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diff --git a/37186-8.txt b/37186-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c45e1aa --- /dev/null +++ b/37186-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11571 @@ +Project Gutenberg's An Introduction to the History of Japan, by Katsuro Hara + +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: An Introduction to the History of Japan + +Author: Katsuro Hara + +Release Date: August 24, 2011 [EBook #37186] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + AN INTRODUCTION TO + THE HISTORY OF JAPAN + + + BY + KATSURO HARA + + + YAMATO SOCIETY PUBLICATION + + [Illustration] + + + G. P. Putnam's Sons + New York and London + The Knickerbocker Press + 1920 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY + THE YAMATO SOCIETY + + + + + OBJECTS OF THE YAMATO SOCIETY + + +The military achievements of Japan in the last twenty years have done +much to make the world appreciate and acknowledge the intrinsic worth of +the Japanese nation. It is, however, very doubtful whether the other +nations find in us many other things to admire besides our military +excellence. Some of them, indeed, without fully investigating their +deeper causes, have entertained serious misgivings as to the probable +consequence of our military successes. The continual occurrence of +anti-Japanese movements in the various States of America and in the +dependencies of Great Britain and Russia, countries with which Japan is +most intimately connected, has been chiefly due to this want of +knowledge as to the real state of affairs in Japan, the progress in the +arts of peace, in science, literature, art, law and economics. + +Japan has a brilliant civilisation of which we can justly be proud. In +fine art, we have painting, sculpture, architecture, lacquer-work, +metal-carving, ceramics, etc.,--all of striking quality; in literature, +our poetry, fiction and drama are worthy of serious study; in music and +on the stage our progress has been along lines which accord with the +development of our distinctive national character, and is by no means +behind that of Europe. + +Europeans and Americans, however, have failed as yet to appreciate the +essential worth of Japan's civilisation. Some foreigners, it is true, +speak highly of Japanese fine art, praising Japan as a country devoted +to art; but the works that they admire are not always essentially +characteristic of Japan, nor are they representative works of Japanese +fine arts. The number of foreigners aware of the existence of an +influential literature in Japan is extremely limited. + +For such regrettable ignorance, however, we can blame no one but +ourselves; for we have made very little effort to promote the +appreciation of our civilisation by other peoples. If Japan, in her +eagerness to learn the best of European civilisation, continues to +disregard the necessity of making known her own civilisation to peoples +abroad, the world's misconception of Japan will forever remain +undispelled. It is our duty, indeed, to demonstrate to the world the +fact that Japanese literature and art have foundations not less deep +than those of our Bushido. + +On the other hand, we must have the broadness of mind to recognise and +correct our faults, so that we may make ours a civilisation that will +compel the admiration of the world. Whether or not European +civilisation, which we have to some extent adopted, is really good for +the wholesome development of our nation is a question which still +awaits our mature consideration. In order to enjoy unrestricted the +future possibilities of the world, we must look at things not only from +a national, but also, from a world-wide point of view, abandoning the +present Far Eastern exclusiveness and endeavouring to improve our +position in the family of nations not by military achievements but by +pacific means. This is, indeed, the surest way to make Japan one of the +First Powers both in name and in reality. + +To accomplish the above purpose is no doubt a task of no small magnitude +and one which will require a great deal of time and labour; but as our +conviction is that we should not hesitate because of difficulties, so we +have undertaken the organisation of this Society to help towards the +attainment of this ideal. + + + + +RULES OF THE YAMATO SOCIETY + + +ART. I. The Society has for its object to make clear the meaning and +extent of Japanese culture in order to reveal the fundamental character +of the nation to the world; and also the introduction of the best +literature and art of foreign countries to Japan so that a common +understanding of Eastern and Western thought may be promoted. + +ART. II. In order to accomplish the object stated in the foregoing +Article the Society shall carry on the following enterprises: + +1. Publication in foreign languages of works relating to various +branches of Japanese history. + +2. Translation of Japanese literary works. + +3. Publication in foreign languages of works of Japanese literature and +art. + +4. Publication in foreign languages of a periodical relating to Japanese +literature and art. + +5. Such steps as may be necessary for the introduction into Japan of the +best literature and art of foreign countries. + +6. Exchange exhibitions of foreign and Japanese art objects to be +arranged between Japan and other countries. + +7. Investigation and application of means necessary for the maintenance +and improvement of Japanese art. + +8. Despatch to foreign countries of qualified persons for the study and +investigation of important matters relating to or arising out of the +purposes of the Society. + +9. Investigation and application of means necessary for the improvement +of the customs and ideals of the Japanese people in general. + +ART. III. A Standing Committee shall be elected by the members. + +ART. IV. The Standing Committee shall have power to appoint or dismiss a +Secretary and clerks. + +ART. V. Candidates for membership of the Society shall be recommended by +the Society. + +ART. VI. The expenses of the Society shall be defrayed out of the +revenue derived from the contributions of members and of persons +interested in the work of the Society, from the sale of publications and +from other miscellaneous sources. + +ART. VII. Meetings of the Society shall be held as occasion may require. + +ART. VIII. The Standing Committee of the Society shall submit to the +members once a year an annual report of the revenue and expenditures, +accomplishments, and condition of the Society. + + +_Members of the Yamato Society_: + + TAKUMA DAN, + BARON TORANOSUKE FURUKAWA, + SHIGENOBU HIRAYAMA, Member of the + House of Peers. + SHIGEZO IMAMURA, + JUNNOSUKE INOUYE, + YEIKICHI KAMADA, + BARON HISAYA IWASAKI, } Partners of the + BARON KOYATA IWASAKI, } Mitsubishi Goshi + } Kaisha, Tokyo. + CHOZO KOIKE, Director of Mr. Kuhara's + Head Office, Tokyo. + FUSANOSUKE KUHARA, President of the + Kuhara Mining Co., Tokyo. + BARON NOBUAKI MAKINO, Member of the + House of Peers. + SHIGEMICHI MIYOSHI, Member of the Mitsubishi + Goshi Kaisha, Tokyo. + BARON KUMAKICHI NAKASHIMA, + SAIZABURO NISHIWAKI, + JOKICHI TAKAMINE, President of the Takamine + Laboratory, New York. + SANAE TAKATA, Member of the House of Peers. + SEIICHI TAKI, Professor of Art History, Imperial + University, Tokyo. + MARQUIS YORIMICHI TOKUGAWA, Member + of the House of Peers. + YUZO TSUBOUCHI, former Professor of the + Waseda University, Tokyo. + KAZUTOSHI UYEDA, Dean of Literary College, + Imperial University, Tokyo. + BARON KENJIRO YAMAKAWA, President of + Imperial University, Tokyo. + + _Members of the Standing Committee_: + + SHIGENOBU HIRAYAMA. + CHOZO KOIKE. + SHIGEMICHI MIYOSHI. + SANAE TAKATA. + SEIICHI TAKI. + KAZUTOSHI UYEDA. + + + + + PREFACE + + +The principal aim of this work, written at the request of the Yamato +Society as the first of its projected series of publications, is to +furnish a synopsis, or perhaps rather to give a general sketch, of the +history of Japan. The public to which it is tendered is not those +professional historians and students of history now abounding in our +country, who are already perplexedly encumbered with, and engrossed by, +a superfluity of overdetailed materials and a plethora of contradictory +conjectures and hypotheses. In short, the book is, strictly speaking, +intended for those Europeans and Americans who would like to dip into +the past, as well as peer into the future, of Japan,--Japan, not as a +land of quaint curios and picturesque paradoxes only worthy to be +preserved intact for a show, but as a land inhabited by a nation +striving hard to improve itself, and to take a share, however humble, in +the common progress of the civilisation of the world. + +Having such an aim on the one hand, it becomes on the other a matter of +urgent necessity for the author to exercise great caution against +extolling bombastically our national merits or falling into a coarse and +futile jingoism. To be ostentatious proves, after all, some lack of +sincerity and impartiality, and is the very vice which should be avoided +by historians worthy of the name. In order to guard against such a +blunder, however, and attain as far as possible the aim I have set +before me, I thought it wisest to approximate the standpoint from which +the book was to be written as nearly as possible to that of a foreigner, +free from our national prejudices and at the same time intensely +sympathetic with our country. Of course, it can hardly be disputed that +to place oneself unerringly on the standpoint of another, different +widely in thought as well as in nationality, is an affair very easy to +talk of, but exceedingly difficult to put into practice. I dare not +presume that I have been at all equal to the task. Still it may be of +some use for the reader to learn beforehand whither my earnest efforts +are directed. + +There is some truth in the saying that the time is not yet ripe for a +conscientious Japanese scholar to write a history of our country +covering all ages, ancient and modern, especially if that history is to +be canvassed in a small volume of some three or four hundred pages. The +reason generally alleged is that too many important questions in the +history of Japan remain yet undecided. It is to be doubted, however, +whether there can be found any country in the whole world whose +historical problems are all definitely solved. Therefore it would be +folly to wait till the Yellow River becomes pellucid, as a Chinese +proverb has it. Since the opening of our country, we have had many +foreign scholars investigating ourselves, our origins and our history, +which in most cases have been misunderstood and misrepresented. By some +we are overestimated, flattered, caressed, and cajoled. By others we are +undervalued, despised, and condemned. We are sometimes elevated to a +rank so high that no earthly nation could ever deserve it, and sometimes +we are mercilessly relegated to a stage of savagery, to get back to +which we should have to forego our cherished long history, the +beginnings of which are lost in the myths of ages. Such an astonishing +oscillation of opinion as regards the estimation of the merits and +demerits of the Japanese nation and its history is more than to be +endured. Surely the cause of being undervalued at one time lies in being +overestimated at another, and vice versa. We must put an end to this +oscillation and must be fairly represented, and in order to avoid +misrepresentation we must portray ourselves as fairly as we can. We +ought not to wait for the appearance of foreign authors, capable, +unprejudiced, and deeply interested in our country. + +It seems that there are not a few foreign publicists who suppose that +Japan is not yet sufficiently advanced in her civilisation to require +long years of study to understand her. This is why there is such a +number of tourist-writers, who skip over the whole country in a few +weeks, and are presuming enough to make sweeping assertions about all +sorts and conditions of things Japanese with which they come into touch +at haphazard. Again, there is another class of writers, who would like +to rate the Japanese nation and its history much higher than the +above-mentioned do, and who know that it is not such a very easy matter +to understand them. Unluckily, however, they are generally of the +opinion that it is only they, and not the Japanese, who are competent to +take up the task of interpretation, if those things are to be understood +at all. Standing upon this point of view, they would gladly accept any +kind of materials furnished by the Japanese, but flatly refuse to listen +to any theories or arguments devised by Japanese scholars, and +systematically repudiate almost all conclusions arrived at by the +latter. Writers of such a type think that the intellectual capacity of +the Japanese as a nation is not yet so high as to be able to elaborate +logical argumentations. These two sets of foreign writers mentioned +above sometimes praise us _sans phrase_, it is true. They are not, +however, with their eulogistic and gracious verdict, the sort of +champions to dispel the misrepresentations and misunderstandings under +which we suffer. + +Moreover, for Japanese historians, the need has never been more urgent +than now to make a trial in writing a history of their own country for +the sake of foreign readers. On account of the Great War, the so-called +European Concert, that is to say, the Areopagus of a few nations, will +be superseded by the Concert of the World. The post-bellum readjustment +and reconstruction, national as well as international, of countries +belligerent and neutral will be an overwhelming task such as the nations +of the world have never before undertaken. Perhaps there will follow a +long period of peace, but the feeling of nations toward one another will +in all natural probability continue sensitive and acute, and will not +easily subside. And in such a nervous and critical age as that, Japan's +position will be an exceedingly difficult one. Hitherto every move she +has made, every feat she has achieved, has been made an object of +international suspicion, especially in recent times. Japan, however, +cannot help making progress in the future, whether welcomed by other +nations or not, for where there is no progress, there is stagnation. +Hence arises the imperative necessity, at the juncture, of an attempt by +the Japanese to explain themselves through telling their own history, +and by so doing procure thorough understanding of themselves, their +character and characteristics, not only as they now really are, but as +they used to be in the past. That is the one object which I have pursued +in this volume. + +In preparing this work I acknowledge that I am greatly indebted to my +colleagues in our University of Kyoto. Warmest thanks are due to +Professor A. H. Sayce of Oxford, who, during his sojourn in our ancient +metropolis, kindly revised that part of my manuscript dealing with the +early history of Japan. It is also my greatest pleasure to acknowledge +my gratitude to Mr. Edward Clarke, B.A. (Cantab.), Professor of English +Language and Literature in this College, who went to a great deal of +trouble in revising my awkward English through the whole volume. + + KATSURO HARA + + _College of Literature, + Kyoto Imperial University, + October, 1918._ + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTION 1 + + II. THE RACES AND CLIMATE OF JAPAN 21 + + III. JAPAN BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM AND + CHINESE CIVILISATION 50 + + IV. GROWTH OF THE IMPERIAL POWER. GRADUAL CENTRALISATION 73 + + V. REMODELING OF THE STATE 104 + + VI. CULMINATION OF THE NEW RÉGIME; STAGNATION; RISE OF + THE MILITARY RÉGIME 128 + + VII. THE MILITARY RÉGIME; THE TAIRA AND THE MINAMOTO. + THE SHOGUNATE OF KAMAKURA 156 + + VIII. THE WELDING OF THE NATION. THE POLITICAL + DISINTEGRATION OF THE COUNTRY 194 + + IX. END OF MEDIEVAL JAPAN 221 + + X. THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN JAPAN 252 + + XI. THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE,--ITS POLITICAL RÉGIME 282 + + XII. TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE,--CULTURE AND SOCIETY 315 + + XIII. THE RESTORATION OF THE MEIDJI 355 + + XIV. EPILOGUE 382 + + INDEX 399 + + + + + AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF JAPAN + + + + + AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF JAPAN + + CHAPTER I + + INTRODUCTION + + +The history of Japan may be useful to foreigners in several different +ways. If we do not take into account the serviceableness of detached +historical data or groups of data, that is to say, when we exclude those +cases where the historical data of Japan are studied not for the sake of +understanding Japan herself, but in behalf of some other scientific +purposes, then it can be said that Japanese history will serve +foreigners in two principal and distinct ways. Firstly, it will interest +them as the history of one special nation among many in the world. +Secondly, it may be useful to historical study in general, seeing that +it can be regarded as constituting in itself a microcosm of miniature of +the history of the world manifested in that of a small nation. The +former point is that which attracts most foreigners by the strength of +novelty, while the latter will be none the less suggestive to +comprehensive and reflective historians. Both points need some +explanations. Let me begin with the first. + +Japan is a country inhabited by a people differing remarkably in racial +features from those who now occupy the greater part of Europe. She +remained for a long time shut up against the foreigners knocking at her +gate, and on that account her history, compared with that of other +nations, presents striking and unique characteristics. Many ancient +manners and customs, some of them having their origins in ages +prehistoric and unintelligible even to the present Japanese themselves, +are handed down almost unchanged to this day. On the other hand, the +history of Japan is not so simple as the histories of many +semi-civilised countries, which are generally nothing but incredible +legends and records of chronic disturbances arising out of some +inevitable natural causes. Full of charming oddities, which might +provide sources of wild speculations, and at the same time not lacking a +certain complexity,--a complexity indispensable if it is to become an +object of interest and investigation to any scientific historian, the +history of Japan should prove a very fascinating study. In this it +resembles the relation many rare indigenous flora and fauna bear to +foreign biologists. It should be noticed, however, that biologists may +safely remain constant as regards their points of view, whatever plant +or animal they happen to study, while historians ought always to bear in +mind that every nation and every age has its own criterion. In the +study of Japanese history the same truth must hold good. It is a very +regrettable fact, however, that many foreign Japanologists are too fond +of neglecting the Japanese point of view, and would like to apply the +western standard to the things Japanese they encounter in their +researches concerning our country. Frequently they are rash enough to +criticise before they have a proper understanding of those things which +it is their business to criticise. Sometimes they get at a truth to +which Japanese scholars have never attained, but they almost as a rule +forget that things Japanese too should be considered from many sides, as +occidental things should necessarily be, and inflexibly adhere to that +one line of insight which they were once fortunate enough to seize. Or +sometimes they attack pitilessly those legendary parts of our history, +which are to be found in some school text-books or are not yet entirely +expunged from some more scholarly works, on account of a national +reluctance to part with those cherished memories of our forefathers. +They blame us as if no country in the world were chauvinistic except +Japan, and Japan only. Such treatment of Japanese history, however, will +avail them nothing at all, not to mention that we suffer very much in +our outward relations from it. As chapter II. and the following, +however, are chiefly devoted to the purpose of showing that the history +of Japan may be interpreted side by side with that of many European +nations, I will cease dwelling further on this topic, and will directly +go over to the second point. + +To consider Japanese history as a miniature of the world's history is +rather a new assertion, so that it requires conclusive justification. It +is now generally believed or assumed that every nation continues to +evolve as an individual does, till it reaches its climax of growth and +begins to decay. Hence many modern historians have successively tried to +extract certain principles by the process of induction from kindred +historical events which took place in different countries and ages, and +thus to raise the study of history to the rank of a science in the same +sense as that in which the word is used when we speak of natural +phenomena. It is a great pity, however, that every historical event is +of a very ephemeral nature, never to be repeated in exactly the same +form in which it once occurred. And if it passes away, it passes away +forever, not to be retarded in the midst of its course by the will of an +investigator. Often one can contribute with full consciousness to the +happening of an event, or can alter the course of it, but one cannot +undo by any means the event itself and wash the ground as if nothing had +taken place. Moreover, historical facts are very difficult to detach +from their environment entirely, however isolated they seem to be, and +on that account they are not fit to be made objects of laboratory +experiments. In a school classroom the pupils are taught to solve an +algebraic equation of a binomial expression by supposing the value of x +and y alternately to be equal to zero. How much the task of historians +would be lightened, if we could for some time trace the effect of a +certain cause exclusively, setting at naught other concurrent causes, as +if those causes might be supposed to be standing still for a moment of +observation or hypothetically cancelled for a necessary time! + +Strictly speaking, the above device is out of the question in the case +of any historical investigation. Setting that aside, there is still +another greater difficulty to encounter in the study of history. Every +school-boy knows that there is a fundamental law in physics, that when a +body is set in motion by a certain impetus, it will move on continuously +in one direction with the same momentum, so long as it is left +uninfluenced by any other new force. It is true, however, that such a +case exists very rarely even in natural phenomena, and it would be quite +absurd to look for the like in the domain of history. More than one +cause acts conjointly upon individuals, families, tribes, or nations, +and before those causes cease to influence, other new causes generally +come into play, so that the influences of the latter are interwoven with +those of the former causes or groups of causes, and make discrimination +between them exceedingly difficult. + +Summing up the above, one cannot entirely isolate a country from its +surroundings, in order to see what a country or a nation would be able +to achieve, if untouched by any outward influence, that is to say, +solely out of its own immanent evolving forces. Next, it is none the +less difficult to observe scientifically the effects of some outward +forces acting on a nation, by warding off the influx of subsequent +influences and thus giving to the forces in question the full scope and +time to exert their influence. It often happens, however, that what +cannot be done artificially may be found produced spontaneously, and +though we cannot make experiments, in the strict sense of the word, +while observing historical data, it is possible that the history of a +nation or of an age may be taken as a case or a phase of an experiment, +if such an experiment could ever be tried at all. And indeed the history +of Japan may be considered as one of a few such happy cases. + +Here I need not talk much about the history of our country anterior to +the introduction of the Chinese civilisation. After the opening of the +regular intercourse between this country and China in the beginning of +the seventh century, institutions, arts, learning, and even the manners +of every day life continued for a long time to be brought thence by many +official emissaries and students, and copied faithfully here, though +generally with slight modifications. At that time, however, there being +no country far advanced in civilisation other than China near us, the +Chinese influence, the only exotic one, was allowed to take sole and +full effect. Besides this, that Chinese civilisation itself was not +encouraged to flow in endlessly. When, with the decay of the T'ang +dynasty and the setting in of the anarchical condition following it in +China, the highly finished culture attained during that dynasty, perhaps +the most perfect one China had ever seen, began to degenerate there, the +official intercourse between that country and Japan was interrupted. Of +course, I do not mean to say that even private and intermittent +commercial intercourse was also suspended at the same time, for the +geographical position of our country toward China does not allow the +former to remain entirely isolated from the latter. The suspension of +the regular intercourse itself, however, was enough to save Japan from +becoming entangled in the vicissitudes of the various dynasties +following the T'ang, and our forefathers were left to themselves to make +the best use of, that is to say, to digest, what had already been +brought in abundantly. In the succeeding period the quiet process of +rumination went on for several centuries. If we look back into the +Japanese history of that time, therefore, we can ascertain fairly +scientifically the effect of a high civilisation acting on a naïve +population not yet sufficiently organised as a nation, as our country +was at that period, and likewise we can observe many traits of the old +T'ang culture, which is now difficult to trace in China herself. This +is our first experiment in Chinese civilisation. + +Among the dynasties that followed the fall of the T'ang, that which +longest held the rule was the Sung, and between China under the latter +dynasty and Japan merchant ships plied now and then. Some Japanese +Buddhist priests followed the track of their predecessors, and went over +to China to study Buddhism. At the time of the Yuen dynasty founded by +the Mongols, China sent many Buddhist missionaries successively to +Japan, where religious innovations were in course of progress. This is +our second experiment in Chinese civilisation. In the first experiment +the religious element was of course not excluded. The essential +characteristic, however, of the culture of the T'ang dynasty was +politico-æsthetical, and as the result of the introduction of that +culture, Japan became enlightened in general. In other words, the first +experiment may be said to have been an æsthetical one, while the second +is one apt to be termed a religious one, and by the blending of the +results of the two experiments, we became a tolerably æsthetic and +religious people. Still there remained much to be wished for in respect +of national unification and social solidarity, and it is the culture of +the Sung dynasty itself which provided that very need, being +politico-ethical in its essential nature. By the introduction of that +culture the doctrines of the Confucian philosophers, which were made the +means of regulating the social and political organisation of Japan, +were inculcated widely and deeply, and forced into practice more +rigorously than they were in China herself. This is our third experiment +in Chinese civilisation. And when this experiment was almost finished, +we were faced by the inundation of western civilisation, which at last +made it impossible for us to continue the process of rumination, and +compelled us to plunge headlong into the maelstrom of world history. + +It is rather derogatory to our national pride to have to aver that we +are so deeply indebted to Chinese civilisation. Yet the facts cannot be +denied, nor the truth falsified. Moreover, we need not be ashamed that +we brought in so much from China, while we gave very little to the +Chinese in exchange. How could we, who were very late in commencing a +civilised national life, initiate a new civilisation independent of that +of China, without imitating it? Was not the Chinese civilisation too far +advanced and too overpowering for the Japanese of that time, the +Japanese who were still at the outset of their evolutionary march? On +the contrary, justice should be done to the fact, that we not only +improved ourselves by availing ourselves of such a high civilisation, +but withstood it at the same time, being far from dwindling away as a +result of having come into contact with it, as many uncivilised races +have done in a similar case. No impartial historian would fail to +observe that there is some capacity not borrowed but inborn in the +Japanese people, by force of which they were able to consolidate +themselves as a compact nation, possessing striking characteristics +quite different from those of China. And it is especially to be noted to +the honour of the Japanese, that the more we helped ourselves to Chinese +culture, the wider became the divergence between the two countries. +Could such a way of introducing an alien civilisation be designated a +servile imitation? I am far from trying to embellish every phase of the +history of Japan, whatever its due merit may be, and would be content if +even a few of the wanton calumnies current vis à vis Japan be set aright +by making her real history understood, which is not very easy to grasp, +but yet not so sterile as it is reputed to be by some foreign +historians. + +What I want to call attention to next is that the history of our country +is not that monotonous repetition of a certain kind of historical data, +however peculiar the data in themselves may be. Nay, the history of +Japan is full of varieties in the nature of its data. The history of +Greece is sometimes stated to be a miniature of the world's history on +account of the richness in variety of the historical phenomena which +occurred there, it being possible to find there also most of the +important subjects treated in history at large, though of course on a +much reduced scale. In this regard, too, the history of Japan closely +resembles that of ancient Greece. Our country had been disunited for a +long time, each section constituting itself a political quasi-unit +governed by a certain local semi-independent lord, like the tyrant of +Greek history. Those local potentates, however, were not so arrogant as +not to recognise the hereditary, political and spiritual sovereignty of +the Emperor. Not only that. They also reluctantly rejected the hegemony +of the Shogunate, though as a matter of fact this had but a nominal +existence. From this point of view, it might be asserted that our +country never ceased to be a united one. The bond of unity, however, +became very slack at intervals, so that the very existence of the unity +itself was often in doubt. In our history, therefore, there were many +obstacles to progress, especially in those lines of progress which +necessarily depend on the close unification of the whole country. At the +same time, however, advantages are not to be neglected, which might be +considered to result from the dismemberment itself. Japan had many small +centres at some periods. But it was, to some extent, owing to similar +circumstances that those centres came into existence, and for that +reason there was to be found much in common in all of them, in respect +of the tone of the culture fostered in the respective centres. That is a +matter of course. Among those centres, however, there arose naturally +much vying with one another in the promotion of their progress, and thus +the general standard of civilisation in Japan came to be raised to a +not inconsiderable height. Moreover, something like international +relations began to grow up between those units, which contributed +largely to the perfection of the culture within each of them. This is +the same interesting phenomenon, which we can trace not in the history +of Greece only, but in that of the Holy Roman Empire, nay, even in the +history of Europe itself. The difference is simply that in Europe the +same phenomenon developed on a grand scale, while it took place in Japan +in a very small compass. No wonder that as a result of having had a +national experience of the nature stated above, the history of Japan is +rich in varieties of data and deserves the attention of highly qualified +historians. So let me here submit to a hasty examination a few of the +important items in Japanese history, which even to European readers, may +be of no small interest, having their parallels in the histories of the +West. + +The first and the most important item to be mentioned is feudalism. A +famous living French historian once told me that it was absurd to speak +of Japanese feudalism, since feudalism was a special historical +phenomenon originated by the Franks, and therefore not to be found +outside of Europe. How is the word "feudalism" rightly to be defined +then? May it not be extended to a similar system which prevailed in +western Europe, but not under Frankish authority? If it can be said that +feudalism also obtained in the Swabian, the Saxonian and the +Marcomanian land, surely it would not be absurd to extend it a bit +further so as to make it cover similar phenomena which arose in +non-European countries, for example in China and especially in Japan. +For centuries in Europe historians successively tried to solve the +question, What is feudalism? A great number of hypotheses has been +presented. Some of them held the ground against their antagonists in +bitter scientific controversies, but were soon obliged to give way to +clever newly-started theories, and no conclusive solution has yet been +given to the problem. The cause of the failure chiefly lies in the +mistaken idea, that feudalism is a kind of systematic legislation, which +originated in the elaboration of some rules put together by some +sagacious ruler, or in the time-honoured invention of some very gifted +tribe, and starting from this erroneous supposition some scholars have +believed that they would be able to generalise from those overwhelmingly +chaotic materials, and thereby to establish certain fundamental +principles applicable to the feudal relation of whichever country they +chose. Far from their assumption being true, however, feudalism is not +an invention of somebody, made consciously, nor a result of a +deliberately devised enactment. A few general rules may be extracted +perhaps by so-called generalising, but even these few would be provided +with exceptional conditions. Therefore, the truth we reach at last by +studying the historical sources concerning feudalism is rather the +general spirit pervading all kinds of feudalism, and not any concrete +rule applicable everywhere, as we see in the case of natural sciences. +If the granting of the usufruct of a certain extent of land in exchange +for military service is the essence of feudalism, it is indisputable +that feudalism existed in Japan too. + +Feudalism is indeed a necessity, as a Chinese servant has said in a +memorable essay. It is a necessity which any nation must undergo, if +that nation is to become consolidated. Feudalism is often described as a +backward movement with respect to the political organisation. Primitive +races, however, cannot be described as having been either centralised or +decentralised, socially and politically, and the first stage which they +must pass is that of a vague centralisation. In this stage, +superficially observed, it appears as if the race were centralised at +one point, but the truth is that in so early a stage of civilisation, it +is not probable that more than one prominent centre would at once be +formed conspicuous enough to attract attention. And even that one centre +itself is formed, not because it is strong enough to centralise, but +because centripetalism actuates the environment, and no other force is +yet so strong as to compete with it. In early times, however, the degree +of prominency of a single centre over all others must have been very +slight. As time passes, lesser centres begin to distinguish themselves, +closely following the prominent first in strength of centralisation, +and become at last so powerful as to be able to challenge the hegemony +of the first centre. This state of affairs we generally denote as the +age of dismemberment, as if a true centralisation had been accomplished +in the age preceding. This view is utterly false. Without the power to +centralise, no political centre can be said to exist really, and without +any strong centre effective centralisation is not possible. The apparent +centralised, that is to say, unified condition of the ancient empires, +is nothing but a chaotic condition with one bright point only, and the +state of being seemingly dismembered is in truth a step toward the real +unification, centralisation _in partibus_ paving the way for +centralisation on a larger scale. This phase in the preparatory process +for the unity and consolidation of a nation is feudalism itself. +Feudalism is a test through which every nation must pass, if it aspires +to become a well organised body at all. There are some tribes, indeed, +which have never passed through the feudal period in their history, but +that is due to the fact that these tribes had certain defective traits +which hindered them from undergoing that experience, and on account of +that they have been unable to achieve a sound, well-proportioned +progress in their civilisation, which must necessarily be accompanied by +a well-organised political centralisation, whether it be monarchical or +democratic. Other nations have passed, it is true, the test of the +feudal régime, but very imperfectly, and for that reason have had great +difficulty in amending the defect afterwards. + +By no means need we lament that we were under the feudal régime for a +considerable time in our history. On the contrary, I am rejoiced that we +were. Every political development must go side by side with the +corresponding social progress. The latter, unless sheltered by the +former, lacks stability, while the former, if unaccompanied by the +latter, is not tenable, and will break down before long and be of no +avail. Feudalism can be compared to a nut-shell, which protects the +kernel till it quietly consummates its maturing process within. Social +progress, of whatever sort it be, ought to be covered by a political +régime of a certain kind, especially adapted to discharge the task of +protection, and must be allowed thereby to prosecute its own development +free from disturbing influences. Feudalism is one of the political +régimes indispensable to perform such a function. Though it seems to be +fortunate for a nation not to tarry too long in the stage of feudalism, +yet it is not desirable for the nation to emerge out of this stage +prematurely. + +To sum up, in order that a nation may continue in its healthy progress, +it should have feudalism once in its historical course, and must pass +that test fairly. And as passing a test can be fruitful only on +condition that that test itself be fair, it becomes necessary as a +natural consequence that a fair test must be passed fairly. Then how is +it with Japan? It cannot be safely said that we have passed the test +exceedingly well, but at the same time we can presume that we have not +passed it badly. If someone should say that the Japanese stayed +unnecessarily long in that condition and have not even yet entirely +emerged from it, he must have forgotten that even the most civilised +countries of Europe could not shake off the shackles of the feudal +system entirely until very recent times, the first half of the +nineteenth century still retaining an easily perceptible tincture of it, +as we see in the survival of the patrimonial jurisdiction in some +continental states of Europe. On the other hand foreign observers +generally fail to see that the régime of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which I +shall expatiate upon in a later chapter, is of a sort quite different +from that of the European feudalism in the middle ages, and are induced +to believe that the Japanese nation has been quit of the miserable +régime for only fifty years. These views are both totally mistaken. In +our relation to feudalism, we went through almost the same experience as +other civilised nations did, neither more nor less. Because, in so far +as we speak of the history of any nation ranging from its beginning till +our day, more than half of it can be held to have been occupied by +feudalism, the history of Japan may also be said to have in common with +other nations more than half of the essential elements which the +so-called history of the world could teach. + +After having seen that our history is not totally unlike that of the +nations of Europe in its most essential trait, it is not strange that +the history of Japan should contain many other things, besides +feudalism, which can be reckoned as the typical items necessary to make +up the history of any civilised nation, that is to say, as the chief +ingredients not to be dispensed with in the world's history,--viz., +various religious movements keeping pace with the social development at +large, economic evolution conditioning and conditioned by the changes of +other factors constituting civilisation in general, etc. As the foreign +influences can be traced comparatively distinctly, the history of Japan +can, to a large extent, be subjected to a scientific analysis. So if we +look for the history of a nation, which is fit to represent the gradual +evolution of national progress in general, Japanese history must be a +select one. It is in this respect that I said that the history of our +country is a miniature of the world's history. After all the history of +Japan is not so simple and naïve as to be either an easy topic for +amateur historians, or a suitable theme for ordinary anthropologists, +ethnographers, or philologists, who are not specially qualified to deal +with histories of civilised times. Those whom I should heartily welcome +as the investigators of the history of our country, are those historians +in Europe and America, who, more than amply qualified to write the +history of their own countries, have continued to disdain extending +their field of investigation to the corners of the world, thought by +them not civilised enough to be worthy of their labour. If they care to +peep into the history of our country, perhaps the result will not be so +barren as to disappoint them utterly. The greatest misfortune to our +country at the present day is that her history has been written by very +few first-rate historians of Europe and America, those who have written +upon it being mostly of the second or third rank. Nay, there are many +who cannot be called historians at all. The best qualifications they +have are that, by some means or other, they can write a book, or that +they were once residents of Japan, and if they venture to write a +history about a country outside of their own, Japan seems to them to be +the easiest subject, the greater part of their compatriots being quite +ignorant of it. + +I dwell thus long, however, on the significance of the history of Japan, +not in order to silence these quasi-historians, nor forcibly to induce +the first-rate foreign historian to study the history of Japan against +his own will. The former attempt is useless, while the latter may be +almost hopeless. The principal reason for having long dwelt on the +subject, is only to have it understood by foreigners, that the Japanese +nation, which has such an advanced historical experience in the past, is +not to be considered as one only recently awakened, and therefore to be +admired, patted, encouraged, feared and despised in rapid succession. If +once they happen to understand the true history of Japan, then the +fluctuations in their estimation of us will also cease; then, perhaps, +we shall not be feared, or rather, made an object of scare any more, as +now we are, but at the same time we shall be happy not to be disliked or +rejected. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + THE RACES AND CLIMATE OF JAPAN + + +Which is the more potent factor in building up the edifice of +civilisation, race or climate? This has been a riddle repeatedly +presented to various scholars of various ages, and has not yet been +completely solved. The immanent force of the race deeply rooted in the +principle of heredity on the one hand, and the influence of the physical +milieu on the other, have been, are, and will be, ever the two important +factors, coöperating in engendering any sort of civilisation, yet are +they not always friendly forces, but, in a sense, rivals, competing for +the ascendency. Looking back into the history of the interminable +controversy as to the position of the two, and taking into consideration +the fact that they are not the only factors contributing to the progress +of civilisation, it would perhaps seem to be a waste of labour to try +anew to solve the question. If one should endeavour to explain the +respective importance of the two factors, putting due stress on each at +the same time, he would then be in danger of falling into a +self-contradiction or of begging the question endlessly; otherwise he +must be satisfied with being the sermoniser of quite a commonplace +truism! This is not, however, the place to enter into a discussion to +determine the preponderant influence of either of the two, a discussion +perhaps fruitful enough, but almost hopeless of arriving at a final +solution. But as in recording the history of any country one should +begin well at the beginning, I, too, cannot desist from starting with a +description of the race and of the climate, with their relations to the +history, of Japan. + +Of these two factors, I need not say much about the first. It is about +forty years since meteorological observations have been regularly and +continuously made in this country and the results published in +periodical reports, so that almost all requisite data pertaining to the +climatology of Japan are at the disposal of the investigator. Assuming +that the climate of Japan at present, which can be ascertained, not +exhaustively perhaps, but scientifically enough, is not a widely +different one from what it was in the past, there is the less need of +dwelling upon the topic, so far as the scope of this book is concerned. +I will content myself, therefore, with treating it very briefly. + +Generally speaking, it must be admitted that the ideal climate for the +progress of civilisation must not be either a very hot or a very cold +one; in other words, it must be a temperate one. At the same time, it is +necessarily true that, for the sake of fostering a civilisation, the +climate should be stimulative, that is to say, should be variable, but +not running to such extremes as to impede the vital activity of the +population. When a climate is constant and has no seasonal change, that +climate, however mild it be, is very enervating, and not fitted for any +strenuous human exertion, physical or mental, and is therefore adverse +to the onward march of civilisation. Judged by this standard, the +climate of Japan is a good one. If we put aside all the recently +organised or annexed parts of the Empire, that is to say, Korea, +Saghalen, Formosa, Loochoo, and Hokkaido, the remaining part, that is to +say, the whole of historic Japan, which includes the three principal +islands, was formerly divided into sixty-six _kuni_ or provinces, and +stretches over a wide range of latitude, extending from 31°--41.5° N., +so that the difference in temperature at its two extremes is very +considerable. It must be remembered, however, that the difference is not +so great as to necessitate totally different modes of living. In the +province of Satsuma, for instance, the falling of snow can often be +witnessed, while in Mutsu the temperature, in the height of summer, +frequently climbs above 90° F. The southern Japanese, therefore, can +settle in the northern provinces quite comfortably without changing many +of their accustomed habits, and the northerners, on the other hand, can +shift their abode to the island of Kyushu, with very little modification +in their ways of living. This almost similar way of living throughout +the whole of historic Japan, with very slight local modifications only, +is the cause why the unity of the nation was accomplished comparatively +easily. + +As to the seasonal changes, they occur somewhat frequently in Japan, and +impart a highly stimulative quality to her climate. According to the +interesting investigation made by an American climatologist, for a +climate to be stimulative it is necessary that there should be not only +marked seasonal changes, but also frequent variations within each of the +seasons themselves, and it is nothing but the storms which induce such +important daily climatic changes. If we may accept his conclusion, then +Japan may rank fairly high among the countries with the best kind of +climate. For not to speak of the seasonal changes so clearly definable, +in Japan, the cyclonic storms, the main cause of the daily climatic +changes, occur very frequently. It can be said that no one desires to +have them occur more often on this account. After all, the climate of +Japan would have been almost an ideal one, if there had been less rain +in the early summer, the long rainy season being evidently the chief +cause of the enervating dampness. By the way, it should be remarked that +the dampness which is the weakest point of the climate of Japan, not +only in the summer, but throughout the whole year, is in excess more in +the regions bordering on the Sea of Japan than in those facing the +Pacific Ocean and the Inland Sea. This fact explains the historical +phenomenon that the most momentous events in Japanese history have taken +place not in the former but in the latter regions. If we look into the +history of Europe, the Inland Sea of Japan has its counterpart in the +Mediterranean, the Pacific, in the Atlantic, and the Sea of Japan in the +Baltic Sea. Perhaps the attentive traveller will notice that the same +greyish hue of the sea-surface can be perceived in the Sea of Japan as +in the Baltic Sea, and that very sombre colour imparts the same gloomy +tone to the atmosphere of the regions bordering on those two seas. It is +true that many mythical legends of our country have their scenes in the +coastal regions along the Sea of Japan, the so-called "Back of Japan," +and, moreover, in standard of civilisation, these regions, compared with +the other parts of the Empire, decidedly do not rank low. That is due, +however, not to the influence of the fair climate prevailing in those +parts of Japan, but to the proximity of the Asiatic continent. For, as +the result of that proximity, there must have been very intimate +relations between those regions of Japan and the continental tribes on +the opposite shore, some of whom are sometimes supposed to have had the +same origin as the Japanese. At present the influence of the climatic +drawback in those districts is very evident, and it will be in the +distant future that the time will arrive when the "Back of Japan" will +become more thriving and enlightened than the other side of Japan facing +the Pacific, unless there should be a sudden upheaval in the progress of +the civilisation, and in the growth of prosperity, on the opposite +continental shore. + +Between northern and southern Japan, it is not very easy to distinguish +what influence the climates of the two regions had on their history. It +is certain that northern Japan is inferior to southern Japan in climatic +conditions, if we consider the impediments put on human activity there, +on account of the intense cold during the winter. It is doubtful, +however, whether the backwardness of the North in the forward march of +civilisation can be solely attributed to its climatic inferiority. Even +in the depth of winter, the cold in the northern provinces of Hon-to +cannot be said to be more unbearable and unfit for the strenuous +activity of the inhabitants, than that of the Scandinavian countries or +of northeastern Germany. The principal cause of the retardation of +progress in northern Japan lies rather in the fact that it is a +comparatively recently exploited part of the Empire. Since the beginning +of historic times, the Japanese have pushed their settlements more and +more toward the north, so that the population in those regions has grown +denser and denser. If this process had continued with the same vigour +until today, the northern provinces might have become far more populous, +civilised, and prosperous, than we see them now. Unfortunately for the +North, however, just at the most critical time in its development, the +attention of the nation was compelled to turn from inner colonisation to +foreign relations. Besides, the subsequent acquisition of new dominions +oversea made the nation still more indifferent to the exploitation of +the less remunerative northern half of Hon-to. As to the climatic +conditions of Hokkaido and Loochoo, it is needless to say that they are +far different from that of the historic part of the Empire, and each of +them needs special consideration. They have had, however, very little to +do with the history of Japan. The same may also be said still more +emphatically about Formosa, Saghalen, and Korea, though the influence of +their climates on the destiny of future Japan will without doubt be +immense; but as these regions do not come within the purview of my book, +I can, without prejudice, omit further reference to them. + +Together with the climate, the race stands forth as an indispensable +factor in the promotion of its civilisation. Then to what race do the +Japanese belong? Can all the people of Japan be homogeneously comprised +under a single racial appellation, or must they be treated as an +agglomeration of several different races? Are the Japanese, or the bulk +at least of the Japanese, indigenous or immigrant? If the Japanese are +an immigrant race, then whence did they originate, and what is the +probable date of their immigration into this country? What race, if not +the Japanese, are the aborigines of these islands? Questions of this +kind, and others of a similar nature have stood waiting for solution +these many years! But none of them has yet been completely answered, +though attempts have been made not only by a large number of native +investigators, professional as well as amateur, but also by not a few +foreign philologists and archæologists, who were tolerably well-versed +in things Japanese. Recently many interesting excavations of ancient +tombs and historical sites have been made, and various remains +pertaining to the old inhabitants of the islands have been submitted to +the speculative scrutiny of specialists. They have served, however, +rather to lead one to deeper, more obstinate, scepticism, than to shed +light on those doubtful and tentative answers and indecisive +controversies. It is very much to be regretted that we have no authentic +record of the early immigration into Japan from the pen of a +contemporaneous writer, so that we could thereby verify the +interpretations assigned to the remains found in the ancient tombs. This +is to be attributed to the lack of the use of written characters among +the aboriginal people, as well as to the illiteracy of the early +immigrants. If we had as remains of prehistoric Japan such valuable +historic materials as have been excavated in Europe and Western Asia, we +should have been able to deduce the history of its early ages with a +tolerable degree of certainty from the remains themselves, +independently of any documental evidence. Unfortunately, however, in +this respect also, our prehistoric remains consist only of a few kinds +of earthenware, mostly with very simple patterns on them, and some other +kinds of primitive utensils of daily use, such as saddles, bridles, +sword-blades, and the like. Huge tombstones are sometimes found, but +they have no such inscriptions as we see on many Greek sarcophagi, being +provided only with a few unintelligible, perhaps meaningless, scratches. +As to the primitive Japanese ornaments, very few historical data can be +gathered from them, for they are generally beads of very simple design, +and of three or four different shapes. It is quite hopeless to think +that we should ever be able to dig out a single dwelling, not to speak +of a whole palace, village, or town, on any Japanese historical site, +since no stone, brick or other durable material was ever used in the +construction of buildings. As our stock of reliable, authentic +information concerning our origins is so scanty, it is at the disposal +of any one to manufacture whatever hypothesis he chooses, however wild a +speculation it be, and sustain it as long as he likes against any +antagonist, not by proving it positively and convincingly, but by +pointing out the impossibility of the opposing hypothesis, so that the +present state of archæological research in Japan may be summed up as an +intellectual skirmish carried on by regular as well as by irregular +militant scholars. Therefore, in spite of the fact that Japan now +abounds in ethnologists, big and small, each fashioning some new +hypothesis every day, there can be perceived only a very slow progress +in the solution of the fundamental question, "Who are the Japanese?" We +are almost at a loss to decide to which assertion we can most agreeably +give our countenance with the least risk of receiving an immediate +setback. So I shall be content to state here only those hypotheses, +which may be considered comparatively safe, although they may not rise +far above the level of conjecture. + +The only thing virtually agreed to by all investigators engaged in +ethnological inquiry concerning Japan, is that the Ainu is the +aboriginal race, and that the Japanese so called belongs to a stock +different from the Ainu. Once for a time there prevailed a hypothesis +that there was a people settled in this country previous to the coming +of the Ainu, who must be therefore an immigrant race. It is said that +the Ainu called this people by the name of Koropokkuru. But very little +indeed is known about these supposed autochthons, except that they were +very small in stature, and that this pigmy race receded and vanished +before the advancing Ainu. The theory had its foundation only in some +Ainu legends, and was not supported by any archæological remains, which +could be attributed, not to the Ainu, but to a special pigmy race only. +Much reliance, therefore, could not be placed upon this hypothesis, or +rather vague suggestion, and it was speedily dropped. Still it is not +yet decided whether the Ainu is the real autochthon in Japan or an +immigrant from some quarter outside the Empire. Most of the Ainologists +are rather inclined to the opinion that the Ainu himself is also an +immigrant, though no other race prior to him had settled in Japan. But +then there arises among scholars another disagreement, that about the +original home of the race. Some hold the opinion that the Ainu came over +to the Japanese islands from the north or the northwest, that is, from +some coastal region of the Asiatic continent on the other side of the +Sea of Japan. And there are not a few, too, who not only trace the +origin of the race into the heart of Asia, but even go so far as to say +that the Ainu came from the same cradle as the Caucasian race. Some go +still further and localise the origin of the race more minutely, +identifying the race as a branch of the protonordic race, akin to the +modern Scandinavians. On the other hand there is a certain number of +ethnologists, who entertain the opinion that the Ainu immigrated into +Japan, from the south, and not from the north; but no specified locality +in the south has yet been designated as the original home of the race. +The last hypothesis seems, however, not to be untenable, when we +consider that in historic times the Japanese drove the Ainu more and +more northward, till the latter lost entirely its foothold in Hon-to, +and was at last hemmed in within a small area in the island of Hokkaido +and the adjacent islets. From this fact it can be imagined with some +probability that the same direction of expansion might have been taken +by the Ainu also in prehistoric times. The custom of tattooing, also, +which can be very seldom seen among the northern Asiatic tribes, +suggests to us, though faintly, the possibility of the existence of a +certain kind of affinity between the Ainu and the inhabitants of the +tropical regions. On the other hand, if we turn our attention to the +outward features of the Ainu race, and remember that races very much +resembling the Ainu are still lingering on the northeastern shores of +Asia, the immigration from the northwest becomes not utterly improbable. +Even the supposition that the Ainu belongs to the Aryan stock cannot be +rejected as quite a worthless speculation, if the paleness of the +complexion, the shape of the skull, and some other characteristic +features be taken into account. In short, the ethnological uncertainty +regarding the Ainu race is, in all likelihood, one of the principal +causes of the obscurity concerning Japanese race-origins. Sometime in +the future, I have no doubt, the racial riddle concerning the Ainu will +be cleared from the haze in which it is now shrouded. Here, however, +especially as I am not now treating of ethnology, I will avoid forming +any hasty conclusion, and leave the question as it stands. + +Whether the Ainu be autochthonous or immigrant, and whatever be the +original home of the race, if immigrant at all, the hairy people, it is +true, once spread all over these islands, not in Hon-to only, but even +to the southern end of the island of Kyushu. This can be proved by the +pottery excavated in the provinces of Satsuma and Ohsumi, and also by +several geographical names in Kyushu, the etymological origin of which +may best be traced to an Ainu source. As a matter of fact, the Ainu had +been gradually driven northward, and the island of Kyushu wrested from +their hands, before the dawn of the historical age, leaving perhaps here +and there patches of tribesmen, who were too brave or not speedy enough +to flee before the advancing conquerors. And those remnants, too, after +a faint survival of some generations, were at last subdued, +exterminated, or swallowed up among the multitudes of the surrounding +victorious race or races. Thus Shikoku, the island of the four +provinces, and the southwestern part of Hon-to were evacuated by the +Ainu before the end of the prehistoric age. When the curtain rises on +Japanese history, we find the Ainu fighting hard against the Japanese in +the north of Hon-to. + +We have here designated the vanquishers of the Ainu, for the sake of +convenience, simply by the name of Japanese. Were they the Japanese in +the same sense as the word is understood by us now? Were the vanquishers +a homogeneous people, or a heterogeneous one? If the Japanese were +heterogeneous, who were the first comers among them? Who were the most +prominent? All these are questions very hard to answer clearly. It is +sometimes argued that we had only one stock of people in Japan besides +the Ainu, and that that stock is the homogeneous Japanese. This view is +not avowed openly by any scholar worthy of mention, for it is an +undeniable fact that in the historical ages groups of immigrants, +intentional as well as unintentional, happened to drift into Japan now +and then, not only from Korea and China, but from the southern islands +also, though not in great numbers, and the occurrence of migrations +similar to those in historic ages cannot be absolutely denied to +prehistoric times. Besides, any one who pays even but cursory attention +to the physical features of the Japanese can easily discern that, +besides those who might be regarded as of a genuine Korean or Chinese +type, there are many among them who have a physiognomy quite different +from either the Korean or the Chinese, though one might be at a loss to +tell exactly whether the tincture of the Malayan, Polynesian, or +Melanesian blood is predominant. In face of such diversity, too clear to +be neglected, none would be bold enough to assert that the Japanese has +been a homogeneous race from the beginning. Strangely enough, however, +this evidently untenable conception still lies at the bottom of many +historical hypotheses, which will be set right in the future. + +If it is most probable that the Japanese is a heterogeneous race, then +what are the elements which constitute it? The results of the +investigation of many scholars tend to place the home of the bulk of the +forefathers of the so-called Japanese in the northeast of the Asiatic +continent. Perhaps, from the purely philological point of view, this +assumption may be more approximate to the truth than any other. The +singular position of the Japanese language in the linguistic system of +the world leaves little room for the hypothesis that the bulk of the +race came from the south, though it is not at all easy to derive it from +the north. In our language we have very few words in common with those +now prevailing in the islands which stud the sea to the south of Japan, +or in the southern part of the Asiatic continent. On the other hand, the +language the most akin to ours is the Korean, though the gap between it +and the Japanese language is far wider than that between the Korean and +the other continental languages, such as the Mongolian and the +Manchurian. If we take, therefore, linguistic similarity as the sole +test of the existence of racial affinity, as many scholars are prone +implicitly to do, then the bulk of the Japanese must belong to a stock +which stood at some time very near to the forefathers of the Koreans, +though not descended from the Koreans themselves. In other words, the +Japanese race may be supposed to have had as its integral part a stock +of people, who might have lived side by side with the ancestors of the +Koreans for a longer time than with other kindred tribes. And if that be +really so, the Japanese must have separated from the Koreans long before +the end of the prehistoric ages; otherwise we cannot account for so wide +a divergence of the two languages as we see at present. + +It is a very dangerous feat, of course, to determine any ethnological +question solely from a philological standpoint. For the sake of +argument, however, let us assume for a while the hypothesis that the +main element in the Japanese race came over from the northern Asiatic +continent on the opposite shore of the Sea of Japan, by way, perhaps, of +the peninsula of Korea and the island of Tsushima, or across the Sea of +Japan. The ethnologists who adopt this view assume that the Chinese must +be excluded from the above body of immigrants, the Chinese who were +doubtlessly a far more advanced people even in those ages than the other +neighbouring races, and were destined to become the most influential +benefactors of Japanese civilisation. If regarded from the linguistic +point of view only, it may be not at all unnatural thus to exclude the +Chinese blood from the veins of our forefathers. In order to do so, +however, it would be necessary at the same time to presuppose that the +Chinese never came into close contact with the forefathers of the +Japanese while the latter were sojourning on the Asiatic continent. It +is not, of course, impossible to suppose that the ancestors of the +greater part of the Japanese came over into this country without +touching China anywhere, because they might have come from eastern +Siberia, northern Manchuria, or some other quarter, narrowly avoiding +coming into contact with the Chinese, though, actually, it is not a very +easy matter to imagine such a case. + +Let us, then, drop all idea of the Chinese, and suppose that that race +can be put aside in our consideration of the prehistoric Japanese +without glaring unnaturalness. Still the question remains unsettled, +whether the bulk of our ancestors from the continent contained within it +the ruling class, who gave a unity to the heterogeneous population of +this Island Empire. One would say that a certain stock among many, who +had their abode in northeastern Asia, might have become predominant over +the kindred people of various stocks settled previously in Japan. And +the cause of the predominance may be supposed to have been a decided +advance in civilisation on the part of the chosen stock. That is to say, +the tribe in question might have been already in the iron age with +respect to its civilisation, while other tribes were still lingering in +the neolithic age. But in order to sustain this supposition, it is +necessary to premise another assumption that the predominant stock was +comparatively late in coming over to Japan, and that it had already +attained the civilisation of the iron age before its immigration into +Japan while the other inferior tribes remained at a standstill in their +civilisation after settling in our country. Such an assertion, however, +cannot be deemed probable without admitting that there was a +considerable interruption of communication between Japan and the Asiatic +continent before the immigration of the predominant stock. Otherwise it +would be very difficult to entertain the idea that the civilisation of +northeastern Asia could remain alien to the inhabitants of Japan for so +long a time as to cause a wide difference in language, manners and +customs, and so on, between the peoples on the two opposite shores of +the Sea of Japan. + +Besides, to suppose that the forefathers of the greater portion of the +Japanese people were immigrants from northeastern Asia, is, by itself, +nothing but a hypothesis, supported by a few remains only, which can be +interpreted in more than one way. To go one step farther, and assume +that the ruling class of the Japanese too came over from the continental +shore of the Sea of Japan is another matter, too uncertain to be readily +accepted. Whatever degree of probability there may be in these +assertions, there are certain items in our history to the natural +interpretation of which any solution of all the ethnological problems +must conform; and among those items the following are the most +important. + +The first to be considered is the style of the Japanese building, +especially the style of the Shinto shrines and of the dancing halls +frequently attached to them. The architectural style of the ordinary +Japanese house has undergone many successive changes during the long +course of its history, so that its primitive form is now, to a great +extent, lost. For instance, the _tatami_, a thick mat, which covers the +floor of a Japanese room and is now one of the most remarkable +characteristics of Japanese household fittings, is a comparatively +modern invention, only planks having been originally used as the +material for flooring. Buddhistic influences too can be traced +distinctly in a certain turn of construction copied from China, first in +building Buddhistic temples and then widely adopted in building ordinary +dwelling-houses. In some essential points, however, there are several +traits which cannot be ascribed either to an imitation of any +continental style or to the result of a gradual adaptation to the +climate. Any one can easily see that the ordinary Japanese house may be +good for summer and for southern Japan, but not for winter, especially +for the rigid winter of northern Japan. How did such a style come into +being? If it had been brought from the northeast of the Asiatic +continent by the ancient immigrants from those quarters, it should have +been a style more adapted to the rigid climate of northern Japan, than +we find it is. On the other hand, if it were an outcome of a natural +development on the Japanese soil, it should have been one more adapted +to the climate, as suitable for the winter as for the summer. Does it +not amount almost to an absurdity, that the Japanese should still be +following this ancient style of architecture in building their houses in +Manchuria and Saghalen? Why do they cling to it so tenaciously? One +would say, perhaps, that the architectural form of the ordinary Japanese +house has undergone changes from various causes, so that one cannot +fairly draw absolutely correct conclusions about the primitive dwellings +of the ancient Japanese from its present condition. If that be so, let +us take the style of the Shinto buildings into consideration. If it can +be thought, with reason, that the Shinto building still best retains +some of the characteristics of the primitive Japanese house, then the +thatched roof of a peculiar construction with projecting beams at both +ends of the ridge-pole, together with a highly elevated floor, the space +between which and the ground serves sometimes as a cellar, cannot but +suggest the existence of a certain relation between the primitive houses +of Japan and those of the tropical regions lying to the south of Asia, +such as the Dutch East Indian Archipelago and the Philippine Islands, or +the southeastern coast of the Asiatic continent. + +The next point not to be neglected is rice as the staple food of the +Japanese. Everybody knows that rice is a daily food stuff not only of +the Japanese, but of the Chinese and many other Asiatic peoples. In the +case of the inhabitants of northern China, however, other kinds of +cereals are eaten as well as rice, as a natural consequence of the +scanty production of the latter in those regions. And it is worthy of +notice that even in southern China this cereal is eaten not as is +customary in our country. There they eat rice as well as meat, or rather +more meat than rice, while here in Japan meat and fish are mere +ancillary foods, rice being the chief article of diet. What is the cause +of this difference in the use of rice? Is Japan specially adapted for +the production of this grain? Southern Japan of course is not unfit for +the cultivation of the plant, viewed from the point of soil and warm +climate only. But even there the rice crop is very uncertain on account +of the September typhoons, which annually bring new wrinkles of anxious +care on the weatherbeaten faces of our farmers. So _a fortiori_ rice +does not conform to the climate of northern Japan, where the frost +arrives often very early and the whole crop is thereby damaged, except a +few precocious varieties. This explains the reason, why there have been +repeated famines in that region, occurring so frequently that it can be +said to be an almost chronic phenomenon. By the choice of this uncertain +kind of crop as the principal food stuff, the Japanese have been obliged +to acquiesce in a comparatively enhanced cost of living, which is a +great drawback to the unfettered activity of any individual or nation. +This is especially true of recent times, since the growth of the +population has been constantly forging ahead in comparison with the +increase of the annual production of rice. The tardiness of the progress +of civilisation in Japanese history may, perhaps, be partly attributed +to this fact. Then why did our forefathers prefer rice to other kinds of +cereals, in spite of the uncertainty of its harvests? Was it really a +choice made in Japan? If the choice was first made in this country, then +the unwisdom of the choice and of the choosers is now very patent. On +the other hand, to suppose that this choice was made by our ancestors in +northeastern Asia during their sojourn in those regions is hardly +possible. Moreover, the general use of rice in Japan has been constantly +increasing. In old times the use of it was not so common among all +classes of the people, though now it can be found everywhere in Japan. +This fact also leads us to doubt the assumption that the cultivation of +rice was initiated in Japan, or that it was brought by our ancestors +from their supposed continental home in northeastern Asia. + +What thirdly claims our attention is the _magatama_, a kind of green +bead, varying in size. It is one of the few ornaments peculiar to the +ancient Japanese, though it does not seem probable that its material was +naturally produced in our country. Without doubt our ancestors were +very fond of this kind of bijouterie. It has been excavated in great +numbers from old tombs, throughout the whole of historic Japan, and the +sepulchral existence of the _magatama_ is now generally admitted by most +Japanologists as an unmistakable token of a former settlement of the +Japanese. It must, however, be remarked that, on the Asiatic continent, +_magatama_ are found in southern Korea only, the region which once +formed a part of the Japanese Empire. Surely it should have been +discovered in northern Korea and on the Siberian coast of the Sea of +Japan also, if our forefathers, inclusive of the ruling class, came over +from northeastern Asia. It is very curious that nothing of the kind has +been discovered as yet in those supposed original homes of the Japanese. + +The last item we must mention here is the _misogi_. The _misogi_ is an +old religious custom of lustration by bathing in cold water. In a legend +of our mythical age, there is an account of this antique ritual +performed by two ancestral deities in a river in Kyushu, and this ritual +has come down to our day, of course with some modifications. The custom +of actually bathing in the water was afterward superseded by the +throwing of effigies into a river, in the annual ceremony of praying +publicly to deities. In medieval Japan this usage continued to be +practised at a riverside in the summer; but it is almost extinct +nowadays. On the other hand, not as a public ceremony, but as a method +of individual self-purification, this custom of lustration is still +practised by many pious persons. Almost entirely naked, even in the +winter of northern Japan, they pour on themselves several bucketfuls of +cold water, and thus purify themselves from head to foot, in order to +attest a very special devotion to the deities to whom they pray. This +custom of bathing with its religious signification is something that +cannot find its likeness anywhere else, either in northeastern Asia, or +in China, or in Korea. Whence, then, did the ancient Japanese get this +unique custom? Would it not be natural to suppose the custom of bathing, +including its religious use, to have originated in some quarter of the +torrid regions of the earth than to speak of it as initiated in the +frigid zone? + +All the four items mentioned above ought by all means to be interpreted +adequately and naturally, whatever standpoint one may take in solving +ethnological questions concerning the Japanese. The hypothesis that the +bulk of our forefathers might have been immigrants from northeastern +Asia, is, as already said before, by itself nothing but an assertion, +supported mainly by the form of certain prehistoric pottery, which may +possibly be interpreted otherwise, perhaps disadvantageously, too, for +the assertion. We may accept the hypothesis as probable, taking into +consideration the proximity of the supposed home of our ancestors to +Japan. But it avails us not at all in interpreting the points which I +have enumerated above. On the contrary, if we concur with the +supposition that the ruling class, also, of the Japanese has its +original home in the northeastern part of the Asiatic continent like the +bulk of the race, then the interpretation of the aforesaid items would +become more difficult. It is true that those who would like to derive +the origin of the Japanese from northeastern Asia, do not absolutely +deny the existence of a certain tropical element in the final formation +of the Japanese race, but generally they think that the element must +have been very insignificant. They would never go so far as to look to +the element for the bulk of our forefathers or for the ancestors of the +ruling class. If the tropical element be as insignificant as they +suppose, then we should be naturally induced to imagine that those +customs alien in their essential nature to the soil and climate of Japan +were imported by those immigrants from the tropical South who, +insignificant, not only in number, but also in influence, have, +notwithstanding, taken a firm root in the historical and social life of +the Japanese, struggling against the opposition of overwhelming odds, +far more numerous, civilised, and powerful, an utterly impossible +hypothesis. How then, did such an incongruous idea with its fatal +conclusions come to be entertained by scholars? Because they have too +great a faith in the power of civilisation, so-called, to decide the +rise and fall of races in the primitive age. + +Those who would uphold the assumption of the northern origin of the +Japanese, or at least of its ruling class, tacitly presuppose that the +northeastern Asiatics of the prehistoric age were several steps ahead of +the contemporary tropical peoples in the progress of civilisation, or at +least that one of the many tribes of northeastern Asia was far superior +to its neighbours as regards civilisation. Otherwise they think that a +certain stock of people, which afterwards became the ruling class in +Japan, had attained already the civilisation of the iron age while they +were still on the continent, so that when they came over to Japan they +would have been far more advanced than the people who had settled in +Japan before them. Though it is but a conjecture, it is good so far as +it goes. To deduce the domination over alien races simply from the +superiority of the civilisation must be another thing. Even in modern +times, sheer valour often tells more than superiority of arms in +deciding the fate of battles. This must have been even more true in +early ages. The empire of Rome was broken asunder by the semi-civilised +Germans. In the East, China was repeatedly overrun by nomadic tribes far +inferior to the Chinese in civilisation. What is true in this respect in +historic times, must be particularly true in prehistoric ages. It is too +superficial to think that a tribe in the stage of the iron age must +necessarily conquer in fighting against other tribes knowing and using +stone weapons only. In those ages it is strength, ferocity, courage, +which tell decidedly more in fighting than any weapon. We need not +therefore take much account of the state of civilisation among different +primitive tribes in determining the origin of the Japanese race. + +On the other hand, we are in no wise bound to minimise the significance +of the tropical element, in number as well as in influence, as regards +the formation of the Japanese people. The remarkable differences in +distance make it very natural to suppose that the immigrants from the +tropical regions might have been less numerous than those from the +north. Still it is not utterly improbable that a pretty substantial +number of the Southerners might have come over into Japan, drifted over +not only by the current but by the wind also, sometimes in groups, +sometimes sporadically, and that they could subdue the inhabitants by +force of martial courage yet unenervated and not by that of a superior +civilisation only. The main difficulty in establishing this assertion +lies in the fact that it is not quite certain whether they were really +brave and heroic enough to achieve such a conquest. As to the linguistic +consideration which is the favourite resort of many ethnologists it can +be said that it is not more harmful to the one hypothesis than it is +advantageous to the other. It is quite needless to argue that there is +little sign of the existence of any linguistic affinity between the +language of Japan and those of the tropical lands, except in a few +words. This lack of linguistic affinity, however, can be explained away, +while maintaining the importance of the ancient immigrants from the +South, by considering that the ancestors of the ruling class, having +been inferior as regards civilisation to the other stock or stocks of +people whom they found already settled prior to them in Japan, and +having been perhaps inferior in number also, gradually lost not only +their language but many of their racial characteristics as well. Similar +examples may be found in abundance in the history of Europe, the Normans +in Sicily, and the Goths in Italy being among the most conspicuous. It +is not impossible to suppose the like process to have taken place in +Japan also. + +Summing up what is stated above, I cannot but think that the prehistoric +immigrants into our country from the South were by no means a negligible +factor in constituting the island nation, though the majority of +immigrants might have come from the nearest continental shores, and in +this majority it is not necessary to exclude the Chinese element +altogether. It seems to me probable that southern Japan, especially the +island of Kyushu, was inhabited in the prehistoric age by the Ainu, and +by immigrants from the North as well as from the South side by side. +But what was the relative distribution of these agglomerate races at a +certain precise date is now a question very hard to settle definitely. