A short history of Japan

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Kamu-Yamato-Iware-Hiko-No-Mikoto (Jinimu Tenno).

A SHORT

H ISTO R Y OF JAPAN

A. L. S A D L E R formerly Professor of Oriental Studies, University of Sydney

ANGUS

AND

RO BERTSO N

First published in 196) by ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD 89 Castlereagh Street, Sydney 6,4-58 Bartholomew Close, London 66 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 168 Willis Stret, Wellington



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The Earliest Records

15

hilt down in the waves, and squatting cross-legged on the points asked the Deity Master o£ the Great Land, who was lord of this territory, whether he would cede it to the descendant of the Sun Goddess, that he might govern the Central Land of Reed-plains. He referred them to his son Koto-shiro-nushi who was, he explained, fishing at Cape Miho along the coast. So Heavenly Bird Boat went to fetch him and he consented. There was another son who was not so submissive and with him the Brave A w ful Possessor dealt in a suitable manner till he was glad to surrender. But the family stipulated that a palace should be built for them there of a suitable kind, “ mak­ ing stout the pillars to the nethermost rock-bottom and making high the cross-beams to the Plains of H igh Heaven” . A nd so was built on the shore of Taishi in the land of Izumo a heavenly august abode, thus inaugurating the Great Shrine of Izumo, the headquarters of the worship of the Great Land Possessor, whose present hereditary Lord Warden is the eighty-third of his house. And the two deities returned to the Sun Goddess and reported that the Central Land of Reed-plains was pacified. This she com­ municated to her son, but he observed that meanwhile a son had been born to him and it would be better for him to go. This son is usually called Ninigi-no-mikoto5 or the Heavenly Grandchild, trans­ lated Prince Ruddy Plenty. So “ leaving the Heavenly Rock Seat, pushing aside the eight-fold spreading clouds and cleaving a way with an awful way-cleaving, Ninigi-no-mikoto set off, shut up in the Floating Bridge of Heaven, and descended on the peak of Takachiho of H yuga in Kyushu opposite the land of Kara (Korea). And it is a land whereon the morning sun shines straight, a land which the evening sun illumines.” And with him went the deity Ame-no-koyane, the ancestor of the courtier families, and the deity Thought Includer “ to carry on the government”, and Ame-no-oshi-hi, ancestor of the Otomo or Imperial Guard clan. A nd he took the jewels and mirror of the Sun Goddess and the sword Herb-queller that had been taken from the dragon’s tail. Just before he departed, one who went before to reconnoitre reported that there was a strange deity who lived at the cross-roads 5 Full name, Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi, Ama-tsu-hi-dak|-hiko, Ho-no-ninigi-nomikoto, i.e. Heaven plenty, Earth plenty, Heaven’s high sun Prince, Rice-ear Ruddy Plenty.

i6

A Short History of ]apart

of heaven whose nose was seven hands long, and from whose mouth and posterior a light shone. None of the deities could give any information as to his intentions, so Uzume-hime, the Heavenly Alarm ing Female who had cleared up the affair of the Sun Goddess, was sent to deal with him. She did so and asked him what he meant, and he explained that he merely wished to welcome the Heavenly Grandson, and that his name was Saruta-hiko. He added that while N inigi would go to Takachiho in Kyushu he would go to the River Izuzu in Ise, the place where the great shrine now stands.6 “ And I will also cultivate thy ricefields for thee, and when thou goest to take pleasure in the sea I will make for thee a high bridge, a floating bridge, and a heavenly bird-boat. Moreover on the Tranquil River of Heaven I will make a flying bridge.” And the Great Land Possessor replied that “ these instructions were so courteous that he could not disobey them and would retire and direct secret matters” . And soon after he died. And N inigi married the Princess Blossoming-like-theflowers-of-the-trees whose beauty he admired even as he rejected the ugliness of her elder sister. And the elder sister spat and wept and prophesied that the life of man would be short on this account like the flowers of the trees. N inigi had two sons, Ho-deri, Fire Shine, and Ho-ho-demi, Fire Subside. The reason given for their names is that they were conceived immediately and N inigi doubted if they were his. “ Child of the Heavenly Deity though I am,” said he, “ how could I in one night cause anyone to be with child?” So to prove it the Princess set fire to the parturition house, confident that if she had spoken truth she and her child would emerge unharmed. And so it happened. Moreover three children were born, but the middle one named Fire Climax has no connection with the main line. Ninigi then declared he had known it from the first but wished to demon­ strate to all what deities could accomplish. The elder Prince was a fisher and the younger a hunter; but the younger wanted to fish, borrowed his brother’s hook, and lost it. The elder insisted on having it back and the younger could not find it so he stood by the sea and wept. Then the deity Salt Sea Elder approached him and made him a small boat and advised him to go to the palace of the deity Ocean Possessor. Here he was most

6 The Nihongi also describes the High Producing Deity as bidding the Grea Land Possessor hand over the administration to her grandson while he ruled divine affairs.

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The Earliest Records

j

17

cordially received. The fish were assembled and the hook found in the mouth of the sea-bream. After staying there three years and marrying the daughter of the deity, Princess Toyo-tama, or Rich Jewel, he set out for home escorted by a guard of sea creatures. As a farewell present he was given the jewels that controlled the ebb and flow of the tides. With these he inundated his elder brother till he submitted to him. And this Prince Fire Shine is the ancestor of the Hayato Palace Guards. His wife followed him, riding on a tortoise with her younger sister, Princess Tama-yori. Her husband was building her a fine parturition house thatched with cormorants’ feathers and had not finished it when she arrived and entered it hastily and bore a son. She ordered her husband to keep away and not to look, but naturally he did, and saw that she had become a dragon, revealing her proper shape. This made her extremely angry and she went back to her father, leaving her child in the care of his aunt. This child, called for short Fukiaezu-no-mikoto,7 Thatch-notcompleted, married his aunt and was the father of three sons, the youngest of whom, Kamu-yamato-iware-hiko, is the first earthly Emperor of Japan, known, like all other Emperors, by his posthu­ mous title, Jimmu, Divine Valour.8 The day of his enthronement, officially celebrated on the first day of the first Lunar Month (n th February) 660 b .c ., is the anniversary of the founding of the Empire, or Kigensetsu. His elder brother, Itsuse, stayed with him, but the others did not. One of them went into the Sea Plain, his late mother’s country, and the other went to the Eternal Land.

7Ama-tsu-hi-daka-hiko Nagisa Take-u Kaya-fuki-aezu-no-mikoto, i.e. Child of Heaven's High Sun, Brave Cormorant of the Shore Thatch Not Completed. !

8 The dates of Jimmu Tenno and the early Emperors are only traditional for there is no documentary evidence before the eighth century a .d ., though archaeological evidence sheds considerable light on the earlier periods. C

CHAPTER T H E

Y A M A T O

2

C A P I T A L S

(660-97 B .C .) T h e earliest period is called the age of U ji and Kabane, that is, of the

Clans and Titles. Kabane literally means body, then name and rank. The chiefs of the Kobetsu or Imperial Descent clans had the title of Grandee (Omi) while those of the Shinbetsu or Divine Descent had that of Group-chief (M uraji). The most distinguished of these were called Great Grandee and Great Group-chief (O-Omi and O-Muraji), and were those who assisted in the central govern­ ment as ministers. Lesser clan chiefs who governed provinces were called Kuni-no-miyatsuko, and others who directed the attached guilds, Tomo-no-miyatsuko. There was also a District chief (Agatanushi). Attached to the clans were hereditary guilds or Be composed of all kinds of experts, craftsmen and workmen, including for instance ritualists, soldiers and farmers. These too had their chiefs. In those days the Emperor did not rule the whole land directly, but only the Imperial clan and the Great clans. The Great clans ruled their own guilds and the Small clans. The Small clans had only their own guilds to control. It was, in fact, the same kind of rule as that which prevailed so long under the Shogunate, when the Shogun ruled the Great Lords, who ruled their vassals, who in turn controlled the people. In the Imperial clan there were guilds especially created to preserve the names of members of the Imperial family which would other­ wise have died out. T o it were also attached naturalized foreign specialists and craftsmen, and peoples captured in war, like the Hayato. In those days the Emperor administered the land that composed the Imperial domains, which consisted of Imperial, annexed and conquered estates; but the rest were subject to the chiefs of the clans,

A Short History of Japan

22

who possessed the right of ownership. The Emperor represented the clans in the worship of the national deities. H e also created and dissolved clans and decided any differences between them. It was also his prerogative to declare war and make peace, and to represent the nation in foreign relations. The first of these funcdons—the religious one—has never altered. The second has resolved itself under the constitution into Imperial Administration and Judiciary, and the third, though usurped for many centuries under the Shogunates, has now been restored. PERIOD OF THE UJ1 AND KABflNE

Sovereign Great c lan s

1______

f5rrull clans

Vassal Vassal gguilds u il d s

Vassal guilds

Subsidiary S u b s i d i a r y P ePe, o p le guilds

1

Subs {3 Subsidiaru guilds guild's

p'eopl i

,

Imperial clan

comprising

Imperial

relations

Ouilds named after SovareiOi Sovereign med aFUr 1J . 1 . f t , - n_-. — „ eQ

Ju'ilds named imed after Princes^ N a t u r a li z e d and tr ib u te c la n s Annexed clans

When Jimmu was forty-five years old he started out for the east and journeyed through Tsukushi (Kyushu) with his elder brother Itsuse. They went over to the mainland and travelled toward Yamato, thence going to Kibi, where they spent eight years. They were guided up the inland sea by a person riding on a tortoise and fishing, and eventually got to Naniwa, and up the Yodo into Yamato, where a certain Prince Nagasune opposed them and some fighting ensued in which Itsuse was killed and Jimmu had to retire. However the heavenly deities came to his assistance and his foes were vanquished, including eighty earth spiders who were invited to a banquet and assassinated. When things were so far pacified he dwelt in the Palace of Kashiwabara in Unebi and ruled the Empire. He also married as his chief consort Princess Isuzuyori, who was the child of either the Deity Master of the Great Land or of his son, thus uniting the two lines of Izumo and Kyushu. He died at the age of a hundred and twenty-seven years. N o doubt the form of his palace (M iya) was that of the old Shinto shrines such as those of Izumo or Ise, built of wooden pillars with a high roof, the rafters of which project across each other at the ridge where a heavy log has been laid, with a number

24

A Short History of Japan

of cross pieces over this again.1 It was tied together with wistaria vines and had no chimney. It was higher than any other building, hence its name Asahi-no-tada-sasu-miya, or the “ august house on which the morning sun shines direct” . Both the Emperor’s title Mikoto and that of his palace are those used for the gods, and religion was merely the offering to his ancestors of the first-fruits (Nii-name), and the great purification festival to cleanse the nation from impur­ ity.2 As the palace was the shrine of the Kam i, so the word Matsuri was used meaning both religion and government. Both were admin­ istered by the Nakatomi or Clan of Mediators—as is still the case, for the chief Shinto ritualists are government officials.

1 This type of roof was forbidden to all but Imperial personages. 2 All the national holidays in Japan are Imperial commemorations or days of Imperial worship; that is, New Year, Foundation Day, Emperor’s Birthday, Emperor Meiji Festival (Four Great Festivals), Harvest Festival and Vernal and A u tu m n al Imperial Ancestor Worship.

.

CHAPTER THE

E X T E N S IO N

OF

3

IM P E R IA L

PO W ER

(97 B.C. tO A.D. I 9 2 ) S everal events are recorded in the time of the Emperor Sujin,

97 b .c . There was a great pestilence, and the Deity Master of the Great Land appeared in a dream to the Emperor and informed him that it was his doing. It was his way of intimating that he wished a descendant of his, named Otataneko, to be appointed to serve at his shrine. Therefore the Emperor searched for this person and found him in the province of Izumo and, inquiring who he was, was told by him how the Master of the Great Land used to visit a beautiful damsel named Ikutama-hime in the night-time only, in the form of a handsome youth. And when she was going to bear a child, her parents asked her how it was, and she told them she did not know where the youth came from. So they suggested that she take a needle and thread and attach it to his garment. The next morning she saw that the thread had gone through the keyhole and that only three twists were left. Following it up, she found that it went up to Mount M iw a and into the shrine, and so knew that she had con­ ceived by the Great Deity. A nd this Ikutama-hime was Otataneko’s great-great-grandmother. And the place is called M iwa (three twists) on account of it. So far the shrine of the Sun Goddess had been in the palace with that of this Great Deity, but now it was moved to Kasanui in Yamato, because the Emperor thought this more fitting. And a certain Ikuhi was appointed Brewer to the Great Deity and on the twentieth day of the twelfth month 90 b .c ., “ the Emperor caused Otataneko to worship the Great Deity” ; and Ikuhi presented sacred sake to the Emperor, and sang a song to the effect that it was not his liquor but divinely brewed by the deity himself. Then they feasted, and the officials sang this song:

26

A Short History of Japan ‘‘The Hall of Miwa Famed for fine liquor, From its morning door We would go forth, The door of the Hall of Miwa."

A not unfamiliar sentiment. The Emperor also appointed four generals to lead armies to the four quarters of the country “ to smite all who did not receive his instructions” . Before doing this they put down a rebellion led by his half-brother, who had led one army against him while his wife led another. In his day a census, and what naturally follows it—taxes—are first mentioned, and ships are ordered to be built to transport stone for Imperial mausoleums; which is quite likely, though the statement of the Nihongi that “ His Majesty declared that ‘for the guidance of the people the chief thing is education’ ” sounds rather Chinese. In 33 b .c . we are informed that an envoy from Kara in Korea arrived at the Court of Yamato, asking that a Japanese general be sent to assist Kara against Shiragi. This envoy had first landed in Nagato, but the Prince of those parts would not let him proceed, so he had to go up the west coast and land at modern Tsuruga. Evidently there were parts of the Land of Reed-plains where the Yamato Sovereign’s will hardly carried in those days. Korea was divided at that time into four provinces, Kudara or Pakche, K aya or Kara or Mimana, Silla or Shiragi, and Koguryu. In the reign of the next Emperor, Suinin, this envoy returned and the name of Mimana was conferred on his province after the per­ sonal name of the Emperor (M im aki). Sujin could not make up his mind which of his two sons to appoint successor, so he compared their dreams and the younger, Suinin, was appointed, the elder becoming Duke of Shimozuke. Younger sons were usually appointed governors of provinces, and it is evident that they were fairly independent in these posts. Chinese history of the later Han era, a .d . 25-220 states that many provinces of Japan were under hereditary rulers who exercised sovereign rights. In this reign the shrine of the Sun Goddess was transferred to Ise, where it still is. Also, the practice of burying retainers alive round the grave of the Emperor or Imperial Princess was discontinued

The Extension of Imperial Power (97

b .c .— a .d .

192)

27

at the suggestion of one Nomi-no-sukune, who advised burying clay figurines instead. In a .d . 61 we hear of the dispatch of one Tajimano-mori to the Eternal Land to obtain “ the fragrant fruit that grows out of season”—the orange. The Eternal Land was most probably China. The next Emperor, Keiko, was a mighty warrior ten feet two high, and was as fertile as he was high, for he is given the credit of eighty children, among whom was Prince Yamato-take, more renowned than his sire. The pair of them went down to Kyushu to subdue the Kumaso, and stayed there for six years. Yamato-take disguised himself as a fair maiden and went into the tent of the two leaders of the Kumaso, where he served them with drink and then suddenly stabbed them. H e also went into the land of Izumo and slew another brave there by substituting a sword with a wooden blade for the proper one, while his adversary was swimming. The next expedition of Yamato-take was to the East against the Emishi, who fired the Reed-plains against him, but the Imperial “ massed cloud” sword, which he had borrowed from his aunt the high priestess of the shrines of Ise, cut them down and saved him. It was therefore known as the Herb-cutter. On his return journey, the old serpent with the eight tails from whom the sword had been taken and who had forgotten it, lay in wait for him and stung him so that he eventually died, or rather changed into a white bird that flew away toward the south.

Subjugation of Korea (192-507)

CHAPTER S U B JU G A T IO N

4

OF

> KOREA

(19 2 -50 7 )

T he reign of the next Emperor, Seimu, is remarkable only for some administrative changes, though he reigned from a .d . 131 to 192, when he was succeeded by Chuai Tenno, second son of Yamato-take, also ten feet high and with a countenance of perfect beauty. He was a warrior like his father, and was killed in battle with the Kumaso. But it is his Empress Jingo who is the more famous, for when he died she concealed his death and successfully finished the campaign herself. She is said to have been a descendant of a Korean Prince, and was the third wife of Chuai. He had already two grown-up sons when he married her, but her Prime Minister Take-uchi-no-sukune,1 descended from the sixth Emperor Kogen, the Japanese Methuselah, put her son on the throne instead of them. This was not done without a fight, won by the skilled strategy of Take-uchi. Legend has it that the Empress artificially delayed the birth of this son, afterward Emperor Ojin, until she had finished her Korean expedition. The idea of this expedition to conquer Korea, which the Empress led in person, was communi­ cated to her in a trance by the deities at the suggestion of the minister Take-uchi. The Emperor Chuai scoffed at the divine words, and the deities went on to say that he was not fit to rule. The minister too expressed his surprise, whereupon the Emperor expired, rather miraculously according to one account, and through being hit by an arrow in a war against the Kumaso, which he preferred to any foreign expedition, according to another. Any­ how, his death was concealed by the minister, who took charge of 1 Take-uchi is said to have served her two predecessors as Prime Minister and died at the age of between two and three hundred in the reign of the Emperor Nintoku, who married his grand-daughter. No doubt there were several of the name; the first example of hereditary Chancellors.

29

his body, for no labour could be spared to build his tumulus, in view 0f the Korean expedition. First the Empress held a great purification to appease the irrita­ tion of the deities both of Ise and of Izumo. Then she suppressed a troublesome person called Kuma-washi or Bear Eagle who had wings and flew, and not unnaturally plundered people and would not obey the Imperial orders. The expedition was rather of a miraculous nature, for the deities went before and behind it and the great fishes also assisted. The King of Silla is described as submitting to this divinely supported invasion and taking many oaths that he would be a faithful tributary. H e was accordingly spared, and loaded eighty ships with gold and silver and fine fabrics. The other rulers followed his example. The Emperor Ojin, son of Jingo, seems also to have been inter­ ested in maritime affairs, for he ordered that hereditary guilds of fishermen should be organized because they had refused to obey the Imperial command. H e also had constructed a ship a hundred feet long. When this vessel was worn out, the minister had it burnt to roast salt. Five hundred baskets of this were distributed along the coast with orders that each place should provide a ship; so before long five hundred vessels assembled in the port of Hyogo. But a fire broke out in the lodging of the envoys from Korea and burnt some of these ships, so that the envoys were blamed, and in consequence the Korean ruler sent some ship-builders, who were organized into the first guild of naval architects. The Korean K in g also sent the Confucian Analects and the 'Thousand Character Essay, with a scholar to explain them at the behest of the Japanese Sovereign, besides a smith and a weaver from W u in China. China was in a chaotic state and divided into the Three Kingdoms from a .d . 211. The Huns made inroads in China about this time, and consequently many craftsmen emigrated to Japan. W e are told too of a certain Susukori who knew how to distil liquor. And he presented it to the Heavenly Sovereign who, excited with it, sang:

“I have become fuddled with the august liquor distilled by Susu.\ori, l have become fuddled with the soothing liquor, with the smiling liquor.’’

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A Short History of Japan

On his walking out singing this he hit with his august staff a large stone in the middle of the Osaka road, upon which the stone ran away. The Emperor Ojin was afterwards deified as Hachiman the War God, tutelary deity of the Minamoto clan. H e travelled round the inland sea as far as Bitchu, and had a palace in Osaka like his successor Nintoku, for convenience of communication with Korea and China. The K in g of Pakche was disrespectful in this reign, and the Emperor Ojin sent four nobles (Sukune) to call him to account. His people slew him, and the Japanese appointed another ruler. The Emperor Nintoku, whose capital was at Naniwa or Osaka, is greatly renowned for his consideration in remitting taxes, because he noticed that no smoke was to be seen over the capital, from which he inferred that no rice was being cooked; neither did he hear the people singing in praise of the age as they should do. A s a result his palace got out of repair, since there was no forced labour to mend it; but the Sovereign declared himself content as long as the people were happy, though the leaking roofs were not at all welcome to the Empress. He also undertook improvement in the draining and irrigation of the country, and in connection with this there is a significant story. A river deity suggested to His Majesty that certain officials should be put to death if it was desired that two places in the embankment which kept breaking should be completed. When they were in­ formed of this, one drowned himself immediately and one hole closed; but the other threw two calabashes into the river and told the god to sink them if he could. If he could not he was not worth troubling about, and the official did not propose to sacrifice himself. Naturally the calabashes floated, and the official afterwards found a way of stopping the hole. This Muraji was the forerunner of the later Bushi, who cared for neither god nor man. In this reign also officials had to be sent to admonish the Koreans for their want of sincerity. Of the next few reigns little of interest is recorded, and what there is is of no great credit to the Sovereigns, who seem to have been much given to domestic discord. T w o of them, Richu and Anko, were assassinated, and Yuryaku has the worst reputation of any Emperor. He was violent and impulsive and attained the throne only by putting to death several persons who stood in his way. It is

32

A Short History of Japan

Subjugation of Korea (192-507)

noticeable in all these cases of assassination and killing that the retainers would not survive their masters, but committed suicide to follow them. Yuryaku seems to have been a strong character, though with homicidal tendencies. So many did he kill that he was called the Emperor of Great Wickedness. One act of his had some political results: his sending a certain official named Tasa to Korea so that he might steal his wife in Davidic style. When Tasa heard it he rebelled with his province of Mimana, whereupon Yuryaku sent Tasa’s son as chief of the force to put him down. But the son took his father’s side and revolted too. The son’s wife, however, putting loyalty to the Throne before duty to her family, slew her husband, whereat the revolt collapsed. Still Yuryaku, like others of his day, evidently had his aesthetic side, for history relates that as he was one day watching a carpenter at work shaping timber with an adze, he wondered at his skill in not missing his aim, and on being told by the workmen that this never happened, the Emperor started his ladies-in-waiting dancing a lively measure. This shook the carpenter’s aim, and the Emperor ordered his execution for boasting. He was led away by the guard, but one of his comrades made a neat couplet bewailing his fate, and Yuryaku in admiration told someone to ride off immediately and stop the execution, which was done. Then the carpenter in his turn made a verse to the effect that if they had waited to saddle the messenger’s horse his life would have been lost. Since the first Japanese verse made by the Impetuous Male Deity, there was hardly any one who did not express his or her emotions in this way. It was in Yuryaku’s time, in the year 478, that “ Urashima of Mizunoe of Tsutsukawa in the district of Yosa of the province of Tam ba went fishing and was taken to Horai, the Chinese Elysium, or the Palace of the Dragon K in g of the Sea.” The next Emperor Seinei lived and died without incident, but his two cousins Oke and Woke were either so polite or so fond of each other that neither would presume to keep the other off the throne, and this went on for a year, during which time their elder sister kept it warm for them. Their father had been killed by Yuryaku and the two children had lived in obscurity, from which they were rescued owing to the cleverness of Woke, the younger, in dancing, for he had attracted the notice of the governor of the

province by his graceful measures. So at last he was persuaded to reign as Kenso, and is said to have been with difficulty restrained from scattering the bones of Yuryaku, the slayer of his father. At his accession feast “Banzai!” was first shouted by his officials. When he died, his elder brother succeeded as Ninken, to be in his turn succeeded by his son Muretsu. Muretsu is given the same character as Yuryaku by one chronicle, but it seems likely that they mixed him up with a contemporary Korean king who undoubtedly was a homicidal maniac, and so Yuryaku’s reputation does not suffer from a competitor in villainy. Nothing seems authentic of Muretsu, except that the grandee Shibi stole a damsel to whom he was attached. There was considerable fighting in Korea during these reigns, for Japan was very friendly with Kudara and helped her against Shiragi, which friendship Kudara seems to have taken advantage of for her own ends. Japan was always loyal, and her soldiers were inevitably superior, but her skill in diplomacy seems to have been inferior to that of the inhabi­ tants of the peninsula, and she spent a lot of energy and money there to little purpose. During the time of Muretsu, Chinese painters are mentioned as coming to Japan and founding a school of art. The custom of making poetry excursions to beautiful spots was evidently already in vogue, and among the lower and middle classes they were made the oppor­ tunity for exchanging marriage agreements, much as they are now.

