning sovereign in Kyoto, whither the cloistered Emperor +now returned, an imposing guard of honour being furnished by +Yoshinaka. Go-Shirakawa therefore resumed the administration of State +affairs, Yoshinaka being given the privilege of access to the +Presence and entrusted with the duty of guarding the capital. The +distribution of rewards occupied attention in the first place. Out of +the five hundred manors of the Taira, one hundred and fifty were +given to Yoshinaka and Yukiiye, and over two hundred prominent Taira +officials were stripped of their posts and their Court ranks. +Yoritomo received more gracious treatment than Yoshinaka, although +the Kamakura chief could not yet venture to absent himself from the +Kwanto for the purpose of paying his respects at Court. For the rest, +in spite of Yoshinaka's brilliant success, he was granted only the +fifth official rank and the governorship of the province of Iyo. + +These things could not fail to engender some discontent, and +presently a much graver cause for dissatisfaction presented itself. +Fujiwara Kanezane, minister of the Right, memorialized the Court in +the sense that, as Antoku had left the capital, another occupant to +the throne should be appointed, in spite of the absence of the +regalia. He pointed out that a precedent for dispensing with these +tokens of Imperialism had been furnished in the case of the Emperor +Keitai (507-531). No valid reason existed for such a precipitate +step. Antoku had not abdicated. His will had not been consulted at +all by the Taira when they carried him off; nor would the will of a +child of six have possessed any validity in such a matter. It is +plain that the proposal made by the minister of the Right had for +motive the convenience of the Minamoto, whose cause lacked legitimacy +so long as the sovereign and the regalia were in the camp of the +Taira. + +But the minister's advice had a disastrous sequel. Yoshinaka was +resolutely bent on securing the succession for the son of Prince +Mochihito, who had been killed in the Yorimasa emeute. It was +practically to Mochihito that the Court owed its rescue from the +Taira tyranny, and his son--now a youth of seventeen, known as Prince +Hokuriku, because he had founded an asylum at a monastery in +Hokuriku-do after his father's death--had been conducted to Kyoto by +Yoshinaka, under a promise to secure the succession for him. But +Go-Shirakawa would not pay any attention to these representations. He +held that Prince Hokuriku was ineligible, since his father had been +born out of wedlock, and since the prince himself had taken the +tonsure; the truth being that the ex-Emperor had determined to obtain +the crown for one of his own grandsons, younger brothers of Antoku. +It is said that his Majesty's manner of choosing between the two lads +was most capricious. He had them brought into his presence, whereupon +the elder began to cry, the younger to laugh, and Go-Shirakawa at +once selected the latter, who thenceforth became the Emperor Go-Toba. + +FALL OF YOSHINAKA + +Yoshinaka's fortunes began to ebb from the time of his failure to +obtain the nomination of Prince Hokuriku. A force despatched to +Bitchu with the object of arresting the abduction of Antoku and +recovering possession of the regalia, had the misfortune to be +confronted by Taira no Noritsune, one of the stoutest warriors on the +side of the Heike. Ashikaga Yoshikiyo, who commanded the pursuers, +was killed, and his men were driven back pele-mele. This event +impaired the prestige of Yoshinaka's troops, while he himself and his +officers found that their rustic ways and illiterate education +exposed them constantly to the thinly veiled sneers of the dilettanti +and pundits who gave the tone to metropolitan society. The soldiers +resented these insults with increasing roughness and recourse to +violence, so that the coming of Yoritomo began to be much desired. +Go-Shirakawa sent two messages at a brief interval to invite the +Kamakura chief's presence in the capital. Yoritomo replied with a +memorial which won for him golden opinions, but he showed no sign of +visiting Kyoto. His absorbing purpose was to consolidate his base in +the east, and he had already begun to appreciate that the military +and the Imperial capitals should be distinct. + +Naturally, when the fact of these pressing invitations to Yoritomo +reached Yoshinaka's ears, he felt some resentment, and this was +reflected in the demeanour of his soldiers, outrages against the +lives and properties of the citizens becoming more and more frequent. +Even the private domains of the cloistered Emperor himself, to say +nothing of the manors of the courtiers, were freely entered and +plundered, so that public indignation reached a high pitch. The +umbrage thus engendered was accentuated by treachery. Driven from +Kyushu, the Taira chiefs had obtained a footing in Shikoku and had +built fortifications at Yashima in Sanuki, which became thenceforth +their headquarters. They had also collected on the opposite coast of +the Inland Sea a following which seemed likely to grow in dimensions, +and, with the idea of checking that result, it was proposed to send +troops to the Sanyo-do under Minamoto Yukiiye, who had been named +governor of Bizen. Taught, however, by experience that disaster was +likely to be the outcome of Yukiiye's generalship, Yoshinaka +interfered to prevent his appointment, and Yukiiye, resenting this +slight, became thenceforth a secret foe of Yoshinaka. + +In analyzing the factors that go to the making of this complicated +chapter of Japanese history, a place must be given to Yukiiye. He +seems to have been an unscrupulous schemer. Serving originally under +Yoritomo, who quickly took his measure, he concluded that nothing +substantial was to be gained in that quarter. Therefore, he passed +over to Yoshinaka, who welcomed him, not as an enemy of Yoritomo, but +as a Minamoto. Thenceforth Yukiiye's aim was to cause a collision +between the two cousins and to raise his own house on the ruins of +both. He contributed materially to the former result, but as to the +latter, the sixth year of his appearance upon the stage as Prince +Mochihito's mandate-bearer saw his own head pilloried in Kyoto. + +Yoshinaka, however, had too frank a disposition to be suspicious. He +believed until the end that Yukiiye's heart was in the Minamoto +cause. Then, when it became necessary to choose, between taking +stupendous risks in the west or making a timely withdrawal to the +east, he took Yukiiye into his confidence. That was the traitor's +opportunity. He secretly informed the ex-Emperor that Yoshinaka had +planned a retreat to the east, carrying his Majesty with him, and +this information, at a time when the excesses committed by +Yoshinaka's troops had provoked much indignation, induced +Go-Shirakawa to obtain from Hiei-zan and Miidera armed monks to form +a palace-guard under the command of the kebiishi, Taira Tomoyasu, a +declared enemy of Yoshinaka. At once Yoshinaka took a decisive step. +He despatched a force to the palace; seized the persons of +Go-Shirakawa and Go-Toba; removed Motomichi from the regency, +appointing Moroie, a boy of twelve, in his place, and dismissed a +number of Court officials. + +In this strait, Go-Shirakawa, whose record is one long series of +undignified manoeuvres to keep his own head above water, applied +himself to placate Yoshinaka while privately relying on Yoritomo. His +Majesty granted to the former the control of all the domains +previously held by the Taira; appointed him to the high office of +sei-i tai-shogun (barbarian-subduing generalissimo), and commissioned +him to attack Yoritomo while, at the same time, the latter was +secretly encouraged to destroy his cousin. At that moment (February, +1184), Yoritomo's two younger brothers, Yoshitsune and Noriyori, were +en route for Kyoto, where they had been ordered to convey the Kwanto +taxes. They had a force of five hundred men only, but these were +quickly transformed into the van of an army of fifty or sixty +thousand, which Yoritomo, with extraordinary expedition, sent from +Kamakura to attack Yoshinaka. + +The "Morning Sun shogun" (Asahi-shogun), as Yoshinaka was commonly +called with reference to his brilliant career, now at last saw +himself confronted by the peril which had long disturbed his +thoughts. At a distance of three hundred miles from his own base, +with powerful foes on either flank and in a city whose population was +hostile to him, his situation seemed almost desperate. He took a step +dictated by dire necessity--made overtures to the Taira, asking that +a daughter of the house of Kiyomori be given him for wife. Munemori +refused. The fortunes of the Taira at that moment appeared to be +again in the ascendant. They were once more supreme in Kyushu; the +west of the main island from coast to coast was in their hands; they +had re-established themselves in Fukuhara, and at any moment they +might move against Kyoto. They could afford, therefore, to await the +issue of the conflict pending between the Minamoto cousins, sure that +it must end in disaster for one side and temporary weakness for the +other. + +In fact, the situation was almost hopeless for Yoshinaka. There had +not been time to recall the main body of his troops which were +confronting the Taira. All that he could do was to arrest momentarily +the tide of onset by planting handfuls of men to guard the chief +avenues at Uji and Seta where, four years previously, Yorimasa had +died for the Minamoto cause, and Seta, where a long bridge spans the +waters of Lake Biwa as they narrow to form the Setagawa. To the Uji +bridge, Nenoi Yukichika was sent with three hundred men; to the Seta +bridge, Imai Kanehira with five hundred. The names of these men and +of their brothers, Higuchi Kanemitsu and Tate Chikatada, are immortal +in Japanese history. They were the four sons of Nakahara Kaneto, by +whom Yoshinaka had been reared, and their constant attendance on his +person, their splendid devotion to him, and their military prowess +caused people to speak of them as Yoshinaka's Shi-tenno--the four +guardian deities of Buddhist temples. Their sister, Tomoe, is even +more famous. Strong and brave as she was beautiful, she became the +consort of Yoshinaka, with whom she had been brought up, and she +accompanied him in all his campaigns, fighting by his side and +leading a body of troops in all his battles. She was with him when he +made his final retreat and she killed a gigantic warrior, Uchida +Ieyoshi, who attempted to seize her on that occasion. Yoshinaka +compelled her to leave him at the supreme moment, being unwilling +that she should fall into the enemy's hands; and after his death she +became a nun, devoting the rest of her days to prayers for his +spirit. + +But it is not to be supposed that Yoshinaka repaid this noble +devotion with equal sincerity. On the contrary, the closing scene of +his career was disfigured by passion for another woman, daughter of +the kwampaku, Fujiwara Motofusa. Attracted by rumours of her beauty +after his arrival in Kyoto, he compelled her to enter his household, +and when news came that the armies of Yoshitsune and Noriyori were +approaching the capital, this great captain, for such he certainly +was, instead of marshalling his forces and making dispositions for +defence, went to bid farewell to the beautiful girl who resided in +his Gojo mansion. Hours of invaluable time passed, and still Asahi +shogun remained by the lady's side. Finally, two of his faithful +comrades, Echigo Chuta and Tsuwata Saburo, seated themselves in front +of the mansion and committed suicide to recall their leader to his +senses. Yoshinaka emerged, but it was too late. He could not muster +more than three hundred men, and in a short time Yoshitsune rode into +the city at the head of a large body of cavalry. + +Yoshitsune had approached by way of Uji. He was not at all deterred +by the fact that the enemy had destroyed the bridge. His mounted +bowmen dashed into the river* and crossed it with little loss. A few +hours brought them to Kyoto, where they made small account of the +feeble resistance that Yoshinaka was able to offer. Wounded and with +little more than half a score of followers, Yoshinaka rode off, and +reaching the plain Of Awazu, met Imai Kanehira with the remnant of +his five hundred men who had gallantly resisted Noriyori's army of +thirty thousand. Imai counselled instant flight eastward. In Shinano, +Yoshinaka would find safety and a dominion, while to cover his +retreat, Imai would sacrifice his own life. Such noble deeds were the +normal duty of every true bushi. Yoshinaka galloped away, but, riding +into a marsh, disabled his horse and was shot down. Meanwhile Imai, +in whose quiver there remained only eight arrows, had killed as many +of the pursuing horsemen, and then placing the point of his sword in +his mouth, had thrown himself headlong from his horse. One incident, +shocking but not inconsistent with the canons of the time, remains to +be included in this chapter of Japanese history. It has been related +that Yoshinaka's son, Yoshitaka, was sent by his father to Kamakura +as a hostage, and was married to Yoritomo's daughter. After the +events above related Yoshitaka was put to death at Kamakura, +apparently without Yoritomo's orders, and his widow, when pressed by +her brother to marry again, committed suicide. + +*Japanese tradition loves to tell of a contest between Sasaki +Takatsuna and Kajiwara Kagesue as to which should cross the river +first. Kagesue was the son of that Kajiwara who had saved. Yoritomo's +life in the episode of the hollow tree. + +BATTLE OF ICHI-NO-TANI + +The victory of the armies led by Noriyori and Yoshitsune brought +Kamakura and Fukuhara into direct conflict, and it was speedily +decided that these armies should at once move westward to attack the +Taira. A notable feature of the military operations of that era was +celerity. Less than a month sufficed to mobilize an army of fifty +thousand men and to march it from Kamakura to Kyoto, a distance of +three hundred miles, and within ten days of the death of Yoshinaka +this same army, augmented to seventy-six thousand, began to move +westward from Kyoto (March 19, 1184). The explanation of this +rapidity is furnished, in part, by simplicity of commisariat, and by +the fact that neither artillery nor heavy munitions of war had to be +transported. Every man carried with him a supply of cooked rice, +specially prepared so as to occupy little space while sufficing for +several days' food, and this supply was constantly replenished by +requisitions levied upon the districts traversed. Moreover, every man +carried his own implements of war--bow and arrows, sword, spear, or +halberd--and the footgear consisted of straw sandals which never hurt +the feet, and in which a man could easily march twenty miles a day +continuously. + +These remarks apply to all the fighting men of whatever part of +Japan, but as to the Kwanto bushi, their special characteristics are +thus described by a writer of the twelfth century: "Their ponderous +bows require three men or five to bend them. Their quivers, which +match these bows, hold fourteen or fifteen bundles of arrows. They +are very quick in releasing their shafts, and each arrow kills or +wounds two or three foemen, the impact being powerful enough to +pierce two or three thicknesses of armour at a time, and they never +fail to hit the mark. Every daimyo (owner of a great estate) has at +least twenty or thirty of such mounted archers, and even the owner of +a small barren estate has two or three. Their horses are very +excellent, for they are carefully selected, while as yet in pasture, +and then trained after their own peculiar fashion. With five or ten +such excellent mounts each, they go out hunting deer or foxes and +gallop up and down mountains and forests. Trained in these wild +methods, they are all splendid horsemen who know how to ride but +never how to fall. It is the habit of the Kwanto bushi that if in the +field of battle a father be killed, the son will not retreat, or if a +son be slain the father will not yield, but stepping over the dead, +they will fight to the death."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +The Taira, as noted above, had by this time largely recovered from +the disasters suffered in their first encounters with Yoshinaka's +forces. In the western provinces of the main island, in Shikoku, and +in Kyushu, scions of the clan had served as governors in former +times, so that ties of close intimacy had been established with the +inhabitants. Since the first flight to Kyushu in August, 1183, their +generals, Shigehira, Michimori, Noritsune, and others had defeated +the forces of Yoshinaka at Mizushima and those of Yukiiye at +Muroyama, so that no less than fourteen provinces of the Sanyo-do and +the Nankai-do owned Taira sway, and by the beginning of 1184 they had +re-occupied the Fukuhara district, establishing themselves at a +position of great natural strength called Ichi-no-tani in the +province of Harima. Their lines extended several miles, over which +space one hundred thousand men were distributed. They lay within a +semi-circle of mountains supposed to be inaccessible from the north; +their camp was washed on the south by the sea where a thousand +war-vessels were assembled; the east flank rested on a forest, and +the west was strongly fortified. + +On March 21, 1184, the Kamakura armies delivered their assault on +this position; Noriyori with fifty-six thousand men against the east +flank at Ikuta; Yoshitsune's lieutenants with twenty thousand men +against the west at Suma. Little progress was made. Defence and +attack were equally obstinate, and the advantage of position as well +as of numbers was with the former. But Yoshitsune himself had +foreseen this and had determined that the best, if not the only, hope +of victory lay in delivering an assault by descending the northern +rampart of mountains at Hiyodori Pass. Access from that side being +counted impracticable, no dispositions had been made by the Taira to +guard the defile. Yoshitsune selected for the venture seventy-five +men, among them being Benkei, Hatakeyama Shigetada, and others of his +most trusted comrades. They succeeded in riding down the steep +declivity, and they rushed at the Taira position, setting fire to +everything inflammable. + +What ensued is soon told. Taken completely by surprise, the Taira +weakened, and the Minamoto, pouring in at either flank, completed the +rout which had already commenced. Munemori was among the first of the +fugitives. He embarked with the Emperor Antoku and the regalia, and +steered for Yashima, whither he was quickly followed by the remnants +of his force. Shigehira, Kiyomori's fifth son, was taken prisoner. +Michimori, Tadanori, and Atsumori were killed. Several illustrative +incidents marked this great fight. Michimori's wife threw herself +into the sea when she heard of her husband's death. Tomoakira, the +seventeen-year-old son of Tomomori, deliberately sacrificed himself +to save his father, and the latter, describing the incident +subsequently to his brother, Munemori, said with tears: "A son died +to save his father; a father fled, leaving his son to die. Were it +done by another man, I should spit in his face. But I have done it +myself. What will the world call me?" This same Tomomori afterwards +proved himself the greatest general on the Taira side. Okabe +Tadazumi, a Minamoto captain, took the head of Tadanori but could not +identify it. In the lining of the helmet, however, was found a roll +of poems and among them one signed "Tadanori:" + + Twilight upon my path, + And for mine inn to-night + The shadow of a tree, + And for mine host, a flower. + +This little gem of thought has gleamed on Tadanori's memory through +all the centuries and has brought vicarious fame even to his slayer, +Tadazumi. Still more profoundly is Japanese sympathy moved by the +episode of Taira no Atsumori and Kumagaye Naozane. Atsumori, a +stripling of fifteen, was seized by Naozane, a stalwart warrior on +the Minamoto side. When Naozane tore off the boy's helmet, +preparatory to beheading him, and saw a young face vividly recalling +his own son who had perished early in the fight, he was moved with +compassion and would fain have stayed his hand. To have done so, +however, would merely have been to reserve Atsumori for a crueller +death. He explained his scruples and his sorrows to the boy, who +submitted to his fate with calm courage. But Naozane vowed never to +wield weapon again. He sent Atsumori's head and a flute found on his +person to the youth's father, Tsunemori, and he himself entered the +priesthood, devoting the remaining years of his life to prayers for +the soul of the ill-fated lad. Such incidents do not find a usual +place in the pages of history, but they contribute to the +interpretation of a nation's character. + +BATTLE OF YASHIMA + +The battle of Ichi-no-tani was not by any means conclusive. It drove +the Taira out of Harima and the four provinces on the immediate west +of the latter, but it did not disturb them in Shikoku or Kyushu, nor +did it in any way cripple the great fleet which gave them a signal +advantage. In these newly won provinces Yoritomo placed military +governors and nominated to these posts Doi Sanehira and Kajiwara +Kagetoki, heroes, respectively, of the cryptomeria forest and the +hollow tree. But this contributed little to the solution of the vital +problem, how to get at the Taira in Shikoku and in Kyushu. Noriyori +returned to Kamakura to consult Yoritomo, but the latter and his +military advisers could not plan anything except the obvious course +of marching an army from Harima westward to the Strait of +Shimonoseki, and thereafter collecting boats to carry it across to +Kyushu. That, however, was plainly defective strategy. It left the +flank of the westward-marching troops constantly exposed to attack +from the coast where the Taira fleet had full command of the sea; it +invited enterprises against the rear of the troops from the enemy's +position at Yashima in Shikoku, and it assumed the possibility of +crossing the Strait of Shimonoseki in the presence of a greatly +superior naval force. + +Yet no other plan of operations suggested itself to the Kamakura +strategists. Yoshitsune was not consulted. He remained in Kyoto +instead of repairing to Kamakura, and he thereby roused the suspicion +of Yoritomo, who began to see in him a second Yoshinaka. Hence, in +presenting a list of names for reward in connexion with the campaign +against the "Morning Sun shogun," Yoritomo made no mention of +Yoshitsune, and the brilliant soldier would have remained entirely +without recognition had not the cloistered Emperor specially +appointed him to the post of kebiishi. Thus, when the largely +augmented Minamoto force began to move westward from Harima in +October, 1184, under the command of Noriyori, no part was assigned to +Yoshitsune. He remained unemployed in Kyoto. + +Noriyori pushed westward steadily, but not without difficulty. He +halted for a time in the province of Suwo, and finally, in March, +1185, five months after moving out of Harima, he contrived to +transfer the main part of his force across Shimonoseki Strait and to +marshall them in Bungo in the north of Kyushu. The position then was +this: first, a Taira army strongly posted at Yashima in Sanuki +(Shikoku), due east of Noriyori's van in Bungo, and threatening his +line of communications throughout its entire length from Harima to +the Strait of Shimonoseki; secondly, another Taira army strongly +posted on Hikoshima, an island west of Shimonoseki Strait, which army +menaced the communications between Noriyori's van across the water in +Bungo and his advanced base in Suwo, and thirdly, the command of the +whole Inland Sea in the hands of the Taira. + +Evidently, in such conditions, no advance into Kyushu could be made +by Noriyori without inviting capital risks. The key of the situation +for the Minamoto was to wrest the command of the sea from the Taira +and to drive them from Shikoku preparatory to the final assault upon +Kyushu. This was recognized after a time, and Kajiwara Kagetoki +received orders to collect or construct a fleet with all possible +expedition, which orders he applied himself to carry out at Watanabe, +in Settsu, near the eastern entrance to the Inland Sea. In justice to +Yoritomo's strategy it must be noted that these orders were given +almost simultaneously with the departure of the Minamoto army +westward from Harima, so that by the time of Noriyori's arrival in +Bungo, the military governor, Kagetoki, had got together some four +hundred vessels at Watanabe. + +Meanwhile, Yoshitsune had been chafing in Kyoto. To a man of his +temperament enforced passivity on the eve of such epoch-making events +must have been intolerable. He saw plainly that to drive the Taira +from Shikoku was an essential preliminary to their ultimate defeat, +and he saw, too, that for such an enterprise a larger measure of +resolution and daring was needed than Kajiwara Kagetoki seemed +disposed to employ. He therefore obtained from the cloistered Emperor +the commission of tai-shogun (great general) and hastened to Settsu +to take command. Complications ensued at once. Kagetoki objected to +be relegated to a secondary place, and Go-Shirakawa was induced to +recall Yoshitsune. But the latter refused to return to Kyoto, and, of +course, his relations with Kagetoki were not cordial. The situation +was complicated by an unpleasant incident. Kagetoki wished to equip +the war-junks with sakaro. Yoshitsune asked what that meant, and +being informed that sakaro signified oars at the bow of a boat for +use in the event of going astern, he said that such a provision could +tend only to suggest a movement fatal to success. + +"Do you contemplate retiring?" he asked Kagetoki. "So far as I am +concerned, I desire only to be equipped for advancing." Kagetoki +indignantly replied: "A skilful general advances at the right moment +and retires at the right moment. You know only the tactics of a wild +boar." Yoshitsune angrily retorted, "I know not whether I am a boar +or whether I am a deer, but I do know that I take pleasure in +crushing a foe by attacking him." From that moment the relations +between the two generals were distinctly strained, and it will +presently be seen that the consequences of their estrangement became +historical. + +The 21st of March, 1185, was a day of tempest. Yoshitsune saw his +opportunity. He proposed to run over to the opposite coast and attack +Yashima under cover of the storm. Kagetoki objected that no vessel +could live in such weather. Yoshitsune then called for volunteers. +About one hundred and fifty daring spirits responded. They embarked +in five war-junks, some of the sailors being ordered to choose +between manning the vessels or dying by the sword. Sweeping over the +Harima Nada with the storm astern, Yoshitsune and his little band of +heroic men landed safely on the Awa coast, and dashed at once to the +assault of the Taira, who were taken wholly by surprise, never +imagining that any forces could have essayed such an enterprise in +such a tempest. Some fought resolutely, but ultimately all that had +not perished under the swords of the Minamoto obeyed Munemori's +orders to embark, and the evening of the 23rd of March saw the Taira +fleet congregated in Shido Bay and crowded with fugitives. There they +were attacked at dawn on the 24th by Yoshitsune, to whom there had +arrived on the previous evening a re-enforcement of thirty war-junks, +sent, not by Kagetoki, but by a Minamoto supporter who had been +driven from the province of Iyo some time previously by the Taira. + +As usual, the impetuosity of Yoshitsune's onset carried everything +before it. Soon the Taira fleet was flying down the Inland Sea, and +when Kajiwara Kagetoki, having at length completed his preparations, +arrived off Yashima on the 25th of March with some four hundred +war-vessels, he found only the ashes of the Taira palaces and +palisades. Munemori, with the boy Emperor and all the survivors of +the Taira, had fled by sea to join Tomomori at Hikoshima. This +enterprise was even more brilliant and much more conclusive than that +of Ichi-no-tani. During three consecutive days, with a mere handful +of one hundred and fifty followers, Yoshitsune had engaged a powerful +Taira army on shore, and on the fourth day he had attacked and routed +them at sea, where the disparity of force must have been evident and +where no adventitious natural aids were available. + +When every allowance is made for the incompetence of the Taira +commander, Munemori, and for the crippling necessity of securing the +safety of the child-sovereign, Antoku, the battle of Yashima still +remains one of the most extraordinary military feats on record. Among +the incidents of the battle, it is recorded that Yoshitsune himself +was in imminent peril at one time, and the details illustrate the +manner of fighting in that era. He dropped his bow into the sea +during the naval engagement, and when he essayed to pick it up, some +Taira soldiers hooked his armour with a grapnel. Yoshitsune severed +the haft of the grapnel with his sword and deliberately picked up the +bow. Asked why he had imperilled his person for a mere bow, he +replied, "Had it been a bow such as my uncle Tametomo bent, its +falling into the enemy's possession would not matter; but a weak bow +like mine would give them something to laugh at." Observing this +incident, Noritsune, one of the best fighters and most skilled +archers among the Taira, made Yoshitsune the target of his shafts. +But Sato Tsuginobu, member of the band of trusted comrades who had +accompanied the Minamoto hero from Mutsu, interposed his body and +received the arrow destined for Yoshitsune. Kikuo, Noritsune's +squire, leaped from his boat to decapitate the wounded Tsuginobu, but +was shot down by the latter's younger brother. Yoshitsune pillowed +Tsuginobu's head on his knees and asked the dying man whether he had +any last message. The answer was: "To die for my lord is not death. I +have longed for such an end ever since we took the field. My only +regret is that I cannot live to see the annihilation of the Taira." +Yoshitsune, weeping, said, "To annihilate the Taira is a mere matter +of days, but all time would not suffice to repay your devotion." + +BATTLE OF DAN-NO-URA + +The fight at Yashima was followed by a month's interval of +comparatively minor operations, undertaken for the purpose of +bringing Shikoku completely under Minamoto sway. During that time the +two clans prepared for final action. The Taira would have withdrawn +altogether into Kyushu, but such a course must have been preceded by +the dislodging of Noriyori, with his army of thirty thousand men, +from Bungo province, which they had occupied since the beginning of +March. It is true that Noriyori himself was unable to make any +further incursion into Kyushu so long as his maritime communications +with his advanced base in Suwo remained at the mercy of the Taira +fleet. But it is equally true that the Taira generals dared not enter +Kyushu so long as a strong Minamoto force was planted on the left +flank of their route. + +Thus, a peculiar situation existed at the beginning of April, 1185. +Of the two provinces at the extreme south of the main island, one, +the eastern (Suwo), was in Minamoto occupation; the other, the +western (Nagato), was mainly held by the Taira; and of the three +provinces forming the northern littoral of Kyushu, two, the western +(Chikuzen and Buzen), were in Taira hands, and the third, the eastern +(Bungo), was the camp of Noriyori with his thirty thousand men. +Finally, the Strait of Shimonoseki between Chikuzen and Buzen was in +Taira possession. Evidently the aim of the Taira must be to eliminate +Noriyori from the battle now pending, and to that end they selected +for arena Dan-no-ura, that is to say, the littoral of Nagato province +immediately east of the Shimonoseki Strait. + +We have seen that ever since the Ichi-no-tani fight, the Minamoto +generals, especially Kajiwara Kagetoki, had been actively engaged in +building, or otherwise acquiring, war-junks. By April, 1185, they had +brought together a squadron of seven to eight hundred; whereas, in +the sequel of Yashima and minor engagements, the Taira fleet had been +reduced to some five hundred. The war-junk of those days was not a +complicated machine. Propelled by oars, it had no fighting capacities +of its own, its main purpose being to carry its occupants within +bow-range or sword-reach of their adversaries. Naval tactics +consisted solely in getting the wind-gage for archery purposes. + +By the 22nd of April, 1185, the whole of the Minamoto fleet had +assembled at Oshima, an island lying off the southeast of Suwo, the +Taira vessels, with the exception of the Hikoshima contingent, being +anchored at Dan-no-ura. On that day, a strong squadron, sent out by +Yoshitsune for reconnoitring purposes, marshalled itself at a +distance of about two miles from the Taira array, and this fact +having been signalled to the Taira general, Tomomori, at Hikoshima, +he at once passed the strait and joined forces with the main fleet at +Dan-no-ura. Yoshitsune's design had been to deliver a general attack +immediately after the despatch of the reconnoitring squadron, but +this was prevented by a deluge of blinding rain which lasted until +the night of the 24th. + +Thus, it was not until the 25th that the battle took place. It +commenced with an inconclusive archery duel at long range, whereafter +the two fleets closed up and a desperate hand-to-hand struggle +ensued. Neither side could claim any decisive advantage until Taguchi +Shigeyoshi deserted from the Taira and passed over with all his ships +to the Minamoto. This Taguchi had been originally an influential +magnate of Iyo in Shikoku, whence he had accompanied the Taira +retreat to Nagato, leaving his son with three thousand men to defend +the family manors in Iyo. The son was so generously treated by the +Minamoto that he threw in his lot with them and sent letters urging +his father to adopt the same cause. Taguchi not only followed his +son's advice but also chose the moment most disastrous for the Taira. + +His defection was followed quickly by the complete rout of the Heike. +A resolute attempt was made to defend the ship containing the young +Emperor, his mother, his grandmother, and several other Taira ladies; +but the vessel finally passed into Minamoto possession. Not before +she had been the scene of a terrible tragedy, however. Kiyomori's +widow, the Ni-i-no-ama, grandmother of Antoku, took the six-year old +child in her arms and jumped into the sea, followed by Antoku's +mother, the Empress Dowager (Kenrei-mon-in), carrying the regalia, +and by other court ladies. The Empress Dowager was rescued, as were +also the sacred mirror and the gem, but the sword was irrevocably +lost. + +The Taira leader, Munemori, and his son, Kiyomune, were taken +prisoner, but Tomomori, Noritsune, and seven other Taira generals +were drowned. Noritsune distinguished himself conspicuously. He +singled out Yoshitsune for the object of his attack, but being unable +to reach him, he seized two Minamoto bushi and sprang into the sea +with them. Tomomori, Munemori's brother, who had proved himself a +most able general, leaped overboard carrying an anchor. Yoshitsune +spoke in strongly laudatory terms of Noritsune and ascribed to him +much of the power hitherto wielded by the Taira. Munemori and his son +were executed finally at Omi. Shigehira, in response to a petition +from the Nara priests whose fanes he had destroyed by Kiyomori's +orders, was handed over to the monks and put to death by them at +Narasaka. But Kiyomori's brother, who had interceded for the life of +Yoritomo after the Heiji emeule, was pardoned, his rank and property +being restored to him; and Taira no Munekiyo, who also had acted an +important part in saving Yoritomo at that time, was invited to visit +Kamakura where he would have been received with honour; but he +declined the invitation, declaring that a change of allegiance at +such a moment would be unworthy of a bushi. + +It may here be noted that, although several of the Taira leaders who +took the field against the Minamoto were killed in the campaign or +executed or exiled after it, the punitory measures adopted by +Yoritomo were not by any means wholesale. To be a Taira did not +necessarily involve Kamakura's enmity. On the contrary, not only was +clemency extended to several prominent members of Kiyomori's kith and +kin, but also many local magnates of Taira origin whose estates lay +in the Kwanto were from first to last staunch supporters and friends +of the Minamoto. After Dan-no-ura, the Heike's sun permanently ceased +to dominate the political firmament, but not a few Heike stars rose +subsequently from time to time above the horizon. + +MUNEMORI AND ANTOKU + +The record of Munemori, whose leadership proved fatal to the Taira +cause, stamps him as something very rare among Japanese bushi--a +coward. He was the first to fly from every battle-field, and at +Dan-no-ura he preferred surrender to death. Tradition alleges that in +this final fight Munemori's reputed mother, Ni-i-no-ama, before +throwing herself into the sea with the Emperor in her arms, confessed +that Munemori was not her son. After she had borne Shigemori she +became enceinte and her husband, Kiyomori, looked eagerly for the +birth of another boy. But a girl was born. Just at that time the wife +of a man who combined the occupations of bonze and umbrella-maker, +bore a son, and the two children were surreptitiously exchanged. This +story does not rest upon infallible testimony. Nor does another +narrative, with regard to the motives which induced Kiyomori's widow +to drown the young Emperor. Those motives are said to have been two. +One was to fix upon the Minamoto the heinous crime of having done a +sovereign to death, so that some avenger might rise in future years; +the other was to hide the fact that Antoku was in reality a girl +whose sex had been concealed in the interest of the child's maternal +grandfather, Kiyomori. + +YOSHITSUNE'S FATE + +Yoshitsune's signal victories were at Ichi-no-tani and at Yashima. +The fight at Dan-no-ura could not have made him famous, for its issue +was determined by defection in the enemy's ranks, not by any +strategical device or opportune coup on the side of the victors. Yet +Japan accords to Yoshitsune the first place among her great captains. +Undoubtedly this estimate is influenced by sympathy. Pursued by the +relentless anger of his own brother, whose cause he had so splendidly +championed, he was forced to fly for refuge to the north, and was +ultimately done to death. This most cruel return for glorious deeds +has invested his memory with a mist of tears tending to obscure the +true outlines of events, so that while Yoritomo is execrated as an +inhuman, selfish tyrant, Yoshitsune is worshipped as a faultless +hero. Yet, when examined closely, the situation undergoes some +modifications. Yoritomo's keen insight discerned in his +half-brother's attitude something more than mere rivalry. He +discovered the possible establishment of special relations between +the Imperial Court and a section of the Minamoto. + +Yoshitsune's failure to repair to Kamakura after the battle of +Ichi-no-tani inspired Yoritomo's first doubts. Japanese annals offer +no explanation of Yoshitsune's procedure on that occasion. It would +have been in the reasonable sequence of events that the military +genius which planned and carried out the great coup at Ichi-no-tani +should have been available at the subsequent council of strategists +in Kamakura, and it would have been natural that the younger brother +should have repaired, as did his elder brother, Noriyori, to the +headquarters of the clan's chief. Yet Yoshitsune remained at Kyoto, +and that by so doing he should have suggested some suspicions to +Yoritomo was unavoidable. The secret of the Court nobles' ability to +exclude the military magnates from any share in State administration +was no secret in Yoritomo's eyes. He saw clearly that this +differentiation had been effected by playing off one military party +against the other, or by dividing the same party against itself; and +he saw clearly that opportunities for such measures had been +furnished by subjecting the military leaders to constant contact with +the Court nobility. + +Therefore, he determined to keep two aims always in view. One was to +establish a military and executive capital entirely apart from, and +independent of, the Imperial and administrative metropolis; the +other, to preserve the unity of the Minamoto clan in all +circumstances. Both of these aims seemed to be threatened with +failure when Yoshitsune preferred the Court in Kyoto to the camp in +Kamakura; still more so when he accepted from Go-Shirakawa rank and +office for which Yoritomo had not recommended him, and yet further +when he obtained from the ex-Emperor a commission to lead the +Minamoto armies westward without any reference to, and in despite of, +the obvious intention of the Minamoto chief at Kamakura. + +All these acts could scarcely fail to be interpreted by Yoritomo as +preluding the very results which he particularly desired to avert, +namely, a house of Minamoto divided against itself and the +re-establishment of Court influence over a strong military party in +Kyoto. His apprehensions received confirmation from reports furnished +by Kajiwara Kagetoki. Yoritomo trusted this man implicitly. Never +forgetting that Kajiwara had saved his life in the affair of the +hollow tree, he appointed him to the post of military governor and to +the command of the army destined to drive the Taira from Shikoku +after the battle of Ichi-no-tani. In that command Kajiwara had been +superseded by Yoshitsune, and had moreover been brought into ridicule +in connexion not only with the shipbuilding incident but also, and in +a far more flagrant manner, with the great fight at Yashima. He seems +from the first to have entertained doubts of Yoshitsune's loyalty to +Yoritomo, and his own bitter experiences may well have helped to +convert those doubts into certainties. He warned Kamakura in very +strong terms against the brilliant young general who was then the +idol of Kyoto, and thus, when Yoshitsune, in June, 1185, repaired to +Kamakura to hand over the prisoners taken in the battle of Dan-no-ura +and to pay his respects to Yoritomo, he was met at Koshigoe, a +village in the vicinity, by Hojo Tokimasa, who conveyed to him +Yoritomo's veto against his entry to Kamakura. A letter addressed by +Yoshitsune to his brother on that occasion ran, in part, as follows: + +Here am I, weeping crimson tears in vain at thy displeasure. Well was +it said that good medicine tastes bitter in the mouth, and true words +ring harsh in the ear. This is why the slanders that men speak of me +remain unproved, why I am kept out of Kamakura unable to lay bare my +heart. These many days 1 have lain here and could not gaze upon my +brother's face. The bond of our blood-brotherhood is sundered. + +But a short season after I was born, my honoured sire passed to +another world, and I was left fatherless. Clasped in my mother's +bosom, I was carried down to Yamato, and since that day I have not +known a moment free from care and danger. Though it was but to drag +out a useless life, we wandered round the capital suffering hardship, +hid in all manner of rustic spots, dwelt in remote and distant +provinces, whose rough inhabitants did treat us with contumely. But +at last I was summoned to assist in overthrowing the Taira house, and +in this conflict I first laid Kiso Yoshinaka low. Then, so that I +might demolish the Taira men, I spurred my steed on frowning +precipices. Careless of death in the face of the foe, I braved the +dangers of wind and wave, not recking that my body might sink to the +bottom of the sea, and be devoured by monsters of the deep. My pillow +was my harness, arms my trade. [Translated by W. G. Aston.] + +This letter breathes the spirit of sincerity. But its perusal did not +soften Yoritomo, if it ever reached his eyes. He steadily refused to +cancel his veto, and after an abortive sojourn of twenty days at +Koshigoe, Yoshitsune returned to Kyoto where his conduct won for him +increasing popularity. Three months later, Yoritomo appointed him +governor of Iyo. It is possible that had not the situation been +complicated by a new factor, the feud between the brothers might have +ended there. But Minamoto Yukiiye, learning of these strained +relations, emerged from hiding and applied himself to win the +friendship of Yoshitsune, who received his advances graciously. +Yoritomo, much incensed at this development, sent the son of Kajiwara +Kagetoki to Yoshitsune with a mandate for Yukiiye's execution. Such a +choice of messenger was ill calculated to promote concord. +Yoshitsune, pleading illness, declined to receive the envoy, and it +was determined at Kamakura that extreme measures must be employed. +Volunteers were called for to make away with Yoshitsune, and, in +response, a Nara bonze, Tosabo Shoshun, whose physical endowments had +brought him into prominence at Kamakura, undertook the task on +condition that a substantial reward be given him beforehand. + +Shoshun did not waste any time. On the eighth night after his +departure from Kamakura, he, with sixty followers, attacked +Yoshitsune's mansion at Horikawa in Kyoto. By wholesale oaths, sworn +in the most solemn manner, he had endeavoured to disarm the +suspicions of his intended victim, and he so far succeeded that, when +the attack was delivered, Yoshitsune had only seven men to hold the +mansion against sixty. But these seven were the trusty and stalwart +comrades who had accompanied Yoshitsune from Mutsu and had shared all +the vicissitudes of his career. They held their assailants at bay +until Yukiiye, roused by the tumult, came to the rescue, and the +issue of Shoshun's essay was that his own head appeared on the +pillory in Kyoto. Yoshitsune was awakened and hastily armed on this +occasion by his beautiful mistress, Shizuka, who, originally a +danseuse of Kyoto, followed him for love's sake in weal and in woe. +Tokiwa, Tomoe, Kesa, and Shizuka--these four heroines will always +occupy a prominent place in Japanese history of the twelfth century. + +After this event there could be no concealments between the two +brothers. With difficulty and not without some menaces, Yoshitsune +obtained from Go-Shirakawa a formal commission to proceed against +Yoritomo by force of arms. Matters now moved with great rapidity. +Yoritomo, always prescient, had fully foreseen the course of events. +Shoshun's abortive attack on the Horikawa mansion took place on +November 10, 1185, and before the close of the month three strong +columns of Kamakura troops were converging on Kyoto. In that +interval, Yoshitsune, failing to muster any considerable force in the +capital or its environs, had decided to turn his back on Kyoto and +proceed westward; he himself to Kyushu, and Yukiiye to Shikoku. They +embarked on November 29th, but scarcely had they put to sea when they +encountered a gale which shattered their squadron. Yoshitsune and +Yukiiye both landed on the Izumi coast, each ignorant of the other's +fate. The latter was captured and beheaded a few months later, but +the former made his way to Yamato and found hiding-places among the +valleys and mountains of Yoshino. The hero of Ichi-no-tani and +Yashima was now a proscribed fugitive. Go-Shirakawa, whose fate was +always to obey circumstances rather than to control them, had issued +a new mandate on the arrival of Yoritomo's forces at Kyoto, and +Kamakura was now authorized to exterminate Yoshitsune with all his +partisans, wherever they could be found. + +Almost simultaneously with the capture of Yukiiye, whose fate excites +no pity, the fair girl, Shizuka, was apprehended and brought before +Hojo Tokimasa, who governed Kyoto as Yoritomo's lieutenant. Little +more than a year had elapsed since she first met Yoshitsune after his +return from Dan-no-ura, and her separation from him now had been +insisted on by him as the only means of saving her life. Indifferent +to her own fate, she quickly fell into the hands of Tokimasa's +emissaries and was by them subjected to a fruitless examination, +repeated with equally abortive results on her arrival at Kamakura. +There, in spite of her vehement resistance, she was constrained to +dance before Yoritomo and his wife, Masa, but instead of confining +herself to stereotyped formulae, she utilized the occasion to chant +to the accompaniment of her dance a stanza of sorrow for separation +from her lover. It is related that Yoritomo's wrath would have +involved serious consequences for Shizuka had not the lady Masa +intervened. The beautiful danseuse, being enceinte at the time, was +kept in prison until her confinement. She had the misfortune to give +birth to a son, and the child was killed by Yoritomo's order, the +mother being released. The slaughter of an innocent baby sounds very +shocking in modern ears, but it is just to remember that the Kamakura +chief and his three younger brothers would all have been executed by +Kiyomori had not their escape been contrived by special agencies. The +Confucian doctrine, which had passed into the bushi's code, forbade a +man to live under the same sky with his father's slayer. Deeds like +the killing of Yoshitsune's son were the natural consequence of that +doctrine. + +Meanwhile, Yoshitsune had been passing from one place of concealment +to another in the three contiguous provinces of Izumi, Yamato, and +Kii. He escaped deadly peril in the Yoshino region through the +devotion of Sato Tadanobu, whose brother, Tsuginobu, had died to save +Yoshitsune's life in the battle of Yashima. Attacked by the monks of +Zo-o-do in overwhelming force, Yoshitsune had prepared to meet death +when Tadanobu offered to personify him and hold the position while +Yoshitsune escaped. With much difficulty Yoshitsune was induced to +consent. Tadanobu not only succeeded in covering the retreat of his +chief, but also managed himself to escape to Kyoto where, being +discovered, he died by his own hand. Finally, in the spring of 1187, +Yoshitsune and his followers, disguised as mendicant friars, made +their way up the west coast, and, after hairbreadth escapes, found +asylum in the domain of Fujiwara Hidehira, who had protected +Yoshitsune in his youth. Hidehira owned and administered the whole of +the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, which in those days covered some +thirty thousand square miles and could easily furnish an army of a +hundred thousand men. + +The attitude of this great fief had always been an object of keen +solicitude to Yoritomo. At one time there were rumours that Hidehira +intended to throw in his lot with Yoshinaka; at another, that he was +about to join hands with the Taira. Yoritomo could never be certain +that if the Kwanto were denuded of troops for some westward +expedition, an overwhelming attack might not be delivered against +Kamakura from the north. Thus, when he learned that Yoshitsune had +escaped to Mutsu, all his apprehensions were roused. By that time +Hidehira had died, in his ninety-first year, but he had committed to +his son, Yasuhira, the duty of guarding Yoshitsune. Hence, when, in +the spring of 1188, Kamakura became aware of Yoshitsune's presence in +Mutsu, two consecutive messages were sent thither, one from Yoritomo, +the other from the Court, ordering Yoshitsune's execution. Yasuhira +paid no attention, and Go-Shirakawa commissioned Yoritomo to punish +the northern chief's contumacy. Yasuhira now became alarmed. He sent +a large force to attack Yoshitsune at Koromo-gawa. Benkei and the +little band of comrades who had followed Yoshitsune's fortunes +continuously during eight years, died to a man fighting for him, and +Yoshitsune, having killed his wife and children, committed suicide. +His head was sent to Kamakura. + +But this did not satisfy Yoritomo. He wanted something more than +Yoshitsune's head; he wanted the great northern fief, and he had no +idea of losing his opportunity. Three armies soon marched northward. +They are said to have aggregated 284,000 of all arms. One moved up +the western littoral; another up the eastern, and the third, under +Yoritomo himself, marched by the inland route. The men of Mutsu +fought stoutly, but after a campaign of some two months, Yasuhira, +finding himself in a hopeless position, opened negotiations for +surrender. His overtures being incontinently rejected, he appreciated +the truth, namely, that Yoritomo was bent upon exterminating the +Fujiwara of the north and taking possession of their vast estates. +Then Yasuhira fled to Ezo, where, shortly afterwards, one of his own +soldiers assassinated him and carried his head to Yoritomo, who, +instead of rewarding the man, beheaded him for treachery. Thus, from +1189, Yoritomo's sway may be said to have extended throughout the +length and breadth of Japan. In the storehouses of the Fujiwara, who, +since the days of Kiyohira had ruled for a hundred years in the +north, there were found piles of gold, silver, and precious stuffs +with which Yoritomo recompensed his troops. + +YORITOMO'S SYSTEM + +The system of government established by Yeritomo towards the close of +the twelfth century and kept in continuous operation thereafter until +the middle of the nineteenth, was known as the Bakufu, a word +literally signifying "camp office," and intended to convey the fact +that the affairs of the empire were in the hands of the military. +None of the great Japanese captains prior to Yoritomo recognized that +if their authority was to be permanent, it must be exercised +independently of the Court and must be derived from some source +outside the Court. The Taira chief, in the zenith of his career, had +sufficient strength to do as Yoritomo did, and at one moment, that is +to say, when he established his headquarters at Fukuhara, he appears +to have had a partial inspiration. But he never recognized that +whatever share he obtained in the administration of State affairs was +derived solely from the nature of the office conferred on him by the +Court, and could never exceed the functions of that office or survive +its loss. The Fujiwara were astuter politicians. By their plan of +hereditary offices and by their device of supplying maidens of their +own blood to be Imperial consorts, they created a system having some +elements of permanency and some measure of independence. + +ENGRAVING: HACHIMAN SHRINE AT KAMAKURA + +But it was reserved for Yoritomo to appreciate the problem in all its +bearings and to solve it radically. The selection of Kamakura for +capital was the first step towards solution. Kamakura certainly has +topographical advantages. It is surrounded by mountains except on one +face, which is washed by the sea. But this feature does not seem to +have counted so much in Yoritomo's eyes as the fact that his father, +Yoshitomo, had chosen Kamakura as a place of residence when he +exercised military sway in the Kwanto, and Yoritomo wished to +preserve the tradition of Minamoto power. He wished, also, to select +a site so far from Kyoto that the debilitating and demoralizing +influence of the Imperial metropolitan society might be powerless to +reach the military capital. Kamakura was then only a fishing hamlet, +but at the zenith of its prosperity it had grown to be a city of at +least a quarter of a million of inhabitants. During a period of one +hundred and fifty years it remained the centre of military society +and the focus of a civilization radically different from that of +Kyoto. The Taira had invited their own ruin by assimilating the ways +of the Fujiwara and of the courtiers; the Minamoto aimed at +preserving and developing at Kamakura the special characteristics of +the buke. + +POLICY TOWARDS RELIGION + +Yoritomo seems to have believed that the Taira had owed their +downfall largely to divine wrath, in that they had warred against the +monasteries and confiscated manors belonging to shrines and temples. +He himself adopted the policy of extending the utmost consideration +to religion, whether Shinto or Buddhism, and to its devotees and +their possessions. At Kamakura, though it has well-nigh reverted to +its original rank as a fishing hamlet, there exist to-day eloquent +evidences of the Minamoto chief's reverent mood; among them being the +temple of Hachiman; a colossal bronze image of Buddha which, in +majesty of conception and execution, is not surpassed by any idol in +the world;* a temple of Kwannon, and several other religious +edifices, though the tomb of Yoritomo himself is "a modest little +monument covered with creepers." + +*This image was not actually erected by Yoritomo, but the project is +attributed to him. + +YORITOMO'S MEMORIAL + +It has been stated above that, after the retreat of the Taira from +Fukuhara, in 1183, Go-Shirakawa sent an envoy to Kamakura inviting +Yoritomo's presence in Kyoto. Restrained, however, by a sense of +insecurity,* the Minamoto chief declined to leave Kamakura, and sent +in his stead a memorial to the Throne. This document commenced with a +statement that the ruin of the Taira had been due not to human +prowess but to divine anger against the plunderers of sacred lands. +Therefore, all manors thus improperly acquired should be at once +restored to their original owners. Passing on to the case of estates +taken by the Taira from princes, Court nobles, officials, and private +individuals, Yoritomo urged that only by full restitution of this +property could a sense of security be imparted to the people. "If any +of these manors be now granted to us, the indignation roused by the +Taira's doings will be transferred simultaneously with the estates. +To change men's misery to happiness is to remove their resentment and +repining. Finally," the memorial continued, "if there be any Taira +partisans who desire to submit, they should be liberally treated even +though their offences deserve capital punishment. I myself was +formerly an offender,** but having had the good fortune to be +pardoned, I have been enabled to subdue the insurgents. Thus, even +men who have been disloyal on the present occasion may serve a loyal +purpose at some future time." + +*Kamakura was always exposed to pressure from the north. It had long +been proverbial that white the eight provinces of the Kwanto could +defy the whole empire, 0-U (Oshu and Ushu-Mutsu and Dewa) could defy +the eight provinces. + +**In allusion to the fact that owing to the Emperor's presence in the +camp of the Taira during the emeule, the Minamoto occupied the +position of rebels. + +On receipt of this memorial, Go-Shirakawa ordered that the manors +held by the Taira in the Tokai-do and Tosan-do should all be restored +to their original owners, the duty of adjudicating in each case being +delegated to Yoritomo. How much of this admirably conceived document +was inspired by political acumen we may not venture to judge, but it +is proper to note that the principles enunciated in the memorial +found expression in the practice of Yoritomo himself. He always +extended clemency to a defeated enemy if he deemed the latter's +submission to be sincere, and throughout his whole career he showed a +strong respect for justice. The men of his time ultimately gave him +credit for sincerity, and his memorial won universal approval and +popularity. + +POLITY OF THE KAMAKURA BAKUFU + +Under the Dadka (A.D. 645) system, various administrative organs were +created in accordance with Tang models, and a polity at once imposing +and elaborate came into existence. But when the capital was overtaken +by an era of literary effeminacy and luxurious abandonment, the +Imperial exchequer fell into such a state of exhaustion that +administrative posts began to be treated as State assets and bought +and sold like commercial chattels, the discharge of the functions +connected with them becoming illusory, and the constant tendency +being in the direction of multiplication of offices with a +corresponding increase of red tape. Yoritomo and his councillors +appreciated the evils of such a system and were careful not to +imitate it at Kamakura. They took brevity and simplicity for guiding +principles, and constructed a polity in marked contrast with that of +Kyoto. + +At the head of the whole stood the shogun, or commander-in-chief of +the entire body of bushi, and then followed three sections. They +were, first, the Samurai-dokoro, which term, according to its literal +rendering, signified "samurai place" and may be appropriately +designated "Central Staff Office." Established in 1180, its functions +were to promote or degrade military men; to form a council of war; to +direct police duties so far as they concerned bushi', to punish +crime, and to select men for guards and escorts. The president +(betto) obviously occupied a post of prime importance, as he +practically controlled all the retainers (keniri) of the Minamoto +clan and its allied houses. Its first occupant was Wada Yoshimori, +representative of a famous family in the Kwanto, who had greatly +distinguished himself in the Gen-Hei War. He held the post until the +year 1213, when, taking up arms against Hojo Yoshitoki, he was +defeated and killed. Thereafter, it being deemed inadvisable that the +functions of such an important office should be delegated +independently, they were made supplementary to those of the military +regent (shikken), to be presently spoken of. + +MAN-DOKORO + +The second of the three great sections of the Bakufu polity was the +Mandokoro (literally, "place of administration"), which, at the time +of its establishment in 1184, was designated Kumon-jo, the change of +name to Man-dokoro being made after Yoritomo's first visit to Kyoto +(1190), when he was nominated gon-dainagon as well as general of the +Right division of the guards (u-kon-e taisho). In fact, the office +Man-dokoro had long existed in the establishment of the civil regent +(kwampaku) at the Imperial capital, and a concession to Kyoto usages +in the matter of nomenclature appealed to Yoritomo's taste for +simplicity. The Man-dokoro had to discharge the duties and general +business of the Bakufu. Its president was called betto; its +vice-president, rei; there were secretaries, a manager (shitsuji), +whose functions were mainly financial, and certain minor officials. +Oye no Hiromoto was the first president, and the office of shitsuji +became hereditary in the Nikaido family. + +It will be seen that the betto of the Man-dokoro corresponded to the +regent in the Kyoto polity, the only difference being that the former +officiated in military government, the latter in civil. The betto of +the Man-dokoro was, in fact, designated by the alternative name of +shikken (literally, "holder of authority") Thus there were two +regents, one in Kyoto, one in Kamakura. In succession to Oye no +Hiromoto, the military regency fell to Hojo Tokimasa, and +subsequently to his son Yoshitoki, who, as shown above, held the post +of betto of the Samurai-dokoro. In short, both offices became +hereditary in the Hojo family, who thus acquired virtually all the +power of the Bakufu. The shikken, standing at the head of the +Samurai-dokoro and the Man-dokoro simultaneously, came to wield such +authority that even the appointment of the shogun depended upon his +will, and though a subject of the Emperor, he administered functions +far exceeding those of the Imperial Court. In the year 1225, a +reorganization of the Man-dokoro was effected. An administrative +council was added (Hyojoshu), the councillors, fifteen or sixteen in +number, being composed, in about equal parts, of men of science and +members of the great clans. The regent (shikken) presided ex-officio. + +MONJU-DOKORO + +The third of the Bakufu offices was the Monju-dokoro, or "place for +recording judicial inquiries;" in other words, a high court of +justice and State legislature. Suits at law were heard there and were +either decided finally or transferred to other offices for approval. +This office was established in 1184. Its president was called +shitsuji (manager), indicating that he ranked equally with the +Man-dokoro official having the same appellation. The first occupant +of the post was Miyoshi Yasunobu. He not only presided over the +Monju-dokoro in a judicial capacity but also attended the meetings of +the Man-dokoro council (Hyojoshu) ex-officio. + +This Miyoshi Yasunobu,* as well as the representative of the Nikaido +who occupied the post of shitsuji in the Man-dokoro; the Oye family, +who furnished the president of the latter, and the Nakahara, who +served as the secretaries, were all men of erudition whom Yoritomo +invited from Kyoto to fill posts in his administrative system at +Kamakura. In these unquiet and aristocratically exclusive times, +official promotion in the Imperial capital had largely ceased to be +within reach of scholastic attainments, and Yoritomo saw an +opportunity to attract to Kamakura men of learning and of competence. +He offered to them careers which were not open in Kyoto, and their +ready response to his invitations was a principal cause of the +success and efficacy that attended the operation of the Bakufu system +in the early days. + +*Miyoshi Yasunobu held the office of chugu no sakan in Kyoto. He was +personally known to Yoritomo, and he was instrumental in securing the +services of the astute Oye no Hiromoto, whose younger brother, +Chikayoshi, was governor of Aki at the time of receiving Yoritomo's +invitation. His descendants received the uji of Nagai and Mori; those +of Yasunobu, the uji of Ota and Machine, and those of Chikayoshi, the +uji of Settsu and Otomo. + +HIGH CONSTABLES AND LAND-STEWARDS + +The most far-reaching change effected by Yoritomo was prompted by Oye +no Hiromoto, at the close of 1185, when, Yoshitsune and Yukiiye +having gone westward from Kyoto, the Kamakura chief entertained an +apprehension that they might succeed in raising a revolt in the +Sanyo-do, in Shikoku, and in Kyushu. He sought advice from the high +officials of the Bakufu as to the best preventive measures, and Oye +no Hiromoto presented a memorial urging that the Emperor's sanction +be obtained for appointing in each province a high constable (shugo) +and a land-steward (jito), these officials being nominated from +Kamakura, while Yoritomo himself became chief land-steward (so-jito) +and subsequently lord high constable (so-tsuihoshi) for the sixty-six +provinces. The object of these appointments was to insure that the +control of local affairs should be everywhere in the hands of the +Bakufu, whose nominees would thus be in a position to check all +hostile movements or preparations. + +Yoritomo recognized the important bearings of this project. He at +once sent Hojo Tokimasa to guard Kyoto and to submit to the Court a +statement that it would be far more effective and economical to +prevent acts of insurrection than to deal with them after their full +development, and that, to the former end, trustworthy local officials +should be appointed, the necessary funds being obtained by levying +from the twenty-six provinces of the Go-Kinai, Sanin, Sanyo, Nankai, +and Saikai a tax of five sho of rice per tan (two bushels per acre). +Go-Shirakawa seems to have perceived the radical character of the +proposed measure. He evinced much reluctance to sanction it. But +Yoritomo was too strong to be defied. The Court agreed, and from that +moment military feudalism may be said to have been established in +Japan. + +It has been shown that the land system fixed by the Daiho-ryo had +fallen into confusion. Private manors existed everywhere, yielding +incomes to all classes from princes to soldiers. In the days of the +Fujiwara and the Taira more than one-half of the arable land +throughout the empire was absorbed into such estates, which paid no +taxes to anyone except their direct owners. The provincial governor +appointed by the Court gradually ceased to exercise control over the +shoen in his district, unless he happened to be a military man with a +sufficient force of armed retainers (kenin) to assert his authority. +Hence it became customary for provincial governors not to proceed in +person to the place of their function. They appointed deputies +(mokudai), and these limited their duties to the collection of taxes +from manors. Lands constituting the domains of great families were +under the complete control of their holders, and there being no one +responsible for the preservation of general peace and order, bandits +and other lawbreakers abounded. + +This state of affairs was remedied by the appointment of high +constables and land-stewards. The high constable had to arrest +insurgents, assassins, and robbers wherever he found them, and to +muster the soldiers for service in the Kyoto guards. The land-steward +was to collect taxes from all private manors. Soon, however, these +functions were extended, so that the high constables exercised +judicial and administrative powers, and the land-stewards not only +collected taxes, and, after deducting their own salaries, handed the +remainder to those entitled to receive it, but also were responsible +for the maintenance of peace and order within the manors entrusted to +their charge. High constables and land-stewards alike were +responsible to Kamakura alone; they were beyond the jurisdiction of +the Imperial Court. Thus, the sway of the Minamoto extended +throughout the whole country. It may be stated at once here that the +landsteward system did not work altogether satisfactorily. The acts +of these officials created friction in several quarters, and they +were soon withdrawn from all manors other than those owned or +administered by Taira. The high constables remained, however, and +were in full control of local military affairs, the Kamakura chief +controlling the whole in his capacity of lord high constable. + +EXEMPTION OF SHRINES AND TEMPLES FROM THE SHUGO SYSTEM + +In pursuance of his policy of special benevolence towards religious +institutions, Yoritomo exempted the manors of temples and shrines +from the jurisdiction of high constables. Thus military men were not +permitted to make an arrest within the enclosure of a fane, or to +trespass in any way on its domains, these being tax-free. + +REFORM OF THE COURT + +Yoritomo did not confine himself to re-casting the system of +provincial administration. He extended his reforms to the Court, +also. Thrice within the short space of five years he had been +proscribed as a rebel by Imperial decree once at the instance of the +Taira; once at the instance of Yoshinaka, and once at the instance of +Yoshitsune. In short, the Court, being entirely without military +power of its own, was constrained to bow to any display of force from +without. As a means of correcting this state of affairs, Hojo +Tokimasa was despatched to the Imperial capital at the close of 1185, +to officiate there as high constable and representative of the +Bakufu. A strong force of troops was placed at his disposal, and +efficient means of speedy communications between the east and the +west were organized. Moreover, a new office, that of scrutator +(nairari), was instituted, and to him were transferred some of the +powers hitherto wielded by the regent (kwampaku). Fujiwara Kanezane +was the first occupant of this post. Further, a body of twelve +councillors (giso), headed by Kanezane, were organized in the +cloistered Emperor's Court (Inchu), and to this council was entrusted +the duty of discussing and deciding all State affairs. These +important steps were taken early in 1186. + +Simultaneously, a number of Court officials, including all that had +been connected with Yoshitsune and Yukiie, lost their posts, and, +shortly afterwards, Kanezane, becoming regent (kwampaku) in place of +Fujiwara Motomichi, co-operated with Oye no Hiromoto in effecting +many important changes, the latter operating at Kamakura, the former +at Kyoto. It may be noted here that Kanezane's descendants received +the name of Kujo, those of Motomichi being called Konoe, and the +custom of appointing the kwampaku alternately from these two families +came into vogue from that time. All the above reforms having been +effected during the year 1186, the Bakufu recalled Hojo Tokimasa and +appointed Nakahara Chikayoshi to succeed him. But, as the latter was +not a scion of a military family, the Court desired to have a Hojo +appointed, and Yoritomo acceded by sending Hojo Tokisada. + +PALACES AND FANES + +Yoritomo maintained from first to last a reverential attitude towards +the Throne and towards religion. It has already been shown how +generously he legislated in the matter of estates belonging to +temples and shrines, and we may add that his munificence in that +respect was stimulated by a terrible earthquake which visited Kyoto +in the autumn of 1185. While the city trembled under repeated shocks, +the citizens told each other that this was the work of vengeful +spirits of the Taira who, having fallen in the great sea-fight, were +still without full rites of sepulture. The Kamakura chief seems to +have accepted that view, for he not only gave substantial +encouragement to the burning of incense and intoning of memorial +Sutras, but he also desisted largely from his pursuit of the Taira +survivors. Two years later (1187), he sent Oye no Hiromoto to the +Imperial capital with authority and ample competence to repair the +palaces there. The city was then infested with bandits, a not +unnatural product of the warlike era. Chiba Tsunetane, specially +despatched from Kamakura, dealt drastically with this nuisance, and +good order was finally restored. + +YORITOMO VISITS KYOTO + +During the early years of his signal triumphs Yoritomo was invited to +Kyoto on several occasions. Various considerations deterred him. He +wished, in the first place, to dispel the popular illusion that the +Imperial capital was the centre of all dignity and power. People must +be taught to recognize that, although Kyoto might be the ultimate +source of authority, Kamakura was its place of practical exercise. He +wished, in the second place, not to absent himself from Kamakura +until he could be absolutely assured that his absence would not +afford an opportunity to his enemies; which sense of security was not +fully reached until the death of Yoshitsune and Fujiwara no Yasuhira, +and the complete subjugation of the great northern fief of Oshti in +the year 1189. Finally, he wished to appear in Kyoto, not merely as +the representative of military power, but also as a benefactor who +had rebuilt the fanes and restored the palaces. + +On the 2nd of November, in the year 1190, he set out from Kamakura +and reached Kyoto on December 5th. His armies had shown that, for the +purpose of a campaign, the distance would be traversed in little more +than half of that time. But Yoritomo's journey was a kind of Imperial +progress. Attended by a retinue designed to surprise even the +citizens of the Imperial metropolis, he travelled at a leisurely pace +and made a pause of some duration in Owari to worship at his father's +tomb. The Court received him with all consideration. He had already +been honoured with the first grade of the second rank, so that he +enjoyed the right of access to the Presence, and the cloistered +Emperor held with him long conversations, sometimes lasting a whole +day. But Yoritomo did not achieve his purpose. It is true that he +received the appointments of gon-dainagon and general of the Right +division of the guards. These posts, however, were more objectionable +on account of their limitations than acceptable as marks of honour. +Their bestowal was a mere formality, and Yoritomo resigned them in a +few days, preferring to be nominated so-tsuihoshi. + +What he really desired, however, was the office of sei-i tai-shogun +(barbarian-subduing great general). This high title had been +conferred more than once previously, but only for the purpose of some +finite and clearly indicated purpose, on the attainment of which the +office had to be surrendered. The Kamakura chief's plan was to remove +these limitations, and to make the appointment not only for life but +also general in the scope of its functions and hereditary in his own +family, reserving to the sovereign the formal right of investiture +alone. Go-Shirakawa, however, appreciated the far-reaching effects of +such an arrangement and refused to sanction it. Thus, Yoritomo had to +content himself with the post of lord high constable of the empire +(so-tsuihoshi), an office of immense importance, but differing +radically from that of sei-i tai-shogun in that, whereas the latter +had competence to adopt every measure he pleased without reference to +any superior authority, the former was required to consult the +Imperial Court before taking any step of a serious nature. The +Minamoto chief returned quietly to Kamakura, but he left many +powerful friends to promote his interests in Kyoto, and when +Go-Shirakawa died, in 1192, his grandson and successor, Go-Toba, a +boy of thirteen, had not occupied the throne more than three months +before the commission of sei-i tai-shogun was conveyed to Yoritomo by +special envoys. Thereafter it became the unwritten law of the empire +that the holder of this high post must be either the head of the +principal Minamoto family or an Imperial prince. + +Never before had there been such encroachment upon the prerogatives +of the Crown. We have seen that, in the centuries antecedent to the +Daika (A.D. 645) reforms, the sovereign's contact with his subjects +had been solely through the medium of the o-omi or the o-muraji. By +these, the Imperial commands were transmitted and enforced, with such +modifications as circumstances might suggest, nor did the prerogative +of nominating the o-omi or the o-muraji belong practically to the +Throne. The Daika reforms, copying the Tang polity called into +existence a cabinet and a body of officials appointable or removable +by the sovereign at will, each entrusted with definite functions. But +almost before that centralized system had time to take root, the +Fujiwara grafted on it a modification which, in effect, substituted +their own family for the o-omi and the o-muraji of previous times. +And now, finally, came the Minamoto with their separate capital and +their sei-i tai-shogun, who exercised the military and administrative +powers of the empire with practically no reference to the Emperor. +Yoritomo himself was always willing and even careful to envelop his +own personality in a shadow of profound reverence towards the +occupant of the throne, but he was equally careful to preserve for +Kamakura the substance of power. + +DEATH OF YORITOMO + +Yoritomo lived only seven years after he had reached the summit of +his ambition. He received the commission of sei-i tai-shogun in the +spring of 1192, and, early in 1199, he was thrown from his horse and +killed, at the age of fifty-three. He had proceeded to the pageant of +opening a new bridge over the Sagami River, and it was popularly +rumoured that he had fallen from his horse in a swoon caused by the +apparition of Yoshitsune and Yukiiye on the Yamato plain and that of +the Emperor Antoku at Inamura promontory. Just twenty years had +elapsed since he raised the Minamoto standard in Sagami. His career +was short but meteoric, and he ranks among the three greatest +statesmen Japan has ever produced, his compeers being Hideyoshi and +Ieyasu. + +YORITOMO's CHARACTER + +Japanese historians have written much about this illustrious man. +Their views may be condensed into the following: Yoritomo was short +in stature with a disproportionately large head. He had a ringing +voice, gentle manners, an intrepid and magnanimous heart, profound +insight, and extraordinary caution. The power of imposing his will +upon others was one of his notable characteristics, as was also +munificence to those that served him. Retainers of the Taira or of +the Minamoto--he made no distinction. All that swore fealty to him +were frankly regarded as go-kenin of the Bakufu. Estates were given +to them, whether restored or newly bestowed, and they were treated +much as were the hatamoto of the Yedo shogunate in later times. He +spared no pains to preserve Kamakura against the taint of Kyoto's +demoralizing influences. The bushi of the Kwanto were made the centre +of society; were encouraged to observe the canons of their +caste--frugality, loyalty, truth, valour, and generosity--canons +daily becoming crystallized into inflexible laws. When Toshikane, +lord of Chikugo, appeared at the Kamakura Court in a magnificent +costume, Yoritomo evinced his displeasure by slashing the sleeves of +the nobleman's surcoat. Skill in archery or equestrianism was so much +valued that it brought quick preferment and even secured pardon for a +criminal. + +On the other hand, neglect of these arts, or conduct unbecoming a +samurai, was mercilessly punished. When Hayama Muneyori retired to +his province without accompanying the army sent to attack O-U, he was +severely censured and deprived of his estates. Cognate instances +might be multiplied. In the year 1193, the first case of the vendetta +occurred in Japan. Yoritomo organized a grand hunting party on the +moors at the southern base of Fuji-yama. Among those that accompanied +him was Kudo Suketsune, who had done to death Soga no Sukeyasu. The +latter's sons, Sukenari (commonly called Juro) and Tokimune (Goro), +having sworn to avenge their father, broke into Yoritomo's camp and +took the head of their enemy. The elder was killed in the enterprise; +the younger, captured and beheaded. Yoritomo would fain have saved +Goro's life, though the youth declared his resolve not to survive his +brother. But the Kamakura chief was constrained to yield to the +demands of Suketsune's son. He, however, marked his appreciation of +Juro and Goro's filial piety by carefully observing their last +testament, and by exonerating the Soga estate from the duty of paying +taxes in order that funds might be available for religious rites on +account of the spirits of the brothers. + +This encouragement of fidelity may well have been dictated by selfish +policy rather than by moral conviction. Yet that Yoritomo took every +conspicuous opportunity of asserting the principle must be recorded. +Thus, he publicly declared Yasuhira a traitor for having done to +death his guest, Yoshitsune, though in so doing Yasuhira obeyed the +orders of Yoritomo himself; he executed the disloyal retainer who +took Yasuhira's head, though the latter was then a fugitive from the +pursuit of the Kamakura armies, and he pardoned Yuri Hachiro, one of +Yasuhira's officers, because he defended Yasuhira's reputation in +defiance of Yoritomo's anger. + +Gratitude Yoritomo never failed to practise within the limit of +policy. Rumour said that he had fallen in his first battle at +Ishibashi-yama. Thereupon, Miura Yoshiaki, a man of eighty-nine, sent +out all his sons to search for Yoritomo's body, and closing his +castle in the face of the Taira forces, fell fighting. Yoritomo +repaid this loyal service by appointing Yoshiaki's son, Wada +Yoshimori, to be betto of the Samurai-dokoro, one of the very highest +posts in the gift of the Kamakura Government. Again, it will be +remembered that when, as a boy of fourteen, Yoritomo had been +condemned to death by Kiyomori, the lad's life was saved through the +intercession of Kiyomori's step-mother, Ike, who had been prompted by +Taira no Munekiyo. After the fall of the Taira, Yoritomo prayed the +Court to release Ike's son, Yorimori, and to restore his rank and +estates, while in Munekiyo's case he made similar offers but they +were rejected. + +Towards his own kith and kin, however, he showed himself implacable. +In Yoshitsune's case it has been indicated that there was much to +awaken Yoritomo's suspicions. But his brother Noriyori had no +qualities at all likely to be dangerously exercised. A commonplace, +simple-hearted man, he was living quietly on his estate in Izu when +false news came that Yoritomo had perished under the sword of the +Soga brothers. Yoritomo's wife being prostrated by the intelligence, +Noriyori bade her be reassured since he, Noriyori, survived. When +this came to Yoritomo's ears, doubtless in a very exaggerated form, +he sent a band of assassins who killed Noriyori. Assassination was a +device from which the Kamakura chief did not shrink at all. It has +been shown how he sent Tosabo Shoshun to make away with Yoshitsune in +Kyoto, and we now see him employing a similar instrument against +Noriyori, as he did also against his half-brother, Zensei. It would +seem to have been his deliberate policy to remove every potential +obstacle to the accession of his own sons. Many historians agree in +ascribing these cruelties to jealousy. But though Yoritomo might have +been jealous of Yoshitsune, he could not possibly have experienced +any access of such a sentiment with regard to Noriyori or Zensei. + +Towards religion, it would seem that his attitude was sincere. Not in +Kyoto and Kamakura alone did he adopt drastic measures for the +restoration or erection of temples and shrines, but also throughout +the provinces he exerted his all-powerful influence in the same +cause. He himself contributed large sums for the purpose, and at his +instance the Courts of the Emperor and of the Bakufu granted special +rights and privileges to bonzes who went about the country collecting +subscriptions. Thus encouraged, the priests worked with conspicuous +zeal, and by men like Mongaku, Jugen, Eisai, and their comrades not +only were many imposing fanes erected and many images cast, but also +roads were opened, harbours constructed, and bridges built. Yoritomo +knew what an important part religion had contributed in past ages to +the country's national development, and he did not neglect to utilize +its services in the interests, first, of the nation's prosperity and, +secondly, of the Bakufu's popularity. Incidentally all this building +of fanes and restoration of palaces promoted in no small degree the +development of art, pure and applied. Experts in every line made +their appearance, and many masterpieces of architecture and sculpture +enriched the era. These reflected the change which the spirit of the +nation was undergoing in its passage from the delicacy and weakness +of the Fujiwara type to the strength, directness, and dignity of the +bushi's code. + +ENGRAVING: CANDLE-STICKS + +ENGRAVING: SAMURAI'S RESIDENCE IN THE KAMAKURA PERIOD + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE KAMAKURA BAKUFU + +ABDICATION OF GO-TOBA + +IN the year 1198, the Emperor Go-Toba abdicated the throne in favour +of his son, who reigned during twelve years (1199-1210) under the +name of Tsuchi-mikado, eighty-third sovereign. Of Go-Toba much will +be said by and by. It will suffice to note here, however, that his +abdication was altogether voluntary. Ascending the throne in 1184, at +the age of four, he had passed the next eight years as a mere puppet +manipulated by his grandfather, Go-Shirakawa, the cloistered Emperor, +and on the latter's death in 1192, Go-Toba fell into many of the +faults of youth. But at eighteen he became ambitious of governing in +fact as well as in name, and as he judged that this could be +accomplished better from the Inchu (retired palace) than from the +throne, he abdicated without consulting the Kamakura Bakufu. It is +more than probable that Yoritomo would have made his influence felt +on this occasion had any irregularity furnished a pretext. But the +advisers of the Kyoto Court were careful that everything should be in +order, and the Kamakura chief saw no reason to depart from his +habitually reverent attitude towards the Throne. + +YORIIYE, THE LADY MASA, AND HOJO TOKIMASA + +On the demise of Yoritomo (1199), his eldest son, Yoriiye, succeeded +to the compound office of lord high constable and chief land-steward +(so-shugo-jito), his investiture as shogun being deferred until +Kyoto's sanction could be obtained. Yoriiye was then in his +eighteenth year, and he had for chief adviser Hatakeyama Shigetada, +appointed to the post by Yoritomo's will. He inherited nothing of his +father's sagacity. On the contrary, he did not possess even average +ability, and his thoughts were occupied almost uniquely with physical +pleasures. His mother, Masa, astute, crafty, resourceful, and heroic, +well understood the deficiency of his moral endowments, but as her +second son, Sanetomo, was only seven years old, Yoriiye's accession +presented itself in the light of a necessity. She therefore +determined to give him every possible aid. Even during her husband's +life she had wielded immense influence, and this was now greatly +augmented by the situation. She shaved her head--after the manner of +the cloistered Emperors--and taking the name of Ni-i-no-ama, +virtually assumed charge of the Bakufu administration in association +with her father, Hojo Tokimasa. + +Exactly what part this remarkable man acted in the episodes of +Yoritomo's career, can never be known. He exerted his influence so +secretly that contemporary historians took little note of him; and +while, in view of his final record, some see in him the spirit that +prompted Yoritomo's merciless extirpation of his own relatives, +others decline to credit him with such far-seeing cruelty, and hold +that his ultimately attempted usurpations were inspired solely by +fortuitous opportunity which owed nothing to his contrivance. +Wherever the truth may lie as between these views, it is certain that +after Yoritomo's death, Hojo Tokimasa conspired to remove the +Minamoto from the scene and to replace them with the Hojo. + +THE DELIBERATIVE COUNCIL + +The whole coterie of illustrious men--legislators, administrators, +and generals--whom Yoritomo had assembled at Kamakura, was formed +into a council of thirteen members to discuss the affairs of the +Bakufu after his death. This body of councillors included Tokimasa +and his son, Yoshitoki; Oye no Hiromoto, Miyoshi Yasunobu; Nakahara +Chikayoshi, Miura Yoshizumi, Wada Yoshimori, Hiki Yoshikazu, and five +others. But though they deliberated, they did not decide. All final +decision required the endorsement of the lady Masa and her father, +Hojo Tokimasa. + +DEATH OF YORIIYE + +Yoriiye had been at the head of the Bakufu for three years before his +commission of shogun came from Kyoto, and in the following year +(1203), he was attacked by a malady which threatened to end fatally. +The question of the succession thus acquired immediate importance. +Yoriiye's eldest son, Ichiman, the natural heir, was only three years +old, and Yoritomo's second son, Sanetomo, was in his eleventh year. +In this balance of claims, Hojo Tokimasa saw his opportunity. He +would divide the Minamoto power by way of preliminary to supplanting +it. Marshalling arguments based chiefly on the advisability of +averting an armed struggle, he persuaded the lady Masa to endorse a +compromise, namely, that to Sanetomo should be given the office of +land-steward in thirty-eight provinces of the Kwansai; while to +Ichiman should be secured the title of shogun and the offices of lord +high constable and land-steward in twenty-eight provinces of the +Kwanto. + +Now the maternal grandfather of Ichiman was Hiki Yoshikazu, a captain +who had won high renown in the days of Yoritomo. Learning of the +projected partition and appreciating the grave effect it must produce +on the fortunes of his grandson, Hiki commissioned his daughter to +relate the whole story to Yoriiye, and applied himself to organize a +plot for the destruction of the Hojo. But the facts came to the lady +Masa's ears, and she lost no time in communicating them to Tokimasa, +who, with characteristic promptitude, invited Hiki to a conference +and had him assassinated. Thereupon, Hiki's son, Munetomo, assembled +all his retainers and entrenched himself in Ichiman's mansion, where, +being presently besieged by an overwhelming force of Tokimasa's +partisans, he set fire to the house and perished with the child, +Ichiman, and with many brave soldiers. The death of his son, of his +father-in-law, and of his brother-in-law profoundly affected Yoriiye. +He attempted to take vengeance upon his grandfather, Tokimasa, but +his emissaries suffered a signal defeat, and he himself, being now +completely discredited, was constrained to follow his mother, Masa's, +advice, namely, to take the tonsure and retire to the monastery +Shuzen-ji in Izu. There he was followed and murdered by Tokimasa's +agents. It is apparent that throughout these intrigues the lady Masa +made no resolute attempt to support her first-born. She recognized in +him a source of weakness rather than of strength to the Minamoto. + +SANETOMO + +After Yoriiye's retirement, in 1204, to the monastery in Izu, Masa, +with the concurrence of her father, Tokimasa, decided on the +accession of her second son, Sanetomo, then in his twelfth year, and +application for his appointment to the office of shogun having been +duly made, a favourable and speedy reply was received from Kyoto. The +most important feature of the arrangement was that Hojo Tokimasa +became shikken, or military regent, and thus wielded greater powers +than ever--powers which he quickly proceeded to abuse for +revolutionary purposes. His policy was to remove from his path, by +any and every measure, all potential obstacles to the consummation of +his ambition. + +Among these obstacles were the lady Masa and the new shogun, +Sanetomo. So long as these two lived, the Yoritomo family could count +on the allegiance of the Kwanto, and so long as that allegiance +remained intact, the elevation of the Hojo to the seats of supreme +authority could not be compassed. Further, the substitution of Hojo +for Minamoto must be gradual. Nothing abrupt would be tolerable. Now +the Hojo chief's second wife, Maki, had borne to him a daughter who +married Minamoto Tomomasa, governor of Musashi and lord constable of +Kyoto, in which city he was serving when history first takes +prominent notice of him. This lady Maki seems to have been of the +same type as her step-daughter, Masa. Both possessed high courage and +intellectual endowments of an extraordinary order, and both were +profoundly ambitious. Maki saw no reason why her husband, Hojo +Tokimasa, should lend all his great influence to support the +degenerate scions of one of his family in preference to the able and +distinguished representative of the other branch. Tomomasa was both +able and distinguished. By a prompt and vigorous exercise of military +talent he had crushed a Heike rising in Ise, which had threatened for +a time to become perilously formidable. His mother may well have +believed herself justified in representing to Hojo Tokimasa that such +a man would make a much better Minamoto shogun than the half-witted +libertine, Yoriiye, or the untried boy, Sanetomo. It has been +inferred that her pleading was in Tokimasa's ears when he sent a band +of assassins to murder Yoriiye in the Shuzen-ji monastery. However +that may be, there can be little doubt that the Hojo chief, in the +closing episodes of his career, favoured the progeny of his second +wife, Maki, in preference to that of his daughter, Masa. + +Having "removed" Yoriiye, he extended the same fate to Hatakeyama +Shigetada, one of the most loyal and trusted servants of Yoritomo. +Shigetada would never have connived at any measure inimical to the +interests of his deceased master. Therefore, he was put out of the +way. Then the conspirators fixed their eyes upon Sanetomo. The +twelve-year-old boy was to be invited to Minamoto Tomomasa's mansion +and there destroyed. This was the lady Maki's plan. The lady Masa +discovered it, and hastened to secure Sanetomo's safety by carrying +him to the house of her brother, Yoshitoki. The political career of +Hojo Tokimasa ended here. He had to take the tonsure, surrender his +post of regent and go into exile in Izu, where he died, in 1215, +after a decade of obscurity. As for Minamoto Tomomasa, he was killed +in Kyoto by troops despatched for the purpose. This conflict in 1205, +though Hojo Tokimasa and Minamoto Tomomasa figured so largely in it, +is by some historians regarded as simply a conflict between the +ladies Maki and Masa. These two women certainly occupied a prominent +place on the stage of events, but the figure behind the scenes was +the white-haired intriguer, Tokimasa. Had the lady Maki's son-in-law +succeeded Sanetomo, the former would have been the next victim of +Tokimasa's ambition, whereafter the field would have been open for +the grand climacteric, the supremacy of the Hojo. + +HOJO YOSHITOKI + +Crafty and astute as was Hojo Tokimasa, his son Yoshitoki excelled +him in both of those attributes as well as in prescience. It was to +the mansion of Yoshitoki that Sanetomo was carried for safety when +his life was menaced by the wiles of Tokimasa. Yet in thus espousing +the cause of his sister, Masa, and his nephew, Sanetomo, against his +father, Tokimasa, and his brother-in-law, Tomomasa, it is not to be +supposed that Yoshitoki's motive was loyalty to the house of +Yoritomo. On the contrary, everything goes to show that he would have +associated himself with his father's conspiracy had he not deemed the +time premature and the method clumsy. He waited patiently, and when +the occasion arrived, he "covered his tracks" with infinite skill +while marching always towards the goal of Tokimasa's ambition. + +The first to be "removed" was Wada Yoshimori, whom Yoritomo had +gratefully appointed betto of the Samurai-dokoro. Yoritomo's eldest +son, Yoriiye, had left two sons, Kugyo and Senju-maru. The former had +taken the tonsure after his father's and elder brother's deaths, in +1204, but the cause of the latter was espoused with arms by a Shinano +magnate, Izumi Chikahira, in 1213. On Wada Yoshimori, as betto of the +Samurai-dokoro, devolved the duty of quelling this revolt. He did so +effectually, but in the disposition of the insurgents' property, the +shikken, Yoshitoki, contrived to drive Wada to open rebellion. He +attacked the mansion of the shogun and the shikken, captured and +burned the former, chiefly through the prowess of his giant son, +Asahina Saburo; but was defeated and ultimately killed, Senju-maru, +though only thirteen years old, being condemned to death on the +pretext that his name had been used to foment the insurrection! After +this convenient episode, Yoshitoki supplemented his office of shikken +with that of betto of the Samurai-dokoro, thus becoming supreme in +military and civil affairs alike. + +DEATH OF SANETOMO + +How far Sanetomo appreciated the situation thus created there is much +difficulty in determining. The sentiment of pity evoked by his tragic +fate has been projected too strongly upon the pages of his annals to +leave them quite legible. He had seen his elder brother and two of +the latter's three sons done to death. He had seen the "removal" of +several of his father's most trusted lieutenants. He had seen the +gradual upbuilding of the Hojo power on this hecatomb of victims. +That he perceived something of his own danger would seem to be a +natural inference. Yet if he entertained such apprehensions, he never +communicated them to his mother, Masa, who, from her place of high +prestige and commanding intellect, could have reshaped the issue. + +The fact would appear to be that Hojo Yoshitoki's intrigues were too +subtle for the perception of Sanetomo or even of the lady Masa. +Yoshitoki had learned all the lessons of craft and cunning that his +father could teach and had supplemented them from the resources of +his own marvellously fertile mind. His uniformly successful practice +was to sacrifice the agents of his crimes in order to hide his own +connexion with them, and never to seize an opportunity until its +possibilities were fully developed. Tokimasa had feigned ignorance of +his daughter's liaison with Yoritomo, but had made it the occasion to +raise an army which could be directed either against Yoritomo or in +his support, as events ordered. There are strong reasons to think +that the vendetta of the Soga brothers was instigated by Tokimasa and +Yoshitoki, and that Yoritomo was intended to be the ultimate victim. + +This was the beginning of a long series of intrigues which led to the +deaths of Yoriiye and two of his sons, of Hatakeyama Shigetada, of +Minamoto Tomomasa, of Wada Yoshimori, and of many a minor partisan of +the Yoritomo family. In the pursuit of his sinister design, there +came a time when Yoshitoki had to choose between his father and his +sister. He sacrificed the former unhesitatingly, and it is very +probable that such a choice helped materially to hide from the lady +Masa the true purport of his doings. For that it did remain hidden +from her till the end is proved by her failure to guard the life of +Sanetomo, her own son, and by her subsequent co-operation with his +slayer, Yoshitoki, her brother. A mother's heart would never +wittingly have prompted such a course. + +There is a tradition that Sanetomo provoked the resentment of Masa +and Yoshitoki by accepting high offices conferred on him by +Kyoto--chunagon, and general of the Left division of the guards--in +defiance of Yoritomo's motto, "Wield power in fact but never in +name," and contrary to remonstrances addressed to him through the +agency of Oye no Hiromoto. There is also a tradition that, under +pretense of visiting China in the company of a Chinese bonze, Chen +Hosiang, he planned escape to the Kinai or Chugoku (central Japan), +there to organize armed resistance to the Hojo designs. But it is +very doubtful whether these pages of history, especially the latter, +should not be regarded in the main as fiction. Sanetomo was too much +of a litterateur to be an astute politician, and what eluded the +observation of his lynx-eyed mother might well escape his perception. + +In 1217, Yoshitoki invited Kugyo from Kyoto and appointed him to be +betto of the shrine of Hachiman (the god of War) which stood on the +hill of Tsurugaoka overlooking the town of Kamakura. Kugyo was the +second and only remaining legitimate son of Yoriiye. He had seen his +father and his two brothers done to death, and he himself had been +obliged to enter religion, all of which misfortunes he had been +taught by Yoshitoki's agents to ascribe to the partisans of his +uncle, Sanetomo. Longing for revenge, the young friar waited. His +opportunity came early in 1219. Sanetomo, having been nominated +minister of the Left by the Kyoto Court, had to repair to the +Tsurugaoka shrine to render thanks to the patron deity of his family. +The time was fixed for ten o 'clock on the night of February 12th. +Oye no Hiromoto, who had cognizance of the plot, hid his guilty +knowledge by offering counsels of caution. He advised that the +function should be deferred until daylight, or, at any rate, that the +shogun should wear armour. Minamoto Nakaakira combatted both +proposals and they were rejected. Sanetomo had a vague presentiment +of peril. He gave a lock of his hair to one of his squires and +composed a couplet: + + Though I am forth and gone, + And tenantless my home; + Forget not thou the Spring, + Oh! plum tree by the eaves. + +Then he set out, escorted by a thousand troopers, his sword of State +borne by the regent, Yoshitoki. But at the entrance to the shrine +Yoshitoki turned back, pretending to be sick and giving the sword to +Nakaakira. Nothing untoward occurred until, the ceremony being +concluded, Sanetomo had begun to descend a broad flight of stone +steps that led from the summit of the hill. Then suddenly Kugyo +sprang out, killed Sanetomo and Nakaakira, carrying off the head of +the former, and, having announced himself as his father's avenger, +succeeded in effecting his escape. But he had been the agent of +Yoshitoki's crime, and his survival would have been inconvenient. +Therefore, when he appealed to the Miura mansion for aid, emissaries +were sent by the regent's order to welcome and to slay him. Sanetomo +perished in his twenty-eighth year. All accounts agree that he was +not a mere poet--though his skill in that line was remarkable--but +that he also possessed administrative talent; that he strove +earnestly to live up, and make his officers live up, to the ideals of +his father, Yoritomo, and that he never wittingly committed an +injustice. + +ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOJO REGENCY + +Thus, after three generations occupying a period of only forty years, +the Minamoto family was ruined, and the reins of power were +effectually transferred to Hojo hands. It would seem natural, in the +sequence of events, that the office of shogun should now descend to +the Hojo. But Yoshitoki understood that such a measure would convict +him of having contrived the downfall of Yoritomo's progeny in Hojo +interests. Therefore a step was taken, worthy of the sagacity of the +lady Masa and her brother, the regent. The Bakufu petitioned the +Kyoto Court to appoint an Imperial prince to the post of shogun. That +would have invested the Kamakura Government with new dignity in the +eyes of the nation. But the ex-Emperor, Go-Toba, upon whom it +devolved to decide the fate of this petition, rejected it +incontinently. + +His Majesty, as will presently be seen, was seeking to contrive the +downfall of the Bakufu, and the idea of associating one of his own +sons with its fortunes must have revolted him. In the face of this +rebuff, nothing remained for the Bakufu except recourse to the +descendants of the Minamoto in the female line. Yoritomo's elder +sister had married into the Fujiwara family, and her greatgrandson, +Yoritsune, a child of two, was carried to Kamakura and installed as +the head of the Minamoto. Not until 1226, however, was he invested +with the title of shogun, and in that interval of seven years a +momentous chapter was added to the history of Japan. + +THE SHOKYU STRUGGLE + +The Shokyu era (1219-1222) gave its name to a memorable conflict +between Kyoto and Kamakura. Affairs in the Imperial capital were +ruled at that time by the ex-Emperor, Go-Toba. We have seen how, in +1198, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Tsuchimikado. It is +not impossible that the idea of rebelling, sooner or later, against +the Bakufu had begun to germinate in the mind of Go-Toba at that +date, but the probability is that, in laying aside the sceptre, his +dominant aim was to enjoy the sweets of power without its +responsibilities, and to obtain leisure for pursuing polite +accomplishments in which he excelled. His procedure, however, +constituted a slight to the Bakufu, for the change of sovereign was +accomplished without any reference whatever to Kamakura. Tsuchimikado +was a baby of three at the time of his accession. He had been chosen +by lot from among three sons of Go-Toba, but the choice displeased +the latter, and in 1210, Tsuchimikado, then in his fifteenth year, +was compelled to abdicate in favour of his younger brother, Juntoku, +aged thirteen, the eighty-fourth occupant of the throne. Again, +Kamakura was not consulted; but the neglect evoked no remonstrance, +for Sanetomo held the post of shogun at the time, and Sanetomo always +maintained an attitude of deference towards the Imperial Court which +had nominated him to high office. + +Juntoku held the sceptre eleven years, and then (1221) he, too, +abdicated at his father's request. Very different considerations, +however, were operative on this occasion. Go-Toba had now definitely +resolved to try armed conclusions with the Bakufu, and he desired to +have the assistance of his favourite son, Juntoku. Thus three +cloistered Emperors had their palaces in Kyoto simultaneously. They +were distinguished as Hon-in (Go-Toba), Chu-in (Tsuchimikado) and +Shin-in* (Juntoku). As for the occupant of the throne, Chukyo +(eighty-fifth sovereign) he was a boy of two, the son of Juntoku. +Much has been written about Go-Toba by romanticists and little by +sober historians. The pathos of his fate tends to obscure his true +character. That he was gifted with exceptional versatility is +scarcely questionable; but that he lacked all the qualities making +for greatness appears equally certain. That his instincts were so +cruel as to make him derive pleasure from scenes of human suffering, +such as the torture of a prisoner, may have been due to a neurotic +condition induced by early excesses, but it must always stand to his +discredit that he had neither judgment to estimate opportunities nor +ability to create them. + +*Shin-in signifies the "original recluse;" Chu-in, the "middle +recluse;" and Shin-in "the new recluse." + +Briefly summarized, the conditions which contributed mainly to the +Shokyu struggle had their origin in the system of land supervision +instituted by Yoritomo at the instance of Oye no Hiromoto. The +constables and the stewards despatched by the Bakufu to the provinces +interfered irksomely with private rights of property, and thus there +was gradually engendered a sentiment of discontent, especially among +those who owed their estates to Imperial benevolence. A well-known +record (Tai-hei-ki) says: "In early morn the stars that linger in the +firmament gradually lose their brilliancy, even though the sun has +not yet appeared above the horizon. The military families did not +wantonly show contempt towards the Court. But in some districts the +stewards were more powerful than the owners of the estates, and the +constables were more respected than the provincial governors. Thus +insensibly the influence of the Court waned day by day and that of +the military waxed." + +There were other causes also at work. They are thus summarized by the +Kamakura Jidaishi: "The conditions of the time called two parties +into existence: the Kyoto party and the military party. To the former +belonged not only many officials of Shinto shrines, priests of +Buddhist temples, and managers of private manors, but also a few +nominal retainers of the Bakufu. These last included men who, having +occupied posts in the Imperial capital for a long time, had learned +to regard the Court with gratitude; others who had special grievances +against the Bakufu, and yet others who, having lost their estates, +were ready to adopt any means of recovering them. The family system +of the time paid no heed to primogeniture. Parents fixed the +succession by favouritism, and made such divisions as seemed +expedient in their eyes. During a parent's lifetime there could be no +appeal nor any remonstrance. But no sooner was a father's tombstone +about to be erected, than his children engaged in disputes or +appealed to the courts. Therefore the Bakufu, seeking to correct this +evil state of affairs, issued an order that the members of a family +should be subservient to the directions of the eldest son; which +order was followed, in 1202, by a law providing that disputes between +brothers must be compromised, and by another, in 1214, ruling that +applications for official posts must have the approval of the members +of the applicants' family in conclave instead of being submitted +direct, as theretofore. Under such a system of family autocracy it +frequently happened that men were ousted from all share in their +paternal estates, and these men, carrying their genealogical tables +constantly in their pockets, were ready to join in any enterprise +that might better their circumstances. Hence the Shokyu struggle may +be said to have been, politically, a collision between the Imperial +Court and the Bakufu, and, socially, a protest against family +autocracy." + +The murder of Sanetomo inspired the Court with strong hope that a +suicidal feud had commenced at Kamakura, and when the Fujiwara baby, +Yoritsune, was sent thither, peace-loving politicians entertained an +idea that the civil and the military administration would soon be +found co-operating. But neither event made any change in the +situation. The lady Masa and her brother remained as powerful as ever +and as careless of the Court's dignity. + +Two events now occurred which materially hastened a rupture. One was +connected with an estate, in the province of Settsu, conferred by +Go-Toba on a favourite--a shirabyoshi, "white measure-marker," as a +danseuse of those days was called. The land-steward of this estate +treated its new owner, Kamegiku, with contumely, and Go-Toba was +sufficiently infatuated to lodge a protest, which elicited from +Kamakura an unceremonious negative. One of the flagrant abuses of the +time was the sale of offices to Court ladies, and the Bakufu's +attitude in the affair of the Settsu estates amounted to an indirect +condemnation of such evil practices. But Go-Toba, profoundly +incensed, applied himself from that day to mustering soldiers and +practising military tactics. The second incident which precipitated +an appeal to arms was the confiscation of a manor owned by a bushi +named Nishina Morito, who, though a retainer (keriin) of the Bakufu, +had taken service at the Imperial Court. Go-Toba asked that the +estate should be restored, but Yoshitoki flatly refused. It was then +(1221) that Go-Toba contrived the abdication of his son, Juntoku, a +young man of twenty-four, possessing, apparently, all the qualities +that make for success in war, and thereafter an Imperial decree +deprived Yoshitoki of his offices and declared him a rebel. The die +was now cast. Troops were summoned from all parts of the Empire to +attack Kamakura, and a motley crowd mustered in Kyoto. + +STEPS TAKEN BY THE BAKUFU + +It was on June 6, 1221, that the Imperial decree outlawing Hojo +Yoshitoki appeared, and three days later Kamakura was informed of the +event. The lady Masa at once summoned the leading generals of the +Bakufu to her presence and addressed them thus: "To-day the time of +parting has come. You know well what kind of work the late shogun, my +husband, accomplished. But slanderers have misled the sovereign and +are seeking to destroy the Kwanto institutions. If you have not +forgotten the favours of the deceased shogun, you will join hearts +and hands to punish the traducers and to preserve the old order. But +if any of you wish to proceed to the west, you are free to do so." + +This astute appeal is said to have moved the generals greatly. There +was not one instance of disaffection; a sufficiently notable fact +when we remember that the choice lay between the Throne and the +Bakufu. A military council was at once convened by Yoshitoki to +discuss a plan of campaign, and the view held by the great majority +was that a defensive attitude should be adopted by guarding the +Ashigara and Hakone passes. + +Alone, Oye no Hiromoto opposed that programme. Regarding the +situation from a political, not a strategical, standpoint, he saw +that every day they remained unmolested must bring an access of +strength to the Imperial forces, and he strenuously urged that a dash +should be made for Kyoto at once. Even the lady Masa did not rise to +Hiromoto's height of discernment; she advocated a delay until the +arrival of the Musashi contingent. Another council was convened, but +Hiromoto remained inflexible. He went so far as to urge that the +Musashi chief--Yoshitoki's eldest son, Yasutoki--ought to advance +alone, trusting his troops to follow. Then the lady Masa summoned +Miyoshi Yasunobu and asked his opinion. He said: "The fate of the +Kwanto is at stake. Strike at once." Thereupon Hojo Yoshitoki ordered +Yasutoki, his son, to set out forthwith from Kamakura, though his +following consisted of only eighteen troopers. + +Thereafter, other forces mustered in rapid succession. They are said +to have totalled 190,000. Tokifusa, younger brother of Yasutoki, was +adjutant-general, and the army moved by three routes, the Tokai-do, +the Tosan-do, and the Hokuriku-do, all converging upon the Imperial +capital. On the night of his departure from Kamakura, Yasutoki +galloped back all alone and, hastening to his father's presence, +said: "I have my orders for the disposition of the forces and for +their destination. But if the Emperor in person commands the western +army, I have no orders to guide me." Hojo Yoshitoki reflected for a +time and then answered: "The sovereign cannot be opposed. If his +Majesty be in personal command, then strip off your armour, cut your +bow-strings, and assume the mien of low officials. But if the Emperor +be not in command, then fight to the death. Should you be defeated I +will never see your face again." + +THE STRUGGLE + +When they learned that a great army was advancing from the Kwanto, +the courtiers in Kyoto lost heart at once. There was no talk of +Go-Toba or of Juntoku taking the field. Defensive measures were alone +thought of. The Imperialist forces moved out to Mino, Owari, and +Etchu. Their plan was to shatter the Bakufu columns separately, or, +if that might not be, to fall back and cover the capital. It was a +most unequal contest. The Kyoto troops were a mere mob without +intelligence or coherence. They broke everywhere under the onset of +the Kwanto veterans. At the river Uji, where their last stand was +made, they fought gallantly and obstinately. But their efforts only +deferred the result by a few hours. On the twenty-fifth day (July 6, +1221) after he had marched out of Kamakura, Yasutoki entered Kyoto. +The Throne had no hesitation as to the course to be pursued in such +circumstances. From the palace of the Shin-in a decree was issued +restoring the official titles of the Hojo chief, and cancelling the +edict for his destruction, while, through an envoy sent to meet him, +he was informed that the campaign against the Bakufu had been the +work of irresponsible subjects; that the sovereign did not sanction +it, and that any request preferred by Kamakura would be favourably +considered. + +Yasutoki received these gracious overtures with a silent obeisance, +and taking up his quarters at Rokuhara, proceeded to arrest the +leaders of the anti-Bakufu enterprise; to execute or exile the +courtiers that had participated in it, and to confiscate all their +estates. In thus acting, Yasutoki obeyed instructions from his +implacable father in Kamakura. He himself evinced a disposition to be +merciful, especially in the case of the Court nobles. These he sent +eastward to the Bakufu capital, which place, however, very few of +them reached alive, their deaths being variously compassed on the +way. + +To the Imperial family no pity was shown. Even the baby Emperor* was +dethroned, and his place given to Go-Horikawa (1221-1232), the +eighty-sixth sovereign, then a boy of ten, son of Morisada, Go-Toba's +elder brother. Go-Toba, himself was banished to the island of Oki, +and Juntoku to Sado, while Tsuchimikado, who had essayed to check the +movement against the Bakufu, might have remained in Kyoto had not the +exile of his father and brother rendered the city intolerable. At his +own request he was transferred, first, to Tosa, and then, to Awa. The +three ex-Emperors died in exile. Go-Toba seems to have suffered +specially from his reverse of fortunes. He lived in a thatched hut +barely impervious to rain, and his lot is said to have been pitiful, +even from the point of view of the lower orders. + +*To this child, Kanenari, who lived a virtual prisoner in Kyoto for +thirteen years subsequently, the Bakufu declined to give the title of +Emperor. Not until the Meiji Restoration (1870) was he enrolled in +the list of sovereigns under the name of Chukyo. + +YASUTOKI'S EXPLANATION + +There had not been any previous instance of such treatment of the +Imperial family by a subject, and public opinion was not unnaturally +somewhat shocked. No little interest attaches, therefore, to an +explanation given by Yasutoki himself and recorded in the Biography +of Saint Myoe (Myoe Shonin-deri). Visiting the temple after his +victory, Yasutoki was thus addressed by Myoe: + +The ancients used to say, "When men are in multitude they may +overcome heaven for a moment, but heaven in the end triumphs." Though +a country be subdued by military force, calamities will soon overtake +it unless it be virtuously governed. From time immemorial in both +Japan and China sway founded on force has never been permanent. In +this country, since the Age of Deities down to the present reign, the +Imperial line has been unbroken through ninety generations. No prince +of alien blood has ascended the throne. Everything in the realm is +the property of the Crown. Whatever the Throne may appropriate, the +subject must acquiesce. Even life must be sacrificed if the cause of +good government demands it. But you have broken an Imperial army; +destroyed Imperial palaces; seized the persons of sovereigns; +banished them to remote regions, and exiled Empresses and princes of +the Blood. Such acts are contrary to propriety. Heaven will inflict +punishment. + +These words are said to have profoundly moved Yasutoki. He replied: I +desire to express my sincere views. The late shogun (Yoritomo) broke +the power of the Heike; restored peace of mind to the Court; removed +the sufferings of the people, and rendered loyal service to the +sovereign. Among those that served the shogun there was none that did +not reverence the Emperor. It seems that his Majesty recognized these +meritorious deeds, for he bestowed ranks and titles. Yoritomo was not +only appointed dainagon and taisho, but also given the post of +so-tsuihoshi with powers extending to all parts of the empire. +Whenever such honours were offered, he firmly declined to be their +recipient, his contention being that not for personal reward but for +the sake of the Throne he had striven to subdue the insurgents and to +govern the people mercifully. Pressed again and again, however, he +had been constrained finally to accede, and thus his relatives also +had benefitted, as my grandfather, Tokimasa, and my father, +Yoshitoki, who owed their prosperity to the beneficence of the +cloistered Emperor. + +But after the demise of his Majesty and of the shogun, the Court's +administration degenerated. The loyal and the faithful were not +recognized and often the innocent were punished. When it was reported +that an Imperial army numbering tens of thousands was advancing +against the Kwanto, my father, Yoshitoki, asked my views as to +dealing with it. I replied: "The Kwanto has been loyal and has erred +in nothing. Yet we are now to be punished. Surely the Court is in +error? Still the whole country belongs to the sovereign. What is now +threatened must take its course. There is nothing for us but to bow +our heads, fold our hands, and supplicate for mercy. If, +nevertheless, death be our portion, it will be lighter than to live +disloyal. If we be pardoned, we can end our lives in mountain +forests." My father, after reflecting for a space, answered: "What +you say may be right, but it applies only when the sovereign has +properly administered the country. During the present reign, however, +the provinces under Imperial sway are in confusion; the peace is +disturbed, and the people are in misery; whereas those under the +Bakufu are peaceful and prosperous. If the administration of the +Court be extended to all the land, misrule and unhappiness will be +universal. I do not resist the mandate for selfish reasons. I resist +it in the cause of the people. For them I sacrifice my life if heaven +be not propitious. There are precedents. Wu of Chou and Kao-tsu of +Han acted similarly, but, when victorious, they themselves ascended +the throne, whereas if we succeed, we shall merely set up another +prince of the same dynasty. Amaterasu and Hachiman will not reproach +us. We will punish only the evil councillors who have led the Throne +astray. You will set out with all expedition." + +Thus instructed, I took the road to Kyoto. But before departing, I +went to worship at the shrine of Hachiman. There I prayed that if my +taking the field was improper, I might be struck dead forthwith; but +that if my enterprise could in any wise aid the country, bring peace +to the people, and contribute to the prosperity of the shrines and +temples, then might I receive the pity and sympathy of heaven. I took +oath before the shrine of Mishima Myojin, also, that my purpose was +free from all selfish ambition. Thus, having placed my life in the +hand of heaven, I awaited my fate. If to this day I have survived all +peril, may I not regard it as an answer to my prayer? + +A difference will be detected between the views here attributed to +Yoshitoki and his previously narrated instructions to his son, +Yasutoki. There can be little doubt that the record in the Myoe +Shonin-den is the correct version. Yoshitoki obeyed the Chinese +political ethics; he held that a sovereign had to answer for his +deeds at the bar of public opinion. Yasutoki's loyalty was of a much +more whole-hearted type: he recognized the occupant of the throne as +altogether sacrosanct. If he obeyed his father's instructions in +dealing with the Court, he condemned himself to the constant +companionship of regret, which was reflected in the excellence of his +subsequent administration. + +ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES + +By the Shokyu war the camera system of administration (Insei) at the +Court was destroyed, and a great change took place in the relations +of the Throne to the Bakufu. For, whereas the latter's authority in +Kyoto had hitherto been largely nominal, it now became a supreme +reality. Kamakura had been represented in the Imperial capital by a +high constable only, whereas two special officials, called +"inquisitors" (tandai) were now appointed, and the importance +attaching to the office becomes apparent when we observe that the +first tandai were Yasutoki himself and his uncle, Tokifusa. They +presided over administrative machinery at the two Rokuhara--in the +northern and southern suburbs of the city--organized exactly on the +lines of the Kamakura polity; namely, a Samurai-dokoro, a Man-dokoro, +and a Monju-dokoro. Further, in spite of imposing arrangements in +Kyoto, no question was finally decided without previous reference to +Kamakura, which thus became, in very truth, the administrative +metropolis of the empire. + +THE SHIMPO-JITO + +When Yoritomo appointed retainers of his own to be land-stewards in +the various manors, these officials did not own the estates where +they were stationed; they merely collected the taxes and exercised +general supervision. After the Shokyu struggle, however, some three +thousand manors, hitherto owned by courtiers hostile to the Bakufu, +were confiscated by the latter and distributed among the Minamoto, +the Hojo, and their partisans. The recipients of these estates were +appointed also to be their land-stewards, and thus there came into +existence a new class of manor-holders, who were at once owners and +jito, and who were designated shimpo-jito, or "newly appointed +land-stewards," to distinguish them from the hompo-jito, or +"originally appointed." + +These shimpo-jito, in whom were vested at once the rights of +ownership and of management, were the first genuine feudal chiefs in +Japan--prototypes of the future daimyo and shomyo. It should be here +noted that, in the distribution of these confiscated estates, the +Kamakura regent, Yoshitoki, did not benefit to the smallest extent; +and that the grants made to the two tandai in Kyoto barely sufficed +to defray the charges of their administrative posts. Yoshitoki is, in +truth, one of the rare figures to whom history can assign the credit +of coveting neither wealth nor station. Out of the three thousand +manors that came into his hands as spolia opima of the Shokyu war, he +might have transferred as many as he pleased to his own name; and +wielding absolute authority in Kyoto, he could have obtained any +title he desired. Yet he did not take a rood of land, and his +official status at the time of his death was no higher than the +fourth rank. + +THE BUILDERS OF THE BAKUFU + +The great statesmen, legislators, and judges who contributed so much +to the creation of the Bakufu did not long survive the Shokyu +struggle. Miyoshi Yasunobu, who presided over the Department of +Justice (Monju-dokoro) from the time of its establishment, had been +attacked by mortal sickness before the Imperial army commenced its +march eastward. His last advice was given to the lady Masa when he +counselled an immediate advance against Kyoto. Soon afterwards he +died at the age of eighty-two. The great Oye no Hiromoto, who +contributed more than any other man to the conception and +organization of the Kamakura system, and of whom history says that +without him the Minamoto had never risen to fame, survived his +colleague by only four years, dying, in 1225, at the age of +seventy-eight. The lady Masa, one of the world's heroines, expired in +the same year, and 1224 had seen the sudden demise of the regent, +Hojo Yoshitoki. Fortunately for the Bakufu, the regent's son, +Yasutoki, proved himself a ruler of the highest ability, and his +immediate successors were not less worthy of the exalted office they +filled. + +ENGRAVING: SILK TASSEL + +ENGRAVING: ITSUKUSHIMA JINJA (SHRINE), AT MIYAJIMA + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE HOJO + +THE HOJO IN KYOTO + +THERE was nothing perfunctory in the administration of the "Two +Rokuhara" (Ryo-Rokuhara) in Kyoto. The northern and the southern +offices were presided over by the most prominent members of the Hojo +family, men destined to fill the post of regent (shikkeri) +subsequently in Kamakura. Thus, when Hojo Yoshitoki died suddenly, in +1224, his son, Yasutoki, returned at once to Kamakura to succeed to +the regency, transferring to his son, Tokiuji, the charge of northern +Rokuhara, and a short time afterwards the control of southern +Rokuhara was similarly transferred from Yoshitoki is brother, +Tokifusa, to the latter's son, Tokimori. Nominally, the jurisdiction +of the two Rokuhara was confined to military affairs, but in reality +their influence extended to every sphere within Kyoto and to the +Kinai and the Saikai-do without. + +THE HYOJOSHU + +So long as the lady Masa lived, the administrative machinery at +Kamakura suggested no sense of deficiency. That great woman accepted +all the responsibility herself. But in the year (1225) of her death, +Yasutoki, who had just succeeded to the regency, made an important +reform. He organized within the Man-dokoro a council of fifteen or +sixteen members, which was called the Hyojo-shu, and which virtually +constituted the Bakufu cabinet. The Samurai-dokoro and the +Monju-dokoro remained unchanged, but the political administration +passed from the Monju-dokoro to the Hyojoshu, and the betto of the +former became in effect the finance minister of the shogun. + +THE GOOD ADMINISTRATION OF THE HOJO + +Commencing with Yasutoki (1225), down to the close of the thirteenth +century, Japan was admirably ruled by a succession of Hojo regents. +Among them, Yasutoki deserves the highest credit, for he established +a standard with the aid of very few guiding precedents. When he came +into power he found the people suffering grievously from the +extortions of manorial chiefs. It was not an uncommon practice for +the owner of an estate to hold in custody the wives and daughters of +defaulting tenants until the latter paid their rents, however +exorbitant, and seldom indeed did the holder of a manor recognize any +duty of succouring the peasants in time of distress. The former cruel +practice was strictly forbidden by Yasutoki, and, to correct the +latter defect, he adopted the plan of setting a fine example himself. +It is recorded that in the Kwanki era (1229-1232), when certain +places were suffering from crop failure, the regent distributed nine +thousand koku of rice (45,000 bushels approximately) among the +inhabitants and remitted all taxes throughout more than one thousand +districts. + +In the Azuma Kagami, a contemporaneous history generally trustworthy, +we find various anecdotes illustrative at once of the men and the +ethics of the time. Thus, it is related that the farmers of a village +called Hojo being in an embarrassed condition, seed-rice was lent to +them in the spring by the regent's order, they undertaking to repay +it in the autumn. But a storm having devastated their fields, they +were unable to keep their pledge. Nothing seemed to offer except +flight. When they were on the eve of decamping, however, they +received from Yasutoki an invitation to a feast at which their bonds +were burned in their presence and every debtor was given half a +bushel of rice. Elsewhere, we read that the regent himself lived in a +house so unpretentious that the interior was visible from the +highroad, owing to the rude nature of the surrounding fence. Urged to +make the fence solid, if only as a protection against fire, his reply +was: "However economically a new wall and fence be constructed, the +outlay would be at the cost of the people. As for me, if I do my duty +to the State, my life and my house will be safe. If I fail, the +strongest fence will not avail." + +In estimating what his bountiful assistance to the farmers meant, it +is necessary to remember that he was very poor, The greater part of +the comparatively small estates bequeathed to him by his father he +divided among his half-brothers by a Fujiwara mother, reserving to +himself only a little, for, said he: "I am the regent. What more do I +desire?" One day, while attending a meeting of the Hyojoshu, he +received news that the house of his brother, Tomotoki, was attacked. +Immediately he hastened to the rescue with a small band of followers. +Subsequently, one of his principal retainers remonstrated with him +for risking his life in an affair so insignificant. Yasutoki +answered: "How can you call an incident insignificant when my +brother's safety was concerned? To me it seemed as important as the +Shokyu struggle. If I had lost my brother, what consolation would my +rank have furnished?" + +Yasutoki never made his rank a pretext for avoiding military service; +he kept his watch in turn with the other guards, remaining up all +night and attending to all his duties. When he periodically visited +the temple of Yoritomo, he always worshipped without ascending to the +aisle, his reason being that, were the shogun, Yoritomo, alive, the +regent would not venture to sit on the dais by his side. Thrifty and +eminently practical, he ridiculed a priest who proposed to +tranquillize the nation by building fanes. "How can peace be brought +to the people," he asked, "by tormenting them to subscribe for such a +purpose?" He revered learning, regarded administration as a literary +art rather than a military, and set no store whatever by his own +ability or competence. + +THE JOEI CODE + +The most memorable achievement during Yasutoki's regency was the +compilation of a code of law called the Joei Shikimoku* after the +name of the era (Joei, 1232-1233) when it was promulgated. What +rendered this legislation essentially necessary was that the Daiho +code of the eighth century and all the laws founded on it were +inspired primarily by the purpose of centralizing the administrative +power and establishing the Throne's title of ownership in all the +land throughout the realm, a system diametrically opposed to the +spirit of feudalism. This incongruity had made itself felt in +Yoritomo's time, and had suggested the compilation of certain "Rules +for Decisions" (Hanketsu-rei), which became the basis of the Joei +code in Yasutoki's days. Another objection to the Daiho code and its +correlated enactments was that, being written with Chinese ideographs +solely, they were unintelligible to the bulk of those they concerned. +Confucius laid down as a fundamental maxim of government that men +should be taught to obey, not to understand, and that principle was +adopted by the Tokugawa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. +But in the thirteenth, the aim of Yasutoki and his fellow legislators +was to render the laws intelligible to all, and with that object they +were indited mostly in the kana syllabary. + +*Called also the Kwanto Goseibai Shikimoku. + +The actual work of compilation was done by Hokkyo Enzen (a renowned +bonze), but the idea originated with Hojo Yasutoki and Miyoshi +Yasutsura, and every provision was carefully scanned and debated by +the Bakufu's State council (Hyojoshu). There was no intention of +suppressing the Daiho code. The latter was to remain operative in all +regions to which the sway of the Kyoto Court extended direct. But in +proportion as the influence of the Bakufu grew, the Joei laws +received new adherents and finally became universally effective. A +great modern authority, Dr. Ariga, has opined that the motive of the +Bakufu legislation was not solely right for right's sake. He thinks +that political expediency figured in the business, the Kamakura +rulers being shrewd enough to foresee that a reputation for +administering justice would prove a potent factor in extending their +influence. If so, the scheme was admirably worked out, for every +member of the council had to sign a pledge, inserted at the end of +the Shikimoku, invoking* the vengeance of heaven on his head if he +departed from the laws or violated their spirit in rendering +judgment. Nothing, indeed, stands more signally to the credit of the +Bakufu rulers from the days of Yoritomo and his wife, Masa, +downwards, than their constant endeavour to do justice between man +and man. + +*"This oath indicates, among other things, the deep sense of the +importance of unanimity, of a united front, of the individual sharing +fully in the collective responsibility, that was cherished by the +Bakufu councillors. This was, indeed, one of the chief secrets of the +wonderful stability and efficiency of the machine." (Murdoch.) + +NATURE OF THE CODE + +The Joei Shikimoku is not a voluminous document: it contains only +fifty-one brief articles, which the poet Basho compares to the +luminosity of the full moon. It has been excellently translated and +annotated by Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall in the "Transactions of +the Asiatic Society of Japan" (Vol. XXXIV, Part I), and Mr. J. +Murdoch, in his admirable History of Japan, summarizes its provisions +lucidly. We learn that slavery still existed in the thirteenth +century in Japan; but the farmer was guarded against cruel processes +of tax-collecting and enjoyed freedom of domicile when his dues were +paid. Fiefs might not be sold, but a peasant might dispose of his +holding. "Village headmen, while held to a strict discharge of their +duties and severely punished for various malpractices, were +safeguarded against all aggression or undue interference on the part +of the jito. The law of property was almost entirely synonymous with +that of fiefs. These, if originally conferred for public services +rendered by the grantee, could not be sold. On the death of the +holder it was not necessarily the eldest son--even though +legitimate--that succeeded. The only provision affecting the father's +complete liberty of bequest or gift to his widow--or concubine, in +one article--or children, was that a thoroughly deserving eldest son, +whether of wife or concubine, could claim one-fifth of the estate. + +"Not only could women be dowered with, or inherit, fiefs, and +transmit a legal title to them to their own children, but a childless +woman was even fully empowered to adopt an heir. Yoritomo had been +the first to sanction this broadminded and liberal principle. In +Kamakura, an adulterer was stripped of half of his fief if he held +one; and if he had none, he was banished. For an adulteress the +punishment was no severer, except that if she possessed a fief, the +whole of it was confiscated. A good many sections of the code deal +with legal procedure and the conduct and duty of magistrates, the +great objects being to make the administration of justice simple, +prompt, and pure, while repressing everything in the shape of +pettifogging or factious litigation. + +"The penalties were neither cruel nor ferocious. Death for the worst +offences--among which theft is specially mentioned--confiscation of +fief, and banishment, these exhaust the list. The only other +punishment mentioned is that of branding on the face, inflicted on a +commoner for the crime of forgery, a bushi's punishment in this case +being banishment, or simply confiscation of his fief, if possessed of +one. + +"Bakufu vassals were strictly forbidden directly to solicit the +Imperial Court for rank or office; they must be provided with a +special recommendation from Kamakura. But once invested with Court +rank, they might be promoted in grade without any further +recommendation, while they were free to accept the position of +hebiishi. Analogous restrictions were placed on the Kwanto clergy, +who were to be summarily removed from their benefices if found +appealing to Kyoto for promotion, the only exception being in favour +of Zen-shu priests. In their case the erring brother guilty of such +an offence got off comparatively lightly--'an influential member of +the same sect will be directed to administer a gentle admonition.' +The clergy within the Bakufu domains were to be kept strictly in +hand; if they squandered the revenues of their incumbency and +neglected the fabric and the established services therein, they were +to be displaced. As regards the monasteries and priests outside the +Bakufu domain, the case was entirely different; they were virtually +independent, and Kamakura interfered there only when instructed to do +so by Imperial decree."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +FURTHER LEGISLATION + +It is not to be supposed that the Joei Shikimoku represents the whole +outcome of Kamakura legislation. Many additions were made to the code +during the fourteenth century, but they were all in the nature of +amplifications or modifications. Kyoto also was busy with enactments +in those times--busier, indeed, than Kamakura, but with smaller +practical results. + +FALL OF THE MIURA + +Yasutoki died in 1242, having held the regency (shikken) for eighteen +years. His two sons had preceded him to the grave, and therefore his +grandson, Tsune-toki, became shikken. Tsunetoki resembled his +grandfather in many respects, but, as he died in 1246, he had little +opportunity of distinguishing himself. Nevertheless, during his brief +tenure of power, he took a step which had momentous consequences. It +will be remembered that after the murder of Minamoto Sanetomo by his +nephew Kugyo, in 1219, some difficulty was experienced in persuading +the Imperial Court to appoint a successor to the shogunate, and +finally the choice fell upon Fujiwara Yoritsune, then a child of two, +who was not actually nominated shogun until 1226. This noble, when +(1244) in the twenty-seventh year of his age and the eighteenth of +his shogunate, was induced by the regent, Tsunetoki, to resign, the +alleged reason being portents in the sky, and a successor was found +for him in his son, Yoritsugu. + +Now, for many years past the Miura family had ranked next to the Hojo +in power and above it in wealth, but the two had always been loyal +friends. Some umbrage was given to the Miura at this time, however, +owing to the favours enjoyed at the regency by the Adachi family, one +of whose ladies was the mother of the two shikken, Tsunetoki and +Tokiyori. The situation thus created had its issue in a plot to kill +Tokiyori, and to replace him by an uncle unconnected with the Adachi. +Whether the Miura family were really involved in this plot, history +gives no definite indication; but certainly the ex-shogun, Yoritsune, +was involved, and his very marked friendship with Miura Mitsumura +could scarcely fail to bring the latter under suspicion. In the end, +the Miura mansion was suddenly invested by a Hojo force. Mitsumura +and his elder brother, Yasumura, escaped to a temple where, after a +stubborn resistance, they and 270 of their vassals committed suicide. +No mercy was shown. The Miura were hunted and slaughtered everywhere, +their wide, landed estates being confiscated and divided among the +Bakufu, the fanes, and the courtiers at Kyoto. + +The terribly drastic sequel of this affair illustrates the vast power +wielded by the Hojo throughout the empire in the thirteenth century. +Yoritomo's system of high constables and land-stewards brought almost +every part of the country under the effective sway of Kamakura. It is +not to be supposed, however, that these high constables and +land-stewards were suffered to subject the people within their +jurisdiction to arbitrary or extortionate treatment. Not only could +complaints of any such abuses count on a fair hearing and prompt +redress at the hands of the Bakufu, but also inspectors were +despatched, periodically or at uncertain dates, to scrutinize with +the utmost vigilance the conduct of the shugo and jito, who, in their +turn, had a staff of specially trained men to examine the land survey +and adjust the assessment and incidence of taxation. + +ENGRAVING: HOJO TOKIYORI + +HOJO TOKIYORI + +Tokiyori, younger brother of Tsunetoki, held the post of shikken at +the time of the Miura tragedy. He had succeeded to the position, in +1246, on the death of Tsunetoki, and he nominally abdicated in 1256, +when, in the sequel of a severe illness, he took the tonsure. A +zealous believer, from his youth upwards, in the doctrines of the Zen +sect of Buddhism, he built a temple called Saimyo-ji among the hills +of Kamakura, and retired thither to tend his health--entrusting the +office of shikken to a relative, Nagatoki, as his own son, Tokimune, +was still of tender age--but continuing himself to administer +military and judicial affairs, especially when any criminal or civil +case of a complicated or difficult nature occurred. Thus, there was a +cloistered regent at Kamakura, just as there had so often been a +cloistered Emperor in Kyoto. Tradition has busied itself much with +Tokiyori's life. He carried to extreme lengths the virtue of economy +so greatly extolled by his grandfather, Yasutoki. Such was the +frugality of his mode of life that we read of him searching for +fragments of food among the remnants of a meal, so that he might +serve them to a friend, and we read, also, of his mother repairing +with her own hands the paper covering of a shoji in expectation of a +visit from him. He is further said to have disguised himself as an +itinerent bonze and to have travelled about the provinces, observing +the state of the people and learning their complaints. His +experiences, on this pilgrimage read like a romance. Lodging at one +time with an aged widow, he learns that she has been robbed of her +estate and reduced to painful poverty, a wrong which Tokiyori hastens +to redress; at another time his host is an old samurai whose loyal +record comes thus to the knowledge of the shikken and is subsequently +recognized. + +But it must be confessed that these tales rest on very slender +evidence. Better attested is the story of Aoto Fujitsuna, which +illustrates at once the character of Tokiyori and the customs of the +time. This Fujitsuna was a man of humble origin but considerable +learning. One year, the country being visited by drought, Tokiyori +gave rice and money to priests for religious services, and himself +worshipped at the shrine of Mishima. These measures were vehemently +criticized by Fujitsuna, who described them as enriching the wealthy +to help the impoverished. When informed of this, Tokiyori, instead of +resenting it, sent for Fujitsuna and nominated him a member of the +Court of Recorders,* where he earned the reputation of being one of +Japan's greatest judges.** It is related of him that he devoted his +whole fortune to objects of charity, and that when Tokiyori, claiming +a revelation from heaven, proposed to increase his endowments, his +answer was, "Supposing heaven revealed to you that you should put me +to death, would you obey?" *** + +*The Hikitsuke-shii, a body of men who kept the archives of the +Man-dokoro and conducted preliminary judicial investigations. It was +organized in Tokiyori's, time and from its members the Hyojoshu was +recruited. + +**The other was Ooka Tadasuke of the Tokugawa period. + +***It is related of this Aoto Fujitsuna that, having dropped a few +cash into the Namera River at night, he expended many times the +amount in paying torch-bearers to recover the lost coins, his +argument being that the money thus expended was merely put into +circulation, whereas the dropped money would have been irrevocably +lost. + +Tokiyori, as already related, though he nominally resigned and +entered religion in 1256, really held the reins of power until his +death, in 1263. Thus the Insei (camera administration) came into +being in Kamakura, as it had done previously in Kyoto. There were +altogether nine of the Hojo regents, as shown below: + +(1) Tokimasa 1203-1205 + +(2) Yoshitoki 1205-1224 + +(3) Yasutoki 1224-1242 + +(4) Tsunetoki 1242-1246 + +(5) Tokiyori 1246-1256 Retired in 1256, but ruled in camera till +1263 + +(6) Tokimune 1256-1284 + +(7) Sadatoki 1284-1301 Retired in 1301, but ruled in camera till +1311 + +(8) Morotoki 1301-1311 + +(9) Takatoki 1311-1333 + +The first six of these were men of genius, but neither Tokimasa nor +Yoshitoki can be called really great administrators, if in the +science of administration its moral aspects be included. The next +four, however, from Yasutoki down to Tokimune, are distinctly +entitled to a high place in the pages of history. Throughout the +sixty years of their sway (1224-1284), the Japanese nation was +governed with justice* and clemency rarely found in the records of +any medieval State, and it is a strange fact that Japan's debt to +these Hojo rulers remained unrecognized until modern times. + +*It is recorded that the first half of every month in Kamakura was +devoted to judicial proceedings, and that at the gate of the Record +Office there was hung a bell, by striking which a suitor or +petitioner could count on immediate attention. + +THE SHOGUNS IN KAMAKURA + +In the Minamoto's original scheme of government the office of shogun +was an administrative reality. Its purpose was to invest the Bakufu +chief with permanent authority to command all the military and naval +forces throughout the empire for the defence and tranquillization of +the country. In that light the shogunate was regarded while it +remained in the hands of Yoritomo and his two sons, Yoriie and +Sanetomo. But with the death of Sanetomo, in 1219, and the political +extinction of the Minamoto family, the shogunate assumed a different +character in the eyes of the Minamoto's successors, the Hojo. These +latter, not qualified to hold the office themselves, regarded it as a +link between Kamakura and Kyoto, and even as a source from which +might be derived lawful sanction for opposing the Throne should +occasion arise. Therefore they asked the Emperor Go-Toba to nominate +one of his younger sons, and on receiving a refusal, they were fain +to be content with a member of the Fujiwara family, who had long held +the Court in the hollow of their hands. This nomination was never +intended to carry with it any real authority. The shoguns were mere +puppets. During the interval of 114 years between the death of +Sanetomo (1219) and the fall of the Hojo (1333), there were six of +these faineant officials: + + Age at Age at + Appn't Depos'n + +Fujiwara Yoritsune, 1219-1244 2 27 + +Yoritsugu 1244-1252 5 13 + +Prince Munetaka, 1252-1266 10 24 +elder brother of Go-Fukakusa + +Prince Koreyasu, son of Munetaka 1266-1289 3 26 + +Prince Hisaakira, son of Go-Fukakusa 1289-1308 13 32 + +Prince Morikuni, son of Hisaakira 1308-1333 7 32 + +The record shows that all these officials were appointed at an age +when independent thought had not yet become possible, and that they +were removed as soon as they began to think for themselves. It will +be observed that there is a palpable break in the uniformity of the +list. Yoritsugu alone was stripped of office while still in his +teens. That was because his father, the ex-shogun, engaged in a plot +to overthrow the Hojo. But the incident was also opportune. It +occurred just at the time when other circumstances combined to +promote the ambition of the Hojo in the matter of obtaining an +Imperial prince for shogun. The throne was then occupied by +Go-Fukakusa (the eighty-ninth sovereign), a son of Go-Saga (the +eighty-eighth sovereign), who, as we shall see, owed his elevation to +the influence exercised by Hojo Yasutoki after the Shokyu war. Now it +happened that, in 1252, a conspiracy against Go-Saga was found to +have been fomented by the head of that branch of the Fujiwara family +from which the Kamakura shoguns were taken. The conspiracy was a +thing of the past and so were its principal fomenters, but it served +as a conclusive reason for not creating another Fujiwara shogun. +Prince Munetaka, an elder brother of the reigning Emperor, was +chosen, and thus the last four Bakufu shoguns were all of Imperial +blood. + +Their lineage, however, did not avail much as against Bakufu +arbitrariness. The Hojo adopted towards the shoguns the same +policy as that previously pursued by the Fujiwara towards the +sovereigns--appointment during the years of childhood and removal +on reaching full manhood.* But the shoguns were not unavenged. + +*It is related that when the regent, Sadatoki, in 1289, removed +Prince Koreyasu from the office of shogun, he ordered that the bamboo +palanquin in which the prince journeyed to Kyoto should be carried +with the back in front. The people said that the prince was banished +to Kyoto. + +It was owing to the social influence exercised by their entourage +that the frugal and industrious habits of the bushi at Kamakura were +gradually replaced by the effeminate pastimes and enervating +accomplishments of the Imperial capital. For the personnel and +equipage of a shogun's palace at Kamakura differed essentially from +those of Hojo regents (shikken) like Yasutoki and his three immediate +successors. In the former were seen a multitude of highly paid +officials whose duties did not extend to anything more serious than +the conservation of forms of etiquette; the custody of gates, doors, +and shutters; the care of pavilions and villas; the practice and +teaching of polite accomplishments, such as music and versification; +dancing, handball, and football; the cultivation of refined archery +and equestrianism, and the guarding of the shogun's person.* + +*The officials of the shogun's court were collectively called banshu. + +At the regency, on the other hand, functions of the most arduous +character were continuously discharged by a small staff of earnest, +unpretentious men, strangers to luxury or leisure and solicitous, +primarily, to promote the cause of justice and to satisfy the canons +of efficiency. The contrast could not but be demoralizing. Not +rapidly or without a struggle, but slowly and inevitably, the poison +of bad example permeated Kamakura society, and the sinecures in the +shogun's household came to be coveted by the veterans of the Bakufu, +who, throughout the peaceful times secured by Hojo rule, found no +means of gaining honours or riches in the field, and who saw +themselves obliged to mortgage their estates in order to meet the +cost of living, augmented by extravagant banquets, fine buildings, +and rich garments. Eight times between 1252 and 1330, edicts were +issued by the Bakufu fixing the prices of commodities, vetoing costly +residences, prohibiting expensive garments, censuring neglect of +military arts, and ordering resumption of the old-time sports and +exercises. These attempts to check the evil had only very partial +success. The vices spread, and "in the complex of factors that led to +the downfall of the Bakufu, the ultimate ascendancy of Kyoto's social +standards in Kamakura must probably be regarded as the most +important."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +THE TWO LINES OF EMPERORS + +It is necessary now to turn for a moment to the story of the Imperial +city, which, since the appearance of the Bakufu upon the scene, has +occupied a very subordinate place in these pages, as it did in fact. +Not that there was any outward or visible sign of diminishing +importance. All the old administrative machinery remained operative, +the old codes of etiquette continued to claim strict observance, and +the old functions of government were discharged. But only the shadow +of authority existed at Kyoto; the substance had passed effectually +to Kamakura. As for the throne, its chiefly remarkable feature was +the brevity of its occupation by successive sovereigns: + + Order of Succession Name Date + + 77th Sovereign Go-Shirakawa 1156-1158 + + 78th " Nijo 1159-1166 + + 79th " Rokuju 1166-1168 + + 80th " Takakura 1169-1180 + + 81st " Antoku 1181-1183 + + 82nd " Go-Toba 1184-1198 + + 83rd " Tsuchimikado 1199-1210 + + 84th " Juntoku 1211-1221 + + 85th " Chukyo 1221 + + 86th " Go-Horikawa 1221-1232 + + 87th " Shijo 1233-1242 + + 88th " Go-Saga 1243-1246 + +Here are seen twelve consecutive Emperors whose united reigns covered +a period of ninety-one years, being an average of seven and one-half +years, approximately. It has been shown that Go-Horikawa received the +purple practically from the hands of the Hojo in the sequel of the +Shokyu disturbance, and the same is true of Go-Saga, he having been +nominated from Kamakura in preference to a son of Juntoku, whose +complicity in that disturbance had been notorious. Hence Go-Saga's +attitude towards Kamakura was always one of deference, increased by +the fact that his eldest son, Munetaka, went to Kamakura as shogun, +in 1252. Vacating the throne in 1246, he named his second son, +Go-Fukakusa, to succeed; and his third, Kameyama, to be Prince +Imperial. The former was only three years old when (1246) he became +nominal sovereign, and, after a reign of thirteen years, he was +compelled (1259) to make way for his father's favourite, Kameyama, +who reigned from 1259 to 1274. + +To understand what followed, a short genealogical table will assist: + + 88th Sovereign, Go-Saga (1243-1246) + | + +--------------+-------------+ + | | + 89th, Go-Fukakusa (1246-1259) 90th, Kameyama (1259-1274) + | | + 92nd, Fushimi (1287-1298) 91st, Go-Uda (1274-1287) + | | + +-----+----+ +-----+-----+ + | | | | + 93rd, 95th, 94th, 96th, + Go-Fushimi Hanazono Go-Nijo Go-Daigo + (1298-1301) (1307-1318) (1301-1307) (1318-1339) + | | | | + +-----+----+ +-----+-----+ + | | + Jimyo-in family Daikagu-ji Family + (called afterwards Hoku-cho, (called afterwards Nan-cho, + or the Northern Court) or the Southern Court) + +The cloistered Emperor, Go-Saga, abdicating after a reign of four +years, conducted the administration according to the camera system +during twenty-six years. It will be observed from the above table +that he essayed to hold the balance equally between the families of +his two sons, the occupant of the throne being chosen from each +alternately. But everything goes to show that he favoured the +Kameyama branch. Like Go-Toba, he cherished the hope of seeing the +Imperial Court released from the Bakufu shackles, and to that end the +alert, enterprising Kameyama seemed better suited than the dull, +resourceless Takakura, just as in Go-Toba's eyes Juntoku had appeared +preferable to Tsuchimikado. + +Dying in 1272, Go-Saga left a will with injunctions that it should be +opened in fifty days. It contained provisions destined to have +disastrous consequences. One clause entrusted to the Bakufu the duty +of deciding whether the administrative power should be placed in the +hands of the cloistered Emperor, Go-Fukakusa, or in those of the +reigning sovereign, Kameyama. Another provided that a very large +property, known as the Chokodo estates, should be inherited by the +monarch thus deposed from authority; while a comparatively small +bequest went to the depository of power. In framing this curious +instrument, Go-Saga doubtless designed to gild the pill of permanent +exclusion from the seats of power, believing confidently that the +Imperial succession would be secured to Kameyama and his direct +descendants. This anticipation proved correct. The Bakufu had +recourse to a Court lady to determine the trend of the deceased +sovereign's wishes, and the result was that Kameyama triumphed. + +In the normal order of things the cloistered Emperor Go-Fukakusa +would have succeeded to the administrative place occupied by Go-Saga, +and a large body of courtiers, whose chances of promotion and +emolument depended upon that arrangement, bitterly resented the +innovation. The palace became divided into two parties, the Naiho +(interior section) and the Inho (camera section), a division which +grew more accentuated when Kameyama's son ascended the throne as +Go-Uda, in 1274. Go-Fukakusa declared that he would leave his palace +and enter a monastery were such a wrong done to his children. +Thereupon Kameyama--now cloistered Emperor--submitted the matter to +the Bakufu, who, after grave deliberation, decided that Go-Fukakusa's +son should be named Crown Prince and should reign in succession to +Go-Uda. This ruler is known in history as Fushimi. + +Shortly after his accession a sensational event occurred. A bandit +made his way during the night into the palace and seizing one of the +court ladies, ordered her to disclose the Emperor's whereabouts. The +sagacious woman misdirected him, and then hastened to inform the +sovereign, who disguised himself as a female and escaped. Arrested by +the guards, the bandit committed suicide with a sword which proved to +be a precious heirloom of the Sanjo family. Sanjo Sanemori, a former +councillor of State, was arrested on suspicion, but his examination +disclosed nothing. Then a grand councillor (dainagori) charged the +cloistered Emperor, Kameyama, with being privy to the attempt, and +Fushimi showed a disposition to credit the charge. Kameyama, however, +conveyed to the Bakufu a solemn oath of innocence, with which Fushimi +was fain to be ostensibly content. But his Majesty remained +unconvinced at heart. He sent to Kamakura a secret envoy with +instructions to attribute to Kameyama an abiding desire to avenge the +wrongs of Go-Toba and wipe out the Shokyu humiliation. This vengeful +mood might find practical expression at anytime, and Fushimi, warned +the Bakufu to be on their guard. "As for me," he concluded, "I leave +my descendants entirely in the hands of the Hojo. With Kamakura we +stand or fall." + +How much of this was sincere, how much diplomatic, it is not possible +to determine. In Kamakura, however, it found credence. Sadatoki, then +regent (shikken), took prompt measures to have Fushimi's son +proclaimed Prince Imperial, and, in 1298, he was enthroned as +Go-Fushimi. This evoked an indignant protest from the then cloistered +Emperor, Go-Uda, and after some consideration the Kamakura regent, +Sadatoki, suggested--"directed" would perhaps be a more correct form +of speech--that thenceforth the succession to the throne should +alternate between the two families descended from Go-Fukakusa and +Kameyama, the length of a reign being limited to ten years. +Nominally, this arrangement was a mark of deference to the testament +of Go-Saga, but in reality it was an astute device to weaken the +authority of the Court by dividing it into rival factions. Kamakura's +fiat received peaceful acquiescence at first. Go-Uda's eldest son +took the sceptre in 1301, under the name of Go-Nijo, and, after seven +years, he was succeeded by Fushimi's son, Hanazono, who, in twelve +years, made way for Go-Uda's second son, Go-Daigo. + +The descendants of Kameyama were called the "Daigaku-ji family," and +the descendants of Go-Fukakusa received the name of the "Jimyo-in +family." When a member of the latter occupied the throne, the Court +enjoyed opulence, owing to its possession of the extensive Chokodo +estates; but when the sovereign was of the Daigaku-ji line +comparative penury was experienced. There can be little doubt that, +throughout the complications antecedent to this dual system, the +Fushimi princes acted practically as spies for the Bakufu. After all, +the two Imperial families were descended from a common ancestor and +should have shrunk from the disgrace of publishing their rivalries. +It is true, as we shall presently see, that the resulting +complications involved the destruction of the Hojo; but it is also +true that they plunged the nation into a fifty years' war. + +THE FIVE REGENT FAMILIES + +It has already been related how, by Yoritomo's contrivance, the post +of family--descended from Fujiwara Kanezane--and scions of the Konoe +family--descended from Fujiwara Motomichi. This system was +subsequently extended at the instance of the Hojo. The second and +third sons of Michiiye, grandson of Kanezane, founded the houses of +Nijo and Ichijo, respectively; while Kanehira, the second of two +grandsons of Motomichi, established the house of Takatsukasa. These +five families--Konoe, Kujo, Nijo, Ichijo, and Takatsukasa--were +collectively called Go-sekke (the Five Regent Houses) in recognition +of the fact that the regent in Kyoto was supposed to be taken from +them in succession. The arrangement led to frequent strife with +resulting weakness, thus excellently achieving the purpose of its +contrivers, the Hojo. + +THE FIRST MONGOL INVASION + +The rule of the Hojo synchronized with two events of prime importance +the invasion of Japan by a Mongolian army, first in 1274, and +subsequently in 1281. Early in the twelfth century, the Emperor of +China, which was then under the sway of the Sung dynasty, invited the +Golden Tatars to deal with the Khitan Tatars, who held Manchuria, and +who, in spite of heavy tribute paid annually by the Sung Court, +continually raided northeastern China. The Golden Tatars responded to +the invitation by not only expelling the Khitans but also taking +their place in Manchuria and subsequently overrunning China, where +they established a dynasty of their own from 1115 to 1234. + +These struggles and dynastic changes did not sensibly affect Japan. +Her intercourse with the Asiatic continent in those ages was confined +mainly to an interchange of visits by Buddhist priests, to industrial +enterprise, and to a fitful exchange of commodities. It does not +appear that any branch of the Tatars concerned themselves practically +about Japan or the Japanese. Ultimately, however, in the first part +of the thirteenth century, the Mongols began to sweep down on the +Middle Kingdom under the leadership of Jenghiz Khan. They crushed the +Golden Tatars, transferred (1264) the Mongol capital from central +Asia to Peking (Cambaluc), and, in 1279, under Kublai, completely +conquered China. Nearly thirty years before the transfer of the +capital to Peking, the Mongols invaded the Korean peninsula, and +brought it completely under their sway in 1263, receiving the final +submission of the kingdom of Koma, which alone had offered any +stubborn resistance. + +It is probable that Kublai's ambition, whetted by extensive +conquests, would have turned in the direction of Japan sooner or +later, but tradition indicates that the idea of obtaining the homage +of the Island Empire was suggested to the great Khan by a Korean +traveller in 1265. Kublai immediately acted on the suggestion. He +sent an embassy by way of Korea, ordering the Koma sovereign to make +arrangements for the transport of the envoys and to re-enforce them +with a Korean colleague. A tempest interrupted this essay, and it was +not repeated until 1268, when the Khan's messengers, accompanied by a +Korean suite, crossed safely to Chikuzen and delivered to the +Dazai-fu a letter from Kublai with a covering despatch from the +Korean King. The Korean sovereign's despatch was plainly inspired by +a desire to avert responsibility from himself. He explained that in +transporting the embassy he acted unavoidably, but that, in sending +it, the Khan was not actuated by any hostile feeling, his sole +purpose being to include Japan in the circle of his friendly +tributaries. + +In short, the Koma prince--he no longer could properly be called a +monarch--would have been only too pleased to see Japan pass under the +Mongol yoke as his own kingdom had already done. Kublai's letter, +however, though not deliberately arrogant, could not be construed in +any sense except as a summons to send tribute-bearing envoys to +Peking. He called himself "Emperor" and addressed the Japanese ruler +as "King;" instanced, for fitting example, the relation between China +and Korea, which he described at once as that of lord and vassal and +that of parent and child, and predicated that refusal of intercourse +would "lead to war." + +The Japanese interpreted this to be an offer of suzerainty or +subjugation. Two courses were advocated; one by Kyoto, the other by +Kamakura. The former favoured a policy of conciliation and delay; the +latter, an attitude of contemptuous silence. Kamakura, of course, +triumphed. After six months' retention the envoys were sent away +without so much as a written acknowledgment. The records contain +nothing to show whether this bold course on the part of the Bakufu +had its origin in ignorance of the Mongol's might or in a conviction +of the bushi's fighting superiority. Probably both factors were +operative; for Japan's knowledge of Jenghiz and his resources reached +her chiefly through religious channels, and the fact that Koreans +were associated with Mongols in the mission must have tended to lower +the affair in her estimation. Further, the Japanese had been taught +by experience the immense difficulties of conducting oversea +campaigns, and if they understood anything about the Mongols, it +should have been the essentially non-maritime character of the +mid-Asian conquerors. + +By Kublai himself that defect was well appreciated. He saw that to +carry a body of troops to Japan, the seagoing resources of the +Koreans must be requisitioned, and on the bootless return of his +first embassy, he immediately issued orders to the Koma King to build +one thousand ships and mobilize forty thousand troops. In vain the +recipient of these orders pleaded inability to execute them. The Khan +insisted, and supplemented his first command with instructions that +agricultural operations should be undertaken on a large scale in the +peninsula to supply food for the projected army of invasion. +Meanwhile he despatched embassy after embassy to Japan, evidently +being desirous of carrying his point by persuasion rather than by +force. The envoys invariably returned re infecta. On one occasion +(1269), a Korean vessel carried off two Japanese from Tsushima and +sent them to Peking. There, Kublai treated them kindly, showed them +his palace as well as a parade of his troops, and sent them home to +tell what they had seen. But the Japanese remained obdurate, and +finally the Khan sent an ultimatum, to which Tokimune, the Hojo +regent, replied by dismissing the envoys forthwith. + +War was now inevitable. Kublai massed 25,000 Mongol braves in Korea, +supplemented them with 15,000 Korean troops, and embarking them in a +flotilla of 900 vessels manned by 8000 Koreans, launched this paltry +army against Japan in November, 1274. The armada began by attacking +Tsushima and Iki, islands lying in the strait that separates the +Korean peninsula from Japan. In Tsushima, the governor, So Sukekuni,* +could not muster more than two hundred bushi. But these two hundred +fought to the death, as did also the still smaller garrison of Iki. +Before the passage of the narrow strait was achieved, the invaders +must have lost something of their faith in the whole enterprise. On +November 20th, they landed at Hako-zaki Gulf in the province of +Chikuzen There they were immediately assailed by the troops of five +Kyushu chieftains. What force the latter represented there is no +record, but they were certainly less numerous than the enemy. +Moreover, the Yuan army possessed a greatly superior tactical system. +By a Japanese bushi the battle-field was regarded as an arena for the +display of individual prowess, not of combined force. The Mongols, on +the contrary, fought in solid co-operation, their movements directed +by sound of drum from some eminence where the commander-in-chief +watched the progress of the fight. If a Japanese approached to defy +one of them to single combat, they enveloped and slew him. Further, +at close quarters they used light arms dipped in poison, and for +long-range purposes they had powerful crossbows, which quite +outclassed the Japanese weapons. They were equipped also with +explosives which they fired from metal tubes, inflicting heavy loss +on the Japanese, who were demoralized by such an unwonted weapon. +Finally, they were incomparable horsemen, and in the early encounters +they put the Japanese cavalry out of action by raising with drums and +gongs a din that terrified the latter's horses. But, in spite of all +these disadvantages, the Japanese fought stubbornly. Whenever they +got within striking distance of the foe, they struck desperately, and +towards evening they were able to retire in good order into cover +"behind the primitive fortifications of Mizuki raised for Tenchi +Tenno by Korean engineers six centuries before." + +*Grandson of Taira no Tomomori, admiral of the Hei fleet in the +battle of Dan-no-ura. + +ENGRAVING: REPULSE OF THE MONGOL INVADERS (From a scroll painting in +possession of the Imperial Household) + +That night the west coast of Kyushu was menaced by one of those +fierce gales that rage from time to time in sub-tropical zones. The +Korean pilots knew that their ships could find safety in the open sea +only. But what was to be done with the troops which had debarked? Had +their commanders seen any certain hope of victory, they would not +have hesitated to part temporarily from the ships. The day's +fighting, however, appears to have inspired a new estimate of the +bushi's combatant qualities. It was decided to embark the Yuan forces +and start out to sea. For the purpose of covering this movement, the +Hakozaki shrine and some adjacent hamlets were fired, and when +morning dawned the invaders' flotilla was seen beating out of the +bay. One of their vessels ran aground on Shiga spit at the north of +the haven and several others foundered at sea, so that when a tally +was finally called, 13,200 men did not answer to their names. As to +what the Japanese casualties were, there is no information. + +THE SECOND MONGOL INVASION + +Of course Kublai did not acknowledge this as a defeat at the hands of +the Japanese. On the contrary, he seems to have imagined that the +fight had struck terror into the hearts of the islanders by +disclosing their faulty tactics and inferior weapons. He therefore +sent another embassy, which was charged to summon the King of Japan +to Peking, there to do obeisance to the Yuan Emperor. Kamakura's +answer was to decapitate the five leaders of the mission and to +pillory their heads outside the city. Nothing, indeed, is more +remarkable than the calm confidence shown at this crisis by the +Bakufu regent, Tokimune. His country's annalists ascribe that mood to +faith in the doctrines of the Zen sect of Buddhism; faith which he +shared with his father, Tokiyori, during the latter's life. The Zen +priests taught an introspective philosophy. They preached that life +springs from not-living, indestructibility from destruction, and that +existence and non-existence are one in reality. No creed could better +inspire a soldier. + +It has been suggested that Tokimune was not guided in this matter +solely by religious instincts: he used the Zen-shu bonzes as a +channel for obtaining information about China. Some plausibility is +given to that theory by the fact that he sat, first, at the feet of +Doryu, originally a Chinese priest named Tao Lung, and that on +Doryu's death he invited (1278) from China a famous bonze, Chu Yuan +(Japanese, Sogen), for whose ministrations the afterwards celebrated +temple Yengaku-ji was erected. Sogen himself, when officiating at the +temple of Nengjen, in Wenchow, had barely escaped massacre at the +hands of the Mongols, and he may not have been averse to acting as a +medium of information between China and Kamakura. + +Tokimune's religious fervour, however, did not interfere with his +secular preparations. In 1280, he issued an injunction exhorting +local officials and vassals (go-kenin) to compose all their +dissensions and work in unison. There could be no greater crime, the +document declared, then to sacrifice the country's interests on the +altar of personal enmities at a time of national crisis. Loyal +obedience on the part of vassals, and strict impartiality on the side +of high constables--these were the virtues which the safety of the +State demanded, and any neglect to practise them should be punished +with the utmost severity. This injunction was issued in 1280, and +already steps had been taken to construct defensive works at all +places where the Mongols might effect a landing--at Hakozaki Bay in +Kyushu; at Nagato, on the northern side of the Shimonoseki Strait; at +Harima, on the southern shore of the Inland Sea; and at Tsuruga, on +the northwest of the main island. Among these places, Hakozaki and +Nagato were judged to be the most menaced, and special offices, after +the nature of the Kyoto tandai, were established there. + +ENGRAVING: HOJO TOKIMUNE + +Seven years separated the first invasion from the second. It was not +of deliberate choice that Kublai allowed so long an interval to +elapse. The subjugation of the last supporters of the Sung dynasty in +southern China had engrossed his attention, and with their fall he +acquired new competence to prosecute this expedition to Japan, +because while the Mongolian boats were fit only for plying on inland +waters, the ships of the southern Chinese were large, ocean-going +craft. It was arranged that an army of 100,000 Chinese and Mongols +should embark at a port in Fuhkien opposite the island of Formosa, +and should ultimately form a junction in Tsushima Strait with an +armada of 1000 Korean ships, carrying, in addition to their crews, a +force of 50,000 Mongols and 20,000 Koreans. + +But before launching this formidable host, Kublai made a final effort +to compass his end without fighting. In 1280, he sent another embassy +to Japan, announcing the complete overthrow of the Sung dynasty, and +summoning the Island Empire to enter into friendly relations. +Kamakura's answer was to order the execution of the envoys at the +place where they had landed, Hakata in Chikuzen. Nothing now remained +except an appeal to force. A weak point in the Yuan strategy was that +the two armadas were not operated in unison. The Korean fleet sailed +nearly a month before that from China. It would seem that the +tardiness of the latter was not due wholly to its larger dimensions, +but must be attributed in part to its composition. A great portion of +the troops transported from China were not Mongols, but Chinese, who +had been recently fighting against the Yuan, and whose despatch on a +foreign campaign in the service of their victors suggested itself as +a politic measure. These men were probably not averse to delay and +certainly cannot have been very enthusiastic. + +In May, 1281, the flotilla from Korea appeared off Tsushima. +Unfortunately, the annals of medieval Japan are singularly reticent +as to the details of battles. There are no materials for constructing +a story of the events that occurred on the Tsushima shores, more than +six centuries ago. We do not even know what force the defenders of +the island mustered. But that they were much more numerous than on +the previous occasion, seven years before, is certain. Already, in +1280, Tokimune had obtained from Buddhist sources information of the +Mongol preparations--preparations so extensive that the felling of +timber to make ships inspired a Chinese poem in which the green hills +were depicted as mourning for their trees--and he would not have +failed to garrison strongly a position so cardinal as the midchannel +island of Tsushima. It was not reduced. The enemy were able to effect +a lodgement, but could not overrun the island or put its defenders to +the sword, as had been done in 1274. The Korean ships remained at +Tsushima awaiting the arrival of the Chinese flotilla. They lost +three thousand men from sickness during this interval, and were +talking of retreat when the van of the southern armada hove in sight. +A junction was effected off the coast of Iki island, and the garrison +of this little place having been destroyed on June 10th, the combined +forces stood over towards Kyushu and landed at various places along +the coast of Chikuzen, making Hakozaki Bay their base. + +Such a choice of locality was bad, for it was precisely along the +shores of this bay that the Japanese had erected fortifications. They +were not very formidable fortifications, it is true. The bushi of +these days knew nothing about bastions, curtains, glacis, or cognate +refinements of military engineering. They simply built a stone wall +to block the foe's advance, and did not even adopt the precaution of +protecting their flanks. But neither did they fall into the error of +acting entirely on the defensive. On the contrary, they attacked +alike on shore and at sea. Their boats were much smaller than those +of the invaders, but the advantage in dash and daring was all on the +side of the Japanese. So furious were their onsets, and so deadly was +the execution they wrought with their trenchant swords at close +quarters, that the enemy were fain to lash their ships together and +lay planks between them for purposes of speedy concentration. It is +most improbable that either the Korean or the Chinese elements of the +invading army had any heart for the work, whereas on the side of the +defenders there are records of whole families volunteering to serve +at the front. During fifty-three days the campaign continued; that is +to say, from June 23rd, when the first landing was effected, until +August 14th, when a tornado swept off the face of the sea the main +part of the Yuan armada. + +No account has been preserved, either traditionally or historically, +of the incidents or phases of the long fight. We know that the +invaders occupied the island of Hirado and landed in Hizen a strong +force intended to turn the flank of the Hakozaki Bay parapet. We +know, inferentially, that they never succeeded in turning it. We know +that, after nearly two months of incessant combat, the Yuan armies +had made no sensible impression on the Japanese resistance or +established any footing upon Japanese soil. We know that, on August +the 14th and 15th, there burst on the shores of Kyushu a tempest +which shattered nearly the whole of the Chinese flotilla. And we know +that the brunt of the loss fell on the Chinese contingent, some +twelve thousand of whom were made slaves. But no such momentous +chapter of history has ever been traced in rougher outlines. The +annalist is compelled to confine himself to marshalling general +results. It was certainly a stupendous disaster for the Yuan arms. +Yet Kublai was not content; he would have essayed the task again had +not trouble nearer home diverted his attention from Japan. The Island +Empire had thus the honour of being practically the only state in the +Orient that did not present tribute to the all-conquering Mongols. + +But, by a strangely wayward fate, these victories over a foreign +invader brought embarrassment to the Hojo rulers rather than renown. +In the first place, there could not be any relaxation of the +extraordinary preparations which such incidents dictated. Kublai's +successor, Timur, lost no time in countermanding all measures for a +renewed attack on Japan, and even adopted the plan of commissioning +Buddhist priests to persuade the Bakufu of China's pacific +intentions. One of these emissaries, Nei-issan (Chinese +pronunciation, Ning I-shan), settled permanently in Japan, and his +holy ministrations as a Zen-shu propagandist won universal respect. +But the Bakufu did not relax their precautions, and for more than a +score of years a heavy burden of expense had to be borne on this +account. + +Further, when the wave of invasion broke on the shores of Kyushu, the +Court in Kyoto set the example of appealing to the assistance of +heaven. Prayers were offered, liturgies were chanted, and incense was +burned at many temples and shrines throughout the empire. Several of +the priests did not hesitate to assert that their supplications had +elicited signs and portents indicating supernatural aid. Rich rewards +were bestowed in recognition of these services, whereas, on the +contrary, the recompense given to the soldiers who had fought so +gallantly and doggedly to beat off a foreign foe was comparatively +petty. Means of recompensing them were scant. When Yoritomo overthrew +the Taira, the estates of the latter were divided among his followers +and co-operators. After the Shokyu disturbance, the property of the +Court nobles served a similar purpose. But the repulse of the Mongols +brought no access of wealth to the victors, and for the first time +military merit had to go unrequited while substantial grants were +made to the servants of religion. The Bakufu, fully conscious of this +dangerous discrepancy, saw no resource except to order that strict +surveys should be made of many of the great estates, with a view to +their delimitation and reduction, if possible. This, however, was a +slow progress, and the umbrage that it caused was more than +commensurate with the results that accrued. Thus, to the Bakufu the +consequences of a war which should have strengthened allegiance and +gratitude were, on the contrary, injurious and weakening. + +ENGRAVING: FIVE STRING BIWA (JAPANESE MANDOLIN) + +ENGRAVING: KOTO, 13-STRINGED HORIZONTAL HARP + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +ART, RELIGION, LITERATURE, CUSTOMS, AND COMMERCE IN THE KAMAKURA +PERIOD + +ART + +From the establishment of the Bakufu, Japanese art separated into two +schools, that of Kamakura and that of Kyoto. The latter centered in +the Imperial Court, the former in the Court of the Hojo. Taken +originally from Chinese masters of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the +Kyoto art ultimately developed into the Japanese national school, +whereas the Kamakura art, borrowed from the academies of Sung and +Yuan, became the favourite of the literary classes and preserved its +Chinese traditions. Speaking broadly, the art of Kyoto showed a +decorative tendency, whereas that of Kamakura took landscape and +seascape chiefly for motives, and, delighting in the melancholy +aspects of nature, appealed most to the student and the cenobite. +This distinction could be traced in calligraphy, painting, +architecture, and horticulture. Hitherto penmanship in Kyoto had +taken for models the style of Kobo Daishi and Ono no Tofu. This was +called o-ie-fu (domestic fashion), and had a graceful and cursive +character. But the Kamakura calligraphists followed the pure Chinese +mode (karayo), as exemplified by the Buddhist priests, Sogen (Chu +Yuan) and Ichinei (I Ning). + +In Kyoto, painting was represented by the schools of Koze, Kasuga, +Sumiyoshi, and Tosa; in Kamakura, its masters were Ma Yuan, Hsia +Kwei, and Mu Hsi, who represented the pure Southern Academy of China, +and who were followed by Sesshu, Kao, and Shubun. So, too, the art of +horticulture, though there the change was a transition from the stiff +and comparatively artificial fashion of the no-niwa (moor garden) to +the pure landscape park, ultimately developed into a Japanese +specialty. Tradition ascribes to a Chinese bonze, who called himself +Nei-issan (or Ichinei), the planning of the first landscape garden, +properly so designated in Japan. He arrived in Kyushu, under the name +of I Ning, as a delegate from Kublai Khan in the days of Hojo +Sadatoki, and was banished, at first, to the province of Izu. +Subsequently, however, the Bakufu invited him to Kamakura and +assigned the temple Kencho-ji for his residence and place of +ministrations. It was there that he designed the first landscape +garden, furnishing suggestions which are still regarded as models. + +LITERATURE + +The conservatism of the Imperial city is conspicuously illustrated in +the realm of literature. Careful perusal of the well-known work, +Masukagami, shows that from year's end to year's end the same +pastimes were enjoyed, the same studies pursued The composition of +poetry took precedence of everything. Eminent among the poetasters of +the twelfth century was the Emperor Go-Toba. The litterateurs of his +era looked up to him as the arbiter elegantiarum, especially in the +domain of Japanese versification. Even more renown attached to +Fujiwara no Toshinari, whose nom de plume was Shunzei, and who earned +the title of the "Matchless Master." His son, Sadaiye, was well-nigh +equally famous under the name of Teika. + +After the Shokyu disturbance (1221), the empire enjoyed a long spell +of peace under the able and upright sway of the Hojo, and during that +time it became the custom to compile anthologies. The first to essay +that task was Teika. Grieving that the poets of his time had begun to +prefer affectation and elegance to sincerity and simplicity, he +withdrew to a secluded villa on Mount Ogura, and there selected, a +hundred poems by as many of the ancient authors. These he gave to the +world, calling the collection Hyakunin-isshu, and succeeding +generations endorsed his choice so that the book remains a classic to +this day. Teika's son, Tameiye, won such favour in the eyes of the +Kamakura shogun, Sanetomo, that the latter conferred on him the manor +of Hosokawa, in Harima. Dying, Tameiye bequeathed this property to +his son, Tamesuke, but he, being robbed of it by his step-brother, +fell into a state of miserable poverty which was shared by his +mother, herself well known as an authoress under the name of +Abutsu-ni. This intrepid lady, leaving her five sons in Kyoto, +repaired to Kamakura to bring suit against the usurper, and the +journal she kept en route--the Izayoi-nikki--is still regarded as a +model of style and sentiment. It bears witness to the fact that +students of poetry in that era fell into two classes: one adhering to +the pure Japanese style of the Heian epoch; the others borrowing +freely from Chinese literature. + +Meanwhile, at Kamakura, the Bakufu regents, Yasutoki, Tokiyori and +Tokimune, earnest disciples of Buddhism, were building temples and +assigning them to Chinese priests of the Sung and Yuan eras who +reached Japan as official envoys or as frank propagandists. Five +great temples thus came into existence in the Bakufu capital, and as +the Chinese bonzes planned and superintended their construction, +these buildings and their surroundings reflected the art-canons at +once of China, of Japan, and of the priests themselves. The same +foreign influence made itself felt in the region of literature. But +we should probably be wrong in assuming that either religion or art +or literature for their own sakes constituted the sole motive of the +Hojo regents in thus acting. It has already been shown that they +welcomed the foreign priests as channels for obtaining information +about the neighbouring empire's politics, and there is reason to +think that their astute programme included a desire to endow Kamakura +with an artistic and literary atmosphere of its own, wholly +independent of Kyoto and purged of the enervating elements that +permeated the latter. + +This separation of the civilizations of the east (Kwanto) and the +west (Kyoto) resulted ultimately in producing asceticism and +religious reform. The former, because men of really noble instincts +were insensible to the ambition which alone absorbed a Kyoto +litterateur--the ambition of figuring prominently in an approved +anthology--and had, at the same time, no inclination to follow the +purely military creed of Kamakura. Such recluses as Kamo Chomei, +Saigyo Hoshi and Yoshida Kenko were an outcome of these conditions. +Chomei has been called the "Wordsworth of Japan." He is immortalized +by a little book of thirty pages, called Hojoki (Annals of a Cell.) +It is a volume of reflections suggested by life in a hut measuring +ten feet square and seven feet high, built in a valley remote from +the stir of life. The style is pellucid and absolutely unaffected; +the ideas are instinct with humanity and love of nature. Such a work, +so widely admired, reveals an author and an audience instinct with +graceful thoughts. + +In the career of Saigyo--"the reverend," as his title "hoshi" +signifies--there were episodes vividly illustrating the manners and +customs of the tune. Originally an officer of the guards in Kyoto, he +attained considerable skill in military science and archery, but his +poetic heart rebelling against such pursuits, he resigned office, +took the tonsure, and turning his back upon his wife and children, +became a wandering bard. Yoritomo encountered him one day, and was so +struck by his venerable appearance that he invited him to his mansion +and would have had him remain there permanently. But Saigyo declined. +On parting, the Minamoto chief gave him as souvenir a cat chiselled +in silver, which the old ascetic held in such light esteem that he +bestowed it on the first child he met. Yoshida Kenko, who became a +recluse in 1324, is counted among the "four kings" of Japanese +poetry--Ton-a, Joben, Keiun, and Kenko. He has been called the +"Horace of Japan." In his celebrated prose work, Weeds of Tedium +(Tsure-zure-gusa), he seems to reveal a lurking love for the vices he +satirizes. These three authors were all pessimistic. They reflected +the tendency of the time. + +RELIGION + +The earliest Buddhist sect established in Japan was the Hosso. It +crossed from China in A.D. 653, and its principal place of worship +was the temple Kofuku-ji at Nara. Then (736) followed the Kegon sect, +having its headquarters in the Todai-ji, where stands the colossal +Daibutsu of Nara, Next in order was the Tendai, introduced from China +by Dengyo in 805, and established at Hiei-zan in the temple +Enryaku-ji; while fourth and last in the early group of important +sects came the Shingon, brought from China in 809 by Kukai, and +having its principal metropolitan place of worship at Gokoku-ji (or +To-ji) in Kyoto, and its principal provincial at Kongobo-ji on +Koya-san. These four sects and some smaller ones were all introduced +during a period of 156 years. Thereafter, for a space of 387 years, +there was no addition to the number: things remained stationary until +1196, when Honen began to preach the doctrines of the Jodo sect, and +in the space of fifty-six years, between 1196 and 1252, three other +sects were established, namely, the Zen, the Shin, and the Nichiren. + +THE TWO GROUPS OF SECTS + +In what did the teachings of the early groups of sects differ from +those of the later groups, and why did such a long interval separate +the two? Evidently the answers to these questions must have an +important bearing on Japanese moral culture. From the time of its +first introduction (A.D. 522) into Japan until the days of Shotoku +Taishi (572-621), Japanese Buddhism followed the lines indicated in +the land of its provenance, Korea. Prince Shotoku was the first to +appreciate China as the true source of religious learning, and by him +priests were sent across the sea to study. But the first sect of any +importance--the Hosso--that resulted from this movement does not seem +to have risen above the level of idolatry and polytheism. It was a +"system built up on the worship of certain perfected human beings +converted into personal gods; it affirmed the eternal permanence of +such beings in some state or other, and it gave them divine +attributes."* Some of these were companions and disciples of Shaka +(Sakiya Muni); others, pure creations of fancy, or borrowed from the +mythological systems of India. It is unnecessary here to enter into +any enumeration of these deities further than to say that, as helpers +of persons in trouble, as patrons of little children, as healers of +the sick, and as dispensers of mercy, they acted an important part in +the life of the people. But they did little or nothing to improve +men's moral and spiritual condition, and the same is true of a +multitude of arhats, devas, and other supernatural beings that go to +make up a numerous pantheon. + +*Lloyd's Developments of Japanese Buddhism, "Transactions of the +Asiatic Society of Japan," Vol. XXII; and Shinran and His Work, by +the same author. + +It was not until the end of the eighth century that Japanese Buddhism +rose to a higher level, and the agent of its elevation was Dengyo +Daishi, whom the Emperor Kwammu sent to China to study the later +developments of the Indian faith. Dengyo and his companions in 802 +found their way to the monastery of Tientai (Japanese, Tendai), and +acquired there a perception of the true road to Saving Knowledge, a +middle route "which includes all and rejects none, and in which alone +the soul can be satisfied." Meditation and wisdom were declared to be +the stepping-stones to this route, and to reach them various rules +had to be followed, namely, "the accomplishment of external +means"--such as observing the precepts, regulating raiment and food, +freedom from all worldly concerns and influences, promotion of all +virtuous desires, and so forth; "chiding of evil desires"--such as +the lust after beauty, the lust of sound, of perfumes, of taste, and +of touch; "casting away hindrances;" "harmonizing the faculties," and +"meditating upon absolute truth." + +Now first we meet with the Buddhas of Contemplation, and with a creed +which seems to embody a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit. Such, in +briefest outline, was the doctrine taught at the close of the sixth +century by a Chinese bonze at the monastery of Tientai, and carried +thence to Japan two hundred years later by Dengyo, who established +the Tendai sect on Mount Hiei near Kyoto. Dengyo did not borrow +blindly; he adapted, and thus the Tendai creed, as taught at +Hiei-zan, became in reality "a system of Japanese education, fitting +the disciplinary and meditative methods of the Chinese propagandist +on the pre-existing foundations of earlier sects." + +"The comprehensiveness of the Tendai system caused it to be the +parent of many schisms. Out of it came all the large sects, with the +exception of the Shingon," to be presently spoken of. "On the other +hand, this comprehensiveness ensured the success of the Tendai sect. +With the conception of the Buddhas of Contemplation came the idea +that these personages had frequently been incarnated for the welfare +of mankind; that the ancient gods whom the Japanese worshipped were +but manifestations of these same mystical beings, and that the +Buddhist faith had come, not to destroy the native Shinto, but to +embody it into a higher and more universal system."* + +*"The Buddhists recognized that the Shinto gods were incarnations of +some of the many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas brought from India and +China, and then the two faiths amalgamated and for centuries +comfortably shared the same places of worship."--Every-Day Japan, by +Lloyd. + +THE SHINGON SECT + +It was not to Dengyo, however, that Japan owed her most mysterious +form of Buddhism, but to his contemporary, Kukai, remembered by +posterity as Kobo Daishi. The traditions that have been handed down +with reference to this great teacher's life and personality reveal +one of those saints whose preaching and ministration have bestowed a +perpetual blessing on humanity. Here, it must suffice to say that he +found no peace of mind until a visit to China brought comprehension +of a Sutra which he had vainly studied in Japan. On his return, in +806, he appeared before the emperor and many bonzes, and astonished +all by his eloquence and his knowledge. + +There are three "vehicles" in Buddhism, but only two of them need be +mentioned here--the Hina-yana, or Small Vehicle, and the Maha-yana, +or Great Vehicle. The term "vehicle" signifies a body of doctrine on +which "a believer may ride to the perfect consummation of his +humanity." The difference between these two requires many words to +explain fully, whereas only a few can be devoted to the purpose here. +"The Hina-yana Sutra is intended for beginners; the Maha-yana for +those more advanced in the path of the law." The teaching in the +former is negative; in the latter, positive. In the Hina-yana the +perfect path is to abstain from four things--women, palaces, +beautiful objects, and riches. In the Maha-yana perfect virtue is the +presence of four things--the spirit of wisdom, the love of virtue, +patience and firmness, and the retired life. By the "spirit of +wisdom" is meant the constant desire for the truth; by the "love +of virtue" is signified the abhorrence of evil; by "patience and +firmness" are indicated perfect manliness as exhibited towards +the weak; by "the retired life" is designated humility and +self-effacement. + +"There is nothing in the world like the Chinese scriptures of the +Maha-yana. The canon in China is seven hundred times the amount of +the New Testament," and, of course, this vast extent means that there +is a correspondingly wide field for eclecticism. "The Hina-yana did +not trouble itself with metaphysical speculation; that was reserved +for the Maha-yana, and Kukai was the greatest Japanese teacher of the +arcana of Buddhism. How much of his system he owed to studies +conducted in China, how much to his own inspiration, research has not +yet determined. An essentially esoteric system, it conceived a world +of ideas," grouped logically and systematically according to genera +and species, forming a planetary cosmos, the members of which, with +their satellites, revolved not only on their own axes but also round +a central sun. + +This was the "world of golden effulgence"--a world permeated by the +light of truth. The sect was called the Shingon (True Word); and the +central body was Dainichi (Great Sun), the Spirit of Truth, anterior +to Shaka and greater than him. "To reach the realization of the Truth +that Dainichi is omnipresent and that everything exists only in him, +a disciple must ascend by a double ladder, each half of which has ten +steps, namely, the intellectual ladder and the moral ladder." These +ladders constitute, in fact, a series of precepts, warnings, and +exhortations; some easily comprehensible, others demanding profound +thought, and the whole calculated to educate an absorbing aspiration +for the "transcendental virtues," to possess which is to attain to +perfect Buddhahood. Unquestionably the offspring of a great mind, +this Shingon system, with its mysterious possibilities and its lofty +morality, appealed strongly to the educated and leisured classes in +Kyoto during the peaceful Heian epoch, while for the illiterate and +the lower orders the simpler canons of the Tendai had to suffice. + +THE JODO SECT + +It has been shown, however, that the preachers of these sects, one +and all, were readily prone to resort to violence and bloodshed in +pursuit of worldly interests, not even the exponents of the exalted +"True Word" creed being exempt from the reproach. Teachers of a +doctrine having for cardinal tenet the sacredness of life, the +inmates of the great monasteries nevertheless did not hesitate to +appeal to arms, at any time, in defence of their temporal privileges +or in pursuit of their ambitious designs. Yet the discredit attaching +to such a flagrant discrepancy between precept and practice might not +have produced very signal result had not the twelfth century brought +the Gen-Hei struggle, which plunged the empire into a state of +turbulence and reduced the lower orders to a condition of pitiable +misery. + +For this distress neither the Tendai doctrines nor the Shingon +conceptions were sufficiently simple to supply a remedy. Something +more tangible and less recondite was needed, and it came (1196), in +the sequel of twenty-five years' meditation and study, to +Genku--posthumously called Honen Shonin--a priest of the Tendai sect. +The leading characteristics of the Jodo (pure land) system introduced +by him are easily stated. "Salvation is by faith, but it is a faith +ritually expressed. The virtue that saves comes, not from imitation +of, and conformity to, the person and character of the saviour, +Amida, but from blind trust in his efforts and from ceaseless +repetition of pious formulae. It does not necessitate any conversion +or change of heart. It is really a religion of despair rather than of +hope. It says to the believer: 'The world is so very evil that you +can not possibly reach to Buddha-ship here. Your best plan, +therefore, is to give up all such hope and simply set your mind upon +being born in Amida's paradise after death.'"