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + JAPAN BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM + AND CHINESE CIVILISATION + + +Before entering into a description of the early history of Japan, it may +be of some service to the foreign reader to learn when the authentic +history of Japan begins. Generally it is not an easy matter to draw a +distinct line of demarcation between the historic and the prehistoric +age in the history of any country, and in order to get rid of this +difficulty, an intermediate age called the proto-historic was invented +by modern scholars, and has been in vogue up to now. It is true that, by +making use of this term, one aim was surely attained, but two +difficulties were thereby created in lieu of one dismissed. We were +freed, indeed from the hard task of making a delicate discrimination +between the historic and the prehistoric age, but at the same time we +took up the burden of distinguishing the proto-historic age from both +the historic and the prehistoric! And these new difficulties cannot be +said to be easier to meet than the old, so that it may be doubted +whether it was wise to intercalate the proto-historic age between the +two, if the promotion of scientific exactitude was the main purpose of +such an intercalation. A polygon, however the number of its sides be +augmented, can never make a circle in the exact sense. I shall not, +therefore, try to adhere scrupulously to the above-mentioned threefold +division in discharging the task which I have undertaken. + +Let me turn then to the line of demarcation between the historic and the +prehistoric age without troubling myself about the proto-historic. This +line must be drawn by first making clear the signification of the +historic age, and not by defining the term "prehistoric." What, then is +the historic age? It may be defined as an age, the authentic history of +which can, in a large measure, be ascertained, or as an age which has an +historical record, contemporary and fairly reliable. It is to be +regretted that we cannot dispense with such precautionary expressions as +'to a large measure' and 'fairly', but we cannot avoid retaining them, +and therein lies the true difficulty of making an exact demarcation. +Moreover, an age, the history of which was regarded at one time as +impossible of being ascertained, often may become ascertainable as the +result of ever-increasing discoveries of new materials as well as of the +new methods of their deciphering. In other words, the demarcation, +however conscientiously made at one time, is liable to be shifting, and +the reason for the demarcation gradually changes _pari passu_. As the +word prehistoric has now begun to be used independently of 'historic', +the historic age may be better defined as an age which has a +civilisation advanced enough to have a record of its own. So far a +country may be said to be in an historic age, even at an epoch the +historical sources of which are considered not to be extant anywhere, +only if the standard of civilisation be high enough for that. Unless we +adopt this definition, the line of demarcation may shift more and more +into antiquity, as the result of ever-increasing discoveries of new +materials as well as of the methods of their interpretation, and the +demarcation itself will become of very little value. So far a country +may be said to be in an historic age, even at an epoch the historical +sources of which are considered not to be extant anywhere. But how can +we know whether a country has reached a stage of civilisation advanced +enough to have its own record? It is almost impossible to discover this +point without resorting to authentic historical sources. And in order +that we may so resort, those sources must be extant. In this way if we +want to make the demarcation full of significance, we have to beg the +question _ad infinitum_. + +In the history of Japan, too, what is said above holds true, and the +demarcation, however dexterously made, will not assist much in the study +of it. Among foreigners, however, the question how far can we go back +with certainty in the history of Japan, is a very popular topic, and has +been discussed with very keen interest. For the sake of elucidation, +therefore, I will give a short account of the early chronicles +concerning the history of our country. + +Among the old chronicles of Japan there are two which are especially +conspicuous. The one is the _Kojiki_, the other the _Nihongi_. It is +generally admitted that these two chronicles are the oldest extant and +the most substantial of all the historical sources of ancient Japan. The +compilation of the former was concluded in 712 A.D. by a savant called +Oh-no-Yasumaro, while that of the latter was undertaken by several royal +historiographers, and finished in 720 A.D. under the auspices of Prince +Toneri. That the compilation of the two great chronicles took place +successively in the beginning of the eighth century is one of the +symptoms showing the dawning of the national consciousness of the +Japanese, to which I shall refer in the following chapters. In their +characteristics, these two chronicles differ somewhat from each other. +The materials of the _Kojiki_ were first made legible and compiled by +Hieta-no-Are, an intelligent courtier in the reign of the Emperor Temmu, +and afterwards revised by the aforesaid Oh-no-Yasumaro. Considering that +there was only a very short time left at the disposal of Yasumaro to +spend in revising the work before dedicating it to the Empress Gemmyo, +it can be safely concluded that Yasumaro did not try to make any great +alteration, and the _Kojiki_ remained for the most part as it had been +compiled by Hieta-no-Are. The other chronicle, the _Nihongi_, was +finished eight years after the _Kojiki_, and submitted to the Empress by +Prince Toneri, the president of the historiographical commission. If we +suppose this commission to be a continuation of what was inaugurated by +the royal order of the Emperor Temmu in the tenth year of his reign, +then the commission may be said to have taken about forty years in +compiling the chronicle. In some respects the _Kojiki_ may be regarded +as one of the byproducts of the compilation, Hieta-no-Are being probably +one of the assistants of the commission. The essential difference +between the two chronicles is that the _Kojiki_ was exclusively compiled +from Japanese sources, written by Japanese as well as by naturalized +Koreans, and retained much of the colloquial form of ancient Japanese +narrated stories, while in the case of the _Nihongi_ many Chinese +historical works were consulted, and historical events were so arranged +as to conform to what was stated in those Chinese records. Many _bon +mots_, it is true, were often borrowed from ancient Chinese classics, +and this ornamented and exaggerated style was often pursued at the +expense of historical truth, and on that account most of the later +historians of our country give less credit to the _Nihongi_ than to the +_Kojiki_, though this scepticism about the former is somewhat +undeserved. + +It is beyond question that the two chronicles mentioned above are the +oldest historical works written in Japan, now extant. They are not, +however, the earliest attempts at historical compilation in our country. +Just a hundred years before the compilation of the _Nihongi_ was +finished, the Empress Suiko, in the twenty-eighth year of her reign, +that is, in 620 A.D. ordered the Crown Prince, known as Shôtoku, and +Soga-no-Umako, the most influential minister in her court, to compile +the chronicles of the imperial house, of various noted families and +groups of people, and a history of the country with its provinces. If +these chronicles had been completed and preserved to this day, they +would have been the oldest we have. Unfortunately, however, by the +premature death of the Crown Prince, the compilation was abruptly +terminated, and what was partly accomplished seems to have been kept at +the house of Soga-no-Umako, until it was burnt down by his son Yemishi, +when he was about to be executed by imperial order in 645 A.D. Fragments +of the archives, it is said, were picked up out of the blazing fire, but +nothing more was ever heard of them. There is a version now called the +_Kujiki_, and this has been misrepresented to be that very chronicle, +which, it was feigned, was not really lost, but offered in an unfinished +state to the Empress the next year after the death of prince Shôtoku. If +this be true, the record which was burnt must have been one of several +copies of the incomplete chronicle, which, as Euclid would say, is +absurd! It is now generally agreed that the chronicle is spurious, +though it may contain some citations from sources originally authentic. + +Whatever be the criticism on the chronicle _Kujiki_, there is no +doubting the fact that the work of compiling a history was initiated in +the reign of the Empress Suiko, and partly put into execution. Not only +that. There might have been many other chronicles and historical +manuscripts in existence anterior to the compilation of the _Nihongi_, +and afterwards lost. In the _Nihongi_ are mentioned the names of the +books which were consulted in the course of compilation. Among them may +be found the names of several sets of the annals of a peninsular state +called Kutara, various Chinese historical works, and a history of Japan +written by a Korean priest. Some of the books are not named explicitly, +and passages from them are cited as "from a book" merely, but we can +easily perceive that they were mostly from Japanese records. + +So far I have spoken about chronicles which were compiled of set purpose +as a record of the times and worthy to be called historical works. As to +other kinds of manuscripts, for instance, various family records and +fragmentary documents of various sorts, there might have been a +considerable number of these, and it is probable that they were utilized +by the compilers of the _Kojiki_ and of the _Nihongi_, though the latter +mentions very few of such materials, and the former is entirely silent +concerning its sources. The question then arises how this presumably +large number of manuscripts came to be formed. We have no written +character which may be called truly our own. All forms of the ideographs +in use in our country were borrowed from China, intact or modified. And +in ancient Japan an utter lack of knowledge of the Chinese characters +prevailed for a long time throughout most classes of the people. If this +were so, by whom were those documents transcribed? In the reign of the +Emperor Richû, _circa_ 430 A.D., scribes were posted in each province to +prepare archives, a fact which implies that the emperor and magistrates +had their own scribes already. Who then were appointed as the scribes? +To explain this I must turn for a while to the history of the Korean +peninsula and its relations with China. + +Wu-ti, the most enterprising emperor of the Han dynasty, was the first +to push his military exploration into the Korean peninsula, and from 107 +B.C. onward the northern parts of the peninsula were successively turned +into Chinese provinces. This was the beginning of the infiltration of +Chinese civilisation into those regions. Afterwards on account of the +internal disturbances of the Chinese empire, her grip on the conquered +provinces became a little loosened, but at the beginning of the third +century A.D. a strong independent Chinese state constituted itself on +the east of the river Lyao, and Chinese influence thereby once more +extended itself vigorously over the northern half of the peninsula: a +new province was added to the south. In the districts which had thus +become Chinese provinces, not only were governors sent from China, but a +number of colonists must also have settled there, so that through them +Chinese civilisation continued to infiltrate more and more, though very +slowly, into the peninsula. This infiltration lasted till the middle of +the fourth century, when the Chinese provinces in the peninsula were +overrun and occupied by the Kokuri or the Koreans properly so called, +who came from the northeast, and by this invasion of the barbarians the +progress of civilisation in the peninsula was for a time obstructed. +Still there might have remained a certain number of the descendants of +the older Chinese colonists, and it is possible that they still retained +some vestige of the civilisation introduced by their ancestors. The +history of the peninsula at this period may be well pictured by +comparing it to the history of Britain with its lingering Roman +civilisation at the time of the Saxon conquest. It is just at the end of +this period that Japan came into close contact with the peninsular +peoples. + +It is almost impossible to ascertain from reliable sources how far back +we can trace our connection with the peninsula. According to a chronicle +of Shiragi, a state which once existed in the southeast of the +peninsula, one of the Japanese invasions of that state is dated as early +as 49 B.C. Since the value of the chronicle as historical material is +very dubious, it is dangerous to put much faith in this statement at +present. We may, however, venture to assume that in the first half of +the third century A.D. the intercourse between Japan and Korea became +suddenly very intimate. Japan invaded the peninsula more frequently than +before, and our emissaries were despatched to the Chinese province +established to the north of it. Nay, not only that, some of them +penetrated into the interior of China proper, as far as the capital of +Wei, and on the way back seem to have been escorted by a Chinese +official stationed in the peninsular province. Memoirs by those Chinese +who had thus opportunities of peeping into a corner of our country, were +incorporated by Chen-Shou, a Chinese historian at the end of the third +century, in his general description of Japan, a chapter in the +_San-kuo-chih_, which has remained to this day one of the most valuable +sources concerning the early history of our country. This intercourse +between the peninsula and Japan, sometimes friendly and sometimes +hostile, happened to be accentuated by the expedition of the Empress +Jingu to Shiragi in the middle of the fourth century. Soon after this +expedition, Chinese civilisation, which had achieved a considerable +progress during the long Han dynasty, began to flow into Japan, and +effected a remarkable change in both the social and the political life +of our country. For just at this time the two northern states of the +peninsula, Korea or Kokhuri and Kutara, advanced rapidly in their +civilisation, so that a school to teach Chinese literature was founded +in the former, while in the latter a post was instituted in the royal +service for a man of letters. And Shiragi, another state in the +south-eastern part of the peninsula, ceased to be a barrier to +communication between those two peninsular states and Japan, as it had +been before the expedition of the Empress. + +Among the boons conferred by the introduction of Chinese civilisation +through the intermediation of the peninsular states, that which had had +the most beneficial and enduring effect was the use of the written +character. It cannot be said with certainty that the Chinese characters +were totally unknown to the Japanese before the aforesaid expedition of +the Empress. On the contrary, there are several indications from which +we can surmise that they had chances to catch glimpses of the Chinese +ideographs. It is beyond the scope of probability, however, to suppose +that these ideographic characters were used by the Japanese themselves +at so early a period, in order to commit to writing whatever might have +pleased them to do so. At the utmost we cannot go further than to assume +that certain immigrants from the peninsula, some of whom probably came +over to this country before the expedition, as well as their +descendants, might have used the Chinese ideographs. Among the +immigrants some may have been of Chinese origin while others were of +peninsular origin, but imbued with Chinese culture. But even in these +cases the use of the characters must have been limited to recording +their own family chronicles or simple business transactions. It can be +believed, too, that the number of those who were acquainted with the +written characters at that time was very small even among the immigrants +themselves. It is needless to say that public affairs were not yet +committed to writing. That up to the time of the expedition the standard +of civilisation in the peninsular states stood not much higher than that +of Japan may also account for the illiteracy which had continued so +long. + +Shortly after the Empress Jingu's incursion into Korea the literary +culture of the peninsular states rose suddenly to a higher standard than +that of our country, and enabled them to send into Japan men versed in +writing and reading Chinese characters. At the same time their +immigration was encouraged by the Japanese emperors, and some of the +literati were enlisted into the imperial service. As Japan had at that +time a quasi-caste system, everybody pursuing the profession which he +had inherited from his forefathers, and people belonging to the same +profession forming a group by themselves, several groups were thus +formed, which made reading and writing their exclusive profession. +Almost all the scribes appointed in the reign of the Emperor Richû must +have belonged to one of the families in those groups. As a matter of +course members of the imperial family and those belonging to the +aristocracy began in process of time to be initiated in the elements of +Chinese literature; but still, writing, as a business, continued to be +entrusted to the members of the groups of the penman's craft, and they, +too, rejoiced in monopolising posts and professions which could not +dispense with writing, as secretaries, councillors, notaries, and +ambassadors to foreign countries, and the like. Naturally chroniclers +and historians were to be found solely among them, and there remains +little doubt that far the greater part of the historical manuscripts +consulted by the compilers of the _Nihongi_ were written by those +professional scribes. + +It is not much to be wondered at that the art of writing was entrusted +to certain groups of people, while the dominant class in general +remained illiterate. What is most strange is that such a condition could +continue for a very long time in our country, the learned groups, who +had, in their hands, the key of public and private business, being +subjected to the rule of the illiterate. Could it not be explained by +supposing that the ruling class of ancient Japan, though destitute of +book education, yet was endowed with natural abilities, which were more +than enough to cope with the literary culture of that time? If +otherwise, then their prestige should have been easily shaken by the +class of literati within a short interval. It is to be regretted that we +have very few sources to prove positively the ability and attainments +peculiar to the Japanese of that time, but this long continuance of the +illiteracy of the ruling class may serve as a negative proof, that at +least the ruling class was a gifted people, more gifted than was to be +surmised from their illiteracy. + +Here the reader would perhaps ask, must the condition of ancient Japan +remain shrouded in mystery forever? Will it be utterly impossible to +know something positive about it? On the contrary, however vague, +uncertain, and incredible legends and sources concerning them may be, +still we may extract some positive knowledge from our scanty and often +questionable materials, so as to obviate the necessity of groping +hopelessly in the dark. That the ancient Japanese were averse from any +kind of pollution, physical as well as mental, can be unmistakably +perceived, evidence being too prevalent in numerous legends, and it can +also be attested by many manners and customs preserved until the later +ages. This is the real essence of future Shintoism. About the rite of +the _misogi_, or bathing, I have already spoken in the foregoing +chapter. Wanting literary education, they did not know what hypocrisy +was, and were quite ignorant of the art of sophistication. Being utterly +naïve, it was not uncommon that they erred in judgment. But once aware +of their fault, they could not help going to lustrate themselves and +make atonement, in order to get rid of sin. Warlike and superbly +valiant, they were very far from being vindictive. Traits of cruelty are +hardly to be found in the mythological and legendary narratives. The +ancient Japanese were, we have good reason to believe, more humorous +than the modern Japanese. + +The description of Japan in the _San-kuo-chih_ furnishes many +interesting data besides what I have stated above. We learn from it that +our ancestors were not in the least litigious, and thieves were rare. +Transgressors of the law were punished with confiscation of wives and +children. In case of the more serious crimes, not only the criminal but +his dependents also were subjected to severe penalties. Women were noted +for their chastity. Elders were respected, and instances of longevity +sometimes reckoning a hundred years of age were not rare. Augury was +implicitly believed in, and when people were at a loss how to decide in +public affairs as well as in private, they used to set fire to the +shoulder bone of a deer, and by the cleavage thereby produced, divined +the will of the deities. When they had to set out for a long voyage, +they accompanied a man, who took upon himself the whole responsibility +for the safety of the voyage and the health of all on board, by +subjecting himself to a hard discipline, and leading a very ascetic +life. If any of the crew fell ill, or the tranquillity of the voyage +was disturbed, he was called on to put his life at stake. Periodical +markets used to be opened in several provinces, where commodities were +exchanged. Tribute was paid by the people in kind. Cattle and horses +were rarely to be seen. Though iron was known in making weapons, yet +arms made of other materials such as bone, bamboo, flint, and so forth +were still to be found in use here and there. + +Such was the state of our country as witnessed by Chinese visitors in +the first half of the third century A.D. Their observations might not +have been very accurate, but they strangely coincide in general with +conclusions which could be drawn from Japanese sources. The author of +the _San-kuo-chih_, moreover, says that there was a great resemblance in +manners and customs between Japan and the island of Hai-nan on the +southern coast of China. This assertion may be highly suggestive as to +the ethnological study of Japan. An ancient custom of Japan called +_kugatachi_, a kind of ordeal to prove one's innocence by dipping a hand +into boiling water and taking out some article therefrom unhurt, is said +to have been practised by the people of Hai-nan too. To believe hastily, +however, in a racial connection between the Japanese and the inhabitants +of Hai-nan is a very dangerous matter. Another fact that cannot be +overlooked in the Chinese narratives is a passage concerning the +continual warfare in Japan, though only a short description of it is +given in them. + +In the preceding chapter I have spoken about the heterogeneity of the +Japanese as a race. Among the various racial factors, however, none was +able to keep for a long time its racial independence and separateness +from the bulk of the Japanese except the Ainu. Other minor factors were +lost in the chaotic concourse of races or swallowed up in the midst of +the most powerful element. Even the Kumaso, who were once the strongest +element in the island of Kyushu, succumbed to the arms of the Japanese +not long after the peninsular expedition of the Empress Jingu. The Ainu, +too, intermingled with the dominant race wherever circumstances were +favourable to such a union. Having been the predecessors of the +Japanese, however, in the order of settling in this country, and having +moreover been the next most powerful race to it, the Ainu only have been +able to retain their racial entity, though continuously decreasing in +numbers, up to the present time. + +In the long history of the antagonism between the Japanese and the Ainu, +which covers more than a thousand years, the Ainu were on the whole the +losing party, retreating before the Japanese. Surely, however, they must +have made a stubborn resistance now and then. That they formerly +occupied the island of Kyushu, we know from the archæological remains. +But, from reliable historical records, we cannot know anything certain +about the race, until the time when they are to be found fighting +against the Japanese in the northern part of Hon-to. Still it is beyond +doubt, that there must have been not a few intervening phases, and one +of the phases, which is important, coincides with the period when the +visit of the Chinese officials took place. + +Most of the countries of the world may be divided into two or more +parts, the people of each of which differ from those of the others in +mental and physical traits. Boundary lines in this case generally +conform to the geographical features of the land, but not necessarily so +always. If we have to draw lines dividing the island of Hon-to in +accordance with linguistic considerations, it is more natural to divide +it first into two rather than into three or more parts, and the dividing +line here is not the most conspicuous geographical boundary. The line +begins on the north at a spot near Nutari, on the Sea of Japan, a little +eastward of the city of Niigata in the province of Yechigo, and after +running vertically southward, on the whole keeping to the meridian of +139° 1/3 E. till it reaches the southern boundary of the province, it +turns abruptly to the west along the boundary between Yechigo and +Shinano, which lies nearly on the latitude 36° 5/6 N.; and then it runs +again toward the south along the western boundary of the provinces +Shinano and Tôtômi, which is almost identical with the meridian 137° +1/2 E. This is of course an average line drawn from several linguistic +considerations, such as accentuation, dialectic peculiarities and the +like, but at the same time, besides the linguistic differences there are +other kinds noticeable on both sides of the line. It would not therefore +be very wide of the mark, if we adopt this line as a boundary dividing +Hon-to with regard to the difference in the standard of the civilisation +in general. No other line drawn on the map of Japan can divide it in +such a way as to make one part so distinctly different from the other. +If the reader will glance at the map, he can easily see that the line +does not well agree with the geographical features, especially in those +parts running vertically southward. No insurmountable natural barrier +can be found, particularly on the Pacific coast. Consequently the best +interpretation of the boundary line must come not from geography, but +from history. + +Not only in the case of Japan, but in Western countries too, broad +rivers or big mountain chains do not necessarily form the lines of +internal and external division. The great Balkan range could not hinder +the Bulgarians of East Roumelia from uniting with their brethren to the +north of the mountain. The Rhine, the most historic river in the world, +has never in reality been made a boundary between France and Germany +which could last for long, and the antagonism of the two countries, +which has continued for many centuries, is the result of the earnest +but hardly realisable desire on both sides to make the river a perpetual +boundary. More than that, even inside Germany the Rhine joins rather +than divides the regions on both sides of it. + +Take again for example the boundary between England and Scotland. If we +follow merely the geographical conditions, we may shift the boundary +line a little northward, or perhaps southward too, with better or at +least equal reason. In order to account for the present boundary, we +cannot but look back into the history of the district, from the age of +the Picts and Britons downward. If it had been a dividing line of +shorter duration dating only from the Middle Ages, it would not have +been able to maintain itself so long, and the differences of not only +dialects but of temperament and various mental characteristics would not +have been so decisive. + +We have no Picts-wall, no limes in our country, but the boundary line +delineated above divides Japan into two parts, the one different from +the other in various ways, more remarkably than could be effected by +drawing any other boundary line elsewhere. Then where lies the reason +which makes the Ainu line so significant? It must be attributed to the +fact that the line stood for many centuries as a frontier of the +Japanese against the Ainu. In other words, the Ainu must have made the +most stubborn resistance on this line against the advancing Japanese. +Japan had to become organised and consolidated in a great measure, so +as to be called a well-defined entity, before the Japanese could +penetrate beyond the line to the east and north. The exploration of +Northern Japan is the result of this penetration and of the infiltration +of the civilisation which had come into being in the already compact +south. Thus the difference between the two parts grew to be a clearly +perceptible one. In some respects it can be well compared to the +difference between Cape Colony and the two states, the Transvaal and the +Orange Free State, which were formed by the emigrants from the former. + +The fortress of Nutari had been for a long time the outpost of the +Japanese against the Ainu on the side of the Sea of Japan. With this +fortress as a pivot the boundary line gradually turned toward the north, +pushed forward by the arms of the Japanese. The movement must have been +made at a very unequal pace in different ages, and where the progress +was very slow or stopped short and could not go on for a long time, +there we may draw another boundary line, thus marking several successive +stages. Politically to efface the significance of these lines was +thought to be necessary for the unification of the Empire by the +Emperors and their ministers in successive ages, and in that respect +more than enough has been achieved by them. Apart from political +considerations, however, those lines, which mark the boundaries in +successive phases, are almost perceptible to this day. And none of +those lines is so full of meaning as the one which I have emphasised +above. At first sight it would seem strange that while the fortress of +Nutari remained stationary as an outpost for a very long time, there +cannot be found any corresponding spot on the Pacific side east of the +line. But the difficulty may be cleared away easily, if one thinks of +the fact that the line was moved on more swiftly to the right than to +the left where the fort Nutari was situated. + +In the first half of the third century after Christ the Japanese were +still fighting on the line against the Ainu. And the time when the +Chinese officials came over to this country falls in the same period. In +the description given in the _San-kuo-chih_ the names of about thirty +provinces under the suzerainty of the court of Yamato are mentioned, to +identify all of which with modern names is a very difficult and +practically a hopeless task. But this much is certain, that none of them +could have denoted a province east of the line. Moreover, we can tell +from a passage in the same work that the war with the Ainu at that time +had been a very serious one for our ancestors, for it is stated that the +course of the war was reported to the Chinese official stationed in the +peninsular province by the Japanese ambassador despatched there. + +Turning to the southwestern part of Japan, it cannot be said that the +whole island of Kyushu was already at the disposal of the Emperor of +that time. In the region which roughly corresponds with the province of +Higo, a tribe called the Kumaso defied the imperial power, and continued +to do so to an age later than the period of which I have just spoken. It +was perhaps not earlier than the middle of the fourth century that their +resistance was finally broken. South of the Kumaso, there lived another +tribe called the Haito in the district afterwards known as the province +of Satsuma. Some of the tribesmen were wont to serve as warriors in the +army of the Emperor from very early times, especially in the imperial +bodyguard. Still the imperial sway could not easily be extended to their +home. The last insurrection of the Haito tribe is recorded to have +happened at the end of the seventh century. That these southern tribes +were subdued more easily than the Ainu on the north, may be attributed +to the fact that their numbers were comparatively small, and that they +might have been more akin in blood to the important element of the +Japanese race than the Ainu were. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + GROWTH OF THE IMPERIAL POWER. + GRADUAL CENTRALISATION + + +It is a privilege of historians to look back. By looking back I do not +mean judging the past from the standpoint of the present. Though it is +quite obvious that past things should be valued first by the standards +of the age contemporaneous with the things to be valued, it would be a +great mistake, if we supposed that the duty of historians was fulfilled +when they could depict the past as it was seen by its contemporaries. +Historians are by no means bound to adhere to the opinions of the +ancients in judging of what happened in the past. How a past thing was +viewed and valued by its contemporary is in itself an important +historical fact, which must be subjected to the criticism of historians. +Not only to have a clear idea of the views held by the people of a +certain period as regards contemporaneous events, a task which is not +hopelessly difficult though not very easy, but also to know why such and +such views happened to be held by those people at that time, is a duty +far more important and difficult to discharge. Historians ought, +besides, to make clear the absolute value of such views and the effects +of them on the age in question as well as on the period that followed. +However necessary it may be to be acquainted with the thoughts and +beliefs of former generations, it is not indeed incumbent upon us to +believe blindly what was believed in the past and to think on the same +lines as was thought by the ancients. Who would not laugh at our folly, +for example, if we should consider the whale of old times to have been a +kind of fish, simply because the ancients did not know it to be a +species of mammalia, though by such a supposition we might perhaps be +very loyal to the old beliefs? As the result of investigations over long +years, many things that have been held to be totally different by +ancient peoples have been found to be similar to one another, nay, +sometimes just the same. On the other hand, there have not been wanting +examples in which essential differences, though considerable in reality, +have been overlooked or thought to be negligible, and first discerned +only after the researches of hundreds of years. In uncivilised times, +generally speaking, men were rather quick to observe outward and +superficial distinctions, while very slow to discover internal and +essential variations. There was a time in the far-off days of yore, both +in the East and in the West, when some people held themselves to be +unique and chosen, and regarded others, who were apparently not as they +were and spoke languages different from their own, to be decidedly +inferior in civilisation to themselves, or to be more akin to beasts +than to human beings. Were the Japanese then at the beginning of their +history different from other peoples at a similar stage of development, +or were they unique from the first? To give too definite an answer to +such a question is always a mistake. Our forefathers were certainly +different from other peoples in certain respects, but they had much in +common with others too. To be unique is very interesting to look at, but +it does not follow necessarily that what is unique is always worthy of +admiration. Uniqueness is an honour to the possessor of that quality +only when he is inimitably excellent on that account. On the other hand, +to possess much of what is common to many is far from being a disgrace. +Among things which are not unique at all may be found those which have +universal validity, and are by no means to be despised as commonplace. +Our forefathers had not a few precious things which were singular to +themselves, but at the same time they had much in common with outsiders +too, and by that possession of common valuables, the history of Japan +may rank among those of civilised nations, being not only interesting +but also instructive. + +By the Japanese of later ages it was supposed that all people outside +historic Japan were radically different from themselves, thus forgetting +that their own ancestors had been of mixed blood. This proves, by the +way, how easily the process of amalgamation and assimilation of +different races was accomplished in ancient Japan. There was hardly a +tinge of racial antipathy among our forefathers of old. Parallel with +the sense of discrimination against other people, which must have been +founded on the perception of superficial differences and on that account +not deep-rooted, there prevailed among them an ardent love for all sorts +of things foreign, and they extended a hearty welcome to all the +successive immigrants into Japan, from whatever quarter of the world +they might come. Far from being maltreated, these immigrants were not +only allowed to pursue their favourite occupations of livelihood, but +were even entrusted with several important posts in the government and +in the Imperial Household. Our forefathers did not hesitate, too, to +import sundry foreign, especially Chinese, customs and institutions, +with or without alteration. Such spontaneous importation readily +accomplished, evidently implies that Japan was considered by the ancient +Japanese to have had much in common with China, so that the same ways of +living might be followed, and similar legislation might be put into +practice here as well as there. More than that. Our ancestors naïvely +believed themselves able to see the same effects produced by the same +legislation here as in China, like ignorant farmers, who sometimes +foolishly expect to be able to reap the same harvests by sowing the same +kinds of seed, forgetting the differences in the nature of the soil. So +eager were they to transplant everything foreign into Japan. At the +present time, there are similarly many who think that things foreign can +be planted in this country so as to bear the same fruit as in their +original homes, and who therefore would try to import as many as +possible. The only difference between them and the ancient Japanese lies +in the fact that their preferences are for things European instead of +things Chinese. Now-a-days the Japanese are frequently described as a +people who entertain an inveterate antagonism to foreigners. Can such an +opinion hold ground in the face of the indisputable evidence of Japan's +importation of so many foreign things, material as well as spiritual? + +Returning to the point, did Japan become a country resembling China, as +was wished by the Sinophil Japanese of old times? On the contrary, the +uniqueness, which lay at the foundation of the political and social life +of our country, was not thereby much impaired. Even now it is clear to +everybody that Japan is not behind any other country in possessing what +is unique. It must be borne in mind, however, that what the ancient +Japanese thought to be sufficient to distinguish themselves from other +people was not the same as that which makes the modern Japanese think +their country to be unique. At the same time it can be said that ancient +Japan, while unique in some respects, was in a similar condition, social +and political, as other countries were at a similar stage of their +civilisation. What, then, was the state of Japan in the beginning of her +history? It is this which I am going to describe. + +In a foregoing chapter I stated that the Japanese, whatever ethnological +interpretation be given to them, can hardly be considered as +autochthons. Most probably the greater part of them was descended from +immigrants; in other words, their forefathers were the conquerors of the +land. What then was the chief occupation of these conquerors? To this +question various answers have been already given by different +historians. Some hold that agriculture was the main occupation to which +our ancestors looked for a living, while others maintain that they +chiefly depended for subsistence on more unsettled sorts of occupation, +that is, on hunting or fishing. All that can be ascertained is that the +forefathers of the Japanese did not lead, at least in this country, a +nomadic life, so that both cattle and horses were rare or almost unheard +of in very ancient times. It is very probable, too, that in whatever +occupation the original Japanese might have been chiefly engaged, they +must have been also acquainted with the elements of agriculture at the +same time. No reliable evidence, however, can be found to answer this +question. In this respect the certitude of the early history of Japan +falls far short of that of the German tribes, which, though not +civilised enough to have left records of their own, were yet fortunate +enough to be described by writers of more civilised races, especially +by the Romans. Early Japan seems not to have had as intimate an +intercourse with China as the early Germans had with Rome, so that we +have great difficulty in ascertaining any details about social and +political conditions as well as the modes of life of the ancient +Japanese, in the same way as that in which we are acquainted with the +early land-system of the Germans, their methods of fighting, and so +forth. As to the land-system of early Japan, almost nothing is known +about it until the introduction of the Chinese land-distribution +procedure in the first half of the seventh century. We cannot ascertain +whether there was anything which might be compared with the early +land-system of the Teutons. The introduction of the elaborate +organisation of the T'ang dynasty into our country may be interpreted in +two ways. It may be assumed that a land-distribution similar to that of +the Chinese had already existed in Japan, and that this facilitated the +introduction of the foreign methods, which were of the same type but +more highly developed, or we may deny the previous existence of any such +arrangement in our country, reasoning from the fact that the newly +introduced foreign system could not take deep root in our country on +account of its incompatibility with native traditions. What, however, we +can state with some degree of certainty concerning the early history of +Japan, prior to the introduction of Chinese institutions, is that the +people, or rather groups of people, figured in the social system as +objects of possession quite as much as did landed property. + +The land of Japan, so far as it had been conquered and explored by our +forefathers up to the Revolution of the Taikwa era in the first half of +the seventh century, consisted of the imperial domains and the private +properties held by subjects by the same right as that by which the +emperor held his domains. In other words, the relation of the emperor +with his subjects was not through lands granted to the latter by the +former, but was a personal relation. The idea of vassalage due to the +holding of crown lands seems not to have been entertained by the early +Japanese. From the point of view of the free rights of the landholders, +ancient Japan resembles early German society. Only the way which the +tenant took possession of his land can not be ascertained so definitely +as in the case of allod-holding in Europe. There is no doubt, however, +that not only land but persons also formed the most important private +properties. Needless to say, people who dwelt on private land were _ipso +facto_ the property of the landowner. Without any regard to land a +seigneur of early Japan could own a certain number of persons, and in +that case the land inhabited by them naturally became the property of +their master. + +The Emperor, who was the greatest seigneur as the owner of vast domains +and of a large number of persons, ruled at the same time over many +other seigneurs, the big freeholders of land and serf. It may be +supposed also that there might have been many minor freemen besides, who +were not rich enough to possess sufficient serfs to cultivate their +grounds for them and, therefore, were obliged to support themselves by +their own toil. Nothing positive is known, however, about them, if they +ever really existed. The right of a seigneur over his clients was almost +absolute, even the lives and chattels of his clients being at his +disposal, though the seigneur himself lay under the jurisdiction of the +Emperor. Some of the seigneurs were men of the same race as the imperial +family, their ancestors having helped in the conquest of the country. +Others were scions of the imperial family itself. It is very probable, +nevertheless, that no insignificant portion of this seigneur class was +of a blood different from that of the imperial family, having sprung +from the aboriginal race, or from immigrants other than the stock to +which the imperial family belonged. + +The extent of the land over which a seigneur held sway, was in general +not very great, so that it cannot be fairly compared with any modern +Japanese province or _kuni_. Side by side with these seigneurs who were +lords of their lands, there was another class of seigneurs, who were +conspicuous, not, strictly speaking, on account of the land which they +_de facto_ possessed, but on account of their being chieftains of +certain groups of people. Some of these groups were formed by men +pursuing the same occupation. Groups thus formed were those of +fletchers, shield-makers, jewellers, mirror-makers, potters, and so +forth. Performers of religious rites, fighting-men, and scribes, too, +were grouped in this class. It must be especially noticed that groups of +men-at-arms and of scribes contained a good many foreign elements, far +more distinctly than other groups. Scribes, though their profession as a +craft was of a higher and more important nature than others, were, as +was explained in the last chapter, exclusively of foreign blood. On +account of this there was more than one set of such immigrants, and we +had in Japan several groups of scribes. As to soldiers or men-at-arms, +those who served in the first stage of the conquest of this country must +have been of the same stock as the conquering race. Later on, however, +quite a number of men who were not properly to be called Japanese, as, +for example, the Ainu and the Haito, began to be enlisted into the +service of the Emperor, and notwithstanding their difference in blood +from that of the predominant stock, their fidelity to the Emperor was +almost incomparable, and furnished many subjects for our old martial +poems. + +All these were groups organised on the basis of the special professions +pursued by the members of each respective group, although many of the +groups might consist eventually of persons of homogeneous blood. +Besides these groups there was another kind based solely on identity of +blood, that is to say, on the principle of racial affinity. When we +examine the circumstances of the formation of such groups, we generally +find that a body of immigrants at a certain period was constituted as a +group by itself by way of facilitating the administration. Sometimes +several bodies of immigrants, differing as to the period of immigration, +were formed into one large corps. In the corps thus formed, there would +have naturally been people of various occupations, connected only by +blood relationship. + +The third kind of group was quite unique in the motive of its formation. +It was customary in ancient times in Japan to organise a special group +of people in memory of a certain emperor or of some noted member of the +imperial family. This happened generally in the case of those personages +who died early and were much lamented by their nearest relations. +Sometimes, however, a similar group was formed in honour of a living +emperor. As it was natural that groups thus formed paid little attention +to the consanguinity of their members, it is presumable that they might +have consisted of persons of promiscuous racial origin. On the other +hand, it is also clear that there could be no necessity for +conglomerating intentionally men of heterogeneous racial origin in order +to effect a mixture of blood between them. Such a motive is hardly to be +considered as compatible with the spirit of the age in which the +scrutinising of genealogies was an important business. Added to this, +the organisation of a group out of people of different stocks would have +incurred the danger of making its administration exceedingly difficult. +As to the profession pursued by persons belonging to such a group, any +generalisation is difficult. Some groups might have been organised +mainly from the need of creating efficient agricultural labour, in order +to provide for the increasing necessity of food stuffs; in other words, +from the need for the exploration of new lands. Other memorial groups +might have been formed for the sake of providing for the need of various +kinds of manual labour, and must have contained men of divers +handicrafts and professions, so as to be able to provide for all the +daily necessities of some illustrious personage, to whom the group was +subject. When men of promiscuous professions formed a group and produced +sundry kinds of commodities, the custom of bartering must have naturally +arisen within it, but the stage of bartering in a market, periodically +opened at a certain spot, such as is described in the _San-kuo-chih_, +must have been the result of a gradual development. Moreover, it would +be a too hasty conclusion to say that such a group was a self-providing +economic community. On the other hand, to suppose that such a group was +a corporation something like the guilds of medieval Europe would be +absurd. Though the members of a guild suffered greatly under the +oppression of its master, still no relation of vassalage is recognisable +in the system. In old Japan, however, men grouped in the manner +described above belonged to the chieftain of that group, that is to say, +they were not only his subjects but his property, to be disposed of at +his free will. As to the groups which pursued a special craft, I do not +deny the existence of the practice of bartering between them. In a +society in the stage of civilisation of old Japan, no one could exist +without some sort of bartering, and the ruling hand was not so strong +and rigorous as to be able to prohibit an individual of the group from +exchanging the work of his hands with those of men of neighbouring +groups, even when the lord of the group wished contrariwise. And it must +be kept in mind that though a member of the group of a special +profession pursued that profession as his daily business, yet he must +have been engaged in agricultural work also, tilling the ground, +presumably in the midst of which his house stood. Agricultural products +thus raised could perhaps not cover all the demands of his family for +subsistence. But, on the other hand, that all the victuals they required +were supplied by barter or by distribution on the part of the chieftain +of the respective group is hardly to be imagined. + +A group pursuing the same occupation was of course not the only one +allowed to pursue it, nor was their habitation limited to one special +locality. In other words, there were many groups which were engaged in +the same occupation, and those groups had their residence in different +provinces. It is not clear whether all the groups pursuing the same +craft were under the jurisdiction of a common chieftain. The fact is +certain, however, that many groups engaged in the same craft often had a +common chieftain, notwithstanding their occupying different localities. +The chieftain of a group was sometimes of the same blood as the members +of the group, as in the case where the group consisted of homogeneous +immigrants. The chieftains of immigrant craft-groups, the number of +which was very much limited in this country, belonged to this category. +Sometimes, however, the chieftain of such a craft-group was not of the +same stock as the members of the group under him, though the latter +might be of homogeneous blood. This was especially the case when a group +was that of arms-bearers composed of Ainu or Haito. These valiant people +were enlisted into a homogeneous company, but they were put under the +direction of some trustworthy leader, who was of the same racial origin +as the imperial family or who belonged to a race subjected to the +imperial rule long before. Lastly, in the case where a group was a +memorial institution, it is probable that the chieftain was nominated by +the emperor without regard to his blood relationship to the members of +the group under him. + +Summing up what is stated above at length, there were two kinds of +seigneurs who were immediately under the sovereignty of the Emperor; the +one was the landlord, and the other was the group-chieftain. It is a +matter of course that the former was at the same time the chieftain of +the serfs who peopled the land of which he was the lord, while the +latter was the lord _de facto_ of the land inhabited by himself and his +clients, so that there was virtually very little difference between +them. As regards their rights over the land and the people under their +power it was equally absolute in both cases. The principal difference +was that the right of the former rested essentially on his being the +lord of the land, and that of the latter on his being the chieftain of +the people. How did such a difference come into existence? + +The fact that there were many landlords who were not of the same stock +as the imperial family, might be regarded as a proof that they were +descendants of the chiefs who held their lands prior to the coming over +of the Japanese, or, more strictly, before the immigration of the +predominant stock. They acquiesced afterwards in, or were subjected to, +the rule of the Japanese, but the relation between the Emperor and these +landlords was of a personal nature, and the right of the latter over +their own land remained unchanged. Later on many members of the imperial +family were sent out to explore new lands at the expense of the Ainu, +and they generally installed themselves as masters of the land which +they had conquered. These new landlords assumed, as was natural, the +same power as that which was possessed by the older landlords mentioned +above. The power of the imperial family was thus extended into a wider +sphere by the increase in the number of the landlords of the blood +royal, but at the same time the power of the Emperor himself was in +danger of being weakened by the overgrowth of the branches of the +Imperial family. + +As to the chieftains of groups, they must have been of later origin than +the landlords, for to be a virtual possessor of land only as the +consequence of being chieftain of the people who happened to occupy the +land shows that the relation between the people and the land inhabited +by them was the result of some historical development. Moreover, the +grouping of people according to their handicrafts must be a step far +advanced beyond the pristine crowding together of people of promiscuous +callings. It is also an important fact which should be taken into +consideration here again that the greater part of the craft-groups +consisted of immigrants. From all these data we may safely enough assume +that the chieftains who were at first placed at the head of a certain +group of people perhaps came over to this country simultaneously with +the predominant stock, or came from the same home at a time not very far +distant from that of the migration of the predominant stock itself, and +that they distinguished themselves by their fidelity to the emperor; in +short, these chieftains might have been mostly of the same racial origin +as the imperial family, except in the case of groups formed by +peninsular immigrants of later date. The increasing organisation of such +groups, therefore, must have led to the aggrandizement of the power of +the imperial family; but there was, of course, the same fear of a +relaxation of the blood-ties between the emperor and the chieftains akin +in blood to him. + +Such are the general facts relating to the social and political life of +Japan before the seventh century. If its development had continued on +the lines described above, the ultimate result would have been the +division of the country among a large number of petty chieftains, +heterogeneous in blood and in the nature of the power which they +wielded, and with very relaxed ties between themselves and the emperor. +We can observe a similar state of things even today among several +uncivilised tribes, for example, among the natives of Formosa and in +many South Sea Islands. Japan, however, was not destined to the same +fate. How then did it come to be consolidated? + +Centralisation presupposes a centre into which the surroundings may be +centralised. This centre or nucleus for centralisation may be an +individual or a corporate organism. As regards the latter, however, in +order to become a nucleus of centralisation, it must be solidly +organised, which is only possible in an advanced stage of civilisation. +For Japan in the period of which I am speaking, such a centre could +create only a very loose centralisation, which could be broken asunder +very easily. To have Japan strongly centralised, it was necessary for +her to have an individual, that is to say the Emperor, as a nucleus of +centralisation. + +We have seen the process by which the predominant stock of the Japanese +grew in power and influence, as well by exploring new lands and +installing there men of their own stock as lords, as by organising more +and more new groups out of the immigrants who came over to this country, +and, perhaps, also out of a certain number of autochthons. Within the +predominant stock itself the imperial family was no doubt the most +influential. Most of the new landlords were recruited from the members +of that family, and many memorial groups were instituted in their honour +and for their sakes. Stretches of land which were exploited by these +clients and on that account stood under the rule of the family increased +gradually. Such an estate was called _miyake_, which meant a royal +granary, a royal domain. The number of these domains constantly grew as +time went on. Not only in the neighbourhood of the province of Yamato, +in which the emperors of old time used to have their residence, but also +in several distant provinces new _miyake_ were organised. It is no +wonder that they were more generally instituted in the western +provinces, especially in the coastal provinces of the Inland Sea and in +the island of Kyushu rather than in other directions, because it was +natural that the imperial house, which is said to have had its first +foothold in the west, should have had a stronger influence in those +parts than in provinces close to lands still retained by the Ainu and +not yet occupied by the Japanese. Still it is a credit to the power of +the imperial house that in the first half of the seventh century, we can +already find such royal domains in the far eastern provinces of Suruga +and Kôtsuke. + +The method of increasing the _miyake_ was not limited to the +exploitation only of new ground previously uncultivated. Some of the +chieftains were loyal enough to present to the emperor a part of their +own dominions or a portion of their clients, with or without the lands +inhabited by them. Confiscation, too, was a method often resorted to, +when the crimes of some of the landlords, such as complicity in +rebellion, insult to high personages of the imperial family, and so +forth, merited forfeiture. Sometimes there were penitents who made +presents of their lands or people, in order either not to lose or to +regain the royal favour. In these sundry ways the imperial family was +enabled to increase its domains to a very large extent, domains which, +it should be noted, were cultivated mostly by groups of immigrant +people, generally superintended by capable men of the same groups who +knew how to read, write and make up the accounts of the revenue. + +This increase in number of _miyake_ was in itself the increase of the +wealth of the imperial family, and the increase of its power at the same +time. It is a matter of course that such growth of the imperial family +contributed largely to the increase of the imperial power itself, and +was therefore a step toward centralisation. With a family as centre, +however, a strong centralisation was impossible at a time when there was +no definite regulation concerning the succession. The law of +primogeniture had not yet been enacted. Princesses were not excluded +from the order of succession. In such an age too strong a centralisation +with the family as its nucleus, if it had been possible, could only have +been a cause of constant internal feuds. The interests of certain +members of the imperial family might have come into collision with those +of the reigning Emperor, and indeed such clashes were not rare. + +Besides this weakness which was like a running sore in the process of +centralisation, there was another great drawback to the growth of the +imperial power. This was the increase in power and influence of certain +chieftains. At first there were many chieftains of nearly equal power, +and as none among them was influential enough to lord it over all the +others, it was not very difficult for the imperial family to avail +itself of the rivalry that prevailed among them and to control them +accordingly. Some families among the chieftains, however, began to grow +rich and powerful like the imperial family itself, while the greater +part of them remained more or less stationary, so that a wide gap +between the selected few and the rest as regards their influence became +perceptible. Thus five conspicuous families, those of Ohtomo, Mononobe, +Nakatomi, Abe, and Wani, first emerged from the numerous members of the +chieftain class. The family of the Soga, which was descended from +Takeshiuchi, the minister of the Empress Jingu, became afterwards very +prominent, so that only two of the former five, namely, the Ohtomo and +the Mononobe, could cope with it. Among the three which became prominent +in place of the former five, the older two continued to be engaged +exclusively in warlike business, while the third provided both ministers +and generals. The magnitude of their influence in the latter half of the +fifth century can be well imagined from the fact that the Emperor +Yûryaku complained on his death bed that his vassals' private domains +had become too extensive. + +Such was the result which, it was natural to anticipate, was likely to +accompany the growth of Japan under the rule of a predominant stock. It +could not be said, however, to be very beneficial to the real +consolidation of a coherent Empire. For a sovereign, even if he had had +strength enough to exercise absolute rule, it must have been far more +difficult to govern a few powerful chieftains than to rule over many of +lesser influence. It is needless to say that such must have been the +case in an age when the relations of the reigning emperor and of the +imperial family were not well organised in favour of the former. Many +like examples may be cited from the early history of the Germans, +especially from that of the Merovingian and the Carlovingian dynasties. +Among the few prominent chieftains, a certain one family, _primus inter +pares_, might become exceedingly powerful and then overshadow the rest. +In Japan, too, there was not lacking a majordomo who was growing great +at the cost of the imperial prerogative. + +This tendency was too apparent not to be perceived by the sagacious +emperors of succeeding ages. Increasing their material resources, +therefore, was thought by them the best means of strengthening +themselves and of guarding against the usurpation of their power by +ambitious vassals. Long before the Korean expedition of the Empress +Jingu, accordingly, the increase of the royal domains was assiduously +aimed at. The Korean expedition itself may be considered as one of the +evidences of the endeavour to develop the imperial power. For to lead an +expedition oversea necessarily connotes a consolidated empire. War, +however uncivilised the age in which it is carried on, must be, more +than any other undertaking, a one man business. So we can not err much +in supposing that, at the time of the expedition, the centralisation of +the country with the emperor as its nucleus was already in course of +progress. Without being socially organised and consolidated, it would +have been very hard to muster a people not yet sufficiently organised in +a political sense. It was enacted just about this time, that all the +royal granaries or domains which were situated in the province of +Yamato, where successive royal residences had been established, should +be the inalienable property of the reigning emperor himself, and that +even the heir to the throne should not be allowed to own any of them. +This enactment may be said to have been the beginning of the separation +of the interests of the reigning emperor himself from those of the +imperial family, and it has a great historical importance in the sense +that the process of centralisation with an individual, and not a family, +as its centre, was already in course of development. + +To recapitulate my previous argument, in order to have a strongly +organised Empire, first of all it was necessary at that time to put an +end to the still growing power of the prominent chieftains, for the +decrease in the number of chieftains only helped to make the remaining +few stronger and more threatening. Secondly, not the imperial family but +the reigning emperor himself must be made the nucleus of centralisation. +This then was the necessity of our country and the goal of the +endeavours of succeeding emperors. What most accelerated this process of +centralisation, however, was the introduction of Buddhism and the +systematic adoption of Chinese civilisation, imported, not through the +intermediation of the peninsular states, but directly from China +herself. The former contributed by changing the spirit of the age, so +that innovation could be undertaken without risking the total +dissolution of the not yet sufficiently consolidated Empire, while the +latter facilitated the organisation of the material resources already +acquired, and paved the way for their further increase. + +It is commonly stated that in 552 A.D., the thirteenth year of the reign +of the Emperor Kimmei, Buddhism was first introduced into Japan, for +that is the date of the first record of Buddhism in the imperial court. +Owing to the researches of modern historians, however, that date is no +longer accepted as the beginning of Buddhism in Japan. Buddhism, which +is said to have been first introduced into China in the middle of the +first century after Christ, began to flow into the Korean peninsula some +three hundred years later. Among the three peninsular states, the first +which received the new religion was Korea or Kokuri, which was the +nearest to China. The Korean chronicle says that in 364 A.D. Fu-Chien, a +powerful potentate of the Chin dynasty, which existed in northern China +at that time, sent an ambassador to Korea, accompanied by a Buddhist +priest. Twelve years later than Korea, Kutara received Buddhism from +southern China. Shiragi was the latest of the three to accept the new +religion, for it was not until 527 A.D. that Buddhism was recognized in +that state. Perhaps, however, the people of Shiragi had been acquainted +with it at an earlier epoch, though it would not be surprising if this +had not been the case. The geographical position of Shiragi obliged it +for long to be the last state in the peninsula to receive Chinese +civilisation. It is not the Buddhism of Shiragi, therefore, but that of +Korea and Kutara which had to do with the history of our country. + +At that time, in the southern part of the peninsula, there were many +minor semi-independent communities under the tutelage of Japan. A +resident-general was sent from Japan to whom the affairs of the +protectorate were entrusted. Though the existence in the peninsula of a +region subject directly to the Emperor of Japan, that is to say, the +extension oversea of the Japanese dominion, is not certified to by any +written evidence, the history of the early relations between Japan and +the peninsula cannot be adequately explained, unless we assume that this +imperial domain on the continent was the stronghold of Japanese +influence over the peninsula, around which the minor states clustered as +their centre. Kutara, which divided the sphere of Japanese influence +from Korea, had been suffering much from the encroachment of the +Koreans on the north. To counteract Korea, which allied herself with the +successive dynasties in northern China, Kutara tried to court the favour +of the states which came successively into existence in southern China. +That Buddhism in Kutara was propagated by priests from China meridional +may account for the intercourse which grew up between the peninsular +state and the south of China. Still, however much Kutara might have +desired assistance from that quarter, the distance was too great for it +to have obtained any efficient relief, even if the southern Chinese had +wished to afford it, so that Kutara was at last compelled to apply for +help to Japan, which was the real master of the land bordering it on the +south. This is the reason why soon after the expedition of the Empress +Jingu, Kutara initiated a very intimate intercourse with our country. +From that state princes of the blood were sent as hostages to Japan one +after another, an unruly minister of that state was summoned to justify +himself before an Emperor of Japan, a topographical survey of Kutara was +undertaken by Japanese officials, and reinforcements were despatched +thither several times from our country. After all, Japan was not the +losing party in her peninsular relations. The knowledge of the Chinese +classics was the most important boon the intercourse conferred on our +country. Not less important was the introduction of Buddhism. + +The doubt, however, remains whether Buddhism, which began to flow into +Kutara in 376 A.D., could have remained so long confined in that state +as not to have been introduced into Japan till 552 A.D., notwithstanding +the intimate relations between the two countries. The worship of Buddha +must have been practised at an earlier period, most probably in private, +by immigrants from the peninsular state, who had already imbibed the +rudiments of the new religion in their original home. Moreover, in +speaking of the propagation of Buddhism in Japan, we must look back into +the history of our intercourse with southern China. + +In the preceding chapter I mentioned the description of our country +given in the _San-kuo-chih_. There we are told that intercourse was +carried on between Japan and northern China through the Chinese +provinces in the peninsula. It was the two peninsular states arising out +of the ruin of these Chinese provinces which paved the way for the +intercourse of Japan with southern China. Not only did we obtain through +Kutara knowledge about southern China under the dynasty of the East +Chin, but the first Japanese ambassadors sent thither at the beginning +of the fifth century could reach their destination only through the +intermediation of Korea or Kokuri, which furnished our ambassadors with +guides. After that there were frequent goings to and fro of the people +of China and Japan, notwithstanding the rapidly succeeding changes of +dynasty in southern China. It was through the intercourse thus +initiated that several kinds of industry, more especially weaving, were +introduced into Japan from southern China, and had a very deep and +enduring effect on the history of our country. There were immigrants, +too, from southern China into Japan, and among them, some were so pious +as to build temples in the districts in which they settled, and to +practise the cult of Buddha, which they had brought with them from their +homes. Ssuma-Tateng of the Liang dynasty, who came over to Japan in 522 +A.D., is one of the outstanding examples. Such was the history of +Buddhism in Japan before the memorable thirteenth year of the Emperor +Kimmei. The event which happened in that year, therefore, has an +importance only on account of the pompous presentation by Kutara of +Buddhist images and sutras to our imperial court. + +Who, then, first countenanced, patronised, and was converted to the +newly imported religion? Naturally the progressives of that age, among +whom the Soga were the foremost. Unlike the two other conspicuous +families of Ohtomo and Mononobe, who served exclusively as military +lords, the family of Soga supplied not only the military, but the civil +and diplomatic services also. This naturally gave them very frequent +access to the imported civilisation in contrast to the simple soldiers, +who are generally prone to be more conservative than civil officials. As +the chief administrator and chief treasurer, the Soga family could not +dispense with the employment of secretaries, whose posts were +monopolised at that time by groups of immigrant scribes. In this way the +immigrants from the peninsula, afterwards reinforced by those coming +direct from southern China, flocked to the palace of the Soga family, +and they worked naturally for the increase of the power of their patron. +In short, a large number of men, furnished with more literary education +than the ordinary Japanese of the time, became the clients of the +family. + +Of the two rivals of the Soga family, that which was the first to +decline in power was the Ohtomo. The next to decay was the family of the +Mononobe. The fall of the rivals of the Soga must be attributed to the +growth of the latter family, which owed much to the help given by the +immigrants mentioned above. And as the introducers of Buddhism were to +be found among these immigrants, it was very natural that the family of +Soga should be among the first to be converted to the new religion. Thus +the aggrandisement of the Soga family, the propagation of Buddhism which +it patronised, and the progress of civilisation in general went on hand +in hand. In the middle of the sixth century, that is to say, in the +reign of the Emperor Kimmei, Iname was the head of the Soga family. In +his time the Mononobe family could still hold its own against him, +though at some disadvantage. When, however, Umako, the son of Iname, +succeeded his father, he was at last able to overthrow the power of his +antagonist Moriya of the Mononobe, after defeating and killing him in +battle, with the aid of the prince Shôtoku, who was also a devotee of +the new religion. + +Thus in the course of several hundred years the gradual process of +centralisation had been slowly drawing to its goal. In the beginning of +the seventh century at last, the noted families of old were all eclipsed +by the single family of the Soga, which towered alone in wealth and +power above the others. At the same time instead of having the imperial +house as the nucleus of centralisation, the Emperor began to tower high +above the other members of his family. He was the owner of a very vast +domain and of a multitude of people of various classes. He was the head +of the ancestral cult. The sacred emblem of his divine origin, which had +formerly been kept in the imperial camp, was now removed from the palace +for fear of profanation, and taken to its present resting-place in the +province of Ise. Yet the removal did more to increase than to lessen the +sanctity of his person. On the other hand, his authority was in danger +of being usurped by the all-powerful mayor of the palace, the family of +Soga, which had become too strong for the emperor easily to manage. The +times became very critical. In order to push still further the process +of centralisation which had been going on, and to make the empire +better consolidated, some decisive stroke was necessary. And the +revolutionary change was at last accelerated by the overgrown power of +the Soga family, the opening of regular intercourse with China, and +above all the strong necessity within and without to consolidate the +empire more and more. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + REMODELING OF THE STATE + + +Japan stood on the verge of a crisis, and it was saved from catastrophe +by two causes. First, by the ceaseless importation of high Chinese +civilisation, which steadily encouraged the political concentration; +secondly, by the necessity of centralisation so as to push on vigorously +the attack on the still powerful Ainu. + +As I have mentioned several times before, the Ainu had been a losing +party in the racial struggle with the Japanese, yet their resistance had +been a very stubborn one, so that at the end of the sixth century they +could still hold their ground against the Japanese on the southern +boundary of the present provinces of Iwaki and Iwashiro, which roughly +corresponds to latitude 37° N. The northern part of Japan, therefore, +was still in constant danger of incursions by the hairy race. For a +country in the infant stage of consolidation, as Japan was at that time, +it was by no means an easy task to ward off the frequent inroads of that +race, and at the same time to continue the process of the inner +organisation of the state. One would perhaps wonder at my conclusion, +starting from the consideration that the Ainu scare was not such a +fearful thing as to influence the natural growth of a state formed by +the stronger race. This misconception arises from the ignorance of the +fact that the famous dictum "delenda est Carthago" was only pronounced +after the first Punic war. Necessity by itself does not create the +desire to secure what is necessary. The desire to attain any aim first +comes into consciousness when one begins to feel strong enough to +venture to attain it. When the Ainu was very powerful, the Japanese had +to contend with them mainly in order to secure a foothold against them. +It was none the less necessary for the Japanese to continue to struggle +with the Ainu, when the former became strong enough to face the +antagonist evenhanded. Lastly, the time arrived now when it became an +urgent necessity for the Japanese to crush the Ainu, in order to achieve +undisturbed a full political organisation in the domain within the four +seas. In short, when the Japanese became so convinced of their might +that they could not tolerate any rival within the principal islands, +they found it even more indispensable to organise themselves as +compactly as possible under one strong supreme head than ever before. + +What most facilitated the centralisation under the imperial rule was of +course the imported Chinese civilisation. To say sooth, several +centuries of the slow infiltration of that high civilisation had already +attained a great deal of influence, but it was rather a smuggled, and +not a really legalised importation. Moreover, China herself, the source +from which the civilisation had to be imported, had been dismembered for +a long time, so that until 581 A.D. the country could hardly be called a +unified state at all. How could we expect to find in a country where no +order ruled a model suitable to be employed as exemplar to effect a +durable political reform. It is not strange, therefore, that, +notwithstanding the long years of intercourse between the two countries, +only a very slight change had been thereby occasioned in our country as +regards our political organisation. Any change which was wrought in our +political sphere by Chinese influence was effected in a very indirect +way, having worked its way through multifarious social changes caused by +the contact with the high alien civilisation. No direct political clue +could be followed up from China to this country. To achieve the purpose +of borrowing from China the necessary materials for the reconstruction +of political Japan, we had to wait longer, that is to say, till the +inauguration of regular intercourse between this country and China also +politically unified and concentrated. + +That memorable year came at last. In 607 A.D. Ono-no-Imoko was +despatched as official envoy to China, which at that time was under the +second emperor of the dynasty of Sui. Even before this date, however, +since the accession of the Empress Suiko, as the result of the busy +intercourse between us and the peninsular states, various arts and +useful sciences of Chinese origin had been introduced into this country, +among which astronomy, the oldest perhaps of all sciences everywhere in +the world, was the most noteworthy. Connected with this science, the art +of calendar-making was introduced for the first time into Japan. It +would be a gross mistake, if we thereby conclude that we had no means of +defining the dates of events prior to this introduction. Although we +could not by ourselves make an independent calendarial system, yet the +Japanese, at least the naturalised scribes, had already been acquainted +with two chronological methods. The one was to define a date by counting +from the year of the accession of a reigning emperor. The other method +was that which had prevailed long since in China, that is to say, to +define a date by counting according to the cyclical order of the twelve +zodiacal signs, interlaced with the cyclical order of ten attributes, so +that to complete one cycle sixty years were necessary. Some groups of +scribes, perhaps, pursued the former method, while others favoured the +latter. Contradictory statements and evident repetitions abundantly +found in the _Nihongi_ were thus occasioned by the existence of +historical materials, dated according to two different chronological +systems. For the compilers of the famous chronicle sometimes mistook one +and the same event found in different sources and given in two different +chronological systems, for two independent events resembling each other +only in certain superficial respects. Otherwise they misunderstood two +entirely distinct events having the same cyclical designation in date as +a single occurrence, narrated in two different ways, ignoring the fact +that there might have been two like events which happened at a +chronological distance of sixty years or some multiple of that cycle of +time. Confusion of this kind was unavoidable in ages where there was no +established method of defining a historical date. It was a great gain, +therefore, that astronomy and the art of calendar-making chanced to be +introduced in 602 A.D., the tenth year of the reign of the Empress. + +Another not less important boon which we received from China through the +peninsular states was the gradation of official ranks. Anterior to this +period we had something like a hierarchical system with the emperor as +the political and social supreme, but the system, if it could be called +such, was nothing but a chain of vassalship fastened very loosely. It +was far from a well-ordered gradation, which is in reality the beginning +of equalisation and could only be effected by a very strong hand. The +dignity of the emperor could be excellently upheld by having under him +gradated subjects, but the gradation itself did not hinder those +subjects from thinking that they were equals before the emperor as his +subjects. This gradation came into practice in the year 604 A.D. + +In the same year the famous "Seventeen Articles" was also promulgated. +This was a collection of moral maxims imparted to all subjects, +especially to administrative officials, as instructions. The principle +pervading the articles unmistakably betrays that much of it was borrowed +from Chinese moral and political precepts. The only exception is the +second article, which encouraged the worship of Buddha. It was natural +that such articles should be decreed by Prince Shôtoku, who was under +the tutorship of a Korean priest and a naturalised peninsular savant. + +Having so far adopted the elements of Chinese civilisation secondhand +through the peninsular states, we could savour the taste of refinement +enjoyed by the then highly advanced nation on the continent, embellish +thereby life in the court and in high circles, and promote not a little +our political centralisation. We were thus put in the state of one whose +thirst becomes much aggravated after taking a sip of water. At the helm +of the state was a very intelligent personage, Prince Shôtoku, nephew +and son-in-law of the Empress and heir-presumptive to the throne. It was +natural for him and the progressive minister, Umako of the Soga, to +crave for more of the Chinese knowledge and enlightenment. The +peninsular states, which were never very far advanced in civilisation, +had transmitted to us all that they could teach. There was little left +in which those states were in advance of us. Then where should we turn +to obtain more learning and more culture except to China herself? + +Diplomatic considerations were also an inducement for us to be drawn +towards China more closely than before. Just at this time we were +gradually losing our ground in the peninsula as the result of the +constant incursions of ascendant Shiragi into the Japanese protectorate, +and of the perfidious policy of Kutara, which feigned to be our ally +only for the sake of playing a dubious game against her neighbours, and +paid more respect to China than she did toward Japan. Kokuri in the +north, the strongest of the three peninsular states and the danger to +waning Kutara, was just, at a critical time, menaced by China under the +quite recently established dynasty of Sui. No wonder that Japan wished +to know more about China, the country with which we had been already +communicating directly as well as indirectly, though very sporadically. +An envoy to China was the natural consequence. + +Yang-ti, the second Emperor of the Sui dynasty was very ambitious and +enterprising. His invasion of Kokuri, though it collapsed in utter +failure, was conducted on such a grand scale that it reminds us of the +Persian invasion of Greece under Xerxes, described by Herodotus. This +Yang-ti was much flattered at receiving an envoy from the island far +beyond the sea. Perhaps he rejoiced the more at finding an ally in the +rear of Kokuri, which he was then intending to invade. So he received +the Japanese envoy quite cordially, and on the latter's homeward +journey the Emperor ordered a courtier to escort the envoy to Japan. +This escort was on his return to China accompanied by the same envoy +whom he had escorted hither. Ono-no-Imoko, who was thus twice sent to +China as envoy, must have seen much of that country, and probably +fetched many articles to delight the eyes of the Japanese of the higher +classes, who were enraptured with everything foreign. What was the most +important event connected with the second despatch of the envoy, +however, was the sending abroad with him of students to study Buddhist +tenets and also to receive secular education in China. They stayed in +that country for a very long while, far longer than those who have been +sent abroad by the Japanese government in recent years have been +accustomed to stay in Europe and America, so that they lived in China as +if they were real Chinese themselves, and were deeply imbued with +Chinese thoughts and ideas. Two of the eight students who accompanied +Ono-no-Imoko to China, returned to this country after a sojourn of more +than thirty years, during which they witnessed a change of dynasty, and +the rise of the T'ang, the dynasty in which Chinese civilisation reached +its apogee. One of the two students who returned quite a Chinese to +Japan, happened to become a tutor of a prince who afterwards ascended +the throne as the Emperor Tenchi, the great reformer. By the way, it +should be noticed that all of the eight students despatched were men of +Chinese origin without exception, being naturalised scribes or their +descendants. + +The peninsular states became rather jealous of our direct intercourse +with China, for they could not at least help fearing that thenceforth +they would not be able to play off China and Japan against each other as +they had done up to that time. They, therefore, tried to flatter us by +sending to this country envoys more frequently than before. It was at +one of these ceremonial court receptions of an envoy from Kokuri, that +Soga-no-Iruka, the son of Yemishi of the Soga and the grandson of Umako, +was killed by the Prince Naka-no-Ôye, afterwards the Emperor Tenchi, and +by Nakatomi-no-Kamako, afterwards Kamatari. The father of Iruka soon +followed his son's fate, and with him the main branch of the quondam +all-powerful family of the Soga came to an end. + +The fall of the house of the Soga may be ascribed to several causes. In +the first place, it became an absolute necessity for the growth of the +imperial power to get rid of the too arrogant Soga ministers, because to +bear with them any longer would have endangered the imperial prestige +itself. Secondly, as soon as the family of the Soga had ceased to fear +its rivals, it began to be divided within itself by internal strife. +Lastly, a quarrel about the imperial succession brought about the +interweaving of the above two causes. The Prince Naka-no-Ôye, being the +eldest son of the Emperor Jomei, was naturally one of the candidates to +the throne. As his mother, however, was the Empress Kôkyoku, and +therefore not of the Soga blood, the Prince was in fear lest he should +be put aside from the order of the succession. Besides, he was very much +enraged at the overbearing attitude of Yemishi and his son. The Nakatomi +family to which Kamatari belonged was one of the five old illustrious +names, and had been chiefly engaged in religious affairs. Kamatari +deeply deplored the fact that his family had long been overshadowed by +that of the Soga. Being qualified as a capable statesman, he foresaw the +political danger to which Japan was exposed at that time. The lateral +branches of the Soga family, actuated perhaps by jealousy against the +main branch, joined the Prince and Kamatari in annihilating the far too +overgrown power which threatened the imperial prerogative. Japan thus +safely passed this political crisis. The next task was the thorough +reconstruction of the social and political organisations, and the +establishment of a uniform system throughout the whole Empire. + +A series of grand reforms was inaugurated in the year 645 A.D. in the +name of the reigning Emperor Kôtoku, who was one of the uncles of the +Prince on his mother's side, and ascended the throne as the result of +wise self-denial on the part of the Prince. The first reform was the +initiation of the period name, a custom which, in China, had been in +vogue since the Han dynasty. The period name which was adopted at first +in Japan in the reign of the Emperor was Tai-Kwa. This Chinese usage, +after it was once introduced into our country, has been continued until +today, though with a few short interruptions. + +The next step in the reform was the nomination of governors for the +eastern provinces. Before this time we had already provincial governors +installed in regions under the direct imperial sway, that is to say, in +provinces where imperial domains abounded and imperial residences were +located. These provincial governors depended wholly on the imperial +power, and could at any time be recalled at the Emperor's pleasure. That +such governors were now installed in the far eastern provinces bordering +on the Ainu territory shows that, as these provinces were newly +established ones, it was easier to enforce the reform there than in +older provinces, in which time-honoured customs had taken deep root and +chieftains ruled almost absolutely, so that even those radical reformers +hesitated for a moment to try their hand on them. + +The change, in the same year, of the imperial residence to the province +of Settsu, near the site where the great commercial city of Ôsaka now +stands, was also one of the very remarkable events. Imperial residences +of the older times had been shifted here and there according to the +change of the reigning emperor. No one of them, however, as far back as +the time of Jimmu, the first Emperor, seems to have been located out of +the provinces of Yamato, except the dwelling-place of the Emperor +Nintoku. The removal of the imperial residence in 645 A.D. to the +province of Settsu, where facilities for foreign intercourse could be +secured, signifies that the imperial house was turning its gaze toward +the west, with eyes more widely open than before. + +The second year of the reform began with far more radical innovations +than the first, that is to say, the abolishment of the group-system and +of the holding of lands by landlords. All the lands privately held by +local lords and all the people subjected to group-chieftains were +decreed to be henceforth public and free and subject only to the +Emperor. The designation of local lords and group-chieftains were +allowed to be kept by those who had formerly possessed them, but only as +mere titles. In order to allow this reform to run smoothly, the Prince +Naka-no-Ôye himself set the example by renouncing, in behalf of the +reigning Emperor, his right over his clients numbering five hundred +twenty four and his private domain consisting of one hundred eighty-one +lots. + +In lands thus made public, provinces were established, and governors +were appointed. Under those governors served the former local lords and +group-chieftains as secretaries of various official grades or as +district governors, all salaried, paid in natural products, of course, +since no currency existed at that time. In every province, a census was +ordered to be taken, and arable lands were distributed according to the +number of persons in a family, with variations with respect to their +ages and sexes. The distribution had to be renewed after the lapse of a +certain number of years, paralleled to the renewal of the census. The +tax in rice was to be levied commensurate with the area of the lot of +land distributed. Additional taxes in silk, flax, or cotton were to be +paid both per family and according to the area of the distributed lot. +Corvée was also imposed, and any one who did not serve in person was +obliged to pay, in rice and textiles for a substitute. Besides these +imposts, there were many circumstantial regulations concerning the +tribute in horses, equipment of soldiers, use of post-horses, interment +of the dead of various ranks, and so forth. These laws and regulations +taken together are called the Ohmi laws, from the name of the province +into which the Emperor Tenchi had removed his residence. + +For three-score years after the promulgation of the reform of Taikwa, +there were many fluctuations, sometimes reactionary and sometimes +progressive, and many additions and amendments were made to the first +enactments published. In general, however, they remained unchanged, and +were at last systematized and codified in the second year of the era of +Taïhô, that is to say, in 702 A.D. This is what the Japanese historians +designate by the name of the Tai-hô Code. + +After an impartial comparison of this code with the elaborate +legislation of the T'ang dynasty, one cannot deny that the former was +mainly a minute imitation of the latter. Preambles and epilogues issued +at the time of the first proclamation were taken from passages of the +Chinese classics, and there are many phrases in the text itself which +plainly betray their Chinese origin. Many regulations were inserted, not +on account of their necessity in this country, but only because they +were found in the legislation of the T'ang dynasty. + +There are of course not a few modifications, which can be discerned when +carefully scrutinised, and these modifications are generally to be found +in those Chinese laws which were impossible of introduction into our +country without change. Some of them, having been planned originally in +the largest Empire of the world and in an age as highly civilised as +that of the T'ang, were too grand in scale, so that they had to be +minimised in order to suit the condition of the island realm. Others had +too much of the racial traits of the Chinese to be put at once in +operation in a country such as Japan, which on its part had also sundry +peculiarities not to be easily displaced by legislation originated in an +alien soil. This was especially the case with respect to religious +matters. Though it is a question whether Shintoism may be called a +religion in the modern scientific sense, it cannot be disputed that it +has a strong religious element in it. On that account, it had proved a +great obstacle to the propagation of Buddhism, which was the religion +embraced at first not by the common people but by men belonging to the +upper classes, so that the latter, while earnestly encouraging the +inculcation of Buddhism, were obliged to show themselves not altogether +indifferent to the old deities. In behalf of the Shinto cult, special +dignitaries were appointed, the chief of whom played the same part as +the Pontifex Maximus of ancient Rome. Such an institution is purely +Japanese and was not to be found in the Chinese model. Apart from these +exceptions, however, the reform of the Tai-kwa era was essentially a +Japanese imitation of a Chinese original. + +What was the result, then, of the reform undertaken partly from national +necessity, but partly also from love of imitation? Let me begin with the +bright side first. + +Whatever be the intrinsic merit of the reform itself, there is no doubt +that the reform came from necessity. It was absolutely necessary that +Japan, in order to make solid progress, should be centralised +politically. The model which the reformers selected was the legislation +of a strongly centralised monarchy. In this respect at least it +admirably fitted the necessity of Japan at that time. In the year 659, +fifteen years after the promulgation of the reform, an organised +expedition consisting of a large number of squadrons, was despatched +along the coast of the Sea of Japan as far north as the island now +called by the name of Hokkaido. In the next year another expedition was +sent across the sea to the continental coast, perhaps to the region at +the mouth of the Amur. Though the frontier line on the main island was +not pushed forward against the Ainu so rapidly as the progress along the +western coast, owing to the obstinate resistance of the tribe on the +eastern coast, yet the victory was wholly on the side of the Japanese. +The removal of the imperial residence by the Emperor Tenchi in the year +667 to the side of lake Biwa, in the province of Ohmi, marks an epoch in +the progress of the exploration north-easternward. For the new site, a +little distant from the modern town of Ohtsu, is more conveniently +situated than the former residences, not only in guarding and pushing +the north-eastern frontier, but in keeping connection with the +navigation on the Sea of Japan. The inland lake of Biwa, though not +large in area, is one which must be counted as something in a country as +small as Japan. Until quite recent times, communication between Kyoto, +the former capital, and Hokkaido and the northern provinces of Hon-to +was maintained, not along the eastern or Pacific shore, but via the Lake +and the Sea of Japan. Even the eastern coast of the province of Mutsu +seems to have had no direct communication by sea with the centre of the +Empire. In order to reach there from the capital, men in old times were +obliged to take generally a long roundabout way along the western coast, +pass the Strait of Tsugaru, and then turn southward along the Pacific +coast. This important highway of the sea route of old Japan was +connected with Kyoto by the navigation across lake Biwa. The change of +the imperial residence to the neighborhood of Ohtsu, which is the key of +the lake navigation routes, had no doubt a great historic significance. + +Another remarkable event which contributed much to the remodelling of +the state was the total overthrow of the Japanese influence in the +Korean peninsula. About the middle of the sixth century Mimana was taken +by Shiragi, and with it our prestige in the peninsula suffered a severe +loss. Still for some time there remained to Japan a shadow of influence +in the existence of the state of Kutara, though the latter was very +unreliable as an ally. That state then began to be hard pressed by +Shiragi and asked for our help. More than once we sent reinforcements, +sometimes numbering more than twenty thousand soldiers. Arms and +provisions were also freely given. Owing to the incompetence of the +Japanese generals despatched, however, and the perfidious policy of +Kutara, our assistance proved ineffective. As a counter to our +assistance to Kutara, Shiragi invoked the aid of the T'ang dynasty, +which was eager to establish its rule over the peninsula. In the year +650 Kutara was at last destroyed by the co-operation of the army of +Shiragi and the navy of the T'ang. Next it was the turn of Kokuri to be +invaded by the T'ang army. A Japanese army consisting of more than ten +thousand men was sent in order to restore Kutara and to succour Kokuri. +In 663 a great naval battle was fought between the Chinese squadrons and +ours, ending in the defeat of the latter, for the former, consisting of +170 ships, far outnumbered the Japanese. With this defeat our hope of +the restoration of Kutara was finally lost. The remnants of the royal +family of Kutara and of the people of that state numbering more than +three thousand immigrated into Japan. Kokuri, too, surrendered soon +afterwards to the T'ang in 668, and long before this Shiragi had become +a tributary state of China. The influence of the T'ang dynasty prevailed +over the whole peninsula. + +Since this time we were reduced to defending our interest, not on the +Korean peninsula, but by fortifying the islands of Tsushima and Iki and +the northern coast of Kyushu. There was no breach of the peace, however, +between Japan and China after the naval battle of the year 663, for +after the downfall of Kutara we had no imperative necessity to despatch +our army abroad, and therefore no occasion to come into collision with +the Chinese army in the peninsula. China, on her part, did not wish to +make us her enemy. The rough sea dividing the two countries made it a +very hazardous task to try to invade us, even for the emperors of the +Great T'ang. A Chinese general who had the duty of governing the former +dominion of Kutara sent embassies several times to Japan. At one time an +embassy was accompanied by two thousand soldiers as retinue, but the +purpose was plainly demonstrative. We also continued to send embassies +to China. Peace was thus restored on our western frontier, though under +conditions somewhat detrimental to our national honour. + +The evacuation of the peninsula was a great respite to our national +energy, howsoever it be regretted. First of all, Japan was not yet a +match for China of the T'ang. Moreover, to keep up our prestige on the +peninsula was too costly a matter for us, even if we had been able to +sustain it, and by this evacuation we were saved from squandering the +national resources which were not yet at their full. After all, for +Japan at that time the urgent necessity lay not in geographical +expansion abroad, and affairs on the peninsula were of far less +importance when compared with driving the Ainu out of Hon-to. Against an +enemy coming from the west, we could defend ourselves without much +difficulty, the rough sea being a strong bulwark. It is quite another +kind of matter to divide the Hon-to with the Ainu for long. Japan wanted +a geographical expansion not without, but within. + +The development of political consolidation received also much benefit +from our renunciation on the west. Our national progress, and therefore +our political concentration, got a great stimulus in the intercourse +with the peninsula. If we had, however, meddled with peninsular affairs +too long, we would not have been able to turn our attention exclusively +to inner affairs. The reform laws had just been published, and they +required time to be thoroughly assimilated. Unless amended and +supplemented according to practical needs, those laws would be mere +black on white, or sources of social confusion. Absolutely and without +question we were in need of peace, and that peace was obtained by the +evacuation. By this peace the reform legislation could work at its best +possible. If it had not enhanced the merit of the new legislation, at +least it developed the benefit of the reform to the full, and prevented +much evil which might have arisen if it had been otherwise. + +On the other hand, the dark side of the reform legislation must not be +overlooked. In reality the Chinese civilisation of the T'ang dynasty was +one too highly advanced to be successfully copied by Japan, a country +which was just in its teens, so to speak, so far as development was +concerned. As a rule, the codification of laws in any country denotes a +stage in the progress of the civilisation of that country, where it +became necessary to turn back and to systematise what had already been +attained. In other words, codification is everywhere a retrospective +action, and before it be taken up, the civilisation of that particular +country should have reached a stage considered the highest possible by +the people of that period. Otherwise it can do only harm. When the +codification is far ahead of the civilisation the country possesses, +then that nation will be obliged to take very hurried steps in order to +overtake the stage where the codification stands. It is during these +headlong marches that the dislocation of the social and political +structure of a state generally takes place. In short, it may be called a +national precocity, highly dangerous to a healthy development. The +legislation of the T'ang dynasty, in truth, was even for China of that +age too much enlightened, idealistic, and circumstantial to be worked +with real profit to the state. It was, however, her own creation, while +ours was an imitation. It would have been a miracle if Japan could have +reaped the full harvest expected by a legislation nearly as advanced and +as elaborate as that of the T'ang. + +The above remark is especially true as regards the military system. The +dynasty of the T'ang was in its beginning a strong military power. Its +military system was not bad, so long as it was worked by very strong +hands. On the whole, however, the political régime of the dynasty was +not such a one as to favour the keeping up of a martial spirit. After +the subjugation of the uncivilised tribes surrounding the empire, the +martial spirit of the Chinese nation soon relaxed, and the country fell +a prey to the invading barbarians whom the Chinese were accustomed to +despise. We find in it the exact counterpart of the Roman Empire +destroyed by the Germans. For the T'ang dynasty, it had been better to +conserve the military spirit a little longer in order to protect the +civilisation which it had brought to its zenith. With stronger reasons, +the need of a martial spirit ought to have been emphasised for Japan at +that time. The Japanese military ordinance of the reform was modelled +after the Chinese system, but of course on a smaller scale. The chief +fault, however, was its over-circumstantiality, being even more +circumstantial for Japan of that time than the original system was for +China herself. Before the reform we had several bands of professional +soldiers, which could be easily mobilised. That old system had gone. We +had still to fight constantly against the Ainu. Nay, the warfare on that +quarter was taken up with renewed activity, and we had to educate, to +train the people who were not at all accustomed to military discipline. +Having adopted a system resembling conscription, we were always in need +of an accurate census. To have an accurate census taken is a very +difficult matter even for a highly civilised nation. It must have been +especially so for Japan. In the reformed legislation the census was the +basis both for the military service and the land-distribution, taxation +connected with it. The land distribution system, though there might have +been some like element in the original custom of Japan, was yet on the +whole another Chinese institution imitated, very circumstantially again. +Moreover, though this reform seems to have been enforced throughout all +the provinces at once, except the southernmost two, Ohsumi and Satsuma, +in most of the provinces the part of the arable land brought under the +new system must have been very limited. Perhaps only such land in the +neighborhood of each provincial capital might have been distributed +regularly. Added to that, the growth of the population and the increase +of arable land necessitated a change in the distribution, and in the +said legislation a redistribution every six years was provided for that +change. In order to carry out this redistribution regularly and +adequately a very strong government and wise management were needed. +Otherwise either the system would be frustrated, or there would be no +improvement of land. + +Considered from the side of the people, the new legislation was not +welcomed in all ways. New taxes are generally wont to be felt heavier +than the accustomed ones. Besides these fresh imposts, military service +was demanded, which was quite a novel thing to most of them. In fact, +their burden must have been pretty heavy, for they could not enjoy a +durable peace at all, on account of the interminable warfare against +the Ainu. Many began to lead a roaming life, others avoided legal +registration in order to escape from taxation and military service. +Before long the fundamental principle of the grand reform collapsed, and +a very expensive governmental system remained, which, too, gradually +became difficult to be kept up. A change of régime seemed unavoidable. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + CULMINATION OF THE NEW RÉGIME; + STAGNATION; RISE OF THE MILITARY RÉGIME + + +Whatever be the merit or the demerit of the reform of the Taikwa, it was +after all an honour to the Japanese nation that our ancestors ever +undertook this reform. Not only because they were able to provide +thereby for the needs of the state of that time, but because they were +bold enough, temerarious almost, to aspire to imitate the elaborate +system of the highly civilised T'ang. When an uncivilised people comes +into contact with one highly civilised, it is needless to say that the +former is generally induced to imitate the latter. This imitation is +sometimes of a low order, that is to say, it often verges on mimicry, +and not infrequently results in the dwindling of racial energy on the +part of the imitator. Very seldom does the imitation go so far as to +adopt the political institutions of the superior. If they, however, had +ventured impetuously to do so, the result would have been still worse, +while in the case of Japan as the imitator of China, it was quite +otherwise. At first sight, as China of the T'ang was so incomparably far +ahead of Japan of that time, it might seem rather foolish of our +forefathers to try straightway to imitate her. Moreover, on the whole, +the imitation ended in a failure indeed, as should have been expected. +But the original institutions of the T'ang itself proved a failure in +their own home; hence, had the imitation of those institutions resulted +in a success with us, it would have aroused a great astonishment. The +very fact that our forefathers dared to imitate China, and did not +thereby end in losing spirit and energy, is in itself a great credit to +the reputation of the Japanese as a nation, for it testifies that they +have been from the first a very aspiring nation, unwitting how to shirk +a difficulty. If it be an honour to the Germans not to have withered +before the high civilisation of the Romans, the same glory may be +accorded to the Japanese also. + +This aspiring spirit of the nation not only made itself felt in the +importation of Chinese legislation, but also in adopting her arts and +literature. As to arts, it is difficult to ascertain to what degree of +accomplishment our forefathers had already attained before they came +under continental influence. Most probably it was limited to some simple +designs drawn on household utensils, _haniwa_ or terracotta-making, and +to an orchestra of rudimentary instruments. In what may be regarded as +literature, there were ballads, some of which are cited in the +_Nihongi_. Tales of heroic deeds, however, used to be transmitted from +generation to generation, not in the form of poetry, that is, not in +epic, but in oral prose narrations. In this respect the ancient Japanese +fell far short of the Ainu, who had developed a highly epic talent very +early. To summarise, the ancient Japanese apparently showed very few +indications of excelling other peoples in the same stage of civilisation +as regards arts and literature. + +In the history of Japanese art, the introduction of Buddhism is a +noteworthy event. For, along with it, works of Chinese painting and +sculpture, both pertaining mainly to Buddhist worship, were sent as +presents to our imperial court by rulers of the peninsular states. Not +only articles of virtu, but also artists themselves, were sent over to +this country from the continent, who displayed their skill in building +temples, making images, decorating shrines with fresco paintings, and so +forth. Instructed by them, some gifted Japanese, too, became enabled to +develop themselves in several branches of art and artistic industry. +Among the plastic arts, painting was very slow in making progress, +though a few examples of that age which have remained to this day are +very similar in style to those pictures and frescoes recently excavated +out of the desert in northwestern China, and have a high historical +value, giving us a glimpse of the T'ang painting. Architecture was +perhaps the art most patronised by the court. We can see it in the +construction of numerous palaces. It is a well known fact that before +the Empress Gemmyo, who was one of the daughters of the Emperor Tenchi +and ascended the throne next after the Emperor Mommu, each successive +emperor established his court at the place he liked, and the residence +of the previous emperor was generally abandoned by the next-comer. From +this fact we can imagine that all imperial palaces of those times, if +they could be named palaces at all, must have been very simply built and +not very imposing. The locality, too, where the residence was +established, was hardly apt to be called a metropolitan city, although +it might have served sufficiently as a political centre of the time. It +was in the third year of the said empress, 710 A.D., that Nara was first +selected as the new capital which was to be established in permanence, +contrary to the hitherto accepted usage, and in fact it remained the +country's chief city for more than eighty years. For the first time a +plan of the city was drawn, a plan very much like a checkerboard, having +been modelled after the contemporary Chinese metropolis. The +architectural style of the new palaces was also an imitation of that +which then prevailed in China. The only difference was that wood was +widely used here instead of brick, which was already the chief building +material in China. Nobles were encouraged by the court to build tiled +houses in place of thatched. Tiles began to come into use about that +time, and not for roofing only, but for flooring also, though the +checkerboard plan of the metropolitan city of Nara might never have +been realised in full detail, and though among those palaces once built +very few could escape the frequent fires and gradual decay, yet judging +from those very few which have fortunately survived to this day, we may +fairly imagine that they must have been grandiose in proportion to the +general condition of the age. What gives the best clue to the social +life of the higher classes of that time is the famous imperial treasury, +Shô-sô-in, at Nara, now opened to a few specially honoured persons every +autumn, when the air is very agreeably dry in Japan. The treasury +contains various articles of daily and ceremonial use bequeathed by the +Emperor Shômu, who was the eldest son of the Emperor Mommu and died in +749 A.D. after a reign of twenty-five years. Being so multifarious in +their kinds, and having been wonderfully well preserved in a wooden +storehouse, these imperial treasures, if taken together with numerous +contemporary documents extant today, enable us to give a clear and +accurate picture of the social life of that time. + +As _tatami_ matting was not yet known, and the houses occupied by men of +high circles had their floors generally tiled, it may be naturally +supposed that the indoor life of that time might have been nearer to +that of the Chinese or the European than to that of the modern Japanese. +Accordingly their outdoor life, too, must have been far different from +that of the present day. For example, modern Japanese are fond of +trimming or arranging flowers, putting two or three twigs into a small +vase or a short bamboo tube, by methods which, however dainty, are very +conventional after all. What they rejoice in thus is to produce a +distorted semblance in miniature as tiny as possible of a certain aspect +of nature. In the age of the Nara emperors, on the contrary, large +bunches of flowers must have been used profusely in decorating rooms and +tables, and perhaps to strew on the ground. A great many flower baskets, +which are kept in the said treasury, and are of a kind to the use of +which the modern Japanese are not accustomed, prove the above assertion. +Again, while modern Japanese ladies play exclusively on the _koto_, a +stringed musical instrument laid flat on the _tatami_ when played, Nara +musicians seem to have played on harps, too, one of which also is extant +in the treasury. Carpets seem to have been used not only in covering the +floor, but were put down on the ground on occasions of some ceremonial +processions. Hunting, rowing, and horsemanship were then the most +favourite pastimes of the nobles. Unlike modern Japanese ladies, women +of that time were not behind men in riding. This one fact will perhaps +suffice to attest the jovial and sprightly character of the social life +of the Nara age. + +If we turn to the literature of the time, the progress was remarkable, +more easily perceivable than in any other department. We had now not +only ballads as before, but short epics also. Such a change must of +course be attributed to the influence of the Chinese literature +assiduously cultivated. In the year 751 a collection of 120 select poems +in Chinese, composed by the 64 Nara courtiers since the reign of the +Emperor Tenchi, was compiled and named the _Kwai-fû-sô_. These poems are +quite Chinese in their diction, rhetoric, and strain, resembling in +every way those by first rate Chinese poets, and may fairly take rank +among them without betraying any sign of imitation or pasticcio. If we +consider that no kind of Japanese literature in its own mother tongue +could be committed to writing, save only in Chinese ideographs, the +influence of the Chinese literature, which flourished so rampantly at +that time in Japan, cannot be estimated too highly. No wonder that, +parallel to the compilation of the Chinese poems, a collection of +Japanese poems, beginning with that of the Emperor Yûryaku in the latter +half of the fifth century, was also undertaken. This collection is the +celebrated _Man-yô-shû_. The long and short poems selected, however, +were not restricted, as in the case of the _Kwai-fû-sô_, to those by +courtiers only. On the contrary, it contained many poems sung by the +common people, into which no whit of Chinese civilisation could have +penetrated. The _Man-yô-shû_, therefore, is held by Japanese historians +to be a very useful source-book as regards the social history of the +time. + +It is hardly to be denied that some of the Japanese poems of that age +were evidently composed and committed to writing with the object of +being read and not sung, as almost all modern Japanese poems are +accustomed to be. There were still many others at the same time which +must have been composed from the first in order only to be sung. Men of +the age, of high as well as of low rank, were singularly fond of +singing, generally accompanied by dancing. Many pathetic love stories +are told about those gatherings of singers and dancers, the _utagaki_, +which literally means the singing hedge or ring. This kind of gleeful +gathering used to take place on a street, in an open field, or on a +hill-top. In one of the _utagaki_ held in the city of Nara, it is said +that members of the imperial family took part too, shoulder to shoulder +with citizens and denizens of very modest standing. As to dances of the +time there might have been some styles original to the Japanese +themselves. At the same time there were to be found many dances of +foreign origin, imported, together with their musical accompaniments, +from China and the peninsular states. These dances have long ago been +entirely lost in their original homes, so that they can be witnessed +only in our country now. A strange survival of ancient culture indeed! +Of course even in our country those exotic and antiquated dances do not +conform to the modern taste, and on that account are not frequently +performed. They have been handed down through many generations, +however, by the band of court musicians, and at present these dances, +dating back to the T'ang dynasty, are performed only at certain archaic +court ceremonies. + +From what has been stated above, one can well imagine that, in certain +respects, Japan of the Nara age had much in common with Greece just +about the time of the Persian invasion. In both it was an age in which a +vigorous race reached the first flourishing stage of civilisation, when +the national energy began to be devoted to æsthetic pursuits, but was +nevertheless not yet enervated by over-enlightenment. Whatever those +Japanese set their minds on doing, they set about it very briskly and +cheerfully, nor was their enthusiasm dampened by any fear of probable +mishap. Being naïve, and therefore ignorant of obstacles inevitable to +the progress of a nation, they always soared higher and higher, full of +resplendent hope. How eager they were to essay at great things may be +conjectured from the size of the Daibutsu, the colossal statue of +Buddha, in the temple of the Tôdaiji at Nara. The statue, more than +fifty-three feet in height, was finished in 749 A.D. after several +successive failures encountered and overcome during four years, and is +the largest that was ever made in Japan. That such a great statue was +not only designed, but was executed by Japanese sculptors, whether their +origin be of immigrant stock or not, should be considered a great +credit to the enterprising spirit and the artistic acquirements of the +Japanese of that epoch. + +Such a stride in the national progress, however, was only attained at +the expense of other quarters not at all insignificant. On the one hand, +it is true that Japan benefited immensely by having had as her neighbor +such a highly civilised country as China of the T'ang. On the other +hand, it should not be overlooked that it was a great misfortune to us +that we had such an over-shadowingly influential neighbour. China of +that time was a nation too far in advance of us to encourage us to +venture to compete with her. She left us no choice but to imitate her. +Who can blame the Japanese of the Nara age if they thought it the most +urgent business to run after China, and try to overtake her in the same +track down which they knew the Chinese had progressed a long way +already? The glory and splendour of the Chinese civilisation of the +T'ang was too enticing for them to turn their eyes aside and seek a yet +untrodden route. That they strove simply to imitate and rejoiced in +behaving as though they were real Chinese should not be a matter for +astonishment in the least. Perhaps it may be said to their credit that +the imitation was exquisite and the resemblance accurate. One of the +brilliant students then sent abroad remained there for eighteen years, +and after his return to this country he eventually became a prominent +minister of the Japanese government, notwithstanding his humble origin, +a promotion very rare in those days. Certain branches of Chinese +literature, many refined ceremonies, various kinds of Chinese pastimes, +many things Chinese, useful and beneficial to our people, to be found in +Japan even to this day have been attributed to his importation. Another +scholar who was obliged to stay in China for more than fifty years, +distinguished himself in the literary circles of the Chinese metropolis, +was taken into the service of a T'ang emperor as a very high official +under a Chinese name, and at last died there with a life-long yearning +for his native country. + +Such an imitation, however useful it might have proved in behalf of our +country at large, could not fail to exact from the nation still young, +as Japan was at that time, a tremendous overexertion of their mental +faculties. Having been strained to the last extremity of tension, the +Japanese became naturally exceedingly nervous. From a lack of patience +to observe quietly the maturing of the effect of a stack of laws and +regulations already enacted, they hastily repudiated some of them as if +they were of no use, and replaced them by new laws quite as confounding +as the previous ones, and thus legislations contradictory in principle +rapidly succeeded one another, none of them having had time enough to be +experimented with exhaustively. Although along with this rage for +imitation there was a strong countercurrent, very conservative, which +struggled incessantly to preserve what was original and at the same +time precious, yet to determine which was worthy of preservation was a +matter of bewilderment to the contemporaries, for they were averse from +coming into any collision with things Chinese to which they were not at +all loth. Excitement and irritation, the natural result of this +topsyturvy state of things, can best be estimated by the belief in +ridiculous auspices. The discovery of a certain plant or animal, of rare +colour or of unusual shape, generally caused by deformities, was +enthusiastically welcomed as an augury of a long and peaceful reign, and +was wont to call forth some lengthy imperial proclamation in praise of +the government. Bounties were munificently distributed to commemorate +the happy occasion, discoverers of these rarities were amply rewarded, +criminals were released or had the hardships of their servitude +ameliorated. Naturally, many of these auguries proved vain, and only +served as a prop to sustain the self-conceit of responsible ministers, +or as a means of soothing general discontent, if such discontent could +ever be manifested in those "good old times." The greatest evil of this +fatuous hankering for sources of self-satisfaction was the throng of +rogues and sycophants thereby produced who vied with one another in +contriving false or specious rarities and begging imperial favour for +them. Superstitions of this kind would have suited well enough a people +quite uncivilised, or too civilised to care for rational things. As for +the Japanese, a people already on the way of youthful progress, radiant +with hope, belief in auspices was but an intolerable fetter. If viewed +from this single point, therefore, the régime ought to have been +reformed by any means. + +Another and still greater evil of the age was the clashing of interests +between the different classes of people. Chinese civilisation could +permeate only the powerful, the higher classes. Though the chieftains +and lords, who had been mighty in the former régime, were bereft of +their power by the appropriation of their lands and people, a new class +of nobles soon arose in place of them, and among the latter the +descendants of Nakatomi-no-Kamatari were the most prominent. This +sagacious minister, of whom I have already spoken in the foregoing +chapters, was rewarded, in consideration of his meritorious services in +the destruction of the Soga, as well as in the execution of the most +radical reform Japan has ever known, with the office of the most +intimate advisory minister of the Emperor, and was granted the +honourable family appellation of Fujiwara. His descendants, who have +ramified into innumerable branches and include more than half of the +court-nobles of the present day, enjoyed ever-increasing imperial favour +generation after generation. What marked especially the sudden growth of +the family position was the elevation of one of the grand-daughters of +the minister to be the imperial consort of the Emperor Shômu. For +several centuries prior to this, it had been the custom to choose the +empress from the daughters of the families of the blood imperial. An +offspring of a subject, however high her father's rank might be, was not +recognised as qualified to that distinction. The privilege, which the +Fujiwara family was now exceptionally honoured with, meant that only +this family should have hereafter its place next to the imperial, so +that none other would be allowed to vie with it any more. The Fujiwara +became thus associated with the imperial family more and more closely, +and affairs of state gradually came to be transacted as if they were the +family business of the Fujiwara. The worst evil of this aggrandisement +was only prevented by the incessant and inveterate internecine feuds +within the clan itself, which eventually served to put a bridle on the +audacity and ambition of any one of the members. + +This influential family of the Fujiwara, together with a few other +nobles of different lineage, including scions of the imperial family, +monopolised almost all the wealth and power in the country. They kept a +great number of slaves in their households, and held vast tracts of +private estates, too. As to the land, they developed and cultivated the +fields by the hands of their slaves or leased them for rent. Besides, +they turned into private properties those lands of which they were +legally allowed only the usufruct. By the reform legislation, the +usufruct of a public land was granted to one who did much service to +the state, but the duration of the right was limited to his life or at +most to that of his grand-children. None was permitted to hold the +public land as a hereditary possession without time limit. It was by the +infringement of these regulations that arbitrary occupation was +realised. + +Another means of the aggrandisement of the estates of the nobles was a +fraudulent practice on the part of the common people. Those who were +independent landowners or legal leaseholders of public lands were liable +to taxation, as may be supposed, and as the taxes and imposts of that +time were pretty heavy, those landholders thought it wiser to alienate +the land formally by presenting it to some influential nobles or some +Buddhist temples, which came to be privileged, or asserted the right to +be exempted from the burden of taxation. In reality, of course, those +people continued to hold the land as before, and were very glad to see +their burden much alleviated, for the tribute which they were obliged to +pay to the nominal landlord by the transaction must have been less than +the regular taxes which they owed to the government. Moreover, by this +presentation they could enter under the protection of those nobles or +temples, which was useful for them in defying the law, should need +arise. The number of independent landholders thus gradually diminished +by the renunciation of the legal right and duty on the part of the +holders, and consequently the amount of the levied tax grew less and +less. The state, however, could not curtail the necessary amount of the +expenditure on that account. The dignity of the court had to be upheld +higher and higher, state ceremonies performed regularly, and the +national defence was not to be neglected for a moment. All these were +causes which necessitated a continual increase of revenue. In order to +fill up the deficit, the burden was transferred, doubled or trebled, to +those who remained longer honest, so that it soon became quite +unbearable for them also. The hardships borne by the law-abiding people +of that time could be compared to those of the Huguenots who, faithful +to their confession, were impoverished by the dragonnade. In this way, +more and more people were induced to give up their independent stand and +take shelter under the shield of mighty protectors. Military service, +too, was another grievance for the common people. They had to serve in +the western islands against continental invaders, or on the northern +frontier against the Ainu. Not only did they thereby risk their lives, +but sometimes they were obliged to procure their provisions at their own +cost, for the government could not afford it. If those people would once +renounce their right of independence and turn voluntary vagabonds, then +they could at once elude the military duty and the tax. No wonder this +was possible since it was an age in which the national consciousness was +not yet developed enough to teach them implicitly that it was their +duty to be ready to expose themselves to any peril for the sake of the +state. This underhand transaction is one exceedingly analogous to the +process in which Frankish allod-holders gradually turned their lands +into fiefs, in order to escape taxation and at the same time obtain +protection from influential persons. If one should think that the +census, which was ordained in the reform law to take place periodically, +would prove efficient to check the increase of these outcasts, it would +be a great mistake in forming a just conception of these ages. Soon +after the enactment of the census law, it ceased to be regularly +executed, and even while the law was observed with punctuality, the +extent to which it was applied must have been very limited. It was at +such a time that the great statue of Buddha was completed in the city of +Nara, and ten thousand priests were invited to take part in a grand +ceremony of rejoicing. + +The palaces and temples in Nara, as well as the imperial mansions and +the abodes of nobles scattered about the country, seem in a great +measure to have been solidly and magnificently built, with their roofs +covered with tiles as beforementioned. The nobles who had no permanent +residence in the city, had as their bounden duty to pay certain duty +visits, as it were, to the imperial court, and learn there how to refine +their country life by adopting the metropolitan ways of living. Some of +the household furniture used by the nobles and members of the imperial +family was bought in China. The education of the higher classes enabled +them not only to read and write the literary Chinese with ease and +fluency, but to behave correctly according to Chinese etiquette, as if +they were themselves genuine Chinese. These are the bright aspects of +the history of the Nara age. Around the metropolitan city, however, and +those aristocratic abodes in the country, swarmed the impoverished +people, utterly uneducated, receiving no benefit whatever from the +imported Chinese civilisation. Here one might perhaps ask, could not +Buddhism give them any solace at all? Not in the least. The shrewd +Buddhists, having seen that Shintoism had been strangely tenacious in +resisting the propagation of their creed notwithstanding its lack of +system and dogma, wisely invented a clever method to keep a firm hold +even on the conservative mind by identifying the patron deities of +Buddhism with the national gods of our country. It resembles in some +ways the device of the early Christian missionaries in northern Europe, +who tried to blend Teutonic mythology with Christian legend. The only +difference between them is that those missionaries did not go so far as +our Buddhist priests did. This device of the Buddhists was crowned with +complete success. By this identification Buddhism became a religion +which could be embraced without any palpable contradiction to Shintoism, +in other words, with no risk of injuring the national traditions. Nay, +it came to be considered that Shintoism was not only compatible with +Buddhism, but also subservient to its real interests. Thus we find +almost everywhere a Shinto shrine standing within the same precincts as +a Buddhist temple, the Shinto deity being regarded as the patron of the +Buddhist creed and its place of worship. This strange combination +continued to be looked upon as a matter of course until the Restoration +of Meidji, when the revival of the imperial prerogative was accompanied +by a reaction against Buddhism, and the purification of Shintoism from +its Buddhistic admixture was enthusiastically undertaken. On account of +the dubiosity of their religious character, many finely built temples +and images of exquisite art were ruthlessly demolished, much to the +regret of art connoisseurs. + +In the year 794, the Emperor Kwammu transferred his capital to the +province of Yamashiro, and gave it the felicitous appellation of Hei-an, +which means peace and tranquility. The place, however, has been commonly +designated by the name of Kyoto, which means literally the capital, and +continued henceforth to be the centre of Japan for more than one +thousand years. There might have been several motives which caused the +capital to be removed from Nara. The valley, in which the old capital +was situated, might have been too narrow to allow free expansion, or it +might have been found inconveniently situated as regards communications. +Party strife among the nobles might have been another reason. At any +rate the choice of the new site cannot be regarded as a mistake. Kyoto +is better connected with Naniwa, Ôsaka of the present day, than Nara was +at that time. From Kyoto one was able to reach the port within a few +hours, by going down the river Yodo by boat. There is no natural +hindrance on the way like the mountain chain which divides the two +provinces of Yamato and Settsu. At the same time, Kyoto is quite near to +Ohtsu, the gate toward the eastern provinces, and those selfsame +provinces were the regions which had for long been engrossing the +attention of far-sighted contemporary statesmen. + +The energetic Emperor Kwammu undertook the conquest of the Ainu with a +renewed vigour. That part of the Ainu country which faced the Sea of +Japan was already made a province before the accession of that +sovereign. In the Emperor's reign the success of the Japanese arms was +carried far into the Ainu land by the victorious general +Sakanouye-no-Tamuramaro. The boundary of the province of Mutsu, the +region facing the Pacific, was pushed northward into the middle of the +present province of Rikuchû. Enterprising Japanese settled in those +lands or travelled to and fro in quest of trade. The Ainu, however, was +not completely subjugated, nor was he easily driven away out of the main +island. Beyond Shirakawa, the place which had for a long time been +considered the northernmost limit of civilised Japan, numerous hordes +of half-domesticated Ainu continued to reside as before. As the result +of the constant contact with the Japanese, they were slowly influenced +by the civilisation which the latter had already acquired. They could +consolidate their forces under the leadership of some valiant chiefs, +and frequently dared to rise against oppressive governors sent from +Kyoto. In short, they proved to be intractable as ever, so that more +than three centuries were still necessary to put their land in the same +status as the ordinary Japanese province. The interminable wars and +skirmishes waged thenceforth between the two races were one of the +principal causes of the financial embarrassment of the government at +Kyoto, and finally undermined its power. + +The imperial family and the nobles lived their lives at Kyoto, largely +as they were wont to do at the old capital of Nara. The family of the +Fujiwara was ever as ascendant as before. Abundant court intrigues were +now not the outcome of the antagonism between the different great +families, but of the internal quarrels within the single family of the +Fujiwara, not infrequently intermingled with disputes concerning the +imperial succession. All the high and lucrative offices were monopolised +by the members of that able and ambitious family. Most of the empresses +of the successive sovereigns were their daughters. The regency became +the hereditary function of the family, and they filled the office one +after another without any regard to the age or health conditions of the +reigning emperor. It was very rare indeed for members of families other +than the Fujiwara to be promoted to one of the three great +ministerships. Even scions of the imperial family had to yield to them +in power and position. + +Their literary attainments were generally high, being but little +inferior to those of the professional literati, who formed a class of +secondary courtiers, and proceeded generally from the families of the +Sugawara, Kiyowara, and so forth. Ships with ambassadors, students, and +priests were sent by them to China of the T'ang as before. For they +still burned with an ardent desire to get more and more knowledge about +things Chinese. Their Sinicomania was carried indeed to such an excess +that the physiognomical type of the Chinese came to be regarded as the +finest ideal of mankind, and any Japanese who was of that type was +adored as having the ideal features. + +The despatch of the official ships continued as in the days of Nara, not +at regular intervals, but generally once during the reign of every +Japanese emperor. The impetuous imitation of Chinese legislation +slackened in fact, for in that respect we had already borrowed enough. +The connection of our country with China began to take the form of +ordinary international intercourse, with due reciprocation of +courtesies. There remained, however, some need of keeping pace with the +political changes in China, and we could not make up our minds to +refrain altogether from peeping into the land which we held to be far +above our country in civilisation. The last of such an embassy was that +sent in the year 843. Half a century afterwards another squadron was +ordered to be despatched, and Sugawara-no-Michizane was appointed +ambassador. But the squadron was never really sent. For at that time the +long dynasty of the T'ang was just drawing near to its end, and the +civil war of a century's duration was beginning. There was no more any +stable government in China with which we could communicate. Moreover, +there was danger to be feared that we might be somehow embroiled in the +anarchical disturbances in the Middle Kingdom. The ambassador, Michizane +himself, was also of the opinion that little was to be gained by the +despatch of the intended squadron, and dissuaded the government from +sending it. + +Japan now entered into the stage of the assimilation of the alien +culture already imported in full. Hitherto we had been too busy to make +discrimination among those things Chinese which we had engulfed at +random. Now we had to make clear which of them was suited, and how +others were to be modified in order to make them useful to our country. +In short, we had to digest; or to speak by the book, we had to ruminate +on what we had already taken. After all it must have been a wise policy +to put a stop to the state of national nervousness caused by the +incessant introduction of foreign laws, manners, customs, things. The +infiltration, however superficial it might have been, left an +ineradicable influence owing to the continual process of several +centuries. The spirit of the culture of the dominant class became +essentially Chinese. Though the saying, "Japanese spirit and Chinese +erudition" was henceforth fondly spoken of, the Japanese spirit itself +was not yet clearly defined, and did not enter into the full +consciousness of the nation. What the ruling nobles, who had imbibed the +Chinese spirit already too deeply, could do was only to discard things +which became superannuated and untenable. + +The characteristics of the age of rumination may be discerned in the +history of our literature from the latter half of the ninth century to +the beginning of the eleventh. At first, while literary works were still +being written almost exclusively in Chinese, we begin to find in their +style traces of Japanisation, becoming more and more marked as time goes +on. Along with works in Chinese, those in our own language began to +appear, though very sparsely at first. Then gradually these attempts in +the vernacular increased, so that eventually the end of the tenth +century became the culminating period of the classical Japanese +literature. Religious and scholastic works were written in Chinese as +before. August and ceremonial documents continued to be composed in the +same language. Chinese poetry was as much in vogue among the courtiers +as ever. At the same time, however, numerous works in Japanese now +appeared in the form of chronicles, diaries, short stories, novels, +satirical sketches, and poems. What was most remarkable, however, is +that the greater part of those works was written not by men, but by +court ladies. Among the ladies, who by their wit and literary genius +brightened the court of the Emperor Ichijô, stood at the forefront +Murasaki-shikibu, the author of the _Genji-monogatari_, and +Sei-Shônagon, the author of _Makura-no-sôshi_. + +That these intelligent and talented court ladies were versed in Chinese +literature can be perceived in what they wrote in Japanese. In other +words, the culture, essentially Chinese, of the high circles of society +was not monopolised by the men only, but shared by the women. And these +court ladies were fairly emancipated, and far from being subject to the +caprices of men. It is often argued that the progress of a country can +be measured rightly by the social status of the women in it. If that be +true, Japan at the beginning of the eleventh century must have been very +highly civilised. And it was really so in a certain sense. This +civilised Japan, however, was confined to the very narrow circle in +Kyoto, and for that very circle the Chinese enlightenment penetrated too +deep. The great nobles of the Fujiwara family were too refined, too +effeminate for holders of the helm of the state, the young state in +which there was still much to be done vigorously. + +The Ainu on the north were menacing as ever. For though they had lost in +extent of territory, they had gained in civilisation. The demand of the +state was for energetic ministers as well as for valiant warriors. The +high-class nobles became unfitted for both, and especially for the rough +life of the latter. As generals, therefore, not to speak of officers, +were employed men of comparatively low rank among the courtiers. In this +way military affairs became the hereditary profession of certain +families which happened to be engaged in them most frequently, and were +at last monopolised by them. As the government, however, could not and +did not care to provide these generals with a sufficiency of soldiers, +provisions, and armaments, they were obliged to help themselves to those +necessaries, just like the leaders of the landsknechts in Europe. The +intimate relation of vassalage, not legally recognised of course, thus +arose between those generals and their private soldiers, and as this +condition lasted for a considerable time, the relationship became +hereditary. Needless to say that such a condition of affairs was +naturally set up in the provinces, where the Ainu was still powerful +enough to raise frequent disturbances. On account of the fact that these +generals and their relatives were often appointed to the governorship of +distant provinces, where the influence of the Kyoto government was too +weak to check their arbitrary conduct, the same connection of vassalage +was formed there also between them and the provincials who were in need +of their protection. Not only did they thus become masters of bands of +strong and warlike people, but they also appropriated to themselves by +sundry means vast tracts of land, and fattened their purses thereby. +That they did not venture at once to overthrow the political régime +upheld by the nobles of the Fujiwara family may be accounted for by the +time-honoured prestige of the latter. For a long while those warriors +went even so far as to do homage to this or that noble of the Fujiwara +as his vassals, and served as tools to this or that party in court +intrigues. The courtiers, who employed them as their instruments, had no +apprehension that those military men, subservient for the moment to +their needs, would one day turn into rivals, powerful enough in the long +run to overturn them, and flattered themselves that they would remain as +their cat's-paws forever. An exact analogy of this in the history of +Rome may be found in the shortsightedness of the senate, which +complacently believed that the Scipios and the Caesars would for ever +remain obedient to their order. It would be a fatal mistake to think +that a cat's-paw would always remain docile and faithful to its +employer. Especially when it is frequently used and abused it becomes +conscious of its own usefulness and real strength; and self-assertion +is born. The next step for it must be the sounding of the strength of +its master, then the desire awakens to take the place of the master, +when it is found that he is not so strong as he looks to be. + +Moreover in any country, in whatever condition, war cannot be carried on +without a great number of participants, while it must be directed by a +single head. War, therefore, tends on the one hand to create a dictator, +and on the other hand to precipitate the democratisation of a country. +None would be so ignorant for long as to discharge gladly an imposed +duty without enjoying their right to compensation for service rendered. +The time must come when these military leaders should supersede the +ultracivilised Kyoto nobles, and hold the reins of government +themselves. The transference of political power from the higher to the +lower stratum was unavoidable. These generals, howsoever inferior they +might be in rank compared with the court nobles of the Fujiwara, were +still to be classed among the nobles, and it was yet a very far cry to +the time when the common people could have some share in the politics of +their own country. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE MILITARY RÉGIME; THE TAIRA AND THE + MINAMOTO; THE SHOGUNATE OF KAMAKURA + + +For some time the military class had been rocking the prestige of the +court nobles, and at last superseded them by overturning their rotten +edifice. It was first by the wars of the so-called "Nine Years" and +"Three Years," both waged in northern Japan in the latter half of the +eleventh century by Yoriyoshi and Yoshiiye, the famous generals of the +Minamoto family, that the military class began to grow markedly powerful +and independent. Nearly a century passed, and then Yoritomo, one of the +great-great-grandsons of Yoshiiye, was able to set up his military +government, the Shogunate, at Kamakura in the province of Sagami. +Previous to the Kamakura Shogunate, there was an interim between it and +the old régime, the semi-military government of the Taira family. The +family of the Taira sprang, like that of the Minamoto, from a scion of +the imperial family, and, like the latter, had been engaged from the +first in the craft of war. Of the two, the Taira first succeeded in +courting the favour of the Fujiwara nobles, and the members of the +former family were appointed to less dangerous and more lucrative posts +than the Minamoto. As Japan at that time kept on gravitating toward the +west of Kyoto, it was natural that the influence of the Taira should +have been extended in the western provinces. Some of the noted warriors +belonging to this clan were now and then charged with the governorship +of the eastern provinces, and therefore their descendants were widely +scattered in those quarters also. In the east, however, the influence of +the Minamoto family was paramount, for noted warriors of this family +were more frequently employed than the Taira in the region against the +Ainu. In both of these families, the moral link between several branches +within the family was very loose, perhaps much weaker than in the +Highland clans in Scotland. Such dissension should be attributed to the +fact that those who passed under the same family name of the Minamoto or +the Taira became soon too numerous to present a united front always, +whenever a conflict with the rival family arose. At any rate the feud +between the respective main branches of the two families was very bitter +and inveterate, covering many generations. Of the two, the Minamoto, +hardened by constant warfare with the still savage tribes in the north, +and trained by the privations unavoidable in wars, surpassed the Taira +in robustness and bravery. The Taira became, on the contrary, as the +result of close contact with the courtiers at Kyoto, more refined than +the Minamoto. Though alternately employed as generals in war as well as +instruments in intrigues, the Taira were thought by the Fujiwara to be +more docile, and therefore were more trusted than the Minamoto. This is +why the former were able to seize possession of the government earlier +than the latter. Kiyomori, the first and the last of the Taira, who was +made the highest minister of the crown, as if he were himself one of the +Fujiwara nobles, was able to reach that goal of the ambition of +courtiers, by intruding himself among them, intermingling his sons and +grandsons with the flower of the Fujiwara, and at last he made one of +his daughters the consort of the Emperor Takakura. His only distinction +as compared with the old nobles was that his personal character was too +rough and soldier-like, and the means he resorted to were too drastic +and forcible, for the over-refined members of the Fujiwara. Kiyomori had +in his quality too much of the real statesman to be an idle player in +the pageants and ceremonies of the court, and it is said that he often +committed blunders through his unseemly deportment as courtier, and +became, on that account, the laughing-stock of the Fujiwara. +Nevertheless he, like the most of the Fujiwara, could not rid himself of +the mistaken idea, that the statesman and the courtier were the same +thing, so that none could be the one without being the other. The +younger members of the family were reared up rather as courtiers than as +soldiers, trained more in playing on musical instruments, in dancing, +and in witty versification of short poems than in the use of weapons. + +The most memorable deed achieved by Kiyomori was the change of the +capital from Kyoto to Fukuwara, a part of the present city of Kobe. Till +then Kyoto had been continuously the capital of the empire for three and +a half centuries. To remove the centre of the government from that +sacrosanctity must have been a great surprise to the metropolitans. As +to the interpretation of the motives for this change, historians differ. +It is ascribed by some to Kiyomori's abhorrence of the conventionalism +which obtained in the old capital, and which was so deeply rooted as not +to be eradicated very easily so long as he stayed there, or else to his +anxious desire to get rid of the pernicious meddling of the audacious +priests of the temple Yenryakuji, on mount Hiyei, the source of great +annoyance to the government of Kyoto. By other historians the change is +said to have originated in Kiyomori's farsightedness in having set his +mind on the profit of the trade with China, the trade from which his +family had already reaped a huge profit, and which could be carried on +more actively by shifting the capital from Kyoto to the important port +of the Inland Sea. That he earnestly desired the facilitation of +navigation in the Inland Sea need not be doubted, for the cutting of the +strait of Ondo, the improvement of the harbour of Hyogo, as the port of +Kobe was called at that time, and many other works pertaining to the +navigation of the sea were undertaken at his orders. It is not certain, +however, whether any of the above mentioned motives sufficed alone to +induce him to forsake the historical metropolis. Whatever the reason the +change was a failure. It was very unpopular in the circle of the +Fujiwara nobles, who longed ardently to return to their old nests, and +baffled by the passive resistance of these nobles in whatever he tried +to do, Kiyomori could not achieve anything worthy of mention during the +remainder of his life. + +The brief period of the Taira ascendancy thus passed away very swiftly. +It was since 1156 A.D., the year in which the war of the Hogen took +place, that the military-men had begun to discern that they they were +strong enough to displace the Fujiwara nobles. Only three years after +that, the destiny of the two rival families was for a time decided. The +Taira remained on the field, and the vanquished, that is to say, the +members of the chief branch of the Minamoto, were either killed or +deported, the rest having been scattered and rendered powerless to +resist. Yoritomo, one of these exiles, was taken into the custody of an +overseer of the province of Idzu, in the vicinity of which were settled +the descendants of the faithful followers of his forefathers. When an +opportunity came, therefore, he was able to muster without difficulty +those hereditary vassals, and overran, first the eastern provinces, and +then, with the assistance of one of his younger brothers, Yoshitsune, +who had taken refuge with Hidehira, the hybrid generalissimo of the half +independent province of Mutsu, he drove the Taira party out of Kyoto, +whither the capital had been transferred again a short time before, soon +after the death of Kiyomori. What remained to be done was consummated by +the tact and bravery of Yoshitsune. The partisans of the Taira family +fought very valiantly on the coast of the Inland Sea, but always +succumbed in the end to adverse destiny. In the last battle which was +fought on the sea near the strait of Shimonoseki, some of the Taira were +taken prisoners, and then decapitated. Many, however, died in the +battle, or drowned themselves, for to be killed in cold blood by an +enemy has ever been thought the most ignominious fate for a warrior of +Japan. In thus presenting a united front to the last in adversity, the +kernel of the Taira family, though much enervated by their court life, +proved themselves true sons of the chivalrous warriors of old Japan. +This catastrophe took place in the year 1185. + +The flourishing period of the Taira family was of the short duration of +thirty years only. As the rise of the family was very sudden, its +downfall was equally abrupt. It was like a meteor traversing a corner of +the long history of Japan, leaving, however, an indelible memory to +posterity. The peculiar charm of the culture of the age represented by +the elite of the family during its ascendency, and its chivalrous end, +embellish the history of our country with a number of pathetic episodes +which provided abundant themes for poems, tales, and dramas of the +after-age. The most famous among this literature is a narration called +the _Heike-monogatari_, Heike in Chinese characters meaning "the family +of Taira." Whether the _monogatari_ or tale was first composed for the +purpose of being read or recited is a question. It is certain, however, +that when the story became widely known, called by the more simplified +name of "the _Heike_," it was generally recited as a chant, resembling +the melody of Buddhist hymns, accompanied by the playing the _biwa_, a +stringed instrument the shape of which has given its name to the largest +lake in Japan. This recitation is the precursor of the _utai_, which was +a kind of recitation fashionable in the next age. The origin of the more +modern _jôruri_ recitation accompanied by the _shamisen_ may be traced +to the _Heike_ also. What pleased the audiences most in the _Heike_ were +the sad vicissitudes of the family and the gallant chivalry manifested +in its downfall. The former, preaching the uncertainty of human life, +was sufficient to touch the courtiers with keen pathos, courtiers who +had lived out their time, and having been taught by Buddhism to look on +every thing pessimistically, were glad to sympathise with whatever was +on the wane. Differently from them, warriors were also fond of hearing +the rehearsal of the _Heike_ with thrills piercing the heart, by putting +themselves in the place of some gallant Taira cavalier, who had fought +to the last with undaunted courage and met his death with calmness more +than mortal. + +It is not only because the Taira family was in general more refined than +the Minamoto, and gave an impulse to the literature of Japan by its +enlightened chivalry, that the period forms an important turning-point +in the history of the civilisation of our country. Almost all the +essential traits of our civilisation during the whole military régime +can be said to have been initiated in this brief Taira epoch. As an +inheritor of the borrowed civilisation, the Taira warriors were not so +much saturated with the alien refinement as the Fujiwara nobles were, +and therefore, when they came nearer the throne, the aspect of the court +was not a little vulgarised, but instead there was a freshness in those +warriors which was found wanting among the Fujiwara, already overwrought +and exhausted by too much Chinese civilisation. This freshness may be +considered an index of the revival of the conservative spirit, which had +been long lurking in the lower strata of the nation. Conservatism in +such a phase of history is generally on the side of strength and energy. +It is true that Kiyomori, his sons, and grandsons endeavoured rather to +go up the ladder of the courtiers higher and higher, in order to soar +'above the cloud.' In other words, it was not their first ambition to +lead the people in the lower strata against the higher; they were not +revolutionists at all. But whatever might have been their real +intention, they could not ward off those followers who had a common +interest with them. There was no doubt that the lower class of people +sympathised with the military-men, whether they were of the Taira or of +the Minamoto family, far more deeply than with the Fujiwara nobles. The +ascendency, therefore, of the Taira stirred the long latent spirit of +the majority of the nation, and this re-awakening of the Japanese, if we +may call it so, gave life to every fibre of the social structure, urging +the nation to energetic movement. + +The most tangible evidence of this resuscitation of Japan can be +obtained in the sculpture of the age. The first flourishing period of +Japanese sculpture anterior to this is the era of the Tempyô, that is to +say, during the reign of the Emperor Shômu. After that the art fell +gradually into decadence, and no period could compete with the Tempyô +era except the Taira age. The works of Unkei and Tankei, representative +masters who made their names at this time, though lagging far behind +those of Tempyô sculptors in exquisite softness and serenity, yet +surpassed the latter in vigour and strength. What they liked to +represent most were statues of deities rather than Buddha himself, and +of the deities they preferred those of martial character. Comparing +them with the Tempyô sculptures, in which the subject is not so narrowly +circumscribed, we can observe the change of the national spirit very +clearly. + +In painting also, the most important progress of the age is the change +in subjects of this art, or rather the increase in varieties of subjects +to be painted. Before this time what the artists generally liked to +paint were the images of Buddha, Buddhist deities, scenes in Buddhist +history, and portraits of celebrated priests. Landscapes were put on +canvas, too, though not so frequently as those subjects pertaining to +Buddhism. Since then portraits, not only of priests, but also of laymen, +such as courtiers and generals, have been treated by our painters. Some +masterpieces of the new portraiture, by the brush of Takanobu, are +extant to this day. This development of portrait-painting may be +interpreted as a symptom of the newly-budding individualism on the +nation. As to scroll paintings, formerly we had pictures of consecutive +scenes in Buddhist history painted in that manner, but scenes from +secular history or genre pictures were rare. From this time onward we +have scrolls of a character not purely religious, though Buddhist +stories are still used as subjects for painting as before. Moreover, in +earlier scrolls the best attention was paid to painting Buddha or +deities, and not to delineating the auxiliaries, such as landscapes, +buildings, worshipping multitudes of various professions, and so forth, +while in the new kinds of scrolls more stress was laid on depicting +those auxiliaries rather than the pious personages themselves. Battle +scenes in the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, or those between the Taira +and the Minamoto in the streets of Kyoto, were also painted on scrolls. +Another and quite novel kind extant of the scroll pictures of this age +is the satirical delineation of the manners and customs of the time by +the brush of the painter-priest Toba-sôjô. In the famous scroll certain +animals familiar to the daily life, such as foxes, rabbits, frogs, and +so forth are depicted allegorically, each suggesting certain notorious +personages of various callings in the contemporary society. + +As to literature, a difference similar in nature to those +characteristics of the literature of the preceding age can be observed +very distinctly. In the former period, though the essence of the +literature in Japanese was profoundly influenced by the Chinese spirit, +Chinese vocabularies and phrases rarely entered into sentences without +being translated into Japanese. That is to say, the Japanese literature +remained pure as to language, and went on side by side with the +literature in Chinese. Now the combination of the two kinds began to +take form. Chinese words, phrases, and several rhetorical figures began +to be poured into the midst of sentences, the structure remaining +Japanese as before, so that those sentences may be considered as +forming a kind of hybrid Chinese, with words juxtaposed in a Japanese +style, and connected by Japanese participles. This change resulted in +making a great many Japanese words obsolete, and it has since become +necessary for the Japanese constantly to resort to the Chinese +vocabulary in writing as well as in speaking. The growth of Japanese as +an independent language was thus regrettably retarded. At the same time +Japanese literature reaped an immense benefit from this adoption of the +Chinese vocabulary, for by it we became enabled to express our thoughts +concisely, forcibly, and when necessary in a very highflown style, +things not utterly impossible but exceedingly difficult for Japanese +pure in form. The use of Chinese ideographs thus increased from +generation to generation, until now it has become too late to try to +eradicate them. All that which the Japanese nation has achieved in the +past, its history, nay, its whole civilisation, has been handed to us, +recorded in the language, which is woven of Chinese vocabularies and +Japanese syntax, and denoted by symbols which are nothing but Chinese +ideographs and their abbreviations, the Kana. A movement to supersede +the Chinese ideographs by the exclusive use of the _kana_, which are +very simple abbreviations of those ideographs, was initiated at the +beginning of the Meidji era, but was dropped soon afterwards. Another +radical movement to substitute the Roman alphabet for the Chinese +ideographs and the _kana_ in writing Japanese, was started nearly at +the same time, and still continues to have a certain number of zealous +advocates. The success of such a movement, however, depends on the value +of the civilisation already acquired by the Japanese. If that amounts to +nothing, and can be cast aside without any regret, in other words, if +the history of Japan counts for nothing for the present and the future +of the country, then the movement would have some chance of success; +otherwise the attainment of the object is a dream of the millenium. + +The manifestation of the new spirit of the new age in the sphere of +religion is not less remarkable than in that of art or of literature. +Since its introduction into our country, Buddhism had been very singular +in its position as regards the social life of the nation. Though the +imperial family and the higher nobles earnestly embraced the new creed, +and worshipped the "gods of the barbarians," this acceptance of Buddhism +cannot be called a conversion, because their religious thoughts were +never engrossed by it. They continued to pay a very sincere respect to +the old deities of Japan as before, while they were adoring Buddha +enthusiastically. Shintoism was, if not a religion, something very much +like a religion, more than anything else. So long as Shintoism remained +as influential as of yore, the Japanese could not be said to have been +converted to Buddhism. The Buddhist priests, having perceived this, +tried not to supersede but to incorporate Shintoism into their own +creed, as I have explained before, and succeeded in it, but could not +erase the independence of Shintoism entirely out of the spiritual life +of the Japanese. It cannot be doubted that Buddhism was made secure as +regards its position in Japan by this incorporation, but in general it +gained not much. Assimilation, generally speaking, has as its object, to +destroy the independent existence of the things to be assimilated, and +at the same time the assimilator must run the risk of causing a +condition of heterogeneity on account of the addition of the new +element. Buddhism could not destroy the independent existence of +Shintoism, and the former became heterogeneous by the assimilation of +the latter, so that the _raison d'être_ of Buddhism in Japan was very +much weakened by the assimilation. The lower strata of the nation were +very slow in being penetrated by Buddhism, notwithstanding the +munificent encouragement afforded to it by the government, for example, +by appointing preachers not only in the neighbourhood of the capital, +but in distant provinces also, or by ordering the erection of one temple +in each province at the expense of the government. The common people +were in need of salvation indeed, but from the Buddhism which was +nationalised, they could not expect to obtain what they were unable to +find in Shintoism. + +In short, Buddhism, by its transformation and nationalisation, lost +universality, its strongest point, and was rendered quite powerless, +that is to say, blunted in the edge. Buddhism as a religious philosophy +remained of course intact, but the cunning device of priests to make it +conformable to our country went too far, and resulted only in weakening +its efficiency as a practical religion. There were still to be found +some numbers of priests who pursued their study in the intricate +philosophy of Buddhism, in cloisters, in the depths of some forest or +mountain recesses, but they were almost powerless to act upon society in +general. The mass of the people looked on Buddhism only as the worship +of an aggregation of deities, not much different from common objects of +superstition, or simply as a kind of show very pleasant to see and to +enjoy. They were too busy to care for meditation, and too ignorant to +venture on philosophising. + +Religion as a show! Seemingly what an astounding blasphemy even to +entertain such an idea! No foreign reader, however, would be shocked at +it, who knows that religious plays made the beginning of the modern +stage of Europe, and that in villages in the Alpine valleys there may be +found some survivals of them even now. Not only that, the services of +the Roman Catholic and of the Greek Orthodox Church contain even to this +day not a few theatrical elements. An appeal of this nature to the +audience has always the effect of making the religion poetical, and +therefore was the method chiefly resorted to by the Church in the Middle +Ages throughout all Christendom. The method employed by the Buddhists in +our country was just the same. They instituted various ceremonies and +processions, each apportioned to a certain definite day of a certain +season, and these religious shows served to captivate the minds of the +spectators. + +Here, however, the difference should be noticed between Christianity and +Buddhism. The former as a rule is the religion which finds its foothold +first among the lower classes of the people, while the latter, in Japan +at least, began its propaganda with the upper circles of the nation, and +then proceeded downwards. Though the courtiers could frequently enjoy +the gorgeous spectacles carried out by priests clad in rich robes of +variegated colours amid heavenly music, such scenes could be witnessed +only in and about the metropolis, and were moreover too costly and +aristocratic to be enjoyed by the common people. The masses were not +only debarred from the salvation of their souls, but from the sight of +the pageants, the best pastime which an age devoid of a theatre could +afford. Yet those masses were a necessary ingredient of society in +Japan, by no means to be neglected. Though very slowly, their eyes were +opening, and they were beginning to claim their due. How could this +demand, not sufficiently conscious to the claimants themselves, be +provided for? Solely by Buddhism, which should have been by whatever +means reformed. + +Shintoism, though it has had a very tenacious grip on the national +spirit of the Japanese, is deficient in certain particulars, and cannot +be called a religion in the strict sense, so that it was difficult for +it to march with the ever-advancing civilisation of our country. If +there was a need, therefore, for something which could not be obtained +outside of religion, it was to be sought elsewhere than in Shintoism, +that is to say, in Buddhism, which was then the only cult in Japan +worthy to be called a religion. To seek from it anything new, which it +could not give in the state it had been, means that it ought to have +been reformed. It is true that there had been repeated attempts, since +the beginning of the tenth century, to make Buddhism accessible and +intelligible to all classes of the people, and this kind of movement had +become especially active at the end of the eleventh century. What was +common to all of these movements was the endeavor to teach the merit of +the _nem-butsu_, that is to say, the belief that anybody who would +invoke the help of Buddha by calling repeatedly the name of Amita, one +of the manifestations of Buddha, would be assured of the blissful +after-life, and that the oftener the invocation was made the surer was +the response. Most elaborate among them was an organisation of a +religious community resembling in its character a joint-stock company. A +member of this community was required to contribute to the accumulation +of the blessing by repeating its invocation a certain number of times, +like a shareholder of a company paying for his share. This community is +in a great measure analogous to those societies of Europe in the later +Middle Ages, which tried to accumulate the virtues of the Ave Maria sung +by their members. The most striking characteristic of this community was +that it extolled its own unique merit which lay in having as its members +all the Buddhist deities, whose celestial _nem-butsu_ would be sure to +augment the dividends of the earthly shareholders! + +To organise such a community was not to undermine the traditional +edifice of Buddhism in Japan, but to support it, just as those mendicant +orders, Benedictine, Augustine, Franciscan, Dominican, and so forth, +were formed but in behalf of the Church of Rome. The intention of those +who emphasised the _nem-butsu_ was very far from that of becoming the +harbingers of the reform movement of the following generations, though +the latter aimed at nearly the same thing as the early promoters of the +_nem-butsu_ did. Yeshin, a priest in the temple of Yenryakuji, became +the precursor of Hônen, who was born more than one hundred years after +the death of his forerunner. The former would not and could not become a +reformer, though he was highly adored by the latter for his saintliness, +who styled himself the only expounder of the former. The latter, too, +was very modest and never ventured to proclaim himself a reformer. +Hônen was one of the meekest Buddhists in Japan. Yet he was forced +against his will to become the founder of the Jôdo sect, which has +continued influential to this day. All the religious reformers of the +Kamakura period ran in his wake. + +Religion, art, and literature were all thus transforming themselves +almost at the same time, and that very time coincided exactly with the +moment in which the most important change in the political sphere was +taking place. Such a coincidence in the development of the various +factors of civilisation cannot be lightly overlooked as a mere chance +happening. Surely it must have been actuated by a common impulse, which +was nothing but the urgent demand of the _Zeitgeist_. The régime matured +by the Fujiwara nobles at Kyoto had already come to a standstill. Japan +had to be pushed on by any means whatever. It is this necessity which +allowed the Taira to get the upper hand of the Fujiwara. The rise of +this soldier-family cannot be attributed merely to the merit of its +representative members. But its fall owed much to their incompetency in +not having become conscious of their position in the history of Japan. +No sooner had they grasped the reins of the government, than they began +to tread the path which their predecessors had trod, the path leading +only to the stumbling-block. Too quickly they were transforming +themselves into pseudo-courtiers. "The mummy-seekers were about to be +turned into mummies," as a Japanese proverb has it. It was just at this +juncture, the last phase of the transformation of the Taira warriors, +that they were overturned by the Minamoto. In short, the course on which +the Taira steered was against the current of the age. If the family had +remained in power longer than it actually did, then the just budded +spirit of the new age would have dwindled away, and to Japan might have +fallen the same lot as befell to other oriental monarchies. For our +country it was fortunate that the Taira were no longer able to stay at +the helm of the state. + +Minamoto-no-Yoritomo preferred, at the establishment of his Shogunate, a +course quite different from that of the Taira. Having been brought up +during his boyhood at Kyoto, and being therefore acquainted with the +realities of the metropolitan modes of life, he might have been, +perhaps, averse to the Sybaritism of the court. If, on the other hand, +he had been inclined to follow in the footsteps of the Taira, he was not +in a position to behave as he would have liked, for it was not by any +exertion of his own that he was exalted to the virtual dictatorship of +the military government. The Minamoto and the Taira who had settled in +the eastern provinces, in spite of the difference of their families, had +been accustomed to the same condition of living, and they fought often +under the same banner against the Ainu. Though quarrels were not lacking +among them, they could not help feeling the warmth of the fraternity of +arms toward one another. These "rough riders" had gradually become +refined by the education imparted by country priests; _terakoya_, the +"hut in a temple," was the sole substitute for the elementary school at +that time. They had, too, occasion to come into contact with the +civilised life of the metropolis, for it was their duty to stay there by +turns, sometimes for years, as guards of the capital and of the imperial +residence. Intelligent warriors among them took to the city life and +mastered some of the accomplishments highly prized by courtiers. Most of +them, however, looked with scornful smile upon the degenerate courtiers, +like the Germans in the Eternal City looking with disgust on the +decadent state of Imperial Rome. When Yoritomo entered into their +company as an exile from Kyoto, these warriors were very glad to receive +him, for he was descended from the family of the generals whom their +forefathers had served hereditarily, and whose names they still revered. +With this exile as their leader, they rose united against the Taira, the +traditional enemy of the family to which he belonged. After the success +of their arms they had no desire to have their chief turned into a +pseudo-courtier after the example of the Taira soldiers. Kamakura was +therefore chosen as the seat of the military government. This was in the +year 1183. + +In truth, Kamakura cannot be said to be a place strategically +impregnable even in those early times. It is too narrow to become the +capital of Japan, being closely hemmed in by a chain of hills. Though +situated on the sea, its bay is too shallow, not fit for mooring even a +small wooden bark. The reason why the place happened to be chosen must +be sought, therefore, not in its geographical position, but in that the +town was planted nearly in the centre of the region inhabited by the +supporters of Yoritomo. That it was also the location of the Shinto +shrine, Hachiman of Tsurugaoka, might have had not a little weight in +influencing the choice, because it was in this shrine that Yoshiiye, the +forefather of Yoritomo and the adored demigod of the warriors of Japan, +performed the ceremony of the attainment of his full manhood. + +The military government, the Shogunate, set up at Kamakura, was in its +nature of quite a different type from that of the Taira at Kyoto. Before +entering into details, it is necessary, however, to say something about +the change in the signification of government. When the Fujiwara became +the real masters of Japan, they tried at first to govern wisely and +sincerely. But as time passed their energy and determination gradually +relaxed. Their growing wealth obtained by encroachment on public lands +tended to mould them as a profligate and indolent folk, so that they +became at last wholly unfitted for any serious state affairs. Moreover, +from the lack of any event which would have necessitated united action +of all the family, a condition which might have been exceedingly +difficult to attain even if they had wished it, on account of the +multiplication of branches, never-ceasing internal feuds which helped +only to weaken the prestige of the family as a whole were perpetually +arising. It was at this juncture that the Emperor Go-Sanjô tried to +recover the reins once lost to the hands of his ancestors. The task +which he left unfinished was achieved by his son and successor, the +Emperor Shirakawa. When the power was restored to the emperor, however, +it was not in the same condition as when lost. The state business +decreased in scope and significance, all that was left being merely the +disposal of not very numerous manor lands, which had been left untouched +by the greedy Fujiwara, and the policing of the capital. The Emperor +Shirakawa did not deem it necessary as reigning Emperor to pay regular +attention to them. He abdicated, therefore, in favour of his son, and +from his retired position he managed the so-called state affairs. As the +result of such an assumption of power, the position of the reigning +emperor became very problematic, and irresponsibility prevailed +everywhere. The imperial family thus regained some of its historical +prestige, and succeeded in curbing the arrogance of the Fujiwara. The +latter, however, continued very rich and powerful, though not so +politically mighty as before. For a short while the Taira achieved its +object in partially supplanting the influence of the Fujiwara, but it +could not perceptibly weaken the latter. The downfall of the Taira +showed clearly that in such a state of the country mere names and titles +meant practically nothing, and that the military power supported by +material resources was the thing most worth coveting. The Taira started +on this line, but soon collapsed by abandoning it. How could a shrewd +politician like Yoritomo be expected to imitate the blunder of his +opponent? + +The Shogunate set up by Yoritomo at Kamakura was not of the sort which +could appropriately be called a regularly organised government. It was +modelled after the organisation of a family-business office, which was +common to all the noble families of high rank. There were several +functionaries in the Shogunate, but they had the character rather of +private servants than of state officials. The Shogun's secretaries, +body-guards, butlers and so forth served under him not on account of any +official regulation connecting them publicly with him, but only as his +retainers, and were designated by the name of the _go-kenin_, which +means "the men of the august household." To sum up, the Shogunate was +established not for the state but for the family business. Yoritomo had +never pretended to take possession of the government of Japan. The fact +that at the beginning of the Shogunate its jurisdiction did not extend +over the whole of the empire testifies to the same. + +In the foregoing chapters I have spoken about the encroachment on public +lands by the Fujiwara nobles. The private farms which were called the +_shô-yen_ and resembled in their character the manors or great landed +estates in England, increased year by year, so that they extended at +last to all the distant provinces of the country. Some emperors were +resolute enough to try to put a stop to the growth of this onerous +infringement of the public property, but the orders issued by them had +very little effect. As to the management of these farms, they were not +administered directly by those nobles who owned them, and it was not +uncommon for many manors lying far apart from one another to belong to +the same owner. The proprietors, therefore, generally stationed some of +their domestic servants in those manors to act as caretakers, or +confided the management to men who were the original reclaimers of those +manors or their descendants, from whom the nobles had received the lands +as a donation. By this assumption of the duty of management, these +servants of these nobles arrogated to themselves the right to govern and +command the people living upon the estates, without any appointment from +the government itself. It cannot be disputed that it was a kind of +usurpation not allowable in the regular state of any organised country. +The provincial governors of that time, however, were impotent to put a +bridle on those impudent managers, for most of the governors appointed +stayed in Kyoto to enjoy the pleasure of city life, and left the +business of the province to be administered by their lieutenants. +Moreover, some of the manors were evidently exempted from the +intervention of the provincial officials by a special order. In other +words, most of the manors were communities which were to a great degree +autonomous, each under the jurisdiction of a half independent manager, +and that manager again standing in a subordinate position to his patron, +who resided generally at Kyoto. So far I have spoken only of the manors +belonging to the nobles of the higher class, including members of the +imperial family. Other manors possessed by Shinto shrines and Buddhist +temples were also under a régime not much different from those of the +nobles. The Taira, too, at the zenith of their family power, had a great +number of such estates and the sons of Kiyomori fought against the +Minamoto with forces recruited from the tenants of those manors. + +When Yoritomo overcame the Taira, he confiscated all the manors which +had formerly been possessed by that family, and appointed one of his +retainers to each of these appropriated manors as _djito_, which +literally means a chief of the land. The duty of these _djito_ was to +collect for their lord Shogun a certain amount of rice, proportional to +the area of the rice fields belonging to the estate. This reserved rice +was destined to be used as provision for soldiers, and was in reality +the income of the _djito_, for he was himself the very soldier who would +use that rice as provision. Besides the collection of rice, he had to +keep in order the manor to which he had been appointed as chief, that is +to say, the police of the manor was in his hands. Once appointed, a +_djito_ could make his office hereditary, though for this the sanction +of the Shogunate was necessary. Yoritomo appointed also a military +governor to each of the provinces. The authority of this governor, +called the _shugo_, extended over all the retainers of the Shogun in +that province, including the _djito_. It should be noticed, however, +that the _shugo_ was as a rule a warrior, who held the office of _djito_ +at the same time, in or out of that province. + +As to the manors which were owned by Kyoto nobles, shrines, and temples, +and therefore not at the disposal of the Shogun, no _djito_ was +appointed to them. Though the disputes about the boundaries, right of +inheritance, and various other questions concerning the estates were +decided by the legal councillors of the Shogunate, jurisdiction was +restricted to those cases in which some retainer of the Shogun was a +party. Otherwise, the right of decision was denied by the Shogun. The +Shogun never claimed any right over the land which did not stand +expressly under his jurisdiction. From this it can be inferred that he +did not pretend to take over the civil government of the whole of +Japan. By the foundation of the Shogunate, however, Yoritomo became a +very powerful military chief, sanctioned by the Emperor with the +conferment of the title of "generalissimo to chastise the Ainu", and at +need he was able to mobilise a large number of soldiers, by giving +orders to _djito_ through the _shugo_ of the provinces. None was able to +compete with him in military strength, and the business of the civil +government had necessarily to fall into the hands of him who was the +strongest in material force. + +If such an anomalous state, as we see in the beginning of the Shogunate, +had continued very long, the Shogunate would never have become the +regular government of the country, and the dismemberment of Japan might +have been the ultimate result. But fortunately for the future of our +country, it did not remain as it was first established. Those managers +of manors not belonging to the Shogun, seeing that they could be better +protected from above by turning themselves into retainers of the Shogun, +volunteered for his service. Nobles, shrines, and temples possessing +these manors complained of course about the enlistment of the +manor-managers into the Shogunate service. For by the transformation of +the managers, those manors _ipso facto_ came under the military +jurisdiction of Kamakura. As those owners, however, could not prevent +the transformation, and as the income from those estates did not +decrease in any great measure by the extension of the jurisdiction of +the Shogun over them, they had nothing to do, but tacitly to acquiesce +in the new conditions. The number of retainers thus increased rapidly, +and with it the Shogunate's sphere of jurisdiction grew wider and wider, +till at last it covered the greater part of the Empire. The Shogunate +was then no more a mere business office of a family, but the government +_de facto_ recognised by the whole nation. This process was consummated +in the middle of the first half of the thirteenth century. + +It would be a mistake to suppose that such a momentous change was +effected without any disturbance. The Kyoto nobles, who were unable at +first to see the political importance of the establishment of the +Shogunate in an insignificant provincial village, were gradually +awakened to the real loss which they would surely suffer by it, and +longed to recover the reins, which they had once forgotten to keep and +guard. Besides, there were many malcontent warriors both within and +without the Shogunate. For after the death of Yoritomo, though the title +of Shogun was inherited by his two sons, one after the other, the real +power of the Shogunate fell into the hands of his wife's relations, the +family of Hôjô. Warriors of other families were excluded from a share in +the military government, and they, dissatisfied on that account, wished +for some change in order to overthrow the Hôjô. Needless to say that +outside of the Shogunate ambitious men were not lacking, who desired to +set up another Shogunate in place of that at Kamakura, if they could. +All these discontented soldiery allied themselves with the Kyoto nobles, +and caused the civil war of Jôkyu to ensue between them and the +Shogunate represented by the Hôjô family. The war ended in the defeat of +the former, and the Shogunate emerged out of the war far stronger than +before. + +Thirteen years after the war, the first compilation of laws of the +Shogunate was undertaken by Yasutoki Hôjô. It is called "the compiled +laws of the Jôyei," Jôyei being the name of the era in which the +compilation was issued. This compilation was not so much a work of +elaborate systematisation, nor an imitation of foreign laws, as was the +reform legislation of the Taïhô. Rather it should be called a collection +of abstracts of particular law cases decided by the judicial staff of +the Shogunate. It is therefore an outcome of necessitated experiences +like English "case-law", and had not the character of statute laws or +provisions deduced from a certain fundamental legal principle in +anticipation of all probable occurrences. The object of the compilation +is clearly stated in the epilogue written by Yasutoki himself. According +to this, it was far from the motive of the compilers to displace the old +system of legislation by the promulgation of the new one. Old laws +became a dead letter, without being formally abrogated, while the new +code was issued only for the practical benefit of the people in charge +of various businesses. + +Whatever might have been the real motive of Yasutoki and his legal +councillors, the very act of the compilation cannot in itself fail to +betray the consciousness on the part of the Shogunate that it had +already a sufficiency of test cases decided to supply models for the +decision of most of the disputes that might be brought before them in +the future. Or we might say that the Hôjô became confirmed in their +belief that the Shogunate was now so firmly established as not to be +easily shaken at its foundation, and that they could henceforth command +in the name of a regular government without any fear of serious +disturbances. Certainly their victory in the civil war must have rid +them of any apprehension of danger from the side of Kyoto. + +This compilation was issued in the year 1232, that is to say, about +fifty years after the founding of the Kamakura Shogunate. Thus we can +see that this half-century had wrought an important change in the +history of Japan. During this time the military régime was enabled to +strike a firm root deep into the national life of the Japanese. The +family of the Minamoto soon became extinct by the death of the second +son of Yoritomo, and scions of a Fujiwara noble and then some of the +imperial princes were brought from Kyoto one after another as the +successors to the Shogunate. Yet they were all but tools in the capable +hands of the Hôjô family, which remained the real master of the +military government of Kamakura. In course of time, the Hôjô also fell, +but other military families successively arose to power, and the +military régime was kept up by them in Japan until the middle of the +nineteenth century. It is true that those changes in the headship and in +the location of the Shogunate caused as a matter of fact corresponding +changes in the nature of the respective military régime. The Shogunate +of the Ashikaga family was of a different sort from that of Kamakura, +while that of the Tokugawa at Yedo was again of another type than the +Ashikaga's at Kyoto. Throughout all these different Shogunates, however, +certain common characteristics prevailed, so that a wide gap may be +discerned between them as a whole and the government of the Fujiwara +courtiers. And those characters indeed have their origin all in this +first half century of the Kamakura Shogunate. + +What most distinguished the military régime from the preceding +government was its being pragmatic and unconventional. It was not on +account of noble lineage alone, that Yoritomo was able to establish his +Shogunate. He owed a great deal to the willing assistance of the +warriors scattered in the eastern provinces, who claimed descent from +some illustrious personages in our history, but in fact had forefathers +of modest living for many generations, and had maintained very intimate +relations with the common people. The Shogunate was bound by this +reason not to neglect the interests of those who had thus contributed to +its establishment. Moreover, in order to be able to raise a strong army +at any time when necessary, the Shogunate was obliged to take minute +care of the welfare of the retainers and of the people at large, for the +faithfulness of the former and popularity among the latter counted more +than other things as props of the régime. The contrast is remarkable +when we compare it to the government by the Fujiwara nobles, who made an +elaborate legislation, professing to govern uprightly and leniently, and +to be beneficial even to the lowest stratum of the people, yet in +reality caring very little for the felicity of the governed, looking on +them always with contempt, though this lack of sympathy might be +attributed more to some old racial relation than to the morality of +those nobles. After all, the government of the Shogun, being regulated +by a few decrees and guided by practical common sense, operated far +better than the Fujiwara's. Where formalism had reigned, reality began +now to prevail. The spirit of the age was about to be emancipated from +convention. Japan was regenerated. + +It was this regeneration of Japan, which kept up and nourished what was +initiated in the Taira period. But for the Kamakura Shogunate, however, +those germs of the new era might have been blasted forever. One thread +of the continuous development from the Taira to the Minamoto period may +be clearly discerned in the sphere of religion. In 1212 died Hônen, the +reformer of Buddhism, of whom I have already spoken in the preceding +chapter, but before his death his teachings had gathered a great many +adherents around him, and the sect of the Jôdo became independent of +that of the Tendai. It was from this Jôdo sect that the Shinshû or the +"orthodox" Jôdo, now one of the most influential Buddhist sects in +Japan, sprang up, and became independent also. Shinran, the founder of +the latter sect, is said to have been one of the disciples of Hônen, and +the tenets of his sect, initiated by Shinran himself and supplemented by +his successors, bear striking resemblance to the reform tenets of Luther +in laying stress on faith and in denouncing reliance on the merit of +good works in order to arrive at salvation. That the priests belonging +to this sect have avowedly led a matrimonial life, a custom which was +unique to this sect among Japanese Buddhists, is another point of +resemblance to Lutheranism. In other respects, for example, in preaching +the doctrine of predestination, it can be considered as analogous to +Calvinism also. + +Another important sect, which branched off from the Tendai, is that of +the followers of Nichiren. His sect is called the Hokke, or Nichiren, +after the name of the founder himself, and the sect still contains a +vast number of devotees. It is the most militant sect of Buddhism in +Japan, and that militancy might be traced to the personality of +Nichiren, the founder, who was the most energetic and aggressive priest +Japanese Buddhism has ever produced. He, too, never claimed to have +founded a new sect, and insisted that his doctrine was simply a +resuscitated Tendai tenet. We can easily see, however, that in its +pervading tendency it approached other reformed sects of the same age +rather than the old or orthodox Tendai. Nichiren died in the year 1282, +so that his most flourishing period falls in the middle of the +thirteenth century. + +One more sect I cannot pass without commenting on is the Zen sect. Its +founder in Japan is Yôsai, whose time coincided with that of Hônen. +Twice he went over to China, which had been for more than two hundred +years under the sovereignty of the Sung dynasty, and studied there the +doctrine of the Zen sect, which was then prevailing in that country. +After his return from abroad, he began to preach first at Hakata, which +had long continued the most thriving port for the trade with China. +Afterwards he removed to Kyoto and thence to Kamakura, making +enthusiasts everywhere, especially among the warriors. Like all other +new sects, the teaching of Yôsai was not entirely a novelty, being a +development of one of the many elements which constituted old Buddhism. +The specialty of the sect was, instead of arriving at salvation by +belief in some supernatural being outside and above one's self, to +encourage meditation and introspection and its general character tended +to be mystic, intuitive, and individualistic. Strong self-reliance and +resolute determination, qualities indispensable to warriors, were the +natural and necessary outcome of this teaching. It was largely +patronised by the Shogunate and the Hôjô on that account. Though Yôsai +became the founder of the sect, neither he himself nor his teaching +could hardly be called sectarian. To establish an hierarchical community +or to organise a systematised doctrine was beyond his purpose, but the +result of his preaching was precisely to bring both into being. + +Not only the characteristics of these new sects, but the manner of their +propagation deserves close attention. Some of them were started in the +eastern provinces, and gradually extended their missionary activity +toward the west, that is to say, in the direction which is contrary to +that of the extension of civilisation in former times. Others, though +started in the west or at Kyoto, concentrated their efforts in the +eastern provinces with Kamakura as centre of propagation. In short, all +the reformed sects turned their attention rather to the eastern than to +the western provinces. This preference of the east to the west +originated in the circumstance that the less civilised east gave to +those missioners a greater prospect of enlisting new adherents, than +western Japan, which would of a surety be slow to follow their new +teachings, having been already won over by the older cults. It might, +however, be added that the preachers of the new doctrines saw, or +rather overvalued, the importance of the new political centre as the +nucleus of a fresh civilisation which might rapidly develop. + +To say sooth, the field of activity of those untiring priests was not +restricted to those eastern provinces, which are denoted by the general +appellation of "Kwanto", but was extended into the far northern +provinces of Mutsu and Dewa. This region at the extremity of Honto was +long ago created as provinces, but had lagged far behind the rest of +Japan in respect of civilisation. A considerable number of the Ainu were +still lingering in the northern part of the two provinces. +Fujiwara-no-Hidehira, the generalissimo of the region, who harboured +Yoshitsune, the younger brother and victim of Yoritomo, is said to have +been of Ainu blood. His sphere of influence reached Shirakawa on the +south, which was considered at that time the boundary between civilised +and barbarous Japan. The time had arrived, however, when this barrier +was at last to be done away with. When a quarrel arose between the two +brothers, Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, after the annihilation of the Taira, +and the latter sought refuge with Hidehira, Yoritomo thought of marching +into Mutsu. This expedition was undertaken in the year 1189, after the +death of Hidehira. His sons were easily defeated. The land taken from +them was distributed by Yoritomo among his soldiers, who followed him +from the Kwanto and fought under his banner. The vast region, by coming +thus under the military authority of the Kamakura Shogunate, was for the +first time, taken into Japan proper. It was on account of this extension +of political Japan over the whole of Honto, that the new sects had a +chance to penetrate into those provinces. + +We have seen that religion was the first and the most forcible exponent +of the new age. If the Shogunate of Kamakura had remained in power +longer than it did, other factors of the new civilisation might have +developed quite afresh around the Shogunate. Art and literature of +another type than that which flourished at Kyoto might have blossomed +forth. The time was, however, not yet ripe for the total regeneration of +Japan. The conventionalism of the Kyoto civilisation more and more +influenced the Shogunate, which was still too young and had nothing +solid of its own civilisation capable of resisting the infiltration of +the old. Besides, several difficulties which lay in the way of the +Shogunate coöperated in bringing about its fall in the year of 1332. +Japan had to go on in a half regenerated state for some time. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE WELDING OF THE NATION + THE POLITICAL DISINTEGRATION OF THE COUNTRY + + +A war with a foreign power or powers is generally a very efficient +factor in history, conducing to the unification of a nation, especially +when that nation is composed of more than one race. The German Empire, +which was consolidated mainly by virtue of the wars of 1864, 1866, and +1870-1871, is one of the most exemplary instances. Japan, being +surrounded by sea on all sides, has had more advantages than any +continental country in moulding into one all the racial elements which +happened to find their way into the insular pale. These are the very +same advantages which Great Britain has enjoyed in Europe. We should +have been able, perhaps, without any coercion from without, to become a +solid nation by the sole operation of geographical causes. If we had +been left, however, to the mercy of influences of those kinds only, then +we might have been obliged to wait for long years in order to see the +nation welded, for in respect of the complexity of racial composition, +Japan cannot be said to be inferior to any national state in either +hemisphere. To facilitate the national consolidation, therefore, the +force acting from without was most welcome for us. + +Of wars serviceable to such an end, however, there had been very scanty +chances offered to us. Though the wars against the Ainu had continued +much longer than is apt to be imagined by modern Japanese, and had made +their influence felt in bringing about the consolidation of the Japanese +as a nation, the spasmodic insurrections of the aborigines were but +flickerings of cinders about to die out. For several centuries the Ainu +had been a race destined only to wane irrevocably more and more, so that +no serious danger was to be feared from that quarter. Outside of the +Ainu, no other foreign people dared for a long time to invade us on so +large a scale as to cause any serious damage. + +As regards China, the dynasty of the Sung, which began to reign over the +empire in the year 960, had been constantly harassed by the incursions +of various northern tribes. After an existence of a century and a half, +the greater portion of northern China was bereft of the dynasty by the +Chin, a state founded by a Tartar tribe called the Churche. The Chin, +however, was in turn overthrown in the year 1234 by the Mongols, another +nomadic tribe, which rose in the rear of the latter state. Within a half +century from that, the Chinese dynasty of the Sung, which had been long +gasping in the south, drew its last breath under pressure of the same +Mongols that founded the Empire of the Yuan. + +From China, therefore, in the state it had been, we had nothing to fear. +As to the Korean peninsula, which had come under the influence of China +at the time of the T'ang dynasty, the state founded there by the +inhabitants was enabled now to breathe freely on account of the +anarchical condition of the suzerain state. Though Kokuri and Kutara +had, in spite of our assistance, been both destroyed by the army of the +T'ang, Shiragi, which had been left unmolested by the T'ang as a half +independent ally, conquered the greater part of the peninsula, and the +people of that state frequently pillaged our western coasts. This +Shiragi surrendered at the beginning of the tenth century to Korea, a +new state which arose in the north of the peninsula. The relations of +the new Korea with our country were on the whole very peaceful, except +for some interruptions caused by the incursions of the pirates from that +country on our coast at the end of the same century. + +Besides the Koreans, there were many tribes inhabiting the north and the +east of Korea and along the coast of the Sea of Japan, which made +themselves independent of China one after the other, though all the +states founded by them had but an ephemeral existence. Some of those +minor states kept up a very cordial intercourse with our country, while +others acted in a contrary way. Among the latter may be counted the +pirates from Toi, that is to say, from the region of a Churche tribe, +though the real home of this throng of sea-thieves has not yet been +identified with any exactness, pirates who devastated the island of Iki +and the northern coast of Kyushu with a fleet consisting of more than +fifty ships. This took place in the year 1019, and the repulse of this +piratical attack was the last military exploit of the Fujiwara nobles. + +After that complete tranquillity reigned in our western quarter for more +than two centuries and a half until the first Mongolian invasion of +1274. Hitherto, to repel the inroads of pirates, the forces which could +be set in motion in the western provinces only, had proved to be more +than sufficient for the purpose. Against the first Mongolian invasion +also, the retainers of the Shogun in the western provinces only were +mobilised as usual by command from Kamakura. The battle scenes of the +war were described by one of the warriors who took part in it, and +painted by a contemporary master on a scroll, which has come down in +good preservation to our day, and now forms one of the imperial +treasures to be handed on to prosperity. The expeditionary fleet of the +Yuan consisted of more than nine hundred ships, with 15,000 Mongols and +Chinese and 8,000 Koreans on board, besides 6,700 of the crews, so that +it was too overwhelming in numbers even for our valiant soldiers to +fight against with some hope of victory. It was not by the valour of +our soldiers alone, therefore, that the invasion was frustrated. The +elements, the turbulent wind and wave, did virtually more than mere +human efforts could have achieved in destroying the formidable enemy's +ships. + +Irritated at this failure of the first expedition, Khubilai, the Emperor +of Yuan, immediately ordered the preparation of another expedition on a +far larger scale. The second invasion of Japan was undertaken at last in +the 1281, after an interval of seven years. This time the invading +forces far outnumbered those of the first expedition, totalling more +than one hundred thousand in all. On the other hand, the forces which +the Shogunate could raise in the western provinces only proved this time +plainly inadequate. Seeing this, Tokimune Hôjô, who was the virtual +master of the Shogunate, mobilised the retainers in the eastern +provinces too, and sent them to the battlefield in Kyushu. A fierce +battle was fought on the shore near Hakata. Our soldiers made a +desperate effort to prevent the landing of the enemy's troops, +contending inch by inch against fearful odds, so that the Mongols could +not complete their disembarkment, before a hurricane suddenly arose that +swept away at least two-thirds of their men and ships. A lasting check +was thus put upon the expansion of the triumphant Mongols on the east, +just forty years after the battle of Liegnitz in Silesia had been fought +successfully by the Teutonic nobles on the west against the same foe. + +Though the frustration of the two Mongolian attempts upon our country +should rather be attributed to the intervention of elemental forces +which worked at very propitious opportunities, than to the bravery of +our warriors, it cannot be disputed that they fought to their utmost, so +that it would be derogatory to the military honour of our forefathers, +if we supposed that nothing worth mentioning was achieved by them at +all. In any case, the annihilation of the Mongolian fleet by us is an +historical feat which might be considered together with the defeat of +the Invincible Armada by the English three centuries later. In both +countries the memorable victory was due to the dauntless courage of the +warriors engaged in the battle, and the firm attitude of the person who +stood then at the helm of the state. In Japan, Tokimune did not lend his +ears to the milder counsels of the shrewder diplomatists at the court of +Kyoto. + +What is more noteworthy, however, than anything else in this war was not +the bravery of our forefathers, but the fact that men recruited from the +eastern as well as from the western provinces of the empire fought for +the first time side by side against the foreign invaders. Such a +coöperation of the people from all quarters of Japan in defence of the +country was not a sight which could have been witnessed before the +establishment of the military régime, for until that time the +unification of the Empire had not extended to the northern extremity of +Honto, and for ninety years after the inauguration of the Shogunate at +Kamakura, there had been no occasion for our warriors to try their +fortune in arms against any foreign enemy. Now the Japanese were induced +for the first time to feel the necessity for national solidarity, only +because enterprising Khubilai dared to attack the island empire, which +would have done no harm to him if he had left it unmolested, and would +have added very little to his already overgrown empire, if he had +succeeded in his adventurous expedition. It may be perhaps exaggerating +a little to call this war a national undertaking on our part when we +consider the small number of men engaged in it. The retainers of the +Shogunate, however, who were the representatives of the Japanese of that +time, all hurried to the northern coast of Kyushu, even from the +remotest part of the empire, in order to defend their country against +their common foe. The peculiar custom of intimidating children to stop +their crying, by reminding them of the Mongolian invasion, an +obsolescent custom which has existed even in the northernmost region of +Honto, shows how thoroughly and deeply the Mongol scare shook the whole +empire, and left its indelible impress on the nation as a whole. The +first beat of the pulse of a national enthusiasm has thus become +audible. + +If this feeling of national solidarity had gone deep into the +consciousness of the people, and had continued steadily increasing +without relaxation, then it might have done considerable good in +facilitating the wholesome organisation of our national state. Viewed +from this point, it must be considered rather a misfortune to our +country that the terrible enemy was too easily put to rout. The pressure +once removed, men no more troubled themselves about the need for +solidarity. Nay, the war itself sowed the seeds of discontent among the +warriors engaged, on account of the incapacity of the Shogunate to +recompense them amply for their services. Already after the civil war of +the Jôkyu era, the military government of Kamakura had been reduced to a +straitened condition, for what it could get by the confiscation of the +properties of the vanquished proved insufficient to provide the rewards +for the faithful followers of the Shogunate. In the war with the +Mongols, there was no enemy within the country from whom land could be +confiscated. Nevertheless those warriors had to be rewarded with grants +of land only, which the Shogunate could find nowhere. If the private +moral bond, which had linked the retainers with the Shogun at the time +of Yoritomo, could long continue in the state it had been, the Shogunate +could have sometimes expected from them service without recompense. The +military government, with the Hôjô family as its real master, however, +could not likewise exact gratuitous service from them. The relation +between the Shogunate and its retainers became too public and formal for +this. + +Those who were appointed as _djito_ by Yoritomo at the beginning of the +Shogunate had all been retainers of the Minamoto family from the first. +Though they discharged the duties of military police within their +respective manors as if they were public officials, yet their private +character far outweighed their public semblance. As the Shogunate +gradually took the form of a regular government, this private and +personal bond between the Shogun and his retainers grew weaker, and the +public character of the _djito_ began to predominate. This was +especially the case after the virtual management of the Shogunate fell +into the hands of the Hôjô family. It is true that those retainers still +called themselves the _go-kenin_, or the domestics of the Shogun of +Kamakura. The later Shogun, however, sprung from the Fujiwara family or +of blood imperial, and could not demand the same obedience which +Yoritomo had found easy to obtain from his hereditary vassals. In +effect, the Shogunate reserved to the end the right of giving sanction +as regards the inheritance of the office of _djito_, but the exercise of +the reserved right was generally nominal. A _djito_ could appoint as his +successor either his wife or any of his children, or could divide his +official tenure among many inheritors. No Salic law and no law of +primogeniture yet existed in Japan of the Kamakura period, so that, +besides many _djito_ who were incapable of discharging the military +duties in person on account of sex or age, there were to be found +eventually a great number of _djito_, whose official tenure covered a +very small patch of ricefield, so small that it was too narrow to +exercise any jurisdiction within it! Moreover, men of utterly unwarlike +professions like priests, and corporations such as Shinto shrines and +Buddhist temples, were also entitled to succeed to the inheritance of +the office of _djito_, if only it were bequeathed to them by a lawful +will. In these cases, where the rightful _djito_ could not officiate in +person, a lieutenant, private in character, used to be appointed. Those +lieutenants, however, not being publicly responsible to the Shogun, +behaved very arbitrarily. That was a breach severely felt in the +military system of the Shogunate. + +The worst evil of all was that the Shogunate, which should have been an +office for household affairs and the camp of the Shogun, was gradually +turned into a princely court. Those warriors who did valiant service +under Yoritomo in establishing the Shogunate had been in a great measure +illiterate, so that only with great difficulty could the Shogun find a +secretary among his retainers. As the organisation of the military +government approached completion, the need of a literary education on +the part of the warriors increased accordingly. Such an education, the +source of which, however, was not to be sought at that time out of +Kyoto, could hardly be introduced into Kamakura without being +accompanied by other elements of the metropolitan civilisation +represented by the Fujiwara nobles. The installation of a scion of the +Fujiwara and of princes of the blood imperial into the Shogunate +facilitated the permeation of the Kyoto culture, which by its nature was +too refined to suit congenially men of military profession. The +bodyguard of the Shogun began to be chosen from warriors whose demeanor +was the most courtier-like, and one of the accomplishments necessary was +the ability to compose short poems. Such a condition of the Shogunate +could not fail to estrange those retainers who did not live habitually +in Kamakura, and were, therefore, not yet tainted with the effeminacy of +a courtier's life. The main support, on whom the Shogun should have been +able to depend in time of stress, became thus unreliable. At this +juncture an Ainu insurrection, which was the last recorded in our +history, broke out in the year 1322, and continued till the downfall of +the Kamakura Shogunate. It was by this insurrection that the tottering +edifice of the military government was finally shaken, instantly leading +to its catastrophe. + +The force which gave the finishing stroke to the Shogun's power and +prestige came, as had long been expected, from Kyoto. Inversely as the +warriors of Kamakura had been turned to pseudo-courtiers, the +court-nobles of Kyoto had become tainted by the militaristic +temperament of the Kamakura warriors. The training in archery, the +dog-shooting in an enclosure, which was considered a specially good +training for a real battle, and many other martial pastimes became the +fashion among the Kyoto nobles, as it had been among warriors. After +their defeat in the civil war of the Jôkyu, they felt more keenly than +before the magnitude of their power lost to Kamakura, and became the +more discontented. Moreover, from the four corners of the empire the +malcontents against the Hôjô family flocked to Kyoto, and persuaded the +already disaffected courtiers, to attempt the restoration of the real +command of the government to themselves. The Shogunate, having been +apprised of the plot, tried to suppress it in time by force, but was +unable to strike at the root of the evil, for the recalcitrants rose +against the Hôjô one after another. On the other hand, those retainers +who would have willingly died for a Shogun of the Minamoto family did +not like to stake their lives on behalf of the Hôjô. Kamakura was at +last taken by a handful of warriors from the neighbouring provinces led +by a chieftain of one of the branch families of the Minamoto. The last +of the Hôjô committed suicide, and with the downfall of the family, the +Shogunate of Kamakura broke down. This happened in the year 1334. The +real power of the state was restored to Kyoto in the name of the Emperor +Go-Daigo. + +The courtiers of Kyoto rejoiced in the thought that they could now +conduct themselves as the true masters of Japan, but they were instantly +disillusioned. Those warriors who had assisted them in the restoration +of their former power, would not allow the courtiers to have the lion's +share of the booty. Supported by a multitude of such dissatisfied +soldiery, Takauji Ashikaga, another scion of the Minamoto, made himself +the real master of the situation, and was appointed Shogun. Though once +defeated by the army of his opponents at Kyoto, he was soon enabled to +raise a large host in the western provinces, where, since the Mongolian +invasion, the majority of the warriors thirsted for the change more than +in other provinces, and he captured the metropolis. His opponents, +however, continued their resistance in various parts of the empire. The +courtiers, too, were divided into two parties, and the majority sided +with the stronger, that is to say, with the Ashikaga family. At the same +time the imperial family was divided into two. Thus the civil war, which +strongly resembled the War of