>

/

I D

33

CHAPTER D O M IN A T IO N

OF

TH E

5 C L A N

CH IEFS

(5 0 7 -9 3 ) D u r in g this period two clans the Mononobe or military class and

the Nakatomi, the Court Ritualist party, had become very powerful. To the latter belonged the Imibe, or abstainers from anything unclean. A third prominent clan was that of the Soga, the descend­ ants of Take-uchi-no-sukune, who were politicians. It is recorded that in a .d. 65 the Chinese Emperor M ing T i, of the later Han dynasty, had sent a mission to India to procure Buddhist teachers and religious texts. By the year 372 Buddhism had penetrated to Korea, and in this country it seems to have been received with very wide open ears and arms by the Sovereign and the nobles and to have grown and flourished exceedingly. As in India, so in China, Korea, and Japan, the propagation of Buddhism was always from above downwards; and since it was a most accom­ modating philosophy and always assimilated and embalmed other beliefs instead of opposing them, it was able to suit itself to philo­ sopher, ruler, trader and peasant in varying forms. However, there was considerable opposition before it was accepted in Japan, though this was not of a religious but a political nature. Thought has always been free in the Far East, but when it becomes translated into political action it is another matter. In 522 a Chinese priest named Shiba Tachito built a temple in Yamato, installed an image of Buddha, and began to proselytize, and at the same time the Emperor W u of the Liang dynasty of China was busy doing the same thing. W u was also a Confucian scholar and built the first Confucian temple in Liang. More than three thousand monks arrived in Wei from Turkestan, for whom the Emperor had 1000 buildings constructed in connection with the Y u n g M ing temple. Thirteen thousand temples were being built in W ei in the year 512. In 520 the Indian monk Bodhidharma arrived in Canton, and

Domination of the Clan Chiefs ( 507-95)

(

35

in 527 the Emperor W u entered a monastery. Tradition says that Shiba Tachito came from Liang. Then in 545 the K in g of Kudara, who was then being attacked on both sides of Koguryu and Shiragi, sent Japan a present of a Buddha sixteen feet high, with a petition for help. In 552 the same monarch sent again an image of goldotNEALOGY OF THE SOSA HOUSE

Eiflhth Emperor Kogen

Tu>o Generations TaKe-uchi-no-Sukunft

1 atsuragi-no Sotsuhih'o

r ~ n Heguri-noScg3-noIshikaw a Tsukurl 1 M ichichi

1 1 lwano-Hime ttatori [Empress of the Em­ peror Nintoku and mother of the Empcrers Richu, Hansno and InXyo )

1 Karako

1. Kose-no-Okara 1 F iv e gen eratio n s 1 ToKuUKo (M in ister of the L eft to the Emperor Kotoku )

1 Kora> 1 I name

r

1 -ane-gtnu EmpcrorKirnmei, Bother v f the Imperor dushun )

T

K itashi-H im e (Consort of tHe Emperor Kimmii, mother of the^ Empirors Yomii and Suiko )

Umako I____ Eitvishi

1

Iruka

1 Daughter (Consort o f Shotoku T a ish i)

r

Ish ik au am aro (M in iste r o f the R ight to the Emp­ e ro r Kotoku )

1

M ae (M in iste r o f the L e ft to the Emperor Tenchi )

plated copper, several canopies, and some copies of the Sutras by an envoy named Tori, saying that this L aw was one that would give prosperity in this world as well as salvation in the next, beside being the faith of all civilized people. The Emperor Kimmei, however, was uncertain what to do, and when he consulted his ministers, saying that the image was full of

36

A Short History of Japan

dignity, their opinion was also divided. Soga-no-Iname, the O-omi, thought that, since it was evidendy the fashion in other countries, Japan ought not to be behind the times; but the military minister the O-muraji Okoshi of the Mononobe, and Kam ako Muraji of the Nakatomi considered it insulting to the national deities to worship foreign gods. So the Emperor decided to let Soga keep it himself, and he made his house into a temple and installed it there. But not long afterwards an attack of pestilence broke out; the Emperor was persuaded that the images had caused it, and they were thrown into the canal at Naniwa. And so twenty-five years passed away and Soga-no-Iname and Okoshi died, and their sons Umako and Moriya succeeded them. The Emperor Bidatsu succeeded in 572, and five years after the K in g of Kudara once more made an effort to convert Japan to Buddhism : this time more generously, for he sent not only a couple of hundred volumes of Sutras, but also an ascetic, a yogi, a nun, a reciter of Mantras or Buddhist spells, an image-maker and a temple architect. Tw o years later a pair of Japanese officials who returned from Korea also brought with them a bronze image of Buddha, ] and a stone one of Miroku or Maitreyya. The O-omi Umako now built a temple for these and a pagoda. But once more the pestilence 1 came to give the other party their chance. This time it was smallpox, probably also imported from China, whence epidemics as well as civilization have usually proceeded. The Emperor Bidatsu was never much in favour of Buddhism, and quite agreed with Moriya of the Mononobe that it should be suppressed, so again the images were thrown into the Naniwa canal, the temple burnt and the nun flogged into the bargain. Unfortunately the smallpox was not checked, but attacked Umako himself and then the Emperor. This time the people came to the conclusion that it was the Buddha who should be propitiated and not the national gods, and Umako was allowed to rebuild the temple and reinstate the nuns and priests, though he was told not to proselytize. But the relations of Umako and Moriya became more and more strained, so that it is related that they even insulted each other at the Emperor’s funeral. The next Emperor, Yomei, was put on the throne by Soga Umako, whose nephew he was, for Soga’s daughter had married the Emperor Kim mei. But his younger brother Prince Anahobe objected, and

Domination of the Clan Chiefs (507-93)

37

wanted the throne himself, in which he was supported by Moriya. However, after a year’s reign Yomei also caught smallpox, and when he was dying expressed a wish not to depart without its accompani­ ment, Buddhism. Moriya objected vigorously, but the Emperor’s

Sites of Imperial capitals from Jimmu Tenno to Kwammu Tenno.

son Umayado, married to another daughter of Umako, was on the side of the Buddhists and the priests were summoned before the Emperor died. Moriya then tried to put Anahobe on the throne, and open war began between him and Soga. Prince Anahobe was soon put out of the way, but Moriya got up a tree with his bow and a lot

38

A Short History of Japart

of arrows and could not be dislodged, so that the issue seemed in doubt, for his men were by no means idle on terra firma. Then Prince Umayado or Shotoku, as he is always called, fixed in his helmet images of the Four Deva Kings, and vowed to build them a temple if victorious, while Umako pledged himself to do likewise. Moriya was shot down and his retainers overcome, his family put to death and enslaved, his property confiscated, and his house and one half of his property given to build temples. Shotoku Taishi then built the Shi-tennoji or Temple of the Four Deva Kings at Naniwa, while the O-omi Umako erected the Hokoji near Nara. These were the first great temples in Japan. One thousand acres of Moriya’s land were given to Shi-tennoji as endowment. The next Emperor, Sujun, was put on the throne by Umako, but was not at all grateful to him, for the minister kept everything in his own hands, and the Emperor was active and independentminded. Prince Shotoku sympathized with his uncle the Emperor rather than with his father-in-law. But a Court lady betrayed the Emperor’s wish to get free of ministerial control, and Soga had him assassinated by a naturalized Chinese, one of the craftsmen whose guild he superintended. Soga openly thanked this man, but a little later found that he had had a love affair with his daughter. He therefore had him hung up and shot for being a killer of Emperors. The Emperor was buried hurriedly the next day.

CHAPTER TH E

RISE

OF

LA W

AND

6 CO N STIT U T IO N

(593-645)

Suiko, consort of the Emperor Bidatsu, was put on the throne after the death of Sujun. Shotoku was given the title of Crown Prince. He published a set of Seventeen Articles of Instruction in 604, to be issued to his officials for their guidance. It is called the Constitution of Shotoku Taishi. It is simply a statement of the ethics of Buddhism and Confucianism, but contains nothing about the Imperial ancestor or the worship of the Kam i. It does not follow that he did not approve of these things: he probably took them for granted. H e also intro­ duced from China the twelve ranks of official precedence marked by caps of various shapes and hues. Thus began an inexpensive way of rewarding distinguished service, which has been continued ever since. His last days were spent in compiling a history of the country, which was completed in 620. In 621 he died. Japanese historians call him the father and inspirer of the nation, and he was regarded as an incarnation of Buddha especially sent to Japan. He was universally mourned. H e was not only a statesman and philo­ sopher, but also an artist and a sculptor. Some of the finest work of this period is attributed to him. The Sui dynasty had now succeeded in China, and the first Emperor, Wen, invaded Korea. Shotoku, who was then Regent, thought it advisable to open direct communication, and in the reign of the second Emperor, Yang, sent Ono-no-Imoko as envoy with a letter. This is alleged to be the first direct communication between the Japanese and Chinese Emperors that is historically confirmed, since earlier cases were only with provincial Chinese administrators. Shotoku was a great admirer of the civilization that came from the continent, but equally determined to uphold the national status, so the Chinese Emperor was saluted as an equal—“ The Son of Heaven of the Land of the Sunrise greets the Son of Heaven of the Land of

42

A Short History of fapan

the Sunset”—which did not please the latter. In a second letter it was modified to: “ The Eastern Heavenly Sovereign respectfully greets the Western Emperor” . This Emperor was a very splendid and imposing monarch, and his capital at Chang A n must have made a deep impression on the envoys. Chinese and Korean architects, artists and craftsmen as well as ecclesiastics came to Japan at this time and brought their methods with them, and the Horyuji collegiate monastery is actually the only wooden building that now remains in existence to show what was the style of the period of the North and South dynasties in China, modified perhaps by Korean influence. Actually it is quite unique, for its lay-out differs from that of the Shi-tennoji and the five other Buddhist monasteries founded by Prince Shotoku. These great monasteries were collegiate establishments devoted rather to philos­ ophy, learning and aesthetics than to religious activities of the kind we associate with the term. The arts flourished greatly in the Suiko period. Painting, and particularly sculpture, reached as high a level as they have ever attained, while tile-making and ceramics, metal-casting, music and calligraphy made great progress when the influence and examples brought in from the continent stimulated the naturally enthusiastic and fastidious Yamato temperament. In 626 Soga Umako died, in the odour of sanctity, for he is described as greatly revering the Three Precious Things. H e was known as Island Minister because he had an island in the middle of a pond in the grounds of his mansion—and so it appears he was the first to be interested in landscape gardening, another gift of Buddhism. His son Emishi took his office and deported himself with more arro­ gance than his father had done. H e put the Emperor Jomei on the throne—as Prince Tam ura he had admired Soga’s daughter—in opposition to Prince Yamashiro, son of Shotoku, who was a superior character and whom the Empress had nominated. In 641 Jomei died and Kogyoku, great-granddaughter of Bidatsu, was put on the throne, the line of Shotoku being again passed over, probably because the Soga feared its popularity. Emishi was raised to be O-omi, and his son Iruka was put in charge of the administration. Emishi lived in a state hardly to be distinguished from that of the Sovereign himself, for he styled his residence Mikado, made his family tombs Misasagi or Imperial

The Rise of Law and Constitution (593-645)

43

• mausolea, and called his children M iko: all prerogatives of the

,

)

I

|

Imperial family. H e also exacted forced labour from the private estates of the house of Shotoku. Emishi now prepared to put on the throne after Kogyoku the son of Jomei and his own daughter. He determined to get rid of the house of Shotoku and attacked them without any provocation, whereupon Prince Yamashiro, unwilling to plunge the Empire into civil war, retired into a temple which his father had built, and there committed suicide with twenty-three other members of his family. This was the doing of Soga Iruka the younger. But the Soga house was not without its enemies. Chief among them was one who ranks with the greatest of all Japanese statesmen, Nakatomi, or as he is usually called Fujiwara, Kamatari. H e determined to protect the Throne against such dominance as the Soga practised, and as his own family in time came to practise in an even more extensive though less violent manner. Kamatari took counsel with Prince Karu, younger brother of the Empress Kogyoku, and Prince N aka her son. W ith the latter he became friendly over a game of football, and they became fellow students of a famous Chinese scholar who lectured on Confucianism. Thus they were enabled to make their arrangements unknown to the Soga. As they dared not attack the Soga castle which was strongly fortified, and as Emishi and Iruka always went about armed and with an armed guard, they determined to assassinate Iruka when he went to the palace to receive some Korean envoys in the presence of the Empress. Taking him thus unprepared, they struck him down, Prince Naka leading the attackers. The Empress retired, and Iruka was finished off, whereat most of the other nobles joined Kamatari and Prince Naka, the Soga mansion was taken, and Emishi and his house were also put to death. Her Majesty then abdicated in favour of her younger brother Prince Karu, who became the Emperor Kotoku in 645. By this time the Japanese had lost their hold on the province of Mimana in Korea, though they still maintained friendly relations with the other States. They seem to have trusted the goodwill of Shiragi too much, and this State managed to drive them from the peninsula, though occasionally they returned, as in 600 when the Empress Suiko sent an expedition which defeated the Koreans; but as soon as this withdrew, things reverted to their former condition.

44

A Short History of Japan

Brinkley remarks that these Korean relations show the Koreans to have been a people prone to self-seeking feuds, never reluctant to import foreign aid into domestic quarrels, and careless of ^ obligations of good faith. The Japanese, he says, were magnanimous and trustful, but aggressive.

CHAPTER PERIO D

OF

7

R E C O N S T R U C T IO N (645-707)

i

W h e n Prince K aru succeeded to the throne as the Emperor Kotoku, what was left of the Soga influence tried to support the claims of Prince N aka’s half-brother, but Prince N aka promptly attacked and destroyed them, Imperial Prince and all. So drastic was he that he attacked his own father-in-law Soga Kurayamada, who had supported him in his coup d’etat, but who then fell under suspicion, afterwards proved to be groundless. Kurayamada fled to a temple, and committed suicide with his w ife and seven children. His daughter, wife of Prince Naka, is said to have died of grief. Then Kamatari and Prince N aka turned to the constructive side of their programme, the result of which is known as Taika or the Great Reform. This consisted in bringing the Japanese system of government and administration into line with the best developments of the Chinese civilization of the Sui and T ’ang dynasties. It was just such a change as the Restoration of 1870, when similar adjust­ ments were made after a study of European civilization. What is remarkable in these cases is the eclectic skill with which only those elements were adopted which suited the national spirit and institutions. The chief men in the reforms of Taika were, besides the Prince and his Minister, the two scholars or returned students Bin and Kuromaro, who were pioneer investigators in China. Both had spent some time at the T ’ang Court and were made “ national doctors” . Kuromaro eventually died in China, and Kamatari’s own son spent twelve years there. The chief reform was to dispossess the hereditary nobles of their power and estates by declaring that the whole country belonged to the Emperor, and that in future there was to be a centralized administration to control the whole of it. It was the creation of bureaucracy on Chinese lines to take over the Work formerly done by the clan chiefs who had stood between the Emperor and the people.

46

A Short History of Japan

Three chief ministers were appointed: Sadaijin (Left), Udaijin (R ight), and Naidaijin (Interior), this last post being held by Kamatari. Then governors were appointed to all provinces instead of the former clan chiefs. A ll these officials were to be chosen for their ability and not for their rank. A petition box and bell were instituted at Court for complaints. A ll the hereditary corporations or Be were abolished and their lands taken over, while a totally new system of land tenure was introduced. Under the provincial governor was the district governor. Forty villages constituted a large district, from four to thirty a middle, and three or less a small district. Fifty houses made a village, controlled by a headman. Every male over five years old was given two tan of land (about a quarter of an acre), and every female two-thirds of this. A redistribution was to be made every six years. Tribute or land tax to be paid was twelve sheaves of rice per tan, or twenty-two bundles per cho of ten tan (two and a half acres). This would be the amount held by one family, reckoned as five persons. Besides this, as commuted tax instead of forced labour, ten feet of silk cloth two and a half feet wide was levied on each cho, or twice as much pongee or four times as much hemp cloth: value in rice about half a \o\u. There was also a house tax of twelve feet1 of hemp cloth on every house. Then for the post-horses, and expenses of the government couriers and officials on their tours of inspection to see these were paid, another tax of the same amount per house was required. So the total tax on land for a household with about one cho would be four kp\u and one-tenth. As the yield of a cho is given as thirty-six \o\u, this is at the rate of twelve per cent, and is moderate compared with later levies. Every adult was expected to provide himself with a sword, bow and arrows, armour, flag and drum. And each village had also to supply a labourer. Every district except the small one could be called on to contribute a palace servant (Unem e). Officials had to assemble before the South Gate of the Court before daybreak and wait until the sun rose, when they saluted it twice and then began their busi­ ness, which was terminated at noon by the ringing of a bell. Hence the expression “ morning court” (Chotei) for the Imperial Court and “morning subject” (Asomi) for courtier. T o mark the rank of the new officials, new caps were devised; 1 Three feet of cloth represented one day’s labour.

Period of Reconstruction (645-707)

47

first thirteen, then nineteen. These ranks were called after the colour and shape, for example, Great Woven Hat, Litde ditto, Great Brocade Hat, Little ditto, Great Purple Hat, Little ditto, to the Sixth Rank. After that there were four degrees, Great Flowery Upper Hat, ditto Lower, Little Flowery Upper Hat, ditto Lower. Though all these have long been disused, the ranks only being numbered afterwards, Kamatari is still called by the highest (Taishokkan K am atari). To improve manners there were various prohibitions, for instance making big mausolea and extorting money from the friends or relations of a man who died in one’s street or was drowned in one’s river. People were also ordered to tell the truth, and a husband was forbidden to extort money from another man who wanted to marry his divorced wife. A man was similarly forbidden, when he wished to marry a girl and she refused and married someone else, to extort money from her family and from that into which she had married. It was prohibited to die with a master, or to make others do so, to sacrifice horses and to bury treasure at funerals. A ll of which prohibi­ tions give some insight into the ways of the pre-Taika population. The new government had eight departments—Intermediary (be­ tween Emperor and others), Ceremonies, Officials, People, War, Justice, Treasury and Imperial Household—all grouped round the Palace in the government quarter of the city. When Kotoku died, Prince N aka still declined the throne as his work of reorganization was not yet complete, and the Empress Kogyoku was again put on it, and reigned for seven years under the new title of Saimei. The principal event of this period was the defeat of a Japanese army in Korea by a Chinese general, Liu Jen Kuei, thus putting an end to Japan’s connection with Kudara which she was trying to help. When this Empress died in 661 there was an interregnum of seven years, after which Prince N aka at last ascended the throne as Tenchi in 668, and reigned for four years. Almost as soon as he began to reign Kamatari died, and Tenchi wished to attend his funeral, but was dissuaded by the ministers since there was no pre­ cedent for such an act. H e conferred posthumous rank on him, how­ ever: the first case of this long established custom. Kuromaro and Bin had died some time before. The capital was Shiga in Omi on the shore of Lake Biwa. In the year 667 there was compiled the first code

48

A Short History of ]apart

of laws properly so called. This was the Statutes of Omi, which has not survived. In 672 Tenchi Tenno died, and the reign of his successor Kobun was short and tragic. A s Prince Otomo he was the favourite son of his father, but his uncle Prince Oama, Tenchi’s younger brother, had been named heir apparent for the time, and carried on the administra­ tion. On Tenchi’s death this brother was nominated Emperor, but would not accept the position on account of the opposition of the young Prince’s supporters who were very powerful, and Otomo succeeded as Kobun Tenno. The result was a short and sharp war between the two parties, in which the party of Kobun Tenno was defeated and he fled and committed suicide. T he decisive battle took place at the Long Bridge of Seta. Prince Oama then succeeded as Tem mu Tenno. H e was an able ruler and continued to carry out the reforms instituted in the previous reign, further arranging the admini­ strative and the nobility so that officials should be chosen and pro­ moted according to their ability only. In the reign of the next Sovereign, the Empress Jito,2 there is the first mention of conscription in the Empire, for she gave orders to the local governors that one-fourth of the able-bodied men in each province should be trained each year for military service. In the year of her accession she proclaimed that interest on all debts before her husband’s death should be cancelled, and that all who were enslaved for debt should be released. This Empress did not actually reign until four years after the death of her husband (Tem m u) because he wished her to carry on his administrative reforms, and while doing this it was not considered correct that she should be on the throne. She eventually abdicated in 697, and was succeeded by Prince Kara, her grandson, as Emperor Mommu. It is noteworthy that by this suc­ cession the principle of primogeniture was fixed for the Imperial fam ily; for there was another candidate—a son of the former Emperor Kobun who had committed suicide—but he voluntarily retired, since it was felt that it would be inauspicious for one with such connec­ tions to come to the throne. H e stated as the reason that it would be better to regulate the succession by primogeniture to avoid trouble in future, and the Imperial family council decided to do so. In the period of the Emperor Mommu a new set of laws was compiled, known as the Law s of Daiho (Great Treasure), the name 2 She was the first ruler to be cremated, this custom being introduced in 700.

Period of Reconstruction (645-joj)

1

,

1'

' 1

49

of the period 701, so called because gold was found than in Tsushima. This Sovereign married the daughter of a Fujiw ara noble, Fuhito, the son of K am atari: a practice that has gone on until practically the present day with some exceptions. The Statutes of Omi were revised, and the resulting code remained in use from this time onwards. It was revised in the era Konin (810) by a commission under Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, and again in Engi (901) by another under Fujiwara Tadahira, the resulting code being afterwards described as that of the “ three generations” ; and since it owed its origin to Kamatari it was altogether a Fujiw ara code. Under the Daiho code the administration comprised the eight departments as before, but two boards were added, the first being the Jingi-kwan or Board of Shinto Rites. This took precedence of all other departments, since it had to do with the divine authority on which the Throne was based, and which was a guarantee of its eternal nature. “ A ll the deities of heaven and earth are worshipped in the Jingi-kwan.” This was an adaptation of the T ’ang legislation to fit the peculiar constitution of Japan, for in China religion did not rank very high. The year always commenced with worship in the Japanese Court, and the first thing the provincial governors did was to visit the Shinto shrines. Next to the Jingi-kwan came the Dajo-kwan or Board of Privy Council. It consisted of the Dajodaijin, Sadaijin and Udaijin. Then came the others as before. Last of all came another innovation, the Danjo-dai or Censor’s Office. This had to supervise the conduct of officials and correct civil customs. A ll these departments were situated within the palace enclosure. There was a Left and Right Metropolitan Office to control the two divisions of the capital, and a governor of Naniwa, the modern Osaka, a specially important town, as well as another jurisdiction in Kyushu called the Dazai-fu, which had control of foreign relations. Provincial governors were to serve for four years only, and under them were the district chiefs. Pro­ vinces were divided into great, superior, medium, and inferior. Tw o kinds of military organizations existed in the capital: Eimon or Gate Guards and E ifu or Watches. Besides these were the Uma-ryo or Guard Cavalry. Each of these was divided into a Left and Right division, commanded by a general. Each province had an army corps, and one-third of all the able-bodied males between twenty and sixty were required to serve with it for a certain portion of each year. E

50

Period of Reconstruction (645-707)

A Short History of fapan

51

enerations, and to the sick and deformed and to females. In July From these corps, drafts were taken annually for a year’s service in and August forced labourers were allowed to rest from noon till the Palace Guards, or for three years’ service on the frontier by the p.mAs to inheritance, it was decreed that mother, stepmother and western sea. The decimal system was used for the army, the men eldest son ranked equally and received two parts, younger sons one being organized in groups of five, ten and fifty, a hundred, two part and other children half a part. hundred, five hundred and a thousand. There was a university (Kangakuin) with three degrees as in China—B.A., M.A., and GOVERNMENT IN THE DA1H.0 PERIOD DJLitt. (Shusai, Meikei, Shinshi)—and from these graduates officials EMPEROR Itejo-H iuan J i'n g i- k iu a n were appointed. In theory, rank was no recommendation, but as only (C abinet) (Board of R eligion .) Pdjo^aijin the sons of nobles or literary men could enter the university (nobles , lld lldsi sin f i rnt _ (( C h a n c e l l o r ) S a d a ijin (M in ister of L e ft) ^M in ister o f f l i g h l ) to the fifth rank had right of entry, while sons of those of the remain­ Painagon < ing three ranks could be nominated), it did not, in practice, open „ (Senior Councillor) VrbenKaf* Sa-lenKan „ . careers to talent outside the governing class. (S e cre ta ria t of the Right) (S e cre ta ria t of Ik e Leri) As before, a family was one household, but as this included all Shonagon (Purler Council lory relations it was a fairly large group and might number up to a hundred or so. Five families formed a group, and fifty a village. The , GeKi . (Recorders) distribution of land for six years was confirmed, though it did not * , Oktira .. . Guobu. Hyobu Mimbu Jibix -.Shtkihi Nakalast for very long, since other arrangements tended to modify it, fonsi Imperial . (Traasury) (Ju stice) (war) (Home) (Officials)(ceremonies) isuKan behold ) besides the natural inequality of character in the holder. Three kinds (In te r, Mint H orses T a x a tio n Drama T itle s msdiacy) chens Lacquer Crime F o re ig n A rsen al T r ib u te of land grants were instituted for officials: Iden (rank land), or (Xii |ArcKitect Weaving M ilU atu a f f a i r s Uniuarsitu Empress Br.ocadS Prisons M usic Mausolea ' lands given stricdy according to rank; Shokubunden or office land, Supplies Im perial Guards Sweepers S h ip s Mourning atten d an ts granted as a salary for offices; and Koden or merit land, given as flusic Falconry Accounts Libraru Vjrivu Kit chan a reward for meritorious services. I'reuHtu} Prluu The first kind was given to members of the Imperial House and ifttth ^ purse irunits Costumes nobles of the first five ranks, a hundred to two hundred acres to the iards Diuinatlon Physicians first and twenty to a hundred to the second. Of the salary land the Court Prime Minister was granted a hundred acres, ministers of Left and C erem on y Right seventy-five each, and councillors of the First Order fifty each; instruction lurt ladies Board of Censors provincial officials from twenty-five (Daizai-fu) to one and a half; jater supply. P alace G ate Guard L e ft an d Right Im perial Bodyguards governors of provinces were divided into four classes from six and a oheru L e ft a n d R igh t Im p e ria l R o rsegu ard S Hauato B odyguard half to four acres; chief justice, five; puisne judge, four; army corps f yaing ■•lace cleaning L e ft a n d Tuftvt A rsen a ls commander, four; professor, four. Land given for merit was divided P riu y A r se n a l into four classes, the first tenable in perpetuity, the second for three A d m in istra tio n of th e L e f t a n d R ig h t D iv is io n s o f l h & C ap ital generations, the third for two, and the fourth only for one. ■ province, o f S c ttsu . Taxes were of three kinds. First, income tax of three per cent on L o c a l G overnors o f P rovin ces a n d 2)i s t r i c t produce; second, tribute of two and a quarter pounds of copper When the Emperor Mommu died in 707 he willed that his mother or its equivalent in silk, cotton, indigo or rouge, for each adult male; should succeed until his son was of age, so she reigned as Gemmyo third, thirty days’ annual labour for every able-bodied male, and half until 715. In the second year of her reign the Court moved to Nara, of this for a minor. Exemption from this last was granted to all which remained the capital for seventy-five years: the first time that officials for three generations, to all above the fifth rank for two

I

52

A Short History of ]apart

it had not been changed with the accession of a new ruler. The era j of Gemmyo is known as Wado,3 because large deposits of copper were found in the province of Musashi, and this was minted into money. So far the people had paid all taxes and done all their busi- : ness in kind, but now the government thought it would be well for economy to encourage the use of coins. But the people did not like 1 the change, and so we find that the authorities announced that they would bestow rank on those who managed to save a certain number of coins, and also paid officials partly in money. (Five thousand copper mon were to qualify for one step in rank and twenty thousand for two.) The money was on the T ’ang model, with a hole in the middle for threading on a string, and had the same inscription as the Chinese coins. The value of silver coins was fixed at four times that of copper, but a later change made the proportion twenty-five to ten, and then fifty to ten. The intrinsic value of the coins had no relation to their purchasing power, so there was soon much forgery, and consequently the use of money did not increase at all except per­ haps among the official classes, everyone else keeping to the former custom of barter. On the whole Japan has always kept to this principle, and the various governments have not made coinage more popular by debasing it and ordering that it be reckoned at twice its value and so forth whenever they were in difficulties.