* + +*Lloyd's Development of Japanese Buddhism and Shinran and His Work. + +THE SHIN SECT + +An immediate offspring of the Jodo, though not directly following it +in the chronological sequence of sects, was the Shin, established +(1224) under the name of Jodo Shin-shu* (True Sect of Jodo), and +owing its inception to Shinran, a pupil of Genku. It was even simpler +and less exacting than its parent, the Jodo-shu, for it logically +argued that if faith alone was necessary to salvation, the believer +need not trouble himself about metaphysical subtleties and profound +speculations; nor need he perform acts of religion and devotion; nor +need he keep a multitude of commandments; nor need he leave his home, +renounce matrimony, or live by rule. Only he must not worship any +save Amida, or pray for anything that does not concern his salvation. +As for the time of attaining salvation, the Jodo sect taught that if +the mercy of Amida be called to remembrance, he would meet the +believer at the hour of death and conduct him to paradise; whereas +Shin-shu preaches that the coming of Amida was present and immediate; +in other words, that "Buddha dwelt in the heart now by faith." + +*It is called also the Monto-shu. + +THE ZEN SECT + +In the Jodo and the Shin sects an ample spiritual rest was provided +for the weary in mind or body, for the illiterate, and for the +oppressed. But there was for a time no creed which appealed specially +to the military men; no body of doctrine which, while strengthening +him for the fight, could bring to him peace of mind. The Zen-shu +ultimately satisfied that want. Zen is the Japanese equivalent of the +Indian term dhyana, which signifies "meditation." In fact, the Zen is +a contemplative sect. Its disciples believe that, "knowledge can be +transmitted from heart to heart without the intervention of words." +But though purely a contemplative rite at the time of its +introduction into Japan, 1168, it was subsequently modified--from +1223--by two teachers, in whose hands it took the form known as the +Soto sect. This "joined scholarship and research to contemplation," +and taught that, when the highest wisdom and most perfect +enlightenment are attained, all the elements of phenomenal existence +are seen to be empty, vain, and unreal. "Form does not differ from +space or space from form; all things surrounding us are stripped of +their qualities, so that in this highest state of enlightenment, +there can be no longer birth or death, defilement or purity, addition +or destruction. There is, therefore, no such thing as ignorance, and +therefore none of the miseries that result from it. If there is no +misery, decay, or death, there is no such thing as wisdom, and no +such thing as attaining to happiness or rest. Hence, to arrive at +perfect emancipation we must grasp the fact of utter and entire +void." Such a creed effectually fortified the heart of a soldier. +Death ceased to have any terrors for him or the grave any reality. + +ENGRAVING: NICHIREN PREACHING IN THE STREET + +THE NICHIREN SECT + +This is the only one among Japanese sects of Buddhism that derives +its name from that of its founder. And justly so, for Nichiren's +personality pervades it. The son of a fisherman, from youth he +applied himself to the study of Buddhism, became a bonze of the +Shingon sect, and took the name of Nichiren (lotus of the sun). He, +too, studied originally at Hiei-zan under Tendai tutors, but he +ultimately followed an eclectic path of his own, which led him to the +"Scripture of the Lotus of Good Law," and he taught that salvation +could be attained merely by chaunting the formula, "namu myo ho renge +kyo" ("hail to the Scripture of the Lotus of Good Law") with +sufficient fervour and iteration. In fact, Nichiren's methods partook +of those of the modern Salvation Army. He was distinguished, also, by +the fanatical character of his propagandism. Up to his time, Japanese +Buddhism had been nothing if not tolerant. The friars were quick to +take up arms for temporal purposes, but sectarian aggressiveness was +virtually unknown until Nichiren undertook to denounce everyone +differing from his views.* His favourite formula for denouncing other +sects was, "nembutsu mugen, Zen temma, Shingon bokoku, Ritsu +kokuzoku" ("incantations are phantasms; the Zen is a demon; the +Shingon, national ruin; and the Ritsu, a rebel"). Nichiren gained +great credit for predicting, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, that +a heavy calamity was about to fall upon the country, but owing to an +accusation of political intrigues, he was first condemned to be +beheaded, and then was banished to the island of Sado. His sentence +was soon revoked, however, by the regent Tokimune, who granted him +written permission to propagate his doctrines. Thereafter the spread +of his sect was very rapid. + +*Out of some 72,000 temples in Japan to-day, 20,000, approximately, +belong to the Shin sect; an equal number to the Zen; 13.000 to the +Shingon; 8000 to the Jodo; and smaller numbers to the rest. + +THE PEOPLE + +With the decentralization of the administrative power there was a +corresponding growth of the vassal class. Of course the Court nobles +had vassals in their households, but the power exercised over these +vassals had legal limits, whereas the vassals of the provincial +chiefs were liable to imprisonment or even death by order of their +chiefs. One result was that the provinces came gradually into +possession of a large body of men skilled in arms and in +administration. Moreover, among these provincial vassals, men +originally of humble origin, found themselves raised to the level of +honoured subjects, and a man's status came to be determined by his +occupation rather than by his lineage. The lines of this new +discrimination were fourfold, namely, shi, no, ko, sho--that is to +say, military, agricultural, industrial, and commercial. The +tradesman stood at the bottom of the scale, and the farmer, as the +principal taxpayer, ranked next to the military man. It will be +observed that this classification does not include any persons whose +occupation involved pollution. This was a result of religious +prejudice. Degradation attended every profession that required +contact with the sick, the dead, or offal of any kind. Persons +practising such callings were designated eta (men of many +impurities). All belonging to the class inferior to tradesmen were +originally regarded as outlaws, but subsequently, when society was +reorganized on a military basis, an official was specially entrusted +with absolute control over persons excluded from the quadruple +classification of soldier, farmer, mechanic, and merchant. Beggars +constituted an important section of the outcasts (hiniri). Next to +them were professional caterers for amusement, from dog-trainers, +snake-charmers, riddle-readers, acrobats, and trainers of animals, to +brothel-keepers and executioners. + +DWELLING-HOUSES + +During the two centuries from the middle of the twelfth, aristocratic +dwellings in the capital underwent little change. Military +residences, however, developed some special features, though, in +general, their architecture was of the simplest character. They had +two enclosures, each surrounded by a boarded fence, and the whole was +encircled by a fosse crossed by outer and inner gates. There were +ranges for archery and there were watch-towers, but the dwelling +itself was small and plain. It consisted mainly of a hall, having a +dais with a lacquered chair for important visitors; an apartment for +women; a servants' room, and a kitchen, heat being obtained from a +hearth sunk in the floor. Austere simplicity was everywhere aimed at, +and it is related that great provincial chiefs did not think the +veranda too lowly for a sleeping-place. The use of the tatami was +greatly extended after the twelfth century. No longer laid on the +dais only, these mats were used to cover the whole of the floors, and +presently they were supplemented by cushions made of silk crepe +stuffed with cotton-wool. In the great majority of cases, roofs were +covered with boards. Only in the houses of magnates was recourse had +to tiles imported from China or slates of copper-bronze. In the +better class of house, the roof-boards were held in place by girders, +but humble folks used logs of timber, or stones, to prevent +wind-stripping, and these weights imparted an untidy, rude appearance +to the structure. + +COSTUME + +A notable feature of costume in this era was that the skirt of an +official's outer garment had to be long in proportion to his rank. +But military men did not observe this rule. It was followed only by +the comparatively effeminate Court nobles and civil officials, who +shaved their eyebrows, painted their cheeks, and blackened their +teeth, as women did. While the soldiers of the Kamakura period wore +their hair short and shaved the top of the head,--possibly for +greater comfort when they were accoutred in heavy helmets,--the Court +noble and the exquisite of the day wore their hair long and gathered +in a queue which was bound with paper. + +As for women, long hair was counted a beauty, and when a lady of rank +left the house, her tresses were gathered in a box carried by an +attendant who walked behind; and when she seated herself, this +attendant's duty was to spread the hair symmetrically on the ground +like a skirt. Girls in their teens had a pretty fashion of wearing +their hair in three clearly distinguished lengths--a short fringe +over the forehead, two cascades falling below the shoulders, and a +long lock behind. Women's hairdressing was simple in one respect: +they wore no ornaments in the hair. Aristocratic ladies continued to +wear loose trousers, but robes with skirts began to form a part of +the costume of the lower classes and of unmarried girls. The girdle, +so characteristic of Japanese habiliments in later days, had not yet +come into use. Its predecessor was a narrow belt of silk encircling +the waist and knotted in front, the outer garment being a long +flowing robe, reaching from the neck to the heels and having +voluminous sleeves. Female headgear was various. A woman walking +abroad wore a large hat like an inverted bowl, and when she rode on +horseback, she suspended from the rim of this hat a curtain from +three to four feet long. + +There were other fashions, but only one of them need be mentioned, +namely, a hood to envelop the face so that the eyes alone remained +visible. In the city streets women of the town wore a distinctive +costume as courtesans did in certain parts of Europe in the Middle +Ages. The badge in Japan was a spirally twisted pyramidal cap of +linen, about a foot and a half high. The materials of which clothing +were made varied from rich Chinese brocade to coarse homespun, but, +in general, the use of brocade was forbidden except to persons who +had received it as a gift from the Court in Kyoto or Kamakura. +Historical mention is first made of badges during the war of the +Minamoto and the Taira. Their use was originally confined to purposes +of distinction, and ultimately they came to be employed as a family +crest by military men. A chrysanthemum flower with sixteen petals and +a bunch of Paulownia leaves and buds constituted the Imperial badges, +the use of which was interdicted to all subjects. It is not to be +supposed, however, that badges were necessarily a mark of +aristocracy: they might be woven or dyed on the garments of +tradespeople or manufacturers. Footgear, also, offered opportunities +for embellishment. Common people wore brown-leather socks, but those +of position used blue leather having decorative designs embroidered +in white thread. + +BRAZIERS, ETC. + +Braziers now came into general use, and quickly became objects of +ornament as well as of utility. Manufactured of brass or bronze, and +sometimes even of silver, they had decorative designs repousse or +chiselled, and sometimes they took the shape of a metal receptacle +inserted in a case of finely grained or richly lacquered wood. +Another important warming utensil was the kotatsu, a latticed wooden +frame enclosing a brazier and covered by a quilt. Lanterns were also +employed. They consisted of a candle fixed in a skeleton frame on +which an envelope of thin paper was stretched. Their introduction was +quickly followed by that of a kind of match which took the form of a +thin piece of wood tipped with sulphur. + +DIET + +The military class did not allow themselves to be influenced by any +religious scruples in their choice of viands. They ate everything +except the flesh of oxen or horses. In serving meals, tables of +Chinese form ceased altogether to be used, edibles being placed on a +tray which stood about four inches high. These trays and cups, and +the bowls and plates ranged on them, showed great refinement, rich +lacquer, silver, and gold being freely used in aristocratic +dwellings. + +AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY + +Agriculture was, of course, greatly interrupted by the long +continuance of military campaigns; but, on the other hand, it +received every encouragement from the Minamoto and the Hojo. The most +important incident of the era in this context was the introduction of +the tea-shrub from China in 1191. As for industrial pursuits, signal +progress took place in the art of tempering steel. The Japanese +swordsmith forged the most trenchant weapon ever produced by any +nation. The ceramic industry, also, underwent great development from +the thirteenth century onwards. It may be said to have owed its +artistic beginning to Kato Shirozaemon Kagemasa, who visited China at +that time, and "learned the art of applying glaze to pottery biscuit, +a feat not previously achieved in Japan." Another profession carried +to high excellence was the sculpturing of Buddhist images. This +reached its acme in a celebrated bronze Buddha which was set up at +Kamakura, in 1252, and which remains to this day "one of the most +majestic creations of art in any country." + +SUMPTUARY EDICTS + +The laws enacted by the Hojo regents bear ample testimony to their +desire of enforcing frugality. In the middle of the thirteenth +century, they went so far as to interdict the brewing of sake +throughout the empire, and another ordinance vetoed the serving of +cakes at meals. Such interdicts could not possibly be strictly +enforced, but they undoubtedly exercised much influence, so that the +samurai limited themselves to two meals a day and partook only of the +coarsest fare. + +ENGRAVING: WRESTLERS + +ENGRAVING: DAIMYO'S GATE + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +FALL OF THE HOJO AND RISE OF THE ASHIKAGA + +THE DAYS OF SADATOKI + +WITH the accession (1284) of the seventh Hojo regent, Sadatoki, the +prosperous era of the Bakufu came to an end. Sadatoki himself seems +to have been a man of much ability and fine impulses. He succeeded +his father, Tokimune, at the age of fourteen, and during nine years +he remained under the tutelage of the prime minister, Taira no +Yoritsuna, thereafter taking the reins of government into his own +hands. The annals are unfortunately defective at this, period. They +fail to explain the reason for Sadatoki's retirement and adoption of +religion, in 1301, after eight years of active rule. It may be that +the troubles of the time disgusted him. For alike politically and +financially an evil state of affairs prevailed. In 1286, the Adachi +clan, falling under suspicion of aiming at the shogunate, was +extirpated. A few years later, the same fate overtook Taira no +Yoritsuna, who had been the chief accuser of the Adachi, and who, +being now charged by his own first-born with coveting the regency +(shikken), was put to death with his second son and all his +retainers. Yet again, three years subsequently to this latter +tragedy, Yoshimi, a scion of Yoritomo's brother, the unfortunate +Yoshinori, fell a victim to accusations of treachery, and it needed +no great insight to appreciate that the Bakufu was becoming a house +divided against itself. + +It was at this time, also, that the military families of the Kwanto +in general and of Kamakura in particular began to find their incomes +distressingly inadequate to meet the greatly increased and constantly +increasing outlays that resulted from following the costly customs of +Kyoto as reflected at the shogun's palace. Advantage was taken of +this condition by professional money-lenders, by ambitious nobles, +and even by wealthy farmers, who, supplying funds at exorbitant rates +of interest, obtained possession of valuable estates. The Bakufu made +several futile legislative essays to amend this state of affairs, and +finally, in the year 1297, they resorted to a ruinous device called +tokusei, or the "benevolent policy." This consisted in enacting a law +which vetoed all suits for the recovery of interest, cancelled all +mortgages, and interdicted the pledging of military men's property. + +Of course, such legislation proved disastrous. Whatever temporary +relief it afforded to indigent and improvident debtors, was far +outweighed by the blow given to credit generally, and by the +indignation excited among creditors. The Bakufu owed much of the +stability of their influence to the frugality of their lives and to +their unsullied administration of justice. But now the Kwanto bushi +rivalled the Kyoto gallants in extravagance; the Kamakura tribunals +forfeited the confidence of the people, and the needy samurai began +to wish for the return of troublous times, when fortunes could be won +with the sword. Amid such conditions Sadatoki took the tonsure in +1300, and was succeeded nominally by his cousin Morotoki, who, +however, administered affairs in consultation with the retired +regent. In 1303, a son was born to Sadatoki, and the latter, dying in +1311, bequeathed the office of regent to this boy when he should +reach years of discretion, entrusting him, meanwhile, to the +guardianship of two officials, the more active of whom was a lay +priest, Nagasaki Enki. + +An idea of the confusion existing at that time in Kamakura may be +gathered from the fact that, during the five years between the death +of Sadatoki and the accession of his son Takatoki (1316), no less +than four members of the Hojo family held the regency in succession. +Takatoki was destined to be the last of the Hojo regents. Coming into +power at the age of thirteen, his natural giddiness of character is +said to have been deliberately encouraged by his guardian, Nagasaki, +but even had he been a stronger man it is doubtful whether he could +have saved the situation. Corruption had eaten deeply into the heart +of the Bakufu. In 1323, a question concerning right of succession to +the Ando estate was carried to Kamakura for adjudication, and the +chief judge, Nagasaki Takasuke, son of the old lay priest mentioned +above, having taken bribes from both of the litigants, delivered an +inscrutable opinion. Save for its sequel, this incident would merely +have to be catalogued with many cognate injustices which disfigured +the epoch. But the Ando family being one of the most powerful in +northern Japan, its rival representatives appealed to arms in support +of their respective claims, and the province of Oshu was thrown into +such confusion that a force had to be sent from Kamakura to restore +order. This expedition failed, and with its failure the prestige of +the Hojo fell in a region where hitherto it had been untarnished--the +arena of arms. The great Japanese historian, Rai Sanyo, compared the +Bakufu of that time to a tree beautiful outwardly but worm-eaten at +the core, and in the classical work, Taiheiki, the state of affairs +is thus described: + +The Dengaku mime was then in vogue among all classes in Kyoto. +Takatoki, hearing of this, summoned two rival troupes of Dengaku +players to Kamakura and witnessed their performances without regard +to the passage of time. He distributed the members of the troupes +among the noble families related to the Hojo, and made these nobles +compete to furnish the performers with magnificent costumes. At a +banquet when a Dengaku mime was acted, the regent and his guests vied +with one another in pulling off their robes and throwing them into a +heap, to be redeemed afterwards for heavy sums which were given to +the actors. The custom thus inaugurated became perpetual. One day, a +number of dogs gathered in the garden of Takatoki's mansion and had a +fight. This so amused the regent that orders were despatched to +collect dogs by way of taxes, the result being that many people in +the provinces took steps to breed dogs and presented them by tens or +scores to Kamakura, where they were fed on fish and fowl, kept in +kennels having gold and silver ornaments, and carried in palanquins +to take the air. When these distinguished animals were borne along +the public thoroughfares, people hastening hither and thither on +business had to dismount and kneel in obeisance, and farmers, instead +of cultivating the fields, had to act as bearers of the dogs' +sedan-chairs. Thus, the city of Kamakura presented the curious +spectacle of a town filled with well-fed dogs, clothed in tinsel and +brocades, and totalling from four to five thousand. Twelve days in +every month used to be devoted to dog-fights, and on these occasions, +the regent, the nobles, and the people inside and outside the mansion +used to assemble as spectators, sitting on the verandas or the +ground. + +THE COURT IN KYOTO + +All these things were watched with keen interest in Kyoto. It has +been shown in Chapter XXVI that the Imperial family had been divided +into two branches ever since the days of Go-Saga (1242-1246), one +descended from his elder son, Go-Fukakusa, the other from his +younger, Kameyama. These two branches may be conveniently +distinguished as the senior and the junior, respectively. It has also +been shown that the princes of the senior branch uniformly relied on +Kamakura and kept the Bakufu informed of all intrigues devised in +Kyoto, whereas those of the junior branch constantly cherished the +hope of reasserting the independence of the throne. A representative +of the junior branch, Go-Daigo (1318-1339), happened to be on the +throne when Takatoki, holding the regency at Kamakura, scandalized +the nation by his excesses and discredited the Hojo by his +incompetence. + +Go-Daigo was an able sovereign. He dispensed justice scrupulously and +made the good of the country his prime aim. It appeared to him that +the time had come for Kyoto to shake off the fetters of Kamakura. +With that object he took into his confidence two Fujiwara nobles, +Suketomo, a councillor of State, and Toshimoto, minister of Finance. +These he despatched on a secret tour of inspection through the +provinces, instructing them at the same time to canvass for adherents +among the local samurai. They met with considerable success. Among +the provincial families there were some of Taira origin who cherished +traditional hatred towards the Minamoto; there were some of Minamoto +blood who chafed at the supremacy of the Hojo, and there were some +who, independently of lineage, longed for a struggle and its +contingent possibilities. Leading representatives of these classes +began to hold conclaves in Kyoto. The meetings were marked by +complete absence of ceremony, their object being to promote free +interchange of ideas. Presently, suspicions were suggested to +Kamakura. The regent, Takatoki, who, though a careless libertine in +his habits, living in the society of his thirty concubines, his +troops of dancing mimes, and his packs of fighting dogs, was capable +of stern resolution on occasions, threatened to dethrone the Emperor. + +In this sore strait, Go-Daigo did not hesitate to make solemn avowal +of the innocence of his purpose, and Kamakura refrained from any +harsh action towards the Throne. But it fared ill with the +sovereign's chief confidant, Fujiwara no Suketomo. He was exiled to +Sado Island and there killed by Takatoki's instructions. This +happened in 1325. Connected with it was an incident which illustrates +the temper of the bushi. In spite of his mother's tearful +remonstrances, Kunimitsu, the thirteen-year-old son of the exiled +noble, set out from Kyoto for Sado to bid his father farewell. The +governor of the island was much moved by the boy's affection, but, +fearful of Kamakura, he refused to sanction a meeting and +commissioned one Homma Saburo, a member of his family, to kill the +prisoner. Kunimitsu determined to avenge his father, even at the +expense of his own life. During a stormy night, he effected an entry +into the governor's mansion, and, penetrating to Saburo's chamber, +killed him. The child then turned his weapon against his own bosom. +But, reflecting that he had his mother to care for, his sovereign to +serve, and his father's will to carry out, he determined to escape if +possible. The mansion was surrounded by a deep moat which he could +not cross. But a bamboo grew on the margin, and climbing up this, he +found that it bent with his weight so as to form a bridge. He reached +Kyoto in safety and ultimately attained the high post (chunagon) +which his father had held. + +THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE + +The year 1326 witnessed the decease of the Crown Prince, Kuninaga, +who represented the senior branch of the Imperial family. Thereupon, +Go-Daigo conceived the project of appointing his own son, Morinaga, +to be Prince Imperial. That would have given the sceptre twice in +succession to the junior branch, and the Bakufu regent, insisting +that the rule of alternate succession must be followed, proposed to +nominate Prince Kazuhito, a son of the cloistered Emperor, +Go-Fushimi, who belonged to the senior branch. The question was +vehemently discussed at Kamakura, Go-Daigo being represented by +Fujiwara no Fujifusa, and Go-Fushimi by another noble. The former +contended that never since the days of Jimmu had any subject dared to +impose his will on the Imperial family. Go-Saga's testament had +clearly provided the order of succession to the throne, yet the +Bakufu had ventured to set that testament aside and had dictated the +system of alternate succession. Thus, the princes of the elder branch +not only became eligible for the throne, but also enjoyed great +revenues from the Ghokodo estate, though it had been bequeathed as a +solatium for exclusion from the succession; whereas the princes of +the junior branch, when not occupying the throne, were without a foot +of land or the smallest source of income. Fujifusa was instructed to +claim that the usufruct of the Chokodo estate should alternate in the +same manner as the succession, or that the latter should be +perpetually vested in the junior branch. To this just demand the +regent, Takatoki, refused to accede. Kazuhito was named Prince +Imperial, and thus the seeds of a sanguinary struggle were sown. + +CONSPIRACY IN KYOTO + +Go-Daigo now conspired actively for the overthrow of the Hojo. He +took Prince Morinaga into his confidence, and, under the name Oto no +Miya, made him lord-abbot of the great monastery of Hiei-zan, thus +securing at once a large force of soldier cenobites. To the same end +other religious establishments were successfully approached. During +the space of five years this plot escaped Kamakura's attention. But, +in 1331, the Bakufu, becoming suspicious, laid hands on several of +the plotters and, subjecting them to judicial examination after the +merciless fashion of the age, soon elicited a part, at any rate, of +the truth. Yet Kamakura does not appear to have appreciated the +situation until, Go-Daigo having summoned the Enryaku monks to his +assistance, the cloistered Emperor of the senior branch, Go-Fushimi, +despatched an urgent message to the Bakufu, declaring that unless +prompt action were taken the situation would elude control. + +Hasty council was now held in Kamakura. Nagasaki Takasuke, the +corrupt kwanryo, advised that Go-Daigo should be dethroned and sent +into exile, together with Oto no Miya, and that all implicated in the +plot should be severely punished. This violent course was opposed by +Nikaido Sadafusa, who pleaded eloquently for the respect due to the +Throne, and contended that without the sovereign's favour the Bakufu +could not exist. But Takasuke's advice prevailed, re-enforced as it +was by reference to the Shokyu disturbance when vigorous daring had +won the day. With all possible expedition an army under the command +of Sadafusa marched from Kamakura for Kyoto. Advised of these doings, +Prince Morinaga persuaded the Emperor to change costumes with +Fujiwara Morokata; whereafter the latter, riding in the Imperial +palanquin, took ostensible refuge at Hiei-zan, and the sovereign, +travelling in a Court lady's ox-car, made his way, first, to Nara and +thence to Kasagi in Yamato, guarded by the troops of Fujiwara +Fujifusa. Rokuhara was then under the command of Hojo Nakatoki, and +upon him devolved the duty of seizing the Emperor's person. He +directed an army against Hiei-zan, where Go-Daigo was believed to +have found asylum. But Fujiwara Morokata, who personified the +sovereign, managed to escape, as did also Prince Morinaga (Oto no +Miya). Go-Daigo then sent to Kusunoki Masashige a mandate to raise +troops and move against the "rebels," for to that category the Hojo +now belonged in the absence of an Imperial commission. + +This Kusunoki Masashige (called Nanko) is one of Japan's ideal types +of loyalty and courage. He and Nitta Yoshisada are the central +figures in the long campaign upon which Japan now entered. Masashige +belonged to the Tachibana family, which stood second among the four +great septs of Japan--the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, the Minamoto, and +the Taira--and Yoshisada claimed kinship with the Minamoto. Receiving +Go-Daigo's order, Kusunoki Masashige quickly collected a troop of +local bushi and constructed entrenchments at Akasaka, a naturally +strong position in his native province of Kawachi. Takatoki now +caused Prince Kazuhito to be proclaimed sovereign under the name of +Kogon. But this monarch was not destined to find a place among the +recognized occupants of the throne. For a time, indeed, fortune +smiled on the Hojo. Within a few days after Kogon's assumption of the +sceptre, Go-Daigo's retreat at Kasagi became untenable, and he fled, +still escorted by the faithful Fujiwara Fujifusa. It must be +recognized that, whatever the Fujiwara family's usurpations in the +past, their loyalty to the Throne throughout this era of cruel +vicissitudes redeems a multitude of sins. + +During his flight from Kasagi, the Emperor was without food for three +days, and had to sleep with a rock for pillow. Overtaken by the +Rokuhara troops, his Majesty was placed in a bamboo palanquin and +carried to the temple Byodoin, where, after the battle of the Uji +Bridge, the aged statesman and general, Yorimasa, had fallen by his +own hand, a century and a half previously. Here Go-Daigo received a +peremptory order to surrender the Imperial insignia to the Hojo +nominee, Kogon. He refused. The mirror and gem, he alleged, had been +lost, and there remained only the sacred sword, which he kept to +defend himself against the traitors when they fell upon him. The high +courage of this answer would have been finer had Go-Daigo's statement +been true; but in reality the three insignia were intact. It was then +announced to his Majesty that he should be removed to Rokuhara where +he would be entirely in the power of the Hojo. Nevertheless, he +maintained his lofty bearing, and refused to make the journey unless +all appropriate forms of etiquette were observed. At Rokuhara the +demand for the insignia was repeated and the Emperor handed over +duplicates, secretly retaining the genuine articles himself. Takatoki +now issued orders for Go-Daigo to be removed to the island of Oki, +sent all the members of his family into exile elsewhere, and banished +or killed his principal supporters. + +RAISING OF A LOYAL ARMY + +Kusunoki Masashige had but five hundred men under his command when he +entrenched himself at Akasaka. There for twenty days he held out +against the attacks of the greatly superior Hojo forces, until +finally, no help arriving and his provisions being exhausted, he +would have committed suicide had he not realized that his life +belonged to the Imperial cause. He contrived to escape through the +enemy's lines, and thus the only organized loyal force that remained +in the field was that operating in Bingo under the command of +Sakurayama Koretoshi. Thither a false rumour of Masashige's death +having been carried, Koretoshi's troops dispersed and he himself +committed suicide. Kojima Takanori, too, commonly known as Bingo no +Saburo, was about to raise the banner of loyalty when the false news +of Masashige's death reached him. This Takanori is the hero of an +incident which appeals strongly to the Japanese love of the romantic. +Learning that the Emperor was being transported into exile in the +island of Oki, and having essayed to rescue him en route, he made his +way during the night into the enclosure of the inn where the Imperial +party had halted, and having scraped off part of the bark of a cherry +tree, he inscribed on the trunk the couplet: + + Heaven destroy not Kou Chien, + He is not without a Fan Li. + +This alluded to an old-time Chinese king (Kou Chien) who, after +twenty years of exile, was restored to power by the efforts of a +vassal (Fan Li). The Emperor's guards, being too illiterate to +comprehend the reference, showed the writing to Go-Daigo, who thus +learned that friends were at hand. But Takanori could not accomplish +anything more, and for a season the fortunes of the Throne were at a +very low ebb, while at Kamakura the regent resumed his life of +debauchery. Neither Prince Morinaga nor Masashige was idle, however. +By skilful co-operation they recovered the entrenchments at Akasaka +and overran the two provinces of Izumi and Kawachi, gaining many +adherents. The fall of 1332 saw Masashige strongly posted at the +Chihaya fortress on Kongo Mountain; his lieutenants holding Akasaka; +Prince Morinaga in possession of Yoshino Castle, and Akamatsu +Norimura of Harima blocking the two highways called the Sanindo and +the Sanyodo. + +In other words, the Imperialists held the group of provinces forming +the northern littoral of the Inland Sea and commanded the approaches +from the south. But now again Kamakura put forth its strength. At the +close of February, 1333, a numerous force under the Hojo banners +attacked Yoshino and its fall became inevitable. Prince Morinaga, +wounded in several places, had resolved to make the castle his +"death-pillow," when he was saved by one of those acts of heroic +devotion so frequently recorded in the annals of the Japanese bushi. +Murakami Yoshiteru insisted on donning the prince's armour and +personating him so as to cover his retreat. At the supreme moment, +Yoshiteru ascended the tower of the entrenchments and loudly +proclaiming himself the prince, committed suicide. His son would fain +have shared his fate, but Yoshiteru bade him live for further +service. Subsequently, he fell fighting against Morinaga's pursuers, +but the prince escaped safely to the great monastery of Koya in +Kishu.* The victorious Hojo then turned their arms against Akasaka, +and having carried that position, attacked Chihaya where Masashige +commanded in person. But the great soldier held his foes successfully +at bay and inflicted heavy losses on them. Thus, the early months of +1333 witnessed a brighter state of affairs for the Imperial cause. It +was supported by Kusunoki Masashige, in Yamato, with Chihaya for +headquarters; Prince Morinaga, at Koya-san in Kishu; Akamatsu +Norimura, in Harima and Settsu, whence his fortress of Maya menaced +Rokuhara, and by Doi Michiharu and Tokuno Michikoto, in Iyo, whence, +crossing to Nagato, they had attacked and defeated Hojo Tokinao, the +tandai of the province. + +*Yoshiteru's loyal sacrifice received official recognition, in 1908, +on the occasion of military manoeuvres in the neighbourhood of the +scene of the tragedy. The Emperor honoured his memory by bestowing on +him high posthumous rank. + +ESCAPE OF THE EMPEROR FROM OKI + +The Oki group of islands lie in the Sea of Japan forty miles from the +coast of the provinces Izumo and Hoki. Beppu, in Nishi-no-shima, one +of the smallest of the group, was Go-Daigo's place of exile. By +employing the services of a fishing-boat, Prince Morinaga succeeded +in conveying to his Majesty some intelligence of the efforts that +were being made in the Imperial cause. This was early in 1333, and +when the news spread among the guards at Beppu, they began to talk of +the duties of loyalty. Narita Kosaburo and the Nawa brothers, +Yasunaga and Nagataka--the name of the last was afterwards changed by +the Emperor to Nagatoshi--thus became associated in a scheme for +assisting the exile to recover his freedom. To remove him from +Nishi-no-Shima was not difficult to contrive, but to traverse the +provinces of Izumo or Hoki en route for a safe asylum seemed at first +impossible, for in Izumo not only the governor but also the chief +official of the great Shinto shrine were hostile, and in Hoki the +strictest watchfulness had been enjoined from Rokuhara. + +Nevertheless, it became necessary to make the attempt at once or +refrain altogether. On the 8th of April, 1333, the guards at Beppu +were given a quantity of sake on the plea that the accouchement of a +Court lady was imminent. Custom prescribed that in such a case the +lady should be removed to a different house, and therefore when the +guards had well drunk, a palanquin was carried out, bearing +ostensibly this lady only, but in reality freighted with the +sovereign also. The night was passed in the village, and at daybreak +the little party, leaving the lady behind, set out on foot for the +nearest seaport, Chiba. The Emperor could scarcely walk, but happily +a man was encountered leading a pack-horse, and on this Go-Daigo +rode. The next three days were devoted to seeking a safe landing in +Izumo and endeavouring to procure provisions. On one occasion, being +pursued by servants of the great shrine, they had to re-embark and +put out to sea, the Emperor and his sole attendant, Tadaaki, lying +hid in the bottom of the boat beneath a quantity of seaweed and under +the feet of the sailors. Finally, on the 13th of April, they made +Katami port in the province of Hoki, and, being cordially welcomed by +Nawa Nagataka, Go-Daigo was ultimately taken to a mountain called +Funanoe, which offered excellent defensive facilities. It is recorded +that on the first stage of this journey from Nagataka's residence to +the mountain, the Emperor had to be carried on the back of Nagataka's +brother, Nagashige, no palanquin being available. Very soon many +bushi flocked to the Imperial standard and Funanoe was strongly +entrenched. It was on this occasion that Go-Daigo changed Nagataka's +name to Nagatoshi, and conferred on him the title of "captain of the +Left guards" (saemon-no-jo). + +DOWNFALL OF THE HOJO + +When the Emperor's escape from Oki became known, loyal samurai in +great numbers espoused the Imperial cause, and a heavy blow was given +to the prestige of the Hojo by Akamatsu Norimura who, after several +successful engagements with the Rokuhara army in Settsu, pushed +northward from the fortress of Maya, where his forces were almost +within sight of Kyoto. Takatoki, appreciating that a crisis had now +arisen in the fortunes of the Hojo, ordered Ashikaga Takauji to lead +a powerful army westward. Takauji represented a junior branch of the +Minamoto family. He was descended from the great Yoshiiye, and when +Yoritomo rose against the Taira, in 1180, he had been immediately +joined by the then Ashikaga chieftain, who was his brother-in-law. +Takau ji, therefore, had ambitions of his own, and his mood towards +the Hojo had been embittered by two recent events; the first, that, +though in mourning for the death of his father, he had been required +to join the attack on Masashige's fortress at Kasagi; the second, +that his own illness after returning from that campaign had not +availed to save him from frequent summonses to conference with +Takatoki. + +ENGRAVING: ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI + +Thus, this second order to take the field found him disposed to join +in the overthrow of the Hojo rather than in their support. Learning +something of this mood, Takatoki demanded that the Ashikaga chief, +before commencing his march, should hand in a written oath of +loyalty, and further, should leave his wife, his children, and his +brother-in-law as hostages in Kamakura. Takauji, who shrunk from no +sacrifice on the altar of his ambition, complied readily, and the +confidence of the Bakufu having thus been restored, a parting banquet +was given in his honour, at which the Hojo representative presented +him with a steed, a suit of armour, a gold-mounted sword, and a white +flag, this last being an heirloom from the time of Hachiman +(Yoshiiye), transmitted through the hands of Yoritomo's spouse, Masa. + +All these things did not turn Takauji by a hair's-breadth from his +purpose. His army had not marched many miles westward before he +despatched a message to the entrenchments in Hoki offering his +services to the Emperor, who welcomed this signal accession of +strength and commissioned Takauji to attack the Bakufu forces. +Entirely ignorant of these things, Hojo Takaiye, who commanded at +Rokuhara, made dispositions to move against the Hoki fortress in +co-operation with Takauji. The plan of campaign was that Takaiye's +army should march southward through Settsu, and, having crushed +Akamatsu Norimura, who occupied that province, should advance through +Harima and Mimasaka into Hoki; while Takauji, moving northward at +first by the Tamba highway, should ultimately turn westward and reach +Hoki by the littoral road of the Japan Sea. In addition to these two +armies, the Hojo had a powerful force engaged in beleaguering the +fortress of Chihaya, in Yamato, where Kusunoki Masashige commanded in +person. + +It will thus be seen that, at this time (May, 1333), the Imperialists +were everywhere standing on the defensive, and the Bakufu armies were +attacking on the southeast, south, and north of Kyoto. Nothing seemed +less probable than that the Imperial capital itself should become the +object of an assault by the partisans of Go-Daigo. But the unexpected +took place. Hojo Takaiye was killed and his force shattered in the +first collision with Norimura, who immediately set his troops in +motion towards Kyoto, intending to take advantage of Rokuhara's +denuded condition. Meanwhile, Takauji, whose march into Tamba had +been very deliberate, learned the course events had taken in Settsu, +and immediately proclaiming his allegiance to the Imperial cause, +countermarched for Kyoto, his army receiving constant accessions of +strength as it approached the city. Rokuhara, though taken by +surprise, fought stoutly. Attacked simultaneously from three +directions by the armies of Norimura, Takauji, and Minamoto Tadaaki, +and in spite of the death of their commandant, Hojo Tokimasu, they +held out until the evening, when Hojo Nakatoki escaped under cover of +darkness, escorting the titular sovereign, Kogon, and the two +ex-Emperors. Their idea was to flee to Kamakura, but taking an escort +too large for rapid movement, they were overtaken; the three leaders +together with four hundred men killed, and Kogon together with the +two ex-Emperors seized and carried back to Kyoto. + +THE FALL OF KAMAKURA + +These things happened at the close of June, 1333, and immediately +after the fall of Rokuhara, Nitta Yoshisada raised the Imperial +standard in the province of Kotsuke. Yoshisada represented the tenth +generation of the great Yoshiiye's family. Like Ashikaga Takauji he +was of pure Minamoto blood, though Takauji belonged to a junior +branch. The Nitta estates were in the district of that name in the +province of Kotsuke; that is to say, in the very heart of the Kwanto. +Hitherto, the whole of the eastern region had remained loyal to the +Hojo; but the people were growing weary of the heavy taxes and +requisitions entailed by this three-years' struggle, and when Nitta +Yoshisada declared against the Hojo, his ranks soon swelled to +formidable dimensions. It has been stated by some historians that +Yoshisada's resolve was first taken on receipt of news that Rokuhara +was lost to the Hojo. But there can be no doubt that, like others of +his sept, he had long resented the comparatively subordinate position +occupied by Yoritomo's descendants, and the most trustworthy annals +show that already while engaged in besieging Masashige in Chihaya +fortress, he conceived the idea of deserting the Hojo's cause. +Through one of his officers, Funada Yoshimasa, he obtained a mandate +from Prince Morinaga, and then, feigning sickness, he left the camp +in Yamato and returned to Kotsuke, where he lost no time in making +preparations for revolt. + +This actual declaration did not come, however, until the arrival of +an officer from Kamakura, carrying a requisition for a great quantity +of provisions to victual an army which the Hojo were hastily +equipping to recover Rokuhara. The officer was put to death, and +Yoshisada with his brother, Yoshisuke, set their forces in motion for +Kamakura. Menaced thus closely, the Hojo made a supreme effort. They +put into the field an army said to have numbered one hundred thousand +of all arms. But their ranks were perpetually reduced by defections, +whereas those of the Imperialists received constant accessions. The +campaign lasted only a fortnight. For the final attack Yoshisada +divided his army into three corps and advanced against Kamakura from +the north, the east, and the west. The eastern column was repulsed +and its general slain, but the western onset, commanded by Yoshisada +himself, succeeded. Taking advantage of a low tide, he led his men +over the sands and round the base of a steep cliff,* and carried the +city by storm, setting fire to the buildings everywhere. The Hojo +troops were shattered and slaughtered relentlessly. Takatoki +retreated to his ancestral cemetery at the temple Tosho-ji, and there +committed suicide with all the members of his family and some eight +hundred officers and men of his army. Thus, Kamakura fell on the 5th +of July, 1333, a century and a half after the establishment of the +Bakufu by Yoritomo. Many heroic incidents marked the catastrophe and +showed the spirit animating the bushi of that epoch. A few of them +will find a fitting place here. + +*This cliff--Inamura-ga-saki--may be seen at Kamakura to-day. +Tradition says that Yoshisada threw his sword into the waves, +supplicating the god of the Sea to roll back the water and open a +path for the loyal army. At dawn on the following day the tide was +found to have receded sufficiently. + +HEROIC DEATHS + +It has been related above that, when Ashikaga Takauji marched +westward from Kamakura, he left his family and his brother-in-law as +hostages in the hands of the Bakufu. Subsequently, on the occasion of +the assault by Nitta Yoshisada, this brother-in-law (Akabashi +Moritoki) resisted stoutly but was defeated at the pass of Kobukoro. +He committed suicide, remarking calmly, "It is better to die trusted +than to live doubted." + +Osaragi Sadanao, one of the Hojo generals, was in danger of defeat by +Odate Muneuji at the defence of Kamakura, when Homma Saemon, a +retainer of the former, who was under arrest for an offence, broke +his arrest and galloping into the field, restored the situation by +killing the enemy's general, Odate Muneuji. Carrying the head of +Muneuji, Saemon presented it to his chief and then disembowelled +himself in expiation of his disobedience. Sadanao, crying that his +faithful follower should not go unaccompanied to the grave, dashed +into the enemy's ranks and fell, covered with wounds. + +Ando Shoshu, returning from the successful defence of the eastern +approaches to Kamakura on the 5th of July, 1333, found the Government +buildings a mass of charred ruins, and being ignorant of the +multitude of suicides that had taken place in the cemetery at +Tosho-ji, cried out: "The end of a hundred years! How is it that none +was found to die the death of fidelity?" Dismounting he prepared to +take his own life when a messenger arrived carrying a letter from his +niece, the wife of Nitta Yoshisada. This letter counselled surrender. +Shoshu exclaimed furiously: "My niece is a samurai's daughter. How +could she venture to insult me with words so shameless? And how was +it that Yoshisada allowed her to do such a thing?" Then, wrapping the +letter round the hilt of his sword, he disembowelled himself. + +THE LAST SCENE + +The last act of the Hojo tragedy, which took place in the cemetery of +the temple Tosho-ji, showed the fidelity of the samurai character at +its best. Among the Kamakura warriors was one Takashige, son of that +Nagasaki Takasuke who had made himself notorious by corrupt +administration of justice. Takashige, a skilled soldier of enormous +physical power, returned from the battle when all hope of beating +back Nitta Yoshisada's army had disappeared, and having warned the +regent, Takatoki, that the bushi's last resource alone remained, +asked for a few moments' respite to strike a final stroke. Followed +by a hundred desperate men, he plunged into the thick of the fight +and had almost come within reach of Yoshisada when he was forced +back. Galloping to Tosho-ji, he found Takatoki and his comrades +drinking their farewell cup of sake. Takatoki handed the cup to +Takashige, and he, after draining it thrice, as was the samurai's +wont, passed it to Settsu Dojun, disembowelled himself, and tore out +his intestines. "That gives a fine relish to the wine," cried Dojun, +following Takashige's example. Takatoki, being of highest rank, was +the last to kill himself. + +Eight hundred suicides bore witness to the strength of the creed held +by the Kamakura bushi. An eminent Japanese author* writes: "Yoritomo, +convinced by observation and experience that the beautiful and the +splendid appeal most to human nature, made it his aim to inculcate +frugality, to promote military exercises, to encourage loyalty, and +to dignify simplicity. Moral education he set before physical. The +precepts of bushido he engraved on the heart of the nation and gave +to them the honour of a precious heirloom. The Hojo, by exalting +bushido, followed the invaluable teaching of the Genji, and +supplemented it with the doctrines of Shinto, Confucianism, and +Buddhism. Thus every bushi came to believe that the country's fate +depended on the spirit of the samurai." Another and more renowned +annalist** wrote: "The Hojo, rising from a subordinate position, +flourished for nine generations. Their success was due to observing +frugality, treating the people with kindness, meting out strict +justice, and faithfully obeying the ancestral behest to abstain from +seeking high titles." They took the substance and discarded the +shadow. The bushido that they developed became a model in later ages, +especially in the sixteenth century. + +*Yamada Tesshu (modern). + +**Rai Sanyo (1780-1832). + +LAST HOJO ARMY + +When Kamakura fell the only Hojo force remaining in the field was +that which had been engaged for months in the siege of Chihaya, where +Kusunoki Masashige held his own stoutly. This army had retired to +Nara on receipt of the news of Rokuhara's capture, and when Kamakura +met with the same fate, the leaders of the last Hojo force +surrendered at the summons of Ashikaga Takauji's emissaries. +Subsequently, fifteen of these leaders were led out at midnight and +beheaded. + +THE RESTORATION OF THE KEMMU ERA + +The conditions that now resulted are spoken of in Japanese history as +"the Restoration of the Kemmu era" (1334-1336). It will be presently +seen that the term is partly misleading. After his escape from Oki, +Go-Daigo remained for some time in the fortress of Funanoe, in Hoki. +Kamakura fell on the 5th of July, and his Majesty entered Kyoto on +the 17th of that month. While in Hoki he issued various rescripts +having special significance. They may be summarized as follows: + +From bushi down to priests, any man who performs meritorious deeds in +battle will be duly recompensed, in addition to being confirmed in +the possession of his previously held domain, and that possession +will be continued in perpetuity to his descendants. In the case of +persons killed in fight, suitable successors to their domains will be +selected from their kith and kin. + +With regard to Court officials and bushi down to temple priests and +functionaries of Shinto shrines, any that come immediately to join +the Imperial forces will be rewarded, in addition to being confirmed +in the tenure of their original estates. + +Similar consideration will be shown to all who, though unable to come +in person, supply provisions or military necessaries, submit +suggestions with loyal intent, or otherwise work in the interests of +the Imperial army. Men surrendering in battle will be pardoned for +their previous offences, and will be rewarded for services +subsequently rendered. + +The fate of the eastern outlaws (i.e. the Hojo) being sealed, their +destruction is imminent. They have slain many innocent people; +plundered the property of all classes, despoiled temples, burned +houses, and conducted themselves with extreme wickedness. Unless they +be punished, public peace cannot be restored. Our army has to remove +those evils, and therefore all in its ranks, while uniting to attack +the rebels, will be careful not to inflict any suffering on the +people or to plunder them and will treat them with all benevolence. +If prisoners be common soldiers, they shall be released at once, and +if officers, they shall be held in custody pending Imperial +instructions. They shall not be punished without judgment. No +buildings except the enemy's fortresses and castles shall be burned, +unless the conditions of a battle dictate such a course, and it is +strictly forbidden to set fire to shrines and temples. When the +Imperial forces enter a city and have to be quartered in private +houses, the owners of the latter shall be duly recompensed. If these +injunctions be obeyed, the deities of heaven and earth and the +ancestral Kami will protect the virtuous army in its assault upon the +wicked traitors. + +These edicts make it clear that in one most important respect, +namely, the terms of land tenure, there was no idea of reverting to +the old-time system which recognized the right of property to be +vested in the Throne and limited the period of occupation to the +sovereign's will. + +THE NEW GOVERNMENT + +When Go-Daigo entered Kyoto on the 17th of July, 1333, it was +suggested by some of his advisers that a ceremony of coronation +should be again held. But the sa-daijin, Nijo Michihira, opposed that +course. He argued that although his Majesty had not resided in the +capital for some time, the sacred insignia had been always in his +possession, and that his re-entering the capital should be treated as +returning from a journey. This counsel was adopted. It involved the +exclusion of Kogon from the roll of sovereigns, though the title of +"retired Emperor" was accorded to him. + +There were thus three ex-Emperors at the same time. Go-Daigo assigned +the Chokodo estates for their support, retaining for himself only the +provincial taxes of Harima. The Bakufu no longer having any official +existence, the machinery of the Government in Kyoto was organized on +the hypothesis of genuine administrative efficiency. There was no +chancellor (dajo daijiri) or any regent (kwampaku). These were +dispensed with, in deference to the "Restoration" theory, namely, +that the Emperor himself should rule, as he had done in the eras of +Engi and Tenryaku (901-957). But for the rest, the old offices were +resuscitated and filled with men who had deserved well in the recent +crisis or who possessed hereditary claims. Prince Morinaga, the +sometime lord-abbot of Hiei-zan, was nominated commander-in-chief +(tai-shoguri), and for the sake of historical lucidity hereafter the +following appointments should be noted: + +Prince Narinaga to be governor-general (kwanryo) of the Kwanto, with +his headquarters at Kamakura, and with Ashikaga Tadayoshi (brother of +Takauji) for second in command. + +Prince Yoshinaga to be governor-general of O-U (Mutsu and Dewa), +assisted by Kitabatake Chikafusa (an able statesman and a historian), +and the latter's son, Akiiye, as well as by the renowned warrior, +Yuki Munehiro. + +Nijo Michihira to be sa-daijin. + +Kuga Nagamichi to be u-daijin. + +Doin Kinkata to be nai-daijin. + +It is observable that the occupants of all these great offices were +Court nobles. The creed of the Kemmu era was that the usurping buke +(military families) had been crushed and that the kuge (Court +nobility) had come to their own again. As for the provinces, the main +purpose kept in view by the new Government was to efface the traces +of the shugo system. Apparently the simplest method of achieving that +end would have been to appoint civilian governors (kokushi) +everywhere. But in many cases civilian governors would have been +powerless in the face of the conditions that had arisen under +military rule, and thus the newly nominated governors included + +Ashikaga Takauji, governor of Musashi, Hitachi, and Shimosa. + +Ashikaga Tadayoshi (brother of Takauji), governor of Totomi. + +Kusunoki Masashige, governor of Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi. + +Nawa Nagatoshi, governor of Inaba and Hoki. + +Nitta Yoshisada, governor of Kotsuke and Harima. + +Nitta Yoshiaki (son of Yoshisada), governor of Echigo. + +Wakiya Yoshisuke (brother of Yoshisada), governor of Suruga. + +One name left out of this list was that of Akamatsu Norimura, who had +taken the leading part in driving the Hojo from Rokuhara, and who had +been faithful to the Imperial cause throughout. He now became as +implacable an enemy as he had previously been a loyal friend. The +fact is significant. Money as money was despised by the bushi of the +Kamakura epoch. He was educated to despise it, and his nature +prepared him to receive such education. But of power he was supremely +ambitious--power represented by a formidable army of fully equipped +followers, by fortified castles, and by widely recognized authority. +The prime essential of all these things was an ample landed estate To +command the allegiance of the great military families without placing +them under an obligation by the grant of extensive manors would have +been futile. On the other hand, to grant such manors in perpetuity +meant the creation of practically independent feudal chiefs. + +The trouble with the restored Government of Go-Daigo was that it +halted between these two alternatives. Appreciating that its return +to power had been due to the efforts of certain military magnates, it +rewarded these in a measure; but imagining that its own +administrative authority had been replaced on the ancient basis, it +allowed itself to be guided, at the same time, by capricious +favouritism. Even in recognizing the services of the military +leaders, justice was not observed. The records clearly show that on +the roll of merit the first place, after Prince Morinaga, should have +been given to Kusunoki Masashige's name. When Kasagi fell and when +the Emperor was exiled, Masashige, alone among the feudatories of +sixty provinces, continued to fight stoutly at the head of a small +force, thus setting an example of steadfast loyalty which ultimately +produced many imitators. Nitta Yoshisada ought to have stood next in +order; then Akamatsu Norimura; then Nawa Nagatoshi, and finally +Ashikaga Takauji.* In the case of Takauji, there was comparatively +little merit. He had taken up arms against the Imperial cause at the +outset, and even in the assault on Rokuhara he had been of little +service. Yet to him the Crown allotted the greatest honour and the +richest rewards. Some excuse may be found in Takauji's lineage, but +in that respect he was inferior to Nitta Yoshisada. + +*Arai Hakuseki (1656-1725). + +Still more flagrant partiality was displayed in other directions. +Relying on the promises of the Funanoe edicts epitomized above, +thousands of military officers thronged the Court in Kyoto, +clamouring for recognition of their services. Judges were appointed +to examine their pleas, but that proved a tedious task, and in the +meanwhile all the best lands had been given away by favour or +affection. Go-Daigo himself appropriated the manors of Hojo Takatoki; +those of Hojo Yasuie were assigned to Prince Morinaga; those +of Osaragi Sadanao went to the Imperial consort, Renko. The +immediate attendants of the sovereign, priests, nuns, musicians, +litterateurs--all obtained broad acres by the Imperial fiat, and +when, in the tardy sequel of judicial procedure, awards were made to +military men, no spoil remained to be divided. Soon a cry went up, +and gained constantly in volume and vehemence, a cry for the +restoration of the military regime. As for Go-Daigo, whatever ability +he had shown in misfortune seemed to desert him in prosperity. He +neglected his administrative duties, became luxurious and arrogant, +and fell more and more under the influence of the lady Ren. Of +Fujiwara lineage, this lady had shared the Emperor's exile and +assisted his escape from Oki. It had long been her ambition to have +her son, Tsunenaga, nominated Crown Prince, but as Prince Morinaga +was older and had established a paramount title by his merits, his +removal must precede the accomplishment of her purpose. Fate +furnished a powerful ally. Prince Morinaga, detecting that Ashikaga +Takauji concealed a treacherous purpose under a smooth demeanour, +solicited the Emperor's mandate to deal with him. Go-Daigo refused, +and thereafter the lady Ren and the Ashikaga chief, whose influence +increased daily, entered into a league for the overthrow of Prince +Morinaga. + +It was at this time, when symptoms of disorder were growing more and +more apparent, that Fujiwara Fujifusa, a high dignitary of the Court +and one of the great statesmen of his era, addressed a solemn warning +to Go-Daigo. The immediate occasion was curious. There had been +presented to the Court by the governor of Izumo a horse of +extraordinary endurance, capable of travelling from Tomita, in that +province, to Kyoto, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, +between dawn and darkness. The courtiers welcomed the appearance of +this horse as an omen of peace and prosperity, but Fujiwara Fujifusa +interpreted it as indicating that occasion to solicit speedy aid from +remote provinces would soon arise. He plainly told the Emperor that +the officials were steeped in debauchery; that whereas, in the early +days of the restoration, the palace gates had been thronged with +warriors, to-day none could be seen, thousands upon thousands having +left the capital disgusted and indignant to see Court favourites +enriched with the rewards which should have fallen to the military; +that the already distressed people were subjected to further heavy +exactions for building or beautifying Imperial palaces; that grave +injustice had been done to Akamatsu Norimura, and that unless the +sovereign refrained from self-indulgence and sought to govern +benevolently, a catastrophe could not be averted. But Go-Daigo was +not moved, and finally, after repeating his admonition on several +occasions, Fujifusa left the Court and took the tonsure. It says much +for the nobility of the Emperor's disposition that he commissioned +Nobufusa, father of Fujifusa, to seek out the persistent critic and +offer him a greatly higher office if he would consent to return, and +it says much for Fujifusa's sincerity that, hoping to give weight to +his counsels, he embraced the life of a recluse and was never seen in +public again. + +DEATH OF PRINCE MORINAGA + +Things now went from bad to worse in Kyoto, while in the provinces +the remnants of the Hojo's partisans began to raise their heads. The +ever-loyal Kusunoki Masashige and Nawa Nagatoshi entered the capital +to secure it against surprise; Ashikaga Takauji, ostensibly for the +same purpose, summoned large forces from the provinces, and Prince +Morinaga occupied Nawa with a strong army. Takauji saw that the time +had come to remove the prince, in whom he recognized the great +obstacle to the consummation of his ambitious designs. Securing the +co-operation of the lady Ren by a promise that her son, Narinaga, +should be named Crown Prince and commander-in-chief (shoguri) in +succession to Morinaga, he informed the Emperor that Prince Morinaga +was plotting Go-Daigo's deposition and the elevation of his own son +to the throne. The Emperor credited the accusation, summoned the +usurping Morinaga to the palace, and caused him to be arrested. This +happened in November, 1334. Morinaga vehemently declared his +innocence. In a memorial to the Throne he recounted the loyal service +he had rendered to his sovereign and father, and concluded with these +words: + +In spite of all this I have unwittingly offended. I would appeal to +heaven, but the sun and moon have no favour for an unfilial son. I +would bow my head and cry to the earth for help, but the mountains +and the rivers do not harbour a disloyal subject. The tie between +father and son is severed, and I am cast away. I have no longer +anything to hope in the world. If I may be pardoned, stripped of my +rank, and permitted to enter religion, there will be no cause for +regret. In my deep sorrow I cannot say more. + + +Had this piteous appeal reached Go-Daigo, he might have relented. But +just as the memorial addressed by Yoshitsune to his brother, +Yoritomo, was suppressed by Hiromoto, so the chamberlain to whom +Prince Morinaga entrusted his protest feared to carry it to the +sovereign. Before the close of the year, the prince was exiled to +Kamakura, and there placed in charge of Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, +who confined him in a cave dug for the purpose. He never emerged +alive. Seven months later, Tadayoshi, on the eve of evacuating +Kamakura before the attack of Hojo Tokiyuki, sent an emissary to +assassinate Morinaga in the cave. The unfortunate prince was in his +twenty-eighth year. His name must be added to the long list of noble +men who fell victims to slander in Japan. A Japanese annalist* +contends that Morinaga owed his fate as much to his own tactlessness +as to the wiles of his enemies, and claims that in accusing Takauji +to the throne, the prince forgot the Emperor's helplessness against +such a military magnate as the Ashikaga chief. However that may have +been, subsequent events clearly justified the prince's suspicions of +Takauji's disloyalty. It must also be concluded that Go-Daigo +deliberately contemplated his son's death when he placed him in +charge of Takauji's brother. + +*Raj Sanyo. + +ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI OCCUPIES KAMAKURA + +The course of events has been somewhat anticipated above in order to +relate the end of Prince Morinaga's career. It is necessary, now, to +revert to the incident which precipitated his fate, namely, the +capture of Kamakura by Hojo Tokiyuki. This Tokiyuki was a son of +Takatoki. He escaped to Shinano province at the time of the Hojo +downfall, and being joined there by many of his family's vassals, he +found himself strong enough to take the field openly in July, 1335, +and sweeping away all opposition, he entered Kamakura in August. +Ashikaga Takauji's brother was then in command at Kamakura. It +seemed, indeed, as though the Emperor deliberately contemplated the +restoration of the old administrative machinery in the Kwanto, +changing only the personnel; for his Majesty appointed his tenth son, +Prince Narinaga, a boy of ten, to be shogun at Kamakura, and placed +Ashikaga Tadayoshi in a position amounting, in fact though not in +name, to that of regent (shikken). Probably these measures were +merely intended to placate the Kwanto. Before there had been time to +test their efficacy, the Hojo swept down on Kamakura, and Tadayoshi +and the young shogun found themselves fugitives. Meanwhile, Ashikaga +Takauji in Kyoto had been secretly fanning the discontent of the +unrecompensed bushi, and had assured himself that a reversion to the +military system would be widely welcomed. He now applied for a +commission to quell the Hojo insurrection, and on the eve of setting +out for that purpose, he asked to be nominated shogun, which request +being rejected, he left the capital without paying final respects to +the Throne, an omission astutely calculated to attract partisans. + +The Hojo's resistance was feeble, and in a few weeks the Ashikaga +banners were waving again over Kamakura. The question of returning to +Kyoto had now to be considered. Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, +strongly opposed such a step. He compared it to putting one's head +into a tiger's mouth, and in fact information had already reached +Kamakura in the sense that the enemies of the Ashikaga were busily +slandering the victorious general. It may fairly be assumed, however, +that Takauji had never intended to return to Kyoto except as +dictator. He assumed the title of shogun; established his mansion on +the site of Yoritomo's old yashiki; undertook control of the whole +Kwanto; confiscated manors of his enemies; recompensed meritorious +deeds liberally, and granted pardons readily. In fact, he presented +to public gaze precisely the figure he desired to present, the strong +ruler who would unravel the perplexities of a distraught age. From +all quarters the malcontent bushi flocked to his flag. + +TAKAUJI AND YOSHISADA + +A serious obstacle to the achievement of the Ashikaga chief's purpose +was Nitta Yoshisada. Both men were of the Minamoto family, but +Yoshisada's kinship was the closer and his connexion with the Hojo +had always been less intimate. Further, he had never borne arms +against Go-Daigo's cause, as Takauji had done, and his unswerving +loyalty made him an inconvenient rival. Therefore, the Ashikaga +leader took an extreme step. He seized the domains of the Nitta +family in the Kwanto and distributed them among his own followers; he +caused his brother, Tadayoshi, to send letters inviting the adherence +of many bushi; he addressed to the Throne a memorial impeaching +Yoshisada on the ground that, whereas the latter's military successes +had been the outcome entirely of opportunities furnished by the +prowess of the Ashikaga, he did not hesitate to slander Takauji to +the sovereign, and he asked for an Imperial commission to destroy the +Nitta leader, whom he dubbed a "national thief." + +Yoshisada, when he learned of the presentation of this memorial, +seized the Ashikaga manors within his jurisdiction and addressed to +the Throne a countermemorial in which he conclusively proved the +falsehood of Takauji's assertion with reference to military affairs; +charged him with usurping the titles of governor-general of the +Kwanto, and shogun; declared that Prince Morinaga, the mainstay of +the restoration, had become the victim of Takauji's slanders, and +asked for an Imperial mandate to punish Takauji and his brother, +Tadayoshi. It is significant that the leal and gallant Yoshisada did +not hesitate thus openly to assert the innocence and merits of Prince +Morinaga, though only a few months had elapsed since the Emperor +himself had credited his most unhappy son's guilt. While Go-Daigo +hesitated, news from various provinces disclosed the fact that +Takauji had been tampering with the bushi in his own interests. This +settled the question. Takauji and Tadayoshi were proclaimed rebels, +and to Nitta Yoshisada was entrusted the task of chastising them +under the nominal leadership of Prince Takanaga, the Emperor's second +son, to whom the title of shogun was granted. + +TAKAUJI ENTERS KYOTO + +In the beginning of November, 1335, the Imperial force moved +eastward. It was divided into two armies. One, under Yoshisada's +direct orders, marched by the Tokaido, or eastern littoral road; the +other, under Yoshisada's brother, Wakiya Yoshisuke, with Prince +Takanaga for titular general, advanced along the Nakasen-do, or +inland mountain-road. The littoral army, carrying everything before +it, pushed on to the capital of Izu, and had it forced its attack +home at once, might have captured Kamakura. But the Nitta chief +decided to await the arrival of the Nakasen-do army, and the respite +thus afforded enabled the Ashikaga forces to rally. Tadayoshi reached +the Hakone Pass and posted his troops on its western slopes in a +position of immense natural vantage, while Takauji himself occupied +the routes on the north, his van being at Takenoshita. + +The Imperialists attacked both positions simultaneously. Takauji not +only held his ground, but also, being joined by a large contingent of +the Kyoto men who, under the leadership of Enya Takasada, had +deserted in the thick of the fight, he shattered his opponents, and +when this news reached Hakone on the following morning, a panic +seized Yoshisada's troops so that they either fled or surrendered. +The Nitta chieftain himself retired rapidly to Kyoto with a mere +remnant of his army, and effected a union with the forces of the +ever-loyal Kusunoki Masashige and Nawa Nagatoshi, who had given +asylum to Go-Daigo at the time of the escape from Oki. The cenobites +of Hiei-zan also took the field in the Imperial cause. Meanwhile, +Takauji and Tadayoshi, utilizing their victories, pushed rapidly +towards Kyoto. The heart of the samurai was with them, and they +constantly received large accessions of strength. Fierce fighting now +took place on the south and east of the capital. It lasted for +several days and, though the advantage was with the Ashikaga, their +victory was not decisive. + +An unlooked-for event turned the scale. It has been related above +that, in the struggle which ended in the restoration of Go-Daigo, +Akamatsu Norimura was chiefly instrumental in driving the Hojo from +Rokuhara; and it has also been related that, in the subsequent +distribution of rewards, his name was omitted for the slight reason +that he had, at one period, entered religion. He now moved up from +Harima at the head of a strong force and, attacking from the south, +effected an entry into Kyoto, just as he had done three years +previously. Go-Daigo fled to Hiei, carrying the sacred insignia with +him, and on the 24th of February, 1336, the Ashikaga armies marched +into the Imperial capital. + +TAKAUJI RETIRES TO KYUSHU + +At this stage succour arrived for the Imperialists from the extreme +north. In the arrangement of the local administration after Go-Daigo +re-occupied the throne, the two northern provinces of Mutsu and Dewa +had been separated from the Kwanto and placed under the control of +Prince Yoshinaga, with Kitabatake Akiiye for lieutenant. The latter, +a son of the renowned Chikafusa, was in his nineteenth year when the +Ashikaga revolted. He quickly organized a powerful army with the +intention of joining Yoshisada's attack upon Kamakura, but not being +in time to carry out that programme, he changed the direction of his +march and hastened towards Kyoto. He arrived there when the Ashikaga +troops were laying siege to Hiei-zan, and effecting a union with the +Imperialists, he succeeded in raising the siege and recovering the +city. + +It is unnecessary to follow in detail the vicissitudes that ensued. +Stratagems were frequent. At one time we find a number of Yoshisada's +men, officers and privates alike, disguising themselves, mingling +with the Ashikaga army, and turning their arms against the latter at +a critical moment. At another, Kusunoki Masashige spreads a rumour of +Yoshisada's death in battle, and having thus induced Takauji to +detach large forces in pursuit of the deceased's troops, falls on +him, and drives him to Hyogo, where, after a heavy defeat, he has to +flee to Bingo. Now, for a second time, the Ashikaga cause seemed +hopeless when Akamatsu Norimura again played a most important role. +He provided an asylum for Takauji and Tadayoshi; counselled them to +go to the west for the purpose of mustering and equipping their +numerous partisans; advised them to obtain secretly a mandate from +the senior branch of the Imperial family so that they too, as well as +their opponents, might be entitled to fly the brocade banner, and +having furnished them with means to effect their escape, returned to +Harima and occupied the fortress of Shirahata with the object of +checking pursuit. At this point there is a break in the unrelenting +continuity of the operations. It should obviously have been the aim +of the Imperialists to strike a conclusive blow before the Ashikaga +leaders had time to assemble and organize their multitudinous +supporters in Shikoku, Kyushu, and the provinces on the north of the +Inland Sea. This must have been fully apparent to Kusunoki Masashige, +an able strategist. Yet a delay of some weeks occurred. + +A quasi-historical record, the Taiheiki, ascribes this to Yoshinaga's +infatuated reluctance to quit the company of a Court beauty whom the +Emperor had bestowed on him. Probably the truth is that the +Imperialists were seriously in want of rest and that Yoshisada fell +ill with fever. Something must also be attributed to a clever ruse on +the part of Akamatsu Norimura. He sent to Yoshisada's headquarters a +message promising to give his support to the Imperialists if he was +appointed high constable of Harima. Ten days were needed to obtain +the commission from Kyoto, and Norimura utilized the interval to +place the defenses of Shirahata fortress in a thoroughly secure +condition. Thus, when his patent of high constable arrived, he +rejected it with disdain, saying that he had already received a +patent from the shogun, Takauji, and was in no need of an Imperial +grant which "could be altered as easily as turning one's hand." + +Yoshisada, enraged at having been duped, laid siege to Shirahata but +found it almost invulnerable. It was on March 11, 1336, that Takauji +went westward from Bingo; it was on the 2nd of April that Yoshisada +invested Shirahata, and it was on the 3rd of July that the siege was +raised. The Ashikaga brothers had enjoyed a respite of more than +three months, and had utilized it vigorously. They were at the +Dazai-fu in Chikuzen in June when a message reached them that +Shirahata could not hold out much longer. Immediately they set their +forces in motion, advancing by land and water with an army said to +have numbered twenty thousand and a fleet of transports and war-junks +totalling seven thousand. At the island, Itsukushima, they were met +by a Buddhist priest, Kenshun, bearer of a mandate signed by the +ex-Emperor Kogon of the senior branch, and thus, in his final +advance, the Ashikaga chief was able to fly the brocade banner. In +the face of this formidable force the Imperialists fell back to +Hyogo--the present Kobe--and it became necessary to determine a line +of strategy. + +DEATH OF MASASHIGE + +Go-Daigo, in Kyoto, summoned Kusunoki Masashige to a conference. That +able general spoke in definite tones. He declared it hopeless for the +Imperialists with their comparatively petty force of worn-out +warriors to make head against the great Ashikuga host of fresh +fighters. The only wise course was to suffer the enemy to enter +Kyoto, and then, while the sovereign took refuge at Hiei-zan, to +muster his Majesty's partisans in the home provinces for an unceasing +war upon the Ashikaga's long line of communications--a war +culminating in an attack from the front and the rear simultaneously. +Thus, out of temporary defeat, final victory would be wrested. + +All present at the conference, with one exception, endorsed +Masashige's view as that of a proved strategist. The exception was a +councillor, Fujiwara Kiyotada. He showed himself a veritable example +of "those whom the gods wish to destroy." Declaring that all previous +successes had been achieved by divine aid, which took no count of +numerical disparity, he urged that if the sovereign quitted the +capital before his troops had struck a blow, officers and men alike +would be disheartened; and if refuge was again taken at Hiei-zan, the +Imperial prestige would suffer. To these light words the Emperor +hearkened. Masashige uttered no remonstrance. The time for +controversy had passed. He hastened to the camp and bid farewell to +his son, Masatsura: "I do not think that I shall see you again in +life. If I fall to-day, the country will pass under the sway of the +Ashikaga. It will be for you to judge in which direction your real +welfare lies. Do not sully your father's loyalty by forgetting the +right and remembering only the expedient. So long as a single member +of our family remains alive, or so much as one of our retainers, you +will defend the old castle of Kongo-zan and give your life for your +native land." + +ENGRAVING: THE PARTING OF KUSONOKI MASASHIGE AND HIS SON MASATSURA + +He then handed to his son a sword which he himself had received from +the Emperor. Passing thence to Hyogo, Masashige joined Nitta +Yoshisada, and the two leaders devoted the night to a farewell +banquet. The issue of the next day's combat was a foregone +conclusion. Masashige had but seven hundred men under his command. He +posted this little band at Minato-gawa, near the modern Kobe, and +with desperate courage attacked the van of the Ashikaga army. +Gradually he was enveloped, and being wounded in ten places he, with +his brother and sixty followers, entered the precincts of a temple +and died by their own hands.* Takauji and his captains, lamenting the +brave bushi's death, sent his head to his family; and history +recognizes that his example exercised an ennobling influence not only +on the men of his era but also on subsequent generations. After +Masashige's fall a similar fate must have overtaken Yoshisada, had +not one of those sacrifices familiar on a Japanese field of battle +been made for his sake. Oyamada Takaiye gave his horse to the Nitta +general and fell fighting in his stead, while Yoshisada rode away. At +first sight these sacrifices seem to debase the saved as much as they +exalt the saver. But, according to Japanese ethics, an institution +was always more precious than the person of its representative, and a +principle than the life of its exponent. Men sacrificed themselves in +battle not so much to save the life of a commanding officer, as to +avert the loss his cause would suffer by his death. Parity of +reasoning dictated acceptance of the sacrifice. + +*Kusunoki Masashige is the Japanese type of a loyal and true soldier. +He was forty-three at the time of his death. Three hundred and +fifty-six years later (1692), Minamoto Mitsukuni, feudal chief of +Mito, caused a monument to be erected to his memory at the place of +his last fight. It bore the simple epitaph "The Tomb of Kusunoki, a +loyal subject." + +ENGRAVING: OSONAE (New Year Offering to Family Tutelary Deity) + +ENGRAVING: PALANQUINS (Used in Old Japan Only by the Nobility) + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE WAR OF THE DYNASTIES + +OCCUPATION OF KYOTO BY ASHIKAGA + +IN July, 1336, Takauji entered Kyoto and established his headquarters +at the temple Higashi-dera. Go-Daigo had previously taken refuge at +the Hiei-zan monastery, the ex-Emperors, Hanazono and Kogon, +remaining in the capital where they looked for the restoration of +their branch of the Imperial family. The Ashikaga leader lost no time +in despatching a force to attack Hiei-zan, but the Imperialists, +supported by the cenobites, resisted stoutly, and no impression was +made on the defences for a considerable time. In one of the +engagements, however, Nawa Nagatoshi, who had harboured Go-Daigo +after the flight from Oki, met his death, and the Imperialist forces +gradually dwindled. Towards the close of August, Takauji caused +Prince Yutahito (or Toyohito, according to gome authorities), younger +brother of Kogon, to be proclaimed Emperor, and he is known as Komyo. +Characteristic of the people's political ignorance at that time is +the fact that men spoke of the prince's good fortune since, without +any special merit of his own, he had been granted the rank of +sovereign by the shogun. + +Meanwhile, the investment of the Hiei monastery made little progress, +and Takauji had recourse to treachery. At the close of October he +opened secret communications with Go-Daigo; assured him that the +Ashikaga did not entertain any disloyal purpose; declared that their +seemingly hostile attitude had been inspired by the enmity of the +Nitta brothers; begged Go-Daigo to return to Kyoto, and promised not +only that should all ideas of revenge be foregone, but also that the +administration should be handed over to the Court, and all their +ranks and estates restored to the Emperor's followers. + +Go-Daigo ought surely to have distrusted these professions. He must +have learned from Takauji's original impeachment of Yoshisada how +unscrupulous the Ashikaga leader could be on occasion, and he should +have well understood the impossibility of peace between these two +men. Yet his Majesty relied on Takauji's assurances. It was in vain +that Horiguchi Sadamitsu recounted Yoshisada's services, detailed the +immense sacrifices he had made in the Imperial cause, and declared +that if the Emperor were determined to place himself in Takauji's +hands, he should prepare his departure from Hiei-zan by summoning to +his presence Yoshisada with the other Nitta leaders and sentencing +them to death. Go-Daigo was not to be moved from his purpose. He gave +Yoshisada fair words indeed: "I profoundly praise your loyal +services. My wish is to pacify the country by the assistance of your +family, but heaven has not yet vouchsafed its aid. Our troops are +worn out and the hour is unpropitious. Therefore, I make peace for +the moment and bide my time. Do you repair to Echizen and use your +best endeavours to promote the cause of the restoration. Lest you be +called a rebel after my return to Kyoto, I order the Crown Prince to +accompany you." + +Thus Go-Daigo, truly faithful neither to the one side nor to the +other, set out for the capital. That night, Yoshisada prayed at the +shrine of Hiyoshi: "Look down on my loyalty and help me to perform my +journey safely so that I may raise an army to destroy the insurgents. +If that is not to be, let one of my descendants achieve my aim." Two +hundred and six years later, there was born in Mikawa of the stock of +Yoshisada one of the greatest generals and altogether the greatest +ruler that Japan has ever produced, Minamoto Ieyasu. Heaven answered +Yoshisada's prayer tardily but signally. + +TAKAUJI'S FAITH + +Not one of Takauji's promises did he respect. He imprisoned Go-Daigo; +he stripped all the courtiers of their ranks and titles; he placed in +confinement all the generals and officers of the Imperial forces, and +he ordered the transfer of the insignia to the sovereign of his own +nomination, Komyo. Tradition has it that Go-Daigo, victim of so many +treacheries, practised one successful deception himself: he reserved +the original of the sacred sword and seal and handed counterfeits to +Komyo. This took place on November 12, 1336. Some two months later, +January 23, 1337, Go-Daigo, disguised as a woman for the second time +in his career, fled from his place of detention through a broken +fence, and reached Yoshino in Yamato, where he was received by +Masatsura, son of Kusunoki Masashige, and by Kitabatake Chikafusa. + +Yoshino now became the rendez-vous of Imperialists from the home +provinces, and Go-Daigo sent a rescript to Yoshisada in Echizen, +authorizing him to work for the restoration. + +Thus commenced the War of the Dynasties, known in history as the +Conflict of the Northern and Southern Courts, terms borrowed from the +fact that Yoshino, where Go-Daigo had his headquarters, lay to the +south of Kyoto. Hereafter, then, the junior branch of the Imperial +Family will be designated the Southern Court and the senior branch +will be spoken of as the Northern Court. + +The struggle lasted from 1337 to 1392, a period of fifty-five years. +Much has been written and said about the relative legitimacy of the +two Courts. It does not appear that there is any substantial material +for doubt. Go-Daigo never abdicated voluntarily, or ever surrendered +the regalia. Before his time many occupants of the throne had stepped +down at the suggestion of a Fujiwara or a Hojo. But always the +semblance of free-will had been preserved. Moreover, the transfer of +the true regalia constituted the very essence of legitimate +succession. But these remained always in Go-Daigo's possession. +Therefore, although in the matter of lineage no distinction could be +justly set up between the Northern and the Southern Courts, the +collaterals of legitimacy were all with the latter. + +Of course each complied with all the forms of Imperialism. Thus, +whereas the Southern Court used the year-name Engen for 1336-1339, +the North kept the year-name Kemmu for two years, and as there were +different nengo names for half a century, a new element of confusion +was added to the already perplexing chronology of Japan. In +administrative methods there was a difference. The Northern Court +adhered to the camera system: that is to say, the actual occupant of +the throne was a mere figurehead, the practical functions of +Government being discharged by the cloistered sovereign. In the +Southern Court the Emperor himself, nominally at all events, directed +the business of administration. Further, the office of shogun in the +Southern Court was held generally by an Imperial Prince, whereas in +the Northern Court its holder was an Ashikaga. In brief, the +supporters of the Northern Court followed the military polity of the +Bakufu while the Southern adopted Imperialism. + +NATURE OF THE WAR + +As the question at issue lay solely between two claimants to the +succession, readers of history naturally expect to find the war +resolve itself into a campaign, or a succession of campaigns, between +two armies. Such was by no means the case. Virtually the whole empire +was drawn into the turmoil, and independent fighting went on at +several places simultaneously. The two Courts perpetually made Kyoto +their objective. Regardless of its strategical disadvantages, they +deemed its possession cardinal. Takauji had been more highly lauded +and more generously rewarded than Yoshisada, because the former had +recovered Kyoto whereas the latter had only destroyed Kamakura. Thus, +while Go-Daigo constantly struggled to capture Kyoto, Komyo's +absorbing aim was to retain it. This obsession in favour of the +Imperial metropolis left its mark upon many campaigns; as when, in +the spring operations of 1336, Yoshisada, instead of being allowed to +pursue and annihilate Takauji, was recalled to guard Kyoto, and when, +in July of the same year, Kusunoki Masashige was sent to his death +rather than temporarily vacate the capital. It must have been fully +apparent to the great captains of the fourteenth century that Kyoto +was easy to take and hard to hold. Lake Biwa and the river Yodo are +natural bulwarks of Yamato, not of Yamashiro. Hiei-zan looks down on +the lake, and Kyoto lies on the great plain at the foot of the hill. +If, during thirteen generations, the Ashikaga family struggled for +Kyoto, they maintained, the while, their ultimate base and +rallying-place at Kamakura, and thus, even when shattered in the +west, they could recuperate in the east. The Southern Court had no +such depot and recruiting-ground. They had, indeed, a tolerable place +of arms in the province of Kawachi, but in the end they succumbed to +topographical disadvantages. + +DEATHS OF YOSHISADA AND AKIIYE + +In the fact that he possessed a number of sons, Go-Daigo had an +advantage over his fourteen-year-old rival, Komyo, for these Imperial +princes were sent out to various districts to stimulate the loyal +efforts of local bushi. With Yoshisada to Echizen went the Crown +Prince and his brother Takanaga. They entrenched themselves at +Kana-ga-saki, on the seacoast, whence Yoshisada's eldest son, +Yoshiaki, was despatched to Echigo to collect troops, and a younger +brother, Yoshisuke, to Soma-yama on a similar errand. Almost +immediately, Ashikaga Takatsune with an army of twenty thousand men +laid siege to Kanaga-saki. But Yoshiaki and Yoshisuke turned in their +tracks and delivered a rear attack which scattered the besiegers. +This success, however, proved only temporary. The Ashikaga leader's +deep resentment against Yoshisada inspired a supreme effort to crush +him, and the Kana-ga-saki fortress was soon invested by an +overwhelming force on sea and on shore. Famine necessitated +surrender. Yoshiaki and Prince Takanaga committed suicide, the latter +following the former's example and using his blood-stained sword. The +Crown Prince was made prisoner and subsequently poisoned by Takauji's +orders. Yoshisada and his brother Yoshisuke escaped to Soma-yama and +rallied their partisans to the number of three thousand. + +The fall of Kana-ga-saki occurred in April, 1338, and, two months +later, Go-Daigo took the very exceptional course of sending an +autograph letter to Yoshisada. The events which prompted his Majesty +were of prime moment to the cause of the Southern Court. Kitabatake +Akiiye, the youthful governor of Mutsu and son of the celebrated +Chikafusa, marched southward at the close of 1337, his daring project +being the capture, first, of Kamakura, and next, of Kyoto The nature +of this gallant enterprise may be appreciated by observing that Mutsu +lies at the extreme north of the main island, is distant some five +hundred miles from Kyoto, and is separated from the latter by several +regions hostile to the cause which Akiiye represented. Nevertheless, +the brilliant captain, then in his twenty-first year, seized Kamakura +in January, 1338, and marched thence in February for Yoshino. He +gained three victories on the way, and had nearly reached his +objective when, at Ishizu, he encountered a great army of Ashikaga +troops under an able leader, Ko no Moronao, and after a fierce +engagement the Southern forces were shattered, Akiiye himself falling +in the fight. This disaster occurred on June 11, 1338. A brave rally +was made by Akiiye's younger brother, Akinobu. He gathered the +remnants of the Mutsu army and occupied Otokoyama, which commands +Kyoto. + +It was at this stage of the campaign that Go-Daigo resorted to the +exceptional measure of sending an autograph letter to Yoshisada, then +entrenched at Somayama, in Echizen. His Majesty conjured the Nitta +leader to march to the assistance of Akinobu at Otoko-yama. Yoshisada +responded at once. He despatched his brother, Yoshisuke, with twenty +thousand men, remaining himself to cover the rear of the expedition. +But Otoko-yama surrendered before this succour reached it, and the +Nitta brothers then combined their forces to operate against the +Ashikaga. Nothing decisive resulted, and in September, 1338, +Yoshisada fell in an insignificant combat near the fortress of +Fujishima in Echizen. He caused a comrade to behead him and carry off +the head, but the enemy identified him by means of the Imperial +letter found on his person. + +Yoshisada was only thirty-eight at the time of his death (September, +1338). Rai Sanyo (1780-1832), the great Japanese historian, says: "I +saw a letter written by Yoshisada with his own hand for the purpose +of admonishing the members of his family. In it he wrote: 'An officer +in command of an army should respect the sovereign; treat his +subordinates with clemency but decision; leave his fate in heaven's +hands, and not blame others.' Yoshisada is open to criticism for not +pursuing the Ashikaga when they fled westward from Kyoto; yet it must +be remembered that he had no firm base, being hurried from one +quarter to another. The strategy he used was not his own free choice +nor were the battles he fought contrived by himself. But his devotion +to the Imperial cause, his unfailing loyalty, and his indifference to +self-interest have kept his memory fresh and will always keep it +fresh. If, two hundred years after his death, a chieftain was born of +his blood to carry the Minamoto name to the pinnacle of glory, who +shall say that heaven did not thus answer the prayer put up by +Yoshisada at the shrine of Hiyoshi?" + +DEATH OF GO-DAIGO + +During these events, Go-Daigo sojourned at Yoshino, which was +protected by Kusunoki Masatsura, Wada Masatomo, and others. At the +close of August, 1339, his Majesty falling ill, and feeling that his +end was near, resigned the throne to his twelve-year-old son, the +Crown Prince Yoshinaga, whose historical name is Go-Murakami. +Go-Daigo's will declared that his only regret in leaving the world +was his failure to effect the restoration, and that though his body +was buried at Yoshino, his spirit would always yearn for Kyoto. +Tradition says that he expired holding a sword in his right hand, the +Hokke-kyo-sutra in his left, and that Kitabatake Chikafusa spoke of +the event as a dream within a dream. + +It is recorded to Ashikaga Takauji's credit that, when the news +reached Kyoto, he ordered five days' mourning; that he himself +undertook to transcribe a sacred volume by way of supplication for +the repose of Go-Daigo's spirit, and that he caused a temple to be +built for the same purpose. Of course, these events cast a cloud over +the fortunes of the Southern Court, but its adherents did not abate +their activities. Everywhere they mustered in greater or less force. +The clearest conception of their strength may be obtained by +tabulating the names of their families and of the latter's +localities: + + FAMILIES PROVINCES + + Kitabatake Mutsu and Ise + + Nitta Musashi, Shimotsuke, Echizen + + Kusunoki Kawachi + + Kojima, Sakurayama, Arii, Yoshikawa Sanyo-do + + Nawa and Misumi Sanin-do + + Kikuchi, Matsura, Kusano Saikai-do + + Doi, Tokuno, Yuasa, Yamamoto Nankai-do + + Ii Totomi + + Neo Mino + + Shinto officials Atsuta + +This table suggests that partisans of the Southern Court existed in +almost every part of the empire. So, in truth, they did. But friends +of the Northern Court existed also, and thus it resulted that at no +time throughout the fifty-five years of the struggle were the +provinces free from strife. It resulted also that frequent changes of +allegiance took place, for a family had often to choose between total +ruin, on the one hand, and comparative prosperity at the sacrifice of +constancy, on the other. Some historians have adduced the incidents +of this era as illustrating the shallowness of Japanese loyalty. But +it can scarcely be said that loyalty was ever seriously at stake. In +point of legitimacy there was nothing to choose between the rival +branches of the Imperial family. A samurai might-pass from the +service of the one to that of the other without doing any violence to +his reverence for the Throne. + +What was certainly born of the troubled era, however, was a sentiment +of contempt for central authority and a disposition to rely on one's +own right arm. It could not have been otherwise. In several provinces +official nominees of both Courts administered simultaneously, and men +were requisitioned for aid, to-day, to the Northern cause, to-morrow, +to the Southern. To be strong enough to resist one or the other was +the only way to avoid ruinous exactions. From that to asserting one's +strength at the expense of a neighbour who followed a different flag +was a short step, if not a duty, and thus purely selfish +considerations dictated a fierce quarrel and inspired many an act of +unscrupulous spoliation. A few cases are on record of families which +resorted to the device of dividing themselves into two branches, each +declaring for a different cause and each warring nominally with the +other. Thus the sept as a whole preserved its possessions, in part at +any rate, whichever Court triumphed. But such double-faced schemes +were very rare. A much commoner outcome of the situation was the +growth of powerful families which regulated their affairs by means of +a council of leading members without reference to Kamakura, Kyoto, or +Yoshino. At the same time, minor septs in the neighbourhood saw the +advantage of subscribing to the decisions of these councils and +deferring to their judgments. + +"This was an important step in the development of the feudal system. +Another was the abolition of feudal fiefs, as well as of the +succession of women to real estate, and a curtailment of the +inheritance, not so much of younger sons, as of all sons except the +one selected as lord of the clan."* The shugo (high constables) also +became a salient element of feudalism. Originally liable to frequent +transfers of locality, some of them subsequently came to hold their +office hereditarily, and these, together with the great majority of +their confreres who had been appointed by the Bakufu, espoused the +Ashikaga cause; a choice which impelled many of the military families +in their jurisdiction to declare for the Southern Court. The Ashikaga +shugo ultimately became leading magnates, for they wielded twofold +authority, namely, that derived from their power as owners of broad +estates, and that derived from their commission as shogun's delegates +entitled to levy taxes locally. The provincial governors, at the +outset purely civil officials, occasionally developed military +capacity and rivalled the hereditary shugo in armed influence, but +such instances were rare. + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +THE COURSE OF THE WAR + +After the death of Kusunoki Masashige, of Nitta Yoshisada, and of +Kitabatake Akiiye, the strategical direction of the war devolved +mainly upon Kitabatake Chikafusa, so far as the Southern Court was +concerned. The greater part of the nation may be said to have been in +arms, but only a small section took actual part in the main campaign, +the troops in the distant provinces being occupied with local +struggles. Chikafusa's general plan was to menace Kyoto and Kamakura +simultaneously. Just as the eight provinces of the Kwanto formed the +base of the Ashikaga armies, so the eight provinces constituting the +Kii peninsula--Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi, Ise, Iga, Shima, Kii (in +part), and Omi (in part)--served as bases for the partisans of the +South. To strike at Kyoto from this base required the previous +subjugation of Settsu, and, on the other hand, a strong army in +Settsu menaced Yoshino. + +Chikafusa's plan, then, was to marshal in Kawachi force sufficient to +threaten, if not to overrun, Settsu, and then to push on into the +metropolitan province from Omi and Iga, the Ashikaga having been +previously induced to uncover Kyoto by the necessity of guarding +Kamakura. From the Kii peninsula the obvious route to the Kwanto is +by sea. Therefore, the Southerners established a naval base at +Shingu, on the east coast of the peninsula, and used it for the +purpose not only of despatching a force northward, but also of +maintaining communications with Shikoku and Kyushu, where they had +many partisans. Chikafusa himself led the oversea expedition to the +Kwanto, but the flotilla was wrecked by a storm, and he reached Yedo +Bay with only a small following. Nevertheless, he established himself +at Oda, in Hitachi, and being there joined by many of the Ashikaga's +enemies, he managed, not indeed to seriously menace Kamakura, but at +all events to give occupation to a large force of the Northerners. +Driven out at last (1343), after more than four years' operations, he +returned to Yoshino, where he found Kusunoki Masatsura, son of +Masashige, carrying on from Kawachi a vigorous campaign against the +Ashikaga in Settsu. + +After many minor engagements, in all of which he was successful, +Masatsura inflicted such a severe defeat on his opponents at +Sumiyoshi that the Bakufu became alarmed, and mustering an army of +sixty thousand men, sent it under Ko Moronao and his brother, +Moroyasu, to attack Masatsura. This was in December, 1347. Then +Masatsura and his younger brother, Masatoki, together with Wada +Katahide and other bushi, to the number of 140, made oath to conquer +in fight or to die. They repaired to Yoshino, and having taken leave +of the Emperor, Go-Murakami, they worshipped at the shrine of the +late sovereign, Go-Daigo, inscribed their names upon the wall, and +wrote under them: + + We that our bows here + Swear nevermore to slacken + Till in the land of life we + Cease to be counted, + Our names now record. + +It was in February, 1348, that the battle took place at Shijo-nawate +in Kawachi. Moronao had sixty thousand men at his disposal; Masatsura +only three thousand. The combat raged during six hours, the Kusunoki +brothers leading thirty charges, until finally they were both covered +with wounds, and only fifty men remained out of the sworn band. Then +this remnant committed suicide. Moronao, following up his victory, +marched into Yamato, and set fire to the palace there. Go-Murakami +escaped to Kanao, and presently the Nitta family in the east and the +Kitabatake in the west showed such activity that the Southern cause +recovered its vitality, a turn of events largely promoted by +dissensions in the Northern camp and by the consequent return of +Moronao's forces to Kyoto. It is necessary, therefore, to direct our +eyes for a moment to the course of affairs on the side of the +Ashikaga. + +THE ASHIKAGA POLITY + +Ashikaga Takauji's original idea was to follow the system of Yoritomo +in everything. Kamakura was to be his capital and he assumed the +title of shogun. This was in 1335. Three years later he received the +shogunate in due form from the Northern sovereign, Komyo. But he now +discovered that Kyoto must be his headquarters so long as the War of +the Dynasties lasted, and he therefore established the Bakufu at +Muromachi in that city, modelling it on the lines of Yoritomo's +institution, but dispensing with a regent (shikkeri) and substituting +for him a second shitsuji. The first two shitsuji at Muromachi were +Ko Moronao, the great general, and Uesugi Tomosada, a connexion of +Takauji. Kamakura was not neglected, however. It became a secondary +basis, Takauji's eight-year-old son, Yoshiakira, being installed +there as governor-general (kwanryo) of the Kwanto under the +guardianship of Uesugi Noriaki as shitsuji, and the old +administrative machinery of the Hojo was revived in the main. +Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, became chief of the general staff in +Kyoto, and "several Kamakura literati--descendants of Oye, Nakahara, +Miyoshi, and others--were brought up to fill positions on the various +boards, the services of some of the ablest priests of the time being +enlisted in the work of drafting laws and regulations."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +To these priests and literati was entrusted the task of compiling a +code based on the Joei Shikimoku of the Hojo regents, and there +resulted the Kemmu Shikimoku, promulgated in 1337.* This was not a +law, properly so called, but rather a body of precepts contained in +seventeen articles. They have much interest as embodying the ethics +of the time in political circles. "Economy must be universally +practised. Drinking parties and wanton frolics must be suppressed. +Crimes of violence and outrage must be quelled. The practice of +entering the private dwellings of the people and making inquisitions +into their affairs must be given up." Then follow two articles +dealing with the ownership of vacant plots and rebuilding of houses +and fireproof godowns in the devastated sections of the capital. The +subsequent paragraphs provide that men of special ability for +government work should be chosen for the office of shugo; that a stop +must be put to the practice of influential nobles and women of all +sorts and Buddhist ecclesiastics making interested recommendations +(to the sovereign); that persons holding public posts must be liable +to reprimand for negligence and idleness; that bribery must be firmly +put down; that presents made from all quarters to those attached to +the palace, whether of the inside or outside service, must be sent +back; that those who are to be in personal attendance on the rulers +must be selected for that duty; that ceremonial etiquette should be +the predominant principle; that men noted for probity and adherence +to high principle should be rewarded by more than ordinary +distinction; that the petitions and complaints of the poor and lowly +should be heard and redress granted; that the petitions of temples +and shrines should be dealt with on their merits, and that certain +fixed days should be appointed for the rendering of decisions and the +issue of government orders.** + +*Kemmu was the Northern Court's name of the year-period 1334 to 1338: +see p. 398. + +**The Kemmu Shikimoku by Mr. Consul-General Hall, in the +"Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan;" epitomized by +Murdoch. + +THE JINNO SHOTOKI + +Before proceeding with the history of this troubled era, it is +advisable to speak of a great political brochure which was compiled +by Kitabatake Chikafusa during the period (1340-1343) of his attempt +to harass the Ashikaga from the direction of Hitachi. This was a work +designed to establish the divine claim of the sovereign of the +Southern Court. Hence the title of the treatise, Correct Genealogy +(Shotoki) of the Divine Emperor (Jinno). The reader knows that when, +in the eighth century, Japan went to Chinese sources for +jurisprudential inspiration, she had to eliminate the Confucian and +Mencian doctrine that the sceptre may not be wielded by anyone whose +virtues do not qualify him for the task in the eyes of the nation. +This same doctrine permeated by construction the commentaries that +accompanied the articles of the Kemmu Shikimoku as quoted above, and +in that fact Chikafusa saw an opportunity of winning adherents for +the Southern Court by proclaiming its heaven-conferred rights. + +"Great Yamato," Kitabatake wrote, "is a divine country. It is only +our land whose foundations were first laid by the divine ancestor. It +alone has been transmitted by the Sun goddess to a long line of her +descendants. There is nothing of this kind in foreign countries. +Therefore it is called the divine land. . . It is only our country +which from the time when the heaven and earth were first unfolded, +has preserved the succession to the throne intact in one single +family. Even when, as sometimes naturally happened, it descended to a +lateral branch, it was held according to just principles. This shows +that the oath of the gods (to preserve the succession) is ever +renewed in a way which distinguishes Japan from all other countries. +. . . It is the duty of every man born on the Imperial soil to yield +devoted loyalty to his sovereign, even to the sacrifice of his own +life. Let no one suppose for a moment that there is any credit due to +him for doing so. Nevertheless, in order to stimulate the zeal of +those who came after, and in loving memory of the dead, it is the +business of the ruler to grant rewards in such cases (to the +children). Those who are in an inferior position should not enter +into rivalry with them. Still more should those who have done no +specially meritorious service abstain from inordinate ambitions. I +have already touched on the principles of statesmanship. They are +based on justice and mercy, in the dispensing of which firm action is +requisite. Such is the clear instruction vouchsafed to us by the Sun +goddess."* + +*Aston's Japanese Literature. + +It is not to be supposed that these doctrines produced any +wide-spread influence on public opinion at the time of their +promulgation. In the first place they were not generally accessible; +for not until the year 1649 was Kitabatake's brochure printed. That +it remained in manuscript during three centuries after its +compilation is not attributable to technical difficulties. The art of +blockprinting came to Japan from China in very early times, and it is +on record that, in 770, the Empress Shotoku caused a million Buddhist +amulets to be printed. But the Jinno Shotoki did not fall on fruitful +soil. Either its teaching was superfluous or men were too much +engrossed with fighting to listen to academical disquisitions. +Chikafusa's work was destined to produce great and lasting effects in +future ages, but, for the moment, it accomplished little. + +DISCORD IN THE CAMP OF THE ASHIKAGA + +A prominent feature of the Ashikaga family's annals was continuity of +internecine strife. The Hojo's era had been conspicuously free from +any such blemish; the Ashikaga's was markedly disfigured by it, so +much so that by the debilitating effects of this discord the +supremacy of the sept was long deferred. The first outward +indications of the trouble were seen in 1348, when the able general, +Ko Moronao, instead of following up his victory over the Southern +Court after the death of Kusunoki Masatsura, turned suddenly +northward from Yamato and hastened back to Kyoto. His own safety +dictated that step. For during his absence from the capital on +campaign, a plot to effect his overthrow had matured under the +leadership of Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Uesugi Shigeyoshi. + +The latter held the office of shitsuji, and was therefore Moronao's +comrade, while Tadayoshi, as already stated, had the title of +commander-in-chief of the general staff and virtually directed +administrative affairs, subject, of course, to Takauji's approval. +Moronao undoubtedly possessed high strategical ability, and being +assisted by his almost equally competent brother, Moroyasu, rendered +sterling military service to the Ashikaga cause. But the two brothers +were arrogant, dissipated, and passionate. It is recorded of Moronao +that he abducted the wife of Enya Takasada, and of Moroyasu that he +desecrated the grave of Sugawara in order to enclose its site within +his mansion, both outrages being condoned by the shogun, Takauji, In +truth, even in the days of Taira overlordship, Kyoto was never so +completely under the heel of the military as it was in early Ashikaga +times. + +Rokuhara did not by any means arrogate such universal authority as +did Muromachi. The Court nobles in the middle of the fourteenth +century had no functions except those of a ceremonial nature and were +frankly despised by the haughty bushi. It is on record that Doki +Yorito, meeting the cortege of the retired Emperor Kogon, pretended +to mistake the escorts' cry of "In" (camera sovereign) for "inu" +(dog), and actually discharged an arrow at the Imperial vehicle. +Yorito suffered capital punishment, but the incident illustrates the +demeanour of the military class. + +The two Ko brothers were conspicuously masterful and made many +enemies. But the proximate cause of the plot alluded to above was +jealousy on the part of Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Uesugi Shigeyoshi, who +resented the trust reposed by Takauji in Moronao and Moroyasu. The +conspirators underestimated Moronao's character. Reaching Kyoto by +forced marches from Yamato, he laid siege to Tadayoshi's mansion, and +presently Tadayoshi had to save himself by taking the tonsure, while +Shigeyoshi was exiled to Echizen, whither Moronao sent an assassin to +make away with him. The Ashikaga chief, whose trust in Moronao was +not at all shaken by these events, summoned from Kamakura his eldest +son, Yoshiakira, and entrusted to him the functions hitherto +discharged by his uncle, Tadayoshi, replacing him in Kamakura by a +younger son, Motouji. + +Yoshiakira was not Takauji's eldest son; he was his eldest legitimate +son. An illegitimate son, four years older, had been left in Kamakura +as a priest, but was recognized as the possessor of such abilities +that, although his father refused to meet him, his uncle, Tadayoshi, +summoned him to Kyoto and procured for him the high office of tandai +of the west. This Tadafuyu was discharging his military duties in +Bingo when news reached him of Moronao's coup d'etat in Kyoto and of +his own patron, Tadayoshi's discomfiture. At once Tadafuyu crossed +the sea to Higo in Kyushu, where a large number of discontented +samurai rallied to his banner, and Shoni, the Ashikaga tandai of +Kyushu, soon found himself vigorously attacked. The struggle +presently assumed such importance that Kyoto's attention was +attracted. The normal course would have been for Moronao to take the +field against Tadafuyu. But Moronao was looking always for an +opportunity to compass the death of his enemy, Tadayoshi, and +thinking that his chance had now come, he persuaded Takauji to take +personal command of the expedition to Kyushu, the idea being to +finally dispose of Tadayoshi during the absence of the Ashikaga +shogun from Kyoto. Tadayoshi, however, obtained timely information of +this design and escaping to Yamato, offered to surrender to the +Southern Court. This was in January, 1350. + +The advisers of the Emperor Go-Murakami differed radically in their +counsels, but it was finally decided that every effort should be made +to widen the rift in the Ashikaga lute, and the Court commissioned +Tadayoshi to attack Takauji and recover Kyoto. Thus was presented the +spectacle of a father (Takauji) fighting against his son (Tadafuyu), +and a brother (Tadayoshi) fighting against a brother (Takauji). +Tadayoshi was joined by many men of note and puissance whom the +arrogance of the two Ko, Moronao and Moroyasu, had offended. A +desperate struggle ensued, and the Ko generals had to retreat to +Harima, where they joined with Takauji, the latter having abandoned +his expedition to Kyushu. Meanwhile, Yoshiakira, Takauji's eldest +son, had escaped from Kyoto and entered his father's camp. After a +time negotiations for peace were concluded (1351), one of the +conditions being that Moronao and Moroyasu should lay down their +offices and enter the priesthood. But the blood of the shitsuji, +Uesugi Shigeyoshi, was still fresh on Moronao's hands. Shigeyoshi's +son, Akiyoshi, waylaid the two Ko on their route to Kyoto to take the +tonsure, and Moronao and Moroyasu were both killed. + +YEAR-PERIODS AND COURTS + +Three years before the death of Moronao, that is to say, in 1348, the +sovereign of the Northern Court, Komyo, abdicated in favour of Suko. +Ever since 1332 there had been a dual year-period, outcome of the +divided Imperialism, and history was thus not a little complicated. +It will be convenient here to tabulate, side by side, the lines of +the two dynasties: + +SOUTHERN COURT NORTHERN COURT + +96th Sovereign, Go-Daigo 1318-1339 Kogon 1332-1335 + +97th " Go-Murakami 1339-1368 Komyo 1335-1348 + +98th " Chokei 1368-1372 Suko 1348-1352 + +99th " Go-Kameyama 1372-1392 Go-Kogon 1352-1371 + + Go-Enyu 1371-1382 + +100th " Go-Komatsu 1392-1412 Go-Komatsu 1382-1412 + +It is observable that the average duration of a Southern sovereign's +reign was eighteen years, whereas that of a Northern sovereign was +only thirteen years. + +DEATH OF TADAYOSHI + +The peace concluded between the Ashikaga chief and his brother, +Tadayoshi, was of brief duration; their respective partisans +distrusted one another too much. The Nikki, the Hosokawa, the Doki, +and the Sasaki, all followed Takauji, but the Ishido, the Uesugi, and +the Momonoi adhered to Tadayoshi. At last the situation became so +strained that Tadayoshi withdrew to Echizen and from thence made his +way to Kamakura. In these circumstances, Takauji desired to take the +field himself, but since to do so would have exposed Kyoto to danger +from the south, he attempted to delude the Court at Yoshino into +crediting his loyalty and his willingness to dethrone Suko by way of +preliminary to welcoming the return of Go-Murakami to Kyoto. + +Takauji's professions were now appraised at their true value, +however. The Court at Yoshino commissioned him to punish his +rebellious brother, but took steps, as will presently be seen, to +turn the resulting situation to its own advantage. Takauji now placed +himself at the head of a strong army, and moving eastward, marched to +Kamakura practically unopposed. Tadayoshi escaped to Izu, where he +took poison, or was given it. Takauji remained in the Kwanto during +the greater part of two years (1352-1353). The task of restoring +order and re-establishing the Ashikaga supremacy demanded all his +ability and resources. "In the Kwanto alone, during these two years, +more battles were fought--some of considerable magnitude--than during +the thirty years between 1455 and 1485 in England."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +THE SOUTHERN COURT IN KYOTO + +In this state of affairs the Southern Court found its opportunity. In +accepting Takauji's overtures, Kitabatake Chikafusa, who directed the +politics and strategy of the Southern Court, had designed to dethrone +Suko, to adopt the year name, Shohei, solely, and to establish an +administrative council in Kyoto under his own presidency. He knew +well that Takauji's surrender had not been sincere, but he counted on +an access of strength from the partisans of Tadayoshi, and he looked +for some occasion capable of being turned to advantage. Yoshiakira, +who ruled Kyoto in the absence of his father, Takauji, made no +difficulty about dethroning Suko and requesting the return of the +Southern sovereign, Go-Murakami. Neither did he hesitate to hand over +the false insignia which had been given by Go-Daigo to the Northern +Court. In February, 1352, Go-Murakami paid a visit to Otoko-yama on +the southeast of Kyoto, and ordered a number of officials, under +Kitabatake Chikafusa and Kusunoki Masanori, to enter the capital and +conduct affairs. But his Majesty did not trust his own person into +the city. He waited until his plans were mature, and then a strong +force of Southern troops was launched against Kyoto, while a powerful +army of Kwanto bushi, led by the Nitta brothers, Yoshioki and +Yoshimune, as well as by Wakiya Yoshiharu, marched into Musashi and +defeated Takauji on the Kotesashi moor. + +The invaders actually got possession of Kamakura, but the superior +strategy of the Ashikaga chief ultimately reversed the situation. +Yoshimune had to fly to Echigo with a petty remnant of followers, and +Yoshioki and Yoshiharu, evacuating Kamakura, took refuge in the +Kawamura fortress. Meanwhile, in Kyoto, things had fared in a +somewhat similar manner. The Southern generals carried everything +before them at the outset, and Yoshiakira had to fly to Omi. But, +after a brief period of quiet, the Northern troops rallied and +expelled the Southern. Yoshiakira found himself again supreme. A +strange dilemma presented itself, however. There was no sovereign. +The retired sovereigns, Kogon, Komyo, and Suko, had all been carried +to a place well within the Southern lines, and even the false regalia +were not available. Nevertheless, Yoshiakira, regardless of forms, +raised to the throne the younger brother of Suko, who is known in +history as Go-Kogon. Thenceforth, on the accession of a Northern +sovereign a merely nominal ceremony of transferring the sacred +regalia sufficed. As for the ex-Emperors Kogon and Komyo, they turned +their backs finally on the world and became priests of the Zen sect +of Buddhism. + +CAPTURE AND RE-CAPTURE OF KYOTO + +In 1353, the Southern court received a signal accession of strength +in the allegiance of the Yamana family and of Tadafuyu. The latter +has already been spoken of as an illegitimate son of Takauji, who, +through the influence of his uncle, Tadayoshi, was appointed tandai +of the western provinces. The death of his patron inclined this able +captain to join the Southern Court, and his inclination was +translated into action early in 1353, owing to need of support +against the partisans of the Ashikaga in the island of Kyushu and the +western provinces. As for the Yamana, they were of Minamoto lineage; +their influence was supreme in Hoki and Inaba, and they faithfully +espoused the Ashikaga cause until an unfulfilled promise of a manor +alienated their good-will. For to such considerations of +self-interest men not infrequently sacrificed their duty of +allegiance in the troublous times of the fourteenth century. + +Thus re-enforced, the Southern troops, under the supreme command of +Tadafuyu, marched against Kyoto in July, 1353, and captured the city. +Yoshiakira, guarding the young sovereign, Go-Kogon, effected his +escape, and the Southern Emperor, Go-Murakami, issued a decree +depriving of their official ranks and possessions all Court nobles +who had assisted at the ceremony of the fugitive monarch's +coronation. But the supremacy of the South did not last long. In +August, Yoshiakira was strong enough to countermarch against the +capital and to drive out Tadafuyu. Moreover, Takauji himself now +found it safe to leave the Kwanto. Placing his son Motouji in charge +at Kamakura, he returned to Kyoto accompanying the Emperor Go-Kogon, +and thenceforth during nearly two years the supremacy of the North +was practically undisputed. + +DEATH OF CHIKAFUSA + +Fate willed that while his enemies were thus triumphant, death should +overtake the great statesman, strategist, and historian, Kitabatake +Chikafusa. He died in 1354, at the age of sixty-two. Japanese +annalists say of Chikafusa: "It was through his ability that the +Southern forces were co-ordinated and kept active in all parts of the +empire. It was due to his clever strategy that Kyoto lay under +constant menace from the south. If the first great protagonists in +the struggle between the Northern and the Southern Courts were Prince +Morinaga and Takauji, and those of the next were Nitta Yoshisada and +Takauji, the third couple was Kitabatake Chikafusa and Takauji." +Chikafusa was of wide erudition; he had a wonderful memory, and his +perpetual guides were justice and righteousness. After his death the +Southern Court fell into a state of division against itself; and its +spirit sensibly declined. + +DEATH OF TAKAUJI + +Takauji survived Chikafusa by only four years; he expired in 1358. +Undoubtedly his figure is projected in very imposing dimensions on +the pages of his country's history, and as the high mountain in the +Chinese proverb is gilded by the sunbeams and beaten by the storm, so +condemnation and eulogy have been poured upon his head by posterity. +An annalist of his time says: "Yoritomo was impartial in bestowing +rewards, but so severe in meting out punishments as to seem almost +inhuman. Takauji, however, in addition to being humane and just, is +strong-minded, for no peril ever summons terror to his eye or +banishes the smile from his lip; merciful, for he knows no hatred and +treats his foes as his sons; magnanimous, for he counts gold and +silver as stones or sand, and generous, for he never compares the +gift with the recipient, but gives away everything as it comes to +hand. It is the custom for people to carry many presents to the +shogun on the first day of the eighth month, but so freely are those +things given away that nothing remains by the evening, I am told." + +A later historian, Rai Sanyo (1780-1832), wrote: "There were as brave +men and as clever in the days of the Minamoto as in the days of the +Ashikaga. Why, then, did the former never dare to take up arms +against the Bakufu, whereas the latter never ceased to assault the +Ashikaga? It was because the Minamoto and the Hojo understood the +expediency of not entrusting too much power to potential rivals, +whereas the Ashikaga gave away lands so rashly that some families--as +the Akamatsu, the Hosokawa, and the Hatakeyama--came into the +possession of three or four provinces, and in an extreme case one +family--that of Yamana--controlled ten provinces, or one-sixth of the +whole empire. These septs, finding themselves so powerful, became +unmanageable. Then the division of the Ashikaga into the Muromachi +magnates and the Kamakura chiefs brought two sets of rulers upon the +same stage, and naturally intrigue and distrust were born, so that, +in the end, Muromachi was shaken by Hosokawa, and Kamakura was +overthrown by Uesugi. An animal with too ponderous a tail cannot wag +it, and a stick too heavy at one end is apt to break. The Ashikaga +angled with such valuable bait that they ultimately lost both fish +and bait. During the thirteen generations of their sway there was no +respite from struggle between family and family or between chief and +vassal." Takauji's record plainly shows that deception was one of his +weapons. He was absolutely unscrupulous. He knew also how to entice +men with gain, but he forgot that those who came for gain will go +also for gain. It would seem, too, that he sacrificed justice to the +fear of alienating his supporters. Not otherwise can we account for +his leniency towards the Ko brothers, who were guilty of such +violations of propriety. + +THE SECOND ASHIKAGA SHOGUN + +Takauji was succeeded in the shogunate by his eldest son, Yoshiakira, +of whom so much has already been heard. The fortunes of the Southern +Court were now at low ebb. During the year (1359) after Takauji's +death, Kamakura contributed materially to the support of the Ashikaga +cause. The Kwanto was then under the sway of Takauji's fourth son, +Motouji, one of the ablest men of his time. He had just succeeded in +quelling the defection of the Nitta family, and his military power +was so great that his captains conceived the ambition of marching to +Kyoto and supplanting Yoshiakira by Motouji. But the latter, instead +of adopting this disloyal counsel, despatched a large army under +Hatakeyama Kunikiyo to attack the Southern Court. Marching by the two +highways of Settsu and Kawachi, this army attacked Yoshino and gained +some important successes. But the fruits of these victories were not +gathered. The Hatakeyama chief developed ambitions of his own, and, +on returning to the Kwanto, was crushed by Motouji and deprived of +his office of shitsuji, that post being given again to Uesugi +Noriaki, "who had been in exile since the death of Tadayoshi in 1352. +At, or shortly after, this time, Kai and Izu and, later on, Mutsu, +were put under Kamakura jurisdiction, and their peaceful and orderly +condition formed a marked contrast to the general state of the rest +of the empire."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +The next event of cardinal importance in this much disturbed period +was the defection of Hosokawa Kiyouji, one of the shitsuji in Kyoto. +This powerful chief, disappointed in his expectations of reward, went +over to the Southern Court in 1361, and the result was that the +Ashikaga shogun had to flee from Kyoto, escorting Go-Kogon. The +situation soon changed however. Hosokawa Kiyouji, returning to his +native province, Awa, essayed to bring the whole of Shikoku into +allegiance to the Southern Court, but was signally worsted by his +cousin, Hosokawa Yoriyuki--afterwards very famous,--and scarcely a +month had elapsed before Yoshiakira was back in the capital. In the +same year (1362), the Northerners received a marked increase of +strength by the accession of the Yamana family, which was at that +time supreme in the five central provinces of eastern Japan--namely, +Tamba, Inaba, Bizen, Bitchu, and Mimasaka. During ten years this +family had supported the Southern Court, but its chief, Tokiuji, now +yielded to the persuasion of Yoshiakira's emissaries, and espoused +the Ashikaga cause on condition that he, Tokiuji, should be named +high constable of the above five provinces. + +Meanwhile, the partisans of the late Tadayoshi--the Kira, the Ishido, +the Momonoi, the Nikki, and others--constituted a source of perpetual +menace, and even among the Ashikaga themselves there was a rebel +(Takatsune). Yoshiakira became weary of the unceasing strife. He +addressed overtures to the Southern Court and they were accepted on +condition that he made formal act of surrender. This the shogun +refused to do, but he treated Go-Murakami's envoy with every mark of +respect, and though the pourparlers proved finally abortive, they had +continued for five months, an evidence that both sides were anxious +to find a path to peace. Yoshiakira died in the same year, 1367. + +THE SOUTHERN COURT + +Previously to this event, a new trouble had occurred in the Southern +Court. The Emperor Go-Murakami signified his desire to abdicate, and +thereupon the Court nobles who had followed the three ex-Emperors +into the Southern lines in 1352 fell into two cliques, each +advocating the nomination of a different successor. This discord +exercised a debilitating influence, and when Go-Murakami died (1368), +the Southerners found themselves in a parlous condition. For his son +and successor, Chokei, failing to appreciate the situation, +immediately planned an extensive campaign against Kyoto from the east +and the south simultaneously. Then Kusunoki Masanori passed into the +Northern camp. Few events have received wider historical comment in +Japan. The Kusunoki family stood for everything loyal and devoted in +the bushi's record, and Masanori was a worthy chief of the sept. So +conspicuous were his virtues and so attractive was his personality +that a samurai of the Akamatsu family, who had planned a vendetta +against him, committed suicide himself rather than raise his hand to +slay such a hero. + +How, then, are we to account for Masanori's infidelity to the cause +he had embraced? The answer of his country's most credible annalists +is that his motive was to save the Southern Court. He saw that if the +young Emperor. Chokei, persisted in his design of a general campaign +against Kyoto, a crushing defeat must be the outcome, and since the +sovereign would not pay heed to his remonstrances, he concluded that +the only way to arrest the mad enterprise was his own defection, +which would weaken the South too much to permit offensive action. +Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was then shogun at Muromachi. He had succeeded to +that office in 1367, at the age of nine, and his father, then within +a year of death, had entrusted him to the care of Hosokawa Yoriyuki, +one of the ablest men of his own or any generation. There are strong +reasons for thinking that between this statesman and Masanori an +understanding existed. So long as Yoriyuki remained in power there +was nothing worthy of the name of war between the two Courts, and +when, after his retirement in 1379, the struggle re-opened under the +direction of his successor (a Yamana chief), Masanori returned to his +old allegiance and took the field once more in the Southern cause. +His action in temporarily changing his allegiance had given ten +years' respite to the Southerners. + +PEACE BETWEEN THE TWO COURTS + +The Southern Emperor, Chokei, coming to the throne in 1368, abdicated +in 1372 in favour of his brother, known in history as Go-Kameyama. +During his brief tenure of power Chokei's extensive plans for the +capture of Kyoto did not mature, but he had the satisfaction of +seeing the whole island of Kyushu wrested from Ashikaga hands. It is +true that under the able administration of Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun), +a tandai appointed by the Ashikaga, this state of affairs was largely +remedied during the next ten years, but as the last substantial +triumph of the Yoshino arms the record of Chokei's reign is +memorable. It was, in truth, the final success. The decade of +comparative quiet that ensued on the main island proved to be the +calm before the storm. + +The most prominent figures in the closing chapter of the great +dynastic struggle are Hosokawa Yoriyuki and Yamana Mitsuyuki. When +the second Ashikaga shogun, Yoshiakira, recognized that his days were +numbered, he summoned his trusted councillor, Hosokawa Yoriyuki, and +his son Yoshimitsu, and said to the latter, "I give you a father," +and to the former, "I give you a son." Yoriyuki faithfully discharged +the trust thus reposed in him. He surrounded his youthful charge with +literary and military experts, and secured to him every advantage +that education could confer. Moreover, this astute statesman seems to +have apprehended that if the cause of the Southern Court were not +actually opposed, it would die of inanition, and he therefore +employed all his influence to preserve peace. He endeavoured also to +enforce strict obedience to the economical precepts of the Kemmu +code, and altogether the ethics he favoured were out of harmony with +the social conditions of Kyoto at the time and with the natural +proclivities of the young shogun himself. In fine, he had to leave +the capital, too full of his enemies, and to retire to his native +province, Awa. + +During ten years he remained in seclusion. But, in 1389, a journey +made by the shogun to Miya-jima revealed so many evidences of +Yoriyuki's loyalty that he was invited to return to Kyoto, and with +his assistance the organization of the Ashikaga forces at Muromachi +was brought to a high state of efficiency, partly because the astute +Yoriyuki foresaw trouble with the Yamana family, which was then +supreme in no less than ten provinces, or nearly one-sixth of all +Japan. In 1391 Yamana Ujikiyo and his kinsman Mitsuyuki took the +field against Kyoto under the standard of the Southern Court. He +commanded a great army, and there resulted a desperate struggle known +in history as the Meitoku War, after the name of the year-period when +it occurred. The Yamana leader was killed and his army completely +routed. In the following year, the great Hosokawa Yoriyuki died. He +had lived to see the ten provinces recovered from Yamana rule and +partitioned among the Muromachi generals. + +But he expired just before the final triumph to which his genius had +so materially contributed. For within a few months of his demise the +War of the Dynasties came at last to a close. The proximate cause was +the fall of the Kusunoki stronghold, which had been built by +Masashige, and during sixty years had remained unconquered. With its +reduction, preceded as it had been by the annihilation of the Yamana, +the fortunes of the Southern Court had become hopeless, and overtures +carried from Kyoto by one of the most distinguished of the Muromachi +generals, Ouchi Yoshihiro, were accepted. Go-Komatsu then occupied +the Northern throne. He had succeeded Go-Enyu, in 1382, and the +latter, had succeeded Go-Kogon, in 1371. Go-Komatsu, having been only +six years of age at the time of his accession, was in his sixteenth +year when the two Courts came to an agreement. + +For a time the terms proved very difficult of adjustment, but +ultimately it was decided that the Southern sovereign, Go-Kameyama, +should abdicate in favour of the Northern, the former being +thenceforth treated as the latter's father. This compact having been +concluded, the sacred insignia were transported from Yoshino to Kyoto +with all solemnity. Six Court nobles accompanied them from the South; +twenty went out from the North to receive them, and a numerous body +of troops formed the escort. The retiring Emperor spent ten days at +the palace in Kyoto, throughout which time a magnificent banquet was +held to celebrate the conclusion of the fifty-five years' war. +Yoshino and other districts were assigned for the support of the +ex-Emperor, and pensions or domains were conferred on the Court +nobles of the South, some of whom, however, declining to compromise +their sense of honour by accepting favours from the North, withdrew +to the provinces; and their exile was shared by several of the +military leaders who had remained true to the South throughout. There +can be little doubt that among these apparent implacables were some +of a selfishly calculating disposition, who, anticipating a reversion +to the system of alternate succession, as instituted by the Hojo +interpreters of Go-Saga's testament, looked for greater personal +advantage when the Crown should come to the Southern branch than +anything that could be hoped for by submitting to the Northern. They +were mistaken. That testament, which had done so much mischief in its +time, was ignored from the close of the War of the Dynasties. It did +not fall into total abeyance, however, without some further +bloodshed, and the facts may be interpolated here so as to dispose +finally of the subject. + +In 1412, the abdication of Go-Komatsu should have been followed by +the accession of a Southern prince had the principle of alternation +been pursued. It was not so followed. On the contrary, the sceptre +fell to Shoko--101st sovereign--son of Go-Komatsu. Hence, in 1413, +Date Yasumune, in Mutsu, and, in 1414, Kitabatake Mitsumasa, in Ise, +made armed protests, gallant but ineffective. Again, in 1428, on the +childless death of Shoko, the claims of the Southern line were +tacitly ignored in favour of Go-Hanazono, grandson of the third +Northern Emperor, Suko. The same Mitsumasa now took the field, aided +this time by Masahide, head of the ever loyal house of Kusunoki, but +signal failure ensued. The last struggle in behalf of the Southern +line took place in 1443, when "a band of determined men under +Kusunoki Jiro and the Court noble, Hino Arimitsu, suddenly assailed +the palace from two directions; all but succeeded in killing or +capturing the Emperor, and actually got possession of the regalia. +They were soon driven out, however, and in their flight to Hiei-zan, +where one body of them entrenched themselves, the mirror and the +sword were dropped and recovered by the pursuers. The other body made +good their escape to the wilds of Odai-ga-hara, carrying with them +the seal; and it was not till a year later that it found its way back +to Kyoto, when the rebels had been destroyed."* + +*Murdoch's History of Japan. + +ENGRAVING: KOZUKA AND MENUKI (SWORD FURNITURE) + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE FALL OF THE ASHIKAGA + +TWO BRANCHES OF THE ASHIKAGA + +THE Ashikaga family was divided into two main branches, both +descended from Takauji. The representatives of one, the senior, +branch had their headquarters at Muromachi in Kyoto and held the +office of shogun as a hereditary right. There were fifteen +generations: + + Name Born Succeeded Abdicated Died + + (1) Takauji 1305 1338 .... 1358 + + (2) Yoshiakira 1330 1358 1367 1368 + + (3) Yoshimitsu 1358 1367 1395 1408 + + (4) Yoshimochi 1386 1395 1423 1428 + + (5) Yoshikazu 1407 1423 .... 1425 + + (6) Yoshinori 1394 1428 .... 1441 + + (7) Yoshikatsu 1433 1441 .... 1443 + + (8) Yoshimasa 1435 1443 1474 1490 + + (9) Yoshihisa 1465 1474 .... 1489 + + (10) Yoshitane (#1) 1465 1490 1493 .... + + (11) Yoshizumi 1478 1493 1508 1511 + + Yoshitane (#2) .... 1508 1521 1522 + + (12) Yoshiharu 1510 1521 1545 1550 + + (13) Yoshiteru 1535 1545 .... 1565 + + (14) Yoshihide 1565 1565 .... 1568 + + (15) Yoshiaki 1537 1568 1573 1597 + +The apparent clashing of dates in the case of the fourth and fifth +shoguns, Yoshimochi and Yoshikazu, is due to the fact that on the +death of the latter, in 1425, the former resumed the office and held +it until his own death, in 1428. + + THE KAMAKURA KWANRYO AND KUBO + + Born Died + + (1) Motouji 1340 1367 + + (2) Ujimitsu 1357 1398 + + (3) Mitsukane 1376 1409 + + (4) Mochiuji 1398 1439 + + (5) Shigeuji 1434 1497 + + (6) Masatomo .... 1491 + + (7) Takamoto .... .... + + (8) Haruuji .... 1560 + + (9) Yoshiuji .... .... + +The title "kwanryo," as already stated, signifies "governor-general," +and the region governed was the eight provinces of the Kwanto, +together with Izu and Kai. The first of the Ashikaga kwanryo, +Motouji, was Takauji's youngest son, and the following eight names on +the above list were direct descendants. But not all had the title of +kwanryo or wielded the extensive power attached to that office. Only +the first four were thus fortunate. From the days of the fifth, +Shigeuji, evil times overtook the family. Driven out of Kamakura by +the Uesugi, who had hitherto served as manager (shitsuji), they were +obliged to change their domicile to Koga in Shimosa; their sphere of +jurisdiction was reduced to four provinces, namely, Shimosa, +Shimotsuke, Kazusa, and Awa; their official title was altered to +gosho or kubo, and their former title of kwanryo passed to the Uesugi +family who also replaced them at Kamakura. These things fell out in +1439, when Mochiuji died. To avoid confusion it is necessary to note +that the chief official in the shogun's court at Muromachi in Kyoto +was also called kwanryo. He had originally been termed "manager" +(shitsuji), but, in 1367, this was changed to "governor-general," and +the corresponding functions were practically those discharged by the +regent (shikken) in the polity of the old Bakufu. The first Muromachi +kwanryo was Shiba Yoshimasa, and it became the ultimate custom to +give the post to a member of one of three families, the Shiba, the +Hosokawa, and the Hatakeyama. + +STATE OF THE PROVINCES + +When swords were sheathed after the long and wasting War of the +Dynasties, the Ashikaga found themselves in a strong position. Having +full control of the Court, they could treat as a rebel anyone +opposing them by force of arms, and their partisans were so numerous +in Kyoto and its vicinity that they could impose their will upon all. +In the east, the Kwanto was effectually ruled by a branch of their +own family, and in the north as well as in the south they were +represented by tandai, who governed stoutly and loyally. But trouble +began very soon. In Kyushu the office of tandai was held by Imagawa +Ryoshun, a man ever memorable in Japanese history as the author of +the precept that military prowess without education is worse than +useless. Ryoshun had been selected for service in Kyushu by the great +shitsuji of Muromachi, Hosokawa Yoriyuki, who saw that only by the +strongest hands could the turbulent families of the southern island +be reduced to order--the Shimazu, the Otomo, the Shoni, and the +Kikuchi. Everything went to show that Imagawa would have succeeded +had not that familiar weapon, slander, been utilized for his +overthrow. The Otomo chief persuaded Ouchi Yoshihiro to traduce +Ryoshun, and since the Ouchi sept exercised great influence in the +central provinces and had taken a prominent part in composing the War +of the Dynasties, the shogun, Yoshimitsu, could not choose but listen +to charges coming from such a source. Imagawa Ryoshun was recalled +(1396), and thenceforth Kyushu became the scene of almost perpetual +warfare which the Muromachi authorities were powerless to check. + +THE OUCHI FAMILY + +It was to the same Ouchi family that the Muromachi shogun owed his +first serious trouble after the close of the War of the Dynasties. +The ancestor of the family had been a Korean prince who migrated to +Japan early in the seventh century, and whose descendants, five and a +half centuries later, were admitted to the ranks of the samurai. The +outbreak of the War of the Dynasties had found the Ouchi ranged on +the Southern side, but presently they espoused the Ashikaga cause, +and distinguished themselves conspicuously against the Kikuchi in +Kyushu and, above all, in promoting the conclusion of the dynastic +struggle. + +These eminent services were recognized by Ouchi Yoshihiro's +appointment to administer no less than six provinces--Nagato, Suwo, +Aki, Buzen, Kii, and Izumi. In fact he guarded the western and +eastern entrances of the Inland Sea, and held the overlordship of +western Japan. At his castle in Sakai, near Osaka, he amassed wealth +by foreign trade, and there he received and harboured representatives +of the Kusunoki and Kikuchi families, while at the same time he +carried on friendly communications with the Doki, the Ikeda, and the +Yamana. In short, he grew too powerful to receive mandates from +Muromachi, especially when they came through a kwanryo of the +Hatakeyama family who had just risen to that distinction. + +Suddenly, in November, 1399, the Ouchi chief appeared in Izumi at the +head of a force of twenty-three thousand men, a force which received +rapid and numerous accessions. His grounds of disaffection were that +he suspected the shogun of a design to deprive him of the two +provinces of Kii and Izumi, which were far remote from the other five +provinces in his jurisdiction and which placed him within arm's +length of Kyoto, and, further, that no sufficient reward had been +given to the family of his younger brother, who fell in battle. There +were minor grievances, but evidently all were pretexts: the real +object was to overthrow Muromachi. The shogun, Yoshimitsu, acted with +great promptitude. He placed Hatakeyama Mitsuiye at the head of a +powerful army, and on January 18, 1400, Sakai fell and Yoshihiro +committed suicide. Thereafter the province of Kii was placed under +the jurisdiction of the Hatakeyama family, and Izumi under that of +Hosokawa, while the Shiba ruled in Echizen, Owari, and Totomi. In +short, these three families became the bulwarks of the Ashikaga. + +KAMAKURA AND MUROMACHI + +An important episode of the Ouchi struggle was that Mitsukane, the +third Kamakura kwanryo of the Ashikaga line, moved an army into +Musashi to render indirect assistance to the Ouchi cause. In truth, +from an early period of Kamakura's tenure by an Ashikaga +governor-general of the Kwanto, there had been an ambition to +transfer the office of shogun from the Kyoto to the Kamakura branch +of the family. The matter was not mooted during Takauji's lifetime, +but when, on his demise, the comparatively incompetent Yoshiakira +came into power at Muromachi, certain military magnates of the +eastern provinces urged the Kamakura kwanryo, Motouji, to usurp his +brother's position. Motouji, essentially as loyal as he was astute, +spurned the proposition. But it was not so with his son and +successor, Ujimitsu. To him the ambition of winning the shogunate +presented itself strongly, and was only abandoned when Uesugi +Noriharu committed suicide to add weight to a protest against such an +essay. Japanese annals contain many records of lives thus sacrificed +on the altar of devotion and loyalty. From the outset the Uesugi +family were the pillars of the Ashikaga kwanryo in Kamakura. Uesugi +Noriaki served as shitsuji in the time of the first kwanryo, and the +same service was rendered by Noriaki's son, Yoshinori, and by the +latter's nephew, Tomomune, in the time of the second kwanryo, +Ujimitsu. Confusing as are the multitude of names that confront the +foreign student of Japanese history, it is necessary to note that +from the time of their appointment as shitsuji at Kamakura, Yoshinori +took the family name of Yamanouchi, and Tomomune that of Ogigayatsu. +Balked in his design against Kyoto, Ujimitsu turned his hand against +the Nitta, old enemies of his family, and crushing them, placed the +Ashikaga power on a very firm basis in the Kwanto. His son, +Mitsukane, had the gift of handling troops with great skill, and in +his time the prestige of the Kamakura kwanryo reached its highest +point. + +In the eyes of the military men of the eastern provinces, the +shogun in distant Kyoto counted for little compared with the +governor-general in adjacent Kamakura. The latter's mansion was +called gosho (palace); its occupant was termed kubo, an epithet +hitherto applied to the shogun only, and the elder and younger +branches of the Uesugi family, in which the office of kwanryo of +Muromachi was hereditary, were designated Ryo Uesugi (the Two +Uesugi). Mitsukane, when he abetted the Ouchi's attempt to overthrow +the Kyoto shogun, persuaded himself that he was only carrying out his +father's unachieved purpose, and the shogun, Yoshimitsu, took no step +to punish him, preferring to accept his overtures--made through +Uesugi Tomomune. + +THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF YOSHIMITSU + +There is little question that whatever applause history can extend to +the administration of the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, was won +for him by his profoundly sagacious guardian and chief minister, +Hosokawa Yoriyuki. After the latter's death, in 1392, many abuses and +few meritorious acts appear in the shogun's record. Alike, the wise +self-effacement and the admirable frugality which distinguished the +Hojo rule were wholly foreign to the mood of Yoshimitsu. He insisted +on being raised to the post of chancellor of the empire, and he +openly spoke of himself as "king," designating as Go-sekke (Five +Regent Houses) the families of Shiba, Hosokawa, Hatakeyama, Rokkaku, +and Yumana. At the ceremony of his investiture as chancellor (dajo +daijiri) he presented to the Throne a sword forged by Kunimitsu; one +hundred pieces of white silk; one thousand silver coins; ten tigers' +skins, and fifty pounds of dyed silk. To the ex-Emperor he gave a +thousand silver coins; fifty pieces of white silk, and a sword, and +among the Imperial princes and Court nobles he distributed ten +thousand pieces of silver. Such was his parade of opulence. + +ENGRAVING: ASHIKAGA YOSHIMITSU + +The chief obstacle to conferring on him the title of chancellor had +been that the records contained only one instance of a military man's +appointment to that exalted post. That instance was Taira no +Kiyomori, whose example should have been deterrent to a Minamoto. +Yoshimitsu overcame the difficulty by nominally transferring his +military functions to his son Yoshimochi (1423), and constituting +himself the patron of literature. It was now that his love of luxury +and splendour assumed its full dimensions. He had already beautified +his Muromachi mansion by constructing there a park so spacious and so +brilliant at all seasons that it went by the name of Hana no Gosho +(Palace of Flowers). This he now assigned as a residence for his son +and successor, Yoshimochi, transferring his own place of abode to the +site occupied by the Saionji family, to whom was given in exchange an +extensive manor in Kawachi. Here the Ashikaga chancellor built a +palace of such dimensions that sixteen superintendents and twenty +assistant superintendents were required to oversee the work. Most +conspicuous was the Kinkaku-ji, or golden pavilion shrine, so called +because its interior was gilt, the gold foil being thickly superposed +on lacquer varnish. On this edifice, on the adjacent palace, and on a +park where deer roamed and noble pine trees hung over their own +shadows in a picturesque lake, immense sums were expended. Works of +art were collected from all quarters to enhance the charm of a palace +concerning which the bonze Sekkei declared that it could not be +exchanged for paradise. + +Yoshimitsu prayed the Emperor to visit this unprecedentedly beautiful +retreat and Go-Komatsu complied. During twenty days a perpetual round +of pastimes was devised for the entertainment of the sovereign and +the Court nobles--couplet composing, music, football, boating, +dancing, and feasting. All this was typical of the life Yoshimitsu +led after his resignation of the shogun's office. Pleasure trips +engrossed his attention--trips to Ise, to Yamato, to Hyogo, to +Wakasa, and so forth. He set the example of luxury, and it found +followers on the part of all who aimed at being counted fashionable, +with the inevitable result that the producing classes were taxed +beyond endurance. It has to be noted, too, that although Yoshimitsu +lived in nominal retirement at his Kita-yama palace, he really +continued to administer the affairs of the empire. + +INTERNATIONAL HUMILIATION + +It is not for arrogance, or yet for extravagance, that Japanese +historians chiefly reproach Yoshimitsu. His unpardonable sin in their +eyes is that he humiliated his country. From the accession of the +Ming dynasty (1368) China made friendly overtures to Japan, +especially desiring the latter to check the raids of her corsairs +who, as in the days of the Hojo after the repulse of the Mongol +armada, so also in the times of the Ashikaga, were a constant menace +to the coastwise population of the neighbouring continent. Upon the +attitude of the shogun towards these remonstrances and overtures +depended the prosecution of commerce with the Middle Kingdom, and the +profits accruing from that commerce were too considerable to be +neglected by a ruler like Yoshimitsu, whose extravagance required +constant accessions of revenue. Moreover, the Muromachi shogun was a +disciple and patron of the Zen sect of Buddhism, and the priests of +that sect always advocated peaceful intercourse with China, the +source of philosophic and literary learning. + +All these considerations induced the Ashikaga chief not only to issue +orders for the restraint of the corsairs, but also to receive from +the Chinese Court despatches in which he was plainly designated the +king of a country tributary to China, and to make answer in language +unequivocally endorsing the propriety of such terminology. In one +despatch, dated February, 1403, Yoshimitsu described himself as a +"subject of Ming" and, "prostrate, begged to present twenty horses, +ten thousand catties of sulphur, thirty-two pieces of agate, three +gold-foil folding screens, one thousand lances, one hundred swords, a +suit of armour, and an ink-stone." It is recorded that he even +humbled himself so far as to ask for supplies of Chinese coins, and +certainly these comparatively pure copper tokens remained largely in +circulation in Japan down to Tokugawa times, under the name of +Eiraku-tsuho, Eiraku being the Japanese sound of the Chinese +year-period, Yunglo (1403-1422). + +DEATH OF YOSHIMITSU + +Yoshimitsu died in 1408. He was accorded by the Court the posthumous +rank of Dajo Tenno (ex-Emperor), a proof of the extraordinary +confusion of etiquette caused by his arrogant pretensions. The +Chinese sovereign, Yunglo, sent a message of sympathy to the Japanese +potentate's son, Yoshimochi, in which the deceased was designated +"Prince Kung-hsien," but Yoshimochi, though not distinguished for +ability, had sufficient wisdom ultimately to adopt the advice of the +kwanryo, Shiba Yoshimasa, and to decline the rank of Dajo Tenno, as +well as to break off relations with the Ming ruler. Yoshimochi also +handed over the magnificent edifice at Kita-yama to the Buddhist +priesthood. + +THE EMPEROR SHOKO + +In 1412, the Emperor Go-Komatsu abdicated in favour of his son Shoko +(101st sovereign), then twelve years old. This sovereign abandoned +himself to the profligacy of the era. It is doubtful whether his +reason was not unhinged. Some accounts say that he fell into a state +of lunacy; others, that he practised magic arts. At all events he +died childless in 1428, and was succeeded by a grandson of the +Emperor Suko, Go-Hanazono, then in his tenth year. Thus, the claims +of the Southern dynasty were ignored twice consecutively, and its +partisans made armed protests in the provinces, as has been already +noted. But these struggles proved abortive, and thereafter history is +no more troubled with such episodes. The Daikagu-ji line disappears +altogether from view, and the throne is occupied solely by +representatives of the Jimyo-in. There can be very little doubt that +the former was the legitimate branch; but fortune was against it. + +YOSHIMOCHI, YOSHIKAZU, AND YOSHINORI + +Yoshimochi, son of Yoshimitsu, became shogun (1395) at the age of +nine, and the administration was conducted by Hosokawa Mitsumoto, +Shiba Yoshishige, and Hatakeyama Mitsuiye. Twenty-eight years later, +that is to say, in 1423, he abdicated in favour of his son, +Yoshikazu. The cause of that step deserves notice. Yoshimitsu had +intended to pass over Yoshimochi, his first-born, in favour of his +second son, Yoshitsugu, but death prevented the consummation of that +design. Yoshimochi, however, knew that it had been entertained. +Therefore, after the death of their father, he seized Yoshitsugu, +threw him into prison, and ultimately caused him to be killed. With +the blood of his younger brother on his hands he abdicated in favour +of his own sixteen-year-old son, Yoshikazu. But the latter died--some +historians say that dissipation destroyed him--in two years, and +having no second son to succeed, Yoshimochi himself resumed the +office of shogun, holding it until his death, in 1428. + +During his thirty-three years' tenure of power this ruler seems to +have aimed solely at enjoying the sweets of ease and tranquillity. He +left the provinces severely alone and thought only of the peace of +the metropolis. Turbulent displays on the part of self-appointed +partisans of the Southern Court; intrigues in the Kwanto; revolts +among his own immediate followers--all these things were treated by +Yoshimochi with gloved hands so long as the atmosphere of Kyoto was +not troubled. In 1428, he fell sick, and, the end being in sight, he +ordered his advisers to consult about his successor. Some advocated +the appointment of his kinsman, Mochiuji, governor-general of the +Kwanto, and Mochiuji himself prayed that it should be so. But the +choice ultimately fell on Yoshimochi's younger brother, Gien, who had +embraced religion and was then serving as abbot of the temple +Shoren-in. + +This man, then in his thirty-fourth year, hesitated to accept the +nomination, but was induced to do so. He changed his name to +Yoshinori, and assuming the office in 1428, showed high talents and +great intrepidity. He was, in truth, a ruler as efficient as his +predecessor had been perfunctory. One of the most important events of +his time was the ruin of the Ashikaga Bakufu at Kamakura. Between +Kamakura and Muromachi there had been friction from an early date. We +have seen the second and third governors-general of the Kwanto, +Ujimitsu and Mitsukane, plotting to supplant the elder branch of +their family in Kyoto, and we have seen how the accession of the +priest, Yoshinori, had disappointed the ambition of the fourth +governor-general, Mochiuji, who, if unable to become shogun himself, +would fain have obtained that high office for his son, Yoshihisa. +Several years previously, namely, in 1417, there had occurred a feud +between the Yamanouchi and the Ogigayatsu branches of the Uesugi +family in the Kwanto, the former represented by Norimoto, the latter +by Ujinori. The Uesugi stood next to the Ashikaga at Kamakura, the +important office of manager (shitsuji) being invariably held by the +head of the former house. It would have been well-nigh impossible +therefore for the governor-general to view such a feud with +indifference. Mochiuji, then in his twentieth year, sympathized with +Norimoto, and in the sequel, Ujinori, with whom was allied Mochiuji's +younger brother, Mochinaka, took the field at the head of such a +force that the governor-general must have succumbed had not the +shogun, Yoshimochi, rendered aid. + +This should have placed Kamakura under a heavy debt of gratitude to +Muromachi. But Mochiuji was not subject to such emotions. He rebelled +vehemently against the lenient treatment accorded to Ujinori's son +after their father's death, and the shogun had difficulty in +placating him. So long, however, as Yoshimochi ruled in Kyoto, the +Kamakura kwanrya abstained from further intrigues; but on the +accession of the sometime bonze, Yoshinori, to the shogunate, all +sense of restraint was removed. The governor-general now made no +attempt to conceal his hostility to the Muromachi shogun. Certain +family rights imperatively demanding reference to the shogun were not +so referred, and Mochiuji not only spurned the remonstrances of the +manager (shitsuji), Uesugi Norimoto, but even attempted to kill the +latter's son, Norizane. All efforts to reconcile the Kwanto and the +shitsuji proved futile, and Norizane had to flee to Kotsuke. No +sooner did these things come to the ears of the shogun, Yoshinori, +than he obtained an Imperial commission to quell the insurgents, and +placing an army under the orders of Mochifusa, a son of Ujinori, +directed him to march against Kamakura. + +At first it seemed as if the Kamakura men would emerge victorious. At +the easily defended passes of Hakone they inflicted several +successive though not signal defeats upon Mochifusa's army. But the +appearance of Norizane in the field quickly changed the complexion of +the campaign. Very soon the Kamakura force was shattered, and +Mochiuji himself fled to the temple Shomyo-ji in Kanazawa, where he +begged to be allowed to retire from the world. But the shogun +declined to pardon him and remained obdurate in spite of earnest and +repeated petitions from Norizane, praying that Mochiuji should be +forgiven and allowed to retire in favour of his son, Yoshihisa. In +the end, Mochiuji, his son, his uncle, and many others all died by +their own hands. These things happened in 1439. The redeeming feature +of the sombre family feud was the fine loyalty of Norizane. Though it +had been against him chiefly that Mochiuji raged, and though his +death was certain had he fallen under the power of the Kamakura +kwanryo, Mochiuji's fate caused him such remorse that he attempted to +commit suicide and finally became a priest. Thenceforth, the title of +governor-general of the Kwanto passed to the Uesugi, two of whom were +appointed to act simultaneously. As for the Kamakura Ashikaga, the +three remaining sons of Mochiuji fled to Koga in Shimosa, where two +of them were subsequently killed by a Kamakura army, and the third, +Shigeuji, fared as has already been described. + +ASSASSINATION OF THE SHOGUN + +It has been shown that Akamatsu Norimura was among the captains who +contributed most to the triumph of the Ashikaga cause. In recognition +of his distinguished services the offices of high constable in the +five provinces of Settsu, Inaba, Harima, Mimasaka, and Bizen were +given to his three sons. Mitsusuke, grandson of the eldest of these, +administered three of the above provinces in the days of the fourth +Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimochi. A puny man of contemptible presence, +Mitsusuke received little consideration at Muromachi, and the shogun +was induced to promise his office of high constable to a handsome +kinsman, Mochisada. Enraged at such partiality, Mitsusuke set fire to +his mansion in Kyoto and withdrew to his castle at Shirahata in +Harima. When, however, the shogun would have sent an army against +him, none was found to take command, Mochisada having given universal +offence by his haughty arrogance. In the sequel, Mitsusuke had to be +pardoned and Mochisada ordered to kill himself. + +After the death of the shogun, Yoshimochi, Mitsusuke fell into fresh +trouble. The new shogun, Yoshinori, belonged to a very different +category of men from his immediate predecessors. He conquered the +Kitabatake family in Ise; repressed the remnants of the Southern +Court league; crushed the military monks by capturing Nara and +Hiei-zan; put an end finally to Kamakura's intrigues; obtained +control of the west, and quelled his enemies in all directions. It +now became his task to bend to his will the overstrong and +over-presumptuous among the concerted families of the Ashikaga. +Foremost of these were the Akamatsu, their chief, a man whose +personality invited contumely. The shogun disliked Mitsusuke, and +found it an agreeable occupation to slight him. Gradually the +Akamatsu leader became bitterly estranged. Moreover, he saw his +younger sister executed for disobedience though she was the shogun's +mistress; he saw the nephew of his old enemy, Mochisada, treated with +marked favour by the Muromachi potentate, and he learned, truly or +untruly, that his own office of high constable was destined to be +bestowed on this favourite. + +It was now the time when Kamakura's mischievous potentialities had +been finally destroyed, and to commemorate the event, entertainments +in the shogun's honour were organized by the heads of the great +military families. On the 6th of August, 1441, it fell to Akamatsu +Mitsusuke to act as his host. So soon as the shogun and his personal +attendants had passed the portals of the Akamatsu mansion, the horses +in the stables were set free as though by accident; the gates were +closed to prevent the escape of the animals; Yoshinori with his small +retinue, being thus caught in a trap, were butchered; the mansion was +fired, and Mitsusuke with seven hundred followers rode off in broad +daylight to his castle in Harima, whence, assisted by the monk, +Gison, he sent circulars in all directions inciting to revolt. Thus +miserably perished a ruler whose strong hand, active brain, and +fearless measures, had he been spared a few years longer, might have +saved his country from some of the terrible suffering she was +destined to undergo in the century and a half subsequent to his +death. He did not live long enough to reach a high place in history. +But all his measures were designed to make for the eradication of +immorality and corruption, and for the restoration of law and order +throughout the country. His fault seems to have been precipitancy. So +many suffered by his reforms, and in such quick succession, that the +hatred he provoked could scarcely have been kept within control. In +the matter of finance, too, he resorted, as will be presently seen, +to devices quite irreconcilable with just administration. + +YOSHIKATSU AND YOSHIMASA + +The murder of Yoshinori left the shogun's office without any +designate occupant, but the heads of the great military families lost +no time in electing Yoshikatsu*, the eight-year-old son of Yoshinori, +and at the latter's nominal instance the Emperor ordered him to +attack his father's assassin. The three Yamana chiefs, Mochitoyo +(called also Sozen, or the "Red Monk," one of the ablest captains of +his country), Noriyuki, and Norikiyo; the Hosokawa chief, Mochitsune; +and Sadamura, representing the Akamatsu family, all joined forces for +the expedition, and presently an army of fifty thousand men sat down +before Shirahata Castle. In October, 1441, the stronghold fell. +Mitsusuke perished, and the three provinces he had administered were +transferred to the Yamana--Harima to Mochitoyo, Mimasaka to Norikiyo, +and Bizen to Noriyuki. + +*To be distinguished from Yoshikazu (shogun 1423-1425), son of +Yoshimochi. + +We have seen how, in 1392, the Yamana family was shattered in a +revolt against the authority of the shogun, Yoshimitsu. We now see +the fortunes of the family thoroughly rehabilitated. The young +shogun, however, did not long survive the punishment of his father's +murderers. He died in 1443, at the age of ten, and was succeeded by +his brother Yoshimasa, then in his eighth year. During the latter's +minority, the administration fell into the hands of Hatakeyama +Mochikuni and Hosokawa Katsumoto, who held the office of Muromachi +kwanryo alternately. The country now began to experience the +consequences of Yoshinori's death before his plans to limit the power +of the great military septs had matured. Disorder became the normal +condition in the provinces. The island of Kyushu took the lead. There +the Shoni, the Kikuchi, the Otomo, and the Shiba had always defied a +central authority, and now Norishige, a younger brother of the +assassin, Akamatsu Mitsusuke; found among them supporters of a scheme +to restore the fortunes of his house. In the Kwanto partisans of the +late kwanryo, Mochiuji, raised their heads. In the home provinces the +warrior-priests of Nara sought to avenge the chastisement they had +suffered at Yoshinori's hands, and among the immediate entourage of +Muromachi, the Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama, the Shiba, and others +engaged in desperate struggles about questions of succession. + +ENGRAVING: ASHIKAGA YOSHIMASA + +THE TOKUSEI + +Even when he reached man's estate, Yoshimasa proved wholly +incompetent to deal with these complications. He abandoned himself to +dissipation and left everything, great or small, to be managed by his +wife, Fujiwara Tomiko, and by his consort, Kasuga no Tsubone. Bribery +and corruption were the motive forces of the time. The innocent were +punished; the unworthy rewarded. The shogun remained indifferent +even when his mandates were neglected or contravened. The building +of splendid residences, the laying out of spacious parks, the +gratification of luxurious tastes, and the procuring of funds to +defray the cost of his vast extravagance--these things occupied his +entire attention. + +Associated with the Ashikaga shogunate is a financial device known in +history as tokusei, a term signifying "virtuous administration." +Originally imported from China, the tokusei meant nothing more than +a temporary remission of taxes in times of distress. But during +the financial straits to which the country was reduced after the +Mongol invasion, the Hojo deemed it necessary to afford relief to +landowners who had mortgaged their property, and thus, in 1297, a +law--tokusei-rei--was enacted, providing that eviction for debt must +not be enforced. Under the Ashikaga, the tokusei received a still +wider import. It was interpreted as including all debts and pecuniary +obligations of any kind. In other words, the promulgation of a +tokusei ordinance meant that all debtors, then and there, obtained +complete relief. The law was not construed exactly alike everywhere. +Thus, in Nara a debtor must discharge one-third of his obligation +before claiming exemption, and elsewhere a nominal sum had to be paid +for release. Naturally, legislation so opposed to the fundamental +principles of integrity led to flagrant abuses. Forced by riotous +mobs, or constrained by his own needs, the Muromachi shogun issued +tokusei edicts again and again, incurring the hot indignation of the +creditor class and disturbing the whole economic basis of society. +Yoshimasa was conspicuously reckless; he put the tokusei system into +force thirteen times. + +EXTRAVAGANCE AND INCOMPETENCE OF YOSHIMASA + +It is stated in the records of the Onin era (1467-1469) that +Yoshimasa subordinated his duties altogether to his pleasures, and +that his thoughts seemed to turn wholly on banquets and fetes. His +favourites, especially females, had the control of affairs and were +the final arbiters in all important matters. Thus, a domain which had +been in the undisputed possession of a family for generations might +be alienated in favour of any claimant sufficiently unscrupulous and +sufficiently rich to "commend" his title, and a judgment delivered by +a court of law in the morning was liable to be reversed in the +evening by the fiat of the ladies in the Muromachi "palace." +Stability of policy had no existence. In a period of twenty-four +years (1444-1468), three sentences each of punishment and pardon were +pronounced in the case of the Hatakeyama family, and in twenty years, +Yoshikado and Yoshitoshi of the Shiba sept were each punished and +pardoned three times. In Kyoto it became a current saying that loyal +acts, not evil deeds, were penalized, and the truth of the comment +found confirmation in the case of an official, Kumagaya, who was +dismissed from his post and deprived of his property for venturing to +memorialize the shogun in a critical manner. + +These same records of the Onin year-period also make clear that one +of the factors chiefly responsible for the disturbance was +Yoshimasa's curious lack of sympathy with the burdens of the people. +Even one grand ceremony in the course of from five to six years +sufficed to empty the citizens' pockets. But in Yoshimasa's time +there Were nine of such fetes in five years, and four of them had no +warrant whatever except pleasure seeking--as a performance of the +Sarugaku mime on an immense scale; a flower-viewing party; an +al-fresco entertainment, and a visit to the cherry blossoms. On each +of these occasions the court officials and the military men had to +pawn their estates and sell their heirlooms in order to supply +themselves with sufficiently gorgeous robes, and the sequel was the +imposition of house taxes and land taxes so heavy that the provincial +farmers often found vagrancy more lucrative than agricultural +industry. Pawnshops were mercilessly mulcted. In the days of +Yoshimitsu, they were taxed at each of the four seasons; in +Yoshinori's time the same imposts were levied once a month, and under +Yoshimasa's rule the pawnbrokers had to pay nine times in November, +1466, and eight times in December of the same year. + +Even after full allowance has been made for exaggeration, natural in +the presence of such extravagance, there remains enough to convict +Yoshimasa of something like a mania for luxury. He built for himself +a residence so splendid that it went by the name of the Palace of +Flowers (Hana no Gosho) and of materials so costly that the outlay +totalled six hundred thousand strings of cash;* and he built for his +mother, Shigeko, a mansion concerning which it is recorded that two +of the sliding doors for the interior cost twenty thousand strings.** +Yet at times this same Yoshimasa was reduced to such straits for +money that we read of him borrowing five hundred "strings" on the +security of his armour, to pay for a parturition chamber. + +*L4,500,000--$22,000,000. + +**L150,000--$7,300,000. + +The Palace of Flowers came into existence in 1459, just on the eve of +a period of natural calamities which culminated in famine and +pestilence. In 1462, these conditions were at their worst. From +various, provinces people flocked to the capital seeking food, and +deaths from starvation became frequent in the city. A Buddhist +priest, Gwana, constructed grass huts to which the famished sufferers +were carried on bamboo stretchers to be fed with soft, boiled millet. +It is recorded that, during the first two months of 1462, the number +of persons thus relieved totalled eighty-two thousand. Another +Buddhist priest erected a monument to the dead found in the bed of +the river below the bridge, Gojo. They aggregated twelve hundred. +Scores of corpses received no burial, and the atmosphere of the city +was pervaded with a shocking effluvium. + +But even the presence of these horrors does not seem to have sobered +the Muromachi profligate. The costly edifices were pushed on and the +people's resources continued to be squandered. Even the Emperor, +Go-Hanazono, was sufficiently shocked to compose a couplet indirectly +censuring Yoshimasa, and a momentary sense of shame visited the +sybarite. But only momentary. We find him presently constructing in +the mansion of his favourite retainer, Ise Sadachika, a bath-house +which was the wonder of the time, a bath-house where the bathers were +expected to come robed in the most magnificent costumes. One of the +edifices that formed part of his palace after his retirement from +active life, in 1474, was a "Silver Pavilion" intended to rival the +"Golden Pavilion" of his ancestor, Yoshimitsu. During the last +sixteen years of his life--he died in 1490--he patronized art with a +degree of liberality that atones for much of his previous profligacy. +In the halls of the Jisho-ji monastery, constructed on a grand scale +as his retreat in old age, he collected chefs d'oeuvre of China and +Japan, so that the district Higashi-yama where the building stood +became to all ages a synonym for choice specimens, and there, too, he +instituted the tea ceremonial whose votaries were thenceforth +recognized as the nation's arbitri elegantiarum. Landscape gardens +also occupied his attention. Wherever, in province or in capital, in +shrine, in temple, in private house, or in official residence, any +quaintly shaped rock or picturesque tree was found, it was +immediately requisitioned for the park of Higashi-yama-dono, as men +then called Yoshimasa, and under the direction of a trio of great +artists, So-ami, Gei-ami, and No-ami, there grew up a plaisance of +unprecedented beauty, concerning which a poet of the time wrote that +"every breeze coming thence wafted the perfume of tea." The pastimes +of "listening to incense," of floral arrangement, of the dramatic +mime, and of the parlour farce were all practised with a zest which +provoked the astonishment even of contemporary annalists. + +ENGRAVING: A PICNIC DURING THE FLOWER SEASON IN THE ASHIKAGA PERIOD + +All this contributed materially to educate the nation's artistic +faculties, but the cost was enormous and the burden of taxation +correspondingly heavy. It was under this financial pressure that +Yoshimasa approached the Ming emperor seeking pecuniary aid. Thrice +the shogun's applications were successful, and the amounts thus +obtained are said to have totalled three hundred thousand strings of +cash (equivalent of L450,000, or $2,200,000). His requests are said +to have assumed the guise of appeals in behalf of famine-stricken +people, but there is no evidence that any of the presents were +devoted to that purpose. Partial apologists for Yoshimasa's +infatuation are not wanting. Thus, it is alleged that he was weary of +failure to reform the administration; that the corruption and +confusion of society induced him to seek consolation in art; that +outside the precincts of his palace he was restrained by the +provincial magnates, and inside he had to obey the dictation of his +wife, Tomi, of her brother, Katsumitsu, and of his own favourite +page, Ise Sadachika, so that only in his tea reunions and his private +theatricals could a semblance of independence be obtained; that his +orders were not obeyed or his injunctions respected by any save the +artists he had gathered around him, and that in gratifying his +luxurious tastes, he followed the example of his grandfather, +Yoshimitsu. But such exculpations amount to saying that he was an +essentially weak man, the slave of his surroundings. + +THE KWANTO TUMULT + +The lawlessness of the time and the indifference with which the +shogun's mandates were treated find illustration in the story of the +Kwanto. When (1439) Mochiuji perished, the only member of his family +that survived was his five-year-old son, Shigeuji. This child placed +himself under the protection of Muromachi. It will be remembered that +Uesugi Norizane, lamenting his unwilling share in Mochiuji's +destruction, had entered religion. His son, Noritada, was then +appointed to act as manager (shitsuji) to Shigeuji, his colleague +being Uesugi Akifusa (Ogigayatsu Uesugi). But the Yuki family, who +had given shelter to two sons of Mochiuji, objected to bow their +heads to the Uesugi, and persuaded Shigeuji to have Noritada killed. +Therefore, the partisans of the murdered man placed themselves under +the banner of his brother, Fusaaki, and having received a commission +from Muromachi as well as a powerful contingent of troops under +Imagawa Noritada, they marched in great force against Kamakura from +Kotsuke, Kazusa, and Echigo. + +Kamakurawas well-nigh reduced to ruins, but Shigeuji retired to the +fortress of Koga in Shimosa, and his cause against the Uesugi was +espoused by the eight families of Chiba, Koyama, Satomi, Satake, Oda, +Yuki, Utsunomiya, and Nasu, thenceforth known as the "eight generals" +of the Kwanto. Against such a league it was difficult to operate +successfully. Masatomo, a younger brother of Yoshimasa, built for +himself a fortress at Horigoe, in Izu, which was thereafter known as +Horigoe Gosho (the Horigoe Palace), Shigeuji in his castle of Koga +being designated Koga Kuba (the Koga shogun). Castle building +acquired from this time greatly increased vogue. Uesugi Mochitomo +fortified Kawagoe in Musashi; Ota Sukenaga (called also Dokan), a +vassal of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi, built at Yedo a fort destined to +have world-wide celebrity, and his father, Sukekiyo, entrenched +Iwatsuki in the same province of Musashi. Thus the Kwanto became the +arena of warring factions. + +PREFACE TO THE ONIN WAR + +We now arrive at a chapter of Japanese history infinitely perplexing +to the reader. It is generally called the Onin War because the +struggle described commenced in the year-period of that name, but +whereas the Onin period lasted only two years (1467-1469), the Onin +War continued for eleven years and caused shocking destruction of +life and property. When war is spoken of, the mind naturally +conjectures a struggle between two or perhaps three powers for a +cause that is respectable from some points of view. But in the Onin +War a score of combatants were engaged, and the motive was invariably +personal ambition. It has been described above that when the Ashikaga +chief, Takauji, undertook to re-establish the Minamoto Bakufu, he +essayed to overcome opposition by persuasion rather than by force. +Pursuing that policy, he bestowed immense estates upon those that +yielded to him, so that in time there came into existence holders of +lands more extensive than those belonging to the shogun himself. +Thus, while the landed estates of the Muromachi shogun measured only +15,798 cho* there were no less than eight daimyo more richly endowed. +They were: + +*A cho at that time represented 3 acres. It is now 2.5 acres. + + Daimyo Area of Estates in cho (3 acres) + + (1) Yanada Takasuke 32,083 + + (2) Uesugi Akisada 27,239 + + (3) Ouchi Mochiyo 25,435 + + (4) Hosokawa Katsumoto 24,465 + + (5) Shiba Mochitane 23,576 + + (6) Sasaki Takayori 16,872 + + (7) Hatakeyama Yoshmari 16,801 + + (8) Sasaki Mochikiyo 16,725 + +If we examine the list still more minutely, we find no less than +twenty-two families, each of whose estates was equal to, or larger +than, one-half of the Muromachi manors. Some families consisted of +several branches whose aggregate properties represented an immense +area. This was notably the case of the Yamana; their five branches +held lands totalling 45,788 cho. The owners of such estates must not +be confounded with the high constables (shugo). Thus Yamana Sozen, as +the high constable of Harima province, held administrative authority +in fourteen districts covering an area of 10,414 cho, and if to this +be added the expanse of his fief, namely, 8016 cho, we get a total +nearly equal to the manors of Hosokawa Katsumoto. Again, Shiba +Yoshitoshi, in addition to owning 10,816 cho, officiated as tandai of +Kyushu, which gave him jurisdiction over another extent of 106,553 +cho, though it is true that his authority was defied in the provinces +of Satsuma and Osumi. The military owner of one of these great +estates levied a revenue on a scale which will be presently +discussed, but the high constable was nominally empowered to collect +and transmit only such taxes as were payable to the Bakufu, namely, +the "military dues" (buke-yaku) and the "farmers' dues" +(hyakusho-yaku), whereof the former were originally assessed at two +per cent., and subsequently raised to five per cent., of a family +income; and the latter varied from one to two per cent, of a +homestead's earnings. So long as a high constable or a tandai was +loyal to the Bakufu, the latter received the appointed quota of +imposts; but in times of insurrection, the shugo or tandai +appropriated to his own purposes the proceeds alike of the buke-yaku +and the hyakusho-yaku. + +Not merely inequalities of wealth operated to produce political +unrest. It has also to be noted that each great military family +supported a body of armed retainers whose services were at all times +available; further, we must remember that the long War of the +Dynasties had educated a wide-spread spirit of fighting, which the +debility of the Ashikaga Bakufu encouraged to action. The Onin +disturbance had its origin in disputes about inheritance. It has been +recorded that the high post of kwanryo (governor-general) in the +Muromachi polity was filled by a member of one of three families, the +Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama, and the Shiba. The Hosokawa were the most +powerful, and had for representative in the middle of the fifteenth +century an administrator, Katsumoto, who to extensive erudition and a +profound knowledge of medicine added very exceptional gifts of +statecraft and organizing ability. The Hatakeyama had for head +Mochikuni, called also Tokuhon, a man of parts; and it happened that +the rival family of Yamana was led by Mochitoyo, or Sozen, who, on +account of his powerful physique, shaved head, and peculiar +complexion, sometimes received the name of the "Red Monk" +(Aka-nyudo). + +Tokuhon being without a legitimate son, adopted his nephew, Masanaga, +but subsequently desired to secure the succession to Yoshinari, a son +borne to him by a concubine. This change was not viewed with +equanimity by all the vassals of Tokuhon, and to solve the problem +the latter appealed to the shogun, Yoshimasa, who authorized the +death of Masanaga. Tokuhon, in his capacity of kwanryo, naturally had +much weight with the shogun, but Yoshimasa's conduct on that occasion +must be attributed mainly to a laisser-aller mood which he had then +developed, and which impelled him to follow the example set by the +Imperial Court in earlier times by leaving the military families in +the provinces to fight their own battles. Masanaga sought succour +from Hosokawa Katsumoto, and that magnate, welcoming the opportunity +of avenging an old injury at the hands of the Hatakeyama, laid siege +to the mansion of Tokuhon, who barely escaped with his life, his son, +Yoshinari, fleeing to the fortress of Wakae, in Kawachi, whence he +was presently driven by the forces of Katsumoto and Sozen, then +acting in conjunction but destined afterwards to become bitter +enemies. + +The shogun, true to his complacent policy, now recognized Masanaga as +head of the house of Hatakeyama, Tokuhon having just died (1455). But +Yoshinari did not acquiesce. In 1456, he marched with a Kawachi army +against Masanaga, and a deadly struggle was barely prevented by the +intervention of the shogun. Thenceforth, the Hatakeyama became +divided into two families, Masanaga's branch being the more powerful, +but Yoshinari obtaining favour at Muromachi and being nominated +kwanryo. Owing, however, to some petty causes, the shogun's good-will +was subsequently estranged, and Yoshinari had to flee from Kyoto, +pursued by Masanaga, who now held a commission from Muromachi to kill +him. A seven-years' fight (1460-1467) ensued in Kawachi and Yamato. +Yoshinari displayed greatly superior skill as a strategist, and +finally Yamana Sozen, who had always entertained a good opinion of +him even while opposing his succession at the outset, openly espoused +Yoshinari's cause. The immediate result was that Masanaga, who had +been named kwanryo in 1464, had to give way to SOzen's nominee, Shiba +Yoshikado, and found himself in deadly peril. + +It is necessary here to recall the murder of the shogun Yoshinori, in +1441. That crime had resulted in the fall of the Akamatsu family, the +direct agent of its overthrow being the united forces of Hosokawa, +Takeda, and Yamana. There were no bonds of genuine friendship between +the Hosokawa chief, Katsumoto, and Yamana Sozen. Their union was +primarily due to Katsumoto's ambition. He desired to break the power +of Hatakeyama Tokuhon, and with that ultimate object he courted the +alliance of Sozen, giving his own daughter to the latter in marriage +and himself adopting Sozen's son, Koretoyo. Thus, the two chiefs were +subsequently found acting together against Tokuhon's attempt to +substitute his son, albeit illegitimate, for his nephew, as heir to +the Hatakeyama estates. Neither Katsumoto nor Sozen cared anything +about the succession itself. Their object was simply to crush the +Hatakeyama; and Sozen, who never relied on argument where force was +applicable, lost no time in attacking Tokuhon and driving him from +his burning mansion, as has been already stated. From the legal +consequences of that violence, Sozen was saved by Katsumoto's +intercession at Muromachi, and the alliance (1454) between the +Hosokawa and the Yamana seemed stronger than ever. But Sozen did not +greatly trust his crafty ally, with whose gifts of political strategy +he was well acquainted. He suspected Katsumoto of a design to restore +the fortunes of the once powerful Akamatsu family, and he began to +muster forces for the great struggle which he anticipated. Therefore +it was that, in 1467, as shown above, he not only espoused the cause +of Hatakeyama Yoshinari, in whom he recognized an able captain, but +also championed Shiba Yoshikado. + +With regard to this latter, it is necessary to recognize that he also +figured in a succession dispute. The great family of Shiba being +without a direct heir, a relative was appointed to the headship in +1452. This successor, Yoshitoshi, attempting to enforce the +acquiescence of one of his vassals, was defeated and became a +fugitive, a successor, Yoshikado, being nominated by the Shiba +vassals. But a sister of the fugitive subsequently married the +shogun's favourite, Ise Sadachika, and through her influence the +shogun was induced (1466) to recall Yoshitoshi and to declare him +rightful head of the Shiba family. Yamana Sozen, who had given his +daughter in marriage to Yoshitoshi's rival, Yoshikado, immediately +set a powerful army in motion for Kyoto, and the alarmed shogun +(Yoshimasa) not only recognized Yoshikado and drove out Yoshitoshi, +but also nominated the former to be kwanryo. + +From this grievously complicated story the facts which emerge +essentially and conspicuously are: first, that Yamana Sozen now +occupied the position of champion to representatives of the two great +families of Hatakeyama and Shiba; secondly, that the rival successors +of these families looked to Hosokawa Katsumoto for aid; thirdly, that +the relations between Sozen and Katsumoto had become very strained, +and fourthly, that the issue at stake in every case was never more +lofty than personal ambition.. The succession to the shogunate also +was in dispute. Yoshimasa, being childless, desired to adopt as his +heir his younger brother who had entered religion under the name of +Gijin. The latter declined the honour until Yoshimasa swore that were +a son subsequently born to him, it should be made a priest but never +a shogun. Gijin then took the name of Yoshimi, and was for a time +recognized as heir-apparent, Hosokawa Katsumoto being appointed +manager (shitsuji). Presently, however, the shogun's consort, Tomi, +gave birth to a boy, Yoshihisa, and the mother persuaded Yoshimasa to +contrive that her son should supplant the sometime priest. Of +necessity, the aid of Sozen was sought to accomplish this scheme, +Katsumoto being already officially attached to Yoshimi. The Yamana +chief readily assented, and thus the situation received its final +element, a claimant whose right rested on a deliberately violated +oath. + +THE ONIN WAR + +By the close of 1466, the two great protagonists, Katsumoto and +Sozen, had quietly collected in Kyoto armies estimated at 160,000 and +110,000 men, respectively. The shogun attempted to limit the area of +disturbance by ordering that the various rival inheritors should be +left to fight their own battles, and by announcing that whoever +struck the first blow in their behalf would be proclaimed a rebel. +Such injunctions were powerless, however, to restrain men like Sozen. +In February, 1467, his followers attacked the former kwanryo, +Hatakeyama Masanaga, and drove him from the capital. Katsumoto made +no move, however; he remained on the watch, confident that thus the +legitimacy of his cause would obtain recognition. In fact, the shogun +was actually under guard of the Hosokawa troops, who, being encamped +on the east and north of Muromachi, received the name of the Eastern +Army; the Yamana forces, which were massed on the west and south, +being distinguished as the Western Army. + +It was evident that if either side retreated, the other would +perforce be acknowledged by the Bakufu, and both were reluctant to +put their fortunes to the final test. At length, early in July, 1467, +a petty skirmish precipitated a general engagement. It was +inconclusive, and the attitude of mutual observation was resumed. Two +months later re-enforcements reached the Western Army, and +thereafter, for nearly two years, victory rested with the Yamana. But +Katsumoto clung desperately to his position. Kyoto was reduced almost +completely to ruins, the Imperial palace, Buddhist temples, and other +mansions being laid in ashes, countless rare works of art being +destroyed, and the Court nobles and other civil officials being +compelled to flee to the provinces for shelter. A celebrated poet of +the time said that the evening lark soared over moors where formerly +there had been palaces, and in the Onin Records it is stated that the +metropolis became a den for foxes and wolves, and that Imperial +mandates and religious doctrines were alike unheeded. + +At one time things looked as though the ultimate triumph must be with +Sozen. But what Katsumoto lacked in military ability he more than +compensated in statecraft. From the outset he took care to legalize +his cause by inducing the Emperor and the ex-Emperor to remove to +Muromachi, where they were guarded by the Hosokawa troops, and the +defections to which this must ultimately expose Sozen's ranks were +supplemented by fomenting in the domains of the Yamana and their +allies intrigues which necessitated a diversion of strength from the +Kyoto campaign. Curious and intricate was the attitude of the +Hosokawa towards the rival aspirants to the shogunate. Sozen's aid, +as related above, had originally been invoked and exercised in behalf +of Yoshimasa, the shogun's son by the lady Tomi. + +Hence, it is not surprising to find the Yamana leader turning his +back upon the sometime bonze, Yoshimi, in October, 1469. But it is +surprising to see him openly espouse this same Yoshimi's cause two +months later. The fact was that Sozen might not choose. He had been +outmanoeuvered by his astute opponent, who now held complete control +of the shogun, and who not only obtained an Imperial decree depriving +Yoshimi of his offices, but also contrived that, early in 1469, the +lady Tomi's four-year-old son, Yoshihisa, should be officially +declared heir to the shogunate. In this matter, Katsumoto's +volte-face had been nearly as signal as Sozen's, for the former was +Yoshimi's champion at the beginning. Henceforth the war assumed the +character of a struggle for the succession to the shogunate. The +crude diplomacy of the Yamana leader was unable to devise any +effective reply to the spectacular pageant of two sovereigns, a +shogun, and a duly-elected heir to the shogunate all marshalled on +the Hosokawa side. Nothing better was conceived than a revival of the +Southern dynasty, which had ceased to be an active factor +seventy-eight years previously. But this farce did little service to +the cause of the Yamana. By degrees the hostile forces withdrew from +the capital, of which the western half (called Saikyo) alone remained +intact, and the strategy of the hostile leaders became concerned +chiefly about preserving their own commissariat or depriving the +enemy of his. + +In 1472, a new feature was introduced: Hatakeyama joined the Eastern +Army by order of the shogun, Yoshimasa. This was not merely a great +accession of numerical strength, it also opened the road to the north +where the Hatakeyama estates lay, and thus the Eastern Army found a +solution of the problem which dominated the situation at Kyoto--the +problem of provisions. The scale of success now swung in the +direction of Hosokawa and his allies. But still no crushing victory +was won, and meanwhile the war had continued seven years, with +immense loss of life and treasure. There is evidence that alike +Katsumoto and Sozen were fain to sheathe the sword in 1472, but +during the long struggle conditions had developed which rendered +peace difficult. In May, 1473, Sozen died and was followed to the +grave in less than a month by Katsumoto. Still the struggle went on +in a desultory way until December, 1477, when the Yamana forces +burned their cantonments and withdrew, Yoshimi coming to terms with +Muromachi and retiring to Mino. Peace at length dawned for Kyoto. But +not yet for the provinces. There the sword was not immediately +sheathed. In Echizen, Owari, and Totomi the great Shiba family was +subjected to weakening onsets by the Asakura, the Oda, and the +Imagawa. In Kaga, the Togashi house was divided against itself. In +Kyushu there were bitter struggles between the Shimazu and the Ito, +the Sagara and the Nawa, and the Otomo, the Shoni, and the Ouchi. +Finally, Shinano, Suruga, and Mikawa were all more or less convulsed. + +YOSHIHISA + +In 1474, Yoshimasa retired from office and, at the close of the year, +his nine-year-old son, Yoshihisa, succeeded him as shogun, the +kwanryo being that Hatakeyama Yoshinari whose appearance in the field +practically terminated the Onin War. The shogun Yoshimasa was in his +thirty-ninth year at the time of this abdication, and he survived for +sixteen years, not the least dissipated of his life, in which he +instituted costly art reunions and carried self-indulgence to its +extreme. During these years Tomi and her younger brother, Ise +Sadachika, acquired such influence as to interfere in the +administration, and under the pretext of procuring funds to rebuild +the palace destroyed during the Onin War, they restored the +toll-gates which had previously stood at the seven chief entrances to +Kyoto, appropriating all the proceeds. + +The young Yoshihisa could scarcely fail to be tainted by such an +environment. Much to his credit, however, he showed sagacity and +diligence, eschewing his father's luxurious habits, studying +literature and military art, and taking lessons in statecraft from +the ex-regent, Ichijo Kaneyoshi. Very early he became familiar with +scenes of violence, for, goaded to madness by the taxes exacted at +the seven toll-gates, a mob of the metropolitan citizens rose in +arms, beat off the troops sent to quell them and threatened to sack +the city, when, they were appeased by the issue of a tokusei +ordinance, which, as already explained, meant the remission of all +debts and the cancellation of all financial obligations. Socialism in +such a genial form appealed not only to the masses but also to bushi +who had pledged their property as security for loans to meet warlike +outlays or the demands of luxurious extravagance. + +Alike in the home provinces and in distant Kaga, Noto, Etchu, and the +south, tokusei riots took place. Notably incompatible with any +efficient exercise of Muromachi authority was the independence which +the provincial magnates had now learned to display. They levied what +taxes they pleased; employed the proceeds as seemed good to them; +enacted and administered their own laws; made war or peace as they +wished, and granted estates or revenues to their vassals at will. In +short, the bushi had gradually constructed for themselves a full suit +of feudal garments, and to bring them once again under the effective +control of the sovereign or the shogun was almost a hopeless task. +Yoshihisa might perhaps have refrained from attempting it had the +empire been at peace. But, in truth, the empire was on the threshold +of a century-long struggle compared with which the Onin War proved a +bagatelle. The mutterings of the coming storm made themselves very +audible during the years of Yoshihisa's early manhood. The Uesugi +septs, and the Hojo and the Satomi, were fighting in the Kwanto; the +western provinces, the central provinces, and Kyushu were the scenes +of constant conflicts, and no prospect of tranquillity presented +itself. Yoshihisa determined to undertake the work of subjugating the +whole country as Yoritomo had done effectually and as Takauji had +done partially. But he died in his twenty-fifth year when engaged in +conducting a campaign against the Rokkaku branch of the Sasaki +family, in Omi province; a campaign which but for his death would +certainly have been successful. + +YOSHITANE + +Yoshihisa, whose death took place in 1489, left no son, and his +father, the ex-shogun Yoshimasa, made tardy atonement to his brother, +Yoshimi, the sometime priest, by obtaining the high office of shogun +for the latter's son, Yoshitane, a youth of twenty-five. In the +following year Yoshimasa died, and, two years later (1492), Yoshitane +placed himself at the head of an army to resume the Omi campaign +which Yoshihisa's death had interrupted. His opponent was of Minamoto +lineage, head of the Rokkaku branch of the Sasaki family, whose +representative in the days of the Kamakura Bakufu had been high +constable of four provinces, Omi, Izumo, Aki, and Iwami. + +That the shogun, Yoshihisa, and his successor, Yoshitane, turned +their weapons so resolutely against this magnate was due to a cause +illustrative of the abuses of the era. From the outset the Ashikaga +sway over the provinces had been a vanishing quantity, and had +disappeared almost entirely during the Onin War. Not alone did the +writ of the sovereign or the shogun cease to run in regions outside +Kyoto and its immediate vicinity, but also the taxes, though duly +collected, did not find their way to the coffers of either Muromachi +or the Court. Shugo there still existed, and jito and kokushi; but +neither high constable nor land-steward nor civil governor acted as +practical representative of any Central Government: each functioned +for his own hand, swallowing up for his own use, or for inclusion in +some local fief, the manors which had once been the property of the +State or of the Court nobility. + +It was evidently of prime necessity from the Muromachi point of view +that a state of affairs which crippled the shogun by impoverishing +him should be remedied. Sasaki Takayori, head of the Rokkaku house, +was a conspicuous product of his time. He had seized the manors of +nearly fifty landowners in the province of Omi, and to punish his +aggressions signally would furnish a useful object lesson. That was +done effectually by Yoshitane's generals, and Sasaki had to flee from +Omi. But the young shogun's triumph was short lived. He allowed +himself to be drawn by Hatakeyama Masanaga into a private feud. We +have already seen this Masanaga engaged with Yoshinari in a struggle +for the Hatakeyama succession on the eve of the Onin War. Yoshinari +was no longer alive, but he had bequeathed to his son, Yoshitoyo, a +heritage of resentment against Masanaga, and the latter, who now held +the post of kwanryo for the fourth time, induced the shogun to order +an attack upon Yoshitoyo in the provinces of Kii and Kawachi. But +Yoshitoyo managed to enlist the aid of the recently discomfited +Sasaki, of the soldier-monks of Kofuku-ji, and, above all, of +Hosokawa Masamoto, son of Hatakeyama Masanaga's old opponent, +Hosokawa Katsumoto. With these co-operated the Yamana, the Isshiki, +and other septs, so that Yoshitane found himself between two powerful +armies, one in Kyoto, the other in Kii. In the sequel, Masanaga +committed suicide, and the shogun, Yoshitane, escaped to Suwo. + +YOSHIZUMI AND YOSHIHARU + +Hosokawa Masamoto was now master of the situation in Kyoto. It was +for him to nominate a new shogun in lieu of the fugitive Yoshitane. +He went to the Kwanto for a candidate. In 1461, Masatomo, brother of +Yoshimasa, had been nominated governor-general (kwanryo) of the eight +eastern provinces. His son, Yoshizumi, was chosen by Hosokawa to rule +at Muromachi, and Hosokawa himself became kwanryo. The new shogun +held office in name only; all administrative power was usurped by the +kwanryo and his nominees. Now, as Hosokawa Masamoto practised +asceticism for the better pursuit of necromancy, in which he was a +believer, he had no offspring. Therefore he adopted three sons: the +first, Sumiyuki, being the child of the regent, Fujiwara Masamoto; +the second and third, Sumimoto and Takakuni, being kinsmen of his +own. The first of these three was entrusted to Kasai Motochika; the +last two were placed in the care of Miyoshi Nagateru. These guardians +were Hosokawa's principal vassals in Shikoku, where they presently +became deadly rivals. Motochika, believing that Hosokawa's ultimate +intention was to elevate Sumimoto to the shogunate, in which event +the latter's guardian, Nagateru, would obtain a large access of +power, compassed the murder of Hosokawa, the kwanryo, and proclaimed +Sumiyuki head of the Hosokawa house. Thereupon Miyoshi Nagateru moved +up from Shikoku at the head of a strong army, and, after a fierce +conflict, Motochika and Sumiyuki were killed, and Sumimoto, then in +his eleventh year, became chief of the Hosokawa family, receiving +also the office of kwanryo. + +The Motochika faction, however, though defeated, were not destroyed. +They conceived the plan of reinstating the shogun, Yoshitane, then a +fugitive in the province of Suwo, and of securing the office of +kwanryo for Takakuni, third son (by adoption) of the late Hosokawa +Masamoto. The powerful Ouchi sept, which had its manors in Suwo, +espoused the conspiracy, and escorted Yoshitane to Kyoto with a great +army, the result being that the shogun, Yoshizumi, had to flee to +Omi; that Yoshitane took his place, and that Ouchi Yoshioki became +deputy kwanryo. + +These things happened in 1508. Thenceforth, the great protagonists in +the Kyoto arena were the two factions of the Hosokawa house, led by +Sumimoto and Takakuni, respectively; the former championing the cause +of the shogun, Yoshizumi, and in alliance with the Miyoshi; the +latter supporting the shogun, Yoshitane, and aided by the Ouchi. One +reverse befell the Yoshitane-Ouchi combination, but they quickly +recovered from it, and from 1508 until 1518 a gleam of peace and +prosperity shone once more in Kyoto under the administration of Ouchi +Yoshioki, who governed with skill and impartiality, and whose +influence seemed likely to restore the best days of the Bakufu. But, +in 1518, he was recalled to his province by an attack from the shugo +of Izumo, and by financial embarrassment resulting from his own +generosity in supplying funds to the Crown and the shogun. + +Hosokawa Takakuni now became kwanryo, exercising his authority with a +high hand. Then the Sumimoto branch of the Hosokawa, taking advantage +of Ouchi's absence, mustered a force in Shikoku and moved against +Kyoto. Takakuni found himself in a difficult position. In the capital +his overbearing conduct had alienated the shogun, Yoshitane, and from +the south a hostile army was approaching. He chose Hyogo for +battle-field, and, after a stout fight, was discomfited and fled to +Omi, the position of kwanryo being bestowed on his rival, Sumimoto, +by the shogun. In a few months, however, Takakuni, in alliance with +the Rokkaku branch of the Sasaki family under Sadayori, marched into +Kyoto in overwhelming force. Miyoshi Nagateru retired to Chion-in, +where he committed suicide; Sumimoto fled to Awa, dying there a few +months later, and Yoshitane, after brief refuge in the island of +Awaji, died in Awa, in 1523. Thus, Hosokawa Takakuni found himself +supreme in Kyoto, and he proceeded to appoint a shogun, without +awaiting the demise of Yoshitane. Yoshizumi, the eleventh shogun, +who, as related above, fled from Kyoto in 1508, dying three years +later in exile, left two sons: Yoshiharu, whom he committed to the +charge of Akamatsu Yoshimura, and Yoshikore, whom he entrusted to +Hosokawa Sumimoto. In 1521, Takakuni invited Yoshiharu, then eleven +years old, to the capital and procured his nomination to the +shogunate. + +ANARCHY + +From this time forward the confusion grows worse confounded. The +Miyoshi of Awa are found in co-operation with Yanamoto Kataharu +espousing the cause of the shogun's younger brother, Yoshikore, and +of Harumoto, a son of Hosokawa Sumimoto. We see this combination +expelling Yoshiharu and Takakuni from Kyoto, and we see the fugitives +vainly essaying to reverse the situation. Thereafter, during several +years, there is practically no government in the capital. Riot and +insurrection are daily features, and brigandage prevails unchecked. +Kataharu, though not holding the office of kwanryo, usurps its +functions so ostentatiously that the assassin's dagger is turned +against him. Again the two Hosokawa chiefs, Takakuni and Harumoto, +fight for power, and, in 1531, Takakuni is killed, Harumoto becoming +supreme. Soon the Miyoshi brothers, Motonaga and Masanaga, engage in +a fierce quarrel about their inheritance, and the former, with +Yoshikore as candidate for the shogunate and Hatakeyama as auxiliary, +raises the standard against Harumoto, who, aided by the +soldier-priests of Hongwan-ji, kills both Yoshitaka and Motonaga and +takes Yoshikore prisoner. Thereafter, Harumoto quarrels with the +Hongwan-ji bonzes, and being attacked by them, obtains the aid of +Rokkaku Sadayori and the Nichiren priests, with the result that the +splendid fane of Hongwan-ji is reduced to ashes. A reconciliation is +then effected between Harumoto and the shogun, Yoshiharu, while +Miyoshi Masanaga is appointed to high office. Yet once more the +untiring Takakuni, aided by Miyoshi Norinaga, Motonaga's son, called +also Chokei, drives Yoshiharu and Harumoto from the metropolis, and +presently a reconciliation is effected by the good offices of Rokkaku +Sadayori, the real power of the kwanryo being thenceforth exercised +by the Miyoshi family. Japanese historians have well called it an age +of anarchy. + +YOSHITERU + +In 1545, the shogun, Yoshiharu, resigned in favour of his son, +Yoshiteru. Two years of quiet ensued in Kyoto, and then the old feud +broke out once more. The Hosokawa, represented by Harumoto, and the +Miyoshi, by Chokei, fought for supremacy. Victory rested with the +Miyoshi. The Hosokawa's power was shattered, and Chokei ruled in +Kyoto through his vassal, Matsunaga Hisahide. The era is memorable +for the assassination of a shogun. Yoshiteru had become reconciled +with Chokei and was suffered to live quietly at Muromachi. But after +Chokei's death (he was poisoned by Hisahide), Yoshiteru's cousin, +Yoshihide, a son of Yoshikore, sought to be nominated successor to +the shogunate through the aid of Masanaga and Hisahide. In 1565, this +plot matured. Hisahide suddenly sent a force which attacked +Yoshiteru's palace and killed the shogun. Yoshihide replaced the +murdered potentate, and the Matsunaga family succeeded to the power +previously wielded by the Miyoshi. Yoshiteru's younger brother, +Yoshiaki, fled to Omi, but afterwards made his way to Owari, where +Oda Nobunaga took him by the hand and ultimately placed him in the +shogun's seat at Kyoto. + +REVIEW OF THE ASHIKAGA + +Among the fifteen representatives of the Ashikaga, two were slain by +their own vassals, five died in exile, and one had to commit suicide. +From the accession of Takauji, in 1338, to the death of Yoshiaki, in +1597, a period of 259 years, there was not so much as one decade of +signal success and efficient government. With justice the story of +the time has been summed up in the epithet "ge-koku-jo," or the +overthrow of the upper by the lower. The appreciation of the eminent +historian, Rai Sanyo, is most faithful. Every great conflict +throughout the era was marked by similar features. It is a weary +record of broken promises, violated allegiances, and family feuds. If +the Hatakeyama, the Hosokawa, and the Miyoshi set their own interests +above those of the shogun, the Ashikaga, in turn, sacrificed the +interests of the Throne on the altar of their own ambition. A river +cannot be purer than its source. If the Miyoshi vassals plotted +against their chiefs, so did the latter against the Hosokawa; so did +the Hosokawa against the Ashikaga; so did the Ashikaga against the +Imperial family, and so did one branch of the Imperial family against +another. Everywhere there was lack of loyalty. + +The loyalty wanting among masters was equally deficient among +servants. There is no more treacherous episode in the Middle Ages +than Matsunaga Hisahide's poisoning of his liege lord to compass the +downfall of the Miyoshi family and slaying the shogun, Yoshiteru, to +overthrow the Ashikaga, though he enjoyed the confidence of both. The +Dai Nihon-rekishi (History of Great Japan) observes that the ethical +primers, with which a literary education had formerly familiarized +the nation, lost their influence in this military era. There was no +inordinate desire for landed property until the Gen-Hei epoch, when a +manor became the principal reward of a successful soldier. +Thereafter, greed for domains acquired strength every year. Again, +when Yoritomo became so-tsuihoshi (commander-in-chief) and so-jito +(general steward) of the whole country, and his meritorious vassals +were appointed shugo and jito in each province, local authority +passed from the Throne to the military families, and when, after the +Shokyu struggle, the shugo and the jito came into actual possession +of the estates they had previously administered, military feudalism +was practically established. The Hojo, by their just administration +and astute measures, brought this system into esteem, but under the +Ashikaga regime the reality of landed possession grew to be the +unique aim of existence, and, to achieve it, sons forgot their +paternal relation and vassals lost sight of fealty. The nation +engaged in an armed scramble; individualism became paramount, and +social obligations were ignored. This is the more noteworthy because +loyalty is so typical a Japanese virtue. + +THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ASHIKAGA + +The common saying that the Kamakura Bakufu brought the entire country +under one administrative control requires modification. It was not +until Tokugawa days in the seventeenth century that the whole sixty +provinces passed under one feudal ruler. Still as between the +Kamakura Bakufu and the Muromachi, the latter, though its military +supremacy was less complete, may be said to have extended its +influence theoretically over the whole of the lands throughout the +empire except the Chokodo estates. + +In another respect, also, the advantage lay with the Muromachi +shogunate. During the Kamakura era, the Court magnates continued to +despise the Bakufu adherents, and the distance between the capital +and Kamakura imparted to the latter an element of rusticity. But with +the establishment of the Muromachi shogunate a change took place. The +Bakufu, the visible repository of power, stood side by side with the +Court, and opportunities for close relations existed constantly. +Moreover, the Court nobles, notably antagonistic to the military +regime, followed the fortunes of the Southern dynasty, those alone +remaining in the capital who were on more or less intimate terms with +the military. Such were the Nijo, the Saionji, the Hino, and so +forth. These observed the behests of the Bakufu, sought to acquire +the latter's confidence, and always paid respect to the Hana no +Gosho, as the shogun was called. So close were the relations that for +ceremonial purposes at the Bakufu, it was customary to employ Court +officials, and witty writers of the time discourse amusingly on the +often clumsy efforts made by the courtiers to ape the customs and +acquire the dialects of the provincial soldiers. + +THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CENTRAL BAKUFU + +The administrative power having been transferred from the Court to +the Bakufu, it may be said that the sei-i tai-shogun exercised +supreme authority throughout the empire. But the shogun himself did +not actually discharge administrative duties. That was done by the +kwanryo with the shogun's consent. Originally this official was +called shitsuji (manager), and his functions were to look after the +affairs of a provincial magnate's establishment. During the Kamakura +era, the Ashikaga family occupied a high place. Of Minamoto origin, +it was connected with the Hojo by marriage, and for generations its +shitsuji had been a member of the Ko family. Ashikaga Takauji +made Ko no Moronao his shitsuji, and a highly competent captain +he proved himself. Subsequently, in 1362, Shiba Yoshimasa was +appointed shitsuji, but soon his title was changed to kwanryo +(governor-general), and it thenceforth became customary for the +latter position to be occupied by a member of one of the three +families, Shiba, Hosokawa, and Hatakeyama, in succession. + +Speaking broadly, the kwanryo corresponded to the skikken (regent) of +Kamakura days. But whereas, the Kamakura shikken exercised virtually +autocratic authority, the shogun being a minor, the Muromachi +kwanryo, nominally, at all events, was under the control of an adult +shogun. In fact, the kwanryo in the Muromachi polity resembled the +betto of the Man-dokoro in Yoritomo's time. For the rest, the +Muromachi Bakufu was organized on practically the same lines as its +Kamakura prototype. There was a Man-dokoro, a Monju-dokoro, and a +Samurai-dokoro, and the staff of these offices was taken originally, +as far as possible, from the families of men who had distinguished +themselves as legislators and administrators at Kamakura. There were +also officials called bugyo (commissioners) who directed the +enforcement of laws and ordinances. These commissioners numbered +thirty-six, and each had his own sphere of duties: as the shonin +bugyo, who controlled judicial affairs; the tosen bugyo, who dealt +with affairs of foreign trade; the jisha bugyo, who superintended +temples and shrines; the onsho bugyo, who had to do with official +rewards, etc. + +ORGANIZATION OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS + +At Kamakura, also, there was a kwanryo to guard the eastern provinces +(Kwanto). In Takauji's time, his second son, Motouji, was appointed +to this office, and it was thenceforth inherited for some +generations, the Uesugi family furnishing a shitsuji. Ultimately the +Kamakura kwanryo became a powerful military satrap, hostile to the +Muromachi shogun. The holder of the office then received the title of +kubo, and the hitherto shitsuji became kwanryo. In other respects the +Kamakura polity retained the form it had under Yoritomo: a Hyojo-shu +(Council), a Hikitsuke-shu, a Monju-dokoro, a Samurai-dokoro, and +various bugyo. In Kyushu and Dewa, the principal officer was called +shugo, that post being of special importance; while in the other +provinces shugo and jito (high constables and land-stewards) +continued to officiate as before. + +The jurisdiction of these high constables--great military magnates or +relatives of the shogun--extended to two or more provinces, and the +shugo were then called kuni-mochi-shu (province-holder). A daimyo +(great name, i.e. feudal lord), in communicating with Muromachi, had +to make a kuni-mochi his medium. For the Kwanto and Shikoku, the +Hosokawa house was the kunimochi; for Shinano, Etchu, Echigo, and +Kaga, the Hatakeyama; for Ise, Kai, and Suruga, the Yamana; and for +Kyushu, the tandai. After the power of the tandai had declined, the +Ouchi family took its place. In the days of Yoshinori's shogunate, +there were twenty-two shugo in the country, and seven of them +administered three provinces or more, each. The provincial governors +appointed by the Southern Court disappeared, for the most part, +during the War of the Dynasties, and on the restoration of peace the +only one of these high officials that remained was Kitabatake of Ise. + +SHUGO AND JITO + +Originally appointed for administrative and fiscal purposes only, the +shugo said jito acquired titles of land-ownership from the beginning +of the Ashikaga era. To plunder and annex a neighbouring province +became thenceforth a common feat on the part of these officials. In +1390, tracts of land measuring from one-half of a province to two or +three provinces are found to have been converted from the shugo's +jurisdictional areas into military domains. Such magnates as Yamana +Tokiuji held from five to eleven provinces. These puissant captains +had castles and armies of their own. At first, they respected the +requisitions of the Bakufu. Thus, in 1463, when an elaborate Buddhist +ceremony had to be performed on the decease of Yoshimasa's mother, a +tax in the form of cotton cloth was levied from the shugo, a ruler of +three provinces contributing ten thousand pieces; a ruler of two +provinces, five thousand, and so on.