the Roses, ensued and raged all over the +provinces for about fifty-six years, until the two parties were +reconciled at last in the year 1392. In this way the whole of the empire +came again under one military régime, and for about two centuries, the +family of the Ashikaga continued at the head of the new Shogunate. + +The new Shogunate was established at Kyoto, instead of Kamakura, which +became now the seat of a lieutenancy, administered by a branch of the +Ashikaga, and therefore reduced in political importance. This change of +the seat of the military government is a matter of great moment in the +history of our country. One of the several reasons which may be assigned +for the change, was that the supporters of the Ashikaga were not limited +to the warriors of the eastern provinces, as they had been with the +Kamakura Shogunate. Takauji owed his ultimate success rather to the +soldiers from the western provinces, so that Kyoto suited far better as +the centre of his new military régime than Kamakura. + +Another reason which the Ashikaga Shogunate had in view in changing its +seat, was that a great apprehension which had been entertained by the +former Shogunate, would thereby cease. One of the anxieties which had +harassed the government of Kamakura constantly had been the fear that it +might one day be overthrown by attack from Kyoto. To provide against the +danger a resident lieutenant,--afterwards increased to two,--a member of +the family of Hôjô, was stationed at Kyoto. The function of these +lieutenants was to look out for the interests of the Shogunate at Kyoto, +and at the same time to superintend the retainers in the western +provinces. Besides, being two in number, these lieutenants watched each +other closely, so that it was impossible for either of them to try to +make himself independent of Kamakura. This system worked excellently +for a time, but was ultimately unable to save the declining Shogunate. +By shifting the seat of the military government to Kyoto itself, this +anxiety might now be removed. + +The greatest profit, however, which accrued to the Shogunate by the +change of its government seat, was that one could facilitate the +achievement of the political concentration of the empire, by making it +coincide with the centre of civilisation. If the Shogunate of Kamakura +could keep, with its political power, its original fresh spirit, which +had remained latent during the long régime of the courtiers and begun +suddenly to develop itself along with the establishment of the military +government, the result would have been not only the prolonging of the +duration of the Shogunate, but the full blossoming of a healthy and +unenervated culture, and Kamakura might have become the political as +well as the cultural centre of the empire. The history of our country, +however, was not destined to run in that way. The time-honoured +civilisation, which had been nurtured at Kyoto since many centuries, +was, though of exotic origin, in itself a highly finished one. +Notwithstanding its effeminacy, it had its own peculiar charm, which +ranked in perfection far above the naïve culture of Kamakura, the latter +being too rough and new, however refreshing. Those Buddhist priests who +had once hoped to make Kamakura the centre of their new religious +movement, found at last that unless they secured a firm foothold in the +old metropolis, nothing permanent could be attained. The missionary +campaign of the various reformed sects had been undertaken with renewed +vigour at Kyoto since the end of the thirteenth century. In other words, +the enervation of the Kamakura Shogunate disappointed those +torch-bearers of the new civilisation, who might perhaps have expected +too much from the political power of the military government established +there. Thus the Shogunate of Kamakura had lost its _raison d'être_, +before other factors of civilisation, such as art and literature, had +time to develop themselves there independent of those of Kyoto, so as to +suit the new spirit of the new age, that is to say, before the Shogunate +could accomplish its cultural mission in the history of Japan. The +culture of Kyoto proved itself to be omnipotent as ever. + +Regarded in this manner, the return of the governmental seat to Kyoto +had a great advantage. The new Shogunate, having located its centre in +the same historical place where the classical civilisation of Japan had +had its cradle also, its military and political organisation could work +hand in hand with the social and cultural movement. The prestige of the +Shogun was bedecked with a brighter halo than when Kamakura had been the +seat of his government. The change, however, was accompanied with +invidious results, ruinous not only to the Shogunate, but to the +political integrity of the country at large. + +After having experienced the vicissitudes of a long civil war, the +courtiers became convinced that they could not overthrow by any means +the military régime, which had already taken deep root in the social +structure of our country. So they began to think that it was wiser for +them to make use of that military power than to try any abortive +attempts against it. They heaped, therefore, on the successive Shoguns +of the Ashikaga family titles of high-sounding honour, much higher than +those with which the Shoguns of Kamakura had been invested. In the +imperial palace, too, special deference was paid to the Shogun. Such a +rise in the court-rank of the Shogun induced his retainers to vie with +one another in obtaining some official rank of distinction in the +courtiers' hierarchical scale. Those who belonged to the higher classes +among them, though they were mostly the _shugo_ or military governors of +one or more provinces, used to spend a greater part of their time at +Kyoto, on account of holding some civil office in the government of the +Shogun, and lived in a very aristocratic way, which was easy and +indolent, that is to say, not much different from that of the courtiers. +There were many social meetings, in which both courtiers and warriors +participated together, and the object of these meetings mostly consisted +in enjoying various kinds of literary pastimes, among which the +commonest was a trick in versification called _renga_, that is to say, +the composing by turns of a line of an unfinished poem, which should +form a sequence to the preceding and at the same time become the +prologue to the next. Through manifold channels of this and the like +kinds of amusements, a very intimate relation between the two classes +was cemented. The refinement of the courtiers' circle, though somewhat +vulgarised compared with that of the previous period, freely penetrated +into the families of the rough soldiery. Marriages between members of +the two classes also took place frequently, by which the courtiers +gained materially, while the soldiers could thereby assuage the +uneasiness of their parvenu-consciousness. A new social life thus sprang +up. + +Among the two parties, which were reconciled in this way, that which +profited the more by it, was of course the courtiers. Although the +income from their manors, to which they were entitled as proprietors _de +jure_, might have become less in comparison with that of the age +anterior to the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, yet they were +now relieved of all the troubles which might have beset them had they +remained holding the real power of the state. Having relinquished their +political ambitions and shifted all the cares of the state and military +affairs upon the shoulders of the Shogunate, they became utterly +irresponsible, could breathe freely and enjoy their idle hours not in +the least disturbed. On the other hand, the militarists, having found +that it was no longer necessary to circumscribe the privileges of the +courtiers still more narrowly than before, forgot that ultimately their +interests must necessarily collide in principle with those of the +latter. What were contradictory at bottom seemed to them practically +reconcilable. The Shogunate thought that it was its duty to uphold the +interests of the courtiers by its military power, a task which was soon +found to be impossible. On account of the weakness of the central +government, disorder ruled in Kyoto and in the provinces as well, and +paved the way for the political disintegration of the whole empire. To +explain the political phenomena I must turn for a while to the relations +between the _shugo_, the military governors of provinces, and the +_djito_ under their protection. + +In the time of the Kamakura Shogunate, as aforesaid, each province had a +military governor, called the _shugo_, appointed by the Shogun. The +_shugo_, himself a _djito_, and a very influential one of that class, +served as an intermediate commander in transmitting to the _djito_ under +him the military instructions which he had received from Kamakura. He +was, therefore, nothing else but a marshal of all the _djito_ within +that province. There existed no relation of vassalage between him and +the _djito_ under his military jurisdiction. The latter remained to the +end the direct vassals of the Shogunate at Kamakura, and only as regards +the military organisation were subordinated to the _shugo_. The office +of the _shugo_ was not the hereditary possession of any family, so that +the Shogun could nominate any _djito_ to be _shugo_ of any province at +his pleasure, without fear of disturbing thereby the personal relation +between him and his retainers in that province. In some respects this +relation resembled that of the English king and the barons, who swore, +besides their oath of fealty to a higher noble as their liege lord, +direct allegiance to their king. As long as the line of Yoritomo, +therefore, continued as hereditary Shogun, the Shogunate could depend on +the fidelity of those _djito_, who were but the household vassals of the +Minamoto family, and by this personal tie keep the political unity of +the country infrangible. + +After the extinction of the Minamoto family, the Shogun who succeeded +one after another had no hereditary nor personal relations with those +_djito_, and could claim no more than the official prestige of the +Shogun allowed them to do. As to the Hôjô family, though the real power +of the Shogunate was in its hands, originally it was no higher in rank +than the _djito_, and could not, in its own name, command obedience from +any of the Shogun's retainers. There is some similarity between the +organisation of the time of the Kamakura Shogunate in this second phase +and the "Kreis" institution of the German empire in the fifteenth +century, which was initiated with the object of political concentration +by Maximilian I., whose real power lay in his being a duke of Austria, +and not Emperor of Germany. However admirable as an organisation, such +a political status was undoubtedly untenable. No wonder that the +military régime of Kamakura gradually collapsed. + +The relation of _shugo_ and _djito_ in the time of the Ashikaga was +quite of a different sort from that in the former Shogunate. The office +of _shugo_ became now the hereditary possession of certain privileged +families, which constituted a body of higher warriors, towering above +the common _djito_. The _shugo_ stood in the position of protector to +all the _djito_ of the province he governed, and those _djito_ who stood +under a _shugo_ were designated his "hikwan" or protégés. The relation +of vassalage arose thus between the _shugo_ and the _djito_ in the same +province, a legal status which had not existed in the Kamakura period. +The direct relation between the common _djito_ and the Shogun, which was +the main spring of the political régime of the Kamakura era, was now cut +off. No doubt the _shugo_ in the Ashikaga period had in their provinces, +besides their suzerainty over the _djito_, the tenure of certain tracts +of land, as in the days of Kamakura. The great difference between them, +however, was that in the Kamakura era a retainer of the Shogun was first +installed as a _djito_ of a manor, and then appointed _shugo_, while in +the Ashikaga age the land which the _shugo_ held directly was his +demesne as _shugo_ and not the land held as a retainer of the Shogun at +Kyoto, independent of his office of _shugo_. To sum up, the _shugo_ of +the Ashikaga period was not a mere office, as in the days of Kamakura, +but a legal status of the warriors ranking next to the Shogun. As the +result of such an organisation each province or group of provinces under +a _shugo_ became a political entity, while it had been but a military +entity in the Kamakura era. If the Shogun at Kyoto, therefore, had been +strong enough to enforce his will over all the _shugo_ of the provinces, +then the political unity of the country at large could safely continue +in the hands of the Ashikaga. + +The Shogunate of the Ashikaga, however, had not been originally so +formulated as to enable it to impose implicit obedience on all the +higher military officials of the _shugo_ class. For this family, though +a branch of the Minamoto, had nothing in its history that could attract, +as Yoritomo did, a vast number of willing warriors to serve under its +banner. That Takauji was promoted to the headship of the second military +government was largely due to the assistance of the warriors from +various parts of the empire who were not personally related to his +family, but were disaffected at seeing the power of the courtiers +restored, neither was it by any means to be attributed to his personal +capacity, which was rather mediocre both as general and as statesman. +This origin of the Ashikaga family, therefore, made it difficult from +the first for the Shogun of the line to curb the arrogance of his +influential generals. Insurrection against the Shogunate followed one +after another, so that no year passed without some small disturbance +somewhere. + +This state culminated in the civil war begun in the Ohnin era, that is +to say, in 1467. The war had its origin in the quarrel about the +succession to the Shogunate between the son and the adopted son, in +reality the younger brother, of the Shogun Yoshimasa. This family +question of the Ashikaga became mixed up with other quarrels about the +succession in two of the influential military families, Shiba and +Hatakeyama. Other _shugo_ of various provinces sided with this or that +party, brought their liege-men to Kyoto, and turned the streets of the +metropolis into a battle-field. Thus the most desultory civil war in our +history was waged under the eyes of the Emperor and of the Shogun, +neither of whom had any power to stop it. After the burning, plundering, +and killing, carried on most ruthlessly for nine years, the +street-fighting in Kyoto ceased, leaving almost no trace of the +historical city of yore. The scenes of anarchy were then transferred to +the provinces, and it took many years before the whole country became +pacified. Nay, complete peace was not restored till the fall of the +Ashikaga Shogunate itself. Such was one phase of the political +disintegration of the age, and its result was that Japan was torn +asunder into a number of semi-independent bodies, each with a _shugo_ at +its head. + +If the process of the political decomposition of the state had been +limited to what is described above, then peace might have reigned at +least within each of those bodies. Unfortunately, however, for the +welfare of the people, none of these _shugo_ was strong enough to keep +order even within his own sphere of military jurisdiction. Most of them +had lost their military character, having become accustomed to life in +the capital, as stated above, and they left the care of their respective +provinces in the hands of their protégés, men who soon made themselves +independent of their patrons, so that there arose a number of minor +political bodies in the jurisdiction of each _shugo_. Again these +protégés, that is to say, the heads of the minor political bodies, were +put down in turn by their vassals, and so forth. Moreover, some of these +minor bodies were further divided into still smaller bodies, while +others became aggrandised by annexation by the stronger of neighboring +weaker ones. In this way Japan fell into a state of chaos, being an +agglomeration of political bodies of various sizes, with masters ever +changing, and with frontiers constantly shifting without any reference +to the former administrative boundaries. This second phase completed the +total disintegration of the empire. + +The last of the Shoguns who tried to stem this irresistible tendency to +disintegration was Yoshihisa, the son of Yoshimasa. His succession to +his father, as has already been described, was the cause of the civil +war of the Ohnin era, for which, however, he was not responsible in the +least, being only eight years old when he was invested with the +Shogunate in the year 1473. He grew up, however, to be the most typical +Shogun of all the Ashikaga. Though born in the highest of the military +families, he had as his mother a daughter of a court-noble, and was +educated in his boyhood by Kanera Ichijô, one of the most learned +courtiers of the time. When Yoshihisa reached manhood, therefore, he was +a courtier clad in military garments. He thought and acted as if he were +a high Fujiwara noble, and even had his household managed by a courtier. +Through this confidant, the proprietors _de jure_ of manors, that is to +say, courtiers, shrines, and temples, clung to the young Shogun, and +pressed him to coerce, on their behalf, those arbitrary _shugo_ and +minor captains who dared impudently to appropriate the whole of the +revenue from those manors to themselves, so that the share due to these +proprietors _de jure_ had been kept in arrears for many years. The +Shogun was easily persuaded, and Takayori Sasaki, the _shugo_ of the +province of Ohmi, was first chosen as the object of chastisement, for +his province was the nearest to Kyoto and abounded in those manors +belonging to the courtiers and the like. It was in the year 1487 that +Yoshihisa in person led a punitive expedition into Ohmi, crossed lake +Biwa, and pitched his camp on its eastern shore. Contemporary chronicles +unanimously describe in vivid colours how the gallant and refined young +prince, clad in bright military costume, marched out of Kyoto surrounded +by a bizarre host of warriors and courtiers. The latter group, however, +did not count for aught in warfare, while the former followed the Shogun +only halfheartedly. It was especially so with those _shugo_ who were of +the same caste and of the same status as the attacked, and therefore did +not like to see him crushed in the interest of the _de jure_ but +fainéant proprietors. The victory of the army of the Shogun was hopeless +from the first. After staying two years in camp Yoshihisa died without +being able to see his enemy vanquished. One of his cousins, who +succeeded to the Shogunate, renewed the expedition, and at last ousted +the disobedient _shugo_ from his province, but the proprietors _de jure_ +of the manors could not regain their lost rights, what was due to them +having been usurped by other new pretenders, not less arbitrary than +their predecessors. + +The expedition of Yoshihisa was an epoch-making event in the history of +our country. To support by military power the courtiers, whose cup had +already begun to run over and whose interests could not be always +consistent with the welfare of the Shogunate, was evidently a quixotic +attempt. Still it cannot be disputed that Yoshihisa fought at least for +an ideal, however unrealisable it might have been. He reminds us of the +scions of the Hohenstaufen who fought in Italy for the imperial ideal +traditional in their family. The failure of the expedition into Ohmi +meant the utter impossibility of the restoration of the courtiers' +prestige and the approach of the total disappearance of the manorial +system from the islands of Japan. This is a mighty economical change for +the empire, the importance of which could not be overvalued. The old +régime initiated by the reform of the Taikwa was going down to its +grave, and new Japan was beginning to dawn side by side with the +momentous political disintegration of the country. We see, indeed, +simultaneous with this political and economical change, the +transformation of various factors of civilisation, preparing themselves +for the coming age. The first turning of the wheel of history, however, +depended on the political regeneration of the country by a master-hand. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + END OF MEDIAEVAL JAPAN + + +In order to see a nation consolidated, it is necessary not only to have +a nucleus serving as a centre, towards which the whole nation might +converge, but to have at the same time the centralising power of that +nucleus strengthened sufficiently to hold the nation solid and compact. +Moreover, the constituent parts of that nation ought to have the +capacity to respond to the action emanating from that common centre or +nucleus towards those parts, and facilitate the reciprocal relation +between the centralising and the centralised. More than that. There must +be formed strong links between those component parts themselves towards +one another. For if each part be linked only to a common centre and +estranged from other parts, then there is a great danger of the breaking +asunder of the whole, however strong the centralising force of that +nucleus might be, and in case of the debilitation of that sole centre, +there might remain no other force alive to keep the constituent parts +compactly together. To impart, however, the consolidating force to those +component parts, they should be instituted each as a separate organism. +In other words, unless those parts constitute themselves each in an +organic social and political body, provided with the power of acting +within and without, they cannot form any close connection among +themselves and with the central nucleus; and to be provided with such a +power, or to become an organism, each part, too, must have in its turn +its own nucleus, around which the rest of that part might converge. To +speak summarily, for a strong centralisation there must be, besides one +nucleus, or nucleus of the first order, a certain number of nuclei of +the second or minor order, and sometimes there must be nuclei of the +third and lower orders. + +It might be deduced from what is said above that without a sufficient +number of local centres, that is to say, without the existence of +well-developed minor political organisms, the political centre, however +powerful it might be, would not be able to hold a country together, +lacking cohesion between those constituent parts. Japan had long been in +such a disorderly state which continued until the middle of the Ashikaga +period, that is to say, the middle of the fifteenth century. The +political influence of Kamakura, though independent of Kyoto, was of +very short duration, and Kyoto had continued on the whole as the sole +political and social centre. If there had been in the provinces a place +worthy to be called a city, besides Kamakura, it could only be sought +in Hakata on the northern coast of Kyushu. Other places were hardly to +be termed cities, being but little more than sites of periodical fairs +at the utmost. The growth of the cities of Sakai and Yamaguchi is of +rather later origin, dating from the middle of the Ashikaga age. The +Emperor, the Shogun, and one metropolitan city had dominated the whole +of the country for a long time, so that, superficially observed, Japan +could be said to have been superbly centralised, and therefore +excellently unified. In reality, however, the prestige of the Emperor +declined, as well as the military power of the Shogunate, and Kyoto, the +site of the imperial court and of the military government, lost the +political influence it once had possessed. After all, nothing was found +influential enough in the earlier Ashikaga age to serve by itself as a +means of solidifying the nation, while there had not yet been formed +those minor provincial centres around which communities of lesser +magnitude might crystallise. Manors, which were the remnants of the +former ages, were of course a kind of agricultural communities, and +could be considered as social and economical units, but they were +politically dependent on their proprietors living in Kyoto or somewhere +else outside of those manors, and in cultural respects most of the +manors counted almost for nothing. All Japan was thus thrown into a +state of chaos, when the military power of the Ashikaga Shogunate was +reduced to impotence. + +This chaotic period of Japanese history has been generally considered as +the retrogressive age of our civilisation, quite in the same sense in +which the medieval age in European history has come to be designated as +the Dark Ages. It is a great mistake, however, to stigmatise the +Ashikaga period as having witnessed no progress in any cultural factor, +just as it has been a fatal misconception of early European historians +to think that medieval Europe was indeed dark in every cultural respect. +Though the classicism of the former ages might seem a civilisation of a +far higher stage when compared with the vulgarised culture of the later, +or so-called Dark Age, yet the vulgarisation should not be necessarily +branded as a backward movement of civilisation. The vulgarisation at +least accompanies a wider propagation, a deeper permeation, and the +better adaptation to the real social condition of the time, and should +not be looked down upon as an absolutely decadent process. In the +seemingly anarchical period of the early Ashikaga, Japan had been +undergoing, in sooth, an important change in social and cultural +respects. Nay, even politically a change of mighty consequence was in +course of evolution. Having reached an extreme state of disorder, a germ +of fresh order was gradually forming itself out of necessity. That the +_shugo_ of this period held sway over a district far more extensive than +the land held by any of the _shugo_ of the Kamakura period, is in a +sense a remarkable political progress. Yamana, one of the most powerful +of the Ashikaga _shugo_, is said to have possessed about one-sixth of the +whole of Japan, and on that account was called Lord One-sixth. Such +great feudatories were never possible in the Kamakura period. Most of +these grand lords, though living mainly in Kyoto, as was stated in the +previous chapter, had their provincial residences, which, too, were not +so unpretentious as those of the _djito_ of the Kamakura. Each lord +maintained princely state, and around his court, a thriving social life +must have grown up, making the beginning of the modern Japanese +provincial towns. The governmental sites of the _daimyo_ or feudatories +of the Tokugawa period generally find the origin of their urban +development in these residences of the _shugo_ of the Ashikaga period. + +The trade with China was another cause of the growth of modern Japanese +cities, especially of those which are situated by the sea, such as +Sakai, Osaka, Nagasaki, and this development of the maritime commercial +cities led naturally to the general advancement of the humanistic +culture of our country. Our intercourse with China, the fountain-head of +the culture of the East, though it had been suspended between the +governments since the end of the ninth century, had never been abandoned +entirely, and merchant ships had continued to ply between the two +countries almost without interruption. During the Kamakura Shogunate +too, we have reason to suppose that this steady intercourse livened +into considerable activity and bustling profitable to both sides, China, +at that epoch of our history, being governed by the Sung and the Yuan +dynasties successively. Sanetomo, the second son of Yoritomo and the +third Shogun in Kamakura, was said to have built a ship in order to +cross over to that country. The port then trading with China was Hakata, +and the privileged ships, which were limited in number, must have been +under the care and protection of the Shogunate. Those ships carried on +board not only commodities of exchange, but passengers also, who were +mostly priests. Some of the ships even appear to have been sent solely +for trade in behalf of certain Buddhist temples. In this we see again +the singular coincidence between the histories of Europe and of Japan. +The Levantine trade of the Italian cities in the age of the Crusades +counted among its participators many churches and priests also. It is +needless to say that those Japanese priests, who went abroad +accompanying adventurous merchants and came back loaded with profound +religious knowledge, did at the same time conspicuous service in +promoting the general culture of our country. What was most remarkable, +however, was that there were not a few Chinese Buddhists, who came over +to this country and settled here. Their main purpose was of course to +propagate the doctrine of the Zen sect, which had got the upper hand in +China at that time. They were cordially welcomed by the Shogunate, and +later by the Imperial Court too, and were installed in the noted temples +of Kamakura and Kyoto as chief priests, and besides their religious +activities, these learned men contributed much toward the introduction +of contemporary Chinese civilisation in general, in no less degree than +did the Japanese priests. Among the various departments of knowledge +which these priests imparted to the warriors and courtiers, one of the +most important was instruction in the pure Chinese classics and in +secular literature. There are still extant in our country not a small +number of rare books printed in the Sung and the Yuan dynasty and +imported hither at that time, and these manifest how rich in variety +were the books then introduced to Japan. The founding of the famous +library at Kanazawa near Kamakura, by a learned member of the Hôjô +family in a time not far distant from that of the Mongolian invasion, +may perhaps be attributed to the influence of some of these priests. + +Without doubt the invasion of the Mongolian host put a momentary stop to +this mutual intercourse. It seems, however, that the trade with China +was revived soon after the war, and continued down to the time of the +Ashikaga, without being interrupted materially even by the long civil +war. Far from cessation or interruption, the official intercourse +between the two states which had been broken off for some years was +during this civil war restored to its former amicable condition. It was +while the internecine strife was raging over the whole of the island +Empire, that a change of dynasty took place in China. The Mongols were +driven away to their original abode in the desert, and in their place +reigned in China the new dynasty of the Ming, founded by a general of +Chinese blood. This founder of the Ming sent an embassy to Japan to +announce the inauguration of his line and to secure the coast of his +empire from inroads and pillage by Japanese pirates, who, since several +centuries, had been ravaging the Korean and then the Chinese coast, and +became especially rampant during the civil war, being let loose by the +unexampled lawless state of our country. The ambassador of the Chinese +emperor, however, could not at once reach Kyoto, which was his +destination. For at that time in Kyushu ruled an imperial prince who was +a scion of the branch antagonistic to that which reigned in the +metropolis supported by the Ashikaga, and the prince-governor, as he was +then the master of the historic trading port of Hakata, intercepted the +Chinese ambassador on his way, received him, and sent him back. This +happened in the year 1369. Seven years afterwards this very prince sent +an envoy to the Chinese government, perhaps with the object of obtaining +some material assistance from beyond the sea, in order to make himself +strong enough to overpower his enemy in Japan, the Ashikaga party. As +the sender was a prince of the blood imperial, the envoy sent by him +seems to have been regarded as if he were the representative of the real +government of Japan, and the intercourse between the two countries thus +began to take official form again. When the civil war ended in the +ultimate victory of the Ashikaga party and the annihilation of all its +opponents, this international relation initiated by the prince of Kyushu +was taken up by Yoshimitsu, the third Shogun of the Ashikaga, who sent +an embassy to the Chinese government of the Ming in the year 1401. After +this we see successive exchanges of embassies between the Chinese +government and our Ashikaga Shogunate, the latter vouchsafing the +orderliness of our trading people on the Chinese coast and promising to +bridle the piratical activities of our adventurers, and the former +giving in return munificent presents to the Shogunate. At that time what +our forefathers suffered most from was the scarcity of coins, for +although the beginning of the coinage in our country is so old that it +has been lost in the remotest past, yet for a long period not enough +care was exercised to provide the country with sufficient money in coins +of different denominations to cover the necessities of the growing +industries. No wonder that the presents of copper coins by the emperors +of the Ming were gladly received by the Shogunate, and this Chinese +money, together with that obtained by sale of our commodities, was in +wide circulation throughout Japan, many of them having remained to this +day, and served as auxiliary coins. Among other things of Chinese +provenance earnestly coveted by us, perhaps the most desired were books. +Besides these two articles, copper coins and books, many rarities and +useful commodities must have been imported by these ships, which carried +the envoys on board, and rendered a not insignificant service in +altering for the better the general ways of living of the people of our +country. + +The chief emporium of the trade with China in the early Ashikaga period +was of course Hakata in Kyushu as before. As the family of the Ôuchi, +however, held the strait of Shimonoseki, the gateway of the Inland Sea, +and as Hakata itself came afterwards under the rule of the same family, +the Chinese trade had been for a long time controlled or rather +monopolised by this lord of the province of Nagato. The prosperity of +the inland city of Yamaguchi, the residential seat of the Ôuchi family, +is to be ascribed also to the same circumstance. Moreover, the growth of +the port of Sakai in the easternmost recess of the Inland Sea owes its +origin to the fact that the city was once under the lordship of the same +Ôuchi, and a close historical connection was thereby created between it +and the port of Shimonoseki. It was by the co-operation of many other +political causes, however, that the centre of the foreign trade was +shifted from Hakata to Sakai, and when intercourse with western nations +was opened, it was the latter and not the former, which became the +staple market of import and export. + +The growth of the Japanese cities, actuated by the political and +commercial conditions of the country as stated above, is a phenomenon +which had much to do with the progress of our civilization in general. +Notwithstanding the manifold drawbacks necessarily accompanying urban +life, cities have been, since very ancient times, one of the most potent +agents in the history of the East as well as of the West, in raising the +general standard of culture to a high level. Rural life, whatever +sonorous praise be chanted for it, would not have been able by itself to +elevate the standard of manners and behaviour much above a blunt rustic +naïveté. In this respect we can observe a remarkable difference between +the Ashikaga and the preceding ages, a difference quite similar in +nature to that which existed between the eleventh and the twelfth +centuries in the history of Europe. The sudden increase, in Japan, of +printed books in number and variety shows it more than clearly. + +The history of printing in Japan goes back to the middle of the eighth +century, but at the beginning the matter printed was limited to detached +leaflets. What was printed the earliest in the form of a book and is +still extant, bears the date of 1088. After that, however, very few +books had been printed for a long time. Moreover, those few were +exclusively religious. It was in the year 1247 that one of the +commentaries on the _Lun-yü_, the famous work of the teachings of +Confucius, was put into a reprint, after the model of a contemporary +Chinese edition, that is to say, of the Sung age. That this +non-religious or non-Buddhist work was first edited in Japan in the +middle of the Kamakura period, proves the enlargement of the circle of +readers in Chinese classics by the participation of the warrior-class. +Such editing of secular Chinese works, however, was discontinued for +three-quarters of a century, and was not resumed until 1322, only ten +years before the outbreak of the long civil war. The book printed at the +latter date was after one of the Chinese editions of the _Shu-king_, +another piece of Confucian literature. This was followed by the +reprinting of many other non-religious Chinese works. The civil war too +astonishes us not only in that it did not hinder the continuance of the +reprints of useful Chinese originals, but also in that the number of +books reprinted has suddenly increased in general since this period. +Among the books issued during the war, a commentary on the _Lun-yü_, of +a text different from that above mentioned, and said to have been made +at Sakai, was the most remarkable. The edition was dated 1364, and +reprinted again and again in several places. In this case the place +where the printing was first undertaken demands also our attention. +Hitherto almost all the books had been published in Kyoto, except some +tomes of Buddhist literature, which occasionally had been edited in the +convents at Nara or Kôya. But now printing began to be undertaken not +only in these historical and sacred places, but in purely commercial +cities of quite recent growth, as Sakai. It is said that about this time +several kinds of books of Chinese literature were edited in the city of +Hakata, and that it was a naturalised Chinese who had started the +undertaking there. Another tradition tells us that two Chinese +block-engravers came and settled at Hakata, and engaged in their +professional business, which contributed much to the increase of +reprinted books. Shortly after the civil war, in the beginning of the +fifteenth century, books were printed in other places more remotely +situated in the provinces, such as Yamaguchi and Ashikaga. The +last-named was the cradle of the Shogunate House of the Ashikaga, and +there just at this time a college was founded, or according to some, +restored, by Norizane Uyesugi, one of the most influential retainers of +the Shogunate in eastern Japan. Thus, in the latter half of the +fifteenth century, the reprinting of Chinese classics became a fashion +throughout the empire. In addition to the ever-increasing number of +books reprinted at Kyoto and Sakai, we find now those printed at places +as far remote as Kagoshima in the west. In the east there seems to have +lived in the neighborhood of Odawara, a new political centre, at least +one engraver, engaged in block-cutting for books. Summing up what has +been stated above, the increase of the number of book-editing localities +meant the increase of minor cultural centres in the provinces, that is +to say, the wider diffusion of civilisation in the empire. + +Another important fact to be specially noticed is that the varieties of +books reprinted became gradually multifarious. Though those books +printed in the Ashikaga age were mostly reproductions of Chinese works, +and very few purely Japanese books were edited until the end of the age, +yet those Chinese works themselves, which were reprinted, became more +and more diversified in kind. Not only Buddhist and Confucian classics, +and works of purely literary character, especially poetical works and +books on versification, but several medical works also were reprinted +and issued in the later Ashikaga age. The study of medicine had been +revived since the civil war by the intercourse with China, and soon +after the war, some Japanese students went abroad to learn the science +there. The reprinting of medical books, therefore, was to be considered +as a token of the growing necessity for medical students ever increasing +in our country, and the beginning of the revival of scientific +education. + +As to the works of Japanese authors which were put into print, the first +publication seems to have been that of religious treatise in Chinese by +the priest Hônen, printed at the beginning of the Kamakura period, and +the work was many times reprinted afterwards. Another work by the same +priest, which was written in Japanese, was issued at the end of the same +period. During the civil war numerous works, mostly in Chinese, by the +Japanese Zen priests were published, among which the history of Buddhism +in Japan, entitled the _Genkô-shakusho_, was the most noteworthy, and +was therefore reprinted over and over again. A chronological table of +the history of Japan, and two editions of the Jôyei Laws were +subsequently printed. A text-book for children, to train them in the use +of Chinese ideographs, was first printed at the close of the Ashikaga +period, and the demand for the appearance of such a book proves that the +education of children began to arouse the general attention. + +From what is said above, we can safely conclude that during the course +of the Ashikaga period, the level of civilisation of our country had +been raised in a marked degree, and that at the same time there arose +one after another numerous cultural centres in the provinces, which were +in their main features nothing but Kyoto on a small scale, but +nevertheless contributed not the least to the betterment of national +civilisation in general owing to their common rivalry. One would perhaps +entertain some doubt as to the veracity of the assertion, that in an age +such as of the Ashikaga, when political anarchy was in full play, so +remarkable an advancement had been steadily achieved by our forefathers. +If he would, however, look at the history of the Italian renaissance, +then he would not be at a loss to see that political disorder does not +necessarily thwart the progress of civilisation, but on the contrary +often stimulates it. + +The territories owned by great feudatories or _daimyo_ in the Ashikaga +age were by no means compact entities definitely bounded. Their +frontiers constantly shifted to and fro according to frequently +recurring waxings and wanings in strength of this or that _daimyo_, and +these fluctuations depended, in their turn, on the results sometimes of +petty skirmishes and sometimes of political intrigues, so that an +unwavering steadiness was the least thing to be expected at that time. +This politically unsettled condition of Japan, however, was in a certain +sense a boon to our country, for it took away all the hindrances which +lay in the way of internal communication, and paved the path to the +ultimate political unity of the empire. I do not say of course that +travelling at that time was quite safe from any kind of molestation, but +the main obstacles to communication were rather of a social than of a +political nature. In other words, they were of kinds which could not be +got rid of in a like stage of civilisation, even if Japan had been +politically not dismembered, and adventurous merchants did not shrink +from facing such difficulties. No need to speak of those piratical +traders, who went out from the western islands and the coastal regions +of the Inland Sea on their devastating errands to the Korean and the +Chinese coasts. The less warlike merchants ventured to trade with the +Ainu, who had retired into the island of Hokkaidô, and had not been +heard of since the beginning of the Ashikaga period. + +Among the itinerants travelling a long distance may be counted the +professional literati also, the experts in the art of composing the +_renga_, the short Japanese poems. They went about throughout the +provinces, visiting feudal lords in their castles, teaching them the +literary pastimes, thus imparting their first lesson in æsthetic +education to those who had never tasted it. Courtiers, too, weakminded +as they were, travelled great distances, to call on some rich bourgeois +or powerful _daimyo_, who were thinking of becoming their munificent +patrons, and taught them, besides the afore-said art of composing +Japanese poems, the sport of kicking leather balls and other leisurely +pastimes which had been the favourites among the courtiers in Kyoto, and +received in return a generous hospitality and fees for the lessons which +they gave. Buddhist priests were the third set of busy travellers of the +time. Missionary activities had not much relaxed since the Kamakura +period, though no influential sect had been started in this age. Every +nook and corner of the island empire had received the footprints of +these religious itinerants, and some of the more enterprising priests +even crossed the sea to the island of what is now Hokkaidô in order to +preach to the Ainu dwelling there. Pilgrims to the shrines of Ise, where +the ancestress of the Imperial line was enshrined, may also be counted +among the busy interprovincial travellers. + +All these wanderers served not only to transmit to distant provincial +towns the culture engendered and nourished in the metropolis, but also +to make the intercourse between the minor cultural centres more intimate +than before, so as to spread a civilisation of a uniform standard and +nature throughout the whole of the empire. Japan was thus for the first +time unified in her civilisation in order to prepare herself for a solid +political unification. + +Let me repeat that Japan of the Ashikaga age had within herself no +constant political boundaries nor any other artificial barriers to +impede the people of one province nor of the territory of one _daimyo_ +from going to another province or the territory of another _daimyo_, and +this, in a great measure, facilitated communications between the +inhabitants of different provinces. The fact that the college at +Ashikaga in eastern Japan was, notwithstanding its insufficient +accommodation, thronged with pupils from various parts of the country, +even from a province so far off from Kyoto as Satsuma, proves that bad +roads and poor means of conveyance did not obstruct the Japanese of that +time from traversing great distances in order to get a liberal +education, and such activity and lively traffic would naturally tend to +the formation of big emporiums here and there within the empire. +Unfortunately the geographical features of our country did not allow it +to see a great number of such large commercial cities formed within it, +as the Hanseatic towns had been formed in medieval Germany, although we +find very close resemblances between Germany of the twelfth and of the +thirteenth century and Japan under the Ashikaga régime as regards their +political conditions. The only one of the Japanese cities which had ever +attained such a height of prosperity as to be fairly matched with the +free cities of the Hansa was Sakai in the province of Idzumi. + +The city of Sakai, as its name, which means in the Japanese tongue "the +Boundary," denotes, was situated just on the boundary line of the two +adjoining provinces Settsu and Idzumi, and at the quondam estuary of the +river Yamato. The frontier-line, however, and the course of the river, +were afterwards changed, so that the city is now entirely included +within the province of Idzumi, and there is no river running near the +city. The fact that it was once a border town shows that it could never +have been the seat of the provincial government. Neither had it ever +been the residence of any powerful feudal lord during the whole military +régime. Moreover, nature has bestowed no special favour on the city. The +bay of Sakai is very widely open, affording no protection against the +west wind. In addition to that, it has been very shallow since old +times. Even in an undeveloped stage of ship-building, the port was unfit +for the mooring of vessels of a size as large as the junks trading with +China were at that time, so that they had to be equipped somewhere else +in a neighbouring harbour, and then brought and anchored far off from +the shore in the bay of Sakai. The only geographical advantage of the +port lay in the fact that the shortest sea-route to the island of +Shikoku started thence. The first impulse to the development of the city +seems to have been given during the civil war, for it was the nearest +access to the sea for one of the parties which had its stronghold in the +mountainous region of the province of Yamato, adjacent to Idzumi. At the +end of the war, the port came, as before stated, under the rule of the +family of Ôuchi, and from Ôuchi it passed into the hands of the family +of Hosokawa, also one of the chief vassals of the Ashikaga Shogunate, +holding the north-eastern part of the island of Shikoku, and Sakai +serving the family always as the landing-place of its followers, when +they were on their way to Kyoto, to pay their respects to the Shogun or +to fight there for their own interests. On account of this usefulness +the harbour-city of Sakai had been granted privileges by the hereditary +chief of the Hosokawa, as a recompense for the assistance given by the +merchants of the city, and those same privileges, in extent, amounted +to almost as much as the municipal freedom enjoyed by the free cities of +Europe. The administration of the city was in the hands of a few wealthy +merchants, and was rarely interfered with by its feudal lord. Among the +merchants there were ten, at first, who monopolised the municipal +government, each of them being very rich as the proprietors of certain +storehouses on the beach, the rents of which paid them a good income. In +the later Ashikaga age, however, we hear the names of the thirty-six +municipal councillors of Sakai. This increase in the number might +perhaps have been the result of the growth in opulence of the citizens. +In short, though the city had been under the oligarchical rule of the +wealthy merchants of the city, like Venice and Florence in medieval +Italy, yet it was none the less autonomous, which is quite an +exceptional case in the whole course of the history of our country. + +The golden age of the city of Sakai dates from the year 1476 or +thereabouts, when a squadron trading with China first sailed out from +the harbour. Until that time all the vessels plying between this country +and China used to set out from Hakata or from Hyogo, which is nearly the +same thing as Kobe. Although the adventurous merchants of Sakai carried +their trade before this time as far as the islands of Loo-choo, and +often participated in the Chinese trade also, yet no vessel had ever +started from there for China till then. That Sakai became at this date +a chief trading port dealing with China might presumably have been owing +to the intercession of its hereditary lord Hosokawa, but the determining +cause of this assumption of such an honourable position among the +commercial cities of Japan must have been the indisputable superiority +of the material strength of the city. Many of the higher vassals of the +Shogunate borrowed money from the merchants of Sakai in order to equip +their soldiers. Nay, even the Shogunate itself had often to mortgage its +landed estates to the merchants of the city in order to save its +treasury from running short. The wealth of the citizens enabled them to +fortify their city very strongly, by surrounding it with a deep moat, +and to enlist into their service a great number of knights-errant, who +abounded in Japan at that time. These, together with the consciousness +of indispensable assistance rendered to the Shogunate, to various great +feudatories and condottieri, emboldened the citizens to defy the +otherwise formidable military powers, and those warriors, on the other +hand, who owed much to the pecuniary aid of the Sakai merchants, could +but treat the latter with great consideration, which was unwonted at +that time. Although the citizens of Sakai were not entirely free from +the sufferings of the war, for they had often to quarter soldiers in +their houses, yet no battle was allowed to be fought within the city, +notwithstanding that a most sanguinary war was raging all around in the +empire. + +It was natural, therefore, that, after the civil war of the Ohnin era, +Sakai should be considered safer to live in than Kyoto. Sakai became the +asylum for the civilisation of Japan, to save it from utter destruction. +Poets, painters, musicians, and singers, who had found living in the +turbulent metropolis intolerably hard, sought shelter in Sakai, and +there occupied themselves quietly with their own professions. Various +handicrafts, such as lacquering, porcelain-making, and weaving were all +started there with enormous success. Especially as to the weaving, it is +said that this industry, which had once flourished and been afterwards +abandoned in Kyoto on account of the political disturbances there, was +not only continued at Sakai, but also improved by the Chinese weavers, +who repaired to the city and taught the natives the art of making +various costly textiles of Chinese invention. In some respects the +textiles of the Nishijin, now one of the specialties of Kyoto, may be +said to be the continuation of the Sakai looms. + +Another kind of industry, which developed in the city in the later +Ashikaga period, was the manufacture of fire-arms. Immediately after the +introduction of fire-arms by a Portuguese in the year 1541, a merchant +of Sakai happened to learn the art of making guns somewhere or other in +Kyushu, and after his return to the city he began to practise there the +business he had learnt. Sakai thus became the origin of the propagation, +in central and eastern Japan, of the use of the new arm. + +From what has been described above, the reader would easily understand +that the intellectual level of the citizens of Sakai stood much higher +than that of the average Japanese of that time. Wit and pleasantry were +the accomplishments highly prized there, so that the city produced out +of its inhabitants a large number of versatile diplomatists, +story-tellers, and buffoons. As their economic conditions were very +easy, the social life of the city was polished, enlightened, and even +luxurious. The manufacture of saké, the Japanese favourite drink made +from rice, was highly developed in the city, and the fame of the +Sakai-tub was renowned the country round. To protect the brewers, the +Shogunate issued an order forbidding the importation of saké into the +city. The tea-ceremony and the flower-trimming, two fashionable pastimes +already in vogue at that time, were eagerly practised here by wealthy +merchants. Many famous experts in this sort of amusement were found +among the inhabitants of the city, and they were generally connoisseurs +highly skilled in the fine arts, as Sen-no-Rikyû, for example. Various +curios, native and foreign, were bought and sold there at exorbitant +high prices. + +The prosperous condition of the city induced many Buddhists, especially +the priests of the Jôdo-shinshû, the most active sect of Japanese +Buddhism at that time, to try their propaganda in the city. They had +numerous temples built, and by lending to the merchants their influence +at the Shogun's court obtained from it the privilege of trading with +China, thus making common cause with the citizens of that port. The +earlier Christian missionaries, too, endeavoured to make this city the +centre of their movement. It was indeed at the end of the year 1550, +that Francis Xavier, who was not only the greatest missionary whom Japan +has ever received from the West, but also one of the greatest men in the +world too, arrived at the city from Yamaguchi on his way to Kyoto. +Though he could achieve nothing noteworthy during his short stay here, +on account of illness, yet by him the first seed of Christianity was +sown in the central regions of the empire, and ten years later the first +Christian hymn was sung in the church founded in the city. + +The civilisation of the city of Sakai represented that of the whole +empire in the later Ashikaga age, manifested in its most glaring +colours. The essential character of the civilisation was not +aristocratic, but bourgeois. The lower strata of the people still had +nothing to do with it. It is true that we can recognise already at this +period the beginning of the proletariat movement. The frequent +disturbances raised by apaches in the streets of Kyoto and the +insurrections of agricultural workers in the provinces, remind us of +the Peasants' War in the time of the Reformation in Europe. Their +demands as well as their connection with the religious agitation of the +time closely resembled those of the followers of Goetz von Berlichingen. +They could not, however, secure any permanent result by their +insurrections, so that the character of the civilisation remained +essentially bourgeois, not having suffered any marked change from those +disturbances. + +The civilisation of the bourgeois cannot but be individualistic, and its +main difference from that of the aristocracy lies also herein. It has +been so in Europe, and it could not have been otherwise in our country. +The fact that individualism got the upper hand in the Ashikaga age may +be proved by a phenomenon in the history of Japanese art. +Portrait-painting had made some progress already in the Kamakura period, +as was stated in the foregoing chapter. The artistic development in this +branch of painting made it independent of religious pictures. The +portrait-paintings of the age, however, even those executed by such +eminent masters as Takanobu and Nobuzane, are only images of the typical +courtier or warrior, not to mention the stiffness of the style. Very +little of the individuality of the persons represented was manifested in +them. The scroll-paintings, to which the attention of most of the +artists of the age was directed, contained pictures of many persons, but +to depict scenes was the chief aim of scroll-paintings, so that no +serious pains were taken in the delineation of individuals. That +portrait-painting remained thus long in an undeveloped stage cannot be +explained away simply by the tardiness of the progress of arts in +general. The chief cause must be attributed to the fact that the +contemporary civilisation was lacking in individualistic elements. +Unless there is a rise of the individualistic spirit in a certain +measure, no real progress in portraiture can be expected. + +In the Ashikaga period, a large number of scroll-paintings had been +produced as before, but they were mostly inferior in quality to those of +the preceding age. On the other hand, we notice a vast improvement in +the portrait-painting of this period. It may be due to some extent to +the influence of the Zen sect, the sect which prevailed among the upper +class of that time, for its creed is said to be strongly +individualistic. Mainly, however, it must have come from the general +spirit of the age, which, though it could not be said to have been free +from the influence of the same sect, was induced to become +individualistic more by social and economical reasons than by religious +ones. By painters of the schools of Tosa and Kano were painted numerous +portraits of eminent personages, such as the Shogun, courtiers, great +feudatories, priests, especially of the Zen sect, literati, artists, +experts in tea-ceremony, and so forth. Their pictures were generally +made after death by order of the near relatives, friends, vassals or +disciples of the deceased, to be a memorial of the person whom they +adored or revered. Not a small number of those paintings are extant to +this day, showing vividly the characteristics of those illustrious +figures in Japanese history. + +The political anarchy combined with the individualistic tendency of the +age could not fail to lead to the moral dissolution of the people. To +the same effect, too, the literature of the time, which was a revival of +that of the Fujiwara period, contributed. The classical authors of +Japanese literature at the height of the Fujiwara period were now +perused, commented upon, and elucidated with devouring eagerness, the +most adored among them being Murasaki-Shikibu, whose famous novel, +_Genji-monogatari_, was regarded mystically and held to be almost +divine. The nature of this literature was for the most part realistic, +or rather sentimental, verging sometimes on sensuality. It was, however, +clad in the exquisitely refined costume of beautiful diction and choice +turns of phrase, borrowed or metamorphosed from the inexhaustible stores +of Chinese literature. As to the revived form of literature in the +Ashikaga period, the difference between it and that of the old time was +so remarkable, that it could not be overlooked. Vulgarisation usurping +the place of refinement, and coarse sensuality reigning rampant was the +outcome of the cultivation of the classical literature. The moral tone +of the stories and novels produced in this decadent age unmistakably +reflects how low was the ebb of the sense of decency of that period, +fostered by the naturalistic tendency manifested in the Fujiwara +classics. + +These depict the dark side of the age, but in order not to be one-sided +in my judgment, let me tell also about its bright side. The culture of +the Ashikaga had from the beginning a trend to grow more and more +humanistic as it approached the end of the period. One more aspect in +the history of Japanese painting proves it to the full. Landscapes and +still-life pictures, which had been formerly painted only as the +accessories of religious images or as the background in the scroll +paintings, before which the main subjects, that is to say, the +personages in stories were made to play, began now to form by themselves +each a special independent group of subjects for painting. This shows +that the people of the time had already entered a cultural stage able to +enjoy the arts for art's sake. Many pictures of such a kind by the brush +of noted Chinese masters were imported into our country, and several +clever Japanese artists also painted after them. Some of our artists, +like Sesshû, went over to China to study the art of painting there. The +differentiation of the school of Kano from the older Tosa was another +result of this development. Most of these pictures were executed in the +form of _kakemono_, or hanging pictures, so called from their being +hung in a special niche of a drawing room or a study. Screens, or +_byobu_, mounted with pictures, became also a fashion. In general, the +furnishing of a house was now a matter of a certain educated taste, and +various systems were devised and formulated by accomplished experts. + +The delicacy of the æsthetic sense in indoor-life was moreover enhanced +by the laborious etiquette of fashionable tea-parties held by +aristocrats and bourgeois alike. The tea-plant itself is said to have +been introduced from China into our country in the reign of the Emperor +Saga, that is to say, at the beginning of the ninth century. Its use, +however, as the daily beverage was of a far later date. Yôsai, the +founder of the Zen sect in Japan, wrote in the early Kamakura period a +commendation on tea as the healthiest drink of all. Still, for a long +while after him, tea seems to have been used exclusively by Buddhists as +a tonic. It was in the Ashikaga age that tea came first into general use +among the well-to-do classes of the people. As the production of it was, +however, not so abundant as now, it was not used daily as at present, +but occasionally, with an etiquette conducted with exquisitely refined +taste, both hosts and guests rivalling one another in displaying their +artistic acquirements by delivering extempore speeches in criticism of +the various articles of art exhibited, or in amusing themselves with +mystic dialogues of the Zen creed, or the lively exchange of witty +repartees. + +After all, the tendency of the culture of the later Ashikaga period was +in the main humanistic. There was no political authority so firmly +constituted, nor were conventional morals of the time so rigorous, as to +be able to put an effective check on any liberal thinker, nor to +intervene in the daily life of the people. Thought and action in Japan +has never been more free than in that age. That Christianity could find +innumerable converts from one end of the empire to the other within half +a century after its introduction, may be accounted for by supposing that +the ground for it had been prepared long before by this exceedingly +humanistic culture. In this respect we see the dawn of modern Japan +already in the later Ashikaga age. What a striking similarity to the +Italian renaissance! Japan was now in the throes of travail--the time +for a new birth was fast approaching. Conditions on the whole were +favourable. All that was wanted for this were the moral regeneration of +the people and the political reconstruction of the Empire. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL TO MODERN JAPAN + + +Anarchy engendered peace at least. At the end of the Ashikaga Shogunate +the minor territorial lords, who had sprung up out of the impotency of +the Shogun, were swallowed up one after another by the more powerful +ones. The rights of manorial holders, that is to say, of court-nobles, +shrines, and temples, over estates legally their own, though long since +fallen into a condition of semi-desuetude, were active, sensitive, yet +powerful enough in the middle of the period to withstand the attempted +encroachments of those territorial lords, who were _de jure_ only +managers of the estates entrusted to their care; but those rights began +in course of time to lose their enforcing power, and were finally set at +naught by the all-powerful military magnates. The link between the +estates and their proprietors was thus virtually cut off, and each +territory, which was in truth an agglomeration of several estates, came +to stand as one body under the rule of a military lord, without any +reservation to his right. In other words, each territory became a domain +of a lord pure and simple, and it may be best explained by imagining a +quasi-sovereign state in Europe formed by joining together a certain +number of ecclesiastical domains, the lands of which were contiguous. It +is true that the size of such territories varied, ranging from one so +big as to contain several provinces down to petty ones comprising only a +few villages; their boundaries, too, shifted from time to time. +Notwithstanding this diversity in size and the inconstancy of the +frontier-lines, these territories were similar to one another in their +main nature, no more complicated by intricate manorial systems. If, +therefore, there appeared at once some irresistible necessity for +national unification or some great historical figure, whose ability was +equal to the task of achieving the work, Japan could now be made a solid +national state far more easily than at any earlier period. + +Besides this facilitation of the political unity, what most contributed +to the settling of the general order was the resuscitation of the moral +sense of the nation. The highly advanced Chinese civilisation introduced +into our country at a time when it was comparatively naïve, had an +effect which could not be termed exactly in all respects wholesome. The +morals of the people, whose mode of life was simplicity itself, not +having yet tasted the sumptuousness of civilised life, excelled those of +higher civilised nations in veracity, soberness, and courage. Lacking, +however, in the firm consciousness which must accompany any virtue of a +standard worthy of sincere admiration, these attributes of the ancient +Japanese, though laudable in themselves, could have no high intrinsic +value, and were inadequate to stem the enervating influence of the +elegantly developed alien civilisation introduced later on into the +country. The ethical ties, which are indispensable at any time for +maintaining the social order in a healthy condition, were gradually +reduced to a state of utter dissolution in the later or over-refined +stage of the Fujiwara period, especially among the upper classes. With +the attainment of political power by the warrior class in the formation +of the Kamakura Shogunate, there shimmered once some hope of the +reawakening of the moral spirit, for fidelity and gratitude, which were +the cardinal virtues of the Kamakura warriors, were efficient factors in +refreshing and invigorating a society which had once fallen into a +despicable languor and demoralisation. The ascendency of these bracing +forces, however, was but transitory. This disappointment came not only +from the shortness of the duration of the genuine military régime at +Kamakura, but also from another reason not less probable. The admirable +virtues of the warriors were the natural outcome of the peculiar private +circumstances created in the fighting bodies of the time, and were on +that account essentially domestic in their nature. As long as these +warriors remained, therefore, mere professional fighters and tools in +the hands of court nobles, the moral ties binding leaders and followers +as well as the _esprit de corps_ among these followers themselves had +very slight chance of coming into contact with politics. In short, the +majority of these warriors were not acquainted with public life at all, +so that they were at a loss how to behave themselves as public men when, +as the real masters of the country, they found themselves obliged to +deal with political affairs. Public affairs are generally prone to +induce men even of high probity to put undue importance upon the +attainment of end, rather than to make them scrupulous about the means +of arriving at that end; and if the moral sense of the people is not +developed enough to guard against this injurious infection of private +life from the meddling with public affairs, then their inborn and yet +untried virtues may often fail to assert themselves against the +influence of the depravity which can find its way more easily into +public than into private life. Such was the case with the warriors of +the Kamakura age. Through their ascendency the martial spirit of the +nation, which had languished somewhat under the rule of the Fujiwara +nobles, was once more revived, but their descendants at the end of that +Shogunate could not be so brave and simple-hearted as their forefathers +were. The extinction of the Minamoto family, too, relieved these +warriors of their duty as hereditary liegemen of the Shogun, for +henceforth both the Shogun, who was now of a different family from that +of the Minamoto, and the Hôjô, the real master of the Shogunate, were to +them superiors only in official relations. This disappearance of the +object on which the fidelity of the warriors used to concentrate, made +fidelity itself an empty virtue. At least among the circle of warriors +in the age in which fidelity was everything and all other virtues were +but ancillary to it, this loss must have been a great drawback to the +improvement of the morality of the nation. The demoralisation of the +influential class had thus set in since the latter part of the Kamakura +age. No wonder that during the civil war which ensued many of the +prominent warriors changed sides very frequently, almost without any +hesitation, obeying only the dictates and suggestions of their private +interests. That this civil war, which ended without any decisive battle +being fought, could drag on for nearly a century, may be best understood +by taking this recklessness of the participants into consideration. The +inconsistency in their attitude or the want of fidelity towards those to +whom they ought to be faithful was not restricted to their transactions +in public affairs only, but extended also to the recesses of their +family life. Parents could no more confide in their own children, nor +husband in his wife, and masters had always to be on guard against +betrayal by their servants. After the civil war there were many periods +of intermittent peace in the first half of the Ashikaga régime, but +that was not a result of the firm and strong government of the Shogun. +They were rather lulls after storms, brought about by the weariness felt +after a long anarchy. + +The culmination of this deplorable condition of national demoralisation +falls to the epoch of the next civil war, that is to say, of the Ohnin +era. It is in this period that we witness a great development of the spy +system and of the usage of taking hostages as a security against breach +of faith. Even such means, however, proved often inefficient to guard +against the unexpected treachery of supposed intimate friends, or a +sudden attack from the rear by trusted neighbours. Desertion, though not +recommended as a laudable action, was nevertheless not considered a +detestable infamy, especially when it was carried out anterior to the +pitching of the camps against the enemy, and deserters or betrayers were +generally welcomed and loaded with munificent rewards by their new +masters. Was it possible that such a ruthless state could continue for +long without any counteraction? If any one had once betrayed his first +master for the sake of selfish interests, could he claim after that to +be a sort of person able to enjoy the implicit confidence of his second +master? Examples of repeated breaches of faith abound in the history of +the time. It was from the general unreliableness caused by such habitual +acts of treachery, that the practice of giving quarter to deserters and +facile surrenderers began gradually to diminish. And the result was +that the danger of being killed after having surrendered or capitulated +became a cause to induce those warriors, who would otherwise have easily +given up their master's cause, to remain true to him to the end. This is +one of the reasons why, after so long a domination of this miserable +demoralisation, we begin frequently to come upon those beautiful +episodes which showed the solidarity of clans admirably maintained and +the utter loyalty of vassals to their lord, fighting to the death under +his banner. The process, however, of ameliorating the morals of the +nation should not begin from the relation of master and servant, but +slowly start from within families. One could not refrain from feeling +the imperative necessity of trustworthy mutual dependence among members +connected by ties of blood, amidst the dreary environs in which no +hearty confidence could be put in any one with safety. That the +_Hsiao-king_, a Chinese moral book treating of the merits of filial +piety, was widely read in educated circles of the time, and that several +editions of the same book have been published since the middle of the +Ashikaga period, show how great a stress was put on the encouragement of +domestic duties. With the family, made a compact body, as the starting +point, the reorganisation of social and national morals was thus set on +foot. The growth of the tendency of liegemen to share the same fate as +their lord is to be looked upon as a kind of extension of this family +solidarity, as it came not from the consideration of the mere relation +between a master and his servants, but rather from that of the +hereditary transmittal of such a relation on both sides, just as it was +at the beginning of the Kamakura Shogunate. There was no doubt therefore +that the smaller the size of the territory of a lord, the easier the +consummation of the process of its compact consolidation, which was +necessarily cemented by a close mutual attachment between the lord of +that territory and his dependents within and without his family. Not +only that. If that territory was small and weak, and in constant danger +of being destroyed or annexed by powerful neighbours, then the same +process of consolidation was effected very swiftly. The territory in the +province of Mikawa, which was owned by the family of the Tokugawa, was +one of many such instances. This territory was so small in size, that it +did not cover more than a half of the province, and moreover it was +surrounded by the domains belonging to the two powerful families of Oda +and Imagawa on the west and east, so that the small estate of the +Tokugawa family was constantly harassed by them, and maintained as a +protectorate now by the one and then by the other of the two. On that +account nowhere else was there a stronger demand for a close affinity +between a territorial lord and his men, than in this domain of the +Tokugawa's. Consequently we see there not only an early progress in +territorial consolidation, but along with it the resuscitation of an +acute moral sense, especially in the direction necessary and compatible +to the maintenance and development of a military state. + +The reawakening of the high moral sense in the nation and the formation +of compact self-constituted territories, virtually independent but amply +liable to the influence of unifying forces, were the phenomena in the +latter half of the Ashikaga period. That the country was slow in +becoming nationalised and unified must be attributed to the +insufficiency of that reawakening and the insolidity of those +quasi-independent territories. The general culture of the time, which +was humanistic in nature, was powerless for the moment to facilitate +this movement which was national and moral at the same time. Humanistic +as it was, it was able to pervade the provinces, and gave to Japan a +uniform colour of culture. That was already, indeed, a stride forward on +the way to national unification. Nay, it may be said that the impulse to +that very unification was given by that very culture. Generally, +however, the humanistic culture of any form has no particular state of +things as its practical goal, and therefore cannot necessarily lead to +an improvement in the morals of any particular nation, nor does it +always stimulate the desire for the national unification of a certain +country. On the contrary, it often counteracts these movements, and +seemingly contributes toward accelerating the demoralisation and +dismemberment of a nation, for individualism and selfishness get often +the upper hand when such a culture becomes ascendant. The fruit which +the Renaissance of the Quattrocento bore to Italians was just of this +sort, and the direct influence which the humanistic culture of the later +Ashikaga produced on Japan was not very much different from that. The +culture, which had spread widely all over Japan, rather tended to loosen +moral ties, and at least diminished the social stability. Persons, of a +character morally most depraved, such as traitors, murderers, and so +forth, were not infrequently men of high culture. Most of the rebellious +servants of the Ashikaga Shogun were said to have been +highly-accomplished literati. Some of them were addicted to the perusal +of the sensational novels produced in the golden age of classical +literature in Japan, such as the _Ise-_ and the _Genji-monogatari_, and +others were composers of short poems fashionable in those days, +rejoicing at their own display of flighty wit, while not a few of them +were liberal patronisers of the contemporary art, especially of +painting. What a striking parallelism to those Popes and their nephews, +in the time of the Renaissance, whose patronising of arts is as renowned +as their atrocious vices! + +If the culture inborn or borrowed from China was unable to save the +country from a moral and political crisis, what was the fruit borne by +the seeds of the new exotic culture, that is to say, of Christianity, +sown just at this juncture? I will not dilate here on the relation +between religion and morality in general. Suffice it to say that +religious people are not always virtuous. Bigots are generally men of +perverse character, and mostly vicious. This is a truism. It has been so +with Buddhism and many other religions. Why should it be otherwise only +in the case of Christianity? As regards the general culture of our +country, the introduction of Christianity is a very important historical +fact, the influence of which can by no means be overlooked. Though the +secular culture which was introduced into Japan as the accessory of the +Christian propaganda was of a very limited nature, and though the free +acceptance of it was cut short soon after its circulation, yet this new +element of civilisation brought over by the missionaries was much more +than a drop in the ocean. However difficult it be to perceive the traces +of the Western culture in the spirit of the age which was to follow, it +cannot be denied that it left, after all, some indelible mark on our +national history. That it had spread within a few decades all over the +contemporary Japan, from the extreme south to the furthest north, should +also not be left out of sight. Thenceforth the Fables of Æsop have not +ceased to be told in the lamplit hours in the nurseries of Japan. We see +Japan, after the first introduction of Christianity, painted in a +somewhat different colour, though the difference of tincture may be +said to be extremely slight. The knowledge at least that there were +outside of China, many people in the far West, civilised enough to teach +us in several branches of science and art, opened the eyes of the island +nation to a wider field of vision, and began to alter the views which we +had entertained about things Chinese. Previously, for anything to become +authoritative, it had been enough if the Chinese origin of that thing +could be assured. The overshadowing influence which China had wielded +over Japan at the time of the Fujiwara régime was revived in different +form in the middle Ashikaga period, the former being China of the T'ang, +while the latter that of the Sung, Yuan, and Ming. In short, China had +long continued as a too brilliant guiding star to the Japanese mind, +Korea, by the way, having been regarded only as one of the +intermediaries between the "flowery" Empire and our country. It would +be, of course, a hasty judgment to conclude that the introduction of +Christianity instantly let the scales fall from the eyes of the Japanese +as regards China, and aroused thereby a fervent national enthusiasm of +the people, but at least it was a strong impetus to the awakening of the +national consciousness, and led indirectly to the political unification +of the country. In this respect the introduction of the new religion had +a salutary effect on our history. + +As to the betterment of the individual morals of the contemporary +Japanese, however, the influence of Christianity cannot be said to have +been wholesome in all ways. It probably did as much mischief as good +during its brief prosperity. Any cult, which may be styled a universal +religion, contains a strong tincture of individualism in its doctrines, +and any creed of which individualism is a main factor often easily tends +to encourage, against its original purpose, the pursuit of selfish +objects. In this respect even Christianity can offer no exception. What, +then, could it preach, at the end of the Ashikaga régime, to the +Japanese who were already individualistic enough without the new +teaching of the western religion, besides the intensifying of that +individualism to make it still more strong and prevalent? Moreover, the +very moral doctrine of the Christianity introduced by Francis Xavier and +his successors was nothing but the moral of the Jesuits of the sixteenth +century, who maintained the unscrupulous teaching that the end justified +the means, the moral principle which has been universally adjudged in +Europe to be a very dangerous and obnoxious doctrine. Could it have been +otherwise only in our country as an exceptional case? But if these +missionaries had all been men of truly noble and upright character, they +should have been able perhaps to raise the standard of our national +morals by personal contact with the Japanese, notwithstanding the moral +tenets of their religion. Unfortunately, however, most of them were of +debased character, with the exception of St. Francis Xavier and a few +others. We need not doubt the ardent desire of these missionaries to +save the "souls" of the Japanese, and thus to recover in the East what +they had lost in the West. But by whatever motive their pious +undertakings may have been prompted, their religious enthusiasm and +their dauntless courage do not confute the charge of dishonesty. That +the majority of them were grossest liars is evident from their reports +addressed to their superiors in Europe, in which the numbers of converts +and martyrs in this country were misrepresented and ridiculously +exaggerated, in order bombastically to manifest their undue merits, +exaggeration which could not be attributed to a lack of precise +knowledge about those matters. What could we expect from men of such +knavish characters as regards the moral regeneration of the contemporary +Japanese? + +As these missionaries, however, were at least cunning, if not +intelligent in a good sense, it would not have been impossible for them +to achieve something in the domain of the moral education of the nation, +if they could only have understood the real state of Japan of that time. +On the contrary, their comprehension of our country and of our +forefathers was far wide of the mark. Most of them had expected to find +in Japan an El Dorado inhabited by primitive folks of a very low grade +of intelligence, where they could play their parts gloriously as +missionaries by preaching the Gospel in the wilderness. They had not +dreamt that the culture possessed by the Japanese of that time, though +for the most part borrowed from China, was superior to that of some +still uncivilised parts of Europe, for the difference in the form of +civilisation deceived them in their judgment of the value of Eastern +culture. When they set their feet on Japanese soil, therefore, they soon +discovered that they had been grossly mistaken, and then running to the +opposite extreme they fell into the error of overestimation. Yet they +did not stop at this. This first misconception on the part of the +missionaries about Japan left in them an ineradicable prejudice. They +became very niggards in seeing things Japanese in an impartial light, +and constituted themselves consciously or unconsciously fault-finders of +the people, and unfortunately the Japan of that time furnished them with +much material to corroborate their low opinion. The result was that +while on the one hand the Japanese were praised far above their real +value, they were stigmatised equally far below their real merits. +Regrettable as it was for Japan to have received such reprehensible +people as pioneers of Western civilisation, it was also pitiable that +Christianity, which had been fervently embraced by a large number of +Japanese, was once rooted out chiefly on account of the incredible folly +of these missionaries, who fermented trouble and embroiled themselves in +numberless intrigues, which were quite useless and unnecessary as +regards the cause of Christianity. It would, in good sooth, have been +absurd to hope to have the morality of the people improved by the +personal influence of such reckless adventurers. + +Japan was ready to be transformed into a solid national state, and at +the same time to emerge from a chaotic medieval condition to enter the +modern status. The cultural milieu, however, though it might have been +ripe for change, must have found it difficult to get transformed by +itself, and wanted an infusion of some new element to create an +opportunity for the change. A new element did come in, but it proved to +be unable to effect any wholesome alteration, so that in order to create +that opportunity the only possible and promising way was to resort first +to the political unification of the country, and thus to start from the +political and so to reach social and individual regeneration. And for +that political unification the right man was not long wanting. We find +him first in Nobunaga Oda, then in Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and lastly in +Iyeyasu Tokugawa. + +The first task was naturally to break down the authority of numerous +traditions and conventions which had kept the nation in fetters for a +long time. This task was an appropriate one for such a hero as Nobunaga, +who was imperious and intrepid enough to brave every difficulty coming +in his way. He was born in a family which had been of the following of +the house of Shiba, one of the branches of the Ashikaga, and had +continued as the hereditary administrator of Owari, a province which +formed part of the domain of its suzerain lord. When the power of the +house of Shiba decayed, the Oda family asserted its virtual independence +in the very province in which it had been the vicegerent of its lord, +and it was after this assertion of independence that our hero was born. +Strictly speaking, therefore, his right as a territorial lord was +founded on an act of usurpation, that is to say, Nobunaga's claim as the +owner of the province had no footing in the old system of the Ashikaga, +so that he was destined by his birth to become a creator of the new age, +and not the upholder of the ancient régime. The province over which he +held sway has been called one of the richest provinces in Japan, and was +not far from Kyoto, which was, as often stated before, still by far the +most influential among the political and cultural centres of the empire. +He and his vassals, therefore, had more opportunities than most of the +territorial lords and their vassals living in remote provinces, of +getting sundry knowledge useful to make his territory greater and +stronger. In the year 1560 he defeated and killed his powerful enemy on +the east, Yoshimoto Imagawa, the lord of the two provinces, Tôtômi and +Suruga. This was his first acquisition of new territory. Four years +after, the province of Mino, lying to the north of Owari, came into his +possession. In 1568 he marched his army into Kyoto to avenge the death +of the Shogun Yoshiteru, and installed his brother, who was the last of +the Ashikaga line, as the new Shogun. Then one territory after another +was added to his dominion, so that the Shogun was at last eclipsed in +power and influence by Oda, without ever having renounced his hereditary +rights. Nobunaga's dominion reached from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific +shore, when he met at the height of his career of conquest a premature +death by the hand of a traitor. + +It is not, however, on account of the magnitude of the territories which +he annexed, that Nobunaga figures in the history of Japan, for the land +conquered by dint of his arms did not cover more than one-third of the +island of Honto. His real historical importance lies not there, but in +that he destroyed the old Japan and made himself the harbinger of the +new age, though the honour of being creator of modern Japan must be +assigned rather to Hideyoshi, his successor. Since the beginning of our +history, the Japanese have always been very reluctant, in the cultural +respect, to give up what they have possessed from the first, while they +have been very eager and keen to take in the new exotic elements which +seemed agreeable or useful to them. In other words, the Japanese have +been simultaneously conservative and progressive, and immoderately so in +both ways. The result of such a conservation and assimilation operating +at the same time was that the country has gradually become a depository +of a huge mass of things Japanese and Chinese, no matter whether they +were desirable or not. If any exotic matter or custom once found its way +into this country, it was preserved with tender care and never-relaxing +tenacity, as if it were some treasure found or made at home and would +prove a credit to our country. In this way we could save from +destruction and demolition a great many historical remains, material as +well as spiritual, not only of Japanese but also of Chinese origins. +There may still be found in our country many things, the histories of +which show that they had once their beginnings in China indeed, but the +traces of their origins have long been entirely lost there. Needless to +say that the religious rites and other traditions of our forefathers in +remotest antiquity have been carefully handed down to us. This assiduity +for preserving on the part of the Japanese can best be realised by the +existence to this day of very old wooden buildings, some of which, in +their dates of erection, go back to more than twelve hundred years ago. +Besides this conservative propensity of the nation, the history of our +country has also been very favourable to the effort of preserving. We +have had no chronic change of dynasties as in China, nor have we +experienced any violent revolution, shaking the whole structure of the +country, as the French people had. Though our history has not lacked in +civil wars and political convulsions, their destructive force has been +comparatively feeble, and one Imperial house has continued to reign here +from the mythic Age of the Gods! With this permanent sovereign family as +the _point d'appui_, it has been easier in Japan than in any other +country to preserve things historic. Things thus preserved, however, +have not all been worthy of such care. As we have been obliged to march +constantly with hurried steps in our course of civilisation, little time +has been left to us to pause and discriminate what was good for +preservation from what was not. We have betaken ourselves occasionally +to the process of rumination, but it did not render us much assistance. +Not only rubbish has not been rejected, as it should have been, but the +things which proved of good service at one time and subsequently wore +out, have been hoarded over-numerously. Think of this immense quantity +of the slag, the detritus, of the civilisations of various countries in +various ages all dumped into the limited area of our small empire! No +people, however vigorous and progressive they may have been, would have +been able to go on briskly with such a heavy burden on their backs. The +worst evils were to be recognised in the sphere of religious belief and +in the transactions of daily official business. Red tape, home-made and +that of China of all dynasties, taken in haphazard and fastened +together, formed the guiding-lines of the so-called "administrative +business" in the time of the court-nobles' régime. The prestige of these +conventionalities was so powerful that even after the installation of +the Shogunate, that is to say, after the establishment of the government +which really meant to govern, the administration, promising to be far +more effective than that of the Fujiwara's, had to be varnished with +this conventionalism. Kiyomori, the first of the warriors to become the +political head of the country, failed, because he was ignorant of this +red-tapism. The Shogunate initiated by Yoritomo tried at first to keep +itself aloof from this influence, but could succeed only for a short +duration. The second Shogunate, the Ashikaga, had been overrun almost +from its inception by the red tape of the courtiers' régime, as well as +by the routine newly started in Kamakura. The humanistic culture, which +glimmered during the latter part of this Shogunate, was by its nature +able to find its place only where conventionalism did not reign, but it +soon began to give way and be conventionalised also. Until this +red-tapism was destroyed, there could have been no possibility of the +modernisation of Japan. + +Superstitions of all sorts, when fixed in their forms and launched on +the stream of time to float down to posterity with authority +undiminished by age, make the worst kind of convention. We had a great +mass of conventions of this type in our country. Various superstitions, +from the primitive forms of worship, such as fetichism, totemism, and +so forth, to the highest forms of idolatry, survived notwithstanding the +introduction of Buddhism. Buddhism, too, has produced various sects +which were rather to be called coarse superstitions. Taoism was also +introduced together with the general Chinese culture. Not to mention +that Shintoism, which was by its original nature hardly to be called a +religion, but only a system or body of rites inseparable from the +history of our country, became blended with the Buddhist elements and +was preached as a religion of a hybrid character. Thus a concourse of +different superstitions of all ages had their common field of action in +the spirit of the people, so that it has became exceedingly difficult to +tell exactly to what kind of faith this or that Japanese belonged; in +other words, one was divided against one's self. To put it in the best +light, religiously the Japanese were divided into a large number of +different religious groups. Religion is generally spoken of in Europe as +one of the characteristics of a nation. If it is insufficient to serve +as an associating link of a nation, at least the difference in religious +belief can draw a line of marked distinction between different nations, +and thus the embracing of the same religion becomes indirectly a strong +uniting force in a nation. Such a co-existence of heterogeneous forms of +religious beliefs painted the confessional map of Japan in too many +variegated colours, a condition which was directly opposed to the +process of national unification, of which our country had been placed +in urgent need for a very long time. In short, it was hard for us to +expect from the religious side anything helpful in our national affairs. + +Moreover, the religious spirit of the nation reached its climax in this +later Ashikaga period. Except in the age of the introduction of Buddhism +and the beginning of the Kamakura era, enthusiasm for salvation has +never, in all the course of Japanese history, been stronger than in this +period. We witness now several religious corporations, the most +remarkable of which were those formed by two violent and influential +sects of Japanese Buddhism, Jôdo-shinshû or Ikkô-shû and Nichiren-shû or +Hokke-shû. The followers of the latter, though said to be the most +aggressive sectarians in our country, were not so numerous as the +former, and were put under control by Nobunaga with no great difficulty. +The former, however, was by far the mightier, constituting an exclusive +society by itself, and its adherents spread especially over the +provinces of central Japan, that is to say, wherever the arms of +Nobunaga were triumphant. It presented therefore a great hindrance to +the uniform administration of his domains. + +Other Buddhist bodies, which had been not less formidable, not because +their creed had numerous fervent adherents, but because they had an +invisible historical prestige originating in very old times, were the +monks of the temples and monasteries on Mount Hiyei, belonging to the +Tendai sect, and of those clustered on Mount Kôya, of the Shingon sect. +These two sects had long ceased active propaganda, but the temples had +been revered by the Imperial house, and none had ever dared to put a +check upon the arrogance of the priests and monks residing in them. As +they had received rich donations in land from the court and from +devotees, they had been able to live a luxurious life, and very few of +them gave themselves up to religious works. Most of them behaved as if +they were soldiers by profession, and were always ready to fight, not +only in defence of the interests of the corporations to which they +belonged, but also as auxiliaries of neighbouring territorial lords, +when their aid was called for. Such had been the practice since the end +of Fujiwara régime. The more their soldierly character predominated, the +more their religious colouring decreased, and in the period of which I +am speaking now, they were rather territorial powers than religious +bodies. If we seek for their counterpart in the history of Europe, the +republic founded by order of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia would +fairly correspond to them, rather than ordinary bishoprics or +archbishoprics. For the unification, therefore, they were also obstacles +which could not be suffered to remain as they had been. + +In order to achieve the national unification and to effect the +modernisation of the country, it was necessary to dispense with all the +red tape, the time-honoured superstitions and all other encumbrances +lying in the way. It was not, however, an easy task to do away with all +these things, for they had been held sacrosanct, so that to set them at +defiance was but to brave the public opinion of the time. And none had +been courageous enough to raise his hand against them, until Nobunaga +decided to rid himself of all these feeble but tenacious shackles. + +In the year 1571 Nobunaga attacked Mount Hiyei, for the turbulent +shavelings of the mountain had sided with his enemies in the war of the +preceding year, and burned down the Temple Yenryakuji to the ground. The +emblem of the glory of Buddhism in Japan, which had stood for more than +seven centuries, was thus turned to ashes. The next blow was struck at +the recalcitrant priests of the temple of Negoro, belonging to the same +sect as Kôya and situated near it. As for the Ikkô-sectarians with the +Hongwanji as centre, the arms of Nobunaga were not so successful against +them as against the other two temples, so that in the end he was +compelled to conclude an armistice with them, but he was able in great +measure to curtail their overbearing power. Of all these feats of arms, +the burning of the temples on Mount Hiyei most dumbfounded Nobunaga's +contemporaries, for the hallowed institution, held in the highest esteem +rivalling even the prestige of the Imperial family, was thus prostrated +in the dust, unable to rise up again to its former grandeur. It is much +lamented by later historians that in the conflagration of the temple an +immense number of invaluable documents, chronicles and other kinds of +historical records was swept away forever, and they calumniated our hero +on this account rather severely. It is true that if those materials had +existed to this day, the history of our country would have been much +more lucid and easy to comprehend than it is now, and if Nobunaga could +have saved those papers first, and then burnt the temple, he would have +acted far more wisely than he did, and have earned less censure from +posterity. But history is not made for the sake of historians, and we +need not much lament about losses which there was little possibility of +avoiding. A nation ought to feel more grateful to a great man for giving +her a promising future, than for preserving merely some souvenirs of the +past. The bell announcing the dawn of modern Japan was rung by nobody +but Nobunaga himself by this demolition of a decrepit institution. + +It was not only those proud priests that defied Nobunaga and thereby +suffered a heavy calamity, but the flourishing city of Sakai met the +same fate. As the city had been accustomed to despise the military force +of the condottieri, who abounded in the provinces neighbouring Kyoto and +were easily to be bribed by money to change sides, it misunderstood the +new rising power of Nobunaga, and dared to defy him. The insolence of +the citizens of this wealthy town irritated Nobunaga and was punished by +him severely. The defence works of the city were razed to the ground, +and the city was placed under the control of a mayor appointed by him. +The only city in Japan which promised to grow an autonomous political +body thus succumbed to the new unifying force. + +Nobunaga was born, however, not to be a mere insensate destroyer of +ancient Japan. He seems also to have been gifted with the ability of +reconstruction, an ability which was not meagre in him at all. That his +special attention was directed to the improvement of the means of +communication shows that he considered the work of organisation and +consolidation to be as important as gaining a victory. The countenance +which he gave to the Christian missionaries might have been the result +of his repugnance at the degradation or intractability of the Buddhists +in Japan. Could it not be imagined, however, that he was prone, in +religious affairs as well as in other things, to seek the yet untried +means thoroughly to renovate Japan? It is much to be regretted that he +did not live long enough to see his aims attained. When he died, his +destructive task had not reached its end, and his constructive work had +barely begun. It was he, however, who indicated that Japan was a country +which could be truly unified, and that what had come to be preserved and +revered blindly should not all necessarily be so; and the grand task of +building up the new Japan, initiated by him, was transferred to his +successor, Hideyoshi. + +It was in 1582 that Nobunaga died in Kyoto, and in the quarrel which +ensued after his death among his Diadochi, Hideyoshi remained as the +final successor. The year after, Ôsaka was chosen as the place of his +residence. He was of very low origin, so that he had even less footing +in the conventional old régime than his master Nobunaga, and therefore +was more fitted to become the creator of the new Japan. He continued the +course of conquest begun by Nobunaga, and annexed the whole of historic +Japan within eight years from his accession to the political power. The +most noteworthy item in his internal administration was the land survey +which he ordered to be undertaken parallel to the progress of his arms. +The great estates of Japan were one after another subjected to a uniform +measurement, and thus was fashioned the standard of new taxation. This +land-survey began in 1590 and continued till the death of Hideyoshi. The +proportion of the tax levied to the area of the taxable land must still +have varied in different localities, but the mode of taxation was now +simplified thereby to a great extent, for the old systems, each of which +was peculiar to an individual estate, were henceforth mostly abrogated. +The manorial system of old Japan was entirely swept away. + +The unity of the nation under Hideyoshi, that is to say, Japan at the +disposal of a single person, an illuminated despot, might have been +really the result of the long process of unification gradually +accentuated, but it may also be considered as one of the causes which +brought about a still stronger national consciousness. The expulsion of +the foreign missionaries and the prohibition of the Christian propaganda +did not constitute a religious persecution in its strict sense. That +Hideyoshi was no enthusiastic Buddhist should be accepted as a negative +proof of it. Most probably he had no religious aversion against +Christianity, but the intermeddling of those missionaries in the +politics of our country infuriated him, for the demand for the solid +unification of the nation, embodied in him, was against such an +encroachment. The persecution, which crowned many adventurers with the +honour of martyrdom, is to be imputed to the lack of prudence on the +part of those missionaries. + +As to the motive of the Korean invasion undertaken by Hideyoshi, various +interpretations have been put forth by various historians. Some explain +it as mere love of adventure and fame. Others attribute it to the +necessity of keeping malcontent warriors engaged abroad, in order to +keep the country pacific. As Hideyoshi himself died while the expedition +was still in progress, giving neither explanation nor hint of his real +motive, it is very difficult for us to fathom his innermost thought. It +would not be altogether a mistaken idea, however, if we consider it as +an outcome of his unifying aspiration carried a few steps farther +outside the empire. + +When we consider his brilliant career from its beginning, the amount of +work which he accomplished greatly exceeded what we could expect from a +single ordinary mortal. He performed his share of the construction of +new Japan admirably. As to the organisation of what Hideyoshi had +roughly put together, it was reserved for the prudent intelligence of +Iyeyasu to accomplish. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE,--ITS POLITICAL RÉGIME + + +The spirit of the coming age was loudly heralded by Nobunaga. Most of +the hindrances which had persistently obstructed the national progress +for a long while were cleared away at his peremptory call. Then out of +the quarry opened by him the stones for the new pieces of sculpture were +hewn out by his successor Hideyoshi. The blocks, however, which were +only rough-cut by the latter, were left unfinished, awaiting the final +touch of wise and prudent Iyeyasu. The Shogunate which he set up at +Yedo, now Tokyo, in the province of Musashi, continued for more than two +centuries and a half. Not only was it the longest in duration among our +Shogunates, but it exceeded most of the European dynasties in the number +of years which it covered, being a little longer than the reign of the +Bourbons in France, including that of the branch of Orleans and of the +Restoration. During this long régime of the single house of the +Tokugawa, Japan had been able to prepare herself slowly to attain the +stage on which all the world witnesses her now standing. + +The history of Japan under this Shogunate shows that throughout the +whole epoch our country had not yet been entirely stripped of her +medieval garments, but it is absurd at the same time to designate the +period as essentially not modern. For long years we have been on our +forward march, always dragging along with us the ever-accumulating +residue of the civilisation of the past. If any one, however, should +venture to judge us by the enormous heaps of these souvenirs of a +by-gone civilisation overburdening us, and should say that the Japanese +had been standing still these two centuries and a half, then he would be +entirely mistaken. The overestimation of Japan of the Meidji era by a +great many foreigners is, though seconded by not a few Japanese, a fault +which had its origin in this misapprehension about our country under the +Tokugawa régime. The attention of these observers was engrossed, when +they took their first views of the land and people, by those things +which seemed to them strange and curious, being quite different from +what they themselves possessed at home, or which were thought by them +anachronistic, on account of having been abandoned by them long ago, +though once they had them also in their own countries. As regards what +they had been accustomed to at home, they took very little notice of it +in Japan, and considered the existence of such things in our country as +a matter of course, if they happened to come across them. Most of them +came over to Japan, prepossessed already by their expectations of +finding here a unique country, and were thus unconsciously led, after +their view of the country itself, to depict it in a very quaint light, +as something entirely different from anything they had ever experienced +anywhere; an error which even the most studious and acute observer, such +as Engelhardt Kaempfer, was not able to escape. No need to mention the +rest, especially those missionaries who wished to extol their own merits +at the expense of the Japanese. We are still suffering from +misconceptions about our country on the part of +Europeans,--misconceptions which are the legacy of the misrepresentation +of Japan by those early observers. By no means, however, do I presume to +try to exhibit Japan only in her brightest colours. Far from it, and +what I ask foreign readers not to forget is that the history of Japan +under the Tokugawa Shogunate, the period which was essentially modern, +should not be superficially judged by its abundance of feudal trammels +fondly described by contemporary Europeans. In this chapter, I shall +first make manifest which were the things medieval retained in the time +of the Tokugawa, and then treat about the essential character of the age +which should be called all but modern. + +In the foregoing chapter I spoke about some resemblances between our +later Ashikaga period and the Italian renaissance of the Quattrocento. +In the successive phases which followed in the East and in the West, +there might be found some other similarities. History, however, has not +been ordained to run in streams exactly parallel to one another in all +countries, and to be a counterpart of the age of the Reformation, the +epochs of the Oda and the Toyotomi are not more appropriate than the age +of the Kamakura Shogunate. A style in Japanese art, prevalent during and +after the régime of Hideyoshi and called "the Momoyama" by recent +connoisseurs had a striking resemblance to the Empire style, which +followed the Rococo in Europe, and in some respects indeed the later +Ashikaga period of our history might be likened to Europe of the +eighteenth century, without gross inappropriateness, while at other +points it might be compared to the Renaissance with equal fairness. It +would be very stupid, however, to surmise that Japan in the Tokugawa +period attained to a culture which in its general aspect belonged almost +to the same stage as that prevailing in Europe in the early nineteenth +century. Art, though an important cultural factor, cannot be made the +sole criterion of the civilisation of any nation or people. It is quite +indisputable that Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate had many things +about which we could not boast. + +So long as war is a calamity unavoidable in this world, it is folly to +expect in any country that the cruelty of men to men will entirely +cease. But if the intensity of cruelty in warfare be taken as being in +inverse ratio to the progress of civilisation, as it generally used to +be, then the Tokugawa period evidently should not be lauded as an age of +great enlightenment. Until the end of the Shogunate of this house it had +been the custom for a warrior on the battlefield to cut off the head of +the antagonist whom he had slain. Though we have had no such +demoralising sort of warfare in our history as that carried on by +mercenary troops in medieval Europe, where defeated warriors were taken +prisoners in order to obtain from them as rich ransoms as they could +afford to pay, in other words, though the nature of warfare in Japan was +far more serious in general than in the West, it was on that account far +more dangerous for the combatants engaged. It was the custom in any +battle to reward that warrior who first decapitated an enemy's head as +generously as one who was the first over the wall in an attack on a +fortress. Moreover, during the ceremony in celebration of a victory on a +battlefield, all those enemy heads were collected and brought for the +inspection of the commanding general of the victorious army. Such a +custom in warfare, however efficient it might have been in stimulating +the martial courage of warriors, cannot be regarded as praiseworthy in +any civilised country, even where war is considered as the highest +occupation of the people. + +The Japanese manner of suicide called _hara-kiri_ or _seppuku_, a custom +of world-wide celebrity, is another thing which is well to be commented +on here. If any foreigner should suppose that _seppuku_ has been very +frequently committed in the same manner as we see it practised on the +stage, he would be greatly misled in appreciating the true national +character of the Japanese. On the contrary, _seppuku_ has not been a +matter of everyday occurrence, having taken place far less frequently +than one hears now-a-days about railway accidents. Moreover, when it was +performed, it was carried out in decent ways, if we may use the word +decent here, and not in the grotesque mode displayed on the Japanese +stage, accompanied by sardonic laughter, with bowels exposed after +cutting the belly crosswise. The reason why the Japanese warrior +resorted to _seppuku_ in committing suicide was not to kill himself in a +methodically cruel manner, but to die an honourable and manly death by +his own hand. For such methods of committing suicide, as taking poison, +drowning, strangling oneself, and the like, were considered very +ignoble, and especially unworthy of warriors. Even to die by merely +cutting one's throat was held to be rather effeminate. The fear of the +protraction of the death agony was looked on as a token of cowardice, +and therefore to be able to kill one's self in the most sober and +circumstantial manner, and at the same time to do it with every +consideration of others, was thought to be one of the requisite +qualifications of a brave warrior in an emergency. In short, for a +suicide to be honourable, it had to be proved that it was not the result +of insanity. Thus we can see that not the spirit of cruelty but martial +honour was the motive of committing _seppuku_, and it would be unfair to +stigmatise the Japanese as a cruel people because of the practice. Still +I am far from wishing to vindicate this custom in all its aspects. The +fact that this method of killing one's self continued during the whole +of the Tokugawa régime as a penalty, without loss of honour, for capital +crimes of the _samurai_ show that the humane culture of the age left +much to be wished for. + +Class distinction was another dark spot on the culture of the age. All +sorts of people outside the fighting class were roughly classified into +three bodies, that is to say, peasants, artisans, and merchants, and +were held in utter subjection, as classes made simply to be governed. +But the often-quoted tradition that warriors of that time had as their +privilege the right to kill any of the commonalty at their sweet will +and pleasure, without the risk of incurring the slightest punishment +thereby, is erroneous, having no foundation in real historical fact. +Those warriors who had committed a homicide were without prejudice +called upon to justify their act before the proper authority. If they +failed to prove that they were the provoked and injured party, they were +sure to have severe penalties inflicted on them. On the whole, however, +the common people in the Tokugawa age were looked down upon by warriors +as inferiors in reasoning and understanding, and therefore as +disqualified to participate in public affairs, social as well as +political. That their intellectual defects must have been due to their +neglected education was a matter clean put out of mind. As regards the +respective professions of the above-mentioned three classes of +plebeians, agriculture was thought to be the most honourable, on account +of producing the staple food-material, so that warriors, especially of +the lower classes, did not disdain to engage in tilling the lands +allotted to them or in exploring new arable lands. The peasants +themselves, however, were not so greatly esteemed on account of their +engaging in a profession which was held honourable. Handicrafts in +general and artisans employed in them had not been held particularly +respectable by themselves, but as the profession was productive, it was +recognised as indispensable, despised by no means. Moreover, many +artistic geniuses, who had come out of the innumerable multitudes of +artisans of various trades, have been held in very high regard in our +country, where the people have the reputation of being one of the most +artistic in the world; and those articles of rare talent unwittingly +raised the esteem of the crafts in which they were engaged. That which +was most despised as a profession was the business of merchants in all +lines, for to gain by buying and selling was thought from times past to +be a transaction approaching almost to chicanery, and therefore by no +means to be encouraged from the standpoint of national and martial +morals. Pedlars and small shop-keepers were therefore simply held in +contempt. Great merchants, however, though not much esteemed on account +of their profession, were generally treated with due consideration in +virtue of their amassed wealth. Only too frequently had the Shogunate, +as well as various _daimyo_, been obliged to stoop to court the goodwill +of rich merchants in order to get money from them. + +The methods of taxation were very arbitrary, and the person and the +rights of property of individuals were not very highly respected at that +time, the common people under the Shogunate being often subjected to +hard and brutal treatment, their persons maltreated and injured and +their properties confiscated on various trifling pretences. Though the +way to petition was not absolutely debarred to them, it was made very +irksome and perilous for plebeians to sue and obtain a hearing for their +manifold complaints. On the other hand, as they were not recognised as a +part of the nation to be necessarily consulted, and as the _vox populi_ +was not heeded in the management of public affairs, their education was +not regarded as an indispensable duty of the government. No serious +endeavour had ever been made to improve the common people +intellectually, nor to raise their standard of living. If a number of +them showed themselves able to behave like gentle folk, as if they had +been warriors by birth and, therefore, well-educated, they were rewarded +as men of extraordinary merits such as could not be reasonably expected +of them. + +The status of the political organisation of the country during the +Tokugawa régime was also what ought to be called medieval, if we draw +our conclusions from the materials ranged on the darker side only. The +country had been divided into parcels, large and small, numbering in all +a little less than three hundred, each with a territorial lord or a +_daimyo_ as its quasi-independent autocratic ruler. The frontier line +dividing adjacent territories belonging to different _daimyo_ used to be +guarded very vigilantly on both sides, and passage, both in and out, was +minutely scrutinised. For that purpose numerous barrier-gates were set +up along and within the boundary. Any land bounded by such frontiers, +and conferred on a _daimyo_ by the Shogunate as his hereditary +possession, was by its nature a self-constituted state, the political +system prevailing within which having been modelled after that of the +Shogunate itself. At the same time the territory of a _daimyo_ was +economically a self-providing, self-sufficient body. To become in such +wise independent at least was the ideal of the _daimyo_ possessing the +territory or of the territorial statesmen under him. In other words, the +territory of a _daimyo_ was an entity, political and economical. In each +territory certain kinds of produce from those confines had been +strictly prohibited by regulation to be exported beyond the frontier, +for fear that there might sometimes occur a scarcity of those +commodities for the use of the inhabitants of the territory, or lest +other territories should imitate the cultivation of like kinds of +produce, so that the value of their own commodities might decrease +thereby. In case of a famine, that is to say, of the failure of rice +crops in a territory, a phenomenon which has by no means been of rare +occurrence in our country, the export of cereals used to be forbidden in +most of the neighboring territories, even when they had a "bumper crop." +Such an internal embargo testifies that not only had Japan been closed +against foreigners, but within herself each territory cared only for its +own welfare, adhering to a mercantilist principle, as if it stood quite +secluded from the rest of the country. Very little of the cohesion +necessary to an integral state could be perceived in Japan of that time. + +Such was the condition of Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate presented +to the eyes of, and easily noticed by, the foreign observers, who +visited our country at the beginning and the middle of the period. Nay, +many of the foreigners who wrote about our land and people seem to have +shared nearly the same views as above. In truth, however, many important +factors of the Japanese history of this epoch have been omitted by +them, and the idea they could form of Japan from the one-sided and +scanty material at their disposal was only a very incomplete image of +modern Japanese civilisation. I shall, therefore, try to give a general +survey of the political and social condition of our country from the +beginning of the seventeenth century down to the Revolution of the +Meidji, and then shall treat in brief about the civilisation of the age. + +The Shogunate of the house of the Tokugawa was not an entirely new +invention. It was a partial recognition of the old régime which Iyeyasu +had inherited from Hideyoshi, as far as the territorial lords were +concerned, who were installed or recognised anterior to the advent of +Iyeyasu to power. Though a great many of the former feudatories, +especially those who had been faithful to the House of the Toyotomi to +the last, had been killed or deprived of their possessions after the +decisive battle of Sekigahara, not a few of them survived, counting +among them the most powerful of the _daimyo_, the House of Mayeta, who +was the master of Kaga and two other provinces on the Sea of Japan. The +lords of this kind had formerly been the equals of the Tokugawa, when +the latter was standing under the protection of Hideyoshi, and it was +difficult for the new Shogunate, in a country where the Emperor has ever +been the paramount sovereign, to make those lords formally swear the +oath of fealty to itself. The nature of the sovereignty, therefore, of +the Tokugawa over the feudatories aforesaid was only that of _primus +inter pares_. The _daimyo_ who stood in this relation to the Shogunate +were called _tozama_. + +The rest of the _daimyo_, together with the bodyguard of the Shogun, the +so-called "eighty thousand" with their habitual residence at Yedo, made +up the hereditary retainers or _fudai_. The non-domestic _daimyo_ had +nothing to do with the Shogun's central government, all the posts of +which, from such high functionaries as the _rôchû_ or elders, who were +none other than the cabinet ministers of the Shogunate, down to such +petty officials as scribes and watchmen, had been all filled with +domestics of various grades. As far as these domestics or direct +retainers of the Shogunate were concerned, the military régime of the +Tokugawa can be held to have been a revived form of that of Kamakura. In +the former, however, the disparity in power and wealth between the upper +and the lower domestics of the Shogun was far more remarkable than it +had been among the retainers of the latter, that is to say, the _djito_. +The term "go-kenin," held to be honourable in the time of Kamakura, +became, in the Tokugawa period, a designation of the lowest order of the +direct vassals of the Shogun. A certain number belonging to the upper +class of the _fudai_ or domestics of the Tokugawa Shogunate were made +_daimyo_, and placed on the same footing as feudatories of historical +lineage, the former equals of the Tokugawa, and formed with them +henceforth the highest military nobility of the country. The remainder +of the domestics, who were not raised to the rank of _daimyo_, were +comprised under the name of _hatamoto_, which means "under the +standard," that is to say, the Body-guard of the Shogun. Among the +members of this body there were indeed numerous scales of gradation. The +lowest of them had to lead a very miserable and straitened life in some +obscure corners of the city of Yedo, while the best of them stood as +regards income very near to minor _daimyo_, and were often more +influential. Their political status, however, notwithstanding manifold +differences in rank among them, was all the same, all being equally, +direct vassals of the Shogunate, and having no regular warriors or +_samurai_ as their own vassals. They, therefore, belonged to the lowest +grade of the privileged classes in the military hierarchy, and in this +respect there was no cardinal difference between them and the common +_samurai_ who were vassals of ordinary _daimyo_. That they were, +however, the immediate subjects of the Shogun, and that they did not owe +fealty to any _daimyo_, who was in reality subordinate at least to the +Shogun, if not his vassal in name, placed them in a status like that of +the knights immediate of the Holy Roman Empire or of the mediatised +princes of recent Germany; in short, above the status of ordinary +_samurai_ attached to an ordinary _daimyo_. Strictly speaking, between +these two there interposed another group of _samurai_. They were the +vassals of the three _daimyo_ of extraordinary distinction, of Nagoya in +the province of Owari, of Wakayama in the province of Kii, and of Mito +in the province of Hitachi. All these three being of the lateral +branches of the Tokugawa, were held in specially high regard, and put at +the topmost of all the other _daimyo_, so that their vassals considered +themselves to be quasi-_hatamoto_ and therefore above the "common" or +"garden" _samurai_. + +The _daimyo_ acted as virtual potentates in territories granted to them, +and held a court and a government there, both modelled largely after the +household and the government of the Shogun at Yedo. The better part of +the _daimyo_ resided in castles built imposingly after the architectural +style of the fortresses in Europe at that time, the technic having +perhaps been introduced along with Christianity, and they led a life far +more easy and elegant, though more regular, than the _shugo_ of the +Ashikaga age. It has been ascribed, by the way, to the rare sagacity of +Iyeyasu as a politician, that the territories of the two kinds of +_daimyo_, _tozama_ and _fudai_, were so adroitly juxtaposed, that the +latter were able to keep watch over the former's attitude toward the +Shogunate. + +The _daimyo_ were ranked according to the officially estimated amount of +rice to be produced in the territory of each. In the time of Kamakura, +the renumeration of the _djito_ was counted by the area of ricefields in +the manor entrusted to his care. By and by, the land which was the +source of the renumeration for a _djito_ came to be partitioned among +his numerous descendants, and some of the portions allotted became so +small, that it was but ridiculous to think of exercising the +jurisdiction of military police over them. Area of land began to cease +thus to be the standard of valuation of the income of a _djito_, when +the office of _djito_ meant only the emolument accompanying it, and no +longer carried with it the responsibility incumbent on it at its first +establishment. The ultimate result of such a change was that the +quantity or the price of rice produced began to be adopted gradually as +the standard of valuation of the income of territorial lords, and for a +while the two standards were in use together till the end of the +Ashikaga age. Moreover, infrequently part of the income of a _shugo_ was +reckoned by the quantity of rice, while another part of the income of +the same _shugo_ was assessed by the sale-price of the rice cultivated. +This promiscuous way of valuation, however, caused great irregularity +and confusion. For, added to the disagreement about the real quantity of +rice produced and the amount registered to be produced, the price of the +cereal itself had been so ceaselessly fluctuating according to the +inconstant condition of crops, that there was no such thing as a regular +standard price of rice invariably applicable to any year and to any +locality. Nevertheless, in an age when no uniform system of currency was +established and to accept any coin at its face value was an impossible +matter, in other words, when it was difficult to represent the price of +rice in any sort of coin then in use, to make a standard of value, not +of the actual amount of rice but of its unceasingly vacillating price, +could not but cause a great deal of inconvenience and confusion. We can +easily see from the above that the quantity of rice was by far the surer +means of bargaining than the money, which was not only indeterminate in +value but insufficient to boot. Hideyoshi, therefore, put a stop to the +use of the method of indicating the income of a territorial lord by its +valuation in money, and decreed that henceforth only the yearly +estimated yield of rice, counted by the _koku_ as a unit, should be +adopted as the means of denoting the revenue of a territory, a _koku_ +roughly corresponding to five bushels in English measure. The +land-survey, which he undertook on a grand scale throughout the whole +empire, had as its main purpose to measure the area of land classed as +rice-fields in the territories of the _daimyo_, according to the units +newly decreed, and to make the estimate of the amount of rice said to be +produced commensurate as nearly as possible with the average crop +realisable. Withal, the inequality of the standard of estimate in +different localities was rectified by this assessment of Hideyoshi's. + +This method of estimating the income of a _daimyo_ had come into general +use since the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate. As there was then no +system in our country of gradating the _daimyo_ by titles, such as +dukes, counts, and so forth, the estimated annual yield of rice in +_koku_ was used as the sole means of determining the rank of the lords +of the various territories in the long queue of the Tokugawa _daimyo_, +with the exception of a very few who had been placed in a comparatively +high rank on account of their specially noble lineage or the unique +position of their families in the national history, though most of the +nobles belonging to the latter class were classed as an intervening +group. The minimum number of _koku_ assigned to a _daimyo_ was ten +thousand. As regards the maximum number of _koku_, there was no legal +limit. One who stood, however, highest in order was the above-mentioned +House of Mayeta, the lord of Kaga etc., whose domain was assessed at +more than a million _koku_. About three hundred _daimyo_, who were +ranged between the two extremes, were divided into three orders. All +those worth more than two hundred thousand _koku_ formed a class of the +_daimyo_ major, and those worth less than one hundred thousand were +comprised in a group of the _daimyo_ minor, while the rest, that is to +say, those between one and two hundred thousand formed the middle corps. + +In the Shogun's court, a seat was assigned to each _daimyo_ in a +specified room, according to the class to which he belonged. One could, +therefore, easily tell the rank of a _daimyo_ by the name of the room in +which he had to wait when he attended on the Shogun. All _daimyo_, +almost without exception, had to move in and out at fixed intervals +between his territory, where his castle or camp stood, and Yedo, where +he kept, or, to say more correctly, was granted by the Shogun, +residences, generally more than two in number. The interval allowed to a +_daimyo_ for remaining in his territory varied according to the distance +of that territory from Yedo, being the shorter and oftener for the +nearer. He was obliged to leave his wife and children constantly in one +of his residences at Yedo, as hostages for his fidelity to the Shogun. +As to the vassals or _samurai_ of a _daimyo_, there were also two sorts. +By far the greater part of the _samurai_ belonging to a _daimyo_ had +their dwellings in their master's territory, generally in the vicinity +of his castle. These _samurai_ were the main support of their lord, and +had to accompany him by turns in his official tour to Yedo and back. The +rest of the _samurai_ under the same lord, a band which formed the small +minority, lived constantly in Yedo, each family in a compartment of the +accessory buildings surrounding the lord's residence like a colony. +These were as a rule men who were enlisted into the service of a +_daimyo_ more for the sake of making a gallant show at his official and +social functions at Yedo, than for the sake of strengthening his +fighting forces. It was natural that men accustomed to the polished life +of the military capital were thought better qualified to fulfil such +functions than the rustic _samurai_ fresh from his territories who were +good only for fighting and other serious kinds of business. While a +_daimyo_ was absent in his territory, a _samurai_ of his, belonging to +this metropolitan group, was entrusted with the care of his residences +and their occupants in Yedo, and also with the duty of receiving orders +from the Shogunate or of transacting inter-territorial business with +representatives of other _daimyo_ at Yedo. The meetings held by these +representatives of the _daimyo_ were said to be one of the most +fashionable gatherings in Yedo. That the doyen of such functionaries had +a certain prestige over others, was very similar to the usage among the +diplomatic corps in Europe. + +The _samurai_ who had their abode in their lord's territory, however, +represented the real strength of a _daimyo_, and were the soul and body +of the whole military régime. The number of _samurai_ in a territory +differed according to the rank and the resources of a _daimyo_. Some of +the powerful nobles counted more than ten thousand regular _samurai_ +under them, while minor ones could maintain only a few hundred as +necessary retainers. In the latter case almost all of the _samurai_ had +their dwellings clustering around the castle or camp of their lord. If +there were any _samurai_ who lived outside of the residential town, +they led an agricultural rather than a soldierly life. The relation of +vassalage in such a territory was simple, for under the _samurai_ +consisting of a single order there was no swords-wearer serving them. In +the territory of the powerful _daimyo_, however, especially in those of +the big _daimyo_ in Kyushu and the northern part of Honto, comprising an +area of two or more average provinces in Middle Japan, the relation of +vassalage was very complicated, sometimes forming a feudalism of the +second order. That is to say, the most influential _samurai_ under those +_daimyo_ had also their own small territory granted by their lord, just +as the latter had his granted or recognised by the Shogunate, and held +several hundred swords-wearers, non-commissioned _samurai_, in their +service. It was not rare that some of these magnates surpassed in income +many minor independent _daimyo_, and had in their hands the destiny of a +greater number of people, for their emolument rose often to twenty or +thirty thousand _koku_. Their rank in the military régime, however, was +indisputably lower than that of the smallest of _daimyo_, on account of +their being only indirectly subordinate to the Shogun. + +In all territories throughout the whole country, the emolument of the +_samurai_ was granted in the form of land, or of rice from the granaries +of the _daimyo_, or paid in cash. Sometimes we see a combination of two +or three of these forms given to one _samurai_. Besides this pay a +patch of ground was allotted to each _samurai_ as his homestead, and a +part of that ground used to be cultivated to produce vegetables for +family consumption. In whatever form a _samurai_ might receive his +stipend, it was officially denoted by the number of _koku_, registered +as his nominal income, and that very number determined his position in +the list of vassals of a _daimyo_, unless he came from an +extraordinarily distinguished lineage. As regards the maximum and the +minimum number of _koku_ given to _samurai_, there was no uniform +standard applicable to all of the territories. Such powerful _daimyo_ as +Mayeta in Kaga, Shimatsu in Satsuma, and Date in Mutsu owned many +vassal-_samurai_ who were so puissant as to be fairly comparable to +small _daimyo_, while in the territories of the latter, a _samurai_ of +pretty high position in his small territorial circle received an +allowance of _koku_ so scant that one of the lowest rank, if he were a +regular _samurai_, would disdain to receive in big territories. +Generally speaking, however, one hundred _koku_ was considered to be an +average standard, applicable to _samurai_ under any _daimyo_, to +distinguish those of the respectable or official class from those of the +non-commissioned or subaltern class. Only the _samurai_ above this +standard could keep servants bearing two swords, long and short, as a +_samurai_ himself did. Not only all officers in time of war, but all +high civil functionaries in the territorial government of a _daimyo_ +were taken from this body of orthodox _samurai_. The _samurai_ below +this level could keep a servant wearing only one sword, the shorter, and +they had to serve their lord as officials of the inferior class, such as +scribes, cashiers, butlers, etc. + +The lowest in the scale of the military régime was the group of +_ashigaru_, that is to say, of the light infantry. Those who belonged to +this group, though wearers of two swords, were not counted as of the +corps of _samurai_. Being legally vassals of a _daimyo_, they had yet +very rare chances of serving him directly, and often they enlisted into +the household service of a higher _samurai_. Between the _ashigaru_ and +the regular _samurai_, there was another intermediate group of +two-sworded men, called _kachi_, which means warriors-on-foot. In feudal +times all warriors, if of _samurai_ rank, were presumed to be cavaliers, +though in reality most of them had not even a stable, and skill in +horsemanship was not rigorously required from the _samurai_ of the lower +class. The name _kachi_, given to those who in rank came next to the +_samurai_, implied that this intermediate group of quasi-_samurai_ was +not allowed to ride on horse-back. This group was, however, much nearer +to the _samurai_ than to the _ashigaru_ group. + +So far I have given a rough sketch of the gradations in the military +régime in the territory of a _daimyo_. It should be here noticed that, +besides the classes above stated, there were many other minor groups +below the regular _samurai_, and that there were also diverse +heterogeneities of system in the territories of different _daimyo_. +Needless to say that the gradations and kinds of _hatamoto_, who were +_samurai_ serving directly under the Shogun, were far more multifarious +and complex than those of the _samurai_ under a _daimyo_. There is no +doubt, however, that the apex of the whole military régime was the +Shogun himself, while at its foundation were the sundry _samurai_ who +numbered perhaps nearly half a million families in all. + +All the lands of Japan were not allotted exhaustively to the _daimyo_ by +the Shogunate. On the contrary, immense territories in various parts of +the empire, amounting to four millions of _koku_, were reserved to the +Shogun himself. Important sea-ports, such as Nagasaki, Sakai, and +Niigata, rich mines like those in the province of Iwami and in the +island of Sado, the vast forest of Kiso in the province of Shinano, and +so forth, were kept in the hands of the Shogunate, out of economical as +well as political reasons. With the income from all these agricultural +and industrial resources, the Shogunate defrayed all the governmental +charges and the expenses of national defence, as well as the enormous +civil list of the Shogun himself, who maintained a very luxurious court. +The stipend for the lower class of _hatamoto_, who had no land allotted +to them, was paid also with the rice raised in the Shogun's domain or +bought with his money and stored in Yedo. As to the fiscal system and +the direct domain of a _daimyo_ in his territory, it is needless to say +that everywhere the imitation of that of the Shogun prevailed, conducted +only on a smaller scale. + +The relation of the Shogunate to the Emperor at Kyoto was on the whole +but a continuation of the same status as in the time of Hideyoshi. Since +the Fujiwara period state affairs had ceased to be conducted personally +by the Emperor himself. The regent, who was at first, and ought to have +been ever after, appointed during the minority or the illness of an +Emperor, became identical with the highest ministerial post, and lost +its extra-ordinary character. It is true that some of the able emperors, +dissatisfied with such a state of things, tried to take the reins of +government into their own hands again, and some succeeded for a while in +the recovery of their political power, so far as their relations with +the Fujiwara family were concerned. What they could recover, however, +was not all of the prestige which had slipped out of the hands of their +predecessors. For on account of the lassitude of the Fujiwara +court-nobles, the power which they had once arrogated to themselves +passed into the possession of the newly arisen warrior class, and what +those emperors could recover was only a part of what still remained in +the hands of the Fujiwara. The Emperor Go-Daigo was the last who tried +desperately to resume the imperial prerogative once wrested from the +Kamakura Shogunate, and he succeeded in his endeavour. He could not, +however, prevent the advent to power of the new Shogunate of the +Ashikaga. After that, through the most turbulent age in the history of +Japan, which continued to the time of Hideyoshi, the imperial household +could sustain itself only meagrely on the scanty income from a few +estates. But however lacking in power and material resource the Emperor +might have been, he still continued to be the source and fountain of +honour as ever, and everybody clearly knew that he was, being held +divine, indisputably higher than the Shogun, who was obliged to obey if +the Emperor chose to command. What was to be regretted was that no +Emperor had been strong enough to command. The saying "le roi régne, +mais il ne gouverne pas" has never been accepted in our country as the +constitutional principle. That the imperial prestige was never totally +lost even in the depths of the turmoil of war may be proved by the fact +that the Emperor often interceded in struggles between various _daimyo_, +who waged weary and acrimonious wars against one another. The political +situation of the Emperor, however, had been unsettled for a long while, +only because the situation had remained for long not urgent enough to +require to be made instantly clear. If it had had to be solved at once, +without doubt it must have been solved in favour of the Emperor. +Especially after the civil war of the Ohnin era, to restore the nominal +power, of which the Shogun of the Ashikaga family was in possession, +would have added nothing substantial to the real power of the then +Emperor, for the Shogunate of that time was but a scapegoat in the hands +of impudent and adventurous warriors. Even the prestige of the Emperor +and the Shogun combined would not have sufficed to achieve anything +momentous at that period, when the country had been so torn asunder as +not to be easily united and pacified. What was most needed in Japan of +that time was a fresh, strong, energetic military dictator. + +Nobunaga, who came soon after the Ashikaga, was endued, at the height of +his power, with a civil title belonging to the régime of court-nobles, +and had not, until his untimely death, been invested by the Emperor with +the Shogunate. Having sprung from a warrior family which had been +originally subservient to one of the retainers of the Shogunate, he +would perhaps have been loth himself to be looked on as an usurper even +after he had ceased to assist the Shogun, who survived him. Moreover, +during his whole life, it was impossible for him to become the virtual +master of the whole of Japan. It was Hideyoshi, his vassal and +successor, who succeeded at last in the unification of long-disturbed +Japan by dint of arms. He, however, was also not invested with the +Shogunate. It is said that he would have liked, indeed, to become one, +but was dissuaded from it, having been reminded that he did not belong +to either the Minamoto or the Taira, the two renowned warrior-families +which were historically thought to be the only ones qualified to provide +the generalissimo, the Shogun. After his death and the subsequent defeat +of the partisans of his family in the decisive battle of Sekigahara in +1600, Iyeyasu Tokugawa, who gave himself out as the descendant of +Minamoto-no-Yoshiiye, succeeded to the power as Shogun in 1603. With +this political change the Emperor had really very little to do, except +to give recognition to the _fait accompli_. The selection of Yedo by +Iyeyasu as the site of the new Shogunate created a political situation +like that of Kamakura by Yoritomo. It is even said that Iyeyasu himself +in organising the new military régime made the system of the Kamakura +Shogunate his model. + +By the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, no marked change +occurred in the Emperor's position as supreme sovereign of the country +as ever, but the Shogunate conducted the state business as the regent +entrusted with the whole care of the island Empire, so that the +government at Yedo had no occasion to refer to the court at Kyoto to +obtain the imperial sanction. In this respect the Shogunate of Yedo was +decidedly more independent of the Imperial Court than had been the +Kamakura Shogunate. Kyoto, however, continued as before to be the +fountainhead of all honour. All the honours and titles of the _daimyo_ +were conferred in the name of the reigning Emperor, though through the +intermediary of the Shogunate. The appellations of these distinctions +were also the same as those given to court-nobles, only being +comparatively low in the case of the former, if we take the real +influence of the _daimyo_ into consideration. For the emoluments of +court-nobles in the time of the Tokugawa were generally very small, and +the highest of them could only match materially with the middle class of +the _hatamoto_ or the high class vassals of some powerful _daimyo_. All +the manorial estates which the court-nobles had retained until the +middle of the Ashikaga period had since been occupied by warriors +paramount in the respective regions, and they changed their master +several times during the anarchical disorders at the end of the period, +so that restitution became utterly impossible. The total amount which +the Shogunate at Yedo had to pay to the court-nobles as annual honoraria +was about eighty thousand _koku_. + +The Imperial Household had a civil list amounting at first to one +hundred thousand _koku_, which was more than three times what it had +been at the time of the Ashikaga. A little later it was increased to +three hundred thousand _koku_, and the sum remained stationary at that +figure for more than half a century. Then an annual subsidy in cash +between thirty and forty thousand _ryô_ was added. The Empress had to be +provided for separately. When there was an ex-Emperor or Crown Prince, +then he also was entitled to a separate allowance from Yedo. If we +include, therefore, the emolument paid to the court-nobles, and estimate +them all together by the number of _koku_, the Shogunate had to pay to +Kyoto an annual sum of between four and five hundred thousand. +Extraordinary expenditures, such as the rebuilding of the imperial +palace, were also part of the burden of the Shogunate. On the whole, the +financial condition of the court at Kyoto was somewhat more straitened +than that of the most powerful _daimyo_. + +With his income as stated the Emperor maintained his court, and +performed historical ceremonies, each prescribed for a certain day of a +certain season. He did not need to trouble himself about state affairs, +for all such matters had been delegated _de facto_ to the Shogunate, or +rather the Shogun behaved himself as if he were the sole agent of the +Emperor. To have direct communication with the Emperor had been +forbidden to all _daimyo_. The Shogun, on his part, entrusted everything +concerning local affairs to the _daimyo_. As to the judicial procedure, +that of the Shogunate was taken as the model by all _daimyo_. There +still prevailed a great many peculiarities in each particular territory +in the ways of legislation and its enforcement, so that Japan of that +time presented a most motley aspect as regards legal matters, like +France under the ancient régime. The power of the _daimyo_ to impose +taxes and raise contributions was restricted by no explicit law, and +therefore had been exercised rather arbitrarily. When in financial +stress, he could freely make applications, approaching to commands, to +some of his well-to-do subjects, whatever the cause of his pecuniary +embarrassment might be. Besides he could coin money, if its use were +limited to his own territory. No need to say that notes were also +abundantly issued by his treasurer for circulation within his territory +as substitutes for the legal tender. In time of peace the _samurai_ +under a _daimyo_ served their lord in his territorial government as +civil officials. They, however, being warriors by nature, had to be +constantly trained in military arts, with various weapons, among which +swords and spears were preferred as the most practical. Archery had not +been abandoned entirely, and the bow and arrow was still held to be the +emblem of the noble calling of warriors, but this sort of weapon had +never been used on battle-fields since the beginning of the Tokugawa +period, so that the art had become on the whole ceremonial. The use of +fire-arms introduced at the end of the Ashikaga epoch became rapidly +general all over the country. Gunners were employed, as archers formerly +had been, in opening a battle, and then made way for the attack of the +infantry. Shooting was considered in the Tokugawa period to be more +practical than archery, but as there was little space for showing +personal bravery in the practice of this art, It was not highly +encouraged among the _samurai_. Though fighting on horseback had not +been prevalent on the battle-field since the middle Ashikaga, commanders +at least continued to ride, so that horsemanship was a requisite art of +the _samurai_ in the Tokugawa age, especially among its higher grades. +It should be here well noticed the _jûjutsu_, which is now very +celebrated all over the world as a military art originated and +cultivated by the Japanese, did not much attract the attention of the +orthodox Tokugawa warriors, for it was thought to be an art useful in +arresting culprits, and therefore good only for lower _samurai_ or those +below them in rank, who were generally in charge of the police business +in all territories. + +With such military accomplishments, the _samurai_ of the period were to +serve their territorial master in time of war as leaders and fighters, +for it was still the age in which all warriors were expected to display +a personal bravery, parallel to their ability to lead and command +troops, as in medieval Europe. As there had been neither external nor +civil war, however, for more than two centuries since the semi-religious +insurrection at Shimabara in Kyushu was subdued in the year 1638, war +was prepared for only as an imaginary possibility, and not as a probable +emergency. The _samurai_ of all territories, therefore, though said to +be on a constant war footing, were not trained as they should have +been. We see indeed the division of them into fighting groups and the +appointment of a leader for each group in times of peace. But there was +no manoeuvring nor any training of a like kind in tactical movements. +The only military exercise approaching it was the hunting of wild game +or the sham hunting which ended in cruelly sacrificing dogs, and even +these sports were not practised frequently. That those pieces of +Japanese armour, which foreigners can now see in many museums in Europe +and America, had been long found to be a sort of thing rather +inconvenient to wear in this country, yet had nevertheless continued to +be a furniture indispensable to every household of _samurai_ and to be +embellished with an exquisite workmanship, proves how academically war +had been regarded in those far-off days. It can be easily gathered from +the above statement that the _samurai_ of the time were more civil +functionaries than fighting men. Their real status, however, being +warriors and not civilians, they were constantly subjected to martial +law. They had to serve their master always with all their might, holding +themselves responsible with their lives, as if they were on the +battlefield facing the enemy. Many examples may be cited from the +history of the age of _samurai_ suicides, committed on account of some +misdemeanour or the mismanagement of the civil administration confided +to him. In effect, an armed peace reigned throughout the Empire. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE, CULTURE AND SOCIETY + + +In the previous chapter I have dwelt on the military and political +organisation of the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate somewhat more fully +than was appropriate for a book of such small compass as this. What was +then the civilisation, which had been supported and sheltered by this +organisation and régime? That must be told subsequently. + +As the well-planned military régime of the Shogunate can be said to have +been based on the assumption that war was a far-distant possibility, an +imaginary danger, and as at the same time the Shogunate had watched +jealously not to stir up _daimyo_ and _samurai_ to so warlike a pitch of +self-confidence that they would believe themselves able to cope with the +Shogun, there had lain the chief difficulty of sustaining the martial +spirit of the nation in full strength, that is to say, of continuing the +military régime as it had been at first. There were of course several +gradations in the intensity of the fighting spirit of the people in +different localities of the country. In both extremities of the Empire, +in the south of Kyushu and in the north of Honto, where civilisation +was rather at a low ebb, the martial spirit had continued not much +abated since the time of the Ashikaga. On both sides of the boundary of +two such adjoining territories, a difference of dialect was clearly +perceivable, and an acute hostile feeling against each other prevailed. +People were not allowed to marry their neighbors beyond the frontier, +and this rule was strictly applied to all members of the warrior-class. +In brief, they were always staring each other in the face, as if ready +to fight at any time. As to the greater part of the Empire, however, +including the territories situated between the two extremities, that is +to say, in those regions of the country where the people were more +enlightened, no such animosity between the peoples of neighboring +_daimyo_ was to be noticed. There marriages had been contracted freely +between the subjects of different lords, a relationship which could only +arise from the assumption that most probably there would occur no war +between the two _daimyo_, and there would be no fear of such marriages +becoming an awkward connection. Adjoining territories maintaining such +intimate relations, being connected by the personalities of the +inhabitants, should be considered not as quasi-independent states ranged +side by side and in dangerous rivalry, verging almost on belligerency, +but as neighboring governmental departments in the same well-centralised +state. It may be gathered from these data that the more enlightened and +by far the greater part of the Japanese nation were so peace-loving, +that they organised all their ways of living on the assumption of a +permanent peace. And that absolute peace had verily continued for more +than two centuries in a country said to have been dominated by an +absolute military régime, more than testifies how averse is the Japanese +nation from wanton warfare. Foreigners should ponder this irrefutable +fact in the history of Japan, a fact which can not elsewhere be found in +abundance even in the history of European and American states, before +they calumniate our nation as the most bellicose and dangerous in the +world. + +Without doubt Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate was a country governed +by a military régime, feudalistic in form, but in truth peace brooded +over the land, the utmost peace which could be expected from any +military régime. As tranquillity had continued so long, our civilisation +had been able meanwhile to make a wonderful progress. If war can be +eulogised with some justice to be a stimulating and compulsive factor of +civilisation, with no less certainty peace may be complimented as a +factor, the most efficient, in fostering the same. In the preceding +chapters I have spoken of the propagation of culture throughout the +country, notwithstanding its anarchical condition, and of that very +culture, which was in the main humanistic. This humanistic culture had +now its successor in a civilisation higher in form and in quality. That +the progress was apparently retarded for a while on account of wars, +which rapidly succeeded one after another at the end of the Ashikaga, +was a phenomenon that was only temporary. How could a few patches of +straw floating on the surface stop the forward movement of a strong +undercurrent, however slowly the stream might run? Mingled with the +clash and clang of arms, an exquisite music embodying the ever advancing +civilisation of our country had been heard; though at first very faintly +audible, it grew louder and louder till it became sonorous enough to +make the whole nation vibrate when the clamorous battle-cry of the +warriors had subsided. In short, Japan had been steadily advancing, and +it was indeed those warriors themselves who carried the torch of +civilisation farther and farther onward. Many historians ascribed it +solely to the individual exertion of Iyeyasu, that learning had been +revived since the beginning of the seventeenth century. Seeing, however, +that those _samurai_ who fought with and under him had rarely been noted +for the excellence of their literary acquirements, it can hardly be +supposed that he had been deeply interested in promoting learning and +culture among his entourage. Neither did he himself leave any trace of +his having received a higher degree of liberal education than the +average generals of his times. It is too notorious a fact to doubt that +he earnestly encouraged learning and ordered many books to be +reprinted. Yet it is also clear that his encouragement was very +efficient, mainly because his position as the sole military and +political master of Japan enabled him to figure as a patron of the arts. +The fact that before his authority as a military dictator became +incontestably established, the reprint of various books had been going +on almost without intermission, and that the two Emperors Go-Yôzei and +Go-Midzunowo and also Kanetsugu Naoye, a warrior who had grown up in the +remote province of Yechigo, were among the most ardent patrons of +learning by the encouragement they gave to the reprinting of standard +works, testifies that Iyeyasu did not stand alone in encouraging liberal +education. After all, it should be fairly said that the first Shogun of +the Tokugawa did only what ought to have been done by him, or what the +nation had a right to expect from a person in a position such as his. In +1593, that is to say, five years before the death of Hideyoshi, the +Emperor Go-Yôzei ordered the so-called old text of the _Hsiao-king_ to +be reprinted in wooden type. This was the first book in our country +printed with movable type, so far as can be said with certainty. As to +the types themselves which the Emperor resorted to in his scholastic +undertaking, we have reason to suppose that they had been seized in +Korea as a prize of war and brought to this country by the expeditionary +troops which Hideyoshi had sent thither in the previous year. Korea had +been looked upon through the Ashikaga period by the Japanese as a +country more advanced in culture than Japan in those days. We read in +our history about the repeated applications addressed by the Ashikaga +Shogunate to the Korean government, not only for the donation of a +complete set of the Buddhist Tripitaka reprinted in that country, but +also the blocks themselves used in that reprinting. To the latter of +these two requests, the peninsular government flatly declined to accede. +To the former, however, they acquiesced as many times as they could +manage, so that we see now here and there volumes of the sutras which +had been sent as presents by the Korean government before the +seventeenth century. The method of printing with movable types had been +introduced into Korea of course from China, and types made of wood as +well as of clay had long been in use there. It seems to have been those +wooden types which our warriors fetched home, and the fact that such +vehicles of learning had been taken as a war-prize by these soldiers +indicates that they were not totally indifferent to the cultivation of +letters. + +In 1597, four years after the reprinting of the afore-said _Hsiao-king_, +the same Emperor ordered again many other books to be reprinted. Among +those then thus reproduced were not only several books of Confucian +classical literature and other Chinese works, literary as well as +medical, but some Japanese books, such as the first volume of the +_Nihongi_ and a work on Japanese political institutions written by +Chikafusa Kitabatake, a court-noble in the time of the Emperor Go-Daigo, +who was noted for his unwavering fidelity to the Emperor and for his +education, being the author of the celebrated history called +_Jingô-shôtôki_. Many of these books seem to have been re-issued within +the same year, which was one year previous to the death of Hideyoshi, +and the types used this time were made in our country after the Korean +models. Most probably the types captured in Korea as prizes did not long +suffice to satiate the increasing desire of the Emperor, aroused by his +deep interest in books. + +The next step in the improvement of Japanese printing followed the same +course as it had in Europe, that is to say, the use of metallic types. +The first attempt in this improved method was made by the aforesaid +Kanetsugu Naoye, head of the vassals of the house of Uyesugi, who was at +that time lord of Yonezawa. The book which Naoye ordered to be reprinted +was the celebrated Chinese literary glossary called the _Wen-hsüan_, +which literally means selected literary pieces, in verse as well as in +prose. This reprint was put into execution at Fushimi in the year 1606, +which was the fourth year of the Shogunate of Iyeyasu, and the metallic +material then used in casting the types was copper. With him as the +precursor, several patrons of learning followed in his wake. Among the +most noted of them were Iyeyasu himself and the Emperor Go-Midsunowo. +This Emperor, who was the son and successor of the Emperor Go-Yôzei, +imitated his father in encouraging the reproduction of books with type, +not of wood but of copper as Naoye had done. The book printed under the +imperial auspices in 1621 was the fifteen volumes of a Chinese lexicon +after the block print issued in China of the Sung dynasty. Prior, +however, to the undertaking of the Emperor, Iyeyasu, as ex-Shogun, +ordered reprints to be made with copper types at his residential town of +Sumpu, now called Shidzuoka, in the province of Suruga. The books +reprinted there in 1615 and 1616 were the index of the complete series +of the Buddhist Tripitaka and the Extracts from Various Chinese +Classics. Besides these, it should be mentioned in his honour as a +patron of learning, that he ordered more than one hundred thousand +pieces of wooden types to be manufactured for the reprinting of various +useful books. From 1599, the year before the decisive battle of +Sekigahara, until the end of his Shogunate, Iyeyasu's agent at Fushimi +carried on the printing of books with movable wooden types without any +cessation. Among the books reprinted there were the _Adzuma-kagami_, the +record of the earlier Kamakura Shogunate, a Chinese political miscellany +written at the beginning of the T'ang dynasty, and some old Chinese +strategical works. + +Not only such illustrious personages as the above-mentioned Emperors, +Shogun, and eminent warriors, but men of mediocre means or of +unpretentious rank, such as _samurai_, priests, literati and merchants, +also vied with one another in publishing new and old books of Japan as +well as of China, by the method of woodblocks or of movable types. Among +wealthy merchants the most renowned at that time as the Mecaenas of arts +and learning was Yoichi Suminokura. He was born of a rich family living +in a suburb of Kyoto, and was himself an enterprising merchant. +Moreover, his accomplishments in the Chinese classics and in Japanese +versification were far ahead of the average literati of the time, and +his skill in calligraphy has been said to be almost incomparable. Out of +the immense fortune which he had amassed by trading with continental +countries as far as Tonkin and Cochin-China, he spent great sums freely +in publishing books, the greater part of which were works famous in +Japanese literature. It is said that more than twenty sorts of books +were issued by him alone, counting in all several hundred volumes. + +What most attracts our attention in his undertakings, however, is the +fact that all of these books were printed, not in the movable type then +in vogue, but in the wood-block style of old. The new method of printing +with type, though introduced several years back and assiduously +encouraged by many influential persons, had not been able to demonstrate +its advantages to the full. In each edition, whoever might have been the +publisher, the number of copies issued had generally not exceeded two +hundred, and that the number was so small shows at the same time the +narrowness of the reading circle of that age. It proves also that Japan +was not yet in any urgent need of seeing books suddenly multiplied by +the busy use of movable types. Moreover, many inconveniences, not known +in the typography of the West, manifested themselves in the adoption of +the new method in a country like the Japan of that time, where Chinese +ideographs had been used almost exclusively as the necessary vehicle for +expressing thought. We had to provide a great variety of fonts of types, +each type-face representing a special ideograph, so that a far larger +and more varied assortment of fonts was required than in the case where +an alphabet is in use, not to mention that the total number of types had +to be enormously augmented out of the necessity of having numerous +multiples of the same type. To print sundry accessories alongside +Chinese texts, in order to make them easily legible for Japanese +students, was another difficulty which was found almost insuperable in +the adoption of movable types. The desire of some editors to insert +illustrations could not also be fulfilled easily, if the text was to be +printed in type, for setting the blocks together with type was +considered a very irksome business at a time when printing in type was +still in its infancy. They would rather have preferred the single use of +wood-blocks to using them together with types. Lastly, as regards those +literary works by Japanese authors which Suminokura had fondly put into +print, that is to say, in cases where the editor's chief care was the +reproduction in facsimile of the manuscript originally executed in fine +calligraphic style, movable types entirely failed to serve the purpose. +All these disadvantages conspired indeed to frustrate the development of +the printing in type, so that the new method was set aside soon after +its introduction until the end of the Shogunate. It is certain, however, +that the introduction of the use of types in printing, though to a very +limited extent, contributed none the less to the general progress of +civilisation in Japan, in multiplying books and in stimulating the +thirst for knowledge on the part of the general public. + +There is no doubt whatever that, in the number of books published in +Japan, the beginning of the seventeenth century far surpassed the end of +the sixteenth. Bookstores, where books were sold, bought, edited, and +published, were now to be found in Kyoto and Yedo, and their business +became lucrative enough to be continued as an independent calling. Here +the question must naturally arise, how were those multiplied books +distributed? There were, besides the priests, especially those belonging +to the Zen sect, not a few professional literati, who pursued learning +as their chief business. Secretaries in the chancellories of the Shogun +and of various _daimyo_ had been generally recruited from that class. +Their number, however, had remained comparatively insignificant for a +long time during the earlier part of the Shogunate, and they had been +classified rather into an exclusive society, which included physicians +and Buddhist priests. They had been treated as servants engaged in +reading and writing, and not respected as advisers nor revered as +leaders of the spirit of the age. However noble might be the profession +in which they were engaged, still they were mere professional men, +considered good to serve and not apt to lead. The increase in number of +such men of letters, it is true, was the cause and the effect of the +rise of the cultural level of the country, for it clearly denoted that +Japan had begun to appreciate learning more highly than before and hence +to demand more of these learned men. But that increase must have +naturally stopped short, unless the learning which they taught was +imbibed by the people at large and made itself a necessary ingredient of +the national life, that is to say, unless the general public had gained +thereby more of enlightenment. + +For such a continual progress Japan was quite ready. Within half a +century, our country had been transformed from an anarchical country of +interminable wars to a peaceful land, a land which was non-militaristic +to the utmost, though under one of the most elaborate military régimes. +That it had been "shut up" against foreign intercourse was, in its main +motive, not to ward off the infiltration of Western civilisation in +general, but only to achieve a peaceful national progress undisturbed by +any intervention of scheming foreign missionaries. The Shogun, who ought +to have continued as a military dictator, had been turned into a +potentate who cared the least for military matters, though here lurked +the danger of losing his _raison d'être_ against the Emperor at Kyoto. +The "wisest fool" in Japan was Tsunayoshi, the fifth Shogun of the +Tokugawa, who not only founded a college and a shrine for the spirit of +Confucius at Yushima in Yedo, the site where now the Educational Museum +stands, but was very fond of playing the savant, and himself delivered +lectures commenting on Confucian texts before the assembled _daimyo_ in +duty bound to listen to him. With a Shogun like him at the head of the +government, it should by no means be wondered at that the cultivation of +Chinese literature, which formed the greater part of the learning of the +time, came into vogue among all of those belonging to the military +régime, the _daimyo_ and the _samurai_ of various sorts and grades. +Moreover, the _samurai_ of the age themselves, though they professed to +be warriors as ever in their essential character, and their training in +military exercises had never really significantly relaxed, had ceased to +be fighting men by profession as of yore, on account of the +long-continued tranquillity. Notwithstanding the fact that the reason +they had been honoured and respected by the common people was mainly +because they were serving the country through their master, the +_daimyo_, at the possible hazard of their lives, they had been obliged +gradually not to rely on their martial valour only, but to mould their +character and improve their ability, so as to befit themselves to become +capable officials, administrators, nay, even statesmen in their own +territory and well-bred gentlemen in private life, so as to furnish +models to the common people by their personal examples. As they had read +Chinese works mainly for this purpose, the kinds of books read were +naturally limited, the most preferred being those pertaining to morals +and politics, that is to say, Confucian literature and the histories of +various Chinese dynasties, all of which were pragmatic enough. Their +literary culture, therefore, tended to become rigid, narrow, and +utilitarian, though very serious in intention. At first sight it must +seem a very paradoxical matter that the learning which had been +essentially humanistic in the Ashikaga period should have taken so +utilitarian a tendency in the age directly following it. If we, however, +once think of the Italian Renaissance metamorphosed into the German +Reformation, when it got northward over the Alps, we need not be much +embarrassed to understand the seemingly abrupt transition in our +country. + +It should also be noted that utilitarian studies had not formed the +whole of the literary culture of the Tokugawa age. Since the very +beginning of the Shogunate down to its fall the humanistic studies +handed down by the preceding age had never been entirely swept away from +the land. The utilitarian studies above cited had been almost +exclusively pursued by those _samurai_ standing directly under the +Shogun or under the powerful _daimyo_ whose territories were big enough +to be administered as quasi-independent states, and whose governments +were on such a scale as to need high statesmanship in order to be well +managed. In other words, those who had devoted themselves to the study +of the serious sorts of literature had been generally men to whom some +opportunities might have been given for allowing them to put into +practice what they had learned from books. If these larger territories +were to be compared with Prussia and other kingdoms and middle states in +the German Confederation, the small states in the same political body +would make good counterparts of the petty territories of minor _daimyo_ +in Japan. As to those _samurai_ serving the minor _daimyo_, it had been +difficult to make them interested in the perusal of Chinese political +works, for their sphere of action was not wide enough to require the +territorial affairs being conducted according to high and delicate +policies emanating from a profound political principle. In this respect +they had much in common with their colleagues residing in the domains +directly belonging to the Shogunate. As the governor-in-chief and his +principal assistants in each domain had not been taken from the +residents of each district, but despatched thither from Yedo, the +_samurai_ attached to the locality were merely employed to serve the +government of their own district as low-class officials, so that they +had little or no hand even in local politics. Some of these _samurai_ +were landed proprietors, who, being rich and having little serious +business to demand their attention, had ample means and time to dip into +books, which could hardly have been of the kind causing self-constraint, +for their first motive in reading was only for the sake of distraction. +The landed gentry, under the _samurai_ in rank, though wealthier, and +generally in charge of village affairs and in control of lesser farmers +and peasants, were also found numerously in the domains. They too were +the sort of people to be classified in the same category as the +_samurai_ of the domains. The _samurai_ and gentry gathered in and +around second-rate towns in large territories belonging to powerful +_daimyo_ may be included also in the same group. It may be, however, +premature to suppose that only books belonging to light literature were +welcomed by those who resided in districts where the military régime had +the least hold. Serious works, such as ethical treatises, for instance, +which abound in Chinese literature, were also read there, but rather for +the purpose of occupying themselves with metaphysical speculations about +moral questions, than in order to regulate their own conduct, private +or public, according to the principles taught in them. In short, their +thirst for knowledge was purely for the sake of enjoying an intellectual +pleasure thereby, and therefore had been quite humanistic. It was here +that the true inheritors of the culture of the later Ashikaga were to be +sought, and not in places where the influence of the regular _samurai_ +was paramount. Needless to say, the centre of this humanistic culture +was Kyoto, whose significance as the political capital had already been +lost, while Yedo represented at its best the culture of the _samurai_. +The Chinese books preferred by these humanistic dilettanti were those +pertaining to rhetoric and poetry. They were greatly addicted to +practising these branches of literature. Art for art's sake also found a +better patron among such people than in the courts of the Shogun and of +influential _daimyo_, where art had rather an applied meaning, +represented in ornamental things such as screen and wall paintings down +to the miniature-art of the _tsuba_ and the _netsuke_. Wandering poets, +rhetoricians, calligraphers, and artists of various crafts were wont to +be far better harboured in districts where the humanistic culture +prevailed, than in Yedo or in the residential towns of powerful +_daimyo_, where politics and discipline were all-important. The most +significant difference between the two sorts of culture was manifested +in a special branch of art, that of painting. In the military circles, +the painting of the Kano school was preferred, which was rather rigid +in style and had some tincture of the taste highly prized by the +Zen-sect priests. On the other hand, what was in vogue among the +non-military circles was the so-called "Bunjin-gwa," or paintings of the +school of "literati-painters," which were introduced at the beginning of +the Tokugawa period from China, and were characterised by the mellowness +of tone prevailing in them and also by a lack of the professional +flavour. + +Besides these two distinct cultural circles, there arose a third group +of people, who entered the cultured arena in the latter half of the +seventeenth century. I mean the bourgeois class in several large cities. +After the decline of the trade of the historic city of Sakai, brought +about by the hard blow struck at the root of the political power of her +haughty merchants by Nobunaga, and caused also by the growth of a rival +in the great commercial city of Ôsaka founded by Hideyoshi quite near +it, the refined humanistic culture cherished by the citizens of Sakai +vanished with its prosperity. After that, it took a considerable while +to witness the revival of the cultural influence of the bourgeois class +in Japan. The tranquillity, however, which the Tokugawa Shogunate had +brought on our country, did not fail to cause such a revival, though not +again in Sakai, yet at least in the two greatest commercial centres of +the empire. The one was Yedo on the east, and the other Ôsaka on the +west. Of these two cities, in affluence Ôsaka, on account of its +geographical advantages, was several steps ahead of Yedo. Not only was +it near Kyoto, the centre of the humanistic culture as ever, but its +remoteness from Yedo had induced its merchants to become more +independent than those in the Shogun's own city of the influence of the +strong military régime. The culture fostered in the city, therefore, was +nearer to that of the non-military circles than that of Yedo. Nay, Ôsaka +went still further, even by a great many steps, than Yedo. It was here +that Monzayemon Chikamatsu, the first and the greatest dramatist Japan +has ever produced, demonstrated his peerless talent at the end of the +seventeenth century, and here was also one of the cradles of the modern +Japanese theatre. Yedo, however, could not remain long alien to this +fresh cultural current initiated in Kyoto and Ôsaka. On account of its +growing prosperity brought on by the constant comings in and out of +hundreds of _daimyo_ and their numerous retinues, the newly started +political capital was soon enabled to rival the senior city of Ôsaka in +the liveliness of its urban social life, and in some respects surpassed +that of Kyoto. The plutocrats of Ôsaka had also a very close relation +with the military régime. This relation, however, consisted in lending +large sums of money to various _daimyo_, many of whom had their +warehouses there to deposit therein the produce of their territory, used +as pledges for getting advances of money from those merchants, and on +that account their pay-masters with their staffs were stationed there to +enable them to transact the customary financial business. On the other +hand, the merchants of Yedo generally profited by providing, as +purveyors and contractors, necessary commodities to the Shogunate and to +the _daimyo_, and therefore depended more closely on the military +régime, though some of them also advanced money as did the merchants of +Ôsaka. It is said that the richest bourgeois of Yedo, who had amassed +immense sums of money at the beginning of the nineteenth century were +those who had advanced their moneys at a very high rate of interest to a +great many needy _hatamoto_, who were obliged to garnishee to those +merchants their allowances in rice from the Shogunate at fixed +intervals, in order to steer securely through stretches of low water or +through the straits of Hard-Times in their household economy. On the +whole, however, we see a great difference in that the merchants of Yedo +were the patronised party in their relations with the warrior-class, +while those of Ôsaka were mostly creditors and the military men their +debtors. But whatever might have been their difference in general +character from the merchants of Ôsaka, the commercial aristocrats of +Yedo, induced by their opulence to live a leisurely and very luxurious +life, could not fail to become gradually patrons of the bourgeois arts +and literature, merely tinged by a little more of the martial element +than those of Ôsaka. + +Three cultural currents thus ran parallel to one another in the history +of the modern civilisation of our country, that of the orthodox +_samurai_ with its centre in Yedo, that of court-nobles and +county-gentry flowing from Kyoto as its source, and lastly that of the +commercial class with its stronghold in Ôsaka. If these three currents +had remained irrelative to one another to the last; if, in other words, +they had continued for long to belong specially to one of the three +distinct and exclusive groups of the nation, then the historic +revolution of the Meidji era would not have been effected, and Japan +might be in a state but half medieval and half modern. Fortunately, +class distinction in our country was not, at that time, so rigid as to +hamper absolutely the amalgamation of different classes, and a certain +type of culture, which had for a time been but a speciality of one +particular class, soon ceased to be so, and was extended to the other +classes, and the process necessarily led to the fusion of all the +cultures of different types. As one of the causes which hastened such an +amalgamation must be mentioned the intermarriage of people of different +classes. + +At the time when Chinese legislation was first implanted in Japanese +soil, there were still minute restrictions concerning +interclass-marriages in the Statutes of the Taïhô. Though mésalliances +were not forbidden by any explicit law, the offspring of such marriages +between freemen and slaves were to follow in class the parent of +inferior rank. It is evident, therefore, that such an alliance was +stigmatised and severely checked. As to the intermarriages between +different classes of freemen, there had been no such restraint, even +with respect to the status of their children. That the custom, however, +of choosing the empress from members of the Imperial family only, to the +exclusion of all vassal families, became gradually confirmed, and that +the same custom continued intact until the beginning of the eighth +century, shows how such mésalliances had been discouraged in the ancient +days of our history. The crowning of a daughter of the Fujiwara as the +consort of the Emperor Shômu was the first violation of the long-kept +traditional usage regarding the Imperial marriage; and since that time +marriages had become very irregular, not only among the members of the +Imperial family, but also among the courtiers. The social status of a +father was considered sufficient by itself to determine that of his +children. No legal scrutiny was thought necessary as to what kind of a +woman their mother was, though it was self-evident that the higher the +social position of the family from which she sprang, the more the +children she gave birth to would be honoured. The establishment of the +military régime could effect but very slight change in this domain of +social usage, until the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It must be +attributed to this neglect of the maternal lineage in the consideration +of pedigrees, that in the most genealogical records of Japan the names +of wives, mothers, and daughters are generally omitted, notwithstanding +that we are able to trace the names of the male ancestors, sometimes for +more than ten centuries backward with tolerable certainty and +exactitude. + +The establishment of the Shogunate by the Tokugawa could not affect to +any great extent the social position of women in general, for in that +domain radical alterations were not to be expected from the age in which +militarism was all-powerful. There was one thing, however, which was +worthy of special notice, concerning the new usage of marriage among the +_daimyo_. As to the right of inheriting their territories, the +preference, it is true, had been on the side of the offspring of a legal +marriage, for it could not have been otherwise in a society in which the +right of primogeniture had been just established for the sake of +maintaining the order intact. Yet there existed no rigorous rule through +the whole history of the Shogunate, which might be said to have aimed at +discouraging mésalliances, and the natural sons of the _daimyo_ were by +no means deprived of their right of inheritance on account of the mean +origin of their mother. The Shogunate, however, interfered in the +marriages of the _daimyo_, and all of them were obliged to take unto +themselves consorts from families of equal rank, that is to say, the +legal wife of a _daimyo_ had to be a daughter or sister of another +_daimyo_, one of his equals. Some of the higher _daimyo_, especially +those of the blood of Tokugawa, often married daughters of court-nobles, +for the purpose of keeping the latter in close relation with the +Shogunate. In the military peerage list of the time the wife of every +ruling _daimyo_ had her place together with the heir, alongside of her +husband, though even in this case her name used to be omitted, while +that of the heir was given. In spite of the fact, therefore, that the +intermarriage of the people of different territories had often been +prohibited by territorial laws, those _daimyo_ themselves who were +desirous of enforcing those laws were obliged to find their legal wives +outside of their territory, in other words, to contract an +interterritorial marriage. Such a marriage within the circle of the +_daimyo_ had of course very little to do with the territorial politics +of the _daimyo_ concerned, for most of the ladies chosen as brides were +those who had been brought up in their father's residence at Yedo, and +after their marriage they had to remain in the same city as hostages to +the Shogunate, and not allowed to leave it for their territory. +Moreover, as the marriage of the _daimyo_ received the close supervision +of the Shogunate, they could have borne very little, if any, political +meaning of a sort which might be attached to the intermarriages of +different royal families in Europe. Culturally speaking, however, such a +marriage had the effect of levelling the ways of living of various +_daimyo_, and making them similar to one another. The bride was usually +accompanied into her husband's family by maids, the daughters of her +father's vassals, and she was often escorted by a few _samurai_. These +_samurai_ as well as the maids often took service under the _daimyo_, +the husband of the bride, and remained in the train of their lord, after +the death of the lady whom they had to serve personally. The number of +the _samurai_ who changed masters in this manner, was not naturally +large, but they contributed none the less toward the diminishing of the +differences in the social life of the various territories. + +Generally, however, it was found very difficult for any _samurai_ to +leave his master for the purpose of enlisting in the service of some +other _daimyo_. As the _samurai_ had been bound to their lord the +_daimyo_, not only publicly as his officials and warriors, but privately +as his domestics, they were not allowed to emigrate freely from their +lord's territory. Nevertheless, the legal status of the _samurai_ versus +the _daimyo_ had never been the relation of slave and master. No +_daimyo_ had absolute control over the person of his _samurai_, in other +words, his sway was far from what might have been called full +proprietorship. Against injustice on the part of a _daimyo_, his +_samurai_ had the actual right of appealing to the Shogunate at the risk +of suffering a heavy penalty for his affronting his lord by so doing. It +was also possible to alienate himself from the service of his master by +giving sufficient reasons for it. If he had no reason to do so, then he +could abscond, and the extradition of such a deserter was hardly ever +rigorously pressed. And if such a vagrant _samurai_ or _rônin_ was found +to be a capable warrior or a man of talent in some other line, he could +find a position very easily under the _daimyo_ of his adopted territory. +In such and like ways the _samurai_ of the Tokugawa period made +interterritorial migration more freely than we imagine. + +If, concluding from the limited sphere of freedom of the _samurai_ in +regard to change of domicile, one should suppose that farmers, +merchants, and craftsmen were much more restricted in their moving about +inter-territorially, he would be grossly deceived. The _samurai_ was _de +facto_ linked almost inseparably to their lord the _daimyo_, for the +link had been firmly cemented, though not by any formal oath of fealty +uttered by the _samurai_, as was the custom in European countries, but +by the hereditary relation between his family and that of his master. It +became especially so when profound peace settled on Japan during the +middle of the Tokugawa period, and if any _daimyo_ had given his +_samurai_ the freest choice to leave his territory, very few of them +would have availed themselves of their freedom, for by doing so they +would have had to part with a great many things which they had long +cherished in their hearts. On the whole, the _samurai_ were attached to +their _daimyo_ and not to the soil on which they had settled, so that +when their master was removed to some new territory by the order of the +Shogunate, most of the _samurai_ used to follow their lord and serve him +in the new locality. The dialectic peculiarities, which have been +vanishing in Japan very rapidly these years, show still a trace of these +_samurai_ migrations. If any foreigner should remark a considerable +difference in dialect between some provincial town and its suburbs, it +shows that the family of the _daimyo_ who was the last to lord it over +the territory, was one transplanted there together with the attendant +train of _samurai_ by order of the Shogunate in a time not so very +remote. + +Quite contrary to _samurai_ usage, those people below them in rank held +with the _daimyo_ of the territory in which they lived a relationship +which was purely public in character. Socially they were treated as men +beneath the _samurai_, and they themselves were content to be treated as +such. As a class, however, they had no personal relations with the +_daimyo_, unless through the _samurai_, to whom the usufruct of the land +which they cultivated had been allotted by the _daimyo_. In other words, +their duty to their territorial lord was nothing but that which they +owed as a people governed to a governor who chanced to rule hereditarily +over the territory, but might at any time be displaced by somebody else +at the pleasure of the Shogunate. Fidelity on their part to the +_daimyo_, therefore, was no personal obligation, nor the result of a +reciprocal contract, but only a product of a long history, if any +example of such virtue were exhibited. They had no need to follow their +_daimyo_ as his _samurai_ used to do, whithersoever he might be +transferred. On the contrary, all of them remained as a rule in the old +territory, in which they continued for long years to pursue their +business, and welcomed the newly-appointed _daimyo_. In this respect +they might be said to have been much more fixed to the territory than +the _samurai_. At the same time, as their relations with the _daimyo_ +were not very close, their movements were not so vigilantly watched as +those of the _samurai_, and during the Tokugawa period, there went on +incessant goings and comings of the lower order in and out of various +territories, though very insignificant in character and therefore +apparently unnoticed. Summarily speaking, the boundary of the +territories of the _daimyo_ was of no practical value in restricting the +population within its geographical pale, in spite of the fact that all +_daimyo_, without exception, exercised their right of scrutinising the +ingress and egress of travellers at certain fixed barriers on the +boundary line. Viewed from the standpoint of the internal migration of +people of all classes, Japan was far from being an agglomeration of +isolated territories. No wonder that the contemporary culture, springing +up from whichever of the three possible sources, could not remain +secluded within the confines of particular localities, but gradually +permeated the country in every direction, and became one. + +Not only inter-territorially, but also in each of the territories +themselves, no sort of culture could hold itself for long as the +exclusive property of a certain class. In our history, it is true, we +had retained a class-system for a very long time, even after the +revolution of the Meidji era, and all men had not been equal before the +law until very recent times. Nay, to this day we see still some harmless +relics of that system in certain regulations preferential to the +aristocracy. Regarded as a whole, however, the class-system in Japan has +never approached the caste-system of some other countries. If there had +been anything like that in our country, it was the distinction of the +ordinary people, or we might say, people of the Japanese _pur sang_, +from those whose blood was thought to be polluted. Marriage with the +latter set of people had been scrupulously avoided on the part of the +former. This antipathy entertained by the majority of the nation against +the minority was nearly of the same nature as the anti-Semitic feeling +in Europe. The coincidence between the two went so far that in Japan +tanners, executioners, and so forth were considered as men of +occupations exclusive to the people of polluted blood, just as similar +trades in Europe had been relegated to the Jews of the Middle Ages. From +the fact that in the newly explored part of the empire, such as the +northern part of Honto, the settlements of the so-called people of +polluted blood are very few, and therefore the feeling against them +there is not so acute as it is in the central or most historic part of +the empire, we may safely conclude that such a feeling had its origin in +some racial difference and dates from the immemorial past. It is very +strange that in Japan, where the population is unquestionably of mixed +blood, such an antipathy against a certain set of people should have +continued stubbornly even to the present day. On the other hand, we have +sufficient grounds for believing that, in the course of our history, not +a few people of the pure blood have been classed with the impure on +account of some criminal action, or they mingled with the latter from +some predilection, out of their own free will. + +As to the people who were not stigmatised as impure of blood, it is very +difficult to draw a boundary line distinct enough to divide them clearly +according to their blood relationship. During the anarchical period of +our history from the later Ashikaga to the beginning of the Tokugawa +Shogunate, there took place a violent convulsion of the social strata, +as the result of the disorder which reigned everywhere. Many talented +plebeians had lucky chances to enlist as _samurai_ in the service of +some _daimyo_, while many of the scions of noted warrior families +transformed themselves into plebeians, from disgust at their calling of +men-slaughterers or from disappointment in their ambitions as warriors. +In the time which followed, that is to say, when social order was +reëstablished, such a transmutation became exceedingly difficult, as +might be supposed. Yet even since then it is not altogether a matter of +sheer impossibility. Plebeians of rare merit, especially those who were +skilled in certain branches of art and learning, were able to find their +way upward without much difficulty. The word "_samurai_" which had meant +a "warrior attending" came to denote a social rank above the plebeians, +so that it could include those who pursued a profession which was far +from being militaristic, such as men of letters, physicians, painters, +_nô_-dancers and the like in the retinue of the _daimyo_. Many +territorial bourgeois, too, transformed themselves into _samurai_ by +contributing large sums of money to the treasury of their lord, or by +purchasing the rank from some poor inheritors of _samurai_ blood who +were reduced to extreme penury, so as to be no more able to serve their +_daimyo_ as honourable warriors. + +Examples of _samurai_ promoted to the _daimiate_ are not numerous since +the re-establishment of peace and the social order under the +dictatorship of the Tokugawa, for it had become for everybody very +difficult to distinguish himself highly by merits other than military, +so as to justify sufficiently such a sudden promotion. Still at the +beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate there were many vacant territories, +caused by the confiscation of the territories of recalcitrant _daimyo_. +Many families also lost their hereditary lands on account of the +extinction of the male line, for the Shogunate did not at first +recognise inheritance through an adopted son, a restriction which was +later abrogated. Besides, the _daimyo_ in general became wiser and more +docile in order not to lose their estates on account of any misdemeanour +toward the Shogun. As the result of such changes the later Shogun rarely +had vacancies at his disposal by which he could create the new _daimyo_. +If the Shogun had wished to promote somebody in spite of the lack of a +vacant lordship, he had to part with a portion of his own domain, but +this alienation of land from the Shogun could not be repeated too often +without damage to the material resources of the Shogunate. Nevertheless, +examples have not been wanting now and then, examples in which not only +_samurai_ but even plebeians also were promoted to the rank of _daimyo_, +some of them owing to their due merits, or to the blood-relationship +with the wives or the natural mother of some Shogun, others by courting +the favour of their master. In short, the intruding upwards into the +_daimyo_ class was not a matter absolutely impossible for the people in +the lower strata. + +Inversely the descent to the lower social status was much easier than +the ascent to the higher rank in any scale. Nay, for various reasons +many persons had been obliged to climb down from their original high +position in society to a lower status. As the law of primogeniture grew +rigorous in its enforcements on the _daimyo_ and the _samurai_, the +greater part of the scions belonging to these classes could only fully +enjoy the privilege of the society in which they were born during +childhood, unless extinction of the main line took place. Descendants of +_daimyo_ generally gravitated to _samurai_ rank, and those of _samurai_ +had to turn themselves into plebeians, in so far as they did not merit +to be called to service as independent _samurai_. Thus the sliding down +of classes was necessitated by the law of succession. Could any line of +social demarcation be drawn according to the difference of classes in +the face of such shiftings upwards and downwards? If it was a difficult +matter, then we cannot expect to find any sort of culture monopolised by +a certain class to the last. In whichever stratum of society it might +have originated, it was sure to penetrate sooner or later into the other +classes, and at last the whole people of a territory absorbed a similar +and uniform culture. No sort of territorial barriers or social cleavage +proved efficient enough to impede the inter-penetration of any cultural +movement. + +This amalgamation of cultures different in their origins had been +accelerated by the introduction of European civilisation. Though the +free intercourse of the Japanese with Europeans had been cut short in +the third decade of the seventeenth century by the ordinances of the +Shogunate, the country had never been absolutely closed against +foreigners. No Japanese had been allowed to go abroad for any purpose +whatever, but we continued to trade in the specially prescribed port of +Nagasaki, not only with Chinese but also with Dutch merchants, though in +very restricted forms. Thus while the Japanese had been struggling to +mould the new national culture out of promiscuous elements which had +existed from aforetime, they had been receiving the Western +civilisation, not _en masse_ but drop by drop, so that we had no need +this time of the process of rumination in digesting the introduced +exotic culture, as we had done as regards Chinese civilisation. The +rigorous exclusion, carried to the utmost, of all Christian literature, +whatever its relation to our religious tenets might have been, naturally +induced men in authority to resort to the safest methods, that is to +say, to restrict the kinds of books to be imported to the narrowest +scope, and to limit their number to the smallest possible minimum. +Accordingly, in the first half of the Tokugawa Shogunate, very few +useful books were imported into our country, and the nation had, +therefore, a very scanty opportunity of getting knowledge through books +about things European. Yet the commodities which these Dutchmen brought +to Deshima to be exchanged there or to be presented to the Shogun at +Yedo, gave the Japanese who came in contact with them some idea about +the modes of life in Europe. Moreover, after the encouragement +assiduously given to the study of things European by the Shogun +Yoshimune, whose rule covered the greater part of the first half of the +eighteenth century, the process of infiltration of Western culture +through the narrow door of Nagasaki had become suddenly accelerated. As +the encouragement had been induced by the material necessities of the +nation, the study of that time about things European was naturally +limited to those sciences which were indispensable to the daily life of +the people and at the same time far from being spiritual, like +astronomy, medicine, botany, and so forth. Would it be possible, +however, to ward off successfully the spiritual side of a culture, while +taking in the material side of the same with avidity, as if the two +parts had not been interwoven inseparably as a single entity? Those +branches of Western knowledge, which we did not welcome in the least, +but which were none the less useful, as history, and political as well +as military sciences became gradually known to the Japanese, though very +fragmentarily and slowly. That the diplomatists of the Shogunate had +been able to conclude with the foreign powers, which forced our doors to +be opened to them against our will, treaties which, though evidently +detrimental to our national honour, were the largest concessions we +could obtain from them at that time, shows that they had not been +entirely ignorant of the condition of the parties with which they had +to treat. + +Probably there are foreign readers who may entertain some doubt about +the lack of the religious element in the Western civilisation which thus +flowed into our country from the first half of the eighteenth century. +They may well consider, however, the change of religious temperament +both in Japan and in European countries, besides the strictest +prohibition rigorously exercised by the Japanese authorities. The Thirty +Years War, the beginning of which falls in the fourteenth year of the +Shogunate of Hidetada, the son and successor of Iyeyasu, is said +generally to be the last religious war in Europe fought seriously. But +it cannot be denied that in the latter part of the long war, more +political than religious elements predominated, and the age which +followed the most desolatory war was characterised by its religious +toleration. Could the Dutchmen, who were the only people privileged to +trade with us, have been expected to set as their first aim the +propagation of the Christianity of their Reformed Church rather than +material gain by their commerce, as the Portuguese, Spaniards, and +Italians are said to have done as regards their Catholicism at the end +of the Ashikaga period? + +Japan had also changed religiously in the same direction. The end of the +Ashikaga period had witnessed many wars which may be called religious, +very rare examples since the time of the first introduction of +Buddhism. Sectarians of Shinshû or Ikkôshû and of Nichirenshû often +fought against one another. Some of them dared also to fight against +powerful feudatories, and harassed them. Thus Japan was about to +experience a struggle between the spiritual and the temporal powers, as +Europe did in the Middle Ages. Nobunaga, therefore, gave countenance to +Christian missionaries with a view to curbing the arrogance of Buddhist +sectaries by the inroad of the new exotic religion. When the latter, +however, proved not less dangerous to the political authority, it was +interdicted by Hideyoshi. After all, the persecution of the Christians +in Japan was not of religious nature, as in Europe, but essentially +political. This explains why persecution could extirpate the seeds of +Christianity sown so full of hope in Japan, in spite of its general +failure in European countries. + +The failure of the Christian propaganda, however, was at the same time +the signal of the downfall of the influence of Buddhist sectaries in +Japan. Iyeyasu, who had the most bitter experience of the resistance of +Ikkô-votaries in his own province, had but to pursue the same religious +policy as his predecessor, against Buddhism as well as Christianity. He +ordered the personal morals of Buddhist priests to be rigorously +supervised, and inflicted the severest punishment on those who violated +the law of celibacy. It was natural, therefore, that secular preachers +of the Ikkôshû or Shinshû, who made it their rule to lead a matrimonial +life, should not have been held in so high a regard as the regular +priests of other Buddhist sects, and on that account they had to recruit +their believers chiefly among people in the lower strata of society. As +to other sects besides the Shinshû, he showed no preference for any one +of them, and he often called himself a believer in Buddhism of the Syaka +Sect, which meant that he was no sectarian, for there actually existed +no such sect in Japan. Such a broad tolerance, however, in religious +matters is next door to indifferentism, and paved the way for the +dwindling of the religious spirit in the ages to follow, at least in the +prominent part of the nation. + +Another factor which strengthened the spirit of toleration, or let me +say, undermined the religious spirit of the people, was the Confucian +philosophy expounded by Chutse, a celebrated savant of the Sung dynasty. +This doctrine, which had been accepted by the court-philosophers of the +Shogunate as the only orthodox one, was rationalistic to the extreme, so +that it struck a heavy blow to many cherished superstitions and +destroyed in a remarkable manner the influence which Buddhism had +exercised over the mind of the people since many centuries, just like +the rationalism of the eighteenth century in Europe, which ruined the +authority of the Church and superstition. Yet among the educated society +of the age, that is to say, the _samurai_ class, the worship of +Buddhist deities continued as before, superficially without any marked +change, only because parents had worshipped them and taught their +children to do likewise. That they had not been men strictly to be +called Buddhist is evident from the fact that most of them had +worshipped in Shinto shrines with almost the same devotion as they did +in Buddhist temples. It cannot be denied that in their view of human +life there was a preponderating Buddhist element, but as it had been +since very long ago that our civilisation had become imbued with +Buddhism, the Japanese of the Tokugawa period were not conscious of what +part of the national culture they specially owed to the Indian religion. +In short, religion in the Tokugawa age did not teach what to worship, +but what to revere, and toward the latter part of the period we had less +necessity to have more of a different religion. How could Christianity +force her way into our country in the state such as it was, unless by +the endeavour of fanatics? And the Dutch merchants of the eighteenth +century were not religious fanatics at all. Through such agents, drops +of the secular element in European civilisation were thrown on the +cultural soil of Japan, which had been already secularised much earlier +than most of the countries in the West. No spiritual consternation had +been aroused, therefore, in the cultural world of our country by the +intrusion of exotic factors, which only tended to augment the longing +for the higher material improvement of the people, by never satiating +the desire for it. It is by this stimulus indeed that civilisation, +which is prone to become stationary in an isolated country like Japan, +escaped the danger of stagnation, and the process of moulding and +remoulding the ever new national culture out of the element which she +had possessed and that which she had added to her stock since time +immemorial, went on silently under cover of the long armed peace, and at +last brought forth the Revolution of the Meidji. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE RESTORATION OF THE MEIDJI + + +The great political change which took place in the year 1867-1868 is +generally called the Restoration, in the sense that the imperial power +was restored by this event. In truth, however, the prerogative of the +Emperor has never been formally usurped, and none has dared impudently +to declare that he had assumed the power in His Majesty's stead. All the +virtual potentates, court-nobles as well as Shogun, who, each in his +day, held unlimited sway over the whole country, had been accustomed to +style themselves modestly vicegerents of the Emperor. On the other hand, +the change was more than a mere restoration, for never in the course of +our national history had the resplendent grandeur of the Imperiality +reached the height in which it now actually stands. In this respect the +Restoration of the Meidji can by no means be taken in the same sense as +the two Restorations famous in European history, that of the Stuarts in +1660 and of the Bourbons in 1814. Renovation, perhaps, would be a more +adequate term to be used here than Restoration, to designate this +epoch-making event in our history. We have reconstructed new Japan from +the old materials, the origins of some of which are lost in remotest +antiquity. + +If, however, we should consider the range and intensity of the momentous +change which was caused by the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate, it +is rather a revolution than a renovation. Just the same kind of +disjunction which can be perceived in the transition of France from its +ancient régime to the Revolution may also be noticed in the Japanese +history of the transition period, which divides the pre-Meidji régime +from the present status. The difference is that we accomplished in five +years a counterpart, though on a much smaller scale, of what they took +in France nearly a generation to conclude; a difference which may be +accounted for by the absence in our country of many circumstances which +helped to make the French Revolution really a great historical event. +That those circumstances were lacking in our history, however, is by no +means the fault of our nation. No impartial foreign historian would +grudge a few words of praise to the Japanese who achieved the historic +thorough transformation of national life with little or no bloodshed, +when they think of the tremendous difficulties which Bismarck had to +encounter in his grand task of forming the new German empire, and which +even he himself could not overcome entirely. + +Then how did this momentous change happen to be achieved by the +Japanese? It appeared a wonder even to the eyes of many contemporary +Japanese. It surprises us, therefore, to say the least, that many +foreigners not well-versed in Japanese history, however intelligent and +otherwise qualified, should have believed almost without exception that +the island nation had something miraculous in its immanent capacity, +which had remained latent so long only from lack of opportunity to +manifest itself. But to the contemplative mind, equipped at the same +time with sufficient knowledge of the historical development of our +country, there was nothing magical in the national achievement of the +Japanese in the latter half of the nineteenth century, though it cannot +be denied that the close contact with the modern civilisation of Europe +at this juncture gave the most suitable opportunity to the people to try +their ability nurtured by the long centuries of their history, and +served efficiently to quicken the steps of national progress to a pace +far more speedy than any we had ever marched before. + +In other words, our national progress of these fifty years, whether it +might be apt to be termed hurried steps or strides, was a thing +organized by slow degrees during the long tranquil rule of the Tokugawa. +As to the advancement of the general culture anterior to the Revolution +of the Meidji, I have already touched on that in the previous chapter. +Here I will limit myself to recapitulating the growth of the +nationalistic spirit among the people, which bore as its fruit that +memorable change in the political and cultural sphere of our country. + +The tranquillity restored to the country by the powerful dictatorship of +Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu, and the multiplication of books, Japanese as well +as Chinese, reprinted in blocks or in type, remarkably enlarged the +reading circle among the people. The liberal education of warriors had +been earnestly encouraged by the Shogunate, mainly for the purpose of +creating intelligent and law-abiding gentlemen out of rough and +adventurous fighters. A great many of the _daimyo_ followed the example +of the Shogunate by founding one or more schools in their own +territories for the education of their own _samurai_, and in these +schools moral and political lessons were given, besides training in +military arts. The _samurai_ were taught to read and understand Chinese +classics, with the purely pragmatic purpose of enabling them to follow +the inexhaustible precepts preached by the Chinese philosophers of +various ages, and at the same time to qualify them to govern the people +according to the political theories of Confucius, when they were put in +some responsible positions in the territorial government of their lord. +The text-books used in this curriculum of education had been, of course, +Chinese literature of the sort which might be called political +miscellanies, that is to say, those works pertaining to morals, +politics, and history. This trio was to Chinese philosophers only the +three different forms of the manifestation of one and the same +principle, for to them politics was an enlarged application of that very +principle, which when applied to personal matters made private morals, +and history was only another name for the politics of the past, as many +European historians still also believe. Their Japanese pupils, however, +took up any one of the trio they fancied, and interlaced it with the +national tradition, each according to his own taste. The metaphysical +element of the Chinese moral philosophy of the Sung dynasty, the time in +which Chinese philosophy reached its high flourishing scholastic stage, +was thus mingled with Shintoism. + +Up to that time we had Shintoism imbued with Buddhism. Now having +repudiated the Indian elements out of it, we introduced in their stead +the Confucian philosophy. As the philosophy introduced was that +expounded by Chutse, who was an intense rigorist, the Shintoism +resulting from this mixture was rather narrow and chauvinistic, though +fervent enough to inspire people of education. One of the most +conspicuous founders of this kind of new national cult was Ansai +Yamazaki, who was born in 1619. On account of his hair-splitting +doctrines, tolerating none which deviated the least from his, his +disciples were always in very bitter controversy with one another, each +asserting himself as the only true successor of his master, and +dissension followed after dissension. Many of them were so pigheaded as +to make it a rule not to serve publicly in any official capacity under +the Shogun nor the _daimyo_, and exerted themselves strenuously to +spread their propaganda among the intelligent classes of the people. + +Fuel was added to the flame of the national spirit already in a blaze by +the assiduous study of the ancient literature of our country. The old +Japanese literature studied and imitated during the Ashikaga period had +not gone back farther than the Tempyô era. If we except some novels +produced in the prime of the courtiers' régime, such as the +_Genji-monogatari_, the literary works of old Japan highly prized by the +courtiers and enlightened warriors of the Ashikaga were limited to the +anthologies of short Japanese poems by various poets, the oldest of +which was called the _Kokin-shû_, said to have been compiled in 905 A.D. +under Imperial auspices. The _Mannyô-shû_, which is another collection +of Japanese poems, older than those gathered into the _Kokin-shû_, and +to which I referred in my former chapter as the oldest collection of all +of that kind in Japan, though not entirely abandoned, could not cope +with the latter in popularity, being considered as too much out of date. +A few of the commentaries or interpretations of trivial topics sung or +celebrated in the poems in the _Kokin-shû_ had become matters of great +importance in the art of Japanese versification, and had been handed +from one master to a favourite disciple as an esoteric literary secret +not to be lightly divulged to the _hoi polloi_. The resuscitated +national spirit of the early Tokugawa period, however, induced men of +the literary circles of the time no longer to be contented with such +trivialities, and stimulated them to push their researches backward into +the literature still more ancient, that is to say, to launch themselves +upon the difficult task of interpreting those more archaic poems +contained in the _Mannyô-shû_. The foremost of these philologists was a +priest by the name of Keichû, born in 1640 in the vicinity of Ôsaka. His +celebrated work, the Commentaries on the Poems of the _Mannyô-shû_, is +said to be the first standard hoisted in the philological study of old +Japan by Japanese, a study the inauguration of which almost corresponded +in time with the establishment of durable peace by the Tokugawa +Shogunate. A succession of savants followed in his wake, and the most +noted among them were Mabuchi Kamo and his disciple Norinaga Motoöri. It +was the latter of the two who brought the study of Japanese antiquities +to its highest point in the Tokugawa age. + +The time of Motoöri covers the whole of the latter half of the +eighteenth century, for he was born in 1730 and died in 1801 in the +province of Ise. Before him the scope of researches into old Japan had +been limited to the literary products of our ancient poets and +novelists. Though the _Nihongi_ had been talked of by the scholars of +the Ashikaga period and an edition reprinted before the advent of the +house of Tokugawa, that part of the work which had been most widely read +and commented on was its first volume, treating about the age of the +gods and the mythical beginning of the Empire. In other words, the book +had been prized not as an important historical work, but as a sacred +book of Shintoism. It was Motoöri himself who first studied ancient +Japan, not only from the Shintoistic point of view, but also +philologically and historically. Classical literature, which became the +object of his indefatigable research, was not restricted to books of +mythology, but included also the ritual book of "norito," several +collections of poems, and historical works. First of all, however, he +concentrated his efforts upon the study of the old chronicle, _Kojiki_. +He was of the opinion that the _Kojiki_ was more reliable as a +historical source than the _Nihongi_, as it might, according to him, be +easily judged from its archaic phraseology and syntax, in contrast to +the latter, the historical veracity of which must have been surely +impaired by its adoption of the Chinese rhetoric. He made the most +minute, critical study of the text of the _Kojiki_, phrase by phrase, +and word by word. The famous _Kojiki-den_, or "The Commentaries on the +_Kojiki_," is the choicest fruit of his life-long study. In it the +history, religion, manners, customs, in short, all the items concerning +the civilisation of ancient Japan are expounded from the text of the +chronicle itself, frequently corroborated by what is stated in other +authentic sources. He had always in view, and laid great stress on the +fact, that Japan had possessed from her beginning what was to be called +her own, purely and entirely Japanese, quite apart from the culture +which she introduced afterwards from abroad. It was to this unique and +naïve state of things in primeval Japan taken as a whole that he applied +the term Shintoism. According to him, therefore, naturalness, purity and +veracity were the cardinal virtues to be taught in Shintoism, from which +he thought not only Indian, but Chinese elements also should be +eradicated. Thus Shintoism was stripped of its religious apparel, with +which it had been invested during the long course of our history, and by +his endeavours it approached again its original status as a simple moral +cult with primitive rituals; but at the same time it gained immensely in +strength, for it now found its main support in the nationality deeply +rooted in the daily life of the ancient Japanese. By him the Japanese +were reminded of their national beginning. + +This philological study of ancient Japan owed much, in its early stage, +to the stimulus given by the growth of historiography in the seventeenth +century. This study of and the endeavour to write down the national +history came of course from the political necessity of the time. As +early as the fourth decade of the seventeenth century, the Shogunate is +said to have ordered its court literati to compile the history of our +country from the earliest times, but it was suspended afterwards for a +while. A little posterior to this, a memorable historiographical +institute was initiated by Mitsukuni Tokugawa, one of the grandsons of +Iyeyasu and lord of Mito. For the first time in our country, the +collection of historical materials was undertaken on a grand scale. +Collectors were despatched to many provinces where a rich harvest was +expected. Kyoto and its vicinity were ransacked with special attention. +The material thus rummaged and collected, varying from those of +authentic kinds such as memoirs of ancient courtiers and court-ladies, +chronicles kept in shrines and temples, and documents concerning the +transactions of numberless manorial estates, down to less reliable sorts +of materials such as stories, legends, tales, novels, and various other +writings current in successive ages, had been criticised in their texts +with tolerable scientific conscientiousness. The _Dai-Nihon-shi_, or +"The History of Great Japan," which is the result of the coöperation of +the historians of the Mito school engaged in researches under the +auspices of Mitsukuni and his successors, consists of two hundred and +thirty one volumes, and has taken two centuries and a half for its +completion, the last volume having been published in 1906. In its form +the grand history is an imitation of the _Shih-chi_ by Ssuma-chien of +the Han dynasty, the whole system being divided into the three sections +of the annals of the emperors, biographers of noted personages, and +miscellanies, with various tables. It is by no means a complete history +of Japan, for it comes down only to 1392, the year in which the two +rival houses of the Imperial family were united and put an end to the +long civil war. Moreover, it was only in the middle of the nineteenth +century, that the first two sections were put into print, though as +manuscripts those parts had been finished much earlier. It is not, +therefore, on account of the publication of the history, but of the +researches themselves and their by-products, that the historiography of +the Mito school greatly influenced the rise of the nationalistic spirit +of the Japanese. The long arduous labours of these historians were +consummated in expounding the doctrine that the Japanese nation had +something unique in its civilisation which was worthy to be guarded +carefully and fostered, and that the only bond which could unite the +nation spiritually was fidelity towards its common centre, the Emperor, +whose family had continued to reign over the country since time +immemorial. The history is often criticised as being too pragmatic, +narrow, and subjective, therefore not scientific. If we consider, +however, that even in those countries in the West where the study of +history is boasted of as having reached a high stage of scientific +investigation, most of the historians, if not the histories they have +written, have been also decidedly pragmatic, so that few of them can be +called perfectly objective, then we should not much blame the historians +and the history of the Mito school. That the school was entirely free +from any sort of superstition must also be mentioned as one of its chief +merits. This may be attributed to the rationalistic influence of the +doctrine of Chutse, and the fact that the history was written in +orthodox Chinese shows how these historiographers were imbued with +Chinese ideas. It might be said, however, to their credit that the task +was first undertaken in an age in which the literary language of our +country had not yet become entirely independent of Chinese, and that, +notwithstanding the adoption of that language, in committing the result +of their researches to writing they had never fallen into the +self-deception which might come from sinicomania. Since the inception of +this ever-memorable historiographical undertaking, the town of Mito had +continued to be the hearth of nationalism and patriotism, and thinkers +devoted to these ideas had been very glad to make their pilgrimage from +all parts of Japan to the centre of the pure Japanese culture, and to +converse with these historians of the noted institution. It was indeed +the early groups of these historians who first stirred up the +nationalistic spirit in the later seventeenth century, and their +successors it was who accelerated and most strongly reinforced the +national movement just before the Revolution. No school of learning in +Japan had even been so powerful and effective as that of Mito in +influencing and leading the spirit of the nation. + +The torch, however, which had succeeded in giving blissful light to +illumine the whole nation, burned at last the torch-bearer himself with +its blazing flame. Not to mention that the finances of the territorial +lord had been miserably drained by this undertaking, which is said to +have swallowed up about one-third of the whole revenue of the territory, +and therefore proved too heavy a burden for the small income of the +lord. Narrow-mindedness, which is the necessary consequence of rigorism, +tended to nurture an implacable party spirit among the _samurai_ of the +territory educated in this principle. Internal strife thus ensued which +implicated not only the whole _samurai_ but people of all classes. In +short, the territory was divided against itself. Both parties appealed +to arms at last, and fought against each other, until both had to lie +down quite exhausted. So the culture which the historians and the +_samurai_ of Mito raised to a high pitch proved to be disastrous to +their own welfare, yet the good which it did to the country at large +should remain as a glory to those who sacrificed themselves for what +they regarded as their ideal. + +We see now that several forces had coöperated in accomplishing the final +unity and consolidation of the nation. In giving the finishing touch, +however, to the task of many centuries, the enigmatic relations between +the Emperor and the Shogun had necessarily to be cleared. Though the +Shogunate had continued to transact the state affairs as if he had been +the sole regent of the Emperor, the legal status of the former had never +been created by any ordinance issued by the latter. No emperor had ever +formally confided his political prerogative to the Shogun. The basis on +which the jurisdictional power of the Shogun had rested was nothing but +the _fait accompli_ connived at and acquiesced in by the Emperor. If the +prestige of the Emperor, therefore, which had once fallen into +decadence, should be revived, the position of the Shogun was sure to +become untenable. The historians of the Mito school tried their best to +make the Emperor the nucleus of the national consolidation. Their +political theory had been strongly influenced by the legitimism +entertained by the historians of the Sung dynasty, and this principle of +legitimacy, when applied to the history of Japan, must have led only to +the conclusion that the only legitimate and therefore actual sovereign +of the country could be none other than the Emperor himself. Needless to +say, such an argument was injurious to the political interests of the +Shogunate, so that it seems very strange that the theory had been upheld +and loudly heralded by these historians who were under the protection of +the lord of Mito, the descendant of a scion of Iyeyasu. It was not, of +course, the intention of the hereditary lords of Mito and their +historians to undermine the structure of the Shogunate from its +foundation. Having been, however, too sharp and fervent in their +argument, they had been unable to rein themselves in, before the +interests of the Shogunate were thereby jeopardised, and as a logical +consequence they brought unconsciously to a terrible catastrophe the +whole edifice of the military régime, in which alone they could find a +reason for their existence. + +The spirit of the nation had thus been under the increasing notion that +the coexistence of the sovereign Emperor with the omnipotent Shogunate +would be ultimately impossible, and such a trend of thought had been +highly welcomed in those parts of Japan where militarism had the least +hold. So far, however, it had been the more logical pursuance of a +political ideal, and if no opportunity had presented itself to these +idealists to put their theory into execution, it would have remained for +long the idle vapouring of romantic and irresponsible politicians. That +Japan was saved from this inaction, and that the virile movement in +favour of the revival of the imperial prestige was at last undertaken, +must be attributed to the shock and stimulus which came from without, +that is to say, to the coercion on the part of the Western nations to +open to them our country, which had been so long secluded from the rest +of the world. + +Since the so-called "closing of the country" the Japanese had enjoyed a +peaceful national life, undisturbed for more than one century and a +half, and during this period of long tranquillity Japan had been able to +prepare herself for the hardships which she was about to encounter, by +replenishing her national culture and transforming it so as to be able +to take in as much of the Western civilisation as she was in need of, +without fear of thereby endangering her own national existence. But at +the end of the eighteenth century the insistent knocking of foreigners +at the door began to be heard, first at the back-door of the Island +Empire. It was only the Russians who, having already annexed the vast +tract of Siberia, were now ready to make a jump forward, and loitered on +the northern coast of our Hokkaidô, called the island of Yezo at that +time. This was the beginning of new national troubles. It was not, +however, the same kind of foreign troubles as those which we had tried +and succeeded in getting rid of in the early days of the Shogunate. +There was no fear now of suffering from the religious intrigues of +foreign missionaries. The danger, if there were any, was purely of a +political nature. + +Needless to say, the nation had had no voice in determining the +Shogunate's policy of "shutting up the country", and had not understood +well the merit or demerit of the policy itself, but having been +accustomed for a long time to the isolated national existence, and +puffed up not a little into self-conceit by the growth of the +nationalistic spirit, they were unconsciously induced to believe that +the status they were in must be the only normal condition of the +country. The people at large, though relieved of the overdue influence +of China, yet had a very scanty knowledge of the condition in which +Europe and America were at that time, and did not wish, in the least, to +be deranged by the intrusion, however well-meant, of any foreigner into +their quiet abode, in spite of the utter impossibility of continuing +such a national life _ad infinitum_ in the face of the changed +circumstances of the world, caused by the eastward expansion of various +European nations, and by the rise of a new power on the American +continent, the power which had just acquired access to the shore of the +Pacific. Those who were then at the helm of state, that is to say, the +statesmen of the Shogunate, shared nearly the same opinion with the +nation at large. Not only for the national welfare, but in the interests +of the Shogunate itself, they thought it best to keep up the _status +quo_ as long as possible. Unfortunately, the foreigners who now knocked +at our doors were not unarmed like those who had come two centuries +before, neither were they so humble and docile as the Dutchmen at +Deshima were accustomed to be. In order to keep them off in spite of +their importunate wish to the contrary, we had to provide for +emergencies. So the Shogunate tried to make military preparations, to +defend the country in case of necessity and drive away the intruders by +force of arms. The more, however, the Shogunate tried to arm the nation +against the foreigners, the more difficult it found the task it had in +view. As the result of the long enjoyment of peace, the people had +become inured to ease and luxury, and had lost much of their martial +spirit, of which they had been exceedingly proud as their characteristic +attribute. Moreover, the country having been parcelled out into nearly +three hundred territories, it was very hard for the Shogunate to +mobilise the warriors of the whole empire at its sole command. On the +other hand, the material progress of the Western nations, achieved +during the time of our seclusion, had been really astonishing. The +difficulty of coping with them now became far greater for us than it had +been at the end of the sixteenth century. Notwithstanding these +overwhelming difficulties, the Shogunate persisted in its endeavour to +strengthen the national defences. The martial spirit of the nation was +gradually reawakened, but new internal difficulties were created by thus +mobilising the nation, divided as it was into motley groups. The martial +spirit which the Shogunate aroused was turned against itself, and the +Shogunate proved unable to steer through the crisis at last. + +At first the opinion of the educated class of the nation was +conflicting, but a few were eager to see the necessary overthrow of the +régime of the Shogun. The great part gradually concurred in denouncing +the incapacity of the Shogunate to fulfil by itself the task which it +was called upon to accomplish. Still many were in favour of supporting +the Shogunate in order to enable it to carry through its traditional +policy of seclusion. Some advocated even the closer union of the +Shogunate with the Imperial court, which was now beginning to become +again the influential political centre of the nation in opposition to +the power at Yedo, so that there might have been a fear of the two +powers coming into collision. The conclusion, however, of the treaty +with the United States in 1858, and subsequently with other powers, +bitterly disappointed these sincere friends of the Shogunate and +emboldened its adversaries. Hitherto those who had diametrically opposed +the Shogunate were men who had never been in any position politically +responsible. In other words, they were doctrinaires, and not men of +action, so that there could be no serious danger to the Shogunate so +long as they contented themselves only with arguing about national +affairs in highflown language. But the disappointment which the +Shogunate gave to its friends, turned them into sympathisers with the +radical opponents. The danger was thus shifted from foreign relations to +the serious internal question, whether the Shogunate should be allowed +to exist any longer or not. Those who wished for the revival of the +imperial prestige or the overthrow of the existing régime, whatever form +the revolution might take, wielded as their forcible weapon to attack +the Shogunate the denunciation that the sacred Land of the Gods had +been opened to the sacrilegious tread of hairy barbarians, and their +slogan was so persuasive that it led the imperial court at Kyoto to +issue an order urging the Shogunate to repudiate the already concluded +treaties and to return to the time-honoured seclusion policy, a task of +utter impossibility. To this august command from Kyoto, the Shogunate +could but respond very obsequiously, being intimidated somewhat by the +loud clamour of these conservative patriots. Or it may be said that the +military government succumbed to the combined force of the court-nobles +and the territorial politicians. The marriage of the fourteenth Shogun +to one of the sisters of the Emperor Kômei, in the year 1861, though +concluded for the sake of the rapprochement of the Imperial court and +the Shogunate, did not prove so serviceable in saving the tottering +edifice of the Tokugawa régime as had been expected. Finding that the +power and the resources of the Shogunate were inadequate to perform the +duty which it had pledged itself to accomplish, Yoshihisa Tokugawa, the +fifteenth and last of the Shogun, resigned all the power he had, +political as well as military, into the hands of the Emperor Meidji, who +had just succeeded his father the Emperor Kômei. This happened in +November of the year 1867. A little previous to this the proposition of +the Shogunate to open the port of Hyogo, now Kobe, to foreign trade was +agreed to by the Emperor, a fact which proves how difficult it was to +maintain the out-of-date seclusion-policy. From this it can be seen that +the Shogunate of the Tokugawa fell, after the lapse of two hundred sixty +four years from its beginning, not from lack of foresight on the part of +their statesmen, but solely from loss of prestige. + +The prestige of the Shogunate was lost, simply because the system, such +as it was, had become anachronistic in the face of the altered +conditions of the country, which had been steadily progressing during +these centuries. In other words, the Tokugawa Shogunate had been +undermining itself for a long time by having courageously undertaken the +honourable task which it was destined to perform in our national +history, and it collapsed just in time when it had accomplished its +mission. The fall of the Shogunate, therefore, must be said to have +taken place very opportunely. The overthrow of the Shogunate, however, +did not mean the mere downfall of the House of the Tokugawa; but it was +the final collapse of the military régime, which had actually ruled +Japan for nearly seven centuries, and the demolition of such a grand and +elaborate historical edifice as the Shogunate could not be expected to +be carried out without a catastrophe. That catastrophe came in the form +of a civil war, which raged over the country for more than a year. + +After the resignation of the last of the Shogun, the new government was +instantly set up at Kyoto, at the head of which an imperial prince was +placed, who had to control all the state business in the name of the +Emperor. The councillors under him were chosen not only from +court-nobles, but also from the able _samurai_ who belonged to the party +antagonistic to the Shogunate. This exasperated the partisans of the +last Shogunate. Though the ex-Shogun had renounced his hereditary rights +as the actual ruler of Japan, he still remained a _daimyo_ even after +his resignation, and as a _daimyo_ he was the most powerful of all, for +he had a far greater number of the _samurai_ under him in his _hatamoto_ +than any other of his colleagues. Besides, he had many sympathisers +among the _daimyo_. These vassals and friends of the ex-Shogun were +discontented at the turn which the course of events had taken, and +wished at least to rescue him from a further decrease of his influence. +Induced at last by these followers to try his fortune, the ex-Shogun +asked for an imperial audience, which was refused. Then he attempted to +force his entrance into the city of Kyoto, escorted by his own guards +and the forces of the friendly _daimyo_, and was met by the Imperialist +army, composed of the forces of the lords of Satsuma, Nagato, Tosa, +Hizen, and other _daimyo_, the greater part of whom had their +territories in the western provinces of Japan. At the end of January, +1868, the two opposing armies came into collision at Fushimi and Toba, +villages in the southern suburb of the old metropolis, and the forces +of the ex-Shogun gave way. Yoshihisa hurriedly retreated to Ôsaka with +his staff, and thence by sea to Yedo, whither the imperial army pursued +him by the land-route. + +At Yedo some of the vassals of the Tokugawa could not make up their +minds to submit complacently to the unavoidable lot of their suzerain +and of themselves, and insisted on making their last stand against the +approaching Imperialists by defending the city. But the wiser counsel +prevailed, and the castle was surrendered to the Imperialists without +bloodshed at the end of April. A handful of desperate _samurai_, who +fortified themselves in the precincts of the Temple of Uyeno, the site +of the present metropolitan park, was easily subdued by the +Imperialists. The ex-Shogun, who had been interned at Mito on account of +his having fought against the Imperialists, was released soon +afterwards. By an Imperial grace, a member of a lateral branch of the +Tokugawa was ordered to succeed the ex-Shogun as _daimyo_, and made the +hereditary lord of Suruga. The first phase of the Revolution thus came +to an end. + +The country, however, which had once been set astir could not be +pacified so easily. The next to be chastised was the lord of Aidzu, a +_daimyo_ who, remaining faithful to the Shogunate to the last, fought +desperately in the battle of Fushimi and Toba, and retired to his +territory in northern Japan after his defeat. Though he found supporters +among the _daimyo_ of the neighboring territories, the forces of the +Imperialists were in the meanwhile immensely reinforced, for the +_daimyo_ of middle Japan, who had hitherto been neutral, now joined +their colleagues of the south. The war began anew in the middle of June +in the northern part of Honto. The combined forces of the northern +_daimyo_ had to fight against fearful odds, and were successively +defeated. The castle of Aidzu was closely invested, and capitulated at +the beginning of November. The supporters of the lord of Aidzu also +surrendered one after another to the Imperialists. It was soon after +this that the adoption of the name of Meidji, as the designation of the +opening era, was promulgated at Kyoto. + +The last chivalrous feat in behalf of the Shogun was performed by the +fleet which belonged to the former Shogunate. Before the Revolution the +Shogunate had kept a fleet consisting of eight ships, commanded by +Admiral Yenomoto, who had received his naval education in Holland. This +was the only navy worthy of its name in Japan at that time. After the +capitulation of Yedo the Imperial Government ordered half of the +men-of-war belonging to the fleet to be given up to itself, allowing the +rest to be kept in the hands of the Tokugawa. The admiral was, however, +too sorrowful to part with his ships, so that a little before the +capitulation of Aidzu, he sailed out with all his fleet from the harbour +of Yedo, and occupied Hakodate, a port at the southern end of the +island of Yezo. But the forces he was able to land were no match for the +victorious Imperialists, who became now quite free in all other +quarters. The harbour of Hakodate was soon blockaded, and the Pentagon +Fortress was besieged and taken. In June of the following year the whole +island of Yezo was subdued, and the new name of Hokkaidô was given to +it. + +With the surrender of Hakodate the military history of the Revolution of +the Meidji came to its close, but the political transformation was not +yet consummated. What was already accomplished concerned only the +elimination of the Shogun from the political system of the country and +the establishment of the direct rule of the Emperor over the _daimyo_. +The latter, not reduced in number and undiminished in extent of +territories, except a few who had forfeited the whole or a part of their +territories by their resistance to the imperial order, still continued +to hold their hereditary rights over their land and people as in the +time of the Tokugawa. In short, the national question had only been +partially solved, and there remained much to be done before the +attainment of the final goal, the complete reconstruction of the whole +empire. Various important changes necessary for it were put into +practice during the next four years. + +In the year 1868, the city of Yedo changed its name to Tokyo, which +means the eastern capital, and was made henceforth the constant +residence of the Emperor instead of Kyoto. This was the beginning of +the new era. In July 1869, the feudal rights of the _daimyo_ over their +territories and people were abolished, after the voluntary renunciation +of their privileges on the part of the latter, who now became hereditary +governors salaried according to the income of each respective territory. +If the Revolution had stopped short at this, then the prestige of the +territorial lords might have still remained almost intact, for they +still resided in the same territories which they had owned as _daimyo_, +and they had still under them standing forces, consisting of their +former _samurai_. The juridical transformation of what they owned as +their private property into objects of their public jurisdiction was a +change of too delicate a nature to manifest to the multitude of the +people a political aspect totally different from that of the time of the +Shogunate. It needed three years more to sweep away all these feudal +shackles. In August of the year 1871 the division of the empire into +territories was replaced by the division into prefectures, which were +far less in number than the territories of the _daimyo_, the +jurisdiction of the hereditary governors was suspended, and to each of +the prefectures a new governor was appointed. The allowances of the +_samurai_, which had still been hereditary, were also suspended, and +their compensation was rendered in form of a bond, with gradations +according to their former income. The new decimal monetary system was +adopted. The Gregorian calendar was adopted. The military service which +had been the exclusive calling of the _samurai_ class was now extended +to people of all classes. The conscription system was introduced after +the examples of the Western countries, and this reform naturally led to +the loss of the privileges of the _samurai_. All people were now made +equal before the law. Japan was at last clothed in quite modern attire. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + EPILOGUE + + +Japan of the past fifty years since the Revolution of the Meidji may be +said to have been in a transition period, although we do not know when +nor how she will settle down after all. As a transition period in the +history of any country is generally its most eventful epoch, so our last +half century has been the busiest time the nation has ever experienced. +Not only that. We were ushered into the wide world, just at the time +when the world itself began to have its busiest time also. The opening +of the country at such a juncture may be compared to a man in deep +slumber, who is aroused suddenly in the dazzling daylight of noon. +Moreover, Japan has had another and not less important business to +attend to, that is to say, she had to trim herself, and complete her +internal reconstruction, a task which may not perhaps come to its +completion for a long time to come. Excitation must be the natural +outcome to anybody placed in such a position. Japan has over-worked +indeed, and is yet working very hard. She has achieved not a little +already, and is still struggling to achieve more. If we would try to +describe the history of Japan during these fifty years, we should have +more to tell than the history of the preceding twenty centuries. That is +not, however, possible in the scope of this small volume. Another reason +why we need not expatiate on this period of our national history is +because it is comparatively better known to foreigners than the history +of old Japan, though we are not sure that it is not really +misunderstood. The root, however, of the misapprehension of Japan of the +Meidji era lies deep in the misapprehension of the history of her past, +for one who can understand rightly Japan of the past, may not err much +in comprehending Japan of the present. I will not, therefore, describe +in detail the contemporary history of Japan, but will content myself by +giving merely a cursory view of it. + +It was none but the _samurai_, the mainstay of feudal Japan, who brought +about the momentous change of the Meidji, and it was the _samurai_ of +the lower class, who acted the chief part in the Revolution. The +savants, however they might have proved useful in fanning the +nationalistic spirit among the people, were after all not men of action. +Only the _samurai_, when permeated with this spirit, could effect such a +grand political change. There may be no doubt that the _samurai_ +undertook the task for the sake of the national welfare, and most of all +not to restore the already rotten régime which had once existed before +the advent of the Kamakura Shogunate. But this evident truth was known +neither to the court-nobles, who dreamt only of seeing their past glory +recovered, nor to those idealists of ultra-conservative trend, who +sincerely believed that the history of nearly twelve centuries might be +simply ignored and the golden days of the Nara period be called back +into life once more. The latter strongly urged the personal government +of the Emperor and the restoration of the worship of the national gods +to its ancient glory, while the former strove to recover the reins of +government into their own hands. It was the result of their compromise, +that the political organisation of the Taïhô era was formally revived, +though with not a few indispensable modifications. Think of the statute +of eleven hundred seventy years before recalled to reality again, and of +a country, governed by a such a petrified statute, entering the +concourse of the nations of the world in the nineteenth century. How +comical it would have been if such a retrogression had been allowed to +proceed even for a generation? The first to be disappointed were the +court-nobles. The expectation of the ultra-conservatives was also far +from being fulfilled. The country was in urgent need of a new +legislation conformable to the new state of things, and the restored +statute was soon found to be utterly inadequate to serve the purpose. +The quixotic movement of the bigoted Shintoists to persecute Buddhism, +which led to the lamentable demolition of many Buddhist sculptures and +buildings of high artistic merit, was to subside as soon as it was +started, for it was now the age of complete religious toleration, which +was extended even to Christianity soon afterwards. + +The most extravagant expectation of the ultra-conservatives was thus +frustrated, but the conservative spirit in the nation, which was by no +means to be swept away at all found its devotees among the class of the +_samurai_. Though they were the real makers of the Revolution, yet the +loss of their privileges and material interests which it entailed, +touched them sorely. A very small fraction of them served the new +government as officials and soldiers of high and low rank, and could +enjoy life much more comfortably than they did in the pre-Meidji days. +The greater part of the _samurai_, however, were obliged to betake +themselves to some of the callings which they were accustomed to look +down upon with disdain, for if they did not work, the compensation which +they received from the government did not suffice to sustain them for +long. Some of them preferred to become farmers, and those who persisted +in that line generally fared well. Many others turned themselves into +merchants, and mostly failed; being accustomed to the simplicities of +the life and the code of soldiers, and utterly unversed in the +complexities of the code commercial, and the trickeries of the life +merchants; and the small capital obtained by selling their +compensation-bonds was soon squandered. What wonder if they began to +regret and whine for better days of the past? Discontentment became +rampant among them; but the inducement to its disruption was provided by +the diplomatic tension with Korea. + +I have no space here to dwell upon the intricate history of the +differences between Korea and our country in the later seventies of the +nineteenth century. Suffice it to say that the militaristic party in and +out of the government favoured the war with Korea, while the opposing +party was against it, considering it injurious to sound national +progress, especially at a time when it was an immediate necessity for +the welfare of the country to devote all its resources to internal +reconstruction. The war party with Takamori Saigô at its head seceded +from the government. Saigô had been a great figure since the Revolution, +as the representative _samurai_ of the Satsuma, and had a great many +worshippers, so that even after his retirement his influence over the +territory of Satsuma was immense. At last he was forced by his adorers, +whose ill-feeling against the government now knew no bounds, to take up +arms in order to purge the government, which seemed to them too +effeminate and too radical. Not only the warlike and conservative +_samurai_ of Satsuma, but all the _samurai_ in the other provinces of +Kyushû, who sympathised with them, rose up and joined them. Siege was +laid by them to the castle of Kumamoto, the site of régimental +barracks. + +So far they had been successful, but owing to insufficiency of +ammunition and provisions, they could not force their way much farther. +Moreover, the Imperial Army recently organised, recruited mostly from +the common people by the conscription system, proved very efficient, +owing to the use of Snider rifles, although at first the new soldiers +had been despised by the insurgents on account of their low origin. The +siege of Kumamoto was at last raised; the remnant of the defeated forces +of Saigô retired to a valley near the town of Kagoshima; Saigô committed +suicide; and the civil war ended in the victory of the government in +September 1877, seven months after its outburst. + +This civil war is an epoch-making event in the history of the Meidji +era, in the sense that it was a death blow to the last and powerful +remnant force of feudalism, the influence of the _samurai_. Though the +_samurai_-soldiers who fought on the side of Saigô were very few in +number compared with the host of the _samurai_ within the whole empire, +and though not a few _samurai_-soldiers fought also on the opposite +side, still it was clear that the insurgents represented the interests +of the _samurai_ as a class better than the governmental army, and the +defeat of the former had, on the prestige of the class, an effect quite +similar to that which was produced in Europe of the later Middle Ages +by the use of firearms and the organisation of the standing army, and +significantly reduced the traditional influence of knights on horseback. +It is for this reason that the democratisation of the nation markedly +set in after the civil war, and with it the territorial particularism, +which had been weakened by the Revolution, has been rapidly dying away. +Political parties of various shades began to be formed. The works of +Montesquieu and Rousseau were translated into Japanese, and widely read +with avidity. The cry for a representative government became a national +demand. Against the hesitating government riots were raised here and +there. To sum up the history of the second decade of the Meidji era, we +see that it strikingly resembles French history in the first half of the +nineteenth century. The rise of the influence of the new-born bourgeois +class in modern Japan may be said to have dated from this epoch. +Europeanisation in manners and customs became more and more striking +year by year. + +What is unique in our modern history is that, parallel with the growth +of the democratic tendency in the nation, the imperial prestige effected +a remarkable increase. This seemingly contradictory phenomenon may be +explained easily by considering how our present notion of fidelity to +the Emperor has evolved. The divine authority of the Emperor did not +suffer any remarkable change after his personal régime ceased, though +his political prestige had been eclipsed by the assumption of power by +the Fujiwara nobles. Even after the establishment of the Shogunate, +nobody in Japan had ever thought it possible that the Emperor could be +placed in rank equal to or under a Shogun or any other sort of dictator, +however virtually powerful he might have been. Through all political +vicissitudes the Emperor has remained always the noblest personage in +Japan, and in this sense he has been the focus toward which the heart of +the whole nation turned. + +The relation of the Emperor to the people at large, during these periods +of eclipse, was indirect. Between them intervened the Shogun and the +_daimyo_ as actual immediate rulers, so that fidelity to the Emperor had +been spoken of only academically, and their fidelity, in a concrete +sense, had been solely centered in their immediate master, who +reciprocated it by the protection he extended directly over them. Thus +fidelity on the one hand and protection on the other hand had been +conditioned by each other, and because the bond was naturally an +essential link of the military régime, it was strengthened by its being +handed down from generation to generation. In short, the fidelity of the +Japanese may be said to be a product of the military régime, and owes +its growth to the hereditary relation of vassalage. As all the ideals +and virtues cherished among the _samurai_ class used to be considered by +plebeians as worthy of imitation, if practicable in their own circles, +fidelity was also understood by them in the same sense as among the +military circles, that is to say, as a soldierly virtue in a subordinate +toward his superior. So it grew to be more disciplinary, +self-sacrificing and devotional, than in the times before the military +régime. This condition of the national morals had continued to the end +of the Tokugawa Shogunate, with occasional relaxations, of course. But +now that the Shogunate and the _daimyo_ were eliminated from the +political system, the foci toward which the fidelity of the people had +been turned ceased to exist, and the fidelity remained, as it were, to +be a cherished virtue of the nation though without a goal. It sought for +a new focus, looked up one stage higher than the Shogun, and was glad to +make the Emperor the object of its fervent devotion. Soon it developed +almost into a passion, because the nation became more and more conscious +of the necessity of a well-centred national consolidation, and it could +find nowhere else a centre more fit for it than the Emperor. His +prestige could increase in this way _pari passu_ with the growth of the +democratic spirit in the nation. It is not, therefore, a mere +traditional preponderance, but an authority having its foundation in +modern civilisation. + +It cannot be denied, however, that history clothes our imperial house +with special grandeur, which might not be sought in the case of any +royal family newly come to power, and if conservatism would have a firm +stand in Japan, it must be the conservatism which sprang from this +historical relation of the people to the Emperor. This explains the +sudden rise of the conservative spirit, which at once changed the aspect +of the country at the end of the second decade of the Meidji era. It +happened just at the time when the current of Europeanisation was at its +height and the realisation of the hope of the progressives, the +promulgation of the Constitution and the inauguration of representative +government, drew very near. + +In February 1889 the Constitution long craved for was at last granted, +and by virtue of it the first Imperial Diet was opened the next year. +This adoption of the representative system of government by Japan used +to be often cited as a rare example of the wonderful progress of a +nation not European, and all our subsequent national achievements have +been ascribed by foreigners to this radical change of constitution. +Every good and every evil, however, which the system is said to possess, +has been fully manifested in this country. We have since been +continually endeavouring to train and accustom ourselves to the new +régime, but our experience in modern party government is still very +meagre, and it will take a long time to see all classes of the people +appropriately interested in national politics, which is a requisite +condition to reaping the benefit of constitutional government to the +utmost. At present we have no reason to regret, on the contrary much +reason to rejoice at, the introduction of the system. + +After the constitution came many organic laws, the civil and penal code, +and so forth, in order of proclamation. This completion of the apparatus +necessary to the existence of the modern state improved in no small +measure the position of our country in the eyes of attentive foreigners. +What, however, contributed most of all to the abrogation of the rights +of extraterritoriality enjoyed by foreigners on Japanese soil, the +object of bitter complaint and pining on the part of patriots, was the +victory won by our army in the war against China. + +Before the outbreak of the Sinico-Japanese war, China had long been +regarded not only by Western nations, but by the Japanese themselves, as +far above our country in national strength, not to speak of the +superiority of wealth as well as of civilisation in general. Though the +victory of the expeditionary troops sent by Hideyoshi over the Chinese +reinforcements despatched by the Emperor of the Ming to succour the +invaded Koreans was sufficient to wipe off the military humiliation +which our army had suffered on the peninsula nine hundred years before, +and had much to do in enhancing the national self-confidence against the +Chinese, the renewed imitation of her civilisation during the Tokugawa +Shogunate turned the scale again in favour of China even to the eyes of +the Japanese intelligents, and we had been constantly overawed by the +influence of the big continental neighbour. So that the formal +annexation of the Loochoo Islands in the first decade of the Meidji era +against the opposing Chinese claim was considered to be a great +diplomatic victory of the new government. The failure of the French +expedition added also to the credit of the unfathomable force of the +Celestial Empire. The grand Chinese fleet which visited our ports in the +year previous to the war was thought to be more than our match, and made +us feel a little disquieted. Contrary to our anticipation, however, +battle after battle ended in our victory in the war of 1894-1895, and +Korea was freed from Chinese hegemony by the treaty of Shimonoseki. + +Though some of the important articles of the same treaty were made +useless by the intervention of the three Western powers, the war proved +on the whole very beneficial to our country. The growth of the +consciousness of the national strength emboldened the people to develop +their activity in all directions. Several new industries began to +flourish. The national wealth increased remarkably so as to enable the +government to adopt a monometallic currency in gold. Education, high as +well as low, was encouraged by the increase of various new schools and +by the strengthening of their staffs. We laboured very hard for the ten +following years, and then the Russo-Japanese war took place. + +It was indeed fortunate that we could win after all in the war in which +we put our national destiny at stake. Not only in this war with Russia, +but in that with China a decade before, we had been by no means sure of +victory, when we decided to enter into them. It is such a war generally +that proves salutary to the victorious party, when, after having been +fought with difficulty, it ends in a way better than had been +anticipated. It was so in the war of 1894-1895, and was not otherwise in +that waged ten years later. These military successes, needless to say, +increased still more the splendour of the imperial prerogative already +magnificently revived. At the same time they countenanced the growth of +conservatism. The impetus, however, which these wars gave to the general +activity of the nation necessitated the people betaking themselves to +the study and imitation of Western civilisation. And this +Europeanisation, direct or through America, tended to make the nation +more and more progressive. Thus conservatism in recent Japan has been +marching hand in hand with liberalism, nay, even with radicalism, each +alternately outweighing the other. This is why present Japan has +appeared to be lacking in stability, especially in the eyes of foreign +observers. + +The years immediately succeeding the Russo-Japanese war formed the +culminating period of the glorious era of Meidji, and also a +turning-point of the national history. Up to that time foreign nations +had been lavishing their kindness in the education of the novice nation, +who seemed to them to be yet in her teens on account of having just +entered into the concert of the world as a passive hearer. They did not +know what would become of Japan, brought up and instructed in this way. +In military affairs the English were our first masters, then came the +French and the German. In the navy, the Dutch followed by the English +were our instructors. In the sphere of legislation, the first advisers +were the French, to whom the Germans succeeded. The latter also taught +us their science of medicine, which to study in Japan the German +language has become the first requisite. Besides what has been +enumerated above, knowledge of all branches of industries, arts, and +sciences has been introduced into our country in the highly advanced +stage of the brilliant century. Who would have dreamt, however, of the +victory of the Japanese over the Russians in January of 1904? In the +war, it is true, a great many foreigners sympathised with the cause of +the Japanese, simply because all bystanders are unconsciously wont to +take the side of the weaker. The fall of Port Arthur and the +annihilation of the Russian navy on the Sea of Japan were beyond all +expectation. They now began to think that they might be also taken +unawares by us, as they thought the Russians were, forgetting that they +had ignored to study the Japanese. They rather repented that they had +underestimated the real Japanese unduly, and thereby they have fallen +into the error of overestimation. We do not think that a sheer victory +on a battlefield can in any case be taken as a measure of the progress +of civilisation in the victor. Moreover, in what field could we have +been able to beat any European nation except in battle, if we could beat +her at all? Almost all of our cultural factors we have borrowed from +foreign countries, and therefore they are of later introduction, so that +they could not be easily brought by our imitation, however adroit it +might be, to a stage nearly so high as they had reached in their +original homes. But as to the art of fighting only, we have come to +practise it since the old times, and during the successive Shogunates it +had been the calling most honoured and followed by us at the expense of +other acquirements. In short, it was the speciality of old Japan, so +that our success in arms could not testify to the sudden jump in other +branches of our civilisation. Those foreigners, however, who had been +accustomed to judge us from afar, looked only at the scientific and +mechanical side of modern war, of which we had availed ourselves, and +surmised that if we could stand excellently the test in this department, +we must certainly have surpassed what they had expected of us in all +respects. This surmise, which they felt not very agreeably, they flatly +imputed to our dissimulation and feigning, and branded them as our +national vices, instead of attributing the miscalculation to their +self-deception and ignorance as regards things Japanese. On the +contrary, we have had never the least intention to deceive any +foreigner in the estimation of the merit of what we have achieved. Would +it not be ridiculously absurd to assume the existence of such a tendency +in any living nation in the world? + +We have been thus overestimated and at the same time begun to be +somewhat disliked by those short-sighted observers in foreign countries +after our successful war with Russia. The pet nation of the whole world +of yesterday was turned suddenly into the most suspected and dangerous +nation of to-day! There have been many missionaries who had personal +experience of our country, owing to their residence here for years, +professing that they have tried their utmost to plead our cause. +Unfortunately, their defence of us has not availed much, for a great +part of them are used to depict us as a nation still evolving. Evolving +they say, for our recent national progress is too evident a fact to be +refuted, and they wish to ascribe it to their fruitful endeavours. +Evolving, they say repeatedly, for they are fain to show that there is +still remaining in Japan a wide field reserved for them to work, lest +their _raison d'être_ in this country should otherwise be lost forever. +In fact, we are now far enough advanced as a nation as not to require +the tutelage of the missionaries of recent times. + +I regret that we have among us a certain number of typical braggarts, +who unfortunately abound in every country, and their shameless bluffing +has often caused astonishment to unprejudiced observers in foreign +countries. Nevertheless, we as a nation are neither far better nor far +worse than any other in the world. To remain as a petrified state, with +plenty of well-preserved relics of all ages, is what we cannot bear for +our country. We know well that a nation which produces sight-seers must +be incomparably happier and more praiseworthy than that which furnishes +quaint objects for show to please those sight-seers. If there be any +other nation that wishes to make its home a peepshow for others, let it +do so. That is not our business. What we aspire to earnestly as our +national ideal is to make our country able to stand shoulder to shoulder +with the senior Western nations in contributing to the advance and +welfare of world civilisation. We shall proceed toward this goal, +however fluctuating foreign opinion about us may be for years or ages to +come. + + + + + INDEX + + + A + + Abe, family, 93 + + Aborigines, 28 + + Adoption, 346 + + Adzumakagami, 322 + + Agriculture, 78 + + Aidzu, 377ff. + + Ainu, 30ff., 66f., 70ff., 82ff., 86ff., 91, 104ff., 114, 119, 122ff., + 125, 130, 143, 147, 153, 157, 175, 183, 192ff., 204, 237ff. + + Alienation of land, 346 + + Allod-holders, Frankish, 144 + + Alphabet, 167, 324 + + Amalgamation of cultures, 335, 347. _See_ Assimilation of cultures + + America, 371 ff., 394 + + Amita, 172 + + Amusements, 211 + + Ancient régime, 356 + + Annals, 364 + + Ansai, Yamazaki, 359 + + Anti-Semitism, 344 + + Apaches, 254 + + Archæology, 29 + + Archery, 205, 312 + + Architecture, 130ff., 296 + + Aristocracy, 62, 246, 250, 343 + + Armour, 314ff. + + Art, 129ff., 261, 331, 345 + + Artisans, 288ff. + + Æsop, Fables of, 262 + + Ashigaru, 304 + + Ashikaga, age of, 214, 222ff., 227, 231, 234ff., 238, 241, 243, 245ff., + 248, 251, 258ff., 263, 274, 284ff., 296ff., 310, 312, 316, 318, 320, + 328, 331, 344, 350, 360ff. + + Ashikaga, family, 206ff., 210, 215ff., 233, 268ff., 307 + + Ashikaga Shogunate, 187, 207, 210ff., 215ff., 223, 227ff., 242, 252, + 257, 261, 264, 268, 307, 320 + + Ashikaga, town, 227 + + Assessment, 298 + + Assimilation of cultures, 150. _See_ Amalgamation of cultures + + Astronomy, 107ff., 349 + + Augury, 64, 139 + + Auspices, 139 + + Austria, 213 + + Ave Maria, 173 + + + B + + Balkan, 68 + + Ballad, 129, 134 + + Ball, kicking of, 237 + + Barons, English, 213 + + Barriers, 291, 342 + + Bartering, 84ff. + + Biographies, 365 + + Bismarck, 356 + + Biwa, instrument, 162 + + Biwa, Lake, 119ff. + + Block-engraver, 233ff. + + Blood-ties, 89 + + Body-guard, of Shogun, 294ff. _See_ Hatamoto + + Books, 231ff., 348, 358 + + Bookstores, 325 + + Botany, 349 + + Bourbons, 282 + + Bourgeois, 237, 245, 250, 332, 345, 388 + + Brewers, 244 + + Bricks, 131 + + Britons, 69 + + Buddhism, 8, 96, 98ff., 109, 118, 130, 145ff., 162, 168ff., 233, 235, + 237, 250, 262, 273ff., 351ff, 359, 384 + + Buffoons, 244 + + Buffoons, 262, 273ff., 351ff., 359, 384 + + Bulgarians, 68 + + Bunjingwa, 332 + + Byôbu, 250 + + + C + + Cæsars, 154 + + Calendar, 107ff. + + Calligraphy, 323, 325, 331 + + Calvinism, 189 + + Cape Colony, 70 + + Carlovingians, 94 + + Carpets, 133 + + Caste-system, 61, 343 + + Castles, feudal, 237 + + Catholic, 170, 350 + + Cattle, 78 + + Cavalry, 304 + + Celibacy, 351 + + Census, 116ff., 125, 144 + + Centralisation, 15ff., 89, 92, 95ff., 221ff. + + Chaotic period of Japanese history, 224 + + Chen-Shou, Chinese historian, 59 + + Chikafusa, Kitabatake, 321 + + China, 7, 99, 106, 159, 195, 225ff., 228ff., 234, 237, 241ff., 245, + 392 + + Chinese, people, 233, 348 + + Chinese art, 129, 249 + + Chinese Buddhists, 226 + + Chinese civilisation 6ff., 57, 60, 96, 105ff., 227, 253, 261, 348, + 371 + + Chinese colonists, 58 + + Chinese language, 60ff., 166ff., 235, 324, 362, 366 + + Chinese literature, 129, 134, 152, 227, 230, 232ff., 248, 321ff., + 327, 358 + + Chinese philosophy, 358 + + Chivalry, 162 + + Christianity, 245, 251ff., 262ff., 278, 280, 296, 348, 351, 353, + 385 + + Chronicles, 53ff., 61, 277, 364 + + Chronology, 107, 235ff. + + Church, 352 + + Churche, 195ff. + + Chu-tse, 352, 359, 366 + + Cities, growth of, 223, 230, 241 + + Civil Code, 392 + + Civil war, between two branches of Imperial family, 240, 255ff., 355 + + Class-system, 140, 288ff., 343, 347 + + Classicism, 224 + + Clay, types made of, 320 + + Clients, 81, 87, 90ff., 115 + + Climate, 21ff. + + Cochin China, 323 + + Codification, 123 + + Coins, 231ff., 298, 312 + + Common people, 141, 145, 289, 328, 389. _See_ Plebeians + + Communication, 236, 238, 280 + + Community, religious, 172 + + Community, self-providing, 84 + + Compensation-bonds, 385 + + Condottieri, 242, 277 + + Confiscation, 345 + + Confucius, 8, 232, 234, 320, 328ff., 352, 358ff. + + Connoisseurs, 244, 285 + + Conscription, 125, 381, 387 + + Conservatism, 163, 269, 390, 394 + + Constitution, 391ff. + + Convent, 233 + + Conventionalism, 193, 272 + + Corporations, 84 + + Corvée, 116 + + Court-ladies, 152 + + Court-musicians, 135 + + Court-nobles, Courtiers, 131, 140, 152ff., 156, 204ff., 210ff., 215, + 218ff., 227, 237, 252, 255, 272, 306, 308ff., 335, 338, 360, 374f., + 383ff. + + Court-philosophers, 352 + + Craft-groups. _See_ Groups + + Crafts-men, 340 + + Crown prince, 95, 311 + + Crusades, 226 + + Culture, 238, 335, 347 + + Curios, 244 + + Currency, system of, 298. _See_ Monetary system and Coins + + Cycle, chronological, 107ff. + + + D + + Daibutsu, 136, 144 + + Daimyo, 225, 236ff., 290ff., 293ff., 299ff., 307, 310ff., 315ff., + 325ff., 331ff., 337ff., 358ff., 380, 389ff. + + Dai-Nihon-shi, 364 + + Dancing, 135 + + Dark Ages, 224 + + Date, family, 303 + + Deities, 168, 170 + + Democratisation, 388ff., 390 + + Deshima, 348, 371 + + Diadochi, 279 + + Dialect, 315, 341 + + Diplomatists, 244, 301, 349 + + Disintegration of the Empire, 216 + + Dismemberment, 10f + + Dissimulation, 396 + + District-governors, 116 + + Djitô, 181 ff., 202ff., 212ff., 225, 294, 297 + + Doctrinaires, 373 + + Documents, 364 + + Dog-shooting, 205, 294ff., 314 + + Domains, 80ff., 90ff., 94, 97, 306, 330 + + Domicile, 340 + + Dramatist, 333 + + Dutchmen, 348f., 350, 353, 371, 394 + + + E + + Earthenware, 29 + + East Chin dynasty of China, 99 + + East Roumelia, 68 + + Education, 235, 238, 289ff., 358, 394ff. + + Educational Museum, 327 + + Eighty Thousand, 294. _See_ Hatamoto + + Elders, 294 + + El Dorado, 265 + + Embargo, 291 + + Emperor, 80ff., 95, 101, 108, 223, 306ff., 327, 365, 367ff., 384, + 389ff. + + Empire style, 285 + + Empress, 141, 310, 336 + + England, 69 + + Englishmen, 199, 395 + + Epic, 130, 134 + + Etiquette, 145, 250ff. + + Europe, 224, 371ff. + + European civilisation, 262, 347, 348, 353 + + European history, 12 + + Europeanisation, 388, 391, 394 + + Europeans, 347 + + Excavation in northern China, 130 + + Executioners, 343 + + Ex-Emperor, 311 + + Extradition, 340 + + Extra-territoriality, 392ff. + + + F + + Facsimile, 325 + + Family life, 256ff. + + Farmers, 340. _See_ Peasants + + Fetichism, 272 + + Feudalism, 12ff., 302, 379, 387 + + Feudal Japan, 383 + + Feudatories, 225, 237, 242, 247, 293ff., 351 + + Fighting, 396ff. + + Fire-arms, 243, 312, 388 + + Fiscal-system, 306 + + Florence, 241 + + Flower-trimming, 132ff., 244 + + Foreign relations, Foreigners, 326, 373 + + Forest, 305 + + Formosa, 23, 27 + + Fortress, 296 + + France, 69, 282 + + Freeholders of land, 81 + + Freemen, 81 + + French, 295 + + French Revolution, 356 + + Fu-Chien, Chinese potentate, 96 + + Fudai, 294ff., 296 + + Fujiwara, age of, 156ff., 163ff., 174, 177ff., 186ff., 248, 254ff., + 263, 272, 275, 306, 389 + + Fujiwara, family, 140ff., 149, 152ff., 202, 204, 218, 306, 336 + + Fukuwara, Settsu, 159. _See_ Kobe + + Fushimi, 321ff., 376ff. + + + G + + Gemmyô, Empress, 53, 130ff. + + Genealogical records, 337 + + Generalissimo, to chastise the Ainu, 183 + + Genji-monogatari, 152, 248, 261, 360 + + Genkô-shakusho, 235 + + Gentlemen, 328 + + Gentry, 330, 335 + + German Confederation, 329 + + German Empire, 194, 356 + + German Language, 395 + + Germans, 79, 94, 129, 395 + + Germany, 68, 213, 239 + + Go-Daigo, Emperor, 205, 306, 321 + + Goetz von Berlichingen, 246 + + Go-Kenin, 179, 202, 294 + + Go-Midzunowo, Emperor, 319, 321 + + Go-Sanjô, Emperor, 178 + + Government, signification of, 177 + + Go-Yôzei, Emperor, 319ff. + + Great Britain, 194 + + Great Japan, History of, 365 + + Greece, 10f., 136 + + Gregorian Calendar, 381 + + Groups, system of, 62, 80, 82ff., 88, 92, 115 + + Guild, of Medieval Europe, 84 + + Guns, 243, 312 + + + H + + Hachiman, of Tsurugaoka, 177 + + Hai-nan, island, 65 + + Haito, 72, 83, 86 + + Hakata, 190, 223, 226, 228ff., 233, 241 + + Hakodate, 378 + + Haniwa, 129 + + Hanseatic towns, 239 + + Harakiri, 287ff. + + Harps, 133 + + Hatamoto, 295, 305ff., 310, 376 + + Hei-an, 146. _See_ Kyoto + + Heike, 162. _See_ Taira + + Heike-monogatari, 162 + + Hidehira, Fujiwara, 192 + + Hidetada, Tokugawa, 350 + + Hideyoshi, Toyotomi, 267, 269, 279ff., 285, 293ff., 298ff., 306ff., + 319ff., 351, 358, 392 + + Hieta-no-Are, 53f. + + Highlanders, 157 + + Higo, province, 72 + + Hikwan, 214, 217. _See_ Protégés + + Historiography, 363, 365f. + + History, as science, 4ff., 73 + + History, study of, 269, 349, 358, 364ff. + + Hitachi, province, 296 + + Hiyei, Mount, Monasteries, 275. _See_ Yenryakuji + + Hizen, province, 376 + + Hogen, era, 160 + + Hohenstaufen, 219 + + Hôjô, family, 184ff., 188, 201ff., 205, 207, 212, 227, 256 + + Hokke, Buddhist sect, 189, 274. _See_ Nichiren-shû + + Hokkaidô, Island, 23, 27, 32ff., 119, 237ff., 370, 378 + + Holland, 378. _See_ Dutchmen + + Holy Roman Empire, 295 + + Homestead, 303 + + Homicide, 288 + + Hôhen, 173ff., 189, 234 + + Hongwanji, Temple, 276 + + Hontô, Main Island, 31, 67ff., 119, 122ff., 192, 302, 316, 344, 378 + + Horsemanship, 133, 304, 313 + + Horses, 78, 116 + + Hosokawa, family, 240ff. + + Hostages, 257, 300, 338 + + Hsiao-king, 258, 319ff. + + Humanism, 226, 249ff., 260, 272, 317, 328ff., 331, 333 + + Hunting, 133 + + Hyogo, 241, 374. _See_ Kobe + + + I + + Ideographs, 57 + + Idolatry, 273 + + Idzu, province, 160 + + Idzumi, province, 239ff. + + Iki, island and province, 121, 197 + + Ikkô-shû, 274, 351. _See_ Jôdo-shinshû + + Illiteracy, 28, 61ff. + + Illustrations, 325 + + Imagawa, family, 259 + + Imitation, 129ff. + + Immigrants, 28, 34, 76, 78, 81, 89, 91, 99ff. + + Immunity, 142 + + Imperial court, 199, 227 + + Imperial Diet, 391 + + Imperial family, 62, 87ff., 90ff., 276, 336 + + Imperial household, 307, 311ff. + + Imperial power, 92, 355 + + Imperial residences, 114 + + Imperialists, 376ff. + + Impurity of blood, 344. _See_ Pollution + + Iname, Soga, 101 + + Indifferentism, 352 + + Individualism, 165, 246ff, 261, 264 + + Indoor-life, 132, 249 + + Infantry, 304, 312 + + Inland Sea, 25ff., 159, 161, 230ff. + + Invincible Armada, 199 + + Iron age, 46ff. + + Iruka, Soga, 112 + + Ise, province and Shrines, 102, 238ff. + + Ise-monogatari, 261 + + Italian cities, 226 + + Italians, 261, 350 + + Italy, 285 + + Iwaki, province, 104 + + Iwami, province, 305 + + Iwashiro, province, 104 + + Iyeyasu, Tokugawa, 267, 281ff., 293, 296, 309, 318ff., 321ff., 350ff., + 358, 364, 368 + + + J + + Japan, climate of, 21ff. + + Japan, historic, 24, 51ff., 75 + + Japan, Northern, 26ff., 70 + + Japan, Sea of, 24, 119 + + Japan, Southern, 26ff. + + Japanese, people, 9, 33ff., 37, 45, 61, 65, 75, 122ff., 164 + + Japanese architecture, 39ff. + + Japanese art, 130 + + Japanese authors, 234 + + Japanese history, 1ff., 10, 18f., 50, 75, 78 + + Japanese language, 35, 167 + + Japanese literature, 129ff., 133ff., 151, 166ff., 249, 261, 323, 360ff. + + Jesuits, 264ff. + + Jews, 343 + + Jimmu, Emperor, 115 + + Jingô-shôtôki, 321 + + Jingu-kôgô, Empress, 59ff., 93ff., 98 + + Jôdo-shinshû, Buddhist sect, 245, 274. _See_ Ikkô-shû + + Jôdo-shû, Buddhist sect, 174, 189, 190 + + Jôkyu, era, 185, 205 + + Jomei, Emperor, 102 + + Jôruri, 162 + + Jôyei, era and Laws, 185, 235 + + Jûjutsu, 313ff. + + + K + + Kachi, 304 + + Kaempfer, Engelhardt, 284 + + Kaga, province, 293, 299, 303 + + Kagoshima, 233, 387 + + Kakemono, 249 + + Kamako, Nakatomi. _See_ Kamatari + + Kamakura, 156, 176, 191, 204ff., 207, 222ff., 225ff., 272 + + Kamakura, period, 174, 202, 214ff., 224, 232, 234, 237, 250, 254ff., + 274, 294, 296, 383 + + Kamakura Shogunate, 156, 175, 177, 179ff., 182ff., 186ff., 193, + 197ff., 212, 214, 254ff., 259, 285, 294, 307, 309, 322, 383 + + Kamatari, Nakatomi, 112ff., 140. _See_ Fujiwara + + Kana, 167 + + Kanazawa, Musashi, 227 + + Kanera, Ichijô, 218 + + Kanetsugu, Naoye, 319, 321 + + Kano school of painters, 247, 249, 331 + + Keichû, priest, 361 + + Khubilai, Mongol Khan, 198, 200 + + Kimmei, Emperor, 96, 100, 101 + + Kiso, forest of, 305 + + Kiyomori, Taira, 158ff., 163, 181, 272 + + Kiyowara, family, 149 + + Knights, 388 + + Knights-errant, 242 + + Knights-immediate, 295 + + Kobe, 159, 241, 374 + + Kojiki, 53f., 362 + + Kojiki-den, 362 + + Kokinshû, 360 + + Koku, 299ff., 302ff. + + Kokuri, 60, 96, 99, 110, 121, 196. _See_ Korea + + Kôkyoku, Empress, 113 + + Kômei, Emperor, 374 + + Korea, 23, 27, 34, 57ff., 96, 196, 228, 237, 263, 280, 319ff., 386ff. + + Koreans, 197 + + Koropokkuru, 30 + + Koto, 133 + + Kôtoku, Emperor, 113 + + Kôtsuke, province, 91 + + Kôya, Mount and Monasteries, 233, 275ff. + + Kreis-institution, 213 + + Kugatachi, 65 + + Kujiki, 55ff. + + Kumamoto, 387ff. + + Kumaso, 66, 72 + + Kuni, 81 + + Kutara, 56, 97ff., 110, 120ff. _See_ Korea + + Kwai-fu-sô, 134 + + Kwammu, Emperor, 146ff. + + Kwantô, 192 + + Kyoto, 119ff., 146ff., 152, 157, 159, 161, 166, 174ff., 181, 186, 190, + 191, 199, 204ff., 212, 216, 218ff., 222ff., 225, 227ff., 232ff., 235, + 238, 240, + 245, 268, 277ff., 306, 309ff., 323, 327, 331, 333, 335, 364, 374, + 376ff., 378, 380 + + Kyushu, 23, 33, 49, 66ff., 72, 91, 121, 197, 223, 228, 230, 243, 302, + 315, 386 + + + L + + Labour, agricultural, 84 + + Labour, manual, 84 + + Lacquering, 243 + + Land-appropriation, by warriors, 154 + + Land-distribution, 115ff., 125 + + Landholders, 80, 87ff., 141ff. + + Landlords, 87ff., 90, 115 + + Lands, confiscation of, 91 + + Lands, Crown, 80 + + Lands, granted by Emperors, 80 + + Lands, new exploration of, 84, 87, 90ff. + + Lands, private, 80 + + Landscapes, 166, 249 + + Land-survey, 279, 298 + + Land-tenure, 214 + + Learning, 326ff., 345 + + Leaseholders, 141 + + Legislation, 393 + + Legisimism, 367 + + Levantine trade, 226 + + Library, 227. _See_ Kanazawa + + Liegnitz, battle of, 198 + + Lieutenant, of Shogun at Kyoto, 207 + + Lieutenant, of djitô, 203 + + Limes, 69 + + Lineage, 299, 303, 337 + + Literati, 61, 149, 237, 247, 261, 325, 328, 332, 345 + + Longevity, 64 + + Loo-choo, islands, 23, 27ff., 241, 393 + + Lung-yü, 232ff. + + Lutheranism, 189 + + Lyang, dynasty in China, 100 + + Lyao, river, 57 + + + M + + Mabuchi, Kamo, 361 + + Magatama, 42f. + + Majordomo, 94 + + Makura-no-sôshi, 152 + + Mannyô-shû, 134, 360f. + + Manors, 182ff., 211, 214, 218ff., 223, 252ff., 279, 297, 310 + + Manuscripts, historical, 325 + + Market, 65, 66 + + Marriage, 211, 316, 335ff., 343 + + Maximilian I., Emperor of Germany, 213 + + Mayeta, family, 293, 299, 303 + + Mediatised princes of Germany, 295 + + Medicine, 234, 348, 394 + + Meidji, Emperor, 374 + + Meidji, era, 167, 283, 293, 335, 343, 354f., 357, 378ff., 387 + + Meidji, Restoration of, 146, 367, 379ff., 382ff., 385ff., 391, 393, 394 + + Mercantilism, 292 + + Mercenary, 286 + + Merchants, 8, 241ff., 240, 289ff., 333ff., 340 + + Merovingians, 94 + + Mésalliance, 335ff. + + Metallic types, 321. _See_ Types + + Middle Ages, 343, 351, 388 + + Migration, 28, 339ff. + + Mikawa, province, 259 + + Militarism, 337 + + Military affairs, 395 + + Military class, 156. _See_ Warrior + + Military régime, 315, 317, 326ff., 330, 333ff., 389 + + Military sciences, 349 + + Military service, 143, 381 + + Military system, 124ff., 203 + + Mimana, a Korean state, 120 + + Minamoto, family, 156, 163ff., 166, 175, 186, 188, 202, 205, 213, 215, + 255, 309 + + Mines, 305 + + Ming, dynasty in China, 228, 229, 263, 288 + + Mino, province, 268 + + Misapprehension, 383 + + Misogi, 43f., 63 + + Missionaries, 145, 245, 262, 264ff., 278ff., 284, 327, 351, 370, 397ff. + + Mito, 296, 364ff., 377 + + Mitsukuni, Tokugawa, 364 + + Miyake, 90ff. + + Modernisation, 270ff. + + Mommu, Emperor, 131ff. + + Momoyama, style of art, 285 + + Monetary system, 381, 393. _See_ Currency + + Mongols, 8, 195, 197ff., 206, 227ff., 381 + + Monometallic system, 393 + + Mononobe, family, 93, 101ff. + + Monzayemon, Chikamatsu, 333 + + Morals, 253ff., 359, 390 + + Moriya, Mononobe, 102 + + Movable types, 319ff., 323ff. _See_ Types + + Municipal councillors of Sakai, 241 + + Municipal freedom, 241 + + Murasaki-shikibu, 152, 248 + + Mushashi, province, 282 + + Musicians, 243 + + Mutsu, province, 119, 147, 161, 192, 303 + + Myths, 362 + + + N + + Nagasaki, 225, 305, 348f. + + Nagato, province, 230, 376 + + Nagoya, 296 + + Naïveté, 363 + + Naka-no-Oye, Prince. _See_ Tenchi, Emperor + + Nakatomi, family, 93, 113. _See_ Fujiwara + + Naniwa, 147. _See_ Osaka + + Nara, age of, 132ff., 135ff., 144, 146, 384 + + Nara, town, 233 + + National consciousness, 143 + + National gods, 384. _See_ Deities + + Naturalism, 249 + + Navigation, 120 + + Navy, 395 + + Negoro, Temple of, 276 + + Nembutsu, 172ff. + + Netsuke, 331 + + Nichiren, priest, 189 + + Nichiren-shû, Buddhist sect, 189, 274, 351. _See_ Hokke + + Nihongi, 53ff., 62, 107, 129, 320, 361f. + + Niigata, 67, 305 + + Nine Years, War of, 156 + + Nintoku, Emperor, 115 + + Nishijin, 243 + + Nobility, military, 294 + + Nobles, 131, 140, 142, 144ff., 148, 151ff., 183ff. + + Nobunaga, Oda, 267ff., 274ff., 282, 308, 332, 351 + + Nobuzane, 246 + + Nô-dancers, 345 + + Norinaga, Motoöri, 361f. + + Norito, 362 + + Norizane, Uyesugi, 233 + + Normans, in Sicily, 48 + + Notes, 312 + + Novelists, 361 + + Novels, 249, 261, 360 + + Nutari, 67, 71 + + + O + + Occupations of ancient Japanese, 78 + + Oda, family, 259, 267ff., 285 + + Odawara, 233 + + Officers, 153, 303 + + Officials, 108ff., 304, 312ff., 328, 339 + + Ohmi, province, 116, 119, 218, 120 + + Ohmi Laws, 116 + + Ohnin, era and civil war of, 216ff., 232, 243, 257, 307 + + Oh-no-Yasumaro, 53 + + Ohsumi, province, 33, 126 + + Ohtomo, family, 93, 101 + + Ohtsu, 119ff., 147 + + Ondo, strait of, 159 + + One-six, Lord, 225 + + On-no-Imoko, 106, 111ff. + + Orders, mendicant, 173 + + Organic laws, 391 + + Orleans, family, 282 + + Ornaments, 29 + + Orthodox, Greek Church, 170 + + Osaka, 114, 147, 225, 279, 332ff., 361, 376 + + Ôuchi, family, 230ff., 240 + + Outdoor-life in Nara age, 132 + + Overestimation, 395 + + Owari, province, 268, 296 + + + P + + Pacific, Ocean, 24, 119ff. + + Painters, 243, 345 + + Painting, 130, 249, 331 + + Pastimes, literary, 210, 237 + + Peasants, 288ff. _See_ Farmers + + Peasants' War, 246 + + Pedigrees, 337 + + Pedlers, 290 + + Peerage list, 338 + + Penal code, 392 + + Peninsular states, 112 + + Period-name, 114 + + Philologists, 361f. + + Physicians, 326, 345. + + Picts, 69 + + Picts' Wall, 69 + + Pilgrims to Ise Shrines, 238ff. + + Pirates, 197ff., 228, 236 + + Plays, religious, 170 + + Plebeians, 289ff., 344ff., 347, 387 + + Plutocrats, 333 + + Poems, 134ff. + + Poetry, 331 + + Poets, 243, 361 + + Political development, 16 + + Political parties, 389 + + Politics, 358f. + + Pollution, 63f., 343 + + Population, 126 + + Porcelain-making, 243 + + Port Arthur, 395 + + Portrait-painting, 247ff. + + Portuguese, 243, 350 + + Pottery, 44 + + Preachers, Buddhist, 168 + + Predominant stock of Japanese, 87ff., 93 + + Prefectures, 380 + + Prehistoric, 50ff. + + Pre-Meidji régime, 356 + + Prerogative, imperial, 307 + + Preservation, 270 + + Priests, Buddhist, 208, 326 + + Primogeniture, 92, 202, 337, 347 + + Printing, 231ff. + + Privilege, 343 + + Proletariat, 245 + + Protégés, 214, 217 + + Proto-historic, 50 + + Provinces, 81, 90, 115 + + Provincial governors, 114, 115, 180 + + Prussia, 275, 329 + + Publication, 323 + + Public land, 141ff. + + Publishers, 325 + + Purchase-system, 345 + + + Q + + Quattrocento, 261, 285 + + + R + + Race, 1, 21, 27, 75ff., 81 + + Rainy season, 24 + + Ransoms, 286 + + Rationalism, 352, 366 + + Reading circle, 324 + + Realistic, 248 + + Recitation, 162 + + Red tape, 272 + + Reformation, 246, 285, 328 + + Reformed Church, 350 + + Reforms, 138 + + Regency, 148, 306, 309 + + Religion, 117, 168ff. + + Religious community, 172 + + Religious movements, 18 + + Religious pictures, 246 + + Renaissance, 236, 251, 261, 285ff., 328 + + Renga, 210, 237 + + Representative government, 391 + + Reprinting of books, 319ff. + + Restoration of Bourbons, 355 + + Restoration of Meidji, 283, 355 + + Restoration of Stuarts, 355 + + Retainers, 183, 188, 197, 199ff., 202, 205, 213ff., 233, 294ff., 301 + + Revenue, 143 + + Rhetoric, 331 + + Rhine, 68 + + Rice, 41ff., 116, 297ff. + + Richû, Emperor, 57 + + Rigorism, 366f. + + Rikuchû province, 147 + + Rôchû, 294 + + Rococo, 285 + + Roman Empire, 125 + + Roses, War of, 206 + + Rousseau, 388 + + Rowing, 133 + + Rumination, 9 + + Russians, 370 + + Russo-Japanese War, 393ff. + + + S + + Sado, island and province, 305 + + Saga, Emperor, 250 + + Saghalien, 23, 27 + + Sakai, city, 223, 225, 230, 233ff., 243, 277, 305, 332ff. + + Sakanouye-no-Tamuramaro, 147 + + Sake, 244 + + Salic law, 202 + + Samurai, 288, 295, 301ff., 312ff., 318, 327ff., 335, 339ff., 380, 383, + 385, 387, 389 + + Sanetomo, Minamoto, 226 + + San-kuo-chi, 59ff., 71, 84, 99 + + Satsuma, province, 23, 33, 72, 126, 238, 303, 376, 386 + + Schools, 358 + + Scipios, 154 + + Scotland, 69 + + Screens, 250. _See_ Byôbu + + Scribes, 57, 61f., 82 + + Scroll-paintings, 165, 246, 249 + + Sculptures, 130, 136, 164ff., 384 + + Seasonal changes, 24ff. + + Secretaries, 62 + + Seigneur, 81ff., 87 + + Sei-shônagon, 152 + + Sekigahara, 293, 309, 322 + + Semi-independent lords, 11 + + Sen-no-Rikqû, 244 + + Sentimentalism, 248 + + Seppuku, 287ff. + + Sesshû, 249 + + Settsu, province, 114, 147 + + Seventeen Articles, 109 + + Shamisen, 162 + + Shiba, family, 268 + + Shi-chi, 364 + + Shikoku, island, 33, 240 + + Shimabara, 313 + + Shimatsu, family, 303 + + Shimonoseki, 161, 230ff., 393 + + Shinano, province, 67, 305 + + Shingon, Buddhist sect, 275 + + Shinran, priest, 189 + + Shin-shû, 189, 351f. _See_ Ikkôshu and Jôdo-shinshû + + Shintoism, 39ff., 63, 117ff., 145ff., 168ff., 172, 181, 203, 273, 359, + 262f., 363, 384 + + Ship-building, 240 + + Shiragi, 59f., 97, 110, 120ff., 196 + + Shirakawa, Emperor, 178 + + Shirakawa, town in Mutsu, 147, 192 + + Shogun, 181ff., 197, 201ff., 209ff., 213, 215ff., 247, 255, 294ff., + 300, 305, 307ff., 311, 325ff., 329, 331, 333, 346, 348, 355, 360, + 368ff., 372f., 378, 389 + + Shogunate, 11, 156, 272, 302, 389, 390, 396 + + Shômu, Emperor, 132, 140, 164, 336 + + Shooting, 312 + + Shop-keepers, 290 + + Shôsôin, 132 + + Shôtoku, Crown Prince, 55, 102, 109 + + Shôyen, 180. _See_ Manors + + Shrines, 252. _See_ Shintoism + + Shugo, 182, 210, 212ff., 216ff., 224, 296ff. + + Shu-king, 232 + + Siberia, 370 + + Silesia, 198 + + Singers, 243 + + Singing, 135 + + Sinico-Japanese War, 392ff. + + Sinico-mania, 149, 366 + + Slavery, 80 + + Snider, rifle, 387 + + Social progress, 16 + + Soga, family, 93, 100ff., 112, 140 + + Soga-no-Umako, 55 + + Soga-no-Yemishi, 55 + + Solidarity, national, 200ff. + + Southern China, 99ff. + + Southern Korea, 97 + + Spaniards, 350 + + Spy-system, 257 + + Ssuma-Chien, 364 + + Ssuma-Tateng, 100 + + Still-life, 249 + + Stories, 248 + + Storms, cyclonic, 24 + + Story-tellers, 244 + + Stuarts, 355 + + Students sent to China, 111ff., 138ff. + + Succession, law of, 92, 346ff. + + Sugawara, family, 149 + + Sugawara-no-Michizane, 150 + + Sui, dynasty in China, 106, 110 + + Suicide, 287ff., 314 + + Suiko, Empress, 55f., 106, 108 + + Sumpu, Shidzuoka, 322 + + Sung, dynasty in China, 8ff., 190, 195, 226ff., 232, 263, 322, 368 + + Superstitions, 139, 272, 276, 352, 366 + + Suruga, province, 91, 268, 322, 377 + + + T + + Taïhô, era and Statutes of, 117, 185, 335, 384 + + Taïkwa, era and reforms of, 80, 114, 116, 118, 123ff., 128, 220 + + Taira, family, 156ff., 163ff., 174ff., 181ff., 188, 192, 309 + + Takakura, Emperor, 158 + + Takamori, Saigô, 386ff. + + Takanobu, painter, 165, 246 + + Takauji, Ashikaga, 206ff., 215 + + Takayori, Sasaki, 218 + + Takeshi-uchi, 93 + + Tang, dynasty in China, 7ff., 79, 117, 120ff., 128ff., 136, 137, + 149ff., 196, 263, 322 + + Tankei sculptor, 164 + + Tanners, 343 + + Taoism, 273 + + Tatami, 39, 132ff. + + Taxes, 116, 125ff., 142, 279 + + Tea-ceremony, 244, 250 + + Temmu, Emperor, 53f. + + Temples, Buddhist, 39, 142, 181, 203, 252, 353 + + Tempyô, era, 164ff., 360 + + Tenchi, Emperor, 111ff., 115ff., 119, 131, 133 + + Tendai, Buddhist sect, 189 + + Terakoya, elementary school, 176 + + Territories, 252ff., 259ff., 291, 295ff., 300ff., 305ff., 312, 316, + 337ff., 341ff., 345, 347, 358, 372 + + Teutonic nobles, 198 + + Teutonic Order of Knights, 275 + + Teutons, land-system of, 79 + + Text-book, 235 + + Textiles, 116 + + Theatre, 333 + + Thirty Years' War, 350 + + Three Years, War of, 156 + + Tiles, 131 + + Toba, village, 376f. + + Toba-sôjô, painter-priest, 166 + + Tôdaiji, Temple, 136 + + Toi, 197 + + Tokimune, Hôjô, 198ff. + + Tokugawa, family, 259ff., 267, 282, 294, 296, 309, 337, 357, 361, + 375f., 377 + + Tokugawa, age of, 225, 285, 288ff., 294, 310, 312, 328, 332, 340, + 342, 353f., 361ff., 379 + + Tokugawa Shogunate, 17, 187, 282, 284ff., 290ff., 296, 301, 305ff., + 309ff., 315, 317, 325ff., 329, 332, 336ff., 34i, 344ff., 352, 356, + 358, 361, 363, 370ff., 380, 390, 392 + + Tokyo, 282, 379 + + Toleration, religious, 352f., 385 + + Tombs, 28 + + Toneri, prince, 53f. + + Tonkin, 323 + + Tosa, school of painters, 247, 249 + + Totemism, 272 + + Tôtômi, province, 67, 268 + + Towns, provincial, 225 + + Toyotomi, family, 267, 285, 293 + + Tozama, 294, 296 + + Travelling, 236, 342 + + Tripitaka, Buddhist, 320, 322 + + Tsuba, 331 + + Tsugaru, strait of, 120 + + Tsunayoshi, Tokugawa, 327 + + Tsushima, island and province, 121 + + Types, in printing, 319ff., 322ff. _See_ Clay-types, Metallic + types, and Movable types + + Typhoon, 41 + + + U + + Ultra-conservatism, 384ff. + + Umako, 102, 109. _See_ Soga-no-Umako + + Unification, 14ff., 238, 260, 267, 273ff., 280, 308, 367 + + Uniqueness of the Japanese, 75 + + United States, 373 + + Unkei, sculptor, 164 + + Usufruct of land, 141, 341 + + Utagaki, 135 + + Utai, 162 + + Utilitarianism, 328ff. + + Uyeno, in Toyko, 377 + + Uyesugi, family, 321 + + + V + + Vassalage, 80, 153, 212, 214, 240, 294ff., 302, 304, 389 + + Versification, 234, 323, 360 + + Village, 330 + + Vulgarisation, 224, 248 + + + W + + Wakayama, 296 + + Wani, family, 93 + + War, 194 + + Warehouse, 333 + + Warfare, 286ff. + + Warriors, 154, 203ff., 206, 215, 227, 232, 254ff., 289ff., 306, 308ff., + 312ff., 316, 319, 327, 334, 339, 345, 358, 372 + + Weapons, 65 + + Weavers, Chinese, 100 + + Weaving, 100, 243 + + Wei, dynasty in China, 59 + + Wen-hsüan, 321 + + West, civilisation of the, 9, 369 + + Women, 337 + + Wood-block printing, 322ff. + + Wood-types, 320, 323 + + Written characters, 28 + + Wu-ti, Emperor of China, 57 + + + X + + Xavier, Francis, 245, 264 + + + Y + + Yamaguchi, 223, 230, 233, 245 + + Yamana, family, 225 + + Yamashiro, province, 146 + + Yamato, province, 90, 95, 115, 147, 240 + + Yamato, river, 239 + + Yang-ti, Emperor of China, 110 + + Yasumaro. _See_ Oh-no-Yasumaro + + Yasutoki, Hôjô, 185ff. + + Yechigo, province, 67, 319 + + Yedo, 187, 282, 294ff., 300ff., 306, 309ff., 327, 330ff., 338, 348, + 373, 377, 378f. _See_ Tokyo + + Yemishi, 112ff. _See_ Soga-no-Yemishi + + Yenomoto, Admiral, 378 + + Yenryakuji, Temple on Mount Hiyei, 159, 173, 276 + + Yeshin, priest, 173ff. + + Yezo, island of, 370, 379. _See_ Hokkaido + + Yodo, river, 147 + + Yoichi, Suminokura, 323, 325 + + Yonezawa, 321 + + Yoritomo, Minamoto, 156, 160, 175ff., 179ff., 181ff., 184, 186ff., + 192, 201ff., 213, 215, 226, 272, 309 + + Yoriyoshi, Minamoto, 156 + + Yôsai, priest, 190, 250 + + Yoshihisa, Ashikaga, 217ff. + + Yoshihisa, Tokugawa, 374ff. + + Yoshiiye, Minamoto, 156, 177, 309 + + Yoshimasa, Ashikaga, 216ff. + + Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga, 229 + + Yoshimoto, Imagawa, 268 + + Yoshimune, Tokugawa, 349 + + Yoshiteru, Ashikaga, 269 + + Yoshitsune, Minamoto, 161, 192 + + Yuan, Mongol dynasty in China, 8, 196, 197ff., 226ff., 263 + + Yûryaku, Emperor, 93, 134 + + Yushima, in Tokyo, 327 + + + Z + + Zen, Buddhist sect, 190, 226, 325, 332 + + Zen priests, 226, 235, 247, 251 + + Zodiacal signs, 107 + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + +Throughout the document, the romanization of Japanese words was in a +form dissimilar to that used today. For instance, the era immediately +prior to the Showa era was called the Meidji era rather than the +Meiji era. No attempt was made to modernize the romanization used. + +Also, throughout the document there was inconsistent hyphenation of +Japanese words. No attempt was made to make the hyphenation consistent, +inasmuch as the notion of hyphenation is absent in the Japanese +language. + +Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_. + +Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS. + +Throughout the document, the [oe] ligature was replaced with "oe". + +Errors in punctuations, spelling, and inconsistent hyphenation were not +corrected unless otherwise noted below: + +On page vii, "foreging" was replaced with "foregoing". + +On page xvii, a period was added after "GROWTH OF THE IMPERIAL POWER". + +On page 16, "political devolopment" was replaced with "political +development". + +On page 24, "necesasry" was replaced with "necessary". + +On page 25, "later" was replaced with "latter". + +On page 29, "archaeological" was replaced with "archæological". + +On page 70, "necesary" was replaced with "necessary". + +On page 81, "his his" was replaced with "his". + +On page 92, "inucleus" was replaced with "nucleus". + +On page 94, "dimplomatic" was replaced with "diplomatic". + +On page 102, "succeded" was replaced with "succeeded". + +On page 103, "conslidated" was replaced with "consolidated". + +On page 131, "hough" was replaced with "though". + +On page 134, "peneterated" was replaced with "penetrated". + +On page 139, "selfsatisfaction" was replaced with "self-satisfaction". + +On page 159, "verisification" was replaced with "versification". + +On page 159, "sarcosanctity" was replaced with "sacrosanctity". + +On page 168, "succees" was replaced with "success". + +On page 169, "neghbourhood" was replaced with "neighbourhood". + +On page 170, "comformable" was replaced with "conformable". + +On page 179, a period was placed after "government". + +On page 182, "maner" was replaced with "manor". + +On page 183, "jurisriction" was replaced with "jurisdiction". + +On page 190, "conincided" was replaced with "coincided". + +On page 192, "annihiliation" was replaced with "annihilation". + +On page 194, "the war of" was replaced with "the wars of". + +On page 195, "aboriginies" was replaced with "aborigines". + +On page 201, "warrors" was replaced with "warriors". + +On page 222, "an an" was replaced with "in an". + +On page 225, "Ashikaga shugo" was replaced with "Ashikaga _shugo_". + +On page 227, "contemparary" was replaced with "contemporary". + +On page 228, "ambasdor" was replaced with "ambassador". + +On page 231, "civilisaion" was replaced with "civilization". + +On page 238, "Hokkaido" was replaced with "Hokkaidô". + +On page 244, "eagerely" was replaced with "eagerly". + +On page 253, "irresistable" was replaced with "irresistible". + +On page 270, "extotic" was replaced with "exotic". + +On page 272, "iniated" was replaced with "initiated". + +On page 272, "undiminised" was replaced with "undiminished". + +On page 280, "unfication" was replaced with "unification". + +On page 282, "roughcut" was replaced with "rough-cut". + +On page 286, "combattants" was replaced with "combatants". + +On page 289, "alotted" was replaced with "allotted". + +On page 300, "terrtory" was replaced with "territory". + +On page 305, "was reserved" was replaced with "were reserved". + +On page 330, "catagory" was replaced with "category". + +On page 331, "dillettanti" was replaced with "dilettanti." + +On page 331, "signifiance" was replaced with "significance". + +On page 337, "diamyo" was replaced with "daimyo". + +On page 339, "diamyo" was replaced with "daimyo". + +On page 341, "unsufruct" was replaced with "usufruct". + +On page 342, "whithersover" was replaced with "whithersoever". + +On page 345, "reëtablished" was replaced with "reëstablished". + +On page 346, "demain" was replaced with "domain". + +On page 352, "Shinsû" was replaced with "Shinshû". + +On page 360, "diamyo" was replaced with "daimyo". + +On page 371, "quite" was replaced with "quiet". + +On page 378, "diamyo" was replaced with "daimyo". + +On page 379, "pracice" was replaced with "practice". + +On page 389, "though" was replaced with "thought". + +On page 389, "miliary" was replaced with "military". + +On page 393, "Meirji" was replaced with "Meidji". + +On page 400, "60f." was replaced with "60ff.". + +On page 403, "67f." was replaced with "67ff.". + +On page 403, "46f." was replaced with "46ff.". + +On page 403, in the entry for Hsiao-king, the final comma was removed. + +On page 405, "289ff,." was replaced with "289ff.,". + +On page 411, "See" was replaced with "_See_". + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Introduction to the History of Japan, by +Katsuro Hara + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF JAPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 37186-8.txt or 37186-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/8/37186/ + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made 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