3 Peace and Copper.

NARA

PERIOD

(707-81) I t was in the reign of this Empress Gemmyo and of her daughter Gensho who succeeded her when she abdicated in 715 that the Kojily and Nihongi were compiled. This is the only case of a daughter succeeding her mother on the throne. In 723 the Prince Imperial became of age, and succeeded his aunt under the title of Shomu Tenno. His mother was a daughter of Fujiwara Fuhito, and he married another daughter of this noble by another consort, his mother’s half-sister the lady Asuka. N ow the Fujiw ara were Shinbetsu, and so she could not be named Empress—a title reserved only for ladies of the Kobetsu. This did not please the powerful Fujiwara, and they determined to alter it. The Emperor was in favour of raising the lady Asuka to the rank of Empress, and when she had a son he was very pleased and almost immediately made him Prince Imperial. But he could not raise the rank of the Empress owing to the opposition of Prince Nagaya, a distinguished statesmen, great-grandson of Temmu and Minister of the Left. However, when this infant son died at the age of eleven months the Fujiw ara trumped up a charge against this Prince of having caused his death by sorcery. They judged his case them­ selves and condemned him to commit suicide, which he did with his wife and children. Then their way was clear, and soon after the lady Asuka was proclaimed Empress. From that day to this, with a few exceptions, the Empresses have been Fujiwara. In the days of Shomu Tenno lived several great scholars who acted as transmitters of philosophy, art and architecture from the T ’ang Court. Abe-no-nakamaro went to China in 716 and remained there until his death in 770. L i Po composed his epitaph. A t the same time went Kibi-no-mabi, who some say invented the Japanese syl­ labary, and who studied Confucianism in the Middle Kingdom for

54

A Short History of Japan

twenty years, attaining such pre-eminence in all the sciences that the Chinese scholars themselves wondered at it. He became a minister on his return in 735. There were also the three great priests, Doji, Gembo and Kanshin. Doji studied in China for sixteen years, built the Daianji from plans taken from the temple of Hsi M ing in China and became its abbot, receiving a rich endow­ ment from the Emperor. Gembo brought back, after two years’ sojourn, a set of five thousand volumes of Sutras, which he presented to Shomu in 736. H e also brought a lot of Buddhist images, and became the abbot of the Kofukuji. Kanshin was a Chinese priest who came to Japan with fourteen monks, three nuns and twenty-four laymen, bringing Sutras, relics and images. He directed the ceremony of inauguration, performed by the Empress Koken, of the Great Buddha of the Todaiji in 754, and also cured the Empress of a malady of some sort. These priests were not looked on with favour by the Fujiwara magnates, who were jealous of their influence with the Imperial family, and one Fujiwara, Hirotsugu, impeached Gembo; but the Emperor sided with the priest, and Hirotsugu was appointed Gover­ nor of the Dazai-fu—a polite form of exile—with the result that he revolted and was executed. But his family managed to obtain the removal of the obnoxious priest Gembo and the Confucianist Mabi to the same distant and uncomfortable region, where the former died a year after. But the Fujiwara themselves, in spite of being the official Shinto ritualists, were also devotees of Buddhism, so fashion­ able had this foreign faith become, and the temple of Kofukuji was built by Fujiwara Fuhito. The Emperor Shomu was a great Buddhist enthusiast, and his Empress Komyo, daughter of Fuhito, was even more so. She once vowed to wash a thousand beggars. The thousandth was a leper, and when she had washed him he ascended in a burst of radiance to heaven. In 743 the Emperor began the construction of the Great Buddha of the Todaiji, which took three years to make. It is an image of Vairochana, 534 feet high and weighing 438 tons. It is built up of bronze plates and was only made after seven failures. The great hall that contains it is 120 feet high, and 290 feet wide by 170 feet long. It is the largest wooden building in the world. The great bell is 13 J feet high, 9 feet in diameter, 9 inches thick, and weighs 49 tons. There were two seven-storey pagodas 230 feet high. This Budd-

Nara Period ( jo j -8i )

,

|

r.

|

I

jf

L

55

hist architecture of N ara is the most colossal in Japan. The Todaiji was endowed by the Empress with twenty-five thousand acres of rice land and the taxes of five thousand households. When the Emperor died, his Empress gave to it all the articles in use in his household, and .these remain to this day in the famous storehouse of wood called the Shosoin. It is 120 feet long, 26 feet wide and 51 feet high. It contains about three thousand articles of the rarest kind, and is probably the most remarkable collection in exist­ ence. Many of the objects preserved there are Persian and Chinese: presents from the Chinese Court. There are mirrors, paintings, furni­ ture, weapons and musical instruments, books, and even medicine, spice, and scented wood. In their exquisite workmanship and har­ monious design these articles easily surpass the much-lauded ancient Egyptian and Cretan remains. In 741 the Emperor ordered that a temple be built in each province called the Kokubunji, all to be under the supervision of the Todaiji. He also ordered that an image of Shaka sixteen feet high should be made, and a pagoda of seven stories erected in each province. After­ wards two Kokubunji were ordained for each province, one for priests and the other for nuns. Each had a chief priest, and there was also a Confucian scholar attached to each province to look after the religious and secular education of the people respectively. The Todaiji was the chief temple of the Kegon or Avatamasaka sect, one of the Six Sects of N ara as they are called—namely Sanron, Hosso, Jojitsu, Kusha, Kegon, Ritsu. O f these the Kegon was the first sect of the true Mahayana school, Sanron or Madhyamika and Hosso being provisional Mahayana, while the other three are Hinayana. An immensely pious priest was Gyogi Bosatsu, who lived at this time and was very eloquent in preaching the way of Buddha, and also in reconciling the people to the burden of taxation which the extrava­ gant activities of the Court in following that way imposed upon them. Almost all of the revenue must have gone into building temples, casting images and bells and paying priests: a great incubus even for such an artistic people as the Japanese. Not only did Gyogi do this, but he started the theory, later to be further developed, that the Shinto deities were manifestations of Buddha. This led to the amalgamation of the two cults in the system of Ryobu Shinto, wherein Shinto was embalmed for centuries by Buddhism, eventually to emerge again none the worse.

56

A Short History of Japan

H e told the Empress that he had received a divine revelation that the Sun Goddess was an incarnation of Buddha; and following this, the next night the Emperor had a vision of his ancestress who declared that she was certainly Vairochana Tathagata or Dai Nichi Nyorai, the Buddha of Boundless Light. In 749 the Emperor Shomu abdicated and became Ho-o1 or Retired Pontiff. His daughter Koken succeeded him. She too was pious in a way, but hardly ascetic. She issued a decree that no life must be taken, and the State had to give pensions of rice to all the fishermen in consequence. Then she made the great inauguration of the Todaiji Buddha in 756, and all the officials attended in full dress, while ten thousand priests celebrated with all their might, led by Kanshin. But in the same evening she went off to visit her favourite Fujiwarano-Nakamaro, grandson of the great Kamatari and Grand Councillor or Dainagon, whose residence she proclaimed to be a detached palace. After four years she abdicated in favour of the Crown Prince Junnin, though she did not let him do anything but sit on the throne. Nakamaro did most things in these days and was given the title of Oshikatsu or the Conqueror, among others. But after a while it seemed good to the Empress to become a nun, after which she became much attached to a priest of considerable ability named Dokyo. Where­ upon Nakamaro revolted against the Throne, and lost the day and his head. The Empress then removed the Emperor from the throne and ascended it herself a second time under the title of Shotoku, giving up the role of nun but not the companionship of Dokyo, who grew so arrogant that he wanted to become Emperor, a thing unique in Japanese history. Already, by her command, he was entitled Ho-o. But that did not satisfy him, and it was said that Fujiwara Asomaro, governor of Dazai-fu, had told the Empress that an oracle of Hachiman at Usa had informed him that the Empire would be improved by Dokyo being its head. However, wishing to make sure, she sent Wake-no-kiyomaro to inquire, and he brought back a very emphatic reply from the god that no one but a member of the Imperial family could possibly be tolerated on the throne, for since the beginning of the Empire the distinction of Sovereign and subject had been 1 The title of an Emperor who became a Buddhist monk on retirement as was the custom in those days. But this did not interfere with his political or other activities.

Nara Period (yoy-81)

57

observed. So Dokyo was disappointed and Kiyomaro was exiled to the neighbourhood of the deity, as he had perhaps expected. But his patriotism was rewarded when the Empress died not long after, and he was recalled and Dokyo sent away in his place.2 As might be supposed when the government spent half its revenues on religion, or rather art, architecture and aesthetics, the provinces were neglected. Brinkley says that “ no country except in time of war ever devoted so much to unproductive expenditures” ; though now these draw visitors from all over the world. Very often when copper was short money was melted into Buddhas. Then the government struck some new coins that were ordered to be ten times the value of the old ones. The officials in the capital found their salaries insufficient and asked to be sent into the country. Documents have been found showing that they paid interest of fifteen per cent on loans. The provincial officials lent out the public service rice on usury, so farmers were ruined and bands of robbers created. It does not seem to have been easy to stop this, when all in the capital thought of nothing but temples and bells. Also, men of influence began to collect small private armies to look after their interests, thus contributing to the rise of the military class later on. The Emishi were also very troublesome in the north, and though several elegant Fujiw ara nobles were sent a long way from home against them, they were so far lacking in etiquette as not only to refuse submission but to resist strongly. Last of all, a valiant warrior called Saka-no-ue-no-tamura Maro was commissioned as general­ issimo against them. He was a descendant of a naturalized Chinese of the Han dynasty, whose father had become Chief of the Imperial Guard owing to good service in the matter of Dokyo, and who him­ self served in that body. He smote them hip and thigh, and after­ wards built blockhouses and organized garrisons to keep them in check. It was an elegant and literary age in a secular sense as well. We read of the Kyoku-sui-en or water-winding game being played, and it was now that the flower-viewing party became fashionable, as it has since remained. The plum, iris and lotus were much admired and sung to in this period. Gambling seems to have been universal. In this epoch the Manyoshu, the first poetical anthology, was com2 The earliest extant examples of wood-block printing are the Buddhist texts ordered by the Empress Koken and dated 764.

58

A Short History of Japan

piled. The compiler’s name is uncertain, but probably it was either one of the great poets Tachibana-no-Moroe or Otomo-no-Yakamochi. The Manyoshu contains 4496 little verses in twenty volumes. Hitomaru and Akahito are the great names in the days of Jito and Shomu respectively.

CHAPTER TH E

HE IAN

9

PER IO D

(7 8 1-8 3 3 )

[

1

,

W hen the Emperor Kwam m u came to the throne, the first thing he did was to make a change of capital. It is probable that a pressing reason for this was the influence of the great monasteries and their inmates, who interfered too much for the Sovereign’s comfort, or that of the Fujiwara. So Kwam m u bade the minister Fujiw ara Tanetsugu look out a suitable site. The one he chose was Nagaoka in Yamashiro, some thirty miles north of Nara, and in 784 the Court removed thither, and the new palace was begun. But it was never finished, for His Majesty took a dislike to Nagaoka, and a fine site nearer the river and in every way more convenient was found about seven miles to the east at the village of Uda, and here they deter­ mined to build the capital. In China, after the fall of Y an g T i the Sui dynasty came to an end in 618, and in 620 L i Yuan, Prince of T ’ang, founded the famous dynasty of that name, inaugurating the most brilliant and expansive period of Chinese history. H e took the title of Kao Tsu. He died nine years after, and was succeeded by his second son, known as Tai Tsung. He was a fine soldier and had commanded the operations that led to his family obtaining the throne. There is little doubt that China was the most civilized country in the world in those days, and her fame was great from the Pacific even as far as Byzantium, whose ruler Theodosius sent an embassy to Chang-an the T ’ang capital. And Chinese historians assert that Yzdegird, the last Sassanid king of Persia, fled to this city in 640, when he was chased across Asia by the impetuous armies of Islam; also that his son Firuz died in the palace there. But whether the fugitives got so far or not, the Persians certainly called on the Chinese for aid. Chinese merchant ships penetrated as far as the Persian Gulf, and Arabs came and settled in Chinese ports. The T ’ang Empire at its zenith extended from the Yellow Sea to the Caspian,

6o

A Short H istory o f Japan

0

tZ J

a

IS

A. Shujaku Gate. B. Imperial Park. C. University. D. Right Market. E. Left Market. F. Eastern Temple (Toji). G. Western Temple (Saiji). H. Outer City Gate (Rasho-mon). 1. Ninnaji Temple. 2. Kitano Tenjin Shrine. 3. Taira Kiyomori’s Residence. 4. Kenninji Temple. 5. Tokufuji Temple. 6 . Gion Shrine. 7. Inari Shrine. 8 . Chion-in Temple. 9. Kiyomizu Temple.

10. Daitokuji Temple. 11. Sokokuji Temple. 12. Muromachi Palace. 13. Muromachi Bakufu. 14. Kinkakuji. 15. Ginkakuji. 16. Honnoji Temple. 17. Hideyoshi’s Juraku Palace. 18. Hideyoshi’s Mausoleum. 19. Hokoji Temple. 20. Eastern Hongwanji Temple. 21. Western Hongwanji Temple. 22. Present Palace (Gosho). 23. Present Palace of Retired Emperor (Sento Gosho). 24. Nijo Castle.

T h e H eian P erio d (781-833)

6i

included part of Korea, and exercised great influence on Tibet to whose king, Srong San Gampo, T ai Tsung gave his daughter in marriage. This K in g married also a Princess of Nepal, and, partly owing to the influence of these two ladies whose religion it was, Buddhism entered Tibet soon after. There eventually it succeeded in supplanting the monarchy, which it never did in Japan, though not for want of trying. In 634 the Syrian monk Olopen had brought Christianity to Chang-an. It was called the Persian Church at first and afterwards the Syrian (T a T ’sin), and was destroyed in an anti-Buddhist perse­ cution in 841 and completely forgotten. In these days Turkish influence in China was strong. “ Sui was Tungus by race and Chinese in mentality. Then the people of Shensi, supported by Turkish mercenaries, re-established the supremacy of North China over South, and founded the T ’ang dynasty, Chinese by blood, Turkish by connections, character, and temper, the strongest and most warlike dynasty that China ever had.” 1 The T ’ang capital was a cosmopolitan and cultivated centre, and the Japanese students and diplomats who went there found no lack of interesting material in philosophy, government, art, craft and architecture. It was natural that the Japanese capital should be modelled on that of Chang-an, and even take its name from this and the Sui capital of Lo-yang, for it was called the Heian capital and also Raku-yo (Lo-yang).2 It was laid out in a chessboard pattern, and was about three and a half miles north to south and about three east to west. Straight down the middle ran the Shujaku Highway, 280 feet wide, leading from the South Gate of the city to the front gate of the palace quarter which lay at the northern extremity. Parallel to this ceremonial highway were three others on each side of it, one 100 feet wide and two 120 feet. Between these again were others of 80 and 40 feet. A t right angles to these were the avenues numbered one to nine, 80 or 120 feet wide, with the exception of the Second Avenue (N ijo), running across in front of the palace quarter, which was 170 feet. Across it and facing the palace were the Imperial Pleasure Park and the university, while to the south between Sixth and Seventh 1 Li Yuan’s father had married a Turkish lady and, with the assistance of the Turkish Khakan Sebir, seized the throne of Sui. 2 It is now known as “Kyoto” another word for “ Capital” .

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Shinshinden. Seiryoden. Jijuden. Shokoden. Senyoden. Shunkyoden. Koshoden. Anpukden. Ryokiden. Onmeidcn.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Kashiko-dokoro. Shoneiden. Jokanden. Kokiden. Senyoden. Reikeiden. Tokaden. Fujitsubo. Umetsubo. Kaminaritsubo.

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

Nashitsubo. Shukkeisha. North Shukkeisha. Shukiden. Shinbutsusho. Kurando-dokoro Machiya. 27. Tsukurimono dokoro. 28. Zassha.

Gates. a. Kenreimon. b. Shomeimon. c. Senyomon. d. Inmeimon. e. Genkimon. /. Sakubeimon. g. Shokkenmon. h. Shumeimon. i. Shunkamon. Kenshunmon.

63

T h e H eian P erio d (781-833)

Avenues were the two market quarters, each intersected by the two canalized rivers that flowed through the city. The capital was laid out in square units of 50 by 100 feet, each called a cho. Four of these formed a row (ho), and four rows made a block (bo). The city was eight of these blocks wide, and the space between the cross avenues was one block. Similarly, the length from south to north was nine THE HOUSE OF FUJ1WASA AND ITS RELATIONS WITH THE IMPERIAL FAMILY

Ane-no-koyane no Mikoto Fujiiuara Kamalari Fu lito Koirajo MiyaKo M0MMU+i

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Descent is indicated by black lines, marriages by dotted lines, and order of Emperors by superior numbers.

64

A Short H istory of Japan

and a half of them. A smaller residence might occupy one unit, but that of a great Court noble might spread over four or six. The Imperial palace and the mansions of the courtiers were of the same type, the style known as Shinden from the name of the main building which contained the reception rooms. Behind it were THE HOUSE OF fUJIWARA AMP ITS RELATIONS WITH THE IMPERIAL FAMILY

31

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T h e H eian P erio d (781-833)

65

others, in which the ladies lived. As these were to the north, ladies have always been called “ northern” or “ interior” persons. A wing projected from each side of these buildings to form a courtyard with a lake, on to which the wings abutted, ending in chambers over the water for fishing or coolness in summer. The corridors and part of the buildings were open to the climate, and mats were used only for the seats of the great. The rooms were more like open corridors looking on to garden spaces than the closed-in boxes contrived to shut the climate out that are the rule in Europe. And though there has been a certain amount of development since, the Japanese house on the whole still conforms to this principle and plan, and people of the present day could live in a residence of the Heian era without discomfort. >■' Though Japan copied the art and architecture of T ’ang and also introduced its religion and philosophy, she was not so much inter­ ested in the Chinese political system, for the T ’ang dynasty was beginning to weaken, and Japan saw this clearly. But two great priests were now busy with a new infusion of Buddhism. They were Saicho, called Dengyo Daishi, and K ukai, called Kobo Daishi. Dengyo Daishi studied at the monastery of Tientai in China, and came back to establish the monastery of Hieizan on the north-east of the Heian capital. This was the direction from which devils would naturally arrive, and so must be specially protected. The sect he established was called the Tendai sect after the place of its origin. It was a very comprehensive system of philosophy, and made salvation much easier to obtain than before, putting it within reach of anyone who had the least inclination. It also encouraged the doctrine of the incarnation of the Buddhas in Shinto deities, which made it the more popular. y^ Kobo Daishi, who is the best remembered Buddhist saint of them all, brought back a variety of Tantric or Mantra Buddhism, called in China the Shingon or True-word sect. By it salvation was to be gained by the repetition of Mantras and the knowledge of Mudra.3 Kobo was also an artist, sculptor, and calligrapher. H e is credited with the invention of the Japanese syllabary, and of the verse which contains it and which takes the place of the A B C in Japan.4 Appointed 3 Mantra: mystic formula. Mudra: position of the lands. 4 But modern critics consider the syllabary a gradual growth and the poem not earlier than the tenth century.

66

A Short H istory o f Japan

Abbot of T oji in 810, he founded the great group of monasteries on Koya San in 816, where he is buried, or where he is said to sleep awaiting the coming of Miroku, the Buddha of the Future. He founded the Sogei-shpin at the Toji monastery, the only school open to ordinary peopleOTFrom this time a way was open to those not born among the nobility to obtain position and influence by becom­ ing a Buddhist ecclesiastic. As Brinkley remarks: “ Many of the followers of Buddhism were inspired by the prospect of using it as a stepping-stone to preferment rather than as a route to Nirvana.” In fact from the foundation of the great monasteries Nirvana was litde thought of by anyone and perhaps only mentioned as a matter of form. Mahayana Buddhism does not make so much of it as of other things that have a more practical appeal. From 806 to 833 there reigned the sons of Kwam m u, the three brothers, Heijo, Saga and Junna, who are sometimes called the three literary Emperors because they spent the greater part of their time and energy in studying penmanship and the Chinese classics. Heijo was a valetudinarian, and fell under the influence of a consort Fujiwara Kusu, whose brother Nakanari immediately tried to become Chief Minister. But this was upset by the retirement of Heijo after three years’ reign, when Nakanari revolted. The next brother Saga called in the general Tamuramaro, who subdued him, and Heijo became a monk while his brother succeeded. The consort Kusu committed suicide because she was deprived of her rank and banished from the Court. Prince Takaoka, the son of Heijo, was the first Japanese to go to India, which he reached in his eighty-first year, after spending a long time in China studying Shingon Buddhism. He was killed by a tiger in Siam. Saga reigned thirteen years and then retired in favour of his brother.'He was one of the three great calli­ graphers of the Empire. The other two were Kobo Daishi and Fuji­ wara Yukinari. Both these rulers were most capable, and though they did not do anything very striking they improved the administration consider­ ably. It was during their reign that two important institutions had their origin, the Kurando and the Kebiishi. The Kurando was a kind of palace council that handled all secret documents, promulgated Imperial rescripts and had charge of the supplies of the Court, as well as acting as a judiciary on some occasions. The Kebiishi5 was at first 5

Kebiishi: lit. officials who arrest those who differ from the government.

T h e H eian P erio d (781-833)

67

a police office whose business it was to arrest all law-breakers; but its functions became enlarged, and eventually it took over the judicial business of the Censors’ Board and Department of Justice. Its chief, the Kebiishi-cho, was a General of the Guards, and its orders came to rank next to Imperial decrees. It foreshadowed the complete control that the military eventually obtained over the civil officials, and the military police over the population. The Emperor Junna was perhaps the last Emperor for a very long time who really exercised any authority, for his successors did little more than confirm the decrees of the Fujiwara chiefs who really governed; so that the period from 833 to 1194 may well be called the Fujiwara Age.

The University (Daigaku Ryo). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

College of Confucius (Byogakuin). Hall of Confucius (Byodo). East Wing. West Wing. Museum of Confucius (Byosoin). Hall of Confucius. Buildings. Principal Court (Honryo). Great Hall (Honcho).

10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

East Wing. West Wing. Kitchen Court (Kuriya-cho). Todo College. College of Classics (Nando-in). College of Mathematics (San-do-in). College of Law (Myohodo-in). Kitchen Court of the Four Halls (Shido Kuriya-cho).