* + +*A "piece" was 40 feet, approximately. When the castle of Edo was +built in Tokugawa days--seventeenth century--each daimyo had to +contribute "aid" (otetsudai), after the Ashikaga custom. + +But after the Onin War (1467-1469), military magnates resided wholly +on their own domains and paid no attention to requisitions from the +Bakufu. Further, these magnates compelled all jito and go-kenin +within their jurisdiction to serve as their vassals. Previously to +the Onin era the shugo had resided, for the most part, in Kyoto, +delegating the discharge of their provincial functions to deputies +(shugo-dai), chosen by the shugo and approved by the Bakufu. +Presently, the process of selection was dispensed with, and the +office became hereditary. Thus, Yusa of the Hatakeyama, Oda of the +Shiba, Uragami of the Akamatsu, and so forth are examples of deputies +who resided permanently in the provinces concerned and acquired +influence there superior even to that of their principals. The +deputies, in turn, had their vice-deputies (ko-shugo-dai), to whom +the name daikwan (another term for "deputy") was often given. These +daikwan were selected from among the members or vassals of a shugo's +family to act provisionally as shugo-dai. As for the jito, from the +middle of the Kamakura epoch their posts became mere sinecures, the +emoluments going to support their families, or being paid over to a +temple or shrine. Occasionally the office was sold or pawned. The +comparatively small areas of land within which the jito officiated +soon came to be recognized as their private domains, but after the +Onin commotion this system underwent a change, the jito becoming +vassals of the shugo. Many, however, held their original position +until the middle of the sixteenth century. In the days of Toyotomi +Hideyoshi and Oda Nobunaga--namely, the second half of the sixteenth +century--the name jito was given to the headman of a village or +district, who served as the immediate representative of authority. + +FINANCE + +Cultivated land (koden) was the great source of official revenue. The +area under rice--the principal staple of production--in the middle of +the fifteenth century was about a million of cho,* or two and a half +million acres; and this was owned by the Court, the Court nobles, the +military magnates, the temples, and the shrines. From an uncertain +date, but probably the close of the Kamakura Bakufu, the area of a +domain ceased to be calculated in terms of cho and tan and was +expressed in kwan (one thousand cash, or mori). The use of the +kwanior this purpose had reference to the military service leviable +upon the land. Thus, when land of one hundred kwan-mon was mentioned, +an area capable of supporting military service valued at one hundred +kwan-mon was understood. The calculation was very simple: one tsubo +corresponded to one mon, so that one kwan-mon represented one +thousand tsubo for the purposes of this assessment.** + +*The cho was equal to 10 tan, and the tan comprised 360 tsubo, the +tsubo being a square of 6 feet side. At present the area under +cultivation is some 3 millions of cho (7.5 millions of acres). + +**In the Ashikaga era the unit of currency may be said to have been +the copper cash of China--called Eiraku-sen after the name (Chinese, +Yunglo) of the Chinese year period when it was issued. Gold and +silver coins were also in use; namely, the gold ryo, which was +equivalent to 10 silver ryo; but their circulation was comparatively +small. The gold ryo was equal to 2000 mon of copper coins, and as 100 +mon purchased 1 to (one-tenth part of a koku) of rice, it follows +that the gold ryo represented 2 koku, or 30 yen of modern currency, +the silver ryo representing 3 yen (1 yen=2 shillings-50 cents). It +follows also that 10 strings of cash (one kwan) were worth a koku of +rice, or 15 yen. As for silk piece-goods, 1 roll (hiki = 48 yards) of +the best kind was worth 45 yen, and the second and third-class kinds +ranged from 33 to 22.5 yen. Finally, in the year 1498, the records +show that the daily wage of a labourer was some 16 sen of modern +money (about 4 pence or 8 cents). + +From various documents it appears that the three grades of +land--best, medium, and inferior--were taxed at the rate of sixty, +forty, and thirty per cent., respectively, of the yield. In other +words, the average land-tax was forty per cent, of the yield--called +shi-ko roku-min--or four parts to the Government and six to the +farmer. If we consider the rates between the current price of land +and the tax, there is a record, dated 1418, which shows that the tax +levied by a temple--Myoko-ji--was twenty per cent, of the market +price of the land. But it would seem that the ratio in the case of +Government taxation was much smaller, being only one and a half per +cent, of the market value. There were, however, other imposts, which, +though not accurately stated, must have brought the land-tax to much +more than forty per cent, of the yield. + +Turning to the Imperial Court, we find it supported by domains +hereditarily held; by contributions from the seizei (expediency +taxes, that is to say, taxes set aside for extraordinary State +requirements); by occasional presents, and by revenues from kugoden +(private Imperial land). The Court nobles had their own domains, +usually small. All these estates, those of the Crown, of princes, and +of Court nobles, were subject to a system called hansai. That is to +say, one-half of their revenues were leviable for military purposes. +Originally this impost was understood to be a loan to the Bakufu, but +ultimately it came to be regarded as a normal levy, though its +practical effect was to reduce the revenue from such domains by +one-half. Moreover, as the arrogance of the military magnates in the +provinces grew more insistent, and as the Bakufu's ability to oppose +them became less effective, the domain of the Court nobles suffered +frequent encroachments. + +REVENUES OF THE BAKUFU + +One source of revenue for the Bakufu was its domains in various +places; another was the buke-yaku, or military-house dues. These were +at first two per cent, of the land-tax of the house concerned, but +afterwards they increased to five per cent. Thus an estate paying one +hundred koku in the form of land-tax, had to pay a further five koku +as buke-yaku, the latter proceeds being sent to Kyoto for the use of +the shogun's household. Another important levy was the tansen, which, +as its name implies, was a land-rate levied at so much per tan +(one-quarter of an acre), the proceeds being devoted to special +purposes, as, for example, to defray the cost of grand ceremonials or +of new edifices. The records show one payment of tansen which works +out at fifty mon per tan. Another document indicates that the monthly +expenses of the Man-dokoro were some sixty kwanmon and that they were +defrayed by levying taxes upon pawnbrokers and sake-dealers in Kyoto +and in Omi province. The latter tax (shuko-zei) is shown to have +been, on one occasion, two kwan eight hundred mon per house. The +Bakufu collected dues on foreign commerce, also, and miscellaneous +imposts of an irregular character made no small addition to its +income. + +REVENUE OF SHRINES AND TEMPLES + +Temples and shrines derived part of their income from port-dues and +barrier-tolls. Thus, the Hachiman temple of Iwashimizu received tolls +from all traffic passing the Yamazaki barrier; Kofuku-ji levied +duties on vessels entering Hyogo port, and Engaku-ji of Kamakura +collected tolls at the Hakone barrier (sekisho). Such taxes proving +very prolific and easy to levy, the number of barriers increased +rapidly, to the no small obstruction of trade and travel. Further, +the priests were constantly enriched with donations of land and +money, in addition to the rents and taxes obtained from their own +domains, and thus it resulted that several of the great monasteries +possessed much wealth. To that fact is to be attributed the numerous +establishments of soldier-priests maintained at Enryaku-ji, on +Hiei-zan, and at Kofuku-ji, in Nara. To that also is to be ascribed +in part the signal development of literature among the friars, and +the influence wielded by the Shinto officials of Kitano and the betto +of Hachiman. + +REVENUE OF JITO + +A special tax levied by the jito was the hyakusho-yaku, or farmers' +dues. These were one per cent, of the land-tax originally, but the +rate was subsequently doubled. Other heavy imposts were frequently +and arbitrarily enacted, and there can be no doubt that financial +disorder contributed materially to bringing about the terrible +calamities of the Battle era (Sengoku Jidai), as the period of eleven +decades ending in 1600 is called. For, if the fiscal system was thus +defective during the comparatively prosperous age of the Ashikaga, it +fell into measureless confusion at a later date. It has been stated +above that the area under rice cultivation at the middle of the +fifteenth century was about one million did; at the close of that +century the figure was found to have decreased by more than fifty +thousands of cho. From such a result, opposed as it is to all records +of normal development, the unhappy plight of the agricultural classes +may be inferred. + +TOKENS OF CURRENCY + +Minting operations also were discontinued under the Ashikaga. Cotton +cloth and rice served as principal media of exchange. Fortunately, +commerce with China in the days of the Ming rulers, and Yoshimasa's +undignified though practical requests, brought a large supply of +Yunglo (Japanese, Eiraku) copper cash, which, with other Chinese +coins of the Tang and Sung dynasties, served the Japanese as media. +This fortuitous element was conspicuous in all the domain of finance, +especially after the Onin War, when the territorial magnates fixed +the taxes at their own convenience and without any thought of +uniformity. One of the only sincere and statesmanlike efforts of +reform was made, in 1491, by Hojo Soun. He reduced the rate then +ruling, namely, equal parts to the tax-collector and to the taxpayer, +and made it forty per cent, to the former and sixty to the latter, +and he ordained that any jito collecting so much as a mon in excess +of the official figure, should be severely punished. How the people +fared elsewhere it is not possible to say accurately, but the records +show that extraordinary imposts were levied frequently, and that the +tansen was exacted again and again, as also were taxes on trades. As +for the Imperial household, such was its condition that it barely +subsisted on presents made by certain military magnates, so complete +was the decentralization of the empire in this period. + +ATTITUDE OF THE ASHIKAGA TOWARDS THE THRONE + +The policy of the Ashikaga towards the Daikagu-ji line (the Southern +Court) of the Imperial house was evidently one of complete +elimination at the outset. But the impossibility of achieving such a +programme soon came to be recognized and reconciliation was +substituted. Thenceforth, in appearance at all events, the +representatives of the Daikagu-ji line received due consideration and +were sufficiently provided with incomes, as witness the treatment of +the ex-Emperor Go-Kameyama by Yoshimitsu. But subsequent and repeated +neglect of the claims of the Southern branch in regard to the vital +matter of the succession betrayed the insincerity of the Ashikaga, +and provoked frequent appeals to arms. + +The situation may be said to have been saved by the habit inaugurated +at the close of the Heian epoch. From that time princes and nobles +who saw no prospect of secular distinction began to take the tonsure, +and this retirement to the cloister was assiduously encouraged by the +Muromachi shoguns. A similar policy commended itself in the case of +princes of the Jimyo-in branch (the Northern Court). It is true that, +from the first, the representatives of this line had relied on the +Bakufu, whether of Kamakura or of Muromachi. But in their hearts they +deeply resented the usurpation of the shogunate, and the latter, +fully cognisant of that sentiment, guarded against its effective +display by providing only meagre allowances for the support of the +Imperial household (Kinri) and the ex-Emperor's household (Sendo), +and by contriving that only young and delicate princes should succeed +to the throne. Thus, of seven sovereigns who reigned between 1336 and +1464, the oldest was only sixteen at the time of his succession and +the youngest was six. When an Emperor reached maturity, it was usual +that he should abdicate and administer thenceforth from the Inchu. +Thus the influence of the Court was divided between the Kinri and the +Sendo--the reigning sovereign and the retired. But the real +depository of power was the shikken (regent) of the Inchu, to which +office a member of the Hino family, maternal relatives of the Bakufu, +was habitually appointed. When Yoshinori was shogun, he himself acted +as shikken of the Inchu. As for the Court officials properly so +called, from the kwampaku downwards, they were mere figureheads. +Holding their posts, indeed, as of old, they constituted, not +administrative actors, but an audience. + +YOSHIMITSU AND THE THRONE + +The shogun Yoshimitsu instituted the custom of inviting the sovereign +to his mansion, and thenceforth such visits became a recognized +feature of the relations between the Imperial and the Muromachi +Courts. Yoshimitsu himself frequently repaired to the Kinri and the +Sendo, and frequently accompanied the Empresses and their ladies on +social visits or pleasure excursions. He is said to have gone in and +out at the Imperial palaces without the slightest reserve, and on +more than one occasion history accuses him of flagrantly +transgressing the limits of decency in his intercourse with +Suken-mon-in, mother of the Emperor Go-Enyu. As a subverter of public +morals, however, the palm belongs, not to Yoshimitsu, but to his +immediate successor, Yoshimochi. He is said to have visited the Kinri +and the Sendo six or seven times every month, and to have there +indulged in all kinds of licence. History says, indeed, that he was +often unable to appear at Court owing to illness resulting from +intoxication. + +PRINCES AND PRIESTS + +As to the fact that, from the close of the Heian epoch, the cloister +often proved a prison for Imperial princes whose ambition might have +been troublesome had they remained at large, the following figures +are eloquent: + + Number + entering + religion + + Of 8 sons born to Emperor Fushimi (1287-1298) 7 + + 9 " " " Emperor Go-Fushimi (1298-1301) 9 + + 4 " " " Emperor Hanazono (1307-1318) 4 + + 2 " " " Emperor Suko (1348-1352) 2 + + 9 " " " Prince Sadatsune, 8 + grandson of the Emperor Suko + + 14 " " " Emperor Go-Kogon (1352-1371) 14 + +Absolute accuracy is not claimed for these figures, but they are +certainly close approximations. In fact, under the Muromachi Bakufu, +every son of a sovereign, except the Prince Imperial, was expected to +become a monk. The Ashikaga adopted a similar system and applied it +ruthlessly in their own families. In truth, the Ashikaga epoch was +notorious for neglect of the obligations of consanguinity. Father is +found pitted against son, uncle against nephew, and brother against +brother. + +ENGRAVING: TILES OF THE DAIBUTSUDEN OF TODAI-JI + +ENGRAVING: DECORATION OF TOKONOMA (AN ALCOVE IN A JAPANESE +PARLOUR)--Muromachi Period + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +FOREIGN INTERCOURSE, LITERATURE, ART, RELIGION, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS +IN THE MUROMACHI EPOCH + +FOREIGN INTERCOURSE + +AFTER the Mongol invasion of Kyushu, Japan held no intercourse with +the outer world for several decades, nor does her friendship seem to +have been sought by any oversea nation. In the closing year of the +thirteenth century, merchantmen flying the Yuan flag are reported to +have arrived, but the record is nebulous, and the same may be said of +a passing reference that, in 1341, Japanese vessels were sent to +China to procure articles manufactured there. We reach more solid +ground a year later (1342), when the Ashikaga chief, Takauji, being +engaged in building the temple Tenryu-ji, opened trade with China for +the purpose of obtaining apparatus, vestments, and works of art. The +number of vessels was limited to two annually, and the trade must not +exceed five hundred kwan-mon (L750, or $3700). Some of the objects +then carried to Japan survive to this day in the form of celadon +vases known in Japan as Tenryuji-seiji.* Meanwhile, not a few +Buddhist priests crossed the sea from China to preach their faith, +and it is certain that during the War of the Dynasties in Japan, when +the south of the country was in a state of anarchy, privateering in +Korean waters was freely resorted to by Japanese adventurers. A +Korean envoy arrived at Fukuhara, in Settsu, in 1367, bearer of a +strong protest against this marauding, and declaring that for a +decade past assassination and plunder had been freely practised by +Japanese subjects on the inhabitants of the Korean littoral. China +and Korea were then in a troubled condition. + +*The merchantmen received the name of Tenryuji-bune (bune signifies +"ship") + +In the year (1368) after the arrival of this envoy, the Yuan dynasty +went down in China before the Ming, and in Korea the kingdom of Koma +was overthrown, the Yi dynasty rising on its ruins and calling the +peninsula Chosen. The Ming sovereign immediately attempted to +establish tradal intercourse with Japan, but the negotiations failed, +and not until 1392 is there any record of oversea relations. Then, at +length, Korea's protest elicited a reply from Japan. The shogun, +Yoshimitsu, sent to Chosen a despatch, signifying that piracy had +been interdicted, that all captives would be returned, and that he +desired to establish friendly relations. It appears that at that time +China also suffered from the depredations of Japanese corsairs, for +the annals say that she repeatedly remonstrated, and that, in 1401, +Yoshimitsu despatched to China an envoy carrying presents and +escorting some Chinese subjects who had been cast away on the +Japanese coast or carried captive thither. Another record suggests +that the Chinese Emperor was perplexed between the two warring Courts +in Japan. At the time of his accession, a body of Mongol fugitives +established themselves in Shantung, where they received assistance +from some Japanese adventurers. The Ming sovereign opened +communications on the subject with Prince Kanenaga, who held Kyushu +in the interests of the Southern Court, but the tone of the Chinese +monarch was so arrogant that Prince Kanenaga made no reply. Then +Taitsu employed a Buddhist priest, but the character of this bonze +having been detected, he was thrown into prison. + +These things happened in 1380. In the following year Taitsu +despatched a duly credited envoy who used menacing language and was +sent back with a defiance from Prince Kanenaga. The priest, however, +was set free in 1382, and having learned while in Japan that two +Courts were disputing the title to the Crown, he informed the Chinese +sovereign in that sense, and the latter subsequently addressed +himself to Kyoto, with the result noted above, namely, that +Yoshimitsu opened friendly relations (1401). It was to the Ouchi +family of Suwo that the management of intercourse with Chosen was +entrusted, the latter sending its envoys to Yamaguchi. Subsequently, +after Ouchi Yoshihiro's disaffection and disaster, a Buddhist priest +and well-known artist, Soami, acted as Muromachi's envoy to the Ming +Court, being accompanied by a merchant, Koetomi, who is described as +thoroughly conversant with Chinese conditions. By these two the first +commercial treaty was negotiated. It provided that an envoy should be +sent by each of the contracting parties in every period of ten years, +the suite of this envoy to be limited to two hundred, and any ship +carrying arms to be regarded as a pirate. + +The first envoy from the Ming Court under this treaty was met by +Yoshimitsu himself at Hyogo, and being escorted to Kyoto, was +hospitably lodged in a hotel there. Instructions were also issued +from Muromachi to the officials in Kyushu, peremptorily interdicting +piracy and ordering the arrest of any that contravened the veto. +Further, the high constables in several provinces were enjoined to +encourage trade with China by sending the best products of their +localities. In fact, Yoshimitsu showed himself thoroughly earnest in +promoting oversea commerce, and a considerable measure of success +attended his efforts. Unfortunately, an interruption was caused in +1419, when some seventeen thousand Koreans, Mongolians, and "southern +barbarians"--a name given promiscuously to aliens--in 227 ships, bore +down on Tsushima one midsummer day and were not driven off until the +great families of Kyushu--the Otomo, the Shoni, the Kikuchi, and the +Shiba--had joined forces to attack the invaders. The origin of this +incident is wrapped in mystery, but probably the prohibition of +Japanese pirates was not enforced for the protection of Chosen, and +the assault on Tsushima was a desperate attempt at retaliation. + +Yoshimochi, however, who was then shogun, seems to have associated +China with the invasion, for a Ming envoy, arriving just at the time +of the contest, was indignantly refused audience. Thereafter, the +tandai appointed from Muroinachi to administer the affairs of Kyushu +was driven out by the Shoni family, and the shogun's policy of +checking piracy ceased to be enforced, so that the coasts of China +and Chosen were much harried, all legitimate commerce being +suspended. When Yoshinori became shogun, however, this was one of the +directions in which he turned his reforming hand. A Buddhist priest, +Doen, proceeded to the Ming Court as Muromachi's delegate, and the +Chinese sovereign agreed to restore the old relations, transmitting +for that purpose a hundred tallies to be carried by the merchantmen. +These tallies were distributed to several high constables, to five +great temples, and to merchants in Hyogo and Sakai, the corresponding +tallies* being entrusted to the Ouchi family, which, having now +recovered its power, was charged with the duty of superintending the +trade with China. Meanwhile, So Sadamori of Tsushima had established +commercial relations with Chosen, and received from thence a yearly +consignment of two hundred koku of soy beans, the vessel that carried +the staple being guarded by boats known as Tsushima-bune. + +*The tallies were cards on which a line of ideographs were inscribed. +The card was then cut along the line, and a moiety was given to the +trader, the corresponding moiety being kept by the superintendent. + +Thus, it fell out that the right of supervising the trade with China +and Korea came into the exclusive possession of the Ouchi and the So, +respectively, and being liberally encouraged, brought great wealth to +them as well as to other territorial magnates of the central and +southern provinces. The records show that large profits were +realized. Four or five hundred per cent, is spoken of, and, further, +the Ming sovereign, in Yoshimasa's time, responded generously, as has +been already shown, to the shogun's appeal for supplies of copper +cash. One Japanese fan could be exchanged for a copy of a valuable +book, and a sword costing one kwan-mon in Japan fetched five kwan-mon +in China. Such prices were paid, however, for rare goods only, +notably for Japanese raw silk, fifty catties (sixty-seven lbs.) of +which sold for ten kwan-mon (L15, or $75, approximately). Gold, too, +was much more valuable in China than in Japan. Ten ryo of the yellow +metal could be obtained in Japan for from twenty to thirty kwan-mon +and sold in China for 130. Sealskins, swords, spears, pepper, +sulphur, fans, lacquer, raw silk, etc. were the chief staples of +exports; and velvet, musk, silk fabrics, porcelains, etc., +constituted the bulk of the imports. The metropolis being Kyoto, with +its population of some 900,000, Hyogo was the most important harbour +for the trade, and after it came Hakata,* in Chikuzen; Bonotsu, in +Satsuma; Obi, in Hyuga, and Anotsu, in Ise. The customs duties at +Hyogo alone are said to have amounted to the equivalent of L15,000, +or $75,000, annually. + +*Hakata's place was subsequently taken by Hirado. + +In China, Ningpo was the chief port. It had a mercantile-marine +office and an inn for foreign guests. The tribute levied on the trade +was sent thence to Nanking. In size the vessels employed were from 50 +to 130 tons, greater dimensions being eschewed through fear of loss. +An invoice shows that the goods carried by a ship in 1458 were: +sulphur (410,750 lbs.); copper (206,000 lbs.); spears (11); fans +(1250); swords (9500); lacquered wares (634 packages), and sapan-wood +(141,333 lbs.). During the days of Yoshimasa's shogunate such profits +were realized that overtrading took place, and there resulted a +temporary cessation. Fifty years later, when Yoshiharu ruled at +Muromachi (1529), a Buddhist priest, Zuisa, sent by the shogun to +China, and an envoy, Sosetsu, despatched by the Ouchi family, came +into collision at Ningpo. It was a mere question of precedence, but +in the sequel Zuisa was seized, Ningpo was sacked, and its governor +was murdered. The arm of the shogun at that time could not reach the +Ouchi family, and a demand for the surrender of Sosetsu was in vain +preferred at Muromachi through the medium of the King of Ryukyu. +Yoshiharu could only keep silence. + +The Ming sovereign subsequently (1531) attempted to exact redress by +sending a squadron to Tsushima, but the deputy high constable of the +Ouchi compelled these ships to fly, defeated, and thereafter all +friendly intercourse between Japan and China was interrupted, +piratical raids by the Japanese taking its place. This estrangement +continued for seventeen years, until (1548) Ouchi Yoshitaka +re-established friendly relations with Chosen and, at the same time, +made overtures to China, which, being seconded by the despatch of an +envoy--a Buddhist priest--Shuryo from Muromachi, evoked a favourable +response. Once more tallies were issued, but the number of vessels +being limited to three and their crews to three hundred, the +resulting commerce was comparatively small. Just at this epoch, too, +Occidental merchantmen arrived in China, and the complexion of the +latter's oversea trade underwent alteration. Thereafter, the Ashikaga +fell, and their successor, Oda Nobunaga, made no attempt to re-open +commerce with China, while his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, planned +the invasion of the Middle Kingdom, so that the sword was more in +evidence than the soroban. + +JAPANESE PIRACY + +It is difficult to trace the beginnings of Japanese piracy in Far +Eastern waters, but certainly it dated from a remote past and reached +its extreme in the middle of the sixteenth century. The records show +that Murakami Yoshihiro, of Iyo province, obtained control of all the +corsairs in neighbouring seas and developed great puissance. Nor did +any measure of opprobrium attach to his acts, for on his death he was +succeeded by Morokiyo, a scion of the illustrious Kitabatake family. +Numbers flocked to his standard during the disordered era of the War +of the Dynasties, and from Korea in the north to Formosa and Amoy in +the south the whole littoral was raided by them. + +For purposes of protection the Ming rulers divided the coast into +five sections, Pehchihli, Shantung, Chekiang, Fuhkien, and +Liangkwang, appointing a governor to each, building fortresses and +enrolling soldiers. All this proving inefficacious, the Emperor +Taitsu, as already stated, addressed to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu a +remonstrance which moved the shogun to issue a strict injunction +against the marauders. It was a mere formality. Chinese annals show +that under its provisions some twenty pirates were handed over by the +Japanese and were executed by boiling in kettles. No such +international refinement as extra-territorial jurisdiction existed in +those days, and the Japanese shogun felt no shame in delivering his +countrymen to be punished by an alien State. It is not wonderful that +when Yoshimitsu died, the Chinese Emperor bestowed on him the +posthumous title Kung-hsien-wang, or "the faithful and obedient +king." But boiling a score of the Wokou* in copper kettles did not at +all intimidate the corsairs. On nearly all the main islands of the +Inland Sea and in the Kyushu waters they had their quarters. In fact, +the governors of islands and a majority of the military magnates +having littoral estates, took part in the profitable pursuit. No less +than fourteen illustrious families were so engaged, and four of them +openly bore the title of kaizoku tai-shogun (commander-in-chief of +pirates). Moreover, they all obeyed the orders of the Ouchi family. +It is on record that Ouchi Masahiro led them in an incursion into +Chollado, the southern province of Korea, and exacted from the +sovereign of Chosen a promise of yearly tribute to the Ouchi. This +was only one of several profitable raids. The goods appropriated in +Korea were sometimes carried to China for sale, the pirates assuming, +now the character of peaceful traders, now that of ruthless +plunderers. The apparition of these Pahan** ships seems to have +inspired the Chinese with consternation. They do not appear to have +made any effective resistance. The decade between 1553 and 1563 was +evidently their time of greatest suffering; and their annals of that +era repay perusal, not only for their direct interest but also for +their collateral bearing on the story of the invasion of Korea at the +close of the century. + +"On the 23d of the fifth month of 1553, twenty-seven Japanese vessels +arrived at Lungwangtang. They looked like so many hills and their +white sails were as clouds in the sky. On the fifth day of the fourth +month of 1554, there appeared on the horizon a large ship which +presently reached Lungwang-tang. Her crew numbered 562. They blew +conches after the manner of trumpets, marshalled themselves in battle +array, and surrounding the castle with flying banners, attacked it. +On the fourth day of the ninth month of 1555, a two-masted ship +carrying a crew of some hundreds came to Kinshan-hai, and on the next +day she was followed by eight five-masted vessels with crews +totalling some thousands. They all went on shore and looted in +succession. On the 23d of the second month of 1556, pirate ships +arrived at the entrance to Kinshan-hai. Their masts were like a dense +forest of bamboo." + +*Yamato enemies. + +**Chinese pronunciation of the ideographs read by the Japanese +"Hachiman" (god of War). The pirates inscribed on their sails the +legend Hachiman Dai-bosatsu. + +Further records show that in 1556 the pirates entered Yang-chou, +looted and burned the city; that in 1559 they attacked Chekiang; that +in 1560, they made their way to Taitsang, and thence pushed on +towards Shanghai, Sungteh, etc., looting towns almost daily. There +was no effective resistance. We find also the following appreciation +of Japanese ships: + +"The largest of the Japanese vessels can carry about three hundred +men; the medium-sized, from one to two hundred, and the smallest from +fifty to eighty. They are constructed low and narrow. Thus, when they +meet a big ship they have to look up to attack her. The sails are not +rigged like those of our ships which can be navigated in any wind. +But wicked people on the coast of Fuhkien sold their ships to the +foreigners; and the buyers, having fitted them with double bottoms +and keels shaped so as to cleave the waves, came to our shores in +them." + +Evidently the Chinese were better skilled in the art of shipbuilding +than the Japanese. As for the defensive measures of the Chinese the +following is recorded: + +"The Government troops on sea and on land made every effort to keep +off the pirates. They flew banners at morn and eve and fired guns +seaward, so that the enemy, understanding by the flash and the +detonation that we were prepared to resist, abstained from landing. +But when the pirates handled their swords skilfully, their attack was +fearful. Our countrymen when they saw these swordsmen, trembled and +fled. Their fear of the Japanese was fear of the swords. The pirates' +firearms were only guns such as men use in pursuit of game. They did +not range over one hundred paces. But their skill in using their guns +was such that they never missed. We could not defeat them. They rise +early in the morning and take their breakfast kneeling down. +Afterwards their chief ascends an eminence and they gather below to +hear his orders. He tells them off in detachments not exceeding +thirty men, and attaching them to officers, sends them to loot +places. The detachments operate at distances of from five hundred to +a thousand yards, but unite at the sound of a conch. + +"To re-enforce a detachment in case of emergency, small sections of +three or four swordsmen move about. At the sight of them our men +flee. Towards dark the detachments return to headquarters and hand in +their loot, never making any concealment. It is then distributed. +They always abduct women, and at night they indulge in drinking and +debauchery. They always advance in single rank at a slow pace, and +thus their extension is miles long. For tens of days they can run +without showing fatigue. In camping, they divide into many companies, +and thus they can make a siege effective. Against our positions they +begin by sending a few men who by swift and deceptive movements cause +our troops to exhaust all their projectiles fruitlessly, and then the +assault is delivered. They are clever in using ambushes, and often +when they seem to be worsted, their hidden forces spring up in our +rear and throw our army into a panic." + +There is no reason to doubt the truth of these records, naive as are +some of the descriptions. Unquestionably the Wokou were a terrible +scourge to the Chinese on the eastern littoral. + +INTERCOURSE WITH RYUKYU + +Japanese annals say that the royal family of Ryukyu was descended +from the hero Minamoto Tametomo who was banished to the island in +1156, and certainly the inhabitants of the archipelago are a race +closely allied to the Japanese. But in 1373, the then ruler, Chuzan, +sent an envoy to the Ming Court and became a tributary of the latter. +In 1416, however, an ambassador from the islands presented himself at +the Muromachi shogunate, and twenty-five years later (1441), the +shogun Yoshinori, just before his death, bestowed Ryukyu on Shimazu +Tadakuni, lord of Satsuma, in recognition of meritorious services. +Subsequently (1471) the shogun Yoshimasa, in compliance with a +request from the Shimazu family, forbade the sailing of any vessel to +Ryukyu without a Shimazu permit, and when, a few years later, Miyake +Kunihide attempted to invade Ryukyu, the Shimazu received Muromachi's +(Yoshitane's) commission to punish him. Historically, therefore, +Ryukyu formed part of Japan, but its rulers maintained a tributary +attitude towards China until recent times, as will presently be seen. + +LITERATURE DURING THE MUROMACHI PERIOD + +Throughout the Muromachi period of two and a half centuries a group +of military men held the administration and reaped all rewards and +emoluments of office so that literary pursuits ranked in +comparatively small esteem. Some education was necessary, indeed, for +men of position, but eminent scholars were exceptional. Noteworthy +among the latter were Nijo Yoshimoto, Ichijo Fuyuyoshi, Doin Kinsada, +Sanjonishi Sanetaka, and Kiyowara Naritada. Most renowned was Ichijo +Kaneyoshi. Equally versed in the classics of China and Japan, as well +as in Buddhism and Confucianism, he composed several works of high +merit. A feature of the period was the erudition of the priests. +Gen-e, a bonze of the temple Hiei-zan, adopted the commentaries of +the Sung savants, Chengtzu and Chutsu, rejecting those of the earlier +Han and Tang writers. In other words, he adopted the eclectic system +of Buddhism and Confucianism as compounded by the scholars of the +Sung and the Yuan epochs, in preference to the system of earlier +pundits. The Emperor Go-Daigo invited Gen-e to Court and directed him +to expound the Sutras. Thereafter, the Sung philosophy obtained wide +allegiance, being preached by the priests of the Five Great Temples +in Kyoto, and by all their provincial branches. On the other hand, +the hereditary schools of Oye and Sugawara, adhering to their old +dogmas, fell behind the times and declined in influence. + +The feature of the age in point of learning was that scholarship +became a priestly specialty. From the Five Temples (Go-zari) students +constantly flocked to China, where they received instructions in the +exoterics and esoterics of Buddhism, as modified by the creed of +Confucius, laying the foundations of systems upon which philosophers +of later ages, as Kazan and Seiga, built fair edifices. These priests +of the Five Temples were more than religious propagandists: they were +ministers of State, as Tenkai and Soden were in after times under the +Tokugawa, and they practically commanded the shoguns. One reason +operating to produce this result was that, in an age when lineage or +military prowess was the sole secular step to fortune, men of civil +talent but humble birth had to choose between remaining in hopeless +insignificance or entering the priesthood where knowledge and virtue +were sure passports to distinction. It was thus that in nearly every +monastery there were found men of superior intellect and erudition. +The fact was recognized. When Ashikaga Takauji desired to take +counsel of Muso Kokushi, he repaired to that renowned priest's temple +and treated him as a respected parent; and Yoshimitsu, the third of +the Ashikaga shoguns, showed equal respect towards Gido, Zekkai and +Jorin, whose advice he constantly sought. + +It was strange, indeed, that in an age when the sword was the +paramount tribunal, the highest dignitaries in the land revered the +exponents of ethics and literature. Takauji and his younger brother, +Tadayoshi, sat at the feet of Gen-e as their preceptor. Yoshimitsu +appointed Sugawara Hidenaga to be Court lecturer. Ujimitsu, the +Kamakura kwanryo, took Sugawara Toyonaga for preacher. Yoshimasa's +love of poetry impelled him to publish the Kinshudan.* Above all, +Yoshihisa was an earnest scholar. He had a thorough knowledge of +Chinese and Japanese classics; he was himself a poetaster of no mean +ability; he read canonical books even as he sat in his palanquin; +under his patronage Ichijo Kaneyoshi wrote the Shodan-chiyo and** the +Bummei Ittoki; Fujiwara Noritane compiled the Teio-keizu; Otsuki +Masabumi lectured on the analects and Urabe Kanetomo expounded the +standard literature of the East. + +*The Embroidered Brocade Discourse. + +**Rustic Ideals of Government. + +Yet, side by side with these patrons of learning stood a general +public too ignorant to write its own name. Military men, who formed +the bulk of the nation, were engrossed with the art of war and the +science of intrigue to the exclusion of all erudition. The priests +were always available to supply any need, and the priests utilized +the occasion. Nevertheless, it stands to the credit of these bonzes +that they made no attempt to monopolize erudition. Their aim was to +popularize it. They opened temple-seminaries (tera-koya) and exercise +halls (dojo) where youths of all classes could obtain instruction and +where an excellent series of text-books was used, the Iroha-uta* the +Doji-kyo, the Teikin-orai** and the Goseibai-shikimoku.*** The +Doji-kyo has been translated by Professor Chamberlain (in Vol. VIII +of the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan"). A few +extracts will serve to show the nature of the ethical teaching given +to Japanese children in medieval days: + +*A syllabary of moral precepts like the ethical copy-books of +Occidentals. + +**A model letter-writer. + +***The criminal laws of Hojo Yasutoki. All these text-books remained +in use until the Meiji era. + +Let nothing lead thee into breaking faith with thy friend, and depart +not from thy word. It is the tongue that is the root of misfortunes; +if the mouth were made like unto the nose, a man would have no +trouble till his life's end. In the house where virtue is accumulated +there will surely be superabundant joy. No man is worthy of honour +from his birth; 'tis the garnering-up of virtue that bringeth him +wisdom and virtue; the rich man may not be worthy of honour. In thin +raiment on a winter's night, brave the cold and be reading the whole +night through; with scanty fare on a summer's day, repel hunger and +be learning the whole day long. . . . A father's loving kindness is +higher than the mountains; a mother's bounty is deeper than the sea. +. . . He that receiveth benefits and is not grateful is like unto the +birds that despoil the branches of the trees they perch on. . . . +Above all things, men must practise charity; it is by almsgiving that +wisdom is fed; less than all things, men must grudge money; it is by +riches that wisdom is hindered. . . . The merit of an alms given with +a compassionate heart to one poor man is like unto the ocean; the +recompense of alms given to a multitude for their own sake is like +unto a grain of poppy-seed. + +This text-book, the Doji-kyo, was compiled by a priest, Annen, who +lived in the second half of the ninth century. Its origin belongs, +therefore, to a much more remote era than that of the Muromachi +shoguns, but, in common with the other text-books enumerated above, +its extensive use is first mentioned in the Ashikaga epoch. The Five +Temples of Kyoto--to be spoken of presently--were seats of learning; +and many names of the litterateurs that flourished there have been +handed down. Not the least celebrated were Gido and Zekkai, who paid +several visits to China, the fountain-head of ideographic lore. But +these conditions were not permanent. The Onin War created a serious +interruption. Kyoto was laid in ruins, and rare books lay on the +roadside, no one caring to pick them up. + +PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES + +Throughout the Ashikaga period the Kyoto university existed in name +only, and students of Japanese literature in the provinces +disappeared. A few courtiers, as Nakahara, Dye, Sugawara, Miyoshi, +etc., still kept up the form of lecturing but they did not receive +students at large. Nevertheless, a few military magnates, retaining +some appreciation of the value of erudition, established schools and +libraries. Among these, the Kanazawa-bunko and the Ashikaga-gakko +were the most famous. The former had its origin in the closing years +of the Kamakura Bakufu. It was founded during the reign of Kameyama +(1260-1274) by Sanetoki, grandson of Hojo Yoshitoki. A large +collection of Chinese and Japanese works filled its shelves, and all +desirous of studying had free access. Akitoki, son of Sanetoki, +adopted Kanazawa as his family name and added largely to the library. +He caused the ideographs Kanazawa-bunko to be stamped in black on all +Confucian works, and in red on Buddhist. + +It is recorded in the Hojo Kudaiki that men of all classes, laymen +and priests alike, were shut up daily in this library where they +studied gratis, and that Akitoki's son, Sadaaki, was as ardent a +student as his father, so that men spoke of him as well fitted to be +regent (shikken), thus showing that literary skill was counted a +qualification for high office. Fire, the destroyer of so many fine +relics of Japanese civilization, visited this library more than once, +but during the reign of Go-Hanazono (1429-1464) it was restored and +extended by the Uesugi family, who also rebuilt and endowed schools +for the study of Japanese literature in the province of Kotsuke. +Among these schools was the Ashikaga-gakko, under the presidency of a +priest, Kaigen, in the day of whose ninth successor, Kyuka, the +pupils attending the schools totalled three thousand. A few great +families patronized literature without recourse to priests. This was +notably the case with the Ouchi, whose tradal connexions gave them +special access to Chinese books. Ouchi Yoshitaka, in particular, +distinguished himself as an author. He established a library which +remained for many generations; he sent officials to China to procure +rare volumes, and it is incidentally mentioned that he had several +manuscripts printed in the Middle Kingdom, although the art of +block-printing had been practised in Japan since the close of the +eighth century. A composition which had its origin at this epoch was +the yokyoku, a special kind of libretto for mimetic dances. Books on +art also were inspired by the Higashiyama craze for choice specimens +of painting, porcelain, and lacquer. Commentaries, too, made their +appearance, as did some histories, romances, and anthologies. + +PICTORIAL ART + +As Japan during the Ashikaga period sat at the feet of the Sung +masters in philosophy and literature, so it was in the realm of art. +There is, indeed, a much closer relation between literature and +pictorial art in China than in any Occidental country, for the two +pursuits have a common starting-point--calligraphy. The ideograph is +a picture, and to trace it in such a manner as to satisfy the highest +canons is a veritably artistic achievement. It has been shown above +that in the Muromachi era the priests of Buddha were the channels +through which the literature and the philosophy of Sung reached +Japan, and it will presently be seen that the particular priests who +imported and interpreted this culture were those of the Zen sect. +There is natural sequence, therefore, in the facts that these same +priests excelled in calligraphy and introduced Japan to the pictorial +art of the immortal Sung painters. + +There were in China, at the time of the Ashikaga, two schools of +painters: a Northern and a Southern. The term is misleading, for the +distinction was really not one of geography but one of method. What +distinguished the Southern school was delicacy of conception, +directness of execution, and lightness of tone. To produce a maximum +of effect with a minimum of effort; to suggest as much as to depict, +and to avoid all recourse to heavy colours--these were the cardinal +tenets of the Southern school. They were revealed to Japan by a +priest named Kao, who, during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339), +passed ten years in China, and returning to Kyoto, opened a studio in +the temple Kennin-ji, where he taught the methods of Li Lungmin of +the Sung dynasty and Yen Hui of the Yuan. He revolutionized Japanese +art. After him Mincho is eminent. Under the name of Cho Densu--the +Abbot Cho--he acquired perpetual fame by his paintings of Buddhist +saints. + +But Mincho's religious pictures did not help to introduce the Sung +academy to Japan. That task was reserved for Josetsu--a priest of +Chinese or Japanese origin--who, during the second half of the +fourteenth century, became the teacher of many students at the temple +Shokoku-ji, in Kyoto. Among his pupils was Shubun, and the latter's +followers included such illustrious names as Sotan, Sesshu, Shinno; +Masanbbu, and Motonobu. It is to this day a question whether Japan +ever produced greater artists than Sesshu and Motonobu. To the same +galaxy belongs Tosa no Mitsunobu, the founder of the Tosa school as +Motonobu was of the Kano. That official patronage was extended to +these great men is proved by the fact that Mitsunobu was named +president of the E-dokoro, or Court Academy of Painting; and Motonobu +received the priestly rank of hogen. + +APPLIED ART + +Industries in general suffered from the continual wars of the +Ashikaga epoch, but the art of forging swords flourished beyond all +precedent. Already Awadaguchi, Bizen, Osafune, and others had +attained celebrity, but for Okazaki Masamune, of Kamakura, who worked +during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339) was reserved the renown of +peerlessness. His long travels to investigate the methods of other +masters so as to assimilate their best features, are historically +recorded, and at the head of the great trinity of Japanese +swordsmiths his name is placed by universal acclaim, his companions +being Go no Yoshihiro and Fujiwara Yoshimitsu.* In Muromachi days so +much depended on the sword that military men thought it worthy of all +honour. A present of a fine blade was counted more munificent than a +gift of a choice steed, and on the decoration of the scabbard, the +guard, and the hilt extraordinary skill was expended. Towards the +close of the fifteenth century, a wonderful expert in metals, Goto +Yujo, devoted himself to the production of these ornaments, and his +descendants perpetuated his fame down to the middle of the nineteenth +century. The Gotos, however, constitute but a small section of the +host of masters who will always be remembered in this branch of art. +In the Muromachi period alone we have such names as Aoki Kaneiye, +Myochin Nobuiye, Umetada Akihisa and others.** Armour making also was +carried to a point of high achievement during the epoch, especially +by Nobuiye.*** + +*Chamberlain in Things Japanese says: "Japanese swords excel even the +vaunted products of Damascus and Toledo. To cut through a pile of +copper coins without nicking the blade is, or was, a common feat. +History, tradition, and romance alike re-echo with the exploits of +this wonderful weapon." + +**For an exhaustive analysis see Brinkley's China and Japan. + +***See Conder's History of Japanese Costume; Vol. IX. of the +"Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan." + +LACQUER + +It is generally conceded that the Japanese surpass all nations in the +art of making lacquer. They not only developed the processes to a +degree unknown to their original teacher, China, but they also +introduced artistic features of great beauty. Unfortunately, history +transmits the names of Jew masters in this line. We can only say that +in the days of Yoshimasa's shogunate, that is, during the second half +of the fifteenth century, several choice varieties began to be +manufactured, as the nashiji, the togidashi, the negoro-nuri, the +konrinji-nuri, the shunkei-nuri, the tsuishu, and the tsuikoku. +Choice specimens received from later generations the general epithet +Higashiyama-mono, in reference to the fact that they owed so much to +the patronage of Yoshimasa in his mansion at Higashi-yama. + +PORCELAIN AND FAIENCE + +To the Muromachi epoch belongs also the first manufacture of faience, +as distinguished from unglazed pottery, and of porcelain, as +distinguished from earthenware. The former innovation is ascribed--as +already noted--to Kato Shirozaemon, a native of Owari, who visited +China in 1223 and studied under the Sung ceramists; the latter, to +Shonzui, who also repaired to China in 1510, and, on his return, set +up a kiln at Arita, in Hizen, where he produced a small quantity of +porcelain, using materials obtained from China, as the existence of +Japanese supplies was not yet known. The faience industry found many +followers, but its products all bore the somewhat sombre impress of +the cha-no-yu (tea ceremonial) canons. + +ARCHITECTURE + +The architectural feature of the time was the erection of +tea-parlours according to the severe type of the cha-no-yu cult. Such +edifices were remarkable for simplicity and narrow dimensions. They +partook of the nature of toys rather than of practical residences, +being, in fact, nothing more than little chambers, entirely +undecorated, where a few devotees of the tea ceremonial could meet +and forget the world. As for grand structures like the "Silver +Pavilion" of Yoshimasa and the "Golden Pavilion" of Yoshimitsu, they +showed distinct traces of Ming influence, but with the exception of +elaborate interior decoration they do not call for special comment. + +A large part of the work of the Japanese architect consisted in +selecting rare woods and uniquely grown timber, in exquisite joinery, +and in fine plastering. Display and ornament in dwelling-houses were +not exterior but interior; and beginning with the twelfth century, +interior decoration became an art which occupied the attention of the +great schools of Japanese painters. The peculiar nature of Japanese +interior division of the house with screens or light partitions +instead of walls lent itself to a style of decoration which was quite +as different in its exigencies and character from Occidental mural +decorations as was Japanese architecture from Gothic or Renaissance. +The first native school of decorative artists was the Yamato-ryu, +founded in the eleventh century by Fujiwara Motomitsu and reaching +the height of its powers in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth +century Fujiwara Tsunetaka, a great painter of this school, took the +title of Tosa. Under him the Tosa-ryu became the successor of the +Yamato-ryu and carried on its work with more richness and charm. The +Tosa school was to a degree replaced after the fifteenth century in +interior painting by the schools of Sesshu and Kano. + +RELIGION + +As one of Yoritomo's first acts when he organized the Kamakura Bakufu +had been to establish at Tsurugaoka a shrine to Hachiman (the god of +War), patron deity of the Minamotos' great ancestor, Yoshiiye, so +when Takauji, himself a Minamoto, organized the Muromachi Bakufu, he +worshipped at the Iwashimizu shrine of Hachiman, and all his +successors in the shogunate followed his example. Of this shrine +Tanaka Harukiyo was named superintendent (betto), and with the +Ashikaga leader's assistance, he rebuilt the shrine on a sumptuous +scale, departing conspicuously from the austere fashion of pure +Shinto.* It may, indeed, be affirmed that Shinto had never been +regarded as a religion in Japan until, in the days of the Nara Court, +it was amalgamated with Buddhism to form what was called +Ryobu-shinto. It derived a further character of religion from the +theory of Kitabatake Chikafusa, who contended that Shinto, Buddhism, +and Confucianism were all capable of being welded into one whole. +Moreover, in the Muromachi period, the eminent scholar, Ichijo +Kaneyoshi (1402-81), wrote a thesis which gave some support to the +views of Chikafusa. + +*The shrine covered a space of 400 square yards and had a golden +gutter, 80 feet long, 13 feet wide, and over 1 inch thick. + +But, during the reign of Go-Tsuchimikado (1465-1500), Urabe Kanetomo, +professing to interpret his ancestor, Kanenobu, enunciated the +doctrine of Yuiitsu-shinto (unique Shinto), namely, that as between +three creeds, Shinto was the root; Confucianism, the branches, and +Buddhism, the fruit. This was the first explicit differentiation of +Shinto. It found favour, and its propounder's son, Yoshida, asserted +the principles still more strenuously. The fact is notable in the +history of religion in Japan. Yoshida was the forerunner of Motoori, +Hirata, and other comparatively modern philosophers who contended for +the revival of "Pure Shinto." Many Japanese annalists allege that +Shinto owes its religious character solely to the suggestions of +Buddhism, and point to the fact that the Shinto cult has never been +able to inspire a great exponent. + +ENGRAVING: BELL TOWER OF TODAI-JI + +BUDDHISM + +The attitude of the Ashikaga towards Buddhism was even more +reverential. They honoured the Zen sect almost exclusively. Takauji +built the temple Tenryu-ji, in Kyoto, and planned to establish a +group of provincial temples under the name of Ankoku-ji. There +can be little doubt that his animating purpose in thus acting +was to create a counterpoise to the overwhelming strength of the +monasteries of Nara and Hiei-zan. The latter comprised three thousand +buildings--temples and seminaries--and housed a host of soldier-monks +who held Kyoto at their mercy and who had often terrorized the city +and the palace. In the eighth century, when the great temple, +Todai-ji, was established at Nara, affiliated temples were built +throughout the provinces, under the name of Kokubun-ji. + +It was in emulation of this system that Takauji erected the Tenryu-ji +and planned a provincial net-work of Ankoku-ji. His zeal in the +matter assumed striking dimensions. On the one hand, he levied heavy +imposts to procure funds; on the other, he sent to China ships--hence +called Tenryuji-bune--to obtain furniture and fittings. Thus, in the +space of five years, the great edifice was completed (1345), and +there remained a substantial sum in the Muromachi treasury. The monks +of Enryaku-ji (Hiei-zan) fathomed Takauji's purpose. They flocked +down to the capital, halberd in hand and sacred car on shoulder, and +truculently demanded of the Emperor that Soseki, high priest of the +new monastery, should be exiled and the edifice destroyed. But the +Ashikaga leader stood firm. He announced that if the soldier-monks +persisted, their lord-abbot should be banished and their property +confiscated; before which evidently earnest menaces the mob of friars +turned their faces homeward. Thereafter, Takauji, and his brother +Tadayoshi celebrated with great pomp the ceremony of opening the new +temple, and the Ashikaga leader addressed to the priest, Soseki, a +document pledging his own reverence and the reverence of all his +successors at Muromachi. But that part of his programme which related +to the provincial branch temples was left incomplete. At no time, +indeed, were the provinces sufficiently peaceful and sufficiently +subservient for the carrying out of such a plan by the Ashikaga. + +GREAT PRIESTS + +The priest Soseki--otherwise called "Muso Kokushi," or "Muso, the +national teacher"--was one of the great bonzes in an age when many +monasteries were repositories of literature and statesmanship. His +pupils, Myoo and Chushin, enjoyed almost equal renown in the days of +the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, whose piety rivalled that of +Takauji. He assigned to them a residence in the Rokuon-ji, his own +family temple, and there he visited them to hear discourses on +Buddhist doctrine and to consult about administrative affairs. A +still more illustrious bonze was Ryoken, of Nanzen-ji. It is related +of him that he repaired, on one occasion, to the Kita-yama palace of +the shogun Yosh mitsu, wearing a ragged garment. Yoshimitsu at once +changed his own brocade surcoat for the abbot's torn vestment, and +subsequently, when conducting his visitor on a boating excursion, the +shogun carried the priest's footgear. It is not possible for a +Japanese to perform a lowlier act of obeisance towards another than +to be the bearer of the latter's sandals. Yoshimitsu was in a +position to dictate to the Emperor, yet he voluntarily performed a +menial office for a friar. + +These four priests, Soseki, Myoo, Chushin, and Ryoken, all belonged +to the Zen sect. The doctrines of that sect were absolutely paramount +in Muromachi days, as they had been in the times of the Kamakura +Bakufu. A galaxy of distinguished names confronts us on the pages of +history--Myocho of Daitoku-ji; Gen-e of Myoshin-ji; Ikkyu Zenji of +Daitoku-ji, a descendant of the Emperor Go-Komatsu; Tokuso of +Nanzen-ji; Shiren of Tofuku-ji; Shushin of Nanzen-ji; Juo of +Myoshin-ji; Tetsuo of Daitoku-ji, and Gazan of Soji-ji. All these +were propagandists of Zen-shu doctrine. It has been well said that +the torch of religion burns brightest among dark surroundings. In +circumstances of tumultuous disorder and sanguinary ambition, these +great divines preached a creed which taught that all worldly things +are vain and valueless. Moreover, the priests themselves did not +practise the virtues they inculcated. They openly disregarded their +vow of chastity; bequeathed their temples and manors to their +children; employed hosts of stoled soldiers; engaged freely in the +fights of the era, and waxed rich on the spoils of their arms. + +It is recorded of Kenju (called also Rennyo Shoniri), eighth +successor of Shinran, that his eloquence brought him not only a crowd +of disciples but also wealth comparable with that of a great +territorial magnate; that he employed a large force of armed men, and +that by dispensing with prohibitions he made his doctrine popular. +This was at the close of the fifteenth century when Yoshimasa +practised dilettanteism at Higashi-yama. It became in that age a +common habit that a man should shave his head and wear priest's +vestments while still taking part in worldly affairs. The distinction +between bonze and layman disappeared. Some administrative officials +became monks; some daimyo fought wearing sacerdotal vestments over +their armour, and some priests led troops into battle. If a bonze +earned a reputation for eloquence or piety, he often became the +target of jealous violence at the hands of rival sectarians and had +to fly for his life from the ruins of a burning temple. Not until the +advent of Christianity, in the middle of the sixteenth century, did +these outrages cease. + +THE FIVE TEMPLES OF KYOTO + +The Zen sect had been almost equally popular during the epoch of the +Hojo. They built for it five great temples in Kamakura, and that +example was followed by the Ashikaga in Kyoto. The five fanes in the +capital were called collectively, Go-zan. They were Kennin-ji, +Tofuku-ji, Nanzen-ji, Tenryu-ji, and Shokoku-ji. After the conclusion +of peace between the Northern and Southern Courts the temple +Shokoku-ji was destroyed by fire and it remained in ashes until the +time of Yoshimasa, when the priest, Chushin, persuaded the shogun to +undertake the work of reconstruction. A heavy imposition of land-tax +in the form of tansen, and extensive requisitions for timber and +stones brought funds and materials sufficient not only to restore the +edifice and to erect a pagoda 360 feet high, but also to replenish +the empty treasury of the shogun. Thus, temple-building enterprises +on the part of Japanese rulers were not prompted wholly by religious +motives. + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS + +The frugal austerity of life under the rule of the Hojo was changed +to lavish extravagance under the Ashikaga. Yet things should have +been otherwise, for in Takauji's time there was enacted and +promulgated the code of regulations already referred to as the Kemmu +Shikimoku, wherein were strictly forbidden basara, debauchery, +gambling, reunions for tea drinking and couplet composing, lotteries, +and other excesses. Basara is a Sanskrit term for costly luxuries of +every description, and the compilers of the code were doubtless +sincere in their desire to popularize frugality. But the Ashikaga +rulers themselves did not confirm their precepts by example. They +seemed, indeed, to live principally for sensuous indulgence. + +A Japanese writer of the fifteenth century, in a rhapsodical account +of the Kyoto of his day, dwells on the wonderful majesty of the +"sky-piercing roofs" and "cloud-topping balconies" of the Imperial +palace. And he points with evident pride to the fact that this +splendor--a splendor only a little less--was to be found besides in +many other elegant residences which displayed their owners' taste and +wealth. The chronicler notes that even those who were not noble, +including some who had made their money by fortune-telling or by the +practice of medicine, were sometimes able to make such display, to +live in pretentious houses and have many servants. So could the +provincial nobles, who it seems did not in other periods make much of +a showing at the capital. + +The dwellers in these mansions lived up to their environment. The +degree of their refinement may be inferred from the fact that cooking +became a science; they had two principal academies and numerous rules +to determine the sizes and shapes of every implement and utensil, as +well as the exact manner of manipulating them. The nomenclature was +not less elaborate. In short, to become a master of polite +accomplishments and the cuisine in the military era of Japan demanded +patient and industrious study. + +MODE OF TRAVELLING + +The fashions of the Heian epoch in the manner of travelling underwent +little change during the military age. The principal conveyance +continued to be an ox-carriage or a palanquin. The only notable +addition made was the kago, a kind of palanquin slung on a single +pole instead of on two shafts. The kago accommodated one person and +was carried by two. Great pomp and elaborate organization attended +the outgoing of a nobleman, and to interrupt a procession was counted +a deadly crime, while all persons of lowly degree were required to +kneel with their hands on the ground and their heads resting on them +as a nobleman and his retinue passed. + +LANDSCAPE GARDENING + +Great progress was made in the art of landscape gardening during the +Muromachi epoch, but this is a subject requiring a volume to itself. +Here it will suffice to note that, although still trammelled by its +Chinese origin, the art received signal extension, and was converted +into something like an exact science, the pervading aim being to +produce landscapes and water-scapes within the limits of a +comparatively small park without conveying any sense of undue +restriction. Buddhist monks developed signal skill in this branch of +esthetics, and nothing could exceed the delightful harmony which they +achieved between nature and art. It may be mentioned that the first +treatise on the art of landscape gardening appeared from the pen of +Gokyogoku Yoshitsune in the beginning of the thirteenth century. It +has been well said that the chief difference between the parks of +Japan and the parks of Europe is that, whereas the latter are planned +solely with reference to a geometrical scale of comeliness or in pure +and faithful obedience to nature's indications, the former are +intended to appeal to some particular mood or to evoke special +emotion, while, at the same time, preserving a likeness to the +landscapes and water-scapes of the world about us. + +MINIATURE LANDSCAPE GARDENING + +By observing the principles and practical rules of landscape +gardening while reducing the scale of construction so that a +landscape or a water-scape, complete in all details and perfectly +balanced as to its parts, is produced within an area of two or three +square feet, the Japanese obtained a charming development of the +gardener's art. Admirable, however, as are these miniature +reproductions of natural scenery and consummate as is the skill +displayed in bringing all their parts into exact proportion with the +scale of the design, they are usually marred by a suggestion of +triviality. In this respect, greater beauty is achieved on an even +smaller scale by dwarfing trees and shrubs so that, in every respect +except in dimensions, they shall be an accurate facsimile of what +they would have been had they grown for cycles unrestrained in the +forest. The Japanese gardener "dwarfs trees so that they remain +measurable only by inches after their age has reached scores, even +hundreds, of years, and the proportions of leaf, branch and stem are +preserved with fidelity. The pots in which these wonders of patient +skill are grown have to be themselves fine specimens of the +keramist's craft, and as much as L200 is sometimes paid for a notably +well-trained tree."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, article "Japan," Brinkley. + +TEA CEREMONIAL + +The tea ceremonial (cha-no-yu) is essentially Japanese in its +developments though its origin came from China. It has been well +described as "a mirror in which the extraordinary elaborations of +Japanese social etiquette may be seen vividly reflected." In fact, +the use of tea as a beverage had very little to do with the refined +amusement to which it was ultimately elevated. The term "tasting" +would apply more accurately to the pastime than "drinking." But even +the two combined convey no idea of the labyrinth of observances which +constituted the ceremonial. The development of the cha-no-yu is +mainly due to Shuko, a priest of the Zen sect of Buddhism, who seems +to have conceived that tea drinking might be utilized to promote the +moral conditions which he associated with its practice. Prof. H. B. +Chamberlain notes that "It is still considered proper for tea +enthusiasts to join the Zen sect of Buddhism, and it is from +the abbot of Daitokuji at Kyoto that diplomas of proficiency +are obtained." The bases of Shuko's system were the four +virtues--urbanity, purity, courtesy, and imperturbability--and little +as such a cult seemed adapted to the practices of military men, it +nevertheless received its full elaboration under the feudal system. +But although this general description is easy enough to formulate, +the etiquette and the canons of the cha-no-yu would require a whole +volume for an exhaustive description. + +INCENSE COMPARING + +The Muromachi epoch contributed to aristocratic pastimes the growth +of another amusement known as ko-awase, "comparing of incense," a +contest which tested both the player's ability to recognize from +their odour different varieties of incense and his knowledge of +ancient literature. As early as the seventh century the use of +incense had attained a wide vogue in Japan. But it was not until the +beginning of the sixteenth century that Shino Soshin converted the +pastime into something like a philosophy. From his days no less than +sixty-six distinct kinds of incense were recognized and distinguished +by names derived from literary allusions. This pastime is not so +elaborate as the cha-no-yu, nor does it furnish, like the latter, a +series of criteria of art-objects. But it shows abundant evidence of +the elaborate care bestowed upon it by generation after generation of +Japanese dilettanti. + +IKE-BANA + +The English language furnishes no accurate equivalent for what the +Japanese call ike-bana. The literal meaning of the term is "living +flower," and this name well explains the fundamental principle of the +art, namely, the arrangement of flowers so as to suggest natural +life. In fact, the blossoms must look as though they were actually +growing and not as though they were cut from the stems. It is here +that the fundamental difference between the Occidental and the +Japanese method of flower arrangement becomes apparent; the former +appeals solely to the sense of colour, whereas the latter holds that +the beauty of a plant is not derived from the colour of its blossoms +more than from the manner of their growth. In fact, harmony of colour +rather than symmetry of outline was the thing desired in a Japanese +floral composition. It might be said that Western art, in general, +and more particularly the decorative art of India, Persia and +Greece--the last coming to Japan through India and with certain Hindu +modifications--all aim at symmetry of poise; but that Japanese floral +arrangement and decorative art in general have for their fundamental +aim a symmetry by suggestion,--a balance, but a balance of +inequalities. The ike-bana as conceived and practised in Japan is a +science to which ladies, and gentlemen also, devote absorbing +attention. + +OTHER PASTIMES + +It will be understood that to the pastimes mentioned above as +originating in military times must be added others bequeathed from +previous eras. Principal among these was "flower viewing" at all +seasons; couplet composing; chess; draughts; football; mushroom +picking, and maple-gathering parties, as well as other minor +pursuits. Gambling, also, prevailed widely during the Muromachi epoch +and was carried sometimes to great excesses, so that samurai actually +staked their arms and armour on a cast of the dice. It is said that +this vice had the effect of encouraging robbery, for a gambler staked +things not in his possession, pledging himself to steal the articles +if the dice went against him. + +SINGING AND DANCING + +One of the chief contributions of the military era to the art of +singing was a musical recitative performed by blind men using the +four-stringed Chinese lute, the libretto being based on some episode +of military history. The performers were known as biwa-bozu, the name +"bozu" (Buddhist priest) being derived from the fact that they shaved +their heads after the manner of bonzes. These musicians developed +remarkable skill of elocution, and simulated passion so that in +succeeding ages they never lost their popularity. Sharing the vogue +of the biwa-bozu, but differing from it in the nature of the story +recited as well as in that of the instrument employed, was the +joruri, which derived its name from the fact that it was originally +founded on the tragedy of Yoshitsune's favourite mistress, Joruri. In +this the performer was generally a woman, and the instrument on which +she accompanied herself was the samisen. These two dances may be +called pre-eminently the martial music of Japan, both by reason of +the subject and the nature of the musical movement. + +The most aristocratic performance of all, however, was the yokyoku, +which ultimately grew into the no. This was largely of dramatic +character and it owed its gravity and softness of tone to priestly +influence, for the monopoly of learning possessed in those ages by +the Buddhist friars necessarily made them pre-eminent in all literary +accomplishments. The no, which is held in just as high esteem to-day +as it was in medieval times, was performed on a stage in the open air +and its theme was largely historical. At the back of the stage was +seated a row of musicians who served as chorus, accompanying the +performance with various instruments, chiefly the flute and the drum, +and from time to time intoning the words of the drama. An adjunct of +the no was the kyogen. The no was solemn and stately; the kyogen +comic and sprightly. In fact, the latter was designed to relieve the +heaviness of the former, just as on modern stages the drama is often +relieved by the farce. It is a fact of sober history that the shogun +Yoshimasa officially invested the no dance with the character of a +ceremonious accomplishment of military men and that Hideyoshi himself +often joined the dancers on the stage. + +ENGRAVING: FLOWER POTS AND DWARF TREE + +ENGRAVING: SWORDS PRESERVED AT SHOSO-IN TEMPLE, AT NARA + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE EPOCH OF WARS (Sengoku Jidai) + +LIST OF EMPERORS + +Order of Succession Name Date + +97th Sovereign Go-Murakami A.D. 1339-1368 + +98th Chokei 1368-1372 + +99th Go-Kameyama 1372-1392 + +100th Go-Komatsu 1392-1412 + +101st Shoko 1412-1428 + +102d Go-Hanazono 1428-1465 + +103d Go-Tsuchimikado 1465-1500 + +104th Go-Kashiwabara 1500-1526 + +105th Go-Nara 1526-1557 + +106th Okimachi 1557-1586 + +107th Go-Yozei 1586-1611 + +THE sovereigns of the Northern Court, not being recognized as +legitimate by Japanese annalists, are excluded from the above list. +Go-Komatsu, however, is made an exception. He reigned from 1382 to +1392 as representing the Northern Court, and thereafter, the two +Courts having ceased their rivalry, he reigned undisputed until 1412. +It has further to be noted that many histories make the number of +sovereigns greater by two than the figures recorded in the lists of +this volume. That is because the histories in question count as two +the Empresses Kogyoku (642-645) and Saimei (655-661), although they +represent the same sovereign under different names, and because they +adopt a similar method of reckoning in the case of the Empresses +Koken (749-758) and Shotoku (765-770), whereas in this volume the +actual number of sovereigns is alone recorded. + +THE COURT + +The interval between the close of the fifteenth century and the end +of the sixteenth is set apart by Japanese annalists as the most +disturbed period of the country's history and is distinguished by the +term Sengoku Jidai, or the Epoch of Wars. It would be more accurate +to date the beginning of that evil time from the Onin year-period +(1467-1469); for in the Onin era practical recognition was extended +to the principle that the right of succession to a family estate +justifies appeal to arms, and that such combats are beyond the +purview of the central authority. There ensued disturbances +constantly increasing in area and intensity, and not only involving +finally the ruin of the Ashikaga shogunate but also subverting all +law, order, and morality. Sons turned their hand against fathers, +brothers against brothers, and vassals against chiefs. Nevertheless, +amid this subversion of ethics and supremacy of the sword, there +remained always some who reverenced the Throne and supported the +institutions of the State; a noteworthy feature in the context of the +fact that, except during brief intervals, the wielder of the sceptre +in Japan never possessed competence to enforce his mandates but was +always dependent in that respect on the voluntary co-operation of +influential subjects. + +In the Sengoku period the fortunes of the Imperial Court fell to +their lowest ebb. The Crown lands lay in the provinces of Noto, Kaga, +Echizen, Tamba, Mino, and so forth, and when the wave of warfare +spread over the country, these estates passed into the hands of +military magnates who absorbed the taxes into their own treasuries, +and the collectors sent by the Court could not obtain more than a +small percentage of the proper amount. The exchequer of the Muromachi +Bakufu suffered from a similar cause, and was further depleted by +extravagance, so that no aid could be obtained from that source. Even +worse was the case with the provincial manors of the Court nobles, +who were ultimately driven to leave the capital and establish direct +connexion with their properties. Thus, the Ichijo family went to +Tosa; the Ane-no-koji to Hida, and when Ouchi Yoshioki retired to +Suwo on resigning his office (kwanryo), many Court magnates who had +benefitted by his generosity in Kyoto followed him southward. + +So impoverished was the Imperial exchequer that, in the year 1500, +when the Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado died, the corpse lay for forty days +in a darkened room of the palace, funds to conduct the funeral rites +not being available. Money was finally provided by Sasaki Takayori, +and in recognition of his munificence he was authorized to use the +Imperial crest (chrysanthemum and Paulownia); was granted the right +of entree to the palace, and received an autographic volume from the +pen of the Emperor Go-Kogon. If there was no money to bury +Go-Tsuchimikado, neither were any funds available to perform the +coronation of his successor, Go-Kashiwabara. Muromachi made a futile +attempt to levy contributions from the daimyo, and the kwanryo, +Hosokawa Masamoto, is recorded to have brusquely said, in effect, +that the country could be administered without crowning any +sovereign. Twenty years passed before the ceremony could be +performed, and means were ultimately (1520) furnished by the Buddhist +priest Koken--son of the celebrated Rennyo Shonin, prelate of the +Shin sect--who, out of the abundant gifts of his disciples, placed at +the disposal of the Court a sum of ten thousand gold ryo,* being +moved to that munificence by the urging of Fujiwara Sanetaka, a +former nai-daijin. In recognition of this service, Koken was raised +to high ecclesiastical rank. + +*L30,000--$145,000. + +It will be remembered that, early in this sixteenth century, +Yoshioki, deputy kwanryo and head of the great Ouchi house, had +contributed large sums to the Muromachi treasury; had contrived the +restoration of several of the Court nobles' domains to their +impoverished owners, and had assisted with open hand to relieve the +penury of the throne. The task exhausted his resources, and when +recalled to his province by local troubles in 1518, the temporary +alleviation his generosity had brought was succeeded by hopeless +penury. From time immemorial it had been the universal rule to +rebuild the two great shrines at Ise every twentieth year, but +nothing of the kind had been possible in the case of the Naigu (inner +shrine) since 1462, and in the case of the Gegu (outer shrine) since +1434. Such neglect insulted the sanctity of the Throne; yet appeals +to the Bakufu produced no result. In 1526, the Emperor Go-Kashiwabara +died. It is on record that his ashes were carried from the +crematorium in a box slung from the neck of a general officer, and +that the funeral train consisted of only twenty-six officials. For +the purposes of the coronation ceremony of this sovereign's +successor, subscriptions had to be solicited from the provincial +magnates, and it was not until 1536 that the repairs of the palace +could be undertaken, so that the Emperor Go-Nara was able to write in +his diary, "All that I desired to have done has been accomplished, +and I am much gratified." On this occasion the Ouchi family again +showed its generosity and its loyalty to the Throne. + +The extremity of distress was reached during the Kyoroku era +(1528-1531), when the struggle between the two branches of the +Hosokawa family converted Kyoto once more into a battle-field and +reduced a large part of the city to ashes. The Court nobles, with +their wives and children, had to seek shelter and refuge within the +Imperial palace, the fences of which were broken down and the +buildings sadly dilapidated. + +A contemporary record tells with much detail the story of the decay +of the capital and the pitiful plight of the Throne. The Emperor +Go-Nara (1527-1557) was reduced to earning his own living. This he +did by his skill as a calligrapher--at least one instance of +something useful resulting from the penchant of the Court for the +niceties of Chinese art and letters. Any one might leave at the +palace a few coins for payment and order a fair copy of this or that +excerpt from a famous classic. The palace was overrun, the chronicler +says. Its garden became a resort for tea-drinking among the lower +classes and children made it a play-ground. It was no longer walled +in, but merely fenced with bamboo. The whole city was in a similar +desolation, things having become worse and worse beginning with the +Onin disturbance of 1467 and the general exodus of the samurai from +the capital at that time. At this time the military nobles came to +the city only to fight, and the city's population melted away. All +was disorder. The city was flooded and the dike which was built to +check the flooded rivers came to be thought a fine residence place in +comparison with lower parts of the town. + +It was at this time that men might be observed begging for rice in +the streets of the capital. They carried bags to receive +contributions which were designated kwampaku-ryo (regent's money). +Some of the bags thus used are preserved by the noble family of Nijo +to this day. Another record says that the stewardess of the Imperial +household service during this reign (Go-Nara), on being asked how +summer garments were to be supplied for the ladies-in-waiting, +replied that winter robes with their wadded linings removed should be +used. The annals go so far as to allege that deaths from cold and +starvation occurred among the courtiers. An important fact is that +one of the provincial magnates who contributed to the succour of the +Court at this period was Oda Nobuhide of Owari, father of the +celebrated Oda Nobunaga. + +ENGRAVING: SHINRAN SHONIN + +BUDDHIST VIOLENCE + +The decline of the Muromachi Bakufu's authority encouraged the monks +as well as the samurai to become a law to themselves. Incidental +references have already been made to this subject, but the religious +commotions of the Sengoku period invite special attention. The +Buddhists of the Shin sect, founded by Shinran Shonin (1184-1268), +which had for headquarters the great temple Hongwan-ji in Kyoto, were +from the outset hostile to the monks of Enryaku-ji. Religious +doctrine was not so much concerned in this feud as rivalry. Shinran +had been educated in the Tendai tenets at Enryaku-ji. Therefore, from +the latter's point of view he was a renegade, and while vehemently +attacking the creed of his youth, he had acquired power and influence +that placed the Hongwan-ji almost on a level with the great Hiei-zan. +In the days of Kenju, popularly called Rennyo Shonin (1415-1479), +seventh in descent from the founder, Shinran, the Ikko--by which name +the Shin sect was known--developed conspicuous strength. Kenju +possessed extraordinary eloquence. Extracts from his sermons were +printed on an amulet and distributed among worshippers, who grew so +numerous and so zealous that the wealth of the sect became enormous, +and its leaders did not hesitate to provide themselves with an armed +following. Finally the monks of Hiei-zan swept down on Hongwan-ji, +applied the torch to the great temple, and compelled the abbot, +Kenju, to fly for his life. + +It is significant of the time that this outrage received no +punishment. Kenju escaped through Omi to Echizen, where the high +constable, an Asakura, combining with the high constable, a Togashi, +of the neighbouring province of Kaga, erected a temple for the +fugitive abbot, whose favour was well worth courting. The Ikko-shu, +however, had its own internal dissensions. In the province of Kaga, a +sub-sect, the Takata, endeavoured to oust the Hongwan disciples, and +rising in their might, attacked (1488) the high constable; compelled +him to flee; drove out their Takata rivals; invaded Etchu; raided +Noto, routing the forces of the high constable, Hatakeyama Yoshizumi; +seized the three provinces--Kaga, Noto, and Etchu--and attempted to +take possession of Echizen. This wholesale campaign was spoken of as +the Ikko-ikki (revolt of Ikko). A few years later, the Shin believers +in Echizen joined these revolters, and marched through the province, +looting and burning wherever they passed. No measure of secular +warfare had been more ruthless than were the ways of these monks. The +high constable, Asakura Norikage, now took the field, and after +fierce fighting, drove back the fanatics, destroyed their temples, +and expelled their priests. + +This was only one of several similar commotions. So turbulent did the +monks show themselves under the influence of Shin-shu teachers that +the Uesugi of Echigo, the Hojo of Izu, and other great daimyo +interdicted the propagandism of that form of Buddhism altogether. The +most presumptuous insurrection of all stands to the credit of the +Osaka priests. A great temple had been erected there to replace the +Hongwan-ji of Kyoto, and in, 1529, its lord-abbot, Kokyo, entered +Kaga, calling himself the "son of heaven" (Emperor) and assigning to +his steward, Shimoma Yorihide, the title of shogun. This was called +the "great revolt" (dai-ikki), and the movement of opposition +provoked by it was termed the "small revolt" (sho-ikki). Again +recourse was had to the most cruel methods. Men's houses were robbed +and burned simply because their inmates stood aloof from the +insurrection. Just at that time the septs of Hosokawa and Miyoshi +were engaged in a fierce struggle for supremacy. Kokyo threw in his +lot with Hosokawa Harumoto, and, at the head of fifty thousand +troops, attacked and killed Miyoshi Motonaga. Very soon, however, the +Hosokawa chief fell out with his cassocked allies. But he did not +venture to take the field against them single handed. The priests of +the twenty-one Nichiren temples in Kyoto, old enemies of the Ikko, +were incited to attack the Hongwan-ji in Osaka. This is known in +history as the Hokke-ikki, Hokke-shu being the name of the Nichiren +sect. Hiei-zan was involved in the attack, but the warlike monks of +Enryaku-ji replied by pouring down into the capital, burning the +twenty-one temples of the Nichiren and butchering three thousand of +their priests. Such were the ways of the Buddhists in the Sengoku +period. + +THE KWANTO + +During the Sengoku period (1490-1600) the Japanese empire may be +compared to a seething cauldron, the bubbles that unceasingly rose to +the surface disappearing almost as soon as they emerged, or uniting +into groups with more or less semblance of permanence. To follow in +detail these superficial changes would be a task equally interminable +and fruitless. They will therefore be traced here in the merest +outline, except in cases where large results or national effects are +concerned. The group of eight provinces called collectively Kwanto +first claims attention as the region where all the great captains and +statesmen of the age had their origin and found their chief sphere of +action. It has been seen that the fifth Ashikaga kwanryo, Shigeuji, +driven out of Kamakura, took refuge at Koga in Shimotsuke; that he +was thenceforth known as Koga Kubo; that the Muromachi shogun, +Yoshimasa, then sent his younger brother, Masatomo, to rule in the +Kwanto; that he established his headquarters at Horigoe in Izu, and +that he was officially termed Horigoe Gosho. His chief retainers were +the two Uesugi families--distinguished as Ogigayatsu Uesugi and +Yamanouchi Uesugi, after the names of the palaces where their +mansions were situated--both of whom held the office of kwanryo +hereditarily. + +These Uesugi families soon engaged in hostile rivalry, and the +Ogigayatsu branch, being allied with Ota Dokwan, the founder of Yedo +Castle, gained the upper hand, until the assassination of Dokwan, +when the Yamanouchi became powerful. It was at this time--close of +the fifteenth century--that there occurred in the Horigoe house one +of those succession quarrels so common since the Onin era. Ashikaga +Masatomo, seeking to disinherit his eldest son, Chachamaru, in favour +of his second son, Yoshimichi, was killed by the former, the latter +taking refuge with the Imagawa family in Suruga, by whom he was +escorted to the capital, where he became the Muromachi shogun under +the name of Yoshizumi. Parricides and fratricides were too common in +that disturbed age for Chachamaru's crime to cause any moral +commotion. But it chanced that among the rear vassals of the Imagawa +there was one, Nagauji, who, during many years, had harboured designs +of large ambition. Seizing the occasion offered by Chachamaru's +crime, he constituted himself Masatomo's avenger, and marching into +Izu, destroyed the Horigoe mansion, and killed Chachamaru. Then +(1491) Nagauji quietly took possession of the province of Izu, +building for himself a castle at Hojo. He had no legal authority of +any kind for the act, neither command from the Throne nor commission +from the shogun. + +ENGRAVING: HOJO SOUN + +It was an act of unqualified usurpation. Yet its perpetrator showed +that he had carefully studied all the essentials of stable +government--careful selection of official instruments; strict +administration of justice; benevolent treatment of the people, and +the practice of frugality. Being descended from the Taira of Ise and +having occupied the domains long held by the Hojo, he adopted the uji +name of "Hojo," and having extended his conquests to Sagami province, +built a strong castle at Odawara. He is often spoken of as Soun, the +name he adopted in taking the tonsure, which step did not in any +degree interfere with his secular activities. A profoundly skilled +tactician, he never met with a military reverse, and his fame +attracted adherents from many provinces. His instructions to his son +Ujitsuna were characteristic. Side by side with an injunction to hold +himself in perpetual readiness for establishing the Hojo sway over +the whole of the Kwanto, as soon as the growing debility of the +Uesugi family offered favourable opportunity, stood a series of rules +elementary almost to affectation: to believe in the Kami; to rise +early in the morning; to go to bed while the night is still young, +and other counsels of cognate simplicity formed the ethical thesaurus +of a philosopher wise enough to formulate the astute maxim that a +ruler, in choosing his instruments, must remember that they, too, +choose him. + +Ujitsuna proved himself a worthy son of Soun, but much had still to +be accomplished before the Kwanto was fully won. Among the eight +provinces, two, Awa and Kazusa, which looked across the sea to +Odawara, were under the firm sway of the Satomi family--one of the +"eight generals" of the Kwanto--and not until 1538 could the Hojo +chief find an opportunity to crush this strong sept. The fruits of +his victory had hardly been gathered when death overtook him, in +1543. His sword descended, however, to a still greater leader, his +son Ujiyasu, who pushed westward into Suruga; stood opposed to Kai in +the north, and threatened the Uesugi in the east. The two branches of +the Uesugi had joined hands in the presence of the Hojo menace, and a +powerful league including the Imagawa and the Ashikaga of Koga, had +been formed to attack the Hojo. So long did they hesitate in view of +the might of Odawara, that the expression "Odawara-hyogi" passed into +the language as a synonym for reluctance; and when at length they +moved to the attack with eighty thousand men, Hojo Ujiyasu, at the +head of a mere fraction of that number, inflicted a defeat which +settled the supremacy of the Kwanto. + +The name of Hojo Ujiyasu is enshrined in the hearts of Japanese +bushi. He combined in an extraordinary degree gentleness and bravery, +magnanimity and resolution, learning and martial spirit. It was +commonly said that from the age of sixteen he had scarcely doffed his +armour; had never once showed his back to a foe, and had received +nine wounds all in front.* Before he died (1570) he had the +satisfaction of establishing a double link between the Hojo and the +house of the great warrior, Takeda Shingen, a son and a daughter from +each family marrying a daughter and a son of the other.** + +*Thus a frontal wound came to be designated by his name. + +**The present Viscount Hojo is a descendant of Ujiyasu. + +THE TAKEDA AND THE UESUGI + +Descended (sixteenth generation) from Minamoto Yoshimitsu, Takeda +Harunobu (1521-1573) took the field against his father, who had +planned to disinherit him in favour of his younger brother. Gaining +the victory, Harunobu came into control of the province of Kai, which +had long been the seat of the Takeda family. This daimyo, commonly +spoken of as Takeda Shingen, the latter being the name he took on +receiving the tonsure, ranks among Japan's six great captains of the +sixteenth century, the roll reading thus: + + Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) + + Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578) + + Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590) + + Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) + + Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) + + Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) + +The second of the above, Uesugi Kenshin, was not member of the great +Uesugi family which took such an important part in the affairs of the +Kwanto. He belonged to the Nagao, which originally stood in a +relation of vassalage to the Yamanouchi branch of the Uesugi in +Echigo, and his father attained an independent position. Kagetora, as +Kenshin was called in his youth, found himself engaged in his +twenty-first year in a contest with his elder brother, whom he +killed, and, by way of penance for the fratricide, he took the +tonsure under the name of Kenshin and would have retired from the +world had not his generals insisted on his remaining in command. It +was at this time that Kenshin became a member of the Uesugi sept. In +1505, the two branches of the Kwanto Uesugi joined hands against +their common enemy, Hojo Soun, and from that time the contest was +continued until 1551, when Ujiyasu, grandson of Soun, drove Uesugi +Norimasa from his castle of Hirai in Kotsuke. The vanquished general +fled to Echigo to seek succour from his family's old-time vassal, +Nagao Kagetora, already renowned under the name of Kenshin. Norimasa +bestowed the office of kwanryo as well as the uji of Uesugi on +Kenshin, who thenceforth became known as Uesugi Kenshin, and who thus +constituted himself the foe of the Hojo. At a somewhat earlier date, +Kenshin had been similarly supplicated by Murakami Yoshikiyo, whose +castle was at Kuzuo in Shinano, whence he had been driven by Takeda +Shingen. + +ENGRAVING: UESUGI KENSHIN + +It thus fell out that Uesugi Kenshin had for enemies the two captains +of highest renown in his era, Hojo Ujimasa and Takeda Shingen. This +order of antagonism had far-reaching effects. For Kenshin's ambition +was to become master of the whole Kwanto, under pretence of +re-establishing the original Uesugi, but his expansion southward from +Echigo was barred by Shingen in Shinano and Kai, and his expansion +eastward by the Hojo in Sagami and Musashi. The place of the struggle +between Shingen-and Kenshin was Kawanaka-jima, an arena often +pictured by artists of later generations and viewed to-day by +pilgrims to the venerable temple, Zenko-ji. There the two generals, +recognized as the two greatest strategists of that epoch, met four +times in fierce strife, and though a Japanese historian compares the +struggle to the eruption of volcanoes or the blowing of gales of +blood, victory never rested on either standard. + +ENGRAVING: TAKEDA SHINGEN + +Peace having been at length restored for a moment, in 1558, Kenshin +visited Kyoto in the following year. There he was received with +distinction. The Emperor--Okimachi--bestowed on him a sword, and the +shogun, Yoshiteru, entitled him to incorporate the ideograph "teru" +in his name, which was thus changed from Kagetora to Terutora. He was +also granted the office of kwanryo. On his return to Echigo, Kenshin +proceeded to assert his new title. Mustering an army said to have +been 110,000 strong, he attacked the Hojo in Odawara. But Ujiyasu +would not be tempted into the open. He remained always behind the +ramparts, and, in the meanwhile incited Shingen to invade Echigo, so +that Kenshin had to raise the siege of Odawara and hasten to the +defence of his home province. There followed another indecisive +battle at Kawanaka-jima, and thereafter renewed attacks upon the +Hojo, whose expulsion from the Kwanto devolved on Kenshin as kwanryo. +But the results were always vague: the Hojo refrained from final +resistance, and Shingen created a diversion. The chief sufferers were +the provinces of the Kwanto, a scene of perpetual battle. In the end, +after Etchu and Kotsuke had been brought under Kenshin's sway, peace +was concluded between him and the Hojo, and he turned his full +strength against his perennial foe, Shingen. But at this stage the +situation was entirely changed by the appearance of Oda Nobunaga on +the scene, as will be presently narrated. It is recorded that, on the +eve of his death, Shingen advised his son to place himself and his +domains in Kenshin's keeping, for, said he, "Kenshin now stands +unrivalled, and Kenshin will never break faith with you;" and it is +recorded of Kenshin that when he heard of Shingen's death, he shed +tears and exclaimed, "Would that the country had such another hero!"* + +*The present Count Uesugi is descended from Kenshin. + +THE IMAGAWA, THE KITABATAKE, THE SAITO, AND THE ODA FAMILIES + +The Imagawa, a branch of the Ashikaga, served as the latter's bulwark +in Suruga province during many generations. In the middle of the +sixteenth century the head of the family was Yoshimoto. His sway +extended over the three provinces of Suruga, Totomi, and Mikawa, +which formed the littoral between Owari Bay and the Izu promontory. +On the opposite side of Owari Bay lay Ise province, the site of the +principal Shinto shrine and the original domain of the Taira family, +where, too, the remnants of the Southern Court had their home. Its +hereditary governor was a Kitabatake, and even after the union of the +two Courts that great family, descendants of the immortal historian +and philosopher, Chikafusa, continued to exercise sway. But, in 1560, +discord among the chief retainers of the sept furnished a pretext for +the armed intervention of Oda Nobunaga, who invested his son, +Nobukatsu, with the rights of government. On the northern littoral of +Owari Bay, and therefore separating Ise and Mikawa, was situated the +province of Owari, which, in turn, opened on the north into Mino. In +this latter province the Doki family was destroyed by the Saito, and +these in turn were crushed by the Oda, in 1561, who, from their +headquarters in Owari, shattered the Imagawa of Mikawa and the Saito +in Mino, thereafter sweeping over Ise. + +THE ROKKAKU, THE ASAI, THE ASAKURA, AND THE HATAKEYAMA FAMILIES + +The province of Omi had special importance as commanding the +approaches to Kyoto from the east. Hence it became the scene of much +disturbance, in which the Hosokawa, the Kyogoku, the Rokkaku, and the +Asai families all took part. Finally, in the middle of the sixteenth +century, the Asai gained the ascendancy by obtaining the assistance +of the Asakura of Echizen. This latter province, conterminous with +the north of Omi, was originally under the control of the Shiba +family, but the Asakura subsequently obtained the office of high +constable, and acquired a great access of power at the time of the +Ikko revolt by driving the turbulent priests from the province. At +that era, or a little later, the provinces of Kii, Kawachi, Izumi, +and Yamato were all the scenes of fierce fighting, but the pages of +history need not be burdened with details of the clash of purely +private ambitions. + +THE MORI AND THE AMAKO FAMILIES + +The Ouchi family was very powerfully situated. Descended from a +Korean Crown Prince who migrated to Japan early in the seventh +century, its representative, Yoshioki (1477-1528), controlled the +southern provinces of the main island--Iwami, Aki, Suwo, and +Nagato--as well as the two northern provinces of Kyushu--Chikuzen and +Buzen. This was the chieftain who, in 1508, marched to Kyoto at the +head of a great army, and restored the Ashikaga shogun Yoshitane, +himself receiving the office of kwanryo. Eleven years later, on his +return to the south, he was followed by many nobles from Kyoto, and +his chief provincial town, Yamaguchi, on the Shimonoseki Strait, +prospered greatly. But his son Yoshitaka proved a weakling, and being +defeated by his vassal, Suye Harukata--called also Zenkyo--he +committed suicide, having conjured another vassal, Mori Motonari, to +avenge him. + +ENGRAVING: MORI MOTONARI + +The Mori family* had for ancestor the great statesman and legislator +of Yoritomo's time, Oye Hiromoto, and its representative, Motonari +(1497-1571), had two sons scarcely inferior to himself in strategical +ability, Kikkawa Motoharu and Kohayakawa Takakage. A commission +having been obtained from Kyoto, Motonari took the field in 1555, and +with only three thousand men succeeded, by a daring feat, in +shattering Harukata with twenty thousand. Thus far, Mori Motonari had +obeyed the behest of his late chief. But thereafter he made no +attempt to restore the Ouchi family. On the contrary, he relentlessly +prosecuted the campaign against Suye Harukata, with whom was +associated Ouchi Yoshinaga, representing the Ouchi house by adoption, +until ultimately Yoshinaga committed suicide and, the Ouchi family +becoming extinct, Motonari succeeded to all its domains. + +*Now represented by Prince Mori. + +At that time the province of Izumo, which is conterminous with Iwami +along its western frontier, was under the control of the high +constable, Amako Tsunehisa (1458-1540), who, profiting by the fall of +the great Yamana sept, had obtained possession of the provinces Bingo +and Hoki as well as of the Oki Islands. This daimyo was a puissant +rival of the Ouchi family, and on the downfall of the latter he soon +came into collision with Mori Motonari. Tsunehisa's grandson, +Yoshihisa (1545-1610), inherited this feud, which ended with the +extinction of the Amako family and the absorption of its domains by +the Mori, the latter thus becoming supreme in no less than thirteen +provinces of the Sanyo-do and the Sanin-do. + +THE MIYOSHI, THE ICHIJO, THE CHOSOKABE, AND THE KONO FAMILIES + +With the island of Shikoku (four provinces) are connected the names +of the Hosokawa, the Miyoshi, the Ichijo, the Chosokabe, and the Kono +families. Early in the fourteenth century, the celebrated Hosokawa +Yoriyuki was banished to Sanuki, and in the middle of the fifteenth +century we find nearly the whole of the island under the sway of +Hosokawa Katsumoto. Then, in the Daiei era (1521-1528), the Miyoshi, +vassals of the Hosokawa, came upon the scene in Awa. From 1470 to +1573, the province of Tosa was governed by the Ichijo, but, in the +latter year, Motochika, head of the Chosokabe, one of the seven +vassal families of the Ichijo, usurped the province, and then +received orders from Oda Nobunaga to conquer the other three +provinces of the island in the interests of Nobunaga's son. Motochika +obeyed, but on the death of Nobunaga and his son he constituted +himself master of Shikoku until Hideyoshi deprived him of all save +Tosa. From 1156 to 1581 the Kono family held the province of Iyo, but +there is nothing of historical interest in their career. + +THE DAIMYO IN KYUSHU + +Connected with Kyushu are the families of Shoni, Otomo, Ryuzoji, +Kikuchi and Shimazu. The term "shoni" originally signified +vice-governor. Its first bearer was Muto Sukeyori (Fujiwara), who +received the commission of Dazai no shoni from Minamoto Yoritomo. +Subsequently it became a family name, and the Shoni are found +fighting against the Mongol invaders; stoutly supporting the Southern +Court; passing over to the side of the Ashikaga, and losing their +places in history after the suicide of Tokihisa (1559), who had +suffered repeated defeats at the hands of the Ryuzoji. + +The Otomo family was a branch of the Fujiwara. One of its members, +Nakahara Chikayoshi, received from Minamoto Yoritomo the office of +high constable of the Dazai-fu, and to his son, Yoshinao, was given +the uji of Otomo, which, as the reader knows, belonged originally to +Michi no Omi, a general of the Emperor Jimmu. In Kyushu, the Otomo +espoused the cause of the Northern Court, and made themselves masters +of Buzen, Bungo, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, and Higo. In 1396, the +head of the family--Chikayo--held the office of tandai of Kyushu. +Yoshishige, commonly called Sorin (1530-1587), fought successfully +with the Kikuchi and the Akizuki, and the closing years of his life +were devoted to a futile struggle against the Shimazu, the Ryuzoji, +and the Akizuki. He escaped disaster by obtaining succour from +Hideyoshi, but the Otomo domain was reduced to the single province of +Bungo. + +The Ryuzoji first appear in history as vassals of the Shoni, under +whose banner they fought against the Otomo, in 1506. Subsequently +they became independent and established a stronghold in Hizen, which +province was granted to them in fief by Hideyoshi. + +The Kikuchi, a branch of the Fujiwara, held office in Kyushu from the +tenth century. They are chiefly noteworthy for their gallant defence +of the cause of the Southern Court. After many vicissitudes the +family disappeared from history in the middle of the sixteenth +century. + +The ancestor of the Shimazu family was Tadahisa, an illegitimate son +of Minamoto Yoritomo. His mother, to escape the resentment of +Yoritomo's wife, Masa, fled to Kyushu, and Tadahisa, having been +named governor of Satsuma, proceeded thither, in 1196, and by +conquest added to it the two provinces, Hyuga and Osumi. The Shimazu +family emerged victorious from all campaigns until Hideyoshi in +person took the field against them, as will be presently related.* + +*The family is now represented by Prince Shimazu. + +THE O-U REGION + +The 0-U region (Mutsu-Dewa) was the home of many septs which fought +among themselves for supremacy. Of these the most influential were +the Mogami of Yamagata, the Date of Yonezawa, and the Ashina of Aizu. +In the extreme north were the Nambu who, however, lived too remote +from the political centres to occupy historical attention. The Date +maintained friendly relations with the Ashikaga, and Harumune was +nominated tandai of Oshu by the shogun Yoshiharu, of whose name one +ideograph (haru) was given to the Date chief. The family attained its +greater distinction in the time of Masamune (1566-1636), and was +fortunate in being able to stand aloof from some of the internecine +strife of the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, the region was +sufficiently disturbed. Thus, the Tsugaru and the Nambu struggled in +the north, while the Date, further north, shattered the power of the +Nikaido, the Nihonmatsu, the Ashina, and the Tamura, or fought less +decisively against the Satake (of Hitachi), and in Ushu (Dewa) the +Mogami were confronted by the Uesugi of Echigo. + +DATE MASAMUNE + +The most renowned of the Date family was Masamune, who to great +military skill added artistic instincts and considerable poetic +ability. Tradition has handed down some incidents which illustrate +the ethics of that time as well as the character of the man. It is +stated that Masamune came into possession of a scroll on which were +inscribed a hundred selected poems copied by the celebrated Fujiwara +Ietaka. Of this anthology Masamune was much enamoured, for the sake +alike of its contents and of its calligraphy. But learning +accidentally that the scroll had been pawned to the merchant from +whom he had obtained it, he instituted inquiries as to its owner, and +ultimately restored the scroll to him with the addition of five gold +ryo. The owner was a knight-errant (ronin) named Imagawa Motome, who +thereafter entered Masamune's service and ultimately rose to be a +general of infantry (ashigaru). The sympathy which taught Masamune to +estimate the pain with which the owner of the scroll must have parted +with it was a fine trait of character. Another incident in this +remarkable man's career happened at an entertainment where he +accidentally trod on the robe of one Kanematsu, a vassal of the +Tokugawa. Enraged by an act of carelessness which amounted almost to +a deliberate insult, Kanematsu struck Masamune, A commotion at once +arose, the probable outcome being that Masamune would return the blow +with his sword. But he remained pertly cool, making no remark except +that he had been paid for his want of care, and that, at any rate, +Kanematsu was not an adversary worthy of his resentment. + +THE FIVE CENTRES + +Among the welter of warring regions glanced at above, five sections +detach themselves as centres of disturbance. The first is the Court +in Kyoto and the Muromachi Bakufu, where the Hosokawa, the Miyoshi, +and the Matsunaga deluged the streets with blood and reduced the city +to ashes. The second is the Hojo of Odawara, who compassed the +destruction of the kubo at Koga and of the two original Uesugi +families. The third is Takeda of Kai, who struggled on one side with +the Uesugi of Echigo and on the other with the Imagawa of Suruga. The +fourth is Oda Nobunaga, who escorted the shogun to the capital. And +the fifth is the great Mori family, who, after crushing the Ouchi and +the Amako, finally came into collision with the armies of Oda under +the leadership of Hideyoshi. + +ENGRAVING: "EMA" (Pictures Painted on Wood, Especially of Horses, +Hung up in the Temple as Motive Offerings) + +ENGRAVING: ODA NOBUNAGA + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +NOBUNAGA, HIDEYOSHI, AND IEYASU + +ODA NOBUNAGA + +WHEN the Taira sept was shattered finally at Dan-no-ura, a baby +grandson of Kiyomori was carried by its mother to the hamlet of +Tsuda, in Omi province. Subsequently this child, Chikazane, was +adopted by a Shinto official of Oda, in Echizen, and thus acquired +the name of Oda. For generations the family served uneventfully at +the shrine in Omi, but in the disturbed days of the Ashikaga shoguns, +the representative of the eighth generation from Chikazane emerged +from the obscurity of Shinto services and was appointed steward +(karo) of the Shiba family, which appointment involved removal of his +residence to Owari. From that time the fortunes of the family became +brighter. Nobuhide, its representative at the beginning of the +sixteenth century, acquired sufficient power to dispute the Imagawa's +sway over the province of Mikawa, and sufficient wealth to contribute +funds to the exhausted coffers of the Court in Kyoto. + +This man's son was Nobunaga. Born in 1534, and destined to bequeath +to his country a name that will never die, Nobunaga, as a boy, showed +much of the eccentricity of genius. He totally despised the canons of +the time as to costume and etiquette. One of his peculiarities was a +love of long swords, and it is related that on a visit to Kyoto in +his youth he carried in his girdle a sword which trailed on the +ground as he walked. Rough and careless, without any apparent +dignity, he caused so much solicitude to his tutor and guardian, +Hirate Masahide, and showed so much indifference to the latter's +remonstrances, that finally Masahide had recourse to the faithful +vassal's last expedient--he committed suicide, leaving a letter in +which the explanation of his act was accompanied by a stirring appeal +to the better instincts of his pupil and ward. This proved the +turning-point in Nobunaga's career. He became as circumspect as he +had previously been careless, and he subsequently erected to the +memory of his brave monitor a temple which may be seen to this day by +visitors to Nagoya. + +It is frequently said of Nobunaga that his indifference to detail and +his lack of patience were glaring defects in his moral endowment. But +that accusation can scarcely be reconciled with facts. Thus, when +still a young man, it is related of him that he summoned one of his +vassals to his presence but, giving no order, allowed the man to +retire. This was repeated with two others, when the third, believing +that there must be something in need of care, looked about +attentively before retiring, and observing a piece of torn paper on +the mats, took it up and carried it away. Nobunaga recalled him, +eulogized his intelligence, and declared that men who waited +scrupulously for instructions would never accomplish much. The +faculties of observation and initiation were not more valued by +Nobunaga than those of honesty and modesty. It is recorded that on +one occasion he summoned all the officers of his staff, and showing +them a sword by a famous maker, promised to bestow it upon the man +who should guess most correctly the number of threads in the silk +frapping of the hilt. All the officers wrote down their guesses with +one exception, that of Mori Rammaru. Asked for the reason of his +abstention, Mori replied that he happened to know the exact number of +threads, having counted them on a previous occasion when admiring the +sword. Nubunaga at once placed the weapon in his hands, thus +recognizing his honesty. Again, after the construction of the famous +castle at Azuchi, to which reference will be made hereafter, +Nobunaga, desiring to have a record compiled in commemoration of the +event, asked a celebrated priest, Sakugen, to undertake the +composition and penning of the document. Sakugen declared the task to +be beyond his literary ability, and recommended that it should be +entrusted to his rival, Nankwa. Nobunaga had no recourse but to adopt +this counsel, and Nankwa performed the task admirably, as the +document, which is still in existence, shows. In recognition of this +success, Nobunaga gave the compiler one hundred pieces of silver, but +at the same time bestowed two hundred on Sakugen for his magnanimity +in recommending a rival. + +Nobunaga unquestionably had the gift of endearing himself to his +retainers, though there are records which show that he was subject to +outbursts of fierce anger. Even his most trusted generals were not +exempt from bitter words or even blows, and we shall presently see +that to this fault in his character was approximately due his tragic +end. Nevertheless, he did not lack the faculty of pity. On the +occasion of a dispute between two of his vassals about the boundaries +of a manor, the defeated litigant bribed one of Nobunaga's principal +staff-officers to appeal for reversal of the judgment. This officer +adduced reasons of a sufficiently specious character, but Nobunaga +detected their fallacy, and appeared about to take some precipitate +action when he happened to observe the wrinkles which time had +written on the suppliant's face. He recovered his sang-froid and +contented himself with sending the officer from his presence and +subsequently causing to be handed to him a couplet setting forth the +evils of bribery and corruption. He forgave the guilty man in +consideration of his advanced age, and the incident is said to have +closed with the suicide of the old officer. Frugality was another +trait of Nobunaga's character. But he did not save money for money's +sake. He spent with lavish hand when the occasion called for +munificence; as when he contributed a great sum for the rebuilding of +the Ise shrines. Perhaps nothing constitutes a better clue to his +disposition than the verses he habitually quoted: + + Life is short; the world is a mere dream to the idle. + Only the fool fears death, for what is there of life that does + Not die once, sooner or later? + Man has to die once and once only; + He should make his death glorious. + +It is recorded that Nobunaga's demeanour in battle truly reflected +the spirit of these verses. + +ENGRAVING: TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI + +HIDEYOSHI + +Nobunaga certainly deserved the success he achieved, but that he +achieved it must be attributed in part to accident. That accident was +his association with Hideyoshi.* It has been sometimes said that +circumstances beget the men to deal with them. Fallacious as such a +doctrine is, it almost compels belief when we observe that the second +half of the sixteenth century in Japan produced three of the greatest +men the world has ever seen, and that they joined hands to accomplish +the stupendous task of restoring peace and order to an empire which +had been almost continuously torn by war throughout five consecutive +centuries. These three men were born within an interval of eight +years: Nobunaga, in 1534; Hideyoshi, in 1536, and Ieyasu, in 1542. + +*To avoid needless difficulty the name "Hideyoshi" is used solely +throughout this history. But, as a matter of fact, the great +statesman and general was called in his childhood Nakamura Hiyoshi; +his adult name was Tokichi; afterwards he changed this to Hashiba and +ultimately, he was known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi. + +There are many stories about Hideyoshi's early days, but the details +are obscured by a record called the Taikoki, which undoubtedly makes +many excursions into the region of romance. The plain facts appear to +be that Hideyoshi was the son of a humble farmer named Kinoshita +Yaemon, who lived in the Aichi district of Owari province, and who +preferred the life of a foot-soldier (ashigaru) to the pursuit of +agriculture. Yaemon served the Oda family, and died when Hideyoshi +was still a youth. In Owari province, at a homestead called Icho-mura +from the name of the tree (maiden-hair tree) that flourishes there in +abundance, there stands a temple built in the year 1616 on the site +of the house where Hideyoshi was born. This temple is known as +Taiko-zan--"Taiko" having been the title of Hideyoshi in the latter +years of his life--and in the grounds of the temple may be seen the +well from which water was drawn to wash the newly born baby. The +child grew up to be a youth of dimunitive stature, monkey-like face, +extraordinary precocity, and boundless ambition. Everything was +against him--personal appearance, obscurity of lineage, and absence +of scholarship. Yet he never seems to have doubted that a great +future lay before him. + +Many curious legends are grouped about his childhood. They are for +the most part clumsily constructed and unconvincing, though probably +we shall be justified in accepting the evidence they bear of a mind +singularly well ordered and resourceful. At the age of sixteen he was +employed by a Buddhist priest to assist in distributing amulets, and +by the agency of this priest he obtained an introduction to +Matsushita Yukitsuna, commandant of the castle of Kuno at Hamamatsu, +in Totomi province. This Matsushita was a vassal of Imagawa +Yoshimoto. He controlled the provinces of Mikawa, Totomi, and Suruga, +which lie along the coast eastward of Owari, and he represented one +of the most powerful families in the country. Hideyoshi served in the +castle of Kuno for a period variously reckoned at from one year to +five. Tradition says that he abused the trust placed in him by his +employer, and absconded with the sum of six ryo wherewith he had been +commissioned to purchase a new kind of armour which had recently come +into vogue in Owari province. But though this alleged theft becomes +in certain annals the basis of a picturesque story as to Hideyoshi +repaying Matsushita a thousandfold in later years, the unadorned +truth seems to be that Hideyoshi was obliged to leave Kuno on account +of the jealousy of his fellow retainers, who slandered him to +Yukitsuna and procured his dismissal. + +Returning to Owari, he obtained admission to the ranks of Oda +Nobunaga in the humble capacity of sandal-bearer. He deliberately +chose Nobunaga through faith in the greatness of his destiny, and +again the reader of Japanese history is confronted by ingenious tales +as to Hideyoshi's devices for obtaining admission to Nobunaga's +house. But the most credible explanation is, at the same time, the +simplest, namely, that Hideyoshi's father, having been borne on the +military roll of Nobunaga's father, little difficulty offered in +obtaining a similar favour for Hideyoshi. + +Nobunaga was then on the threshold of his brilliant career. In those +days of perpetual war and tumult, the supreme ambition of each great +territorial baron in Japan was to fight his way to the capital, there +to obtain from the sovereign and the Muromachi Bakufu a commission to +subdue the whole country and to administer it as their lieutenant. +Nobunaga seems to have cherished that hope from his early years, +though several much more powerful military magnates would surely +oppose anything like his pre-eminence. Moreover, in addition to +comparative weakness, he was hampered by local inconvenience. The +province of Owari was guarded on the south by sea, but on the east it +was menaced directly by the Imagawa family and indirectly by the +celebrated Takeda Shingen, while on the north it was threatened by +the Saito and on the west by the Asai, the Sasaki, and the +Kitabatake. Any one of these puissant feudatories would have been +more than a match for the Owari chieftain, and that Imagawa Yoshimoto +harboured designs against Owari was well known to Nobunaga, for in +those days spying, slander, forgery, and deceit of every kind had the +approval of the Chinese writers on military ethics whose books were +regarded as classics by the Japanese. Hideyoshi himself figures at +this very time as the instigator and director of a series of acts of +extreme treachery, by which the death of one of the principal Imagawa +vassals was compassed; and the same Hideyoshi was the means of +discovering a plot by Imagawa emissaries to delay the repair of the +castle of Kiyosu, Nobunaga's headquarters, where a heavy fall of rain +had caused a landslide. Nobunaga did not venture to assume the +offensive against the Imagawa chief. He chose as a matter of +necessity to stand on the defensive, and when it became certain that +Imagawa Yoshimoto had taken the field, a general impression prevailed +that the destruction of the Oda family was unavoidable. + +BATTLE OF OKEHAZAMA + +In the month of June, 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto crossed the border into +Owari at the head of a force stated by the annals to have been +forty-six thousand strong. Just two years had elapsed since +Hideyoshi's admission to the service of the Owari baron in the office +of sandal-bearer. Nevertheless, some generally credible records do +not hesitate to represent Hideyoshi as taking a prominent part in the +great battle against the Imagawa, and as openly advising Nobunaga +with regard to the strategy best adapted to the situation. It is +incredible that a private soldier, and a mere youth of twenty-two at +that, should have risen in such a short time to occupy a place of +equality with the great generals of Nobunaga's army. But that +Hideyoshi contributed more or less to the result of the fight may be +confidently asserted. + +The battle itself, though the forces engaged were not large, must be +counted one of the great combats of the world, for had not Nobunaga +emerged victorious the whole course of Japanese history might have +been changed. At the outset, no definite programme seems to have been +conceived on Nobunaga's side. He had no allies, and the numerical +inferiority of his troops was overwhelming. The latter defect was +remedied in a very partial degree by the resourcefulness of +Hideyoshi. In his boyhood he had served for some time under a +celebrated chief of freebooters, by name Hachisuka Koroku,* and he +persuaded that chieftain with his fifteen hundred followers to march +to the aid of the Owari army, armour and weapons having been +furnished by Sasaki Shotei, of Omi province. Sasaki regarded +Nobunaga's plight as too hopeless to warrant direct aid, but he was +willing to equip Hachisuka's men for the purpose, although the +addition of fifteen hundred soldiers could make very little +difference in the face of such a disparity as existed between the +combatants. + +*Ancestor of the present Marquis Hachisuka. + +Shortly before these events, Owari had been invaded from the west by +the Kitabatake baron, whose domain lay in Ise, and the invaders had +been beaten back by a bold offensive movement on Nobunaga's part. The +ultimate result had not been conclusive, as Nobunaga advisedly +refrained from carrying the war into Ise and thus leaving his own +territory unguarded. But the affair had taught the superiority of +offensive tactics, and thus Nobunaga's impulse was to attack the army +of Imagawa, instead of waiting to be crushed by preponderate force. +His most trusted generals, Shibata Katsuiye, Sakuma Nobumori, and +Hayashi Mitsukatsu, strenuously opposed this plan. They saw no +prospect whatever of success in assuming the offensive against +strength so superior, and they urged the advisability of yielding +temporarily and awaiting an opportunity to recover independence. +Here, Hideyoshi is reputed to have shown conspicuous wisdom at the +council-table. He pointed out that there could be no such thing as +temporary surrender. The Imagawa would certainly insist on hostages +sufficiently valuable to insure permanent good faith, and he further +declared that it was a mistake to credit the Imagawa with possessing +the good-will of any of the other great feudatories, since they were +all equally jealous of one another. + +Finally, it was resolved that seven forts should be built and +garrisoned, and that five of them should be allowed to fall into the +enemy's hands if resistance proved hopeless. In the remaining two +forts the garrisons were to be composed of the best troops in the +Owari army, and over these strongholds were to be flown the flags of +Nobunaga himself and of his chief general. It was hoped that by their +success in five of the forts the Imagawa army would be at once +physically wearied and morally encouraged to concentrate their entire +strength and attention on the capture of the last two fortresses. +Meanwhile, Nobunaga himself, with a select body of troops, was to +march by mountain roads to the rear of the invading forces and +deliver a furious attack when such a manoeuvre was least expected. +The brave men who engaged in this perilous enterprise were +strengthened by worshipping at the shrine of Hachiman in the village +of Atsuta, and their prayers evoked appearances which were +interpreted as manifestations of divine assistance. Most fortunately +for the Owari troops, their movements were shrouded by a heavy +rainfall, and they succeeded in inflicting serious loss on the +invading army, driving it pele-mele across the border and killing its +chief, Yoshimoto. No attempt was made to pursue the fugitives into +Mikawa. Nobunaga was prudently content with his signal victory. It +raised him at once to a level with the greatest provincial barons in +the empire, and placed him in the foremost rank of the aspirants for +an Imperial commission. + +ENGRAVING: TOKUGAWA IEYASU + +TOKUGAWA IEYASU + +The battle of Okehazama led to another incident of prime importance +in Japanese history. It brought about an alliance between Oda +Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Among the small barons subject to the +Imagawa there was one called Matsudaira Motoyasu. He had taken the +name, Motoyasu, by adopting one of the ideographs of Yoshimoto's +appellation. His family, long in alliance with the Imagawa, were at a +variance with the Oda, and in the battle of Okehazama this Motoyasu +had captured one of the Owari forts. But on the defeat and death of +Yoshimoto, the Matsudaira chieftain retired at once to his own castle +of Okazaki, in the province of Mikawa. He had then to consider his +position, for by the death of Yoshimoto, the headship of the Imagawa +family had fallen to his eldest son, Ujizane, a man altogether +inferior in intellect to his gifted father. Nobunaga himself +appreciated the character of the new ruler, and saw that the wisest +plan would be to cement a union with Matsudaira Motoyasu. Accordingly +he despatched an envoy to Okazaki Castle to consult the wishes of +Motoyasu. The latter agreed to the Owari chief's proposals, and in +February, 1562, proceeded to the castle of Kiyosu, where he +contracted with Oda Nobunaga an alliance which endured throughout the +latter's lifetime. In the following year, Motoyasu changed his name +to Ieyasu, and subsequently he took the uji of Tokugawa. The alliance +was strengthened by intermarriage, Nobuyasu, the eldest son of +Ieyasu, being betrothed to a daughter of Nobunaga. + +NOBUNAGA'S POSITION + +It was at this time, according to Japanese annalists, that Nobunaga +seriously conceived the ambition of making Kyoto his goal. The +situation offered inducements. In the presence of a practically +acknowledged conviction that no territorial baron of that era might +venture to engage in an enterprise which denuded his territory of a +protecting army, it was necessary to look around carefully before +embarking upon the Kyoto project. Nobunaga had crushed the Imagawa, +for though his victory had not been conclusive from a military point +of view, it had placed the Imagawa under incompetent leadership and +had thus freed Owari from all menace from the littoral provinces on +the east. Again, in the direction of Echigo and Shinano, the great +captain, Uesugi Kenshin, dared not strike at Nobunaga's province +without exposing himself to attack from Takeda Shingen. But Shingen +was not reciprocally hampered. His potentialities were always an +unknown quality. He was universally recognized as the greatest +strategist of his time, and if Nobunaga ventured to move westward, +the Kai baron would probably seize the occasion to lay hands upon +Owari. It is true that the alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu constituted +some protection. But Ieyasu was no match for Shingen in the field. +Some other check must be devised, and Nobunaga found it in the +marriage of his adopted daughter to Shingen's son, Katsuyori. + +THE COURT APPEALS TO NOBUNAGA + +In Kyoto, at this time, a state of great confusion existed. The +Emperor Okimachi had ascended the throne in 1557. But in the presence +of the violent usurpations of the Miyoshi and others, neither the +sovereign nor the shogun could exercise any authority, and, as has +been shown already, the Throne was constantly in pecuniarily +embarassed circumstances. Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, had +distinguished himself by subscribing liberally to aid the Court +financially, and this fact being now recalled in the context of +Nobunaga's rapidly rising power, the Emperor, in the year 1562, +despatched Tachiri Munetsugu nominally to worship at the shrine of +Atsuta, but in reality to convey to Nobunaga an Imperial message +directing him to restore order in the capital. The Owari baron +received this envoy with marked respect. It is recorded that he +solemnly performed the ceremony of lustration and clothed himself in +hitherto unworn garments on the occasion of his interview with the +envoy. It was not in his power, however, to make any definite +arrangement as to time. He could only profess his humble +determination to obey the Imperial behest, and promise the utmost +expedition. But there can be no doubt that the arrival of this envoy +decided the question of a march to Kyoto, though some years were +destined to elapse before the project could be carried out. + +Two things were necessary, however, namely, a feasible route and a +plausible pretext. Even in those times, when wars were often +undertaken merely for the purpose of deciding personal supremacy, +there remained sufficient public morality to condemn any baron who +suffered himself to be guided openly by ambition alone. Some +reasonably decent cause had to be found. Now the Emperor, though, as +above stated, communicating his will verbally to Nobunaga, had not +sent him any written commission. The necessary pretext was furnished, +however, by the relations between the members of the Saito family of +Mino province, which lay upon the immediate north of Owari, and +constituted the most convenient road to Kyoto. Hidetatsu, the head of +that family, had fought against Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, and one +of the conditions of peace had been that the daughter of Hidetatsu +should become the wife of Nobunaga. + +Subsequently, the Saito household was disturbed by one of the family +feuds so common during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in +Japan. Hidetatsu, desiring to disinherit his eldest son, Yoshitatsu, +had been attacked and killed by the latter, and Nobunaga announced +his intention of avenging the death of his father-in-law. But before +this intention could be carried out, Yoshitatsu died (1561), and his +son, Tatsuoki, a man of little resource or ability, had to bear the +onset from Owari. Nobunaga, at the head of a large force, crossed the +Kiso River into Mino. But he found that, even under the leadership of +Tatsuoki, the Mino men were too strong for him, and he was ultimately +compelled to adopt the device of erecting on the Mino side of the +river a fortress which should serve at once as a basis of military +operations and as a place for establishing relations with the minor +families in the province. The building of this fort proved a very +difficult task, but it was finally accomplished by a clever device on +the part of Hideyoshi, who, a master of intrigue as well as of +military strategy, subsequently won over to Nobunaga's cause many of +the principal vassals of the Saito family, among them being Takenaka +Shigeharu, who afterwards proved a most capable lieutenant to +Hideyoshi. + +These preliminaries arranged, Nobunaga once more crossed the Kiso +(1564) at the head of a large army, and after many days of severe +fighting, captured the castle of Inaba-yama, which had been strongly +fortified by Yoshitatsu, and was deemed impregnable. Nobunaga +established his headquarters at this castle, changing its name to +Gifu, and thus extending his dominion over the province of Mino as +well as Owari. He had now to consider whether he would push on at +once into the province of Omi, which alone lay between him and Kyoto, +or whether he would first provide against the danger of a possible +attack on the western littoral of Owari from the direction of Ise. He +chose the latter course, and invaded Ise at the head of a +considerable force. But he here met with a repulse at the hands of +Kusunoki Masatomo, who to the courage and loyalty of his immortal +ancestor, Masashige, added no small measure of strategical ability. +He succeeded in defending his castle of Yada against Nobunaga's +attacks, and finally the Owari general, deceived by a rumour to the +effect that Takeda Shingen had reached the neighbourhood of Gifu with +a strong army, retired hurriedly from Ise. + +It may here be mentioned that three years later, in 1568, Hideyoshi +succeeded in inducing all the territorial nobles of northern Ise, +except Kusunoki Masatomo, to place themselves peacefully under +Nobunaga's sway. Hideyoshi's history shows him to have been a +constant believer in the theory that a conquered foe generally +remains an enemy, whereas a conciliated enemy often becomes a friend. +Acting on this conviction and aided by an extraordinary gift of +persuasive eloquence, he often won great victories without any +bloodshed. Thus he succeeded in convincing the Ise barons that +Nobunaga was not swayed by personal ambition, but that his ruling +desire was to put an end to the wars which had devastated Japan +continuously for more than a century. It is right to record that the +failures made by Nobunaga himself in his Ise campaign were in the +sequel of measures taken in opposition to Hideyoshi's advice, and +indeed the annals show that this was true of nearly all the disasters +that overtook Nobunaga throughout his career, whereas his many and +brilliant successes were generally the outcome of Hideyoshi's +counsels. + +ANOTHER SUMMONS FROM THE EMPEROR + +In November, 1567, the Emperor again sent Tachiri Munetsugu to invite +Nobunaga's presence in Kyoto. His Majesty still refrained from the +dangerous step of giving a written commission to Nobunaga, but he +instructed Munetsugu to carry to the Owari chieftain a suit of armour +and a sword. Two years previously to this event, the tumult in Kyoto +had culminated in an attack on the palace of the shogun Yoshiteru, +the conflagration of the building, and the suicide of the shogun amid +the blazing ruins. Yoshiteru's younger brother, Yoshiaki, effected +his escape from the capital, and wandered about the country during +three years, supplicating one baron after another to take up his +cause. This was in 1568, just nine months after the Emperor's second +message to Nobunaga, and the latter, acting upon Hideyoshi's advice, +determined to become Yoshiaki's champion, since by so doing he would +represent not only the sovereign but also the shogun in the eyes of +the nation. Meanwhile--and this step also was undertaken under +Hideyoshi's advice--a friendly contract had been concluded with Asai +Nagamasa, the most powerful baron in Omi, and the agreement had been +cemented by the marriage of Nobunaga's sister to Nagamasa. + +NOBUNAGA PROCEEDS TO KYOTO + +In October, 1568, Nobunaga set out for Kyoto at the head of an army +said to have numbered thirty thousand. He did not encounter any +serious resistance on the way, but the coming of his troops threw the +city into consternation, the general apprehension being that the +advent of these provincial warriors would preface a series of +depredations such as the people were only too well accustomed to. But +Nobunaga lost no time in issuing reassuring proclamations, which, in +the sequel, his officers proved themselves thoroughly capable of +enforcing, and before the year closed peace and order were restored +in the capital, Yoshiaki being nominated shogun and all the +ceremonies of Court life being restored. Subsequently, the forces of +the Miyoshi sept made armed attempts to recover the control of the +city, and the shogun asked Nobunaga to appoint one of his most +trusted generals and ablest administrators to maintain peace. It was +fully expected that Nobunaga would respond to this appeal by +nominating Shibata, Sakuma, or Niwa, who had served under his banners +from the outset, and in whose eyes Hideyoshi was a mere upstart. But +Nobunaga selected Hideyoshi, and the result justified his choice, for +during Hideyoshi's sway Kyoto enjoyed such tranquillity as it had not +known for a century. + +Nobunaga omitted nothing that could make for the dignity and comfort +of the new shogun. He caused a palace to be erected for him on the +site of the former Nijo Castle, contributions being levied for the +purpose on the five provinces of the Kinai as well as on six others; +and Nobunaga himself personally supervised the work, which was +completed in May, 1569. But it may fairly be doubted whether Nobunaga +acted in all this matter with sincerity. At the outset his attitude +towards the shogun was so respectful and so considerate that Yoshiaki +learned to regard and speak of him as a father. But presently +Nobunaga presented a memorial, charging the shogun with faults which +were set forth in seventeen articles. In this impeachment, Yoshiaki +was accused of neglecting his duties at Court; of failing to +propitiate the territorial nobles; of partiality in meting out +rewards and punishments; of arbitrarily confiscating private +property; of squandering money on needless enterprises; of listening +to flatterers; of going abroad in the disguise of a private person, +and so forth. It is claimed by some of Nobunaga's biographers that he +was perfectly honest in presenting this memorial, but others, whose +judgment appears to be more perspicacious, consider that his chief +object was to discredit Yoshiaki and thus make room for his own +subsequent succession to the shogunate. + +At all events Yoshiaki interpreted the memorial in that sense. He +became openly hostile to Nobunaga, and ultimately took up arms. +Nobunaga made many attempts to conciliate him. He even sent Hideyoshi +to solicit Yoshiaki's return to Kyoto from Kawachi whither the shogun +had fled. But Yoshiaki, declining to be placated, placed himself +under the protection of the Mori family, and thus from the year 1573, +Nobunaga became actual wielder of the shogun's authority. Ten years +later, Yoshiaki returned to the capital, took the tonsure and changed +his name to Shozan. At the suggestion of Hideyoshi a title and a +yearly income of ten thousand koku were conferred on him. He died in +Osaka and thus ended the Ashikaga shogunate. + +SAKAI + +One of the incidents connected with Hideyoshi's administration in +Kyoto illustrates the customs of his time. Within eight miles of the +city of Osaka lies Sakai, a great manufacturing mart. This latter +town, though originally forming part of the Ashikaga domain, +nevertheless assisted the Miyoshi in their attack upon the shogunate. +Nobunaga, much enraged at such action, proposed to sack the town, but +Hideyoshi asked to have the matter left in his hands. This request +being granted, he sent messengers to Sakai, who informed the citizens +that Nobunaga contemplated the destruction of the town by fire. +Thereupon the citizens, preferring to die sword in hand rather than +to be cremated, built forts and made preparations for resistance. + +This was just what Hideyoshi designed. Disguising himself, he +repaired to Sakai and asked to be informed as to the object of these +military preparations. Learning the apprehensions of the people, he +ridiculed their fears; declared that Nobunaga had for prime object +the safety and peace of the realm, and that by giving ear to such +wild rumours and assuming a defiant attitude, they had committed a +fault not to be lightly condoned. Delegates were then sent from Sakai +at Hideyoshi's suggestion to explain the facts to Nobunaga, who acted +his part in the drama by ordering the deputies to be thrown into +prison and promising to execute them as well as their fellow +townsmen. In this strait the people of Sakai appealed to a celebrated +Buddhist priest named Kennyo, and through his intercession Hideyoshi +agreed to ransom the town for a payment of twenty thousand ryo. The +funds thus obtained were devoted to the repair of the palaces of the +Emperor and the shogun, a measure which won for Nobunaga the applause +of the whole of Kyoto. + +NOBUNAGA'S SITUATION + +Oda Nobunaga was now in fact shogun. So far as concerned legalized +power he had no equal in the empire, but his military strength was by +no means proportionate. In the north, in the east, in the west, and +in the south, there were great territorial nobles who could put into +the field armies much larger than all the Owari chief's troops. +Takeda Shingen, in the Kwanto, was the most formidable of these +opponents. In the year 1570, when the events now to be related +occurred, the Hojo sept was under the rule of Ujimasa, and with him +Shingen had concluded an alliance which rendered the latter secure +against attack on the rear in the event of movement against Kyoto. +The better to ensure himself against Hojo designs, Shingen joined +hands with the Satomi family in Awa, and the Satake family in +Hitachi; while to provide against irruptions by the Uesugi family he +enlisted the co-operation of the priests in Kaga, Echizen, and Noto. +Shingen further established relations of friendship with Matsunaga +Hisahide in the far west. It was this baron that had attacked the +palace of Nijo when Yoshiteru, the shogun, had to commit suicide, and +Shingen's object in approaching him was to sow seeds of discord +between the shogunate and Nobunaga. Most imminent of all perils, +however, was the menace of the Asai family in Omi, and the Asakura +family in Echizen. A glance at the map shows that the Asai were in a +position to sever Nobunaga's communications with his base in Mino, +and that the Asakura were in a position to cut off his communications +with Kyoto. In this perilous situation Nobunaga's sole resource lay +in Tokugawa Ieyasu and in the latter's alliance with the Uesugi, +which compact the Owari chief spared no pains to solidify. But from a +military point of view Ieyasu was incomparably weaker than Shingen. + +THE STRUGGLE WITH THE ASAKURA AND THE ASAI + +In 1570, Nobunaga determined to put his fortunes to a final test. +Having concentrated a large body of troops in Kyoto, he declared war +against Asakura Yoshikage, who had refused to recognize the new +shogun. Success crowned the early efforts of the Owari forces in this +war, but the whole situation was changed by Asai Nagamasa, who +suddenly marched out of Omi and threatened to attack Nobunaga's rear. +It is true that before setting out for Kyoto originally, Nobunaga had +given his sister in marriage to Nagamasa, and had thus invited the +latter's friendship. But Nagamasa had always been on terms of close +amity with Yoshikage, and, indeed, had stipulated from the outset +that Nobunaga should not make war against the latter. It cannot be +said, therefore, that Nagamasa's move constituted a surprise. +Nobunaga should have been well prepared for such contingencies. He +was not prepared, however, and the result was that he found himself +menaced by Yoshikage's army in front and by Nagamasa's in rear. +Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had associated himself by invitation with this +expedition into Echizen, advised Nobunaga to countermarch with all +rapidity for Kyoto, and it was so determined. Hideyoshi was left with +three thousand men to hold Yoshikage's forces in some degree of +check. + +The situation at that moment was well-nigh desperate. There seemed to +be no hope for either Nobunaga or Hideyoshi. But Nobunaga was saved +by the slowness of Nagamasa, who, had he moved with any rapidity, +must have reached Kyoto in advance of Nobunaga's forces; and +Hideyoshi was saved by an exercise of the wonderful resourcefulness +which peril always awoke in this great man. Calculating that +Yoshikage's army would reach Kanagasaki Castle at nightfall, +Hideyoshi, by means of thousands of lanterns and banners gave to a +few scores of men a semblance of a numerous army. Yoshikage, who +believed that Nobunaga had retired, was visited by doubts at the +aspect of this great array, and instead of advancing to attack at +once, he decided to await the morning. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi with his +little band of troops, moved round Yoshikage's flank, and delivering +a fierce attack at midnight, completely defeated the Echizen forces.* + +*See A New Life of Toyolomi Hideyoshi, by W. Dening. + +This episode was, of course, not conclusive. It merely showed that so +long as Nagamasa and Yoshikage worked in combination, Nobunaga's +position in Kyoto and his communications with his base in Mino must +remain insecure. He himself would have directed his forces at once +against Nagamasa, but Hideyoshi contended that the wiser plan would +be to endeavour to win over some of the minor barons whose +strongholds lay on the confines of Omi and Mino. This was gradually +accomplished, and after an unsuccessful attempt upon the part of +Sasaki Shotei of Omi to capture a castle (Choko-ji) which was under +the command of Nobunaga's chief general, Katsuiye, the Owari forces +were put in motion against Nagamasa's principal strongholds, Otani +and Yoko-yama. The former was attacked first, Nobunaga being assisted +by a contingent of five thousand men under the command of Ieyasu. +Three days of repeated assaults failed to reduce the castle, and +during that interval Nagamasa and Yoshikage were able to enter the +field at the head of a force which greatly outnumbered the Owari +army. + +In midsummer, 1570, there was fought, on the banks of the Ane-gawa, +one of the great battles of Japanese history. It resulted in the +complete discomfiture of the Echizen chieftains. The records say that +three thousand of their followers were killed and that among them +were ten general officers. The castle of Otani, however, remained in +Nagamasa's hands. Nobunaga now retired to his headquarters in Gifu to +rest his forces. + +But he was quickly summoned again to the field by a revolt on the +part of the Buddhist priests in the province of Settsu, under the +banner of Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and Saito Tatsuoki. Nobunaga's attempt +to quell this insurrection was unsuccessful, and immediately Nagamasa +and Yoshikage seized the occasion to march upon Kyoto. The priests of +Hiei-zan received them with open arms, and they occupied on the +monastery's commanding site, a position well-nigh impregnable, from +which they constantly menaced the capital. It was now the +commencement of winter. For the invading troops to hold their own +upon Hiei-zan throughout the winter would have been even more +difficult than for Nobunaga's army to cut off their avenues of +retreat and supply. + +In these circumstances peace presented itself to both sides as the +most feasible plan, and the forces of Nagamasa and Yoshikage were +allowed to march away unmolested to Omi and Echizen, respectively. +This result was intensely mortifying to Hideyoshi, who had devoted +his whole energies to the destruction of these dangerous enemies. But +the final issue was only postponed. By contrivances, which need not +be related in detail, Nagamasa was again induced to take the field, +and, in 1573, the Owari forces found themselves once more confronted +by the allied armies of Echizen and Omi. By clever strategy the +Echizen baron was induced to take the fatal step of separating +himself from his Omi colleague, and at Tone-yama he sustained a +crushing defeat, leaving two thousand of his men and twenty-three of +his captains dead upon the field. He himself fled and for a time +remained concealed, but ultimately, being closely menaced with +capture, he committed suicide. Meanwhile, Nagamasa had withdrawn to +his stronghold of Otani, where he was besieged by Nobunaga. The +castle ultimately fell, Nagamasa and his son dying by their own +hands. + +This year witnessed also the death of Takeda Shingen, and thus +Nobunaga not only established his sway over the whole of the +provinces of Omi and Echizen but also was relieved from the constant +menace of a formidable attack by a captain to whom public opinion +justly attributed the leading place among Japanese strategists. The +whole of Nagamasa's estates, yielding an annual return of 180,000 +koku, was given to Hideyoshi, and he was ordered to assume the +command of Otani Castle, whence, however, he moved shortly afterwards +to Nagahama. + +HIEI-ZAN + +It was now possible for Nobunaga to devote his entire attention to +the soldier-priests who had allied themselves with his enemies. It +has been shown that the monastery of Hiei-zan had afforded shelter +and sustenance to the forces of Echizen and Omi during the winter of +1570-1571, and it has been shown also that Nobunaga, underrating the +strength of the priests in the province of Settsu, sustained defeat +at their hands. He now (1574) sent an army to hold the soldier-monks +of Settsu in check while he himself dealt with Hiei-zan. This great +monastery, as already shown, was erected in the ninth century in +obedience to the Buddhist superstition that the northeastern quarter +of the heavens is the "Demon's Gate," and that a temple must be +erected there to afford security against evil influences. The temple +on Hiei-zan had received the munificent patronage of monarch after +monarch, and had grown to be a huge monastery, containing some three +thousand priests. This miniature city completely commanded Kyoto, and +was guarded in front by a great lake. But, above all, it was +sanctified by the superstition of the people, and when Nobunaga +invested it, he found the greatest reluctance on the part of his +generals to proceed to extremities. Nevertheless, he overcame these +scruples, and drawing a cordon of troops round the great monastery, +he applied the torch to the buildings, burnt to death nearly all its +inmates, including women, confiscated its estates, and built, for +purposes of future prevention, a castle at Sakamoto, which was placed +under the command of Akechi Mitsuhide. When, in after years, this +same Mitsuhide treacherously compassed Nobunaga's death, men said +that the opening of the Demon's Gate had entailed its due penalty. + +OTHER PRIESTLY DISTURBANCES + +It was not in Settsu and at Hiei-zan only that the Buddhist soldiers +turned their weapons against Nobunaga. The Asai sept received +assistance from no less than ten temples in Omi; the Asakura family +had the ranks of its soldiers recruited from monasteries in Echizen +and Kaga; the Saito clan received aid from the bonzes in Izumi and +Iga, and the priests of the great temple Hongwan-ji in Osaka were in +friendly communication with the Mori sept in the west, with the +Takeda in Kai, and with the Hojo in Sagami. In fact, the difficulties +encountered by Nobunaga in his attempts to bring the whole empire +under the affective sway of the Throne were incalculably accentuated +by the hostility of the great Shin sect of Buddhism. He dealt +effectually with all except the monastery at Ishi-yama in Osaka. The +immense natural strength of the position and the strategical ability +of its lord-abbot, Kosa, enabled it to defy all the assaults of the +Owari chief, and it was not until 1588--six years after Nobunaga's +death--that, through the intervention of the Emperor, peace was +finally restored. After eleven years of almost incessant struggle, +his Majesty's envoy, Konoe Sakihisa, succeeded in inducing the Ikko +priests to lay down their arms. It will be presently seen that the +inveterate hostility shown by the Buddhists to Nobunaga was largely +responsible for his favourable attitude towards Christianity. + +THE CASTLE OF AZUCHI + +The lightness and flimsiness of construction in Japanese houses has +been noted already several times. Even though there was continual +warfare in the provinces of family against family, the character of +the fighting and of the weapons used was such that there was little +need for the building of elaborate defenses, and there was +practically nothing worthy the name of a castle. Watch-towers had +been built and roofs and walls were sometimes protected by putting +nails in the building points outward,--a sort of chevaux de frise. +But a system of outlying defenses, ditch, earthen wall and wooden +palisade, was all that was used so long as fighting was either +hand-to-hand or with missiles no more penetrating than arrows. But +when fire-arms were introduced in 1542, massively constructed castles +began to be built. These were in general patterned after Western +models, but with many minor modifications. + +The first of these fortresses was built at Azuchi, in Omi, under the +auspices of Oda Nobunaga. Commenced in 1576, the work was completed +in 1579. In the centre of the castle rose a tower ninety feet high, +standing on a massive stone basement seventy-two feet in height, the +whole forming a structure absolutely without precedent in Japan. The +tower was of wood, and had, therefore, no capacity for resisting +cannon. But, as a matter of fact, artillery can scarcely be said to +have been used in Japan until modern days. Nobunaga's castle is +stated by some historians to have been partially attributable to +Christianity, but this theory seems to rest solely upon the fact that +the central tower was known as Tenshu-kaku, or the "tower of the lord +of Heaven." There were more numerous indications that the spirit of +Buddhism influenced the architect, for in one of the highest storeys +of the tower, the four "guardian kings" were placed, and in the lower +chamber stood an effigy of Tamon (Ananda). The cost of constructing +this colossal edifice was very heavy, and funds had to be collected +from the whole of the eleven provinces then under Nobunaga's sway. + +NOBUNAGA AND IEYASU + +It has already been noted that Ieyasu was Nobunaga's sole ally in the +east of Japan at the time of the fall of the Imagawa clan. It has +also been noted that Ujizane, the son of Imagawa Yoshimoto, was a +negligible quantity. During many years, however, Ieyasu had to stand +constantly on the defensive against Takeda Shingen. But, in 1572, +Shingen and Ieyasu made a compact against the Imagawa, and this was +followed by a successful campaign on the part of the Tokugawa leader +against Ujizane. The agreement between Shingen and Ieyasu lasted only +a short time. In November, 1572, Shingen led a large force and seized +two of the Tokugawa castles, menacing the third and most important at +Hamamatsu, where Ieyasu himself was in command. Nobunaga thereupon +despatched an army to succour his ally, and in January, 1573, a +series of bloody engagements took place outside Hamamatsu. One +of Nobunaga's generals fled; another died in battle, and Ieyasu +barely escaped into the castle, which he saved by a desperate +device--leaving the gates open and thus suggesting to the enemy that +they would be ambushed if they entered. This battle, known in history +as the War of Mikata-ga-hara, was the greatest calamity that ever +befell Ieyasu, and that he would have suffered worse things at the +hands of Takeda Shingen cannot be doubted, had not Shingen's death +taken place in May, 1573. + +Various traditions have been handed down about the demise of this +celebrated captain, undoubtedly one of the greatest strategists Japan +ever possessed. Some say that he was shot by a soldier of Ieyasu; +others that he was hit by a stray bullet, but the best authorities +agree that he died of illness. His son, Katsuyori, inherited none of +his father's great qualities except his bravery. Immediately on +coming into power, he moved a large army against the castle of +Nagashino in the province of Mikawa, one of Ieyasu's strongholds. +This was in June, 1575, and on the news reaching Nobunaga, the latter +lost no time in setting out to succour his ally. On the way a samurai +named Torii Suneemon arrived from the garrison of Nagashino with news +that unless succour were speedily given the fortress could not hold +out. This message reached Ieyasu, who was awaiting the arrival of +Nobunaga before marching to the relief of the beleagured fortress. +Ieyasu assured the messenger that help would come on the morrow, and +urged Suneemon not to essay to re-enter the fortress. But the man +declared that he must carry the tidings to his hard-set comrades. He +was taken prisoner by the enemy and led into the presence of +Katsuyori, who assured him that his life would be spared if he +informed the inmates of the castle that no aid could be hoped for. +Suneemon simulated consent. Despatched under escort to the +neighbourhood of the fort, he was permitted to address the garrison, +and in a loud voice he shouted to his comrades that within a short +time they might look for succour. He was immediately killed by his +escort. + +This dramatic episode became a household tradition in Japan. Side by +side with it may be set the fact that Hideyoshi, who accompanied +Nobunaga in this campaign, employed successfully against the enemy +one of the devices recommended by the Chinese strategists, whose +books on the method of conducting warfare were closely studied in +those days by the Japanese. Sakuma Nobumori, one of Nobunaga's +captains, was openly, and of set purpose, insulted and beaten by +orders of his general, and thereafter he escaped to the camp of the +Takeda army, pretending that the evil treatment he had undergone was +too much for his loyalty. Katsuyori, the Takeda commander, received +the fugitive with open arms, and acting in accordance with his +advice, disposed his troops in such a manner as to forfeit all the +advantages of the position. The battle that ensued is memorable as +the first historical instance of the use of firearms on any +considerable scale in a Japanese campaign. Nobunaga's men took +shelter themselves behind palisades and fusilladed the enemy so hotly +that the old-fashioned hand-to-hand fighting became almost +impossible. The losses of the Takeda men were enormous, and it may be +said that the tactics of the era underwent radical alteration from +that time, so that the fight at Takinosawa is memorable in Japanese +history. Hideyoshi urged the advisability of pushing on at once to +Katsuyori's capital, but Nobunaga hesitated to make such a call upon +the energies of his troops, and the final overthrow of the Takeda +chief was postponed. + +MILITARY TACTICS + +The Mongol invasion should have taught to the Japanese the great +advantages of co-operating military units, but individual prowess +continued to be the guiding factor of field tactics in Japan down to +the second half of the sixteenth century, when the introduction of +firearms inspired new methods. Japanese historians have not much to +say upon this subject. Indeed Rai Sanyo, in the Nihon-gwaishi, may +almost be said to be the sole authority. He writes as follows: "The +generalship of Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin was something quite +new in the country at their time. Prior to their day the art of +manoeuvring troops had been little studied. Armies met, but each +individual that composed them relied on his personal prowess and +strength for victory. These two barons, however, made a special study +of strategy and military tactics, with the result that they became +authorities on the various methods of handling troops. In reference +to the employment of cavalry, the Genji warriors and the first of the +Ashikaga shoguns made use of horses largely, but in later days the +Ashikaga did not move away from Kyoto and had no use for horses. +Nobunaga, being near Kyoto, and most of the wars in which he engaged +involving no very long marches, relied almost solely on infantry. +Both Takeda and Uesugi were well supplied with mounted troops, but +owing to the hilly nature of their territories, they made no special +study of cavalry exercises and, almost invariably, the soldiers +employed their horses solely for rapid movement from one place to +another; when a battle commenced they alighted and fought on foot. It +is therefore correct to say that at this time cavalry had gone out of +use. Bows and arrows were, of course, superseded when firearms came +into use. + +"Thenceforth, the gun and the long spear were the chief weapons +relied on. Peasants did not rank as soldiers, but their services were +variously utilized in time of war. They were trained in the use of +muskets, and of bows and arrows on hunting expeditions, and thus, +when hostilities broke out, they were able to render considerable +assistance in the defense of their houses. Highwaymen were frequently +employed as spies and scouts. Both Takeda and Uesugi sanctioned this +practice. These two generals also agreed in approving the following +tactical arrangement: the van-guard, consisting of musketeers, +artillerymen, and archers, was followed by companies of infantry +armed with long spears. Then came the cavalry, and after them the +main body, attached to which were drummers and conch-blowers. The +whole army was divided into right and left wings, and a body of men +was kept in reserve. At the opening of the battle, the horsemen +dismounted and advanced on foot. This order was occasionally modified +to suit altered circumstances, but as a rule, it was strictly +followed."