CHAPTER E A R L Y

P E R IO D

OF

10

R E G E N T S

(8 3 3-8 8 )

J unna had Saga’s son made Emperor as Nimmyo, and Nimmyo in his turn nominated Junna’s son Tsunesada. When Tsunesada was banished, Nim m yo’s son Michiyasu succeeded as Montoku. It was Fujiw ara Yoshifusa who first took it upon himself to overshadow the throne. H e was the son of Fujiw ara Fuyutsugu, father-in-law of the Emperor Nimmyo. He began by procuring the banishment of the Prince Imperial Tsunesada, an able man whom he could not manage. In 851 the Emperor Montoku succeeded, and Yoshifusa became Minister of the Right. He married the daughter of the Emperor Saga, and their daughter A ki married Montoku Tenno. But the Emperor had an older son by another mother, Prince Koretaka, and he too was passed over so that the lady A k i’s daughter might succeed. H e retired from active life and went into seclusion on Mount Hiei, where he made poetry with Ariw ara Narihira, the Japanese Don Juan, who was the grandson of the Emperor Heijo and who also had a better title to the throne than most. In due time Yoshifusa became Dajodaijin, and then his daughter’s son Prince Korehito was put on the throne at the age of nine as the Emperor Seiwa, and in 866 Yoshifusa became Sessho or Regent. This office had previously been confined to Princes of the royal family, but now the Fujiw ara took it and kept it. As Regent he had a fief of three thousand houses, was attended by squadrons of the Imperial Guard and received the same treatment as an Empress Dowager or Grand Dowager. H e was father-in-law of the Emperor Montoku, grandfather of the Emperor Seiwa, Chancellor and Regent, and so controlled everything. The Emperor Seiwa is principally famous for being the ancestor of the great branch of the Minamoto family or Seiwa Genji, who held the office of Shogun from the twelfth century onward. Naturally he married a Fujiw ara lady, and Yoshifusa chose

E a rly P erio d o f Regents (833-88)

69

the lady Taka, younger sister of Fujiw ara Mototsune, whom he had taken as his adopted son. This lady had fallen in love with the gay and talented Ariwara Narihira, and their relations were apparently not much hidden. But since she was selected as Empress, Yoshifusa told Narihira he must take the tonsure and go for a change of air to the east provinces, as a punishment for having tried to win the affections of the lady. Then she was married to the Emperor and became the mother of the next Emperor Yozei. When this Sovereign was seventeen he was afflicted with a kind of homicidal mania which made his removal from the throne a necessity; he was got rid of by Fujiw ara Mototsune, now Regent, though there were those who thought this somewhat arbitrary, for Mototsune was but a subject. Koko Tenno, who succeeded, reigned only two years, and was replaced by Uda, his son. Needless to say, both their wives and mothers and all their other relations were Fujiwara. In the days of U da more power accrued to Mototsune. The Sove­ reign decreed that the Regent and Chancellor should govern, and that he would merely hear reports of what was done. To make the most of this principle a new office, that of Kampaku, was created. The Kampaku was the Regent for an adult Sovereign when the tutelage of the Sessho ended. The term is sometimes translated as Mayor of the Palace. H e took precedence of everybody except the Sovereign, and soon the same minister combined the offices of Sessho and Kampaku. This office continued until the restoration of 1868. The Fujiw ara were not the only great family about the Court, however, and at first scions of the Tachibana and Sugawara were dis­ inclined to yield place to them. A t this time one of the former house, Tachibana Hiromi, a great scholar, gave offence to Mototsune by using a Chinese expression in the decree appointing him to office which, in the opinion of a Fujiw ara savant, could not apply to active administrative functions. So Mototsune sulked and refused to do anything, and what is more left loose all his horses to roam wild about the city, to the great inconvenience of everybody. Since no other courtier dared to take up his duties there was anarchy for the space of several months, when at last he allowed himself to be persuaded to officiate, and all the blame was put on Tachibana Hiromi.

CHAPTER

11

S U S P E N S IO N OF T H E R E G E N T S

R U L E

OF

(8 8 8 -9 6 7 )

T he Emperor Uda was a scholar, and though much swayed by Mototsune was also a great friend of Sugawara Michizane. The Sugawara were descendants of Nomi-no-sukune and had always been men of letters, and Michizane was the greatest of them. When Mototsune died in 891 and the Emperor retired in 897 to lead a quiet life of study and meditation, his son Daigo succeeded and Michizane was appoint­ ed Minister of the Right, with Fujiw ara Tokihira, son of Mototsune, as Minister of the Left. Tokihira was not appointed Regent as he was too young, while Daigo was thirteen—apparendy of age. Uda’s idea was evidently to temper the power of the Fujiw ara by the introduc­ tion of Michizane; but this was not successful, for they were too firmly ensconced. Tw o years after, in 900, the Emperor and his father proposed to make Michizane Chancellor and Kampaku. He himself never seems to have wished even for the position of Minister of the Right, for he had gauged the Fujiw ara capacities. A t the instance of this family and several of its adherents at Court, Michizane was impeached as a traitor, stripped of his Court offices and sent as Deputy-Governor of the Dazai-fu. (The Fujiw ara seldom if ever condemned their enemies to death.) The Emperor was too young to interfere, but the Retired Emperor did all he could. He proceeded to Court to see his son, but the Palace Guards, at the instigation of the Fujiwara nobles, would not let him be admitted, and after sitting on a straw mat outside the gate all through a cold day in winter, he went off at night in impotent irritation. Michizane died in Kyushu about two years later at the age of fifty-eight. His twenty-three children were also banished to five different places. His family still survives, represented by the Court

Suspension o f the R u le o f Regents (888-967)

71

noble family of Takatsuji. But he lives on in the memory of the people more than perhaps any other Court noble, for his delicate poems caught the popular feeling; and moreover, soon after his death the palace was struck by lightning, and Tokihira and two others who had been principally active in causing his downfall died within the next few years. A ll this was put down to his vengeful spirit, and the Emperor posthumously restored to him his position, gave him the Upper Second Rank, and had the decrees of exile burnt. Fifty years after his death the people of the capital built a shrine to him as the God of Literature, Temmangu or Tenjin, and in 1004 the then Emperor Ichijo raised him to the Upper First Rank and himself went to worship at his shrine. The title of Chancellor of the Empire was also given him. H is shrines are found in every part of the country and he is still, perhaps with Inari the Rice God, the most popular of the Shinto deities. H e was extremely fond of plumtrees, which are therefore always planted round his shrines. A famous verse of his well expresses one aspect of Shinto:

,

If with all thy mind With the true and perfect way Thou art in accord, Without any need of prayer A ll the gods will be thy guard.

while another comments:

On this occasion 1 bring with me no offering,

O hill of Offerings, Thy brocade of autumn tints Is the gift the gods love best. This affair is sometimes called the affair of Engi, the name of the era 901-23, which is also famous for the fact that the Emperor Daigo for a time dispensed with a Kam paku and administered himself after the death of Fujiw ara Tokihira in 909. It is also memorable for the compilation by the learned Miyoshi Kiyotsura, at the instance of this Emperor, of documents describing the condi­ tion of the country with a view to instituting reforms. This indict­ ment, which was of twelve articles and five thousand characters,

71

A Short H istory o f Japan

showed that many abuses had arisen in the administration since the Taika and Daiho reforms. Immense sums had been spent on temples and palaces, and taxes and forced labour had been greatly increased to pay for them. The rural districts had been depopulated and impoverished, and the religious institutions were filled with worth­ less fellows whose only object in becoming priests was to evade taxes and forced labour and live in luxury and idleness. The Shinto officials were no better, and appropriated the offerings for their own use while the soldiers of the Imperial Guard robbed and preyed on the people, roaming around the country in bands instead of doing their duty in the capital. But nothing seems to have come of his memorial. Great manors were now springing up all over the country: the result of land granted for merit (Koden) or reclaimed land, or temple estates, all of which was free of taxation. It became customary for small owners to give their land to great nobles or temples so that it might become tax-free, thus decreasing the revenue of the central government and increasing the power of the nobles and ecclesiastics. Many edicts were issued against this tendency, but with little result, for the Court had no power to enforce them. In 930 the Emperor Daigo died. H e had the reputation of having been a good ruler, whose considerate act in refusing to wear a wadded garment one cold night out of sympathy with his poorer subjects is often quoted. Just about this time occurred the rebellion of Taira Masakado, a discontented warrior, who tried to set up a rival court in the Kanto.1 The Taira was a great military family descended from the Emperor Kwam m u. He was soon defeated by Fujiw ara Hidesato, another great warrior of the same district, and Taira Sadamori. It is said that Hidesato thought of joining Masakado, but as the latter sprang up to welcome him in the midst of his hairdressing Hidesato concluded that one so lacking in self-control could have no success. A similar revolt also took place in the west country in the Inland Sea, where Fujiwara Sumitomo, who had been sent there to quell the pirates of those parts, ended by joining them. He too was defeated and executed by another general. It is evident that the Fujiw ara nobles of the capital had no capacity to put down these rebels, which business was entrusted to the great provincial lords, with the natural result that these in time seized the supreme 1 The Kanto is the eight provinces surrounding the Bay of Sagami or Tokyo.

Suspension o f the R u le o f Regents (888-967)

73

authority themselves. T w o centuries, however, were to elapse before this process was complete. )^This period was very prolific in literary men. There was Ki-notsurayuki, chief of the Poetry Bureau, who made the great collection of more than eleven hundred poems called the Kohjnshu or Ancient and Modern Collection. This is the best known and most popular of all Japanese anthologies, and has remained the standard for all succeeding poets. Ki-no-tsurayuki was of course a Court noble, and he wrote the preface to the Kd\inshu, considered a model of Japanese prose, as well as the Tosa diary, an account of his return to the capital in 935 from the province of Tosa after having resided there for four years as governor. Tw o other well-known classics, the Ta\etori Monogatari, a fairy tale, and the Ise Monogatari, a collection of short love stories inter­ spersed with verses and supposed to refer to Ariw ara Narihira, belong to this period, as do also the Utsubo Monogatari, the Ochi\ubo Monogatari, and the Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari. The last three are fiction of a romantic and impossible kind, but mostly end happily. Outstanding is the poetess Ono-no-komachi, one of the Six Poets (Sojo Henjo, Ariw ara Narihira, Ono Komachi, Bunya Yasuhide, Kisen Hoshi, Otomo Kuronushi). The luxury and pride of her youthful and beautiful days are as renowned as her povertystricken old age. Some say that the wretchedness of her old age was a self-inflicted penance suffered in remorse at the death of her lover Fukakusa Shosho, who had died as the result of the impossible tasks she had imposed on him. Thejrrtist Kose Kanaoka, the first of a great school, lived also in this age, and was a landscape gardener as well as a painter. From him derive the Kasuga and Takum a schools. The architect Hida-no-takumi also belongs to this time. The elegance and luxury prevailing in the capital were found only there: the country districts knew nothing of it. So the Fujiwara who were on the frontier posts were a tough warrior race, quite different from their effeminate relations in the capital, and of the same type as the Taira and Minamoto generals.

CHAPTER C U L M I N A T I O N

OF

12

T H E

R U L E

OF

R E G E N T S (967-1068) A f t e r the death of Daigo the Emperors were entirely under the

sway of their Regents, the summit of the glory of the Fujiwara being reached in 1000 with Michinaga, who controlled the Empire for some thirty years. Three Emperors were his sons-in-law, and his wealth was immense. H e built himself a splendid palace for use in his lifetime, and had a great temple, the Hojoji, for a retreat in his old age and “ place of enlightenment” when he died. On his death­ bed he was visited by the Emperor, and the Court mourned for him three months. His power was largely due to his supporters, the Minamoto chiefs Mitsunaka and his two sons Yorimitsu and Yorinobu, who were called the “ nails and teeth” of the Kampaku. It was Mitsunaka who had the two heirloom swords, Higekiri and Hizamaru forged. H e was the son of Tsunemoto, descended from the Emperor Seiwa, so that this family, the most renowned of the warrior families of Japan, is called the Seiwa Genji. They had their manors in Settsu, Yamato and Mino, while the other great military house, the Taira, had most of theirs in the K an to, and the warrior Fujiwaras farther to the north in Mutsu where Yasumasa, descendant of Hidesato, was ruling. But the Fujiwaras of the capital preferred to depend on the Minamoto or Taira rather than on their own warrior relations, since they considered them not so likely to become dangerous rivals. By this time the great monasteries of Hieizan and its first branch temple, Onjoji or Miidera overlooking Lake Biwa, had become formidable strongholds, for they harboured swarms of retainers and soldier priests, and began to quarrel with each other and with the great nobles and the two great temples of Nara (the K ofukuji and Todaiji) not about their respective religious doctrines but over rank and ricefields. Consequently, though Michi-

C ulm ination o f the R u le of R egents (967-1068)

75

naga and his son Yorimichi who succeeded him as Kam paku were more prodigal and luxurious than their predecessors, the disorder of the land generally was very great, and the condition of affairs not unlike that in the age preceding the reforms of Taika, under the administration of the Great Uji. These great military families soon formed their own private ordi­ nances or house laws, which prevailed when they clashed with the central administration. The Fujiw ara house had its manors all over the country, and they were all administered by its chief officers in the capital. They trusted that by playing the other two families of Minamoto and Taira against one another they could control the whole Empire, and this they did for another century or so. The military chiefs were given honorary positions and Court rank, though not of a very high order, and were allowed to do much as they liked in the provinces as long as they sent in their taxes to Miyako. W e hear at this time that a certain Taira, Governor of Kyushu, reclaimed and consolidated a big manor there called that of Shimazu, from which tribute was sent to the Kam paku; and this was the beginning of the great house of Shimazu which has endured to this day. The farther these military nobles were from the centre of things the more powerful and independent they became. So in the extreme north, in Mutsu, the Abe family was very mighty and proved so troublesome to the Fujiwara that a great Minamoto general, Yoriyoshi, and his young son, Yoshiie, were sent against them. A vigorous war of nine years followed in which, after many ups and downs, the two Abe chiefs Sadato and Muneto, two giant brothers, were killed and their heads sent down to Miyako. Mina­ moto Yoshiie won such renown in this campaign that he was given the title of Hachimantaro, or the W ar God’s Eldest Son. This war god Hachiman was the tutelary deity of the Minamotos, and his shrine of Iwashimizu near the capital was a place where they went to worship before their campaigns and on other occasions. After the war with the Abes, Minamoto Yoriyoshi went to Tsurugaoka at Kamakura, and founded a branch temple that later became famous as the chief shrine of the military capital that the family established there. The ways of the Kam paku Michinaga are minutely described in a classic called Eigwa Monogatari or Tale of Splendour, of the Fu ji­ wara, being their history from the days of the Emperor Uda (889)

76

A Short H istory o f Japan

to Horikawa (1092). The period of 985 to io n was famous for the brilliant women writers Murasaki Shikibu, Sei Shonagon and Izumi Shikibu, besides the eminent scholars Fujiwara Yukinari and Onono-Tofu. The two great classics Genji Monogatari and Mahura no Soshi were the work of the first two ladies. Murasaki Shikibu and Izumi Shikibu have also left diaries, as has another lady of the time, the author of the Sarashina N i\\ i. The Genji Monogatari and Ma\ura no Soshi represent the highest development of Japanese literature of their type, and were produced about the same time. Both the authoresses were noble ladies of the Fujiw ara house. The father of Murasaki Shikibu was a scholar of some repute, and she showed a love for learning while still a child. She was well-read in both the Chinese and Japanese classics, and after being married and losing her husband became lady-in-waiting to the Empress. This was the lady Aki-ko, daughter of the Kam paku Michinaga, a very beautiful and accomplished girl, who had been married to the Emperor Ichijo at the age of twelve. The Emperor himself was of a benevolent disposition, learned and fond of music. It is said that Murasaki Shikibu retired from the Court to the temple of Ishiyama overlooking Lake BiWa, and there composed her masterpiece, and the room and her inkstone are still shown there. The Genji Monogatari describes the adventures of Prince Genji, a son of the Emperor, who was made a subject and given this sur­ name. The work is in fifty-four books and 4234 pages, though one book is occupied by the pedigrees of the characters. The characters are not actually historical, though the story is founded on fact and well represents the life of the time. There is probably no other work that so exactly describes the elegancies of court life of any age, and there can have been few ages more elegant. Japanese taste was then at its zenith, and through these pages we see the Fujiwara nobles with their military titles and gold-mounted swords, arrayed in flow­ ing robes of exquisitely harmonious colours, rich and delicate but not gaudy, going about their daily toil of excursions to temples where scenery could be admired and good chanting heard, of court cere­ mony, verse-composing, flower-viewing and music-hearing. There is, too, a lighter background of love-making, of an outwardly very decorous kind, involving much exchange of verses and beautifully written and scented notes inscribed on the most suitable kind of paper of just the right tint, a waving of fans, and occasionally a

C ulm ination o f the R u le o f Regents (967-1068)

77

snatching up on the flute of a melody that floats out from behind the brocade curtains. It is as uneventful as the novels of Jane Austen from one point of view, for one would suppose in reading it that no other world but this existed. O f the life of ordinary people there is little sug­ gestion. But there was perhaps no objection to their existing and pay­ ing taxes, though it would be improper to allude to such things. The greater part of the work is occupied with the love affairs of Shining Genji, of which each book contains more than one, and with the doings and conversations of personages of the Court. Ladies of this age had evidently much freedom, and did not have to ask leave of their parents when they met Genji or his friends who are always spoken of by their official titles, as are the ladies—or rather, by those of their male relations. It was not a society that would call for the admiration of the strait­ laced, and Genji was at times too much even for its easy-going views of life. H e was a "kind of super Narihira, on whom his character may have been modelled, though probably he was not unique in those days. But from an aesthetic point of view he had few faults, and after all that was the principal thing in a society where a bad colour harmony or a-vapid verse were the unpardonable things. Moreover, it is in many ways very modern, and the people talk in a fashion that would do credit to any drawing-room in M ayfair in the 1890s. It has also been noted by Japanese scholars that the ladies of Genji’s fancy are always of the same type as his mother, who dies in the first book. The Emperor then takes another consort because she is so like the lost one, and with her Genji has his first love affair. But so calm and decorous is its style that it may be used as a textbook in high schools for girls. In 1019 the T oi or Sushen, a Mongolian people occupying the mainland opposite the northern island, made a raid on Japan and landed in Tsushima and thence went to Iki and then to Kyushu, whither the Governor of Tsushima had fled. But after sixteen days’ hard fighting they were driven out by Fujiwara Takaie, assisted by rough weather. They seem to have had about fifty vessels, and the Japanese got together a fleet of thirty-eight. The authorities, however, objected to giving any rewards to the victorious general, because he repulsed the foe before any Imperial edict had been issued for his chastisement.

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A Short H istory o f Japan

They acted in a similar fashion after the campaign of 1089 when Minamoto Yoshimitsu, younger brother of Yoshiie, went to the north to assist his brother in the war with the house of Kiyowara, who were giving much trouble. Yoshimitsu was chief of the Kebiishi, and the Court did not wish him to go. But he resigned his office and went. It was at the battle of Kanazawa that Yoshiie detected the enemy ambush by the rising geese, of which one so often sees pictures.1 It was Yoshimitsu too who, when on his way to the fight­ ing, took with him Toyohara Tokiaki, son of Tokimoto, his teacher of the sho or mouth-organ, on which instrument he was very skilled. This he did so that he might teach the son the secret melodies that his father had taught him, and which would be lost if he were killed. This mixture of art, elegance, and militarism is already characteristic of the Japanese Bushi. This campaign was really decided by the aid of the great Fujiwara magnate Kiyohira, who was the descendant of Hidesato. H e held nearly all the north, and handed it down to his son Motohira and his grandson Hidehira whose son Yasuhira was defeated by the Minamoto in the thirteenth century, and had his domains confiscated.

1 This is one of the tricks taught by the Chinese military manual of Sun Tz.

CHAPTER R U L E

OF

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13

R E T I R E D

E M P E R O R S

(10 6 8 -115 5 ) |

I

T he first symptom of the decline of the Fujiwara was the nomina­ tion of the Crown Prince, Takahito, younger half-brother of the Emperor Go-Reizei, whose mother was not a Fujiwara. T he Kampaku did not approve of this and refused to present to the Heir Apparent the sword, “ Jar-cutter”, which was always given by the Regent to the Crown Prince. This Takahito, who came to the throne as Go-Sanjo, was a vigorous personality. Am ong other reforms he established an office for the examination of manorial land, and this was to be forfeit if no proper documents were forth­ coming. But his campaign against corruption brought him up against the Fujiwara officials, who left the palace in a body. So the Emperor had to give way. It was Go-Sanjo and his son Shirakawa who started the Camera system, as it is called, whereby the retired Sovereign (In) administered independently of the Regent while his son or grand­ son sat on the throne. The Retired Emperor became a monk and was called Ho-o, but his Court was exactly the same as the Imperial Main Court, except that the officials had different titles. If there was any collision of opinion between the two the Retired Emperor would prevail, for he was the elder. The Emperor Shirakawa was a great devotee of Buddhism, and built the six temples called the six Shoji and also the Sanjusangendo containing 33,333 images of Kwannon. The Byodo-in temple at U ji, which was the villa of Michinaga and his son Mototsune, is the only residence that has survived from this period, and the elegant jtnd elaborate interior decoration, with its colour a n d s y m m ^rry, is r e m a r k a b le . T h e' architecture of this_ Hpian period was nn 1nnBpr 1mi rated from the continent, but had^ developed a distinct lapanese eclectic style. That the temples tli'e*

7A1RA HOUSE emperor Ka’ammti

1

Taira Sadamori

I

Tadamori

Tadanori

Jforimori

Tsunemori

.Kiyomori

Noritsuna Alsumori Tokuko Shigekira

I

Tomomori Munemori

Shi^emori

MiNAMOTO HOUSE

getwaSanji Emperor Seitoa -_1 Minamoto Kiuflmols

I

Mitsunaka r — 1----------- i .

Yorinobu

Yopmitsu.

Yorij/osKi

Yorimasa

i— 1-------------1

Yojkimitsu Y oshinari (Satake)

Yoskiia

Voshikiuo

i Wobuyoshv (Takeda)

I

I-----Voskichika

Voshikuni

n T^nwyosHi

Tameijoski

i

r Yoskiskitfa (Nit t a r

I----- 1—

Voshiuasu (A-shmaga)

.

i-------- 1-------------1

Voskilomo Yoskjkata Tametomo YukiU Yoskinaka

'

I--------- 1-------------- 1

Yoskisue VosklKane Yo5hil-.ira Yoritomo IVoriyori Yoshiisur.* (Tokugama) # Consort of Ike Etnperor Takakara and mother of tke Emperor AntoKu.

Rule of the Retired Emperors (1068-1155)

8i

Emperors and Fujiwaras built in profusion should show a strong influence from the villa style is just what was to be expected in a Court that wished to secure the maximum of comfort and security in both worlds. The Buddhas, too, are like their patrons: plump and smiling, and quite devoid of any pessimistic qualities. On the pillars of the Byodo-in they dance gaily on their lotuses, while Bodhisattvas play a melody on flute and drum and birds of paradise hover overhead— for this was the paradise the Fujiwaras confidently anticipated. Another splendid relic of this age is the Cnusonji temple at Hiraizumi in Rikuchu, the northern capital built by Fujiwara Kiyohira and occupied by his successors Motohira, Hidehira and Yasuhira (1096-1189). The Konjikido or Golden Hall, which with the library is the sole survivor of a huge monastery of some three hundred and forty buildings, is the mausoleum chapel of the first three Fujiwaras, and is as gorgeous as the By 5 do-in with its gold lacquer and cloisonne inlay. It is the ancestor of the mausoleum shrines of the Edo age, though the architectural pedigree of these is different. The city of Hiraizum i was laid out on the model of Kyoto, and might well have remained the capital of the north instead of the newer city of Sendai had not Yoritomo been moved to destroy it. It was an incident that took place in connection with Shirakawa that set the great monasteries of Hieizan and Miidera so much against each other. For the Emperor applied to Raigo Ajari, Lord Abbot of Miidera, for help to obtain a son. Raigo prayed his hardest on the understanding that, if he succeeded, the temple of Miidera should be granted the right of ordination—a privilege that Hieizan claimed. This the Emperor could not grant for fear of the other monks. So Raigo starved himself to death, and the little Prince who had been born as the result of his prayers died also. Another priest potent in prayer in these matters was then summoned, this time from Hieizan, and his efforts obtained another Prince who became the next Emperor Horikawa. But Hieizan and Miidera remained deadly enemies. These priests used to flock down into the capital when they wanted anything, bringing with them the sacred car containing the emblems of their sect, and at this the samurai were not supposed to shoot. It was not long before they did so, however, G

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A Short History of Japan

and finding that nothing particular happened, they were emboldened to fight the monks. So Shirakawa remarked that there were three things he could not control: the fall of the dice, the waters of the Kam o, and the monks of Hieizan.

\

Early Period, of Military Rule Go-Shirakawa Go-Daigo —

( a 55-i 3* i )

CHAPTER H O G E N

AN D

14

H EIJI

P ER IO D

(115 5 -6 6 )

I t was in the reign of the next Sovereign, Toba, son of Horikawa, that the fall of the Fujiwara began. And the cause of it was an internal quarrel when the Emperor Toba suspected that Sutoku his heir was not really his son but the son of his grandfather Shirakawa. H e wished therefore to place on the throne a younger son whose mother, the lady Bifuku-monin, he married after Shirakawa’s death. H e managed to arrange this, and Sutoku was made to resign in favour of the younger, who at the age of three succeeded as the Emperor Konoe. But Toba died soon after, and then Sutoku plotted to regain the throne. T o do this he enlisted on his side Fujiwara Yorinaga, brother of the Kam paku Tadamichi. These two brothers hated each other, and Sutoku promised to make Yori­ naga Kam paku if he became Emperor again. As Sutoku and Yorinaga had to get assistance from the warriors to execute their plan, they prevailed upon Taira Tadamasa and Minamoto Tameyoshi, grandson of the great Yoshiie, to support them, and with them went one son of Tameyoshi, the matchless archer Tametomo. On the other side, the Kam paku Tadamichi had Taira Kiyom ori nephew of Tadamasa, and Minamoto Yoshitomo brother of Tametomo, and on the death of Konoe at the age of seventeen they immediately put on the throne the fourth son of Toba Tenno as the Emperor Go-Shirakawa. In the war that followed, the party of Sutoku lost because Y ori­ naga, who was not a soldier, insisted on standing on the defensive instead of attacking as Tametomo wished, for he thought that this was not correct behaviour. So Yoshitomo made a night attack on the Shirakawa palace, set it on fire and, with Taira Kiyom ori’s help, succeeded in routing the supporters of Sutoku. After the victory Taira Tadamasa and Minamoto Tameyoshi were both put

86

A Short History of Japan

to death despite their being uncle and father of Kiyomori and Yoshitomo. Tametomo had the tendons of his right arm cut and was banished to Izu. This affair was called the Affair of Hogen (the period 1156-9). Go-Shirakawa reigned only for two years, 1156-8, and then retired; but as Ho-6 he continued to direct the affairs of State, as far as Taira Kiyomori would let him, for the lengthy period of thirty-four years until 1192. His adviser was Fujiwara Shinzei, whose conduct soon provoked the second tumult called that of Heiji—the period 1159-60. When Go-Shirakawa retired and the Emperor N ijo suc­ ceeded there was trouble between the two Courts, for N ijo did not like his interference and that of Shinzei. Moreover Yoshitomo thought he had not been sufficiently rewarded for his aid in Hogen, and so he and his Minamoto kin had a grievance against Shinzei. The result was that he joined one Fujiwara Nobuyori, a favourite of Go-Shirakawa, in a revolt, and the pair of them took advantage of the absence on pilgrimage of Taira Kiyomori and his son Shigemori, to attack the Retired Emperor’s palace, get possession of him and kill Shinzei. Yoshitomo was in favour of attacking Kiyomori and Shigemori on their way back, but here again Nobuyori, who was no fighter but a fat and pusillanimous courtier, would not allow him to have his way, and the result was that father and son regained the capital, mustered the Taira, and completely defeated the Minamoto. Nobuyori was put to death, much to his surprise and discomfort, and Yoshitomo fled and was killed by a connection in whose house he sought refuge. Kiyomori was now without any rival, and for the next thirty years the Minamoto were eclipsed and he had the whole Empire in his power. The sudden and brilliant rise of the Taira and the equal rapidity and completeness of their fall has made this period the most heroic of all in Japanese history, and its various epi­ sodes have become the material for the best classic dramas and ballads. Its history is related in two works, or two recensions of the same story, the Heihe Monogatari and the Gempei Seisuiki, the former written for chanting to the accompaniment of the biwa, and the latter an amplification of it in a more prosaic form. From the Heihe reciters the ballad and N o play were largely compiled. These were the literary diversions of the samurai as the Genji and Ma\ura Zoshi were of the Court. In this age is seen the clash

Hogen and H eiji Period (1155-66)

87

between the old aesthetic Fujiw ara ideals and the military puritanism that was to rule the country for a thousand years, and still rules it. But in passing, the elegance of the Fujiwaras left some of its spirit with the otherwise rather rough warriors. In the Taira there is a mixture of the two, for the family of Kiyomori were warriors who soon becamed softened by the atmosphere of Kyoto, redolent of courtiers and Buddhism. As to the four sons of Minamoto Yoshitomo who escaped in this fighting, the eldest, Yoritomo aged fourteen, would have been put to death, but Kiyom ori’s stepmother interceded for him because he resembled a child of hers, and he was banished to Izu. The three others—Yoshitsune, Noriyori and Gien—were carried off by their mother Tokiwa, whose beauty was famous; but when Kiyomori heard of it he seized her mother and thus caused Tokiw a to give herself up. On condition that her children be spared, she became Kiyomori’s consort, the children being sent to temples to be educated for the priesthood. So Kiyom ori’s lenience was to prove the down­ fall of his house. But for the time he was supreme, and took full advantage of his position. Up till now, military magnates had not been entitled to high Court rank, for the Fifth Rank and above was confined to Fujiwara, Kuga, Ariwara, K i, Oe and Kiyowara; but he had himself raised to Upper Third Rank and made Sangi or Privy Councillor, while he put his sons and relations into the highest positions in the Empire. Then he proceeded to marry his wife’s elder sister to the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and it was their son who succeeded as Takakura Tenno. So ended the suprem­ acy of the courtiers, for once the warriors obtained control of the Empire they never again relinquished it.

CHAPTER

15

R O K U H A R A 1 P E R IO D (116 6 -8 5 )

CU LM IN A TIO N OF T H E H EIK E RULE: 1166-80 T h e Emperor N ijo had died in 1166, and had been succeeded by Rokujo, aged two, while Takakura, aged six, was proclaimed heir apparent. In 1169 Rokujo was deposed or retired, and Takakura put on the throne by Kiyomori, who was thus uncle of an Emperor of ten years old—a situation of which he took full advantage. He successively appointed himself, first Naidaijin, then Dajodaijin or Chancellor, skipping over the two intervening offices of Minister of the Right and Left. H e was then fifty. A t fifty-one he had a serious illness, and resolved to shave his head and become a monk. He recovered, but his conduct thereafter was no more sanctified than it had been before. It is because of this that the records so often refer to him ironically by his priestly titles, for the conservative Court and ecclesiastical circles hated him. He is usually called Dajo Nyudo (the Lay-Priest Chancellor), or Nyudo Sokoku (the Prime Minister who entered the W ay), or Zemmon (the Disciple of Dhyana). The next thing he did was to marry his daughter Toku, or Kenreimon-in as she was afterwards called, to the young Emperor Takakura, and their son was the next and most unfortunate Emperor, Antoku Tenno. It was natural that such a person as Kiyomori should not be appre­ ciated by the Ho-o, who wished to order affairs at Court himself, but found everything taken out of his hands by this military chan­ cellor, who fully understood that all government rests upon force and was always ready to apply it. So when some malcontents, who were irritated at not obtaining offices they coveted, started a minor rebellion, the Retired Emperor gave them his blessing. The plot was

1 Name of the Taira headquarters.

Ro\uhara Period (1166-85)

89

not successful, for it was betrayed to Kiyomori, who sprang vigor­ ously on the conspirators, exiling them to most distant and uncom­ fortable islands. H e was inclined to deal harshly with the Ho-6 too, but his son Shigemori, an exemplary character from a Japanese point of view, managed to persuade him that it was impolitic. Kiyomori is a distinctly original character in Japanese history, and compares well with the other great soldier statesmen Yoritomo, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. He is of the same type as Nobunaga, whereas Yoritomo and Ieyasu have much in common, and Hideyoshi stands in a class by himself, for he was a parvenu. K iyo­ mori was a very human tyrant, and distinctly impulsive whether for good or evil. H e spared the lives of men who lived to upset his family, and he did things that perhaps needlessly shocked the taste of the Court and the ecclesiastics. For these latter he cared nothing, and burnt the temples at N ara with little compunction when they plotted against him, wherein they only got their deserts, though many beauti­ ful things were destroyed. In some ways he was in advance of his time, as when he tried to shift the capital to Fukuhara, the site of the modern city of Kobe. Evidently he foresaw its possibilities as a port, and made a breakwater there to render it safer. He also cut a channel in the Inland Sea, which still keeps his name green. These things he did in 1180, perhaps partly influenced by a great earthquake and fire that destroyed a third of the capital in 1177, followed by a typhoon in 1180 that did still more damage. He thought, no doubt, that Fukuhara, fifty miles from the capital, would be safe from the incursions and influence of the priests; and in this his motive was the same as that of Kwam m u Tenno in mov­ ing from N ara to Kyoto. H e took down to the new capital all the Emperors: the child Antoku who was on the throne, the Retired Emperor Takakura, and the troublesome old cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa, whom he kept carefully under guard in a building thirty feet square, which a wit of the time named the “ prison palace” . Naturally the Emperors and courtiers were by no means comfortable in this half-built, windswept town, where the sound of the sea made them feel melancholy, and where there was not the same opportunity for their aesthetic amusements. However, it did not last long, for in the August of the year 1180 there were unmistakable signs that the Genji of the east were stirring,

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and Kiyomori thought he might be in a less favourable position for strategic movement against them if the priestly soldiers of the great monasteries were to take it into their heads to join in and operate on his rear. It was then that he smote Miidera, while his son Shigehira burnt N ara and its Great Buddha, and the Taira returned to Kyoto with all his family, the courtiers, and the Emperors. There had been famine and pestilence in the capital following the fire and typhoon, and this was put down by the superstitious to the wrath of the gods and Buddhas against the Heike. Besides offending the Buddhist priests he had also irritated the upholders of the great shrines of the capital by bestowing his favour especially on the shrine of Itsukushima, or Miyajima as it is now called, in the Inland Sea, because he put down his greatness to the favour of the deity there. And he caused the Emperor to go on pilgrimage thither instead of to Kamo, Hiyoshi or Iwashimizu Hachiman in the capital. The Retired Emperor also was induced to go there three times, not much to his satisfaction. In 1179 Kiyom ori’s son Shigemori died, and the old man became more violent than ever; the Ho-o retaliated by confiscating the estates of Shigemori, and refusing promotion to Fujiw ara Motomichi, a son-in-law of Kiyomori. The latter flew into a passion and seized the person of the Ho-o, confining him in a place on the outskirts of the capital with only an aged nun for company—a too stricdy logical treatment of one recluse by another. The year after this came the first attempt of the Minamoto to upset the Taira, and it proved abordve. It was led by an old noble named Minamoto Yorimasa, aged seventy-seven, and always known as Gensammi, or Third Rank, because he had attained that honour only at the age of seventy-five. He tried to put on the throne Prince Mochihito, elder brother of the now retired Takakura, and counted on the help of the monks of Nara, Miidera and Hieizan. But these two latter fanes disliked each other more than they did Kiyomori, and only the Nara monks supported the rebellion. Their force moved too late to be of much use, so that the Taira leaders caught Yorimasa and Mochihito at Uji, where there ensued a famous fight at the bridge. Yorimasa at last retired badly wounded to the Byodo-in, and there cut his belly after making a death verse. This is the first recorded case of seppuku. Prince Mochihito was also killed by a chance arrow.

t

Ro\uhara Period (1166-85) RISE OF T H E G EN JI:

9i

1180-5

In 118 1 Kiyom ori died of fever, the cause and intensity of which has been much embroidered by the priesdy historians of the day who thus took their revenge on him after his death. By this time the Minamoto were beginning to be distinctly dangerous, so that K iyo­ mori expressed his intense regret in dying without seeing the severed head of Yoritomo, and gave instructions that when taken it was to be brought and laid upon his tomb—a favour he would appreciate much more than the performance of Buddhist ceremonies. It was not so easy for the Taira to gather their forces as it would have been if the capital had been in a more healthy state, for we hear that the deaths from plague and famine in one quarter of it alone amounted to more than forty-two thousand in two months. There is a vivid description of these troubles in the H djo\i of Kamo Chomei. The Taira had become unpopular with all classes, from the Court to the common people. The head of the house of Minamoto was Yoritomo—that son of Yoshitomo who had been spared by Kiyomori and banished to Izu to the mansion of a Fujiw ara chief, one Ito Sukechika. Not far from him was the estate of another eastern magnate Hojo Tokimasa, of Taira descent. Yoritomo seems to have kept quiet and deported him­ self with great discretion and shrewdness and to have given little sign of the capacity that was in him. H e was fourteen when in 1160 he was sent into exile, and it was twenty years before he had any opportunity to act. A little before this he had become friendly with the daughter of Ito, and when that warrior returned from the capital where he had been staying for a while, he was disagreeably surprised to find that she had a son. This he had thrown into the moat, and would have done something similar to Yoritomo had he not escaped to the domains of Hojo Tokimasa without delay. Tokimasa received Yoritomo hospitably. H e had two daughters, and the elder, Masa, was a very capable girl who seems to have foreseen that the future of Yoritomo was promising. So, when Yoritomo’s inevitable letter of introduction was carried to her younger sister by his retainer, who apparently thought her the more desirable, Masa bought it and the chances that went with it; and her father, unlike Ito Sukechika, turned his eye in the other direction. Then,

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A Short History of Japan

a few months after having married her to the Lieutenant-Governor of Izu, to whom she had been previously betrothed, he decided to throw in his lot with Yoritomo, and the two attacked the governor, burnt him out and slew him, and carried off the lady Masa. In leading the rebellion against the Taira, Yoritomo was aided by that extraordinary monk Mongaku. Mongaku had also been banished to Izu for rudeness to the Ho-o in the matter of collecting subscriptions for his temple at Takao. H is history had been a strange one. H e was once the young samurai Endo Morito, and fell in love— violently, as he did everything—with Kesa, the wife of his cousin Watanabe Noboru. He swore he would kill her mother if she did not run away with him, and she replied that it would be more advantageous to kill her husband. In this she promised to assist by persuading him to drink sake and then to sleep in a certain room. But she actually sent him away, cut her hair short, and lay down in the room herself. Endo came and struck off her head, but when he found on inspecting it afterwards whose it was, he went to Watanabe and asked him to take off his too. Watanabe thought that it would be better to enter the W ay of Buddha and spend their time praying for her enlightenment. So Endo became a monk and took the name of Mongaku, and was just as energetic in the pursuit of Nirvana as he had formerly been in that of Kesa Gozen. H e stood for a fortnight in midwinter in the waterfall of Nachi, and then lay out in mid­ summer naked in the fields, where the mosquitoes and other insects that make life a burden at that time of the year in Japan would have easiest access to him. So his fame became great, and he decided to rebuild the temple on Takao, outside the capital. W ishing the Ho-o to have the honour of heading his subscription list, he incontinently burst into his palace by springing over the wall just when he and his friends were divert­ ing themselves with a little music. After a struggle they arrested him and he was exiled, but not before he had reviled His Majesty with his customary thoroughness. On his way he also cursed the sea deity for raising a storm. His exile to Izu brought him near to Yori­ tomo, whom he at once began to incite to attack the Heike. To this end he volunteered to go and get an Imperial edict for their over­ throw. This done, Yoritomo decided to advance. In the first battle of Ishibashiyama, Yoritomo was defeated and escaped only by getting into the trunk of a hollow tree. Kajiw ara Kagetoki discovered him,

Ro\uhara Period (1166-85)

93

but said nothing. However, he got away and again assembled a force in A w a and Kazusa, and established his headquarters at Kamakura, where he built up the shrine of Hachiman at Tsurugaoka. Then, in November 1180, he sent an army of twenty-seven thousand men out to meet a Taira force of fifty thousand under Taira Koremori, which had moved out from the capital and encamped by the Fujiwara. Its leader, Fujiw ara Tadakiyo, was no real soldier, and one night part of his army imagined that the Minamoto were upon them and, a panic starting, they fled incontinendy back to the capital. The Genji did not pursue them, but returned to consolidate themselves in the east. Just now the younger brother of Yoritomo, Yoshitsune, came into his camp at Kam akura with several retainers of some note. Yoshitsune had escaped from the temple of Kuram a in which he was confined when Kiyom ori spared his life, after having learned fencing from the Tengu2 of that neighbourhood, and met Benkei the giant soldierpriest, and went with a merchant to Mutsu where he took refuge with Fujiwara Hidehira, at Hiraizumi. Here he practised martial exer­ cises and got together a few followers, with whom he came down to join his brother when he heard that he had made open rebellion to restore the power of their house. He had studied tactics under Hidehira’s retainer Sato Shoji Motoharu, and then he had gone to Kyoto secretly to try to get access to the famous Chinese work on the military art in the possession of one Kiichi Hogan. By the aid of his daughter Katsura-hime he managed it, and then he met Benkei. H e and Ise Saburo, whom he met on his way to Mutsu, and the two sons of Sato, Tsuginobu and Tadanobu, were his four paladins. Meanwhile another Minamoto had arisen in Shinano. He was the famous general Kiso Yoshinaka called Asahi Shogun, a cousin of Yoritomo. H e defeated a Taira army in the mountains most bril­ liantly, made agreements with the monks of Hieizan and descended on the capital. Munemori the Taira chief immediately fled with the young Emperor Antoku Tenno, but not with the Ho-o, Go-Shirakawa, who made a very rapid Imperial progress to Hieizan. But the Taira took the Three Sacred Treasures. They went down to the Dazai-fu in Kyushu and stayed there for a while, equipped a fleet and came up to Yashima in Shikoku. In the capital, Yoshinaka and his men made themselves so unpleas­ ant that the Ho-o lost his temper with them, and asked the monks 2 Fabulous bird-men of great repute as swordsmen.

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A Short History of Japan

to protect him and smite Yoshinaka. This business was entrusted to Taira Tomoyasu, called “ Tzuzum i” Hangwan or “ Drum ” because of his skill on this instrument. But this did not save him from defeat by Yoshinaka, and the Hoshoji palace was burnt and the Ho-o carried off. Yoshinaka obtained an edict ordering Yoritomo to be smitten, for there was no love lost between them, chiefly owing to the slanders of their uncle Yukiie. But the Ho-o secretly sent an order to Yoritomo to destroy Yoshinaka, and he immediately sent off sixty thousand men under Yoshitsune and Noriyori. These took Yoshinaka by surprise and dispatched him with his retainers. Only Tomoe, his Amazon consort, seems to have survived. The Taira had taken advantage of all this to get back on the mainland and take up a strong position at Ichinotani just near the modern Kobe. For seven miles between the hills and the sea their armies lay along the shore, both flanks protected by earthworks and towers, while their fleet was anchored by the beach. This was in 1184. Meanwhile a new Emperor, Go-Toba, a younger brother of Antoku who was then six, had been chosen by the Ho-o, and he issued an edict for the suppression of the Taira by Yoshitsune and Noriyori. They had about seventy-six thousand men to the Taira one hundred thousand. Noriyori took fifty-six thousand against the east flank at Ikuta, and Yoshitsune the remaining twenty thousand against the rest at Suma. N o progress was made until Yoshitsune determined to try riding down the mountains in their rear, which he did with seventy-five retainers. They fired the Taira camp, throwing the whole army into disorder so that it had to retire to the ships. Here some twenty of the Heike nobles were killed, among them Satsuma-nokami Tadanori the great poet, and Taiyu Atsumori, besides Etchu Zenji Moritoshi, famous for his great strength. Shigehira, son of Kiyomori, was captured alive. Then the Heike fell back on Yashima in Shikoku, and as their fleet still held the Inland Sea it was no easy task to dislodge them. But Yoshitsune was equal to it. In a raging storm he crossed over in five ships with a hundred and fifty men, and took them by surprise. They thought the whole host was upon them, and Munemori, who was both timid and incompetent, as might be expected of the son of an umbrella-maker—which his mother afterwards declared him to be before she died—gave the order for re-embarking, so that the Genji burnt their camp and palace. Yoshitsune by this time was suspect by his brother Yoritomo, and

Ro\uhara Period ( r 166-85)

95

was not put in command, but he persuaded the H 5 -o to issue an edict ordering him to destroy the Heike. He had ridiculed Kajiwara Kagesue, a general of Yoritomo, for his suggestion of fitting the boats with an oar for retreat, and Kajiwara did not forget it, but kept on slandering him to Yoritomo and exciting his jealousy by recount­ ing how popular Yoshitsune’s brilliant exploits had made him. It was at this batde of Yashima that the famous incidents of Yoshitsune’s bow-dropping and shooting down of the fan by Nasu-no-Yoichi occurred, and here also Noto-no-kami Noritsune distinguished him­ self. This valiant archer tried his best to shoot Yoshitsune in the fighting; but when his master was in the greatest peril from the shafts, Sato Tsuginobu sprang in front of him and received his arrow, which pierced him through so that he died. “ It is the destiny of a warrior to fall by the shaft of the enemy,” he said, “ and that it should be told in future that I, Sato Saburohyoye Tsuginobu, died instead of my lord at the fight on the beach of Yashima in Sanuki in the war of the Genji and the Heike, is my pride in this life and will be something to remember on the dark road of death.” A very concise declaration of the creed of the samurai. The next month the Genji spent in getting their ships in order, for they were less used to the sea than the Heike, who had long been accustomed to naval warfare on these waters with the pirates that infested them. The Heike fleet had gone down to the straits of Shimonoseki—a passage from 700 to 1700 yards wide and about seven miles long, with a swift current. Noriyori was in Kyushu with thirty thousand men, or perhaps they would have retreated there again. So on 25th April 1185 Yoshitsune sailed down after them with some seven or eight hundred ships, whereas they had not more than five hundred. A t Dan-no-ura the two fleets met, and a great action took place. The Taira fought desperately, and at first the Minamoto were driven back. But when the fight was hottest one Taguchi Shigeyoshi of Shikoku hoisted the white flag and went over to the enemy. Taira Tomomori, who was in command, had suspected him and asked Munemori to be allowed to put him to death, but Munemori vacillated as usual and nothing was done. This traitor was able to tell Yoshitsune which ship carried the Emperor and the Three Sacred Treasures. Rather than allow these treasures to fall into the hands of the enemy the Nii-no-ama, Kiyom ori’s widow, seized them and the child Emperor in her arms and jumped into the sea, with

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A Short H istory o f fapart

the young dowager Empress, widow of Takakura Tenno, and the ladies of their Court. The Jewel was recovered. Another lady was about to leap in with the Mirror when an arrow pinned her volu­ minous dress to the gunwale and she was hauled back, but when the Genji soldiers tried to open the casket they were seized with temporary blindness and bleeding of the nose. The Empress Kenreimon-in was also hauled back with a rake and taken prisoner, as were Munemori and his son. But Tomomori grasped an anchor and sank with it; and Noritsune, after jumping into Yoshitsune’s ship, which the latter vacated and sprang twenty feet away into another, kicked one of his retainers into the sea and then seized two more, one under each arm and jumped in with them, shouting, “ Come along to hell with m e!” Taira Shigehira was afterwards put to death by the N ara monks for burning their temples. So the Heike were utterly destroyed, for those that survived were all put to death, including Munemori and his son, and the whole Empire was in the hands of Yoritomo. N or did Yoritomo stop at the extermination of the Heike, for before long he found occasion to have Yoshitsune declared a traitor, and an edict issued to execute him. He fled back to the north to Mutsu, but after a while a great army was sent to subdue this fief, and Fujiw ara Yasuhira, son of the Hidehira who had befriended Yoshitsune before, now betrayed him, and after a desperate resistance he was at last forced to commit suicide with all his family. H is retainers all died with him or before him, Sato Tadanobu, the brother of Tsuginobu, impersonating him on one occasion and fighting to the death. The giant Benkei was the last to fall—or, tradition says, to die on his feet pinned by an arrow to the river bank he was guarding. There is a legend that Yoshitsune escaped to the mainland and appeared as Genghis Khan, who was his contemporary. This theory has recently been revived and elabor­ ated.

CHAPTER K A M A K U R A

16 P E R I O D

(118 5 -13 2 1)

PERIOD OF MINAMOTO SH O GUN S: 1185-1221 Y oritomo then set to work to reorganize the country. H e did not

go back to Kyoto but made Kam akura his capital and from there administered the Empire, for he realized how enervating was the influence that the aesthetic environment of the ancient capital had on the military spirit. But he brought to Kam akura several of the best officials of the administration—men of low rank but great ability, among whom Oe Hiromoto and Miyoshi Yasunobu were the most outstanding. The Court in Kyoto was left to go its way as it pleased, though it had no power, but Yoritomo stationed in the capital his father-in-law Hojo Tokimasa as warden to control it in his interests. In every province or district he also placed wardens (Shugo) to look after the discipline, and a Jito or Steward to see to the taxes, a new one of a bushel to the acre being imposed for the upkeep of Yoritomo’s army to keep the peace of the Empire. The business of the Shugo was to suppress rebels and refractory people and dispatch conscripts to the capital. The civilian governors appointed by Kyoto remained but had no power. This innovation, for which Yoritomo obtained the sanction of the Emperor, was not carried out all at once, for he had not yet subjugated the whole country, but all the Taira manors were confiscated by him, and they comprised about half of it. But from 1189 when Fujiw ara Yasuhira was conquered and killed, Yoritomo had nothing more to fear, for the whole Empire was under his control. Being of a superstitious nature he did not interfere with the temples and shrines, but rather supported them and increased their H

98

A Short H istory o f Japart

revenues, and their lands were exempted from the jurisdiction of the Shugo.1 In 1190 he made a progress of great splendour to Kyoto and stayed there five weeks. He was appointed Gon-Dainagon by the Court, which he was pleased to treat with great generosity. In 1192 the Ho-6 died, and Go-Toba, aged thirteen, having become the real Sovereign, Yoritomo was appointed permanent Sei-i-tai Shogun or Barbarian-subduing Generalissimo by Imperial envoys sent to Kama­ kura. On former occasions this office had only been granted for some special purpose and revoked when that was accomplished, but now it was given to carry on the administration of the Empire. In order to do this Yoritomo and his advisors founded three departments, the W ar Office (Samurai-dokoro), the Administrative (Mandokoro) and the Judiciary (Monchujo). The Betto or Provost of the first was W ada Yoshimori, of the second Oe Hiromoto, and the chief of the third was Miyoshi Yasunobu. In 1199 Yoritomo died as the result of falling from his horse on his return from attending the ceremony of opening a new bridge. People said that the ghosts of Yoshitsune and Yukiie and of Antoku Tenno frightened it. He was only fifty-three years old; but he had lived long enough to see his military administration complete, as well as to put to death his other remaining brother Noriyori, because, when there was a rumour of Yoritomo’s death on the occasion of the Soga vendetta, he was indiscreet enough to observe to Masako that while he survived all would be well. Though Yoritomo was dead, his widow and the literary officials he had brought to Kam akura from Kyoto, and who had done so much to put his administration in order, still lived, as did his father-in-law Hojo Tokimasa. However, it was not the family of Yoritomo but the office and the system that were to survive, so that, with very short intervals, it has served to carry on the government till the present day. This system is called the Bakufu, or Camp Capital. It is much the same as that of the Mughals of India or the Turks of Istanbul, with some local differ­ ences. Its intention was to substitute for independent provincial lords provincial governors entirely at the beck and call of the central administration under the Shogun. This was either an autocracy under a strong Shogun, or the rule of the strongest minister or ministers

1 The Shugo was first called Tsuibushi or Sotsuibushi, the officer who “seize an older name for a local suppressor of pirates or bandits, something like the Kebiishi.