* + +*Quoted by W. Dening in A New Life of Hideyoshi. + +The artillery mentioned in the above quotation must be taken in a +strictly limited sense. Indeed, it would be more correct to speak of +heavy muskets, for cannon, properly so called, may scarcely be said +to have formed any part of the equipment of a Japanese army until +modern times. When the Portuguese discovered Japan, in 1542, they +introduced the musket to the Japanese, and the weapon was long known +as Tanegashima, that being the name of the island where the +Portuguese ship first touched. Thenceforth, the manufacture of +firearms was carried on with more or less success at various places, +especially Sakai in Izumi and Negoro in Kii. "Small guns" (kozutsu) +and "large guns" (ozutsu) are mentioned in the annals of the time, +but by ozutsuwe must understand muskets of large calibre rather than +cannon. + +INVASION OF CHUGOKU. + +At this time nearly the whole of central Japan (Chugoku) was under +the sway of Mori Terumoto, who succeeded his grandfather, Motonari, +head of the great Mori family and ancestor of the present Prince +Mori. One of these central provinces, namely, Harima, had just been +the scene of a revolt which Hideyoshi crushed by his wonted +combination of cajolery and conquest. The ease with which this feat +was accomplished and the expediency of maintaining the sequence of +successes induced Hideyoshi to propose that the subjugation of the +whole of central Japan should be entrusted to him and that he should +be allowed to adopt Nobunaga's second son, Hidekatsu, to whom the +rule of Chugoku should be entrusted, Hideyoshi keeping for himself +only the outlying portions. Nobunaga readily agreed, and, in 1577, +Hideyoshi set out on this important expedition, with a force of some +ten thousand men, all fully equipped and highly trained. It is +noteworthy that, before leaving Azuchi, Hideyoshi declared to +Nobunaga his intention of conquering Kyushu after the reduction of +Chugoku, and thereafter he announced his purpose of crossing to Korea +and making that country the basis of a campaign against China. "When +that is effected," Hideyoshi is quoted as saying, "the three +countries, China, Korea, and Japan, will be one. I shall do it all as +easily as a man rolls up a piece of matting and carries it under his +arm." + +It is evident from these words that the project of invading Korea and +China was entertained by Hideyoshi nearly twenty years before--as +will presently be seen--he attempted to carry it into practice. +Hideyoshi marched in the first place to Harima, where his operations +were so vigorous and so successful that Ukita Naoiye, who held the +neighbouring provinces of Bizen and Mimasaka under the suzerainty of +Mori Terumoto, espoused Nobunaga's cause without fighting. It is +unnecessary to follow the details of the campaign that ensued. It +lasted for five years, and ended in the subjection of as many +provinces, namely, Harima, Tamba, Tango, Tajima, and Inaba. Hideyoshi +then returned to Azuchi and presented to Nobunaga an immense quantity +of spolia opima which are said to have exceeded five thousand in +number and to have covered all the ground around the castle. + +DESTRUCTION OF THE TAKEDA + +Shortly before Hideyoshi's triumphant return from his first brilliant +campaign in the central provinces, a memorable event occurred in Kai. +Nobunaga's eldest son, Nobutada, uniting his forces with those of +Ieyasu, completely destroyed the army of Takeda Katsuyori at +Temmoku-zan, in the province of Kai. So thorough was the victory that +Katsuyori and his son both committed suicide. Nobunaga then gave the +province of Suruga to Ieyasu, and divided Shinano and Kotsuke into +manors, which were distributed among the Owari generals as rewards. +Takigawa Kazumasu was nominated kwanryo of the Kwanto, chiefly in +order to watch and restrain the movements of the Hojo family, now the +only formidable enemy of Nobunaga in the east. + +RESUMPTION OF THE CHUGOKU CAMPAIGN + +After a brief rest, Hideyoshi again left Kyoto for the central +provinces. He commenced operations on this second occasion by +invading the island of Awaji, and having reduced it, he passed on to +Bitchu, where he invested the important castle of Takamatsu, then +under the command of Shimizu Muneharu. This stronghold was so well +planned and had such great natural advantages that Hideyoshi +abstained from any attempt to carry it by assault, and had recourse +to the device of damming and banking a river so as to flood the +fortress. About two miles and a half of embankment had to be made, +and during the progress of the work, Mori Terumoto, who had been +conducting a campaign elsewhere, found time to march a strong army to +the relief of Takamatsu. But Terumoto, acting on the advice of his +best generals, refrained from attacking Hideyoshi's army. He sought +rather to invite an onset from Hideyoshi, so that, during the +progress of the combat, the garrison might find an opportunity to +destroy the embankment. Hideyoshi, however, was much too astute to be +tempted by such tactics. He saw that the fate of the castle must be +sealed in a few days, and he refrained from any offensive movement. +But, in order to gratify Nobunaga by simulating need of his +assistance, a despatch was sent to Azuchi begging him to come and +personally direct the capture of the fort and the shattering of +Terumoto's army. + +ASSASSINATION OF NOBUNAGA + +Among Nobunaga's vassal barons at that time was Akechi Mitsuhide. A +scion of the illustrious family of Seiwa Genji, Mitsuhide had served +under several suzerains prior to 1566, when he repaired to Gifu and +offered his sword to Nobunaga. Five years afterwards he received a +fief of one hundred thousand koku and the title of Hyuga no Kami. +This rapid promotion made him Nobunaga's debtor, but a shocking +event, which occurred in 1577, seems to have inspired him with the +deepest resentment against his patron. Mitsuhide, besieging the +castle of Yakami in Tamba province, promised quarter to the brothers +Hatano, who commanded its defence, and gave his own mother as +hostage. But Nobunaga, disregarding this promise, put the Hatano +brothers to the sword, and the latter's adherents avenged themselves +by slaughtering Mitsuhide's mother. The best informed belief is that +this incident converted Mitsuhide into Nobunaga's bitter enemy, and +that the spirit of revenge was fostered by insults to which Nobunaga, +always passionate and rough, publicly subjected Mitsuhide. At all +events, when, as stated above, Hideyoshi's message of invitation +reached Nobunaga at Azuchi, the latter gave orders for the despatch +of a strong force to Takamatsu, one body, consisting of some thirty +thousand men, being placed under the command of Mitsuhide. Nobunaga +himself repaired to Kyoto and took up his quarters at the temple +Honno-ji, whence he intended to follow his armies to the central +provinces. + +Mitsuhide concluded that his opportunity had now come. He determined +to kill Nobunaga, and then to join hands with Mori Terumoto. He made +known his design to a few of his retainers, and these attempted +fruitlessly to dissuade him, but, seeing that his resolution was +irrevocable, they agreed to assist him. The troops were duly +assembled and put in motion, but instead of taking the road westward, +they received an unexpected intimation, "The enemy is in Honno-ji," +and their route was altered accordingly. Nobunaga defended himself +valiantly. But being at last severely wounded and recognizing the +hopelessness of resistance, he set fire to the temple and committed +suicide, his fourteen-year-old son, Katsunaga, perishing with him. +His eldest son, Nobutada, who had just returned from the campaign in +the east, followed his father to Kyoto, and was sojourning in the +temple Myogaku-ji when news reached him of Mitsuhide's treachery. He +attempted to succour his father, but arrived too late. Then he +repaired to the Nijo palace and, having entrusted his infant son to +the care of Maeda Gen-i with instructions to carry him to Kiyosu, he +made preparation for defence against Mitsuhide. Finally, overwhelmed +by numbers, he killed himself, and his example was followed by ninety +of his retainers. Mitsuhide then proceeded to Azuchi and having +pillaged the castle, returned to Kyoto, where he was received in +audience by the Emperor, and he then took the title of shogun. + +AFTER THE ASSASSINATION + +Nobunaga was assassinated on the second day of the sixth month, +according to Japanese reckoning. News of the event reached the camp +of the besiegers of Takamatsu almost immediately, but a messenger +sent by Mitsuhide to convey the intelligence to Mori and to solicit +his alliance was intercepted by Hideyoshi's men. A great deal of +historical confusion envelops immediately subsequent events, but the +facts seem simple enough. Hideyoshi found himself in a position of +great difficulty. His presence in Kyoto was almost a necessity, yet +he could not withdraw from Takamatsu without sacrificing all the +fruits of the campaign in the west and exposing himself to a probably +disastrous attack by Mori's army. In this emergency he acted with his +usual talent. Summoning a famous priest, Ekei, of a temple in Aki, +who enjoyed the confidence of all parties, he despatched him to +Mori's camp with proposals for peace and for the delimitation of the +frontiers of Mori and Nobunaga, on condition that the castle of +Takamatsu should be surrendered and the head of its commander, +Shimizu Muneharu, presented to his conquerer. + +Mori was acting entirely by the advice of his two uncles, Kikkawa and +Kohayakawa, both men of profound insight. They fully admitted the +desirability of peace, since Hideyoshi's army effectually commanded +the communications between the eastern and western parts of Chugoku, +but they resolutely rejected the notion of sacrificing the life of +Shimizu on the altar of any compact. When the priest carried this +answer to Hideyoshi, the latter suggested, as the only recourse, that +Shimizu himself should be consulted. Ekei accordingly repaired to the +castle and explained the situation to its commandant. Shimizu had not +a moment's hesitation. He declared himself more than willing to die +for the sake of his liege-lord and his comrades, and he asked only +that fish and wine, to give the garrison the rare treat of a good +meal, should be furnished. On the 5th of the sixth month this +agreement was carried into effect. Shimizu committed suicide, the +compact between Mori and Hideyoshi was signed, and the latter, +striking his camp, prepared to set out for Kyoto. It was then for the +first time that Mori and his generals learned of the death of +Nobunaga. Immediately there was an outcry in favour of disregarding +the compact and falling upon the enemy in his retreat; but Kikkawa +and Kohayakawa stubbornly opposed anything of the kind. They declared +that such a course would disgrace the house of Mori, whereas, by +keeping faith, the friendship of Hideyoshi and his fellow barons +would be secured. Accordingly the withdrawal was allowed to take +place unmolested. + +IEYASU + +The life of the Tokugawa chieftain was placed in great jeopardy by +the Mitsuhide incident. After being brilliantly received by Nobunaga +at Azuchi, Ieyasu, at his host's suggestion, had made a sightseeing +excursion to Kyoto, whence he prolonged his journey to Osaka and +finally to Sakai. The news of the catastrophe reached him at the +last-named place, and his immediate impulse was to be avenged upon +the assassin. But it was pointed out to him that his following was +much too small for such an enterprise, and he therefore decided to +set out for the east immediately. Mitsuhide, well aware of the +Tokugawa baron's unfriendliness, made strenuous efforts to waylay +Ieyasu on the way, and with great difficulty the journey eastward was +accomplished by avoiding all the highroads. + +NOBUNAGA + +Nobunaga perished at the age of forty-nine. The great faults of his +character seem to have been want of discrimination in the treatment +of his allies and his retainers, and want of patience in the conduct +of affairs. In his eyes, a baron of high rank deserved no more +consideration than a humble retainer, and he often gave offence which +disturbed the achievement of his plans. As for his impetuousness, his +character has been well depicted side by side with that of Hideyoshi +and Ieyasu in three couplets familiar to all Japanese. These couplets +represent Nobunaga as saying: + + Nakaneba korosu + Hototogisu. + (I'll kill the cuckoo + If if it won't sing) + +By Hideyoshi the same idea is conveyed thus:-- + + Nakashite miyo + Hototogisu. + (I'll try to make the cuckoo sing.) + +Whereas, Ieyasu puts the matter thus:-- + + Nakumade mato + Hototogisu. + (I'll wait till the cuckoo does sing.) + +Nevertheless, whatever Nobunaga may have lost by these defects, the +fact remains that in the three decades of his military career he +brought under his sway thirty-three provinces, or one-half of the +whole country, and at the time of his death he contemplated the +further conquest of Shikoku, Chugoku, and Kyushu. To that end he had +appointed Hideyoshi to be Chikuzen no Kami; Kawajiri Shigeyoshi to be +Hizen no Kami, while his own son, Nobutaka, with Niwa Nagahide for +chief of staff, had been sent to subdue Shikoku. Even admitting that +his ambition was self-aggrandizement in the first place, it is +undeniable that he made the peace of the realm, the welfare of the +people, and the stability of the throne his second purposes, and that +he pursued them with ardour. Thus, one of his earliest acts when he +obtained the control in Kyoto was to appoint officials for +impartially administering justice, to reduce the citizens' taxes; to +succour widows and orphans, and to extend to all the blessings of +security and tranquillity. In 1572, we find him sending messengers to +the provinces with instructions to put in hand the making of roads +having a width of from twenty-one to twelve feet; to set up +milestones and plant trees along these roads; to build bridges; to +remove barriers, and generally to facilitate communications. + +Towards the Throne he adopted a demeanour emphatically loyal. In this +respect, he followed the example of his father, Nobuhide, and +departed radically from that of his predecessors, whether Fujiwara, +Taira, or Ashikaga. As concrete examples may be cited the facts that +he restored the shrines of Ise, and reinstituted the custom of +renovating them every twenty years; that, in the year following his +entry into the capital, he undertook extensive repairs of the palace; +that he granted considerable estates for the support of the Imperial +household, and that he organized a commission to repurchase all the +properties which had been alienated from the Court. Finally, it is on +record that when, in recognition of all this, the sovereign proposed +to confer on him the rank of minister of the Left, he declined the +honour, and suggested that titles of lower grade should be given to +those of his subordinates who had shown conspicuous merit. + +DEATH OF MITSUHIDE + +It was plainly in Hideyoshi's interests that he should figure +publicly as the avenger of Nobunaga's murder, and to this end his +speedy arrival in Kyoto was essential. He therefore set out at once, +after the fall of Takamatsu, with only a small number of immediate +followers. Mitsuhide attempted to destroy him on the way, and the +details of this attempt have been magnified by tradition to +incredible dimensions. All that can be said with certainty is that +Hideyoshi was, for a moment, in extreme danger but that he escaped +scathless. Immediately on arriving in Kyoto, he issued an appeal to +all Nobunaga's vassal-barons, inviting them to join in exterminating +Mitsuhide, whose heinous crime "provoked both heaven and earth." + +But it was no part of Hideyoshi's policy to await the arrival of +these barons. He had already at his command an army of some thirty +thousand men, and with this he moved out, challenging Mitsuhide to +fight on the plains of Yamazaki. Mitsuhide did not hesitate to put +his fortunes to the supreme test. He accepted Hideyoshi's challenge, +and, on the 12th of June, a great battle was fought, the issue of +which was decided by two things; first, the defection of Tsutsui +Junkei, who refrained from striking until the superior strength of +Hideyoshi had been manifested, and secondly, the able strategy of +Hideyoshi, who anticipated Mitsuhide's attempt to occupy the position +of Tenno-zan, which commanded the field. From the carnage that ensued +Mitsuhide himself escaped, but while passing through a wood he +received from a bamboo spear in the hands of a peasant a thrust which +disabled him, and he presently committed suicide. Thus, on the +thirteenth day after Nobunaga's death, the head of his assassin was +exposed in Kyoto in front of the temple of Honno-ji where the murder +had taken place, and Mitsuhide's name went down in history as the +"Three days' shogun" (Mikkakubo). + +CONFERENCE AT KIYOSU + +By this time the principal of Nobunaga's vassal-barons were on their +way at the head of contingents to attack Mitsuhide. On learning of +the assassin's death, these barons all directed their march to +Kiyosu, and in the castle from which Nobunaga had moved to his early +conquests thirty years previously, a momentous council was held for +the purpose of determining his successor. The choice would have +fallen naturally on Samboshi, eldest son of Nobunaga's first-born, +Nobutada, who, as already described, met his death in the Mitsuhide +affair. But Hideyoshi was well understood to favour Samboshi's +succession, and this sufficed to array in opposition several of the +barons habitually hostile to Hideyoshi. Thus, in spite of the fact +that both were illegitimate and had already been adopted into other +families, Nobunaga's two sons, Nobukatsu and Nobutaka, were put +forward as proper candidates, the former supported by Ikeda Nobuteru +and Gamo Katahide; the latter, by Shibata Katsuiye and Takigawa +Kazumasu. + +At one moment it seemed as though this question would be solved by an +appeal to violence, but ultimately, at the suggestion of Tsutsui +Junkei, it was agreed that Samboshi should be nominated Nobunaga's +successor; that Nobukatsu and Nobutaka should be appointed his +guardians, and that the administrative duties should be entrusted to +a council consisting of Shibata Katsuiye, Niwa Nagahide, Ikeda +Nobuteru, and Hideyoshi, each taking it in turn to discharge these +functions and each residing for that purpose in Kyoto three months +during the year. An income of one hundred thousand koku in the +province of Omi was assigned to Samboshi pending the attainment of +his majority, when he should be placed in possession of much larger +estates, which were to be entrusted in the meanwhile to the keeping +of one of the four barons mentioned above. Nobukatsu received the +province of Owari, and Nobutaka that of Mino, the remainder of +Nobunaga's dominions being apportioned to his generals, with the +exception of Hideyoshi, to whom were assigned the provinces recently +overrun by him in the midlands--Tajima, Harima, Inaba, and Tamba. + +Such an arrangement had no elements of stability. The four +councillors could not possibly be expected to work in harmony, and it +was certain that Katsuiye, Sakuma Morimasa, and Takigawa Kazumasu +would lose no opportunity of quarrelling with Hideyoshi. Indeed, that +result was averted solely by Hideyoshi's tact and long suffering, for +when, a few days later, the barons again met at Kiyosu for the +purpose of discussing territorial questions, every possible effort +was made to find a pretext for killing him. But Hideyoshi's +astuteness and patience led him successfully through this maze of +intrigues and complications. He even went so far as to hand over his +castle of Nagahama to Katsuiye, and to endure insults which in +ordinary circumstances must have been resented with the sword. +Tradition describes a grand memorial ceremony organized in Kyoto by +Hideyoshi in honour of Nobunaga, and, on that occasion, incidents are +said to have occurred which bear the impress of romance. It is, at +all events, certain that the immediate issue of this dangerous time +was a large increase of Hideyoshi's authority, and his nomination by +the Court to the second grade of the fourth rank as well as to the +position of major-general. Moreover, the three barons who had been +appointed with Hideyoshi to administer affairs in Kyoto in turn, saw +that Hideyoshi's power was too great to permit the peaceful working +of such a programme. They therefore abandoned their functions, and +Hideyoshi remained in sole charge of the Imperial Court and of the +administration in the capital. + +DEATH OF SHIBATA KATSUIYE + +It has been already stated that Nobunaga's sons, Nobutaka and +Nobukatsu, were bitter enemies and that Nobutaka had the support of +Takigawa Kazumasu as well as of Shibata Katsuiye. Thus, Hideyoshi was +virtually compelled to espouse the cause of Nobukatsu. In January, +1583, he took the field at the head of seventy-five thousand men, and +marched into Ise to attack Kazumasu, whom he besieged in his castle +at Kuwana. The castle fell, but Kazumasu managed to effect his +escape, and in the mean while Katsuiye entered Omi in command of a +great body of troops, said to number sixty-five thousand. At the last +moment, however, he had failed to secure the co-operation of Maeda +Toshiiye, an important ally, and his campaign therefore assumed a +defensive character. Hideyoshi himself, on reconnoitring the +position, concluded that he had neither numerical preponderance nor +strategical superiority sufficient to warrant immediate assumption of +the offensive along the whole front. He therefore distributed his +army on a line of thirteen redoubts, keeping a reserve of fifteen +thousand men under his own direct command, his object being to hold +the enemy's forces in check while he attacked Gifu, which place he +assaulted with such vigour that the garrison made urgent appeals to +Katsuiye for succour. + +In this situation it was imperative that some attempt should be made +to break the line of redoubts, but it was equally imperative that +this attempt should not furnish to the enemy a point of +concentration. Accordingly, having ascertained that the weakest point +in the line was at Shizugatake, where only fifteen hundred men were +posted, Katsuiye instructed his principal general, Sakuma Morimasa, +to lead the reserve force of fifteen thousand men against that +position, but instructed him at the same time to be content with any +success, however partial, and not to be betrayed into pushing an +advantage, since by so doing he would certainly furnish a fatal +opportunity to the enemy. Morimasa neglected this caution. Having +successfully surprised the detachment at Shizugatake, and having +inflicted heavy carnage on the defenders of the redoubt, who lost +virtually all their officers, he not only sat down to besiege the +redoubt, whose decimated garrison held out bravely, but he also +allowed his movements to be hampered by a small body of only two +score men under Niwa Nagahide, who took up a position in the +immediate neighbourhood, and displaying their leader's flag, deceived +Morimasa into imagining that they had a powerful backing. These +things happened during the night of April 19, 1583. Katsuiye, on +receipt of the intelligence, sent repeated orders to Morimasa +requiring him to withdraw forthwith; but Morimasa, elated by his +partial victory, neglected these orders. + +On the following day, the facts were communicated to Hideyoshi, at +Ogaki, distant about thirty miles from Shizugatake, who immediately +appreciated the opportunity thus furnished. He set out at the head of +his reserves, and in less than twenty-four hours his men crossed +swords with Morimasa's force. The result was the practical +extermination of the latter, including three thousand men under +Katsuiye's adopted son, Gonroku. The latter had been sent to insist +strenuously on Morimasa's retreat, but learning that Morimasa had +determined to die fighting, Gonroku announced a similar intention on +his own part. This incident was characteristic of samurai canons. +Hideyoshi's victory cost the enemy five thousand men, and demoralized +Katsuiye's army so completely that he subsequently found himself able +to muster a total force of three thousand only. Nothing remained but +flight, and in order to withdraw from the field, Katsuiye was obliged +to allow his chief retainer, Menju Shosuke, to impersonate him, a +feat which, of course, cost Shosuke's life. + +Katsuiye's end is one of the most dramatic incidents in Japanese +history. He decided to retire to his castle of Kitano-sho, and, on +the way thither, he visited his old friend, Maeda Toshiiye, at the +latter's castle of Fuchu, in Echizen. Thanking Toshiiye for all the +assistance he had rendered, and urging him to cultivate friendship +with Hideyoshi, he obtained a remount from Toshiiye's stable, and, +followed by about a hundred samurai, pushed on to Kitano-sho. Arrived +there, he sent away all who might be suspected of sympathizing with +Hideyoshi, and would also have sent away his wife and her three +daughters. This lady was a sister of Nobunaga. She had been given, as +already stated, to Asai Nagamasa, and to him she bore three children. +But after Nagamasa's destruction she was married to Katsuiye, and was +living at the latter's castle of Kitano-sho when the above incidents +occurred. She declined to entertain the idea of leaving the castle, +declaring that, as a samurai's daughter, she should have shared her +first husband's fate, and that nothing would induce her to repeat +that error. Her three daughters were accordingly sent away, and she +herself joined in the night-long feast which Katsuiye and his +principal retainers held while Hideyoshi's forces were marching to +the attack. When the sun rose, the whole party, including the ladies, +committed suicide, having first set fire to the castle. + +YODOGOMI + +One of the three daughters of Asai Nagamasa afterwards became the +concubine of Hideyoshi and bore to him a son, Hideyori, who, by her +advice, subsequently acted in defiance of Ieyasu, thus involving the +fall of the house of Hideyoshi and unconsciously avenging the fate of +Nobunaga. + +NOBUTAKA + +Nobunaga's son, Nobutaka, who had been allied with Katsuiye, escaped, +at first, to Owari on the latter's downfall, but ultimately followed +Katsuiye's example by committing suicide. As for Samboshi, Nobunaga's +grandson and nominal heir, he attained his majority at this time, but +proving to be a man of marked incompetence, the eminent position for +which he had been destined was withheld. He took the name of Oda +Hidenobu, and with an income of three hundred thousand koku settled +down contentedly as Hideyoshi's vassal. + +OSAKA CASTLE + +Hideyoshi left behind him a striking monument of his greatness of +thought and power of execution. At Osaka where in 1532 the priests of +the Hongwan-ji temple had built a castle which Nobunaga captured in +1580 only after a long and severe siege, Hideyoshi built what is +called The Castle of Osaka. It is a colossal fortress, which is still +used as military headquarters for garrison and arsenal, and the +dimensions of which are still a wonder, though only a portion of the +building survives. Materials for the work were requisitioned from +thirty provinces, their principal components being immense granite +rocks, many of which measured fourteen feet in length and breadth, +and some were forty feet long and ten feet wide. These huge stones +had to be carried by water from a distance of several miles. The +outlying protection of this great castle consisted of triple moats +and escarpments. The moats were twenty feet deep, with six to ten +feet of water. The total enclosed space was about one hundred acres, +but only one-eighth of this was the hominaru, or keep, inside the +third moat. + +It will be seen that the plan of the castle was to have it divided +into spaces separately defensible, so that an enemy had to establish +his footing by a series of repeated efforts. + +And the second respect in which it was a novelty in Japanese +defensive warfare was that the castle donjon was heavily built and +armoured after a fashion. The three-storey donjon was framed in huge +timbers, quite unlike the flimsy structure of most Japanese +buildings, and the timbers were protected against fire by a heavy +coat of plaster. Roof and gates were covered with a sort of +armor-plate, for there was a copper covering to the roof and the +gates were faced with iron sheets and studs. In earlier "castles" +there had been a thin covering of plaster which a musket ball could +easily penetrate; and stone had been used only in building +foundations. + +THE KOMAKI WAR + +After the suicide of his brother, Nobutaka, and when he saw that his +nephew, Samboshi (Hidenobu), was relegated to the place of a vassal +of Hideyoshi, Nobukatsu seems to have concluded that the time had +come to strike a final blow in assertion of the administrative +supremacy of the Oda family. He began, therefore, to plot with that +object. Hideyoshi, who was well served by spies, soon learned of +these plots, and thinking to persuade Nobukatsu of their +hopelessness, he established close relations with the latter's three +most trusted retainers. No sooner did this come to the cognizance of +Nobukatsu than he caused these three retainers to be assassinated, +and applied to Ieyasu for assistance, Ieyasu consented. This action +on the part of the Tokugawa baron has been much commented on and +variously interpreted by historians, but it has always to be +remembered that Ieyasu had been Oda Nobunaga's ally; that the two had +fought more than once side by side, and that had the Tokugawa leader +rejected Nobukatsu's appeal, he would not only have suffered in +public estimation, but would also have virtually accepted a position +inferior to that evidently claimed by Hideyoshi. + +The course of subsequent events seems to prove that Ieyasu, in taking +the field on this occasion, aimed simply at asserting his own +potentiality and had no thought of plunging the empire into a new +civil war. In March, 1584, he set out from Hamamatsu and joined +Nobukatsu at Kiyosu, in Owari. The scheme of campaign was extensive. +Ieyasu placed himself in communication with Sasa Narimasa, in +Echizen; with Chosokabe Motochika, in Shikoku, and with the military +monks in the province of Kii. The programme was that Narimasa should +raise his standard in Echizen and Kaga, and that Motochika, with the +monks of Kii, should move to the attack of Osaka, so that Hideyoshi +would be compelled to carry on three wars at the same time. Hideyoshi +met this combination with his usual astuteness. He commissioned +Uesugi Kagekatsu to attack the Sasa troops in rear while Maeda +Toshiiye menaced them from the front; he told off Hachisuka to oppose +the soldier-monks of Kii; he posted Sengoku Hidehisa in Awaji to hold +in check the forces of Chosokabe Motochika, and he stationed Ukita +Hideiye at Okayama to provide against the contingency of hostility on +the part of the Mori family. Fighting commenced in the province of +Ise, and success at the outset crowned the arms of Hideyoshi's +generals. They captured two castles, and Ieyasu thereupon pushed his +van to an isolated hill called Komaki-yama, nearly equidistant from +the castles of Inu-yama and Kiyosu, in Owari, which he entrenched +strongly, and there awaited the onset of the Osaka army. The war thus +came to be known as that of Komaki. + +Hideyoshi himself would have set out for the field on the 19th of +March, but he was obliged to postpone his departure for some days, +until Kuroda and Hachisuka had broken the offensive strength of the +monks of Kii. It thus fell out that he did not reach the province of +Owari until the 27th of March. His army is said to have numbered one +hundred and twenty thousand men. It is commonly alleged that this was +the only war between Ieyasu and Hideyoshi, and that the latter +suffered defeat at the hands of the former. But the fact is that two +of Hideyoshi's generals, Ikeda Nobuteru and Mori Nagayoshi, acted in +direct contravention of his orders, and thus precipitated a +catastrophe for which Hideyoshi cannot justly be held responsible. +These two captains argued that as Ieyasu had massed a large force at +Komaki and at the Obata entrenchments in the same district, he had +probably left his base in Mikawa comparatively undefended. They +proposed, therefore, to lead a force against Mikawa. Hideyoshi showed +great reluctance to sanction this movement, but he allowed himself to +be at last persuaded, with the explicit reservation that no success +obtained in Mikawa province should be followed up, and that whatever +the achievement of Nobukatsu's troops, they should at once rejoin the +main army in Owari. + +Unquestionably Hideyoshi had in vivid recollection the disaster which +had overtaken Katsuiye at Shizugatake. Ieyasu, fully cognizant of the +situation through the medium of a spy, knew the limitations set by +Hideyoshi. On April the 7th, Nobuteru attacked the fortress of +Iwasaki, in Mikawa, killed its commandant, and captured the castle. +But elated by this victory, he neglected Hideyoshi's caution, and the +generals of Ieyasu, closing in on him, inflicted a crushing defeat at +a place called Nagakude. It is thus evident that Hideyoshi's share in +the disaster was of a most indirect character. He immediately +hastened to Nagakude, but only to find that Ieyasu had retired to +Obata, and subsequently, when Hideyoshi returned to his headquarters, +Ieyasu placed a still longer interval between the two armies by +marching back to Komaki. + +The war thenceforth may be said to have consisted of a series of +menaces and evasions. Each general sought to entice his opponent out +of an entrenched position, and each general showed an equal +determination not to be so enticed. At last, Hideyoshi pushed a force +into Mino and captured several castles in that province. But even +this failed to change Ieyasu's attitude. The Tokugawa leader entered +the fortress of Kiyosu, and Nobukatsu repaired to that of Nagashima, +in Ise. After eight months of this comparatively fruitless +manoeuvring, a treaty was concluded, on December the 11th, between +Hideyoshi and Nobukatsu, and subsequently between Hideyoshi and +Ieyasu, the latter giving his son Ogimaru to be adopted by Hideyoshi. +The boy was eleven years of age at the time. His name was changed to +Hashiba Hideyasu, and he received the appointment of governor of +Mikawa province. + +The circumstances in which this treaty was concluded have provoked +much historical discussion. Did the overtures come originally from +Hideyoshi, or did they emanate from Ieyasu and Nobukatsu? Some +annalists have endeavoured to prove that Hideyoshi assumed the +attitude of a suppliant, while others have attributed that demeanour +to the Tokugawa chieftain. The situation, however, presents one +feature which is very significant. It was not until the month of +November, 1584, that Chosokabe Motochika effectually brought the +island of Shikoku under his sway, and thus became free to lead a +strong army, including the monks of Kii province, against Osaka. This +formidable danger could not but influence Hideyoshi in the direction +of clasping hands with his eastern foes, and it is therefore more +than probable that a statesman who had never previously allowed +considerations of personal dignity to interfere with the prosecution +of a vital policy, did not hesitate to bow his head to Nobukatsu, in +order to recover the free use of the great army assembled in Owari, +Mino, and Ise. Most fortunate was it for Japan that events took this +turn, for, had Ieyasu and Hideyoshi remained mutually hostile, the +country would probably have been plunged into a repetition of the +terrible struggle from which nothing enabled it to emerge except the +combined labours of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. It was not, +however, until the early summer of 1586 that Hideyoshi and Ieyasu +established genuinely friendly relations. During a year and a half +subsequent to the conclusion of the treaty which ended the Komaki +War, Ieyasu held severely aloof and refrained from visiting Kyoto. +Finally, Hideyoshi despatched Asano Nagamasa to propose that Ieyasu +should take into his household Hideyoshi's younger sister, and that +Hideyoshi should send his mother as a hostage to Okazaki, to remain +there during a visit by Ieyasu to Kyoto. Four months were needed by +Ieyasu to consider this proposal, and in September, 1586, he repaired +to Osaka and thence accompanied Hideyoshi to Kyoto. + +HIDEYOSHI BECOMES REGENT + +In May, 1583, after the downfall of Katsuiye, the Emperor appointed +Hideyoshi to be a councillor of State, and conferred on him the +fourth order of rank. In November of the following year, he received +another step of rank and was nominated gon-dainagon. The Emperor +Okimachi at that time contemplated abdication, but the palace which +he would have occupied as ex-Emperor had fallen into such a state of +disrepair as to be virtually uninhabitable. Hideyoshi signalized his +loyalty on this occasion by spending a large sum on the renovation of +the palace, and in recognition of his services the Emperor raised him +to the high post of nai-daijin. It was confidently expected that he +would then become sa-daijin, but, owing to complications which need +not be related here, the outcome of the matter was that he received +the still higher post of kwampaku (regent). There can be no doubt +that he himself had contemplated becoming shogun. In fact, it is on +record that he made proposals in that sense to Yoshiaki, the last of +the Ashikaga shoguns. But it had come by that time to be recognized +that only a scion of the Minamoto family could be eligible for the +post of shogun, and thus Yoshiaki declined Hideyoshi's overtures, +though to accept them would have materially altered the fallen +fortunes of the Ashikaga sept. Hideyoshi ultimately became prime +minister of State (dajo daijiri) and took the family name of +Toyotomi. It is stated, but the evidence is not conclusive, that in +order to reach these high posts, he had to be adopted into the house +of a Fujiwara noble. He had been a Taira when he served under +Nobunaga, and to become a Fujiwara for courtly purposes was not +likely to cause him much compunction. + +THE MONKS, SHIKOKU, AND ETCHU + +Immediately on the termination of the Komaki War, Hideyoshi took +steps to deal effectually with the three enemies by whom his +movements had been so much hampered, namely, the Buddhist priests of +Kii, the Chosokabe clan in Shikoku, and the Sasa in Etchu. It has +already been stated that the priests of Kii had their headquarters at +Negoro, where there stood the great monastery of Dai-Dembo-In, +belonging to the Shingon sect and enjoying almost the repute of +Koya-san. Scarcely less important was the monastery of Sawaga in the +same province. These two centres of religion had long been in +possession of large bodies of trained soldiers whose ranks were from +time to time swelled by the accession of wandering samurai (ronin). +The army despatched from Osaka in the spring of 1585 to deal with +these warlike monks speedily captured the two monasteries, and, for +purposes of intimidation, crucified a number of the leaders. For a +time, Koya-san itself was in danger, several of the fugitive monks +having taken refuge there. But finally Koya-san was spared in +consideration of surrendering estates yielding twenty-one thousand +koku of rice, which properties had been violently seized by the +monasteries in former years. + +Three months later, Hideyoshi turned his arms against the Chosokabe +sept in Shikoku. This being an enterprise of large dimensions, he +entrusted its conduct to five of his most competent generals, namely, +Ukita Hideiye, Hachisuka Iemasa, Kuroda Nagamasa, Kikkawa Motoharu, +and Kohayakawa Takakage. Hideyoshi himself would have assumed the +direct command, and had actually set out for that purpose from Osaka, +when couriers met him with intelligence that less than one month's +fighting had brought the whole of the Island of the Four Provinces +into subjection. He therefore turned eastward, and entering Etchu, +directed the operations, in progress there under the command of Maeda +Toshiiye against Sasa Narimasa. This campaign lasted seven days, and +ended in the surrender of Narimasa, to whom Hideyoshi showed +remarkable clemency, inasmuch as he suffered him to remain in +possession of considerable estates in Etchu. + +THE UESUGI + +At this time Hideyoshi cemented relations of friendship with the +Uesugi family of Echigo, whose potentialities had always been a +subject of apprehension to Nobunaga. The powerful sept was then ruled +by Kagekatsu, nephew of the celebrated Kenshin. This daimyo had given +evidence of good-will towards Hideyoshi during the Komaki War, but it +was naturally a matter of great importance to establish really +cordial relations with so powerful a baron. History relates that, on +this occasion, Hideyoshi adopted a course which might well have +involved him in serious peril. He entered Echigo with a mere handful +of followers, and placed himself practically at the mercy of +Kagekatsu, judging justly that such trustful fearlessness would win +the heart of the gallant Kagekatsu. Hideyoshi's insight was justified +by the sequel. Several of the principal retainers of Kagekatsu +advised that advantage should be taken of Hideyoshi's rashness, and +that his victorious career should be finally terminated in Echigo. +But this vindictive counsel was rejected by the Uesugi baron, and +relations of a warmly friendly character were established between the +two great captains. + +INVASION OF KYUSHU + +There now remained only three really formidable enemies of Hideyoshi. +These were Hojo Ujimasa, in the Kwanto; Date Masamime, in Dewa and +Mutsu, and Shimazu Yoshihisa, in Kyushu. Of these, the Shimazu sept +was probably the most powerful, and Hideyoshi determined that Kyushu +should be the scene of his next warlike enterprise. The Island of the +Nine Provinces was then under the rule of three great clans; the +Shimazu, in the south; the Otomo, in Bungo, and the Ryuzoji, in +Hizen. The most puissant of these had at one time been Ryuzoji +Takanobu, but his cruel methods had alienated the sympathy of many of +his vassals, among them being Arima Yoshizumi, who threw off his +allegiance to Takanobu and joined hands with Shimazu Yoshihisa. +Takanobu sent an army against Yoshizumi, but the Satsuma baron +despatched Shimazu Masahisa to Yoshizumi's aid, and a sanguinary +engagement at Shimabara in 1585 resulted in the rout of Takanobu's +forces and his own death. + +Takanobu's son and successor, who was named Masaiye, being still a +boy, advantage was taken of the fact by Otomo Yoshishige, who invaded +Hizen, so that Masaiye had to apply to the Shimazu family for +succour. The Satsuma chieftain suggested that the matter might be +settled by mutual withdrawal of forces, but Yoshishige declined this +overture, and the result was a battle in which the Otomo troops were +completely defeated. Otomo Yoshishige then (1586) had recourse to +Hideyoshi for assistance, thus furnishing the opportunity of which +Osaka was in search. Orders were immediately issued to Mori, Kikkawa, +Kohayakawa, and Chosokabe Motochika to assemble their forces for an +oversea expedition, and in the mean while, Sengoku Hidehisa was +despatched to Kyushu bearing a letter in which Hideyoshi, writing +over his title of kwampaku, censured the Shimazu baron for having +failed to pay his respects to the Imperial Court in Kyoto, and called +upon him to do so without delay. This mandate was treated with +contempt. Shimazu Yoshihisa threw the document on the ground, +declaring that his family had ruled in Satsuma for fourteen +generations; that only one man in Japan, namely Prince Konoe, had +competence to issue such an injunction, and that the head of the +house of Shimazu would never kneel to a monkey-faced upstart. + +Hideyoshi had foreseen something of this kind, and had warned Sengoku +Hidehisa in the sense that whatever might be the action of the +Satsuma baron, no warlike measures were to be precipitately +commenced. Hidehisa neglected this warning. Yielding to the anger of +the moment, he directed the Otomo troops to attack the Satsuma +forces, and the result was disastrous. When the fighting ended, the +Satsuma baron had pushed into Bungo and taken sixteen forts there, so +that fully one-half of Kyushu was now under the sway of the Shimazu. +Hideyoshi, on receiving news of these disasters, confiscated the +estates of Sengoku Hidehisa, and issued orders to thirty-seven +provinces to provide commissariat for three hundred thousand men and +twenty thousand horses for a period of one year. Soon an army of one +hundred and fifty thousand men assembled at Osaka, and the van, +numbering sixty thousand, embarked there on the 7th of January, 1587, +and landed at Yunoshima in Bungo on the 19th of the same month--dates +which convey some idea of the very defective system of maritime +transport then existing. In Bungo, the invading army was swelled by +thirty thousand men under the leadership of Kohayakawa and Kikkawa, +and the whole force, under the command-in-chief of Hidenaga, +Hideyoshi's brother, moved to invest the castle of Takashiro. + +It is unnecessary to follow the fighting in all its details. The +salient facts are that Hideyoshi left Osaka with the main army of one +hundred and thirty thousand men on the 22d of January, 1587, and, +travelling by land, reached the Strait of Akamagasaki--now called +Shimonoseki--on the 17th of February. He marched through Chikuzen, +making friends of the local chieftains by forbearance and diplomacy, +and fighting the first great battle of the campaign at Oguchi on the +Sendai-gawa. The Satsuma baron's younger brother, Iehisa, after a +gallant resistance, surrendered to Hideyoshi, and was employed by the +latter to communicate direct with his chief, Yoshihisa. It was +generally supposed that Iehisa would never return from this mission, +but would remain in the camp of Shimazu. He did return, however, his +word of honour being of more importance in his estimation than the +opportunity of recovering his liberty. + +History states that Hideyoshi thereafter treated this noble man with +the greatest consideration, but it is difficult to reconcile that +account with the fact that Hideyoshi subsequently pressed Iehisa to +guide the Osaka army through the mountains and rivers which +constituted natural defences for the fief of Satsuma. Iehisa, of +course, refused, and to Hideyoshi's credit it stands on record that +he did not press the matter with any violence. This difficulty of +invading an unknown country without any maps or any guides, a country +celebrated for its topographical perplexities, was ultimately +overcome by sending Buddhist priests to act as spies in the dominions +of Shimazu. These spies were led by the abbot, Kennyo, with whose +name the reader is already familiar, and as the Shimazu family were +sincere believers in Buddhism, no obstacles were placed in the way of +the treacherous monks. They were able ultimately to guide the Osaka +army through the forests and mountains on the north of Kagoshima, and +Hideyoshi adopted the same strategy as that pursued in a similar case +three hundred years later, namely, sending a force of fifty thousand +men by sea with orders to advance against Kagoshima from the south. +The Satsuma troops were completely defeated, and only the castle of +Kagoshima remained in their hands. + +At this stage of the campaign Hideyoshi behaved with remarkable +magnanimity and foresight. Contrary to the advice of some of his +principal retainers, he refused to proceed to extremities against the +Shimazu clan, and agreed to make peace, on the basis that the clan +should be left in possession of the provinces of Satsuma, Osumi, and +Hyuga, the only further stipulation being that the then head of the +house, Yoshihisa, should abdicate in favour of his younger brother, +Yoshihiro. As for the Buddhist priests who had sacrificed their +honour to their interests, those that had acted as guides to the +invading army were subsequently crucified by order of the Satsuma +baron, and the Shin sect, to which they belonged, was interdicted +throughout the whole of the Shimazu fief. Yoshihiro was summoned to +Kyoto by Hideyoshi to answer for this action, but he pleaded that +such treachery amply deserved such punishment, and that he was +prepared to bow to Hideyoshi's judgment in the matter. The defence +was admitted by Hideyoshi, but the abbot Kennyo received such large +rewards that he was able to erect the great temple Nishi Hongwan-ji, +"which became the wonder of after-generations of men and which has +often been erroneously referred to by foreign writers as a proof of +the deep religious feelings of Buddhist converts three hundred years +ago."* + +*A New Life of Hideyoshi, by W. Dening. + +THE HOJO + +From end to end of Japan there were now only two powerful barons +whose allegiance had not been formally rendered to Hideyoshi and to +the Emperor under the new regime. These were Date Masamune and Hojo +Ujimasa. The origin and eminence of the Hojo family from the days of +its founder, Nagauji, have already been described in these pages, and +it need only be added here that Ujimasa enjoyed a reputation second +to none of his predecessors. That he should stand aloof from all his +brother barons seemed to the latter an intolerable evidence of pride, +and they urged Hideyoshi to resort at once to extreme measures. There +can be no doubt that this was the intention of Hideyoshi himself, but +with characteristic prudence he had recourse at the outset to pacific +devices. He therefore sent an envoy to the Hojo's stronghold at +Odawara, urging Ujimasa to lose no time in paying his respects to the +Court at Kyoto. The Hojo chief's reply was that Sanada Masayuki had +encroached upon the Hojo estates in Numata, and that if this +encroachment were rectified, the desired obeisance to the Throne +would be made. + +Thereupon, Hideyoshi caused the restoration of Numata, but the Hojo +baron, instead of carrying out his part of the agreement, made this +restoration the pretext for an unwarrantable act of aggression. +Whatever sympathy might have been felt in Kyoto with the Hojo family +was forfeited by this procedure, and in March, 1590, an army of over +two hundred thousand men was set in motion for the Kwanto. +Hideyoshi's troops moved in three columns. One, commanded by Ieyasu, +marched by the seacoast road, the Tokaido; another, under Uesugi +Kagekatsu and Maeda Toshiiye, marched by the mountain road, the +Tosando, and the third attacked from the sea. None of these armies +encountered any very serious resistance. The first approached Odawara +by the Hakone range and the second by way of the Usui pass. The +castle at Odawara, however, was so strongly built and so stoutly held +that its capture by storm seemed impossible, and Hideyoshi's forces +were obliged to have recourse to a regular siege which lasted nearly +four months. During the latter part of that time, Hideyoshi +encouraged his soldiers to indulge in all sorts of amusements, and +thus the camp of the besiegers constantly echoed the notes of musical +performances and the shouts of dancers and sake drinkers. Finally, in +July, 1590, the great fortress surrendered, and the Hojo baron, +Ujimasa, was put to death, his head being sent to Kyoto for exposure, +but the life of his son, Ujinao, was spared on condition that he +enter a monastery. + +HOJO UJINORI + +One incident of this struggle is very characteristic of the ethics of +the era. During the interchange of messages that preceded recourse to +arms, the Hojo baron sent his brother, Ujinori, to Kyoto as an envoy +to discuss the situation with Hideyoshi. The latter received Ujinori +with all courtesy and endeavoured to impress upon him the imperative +necessity of his chief's acquiescence. Ujinori promised to contribute +to that end as far as lay in his power, but history describes him as +adding: "Should my brother fail to comply with your commands, and +should it be necessary for you to send an army against the Kwanto, it +must be clearly understood that this visit of mine to your Excellency +shall not in any way prejudice my loyalty to my brother. On the +contrary, if the peace be broken, I shall probably have to command +the van of my brother's forces, and in that event I may have to offer +to your Excellency a flight of my rusty arrows." + +Hideyoshi is narrated to have laughingly replied that the peace was +in no danger of being broken and that he trusted Ujinori to use his +best endeavours to avert war. On his return to the Kwanto, Ujinori +was ordered to defend the castle of Nira-yama with seven thousand +men, and he soon found himself attacked by fifty thousand under seven +of Hideyoshi's generals. Ujinori reminded his comrades that Nira-yama +had been the birthplace of the founder of the Hojo family, and +therefore it would be an eternal shame if even one of the +entrenchments were lost. Not one was lost. Again and again assaults +were delivered, but they were unsuccessful, and throughout the whole +of the Kwanto, Nira-yama alone remained flying the Hojo flag to the +end. Ujinori surrendered in obedience to Ujimasa's instructions after +the fall of Odawara, but Hideyoshi, instead of punishing him for the +heavy losses he had inflicted on the Osaka army, lauded his fidelity +and bravery, and presented him with an estate of ten thousand koku. + +DATE MASAMUNE + +When news reached Date Masamune of the fall of all the Hojo's +outlying forts and of the final investment of Odawara, he recognized, +from his place in Mutsu and Dewa, that an attitude of aloofness could +no longer be maintained with safety. Accordingly, braving +considerable danger, he made his way with a small retinue to Odawara +and signified his willingness to comply with any terms imposed by +Hideyoshi. Thus, for the first time since the middle of the fifteenth +century, the whole of the empire was pacified. + +YEDO + +It is historically related that, during the siege of Odawara, +Hideyoshi invited Ieyasu to the former's headquarters on Ishigaki +Hill, whence an uninterrupted view of the interior of the castle +could be had. The Tokugawa baron was then asked whether, if the eight +provinces of the Kwanto were handed over to him, he would choose +Odawara for central stronghold. He replied in the affirmative. +Hideyoshi pointed out the superior advantages of Yedo from a +strategical and commercial point of view, and ultimately when he +conferred the Kwanto on Ieyasu, he chose Yedo for the latter's +capital, the accompanying revenue being about two and a half million +koku. Hideyoshi further proposed to appoint Oda Nobukatsu to the +lordship of the five provinces which had hitherto constituted the +domain of Ieyasu, namely, Suruga, Totomi, Mikawa, Kai, and Shinano. +Nobukatsu, however, alleging that he did not desire any large domain, +asked to be allowed to retain his old estates in Owari and Ise. + +This attitude angered Hideyoshi for reasons which will presently be +apparent. He assigned to Nobukatsu a comparatively insignificant fief +at Akita, in the remote province of Dewa, and gave the estates in +Owari and Ise to Hidetsugu, the nephew and adopted successor of +Hideyoshi, while the five provinces hitherto under the sway of Ieyasu +were divided among Hideyoshi's generals and retainers. In September, +1590, Ieyasu entered Yedo, and subdivided his extensive domain among +his followers in order of merit, thus establishing the Tokugawa +system of hereditary daimyo and founding a new Bakufu. All this was +very significant. In such matters, Hideyoshi had repeatedly shown +himself to be a man of great magnanimity, and had allowed even his +enemies to retain possession of lands which would certainly have been +taken from them by other conquerors. Thus, in the case of the Mori +sept, fully half of the midland counties was left in their +occupation, and, in the case of the Shimazu family, they were +suffered to retain two and a half provinces. + +With regard to Ieyasu, however, Hideyoshi behaved with marked +caution. By granting to the Tokugawa chieftain the whole of the +Kwanto, Hideyoshi made it appear as though he were conferring a +signal favour; but in reality his object was to remove Ieyasu out of +the zone of potential danger to Kyoto. Ieyasu fully recognized this +manoeuvre, but bowed to it as the less of two evils. As a further +measure of precaution, Hideyoshi interposed one of his own family, +Hidetsugu, between the Kwanto and Kyoto, and with the object of +menacing the rear of Ieyasu and restraining the movements of the +Date, he placed Gamo Ujisato at Aizu in Oshu. He further posted +Ishida Katsushige at Sawa-yama (now called Hikone) in the province of +Omi, to cover the principal route to Kyoto, and for similar reasons +with regard to the Yamato and Tamba roads he assigned to his brother, +Hidenaga, the castle of Kori-yama, which commanded Izumi and Kii, and +to his adopted son, Hidekatsu, the castle at Fukuchi-yama in Tamba. +This plan of distributing their domains, so that the daimyo should be +mutually repressive, was followed with still greater care by Ieyasu +when he, in turn, became supreme. + +HIDEYOSHI AND BUDDHISM + +There are evidences that, from his childhood, Hideyoshi had little +reverence for the Buddhist faith. When only twelve years of age he is +said to have beaten and smashed an image of Amida because it remained +always insensible to the offerings of food placed daily before it. +Again, when on his way to Kyoto to avenge the assassination of +Nobunaga, he saw an idol floating on a stream, and seizing the effigy +he cut it into two pieces, saying that the deity Daikoku, having +competence to succour one thousand persons only, could be of little +use to him at such a crisis as he was now required to meet. Finally, +on the occasion of his expedition against the Hojo of Odawara, when +the sailors of Mishima, in Sagami, objected to carrying war-horses in +their boats on the plea that the god of the sea, Ryujin, hated +everything equine, Hideyoshi did not hesitate to remove these +scruples by addressing a despatch to the deity with orders to watch +over the safety of the steeds. + +Yet this same Hideyoshi evidently recognized that the Buddhist faith +had great potentialities in Japan, and that its encouragement made +for the peace and progress of the country. Buddhism suffered terribly +at the hands of Nobunaga. The great monastery of Enryaku-ji was a +mass of blackened ruins at the time of the Oda baron's death, and it +has been shown that the monasteries of Kii and Osaka fared almost +equally badly at the hands of Hideyoshi. Nevertheless the latter had +no sooner grasped the supreme administrative power than he showed +himself a protector and promotor of Buddhism. Scattered throughout +the empire and apparently crippled for all time, the monks of +Hiei-zan very soon gave evidence of the vitality of their faith by +commencing a vigorous propaganda for the restoration of the great +monastery. Many renowned priests, as Zenso, Gosei, and others, headed +this movement; Prince Takatomo, adopted son of the Emperor Okimachi, +agreed to become lord-abbot of the sect (Tendai), and the Imperial +Court issued a proclamation exhorting the people to subscribe for the +pious purpose. Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, and other great barons addressed +their vassals in a similar sense, and in Hideyoshi's proclamation the +imperative necessity of Enryaku-ji as a barrier at the "Demon's Gate" +was distinctly stated. Under such auspices the monastery quickly rose +from its ashes, though in point of size and magnificence it was +inferior to its predecessor. At the same time Hideyoshi steadily +pursued the policy of checking the military tendencies of the monks, +and it may be said that, from his era, the soldier-priest ceased to +be a factor in the political situation. + +THE KYOTO DAIBUTSU + +The erection of a colossal image of the Buddha at Nara, in the eighth +century, and at Kamakura, in the thirteenth century, marked the +consummation of great political programmes in which religious +influence acted a strong part. Hideyoshi determined to set up a still +more imposing effigy in Kyoto, and, in 1586, the work was commenced +under the superintendence of Maeda Gen-i. All the principal +idol-makers were summoned to the capital, and among them were said to +have been some Chinese experts. Hideyoshi declared that whereas the +Nara Daibutsu had taken twenty-seven years to build, the Kyoto image +should be finished in five. He kept his word. No less than twenty-one +provinces were placed under requisition for labour and materials. The +enclosure of the temple containing the image measured 260 yards by +274, and the great hall had dimensions of 110 yards by 74. + +The original intention had been to make the idol of copper; but as +the statue was to have a height of 160 feet, the quantity of metal +required could not have been obtained within the time fixed, and +lacquered wood was therefore substituted for copper. It is related +that timbers of sufficient scantling could not be found anywhere +except in the forests at the base of Fuji-yama, and Ieyasu employed +fifty thousand labourers at a cost of a one thousand ryo in gold, for +the purpose of felling the trees and transporting them to Kyoto. The +operations furnished evidence of the curiously arbitrary methods +practised officially in that age. Thus, when the building was +interrupted owing to a lack of large stones for constructing the +pedestal, messengers were sent to appropriate rocks standing in +private gardens, without consulting the convenience of the owners, +and many beautiful parks were thus deprived of their most picturesque +elements. Moreover, on the plea of obtaining iron to make nails, +clamps, and so forth, a proclamation was issued calling upon the +civilian section of the population at large to throw their swords, +their spears, their muskets, and their armour into the melting-pot. +This proclamation, though couched in terms of simulated benevolence, +amounted in reality to a peremptory order. The people were told that +they only wasted their substance and were impeded in the payment of +their taxes by spending money upon weapons of war, whereas by giving +these for a religious purpose, they would invoke the blessings of +heaven and promote their own prosperity. But, at the foot of these +specious arguments, there was placed a brief command that the weapons +must be surrendered and that those concerned should take due note of +their duty in the matter. The import of such an injunction was not +lost on the people, and general disarming of the agricultural and the +artisan classes marked the success of Hideyoshi's policy. It is on +record that he himself actually joined in the manual labour of +dragging stones and timbers into position, and that, clad in hempen +garments, he led the labourers' chorus of "Kiyari." + +THE JURAKU-TEI + +In the year 1586, the Emperor Okimachi resigned the throne to his +grandson, Go-Yozei. Like Nobunaga, Hideyoshi was essentially loyal to +the Imperial Court. He not only provided for the renovation of the +shrines of Ise, but also built a palace for the retiring Emperor's +use. On the 11th of the seventh month of 1585, he was appointed +regant (kwampaku), and on the 13th of the same month he proceeded to +the Court to render thanks. He himself, however, was without a +residence in the capital, and to remedy that deficiency he built a +palace called Juraku-tei (Mansion of Pleasure) which, according to +the accounts transmitted by historians, was an edifice of exceptional +magnificence. Thus, the Taikoki (Annals of the Taiko) speak of "gates +guarded by iron pillars and copper doors; of high towers which shone +like stars in the sky; of roof-tiles which roared in the wind, and of +golden dragons which sang songs among the clouds." Nothing now +remains of all this grandeur except some of the gates and other +decorative parts of the structure, which were given to the builders +of the temples of Hongwan-ji after the destruction of the Juraku-tei +when Hidetsugu and his whole family died under the sword as traitors. +There can be no doubt, however, that the edifice represented every +possible feature of magnificence and refinement characteristic of the +era. + +Hideyoshi took up his abode there in 1587, and at the ensuing New +Year's festival he prayed to be honoured by a visit from the Emperor. +This request was complied with during the month of May in the same +year. All the details of the ceremony were ordered in conformity with +precedents set in the times of the Ashikaga shoguns, Yoshimitsu and +Yoshimasa, but the greatly superior resources of Hideyoshi were +enlisted to give eclat to the fete. The ceremonies were spread over +five days. They included singing, dancing, couplet composing, and +present giving. The last was on a scale of unprecedented dimensions. +The presents to the Imperial household and to the Court Nobles Varied +from three hundred koku of rice to 5530 ryo of silver, and in the +case of the Court ladies, the lowest was fifty koku and the highest +three hundred. + +The occasion was utilized by Hideyoshi for an important ceremony, +which amounted to a public recognition of his own supremacy. A +written oath was signed and sealed by six great barons, of whom the +first four represented the Toyotomi (Hideyoshi's) family and the last +two were Ieyasu and Nobukatsu. The signatories of this oath solemnly +bound themselves to respect eternally the estates and possessions of +the members of the Imperial house, of the Court nobles, and of the +Imperial princes, and further to obey faithfully all commands issued +by the regent. This obligation was guaranteed by invoking the curse +of all the guardian deities of the empire on the head of anyone +violating the engagement. A similar solemn pledge in writing was +signed by twenty-two of the great military barons. + +THE KITANO FETE + +The esoterics of the tea ceremonial and the vogue it obtained in the +days of the shogun Yoshimasa, have already been described. But note +must be taken here of the extraordinary zeal displayed by Hideyoshi +in this matter. Some claim that his motive was mainly political; +others that he was influenced by purely esthetic sentiments, and +others, again, that both feelings were responsible in an equal +degree. There is no material for an exact analysis. He doubtless +appreciated the point of view of the historian who wrote that +"between flogging a war-steed along the way to death and discussing +esthetic canons over a cup of tea in a little chamber nine feet +square, there was a radical difference." But it must also have +appealed keenly to his fancy that he, a veritable upstart, by birth a +plebeian and by habit a soldier, should ultimately set the lead in +artistic fashions to the greatest aristocrats in the empire in a cult +essentially pacific. + +However these things may have been, the fact remains that on the 1st +of November, 1587, there was organized by his orders on the Pine +Plain (Matsubara) of Kitano a cha-no-yu fete of unprecedented +magnitude. The date of the fete was placarded in Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, +Sakai, and other towns of importance more than a month in advance; +all lovers of the tea cult were invited, whether plebeian or +patrician, whether rich or poor; frugality was enjoined, and the +proclamations promised that the choicest among the objects of art +collected by Hideyoshi during many decades should be exhibited. It is +recorded that over 360 persons attended the fete. Some erected simple +edifices under the pine trees; some set up a monster umbrella for a +roof, and some brought portable pavilions. These various edifices are +said to have occupied a space of six square miles. Three pavilions +were devoted to Hideyoshi's art-objects, and he himself served tea +and exhibited his esthetic treasures to Ieyasu, Nobukatsu, Toshiiye, +and other distinguished personages. + +HIDEYOSHI'S LARGESSE + +Hideyoshi's love of ostentation when political ends could be served +thereby was strikingly illustrated by a colossal distribution of gold +and silver. One morning in June, 1589, the space within the main gate +of the Juraku palace was seen to be occupied throughout a length of +nearly three hundred yards with gold and silver coins heaped up on +trays each containing one hundred and fifty pieces. Immediately +within the gate sat Hideyoshi, and beside him was the Emperor's +younger brother, Prince Roku. The mass of glittering treasure was +guarded by officials under the superintendence of Maeda Gen-i, and +presently the names of the personages who were to be recipients of +Hideyoshi's largesse were read aloud, whereupon each of those +indicated advanced and received a varying number of the precious +trays. The members of Hideyoshi's family were specially favoured in +this distribution. His mother received 3000 ryo of gold and 10,000 +ryo of silver; his brother, Hidenaga, 3000 ryo of gold and 20,000 of +silver; and his nephew, Hidetsugu, 3000 of gold and 10,000 of silver. +To Nobukatsu, to Ieyasu, to Mori Terumoto, to Uesugi Kagekatsu, and +to Maeda Toshiiye, great sums were given, varying from 3000 ryo of +gold and 10,000 of silver to 1000 of gold and 10,000 of silver. It is +said that the total of the coins thus bestowed amounted to 365,000 +ryo, a vast sum in that era. A history of the time observes that the +chief recipients of Hideyoshi's generosity were the members of his +own family, and that he would have shown better taste had he made +these donations privately. Perhaps the deepest impression produced by +this grand display was a sense of the vast treasure amassed by +Hideyoshi; and possibly he contemplated something of the kind. + +ENGRAVING: SNOW IMAGE OF DHARMA + +ENGRAVING: A FENCING OUTFIT + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE INVASION OF KOREA + +CAUSES + +HAVING brought the whole of Japan under his control, Hideyoshi +conceived the project of conquering China. That appears to be the +simplest explanation of his action. His motive, however, has been +variously interpreted. Some historians maintain that his prime +purpose was to find occupation for the vast host of soldiers who had +been called into existence in Japan by four centuries of almost +continuous warfare. Others do not hesitate to allege that this +oversea campaign was designed for the purpose of assisting to +exterminate the Christian converts. Others, again, attempt to prove +that personal ambition was Hideyoshi's sole incentive. It does not +seem necessary to estimate the relative truth of these analyses, +especially as the evidence adduced by their several supporters is +more or less conjectural. As to the idea that Hideyoshi was +influenced by anti-Christian sentiment, it is sufficient to observe +that out of nearly a quarter of a million of Japanese soldiers who +landed in Korea during the course of the campaign, not so much as ten +per cent, were Christians, and with regard to the question of +personal ambition, it may be conceded at once that if Hideyoshi's +character lays him open to such a charge, his well-proven statecraft +exonerates him from any suspicion of having acted without thought for +his country's good. + +One fact which does not seem to have been sufficiently considered by +annalists is that during the sixteenth century the taste for foreign +adventure had grown largely in Japan. Many persons had gone abroad in +quest of fortune and had found it. It is on record that emigrants +from the province of Hizen had established themselves in considerable +numbers in China, and that their success induced their feudal lord, +Nabeshima, to seek the Central Government's permission for returning +his province to the latter and taking, in lieu, the district near +Ningpo, where his vassals had settled. Hideyoshi doubtless shared the +general belief that in oversea countries Japanese enterprise could +find many profitable opportunities, and it is easy to believe that +the weakened condition of China towards the close of the Ming dynasty +led him to form a not very flattering estimate of that country's +power of resistance. + +The conquest of Korea had not in itself any special temptation. He +regarded the peninsula simply as a basis for an attack upon China, +and he made it quite clear to the Korean sovereign that, if the +latter suffered his territories to be converted into a stepping-stone +for that purpose, friendship with Japan might be confidently +anticipated. Korea, at that time, was under the sway of a single +ruler, whose dynasty enjoyed the protection of the Chinese Court, and +between the two sovereigns embassies were regularly exchanged. It has +already been stated in these pages that towards the middle of the +fifteenth century Japanese settlers in Korea had been assigned three +places of residence, but owing to the exactions suffered at the hands +of the local authorities, these settlers had risen in revolt and had +finally been expelled from Korea until the year 1572, when a +concession was once more set apart for Japanese use at Fusan. No +longer, however, were envoys sent from Korea to Japan, and evidence +of the outrages committed from time to time by Japanese pirates is +furnished by a decree of the Korean Government that a Japanese +subject landing anywhere except at Fusan would be treated as a +corsair. + +Such were the existing conditions when, in 1587, Hideyoshi called +upon the Korean monarch to explain the cessation of the old-time +custom of exchanging envoys. To this the King of Korea replied that +he would willingly renew the ancient relations provided that the +Japanese authorities seized and handed over a number of Korean +renegades, who had been acting as guides to Japanese pirates in +descents on the Korean coast. This stipulation having been complied +with, a Korean embassy was duly despatched by Kyoto, and after some +delay its members were received by Hideyoshi in the hall of audience. +What happened on this occasion is described in Korean annals, +translated as follows by Mr. Aston*: + +*Hideyoshi's Invasion of Korea, by Aston. "Transactions of the +Asiatic Society of Japan," Vol. VI. + +The ambassadors were allowed to enter the palace gate borne in their +palanquins. They were preceded the whole way by a band of music. They +ascended into the hall, where they performed their obeisances. +Hideyoshi is a mean and ignoble-looking man; his complexion is dark, +and his features are wanting in distinction. But his eyeballs send +out fire in flashes--enough to pierce one through. He sat upon a +threefold cushion with his face to the south. He wore a gauze hat and +a dark-coloured robe of State. His officers were ranged round him, +each in his proper place. When the ambassadors were introduced and +had taken their seats, the refreshments offered them were of the most +frugal description. A tray was set before each, on which was one dish +containing steamed mochi (rice-cake), and sake of an inferior quality +was handed round a few times in earthenware cups and in a very +unceremonious way. The civility of drinking to one another was not +observed. + +After a short interval, Hideyoshi retired behind a curtain, but all +his officers remained in their places. Soon after, a man came out +dressed in ordinary clothes, with a baby in his arms, and strolled +about the hall. This was no other than Hideyoshi himself, and +everyone present bowed down his head to the ground. Looking out +between the pillars of the hall, Hideyoshi espied the Korean +musicians. He commanded them to strike up all together as loud as +they could, and was listening to their music when he was reminded +that babies could despise ceremonies as much as princes, and +laughingly called one of his attendants to take the child and bring +him a change of clothing. He seemed to do exactly as he pleased, and +was as unconcerned as if nobody else were present. The ambassadors, +having made their obeisance, retired, and this audience was the only +occasion on which they were admitted to Hideyoshi's presence. + +After long delay Hideyoshi replied to the letter carried by the above +envoys, and his language is important as clearly indicating the part +which he designed for Korea in the pending war. The document is thus +translated by Mr. Aston: + +This empire has of late years been brought to ruin by internal +dissensions which allowed no opportunity for laying aside armour. +This state of things roused me to indignation, and in a few years I +restored peace to the country. I am the only remaining scion of a +humble stock, but my mother once had a dream in which she saw the sun +enter her bosom, after which she gave birth to me. There was then a +soothsayer who said: "Wherever the sun shines, there will be no place +which shall not be subject to him. It may not be doubted that one day +his power will overspread the empire." It has therefore been my boast +to lose no favourable opportunity, and taking wings like a dragon, I +have subdued the east, chastised the west, punished the south, and +smitten the north. Speedy and great success has attended my career, +which has been like the rising sun illuminating the whole earth. + +When I reflect that the life of man is less than one hundred years, +why should I spend my days in sorrow for one thing only? I will +assemble a mighty host, and, invading the country of the great Ming, +I will fill with the hoar-frost from my sword the whole sky over the +four hundred provinces. Should I carry out this purpose, I hope that +Korea will be my vanguard. Let her not fail to do so, for my +friendship with your honourable country depends solely on your +conduct when I lead my army against China. + +The Korean envoys entrusted with the delivery of the above despatch +were accompanied by one of the chief vassals of the Tsushima baron, +and a monk, named Genso, who acted in the capacity of interpreter. By +these two Japanese the Korean Government was clearly informed that +nothing was required of Korea beyond throwing open the roads to +China, and that she would not be asked to give any other assistance +whatever in the war against her northern neighbour. In the context of +this explanation, the Seoul Government was reminded that, three +centuries previously, Korea had permitted her territory to be made a +basis of Mongolian operations against Japan, and therefore the +peninsula might well allow itself to be now used as a basis of +Japanese operations against China. From Korean annals we learn that +the following despatch was ultimately sent by the Korean sovereign to +Hideyoshi*: + +*Hulbert's History of Korea. + +Two letters have already passed between us, and the matter has been +sufficiently discussed. What talk is this of our joining you against +China? From the earliest times we have followed law and right. From +within and from without all lands are subject to China. If you have +desired to send your envoys to China, how much more should we? When +we have been unfortunate she has helped us. The relations which +subsist between us are those of parent and child. This you know well. +Can we desert both Emperor and parent and join with you? You +doubtless will be angry at this, and it is because you have not been +admitted to the Court of China. Why is it that you are not willing to +admit the suzerainty of the Emperor, instead of harbouring such +hostile intents against him? This truly passes our comprehension. + +The bitterness of this language was intensified by a comment made to +the Japanese envoys when handing them the above despatch. His Majesty +said that Japan's programme of conquering China resembled an attempt +to bail out the ocean with a cockle-shell. From Korea's point of view +her attitude was perfectly justifiable. The dynasty by which the +peninsula was then ruled owed its very existence to China's aid, and +during two centuries the peninsula had enjoyed peace and a certain +measure of prosperity under that dynasty. On the other hand, Korea +was not in a position to think of resisting Japan on the +battle-field. The only army which the former could boast of +possessing consisted of men who were too indigent to purchase +exemption from service with the colours, and thus she may be said to +have been practically without any efficient military organization. +Moreover, her troops were not equipped with either artillery or +match-locks. The only advantage which she possessed may be said to +have been exceedingly difficult topographical features, which were +practically unknown to the Japanese. Japan had not at that time even +the elements of the organization which she was ultimately destined to +carry to such a high point of perfection. She had no secret-service +agents or any cartographers to furnish her generals with information +essential to the success of an invasion, and from the moment that her +troops landed in Korea, their environment would be absolutely +strange. + +JAPAN'S PREPARATIONS + +These considerations did not, however, deter Hideyoshi. Immediately +on receipt of the above despatch from the Korean Court, preparations +were commenced for an oversea expedition on a colossal scale. Nagoya, +in the province of Hizen, was chosen for the home-basis of +operations. It has been observed by several critics that if +Hideyoshi, instead of moving by Korea, had struck at China direct +oversea, he would in all probability have seen his flag waving over +Peking in a few months, and the whole history of the Orient would +have been altered. That may possibly be true. But we have to remember +that the Korean peninsula lies almost within sight of the shores of +Japan, whereas to reach China direct by water involves a voyage of +several hundred miles over seas proverbially tempestuous and +dangerous. Even in modern times, when maritime transport has been so +greatly developed, a general might well hesitate between the choice +of the Korean and the ocean routes to China from Japan, were he +required to make a choice. In the face of the certainty of Korean +hostility, however, Hideyoshi's selection was certainly open to +criticism. Nevertheless, the event showed that he did not err in his +calculations so far as the operations on shore were concerned. + +He himself remained in Japan throughout the whole war. He went to +Nagoya towards the close of 1592 and stayed there until the beginning +of 1594, and it was generally understood that he intended ultimately +to assume direct command of the oversea armies. In fact, at a council +held to consider this matter, he proposed to cross the water at the +head of one hundred and fifty thousand men, handing over the +administration of affairs in Japan to Ieyasu. On that occasion, one +of his most trusted followers, Asano Nagamasa, provoked a violent +outburst of temper on Hideyoshi's part by declaring that such a +scheme would be an act of lunacy, since Hideyoshi's presence alone +secured the empire against recurrence of domestic strife. The annals +are not very clear at this point, but everything seems to indicate +that Hideyoshi's purpose of leading the armies in person would have +been carried into practice had it not become certain that the +invasion of China would have to be abandoned. The time and the manner +in which this failure became clear will be seen as we proceed. + +CONDITIONS FROM THE INVADER'S POINT OF VIEW + +The sea which separates Japan from the Korean peninsula narrows on +the south to a strait divided by the island of Tsushima into two +channels of nearly equal width. Tsushima had, for centuries, been the +Japanese outpost in this part of the empire. To reach the island from +the Japanese side was always an easy and safe task, but in the +fifty-six-mile channel that separates Tsushima from the peninsula of +Korea an invading flotilla had to run the risk of an attack by Korean +warships.* The army assembled at Nagoya totalled over three hundred +thousand men, whereof some seventy thousand constituted the first +fighting line and eighty-seven thousand the second, the remainder +forming a reserve to meet contingencies. The question of maritime +transport presented some difficulty, but was solved by the expedient +of ordering each maritime feudatory to furnish two large ships for +every hundred thousand koku of the fief's assessment, and their crews +were obtained by compelling each fishing village to furnish ten +sailors for every hundred houses it contained. These were not +fighting vessels but mere transports. Fighting men to the number of +ninety-two hundred were, however, distributed among the ships, and +were armed with match-locks, bows, and swords. The problem of +commissariat was very formidable. This part of the enterprise was +entrusted solely to Asano Nagamasa, minister of Justice, one of the +five bugyo,--that is to say, five officials called administrators, in +whose intelligence and competence Hideyoshi placed signal reliance. +In the records of the Asano family it is stated that an immense +quantity of rice was shipped at the outset, but that on landing in +Korea the army found ample supplies of grain in every castle +throughout the peninsula. Nevertheless, the problem of provisions +ultimately became exceedingly difficult, as might well have been +predicted. + +*See the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +PLAN OF CAMPAIGN + +As for the plan of campaign, it was precisely in accord with the +principles of modern strategy. The van, consisting of three army +corps, was to cross rapidly to Fusan on the south coast of the +peninsula, whence a movement northward, towards the capital, Seoul, +was to be immediately commenced, one corps marching by the eastern +coast-road, one by the central route, and one by the western. +"Thereafter the other four corps, which formed the first fighting +line, together with the corps under the direct orders of the +commander-in-chief, Ukita Hideiye, were to cross for the purpose of +effectually subduing the regions through which the van had passed; +and, finally, the two remaining corps of the second line were to be +transported by sea up the west coast of the peninsula, to form a +junction with the van which, by that time, should be preparing to +pass into China over the northern boundary of Korea, namely, the Yalu +River. For the landing-place of these re-enforcements the town of +Pyong-yang was adopted, being easily accessible by the Tadong River +from the coast. In later ages, Japanese armies were destined to move +twice over these same regions, once to the invasion of China [in +1894], once to the attack of Russia [in 1904], and they adopted +almost the same strategical plan as that mapped out by Hideyoshi in +the year 1592. The forecast was that the Koreans would offer their +chief resistance, first, at the capital, Seoul; next at Pyong-yang, +and finally at the Yalu, as the approaches to all these places +constituted positions capable of being utilized to great advantage +for defensive purposes."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +THE MARCH TO SEOUL + +On the 24th of May, 1592, the first army corps (18,700 men), under +the command of Konishi Yukinaga, crossed unmolested to the peninsula. +So little did the Koreans anticipate an invasion that the earliest +intelligence they had of the advent of the invaders was furnished by +the commandant of Fusan, who happened that day to be hunting on Deer +Island at the entrance to the harbour, and who sighted the approach +of the hostile flotilla. On the 25th, Konishi's troops carried the +castle of Fusan by storm, after a brave resistance by the garrison, +and, on the 27th, the same fate befell another and stronger fortress +lying three miles inland and garrisoned by twenty thousand picked +soldiers. Four days after the landing of Konishi's army, the second +corps (20,800 strong), under Kato Kiyomasa, reached Fusan, and +immediately took the east-coast road, according to the programme of +campaign. + +Thenceforth, however, it was really a race between the two armies as +to which should form the van. At the pass of Cho-ryung a reunion was +effected. This position offered exceptional facilities for defence, +but owing to some unexplained reason no attempt was made by the +Koreans to hold it. A few miles further north stood a castle reckoned +the strongest fortress in the peninsula. Konishi and Kato continued +the combination of their forces as they approached this position, +but, contrary to expectation, the Koreans fought in the open and the +castle fell without difficulty. Thereafter, the two corps separated, +Kato taking the westerly road and Konishi the direct route to Seoul. +In short, although the two generals have been accused of crippling +themselves by jealous competition, the facts indicate that they +co-operated effectively as far as the river Imjin, where a strenuous +effort to check them was expected to be made by the Koreans. + +From the landing place at Fusan to the gates of Seoul the distance is +267 miles. Konishi's corps covered that interval in nineteen days, +storming two forts, carrying two positions, and fighting one pitched +battle on the way. Kato's corps, travelling by a circuitous and more +arduous road but not meeting with so much resistance, traversed the +distance between Fusan and the capital in four days less. At Seoul, +with its thirty thousand battlements and three times as many +embrasures, requiring a garrison ninety thousand strong, only seven +thousand were available, and nothing offered except flight, a course +which the Royal Court adopted without hesitation, leaving the city to +be looted and partially destroyed, not by the Japanese invaders but +by the Korean inhabitants themselves. + +The King did not halt until he had placed the Imjin River between +himself and the enemy. Moreover, as soon as he there received news of +the sack of the city, he renewed his flight northward and took up his +quarters at Pyong-yang. It was on the 12th of June that the Korean +capital fell, and by the 16th four army corps had assembled there, +while four others had effected a landing at Fusan. After a rest of +fifteen days, the northern advance was resumed from Seoul, with the +expectation that a great struggle would take place on the banks of +the Imjin. The conditions were eminently favourable for defence, +inasmuch as the approach to the river from the south was only by one +narrow gulch, whereas, on the northern side, lay a long, sandy +stretch where troops could easily be deployed. Moreover the Japanese +had no boats wherewith to negotiate a broad and swiftly flowing +river. During ten days the invaders remained helpless on the southern +bank. Then the Koreans allowed themselves to be betrayed by the +common device of a simulated retreat. They crossed in exultant +pursuit, only to find that they had been trapped into an ambush. +Konishi and Kato now again separated, the former continuing the +direct advance northward, and the latter taking the northeastern +route, which he ultimately followed along the whole of the coast as +far as Kyong-sang, whence he turned inland and finally reached +Hai-ryong, a place destined to acquire much importance in modern +times as the point of junction of the Kilin-Korean railways. + +The distance from Seoul to Pyong-yang on the Tadong is 130 miles, and +it was traversed by the Japanese in eighteen days, ten of which had +been occupied in forcing the passage of the Imjin. On the southern +bank of the Tadong, the invaders found themselves in a position even +more difficult than that which had confronted them at the Imjin. They +had to pass a wide rapid river with a walled city of great strength +on its northern bank and with all the boats in the possession of the +Korean garrison, which was believed to be very numerous. Some +parleying took place, and the issue of the situation seemed very +doubtful when the Koreans lost patience and crossed the river, hoping +to destroy the Japanese by a night attack. They miscalculated the +time required for this operation, and daylight compelled them to +abandon the enterprise when its only result had been to disclose to +the invaders the whereabouts of the fords. Then ensued a disorderly +retreat on the part of the Koreans, and there being no time for the +latter to fire the town, storehouses full of grain fell into the +hands of the invaders. The Korean Court resumed its flight as far as +Wi-ju, a few miles south of the Yalu River, whence messengers were +sent to China to solicit succour. + +THE COMMAND OF THE SEA + +Thus far, everything had marched in perfect accord with the Japanese +programme. A force of nearly two hundred thousand men had been +carried over the sea and had overrun practically the whole of Korea. +"At this point, however, the invasion suffered a check owing to a +cause which in modern times has received much attention, though in +Hideyoshi's days it had been little considered; the Japanese lost the +command of the sea. The Japanese idea of sea fighting in those times +was to use open boats propelled chiefly by oars. They closed as +quickly as possible with the enemy and then fell on with the +trenchant swords which they used so skilfully. Now, during the +fifteenth century and part of the sixteenth, the Chinese had been so +harassed by Japanese piratical raids that their inventive genius, +quickened by suffering, suggested a device for coping with these +formidable adversaries. Once allow the Japanese swordsman to come to +close quarters and he carried all before him. To keep him at a +distance, then, was the great desideratum, and the Chinese compassed +this in maritime warfare by completely covering their boats with +roofs of solid timber, so that those within were protected against +missiles or other weapons, while loop-holes and ports enabled them to +pour bullets and arrows on a foe. + +"The Koreans learned this device from the Chinese and were the first +to employ it in actual warfare. Their own history alleges that they +improved upon the Chinese model by nailing sheet iron over the roofs +and sides of the 'turtle-shell' craft and studding the whole surface +with chevaux de frise, but Japanese annals indicate that in the great +majority of cases timber alone was used. It seems strange that the +Japanese should have been without any clear perception of the immense +fighting superiority possessed by such protected war-vessels over +small open boats. But certainly they were either ignorant or +indifferent. The fleet which they provided to hold the command of +Korean waters did not include one vessel of any magnitude; it +consisted simply of some hundreds of row-boats manned by seven +thousand men. Hideyoshi himself was perhaps not without misgivings. +Six years previously, he had endeavoured to obtain two war-galleons +from the Portuguese, and had he succeeded, the history of the Far +East might have been radically different. Evidently, however, he +committed a blunder which his countrymen in modern times have +conspicuously avoided; he drew the sword without having fully +investigated his adversary's resources. + +"Just about the time when the van of the Japanese army was entering +Seoul, the Korean admiral, Yi Sun-sin, at the head of a fleet of +eighty vessels, attacked the Japanese squadron which lay at anchor +near the entrance to Fusan harbour, set twenty-six of the vessels on +fire, and dispersed the rest. Four other engagements ensued in rapid +succession. The last and most important took place shortly after the +Japanese troops had seized Pyong-yang. It resulted in the sinking of +over seventy Japanese vessels, transports and fighting ships +combined, which formed the main part of a flotilla carrying +reinforcements by sea to the van of the invading army. This despatch +of troops and supplies by water had been a leading feature of +Hideyoshi's plan of campaign, and the destruction of the flotilla to +which the duty was entrusted may be said to have sealed the fate of +the war by isolating the army in Korea from its home base. + +"It is true that Konishi Yukinaga, who commanded the first division, +desired to continue his northward march from Pyong-yang without +delay. He argued that China was wholly unprepared, and that the best +hope of ultimate victory lay in not giving her time to collect her +forces. But the commander-in-chief, Ukita Hideiye, refused to endorse +this plan. He took the view that since the Korean provinces were +still offering desperate resistance, supplies could not be drawn from +them, neither could the troops engaged in subjugating them be freed +for service at the front. Therefore it was essential to await the +consummation of the second phase of Hideyoshi's plan, namely, the +despatch of re-enforcements and munitions by water to Pyong-yang. The +reader has seen how that second phase fared. The Japanese commander +at Pyong-yang never received any accession of strength. His force +suffered constant diminution from casualties, and the question of +commissariat became daily more difficult. . . . Japanese historians +themselves admit the fact that no wise effort was made to conciliate +the Korean people. They were treated so harshly that even the humble +peasant took up arms, and thus the peninsula, instead of serving as a +basis of supplies, had to be garrisoned perpetually by a strong +army."* Korean historians give long and minute accounts of the +development and exploits of guerilla bands, which, though they did +not obtain any signal victory over the invaders, harassed the latter +perpetually, and compelled them to devote a large part of their force +to guarding the lines of communication. + +*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley. + +CHINESE INTERFERENCE + +Having suffered for their loyalty to China, the Koreans naturally +looked to her for succour. Peking should have understood the +situation thoroughly. Even without any direct communication from +Japan, the Peking Court had cognizance of Hideyoshi's intentions. A +letter addressed by him in the year 1591 to the King of Ryukyu stated +clearly his intention of extending Japanese sovereignty throughout +the whole Orient, and the ruler of Ryukyu had lost no time in making +this fact known to Peking.* Yet it does not appear that the Chinese +had any just appreciation of the situation. Their first response to +Korea's appeal was to mobilize a force of five thousand men in the +Liaotung peninsula, which force crossed the Yalu and moved against +Pyong-yang, where the Japanese van had been lying idle for over two +months. This occurred early in October, 1592. The incident +illustrated China's confidence in her own superiority. "The whole of +the Korean forces had been driven northward throughout the entire +length of the peninsula by Japanese armies, yet Peking considered +that five thousand Chinese braves would suffice to roll back this +tide of invasion." + +*There is still extant a letter addressed by Hideypshi in June, 1592, +to Hidetsugu, his nephew, and then nominal successor. In this +document it is distinctly stated that the attention of the Emperor of +Japan should be directed to the Chinese capital, inasmuch as the +Japanese Court would pay a visit to Peking in 1594, on which occasion +the ten provinces surrounding the Chinese capital would be presented +to his Majesty, and out of this territory the Court nobles would +receive estates. + +The result was a foregone conclusion. Three thousand of the Chinese +were killed, and the rest fled pele-mele across the Yalu. China now +began to be seriously alarmed. She despatched to Pyong-yang an envoy +named Chen Weiching--known in Japanese history as Chin Ikei--who was +instructed not to conclude peace but only to make such overtures as +might induce the Japanese to agree to an armistice, thus enabling the +Chinese authorities to mobilize a sufficient force. Konishi Yukinaga +fell into this trap. He agreed to an armistice of fifty days, during +which the Japanese pledged themselves not to advance more than three +miles northward of Pyong-yang while Chen proceeded to Peking to +arrange terms of peace. It is very evident that had the Japanese seen +any certain prospect of proceeding to the invasion of China, they +would not have agreed to such an arrangement as this--an arrangement +which guaranteed nothing except leisure for the mobilization of a +strong Chinese army. It had, indeed, become plain to the Japanese +commanders, after six months of operations in the peninsula, that the +wisest course for them was to arrange a satisfactory peace. + +The second force put in the field by China is estimated by the +Jesuits and the Japanese at 200,000 men and at 51,000 by Korean +history. Probably the truth lies midway between the two extremes. +This powerful army moved across Manchuria in the dead of winter and +hurled itself against Pyong-yang during the first week of February, +1593. The Japanese garrison at that place cannot have greatly +exceeded twenty thousand men, for nearly one-half of its original +number had been detached to hold a line of forts guarding the +communications with Seoul. Neither Chinese nor Japanese history +comments on the instructive fact that the arrival of this army under +the walls of Pyong-yang was China's answer to her envoy's promise of +a satisfactory peace, nor does it appear that any discredit attached +to Chen Weiching for the deception he had practised; his competence +as a negotiator was subsequently admitted without cavil. The Chinese, +though their swords were much inferior to the Japanese weapon, +possessed great superiority in field artillery and cavalry, as well +as in the fact that their troopers wore iron mail which defied the +keenest blade. Thus, after a severe fight which cost the Japanese +twenty-three hundred men, they had to evacuate Pyong-yang and retreat +towards Seoul, the army under Kato Kiyomasa retiring at the same time +from the northeast and fighting its way back to the central route. +Orders were then issued by the commander-in-chief, Ukita, for the +whole of the Japanese forces in the north of the peninsula to +concentrate in Seoul, but Kohayakawa, one of Hideyoshi's most trusted +generals, whose name has occurred more than once in these annals, +conducted a splendid covering movement at a place a few miles +northward of Seoul, the result of which was that the Chinese fled in +haste over the Injin, losing ten thousand men in their retreat. + +But, though the Japanese had thus shaken off the pursuit, it was +impossible for them to continue in occupation of Seoul. The +conditions existing there were shocking. Widespread famine menaced, +with its usual concomitant, pestilence. According to Korean history, +the streets of the city and the roads in the suburbs were piled with +corpses to a height of ten feet above the wall. The Japanese, +therefore, made proposals of peace, and the Chinese agreed, on +condition that the Japanese gave up two Korean princes held captive +by them, and retired to the south coast of the peninsula. These terms +were accepted, and on May 9, 1593, that is to say, 360 days after the +landing of the invaders' van at Fusan, the evacuation of the Korean +capital took place. The Chinese commanders showed great lack of +enterprise. They failed to utilize the situation, and in October of +the same year they withdrew from the peninsula all their troops +except ten thousand men. Negotiations for permanent peace now +commenced between the Governments of Japan and China, but while the +pourparlers were in progress the most sanguinary incident of the +whole war took place. During the early part of the campaign a +Japanese attack had been beaten back from Chinju, which was reckoned +the strongest fortress in Korea. Hideyoshi now ordered that the +Japanese troops, before sailing for home, should rehabilitate their +reputation by capturing this place, where the Koreans had mustered a +strong army. The order was obeyed. Continuous assaults were delivered +against the fortress during the space of nine days, and when it +passed into Japanese possession the Koreans are said to have lost +between sixty and seventy thousand men and the casualties on the +Japanese side must have been almost as numerous. + +THE NEGOTIATIONS + +After the fall of Chinju, all the Japanese troops, with the exception +of Konishi's corps, were withdrawn from Korea, and the Japanese +confined their operations to holding a cordon of twelve fortified +camps along the southern coast of the peninsula. These camps were +nothing more than bluffs overlooking the sea on the south, and +protected on the land side by moats and earthworks. The action at +Chinju had created some suspicion as to the integrity of Japan's +designs, but mainly through the persistence and tact of the Chinese +envoy, Chen Weiching, terms were agreed upon, and on October 21, +1596, a Chinese mission reached Japan and proceeded to Osaka. The +island had just then been visited by a series of uniquely disastrous +earthquakes, which had either overthrown or rendered uninhabitable +all the great edifices in and around Kyoto. One corner of Osaka +Castle alone remained intact, and there the mission was received. +Hideyoshi refused to give audience to the Korean members of the +mission, and welcomed the Chinese members only, from whom he expected +to receive a document placing him on a royal pinnacle at least as +high as that occupied by the Emperor of China. The document actually +transmitted to him was of a very different significance as the +following extract shows: + +The Emperor, who respects and obeys heaven and is favoured by +Providence, commands that he be honoured and loved wherever the +heavens overhang and the earth upbears. The Imperial command is +universal; even as far as the bounds of ocean where the sun rises, +there are none who do not obey it. In ancient times our Imperial +ancestors bestowed their favours on many lands: the Tortoise Knots +and the Dragon Writing were sent to the limits of far Japan; the pure +alabaster and the great-seal character were granted to the monarchs +of the submissive country. Thereafter came billowy times when +communications were interrupted, but an auspicious opportunity has +now arrived when it has pleased us again to address you. You, +Toyotomi Taira Hideyoshi, having established an Island kingdom and +knowing the reverence due to the Central Land, sent to the west an +envoy, and with gladness and affection offered your allegiance. On +the north you knocked at the barrier of ten thousand li, and +earnestly requested to be admitted within our dominions. Your mind is +already confirmed in reverent submissiveness. How can we grudge our +favour to so great meekness? We do, therefore, specially invest you +with the dignity of "King of Japan," and to that intent issue this +our commission. Treasure it carefully. As a mark of our special +favour towards you, we send you over the sea a robe and crown +contained in a costly case, so that you may follow our ancient custom +as respects dress. Faithfully defend the frontier of our empire; let +it be your study to act worthily of your position as our minister; +practice moderation and self-restraint; cherish gratitude for the +Imperial favour so bountifully bestowed upon you; change not your +fidelity; be humbly guided by our admonitions; continue always to +follow our instructions.* + +*Quoted by W. Dening in A New Life of Hideyoshi. + +Hideyoshi had already donned the robe and crown mentioned in the +above despatch, his belief being that they represented his +investiture as sovereign of Ming. On learning the truth, he tore off +the insignia and flung them on the ground in a fit of ungovernable +wrath at the arrogance of the Chinese Emperor's tone. It had never +been distinctly explained how this extraordinary misunderstanding +arose, but the most credible solution of the problem is that Naito, +baron of Tamba, who had proceeded to Peking for the purpose of +negotiating peace, was so overawed by the majesty and magnificence of +the Chinese Court that, instead of demanding Hideyoshi's investiture +as monarch of China, he stated that nothing was needed except China's +formal acknowledgement of the kwampaku's real rank. Hideyoshi, in his +natural anger, ordered the Chinese ambassadors to be dismissed +without any written answer and without any of the gifts usual on such +occasions according to the diplomatic custom of the Orient. + +He was, however, induced not to prosecute his quarrel with the Middle +Kingdom, and he turned his anger entirely against Korea. Accordingly, +on March 19, 1597, nine fresh corps were mobilized for oversea +service, and these being thrown into Korea, brought the Japanese +forces in that country to a total of 141,000 men. But the campaign +was not at first resumed with activity proportionate to this great +army. The Japanese commanders seem to have waited for some practical +assurances that the command of the sea would not be again wrested +from them; a natural precaution seeing that, after five years' war, +Korea herself was no longer in a position to make any contributions +to the commissariat of the invaders. It is a very interesting fact +that, on this occasion, the Japanese victories at sea were as signal +as their defeats had been in 1592. The Korean navy comprised the same +vessels which were supposed to have proved so formidable five years +previously, but the Japanese naval architects had risen to the level +of the occasion, and the Korean fleet was well-nigh annihilated. + +Meanwhile, the Chinese had sent a powerful army to southern Korea, +and against these fresh forces the Japanese attacks were directed. +Everywhere the invaders were victorious, and very soon the three +southern provinces of the peninsula had been captured. No actual +reverse was met with throughout, but an indecisive victory near +Chiksan, in the north of the metropolitan province, rendered it +impossible for the Japanese to establish themselves in Seoul before +the advent of winter, and they therefore judged it advisable to +retire to their seaboard chain of entrenched camps. Early in 1598, a +fresh army of forty thousand men reached Seoul from China, and for a +moment the situation seemed to threaten disaster for the Japanese. +Their strategy and desperate valour proved invincible, however, and +the Kagoshima samurai won, on October 30, 1598, a victory so signal +that the ears and noses of thirty-seven thousand Chinese heads were +sent to Japan and buried under a tumulus near the temple of Daibutsu +in Kyoto, where this terrible record, called Mimizuka (Mound of +Ears), may be seen to-day. + +Just about this time, intelligence of the death of Hideyoshi reached +the Japanese commanders in Korea, and immediately an armistice was +arranged. The withdrawal of the invading forces followed, not without +some serious difficulties, and thus the six years' campaign +terminated without any direct results except an immense loss of life +and treasure and the reduction of the Korean peninsula to a state of +desolation. It has been repeatedly pleaded for the wholly +unprogressive state into which Korea thenceforth fell. But to +conclude that a nation could be reduced by a six-years' war to three +centuries of hopelessness and helplessness is to credit that nation +with a very small measure of resilient capacity. + +INDIRECT RESULTS + +The war was not altogether without indirect results of some value to +Japan. Among these may be cited the fact that, a few decades later, +when the Tsing dynasty destroyed the Ming in China, subjugated Korea, +and assumed a position analogous to that previously held by the Yuan, +no attempt was made to defy Japan. The memory of her soldiers' +achievements on the Korean battle-fields sufficed to protect her +against foreign aggression. Another material result was that, in +compliance with Hideyoshi's orders, the returning Japanese generals +brought back many Korean art-artisans who contributed largely to the +development of the ceramic industry. On no less than seven different +kinds of now well-known porcelain and pottery in Japan did these +experts exercise marked influence, and their efforts were specially +timely in view of the great vogue then enjoyed by all utensils used +in connexion with the tea ceremonial. It is not to be supposed, +however, that these Korean artisans showed any superiority to the +Japanese as artists. The improvements they introduced were almost +entirely of a technical character. Another benefit derived by Japan +from her contact with Korea at this time was the introduction of +movable type. Up to this time the art of printing had been in a very +primitive condition in Japan, and the first book printed with movable +type made its appearance in the Bunroku era (1592-1595). + +ENGRAVING: SIGNATURE OF TAKEDA SHINGEN + +ENGRAVING: NAGOYA CASTLE + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE MOMO-YAMA EPOCH + +MOMO-YAMA + +THE epochs of Japanese history from the eighth century until the fall +of the Ashikaga shogunate are generally divided into the Nara, the +Heian, the Kamakura, the Muromachi, and the Higashi-yama. To these +has now to be added the Momo-yama (Peach Hill), a term derived from +the name of a palatial residence built by Hideyoshi in the Fushimi +suburb of Kyoto. The project was conceived in 1593, that is to say, +during the course of the Korean campaign, and the business of +collecting materials was managed on such a colossal scale that the +foundations could be laid by September in the same year. Two months +sufficed not only to construct a mansion of extraordinary +magnificence and most elaborate interior decoration, but also to +surround it with a spacious park presenting all the choicest features +of Japanese landscape gardens. The annals state that fifty thousand +men were engaged on the work, and the assertion ceases to seem +extravagant when we consider the nature of the task and the +singularly brief period devoted to its completion. It was Hideyoshi's +foible to surpass all his predecessors and contemporaries alike in +the magnitude of his designs and in the celerity of their +achievement. Even his pastimes were conceived on the same stupendous +scale. Thus, in 1594, at the very time when his armies in Korea were +conducting an oversea campaign of unprecedented magnitude, he planned +a flower-viewing fete which will live in the pages of history as more +sumptuous and more magnificent than the hitherto unrivalled +festivities of Yoshimasa. The places visited were the cherry-clad +hills of Yoshino and the venerable monastery of Koya, and some idea +of the scale of the fete may be gathered from the fact that to a +shrine on Koya-san, dedicated to the memory of his mother, Hideyoshi +presented a sum equivalent to L14,000 or $68,000. + +Still more lavish was a party organized four years later to visit the +cherry blossoms at Daigo in the suburbs of Kyoto. This involved the +rebuilding of a large Buddhist temple (Sambo-in) to accommodate +Hideyoshi and his party as a temporary resting-place, and involved +also the complete enclosing of the roads from Momo-yama to Daigo, as +well as of a wide space surrounding the slopes of the cherry-clad +hills, with fences festooned in silk curtains. Numerous tea pavilions +were erected, and Hideyoshi, having sent home all his male guests and +attendants, remained himself among a multitude of gorgeously +apparelled ladies, and passed from pavilion to pavilion, listening to +music, witnessing dancing, and viewing works of art. + +HIDEYOSHI'S FAMILY + +A conspicuous figure at the Daigo fete was Hideyori, the +five-year-old son of Hideyoshi. Fate treated Hideyoshi harshly in the +matter of a successor. His younger brother, Hidenaga, perished on the +threshold of a career that promised to be illustrious; his infant +son, Tsurumatsu, passed away in September, 1591, and Hideyoshi, being +then in his fifty-fourth year, saw little prospect of becoming again +a father. He therefore adopted his nephew, Hidetsugu, ceding to him +the office of regent (kwampaku), and thus himself taking the title of +Taiko, which by usage attached to an ex-regent.* Hidetsugu, then in +his twenty-fourth year, had literary gifts and polite accomplishments +much above the average. But traditions--of somewhat doubtful +veracity, it must be admitted--attributed to him an inhuman love of +taking life, and tell of the indulgence of that mood in shocking +ways. On the other hand, if credence be due to these tales, it seems +strange that they were not included in the accusations preferred +finally against Hidetsugu by the Taiko, when the former's overthrow +became advisable in the latter's eyes. For it did so become. Within +less than two years of Hidetsugu's elevation to the post of regent, +another son was born to Hideyoshi by the same lady, Yodo, the demise +of whose child, Tsurumatsu, had caused Hideyoshi to despair of being +succeeded by an heir of his own lineage. A niece of Oda Nobunaga, +this lady was the eldest of three daughters whose mother shared the +suicide of her husband, the great general, Shibata Katsuiye. +Hideyoshi placed her among his consorts, bestowing upon her the +castle of Yodo, hence her name, Yodogimi. Her rare beauty captivated +the veteran statesman and soldier, and won for her suggestions a +measure of deference which they did not intrinsically deserve. Soon +the court became divided into two cliques, distinguished as the +"civil" and the "military." At the head of the latter stood +Hideyoshi's wife, Yae, a lady gifted with large discernment, who had +shared all the vicissitudes of her husband's fortunes, and acted as +his shrewd and loyal adviser on many occasions. With her were Kato +Kiyomasa and other generals and nobles of distinction. The civil +party espoused the cause of the lady Yodo, and among its followers +was Ishida Katsushige, to whom chiefly the ultimate catastrophe is +attributed by history. + +*It is by this title, "Taiko," that Hideyoshi is most frequently +spoken of in History. + +The birth of Hideyori on August 29, 1593, immediately actuated the +dissensions among these two cliques. Ishida Katsushige, acting in +Hideyori's interests, set himself to convince the Taiko that +Hidetsugu harboured treacherous designs, and Hideyoshi, too readily +allowing himself to credit tales which promised to remove the one +obstacle to his son's succession, ordered Hidetsugu to commit +suicide, and at the same time (August 8, 1595), sentenced his +concubines to be executed in the dry bed of the river Sanjo. Their +heads, together with that of Hidetsugu himself, were buried in the +same grave, over which was set a tablet bearing the inscription, +"Tomb of the Traitor, Hidetsugu." To this day, historians remain +uncertain as to Hidetsugu's guilt. If the evidence sufficed to +convict him, it does not appear to have been transmitted to +posterity. The Taiko was not by nature a cruel man. Occasionally fits +of passion betrayed him to deeds of great violence. Thus, on one +occasion he ordered the crucifixion of twenty youths whose sole +offence consisted in scribbling on the gate-posts of the Juraku +palace. But in cold blood he always showed himself forebearing, and +letters written by his own hand to his mother, his wife, and others +disclose an affectionate and sympathetic disposition. It would be +unjust to assume that without full testimony such a man sentenced a +whole family of his own relatives to be executed. + +ENGRAVING: MAEDA TOSHIIYE + +HIDEYOSHI'S DEATH + +A few months after the Daigo fete, Hideyoshi was overtaken by mortal +sickness. His last days were tormented by the thought that all his +skill as an organizer and all his power as a ruler were incompetent +to devise a system such as would secure the succession to his child. +In June, 1596, he had procured the investiture of Hideyori, then +three years old, with the title of regent, and when, just two years +later, his own sickness began to develop alarming features, he +resolved to place all his trust in Ieyasu. After much thought three +boards were ordered to be formed: one consisted of five senior +ministers (dairo), its personnel being Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori +Terumoto, Ukita Hideiye, Maeda Toshiiye, and Uesugi Kagekatsu. By +these five statesmen the great affairs of the empire were to be +managed. The second board was formed with three nobles of lesser +note. They were designated the "middle ministers" (churo), whose duty +was to arbitrate between the board of senior ministers and the third +board, namely that of five "administrators" (bugyo). This third board +had been originally organized by Hideyoshi in 1585, but it had not, +of course, been associated with the other two boards which came into +existence after Hideyoshi's death, though its personnel and its +functions remained throughout the same as they had been originally. +Again and again, with almost pitiable iteration, the Taiko conjured +the thirteen nobles forming these boards to protect Hideyori and to +ensure to him the heirship of his father's great fortunes. Each was +required to subscribe a written oath of eight articles: + +(1) That they would serve Hideyori with the same single-minded +loyalty they had shown to his father. + +(2) That the rules of Hideyoshi's house were not to be altered; and +that if, in the administration of public affairs, the five bugyo were +unable to determine a course of action, they should consult Hideyori +through Ieyasu and Toshiie; or, if necessary before taking action, +the Emperor was to be consulted. + +(3) That there were to be no factions among them, personal +considerations and partiality of every kind being excluded from their +councils. + +(4) That they must endeavour to work together in the discharge of +their duties, suppressing all petty jealousies and differences. + +(5) That, in settling matters, the opinion of the majority was +usually to be followed, but, at the same time, if the opinion of the +minority showed no sign of being dictated by personal interests, it +should be duly considered. That without permission from Hideyori no +administrator should dispose of any of his (the administrator's) +territory to another person. + +(6) That all accounts were to be kept in a manner above suspicion; +that there were to be no irregularities and no pursuing of personal +interests; that no questions concerning landed estates should be +dealt with during the minority of Hideyori; that no petitions should +be presented to him, and that Ieyasu himself would neither ask for +changes to be made in the matter of land-ownership nor accept any +gift of land from Hideyori during the latter's minority. + +(7) That whatever Hideyori desired to have kept secret, whether +connected with his private life or with the Government, must on no +account be allowed to leak out. + +(8) That if any of the administrators or their subordinates found +that they had unwittingly acted contrary to orders, they should at +once report the fact to their superiors, who would then deal +leniently with them. + +The above document was solemnly endorsed, the gods being called upon +to punish any one violating its provisions. It was further ordered +that Hidetada, son of Ieyasu, should give his daughter in marriage to +Hideyori; that Ieyasu, residing in the Fushimi palace, should act as +regent until Hideyori reached the age of fifteen, and that Maeda +Toshiiye, governing the castle of Osaka, should act as guardian of +Hideyori. It is recorded by some historians that the taiko conferred +on Ieyasu discretionary power in the matter of Hideyori's succession, +authorizing the Tokugawa baron to be guided by his own estimate of +Hideyori's character as to whether the latter might be safely trusted +to discharge the high duties that would devolve on him when he +reached his majority. But the truth of this allegation is open to +doubt. It may well have been invented, subsequently, by apologists +for the line adopted by Ieyasu. Hideyoshi died on September 18, 1598. +His last thoughts were directed to the troops in Korea. He is said to +have addressed to Asano Nagamasa and Ishida Katsushige orders to go +in person to the peninsula, and to provide that "the spirits of one +hundred thousand Japanese soldiers serving there should not become +disembodied in a foreign land." For a time the death of the great +statesman was kept secret, but within three months the newly created +boards found themselves strong enough to cope with the situation, and +the remains of Hideyoshi were publicly interred at the shrine of +Amida-ga-mine, near Kyoto. + +HIDEYOSHI'S CHARACTER + +In modern times many distinguished Japanese historians have +undertaken to analyze Hideyoshi's character and attainments. They are +divided in their estimate of his literary capacity. Some point to his +letters, which, while they display a not inconsiderable familiarity +with Chinese ideographs, show also some flagrant neglect of the uses +of that script. Others refer to his alleged fondness for composing +Japanese poems and adduce a verselet said to have been written by him +on his death-bed: + + Ah! as the dew I fall, + As the dew I vanish. + Even Osaka fortress + Is a dream within a dream. + +It is not certain, however, that Hideyoshi composed this couplet, and +probably the truth is that his labours as a soldier and a statesman +prevented him from paying more than transitory attention to +literature. But there can be no question that he possessed an almost +marvellous power of reading character, and that in devising the best +exit from serious dilemmas and the wisest means of utilizing great +occasions, he has had few equals in the history of the world. He knew +well, also, how to employ pomp and circumstance and when to dispense +with all formalities. Above all, in his choice of agents he never +allowed himself to be trammelled by questions of birth or lineage, +but chose his officers solely for the sake of their ability and +attainments, and neither tradition nor convention had any influence +on the appointments he made. He was passionate but not resentful, and +he possessed the noble quality of not shrinking from confession of +error. As for his military genius and his statecraft, it is only +necessary to consider his achievements. They entitle him to stand in +the very front of the world's greatest men. Turning to his +legislation, we find much that illustrates the ethics of the time. It +was in 1585 that he organized the board of five administrators, and +the gist of the regulations issued in the following year for their +guidance was as follows: + +(1) No subordinate shall leave his liege lord without the latter's +permission, nor shall anyone give employment to a violator of this +rule. + +(2) Farmers must remain on the land assigned to them and must never +leave it untilled. On the other hand, landowners should visit their +tenants and should investigate in company with the latter the actual +amount of the harvest reaped. One-third of this should be left to the +farmer and two-thirds should go to the owner of the land. + +(3) If owing to natural calamity the harvest be less than two bushels +per acre, the whole of the yield shall go to the farmer. But if the +harvest exceed that figure, it shall be divided in the proportions +indicated in (2). + +(4) No farmer shall move away from his holding to avoid the land-tax +or to escape forced labour. Anyone harbouring a violator of this rule +shall expose to punishment not only himself but also the inhabitants +of the entire village where he resides. + +(5) The lord of a fief must issue such instructions as shall +guarantee his agricultural vassals against trouble or annoyance, and +shall himself investigate local affairs instead of entrusting that +duty to a substitute. Landowners who issue unreasonable orders to +farmers shall be punished. + +(6) In calculating cubic contents, the regulated unit of measure +shall be used, and two per cent, shall be the maximum allowance for +shortage. + +(7) Embankments injured by floods and other mischief wrought by +natural calamities must be repaired during the first month of the +year when agriculturists are at leisure. In the case, however, of +damage which exceeds the farmers' capacity to repair, the facts +should be reported to the taiko who will grant necessary assistance. + +There follow various sumptuary regulations. We have next a series of +interesting instructions known as "wall-writings" of the castle of +Osaka: + +(1) Intermarriages between daimyo's families require the previous +consent of the Taiko. + +(2) Neither daimyo nor shomyo is permitted to enter into secret +engagements or to exchange written oaths, or to give or take +hostages. + +(3) In a quarrel the one who forebears shall be recognized as having +reason. + +(4) No man, whatever his income, should keep a large number of +concubines. + +(5) The amount of sake imbibed should be limited to one's capacity. + +(6) The use of sedan-chairs shall be confined to Ieyasu, Toshiie, +Kagekatsu, Terumoto, Takakage, the court nobles, and high priests. +Even a daimyo, when young, should ride on horseback. Those over fifty +years of age may use a sedan-chair when they have to travel a +distance of over one ri (two and a half miles). Priests are exempted +from this veto. + +Very interesting, too, is the Taiko Shikimoku, consisting of +seventy-three articles, of which thirteen are translated as follows: + +(1) Free yourself from the thraldom of passion. + +(2) Avoid heavy drinking. + +(3) Be on your guard against women. + +(4) Be not contentious or disputatious. + +(5) Rise early. + +(6) Beware of practical jokes. + +(7) Think of your own future. + +(8) Do not tire of things. + +(9) Beware of thoughtless people. + +(10) Beware of fire. + +(11) Stand in awe of the law. + +(12) Set up fences in your hearts against wandering or extravagant +thoughts. + +(13) Hold nobody in contempt. + +The sumptuary rules referred to above were that, so far as a man's +means permitted, all garments except those worn in winter should be +lined with silk, and that this exception did not apply to the members +of the Toyotomi family a strange provision showing that Hideyoshi did +not expect his own kith and kin to set an example of economy, however +desirable that virtue might be in the case of society at large. +Further, it was provided that no wadded garment should be worn after +the 1st of April--corresponding to about the 1st of May in the +Gregorian calendar; that pantaloons and socks must not be lined; that +men of inferior position must not wear leather socks, and that +samurai must use only half-foot sandals, a specially inexpensive kind +of footgear. Finally, no one was permitted to employ a crest composed +with the chrysanthemum and the Paulownia imperialis unless specially +permitted by the Taiko, who used this design himself, though +originally it was limited to the members of the Imperial family. So +strict was this injunction that even in the case of renovating a +garment which carried the kiku-kiri crest by permission, the badge +might not be repeated on the restored garment. Supplementary +regulations enjoined members of the priesthood, whether Buddhist or +Shinto, to devote themselves to the study of literature and science, +and to practise what they preached. Moreover, men of small means were +urged not to keep more than one concubine, and to assign for even +this one a separate house. It was strictly forbidden that anyone +should go about with face concealed, a custom which had prevailed +largely in previous eras. + +MOTIVES OF LEGISLATION + +The 7th of August, 1595, was the day of the Hidetsugu tragedy, and +the above regulations and instructions were promulgated for the most +part early in September of the same year. It is not difficult to +trace a connexion. The provision against secret alliances and +unsanctioned marriages between great families; the veto against +passing from the service of one feudal chief to that of another +without special permission, and the injunction against keeping many +concubines were obviously inspired with the purpose of averting a +repetition of the Hidetsugu catastrophe. Indirectly, the spirit of +such legislation suggests that the signatories of these +laws--Takakage, Terumoto, Toshiiye, Hideiye, and Ieyasu--attached +some measure of credence to the indictment of treason preferred +against Hidetsugu. + +AGRARIAN LAWS + +The agrarian legislation of Hideyoshi is worthy of special attention. +It shows a marked departure from the days when the unit of rice +measurement was a "handful" and when thirty-six handfuls made a +"sheaf," the latter being the tenth part of the produce of a tan. In +Hideyoshi's system, all cubic measurements were made by means of a +box of accurately fixed capacity--10 go, which was the tenth part of +a koku (5.13 bushels)--the allowance for short measure was limited to +two per cent., and the rule of 360 tsubo to the tan (a quarter of an +acre) was changed to 300 tsubo. + +At the same time (1583), land surveyors (kendenshi) were appointed to +compile a map of the entire country. A similar step had been taken by +the Ashikaga shogun, Yoshiteru, in 1553, but the processes adopted on +that occasion were not by any means so accurate or scientific as +those prescribed by the Taiko. The latter entrusted the work of +survey to Nazuka Masaiye, with whom was associated the best +mathematician of the era, Zejobo, and it is recorded that owing to +the minute measures pursued by these surveyors and to the system of +taking two-thirds of the produce for the landlord instead of one-half +or even less, and owing, finally, to estimating the tan at 300 tsubo +instead of at 360 without altering its taxable liability, the +official revenue derived from the land throughout the empire showed a +total increase of eight million koku, equivalent to about L11,000,000 +or $54,000,000. + +Hideyoshi has been charged with extortion on account of these +innovations. Certainly, there is a striking contrast between the +system of Tenchi and that of Toyotomi. The former, genuinely +socialistic, divided the whole of the land throughout the empire in +equal portions among the units of the nation, and imposed a land-tax +not in any case exceeding five per cent, of the gross produce. The +latter, frankly feudalistic, parcelled out the land into great +estates held by feudal chiefs, who allotted it in small areas to +farmers on condition that the latter paid sixty-six per cent, of the +crops to the lord of the soil. But in justice to Hideyoshi, it must +be owned that he did not devise this system. He was not even the +originator of its new methods, namely, the abbreviation of the tan +and the expansion of the rate. Both had already been put into +practice by other daimyo. It must further be noted that Hideyoshi's +era was essentially one of war. The outlays that he was obliged to +make were enormous and perpetual. He became accustomed, as did his +contemporary barons, to look lightly at vast expenditure. Not +otherwise can we account for the fact that, within the brief period +of eleven years, he undertook and completed five great works +involving enormous cost. These works were the Osaka Castle, in 1583; +a palace for the retiring Emperor Okimachi, in 1586; the palace of +Juraku, in 1587; the Kyoto Daibutsu, in 1586, and the Momo-yama +Palace, in 1594. What sum these outlays aggregated no attempt has +been made to calculate accurately, but the figure must have been +immense. In fact, when Hideyoshi's financial measures are considered, +it should always be in the context of his achievements and his +necessities. + +COINS + +Another important feature of Hideyoshi's era was the use of coins. +During the time of the Ashikaga shogunate, two kinds of gold coins +were minted, and both were called after the name of the era when they +first went into circulation; they were known as the Shocho koban +(1428-1429) and the Tembun koban (1532-1555). But these coins were so +rare that they can scarcely be said to have been current. As tokens +of exchange, copper coins were imported from China, and were known in +Japan as Eiraku-sen, Eiraku being the Japanese pronunciation of the +Chinese era, Yunglo. These were of pure metal, and side by side with +them were circulated an essentially inferior iron coin struck in +Japan and known as bita-sen. Oda Nobunaga, appreciating the +disastrous effects produced by such currency confusion, had planned +remedial measures when death overtook him, and the task thus devolved +upon Hideyoshi. Fortunately, the production of gold and silver in +Japan increased greatly at this epoch, owing to the introduction of +scientific metallurgical methods from Europe. The gold mines of Sado +and the silver mines of Ikuno quadrupled or quintupled their output, +and Hideyoshi caused an unprecedented quantity of gold and silver +coins to be struck; the former known as the Tensho koban and the +Tensho oban,* and the latter as the silver bu (ichibu-giri) and the +silver half-bu (nishu-gin.) + +*The oban was an oval plate measuring 7 inches by 4, and weighing 53 +ounces. It contained 63.84 per cent, of gold and 20 per cent, of +silver. The koban was one-tenth of the value of the oban. + +Gold and silver thenceforth became the standards of value, and as the +mines at Sado and Ikuno belonged to the Government, that is to say, +to Hideyoshi, his wealth suddenly received a conspicuous increase. +That he did possess great riches is proved by the fact that when, in +September, 1596, a terrible earthquake overthrew Momo-yama Castle and +wrecked all the great structures referred to above, involving for +Hideyoshi a loss of "three million pieces of gold," he is described +as having treated the incident with the utmost indifference, merely +directing that works of reparation should be taken in hand forthwith. +The records say that Osaka Castle, which had suffered seriously and +been rendered quite uninhabitable, was put in order and sumptuously +fitted up within the short space of six weeks. Of course, much of the +resulting expense had to be borne by the great feudatories, but the +share of Hideyoshi himself cannot have been inconsiderable. + +LITERATURE, ART, AND COMMERCE + +It has already been shown that in spite of the disorder and unrest +which marked the military era, that era saw the birth of a great art +movement under the Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa. It has now to be noted +that this movement was rapidly developed under the Taiko. "The latter +it was whose practical genius did most to popularize art. Although +his early training and the occupations of his life until a late +period were not calculated to educate esthetic taste, he devoted to +the cause of art a considerable portion of the sovereign power that +his great gifts as a military leader and a politician had brought +him." His earnest patronage of the tea ceremonial involved the +cultivation of literature, and although he himself did not excel in +that line, he did much to promote the taste for it in others. In the +field of industrial art, however, his influence was much more marked. +Not only did he bestow munificent allowances on skilled artists and +art artisans, but also he conferred on them distinctions which proved +stronger incentives than any pecuniary remuneration, and when he +built the celebrated mansions of Juraku and Momo-yama, so vast were +the sums that he lavished on their decoration, and such a certain +passport to his favour did artistic merit confer, that the little +town of Fushimi quickly became the art capital of the empire, and +many of the most skilful painters, lacquerers, metal-workers, and +wood-carvers within the Four Seas congregated there. + +Historians speak with profound regret of the dismantling and +destruction of these splendid edifices a few years after the Taiko's +death; but it is more than probable that the permanent possession of +even such monuments of applied art could not have benefited the +country nearly as much as did their destruction. For the immediate +result was an exodus of all the experts who, settling at Fushimi, had +become famous for the sake of their Momo-yama work. They scattered +among the fiefs of the most powerful provincial nobles, who received +them hospitably and granted them liberal revenues. From that time, +namely, the close of the sixteenth century, there sprang up an +inter-fief rivalry of artistic production which materially promoted +the development of every branch of art and encouraged refinement of +life and manners. Not less noteworthy in the history of this military +epoch is the improvement that took place in the social status of the +merchant during the sixteenth century. Much was due to the liberal +views of the Taiko. He encouraged commercial voyages by his +countrymen to Macao and to Cambodia, to Annam, and to other places. +Nine ships engaged in this trade every year. They carried licences +bearing the Taiko's vermilion stamp, and the ports of departure were +Nagasaki, Osaka, and Sakai. + +ENGRAVING: SIGNATURE OF TOKUGAWA IEYASU + +ENGRAVING: MOUNTAIN "KAGO" + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN + +DISCOVERY OF JAPAN BY EUROPEANS + +THE Portuguese discovered Japan in 1542 or 1543--the precise date is +not known. Three of them, travelling by junk from Spain to Macao, +were driven from their course and landed at Tanegashima, a small +island off the south of Kyushu. The strangers were hospitably +received by the Japanese, and great interest was excited by their +arquebuses, the first firearms ever seen in Japan. It was, of course, +out of the question to hold any oral direct conversation, but a +Chinese member of the junk's crew, by tracing ideographs upon the +sand, explained the circumstances of the case. Ultimately, the junk +was piloted to a convenient port, and very soon the armourers of the +local feudatory were busily engaged manufacturing arquebuses. News of +the discovery of Japan circulated quickly, and several expeditions +were fitted out by Portuguese settlements in the Orient to exploit +the new market. All steered for Kyushu, and thus the Island of the +Nine Provinces became the principal stage for European intercourse +during the second half of the sixteenth century. + +THE JESUITS + +There were, at that time, not a few Jesuits at Macao, Goa, and other +outposts of Western commerce in the Far East. But not until 1549 was +any attempt made to proselytize Japan. On August 15th of that year, +Francis Xavier, a Jesuit priest, landed at Kagoshima. Before his +coming, the Portuguese traders had penetrated as far as Kyoto, which +they reported to be a city of some ninety-six thousand houses, and +their experience of the people had been very favourable, especially +with regard to receptivity of instruction. Xavier was weary of +attempting to convert the Indians, whom he had found "barbarous, +vicious, and without inclination to virtue," and his mind had been +turned towards Japan by a message from a Japanese daimyo (whose +identity and reasons for inviting him have never been explained), and +by a personal appeal from a Japanese, whose name appears in +Portuguese annals as "Anjiro," and who, having committed a serious +crime in Japan, had taken refuge in a Portuguese vessel, whose master +advised him to repair to Malacca and confess his sins to Xavier. + +This man, Anjiro, already possessed some knowledge of the Portuguese +language, and he soon became sufficiently proficient in it to act as +interpreter, thus constituting a valuable aid to the Portuguese +propagandists. Xavier, with two fellow countrymen and Anjiro, +repaired to Kagoshima, where the Satsuma baron gave them unqualified +permission to preach their doctrine. Not that he had any sympathy +with Christianity, about which he knew nothing, but solely because he +wished to secure a share in the oversea commerce which had brought so +much wealth to his fellow barons on the main island. He thought, in +short, that the Jesuits would be followed by merchant ships, and when +Portuguese trading vessels did actually appear in the Satsuma waters, +but, instead of making any stay there, passed on to the comparatively +petty principality of Hirado, Xavier and his comrades were quickly +ordered to leave Kagoshima. It seems, also, that Xavier's zeal had +outrun his discretion. The Buddhist priests in Kagoshima were ready +at first to listen respectfully to his doctrines, but were quickly +alienated by his aggressive intolerance. They urged upon the Satsuma +baron the dangers that attended such propagandism, and he, already +smarting from commercial disappointment, issued an edict, in 1550, +declaring it a capital offence to embrace Christianity. The edict was +not retrospective. About one hundred and fifty converts whom Xavier, +aided by Anjiro, had won during his two years' sojourn, were not +molested, but Xavier himself passed on to the island of Hirado, where +he was received by salvos of artillery from Portuguese vessels lying +in harbour. Matsuura, the Hirado baron, had already been captivated +by the commerce of the newcomers, and seeing the marked reverence +extended by them to Xavier, the baron issued orders that respectful +attention should be paid to the teaching of the foreign propagandist. +Doubtless owing in large part to these orders, one hundred converts +were made during the first ten days of Xavier's residence in Hirado. + +It was, in fact, evident that the attitude of the official classes +towards the new-comers was mainly influenced by the prospect of +trade, and that the attitude of the non-official classes towards the +foreign religion depended largely on the mood of their superiors. +Xavier argued that "if the favour of such a small prince was so +potent for the conversion of his subjects, it would be quite another +thing if he (Xavier) could have the protection of the Emperor." He +therefore, resolved to visit Kyoto. His journey took him in the first +place to Yamaguchi, capital of the Choshu fief. This town lay on the +northern shore of Shimonoseki Strait, and had long been the principal +emporium of trade with China and Korea. But the ruler of the fief, +though courteous to the new-comers, evinced no disposition to show +any special cordiality towards humble missionaries unconnected with +commerce. Therefore, finding that their preaching produced little +effect, Xavier and his companion, Fernandez, continued their journey +to Kyoto, which they reached after travelling for nearly two months +on foot in the depth of winter. It happened, however, that the +capital was then suffering sharply from the effects of internecine +strife, and the two missionaries failed to obtain access to either +the sovereign or the shogun. + +Nothing remained, therefore, but recourse to street preaching, and +for this they were ill equipped, for Xavier, constitutionally a bad +linguist, knew very little of the Japanese language, and his +companion, Fernandez, even less, while as for Anjiro, he had remained +in Kagoshima. After devoting a few days to this unproductive task, +Xavier returned to Yamaguchi. He had not made any converts in Kyoto, +but he had learned a useful lesson, namely, that religious +propagandism, to be successful in Japan, must be countenanced by the +ruling classes. He therefore caused his canonicals to be sent to him +from Hirado, together with his credentials from the viceroy of India, +the governor of Malacca, and the bishop of Goa. These documents he +submitted to the Choshu baron, accompanying them with certain rare +objects of European manufacture, including a clock and a harpsicord. +A permit to preach Christianity was now obtained without difficulty, +and the Yamaguchi officials went so far as to issue a proclamation +expressing approval of the Western religion and granting entire +liberty to embrace it. An empty Buddhist monastery was assigned as a +residence for Xavier and his companions, and the fact is certainly an +eloquent testimony to the magnanimity of the Buddhist priests. + +Many converts were now made, and fresh proof was obtained that the +road to success lay in associating propagandism with commerce. It was +nearly a decade since the Portuguese had effected their first landing +on Tanegashima, and throughout that interval trade had flourished in +their hands. They had not sought any new markets on the main island; +first, because their ignorance of the coasts rendered navigation +risky; and, secondly, because internecine war raged throughout almost +the whole of the main island, whereas Kyushu enjoyed comparative +tranquillity. Xavier now took advantage of a Portuguese vessel which +called at Yamaguchi en route for Bungo, a province on the eastern +littoral of Kyushu. His intention was to return for a time to the +Indies, but on reaching Bungo he learned that its ruler, Otomo, +wielded exceptional power and showed a disposition to welcome the +Jesuit father. + +This Otomo was destined ultimately to act a leading part on the stage +of Christianity in Japan. Xavier now had recourse to methods +suggested by his recent experiences. On a visit to Otomo he caused +himself to be escorted by a large number of the Portuguese crew, who +wore rich garments, carried arms, and flaunted banners. This +procedure seems to have weighed cogently with Otomo, who was keenly +desirous of attracting foreign traders and obtaining from them not +only wealth but also novel and effective weapons of war. Seeing that +Xavier was almost deified by the Portuguese, Otomo naturally applied +himself to win the good-will of the Jesuits, and for that purpose not +only accorded to them entire liberty to teach and to preach, but also +despatched a messenger to his younger brother (who had just succeeded +to the lordship of Yamaguchi), advising him to protect the two +Jesuits then residing there, namely, Torres and Fernandez. Xavier +remained four months in Bungo and then set sail for Goa in February, +1552. He died in December of the same year, and thus his intention of +returning to Japan was defeated. His stay in Japan had lasted +twenty-seven months, and in that interval he and his comrades had won +some 760 converts. + +RESULTS OF PROPAGANDISM + +It is worth while to recapitulate here the main events during this +first epoch of Christian propagandism in Japan. It has been shown +that in more than a year's labours in Kagoshima, Xavier, with the +assistance of Anjiro as an interpreter, obtained 150 believers. Now, +"no language lends itself with greater difficulty than Japanese to +the discussion of theological questions. The terms necessary for such +a purpose are not current among laymen, and only by special study, +which, it need scarcely be said, must be preluded by accurate +acquaintance with the tongue itself, can a man hope to become duly +equipped for the task of exposition and dissertation. It is open to +grave doubt whether any foreigner has ever attained the requisite +proficiency. Leaving Anjiro in Kagoshima, to care for the converts +made there, Xavier pushed on to Hirado, where he baptized a hundred +Japanese in a few days. Now, we have it on the authority of Xavier +himself that, in this Hirado campaign, 'none of us knew Japanese.' +How, then, did they proceed? 'By reciting a semi-japanese volume' (a +translation made by Anjiro of a treatise from Xavier's pen) 'and by +delivering sermons, we brought several over to the Christian cult.' + +"Sermons preached in Portuguese or Latin to a Japanese audience on +the island of Hirado in the year 1550 can scarcely have attracted +intelligent interest. On his first visit to Yamaguchi, Xavier's means +of access to the understanding of his hearers was confined to the +rudimentary knowledge of Japanese which Fernandez had been able to +acquire in fourteen months, a period of study which, in modern times +with all the aids now procurable, would not suffice to carry a +student beyond the margin of the colloquial. No converts were won. +The people of Yamaguchi probably admired the splendid faith and +devotion of these over-sea philosophers, but as for their doctrine, +it was unintelligible. In Kyoto, the same experience was repeated +with an addition of much physical hardship. But, when the Jesuits +returned to Yamaguchi in the early autumn of 1551, they baptized five +hundred persons, including several members of the military class. +Still Fernandez with his broken Japanese was the only medium for +communicating the profound doctrines of Christianity. It must be +concluded that the teachings of the missionaries produced much less +effect than the attitude of the local chieftain."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +But the Jesuits have not left any misgivings on record. They relate +that during Xavier's sojourn in Bungo he had numerous public +debates--one continuing for five days--with Buddhist priests, but +even Fernandez not being available as an interpreter, these debates +must have been either farcical or imaginary, though brilliant results +are claimed for them by the Church historians. That Xavier himself +was not satisfied is proved by his determination to transfer his +ministrations to China, for he said, "if the Chinese adopt the +Christian religion, the Japanese also will abandon the religions they +have introduced from China." + +SECOND PERIOD OF PROPAGANDISM + +Torres and Fernandez remained in Japan after Xavier's departure and +were there joined soon afterwards by three others. The new-comers +landed at Kagoshima and found that the Satsuma baron was as keen as +ever in welcoming foreign trade, although his attitude towards the +alien religion continued antipathetic. Bungo now became the +headquarters of the Jesuits in Japan. Local disturbances had +compelled them to leave Yamaguchi, where their disputes with Buddhist +priests had become so violent that an official proscription of the +Western religion was pronounced. In Funai, the capital of the +province of Bungo, they built their first church in Japan and also a +hospital. From that place, too, they began to send yearly reports +known as the Annual Letters to their generals in Rome, and these +Letters give an interesting insight into the conditions then existing +in Japan. The writers "describe a state of abject poverty among the +lower orders--poverty so cruel that the destruction of children by +their famishing parents was an every-day occurrence." This terrible +state of affairs was due to the civil wars which had entered their +most violent phase in the Onin era (1467-1468), and had continued +without intermission ever since. The trade carried on by the +Portuguese did not, however, suffer any interruption. Their vessels +repaired to Hirado as well as to Funai, and the masters and seamen of +the ships appear to have treated the missionaries with such +scrupulous respect that the Japanese formed an almost exaggerated +conception of the civil influence wielded by the religionists. It +further appears that in those early days the Portuguese seamen +refrained from the riotous excesses which had already won for them a +most unenviable reputation in China. + +In fact, their good conduct constituted an object lesson in the +interests of Christianity. We learn, incidentally that, in 1557, two +of the fathers, visiting Hirado at the instance of some Portuguese +sailors who felt in want of religious ministrations, organized a kind +of propagandism which anticipated the methods of the Salvation Army. +They "sent brothers to parade the streets, ringing bells, and +chaunting litanies; they organized bands of boys for the same +purpose; they caused the converts, and even children, to flagellate +themselves at a model of Mount Calvary, and they worked miracles, +healing the sick by contact with scourges or with a booklet in which +Xavier had written litanies and prayers. It may well be imagined that +such doings attracted surprised attention in Japan. They were +supplemented by even more striking practices. For a sub-feudatory of +the Hirado chief, having been converted, showed his zeal by +destroying Buddhist temples and throwing down the idols, thus +inaugurating a campaign of violence destined to mark the progress of +Christianity throughout the greater part of its history in Japan. +There followed the overthrowing of a cross in the Christian cemetery, +the burning of a temple in the town of Hirado, and a street riot, the +sequel being that the Jesuit fathers were compelled to return once +more to Bungo."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +All this conveys an idea of the guise under which Christianity was +presented originally to the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Portuguese +traders did not allow their commerce to be interrupted by any +misfortunes which overtook the Jesuits. Hirado continued to be +frequented by Portuguese merchantmen, and news of the value of their +trade induced Sumitada, feudatory of Omura, to invite the Jesuits in +Bungo to his fief, offering them a free port for ten years, an +extensive tract of land, a residence for the missionaries, and other +privileges. This induced the Hirado feudatory to revoke the edict +which he had issued against the Jesuits, and they were preparing to +take advantage of his renewed hospitality when a Portuguese +merchantman entered Hirado. Its appearance convinced the local +chieftain that trade could be had without the accompaniment of +religion, towards which he renewed his hostility. When, however, this +change of demeanour was communicated to Funai, the Jesuit leader, +Torres, hastened thence to Hirado, and induced the master of the +merchantman to leave the port on the ground that he could not remain +in a country where they maltreated those who professed the same +religion as himself. Thereafter, for some years, Hirado remained +outside the pale of foreign trade. But ultimately three merchant +vessels appeared in the offing and announced their willingness to put +in provided that the anti-Christian ban was removed. This +remonstrance proved effective. A parallel case occurred a few years +later in the island of Amakusa. There a petty baron, avowedly for the +purpose of attracting foreign trade, embraced Christianity and +required all his vassals to follow his example. But when no +Portuguese ship arrived, he apostatized; ordered his vassals to +return to their old faith, and expelled the missionaries. + +"In fact, the competition for the patronage of Portuguese traders was +so keen that the Hirado feudatory attempted to burn several of their +vessels because they frequented the territorial waters of his +neighbour and rival, Sumitada. The latter became a most stalwart +Christian when his wish was gratified. He set himself to eradicate +idolatry throughout his fief with the strong arm, and his fierce +intolerance provoked revolts which ended in the destruction of the +Christian town at the newly opened free port. Sumitada, however, +quickly reasserted his authority, and five years later (1567), he +took a step which had far-reaching consequences, namely, the building +of a church at Nagasaki, in order that Portuguese commerce might have +a centre and the Christians an assured asylum. Nagasaki was then a +little fishing village. In five years it grew to be a town of thirty +thousand inhabitants, and Sumitada became one of the richest of the +Kyushu feudatories."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +This baron appears to have been sincere in his adoption of the +foreign religion. "When in 1573, successful conflicts with +neighbouring fiefs brought him an access of territory, he declared +that he owed these victories to the influence of the Christian God, +and shortly afterwards he proclaimed banishment for all who would not +accept the foreign faith. There were then no Jesuits by his side, but +immediately two hastened to join him, and 'these accompanied by a +strong guard, but yet not without danger of their lives, went round +causing the churches of the Gentiles, with their idols, to be thrown +down to the ground, while three Japanese Christians went preaching +the law of God everywhere.'" They further record that three fathers +who were in the neighbouring fief "all withdrew therefrom to work in +this abundant harvest, and in the space of seven months twenty +thousand persons were baptized, including the bonzes of about sixty +monasteries."* The Jesuit vice-provincial (Francis Cabral), relating +these events, speaks with marked satisfaction of the abasement of the +Buddhist priests, and adds, "That these should now come to such a +humility that they throw themselves on the ground before two ragged +members of the Company is one of the miracles worked by the Divine +Majesty." + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +In Funai things were by no means so satisfactory. The Jesuits, as +stated above, had a hospital there, which had been built at the +charges of a devout Portuguese. But Francis Cabral, writing from +Bungo, in 1576, said: "Down to this hour the Christians have been so +abject and vile that they have shown no desire to acknowledge +themselves, partly from being few in the midst of so many Gentiles, +partly because the said Christianity began in the hospital where we +cure the people of low condition and those suffering from contagious +diseases, like the French evil and such others. Whence the Gospel +came to be of such little reputation that no man of position would +dare to accept it (although it seemed good and true to him) merely +lest he should be confounded with this rabble (con quella plebe). And +although we gave much edification with such works, the thing +nevertheless was a great obstacle to the spread of the holy faith. +And thus, during the twenty years we have had a residence in Funai, +one gentleman became a Christian, and this after having been cured of +the said evil in his house; but as soon as he was cured he afterwards +thought it shame to acknowledge his Christianity in the presence of +others." + +This most disheartening record underwent a complete change in 1576, +when the son of the Bungo feudatory, a youth of some sixteen years, +and, two years later, the feudatory himself, Otomo, embraced the +Christian faith. In the first Annual Letter sent to Rome after these +events a striking admission is made: "It is Otomo, next to God, whom +the Jesuits have to thank for their success in Japan." This +appreciation looks somewhat exaggerated when placed side by side with +the incidents that occurred in Sumitada's fief, as related above. +Nevertheless, Otomo certainly did render powerful aid, not within his +own fief alone but also through his influence elsewhere. Thus, he did +not hesitate to have recourse to arms in order to obtain for the +Jesuits access to the island of Amakusa, where one of the local +barons, tempted originally by tradal prospects and afterwards urged +by his wife, called upon his vassals to choose between conversion or +exile, and issued an order that any Buddhist priests refusing to +accept Christianity would have their property confiscated and their +persons banished. + +Practically the whole population became converts under the pressure +of these edicts, and it is thus seen that Christianity owed much of +its success in Kyushu to methods which recall Islam and the +Inquisition. Another illustration of this is furnished by the Arima +fief, which adjoined that of Omura where Sumitada ruled. The heads of +these two fiefs were brothers, and thus when Sumitada embraced +Christianity the Jesuits received an invitation to visit Arima at the +ports of Kuchinotsu and Shimabara, where from that time Portuguese +ships repaired frequently. In 1576, the Arima baron, seeing the +prosperity and power which had followed the conversion of his brother +Sumitada, accepted baptism and became the "Prince Andrew" of +missionary records. In those records we read that "the first thing +Prince Andrew did after his baptism was to convert the chief temple +of his capital into a church, its revenues being assigned for the +maintenance of the building and the support of the missionaries. He +then took measures to have the same thing done in the other towns of +his fief, and he seconded the preachers of the Gospel so well in +everything else that he could flatter himself that he soon would not +have one single idolater in his states." This fanatical "Prince +Andrew" survived his baptism by two years only, but during that time +twenty thousand converts were made in Arima. His successor, however, +was a believer in Buddhism. He caused the Christian churches to be +destroyed and the crosses to be thrown down; he ordered the Jesuits +to quit his dominions, and he required the converts to return to +Buddhism. Under this pressure about one-half of the converts +apostatized, but the rest threatened to leave Kuchinotsu en masse. +However this would have meant the loss of foreign trade, and as a +result of this circumstance the anti-Christian edicts were radically +modified. + +Just at that time, also, a fortunate incident occurred. It had become +the custom for a large vessel from Macao to visit Japan every year, +and the advent of this ship had great importance from a commercial +point of view. It chanced that she made the port of Kuchinotsu her +place of call in 1578, and her presence suggested such a pleasing +outcome that the feudatory embraced Christianity and allowed his +vassals to do the same. By this "great ship from Macao" the Jesuit +vice-general, Valegnani was a passenger. A statesman as well as a +preacher, this astute politician made such a clever use of the +opportunity that, in 1580, "all the city was made Christian, and the +people burned their idols and destroyed forty temples, reserving some +materials to build churches." + +RESULTS OF THE FIRST THREE DECADES OF PROPAGANDISM + +The record achieved by the Christian propagandists up to this time +was distinctly satisfactory. In the Annual Letter of 1582 we find it +stated that, at the close of 1581, that is to say, thirty-two years +after Xavier's landing in Japan there were about 150,000 converts. Of +these some 125,000 were in Kyushu; the remainder in Yamaguchi, Kyoto, +and the vicinity of the latter city. As for the Jesuits in Japan, +they then numbered seventy-five, but down to the year 1563 there had +never been more than nine. "The harvest was certainly great in +proportion to the number of sowers. But it was a harvest mainly of +artificial growth, forced by despotic insistence of feudal chiefs who +possessed the power of life and death over their vassals, and were +influenced by a desire to attract foreign trade." + +BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY + +"To the Buddhist priests this movement of Christian propagandism had +brought an experience hitherto almost unknown in Japan--persecution +solely on account of creed. They had suffered for interfering in +politics, but the cruel vehemence of the Christian fanatic may be +said to have now become known for the first time to men themselves +usually conspicuous for tolerance of heresy and for receptivity of +instruction. They had had little previous experience of humanity in +the garb of an Otomo of Bungo, who, in the words of Crasset, Svent to +the chase of the bonzes as to that of wild beasts, and made it his +singular pleasure to exterminate them from his states.'"* + +*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley. + +JAPANESE EMBASSY TO EUROPE + +Another important result of the coming of Valegnani to Japan was +that, in 1582, an embassy sailed from Nagasaki for Europe. It +consisted of four young men, representing the fiefs of Arima, Omura, +and Bungo, and it is related that at Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome they +were received with an elaborate show of dazzling magnificence, so +that they carried back to their island home a vivid impression of the +might and wealth of Western countries. + +KYOTO AND CHRISTIANITY + +It has already been shown that the visit to Kyoto by Xavier and +Fernandez was wholly unsuccessful. Such was not the case, however, +when another visit was made to the same city by Vilela, in the year +1559. This eminent missionary had been invited to Kyoto by the abbot +of the celebrated Buddhist monastery of Hiei-zan, who desired to +investigate the Christian doctrine. It is to be noted that, at this +time, Christian propagandism in Kyushu had not yet begun to be +disfigured by acts of violence. Vilela carried letters of +introduction from the Bungo feudatory, but before he reached the +capital the Buddhist abbot of Hiei-zan had died, and his successor +did not show the same liberal spirit of inquiry. Still, Vilela was +permitted to expound his doctrines in the presence of a gathering of +priests in the great monastery, and afterwards the good offices of +one of these bonzes, supplemented by the letter of the Bungo +feudatory, procured for the Jesuit father the honour of being +received by the shogun, Yoshiteru, who treated him with much +consideration and assigned a house for his residence. + +Vilela does not seem to have allowed himself to be influenced in any +degree by the aid that he received on this occasion from his Buddhist +friend, who is described as "one of the most respected men in the +city." The Jesuit father seized the first opportunity to denounce +Buddhism and its followers in unmeasured terms, and soon the bonzes +began to intrigue with corresponding vehemence for the expulsion of +the foreign propagandists. But the shogun extended his protection to +Vilela, by issuing a decree which made it a capital punishment to +injure the missionaries or obstruct their work. The times, however, +were very troublous, so that Vilela and his fellow workers had to +encounter much difficulty and no little danger. Nothing, however, +damped their ardour, and five years after their arrival in Kyoto they +had not only obtained many converts but had organized churches in +five towns within a radius of fifty miles from the capital. Two +incidents may be specially mentioned illustrating the loyal spirit +with which the Japanese of that time approached controversy. Among +Vilela's converts were two Buddhist priests who had been nominated +officially to investigate and report upon the novel doctrines, and +who, in the sequel of their investigation, openly embraced +Christianity though they had originally been vehemently opposed to +it. The second incident was the conversion of a petty feudatory, +Takayama, whose fief lay at Takatsuki in the vicinity of the capital. +He challenged Vilela to a public discussion of the merits of the two +creeds, and being vanquished, he frankly acknowledged his defeat, +adopted Christianity, and invited his vassals as well as his family +to follow his example. His son, Yusho, became one of the most loyal +supporters of Christianity in all Japan. He is the "Don Justo +Ukondono" of the Jesuits' annals. + +NOBUNAGA AND CHRISTIANITY + +At the time of Vilela's visit to Kyoto civil war was raging. It led +to the death of the shogun, Yoshiteru, and to the issue of an +Imperial decree proscribing Christianity, Vilela and his two comrades +were obliged to take refuge in the town of Sakai, and they remained +there during three years, when they were invited to an interview with +Oda Nobunaga, who, at this time, had risen almost to the pinnacle of +his immense power. Had Nobunaga shown himself hostile to +Christianity, the latter's fate in Japan would have been quickly +sealed; but not only was he a man of wide and liberal views, but also +he harboured a strong antipathy against the Buddhists, whose armed +interference in politics had caused him much embarrassment. He +welcomed Christianity largely as an opponent of Buddhism, and when +Takayama conducted Froez from Sakai to Nobunaga's presence, the +Jesuit received a cordial welcome. Thenceforth, during the fourteen +remaining years of his life, Nobunaga steadily befriended the +missionaries in particular and foreign visitors to Japan in general. +He stood between the Jesuits and the Throne when, in reply to an +appeal from Buddhist priests, the Emperor Okimachi, for the second +time, issued an anti-Christian decree (1568); he granted a site for a +church and a residence at Azuchi on Lake Biwa, where his new castle +stood; he addressed to various powerful feudatories letters +signifying a desire for the spread of Christianity; he frequently +made handsome presents to the fathers, and whenever they visited him +he showed himself accessible and gracious. The Jesuits said of him: +"This man seems to have been chosen by God to open and prepare the +way for our faith. In proportion to the intensity of his enmity to +the bonzes and their sects is his good-will towards our fathers who +preach the law of God, whence he has shown them so many favours that +his subjects are amazed and unable to divine what he is aiming at in +this. I will only say that, humanly speaking, what has above all +given great credit and reputation to the fathers is the great favour +Nobunaga has shown for the Company." It is not to be supposed, +however, that Nobunaga's attitude towards the Jesuits signified any +belief in their doctrines. In 1579, he took a step which showed +plainly that policy as a statesman ranked much higher in his +estimation than duty towards religion. For, in order to ensure the +armed assistance of a certain feudatory, a professing Christian, +Nobunaga seized the Jesuits in Kyoto, and threatened to ban their +religion altogether unless they persuaded the feudatory to adopt +Nobunaga's side. Nevertheless, that Christianity benefited much by +his patronage there can be no dissentient opinion. + +HIDEYOSHI AND CHRISTIANITY + +After Nobunaga's death, in 1582, the supreme power fell into the +hands of Hideyoshi, and had he chosen to exercise it, he could have +easily undone the whole work hitherto achieved by the Jesuits at the +cost of much effort and devotion. But, at first, Hideyoshi followed +Nobunaga's example. He not only accorded a friendly audience to +Father Organtino, as representative of the fathers, but also he went +in person to assign to the Company a site for a church and a +residence in Osaka. At this time, "many Christian converts were +serving in high positions, and in 1584, the Jesuits placed it on +record that 'Hideyoshi was not only not opposed to the things of God, +but he even showed that he made much account of them (the fathers) +and preferred them to all the sects of the bonzes. . . He is +entrusting to Christians his treasures, his secrets, and his +fortresses of most importance, and he shows himself well pleased that +the sons of the great lords about him should adopt our customs and +our law.' Two years later in Osaka he received with every mark of +cordiality and favour a Jesuit mission which had come from Nagasaki +seeking audience, and on that occasion his visitors recorded that he +spoke of an intention of christianizing one half of Japan." Nor did +he confine himself to licensing the missionaries to preach throughout +all Japan: he exempted not only churches from the billeting of +soldiers but also the priests themselves from local burdens. + +"This was in 1586, on the eve of his great military enterprise, the +invasion of Kyushu. . . He carried that difficult campaign to +completion by the middle of 1587, and throughout its course he +maintained a uniformly friendly demeanour toward the Jesuits. But +suddenly, when on the return journey he reached Hakata in the north +of the island, his policy underwent a radical metamorphosis. Five +questions were by his orders propounded to the vice-provincial of the +Jesuits: 'Why and by what authority he and his fellow propagandists +had constrained Japanese subjects to become Christians? Why they had +induced their disciples and their sectaries to overthrow temples? Why +they persecuted the bonzes? Why they and other Portuguese ate animals +useful to men, such as oxen and cows? Why the vice-provincial allowed +merchants of his nation to buy Japanese and make slaves of them in +the Indies?' To these queries Coelho, the vice-provincial, made +answer that the missionaries had never themselves resorted, or +incited, to violence in their propagandism, or persecuted bonzes; +that if their eating of beef was considered inadvisable, they would +give up the practice, and that they were powerless to prevent or +restrain the outrages perpetrated by their countrymen. Hideyoshi read +the vice-provincial's reply and, without comment, sent him word to +retire to Hirado, assemble all his followers there, and quit the +country within six months. On the next day (July 25, 1587) the +following edict was published: + +'Having learned from our faithful councillors that foreign priests +have come into our estates, where they preach a law contrary to that +of Japan, and that they have even had the audacity to destroy temples +dedicated to our Kami and Hotoke; although the outrage merits the +most extreme punishment, wishing nevertheless to show them mercy, we +order them under pain of death to quit Japan within twenty days. +During that space no harm or hurt will be done, to them. But at the +expiration of that term, we order that if any of them be found in our +estates, they should be seized and punished as the greatest +criminals. As for the Portuguese merchants, we permit them to enter +our ports, there to continue their accustomed trade, and to remain in +our estates provided our affairs need this. But we forbid them to +bring any foreign priests into the country, under the penalty of the +confiscation of their ships and goods.'"* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +How are we to account for this seemingly rapid change of mood on +Hideyoshi's part? A comparison of dates furnishes some assistance in +replying to that question. The Kyushu campaign took place in 1587, +and it was in 1586 that Hideyoshi commenced the construction of the +colossal image of Buddha in Kyoto. The Taiko was by no means a +religious man. That is amply shown by the stories told in the +previous pages. But his political sagacity taught him that to +continue Nobunaga's crusade against Buddhism would not be wise +statesmanship, and that if the bonzes could be disarmed and diverted +from military pursuits, they would become useful agents of +intellectual and moral progress. His idea of setting up a gigantic +idol in the capital marked his final substitution of a conciliatory +programme for the fiercely destructive methods of Nobunaga. Of +necessity he had, then, to reconsider his demeanour towards +Christianity, and it is on record that before leaving Osaka for +Kyushu he publicly stated, "I fear much that all the virtue of the +European priests is merely a mask of hypocrisy and serves only to +conceal pernicious designs against the empire." Then, in Kyushu, two +things influenced him strongly. One was that he now saw with his own +eyes what militant Christianity really meant--ruined temples, +overthrown idols, and coerced converts. Such excesses had not +disgraced Christian propagandism in Kyoto or in the metropolitan +provinces, but in Kyushu the unsightly story was forced upon +Hideyoshi's attention. The second special feature of the situation in +Kyushu was that relations of an altogether exceptional character were +established between Hideyoshi and Kennyo, abbot of the Shin sect. By +the contrivance of that prelate, Hideyoshi's troops were enabled to +follow a secret road to the stronghold of the Satsuma baron, and in +return for such valuable services Hideyoshi may well have been +persuaded to proscribe Christianity. + +Some importance, though probably of a less degree, attaches also to +the last of the five questions propounded by Hideyoshi to the +vice-provincial--why the priests allowed merchants of their nation to +buy Japanese subjects and carry them into slavery in the Indies. It +was in Kyushu only that these abuses were perpetrated. With respect +to this matter the following passage appears in the archives of the +Academy of History at Madrid: "Even the Lascars and scullions of the +Portuguese purchase and carry slaves away. Hence it happens that many +of them die on the voyage, because they are heaped up one upon the +other, and if their master fall sick (these masters are sometimes +Kaffirs and the negroes of the Portuguese), the slaves are not cared +for. It even often happens that the Kaffirs cannot procure the +necessary food for them. I here omit the excesses committed in the +lands of pagans where the Portuguese spread themselves to recruit +youth and girls, and where they live in such a fashion that the +pagans themselves are stupefied at it." Nevertheless, the fact that +the Taiko specially exempted the Portuguese merchants from his decree +of banishment indicates that he did not attach cardinal importance to +their evil doings in the matter of slaves. It seems rather to have +been against the Jesuits that his resentment was directed, for he did +not fail to perceive that, whereas they could and did exact the +utmost deference from their country's sailors and traders when the +ends of Christian propagandism were served thereby, they professed +themselves powerless to dissuade these same traders and sailors from +outrages which would have disgraced any religion. He cannot but have +concluded that if these Portuguese merchants and seamen were to be +regarded as specimens of the products of Christianity, then, indeed, +that creed had not much to recommend it. All these things seem amply +sufficient to account for the change that manifested itself in +Hideyoshi's attitude towards Christianity at the close of the Kyushu +campaign. + +SEQUEL OF THE EDICT OF BANISHMENT + +The Jesuits, of whom it must be said that they never consulted their +own safety when the cause of their faith could be advanced by +self-sacrifice, paid no attention to the Taiko's edict. They did +indeed assemble at Hirado to the number of 120, but when they +received orders to embark at once, they decided that only those +needed for service in China should leave Japan. The rest remained and +continued to perform their religious duties as usual, under the +protection of the converted feudatories. The latter also appear to +have concluded that it was not necessary to follow Hideyoshi's +injunctions strictly concerning the expulsion of the priests. It +seemed, at first, as though nothing short of extermination was +contemplated by the Taiko. He caused all the churches in Kyoto, +Osaka, and Sakai to be pulled down, and he sent troops to raze the +Christian places of worship in Kyushu. But the troops accepted gifts +offered to them by the feudatories and left the churches standing, +while Hideyoshi not only failed to enforce his edict, but also +allowed himself in the following year, 1588, to be convinced by a +Portuguese envoy that unless the missionaries were suffered to +remain, oversea trade could not possibly be carried on in a peaceful +and orderly manner. For the sake of that trade, Hideyoshi agreed to +tolerate the Christian propagandists, and, for a time, the foreign +faith continued to flourish in Kyushu and found a favourable field +even in Kyoto. + +At this time, in response to a message from the Jesuits, the viceroy +of the Indies sent an ambassador to thank Hideyoshi for the favours +he had hitherto bestowed upon the missionaries, and in the train of +this nominally secular embassy came a number of fresh Jesuits to +labour in the Japanese field. The ambassador was Valegnani, a man of +profound tact. Acting upon the Taiko's unequivocal hints, Valegnani +caused the missionaries to divest their work of all ostentatious +features and to comport themselves with the utmost circumspection, so +that official attention should not be attracted by any salient +evidences of Christian propagandism. Indeed, at this very time, as +stated above, Hideyoshi took a step which plainly showed that he +valued the continuance of trade much more highly than the extirpation +of Christianity. "Being assured that Portuguese merchants could not +frequent Japan unless they found Christian priests there, he +consented to sanction the presence of a limited number of Jesuits," +though he was far too shrewd to imagine that their services could be +limited to men of their own nationality, and too clever to forget +that these very Portuguese, who professed to attach so much +importance to religious ministrations, were the same men whose +flagrant outrages the fathers declared themselves powerless to check. +If any further evidence were needed of Hideyoshi's discrimination +between trade and religion, it is furnished by his despatches to the +viceroy of the Indies written in 1591:-- + +The fathers of the Company, as they are called, have come to these +islands to teach another religion here; but as that of the Kami is +too surely founded to be abolished, this new law can serve only to +introduce into Japan a diversity of cults prejudicial to the welfare +of the State. It is for this reason that, by Imperial edict, I have +forbidden these foreign doctors to continue to preach their doctrine. +I have even ordered them to quit Japan, and I am resolved no longer +to allow any one of them to come here to spread new opinions. I +nevertheless desire that trade between you and us should always be on +the same footing [as before]. I shall have every care that the ways +are free by sea and land: I have freed them from all pirates and +brigands. The Portuguese will be able to traffic with my subjects, +and I will in no wise suffer any one to do them the least wrong. + +The statistics of 1595 showed that there were then in Japan 137 +Jesuit fathers with 300,000 native converts, including seventeen +feudal chiefs and not a few bonzes. + +HIDEYOSHI'S FINAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY + +For ten years after the issue of his anti-Christian decree at Hakata, +Hideyoshi maintained a tolerant demeanour. But in 1597, his +forbearance was changed to a mood of uncompromising severity. Various +explanations have been given of this change, but the reasons are +obscure. "Up to 1593 the Portuguese had possessed a monopoly of +religious propagandism and oversea commerce in Japan. The privilege +was secured to them by agreement between Spain and Portugal and by a +papal bull. But the Spaniards in Manila had long looked with somewhat +jealous eyes on this Jesuit reservation, and when news of the +anti-Christian decree of 1587 reached the Philippines, the Dominicans +and Franciscans residing there were fired with zeal to enter an arena +where the crown of martyrdom seemed to be the least reward within +reach. The papal bull, however, demanded obedience, and to overcome +that difficulty a ruse was necessary: the governor of Manila agreed +to send a party of Franciscans as ambassadors to Hideyoshi. In that +guise, the friars, being neither traders nor propagandists, +considered that they did not violate either the treaty or the bull. +It was a technical subterfuge very unworthy of the object +contemplated, and the friars supplemented it by swearing to Hideyoshi +that the Philippines would submit to his sway. Thus they obtained +permission to visit Kyoto, Osaka, and Fushimi, but with the explicit +proviso that they must not preach."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +How far they observed the terms and the spirit of this arrangement +may be gathered from the facts that "very soon they had built a +church in Kyoto, consecrated it with the utmost pomp, and were +preaching sermons and chaunting litanies there in flagrant defiance +of Hideyoshi's veto. Presently, their number received an access of +three friars who came bearing gifts from the governor of Manila, and +now they not only established a convent in Osaka, but also seized a +Jesuit church in Nagasaki and converted the circumspect worship +hitherto conducted there by the fathers into services of the most +public character. Officially checked in Nagasaki, they charged the +Jesuits in Kyoto with having intrigued to impede them, and they +further vaunted the courageous openness of their own ministrations as +compared with the clandestine timidity of the methods which wise +prudence had induced the Jesuits to adopt. Retribution would have +followed quickly had not Hideyoshi's attention been engrossed by an +attempt to invade China through Korea. At this stage, however, a +memorable incident occurred. Driven out of her course by a storm, a +great and richly laden Spanish galleon, bound for Acapulco from +Manila, drifted to the coast of Tosa province, and running--or being +purposely run--on a sand-bank as she was towed into port by Japanese +boats, broke her back. She carried goods to the value of some six +hundred thousand crowns, and certain officials urged Hideyoshi to +confiscate her as derelict, conveying to him, at the same time, a +detailed account of the doings of the Franciscans and their open +flouting of his orders. Hideyoshi, much incensed, commanded the +arrest of the Franciscans and despatched officers to Tosa to +confiscate the San Felipe. The pilot of the galleon sought to +intimidate these officers by showing them, on a map of the world, the +vast extent of Spain's dominions, and being asked how one country had +acquired such wide sway, replied,* 'Our kings begin by sending into +the countries they wish to conquer missionaries who induce the people +to embrace our religion, and when they have made considerable +progress, troops are sent who combine with the new Christians, and +then our kings have not much trouble in accomplishing the rest.'"** + +*Charlevoix, referring to this incident, says, "This unfortunate +statement inflicted a wound on religion which is bleeding still after +a century and a half." + +**Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN JAPAN + +The words of the San Felipe's master were immediately reported to +Hideyoshi. They roused him to hot anger. He is reported to have +cried: "What! my States are filled with traitors, and their numbers +increase every day. I have proscribed the foreign doctors, but out of +compassion for the age and infirmity of some among them, I have +allowed their remaining in Japan. I shut my eyes to the presence of +several others because I fancied them to be quiet and incapable of +forming bad designs, and they are serpents I have been cherishing in +my bosom. The traitors are entirely employed in making me enemies +among my own subjects and perhaps in my own family. But they will +learn what it is to play with me... I am not anxious for myself. So +long as the breath of life remains, I defy all the powers of the +earth to attack me. But I am perhaps to leave the empire to a child, +and how can he maintain himself against so many foes, domestic and +foreign, if I do not provide for everything incessantly?" + +Then, finally, the Franciscans were arrested and condemned to have +their noses and ears cut off;* to be promenaded through Kyoto, Osaka, +and Sakai, and to be crucified at Nagasaki. "I have ordered these +foreigners to be treated thus," Hideyoshi is recorded to have stated, +"because they have come from the Philippines to Japan, calling +themselves ambassadors, although they were not so; because they have +remained here for long without my permission; because in defiance of +my prohibition they have built churches, preached their religion, and +caused disorders." These men were the first martyrs in Japan. + +*The mutilation was confined to the lobe of one ear. + +They numbered twenty-six, namely, six Franciscans, three Jesuits, and +seventeen native Christians who were chiefly domestic servants of the +Franciscans. They met their fate with noble fortitude. Hideyoshi did +not stop there. He took measures to have his edict of 1587 converted +into a stern reality. The governor of Nagasaki received orders to +send away all the Jesuits, permitting only two or three to remain for +the service of Portuguese merchants. + +The Jesuits, however, were not to be deterred by personal peril. +There were 125 of them in Japan at that time, and of these only +eleven left Nagasaki by sea in October, 1597, though the same vessel +carried a number of pretended Jesuits who were, in reality, disguised +sailors. This deception was necessarily known to the local +authorities; but their sympathies being with the Jesuits, they kept +silence until early the following year, when, owing to a rumour that +Hideyoshi himself contemplated a visit to Kyushu, they took really +efficient measures to expel all the fathers. No less than 137 +churches throughout Kyushu were thrown down, as well as several +seminaries and residences of the fathers, and, at Nagasaki, all the +Jesuits in Japan were assembled for deportation to Macao in the +following year when the "great ship" was expected to visit that port. +But before her arrival Hideyoshi died, and a respite was thus gained +for the Jesuits. + +FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TOKUGAWA FAMILY + +It has been confidently stated that Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded +Christian nations and Christian propagandists with distrust not less +profound than that harboured by Hideyoshi. But facts are opposed to +that view. Within less than three months of the Taiko's death, the +Tokugawa chief had his first interview with a Christian priest. The +man was a Franciscan, by name Jerome de Jesus. He had been a member +of the fictitious embassy from Manila, and his story illustrates the +zeal and courage that inspired the Christian fathers in those days. +"Barely escaping the doom of crucifixion which overtook his +companions, he had been deported from Japan to Manila at a time when +death seem to be the certain penalty of remaining. But no sooner had +he been landed in Manila than he took passage in a Chinese junk, and, +returning to Nagasaki, made his way secretly from the far south of +Japan to the province of Kii. There arrested, he was brought into the +presence of Ieyasu, and his own record of what ensued is given in a +letter subsequently sent to Manila: + +"'When the Prince saw me he asked how I managed to escape the previous +persecution. I answered him that at that date God had delivered me in +order that I might go to Manila and bring back new colleagues from +there--preachers of the divine law--and that I had returned from +Manila to encourage the Christians, cherishing the desire to die on +the cross in order to go to enjoy eternal glory like my former +colleagues. On hearing these words the Emperor began to smile, +whether in his quality of a pagan of the sect of Shaka which teaches +that there is no future life, or whether from the thought that I was +frightened at having to be put to death. Then, looking at me kindly, +he said, "Be no longer afraid and no longer conceal yourself and no +longer change your habit, for I wish you well; and as for the +Christians who every year pass within sight of Kwanto where my +domains are, when they go to Mexico with their ships, I have a keen +desire for them to visit the harbours of this island, to refresh +themselves there, and to take what they wish, to trade with my +vassals, and to teach them how to develop silver mines; and that my +intentions may be accomplished before my death, I wish you to +indicate to me the means to take to realize them." + +"'I answered that it was necessary that Spanish pilots should take the +soundings of his harbours, so that ships might not be lost in future +as the San Felipe had been, and that he should solicit this service +from the governor of the Philippines. The Prince approved of my +advice, and accordingly he has sent a Japanese gentleman, a native of +Sakai, the bearer of this message.... It is essential to oppose no +obstacle to the complete liberty offered by the Emperor to the +Spaniards and to our holy order, for the preaching of the holy +gospel. ... The same Prince (who is about to visit the Kwanto) +invites me to accompany him to make choice of a house, and to visit +the harbour which he promises to open to us; his desires in this +respect are keener than I can express.'"* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +Subsequent events confirm the accuracy of the above story. Father +Jerome was allowed to build the first Christian church in Yedo and to +officiate there. Moreover, Ieyasu sent "three embassies in succession +to the Philippines, proposing reciprocal freedom of commerce, +offering to open ports in the Kwanto, and asking for competent naval +architects." These architects never came, and the trade that resulted +from the Tokugawa chief's overtures was paltry in comparison with the +number of friars that accompanied it to Japan. It has been suggested +that Ieyasu designed these Spanish monks to serve as a counterpoise +to the influence of the Jesuits. For he must have known that the +Franciscans opened their mission in Yedo by "declaiming with violence +against the fathers of the Company of Jesus," and he must have +understood that the Spanish monks assumed towards the Jesuits in +Japan the same intolerent and abusive tone that the Jesuits +themselves had previously assumed towards Buddhism. + +ENGRAVING: ANJIN-ZUKA, NEAR YOKOSUKA, THE TOMB OF WILL ADAMS + +WILL ADAMS + +At about this time a Dutch merchant ship named the Liefde arrived in +Japan. In 1598, a squadron of five ships sailed from Holland to +exploit the sources of Portuguese commerce in the Orient, and of the +five vessels only one, the Liefde, was ever heard of again. She +reached Japan in the spring of 1600, with only four and twenty +survivors of her original crew, numbering 110. Towed into the harbour +of Funai, she was visited by Jesuits, who, on discovering her +nationality, denounced her to the local authorities as a pirate. On +board the Liefde, serving in the capacity of pilot major was an +Englishman, Will Adams, of Gillingham in Kent. Ieyasu summoned him to +Osaka, and between the rough English sailor and the Tokugawa chief +there commenced a curiously friendly intercourse which was not +interrupted until the death of Adams, twenty years later. + +"The Englishman became master-shipbuilder to the Yedo Government; was +employed as diplomatic agent when other traders from his own country +and from Holland arrived in Japan, received in perpetual gift a +substantial estate, and from first to last possessed the implicit +confidence of the shogun. Ieyasu quickly discerned the man's honesty; +perceived that whatever benefits foreign commerce might confer would +be increased by encouraging competition among the foreigners, and +realized that English and Dutch trade presented the wholesome feature +of complete dissociation from religious propagandism. On the other +hand, he showed no intolerance to either Spaniards or Portuguese. He +issued (1601) two official patents sanctioning the residence of the +fathers in Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki; he employed Father Rodriguez +as interpreter at the Court in Yedo, and, in 1603 he gave munificent +succour to the Jesuits who were reduced to dire straits owing to the +capture of the great ship from Macao by the Dutch and the consequent +loss of several years' supplies for the mission in Japan."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +ULTIMATE ATTITUDE OF IEYASU TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN +INTERCOURSE + +From what has been written above it will have been evident that each +of Japan's great trio of sixteenth century statesmen--Nobunaga, +Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu--adopted originally a tolerant demeanour +towards Christianity, and an emphatically favourable attitude towards +foreign commerce. The causes of Hideyoshi's change of mood are +tolerably clear, but it is not possible to analyse the case of Ieyasu +with certainty. That the Tokugawa baron strongly patronized Buddhism +might be regarded as a sufficient explanation of his ultimate +hostility to the foreign faith, but cannot be reconciled with his +amicable attitude at the outset. The more credible explanation is +that he was guided by intelligence obtained direct from Europe. He +sent thither at the end of the sixteenth century an emissary whose +instructions were to observe closely the social and political +conditions in the home of Christianity. The better to accomplish his +purpose this envoy embraced the Christian faith, and was thus enabled +to carry on his observations from within as well as from without. + +It may be easily conceived that the state of affairs in Europe at +that time, when recounted to Ieyasu, could scarcely fail to shock and +astonish the ruler of a country where freedom of conscience may be +said to have always existed. The Inquisition and the stake; wholesale +aggressions in the name of the Cross; a head of the Church whose +authority extended to confiscation of the realms of heretical +sovereigns; religious wars, and profound fanaticism--these were the +elements of the story told to Ieyasu by his returned envoy. The +details could not fail to produce an evil impression. Already his own +observation had disclosed to the Tokugawa chief abundant evidence of +the spirit of strife engendered by Christian dogma in those times. No +sooner had the Franciscans and the Dominicans arrived in Japan than a +fierce quarrel broke out between them and the Jesuits--a quarrel +which even community of suffering could not compose. "Not less +repellent was an attempt on the part of the Spaniards to dictate to +Ieyasu the expulsion of all Hollanders from Japan, and an attempt on +the part of the Jesuits to dictate the expulsion of the Spaniards. +The former proposal, couched almost in the form of a demand, was +twice formulated, and accompanied on the second occasion by a +scarcely less insulting offer, namely, that Spanish men-of-war would +be sent to Japan to burn all Dutch ships found in the ports of the +empire. If in the face of proposals so contumelious of his authority +Ieyasu preserved a calm and dignified mein, merely replying that his +country was open to all comers, and that, if other nations had +quarrels among themselves, they must not take Japan for +battle-ground, it is nevertheless unimaginable that he did not +strongly resent such interference with his own independent foreign +policy, and that he did not interpret it as foreshadowing a +disturbance of the realm's peace by sectarian quarrels among +Christians."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +The repellent aspects under which Christianity thus presented itself +to Ieyasu were supplemented by an act of fraud and forgery +perpetrated in the interest of a Christian feudatory by a trusted +official, himself a Christian. This experience persuaded the Tokugawa +ruler that it was unsafe to employ Christians at his Court. He not +only dismissed all those so employed, but also banished them from +Yedo and forbade any feudal chief to harbour them. Another incident, +not without influence, was connected with the survey of the Japanese +coast by a Spanish mariner and a Franciscan friar. An envoy from New +Spain (Mexico) had obtained permission for this survey, but "when the +mariner (Sebastian) and the friar (Sotelo) hastened to carry out the +project, Ieyasu asked Will Adams to explain this display of industry. +The Englishman replied that such a proceeding would be regarded in +Europe as an act of hostility, especially on the part of the +Spaniards or Portuguese, whose aggressions were notorious. He added, +in reply to further questions, that 'the Roman priesthood had been +expelled from many parts of Germany, from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, +Holland, and England, and that, although his own country preserved +the pure form of the Christian faith from which Spain and Portugal +had deviated, yet neither English nor Dutch considered that that fact +afforded them any reason to war with, or to annex, States which were +not Christian solely for the reason that they were non-Christian.'"* +Hearing these things from Will Adams, Ieyasu is said to have +remarked, "If the sovereigns of Europe do not tolerate these priests, +I do them no wrong if I refuse to tolerate them." + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +Another incident, too complicated to describe in detail, may be +summed up by saying that some Japanese Christians were discovered to +have conspired for the overthrow of the Tokugawa Government by the +aid of foreign troops. It was not an extensive plot, but it helped to +demonstrate that the sympathy of the priests and their converts was +plainly with the enemies of Tokugawa's supremacy. Ieyasu, however, +abstained from extreme measures in the case of any of the foreign +priests, and he might have been equally tolerant towards native +Christians, also, had not the Tokugawa authority been openly defied +in Yedo itself by a Franciscan father--the Sotelo mentioned above. +"Then (1613) the first execution of Japanese converts took place, +though the monk himself was released after a short incarceration. At +that time... insignificant differences of custom sometimes induced +serious misconceptions. A Christian who had violated a secular law +was crucified in Nagasaki. Many of his fellow-believers kneeled +around his cross and prayed for the peace of his soul. A party of +converts were afterwards burnt to death in the same place for +refusing to apostatize, and their Christian friends crowded to carry +off portions of their bodies as holy relics. When these things were +reported to Ieyasu, he said, 'Without doubt that must be a diabolic +faith which persuades people not only to worship criminals condemned +to death for their crimes, but also to honour those who have been +burned or cut to pieces by the order of their lord.'"* + +*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley. + +SUPPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY + +The first prohibition of Christianity was issued by Ieyasu in +September, 1612, and was followed by another in April, 1613; but both +bore the character of warnings rather than of punitive regulations. +It was on the 27th of January, 1614--that is to say, fifty-four years +and five months after the landing of Xavier at Kagoshima--that an +edict appeared ordering that all the foreign priests should be +collected in Nagasaki preparatory to removal from Japan; that all +churches should be pulled down, and that all converts should be +compelled to abjure Christianity. There were then in Japan 156 +ministers of Christianity, namely, 122 Jesuits, 14 Franciscans, 9 +Dominicans, 4 Augustinians, and 7 secular priests. It is virtually +certain that if these men had obeyed the orders of the Japanese +Government by leaving the country finally, not so much as one +foreigner would have suffered for his faith in Japan, except the six +Franciscans executed on the "Martyrs' Mount" at Nagasaki by +Hideyoshi's order, in 1597. But the missionaries did not obey. +Suffering or even death counted for nothing with these men as against +the possibility of saving souls. "Forty-seven of them evaded the +edict, some by concealing themselves at the time of its issue, the +rest by leaving their ships when the latter had passed out of sight +of the shore of Japan, and returning by boats to the scene of their +former labours. Moreover, in a few months, those that had actually +crossed the sea re-crossed it in various disguises."* The Japanese +Government had then to consider whether it would suffer its authority +to be thus defied by foreign visitors or whether it would resort to +extreme measures. + +*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley. + +PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO 1613 + +Throughout a period of two years immediately following the issue of +the anti-Christian edict of 1614, the attention of Ieyasu, and indeed +of the whole Japanese nation, was concentrated on the struggle which +took place between the adherents of the Tokugawa and the supporters +of Hideyori. That struggle culminated in an assault on the castle of +Osaka, and fresh fuel was added to the fire of anti-Christian +resentment inasmuch as many Christian converts espoused Hideyori's +cause, and in one part of the field the troops of Ieyasu had to fight +against a foe whose banners were emblazoned with a cross and with +images of Christ and of St. James, the patron saint of Spain. +Nevertheless, the Christian converts possessed the sympathy of so +many of the feudal chiefs that much reluctance was shown to inflict +the extreme penalty of the law on men and women whose only crime was +the adoption of an alien religion. Some of the feudal chiefs, even at +the risk of losing their estates, gave asylum to the converts; others +falsely reported a complete absence of Christians in their dominions, +and some endeavoured earnestly to protect the fanatics; while, as to +the people at large, their liberal spirit is shown in the fact that +five priests who were in Osaka Castle at the time of its capture were +able to make their way to distant refuges without any risk of +betrayal. + +ENGRAVING: GREEN-ROOM OF A THEATRE (In the Middle of the Tokugawa +Period) + +On the other hand, there were not wanting feudatories who, judging +that zeal in obeying the edict would prove a passport to official +reward, acted on that conviction. Notably was this true of Hasegawa, +who received the fief of Arima by way of recompense for barbarous +cruelty towards the Christians. Yet it is on record that when this +baron sent out a mixed force of Hizen and Satsuma troops to harry the +converts, these samurai warned the Christians to flee and then +reported that they were not to be found anywhere. During these events +the death of Ieyasu took place (June 1, 1616), and pending the +dedication of his mausoleum the anti-Christian crusade was virtually +suspended. + +ENGLISH AND DUTCH INTRIGUES AGAINST SPANIARDS AND PORTUGUESE + +It has been frequently alleged that if the Spaniards and the +Portuguese endeavoured to bring the Hollanders into bad odour, the +English and the Dutch intrigued equally against the Portuguese and +the Spaniards. The accusation cannot be rebutted. Cocks, the factor +of the English commercial mission to Japan, has himself left it on +record that, being at the Yedo Court in the fall of 1616, "I enformed +the two secretaries that yf they lookt out well about these two +Spanish shipps in Xaxama [Satsuma] full of men and treasure, they +would fynd that they were sent off purpose by the king of Spaine, +having knowledge of the death of the ould Emperour [Ieyasu], thinking +som papisticall tono [daimyo] might rise and rebell and so draw all +the papists to flock to them and take part, by which means they might +on a sudden seaz upon som strong place and keepe it till more succors +came, they not wanting money nor men for thackomplishing such a +strattgin." The two vessels in question were "greate shipps arrived +out of New Spaine, bound, as they said, for the Philippines, but +driven into that place per contrary wynd, both shipps being full of +souldiers, with great store of treasure, as it is said, above five +millions of pezos." It is true that a Spanish captain sent from these +vessels to pay respects to the Court in Yedo "gave it out that our +shipps and the Hollanders which were at Firando [Hirado] had taken +and robbed all the China junks, which was the occasion that very few +or non came into Japan this yeare," and therefore Cocks was somewhat +justified in saying "so in this sort I cried quittance with the +Spaniards." It appears, however, that the Spaniards were not +believed, whereas the Englishman could boast, "which speeches of myne +wrought so far that the Emperour sent to stay them, and had not the +greate shipp cut her cable in the hawse so as to escape, she had been +arrested." It was this same Cocks who told a Japanese "admirall" that +"My opinion was he might doe better to put it into the Emperour's +mynd to make a conquest of the Manillas, and drive those small crew +of Spaniards from thence." + +In fact, none of the four Occidental nationalities then in Japan had +any monopoly of slandering its rivals. The accusation preferred by +Cocks, however, must have possessed special significance, confirming, +as it did, what the pilot of the San Felipe had said twenty years +previously as to the political uses to which the propagandists of +Christianity were put by the King of Spain, and what Will Adams had +said four years earlier as to the Imperial doctrine of Spain and +Portugal that the annexation of a non-Christian country was always +justifiable. The "greate shipps out of New Spaine," laden with +soldiers and treasure and under orders to combine with any Christian +converts willing to revolt against the Yedo Government, were concrete +evidence of the truth of the Spanish sailor's revelation and of the +English exile's charge. It has always to be remembered, too, that +Kyushu, the headquarters of Christianity in Japan, did not owe to the +Tokugawa shoguns the same degree of allegiance that it had been +forced to render to Hideyoshi. A colossal campaign such as the latter +had conducted against the southern island, in 1587, never commended +itself to the ambition of Ieyasu or to that of his comparatively +feeble successor, Hidetada. Hence, the presence of Spanish or +Portuguese ships in Satsuma suggested danger of an exceptional +degree. + +In the very month (September, 1616) when Cocks "cried quittance with +the Spaniards," a new anti-Christian edict was promulgated by +Hidetada, son and successor of Ieyasu. It pronounced sentence of +exile against all Christian priests, not excluding even those whose +presence had been sanctioned for the purpose of ministering to the +Portuguese merchants; it forbade the Japanese, under penalty of being +burned alive and having all their property confiscated, to connect +themselves in any way with the Christian propagandists or with their +co-operators or servants, and above all, to show them any +hospitality. The same penalties were extended to women and children, +and to the five neighbours on both sides of a convert's abode, unless +these became informers. Every feudal chief was forbidden to keep +Christians in his service, and the edict was promulgated with more +than usual severity, although its enforcement was deferred until the +next year on account of the obsequies of Ieyasu. This edict of 1616 +differed from that issued by Ieyasu in 1614, since the latter did not +explicitly prescribe the death-penalty for converts refusing to +apostatize. But both agreed in indicating expulsion as the sole +manner of dealing with the foreign priests. It, is also noteworthy +that, just as the edict of Ieyasu was immediately preceded by +statements from Will Adams about the claim of Spain and Portugal to +absorb all non-Christian countries, so the edict of Hidetada had for +preface Cock's attribution of aggressive designs to the Spanish ships +at Kagoshima in conjunction with Christian converts. Not without +justice, therefore, have the English been charged with some share of +responsibility for the terrible things that ultimately befell the +propagandists and the professors of Christianity in Japan. As for the +shogun, Hidetada, and his advisers, it is probable that they did not +foresee much occasion for actual recourse to violence. They knew that +a great majority of the converts had joined the Christian Church at +the instance, or by the command, of their local rulers, and nothing +can have seemed less likely than that a creed thus lightly embraced +would be adhered to in defiance of torture and death. The foreign +propagandists also might have escaped all peril by obeying the +official edict and leaving Japan. They suffered because they defied +the laws of the land. + +Some fifty of them happened to be in Nagasaki at the time of +Hidetada's edict. Several of these were apprehended and deported, but +a number returned almost immediately. This happened under the +jurisdiction of Omura, who had been specially charged with the duty +of sending away the bateren (padres). He seems to have concluded that +a striking example must be furnished, and he therefore ordered the +seizure and decapitation of two fathers, De l'Assumpcion and Machado. +The result completely falsified his calculations, for so far from +proving a deterrent, the fate of the two fathers appealed widely to +the people's sense of heroism. Multitudes flocked to the grave in +which the two coffins were buried. The sick were carried thither to +be restored to health, and the Christian converts derived new courage +from the example of these martyrs. Numerous conversions and numerous +returns of apostates took place everywhere. + +While this enthusiasm was at its height, Navarette, vice-provincial +of the Dominicans, and Ayala, vice-provincial of the Augustins, +emerged from hiding, and robed in their full canonicals, commenced an +open propaganda, heralding their approach by a letter addressed to +Omura and couched in the most defiant terms. Thus challenged, Omura +was obliged to act promptly, especially as Navarette declared that he +(Navarette) did not recognize the Emperor of Japan but only the +Emperor of Heaven. The two fanatics were seized, conveyed secretly to +the island of Takashima, and there decapitated; their coffins being +weighted with big stones and sunk in the sea, so as to prevent a +repetition of the scenes witnessed at the tomb of the fathers +mentioned above. Thereupon, the newly elected superior of the +Dominicans at once sent three of his priests to preach in Omura's +territories, and two of them, having been seized, were cast into +prison where they remained for five years. Even more directly defiant +was the attitude of the next martyred priest, an old Franciscan monk, +Juan de Santa Martha. He had for three years suffered all the horrors +of a medieval Japanese prison, yet when it was proposed to release +him and deport him to New Spain, his answer was that, if released, he +would stay in Japan and preach there. He laid his head on the block +in August, 1618. + +Throughout the next four years, however, no other foreign missionary +was capitally punished in Japan, though many arrived and continued +their propagandism. During that interval, also, there occurred +another incident calculated to fix upon the Christians still deeper +suspicion of political designs. In a Portuguese ship, captured by the +Dutch, a letter was found instigating Japanese converts to revolt, +and promising that, when the number of disaffected became sufficient, +men-of-war would be sent from Portugal to aid them. Another factor +tending to invest the converts with political potentialities was the +writing of pamphlets by apostates, attributing the zeal of foreign +propagandists solely to traitorous motives. Further, the Spanish and +Portuguese propagandists were indicted in a despatch addressed to the +second Tokugawa shogun, in 1620, by the admiral in command of the +British and Dutch fleet of defence, then cruising in Oriental waters. +The admiral unreservedly charged the friars with treacherous +machinations, and warned the shogun against the aggressive designs of +Philip of Spain. + +This cumulative evidence dispelled the last doubts of the Japanese, +and a time of sharp suffering ensued for the fathers and their +converts. There were many shocking episodes. Among them may be +mentioned the case of Zufliga, son of the marquis of Villamanrica. He +visited Japan as a Dominican in 1618, but the governor of Nagasaki +persuaded him to withdraw. Yielding for the moment, he returned two +years later, accompanied by Father Flores. They travelled in a vessel +commanded by a Japanese Christian, and off Formosa she was overhauled +by an English warship, which took off the two priests and handed them +over to the Dutch at Hirado. There they were tortured and held in +prison for sixteen months, when an armed attempt made by some +Japanese Christians to rescue them precipitated their fate. By order +from Yedo, Zuniga, Flores, and the Japanese master of the vessel +which had carried them, were roasted to death in Nagasaki on August +19, 1622. Thus the measures adopted against the missionaries are seen +to have gradually increased in severity. The first two fathers put to +death, De l'Assumpcion and Machado, were beheaded in 1617, not by the +common executioner but by one of the principal officers of the +daimyo. The next two, Navarette and Ayala, were decapitated by the +executioner. Then, in 1618, Juan de Santa Martha was executed like a +common criminal, his body being dismembered and his head exposed. +Finally, in 1622, Zuniga and Flores were burned alive. + +The same year was marked by the "great martyrdom" at Nagasaki, when +nine foreign priests went to the stake together with nineteen +Japanese converts. Apprehension of a foreign invasion seems to have +greatly troubled the shogun at this time. He had sent an envoy to +Europe who, after seven years abroad, returned on the eve of the +"great martyrdom," and made a report thoroughly unfavourable to +Christianity. Hidetada therefore refused to give audience to the +Philippine embassy in 1624, and ordered that all Spaniards should be +deported from Japan. It was further decreed that no Japanese +Christians should thenceforth be allowed to go to sea in search of +commerce, and that although non-Christians or men who had apostatized +might travel freely, they must not visit the Philippines. + +Thus ended all intercourse between Japan and Spain. The two countries +had been on friendly terms for thirty-two years, and during that time +a widespread conviction that Christianity was an instrument of +Spanish aggression had been engendered. Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, now +ruled in Yedo, though Hidetada himself remained "the power behind the +throne." The year (1623) of the former's accession to the shogunate +had seen the re-issue of anti-Christian decrees and the martyrdom of +some five hundred Christians within the Tokugawa domains, whither the +tide of persecution now flowed for the first time. From that period +onwards official attempts to eradicate Christianity in Japan were +unceasing. Conspicuously active in this cause were two governors of +Nagasaki, by name Mizuno and Takenaka, and the feudal chief of +Shimabara, by name Matsukura. To this last is to be credited the +terrible device of throwing converts into the solfataras at Unzen, +and under him, also, the punishment of the "fosse" was resorted to. +It consisted in suspension by the feet, head downwards in a pit until +death ensued. By many this latter torture was heroically endured to +the end, but in the case of a few the pains proved unendurable. + +It is on record that the menace of a Spanish invasion seemed so +imminent to Matsukura and Takenaka that they proposed an attack on +the Philippines so as to deprive the Spaniards of their base in the +East. This bold measure failed to obtain approval in Yedo. In +proportion as the Christian converts proved invincible, the severity +of the repressive measures increased. There are no accurate +statistics showing the number of victims. Some annalists allege that +two hundred and eighty thousand perished up to the year 1635, but +that figure is probably exaggerated, for the converts do not seem to +have aggregated more than three hundred thousand at any time, and it +is probable that a majority of these, having embraced the alien creed +for light reasons, discarded it readily under menace of destruction. +"Every opportunity was given for apostatizing and for escaping death. +Immunity could be secured by pointing out a fellow convert, and when +it is observed that among the seven or eight feudatories who embraced +Christianity only two or three died in that faith, we must conclude +that not a few cases of recanting occurred among the vassals. +Remarkable fortitude, however, is said to have been displayed." +Caron, one of the Dutch traders of Hirado, writing in 1636, says: + +At first the believers in Christ were only beheaded and afterwards +attached to a cross, which was considered as a sufficiently heavy +punishment. But when many of them were seen to die with emotions of +joy and pleasure, some even to go singing to the place of execution; +and when although thirty and sometimes one hundred were put to death +at a time, and it was found that their numbers did not appear to +diminish, it was then determined to use every exertion to change +their joy into grief and their songs into tears and groans of misery. +To effect this they were tied to stakes and burned alive; were +broiled on wooden gridirons, and thousands were thus wretchedly +destroyed. But as the number of Christians was not perceptibly +lessened by these cruel punishments, they became tired of putting +them to death, and attempts were then made to make the Christians +abandon their faith by the infliction of the most dreadful torments +which the most diabolical invention could suggest. The Japanese +Christians, however, endured these persecutions with a great deal of +steadiness and courage; very few, in comparison with those who +remained steadfast in the faith, were the number of those who fainted +under the trials and abjured their religion. It is true that these +people possess, on such occasions, a stoicism and an intrepidity of +which no examples are to be met with in the bulk of other nations. +Neither men nor women are afraid of death. Yet an uncommon +steadfastness in the faith must, at the same time, be requisite to +continue in these trying circumstances. + +The intrepidity of the native converts was rivalled by the courage of +their foreign teachers. Again and again these latter defied the +Japanese authorities by visiting Japan--not for the first time but +occasionally even after having been deported. Contrary to the orders +of the governors of Macao and Manila, nay of the King of Spain +himself, the priests arrived, year after year, with the certainty of +being apprehended and sent to the stake after brief periods of +propagandism. In 1626, when the campaign of persecution was at its +height, more than three thousand converts were baptized by these +brave priests, of whom none is known to have escaped death except +those that apostatized under torture, and they were very few, +although not only could life be saved by abandoning the faith but +also ample allowances of money could be obtained from the +authorities. Anyone denouncing a propagandist received large reward, +and the people were required to prove their orthodoxy by trampling +upon a picture of Christ. + +CONTINUATION OF THE FEUDS BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE PORTUGUESE + +While the above events were in progress, the disputes between the +Dutch, the Portuguese, and the Spaniards went on without cessation. +In 1636, the Dutch discovered in a captured Portuguese vessel a +report written by the governor of Macao, describing a festival which +had just been held there in honour of Vieyra, who had been martyred +in Japan. The Dutch transmitted this document to the Japanese "in +order that his Majesty may see more clearly what great honour the +Portuguese pay to those he had forbidden his realm as traitors to the +State and to his crown." It does not appear that this accusation +added much to the resentment and distrust against the Portuguese. At +any rate, the Bakufu in Yedo took no step distinctly hostile to +Portuguese laymen until the following year (1637), when an edict was +issued forbidding "any foreigners to travel in the empire lest +Portuguese with passports bearing Dutch names might enter." + +THE SHIMABARA REVOLT + +At the close of 1637, there occurred a rebellion, historically known +as the "Christian Revolt of Shimabara," which put an end to Japan's +foreign intercourse for over two hundred years. The Gulf of Nagasaki +is bounded on the west by the island of Amakusa and by the promontory +of Shimabara. In the early years of Jesuit propagandism in Japan, +Shimabara and Amakusa had been the two most thoroughly Christianized +regions, and in later days they were naturally the scene of the +severest persecutions. Nevertheless, the people might have suffered +in silence, as did their fellow believers elsewhere, had they not +been taxed beyond endurance to supply funds for an extravagant +feudatory. Japanese annalists, however, relegate the taxation +grievance to an altogether secondary place, and attribute the revolt +solely to the instigation of five samurai who led a roving life to +avoid persecution for their adherence to Christianity. Whichever +version be correct, it is certain that the outbreak attracted all the +Christians from the surrounding regions, and was officially regarded +as a Christian rising. The Amakusa insurgents passed over from that +island to Shimabara, and on the 27th of January, 1638, the whole +body--numbering, according to some authorities, twenty thousand +fighting men with thirteen thousand women and children; according to +others, little more than one-half of these figures--took possession +of the dilapidated castle of Kara, which stood on a plateau with +three sides descending one hundred feet perpendicularly to the sea +and with a swamp on the fourth side. + +The insurgents fought under flags inscribed with red crosses and +their battle cries were "Jesus," "Maria," and "St. Iago." They +defended the castle successfully against repeated assaults until the +12th of April, when, their provisions and their ammunition alike +being exhausted, they were overwhelmed and put to the sword, with the +exception of 105 prisoners. During this siege the Dutch gave +practical proof of their enmity to the Christianity of the Spaniards +and Portuguese. For, the guns in the possession of the besiegers +being too light to accomplish anything effective, application was +made to Koeckebacker, the Dutch factor at Hirado, to lend ships +carrying heavier metal. He complied by despatching the De Ryp, and +her twenty guns threw 426 shots into the castle in fifteen days. +There has been handed down a letter carried by an arrow from the +castle to the besiegers. It was not an appeal for mercy but a simple +enumeration of reasons:-- + +"For the sake of our people we have now resorted to this castle. You +will no doubt think that we have done this with the hope of taking +lands and houses. Such is by no means the case. It is simply because +Christianity is not tolerated as a distinct sect, which is well known +to you. Frequent prohibitions have been published by the shogun, to +our great distress. Some among us there are who consider the hope of +future life as of the highest importance. For these there is no +escape. Because they will not change their religion they incur +various kinds of severe punishments, being inhumanly subjected to +shame and extensive suffering, till at last for their devotion to the +Lord of Heaven, they are tortured to death. Others, even men of +resolution, solicitous for the sensitive body and dreading the +torture, have, while hiding their grief, obeyed the royal will and +recanted. Things continuing in this state, all the people have united +in an uprising in an unaccountable and miraculous manner. Should we +continue to live as heretofore and the above laws not be repealed, we +must incur all sorts of punishments hard to be endured; we must, our +bodies being weak and sensitive, sin against the infinite Lord of +Heaven and from solicitude for our brief lives incur the loss of what +we highly esteem. These things fill us with grief beyond endurance. +Hence we are in our present condition. It is not the result of a +corrupt doctrine." + +It seems probable that of the remaining Japanese Christians the great +bulk perished at the massacre of Kara. Thenceforth there were few +martyrs, and though Christianity was not entirely extirpated in +Japan, it survived only in remote places and by stealth. + +ENGRAVING: NANBAN BELL + +ENGRAVING: THE "KAIYO KWAN," THE FIRST WARSHIP OF JAPAN (Built in +Holland for the Tokugawa Feudal Government) + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE + +THE Tokugawa family traced its descent from Nitta Yoshishige of the +Minamoto sept (the Seiwa Genji) who flourished at the beginning of +the thirteenth century. His son's place of residence was at the +village of Tokugawa in Kotsuke province: hence the name, Tokugawa. +After a few generations, Chikauji, the then representative of the +family, had to fly to the village of Matsudaira in Mikawa province, +taking the name of Matsudaira. Gradually the family acquired +possession of about one-half of Mikawa province, and in the seventh +generation from Chikauji, the head of the house, Hirotada, crossing +swords with Oda Nobuhide, father of Nobunaga, sought succour from the +Imagawa family, to which he sent his son, Ieyasu, with fifty other +young samurai as hostages. This was in 1547, Ieyasu being then in his +fifth year. + +On the way from Okazaki, which was the stronghold of Hirotada, the +party fell into the hands of Nobuhide's officers, and Ieyasu was +confined in a temple where he remained until 1559, when he obtained +permission to return to Okazaki, being then a vassal of the Imagawa +family. But when (1569) the Imagawa suffered defeat in the battle of +Okehazama, at the hands of Oda Nobunaga, Ieyasu allied himself with +the latter. In 1570, he removed to Hamamatsu, having subjugated the +provinces of Mikawa and Totomi. He was forty years old at the time of +Nobunaga's murder, and it has been shown above that he espoused the +cause of the Oda family in the campaign of Komak-yama. At forty-nine +he became master of the Kwanto and was in his fifty-sixth year when +Hideyoshi died. Ieyasu had nine sons: (1) Nobuyasu; (2) Hideyasu +(daimyo of Echizen); (3) Hidetada (second shoguri); (4) Tadayoshi +(daimyo of Kiyosu); (5) Nobuyoshi (daimyo of Mito); (6) Tadateru +(daimyo of Echigo); (7) Yoshinao (daimyo of Owari); (8) Yorinobu +(daimyo of Kii), and (9) Yorifusa (daimyo of Mito). He had also three +daughters; the first married to Okudaira Masanobu; the second to +Ikeda Terumasa, and the third to Asano Nagaakira. + +EVENTS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE BATTLE OF SEKIGAHARA + +The political complications that followed the death of the Taiko are +extremely difficult to unravel, and the result is not commensurate +with the trouble. Several annalists have sought to prove that Ieyasu +strenuously endeavoured to observe faithfully the oath of loyalty +made by him to Hideyoshi on the latter's death-bed. They claim for +him that until his hands were forced he steadfastly and faithfully +worked in the interests of Hideyoshi. But his acts do not lend +themselves to any such interpretation. The best that can be said of +him is that he believed himself to have been entrusted by the Taiko +with discretionary power to determine the expediency of Hideyori's +succession, and that he exercised that power in the interests of the +Tokugawa family, not of the Toyotomi. + +Circumstances helped him as they do generally help great men. From +the time of the birth of the lady Yodo's second son, the official +world in Kyoto had been divided into two factions. The Hidetsugu +catastrophe accentuated the lines of division, and the Korean +campaign had a similar effect by affording a field for bitter rivalry +between the forces of Konishi Yukinaga, who belonged to the Yodo +faction, and Kato Kiyomasa, who was a protege of Hideyoshi's wife, +Yae. Further fuel was added to this fire of antagonism when the order +went forth that the army should leave Korea, for the Kato faction +protested against surrendering all the fruits of the campaign without +any tangible recompense, and the Konishi party insisted that the +Taiko's dying words must be obeyed implicitly. In this dispute, +Ishida Katsushige, the chief actor in the Hidetsugu tragedy, took a +prominent part. For, when in their capacity as belonging to the Board +of Five Administrators, Ishida and Asano Nagamasa were sent to Kyushu +to superintend the evacuation of the Korean peninsula, they, too, +fell into a controversy on the same subject. Ieyasu stood aloof from +both parties. His policy was to let the feud develop and to step in +himself at the supreme moment. + +On the other hand, it was the aim of Ishida Katsushige to involve the +Tokugawa chief, thus compassing his downfall and opening an avenue +for the ascension of Ishida himself to the place of dictator. Allied +with Ishida in this plot was his colleague on the Board of Five +Administrators, Masuda Nagamori. Their method was to create enmity +between Ieyasu and Maeda Toshiiye, to whom the Taiko had entrusted +the guardianship of Hideyori and of the Osaka Castle. This design was +barely thwarted by the intervention of Hosokawa Tadaoki (ancestor of +the present Marquis Hosokawa). Ieyasu was well informed as to +Ishida's schemes on two other occasions; the first immediately +before, the second just after, the death of the Taiko. In each case +rumours of an armed outbreak were suddenly circulated in Fushimi for +the purpose of creating confusion such as might furnish an +opportunity to strike suddenly at Ieyasu. These essays failed in both +instances, and the Tokugawa chief, instead of retaliating by direct +impeachment of Ishida, applied himself to cementing close relations +with certain great daimyo by matrimonial alliances. Such unions had +been implicitly interdicted by the Taiko, and the procedure of Ieyasu +elicited a written protest from the boards of the Five Senior +Ministers and the Five Administrators. They threatened Ieyasu with +dismissal from the former board unless he furnished a satisfactory +explanation. This he declined to do and for some time a very strained +situation existed in Kyoto, an armed struggle being ultimately +averted by the good offices of the Three Middle Ministers. + +It was evident, however, that the circumstances had become critical, +and it was further evident that, as long as Ishida Katsushige's +intrigues continued, a catastrophe might at any moment be +precipitated. Sensible of these things, a party of loyal men, spoken +of in history as the "seven generals"--Ikeda Terumasa (ancestor of +the present Marquis Ikeda); Kato Kiyomasa; Kuroda Nagamasa (son of +Kuroda Yoshitaka, and ancestor of the present Marquis Kuroda); +Fukushima Masanori, Asano Yukinaga (son of Asano Nagamasa and +ancestor of the present Marquis Asano); Hosokawa Tadaoki, and Kato +Yoshiaki (ancestor of the present Viscount Kato)--vowed to take +Ishida's life, while he was still in Osaka Castle, whither he had +gone (1599) to attend the death-bed of his friend, Maeda Toshiiye. +Ishida, finding himself powerless to resist such a combination after +the death of Maeda, took an extraordinary step; he appealed to the +protection of Ieyasu--that is to say, to the protection of the very +man against whom all his plots had been directed. And Ieyasu +protected him. + +We are here confronted by a riddle which has never been clearly +interpreted. Why did Ishida seek asylum from Ieyasu whom he had +persistently intrigued to overthrow, and why did Ieyasu, having full +knowledge of these intrigues, grant asylum? Possibly an answer to the +former question can be furnished by the fact that Ishida was in sore +straits. Attending Maeda Toshiiye's death-bed, he had seen the +partisans of the deceased baron transfer their allegiance to Ieyasu +through the intervention of Hosokawa Tadaoki, and he had learned that +his own life was immediately threatened by the seven generals. Even +if he succeeded (which was very problematical) in escaping from Osaka +to his own castle of Sawa-yama, in Omi province, the respite could +have been but brief and such a step would have been equivalent to +abandoning the political arena. Only a very strong arm could save +him, and with consummate insight he may have appreciated the Tokugawa +chief's unreadiness to precipitate a crucial struggle by consenting +to his death. + +But what is to be said of Ieyasu? Unwilling to admit that his +astuteness could ever have been at fault, some historians allege that +the Tokugawa chief saved Ishida's life with the deliberate purpose of +letting him discredit himself and his partisans by continued +intrigues. These annalists allege, in fact, that Ieyasu, acting on +the advice of Honda Masanobu, by whose profound shrewdness he was +largely guided, saved the life of Ishida in order that the latter's +subsequent intrigues might furnish a pretext for destroying Hideyori. +That, however, is scarcely conceivable, for Ishida had many powerful +confederates, and the direct outcome of the leniency shown by Ieyasu +on that occasion was an armed struggle from which he barely emerged +victorious. The truth seems to be that, for all his profound wisdom, +Ieyasu erred in this instance. Ishida Kotsushige outwitted him. For, +during the very days of his asylum in Fushimi, under the protection +of Ieyasu, Ishida opened secret communication with Uesugi Kagekatsu +and invited him to strike at the Tokugawa. Uesugi consented. It must +be observed that the character of Ishida has been portrayed for +posterity mainly by historians who were under Tokugawa influence. +Modern and impartial annalists are by no means so condemnatory in +their judgment of the man. In whatever arts of deception Ishida +excelled, Ieyasu was at least his equal; while in the matter of +loyalty to the Toyotomi family, Ishida's conduct compares favourably +with that of the Tokugawa leader; and if we look at the men who +attached themselves to Ishida's cause and fought by his side, we are +obliged to admit that he must have been highly esteemed by his +contemporaries, or, at any rate, that they recognized in him the +champion of Hideyori, at whose father's hands they had received such +benefits. + +ORGANIZATION OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE AT THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH +CENTURY + +The realm of Japan was then held by 214 feudatories, each having an +annual income of at least 10,000 koku (omitting minor landowners). +These 214 estates yielded to their holders a total income of nearly +nineteen million koku, and of that aggregate the domains of the five +noblemen forming the Board of Senior Statesmen constituted one-third. +Tokugawa Ieyasu was the wealthiest. His domains in the eight +provinces forming the Kwanto yielded an income of 2,557,000 koku. +Next on the list came Mori Terumoto with 2,205,000 koku, and Uesugi +Kagekatsu with 1,200,000 koku. The latter two were partisans of +Ishida. But direct communication between their forces was difficult, +for while the Mori domains covered the nine provinces on the extreme +west of the main island, Uesugi's lay on the north of the Kwanto, +whence they stretched to the shore of the Japan Sea. Fourth and fifth +on the Board of Senior Statesmen were Maeda Toshiiye, whose fief +(835,000 koku) occupied Kaga and Etchu; and Ukita Hideiye (574,000 +koku), whose castle stood at Oka-yama, in Bizen. All these, except +Maeda embraced the anti-Tokugawa cause of Ishida Katsushige, and it +thus becomes easy to understand the desire of Ishida to win over +Maeda Toshinaga, son of Toshiiye, to his camp. On the side of +Ieyasu's foes were also marshalled Shimazu Yoshihisa, feudal chief of +Satsuma (700,000 koku); Satake Yoshinobu of Hitachi province (545,700 +koku); Konishi Yukinaga in Higo (200,000 koku), who was counted one +of the greatest captains of the era, and, nominally, Kohayakawa +Hideaki in Chikuzen (522,500 koku). With Ieyasu were the powerful +daimyo: Date Masamune of Sendai (580,000 koku); Kato Kiyomasa of +Kumamoto (250,000 koku); Hosokawa Tadaoki of Tango (230,000 koku); +Ikeda Terumasa of Mikawa (152,000 koku), and Kuroda Nagamasa of +Chikuzen (250,000 koku). This analysis omits minor names. + +BATTLE OF SEKIGAHARA + +The plan of campaign formed by Ishida and his confederates was that +Uesugi and Satake should attack the Kwanto from the north and the +east simultaneously, while Mori and Ukita should move against Fushimi +and occupy Kyoto. In May, 1600, Ieyasu went through the form of +requiring Uesugi to repair to Kyoto and explain his obviously +disaffected preparations. The reply sent by Uesugi was defiant. +Therefore, the Tokugawa chief proceeded to mobilize his own and his +allies' forces. He seems to have clearly foreseen that if he himself +moved eastward to Yedo, Momo-yama would be assaulted in his absence. +But it being necessary to simulate trust in Mori and Ukita, then +nominally his supporters, he placed in Momo-yama Castle a garrison of +only two thousand men under his old and staunch friend, Torii +Mototada. Ieyasu planned that Uesugi should be attacked +simultaneously from five directions; namely from Sendai by Date; from +Kaga by Maeda; from Dewa by Mogami; from Echigo by Hori, and from +Hitachi by Satake. But among these five armies that of Satake +declared for Ishida, while those of Maeda and Hori were constrained +to adopt a defensive attitude by the menace of hostile barons in +their vicinity, and thus it fell out that Date and Mogami alone +operated effectively in the cause of Ieyasu. + +The Tokugawa chief himself lost no time in putting his troops in +motion for Yedo, where, at the head of some sixty thousand men, he +arrived in August, 1600, his second in command being his third son, +Hidetada. Thence he pushed rapidly northward with the intention of +attacking Uesugi. But at Oyama in Shimotsuke news reached him that +Ishida and his partisans had drawn the sword in the west, and had +seized Osaka, together with the wives and families of several of the +captains who were with Ieyasu's army. A council was immediately held +and these captains were given the option of continuing to serve under +Ieyasu or retiring to join the western army and thus ensuring the +safety of their own families. They chose the former, and the council +further decided that, leaving Date and Mogami to deal with Uesugi and +Satake, and posting for the same purpose at Utsunomiya, Hideyasu, +second son of Ieyasu, the main army should countermarch to meet the +western forces at some point remote from Yedo. + +The Tokugawa battalions, following two routes--the Tokaido and the +Nakasendo--made rapid progress westward, and on September 21st, the +van of the division under Fukushima and Ikeda reached Kiyosu. But the +Nakasendo column of thirty-eight thousand men under Hidetada +encountered such desperate resistance before the castle of Ueda, at +the hands of Sanada Masayuki, that it did not reach Sekigahara until +the great battle was over. Meanwhile, the western army had pushed +steadily eastward. Its first exploit was to capture and burn the +Momo-yama castle, which was splendidly defended by the veteran Torii +Mototada, then in his sixty-second year. With a garrison of only two +thousand men he held at bay during eleven days an investing force of +forty thousand. The torch was set to the castle on the 8th of +September by traitors in the garrison, and Mototada committed +suicide. Thereafter, the van of the western army advanced to Gifu +along the Nakasendo, and the main body, making a detour through Ise, +ultimately pushed forward into Mino. + +With this army were no less than forty-three generals of renown, and +the number of feudal barons, great and small, who sent troops to +swell its ranks was thirty-one. Undoubtedly these barons were +partially influenced by the conception generally prevalent that the +fortunes of the two great families of Toyotomi and Tokugawa depended +on the issue of this struggle. But it must also be admitted that had +Ishida Katsushige been as black as the Tokugawa historians paint him, +he could never have served for the central figure of such an array. +He is seen inciting the besiegers of Momo-yama Castle to their +supreme and successful effort. He is seen winning over to the +Toyotomi cause baron after baron. He is seen leading the advance of +the western army's van. And he is seen fighting to the end in the +great battle which closed the campaign. Some heroic qualities must +have accompanied his gift of statesmanship. The nominal leader of the +western army, which mustered 128,000 strong, was Mori Terumoto, and +under him were ranged Ukita Hideiye, Mori Hidemoto, Shimazu +Yoshihiro, Konishi Yukinaga, and many other captains of repute. Under +the Tokugawa banners there marched 75,000 men, their van led by Ii +Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu. + +On October 21, 1600, the great battle of Sekigahara was fought. The +strategy on the side of the western forces was excellent. Their units +were disposed along a crescent-shaped line recessed from the enemy, +so that an attacking army, unless its numerical strength was greatly +superior, had to incur the risk of being enveloped from both +flanks--a risk much accentuated by the fact that these flanking +troops occupied high ground. But on the side of the western army +there was a feature of weakness which no strategy could remove: all +the battalions constituting the right wing were pledged to espouse +the cause of Ieyasu at the crisis of the struggle. There were six of +these battalions, large or small, and they were commanded by Akakura, +Ogawa, Kuchiki, Wakizaka, Kohayakawa, and Kikkawa. Thus, not only +were the eastern troops able to deliver their attack in full force +against the centre and left of their foes, but also the latter were +exposed to the most demoralizing of all eventualities, treachery. + +After a fierce fight the western army was completely defeated. Some +accounts put its losses at 35,000 men; others, with greater +probability, estimating that only 100,000 men were actually engaged +on both sides--namely, 60,000 on the Tokugawa side, and 40,000 on the +Toyotomi--conclude that the losses were 6000 and 9000, respectively. +Shimazu of Satsuma, at the head of a handful of samurai, cut his way +through the lines of Ieyasu, and reaching Osaka, embarked hastily for +Kyushu. Ishida Katsushige lay concealed in a cave for a few days, but +was ultimately seized and beheaded, in company with Konishi Yukinaga +and Ankokuji Ekei, at the execution ground in Kyoto. This one battle +ended the struggle: there was no rally. Punishment followed quickly +for the feudatories who had fought against the Tokugawa. Thus Mori +Terumoto's domain, originally covering eight provinces and yielding a +revenue of 1,205,000 koku, was reduced to the two provinces of Suwo +and Nagato, yielding 300,000 koku. The three provinces of Ukita +Hideiye were entirely forfeited, and he himself was banished to the +island Hachijoshima. Oda Hidenobu, grandson of Nobunaga, Masuda +Nagamori, and Sanada Masayuki, with his son, were ordered to take the +tonsure and retire to the monastery of Koya-san. The fief of Uesugi +Kagekatsu was reduced from 1,200,000 koku in Aizu to 300,000 koku in +Yonezawa; and the 800,000 koku of the Satake family in Hitachi were +exchanged for 200,000 koku in Akita. Only the Shimazu family of +Satsuma remained without loss. Secured by inaccessibility, it +continued to hold the provinces of Satsuma, Osumi, and Hyuga, with a +revenue of 700,000 koku. + +REDISTRIBUTION OF THE FIEFS + +These measures represented only a fraction of the readjustments then +effected. Ieyasu, following the example, set on a small scale by the +Taiko, parcelled out the country in such a manner as to provide +security against future trouble. Dividing the feudatories into +hereditary vassals (fudai no kerai) and exterior nobles (tozama), he +assigned to the former small but greatly increased estates situated +so as to command the main highways as well as the great cities of +central Japan, and he located the exterior nobles--many of them with +largely reduced domains--in districts remote not only from Yedo and +Kyoto but also from each other, wherever such method of distribution +was possible. Moreover, in the most important places--as Osaka, +Fushimi, Sakai, Nagasaki, Yamada (in Ise), and Sado (the gold mines), +there were appointed administrators (bugyo), direct nominees of the +Tokugawa; while Kyoto was put under the sway of a deputy of the +shogun (shoshidai). Again, although the tozama daimyo received +tolerably munificent treatment in the matter of estates, their +resources were seriously crippled by the imposition of costly public +works. These works consisted mainly of restoring dilapidated castles +or building new ones on a scale so colossal as to be exceeded by only +the stronghold at Osaka. It is recorded that when Fukushima Masanori, +lord of Kiyosu in Owari, complained of the crippling effects of these +severe requisitions, Kato Kiyomasa told him that there was no +alternative except to retire to his castle and defy Yedo. The most +costly of the edifices that came into existence in these +circumstances was the castle of Nagoya, which is still one of the +wonders of Japan. Twenty great barons took part in erecting it; the +leading artists of the time were engaged in its interior decoration, +and the roof of its donjon was crowned with, two gold dolphins, +measuring nearly nine feet in height. + +IEYASU BECOMES SHOGUN + +On the 28th of March, 1603, the Emperor nominated Ieyasu to be +minister of the Right and sei-i tai-shogun, presenting to him at the +same time the conventional ox-chariot and military baton. Nine days +later, the Tokugawa chief repaired to the palace to return thanks for +these honours. The Emperor with his own hands gave him the +drinking-cup and expressed profound gratification that through his +military skill the wars which had convulsed the nation were ended, +and the foundations of the empire's peace securely laid. Ieyasu was +then in his sixty-second year. In the following May, Hideyori was +made nai-daijin, and in the same month a marriage was contracted +between him, then in his eleventh year, and Tenju-in, the +seven-year-old daughter of Hidetada, son and successor of Ieyasu. + +YEDO AND KYOTO + +Ieyasu now took up his residence at Momo-yama Castle and Hidetada was +ordered to live in Yedo. But the former made it a custom to go +eastward every autumn on the pretext of enjoying the sport of +falconry, and to remain in Yedo until the next spring. In February, +1605, the Tokugawa chief's return to Kyoto from the Kwanto capital +was made the occasion of a great military display. Both Ieyasu and +Hidetada travelled at the same time with a following of 170,000 +soldiers, who were encamped outside the city whence they marched in, +ten thousand daily, during seventeen consecutive days. This martial +parade is said to have produced a great effect upon the nobles of the +Kinai and the western provinces. But Ieyasu did not long retain the +office of shogun. In 1605, he conveyed to the Imperial Court his +desire to be relieved of military functions, in favour of his son +Hidetada, and the Emperor at once consented, so that Hidetada +succeeded to all the offices of his father, and Ieyasu retired to the +castle of Sumpu, the capital of Suruga. His income was thenceforth +reduced to 120,000 koku annually, derived from estates in the +provinces of Mino, Ise, and Omi. But this retirement was in form +rather than in fact. All administrative affairs, great or small, were +managed in Sumpu, the shogun in Yedo exercising merely the power of +sanction. Ieyasu made, frequent journeys to Yedo under the pretext of +hawking but in reality for government purposes. + +THE YEDO BAKUFU + +It was on the 30th of August, 1590, that Ieyasu made his first formal +entry into Yedo from Sumpu. Yedo Castle had previously been occupied +by an agent of the Hojo clan. It was very small, and its surroundings +consisted of barren plains and a few fishing villages. On the +northwest was the moor of Musashi, and on the southeast a forest of +reeds marked the littoral of Yedo Bay. The first task that devolved +upon Ieyasu was the reclamation of land for building purposes. Some +substantial work was done, yet the place did not suggest any fitness +for the purpose of an administrative centre, and not until the battle +of Sekigahara placed him in command of immense resources, did Ieyasu +decide to make Yedo his capital. He then had large recourse to labour +requisitioned from the feudatories. By these means hills were +levelled, swamps reclaimed, and embankments built, so that the whole +aspect of the region was changed, and sites were provided for the +residences of various barons and for the establishment of shops and +stores whose owners flocked to the new city from Osaka, Kyoto, and +other towns. Thereafter, a castle of colossal dimensions, exceeding +even the Osaka fortress in magnitude and magnificence, was rapidly +constructed, the feudatories being required to supply labour and +materials in a measure which almost overtaxed their resources. + +Historians differ as to the exact date of the establishment of the +Yedo Bakufu, but the best authorities are agreed that the event should +be reckoned from the battle of Sekigahara, since then, for the first +time, the administrative power came into the hand of the Tokugawa +baron, he having previously been simply the head of a board +instituted by the Taiko. There can be no doubt, that in choosing Yedo +for his capital, Ieyasu was largely guided by the example of Yoritomo +and by the experience of the Ashikaga. Kamakura had been a success as +signal as Muromachi had been a failure. In the former, Ieyasu had +much to imitate; in the latter, much to avoid. We have seen that he +distributed the estates of the feudatories so as to create a system +automatically unfavourable to disturbance, in which contrivance he +borrowed and extended the ideas of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. It remains +to note that what Hojo Tokimasa and Oye Hiromoto were to Minamoto +Yoritomo as advisers and organizers, and what Ashikaga Tadayoshi and +Kono Moronao were to Ashikaga Takauji in the same roles, such, also, +were Honda Masanobu and Honda Masazumi to Tokugawa Ieyasu. + +HIDEYORI AND IEYASU + +In May, 1605, Hideyori was nominated u-daijin. At that time the +nation was divided pretty evenly into two factors; one obedient to +the Tokugawa, the other disposed to await Hideyori's coming of age, +which event was expected to restore the authority of the Toyotomi +family. Fukushima Masanori and Kato Kiyomasa were the most +enthusiastic believers in the latter forecast. Up to that time Ieyasu +had not given any definite indication of the attitude he intended to +assume towards the Taiko's heir. It was not till the year 1611 that +he found an opportunity of forming a first-hand estimate of +Hideyori's character. He then had a meeting with the latter at Nijo +Castle, and is said to have been much struck with the bearing and +intelligence of Hideyori. In fact, whereas common report had spoken +in very disparaging terms of the young man's capacities--Hideyori was +then seventeen years old--the Tokugawa chief found a dignified and +alert lad whose aspect suggested that if he was suffered to remain in +possession of Osaka a few years longer, Yedo would run the risk of +being relegated to a secondary place. + +Ieyasu after that interview is said to have felt like "a man who, +having still a long distance to travel, finds himself enveloped in +darkness." He saw that the time for considering justice and humanity +had passed, and he summoned Honda Masanobu to whom he said: "I see +that Hideyori is grown up to be a son worthy of his father. By and by +it will be difficult for such a man to remain subservient to +another." Masanobu, whom history describes as the "Tokugawa's +storehouse of wisdom," is recorded to have replied: "So I, too, +think, but there is no cause for anxiety. I have an idea." What this +idea was events soon disclosed. Summoning one of the officials in the +service of Hideyori's wife--Hidetada's daughter--Masanobu spoke as +follows: "Hideyori is the only son of the late Taiko and it is the +desire of the O-gosho" (the title given to Ieyasu after his +retirement from the shogunate) "that he, Hideyori, should have a +numerous and thriving family. Therefore, if any woman takes his +fancy, she must be enrolled among his attendants to whatever class +she may belong. Moreover, if there be among these ladies any who show +jealousies or make disturbances, no complaint need be preferred to +the O-gosho. I will undertake to settle the matter." + +From that time Hideyori lived among women. A word may here be said +about the marriage between Hideyori and the granddaughter of Ieyasu, +the bride and the bridegroom alike being mere children. According to +a recognized historical authority, writing in the Tokugawa Jidaishi, +such marriages were inspired by one or more of the following motives: +(1) that the bride or bridegroom should serve as a hostage; (2) that +the wedding should contribute to cement an alliance between the +families of the bride and the bridegroom; (3) that the wedding should +become a means of spying into the affairs of one of the families; (4) +that it should be an instrument for sowing seeds of enmity between +the two families. The objects of Ieyasu in wedding his granddaughter +at seven years of age to Hideyori at eleven were doubtless of the +nature indicated in the third and fourth of the above definitions. On +the one hand, he seemed to the Osaka party to be conforming to the +will of the Taiko; on the other, he was able to introduce into the +household of Hideyori an unlimited number of spies among the retinue +of his granddaughter. + +KATAGIRI KATSUMOTO + +Just before his death, Hideyoshi specially conjured Koide Hidemasa +and Katagiri Katsumoto to labour for the safety of the Toyotomi +family. Hidemasa soon followed his patron to the grave, and the duty +of managing the affairs of the family devolved entirely upon +Katsumoto in his capacity of administrator (bugyo). He devoted +himself to the task with the utmost sincerity and earnestness, and he +made it the basic principle of his policy to preserve harmony between +the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi. His belief was that Ieyasu had not +many years more to live, and that on his demise the administrative +power would revert wholly to Hideyori as a natural consequence. Hence +the wisest course was to avoid any collision in the meanwhile. + +THE OATH OF FEALTY + +On the 14th of May, 1601, that is to say, shortly after the battle of +Sekigahara, all the feudatories were invited to subscribe a written +oath of loyalty to the Tokugawa. This oath consisted of three +articles. The first was a promise to observe strictly all +instructions issued by the Bakufu in Yedo. The second was an +engagement not to harbour or protect any person who had either +violated or opposed the will of the shogun. The third was a pledge +not to give employment to any samurai reported to be a traitor or an +assassin. By these stipulations the signatories swore to abide +strictly, and declared that any violation of the provisions of the +oath would render the violator liable to severe punishment. Among the +signatories there were not found any members of the Osaka party. +These put forward the last will of the Taiko as a reason for refusing +to sign, and from that time it became evident that the situation must +terminate in an armed struggle. + +ONO HARUNAGA + +Among the Osaka partisans was one called Ono Harunaga, the son of the +lady Yodo's nurse. This youth led a life of great profligacy, and +although not wanting in any of the attributes of the samurai, he +altogether lacked political insight. Thus, his relations with +Katsumoto were strained, and Harunaga constantly essayed to undermine +Katsumoto's influence. Hideyori himself did not want for ability, but +acting by the advice of his mother, Yodo, and of his friend, +Harunaga, he adopted a false policy of opposition to Ieyasu. + +STATE OF OSAKA + +The fact that the feudatories who called themselves friends of the +Osaka party had refused to sign the oath of fealty, and the fact that +the lady Yodo and Harunaga threw their influence into the +anti-Tokugawa scale, had the effect of isolating Osaka so far as the +laws of the Bakufu were concerned. Men who had broken those laws or +otherwise offended against the shogun took refuge in Osaka. Such was +the case with the son of Hosokawa Tadaoki; with Goto Matabei, chief +vassal of Kuroda Nagamasa, and with Nambu Saemon, principal retainer +of Nambu Nobunao. These three and many others repaired to the castle +of Osaka, and being there secure against any unarmed attempt of the +Tokugawa to arrest them, they virtually defied Ieyasu's control. By +degrees a constant stream of ronin, or free-lances, flowed into that +city, and a conspicuous element among its inhabitants consisted of +Christian feudatories, who, regardless of the edicts of the Bakufu, +openly preached their faith and were in no wise checked by the +Toyotomi rulers. Even the Buddhist and Shinto priests in Osaka and +its territories were independent of the Bakufu authority, and there +were cases of boundary disputes in which the Tokugawa officials +declined to give judgment since they were not in a position to +enforce it. It may well be supposed that this state of affairs grew +steadily more obnoxious to the Tokugawa. Ieyasu only awaited a +pretext to assert the supremacy of his authority. + +INSCRIPTION ON THE BELL + +It has already been stated that, in the year 1586, a colossal image +of Buddha was erected by Hideyoshi at the Hoko-ji in Kyoto. This idol +was made of wood, and the great earthquake of 1596 destroyed it. +Subsequently, Ieyasu advised Hideyori to replace the wooden idol with +a bronze one. Ono Harunaga stood opposed to this idea, but Katagiri +Katsumoto, constant to his policy of placating Ieyasu, threw his +influence into the other scale. It is impossible to tell whether, in +making this proposal, Ieyasu had already conceived the extraordinary +scheme which he ultimately carried out. It would appear more +probable, however, that his original policy was merely to impoverish +the Toyotomi family by imposing upon it the heavy outlay necessary +for constructing a huge bronze Buddha. Many thousands of ryo had to +be spent, and the money was obtained by converting into coin a number +of gold ingots in the form of horses, which Hideyoshi had stored in +the treasury of the Osaka castle as a war fund. Five years later, +that is to say, in 1614, the great image was completed and an +imposing ceremony of dedication was organized. A thousand priests +were to take part, and all the people in the capital, as well as many +from the surrounding provinces, assembled to witness the magnificent +fete. Suddenly an order was issued in the name of Ieyasu, +interdicting the consummation of the ceremony on the ground that the +inscription carried by the bell for the idol's temple was designedly +treasonable to the Tokugawa. This inscription had been composed and +written by a high Buddhist prelate, Seikan, reputed to be one of the +greatest scholars and most skilful calligraphists of his time. + +It was inconceivable that such a man should err flagrantly in the use +of the ideographic script. Ieyasu, however, despatched to Kyoto two +rival prelates, Soden and Tengai, with instructions to convoke a +meeting of the priests of the Five Temples and invite them to express +an opinion about the inscription. Soden held the post of +administrator of temples. This placed him officially at the head of +all the other priests, and thus the opinions he expressed at the +instance of Ieyasu possessed special weight. It was in vain that +Seikan repudiated all intention of disrespect and pointed out that +the inscription did not for a moment lend itself to the +interpretation read into it by the Tokugawa chief. Only one priest, +Kaizan of Myoshin-ji, had sufficient courage to oppose Soden's view, +and the cause of the Tokugawa chief triumphed. + +Without a full knowledge of the Chinese ideographic script it is +impossible to clearly understand either the charges preferred by the +Tokugawa or the arguments employed in rebuttal. Western readers may, +however, confidently accept the unanimous verdict of all modern +scholars, that the interpretation assigned to the inscription in the +first place by the Tokugawa officials, and in the second by Hayashi +Doshun, representing the Confucianists, and Soden and Tengai, +representing the Buddhists, was grossly unreasonable. That many +experts should be found to range themselves on the side of a ruler so +powerful as Ieyasu was not wonderful, but it says little for the +moral independence of the men of the time that only one Buddhist +priest among many thousand had the courage to withhold his consent to +a judgment which outraged truth and justice. + +Naturally the news of the decision threw Osaka into a state of great +excitement. Lady Yodo hastened to despatch to Sumpu her principal +lady-in-waiting, Okura-no-Tsubone, accompanied by another dame of the +chamber. These two were received by Acha-no-Tsubone at the court of +Ieyasu, and through her they conveyed fervent apologies to the +Tokugawa chief. Ieyasu treated the whole matter lightly. He granted +an interview to the two ladies from Osaka and sent them on to Yedo to +visit the wife of Hidetada, the lady Yodo's younger sister. The Osaka +deputies naturally drew favourable inferences from this courteous +mood, and taking an opportunity to refer to the affair of the +inscription on the bell, elicited from Ieyasu an assurance that the +matter need not be regarded with concern. + +Not for a moment suspecting any deception, Okura-no-Tsubone and her +companion took their way to Osaka. On the other hand, Honda Masanobu +and the priest, Tengai, were instructed to inform Katsumoto that the +umbrage of Ieyasu was deeply roused, and that some very strong +measure would be necessary to restore the Bakufu's confidence in +Hideyori. Katsumoto vainly sought some definite statement as to the +nature of the reparation required. He was merely told to answer the +question himself. He accordingly proposed one of three courses, +namely, that the lady Yodo should be sent to Yedo as a hostage; that +Hideyori should leave Osaka and settle at some other castle; or, +finally, that he should acknowledge himself a vassal of the Tokugawa. +To these proposals the only reply that could be elicited from Ieyasu +was that Yodo and her son should choose whichever course they +pleased, and, bearing that answer, the disquieting import of which he +well understood, Katsumoto set out from Sumpu for Osaka. Travelling +rapidly, he soon overtook Okwra-no-Tsubone and explained to her the +events and their import. But the lady was incredulous. She was more +ready to suspect Katsumoto's sincerity than to believe that Ieyasu +had meant to deceive her. + +Had Katsumoto been free to continue his journey to Osaka, reaching it +in advance of Okura-no-Tsubone's party, the result might have been +different. But Ieyasu did not contemplate any such sequence of +events. He instructed Itakura Katsushige to invite Katsumoto to call +at Kyoto on the way to Osaka with the object of discussing an +important affair. Katsumoto had no choice but to delay his journey, +and Katsushige took care that the delay should be long enough to +afford time for Okura-no-Tsubone's party to reach Osaka, and to +present their report, together with their suspicions of Katsumoto's +disloyalty. + +Lady Yodo was incensed when she learned the terms that Katsumoto had +offered. "I am Hideyori's mother," she is reported to have cried. "I +will never bend my knee to the Kwanto. Rather will I and my son make +this castle our death-pillow." Then, with Ono Harunaga, she formed a +plot to kill Katsumoto and to draw the sword against the Tokugawa. +Subsequently, when Katsumoto returned to Osaka and reported the +result of his mission, he stated his conviction that the only exit +from the dilemma was one of the three courses indicated above. +Yodogimi, on being informed of this opinion, intimated her desire to +see Katsumoto. But when the day named for the meeting came and +Katsumoto was on the point of leaving his residence for the purpose +of repairing to the conference, he received information that the +intention was to kill him en route. He therefore fled to his domain +in the remote province of Ibaraki. It is recorded that Katsumoto's +plan was to offer to send Yodo as a hostage to Yedo. Then the +question would arise as to a place of residence for her in the +eastern capital, and the processes of preparing a site and building a +house were to be supplemented by accidental conflagrations, so that +the septuagenarian, Ieyasu, might easily pass away before the actual +transfer of the hostage took place. Such was Katsumoto's device, but +he had to flee from Osaka before he could carry it into effect. + +THE SIEGE OF OSAKA CASTLE + +In the year 1614, Ieyasu issued orders for the attack of Osaka +Castle, on the ground that Katsumoto's promise had not been +fulfilled. The Tokugawa chief set out from Sumpu and his son, +Hidetada, from Yedo. Their armies, combined with the forces of +several of the feudatories, are said to have aggregated one hundred +and fifty thousand men. In Osaka, also, a great host was assembled, +and among its leaders were several renowned warriors, including +Sanada Yukimura, Goto Matabei, Hanawa Naotsugu, and others, who, +although not originally vassals of the Toyotomi, supported Hideyori +loyally. As for the castle, its enormous strength rendered it +well-nigh impregnable, and after weeks of effort the Tokugawa forces +had nothing to show for their repeated attacks except a long list of +casualties. + +Ieyasu now had recourse to intrigue. The mother of Kyogoku Takatsugu, +daimyo of Obama, in Wakasa, was the younger sister of the lady Yodo. +Ieyasu induced her to open communications with Yodo, and to represent +to the latter the advisability of concluding peace with the Tokugawa +instead of remaining perpetually beleaguered in a fortress, thus +merely postponing an end which could not be finally averted. A +council was convened in the castle to consider this advice. Opinions +were divided. Some held that Ieyasu could not be believed, and that +if the struggle were maintained for a few years, the face of affairs +might change radically. Others urged that the loyalty of the garrison +was not above suspicion, and that if the fight went on much longer, +treachery might be practised, to which risk a speedy peace, even at +some cost, would be preferable. Ono Harunaga was among the advocates +of surrender, but Hideyori himself showed that his character had not +been mistaken by Ieyasu. He indignantly reminded Harunaga and the +latter's fellow thinkers that arms had been taken up by their advice +and in opposition to the loyal efforts of Katsumoto in the cause of +peace. + +Lady Yodo, however, threw her influence into the scale with Ono +Harunaga, and finally peace was concluded on terms highly favourable +to the Toyotomi. It was agreed that Hideyori should remain in the +possession of the castle and of all his domains, and that the +garrison, as well as the unattached samurai who formed part of it, +should not be punished but should be provided for subsequently. It +might have occurred to the leaders of the Osaka party that these +lenient conditions covered some occult designs; nothing was less +likely than that a statesman like Ieyasu would be content with so +signal a failure. But a short-sighted sentiment of confidence seems +to have obscured the judgment of the Osaka folks. They actually gave +heed to Ieyasu's complaint that he, the o-gosho, and his son, the +shogun, must not be allowed to have taken so much trouble for +nothing; that it was customary to give hostages to an army which +agreed to raise a siege, and that at least a portion of the castle's +defences should be destroyed. As to the last point, the Tokugawa +chief was kind enough to say that the work of demolition should not +cost the garrison anything, since labour would be supplied gratis by +the shoguni. + +After considerable correspondence it was agreed that Harunaga's son +should go to Yedo as a hostage, and that a portion of the outer moat +of Osaka Castle should be filled up. Ieyasu did not lose a moment in +giving effect to this latter provision. He ordered some of the fudai +daimyo of the Kwanto to proceed to Osaka with several thousands of +men, who should go to work forthwith to tear down the parapets and +fill up the moats of the castle. These orders were implicitly obeyed, +and as Ieyasu had omitted to indicate any limit for the work of +destruction, it went on without check, and presently the second line +of parapets began to follow the first. The Osaka leaders protested +and essayed to stay the destruction. But the officers who were in +command of the operation said that without a direct message from +Honda Masazumi, who represented Ieyasu, they could not suspend their +task. Efforts were then made to approach Honda, but he was +conveniently absent "on account of his health," and the ensuing +correspondence occupied several days, during which the pulling-down +and filling-up went on by day and by night. More than one-half of the +second moat had disappeared before Masazumi could be found. His +answer was that he had been merely told to fill up the moat. Possibly +he had mistaken the scope of his instructions and he would refer the +matter to Ieyasu. This involved further delay and more filling, +until, finally, Masazumi acknowledged that he had made a mistake, +declared himself prepared to undergo punishment, and withdrew his men +to Fushimi. + +Ieyasu supplied the sequel of the farce. When complaint was made +against Masazumi, the Tokugawa leader simulated astonishment, +expressed much regret, and said that he would condemn Masazumi to +commit suicide were it permissible to mar this happy occasion by any +capital sentence. "Peace," declared the astute old statesman, "has +now been fortunately concluded. Let us not talk any more about the +castle's moats or parapets." Against such an attitude the Osaka men +could not enter any protest, and the farce ended there. Had the Osaka +leaders possessed any measure of the wisdom that marked all the +doings of Ieyasu, they would not have suffered matters to rest at +such a stage. But they foolishly imagined that some retaliation might +be effected by calling upon the Tokugawa to supplement that part of +the peace provisions which related to allowances for the samurai who +had fought on the side of the garrison. A demand in that sense was +preferred to Ieyasu. But he had now laid aside his transient suavity. +The Osaka people were brusquely informed that they must look to the +Toyotomi family for recompense, and that as for rewarding unattached +samurai who had drawn the sword against the shogun, the Osaka people, +were they obedient to the dictates of loyalty, would of their own +account peremptorily reject such an unwarranted proposition, even +though Ieyasu himself were disposed to consent to it. + +Of course this answer profoundly enraged the Osaka party. They +appreciated for the first time that they had been deceived +throughout, and that by a series of adroit manoeuvres they had been +removed from an almost impregnable position to a practically helpless +plight. Not a few turned their backs on the castle, but a great +majority determined to renew the conflict and to die at their posts. +The circumstances, however, had now undergone a radical change. The +castle had been converted from the strongest fortress in Japan into a +mere semblance of strength, and no garrison, however brave and +however resolute, could have defended it successfully against the +forces that the Tokugawa were able to marshal. + +As for Ieyasu, he knew that his task had been immensely lightened. On +the 3rd of May, 1615, he started from Sumpu for Osaka at the head of +an army numbering scarcely one-third of the force previously led +against the castle. Nevertheless, one contingency presented itself in +a dangerous light. It was always possible that Hideyori himself +should make a sortie from the fortress, and, in that event, the +prestige attaching to the memory of his father, Hideyoshi, might have +demoralized a large section of the Tokugawa troops. To avert this +danger, Ieyasu had recourse to his wonted methods of deception. It +has been shown that he held Harunaga's son, as a hostage. This youth +was required to write a letter to his father stating that collusion +existed between parties within and without the fortress, and that the +traitors had plotted to induce Hideyori to make a sortie, whereupon +the castle would be given up and Hideyori would be delivered into the +hands of his enemies. Harunaga does not appear to have entertained +any doubt as to the trustworthiness of this letter. He carried it +hastily to Hideyori, who was in the act of preparing to sally out of +the castle and throw himself upon the beleaguering forces. + +The receipt of the letter naturally led to a change of plan, and +although desperate fighting subsequently took place, the castle was +finally set on fire by traitors and its fate was seen to be hopeless. +Hideyori's wife, granddaughter of Ieyasu, repaired to the Tokugawa +headquarters to plead for the life of her husband and his mother. But +Ieyasu was inexorable. He granted asylum to his granddaughter, but +replied to her prayer by ordering a renewal of the attack upon the +castle. On June 4th, Hideyori committed suicide, and his mother, +Yodo, was killed by one of his retainers. Some thirty men and women +killed themselves at the same time. + +Men spoke of the first fruitless assault upon the castle as the +"Winter Campaign," and of the second and successful assault as +the "Summer Campaign." But the two operations were radically +different in their character. For, whereas in the first assault the +garrison--numbering something like one hundred and eighty thousand +men--stood strictly on the defensive, wisely relying on the immense +strength of the fortress, on the second occasion most of the fighting +took place outside the walls, the garrison preferring to rely upon +strategy and courage rather than on ruined parapets and half-filled +moats. Thus, the details of the second campaign occupy a large space +in Japanese histories, but these tedious features of strategy and +tactics are abbreviated here. There can be no doubt that Ieyasu, so +far from seeking to save Hideyori's life, deliberately planned his +destruction. Moreover, when it became known that an illegitimate son +of Hideyori, called Kunimatsu, had been carried from the castle by +some common soldiers and secreted at a farmhouse in Fushimi, Ieyasu +caused this child of six to be seized and beheaded by a common +executioner at Sanjo-kawara in Kyoto. This episode reflects no credit +whatever on the Tokugawa leader. That he should extirpate every scion +of the Toyotomi family was not inconsistent with the canons of the +tune or with the interests of his own security. But death at the +hands of a common executioner ought never to have been decreed for +the son of the u-daijin, and the cruelty of the order finds no +excuse. No tenet of bushido can be reconciled with such inhumanity. + +To this chapter of history belongs the attitude of Ieyasu towards the +memory of his old friend and benefactor, Hideyoshi. He caused to be +levelled with the ground the temple of Toyokuni Daimyo-jin, where the +spirit of Hideyoshi was worshipped, and he ordered the removal of the +tomb of the Taiko from Amidagamine to a remote corner of the Daibutsu +enclosure. Finally, he sought and obtained the Emperor's sanction to +revoke the sacred title conferred posthumously on Hideyoshi. One +looks in vain for any fragment of magnanimity among such acts. Ieyasu +is reported to have avowedly adopted for guidance the precept, +"Before taking any step propound to your heart the query, how about +justice?" He certainly did not put any such query to his own +conscience in connexion with the castle of Osaka or its inmates. + +THE GENNA YEAR-PERIOD (1615-1623) + +The battle of Sekigahara is often spoken of as the last great +internecine campaign in Japanese history, but this is hardly borne +out by the facts. Indeed, from what has been said above, it will be +seen that Sekigahara was merely a prelude to Osaka, and that the +former stood to the latter almost in the relation of a preliminary +skirmish. It is from August, 1615, that we must date the commencement +of the long period of peace with which Japan was blessed under +Tokugawa rule. The year-name was then changed to Genna. + +DEATH OF IEYASU + +In February, 1616, Ieyasu fell sick, and in April the Emperor sent an +envoy to confer on him the title of dajo daijin. He expired a few +days afterwards at the age of seventy-five and was apotheosized as +Tosho Dai-Gongen (Light of the East and Great Incarnation). He was +buried on the summit of Mount Kuno in Suruga, and ultimately his +ashes were carried to Nikko for interment. It is recorded, though not +on independent authority, that when his end was drawing near he spoke +to those at his side in the folio whig terms: "My death is now in +sight, but happily the country is at peace, and Hidetada has already +discharged the duties of shogun for several years. I have, therefore, +no cause for anxiety. If, after I am gone, Hidetada should make any +failure in his administration of public affairs, or if he should lose +control of the people, any one of you to whom the Imperial order may +be addressed, should assume the functions of shogun, for, as you well +know, that post is not the property of this or that person in +particular, nor will my rest in the grave be disturbed though such an +event occurs." + +Another record, however, represents Ieyasu as following the example +of the Taiko and conjuring his most trusted retainers to devote their +strength to the support of the Tokugawa family. To Hidetada he is +said to have suggested the advisability of compelling the daimyo to +remain in Yedo for three full years after his (Ieyasu's) demise, in +order to test thoroughly their attitude. Hidetada replied that while +most unwilling to reject his father's advice, his intention was to +allow the feudatories to leave Yedo at once, and if any one of them +evinced hostile feeling by shutting himself up in his castle, he, +Hidetada, would follow him thither and level his parapets with the +ground. Such an object lesson was, in his opinion, the best +stepping-stone to supremacy. Ieyasu is reported to have received this +answer with profound satisfaction, and to have declared that he was +now assured of the permanence of peace. He then had all his sons +called to his side and enjoined upon them the duty of serving the +shogun faithfully. To his grandson, Iemitsu, he specially addressed +himself, saying: "It will fall to your lot, some day, to govern the +country. On that day remember that benevolence should be the first +principle of a ruler." + +CHARACTER OF IEYASU + +Frugality is one of the virtues which Ieyasu certainly possessed. +Striking example of its display is connected with Yedo Castle. This +fortress, as built originally by Ota Dokwan, was not of imposing +dimensions even as a military stronghold, and the dwelling-house in +the keep presented most homely features, having a thatched roof and a +porch of rough boat-planks. Yet Ieyasu was content to make this +edifice his palace, and while he devoted much care to strengthening +the fortifications, he bestowed none on the enlargement and adornment +of the dwelling. The system he adopted to populate the city may be +said to have been colonial. He encouraged his vassals to settle +there, giving them lands to cultivate and breeding-grounds for +horses, so that within a brief time the city obtained numerous +inhabitants and developed a prosperous condition. It was in planning +the details of all enterprises that he particularly excelled. To +everything he brought an almost infinite capacity of patient study +and minute examination; his principle being that to achieve success +the first desideratum is to avoid mistakes. Doubtless he owed this +faculty of profound painstaking to the vicissitudes of his early +life. The years that he passed under the control of the Imagawa and +afterwards under that of Oda taught him patience and self-restraint, +and made the study of literature obligatory for him, at the same time +begetting in his mind a feeling of reverence for the Buddhist faith. + +Japanese historians generally credit him with the virtues of +humanity, magnanimity, justice, and affability. That he was always +pleased to receive advice from others and that he set an example of +courtesy and zeal, there can be no doubt. Neither will anyone deny +that his resourcefulness amounted to genius. On the other hand, his +record shows that he was unscrupulous in utilizing opportunities, +whether created by himself or made accessible by fortune, and from +the same record we are compelled to infer that he could be cruel and +implacable on occasion. His favourite sayings afford perhaps the best +index that we possess to his disposition:-- + + Man's life is like a long journey toiling under a heavy burden. + + Never be in a hurry. + + He that regards destitution as his habitual lot will never feel + the pressure of want. + + When the spirit of ambition arises in your bosom, recall the + days of your distress. + + To forbear is the source of harmlessness and the road to + success. + + Regard anger as an enemy. + + He that knows how to win only and does not know how to lose, + will achieve nothing useful. + + Blame yourself and acquit others. + + To fall short is better than to exceed. + +ENGRAVING: SIGNATURE OF ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI + +ENGRAVING: THEATRICAL PLAY OF OLD JAPAN + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +FIRST PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU; FROM THE FIRST TOKUGAWA SHOGUN, +IEYASU, TO THE FOURTH, IETSUNA (1603-1680) + +LEGISLATION + +THE Tokugawa family having brought the whole empire under its sway, +Ieyasu applied himself to legislative work with a degree of +thoroughness and earnestness that far exceeded anything in the +history of his predecessors. The terms of the oath of allegiance that +he dictated to the feudatories after the battle of Sekigahara have +been already referred to. Ten years later, that is to say, in 1611, +he required all the provincial governors to subscribe this same oath, +and, in 1613, he enacted a law for the Court nobles (kugeshu-hatto), +to which the Imperial assent was obtained. This was the first +instance of a military man legislating for the nobles of the capital; +but it must be noted that the latter by their own misconduct +furnished an opportunity for such interference. A Court scandal +assumed such dimensions, in 1607, that the Emperor ordered the Bakufu +to investigate the matter and to inflict suitable punishment. Ieyasu +summoned a number of the offenders to Sumpu, where he subjected +fourteen of them to severe examination. Ultimately some were +sentenced to exile and others were deprived of their ranks, while the +principal malefactor, Inokuma, general of the Left, was condemned to +death. This affair demonstrated that the effective power was in the +hands of the military, and throughout the Tokugawa rule they never +failed to exercise it. In September of the year that witnessed the +fall of Osaka Castle, Ieyasu and Hidetada summoned all the provincial +governors to Momo-yama, and handed to them a body of rules entitled +the "Laws of the Military Houses." These laws ran as follows:-* + +*The translation of these laws is taken from a paper read by Mr. +Consul-General J. C. Hall and recorded in the "Transactions of the +Asiatic Society of Japan" for 1911. + +"(1) Literature, arms, archery, and horsemanship are, systematically, +to be the favourite pursuits. + +"Literature first, and arms next was the rule of the ancients. They +must both be cultivated concurrently. Archery and horsemanship are +the more essential for the military houses. Weapons of warfare are +ill-omened words to utter; the use of them, however, is an +unavoidable necessity. In times of peace and good order we must not +forget that disturbance may arise. Dare we omit to practise our +warlike exercise and drill?" + +Although this provision ostensibly encouraged the pursuit of literary +and military arts, those who read the law too implicitly and devoted +themselves too earnestly to the pursuit of arms quickly found that +they were not in touch with the time or with the intention of the +legislators. In fact, the purpose of the latter was to bracket +literature and the art of war together, giving no preference to +either. + +"(2) Drinking parties and gaming amusements must be kept within due +bounds. + +"In our Instructions it is laid down that strict moderation in these +respects is to be observed. To be addicted to venery and to make a +pursuit of gambling is the first step towards the loss of one's +domain." + +This rule may be said to define what is known in Europe as "conduct +unbecoming an officer." Not to know how to order one's tongue was as +grave an offence as debauchery, according to the canons of the +samurai. + +"(3) Offenders against the law are not to be harboured in feudal +domains. + +"Law is the very foundation of ceremonial decorum and of social order. +To infringe the law in the name of reason is as bad as to outrage +reason in the name of law. To disregard the law (laid down by us) is +an offence which will not be treated with leniency." + +This provision was directly suggested by the Government's desire to +suppress Christianity. + +"(4) Throughout the domains whether of the greater or lesser barons +(daimyo and shomyo) or of the holders of minor benefits, if any of +the gentry or soldiers (shi and sotsu) in their service be guilty of +rebellion or murder, such offenders must be at once expelled from +their domain. + +"Fellows of savage disposition (being retainers) are an apt weapon for +overthrowing the domain or the family employing them, and a deadly +instrument for cutting off the common people. How can such be +tolerated?" + +In the early days of the Yedo Bakufu it was not uncommon for a +feudatory to enrol among his vassals refugee samurai who had blood on +their hands. These would often be pursued into the fiefs where they +had taken refuge, and much disorder resulted. The above provision +removed these murderers from the protection of the feudatory in whose +service they had enlisted. + +"(5) Henceforth no social intercourse is to be permitted outside of +one's own domain with the people (gentry and commoners) of another +domain. + +"In general, the customs of the various domains are all different from +one another, each having its own peculiarities. To divulge the +secrets of one's own domain is a sure indication of an intent to +curry favour." + +It has been shown that by the Chinese masters of strategy whose works +were studied in Japan the art of espionage was placed on a high +pinnacle. This teaching appears to have produced such evil results +that the Tokugawa legislated against it. + +"(6) The residential castles in the domains may be repaired; but the +matter must invariably be reported. Still more imperative is it that +the planning of structural innovations of any kind must be absolutely +avoided. + +"A castle with a parapet exceeding three thousand feet by ten is a +bane to a domain. Crenelated walls and deep moats (of castles) are +causes of anarchy." + +This provision was important as a means of enfeebling the barons. +They were not at liberty to repair even a fence of the most +insignificant character or to dredge a moat, much more to erect a +parapet, without previous sanction from the Bakufu. + +"(7) If, in a neighbouring domain, innovations are being hatched or +cliques being formed, the fact is to be reported without delay. + +"Men are always forming groups; whilst, on the other hand, few ever +come to anything. On this account, they fail to follow their lords or +fathers, and soon come into collision with those of neighbouring +villages. If the ancient prohibitions are not maintained, somehow or +other innovating schemes will be formed." + +Everything in the form of combination, whether nominally for good or +for evil, was regarded with suspicion by the Bakufu, and all unions +were therefore interdicted. Of course, the most important incident +which the law was intended to prevent took the form of alliances +between barons of adjacent provinces. + +"(8) Marriages must not be contracted at private convenience. + +"Now, the marriage union is a result of the harmonious blending of the +In and Yo (i.e. the Yin and Yang of Chinese metaphysics, the female +and male principles of nature). It is therefore not a matter to be +lightly undertaken. It is said in the 'Scowling' passage of the +(Chow) Book of Changes, 'Not being enemies they unite in marriage.' +Whilst (the elders are) thinking of making advances to the opponent +(family), the proper time (for the marriage of the young couple) is +allowed to slip by. In the 'Peach Young' poem of the Book of Odes it +is said, 'If the man and woman, duly observing what is correct, marry +at the proper time of life, there will be no widows in the land.' To +form cliques (political parties) by means of matrimonial connexions +is a source of pernicious stratagems." + +This provision was, in fact, a codification of the veto pronounced by +Hideyoshi on his death-bed against marriages between the families of +different daimyo. Ieyasu himself had been the first to violate the +veto, and he was the first to place it subsequently on the statute +book. The third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, extended the restriction by +ordering that even families having estates of only three thousand +koku should not intermarry without Yedo's previous consent. + +"(9) As to the rule that the daimyo shall come (to the shogun's court +at Yedo) to do service:-- + +"In the Shoku Nihongi (The Continuation of the Chronicles of Japan) it +is recorded amongst the enactments, + +"'Except when entrusted with some official duty to assemble, no one +(dignitary) is allowed at his own pleasure to assemble his tribe +within the limits of the capital, no one is to go about attended by +more than twenty horsemen, etc.' + +"Hence it is not permissible to lead about a large force of soldiers. +For daimyo whose revenues range from 1,000,000 koko down to 200,000 +koku, the number of twenty horsemen is not to be exceeded. For those +whose revenues are 100,000 koku and under, the number is to be in the +same proportion. + +"On occasions of official service, however (i.e. in time of warfare), +the number of followers is to be in proportion to the social standing +of each daimyo." + +The above rule of repairing to the capital to pay respects +(go-sankin) was an old fashion, and barons were accustomed to go with +large retinues. Thus, it often happened that collisions occurred +between the corteges of hostile feudatories, and it was to prevent +these sanguinary encounters that the Tokugawa set strict limits to +the number of samurai accompanying a military chief. + +"(10) There must be no confusion in respect of dress uniforms, as +regards the materials thereof. + +"The distinction between lord and vassal, between superior and +inferior, must be clearly marked by the apparel. Retainers +may not, except in rare cases by special favour of their lords, +indiscriminately wear silk stuffs, such as shiro-aya (undyed silk +with woven patterns), shiro-kosode (white wadded silk coats), +murasaki-awase (purple silk coats, lined), murasaki-ura (silk coats +lined with purple); nori (white gloss silk), mumon (silk coat without +the wearer's badge dyed on it), kosode (a coloured silk-wadded coat). +In recent times, retainers and henchmen (soldiers) have taken to +wearing rich damasks and silk brocade. This elaborate display was not +allowed by the ancient laws and it must be severely kept within +bounds." + +"(11) Miscellaneous persons are not at their pleasure to ride in +palanquins. + +"There are families who for special reasons from of old have +(inherited) the privilege of riding in palanquins without permission +from the authorities: and there are others who by permission of the +authorities exercise that privilege. But, latterly, even sub-vassals +and henchmen of no rank have taken to so riding. This is a flagrant +impertinence. Henceforward the daimyo of the provinces, and such of +their kinsfolk as are men of distinction subordinate to them, may +ride without applying for Government permission. Besides those, the +following have permission, viz., vassals and retainers of high +position about their lords; doctors and astrologers; persons of over +sixty years of age, and sick persons and invalids. If ordinary +retainers, or inferior henchmen (sotsu) are allowed to ride in +palanquins, it will be considered to be the fault of their lords. + +"This proviso, however, does not apply to Court nobles, abbots, or +ecclesiastics in general. + +"(12) The samurai throughout the provinces are to practise frugality. + +"Those who are rich like to make a display, whilst those who are poor +are ashamed of not being on a par with the others. There is no other +influence so pernicious to social observances as this; and it must be +strictly kept in check." + +Frugality always occupied a prominent place in the Bakufu's list of +essentials. Frequent and strenuous efforts were made by successive +shoguns to encourage people in this virtue, but with the long peace +enjoyed by the country under Tokugawa rule, a tendency to increasing +luxury constantly prevailed, and the Government's aims in this +respect were not realized except for brief periods. During the +administration of the first three Tokugawa shoguns, and under the +eighth shogun (Yoshimune), some success attended official injunctions +of economy, but on the whole a steady growth of extravagance +characterized the era. + +"(13) The lords of domain (kokushu, masters of provinces) must select +men of capacity for office. + +"The way to govern is to get hold of the proper men. The merits and +demerits (of retainers) should be closely scanned, and reward or +reproof unflinchingly distributed accordingly. If there be capable +men in the administration, that domain is sure to flourish; if there +be not capable men, then the domain is sure to go to ruin. This is an +admonition which the wise ones of antiquity all agree in giving +forth." + +"The tenor of the foregoing rules must be obeyed. + +"Keicho, 20th year, 7th month (September 23, 1615)." + +The above body of laws may be regarded as the Tokugawa Constitution. +They were re-enacted by each shogun in succession on assuming office. +The custom was to summon all the daimyo to Yedo, and to require their +attendance at the Tokugawa palace, where, in the presence of the +incoming shogun, they listened with faces bowed on the mats to the +reading of the laws. Modifications and additions were, of course, +made on each occasion, but the provisions quoted above remained +unaltered in their essentials. Up to the time of the third shogun +(Iemitsu), the duty of reading aloud the laws at the solemn +ceremonial of the new shogun's investiture devolved on a high +Buddhist priest, but it was thereafter transferred to the +representative of the Hayashi family (to be presently spoken +of). Any infraction of the laws was punished mercilessly, and +as their occasionally loose phraseology left room for arbitrary +interpretation, the provisions were sometimes utilized in the +interest of the shogun and at the expense of his enemies. + +RULES FOR THE IMPERIAL COURT AND COURT NOBLES + +In the same month of the same year there was promulgated a body of +laws called the "Rules of the Imperial Court, and the Court Nobles" +(Kinchu narabi ni Kugeshu Sho-hatto). This enactment bore the +signatures of the kwampaku and the shogun and had the Imperial +sanction. It consisted of seventeen articles, but only five of them +had any special importance: + +"(1) Learning is the most essential of all accomplishments. Not to +study is to be ignorant of the doctrines of the ancient sages, and an +ignorant ruler has never governed a nation peacefully." + +This specious precept was not intended to be literally obeyed. The +shoguns had no desire for an erudite Emperor. Their conception of +learning on the part of the sovereign was limited to the composition +of Japanese verselets. A close study of the doctrines of the ancient +Chinese sages might have exposed the illegitimacy of the Bakufu +administration. Therefore, Yedo would have been content that the +Mikado should think only of spring flowers and autumn moonlight, and +should not torment his mind by too close attention to the classics. + +"(2) A man lacking in ability must not be appointed to the post of +regent or minister of State even though he belong to the Go-sekke +(Five Designated Families), and it is needless to say that none but a +member of those families may serve in such a position." + +"(3) A man of ability, even though he be old, shall not be allowed to +resign the post of regent or minister of State in favour of another. +If he attempts to resign, his resignation should be refused again and +again." + +The above two provisions practically conferred on the Bakufu the +power of not only appointing the regent and ministers of State but +also of keeping them in office. For, as the law had been framed in +Yedo, in Yedo also was vested competence to judge the ability or +disability of a candidate. Hence, when the Emperor proposed to +appoint a regent or a minister, the Bakufu had merely to intimate +want of confidence in the nominee's ability; and similarly, if the +sovereign desired to dismiss one of those high officials, the shogun +could interfere effectually by reference to the letter of the law. +Thus, the power of appointing and dismissing the great officials in +Kyoto, which is one of the important prerogatives of the crown, was +practically usurped by the shogun. + +"(4) An adopted son shall always be chosen from the family of his +adopter; and a female shall never be adopted to be the head of a +family, no such custom having existed in Japan at any time." + +This provision had two main objects. The first was to avert adoptions +having the effect of combinations; the second, to prevent adoption of +Imperial princes into other families. The Bakufu sought, as far as +possible, to bring about the taking of the tonsure by all princes of +the Blood who were not in the direct line of the succession, and to +keep these princes from attaining to the posts of regents or +ministers of State. + +"(5) All reports shall be submitted to the Emperor by the regent, the +denso, or an administrator (bugyo). Any other person who, in +disregard of this rule, attempts to address the Throne direct, shall +be sent into exile, whatever his rank." + +The denso mentioned in this provision was an official appointed by +the Bakufu for that special purpose. The whole arrangement as to +communication with the Throne constituted a powerful buttress of +Bakufu influence. Generally, the latter could contrive, as has been +shown above, to control the appointment and continuance in office of +a regent or a minister, while as for the administrators (bugyo), they +were nominees of Yedo. It thus resulted that the Throne was +approachable through the channel of the Bakufu only. + +LAWS WITH REFERENCE TO BUDDHISM + +The above laws remained unchanged throughout the Tokugawa era. A +special law was also enacted with reference to Buddhist sects and the +principal Buddhist temples. Ieyasu secured to these temples the +possession of their manors by granting title-deeds bearing what was +called the "go-shuinji," or "vermilion signature." The term was not +really applicable in the case of Ieyasu. It is true that Hideyoshi, +doubtless in imitation of Chinese custom, stamped a vermilion seal +upon documents of this character; but the Tokugawa shoguns employed a +black signature written with a pen. Nevertheless, the term +"go-shuinji" continued to be used from the time of the Taiko +downwards. It was an outcome of Ieyasu's astuteness that the great +Hongwan temple was divided into two branches, eastern and western, by +which process its influence was prevented from becoming excessive. +During the administration of the third shogun, every daimyo was +required to adhere to a definite sect of Buddhism, and to the +Buddhist and Shinto temples was entrusted the duty of keeping an +accurate census of their parishioners. The direct purpose of these +latter laws was to facilitate the extermination of Christianity. +Anyone whose name was not enrolled on one of the above lists fell +under suspicion of embracing the foreign faith. + +A JAPANESE HISTORIAN'S OPINION + +Referring to the above laws the Tokugawa Jidaishi says: + +"The above laws and regulations were the Constitution of the Tokugawa +Bakufu. By the aid of their provisions the influence of Yedo was +extended to every part of the nation from the Imperial Court to the +world of religion. No such codes had ever previously existed in +Japan. Any unit of the nation, whether a Court noble, a great +feudatory, a priest, or a common samurai, had to yield implicit +obedience or to suffer condign punishment. Thus, it fell out that +everybody being anxious to conform with the rules, the universal +tendency was to share in preserving the peace. From the point of view +of this system, Ieyasu was eminently above all modern and ancient +heroes. Hideyoshi won brilliant victories in war, but he saw no +better method of maintaining peace at home than to send the country's +armies to fight abroad. He seems to have conceived a hope that his +generals would find goals for their ambition in Korea or China, and +would exhaust their strength in endeavouring to realize their dreams. +But his plan brought about the contrary result; for the generals +formed fresh enmities among themselves, and thus the harvest that was +subsequently reaped at Sekigahara found hands to sow it. + +"Ieyasu, however, prized literature above militarism. He himself +became a pioneer of learning, and employed many scholars to assist in +constructing a solid framework of peace. The territorial nobles had +to follow his example. Even Kato Kiyomasa, Asano Yukinaga, and Kuroda +Nagamasa, each of whom during his lifetime was counted a divinely +inspired general, found themselves constrained to study the Chinese +classics under the guidance of Funabashi Hidekata and Fujiwara +Seigwa. How much more cogent, then, was the similar necessity under +which lesser men laboured. Thus, Ieyasu's love of literature may be +regarded as a cause of the peace that prevailed under the Tokugawa +for 260 years." + +REVIVAL OF LEARNING + +Ieyasu employed four instruments for educational purposes--the +establishment of schools, the engagement of professors, the +collection of ancient literary works, and the printing of books. In +accordance with his last will his son Yoshinao, daimyo of Owari, +built, in 1636, the Daiseiden College beside the temple of Kiyomizu +in Ueno Park, near the villa of Hayashi Kazan, the celebrated +Confucian scholar; but, in 1691, the college was moved to the slope +called Shohei-zaka, where a bridge--Shohei-bashi--was thrown across +the river. "Shohei" is the Japanese pronunciation of "Changping," +Confucius's birthplace, and the school was known as the Shohei-ko. It +received uniform patronage at the hands of the Tokugawa, whose +kinsmen and vassals were required to study there, their proficiency, +as determined by its examinations, being counted a passport to +office. Yoshinao laid the foundation of a great library at the school +and the number of volumes was constantly increased. + +During the lifetime of Ieyasu, one of the most noted scholars was +Fujiwara Seigwa. By the invitation of the Tokugawa chief he lectured +on the classics in Kyoto, and it is recorded that Ieyasu, who had +just (1600) arrived in that city, attended one of these lectures, +wearing his ordinary garments. Seigwa is related to have fixed his +eyes on Ieyasu and addressed him as follows: "The greatest work of +Confucius teaches that to order oneself is the most essential of +achievements. How shall a man who does not order himself be able to +order his country? I am lecturing on ethics to one who behaves in a +disorderly and discourteous manner. I believe that I preach in vain." +Ieyasu immediately changed his costume, and the event contributed +materially to the reputation alike of the intrepid teacher and of the +magnanimous student, as well as to the popularity of Seigwa's +doctrines. + +Hayashi Kazan was a disciple of Seigwa whose reputation as a scholar +he rivalled. Ieyasu employed him extensively in drafting laws; and +many of his disciples subsequently served as teachers of the Chinese +classics. The scripture of Hayashi's school of ethics was Chu Hi's +commentary on the "Great Learning" of Confucius. In this system, +ethics become a branch of natural philosophy. "Corresponding to the +regular change of the seasons in nature is right action in man (who +is the crown of nature), in the relation of sovereign and subject, +parent and child, elder brother and younger brother, husband and +wife, friend and friend. To his sovereign, or lord, he is bound to be +faithful; to his parents, dutiful, and to his elder brother, +respectful. Affection should characterize the relations of husband +and wife and trust those of friend with friend." + +A moment's consideration of this ethical system shows that it cannot +be reconciled with such a form of administration as that existing +under the Bakufu. Genuine loyalty to the sovereign found no place in +the practical code of Tokugawa. Whether Ieyasu appreciated that fact +or whether he ignored it in consideration of the civilizing and +tranquillizing influences of Confucianism, there is nothing to show. +Ultimately, however, it was to the ethics of the Chinese sage that +the Tokugawa downfall became indirectly attributable. + +Ieyasu showed much earnestness in searching for and collecting +ancient books. Before and after the war of Osaka, he ordered +priests to copy old books and records preserved in Buddhist +temples and noblemen's houses. Subsequently, during the Kwanei +era--1621-1643--there was built within the castle of Yedo a library +called Momijiyama Bunko where the books were stored. He was also +instrumental in causing the compilation and publication of many +volumes whose contents contribute materially to our historical +knowledge. The writing of history in the Imperial Court had been +abandoned for many years, and the scholars employed by Ieyasu had +recourse to private diaries for materials. Hayashi Kazan (Doshuri) +was entrusted with the duty of distinguishing between the true and +the false in using these records, and there resulted two memorable +works. The second of these consisted in the main of genealogical +tables. It extended to 372 volumes and subsequently became the Kwanei +Shoke Keizu-den. The first, a national history, was originally called +the Honcho Hennen-roku. Before its compilation Kazan (Doshun) died, +and the book was concluded by his son, Harukatsu, in the year 1635. +It consisted of three hundred volumes in all, and covered the period +from the age of the Gods to the year 1610. It is now known as the +Honcho Tsugan. The two works having been published to the order and +under the patronage of the Bakufu, their contents were by no means +free from the stain of favour and affection, but they nevertheless +possess inestimable historical value. + +THE SECOND TOKUGAWA SHOGUN, HIDETADA + +Hidetada, third son of Ieyasu, was born in 1579; succeeded to the +shogunate in 1605; abdicated in 1622, and died in 1632. His +appearance on the historical stage was not very glorious, for, as +already shown, when marching to join his father's army before the +battle of Sekigahara, he allowed himself to be detained so long at +the siege of Ueda Castle that he failed to be present at the great +combat, and Ieyasu, as a mark of displeasure, refused to meet him +until Honda Masazumi pleaded Hidetada's cause. During the first +eleven years of his shogunate he exercised little real authority, the +administration being conducted by Ieyasu himself from his nominal +place of retirement in Sumpu. Thus, the period of Hidetada's +independent sway extended over six years only. But during the ten +subsequent years he continued to exercise much camera influence over +the Government, though his power was inferior to that which had been +wielded by Ieyasu in nominal retirement. Honda Masazumi, who had +befriended him at the critical time mentioned above, occupied the +highest post in the administration, the second place being assigned +to Sakai Tadayo, while in Kyoto the Tokugawa interests were guarded +by Itakura Katsushige and Matsudaira Masatsuna. + +The era of Hidetada was essentially one of organization, and by the +exercise of sincerity and justice he contributed much to the +stability of the Tokugawa rule. Not the least memorable step taken by +him related to the fortress of Yedo. In the year following his +succession, he ordered the feudatories of the east to construct the +castle which remains to this day one of the marvels of the world. +"Around it stretched a triple line of moats, the outermost measuring +nine and a half miles in length, the innermost one and a half, their +scarps constructed with blocks of granite nearly as colossal as those +of the Osaka stronghold, though in the case of the Yedo fortification +every stone had to be carried hundreds of miles over the sea. The +gates were proportionately as huge as those at Osaka, well-nigh the +most stupendous works ever undertaken, not excepting even the +Pyramids of Egypt. There is not to be found elsewhere a more striking +monument of military power, nor can anyone considering such a work, +as well as its immediate predecessor, the Taiko's stronghold at +Osaka, and its numerous contemporaries of lesser but still striking +proportions in the principal fiefs, refuse to credit the Japanese +with capacity for large conceptions and competence to carry them into +practice." + +CONJUGAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND THE TOKUGAWA + +It had been one of the most cherished wishes of Ieyasu to follow the +Fujiwara precedent by establishing conjugal relations between the +Imperial family and the Tokugawa. But the ex-Emperor, Go-Yozei, +turned a deaf ear to this proposal on the ground that a lady born in +a military house had never been chosen consort of a sovereign. +Ieyasu, however, did not abandon his purpose. He entrusted its +prosecution to Todo Takatora, and in 1616, the year of Ieyasu's +death, Todo induced Konoe Nobuhiro, minister of the Right, to promote +this undertaking. Nobuhiro, being the Emperor's younger brother, was +able to exert much influence, and finally the ex-Emperor gave his +consent. In June, 1620, Kazuko, daughter of Hidetada, became first +lady-in-waiting, and ultimately Empress under the name of +Tofuku-mon-in. It is recorded that 1180 chests were required to carry +her trousseau from Yedo, and that the costs of her outfit and of her +journey to Kyoto aggregated more than a million sterling. She gave +birth to two princes and five princesses, and the house of Konoe, +which had been instrumental in procuring her summons to the Court, +became the leader of the Go-sekke. + +DEATH OF HIDETADA AND HIS CHARACTER + +After resigning the shogunate in 1622, Hidetada retired to the inner +castle (Nishi Maru) in Yedo and there continued to direct affairs. He +died ten years later, at the age of fifty-eight, and was interred at +the temple Zojo-ji, in the Shiba district of the eastern capital. +Japanese historians agree that Hidetada's character was adapted for +the work of consolidation that fell to his lot. He resembled his +father, Ieyasu, in decision and perseverance; he never dealt lightly +with any affair, and while outwardly gentle and considerate, he was +at heart subtle and uncompromising. An interesting illustration of +the administrative canons of the time is afforded in the advice said +to have been given by Hosokawa Tadaoki when consulted by Hidetada. +"There is an old proverb," Tadaoki replied, "that if a round lid be +put on a square vessel, those within will have ease; but if a square +lid be used to cover a square vessel, there will result a feeling of +distress." Asked for a standard by which to judge qualifications for +success, the same nobleman answered that an oyster shell found on the +Akashi shore is the best type of a man qualified to succeed, for the +shell has been deprived of all its angles by the beating of the +waves. Of Hidetada himself there is told an anecdote which shows him +to have been remarkably free from superstition. A comet made its +appearance and was regarded with anxiety by the astrologists of +Kyoto, who associated its advent with certain misfortune. Hidetada +ridiculed these fears. "What can we tell," he said, "about the +situation of a solitary star in the wide universe, and how can we +know that it has anything to do with this little world?" + +THE THIRD SHOGUN, IEMITSU + +Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, was born in 1603; succeeded to the +shogunate in 1622, and held that post until his death, in 1651. His +principal ministers were Ii Naotaka (who had occupied the post of +premier since the days of Ieyasu), Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and Abe +Tadaaki, one of the ablest officers that served the Tokugawa. He +devoted himself to consolidating the system founded by his +grandfather, Ieyasu, and he achieved remarkable success by the +exercise of exceptional sagacity and determination. In 1626, he +proceeded to Kyoto at the head of a large army, simply for the +purpose of conveying to the feudal nobles a significant intimation +that he intended to enforce his authority without hesitation. Up to +that, time the feudal chiefs were not officially required to reside +in Yedo for any fixed time or at any fixed interval. But now it was +clearly enacted that the feudatories of the east and those of the +west should repair to the Bakufu capital, at different seasons in the +year; should remain there a twelvemonth,--in the case of feudal lords +from the Kwanto only six months--and should leave their wives and +families as hostages during the alternate period of their own absence +from the shogun's city, which they spent in the provinces. + +This system was technically called sankin kotai, that is "alternate +residence in capital." From the point of view of the Tokugawa the +plan was eminently wise, for it bound the feudal chiefs closer to the +shogun, keeping them under his eye half the time and giving hostages +for their good behaviour the other half; and it helped the growth of +Yedo both in financial and political power, by bringing money into it +and by making it more than before an administrative headquarters. On +the other hand there was a corresponding drain on the provinces, all +the greater since the standard of living at Yedo was higher than in +rural districts and country nobles thus learned extravagance. To +prevent other families from growing too rich and powerful seems to +have been a part of Ieyasu's definite plan for holding in check +possible rivals of the Tokugawa, so that it is not impossible that he +foresaw this very result. At any rate it is known that in the +instructions for government which he handed down to his successors he +urged them to keep strict surveillance over their feudal lords and if +any one of them seemed to be growing rich to impose upon him such a +burden of public works as would cripple him. + +In 1632, Iemitsu made another military demonstration at Kyoto, and on +this occasion the Emperor would have conferred on him the post of +prime minister (dajo daijiri). But he refused to accept it. This +refusal was subsequently explained as a hint to the feudal chiefs +that inordinate ambition should be banished from their bosoms; but in +reality Iemitsu was influenced by the traditional principle that the +Throne had no higher gift to bestow on a subject than the shogunate. + +PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF IEMITSU + +The prominent feature of this able ruler's administration was that he +thoroughly consolidated the systems introduced by his grandfather and +confirmed by his father. From the time of Iemitsu downwards, cardinal +forms were never changed, alterations being confined to +non-essentials. On his death-bed he desired that his prime minister, +Hotta Masamori, and several other notables should accompany him to +the tomb, and on the night of the 10th of June, 1651, Hotta Masamori +(aged forty-six), Abe Shigetsugu (aged fifty-two), Uchida Masanobu +(aged thirty-three), Masamori's mother (aged sixty-three), Saegusa +Moriyoshi, and Okuyama Yasushige all committed suicide. Their tombs +stand to this day in Nikko. + +THE NIKKO SHRINE AND THE KWANEI TEMPLE + +It has been related how largely Ieysau was aided against the Osaka +party by Tengai, abbot of Enryaku-ji. This priest it was that devised +the singular accusation connected with the inscription on a bell at +Hoko-ji. He received from Ieyasu the diocese of Nikko in Shimotsuke +province, where he built a temple which ultimately served as the +shrine of Ieyasu. But the first Tokugawa shogun, faithful to his +frugal habits, willed that the shrine should be simple and +inexpensive, and when Hidetada died, his mausoleum (mitamaya) at the +temple Zojo-ji in Yedo presented by its magnificence such a contrast +to the unpretending tomb at Nikko, that Iemitsu ordered Akimoto +Yasutomo to rebuild the latter, and issued instructions to various +feudal chiefs to furnish labour and materials. The assistance of even +Korea, Ryukyu, and Holland was requisitioned, and the Bakufu treasury +presented 700,000 ryo of gold. The shrine was finished in 1636 on a +scale of grandeur and artistic beauty almost unsurpassed in any other +country. The same priest, Tengai, was instrumental in building the +temple known as Kwanei-ji, and at his suggestion, Hidetada asked the +Imperial Court to appoint a prince to the post of abbot (monsu). + +This system already existed in the case of Enryaku-ji on Hiei-zan in +Kyoto, and it was Tengai's ambition that his sect, the Tendai, should +possess in Yedo a temple qualified to compete with the great +monastery of the Imperial capital. Thus, Ueno hill on which the Yedo +structure stood was designated "Toei-zan," as the site of the Kyoto +monastery was designated "Hiei-zan," and just as the temple on the +latter received the name of "Enryaku-ji," after the era of its +construction (Enryaku), so that in Yedo was named "Kwanei-ji," the +name of the year period of its foundation being Kwanei. Finally, the +Kwanei-ji was intended to guard the "Demon's Gate" of the Bakufu city +as the Enryaku-ji guarded the Imperial capital. Doubtless, in +furthering this plan, Iemitsu had for ultimate motive the association +of an Imperial prince with the Tokugawa family, so that in no +circumstances could the latter be stigmatized as "rebels." Not until +the day of the Tokugawa's downfall did this intention receive +practical application, when the priest-prince of Ueno (Prince +Kitashirakawa) was set up as their leader by the remnants of the +Bakufu army. + +ISE AND NIKKO + +Through many centuries it had been the custom of the Imperial Court +to worship at the great shrine of Ise and to offer suitable gifts. +This ceremony was long suspended, however, on account of continuous +wars as well as the impecunious condition of the Court. Under the +sway of the Oda and the Toyotomi, fitful efforts were made to renew +the custom, but it was left for the Tokugawa to re-establish it. The +third shogun, Iemitsu, petitioned the Court in that sense, and +assigned an estate in Yamashiro as a means of defraying the necessary +expenses, the Fujinami family being appointed to perform the ceremony +hereditarily. At the same time Iemitsu petitioned that the Court +should send an envoy to worship at Nikko every year on the +anniversary of the death of Ieyasu, and this request having been +granted, Nikko thenceforth became to the Tokugawa what Ise was to the +Imperial Court. + +BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY + +It has been shown that the Shimabara revolt finally induced the +Bakufu Government to adopt the policy of international seclusion and +to extirpate Christianity. In carrying out the latter purpose, +extensive recourse was had to the aid of Buddhism. The chief temple +of each sect of that religion was officially fixed, as were also the +branch temples forming the parish of the sect; every unit of the +nation was required to register his name in the archives of a temple, +and the Government ordered that the priests should keep accurate +lists of births and deaths. Anyone whose name did not appear on these +lists was assumed to belong to the alien faith. This organization was +completed in the time of Iemitsu. + +THE FOURTH SHOGUN, IETSUNA + +Ietsuna, the fourth Tokugawa shogun, eldest son of Iemitsu, was born +in 1642 and succeeded to the office in 1651, holding it until his +death in 1680. In bequeathing the administrative power to a youth in +his tenth year, Iemitsu clearly foresaw that trouble was likely to +arise. He therefore instructed his younger brother, Hoshina Masayuki, +baron of Aizu, to render every assistance to his nephew, and he +appointed Ii Naotaka to be prime minister, associating with him Sakai +Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Abe Tadaaki, and other statesmen of +proved ability. These precautions were soon seen to be necessary, for +the partisans of the Toyotomi seized the occasion to attempt a coup. +The country at that time swarmed with ronin (wave-men); that is to +say, samurai who were, for various reasons, roving free-lances. There +seems to have been a large admixture of something very like European +chivalry in the make up of these ronin, for some of them seem to have +wandered about merely to right wrongs and defend the helpless. Others +sought adventure for adventure's sake and for glory's, challenging +the best swordsman in each place to which they came. Many seem to +have taken up the lives of wanderers out of a notion of loyalty; the +feudal lords to whom they had owed allegiance had been crushed by the +Tokugawa and they refused to enter the service of the shogun. + +The last-named reason seems to have been what prompted the revolt of +1651, when Ietsuna, aged ten, had just succeeded in the shogunate his +father Iemitsu who had exalted the power of the Tokugawa at the +expense of their military houses. The ronin headed by Yui Shosetsu +and Marubashi Chuya plotted to set fire to the city of Yedo and take +the shogun's castle. The plot was discovered. Shosetsu committed +suicide, and Chuya was crucified. In the following year (1652) +another intrigue was formed under the leadership of Bekki Shoetnon, +also a ronin. On this occasion the plan was to murder Ii Naotaka, the +first minister of State, as well as his colleagues, and then to set +fire to the temple Zojo-ji on the occasion of a religious ceremony. +But this plot, also, was discovered before it matured, and it proved +to be the last attempt that was made to overthrow the Bakufu by force +until more than two hundred years had passed. + +THE LEGISLATION OF IEMITSU AND IETSUNA + +On the 5th of August, 1635, a body of laws was issued by Iemitsu +under the title of Buke Sho-hatto, and these laws were again +promulgated on June 28, 1665, by the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, with a +few alterations. The gist of the code of Iemitsu was as follows: That +literature and arms were to be the chief object of cultivation; that +the great and small barons were to do service by turns in Yedo, +strict limits being set to the number of their retainers; that all +work on new castles was strictly interdicted, and that all repairs of +existing castles must not be undertaken without sanction from the +Yedo administration; that in the event of any unwonted occurrence, +all barons present at the scene must remain and await the shogun's +orders; that no person other than the officials in charge might be +present at an execution; that there must be no scheming innovations, +forming of parties, or taking of oaths; that private quarrels were +strictly interdicted, and that all matters difficult of arrangement +must be reported to the Yedo administration; that barons having an +income of ten thousand koku or more, and their chief officials, must +not form matrimonial alliances without the shogun's permission; that +greater simplicity and economy must be obeyed in social observances, +such as visits of ceremony, giving and receiving presents, +celebrating marriages, entertaining at banquets, building residences, +and general striving after elegance; that there must be no +indiscriminate intermingling (of ranks); that, as regards the +materials of dress, undyed silk with woven patterns (shiro aya) must +be worn only by Court nobles (kuge) and others of the highest ranks; +that wadded coats of undyed silk might be worn by daimyo and others +of higher rank; that lined coats of purple silk, silk coats with the +lining of purple, white gloss silk, and coloured silk coats without +the badge were not to be worn at random; that coming down to +retainers, henchmen, and men-at-arms, the wearing by such persons of +ornamental dresses such as silks, damask, brocade, or embroideries +was quite unknown to the ancient laws, and a stop must be put to it; +that all the old restrictions as to riding in palanquins must be +observed; that retainers who had a disagreement with their original +lord were not to be taken into employment by other daimyo; that if +any such was reported as having been guilty of rebellion or homicide, +he was to be sent back (to his former lord); that any who manifests a +refractory disposition must either be sent back or expelled; that +where the hostages given by sub-vassals to their mesne lords had +committed an offence requiring punishment by banishment or death, a +report in writing of the circumstances must be made to the +administrators' office and their decision awaited; that in case the +circumstances were such as to necessitate or justify the instant +cutting-down of the offender, a personal account of the matter must +be given to the administrator; that lesser feudatories must honestly +discharge the duties of their position and refrain from giving +unlawful or arbitrary orders (to the people of their fiefs); that +they must take care not to impair the resources or well-being of the +province or district in which they are; that roads, relays of +post-horses, boats, ferries, and bridges must be carefully attended +to, so as to ensure that there should be no delays or impediments to +quick communication; that no private toll-bars might be erected or +any existing ferry discontinued; that no vessels of over five hundred +koku burden were to be built; that the glebe lands of shrines and +temples scattered throughout the provinces, having been attached to +them from ancient times to the present day, were not to be taken from +them; that the Christian sect was to be strictly prohibited in all +the provinces and in all places; that in case of any unfilial conduct +the offender should be dealt with under the penal law; that in all +matters the example set by the laws of Yedo was to be followed in all +the provinces and places. + +As has been noted above, this same body of laws was re-enacted under +the authority of Ietsuna, with the following slight alterations, +namely, that the veto was removed from the wearing of costly +ornamented dresses by retainers, henchmen, and men-at-arms, and that +the restriction as to size should not apply to a cargo vessel. At the +same time a prohibition of junshi (following in death) was issued in +these terms: + +"That the custom of following a master in death is wrong and +unprofitable is a caution which has been at times given from of old; +but owing to the fact that it has not actually been prohibited, the +number of those who cut their belly to follow their lord on his +decease has become very great. For the future, to those retainers who +may be animated by such an idea, their respective lords should +intimate, constantly and in very strong terms, their disapproval of +the custom. If, notwithstanding this warning, any instance of the +practice should occur, it will be deemed that the deceased lord was +to blame for unreadiness. Henceforward, moreover, his son and +successor will be held blameworthy for incompetence, as not having +prevented the suicides."* + +*From a paper read by Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall and recorded in +the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan" for 1911. + +RELEASE OF HOSTAGES + +Another memorable step was taken during the administrative period of +Ietsuna. It had been the custom to require that all the great nobles +should send a number of their chief retainers or the latter's +fathers, brothers, and sons to Yedo, where they were held as hostages +for the peaceful conduct of their feudal chiefs. But when the system +of sankin kotai had been in operation for some time, and when the +power of the Tokugawa Bakufu had been fully consolidated, this +practice of exacting hostages became superfluous and vexatious. It +was therefore abandoned in the year 1665 and the hostages were all +suffered to leave Yedo. + +THE MING DYNASTY + +The fall of the Ming dynasty in China took place in the thirteenth +year of Ietsuna's succession, and for a moment it seemed that Japan +might possibly take the field against the conquering Tatars. A +Chinese immigrant who had settled in the island of Hirado, in Hizen, +married the daughter of a Japanese farmer, and had a son by her. The +immigrant's name was Cheng Chi-lung, and when the partisans of the +Ming dynasty made their last stand at Foochaw, they chose Cheng for +general, through him soliciting aid from the Yedo Bakufu. Their +request was earnestly discussed in Yedo, and it is possible that had +the Ming officers held out a little longer, Japan might have sent an +expedition across the sea. Cheng Chi-lung's son, Cheng Cheng-kung, +resisted to the last, and when he fell fighting at Macao, his +Japanese mother committed suicide. Other fugitives from China, +notably an able scholar named Chu Chi-yu, settled in Japan at this +time, and contributed not a little to the promotion of art and +literature. + +YEDO + +The influence of the sankin kotai system upon the prosperity of Yedo, +as well as upon the efficiency of the Tokugawa administration, has +already been noticed. Indeed, Yedo in the middle of the seventeenth +century was one of the most populous and prosperous cities in the +world. But very little intelligence had been exercised in planning +it. The streets were narrow and there were no bridges across the main +river. Thus, in 1657, a fire broke out which, being fanned by a +violent wind, burned for two days, destroying the greater part of the +city together with the residences of nearly all the daimyo. The +calamity occurred in the month of February and was accompanied by a +violent snowstorm, which greatly increased the sufferings of the +citizens. Tradition says that 108,000 persons lost their lives, but +that number is probably an exaggeration. In the following year, +another similar catastrophe occurred on almost the same scale, and it +seemed as though Yedo could never rise from its ashes. Yet the result +of these calamities was salutary. The Bakufu selected suitable +situations for the residences of the daimyo, and issued a law +requiring that the main thoroughfares must have a width of sixty feet +and even the by-streets must not be narrower than from thirty to +thirty-six feet. Moreover, three bridges, namely, the Ryogoku, the +Eitai, and the Shin-o, were thrown across the Sumida. This river, +which formed the eastern boundary of the city, had hitherto been left +unbridged for military reasons, and the result was that on the +occasion of the great conflagration thousands of people, caught +between the flames and the river bank, had to choose death by burning +or by drowning. Nevertheless, some officials opposed the building of +bridges, and were only silenced by the astute remark of Sakai +Tadakatsu that if Yedo was ever to be a great city, the convenience +of its inhabitants must be first consulted, for, after all, the +people themselves constituted the best stronghold. This may be +regarded as an evidence of the deference that was beginning then to +be paid to the non-military classes by the samurai. + +It was at this time (1658), also, that the city of Yedo obtained its +first supply of good water. There was already an aquaduct from +Inokashira Lake to the Kanda district of the city, but it carried +only a very small volume of water, and the idea of harnessing the +Tama-gawa to supply the town was due to two citizens, Shoemon and +Seiemon, who subsequently received the family name of Tamagawa. The +Bakufu granted a sum of 7500 ryo towards the expense, and on the +completion of the work within two years, gifts of 300 ryo were made +to the two projectors. The water had to be carried through a distance +of over thirty miles, and the enterprise did high credit to the +engineering skill of the men of the time. + +DECADENCE OF THE BAKUFU ADMINISTRATION + +The era of this fourth Tokugawa shogun, Ietsuna, was remarkable for +things other than the lawlessness of the "wave-men." From that time +the Tokugawa began to fare as nearly all great families of previous +ages had fared: the substance of the administrative power passed into +the hands of a minister, its shadow alone remaining to the shogun. +Sakai Tadakiyo was the chief author of this change. Secluded from +contact with the outer world, Ietsuna saw and heard mainly through +the eyes and ears of the ladies of his household. But Tadakiyo caused +an order to be issued forbidding all access to the Court ladies +except by ministerial permit, and thenceforth the shogun became +practically deaf and dumb so far as events outside the castle were +concerned. Some Japanese historians describe this event as an access +of "weariness" on the shogun's part towards the duties of +administration. This is a euphemism which can be interpreted by what +has been set down above. From 1666, when he became prime minister in +Yedo, Sakai Tadakiyo seems to have deliberately planned the +relegation of his master to the position of a faineant and the +succession of the shogun's son to supreme power. Tadakiyo's lust of +authority was equalled only by his cupidity. Everything went to the +highest bidder. It had gradually become the fashion that the daimyo +should invite to their Yedo residences all the leading administrators +of the Bakufu. On these entertainments great sums were squandered and +valuable presents were a feature of the fetes. It also became +fashionable to pay constant visits at the mansions of the chief +officials and these visits were always accompanied with costly gifts. +It is recorded that the mansion of Tadakiyo was invariably so crowded +by persons waiting to pay their respects that a man repairing thither +at daybreak could scarcely count on obtaining access by evening-fall. +The depraved state of affairs brought the administration of the +Tokugawa into wide disrepute, and loyal vassals of the family sadly +contrasted the evil time with the days of Ieyasu, seventy years +previously. + +THE COURTS OF KYOTO AND OF YEDO + +The great financial straits to which the Imperial Court was reduced +during the time of the Muromachi shoguns have been already described. +Both Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi made some endeavours to +correct this evil state of affairs, and when Tokugawa Ieyasu came +into power he adopted still more liberal methods. In 1604, he +increased the revenue of the Court by 10,000 koku annually, and in +the course of the next few years he caused the palace to be rebuilt +on a scale of considerable grandeur. The same policy was pursued by +the second shogun, Hidetada, who assigned to the ex-Emperor an income +of 3000 koku and made various allowances to princes and other members +of the Imperial family. The recipients of these allowances totalled +140, and it is on record that, in the year 1706, the revenues of the +Imperial Court aggregated 29,000 koku; those of the ex-Emperor +15,000; those of the princes and Court nobles, 44,000; those of the +Monzeki* temples, 19,000; those of the Court ladies and Imperial +nuns, 7500, and those of the Court officials 2300, the whole making a +total of about 120,000 koku. The income of the retired shogun alone +equalled that amount, and it was enormously surpassed by the revenues +of many of the daimyo. It must be noted, however, that although the +rice provided for the above purposes was made a charge upon the Kinai +provinces as well as upon Tamba and Omi, neither to the Emperor nor +to the Imperial princes nor to the Court nobles were estates granted +directly. These incomes were collected and transmitted by officials +of the Bakufu, but not a tsubo of land was under the control of +either sovereign or prince. + +*Temples governed by Imperial princes. + +Military affairs, civil administration, financial management, +including the casting of coins, judicial and legislative affairs, the +superintendence of temples, and so forth, were all in the hands of +the Bakufu in Yedo or of provincial officials nominated by the +shogun. Nothing could have been more complete than the exclusion of +the Kyoto Court from the whole realm of practical government; nor +could any system have contrasted more flagrantly with the theory of +the Daika reforms, according to which every acre of land throughout +the length and breadth of the empire was the property of the +sovereign. It might have been expected that the Tokugawa shoguns +would at least have endeavoured to soften this administrative +effacement by pecuniary generosity; but so little of that quality did +they display that the Emperor and the ex-Emperor were perpetually in +a state of financial embarrassment. As for the Court nobles, their +incomes did not always suffice even for the needs of every-day life, +and they were obliged to have recourse to various devices, such as +marrying their daughters to provincial governors or selling +professional diplomas, the right of conferring which was vested in +their families. + +THE SEKKE, DENSO, AND SHOSHIDAI + +The sole functions left to the Imperial Court were those of +appointing the shogun--which of course was only formal--conferring +ranks, fixing the name of year-periods, ordering the calendar, taking +part in ceremonials, nominating priests and officials, and +sanctioning the building of temples. Thus, the regent (kwampaku) was +the sovereign's appointee. He had to be chosen in succession from one +of the five families--Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujo, Nijo, and Ichijo, to +which the general name Go-sekke (the Five Regent Families) was given. +But the regent was practically without power of any kind. Very +different was the case of the denso, who had direct access to the +Throne. Appointed by the shogun from one of seventeen families +closely related to the Tokugawa, a denso, before entering upon the +duties of his office, was obliged to swear that he would minutely and +unreservedly report to the Bakufu everything coming to his knowledge. +His principal duty was to communicate direct with the Throne. There +was also another Bakufu nominee called the giso, who administered the +affairs of the Imperial Court, and who held, in addition, the post of +dai-nagon, chu-nagon, or sho-nagon, which offices were reserved for +members of the Tokugawa family. Yet another official representing the +Bakufu was the shoshidai, who managed all matters connected with the +guarding of the Imperial Court and the Court nobles, at the same time +transacting financial business. In the event of any disturbance +occurring in Court circles in Kyoto, it was reported, first, to the +shoshidai and, then, by him, to the senior officials in Yedo, while +any disturbance occurring in Yedo was equally reported, first to the +shoshidai and afterwards by the latter to the sovereign. The +shoshidai was in fact a governor-general, with powers far superior to +those of any Court noble, and his sway extended to the eight +provinces in the neighbourhood of Kyoto. By means of the shoshidai +all circumstances of the Imperial Court were fully conveyed to the +Bakufu in Yedo and complete control was exercised over the Imperial +capital and its environs. The Bakufu were careful to choose for this +post a man whose loyalty and ability stood beyond question. Finally, +reference may be made to the administrator of the reigning +sovereign's Court (Kinri-zuki bugyo) and the administrator of the +ex-Emperor's court (Sendo-zuki bugyo), both of whom were Bakufu +nominees. + +THE 107TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-YOZEI (A.D. 1586-1611) + +This Emperor held the sceptre throughout the memorable epoch from the +death of Nobunaga till that of Ieyasu, and he continued to exercise +power during six years after his abdication. It was he that conferred +the post of shogun on Ieyasu and gave him his posthumous title of +Tosho Gongen. His Majesty was the eldest son of the Emperor Okimachi. +He surrendered the throne to his third son in 1611, dying at the age +of forty-seven in 1617. + +THE 108TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-MIZU-NO-O (A.D. 1611-1629) + +This sovereign had for consort a daughter of the shogun Hidetada, as +already described. The wedding took place in the year 1620, and its +magnificence offered a theme for enthusiastic comment by contemporary +historians. The shogun was careful to surround the Imperial bride +with officials of his own choosing, and these, joining hands with the +shoshidai and the denso, constituted an entourage which ordered +everything at Kyoto in strict accordance with the interests of the +Tokugawa. The new Empress was dowered with an estate much larger than +that of the Emperor himself, although the latter's allowance was +increased by ten thousand koku. It is related that his Majesty's +impecuniosity compelled the curtailment of various ceremonies and +prevented the giving of presents in the ordinary routine of social +conventions, so that it became necessary to replenish the Imperial +purse by lending rice and money to the citizens at high rates of +interest. + +A serious collision occurred during Go-Mizu-no-o's reign between the +Courts of Kyoto and Yedo. The Emperor, who inclined to literature and +religion, conceived a profound reverence for two Buddhist prelates of +great learning and conspicuously holy lives. To these priests, Takuan +and Gyokushitsu, his Majesty presented purple robes, a mark of the +highest distinction, in apparently unwitting violation of the +ecclesiastical laws promulgated by Ieyasu, which forbade the giving +of such robes to any bonzes except those of Kennin-ji. On learning of +the incident, the Bakufu summoned these prelates to Yedo, deprived +them of the robes, and sent them into banishment. The Emperor, +naturally much offended, declared that he would no longer occupy the +throne, and in 1629, the year of the two priests' transportation, he +carried out his threat, abdicating in favour of the Imperial +princess, Oki, his eldest daughter by the Tokugawa Empress. + +THE 109TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS MYOSHO (A.D. 1629-1643) + +The Princess Oki, eldest daughter of Tokufu-mon-in and the Emperor +Go-Mizu-no-o, was only seven years of age when thus called on to +occupy the throne. During eight hundred years no female had wielded +the sceptre of Japan, and the princess was not without a brother +older than herself, though born of a different mother. Thus, the +announcement of the Emperor's intention created profound astonishment +in the Imperial Court. The partisans of the Bakufu supported the +project, but the friends of the Imperial family denounced it +strenuously. Nothing moved the Emperor, however. His Majesty appears +to have thought that to bestow the princess' hand on a subject and to +elevate her elder brother to the throne would surely be productive of +serious mischief, since the husband of the princess, supported by the +Bakufu, would prove an invincible power in the State. + +As for the Tokugawa statesmen, some accounts allege that they +objected to the Emperor's project, but others say that when the +matter was reported in Yedo, the shogun signified that his Majesty +might consult his own judgment. What is certain is that the Bakufu +sent to Kyoto the prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, with three other +representatives, and that shortly after their arrival in the Imperial +capital, arrangements were completed for the proposed change. The +Imperial consort, Tofuku-mon-in, was declared ex-Empress with a +revenue of 10,000 koku, and the little princess, who is known in +history as Myosho, received an income of 20,000 koku; while to the +ex-Emperor, Go-Mizu-no-o, only 3000 koku were allotted. Not until +1634, on the occasion of a visit made by Iemitsu, was this glaring +contrast corrected: the shogun then increased the ex-Emperor's +allowance to 7000 koku, and his Majesty continued to administer +public affairs from his place of retirement until 1680, when he died +hi his eighty-fifth year. + +THE 110TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-KOMYO (A.D. 1643-1654) + +This sovereign was a brother of the Empress Myosho but of a different +mother. He was brought up by Tofuku-mon-in as though he were her real +child, until he succeeded to the throne at the age of eleven, +occupying it for eleven years. Form his earliest youth he showed +sagacity, magnanimity, and benevolence. His love of literature was +absorbing, and he studied earnestly, taking the priests of the Five +Temples as his teachers. He is said to have arrived at the conclusion +that a sovereign should never study any useless branch of learning, +and as he failed to see the utility of Buddhism, he turned to +Confucianism in preference. Moreover, dissatisfied with the old +commentaries of the Han and Tang dynasties, he chose in their stead +the new classics composed by Chengtsz and Chutsz; and as for Japanese +literature, he condemned as grossly misleading works like the Genji +Monogatari and the Ise Monogatari. + +There can be no doubt that this sovereign conceived the ambition of +recovering the administrative authority. His reign extended from the +twenty-second year of Iemitsu's sway to the fifth of Ietsuna's, and +in the troubles of that period he thought that he saw his +opportunity. It is related that he devoted much attention to sword +exercise, and the shoshidai Itakura Shigemune warned him that the +study of military matters did not become the Imperial Court and would +probably provoke a remonstrance from Yedo should the fact become +known there. The Emperor taking no notice of this suggestion, +Shigemune went so far as to declare his intention of committing +suicide unless the fencing lessons were discontinued. Thereupon the +young Emperor calmly observed: "I have never seen a military man kill +himself, and the spectacle will be interesting. You had better have a +platform erected in the palace grounds so that your exploit may be +clearly witnessed." When this incident was reported by the shoshidai +to Yedo, the Bakufu concluded that some decisive measure must be +taken, but before their resolve had materialized and before the +sovereign's plans had matured, he died of small-pox, in 1654, at the +age of twenty-two, having accomplished nothing except the restoration +and improvement of certain Court ceremonials, the enactment of a few +sumptuary laws, and the abandonment of cremation in the case of +Imperial personages. + +THE 111TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-SAIEN (A.D. 1654-1663) AND +THE 112TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR REIGEN (A.D. 1663-1686) + +Go-Saien was the sixth son of the Emperor Go-Mizu-no-o. His reign is +remarkable in connexion with the attitude of the Yedo Bakufu towards +the Throne. In 1657, as already related, Yedo was visited by a +terrible conflagration, and another of scarcely less destructive +violence occurred in the same city the following year, while, in +1661, the Imperial palace itself was burned to the ground, the same +fate overtaking the principal Shinto shrine in Ise, and nearly every +province suffering more or less from a similar cause. Moreover, in +1662, a series of earthquakes disturbed the country throughout a +whole month, and the nation became almost demoralized in the face of +these numerous calamities. Then the Bakufu took an extraordinary +step. They declared that such visitations must be referred to the +sovereign's want of virtue and that the only remedy lay in his +abdication. The shogun, Ietsuna, was now ruling in Yedo. He sent +envoys to Kyoto conveying an order for the dethronement of the +Emperor, and although his Majesty was ostensibly allowed to abdicate +of his own will, there could be no doubt as to the real circumstances +of the case. His brother, Reigen, succeeded him, and after holding +the sceptre for twenty-four years, continued to administer affairs +from his place of retirement until his death, in 1732. + +SANKE AND SANKYO + +When Ieyasu, after the battle of Sekigahara, distributed the fiefs +throughout the Empire, he gave four important estates to his own +sons, namely, Echizen to Hideyasu; Owari to Tadayoshi; Mito to +Nobuyoshi, and Echigo to Tadateru. Subsequently, after the deaths of +Tadayoshi and Nobuyoshi, he assigned Owari to his sixth son, +Yoshinao, and appointed his seventh son, Yorinobu, to the Kii fief, +while to his eighth son, Yorifusa, Mito was given. These last three +were called the Sanke (the Three Families). From them the successor +to the shogunate was chosen in the event of failure of issue in the +direct line. Afterwards this system was extended by the addition of +three branch-families (Sankyo), namely those of Tayasu and +Hitotsubashi by Munetake and Munetada, respectively, sons of the +shogun Yoshimune, and that of Shimizu by Shigeyoshi, son of the +shogun Ieshige. It was enacted that if no suitable heir to the +shogunate was furnished by the Sanke, the privilege of supplying one +should devolve on the Sankyo, always, however, in default of an heir +in the direct line. The representatives of the Sanke had their +estates and castles, but no fiefs were assigned to the Sankyo; they +resided in Yedo close to the shogun's palace, and received each an +annual allowance from the Bakufu treasury. + +THE FEUDAL SYSTEM OF THE TOKUGAWA + +It has been shown that in distributing the fiefs Ieyasu aimed at +paralyzing the power of the tozama daimyo and vitalizing that of the +fudai barons. This he effected, as far as concerned the tozama +feudatories, by isolating them from each other, or by placing those +of equal strength in juxtaposition, so that they might become rivals; +while in the case of fudai barons, he established an effective system +of communications between them, so that co-operation and +concentration of forces were facilitated. Broadly speaking, this +method had for result the planting of the tozama daimyo in the west +and of the fudai barons in the east, as well as along the main roads +between the two capitals. The plan worked admirably during 270 years, +but at the Restoration, in 1867, the western daimyo combined to +overthrow the shogunate. + +Very noticeable were the steps taken to provide facilities for +communication between Yedo and Kyoto. No less than fifty-three +posting stations were established along the road from the Bakufu +capital to the Imperial city, and at several places barriers were set +up. Among these latter, Hakone was considered specially important. +The duty of guarding the barrier there was assigned to the Okubo +family, who enjoyed the full confidence of the Tokugawa and who had +their castle in Odawara. No one could pass this barrier without a +permit. Women were examined with signal strictness, they being +regarded as part of the system which required that the wives of the +daimyo should live in Yedo as hostages. Thus, whereas a man was +granted ingress or egress if he carried a passport signed by his own +feudal chief and addressed to the guards at the barrier, a woman +might not pass unless she was provided with an order signed by a +Bakufu official. Moreover, female searchers were constantly on duty +whose business it was to subject women travellers to a scrutiny of +the strictest character, involving, even, the loosening of the +coiffure. All these precautions formed part of the sankin kotai +system, which proved one of the strongest buttresses of Tokugawa +power. But, from the days of Ietsuna, the wives and children of the +daimyo were allowed to return to their provinces, and under the +eighth shogun, Yoshimune, the system of sankin kotai ceased to be +binding. This was because the Tokugawa found themselves sufficiently +powerful to dispense with such artificial aids. + +THE FIEFS + +There were certain general divisions of the feudatories. Everyone +possessing a fief of 10,000 koku or upwards was called a daimyo. The +title included the Sanke, the Sankyo, the gokemon (governor of +Echizen), the fudai (hereditary vassals), and the tozama. These were +again subdivided into three classes according to the sizes of their +fiefs. In the first class stood the kokushu (called also kuni-mochi, +or provincial barons) who possessed revenues of at least 300,000 +koku. The second class consisted of the joshu (called also +shiro-mochi, or castle-owning barons) whose incomes ranged between +100,000 and 300,000 koku. Finally, the third class was composed of +the ryoshu (sometimes known as shiro-nashi, or castleless barons), +whose revenues ranged from 10,000 to 100,000 koku. These feudatories +might be recommended by the shogun for Court rank in Kyoto, but the +highest office thus conferred was that of dainagon (great +councillor), from which fact the attitude of the feudatories towards +imperially conferred distinctions can be easily appreciated. +Nevertheless, the rules of etiquette were strictly observed by +provincial magnates attending Court functions. They had to conform +carefully to the order of their precedence and with the sumptuary +rules as to colour and quality of garments, and any departure from +these conventions was severely punished. + +SUCCESSION + +If a feudatory committed some crime or died childless, the law +required that he should be transferred to another province, or that +his successor should suffer a considerable reduction of revenue. +Experience showed, however, that as many of the feudatories died +childless, there were numerous losses of fiefs, and ultimately it was +enacted that a baron might adopt a successor by way of precaution, +unless he deferred that step until he lay dying or sought permission +to take it before he reached the age of seventeen. This meant that if +any feudal chief died before reaching his seventeenth year, his +estate was lost to his family. By way of correcting such a hardship, +the adoption of an heir was afterwards sanctioned without reference +to the age of the adopter, and it was further decided that a man of +fifty or upwards might adopt a son even on his death-bed. Finally, in +the year 1704, all these restrictions were virtually abolished, and +especially the rule that an adopted son must necessarily belong to +the family of his adopter. + +SEVERITY OF THE TOKUGAWA TOWARDS THE FEUDATORIES + +Although Ieyasu and his successors in the shogunate did not fail to +provide large estates for their own kith and kin, they never showed +any leniency in dealing with the latter's offences. Ieyasu professed +to believe in the potency of justice above all administrative +instruments, and certainly he himself as well as his successors +obeyed that doctrine unswervingly in so far as the treatment of their +own families was concerned. They did not hesitate to confiscate +fiefs, to pronounce sentence of exile, or even to condemn to death. +Thus, in the year of Ieyasu's decease, his sixth son, Matsudaira +Tadateru, was deprived of his fief--610,000 koku--and removed from +Echigo to Asama, in Ise. Tadateru's offence was that he had unjustly +done a vassal of the shogun to death, and had not moved to the +assistance of the Tokugawa in the Osaka War. Moreover, when his elder +brother, the shogun Hidetada, repaired to the Imperial palace, +Tadateru had pretended to be too ill to accompany him, though in +reality he was engaged in a hunting expedition. This was the first +instance of the Bakufu punishing one of their own relatives. + +Another example was furnished in 1623 when Matsudaira Tadanao, lord +of Echizen, was sentenced to confinement in his own house and was +ordered to hand over his fief of 750,000 koku to his heir. This +Tadanao was a grandson of Ieyasu, and had shown himself a strong +soldier in the Osaka War. But subsequently he fell into habits of +violence and lawlessness, culminating in neglect of the sankin kotai +system. His uncle, the shogun Hidetada, sentenced him as above +described. Under the administration of Iemitsu this unflinching +attitude towards wrongdoers was maintained more relentlessly than +ever. The dai nagon, Tadanaga, lord of Suruga and younger brother of +Iemitsu by the same mother, received (1618) in Kai province a fief of +180,000 koku, and, seven years later, this was increased by Suruga +and Totomi, bringing the whole estate up to 500,000 koku. He resided +in the castle of Sumpu and led an evil life, paying no attention +whatever to the remonstrances of his vassals. In 1632, Iemitsu +confiscated his fief and exiled him to Takasaki in Kotsuke, where he +was compelled to undergo confinement in the Yashiki of Ando +Shigenaga. Fourteen months later, sentence of death was pronounced +against him at the early age of twenty-eight. + +Other instances might be quoted showing how little mercy the Tokugawa +shoguns extended to wrongdoers among their own relatives. It need +hardly be said that outside clans fared no better. Anyone who gave +trouble was promptly punished. Thus, in 1614, Okubo Tadachika, who +had rendered good service to the Bakufu in early days, and who +enjoyed the full confidence of the shogun, was deprived of his castle +at Odawara and sentenced to confinement for the comparatively +trifling offence of contracting a private marriage. Again, in 1622, +the prime minister, Honda Masazumi, lord of Utsunomiya, lost his fief +of 150,000 koku and was exiled to Dawe for the sin of rebuilding his +castle without due permission, and killing a soldier of the Bakufu. +To persons criticising this latter sentence as too severe, Doi +Toshikatsu is recorded to have replied that any weakness shown at +this early stage of the Tokugawa rule must ultimately prove fatal to +the permanence of the Bakufu, and he expressed the conviction that +none would approve the punishment more readily than Masazumi's dead +father, Masanobu, were he still living to pass judgment. + +Doubtless political expediency, not the dictates of justice, largely +inspired the conduct of the Bakufu in these matters, for in +proportion as the material influence of the Tokugawa increased, that +of the Toyotomi diminished. In 1632, when the second shogun, +Hidetada, died, it is related that the feudal barons observed the +conduct of his successor, Iemitsu, with close attention, and that a +feeling of some uneasiness prevailed. Iemitsu, whether obeying his +own instinct or in deference to the advice of his ministers, Sakai +Tadakatsu and Matsudaira Nobutsuna, summoned the feudal chiefs to his +castle in Yedo and addressed them as follows: "My father and my +grandfather, with your assistance and after much hardship, achieved +their great enterprise to which I, who have followed the profession +of arms since my childhood, now succeed. It is my purpose to treat +you all without distinction as my hereditary vassals. If any of you +object to be so treated, let him return to his province and take the +consequences." + +Date Masamune assumed the duty of replying to that very explicit +statement. "There is none here," he said, "that is not grateful for +the benevolence he has received at the hands of the Tokugawa. If +there be such a thankless and disloyal person, and if he conceive +treacherous designs, I, Masamune, will be the first to attack him and +strike him down. The shogun need not move so much as one soldier." +With this spirited reply all the assembled daimyo expressed their +concurrence, and Iemitsu proceeded to distribute his father's +legacies to the various barons and their vassals. Very soon after his +accession he had to order the execution of his own brother, Tadanaga, +and the banishment of Kato Tadahiro, son of the celebrated Kato +Kiyomasa. The latter was punished on the ground that he sent away his +family from Yedo during the time of mourning for the late shogun, +Hidetada. He was deprived of his estate at Kumamoto in Higo and was +exiled to Dewa province. + +The punishment of these two barons is said to have been in the sequel +of a device planned by Iemitsu and carried out by Doi Toshikatsu. The +latter, being accused of a simulated crime, was sentenced to +confinement in his mansion. Thence he addressed to all the daimyo a +secret circular, urging them to revolt and undertaking to make +Tadanaga shogun instead of Iemitsu. With two exceptions every baron +to whose hands this circular came forwarded it to the Bakufu in Yedo. +The exceptions were Tadanaga and Tadahiro, who consequently fell +under the shogun's suspicion. Thereafter, it is related that some of +the barons set themselves to deceive the Bakufu by various wiles. +Thus, Maeda Toshinaga had recourse to the manoeuvre of allowing the +hair in his nostrils to grow long, a practice which speedily earned +for him the reputation of insanity, and Date Masamune conceived the +device of carrying a sword with a wooden blade. The apprehensions of +which such acts were indicative cannot be considered surprising in +view of the severe discipline exercised by the Bakufu. Thus, during +the shogunate of Hidetada, no less than forty changes are recorded to +have been made among the feudatories, and in the time of Iemitsu +there were thirty-five of such incidents. History relates that to be +transferred from one fief to another, even without nominal loss of +revenue, was regarded as a calamity of ten years' duration. All this +was partly prompted by the Bakufu's policy of weakening the +feudatories. To the same motive must be assigned constant orders for +carrying out some costly public work. + +ENGRAVING: FANS + +ENGRAVING: "THE BUGAKU," ANCIENT DANCING AND MUSIC + + + +CHAPTER XL + +MIDDLE PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU; FROM THE FIFTH SHOGUN, +TSUNAYOSHI, TO THE TENTH SHOGUN, IEHARU (1680-1786) + +ACCESSION OF TSUNAYOSHI + +IN 1680, the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, fell dangerously ill, and a +council of the chief Bakufu officials was held to decide upon his +successor. The Bakufu prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, proposed that +the example of Kamakura should be followed, and that an Imperial +prince should be invited to assume the office of shogun. Thereupon +Hotta Masatoshi, one of the junior ministers, vehemently +remonstrated. "Is the prime minister jesting?" he is reported to have +asked. "There is no question whatever as to the succession. That +dignity falls to Tsunayoshi and to Tsunayoshi alone. He is the +legitimate son of the late shogun, Iemitsu, and the only brother of +the present shogun, Ietsuna. If the minister is not jesting, his +proposition is inexplicable." This bold utterance was received with +profound silence, and after a few moments Sakai Tadakiyo retired from +the council chamber. + +It has to be remembered in connexion with this incident, that +Tadakiyo exercised almost complete sway in the Bakufu Court at that +time, and the fact that he yielded quietly to Hotta Masatoshi's +remonstrance goes far to acquit him of any sinister design such as +securing the whole administrative power for himself by setting up an +Imperial prince as a mere figurehead. The more probable explanation +is that as one of the consorts of the shogun Ietsuna was enceinte at +that time, the Bakufu prime minister desired to postpone any family +decision until the birth of her child, since to dispense with an +Imperial prince would be as easy to procure one, whereas if one of +the shogun's lineage were nominated, he would be difficult to +displace. There had been born to Iemitsu five sons, of whom the +eldest, Ietsuna, had succeeded to the shogunate, and three others had +died, the only one remaining alive being Tsunayoshi, who, having been +born in 1646, was now (1680) in his thirty-fourth year. + +HOTTA MASATOSHI + +On Tsunayoshi's accession the prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, was +released from office, and Hotta Masatoshi became his successor. +Naturally, as Masatoshi had been instrumental in obtaining the +succession for Tsunayoshi, his influence with the latter was very +great. But there can be no question that he deserves to rank as one +of Japan's leading statesmen in any age, and that he devoted his +signal abilities to the cause of progress and administrative purity. +The result of his strenuous services was to check the corruption +which had come to pervade every department of State in the closing +years of the fourth shogun's sway, and to infuse the duties of +government with an atmosphere of diligence and uprightness. + +THE ECHIGO COMPLICATION + +For several years prior to the accession of Tsunayoshi, the province +of Echigo had been disturbed by an intrigue in the family of +Matsudaira Mitsunaga. It is unnecessary to enter into further +details. The incident was typical of the conditions existing in many +of the barons' households, and the history of Japan furnishes +numerous parallel cases. But connected with this particular example +is the remarkable fact that the shogun himself finally undertook in +the hall of justice to decide the issue, and that the rendering of +justice by the chief of the Bakufu became thenceforth a not +infrequently practised habit. Instructed by his prime minister, the +shogun swept aside all the obstacles placed in the path of justice by +corruption and prejudice; sentenced the principal intriguer to death; +confiscated the Mitsunaga family's estate of 250,000 koku on the +ground of its chief's incompetence, and severely punished all the +Bakufu officials who had been parties to the plot. + +THE ATAKA MARU + +Another act of Tsunayoshi stands to the credit of his acumen. +Although the third shogun, Iemitsu, had vetoed the building of any +vessels exceeding five hundred koku capacity, his object being to +prevent oversea enterprise, he caused to be constructed for the use +of the Bakufu a great ship called the Ataka Maru, which required a +crew several hundred strong and involved a yearly outlay figuring in +the official accounts at one hundred thousand koku. One of +Tsunayoshi's first orders was that this huge vessel should be broken +up, and when his ministers remonstrated on the ground that she would +be invaluable in case of emergency, he replied that if an +insurrection could not be suppressed without such extraordinary +instruments, the Bakufu might step down at once from the seats of +power. "As for me," he added, "I have no desire to preserve such an +evidence of constant apprehension and at such a charge on the coffers +of the State." + +ENCOURAGEMENT OF VIRTUE + +Tsunayoshi also instructed his officials to search throughout the +empire for persons of conspicuous filial piety and women of noted +chastity. To these he caused to be distributed presents of money or +pensions, and he directed the litterateurs of the Hayashi family to +write the biographies of the recipients of such rewards. In fact, the +early years of the shogun's administration constitute one of the +brightest periods in the history of the Tokugawa Bakufu. + +ASSASSINATION OF HOTTA MASATOSHI + +On the 8th of October, 1684, the Bakufu prime minister, Hotta +Masatoshi, was assassinated in the shogun's palace by one of the +junior ministers, Inaba Masayasu, who met his death immediately at +the hands of the bystanders. This extraordinary affair remains +shrouded in mystery until the present day. Hotta Masatoshi was the +third son of Masamori, who died by his own hand to follow his master, +Iemitsu, to the grave. Masatoshi, inheriting a part of his father's +domain, received the title of Bitchu no Kami, and resided in the +castle of Koga, ultimately (1680) becoming prime minister (dairo) +with an annual revenue of 130,000 koku. His high qualities are +recorded above, but everything goes to show that he had more than the +ordinary reformer's stubbornness, and that tolerance of a +subordinate's errors was wholly foreign to his disposition. Even to +the shogun himself he never yielded in the smallest degree, and by +the majority of those under him he was cordially detested. The +records say that on one occasion, when remonstrated with by his +friend, the daimyo of Hirado, who warned him that his hardness and +severity might involve him in trouble, Masatoshi replied, "I thank +you for your advice, but so long as I am endeavouring to reform the +country, I have no time to think of myself." + +It is easy to understand that a man of such methods had enemies +sufficiently numerous and sufficiently resolute to compass his death. +On the other hand, Masayasu, his assassin, was related to him by +marriage, and possessed an estate of 25,000 koku, as well as holding +the position of junior minister of State. It is extremely unlikely +that a man in such a position would have resorted to such a desperate +act without great provocation or ample sanction. The question is, was +the shogun himself privy to the deed? It is recorded that there was +found on Masayasu's person a document expressing deep gratitude for +the favours he had received at the hands of the shogun, and declaring +that only by taking the life of Masatoshi could any adequate return +be made. It is further recorded that the steward of the Bakufu, +addressing the corpse of Masayasu, declared that the deceased had +shown unparallelled loyalty. Again, history says that Mitsukuni, +daimyo of Mito, repaired to the Inaba mansion after the incident, and +expressed to Masayasu's mother his condolences and his applause. +Finally, after Masatoshi's death, his son was degraded in rank and +removed to a greatly reduced estate. All these things are difficult +to explain except on the supposition that the shogun himself was +privy to the assassination. + +ENCOURAGEMENT OF CONFUCIANISM + +The third shogun, Iemitsu, addressing the mother of his son, +Tsimayoshi, is said to have expressed profound regret that his own +education had been confined to military science. "That is to me," he +is reported to have said, "a source of perpetual sorrow, and care +should be taken that Tsunayoshi, who seems to be a clever lad, should +receive full instruction in literature." In compliance with this +advice, steps were taken to interest Tsunayoshi in letters, and he +became so attached to this class of study that even when sick he +found solace in his books. The doctrines of Confucius attracted him +above all other systems of ethics. He fell into the habit of +delivering lectures on the classics, and to show his reverence for +the Chinese sages, he made it a rule to wear full dress on these +occasions, and to worship after the manner of all Confucianists. It +has already been related that a shrine of Confucius was built in Ueno +Park by the Tokugawa daimyo of Owari, and that the third shogun, +Iemitsu, visited this shrine in 1633 to offer prayer. Fifty years +later, the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi, followed that example, and also +listened to lectures on the classics by Hayashi Nobuatsu. +Subsequently (1691), a new shrine was erected at Yushima in the Kongo +district of Yedo, and was endowed with an estate of one thousand koku +to meet the expenses of the spring and autumn festivals. Further, the +daimyo were required to contribute for the erection of a school in +the vicinity of the shrine. At this school youths of ability, +selected from among the sons of the Bakufu officials and of the +daimyo, were educated, the doctrines of Confucius being thus rendered +more and more popular. + +Under Tsunayoshi's auspices, also, many books were published which +remain to this day standard works of their kind. Another step taken +by the shogun was to obtain from the Court in Kyoto the rank of +junior fifth class for Hayashi Nobuatsu, the great Confucian scholar, +who was also nominated minister of Education and chief instructor at +Kongo College. Up to that time it had been the habit of Confucianists +and of medical men to shave their heads and use titles corresponding +to those of Buddhist priests. In these circumstances neither +Confucianists nor physicians could be treated as samurai, and they +were thus excluded from all State honours. The distinction conferred +upon Hayashi Nobuatsu by the Imperial Court effectually changed these +conditions. The Confucianists ceased to shave their heads and became +eligible for official posts. Thereafter, ten of Hayashi's disciples +were nominated among the shogun's retainers, and were required to +deliver lectures periodically at the court of the Bakufu. In short, +in whatever related to learning, Tsunayoshi stands easily at the head +of all the Tokugawa shoguns. + +CHANGE OF CALENDAR + +A noteworthy incident of Tsunayoshi's administration was a change of +calendar, effected in the year 1683. The credit of this achievement +belongs to a mathematician called Shibukawa Shunkai. A profound +student, his researches had convinced him that the Hsuan-ming +calendar, borrowed originally from China and used in Japan ever since +the year A.D. 861, was defective. He pointed out some of its errors +in a memorial addressed to the Bakufu under the sway of the fourth +shogun, but the then prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, paid no +attention to the document. Shunkai, however, did not desist. In 1683, +an eclipse of the moon took place, and he demonstrated that it was +erroneously calculated in the Chinese calendar. The fifth shogun, +Tsunayoshi, was then in power, and the era of his reforming spirit +had not yet passed away. He adopted Shunkai's suggestion and obtained +the Imperial sanction for a change of calendar so that the Husan-ming +system went out of force after 822 years of use in Japan. + +JAPANESE LITERATURE + +Tsunayoshi did not confine his patronage to Chinese literature; he +devoted much energy to the encouragement of Japanese classical +studies, also. Thus, in 1689, he invited to Yedo Kitamura Kigin and +his son Shuncho and bestowed upon the former the title of Hoin +together with a revenue of five hundred koku. This marked the +commencement of a vigorous revival of Japanese literature in the +Bakufu capital. Moreover, in Osaka a scholar named Keichu Ajari +published striking annotations of the celebrated anthologies, the +Manyo-shu and the Kokin-shu, which attracted the admiration of +Tokugawa Mitsukuni, baron of Mito. He invited Keichu to his castle +and treated him with marked consideration. These litterateurs were +the predecessors of the celebrated Kamo and Motoori, of whom there +will be occasion to speak by and by. + +FINE ARTS + +Tsunayoshi's patronage extended also to the field of the fine arts. +The Tokugawa Bakufu had hitherto encouraged the Kano School only +whereas the Tosa Academy was patronized by the Court at Kyoto. This +partiality was corrected by Tsunayoshi., He invited Sumiyoshi +Gukei--also called Hirozumi--the most distinguished pupil of Tosa +Mitsuoki, bestowed on him a revenue of two hundred koku, and gave him +the official position of chief artist of the Tosa-ryu, placing him on +an equal footing with the chief of the Kano-ryu. It was at this time +also that the ukiyoe (genre picture) may be said to have won popular +favour. Contemporaneously there appeared some dramatic authors of +high ability, and as the ukiyoe and the drama appealed mainly to the +middle and lower classes, the domain of literature and the fine arts +received wide extension. Thus, Chikamatsu Monzaemon, of Osaka, the +greatest dramatist that his country ever possessed, composed plays +which have earned for him the title of the "Shakespeare of Japan;" +and as for the light literature of the era, though it was disfigured +by erotic features, it faithfully reflected in other respects the +social conditions and sentiments of the time. + +THE MERCANTILE CLASS + +From the commencement of Japanese history down to the second half of +the seventeenth century, the canons and customs were dictated solely +by the upper class, and neither merchants nor artisans were +recognized as possessing any social or literary influence whatever. +But in the middle period of the Tokugawa Bakufu--the Genroku period, +as it is commonly called--the tradesman became a comparatively +conspicuous figure. For example, in the realm of poetry, hitherto +strictly reserved for the upper classes, the classic verse called +renga (linked song) was considered to be sullied by the introduction +of any common or every-day word, and therefore could be composed only +by highly educated persons. This now found a substitute in the +haikai, which admitted language taken from purely Japanese sources +and could thus be produced without any exercise of special +scholarship. Afterwards, by the addition of the hokku, an +abbreviation of the already brief renga and haikai, which adapted +itself to the capacities of anyone possessing a nimble wit or a +sparkling thought, without any preparation of literary study, the +range of poetry was still further extended. Matsuo Basho Was the +father of the haikai and the hokku, and his mantle descended upon +Kikaku, Ransetsu, Kyoriku, and other celebrities. They travelled +round the country popularizing their art and immensely expanding the +field of literature. The craft of penmanship flourished equally, and +was graced by such masters as Hosoi Kotaku and Kitamura Sessan. Yedo, +the metropolis of wealth and fashion, became also the capital of +literature and the fine arts, and a characteristic of the era was the +disappearance of charlatans, whether laymen or bonzes, who professed +to teach the arcana of special accomplishments. In short, every +branch of study passed out of the exclusive control of one or two +masters and became common property, to the great advantage of +original developments. + +REMOVAL OF THE ROJU + +What has thus far been written depicts the bright side of +Tsunayoshi's administration. It is necessary now to look at the +reverse of the picture. There we are first confronted by an important +change of procedure. It had been the custom ever since the days of +Ieyasu to conduct the debates of the council of ministers (Roju) in a +chamber adjoining the shogun's sitting-room, so that he could hear +every word of the discussion, and thus keep himself au courant of +political issues. After the assassination of Hotta Masatoshi this +arrangement was changed. The council chamber was removed to a +distance, and guards were placed in the room where it had originally +assembled, special officials being appointed for the purpose of +maintaining communications between the shogun and the Roju. This +innovation was nominally prompted by solicitude for the shogun's +safety, but as its obvious result was to narrow his sources of +information and to bring him under the direct influence of the newly +appointed officials, there is strong reason to believe that the +measure was a reversion to the evil schemes of Sakai Tadakiyo, who +plotted to usurp the shogun's authority. + +YANAGISAWA YASUAKI + +Tsunayoshi had at that time a favourite attendant on whom he +conferred the rank of Dewa no Kami with an estate at Kawagoe which +yielded 100,000 koku annually. The friendship of the shogun for this +most corrupt official had its origin in community of literary taste. +Tsunayoshi lectured upon the "Doctrine of the Mean," and Yasuaki on +the Confucian "Analects," and after these learned discourses a +Sarugaku play, or some other form of light entertainment, was +organized. The shogun was a misogynist, and Yasuaki understood well +that men who profess to hate women become the slave of the fair sex +when their alleged repugnance is overcome. He therefore set himself +to lead the shogun into licentious habits, and the lecture-meetings +ultimately changed their complexion. Tsunayoshi, giving an ideograph +from his name to Yasuaki, called him Yoshiyasu, and authorized him to +assume the family name of Matsudaira, conferring upon him at the same +time a new domain in the province of Kai yielding 150,000 koku. +Thenceforth, the administration fell entirely into the hands of this +schemer. No prime minister (dairo) was appointed after the +assassination of Hotta Masatoshi; the council of ministers became a +mere echo of Yoahiyasu's will and the affairs of the Bakufu were +managed by one man alone. + +DOG MANIA + +Tsunayoshi lost his only son in childhood and no other being born to +him, he invited a high Buddhist priest to pray for an heir to the +shogunate. This priest, Ryuko by name, informed Tsunayoshi that his +childless condition was a punishment for taking animal life in a +previous state of existence, and that if he wished to be relieved of +the curse, he must show mercy, particularly to dogs, as he had been +born in the year whose zodiacal sign was that of the "Dog." It seems +strange that such an earnest believer in the Confucian doctrine +should have had recourse to Buddhism in this matter. But here also +the influence of Yoshiyasu is discernible. At his suggestion the +shogun built in Yedo two large temples, Gokoku-ji and Goji-in, and +Ryuko was the prelate of the former. An order was accordingly issued +against slaughtering dogs or taking life in any form, the result +being that all wild animals multiplied enormously and wrought great +damage to crops. Thereupon the Bakufu issued a further notice to the +effect that in case wild animals committed ravages, they might be +driven away by noise, or even by firing blank cartridges, provided +that an oath were made not to kill them. Should these means prove +defective, instructions must be sought from the judicial department. +Moreover, if any animal's life was taken under proper sanction, the +carcass must be buried without removing any part of its flesh or +skin. Violations of this order were to be severely punished, and it +was enacted that an accurate register must be kept of all dogs owned +by the people, strict investigations being made in the event of the +disappearance of a registered dog, and the officials were specially +warned against permitting one animal to be substituted for another. +Strange dogs were to be well fed, and any person neglecting this +obligation was to be reported to the authorities. + +At first these orders were not very seriously regarded, but by and +by, when many persons had been banished to Hachijo-jima for killing +dogs; when several others had been reproved publicly for not giving +food to homeless animals, and when officials of the supreme court +were condemned to confinement for having taken no steps to prevent +dog-fights, the citizens began to appreciate that the shogun was in +grim earnest. A huge kennel was then constructed in the Nakano suburb +of Yedo as a shelter for homeless dogs. It covered an area of about +138 acres, furnished accommodation for a thousand dogs, and was under +the management of duly appointed officials, while the citizens had to +contribute to a dog-fund, concerning which it was said that a dog's +ration for a day would suffice a man for a day and a half. + +Tsunayoshi came to be spoken of as Inu-kubo (Dog-shogun), but all his +measures did not bring him a son; neither did their failure shake his +superstitious credulity. Solemn prayers were offered again and again +with stately pomp and profuse circumstance, and temple after temple +was built or endowed at enormous cost, while the laws against taking +animal life continued in force more vigorously than ever. Birds and +even shell-fish were included in the provisions, and thus not only +were the nation's foodstuffs diminished, but also its crops lay at +the mercy of destructive animals and birds. It is recorded that a +peasant was exiled for throwing a stone at a pigeon, and that one man +was put to death for catching fish with hook and line, while another +met the same fate for injuring a dog, the head of the criminal being +exposed on the public execution ground and a neighbour who had +reported the offence being rewarded with thirty ryo. We read, also, +of officials sentenced to transportation for clipping a horse or +furnishing bad provender. The annals relate a curious story connected +with these legislative excesses. The Tokugawa baron of Mito, known in +history as Komon Mitsukuni, on receiving evidence as to the +monstrous severity with which the law protecting animals was +administered, collected a large number of men and organized a hunting +expedition on a grand scale. Out of the animals killed, twenty dogs +of remarkable size were selected, and their skins having been +dressed, were packed in a case for transmission to Yanagisawa +Yoshiyasu, whom people regarded as chiefly responsible for the +shogun's delirium. The messengers to whom the box was entrusted were +ordered to travel with all speed, and, on arriving in Yedo, to repair +forthwith to the Yanagisawa mansion, there handing over the skins +with a written statement that the Mito baron, having found such +articles useful in the cold season, availed himself of this +opportunity to submit his experience together with a parcel of +dressed hides to the shogun through Yoshiyasu. It is said that the +recipient of this sarcastic gift conceived a suspicion of the Mito +baron's sanity and sent a special envoy to examine his condition. + +FINANCE + +In the sequel of this corrupt administration, this constant building +of temples, and this profusion of costly ceremonials, the shogun's +Government found itself seriously embarrassed for money. Ieyasu had +always made frugality and economy his leading principles. He had +escaped the heavy outlays to which his fellow barons were condemned +in connexion with the Korean campaign, since his share in the affair +did not extend beyond collecting a force in the province of Hizen. +Throughout his life he devoted much attention to amassing a reserve +fund, and it is said that when he resigned the shogunate to his son, +he left 150,000 gold oban (one and a half million ryo), and nearly +two million ounces (troy) of silver in the treasury. Further, during +his retirement at Sumpu, he saved a sum of one million ryo. The same +economy was practised by the second shogun, although he was compelled +to spend large sums in connexion with his daughter's promotion to be +the Emperor's consort, as well as on the repairs of Yedo Castle and +on his several progresses to Kyoto. On the occasion of these +progresses, Hidetada is said to have distributed a total of 4.217,400 +ryo of gold and 182,000 ryo of silver among the barons throughout the +empire. The third shogun, Iemitsu, was open handed. We find him +making frequent donations of 5000 kwamme of silver to the citizens of +Kyoto and Yedo; constructing the inner castle at Yedo twice; building +a huge warship; entertaining the Korean ambassadors with much pomp; +disbursing 400,000 ryo on account of the Shimabara insurrection, and +devoting a million ryo to the construction and embellishment of the +mausolea at Nikko. Nevertheless, on the whole Iemitsu must be +regarded as an economical ruler. + +As for his successor, Ietsuna, he had to deal with several calamitous +occurrences. After the great fire in Yedo, he contributed 160,000 ryo +for the relief of the sufferers; he rebuilt Yedo Castle, and he +reconstructed the Imperial palace of Kyoto twice. In the Empo era +(1673-1680), the country was visited by repeated famines, which had +the effect of reducing the yield of the taxes and calling for large +measures of relief. In these circumstances, a proposal was formally +submitted recommending the debasement of the gold coinage, but it +failed to obtain official consent. It may be mentioned that, in the +year 1659, the treasury was reduced to ashes, and a quantity of gold +coin contained therein was melted. With this bullion a number of gold +pieces not intended for ordinary circulation were cast, and stamped +upon them were the words, "To be used only in cases of national +emergency." The metal thus reserved is said to have amounted to +160,000 ryo. The register shows that when the fifth shogun succeeded +to power, there were 3,850,000 gold ryo in the treasury. But this +enormous sum did not long survive the extravagance of Tsunayoshi. + +After the assassination of Hotta Masatoshi, the administrative power +fell entirely into the hands of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, and the example +set by him for those under his guidance, and by his master, the +shogun, soon found followers among all classes of the people. As an +instance of ludicrous luxury it may be mentioned that the timbers +intended for the repair of the castle in Yedo were wrapped in wadded +quilts when transported to the city from the forest. Finally, the +treasury became so empty that, when the shogun desired to repair to +the mausolea at Nikko, which would have involved a journey of ten +days at the most, he was compelled to abandon the idea, as the +officials of the treasury declared themselves unable to find the +necessary funds. That sum was calculated at 100,000 ryo, or about as +many pounds sterling, which fact is alone sufficient to convey an +idea of the extravagance practised in everything connected with the +Government. + +The immediate outcome of this incident was the summoning of a council +to discuss the financial situation, and after much thought the +suggestion of Hagiwara Shigehide, chief of the Treasury, was +accepted, namely, wholesale debasement of the gold, silver, and +copper coins. The old pieces, distinguished as "Keicho coins," that +being the name of the year period (1596-1614) when they were minted, +were replaced by greatly inferior "Genroku coins" (1688-1703), with +the natural results--appreciation of commodities and much forging of +counterfeit coins. Presently the Government is found levying a tax +upon 27,200 sake brewers within the Kwanto, and, in 1703, fresh +expedients became necessary to meet outlays incurred owing to a great +earthquake and conflagration which destroyed a large part of Yedo +Castle and of the daimyo's mansions. Further debasement of the +currency was resorted to, the new coins being distinguished by the +term "Hoei," after the name of the year-period when they were +minted. + +About this time several of the feudatories found themselves in such +straits that they began to issue paper currency within their +dominions, and this practice having been interdicted by the Bakufu, +the daimyo fell back upon the expedient of levying forced loans from +wealthy merchants in Osaka. Meanwhile, the crime of forgery became so +prevalent that, in the interval between 1688 and 1715, no less than +541 counterfeiters were crucified within the districts under the +direct control of the Bakufu., The feudatory of Satsuma is credited +with having justly remarked that the victims of this cruel fate +suffered for their social status rather than for their offence +against the law, the real counterfeiters being Yanagisawa and +Hagiwara, who were engaged continuously in uttering debased coins. + +It must be admitted in behalf of the financiers of that era that +their difficulties were much accentuated by natural calamities. The +destructive earthquake of 1703 was followed, in 1707, by an eruption +of Fuji, with the result that in the three provinces of Musashi, +Sagami, and Suruga, considerable districts were buried in ashes to +the depth of ten feet, so that three years and a heavy expenditure +of, money were required to restore normal conditions. Thenceforth the +state of the Bakufu treasury went from bad to worse. Once again +Hagiwara Shigehide had recourse to adulteration of the coinage. This +time he tampered mainly with the copper tokens, but owing to the +unwieldy and impure character of these coins, very great difficulty +was experienced in putting them into circulation, and the Bakufu +financiers finally were obliged to fall back upon the reserve of gold +kept in the treasury for special contingencies. There can be no doubt +that Japan's foreign trade contributed materially to her financial +embarrassment, but this subject will be subsequently dealt with. + +TSUNAYOSHI'S FAVOURITE + +When Tsunayoshi became shogun, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu occupied the +position of a low-class squire in the shogun's household and was in +receipt of a salary of three hundred koku yearly. Four years later, +he received the title of Dewa no Kami and his revenue was increased +to 100,000 koku. Finally, in 1703, he was appointed daimyo of Kai +province and came into the enjoyment of a total income of 150,000 +koku. This was the more remarkable inasmuch as, owing to the +strategical importance of Kai, it had been reserved as a fief for one +of the Tokugawa family, and its bestowal on a complete outsider was +equivalent to the admission of the latter into the Tokugawa circle. +This remarkable promotion in rank and income shows how completely the +shogun had fallen under the influence of his favourite, Yoshiyasu, +who exhibited wonderful skill in appealing at once to the passions +and to the intellect of his master. Some historians of the time +relate that the shogun's infatuation betrayed him into promising to +raise Yoshiyasu's revenue to a million koku, and to nominate as +successor to the shogunate a son borne by Yoshiyasu's wife to +Tsunayoshi; but according to tradition, these crowning extravagances +were averted on the very night preceding the day of their intended +consummation, the shogun being stabbed to death by his wife, who +immediately committed suicide. This tale, however, has been shown to +be an invention with no stronger foundation than the fact that +Tsunayoshi's death took place very suddenly at a highly critical +time. It is not to be doubted that many of the excesses and +administrative blunders committed by the fifth Tokugawa shogun were +due to the pernicious influence of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. + +DECLINE OF THE SAMURAI SPIRIT + +The no dance was among the indulgences which Tsunayoshi affected and +among the accomplishments in which he himself excelled. He took into +his service a number of skilled dancers of the no, and treated them +as hereditary vassals, setting aside the chamber of the Paulownia for +their use. These performers, whatever their origin, received the +treatment of samurai, and their dainty posturing in the dance became +a model for the lords of the Bakufu Court, so that the simple +demeanour of military canons was replaced by a mincing and +meretricious mien. Another favourite dance in Yedo Castle was the +furyu. A book of the period describes the latter performance in these +terms: "Sixteen youths made their appearance; they all wore +wide-sleeved robes and purple figured silk with embroidery of oak +leaves in gold and silver threads. They carried two swords with gold +mountings and scarlet tassels, so that when they danced in harmony +with the flutes and drums the spectacle presented was one of dazzling +brilliancy." Thenceforth this "Genroku dance," as it came to be +called, obtained wide vogue. The same is true of the joruri, which is +one of the most emotional forms of chant. Hitherto the samisen had +been regarded as a vulgar instrument, and its use had never received +the sanction of aristocratic circles. But it now came into favour +with all classes of women from the highest to the lowest, and the +singing of the joruri was counted a far more important accomplishment +than any kind of domestic education. + +Such an appeal to the emotional side of human nature could not fail +to undermine the stoicism of the samurai and the morality of society +in general. The practice of the military arts went out of fashion, +and it became an object with the bushi not only to have his sword +highly ornamented, but also to adapt its dimensions to the fashion of +the moment, thus sacrificing utility to elegance. In short, the +Genroku era (1688-1703) was essentially a time of luxury and +extravagance, its literature abounding in theatrical plays, songs, +verses, and joruri, and its ideals involving the sacrifice of the +noble to the elegant. Men were promoted in rank not merely because +they could dance gracefully, but also because they made themselves +conspicuous for kindness to dogs, in obedience to the shogun's +foible, and as many of these men had not learned to ride on horseback +they petitioned for permission to use palanquins. This marked a +signal departure from the severe rules of former days. Street +palanquins (machi-kago) ultimately came into use by all who could +afford the luxury. In short, the ancient order of educational +precedence was reversed, and polite accomplishments took the place of +military science. + +ENGRAVING: FORTY-SEVEN RONIN + +THE AKO VENDETTA + +Nevertheless, this degenerate era produced one of the most remarkable +acts of self-sacrificing loyalty that stand to the credit of Japanese +samurai. On the 7th of February, 1703, forty-seven bushi, under the +leadership of Oishi Yoshio, forced their way into the mansion of Kira +Yoshihide; killed him in order to avenge the death of their feudal +chief, Asano Naganori, daimyo of Ako; and then surrendered themselves +to justice. Under the title of The Forty-seven Ronins, this story has +been told in history, on the stage, and in all forms of literature, +so that its details need not be repeated here. It will suffice to say +that, under great provocation, the Ako feudatory drew his sword in +the precincts of Yedo Castle and cut down Kira Yoshihide, for which +breach of court etiquette rather than for the deed of violence, the +Ako baron was condemned to commit suicide and his estates were +confiscated. Thereupon, forty-seven of his principal vassals pledged +themselves to wreak vengeance, and, after nearly two years of +planning and watching, they finally succeeded in achieving their +purpose. Degenerate as was the spirit of the time, this bold deed +aroused universal admiration. The vendetta was not illegal in Japan. +It had been practised from medieval times and often with direct +sanction of the authorities. But in no circumstances was it +officially permissible within the cities of Kyoto, Yedo, Osaka, and +Sumpu, or in the vicinity of the shogun's shrines. The forty-seven +ronins had therefore committed a capital crime. Yet they had only +obeyed the doctrine of Confucius, and the shogun therefore +endeavoured to save their lives. More than a year was spent +discussing the issue, and it is recorded that Tsunayoshi appealed to +the prince-abbot of Ueno in order to secure his intervention in the +cause of leniency. The day was ultimately carried by the advocates of +stern justice, and the forty-seven ronins were ordered to commit +suicide. + +They obeyed without a murmur. One of them, Terasaka Kichiemon by +name, had been sent to carry the news to Ako immediately after the +perpetration of the deed of vengeance. He returned when his comrades +were condemned and gave himself up to the authorities, but they +declined to punish him on the ground that the case had already been +disposed of. The eminent Confucian scholar, Hayashi Nobuatsu, +petitioned for the pardon of the ronins, and the scarcely less +celebrated Muro Kyuso compiled a book describing the incident; but, +for some reason never fully explained, the noteworthy scholar, Ogyu +Sorai, took the opposite side. One act of the authorities is eloquent +as to the sentiment prevailing at the time. They condemned +Yoshihide's son, Yoshikata, to be deprived of his ancestral domain +for not having died in company with his father. As for the feeling of +the nation at large, it was abundantly manifested by many of the +great feudatories, who vied with one another in conferring offices +and revenues on the sons and grandsons of the "Forty-seven." + +YAMAGA SOKO + +The affair of the forty-seven ronins helped to bring into eminence +the name of Yamaga Soko, a firm believer in Confucianism and an +ardent follower of military science. Amid an environment of +unfavourable conditions Soko preached the cult of bushido, and was +the first to embody that philosophy in a written system. His +books--the Shi-do (Way of the Warrior) and Bukyo Shogaku (Military +Primer)--contain minute instructions as to the practice and the +morale of the samurai. Soko rejected the Chutsz interpretation, then +in vogue, of the Chinese classics, and insisted on the pure doctrine +of the ancient sages, so that he found himself out of touch with the +educational spirit of the time. Thus, falling under the displeasure +of the Bakufu, he was charged with propagating heterodox views and +was sent to Ako to be kept in custody by Asano Naganori, who treated +him throughout with courtesy and respect. In return, Soko devoted his +whole energy during nineteen years to the education of the Ako +vassals, and the most prominent of the Forty-seven Ronins was among +his pupils. + +THE SIXTH SHOGUN, IENOBU + +Tsunayoshi died of small-pox in 1709, after a brief illness. He had +no son, and: five years previously, his nephew Ienobu (third son of +his deceased elder brother, Tsunashige) had been declared heir to the +shogunate. Having been born in 1662, Ienobu was in his forty-seventh +year when he succeeded to the office of shogun. His first act was to +abolish Tsunayoshi's legislation for the protection of animals. He is +said to have offered the following explanation at the tomb of the +deceased shogun: "You desired to protect living animals and strictly +interdicted the slaughter of any such. You willed that even after +your death the prohibition should be observed. But hundreds of +thousands of human beings are suffering from the operation of your +law. To repeal it is the only way of bringing peace to the nation." + +ARAI HAKUSEKI + +Ienobu gave evidence of his sagacity by dismissing Yanagisawa +Yoshiyasu, the corrupt favourite of the late shogun; by appointing in +his stead Manabe Norifusa to the office of personal assistant (soba +yoniri), and by reposing full confidence in Arai Hakuseki. This last +is recognized by posterity as the most distinguished among Japanese +Confucianists. He studied the literature of both the Tang and the +Sung dynasties, and he laboured to apply the precepts of Chinese +philosophy to the practical needs of his own country. Moreover, he +devoted exceptional attention to the conditions existing in +Occidental States, and he embodied his thoughts and researches on the +latter subject in a book called Sairan Igen, the first treatise of +its kind published in Japan. + +A practical illustration of his knowledge was furnished in connexion +with the reception of Korean envoys. It had been customary to convey +to these officials an imposing conception of Japanese magnificence by +treating them with lavish hospitality. Hakuseki was able to detect +that the conduct of the envoys violated in many respects the rules of +Chinese etiquette, and having obtained the shogun's nomination to +receive the envoy, Cho, he convinced the latter that there must be no +more neglect of due formalities. He then memorialized the shogun in +the sense that these Korean ambassadors were merely Chinese spies, +and that instead of receiving a lavish welcome, they should be +required to limit their journey to the island of Tsushima, where only +a very restricted ceremonial should be performed in their honour. +This shrewd, though somewhat conservative, suggestion elicited +general approval, but was not carried into effect until the time of +the eleventh shogun. + +ENGRAVING: ARAI HAKUSEKI + +ADJUSTMENT OF THE FINANCES + +It has been shown above that the fifth shogun bequeathed to his +successor a much embarrassed treasury. In this realm, also, the +advice of Arai Hakuseki proved invaluable. In his volume of +reminiscences there is an interesting statement connected with +finance. It quotes Hagiwara Shigehide, commissioner of the Treasury, +as saying that the shogun's estate at that time yielded four million +koku annually, in addition to which there accrued from 760,000 ryo to +770,000 ryo in money, representing the proceeds of dues and taxes. In +this latter sum was included 40,000 ryo, customs duties collected at +Nagasaki, and 6000 ryo yielded by a tax on sake. The same report +mentions that a sum of 160,000 ryo had been expended in clearing away +the volcanic ashes which fell in the three provinces of Musashi, +Sagami, and Suruga after the great eruption of Fujisan. Arai Hakuseki +was able to prove the erroneous character of this report, but his +demonstration did not impugn any of the above figures. Incidentally +it is mentioned in Arai's comments that 700,000 ryo were allotted for +building an addition to Yedo Castle, and 200,000 ryo for the +construction of the deceased shogun's mausoleum, out of which total +Hakuseki explicitly charges the officials, high and low alike, with +diverting large sums to their own pockets in collusion with the +contractors and tradesmen employed on the works. Another interesting +investigation made by Arai Hakuseki is in connexion with the +country's foreign trade. He showed that the amount of coins exported +from Nagasaki alone, during one year, totalled 6,192,800 ryo of gold; +1,122,687 kwamme of silver and 228,000,000 kin of copper.* He alleged +that the greater part of this large outflow of specie produced +nothing except luxuries with which the nation could very well +dispense, and he therefore advised that the foreign trade of Nagasaki +should be limited to thirteen Chinese junks and two Dutch vessels +annually, while stringent measures should be adopted to prevent +smuggling. + +*One kin equals 1.25 lbs. + +The ordinance based upon this advice consisted of two hundred +articles, and is known in history as the "New Nagasaki Trade Rules of +the Shotoku Era" (1711-1715). One portion of the document ran as +follows: "During the Jokyo era (1684-1687), the trade with Chinese +merchants was limited to 6000 kwamme of silver, and that with Dutch +traders to 50,000 ryo of gold, while the number of Chinese vessels +was not allowed to exceed seventy per annum. After a few years, +however, copper coins came into use as media of exchange in addition +to silver, and moreover there was much smuggling of foreign goods. +Thus, it resulted that gold, silver, and copper flowed out of the +country in great quantities. Comparing the aggregate thus exported +during the 107 years since the Keicho era with the amount coined in +Japan during the same interval, it is found that one-quarter of the +gold coins and three-quarters of the silver left the country. If that +state of affairs continue, it is obvious that after a hundred years +from the present time one-half of the empire's gold will be carried +away and there will be no silver at all left. As for copper, the sum +remaining in the country is insufficient, not only for purposes of +trade but also for the needs of everyday life. It is most regrettable +that the nation's treasure should thus be squandered upon foreign +luxuries. The amount of currency needed at home and the amount +produced by the mines should be investigated so as to obtain a basis +for limiting the foreign trade at the open ports of Nagasaki, +Tsushima, and Satsuma, and for fixing the maximum number of foreign +vessels visiting those places." + +IMPEACHMENT OF HAGIWARA SHIGEHIDE + +In connexion with Arai Hakuseki's impeachment of the Treasury +commissioner, Hagiwara Shigehide, it was insisted that an auditor's +office must be re-established, and it was pointed out that the yield +of rice from the shogun's estates had fallen to 28.9 per cent, of the +total produce instead of being forty per cent., as fixed by law. +Nevertheless, the condition of the farmers was by no means improved, +and the inevitable inference was that the difference went into the +pockets of the local officials. Similarly, enormous expenses were +incurred for the repair of river banks without any corresponding +diminution of floods, and hundreds of thousands of bags of rice went +nominally to the bottom of the sea without ever having been shipped. +During the year that followed the reconstruction of the auditor's +office, the yield of the estates increased by 433,400 bags of rice, +and the cost of riparian works decreased by 38,000 ryo of gold, +while, at the same time, the item of shipwrecked cereals disappeared +almost completely from the ledgers. In consequence of these charges +the commissioner, Shigehide, was dismissed. History says that +although his regular salary was only 3000 koku annually, he embezzled +260,000 ryo of gold by his debasement of the currency, and that +ultimately he starved himself to death in token of repentance. + +Ienobu and his able adviser, Hakuseki, desired to restore the +currency to the system pursued in the Keicho era (1596-1614), but +their purpose was thwarted by insufficiency of the precious metals. +They were obliged to be content with improving the quality of the +coins while decreasing their weight by one half. These new tokens +were called kenji-kin, as they bore on the reverse the ideograph ken, +signifying "great original." The issue of the new coins took place +in the year 1710, and at the same time the daimyo were strictly +forbidden to issue paper currency, which veto also was imposed at the +suggestion of Arai Hakuseki. + +THE SEVENTH SHOGUN, IETSUGU + +The seventh Tokugawa shogun, Ietsugu, son of his predecessor, Ienobu, +was born in 1709, succeeded to the shogunate in April, 1713, and died +in 1716. His father, Ienobu, died on the 13th of November, 1712, so +that there was an interval of five months between the demise of the +sixth shogun and the accession of the seventh. Of course, a child of +four years who held the office of shogun for the brief period of +three years could not take any part in the administration or have any +voice in the appointment or dismissal of officials. Thus, Arai +Hakuseki's tenure of office depended upon his relations with the +other ministers, and as all of these did not approve his drastic +reforms, he was obliged to retire, but Manabe Norifusa remained in +office. + +ENGRAVING: TOKUGAWA YOSHIMUNE + +THE EIGHTH SHOGUN, YOSHIMUNE + +By the death of Ietsugu, in 1716, the Hidetada line of the Tokugawa +family became extinct, and a successor to the shogunate had to be +sought from the Tokugawa of Kii province in the person of Yoshimune, +grandson of Yorinobu and great-grandson of Ieyasu. Born in 1677, +Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun, succeeded to office in 1716, +at the age of thirty-nine. The son of a concubine, he had been +obliged to subsist on the proceeds of a very small estate, and he +therefore well understood the uses of economy and the condition of +the people. His habits were simple and plain, and he attached as much +importance as Ieyasu himself had done to military arts and literary +pursuits. It had become a custom on the occasion of each shogun's +succession to issue a decree confirming, expanding, or altering the +systems of the previous potentate. Yoshimune's first decree placed +special emphasis on the necessity of diligence in the discharge of +administrative functions and the eschewing of extravagance. Always he +made it his unflagging aim to restore the martial spirit which had +begun to fade from the samurai's bosom, and in the forefront of +important reforms he placed frugality. The Bakufu had fallen into the +habit of modelling their systems and their procedure after Kyoto +examples. In fact, they aimed at converting Yedo into a replica of +the Imperial capital. This, Yoshimune recognized as disadvantageous +to the Bakufu themselves and an obstacle to the resuscitation of +bushido. Therefore, he set himself to restore all the manners and +customs of former days, and it became his habit to preface decrees +and ordinances with the phrase "In pursuance of the methods, fixed +by Gongen" (Ieyasu). His idea was that only the decadence of bushido +could result from imitating the habits of the Imperial Court, and as +Manabe Norifusa did not endorse that view with sufficient zeal, the +shogun relieved him of his office of minister of the Treasury. + +One of Yoshimune's measures was to remodel the female department of +the palace on the lines of simplicity and economy. All the +ladies-in-waiting were required to furnish a written oath against +extravagance and irregular conduct of every kind, and in the sixth +year after his accession the shogun ordered that a list should be +furnished setting forth the names and ages of such of these ladies as +were, conspicuously beautiful. Fifty were deemed worthy of +inscription, and quite a tremor of joyful excitement was caused, the +measure being regarded as prefacing the shogun's choice of consorts. +But Yoshimune's purpose was very different. He discharged all these +fair-faced ladies and kept only the ill-favoured ones, his assigned +reason being that as ugly females find a difficulty in getting +husbands, it would be only charitable to retain their services. + +He revived the sport of hawking, after the manner of Ieyasu, for he +counted it particularly suitable to soldiers; and he pursued the +pastime so ardently that men gave him the name of the Taka-shogun +(Falcon shogun). He also inaugurated a new game called uma-gari +(horse-hunting); and it is on record that he required the samurai to +practise swimming in the sea. By way of giving point to his +ordinances inculcating frugality, he himself made a habit of wearing +cotton garments in winter and hempen in summer--a custom habitually +practised by the lower orders only. The very detailed nature of his +economical measures is illustrated by an incident which has +independent interest. Observing that the fences erected on the scarp +of Yedo Castle were virtually useless for purposes of defence and +very costly to keep in repair, he caused them all to be pulled down +and replaced by pine trees. This happened in 1721, and the result was +that the battlements of this great castle were soon overhung by noble +trees, which softened and beautified the military aspect of the +colossal fortress. To the same shogun Yedo owes the cherry and plum +groves of Asuka-yama, of the Sumida-gawa, and of Koganei. The +saplings of these trees were taken from the Fukiage park, which +remains to-day one of the most attractive landscape gardens in the +world. + +ENGRAVING: VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN, KYOHO ERA + +OTHER MEASURES + +For the purpose of acquiring accurate information about the condition +of the people, Yoshimune appointed officials who went by the name of +niwa-ban (garden watchmen). They moved about among the lower orders +and reported everything constituting knowledge useful for +administrative purposes. Moreover, to facilitate the ends of justice, +the shogun revived the ancient device of petition-boxes +(meyasu-bako), which were suspended in front of the courthouse in +order that men might lodge there a written statement of all +complaints. It was by Yoshimune, also, that the celebrated Ooka +Tadasuke, the "Solomon of Japan," was invited from Yamada and +appointed chief justice in Yedo. The judgments delivered by him in +that capacity will be famous as long as Japan exists. It has to be +noted, however, that the progressive spirit awakened by Yoshimune's +administration was not without untoward results. Extremists fell into +the error of believing that everything pertaining to the canons of +the immediate past must be abandoned, and they carried this +conception into the realm of foreign trade, so that the restrictions +imposed in the Shotoku era (1711-1715) were neglected. It became +necessary to issue a special decree ordering the enforcement of these +regulations, although, as will presently be seen, Yoshimune's +disposition towards the civilization of the Occident was essentially +liberal. + +CODES OF LAW + +By this time the miscarriages of justice liable to occur when the law +is administered with regard to precedent only or mainly, began to be +plainly observable, and the shogun, appreciating the necessity for +written codes, appointed a commission to collect and collate the laws +in operation from ancient times; to embody them in codes, and to +illustrate them by precedents. Matsudaira Norimura, one of the +ministers of State, was appointed chief commissioner, and there +resulted, after four years of labour, the first genuine Japanese code +(Oshioki Ojomoku). This body of laws was subsequently revised by +Matsudaira Sadanobu, and under the name of Osadame Hyakkajo ("Hundred +Articles of Law"), it remained long in practice. + +LITERATURE + +Yoshimune was not behind any of his ancestors in appreciation of +learning. In 1721, when his administrative reforms were still in +their infancy, he invited to Yedo Kinoshita Torasuke (son of the +celebrated Kinoshita Junan), Muro Nawokiyo, and other eminent men of +letters, and appointed them to give periodical lectures. Nawokiyo was +named "adviser to the shogun," who consulted him about administrative +affairs, just as Arai Hakuseki had been consulted by Ienobu. In fact, +it was by the advice of Arai Hakuseki that Nawokiyo (whose literary +name was Kyuso), entered the service of Yoshimune. Contemporaneous +with these litterateurs was the renowned Ogyu Sorai, whose profound +knowledge of finance and of administrative affairs in general made +him of great value to the Bakufu. He compiled a book called Seidan +(Talks on Government) which, immediately became a classic. Special +favour was shown to the renowned Confucianist, Hayashi Nobuatsu. He +and his son were asked to deliver regular lectures at the Shohei +College, and these lectures were the occasion of a most important +innovation, namely, the admission of all classes of people, whereas +previously the audience at such discourses had been strictly limited +to military men. + +It is to be observed that in the days of Yoshimune's shogunate the +philosophy of Chutsz (Shu-shi) was preferred to all others. It +received the official imprimatur, the philosophy of Wang Yang-ming (O +Yo-mei) being set aside. One consequence of this selection was that +the Hayashi family came to be regarded as the sole depositories of +true Confucianism. Yoshimune himself, however, was not disposed to +set any dogmatic limits to the usefulness of men of learning. He +assumed an absolutely impartial attitude towards all schools; +adopting the good wherever it was found, and employing talent to +whatever school it belonged. Thus when Kwanno Chqkuyo established a +place of education in Yedo, and Nakai Seishi did the same in Osaka, +liberal grants of land were made by the Bakufu to both men. Another +step taken by the shogun was to institute a search for old books +throughout the country, and to collect manuscripts which had been +kept in various families for generations. By causing these to be +copied or printed, many works which would otherwise have been +destroyed or forgotten were preserved. + +It is notable that all this admirable industry had one untoward +result: Japanese literature came into vogue in the Imperial capital, +and was accompanied by the development of a theory that loyalty to +the sovereign was inconsistent with the administration of the Bakufu. +The far-reaching consequences of this conception will be dealt with +in a later chapter. Here, it is sufficient to say that one of the +greatest and most truly patriotic of the Tokugawa shoguns himself +unwittingly sowed the seeds of disaffection destined to prove fatal +to his own family. + +ADOPTION OF WESTERN LEARNING + +Yoshimune was fond of astronomy. He erected a telescope in the +observatory at Kanda, a sun-dial in the palace park, and a rain-gauge +at the same place. By his orders a mathematician named Nakane Genkei +translated the Gregorian calendar into Japanese, and Yoshimune, +convinced of the superior accuracy of the foreign system, would have +substituted it for the Chinese then used in Japan, had not his +purpose excited such opposition that he judged it prudent to desist. +It was at this time that the well-informed Nishikawa Masayasu and +Shibukawa Noriyasu were appointed Government astronomers. + +Previously the only sources of information about foreign affairs had +been the masters of the Dutch ships, the Dutch merchants, and the +Japanese interpreters at Nagasaki. The importation of books from the +Occident having been strictly forbidden by the third shogun, Iemitsu, +Yoshimune appreciated the disadvantage of such a restriction, and +being convinced of the benefits to be derived from the study of +foreign science and art, he rescinded the veto except in the case of +books relating to Christianity. Thus, for the first time, Japanese +students were brought into direct contact with the products of +Western intelligence. In 1744, Aoki Konyo received official orders to +proceed to Nagasaki for the purpose of seeking instruction in Dutch +from Dutch teachers. Shibukawa and Aoki are regarded as the pioneers +of Occidental learning in Japan, and, in the year 1907, posthumous +honours were conferred on them by the reigning Emperor of their +country. + +THE SANKIN KOTAI + +It has already been stated that the financial embarrassment of the +Bakufu in Yoshimune's time was as serious as it had been in his +predecessor's days. Moreover, in 1718, the country was swept by a +terrible tornado, and in 1720 and 1721, conflagrations reduced large +sections of Yedo to ashes. Funds to succour the distressed people +being imperatively needed, the shogun called upon all the feudatories +to subscribe one hundred koku of rice for every ten thousand koku of +their estates. By way of compensation for this levy he reduced to +half a year the time that each feudal chief had to reside in Yedo. +This meant, of course, a substantial lessening of the great expenses +entailed upon the feudatories by the sankin kotai system, and the +relief thus afforded proved most welcome to the daimyo and the shomyo +alike. Yoshimune intended to extend this indulgence ultimately by +releasing the barons from the necessity of coming to Yedo more than +once in from three to five years, and, in return, he contemplated a +corresponding increase of the special levy of rice. But his ministers +opposed the project on the ground that it would dangerously loosen +the ties between the feudatories and the Bakufu, and inasmuch as +events proved that this result threatened to accrue from even the +moderate indulgence granted by the shogun, not only was no extension +made but also, in 1731, the system of sankin kotai was restored to +its original form. The experiment, indeed proved far from +satisfactory. The feudatories did not confine themselves to +assertions of independence; they also followed the example of the +Bakufu by remitting some of the duties devolving on their retainers +and requiring the latter to show their gratitude for the remissions +by monetary payments. Nominally, these payments took the form of +loans, but in reality the amount was deducted from the salaries of +vassals. This pernicious habit remained in vogue among a section of +the feudatories, even after the sankin kotai had been restored to its +original form. + +OFFICIAL SALARIES + +From ancient times it had been the habit of the Bakufu to assign +important offices to men who were in enjoyment of large hereditary +incomes. This was mainly for financial reasons. Salaries were paid in +the form of additions to the hereditary estates in other words, the +emoluments of office became permanent, and the charge upon the Bakufu +being correspondingly increased, it was obviously expedient to fill +high administrative posts with men already in possession of ample +incomes. This system was radically changed by Yoshimune. He enacted +that a clear distinction should be made between temporary salary and +hereditary income. Thenceforth, salary was to be received only during +the tenure of office and was to cease on laying down official +functions. This reform had the effect not only of lightening the +burden upon the Bakufu income, but also of opening high offices to +able men without regard to their private fortunes. + +ENGRAVING: VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN, KYOHO EHA + +THE CURRENCY + +From the first day of assuming administrative power, Yoshimune gave +earnest thought to reform of the currency. His ambition was to +restore the gold and silver coins to the quality and sizes existing +in the Keicho era. This he effected, though not on a sufficiently +large scale. Each of the new coins was equal in intrinsic value to +two of the corresponding kenji coins, and the circulation of the +latter was suspended, the new coins being called Kyoho-kin after the +year-name of the era (1716-1735) when they made their appearance. It +was a thoroughly wholesome measure, but the quality of the precious +metals available did not suffice. Thus, whereas the gold coins struck +during ten years of the Kyoho era totalled only 8,290,000 ryo, a +census taken in 1732 showed a total population of 26,921,816. +Therefore, the old coins could not be wholly withdrawn from +circulation, and people developed a tendency to hoard the new and +more valuable tokens. + +Other untoward effects also were produced. The shogun paid much +attention to promoting agriculture and encouraging land reclamation, +so that the yield of rice increased appreciably. But this proved by +no means an unmixed blessing. Side by side with an increase in the +quantity of rice appearing in the market, the operation of the new +currency tended to depreciate prices, until a measure of grain which +could not have been bought at one time for less than two ryo became +purchasable for one. In fact, the records show that a producer +considered himself fortunate if he obtained half a ryo of gold for a +koku of rice. This meant an almost intolerable state of affairs for +the samurai who received his salary in grain and for the petty +farmer. Thus, a man whose income was three rations of rice annually, +and who consequently had to live on 5.4 koku for a whole year, found +that when he set aside from three to four koku for food, there +remained little more than one ryo of assets to pay for salt, fuel, +clothes, and all the other necessaries of life. + +So acute was the suffering of the samurai that a rice-exchange was +established at Dojima, in Osaka, for the purpose of imparting some +measure of stability to the price of the cereal. Just at this time +(1732), the central and western provinces were visited by a famine +which caused seventeen thousand deaths and reduced multitudes to the +verge of starvation. The Bakufu rendered aid on a munificent scale, +but the price of rice naturally appreciated, and although this +brought relief to the military class, it was misconstrued by the +lower orders as a result of speculation on 'Change. Riots resulted, +and rice-merchants fearing to make purchases, the market price of the +cereal fell again, so that farmers and samurai alike were plunged +into their old difficulties. + +Ultimately, in 1735, the Bakufu inaugurated a system of officially +fixed prices (osadame-soba), according to which 1.4 koku of rice had +to be exchanged for one ryo of gold in Yedo, the Osaka rate being +fixed at forty-two momme of silver for the same quantity of the +cereal. Anyone violating this rule was fined ten momme of silver for +each koku of rice purchased or sold by him. It is related that the +osadame-soba was operative in name only, and that the merchants +secretly dealt in the cereal at much lower prices than those +officially fixed. The Yedo financiers now concluded that the quantity +of currency in circulation was insufficient and its quality too good. +Accordingly, the gold and silver coins were once more reminted, +smaller and less pure tokens being issued under the name of bunji-kin +with reference to the Genbun era (1736-1740) of their issue. Thus, +the reform of the currency, achieved with so much difficulty in the +early years of Yoshimune's administration, had to be abandoned, and +things reverted to their old plight. + +If this difficulty operated so acutely under a ruler of Yoshimune's +talent, the confusion and disorder experienced when he withdrew his +able hand from the helm of State may be imagined. The feudatories +were constantly distressed to find funds for supporting their Yedo +mansions, as well as for carrying out the public works imposed on +them from time to time, and for providing the costly presents which +had become a recognized feature of ordinary and extraordinary +intercourse. As an example of the luxury of the age, it may be +mentioned that when the fifth shogun visited the Kaga baron, the +latter had to find a sum of a million ryo to cover the expenses +incidental to receiving such a guest. In these circumstances, there +arose among the feudatories a habit of levying monetary contributions +from wealthy persons in their fiefs, the accommodation thus afforded +being repaid by permission to carry swords or by promotion in rank. +The poorer classes of samurai being increasingly distressed, they, +too, borrowed money at high rates of interest from merchants and +wealthy farmers, which loans they were generally unable to repay. +Ultimately, the Bakufu solved the situation partially by decreeing +that no lawsuit for the recovery of borrowed money should be +entertained--a reversion to the tokusei system of the Ashikaga +shoguns. + +Of course, credit was completely undermined by the issue of this +decree. It is strange that such conditions should have existed under +such a ruler as Yoshimune. But even his strenuous influence did not +suffice to stem the current of the time. The mercantile instinct +pervaded all the transactions of every-day life. If a man desired to +adopt a son, he attached much less importance to the latter's social +status or personality than to the dimensions of his fortune, and thus +it came about that the family names of petty feudatories were freely +bought and sold. Yoshimune strictly interdicted this practice, but +his veto had no efficiency; wealthy farmers or merchants freely +purchased their way into titled families. From this abuse to +extortion of money by threats the interval was not long, and the +outcome, where farmers were victims, took the form of agrarian riots. +It was to the merchants, who stood between the farmers and the +samurai, that fortune offered conspicuously favourable opportunities +in these circumstances. The tradesmen of the era became the centre of +extravagance and luxury, so that in a certain sense the history of +the Yedo Bakufu may be said to be the history of mercantile +development. + +INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS + +Yoshimune devoted much attention to the encouragement of industrial +progress. Deeming that a large import of drugs and sugar caused a +ruinous drain of specie, he sent experts hither and thither through +the country to encourage the domestic production of these staples as +well as of vegetable wax. The feudatories, in compliance with his +suggestion, took similar steps, and from this time tobacco growing in +Sagami and Satsuma; the weaving industry in Kotsuke and Shimotsuke; +sericulture in Kotsuke, Shinano, Mutsu, and Dewa; indigo cultivation +in Awa; orange growing in Kii, and the curing of bonito in Tosa and +Satsuma--all these began to flourish. Another feature of the time was +the cultivation of the sweet potato at the suggestion of Aoki Konyo, +who saw in this vegetable a unique provision against famine. +Irrigation and drainage works also received official attention, as +did the reclamation of rice-growing areas and the storing of cereals. + +THE NINTH SHOGUN, IESHIGE + +In 1745, Yoshimune resigned his office to his son, Ieshige, who, +having been born in 1702, was now in his forty-third year. Yoshimune +had three sons, Ieshige, Munetake, and Munetada. Of these the most +promising was the second, Munetake, whose taste for literature and +military art almost equalled his father's. Matsudaira Norimura, prime +minister, recognizing that Ieshige, who was weak, passionate, and +self-willed, would not be able to fill worthily the high office of +shogun, suggested to Yoshimune the advisability of nominating +Munetake. But Yoshimune had his own programme. Ieshige's son, Ieharu, +was a very gifted youth, and Yoshimune reckoned on himself retaining +the direction of affairs for some years, so that Ieshige's functions +would be merely nominal until Ieharu became old enough to succeed to +the shogunate. + +Meanwhile, to prevent complications and avert dangerous rivalry, +Yoshimune assigned to Munetake and Munetada residences within the +Tayasu and Hitotsubashi gates of the castle, respectively, gave the +names of these gates as family titles, and bestowed on each a revenue +of one hundred thousand koku, together with the privilege of +supplying an heir to the shogunate in the event of failure of issue +in the principal house of Tokugawa or in one of the "Three Families." +The shogun, Ieshige, followed the same plan with his son, Yoshishige, +and as the latter's residence was fixed within the Shimizu gate, +there came into existence "Three Branch Families" called the Sankyo, +in supplement of the already existing Sanke.