K a m a \u ra P erio d ( 118 5 -13 2 1)

under a weajt one. Under Yoritomo and the Hojo it was efficient enough; under the Ashikaga Shoguns it declined; and under the Tokugawas it reached its zenith. The only way it differed from such governments elsewhere was in the existence of the Emperor who was always the titular ruler, and whose titles and Court the Shogun never tried to usurp, though he certainly exerted a controlling constitution

or

tks

KAMAKURA m ilitary government

(KAMAKURA BAKUFu)

/ Administrative

Lord Provost (Betlo)

■ 35PI

(Mandokoro)

'N

Council

(Hyojoshu) Judiciary

Lord Steward

(Shitsuji)

( N anchu-jo )

KAMAKURA

Ular Department

(Samurai-dokoro)

Lord Provost

(Belto)

Intendant

(Shoshi) I Ju n io r UUr Department (ho-samurai-cioAoro)

j Regent

'r,

f Lieuienanl-G oviernor

of Rokuhara

Shogun

d itto

d itto Council S e c r e ta r ia t

J .

(Rokuhara Tandai) Lord Steward of Ju s tic ia r y

\founcil,

Intendant of Vvar Department

7 KVOTO

J

L teutin ard -G o oarn o r o f K^juaKu

(Kymhu Tandal) Lieutenani-Gouernor o f Nagato

(JVagalo Tandai) Chief C-arnmissvontfr o f Mutsu ■ {OKushu 5h.o-bu.gijo) U )ard en

(Shugo)

Deputy Warden. Land 5 t£u>a/rd. (Jit-o)

PROVINCES

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A Short H istory o f Japan

influence over it, to say the least. But the old forms remained, and the Emperor could always confer honours on the Shogun as well as on other important people, provided the Shogun approved. Just as the highest rank is always left vacant and can only be attained posthu­ mously in very few cases, so there must always be the place of the deity to which none can aspire. But it is not well in practical matters to let deities get out of control. For they are of their nature above the clouds and can do only unworldly things; and these are some­ times highly inconvenient in a non-ideal world. So in Japan one really has the advantage of a theocracy without its obvious disadvant­ age of allowing power to get into the hands of ecclesiastics. For in Japan priests were not allowed much sway in the administration. Even ladies were allowed more. For a hundred and forty years after Yoritomo, his system of administration prospered, and, strange as it may seem, with only the shadow of a Shogun. Yoritomo had two sons, Yoriie and Sanetomo. The first was a stupid athlete and little more, much given to military exercise and the game of football, or hand-ball, which he is said to have practised for three months without cessation. H e brought down Tzuzumi Hangwan from the capital, among other foolish acts, and had no inclination to do justice or administer after the manner of his father. But his mother Masa did not give him much chance. She took over the government after her husband’s death and established or allowed a Council of thirteen, drawn from the three departments, to whom all things were committed, and of which her father Hojo Tokimasa was president. Kajiwara Kagetoki was one of them, but as he started slandering the others they banded together and had him decapitated. Hojo Tokimasa was about the shrewdest old man in the Empire, and no doubt much of Yoritomo’s success had been due to him. When in 1203 Yoriie became ill with brain disease, it was decided that the Empire should be divided between his two sons, Ichiman to take the eastern half round Kam akura and Sanetomo the western. But Hiki Yoshikazu, father-in-law of Ichiman, was very discontented with this arrangement, and went to Yoriie and suggested putting an end to Sanetomo. Masako was in the next room and overheard, with the re­ sult that H iki was bidden to an interview with Tokimasa and assassi­ nated. A t the same time Ichiman and his house and retainers were attacked and burnt. Yoriie was naturally not pleased, and demanded the head of Tokimasa. Only one friend of his was found willing to

K am aku ra P erio d ( 118 5 -13 2 1)

IOI

try to take it, and he lost his own in the attempt. So Masa told her son to become a monk, and he took her advice, whereupon in 1204 Sanetomo was made Shogun at the age of twelve. Hojo Tokimasa was made Regent. Yoriie died before long, probably assassinated by Tokimasa with his mother’s knowledge or at her instigation. N ow the lady Masa had a stepmother, another strong-minded lady who wanted her son-in-law Hiraga Tomomasa made Shogun and approached her husband Tokimasa (she was his second wife) with the idea of getting Sanetomo assassinated. But Masa heard of it immediately, and Sanetomo was sent to the house of her brother Yoshitoki. Tokimasa had to resign his seat and shave his head, and the son-in-law was executed. This son-in-law Hiraga Tomomasa was abler than Yoritomo’s children and probably Tokimasa thought things would be better under him, and that he would be able to manage him better than he could the Council, just as he had influenced Yoritomo. But Hojo Yoshitoki was more crafty than either his father or his sister. H e contrived by various intrigues to bring about the violent deaths of all Yoritomo’s great lieutenants, among others W ada Yoshimori, whose office of Chief of the W ar Department he took, as well as that of Regent which he had inherited from his father. Another son of Yoriie was also put to death by him. It seems that he then made Yoriie’s third son warden of the shrine of Tsurugaoka Hachiman in Kamakura. This son Kugyo wished very much to revenge the death of his father and his two brothers, and Yoshitoki evidently thought it well that he should be given an opportunity, for not long after, in 1219, Sanetomo visited this shrine at ten o’clock at night with a thousand retainers— Yoshitoki bearing the sword of state. He was too unwell to bear it right up to the shrine, however, and when the Shogun went up the steps Kugyo jumped out and swept off his head. Sanetomo was twenty-eight when he was killed, and seems to have been a charming character, a poet and a just adminis­ trator so far as he had the opportunity. Naturally the Regent Yoshitoki could not let such a crime go unpunished, so he had Kugyo seized and decapitated, or rather welcomed at the house of another noble and not allowed to depart. So ended the house of Yoritomo. From this year till 1222 there was struggle between the Retired Emperor in Kyoto, Go-Toba, and the Kam akura Regent. Go-Toba was rather a remarkable young man. H e was a poet, ball player,

102

A Short H istory of Japan

musician, swordsmith, hunter, patron of cock-fighting and racing, and so naturally much given to gambling, besides being fond of shooting on horseback.2 The young Shogun Sanetomo had literary tastes in common with the Emperor, and while he lived was inclined to let him do as he pleased, much against the advice of the old Bakufu councillors. But after his death there was friction, for when Go-Toba asked the Regent’s government to hand over to him two manors that he might present them to a dancing girl who had at that time attracted his attention, they refused. He had also refused to allow one of his sons to become puppet Shogun, which Kam akura greatly desired, so they had to bring down a Fujiw ara noble to sit in the vacant seat of Sane­ tomo. Practically it did not matter much to the Hojo who sat there, but an Imperial Prince Shogun would have enhanced the prestige of the position and also been available to sit on the throne in case of trouble. This Go-Toba probably perceived. And he thought he might make a bid for independence. This he did by soliciting the aid of the Buddhist Monasteries, whom he skilfully persuaded to amalgamate their forces and join him, to oust the Hojo and take all the manors, which could then be put at the disposal of either religion or the Imperial amusements. It was not difficult for him to do this under the pretence of taking great interest in religion. So in 1221 he declared the Kamakura government traitors and summoned all to support him in chastising them. Oe Hiromoto, Miyoshi Yasunobu and Masako struck imme­ diately, though most of the other councillors were in favour of simply standing on the defensive. This would have improved Go-Toba’s position, as these elders foresaw; so Hojo Yasutoki, eldest son of Yoshitoki, started out for the capital with an army which, though at first small, soon swelled to nearly two hundred thousand men. The lady Masa addressed the great vassals first and told them that if any wished to support the Emperor they could go, but that he had been misled by slanderers who wished to destroy the fine system which her late husband the Shogun had with their aid set up, and if they had not forgotten their gratitude to the deceased they 2 This pastime, which still survives in the Imperial household in a modified form, looks like a survival of Central Asian horse archery. A peculiar costume is worn for it consisting of fur “ chaperejos” , a tunic and sleeve covering the left side only, a sedge hat and slung sword.

K am aku ra P erio d ( 118 5 - 13 2 1)

i

1

I

I■

l

10 3

would support her in preserving the old order. And all of them remained loyal to the Bakufu. The veterans of the Kamakura army made short work of the Imperial forces, which had no mutual coherence and soon lost heart, and when Yasutoki entered Kyoto in triumph an Imperial edict restored all the temporarily withdrawn titles and powers of the Shogunate. A ll three Emperors, or rather Retired Emperors—for a child had been just then put on the throne to whom the title of Chukyo was not given till after 1870, since the Bakufu refused to recognize him—were exiled. Go-Toba went to the isles of Oki, where he had for company the ghost of Mongaku Shonin, who had been himself exiled thither for m aking a revolt as soon as Yoritomo was dead. On this occasion Mongaku had reviled Go-Toba saying: “ What does this ball-loving youth mean by letting them take an old man like me, who does not know whether he will live from one day to the next, and send him to a place like Oki, far from the capital?” And so . . . dancing with rage and reviling strongly, Mongaku was sent into exile. It was very strange that afterwards, in the period Shokyu, on account of his many rebellions, though there were many other provinces, this Emperor should have been banished to the far-off isles of Oki. And it is said that the angry ghost of Mongaku wrought many evil things there; continually appearing in the Emperor’s presence and saying all kinds of things to him. Mongaku was quite unique in Japanese history for having reviled two Emperors, and curiously enough he is exactly contemporary with Thomas a Becket. The other Emperor, Juntoku, was sent to Sado. Moreover, to pre­ vent such occurrences in future, the Bakufu maintained two officials called Tandai, at the two Rokuhara, that is, one in the northern and one in the southern division of the capital, with an administration exactly modelled on that in Kam akura with its three offices of Staff, Administration and Judiciary, and nothing could be done without reference to the central authorities in Kamakura. H oj 5 Yasutoki him­ self and his uncle Tokifusa were the first Tandai. The manors con­ fiscated from the party of Go-Toba were distributed among the Minamoto and Hojo, and they became not only the Jito but also the owners of them. Thus they were the first real feudal chiefs, the beginning of the Daimyo and Shomyo.

A Short H istory o f ] apart

10 4

Until the death of the lady Masa in 1225, aged sixty-eight, affairs were quite well administered by her younger brother Yoshitoki, who died one year before her. Oe Hiromoto died also in the same year as Masako, at the age of seventy-five. Miyoshi Yasunobu had died a few years before, aged eighty-two. So Yasutoki appointed a Council of fifteen members from the Administrative, called Hyojoshu as a kind of cabinet, and this became the ruling authority rather than the Administrative or the Judiciary. In Yasutoki’s time a code of legislation was drawn up called the Joei code from the Joei period (1232-3) containing fifty-one articles. The Hojo administration was famous for its fine and impartial justice, and this code is a good example of its principles. GENEALOGY OF THE HOJO REGENTS

Taira Saclamori Koretoki

I

Five Generations h 5j

r

YOSHITOKI2

I---------------1----------------J—

Masamura

Sht^elokv

5 tokimasa 1

Masako=Minamoto Yoritomo

YASUTOKI3

Yoritoki

I ..

NagatoKi

ToKiuu

r - ll—

TOKIYORY

r

TSUNETOKI.*

1

Munemasa

TOKIMUNE

MOROTOKI8

SADATOKI7

I

I

TAKATOKI9 Superior numbers indicate Regents in order.

K a m aku ra P erio d ( 118 5 - 13 2 1)

10 5

The lady Masa, nicknamed the “ N un Shogun” 3 since she took the tonsure after her husband’s death, was one of those strong women who have from time to time played such a large part in the govern­ ment of Japan. In those days of civil war the women were as hard as the men, though they kept in the background. They knew their place. Tomoe Gozen, consort of Yoshinaka, was as daring and strong as any male warrior and she too became a nun after Yoshinaka was killed. Circumstances made it necessary for the lady Masa to rule and she did so. She put to death her son, her grandson and his fatherin-law, and forced her father to resign in the interests of what she considered good government and family solidarity; and she was cer­ tainly justified, for Japan has had, relatively speaking, no better and fairer administrators than the Hojo, though their treatment of the Sovereign was not such as to commend them to present-day critics. They were strong believers in Zen Buddhism, a philosophy that had come to be very popular among samurai. The Joei Shikimoku4 guarded the farmer against exactions in taxation, and gave him freedom to change his place of abode if he wished. H e could also sell his land. H e could do none of these under the Tokugawa Shoguns. A thoroughly deserving eldest son, whether of wife or concubine, could claim one fifth of an estate, though the eldest son did not necessarily succeed if incompetent. Women could hold and transmit fiefs and property just as freely as men, and a childless woman could adopt an heir. Yoritomo had appointed the widow of one of his retainers Jito in her husband’s stead because of her great capacity. The penalties inflicted were death, confiscation of property, and banishment. A forger, if a commoner, was branded in the face. A n adulterer had half his fief, if he had one, confiscated; if not, he was banished. A n adulteress had the whole of her fief taken. Under the Tokugawas the death penalty could be inflicted on a wife for adultery. These laws were all strictly carried out under the Hojo administration without fear or favour. The family itself did not suffer much from divisions and there was no bad feeling between the different branches, as was the case with the Minamoto. T o see that 3 She declined audience with the Retired Emperor on the plea that she was only an unworthy old nun. It was she who had translated into Japanese the work on the art of government called J o \ a n S e iv o which had been compiled by the Emperor Tai Tsung of T ’ang and which is described as the text book of rule for despots and Shoguns. 4 T r a n s a c t io n s o f th e A sia tic S o c ie ty o f Ja p a n , vol. xxxiv, p. 1.

10 6

A Short H istory o f Japan

the Jito and Shugo behaved themselves, there were travelling Inspec­ tors of the Central Administration who went round to examine them and receive complaints; if these were well founded the offenders were dismissed. PERIOD OF T H E IMPERIAL SH O GUN S: 1252-1321 The finest characters among the Regents were perhaps Tokiyori, who succeeded in 1246, retired in 1256, but administered as Saimyoji N yudo5 till 1263, and Tokimune (1256-84). Tokiyori used to travel about the country incognito to see that justice was done. He owed much to his mother who was a lady of strong character, famous for her simple life and common sense. The Hojo also decided that, on account of a dispute that took place about the succession to the throne between two branches of the Imperial family, the sons of the two should reign alternately, that is, the lines of Go-Fukakusa and Kameyama; also that in future the Regents should be chosen from five branches of the Fujiw ara family only, the houses of Ichijo, N ijo, Kujo, Konoe and Takatsukasa. Yoritomo had previously con­ fined it to those of Kujo and Konoe. These families continued to pro­ vide Regents and Empresses down to 1870, as well as consorts for Shoguns. It was in the days of Tokimune that Kublai made his attempts to conquer Japan. He had conquered everything else he could reach.6 H e first sent to the Hojo for tribute, to which they returned no answer. He then made the Korean king supply him with transport and sent an expedition consisting of about fifty thousand men, some of them Koreans, in eight hundred ships. They first attacked Tsu­ shima and Iki where the governor of the first-named, So Sukekuni, grandson of Taira Tomomori, with two hundred retainers fought till all were killed, and the smaller garrison of Iki did likewise. They then proceeded to land in Chikuzen in Kyushu where the local warriors gave them a warm reception in Hakozaki G ulf. The Mongols had superior cross-bows and some kind of fire projectors and fought in concerted masses directed by drums and gongs, whereas the Japan­ ese fought singly or in groups. But the Japanese were superior at close quarters. So, as the weather grew stormy, the Mongols decided 5 Recluse of the Saimyoji Monastery.

6 He was the fifth of the line of Genghis Khan: Genghis, 1187; Ogdai, 122 Gayuk, 1246; Mangu, 1251; Kublai, 1260. His father was Tuli son of Genghis.

K a m a \u ra P erio d ( 118 5 - 13 2 1)

10 7

to retreat, and in doing so they lost more than thirteen thousand men, owing to casualties in battle and the bad weather. Then Kublai sent more envoys to demand the Hojo’s presence at Peking. Five of these Tokimune decapitated. Kublai then gathered a huge armada and sent another embassy. These also were beheaded. Then in 1281 his armada appeared. It comprised 3500 ships in all, a division of 900 from Korea and the main fleet of 2600 Mongols and Chinese. But the Hojo were prepared this time and had fortified the islands and the coast, and the invaders were attacked by the Japanese both on sea and land. The Japanese used small light ships from which they did great execution, and the fighting continued for fifty-three days, by which time a typhoon blew and utterly annihi­ lated what was left of the Mongol fleet. No further attacks were actually made, for, though Kublai intended to continue the offensive, other matters claimed his attention. The Court in Kyoto had not done anything practical to assist in the defence but had started all the ecclesiastics praying for victory, for which, when attained, they took great credit, and for which the Court seems to have rewarded them generously. On the contrary the military did not get much material recompense, for there was no enemy property to divide, as had been the case after civil strife. Consequently the Shogunate got little popularity from its efforts. This period of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is remarkable for vigorous movements in literature, religion and art. With the end of Fujiwara rule their favourite Buddhist sects of Tendai and Shingon declined, and a totally new series arose, which are those most active at the present day. The Six Sects of Nara have disappeared almost entirely; the Heian foundations of Tendai and Shingon are still moderately flourishing; but Jodo-Shinshu, Nichiren and Zen have been the most prominent and popular ever since, and their vitality and popularity are due to their being much better adapted to the Japanese national character. Genku or Honen Shonin was the founder of the Jodo or Pure Land sect. It is quite simple. Only faith in Amida Buddha is needed. Those who believe and call on his name will be received into the Western Paradise by a host of Bodhisats who will meet them on purple clouds, playing musical instruments, and there they will be happy. It was a good faith for those who did not want to think much and who had spent their lives more or less engaged in breaking the Buddhist prohibition of taking life. Only

10 8

A Short H istory o f Japan

faith was necessary, and works were hardly to be expected in such a world. Shinran Shonin, the disciple of Honen (1174-1268), went further than his master, and declared that there was no need to retire from the family or to be particularly abstemious, since faith in Am ida was all-sufficing. A good family life was best. So he married and did not limit his diet to vegetable food. And the Jodo-Shinshu or True Sect of the Pure Land7 which he founded has a married priesthood, and hereditary family temples. Shinran was a Fujiwara by birth, son of Hino Arinori, a courtier of the Emperor Takakura. Both these teachers suffered exile as the result of the opposition of the monks of the Tendai and Shingon, who thought their gains might decrease owing to the popularity of this new and easy way to enlightenment. And they were right in their estimate. Another and very different teacher was Nichiren. H is sect is the only one that takes its name from the founder. H e was the son of a fisherman of A w a and after studying all the other sects came to the conclusion that they were not only useless, but would ruin the country. H e began to preach in 1260, the year that Kublai founded Khan Baluc, and when the land was suffering terribly from the pesti­ lence that followed the typhoon and earthquake. There was no philo­ sophical doubt about him. He stated that “ the invocation of Amida (Nembutsu) is a phantasm, Zen is a doctrine of devils, the doctrines of Nara, and Hieizan are robbers and traitors to the country, Kobo was the prize liar of Japan” . Nichiren naturally incurred the dislike not only of the other sects but of the Hojo also, because he said that Tokiyori was in hell and that Tokimune would join him there. So he was condemned to death and would have been decapitated but for a flash of lightning that broke the executioner’s sword, as his followers say, or for the Regent issuing a reprieve after further con­ sideration, which is more likely. Nichiren wished to restore Sakya Muni to his right place as Chief Buddha, and proclaimed that his real teaching was contained in the Saddharma Pundarika or Lotus Sutra, which he interpreted in an apocalyptic sense as describing the history of Buddhism after the death of its founder, dividing it into three periods, the first of five hundred years and the second and third of a thousand, corresponding to its revelation in India, China and Japan. In this third period came the true doctrine which he, as 7 It is called also Monto and Ikko.

K am akura P erio d ( 118 5 -13 2 1)

10 9

the great minister of Sakya Muni, was commissioned to expound. By it the Empire would be tranquillized and unified and would become the leader of the Buddhist world. It is at least as much nationalist as Buddhist and the Lotus Sutra is its Bible. Its character­ istics are vigorous preaching and drum beating with repetition of the formula “ Hail to the wondrous doctrine of the Lotus Sutra” . Zen Buddhism, the philosophy of the Hojo, is not interested in texts or ceremonies or faith in Am ida or any other Buddha. It main­ tains that enlightenment is intuitive and can be obtained only by meditation. It states its views in the four lines: A special transmission outside of the scriptures, Which does not depend on the written word, Pointing directly to the Mind So that one sees into Nature and attains Enlightenment. The Zen thinker strives to get outside the common logical position of positive and negative and regards truth as beyond the realm of words and discriminations and unable to be expressed adequately by them. But though it tries to live in another dimension Zen is practical because the monks live a communal life, any incident of which may lead to enlightenment. The Zen temple differs from the others in its architecture and has had a very definite functional influence on domestic buildings. It was introduced into Japan by the eminent scholar and temple builder, Eisai, who went to China in 1194 and was also responsible for bringing tea, which is closely associated with Zen; and by Dogen who went abroad in 1223. Zen was introduced into China by the Indian monk, Bodhidharma (Japanese: Darum a), in the sixth century and developed there. It may be the nearest to the original teachings of Buddha and has always been and still is the favourite philosophy of the samurai class because of the stoic poise and indifference to death that it encourages. Zen has had a great influence on art, too, for the contemplation and painting of nature was felt to be a sure help to realizing oneness with the universal. One must become part of nature to paint it well, and hence the preference for landscape painting. To this period belong three eminent recluses: Saigyo Hoshi, author of some famous verses; Kam o Chomei, who wrote the Hojoki; and Yoshida Kenko, who penned those entertaining essays and comments on life called the Tsure-zure-gusa or Idle Jottings, one of the most popular of the

no

A Short H istory of Japan

Japanese classics. To this period, besides landscape, belong some of the finest and most vigorous figure painting Japan has ever pro­ duced in the masterpieces of Kasuga Nobuzane, Mitsunaga and Keion. The warrior pictures of the last-named are surpassed by nothing of the kind anywhere in the world. Fenellosa says of him: “ If we compare his charges and ambuscades and cautious marches of men and horses with the battle pieces of European authors it is only the ancient Greek and the modern French who can approach him in the reality of motion.” And of Nobuzane’s picture of Tokihira, the persecutor of Sugawara Michizane in hell, he says too: “ The horror of it is magnificently offset by the humour and the colour. It is useless to describe it. Orcagna at Santa Maria Novella is a fool to it. Nobuzane could give him a hundred years’ handicap and win.” Certainly these painters achieved to the full the first postulate of Far Eastern art, vitality; and not less so did the great sculptors in wood who were their contemporaries—Tankei and Unkei and their followers, who carved the Buddhas and the more congenial menac­ ing Deva Kings who guard them, combining in them the tense muscles of a great prize-fighter and the almost insane rage of a tantalized dog. Unkei’s figure of Emma, the Lord of Blades, is of such concentrated malignity that legend declares that the sculptor was sent back from the underworld by him specially to make it. And to the Kam akura period belongs too that best known of all Buddhas in Japan, the colossal statue of Am ida in bronze called the Buddha of Kamakura, cast by Ono Goroemon in 1252. Nothing is known of him but his name, but his work has the same vital auster­ ity as all the products of his time. As might be expected, the arts of the armourer and swordsmith were never better developed. The armourer house of Masuda now took the famous name of Myochin and the armour of Yoshitsune still preserved would be difficult to surpass in the beauty and harmony of its craftsmanship. Sword-making was already well developed, but Okazaki Masamune and his pupils Muramasa and Munechika are considered, together with his contemporaries Yoshimitsu and Yoshihiro, to be the best of a line of artisans with a history of some thou­ sand years. Their families have the longest pedigrees of all the crafts­ men and their work probably surpasses the best efforts of any other country. The Japanese warrior in medieval days was a horse archer, and the name “ yumitori” or bowman has always remained a syno-

ASH1KA3A HOUSE

Minamoto Yoshikuni I

r ------------------ 1

Yoshiyasu (AsHika^a)

r

Yoshtkana

1— —

Yoshitarie

i— yosHiuj i

l

r Yasuuji

Yoskisklge (N itia)

I

Yoskikiijo

YosViinori

(Yamana) Va shizumi (HataKcyama)

Voskizam Y o a h lsu *

(Hosokuua)

i

Kagauji

1

Voriuji (AskikagaO

Ktmiuj i (Imagauia)

1 Mitsuujl (Kira)

U loki

1

Sadatoki

1

1

TAKAUTI1 Tadayoski Y0SH1AK1RA2

I

,

YOSHIMITSU3

I I I VOSHIMOCHI4 Y0SH1N0RI6 I « I YOSHIKAZU5

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Y o sh U u y u

yoSHIHARU12

vo sh I h i d e 14

____ I__________ 15 1

I

VOSKIAKl

Superior numbers indicate Ashikaga Shoguns in order.

ij

VOSHITERU

112

A Short History of Japan

nym for him. The horse was, however, used only for transport, and cavalry charges in a country of hills, waterways and ricefields were hardly practicable. The light armour with its broad curtain-like sleeves was adapted to this mode of fighting. Later on the horse and bow came to be less used and the sword and spear took their place, and this brought about a change in the war-gear of the Bushi. The introduction of the matchlock in the sixteenth century encouraged the use of iron armour of the European type, though it always remained comparatively light. As cannon were not introduced until the nineteenth century castles were not much affected by these changes, since they had never been used as residences in medieval days, while those built in the seventeenth century were largely moats and ramparts crowned by wooden structures built more to impress than for residence or war. A ll the ideas and prestige associated with the words “ cavalry” , “ cavalier” , “ chivalry” and their cognates are absent in Japan where the general is most often represented sitting on a camp stool or on the mats. In the early years of the thirteenth century Kato Shirozaemon also called Toshiro went to China, and brought back the art of making hard pottery. H e settled at Seto in Owari, and from that time onward this place with Hizen in Kyushu have been the prin­ cipal centres of the potter’s craft. To this age also belongs the first treatise on the art of landscape gardening by the Court noble Fujiw ara Nagatsune (1169-1206).

CHAPTER R E N A I S S A N C E

OF

17

IM P E R IA L

R U L E

(13 2 1-3 6 )

B ut since, as the Japanese proverb says, “ things that wax must necess­ arily wane”, even the able and austere Hojo line could not continue to flourish for ever, and after Tokimune, who died in 1281, the decline began in the days of his successor Sadatoki (1284 -1311), who was a fine character, but apparently unable to check the luxury and cor­ ruption that had set in at Kamakura. The last Regent, Takatoki (1316-26) was dissipated, and by this time another strong-willed Emperor, Go-Daigo, was on the throne in Kyoto and looking for an opportunity to assert himself. Kamakura was now much pre­ occupied with Dengaku, a kind of mime which preceded the No, and with dog-fighting, which so delighted Takatoki and his friends that orders were given for the taxes to be paid in dogs, which were kept gorgeously apparelled and treated with great respect by their attendants. Tw elve days each month were given up to these matches. As the Regent’s forces failed to subdue a revolt in the north, GoDaigo thought he might venture to challenge them, so he set up his son as Prince Imperial in defiance of the rule that the throne should be occupied alternately by the two branches of the Imperial family descended from Go-Fukakusa and Kameyama. He made another son Lord Abbot of Hieizan and began to plot with the warrior monks for the overthrow of the Hojo. Tw o of the greatest leaders of the day, Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisada, both, especially the former, regarded as ideal Japanese samurai, supported the Emperor; but at first the Hojo armies were successful, and after many hardships Go-Daigo was taken and exiled to Oki, where GoToba and Mongaku had languished. But his generals were not driven from the field, and with the assistance of N aw a Nagatoshi, Lord of Hoki, he escaped in a fishing-boat—at one time hidden under sea­ weed at the bottom of it, and at another carried on the back of Naga-

1

GENEALOGY OF SOME OF THE CHIEF KUGE HOUSES MotoVsune | (836Tadahira

9 1)

Morosuke

r

I

Kinsue

Katie 14

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Michinaga 1(966-1027;

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Sanesue I

Kmzane . (1053-11077

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Vortmune Nagaie yoritnichi (Tshtno, _ (Fuizei) |(992- • 1 0 7 4 ) Ishiu3ma,Sono) Korozane r~

letada (Nakayama, Kazan-in, NaKa-noMLKado)

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Tsunezane Tadanori Moromichi 1(1062-99) (0 i -Mikado) (Asukai) Tadazaruz

Michisue

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Kintnichi I

San 2tnune

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__________

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KiKutei, I Tadam'tcKi . MuromacHi, . ( 1097- 1164) Ogimachi, r i .. (5 Regent Kimiuji Shtmizudani }Kmfusa Houses &Paigo) ‘ (Sanjo, (Sa^a,Toda) Sanjo-Nishi, ^Anekoj'i)

THE RELATIONS OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY WITH THE HOUSE OF SATONJI

Saionj i Kintsune

Saneo

Saneuii ,-------------

(

-----------------,

f J ----------- ,----------------- ,--------------- ,-----------------,

Kinsuke YOSHIKO K1MIK0 (Consort (Consort of of Go-Saga, Co-FuKakusa) mother of Go-Fukakusa and. Kameyama) Sanekane

r----- 1------1—

Kinhira Kanesue

KYOKO (Consort of Fushimi)

Kimio

Kimimori

Y0SK1K0 SHIZUKO SUeKO (Empress (consort of (Consort of Saneyasu. of Kame- Go-Fukakusa, Fushimi, I yama, mother mother of mother of KinKata of Go-Uda) Fushimi) Hanazono) Saneka Kinsada

I

E1K0 (Consort of Kameyama)

I

K1K0 (Consort of Go-Daigo)

n 6

A Short History of ]apart

toshi’s brother Nagashige, since no palanquin was to be found in the mountains. Then Hojo Takatoki ordered one of his generals, Ashikaga Takauji, descendant of Minamoto Yoshiie, to lead an army against the Imperialists whom the escape of the Emperor had again encouraged. But Ashikaga Takauji was no simple and loyal soul. He perceived that if he played his cards well he might profit from these contending forces. So, though he had to leave his family in Kam akura as host­ ages, for the Hojo were not entirely devoid of suspicion, he went over to the Emperor’s side as soon as he was out of reach of Kam a­ kura. The result was that Kyoto was taken and the Hojo representa­ tives were killed, while at the same time Nitta Yoshisada, another Minamoto descendant of Yoshiie, descended from the north on Kamakura. Here the Hojo resisted desperately for a fortnight, when Yoshisada led his army into it by the sea beach round the base of a cliff, where, tradition has it, the sea receded miraculously in answer to his prayer accompanied by the flinging of his sword into the sea. Kam akura was stormed and burnt, and the Hojo army slaughtered, the Regent Takatoki retiring to his ancestral temple of Toshoji and committing suicide with his family and some eight hundred of his retainers. So in 1333 Kamakura, after about a hundred and fifty years, ceased to be the military capital. Rai Sanyo says of the H o jo : “ Rising from a subordinate position, they flourished for nine generations. Their success was due to observing frugality, treating the people with kindness, meting out strict justice, and faithfully obeying the ancestral behest to abstain from seeking high titles.”

Part V M iddle Period of Military Rule Go-Daigo — Go-Tsuchi-M i\ado (1336 -14 9 1)

CHAPTER IM P E R IA L

SO JO U R N

18

IN

T H E

SO U TH

( i 336-92)

A s o n of Hojo Takatoki, named Tokiyuki, now made a sudden attack and took Kamakura, whereupon Takauji got himself appoint­ ed Shogun to recover it, which he did without delay, thus proving his capacity and attracting to his standard all the warriors of those parts. He then turned against Nitta Yoshisada, impeached him and seized his domains, and the upshot of it all was that another war commenced in which Takauji and his brother, who had now been declared rebels against the Throne, were opposed by Nitta Yoshi­ sada and Kusunoki Masashige, who remained loyal to Go-Daigo. After some vicissitudes, this was settled by a battle at Minatogawa near Kobe, where Masashige was defeated and committed suicide. Takauji entered Kyoto in triumph. The Emperor surrendered and was imprisoned by the Ashikaga, but a couple of months later he escaped to the mountains of Yoshino and set up a rival Court there, supported by Nitta Yoshisada and Kusunoki Masatsura, son of Masa­ shige. Takauji enthroned another Prince as the Emperor Kom yo1 in Kyoto, and a struggle began, known as that of the Northern and Southern Courts, which went on for fifty-five years from 1337 to 1392. Go-Daigo was really the legitimate Sovereign, since he pre­ served the Three Sacred Treasures, for those he handed over at the bidding of Takauji were counterfeits. The partisans of Go-Daigo carried on the war very gallantly, and one young leader, Kitabatake Akiie, a loyalist who ranks with Nitta Yoshisada and Kusunoki Masatsura, took Kam akura and came near to seizing Kyoto also, but was defeated and killed by Ko-no-Moronao, Takauji’s great 1 Go-Daigo ruled without any Regent and made his eldest son, Prince Morinaga, Shogun to lead his armies. In Kyoto, on the contrary, it was the Shogun who made the Emperor.

A Short History of Japan

120

general. But Yoshisada was killed the same year and Go-Daigo died the next (1339). H e is said to have died with a sword in his right hand and the Lotus Sutra in his left. In 1348 Masatsura committed suicide with fifty of his men when all were wounded and no hope was left. Then the Court of Yoshino was burnt by Ko-no-Moronao, though the Emperor Go-Murakami escaped. Ashikaga Takauji wished to follow the example of Yoritomo and make his capital in Kamakura, but this was quite impossible, CONSTITUTION OF THE A3H1KACA MILITARY GOVERNMENT (MUROMACHI BAKUFU )

Administration

(ManAoKcro)

Lord. Steward (SAifsuji)

•Administrator of the /Council Capital {Hyojosb.ll) {Kyoto -Kar.ryo) (HosoRawa, Shiba, Judiciary HataKeyaraa ) (MancHujo) War Department \ (Ssnurai-doAoro)

Commissioners

(Bugijo)

ChiefLord Steward

VKYOTO

{3 h .ilsu .Ji)

Inteniant (Shoshi)

Peputy-InUndant {Soosbidai)

(Varnana, Issh ih i, Kyo^oKu Ahamatsu)

SHOGUN I

Adm inistrator o f

\ \

(Council

the Eastern Provinces Secretariat { K in io K in r y o )

VJu d ic ia r y

I Administration \U)ar Department

L i eutenant-Governor of Kyushu Li eutenanl-Go vernor o f Deioa Lieutenant-Governor o f Mutsu Warden Deputy Warden. Land Steward Deputy Land Steward

J

1KAMAKURA

Imperial Sojourn in the South (1336-92)

12 1

since strategic reasons made it necessary for him to hold Kyoto. So he installed a son at Kam akura as Kwanryo or Governor. His head­ quarters at Kyoto were in the district of the city called Muromachi, so the period of the Shogunate of his house is called the Muromachi era. H e promulgated a code of law, on the basis of the Joei code of the Hojo, called the Kem m u Shikimoku, which enjoined economy and etiquette, forbade drinking parties and bribery, and was in favour of rewarding only those of high principle. But the Muromachi era was not a period of strong government like the Hojo, for the division of authority between Kyoto and Kam a­ kura made for weakness, and the Ashikaga Shoguns never managed to control all the great nobles, so that they were never secure. More­ over, since they made Kyoto their capital, they were influenced by the aesthetic and luxurious spirit that prevailed there, and their age is more noted for its development of the arts than for good admini­ stration. W hile Kitabatake Chikafusa, the great southern leader, lived, the Southern Court continued to menace Kyoto, but when he died in 1354 it sensibly weakened, and in 1392 the two were at last reconciled by the abdication of the Southern Emperor, GoKameyama, in favour of the Northern, Go-Komatsu.

CHAPTER M U R O M A C H I

19 P E R IO D

(13 9 3 -15 6 9 )

AUTO CRATIC R U LE OF T H E SH O G U N A TE: 1393-1441 B y this time the third Ashikaga Shogun, Yoshimitsu, had succeeded. He was a famous art patron and aesthete, and no extravagance was too great for him. In 1395 he abdicated and his son became Shogun, while he devoted himself to literature and art. H e built for himself first a beautiful park and mansion at Muromachi, which was called the Palace of Flowers, and when he retired he built another, the Kinkakuji or Golden Pavilion, which still survives, and another palace adjoining, which he filled with rare works of art, and which con­ temporary opinion declared to be not second to Paradise. But he is regarded as far from a model of patriotism; for he was so fond of China, from which he obtained his works of art and Zen philosophy, that he went so far as to describe himself as “ subject of M ing” , and allowed the Chinese Emperor to style him K in g of Japan. H e made costly presents to the Chinese Sovereign which were naturally described as tribute. D EC LIN E OF T H E PRESTIG E OF T H E SH O G U N A TE: 1441-67 A ll this time internal strife went on, and after Yoshimitsu’s death in 1408 it became even worse, so that the Shogun Yoshinori was murdered in 1441, while the Kam akura branch had been suppressed and had all committed suicide just before. Then in 1443 Yoshimasa, another aesthete, succeeded. He was quite indifferent to the troubled condition of the land and laid out gardens, arranged flowers, attended N o recitals, and studied the Tea Ceremonial while the whole Empire was in confusion. A ll he cared about was getting in the taxes, for he spent immense sums on his amusements, and at one time was so hard up that he had to borrow money on his armour, perhaps the

* Muromachi Period (1393-1569)

123

thing he used least. His particular Palace of Flowers is related to have cost about ^4,500 sterling, and two doors of another he built for his mother cost £ 150,000. H e was at least a filial son. H e was the contemporary of Lorenzo di Medici, whom he much resembled. The Court officials and samurai were driven wholesale to the pawn­ shop by his extravagant entertainments, for they could not go with­ out gay robes, and naturally these pawnshops were more and more heavily taxed themselves. Yoshimitsu had made them pay at each of the four seasons, but Yoshimasa many times in one month. The farmers also were so heavily burdened with taxes that they found begging more profitable than agriculture, and no doubt less arduous. Moreover Kyoto was ravaged by plague and famine at this period, and the people died and lay unburied. The Emperor seems to have sent to the Shogun a verse of protest, and for a moment he perhaps considered his ways, but not for long, for he is soon after found building for one of his favourite retainers such a bath-house as had never been known before in the Empire. T o do it honour those invited to use it had to come in wonderful costumes, for the Shogun expected them all to do their duty in living up to his creations—■ a different kind of loyalty from that which the Hojo had inculcated, and which must have troubled the spirits of the Recluse of Saimyoji and his economical mother. In 1474 he built the Ginkakuji or Silver Pavilion in imitation of that of Yoshimitsu. In the district of Higashiyama or the Eastern Hills, he built a temple, the Jishoji, whither he would retire to attain enlightenment, and there spent his time in collecting, collating and examining works of art of China and his own country, so that the name Higashiyama was applied to him and his collections. H e here brought to perfection the Cha-no-yu or Tea Ceremony, which has since then remained the canon of aestheticism, of which its devotees the great Tea-masters are the arbiters. So much money did he require that he was driven to borrow from the Ming Emperor of China three times, and got from this source about a quarter of a million sterling. In order to understand this Japanese Renaissance of the days of Yoshimitsu and Yoshimasa, one must consider what had been hap­ pening in China during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, for it was a new stimulus from that country that was behind this move­ ment in Japan. In the middle of the twelfth century the southern Sung capital of Hangchow to which the Chinese rulers retired owing

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to the pressure of the K in Tartars who preceded the Mongols of the Yuan dynasty, was the seat of a civilization almost as brilliant as that of the T ’angs, but not so politically powerful. In pictorial art it was more outstanding, perhaps, than it was in literature. Hangchow is a kind of Chinese Venice, and on the hills round the Western Lake there were the villas of artists and philosophers who spent their afternoons at least in existing beautifully. The Emperor H ui Tsung (succeeded noo) was himself an enthusiastic painter, and there lived also the great masters, M a Yuan (Ba-en), L i Lu n g Mien (Ri-ryom in), Muh-ki (M okkei), K uo H si (K ak k i), and H si Kuei (Kakei), this last well known for his essay on painting, called High Taste of

Forest and Mountain. Fenellosa says of it: If we could get a concrete picture of the seething, the individualistic, the idealistically poetic China of this day, say from 1060 to 1126, less than the normal life of a man, we should witness the greatest illumina­ tion of the whole East, the whole Asiatic world, with two exceptions, the culminating of T ’ang under Huan Tsung at Sinanfu in 713-55 and the eclaircissement of Southern Sung at Hangchow, 1172-1x86. The first, of T ’ang, was on an international scale, since T ’ang was in close relation with half of Asia. The second, of Northern Sung, was relatively contracted and the most purely Chinese, the eclecticism of all the vital infusions of local Chinese spirit. The third was peculiarly Southern Chinese, and still more contracted in scope, the whole north half of China being held by hostile Tartars. It is the reign of the fourth Hangchow Emperor, Ning Tsung (1187-1225), that is con­ sidered the very centre of Sung genius and illumination. And this illumination took the form of landscape worship and painting under the influence of the Zen philosophy. Never in the world, before or since, and nowhere but in Hangchow, has there been an epoch of illumination, in which landscape art could give vent to a great people’s passion, intellect and genius. What Christian emotion was to the early Italian cinquecento, what Buddhist emotion was to the over-cultured Fujiwara at Kyoto, that now landscape emotion became for the Chinese of Hangchow.. . . Every Zen monk and abbot of Southern Sung becomes a landscape painter, or introduces figures that seem to melt down into the very substance of the landscape. It was the spirit of this era that the Japanese of Ashikaga studied, absorbed, and made their own, and added to the way of life they had already developed. Those two most characteristic Japanese arts, the

Muromachi Period (1393-1569)

125

No and the Tea Ceremony, are the products of the Ashikaga period, and they have remained since that time an artistic standard by which the nation has regulated much of its aesthetic life. Neither of these things is taken from China, for that country does not possess them. The Sungs drank tea, but never elaborated its drinking to such a significant sacrament as did the Japanese of Ashikaga and the six­ teenth century. The N o is not Chinese at all, though some of the dramas deal with Chinese historical subjects. The painting, how­ ever, was Chinese, and the Japanese artists Josetsu (Chinese?), Shubun (c. 1375), So-ami, No-ami, and Gei-ami, were the mediums of the introduction to Japan of the works of the great Sung masters of landscape. It is natural that they should be appreciated, for the Japanese are as enthusiastic lovers of landscape as are the Chinese. And their own landscapes are as beautiful. Sesshu, pupil of Shubun, considered the greatest of Japanese artists, went to China in the days of Ashikaga Yoshimasa in 1463, and was quite the equal of the great Chinese masters. He was, like most of the others, a Zen priest. A s to the N o drama, it seems to have been first put in order in the days of Yoshimitsu. It is compounded of the Dengaku that the last Kam akura Shikken was so fond of, with a libretto taken from the Heike Biw a or Heroic Ballads chanted by blind minstrels. The stage is practically the same as the old Kagura stage used for the dances before the Shinto shrines, which are said to have their origin in that of the Heavenly Alarm ing Female before the cave in which the Sun Goddess had hidden herself. There is no scenery, but only a pine-tree painted as a background. The dramas are of conventional construction, and nearly always introduced by a wandering priest who in his pilgrimage sees something that suggests an ancient and heroic story. He inquires about this and is asked to pray for the enlightenment of the chief person in the drama. The ghost of this person appears to him and relates his deeds in the flesh, usually con­ cluding with a declaration of the impermanence of this fleeting world, a doctrine which those plays were largely intended to teach. They owe their strong attraction also to their local appeal, for they abound in beautiful descriptions of famous scenes, embellished with quota­ tions from the Japanese and Chinese poets which are most skilfully interwoven into the text, at times with the aid of pivot words and sentences that suggest a double meaning. There are only three or four actors, at most. There is a chorus of

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chanters and an orchestra of a flute, a big drum and two tzuzumi. The actors wear masks, which greatly resemble those that were in use on the Greek stage. In fact the resemblance between the two has struck most who have seen the No, though it is hardly likely there is any connection, the similarity being most probably due to both having their origin in the same thing—the religious dance. The No is still to be seen unchanged, for no new ones have been composed since the sixteenth century, and the five families who originated it in the Ashikaga era still carry it on. These are Kwanze, Hosho, Kongo, Komparu and Kita. It is an aristocratic drama not much understood or appreciated by the common people, but confined to the nobility and the military class in former days and to the upper and professional classes today. Very seldom indeed were N o dramas played in public. They were normally given on the private stages in the Shogun’s palace or in the mansions of the great nobles. There exist about two hundred and thirty-five N o plays, and it is the custom to give several at a sitting, for they are quite short, having a length of only a few pages, and being performed in less than an hour. In order to relieve the strain of attention to such classical works a Kyogen or Comic Interlude is introduced between the N o perform­ ances. These are equally short and are often parodies of the N o pieces themselves, or else episodes that hold up to ridicule various sections of society, such as daimyos, priests, farmers, local officials, blind people, simpletons, drunkards, etc. In fact these farces are the only productions of this medieval period in which the ordinary people appear at all, the others being devoted entirely to the doings of the Court, military aristocrats, and ecclesiastics. They are per­ formed by special actors, for the N o actor does not deign to play anything but his own dramas. As they are in the colloquial language of the Ashikaga period they are rather interesting philologically. O f the Tea Ceremony—or Teaism as it is called by one Japanese authority—it is not so easy to give a concise explanation for this is a subject that needs a good deal of study to apprehend it in all its bearings. It is a cult of elegant simplicity, economy and quietism. It began no doubt by Zen priests drinking tea to assist their medita­ tions and keep them awake, and there is a legend that ascribes the origin of the tea plant to the eyelids of Daruma which he cut off so as not to fall asleep. So the Zen priests would gather before a picture of Daruma and drink tea as a sort of sacrament. And it has con-

Muromachi Period (1393-1569)

I *

|’

tinued to be a secular and non-alcoholic sacrament through which its devotees can retire from the dust of the ordinary world and con­ template abstract beauty and calm. Tea had been imported by Dengyo Daishi and Kobo Daishi in the eighth and ninth centuries but does not seem to have become popular till Ashikaga days when the priest Shuko of the Shomyoji drew up the rules for the ceremonial of drinking it under the direction of Yoshimasa in 1443. Then was introduced the custom of using powder tea, which is de rigueur in the Tea Ceremony. This was done by the T ’angs and Sungs, for the drinking of steeped tea came in later with the M ing dynasty, and it is this habit that has spread all over the world, while the use of powder tea is confined to Japan, which thus preserves the Sung tradition. The tea-bowl of celadon or dark pottery with little if any decoration is also of Sung. This tea was first drunk ceremonially in a part of an ordinary room screened off (Kakoi) for the purpose, but before long a special room or hut of four and a half mats or nine feet square was built, the size being taken from the cell of Vimalakirtti in which that sage is said to have miracu­ lously received Manjusri the Buddha of wisdom and eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas each sitting on his lotus throne. The earliest surviving specimen of this type of tea-room is that of Yoshimasa in the building called the Tokyudo, constructed to the design of the Tea-master Murata Shuko in the garden of the Ginkakuji. T H E W ARS OF ONIN AN D BUMMEI:

1

127

1467-91

The age of Yoshimasa may have been a paradise for artists and men of taste but it was a hell for administrators and the people generally, says the Nihon Ko\uminshi. And the wars of Onin and Bummei which began in his days were the beginning of the disturbances that brought about the fall of the Ashikaga Shogunate after reducing it to impotence. They are called after the year periods in which they took place. They actually arose from a quarrel about the succession in the house of Hatakeyama, which with that of Hosokawa and Shiba had the right to provide the Kwanryo or Premier of the Shogun in Kyoto. These three families had a series of quarrels, just as also had the Shogun’s family, which was notorious for its want of unity from the first. Takauji had fallen out with his brother Tadayoshi and since

12 8

A Short History of Japan

then there had been many a brawl and murder among the different branches. One fought his father and brother, another murdered his brother, and yet another had his father and his son assassinated. And this quarrel soon spread from the minister’s house to the Sho­ gun’s. Ashikaga Yoshimasa had no son, so he brought out his brother Yoshimi from the monastery where he was leading a quiet and elegant life and set him up as his heir. N o sooner had he done this than his wife had a son. H e had attached Hosokawa Katsumoto to his brother as Lord Steward, and the son,1 who afterwards became the Shogun Yoshihisa, was put in the charge of Yamana Sosen, another great lord. Though Yamana was Hosokawa’s father-in-law they were on very bad terms, owing, curiously enough, to precisely the same complication in the Yamana as had occurred in the Sho­ gun’s family. Then Hosokawa interfered in yet another succession quarrel in the house of Hatakeyama and Yamana immediately took the other side. So in the first month of the same year of Onin the pair started to fight and almost immediately the Shogun and his brother were also involved, one on each side. The war spread all over the country wherever these combatants had manors, and that was nearly every­ where, and continued for almost eleven years. In the seventh year of it both the old Yamana and Hosokawa died, but even that did not bring it to an end, and when eventually the combatants did agree to make peace neither side had gained any advantage. But the city of Kyoto was destroyed with all its palaces and temples and beautiful mansions and gardens. The Emperor fled to the man­ sion of the Shogun and died there, while the Court nobles sought refuge with local magnates at a convenient distance. Nearly ten more years passed before the palace could be rebuilt and the Emperor return to it. The Gempei wars have sometimes been compared to those of the Roses, in England, but in its result this Onin strife was more similar, for it almost completely destroyed all the old noble houses and left the ground clear for the rise of an entirely new group. D uring the century that followed this outbreak there was no order in the land at all. So it is called the “ age of the struggle of the Feudal 1 Rumour had it that he was not the son of Yoshimasa at all but of the Emperor, for his wife had recently stayed in the Palace.

Toyotomi Taiko Hideyoshi.

Takcda Shingen.