* + +*The present Princes Tokugawa are the representatives of the main +line of the shogun; the Marquises Tokugawa, representatives of the +Sanke, and the Counts Tokugawa, of the Sankyo. + +Of course, the addition of the Shimizu family had the approval of +Yoshimune. In fact, the whole arrangement as to the Sankyo was an +illustration of his faithful imitation of the institutions of Ieyasu. +The latter had created the Sanke, and Yoshimune created the Sankyo; +Ieyasu had resigned in favour of his son and had continued to +administer affairs from Sumpu, calling himself 0-gosho; Yoshimune +followed his great ancestor's example in all these respects except +that he substituted the western part of Yedo Castle for Sumpu. +Ieshige's most salient characteristic was a passionate disposition. +Men called him the "short-tempered shogun" (kanshaku kubo). He gave +himself up to debauchery, and being of delicate physique, his +self-indulgence quickly undermined his constitution. So long as +Yoshimune lived, his strong hand held things straight, but after his +death, in 1751, the incompetence of his son became very marked. He +allowed himself to fall completely under the sway of his immediate +attendants, and, among these, Tanuma Okitsugu succeeded in +monopolizing the evil opportunity thus offered. During nearly ten +years the reforms effected by Yoshimune steadily ceased to be +operative, and when Ieshige resigned in 1760, the country had fallen +into many of the bad customs of the Genroku era. + +THE TENTH SHOGUN, IEHARU + +After his abdication in 1760, Ieshige survived only fourteen months, +dying, in 1761, at the age of fifty-one. He was succeeded, in 1760, +by his son, Ieharu, who, having been born in 1737, was twenty-three +years old when he began to administer the country's affairs. One of +his first acts was to appoint Tanuma Okitsugu to be prime minister, +bestowing on him a fief of fifty-seven thousand koku in the province +of Totomi, and ordering him to construct a fortress there. At the +same time Okitsugu's son, Okitomo, received the rank of Yamato no +Kami and the office of junior minister. These two men became +thenceforth the central figures in an era of maladministration and +corruption. So powerful and all-reaching was their influence that +people were wont to say, "Even a bird on the wing could not escape +the Tanuma." The shogun was not morally incapable, but his +intelligence was completely overshadowed by the devices of Okitsugu, +who took care that Ieharu should remain entirely ignorant of popular +sentiment. Anyone attempting to let light into this state of darkness +was immediately dismissed. It is related of a vassal of Okitsugu that +he was found one day with three high officials of the shogun's court +busily engaged in applying a moxa to his foot. The three officials +knew that their places depended on currying favour with this vassal; +how much more, then, with his master, Okitsugu! Everything went by +bribery. Justice and injustice were openly bought and sold. Tanuma +Okitsugu was wont to say that human life was not so precious as gold +and silver; that by the liberality of a man's gifts his sincerity +might truly be gauged, and that the best solace for the trouble of +conducting State affairs was for their administrator to find his +house always full of presents. + +Ieharu, however, knew nothing of all this, or anything of the natural +calamities that befell the country under his sway--the eruption of +the Mihara volcano, in 1779, when twenty feet of ashes were piled +over the adjacent country through an area of several miles; the +volcanic disturbance at Sakura-jima, in Osumi, which took place about +the same time and ended in the creation of several new islands; the +outbreak of the Asama crater, in 1783, when half the provinces of the +Kwanto were covered with ashes; and the loss of forty thousand lives +by a flood in the Tone-gawa. Of all these visitations the shogun +remained uninformed, and, in spite of them, luxury and extravagance +marked the lives of the upper classes. Many, however, were +constrained to seek loans from wealthy merchants in Osaka, and these +tradesmen, admonished by past incidents, refused to lend anything. At +last the intolerable situation culminated in a deed of violence. In +April, 1784, Sano Masakoto, a hereditary vassal of the shogun, drew +his sword upon Okitsugu within the precincts of the castle in Yedo +and wounded him severely. Masakoto was seized and sentenced to commit +suicide, but the justice of his attempt being recognized, the +influence of Okitsugu and his son began to decline. Two years later +(1786), there appeared a decree in the name of the Bakufu, ordering +that the temples in all the provinces, the farmers, the artisans, and +the merchants should send their gold and silver every spring to the +Central Government, to the end that the latter might lend this +treasure to the feudatories, who would pledge themselves to pay it +back after five years.* + +*The funds thus obtained were called yuzu-kin (accommodation money). + +There is reason to believe that the shogun himself knew nothing of +this ordinance until a multitude of complaints and remonstrances +found their way, in part, to his ears. At all events, the +extraordinary decree proved to be the last act of Okitsugu's official +life. He was dismissed from office, though whether the credit of that +step belongs to the Sanke and the elder officials or to the shogun, +is not certain, for Ieharu is said to have died just before the final +disgrace of the corrupt statesman was consummated. The Yedo upon +which he closed his eyes in October, 1786, presented features of +demoralization unsurpassed in any previous era. In fact, during the +period of forty-one years between the accession of the ninth shogun, +Ieshige, in 1745, and the death of the tenth, Ieharu, in 1786, the +manners and customs of the citizens developed along very evil lines. +It was in this time that the city Phryne (machi-geisha) made her +appearance; it was in this time that the theatre, which had hitherto +been closed to the better classes, began to be frequented by them; it +was in this time that gambling became universal; it was in this time +that parents learned to think it an honour to see their daughters +winning favour as dancing girls, and it was in this time that the +samurai's noble contempt for money gave place to the omnipotence of +gold in military and civil circles alike. + +THE IMPERIAL COURT. THE 113TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR HIGASHIYAMA +(A.D. 1687-1710) + +In 1687, the Emperor Reigen abdicated in favour of Higashiyama, then +a boy of thirteen, Reigen continuing to administer affairs from +behind the curtain as was usual. Tsunayoshi was then the shogun in +Yedo. He showed great consideration for the interests of the Imperial +Court. Thus, he increased his Majesty's allowance by ten thousand +koku of rice annually, and he granted an income of three thousand +koku to the ex-Emperor. Moreover, all the Court ceremonies, which had +been interrupted for want of funds, were resumed, and steps were +taken to repair or rebuild the sepulchres of the sovereigns +throughout the empire. + +RELATIONS BETWEEN THE FEUDATORIES AND THE COURT NOBLES + +According to a rule made in the beginning of the Tokugawa dynasty, a +lady of Tokugawa lineage was forbidden to marry a Court noble, but +the shogun himself was expected to take a consort from one of the +noble houses in the Imperial capital. From the days of Iemitsu this +latter custom was steadily maintained, and gradually the feudatories +came to follow the shogun's example, so that marriages between +military magnates and noble ladies of Kyoto Were frequent. To these +unions the Court nobles were impelled by financial reasons and the +military men by ambition. The result was the gradual formation of an +Imperial party and of a Bakufu party in Kyoto, and at times there +ensued sharp rivalry between the two cliques. In the days of the +seventh shogun, Ietsugu, the Emperor Reigen would have given his +daughter Yaso to be the shogun's consort for the purpose of restoring +real friendship between the two Courts, but the death of the shogun +in his boyhood interrupted the project. + +THE 114TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR NAKANOMIKADO (A.D. 1710-1735) + +Higashiyama abdicated (1710) in favour of Nakanomikado, who reigned +for twenty-five years. This reign is remarkable for a change in the +system hitherto uniformly pursued, namely, that all Imperial princes +with the exception of the direct heir should become Buddhist priests +(ho-shinnd), and all princesses except those chosen as consorts of +the shoguns, should become Buddhist nuns (bikuni-gosho). It has +already been shown that this custom found many followers in the days +of Ashikaga administration, and it was observed with almost equal +strictness under the Tokugawa, who certainly aimed at the gradual +weakening of the Imperial household's influence. Arai Hakuseki +remonstrated with the shogun, Ienobu, on the subject. He contended +that however humble a man's lot may be, his natural desire is to see +his children prosper, whereas in the case of Imperial princes, they +were condemned to the ascetic career of Buddhist priests. He +denounced such a system as opposed to the instincts of humanity, and +he advised not only that certain princes should be allowed to form +families of their own, but also that Imperial princesses should marry +into branches of the Tokugawa. Ienobu is said to have acknowledged +the wisdom of this advice, and its immediate result was the +establishment of the princely house of Kanin, which, with the houses +of Fushimi, Kyogoku (afterwards Katsura), and Arisugawa, became the +four Shinnoke. Among other privileges these were designated to +furnish an heir to the throne in the event of the failure of direct +issue. When Yoshimune succeeded to the headship of the Bakufu, and +after Arai Hakuseki was no longer in office, this far-seeing policy +was gradually abandoned, and all the relations between the Imperial +Court and the Bakufu became somewhat strained. + +THE 115TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SAKURAMACHI (A. D, 1732-1735), AND +THE 116TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MOMOZONO (A.D. 1735-1762) + +After the death of the ex-Emperor Reigen (1732), the Emperor +Nakanomikado administered affairs himself during three years, and +then abdicated in 1735 in favour of Sakuramachi, who was sixteen +years of age, and who reigned until 1747, when he abdicated in favour +of Momozono, then seven years of age. It was in this reign that there +appeared an eminent scholar, Yamazaki Ansai, who, with his scarcely +less famous pupil, Takenouchi Shikibu, expounded the Chinese classics +according to the interpretation of Chutsz. They sought to combine the +cults of Confucianism and Shinto, and to demonstrate that the Mikados +were descendants of gods; that everything possessed by a subject +belonged primarily to the sovereign, and that anyone opposing his +Majesty's will must be killed, though his brothers or his parents +were his slayers. The obvious effect of such doctrines was to +discredit the Bakufu shoguns, and information having ultimately been +lodged in Yedo through an enemy of Takenouchi, seventeen Court nobles +together with others were arrested and punished, some capitally and +some by exile. Among those executed the most remarkable was Yamagata +Daini, a master of military science, who, having endured the torture +without confession, was finally put to death on the ground that in +teaching the method of attacking a fortress he used drawings of Yedo +Castle. This incident is remarkable as indicating the first potent +appearance of a doctrine to the prevalence of which the fall of the +Tokugawa Bakufu was ultimately referable. + +THE 117TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS GO-SAKURAMACHI (A.D. 1762-1770), AND +THE 118TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-MOMOZONO (A.D. 1770-1780) + +The Emperor Momozono died in 1762 after having administered the +Government for sixteen years. His eldest son, Prince Hidehito, being +a mere baby, it was decided that Princess Tomo, Momozono's elder +sister, should occupy the throne, Prince Hidehito becoming the Crown +Prince. Her Majesty is known in history as Go-Sakuramachi. Her reign +lasted only eight years, and in 1770 she abdicated in favour of her +nephew, Hidehito, who ascended the throne as the Emperor Go-Momozono +and died after a reign of nine years. This exhausted the lineal +descendants of the Emperor Nakanomikado. + +THE 119TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOKAKU (A.D. 1780-1816) + +In default of a direct heir it became necessary to have recourse to +one of the "Four Princely Families," and the choice fell upon Prince +Tomohito, representing the Kanin house. He succeeded as Kokaku, and a +Japanese historian remarks with regard to the event and to the growth +of the spirit fostered by Yamazaki Ansai, Takenouchi Shikibu, and +Yamagata Daini, that "the first string of the Meiji Restoration lyre +vibrated at this time in Japan." Kokaku's reign will be referred to +again later on. + +ENGRAVING: (Keyari) SPEAR CARRIER (One of a Daimyo's Procession) + +ENGRAVING: PICKING TEA LEAVES IN UJI, A CELEBRATED TEA DISTRICT + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE LATE PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU. + +THE ELEVENTH SHOGUN, IENARI. (1786-1838) + +NATURAL CALAMITIES + +THE misgovernment of Tanuma and his son was not the only calamity +that befell the country during the closing years of the tenth shogun, +Ieharu's, administration. The land was also visited by famine and +pestilence of unparallelled dimensions. The evil period began in 1783 +and lasted almost without intermission for four years. It is recorded +that when the famine was at its height, rice could not be obtained in +some parts of the country for less than forty ryo a koku. Sanguinary +riots took place in Yedo, Kyoto, Osaka, and elsewhere. The stores of +rice-merchants and the residences of wealthy folks were plundered +and, in many cases, destroyed. To such extremities were people driven +that cakes made from pine-tree bark served as almost the sole means +of subsistence in some districts, and the Government is found gravely +proclaiming that cakes made of straw were more nutritious. There are +records of men deserting their families, wandering into other +provinces in search of food and dying by thousands on the way. An +official who had been sent to Matsumae, in the province of Mutsu, to +observe the state of affairs, reported that the villages to the east +of Nambu had been practically depopulated and the once fertile fields +converted into barren plains. "Although farmhouses stood in the +hamlets, not a solitary person was to be seen on the road; not a +human voice was to be heard. Looking through a window, one saw dead +bodies lying without anyone to bury them, and sometimes skeletons +covered with quilts reposed on the mats, while among the weeds +countless corpses were scattered." + +THE ELEVENTH SHOGUN, IENARI + +Among these terrible conditions the tenth shogun, Ieharu died, in +1786, and was succeeded by Ienari, a son of Hitotsubashi Harunari and +a great-grandson of Yoshimune. Ienari was in his fifteenth year, and, +of course, at such a tender age he could not possibly deal with the +financial, economic, and administrative problems that presented +themselves at this, the darkest period of Tokugawa sway. Fortunately +a man of genius was found to grapple with the situation. Matsudaira +Sadanobu, son of Tayasu Munetake and grandson of Yoshimune, proved +himself one of the most capable administrators Japan had hitherto +produced. In 1788, he was appointed prime minister, assisted by a +council of State comprising the heads of the three Tokugawa families +of Mito, Kii, and Owari. Sadanobu was in his thirtieth year, a man of +boundless energy, great insight, and unflinching courage. His first +step was to exorcise the spectre of famine by which the nation was +obsessed. For that purpose he issued rules with regard to the storing +of grain, and as fairly good harvests were reaped during the next few +years, confidence was in a measure restored. The men who served the +Bakufu during its middle period in the capacity of ministers had been +taken almost entirely from the families of Ii, Sakai, and Hotta, but +none of them had shown any marked ability; they had allowed their +functions to be usurped by the personal attendants of the shogun. +This abuse was remedied by the appointment of the heads of the three +Tokugawa families to the post of ministers, and for a time Sadanobu +received loyal and efficient support from his colleagues. + +CONFLAGRATION IN KYOTO + +The series of calamities which commenced with the tempests, floods, +and famines of 1788 culminated in a fire such as never previously had +swept Kyoto. It reduced to ashes the Imperial palace, Nijo Castle, +220 Shinto shrines, 128 Buddhist temples, and 183,000 houses. The +loss of life (2600) was not by any means as severe as that in the +great fire of Yedo, but the Imperial city was practically destroyed. +Ishikawa Jinshiro, who commanded at Nijo Castle, immediately +distributed a thousand koku of rice from the Government's store to +relieve the distressed citizens. He acted in this matter without +waiting to seek sanction from the Bakufu, and his discretion was +rewarded by appointment to the high office of inspector-general of +police (o-metsuke). + +The problem of restoring the palace presented much difficulty in the +impoverished state of the country, but the Bakufu did not hesitate to +take the task in hand, and to issue the necessary requisitions to the +feudatories of the home provinces. Sadanobu himself repaired to Kyoto +to superintend the work, and took the opportunity to travel +throughout a large part of the country. During his tour all that had +any grievances were invited to present petitions, and munificent +rewards were bestowed on persons who had distinguished themselves by +acts of filial piety or by lives of chastity. Such administrative +measures presented a vivid contrast with the corrupt oppression +practised by the Tanuma family, and it is recorded that men and women +kneeled on the road as Sadanobu passed and blessed him with tears. + +ENGRAVING: SANNO FESTIVAL OF TOKYO IN EARLY DAYS + +SUMPTUARY REGULATIONS + +Convinced that the most important step towards economic improvement +was the practice of frugality, Sadanobu caused rules to be compiled +and issued which dealt with almost every form of expenditure. He +himself made a practice of attending at the castle wearing garments +of the coarsest possible materials, and the minute character of his +ordinances against extravagance almost taxes credulity. + +Thus, he forbade the custom of exchanging presents between official +colleagues; ordered that everyone possessing an income of less than +ten thousand koku should refrain from purchasing anything new, +whether clothing, utensils, or furniture; interdicted the wearing of +white robes except on occasions of ceremony; ordained that wedding +presents should henceforth be reduced by one-half, advised that dried +lobsters should be substituted for fresh fish in making presents; +prohibited the wearing of brocade or embroidered silk by ladies not +of the highest class; enjoined simplicity in costumes for the no +dance, in children's toys, in women's pipes, or tobacco-pouches, and +in ladies' hairpins or hairdress; forbade gold lacquer in any form +except to delineate family crests; limited the size of dolls; vetoed +banquets, musical entertainments, and all idle pleasures except such +as were justified by social status, and actually went to the length +of ordering women to dress their own hair, dispensing entirely with +professional Hairdressers, who were bade to change their occupation +for tailoring or laundry work. + +This remarkable statesman laboured for the ethical improvement of his +countrymen as well as for their frugality of life. In 1789, we find +him legislating against the multiplication of brothels, and, two +years later, he vetoed mixed bathing of men and women. One of the +fashions of the time was that vassals left in charge of their lords' +mansions in Yedo used to organize mutual entertainments by way of +promoting good-fellowship, but in reality for purposes of +dissipation. These gatherings were strictly interdicted. +Simultaneously with the issue of this mass of negative legislation, +Sadanobu took care to bestow rewards and publish eulogies. Whoever +distinguished himself by diligent service, by chastity, by filial +piety, or by loyalty, could count on honourable notice. + +THE KWANSEI VAGABONDS + +During the Kwansei era (1789-1800), Yedo was infested by vagabonds, +who, having been deprived of their livelihood by the famine during +the years immediately previous, made a habit of going about the town +in groups of from three to five men committing deeds of theft or +incendiarism. Sadanobu, acting on the advice of the judicial +officials, dealt with this evil by establishing a house of correction +on Ishikawa Island. There homeless vagrants were detained and +provided with work, those ignorant of any handicraft being employed +as labourers. The inmates were fed and clothed by the Government, and +set free after three years, their savings being handed to them to +serve as capital for some occupation. The institution was placed +under the care of Hasegawa Heizo, five hundred bags of rice and five +hundred ryo being granted annually by the Bakufu for its support. + +ADOPTION + +It has been stated above that one of the abuses which came into large +practice from the middle period of the Tokugawa Bakufu was the +adoption of children of ignoble birth into samurai families in +consideration of monetary payments by their parents. This mercenary +custom was strictly interdicted by the Matsudaira regent, who justly +saw in it a danger to the solidity of the military class. But it does +not appear that his veto received full observance. + +EDUCATION + +Since the shogun Tsunayoshi (1680-1709) appointed Hayashi Nobuatsu as +chief of Education in Yedo, and entrusted to him the conduct of the +college called Seido, Hayashi's descendants succeeded to that post by +hereditary right. They steadily followed the principles of +Confucianism as interpreted by Chutsz, a Chinese philosopher who died +in the year 1200, but in accordance with the inevitable fate of all +hereditary offices, the lapse of generations brought inferiority of +zeal and talent. During the first half of the seventeenth century, +there appeared in the field of Japanese philosophy Nakaye Toju, who +adopted the interpretation of Confucianism given by a later Chinese +philosopher, Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529). At a subsequent date Yamaga +Soko, Ito Jinsai, and Ogyu Sorai (called also Butsu Sorai) asserted +the superiority of the ancient Chinese teaching; and finally +Kinoshita Junan preached the rule of adopting whatever was good, +without distinction of Tang or Sung. + +These four schools engaged in vehement controversy, and showed such +passion in their statements and such intolerance in their +contradictions, that they seemed to have altogether forgotten the +ethical principles underlying their own doctrines. In the last +quarter of the eighteenth century, other schools came into being, one +calling itself the "eclectic school," another the "inductive school," +and so forth, so that in the end one and the same passage of the +Confucian Analects received some twenty different interpretations, +all advanced with more or less abuse and injury to the spirit of +politeness. + +In these circumstances the educational chief in Yedo lost control of +the situation. Even among his own students there were some who +rejected the teachings of Chutsz, and Confucianism threatened to +become a stumbling-block rather than an aid to ethics. The prime +minister, Sadanobu, now appointed four philosophers of note to assist +the Hayashi family, and these famous teachers attended in turn at the +Seido to lecture, commoners as well as samurai being allowed to +attend. Sadanobu further directed that the heads of Government +departments should send in a list of those best educated among their +subordinates, and the men thus recommended were promoted after +examination. Moreover, the prime minister himself, attended by his +colleagues and the administrators, made a habit of inspecting +personally, from time to time, the manner of teaching at the college, +and finally, in 1795, the Seido was definitely invested with the +character of a Government college, a yearly grant of 1130 koku being +apportioned to meet the expenses, and an income of 1500 koku being +bestowed upon the Hayashi family. + +In the same year, it was decreed that no one should be eligible for a +post in the civil service unless he was an avowed follower of the +Chutsz philosophy. This bigoted measure, spoken of as the +"prohibition of heterodoxy," did not produce the desired effect. It +tended rather to accentuate the differences between the various +schools, and a petition was presented to the Bakufu urging that the +invidious veto should be rescinded. The petitioners contended that +although the schools differed from each other, their differences were +not material, since all stood on common foundations, namely, the +doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, and all agreed in inculcating the +virtues of filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, humanity, +righteousness, politeness, and general tranquillity. + +THE PHILOSOPHIES OF CHUTSZ AND WANG YANG-MING + +It will be interesting to pause here a moment in order to inquire +briefly the nature of the philosophies which occupied Japanese +thought throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. We +need not go beyond the schools of Chutsz and Wang Yang-ming, for the +third, or "ancient," school adopted the teachings of Confucius and +Mencius in their purity, rejecting all subsequent deductions from the +actual words used by these sages. These two schools have been well +distinguished as follows by a modern philosopher, Dr. Inouye +Tetsujiro: + +"(1) Chutsz maintained that it is necessary to make an extensive +investigation of the world and its laws before determining what is +the moral law. Wang held that man's knowledge of moral law precedes +all study and that a man's knowledge of himself is the very highest +kind of learning. Chutsz's method may be said to be inductive; +Wang's, deductive. + +"(2) The cosmogony of Chutsz was dualistic. All nature owed its +existence to the Ri and Ki, the determining principle and the vital +force of primordial aura that produces and modifies motion. Wang held +that these two were inseparable. His teaching was therefore monistic. + +"(3) Chutsz taught that the primary principle, Ri, and the mind of +man were quite separate, and that the latter was attached to the Ki. +Wang held that the mind of man and the principle of the universe were +one and the same, and argued that no study of external nature was +required in order to find out nature's laws. To discover these, man +had only to look within his own heart. He that understands his own +heart understands nature, says Wang. + +"(4) Chutsz's system makes experience necessary in order to +understand the laws of the universe, but Wang's idealism dispenses +with it altogether as a teacher. + +"(5) Chutsz taught that knowledge must come first and right conduct +after. Wang contended that knowledge and conduct cannot be separated. +One is part of the other. Chutsz may be said to exalt learned +theories and principles, and Wang to extol practice. + +"The moral results of the systems briefly stated were as follows: +Chutsz 'a teaching produced many learned men in this country, but not +infrequently these men were inferior, being narrow-minded, +prejudiced, and behind the age. Wang's doctrines, on the other hand, +while they cannot escape the charge of shallowness on all occasions, +serve the moral purpose for which they were propagated better than +those of the rival school. Though in the ranks of the Japanese +followers of Chutsz there were numbers of insignificant, bigoted +traditionalists, the same cannot be said of those who adopted Wang's +views. They were as a class fine specimens of humanity, abreast, if +not ahead, of the age in which they lived. No system of teaching has +produced anything approaching such a number of remarkable men. If a +tree is to be judged by its fruit, Wang's philosophy in Japan must be +pronounced one of the greatest benefits that she received from the +neighbouring continent, though not a little of its power in this +country is to be traced to the personality of the man who was the +first to make it thoroughly known to his fellow countrymen, Nakaye +Toju."* + +*See Professor Walter Dening's brochure on Confucian Philosophy in +Japan. + +Dr. Inouye adds: "By exclusive attention to the dictates of +conscience and by sheer force of will the Wang school of philosophers +succeeded in reaching a standard of attainment that served to make +them models for posterity. The integrity of heart preached by his +followers in Japan has become a national heritage of which all +Japanese are proud. In the West, ethics has become too exclusively a +subject of intellectual inquiry, a question as to which of rival +theories is the most logical. By the Japanese, practical virtue has +been exalted to the pedestal of the highest honour." + +The same authority, discussing the merits of the Chutsz school, says: +"To the question which has so often been asked during the past few +years, whence comes the Japanese fine ethical standard, the answer is +that it undoubtedly originated with the teaching of Chutsz as +explained, modified, and carried into practice in Japan. The moral +philosophy of the Chutsz school in Japan compared with that of the +other two schools was moderate in tone, free from eccentricities, and +practical in a rare degree. In the enormous importance it attached to +self-culture and what is known in modern terminology as +self-realization, the teaching of the Chutsz school of Japanese +moralists differed in no material respects from the doctrines of the +New Kantians in England." + +RETIREMENT OF SADANOBU + +After six years of most enlightened service, Matsudaira Sadanobu +resigned office in 1793 to the surprise and consternation of all +truly patriotic Japanese. History is uncertain as to the exact cause +of his retirement, but the explanation seems to be, first, that his +uncompromising zeal of reform had earned him many enemies who watched +constantly for an opportunity to attack him, and found it during his +absence on a visit to inspect the coasts of the empire with a view to +enforcing the veto against foreign trade; and secondly, that a +question of prime importance having arisen between the Courts of +Kyoto and Yedo, Sadanobu's influence was exercised in a manner deeply +resented by the sovereign as well as by the loyalists throughout the +empire. This important incident will be presently referred to in +detail. Here it will suffice to state that Sadanobu did not retire in +disgrace. He was promoted to the rank of general of the Left, which +honour was supplemented by an invitation to attend at the castle on +State occasions. He chose, however, to live in retirement, devoting +himself to the administration of his own domain and to literary +pursuits. The author of several well-known books, he is remembered by +his pen-name, Rakuo, almost as constantly as by his historical, +Sadanobu. He died in 1829, at the age of seventy-two. + +HITOTSUBASHI HARUNARI + +After Sadanobu's resignation of the post of prime minister, the +shogun's father, Hitotsubashi Harunari, moved into the western +citadel of Yedo Castle, and thenceforth the great reforms which +Sadanobu had effected by the force of genius and unflagging +assiduity, were quickly replaced by an age of retrogression, so that +posterity learned to speak of the prodigality of the Bunka and Bunsei +eras (1804-1829), instead of the frugality of the Kwansei +(1789-1800). As for the shogun, Ienari, he received from the Throne +the highest rank attainable by a subject, together with the office of +daijo-daijin. Such honour was without precedent since the time of +Ieyasu. Ienari had more than fifty daughters, all born of different +mothers, from which fact the dimensions of his harem may be inferred. + +THE 119TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOKAKU (A.D. 1780-1816) + +The Emperor Kokaku ascended the throne in 1780 and abdicated in 1816. +He was undoubtedly a wise sovereign and as a classical scholar he won +considerable renown. After reigning for thirty-six years, he +administered State affairs from the Palace of Retirement during +twenty-four, and throughout that long interval of sixty years, the +country enjoyed profound peace. The period of Sadanobu's service as +prime minister of the Bakufu coincided with the middle of Kokaku's +reign, and in those days of happiness and prosperity men were wont to +say that with a wise sovereign in the west a wise subject had +appeared in the east. Up to that time the relations between Kyoto and +Yedo were excellent, but Sadanobu's resignation and the cause that +led to it produced between the two Courts a breach which contributed +materially, though indirectly, to the ultimate fall of the Tokugawa. + +REBUILDING OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE + +It has already been noted that after the great fire of 1788, the +Bakufu, acting, of course, at the instance of their prime minister, +ordered Sadanobu to supervise the work of reconstructing the Imperial +palace. Since the days of Oda and Toyotomi, the palace had been +rebuilt or extensively repaired on several occasions, but always the +plans had been too small for the requirements of the orthodox +ceremonials. Sadanobu determined to correct this fault. He called for +plans and elevations upon the bases of those of the tenth century, +and from the gates to the roofs he took care that everything should +be modelled on the old lines. The edifices are said to have been at +once chaste and magnificent, the internal decorations being from the +brushes of the best artists of the Tosa and Sumiyoshi Academies. +Sealed estimates had been required from several leading architects, +and Sadanobu surprised his colleagues by awarding the work to the +highest bidder, on the ground that cheapness could not consist with +true merit in such a case, and that any thought of cost would evince +a want of reverence towards the Imperial Court. The buildings were +finished in two years, and the two Emperors, the reigning and the +retired, took up their residence there. His Majesty Kokaku rewarded +the shogun with an autograph letter of thanks as well as a verse of +poetry composed by himself, and on Sadanobu he conferred a sword and +an album of poems. The shogun Ienari is said to have been profoundly +gratified by this mark of Imperial favour. He openly attributed it to +Sadanobu's exertions, and he presented to the latter a facsimile of +the autograph letter. + +THE TITLE TROUBLE + +In the very year (1791) following the Emperor's entry into the new +palace, a most untoward incident occurred. Up to that time the +relations between the Courts of Kyoto and Yedo had left nothing to be +desired, but now a permanent breach of amity took place. The +sovereign was the son of Prince Tsunehito, head of the Kanin family. +This prince, in spite of his high title, was required by Court +etiquette to sit below the ministers of State on ceremonial occasions +in the palace. Such an order of precedence offended the sovereign, +and his Majesty proposed that the rank of dajo tenno should be given +to his father, thus placing him in the position of a retired Emperor. +Of course it was within the prerogative of the Emperor to confer +titles. The normal procedure would have been to give the desired rank +to Prince Tsunehito, and then to inform the Bakufu of the +accomplished fact. But, in consideration of the very friendly +relations existing between the two Courts, the sovereign seems to +have been unwilling to act on his own initiative in a matter of such +importance. + +Yedo was consulted, and to the surprise of Kyoto, the Bakufu prime +minister assumed an attitude hostile to the Court's desire. The +explanation of this singular act on Sadanobu's part was that a +precisely analogous problem perplexed Yedo simultaneously. When +Ienari was nominated shogun, his father, Hitotsubashi Harunari, fully +expected to be appointed guardian of the new potentate, and being +disappointed in that hope, he expressed his desire to receive the +title of o-gosho (retired shogun), so that he might enter the western +citadel of Yedo Castle and thence administer affairs as had been done +by ex-Emperors in Kyoto for hundreds of years, and by ex-shoguns on +several occasions under the Tokugawa. Disappointed in this +aspiration, Harunari, after some hesitation, invited the attention of +the shogun to the fact that filial piety is the basis of all moral +virtues, and that, whereas the shogun's duty required him to set a +good example to the people, he subjected his own father to unbecoming +humiliation, Ienari referred the matter to the State council, but the +councillors hesitated to establish the precedent of conferring the +rank of o-gosho on the head of one of the Sankyo families--Tayasu, +Shimizu, and Hitotsubashi--who had never discharged the duties of +shogun. + +The prime minister, Sadanobu, however, had not a moment's hesitation +in opposing Harunari's project. He did, indeed, order a well-known +Confucian scholar to search the annals in order to find whether any +precedent existed for the proposed procedure, either in Japan or in +China, but he himself declared that if such an example were set in +the shogun's family, it might be the cause of grave inconvenience +among the people. In other words, a man whose son had been adopted +into another family might claim to be regarded as the head of that +family in the event of the death of the foster-father. It is certain, +however, that other and stronger reasons influenced the Bakufu prime +minister. Hitotsubashi Harunari was generally known as Wagamama +Irikyo (the Wayward Recluse*). His most intimate friends were the +shogun's father-in-law, Shimazu Ei-O, and Ikeda Isshinsai. The latter +two were also inkyo and shared the tastes and foibles of Harunari. +One of their greatest pleasures was to startle society. Thus, when +Sadanobu was legislating with infinite care against prodigality of +any kind, the above three old gentlemen loved to organize parties on +an ostentatiously extravagant scale, and Sadanobu naturally shrank +from seeing the title of o-gosho conferred on such a character, thus +investing him with competence to interfere arbitrarily in the conduct +of State affairs. + +*It has always been a common custom in Japan for the head of a family +to retire nominally from active life after he attains his fiftieth +year. He is thenceforth known as inkyo (or recluse). The same is true +of women. + +Just at this time, the Court in Kyoto preferred its application, and +Sadanobu at once appreciated that if the rank of dajo tenno were +conferred on Prince Tsunehito, it would be impossible to withhold +that of o-gosho from Harunari. Consequently the Bakufu prime minister +wrote privately to the Kyoto prime minister, Takatsukasa Sukehira, +pointing out the inadvisability of the proposed step. This letter, +though not actually an official communication, had the effect of +shelving the matter for a time, but, in 1791, the Emperor re-opened +the question, and summoned a council in the palace to discuss it. The +result was that sixty-five officials, headed by the prime minister +and the minister of the Right, supported the sovereign's views, but +the ex-premier, Takatsukasa Sukehira, and his son, the minister of +the Left, with a few others, opposed them. + +The proceedings of this council with an autograph covering-letter +from the sovereign were sent to the Bakufu, in 1792, but for a long +time no answer was given. Meanwhile Prince Tsunehito, already an old +man, showed signs of declining health, and the Imperial Court pressed +Yedo to reply. Ultimately the Bakufu officially disapproved the +project. No statement of reasons accompanied the refusal, but it was +softened by a suggestion that an increase of revenue might be +conferred on the sovereign's father. This already sufficiently +contumelious act was supplemented by a request from the Bakufu that +the Imperial Court should send to Yedo the high secretary and the +chief of the Household. Unwillingly the Court complied, and after +hearing the arguments advanced by these two officials, Sadanobu +sentenced them to be placed in confinement for a hundred days, and +fifty days, respectively, which sentence was carried out at the +temple Seisho-ji in Yedo, and the two high officials were thereafter +sent back to Kyoto under police escort. Ultimately they were both +dismissed from office, and all the Court dignitaries who had +supported the sovereign's wishes were cautioned not to associate +themselves again with such "rash and unbecoming acts." It can +scarcely be denied that Sadanobu exercised his power in an extreme +and unwise manner on this occasion. A little recourse to tact might +have settled the matter with equal facility and without open +disrespect to the Throne. But the Bakufu prime minister behaved after +the manner of the deer-stalker of the Japanese proverb who does not +see the mountain, and he thus placed in the hands of the Imperialist +party a weapon which contributed materially to the overthrow of the +Bakufu seventy years later. + +ENGRAVING: YO-MEI-MON GATE, AT NIKKO + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +ORGANIZATION, CENTRAL AND LOCAL; CURRENCY AND THE LAWS OF THE +TOKUGAWA BAKAFU + +THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU + +THE organization of the Tokugawa Bakufu cannot be referred to any +earlier period than that of the third shogun, Iemitsu. The +foundations indeed were laid after the battle of Sekigahara, when the +administrative functions came into the hands of Ieyasu. By him a +shoshidai (governor) was established in Kyoto together with municipal +administrators (machi bugyo). But it was reserved for Iemitsu to +develop these initial creations into a competent and consistent +whole. There was, first, what may be regarded as a cabinet, though +the name of its members (roju, or seniors) does not suggest the +functions generally discharged by ministers of State. One of the roju +was appointed to the post of dairo (great senior). He corresponded to +the prime minister in a Western Cabinet, and the other roju may be +counted as ministers. Then there were junior ministers, and after +them came administrators of accounts, inspectors, administrators of +shrines and temples, and municipal administrators. The place where +State business was discharged went by the name of Go-Yo-beya. There, +the senior and junior ministers assembled to transact affairs, and +the chamber being situated in the immediate vicinity of the shogun's +sitting-room, he was able to keep himself au courant of important +administrative affairs. During the time of the fifth shogun, however, +as already related, this useful arrangement underwent radical +alteration. As for judicial business, there did not originally exist +any special place for its transaction. A chamber in the official +residence was temporarily assigned for the purpose, but at a later +date a court of justice (Hyojo-sho) was established at Tatsunokuchi +in Yedo. This organization, though carried within sight of completion +in the days of the third shogun, required to be supplemented by the +eighth, and was not actually perfected until the time of the +eleventh. + +THE DAIRO + +The duties of the dairo--sometimes called karo or o-doshiyori--were +to preside over the roju and to handle important administrative +affairs. In many respects his functions resembled those discharged by +the regent (shikken) of the Kamakura Bakufu. To the office of dairo a +specially distinguished member of the roju was appointed, and if no +one possessing the necessary qualifications was available, that post +had to be left vacant. Generally the Ii, the Hotta, or the Sakai +family supplied candidates for the office. + +THE ROJU + +The roju or senior ministers--called also toshiyori--discharged the +administration. They resembled the kwanryo of the Muromachi +Government. There were five of these ministers and they exercised +control over all matters relating to the Imperial palace, the palace +of the ex-Emperor (Sendo), the Imperial princes, the princely abbots +(monzeki) and all the daimyo. It was customary to choose the roju +from among officials who had previously served as governors of Osaka +or Kyoto or as soshaban, who will be presently spoken of at greater +length. + +THE WAKA-DOSHIYORI + +There were five junior ministers (waka-doshiyori) whose principal +functions were to exercise jurisdiction over the hatamoto and the +kenin. These latter names have already been alluded to, but for the +sake of clearness it may be well to explain that whereas the fudai +daimyo consisted of the one hundred and seventy-six barons who joined +the standard of Ieyasu before the battle of Sekigahara, the hatamoto +(bannerets), while equally direct vassals of the shogun, were lower +than the daimyo though higher than the go-kenin, who comprised the +bulk of the Tokugawa samurai. Members of the waka-doshiyori might at +any time be promoted to the post of roju. Their functions were wide +as well as numerous, and resembled those performed by the Hyojo-shu +and the hikitsuke-shu of the Kamakura and Muromachi Governments. A +junior minister must previously have occupied the post of +administrator of temples and shrines (jisha-bugyo) or that of +chamberlain (o-soba-shu) or that of chief guard (o-ban). The offices +of minister and junior minister were necessarily filled by daimyo who +were hereditary vassals of the shogun. + +SECRETARIES + +There were two secretariats, the oku-yuhitsu (domestic secretariat) +and the omote-yuhitsu (external secretariat). They discharged, on +account of the senior ministers, the duties of scribes, and were +presided over by a todori, who, in later days, wielded large +influence. + +THE JISHA-BUGYO + +The jisha-bugyo, as their name suggests, supervised all affairs +relating to shrines, temples, Shinto officials, bonzes, and nuns as +well as persons residing within the domains of shrines and temples. +They also discharged judicial functions in the case of these various +classes. The number of these administrators of shrines and temples +was originally three, but afterwards it was increased to four, who +transacted business for a month at a time in succession. The +soshaban, who were entitled to make direct reports to the shogun, had +to fill the office of jisha-bugyo in addition to their other +functions, which were connected with the management of matters +relating to ceremony and etiquette. + +At first there were only two of these soshaban, but subsequently +their number was increased to twenty-four, and it became customary +for one of them to keep watch in the castle at night. They were +generally ex-governors of Osaka and Fushimi, and they were +necessarily daimyo who had the qualification of direct vassalage to +the shogun. The jisha-bugyo performed their judicial functions in +their own residences, each administrator employing his own vassals +for subordinate purposes, and these vassals, when so employed, were +distinguished as jisha-yaku or toritsugi. Further, officiating +in conjunction with the jisha-bugyo f were chief inspectors +(daikenshi), and assistant inspectors (shokenshi) whose duties +require no description. The classes of people to whom the +jisha-bugyo's jurisdiction extended were numerous: they embraced the +cemetery-keepers at Momiji-yama, the bonzes, the fire-watchmen, the +musicians, the Shinto officials, the poets, the players at go or +chess, and so forth. + +THE MACHI-BUGYO + +The municipal administrator (machi-bugyo) controlled affairs relating +to the citizens in general. This was among the oldest institutions of +the Tokugawa, and existed also in the Toyotomi organization. At first +there were three machi-bugyo, but when the Tokugawa moved to Yedo, +the number was decreased to one, and subsequently increased again to +two in the days of Iemitsu. Judicial business occupied the major part +of the machi-bugyo's time. His law-court was in his own residence, +and under his direction constables (yoriki or doshiri) patrolled the +city. He also transacted business relating to prisons and the +municipal elders of Yedo (machi-doshiyori) referred to him all +questions of a difficult or serious nature. + +THE KANJO-BUGYO + +The financial administrator (kanjo-bugyo) received also the +appellation of kitchen administrator (daidokoro-bugyo), and his +duties embraced everything relating to the finance of the Bakufu, +including, of course, their estates and the persons residing on those +estates. The eight provinces of the Kwanto were under the direct +control of this bugyo, but other districts were administered by a +daikwan (deputy). There were two kinds of kanjo-bugyo, namely, the +kuji-kata and the katte-kata (public and private), the latter of whom +had to adjudicate all financial questions directly affecting the +Bakufu, and the former had to perform a similar function in cases +where outsiders were concerned. Various officials served as +subordinates of these important bugyo, who were usually taken from +the roju or the waka-doshiyori, and, in the days of the sixth shogun, +it was found necessary to appoint an auditor of accounts +(kanjo-gimmiyaku), who, although nominally of the same rank as the +kanjo-bugyo, really acted in a supervisory capacity. The Bakufu court +of law was the Hyojo-sho. Suits involving issues that lay entirely +within the jurisdiction of one bugyo were tried by him in his own +residence, but where wider interests were concerned the three bugyo +had to conduct the case at the Hyojo-sho, where they formed a +collegiate court. On such occasions the presence of the censors was +compulsory. Sometimes, also, the three bugyo met at the Hyojo-sho +merely for purposes of consultation. + +THE CENSORS + +An important figure in the Tokugawa organization was the censor +(metsuke), especially the great censor (o-metsuke). The holder of the +latter office served as the eyes and ears of the roju and supervised +the feudal barons. There were four or five great censors. One of them +held the additional office of administrator of roads (dochu-bugyo), +and had to oversee matters relating to the villages, the towns, and +the postal stations along the five principal highways. Another had to +inspect matters relating to religious sects and firearms--a strange +combination. Under the great censors were placed administrators of +confiscated estates. The ordinary censors had to exercise +surveillance over the samurai of the hatamoto and were under the +jurisdiction of the waka-doshiyori. There were altogether sixty +metsuke, and they travelled constantly throughout the empire +obtaining materials for reports which were submitted to the +waka-doshiyori. Among them are found censors who performed the duties +of coroners.* + +*The employment of censors by the Bakufu has been severely criticized +as indicating a system of espionage. It scarcely seems necessary to +observe that the same criticism applies to all highly organized +Occidental Governments with their secret services, their detectives +and their inquiry agencies. + +THE CHAMBERLAINS + +Even more important than the censors were the chamberlains (soba +yonin) who had to communicate to the shogun all reports submitted by +the roju, and to offer advice as to the manner of dealing with them. +They also noted the shogun's decisions and appended them to +documents. The exercise of these functions afforded opportunities for +interfering in administrative affairs, and such opportunities were +fully utilized, to the great detriment of public interest. There were +also pages (kosho); castle accountants (nando); literati to the +shogun (oku-jusha), and physicians (oku-isha). + +MASTERS OF CEREMONIES + +The duty of transmitting messages from the shogun to the Emperor and +of regulating all matters of ceremony connected with the castle was +discharged by fifteen masters of ceremonies (koke) presided over by +four chiefs (the office of chief being hereditary in such families as +the Osawa and the Kira) who, although their fiefs were comparatively +small, possessed influence not inferior to that of the daimyo. A koke +was usually on watch in the castle by day. These masters of +ceremonies are not to be confounded with the chamberlains (soshaban) +already spoken of. The latter numbered twenty-four. They regulated +affairs connected with ceremonies in which all Government officials +were concerned, and they kept watch at the castle by night. +Subordinate to the koke and the chamberlains were various officials +who conveyed presents from the feudal lords to the shogun; directed +matters of decoration and furniture; had charge of miscellaneous +works in the castle, and supervised all persons, male or female, +entering or leaving the shogun's harem. Officials of this last class +were under the command of a functionary called o-rusui who had +general charge of the business of the harem; directed the issue of +passports to men and women of the samurai class or to commoners, and +had the care of all military stores in the castle. The name rusui +signifies a person in charge during the absence of his master, and +was applied in this case since the o-rusui had to guard the castle +when the shogun was not present. The multifarious duties entrusted to +officials over whom the o-rusui presided required a large number and +a great variety of persons to discharge them, but these need not be +enumerated in detail here. + +THE TAMARIZUME + +Characteristic of the elaborate etiquette observed at the shogun's +castle was the existence of semi-officials called tamarizume, whose +chief duty in ordinary times was to repair to the castle once every +five days, and to inquire through the roju as to the state of the +shogun's health. On occasions of emergency they participated in the +administration, taking precedence of the roju and the other +feudatories. The Matsudaira of Aizu, Takamatsu, and Matsuyama; the Ii +of Hikone, and the Sakai of Himeji--these were the families which +performed the functions of tamarizume as a hereditary right. It is +unnecessary to describe the organization and duties of the military +guards to whom the safety of the castle was entrusted, but the fact +has to be noted that both men and officers were invariably taken from +the hatamoto class. + +THE WOMEN'S APARTMENTS + +In the o-oku, or innermost buildings of the shogun's castle, +the harem was situated. Its chief official was a woman called +the o-toshiyori (great elder), under whom were a number of +ladies-in-waiting, namely, the toshiyori, the rojo, the churo, the +kojoro, and others. There were also ladies who attended solely to +visitors; others who kept the keys; others who carried messages to +public officers, and others who acted as secretaries. All this part +of the organization would take pages to describe in detail,* and is +necessarily abbreviated here. We may add, however, that there were +official falconers, sailors, grooms, gardeners, and every kind of +artist or mechanician. + +*For fuller particulars of the manner of daily life at the shogun's +court, see Chapter 1. Vol. IV, of Brinkley's "Oriental Series." + +THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM + +In organizing a system of local government the Tokugawa Bakufu began +by appointing a shoshidai in Kyoto to guard the Imperial palace, to +supervise Court officials, and to oversee financial measures as well +as to hear suits-at-law, and to have control over temples and +shrines. The shoshidai enjoyed a high measure of respect. He had to +visit Yedo once in every five or six years for the purpose of making +a report to the shogun in person. The municipal administrator of +Kyoto and the administrators of Nara and Fushimi, the Kyoto deputy +(daikwan), and all the officials of the Nijo palace were under the +jurisdiction of the shoshidai. To qualify for this high office a man +must have served as governor of Osaka. In the Imperial city the +municipal administrator heard suits-at-law presented by citizens, +managed the affairs of temples and shrines, and was responsible for +collecting the taxes in the home provinces. There were two of these +officials in Kyoto and, like their namesakes in Yedo, they had a +force of constables (yoriki) and policemen (doshin) under their +command. + +THE JODAI + +Regarded with scarcely less importance than that attaching to the +shoshidai was an official called the jodai of Osaka, on whom devolved +the responsibility of guarding the Kwansei. For this office a +hereditary daimyo of the Tokugawa family was selected, and he must +previously have occupied the offices of soshaban and jisha-bugyo. The +routine of promotion was from the jodai of Osaka to the shoshidai of +Kyoto and from thence to the roju. Originally there were six jodai +but their number was ultimately reduced to one. Sumpu also had a +jodai, who discharged duties similar to those devolving on his Osaka +namesake. In Nagasaki, Sado, Hakodate, Niigata, and other important +localities, bugyo were stationed, and in districts under the direct +control of the Bakufu the chief official was the daikwan. + +ADMINISTRATION IN FIEFS + +The governmental system in the fiefs closely resembled the system of +the Bakufu. The daimyo exercised almost unlimited power, and the +business of their fiefs was transacted by factors (karo). Twenty-one +provinces consisted entirely of fiefs, and in the remaining provinces +public and private estates were intermixed. + +LOCAL AUTONOMY + +Both the Bakufu and the feudatories were careful to allow a maximum +of autonomy to the lower classes. Thus the farmers elected a village +chief--called nanushi or shoya--who held his post for life or for one +year, and who exercised powers scarcely inferior to those of a +governor. There were also heads of guilds (kumi-gashira) and +representatives of farmers (hyakushodai) who participated in +administering the affairs of a village. Cities and towns had +municipal elders (machi-doshiyori), under whom also nanushi +officiated. The guilds constituted a most important feature of this +local autonomic system. They consisted of five householders each, +being therefore called gonin-gumi, and their main functions were to +render mutual aid in all times of distress, and to see that there +were no evasions of the taxes or violations of the law. In fact, the +Bakufu interfered as little as possible in the administrative systems +of the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial classes, and the +feudatories followed the same rule. + +FINANCE + +The subject of finance in the Bakufu days is exceedingly complicated, +and a very bare outline will suffice. It has already been noted that +the unit of land-measurement varied from time to time and was never +uniform throughout the empire. That topic need not be further +discussed. Rice-fields were divided into five classes, in accordance +with which division the rates of taxation were fixed. Further, in +determining the amount of the land-tax, two methods were followed; +one by inspection, the other by average. In the case of the former, +the daikwan repaired in the fall of each year to the locality +concerned, and having ascertained the nature of the crop harvested, +proceeded to determine the rate of tax. This arrangement lent itself +so readily to abuse that the system of averages was substituted as +far as possible. That is to say, the average yield of crops for the +preceding ten or twenty years served as a standard. + +The miscellaneous taxes were numerous. Thus, there were taxes on +business; taxes for post-horses and post-carriers; taxes in the form +of labour, which were generally fixed at the rate of fifty men per +hundred koku, the object in view being work on river banks, roads, +and other public institutions; taxes to meet the cost of collecting +taxes, and taxes to cover defalcations. Sometimes the above taxes +were levied in kind or in actual labour, and sometimes they were +collected in money. To facilitate collection in cities, merchants +were required to form guilds according to their respective +businesses, and the head of each guild had to collect the tax payable +by the members. Thus, upon a guild of sake-brewers a tax of a +thousand gold ryo was imposed, and a guild of wholesale dealers in +cotton had to pay five hundred ryo. There was a house-tax which was +assessed by measuring the area of the land on which a building stood, +and there was a tax on expert labour such as that of carpenters and +matmakers. In order to facilitate the levy of this last-named tax +the citizens were required to locate themselves according to the +nature of their employment, and thus such names were found as +"Carpenter's street," "Matmaker's street," and so forth. Originally +these imposts were defrayed by actual labour, but afterwards money +came to be substituted. + +An important feature of the taxation system was the imposition of +buke-yaku, (military dues). For these the feudatories were liable, +and as the amount was arbitrarily fixed by the Bakufu, though always +with due regard to the value of the fief, such dues were often very +onerous. The same is true in an even more marked degree as to taxes +in labour, materials, or money, which were levied upon the +feudatories for the purposes of any great work projected by the +Bakufu. These imposts were called aids (otetsudai). + +MANNER OF PAYING TAXES + +The manner of paying taxes varied accordingly to localities. Thus, in +the Kwanto, payment was generally made in rice for wet fields and in +money for uplands, at the rate of one gold ryo per two and a half +koku of rice. In the Kinai and western provinces as well as in the +Nankai-do, on the other hand, the total tax on wet fields and uplands +was divided into three parts, two of which were paid with rice and +one with money, the value of a koku of rice being fixed at +forty-eight mon of silver (four-fifths of a gold ryo). As a general +rule, taxes imposed on estates under the direct control of the Bakufu +were levied in rice, which was handed over to the daikwan of each +province, and by him transported to Yedo, Kyoto, or Osaka, where it +was placed in stores under the control of store-administrators +(kura-bugyo). + +In the case of cash payments the money was transported to the castle +of Yedo or Osaka, where it came under the care of the finance +administrator (kane-bugyo). Finally, the accounts connected with such +receipts of cash were compiled and rendered by the administrator of +accounts (kane-bugyo), and were subsequently audited by officials +named katte-kata, over which office a member of the roju or +waka-doshiyori presided. Statistics compiled in 1836 show that the +revenue annually collected from the Tokugawa estates in rice and +money amounted to 807,068 koku and 93,961 gold ryo respectively. As +for the rate of the land-tax, it varied in different parts of the +provinces, from seventy per cent, for the landlord and thirty for the +tenant to thirty for the landlord and seventy for the tenant. + +CURRENCY + +It has been shown above that, from the time of the fifth shogun, +debasement of the coins of the realm took place frequently. Indeed it +may be said that whenever the State fell into financial difficulty, +debasement of the current coins was regarded as a legitimate device. +Much confusion was caused among the people by repeated changes in the +quality of the coins. Thus, in the days of the eighth shogun, no less +than four varieties of a single silver token were in circulation. +When the country renewed its foreign intercourse in the middle of the +nineteenth century, there were no less than eight kinds of gold coin +in circulation, nine of silver, and four of copper or iron. The +limits within which the intrinsic value of gold coins varied will be +understood when we say that whereas the gold oban of the Keicho era +(1596-1614) contained, approximately, 29.5 parts of gold to 13 of +silver and was worth about seventy-five yen. The corresponding coin +of the Man-en era (1860) contained 10.33 parts of pure gold to 19.25 +of silver, and was worth only twenty-eight yen. + +PAPER CURRENCY + +The earliest existing record of the use of paper currency dates from +1661, when the feudal chief of Echizen obtained permission from the +Bakufu to employ this medium of exchange, provided that its +circulation was limited to the fief where the issue took place. These +paper tokens were called hansatsu (fief notes), and one result of +their issue was that moneys accruing from the sale of cereals and +other products of a fief were preserved within that fief. The example +of Echizen in this matter found several followers, but the system +never became universal. + +JUDICIAL PROCEDURE + +The administration of justice in the Tokugawa days was based solely +on ethical principles. Laws were not promulgated for prospective +application. They were compiled whenever an occasion arose, and in +their drafting the prime aim was always to make their provisions +consonant with the dictates of humanity. Once, indeed, during the +time of the second shogun, Hidetada, a municipal administrator, +Shimada Yuya, having held the office for more than twenty years, and +having come to be regarded as conspicuously expert in rendering +justice, it was proposed to the shogun that the judgments delivered +by this administrator should be recorded for the guidance of future +judges. Hidetada, however, objected that human affairs change so +radically as to render it impossible to establish universally +recognizable precedents, and that if the judgments delivered in any +particular era were transmitted as guides for future generations, the +result would probably be slavish sacrifice of ethical principles on +the altar of stereotyped practice. + +In 1631, when the third shogun, Iemitsu, ruled in Yedo, a public +courthouse (Hyojo-sho) was for the first time established. Up to that +time the shogun himself had served as a court of appeal in important +cases. These were first brought before a bugyo, and subsequently, if +specially vital issues were at stake, the shogun personally sat as +judge, the duty of executing his judgments being entrusted to the +bugyo and other officials. + +Thenceforth, the custom came to be this: Where comparatively minor +interests were involved and where the matter lay wholly within the +jurisdiction of one administrator, that official sat as judge in a +chamber of his own mansion; but in graver cases and where the +interests concerned were not limited to one jurisdiction, the +Hyojo-sho became the judicial court, and the three administrators, +the roju, together with the censors, formed a collegiate tribunal. +There were fixed days each month for holding this collegiate court, +and there were also days when the three administrators alone met at +one of their residences for purposes of private conference. The +hearing by the shogun was the last recourse, and before submission to +him the facts had to be investigated by the chamberlains (sobashu), +who thus exercised great influence. A lawsuit instituted by a +plebeian had to be submitted to the feudatory of the region, or to +the administrator, or to the deputy (daikwari), but might never be +made the subject of a direct petition to the shogun. If the feudatory +or the deputy Were held to be acting contrary to the dictates of +integrity and reason, the suitor might change his domicile for the +purpose of submitting a petition to the authorities in Yedo; and the +law provided that no obstruction should be placed in the way of such +change. + +LAW + +As stated above, the original principle of the Bakufu was to avoid +compiling any written criminal code. But from the days of the sixth +and the seventh shoguns, Ienobu and Ietsugu, such provisions of +criminal law as related to ordinary offences came to be written in +the most intelligible style and placarded throughout the city of Yedo +and provincial towns or villages. On such a placard (kosatsu) posted +up, in the year 1711, at seven places in Yedo, it was enjoined on +parents, sons, daughters, brothers, husbands, wives, and other +relatives that they must maintain intimate and friendly relations +among themselves; and that, whereas servants must be faithful and +industrious, their masters should have compassion and should obey the +dictates of right in dealing with them; that everyone should be hard +working and painstaking; that people should not transgress the limits +of their social status; that all deceptions should be carefully +avoided; that everyone should make it a rule of life to avoid doing +injury or causing loss to others; that gambling should be eschewed; +that quarrels and disputes of every kind should be avoided; that +asylum should not be given to wounded persons; that firearms should +not be used without cause; that no one should conceal an offender; +that the sale or purchase of human being, should be strictly +prohibited except in cases where men or women offered their services +for a fixed term of years or as apprentices, or in cases of +hereditary servitude; finally, that, though hereditary servants went +to other places and changed their domicile, it should not be lawful +to compel their return. + +In the days of the eighth shogun, Yoshimune, it being held that +crimes were often due to ignorance of law, the feudatories and +deputies were directed to make arrangements for conveying to the +people tinder their jurisdiction some knowledge of the nature of the +statutes; and the result was that the mayors (nanushi) of provincial +towns and villages had to read the laws once a month at a meeting of +citizens or villagers convened for the purpose. Previously to this +time, namely, in the days of the fourth shogun, Ietsugu, the office +of recorder (tome-yaku) was instituted in the Hyojo-sho for the +purpose of committing to writing all judgments given in lawsuits. But +in the days of Yoshimune, the rules and regulations issued by the +Bakufu from the time of Ieyasu downwards were found to have fallen +into such confusion that the difficulty of following them was +practically insuperable. + +Therefore, in 1742, Matsudaira Norimura, one of the roju, together +with the three administrators, was commissioned to compile a body of +laws, and the result was a fifteen volume book called the Hatto-gaki +(Prohibitory Writings). The shogun himself evinced keen interest in +this undertaking. He frequently consulted with the veteran officials +of his court, and during a period of several years he revised "The +Rules for Judicial Procedure." Associated with him in this work were +Kada Arimaro, Ogyu Sorai, and the celebrated judge, Ooka Tadasuke, +and not only the Ming laws of China, but also the ancient Japanese +Daiho-ritsu were consulted. + +This valuable legislation, which showed a great advance in the matter +of leniency, except in the case of disloyal or unfilial conduct, was +followed, in 1767, by reforms under the shoqun, Ieharu, when all the +laws and regulations placarded or otherwise promulgated since the +days of Ieyasu were collected and collated to form a prefatory +vol-ume to the above-mentioned "Rules for Judicial Procedure," the +two being thenceforth regarded as a single enactment under the title +of Kajo-ruiten. "The Rules for Judicial Procedure" originally +comprised 103 articles, but, in 1790, Matsudaira Sadanobu revised +this code, reducing the number of articles to one hundred, and +calling it Tokugawa Hyakkajd, or "One Hundred Laws and Regulations of +the Tokugawa." This completed the legislative work of the Yedo +Bakufu. But it must not be supposed that these laws were disclosed to +the general public. They served simply for purposes of official +reference. The Tokugawa in this respect strictly followed the +Confucian maxim, "Make the people obey but do not make them know.": + +ENGRAVING: MATSUDAIRA SADANORU + +CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS + +In Tokugawa days the principal punishments were; six: namely, +reprimand (shikari), confinement (oshikome), flogging (tataki), +banishment (tsuiho), exile to an island (ento), and death (shikei). +The last named was divided into five kinds, namely, deprivation of +life (shizai), exposing the head after decapitation (gokumon), +burning at the stake (hiaburi), crucifixion (haritsuke), and sawing +to death (nokogiri-biki). There were also subsidiary penalties, such +as public exposure (sarashi), tattooing (irezumi)--which was resorted +to not less for purposes of subsequent identification than as a +disgrace--confiscation of an estate (kessho), and degradation to a +status below the hinin (hininteshita). + +The above penalties were applicable to common folk. In the case of +samurai the chief punishments were detention (hissoku), confinement +(heimon or chikkyo), deprivation of status (kaieki), placing in the +custody of a feudatory (azuke), suicide (seppuku), and decapitation +(zanzai). Among these, seppuku was counted the most honourable. As a +rule only samurai of the fifth official rank and upwards were +permitted thus to expiate a crime, and the procedure was spoken of as +"granting death" (shi wo tamau). The plebeian classes, that is to +say, the farmers, the artisans, and the tradesmen, were generally +punished by fines, by confinement, or by handcuffing (tegusari). +Priests were sentenced to exposure (sarashi), to expulsion from a +temple (tsui-iri), or to exile (kamai). + +For women the worst punishment was to be handed over as servants +(yakko) or condemned to shave their heads (teihatsu). Criminals who +had no fixed domicile and who repeated their evil acts after +expiration of a first sentence, were carried to the island of +Tsukuda, in Yedo Bay, or to Sado, where they were employed in various +ways. Blind men or beggars who offended against the law were handed +over to the chiefs of their guilds, namely, the soroku in the case of +the blind, and the eta-gashira in the case of beggars.* Some of the +above punishments were subdivided, but these details are unimportant. + +*For fuller information about these degraded classes see Brinkley's +"Oriental Series," Vol. II. + +PRISONS + +In Yedo, the buildings employed as prisons were erected at Demmacho +under the hereditary superintendence of the Ishide family. The +governor of prisons was known as the roya-bugyo. Each prison was +divided into five parts where people were confined according to their +social status. The part called the agari-zashiki was reserved for +samurai who had the privilege of admission to the shogun's presence; +and in the part called the agariya common, samurai and Buddhist +priests were incarcerated. The oro and the hyakusho-ro were reserved +for plebeians, and in the onna-ro women were confined. Each section +consisted of ten rooms and was capable of accommodating seven hundred +persons. Sick prisoners were carried to the tamari, which were +situated at Asakusa and Shinagawa, and were under the superintendence +of the hinin-gashira. All arrangements as to the food, clothing, and +medical treatment of prisoners were carefully thought out, but it is +not to be supposed that these Bakufu prisons presented many of the +features on which modern criminology insists. On the contrary, a +prisoner was exposed to serious suffering from heat and cold, while +the coarseness of the fare provided for him often caused disease and +sometimes death. Nevertheless, the Japanese prisons in Tokugawa days +were little, if anything, inferior to the corresponding institutions +in Anglo-Saxon countries at the same period. + +LOYALTY AND FILIAL PIETY + +In the eyes of the Tokugawa legislators the cardinal virtues were +loyalty and filial piety, and in the inculcation of these, even +justice was relegated to an inferior place. Thus, it was provided +that if a son preferred any public charge against his father, or if a +servant opened a lawsuit against his master, the guilt of the son or +of the servant must be assumed at the outset as an ethical principle. +To such a length was this ethical principle carried that in +regulations issued by Itakura Suo no Kami for the use of the Kyoto +citizens, we find the following provision: "In a suit-at-law between +parent and son judgment should be given for the parent without regard +to the pleading of the son. Even though a parent act with extreme +injustice, it is a gross breach of filial duty that a son should +institute a suit-at-law against a parent. There can be no greater +immorality, and penalty of death should be meted out to the son +unless the parent petitions for his life." In an action between uncle +and nephew a similar principle applied. Further, we find that in +nearly every body of law promulgated throughout the whole of the +Tokugawa period, loyalty and filial piety are placed at the head of +ethical virtues; the practice of etiquette, propriety, and military +and literary accomplishments standing next, while justice and +deference for tradition occupy lower places in the schedule. + +A kosatsu (placard) set up in 1682, has the following inscription: +"Strive to be always loyal and filial. Preserve affection between +husbands and wives, brothers, and all relatives; extend sympathy and +compassion to servants." Further, in a street notice posted in Yedo +during the year 1656, we find it ordained that should any disobey a +parent's directions, or reject advice given by a municipal elder or +by the head of a five-households guild, such a person must be brought +before the administrator, who, in the first place, will imprison him; +whereafter, should the malefactor not amend his conduct, he shall be +banished forever; while for anyone showing malice against his father, +arrest and capital punishment should follow immediately. + +In these various regulations very little allusion is made to the +subject of female rights. But there is one significant provision, +namely, that a divorced woman is entitled to have immediately +restored to her all her gold and silver ornaments as well as her +dresses; and at the same time husbands are warned that they must not +fail to make due provision for a former wife. The impression conveyed +by careful perusal of all Tokugawa edicts is that their compilers +obeyed, from first to last, a high code of ethical principles. + +ENGRAVING: "INRO," LACQUERED MEDICINE CASE CARRIED CHIEFLY BY SAMURAI + +ENGRAVING: TOKUGAWA MITSUKUNI + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +REVIVAL OF THE SHINTO CULT + +RYOBU SHINTO + +THE reader is aware that early in the ninth century the celebrated +Buddhist priest, Kukai (Kobo Daishi), compounded out of Buddhism and +Shinto a system of doctrine called Ryobu Shinto. The salient feature +of this mixed creed was the theory that the Shinto deities were +transmigrations of Buddhist divinities. Thereafter, Buddhism became +the national religion, which position it held until the days of the +Tokugawa shoguns, when it was supplanted among educated Japanese by +the moral philosophy of Confucius, as interpreted by Chutsz, Wang +Yang-ming, and others. + +REVIVAL OF PURE SHINTO + +The enthusiasm and the intolerance showed by the disciples of Chinese +philosophy produced a reaction in Japan, and this culminated in the +revival of Shinto, during which process the anomalous position +occupied by the shogun towards the sovereign was clearly +demonstrated, and the fact contributed materially to the downfall of +the Tokugawa. It was by Ieyasu himself that national thought was +turned into the new channel, though it need scarcely be said that the +founder of the Tokugawa shogunate had no premonition of any results +injurious to the sway of his own house. + +After the battle of Sekigahara had established his administrative +supremacy, and after he had retired from the shogunate in favour of +Hidetada, Ieyasu applied himself during his residence at Sumpu to +collecting old manuscripts, and shortly before his death he directed +that the Japanese section of the library thus formed should be handed +over to his eighth son, the baron of Owari, and the Chinese portion +to his ninth son, the baron of Kii. Another great library was +subsequently brought together by a grandson of Ieyasu, the celebrated +Mitsukuni (1628-1700), baron of Mito, who, from his youthful days, +devoted attention to Japanese learning, and, assembling a number of +eminent scholars, composed the Dai Nihon-shi (History of Great +Japan), which consisted of 240 volumes and became thenceforth +the standard history of the country. It is stated that the +expenditures involved in producing this history, together with a +five-hundred-volume work on the ceremonies of the Imperial Court, +amounted to one-third of the Mito revenues, a sum of about 700,000 +ryo. There can be little doubt that Mitsukuni's proximate purpose in +undertaking the colossal work was to controvert a theory advanced by +Hayashi Razan that the Emperor of Japan was descended from the +Chinese prince, Tai Peh, of Wu, of the Yin dynasty. + +Chiefly concerned in the compilation of the Dai Nihon-shi were Asaka +Kaku, Kuriyama Gen, and Miyake Atsuaki. They excluded the Empress +Jingo from the successive dynasties; they included the Emperor Kobun +in the history proper, and they declared the legitimacy of the +Southern Court as against the Northern. But in the volume devoted to +enumeration of the constituents of the empire, they omitted the +islands of Ezo and Ryukyu. This profound study of ancient history +could not fail to expose the fact that the shogunate usurped powers +which properly belonged to the sovereign and to the sovereign alone. +But Mitsukuni and his collaborators did not give prominence to this +feature. They confined themselves rather to historical details. + +ENGRAVING: KAMO MABUCHI + +ENGRAVING: MOTOORI NOBINAGA + +It was reserved for four other men to lay bare the facts of the +Mikado's divine right and to rehabilitate the Shinto cult. These men +were Kada Azumamaro (1668-1736), Kamo Mabuchi (1697-1769), Motoori +Norinaga (1730-1801), and Hirata Atsutane (1776-1834). Associated +with them were other scholars of less note, but these are +overshadowed by the four great masters. Kada, indeed, did not achieve +much more than the restoration of pure Japanese literature to the +pedestal upon which it deserved to stand. That in itself was no +insignificant task, for during the five centuries that separated the +Gen-Hei struggle from the establishment of the Tokugawa family, +Japanese books had shared the destruction that overtook everything in +this period of wasting warfare, and the Japanese language itself had +undergone such change that to read and understand ancient books, like +the Kojiki and the Manyo-shu, demanded a special course of study. To +make that study and to prepare the path for others was Kada's task, +and he performed it so conscientiously that his successors were at +once able to obtain access to the treasures of ancient literature. It +was reserved for Mabuchi to take the lead in championing Japanese +ethical systems as against Chinese. By his writings we are taught the +nature of the struggle waged throughout the Tokugawa period between +Chinese philosophy and Japanese ethics, and we are enabled, also, to +reach a lucid understanding of the Shinto cult as understood by the +Japanese themselves. The simplest route to that understanding is to +let the four masters speak briefly, each for himself: + +"Learning is a matter in which the highest interests of the empire +are involved, and no man ought to be vain enough to imagine that he +is able by himself to develop it thoroughly. Nor should the student +blindly adhere to the opinions of his teacher. Anyone who desires to +study Japanese literature should first acquire a good knowledge of +Chinese, and then pass over to the Manyo-shu, from which he may +discover the ancient principles of the divine age. If he resolve +bravely to love and admire antiquity, there is no reason why he +should fail to acquire the ancient style in poetry as well as in +other things. In ancient times, as the poet expressed only the +genuine sentiments of his heart, his style was naturally direct, but +since the practice of writing upon subjects chosen by lot came into +vogue, the language of poetry has become ornate and the ideas forced. +The expression of fictitious sentiment about the relations of the +sexes and miscellaneous subjects is not genuine poetry. [Kada +Azumamaro.] + +"Wherein lies the value of a rule of conduct? In its conducing to the +good order of the State. The Chinese for ages past have had a +succession of different dynasties to rule over them, but Japan has +been faithful to one uninterrupted line of sovereigns. Every Chinese +dynasty was founded upon rebellion and parricide. Sometimes, a +powerful ruler was able to transmit his authority to his son and +grandson, but they, in their turn, were inevitably deposed and +murdered, and the country was in a perpetual state of civil war. A +philosophy which produces such effects must be founded on a false +system. When Confucianism was first introduced into Japan, the +simple-minded people, deceived by its plausible appearance, accepted +it with eagerness and allowed it to spread its influence everywhere. +The consequence was the civil war which broke out immediately after +the death of Tenji Tenno, in A.D. 671, between that Emperor's brother +and son, which only came to an end in 672 by the suicide of the +latter. + +"In the eighth century, the Chinese costume and etiquette were adopted +by the Court. This foreign pomp and splendour covered the rapid +depravation of men's hearts, and created a wide gulf between the +Mikado and his people. So long as the sovereign maintains a simple +style of living, the subjects are contented with their own hard lot. +Their wants are few and they are easily ruled. But if a sovereign has +a magnificent palace, gorgeous clothing, and crowds of finely dressed +women to wait on him, the sight of these things must cause in others +a desire to possess themselves of the same luxuries; and if they are +not strong enough to take them by force, their envy is excited. Had +the Mikado continued to live in a house roofed with shingles and +having walls of mud, to carry his sword in a scabbard wound round +with the tendrils of some creeping plant, and to go to the chase +carrying his bow and arrows, as was the ancient custom, the present +state of things would never have come about. But since the +introduction of Chinese manners, the sovereign, while occupying a +highly dignified place, has been degraded to the intellectual level +of a woman. The power fell into the hands of servants, and although +they never actually assumed the title, they were sovereigns in fact, +while the Mikado became an utter nullity. . . + +"In ancient times, when men's dispositions were straightforward, a +complicated system of morals was unnecessary. It would naturally +happen that bad acts might occasionally be committed, but the +integrity of men's dispositions would prevent the evil from being +concealed and growing in extent. In these days, therefore, it was +unnecessary to have a doctrine of right and wrong. But the Chinese, +being bad at heart, were only good externally, in spite of the +teaching they received, and their evil acts became of such magnitude +that society was thrown into disorder. The Japanese, being +straightforward, could do without teaching. It has been alleged that, +as the Japanese had no names for 'benevolence,' 'righteousness,' +'propriety,' 'sagacity,' and 'truth' they must have been without +these principles. But these things exist in every country, in the +same way as the four seasons which make their annual rounds. In the +spring, the weather does not become mild all at once, or in the +summer, hot. Nature proceeds by gradual steps. According to the view +of the Chinese, it is not summer or spring unless it becomes hot or +mild all of a sudden. Their principles sound very plausible but are +unpractical. [Kamo Mabuchi.] + +"Japan is the country which gave birth to the goddess of the Sun, +which fact proves its superiority over all other countries that also +enjoy her favours. The goddess having endowed her grandson with the +Three Sacred Treasures, proclaimed him sovereign of Japan for ever +and ever. His descendants shall continue to rule it as long as the +heavens and earth endure. Being invested with this complete +authority, all the gods under heaven and all mankind submitted to +him, with the exception of a few wretches who were quickly subdued. +To the end of time each Mikado is the son of the goddess. His mind is +in perfect harmony of thought and feeling with hers. He does not seek +out new inventions but rules in accordance with precedents which date +from the Age of the Gods, and if he is ever in doubt, he has recourse +to divination, which reveals to him the mind of the great goddess. In +this way the Age of the Gods and the present age are not two ages, +but one, for not only the Mikado but also his ministers and people +act up to the tradition of the divine age. Hence, in ancient times, +the idea of michi, or way, (ethics) was applied to ordinary +thoroughfares only, and its application to systems of philosophy, +government, morals, religion, and so forth is a foreign notion. + +"As foreign countries (China and India, particularly the former) are +not the special domain of the Sun goddess, they have no permanent +rulers, and evil spirits, finding a field of action there, have +corrupted mankind. In those countries, any bad man who could manage +to seize the power became a sovereign. Those who had the upper hand +were constantly scheming to maintain their positions, while their +inferiors were as constantly on the watch for opportunities to oust +them. The most powerful and cunning of these rulers succeeded in +taming their subjects, and having secured their position, became an +example for others to imitate. In China the name of 'holy men' has +been given to these persons. But it is an error to count these 'holy +men' as in themselves supernatural and good beings, superior to the +rest of the world as are the gods. The principles they established +are called michi (ethics), and may be reduced to two simple rules, +namely, to take other people's territory and to keep fast hold of it. + +"The Chinese 'holy men' also invented the Book of Changes, by which +they pretended to discover the workings of the universe; a vain +attempt, since it is impossible for man with his limited intelligence +to discover the principles which govern the acts of the gods. In +imitation of them, the Chinese nation has since given itself up to +philosophizing, to which are to be attributed its constant internal +dissensions. When things go right of themselves, it is best to leave +them alone. In ancient times, although there was no prosy system in +Japan, there, were no popular disturbances, and the empire was +peacefully ruled. It is because the Japanese were truly moral in +their practice that they required no theory of morals, and the fuss +made by the Chinese about theoretical morals is owing to their laxity +in practice. It is not wonderful that students of Chinese literature +should despise their own country for being without a system of +morals, but that the Japanese, who were acquainted with their own +ancient literature, should pretend that Japan too had such a system, +simply out of a feeling of envy, is ridiculous. + +"When Chinese literature was imported into Japan, the people adopted +many Chinese ideas, laws, customs, and practices, which they so mixed +up with their own that it became necessary to adopt a special name +for the ancient native customs, which were in consequence called Kami +no michi or Shinto, the word 'michi' being applied in the same sense +as the Chinese Tao, and Kami because of their divine origin. These +native customs survived only in ceremonies with which the native gods +are worshipped. Every event in the universe is the act of the gods. +They direct the changes of the seasons, the wind and the rain, the +good and bad fortune of States and individuals. Some of the gods are +good, others bad, and their acts partake of their own natures. +Buddhists attribute events to 'retribution' (Inga), while the Chinese +ascribe them to be the 'decree of heaven' (Tien ming). This latter is +a phrase invented by the so-called 'holy men' to justify murdering +sovereigns and seizing their dominions. As neither heaven nor earth +has a mind, they cannot issue decrees. If heaven really could issue +decrees, it would certainly protect the good rulers and take care to +prevent bad men from seizing the power, and, in general, while the +good would prosper, the bad would suffer misfortune. But in reality +we find many instances of the reverse. Whenever anything goes wrong +in the world, it is to be attributed to the action of the evil gods +called 'gods of crookedness,' whose power is so great that the Sun +goddess and the Creator-gods are sometimes unable to restrain them; +much less are human beings able to resist their influence. The +prosperity of the wicked and the misfortunes of the good, which seem +opposed to ordinary justice, are their doing. The Chinese, not +possessing the traditions of the Divine Age, were ignorant of this +truth, and were driven to invent the theory of heaven's decrees. + +"The eternal endurance of the dynasty of the Mikado is a complete +proof that the 'way,' called Kami no michi or Shinto, infinitely +surpasses the systems of all other countries. The 'holy men' of +China were merely unsuccessful rebels. The Mikado is the sovereign +appointed by the pair of deities, Izanagi and Izanami, who created +this country. The Sun goddess never said, 'Disobey the Mikado if he +be bad,' and therefore, whether he be good or bad, no one attempts to +deprive him of his authority. He is the Immovable Ruler who must +endure to the end of time, as long as the sun and moon continue to +shine. In ancient language the Mikado was called a god, and that is +his real character. Duty, therefore, consists in obeying him +implicitly without questioning his acts. During the Middle Ages, such +men as Hojo Yoshitoki, Hojo Yasutoki, Ashikaga Takauji, and others, +violated this duty (michi) and look up arms against him. Their +disobedience to the Mikado is attributable to the influence of the +Chinese learning. This 'way' was established by Izanagi and Izanami +and delivered by them to the Sun goddess, who handed it down, and +this is why it is called the 'way of the gods.' + +"The nature of this 'way' is to be learned by studying the Kojiki and +ancient writings, but mankind has been turned aside from it, by the +spirits of crookedness, to Buddhism and Chinese philosophy. The +various doctrines taught under the name of Shinto are without +authority, Human beings, having been produced by the spirit of the +two creative deities, are naturally endowed with the knowledge of +what they ought to do, and what they ought to refrain from doing. It +is unnecessary for them to trouble their heads with systems of +morality. If a system of morals were necessary, men would be inferior +to animals, all of whom are endowed with the knowledge of what they +ought to do, only in an inferior degree to man. If what the Chinese +call benevolence, modesty, filial piety, propriety, love, fidelity, +and truth really constituted the duty of man, they would be so +recognized and practised without any teaching; but since they were +invented by the so-called 'holy men' as instruments for ruling a +viciously inclined population, it became necessary to insist on more +than the actual duty of man. Consequently, although plenty of men +profess these doctrines, the number of those that practise them is +very small. Violations of this teaching were attributed to human +lusts. As human lusts are a part of man's nature, they must be a part +of the harmony of the universe, and cannot be wrong according to the +Chinese theory. It was the vicious nature of the Chinese that +necessitated such strict rules, as, for instance, that persons +descended from a common ancestor, no matter how distantly related, +should not intermarry. These rules, not being founded on the harmony +of the universe, were not in accordance with human feelings and were +therefore seldom obeyed. + +"In ancient times, Japanese refrained from intermarriage among +children of the same mother, but the distance between the noble and +the mean was duly preserved. Thus, the country was spontaneously well +governed, in accordance with the 'way' established by the gods. Just +as the Mikado worshipped the gods in heaven and earth, so his people +pray to the good gods in order to obtain blessings, and perform rites +in honour of the bad gods in order to avert their displeasure. If +they committed crimes or denied themselves, they employed the usual +methods of purification taught them by their own hearts. Since there +are bad as well as good gods, it is necessary to propitiate them with +offerings of agreeable food, playing the lute, blowing the flute, +singing and dancing, and whatever else is likely to put them in good +humour. + +"It has been asked whether the Kami no michi is not the same as the +Taoism of Laotzu. Laotzu hated the vain conceits of the Chinese +scholars, and honoured naturalness, from which a resemblance may be +argued; but as he was born in a dirty country not under special +protection of the Sun goddess, he had heard only the theories of the +succession of so-called 'holy men,' and what he believed to be +naturalness was simply what they called natural. He did not know that +the gods are the authors of every human action, and this ignorance +constituted a cause of radical difference. To have acquired the +knowledge that there is no michi (ethics) to be learned and practised +is really to have learned to practise the 'way of the gods.' . . . +Many miracles occurred in the Age of the Gods, the truth of which was +not disputed until men were taught by the Chinese philosophy to +analyse the acts of the gods by the aid of their own feeble +intelligence. The reason assigned for disbelieving in miracles is +that they cannot be explained; but in fact, although the Age of the +Gods has passed away, wondrous miracles surround us on all sides. For +instance, is the earth suspended in space or does it rest upon +something else? If it be said that the earth rests upon something +else, then what is it that supports that something else? According to +one Chinese theory, the earth is a globe suspended in space with the +heavens revolving round it. But even if we suppose the heavens to be +full of air, no ordinary principles will account for the land and sea +being suspended in space without moving. The explanation offered is +as miraculous as the supposition previously made. It seems plausible +enough to say that the heavens are merely air and are without any +definite form. If this be true, there is nothing but air outside the +earth, and this air must be infinite or finite in extent. If it is +infinite in extent, we cannot fix any point as its centre, so that it +is impossible to understand why the earth should be at rest; for if +it be not in the centre it cannot be at rest. If it be finite, what +causes the air to condense in one particular spot, and what position +shall we assign to it? + +"In any case all these things are miraculous and strange. How absurd +to take these miracles for granted, and at the same time to +disbelieve in the wonders of the Divine Age! Think again of the human +body. Seeing with the eyes, hearing With the ears, speaking with the +mouth, walking on the feet, and performing all manner of acts with +the hands are strange things; so also the flight of birds and insects +through the air, the blossoming of plants and trees, the ripening of +their fruits and seeds are strange; and the strangest of all is the +transformation of the fox and the badger into human form. If rats, +weasels, and certain birds see in the dark, why should not the gods +have been endowed with a similar faculty?.... The facts that many of +the gods are invisible now and have never been visible furnish no +argument against their existence. Existence can be made known to us +by other senses than those of sight, such as odour or sound, while +the wind, which is neither seen, heard, nor smelt is recognized by +the impression which it makes upon our bodies. [Motoori Norinaga]. + +"Although numbers of Japanese cannot state with any certainty from +what gods they are descended, all of them have tribal names (kabane) +which were originally bestowed by the Mikado, and those who make it +their province to study genealogies can tell from a man's ordinary +surname who his remotest ancestor must have been. From the fact of +the divine descent of the Japanese people proceeds their immeasurable +superiority to the natives of other countries in courage and +intelligence.* + +*Although Hirata claims the superiority for his own countrymen, he +frankly acknowledges the achievements of the Dutch in natural +science. + +". . . The accounts given in other countries, whether by Buddhism or +by Chinese philosophy, of the form of the heavens and earth and the +manner in which they came into existence, are all inventions of men +who exercised all their ingenuity over the problem, and inferred that +such things must actually be the case. As for the Indian account, it +is nonsense fit only to deceive women and children, and I do not +think it worthy of reflection. The Chinese theories, on the other +hand, are based upon profound philosophical speculations and sound +extremely plausible, but what they call the absolute and the finite, +the positive and negative essences, the eight diagrams, and the five +elements, are not real existences, but are fictitious names invented +by the philosophers and freely applied in every direction. They say +that the whole universe was produced by agencies, and that nothing +exists which is independent of them. But all these statements are +nonsense. The principles which animate the universe are beyond the +power of analysis, nor can they be fathomed by human intelligence, +and all statements founded upon pretended explanations of them are to +be rejected. All that man can think and know is limited by the powers +of sight, feeling, and calculation, and what goes beyond these +powers, cannot be known by any amount of thinking. . . . + +"The Chinese accounts sound as if based upon profound principles, and +one fancies that they must be right, while the Japanese accounts +sound shallow and utterly unfounded in reason. But the former are +lies while the latter are the truth, so that as time goes on and +thought attains greater accuracy, the erroneous nature of these +falsehoods becomes even more apparent whale the true tradition +remains intact. In modern times, men from countries lying far off in +the West have voyaged all round the seas as their inclinations +prompted them, and have ascertained the actual shape of the earth. +They have discovered that the earth is round and that the sun and the +moon revolve round it in a vertical direction, and it may thus be +conjectured how full of errors are all the ancient Chinese accounts, +and how impossible it is to believe anything that professes to be +determined a priori. But when we come to compare our ancient +traditions as to the origin of a thing in the midst of space and its +subsequent development, with what has been ascertained to be the +actual shape of the earth, we find that there is not the slightest +error, and this result confirms the truth of our ancient traditions. +But although accurate discoveries made by the men of the Far West as +to the actual shape of the earth and its position in space infinitely +surpass the theories of the Chinese, still that is only a matter of +calculation. There are many other things actually known to exist +which cannot be solved by that means; and still less is it possible +to solve the question of how the earth, sun, and moon came to assume +their form. Probably those countries possess theories of their own, +but whatever they may be, they can but be guesses after the event, +and probably resemble the Indian and the Chinese theories. + +"The most fearful crimes which a man commits go unpunished by society +so long as they are undiscovered, but they draw down on him the +hatred of the invisible gods. The attainment of happiness by +performing good acts is regulated by the same law. Even if the gods +do not punish secret sins by the usual penalties of law, they inflict +diseases, misfortunes, short life, and extermination of the race. +Never mind the praise or blame of fellow men, but act so that you +need not be ashamed before the gods of the Unseen. If you desire to +practise true virtue, learn to stand in awe of the Unseen, and that +will prevent you from doing wrong. Make a vow to the god who rules +over the Unseen and cultivate the conscience implanted in you, and +then you will never wander from the way. You cannot hope to live more +than one hundred years in the most favourable circumstances, but as +you will go to the unseen realm of Okuninushi after death and be +subject to his rule, learn betimes to bow down before heaven. The +spirits of the dead continue to exist in the unseen world which is +everywhere about us, and they all become gods of varying character +and degrees of influence. Some reside in temples built in their +honour; others hover near their tombs, and they continue to render +service to their princes, parents, wives, and children as when in +their body. [Hirata Atsutane.]"* + +*The above extracts are all taken from Sir Ernest Satow's Revival of +Pure Shinto in the appendix to Vol. III. of the "Transactions of the +Asiatic Society of Japan." + +The great loyalist of the eleventh century, Kitabatake Chikafusa, had +fully demonstrated the divine title of the sovereigns of Japan, but +his work reached only a narrow circle of readers, and his arguments +were not re-enforced by the sentiment of the era. Very different was +the case in the days of the four literati quoted above. The arrogant +and intolerant demeanour of Japanese students of Chinese philosophy +who elevated the Middle Kingdom on a pedestal far above the head of +their own country, gradually provoked bitter resentment among +patriotic Japanese, thus lending collateral strength to the movement +which took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in +favour of reversion to the customs and canons of old times. + +As soon as attention was intelligently concentrated on the history of +the past, it was clearly perceived that, in remote antiquity, the +empire had always been administered from the Throne, and, further, +that the functions arrogated to themselves by the Hojo, the Oda, the +Toyotomi, and the Tokugawa were pure usurpations, which deprived the +Imperial Court of the place properly belonging to it in the State +polity. Just when this reaction was developing strength, the dispute +about the title of the ex-Emperor occurred in Kyoto, and furnished an +object lesson more eloquent than any written thesis. The situation +was complicated by the question of foreign intercourse, but this will +be treated separately. + +ENGRAVING: MITSUGUMI-NO-SAKAZUKI (Sake Cups used only on Happy +Occasions such as Weddings and New Year Days) + +ENGRAVING: DIFFERENT STYLES OF COIFFURE + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE DECLINE OF THE TOKUGAWA + +FOREIGN TRADE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY + +FROM what has been stated in previous chapters, it is clearly +understood that Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were all well +disposed towards foreign intercourse and trade, and that the Tokugawa +chief made even more earnest endeavours than Hideyoshi to +differentiate between Christianity and commerce, so that the fate of +the former might not overtake the latter. Ieyasu, indeed, seems to +have kept three objects steadfastly in view, namely, the development +of oversea trade, the acquisition of a mercantile marine, and the +prosecution of mining enterprise. To the Spaniards, to the +Portuguese, to the English, and to the Dutch, he offered a site for a +settlement in a suburb of Yedo, and had the offer been accepted, +Japan might never have been closed to foreign intercourse. At that +time the policy of the empire was free trade. There were no customs +dues, though it was expected that the foreign merchants would make +liberal presents to the feudatory into whose port they carried their +wares. The Tokugawa baron gave plain evidence that he regarded +commerce with the outer world as a source of wealth, and that he +wished to attract it to his own domains. On more than one occasion he +sent an envoy to Manila to urge the opening of trade with the regions +in the vicinity of Yedo, and to ask the Spaniards for expert naval +architects. His attitude is well shown by a law enacted in 1602: + +"If any foreign vessel by stress of weather is obliged to touch at +any principality or to put into any harbour of Japan, we order that, +whoever these foreigners may be, absolutely nothing whatever that +belongs to them, or that they may have brought in their ship, shall +be taken from them. Likewise, we rigorously prohibit the use of any +violence in the purchase or sale of any of the commodities brought by +their ship, and if it is not convenient for the merchants of the ship +to remain in the port they have entered, they may pass to any other +port that may suit them, and therein buy and sell in full freedom. +Likewise, we order, in a general manner, that foreigners may freely +reside in any part of Japan they choose, but we rigorously forbid +them to propagate their faith." + +In the year 1605, the Tokugawa chief granted a permit to the Dutch +for trade in Japan, his expectation being that the ships which they +undertook to send every year would make Uraga, or some other place +near Yedo, their port of entry. In this he was disappointed. The +first Hollanders that set foot in Japan were eighteen survivors of +the crew of the wrecked Liefde. These men were at first placed in +confinement, and during their detention they were approached by +emissaries from the feudatory of Hirado, who engaged some of them to +instruct his vassals in the art of gun casting and the science of +artillery, and who also made such tempting promises with regard to +Hirado that the Dutch decided to choose that place for headquarters, +although it was then, and always subsequently remained, an +insignificant little fishing village. The Dutch possessed one great +advantage over their rivals from Manila and Macao: they were prepared +to carry on commerce while eschewing religious propagandism. It was +this element of the situation that the Hirado feudatory shrewdly +appreciated when he enticed the Dutchmen to make Hirado their port of +entry. + +With regard to the desire of Ieyasu to exploit the mining resources +of his country, the fact is demonstrated by an incident which +occurred at the time. The governor--general of the Philippines +(Rodrigo Yivero y Velasco), whose ship had been cast away on the +coast of Japan while en route for Acapulco, had an interview with +Ieyasu, and in response to the latter's application for fifty mining +experts, the Spaniards made a proposal, to the terms of which, +onerous as they were, Ieyasu agreed; namely that one half of the +produce, of the mines should go to the miners; that the other half +should be divided equally between Ieyasu and the King of Spain; that +the latter might send officials to Japan to protect his mining +interests, and that these officials might be accompanied by priests, +who would have the right to erect public churches, and to hold +religious services there.* These things happened in 1609. Previous to +that time, the Tokugawa chief had repeatedly imposed a strict veto on +Christian propagandism; yet we now find him removing that veto +partially, for the sake of obtaining foreign expert assistance. Like +Hideyoshi, Ieyasu had full confidence in himself and in his +countrymen. He did not doubt his ability to deal with emergencies if +they arose, and he made no sacrifice to timidity. But his courageous +policy died with him, and the miners never came. Moreover, the +Spaniards seemed incapable of any successful effort to establish +trade with Japan. Fitful visits were paid by their vessels at Uraga, +but the Portuguese continued to monopolize the commerce. + +*It is to be understood, of course, that these ministrations were +intended to be limited to Spaniards resident in Japan. + +ENGRAVING: OLD SPANISH CLOCK PRESERVED IN KUNOZAN. + +That commerce, however, was not without rude interruptions. One, +especially memorable, occurred at the very time when Rodrigo's vessel +was cast away. "In a quarrel at Macao some Japanese sailors lost +their lives, and their comrades were compelled by the commandant, +Pessoa, to sign a declaration exonerating the Portuguese. The +signatories, however, told a different tale when they returned to +Japan, and their feudal chief, the daimyo of Arima, was much +incensed, as also was Ieyasu In the following year (1609), this same +Pessoa arrived at Nagasaki in command of the Madre de Dios, carrying +twelve Jesuits and a cargo worth a million crowns. Ieyasu ordered the +Arima feudatory to seize her. Surrounded by an attacking force of +twelve hundred men in boats, Pessoa fought his ship for three days, +and then, exploding her magazine, sent her to the bottom with her +crew, her passenger-priests, and her cargo." + +Fifty-eight years before the date of this occurrence, Xavier had +conveyed to Charles V a warning that if ships from New Spain +"attempted to conquer the Japanese by force of arms, they would have +to do with a people no less covetous than warlike, who seem likely to +capture any hostile fleet, however strong." It was a just +appreciation. The Portuguese naturally sought to obtain satisfaction +for the fate of Pessoa, but Ieyasu would not even reply to their +demands, though he made no attempt to prevent the resumption of trade +with Macao. + +OPENING OF ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRADE + +In the year 1609, Ieyasu had reason to expect that the Spaniards and +the Dutch would both open trade with Japan. His expectation was +disappointed in the case of the Spaniards, but, two years later, the +Dutch flag was seen in Japanese waters. It was flown by the Brack, a +merchantman which, sailing from Patani, reached Hirado with a cargo +of pepper, cloth, ivory, silk, and lead. Two envoys were on board the +vessel, and her arrival in Japan nearly synchronized with the coming +of the Spanish embassy from Manila, which had been despatched +expressly for the purpose of "settling the matter regarding the +Hollanders." Nevertheless, the Dutch obtained a liberal patent from +Ieyasu. + +Twelve years previously, the merchants of London, stimulated by a +spirit of rivalry with the Dutch, had organized the East India +Company, which at once began to send ships eastward. As soon as news +came that the Dutch were about to establish a trading station in +Japan, the East India Company issued orders that the Clove, commanded +by Saris, should proceed to the Far Eastern islands. The Clove +reached Hirado on the 11th of June, 1613. Her master, Saris, soon +proved that he did not possess the capacity essential to success. He +was self-opinionated, suspicious, and of shallow judgment. Though +strongly urged by Will Adams to make Uraga the seat of the new trade; +though convinced of the excellence of the harbour there, and though +instructed as to the great advantage of proximity to the shogun's +capital, he appears to have harboured some distrust of Adams, for he +finally selected Hirado in preference to Uraga, "which was much as +though a German going to England to open trade should prefer to +establish himself at Dover or Folkestone rather than in the vicinity +of London." Nevertheless he received from Ieyasu a charter so liberal +that it plainly displayed the mood of the Tokugawa shogun towards +foreign trade: + +"(1) The ship that has now come for the first time from England over +the sea to Japan may carry on trade of all kinds without hindrance. +With regard to future visits (of English ships), permission will be +given in regard to all matters. + +"(2) With regard to the cargoes of ships, requisition will be made by +list according to the requirements of the shogunate. + +"(3) English ships are free to visit any port in Japan. If disabled +by storms they may put into any harbour. + +"(4) Ground in Yedo in the place which they may desire shall be given +to the English, and they may erect houses and reside and trade there. +They shall be at liberty to return to their country whenever they +wish to do so, and to dispose as they like of the houses they have +erected. + +"(5) If an Englishman dies in Japan of disease or any other cause, +his effects shall be handed over without fail. + +"(6) Forced sales of cargo and violence shall not take place. + +"(7) If one of the English should commit an offence, he should be +sentenced by the English general according to the gravity of his +offence."* + +*In this article, Ieyasu recognizes the principle of +extra-territorial jurisdiction. + +The terms of the above show that Saris was expected to make Yedo his +headquarters. Had he done so he would have been practically free from +competition; would have had the eastern capital of the empire for +market, and would have avoided many expenses and inconveniences +connected with residence elsewhere. But he did not rise to the +occasion, and the result of his mistaken choice as well as of bad +management was that, ten years later (1623), the English factory at +Hirado had to be closed, the losses incurred there having aggregated +L2000--$10,000. It has to be noted that, a few months after the death +of Ieyasu, the above charter underwent a radical modification. The +original document threw open to the English every port in Japan; the +revised document limited them to Hirado. But this restriction may be +indirectly traced to the blunder of not accepting a settlement in +Yedo and a port at Uraga. For the foreign policy of the Tokugawa was +largely swayed by an apprehension that the Kyushu feudatories, many +of whom were not over-well disposed to the rule of the Bakufu, might +derive from the assistance of foreign trade such a fleet and such an +armament as would ultimately enable them to overthrow the Tokugawa. +Therefore, the precaution was adopted of confining the English and +the Dutch to Hirado, the domain of a feudatory too petty to become +formidable, and to Nagasaki, which was one of the four Imperial +cities, the other three being Yedo, Kyoto, and Osaka. + +ENGRAVING: THE "ATAKA MARU" (Shogun's Barge) + +It is easy to see that an English factory in Yedo and English ships +at Uraga would have strengthened the Tokugawa ruler's hand instead of +supplying engines of war to his political foes; and it must further +be noted that the question of locality had another injurious outcome. +For alike at Hirado and at Nagasaki, the foreign traders "were +exposed to a crippling competition at the hands of rich Osaka +monopolists, who, as representing an Imperial city and therefore +being pledged to the Tokugawa interests, enjoyed special indulgences +from the Bakufu. These shrewd traders who were then, as they are now, +the merchant-princes of Japan, not only drew a ring around Hirado, +but also sent vessels on their own account to Cochin China, Siam, +Tonkin, Cambodia, and other foreign lands with which the English and +the Dutch carried on trade." One can scarcely be surprised that +Cocks, the successor of Saris, wrote, in 1620, "which maketh me +altogether aweary of Japan." + +It is, however, certain that the closure of the English factory at +Hirado was voluntary; from the beginning to the end no serious +friction had occurred between the English and the Japanese. When, the +former withdrew from the Japanese trade, their houses and stores at +Hirado were not sold, but were left in the safe-keeping of the local +feudatory, who promised to restore them to their original owners +should the English company desire to re-open business in Japan. The +company did think of doing so on more than one occasion, but the idea +did not mature until the year 1673, when a merchantman, the Return, +was sent to obtain permission. "The Japanese authorities, after +mature reflection, made answer that as the king of England was +married to a Portuguese princess, British subjects could not be +permitted to visit Japan. That this reply was suggested by the Dutch +is very probable; that it truly reflected the feeling of the Japanese +Government towards Roman Catholics is certain."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th Edition)'; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +END OF THE PORTUGUESE TRADE WITH JAPAN + +In the year 1624, the expulsion of the Spaniards from Japan took +place, and in 1638 the Portuguese met the same fate. Two years prior +to the latter event, the Yedo Bakufu adopted a measure which +effectually terminated foreign intercourse. They ruled that to leave +the country, or to attempt to do so, should constitute a capital +crime; that any Japanese subject residing abroad should be executed +if he returned; that the entire kith and kin of the Spaniards in +Japan should be expelled, and that no ships of ocean-going dimensions +should be built in Japan. This meant not only the driving out of all +professing Christians, but also the imprisonment of the entire nation +within the limits of the Japanese islands, as well as an effectual +veto on the growth of the mercantile marine. It is worth noting that +no act of spoliation was practised against these tabooed people. +Thus, when those indicated by the edict--to the number of 287--left +the country for Macao, they were allowed to carry away with them +their whole fortunes. + +The expulsion of the Spaniards did not leave the Portuguese in an +improved condition. Humiliating restrictions continued to be imposed +upon them. If a foreign priest were found upon any galleon bound for +Japan, such priest and the whole of the crew of the galleon were +liable to be executed, and many other irksome conditions were +instituted for the control of the trade. Nor had the aliens even the +satisfaction of an open market, for all the goods carried in their +galleons had to be sold at a fixed price to a ring of licensed +Japanese merchants from Osaka. In spite of all these deterrents, +however, the Portuguese continued to send galleons to Nagasaki until +the year 1637, when their alleged connexion with the Shimabara +rebellion induced the Japanese to issue the final edict that +henceforth any Portuguese ship coming to Japan should be burned, +together with her cargo, and everyone on board should be executed. + +This law was not enforced with any undue haste; ample time was given +for compliance with its provisions. Possibly misled by this +procrastination, the Portuguese at Macao continued to strive for the +re-establishment of commercial relations until 1640, when a very sad +event put an end finally to all intercourse. Four aged men, selected +from among the most respected citizens of Macao, were sent to +Nagasaki as ambassadors. Their ships carried rich presents and an +earnest petition for the renewal of commercial intercourse. They were +at once imprisoned, and having declined to save their lives by +abjuring the Christian faith, the four old men and fifty-seven of +their companions were decapitated, thirteen only being left alive for +the purpose of conveying the facts to Macao. To these thirteen there +was handed at their departure a document setting forth that, "So long +as the sun warms the earth, any Christian bold enough to come to +Japan, even if he be King Philip himself or the God of the +Christians, shall pay for it with his head." One more effort to +restore the old intimacy was made by the Portuguese in 1647, but it +failed signally, and would certainly have entailed sanguinary results +had not the two Portuguese vessels beat a timely retreat. + +THE DUTCH AT DESHIMA + +In 1609, the Dutch made their appearance in Japan, and received an +excellent welcome. Ieyasu gave them a written promise that "no man +should do them any wrong and that they should be maintained and +defended as his own vassals." He also granted them a charter that +wherever their ships entered, they should be shown "all manner of +help, favour, and assistance." Left free to choose their own trading +port, they made the mistake of selecting Hirado, which was eminently +unsuited to be a permanent emporium of interstate commerce. +Nevertheless, owing partly to their shrewdness, partly to their +exclusive possession of the Spice Islands, and partly to their +belligerent co-operation with the English against the Spaniards, they +succeeded in faring prosperously for a time. + +The day came, however, when, being deprived of freedom of trade and +limited to dealings with a guild of Nagasaki and Osaka merchants, +they found their gains seriously affected. Other vicissitudes +overtook them, and finally the Japanese concluded that the safest +course was to confine the Dutch to some position where, in a moment +of emergency, they could easily be brought under Japanese control. +Nagasaki was chosen as suitable, and there a Dutch factory was +established which, for a time, flourished satisfactorily. From seven +to ten Dutch vessels used to enter the port annually--their cargoes +valued at some eighty thousand pounds (avdp.) of silver, and the +chief staples of import being silk and piece-goods. Customs duties +amounting to five per cent, were levied; 495 pounds of silver had to +be paid annually as a rent for the little island of Deshima, and +every year a mission had to proceed to Yedo from the factory, +carrying presents for the chief Bakufu officials, which presents are +said to have aggregated some 550 pounds of silver on each occasion. +The Dutch traders, nevertheless, found their business profitable +owing to purchases of gold and copper, which metals could be procured +in Japan at much lower rates than they commanded in Europe. Thus, the +now familiar question of an outflow of specie was forced upon +Japanese attention at that early date, and, by way of remedy, the +Government adopted, in 1790, the policy of restricting to one vessel +annually the Dutch ships entering Nagasaki, and forbidding that +vessel to carry away more than 350 tons of copper. + +EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON JAPAN BY THE POLICY OF EXCLUSION + +Whatever losses Japan's policy of seclusion caused to the nations +which were its victims, there can be no doubt that she herself was +the chief sufferer. During two and a half centuries she remained +without breathing the atmosphere of international competition, or +deriving inspiration from an exchange of ideas with other countries. +While the world moved steadily forward, Japan stood practically +unchanging, and when ultimately she emerged into contact with the +Occident, she found herself separated by an immense interval from the +material civilization it had developed. + +The contrast between the Japan of the middle of the sixteenth and +that of the middle of the seventeenth century has often been made by +the historian of foreign influence. In 1541 the country was open to +foreign trade, foreign civilization and foreign ideas and these were +welcomed eagerly and, in accordance with the remarkable natural +aptitude of the Japanese for adaptation, were readily assimilated. +Not only were foreign traders allowed to come to Japan, but Japanese +were allowed to go abroad. And all this was in the line of a +long-continued Japanese policy--the policy thanks to which Chinese +influence had made itself so strongly felt in Japan, and which had +brought in Buddhism and Confucianism, not to speak of arts and +letters of foreign provenance. + +At the close of the hundred years, in 1641, all was changed. Japan +was absolutely isolated. Foreigners were forbidden to enter, except +the Dutch traders who were confined to the little island of Deshima. +And natives were forbidden to go out, or to accept at home the +religious teachings of foreigners. Only ships suited for the +coastwise trade might be built. The nation's intercourse with +Occidental civilization was shut off, and its natural power of change +and growth through foreign influences was thus held in check. The +wonder is that it was not destroyed by this inhibition. The whole +story of foreign intercourse as it has so far been told makes it +plain that the reason why it was prohibited was in the nature of +foreign propaganda and not in any unreadiness of the Japanese for +western civilization. + +SECOND ERA OF FOREIGN TRADE + +Japan's seclusion was maintained unflinchingly. But, though her goods +found a market in China, only during her period of self-effacement, +the reputation of her people for military prowess was such that no +outside nation thought of forcing her to open her ports. A British +seaman, Sir Edward Michelborne, in the sequel of a fight between his +two ships and a Japanese junk near Singapore, left a record that "The +Japanese are not allowed to land in any part of India with weapons, +being a people so desperate and daring that they are feared in all +places where they come." Nevertheless, Russian subjects, their shores +being contiguous with those of Japan, occasionally found their way as +sailors or colonists into the waters of Saghalien, the Kuriles, and +Yezo. The Japanese did not then exercise effective control over Yezo, +although the island was nominally under their jurisdiction. Its +government changed from one hand to another in the centuries that +separated the Kamakura epoch from the Tokugawa, and in the latter +epoch we find the Matsumae daimyo ruling all the islands northward of +the Tsugaru Straits. But the Matsumae administration contented itself +with imposing taxes and left the people severely alone. Thus, when in +1778, a small party of Russians appeared at Nemuro seeking trade, no +preparations existed to impose the local government's will on the +strangers. They were simply promised an answer in the following year, +and that answer proved to be that all Japan's oversea trade must by +law be confined to Nagasaki. + +The Russians did not attempt to dispute this ruling. They retired +quietly. But their two visits had shown them that Yezo was capable of +much development, and they gradually began to flock thither as +colonists. Officials sent from Japan proper to make an investigation +reported that Kamchatka, hitherto a dependency of Japan, had been +taken possession of by Russians, who had established themselves in +the island of Urup and at other places. The report added that the +situation would be altogether lost unless resolute steps were taken +to restore it. Unfortunately, the death of the tenth shogun having +just then occurred, the Yedo Court found it inconvenient to take +action in remote Yezo. Thus, Russian immigration and Japanese +inaction continued for some time, and not until 1792 were commissions +again despatched from Yedo to inquire and report. They made an +exhaustive investigation, and just as it reached the hands of the +Bakufu, a large Russian vessel arrived off Nemuro, carrying some +ship-wrecked Japanese sailors whom her commander offered to restore +to their country, accompanying this offer with an application for the +opening of trade between Russia and Japan. Negotiations ensued, the +result being that Nagasaki was again referred to as the only port +where foreign trade might be lawfully conducted, and the Russians, +therefore, declared their intention of proceeding thither, a passport +being handed to them for the purpose. It does not appear, however, +that they availed themselves of this permit, and in the mean while +the Yedo commissioners pursued their journey northward, and pulled up +a number of boundary posts which had been erected by the Russians in +Urup. + +The Bakufu now began to appreciate the situation more fully. They +took under their own immediate control the eastern half of Yezo, +entrusting the western half to Matsumae. The next incident of note +was a survey of the northern islands, made in 1800 by the famous +mathematician, Ino Tadayoshi, and the despatch of another party of +Bakufu investigators. Nothing practical was done, however, and, in +1804, a Russian ship arrived at Nagasaki carrying a number of +Japanese castaways and again applying for permission to trade. But it +soon appeared that the Bakufu were playing fast and loose with their +visitors and that they had no intention of sanctioning general +foreign commerce, even at Nagasaki. Incensed by such treatment, the +Russians, in 1806, invaded Saghalien, carried away several Japanese +soldiers, and partially raided Etorop and other places. They +threatened further violence in the following year unless +international trade was sanctioned. + +The Bakufu had now a serious problem to solve, and their ideas of its +solution were almost comical. Thus, one statesman recommended the +organization of a special force recruited from the ranks of vagrants +and criminals and stationed permanently in the northern islands, A +more practical programme was the formation of a local militia. But +neither of these suggestions obtained approval, nor was anything done +beyond removing the Matsumae feudatory and placing the whole of the +islands under the direct sway of the Bakufu. + +For a period of five years after these events the Russians made no +further attempt to establish relations with Japan, and their next +essay, namely, the despatch of a warship--the Diana--to survey the +Yezo coasts, was unceremoniously interrupted by the Japanese. Another +vessel flying the Russian flag visited Kunajiri, in 1814. On that +occasion the Japanese managed to seize some members of the Russian +crew, who were ultimately saved by the shrewdness of one of their +officers. These events imparted fresh vigour to Japan's prejudices +against foreign intercourse, but, as for the Russians, not a few of +them found their way to Saghalien and settled there without any +resolute attempt on the part of the Bakufu to expel them. + +COAST DEFENCE + +One effect of the events related above was to direct Japanese +attention to the necessity of coast defence, a subject which derived +much importance from information filtering through the Dutch door at +Nagasaki. Under the latter influence a remarkable book (Kai-koku +Hei-dan) was compiled by Hayashi Shibei, who had associated for some +time with the Dutch at Deshima. He urged frankly that Japan must +remain helpless for naval purposes if her people were forbidden to +build ocean-going vessels while foreigners sailed the high seas, and +he further urged that attention should be paid to coast defence, so +that the country might not be wholly at the mercy of foreign +adventurers. The brave author was thrown into prison and the +printing-blocks of his book were destroyed, but his enlightenment +bore some fruit, for immediately afterwards the Bakufu prime minister +made a journey along the coasts of the empire to select points for +the erection of fortifications, and to encourage the feudatories to +take steps for guarding these important positions. + +FOREIGN LITERATURE + +It has already been stated that in the days of the shogun Yoshimune +(1716-1745) the veto against studying foreign books was removed. But +for some time this liberal measure produced no practical effect, +since there did not exist even a Dutch-Japanese vocabulary to open +the pages of foreign literature for Japanese study. Indeed, very few +books were procurable from the Dutch at Deshima. The most accessible +were treatises on medicine and anatomy, and the illustrations in +these volumes served as a guide for interpreting their contents. +Earnestness well-nigh incredible was shown by Japanese students in +deciphering the strange terms, and presently the country was placed +in possession of The History of Russia, Notes on the Northern +Islands, Universal Geography, A Compendium of Dutch Literature, +Treatises on the Art of Translation, a Dutch-Japanese Dictionary and +so forth, the immediate result being a nascent public conviction of +the necessity of opening the country,--a conviction which, though not +widely held, contributed materially to the ultimate fall of the +Bakufu. + +The Yedo Court, however, clung tenaciously to its hereditary +conservatism. Thus, in 1825, the Bakufu issued a general order that +any foreign vessel coming within range of the coast batteries should +at once be fired upon, and not until 1842 was this harsh command +modified in the sense that a ship driven into a Japanese port by +stress of weather might be given food, water, and provisions, but +should be warned to resume her voyage immediately. Meanwhile, +strenuous efforts were made to strengthen the littoral defences, and +a very active revival of the study of the military art took place +throughout the empire, though, at the same time, the number of +patriots sufficiently brave and clear-sighted to condemn the policy +of seclusion grew steadily. + +ENGRAVING: "OHARAME" (A FEMALE LABOURER IN THE SUBURBS OF KYOTO) + +ENGRAVING: TWO DRUMS AND TSUZUMI--A and D are Drums; B and C are +Tsuzumi. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE DECLINE OF THE TOKUGAWA: (Continued) + +THE TWELFTH SHOGUN, IEYOSHI (1838-1853) + +FROM the period of this shogun the strength of the Bakufu began to +wane steadily, and the restoration of the administrative power to the +sovereign came to be discussed, with bated breath at first, but +gradually with increased freedom. It is undeniable, however, that the +decline of the Tokugawa was due as much to an empty treasury as to +the complications of foreign intercourse. The financial situation in +the first half of the nineteenth century may be briefly described as +one of expenditures constantly exceeding income, and of repeated +recourse by the Bakufu to the fatal expedient of debasing the +currency. Public respect was steadily undermined by these displays of +impecuniosity, and the feudatories in the west of the empire--that is +to say, the tozama daimyo, whose loyalty to the Bakufu was weak at +the best--found an opportunity to assert themselves against the Yedo +administration, while the appreciation of commodities rendered the +burden of living constantly more severe and thus helped to alienate +the people. + +SUMPTUARY LAWS + +While with one hand scattering abroad debased tokens of exchange, the +Bakufu legislators laboured strenuously with the other to check +luxury and extravagance. Conspicuous among the statesmen who sought +to restore the economical habit of former days was Mizuno Echizen no +Kami, who, in 1826 and the immediately subsequent years, promulgated +decree after decree vetoing everything in the nature of needless +expenditures. It fared with his attempt as it always does with such +legislation. People admired the vetoes in theory but paid little +attention to them in practice. + +FAMINE IN THE TEMPO ERA (1830-1844) + +From 1836 onward, through successive years, one bad harvest followed +another until the prices of rice and other cereals rose to +unprecedented figures. The Bakufu were not remiss in their measures +to relieve distress. Free grants of grain were made in the most +afflicted regions; houses of refuge were constructed where the +indigent might be fed and lodged during a maximum period of 210 days, +each inmate receiving in addition a daily allowance of money which +was handed to him on leaving the refuge, and this example of charity +was obeyed widely by the feudatories. It is on record that twenty +thousand persons availed themselves of these charitable institutions +in Yedo alone. One particularly sad episode marks the story. Driven +to desperation by the sight of the people's pain and by his own +failure to obtain from wealthy folks a sufficient measure of aid, +although he sold everything he himself possessed by way of example, a +police official, Oshio Heihachiro, raised the flag of revolt and +became the instrument of starting a tumult in which eighteen thousand +buildings were destroyed in Osaka. In a manifesto issued before +committing suicide in company with his son, Heihachiro charged the +whole body of officials with corrupt motives, and declared that the +sovereign was treated as a recluse without any practical authority; +that the people did not know where to make complaint; that the +displeasure of heaven was evinced by a succession of natural +calamities, and that the men in power paid no attention to these +warnings. + +The eleventh shogun, Ienari, after fifty-one years of office, +resigned in favour of his son, Ieyoshi, who ruled from 1838 to 1853. +Ienari survived his resignation by four years, during which he +resided in the western castle, and, under the title of o-gosho, +continued to take part in the administration. As for Ieyoshi, his +tenure of power is chiefly notable for the strenuous efforts made by +his prime minister, Mizuno Echizen no Kami, to substitute economy for +the costly luxury that prevailed. Reference has already been made to +this eminent official's policy, and it will suffice here to add that +his aim was to restore the austere fashions of former times. The +schedule of reforms was practically endless. Expensive costumes were +seized and burned; theatres were relegated to a remote suburb of the +city; actors were ostracized; a censorship of publications checked +under severe penalties the compilation of all anti-foreign or immoral +literature, and even children's toys were legislated for. + +At first these laws alarmed people, but it was soon found that +competence to enforce was not commensurate with ability to compile, +and the only result achieved was that splendour and extravagance were +more or less concealed. Yet the Bakufu officials did not hesitate to +resort to force. It is recorded that storehouses and residences were +sealed and their inmates banished; that no less than 570 restaurants +were removed from the most populous part of the city, and that the +maidservants employed in them were all degraded to the class of +"licensed prostitutes." This drastic effort went down in the pages of +history as the "Tempo Reformation." It ended in the resignation of +its author and the complete defeat of its purpose. + +TOKUGAWA NARIAKI + +Contemporaneous with the wholesale reformer, Mizuno, was Tokugawa +Nariaki (1800-1860), daimyo of Mito, who opposed the conciliatory +foreign policy, soon to be described, of Ii Naosuke (Kamon no Kami). +Nariaki inherited the literary tastes of his ancestor, Mitsukuni, and +at his court a number of earnest students and loyal soldiers +assembled. Among them were Fujita Toko (1806-1855) and Toda Tadanori, +who are not less remarkable as scholars and historians than as +administrators. + +RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES + +Japan now began to make the acquaintance of American citizens, who, +pursuing the whaling industry in the seas off Alaska and China, +passed frequently in their ships within easy sight of the island of +Yezo. Occasionally, one of these schooners was cast away on Japan's +shores, and as a rule, her people were treated with consideration and +sent to Deshima for shipment to Batavia. Japanese sailors, also, were +occasionally swept by hurricanes and currents to the Aleutian +Islands, to Oregon, or to California, and in several cases these +mariners were sent back to Japan by American vessels. It was on such +an errand of mercy that the sailing ship Morrison entered Yedo Bay, +in 1837, and being required to repair to Kagoshima, was driven from +the latter place by cannon shot. It was on such an errand, also, that +the Manhattan reached Uraga and lay there four days before she was +compelled to take her departure. It would seem that the experiences +collected by Cooper, master of the latter vessel, and published after +his return to the United States, induced the Washington Government to +essay the opening of Japan. A ninety-gun ship of the line and a +sloop, sent on this errand, anchored off Uraga in 1846, and their +commander, Commodore Biddle, applied for the sanction of trade. He +received a positive refusal, and in pursuance of his instructions to +abstain from any act calculated to excite hostility or distrust, he +weighed anchor and sailed away. + +GREAT BRITAIN AND OTHER POWERS + +In this same year, 1846, a French ship touched at the Ryukyu +archipelago, and attempted to persuade the islanders that if they +wished for security against British aggression, they must place +themselves under the protection of France. England, indeed, was now +much in evidence in the seas of southern China, and the Dutch at +Deshima, obeying the instincts of commercial rivalry, warned Japan +that she must be prepared for a visit from an English squadron at any +moment. The King of Holland now (1847) intervened. He sent to Yedo a +number of books together with a map of the world and a despatch +urging Japan to open her ports. This was not done for Japan's sake. +The apparent explanation is that the trade at Deshima having ceased +to be worth pursuing, the Dutch East India Company had surrendered +its monopoly to the Netherlands Government, so that the latter's +advice to Japan is explained. But his Majesty's efforts had no +immediate result, though they doubtless augmented Japan's feeling of +anxiety. + +Twelve months later, the Preble, an American brig under Commander +Glynn, anchored off Nagasaki and threatened to bombard the town +unless immediate delivery was made of fifteen foreign seamen held by +the Japanese for shipment to Batavia. The castaways were surrendered, +and Commander Glynn found evidence to prove that Japan was by no +means ignorant of American doings in Mexico, and that she was +beginning to comprehend how close the world was approaching her +shores. Once again in the following year (1849), the King of Holland +wrote, telling the Japanese to expect an American fleet in their +waters twelve months later, and to look for war unless they agreed to +international commerce. This was no empty threat. The Washington +Government had actually addressed to European nations a memorandum +justifying an expedition to Japan on the ground that it would inure +to the advantage of all, and the King of Holland appended to his +letter a draft of the treaty which would be presented in Yedo. "All +these things render it obvious that in the matter of renewing their +relations with the outer world, the Japanese were not required to +make any sudden decision under stress of unexpected menace; they had +ample notice of the course events were taking." + +THE 121ST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOMEI (A.D. 1846-1867) + +The Emperor Ninko died in 1846 and was succeeded by his son, Komei, +the 121st sovereign. The country's foreign relations soon became a +source of profound concern to the new ruler. Among the Court nobles +there had developed in Ninko's reign a strong desire to make their +influence felt in the administration of the empire, and thus to +emerge from the insignificant position to which the Bakufu system +condemned them. In obedience to their suggestions, the Emperor Ninko +established a special college for the education of Court nobles, from +the age of fifteen to that of forty. This step does not seem to have +caused any concern to the Bakufu officials. The college was duly +organized under the name of Gakushu-jo (afterwards changed to +Gakushu-iri). The Yedo treasury went so far as to contribute a +substantial sum to the support of the institution, and early in the +reign of Komei the nobles began to look at life with eyes changed by +the teaching thus afforded. Instructors at the college were chosen +among the descendants of the immortal scholars, Abe no Seimei, +Sugawara no Michizane, and others scarcely less renowned. The Emperor +Ninko had left instructions that four precepts should be inscribed +conspicuously in the halls of the college, namely: + +Walk in the paths trodden by the feet of the great sages. + +Revere the righteous canons of the empire. + +He that has not learned the sacred doctrines, how can he govern +himself? + +He that is ignorant of the classics, how can he regulate his own +conduct? + +A manifest sign of the times, the portals of this college were soon +thronged by Court nobles, and the Imperial capital began to awake +from its sleep of centuries. The Emperor himself evinced his +solicitude about foreign relations by fasting and by praying at the +shrines of the national deities, his Majesty's constant formula of +worship being a supplication that his life might be accepted as a +substitute for the safety of his country. The fact was that the +overthrow of the Yedo Bakufu had begun to constitute an absorbing +object with many of the high officials in Kyoto. It had hitherto been +an invariable rule that any policy contemplated in Yedo became an +accomplished fact before a report was presented in the Imperial +capital. But very soon after his coronation, the Emperor Komei +departed from this time-honoured sequence of procedure and formally +instructed the Bakufu that the traditional policy of the empire in +foreign affairs must be strictly maintained. The early Tokugawa +shoguns would have strongly resented such interference, but times had +changed, and Ieyoshi bowed his head quietly to the new order. +Thenceforth the Bakufu submitted all questions of foreign policy to +the Imperial Court before final decision. + +COMMODORE PERRY + +In the year 1853, Commodore Perry of the United States Navy appeared +in Uraga Bay with a squadron of four warships and 560 men. The advent +of such a force created much perturbation in Yedo. Instead of dealing +with the affair on their own absolute authority, the Bakufu summoned +a council of the feudatories to discuss the necessary steps. +Meanwhile, the shogun, who had been ill for some time, died, and his +decease was pleaded as a pretext for postponing discussion with the +Americans. Perry being without authority to resort to force, did not +press his point. He transmitted the President's letter to the +sovereign of Japan, and steamed away on the 17th of July, declaring +his intention to return in the following year. This letter was +circulated among the feudatories, who were invited to express their +opinions on the document. Their replies are worthy of perusal as +presenting a clear idea of Japanese views at that time with regard to +foreign intercourse. The gist of the replies may be summarized as +follows: + +-The ultimate purpose of foreigners in visiting Japan is to +reconnoitre the country. This is proved by the action of the Russians +in the north. What has been done by Western States in India and China +would doubtless be done in Japan also if opportunity offered. Even +the Dutch are not free from suspicion of acting the part of spies. + +-Foreign trade, so far from benefitting the nation, cannot fail to +impoverish it, inasmuch as oversea commerce simply means that, +whereas Japan receives a number of unnecessary luxuries, she has to +give in exchange quantities of precious metals. + +-To permit foreign intercourse would be to revoke the law of +exclusion which has been enforced for centuries, and which was the +outcome of practical experience. + +These opinions were subscribed by a great majority of the +feudatories. A few, however, had sufficient foresight and courage to +advocate foreign intercourse. The leaders of this small minority +were, Ii Naosuke, baron of Hikone, historically remembered as Ii +Kamon no Kami; Toda Izu no Kami, bugyo of Uraga; Takashima Kihei +(called also Shirodayu, or Shuhan); Egawa Tarozaemon, bugyo of +Nirayama; and Otsuki Heiji, a vassal of the baron of Sendai. The +views of these statesmen may be briefly summarized as follows: + +-It is not to be denied that many illustrious and patriotic men, +anticipating injury to the country's fortunes and perversion of the +nation's moral canons, are implacably opposed to foreign intercourse. +But the circumstances of the time render it impossible to maintain +the integrity of the empire side by side with the policy of +seclusion. The coasts are virtually unprotected. The country is +practically without a navy. Throughout a period of nearly two and a +half centuries the building of any ship having a capacity of over one +hundred koku has been forbidden, and in the absence of war-vessels +there is no means of defence except coast batteries, which are +practically non-existent. + +-When inaugurating the policy of seclusion, the Bakufu Government +took care to leave China and Holland as a bridge between Japan and +the rest of the world. It will be wise to utilize that bridge for +dealing with foreign States, so as to gain time for preparations of +defence, instead of rushing blindly into battle without any supply of +effective weapons. If the Americans have need of coal, there is an +abundant supply in Kyushu. If they require provisions and water, +their needs can easily be satisfied. As for returning distressed +foreign seamen, that has hitherto been done voluntarily, and an +arrangement on this subject can be made through the medium of the +Dutch. As for foreign trade, the times have changed radically since a +veto was imposed on all commercial transactions, and it by no means +follows that what was wise then is expedient now. Japan must have +ocean-going vessels, and these cannot be procured in a moment. Her +best way is to avail herself of the services of the Dutch as +middlemen in trade, and to lose no time in furnishing herself with +powerful men-of-war and with sailors and gunners capable of +navigating and fighting these vessels. + +-In short, the wisest plan is to make a show of commerce and +intercourse, and thus gain time to equip the country with a knowledge +of naval architecture and warfare. The two things most essential are +that Christianity should not be admitted in the train of foreign +trade, and that the strictest economy should be exercised by all +classes of the people so as to provide funds for the building of a +navy and the fortification of the coasts. + +The question alluded to at the close of the above, namely, the +question of finance, was a paramount difficulty for the Bakufu. In +the very year of Perry's coming, a member of the Cabinet in Yedo +wrote as follows to Fujita Toko, chief adviser of the Mito feudatory: +"Unless I tell you frankly about the condition of the treasury you +cannot appreciate the situation. If you saw the accounts you would be +startled, and would learn at a glance the hopelessness of going to +war. The country could not hold out even for a twelvemonth, and there +is nothing for it except that everyone should join in saving money +for purposes of equipment. If we keep the peace now and toil +unremittingly for ten years, we may hope to restore the situation." +In truth, the Bakufu had practically no choice. "On one hand, +thousands of publicists, who believed themselves patriotic, clamoured +for the policy of seclusion, even at the cost of war; on the other, +the Yedo Government knew that to fight must be to incur crushing +defeat." The Bakufu then issued the following temporizing decree: + +"With regard to the despatch from the United States Government, the +views of competent men have been taken and have been carefully +considered by the shogun. The views expressed are variously worded +but they advocate either peace or war. Everyone has pointed out that +we are without a navy and that our coasts are undefended. Meanwhile, +the Americans will be here again next year. Our policy shall be to +evade any definite answer to their request, while at the same time +maintaining a peaceful demeanour. It may be, however, that they will +have recourse to violence. For that contingency we must be prepared +lest the country suffer disgrace. Therefore every possible effort +will be made to prepare means of defence. Above all it is imperative +that everyone should practise patience, refrain from anger, and +carefully observe the conduct of the foreigners. Should they open +hostilities, all must at once take up arms and fight strenuously for +the country." + +A less vertebrate policy could scarcely have been formulated, but the +conduct of the Bakufu statesmen was more stalwart than their +language. Under the guidance of Abe Masahiro, one of the ablest +statesmen that Yedo ever possessed, batteries were built at Shinagawa +to guard the approaches to Yedo; defensive preparations were made +along the coasts of Musashi, Sagami, Awa, and Kazusa; the veto +against the construction of ocean-going ships was rescinded, and the +feudatories were invited to build and arm large vessels; a commission +was given to the Dutch at Deshima to procure from Europe a library of +useful books; cannon were cast; troops were drilled, and everyone who +had acquired expert knowledge through the medium of the Dutch was +taken into official favour. + + +But all these efforts tended only to expose their own feebleness, and +on the 2nd of November, 1853, instructions were issued that if the +Americans returned, they were to be dealt with peacefully. "In short, +the sight of Perry's steam-propelled ships, their powerful armament, +and the specimens they carried of Western wonders had practically +broken down the barriers of Japan's isolation without any need of +treaties or conventions." Thus, when the American commodore returned +in the following February with ten ships and crews numbering two +thousand, he easily obtained a treaty by which Japan promised kind +treatment to shipwrecked sailors; permission to foreign vessels to +obtain stores and provisions within her territory, and an engagement +that American vessels might anchor in the ports of Shimoda and +Hakata. Much has been written about Perry's judicious display of +force and about his sagacious tact in dealing with the Japanese, but +it may be doubted whether the consequences of his exploit did not +invest its methods with extravagant lustre. + +TREATIES OF COMMERCE + +Russia, Holland, and England speedily obtained treaties similar to +that concluded by Commodore Perry in 1854. These, however, were not +commercial conventions. It was reserved for Mr. Townsend Harris, +American consul-general in Japan, to open the country to trade. +Arriving in August, 1856, he concluded in March, 1857, a treaty +securing to United States citizens the right of permanent residence +at Shimoda and Hakodate, as well as that of carrying on trade at +Nagasaki and establishing consular jurisdiction. Nevertheless, +nothing worthy to be called commercial intercourse was allowed by the +Bakufu, and it was not until Mr. Harris, with infinite patience and +tact, had gone to Yedo alter ten months' delay that he secured the +opening of ports other than Nagasaki to international commerce. In +this achievement he was assisted by Hotta Masamutsu, successor to the +great Masahiro, and, like most of his colleagues, a sincere advocate +of opening the country. + +Japan has been much blamed for her reluctance in this matter, but +when we recall the danger to which the Yedo administration was +exposed by its own weakness, and when we observe that a strong +sentiment was growing up in favour of abolishing the dual form of +government, we can easily appreciate that to sanction commercial +relations might well have shaken the Bakufu to their foundations. It +was possible to construe the Perry convention and the first Harris +convention as mere acts of benevolence towards strangers, but a +commercial treaty would not have lent itself to any such +construction. We cannot wonder that the shogun's ministers hesitated +to take an apparently suicidal step. They again consulted the +feudatories and again received an almost unanimously unfavourable +answer. + +In fact, history has preserved only one unequivocal expression of +consent. It was formulated by Matsudaira Yoshinaga, baron of Echizen. +He had been among the most ardent exclusionists in the first council +of feudatories; but his views had subsequently undergone a radical +change, owing to the arguments of one of his vassals, Hashimoto +Sanae--elder brother of Viscount Hashimoto Tsunatsune, president of +the Red Cross Hospital, who died in 1909. "Not only did this +remarkable man frankly advocate foreign trade for its own sake and as +a means of enriching the nation, thus developing its capacity for +independence, but he also recommended the fostering of industries, +the purchase of ships and firearms, the study of foreign arts and +sciences, and the despatch of students and publicists to Western +countries for purposes of instruction. Finally, he laid down the +principle that probity is essential to commercial success." Such +doctrines were then much in advance of the time. Nevertheless, Harris +achieved his purpose. He had audience of the shogun in November, +1857, and, on the 29th of the following July, a treaty was concluded +opening Yokohama, from the 1st of July, 1858, to commerce between the +United States and Japan. + +This treaty was concluded in spite of the failure of two attempts to +obtain the sanction of the Throne. Plainly the Bakufu shrank from +openly adopting a policy which, while recognizing its necessity, they +distrusted their own ability to force upon the nation. They had, +however, promised Mr. Harris that the treaty should be signed, and +they kept their word at a risk, of whose magnitude the American +consul-general had no conception. Mr. Harris had brought to this +conference exceptional diplomatic skill and winning tact, but it +cannot be denied that he derived assistance from contemporaneous +events in China, where the Peiho forts had just been captured and the +Chinese forced to sign a treaty. He was thus able to warn the +Japanese that the British and the French fleets might be expected at +any moment to enter Yedo Bay, and that the best way to avert irksome +demands at the hands of the British was to establish a comparatively +moderate precedent by yielding to the American proposals. + +THE THIRTEENTH SHOGUN, IESADA (1853-1858) + +Between the conclusion of the Harris commercial treaty and its +signature, the Bakufu prime minister visited Kyoto, for the purpose +of persuading the Imperial Court to abandon its anti-foreign +attitude. His mission was quite unsuccessful, the utmost concession +obtained by him being that the problem of the treaty should be +submitted to the feudatories. Another question raised on this +occasion in Kyoto was the succession to the shogunate. The twelfth +shogun, Ieyoshi, had died in 1853, and was succeeded by Iesada, a +physically incompetent ruler. Iesada had been married to the daughter +of the Satsuma feudatory, as planned by the former Bakufu premier, +Abe, who hoped thus to cement friendly relations with the great +southern baron, a hereditary enemy of the Tokugawa. There was no +issue of the marriage, and it being certain that there could be no +issue, two candidates for the shogunate were proposed. They were +Keiki, son of Nariaki of Mito a man of matured intellect and high +capacities, and Iemochi, son of Nariyuki of Kii, a boy of thirteen. +Public opinion supported the former, and his connexion with the house +of Mito seemed to assure an anti-foreign bias. Chiefly for the latter +reason, the Court in Kyoto favoured his nomination. + +But Keiki was not really an advocate of national seclusion. Had the +succession been given to him then, he would doubtless have adopted a +liberal policy. On the other hand, his appointment would have been +equivalent to the abdication of Iesada, and in order to avert that +catastrophe, the shogun's entourage contrived to obtain the +appointment of Ii Kamon no Kami to the post of prime minister in +Yedo. This baron was not less capable than courageous. He immediately +caused the young daimyo of Kii to be nominated successor to the +shogunate, and he signed the Harris treaty. A vehement outcry ensued. +It was claimed that the will of the Imperial Court had been set at +nought by signing the treaty without the sovereign's sanction, and +that unconditional yielding to foreign demands was intolerable. The +Mito baron headed this opposition. But it is observable that even he +did not insist upon the maintenance of absolute seclusion. All that +he and his followers demanded was that a delay should be imposed in +order to obtain time for definite preparation, whereas the premier, +Ii, was for the immediate opening of the country. + +THE FOURTEENTH SHOGUN, IEMOCHI (1858-1866) + +Iesada died in 1858, and the reluctance of the Imperial Court to +sanction the succession of Iemochi was evidenced by a long delay in +the transmission of the necessary Imperial document. During that +interval, the feudatories of Mito and Echizen had a memorable +interview with the premier, Ii, whose life seemed at that time to +hang by a thread, but who, nevertheless, advanced unflinchingly +towards his goal. The three feudatories offered to compromise; in +other words, they declared their willingness to subscribe the +commercial convention provided that Keiki was appointed shogun; the +important fact being thus established that domestic politics had +taken precedence of foreign. Ii not only declined this offer, but +also did not hesitate to punish the leaders of the opposition by +confinement and by temporary exclusion from the Court. + +FOREIGN MILITARY SCIENCE + +It was during the days of the thirteenth shogun that Japan may be +said to have commenced her practical study of foreign military +science. Instructors were imported from Holland, and a college was +established at Nagasaki. Among its graduates were several historical +characters, notably Katsu Rintaro, after-wards Count Katsu, minister +of Marine in the Meiji Government. A naval college (Gunkan Kyojujo) +also was organized at Tsukiji, in Yedo, while at Akunoura, in +Nagasaki, an iron-foundry was erected. There, the first attempt at +shipbuilding on foreign lines was made, and there, also, is now +situated the premier private dockyard in Japan, namely, that of the +Mitsubishi Company. Already, in 1854, the Dutch Government had +presented to Japan her first steamship, the Kanko Maru. + +FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES AND THE BAKUFU + +An indirect consequence of these disputes between the Throne and the +Court nobles, on one side, and the Bakufu officials, on the other, +was to perplex the foreign representatives who were now residing in +Yedo. These representatives learned to believe that the shogun's +ministers were determined either to avoid making treaties or to evade +them when made. However natural this suspicion may have been, it +lacked solid foundation. That is proved by a memorial which the Yedo +statesmen addressed to the Throne after the negotiation of the Harris +treaty. They made it quite plain that they were acting in perfect +good faith, the only doubtful point in the memorial being that, after +the organization of a competent army and navy, the problem of peace +or war might be decided. "If peaceful relations be maintained by +ratifying the treaty," they wrote, "the avaricious aliens will +definitely see that there is not much wealth in the country, and +thus, abandoning the idea of gain, they will approach us with +friendly feelings only and ultimately will pass under our Emperor's +grace. They may then be induced to make grateful offerings to his +Majesty, and it will no longer be a question of trade but of +tribute." Something of sinister intention seems to present itself +between the lines of this document. But we have to remember that it +was addressed ultimately to the Kyoto nobles, whose resentment would +have been at once excited by the use of friendly or self-effacing +language. + +There is also on record correspondence that passed between the Bakufu +premier, Ii, and certain friends of his in the Imperial capital. From +these letters it appears that Yedo was advised by the far-seeing +section of the Kyoto statesmen to simulate the policy of bringing +aliens under Japanese influence, and of using for purposes of +military and naval development the wealth that would accrue from +oversea trade. In a word, the Bakufu had to disguise their policy in +terms such as might placate the Kyoto conservatives, and this +deception was once carried so far that an envoy sent to Kyoto from +Yedo represented the shogun as hostile at heart to foreigners, though +tolerating them temporarily as a matter of prudence. It cannot be +wondered at that the foreign representatives found much to perplex +them in these conditions, or that at the legations in Yedo, as well +as among the peoples of Europe and America, an uneasy feeling grew up +that Japan waited only for an opportunity to repudiate her treaty +engagements. + +INTRIGUES IN KYOTO + +About this time there began to assemble in the Imperial capital a +number of men who, though without social or official status, were at +once talented; patriotic, and conservative. At their head stood Umeda +Genjiro, who practised as a physician and wrote political brochures +under the nom de plume of Umpin. He soon became the centre of +a circle of loyalists whose motto was Son-0 Jo-I (Revere the +sovereign, expel the barbarians), and associated with him were +Rai Miki, a son of Rai Sanyo; Yanagawa Seigan; Yoshida Shoin; Saigo +Kichinosuke--better known as Saigo Takamori, the leader of the +Satsuma rebellion of 1877,--Hashimoto Sanae, and others who have been +not unjustly described as the real motive force that brought about +the Restoration of 1867. + +These men soon came to exercise great influence over the Court +nobles--especially Konoe, Takatsukasa, Ichijo, Nijo, and Sanjo--and +were consequently able to suggest subjects for the sovereign's +rescripts. Thus his Majesty was induced to issue an edict which +conveyed a reprimand to the shogun for concluding a treaty without +previously referring it to the feudatories, and which suggested that +the Mito and Owari feudatories should be released from the sentence +of confinement passed on them by Ii Kamon no Kami. This edict +startled the Bakufu. They at once sent from Yedo envoys to +remonstrate with the conservatives, and after a controversy lasting +four months, a compromise was effected by which the sovereign +postponed any action for the expulsion of foreigners and the shogun +declared that his tolerance of international commerce was only +temporary. This was regarded as a victory for the shogunate. But the +Yedo envoys, during their stay in Kyoto, discovered evidences of a +plot to overthrow the Bakufu. Great severity was shown in dealing +with this conspiracy. The leaders were beheaded, banished, or ordered +to commit suicide; the Mito feudatory being sentenced to perpetual +confinement in his fief; the daimyo of Owari, to permanent +retirement; and Keiki, former candidate for the succession to the +shogunate, being deprived of office and directed to live in +seclusion. Many other notable men were subjected to various +penalties, and this "Great Judgment of Ansei"--the name of the +era--caused a profound sensation throughout the empire. The nation +mourned for many sincere patriots who had been sentenced on the +flimsiest evidence, and the whole incident tended to accentuate the +unpopularity of foreign intercourse. + +ENGRAVING: II NAOSUKE + +THE SECRET EDICT + +The compromise mentioned above as having been effected between Yedo +and Kyoto had the effect of stultifying the previously drafted edict +which condemned the shogun for concluding a treaty without consulting +the feudatories. The edict had not been publicly promulgated, but it +had come into the possession of the Mito feudatory, and by his orders +had been enclosed in the family tomb, where it was guarded night and +day by a strong troop of samurai. The Bakufu insisted that to convey +such a document direct from the Throne to a feudatory was a plain +trespass upon the shogun's authority. Mito, however, refused to +surrender it. The most uncompromising conservatives of the fief +issued a manifesto justifying their refusal, and, as evidence of +their sincerity, committed suicide. + +ASSASSINATION OF II + +Nariaki, the Mito baron, now instructed his vassals to surrender the +edict. He may have shared the views of his retainers, but he was not +prepared to assert them by taking up arms against his own family. In +the face of this instruction the conservative samurai had no choice +but to disperse or commit suicide. Some twenty of them, however, made +their way to Yedo bent upon killing Ii Kamon no Kami, whom they +regarded as the head and front of the evils of the time. The deed was +consummated on the morning of the 24th of March, 1860, as Ii was on +his way to the shogun's castle. All the assassins lost their lives or +committed suicide. + +ATTITUDE OF THE JAPANESE SAMURAI + +The slaying of Ii was followed by several similar acts, a few against +foreigners and several against Japanese leaders of progress. Many +evil things have been said of the men by whom these deeds of blood +were perpetrated. But we have always to remember, that in their own +eyes they obeyed the teachings of hereditary conviction and the +dictates of patriotism towards their country as well as loyalty +towards their sovereign. It has been abundantly shown in these pages +that the original attitude of the Japanese towards foreigners was +hospitable and liberal. It has also been shown how, in the presence +of unwelcome facts, this mood was changed for one of distrust and +dislike. Every Japanese patriot believed when he refused to admit +foreigners to his country in the nineteenth century that he was +obeying the injunctions handed down from the lips of his most +illustrious countrymen, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, and Iemitsu--believed, in +short, that to re-admit aliens would be to expose the realm to +extreme peril and to connive at its loss of independence. He was +prepared to obey this conviction at the cost of his own life, and +that sacrifice seemed a sufficient guarantee of his sincerity. + +THE FIRST FOREIGNERS + +It must be conceded, too, that the nineteenth-century foreigner did +not present himself to Japan in a very lovable light. His demeanour +was marked by all the arrogance habitually shown by the Occidental +towards the Oriental, and though the general average of the oversea +comers reached a high standard, they approached the solution of all +Japanese problems with a degree of suspicion which could not fail to +be intensely irksome to a proud nation. Even the foreign +representatives made it their habit to seek for trickery or abuse in +all Japanese doings, official or private, and though they doubtless +had much warrant for this mood, its display did not tend to +conciliate the Japanese. Many instances might be cited from the pages +of official records and from the columns of local newspapers, but +they need not be detailed here. + +Moreover, there were difficulties connected with trade. The framers +of the treaties had found it necessary to deal with the currency +question, and their manner of dealing with it was to stipulate that +foreign coins should be exchangeable with Japanese, weight for +weight. This stipulation did not take into any account the ratio +between the precious metals, and as that ratio was fifteen to one in +Europe and five to one in Japan, it is obvious that, by the mere +process of exchange, a foreign merchant could reap a rich harvest. Of +course this was never intended by the framers of the treaty, and when +the Japanese saw the yellow metal flowing away rapidly from the +realm, they adopted the obvious expedient of changing the relative +weights of the gold and silver coins. + +It may be doubted whether any state would have hesitated to apply +that remedy. Yet by the foreigner it was censured as a "gross +violation of treaty right" and as "a deliberate attempt on the part +of the Japanese authorities to raise all the prices of the native +produce two hundred per cent, against the foreign purchaser." The +British representative, Sir Rutherford Alcock, in a despatch written +to his Government, at the close of 1859, penned some very caustic +comments on the conduct of his countrymen, and did not hesitate to +declare that "in estimating the difficulties to be overcome in any +attempt to improve the aspect of affairs, if the ill-disguised enmity +of the governing classes and the indisposition of the Executive +Government to give partial effect to the treaties be classed among +the first and principal of these, the unscrupulous character and +dealings of foreigners who frequent the ports for purposes of trade +are only second and scarcely inferior in importance, from the +sinister character of the influence they exercise." + +It is only just, however, to note the other side of the picture, and +to observe that the foreign merchant had many causes of legitimate +dissatisfaction; that his business was constantly hampered and +interrupted by Japanese official interference; that the ready +recourse which Japanese samurai had to deeds of blood against +peaceful strangers seemed revoltingly cruel; that he appeared to be +surrounded by an atmosphere of perplexity and double dealing, and +that the large majority of the Anglo-Saxon tradesmen visiting Japan +in the early days of her renewed intercourse had nothing whatever in +common with the men described in the above despatch. + +KYOTO + +In order to follow the sequence of events, it is necessary to revert +to Kyoto, which, as the reader will have perceived, was the centre of +national politics in this troublous era. An incident apparently of +the greatest importance to the Bakufu occurred in 1861. The shogun +received the Emperor's sister in marriage. But the auspicious event +had to be heavily paid for, since the Bakufu officials were obliged +to pledge themselves to expel foreigners within ten years. This +inspired new efforts on the part of the conservatives. A number of +samurai visited Yokohama, and promised death to any Japanese merchant +entering into transactions with the aliens. These conservatives +further announced the doctrine that the shogun's title of sei-i +(barbarian-expelling) indicated explicitly that to expel foreigners +was his duty, and the shogun's principal officials were so craven +that they advised him to apologize for failing to discharge that duty +instead of wholly repudiating the extravagant interpretation of the +anti-foreign party. + +Encouraged by these successes, the extremists in Kyoto induced the +sovereign to issue an edict in which, after speaking of the +"insufferable and contumelious behaviour of foreigners," of "the loss +of prestige and of honour constantly menacing the country," and of +the sovereign's "profound solicitude," his Majesty openly cited the +shogun's engagement to drive out the aliens within ten years, and +explicitly affirmed that the grant of an Imperial princess' hand to +the shogun had been intended to secure the unity required for that +achievement. Such an edict was in effect an exhortation to every +Japanese subject to organize an anti-foreign crusade, and it +"publicly committed the Bakufu Court to a policy which the latter had +neither the power to carry out nor any intention of attempting to +carry out." + +But at this juncture something like a reaction took place in the +Imperial capital. A party of able men, led by Princes Konoe and +Iwakura, had the courage to denounce the unwisdom of the extremists, +at whose head stood Princes Arisugawa and Sanjo. At that time the +most powerful fiefs in Japan were Satsuma and Choshu. Both were +hereditarily hostile to the Tokugawa, but were mutually separated by +a difference of opinion in the matter of foreign policy, so that when +the above two cabals were organized in Kyoto, the Choshu men attached +themselves to the extremists, the Satsuma to the moderates. The +latter contrived to have an Imperial rescript sent to Yedo by the +hands of the Satsuma feudatory, Shimazu Hisamitsu. This rescript +indicated three courses, one of which the shogun was asked to choose: +namely, first, that he himself should proceed to Kyoto for the +purpose of there conferring with the principal feudatories as to the +best means of tranquillizing the nation; secondly, that the five +principal littoral fiefs should be ordered to prepare coast defences, +and, thirdly, that Keiki of Mito and the feudatory of Echizen should +be appointed to high office in the Bakufu administration. + +To obey this rescript was to violate the fundamental law of the +Bakufu, namely, that all interference in administrative affairs was +forbidden to the Kyoto Court. The only dignified course for the +shogun to take was to refuse compliance or to resign, and probably +had he done so he would have recovered the power of which he had +gradually been deprived by the interference of Kyoto. But his +advisers lacked courage to recommend such a course. At their +suggestion the shogun signified his willingness to comply with the +first and the third of the conditions embodied in the edict. The +Satsuma feudatory strongly counselled that the shogun should decline +to proceed to Kyoto and should reject all proposals for the expulsion +of foreigners, but the Bakufu ignored his advice. + +THE NAMAMUGI INCIDENT + +At this time there occurred an incident which had the most +far-reaching consequences. A party of British subjects, three +gentlemen and a lady, met, at Namamugi on the Tokaido, the cortege of +the Satsuma feudatory as he was returning from Yedo. Unacquainted +with the strict etiquette enforced in Japan in such situations, the +foreigners attempted to ride through the procession, the result being +that one, Mr. Richardson, was killed, and two of the others were +wounded. The upshot of this affair was that the British Government, +having demanded the surrender of the samurai implicated in the +murder, and having been refused, sent a naval squadron to bombard +Kagoshima, the capital of the Satsuma baron. In this engagement, the +Satsuma men learned for the first time the utter helplessness of +their old weapons and old manner of fighting, and their conversion to +progressive ideas was thoroughly effected. + +CONTINUED INTRIGUES IN KYOTO + +The submissive attitude of the Bakufu towards the Imperial Court +encouraged the extremists in Kyoto to prefer fresh demands. Instead +of waiting for the shogun to repair to Kyoto, as he had pledged +himself to do in compliance with the edict mentioned above, they +contrived the issue of another rescript, requiring the Bakufu to +proclaim openly the adoption of the alien-expelling policy, and to +fix a date for its practical inception. Again the Bakufu yielded. +They did not, indeed, actually take the steps indicated in the +rescript, but they promised to consider its contents as soon as the +shogun arrived in Kyoto. The extremists, however, could not reconcile +themselves to even that delay. In the spring of 1863, they +constrained Keiki, who had been appointed guardian to the shogun and +who was then in Kyoto, to give an engagement that on the shogun's +return to Yedo decisive measures to put an end to foreign intercourse +should be begun. This engagement the shogun found awaiting him on his +arrival in the Imperial capital, and at the same time messages daily +reached him from Yedo, declaring that unless he returned at once to +Yedo to settle the Namamugi affair, war with Great Britain would be +inevitable. But the conservatives would not allow him to return. They +procured the issue of yet another Imperial decree directing that "if +the English barbarians wanted a conference, they should repair to +Osaka Harbour and receive a point-blank refusal; that the shogun +should remain in Kyoto to direct defensive operations, and that he +should accompany the Emperor to the shrine of the god of War where a +'barbarian-quelling sword' would be handed to him." Illness saved the +shogun from some of his perplexities and, in his absence, the Yedo +statesmen paid the indemnity required by Great Britain for the +Namamugi outrage and left her to exact whatever further redress she +desired. Accordingly, in July, 1863, a British squadron proceeded to +Kagoshima and bombarded it as already described. + +THE SHIMONOSEKI COMPLICATION + +If the Satsuma men thus received a conclusive lesson as to the +superiority of Western armaments, the Choshu fief was destined to be +similarly instructed not long afterwards. It will have been perceived +that at this epoch the Imperial Court was very prolific in +anti-foreign edicts. One of these actually appointed the 11th of May, +1863, as the date for commencing the barbarian-expelling campaign, +and copies of the edict were sent direct to the feudatories without +previous reference to the shogun. The Choshu daimyo found the edict +so congenial that, without waiting for the appointed day, he opened +fire on American, French, and Dutch merchantmen passing the Strait of +Shimonoseki, which his batteries commanded. The ships suffered no +injury, but, of course, such an act could not be condoned, and the +Bakufu Government being unwilling or unable to give full reparation, +the three powers whose vessels had been fired on joined hands with +England for the purpose of despatching a squadron to destroy the +Choshu forts, which result was attained with the greatest ease. This +"Shimonoseki Expedition," as it was called, enormously strengthened +the conviction which the bombardment of Kagoshima had established. +The nation thoroughly appreciated its own belligerent incapacity when +foreign powers entered the lists, and patriotic men began to say +unhesitatingly that their country was fatally weakened by the dual +system of government. + +CHANGE OF OPINION IN KYOTO + +The sway exercised by the extremists in Kyoto now received a check +owing to their excessive zeal. They procured the drafting of an +Imperial edict which declared the Emperor's resolve to drive out the +foreigners, and announced a visit by his Majesty to the great shrines +to pray for success. This edict never received the Imperial seal. The +extremists appear to have overrated their influence at Court. They +counted erroneously on his Majesty's post facto compliance, and they +thus created an opportunity of which the moderates took immediate +advantage. At the instance of the latter and in consideration of the +fictitious edict, Mori Motonori of Choshu, leader of the extremists, +was ordered to leave the capital with all the nobles who shared his +opinions. Doubtless the bombardment of Kagoshima contributed not a +little to this measure, but the ostensible cause was the irregularity +of the edict. There was no open disavowal of conservatism, but, on +the other hand, there was no attempt to enforce it. The situation for +the extremists was further impaired by an appeal to force on the part +of the Choshu samurai. They essayed to enter Kyoto under arms, for +the ostensible purpose of presenting a petition to the Throne but +really to make away with the moderate leaders. This political coup +failed signally, and from that time the ardent advocates of the +anti-foreign policy began to be regarded as rebels. Just at this time +the Shimonoseki expedition gave an object lesson to the nation, and +helped to deprive the barbarian-expelling agitation of any semblance +of Imperial sanction. + +CHOSHU AND THE BAKUFU + +When the Choshu feudatory attempted to close the Shimonoseki Strait +by means of cannon, the Bakufu sent a commissioner to remonstrate. +But the Choshu samurai insisted that they had merely obeyed the +sovereign's order, and the better to demonstrate their resolution, +they put the commissioner to death. Thus directly challenged, the +Bakufu mustered a powerful force and launched it against Choshu. But +by this time the two great southern clans, having learned the madness +of appealing to force for the purpose of keeping the country closed, +had agreed to work together in the interests of the State. Thus, when +the Bakufu army, comprising contingents from thirty-six feudatories, +reached Choshu, the latter appealed to the clemency of the invading +generals, among whom the Satsuma baron was the most powerful, and the +appeal resulted in the withdrawal of the punitory expedition without +the imposition of any conditions. The Bakufu were naturally much +incensed. Another formidable force was organized to attack Choshu, +but it halted at Osaka and sent envoys to announce the punishment of +the rebellious fief, to which announcements the fief paid not the +least attention. + +THE HYOGO DEMONSTRATION + +While things were at this stage, Sir Harry Parkes, representative of +Great Britain, arrived upon the scene in the Far East. A man of +remarkably luminous judgment and military methods, this distinguished +diplomatist appreciated almost immediately that the ratification of +the treaties by the sovereign was essential to their validity, and +that by investing the ratification with all possible formality, the +Emperor's recovery of administrative power might be accelerated. He +therefore conceived the idea of repairing to Hyogo with a powerful +naval squadron for the purpose of seeking, first, the ratification of +the treaty; secondly, the reduction of the import tariff from an +average of fifteen per cent, ad valorem (at which figure it had been +fixed by the original treaty) to five per cent., and, thirdly, the +opening of the ports of Hyogo and Osaka at once, instead of nearly +two years hence, as previously agreed. + +Among the penalties imposed upon Choshu by the four powers which +combined to destroy the forts at Shimonoseki was a fine of three +million dollars, and the Bakufu, being unable to collect this money +from Choshu, had taken upon themselves the duty of paying it and had +already paid one million. Sir Harry Parkes's plan was to remit the +remaining two millions in consideration of the Government endorsing +the three demands formulated above. It need hardly be said that the +appearance of a powerful squadron of foreign warships at the very +portals of the Imperial palace threw the nation into a ferment. The +eight vessels cast anchor off Hyogo in November, 1866, and it seemed +to the nation that the problem of foreign intercourse had been +revived in an aggravated form. + +Once again the anti-foreign agitators recovered their influence, and +inveighed against the Bakufu's incompetence to avert such trespasses +even from the sacred city. Under the pressure brought to bear by +these conservatives, the Emperor dismissed from office or otherwise +punished the ministers appointed by the shogun to negotiate with the +foreign representatives, and in the face of this humiliating +disavowal of Bakufu authority, the shogun had no alternative except +to resign. He did so. But the Imperial Court hesitated to accept the +responsibilities that would have resulted from sanctioning his +resignation. The Bakufu were informed that the Emperor sanctioned the +treaties and that the shogun was authorized to deal with them, but +that steps must be taken to revise them in consultation with the +feudatories, and that Hyogo and Osaka must not be opened, though the +proposed change of tariff-rate would be permitted. Nothing definite +was said about remitting the two million dollars remaining from the +Choshu fine, and Sir Harry Parkes was able to say triumphantly that +he had obtained two out of three concessions demanded by him without +having given any quid pro whatever. + +THE LAST OF THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNS + +The measures against Choshu were now recommenced, but with complete +unsuccess, and thus a final blow was given to the prestige of the +Yedo Government. It was at this time (1866) that the fourteenth +shogun, Iemochi, passed away and was succeeded by Yoshinobu, better +known, as Keiki. Whatever the political views of this nobleman may +have been when he was put forward by the conservatives, in 1857, as a +candidate for succession to the shogunate, he no sooner attained that +dignity, in 1866, than he became an ardent advocate of progress. +French experts were engaged to remodel the army, and English officers +to organize the navy; the shogun's brother was sent to the Paris +Exposition, and Occidental fashions were introduced at the ceremonies +of the Bakufu Court. + +SATSUMA AND CHOSHU + +When Keiki assumed office he had to deal speedily with two problems; +that is to say, the complication with Choshu, and the opening of +Hyogo. The Emperor's reluctant consent to the latter was obtained for +the beginning of 1868, and an edict was also issued for the +punishment of Choshu. The result was two-fold: fresh life was +imparted to the anti-foreign agitation, and the Satsuma and Choshu +feudatories were induced to join hands against the Tokugawa. Alike in +Satsuma and in Choshu, there were a number of clever men who had long +laboured to combine the forces of the two fiefs in order to unite the +whole empire under the sway of the Kyoto Court. Saigo and Okubo on +the Satsuma side, Kido and Sanjo on the Choshu became leading figures +on the stage of their country's new career. Through their influence, +aided by that of Ito, afterwards prince, and Inouye, afterwards +marquis, the two great clans were brought into alliance, and when, in +1867, the shogun, Keiki, sought and obtained Imperial sanction for +the punishment of Choshu, Satsuma agreed to enter the lists on the +latter's side. + +TOSA MEMORIAL + +An incident of a most striking and unexpected nature now occurred. +Yodo, the Tosa feudatory, addressed to the shogun a memorial exposing +the helpless condition of the Bakufu and strongly urging that the +administration should be restored to the Emperor in order that the +nation might be united to face the dangers of its new career. It is +necessary to note here that, although the feudatories have been +frequently referred to in these pages as prominent figures in this or +that public drama, the feudal chiefs themselves exercised, in +Tokugawa days, very little influence on the current of events. A +modern historian speaks justly when he says: + +"In this respect the descendants of the great Tokugawa statesman +found themselves reduced to a position precisely analogous to that of +the emperor in Kyoto. Sovereign and shogun were alike mere +abstractions so far as the practical work of the government was +concerned. With the great mass of the feudal chiefs things fared +similarly. These men who, in the days of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and +Ieyasu, had directed the policies of their fiefs and led their armies +in the field, were gradually transformed, during the lone peace of +the Tokugawa era, into voluptuous faineants or, at best, thoughtless +dilettanti, willing to abandon the direction of their affairs to +seneschals and mayors, who, while on the whole their administration +was able and loyal, found their account in contriving and +perpetuating the effacement of their chiefs. Thus, in effect, the +government of the country, taken out of the hands of the shogun and +the feudatories, fell into those of their vassals. There were +exceptions, of course, but so rare as to be mere accidental. . . The +revolution which involved the fall of the shogunate, and ultimately +of feudalism, may be called democratic with regard to the personnel +of those who planned and directed it. They were, for the most part, +men without either rank or social standing."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition; article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +Keiki himself, although the memorial was directed against him, may +fairly be reckoned among these longsighted patriots. The Tosa +memorial appealed so forcibly to the convictions he entertained that +he at once summoned a council of all feudatories and high officials +then in Kyoto; informed them of his resolve to adopt the advice of +the memorialist, and, on the following day, handed in his resignation +to the Emperor. This memorable event took place on the 14th of +October, 1867; and the answer of the Emperor before the assembly of +December 15th marked the end of the shogunate. + +THE 122ND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MUTSUHITO (A.D. 1867-1912) + +The throne was occupied at this time by Mutsuhito, who had succeeded +on the 13th of February, 1867, at the death of his father, Komei, and +who himself died on the 29th day of July 1912. At the time of his +accession, the new monarch was in his fifteenth year, having been +born on the 3rd of November, 1852. + +IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCE OF THE RESIGNATION + +Undoubtedly Keiki's resignation was presented in all good faith. It +deserves to rank among the most memorable incidents of the world's +history, for such a sacrifice has seldom been made by any ruler in +the interests of his nation. But by the Satsuma and Choshu +feudatories, the sincerity of the shogun was not recognized. Through +their influence the youthful Emperor was induced to issue an edict +calling Keiki a traitor, accusing him of arrogance and disloyalty, +declaring that he had not hesitated to violate the commands of the +late Emperor, and directing that he should be destroyed. In obedience +to this rescript the Tokugawa officials were treated with such +harshness that Keiki found it impossible to calm their indignation; +it culminated in an abortive attack upon Kyoto. Thereupon, Keiki +retired to Yedo, which city he subsequently surrendered +unconditionally. But all his former adherents did not show themselves +equally placable. An attempt was made to set up a rival candidate for +the throne in the person of the Imperial lord-abbot of the Ueno +monastery in Yedo; the Aizu clan made a gallant and unsuccessful +resistance in the northern provinces, and the shogun's admiral, +Yenomoto (afterwards viscount), essayed to establish a republic in +Yezo, whither he had retired with the Tokugawa warships. But these +petty incidents were altogether insignificant compared with the great +event of which they were a sequel. + +THE MEIJI GOVERNMENT AND FOREIGN INTERCOURSE + +The year-name was now changed to Meiji (Enlightened Government), from +January 1, 1868, a term fully justified by events. One of the +earliest acts of the new Government was to invite the foreign +representatives to the Imperial city, where the Emperor himself +received them in audience, an act of extreme condescension according +to Japanese canons of etiquette. Thereafter, an Imperial decree +announced the sovereign's determination to cement amicable relations +with foreign nations, and declared that any Japanese subject guilty +of violence to a foreigner would be acting in contravention of his +sovereign's commands, as well as injuriously to the dignity and good +faith of the country in the eyes of the powers with which his Majesty +had pledged himself to maintain friendship. So signal was the change +that had taken place in the demeanour of the nation's leaders towards +foreign intercourse! Only two years earlier, the advent of a squadron +of foreign war-vessels at Hyogo had created almost a panic and had +caused men to cry out that the precincts of the sacred city of Kyoto +were in danger of desecration by barbarian feet. But now the Emperor +invited the once hated aliens to his presence, treated them with the +utmost courtesy, and publicly greeted them as welcome guests. Such a +metamorphosis has greatly perplexed some students of Japanese +history. Yet the explanation is simple. The Kagoshima and Shimonoseki +expeditions had taught Japan that she was powerless in the face of +Western armaments; she had learned that national effacement must be +the sequel of seclusion, and, above all, she had come to an +understanding that her divided form of government paralyzed her for +purposes of resistance to aggression from abroad. + +ENGRAVING: STONE AND WOODEN LANTERNS ERECTED IN FRONT OF SHRINES + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE MEIJI GOVERNMENT + +THE LEADERS OF REFORM + +IN describing the events that culminated in the fall of the Tokugawa, +frequent references have been made to the feudatories. But it should +be clearly understood that the feudal chiefs themselves had very +little to do with the consummation of this great change. "The men +that conceived and achieved the Revolution of 1867, were chiefly +samurai of inferior grade." They numbered fifty-five in all, and of +these only thirteen were aristocrats, namely, five feudal barons and +eight court nobles. The average age of these fifty-five did not +exceed thirty years. + +THE EMPEROR'S OATH + +The great clans which took part in bringing about this restoration of +the administrative power to the Emperor did not altogether trust one +another. Hitherto, all political commotions had been planned for the +sake of some prominent family or eminent leader, and had resulted +merely in altering the personnel of those occupying the seats of +power. It was not unnatural that history should have been expected to +repeat itself in 1867, especially since the clan mainly responsible, +Satsuma, overshadowed all its associates with one exception. +Therefore, to many onlookers it seemed that the Tokugawa Government +had been overthrown to make room for the all-powerful southern +feudatory. In order to provide a safeguard against such a danger, the +young Emperor was asked to make oath that a broadly based +deliberative assembly should be convened for the purpose of +conducting State affairs in conformity with public opinion. This +"coronation oath," as it was subsequently called, came to occupy an +important place in political appreciation, and to be interpreted as a +promise of a national assembly. But most assuredly it was not +originally intended to carry any such meaning. Its framers never +contemplated a parliament in the Occidental sense of the term. Their +sole object was to place a barrier in the path of their own selfish +ambitions. + +ABOLITION OF FEUDALISM + +It is more than doubtful whether the abolition of the feudal system +found a place in the original plan of the leaders of progress. +Looking back to remote centuries, they may well have imagined that +the unification of the empire under one supreme ruler, administering +as well as governing, was not incompatible with the existence of the +fiefs. But when they examined the problem more closely, they +recognized that a universally operative system of laws, a central +treasury, and the supreme command of the nation's armaments were +essential to the end they had in view, namely, strength derived from +unity. Hitherto, each feudatory had assessed and collected taxes +within his fief according to his own free-will, had exercised the +right of legislation, and had held the command of all troops within +his territories. + +The continuance of such conditions would have defeated the purpose of +the reformers. This they recognized. But how were these prescriptive +privileges to be abolished? An Imperial mandate might indeed have +been issued, but even an Imperial mandate without the means of +enforcing it would probably have proved futile. In fact, compulsion +in any form could not be employed: the only resource was persuasion. +The feudatories of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen were the four +most puissant in the empire. They were persuaded to surrender their +fiefs to the Throne and to ask for reorganization under a uniform +system of law. This example found many imitators. Out of the whole +276 feudatories only seventeen failed to make a similar surrender. It +was a wonderful display of patriotic altruism in the case of some, at +any rate, of the daimyo. But, at the same time, many undoubtedly +obeyed the suggestions of their chief vassals without fully +appreciating the cost of obedience. It had long been their habit to +abandon the management of their affairs to seneschals (karo), and +they followed the custom on this occasion without profound +reflection. + +With the samurai at large, however, the case was different. For them, +the preservation of the fief had always been the prime object of +interest and fealty. To uphold it concerned their honour; to preserve +it, their means of livelihood. Nothing could have been more +remarkable than that these men should have quietly acquiesced in the +surrender of legislative and financial autonomy by their chiefs. The +most credible explanation is that on this great occasion the samurai +obeyed their habitual custom of associating some form of +self-immolation with every signal deed. + +THE NEW ORGANIZATION + +The total abolition of feudalism may be said to have now come in +sight, but the leading progressists adopted all precautions to +consummate their programme without disturbance. They resolved to +preserve, at the outset, the semblance of the old system, and to that +end the ex-feudatories were nominated to the post of governor in the +districts where they had formerly exercised autonomic power. The +samurai, however, were left in possession of their incomes and +official positions. It was enacted that each governor should receive +yearly one-tenth of the revenue of his former fief; that the +emoluments of the samurai should be taken in full from the same +source, and that the surplus, if any, should go to the Central +Government. + +The latter was organized with seven departments, namely, Religion, +Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Army and Navy, Finance, Justice, and +Law. This Cabinet was presided over by a premier--necessarily an +Imperial prince--and by a vice-premier. Moreover, it was assisted by +a body of eighteen councillors, who comprised the leaders of reform. +Evidently, however, all this was only partial. It is true that the +fiefs (hari) had been converted into prefectures (ken), and it is +also true that the daimyo had become mere governors. But, on the +other hand, the local revenues continued to pass through the hands of +the governors, and in the same hands remained the control of the +samurai and the right of appointing and dismissing prefectural +officials. A substantial beginning had been made, however, and +presently another appeal being addressed to the ex-daimyo, they were +induced to petition for the surrender of their local autonomy. The +same plan was pursued in the case of the samurai. It was essential +that these should cease to be hereditary soldiers and officials and +should be reabsorbed into the mass of the people from whom they had +sprung originally. Following the course which had proved so +successful with the feudatories, a number of samurai were induced to +memorialize for permission to lay aside their swords and revert to +agriculture. But neither in the case of the feudatories nor in that +of the samurai were these self-sacrificing petitions carried into +immediate practice. They merely served as models. + +CLAN REPRESENTATION + +It may well be supposed that the ambitions of the great clans by +which this revolution has been effected proved somewhat difficult +to reconcile. The Satsuma feudatory was the first to take umbrage. +He contended that, in selecting the high officials of the new +organization, sufficient account had not been taken of the services +of his fief. With considerable difficulty he was satisfied by his +own appointment to an office second only to that of prime minister. +This incident led, however, to an agreement under which each of +the great clans, Satsuma, Choshu, Hizen, and Tosa, should be +equally represented in the Government. Thus, the "principle +of clan-representation received practical recognition in the +organization of the Government. It continued to be recognized for +many years, and ultimately became the chief target of attack by +party-politicians." It was further arranged, at this time, that each +of the above four clans should furnish a contingent of troops to +guard the sovereign's person and to form the nucleus of a national +army. + +ABOLITION OF LOCAL AUTONOMY + +It being now considered safe to advance to the next stage of the +mediatization of the fiefs, the Emperor issued an edict abolishing +local autonomy; removing the sometime daimyo from their post of +prefectural governor; providing that the local revenues should +thereafter be sent into the central treasury; declaring the +appointment and dismissal of officials to be among the prerogatives +of the Imperial Government; directing that the ex-feudatories should +continue to receive one-tenth of their former incomes but that they +should make Tokyo* their place of permanent residence, and ordaining +that the samurai should be left in continued and undisturbed +possession of all their hereditary pensions and allowances. + +*Yedo was now called Tokyo, or "Eastern Capital;" and Kyoto was named +Saikyo, or "Western Capital." + +These changes were not so momentous as might be supposed at first +sight. It is true that the ex-feudatories were reduced to the +position of private gentlemen without even a patent of nobility. But, +as a matter of fact, the substance of administrative power had never +been possessed by them: it had been left in most cases to their +seneschals. Thus, the loss of what they had never fully enjoyed did +not greatly distress them. Moreover, they were left in possession of +the accumulated funds of their former fiefs, and, at the same time, +an income of one-tenth of their feudal revenues was guaranteed to +them--a sum which generally exceeded their former incomes when from +the latter had been deducted all charges on account of the +maintenance of the fiefs. Therefore, the sacrifice they were required +to make was not so bitter after all, but that it was a very +substantial sacrifice there can be no question. + +THE SAMURAI'S POSITION + +The above edict was promulgated on August 29, 1871; that is to say, +nearly four years after the fall of the Tokugawa. The samurai, +however, remained to be dealt with. Feudalism could not be said to +have been abolished so long as the samurai continued to be a class +apart. These men numbered four hundred thousand and with their +families represented a total of about two million souls. They were +the empire's soldiers, and in return for devoting their lives to +military service they held incomes, some for life, others hereditary, +and these emoluments aggregated two millions sterling annually. No +reformer, however radical, would have suggested the sudden +disestablishment of the samurai system or advocated the wholesale +deprivation of incomes won by their forefathers as a reward for loyal +service to the State or to the fiefs. + +The Government dealt with this problem much as it had done with the +problem of the feudatories. In 1873, an Imperial decree announced +that the treasury was ready to commute the samurai's incomes on the +basis of six-years' purchase in the place of hereditary pensions and +four years for life-pensions, half of the money to be paid in cash +and the remainder in bonds carrying eight per cent, interest. This +measure was in no sense compulsory; the samurai were free to accept +or reject it. Not a few chose the former course, but a large majority +continued to wear their swords and draw their pensions as of old. The +Government, however, felt that there could be no paltering with the +situation. Shortly after the issue of the above edict a conscription +law was enacted, by which every adult male became liable for military +service, whatever his social status. Naturally, this law shocked the +samurai. The heavy diminution of their incomes hurt them less, +perhaps, than the necessity of laying aside their swords and of +giving up their traditional title to represent their country in arms. +They had imagined that service in the army and navy would be reserved +exclusively for them and their sons, whereas by the conscription law +the commonest unit of the people became equally eligible. + +ENGRAVING: KIDO KOIN + +FRICTION AMONG THE LEADERS OF REFORM + +It could not have: been expected that this manner of treating the +samurai would obtain universal approval. Already, too, the strain of +constructive statesmanship had developed friction among the +progressist leaders who had easily marched abreast for destructive +purposes. They differed about the subject of a national assembly, +some being inclined to attach more practical importance than others +to the Emperor's coronation oath that a broadly based deliberative +assembly should be convened. A small number of zealous reformers +wished to regard this as a promise of a national assembly, but the +great majority of the progressist leaders interpreted it merely as a +guarantee against the undue preponderance of any one clan. In fact, +according to the view of the latter party the broadly based +deliberative assembly was regarded solely as an instrument for +eliciting the views of the samurai, and entirely without legislative +power. Such an assembly was actually convened in the early years of +the Meiji era, but its second session proved it to be nothing more +than a debating club and it was suffered to lapse out of existence. + +A more perplexing problem now (1873) presented itself, however. The +Korean Court deliberately abandoned the custom followed by it since +the time of Hideyoshi's invasion--the custom of sending a +present-bearing embassy to felicitate the accession of each shogun. +Moreover, this step was accompanied by an offensive despatch +announcing a determination to cease all relations with a renegade +from the civilization of the Orient. It may well be imagined how +indignantly this attitude of the neighbouring kingdom was resented by +Japan. The prominent leaders of national reform at that time were +Sanjo and Iwakura, originally Court nobles;* Saigo and Okubo, samurai +of Satsuma, and Kido, a samurai of Choshu. In the second rank were +several men destined afterwards to attain great celebrity--the late +Prince Ito, Marquis Inouye, Count Okuma, Count Itagaki--often spoken +of as the "Rousseau of Japan"--and several others. + +*The distinction between Court nobles and territorial nobles had been +abolished in 1871. + +ENGRAVING: SANJO SANETOMI + +The first five, however, were pre-eminent at the moment when Korea +sent her offensive message. They were not, however, absolutely united +as to policy. Saigo Takamori held some conservative opinions, the +chief of which was that he wished to preserve the military class in +their old position of the empire's only soldiers. He had, therefore, +greatly resented the conscription law, and while his discontent was +still fresh, the Korean problem presented itself for solution. In +Saigo's eyes an oversea war offered the only chance of saving the +samurai, since the conscription law had not yet produced any +trustworthy soldiers. He therefore voted to draw the sword at once, +and in this he obtained the support of several influential men who +burned to avenge the nation's disgrace. On the other hand, those in +favour of peace insisted that the country must not venture to engage +in a foreign war during the era of radical transition. + +The discussion was carried to the Emperor's presence; the peace-party +prevailed, and Saigo with three other Cabinet ministers resigned. One +of the seceders, Eto Shimpei, had recourse to arms, but was speedily +crushed. Another, Itagaki Taisuke, from that moment stood forth as +the champion of representative institutions. The third, the most +prominent of all, Saigo Takamori, retired to Satsuma and devoted +himself to organizing and equipping a strong body of samurai. It is +not by any means clear that, in thus acting, Saigo had any +revolutionary intention. Posterity agrees in thinking that he sought +to exercise control rather than to inspire revolt. He had the support +of Shimazu Saburo (Hisamitsu), former feudatory of Satsuma, who, +although a reformer, resented a wholesale abandonment of Japanese +customs in favour of foreign. The province of Satsuma thus became a +seed-plot of conservative influences, where "Saigo and his constantly +augmenting band of samurai found a congenial environment." On the one +hand, the Central Government steadily proceeded with the organization +of a conscript army, teaching it foreign tactics and equipping it +with foreign arms. On the other, the southern clan cherished its band +of samurai, arming them with the rifle and drilling them in the +manner of Europe, but leaving them always in possession of the +samurai's sword. + +ENGRAVING: IWAKURA TOMOYOSHI + +THE FORMOSAN EXPEDITION + +Before these curious conditions bore any practical fruit, Japan found +it necessary to send a military expedition to Formosa. That island +was claimed as part of China's domains, but it was not administered +by her effectively, and its inhabitants showed great barbarity in +their treatment of castaways from the Ryukyu, or Loochoo, Islands. +The Chinese Government's plain function was to punish these acts of +cruelty, but as the Peking statesmen showed no disposition to +discharge their duty in that respect, Japan took the law into her own +hands. A double purpose was thus served. For the expedition to +Formosa furnished employment for the Satsuma samurai, and, at the +same time, assured the Ryukyu islanders that Japan was prepared to +protect them. + +The campaign in Formosa proved a very tame affair. It amounted to the +shooting-down of a few semi-savages. No attempt was made to penetrate +into the ulterior of the island, where, as modern experience shows, +many great difficulties would have had to be overcome. Peking took +serious umbrage on account of Japan's high-handed conduct--for such +it seemed to Chinese eyes. In the first place, the statesmen of the +Middle Kingdom contended that the Ryukyu Islands could not properly +be regarded as an integral part of the Japanese empire; and in the +second place, they claimed that, in attacking Formosa, Japan had +invaded Chinese territory. After a long interchange of despatches the +Tokyo Government sent an ambassador to Peking, and a peaceful +solution was found in the payment by China of a small indemnity, and +the recognition of Formosa as a part of the Middle Kingdom.* + +*The indemnity amounted to 500,000 dollars (Mexican). + +THE KOREAN QUESTION AGAIN + +The Formosan expedition took place in 1874, and, in the fall of 1875, +a Korean fort opened fire on a Japanese warship which was engaged in +surveying the coast. Such an insult could not be tamely endured. +Japan marshalled an imposing number of warships and transports, but, +following the example set in her own case by Commodore Perry, she +employed this flotilla to intimidate Korea into signing a treaty of +amity and commerce and opening certain ports to foreign trade. Thus, +Korea was drawn from her hereditary isolation, and to Japan fell the +credit of having become an instrument for extending the principle of +universal intercourse which she had herself so stoutly opposed during +two and a half centuries. It was a clever coup, but it earned little +credit with the samurai. They regarded such a settlement as +derogatory to their country. + +ABOLITION OF THE SAMURAI + +It was at this stage that the Tokyo Government felt itself strong +enough to resort to conclusive measures in the cases of the samurai. +Three years had now passed since the wearing of swords had been +declared optional and since a scheme for the voluntary commutation of +the samurai's pensions had been elaborated. The leaders of progress +felt that the time had now come to make these measures compulsory, +and, accordingly, two edicts were issued in that sense. The edicts, +especially their financial provisions, imposed a heavy sacrifice. But +it is very noticeable that the momentary question evoked no protests. +It was to the loss of their swords that a number of samurai objected +strenuously. Some scores of them, wearing old-fashioned armour and +equipped with hereditary weapons, attacked a castle, killed or +wounded three hundred of the garrison, and then died by their own +hands. Here and there throughout the empire a few equally vain +protests were raised, and finally the Satsuma samurai took the field. + +THE SATSUMA REBELLION + +This insurrection in the south severely taxed the resources of the +Central Government. The Satsuma samurai were led by Saigo Takamori, +but it has always been claimed for him that he undertook the command, +not for the purpose of overthrowing the Meiji Government, but in the +hope of restraining his followers. Ultimately, however, he seems to +have been swept away by the tide of their enthusiasm. The insurgents +numbered some forty thousand; they all belonged to the samurai class, +were fully trained in Occidental tactics, and were equipped with +rifles and field-guns. Their avowed purpose was to restore the +military class to its old position, and to insure to it all the posts +in the army and the navy. + +Fighting began on January 29, 1877, and ended on September 24th of +the same year. All the rebel leaders fell in battle or died by their +own hands. During these eight months of warfare, the Government put +sixty-six thousand men into the field, and the casualties on both +sides totalled thirty-five thousand, or thirty-three per cent, of the +whole. Apart from the great issue directly at stake, namely, whether +Japan should have a permanent military class, a secondary problem of +much interest found a solution in the result. It was the problem +whether an army of conscripts, supposed to be lacking in the fighting +instinct and believed to be incapable of standing up to do battle +with the samurai, could hold its own against the flower of the bushi, +as the Satsuma men undoubtedly were. There really never was any +substantial reason for doubt about such a subject. The samurai were +not racially distinct from the bulk of the nation. They had +originally been mere farmers, possessing no special military +aptitude. Nevertheless, among all the reforms introduced during the +Meiji era, none was counted so hazardous as the substitution of a +conscript army for the nation's traditional soldiers. The Satsuma +rebellion disposed finally of the question. + +ENGRAVING: SAIGO TAKAMORI + +EDUCATION OF THE NATION + +Meanwhile the Government had been strenuously seeking to equip the +people with the products of Western civilization. It has been shown +that the men who sat in the seats of power during the first decade of +the Meiji era owed their exalted position to their own intellectual +superiority and far-seeing statesmanship. That such men should become +the nation's teachers would have been natural anywhere. But in Japan +there was a special reason for the people's need of official +guidance. It had become a traditional habit of the Japanese to look +to officialdom for example and direction in everything, and this +habit naturally asserted itself with special force when there was +question of assimilating a foreign civilization which for nearly +three centuries had been an object of national repugnance. The +Government, in short, had to inspire the reform movement and, at the +same time, to furnish models of its working. + +The task was approached with wholesale energy by those in power. In +general the direction of the work was divided among foreigners of +different nations. Frenchmen were employed in revising the criminal +code and in teaching strategy and tactics to the Japanese army. The +building of railways, the installation of telegraphs and of +lighthouses, and the new navy were turned over to English engineers +and sailors. Americans were employed in the formation of a postal +service, in agricultural reforms, and in planning colonization and an +educational system. In an attempt to introduce Occidental ideas of +art Italian sculptors and painters were brought to Japan. And German +experts were asked to develop a system of local government, to train +Japanese physicians, and to educate army officers. Great misgivings +were expressed by foreign onlookers at this juncture. They found it +impossible to believe that such wholesale adoption of an alien +civilization could not be attended with due eclecticism, and they +constantly predicted a violent reaction. But all these pessimistic +views were contradicted by results. There was no reaction, and the +memory of the apprehensions then freely uttered finds nothing but +ridicule to-day. + +FINANCE + +One of the chief difficulties with which the Meiji statesmen had to +contend was finance. When they took over the treasury from the Bakufu +there were absolutely no funds in hand, and for some years, as has +been shown above, all the revenues of the former fiefs were locally +expended, no part of them, except a doubtful surplus, finding its way +to the Imperial treasury. The only resource was an issue of paper +money. Such tokens of exchange had been freely employed since the +middle of the seventeenth century, and at the time of the +mediatization of the fiefs, 1694 kinds of notes were in circulation. + +The first business of the Government should have been to replace +these unsecured tokens with uniform and sound media of exchange. But +instead of performing that duty the Meiji statesmen saw themselves +compelled to follow the evil example set by the fiefs in past times. +Government notes were issued. They fell at the outset to a discount +of fifty per cent, and various devices, more or less despotic, were +employed to compel their circulation at par. By degrees, however, the +Government's credit improved, and thus, though the issues of +inconvertible notes aggregated sixty million yen at the close of the +first five years of the Meiji era, they passed freely from hand to +hand without discount. But, of course, the need for funds in +connexion with the wholesale reforms and numerous enterprises +inaugurated officially became more and more pressing, so that in the +fourteenth year (1881) after the Restoration, the face value of the +notes in circulation aggregated 180 million yen, and they stood at a +heavy discount. + +The Government, after various tentative and futile efforts to correct +this state of depreciation, set themselves to deal radically with the +problem. Chiefly by buying exporters' bills and further by reducing +administrative expenditures as well as by taxing alcohol, a +substantial specie reserve was gradually accumulated, and, by 1885, +the volume of fiduciary notes having been reduced to 119 millions, +whereas the treasury vaults contained forty-five millions of precious +metals, the resumption of specie payments was announced. As for the +national debt, it had its origin in the commutation of the +feudatories' incomes and the samurai's pensions. A small fraction of +these outlays was defrayed with ready money, but the great part took +the form of public loan-bonds. These bonds constituted the bulk of +the State's liabilities during the first half-cycle of the Meiji era, +and when we add the debts of the fiefs, which the Central Government +took over; two small foreign loans; the cost of quelling the Satsuma +rebellion, and various debts incurred on account of public works, +naval construction, and minor purposes, we arrive at the broad fact +that the entire national debt of Japan did not exceed 305 million yen +at the close of the twenty-eighth year of her new era. + +A war with China in 1894-1895--to be presently spoken of--and a war +with Russia in 1904-1905, together with the price paid for the +nationalization of railways and for various undertakings, brought the +whole debt of the nation to 2300 million yen in 1907, which is now +being paid off at the rate of fifty million yen annually. It remains +to be noted that, in 1897, Japan took the momentous step of adopting +gold monometallism. The indemnity which she obtained from China after +the war of 1894-1895 brought to her treasury a stock of gold +sufficient to form a substantial specie reserve. Moreover, gold had +appreciated so that its value in terms of silver had exactly doubled +during the first thirty years of the Meiji era. There was +consequently no arithmetical complication connected with the adoption +of the single gold standard. It was only necessary to double the +denomination, leaving the silver subsidiary coins unchanged. + +EDUCATION + +In the field of education the Meiji statesmen effected speedy +reforms. Comparatively little attention had been directed to this +subject by the rulers of medieval Japan, and the fact that the Meiji +leaders appreciated the necessity of studying the arts and sciences +of the new civilization simultaneously with the adoption of its +products, bears strong testimony to the insight of these remarkable +men. Very shortly after the abolition of feudalism, an extensive +system of public schools was organized and education was made +compulsory. There were schools, colleges, and universities, all +modelled on foreign lines with such alterations as the special +customs of the nation dictated. These institutions grew steadily in +public favour, and to-day over ninety per cent, of boys and girls who +have attained the school age receive education in the common +elementary schools, the average annual cost per child being about 8s. +6d. ($2.00), to which the parents contribute 1.75d. (3.5 cents) per +month. Youths receiving education enjoy certain exemption from +conscription, but as this is in strict accordance with the Western +system, it need not be dwelt upon here. + +LOCAL ADMINISTRATION + +For purposes of local administration the empire is divided into +prefectures (ken), counties (gun), towns (shi), and districts (cho or +son). The three metropolitan prefectures of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto +are called fu, and their districts are distinguished as "urban" (cho) +and "rural" (son), according to the number of houses they contain. +The prefectures derive their names from their chief towns. The +principle of popular representation is strictly adhered to, every +prefecture, every county, every town, and every district having its +own local assembly, wherein the number of members is fixed in +proportion to the population. These bodies are all elected. The +enjoyment of the franchise depends upon a property qualification +which, in the case of prefectural and county assemblies, is an annual +payment of direct national taxes to the amount of three yen (6s., +$1.50); in the case of town and district assemblies two yen; and in +the case of prefectural assemblies, ten yen. There are other +arrangements to secure the due representation of property, the +electors being divided into classes according to their aggregate +payment to the national treasury. Three such classes exist, and each +elects one-third of an assembly's members. There is no payment for +the members of an assembly, but all salaried officials, ministers of +religion, and contractors for public works, as well as persons unable +to write their own names and the names of the candidates for whom +they vote, are denied the franchise. + +A prefectural assembly holds one session of thirty days annually; and +a county assembly, one session of not more than fourteen days; while +the town and district assemblies are summoned by the mayor or the +headman whenever recourse to their deliberation appears expedient. +Each prefecture has a prefect (governor) and each county assembly has +a headman. Both are appointed by the Central Administration, but an +assembly has competence to appeal to the minister of Home Affairs +from the prefect's decisions. In the districts, also, there are +headmen, but their post is always elective and generally +non-salaried. Other details of the local-government system are here +omitted. It suffices to say that the system has been in operation for +over thirty years and has been found satisfactory in practice. +Moreover, these assemblies constitute excellent schools for the +political education of the people. + +THE CONSTITUTION + +It has already been shown that the sovereign's so-called coronation +oath did not contemplate a national assembly in the Western sense of +the term. The first assembly convened in obedience to the oath +consisted of nobles and samurai only, and was found to be a virtually +useless body. Not till 1873, when Itagaki Taisuke, seceding from the +Cabinet on account of the Korean complication, became a warm advocate +of appealing national questions to an elective assembly, did the +people at large come to understand what was involved in such an +institution. Thenceforth Itagaki became the centre of a more or less +enthusiastic group of men advocating a parliamentary system, some +from sincere motives, and others from a conviction that their failure +to obtain posts was in a manner due to the oligarchical form of their +country's polity. + +When the Satsuma rebellion broke out, four years later, this band of +Tosa agitators memorialized the Government, charging it with +administering affairs in despite of public opinion; with ignoring +popular rights, and with levelling down instead of up, since the +samurai had been reduced to the class of commoners, whereas the +latter should have been educated to the standard of the former. But +the statesmen in power insisted that the nation was not yet ready to +enjoy constitutional privileges. They did not, indeed, labour under +any delusion as to the ultimate direction in which their reforms +tended, but they were determined to move gradually, not +precipitately. They had already (1874) arranged for the convention of +an annual assembly of prefects who should act as channels of +communication between the central authorities and the people in the +provinces. This was designed to be the embryo of representative +institutions, though obviously it bore that character in a very +limited degree only. + +In the following year (1875), the second step was taken by organizing +a Senate (Genro-in), which consisted of official nominees and was +charged with the duty of discussing and revising laws and ordinances +prior to their promulgation. But it had no power of initiative, and +its credit in the eyes of the nation was more or less injured by the +fact that its members consisted for the most part of men for whom no +posts could be found in the administration and who, without some +steadying influence, might have been drawn into the current of +discontent. + +At this stage, an event occurred which probably moved the Government +to greater expedition. In the spring of 1878, the great statesman, +Okubo Toshimitsu, who had acted such a prominent part on the stage of +the reformation drama, was assassinated. His slayers were avowedly +sympathizers of Saigo, but in their statement of motives they +assigned as their principal incentive the Government's failure to +establish representative institutions. They belonged to a province +far removed from Satsuma, and their explanation of the murder showed +that they had little knowledge of Saigo's real sentiments. But the +nation saw in them champions of a constitutional form of government, +and the authorities appreciated the necessity of greater expedition. +Thus, two months after Okubo's death, the establishment of elective +assemblies in the prefectures and cities was proclaimed. + +ENGRAVING: OKUBO TOSHIMITSU + +Reference has already been made to these and it will suffice here to +note that their principal functions were to determine the amount and +object of local taxes; to audit the accounts for the previous year; +and to petition the Central Government, should that seem expedient. +These assemblies represented the foundations of genuinely +representative institutions, for although they lacked legislative +power, they discharged parliamentary functions in other respects. In +fact, they served as excellent training schools for the future Diet. +But this did not at all satisfy Itagaki and his followers. They had +now persuaded themselves that without a national assembly it would be +impossible to oust the clique of clansmen who monopolized the prizes +of power. Accordingly, Itagaki organized an association called +Jiyu-to (Liberals), the first political party in Japan. Between the +men in office and these visionary agitators a time of friction, more +or less severe, ensued. The Government withheld from the people the +privileges of free speech and public meeting, so that the press and +the platform found themselves in frequent collision with the police. +Thus, little by little, the Liberals came to be regarded as victims +of official tyranny, so that they constantly obtained fresh +adherents. + +Three years subsequently (1881), another political crisis occurred. +Okuma Shigenobu resigned his portfolio, and was followed into private +life by many able politicians and administrators. These organized +themselves into a party ultimately called Progressists (Shimpo-to), +who, although they professed the same doctrine as the Liberals, were +careful to maintain an independent attitude; thus showing that +"Japan's first political parties were grouped, not about principles, +but about persons."* + +*Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th edition); article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +It must not be supposed for a moment that the Progressists were +conservative. There was no such thing as real conservatism in Japan +at that time. The whole nation exhaled the breath of progress. +Okuma's secession was followed quickly by an edict promising the +convention of a national assembly in ten years. Confronted by this +engagement, the political parties might have been expected to lay +down their arms. But a great majority of them aimed at ousting the +clan-statesmen rather than at setting up a national assembly. Thus, +having obtained a promise of a parliament, they applied themselves to +exciting anti-official sentiments in the future electorates; and as +the Government made no attempt to controvert the prejudices thus +excited, it was evident that when the promised parliament came into +existence, it would become an arena for vehement attacks upon the +Cabinet. + +Of course, as might have been expected, the ten years of agitated +waiting, between 1881 and 1891, were often disfigured by recourse to +violence. Plots to assassinate ministers; attempts to employ +dynamite; schemes to bring about an insurrection in Korea--such +things were not infrequent. There were also repeated dispersions of +political meetings by order of police inspectors, as well as +suspensions or suppressions of newspapers by the fiat of the Home +minister. Ultimately it became necessary to enact a law empowering +the police to banish persons of doubtful character from Tokyo without +legal trial, and even to arrest and detain such persons on suspicion. +In 1887, the Progressist leader, Okuma, rejoined the Cabinet for a +time as minister of Foreign Affairs, but after a few months of office +his leg was shattered by a bomb and he retired into private life and +founded the Waseda University in Tokyo. + +It may indeed be asserted that during the decade immediately prior to +the opening of the national assembly, "an anti-Government propaganda +was incessantly preached from the platform and in the press." The +Tokyo statesmen, however, were not at all discouraged. They proceeded +with their reforms unflinchingly. In 1885, the ministry was recast, +Ito Hirobumi--the same Prince Ito who afterwards fell in Manchuria +under the pistol of an assassin--being appointed premier and the +departments of State being reorganized on European lines. Then a +nobility was created, with five orders, prince, marquis, count, +viscount, and baron. The civil and penal laws were codified. The +finances were placed on a sound footing. A national bank with a +network of subordinate institutions was established. Railway +construction was pushed on steadily. Postal and telegraph services +were extended. The foundations of a strong mercantile marine were +laid. A system of postal savings-banks was instituted. Extensive +schemes of harbour improvement, roads, and riparian works were +planned and put into operation. The portals of the civil service were +made accessible solely by competitive examination. A legion of +students was sent westward to complete their education, and the +country's foreign affairs were managed with comparative skill. + +PROMULGATION OF THE CONSTITUTION + +On the 11th of February, 1889, the Constitution was promulgated amid +signs of universal rejoicing. The day was signalized, however, by a +terrible deed. Viscount Mori, one of Japan's most enlightened +statesmen, was stabbed to death by Nishino Buntaro, a mere stripling, +the motive being to avenge what the murderer regarded as a +sacrilegious act, namely, that the viscount, when visiting the shrine +at Ise in the previous year, had partially raised one of the curtains +with his cane. The explanation given of this extraordinary act by a +modern historian is that "Japan was suffering at the time from an +attack of hysterical loyalty, and the shrine at Ise being dedicated +to the progenitrix of the country's sovereigns, it seemed to Nishino +Buntaro that when high officials began to touch the sacred +paraphernalia with walking-sticks, the foundations of Imperialism +were menaced." An interesting light is thrown upon the Japanese +character in the sequel of this crime. During many subsequent years +the tomb of Nishino received the homage of men and women who +"worshipped achievement without regard to the nature of the thing +achieved." There was a similar furore of enthusiasm over the would-be +assassin of Okuma. + +PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION + +The framers of the Constitution, chief among whom was Prince Ito, +naturally took care not to make its provisions too liberal. The +minimum age for electors and elected was fixed at twenty-five and the +property qualification at payment of direct taxes aggregating not +less than fifteen yen (30s. $7.20) annually. + +A bicameral system was adopted. The House of Peers was in part +hereditary, in part elective (one representative of the highest +tax-payers in each prefecture), and in part nominated by the +sovereign (from among men of signal attainments), while the House of +Representatives consisted of three hundred elected members. In the +eyes of party politicians this property qualification was much too +high; it restricted the number of franchise-holders to 460,000 in a +nation of nearly fifty millions. A struggle for the extension of the +franchise commenced immediately, and, after nearly ten years, the +Government framed a bill lowering the qualification to ten yen for +electors; dispensing with it altogether in the case of candidates; +inaugurating secret ballots; extending the limits of the electorates +so as to include the whole of a prefecture, and increasing the +members of the lower house to 363. By this change of qualification +the number of franchise holders was nearly doubled. + +ENGRAVING: THE LATE PRINCE ITO + +As for the provisions of the Constitution, they differed in no +respect from those of the most advanced Western standard. One +exception to this statement must be noted, however. The wording of +the document lent itself to the interpretation that a ministry's +tenure of office depended solely on the sovereign's will. In other +words, a Cabinet received its mandate from the Throne, not from the +Diet. This reservation immediately became an object of attack by +party politicians. They did not venture to protest against the +arrangement as an Imperial prerogative. The people would not have +endured such a protest. The only course open for the party +politicians was to prove practically that a ministry not responsible +to the legislature is virtually impotent for legislation. + +Success has not attended this essay. The Throne continues, nominally +at all events, to appoint and dismiss ministers. As for the +proceedings of the diet, the most salient feature was that, from the +very outset, the party politicians in the lower chamber engaged in +successive attacks upon the holders of power. This had been fully +anticipated; for during the whole period of probation antecedent to +the meeting of the first Diet, the party politicians had been +suffered to discredit the Cabinet by all possible means, whereas the +Cabinet had made no effort to win for themselves partisans in the +electorates. They relied wholly upon the sovereign's prerogative, and +stood aloof from alliances of any kind, apparently indifferent to +everything but their duty to their country. Fortunately, the House of +Peers ranged itself steadfastly on the side of the Cabinet throughout +this struggle, and thus the situation was often saved from apparently +pressing danger. The war with China (1894-1895) greatly enhanced the +Diet's reputation; for all the political parties, laying aside their +differences, without a dissenting voice voted funds for the +prosecution of the campaign. + +POLITICAL PARTIES + +During several years the House of Representatives continued to be +divided into two great parties with nearly equally balanced +power--the Liberals and the Progressists, together with a few minor +coteries. But, in 1898, the Liberals and Progressists joined hands, +thus coming to wield a large majority in the lower house. Forthwith, +the Emperor, on the advice of Prince Ito, invited Counts Okuma and +Itagaki to form a Cabinet. An opportunity was thus given to the +parties to prove the practical possibility of the system they had so +long lauded in theory. The united parties called themselves +Constitutionists (Kensei-to). Their union lasted barely six months, +and then "the new links snapped under the tension of the old +enmities." + +A strange thing now happened. The Liberals invited Prince Ito to be +their leader, and he agreed on condition that his followers should +obey him implicitly. A new and powerful party was thus formed under +the designation of Friends of the Constitution (Rikken Seiyukai). +Thus, the Liberals not only enlisted under the statesmen whose +overthrow they had for nearly twenty years sought to effect, but also +they practically expunged from their platform an essential article of +faith--parliamentary cabinets. Another proof was here furnished that +political combinations in Japan were based rather on persons than on +principles. + +As for the new party, even Prince Ito's wonderful talents and +unequalled prestige failed to hold successfully the reins of the +heterogeneous team which he had now undertaken to drive. The House of +Peers opposed him on account of his association with political +parties, and he at once resigned the premiership. The party he had +formed did not, however, dissolve. Prince Ito, indeed, stepped out of +its ranks, but he was succeeded by his intimate friend, Marquis +Saionji, one of Japan's blue-blooded aristocrats, and to him the +Constitutionists have yielded implicit obedience ever since. For the +rest, it is impossible to foresee what the outcome of the +parliamentary system will be in Japan. Up to the present the +principal lesson learned by politicians seems to have been the value +of patience. The Constitutionists have shown that they are quite +ready to support a Cabinet entirely independent of parties, where its +measures seem conducive to the nation's good. Such a Cabinet was that +of Prince Katsura, who, in turn, after three years' tenure of office, +stepped down quietly in August, 1911, to make way for the +Constitutionists, under Marquis Saionji. In a word, the nation seems +to have arrived at the conclusion that these parliamentary problems +cannot be safely solved except by long and deliberate experiment.* + +*For minute information about party politics and parliamentary +procedure see the "Oriental Series," Vol. IV. + +AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY + +The growth of agricultural and industrial enterprise is one of the +most remarkable features of modern Japan. Up to the beginning of the +Meiji era, agriculture almost monopolized attention, manufacturing +industry being altogether of a domestic character. Speaking broadly, +the gross area of land in Japan, exclusive of Saghalien, Korea, and +Formosa is seventy-five million acres, and of this only some +seventeen millions are arable. It may well be supposed that as rice +is the principal staple of foodstuff, and as the area over which it +can be produced is so limited, the farmers have learned to apply very +intensive methods of cultivation. Thus it is estimated that they +spend annually twelve millions sterling--$60,000,000--on fertilizers. +By unflinching industry and skilled processes, the total yield of +rice has been raised to an annual average of about fifty million +koku; that is to say, two hundred and fifty million bushels. But the +day cannot be far distant when the growth of the population will +outstrip that of this essential staple, and unless the assistance of +Korea and Formosa can be successfully enlisted, a problem of extreme +difficulty may present itself. Meanwhile, manufacturing industry has +increased by leaps and bounds. Thus, whereas at the opening of the +Meiji era, every manufacture was of a domestic character, and such a +thing as a joint-stock company did not exist, there are now fully +11,000 factories giving employment to 700,000 operatives, and the +number of joint-stock companies aggregates 9000. Evidently, Japan +threatens to become a keen competitor of Europe and America in all +the markets of the Orient, for she possesses the advantage of +propinquity, and as well an abundance of easily trained labour. But +there are two important conditions that offset these advantages. In +the first place Japanese wages have increased so rapidly that in the +last fifteen years they have nearly doubled, and, secondly, it must +be remembered that Japanese labour is not so efficient as that of +Europe and America. + +ENGRAVING: SEAL OF MUTSUHITO, THE LATE EMPEROR + +RAILWAYS + +The work of railway construction, which may be said to have commenced +with the Meiji era, has not advanced as rapidly as some other +undertakings. The country has now only 5770 miles of lines open to +traffic and 1079 miles under construction. All these railways may be +said to have been built with domestic capital. Nearly the whole was +nationalized in 1907, so that the State has paid out altogether +sixty-six million pounds sterling--$325,000,000--on account of +railways, an investment which yields a net return of about three and +a half millions sterling--$17,000,000--annually. + +THE MERCANTILE MARINE + +Another direction in which Japanese progress has been very marked is +in the development of a mercantile marine. At an early period of the +country's modern history, her statesmen recognized that transports +are as necessary to the safety of a State as are soldiers, and, in +fact, that the latter cannot be utilized without the former. The +Government, therefore, encouraged with liberal subsidies and +grants-in-aid the purchase or construction of ships, the result being +that whereas, in 1871, Japan's mercantile marine comprised only +forty-six ships with a total tonnage of 17,948, the corresponding +figures in 1910 were 6436 and 1,564,443 respectively. In the war with +China in 1894-1895, as well as in that with Russia in 1904-1905, +Japan was able to carry large armies to the Asiatic continent in her +own vessels, thus demonstrating the wisdom of the policy pursued by +the Government, although it had been habitually denounced by the +enemies of subsidies in any circumstances. Shipbuilding yards had +also been called into existence, and there are now four of them where +vessels aggregating 87,495 tons have been built. + +THE ARMY + +It has been seen that the Satsuma rebellion of 1877 severely taxed +the military resources of the empire. In fact, the organization of +special brigades to supplement the conscripts was found necessary. +Therefore, two years later, the conscription law was revised, the +total term of service being increased from seven years to ten, with +the result that the number of trained soldiers who could be called +out in case of war became larger by fully one-half. Further, in 1882, +another expansion of armaments was effected in obedience to an +Imperial decree, so that when war with China broke out in 1894, Japan +possessed an available force of seven divisions (including the +guards), and these, raised to a war-footing, represented about +150,000 men. She had already learned that, however civilized the +Occident might claim to be, all the great States of the West depended +mainly on military and naval force, and that only by a demonstration +of that force could international respect be won. + +Of course, this creed was not publicly proclaimed. Firmly as Japanese +statesmen believed it, they could not confess their conviction openly +in the Diet, and therefore much difficulty was experienced in +inducing the two houses to endorse the Government's scheme of +increased armaments. Indeed, the subject came to be a frequent topic +of discussion between the Cabinet and the House of Representatives, +and in the end Japan was obliged to go into war against China without +a single line-of-battle ship, though her adversary possessed two. +Nevertheless, the Island Empire emerged signally victorious. + +It might have been supposed that she would then rest content with the +assurance of safety her prowess had won. But, in the immediate sequel +of the war, three of the great European powers, Russia, Germany, and +France, joined hands to deprive Japan of the fruits of her victory by +calling upon her to vacate the southern littoral of Manchuria from +the mouth of the Yalu to the Liaotung peninsula. Japan thus acquired +the conviction that her successes against China were not estimated by +Western States as any great evidence of belligerent power, and that +it would be necessary for her to fight again if she hoped to win any +considerable measure of international respect. Prince Ito, then prime +minister, keenly appreciated this necessity. He invited the Diet to +vote for a substantial increment of land and sea forces, and after +much opposition in the House of Representatives, funds were obtained +for raising the army to thirteen divisions and for an increase of the +navy which will be by and by spoken of. + +The wisdom of these measures found full justification, in 1904, when +swords had to be crossed with Russia. After that war, which raised +Japan to a leading place among the nations, the old problem came up +again for solution. Once more the Elder Statesmen--as the Meiji +leaders were called--asked the Diet to maintain the organization of +the army at the point to which it had been carried during the war, +and once more the lower house of the Diet proved very difficult to +persuade. Ultimately, however, the law of military service was +revised so that the fixed establishment became nineteen divisions, +together with various special corps. It is not possible to speak with +absolute accuracy of the force that Japan is now capable of +mobilizing, but when the new system is in full working order, she +will be able to put something like a million and a half of men into +the fighting line. Her military budget amounts to only seven millions +sterling--$35,000,000--a wonderfully small sum considering the +results obtained. + +THE NAVY + +It has been shown how, in the year 1636, the Bakufu Government +strictly interdicted the building of all vessels of ocean-going +capacity. The veto naturally precluded enterprise in the direction of +naval expansion, and when Commodore Perry, at the head of a powerful +squadron, arrived in Uraga Bay, two centuries afterwards, the +Japanese were suddenly and vividly instructed in the enormous power +of a nation wielding such weapons of war. This object lesson having +been most practically inculcated by the bombardments of Kagoshima and +Shimonoseki, Japan saw that she must not lose one moment in equipping +herself with a naval force. At first, she had to purchase all her +ships from foreign countries, and so difficult was it to obtain +parliamentary support for these acquisitions that, as already stated, +when war with the neighbouring empire broke out in 1894, she did not +possess a single ironclad, her strongest vessels being four +second-class cruisers, which, according to modern ideas, would not be +worthy of a place in the fighting line. + +During the next ten years the teachings of experience took deeper +root, and when the great combat with Russia commenced, the Japanese +navy included four ironclads and six armoured cruisers. The signal +victories obtained by her in that war did not induce any sentiment of +self-complacency. She has gone on ever since increasing her navy, and +the present programme of her statesmen is that by the end of 1921, +she will possess twenty-five units of the first fighting line; that +figure being based on the principle that she should be competent to +encounter the greatest force which any foreign State, England +excluded, will be able to mass in Far Eastern waters ten years hence. +Her annual expenditure on account of the up-keep of her navy is at +present three and one-quarter million pounds sterling $17,000,000. No +feature is more remarkable than the fact that Japan can now build and +equip in her own yards and arsenals warships of the largest size. She +is no longer dependent on foreign countries for these essentials of +safety. + +ENGRAVING: NIJU-BASHI (DOUBLE BRIDGE) (Entrance to the present +Imperial Palace, at Tokyo) + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +WARS WITH CHINA AND RUSSIA + +THE SAGHALIEN COMPLICATION + +ONE of the problems which invited the attention of the new Government +early in the Meiji era had been handed down from the days of +feudalism. In those days, neither Yezo nor Saghalien nor the Kurile +Islands were under effective Japanese administration. The feudatory +of Matsumae had his castle at the extreme south of Yezo, but the +jurisdiction he exercised was only nominal. Yet the earliest +explorers of Saghalien were certainly Japanese. As far back as 1620, +some vassals of the Matsumae feudatory landed on the island and +remained there throughout a winter. The supposition then was that +Saghalien formed part of the Asiatic mainland. But, in 1806, Mamiya +Rinzo, a Japanese traveller, voyaged up and down the Amur, and, +crossing to Saghalien, discovered that a narrow strait separated it +from the continent. There still exists in Europe a theory that +Saghalien's insular character was discovered first by a Russian, +Captain Nevelskoy, in 1849, but in Japan the fact had already been +known. + +Saghalien commands the estuary of the Amur, and Muravieff, the +distinguished Russian commander in East Asia, appreciated the +necessity of acquiring the island for his country. In 1858, he +visited Japan with a squadron and demanded that the Strait of La +Perouse, which separates Saghalien from Yezo, should be regarded as +the Russo-Japanese frontier. Japan naturally refused a proposal which +would have given the whole of Saghalien to Russia, and Muravieff then +resorted to the policy of sending emigrants to settle on the island. +Two futile attempts to prevent this process of gradual absorption +were made by the Japanese Government; they first proposed a division +of the island, and afterwards they offered to purchase the Russian +portion for a sum of about L400,000--$2,000,000. St. Petersburg +seemed inclined to acquiesce, but the bargain provoked opposition in +Tokyo, and not until 1875 was a final settlement reached, the +conditions being that Japan should recognize Russia's title to the +whole of Saghalien and Russia should recognize Japan's title to the +Kuriles. These latter islands had always been regarded as Japanese +property, and therefore the arrangement now effected amounted to the +purchase of an area of Japanese territory by Russia, who paid for it +with a part of Japan's belongings. An interesting sequel to this +chapter of history is that, thirty years later, Saghalien became the +scene of a Japanese invasion and was ultimately divided between the +two nations along the fiftieth parallel, which was precisely what the +Bakufu statesmen had originally proposed. + +THE FORMOSAN EXPEDITION + +The expedition of Formosa in 1874 has already been spoken of. +Insignificant in itself, the incident derived vicarious interest from +its effect upon the relations between Japan and China in connexion +with the ownership of the Ryukyu Islands. Lying a little south of +Japan, these islands had for some centuries been regarded as an +appanage of the Satsuma fief, and the language spoken by their +inhabitants showed unmistakable traces of affinity with the Japanese +tongue. Therefore when, in 1873, the crew of a wrecked Ryukyuan junk +was barbarously treated by the Formosan aborigines, the Yedo +Government at once sought redress from Peking. But the Chinese paid +no attention to this demand until a force of Japanese troops had made +a punitory visit to Formosa, and China, recognizing that her +territory had been invaded, lodged a protest which would probably +have involved the two empires in a war had not the British minister +in Peking intervened. The arrangement made was that China should +indemnify Japan to the extent of the expenses incurred by the latter +in punishing the aborigines. + +THE RYUKYU COMPLICATION + +A fact collaterally established by the Formosan affair was that the +Ryukyu Islands belonged to Japan, and, in 1876, the system of local +government already inaugurated in Japan proper was extended to +Ryukyu, the ruler of the latter being pensioned. China now formulated +a protest. She claimed that Ryukyu had always been a tributary of her +empire. But China's interpretation of "tribute" was essentially +unpractical. "So long as her own advantage could be promoted, she +regarded as a token of vassalage the presents periodically carried to +her Court from neighbouring States, but so soon as there arose any +question of discharging a suzerain's duties, she classed these +offerings as an insignificant interchange of neighbourly courtesy." +Undoubtedly Ryukyu, from time to time, had followed the custom of +despatching gift-bearing envoys to Peking, just as Japan herself had +done. But it was on clear record that Ryukyu had been subdued by +Satsuma without any attempt whatever on China's part to save the +islands from that fate; that thereafter, during two centuries, they +had been included in the Satsuma fief, and that China, in the +settlement of the Formosan complication, had constructively +acknowledged Japan's title to the group. Each empire asserted its +claims with equal assurance, and things remained thus until 1880, +when General Grant, who visited Japan in the course of a tour round +the world, suggested a peaceful compromise. A conference met in +Peking, and it was agreed that the islands should be divided, Japan +taking the northern part and China the southern. But at the moment of +signing the convention, China drew back, and the discussion ended in +Japan retaining the islands, China's protests being pigeonholed. + +KOREAN COMPLICATION + +Sufficient reference has already been made in these pages to the +series of events that terminated in 1875, when Japan, by a display of +partly fictitious force, drew Korea out of international isolation +and signed with the Peninsular Kingdom a treaty acknowledging the +latter's independence. + +WAR WITH CHINA + +During the centuries when China occupied the undisputed position of +first in might and first in civilization on the Asiatic continent, +her habit was to use as buffer states the small countries lying +immediately beyond her borders. But she always took care to avoid any +responsibilities that might grow out of this arrangement. In a word, +the tide of foreign aggression was to be checked by an understanding +that these little countries shared the inviolability of great China, +but it was understood, at the same time, that the consequences of +their own acts must rest upon their own heads. Such a system, having +no bases except sentiment and prestige, soon proved futile in the +face of Occidental practicality. Burma, Siam, Annam, and Tonking, one +by one, ceased to be dependent on China and independent towards all +other nations. + +In Korea's case, however, the fiction proved more tenacious, since +the peninsula furnished easy access to Manchuria, the cradle of the +Manchu dynasty. But while seeking to maintain the old-time relations +with Korea, Chinese statesmen clung uniformly to traditional methods. +They refrained from declaring Korea a dependency of China, yet they +sought to keep up "the romance of ultimate dependency and +intermediate sovereignty." It was thus that, in 1876, Korea was +allowed to conclude with Japan a treaty describing the former as "an +independent State enjoying the same rights as Japan," nor did the +Peking Government make any protest when the United States, Great +Britain, and other powers concluded similar treaties. + +To exercise independence in practice, however, was not permitted to +Korea. A Chinese resident was stationed in Seoul, the Korean capital, +and he quickly became an imperium in imperio. Thenceforth Japan, in +all her dealings with the Peninsular Kingdom, found the latter +behaving as a Chinese dependency, obeying the Chinese resident in +everything. Again and again, Japanese patience was tried by these +anomalous conditions, and although nothing occurred of sufficient +magnitude to warrant official protest, the Tokyo Government became +sensible of perpetual rebuffs and humiliating interferences at +China's hands. Korea herself suffered seriously from this state of +national irresponsibility. There was no security of life and +property, or any effective desire to develop the country's resources. +If the victims of oppression appealed to force, China readily lent +military assistance to suppress them, and thus the royal family of +Korea learned to regard its tenure of power as dependent on ability +to conciliate China. + +On Japan's side, also, the Korean question caused much anxiety. It +was impossible for the Tokyo statesmen to ignore the fact that their +country's safety depended largely on preserving Korea from the grasp +of a Western power. They saw plainly that such a result might at any +moment be expected if Korea was suffered to drift into a state of +administrative incompetence. Once, in 1882, and again, in 1884, when +Chinese soldiers were employed to suppress reform movements which +would have impaired the interests of the Korean monarch, the latter's +people, counting Japan to be the source of progressive tendencies in +the East, destroyed her legation in Seoul, driving its inmates out of +the city. Japan was not yet prepared to assert herself forcibly in +redress of such outrages, but in the ensuing negotiations she +acquired titles that "touched the core of China's alleged +Suzerainty." Thus, in 1882, Japan obtained recognition of her right +to protect her legation with troops; and, in 1885, a convention, +signed at Tientsin, pledged each of the contracting parties not to +send a military force to Korea without notifying the other. + +In spite of these agreements China's arbitrary and unfriendly +interference in Korean affairs continued to be demonstrated to Japan. +Efforts to obtain redress proved futile, and even provoked threats of +Chinese armed intervention. Finally, in the spring of 1894, an +insurrection of some magnitude broke out in Korea, and in response to +an appeal from the Royal family, China sent twenty-five hundred +troops, who went into camp at Asan, on the southwest coast of the +peninsula. Notice was duly given to the Tokyo Government, which now +decided that Japan's vital interests as well as the cause of +civilization in the East required that an end must be put to Korea's +dangerous misrule and to China's arbitrary interference. Japan did +not claim for herself anything that she was not willing to accord to +China. But the Tokyo statesmen were sensible that to ask their +conservative neighbour to promote in the Peninsular Kingdom a +progressive programme which she had always steadily rejected and +despised in her own case, must prove a chimerical attempt, if +ordinary diplomatic methods alone were used. Accordingly, on receipt +of Peking's notice as to the sending of troops to the peninsula, +Japan gave corresponding notice on her own part, and thus July, 1894, +saw a Chinese force encamped at Asan and a Japanese force in the +vicinity of Seoul. + +In having recourse to military aid, China's nominal purpose was to +quell the Tonghak insurrection, and Japan's motive was to obtain a +position such as would strengthen her demand for drastic treatment of +Korea's malady. In giving notice of the despatch of troops, China +described Korea as her "tributary State," thus emphasizing a +contention which at once created an impossible situation. During +nearly twenty years Japan had treated Korea as her own equal, in +accordance with the terms of the treaty of 1876, and she could not +now agree that the Peninsular Kingdom should be officially classed as +a tributary of China. Her protests, however, were contemptuously +ignored, and Chinese statesmen continued to apply the offensive +appellation to Korea, while at the same time they asserted the right +of limiting the number of troops sent by Japan to the peninsula as +well as the manner of their employment. + +Still desirous of preserving the peace, Japan proposed a union +between herself and China for the purpose of restoring order in Korea +and amending that country's administration. China refused. She even +expressed supercilious surprise that Japan, while asserting Korea's +independence, should suggest the idea of peremptorily reforming its +administration. The Tokyo Cabinet now announced that the Japanese +troops should not be withdrawn without "some understanding that would +guarantee the future peace, order, and good government of Korea," and +as China still refused to come to such an understanding, Japan +undertook the work single-handed. + +The Tonghak rebellion, which Chinese troops were originally sent to +quell, had died of inanition before they landed. The troops, +therefore, had been withdrawn. But China kept them in Korea, her +avowed reason being the presence of the Japanese military force near +Seoul. In these circumstances, Peking was notified that a despatch of +re-enforcements on China's side must be construed as an act of +hostility. Notwithstanding this notice, China not only sent a further +body of troops by sea to encamp at Asan, but also despatched an army +overland across the Yalu. These proceedings precipitated hostilities. +Three Chinese warships, convoying a transport with twelve hundred +soldiers on board, met and opened fire on two Japanese cruisers. The +result was signal. One of the Chinese warships was captured, another +was so riddled with shot that she had to be beached and abandoned; +the third escaped in a dilapidated condition, and the transport, +refusing to surrender, was sent to the bottom. These things happened +on the 25th of July, 1894, and war was declared by each empire six +days subsequently. + +The Japanese took the initiative. They despatched from Seoul a column +of troops and routed the Chinese entrenched at Asan, many of whom +fled northward to Pyong-yang, a town on the Tadong River, memorable +as the scene of a battle between a Chinese and a Japanese army in +1592. Pyong-yang offered great facilities for defence. The Chinese +massed there a force of seventeen thousand men, and made preparations +for a decisive contest, building parapets, mounting guns, and +strengthening the position by every device of modern warfare. Their +infantry had the advantage of being armed with repeating rifles, and +the configuration of the ground offered little cover for an attacking +army. Against this strong position the Japanese moved in two columns; +one marching northward from Seoul, the other striking westward from +Yuensan. Forty days elapsed before the Japanese forces came into +action, and one day's fighting sufficed to carry all the Chinese +positions, the attacking armies having only seven hundred casualties +and the defenders, six thousand. + +The next day, September 17th, Japan achieved an equally conspicuous +success at sea. Fourteen Chinese warships and six torpedo-boats, +steering homeward after convoying a fleet of transports to the mouth +of the Yalu River, fell in with eleven Japanese war-vessels cruising +in the Yellow Sea. The Chinese squadron was not seeking an encounter. +Their commanding officer did not appear to appreciate the value of +sea-power. His fleet included two armoured battle-ships of over seven +thousand tons' displacement, whereas the Japanese had nothing +stronger than belted cruisers of four thousand. Therefore a little +enterprise on China's part might have severed Japan's maritime +communications and compelled her to evacuate Korea. The Chinese, +however, used their war-vessels as convoys only, keeping them +carefully in port when no such duty was to be performed. It is +evident that, as a matter of choice, they would have avoided the +battle of the Yalu, though when compelled to fight they fought +stoutly. After a sharp engagement, four of their vessels were sunk, +and the remainder steamed into Weihaiwei, their retreat being covered +by torpedo-boats. + +By this victory the maritime route to China lay open to Japan. She +could now attack Talien, Port Arthur, and Weihaiwei, naval stations +on the Liaotung and Shantung peninsulas, where strong permanent +fortifications had been built under the direction of European +experts. These forts fell one by one before the assaults of the +Japanese troops as easily as the castle of Pyong-yang had fallen. +Only by the remains of the Chinese fleet at Weihaiwei was a stubborn +resistance made, under the command of Admiral Ting. But, after the +entire squadron of torpedo craft had been captured, and after three +of the largest Chinese ships had been sent to the bottom by Japanese +torpedoes, and one had met the same fate by gunfire, the remainder +surrendered, and their gallant commander, Admiral Ting, rejecting all +overtures from the Japanese, committed suicide. + +The fall of Weihaiwei ended the war. It had lasted seven and a half +months, and during that time the Japanese had operated with five +columns aggregating 120,000 men. "One of these columns marched +northward from Seoul, won the battle of Pyong-yang, advanced to the +Yalu, forced its way into Manchuria, and moved towards Mukden by +Feng-hwang, fighting several minor engagements, and conducting the +greater part of its operations amid deep snow in midwinter. The +second column diverged westward from the Yalu, and, marching through +southern Manchuria, reached Haicheng, whence it advanced to the +capture of Niuchwang. The third landed on the Liaotung peninsula, +and, turning southward, carried Talien and Port Arthur by assault. +The fourth moved up the Liaotung peninsula, and, having seized +Kaiping, advanced against Niuchwang, where it joined hands with the +second column. The fifth crossed from Port Arthur to Weihaiwei, which +it captured." In all these operations the Japanese casualties +totalled 1005 killed and 4922 wounded; the deaths from disease +aggregated 16,866, and the monetary expenditure amounted to twenty +millions sterling, about $100,000,000. It had been almost universally +believed that, although Japan might have some success at the outset, +she would ultimately be shattered by impact with the enormous mass +and the overwhelming resources of China. Never was forecast more +signally contradicted by events. + +CONCLUSION OF PEACE + +Li Hung-chang, viceroy of Pehchili, whose troops had been chiefly +engaged during the war, and who had been mainly responsible for the +diplomacy that had led up to it, was sent by China as plenipotentiary +to discuss terms of peace. The conference took place at Shimonoseki, +Japan being represented by Marquis (afterwards Prince) Ito, and on +the 17th of April, 1895, the treaty was signed. It recognized the +independence of Korea; ceded to Japan the littoral of Manchuria lying +south of a line drawn from the mouth of the river Anping to the +estuary of the Liao, together with the islands of Formosa and the +Pescadores; pledged China to pay an indemnity of two hundred million +taels; provided for the occupation of Weihaiwei by Japan pending +payment of that sum; secured the opening of four new places to +foreign trade and the right of foreigners to engage in manufacturing +enterprises in China, and provided for a treaty of commerce and amity +between the two empires, based on the lines of China's treaty with +Occidental powers. + +FOREIGN INTERFERENCE + +Scarcely was the ink dry upon this agreement when Russia, Germany, +and France presented a joint note to the Tokyo Government, urging +that the permanent occupation of the Manchurian littoral by Japan +would endanger peace. Japan had no choice but to bow to this mandate. +The Chinese campaign had exhausted her treasury as well as her +supplies of war material, and it would have been hopeless to oppose a +coalition of three great European powers. She showed no sign of +hesitation. On the very day of the ratified treaty's publication, the +Emperor of Japan issued a rescript, in which, after avowing his +devotion to the cause of peace, he "yielded to the dictates of +magnanimity, and accepted the advice of the three powers." + +But although the Tokyo Government sought to soften the situation by +the grace of speedy acquiescence, the effect produced upon the nation +was profound. There was no difficulty in appreciating the motives of +Russia and France. It was natural that the former should object to +the propinquity of a warlike people like the Japanese, and it was +natural that France should remain true to her ally. But Germany's +case defied interpretation. She had no interest in the ownership of +Manchuria, and she professed herself a warm friend of Japan. It +seemed, therefore, that she had joined in snatching from the lips of +the Japanese the fruits of their victory simply for the sake of +establishing some shadowy title to Russia's good-will. + +THE CHINESE CRISIS OF 1900 + +In the second half of the year 1900 an anti-foreign outbreak, known +as the "Boxer Rebellion," broke out in the province of Shantung, and, +spreading thence to Pehchili, produced a situation of imminent peril +for the foreign communities of Peking and Tientsin. No Western power +could intervene with sufficient promptness. Japan alone was within +easy reach of the commotion. But Japan held back. She had fully +fathomed the distrust with which the growth of her military strength +had inspired some European nations, and she appreciated the wisdom of +not seeming to grasp at an opportunity for armed display. In fact, +she awaited a clear mandate from Europe and America, and, on +receiving it, she rapidly sent a division (20,000 men) to Pehchili. +Tientsin was relieved first, and then a column of troops provided by +several powers, the Japanese in the van, marched to the succour of +Peking. In this campaign the Japanese greatly enhanced their +belligerent reputation as they fought under the eyes of competent +military critics. Moreover, after the relief of the legations in +Peking, they withdrew one-half of their forces, and they subsequently +cooperated heartily with Western powers in negotiating peace terms, +thus disarming the suspicions with which they had been regarded at +first. + +WAR WITH RUSSIA + +From the time (1895) when the three-power mandate dictated to Japan a +cardinal alteration of the Shimonoseki treaty, Japanese statesmen +concluded that their country must one day cross swords with Russia. +Not a few Occidental publicists shared that view, but the great +majority, arguing that the little Island Empire of the Far East would +never risk annihilation by such an encounter, believed that +forbearance sufficient to avert serious trouble would always be +forthcoming on Japan's side. Yet neither geographical nor historical +conditions warranted that confidence. The Sea of Japan, which, on the +east, washes the shores of the Japanese islands and on the west those +of Russia and Korea, has virtually only two routes communicating with +the Pacific Ocean. One is in the north, namely, the Tsugaru Strait; +the other is in the south, namely, the channel between the Korean +peninsula and the Japanese island of Kyushu. Tsugaru Strait is +practically under Japan's complete control; she can close it at any +moment with mines. But the channel between the Korean peninsula and +Kyushu has a width of 102 miles, and would therefore be a fine open +seaway were it free from islands. Midway in this channel, however, +lie the twin islands of Tsushima, and the space that separates them +from Japan is narrowed by another island, Iki. Tsushima and Iki have +belonged to Japan from time immemorial, and thus the avenues from the +Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan are controlled by the Japanese +empire. In other words, access to the Pacific from Korea's eastern +and southern coasts, and access to the Pacific from Russia's Maritime +Province depend upon Japan's good-will. + +These geographical conditions had no great concern for Korea in +former days. But with Russia the case was different. Vladivostok, the +principal port in the Far East, lay at the southern extremity of the +Maritime Province. Freedom of passage by the Tsushima Strait was +therefore a matter of vital importance, and to secure it one of two +things was essential, namely, that she herself should possess a +fortified port on the Korean side, or that Japan should be restrained +from acquiring such a port. Here, then, was a strong inducement for +Russian aggression in Korea. When the eastward movement of the great +northern power brought it to the mouth of the Amur, the acquisition +of Nikolaievsk for a naval basis was the immediate reward. But +Nikolaievsk, lying in an inhospitable region, far away from all the +main routes of the world's commerce, offered itself only as a +stepping-stone to further acquisitions. To push southward from this +new port became an immediate object. + +There lay an obstacle in the way. The long strip of seacoast from the +mouth of the Amur to the Korean frontier--an area then called the +Usuri region because that river forms part of its western +boundary--belonged to China, and she, having conceded much to Russia +in the way of the Amur, showed no inclination to make further +concessions in the matter of the Usuri. She was persuaded to agree, +however, that the region should be regarded as common property, +pending a convenient opportunity for clear delimitation. That +opportunity soon came. Seizing the moment (1860) when China had been +beaten to her knees by England and France, Russia secured the final +cession of the Usuri region, which then became the Maritime Province +of Siberia. Then Russia shifted her naval basis in the Pacific to a +point ten degrees south from Nikolaievsk, namely, Vladivostok. +Immediately after this transfer an attempt was made to obtain +possession of Tsushima. A Russian man-of-war proceeded thither, and +quietly began to establish a settlement which would soon have +constituted a title of ownership had not Great Britain interfered. +The same instinct that led Russia from the mouth of the Amur to +Vladivostok prompted the acquisition of Saghalien also, which, as +already related, was accomplished in 1875. + +But all this effort did not procure for Russia an unobstructed avenue +from Vladivostok to the Pacific or an ice-free port in the Far East. +In Korea seemed to lie a facile hope of saving the maritime results +of Russia's great trans-Asian march from Lake Baikal to the Maritime +Province and to Saghalien. Korea seemed to offer every facility for +such an enterprise. Her people were unprogressive; her resources +undeveloped; her self-defensive capacities insignificant; her +government corrupt. On the other hand, it could not be expected that +Japan and China would acquiesce in any aggressions against their +neighbour, Korea, and it became necessary that Russia should seek +some other line of communication supplementing the Amur waterway and +the long ocean route. Therefore she set about the construction of a +railway across Asia. This railway had to be carried along the +northern bank of the Amur where engineering and economic difficulties +abound. Moreover, the river makes a huge semicircular sweep +northward, and a railway following its northern bank to Vladivostok +must make the same detour. If, on the contrary, the road could be +carried south of the river along the diameter of the semicircle, it +would be a straight, and therefore a shorter, line, technically +easier and economically better. To follow this diameter, however, +would involve passing through Chinese territory, namely, Manchuria, +and an excuse for soliciting China's permission was not in sight. In +1894, however, war broke out between Japan and China, and in its +sequel Japan passed into possession of the southern littoral of +Manchuria, which meant that Russia could never get nearer to the +Pacific than Vladivostok, unless she swept Japan from her path. It is +here, doubtless, that we must find Russia's true motive in inducing +Germany and France to unite with her for the purpose of ousting Japan +from Manchuria. The "notice to quit" gave for reasons that the tenure +of the Manchurian littoral by Japan would menace the security of the +Chinese capital, would render the independence of Korea illusory, and +would constitute an obstacle to the peace of the Orient. Only one +saving clause offered for Japan--to obtain from China a guarantee +that no portion of Manchuria should thereafter be leased or ceded to +a foreign State. But France warned the Tokyo Government that to press +for such a guarantee would offend Russia, and Russia declared that, +for her part, she entertained no design of trespassing in Manchuria. +Thus, Japan had no choice but to surrender quietly the main fruits of +her victory. She did so, and proceeded to double her army and treble +her navy. + +RUSSIA'S AND GERMANY'S REWARDS + +As a recompense for the assistance nominally rendered to China in the +above matter, Russia obtained permission in Peking to divert her +trans-Asian railway from the huge bend of the Amur to the straight +line through Manchuria. Neither Germany nor France received any +immediate compensation. But three years later, by way of indemnity +for the murder of two missionaries by a Chinese mob, Germany seized a +portion of the province of Shantung, and forthwith Russia obtained a +lease of the Liaotung peninsula, from which she had driven Japan in +1895. This act she followed by extorting from China permission to +construct a branch of the trans-Asian railway from north to south, +that is to say from Harbin through Mukden to Talien and Port Arthur. +Russia's maritime aspirations had now assumed a radically altered +phase. Hitherto her programme had been to push southward from +Vladivostok along the coast of Korea, but she had now suddenly leaped +Korea and found access to the Pacific by the Liaotung peninsula. +Nothing was wanting to establish her as practical mistress of +Manchuria except a plausible excuse for garrisoning the place. Such +an excuse was furnished by the Boxer rising, in 1900. The conclusion +of that complication found her in practical occupation of the whole +region. But here her diplomacy fell somewhat from its usually high +standard. Imagining that the Chinese could be persuaded, or +intimidated, to any concession, she proposed a convention virtually +recognizing her title to Manchuria. + +JAPAN'S ATTITUDE + +Japan watched all these things with profound anxiety. If there +were any reality in the dangers which Russia, Germany, and France +had declared to be incidental to Japanese occupation of a part +of Manchuria, the same dangers must be doubly incidental to +Russian occupation of the whole of Manchuria. There were other +considerations, also. The reasons already adduced show that the +independence of Korea was an object of supreme solicitude to Japan. +It was to establish that independence that she fought with China, +in 1894, and the same motive led her after the war to annex the +Manchurian littoral adjacent to Korea's northern frontier. If Russia +came into possession of all Manchuria, her subsequent absorption of +Korea would be almost inevitable. Manchuria is larger than France and +the United Kingdom put together. The addition of such an immense area +to Russia's East Asiatic dominions, together with its littoral on the +Gulf of Pehchili and the Yellow Sea, would necessitate a +corresponding expansion of her naval force in the Far East. With the +exception of Port Arthur and Talien, however, the Manchurian coast +does not offer any convenient naval base. It is only in the harbours +of southern Korea that such bases can be found. In short, without +Korea, Russia's East Asian extension would have been economically +incomplete and strategically defective. + +If it be asked why, apart from history and national sentiment, Japan +should object to Russia in Korea, the answer is, first, because there +would thus be planted almost within cannon-shot of her shores a power +of enormous strength and traditional ambition; secondly, because +whatever voice in Manchuria's destiny Russia derived from her +railway, the same voice in Korea's destiny was possessed by Japan, as +the sole owner of the railways in the Korean peninsula; thirdly, that +whereas Russia had an altogether insignificant share in the foreign +commerce of Korea and scarcely ten bona fide settlers, Japan did the +greater part of the oversea trade and had tens of thousands of +settlers; fourthly, that if Russia's dominions stretched +uninterruptedly from the sea of Okhotsk to the Gulf of Pehchili, her +ultimate absorption of northern China would be inevitable, and +fifthly, that such domination and such absorption would involve the +practical closure of all that immense region to the commerce and +industry of every Western nation except Russia. + +This last proposition did not rest solely on the fact that in +opposing artificial barriers to free competition lies Russia's sole +hope of utilizing, to her own benefit, any commercial opportunities +brought within her reach. It rested, also, on the fact that Russia +had objected to foreign settlement at the Manchurian marts recently +opened, by Japan's treaty with China, to American and Japanese +subjects. Without settlements, trade at those marts would be +impossible, and thus Russia had constructively announced that there +should be no trade but the Russian, if she could prevent it. Against +such dangers Japan would have been justified in adopting any measure +of self-protection. She had foreseen them for six years and had been +strengthening herself to avert them. But she wanted peace. She wanted +to develop her material resources and to accumulate some measure of +wealth without which she must remain insignificant among the nations. + +Two pacific programmes offered and she adopted them both. Russia, +instead of trusting time to consolidate her tenure of Manchuria, had +made the mistake of pragmatically importuning China for a +conventional title. If, then, Peking could be strengthened to resist +this demand, some arrangement of a distinctly terminable nature might +be made. The United States, Great Britain, and Japan, joining hands +for that purpose, did succeed in so far stiffening China's backbone +that her show of resolution finally induced Russia to sign a treaty +pledging herself to withdraw her troops from Manchuria in three +installments, each step of evacuation to be accomplished by a fixed +date. That was one of the pacific programmes. The other suggested +itself in connexion with the new commercial treaties which China had +agreed to negotiate in the sequel of the Boxer troubles. These +documents contained clauses providing for the opening of three places +in Manchuria to foreign trade. It seemed a reasonable hope that the +powers, having secured commercial access to Manchuria by covenant +with its sovereign, would not allow Russia to restrict arbitrarily +their privileges. Both of these hopes were disappointed. When the +time came for evacuation, Russia behaved as though no promise had +been given. She proposed new conditions which would have strengthened +her grasp of Manchuria instead of loosening it. + +NEGOTIATION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND JAPAN + +China being powerless to offer any practical protest, and Japan's +interest ranking next in order of importance, the Tokyo Government +approached Russia direct. They did not ask for anything that could +hurt her pride or impair her position. Appreciating fully the +economical status she had acquired in Manchuria by large outlays of +capital, they offered to recognize that status, provided that Russia +would extend similar recognition to Japan's status in Korea; would +promise, in common with Japan, to respect the sovereignty and the +territorial integrity of China and Korea, and would be a party to a +mutual engagement that all nations should have equal commercial and +industrial opportunities in Manchuria and in the Korean peninsula. In +a word, they invited Russia to subscribe the policy originally +enunciated by the United States and Great Britain, the policy of the +open door and of the integrity of the Chinese and Korean empires. + +Thus commenced negotiations which lasted five and a half months. +Japan gradually reduced her demands to a minimum. Russia never made +any appreciable reduction of hers. She refused to listen to Japan for +one moment about Manchuria. Eight years previously, Japan had been in +military possession of the littoral of Manchuria when Russia, with +the assistance of Germany and France, had expelled her for reasons +which concerned Japan much more than they concerned any of these +three powers. Now, Russia had the assurance to declare that none of +these things concerned Japan at all. The utmost she would admit was +Japan's partial right to be heard about Korea. At the same time, she +herself commenced a series of aggressions in northern Korea. That was +not all. While she studiously deferred her answers to Japan's +proposals, and while she protracted the negotiations to an extent +visibly contemptuous, she hastened to make substantial additions to +her fleet and her army in far-eastern Asia. It was impossible to +mistake her purpose. She intended to yield nothing, but to prepare +such a parade of force that her obduracy would command submission. +The only alternatives for Japan were war or permanent effacement in +Asia. She chose war. + +EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION + +Before passing to the story of this war, it is necessary to refer to +two incidents of Japan's foreign relations, both of which preceded +her struggle with Russia. The first was the restoration of her +judicial autonomy. It has always been regarded as axiomatic that the +subjects or citizens of Western countries, when they travel or reside +in Oriental territories, should be exempted from the penalties and +processes of the latter's criminal laws. In other words, there is +reserved to a Christian the privilege, when within the territories of +a pagan State, of being tried for penal offences by Christian judges. +In civil cases the jurisdiction is divided, the question at issue +being adjudicated by a tribunal of the defendant's nationality; +but in criminal cases jurisdiction is wholly reserved. Therefore +powers making treaties with Oriental nations establish within +the latter's borders consular courts which exercise what is called +"extraterritorial jurisdiction." This system was, of course, pursued +in Japan's case. It involved the confinement of the foreign residents +to settlements grouped around the sites of their consular courts; for +it would plainly have been imprudent that such residents should have +free access to provincial districts remote from the only tribunals +competent to control them. + +This provision, though inserted without difficulty in the early +treaties with Japan, provoked much indignation among the conservative +statesmen in Kyoto. Accordingly, no sooner had the Meiji Restoration +been effected than an embassy was despatched to the Occident to +negotiate for a revision of the treaties so as to remove the clause +about consular jurisdiction, and to restore the customs tariff to the +figure at which it had stood prior to Sir Harry Parkes' naval +demonstration at Hyogo. The Japanese Government was entitled to raise +this question in 1871, for the treaties were textually subject to +revision in that year. No time was lost in despatching the embassy. +But its failure was a foregone conclusion. The conditions originally +necessitating extraterritorial jurisdiction had not, by 1871 +undergone any change justifying its abolition. It is not to be +denied, on the other hand, that the consular courts themselves +invited criticism. Some of the great Western powers had organized +competent tribunals with expert judicial officials, but others, whose +trade with Japan was comparatively insignificant, were content to +entrust consular duties to merchants, who not only lacked legal +training but were also themselves engaged in the commercial +transactions upon which they might, at any moment, be required to +adjudicate magisterially. + +ENGRAVING: DANJURO, A FAMOUS ACTOR, AS BENKEI IN KANJINCHO (A PLAY) + +It cannot be contended that this obviously imperfect system was +disfigured by many abuses. On the whole, it worked passably well, and +if its organic faults helped to discredit it, there is no denying +that it saved the Japanese from complications which would inevitably +have arisen had they been entrusted with jurisdiction which they were +not prepared to exercise satisfactorily. Moreover, the system had +vicarious usefulness; for the ardent desire of Japanese patriots to +recover the judicial autonomy, which is a fundamental attribute of +every sovereign State, impelled them to recast their laws and +reorganize their law courts with a degree of diligence which would +otherwise have probably been less conspicuous. Twelve years of this +work, carried on with the aid of thoroughly competent foreign +jurists, placed Japan in possession of codes of criminal and civil +law in which the best features of European jurisprudence were applied +to the conditions and usages of Japan. Then, in 1883, Japan renewed +her proposal for the abolition of consular jurisdiction, and by way +of compensation she promised to throw the country completely open and +to remove all restrictions hitherto imposed on foreign trade, travel, +and residence within her realm. + +But this was a problem against whose liberal solution the +international prejudice of the West was strongly enlisted. No +Oriental State had ever previously sought such recognition, and the +Occident, without exception, was extremely reluctant to entrust the +lives and properties of its subjects and citizens to the keeping of a +"pagan" people. Not unnaturally the foreigners resident in Japan, who +would have been directly affected by the change, protested against it +with great vehemence. Many of them, though not averse to trusting +Japan, saw that her reforms had been consummated with celerity +amounting to haste, and a great majority fought simply for consular +jurisdiction as a privilege of inestimable value, not to be +surrendered without the utmost deliberation. The struggle that ensued +between foreign distrust and Japanese aspirations often developed +painful phases, and did much to intensify the feeling of antagonism +which had existed between the Japanese and the foreign residents at +the outset and which even to-day has not wholly disappeared. The +Government and citizens of the United States of America never failed +to show sympathy with Japanese aspirations in this matter, and, as a +general rule, "foreign tourists and publicists discussed the problem +liberally and fairly, perhaps because, unlike the foreign communities +resident in Japan, they had no direct interest in its solution." + +The end was not reached until 1894. Then Great Britain agreed that +from July, 1899, jurisdiction over all British subjects within the +confines of Japan should be entrusted to Japanese tribunals, provided +that the new Japanese codes of law should have been in operation +during at least one year before the surrender of jurisdiction. Japan, +on her side, promised to throw the whole country open from the same +date, removing all limitations upon trade, travel, and residence of +foreigners. + +Tariff autonomy had been an almost equal object of Japanese ambition, +and it was arranged that she should recover it after a period of +twelve years, an increased scale of import duties being applied in +the interval. It will be observed that Great Britain took the lead in +abandoning the old system. It was meet that she should do so; for, in +consequence of her preponderating commercial interests, she had stood +at the head of the combination of powers by which the irksome +conditions were originally imposed upon Japan. The other Occidental +States followed her example with more or less celerity, and the +foreign residents, now that nothing was to be gained by continuing +the struggle, showed clearly that they intended to bow gracefully to +the inevitable. The Japanese also took some conspicuous steps. + +"An Imperial rescript declared in unequivocal terms that it was the +sovereign's policy and desire to abolish all distinctions between +natives and foreigners, and that, by fully carrying out the friendly +purpose of the treaties, his people would best consult his wishes, +maintain the character of the nation, and promote its prestige. The +premier and other ministers of State issued instructions to the +effect that the responsibility now devolved on the Government, and +the duty on the people, of enabling foreigners to reside confidently +and contentedly in every part of the country. Even the chief Buddhist +prelates addressed to the priests and parishioners of their dioceses +injunctions pointing out that freedom of conscience being now +guaranteed by the Constitution, men professing alien creeds must be +treated as courteously as the disciples of Buddhism and must enjoy +the same privileges."* + +*Brinkley, article "Japan," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition. + +It may here be stated once for all that Japan's recovery of her +judicial autonomy has not been attended by any of the disastrous +results freely predicted at one time. Her laws are excellent, and her +judiciary is competent and just. + +FIRST ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE + +The second of the two incidents alluded to above was an alliance +between England and Japan, signed on January 30, 1902. The preamble +of this agreement--the first of its kind ever concluded between +England and an Oriental power--affirmed that the contracting parties +were solely actuated by a desire to preserve the status quo and the +general peace of the Far East; that they were both specially +interested in maintaining the independence and territorial integrity +of the empires of China and Korea, and in securing equal +opportunities in these countries for all nations; that they mutually +recognized it as admissible for either of the contracting parties to +take such measures as might be indispensable to safeguard these +interests against a threat of aggressive action by any other power, +or against disturbances in China or Korea, and that, if one of the +contracting parties became involved in war in defence of these +interests, the other should maintain strict neutrality and endeavour +to prevent any third power from joining in hostilities against its +ally. Finally, should a third power join in such hostilities, then +the other contracting party promised to come to the assistance of its +ally, to conduct the war in common, and to make peace by mutual +agreement only. The alliance was to hold good for five years from the +date of signature, but if either ally was engaged in war at such +time, the alliance was to continue until the conclusion of peace. + +It is unnecessary to dwell upon the influence exerted by this compact +on the Russo-Japanese war. It kept the field clear for Japan and +guaranteed her against a repetition of such a combination as that +which must be regarded as the remote cause of the struggle. + +THE EARLY PHASES OF THE WAR + +Japan's great problem in crossing swords with Russia was to obtain a +safe avenue for her troops over the sea. Russia might at once have +gained an overwhelming advantage had she seized and controlled the +lines of communication between the Japanese islands and the continent +of Asia. Her strategists can scarcely have failed to appreciate that +fact, and would doubtless have acted accordingly had they obtained a +few months' leisure to mass an overwhelmingly strong fleet in the +seas of China and Japan. They had such a fleet actually in esse; for, +at the moment when war broke out, the Russian squadrons assembled in +the East, or en route thither, comprised no less than fifty-nine +fighting ships, mounting 1350 guns and manned by 18,000 men. But +these figures included the Mediterranean squadron which, surprised by +the outbreak of hostilities, abandoned its journey to the Pacific. +Obviously, Japan's wisest course was to anticipate the combination of +Russia's sea forces, and consciousness of that fact operated to +hasten the current of events. + +Port Arthur, where the bulk of the Russian Pacific squadron lay, is +somewhat difficult of ingress and egress. On January 31, 1904, the +operation of extracting the ships and parading them outside was +commenced, being brought to a conclusion on February 3rd, whereafter +the squadron steamed out to sea, and, having made a short cruise off +the coast of the Shantung promontory, returned to its position on the +following day. The fleet taking part in this manoeuvre consisted of +twenty-six ships, and the whole Russian naval force then in eastern +Asia comprised seven battle-ships, four armoured cruisers, seven +protected cruisers, four gunboats, six sloops, twenty-five +destroyers, two mining transports, and fourteen first-class +torpedo-boats. + +The Japanese, on their side, had six battle-ships, eight armoured +cruisers, thirteen protected cruisers, fourteen small cruisers, +nineteen destroyers, and eighty-five torpedo-boats. This enumeration +shows a numerical superiority on the Japanese side, but in fighting +capacity the two fleets were nearly equal. For, though the Russians +possessed seven battle-ships to six Japanese, the latter had better +gun-protection and greater weight of broadside fire than the former; +and though Japan could muster eight armoured cruisers against +Russia's four, the latter were supplemented by five protected +cruisers which ranked far above anything of the same class on the +Japanese side. + +THE FIRST NAVAL OPERATION + +When the Russian ships returned on the 4th of February from their +cruise off the Shantung promontory, they took up their stations +outside Port Arthur, all the harbour lights and beacons being left in +position, and no special precaution being taken except that a patrol +of three torpedo-boats was sent out. Yet the Russians should have +appreciated the presence of danger. For, on the 6th of February, +Japan had broken off the negotiations in St. Petersburg, and had +given official information of her intention to take measures for +protecting her menaced interests. That signified war and nothing but +war, and the "Official Messenger" of the same evening published the +intimation, which was immediately communicated to Admiral Alexieff at +Port Arthur. + +The Russian fleet was then divided into three squadrons. The largest +body lay off Port Arthur, and two very much smaller squadrons were +posted, one at Chemulpo on the west coast of Korea, and another at +Vladivostok. It is obvious that such division of the fleet on the eve +of hostilities should have been carefully avoided. The ships should +all have been held together with an extensive network of scouts so as +to enable them swiftly and strongly to fall upon any Japanese +transports carrying troops to the mainland, or to meet effectually +and crush any attempt of the Japanese squadrons to obtain command of +the sea. + +On the night of February 8th-9th, three Japanese squadrons of +destroyers, aggregating ten vessels, steamed across a calm, moonlit +sea and delivered a torpedo attack on the Russian squadron at Port +Arthur, the result being that the battle-ships Retvisan and +Tsarevitch together with the cruiser Pallada were holed. These +battle-ships were the most powerful vessels in the Russian squadron, +and the Pallada was a first-class protected cruiser of 6630 tons' +displacement. The Japanese destroyers had left Sasebo on the 6th of +February and they returned thither uninjured, having materially +weakened the Russian fleet. On the day following this surprise, +Admiral Togo, the Japanese commander-in-chief, engaged the remains of +the Russian squadron with the heavy guns of his battle-ships at a +range of eight thousand yards, and succeeded in inflicting some +injury on the battle-ship Poltava, the protected cruisers Diana and +Askold, and a second-class cruiser Novik. The Russians ultimately +retreated towards the harbour with the intention of drawing the +Japanese under closer fire of the land batteries, but the Japanese +fleet declined to follow after them, and, instead, steamed away. +Three days later (February 11th) another disaster overtook the +Russians. The Yenisei, one of the two mining-transports included in +their fleet, struck a mine and sank so rapidly in Talien Bay that +ninety-six of her crew perished. The Japanese had no part at all in +this catastrophe. It was purely accidental. + +THE CHEMULPO AFFAIR + +While these things were happening at Port Arthur, a squadron of the +Japanese navy, under Admiral Uryu, escorted a number of transports to +Chemulpo, the port of the Korean capital, Seoul. There the Russian +protected cruiser Variag (6500 tons) together with the gunboat +Korietz and the transport Sungari were lying. It does not appear that +Admiral Uryu's prime object was to engage these Russian ships. But +Chemulpo having been chosen as the principal landing-place of the +Japanese army corps which was to operate in Korea, it was, of course, +imperative that the harbour should be cleared of Russian war-vessels. +On February 8th, the Russians at Chemulpo were surprised by a summons +from Admiral Uryu to leave the port or undergo bombardment at their +anchorage. The vessels stood out bravely to sea, and after an +engagement lasting thirty-five minutes at ranges varying from five to +ten thousand yards, they were so badly injured that they returned to +the port and were sunk by their own crews, together with the +transport Sungari. The moral effect of the destruction of these +vessels was incalculable. + +DECLARATION OF WAR + +On the 10th of February, the Czar and the Mikado respectively issued +declarations of war. The former laid stress upon Russia's pacific +intentions in proposing revision of the agreements already existing +between the two empires with regard to Korean affairs, and accused +the Japanese of making a sudden attack on the Russian squadron at +Port Arthur "without previously notifying that the rupture of +diplomatic relations implied the beginning of warlike action." The +Japanese declaration insisted that the integrity of Korea was a +matter of the gravest concern to Japan, inasmuch as the separate +existence of the former was essential to the safety of the latter, +and charged that "Russia, in disrespect of her solemn treaty pledges +to China and of her repeated assurances to other powers, was still in +occupation of Manchuria, had consolidated and strengthened her hold +upon those provinces, and was bent upon their final annexation." With +regard to Russia's accusation against Japan of drawing the sword +without due notice, a distinguished British publicist made the +following comment in the columns of The Times (London): + +"Far from thinking the Japanese attack on the night of February 8th, +two full days after the announcement of the intention to take action, +was an exception to, or a deviation from, tradition and precedent, we +should rather count ourselves fortunate if our enemy, in the next +naval war we have to wage, does not strike two days before blazoning +forth his intention, instead of two days after. The tremendous and +decisive results of success for the national cause are enough to +break down all the restraining influences of the code of +international law and Christian morality." + +THE FIRST MILITARY OPERATIONS + +From the moment when war became inevitable, the problem of absorbing +interest was to determine Russia's strategy, and it was ultimately +seen that the two main groups of her forces were to be posted at Port +Arthur and on the Yalu; the latter to resist an advance from Korea, +and the former to defend the Liaotung peninsula, which constituted +the key of the Russian position. Between the mouth of the Yalu and +the Liaotung peninsula, a distance of 120 miles, there were many +points where raiding parties might have been landed to cut the +Russian railway. Against this danger, flying squadrons of Cossacks +were employed. After the destruction of the three Russian vessels in +Chemulpo and the crippling of the Port Arthur squadron, Japanese +transports entered the former port and quietly landed some three +thousand troops, which advanced immediately upon Seoul and took +possession of it. + +From that time there could be no doubt that the intention of the +Japanese was to make their first attack upon the enemy by marching up +the Korean peninsula, and that the capital of Korea was chosen for a +base of operations because of climatic considerations. Chemulpo, +however, was not the only landing-place. Fusan also served for that +purpose, as subsequently did also Chinnampo, an inlet on the west +coast of the peninsula. The distance from the port of Fusan to the +Yalu River is four hundred miles, in round numbers, and the roads are +very bad throughout the whole country. Hence the advance of the +Japanese, which was made in a leisurely manner with the utmost +circumspection and attention to detail, involved so much time that +April had drawn to its close before the troops deployed on the banks +of the Yalu. They consisted of three divisions constituting an army +corps, and each division had a ration-strength of 19,000 men with a +combatant strength of 14,000 sabres and rifles and thirty-six +field-guns. It may be assumed, therefore, that when the Japanese +First Army under General (afterwards Count) Kuroki reached the Yalu, +it had a fighting-strength of between forty and fifty thousand men. +There had practically been no collision during the interval of the +advance from the southern extremity of the peninsula to its northern +boundary. It is true that, on March 28th, a squadron of Cossacks +attempted to surprise the Japanese cavalry at Chong-ju, but the essay +proved a failure, and the Cossacks were driven back upon Wiju, which +they evacuated without any further struggle. + +The Russian plan of operations did not originally contemplate a +serious stand at the Yalu. The idea was to retire gradually, drawing +the Japanese into Manchuria towards the railway, and engaging them in +the exceedingly difficult country crowned by the Motien Mountains. +But at the last moment General Kuropatkin, Russian commander-in-chief +in Manchuria, issued orders to General Sassulitch, commander of the +Second Siberian Army Corps, to hold the line of the Yalu with all his +strength. Sassulitch could muster for this purpose only five +regiments and one battalion of infantry; forty field-guns; eight +machine-guns, and some Cossacks--twenty thousand combatants, +approximately. Kuroki disposed his troops so that their front +extended some twenty miles along the Yalu, the centre being at +Kiuliencheng, a walled town standing about 180 feet above the river. +From this point southward, the right, or Manchurian, bank has a +considerable command over the left, and at Kiuliencheng a tributary +stream, called the Ai, joins the main river, "which thenceforth +widens from 4000 to 7000 yards and runs in three channels between the +islands and the mainland. The central channel is navigable by small +craft, and the other channels are fordable waist-deep. The Ai River +is also fordable in many places during the spring." On the right bank +of the Yalu, at the point of its junction with the Ai, the ground +rises so as to command the position taken by the Russians. + +The plan of the Japanese commander was to threaten an attack on the +lower radius of the river; to throw two divisions against +Kiuliencheng, and to use the remaining division in a wide flanking +movement, crossing the river higher up. The battle took place on +Sunday, the 1st of May. During the preceding nights, the Japanese +placed a strong force of artillery in cleverly masked batteries, and +under cover of these guns, threw seven bridges across the river, the +highest upstream being thirteen miles above Kiuliencheng and the +lower two being directed to the centre of the Russian position. +General Kuroki then telegraphed to Tokyo that he proposed to attack +at dawn on Sunday, his plan being to march one division across the +fords of the Ai River, and to employ the other two, one in crumpling +up the Russian left, the other in attacking Antung, where a large +Russian force was in position. This programme was accurately carried +out. The Japanese infantry forded the Ai breast-deep, and, swarming +up the heights, drove the Russians from these strong positions. +Meanwhile, the Japanese guards' division had crossed on the left and +directed its march upon Antung, while the remaining division had +completely turned the Russian left flank. The fiercest struggle +occurred at Homutang, where a Russian regiment and a battery of +artillery made a splendid stand to save their comrades at Antung from +being cut off. + +The casualties on the Japanese side were 318 killed, including five +officers, and 783 wounded, including thirty-three officers. The +Russian casualties numbered 1363 killed and 613 prisoners, but the +detail of wounded was not published. The Japanese captured twenty-one +quick-firing field-guns, eight machine-guns, 1021 rifles and a +quantity of ammunition, etc. The moral result of this battle can +hardly be overestimated. It had never been seriously believed in +Europe that a Russian army could be conquered by a Japanese in a fair +fight, and probably that incredulity influenced Kuropatkin when he +ordered Sassulitch to defy strategical principles by attempting to +hold a radically defective position against a greatly superior force. +In a moment, the Japanese were crowned with military laurels and +placed on a pedestal for the world to admire. But the Japanese +themselves were not deceived. They saw clearly that the contest had +been between six battalions of Russians and two divisions of +Japanese, a disparity of strength amply sufficient to account for the +result in any circumstances. + +NAVAL OPERATIONS + +During the period of eleven weeks immediately subsequent to the +battle of the Yalu, there were no military operations of a striking +character. Japan was preparing to despatch a second army to +Manchuria, and pending its shipment the chief duty to be discharged +devolved upon the fleet, namely, the further crippling of the Port +Arthur squadron in order to secure the transports against its +enterprises. The object was promoted on the 13th of April by the loss +of the Russian battle-ship Petropavlovsk. She struck one of the mines +laid by the Japanese and sank in a few minutes, carrying the Russian +admiral, Makaroff, together with about six hundred sailors, to the +bottom. + +This event, although it materially weakened the Port Arthur squadron, +had nothing to do with the fixed programme of Admiral Togo, which +programme was to block the narrow channel forming the entrance of +Port Arthur by sinking merchant vessels in the fairway. Three +attempts to accomplish this were made. The first was on February +24th; the second, on March 2nd-3rd. In the first essay, five steamers +were employed, their crews consisting of seventy-seven volunteers. +They failed. On the second occasion four steamers of at least two +thousand tons each were sent in under the orders of Commander Hirose. +On this occasion, again, the steamers failed to reach vital points in +the channel, and their experience alone remained to compensate the +loss of many lives. These two attempts were watched by the public +with keen interest and high admiration. The courage and coolness +displayed by officers and men alike elicited universal applause. But +it was generally believed that the successful prosecution of such a +design was impossible and that no further essay would be made. The +Japanese, however, are not easily deterred. On the night of May 2nd, +eight steamers, aggregating some 17,000 tons, were driven into the +channel in the face of mines, batteries, and torpedoes, and five of +them reached their allotted positions, so that the blocking of the +harbour for the passage of large vessels was accomplished. The list +of casualties proved very heavy. Out of 159 persons only eight +officers and thirty-six men returned unhurt. The whole of the +remainder, including twenty officers, were killed, wounded, or +missing. + +LANDING OF THE SECOND ARMY + +On the very night after the accomplishment of this third blocking +operation, a second Japanese army commenced to land at Pitszewo, +eastward of the Liaotung peninsula. This was precisely the point +chosen for a similar purpose by the Japanese in the war with China, +ten years previously, and such close adherence to the former +programme was condemned by some critics, especially as transports +cannot get close to the shore at Pitszewo, but have to lie four miles +distant, the intervening space consisting, for the most part, of mud +flats. But the Japanese were perfectly familiar with every inch of +the coast from the mouth of the Yalu to Port Arthur, and had the +Russian commanders possessed equally accurate knowledge, they would +have recognized that Pitszewo was designated by natural features as +the best available landing-place, and knowing that, they might have +made effective dispositions to oppose the Japanese there, whereas ten +thousand men had been put on shore before any suspicion seems to have +been roused in the Russian camp. + +BATTLE OF KINCHOU + +After its landing at Pitszewo, on May 5th and the following days, the +Second Japanese Army, consisting of three divisions under General +(afterwards Count) Oku, pushed westward, driving away the Russian +detachments in the vicinity and securing the control of the Port +Arthur railway. Then, at Kinchou, on the 26th of May, a great battle +was fought. A little south of Kinchou lies a narrow neck of land +connecting the Kwangtung promontory with the mainland. It is a neck +only a mile and three-quarters broad, having Kinchou Bay on the +northwest and Hand Bay on the southeast. On each side the ground near +the sea is low, but along the centre of the neck a ridge rises, which +culminates in a point about 350 feet above the sea. This point is +known as Nanshan, and its commanding position is such that an army +holding it blocks all access to the Kwangtung peninsula. + +The problem for the Japanese was to obtain possession of this neck as +the sole road of access to Port Arthur; while General Stossel, who +commanded the Russian troops, knew that if the neck fell into +Japanese hands, Port Arthur would become unapproachable by land. "The +Nanshan position offered unusual advantages for defence, and had been +diligently prepared for permanent occupation during many weeks. Ten +forts of semi-permanent character had been built, and their armament +showed that, on this occasion, the Russian artillery was vastly +superior, both in calibre and in range, to the Japanese guns. Forts, +trenches, and rifle-pits, covered by mines and wire entanglements, +were constructed on every point of vantage and in separate tiers. +Searchlights were also employed, and every advantage was taken of the +proximity of a great fortress and its ample plant."* + +*The War in the Far East, by the Military Correspondent of "The +Times." + +It will occur to the reader that war-vessels might have been +advantageously used for the attack and defence of such a position, +and, as a matter of fact, Russian gunboats manoeuvred in Hand Bay on +the southeastern shore of the neck. But, on the western side, the +shoal waters of Kinchou Bay prevented access by Japanese vessels in +the face of the heavy batteries erected by the Russians on dominating +sites. This splendid position was held by a Russian army mustering +ten thousand strong with fifty siege-guns and sixteen quick-firers. A +frontal attack seemed suicidal but was deliberately chosen. At +daybreak the battle commenced, and, after sixteen hours of incessant +fighting, a Japanese infantry force turned the left flank of the +Russian line and the day was won. Over seven hundred Russian dead +were buried by the Japanese, and into the latter's hands fell +sixty-eight cannon of all calibres with ten machine-guns. The +Japanese casualties totalled 4912. + +This battle finally solved the problem as to whether Japanese +infantry could hold its own against Russian. "With almost everything +in its favour, a strong, fresh, and confident Russian army, solidly +entrenched behind almost inaccessible fortifications and supported by +a formidable and superior artillery, was, in a single day, fairly +swept out of its trenches."* The victorious Japanese pressed forward +rapidly, and on the 30th of May obtained possession of Dalny, a base +presenting incalculable advantages for the prosecution of an attack +upon Port Arthur, which fortress it was now evident that the Japanese +had determined to capture. + +*The War in the Far East, by the Military Correspondent of "The +Times." + +THE BATTLE OF TELISSU + +To have left the Japanese in undisturbed possession of the neck of +the Liaotung peninsula would have been to abandon Port Arthur to its +fate. On the other hand, the Russians ought not to have entertained +any hope of their own ability to carry such a position by assault +after they had signally failed to hold it in the face of attack. +Nevertheless, finding it intolerable, alike to their prestige and to +their sense of camaraderie, to take no measure in behalf of the great +fortress and its thirty thousand defenders, they determined to march +at once to its assistance. To that end celerity was all important, +and on June 14th, that is to say, only eighteen days after the battle +of Kinchou, a Russian army of some thirty-five thousand combatants, +under the command of General Baron Stackelberg, moving down the +railway to recover Kinchou and Nanshan, came into collision with the +Japanese and fought the battle of Telissu. The Russian general, +clinging always to the railway, advanced with such a restricted front +that the Japanese, under General Oku, outflanked him, and he was +driven back with a loss of about ten thousand, killed and wounded, +fourteen guns, and four hundred prisoners. + +NAVAL INCIDENTS + +On June 15th, the very day after the Telissu victory, the Japanese +met their only naval catastrophe. While their fleet was watching the +enemy off Port Arthur, the battleships Hatsuse and Yashima struck +mines and sank immediately. Moreover, on the same day, the cruisers +Kasuga and Yoshino collided in a dense fog, and the latter vessel was +sent to the bottom. As the Japanese possessed only six battle-ships, +the loss of two was a serious blow, and might have emboldened the +Russians to despatch a squadron from the Baltic to take the earliest +possible advantage of this incident. Foreseeing this, the Japanese +took care to conceal the loss of the Hatsuse and Yashima, and the +fact did not become known until after the battle of Tsushima, a year +later, when the Russian fleet had been practically annihilated. + +Meanwhile, the Russian squadron at Vladivostok had accomplished +little. This squadron consisted originally of three armoured +cruisers, Gromovoi, Rossia, and Rurik, with one protected cruiser, +Bogatyr. But the last-named ship ran on a rock near Vladivostok and +became a total wreck in the middle of May, a month marked by many +heavy losses. These cruisers made several excursions into the Sea of +Japan, sinking or capturing a few Japanese merchantmen, and cleverly +evading a Japanese squadron under Admiral Kamimura, detailed to watch +them. But their only achievement of practical importance was the +destruction of two large Japanese transports, the Hitachi Maru and +the Sado Maru. In achieving this feat the Russians appeared off +Tsushima in the Straits of Korea, on June 15th, and the transports +which they sunk or disabled carried heavy guns for the bombardment of +Port Arthur. + +Of course, nothing was publicly known about the cargo of the Hitachi +and her consort, but there could be no question that, in timing their +attack with such remarkable accuracy, the Russians must have obtained +secret information as to the movements of the transports and the +nature of their cargo. Considerable criticism was uttered against +Admiral Kamimura for failure to get into touch with the Vladivostok +vessels during such a long interval. But much of the censure was +superficial. Kamimura redeemed his reputation on the 14th of August +when, in a running fight between Fusan and Vladivostok, the Rurik was +sunk and the Gromovoi and Rossia were so seriously damaged as to be +unable to take any further part in the war. On this occasion six +hundred Russians were rescued by the Japanese from the sinking Rurik, +and it was noted at the time that the Russians had made no attempt to +save Japanese life at the sinking of the Hitachi Maru. + +THE JAPANESE FORCES + +Immediately after the landing of the army corps under General Oku and +the capture of Dalny in the sequel of the battle of Kinchou, the +Japanese began to pour troops into Dalny, and soon they had there +three divisions under the command of General (afterwards Count) Nogi. +This force was henceforth known as the Third Army, that of General +Kuroki being the First, and that under General Oku, the Second. The +next operation was to land another army at Takushan, which lies on +the south coast of Manchuria, between Pitszewo and the estuary of the +Yalu. This army was under the command of General (afterwards Count) +Nozu, and its purpose was to fill the gap between the First Army and +the Second. Nozu's corps thus became the Fourth Army. In fact, the +Japanese repeated, in every respect, the plan of campaign pursued by +them ten years previously in the war with China. + +There was one ultimate difference, however. In the latter war, the +force which captured Port Arthur was subsequently carried oversea to +the Shantung province, where it assaulted and took the great Chinese +naval port at Weihaiwei. But the army sent against Port Arthur, in +1904, was intended to march up the Liaotung peninsula after the +capture of the fortress, so, as to fall into line with the other +three armies and to manoeuvre on their left flank during the general +advance northward. Thus considered, the plan of campaign suggests +that General Nogi and his three divisions were expected to capture +Port Arthur without much delay, and indeed their early operations +against the fortress were conducted on that hypothesis. But, as a +matter of fact, in spite of heroic efforts and unlimited bravery on +the Japanese side, Port Arthur, with its garrison of thirty thousand +men, its splendid fortifications, and its powerful artillery, backed +by the indomitable resolution and stubborn resistance of Russian +soldiers, did not fall until the last day of 1904, and Nogi's army +was unable to take part in the great field-battles which marked the +advance of the three other Japanese armies from the seacoast to the +capital of Manchuria. + +Step by step, however, though at heavy sacrifice of life, the +Japanese fought their way through the outer lines of the Russian +defences, and the end of July saw the besiegers in such a position +that they were able to mount guns partly commanding the anchorage +within the port. An intolerable situation being thus created for the +Russian squadron, it determined to put to sea, and on August 10th +this was attempted. Without entering into details of the fight that +ensued, it will suffice to state briefly that the result of the +sortie was to deprive the Russian squadron of the services of one +battle-ship, three cruisers, and five torpedo craft, leaving to +Rear-Admiral Prince Ukhtonsky, who commanded the vessels in Port +Arthur, only five battle-ships, two cruisers (of which one was +injured), and three destroyers. On August 18th, a gunboat; on August +23d, another battle-ship, and on August 24th another destroyer were +sunk or disabled by striking Japanese mines, and it may be said +briefly that the Russian squadron thenceforth ceased to be a menace +to the Japanese, and that only the land forces had to be counted +with. + +FIELD OPERATIONS PRIOR TO BATTLE OF LIAOYANG + +By the close of June the three Japanese armies under Generals Kuroki, +Nozu, and Oku were fully deployed and ready to advance in unison. The +task before them was to clear the Russians from the littoral of the +Korean Sea and force them through the mountains of Manchuria into the +valley of the Liao River. In these operations the Japanese acted +uniformly on the offensive, whereas the Russians occupied positions +carefully chosen and strictly fortified, where they stood always on +the defensive. Five heavy engagements, beginning with Fenshuiling on +the 26th of June and ending with Yangtzuling on July 31st, were +fought in these circumstances, and in every instance the Japanese +emerged victorious. From the commencement of the land campaign until +the end of July the invading army's casualties were 12,000, while the +Russian losses, exclusive of those at Port Arthur, aggregated 28,000 +killed and wounded, and 113 light siege-and field-guns, together with +eighteen machine-guns, captured. + +THE BATTLE OF LIAOYANG + +The first great phase of the field-operations may be said to have +terminated with the battle of Liaoyang, which commenced on August +25th and continued almost without interruption for nine days, +terminating on the 3rd of September. In this historic contest the +Russians had 220,000 men engaged. They were deployed over a front of +about forty miles, every part of which had been entrenched and +fortified with the utmost care and ingenuity. In fact, the position +seemed impregnable, and as the Japanese could muster only some +200,000 men for the attack, their chances of success appeared very +small. Desperate fighting ensued, but no sensible impression could be +made on the Russian lines, and finally, as a last resource, a strong +force of Kuroki's army was sent across the Taitsz River to turn the +enemy's left flank. The Russian general, Kuropatkin, rightly +estimated that the troops detached by General Kuroki for this purpose +were not commensurate with the task assigned to them, whereas the +Russians could meet this flanking movement with overwhelming +strength. Therefore, Kuropatkin sent three army corps across the +river, and by September 1st, the Japanese flanking forces were +confronted by a powerful body. + +Strategists are agreed that, had Kuropatkin's plans found competent +agents to execute them, the Japanese advance would have been at least +checked at Liaoyang. In fact, the Japanese, in drafting their +original programme, had always expected that Nogi's army would be in +a position on the left flank in the field long before there was any +question of fighting at Liaoyang. It was thus due to the splendid +defence made by the garrison of the great fortress that Kuropatkin +found himself in such a favourable position at the end of August. But +unfortunately for the Russians, one of their generals, Orloff, who +had thirteen battalions under his command, showed incompetence, and +falling into an ambuscade in the course of the counter-flanking +operation, suffered defeat with heavy losses. The Japanese took full +advantage of this error, and Kuropatkin, with perhaps excessive +caution, decided to abandon his counter-movement and withdraw from +Liaoyang. He effected his retreat in a manner that bore testimony to +the excellence of his generalship. The casualties in this great +battle were very heavy. From August 25th, when the preliminary +operations may be said to have commenced, to September 3rd, when the +field remained in the possession of the Japanese, their losses were +17,539, namely, 4866 in the First Army, 4992 in the Fourth, and 7681 +in the Second, while the Russian casualties were estimated at 25,000. + +BATTLES OF SHAHO AND OF HEIKAUTAI + +On the 2nd of October, General Kuropatkin issued from his +headquarters in Mukden an order declaring that the "moment for the +attack, ardently desired by the army, had at last arrived, and that +the Japanese were now to be compelled to do Russia's will." Barely a +month had elapsed since the great battle at Liaoyang, and it still +remains uncertain what had happened in that interval to justify the +issue of such an order. But the most probable explanation is that +Kuropatkin had received re-enforcements, so that he could marshal +250,000 to 260,000 troops for the proposed offensive, and that his +news from Port Arthur suggested the necessity of immediate and +strenuous efforts to relieve the fortress. His plan was to throw +forward his right so as to outflank the Japanese, recover possession +of Liaoyang, and obtain command of the railway. + +He set his troops in motion on the 9th of October, but he was driven +back after more than a week's fighting. No less than 13,333 Russian +dead were left on the field, and at the lowest calculation, +Kuropatkin's casualties must have exceeded 60,000 men exclusive of +prisoners. There can be no doubt whatever that the Russian army had +suffered one of the most overwhelming defeats in its history, and +that after a fortnight's hard marching and nine days' hard fighting, +with little food or sleep, it had been reduced by terrible losses and +depressing fatigues to a condition bordering on extermination. Such +was the result of Kuropatkin's first attempt to assume the offensive. +Thereafter, fully three months of complete inaction ensued, and the +onlooking world occupied itself with conjectures as to the +explanation of this apparent loss of time. + +Yet the chief reason was very simple. The weather in central +Manchuria at the close of the year is such as to render military +manoeuvres almost impossible on a large scale, and this difficulty is +greatly accentuated by the almost complete absence of roads. In fact, +the reasons which induced Kuropatkin to defy these obstacles, and +renew his outflanking attempts after the beginning of the cold +weather, have never been fully explained. The most probable theory is +that held by Japanese strategists, namely, that he desired to find +some opening for the vigorous campaign which he intended to pursue in +the spring, and that his attention was naturally directed to the +region between the Hun and the Liao rivers, a region unoccupied by +either army and yet within striking distance of the bases of both. +Moreover, he had received nearly three whole divisions from Europe, +and he looked to these fresh troops with much confidence. He set his +forces in motion on the 25th of January, 1905. Seven Russian +divisions were engaged, and the brunt of the fighting was borne by +two Japanese divisions and a brigade of cavalry. Two other divisions +were engaged, but the part they acted in the fight was so subordinate +that it need scarcely be taken into account. The Russians were +finally driven back with a loss of some twenty thousand killed, +wounded, or prisoners. This battle of Heikautai was the last +engagement that took place before the final encounter. + +PORT ARTHUR + +The relief of Port Arthur had ceased to be an important objective of +Kuropatkin before he planned his Heikautai attack. The great fortress +fell on the last day of 1904. It was not until the middle of May that +the Kinchou isthmus and Dalny came into Japanese hands, nor was the +siege army under General Nogi marshalled until the close of June. +During that interval, General Stossel, who commanded, on the Russian +side, availed himself of all possible means of defence, and the +investing force had to fight for every inch of ground. The attack on +the outlying positions occupied fully a month, and not till the end +of July had the Japanese advanced close enough to attempt a coup de +main. There can be no doubt that they had contemplated success by +that method of procedure, but they met with such a severe repulse, +during August, that they recognized the necessity of recourse to the +comparatively slow arts of the engineer. Thereafter, the story of the +siege followed stereotyped lines except that the colossal nature of +the fortifications entailed unprecedented sacrifice of life on the +besiegers' part. The crucial point of the siege-operations was the +capture of a position called 203-Metre Hill. This took place on +November 30th after several days of the most terrible fighting ever +witnessed, fighting which cost the Japanese ten thousand casualties. +The importance of the hill was that it furnished a post of +observation whence indications could be given to guide the heavy +Japanese artillery in its cannonade of the remaining Russian ships in +the harbour. + +Nothing then remained for the Russians except to sink the ships, and +this they did, so that Russia lost a squadron which, all told, +represented an outlay of over thirty millions sterling--$150,000,000. +In a telegram despatched to his own Government on January 1st, +General Stossel said: "Great Sovereign, forgive! We have done all +that was humanly possible. Judge us; but be merciful. Eleven months +have exhausted our strength. A quarter only of the defenders, and +one-half of them invalids, occupy twenty-seven versts of +fortifications without supports and without intervals for even the +briefest repose. The men are reduced to shadows!" On the previous day +Stossel had written to General Nogi, declaring that further +resistance would merely entail useless loss of life considering the +conditions within the fortress. The total number of prisoners who +surrendered at the fall of the fortress was 878 officers and 23,491 +men, and the captured material included 546 guns; 35,252 rifles; 60 +torpedoes; 30,000 kilograms of powder; 82,670 rounds of +gun-ammunition; two and a quarter million rounds of small-arm +ammunition; a number of wagons; 1,920 horses; four battle-ships; two +cruisers; fourteen gunboats and torpedo-craft; ten steamers; +thirty-three steam launches, and various other vessels. These figures +are worthy of study, as one of General Stossel's alleged reasons for +surrendering was scarcity of ammunition. + +MISHCHENKO'S RAID + +The capture of Port Arthur meant something more than the fall of a +fortress which had been counted impregnable and which had dominated +the strategical situation for fully seven months. It meant, also, +that General Nogi's army would now be free to join their comrades +beyond the Liao River, and that Kuropatkin would find his opponents' +strength increased by four divisions. It became, therefore, important +to ascertain how soon this transfer was likely to be effected, and, +if possible, to interrupt it by tearing up the railway. Accordingly, +on January 8th, General Mishchenko's division of Cossacks, +Caucasians, and Dragoons, mustering six thousand sabres, with six +batteries of light artillery, crossed the Hun River and marched south +on a five-mile front. Throughout the war the Cossacks, of whom a very +large force was with the Russian army, had hitherto failed to +demonstrate their usefulness, and this raid in force was regarded +with much curiosity. It accomplished very little. Its leading +squadrons penetrated as far south as Old Niuchwang, and five hundred +metres of the railway north of Haicheng were destroyed, a bridge also +being blown up. But this damage was speedily restored, and as for the +reconnoitring results of the raid, they seem to have been very +trifling. + +THE BATTLE OF MUKDEN + +After the battle of Heikautai, which cost the Russians twenty +thousand casualties and exposed the troops to terrible hardships, +Kuropatkin's army did not number more than 260,000 effectives. On the +other hand, he could rely upon a constant stream of re-enforcements +from Europe, as the efficiency of the railway service had been +enormously increased by the genius and energy of Prince Khilkoff, +Russian minister of Ways and Communications. In fact, when all the +forces under orders for Manchuria had reached their destination, +Kuropatkin would have under his command twelve army corps, six +rifle-brigades, and nine divisions of mounted troops, a total of +something like half a million men. Evidently the Japanese would not +have acted wisely in patiently awaiting the coming of these troops. +Moreover, since the break-up of winter would soon render temporarily +impossible all operations in the field, to have deferred any forward +movement beyond the month of March would have merely facilitated the +massing of Russian re-enforcements in the lines on the Shaho, where +the enemy had taken up his position after his defeat at Heikautai. +These considerations induced Marshal Oyama to deliver an attack with +his whole force during the second half of February, and there +resulted a conflict which, under the name of the "battle of Mukden," +will go down in the pages of history as the greatest fight on record. + +It has been claimed by the Russians that Kuropatkin was thinking of +assuming the offensive when the Japanese forced his hand; but however +that may be, the fact is that he fought on the defensive as he had +done throughout the whole war with two exceptions. Nevertheless, we +may confidently assert that at no previous period had the Russians +been so confident and so strong. According to the Japanese estimate, +the accuracy of which may be trusted, Kuropatkin had 376 battalions, +171 batteries, and 178 squadrons; representing 300,000 rifles, 26,000 +sabres and 1368 guns, while the defences behind which these troops +were sheltered were of the most elaborate character, superior to +anything that the Japanese had encountered during the previous +battles of the field-campaign. On the other hand, the Japanese also +were in unprecedented strength. Up to the battle of Heikautai, +Kuropatkin had been confronted by only three armies, namely, the +First, Second, and Fourth, under Generals Kuroki, Oku, and Nozu, +respectively. In the middle of February, these numbered three, four, +and two divisions, respectively. But there had now been added a +considerable number of reserve brigades, bringing up the average +strength of most of the divisions to from 22,000 to 25,000 men. +Further, in addition to these armies, two others were in the field, +namely, the Third, under General Nogi, and the Fifth, under General +Kawamura. General Nogi's force had marched up from Port Arthur, but +General Kawamura's was a new army formed of special reservists and +now put in the field for the first time. + +The Russians occupied a front forty-four miles in extent and from +five to six miles in depth. They did not know, apparently, that +General Kawamura's army had joined Oyama's forces, nor did they know +where Nogi's army was operating. The Japanese programme was to hold +the Russian centre; to attack their left flank with Kawamura's army, +and to sweep round their right flank with Nogi's forces. The latter +were therefore kept in the rear until Kawamura's attack had developed +fully on the east and until the two centres were hotly engaged. Then +"under cover of the smoke and heat generated by the conflict of the +other armies on an immense front, and specially screened by the +violent activity of the Second Army, Nogi marched in echelon of +columns from the west on a wide, circling movement; swept up the Liao +valley, and bending thence eastward, descended on Mukden from the +west and northwest, giving the finishing blow of this gigantic +encounter; severing the enemy's main line of retreat, and forcing him +to choose between surrender and flight. To launch, direct, and +support four hundred thousand men engaged at such a season over a +front one hundred miles in length was one of the most remarkable +tasks ever undertaken on the field of battle by a modern staff." + +Of course, all these events did not move exactly as planned, but the +main feature of the great fight was that Kuropatkin, deceived by +Kawamura's movement, detached a large force to oppose him, and then +recalled these troops too late for the purpose of checking General +Nogi's flanking operation. The fighting was continuous for almost two +weeks, and on the morning of March 16th, the Russians had been driven +out of Mukden and forced northward beyond Tiehling. In fact, they did +not pause until March 20th, when Linievitch, who had succeeded +Kuropatkin in the chief command, was able to order a halt at +Supingchieh, seventy miles to the north of Mukden. "The Russian +losses in this most disastrous battle included, according to Marshal +Oyama's reports, 27,700 killed and 110,000 wounded," while an immense +quantity of war material fell into the hands of the victors. The +Japanese losses, up to the morning of March 12th, were estimated at +41,222. + +THE BATTLE OF TSUSHIMA + +From the outset, both sides had appreciated the enormous +preponderance that would be conferred by command of the sea. It was +in obedience to this conviction that the Russian authorities were in +the act of taking steps to increase largely their Pacific squadron +when the outbreak of war compelled them to suspend the despatch of +re-enforcements. They did not, however, relinquish their +preparations. Evidently, any vessels sent to the scene of combat +after fighting had begun must be competent to defend themselves +against attack, which condition entailed strength to form an +independent squadron. The preparations to acquire this competence +involved a long delay, and it was not until the 16th of October, +1904, that Admiral Rozhdestvensky left Libau with some forty ships. +The world watched this adventure with astonished eyes. Thitherto +Great Britain, equipped as she is with coaling-stations all round the +globe, had been the only power thought capable of sending a large +fleet on an ocean voyage. Rozhdestvensky's squadron consumed over +three thousand tons of coal daily when steaming at a reduced speed, +and how this supply was to be kept up in the absence of ports of +call, no one was able to conjecture. The difficulty was ultimately +overcome by the very benevolent character which the neutrality of +certain powers assumed, and in May, 1905, the Baltic squadron, as the +vessels under Rozhdestvensky were called, made its appearance in Far +Eastern waters. + +It had been supposed that the Russians would seek to envelop their +movements in obscurity, but they seem to have appreciated, from the +outset, the absurdity of endeavouring to conceal the traces of a +fleet of forty vessels steaming along the routes of the world's +commerce. They therefore proceeded boldly on their way, slowly but +indomitably overcoming all obstacles. It will be observed that the +date of their departure from Libau was just two months after the +last attempt of the Port Arthur squadron to escape to Vladivostok. +Doubtless, this sortie, which ended so disastrously for the +Russians, was prompted in part by anticipation of the Baltic +fleet's approaching departure, and had the Port Arthur squadron, +or any considerable portion of it, reached Vladivostok before +Rozhdestvensky's coming, Admiral Togo might have been caught between +two fires. The result of the sortie, however, dispelled that hope. +Long before Rozhdestvensky reached the Far East, he fell into touch +with Japanese scouts, and every movement of his ships was flashed to +the enemy. That Vladivostok was his objective and that he would try +to reach that place if possible without fighting, were unquestionable +facts. But by what avenue would he enter the Sea of Japan? The query +occupied attention in all the capitals of the world during several +days, and conjectures were as numerous as they were conflicting. But +Admiral Togo had no moment of hesitation. He knew that only two +routes were possible, and that one of them, the Tsugaru Strait, could +be strewn with mines at very brief notice. The Russians dare not take +that risk. Therefore Togo waited quietly at his base in the Korean +Strait and on the 27th of May his scouts reported by wireless +telegraphy at 5 A.M., "Enemy's fleet sighted in 203 section. He seems +to be steering for the east channel." + +In the historic action which ensued, Rozhdestvensky had under his +command eight battle-ships, nine cruisers, three coast-defence ships, +nine destroyers, an auxiliary cruiser, six special-service steamers, +and two hospital ships. Togo's fleet consisted of five battle-ships +(one of them practically valueless), one coast-defence vessel, eight +armoured cruisers, ten protected cruisers, twenty destroyers, and +sixty-seven torpedo-boats. Numerically, the advantage was on the +Japanese side, although in first-class fighting material the +disparity was not remarkable. As for the result, it can only be +called annihilation for the Russian squadron. Out of the thirty-eight +ships composing it, twenty were sunk; six captured; two went to the +bottom or were shattered while escaping; six were disarmed and +interned in neutral ports to which they had fled; one was released +after capture, and of one the fate is unknown. Only two escaped out +of the whole squadron. This wonderful result justifies the comment of +a competent authority: + +"We can recognize that Togo is great--great in the patience he +exercised in the face of much provocation to enter upon the fight +under conditions less favourable to the success of his cause; great +in his determination to give decisive battle despite advice offered +to him to resort to methods of evasion, subterfuge, and finesse; +great in his use of not one but every means in his power to crush his +enemy, and great, greatest perhaps of all, in his moderation after +victory unparalleled in the annals of modern naval war. + +"The attitude of the Japanese people in the presence of this +epoch-making triumph is a sight for men and gods. They have the grand +manner of the ancients, and their invariable attitude throughout the +war, whether in the hour of victory or in that of disappointment, has +been worthy of a great people. No noisy and vulgar clamour, no +self-laudation, no triumph over a fallen enemy, but deep +thankfulness, calm satisfaction, and reference of the cause of +victory to the illustrious virtue of their Emperor."* + +*The War in the Far East, by the Military Correspondent of "The +Times." + +The Japanese losses in the two-days' fighting were three +torpedo-boats, and they had 116 killed and 538 wounded. + +PEACE RESTORED + +After the battles of Mukden and Tsushima, which were great enough to +terminate the greatest war, the Russians and the Japanese alike found +themselves in a position which must either prelude another stupendous +effort on both sides or be utilized to negotiate peace. Here the +President of the United States of America intervened, and, on the 9th +of June, 1905, the American minister in Tokyo and the ambassador in +St. Petersburg, instructed from Washington, handed an identical note +to the Japanese and the Russian Governments respectively, urging the +two countries to approach each other direct. On the following day, +Japan intimated her frank acquiescence, and Russia lost no time in +taking a similar step. Two months nevertheless elapsed before the +plenipotentiaries of the two powers met, on August 10th, at +Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Russia sent M. (afterwards Count) de Witte +and Baron Rosen; Japan, Baron (afterwards Marquis) Komura, who had +held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs throughout the war, and Mr. +(afterwards Baron) Takahira. The Japanese statesmen well understood +that much of the credit accruing to them for their successful conduct +of the war must be forfeited in the sequel of the negotiations. For +the people of Japan had accustomed themselves to expect that Russia +would recoup a great part, if not the whole, of the expenses incurred +by their country in the contest, whereas the ministry in Tokyo knew +that to look for payment of indemnity by a great State whose +territory has not been invaded effectively or its existence menaced +must be futile. + +Nevertheless, diplomacy required that this conviction should be +concealed, and thus Russia carried to the conference a belief that +the financial phase of the discussion would be crucial. Baron +Komura's mandate was, however, that the only radically essential +terms were those formulated by Japan prior to the war. She must +insist on securing the ends for which she had fought, since she +believed them to be indispensable to the peace of the Far East, but +beyond that she would not go. The Japanese plenipotentiaries, +therefore, judged it wise to submit their terms in the order of the +real importance, leaving their Russian colleagues to imagine, as they +probably would, that the converse method had been adopted, and that +everything prefatory to questions of finance and territory was of +minor consequence. + +The negotiations, commencing on the 10th of August, were not +concluded until the 5th of September, when a treaty of peace was +signed. There had been a moment when the onlooking world believed +that unless Russia agreed to ransom the island of Saghalien by paying +to Japan a sum of 120 millions sterling,--$580,000,000, the +conference would be broken off. Nor did such an exchange seem +unreasonable, for were Russia expelled from the northern part of +Saghalien, which commands the estuary of the Amur, her position in +Siberia would have been compromised. But Japan's statesmen were not +disposed to make any display of territorial aggression. The southern +half of Saghalien had originally belonged to Japan and had passed +into Russia's possession by an arrangement which the Japanese nation +strongly resented. To recover that portion of the island seemed, +therefore, a legitimate ambition. Japan did not contemplate any +larger demand, nor did she seriously insist on an indemnity. Thus, +the negotiations were never in real danger of failure. + +The Treaty of Portsmouth recognized Japan's "paramount political, +military, and economic interests" in Korea; provided for the +simultaneous evacuation of Manchuria by the contracting parties; +transferred to Japan the lease of the Liaotung peninsula, held by +Russia from China, together with that of the Russian railways south +of Kwanchengtsz and all collateral mining or other privileges; ceded +to Japan the southern half of Saghalien, the fiftieth parallel of +latitude to be the boundary between the two parties; secured +fishing-rights for Japanese subjects along the coasts of the seas of +Japan, Okhotsk, and Bering; laid down that the expense incurred by +the Japanese for the maintenance of the Russian prisoners during the +war should be reimbursed by Russia, less the outlays made by the +latter on account of Japanese prisoners, by which arrangement Japan +obtained a payment of some four million sterling $20,000,000, and +provided that the contracting parties, while withdrawing their +military force from Manchuria, might maintain guards to protect their +respective railways, the number of such guards not to exceed fifteen +per kilometre of line. There were other important restrictions: +first, the contracting parties were to abstain from taking, on the +Russo-Korean frontier, any military measures which might menace the +security of Russian or Korean territory; secondly, the two powers +pledged themselves not to exploit the Manchurian railways for +strategic purposes, and thirdly, they promised not to build on +Saghalien or its adjacent islands any fortifications or other similar +works, or to take any military measures which might impede the free +navigation of the Strait of La Perouse and the Gulf of Tatary. + +The above provisions concerned the two contracting parties only. But +China's interests also were considered. Thus, it was agreed to +"restore entirely and completely to her exclusive administration" all +portions of Manchuria then in the occupation, or under the control, +of Japanese or Russian troops, except the leased territory; that her +consent must be obtained for the transfer to Japan of the leases and +concessions held by the Russians in Manchuria; that the Russian +Government should disavow the possession of "any territorial +advantages or preferential or exclusive concessions in impairment of +Chinese sovereignty or inconsistent with the principle of equal +opportunity in Manchuria," and that Japan and Russia "engaged +reciprocally not to obstruct any general measures common to all +countries which China might take for the development of the commerce +and industry of Manchuria." + +This distinction between the special interests of the contracting +parties and the interests of China herself, as well as of foreign +nations generally, is essential to clear understanding of a situation +which subsequently attracted much attention. From the time of the +Opium War (1857) to the Boxer rising (1900), each of the great +Western powers struggled for its own hand in China, and each sought +to gain for itself exclusive concessions and privileges with +comparatively little regard for the interests of others and with no +regard whatsoever for China's sovereign rights. The fruits of this +period were permanently ceded territories (Hongkong and Macao); +leases temporarily establishing foreign sovereignty in various +districts (Kiao-chou, Weihaiwei, and Kwang-chow); railway and mining +concessions, and the establishment of settlements at open ports where +foreign jurisdiction was supreme. But when, in 1900, the Boxer rising +forced all the powers into a common camp, they awoke to full +appreciation of a principle which had been growing current for the +past two or three years, namely, that concerted action on the lines +of maintaining China's integrity and securing to all alike equality +of opportunity and a similarly open door, was the only feasible +method of preventing the partition of the Chinese empire and averting +a clash of rival interests which might have disastrous results. This, +of course, did not mean that there was to be any abandonment of +special privileges already acquired or any surrender of existing +concessions. The arrangement was not to be retrospective in any +sense. Vested interests were to be strictly guarded until the lapse +of the periods for which they had been granted, or until the maturity +of China's competence to be really autonomous. + +A curious situation was thus created. International professions of +respect for China's sovereignty, for the integrity of her empire, and +for the enforcement of the open door and equal opportunity co-existed +with legacies from an entirely different past. Russia endorsed this +new policy, but not unnaturally declined to abate any of the +advantages previously enjoyed by her in Manchuria. Those advantages +were very substantial. They included a twenty-five-year lease--with +provision for renewal--of the Liaotung peninsula, within which area +of 1220 square miles Chinese troops might not penetrate, whereas +Russia would not only exercise full administrative authority, but +also take military and naval action of any kind; they included +the creation of a neutral territory on the immediate north of the +former and still more extensive, which remained under Chinese +administration, and where neither Chinese nor Russian troops might +enter, nor might China, without Russia's consent, cede land, open +trading marts, or grant concessions to any third nationality; and +they included the right to build some sixteen hundred miles of +railway (which China would have the opportunity of purchasing at cost +price in the year 1938, and would be entitled to receive gratis in +1982), as well as the right to hold extensive zones on either side of +the railway, to administer these zones in the fullest sense, and to +work all mines lying along the lines. + +Under the Portsmouth treaty these advantages were transferred to +Japan by Russia, the railway, however, being divided so that only the +portion (521.5 miles) to the south of Kwanchengtsz fell to Japan's +share, while the portion (1077 miles) to the north of that place +remained in Russia's hands. China's consent to the above transfers +and assignments was obtained in a treaty signed at Peking on the 22nd +of December, 1905. Thus, Japan came to hold in Manchuria a position +somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, she figured as the champion +of the Chinese empire's integrity and as an exponent of the new +principle of equal opportunity and the open door. On the other, she +appeared as the legatee of many privileges more or less inconsistent +with that principle. But, at the same time, nearly all the great +powers of Europe were similarly circumstanced. In their cases, also, +the same incongruity was observed between the newly professed policy +and the aftermath of the old practice. It was scarcely to be expected +that Japan alone should make a large sacrifice on the altar of a +theory to which no other State thought of yielding any retrospective +obedience whatever. She did, indeed, furnish a clear proof of +deference to the open-door doctrine, for instead of reserving the +railway zones to her own exclusive use, as she was fully entitled to +do, she sought and obtained from China a pledge to open to foreign +trade sixteen places within these zones. + +For the rest, however, the inconsistency between the past and the +present, though existing throughout the whole of China, was nowhere +so conspicuous as in the three eastern provinces (Manchuria); not +because there was any real difference of degree, but because +Manchuria had been the scene of the greatest war of modern times; +because that war had been fought by Japan in the cause of the new +policy, and because the principles of the equally open door and of +China's integrity had been the main bases of the Portsmouth treaty, +of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and of the subsequently concluded +ententes with France and Russia. In short, the world's eyes were +fixed on Manchuria and diverted from China proper, so that every act +of Japan was subjected to an exceptionally rigorous scrutiny, and the +nations behaved as though they expected her to live up to a standard +of almost ideal altitude. China's mood, too, greatly complicated the +situation. She had the choice between two moderate and natural +courses; either to wait quietly until the various concessions granted +by her to foreign powers in the evil past should lapse by maturity, +or to qualify herself by earnest reforms and industrious developments +for their earlier recovery. Nominally she adopted the latter course, +but in reality she fell into a mood of much impatience. Under the +name of a "rights-recovery campaign" her people began to protest +vehemently against the continuance of any conditions which impaired +her sovereignty, and as this temper coloured her attitude towards the +various questions which inevitably grew out of the situation in +Manchuria, her relations with Japan became somewhat strained in the +early part of 1909. + +JAPAN IN KOREA AFTER THE WAR WITH RUSSIA + +Having waged two wars on account of Korea, Japan emerged from the +second conflict with the conviction that the policy of maintaining +the independence of that country must be modified, and that since the +identity of Korean and Japanese interests in the Far East and the +paramount character of Japanese interests in Korea would not permit +Japan to leave Korea to the care of any third power, she must assume +the charge herself. Europe and America also recognized that view of +the situation, and consented to withdraw their legations from Seoul, +thus leaving the control of Korean foreign affairs entirely in the +hands of Japan, who further undertook to assume military direction in +the event of aggression from without or disturbance from within. But +in the matter of internal administration, she continued to limit +herself to advisory supervision. Thus, though a Japanese +resident-general in Seoul, with subordinate residents throughout the +provinces, assumed the functions hitherto discharged by foreign +ministers and consuls, the Korean Government was merely asked to +employ Japanese experts in the position of counsellors, the right to +accept or reject their counsels being left to their employers. + +Once again, however, the futility of looking for any real reforms +under this optional system was demonstrated. Japan sent her most +renowned statesman, Prince Ito, to discharge the duties of +resident-general; but even he, in spite of patience and tact, found +that some less optional methods must be resorted to. Hence, on the +24th of July, 1907, a new agreement was signed, by which the +resident-general acquired initiative as well as consultative +competence to enact and enforce laws and ordinances; to appoint and +remove Korean officials, and to place capable Japanese subjects in +the ranks of the administration. That this constituted a heavy blow +to Korea's independence could not be gainsaid. That it was inevitable +seemed to be equally obvious. For there existed in Korea nearly all +the worst abuses of medieval systems. The administration of justice +depended solely on favour or interest. The police contributed by +corruption and incompetence to the insecurity of life and property. +The troops were a body of useless mercenaries. Offices being allotted +by sale, thousands of incapables thronged the ranks of the executive. +The Emperor's Court was crowded by diviners and plotters of all +kinds, male and female. The finances of the Throne and those of the +State were hopelessly confused. There was nothing like an organized +judiciary. A witness was in many cases considered particeps criminis; +torture was commonly employed to obtain evidence, and defendants in +civil cases were placed under arrest. Imprisonment meant death or +permanent disablement for a man of means. Flogging so severe as to +cripple, if not to kill, was a common punishment; every major offence +from robbery upwards was capital, and female criminals were +frequently executed by administering shockingly painful poisons. The +currency was in a state of the utmost confusion. Extreme corruption +and extortion were practised in connexion with taxation. Finally, +while nothing showed that the average Korean lacked the elementary +virtue of patriotism, there had been repeated proofs that the safety +and independence of the empire counted for little with political +intriguers. Japan must step out of Korea altogether or effect drastic +reforms there. + +She necessarily chose the latter alternative, and the things which +she accomplished between the beginning of 1906 and the close of 1908 +may be briefly described as the elaboration of a proper system of +taxation; the organization of a staff to administer annual budgets; +the re-assessment of taxable property; the floating of public loans +for productive enterprises; the reform of the currency; the +establishment of banks of various kinds, including agricultural and +commercial; the creation of associations for putting bank-notes into +circulation; the introduction of a warehousing system to supply +capital to farmers; the lighting and buoying of the coasts; the +provision of posts, telegraphs, roads, and railways; the erection of +public buildings; the starting of various industrial enterprises +(such as printing, brick making, forestry and coal mining); the +laying out of model farms; the beginning of cotton cultivation; the +building and equipping of an industrial training school; the +inauguration of sanitary works; the opening of hospitals and medical +schools; the organization of an excellent educational system; the +construction of waterworks in several towns; the complete +remodelling of the Central Government; the differentiation of the +Court and the executive, as well as of the administrative and the +judiciary; the formation of an efficient body of police; the +organization of law-courts with a majority of Japanese jurists on the +bench; the enactment of a new penal code, and drastic reforms in the +taxation system. + +In the summer of 1907, the resident-general advised the Throne to +disband the standing army as an unserviceable and expensive force. +The measure was, doubtless desirable, but the docility of the troops +had been overrated. Some of them resisted vehemently, and many became +the nucleus of an insurrection which lasted in a desultory manner for +nearly two years; cost the lives of 21,000 insurgents and 1300 +Japanese, and entailed upon Japan an outlay of nearly a million +sterling. Altogether, what with building 642 miles of railway, making +loans to Korea, providing funds for useful purposes and quelling the +insurrection, Japan was fifteen millions sterling $72,000,000 out of +pocket on Korea's account by the end of 1909. She had also lost the +veteran statesman, Prince Ito, who was assassinated at Harbin by a +Korean fanatic on the 26th of October, 1909.* + +*Encylopaedia Britannica, (11th Edition); article "Japan," by +Brinkley. + +ANNEXATION OF KOREA + +Japan finally resolved that nothing short of annexation would suit +the situation, and that step was taken on August 22, 1910. At what +precise moment this conviction forced itself upon Japan's judgment it +is impossible to say, She knows how to keep her counsel. But it was +certainly with great reluctance that she, hitherto the exponent and +champion of Korean independence, accepted the role of annexation. The +explanation given by her own Government is as follows: + +-"In its solicitude to put an end to disturbing conditions, the +Japanese Government made an arrangement, in 1905, for establishing a +protectorate over Korea and they have ever since been assiduously +engaged in works of reform, looking forward to the consummation of +the desired end. But they have failed to find in the regime of a +protectorate sufficient hope for a realization of the object which +they had in view, and a condition of unrest and disquietude still +prevails throughout the whole peninsula. In these circumstances, the +necessity of introducing fundamental changes in the system of +government in Korea has become entirely manifest, and an earnest and +careful examination of the Korean problem has convinced the Japanese +Government that the regime of a protectorate cannot be made to adapt +itself to the actual condition of affairs in Korea, and that the +responsibilities devolving upon Japan for the due administration of +the country cannot be justly fulfilled without the complete +annexation of Korea to the Empire." + +"Thus the dynasty of sovereigns, which had continued in an unbroken +line from 1392, came to an end with the independence of this country, +whose national traditions and history had extended over four thousand +years, whose foundation as a kingdom was coeval with that of the +Assyrian empire; and the two last living representatives of the +dynasty exchanged their positions as Imperial dignitaries for those +of princes and pensioners of Japan."* Since that drastic step was +taken, events seem to have fully justified it. Under the able +management of Count Terauchi, the evil conditions inimical to the +prosperity and happiness of the people are fast disappearing. +Comparative peace and order reign; and there appears to be no reason +why the fruits of progressive civilization should not ultimately be +gathered in Japan's new province as plentifully as they are in Japan +herself. + +*The Story of Korea, by Longford. + +SITUATION IN 1911 + +The unstable element of the East Asian situation to-day is the +position occupied by Japan and Russia in Manchuria. Both powers +possess privileges there which will not be easily surrendered, and +which are likely, sooner or later, to prove incompatible with China's +autonomy. It was apprehended at the outset that Russia would not long +consent to occupy the place assigned to her by the Treaty of +Portsmouth, and that she would quickly prepare for a war of revenge. +Her statesmen, however, showed as much magnanimity as wisdom. On July +30, 1906, they signed with Japan a convention pledging the +contracting parties to respect all the rights accruing to one or the +other under the Portsmouth Treaty. If international promises can be +trusted, continuous peace is assured between the two powers. Russia, +however, is not only doubling the track of her Siberian Railway, but +is also building a second line along the Amur; while Japan will soon +command access to central Manchuria by three lines; one from Dalny to +Kwanchengtsz; another from Fusan via Wiju to Mukden, and a third from +the northeastern coast of Korea via Hoiryong, on the Tumen, to Kilin. + +These developments do not suggest that when the lease of Liaotung and +the charter of the railways mature--in twenty-five years and thirty +years, respectively, from the date of their signature--either Japan +or Russia will be found ready to surrender these properties. +Meanwhile, the United States of America is gradually constituting +itself the guardian of China's integrity in Manchuria, and the +citizens of the Pacific slope, under the influence of the labour +question, are writing and speaking as though war between the great +republic and the Far Eastern empire were an inevitable outcome of the +future. This chimera is unthinkable by anyone really familiar with +the trend of Japanese sentiment, but it may encourage in China a +dangerous mood, and it helps always to foster an unquiet feeling. On +the whole, when we add the chaotic condition into which China is +apparently falling, it has to be admitted that the second decade of +the twentieth century does not open a peaceful vista in the Far East. + +STEADY-POINTS + +There are, however, two steady-points upon the horizon. One is the +Anglo-Japanese treaty: not the treaty of 1902, spoken of already +above, but a treaty which replaced it and which was concluded on +August 12, 1905. The latter document goes much further than the +former. For, whereas the treaty of 1902 merely pledged each of the +contracting parties to observe neutrality in the event of the other +being engaged in defence of its interests, and to come to that +other's assistance in the event of any third power intervening +belligerently, the treaty of 1905 provides that: + +"Whenever in the opinion of either Japan or Great Britain, any of the +rights and interests referred to in the preamble of this agreement +are in jeopardy, the two Governments will communicate with one +another fully and frankly, and will consider in common the measures +which should be taken to safeguard those menaced rights or +interests." + +"If, by reason of unprovoked attack or aggressive action, wherever +arising, on the part of any other power or powers, either contracting +party should be involved in war in defence of its territorial rights +or special interests mentioned in the preamble of this agreement, the +other contracting party will at once come to the assistance of its +ally, and will conduct the war in common, and make peace in mutual +agreement with it." + +The "rights and interests" here referred to are defined as follows +in the preamble: + +"The consolidation and maintenance of the general peace in the +regions of eastern Asia and of India." + +"The preservation of the common interests of all powers in China by +insuring the independence and integrity of the Chinese empire and the +principle of equal opportunities for the commerce and industry of all +nations in China." + +"The maintenance of the territorial rights of the high contracting +parties in the regions of eastern Asia and of India, and the defence +of their special interests in the said regions." + +This remarkable agreement came into force from the date of its +signature, and its period of duration was fixed at ten years. During +its existence the two powers, England and Japan, are pledged to use +all endeavours for maintaining not only peace in the East, but also +the independence and integrity of China. The significance of such a +pledge is appreciated when we recall the dimensions of the British +navy supplemented by the Japanese, and when we further recall that +Japan, with her base of operations within easy reach of the Asiatic +continent, can place half a million of men in the field at any +moment. The second steady-point is China's financial condition. She +is the debtor of several Western nations, and they may be trusted to +avert from her any vicissitude that would impair her credit as a +borrower. Prominent among such vicissitudes is the dismemberment of +the country. + +ENGRAVING: SEAL OF SESSHO, THE PAINTER + + + +APPENDIX + + +1. CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN + +TOKYO, FEBRUARY 11, 1889 + +CHAPTER I. THE EMPEROR + +Article I. The Empire of Japan shall be ruled over by Emperors of the +dynasty, which has reigned in an unbroken line of descent for ages +past. + +Article II. The succession to the throne shall devolve upon male +descendants of the Imperial House, according to the provisions of the +Imperial House Law. + +Article III. The person of the Emperor is sacred and inviolable. + +Article IV. The Emperor being the Head of the Empire the rights of +sovereignty are invested in him, and he exercises them in accordance +with the provisions of the present Constitution. + +Article V. The Emperor exercises the legislative power with the +consent of the Imperial Diet. + +Article VI. The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders them to be +promulgated and put into force. + +Article VII. The Emperor convokes the Imperial Diet, opens, closes, +and prorogues it, and dissolves the House of Representatives. + +Article VIII. In case of urgent necessity, when the Imperial Diet is +not sitting, the Emperor, in order to maintain the public safety or +to avert a public danger, has the power to issue Imperial Ordinances, +which shall take the place of laws. Such Imperial Ordinances shall, +however, be laid before the Imperial Diet at its next session, and +should the Diet disapprove of the said Ordinances, the Government +shall declare them to be henceforth invalid. + +Article IX. The Emperor issues, or causes to be issued, the +ordinances necessary for the carrying out of the laws, or for the +maintenance of public peace and order, and for the promotion of the +welfare of his subjects. But no Ordinance shall in any way alter any +of the existing laws. + +Article X. The Emperor determines the organisation of the different +branches of the Administration; he fixes the salaries of all civil +and military officers, and appoints and dismisses the same. +Exceptions specially provided for in the present Constitution or in +other laws shall be in accordance with the respective provisions +bearing thereon. + +Article XI. The Emperor has the supreme command of the army and navy. + +Article XII. The Emperor determines the organisation and peace +standing of the army and navy. + +Article XIII. The Emperor declares war, makes peace, and concludes +treaties. + +Article XIV. The Emperor proclaims the law of siege. The conditions +and operation of the law of siege shall be determined by law. + +Article XV. The Emperor confers titles of nobility, rank, orders, and +other marks of honour. + +Article XVI. The Emperor orders amnesty, pardon, commutation of +punishments, and rehabilitation. + +Article XVII. The institution of a Regency shall take place in +conformity with the provisions of the Imperial House Law.* + +The Regent shall exercise the supreme powers which belong to the +Emperor in his name. + +*Law of succession, coronation, ascension, majority, style of +address, regency, imperial governor, imperial family, hereditary +estates, imperial expenditures, etc., of Feb. 11, 1889. + + +CHAPTER II. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF SUBJECTS + +Article XVIII. The conditions necessary for being a Japanese subject +shall be determined by law. + +Article XIX. Japanese subjects shall all equally be eligible for +civil and military appointments, and any other public offices, +subject only to the conditions prescribed and Laws and Ordinances. + +Article XX. Japanese subjects are amenable to service in the army or +navy, according to the provisions of law. + +Article XXI. Japanese subjects are amenable to the duty of paying +taxes, according to the provisions of law. + +Article XXII. Subject to the limitations imposed by law, Japanese +subjects shall enjoy full liberty in regard to residence and change +of abode. + +Article XXIII. No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried +or punished, except according to law. + +Article XXIV. No Japanese subject shall be deprived of his right of +being tried by judges determined by law. + +Article XXV. Except in the cases provided for in the law, the house +of no Japanese subject shall be entered or searched without his +permission. + +Article XXVI. Except in cases provided for in the law, the secrecy of +the letters of Japanese subjects shall not be violated. + +Article XXVII. The rights of property of Japanese subjects shall not +be violated. Such measures, however, as may be rendered necessary in +the interests of the public welfare shall be taken in accordance with +the provisions of the law. + +Article XXVIII. Japanese subjects shall, within limits not +prejudicial to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their duties +as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief. + +Article XXIX. Japanese subjects shall, within the limits of the law, +enjoy liberty in regard to speech, writing, publication, public +meetings, and associations. + +Article XXX. Japanese subjects may present petitions, provided that +they observe the proper form of respect, and comply with the rules +specially provided for such matters. + +Article XXXI. The provisions contained in the present chapter shall +not interfere with the exercise, in times of war or in case of +national emergency, of the supreme powers which belong to the +Emperor. + +Article XXXII. Each and every one of the provisions contained in the +preceding articles of the present chapter shall, in so far as they do +not conflict with the laws or the rules and discipline of the army +and navy, apply to the officers and men of the army and of the navy. + + +CHAPTER III. THE IMPERIAL DIET + +Article XXXIII. The Imperial Diet shall consist of two Houses: the +House of Peers and the House of Representatives. + +Article XXXIV. The House of Peers shall, in accordance with the +Ordinance concerning the House of Peers, be composed of members of +the Imperial Family, of Nobles, and of Deputies who have been +nominated by the Emperor. + +Article XXXV. The House of Representatives shall be composed of +members elected by the people, according to the provisions of the Law +of Election. + +Article XXXVI. No one can at one and the same time be a member of +both Houses. + +Article XXXVII. Every law requires the consent of the Imperial Diet. + +Article XXXVIII. Both Houses shall vote upon projects of law brought +forward by the Government, and may respectively bring forward +projects of law. + +Article XXXIX. A bill which has been rejected by either of the Houses +shall not be again brought in during the same session. + +Article XL. Both Houses can make recommendations to the Government in +regard to laws, or upon any other subject. When, however, such +recommendations are not adopted, they cannot be made a second time +during the same session. + +Article XLI. The Imperial Diet shall be convoked every year. + +Article XLII. A session of the Imperial Diet shall last during three +months. In case of necessity, a duration of a session may be +prolonged by Imperial order. + +Article XLIII. When urgent necessity arises, an extraordinary session +may be convoked, in addition to the ordinary one. The duration of an +extraordinary session shall be determined by Imperial order. + +Article XLIV. With regard to the opening, closing, and prorogation of +the Imperial Diet, and the prolongation of its sessions, these shall +take place simultaneously in both Houses. Should the House of +Representatives be ordered to dissolve, the House of Peers shall at +the same time be prorogued. + +Article XLV. When the House of Representatives has been ordered to +dissolve, the election of new members shall be ordered by Imperial +decree, and the new House shall be convoked within five months from +the day of dissolution. + +Article XLVI. No debate can be opened and no vote can be taken in +either House of the Imperial Diet unless not less than one-third of +the whole number of the members thereof is present. + +Article XLVII. Votes shall be taken in both Houses by absolute +majority. In the case of a tie vote, the President shall have the +casting vote. + +Article XLVIII. The deliberation of both Houses shall be held in +public. The deliberations may, however, upon demand of the Government +or by resolution of the House, be held in secret sitting. + +Article XLIX. Both Houses of the Imperial Diet may respectively +present addresses to the Emperor. + +Article L. Both Houses may receive petitions presented by subjects. + +Article LI. Both Houses may enact, besides what is provided for in +the present constitution and in the law of the Houses, rules +necessary for the management of their internal affairs. + +Article LII. No member of either House shall be held responsible +outside the respective Houses for any opinion uttered or for any vote +given by him in the House. When, however, a member himself has given +publicity to his opinions, by public speech, by documents in print, +or in writing, or by any other means, he shall, as regards such +actions, be amenable to the general law. + +Article LIII. The members of both Houses shall, during the session, +be free from arrest, unless with the permission of the House, except +in cases of flagrant delicts, or of offences connected with civil war +or foreign troubles. + +Article LIV. The Ministers of State, and persons deputed for that +purpose by the Government, may at any time take seats and speak in +either House. + + +CHAPTER IV. THE MINISTERS OF STATE AND THE PRIVY COUNCIL + +Article LV. The respective Ministers of State shall give their advice +to the Emperor, and be responsible for it. + +All laws, public ordinances, and imperial rescripts, of whatever +kind, that relate to the affairs of the state, require the +counter-signature of a Minister of State. + +Article LVI. The Privy Council shall, in accordance with the +provisions for the organisation of the Privy Council, deliberate upon +the important matters of State, when they have been consulted by the +Emperor. + + +CHAPTER V. THE JUDICATURE + +Article LVII. Judicial powers shall be exercised by the courts of +law, according to law, in the name of the Emperor. The organisation +of the courts of law shall be determined by law. + +Article LVIII. The judges shall be appointed from among those who +possess the proper qualifications determined by law. No judge shall +be dismissed from his post except on the ground of sentence having +been passed upon him for a criminal act, or by reason of his having +been subjected to punishment for disciplinary offence. Rules for +disciplinary punishment shall be determined by law. + +Article LIX. Trials shall be conducted and judgments rendered +publicly. When, however, there exists any fear that such publicity +may be prejudicial to peace and order, or to the maintenance of +public morality, the public trial may be suspended, either in +accordance with the law bearing on the subject or by the decision of +the court concerned. + +Article LX. Matters which fall within the competency of the special +courts shall be specially determined by law. + +Article LXI. The courts of law shall not take cognizance of any suits +which arise out of the allegations that rights have been infringed by +illegal action on the part of the executive authorities, and which +fall within the competency of the court of administrative litigation, +specially established by law. + + +CHAPTER VI. FINANCE + +Article LXII. The imposition of a new tax or the modification of the +rates (of an existing one) shall be determined by law. + +However, all such administrative fees or other revenue as are in the +nature of compensation for services rendered shall not fall within +the category of the above clause. + +The raising of national loans and the contracting of other +liabilities to the charge of the National Treasury, except those that +are provided in the Budget, shall require the consent of the Imperial +Diet. + +Article LXIII. Existing taxes shall, in so far as they are not +altered by new laws, continue to be collected as heretofore. + +Article LXIV. The annual expenditure and revenue of the State shall, +in the form of an annual Budget, receive the consent of the Imperial +Diet. Any expenditure which exceeds the appropriations set forth +under the various heads of the Budget, or those not provided for in +the Budget, shall be referred subsequently to the Imperial Diet for +its approval. + +Article LXV. The Budget shall be first laid before the House of +Representatives. + +Article LXVI. The expenditure in respect of the Imperial House shall +be defrayed every year out of the National Treasury, according to the +present fixed amount for the same, and shall not hereafter require +the consent thereto of the Imperial Diet, except in case an increase +thereof is found necessary. + +Article LXVII. The fixed expenditure based upon the supreme powers of +the Emperor and set forth in this Constitution, and such expenditure +as may have arisen by the effect of law, or as appertains to the +legal obligations of the Government, shall be neither rejected nor +reduced by the Imperial Diet, without the concurrence of the +Government. + +Article LXVIII. In order to meet special requirements the Government +may ask the consent of the Imperial Diet to a certain amount as a +continuing expenditure fund, for a previously fixed number of years. + +Article LXIX. In order to supply unavoidable deficits in the Budget, +and to meet requirements unprovided for in the same, a reserve fund +shall be established. + +Article LXX. When there is urgent need for the adoption of measures +for the maintenance of the public safety, and when in consequence of +the state either of the domestic affairs or of the foreign relations, +the Imperial Diet cannot be convoked, the necessary financial +measures may be taken by means of an Imperial Ordinance. In such +cases as those mentioned in the preceding clause the matter shall be +submitted to the Imperial Diet at its next session for its approval. + +Article LXXI. When the Imperial Diet has not voted on the Budget, or +when the Budget has not been brought into actual existence, the +Government shall carry out the Budget of the preceding year. + +Article LXXII. The final account of the expenditure and revenue of +the State shall be verified and confirmed by the Board of Audit, and +it shall be submitted by the Government to the Imperial Diet, +together with the report of verification of the said Board. + +The organisation and competency of the Board of Audit shall be +determined by law separately. + + +CHAPTER VII SUPPLEMENTARY RULES + +Article LXXIII. Should, hereafter, the necessity arise for the +amendment of the provisions of the present Constitution, A project to +that effect shall be submitted for the deliberation of the Imperial +Diet by Imperial Order. In the above case, neither House can open a +debate, unless not less than two-thirds of the whole number of +members are present; and no amendment can be passed unless a majority +of not less than two-thirds of the members present is obtained. + +Article LXXIV. No modification of the Imperial House Law shall be +required to be submitted for the deliberation of the Imperial Diet. +No provision of the present Constitution can be modified by the +Imperial House Law. + +Article LXXV. No modification can be introduced into the +Constitution, or into the Imperial House Law, during the time of a +Regency. + +Article LXXVI. Existing legal enactments, such as laws, regulations, +and ordinances, and all other such enactments, by whatever names they +may be called, which do not conflict with the present constitution, +shall continue in force. All existing contracts or orders which +entail obligations upon the Government, and which are connected with +the expenditure, shall come within the scope of Article LXVII. + + + +2. AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE UNITED KINGDOM, SIGNED AT LONDON, +AUGUST 12, 1905 + +Preamble. The Governments of Japan and Great Britain, being desirous +of replacing the agreement concluded between them on the 30th +January, 1902, by fresh stipulations, have agreed upon the following +articles, which have for their object: + +(a) The consolidation and maintenance of the general peace in the +regions of Eastern Asia and of India; + +(b) The preservation of the common interests of all Powers in China +by insuring the independence and integrity of the Chinese Empire and +the principle of equal opportunities for the commerce and industry of +all nations in China; + +(c) The maintenance of the territorial rights of the High Contracting +Parties in the regions of Eastern Asia and of India, and the defence +of their special interests in the said regions: + +Article I. It is agreed that whenever, in the opinion of either Great +Britain or Japan, any of the rights and interests referred to in the +preamble of this Agreement are in jeopardy, the two Governments will +communicate with one another fully and frankly, and will consider in +common the measures which should be taken to safeguard those menaced +rights or interests. (671) + +Article II. If by reason of unprovoked attack or aggressive action, +wherever arising, on the part of any other Power or Powers either +Contracting Party should be involved in war in defence of its +territorial rights or special interests mentioned in the preamble of +this Agreement, the other Contracting Party will at once come to the +assistance of its ally, and will conduct the war in common, and make +peace in mutual agreement with it. (672) + +Article III. Japan possessing paramount political, military, and +economic interests in Corea, Great Britain recognizes the right of +Japan to take such measures of guidance, control, and protection in +Corea as she may deem proper and necessary to safeguard and advance +those interests, provided always that such measures are not contrary +to the principle of equal opportunities for the commerce and industry +of all nations. (672) + +Article IV. Great Britain having a special interest in all that +concerns the security of the Indian frontier, Japan recognizes her +right to take such measures in the proximity of that frontier as she +may find necessary for safeguarding her Indian possessions. (672) + +Article V. The High Contracting Parties agree that neither of them +will, without consulting the other, enter into separate arrangements +with another Power to the prejudice of the objects described in the +preamble of this Agreement. (672) + +Article VI. As regards the present war between Japan and Russia, +Great Britain will continue to maintain strict neutrality unless some +other Power or Powers should join in hostilities against Japan, in +which case Great Britain will come to the assistance of Japan, and +will conduct the war in common, and make peace in mutual agreement +with Japan. (672) + +Article VII. The conditions under which armed assistance shall be +afforded by either Power to the other in the circumstances mentioned +in the present Agreement, and the means by which such assistance is +to be made available, will be arranged by the Naval and Military +authorities of the Contracting Parties, who will from time to time +consult one another fully and freely upon all questions of mutual +interest. (673) + +Article VIII. The present Agreement shall, subject to the provisions +of Article VI, come into effect immediately after the date of its +signature, and remain in force for ten years from that date. + +In case neither of the High Contracting Parties should have notified +twelve months before the expiration of the said ten years the +intention of terminating it, it shall remain binding until the +expiration of one year from the day on which either of the High +Contracting Parties shall have denounced it. But, if when the date +fixed for its expiration arrives, either ally is actually engaged in +war, the alliance shall, ipso facto, continue until peace is +concluded. (673) + +In faith whereof the Undersigned, duly authorized by their respective +Governments, have signed this Agreement and have affixed thereto +their Seals. + +Done in duplicate at London, the 12th day of August, 1905. + +(L.S.) TADASU HAYASHI + +Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the +Emperor of Japan at the Court of St. James. + +(L.S.) LANSDOWNE + +His Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign +Affairs. + + + +3. TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN JAPAN AND RUSSIA SIGNED AT PORTSMOUTH, +SEPTEMBER 5, 1905 + +Article I. There shall henceforth be peace and amity between Their +Majesties the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of all the Russias and +between Their respective States and subjects. (783) + +Article II. The Imperial Russian Government, acknowledging that Japan +possesses in Corea paramount political, military and economical +interests, engage neither to obstruct nor interfere with the measures +of guidance, protection and control which the Imperial Government of +Japan may find it necessary to take in Corea. + +It is understood that Russian subjects in Corea shall be treated +exactly in the same manner as the subjects or citizens of other +foreign Powers, that is to say, they shall be placed on the same +footing as the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation. + +It is also agreed that, in order to avoid all cause of +misunderstanding, the two High Contracting Parties will abstain, on +the Russo-Corean frontier, from taking any military measure which may +menace the security of Russian or Corean territory. (783) + +Article III. Japan and Russia mutually engage: + +1. To evacuate completely and simultaneously Manchuria except the +territory affected by the lease of the Liao-tung Peninsula, in +conformity with the provisions of additional Article I, annexed to +this Treaty: and + +2. To restore entirely and completely to the exclusive administration +of China all portions of Manchuria now in the occupation or under the +control of the Japanese or Russian troops, with the exception of the +territory above mentioned. + +The Imperial Government of Russia declare that they have not in +Manchuria any territorial advantages or preferential or exclusive +concessions in impairment of Chinese sovereignty or inconsistent with +the principle of equal opportunity. (784) + +Article IV. Japan and Russia reciprocally engage not to obstruct any +general measures common to all countries, which China may take for +the development of the commerce and industry of Manchuria. (784) + +Article V. The Imperial Russian Government transfer and assign to the +Imperial Government of Japan, with the consent of the Government of +China, the lease of Port Arthur, Talien and adjacent territory, and +territorial waters and all rights, privileges and concessions +connected with or forming part of such lease and they also transfer +and assign to the Imperial Government of Japan all public works and +properties in the territory affected by the above mentioned lease. + +The two High Contracting Parties mutually engage to obtain the +consent of the Chinese Government mentioned in the foregoing +stipulation. + +The Imperial Government of Japan on their part undertake that the +proprietary rights of Russian subjects in the territory above +referred to shall be perfectly respected. (784) + +Article VI. The Imperial Russian Government engage to transfer and +assign to the Imperial Government of Japan, without compensation and +with the consent of the Chinese Government, the railway between +Chang-chun (Kuan-cheng-tzu) and Port Arthur and all its branches, +together with all rights, privileges and properties appertaining +thereto in that region, as well as all coal mines in the said region +belonging to or worked for the benefit of the railway. + +The two High Contracting Parties mutually engage to obtain the +consent of the Government of China mentioned in the foregoing +stipulation. (785) + +Article VII. Japan and Russia engage to exploit their respective +railways in Manchuria exclusively for commercial and industrial +purposes and in no wise for strategic purposes. + +It is understood that that restriction does not apply to the railway +in the territory affected by the lease of the Liao-tung Peninsula. +(785) + +Article VIII. The Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia, with a +view to promote and facilitate intercourse and traffic, will, as soon +as possible, conclude a separate convention for the regulation of +their connecting railway services in Manchuria. (785) + +Article IX. The Imperial Russian Government cede to the Imperial +Government of Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty, the southern +portion of the Island of Saghalien and all islands adjacent thereto, +and all public works and properties thereon. The fiftieth degree of +north latitude is adopted as the northern boundary of the ceded +territory. The exact alignment of such territory shall be determined +in accordance with the provisions of additional Article II, annexed +to this Treaty. + +Japan and Russia mutually agree not to construct in their respective +possessions on the Island of Saghalien or the adjacent islands, any +fortifications or other similar military works. They also +respectively engage not to take any military measures which may +impede the free navigation of the Straits of La Perouse and Tartary. +(785) + +Article X. It is reserved to the Russian subjects, inhabitants of the +territory ceded to Japan, to sell their real property and retire to +their country; but, if they prefer to remain in the ceded territory, +they will be maintained and protected in the full exercise of their +industries and rights of property, on condition of submitting to +Japanese laws and jurisdiction. Japan shall have full liberty to +withdraw the right of residence in, or to deport from, such +territory, any inhabitants who labour under political or +administrative disability. She engages, however, that the proprietary +rights of such individuals shall be fully respected. (786) + +Article XL. Russia engages to arrange with Japan for granting to +Japanese subjects rights of fishery along the coasts of the Russian +possessions in the Japan, Okhotsk and Behring Seas. + +It is agreed that the foregoing engagement shall not affect rights +already belonging to Russian or foreign subjects in those regions. +(786) + +Article XII. The Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and +Russia having been annulled by the war, the Imperial Governments of +Japan and Russia engage to adopt as the basis of their commercial +relations, pending the conclusion of a new treaty of commerce and +navigation on the basis of the Treaty which was in force previous to +the present war, the system of reciprocal treatment on the footing of +the most favoured nation, in which are included import and export +duties, customs formalities, transit and tonnage dues, and the +admission and treatment of the agents, subjects and vessels of one +country in the territories of the other. (786) + +Article XIII. As soon as possible after the present Treaty comes into +force, all prisoners of war shall be reciprocally restored. The +Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia shall each appoint a special +Commissioner to take charge of prisoners. All prisoners in the hands +of the Government shall be delivered to and received by the +Commissioner of the other Government or by his duly authorized +representative, in such convenient numbers and at such convenient +ports of the delivering State as such delivering State shall notify +in advance to the Commissioner of the receiving State. + +The Governments of Japan and Russia shall present to each other, as +soon as possible after the delivery of prisoners has been completed, +a statement of the direct expenditures respectively incurred by them +for the care and maintainance of prisoners from the date of capture +or surrender up to the time of death or delivery. Russia engages to +repay Japan, as soon as possible after the exchange of the statements +as above provided, the difference between the actual amount so +expended by Japan and the actual amount similarly disbursed by +Russia. (787) + +Article XIV. The present Treaty shall be ratified by Their Majesties +the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of all the Russias. Such +ratification shall, with as little delay as possible and in any case +not later than fifty days from the date of the signature of the +Treaty, be announced to the Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia +respectively through the French Minister in Tokio and the Ambassador +of the United States in Saint Petersburg and from the date of the +later of such announcements this Treaty shall in all its parts come +into full force. + +The formal exchange of the ratification shall take place at +Washington as soon as possible. (787) + +Article XV. The present Treaty shall be signed in duplicate in both +the English and French languages. The texts are in absolute +conformity, but in case of discrepancy in interpretation, the French +text shall prevail. + +In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed and +affixed their seals to the present Treaty of Peace. (788) + +Done at Portsmouth (New Hampshire) this fifth day of the ninth month +of the thirty-eighth year of Meiji, corresponding to the twenty-third +day of August (fifth September), one thousand nine hundred and five. + +(Signed) JUTARO KOMURA (L.S.) + +(Signed) K. TAKAHIRA (L.S.) + +(Signed) SERGE WITTE (L.S.) + +(Signed) ROSEN (L.S.) + +In conformity with the provisions of Articles III and IX of the +Treaty of Peace between Japan and Russia of this date, the +undersigned Plenipotentiaries have concluded the following additional +Articles: + +I. To Article III. The Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia +mutually engage to commence the withdrawal of their military forces +from the territory of Manchuria simultaneously and immediately after +the Treaty of Peace comes into operation, and within a period of +eighteen months from that date, the Armies of the two countries shall +be completely withdrawn from Manchuria, except from the leased +territory of the Liaotung Peninsula. + +The forces of the two countries occupying the front positions shall +be first withdrawn. + +The High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves the right to +maintain guards to protect their respective railway lines in +Manchuria. The number of such guards shall not exceed fifteen per +kilometre and within that maximum number, the commanders of the +Japanese and Russian Armies shall, by common accord, fix the number +of such guards to be employed, as small as possible having in view +the actual requirements. + +The Commanders of the Japanese and Russian forces in Manchuria shall +agree upon the details of the evacuation in conformity with the above +principles and shall take by common accord the measures necessary to +carry out the evacuation as soon as possible and in any case not +later than the period of eighteen months. (789) + +II. To Article IX. As soon as possible after the present Treaty comes +into force, a Commission of Delimitation, composed of an equal number +of members to be appointed respectively by the two High Contracting +Parties, shall on the spot mark in a permanent manner the exact +boundary between the Japanese and Russian possessions on the Island +of Saghalien. The Commissions shall be bound, so far as topographical +considerations permit, to follow the fiftieth parallel of north +latitude as the boundary line, and in case any deflections from that +line at any points are found to be necessary, compensation will be +made by correlative deflections at other points. It shall also be the +duty of the said Commission to prepare a list and description of the +adjacent islands included in the cession and finally the Commission +shall prepare and sign maps showing the boundaries of the ceded +territory. The work of the Commission shall be subject to the +approval of the High Contracting Parties. + +The foregoing additional Articles are to be considered as ratified +with the ratification of the Treaty of Peace to which they are +annexed. (789) + +Portsmouth the 5th day, 9th month, 38th year of Meiji corresponding +to the 23rd August, 5th September, 1905. + +(Signed) JUTARO KOMURA (L.S.) + +(Signed) K. TAKAHIRA (L.S.) + +(Signed) SERGE WITTE (L.S.) + +(Signed) ROSEN (L.S.) + + + + +INDEX + +Abdication, Shomu; Fujiwara policy + +Abe, Princess, becomes Empress Koken + +Abe family and Nine Years' Commotion; Minister of the Left + +--Kozo, on moral influence of Chinese classics + +--Masahiro, policy in 1853; attempts to strengthen Tokugawa + +--Muneto, brother of Sadato, war in Mutsu + +--Nakamaro (701-70), studies in China + +--Sadato (1019-1062), in Nine Years' Commotion + +--Seimei, astronomer, his descendants in Gakashujo + +--Shigetsugu (1600-51) + +--Tadaaki (1583-1644), minister of Iemitsu + +Abutsu-ni (d. 1283), author of Izayoi-nikki + +Academies for youth of uji, Gaku-in; temple-schools, iera-koya; +established by Yoshinao; the Honga school; schools in Yedo and Osaka; +for court nobles + +Acha-no-Tsubone + +Achi, Chinese prince, migrates to Japan (289 A.D.) with weavers; +carpenters; and Saka-no-ye no Tamuramaro + +Adachi family, connexion with Hojo, Miura plot against; crushed +(1286) + +Adahiko, son of Omi, befriends Oke and Woke + +Adams, Will (d. 1520), English pilot on Liefde, adviser of Ieyasu; +Saris distrusts; tomb (ill.) + +Adoption, law of, in Court Laws; in Tokugawa fiefs; laws of + +After-Han dynasty (211-65) of China + +Aganoko, lands confiscated + +Agglutinative language + +Agriculture, early development of; and religion; encouraged by Sujin; +in reign of Suinin; on state revenue lands; in years 540-640; in Nara +epoch; in Heian; in Kamakura period; under Yoshimune; Americans in +remodelling methods of; growth in 19th century + +Ai river, fighting on + +Ainu, nature-worship of; language; subdivision of yellow race; ill. + +Aizu, meeting-plan of armies in Shido shogun campaign; clan loyal to +shogun at Restoration + +Akabashi Moritoki + +Akagashira, "red head," Akahige, "red beard," Yemishi leader in 8th +century + +Akahito see Yamabe Akahito + +Akakura at Sekigahara + +Akamatsu, large land-holdings of; Ashikaga Yoshinori plots against + +--Mitsusuke (1381-1441), rebels against Yoshimochl; defeated + +--Norimura (1277-1350), defender of Go-Daigo; turns against Crown; +captures Kyoto (1336); and Ashikaga + +--Norishige, revolts in Kyushu + +--Sadamura, among generals attacking Mitsusuke + +--Yoshimura, guardian of Ashikaga Yoshiharu + +Aka-Nyudo, "Red Monk,"; see Yamana Mochitoyo + +Akasaka taken by Hojo + +Akazome Emon, authoress of Eigwa Monogatari + +Akechi Mitsuhide (1526-82), soldier under Nobunaga; goes over to the +Mori; shogun; tries to kill Ieyasu; death + +Aki, province + +Aki, daughter of Kiyo and Fujiwara Yoshifusa, Montoku's empress + +Akimoto Yasutomo (1580-1642) rebuilds Ieyasu's shrine + +Akitoki see Kanazawa Akitoki + +Akizuki of Kyushu, defeated by Otomo + +Ako, "reliance on equity," quibble over word + +Ako, vendetta of + +Akunoura, foundry + +Akuro-o, Yemishi leader in 8th century wars, possibly Oro-o, i.e. +Russian + +Alcock, Sir Rutherford (1809-97), on aliens in Japan + +Alderman, over homestead of 50 houses + +Alexieff, E. I. (b. 1843), Russian admiral, in command at Port Arthur + +Aliens, in prehistoric ban or bambetsu; naturalized, skilled +artisans, the tamibe; see Extraterritorial Jurisdiction + +Altaic myth; group of languages + +Amako family crushed in Izumo by the Mori + +--Tsunehisa (1458-1540), rivalry with Ouchi + +--Yoshihisa (1545-1610), defeated by Mori + +--Amakusa, Portuguese trade and Christianity in; Shimabara revolt + +Ama-no-Hihoko, prince of Shiragi, Korea, settles in Tajima + +Amaterasu-o-mi-Kami, Sungoddess + +Amida, the Saviour; Amida-ga-mine, shrine, near Kyoto, tomb of +Hideyoshi + +Amur river, battle on, (660 A.D.) with Sushen; Russia's position on + +Amusements, prehistoric; in early historic times; in Heian epoch; at +Kamakura; in Muromachi epoch; (ills.) + +Anahobe, Prince, rival of Yomei for throne; to succeed Yomei + +Anato now Nagato + +Ancestor-worship, apotheosis of distinguished mortals; grafted on +Buddhism + +Ando family revolt + +--Shoshu, suicide (1333) + +Andrew, Prince, Arima Yoshisada + +Ane-gawa, battle (1570) + +Ane-no-koji family + +Animals, killing, forbidden in reign (741) of Koken; earlier; in time +of Tsunayoshi; result in stock farming; worship of; mythical and +terrible beasts in early records; pets + +Anjin-Zuka, tomb of Will Adams, (ill.) + +"Anjiro," Japanese interpreter of Xavier + +Ankan, 27th Emperor (534-535) + +Anko, 20th Emperor (454-456), 111-12; palace + +Ankokuji Ekei see Ekei + +Annam, trade with + +Annen, priest, compiles Doji-kyo + +Annual Letter of Jesuits + +Anotsu, Ise, China trade + +Anra, province Mimana + +Ansatsu-shi, inspectors of provincial government + +Anthology, first Japanese, "Myriad Leaves,"; of poems in Chinese +style, Kwaifu-so; the Kokin-shu, 10th century; the three, of the +Ho-en epoch; the Hyakunin-isshu of Teika; in the Kyoto school + +Antoku, 81st Emperor (1181-1183); drowned at Dan-no-ura; perhaps a +girl + +Antung, on Yalu, Russians defeated + +Aoki Kaneiye, metal-worker of Muromachi period + +Konyo, scholar, studies Dutch (1744); introduces sweet potato + +Aoto Fujitsuna criticizes Hojo Tokiyori + +Ape, worship of + +Apotheosis, one class of Kami formed by + +Aqueducts in irrigation + +Arai Hakuseki (1656-1726), Confucianist, author of Sotran I gen +(ill.); retired; opposes forcing Imperial princes into priesthood + +Arakahi, defeats Iwai in Chikugo (528 A.D.) + +Archaeological relics + +Archery, early development of; in reign of Temmu; equestrian, in Nara +epoch; (ill.) + +Architecture, in proto-historic times; influenced by Buddhism; in +Heian epoch; Kamakura period; Muromachi + +Are see Hiyeda Are + +Ariga, Dr., on Korean influence on early relations with China; on +supposed moral influence of Chinese classics; on false attribution to +Shotoku of estimate of Buddhism; on Joei code + +Arii, adherents of Southern Court in Sanyo-do + +Arima, in Settsu, thermal spring; Jesuits and Buddhists in; +represented in embassy to Europe + +Arima Yostosada (d. 1577), brother of Omura Sumitada, baptized as +Andrew + +--Yoshizumi rebels + +Arisugawa, one of four princely houses + +--Prince (1835-95), leader of anti-foreign party + +Arita, porcelain manufacture + +Ariwara, uji of princely descent; Takaoka's family in; academy; +eligible to high office + +--Narihira (825-882), poet; (ill.) + +--Yukihira (818-893), poet; founds academy, (881) + +Armour, Yamato, in sepulchral remains; in Muromachi epoch; early arms +and armour; after Daiho; in Heian epoch + +Army see Military Affairs + +Army and Navy, Department in Meiji government + +Army inspector + +Arrow-heads + +Artillery, early use + +Artisans, in prehistoric tamibe; Korean and Chinese immigrants + +Arts and Crafts, promoted by Yuryaku; Chinese and Korean influence; +in Kamakura period; in Heian epoch; patronized by Yoshimasa; first +books on; in Muromachi epoch; in time of Hideyoshi; patronized by +Tsunayoshi + +Asahina Saburo (or Yoshihide) son of Wada Yoshimori + +Asai family control Omi province; Nobunaga's struggle with; helped by +Buddhists + +--Nagamasa (1545-73), won over to Nobunaga; joins Asakura, defeated + +Asaka Kaku, contributor to Dai Nihon-shi + +Asakura family in Echizen; struggle with Nobunaga; helped by +Buddhist priests + +--Yoshikage (1533-73), defeated by Hideyoshi + +Asama, eruption (1783) + +Asan, Korea, occupied by Chinese (1894) + +Asano Nagamasa (1546-1610); in charge of commissariat; sent to Korea +(1598) + +--Naganori, daimyo of Ako, exile, suicide, avenged by "47 Ronins," + +--Yukinaga (1576-1613), against Ishida + +Ashikaga family favour Yoritomo; revolt of; shogun of Northern court; +government; internal quarrels; estimate by Rai Sanyo; fall of; +government; scholarship; school; Buddhism; against Hojo; end of +shogunate of + +--Chachamaru, kills his father Masatomo + +--gakko, great school, under patronage of Uesugi + +--Haruuji (d. 1560), kubo + +--Masatomo (1436-91), kubo; builds fort at Horigoe; succession + +--Mitsukane (1376-1409), kwanryo; assists the Ouchi + +--Mochinaka, brother of Mochiuji, sides with Ogigayatsu + +--Mochisada, intrigue to make him high constable + +--Mochiuji (1398-1439), kwanryo; sides with Yamanouchi branch of +Uesugi; suicide + +--Motouji (1340-67), son of Takauji; kwanryo; urged to become shogun + +--Shigeuji (1434-97), kubo + +Ashikaga Tadafuyu (1326-1400), son of Takauji, rebels in Kyushu; +joins Southern party in 1353; takes and loses Kyoto + +--Tadayoshi (1307-52), assistant governor-general of Kwanto; +governor of Totomi; kills Morinaga; practically regent; in Ashikaga +revolt; chief of general staff; plots against the Ko brothers, +defeated, joins Southern party; suicide + +--Takamoto, kubo + +--Takauji (1305-58), joins Go-Daigo; provincial governor; plots +against Morinaga; declares himself shogun; captures Kyoto; changes +plans; crushes Tadayoshi; defeated; death, estimate; shogun +(1338-58); distributes estates; letters; shrine of Hachiman; Buddhist +temples; signature (ill.) + +--Ujimitsu (1357-98), kwanryo; wishes to be shogun; strengthens family +in Kwanto; literature + +--Yoshiaki (1537-97), shogun; turns to Mori, defeated; Hideyoshi +intrigues with + +--Yoshiakira (1330-67), kwanryo of Kwanto; succeeds Tadayoshi; +de-thrones Suko; defeats Tadafuyu; shogun; surrender and death; plot +against + +--Yoshiharu (1510-50), shogun (1521-45) + +--Yoshihide (1565-8), shogun + +--Yoshihisa (1465-89), shogun (1474-89); Onin war; declared heir; +administration; scholarship + +--Yoshikatsu (1433-43), shogun + +--Yoshikazu (1407-25) shogun (1423-5) + +--Yoshikiyo, advances on Tamba; killed + +--Yoshikore + +--Yoshimasa (1435-90), shogun; succession; retires; fosters letters + +--Yoshimi (1439-91), called Gijin, heir of Yoshimasa; deserted by +Yamana (1469); retires (1477) + +--Yoshimichi see Ashikaga Yoshizumi + +Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), shogun at Muromachi (1367-95); +extravagant administration; foreign policy; dies, receives rank of +ex-Emperor; treatment of Crown; and piracy; favours Zen priests + +--Yoshimochi (1386-1428), shogun; succeeds his father Yoshimitsu in +military offices; rebellion against; excesses + +--Yoshinori (1394-41), shogun (1428-41); abbot, called Gien; rule; +killed; relations with China; grants Ryukyu to Shimazu + +--Yoshitane (1465-1523), shogun; rule; defeated by Hatakeyama +Yoshitoyo; death + +--Yoshiteru (1535-65), shogun, (1545-65); suicide; receives Vilela + +--Yoshitsugu, killed by his brother Yoshimochi + +--Yoshiuji, last kubo + +--Yoshizumi, originally Yoshimichi (1478-1511), shogun; nominal rule; +death + +Ashina of Aizu + +Asiatic yellow race + +Askold, Russian protected cruiser at Port Arthur + +Asbmaro, governor of Dazaifu, wins favor of Dokyo + +Assumption, De l', martyrdom (1617) + +Aston, W. G., on dates in "Chronicles,"; Korean origin of Kumaso; +purification service; neolithic boats; chronology; invasions of +Korea; Japanese authority in Korea; local records; 17-Article +Constitution; women in Heian epoch; Yoshitsune's letter; invasion of +Korea + +Asuka, Empress Komyo + +Asuka, capital moved to; palace built by Kogyoku + +Asuka-yama, groves + +Asukara Norikige, high constable, crushes revolt + +Asylum established by Fujiwara Fuyutsugu + +Ata rebels against Sujin + +Ataka Maru, great ship of Bakufu, broken up by Tsunayoshi + +Atalanta Izanagi + +Atogi, Korean scribe + +Atsumi Hirafu, defeated by Chinese in Korea (662) + +Atsunaga, brother of Atsvnari; see Go-Shujaku + +Atsunari, Prince, son of Ichijo; see Go-Ichijo + +Atsuta, Hachiman's shrine + +Auditor of accounts + +Auguries + +Augustins in Japan + +Avatars of Buddha, Kami + +Awa, mythical first island; culture of mulberry and hemp in; overrun +by Taira Tadatsune; invaded by Yoritomo; won from Satomi by Hojo +Ujitsuna; Miyoshi in; indigo growing + +Awada, Mahito, on committee for Daiho laws (701) + +Awadaguchi, swordsmith + +Awaji, island, in early myth; Izanagi goddess of; Sagara exiled to; +reduced by Hideyoshi + +Awo, Princess, sister of Woke, rules in interregnum + +Axe, in fire ordeal + +Ayala (d. 1617), Augustin vice-provincial, executed + +Azuchi, in Omi, fort built by Nobunaga; church and residence for +priests + +Azuke, placing in custody of feudatory + +Azuma, eastern provinces, origin of name + +--Kagami, 13th century history, on Hojo Yasutoki + +Azumi, temple of + +Babylonian myth + +Backgammon or sugoroku + +Badges; and crests + +Baelz, Dr. E., on stature and race of Japanese; on shape of eye + +Bakin, on last years of Minamoto Tametomo + +Bakufu, camp government, military control, Yoritomo's system of +shogunate; three divisions; entrusted with choice of emperor (1272 & +1274); power weakened by Mongol invasion; and rapidly fails; +Go-Fushimi appeals to; re-created at Kyoto by Takauji; in Muromachi +period; at Yedo; oath of loyalty, to; Tokugawa B.; appointing power, +and other powers; exiles Yamaga Soko for heterodoxy; power lessened +by Chinese learning; B. party in Kyoto; relations with Court; +organization; decline of power; Court nobles and Emperor begin to +oppose; puts through Harris commercial treaty; and foreign +representatives; pledged (1861) to drive out foreigners in 10 years; +further interference of Crown and Court party; power ended + +Baltic squadron, Russian, defeated by Togo + +Bambelsu or Ban, aboriginal class + +Bandits commanded by Buddhist priests in 10th century; their outrages + +Bando or Kwanto provinces, army raised in, during 8th century; see +Kwanto + +Banishment; edict of 1587, against Christians + +Banzai, "10,000 years," viva + +Baptismal flags + +Barley, cultivation of, urged as substitute for rice + +Basho see Matsuo Basho + +Batchelor, Rev. John, on pit-dwellers + +Battering-engine + +Battle Era, Sengoku Jidai, 1490-1600 + +Be, guilds or corporations; hereditary, not changed by Daika; +property of Crown; of armourers; fishermen + +Bekki Shoemon, in plot of 1652 + +Bell, of Hoko-ji, "treasonable" inscription on; on public-service +horses; bronze bells; Nanban (ill.); bell-tower (ill.); suzu + +Benkei, halberdier + +Betto superintendent of uji schools; president of samurai-dokoro; +regent, shikken, head of man-dokoro, office hereditary in Hojo +family; head of monju-dokoro, becomes finance minister of shogun +(1225) + +Bidatsu, 30th Emperor (572-85) + +Biddle, James. (1783-1848), Commodore, U.S.N., in Japan (1846) + +Bifuku-mon-in, consort of Toba, mother of Konoe + +Bin, Buddhist priest, "national doctor"; death + +Bingo, woman ruler, in + +Bingo, Saburo, see Kojima Takanori + +Birth customs + +Bison, fossil remains + +Bita-sen, copper coins + +Bitchu, province, Yoshinaka's force defeated in; invaded by Hideyoshi + +Biwa, 4-stringed lute; biwabozu, players; (ill.) + +Biwa, Lake + +Bizen, swordsmith + +Bizen transferred from Akamatsu to Yamana family + +Black, early colour of mourning + +Black Current see Kuro-shio + +Boards of Religion and Privy Council under Daiho code + +Bogatyr, Russian protected cruiser wrecked + +Bondmen and Freemen, division by Daika; by Jito's edict + +Bonita, curing, industry + +Bonotsu, Satsuma + +Borneo, possible source of Kumaso + +Boxer Rebellion, Japanese troops in China during + +Brack, Dutch ship + +Bramsen, William, on early dates in "Chronicles" + +Branding + +Braziers + +Brewing + +Bribery and sale of office, attempts to abolish + +Bridges, (ill.) + +Brine in cosmogony + +Brinkley, Capt. Frank (1841-1912), article in Encyclopaedia +Britannica quoted; Oriental Series referred to + +Bronze culture in South; traces before the Yamato; bells; mirrors, +bowls, vases in Yamato tombs; great statue of Buddha + +Buddha, early images of; copper images ordered in 605; golden image +of, from Shiragi (616 and 621); great bronze Nara image (750 A.D.); +Kami incarnations of, theory of Mixed Shinto; bronze image (1252) at +Karnakura; great image at Kyoto; replaced by bronze + +Buddhism introduced 552 A.D.; use of writing; early politics; rapid +spread; priests above law; architecture; music; Empresses; disasters +and signs check spread; in Xara epoch; abdications; decline of +Yamato; industry; funeral of Shomu; time of Kwammu; official +advancement; vices of priests; superstition; in Heian epoch; in +Yorimasa uprising; Hojo regents: sects; Korean and Chinese; three +Vehicles; soldier priests; crushed by Yoshinori; amulets; Chinese +priests; combined with Confucianism and Shinto; Ashikaga; wars of +monks; revolt in Settsu; oppose Nobunaga; in Komaki war; spies in +Kyushu; Hideyoshi; priests of Kagoshima; in Choshu; in Yamaguchi; +persecuted in Hirado by Christians; priests converted by Vilela; +Ieyasu's laws; gains by suppression of Christianity + +Bugyo, commissioners of Muromachi; 5 administrators under Hideyoshi; +special appointees to rich fiefs; under Babufu; in Emperor's and +ex-Emperor's court + +Building-land, tenure + +Buke, see Military houses. + +Bukyo Shogaku, "Military Primer," by Yamaga Soko + +Bummei Ittpki, work of Ichijo Kaneyoshi + +Bungo, Tsuchi-gumo in; Xavier in; Jesuit headquarters; Christian +success among nobles; in embassy of 1582 + +Bunji-kin, debased coins of 1736-40 + +Bunka, period, 1804-17 + +Bunroku, period, 1592-5 + +Bunsei, period, 1818-29 + +Bureaux, under Daika + +Burial, jars of Yamato; primitive methods; coffins; honour of tombs; +mounds, limited in size; funeral customs + +Bushi; originated in N.E. Japan; name first used of guards; virtues +of, typified in leaders of Nine Years' Commotion; general +description; of Kwanto described; fighting against Mongols; outrages +in provinces + +Bushido, way of the warrior; cult developed by Yamaga Soko; and by +Yoshimune + +Butsu Sorai see Ogyu Sorai + +Butter, tribute to Court + +Buzen, Tsuehi-gumo in + +Byodo-in, Tendai temple; prison of Go-Daigo + +Cabinet under Restoration rule; crisis over Korea (1873); of 1885; +dependent on Crown + +Cabral; Francis (1529-1609), Jesuit Vice-provincial, on early +missions, hospitals, Buddhists + +Calendar, Prince Shotoku; revision of 1683; further revision planned +by Yoshimune + +Calligraphy + +Calthrop, Capt., on Oriental tactics + +Cambodia, trade with + +Camera government, insei, proposed by Go-Sanjo; under Shirakawa; +Go-Shirakawa; Yoritomo establishes giso at the Inchu; the three +recluses; system destroyed by Shokyu war; in Kamakura regency; camera +party at court; in Northern court + +Canals + +Canonical names of emperors + +Capital changed at beginning of reign; Jimmu's change to Yamato; +Chuai's to far south; to Nara (709) and previous changes; changes +helped road building; change from Nara to Kyoto (792); from Kyoto to +Fukuhara + +Capital Punishment + +Caps, official, as insignia of rank; effect of, on hair dressing; cap +rank replaced by cap grade after Daika; varnished gauze + +Car, of Enryaku-ji + +Caron, Francis, Dutch trader, on Japanese martyrs + +Cart, hunting, 126; "compass cart"; Heian epoch + +Casting in Nara epoch + +Castles + +Catapult + +Caterpillar, worship, of + +Cats, pets in Heian epoch + +Cattle, not used for food in early Japan, killing forbidden; +Christians accused of eating + +Cavalry, in capital; in war + +Censor; in Tokugawa organization; as judge + +Census, reign of Sujin; time of Daika, (645 A.D.); classifications, +under Daiho; by Buddhist and Shinto priests + +Central Department, under Daika; under Daiho + +Centralization of government + +Ceramics, primitive; Yamato; Korean; Gyogi; Heian; Kamakura; +Muromachi + +Cereals, five; premiums for large crops + +Ceremonies, Department of, under Daika; under Daiho; 15 masters of, +Koke; law (927) + +Chamberlain, Basil Hall, on dates in early "Chronicles"; meaning of +Kami; classification of language; village communities; ancient dress; +Altaic myth; names; education; Doji-kyo; swords + +Chamberlain; pass on cases referred to shogun + +Chancellor, dajo daijin; abolished; Ashikaga Yoshimitsu + +Changan, Tang metropolis, Kyoto patterned after + +Chao Heng, Chinese name for Abe Nakamaro + +Charlevoix, quoted on Spanish galleon incident + +Chekiang, attacked by pirates (1559) + +Chemulpo, Russians in, attacked and defeated by Uryu; landing-place +for Japanese attack + +Cheng Cheng-kung + +Cheng Chi-lung, general of Ming dynasty + +Chengtsz, Confucian commentaries of + +Chen Hosiang, bonze + +Chen Weiching (Chin Ikei), Chinese envoy to Japanese in Korea; and +negotiations for peace + +Cherry-trees, groves; festivals + +Chiba, branch of Taira; one of "8 Generals of Kwanto" + +Chiba Tsunetane (1118-1201), favours Yoritomo; sent to Kyoto + +Chichibu, copper in, (708) + +Chichibu branch of Taira + +Chihaya in Hojo war + +Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), dramatist, + +Chikauji see Tokugawa Chikauji + +Chikayoshi see Nakahira Chikayoshi + +Chiksan, battle, (1597), 519 + +Chikuzen province, Dazai-fu in; Toi attack; Mongol landing + +China, "High Plain of Heaven"; "Eternal Land"; architecture; bronze +bells; bronze mirrors; Buddhism; calendar; ceramics; chronology; clay +effigies; coinage; Crown; divination; government; literature; +morality; myth; nobility; painting; promotion of officials; relations +and early intercourse; scholars in Japan; Hideyoshi's plan to +conquer; interference in Korea; Ming dynasty; trade; Formosa; +China-Japan war; Boxer rebellion; Russia; Treaty of Portsmouth; of +Peking; finances + +Chin Ikei see Chen Weiching + +Chinju, fort in Korea, taken by Japanese + +Chinju-fu, local government station in Korea + +Chinnampo, landing-place for Japanese (1904) + +Cho, Korean envoy + +Cho Densu see Mineho + +Chokei, 98th Emperor (1368-72) + +Chokei see Miyoshi Norinaga + +Chokodo estates + +Choko-ji, castle in Omi + +Chollado, southern Korea, attacked by pirates + +Chomei see Kamo Chomeii + +Chong-ju, Korea, Cossacks defeated at + +Cho-ryung, pass in Korea + +Chosen, name of Korea, first use + +Choshu, Xavier in; feudatory of, opposes Tokugawa and joins +extremists; Shimonoseki complication; revolt of samurai; joins +Satsuma against Tokugawa; fiefs surrender to Crown; clan +representation + +Chosokabe family in Shikoku punished by Hideyoshi + +--Motochika (1539-99), masters Tosa and all Shikoku; in Komaki war; in +invasion of Kyushu + +Christianity, Nestorian in China; Azuchi castle; invasion of Korea; +in Japan; Imperial edict against; aid given by Nobunaga; Hideyoshi's +attitude towards; his edict of 1587; Ieyasu's treatment and his +edicts; Christians side with Hideyori; Hideteda's edict (1616), +(1624); teaching in Osaka after edicts; and Buddhist and Shinto +census; laws against (1635, 1665); Ieyasu distinguishes between +commerce and; Dutch not propagandists; opposition in 1853 + +"Chronicles," Early Japanese, Nihongi, general; character; superior +to Records; accuracy of chronology; contradicts Records; Chinese +colour in; conquest of Korea; stories from Korean history + +Chronology; inaccuracy; invasion of Korea; reign of Nintoku + +Chrysanthemum, Imperial badge + +Chu Chi-yu, Chinese scholar + +--Hi, Hayashi follows + +Chuai, 14th Emperor (192-200) + +Chugoku, central Japan, invaded by Hideyoshi + +Chukyo, 85th Emperor (1221) + +Chusan, Mimasaka, Kami of + +Chushin, Zen priest, pupil of Soseki + +Choson-ji, monastery, with graves of the Fujiwara of the North + +Chutsz (Shu-shi), Confucian commentaries of; rejected by Yamaga Soko; +officially adopted; expounded by Japanese scholars; contrasted with +Wang Yang-ming + +Chu Yuan see Sogen + +Chozan, ruler of Ryukyu (1373) + +Cicada-shaped hair ornaments + +City administration; municipal rulers; administrators; elders + +Civil affairs and Civil Government, departments + +Clan representation under Meiji government + +Clay Effigies, haniwa, from neolithic sites; substituted for human +sacrifice at tomb + +Clepsyora, Chinese + +Clocks + +Cloistered monarchs; and set Camera + +"Cloud chariot," war tower + +Clove, English ship + +Cock-fighting + +Cocks, Richard, English factor, warns Yedo Court against Spain; +apparent cause of edict of 1616; successor of Saris + +Code, ryo, of Daiho (701 A.D.) and Yoro (718 A.D.); of 1742; of 1790 + +Coelho, Gaspard (d. 1590), vice-provincial of Jesuits, ordered (1587) +from Japan + +Coinage, Wado era (708-715); Nara epoch; of Heian epoch; Chinese; +Hideyoshi's time; plan to debase (1673-80); Genroku debased coin; +exports of metal from Nagasaki; attempt to restore (1710); again +debased; foreign trade + +Colours of Court costume, grades; indicating social status + +Combs, ancient + +Commerce, early; after Daika; Nara epoch; Heian; Muromachi; under +Hideyoshi; Portuguese; motive for permission to preach; Dutch; trade +rules; commercial spirit in Yedo; in Tokugawa period; exclusion; +coinage and European trade + +Commercial class + +Conception, miraculous + +Concubinage; classes at court + +Conder, J., on armour + +Confiscation of lands as punishment, or as expiation of offence; +escheat at Daika; punishment under Tokugawa + +Confucianism, Shotoku on; modifying Buddhism; in Tokugawa period; +favoured by Ko-Komyo, and Tsunayoshi; Confucianists eligible for +civil posts; Yamaga Soko; combined with Shinto; Japanese schools of; +hold on educated class; vendetta + +Conscription, first (689 A.D.) in Japan; partial abolition of (780, +792) + +Constable, High, and lord high constable, in Yoritomo's land reform; +city constables + +Constitution, of Shotoku (604 A.D.), text and comment; after +Restoration (1889) + +Constitutionist party + +Consular courts + +Cooking in ancient Japan; in Muromachi epoch + +Cooper, master, of Manhattan + +Copper in Japan; use for images of Buddha, exhausts currency; Chinese +coins; in 15th century trade, debased Japanese coin; exports of +Nagasaki + +Coronation Oath of 1867 + +Cosmogony + +Cost of living + +Costume, prehistoric; in Inkyo's reign; Chinese and Buddhist +influence; Nara epoch; Heian; Kamakura period; laws of Military +Houses; Sadanobu's laws + +Cotton first planted in Japan (799); cloth, tax; cloth as currency + +Council, Administrative, of Man-dokoro + +--of Twelve, at camera Court + +Councillor, Sangi, establishment of office + +Couplet Composing, ula awase; court amusement; at "winding-water +fete" and other festivals; mania for; tournaments; in Heian epoch; +Kamakura; Tokugawa + +Court, costume, colours and kinds; ceremonial; for Imperial power see +Crown + +Court houses or families, kuge; come into power again at restoration; +in Muromachi period; driven to provinces; Ieyasu's laws for; +intermarriage with military; college for, established by Ninko; +influenced by anti-foreign party; in Restoration; distinction between +territorial and court nobles abolished (1871) + +Court of justice, hyojo-sho; first, (1631) + +Court, Northern and Southern; and see Dynasties + +Crasset on Christian persecution of Buddhists + +Creation, story of + +Cremation, introduced + +Crimes in ancient Japan; classified in Daiho code; see Penal Law + +Crocodile myth + +Crown, property of; shifts in power of; divine right; Ashikaga; in +Sengoku period; Nobunaga; Ieyasu's Court Laws; Tokugawa; Chinese +classics strengthen; Tsunayoshi; loyalty; American commercial treaty; +rescript to shogun; turns against extremists; Restoration of 1867; +growth of power; Cabinet dependent on + +Crown Prince, in proto-historic period, above the law + +Crucifixion, haritsuke + +Currency in Ashikaga period; see Coinage + +Customs tariff + +Daian-ji temple + +Dai-Dembo-In, monastery of Shingon sect in Kii + +Daiei, year-period, 1521-8 + +Daigo, 60th Emperor (898-930) + +Daigo, suburb of Kyoto + +Daiho (Taiho), year-period, legislation of; revision + +Daijo-uji of Hitachi, branch of Taira + +Daika or Taikwa "Great Change," 645 A.D.; name of first nengo or +year-period; reforms + +Daikagu-ji family, afterwards Nan-cho, the Southern Court, +descendants of Kameyama; passed over; treatment by Ashikaga + +Daikwan, deputy or vice-deputy; tax assessor; judge + +Daimyo, "great name," holder of large estate; holdings; Buddhism; +10,000 koku or more; powers + +Dai Nihon-shi, "History of Great Japan,"; on military era + +Dairies under Daiho laws + +Dairo, 5 senior ministers; prime minister + +Daiseiden College, or Shoheiko, founded by Tokugawa + +Daitoku-ji, Zen temple in Kyoto + +Dajo (Daijo) daijin, chancellor, prime minister, 671 A.D.; Privy +Council Board; office abolished + +Dajo Kwan, Privy Council + +Dalny occupied by Japanese + +Dance masks + +Dancing at funerals; court; music, Korean influence; pantomimic, of +monkey Sarume in myth; music and poetry; development in Heian epoch; +white posture dance, shirabyoshi; mimetic dance, libretto for, +develops into no; no and furyu + +Dan-no-ura, defeat of Taira at + +Date family of Yonezawa in 16th century wars + +--Harumune + +--Masamune (1566-1636); surrenders to Hideyoshi; favours Ieyasu; +against Uesugi; loyal to Iemitsu + +--Yasumune rebels (1413) in Mutsu + +Dazai-fu, government station in Mimana (Kara, Korea) transferred to +Kyushu + +Debt, slavery for, cancellation of interest; legislation (tokusei) of +1297 in favour of military families, and under Ashikaga + +Decoration, Interior + +Defilement in Shinto code + +Degradation in rank + +Deluge myth + +Demmacho, prison at + +Demon's gate, N.E. entrance; guarded by Hieizan, and at Yedo by +Toei-zan; belief in demons; dragon-headed devil + +Dengaku mime + +Dengyo Daishi, posthumous name of Saicho (q.v.) + +Dening, W. Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi; on Confucian philosophy + +Departments, under Daika; under Daiho + +Deputy + +De Ryp, Dutch ship, cannonades Kara castle + +"Descent" upon Kyushu + +Descent, Law of in Daiho legislation + +Deshima, island, Dutch factory on + +Dewa, Yemishi in; Go-Sannen campaign; (U-shu) part of O-U; 16th +century wars; silk growing + +De Witte, Serge Julievitch, Count (b. 1849), Russian peace +commissioner at Portsmouth + +Diana, Russian ship, sent to survey Yezo; Russian protected cruiser +at Port Arthur + +Dickins, F. V., translation of Taketori Monogatari + +Diet, Coronation oath promising; reform leaders differ about; +development of; Constitution promulgated; bi-cameral system + +Dirges at funerals + +District, gun or kori (originally agata), Daika subdivision, smaller +than province; classification under Daiho; chief of, guncho; +governors, gunshi; district governors and title to uplands; in Meiji +administration, cho, or son + +Divination + +Doctors, national + +Doen, Buddhist priest, envoy to China + +Dogo, Iyo, thermal spring + +Dogs as pets; dog fights; Tsunayoshi's mania for + +Doi support Southern Court in Nankai-do + +Sanehira (d. 1220), Yoritomo's lieutenant; military governor + +Michiharu (d. 1337), defender of Go-Daigo + +Toshikatsu (1573-1644), enforces feudal laws + +Doin Kinkata (1291-1360), minister of Go-Daigo + +Kinsada (1340-99), scholar + +Doji, Sanron Buddhist, abbot of Daian-ji + +Dojima, in Osaka, rice-exchange + +Dojo, exercise halls + +Doki (Toki) family favour Takauji; beaten by Saito + +Yorito (d. 1342), insults Kogon + +Dokyo see Yuge Dokyo + +Dolmen in Yamato sepulture; compared with Chinese and Korean; +precious metals in + +Dominicans, Ayala and other marytrs + +Doryo (Tao Lung) Chinese priest, teacher of Fujiwara Tokimune + +Dosho, Buddhist priest, introduces cremation + +Double entendre + +Drafts, game, prehistoric + +Dragon, early superstition + +Dragon-Fly Island, old name of Japan + +Drama; yokyoku, mimetic dance; no; kyogen; time of Tsunayoshi; +theatre in Yedo; illustrations + +Drums + +Dualism of Shinto + +Dug-outs, maruki-bune + +Duke, kimi; mahito + +Dukes of the Presence, early official organization + +Dutch, trade in Japan, beginning 1600, Spanish intrigues against; +Dutch and English intrigues against Portuguese and Spaniards; aid in +reduction of Christian revolt in Shimabara; trade at Nagasaki +restricted; Western learning; refuse grant in Yedo; choose Hirado as +headquarters; the Brack; at Deshima; literature; in 19th century; +teachers of military science; give steamship; at Shimonoseki + +Dwarf trees and miniature gardens + +Dwelling-Houses, primitive; abandoned on death of owner; general +character in Nara epoch; in Heian epoch; Kamakura; Muromachii + +Dyeing + +Dynasties, War of the (1337-92); table + +Ears of enemy as spoil + +Earthquake, 416 A.D.; 599 A.D. drives people to appeal to Earthquake +Kami; in Kyoto (1185), and (1596); of 1662 charged to Emperor's lack +of virtue; of 1703 + +Eastern Army, Hosokawa Onin War + +Eastern Tsin dynasty (317-420) Chinese migration + +East India Company + +Eben, Buddhist priest + +Ebisu, variant of Yemishi + +Echigo, barrier settlement (645) against Yemishi; and Matsudaira + +--Chuta, suicide + +Echizen, paper money in + +Education, in ancient Japan; in Nara epoch, in Heian; temple schools; +military foundations; at Yedo; in Meiji epoch; see Academies + +Egawa Tarozaemon advocates foreign intercourse + +Eight Generals of Kwanto + +Eigwa Monogatari, "Tales of Splendour," story of the Fujiwara, by +Akazome Emon + +Eiraku, or Yunglo, Chinese year-period, 1403-22, E. tsuho, Chinese +coins + +Eisai (1141-1215), priest + +Eitai, bridge in Yedo + +Ekei (d. 1600), priest, of Aki + +Elder Statesmen + +Elder, official over five households, under Daika + +Elephant, fossil + +Elixir, Hsa Fuh's quest + +Emishi see Soga Emishi + +Emperors, long reigns of early; see also Crown Court, Posthumous +Names, Camera government + +Empo, period, 1673-80 + +Empress, Koken first, to receive Crown except in trust + +Empress Dowager, Kwo-taiko, title given only to Kwobetsu until +Shomu's reign + +Encyclopedia Britannica, quoted + +Endo Morito see Mongaku + +Engaku-ji, temple + +Engen, period, 1336-9 + +Engi, period; revision of Rules and Regulations; overthrow of +Sugawara Michizane + +English intrigue against Spanish and Portuguese; refuse grant in +Yedo; go to Hirado rather than Uraga; early trade; end of trade; fleet +expected (1858); Namamugi incident and bombardment of Kagoshima; the +Hyogo demonstration; employed in railway, telegraph and navy; treaty +of 1894 abolishes consular jurisdiction after 1899; Anglo-Japanese +alliance, (text) + +Enkyo, period, 1069-74 + +En no Ubasoku (Shokaku; Gyoja, the anchorite), founder of Yamabushi +priests + +Enomoto see Yenomoto + +Enryaku-ji, Tandai monastery on Hiei-zan; its armed men, yuma-hoshi; +jealous of Onjo-ji monks; in Yorimasa conspiracy; in Kyoto +conspiracy; quarrel with Takauji; feud with Hongwan-ji; destroyed by +Nobunaga; rebuilt; named from year-period + +Envoys, Three, in early myth + +Enya Takasada (d. 1338), Ko Moronao abducts wife of + +Enyu, 64th Emperor (970-84) + +Eshi, Yamato no, painters, descendants of Shinki + +Esoteric and Exoteric Buddhism + +Etchu, province + +"Eternal Land" + +Ethnologists, Japanese, on origins + +Etorop raided by Russians (1806) + +Eto Shimpei (1835-74), minister, revolts + +Euhemerist interpretation of myths + +Exoteric Buddhism + +Extraterritorial Jurisdiction + +Eye, obliquity, fold, etc. + +Eyebrows shaved + +Ezo, Buddhist mission to + +Face-painting + +Families, uji, rank in prehistoric times; basis of empire before +Daika; family qualification for highest Court offices before Heiji +tumult; names sold in Yoshimune's time + +Famine of 621 A.D., turns people against Buddhism; of 1180-1; of +1462; of 1673-80; of 1783-6; of 1836 + +Fans; (ill.); lotteries; verses on; trade + +Farmers; taxes; representatives + +Fenshuiling, Russians defeated at + +Fernandez, Joao (d. 1566), Portuguese Jesuit, companion of Xavier + +Festivals, ancient; Buddhist; flower; Heian epoch; Ashikaga; +Hideyoshi; Sanno (ill.); dolls (ill.) + +Feudal system, beginnings; Sujin; land-holding; proto-historic; land +grants; Daiho laws; 11th century wars; territorial names; Constables +and land-stewards; Joei code; war of dynasties; 15th century; +Hideyoshi's land system; fiefs (1600); hereditary vassals; laws of +1635 and 1651; under Tokugawa; sankin kotai; taxes; intermarriage +with court nobles; government; tozama oppose Yedo; in Restoration; +abolition, of + +Filial piety + +Finance and administration, ancient; in protohistoric tunes; in Nara +epoch; in Muromachi epoch; under early Tokugawa; policy of Arai +Hakuseki; "accommodation" system of 1786; under Tokugawa; in early +Meiji period + +Finance or Treasury Department; in 19th century + +Financial administrator + +Firearms, first use; commissioners + +Fish as food + +Fishermen, revolt of + +Fishing in early times; laws regulating nets in reign of Temmu; +keeping cormorants forbidden; equipment + +Five Regent Houses, see Go-Sekke + +Flesh-eating forbidden; defilement + +Flores, Luis, Flemish Dominican, burned (1622) + +Flowers, at funerals; festivals; in Heian pastimes; arrangement of; +pots + +Flutes (ill.) + +Fo, dogs of + +Folding paletot + +Food and drink, ancient; in Nara-epoch; in Kamakura period; +Sadanobu's sumptuary laws + +Football, prehistoric; in proto-historic period; in Heian epoch + +Forced labour + +Foreign Affairs, Department of; earliest foreign intercourse; +Ashikaga; Muromachi epoch; foreign learning; Tokugawa; military +science; Meiji era, 678; foreigners in making new Japan, 686-7; +consular jurisdiction abolished; Anglo-Japanese alliance; and see +Christianity, and names of countries + +Forests of early Japan + +Formosa, expedition against (1874); ceded by China (1895) + +Fortification, development; feudal castles built only by permission +of Tokugawa; coast defence + +Fossil remains + +Franchise, extension of + +Franciscans, Spanish, enter Japan "-as ambassadors"; intrigue against +Portuguese Jesuits; punished by Hideyoshi; favoured to offset Jesuit +influence + +Freemen and bondmen + +French in Ryuku (1846); Harris plays off English and French to get +his commercial treaty; at Shimonoseki; in work on criminal law and +army training; in Manchuria note (1895) + +Froez, Luis (d. 1597), Portuguese Jesuit + +Fudoki, Local Records + +Fuhi, Eight Trigrams of + +Fuhito see Fujiwara Fuhito + +Fuhkieri, Kublai at + +Fuji river, battle on + +Fuji, Mt., eruption of, (1707); (ill.) + +Fujinami in Ise worship + +Fujita Toko (1806-55), adviser of Nariaki + +Fujitsuna see Aota Fujitsuna + +Fujiwara, in Yamato, capital moved to, by Jito + +Fujiwara, Shimbetsu family, influence after 670 A.D.; Imperial +consorts; legislation; historiography; Asuka made Empress; oppose +Makibi and Gembo; Buddhism; abdication; family tree; choose Emperors; +academy of; increase of power; policy of abdication; depose Yozei; +oppose Tachibana; plot against Michizane; interregnum; war of Taira +and Minamoto; influence on Court; oppose Tamehira; family quarrels; +literature; Minamoto, "claws" of; provincial branches; Mutsu; power +wanes; Imperial consorts; anti-military; power weakened by Kiyomon; +Yoritomo's followers get their estates; conspiracy of 1252; loyal to +Throne (1331); Hideyoshi adopted by + +--Fuhito, son of Kamatari, Daiho and Yoro codes; builds Buddhist +temple; death + +--Fujifusa, aids Go-Daigo (1326); retires + +--Fusazaki (682-736), son of Fuhito, founds northern family + +--Fuyutsugu (775-826); Konin revision of Rules and Regulations; +minister founds academy + +--Hidehira (1096-1187), son of Motohira; aids Yoshitsune; provincial +governor (1182); death + +--Hidesato (called Tawara Toda), sides with Taira; founder of +provincial branches of Fujiwara + +--Hirotsugu (715-741), governor, impeaches Gembo + +--Ietaka (1158-1237), poet + +--Joye, Buddhist student in China (653-65) + +--Kamatari, muraji of Nakatomi, chief Shinto official, plots against +Soga Iruka (645); Daika; in China; origin of uji name; Kasuga shrine; +(ill.) + +--Kaneiye (929-99), rivalry with Kanemichi; plot against Kwazan; +regent for Ichijo + +--Kanehira (1228-94), founds house of Takatsukasa + +--Kanemichi (925-77), father of Enyu's Empress + +--Kanezane (1147-1207), son of Tadamichi, minister of the Right; +nairan and kwampaku; descendants called Kujo + +--Kinsuye (958-1029), son of Morosuke + +--Kinto (966-1041) poet, one of Shinagon + +--Kiyohira (d. 1126), founds Mutsu branch + +--Kiyotada opposes advice of Masashige + +--Korechika (974-1010), son of Michitaka + +--Korekata induces Nobuyori to join Heiji plot + +--Korekimi + +--Koretada (942-72), son of Morosuke, regent + +--Kunimutsu, avenges his father Suketomo + +--Maro (695-736), founder of Kyo-ke branch + +--Masatada, governor + +--Matate (716-67), second councillor under Koken + +--Michiiye (1192-1252), ancestor of Nijo and Ichijo families + +--Michikane (955-95), gets Kwazan to become monk; regent + +--Michinaga (966-1027), regent, his daughter Empress; power + +--Michinori (d. 1159), called Shinzei, Go-Shirakawa's adviser; killed + +--Michitaka (953-95), regent + +--Momokawa (722-79), privy councillor; favours succession of Shirakabe +and Yamabe + +--Morokata aids Go-Daigo (1331) + +--Moronaga (1137-92), chancellor, banished by Taira Kiyomori + +--Morosuke (908-60), minister of Right; sons + +--Morotada, 257; accuses Takaaki of treason + +--Morozane (1042-1101) + +--Motofusa (1144-1230), regent; sides with Go-hirakawa, is banished; +his daughter + +--Motohira (d. 1157), son and successor of Kiyohira + +--Motokata, father of Murakami's consort + +--Motomichi (1160-1233), advanced by Taira Kiyomori; kwampaku; +ancestor of Konoe + +--Motomitsu, founder of Tosa academy of painters + +--Mototsune (836-91); sessho under Yozei, first kwampaku (882) under +Uda + +--Motozane (1143-66), regent + +--Muchimaro (680-736), founds the southern (Nanke) family; Buddhist +temples + +--Nagate (714-71), minister of the Left; favours accession of Konin + +--Nagazane, father of one of Toba's consorts + +--Nakamaro (710-64), grand councillor + +--Nakanari (d. 810), in conspiracy of Kusu + +--Narichika (1138-78), in Shishi-ga-tani plot + +--Naritoki, father of Sanjo's Empress + +--Nobuyori (1133-59), in Heiji tumult + +--Norimichi (996-1075), quarrels with Go-Sanjo + +--Noritane, compiler of Teiokeizu + +--Otsuga (773-843) + +--Sadaiye (1162-1241), or Teika, poet and anthologist + +--Sadakuni, father-in-law of Daigo + +--Sanetaka, minister + +--Saneyori (900-70), father of Murakami's consort; regent + +--Sari, scribe + +--Seigwa, or Seikwa, (1561-1619), Confucianist + +--Shinzei see Fujiwara Michinori + +--Sukeyo, scholar + +--Suketomo (d. 1325). Go-Daigo's minister, exile + +--Sumitomo (d. 941) turns pirate + +--Tadahira (880-949), regent; revision of Rules and Regulations + +--Tadakiyo, commands against Yoritomo + +--Tadamichi (1097-1164), regent for Konoe, in Hogen insurrection; +saves his father; estates + +--Tadazane (1078-1162), father of Toba's consort; in Hogen tumult; +saved by his son + +--Takaiye (979-1044), repels Toi invaders + +--Tameiye (1197-1275) + +--Tamemitsu + +--Tamesuke + +--Tameuji, artist + +--Tanetsugu (737-85); Kwammu's minister, assassinated; father of +consort of Heijo + +--Tokihira (871-909), minister plots against Sugawara Michizane; death + +--Tomiko, wife of Ashikaga Yoshimasa + +--Toshimoto (d. 1330) + +--Toshinari (1114-1204), poet, called Shunzei + +--Toyonari (704-65), minister of Koken + +--Tsugunawa (727-96); sent against Yemishi + +--Tsunemune + +--Tsunetaka + +--Ujimune, Jokwan revision of Rules and Regulations + +--Umakai (694-736), founder of the Shiki-ki branch; against Yemishi +(724) + +--Uwona (721-83), privy councillor of Koken + +--Yasuhira, (d. 1189) + +--Yorimichi (992-1074), son, of Michinaga, regent; in succession of +Takahito; estates; father of Shirakawa's consort + +--Yorinaga (1120-56) in Hogen tumult + +--Yoritada (924-89), son of Saneyori, kwampaku + +--Yoritsugu (1239-56), shogun (1244) + +--Yoritsune (1218-56), head of Minamoto (1219) shogun (1226); resigns +(1244); against Hojo and Adachi (1247) + +--Yoshifusa (804-72), minister; marries Kiyo; regent for Seiwa, (866); +makes Taka Seiwa'a Empress + +--Yoshinobu, in Takahito's succession + +--Yoshitsugu (716-77), privy councillor under Koken; favours Konin + +Fujiwara, wistaria, origin of uji name + +Fuki-ayezu, Jimmu's father + +Fukuchi-yama, castle + +Fukuhara, now Kobe, villa of Taira Kiyomori in; capital (1180) + +Fukuri, Chinese saddler + +Fukushima Masanori (1561-1624), plot against Ishida + +Funabashi Hidekata (1555-1614), scholar + +Funada Yoshimasa, officer of Nitta Yoshisada + +Funai, in Bungo, Jesuit church and hospital + +Funanoe, mount in Hoki + +Furniture, house + +Furs + +Furubito, Prince, son of Jomei, candidate to succeed Kogyoku; death + +Furyu, dance + +Fusa-Kum-Kazusa + +Fusan, Korea, Japanese restricted to, (1572); captured (1592); +landing-place for Japanese attack (1904); Kamimura wins battle near + +Fushimi, 92d Emperor (1287-98) + +Fushimi, princely house + +Fushimi, Hideyoshi's Momo-Yaina palace + +Futodama and Imibe + +Gaku-in, academies + +Gambling + +Gamo Katahide (1534-84) favours Nobukatsu + +--Ujisato (1557-96), vassal of Hideyoshi + +Garden bridge (ill.) + +gate (ill.) + +Gate guards, in capital; in kebiishi; origin + +Gates, (ill.) + +Gazan, priest + +Gei-ami, artist + +Geisha + +Gembo, Buddhist of Hosso sect; opposes Fujiwara + +Gemmyo, 43d Empress (708-15); historiography; monument + +Gems + +Genbun, year-period, 1736-40, coins of + +Gen-e (1269-1352), priest, author + +Genealogical bureau + +Genji Monogatari "narrative of Minamoto," work of Murasaki Shikibu + +Genji or Gen, Chinese pronunciation of Minamoto; divisions of family; +epoch of Gen and Hei + +Genku see Honen + +Genna, period + +Genpei (Gempei) Minamoto and Taira; epoch; Genpei Seisuiki, Records +of Minamoto and Taira + +Genre pictures, Ukiyoe, 600 + +Genroku, year period, 1688-1703 + +Gensho, (44th) Empress (715-23); inaugurates lectures (721) on Nihon +Shoki + +Genso, priest, interpreter to Korean embassy + +Gentile names + +Geology and fossil remains + +Germans employed by Government + +Germany joins France and Russia in note on Manchuria (1895); seizes +part of Shantung + +Gido, scholar, adviser of Yoshimitsu + +Gien see Ashikaga Yoshinori + +Gifu, Nobunaga's headquarters in Mino + +Gijin see Ashikaga Yoshimi + +Gion, temple in Kyoto + +Glazed pottery + +Glynn, J., Commander, U.S.N., in Nagasaki (1847) + +Go, game + +Go, prefix, "second," with Emperor's name + +Goa, Jesuits at + +Go-Daigo, 96th Emperor (1318-39); against Hojo; dethroned; escapes +from Oki; re-enters Kyoto; his rescripts; after restoration; tricked +by Ashikaga Takauji; death; scholarship + +Go-Enyu, Northern Emperor (1371-82) + +Go-Fukakusa, 89th Emperor (1246-59) + +Go-Fushimi, 93d Emperor (1298-1301), son of Fushimi; opposes Go-Daigo + +Go-Hanazono, 102nd Emperor (1428-65) + +Gohei, paper strips + +Go-Horikawa, 86th Emperor (1221-32) + +Go-Ichijo, 68th Emperor (1017-36) + +Goji-in, temple in Yedo + +Go-Kameyama, 99th Emperor (1372-92); abdicates + +Go-Kashiwabara, 104th Emperor, (1500-26) + +Go-Kogon, Northern Emperor (1352-71) + +Go-Komatsu, 100th Emperor (1392-1412), in Northern dynasty (1382-92) + +Go-Komyo, 110th Emperor (1643-54) + +Gokuki-ji or To-ji, Shingon temple in Kyoto; temple in Yedo + +Gokyogoku Yoshitsune, work on landscape gardening + +Gold in Japan; discovery in Mutsu, and used in great image of Buddha; +exported; coins + +Gold lacquer + +Golden Pavilion (1397) + +Golden Tatars in China + +Go-Mizu-no-o, 108th Emperor (1611-29) + +Go-Momozono, 118th Emperor (1770-80) + +Go-Murakami, 97th Emperor (1339-68); escapes to Kanao; asked to +return after Suko's removal; death + +Go-Nara, 105th Emperor (1526-57) + +Gongen see Tokugawa Ieyasu + +Go-Nijo, 94th Emperor (1301-7), son of Go-Uda + +Go-Reizei, 70th Emperor (1046-68) + +Goro see Tokimune + +Go-Saga, 88th Emperor (1243-46) + +Go-Saien, 111th Emperor (1654-63) + +Go-Sakuramachi, (117th) Empress (1762-70) + +Go-Sanjo, 71st Emperor (1069-72), Prince Takahito + +Go-Sannen, "After Three-Years War" (1089-91) + +Goseibai-shikimoku, criminal laws of Yasutoki + +Go-Sekke, "Five Regent Houses" + +Gosen-shu, anthology + +Go-Shirakawa, 77th Emperor (1156-8); camera government (1158-92); +life threatened; confined in palace; sent to Rokuhara; under +Yoshinaka's protection; opposes Yoshinaka; calls Yoritomo to Kyoto; +sends Yoshitsune to front; relations with Yoritomo; death + +Go-Shu jaku, 69th Emperor (1037-45), Prince Atsunaga + +Go-Toba, 82nd Emperor (1184-98), refuses to appoint Imperial prince +shogun; called "original recluse"; quarrels with Yoshitoki; exiled; +Japanese verse + +Goto Matabei, defies Ieyasu; defends Osaka castle + +--Yujo (1435-1512), metal-worker + +Go-Tsuchimikado, 103d Emperor (1465-1500) + +Go-Uda, 91st Emperor (1274-87), son of Kameyama + +Government, primitive administration; connexion with worship; early +finance; reign of Suinin; two-fold classification; uji; feudal and +prefectural; under Daika; under Daiho; of Ashikaga; Hideyoshi's +scheme; early Tokugawa; Tokugawa Bakufu; centralized after +Restoration; local, in Meiji era + +Governor-general of 10 provinces, kwanryo; of 4, kubo + +Go Yoshihiro, swordsmith + +Go-Yozei, 107th Emperor (1586-1611) + +Gozu Tenno, "Emperor Ox-head," name of Susanoo + +Granaries, Imperial, miyake; in Korea; in reign of Ankan; of Senkwa + +Grant, U. S., suggests compromise over Ryukyu + +"Great Name Possessor" myth + +Great-Producing Kami + +Gromovoi, Russian cruiser at Vladivostok + +Guards, criticized by Miyoshi Kiyotsura; duties transferred to +kebiishi + +Guilds, be, 71-2, 94; heads of kumi-gashira, in village rule + +Gunkan Kyojujo, naval college at Tsukiji + +Gwangyo-ji, temple where Kwazan took tonsure + +Gyogi, Korean Buddhist priest, propaganda and reconciliation of +Buddhism and Shinto + +Gyokushitsu, priest, Emperor gives purple robes to + +Hachijoshima, island + +Hachiman, War God, at Usa, oracle of; tutelary of Minamoto; shrine +of, in Kamakura on Tsurugaoka hill; revenue of temple; patron of +pirates; shrine of Iwashimizu; shrine at Atsuta + +Hachiman Taro see Minamoto Yoshiiye + +Hachioka, temple of + +Hachisuka Iemasa (1558-1638) + +Hades, myth of + +Hae, mother of emperors Kenso and Ninken + +Hagiwara Shigehide, chief of Treasury, debases coinage; his report; +impeached + +Haicheng in fighting of 1894 + +Hair, racial mark + +Hair-dressing and hair-cutting, ancient; dividing the hair (mizura) +goes out when official caps come in; tied up in time of Temmu; girl's +hair bound up by lover; in Heian epoch; in Kamakura period; in +Sadanobu's laws + +Hair pins, as insignia; cicada-shaped, marks of grade after +Daika + +Hai-ryong, Korea + +Hakamadare Yasusake, bandit + +Hakata, in Chikuzen, defended against Toi; port in Heian epoch; +Mongol envoys executed at; China trade; American vessels allowed in +port + +Hakodate, Americans in + +Hakone, tolls, at barrier; guarded by Okubo + +Hakozaki Gulf, Chikuzen, Mongol landing at; bay fortified (1280); +base of second Mongol invasion + +Haku-chi, "White Pheasant," second nengo or year-period (650-4 A.D.) + +Hakuseki see Arai Hakuseki + +Hall, Consul-General J. C., translation of Joei code; Kemmu code; +Laws of Military Houses + +Han, Chinese dynasty, later (25-220 A.D.); disorder after fall of + +Han, Land of, see Korea + +Hanawa Naotsugu in defence of Osaka castle + +Hanazono, 95th Emperor (1307-18) + +Hand Bay near Kinchou; Russian gunboats in + +Hanishi, potters + +Haniwa, clay effigies, buried instead of human sacrifices + +Haniyasu, half-brother of Sujin, rebels against him + +Hansho, 18th Emperor (406-11); loyal brother of Richu + +Hara, castle in Shimabara, occupied by Christians, captured + +Haranobu see Takeda Shingen + +Harbin, Russian railway + +Hare in myth + +Harem + +Harima, province, fortifications in, (1280); transferred from +Akamatsu to Yamana (1441) + +Harris, Townsend (1803-78), U.S. consul-general, concludes commercial +treaty (1857) + +Harumoto see Hosokawa Harumoto + +Harunari see Hitotsubashi Harunari + +Harvest Festival + +Hasegawa receive fief of Arima + +--Heizo in charge of Ishikawa house of correction + +Hashiba see Toyotomi Hideyoshi + +--Hidekatsu (1567-93), son of Nobunaga, adopted by Hideyoshi + +--Hidenaga (1540-91), brother of Hideyoshi + +--Hideyasu, Ogimaru, son of Ieyasu + +Hashimoto Sanae favours foreign trade; leader in Imperial movement + +--Tsunatsune, Viscount (d. 1909) + +Hatahi, sister of Okusaka, marries Ohatsuse + +Hatakeyama family, estates; Muromachi kwanryo; one of Five Regent +Houses; in Onin disturbance; join Eastern Army (1472); "province +holders" + +--Kunikiyo (d. 1364), general under Motouji, removed from office of +shitsuji + +--Masanaga (d. 1493), succeeds Mochikuni; displaced, driven from +capital; death + +--Mitsuiye (d. 1433) captures Sakai (1400); Yoshimochi's minister + +--Mochikuni (1397-1455), called Tokuhon, minister for Ashikaga +Yoshimasa; succession + +--Shigetada (1164-1205), at Ichi-no-tani; adviser of Yoriiye; +assassinated by Hojo Tokimasa + +--Yoshinari (d. 1493), large estate, succession; kwanryo + +--Yoshitoyo (d. 1499) + +Hatano, brothers killed by Nobunaga + +Hatsuse, Japanese battleship lost off Port Arthur + +Hallo-gaki, Prohibitory Writings, code, (1742) + +Hawking + +Hayabito or Hayato ("Falcon Men"), palace guard; possibly Kumaso + +Hayama Muneyori, punished for cowardice + +Hayashi family, function of reading military laws; true +Confucianists; education at Yedo + +Doshun or Kazan (1583-1657), Confucianist, on bell-inscription; +ethics and history; traces descent of Emperor from Chinese prince + +Harukatsu, son of Razan, historiographer + +Mitsukatsu, soldier of Nobunaga + +Nobuatsu, Confucianist; petitions for pardon of "47 Ronins"; lectures +at Shohei College + +Razan see Hayashi Doshun + +Shibei (1754-93) urges coast defense + +Head, racial marks + +Heaven, Plain of High, myth + +"Heavenly Grandchild," tenson + +Heavenlv Young Prince + +Heguri, beginning of power of; descendants of Takenouchi; founder of +family, Tsuku, in Richu's reign; revolt of suppressed + +Hei and Heike, Chinese name for Taira; Gen and Hei + +Heian epoch, capital at Kyoto, or Heian-jo (Castle of Peace), +794-1192 A.D. + +Height as sign of race + +Heihachiro see Oshio Heihachiro + +Heiji, year period, 1159-60; the tumult of the year; results + +Heijo, 51st Emperor (806-9), son of Kwammu + +Heikautai, battle of (1905) + +Hemp, cultivation of + +Herb of longevity + +Hereditary office and rank; in Shotoku's 17-Article Constitution; the +Daika tries to abolish hereditary office holding + +Hi, river, in myth + +Hida, messenger in search for Buddhist devotees + +Hida + +Hida Takumi, architect + +Hidehito see Go-Momozono + +Hidekatsu see Hashiba Hidekatsu + +Hideiye see Ukita Hideiye + +Hidenaga see Hashiba Hidenaga + +Hidetada branch of Tokugawa, extinct with Ietsugu (1716) + +Hidetada see Tokugawa Hidetada + +Hidetsugu see Toyotomi Hidetsugu + +Hideyasu see Matsudaira Hideyasu + +Hideyori see Toyotomi Hideyori + +Hideyoshi see Toyotomi Hideyoshi + +Hie-no-yama, monastery later called Hiei-zan + +Hiei-zan, mountain N.E. of Kyoto, between Yamashiro and Omi, on which +was Enryaku-ji monastery; power checked by Yoshinori; and Takauji; in +Hokke-ikki; aids Yoshikage against Nobunaga; punished by Nobunaga; +monastery rebuilt; abbot invites Vilela to Kyoto + +Higami, mother of Shomu, consort of Mommu + +Higashi-dera, temple in Kyoto, Takauji's headquarters + +Higashiyama, 113th Emperor (1687-1710) + +Higashi-yama, hill E. of Kyoto, site of Yoshimasa's palace; name used +of craze for objets d'art, and of lacquer + +Higuchi Kanemitsu, Yoshinaka's body guard + +Hiki Munetomo (d. 1203) + +Yoshikazu, in Bakufu council, plots against Hojo and is assassinated + +Hikoho no Ninigi, his descent upon Kyushu; rationalization of myth; +founder of empire + +Hinayana, exoteric Buddhism; the Small Vehicle + +Hino family, shikken in Camera palace + +Hirado, island, occupied by Mongols (1281); Chinese trade; Xavier in; +Portuguese trade; rivalry with Omura; Dutch headquarters, and +English; English factory closed (1623) + +Hirafu, warden of Koshi, campaigns against Sushen (658-660), and +Yemishi (655) + +Hiragana, syllabary + +Hirai, castle + +Hirasaka, now Ifuyo-saka + +Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843) on Japanese government; Shinto revival; +quoted + +Hirate Masahide, tutor of Nobunaga, suicide + +Hirohira, son of Murakami, set aside from succession + +Hirose, commander, attempts to bottle-up Port Arthur + +Hirotada see Tokugawa Hirotada + +Hirotsugu see Fujiwara Hirotsugu + +Hirozumi see Sumiyoshi Gukei + +Hisaakira, Prince (1276-1328), shogun (1289-1308) + +Historiography, early; the "Six National Histories" (697-887); +compilations of Tokugawa period + +Hitachi; Taira in + +Fudoki, ancient record (715 A.D.) + +Maru, Japanese transport sunk by Russians + +Hitomaru see Kakinomoto Hitomaru + +Hitotsubashi, branch of Tokugawa eligible to shogunate, named from +gate of Yedo; Ienari's descent from + +Harunari, father of fenari; reactionary policy; ambition opposed by +Sadanobu + +Hiyeda Arc (647), chamberlain, historiography + +Hiyoshi, Shinto temple + +Hizen, Tsuchi-gumo in; Mongol invaders in (1281); natives of, settle +in China; fiefs surrendered; clan representation + +--Genji, or Matsuura + +"Hoe" among early implements; distributed to farmers (723) + +Hoei, year-period (1704-10) debased coinage of + +Ho-en, year-period (1135-40) + +Hogen insurrection (1156; in year-period 1156-8); result + +Hohodemi, myth of; name applied to Iware in "Chronicles" + +Hojo, family holding office of shikken; power increased by Tokimasa; +Hojo regency established; excellent rule; the nine regents; control +of shogun; Oshu revolt; Go-Daigo overthrows; suicide of leaders; +Go-Daigo's rescript; part of estates seized; rising in 1334; system +imitated by the Ashikaga + +--of Odawara, fight Satomi in Kwanto; alliance with Takeda; their +importance; last eastern enemy of Nobunaga; defeated by Hideyoshi + +Hojoki, Annals of a Cell + +Hojo Kudaiki, on Kanazawa-bunko library + +--Morotoki, regent (1301-11) + +--Nagatoki (1230-64), shikken (1256) + +--Nakatoki, fails to arrest Go-Daigo (1331); escapes from Rokuhara + +--Sadatoki (1270-1311), regent 1284-1301, and in camera to; succession +to Fushimi + +--Sanetoki founds Kanazawa-bunko + +--Soun, or Nagauji (1432-1519), reduces taxes; seizes Izu province + +--Takaiye, commander against Go-Daigo + +--Takatoki (1303-33), last of Hojo regents, 1311-33; Go-Daigo's +quarrel; suicide + +--Tokifusa, leader against Kyoto in Shokyu struggle; one of first +tandai + +--Tokimasa (1138-1215), guardian of Yoritomo; kills +lieutenant-governor of Izu; in Awa; in Suruga; messenger to +Yoshitsune; governs Kyoto; military regent; constables and stewards; +high constable at Court; gives power of Minamoto to Hojo; kills +Yoriiye, becomes shikken; exiled + +--Tokimasu, death, (1333) + +Hojo Tokimori, in southern Rokuhara + +--Tokimune (1251-84), son of Tokiyori; regent (1256-84); Mongol +invasion; Buddhism, and Buddhist temples; Nichiren + +--Tokisada succeeds Tokimasa as high constable at Kyoto (1186) + +--Tokiuji (1203-30) in northern Rokuhara + +--Tokiyori (1226-33), shikken (1246-66), Miura plot against; +cloistered regent; Buddhist temples + +--Tokiyuki (d. 1353),captures Kamakura + +--Tsunetoki (1224-46), shikken + +--Ujimasa (1538-90), against Uesugi; ally of Shingen; defeated by +Hideyoshi + +--Ujinao, son of Ujimasa + +--Ujinori, brother of Ujimasa + +--Ujitsuna (1487-1543), conquers Kwanto + +--Ujiyasu(1515-70), conquers Kwanto + +--Yasutoki (1183-1242) sent against Kyoto at outbreak of Shokyu war; +captures the capital; explains treatment of ex-Emperors; one of first +tandai; in regency; thrift and generosity; Joei code; death; Buddhist +temples + +--Yoshitoki (1163-1224), military regent, defeats Wada Yoshimori; in +council of Bakufu; in plot against Sanetomo; Go-Toba quarrels with; +attitude toward Crown; restored; death + +Hokke, Hokke-shu, see Nichiren; Hokke-kyo-sutra, book of Nichiren +doctrine; Hokke-ikki, war of the sect on Hongwan-ji + +Hokkyo Enzen, bonze, compiles Joei code + +Hoko-ji, Buddhist temple in Asuka (587 A.D.); image; inscription on +bell + +Hoku-cho, Northern court + +Hokuriku, Prince + +Home Affairs, Department of, in Restoration government + +Homestead, 50 houses, under Daika + +Homma Saburo assassinates Hojo Suketomo + +--Saemon, Hojo soldier + +Homuda, life name of Emperor Ojin + +Homutang, Russian stand at + +Honcho Hennen-roku, or Honcho Tsugan, history + +Honda Masanobu (1539-1617) adviser of Ieyasu + +--Masazumi (1566-1637); Osaka castle; under Hidetada; punished for +secret marriage + +--Tadakatsu (1548-1610), Ieyasu's general at Sekigahara + +Honen Shonin, or Genku, (1133-1212), preaches Jodo doctrine + +Hongi, Original Records of the Free People + +Hongo, Yedo, college at + +Hongwan-ji, Shin temple in Kyoto; monks in 16th century wars; feud +with Enryaku-ji; aid Mori, Takeda and Hojo; divided by Ieyasu + +Honno-ji, temple + +Hori, general of Ieyasu + +Horigoe, Izu, fort + +Horikawa, 73rd Emperor (1087-1107) + +Horses, cavalry; "horse hunting"; wooden pictures, votive offerings; +racing + +Horyu-ji, Buddhist temple at Nara (607); ideographic inscription in; +dancers' masks and records; statues + +Hoshikawa, son of Kara, seizes treasury and plots for throne + +Hoshina Masayuki (1609-72), guardian of Ietsuna + +Hosho-ji, temple built by Shirakawa; cherry picnics; image + +Hosoi Kotaku, calligraphist + +Hosokawa, Harima, manor given to Fujiwara Tameiye; family favours +Takauji; large estates; Muromachi kwanryo; one of Five Regent Houses; +power in 15th century; Yamana family; Eastern army in Onin struggle; +crushed by Miyoshi; "province holders"; in Sanuki + + +--Harumoto (1519-63), son of Sunimoto, in civil war; joined by Kokyo + +--Katsumoto(1430-73), kwanryo; estates; feud with the Hatakeyama; +quarrels with Yamana, shitsuji; death + +--Kiyouji (d. 1362), goes over to Southern Court; defeated + +--Masomoto (1466-1507) + +--Mitsumoto (1378-1426), minister to Ashikaga Yoshimochi + +--Sumimoto (1496-1520), kwanryo, (1507); exiled + +--Sumiyuki (d. 1507) + +--Tadaoki (1564-1645), discloses plot against Ieyasu; tries to kill +Ishida; helps Ieyasu + +--Takakuni (d. 1531); driven out by Sumimoto's son; death + +--Yoriyuki (1329-92), guardian of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu; administration +and death + +Hospitals, Jesuit + +Hosso, first Buddhist sect in Japan (653); Gembo studies tenets + +Hostages, women, "Pillow children"; of feudatories at Yedo + +Hosuseri, myth of + +Hotta family, Bakufu ministers from + +--Masamori (1606-51), minister of Iemitsu, suicide + +--Masamutsu (1810-64) aids Townsend Harris + +--Masatoshi (1631-84), on succession to shogunate; chief minister; +assassinated + +Hotto, Buddhist abbots + +Household, unit of administration under Daiho + +Household Department, under Daika, and Daiho + +Hsia Kwei, Kamakura painter + +Hsuan-ming calendar revised (1683) + +Hsu Fuh, Chinese Taoist, search for elixir of life + +Hulbert, History of Korea quoted + +Human sacrifice, at funerals, replaced by use of effigies, abolished; +in public works + +Hun river, Manchuria + +Hunting in prehistoric times; keeping dogs or falcons forbidden by +Shotoku + +Hyakunin-isshu, "Poems of a Hundred Poets" + +Hyecha, Buddhist priest, instructor of Prince Shotoku + +Hyogo, now Kobe, in Ashikaga revolt; battle; trade with China; +English demonstration (1866) against + +Hyuga, Kumaso in + +Ibaraki-doji, bandit + +Ice storage + +Ichijo, 66th Emperor (987-1011) + +--family, one of "Five Regent Houses"; leave Court for Tosa + +--Fuyuyoshi, scholar + +--Kaneyoshi (1402-81), regent, adviser of Ashikaga Yoshihisa; author; +on religions + +Ichiman see Minamoto Ichiman + +Ichinei (I Ning, or Nei-issan), Buddhist priest + +Ichi-no-tani, near Hyogo, in Settsu, defeat of Taira at + +Icho-mura, birthplace of Hideyoshi + +Ideographs, Chinese, historical writing; and Japanese language; date +of introduction; adapted for syllabic purposes; in early laws + +Ieharu see Tokugawa Ieharu + +Iehisa see Shimazu Iehisa + +Iemitsu see Tokugawa Iemitsu + +Iemochi see Tokugawa Iemochi + +Ienari see Tokugawa Ienari + +Ienobu see Tokugawa Ienobu + +Iesada see Tokugawa Iesada + +Ieshige see Tokugawa Ieshige + +Ietsugu see Tokugawa Ietsugu + +Ietsuna see Tokugawa Ietsuna + +Ieyasu see Tokugawa Ieyasu + +Ieyoshi see Tokugawa Ieyoshi + +Iga, Prince, see Otomo + +Iharu Atamaro, leader of Yemishi (780) + +Ii, adherents of Southern Court; Bakufu ministers from; tamarizume + +--Naomasa (1561-1602), general at Sekigahara + +--Naosuke, Kamon no Kami (1815-60), advocates foreign intercourse; +prime minister at Yedo; Tokugawa Nariaki's opposition to; foreign +policy; assassinated + +--Naotaka (1590-1659), minister of Iemitsu, 581, and of Ietsuna + +Ikeda Isshinsai, friend of Harunari + +--Nobuteru (1536-84), councillor after Nobunaga's death; defeated + +--Terumasa (1564-1613), in plot against Ishida; favours Ieyasu + +Iki, island, in early myth; attacked by Toi, by Mongols; held by +Japan + +Ikki, "revolt" + +Ikko, Shin sect; Ikko-ikki, war of 1488 + +Ikkyu Zenji (1394-1481), priest of Daitoku-ji + +Ikuno, silver mines + +Imagawa, family, gives refuge to Ashikaga Yoshimichi; against Hojo; +in Suruga and Mikawa; Ieyasu's relations with + +--Motome, general under Date Masamune + +--Sadayo (Ryoshun), tandai of Kyushu; recalled + +--Ujizane (1538-1614), son of Yoshimoto + +--Yoshimoto (1519-60) rules Suruga, Totomi and Mikawa; threatens +Owari; defeated at Okehazama (1560) + +Imai Kanehira, one of Yoshinaka's four body-guards; sacrifices +himself for his master + +Imibe, corporation or guild of mourners, descent; guard Imperial +insignia; abstainers; commissary agents in provinces; in charge of +Treasury + +Imjin River, Korea + +Immigration, shadowed in myths; from Siberia, China, Malaysia and +Polynesia; Japanese ethnologists on; of Koreans and Chinese in 3rd & +4th centuries; and later; from Shiragi (608) + +Imna see Mimana + +Imoko (Ono Imoko), envoy to China (607 A.D.) + +Imperial lands + +Imprisonment + +Imun, Korea, secured by Kudara with Japan's help + +Inaba, Princess Yakami of + +Masayasu, assassin of Hotta Masatoshi + +Inaba-yama, castle of Saito + +Inahi, brother of Jimmu + +Iname see Soga Iname + +Inamura-ga-saki, cliff near Kamakura + +Incense fetes + +Incest + +India, first Japanese visitor to, Takaoka or Shinnyo + +Indian architecture, influence of, through Buddhism + +Indigo growing in Awa + +Industrial class, in Kamakura period + +Industry, early Japanese; impulse given by Buddhism in Nara epoch; +development in time of Yoshimune; modern manufactures + +Infantry, use of + +Inheritance, law of, in Daiho legislation; in feudal system of +Tokugawa + +I Ning see Ichinei + +Inishiki, Prince + +Inkyo (Ingyo), 19th Emperor (412-53) + +In-memoriam services, Shinto + +Inokami, consort of Konin + +Inokashira lake and Yedo water-supply + +Inokuma, general of the Left, executed + +Ino Tadayoshi, survey of Northern islands (1800) + +Inouye Kaoru, Marquis (b. 1835) + +--Tetsujiro, Dr., on Bushi ethics; on Chutsz and Wang Yang-ming + +Inquisitors, Bakufu officials at Court after Shokyu war + +Insei see Camera government + +Insignia, sacred Imperial, mirror, sword, jewel + +Inspectors of district officials, after Daika; of provincial +government; in temple service + +Interest on loans + +Interior decoration, Yamato school + +"Interior," Granary of + +--Ministry of, created by Daika (645) + +"Invisible" Kami + +Iratsuko, rebel against Yuryaku, famous archer + +Iris festival + +Iroha-uta, text book + +Iron in Korea; foundry at Akunpura + +Irrigation, under Sujin; under Nintoku, in 6th and 7th centuries; +rice land; in Nara epoch; in Heian epoch; under Yoshimune + +Iruka see Soga Iruka + +Isa, early carriage-builder + +Isawa, headquarters moved from Taga to + +Ise, shrine of Sun at; Yamatodake at shrine; swords offered; oracle +calls Amaterasu an avatar of Buddha; Watarai shrine; revolt of 1414 +in; rebuilding shrines; Oda seize; Mori insults the shrine + +Ise Heishi, branch of Taira + +Ise Monogatori + +--Sadachika (1417-73) page of Yoshimasa; marries Yoshitoshi's sister; +influence of + +Ishida Katsushige, soldier of Hideyoshi; brings about Hidetsugu's +death; ordered to Korea; plot against Ieyasu; takes Osaka; death + +Ishide family in charge of Yedo prison + +Ishido family favours Tadayoshi + +Ishikawa Island, house of correction on + +Ishikawa Jinshiro relieves suffering in Kyoto + +Ishi-yama, temple + +Ishizu, battle, Akiiye defeated (1338) by Ko Moronao + +Iso-takeru (Itakeru), son of Susanoo + +Isuraka, Korean artist + +Itagaki Taisuke, Count (b. 1837); resigns from cabinet and works for +parliament; organizes Liberal party; invited into Cabinet + +Itakura Katsushige (1542-1624), in bell-inscription plot; in Kyoto + +--Shigemune (1587-1656), protests against Go-Komyo's activities + +Italians employed by Government in fine arts + +Ito Hirobumi, Prince (1841-1909); premier (1885); framer of +constitution; head of Liberal party; treaty with China; assassinated + +--Jinsai (1627-1705), Confucianist, 626 + +--Sukechika (d. 1181), guardian of Minamoto Yoritomo; crushes +Yoritomo's army + +Ito, or Wado, Chinese name for Japanese + +Itsukushima-Myojin, Buddhist shrine + +Itsutse, brother of Jimmu + +Iwa, consort of Nintoku, of Katsuragi family + +Iwai (Ihawi) ruler of Kyushu, blocks invasion of Korea (527) but is +defeated by Arakaho (528) + +Iwaki, son of Kara, contests throne with Seinei + +Iwaki-uji, branch of Taira + +Iwakura Tomoyoshi, Prince (1825-83), leader of moderate party + +Iware, life-time name of Jimmu + +Iwasaka, fort in Mikawa + +Iwatsuki, in Musashi, fortified + +Iyo, province; oldest ideographic inscription (596 A.D.); held by +Kono + +Izanagi and Izanami, male and female Kami, creators of Japanese +islands + +Izayoi-nikki, journal of Abutsu-ni + +Izu, early ship-building in; Minamoto Tametomo exiled to; Yoritomo +in; peaceful under Kamakura rule; seized by Hojo Soun (1491) + +Izumi province, rising of 1399 in + +--Chikahira revolts against Hojo + +--Shikibu, poetess of 11th century + +Izumo in early myth; revolt in causes withdrawal of court from +Yamato; gems in; conquered by Mori + +Jade, "curved-jewel" + +Japan, name a Dutch (15th century) perversion of Jihpen; early names + +Jenghiz Khan + +Jerome, Father + +Jesuits in Japan; banished, but stay; order to leave checked by +Hideyoshi's death; Ieyasu plays off Franciscans against; denounce +Dutch ship as pirate; treated well by Ieyasu + +Jesus, Jerome de. (d. 1602), Franciscan, interview with Ieyasu + +Jewel, curved, chaplet, one of Imperial insignia + +Jih-pen, "Sunrise Island" name used by Chinese + +Jimmu, Emperor (660-585 B.C.); chronology dating from accession; +ancestry; leader in expedition against Yamato; poem mentioning +Yemishi; strategem against Tsuchigumo; successors; tomb + +Jimyo-in family, afterwards Hoku-cho or Northern Court, holding +Chokodo estates; gets throne + +Jingirryo, quoted on Board of Religion + +Jingo, Empress (201-69); Chinese and Japanese chronology of reign; +succession; excluded from dynasties by Dai Nihon-shi + +Jingu-ji, temple built by Fujiwara Muchimaro, 192 + +Jinno Shotdki, "Emperor's Genealogy" work on divine right by +Kitabatake Chikafusa + +Jinshin, cyclical name for 672 A.D., civil war + +Jisho-ji, monastery in Higashiyama, art-gallery + +Jito, (41st) Empress (690-6), wife of Temmu; historiography; Sushen + +Jiyu-to, Liberal party organized by Itagaki + +Joben, one of "four kings" of poetry + +Jocho, wood-carver + +Jodo, Buddhist sect introduced (1196) by Honen; creed + +Joei, year-period, (1232-3); code of 1232; basis of Kemmu code + +Jokaku, sculptor + +Jokwan, year-period, revision of Rules and Regulations + +Jokyo, year-period (1684-7) trade limitations + +Jomei, 34th Emperor (629-41), Tamura + +Jo Nagashige, provincial governor, defeated + +Jorin, scholar, adviser of Yoshimitsu + +Josetsu (end of 14th century), bonze of Shokoku-ji, painter + +Joye see Fujiwara Joye + +Juko see Shuko + +Jun, mother of Michiyasu (Montoku) + +Junna, 54th Emperor (824-33) + +Junnin, 47th Emperor (758-64) + +Juntoku, 84th Emperor (1211-21), son of Go-Toba, abdicates, called +Shin-in, "new recluse"; exiled + +Juraku-tei, "Mansion of Pleasure" + +Juro see Sukenari + +Justice, Department of, Gyobu-sho, under Daiha; under Daiho; in Meiji +government + +Justice, court of + +Justices, land grants to + +Justo Ukondono see Takayama + +Kada Arimaro (1706-69) revises code + +--Azumamaro (1668-1736), scholar, restores Japanese literature; quoted + +Kaempfer, Engelbert (1651-1716), historian + +Kagoshima, in Satsume, landing-place (1549) of St. Francis Xavier; +bombarded by English + +Kagu, Mt., in sun myth + +Kai, peaceful under Kamakura rule; won by Takeda Shingen; "black +horse of" + +Kaigen, priest in charge of Ashikaga-gakko + +Kai-koku Hei-dan, book by Hayashi Shibei, urging coast defense + +Kaikwa, 9th Emperor (157-98 B.C.) + +Kaizan, priest of Myoshin-ji + +Kajiwara Kagetoki (d. 1200), fighting against Yoritomo, sympathizes +with him; military governor; in command of fleet quarrels with +Yoshitsune; warns Yoritomo against Yoshitsune + +Kakinomoto Hitomaru, poet, end of 7th century + +Kamada Masaie, companion of Yoshitomo, death + +Kamako see Nakatomi Kamako + +Kamakura, S. of present Yokohama, Yoritomo's headquarters; military +centre for 150 years; shrines built by Yoritomo; school of art; +growth of luxury; fall of city (1333); headquarters of Ashikaga +family; Takauji removes to Kyoto, keeping Kamakura as secondary +basis; Ashikaga driven out, Uesugi come in + +--Gongoro, soldier of Three Years' War + +--Jidaishi, quoted on parties in Shokyu struggle + +Kamatari; see Fujiwara Kamatari + +Kamegiku, dancer + +Kameyama, 90th Emperor (1259-74) + +Kami in Japanese mythology; "creation" of chiefs; used in +"Chronicles" of Yemishi chiefs; trinity of; two classes; the Kami +class or Shimbetsu; worship of, in early 7th century; uji no Kami +elective in Temmu's time; Shinto K., Buddha's avatars + +Kamimura, Japanese admiral, crushes Vladivostok squadron + +Kamitsuke (now Kotsuke), early dukedom + +Kamo, Yamashiro, shrine in + +Kamo Chomei, author of Hojoki + +--Mabuchi (1697-1769), restores Japanese ethics; quoted + +Kana, syllabary + +Kana-ga-saki (Kanasaki), in Echizen, taken by Ashikaga + +Kanamura, o-muraji, advises cession (512 A.D.) of part of Mimana to +Kudara; helps Kudara to get Imun (513 A.D.); puts down revolt of +Heguri Matori + +Kanaoka see Koze Kanaoka + +Kanazawa, fortress, in Three Years' War + +Kanazawa, Prof. S., on Korean and Japanese languages + +--Akitoki, son of Hojo Sanetoki + +--bunko, school founded about 1270 by Hojo Sanetoki + +--Sadaaki, son of Akitoki, scholar + +Kane see Nakatomi Kane + +Kaneakira, Prince (914-87), son of Daigo, poet + +Kanenaga, Prince (1326-83), Mongol fugitives + +Kanenari, Life-name of Emperor Chukyo + +Kanin, princely house; Kokaku chosen from + +Kanko-Maru, steamship presented by Dutch government + +Kannabi, Mt., sacred rock + +Kano school of painting; patronized by Tokugawa + +--Masanobu see Masanobu + +--Motonobu see Motonobu + +Kanshin (687-763), Chinese Buddhist missionary, builds Shodai-ji +temple + +Kanzaki, port in Heian epoch + +Kao, painter of Kamakura school + +Kara, Princess, wife of Yuryaku + +Kara, Korea; war with Shiragi + +Karako, Japanese general, killed in Korea by Oiwa + +Karano, 100-ft, ship (274 A.D.) + +Karu, Prince, son of Inkyo, suicide + +--Prince, brother of Empress Kogyoku, in Kamatari's plot; see Kotoku +son of Kusakabe, succeeds to throne; see Mommu + +Kasagi, refuge of Go-Daigo + +Kasai Motochika (d. 1507) + +Kasanui, Shrine of + +Kashiwa-bara, palace at + +Kasuga, cruiser, sinks Yoshino + +--shrine at Nara (767-69) in honour of Fujiwara Kamatari; school of +painting + +--Tsubone, mistress of Ashikaga Yoshimasa + +Katagiri Katsumoto, bugyo of Toyotomi; bronze Buddha; +bell-inscription + +Katakana, fragments of characters, syllabary + +Katana, general, suppresses Yemishi revolt + +Katari-be, raconteurs + +Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611), commands second corps in invasion of +Korea; sides with Yae at court; in plot against Ishida; studies +Chinese classics + +--Shirozaemon Kagemasa, potter + +--Tadahiro, son of Kiyomasa, banished + +--Yoshiaki (1563-1631), plots against Ishida + +Katsu, Count (Rintaro), minister of Marine + +Katsuiye see Shibata Katsuiye + +Katsumi; see Nakatomi Katsumi + +Katsumoto see Hosokawa Katsumoto and Katagiri Katsumoto + +Katsura, princely house + +--Taro, Prince (1849-1913), prime minister (1908-11) + +Katsurabara, Prince (786-853), ancestor of Taira + +Katsuragi, beginning of power of; descended from Takenouchi; Kara + +Katsuragi Mount + +Kawabe Nie, in Korea + +Kawagoe, in Musashi, fortifications + +Kawajiri Shigeyoshi, appointed to Hizen + +Kawakatsu kills preacher of caterpillar worship + +Kawamura at Mukden + +Kawanaka-jima, battlefield + +Kaya, moor of, Oshiwa murdered on; port + +Kaya-no-in, consort of Toba + +Kazuhito, Prince, son of Go-Fushimi; nominally Emperor (Kogon, +1332-35) + +Kazuko, daughter of Hidetada, first Tokugawa consort + +Kazumasu see Takigawa Kazumasu + +Kazusa, revolt of Yemishi in; Yoritomo enters + +Kebiishi, executive police (810-29) + +Kegon, sect of Buddhists (736 A.D.) + +Kehi-no-ura see Tsuruga + +Keicho, year-period, 1596-1614, coinage of + +Keicha Ajari (1640-1701), scholar + +Keiki see Tokugawa Yoshinobu + +Keiko, 12th Emperor (71-130); expeditions against Yemishi, against +Kumaso, and Tsuchi-gumo in Bungo; tree-worship + +Keitai, Emperor (507-31); serpent worship; one province added; +nashiro + +Keiun, poet + +Kemmu era (1334-6), restoration of; crushes military houses and puts +court nobles in power; name applied by Northern court to years 1336-8 + +--Shikimoku, code of 1337 + +Kencho-ji, Zen temple in Kamakura + +Kenju, or Rennyo Shonin, (1415-99), Shin priest + +Kenko, daughter of Fujiwara Yorimichi, consort of Shirakawa, mother +of Horikawa + +Kenko see Yoshida Kenko + +Kennin-ji, temple in Kyoto, Kao's studio in; one of the "Five"; +priests alone could wear purple + +Kennyo (1543-92), priest, intervenes for Sakai; guides Hideyoshi in +Kyushu; helps turn Hideyoshi against Christians + +Keno no Omi, in Korea + +Kenrei-mon-in, Takakura's consort, daughter of Taira Kiyomori; +drowned at Dan-no-ura + +Kenshin see Uesugi Kenshin + +Kenso, 23rd Emperor (485-7), originally called Oke; Yemishi do homage +to + +Kesa, mistress of Endo Morito (Mongaku) + +Keumsyong, capital of Sinra, Korea + +Khilkoff, Prince, Russian minister + +Khitan Tatars, in China + +Ki, family founded by Ki no Tsunu, descendant of Takenouchi; eligible +to high office + +--Haseo (845-912), famous scholar; plot to send him with Michizane to +China; prose + +--Hirozumi, leader against Yemishi, killed by them (780) + +--Kosami (733-97), general against Yemishi (789), is defeated and +degraded; report of the campaign + +--Omaro, Japanese general in Korea, 6th century + +--Tsurayuki (883-946), prose preface to Kokin-shu; Tosa Nikki + +Kibi, old name for Bingo, Bitchu and Bizen provinces; Jimmu's stay in + +--no Mabi or Makibi (693-775), Japanese student in China, minister of +the Right, inventor of syllabary; opposition to Fujiwara; minister of +the Right under Koken; opposes succession of Shirakabe (Konin); as +litterateur + +Kibumi, school of painters (604 A.D.) + +Kidomaru, famous bandit + +Kido Takamasa or Koin (1834-77), in alliance of Choshu and Satsuma + +Kii, mythical land of trees; in Yamato expedition; promontory; armed +monks in Komaki war; punished by Hideyoshi (499-500); orange growing; +Tokugawa of + +Kijima-yama, in Hizen, place for uta-gaki + +Kikaku, verse-writer + +Kikkawa in battle of Sekigahara + +Motoharu (1530-86), son of Mori Motonari; adviser of Mori Terumoto; +general + +Kikuchi, adherents of Southern Court, in Saikai-do; make trouble in +Kyushu; defeated by Otomo + +Kimbusen, temple + +Kimiko Hidetake in Three Years' War + +Kimmei, 29th Emperor (540-71); Yemishi do homage to; intercourse with +China + +Kinai, five home provinces; rice grants + +Kinchou, 2d Army wins battle of (1904) + +Kinoshita Junan (1621-98), Confucianist, father of Torasuke + +--Torasuke, scholar, at Yedo + +--Yaemon, father of Hideyoshi + +Kinshudan, "Embroidered Brocade Discourse" + +Kira family, masters of ceremonies + +--Yoshihide killed by "47 Ronins" (1703) + +--Yoshinaka, son of Yoshihide + +Kiso river, boundary of Mino, crossed by Nobunaga (1561 and 1564) + +Kiso Yoshinaka see Minamoto Yoshinaka + +Kitabatake, adherents of Southern Court in Mutsu and Ise; put down by +Yoshinori; rule in Ise + +--Akiiye (1317-38); raises siege of Kyoto; killed in battle + +--Akinobu + +--Chikafusa (1293-1354), historian and statesman, assistant governor +of O-U; faithful to Go-Daigo; Main leader of Southern army; author of +Jinno Shotoki; attempts to unite courts; death; combines Shinto, +Buddhism and Confucianism; Shinto revival + +--Mitsumase, revolts of + +--Morokiyo, piracy + +Kitamura Kigin (1618-1705) author + +--Sessan, calligraphist + +--Shuncho, son of Kigin + +Kitano, Shinto officials of; tea fete + +Kitashirakawa, Prince, abbot of Kwanei-ji + +Kita-yama, Ashika Yoshimitsu's palace at; given to Buddhist priests + +Kite, Golden + +Kiuliencheng, on Yalu, centre of Kuroki's line + +Kiyo, Princess, daughter of Saga + +Kiyomaro see Wake Kiyomaro + +Kiyomizu, temple + +Kiyomori see Taira Kiyomori + +Kiyosu, castle in Owari, conference of Nobunaga's vassals + +--Naritada, scholar, 447 + +--Takenori, leader in Nine Years' Commotion, helps crush Abe Sadato +(1062); family quarrel cause of Three Years' War + +Kiyowara, family eligible to high office + +Ko An-mu, Chinese scholar in Japan (516 A.D.) + +Ko Moronao (d. 1351), defeats Kitabatake Akiiye at Ishizu; defeats +Masatsura; shitsuji in Muromachi; plot against; killed by Uesugi + +--Moroyasu (d. 1351); plot against; death + +Koban, coin + +Kobe, formerly Fukuhara, made capital by Kiyomori (1180); Hyogo, in +Ashikaga revolt + +Koben see Myoe + +Kobo Daishi, posthumous name of Kukai (q.v.) + +Kobun, 39th Emperor (672), Prince Otomo (q.v.) succeeds Tenchi; +included in Dai Nihon-shi + +Koeckebacker, Nicholas, Dutch factor, helps conquer castle of Kara + +Koetomi, merchant, envoy to China + +Kofuku-ji, Nara temple of Hosso sect; armed men of the monastery; +their quarrels and their treatment by Taira; burnt by Taira (1180); +revenue of temple + +Koga, in Shimosa, seat of Ashikaga after Kamakura; Shigeuji's castle + +Kogen, 8th Emperor (214-158 B.C.) + +Kogon, Northern Emperor (1332-5), Prince Kazuhito (q.v.), gives +commission (1336) to the Ashikaga, and expects restoration to throne; +becomes Zen priest + +Kogo-shui, ancient record quoted + +Kogyoku, (35th) Empress (642-5); abdicates, becomes Empress Dowager; +again Empress see Saimei; Asuka palace; worship of silk-worm + +Kohayakawa Hideaki (1577-1602), nominally against Ieyasu, but goes +over in battle of Sekigahara + +--Takakage (1532-96); adviser of Mori Terumoto; general of Hideyoshi; +in Korean invasion; signs Hideyoshi's laws of 1595 + +Koide Hidemasa (1539-1604), guardian of Hideyori + +Ko-jiki, Records of Ancient Things; to 628 A.D.; on Chuai; contains +the Kuji-hongi; preface + +Kojima, adherents of Southern Court + +--Takanori, defender of Go-Daigo + +Kokaku, 119th Emperor (1780-1816); his rank and his father's + +Koken, (46th) Empress (749-58), daughter of Shomu, known in life as +Abe; abdicates but dethrones her successor; see Shotoku, son of Kenju + +Koki, Record of the Country + +Kokin-shu, 10th century anthology; Ki Tsurayuki's prose preface to; +comments by Keichu + +Koko, 58th Emperor (885-7), Prince Tokiyasu; couplet tournaments + +Koku, coin, 438-9; unit of measure + +Kokubun-ji, official provincial temples; affiliated with Todai-ji; +heavy expense of + +Kokuli, Korea + +Kokushi, provincial governor; appointed by Throne, first mentioned in +374 A.D.; after Daika (645); over kuni; Buddhist hierarchy + +Kokyo, Osaka abbot, leads great revolt (1529) + +Koma, Korea, now Pyong-yang; increase of power; attacked by Kudara +and Japan; families in Japanese nobility; falls; migration; ruler of +Pohai recognized as successor of dynasty of; envoys; Mongol invasion + +Koma, suzerain of Aya-uji, assassinates Sashun + +Koma-gori, in Musashi, settlement in Japan from Koma + +Komaki war (1583), named from Komaki-yama + +Komei, 121st Emperor (1846-67) + +Komon Mitsukuni + +Komura Jutaro, Marquis (1853-1911), minister of foreign affairs, +peace commissioner at Portsmouth + +Komyo, Imperial name of Asuka, wife of Shomu and mother of Koken; +story of miraculous conception + +Komyo, Emperor (1336-48) of Northern dynasty, brother of Kogon; +abdicates and becomes Zen priest + +Kondo, branch of Fujiwara in Kwanto + +Kongobo-ji, Shingon temple on Koya-san + +Konin, 49th Emperor (770-81), formerly Prince Shirakabe; reforms +local administration; festival of his birthday, Tenchosetsu + +Konin, year-period (810-24) and revision of Rules and Regulations + +Konishi Yukinaga (d. 1600), commands first division in Korean +invasion (1592); entrapped by Chinese diplomacy; with last troops in +Korea; opposes Kato; against Ieyasu; death + +Konno, swordsman + +Kono family in Iyo + +Konoe, 76th Emperor (1142-55) + +Konoe, Imperial guards; origin; name given to Fujiwara Motomichi's +descendants, kwampaku alternately with Kujo; one of "Five Regent +Houses" + +--Prince, leader of moderate party + +--Nobuhiro (1593-1643), minister of Right + +--Sakihisa (1536-1612), envoy to Shin monks + +Korai, or Koma, Korea + +Korea, alphabet; architecture; artisans; Buddhism; China, relations +with; chronology; language; music; myth; pottery, sepulchral; +scholars; treasury, Japanese; early intercourse with Japan; Jingo's +conquest; granary; Japanese relations in 540-645; families in +Japanese nobility; war between Japan and China for; precious metals; +8th century relations; Mongol invasion; Japanese piracy; Hideyoshi's +invasion; Arai Hakusekai's policy toward envoys; break with (1873); +treaty (1875); Chinese activity in, 699-700; independence recognized +by 1895 treaty; Russian aggression; Japan's interests in, recognized +by Treaty of Portsmouth; Japanese occupation and annexation + +Korehito, Prince, Emperor Seiwa + +Korei, 7th Emperor (290-215 B.C.) + +Korekimi see Fujiwara Korekimi + +Koretaka, Prince (844-97), Buddhist monk and poet + +Koreyasu, Prince, shogun, (1266-89) + +Korietz, Russian gunboat at Chemulpo + +Koriyama, in Yamato, castle commanding Izumi and Kii + +Koromo, tunic, and name of a fort + +Koromo-gawa, campaign on, against Yemishi + +Kosa, abbot of Ishi-yama monastery + +Koshi, Yemishi in + +Kotesashi moor, Takauji defeated at + +Koto, lute + +Kotoku, 36th Emperor (645-54); Yemishi do homage to (646) + +Kotsuke, early Kamitsuke, a dukedom; revolt of Yoshinaka in, (1180); +won by Kenshin; silk growing in + +Koya, reptile Kami of; snow festival of + +Koyama, branch of Fujiwara in Kwanto; one of "8 Generals" of Kwanto + +Koyane (Ame-no-Koyane) ancestor of Nakatomi + +Koya-san, mountain in Kii, temple of Kongobo-ji; threatened after +Komaki war; shrine; nobles enter + +Koyomaro, warden of Mutsu, killed by Yemisi (724) + +Koze (Kose); family descended from Takenouchi + +Koze Fumio, scholar; Chinese prose + +--Kanaoka (850-90), painter and landscape artist of Kyoto; school, + +Kublai Khan and the Mongol invasion + +Kubo, governor general of 4 provinces + +Kuchiki Mototsuna (1549-1632) at battle of Sekigahara + +Kuchinotsu, port, Jesuits invited to + +Kudara, Korea, now Seoul; Japanese alliance; weaver from; scribe; +relations with Yuryaku; story of Multa; invaded by Koma; secures +Imun; gains through friendship of Japan; Buddhism; wars with Shiragi +and Koma; crushed by Shiragi and China; migration from + +Kudara Kawanari, painter + +Kudo Suketsune, killed in vendetta (1193) + +Kuga family, eligible for office of highest rank + +--Nagamichi, minister under Go-Daigo + +Kugeshu-hatto, Ieyasu's law for Court nobles + +Kugyo (1201-19), son of Yoriiye, assassinates Sanetomo + +Kuhi brings scales and weights from China + +Kujihongi, history + +Kujo, descendants of Fujiwara Kanezane, chosen Kwampaku alternately +with Konoe; one of "Five Regent Houses" + +Kukai (posthumously, Kobo Daishi), (774-835) Buddhist priest, called +by some inventor of mixed Shinto; founder (809) of Shingon (True +Word) system, calligrapher, and inventor of hira-gana syllabary; +portrait; shrine (ill.) + +Kuma, Southern tribe + +Kumagaye Naozane (d. 1208), kills Taira Atsumori + +Kumaso, early inhabitants of Kyushu; possibly of Korean origin; may +be identical with Hayato; called Wado by Chinese; Keiko's expedition +against; Chuai's expedition + +Kume, Dr., on Yamato-dake's route of march; on Takenouchi-no-Sukune + +--Prince, dies on expedition to Shiragi + +--Kami + +Kumebe, palace guards + +Kunajiri, Russians seized at (1814) + +Kuno, castle of, in Totomi + +Kurama, temple of, Yoshitsune escapes from + +Kurando or Kurodo, Imperial estates bureau, office established; +K.-dokoro precursor of kwampaku; held by Minamoto Yorimasa + +Kurayamada, conspirator against Soga; suicide + +Kuriles, Russians in; Japanese title recognized + +Kuriyama Gen, contributor to Dai Nihon-shi + +Kuro, lady of Takenouchi family + +Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-1623) soldier of Hideyoshi; against Ishida; +favours Ieyasu; studies Chinese classics + +Kurodo see Kurando + +Kuroki, Ibei, Count (b.1844), commands on Yalu; defeats Russians; +head of 1st Army; attempts to turn Russian flank; at Mukden + +Kuromaro see Takamuku Kuromaro + +Kuropatkin, Alexei Nikolaievitch (b.1848), Russian commander-in-chief +in Manchuria; plans before and after Liaoyang; succeeded by +Linievitch + +Kusaka, defeat of Jimmu at + +Kusakabe, Prince, (d. 690) son of Temmu and Jito + +Kusano support Southern Court + +Kusu (Kusuriko), daughter of Fujiwara Tanetsugu, consort of Heijo + +Kusu, wife of Oto, kills him + +Kusunoki, adherents of Southern Court + +--Jiro, in attack on palace (1443) + +--Masahide rebels in 1428 + +--Masanori (d. 1390) minister; joins Northern party, returns to +Southern + +--Masashige (1294-1336), called Nanko, defender of Go-Daigo; +provincial governor; against Ashikaga; death, (ill.) + +--Masatoki, death + +--Masatomo defeats Nobunaga in Ise + +--Masatsura (132648), son of Masashige; receives Go-Daigo in Yoshimo; +campaign in Settsu + +Kuwana, castle of Takigawa Kazumasu, in Ise + +Kuzuno, Prince, son of Kobun, sacrifices his claim to throne (696) + +Kuzuo, in Shinano, castle + +Kivaifu-so, anthology of poems (751) + +Kwaikei, sculptor + +Kwammu, 50th Emperor (782-805), formerly Yamabe; changes capital to +Kyoto (792); posthumous names first used; sends Saicho to study +Chinese Buddhism + +Kwampaku, regent for grown Emperor, mayor of palace, office +established (882); decline of power under Go-Sanjo; foreshadowed by +Kurando-dokoro; chosen alternately from Kujo and Konoe; office +abolished after Kemmu restoration; unimportant after Tokugawa period + +Kwampei era (889-97), Counsels of, Uda's letter to Daigo + +Kwanei, year period, (1621-43); Kwanei Shake Keizu-den, genealogical +record; Kwanei-ji, temple + +Kwangaku-in, uji academy, founded (821) + +Kwangtung peninsula, in battle of Kinchou + +Kwang-wu, Chinese emperor, Japanese envoy to + +Kwanji, period, (1087-94) + +Kwanki, period, (1229-32), crop failure and famine + +Kwanko see Sugawara Michizane + +Kwanno Chokuyo establishes school in Yedo + +Kwannon, Mercy, Buddhist goddess; Shirakawa's temple; temple at +Kamakura + +Kwanryo, governor general; list of Kamakura k.; title passes from +Ashikaga to Uesugi family; also given (1367) to shitsuji in shogun's +court, and held by Shiba, Hosokawa and Hatakeyama families; compared +with shikken and betto + +Kwansei, year-period, 1789-1800, vagabonds in Yedo during + +Kwanto, or Bando, many shell-heaps in; army raised in, against +Yemishi; Taira and Minamoto fight in; Minamoto supreme in; Ashikaya +supreme; Eight Generals of, combine against Uesugi; battle-ground; +war between branches of Uesugi and Hojo and Satomi; in Battle Period + +Kwazan, 65th Emperor (985-6) + +Kwobetsu, families of chieftains of the conquest, Imperial class; +pre-historic administration; classification in Seishwoku; revolt; +rank of Empress + +Kyaku, "official rules" supplementing Yoro laws; revised; (819) + +Kyogen, comic play + +Kyogoku, one of four princely houses + +--Takatsugu (1560-1609) + +Kyoho, year-period, (1716-35); K.-kin, coins then minted + +Kyong-sang, Korea + +Kyoriku, verse-writer + +Kyoroku, year-period, (1528-31) + +Kyoto, capital 794 A.D.; two cities and two markets; capital +momentarily moved to Fukuhafa (1180); evacuated by Taira (1183); +school of art; culture; Go-Daigo's conspiracy; in war of dynasties; +Takauji removes to; ravaged; Nobunaga restores order; under +Hideyoshi; Portuguese; Xavier; Jesuits; Vilela; Franciscan church; +patent to missionaries; shogun's deputy in; Ieyasu; Iemitsu's +demonstration against; Court excluded from power; vendetta illegal +in; great fire (1788); rebuilding; government; loyalist intrigues in: +extremists driven from; foreign ministers invited to + +Kyuka, priest + +Kyushu, early myth; expedition against Yamato; situation; Kingdom +called Wo by Chinese; government station; Keiko's expedition against +Kumaso; granary; trade; Mongol invasion; revolt of 1349; taken from +Ashikaga; disorder; piracy; great families; Hideyoshi's invasion; +early European intercourse; Christians + +Lacquer, trees, planting of, required for tenure of uplands; +development of art in Nara epoch; in Heian; ware exported; +manufacture in time of Yoshimasa; (ill.) + +Ladies-in-waiting, uneme, at early court; dancers; Yoshimune's +reforms + +Land and land-holding, pre-historic; royal fees; taxation; Daika +reform; all land Crown property; 6-year lease; sustenance grants lead +to feudalism; Daiho laws; reclaimed uplands; centralized holdings, +8th century; grants for reclamation; maximum holdings; abuses in +system; large estates; Go-Sanjo's reforms; territorial name; +constables and stewards; Shokyu tumult; new distribution; Joei laws; +Go-Daigo's grants; estates under Ashikaga; military holdings; tax; +Crown lands pass to military houses; Hideyoshi's laws; taxes + +Landscape-gardening, in the Heian epoch; in Kamakura period; +patronized by Yoshimasa, in Muromachi epoch; at Momoyama + +Land steward, jito, and chief steward, so-jito, in Yorikomo's reform +of land; shimpo-jito, land holders and stewards after the Shokyu war + +Language; in Heian epoch; difficulties for preaching + +Lanterns, (ill.) + +La Perouse, Strait of, claimed as Russian boundary + +Law, in time of Ojin; criminal, protohistoric period; of Daiho; code +of 1232 A.D.; Kemmu code; Hideyoshi's legislation; Laws of Military +Houses; Laws for Court Nobles; of Iemitsu and Ietsuna; real code; in +Tokugawa period; codified after Restoration; Department, in Meiji +administration + +Leech, first offspring of Izanagi and Izanami + +Left Minister of, Sa-daijin, office created by Daika + +Legs, length, as racial mark + +Lese Majeste under Daiho code + +Liao River, Russians forced into valley of + +Liaotung peninsula, Chinese forces in, (1592), defeated by Japanese; +fighting in 1894 in; Russian lease of + +Liaoyang, battle of + +Liberal party, Jiyu-to organized (1878) by Itagaki; unites with +Progressists and forms Constitutionist party + +Library of Kanazawa-biwko; of Shohei-ko; of Momijiyama Bunko; and +Shinto + +Liefde, Dutch ship + +Li Hung-chang (1823-1901), Chinese plenipotentiary for peace of 1895 + +Li Lungmin, artist + +Linievitch, Nikolai Petrovitch (b.1834), Russian general, succeeds +Kuropatkin in command, defeated at Mukden + +Literature, in Nara epoch; in Heian epoch; in Tenryaku era, 261; in +Kamakura epoch; in Muromachi period; under Hideyoshi; place of, in +Military Houses' Laws; in Court Laws; Ieyasu's attitude; Tsunayoshi +encourages Japanese and Chinese; favoured by Yoshimune; Japanese, +restoration of; foreign; Chinese + +Liu-Jen-kuei, Chinese general, defeats Japanese in Korea (662 A.D.) + +Lloyd, Rev. A., on Buddhism, Tendai, Hosso; and Shinto + +Longevity, herb of + +Longford's Korea cited + +Loochoo see Ryukyu Islands + +Lotteries + +Lotus festival + +Loyalty, in early times; in Heian epoch; in Tokugawa period + +Lute, of Susanoo; the koto, made from the ship Karano; biya, +4-stringed Chinese lute + +Mabuchi see Kamo Mabuchi + +Macao, trade with; Jesuits there; annual vessel from; embassy of 1640 +from + +Machado, Joao Baptista de (1581-1617), Jesuit, executed + +Machi-ya, shop + +Madre de Dios, Pessoa's ship + +Maeda Gen-i or Munehisa (1539-1602), guardian of Oda Nobutada's son +Samboshi; in charge of Kyoto Buddha + +--Toshiiye (1538-99), fails to help Shibata Katsuiye; commands armies +in Komaki war, and against Hojo; one of 6 senior ministers; attempt +to make break between Ieyasu and; death + +--Toshinaga (1562-1614), son of Toshiiye, favours Ieyasu; simulates +madness + +Magic and incantations, of Buddhist abbot Raigo; general belief in + +Mahayana, Great Vehicle, esoteric Buddhism + +Mahitotsu, metal worker + +Makaroff, Stephan Osipovitch (1848-1904), Russian admiral drowned +with Petropavlovsk + +Maketsu, Chinese or Korean spinning woman, immigrant to Japan + +Maki, wife of Hojo Tokimasa, favours her son-in-law, Minamoto +Tomomasa + +Makibi see Kibi no Mabi + +Makura Soshi, book by Sei Shonagon + +Mallets and "mallet-headed" swords + +Mamiya Rinzo (1781-1845) discovers (1826) that Saghalien is not part +of continent + +Mamta, Prince, in charge of Record of Uji + +Manabe Norifusa, minister under Ienobu, and Ietsugu; removed from +Treasury by Yoshimune + +Manchu-Korean subdivision of Asiatic yellow race + +Manchuria, in colonization from northern China; part ceded to Japan +by treaty of 1895, but not occupied after Russian, German and French +note; Russian designs upon; Russia's failure to evacuate, and +negotiations over "open door"; Russo-Japanese war; evacuation of, +provided for by treaty of Portsmouth; Japanese position in + +Man-dokoro, administration bureau, one of three sections of Bakufu, +formerly called kumon-jo; in administration of Kyoto after Shokyu +war; in Muromachi administration + +Maneko, atae of Iki, suicide + +Man-en, year-period, 1860, coinage of + +Manhattan, American ship, enters Uraga + +Mannen tsuho, coin + +Manners and customs, remote; in time of Yuryaku; in Muromachi period + +Manors, large estates, shoen; attempts to regulate; koden, tax free, +granted to Taira after Heiji tumult; Yoritomo's memorial on; abuses +of, remedied by appointment of constables and land stewards; +distribution after restoration of Kemmu; gifts of Takauji + +Manumission of slaves + +Manyo-shu, "Myriad Leaves" first Japanese anthology; compared with +Kokinshu; on character of soldier; comments on, by Keichu + +Map, official, begun under Hideyoshi + +Market Commissioners, after Daika + +Markets, ichi, in early Japan; in Nara epoch + +Marquis, asomi, title established by Temmu + +Marriage in early Japan; and the festival of utakai; none recognized +among slaves by Daika; in Nara and earlier epochs; in laws of +Military Houses; between military and court families; child marriage + +Marubashi Chuya, leader in revolt of 1651 + +Masa, daughter of Hojo Tokimasa, mistress of Minamoto Yoritomo; +mother of Yoriiye and the power, with Tokimasa, in his +administration; saves Sanetomo; plea to generals of Bakufu; death +(1225) + +Masakado see Taira Masakado + +Masanobu (1453-90), painter + +Masanori see Kusunoki Masanori + +Masashige see Kusunoki Masashige + +Masatomo see Ashikaga Masatomo + +Masatoshi see Hotta Masatoshi + +Masayasu see Inaba Masayasu + +Masks for dances, sculptured; no masks + +Masses, Buddhist + +Masuda Nagamori (1545-1615), one of 5 administrators, plots with +Ishida against Ieyasu; enters monastery after Sekigahara + +Masukagami, history of 1184-1333, on literature + +Mats, tatami, floor-coverings; tatsu-gomo + +Matsubara, Pine Plain + +Matsudaira, origin of family; of Aizu, etc. + +--Hideyasu (1574-1607), son of Ieyasu + +--Masatsuna (1567-1648), Tokugawa agent in Kyoto + +--Mitsunaga (1615-1717), punished by shogun + +--Motoyasu see Tokugawa Ieyasu + +--Nobutsuna (1596-1662), minister of Iemitsu, and of Ietsuna + +--Norimura, minister of Yoshimune, drafts code (1742); succession to +Yoshimune + +--Sadanobu (1758-1829), revises code; minister under Ienari; sumptuary +laws; educational reforms; retires; matter of rebuilding palace; rank +of Tsunehito and Hitotsubashi Harunari; revises rules of procedure + +--Tadanao, punished by Tokugawa in 1623 + +--Tadatem (1593-1683), daimyo of Echigu; removed + +--Yoshinaga, baron of Echizen, advocates foreign trade; importance in +new Japan + +Matsukura Shigemasa (1574-1630), persecutes Christians, urges +conquest of Philippines + +Matsumae, ruling Northern islands, clash with Russians + +Matsuriaga Hisahide (1510-77), kills Norinaga and the shogun +Yoshiteru; ally of Shingen + +Matsuo Basho (1644-94), verse writer + +Matsushita Yukitsuna, soldier under whom Hideyoshi served + +Matsuura, in Hizen, Toi attack unsuccessfully; branch of Minamoto; +support Southern Court; attitude toward Xavier + +Mayor of the palace, kwampaku + +Ma Yuan, painter + +Mayuwa kills Anko + +Measures, early; standard (senshi-mashu) of Go-Sanjo; in Hideyoshi's +laws + +Medicine + +Medicine-hunting, early court amusement + +Meiji, "Enlightened Government" year-period 1868-1912; posthumous +name of Mutsuhito + +Meitoku, year-period, 1390-3, and the rising of 1391 + +Men, ideographic Japanese used by + +Menju Shosuke, impersonates Shibata Katsuiye and saves him + +Mercy, goddess, Kwannon + +Merit lands, Koden, granted for public services + +Mexico, Spanish ships from + +Michelborne, Sir Edward, on Japanese sailors (1604 or '5) + +Michi no Omi, ancestor of Otomo + +Michinaga see Fujiwara Michinaga + +Michiyasu, Prince; Emperor Montoku (q.v.) + +Michizane see Sugawara Michizane + +Mikado, origin of title; name appropriated for residence of Soga +Emishi + +Mikata-ga-hara, war of, (1572-3) + +Mikawa, province, Oda defeat Imagawa in; fighting in Komaki war + +Mikena, brother of Jimmu + +Military Affairs, in ancient Japan; first conscription (689 A.D.); +organization under Daiho; during Nara epoch; improvement in +organization in 12th century; development of tactics; foreign +military science; conscription laws and samurai; new army justified +by Satsuma rebellion; modern army organization + +Military Art of Bushi + +--class, shi; in Kamakura period + +--code, Gumbo-ryo, of Daiho laws + +--dues, Buke-yaku + +--ethics, and Primer of Yamaga Soko + +Military houses, buke, rise in 8th century; 10th; 11th; power +increased by Hogen and Heiji insurrections; Minamoto ideals; +finances; crushed by Kemmu restoration; Northern Court follows system +of; in Ashikaga times; Onin disorder; Muromachi period; land +holdings; power in Tokugawa period; Laws of; intermarry with Court +nobles; weakness + +Militia, kondei, in 8th century + +Milk + +Milky Way in myth + +Millet as substitute for rice + +Mimaki, life-time name of Emperor Sujin + +Mimana (Imna), Japanese name for Kara, Korea; Japanese influence +there; Tasa leads revolt in; part ceded to Kudara; Keno in; pretended +expedition against; Shiragi overpowers; Japan intervenes in war +between Shiragi and; Shiragi invades (622); families from, in 9th +century nobility + +Mimasaka, province, given to Yamana family (1441) + +Mimashi, Korean teacher of music (612 A.D.) + +Mime, Dengaku + +Mimoro, Prince + +Mimoro, Mt., in early myth; Kami of, a serpent + +Minamoto, princely family; Fujiwara take wives from; generals of +Imperial guards; called Gen and Gen-ji; academy; manors and troops; +win Taira estates; quarrel with Taira; revolt against Fujiwara; +literature; military power in provinces, especially Kwanto; "claws" +of Fujiwara; provincial branches; war with Taira; power taken by Hojo + +--Hikaru (845-913), son of Nimmyo, accuses Sugawara Michizane; death + +--Hiromasa (918-80), musician + +--Ichiman (1200-3), candidate for shogun, killed + +--Kanetsuna, in Yorimasa conspiracy + +--Kugyo see Kugyo + +--Mitsukune, erects monument to Kusunoki Masashige + +--Mitsumasa, founder of Suruga Genji + +Minamoto Mitsunaka (912-97), reveals conspiracy against Fujiwara +(967); his influence; founder of Shinano Genji; the two swords + +--Nakaakira, killed with Sanetomo by Sugyo + +--Narinobu, poet + +--Noriyori (1156-93), sent against Yoshinaka; at Ichino-tani; commands +force (1184-5); blocks Taira from withdrawing into Kyushu; +assassinated + +--Sanetonio (1192-1219), rival of Ichiman; blocks Hojo designs; +attempt to assassinate him; death; patron of Fujiwara Tameiye + +--Senju-maru (1201-14), revolt, execution + +--Shigenari, pretends to be Yoshitomo + +--Shitago (911-83), litterateur + +--Tadaaki, in capture of Rokuhara + +--Tametomo (1139-70), great warrior of Hogen tumult; exiled to Izu; +advice not followed + +--Tameyoshi, in Hogen, tumult + +--Tomomasa, Maki's candidate for shogun, killed + +--Toru (822-95), minister of the Left under Uda + +--Toshikata (959-1027), poet, one of Shi-nagon + +--Tsunemoto (894-961), Prince Rokusoh, founder of Seiwa Genji; in +beginning of hostilities with Taira + +--Wataru, husband of Kesa + +--Yorichika (d. 1117), ancestor of Suruga Genji + +--Yoriiye (1182-1204), succeeds (1199) as lord high constable and +chief landsteward; as shogun (1202); killed by Tokimasa + +--Yorimasa (1106-80), sides with Taira, killed + +--Yorimitsu (944-1021), soldier; aids Michinaga; at Court + +--Yorinobu (968-1048); governor of Xai, drives back Taira Tadatsune; +helps Michinaga + +--Yoritomo (1147-99), son of Yoshitomo; escapes after Heiji war; war +of 1180; army crushed; gains; quarrels with Yoshinaka; called to +Kyoto; sent against Yoshinaka; relations with Yoshitsune; Bakufu +independent of Court; memorial on manors; becomes sei-i tai-shogun; +death and character; patron of Saigyo Hoshi; system imitated by +Takauji + +--Yoriyoshi (995-1048); in Nine Years' Commotion + +--Yoshichika (d. 1117) rebellion put down by Taira Masamori + +--Yoshihira, son of Yoshitomo + +--Yoshiiye (1041-1108); great archer; called Hachiman Taro, in Nine +Year's Commotion and Three Year's war; helps put down disorder of +Enryaku-ji monks + +--Yoshikata + +--Yoshimitsu (10567-1127), founder of Tada Genji; in Three Years' War + +--(Kiso) Yoshinaka (1154-84), revolts in Shinano-Kotsuke; quarrels +with Yoritomo; defeats Taira at Tonami-yama; Go-Shirakawa joins; +tries to get crown for Hokurika; death + +--Yoshitaka marries Yoritomo's daughter; death + +--Yoshitomo, supports Go-Shirakawa in Hogen tumult; joins in plot of +Heiji; advice overruled by Nobuyori, killed; his sons; loses great +land holdings + +--Yoshitsuna (d.1134), brother of Yoshiiye + +--Yoshitsune (1159-89), son of Yoshitomo, escapes after Heiji tumult; +joins Yoritomo; sent against Yoshinaka; at Ichi-no-tani; wins battle +of Yashima; relations to Yoritomo; attempted assassination; protected +by Fujiwara Hidehira, suicide + +--Yukiiye (d. 1186); repeatedly defeated; joins Yoskinaka; Yoshinaka +disapproves his choice to be governor of Bizen; summary criticism of +him; turns to Yoshitsune, death + +--Yukitsuna betrays Shishi-ga-tani plot (1177), 296; occupies Settsu +and Kawachi (1183) + +Mincho, called Cho Densu, (1352-1431), painter + +Ming, Chinese Emperor, mission for Buddhist Sutras; dynasty, its fall + +Mining, Ieyasu's efforts (1609) to develop + +Ministers, system of three, under Daika; members of Privy Council +Board under Daiho; Hideyoshi's system; council of, separated from +shogun; senior and junior ministers + +Mino, province, Oda defeat Saito in + +Miroku (Sanskrit Martreya), stone image of, brought to Japan (584 +A.D.) + +Mirror, in myth of Sun-Goddess; one of Imperial insignia; bronze, in +sepulchral remains + +Mishchenko, Russian general, leads cavalry raid after fall of Port +Arthur + +Misumi, adherents of Southern Court, in Sanin-do + +Mita, Korean architect + +Mitigations (roku-gi) of penalty of Daiho code for rank, position +and public service + +Mito, Tokugawa of + +Mitoshi, a Kami + +Mitsubishi Company, first private dockyard + +Mitsuhide see Akechi Mitsuhide + +Mitsukuni see Tokugawa Mitsukuni + +Mitsunobu (Tosa no M.), painter, founder of Tosa school of painting + +Miura branch of Taira; plot against Hojo + +Mitsuinura (d. 1247), suicide + +--Yasumara (1204-47), in war with Hojo + +--Yoshiaki + +--Yoshizumi (1127-1200), in Bakufu + +Miwa Sako, commander of palace guards + +Miyake Atsuaki, contributor to Dai Nilon-shi + +Miyoshi, scholars in Ashikaga administration; lecturers; in civil war +of 1520-50; crush Hoshokawa; in Awa; attempt to take Kyoto + +--Kiyotsura (847-918); memorial (914), on writing; Chinese scholar + +--Masanaga, inheritance + +--Miyoshi Motonaga + +--Nagateru (d. 1520), guardian of Hosokawa Sumimoto and Takakuni; death + +--Norinaga, called Chokei (1523-64), in civil war + +--Yasunobu (1140-1221), son of Yoritomo's nurse; ancestor of Ota and +Machino uji; in Bakufu council; advice at beginning of Shokyu +struggle; death + +--Yasutsura, with Hojo Yasutoki plans Joei code + +--Yoshitsugu (d.1573), revolts in Settsu + +Mizugaki, Sujin's court at + +Mizuha, life time name of Emperor Hansho + +Mizuno, governor of Nagasaki, persecutes Christians + +--Echizen no Kami, prime minister of Ieyoshi, sumptuary laws and +efforts at reform (1826) + +Mochifusa see Uesugi Mochifusa + +Mochihito, Prince, (1150-80), Yorimasa conspiracy + +Mogami of Yamagata + +--Yoshiakira (1546-1614), one of Ieyasu's generals + +Moho, variant name of Sushen or Toi + +Momijiyama Bunko, Tokugawa library at Yedo + +Mommu, 42nd Emperor (697-707), Prince Karu, accession; succession and +plan to move capital + +Momokawa see Fujiwara Momokawa + +Momonoi family favours Tadayoshi + +Momo-yama, "Peach Hill," in Fushimi, Hideyoshi's palace; last epoch +of Ashikaga shogunate; palace destroyed (1596); Ieyasu's castle taken +(1600) + +Momozono, 116th Emperor (1735-62) + +Mon, coin + +Mongaku, priest, originally Endo Morito, aids Yoritomo + +Mongol, subdivision of yellow race; fold of eye; invasion + +Monju-dokoro, Bakufu department of justice; in administration of +Kyoto after Shokyu war; power passes to Hyojoshu; in Muromachi +administration + +Monkey, worship of; female divinity + +Mononobe, palace guard; uji of Kwami class, important especially in +Yuryaku's reign; oppose Buddhism + +Moriya, o-muraji, killed by Soga; their rivalry; opposes Buddhism; +supports Anahobe; final contest with Soga; property + +--Okoshi, o-muraji; opposes Buddhism + +Montoku, Emperor (851-58), chronicle of reign + +Montoku Jitsuroku, National History + +Monto-shu, Shin sect + +Moon, Kami of + +Moonlight festivals + +Mori Arinori, Viscount (1847-89), minister of public instruction, +assassinated + +Mori family, rapid rise in power; Ashikaga Yoshiaki turns to + +--Hidemoto (1579-1650), in Ishida's army + +--Motonari (1497-1571), wins power of Ouchi + +--Motonori (1839-96), of Choshu, leader of extremists, expelled from +Kyoto + +--Nagayoshi (1558-84), general of Hideyoshi + +--Rammaru, lieutenant of Nobunaga + +--Terumoto (1553-1625) loses central Japan to Hideyoshi; Akechi +Mitsuhide joins; peace with Hideyoshi; senior minister; signs +Hideyoshi's laws; favours Ishida, leads his army; loses estates + +Morihito, Emperor Nijo + +Morikuni, Prince (1301-33), shogun, (1308-33) + +Morimasa see Sakuma Morimasa + +Morinaga, Prince, (1308-35), called Oto no Miya, son of Go-Daigo, and +his defender; commander-in-chief; death + +Moriya see Mononobe Moriya + +Morosada, Prince, see Kwazan + +Moroya, chief of Otomo, o-muraji + +Morrison, American ship in Yedo, 1837 + +Mother-of-pearl and lacquer + +"Mother's Land," Shiragi, Korea + +Motien Mountains, Russian campaign planned in + +Motonobu (1476-1559), painter, Kano school + +Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), Shinto revival; quoted; on Shinto +dualism + +Mourning colour, white, earlier, black; customs; periods of, varying +with rank + +Moxa, medicinal herb, touch of, defilement + +Mu Hsi, painter + +Mukden, Russian railway through; battle of (1905) + +Muko, Fukuhara harbour + +Mukuhara, Buddhist temple at + +Mulberry, early culture; used with hemp to make cloth; order for +cultivation (472 A.D.); planting of, condition of tenure of upland + +Multa, King of Kudara, stories of his cruelty told of Emperor Muretsu + +Munemara, chief of trade + +Munetada see Tokugawa Munetada + +Munetaka, Prince (1242-74), shogun in 1252-66 + +Munetake see Tokugawa Munetake + +Munro, N. G., on Japanese archaeology; imibe; rice-chewers; coins + +Muraji, "chief," title; applied to pre-conquest (Shimbetsu) rulers; +o-muraji, head of o-uji; inferior title in Temmu's peerage + +Murakami, 62nd Emperor (947-67) + +Murakami Genji, branch of Minamoto + +--Yoshihiro, of Iyo province, pirate chief + +--Yoshikiyo (1501-73), driven from Kuzuo by Takeda Shingen + +--Yoshiteru impersonates Morinaga + +Murasaki Shikibu (d. 992), writer of Genji Monogatari + +Muravieff, Nikolai Nikolaievich (d. 1881), Russian commander in Far +East, claims (1858) Saghalien + +Murdoch, J., quoted on Tadatsune's ravages of Kwanto; on Heian epoch; +weakening of Fujiwara power; Bushi of Kwanto; Joei code; downfall of +Bakufu; feudalism in war of dynasties; literati in Ashikaga +administration; Kamakura rule in Kai, Izu and Mutsu; revolt of 1443 + +Muretsu (Buretsu), 25th Emperor (499-506) + +Muro Nawokiyo, or Kyuso, (1658-1734). Confucianist, historian of "47 +Ronins"; adviser to shogun + +Muromachi, part of Kyoto, administrative headquarters of Ashikaga; +Ashikaga shoguns at + +Musashi, immigrants from Koma settle in; war of Taira and Minamoto +in; Hojo and Uesugi in + +Mushroom picking + +Music, Korean and Buddhist; and poetry; in Heian society; joruri + +Muso Kokushi, "National Teacher," or Soseki (1271-1346), scholar; +head of Tenryuji + +Muto, branch of Fujiwara in Kwanto + +--Sukeyori, founder of Shoni family + +Mutsu, 5 provinces, in Nara epoch, N. E. and N. littoral; the Nine +Years' Commotion (1056-64) in; Three Years' War (1089-1091) in; +(O-shu) part of 0-U, 388; peaceful under Kamakura rule; revolt of +1413 in; in 16th century wars; silk growing; famine of 1783-6 in + +--branch of Fujiwara, descendants of Fujiwara Kiyohira; give +Yoshitsune asylum; crushed by Yoritomo (1189) + +Mutsuhito, (posthumous name, Meiji), 122nd Emperor (1867-1912); seal + +Myochin Nobuiye, metalworker and armourer + +Myocho, Zen priest + +Myoe (or Koben), bonze, quotation from his biography on Yasutoki + +Myogaku-ji, temple + +Myong see Song Wang Myong + +Myoo, priest + +Myoshin-ji, Zen temple, W. of Kyoto + +Myosho, (109th) Empress (1629-43), Princess Oki, daughter of +Go-mizu-no-o and Tokugawa consort + +Mythology; rationalistic explanation of, by Japanese + +Nabeshima Naoshige (1537-1619), invasion of Korea + +Nagahama, Omi, headquarters of Hideyoshi + +Nagakude, battle of + +Nagamasa see Asai Nagatnasa and Asano Nagamasa + +Nagamori see Masuda Nagamori + +Nagao Kagetora see Uesugi Kenshin + +Nagaoka, Yamashiro, capital + +--uji, of princely descent + +Nagasaki, port; church, trade, growth; Jesuit church seized by +Francisans; missionaries receive patent; Martyrs' Mount; execution of +De l'Assumption and Machado; "Great Martyrdom"; trade; Pessoa at; +Dutch and English confined to; Dutch factory; Russians come to +(1804); Glynn and the Preble; Americans allowed to trade; military +college at + +--Enki, guardian of Hojo Takatoki + +--Takashige, suicide, 386 + +--Takasuke (d.1333), minister of Takatoki; dethrones Go-Daigo + +Nagashino, castle + +Nagasune, governor of Yamato + +Nagato, fortifications at, (1280) + +Nagatoshi, name given to Nawa Nagataka + +Nagauji see Hojo Soun + +Nagaya (684-729), minister of the Left + +Nagoya, in Hizen, base of operations against Korea; castle of + +Nai-mul, king of Shiragi (364), first sends tribute to Yamato + +Naka, Prince, son of Kogyoku; passed over, in succession; +interregnum; Great Reform; expedition to Korea; Emperor Tenchi + +Nakachiko, Oshiwa's servant + +Nakahara family, scholars, secretaries in Bakufu; in Ashikaga +administration; lecturers + +--Chikayoshi (1142-1207) in Yoritomo's Bakufu; nominated; high +constable at Court, but not appointed; in Bakufu council; ancestor of +Otomo family of Kyushu + +--Kaneto, rears Yoshinaka; his four sons, Yoshinaka's guards + +Nakai Seishi establishes school in Osaka + +Xakamaro see Abe Nakamoro and Fujiwara Nakamaro + +Nakamura Hiyoshi see Toyotomi Hideyoshi + +Nakane Genkei, mathematician, translates Gregorian calendar into +Japanese + +Nakanomikado, 114th Emperor (1710-35) + +Nakano, suburb of Yedo, dog-kennel in + +Naka-Nushi, "Central Master" + +Nakasendo, Central Mountain road, completed early in 8th century + +Nakashi, wife of Okusaka + +Nakatomi family, court priests; descended from Koyane; guardians of 3 +insignia, and of Shinto ceremonials; oppose Buddhism, and Soga + +--Kamako, muraji, opposes Buddhism + +--Kamatari see Fujiwara Kamatari + +--Kane, muraji, minister, in conspiracy against Oama (Temmu) + +--Katsumi, muraji, killed (587 A.D.) + +Nakatsu, Prince + +Nakaye Toju (1608-48), Confucianist, follower of Wang Yang-ming + +Namamugi incident + +Nambu family + +--Saemon opposes Ieyasu + +Names and naming, Japanese system; territorial + +Naniwa, now Osaka, capital of Emperor Nintoku; Buddhist temple, +(579); immigrants from Kudara; administration, Settsu-shoku, under +Daiho; removal of capital to, by Kotoku; trade in Heian epoch + +Nanko, see Kusunoki Masashige + +Nankwa (16th Cent.), scholar + +Na-no-Agata or Watazumi-no-Kuni, Japanese intercourse with + +Naiishan, commanding Port Arthur + +Nanzen-ji, Zen temple, 454; one of the "Five" + +Nara, Yamato province, removal of capital to (709 A.D.); the Nara +epoch (709-84); the Nara image of Buddha; city officials, revenues +from public lands appropriated for, 775 A.D.; Kusu and Fujiwara +Nakanari attempt to make it capital again; power of armed monks +controlled by Yoshinori; rebel against Yoshimasa; Takauji tries to +check + +Nariaki see Tokugawa Nariaki + +Narimasa see Sasa Narimasa + +Narinaga, Prince (1325-38), kwanryo of Kwanto; shogun at Kamakura + +Narita Kosaburo assists Go-Daigo + +Nariyuki see Tokugawa Nariyuki + +Nasu family, one of "8 Generals of Kwanto" + +"National Histories, Six" covering years 697-887 A.D.; five composed +in Heian epoch + +Nature Worship + +Navarrete, Alonso (1617), Spanish Dominican, executed by Omura + +Navigation; see Ships + +Navy, Japanese, in Mongol invasion; in invasion of Korea; naval +College, Gunkan Kyojujo, at Tsukiji; modern organization; in war with +China; in war with Russia + +Nawa, adherents of Southern Court, in Sanin-do + +Nagatoshi (d. 1336), helps Go-Daigo escape; provincial governor; +commands against the Ashikaga; death + +Nazuka Masaiye, in charge of land-survey + +Needle, magic, as cure + +Negoro, in Kii, firearms made at; headquarters of priests of Kii + +Nei-issan see Ichinei + +Nemuro, Russian ship in (1792) + +Nengo, era or period, in chronology; different names in Northern and +Southern courts + +Nenoi Yukichika, one of Yoshinaka's four guards + +Ne no Omi, messenger of Anko + +Neo support Southern Court in Mino + +Neolithic culture + +Nestorian Christianity in China + +Netsuke, (ill.) + +New Spain, Mexico, ships from + +New Year's celebration + +Ng, Chinese writer on war (3d Cent, A.D.) + +Nichira, Japanese at Kudara Court advises Bidatsu against Kudara + +Nichiren, Buddhist sect dating from 13th century; its founder; war +with other monks + +Nigihayahi, uncle of Jimmu, overlord of Nagasune + +Nihon Bummei Shiryaku, on early medicine + +Nihon Kodaiho Shakugi, on Board of Religion + +Nihon Koki, Later Chronicles of Japan (792-833) + +Nihongi, Chronicle of Japan (720); on Chuai and Jingo; after 400 A.D. + +Nihonmatsu family + +Nihon Shoki, Written Chronicles of Japan to 697 A.D. (720), revision +of; continuations + +Nijo, family founded by son of Fujiwara Michiiye, one of "Five Regent +Houses" + +Nijo, 78th Emperor (1159-66) + +Castle, Kyoto, destroyed; officials of + +Michihira (1287-1335), Go-Daigo's minister + +Yoshimoto (1320-88), scholar and author + +Nikaido in office of shitsuji; defeated by Date + +Sadafusa opposes the regent (1331) + +Nikki favour Takauji + +Nikko, Shimotsuke province, shrine of Ieyasu and tombs in; annual +worship at + +Nikolaievsk, strategic situation + +Nimmyo, Emperor (834-50); chronicle of his reign; luxury + +Nine Years' Commotion, Zenkunen (1056-64) + +Ningpo, trade with Japan; sacked by Japanese + +Ninigi see Hikoho Ninigi + +Ninken, 24th Emperor (488-98), Prince Woke + +Ninko, 120th Emperor (1817-46) + +Nintoku, 16th Emperor (313-99); 7 provinces added by; consort, +Takenouchi's granddaughter; love story; remits taxes + +Nippon, "Sunrise Place" + +Nira-yama, Hojo castle + +Nishi Hongwan-ji, temple + +Nishikawa Masayasu, astronomer under Yoshimune + +Nishina-uji, branch of Taira family + +Nishina Morito (d. 1221), Bakufu retainer, in Shokyu war + +Nishino Buntaro, assassin (1889) of Viscount Mori + +Nisi-no-shima, islet in Oki group + +Nitta family, Yoritomo's attempt to win; adherents of Southern Court; +crushed by Ashikaga Ujimitsu + +--Yoshiaki (d. 1338), son of Yoshisada and provincial governor; +suicide + +--Yoshimune (1332-68), in defeat of Takauji + +--Yoshioki (d. 1358) + +--Yoshisada (1301-38) in Kyoto revolt; declares against Hojo, takes +Kamakura; provincial governor; accuses Takauji of treason; commands +army against Takauji; besieges Shirahata; escapes; faithful to +Go-Daigo; death + +--Yoshishige (d. 1202), ancestor of Tokugawa + +Nittabe, Prince, residence of, site of Shodai-ji temple + +Niuchwang taken by Japanese (1894) + +Niwa Nagahide (1535-85), soldier of Nobunaga; councillor + +No, dance and drama; Sadanobu regulates costume; masks + +No-ami, artist, patronized by Yoshimasa + +Nobility, primitive; administrative; growth of power at expense of +Emperor; Daika attempts to distinguish from official ranks; titles of +hereditary aristocracy annulled by Daika and estates escheated; +nobles state pensioners; new titles under Temmu; influence of +hereditary nobles against Daiho laws; court society in Heian epoch; +in Meiji era; see Court Houses, Military Houses + +Nobukatsu see Oda Nobukatsu + +Nobunaga see Oda Nobunaga + +Nobuteru see Ikeda Nobuteru + +Nobuyoshi see Tokugawa Nobuyoshi + +Nogi, Kiten, Count (1849-1912), commanding 3d Army, at Dalny; +receives surrender of Port Arthur; at Mukden + +Nomi-no-Sukune, suggests clay effigies instead of human funeral +sacrifices; wrestler; ancestor of Sugawara family + +No-niwa, moor-garden + +Norimura see Akamatsu Norimura + +Nori Sachhi see Tori Shichi + +Norito, ancient rituals + +Northeastern Japan, political importance of + +North-east gate, the Demon's gate + +Northern and Southern Dynasties; table; Northern in control + +Northern Japan, more primitive culture of + +Novik, Russian 2d-class cruiser at Port Arthur + +Nozu, Michitsura, Count (1840-1908), commanding 4th Army; at Mukden + +Nuns, Buddhist, Imperial princesses become + +Nurses, provided for the Court by Mibu + +Oama, younger brother of Naka (Emperor Tenchi), administrator during +7-year interregnum (661-668); appointed Tenchi's successor, declines +in face of conspiracy; becomes Emperor Temmu + +Oba Kagechika (d. 1182), hems in Yoritomo and crushes his army + +Oban, coin + +Obi, in Hyuga, Chinese trade + +Occupations, hereditary among prehistoric uji or families + +Oda family, one of "8 Generals of Kwanto"; origin of family + +--Hidenobu (1581-1602), grandson of Nobunaga + +--Katsunaga (1568-82), death + +--Nobuhide (d. 1549) aids Crown + +--Nobukatsu, son of Nobunaga, in Ise; succession; Komaki war; peace +with Hideyoshi; Hideyoshi's treatment; signs oath of loyalty + +--Nobunaga (1534-82); seizes Ise; career; Hideyoshi serves under; wins +Okehazama; alliance with Ieyasu and Shingen; Court appeals to; +attitude toward Yoshiaki; practically shogun; makes peace; friendly +to Christians; aids Ieyasu; death; character; currency reform + +--Nobutada (1557-82), with Ieyasu destroys army of Takeda Katsuyori; +death; succession + +--Nobutaka (1558-83) + +--Samboshi called Hidenobu (1581-1602), son of Nobutada, his successor + +Odate, governor of Harima, and Oke and Woke + +Odate Muneuji, killed in attack on Kamakura + +Odawara, fortress of Hojo; Odawara-hyogi proverb of reluctance; +attacked by Kenshin; surrenders (1590) + +Oeyama Shutendoji, bandit + +Office and official called by same name; and rank, family +qualifications for, before Heiji commotion + +Official or Court lands, kwanden, under Daiho laws + +--rank and aristocratic titles distinguished by the Daika + +--rules (kyaku) supplementing Yoro laws + +Oga, eighth of the great uji, descended from Okuninushi + +Ogawa, at Sekigahara + +Ogigayatsu, family name taken by Uesugi Tomomune; feud with +Yamanouchi; against Hojo + +Ogimaru see Hashiba Hidekatsu + +Oguchi, battle of, Hideyoshi defeats Shimazu Iehisa + +Ogura, Mount, home of Fujiwara Sadaiye + +Ogyu (or Butsu) Sorai (1666-1728), Confucianist, writes on "47 +Ronin", and on government; revises code + +Ohama, nobleman, placates fishermen + +Ohatsuse, brother of Anko; apparently instigates murder of all +between him and crown; succeeds as Yuryaku + +Oiratsume, incestuous sister of Karu + +Oishi Yoshiyo (1659-1703), leader of "47 Ronin" (1703) + +Oiwa, general in Korea, tries to get throne of Kudara + +Ojin, 15th Emperor (270-310); 21 provinces added in his reign; ship +building; palanquin + +Okabe Tadazumi kills Taira Tadanori at Ichi-no-tani + +Okagami, historical work + +Oka-yama, castle in Bizen + +Okazaki, in Mikawa, Ieyasu's castle in + +Okazaki Masamune (1264-1344), swordsmith of Kamakura + +Oke, Prince, see Kenso + +Okehazama, battle (1560) victory of Nobunaga + +Oki, Princess, see Myosho + +Okimachi, 106th Emperor (1557-86); honours Kenshin, summons Nobunaga +to Kyoto; Hideyoshi; decrees against Christianity + +Okisada, see Sanjo + +Okitsugu, see Tanuma Okitsugu + +Okiyo, Prince, governor of Musashi + +Okoshi, see Mononobe Okoshi + +Oku Hokyo, Count (b. 1844) commanding 2d Army wins battle of Kinchou; +and of Telissu; at Mukden + +Okubo family, guards of Hakone barrier + +--Tadachika (1553-1628) punished for disobedience to Military Law + +--Toshimitsu (1832-78) of Satsuma, in alliance with Choshu; and Korean +question; assassinated + +Okuma Shigenobu, Count (b. 1838); organizes Progressist party; attack +upon, retirement; invited into Cabinet + +Okuni-nushi, Kami, "Great Name Possessor"; ancestor of Oga-uji + +Okura-no-Tsubone, Yodo's lady-in-waiting + +Okusaka, uncle of Anko, accused of treason; Okusakabe formed in his +honour + +Okuyama Yasushige (d. 1651) + +Omi, muraji, befriends Oke and Woke + +Omi, "grandee", title, applied to chiefs of conquest, and to subjects +holding court office; higher than muraji; inferior title in Temmu's +peerage + +Omi, immigrants from Kudara settle in; seat of court and place of +issue of Omi statutes; capital moved to; Asai control; Buddhists help +Asai in; rice grants + +Omitsu, son of Susanoo, imports cotton from Korea + +Omiwa, Kami of + +Omura, fief in Hizen, represented in embassy to Europe of 1582 + +--Sumitada (1532-87) invites Jesuits to Omura in Hizen; a Christian, +persecutes + +Omura Sumiyori (d. 1619), persecutes Christians + +O-muraji, head of o-uji or preeminent grandee; office held by Otomo +and then Mononobe; political rivalry with o-omi; opposing Buddhism; +property of, unimportant after the Daika; not in Temmu's scheme of +titles + +Onakatsu, consort of Inkyo + +Onchi, or Yenchi, uplands, distinguished from irrigated rice land in +Daiho code + +Ondo no Seto, strait near Kobe + +Onin, period, 1467-9, its records; civil war of; beginning of Sengoku +Jidai + +Onjo-ji, in Omi, temple of Jimon branch, of Tendai sect, built by +Otomo Suguri; its armed men; its abbot Raigo; part played by +monastery in Yorimasa conspiracy; burnt by Taira (1180) + +Ono Tofu, scribe + +Ono Azumahito (d. 742), lord of eastern marches, builds castle of +Taga + +--Harunaga (d. 1615), son of Yodo's nurse, adviser of Hideyori; plots +against Katagiri and Tokugawa; advises surrender of Osaka + +--Imoko, Japanese envoy to China (607 A.D.) + +--Yasumaro (d. 723), scribe; preface to Ko-jiki + +--Yoshifuru, general of guards, crushes revolt of Fujiwara Sumitomo + +Onogoro, mythic island in story of cosmogony + +Ooka Tadasuke (1677-1751), chief-justice in Yedo; revises code + +O-oku, harem + +O-omi, pre-eminent ami, head of Kwobetsu-uji; rivalry with o-muraji; +favour Buddhism; pre-eminent after death of Mononobe Moriya; title +given by Soga Emishi to his sons; no longer important after Daika +(645) + +Operative regulations, Shiki, supplementing Yoro laws + +Oracle, of Sun Goddess at Ise; War God at Usa + +Orange (tachibana) seeds brought from China (61 A.D.); trees +introduced + +Ordeal; of fire; of boiling water, kugadachi; used in Korea by Keno; +in questions of lineage + +Organtino (1530-1609), Jesuit, Hideyoshi's treatment + +Orloff, Russian general, ambuscaded at Liaoyang + +Orpheus-Eurydice legend, Japanese parallel + +Osabe, Prince Imperial, son of Konin, poisoned (772) + +Osada Tadamune and his son Kagemune kill Minamoto Yoshitomo + +Osadame Hyakkajo, Hundred Articles of Law + +Osafune, swordsmith + +Osaka, campaign from, against Sujin; Hideyoshi's castle; Chinese +envoys; Franciscan convent; missionaries' residence; castle attacked; +taken by Ishida; party of, refuse oath of loyalty to Tokugawa; castle +partly destroyed; taken; vendetta illegal in; Nakai Seishi's school; +rice exchange; jodai; traders crush English and Dutch competition; +opened by Hyogo demonstration (1866) + +Osaragi Sadanao, Hojo general, suicide (1333) + +Osawa family, masters of ceremonies + +Osazaki, life name of Emperor Nintoku + +Oshihi, ancestor of Otomo chiefs + +Oshikatsu, Rebellion of + +Oshioki Ojomoku, code + +Oshio Heihachiro (1792-1837) leads revolt after famine of 1836-7 + +Oshiwa, son of Richu, killed by Yuryaku + +Oshiyama, governor of Mimana, recommends cession of part of Mimana to +Kudara; territorial dispute of + +Oshu, or Mutsu subjugated (1189); revolt of Ando + +Ota Sukekiyo (1411-93), builds fort at Iwatsuki + +Dokwan or Sukenaga (1432-86), builds fort at Yedo; aids Ogigayatsu +branch of Uesugi + +Otani, Nagamasa's castle + +Oto, sister of Onakatsu, concubine of Inkyo + +Oto, son of Tasa + +Oto Miya see Morinaga + +Otoko-yama, surrendered + +Otomo family, descent; gate-guards; in Kyushu; treatment of Xavier in +Bungo; feudatory and son Christians; persecute Buddhists + +--general, defeats Iwaki and Hoshikawa + +--Prince, prime-minister (671); conspiracy against Oama, succession as +Kobun + +--Chikayo, tandai of Kyushu (1396) + +--Satehiko, in Korea (562) + +--Yakamochi (d. 785), anthology + +--Yoshishige, called Sorin, (1530-87), in wars in Kyushu; defeated in +Hizen, appeals to Hideyoshi + +Otsu, port + +Otsu, Prince, son of Temmu; rebels against Jito and is killed + +Otsuki Heiji advocates foreign intercourse + +O-U, O-shu (Mutsu) and U-shu (Dewa); in 16th century wars + +Ouchi family of Suwo, and the revolt of 1399; conspires in behalf of +Hosokawa Yoshitane; tandai; in charge of relations with Korea, and +China; quarrel with Shogun; superintend pirates; scholarship; gifts +to Throne; power in 16th century, taken over by Mori Motonari + +--Masahiro, pirate leader + +--Mochiyo (1395-1442) + +--Yoshihiro (1355-1400), Muromachi general, negotiates with Southern +Court; slanders Imagawa Ryoshun; suicide + +--Yoshinaga (d. 1557) + +--Yoshioki (1477-1528), deputy kwanryo to Hosokawa Yoshitane; removes +to Suwo + +--Yoshitaka (1507-51), re-establishes (1548) trade with China; Chinese +literature; defeated by Suye Harukata + +Owari, province, Nobunaga in; fighting in Komaki war; Tokugawa of + +Oyama, Iwao, Prince (b.1842), at Mukden + +Oyamada Takaiye, sacrifice saves Nitta Yoshisada + +Oye family could hold office above 5th rank; scholars; in Ashikaga +administration + +--Hiramoto (1148-1225), first president of man-dokoro; reforms (1185); +sent to Kyoto after earthquake of 1185; in council of Bakufu; +remonstrates with Sanetomo; urges offensive at beginning of Shokyu +struggle; death + +--Masafusa, general in Nine Years' Commotion; attempt to placate Raigo + +--Tomotsuna, litterateur + +O Yo-mei see Wang Yang-ming + +Paddy-loom, introduction + +Pagoda, 7-storey; 13-storey; many built by Shirakawa + +Pahan-Hachiman, of pirate ships + +Paikche, or Kudara, near Seoul, Japanese alliance with; artisans from + +Paik-chhon-ku (Ung-jin), Japanese and Kudara army defeated by Chinese +A.D. + +Painting, Chinese, in Japan; and Korean; in years 540-640; in Nara +epoch; in Heian epoch; in Kamakura period; in Muromachi period + +Palace, ancient; consecration; in Nintoku's reign; Asuka; temporary, +in burial; Kyoto palace burned and rebuilt; guards; officials; +Yoshimitsu's; Yoshimasa's; Hideyoshi's + +Palanquin, koshi, of 3rd century; one-pole, kago; legislation about; +luxurious use of, in Genroku period + +Paletot + +Palisades, early defence + +Pattada, Russian cruiser at Port Arthur + +Paper currency + +Parkes, Sir Harry (1828-85), and Hyogo demonstration + +Parks in Heian epoch in Kyoto; in Kamakura period; in Muromachi; see +Landscape gardening + +Parties, political, personal character of; opposition to cabinet; +union of Liberals and Progressists + +Partitions in houses + +Parturition hut, ubuya + +Paulownia, Imperial badge + +Pavilion, Golden, of Yoshimitsu; Silver of Yoshimasa + +Pawnshops, heavy taxes on + +Peaches in myth of Izanagi and Izanami; Chinese origin of story + +Peach Hill, Momoyama, Hideyoshi's palace + +"Peerage," Japanese, Seishi-roku (814 A.D.) + +Pehchili, in Boxer Rebellion + +Peking, Japanese in march to, during Boxer Rebellion + +Penal law and penalties, ancient; proto-historic; ritsu of Daiho and +Yoro; in Joei code; in Tokugawa period + +Perry, Matthew C. (1794-1858), Commodore, U.S.N., and treaty with +Japan + +Persecution of Buddhists, by Christians, influence Hideyoshi; of +Jesuits after edict of 1587; of Franciscans; of Dominicans (1622); of +Japanese Christians (1613); (1616), (1622), in Iemitsu's time + +Perseus-Andromeda story, Japanese parallel + +Pescadores, ceded by China (1895) + +Pessoa, Andrea, blows up his ship at Nagasaki + +Pestilence in reign of Sujin; in 1182; in 1783-6; displeasure of gods +at adoption of Buddhism + +Petition-box (meyasu-bako) and right of petition (645 A.D.); abuse +of, pointed out in Miyoshi no Kiyotsura; petition bell in Kamakura; +boxes re-introduced + +Petropavlovsk, Russian battle-ship, sunk + +Pets, cats and dogs + +Pheasant in myth of Heavenly Young Prince + +--White, Hakurchi, nengo or year-period, 650-4 A.D. + +Philippine Islands, promised to Hideyoshi by Franciscans; Ieyasu's +embassies to; conquest of, urged by Cocks, and by Matsukura and +Takenaka; Japanese forbidden to visit; governor-general of, in Japan + +Phung-chang, prince of Kudara + +Physical characteristics of Japanese + +Piece, 40 ft., unit of cloth measure + +Pine-bark for food + +Pine trees in Yedo castle + +Pirates in Shikoku, Fujiwara Sumitomo sent against; Japanese piracy +in Muromachi epoch; and invasion of Korea + +Pit-dwellers see Tsuchi-gumo + +Pitszewo, landing-place of 2d Japanese army (1904) + +Plum tree groves, 612; blossom festival + +Poetry; Nara epoch; Heian; Chinese style; in battle; in Genroku era; +bureau of; quoted; see Couplet Composing + +Pohai, Korean kingdom of 8th century recognized by Japan as successor +of Koma + +Pok-ein, Kudara general, defeats Shiragi troops (660) + +Police, doshin + +--Board, Danjo-dai, duties taken over by kebiishi + +--executive, kebiishi, (810-29) + +Poltava, Russian cruiser at Port Arthur + +Polygamy in early Japan + +Polytheism of early Buddhism + +Pontiff, ho-o, title taken by abdicating Emperor + +Porcelain + +Port Arthur, taken from Chinese (1894); Russian railway; Russian +fleet at, crippled by Japanese; Japanese attack on, was it +warranted?; fleet further crippled; harbour entrance blocked; +movements toward; captured (end of 1904) + +Portsmouth, Peace of, (text) + +Portuguese in Japan; introduce fire-arms; Spanish jealousy of; Dutch +and English intrigue against; instigate Christian revolt; edict of +1637 against; refuse grant in Yedo; monopolize early trade; end of +trade + +Post bells, suzu + +Posthumous names; official rank first conferred + +Posting stations + +Potato, sweet, introduced + +Powder, in costume + +Prayer, magic, etc. + +Preble, American brig, in Nagasaki (1847) + +Prefectural government as opposed to feudal; prefecture or ken + +Prices, official, (1735) + +Priesthood, Buddhist, attempt to bring under law; armed priests; +princes enter, except Crown Prince; temporal power; scholarship + +--Catholic, Ieyasu's attitude; and see Jesuits, Franciscans, +Dominicans, Augustins + +--Shinto, early rules + +Prime Minister, 85, development of political power; office first +established (671) + +Primogeniture in early times, Imperial; in the family; Imperial, +established 696 A.D. + +Princely Houses + +Princes, Imperial, change of status in Nara epoch; many become +priests in Ashikaga epoch; abbots of Enryaku-ji and Kwanei-ji; all +but Crown Prince enter priesthood; prince abbots, or monzeki + +Printing, Buddhist amulets (770); in China; from movable type, about +1592 + +Prisons + +Privy council, Daijo (dajo) kwan; Board of + +Progressist party, Shimpo-to, organized (1881) by Okuma; joins with +Liberals + +Promotion, official, Chinese system introduced (603 A.D.); under +Daiho + +Prose of Nara epoch; of Engi era wholly in Chinese; Ki no Tsurayuki's +preface to Kokin-shu + +Prosody, Japanese; and see Poetry, Couplet + +Prostitution in Yedo; Sadanobu's legislation + +Provinces, kuni, in reign of Seimu; classification, and subdivision +into kori, under Daiho; difference between capital and provinces in +Heian epoch; lawlessness; power of provincial families; Bushi +employed by provincial nobles; shugo system, abolished by Kemmu +restoration; local autonomy abolished + +Provincial rulers, in early times; administration by imperial +princes; early kuni-no-miyatsuko, later kokushi; kokushi under Daika; +abuses under Shomu and Koken; use forced labour to reclaim uplands; +term reduced to 5 years (774); administration criticized by Miyoshi +no Kiyotsura; administration after Onin war; in Muromachi period; and +Christianity + +--temples, kokubun-ji; expense + +--troops, abolished (792) except on frontiers + +Public land, Kugaiden + +Purchase value of money + +Purification, Great, Oharai; regular, harai; bodily, misogi; as +punishment for persons of high rank + +Purple court costume; ecclesiastical robes + +Pyong-yang, Korea; in campaign of 1592; taken from Japanese by +Chinese (1593); Chinese defeated at, (1894) + +Queen's Country, Chinese name for Kyushu and west-coast provinces +because of female rulers + +Queue--wearing and official caps, (603) + +Quiver + +Race of Japanese + +Raconteurs or reciters, guild of, Kataribe, (ill) + +Raigo, abbot, influence + +Rai Miki (1825-59), in Imperial restoration movement + +Rai Sanyo (1780-1832) on ethical effects of Chinese classics; on +Mintoku; on Bakufu; on the Hojo; on Morinaga; on Yoshisada; on +development of tactics + +Railways, Englishmen employed in planning; modern building + +Rakuo, pen-name of Matsudaira Sadanobu + +Rank, hon-i; changed by Taira Kiyomori after Heiji commotion; and +costume + +Ransetsu, verse-writer + +Ratio of copper and silver in coinage; of silver and gold + +Reclamation, of upland, in 8th century; and perpetual title; in +Yoshimune's time + +Recluse Emperors, Three; and see Camera Government + +Recorder, of judgments + +Recorders, Court of + +Records, early Japanese; local + +Red court costume, mark of highest rank; colour of Taira ensign + +Red Monk, name given to Yamana Mochitoyo + +Red walls + +Reed, source of terrestrial life; boat in Japanese myth + +Reform, Great (645) + +Regent for grown Emperor, mayor of palace, kwampaku, office abolished +after Kemmu restoration, in Tokugawa period; to minor, sessho; +military, shikken + +Regent Houses, Five, Go-Sekke + +Registrar of Vessels + +Registration of land + +Reigen, 112th Emperor (1663-86); abdicates + +Rein, J. J., on chronology + +Reizei, 63rd Emperor (968-969), grandson of Fujiwara no Morosuke + +Relief in crop-failure or sickness, under Daiho laws; for debtors; +for sufferers from fire and tornado; for famine + +Religion, early rites; rites reorganized; Emperor at head of; in +protohistoric period; Board of; Miyoshi Kiyotsura's description; +Yoritomo's attitude; in Muromachi period; Department of; and see +Mythology, Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity + +Ren, lady of Go-Daigo, conspires against Morinaga, for her son +Tsunenaga + +Rennyo Shonin see Kenju + +Restoration, of Kemmu era; of 1867 + +Return, English ship + +Retvisan, Russian battleship at Port Arthur + +Rhinoceros, fossil + +Rice, castle; diet; culture; chewers, nurses; corporation of +cultivators; for public use; standard of exchange; store-houses, for +sale to travelers; loaned to farmers; substitute crops urged; boiled +and dried, ration; paddy-loom; area cultivated, 15th century, +beginning of 16th century; currency; relief tax on feudatories; +production increased; rice exchange; classification of fields; modern +crops + +Richardson, English subject, killed in Namamugi + +"Rich Gem," Princess, in myth of Hosuseri and Hohodemi + +Richu, 17th Emperor (400-405 A.D.), first of "protohistoric" +sovereigns + +Right, Minister of + +Rikken Seiyukai, "Friends of the Constitution" + +Riparian improvements under Nintoku + +Rituals, Ancient + +River of Heaven, Milky Way + +Rock, Sacred, on Kannabi mountains + +Rodriguez, Joao (1559-1633), Portuguese Jesuit, interpreter at Yedo + +Roju, seniors, cabinet; council of ministers, removed from proximity +to shogun; and tax collecting; judges + +Rokkaku, one of Five Regent Houses; Yoshihisa's campaign against + +--Sadayori, see Sasaki Sadayori + +--Takayori, see Sasaki Takayori + +Rokuhara, n. and s. suburbs of Kyoto, offices of the Bakufu tandai; +in Kyoto revolt + +Rokujo, 79th Emperor (1166-1168) + +Roku Kokushi, Six National Histories + +Rokuon-ji, family temple of Yoshimitsu + +Roku-sho-ji, Six Temples built by Shirakawa + +Roman Empire, early trade with China + +Ronin, free lances; revolt of; "47" + +Roofs + +Rope, straw, in myth; paper-mulberry, used in fishing + +Rosen, Roman Romanovitch, Baron, Russian peace commissioner at +Portsmouth + +Rossia, Russian cruiser at Vladivostok + +Rouge, in costume + +Rozhdestvensky, Ziniry Petrovitch (b. 1848), commanding Baltic +squadron, defeated by Togo + +Rules for Decisions; of Judicial Procedure + +--and Regulations of Three Generations, Saridai-Kyaku-shiki; revised +(819) + +Rurik, Russian cruiser + +Russia, relations with, 18th and early 19th centuries; joins France +and Germany in note protesting against Japanese occupation of +Manchurian littoral; war with; peace, (text); situation in 1911 + +Russian, name Akuro-o may be read Oro-o and mean + +Ryobu Shinto, mixed Shinto, Kami being avatars of Buddhas + +Ryogoku, bridge in Yedo + +Ryoken, priest of Nanzen-ji + +Ryoshun see Imagawa Sadayo + +Ryu, Shinki, artist + +Ryuko, Buddhist priest, advises of Tsunayoshi + +Ryokyu Islands, language cognate to Japanese; King of, intervenes; +Japanese intercourse with islands; king of, and Japanese invasion of +mainland; French in, (1846); Formosa and; Chinese claims to, given up + +Ryuzoki, Kyushu family, defeat Shoni + +--Takanobu (1530-85), death + +Sacrifice, early; human; of weapons; at grave + +Sadami, Prince, Emperor Uda (q.v.) + +Sadanobu see Matsudaira Sadanobu + +Sadato see Abe Sadato + +Sadatoki see Hojo Sadatoki + +Sadatsune, Prince, sons + +Sadayori see Sasaki Sadayori + +Sado, island, in early myth; settlement; silver mines; penal +establishment + +Sado Maru, Japanese transport sunk by Vladivostok squadron + +Saegusa Moriyoshi (d. 1651) + +Saeki family, member of, made state councillor + +Saga, 52nd Emperor (810-23); as calligrapher; his children and the +Minamoto + +Genji, branch of Minamoto + +Sagami province conquered by Hojo Soun; Hojo and Uesugi; tobacco in + +Sagara (Sawara) Crown Prince under Kwammu + +Saghalien, Russians in (18th century); Russian and Japanese claims +in; Russian title recognized (1875); Japan's claim to, after war with +Russia; not to be fortified + +Saho plots against Suinin + +Saicho, posthumously Dengyo Daishi, 805 A.D. introduces Buddhist +Tendai, (ill.) + +Saigo Takamori or Kichinosuke (1827-77), leader in anti-foreign +movement; in alliance with Choshu; urges war with Korea and resigns +from cabinet (1873); in Satsuma rebellion, (ill.) + +Saigyo Hoshi (1118-90), poet and ascetic + +Saiko, bonze + +Saikyo, western capital + +Saimei, Empress (655-61), the Empress Kogyoku succeeds Kotoku; +Yemishi at coronation + +Saimyo-ji, Zen temple + +Saionji in Kawachi + +--Kimmochi, Marquis (b. 1849), head of Constitutionist (Liberal) party + +Sairan Igen, book by Arai Hakusekai + +Saito family in Ise defeated by Oda; feud in Mino; helped by Buddhist +priests + +--Hidetatsu + +--Tatsuoki, defeated by Nobunaga; leads revolt in Settsu + +--Yoshitatsu (1527-61), son of Hidetatsu, kills him + +Sajima, Prince, (d. 125 A.D.) + +Sakai, near Osaka, Ouchi Yoshihiro's castle at; China trade; +Nobunaga's quarrel with; firearms made at; port + +--family, Bakufu ministers from; tamarizume + +--Tadakatsu, minister of Tokugawa + +--Tadakiyo (1626-81) takes over most of Shogun's power; succession to +Go-Mizu-no-o; succession to Ietsuna; displaced + +--Tadayo, minister under Hidetada + +Sakaibe Marise, uncle of Emishi + +Sakamoto, castle at + +Saka-no-ye Tamuramaro (758-811), against Yemishi; aids Saga + +--Karitamuro (728-86), chief of palace guards + +Sake, manufacture of, taught by Sukuna; dealers taxed + +Sakitsuya, killed for lese-majeste (463 A.D.) + +Sakugen, priest + +Sakuma Morimasa (1554-83), defeated + +--Nobumori (d. 1582), soldier of Nobunaga + +Sakura-jima, eruption + +Sakuramachi, 115th Emperor (1735-47) + +Sakurayama, adherents of Southern Court + +--Koretoshi, commands force loyal to Go-Daigo + +Salaries, official + +Salt, use of, in early Japan + +Sanbo-in, temple + +Samisen, 3-stringed guitar + +Samurai, soldier class, freelances; attitude of, toward foreigners; +place of, in making New Japan; attitude of Crown to; abolition of; +Satsuma rebellion + +Samurai-dokoro, Central Staff Office, (1180) in Yoritomo's Bakufu +system; in administration of Kyoto after Shokyu war; in Muromachi +administration + +Sanada Masayuki (1544-1608), accused of encroachment; blocks Tokugawa +Hidetada's army + +--Yukimura (1570-1615), in defence of Osaka castle + +Sandai Jitsu-roku, True Annals of Three Reigns, (901) + +Sandai-Kyaku-shiki, Rules and Regulations of Three Generations + +Sanetomo see Minamoto Sanetomo + +San Felipe, Spanish galleon, wrecked in Tosa + +Sanjo, 67th Emperor (1012-16) + +Sanetomi, Prince (1837-91), leader of extremist party; in alliance of +Choshu and Satsuma, (ill.) + +Sanjonishi Sanetaka, scholar + +Sankyo-ron, Shotoku quoted in, on management of state + +Sano, branch of Fujiwara + +Sano Masakoto attempts to assassinate Tanuma Okitsugu + +Sanron, Buddhist sect + +Santa-Martha, Juan de, Spanish Franciscan, executed (1618) + +Sanuki, province + +Sapan wood, trade + +Sarcophagus, stone, clay, and terra cotta, of Yamato + +Saris, John, agent of East India Company, settles at Hirado + +Sarume, "monkey female" dances before cave of Sun goddess + +Sasa Narimasa (1539-88), in Komaki war + +Sasaki family, branch of the Minamoto; favour Takauji + +--Mochikiyo, estates of + +--(Rokkaku) Sadayori (d. 1552) captures Kyoto; reconciles hostile +parties; generosity to Crown + +--Shotei general in forces against Nobunaga + +--Takayori (d. 1520), great estates; campaign against + +Sasebo, Japanese sally from, on Port Arthur + +Sashihire, Hayato assassin (399) of Nakatsu; death + +Sassulitch, Russian general, on Yalu + +Satake family, Yoritomo's attempt to win; one of "8 Generals of +Kwanto"; of Hitachi, allies of Shingen + +--Yoshinobu (1570-1633), opposes Ieyasu, taking army over to Ishida; +fief reduced (1600) + +Satehiko see Otomo Satehiko + +Sato Tadanobu, impersonates Yoshitsune + +--Tsuginobu + +Satomi family, one of "8 Generals of Kwanto"; fight Hojo; defeated; +allies of Shingen + +Satow, Sir Ernest, sceptical of dates in "Chronicles"; on revival of +Shinto + +Satsuma, Xavier in; later preaching; foreign ships in, menace +Tokugawa; trade; tobacco; bonita; moderate party; against Tokugawa; +predominant; fiefs surrendered; clan representation; rebellion of +1877 + +Sawaga, monastery + +Sawing to death + +Scholars, Chinese and Korean, in Japan; sophists; in Bakufu; in +Ashikaga system; literati at Court; Japanese sent to Europe and +America + +Scholarship recommended in Court Laws; Ieyasu's attitude to; revival +of learning; Tsunayoshi favours Chinese scholarship; Western + +"Scrutator," nairan, Bakufu official at court + +Sculpture in Nara epoch; in Heian; Kamakura period + +Sea-Dragon, Castle of, myth + +Sea, Command of, in 1592 campaign + +Seals; of Taiko; (ill.) + +Seal skins in early myth + +Seaweed as food + +Sebastian, Spanish sailor, undertakes coast survey + +Secretaries in Bakufu + +Seed distribution by Crown (723) + +Seidan, book on government by Ogyu Sorai + +Seido, or Shohei college + +Sei-i, "barbarian expelling," title of shogun; sei-i tai-shogun, +hereditary title + +Seikan, priest + +Seimu, 13th Emperor (131-190 A.D.) + +Seinei, 22nd Emperor, (480-4) + +Seishi-roku, record of nobles (814 A.D.) + +Sei Shonagon, poetess + +Seiwa, 56th Emperor (859-76); (ill.); sons become Minamoto + +Seiwa Genji, branch of Minamoto + +Sekigahara, battle of (1600) + +Sen, Japanese coin + +Senate, Genro-in, organized (1875) + +Sengoku Hidehisa (1551-1614) soldier of Hideyoshi + +Senkwa, 28th Emperor (536-9), succeeds his brother Ankan + +Seoul, Korea; march upon (1592), Japanese forced to give up; Chinese +resident in, blocks Japanese control; foreign legations removed, +Japanese resident-general in + +Sepulchres of Yamato; contents + +Serpent, eight-forked killed by Susanoo; possibly the name of a local +chief; early shrine; worship + +Sesshu (1420-1506), painter of Kamakura school; academy + +Seta, Long Bridge of + +Settsu Dojun, suicide + +Settsu, Buddhist temple in; Kiyomori moves capital to Fukuhara in; +priests revolt + +Seven Generals plot against Ishida + +Sexagenary Cycle in Japanese chronology; accounts for error of 120 +years; Chinese origin of + +Shaho, battle of + +Shaka, Sakiya Muni + +Shan-hai-ching, Chinese record (4th cent. A.D.) + +Shantung peninsula, fighting on, (1894); part of, seized by Germany + +Shao-kang, mythical Chinese ancestor of Japanese kings + +Shell-heaps + +Shiba, district of Tokyo, Castle of, built (803); temple with tomb of +Hidetada + +--family, in office of Muromachi kwanryo; one of Five Regent Houses; +make trouble in Kyushu; in Onin war; in Omi + +--Mochitane, estates of + +--Tachito, first Buddhist missionary + +--Takatsune, revolts against Ashikaga + +--Yoshihige, minister of Ashikaga Yoshimochi + +--Yoshikada, rival of Masanaga + +--Yoshimasa (d. 1410), shitsuji, first to be called kwanryo + +--Yoshitoshi (1430-90), estates; Onin war + +Shibata Gonroku + +--Katsuiye (1530-83), general under Nobunaga; councillor; death + +Shibukawa Noriyasu, government astronomer + +--Shunkai, revises calendar (1683) + +Shi-do, "Way of the Warrior" by Yamaga Soko + +Shido Shogun, Campaign of + +Shiga, in Omi + +Shigehide see Hagiwara Shigehide + +Shigehito, Prince + +Shigeko, mother of Ashikaga Yoshimasa + +Shigeyoshi see Tokugawa Shigeyoshi + +Shihotari, Prince, commands government station in Anra + +Shijo, 87th Emperor (1233-42) + +Shijo-nawate, in Kawachi, battle (1348) + +Shikken, military regent, in Yoritomo's system, head of the +man-dokoro, great power of office held by Hojo family; Ashikaga +substitute second shitsuji for; kwanryo later equivalent to; of +Inchu, office held by Hino family + +Shikoku, early history; pirates in, (931-7); in 16th century wars + +Shikotan, inhabitants of, not pre-Ainu + +Shimabara, battle of, defeat of Ryozoki Takanobu (1585); Jesuits and +trade at; the S. revolt (1637-8), puts end to Portuguese trade + +Shimada Yuya, judge + +Shimazu in Kyushu; defeated by Hideyoshi + +--Ei-O + +-Hisamitsu or Saburo (1820-87), feudatory of Satsuma, in Namamugi +incident; in making of New Japan; with Saigo in Satsuma + +--Iehisa (d. 1587), defeated by Hideyoshi + +--Tadahisa (12th century) founder of family + +--Tadakuni, in Ryuku + +--Yoshihiro (1535-1619), successor of Yoshihisa + +--Yoshihisa (1536-1611), defeats Ryuzoki Takanobu, and is ousted by +Hideyoshi; against Ieyasu; escapes after Sekigahara + +Shimbetsu, families of pre-conquest chieftains or Kami class; three +sub-classes; early administration; help put down revolt of Heguri; +and rank of Empress; classification of Seishi-roku + +Shimizu, branch of Tokugawa + +--Muneharu, suicide + +Shimoda, residence given to Americans + +Shimonosekij French, Dutch and Americans fired upon, attack; peace +with China concluded at, (1895) + +Shimosa, Taira Masakado's revolt in; Taira Tadatsune's + +Shimpo-to, Progressist party, organized (1881) + +Shin, Buddhist sect (1224); Hongwan-ji feud with Enryaku-ji; internal +quarrels; revolt of 1488, Ikko-ikki; oppose Nobunaga; interdicted in +Shimazu + +Shinano, Yemishi in; revolt of Minamoto (Kiso) no Yoshinaka in; +Takeda and Uesugi in; silk growing + +Genji, branch of Minamoto family + +Shingen see Takeda Shingen + +Shingon, "True Word," Buddhist sect founded by Kukai; Heijo and +Shinnyo devoted to; esoteric character + +Shingu, Kii province, tomb of Hsu Fuh; naval base of Southern army + +Shinki, Chinese painter + +Shinno, painter + +Shinnyo, name in religion of Takaoka + +Shin-o, bridge in Yedo + +Shino Soshin and incense-comparing + +Shinran Shonin (1184-1268), founder of Shin sect, (ill.) + +Shinto, sun-myth; rules in Yengi-shiki; therianthropy; shrines; Board +of Religion; first use of name (c. 586); relation to Buddhism; mixed, +with Buddhism; overshadowed by Buddhism, and subservient; +insincerity; in Heian epoch; priests support Southern Court; +relations with Confucianism and Buddhism; Pure Shinto; combined with +Confucianism; revival of + +Shinzei see Fujiwara Michinori + +Ships, early; building, as tribute; bureau of shipping; China trade; +size limited; limitation removed; middle of 19th century; modern +mercantile marine; illustrations; see Navy + +Shiragi, Korea, myth; annals; war with Kara; king settles in Japan; +submits to Jingo; Japanese attacks on; Chinese immigration; revolt +against Yuryaku; weakened; dispute over Imun; ship-builders; Buddhist +image; defeats Kudara and Mimana; Japanese intervention; invasion; +families in Japanese nobility; travel to Japan forbidden + +Shirahata, in Harima, fortress held by the Ashikaga; by the Akamatsu + +Shirakabe, Prince; see Konin + +Shirakawa, 72nd Emperor (1073-86) + +Shiren, priest + +Shiro-uji, branch of Taira family + +Shishi-ga-tani plot (1177) against Taira + +Shitenno-ji, temple to Four Guardian Kings of Heaven + +Shitsuji, manager, of mandokoro, office hereditary in Nikaido family; +of monju-dokoro; second s. created in Takauji's system; and kwanryo + +Shizuka, mistress of Yoshitsune + +Shizugatake, battle of, (1583) + +Shoan, Student of Chow and Confucius, teacher of Naka and Kamatari + +Shocho koban, gold coins of 1428 + +Shodai-ji, temple + +Shodan-chiyo, work of Ichijo Kaneyoshi + +Shoen, great estates, manors; temple domains; attempts to check; +effect on agriculture + +Shogun, "general"; head of Yoritomo's bakufu system; attempt to have +Imperial prince appointed; unimportant under Hojo; Fujiwara, then +Imperial princes, appointed; Ashikaga in Northern Court; powers +transferred to kwanryo; under Tokugawa; minister gets power; +separated from ministerial council; Chinese classics lessen power; +court of last appeal; Imperial rescript to; power resigned to Crown + +Shohei, Japanese pronunciation of Changping, Confucius's birthplace; +Shohei-bashi, bridge, Shohei-ko, college, near temple to Confucius; +lectures there + +Shohei, period, (1346-69) + +Shohyo era + +Shokagu-in, academy of Minamoto (881) + +Shoko, 101st Emperor (1412-28), son of Go-Komatsu + +Shokoku-ji, Zen temple in Kyoto, art school of Josetsu; one of the +"Five" + +Shokyu, year period 1219-22, and the struggle between the Court and +the military + +Shomu, 45th Emperor (724-48) + +Shoni, independent family of Kyushu + +--Tokihisa (d. 1559), last of family + +Shonzui (16th century), manufacture of porcelain + +Shoren-in, temple in Kyoto + +Shoso-in, Nara (ill.) + +Shotoku, Empress (765-70), Koken returns to throne; orders amulets +printed + +--Prince, or Taishi (572-621); history; on religions; defeats Mononebe +Moriya; builds Buddhist temple; relations with Sushun; opposes uji +system; his "Constitution"; death; China; official promotion system; +a painter + +--period, 1711-15, trade rules of + +Shrines, yashiro, early Shinto; simple architecture of; in reign of +Suinin; less important than temple after mixed Shinto; shrine and +temple, ji-sha; immune from shugo + +Shubun, painter + +Shui-shu, anthology + +Shujaku, 61st Emperor (931-46) + +Shuko or Juko (1422-1502), Zen priest, code and tea-ceremonial + +Shunkai see Shibukawa Shunkai + +Shunzei, nom de plume of Fujiwara Toshinari + +Shuryo, Buddhist priest, envoy of Muromachi to China + +Shu-shi see Chutsz + +Shushin, Zen priest + +Silk in early times; culture, curtains for partition; mulberry trees +on uplands; in Nara epoch advanced by need of rich robes for priests; +exported; growing in Kotsuke, Shinano, etc.; "silk clothiers" + +Silkworm, worship of + +Silver and other precious metals + +Si Wang-mu, owner of miraculous peachtree + +"Six National Histories" + +Slave, value of + +Slaves and slavery, prehistoric; aliens become nuhi at conquest; +prisoners of war and criminals; Daika; laws on slavery for debt; +Daiho laws; provinces; Christians and slave-trade + +Sleeves, legal regulation of + +Small-pox interpreted as divine punishment + +Snow and snow festivals; image of Dharma, (ill.) + +So family and Korean trade + +So-ami, artist, patronized by Yoshimasa; envoy to Ming court + +--Sadamori (1385-1452) and Korean trade + +--Sukekuni (d. 1274), governor of Tsushima, killed in battle with +Mongols + +Soden, inscription on Hoko-ji bell + +Soga, family, descendants of Takenouchi; power; favour Buddhism; +relation to Imperial family; crushed by Fujiwara; usurpation causes +Daika + +--Akae, minister of the Left, in conspiracy against Oama + +--Emishi, o-omi, successor of Umako; assumes Imperial titles; killed + +--Iname, o-omi, 130; recommends adoption of Buddhism; and Buddhist +temple (552 A.D.) + +--Iruka, powerful under Kogyoku; quarrels with Yamashiro + +--Sukeyasu, death + +--Umako (d. 626), historiography; o-omi, kills Mononobe Moriya; power +under Bidatsu; guardian of Buddhist images; relationship to Imperial +family; final success over Mononebe Moriya; builds temple of Hoko-ji +(587 A.D.); has Sushun assassinated; alliance with Shotoku against +military system; death + +Sogen (Chu Yuan), Chinese priest; and Kamakura calligraphy + +Soji-ji, temple + +Soko see Yamaga Soko + +Solfataras of Unzen volcano, torture of Christians in + +Solitary Kami + +Soma, branch of Taira + +Somedono, Empress, wife of Montoku + +Song Wang Myohg, King of Kudara, and Buddhism + +Son-Kwang, Kudara prince, settles in Naniwa + +Son-O Jo-I, "Revere the Sovereign, expel the barbarians" motto + +Sorin see Otomo Yoshishige + +Soseki see Muso Kokushi + +Sosetsu, envoy to China of Ouchi family + +Soshi-Mori, Korea, myth + +Sotan, painter + +Sotelo Luis (1574-1624), Spanish Franciscan, attempts to survey +Japanese coast + +Soto, sect, modification of Zen + +Soun see Hojo Soun (Nagauji) + +Southern Court, Daikagur-ji; war of dynasties; adherents; rulers; +claims ignored in 1412 and 1428 + +Southwestern Japan, comparative accessibility of + +Sow race, Borneo, probable source of Kumaso + +Soya, strait of + +Sozen see Yamana Mochitoyo + +Spaniards, in Manila, jealous of Portuguese; in Tosa with "wrecked" +galleon; intrigue against Dutch; Dutch and English intrigue against; +Hidetada orders deported (1624); invasion by, feared, and conquest of +Philippines urged; Spanish authorities forbid priests going to Japan; +refuse grant in Yedo; trade unimportant; end of trade + +Spear, jewelled, token of authority of Kami; sign of military +authority; heads of; export of; carrier (ill.) + +Spinning in myth; in early times + +Spirit, tama, survives body; belief in activity of + +Spying in Bushi system; civil; in Tokugawa Laws of Military Houses + +Stackelberg, Baron, Russian general defeated by Oku at Telissu + +Stag's shoulder blade, use in divination + +Stake, death at + +Stars in cosmogony + +State, Central Department of, Nakatsukasa-sho + +Stature of Japanese + +Steel for swords + +Stirrups among sepulchral remains; bridle, harness and (ill.) + +Store-house, imikura; kura, administrator of, kura-bugyo + +Stossel, Anatol Mikhailovitch, Russian general, surrenders Port +Arthur + +Straw, famine food + +Straw mat, tatsu-gomo, for carpet + +Straw rope in sun-myth + +Sugar culture + +Sugawara family descended from Nomi no Sukune; scholars + +--Fumitoki, litterateur + +--Hidenaga, lecturer + +--Michizane (845-903), called Kwanko, schoolman; plot to send him on +embassy to China; Fujiwara plot against, (ill.); one of authors of +the fifth of "National Histories"; Chinese prose; shrine, (ill.); +descendants + +--Toyonaga, patronized by Ujimitsu + +Suicide in early myth; some examples; at grave; in protest against +policy; as punishment + +Suiko, 33d Empress (593-628), consort of Bidatsu; historiography; +Chinese learning + +Suinin, 11th Emperor (29 B.C.--70 A.D.); attempts to abolish human +sacrifice + +Suisei, 2nd Emperor (581-549 B.C.) + +Sujin, 10th Emperor (97-30 B.C.); and ship building + +Sukenari (or Juro) + +Suken-mon-in, mother of Go-Enyu, relations with Yoshimitsu + +Suko, Northern Emperor (1348-52) + +Sukuna Hikona, mythical pygmy healer; inventor of sake + +Sukune family, growth of its power; see also Takenouchi-no-Sukune + +Sulphur trade + +Sumida, river bridged + +Sumidu-gawa, groves + +Sumitada see Omura Sumitada + +Sumiyoshi, Kyoto school of painting; decorations for Imperial palace + +--battle, defeat of Ashikaga + +--Gukei, or Hirozumi (1634-1705) + +Summer Campaign + +Sumptuary laws in Nara epoch; in Kamakura period; of Hideyoshi; in +military laws; of Sadanobu; in early 19th century + +Sumpu, in Suruga, Ieyasu retires to; vendetta illegal in; jodai of + +Sun, and titles of nobles + +Sun-crow, in Yamato expedition; on banners + +Sun goddess, withholds light, an incarnation of Buddha + +Sung, writer on war + +--philosophy, Gen-e introduces; painting, Josetsu introduces + +Sungari, Russian transport at Chemulpo + +Sunrise Island, Jih-pen, Chinese or Korean name for eastern islands + +Superstition, in 4th-6th centuries; in Nara epoch; in Heian + +Supply, Departments of, in capital, under Daiho + +Suruga, brigands of, crushed by Yamato-dake; province given to Ieyasu + +--Genji, branch of Minamoto family + +Survey for map under Hideyoshi; coastal begun by Spanish + +Susanoo, Kami of Force, contest with Amaterasu; expelled from heaven, +kills great serpent; as tree-planter; rationalization of myth; its +bearings on relations with China and Korea; purification of; as +guardian of forests; ruler in Shiragi + +Sushen, Tungusic settlers on Sado Island (549 A.D.); expeditions of +Hirafu against, (658 & 660); captives of Yemishi; later called Toi + +Sushun, 32nd Emperor (588-92) + +Su Ting-fang attacks Kudara (660 A.D.) + +Sutoku, 75th Emperor (1124-41); Hogen tumult + +Sutras, Buddhist; copying as atonement + +Suwo, brigands; woman ruler in; Ouchi family of + +Suye Harukata, called Zenkyo (d. 1555), crushed by Mori Motonari + +Suzuka-yama, apparent Tatar remains in shrine at + +Swan, Yamato-dake in form of; in cure of dumbness + +Sword, myth, Imperial insignia; sepulchral remains; single-and +double-edged; offered at shrines; large and small; Minamoto +heirlooms; swordsmiths; exported; hilts (ill.); samurai and +sword-wearing; illustrations + +Syllabary, phonetic, development in Japanese away from Chinese +ideograph; in Heian epoch, kata-kana and hiragana; used in Joei code + +Ta-be, rice-cultivators or rustic corporation + +Table and cookery in ancient Japan; in Kamakura period + +Tachibana family + +--Hayanari (d. 843), exiled with Tsunesada; calligrapher + +--Hiromi, scholar + +--Moroe (684-757), minister of the Right, acquiesces in rule of +Koken-Shotoku; may have compiled anthology of "Myriad Leaves" + +Tachiri Munetsugu, Court envoy to summon Nobunaga to Kyoto + +Tactics, of Bushi; gradual change in + +Tada Genji, branch of Minamoto + +Tadahiro see Kato Tadahiro + +Tadakiyo see Sakai Tadakiyo + +Tadamori see Taira Tadamori + +Tadateru see Matsudaira Tadateru + +Tadayoshi see Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Tokugawa Tadayoshi + +Tadong River, Korea; in campaign of 1592 + +Taema, Prince, and expedition against Shiragi (603 A.D.) + +Taema-no-Kuehaya, wrestler + +Ta-fu, Japanese envoy to China (A.D. 57) + +Taga, Castle of; built in 724 to check Yemishi; head-quarters +transferred to Isawa + +Taguchi Shigeyoshi, deserts with fleet to Minamoto in battle of +Dan-no-ura + +Tai-hei-ki, historical work of 14th century, quoted on causes of +Shokyu struggle; on Yoshinaga + +Taiho see Daiho + +Taiken-mon-in, consort of Toba; intimacy with Shirakawa + +Taiko, "great merit"; ex-regent, title of Hideyoshi; Taiko-zan, +temple at his birthplace + +Taikoki, "Annals of the Taiko" quoted on Hideyoshi's palace + +Taikwa see Daika + +Tai Peh, Chinese prince, exile to Japan (800 B.C.); Imperial descent +from + +Taira, family, descended from Prince Katsurabara, generals of +Imperial guards; called Heike; manors and armed forces; lose estates; +quarrel with Minamoto; revolt against Fujiwara; provincial branches; +treatment of priests, the Gen-pei epoch, struggle with Minamoto; +genealology; in Heiji tumult crush Minamoto; hold most important +offices; Yorimasa conspiracy against; defeated by Minamoto + +--Atsumori (1169-84), killed at Ichi-no-tani + +--Chikafusa, provincial governor + +--Hirotsune, favours Yoritomo + +--Kanetaka, lieutenant governor of Izu; is killed by Tokimasa + +--Kiyomori (1118-81), wins manors; treatment of priests; crushes +Minamoto; supports Go-Shirakawa; alliance with Shinzei; lessens power +of Fujiwara; supreme; arbitrary rule; crushes Yorimasa conspiracy; +death + +--Korehira, founder of Ise-Heishi + +--Koremochi, founder of branches of Taira + +--Koremori, commands army sent against Yorimoto + +Taira Masakado (d. 940), his revolt + +--Masamori, crushes rebellion of Minamoto Yoshichika + +--Michimori, killed in battle of Ichi-no-tani + +--Munekiyo helps save life of Yoritomo; relations with Minamoto + +--Munemori (1147-85), Shishi-ga-tani plot; abandons Kyoto; refuses +Yoshinaka's request for an alliance; escapes after Ichi-no-tani; +defeated at Yashima; executed; possibly a changeling + +--Noritsune (1160-85), defeats Ashikaga Yoshikiyo in Bitchu; at +Yashima; drowned at Dan-no-ura-Sadamori defeats Taira Masakado + +--Shigehira (1158-85), sacks and burns three monasteries; in 1181 +attacks Minamoto Yukiiye; taken prisoner at Ichi-no-tani; death + +--Shigemori (1138-79); Fujiwara Narichika's jealousy of; restrains +Kiyomori; death + +--Shigenobu, in revolt against Fujiwara (967) + +--Tadamasa, favours Sutoku in Hogen tumult, executed by Kiyomori + +--Tadamori (1096-1153), body guard of Shirakawa; against Yoritomo; +descent; treatment of priests + +--Tadanori (1144-84), killed at Ichi-no-tani + +--Tadatsune, defeated by Minamoto Yorinobu (1031) + +--Takamochi, first marquis (889) of Taira + +--Tomoakira, saves his father + +--Tomomori (1152-85) burns and sacks monasteries; saved by his son at +Ichi-no-tani; drowned at Dan-no-ura + +--Tomoyasu, enemy of Yoshinaka, commands palace-guards + +--Tsunemasa + +--Yoritsuna, guardian of Sadatoki, crushes Adachi (1286), killed +(1293) + +--Yoshibumi + +Taishiden Hochu, Shotoku in, on Buddhism; on property of Mononobe +Moriya + +Taitsang, taken by pirates, 1560 + +Taitsu, Chinese Emperor, protests against piracy + +Tajima, king of Shiragi, settles in + +--Mori, sent for orange seeds + +Taka becomes empress + +Takaaki, younger brother of Murakami, banished + +Takachiho, Mt. in Hyuga (Saikaido) + +Takahashi, Mr., on "Mallet-headed" swords + +Takahira, Kogoro, Baron (b. 1864), peace commissioner at Portsmouth + +Takahito, Prince, son of Go-Shu jaku, attempt to have him passed +over; see Go-Sanjo + +Takaichi, Prince; dies (696) + +Taka-ichi, Yamato province, possibly the "Plain of High Heaven" of +myth + +Takakage see Kohayakawa Takakage + +Takakuni see Hosokawa Takakuni + +Takakura, 80th Emperor (1169-80) + +Takamatsu, castle in Bitchu besieged by Hideyoshi + +Takama-yama and Takama-no, Yamato + +Takamochi, first of the Taira family + +Takamuku Kuromaro, literatus, national doctor; leader of embassy to +China (654, A.D.); dies there + +Takanaga, Prince (1311-38), commander against Ashikaga + +Takauji; in war of dynasties; suicide + +Takano, consort of Konin, mother of Kwammu + +Takanori see Kojima Takanori + +Takao, temple at + +Takaoka, monk, travels in India + +Takashima Kihei, called Shirodayu, or Shuhan, advocates foreign +intercourse (1853) + +Takata, sect of Shin + +Takatomo, Pruice, adopted son of Okimachi + +Takatsukasa family founded by Fujiwara Kanehira, one of "Five Regent +Houses" + +Takatsuki, fief of Takayama + +Takatsune see Shiba Takatsune + +Takauji see Ashikaga Takauji + +Takayama (d, 1596) feudatory of Takatsuki, converted by Vilela; his +son Yusho, "Don Justo Ukondono" + +Takeda family of Kai favour Yoritomo; help in overthrow of Yoshinori; +alliance with Hojo and war with Uesugi; his allies against Nobunaga + +--Katsuyori (1546-82), marries Nobunaga's daughter, but makes war on +him; defeated + +--Nobumitsu stirs up Yoritomo against Yoshinaka + +--Shingen, or Haranobu (1521-73), war with Uesugi (ill.); alliance +with Nobunaga, and with Ieyasu; death; military art; signature (ill.) + +Takenaka, of Nagasaki, persecutes Christians + +--Shigeharu, soldier of Hideyoshi + +Takenouchi-no-Sukune, several prominent officials 1st to 4th century; +against Yemishi; prime minister; great duke of the Presence; in +conquest of Korea; succession to Jingo; ordeal for treason; +grand-daughter, marries Nintoku; descendants; the Heguri + +Takenouchi Shikibu(1716-71), teacher of Chinese classics; forerunner +of Restoration + +Taketori Monogatari, "Bamboo gatherer's narrative" classic + +Takigawa Kazumasu, soldier of Nobunaga, kwanryo of Kwanto; favours +Nobutaka; defeated by Hideyoshi + +Takinosawa, battle of, victory over Takeda + +Takuan (1573-1645), Emperor gives purple robe to + +Takuma artists + +Takuahan, Manchuria, 4th Army lands at + +Takutsakasa Sukehira, prime minister in Kyoto, opposes Kokaku + +Talien, taken from Chinese (1894); Russian railway + +Tallies used in trade with China + +Tamba, urchins of, the princes Oke and Woke; rice grants charged to +province + +Tamehira, younger brother of Murakami + +Tamibe, naturalized aliens in pro-historic time + +Tamichi, general, killed by Yemishi, 367 A.D. + +Tamon, i.e. Ananda, statue in castle of Azuchi + +Tamu no Mine, valley, site of shrine to Kamatari + +Tamura, Prince, Emperor Jomei (629) + +Tamura family defeated by Date + +Tamuramaro see Saka-no-ye Tamuramaro + +Tan, land unit; tansen, area tax + +Tanaka Harukiyo, rebuilds shrine of Hachiman + +Tandai, inquisitors, two representing Bakufu at Court; the +Ryo-Rokuhara; similar offices at Hakozaki and Nagato; in Muromachi +period + +Tanegashima island where Portugese first landed; name used for +muskets they introduced + +Tanetsugu see Fujiwara Tanetsugu + +Tang, Chinese systems, and power of Throne (645-70); most of features +of Daika taken from; respects in which not adaptable to Japan; Kyoto +modelled on Tang metropolis, Changan + +Tanners from Korea + +Tanuma Okitomo (Mototomo) (d. 1784), son of Okitsugu + +--Okitsugu (Mototsugu) (1719-88), favourite of Ieshige, prime minister +of Ieharu + +Tan Yang-i, Chinese scholar + +Taoism and Shinto + +Tao Lung see Doryu + +Tasa, omi of Kibi, removed by Yuryaku; leads revolt in Mimana + +Tatars, possibly prominent in Yemishi revolts of 8th century; Golden +and Khitan in China + +Tate, fortress or warp + +Tate Chikatada, one of Yoshinaka's four body guards + +Tatebito, famous archer + +Tatsunokuchi, in Yedo, site of court of justice + +Tattooing as penalty; as decoration first in proto-historic period, +when penalty abandoned + +Tawara Toda see Fujiwara Hidesato + +Taxation, early; and land-holding; war tax; land not taxed; +requisitions; in Shotoku's constitution; Daika; Daiho; Ashikaga +period; toll-gates; tokusei riots; under Tokugawa + +Tayasu branch of Tokugawa, eligible to Shogunate; named from gate of +Yedo Castle + +Munetake, or Tokugawa Munetake + +Tea, plants introduced (814); more generally (1191); picking, in Uji, +(ill.); festivals; ceremonial (ill.), influence on ceramics, and +architecture, tea-parlours (ill.); Hideyoshi's interest in + +Technical vocabulary, Japanese + +Teeth-blackening + +Teika see Fujiwara Sadaiye + +Teikin-orai, text book of letter-writing + +Teio-keizu, Imperial genealogy + +Telissu, battle of, Russians defeated by Oku + +Tembun koban, gold coins minted in 1532-55 + +Tembyo, period (729-48) + +Temman, Tenjin, shrine of Michizane + +Temmangu see Michizane + +Temmoku-zan, in Kai province, defeat of Takeda at + +Temmu, 40th Emperor (673-86), Prince Oama; historiography; sumptuary +laws + +Temples, early Buddhist; mixed Shinto; provincial; estates; the +"Six"; Nara epoch; at Kamakura; the "Five," schools and scholarship; +revenue; commissioners; Ieyasu's legislation; under Imperial princes + +Tempo, period, 1830-44, famines; reformation of + +Tenchi, 38th Emperor (668-71); burial mound; painters; Daika; see +Naka + +Tendai, monastery and doctrine of Saicho; temple + +Tengai, abbot of Enryaku-ji, in bell-inscription affair; temple at +Nikko; Kwanei-ji + +Tenjin, descendants of primeval trinity, sub-class of Shimbetsu; name +under which Michizane was apotheosized + +Tennoki, Record of the Emperors + +Tenno-zan, position in battle of Yamazaki + +Tenryaku, year-period (947-57) + +Tenryu-ji, temple at Saga, built by Takauji; T.-bune, merchantmen, +sent to China for art objects; T.-seiji, celadon vases from China + +Tenshin, "kami of the descent," chieftains of expedition from Kyushu + +Tensho, year period, 1573-91, coins + +Tenson, "Heavenly grand-child" epithet of Hikoho Ninigi; sub-class of +Shimbetsu, descendants of Sun goddess; superior position of + +Teraishi, Dr., on decoration of bronze bells + +Terasaka Kichiemon, one of "47 Ronin" + +Terumoto see Mori Terumoto + +Terutora see Uesugi Kenshin + +Tetsuo, priest of Daitoku-ji + +Text books + +Thatch on houses + +Thermal springs + +Thirty-year census + +Three Years' War, Go-Sannen (1089-91) + +Thunder, Kami of, in tree; axes + +Tientai, Japanese Tendai, Chinese monastery + +Tientsin relieved by Japanese troops in Boxer Rebellion + +Tiger, magic taught by + +Tiles, peculiar to temples; roofs of official buildings tiled in Nara +epoch; slate-coloured and green in city of Kyoto; in Kamakura period; +ill + +Timur gives up attack on Japan + +Ting, Chinese admiral, defeated at Weihaiwei + +Titles, or gentile names; new under Temmu + +Toba, 74th Emperor (1108-23); state domains; palace + +Tobacco growing; pipe and pouch, (ill.) + +Toda Izu no Kami, advocates foreign intercourse (1853) + +Tadanori, adviser of Nariaki + +Todai-ji, Kegon temple at Nara, bronze Buddha; procession in Koken's +reign; great bell; bell-tower (ill.); statue (ill.); gate-guards; +burnt by Taira + +Todo Takatora (1556-1630) helps Tokugawa + +Toei-zan, Ueno hill, temple of Kwanei-ji + +Tofuku-ji, Buddhist temple, S.E. of Kyoto + +Tofuku-mon-in, Kazuko, first Tokugawa consort; wife of Go-Mizu-no-o + +Togashi family splits in Onin war + +Togo Heihachiro, Count (b. 1857), Japanese admiral, attacks Russian +fleet at Port Arthur; blocks entrance to harbour; defeats Russians at +Tsushima + +Toi invade Japan (1019) + +Toichi, wife of Kobun + +Toin see Doin + +To-ji, Shingon temple (Goku-ku-ji) in Kyoto + +Tokaido, road from Kyoto to Tokyo + +Toki see Doki + +Tokichi see Toyotomi Hideyoshi + +Tokimasa see Hojo Tokimasa + +Tokimune (or Goro) avenges father's murder + +Tokiuji see Yamano Tokiuji + +Tokiwa, mistress of Yoshitomo + +Tokiyasu, Prince, see Koko + +Tokiyo, Prince, marries daughter of Sugawara Michizane + +Toku, empress Kenrei-mon-in; mother of Emperor Antoku + +Tokugawa, descent of family; hereditary system founded by Ieyasu; +shogunate of family; oath of loyalty to; the T. Bakufu; +"Constitution"; school, Shohei-ko; Imperial family, marries into; +strengthened; attitude to feudatories; Hidetada line succeeded by Kii +branch; families in ministry; decline of power; end of shogunate + +Chikauji (d. 1407?), ancestor of Matsudaira + +Hidetada (1579-1632), shogun (1605-22); anti-Christian edict (1616); +orders Spaniards deported; in war with Uesugi; daughter weds +Hideyori; attacks Osaka; Ieyasu's instructions to; rule, death, +character; and Crown + +Tokugawa Hirotada (1526-49) + +--Hyakkajo, One Hundred Rules of Tokugawa + +--Ieharu (1737-86), shogun (1760-86) + +--Iemitsu (1603-51), shogun (1622-51); treatment of Christians; +Ieyasu's instructions to; requires nobles to reside at Yedo; and +feudal lords + +--Iemochi (1846-66), shogun (1858-66); marries Emperor's sister; +resigns + +--Ienari (1773-1841), shogun (1786-1837); his father's rank; +abdication + +--Ienobu (1662-1712), shogun (1709-12) + +--Iesada (1824-58), shogun (1853-8) + +--Ieshige (1702-61), shogun (1745-60); his son, Shigeyoshi, ancestor +of Shimizu branch + +--Ietsugu (1709-16), shogun (1712-16) + +--Ietsuna (1642-80), 4th shogun (1651-80); power passes to minister; +abdication of Go-Saien; death + +--Ieyasu (1542-1616) (ill.); in war on Asakura and Asai; alliance with +Shingen; defeats Takeda; threatened; in Komaki war; peace with +Hideyoshi; against Hojo; receives Kwanto; takes oath; in Hideyoshi's +scheme; Christianity; Will Adams; death; family; succession to +Hideyoshi; wealth; Sekigahara; distribution of fiefs; shogun; +Hideyori; defied at Osaka; Hoko-ji bell; attacks Osaka castle; +character; legislation; literature; Hidetada; shrine; patterned upon +by Yoshimune; Shinto revival; foreign intercourse; signature (ill.) + +--Ieyoshi (1792-1853), shogun (1838-53) + +--Jidaishi, on Ieyasu's laws + +--Mitsukuni (1628-1700), sympathizes with Masayasu; interest in +letters + +--Munetada (1721-64), founder of Hitotsubashi branch + +--Munetake (d. 1769) founder of Tayasii branch + +--Nariaki (1800-60), daimyo of Mito, anti-foreign policy of; attempts +to make his son shogun; surrenders edict against shogun + +--(or Matsudaira) Nariyuki, feudatory of Kir + +--Nobuyasu (1559-79); marriage + +--Nobuyoshi (1583-1603), daimyo of Mito + +--Shigeyoshi (1745-95), founds Shimizu branch + +--Tadanaga (1605-33), brother of Iemitsu + +--Tadayoshi (1580-1607), daimyo of Kiyosu + +--Tsunayoshi (1646-1709), shogun (1686-1709); considerate for Crown + +--Yorifusa (1603-61), daimyo of Mito; one of Sanke + +--Yorinobu (1602-71), daimyo of Kii + +--Yoshimune (1677-1751), shogun (1716-45); camera rule; Tayasu and +Hitotsubashi branches + +--Yoshinao (1600-50), daimyo of Owari; founds Shohei-ko school + +--Yoshinobu or Keiki (1837-97), son of Nariaki and his candidate for +shogun; Crown urges his promotion; guardian of shogun; shogun +(1866-8); resigns; surrenders Yedo + +Tokuhon see Hatakeyama Mochikuni + +Tokuno support Southern Court + +Tokuno Michlkoto, defender of Go-Daigo + +Tokusei, "benevolent policy", laws of 1297; extension of policy under +Ashikaga; riots; for debtors + +Tokuso, priest + +Tokyo, formerly Yedo, eastern capital + +Tomi see Fujiwara Tomiko + +Tomoe, Yoshinaka's mistress + +Tomohira, Prince (963-1009), poet + +Tomohito, Prince, see Kokaku + +Tomo, Princess, see Go-Sakuramichi + +Tomo Kowamine, exiled (843) with Prince Tsunesada + +Ton-a (1301-84), poet + +Tonami-yami, Echizen, defeat of Taira at + +Tonegawa, flood in + +Tone-yama, battle (1573) + +Tonghak rebellion in Korea (1894), Chinese troops sent to quell + +Tongkan, Korean history, its chronology + +Tori Shichi (Korean Nori Sachhi), Buddhist + +Torii Mototada (1539-1600), dies in defense of Ieyasu's castle + +--Suneemon + +Tornado of 1718 + +Torres, Baltasar de (1563-1626), Jesuit, companion of Xavier + +Tortoise shell, divination + +Torture in ancient Japan + +Tosa, province; Ichijo family move to; seized by Chosokabe; bonita +curing in; T memorial against Bakufu; surrender of fiefs; clan +representation + +Tosa, Kyoto school of painting; patronized by Tsunayoshi; decorations +of palace + +Mitsunobu see Mitsunobu + +Mitsuoki, teacher of Hirozumi + +Tosa Nikki, Tosa Diary + +Tosabo Shoshun, bonze + +Tosando, mountain road + +Toshiiye see Maeda Toshiiye + +Toshiyori-roju + +Tosho-ji, temple, suicides in its cemetery after defeat of Hojo + +Towers, royal; fire watch tower + +Toyohara Tokimoto, musician + +Toyohito see Kogon + +Toyokuni Daimyo-jin, temple of, sacred to Hideyoshi, destroyed by +Ieyasu + +Toyonari see Fujiwara no Toyonari + +Toyotomi, family, revolt of ronin (1651); decline of influence + +Hidetsugu (1568-95), adopted successor of Hideyoshi; Hideyoshi's +letter to; death + +Hideyori (1593-1615), son of Hideyoshi; regent; Christians join him +against Ieyasu; Ishida favours; nai-daijin, marries Ieyasu's +granddaughter; Ieyasu's estimate; opposes Ieyasu; refuses to +surrender; suicide + +Toyotomi Hideyoshi( 1536-98); battle of Okehazama; in Ise and Kyoto; +Sakai; war with Asakura and Asai; against Takeda Katsuyori; invades +Chugoku; plans war on China; peace with Mori; Nobunaga; defeats +Mitsuhide; councillor; crushes Takigawa Kazumasa and Shibuta +Katsuiye; Yodogimi; Osaka castle; in Komaki war; peace with Ieyasu; +regent; crushes remaining enemies; treatment of Ieyasu; Buddhism; +palace; tea-festivals, wealth; invasion of Korea; death; family; +kills Hidetsugu; character; legislation; Christianity; tomb + +--Kunimatsu, son of Hideyori, killed by Ieyasu + +"Trade, Chief of" + +Transportation, early; roads in Nara epoch; in Heian; in Muromachi; +improved by Nobunaga; laws; Tokugawa improvements; +road-commissioners; railway building + +Treason under Daiho code + +Treasury established 405 A.D.; three in Yuryaku's reign; burnt in +1659; see Finance Department + +Treaties with United States, Russia, Holland, England; commercial +treaty with United States; with Korea; with China; with Russia +(Portsmouth); with China (Peking) + +Tree, sacred, of Buddhist temples; tree worship; myths of tree +planting; stories of huge trees + +Trigrams, in divination + +"True Word," Shingon + +Tsarevitch, Russian battleship at Port Arthur + +Tsin dynasty (265-317) and Chinese migration + +Tsuchi-gumo, "Earth-spiders" or "Pit dwellers"; called Wado by +Chinese + +Tsuchi Mikado, 83d Emperor (1199-1210); abdicates; exile + +Tsugaru in 16th century wars; remains of Tatar fortress + +--strait, controlled by Japan + +Tsugunawa see Fujiwara Tsugunawa + +Tsuguno, architect + +Tsuka, Korean prince, migrates to Japan; carpenters + +Tsukiji, in Yedo, naval college at + +Tsukuda, island + +Tsukushi see Kyushu + +Tsunayoshi see Tokugawa Tsunayoshi + +Tsunehito, Prince, father of Kokaku, rank + +Tsuneko, consort of Kwazan + +Tsunenaga, Prince (1324-38), conspiracy to make him heir; poisoned by +Takauji + +Tsunesada, Prince (823-84), exiled (843) + +Tsure-zure-gusa, "Weeds of Tedium" + +Tsuruga, ancient Kehi-no-ura; fortifications (1280) + +Tsurugaoka hill in Kamakura, shrine of Hachiman + +Tsushima, islands, in early myth; silver discovered (674) and gold +(701); attacked by Toi (1019), by Mongols (1274), and (1281); +attacked by Koreans in 1419; Korean trade; Chinese squadron attacks; +outpost of Japan; Hakuseki wishes to limit Korean envoys to; +commerce; commanding strait; Russian attempts upon; battle of, +Russian fleet defeated by Togo + +Tsutsui Junkei (1549-84), deserts Akechi Mitsuhide in battle of +Yamazaki; succession to Nobunaga + +Tsuwata Saburo, suicide + +Tsuying, king of Pohai, Korea + +203-Metre Hill, Port Arthur, fighting at + +Uchida Ieyoshi, warrior + +Masanobu (1619-51), suicide + +Uda, 59th Emperor (888-97), Prince Sadami + +Uda Genji of Omi, branch of Minamoto + +Ueda castle + +Ueno park, Kiyomizu temple; hill called Toeizan; abbot of, candidate +for throne in 1867 + +Uesugi, family, favours Tadayoshi; overthrows Ashikaga; kwanryo; two +branches; quarrels; join against Hojo; shitsuji; governor-general of +Kwanto; patronize schools; against Mogami; Hideyoshi makes peace with + +--Akifusa, shitsuji to Shigeuji + +--Akisada, estates + +--Akiyoshi, avenges his father + +--Fusaaki (1432-66) + +--Kagekatsu (1555-1623), lieutenant of Hideyoshi in Komaki war; +against Hojo; senior minister; with Ishida Katsushiga plots against +Ieyasu; open break with Ieyasu; fiefs reduced after Sekigahara + +--Kenshin, originally Nagao Kagetora. (1530-78), kwanryo, war with +Hojo and Takeda, checked between Nobunaga and Shingen; military art + +--Mochifusa, sent against Kamakura by Ashikaga Yoshinori (1439) + +--Mochitomo (1416-67) fortifies Kawagoe + +--Noriaki (1306-68), shitsuji; exile + +--Noriharu (d. 1379), suicide + +--Norimasa (1522-79), driven from Hirai by Ujiyasu + +--Norimoto (1383-1418) + +--Noritada (1433-54), shitsuji to Shigeuji, death + +--Norizane (d. 1455), plot to kill; helps defeat Kamakura forces +(1439) + +--Shigeyoshi (d. 1349), shitsuji, exiled + +--Tomomune, shitsuji + +--Tomosada, shitsuji + +--Ujinori + +--Yoshinori (d. 1378), shitsuji + +Uji, families, rank; government, established and abolished by +Emperor; taxation; feudal chiefs; the Eight Great Uji; opposed by +Shotoku; rank; government; Jinshin; Kami elective; princely families; +academies; record; territorial names + +Uji river, Yamashiro province, battle at + +Uiyasu see Hojo Ujiyasu + +Ukhtonsky, Rear-Admiral Prince, commanding Russian squadron at Port +Arthur + +Ukita Hideiye (d. 1662), soldier of Hideyoshi, against Chosokabe; +commander-in-chief in Korea; one of 5 senior ministers; and +Hideyoshi's laws; against Ieyasu; estates forfeited + +Naoiye (1530-82), turns from Mori to Nobunaga + +Umako see Soga Umako + +Umashimade, ancestor of Mononobe + +Umeda Genjiro, pen-name "Umpin" (1816-59), promotes Imperial +restoration + +Umetada Akihisa, metal-worker + +Unclean, eta and hinin, in Kamakura classification + +Unebi, Mt., tomb of Jimmu; Soga mansion + +Ung-jin (Paik-chhon-ku), Japanese defeat at, (662) + +United States, Japanese relations with, 1837 '46, and '48; Perry; +Townsend Harris; Shimonoseki affair; Americans in education, +post-office, agriculture, etc.; intervention in Russo-Japanese war; +threats of war + +Unkei, sculptor + +Unzen, volcano, Christians tortured in solfataras + +Upland, onchi + +Urabe Kanetomo (15th century), Shinto + +Yoshida, Shinto doctrine of + +Uraga, English refuse for headquarters; Manhattan enters; Perry in + +Urup, island, Russians in, (1792) + +Uryu Sotokichi (b. 1857), rear-admiral, destroys Russian cruisers at +Chemulpo + +Usui Pass in Yamato-dake's march, identification of + +Usume, female Kami + +Usuri, won by Russia (1860) + +Utsonomiya family, one of "8 Generals of Kwanto" + +Valegnani, Alexander (1537-1606), Jesuit vice-general, visits +Kuchinotsu in 1578; embassy + +Variag, Russian cruiser at Chemulpo + +Vehicles, proto-historic; in Nara epoch + +"Vehicles" of Buddhism + +Veil in ancient costume + +Vendetta, beginning of in Japan (486 A.D.); (1193); of Ako; illegal +in Kyoto, Yedo, Osaka and Sumpu + +Vermilion pillars; stamp of Taiko + +Vilela, Gaspard (d. 1570), Portuguese Jesuit, in Kyoto + +Village, part of agata; assemblies; chief + +Vivero y Velasco, Rodrigo, governor of Philippines, agreement with +Ieyasu (1609) + +Vladivostok, strategic situation; Russian squadron at, crushed by +Kamimura; objective of Rozhdestvensky + +Volcanic eruptions + +Wa, "dwarf" or "subservient," early Chinese name for Japanese + +Wada Yoshimori (1147-1213) son of Yoritomo's benefactor in Bakufu +council; betto defeated and killed by Hojo Yoshitoki + +Wadded garments, first mentioned, in 643 A.D.; use prescribed + +Wado, Chinese name of western tribe of Japan + +Wado, copper era (708-15) + +Wage, in 1498 + +Waka, wife of Tasa, taken from him by Yuryaku + +Waka-irutsako, younger son of Ojin + +Wake, funeral ceremony + +Wake, Prince, burial of + +Kiyomaro (733-99), banished; chooses site for new capital for Kwammu + +Wakiya Yoshiharu, son of Yoshisuke, in defeat of Takauji + +Yoshisuke (d. 1340), brother of Nitta Yoshisada and provincial +governor; in command of Imperial army against the Ashikaga + +Wakizaka Yasuharu (1554-1626) at battle of Sekigahara + +Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529) philosophy of, officially displaced by +Chutsz's; Nakaye Toju follows; summary of system + +Wani, Korean scribe in Japan; his descendant, Wang-sin-i + +War, Department of, Hyobusho + +War God, Hachiman, Oracle of + +War Office, Heisei-kan + +Waseda University, Tokyo, founded by Okuma + +Watanabe, fleet at, before battle of Yashima + +Watanabe family, branch of Minamoto + +Watarai, temple of, in Ise, princess priest of + +Watazumi-no-Kuni, Japanese intercourse with + +Watch, in capital + +Water-supply of Yedo + +Wave-men, ronin + +Wax, vegetable, industry + +Weaving in early times; early taxes paid by; development + +Weights and measures + +Weihaiwei, taken from Chinese (1894) + +Wei Records, A.D. 211-265, on Japanese markets + +Western Army, Yamana forces in Onin war + +Whale, fossil remains + +White, mourning colour; colour of Minamoto + +Wi-ju, Korea; Russians at, (1904) + +Winter Campaign + +Wistaria, fujiwara; bark used for mourning garments + +Witchcraft, in Nara epoch + +Wo (Japan), tributary to Chinese Kingdom of Yen + +Woke, see Ninken + +Women, use phonetic language; warriors; tribute to serpents and +marauders; prehistoric status; rulers; hostages; morality; +literature; property rights; in Tokugawa period; punishment of; +shogun's harem; illustrations + +Wrestling in prehistoric times; first recorded match (23 B.C.); +professional sport; (ill.) + +Wu, Chinese Emperor, and Buddhist propaganda + +Wu-Ti, Chinese emperor, conqueror of Korea + +Xavier, St. Francis (1506-52), Jesuit missionary, lands in Kagoshima +(1549); in Hirado, Yamaguchi, Kyoto, and Bungo, death + +Yada castle in Ise + +Yae, wife of Hideyoshi, followed by military clique + +Yaka, mistress of Tenchi + +Yakami, Princess, of Inaba, marries Great-Name Possessor + +Yakami, castle in Tamba + +Yakushi, Buddhist god of wisdom, inscription on image of; y.-ji, +temple, (ill.) + +Yalu River, Korea, in 1592 campaign; Chinese cross, (1894); Russians +and Japanese on, (1904); Russians defeated + +Yama, Indian god + +Yamabe, Prince; see Kwammu + +-Akahito, poet + +Yamabushi, priests + +Yamada Tesshu, on Bushi + +Yamaga Soko (1622-85), philosopher of bushido; Chinese teaching + +Yamagata Daini (1725-67), executed; fore-runner of Restoration + +Yamaguchi, Korean envoys come to; Xavier in; Jesuits leave; +Christians in + +Yamamoto support Southern Court + +Yamana, family, joins Southern party; controls ten provinces; turns +to Northern Court; crushed; rehabilitated; one of Five Regent Houses; +holdings; Hosokawa; forces in Onin war, Western Army; "province +holders" + +--Mitsuyuki, in revolt against Northern Dynasty + +--Mochitoyo, called Sozen, "Red Monk" (1404-73), gets Harima; great +estate; in war on Hatakeyama; forces choice of Shiba Yoshikado as +kwanryo; deserts Yoshimi; death + +--Norikiyo receives province of Mimasaka + +--Noriyuki, captures Shirahita + +--Sozen see Yamana Mochitoyo + +--Tokiuji (d. 1372), joins Ashikaga + +--Ujikiyo rebels (1391) against the Ashikaga + +Yamanobe, Princess + +Yamanouchi, family name taken by Uesugi Yoshinori; feud with +Ogigayatsu; join them against Hojo + +Yamashina, Kamatari's residence + +Yamashiro, Prince, candidate for throne in 629 and 641; suicide + +Yamashiro, early shrine; campaign from, against Sujin; canal; meaning +of name; school of painters (604 A.D.) + +Yamato, expedition from Kyushu against; meaning of name, as used by +Chinese; kindred race at time of conquest; retirement to Tsukushi; +culture; physiognomy; relations with Caucasians; language; school of +painting + +Yamato, Prince, human sacrifices at burial of (2 A.D.) + +Yamato-dake and Susanoo's sword; campaign against Yemishi; against +Kumaso; a swan + +Yamato Genji, branch of Minamoto + +Oguna, earlier name of Yamato-dake + +Yamazaki, battle of, (1282) + +Ansai, follower of Chutsz; forerunner of Restoration + +Yanaida Takasuke, estates + +Yanagawa Seigan, Imperial restoration movement + +Yanagisawa Yasuaki, or Yoshiyasu, (1658-1714), favourite of +Tsunayoshi; dismissed by Ienobu + +Yanamoto Kataharu in civil war of 1520 + +Yang-chou, taken by pirates (1556) + +Yangtzuling, Russian defeat at + +Yashima, battle, (1185) + +Yashima, Japanese battleship lost off Port Arthur + +Yaso, daughter of Emperor Reigen + +Yasumaro see Ono Yasumaro + +Year-period (Nengo), adoption of Chinese 645 A.D.; under two +dynasties + +Yedo, fort built (1456); capital of Kwanto; Franciscan mission; +Hidetada; Bakufu; castle; nobles must reside in; rebuilt after fire; +art centre; vendetta forbidden; tree planting in; Kwanno Chokuyo's +school; fires; degeneration, 18th century; vagabonds; prison; land +offered to foreign traders; called Tokyo + +Yellow Sea, Japanese victory over Chinese (1894) + +Yemishi, early name of Ainu; Hirafu's expedition; description; +Yamato-dake's expedition; captives called Saekibe; revolt in Kazusa; +language, Siberian origin; migration; revolts + +Yen, Pechili + +Yengi-shiki, book of ceremonial law (927 A.D.) + +Yen Hui, Chinese painter + +Yenisei, Russian mining-transport, sunk by mine at Port Arthur + +Yenomoto Takeaki, Viscount (1839-1909), admiral to the shogun, tries +to set up republic in Yezo + +Yezo, pit-dwellers' remains in; name related to Yoso; Yemishi in; +Russians and Japanese clash in; Yenomoto's republic in + +Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral, defeats Japanese fleet + +Yo-chang, prince of Kudara, defeats Koma (553), beaten by Shiragi + +Yodo (Yamanouchi Yodo) (1827-72), feudatory of Tosa, memorial to +shogun + +Yodo, estate of + +Yodo or Yodogimi, daughter of Asai Nagamasa and mother of Toyotomi +Hideyori; civil party sides with; against Ieyasu; Ieyasu promotes +quarrel between Katagiri Katsumoto and; intrigue through her sister; +death + +Yokohama, opened to American trade (1858) + +Yoko-yama, castle of Nagamasa + +Yolang, or Pyong-yang, Korea + +Yomei, 31st Emperor (586-7); Buddhism + +Yomi, hades, compared to Indian Yama; identified with Yomi-shima, +between Hoki and Izumo + +Yorifusa see Tokugawa Yorifusa + +Yoriiye see Minamoto Yoriiye + +Yorimasa conspiracy (1180) + +Yorinobu see Tokugawa Yorinobu + +Yoritomo see Minamoto Yoritomo + +Yoritsune see Fujiwara Yoritsune + +Yoro, year-period, and legislation of + +Yorozu, story of + +Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350), recluse and poet, one of "four kings" + +Shoin (1831-60), leader of anti-foreign and Imperial movement + +Yoshifusa see Fujiwara Yoshifusa + +Yoshiiye see Minamoto Yoshiiye + +Yoshikage see Asakura Yoshikage + +Yoshikawa, adherents of Southern Court + +Yoshimasa see Ashikaga Yoshimasa + +Yoshimi see Ashikaga Yoshimi + +--nephew of Yoritomo + +Yoshimine, princely uji + +Yoshimitsu see Ashikaga Yoshimitsu + +Yoshimune see Tokugawa Yoshimune + +Yoshinaga (Norinaga), Prince, governor-general of O-U; in the +Ashikaga revolt; see Go-Murakami + +Yoshinaka see Minamoto Yoshinaka + +Yoshinao see Tokugawa Yoshinao + +Yoshino, in Yamato, Buddhist monastery at, rallying place for +Furubito's followers; Prince Oama takes refuge at; rendez-vous of +Go-Daigo's followers; in war of dynasties + +Yoshino, cruiser lost off Port Arthur + +Yoshinobu see Tokugawa Yoshinobu + +Yoshisada see Nitta Yoshisada + +Yoshisuke see Wakiya Yoshisuke + +Yoshiteru see Murakami Yoshiteru + +Yoshitsune see Miriamoto no Yoshitsune + +Yoso, N. E. Korea, cradle of Yemishi + +Yozei, 57th Emperor (877-84) + +Yuasa support Southern Court + +Yuge no Dokyo, priest, Koken's love for + +Yui Shosetsu, leader in revolt of 1651 + +Yuki, branch of Fujiwara in Kwanto; persuade Shigenii to kill +Noritada + +--Munehiro, administrator in O-U + +Yunglo, Chinese Emperor and year-period, 1403-22, called Eiraku in +Japan + +Yura, Strait of + +Yuryaku, Emperor (457-79), cruelty of his reign; and Korea; death of +Hayato at his tomb; serpent worship; 3 provinces added in his time; +punishes Sakitsuya for lese-majeste, succession + +Yushima, Yedo, shrine + +Yusho see Takayama + +Yutahito see Kogon + +Yuzu or Yutsuki, Chinese imperial prince, and Chinese migration to +Japan + +Zejobo, mathematician and surveyor + +Zekkai, scholar, adviser of Yoshimitsu + +Zen (dhyand, meditation), Buddhist sect of contemplation; and Hojo +Tokimune; the soldier's creed; and intercourse with China; priests +and literature and art; tea ceremonial; favoured by the Ashikaga; +great priests; five temples in Kyoto + +Zenko-ji, temple in Nagano with battle paintings + +Zenkyo see Suye Harukata + +Zenyu, priest, liaison with Empress Taka + +Zojo-ji, temple of Shiba, Tokyo, tomb of Hidetada + +Zoku Nihongi (or Nihonki) Supplementary Chronicles of Japan (798) + +Nihon Koki, Supplementary Later Chronicles (869) + +Zuisa, Buddhist priest, envoy of shogun to China + +Zuniga, Pedro de (d. 1622), Spanish Dominican and martyr + + +FULL PAGE HALF-TONES + +WOODEN STATUE OF THE EMPEROR JIMMU + +PREHISTORIC REMAINS PLATE A. + +I. A "Stone plate" or mortar for hut flour (suburb of Tokyo); B and C +Stone sticks or batons, marks of rank (Rikuchu and Hitachi); D Stone +club, probably religious (suburb of Tokyo). + +II. A Shell ring (Shimosa); B Bone nail (Rikuzen); C Bone spear-head +(Rikuzen); D Stone spoon (Mutsu); E Stone chisel (Iwashiro); F and G +Arrow heads (Uzen); H Magatama (Izumo); / Kazaridama, beads for +ornament (Mutsu). + +III. A Vessel with handles, front rounded, back flat (Totomi); B +Grayish earthenware dish, possibly for rice, with lathe marks (Mino); +C Jar with spout on sides (Totomi); D Wine jar with hole in center to +draw off sake with bamboo (Bizen); E Cup (Mino). + +IV. Brownish earthenware decorated by spatula and by fabric pressed +on the moist clay. A From Hitachi; B Incense-burner shaped vessel +(Ugo); C From Rikuzen; D Probably a drinking vessel (Mutsu). + +V. Wooden doll (Mutsu),--probably a charm. + +VI. Beads or gems (Rikuchu); the largest at the left, a marutama of +plaster; next, a kodanta of a substance like glass. + +VII. A Spear-head with socket: B Sword; C Sword with ring. + +VIII. Cut gem of rock crystal (Bitchu). + +IX. Kudatama, jasper ornament (Bizen). + +X. Gold ring, copper core, ear decoration (Musashi). XI. Magatama, +probably strung on necklace (Yamashiro). + +PREHISTORIC REMAINS PLATE B. + +Earthenware horse (MUSASHI); Haruwa or offering at the tomb + +Arrowhead and lance head (SHINANO); and bronze mirror (TAMBA). + +Haniwa, earthen ware images offered at the tomb. Female figure with +elaborate coiffure and dress lapping left over right. Man with steel +helmet and coat of mail. + +Broken piece of earthenware showing a human face. + +Stone axes and hatchets (MUTSUI OTARU, a polished Stone; Meguro, near +TOKYO; and SHIMOSA). + +PRINCE SHOTOKU (572-621 A.D.) + +(From a painting in the collection of The Imperial Household) + +KAMAKURA DAIBUTSU, OR IMAGE OF BUDDHA + +(Cast in bronze. 1252 A.D.; height 47 feet) + +COSTUMES + +Samurai in Hunting Robe + +Imperial Court noble + +Samurai in Court Robe + +TOKUGAWA SHRINE AT NIKKO + +ADMIRAL TOGO + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE +PEOPLE*** + + +******* This file should be named 27604.txt or 27604.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/6/0/27604 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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