Muromachi Period (1393-1569)

12 9

lords” . There was no central government whatever, but only chaos. As it was a period of the survival of the fittest, most of the great lords, who had been enervated and deprived of military qualities by the artificiality and ceremonial elegance of the Shogun’s Court and association with the Court nobles, were overthrown by the tougher of their retainers or by one of the newly-risen bandit chiefs. Even when their name still continued, as with Uesugi and Hojo, it was only an adventurer keeping on the old signboard. And of all the great lords of this age only Ouchi of Suo, Satake of Hitachi, Imagawa of Suruga, Takeda of K ai and Shimazu of Satsuma, with a few lesser names, survived. It will be noted that their domains were mostly on the mountains or far away from the capital. And of these only Satake and Shimazu remained as feudal lords through the Tokugawa period and down to the Restoration of Meiji. Great indeed is the gap between what may be called the pre-Xavier period of Japan and what came to pass afterward. It is not unnaturally called also the “ age of the overthrow of the higher by the lower” . For the Imperial family no age was as unfortunate as this. In this century of violence the Throne was put aside and forgotten. Even when Ashikaga Takauji set up the Northern Court in Kyoto, people said: “ This Jimyoin2 is a lucky fellow. He gets the title of Emperor from the Shogun without fighting a single batde.” A nd another military magnate went so far as to shoot an arrow at the palanquin of the Retired Emperor in annoyance at being told by the outriders to dismount. The first Shogun had made war on the legitimate line, and the third, Yoshimitsu, the strongest of all, had behaved himself arro­ gantly and forced the title of Dajodaijin from the Throne as well as allowing himself to be addressed as K ing of Japan by the Chinese Emperor. N ow , after these wars the Imperial estates were seized or laid waste and there was little or no income for the palace. There was no money for the obsequies of Go-Tsuchi-Mikado or for the accession of ceremony of Go-Kashiwabara. This could not take place for twenty years, when a gift from the Hongwanji monks made it possible. When Go-Kashiwabara died the Shogun gave money for his funeral, but there was not enough to provide for the accession of Go-Nara. For this various military chiefs had to make a 2 The descendants of the Emperor Go-Fukakusa were known as Jimyoin as those of Kameyama were as Daikakuji. K

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collection. And it was Go-Nara Tenno who was reduced to selling his autographs; while people sold tea at the very portals of the Great Hall of Audience. The ministers were no better off, for a bag used to be taken round the city, or what was left of it, for contributions of rice called Kampaku-ryo or “ Prime Minister’s pence” . A phenomenon of this period was the rise to power of the Ikko or Monto sect of Buddhism. This was another name for that Shinshu sect that Shinran Shonin had started in the Kam akura era. These Am ida sects with their easy salvation appealed to the ordinary people as the older ones had not done. Tendai and Shingon were most appreciated by courtiers and educated people, and Zen by the military. But the Hongwanji monks, as they were called from the name of their chief temples, had their establishments in cities rather than on the hills and out-of-the-way places, and were skilled at propaganda and collecting funds. Very largely through the shrewdness and ability of Rennyo, eighth in descent from the founder Shinran, they obtained very strong positions and influence in the capital and several of the provinces, including the whole of the province of Kaga, where after a fight the Monto monks overthrew the feudal lord and took the province themselves. It was Rennyo who got the site for the monastery of Ishiyama, afterwards Osaka Castle, one of the finest strategic positions in the country. H e also composed the book in the colloquial language that serves as a sort of Bible for this sect, as the Lotus Sutra does for the Nichiren. For religious pugnacity the vast bulk of the Buddhist scriptures is unsuited. Rennyo travelled incessantly over the country to make propaganda and organize. H e lived to be eightyfive and had twenty-nine children. Few can have had a busier life, and as he was honoured by a posthumous title in 1882 he is evidently still highly appreciated. In another direction the Tendai soldier monks were as trouble­ some as ever in their monastery town of Hieizan that commanded the road to the capital, and the Shingon sect had a similar establish­ ment at Negoro in K ii that was a power to be reckoned with.

P art V I

Later Period of M ilitary Rule Go-Tsuchi-M ikado—K om ei

(1491-1853)

CHAPTER S T R U G G L E

OF

T H E

20 F E U D A L

LO RD S

(1491-1569) One result of these chaotic conditions when robbers were abroad everywhere and even the sacred Naijidokoro, the shrine in the Palace where the Imperial regalia was kept, was broken into, was the rise of such provincial cities as Odawara and Yamaguchi, the capitals of Hojo and Ouchi. Odawara had taken the place of Kam akura after the fall of the Ashikaga governors there at the hands of their vassals the Uesugi. These Hojo were no connection of the Hojo Regents, but had sprung from a successful soldier named Ise Shinkuro who took the name of Hojo because of its prestige. They were lords of the Eastern Provinces and had an income of a million and a half \o\u. Their capital was a splendid city, an impregnable stronghold and a prosperous and luxurious centre of trade as well as of government to which all the artisans and merchants of that part of the country flocked. In its more than two miles of streets every known article of commerce could be bought, Japanese and foreign alike. And just such another centre was Yamaguchi in Suo, but even wealthier, for its lord Ouchi had, from his commanding position at the entrance of the Inland Sea, almost a monopoly of the trade with Korea and China. The Inland Sea was the chief means of communi­ cation in these days, and the route from China was by Hakata in Kyushu, Akamagaseki (Shimonoseki), Yamaguchi, Onomichi, Murotsu, Hyogo and Sakai. Nagasaki, a European creation, had not yet arisen. Ouchi’s Court was very elegant and luxurious; consequently several Court nobles had taken refuge there, increasing its resemblance to the Imperial capital, the culture of which these local lords preserved

J 34

A Short History of Japan

in this age of war when neither gods nor Emperor were of any avail except when supported by superior might. The free city of Sakai was the single exception. It had its origin in the fair at the shrine of Sumiyoshi near by, and was a fishing harbour which, owing to its position as the convenient import and export outlet of all the provinces round the capital, had grown into the busiest port on the Inland Sea. Ouchi had previously possessed it and it had outstripped Hyogo near the modern Kobe early in the fifteenth century. It, too, preserved much of the elegance and literary activity that, for the time, had departed from the Imperial capital. Many scholarly works were published there and the crafts of dyeing, lacquer, and brewing made it famous, while its aesthetes and their wealthy patrons the merchant venturers were as outstanding. Sakai was ruled by an elected board of ten merchants and thirty aldermen, and its resources made it easy to hire military men. Its mantle has fallen on its neighbour Osaka, of which it is now a suburb, and which has always been able to avoid domination by the military rulers and has remained the commercial capital of the Empire. Then the Sung philosophy, called that of Teishu, developed through Ouchi’s intercourse with China; for two of the most eminent students of it came from his province and one was his retainer. It was through them that it passed on to Fujiw ara Seigwa and Hayashi Doshun, whose family become the government Confucianists of the Tokugawas, and to Yamasaki Ansai, founder of another branch. Other­ wise this Teishu school was studied only by the monks of the great Zen monasteries called the Five Temples, who contributed so much in other ways to the art of living. The great artist Sesshu was also a native of Ouchi’s province of Nagato. In these days when everyone was fighting somebody and it needed extreme vigilance to keep head and body united, those who survived were of a fearless, cunning, and resourceful type. They were experi­ enced leaders supported by capable and tried officers and men; for the effete older lords and their retainers were overthrown, and the new ones chose their followers for their ability, just as a good soldier would give his services, for a suitable income, to the best general he could find. These lords, great and small, lived with their men round them in fortified places—not castles of the type now familiar, for these did not arise till the time of Nobunaga, but hills or strategic

Struggle of the Feudal Lords (1491-1569)

13 5

points defended by moat and mound and palisade. The soldiers had begun already to adopt mass tactics and orderly drill instead of the single combats and charges of the Kam akura era. Also the way of living had altered considerably in the Muromachi period and these feudal lords, though tigers on the battlefield, were cats in their neat­ ness and elegance at home. There is very little difference indeed between a Japanese house of the better sort today and one of the late Ashikaga period: it had the sliding shoji with amado or rain-doors outside them and the floors completely covered with mats, the to\onoma and the chigai-dana, none of which the Kam akura age had known, for in those days mats were used only for the seat of a great personage, and instead of the sliding shoji were the heavy push-up gratings still seen in Shinto shrines. Food, too, was much the same, except that people had only two meals a day as a rule, and dress was of hemp except for the cere­ monial robes of the great. The peasant lived in a house of mud and thatch, simple to say the least of it, but if he could fight he could become a soldier—for the time of the closed caste of samurai was not yet—and might hope for a career, which he often attained. There were, naturally, plenty of professional warriors or Bushi whose busi­ ness was hereditary and there were also Goshi or country samurai who tilled their land as well as fought. A ll fought for a living, to keep what they had and add to it if possible. Death was the business of these Bushi, but when they had time they liked to arrange flowers, drink tea as well as sake, admire the view and make some poems. Toward the middle of the sixteenth century there were a number of great lords who divided the country between them and were quite independent in their own territories which they administered accord­ ing to their house regulations. Most of them were new men, for pedigree had ceased to count, but beginning from the extreme west Shimazu of Satsuma was the direct descendant of a manorial warden of Yoritomo, while his neighbour Otomo was, equally ancient but not as strong. In Shikoku, opposite, was Chosokabe, still Warden of Tosa, which yet harboured the Court noble Ichijo, its original governor. On the mainland in Suo, Ouchi had been assassinated by his vassal as was the way of the time, and this vassal had in his turn been overthrown by Mori Motonari who began life as a very small vassal

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and ended as the greatest lord in the west with more than ten pro­ vinces. “Like all the feudal lords of this period, he was quite devoid of ideals, though like many of them he had plenty of common sense” is Tokutomi’s summing up of him, and he was a very good specimen. Round the capital were Asai of Omi and Asakura of Echizen, both vassals who had dispossessed their former lords. In Mino was one Saito Dosa, who with Matsunaga Hisahide, Governor of Kyoto, was about the last word in villainy—except perhaps for Ukita Naoie who lay between Mori and Kyoto in Bizen, and of whom the above authority remarks: “ H e was as crafty as the devil, more like some small Italian noble of the Middle Ages than a Japanese Bushi of this one. If what is recorded of him is true he was nothing but a lump of iniquity.” A ll these three, it is unneces­ sary to say, had won their power by the assassination and overthrow of their superiors and near relatives in very unpleasant circumstances. Next to Saito in Owari was born the greatest man of his day, Oda Nobunaga. H is father Nobuhide was a vassal who had taken the place of his lord Shiba. H e was said to descend from Taira Shigemori whose grandson had fled to this province after the fall of his house and become a ritualist of the Oda shrine from which he had taken his name. His descendants fought their way up as usual, and had become masters of all Owari, but Nobuhide was only one of the lesser branches. Next to him, again in Mikawa, was a house with a somewhat similar history but deriving from Minamoto Yoshiie and Nitta of the Seiwa Genji. This was the Matsudaira clan, then in alliance with its neighbour Imagawa of Suruga, one of the great septs of the Ashikagas from whose family the Shogun might be taken if the main line failed. Imagawa had large revenues and a capable com­ mander for his armies—his uncle who was a Zen monk. West of him were two lords who always go together, Takeda Shingen of K ai and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo. Takeda was of ancient Minamoto stock too, but in these hills it had not deteriorated with age, and personally he was not second to anyone in intelligence, callousness and enterprise. Uesugi was another vassal who had deposed his lord and taken his name. Like Shingen he was learned, but unlike him and everyone else he was celibate and ascetic, except in the matter of drink.

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Farther north was Satake in Hitachi, ancient but never in the first rank of magnates though he held his position, and Date, whose remoteness made it as difficult for him to bring much influence to bear on the centre of affairs as it was for Shimazu at the other end of the Japanese islands. T o be a neighbour in these days was to be an enemy, and to be ever on the alert to get the better of one’s oppo­ nent by any known means, forcible or fraudulent, so that espionage and assassination were commonplace. “ Matsuura’s club in the bath­ room and Takeda’s two doors to the lavatory” give us an idea of the vigilance that was needed, and Mori Motonari’s advice to trust nobody, not even his nearest relation, is equally illuminating. And Motonari had a reputation for being rather straightforward among his contemporaries. As the last Shogun had committed suicide of necessity and his place was now vacant, there were many of these lords who had an ambition to make their way to the capital and re-establish another of the Ashikaga relatives there under their own authority. Those nearest to Kyoto had the best opportunity, but on the whole all feared their neighbours too much to leave their provinces. Eventually in 1560 Imagawa Yoshimoto of Suruga made a move westward with an army of some fifty thousand men, meaning to crush Oda who stood in his way. He was allied by marriage to Takeda and Hojo, though these political marriages were not always a protection, and he held the Matsudaira heir, Motoyasu, a hostage given as a pledge of assistance against Oda. W ith him went also the Matsudaira army, which if not large was tough. Oda Nobunaga was twenty-six and Matsudaira Motoyasu was about nineteen at the time. Imagawa progressed triumphandy and burnt and took two of the Oda frontier forts. His men were resting and preparing for the next move though few of them had fought; for most of the work had been done by the Matsudaira troops, Imagawa’s habit being to spare his own. Oda Nobunaga, who had moved out with some two thou­ sand men, ostensibly took up a position opposite near a place called Oke-hazama, but then with great speed and secrecy transported most of them round to the flank under cover of the hills until he reached an eminence overlooking his foe. Then, taking advantage of a heavy rainstorm, he made a sudden fierce attack that resulted in the com-

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plete defeat and rout of the Imagawa army and the death in the battle of Yoshimoto. Following this decisive battle an envoy was sent to Nobunaga from the Emperor suggesting that he come up and “ tranquillize” the capital. Meanwhile he had married the daughter of his neighbour Saito of Mino, to neutralize him, but before long picked a quarrel and after some difficulty took Mino. Matsudaira Motoyasu was not slow to make an alliance with Nobunaga, though the clans had long been enemies; but “ the enemy of yesterday is the ally of today” , and Motoyasu, afterwards better known as Tokugawa Ieyasu, was nothing if not perspicacious. He was also a faithful ally and stood by Nobunaga all his life to guard his rear during all his many brilliant but often very trying exploits. This was a phenomenon unknown since the Kam akura age, over two hundred and fifty years before, which again is very revealing of the Muromachi. Nobunaga established himself at G ifu and built a stronghold there. Another marriage agreement with Asai, who married his sister, and yet another with Takeda made it possible for him to move on the capital in 1569, and set Ashikaga Yoshiaki up as Shogun there. Previous to this Kyoto had been in the hands of Miyoshi Chokei since 1550, and he, as usual, fell a victim to his vassal Matsunaga Hisahide, who put his son to death and then took his place, when he died soon after, as governor of the capital. Matsunaga was the son of a merchant, extremely clever, unscrupulous, treacherous and oppressive, even for those days. H e had brought about the death of the former Shogun Yoshiteru and put in his place Yoshihide, a child of three. When Nobunaga entered Kyoto the two retired and the small boy died soon afterwards, not without assistance from Mat­ sunaga, according to the prevailing rumour. Yoshiaki, whom Nobu­ naga made Shogun, was the brother of the late Yoshiteru. The next year however, Matsunaga and the son of Miyoshi made an attempt to get back again but were defeated, and Nobunaga built a mansion for the Shogun and repaired the Imperial palace. From this year, 1569, begins the Oda period. Also in December of this year Matsu­ daira Ieyasu changed his name to Tokugawa, this having been the surname of his ancestor Minamoto Yoshisue, taken from the place in which he lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century. This surname he kept for the main house and the chief branches from

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which the heir might be taken (Sanke and Sankyo), while the others continued to use that of Matsudaira.1

1 Family crests seem to have come into use in the twelfth century, and they were like surnames, confined to the military class and courtiers. They are usually con­ ventionalized flowers, plants and simple objects like fans or ladles, and animals and birds of the predatory kind are conspicuous by their absence. The Japanese samurai was more likely to have a turnip for his crest than a lion. Surnames are with very few exceptions place-names, and only those of the Court nobility are distinctive. They are the names of the streets in Kyoto in which they lived. Surnames are, of course, changed when the individual is adopted by marriage or otherwise into another family. Given names as often as not denoted the number in the family like the Roman Tertius, Septimus and so on. Children were given child’s names until they became adult at about fifteen, as for instance Minamoto Yoshitsune who was called Ushiwaka Maru in his youth, and Tokugawa Ieyasu who began life as Takechiyo. Adult names of samurai are those of desirable qualities as Yoshitsune, fortune and constancy; Yorinobu, reliability and faithfulness; Mitsumasa, brilliance and honesty, very much like those of the Anglo-Saxons. Shopkeepers were known by their trade mark and ordinary people by their one name as elsewhere. At Meiji all had to take a surname, but it is significant that nobody is allowed more than one given name, to the great saving of ink and time. Hyphenated snobbery is therefore impossible. All names are purely Japanese and none are names of saints or religious personages or rulers or great men. The use of these would seem to be cither absurd or bad taste or both.

CHAPTER O D A

21

P E R IO D

(1569-82) T he Oda period is regarded as the beginning of the modern epoch of Japanese history because Nobunaga was the real pioneer of the movement that has led to the united Empire of Japan under the restored rule of the Imperial house, though it took almost three hundred years to bring it about. Also because the Portuguese, the first Europeans to make their appearance in the Far East, arrived in the domains of Shimazu of Satsuma somewhere about the year 1542; the year in which Tokugawa Ieyasu was born, and when Nobunaga was eight years old. The Portuguese pushed out from their base at Goa in Bombay; Albuquerque seized Malacca in 1 5 1 1 ; and Andrada was at Canton by 1517. As the result of the Papal Bull granting to Prince Henry the Navigator all territories east of Cape N un, afterwards confirmed by succeeding Popes, Portugal had a monopoly of exploitation in these parts and was working hard to extend Catholic and European influence and also to find an E l Dorado. A ll that was known of Japan was from Marco Polo’s description which was mere hearsay, possibly inspired by reminiscences of the gold lacquer of Fujiwara mansions. But its remoteness gave it the reputation as an isle of gold that led Columbus to try to reach it. What he did reach had certainly more gold and other wealth and a more ingenuous and peaceful people with a convenient superstition of white gods that was no small help to Cortes and Pizarro. If the Portuguese thought these exploits could be repeated in Japan they were entirely mistaken. For the culture of Japan was at least as high as anything in Europe and her fighting capacity was perhaps even higher. Only one thing was lacking and that was firearms. And this need the Portuguese kindly supplied. It was a quarter of

and then they were carried there while on their way to Ningpo. The land they struck was the island of Tanegashima, about thirtyfive miles off Osumi in Kyushu. Its ruler, Tanegashima Tokitada, quick to see the possibilities of the interesting “ iron pipes” with their fire-drug, immediately bought two of them, and got some of his men taught to use them and also how to make them. Craftsmen in metal as skilled as they were would not find any difficulty there, though apparently they were for a time unable to “ close the end” properly. However, this was accomplished by one of them giving his daughter to a Portuguese gunsmith, according to the local annals. There are also stories that firearms were not quite unknown, since one or two specimens had been imported from China many years before this. Anyhow it was not long before they were manufactured elsewhere and it is significant that the first inquirers after them were said to be a merchant of Sakai, the free city, and a monk of the Hongwanji; while the first user of them in battle was Takeda Shingen in 1555, at the third of the five battles which he fought, all of them inconclusively, with Uesugi Kenshin. He is said to have had three hundred matchlocks. Mendez Pinto, who claims to be one of these first Portuguese in Japan, says that six hundred were made within a year. The effect of these matchlocks was to assist the tendencies that were making for a centralized government. For only great and wealthy lords could afford the money to buy them and to pay the salary of the trained men who used them, for they required a differ­ ent technique from that of the bow, from time immemorial the weapon of the samurai, whose commonest synonym was “ archer” . Thus the smaller lords were quickly overcome and the territories of the greater were extended. Nobunaga was one of the first to equip a large proportion of his infantry with matchlocks, which decided more than one of his big battles. Nobunaga was an autocrat of the Kiyomori type, but an even more perfect specimen. Completely without fear of anything natural or supernatural, he cared nothing for the views or feelings of anyone in the land. From his earliest days he had been wayward and contemptuous of any convention. He dressed oddly and deport­ ed himself as he liked without any regard for his own rank or any­ body else’s. H is tutor, Hirade Masahide, remonstrated with him in

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vain and then committed suicide to emphasize his protests. Nobunaga was not unimpressed, but could hardly change the nature that coloured his actions all through his life, and finally brought about his untimely and violent death, for he was the only Japanese despot to be assassinated. A ll the others died in their beds. His casual eccentricities led his relations and others to underrate his capacity in his youth, but when his father died and he “ subdued” his elder brother, and slew his younger, attacked and killed a relative of the main branch of his house and seized the whole province of Owari of which his father had held but a part, it was realized that he had a bright future. That he shut up a lot of Buddhist priests in a temple and had them all shot because they had prophesied that his father would get well showed what he thought of the spiritual profession. W ith complete self-reliance and a genius for military strategy and a gift for choosing and using the best subordinates, he was able to triumph over many formidable rivals even in very difficult circum­ stances, for at first he was faced by a ring of foes. Though he had got to the capital and put it into something like order, there was only a precarious corridor communicating with his province, and this was menaced by the Hieizan and Hongwanji monks and the lords of the north and east. Fortunately Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, the most formidable, were occupied with their five battles of Kawa-nakashima and so were prevented from troubling him for a time. So he struck out at the nearest trouble-makers, Asakura of Echizen and Asai of Omi. A s the latter was his brother-in-law he ventured to march past him to attack the former, accompanied by Ieyasu, but Asai rose behind him and only by very adroit and rapid manoeuvres did he extricate himself. However in 1570 he met and defeated the allied forces of these two on the Anegawa by Lake Biwa, with the assistance of Ieyasu’s experienced troops and fine co-operation. Asai and Asakura had been allied with the monks of Hieizan and to these Nobunaga now turned his attention. Neither their Imperial connections nor the superstitious respect with which their long history and combined Shinto and Buddhist hierarchy were regarded had any effect on Nobunaga. He surrounded their great temples and three thousand halls, and burnt and massacred till noth­ ing remained. It was a thing that no one else would have dared to do.

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14 3

Meanwhile Ieyasu had obtained the province of Totomi by allying with Takeda Shingen and attacking Imagawa Ujizane, heir to Yoshimoto. Shingen took Suruga, his object being to overthrow Ieyasu afterwards and get both provinces; but there he miscalculated. Ieyasu then moved and built a castle at Hamamatsu, which he made his capital. Meanwhile Nobunaga had fallen out with Shogun Yoshiaki, who no doubt found his position difficult with such a self-willed protector, and sent him a letter of seventeen articles objecting to that number of actions on his part, principally his intriguing with Shingen and the monks of Hieizan and elsewhere to upset him. This led to his deposition of the Shogun who, however, still continued to intrigue because that was his nature. The Hongwanji monks had also started hostilities with him by attacking a force he had at Tennoji and endangering this outpost. Nobunaga at once sprang on a horse in his bath-robe when he heard of it and led a force of about three thousand against their twenty-five thousand. Not only did he break through and relieve Tennoji, but at once followed it up and sallied out with the garrison there and inflicted another bad defeat, taking more than two thousand heads. H e made a number of strongposts round their fortress of Ishiyama and setded down to blockade them. But the position was one of the greatest strength and held out against him for five years. It was because the monks made an alliance with Mori who now became hostile to Nobunaga, fearing further penetration in his direction when he showed an inclination to move toward the west, that Nobunaga built a navy to prevent communication between the two by blockading Osaka Bay. There must have been plenty of ships before his time built by the pirates of the Inland Sea, who carried on their depredations against the China and Korean coasts during the Ashikaga era, although they preferred to take Chinese vessels; but this may be the first time any large ones were built, and in that case Nobunaga may be regarded as in some sort the precursor of Japanese naval activities. H e built six big ships, one of which is described as of 42-foot beam and seventy or eighty feet long. It was an iron ship, so constructed that gunshot could not pierce it. He had a flag-ship called the Nihon Maru, built up at the bow and stern with high castles and plated with iron. He was now made Gon-Dainagon or Vice-Court Councillor by the Emperor and was Vice-Shogun also. Shogun he never became

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because that office can be held only by a Minamoto and he was a Taira. H e now moved westward and started to build a great castle at Azuchi, a promontory projecting into Lake Biw a not far from the present town of Hachiman and commanding the roads to the capital from east, north, and central Japan. And he could get there in a day by taking a boat across the lake. It was convenient also for moving his troops. The castle of Azuchi was the finest yet built, with three wards and a great keep in which were splendidly decorated rooms for residence, standing ninety feet high on a stone base of seventy feet. It was of seven stories and served as a look-out from which Nobunaga could keep watch over the country as well as enjoy the view with his guests, quite apart from its defensive qualities. Another distinction that Nobunaga had was that he was the first Japanese to have a reputation in Europe— a very high one at first when the Jesuit missionaries thought it likely that he might become a convert to their faith, since he showed them considerable favour and gave them land for a college in Azuchi. The first missionary to arrive in Japan was the most distinguished one that the Empire has ever had, Saint Francis Xavier. He reached Satsuma in 1549, not so many years after the new matchlocks had come to the same region. He came in the ship of a Japanese privateer and was accompanied by a certain Anjiro, who had heard of his work in India and wished to meet him because he could obtain no satisfaction for his mind in Buddhism, and who also had killed someone and so found it very convenient to leave Japan just then. H e went to Goa and studied there and so learnt Portuguese and was able to interpret. So at least say the European authorities, for there is no mention of him in any Japanese document. Xavier did not himself stay long in Japan, for he left in 1551 just two years and three months after he arrived, for he had gone to Kyoto to try to present his gospel to the Shogun or the Emperor, but failed com­ pletely, if only because of the disturbed and desolate condition of the land. But the missionaries who soon followed him worked with great assiduity and in Kyushu particularly had no little success, though not necessarily because their doctrine made a very great appeal to the Japanese mind. It was not so much the treasure of the Gospel as that of trade that these feudal lords were seeking, and that in many cases quite obviously. Shimazu, for instance, welcomed missionaries if

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traders came too, but proscribed Christianity when they did not. Even more so was this the case with Matsuura of Hirado who became one of the most enthusiastic traders with Europe, but always found Christianity embarrassing. In Yamaguchi Xavier baptized five thou­ sand people in the days of Ouchi, but when Mori took over this fief converts were no longer encouraged. Mori Motonari was an enthusiast for Japanese religion and left orders in his will that his sons were to say their prayers every morning to the sun. When later on Nobunaga met the learned and distinguished Father Aloysius Froez in 1568, another missionary, Vilela, had already been presented to the Shogun through the family of Takayama Ukon of Takatsuki, perhaps the most faithful of the noble converts. Nobu­ naga liked these Europeans, it seems, because of the curious know­ ledge they possessed and he encouraged them because he thought their work would damage the Buddhist sects whose political ambi­ tions he so much resented. He encouraged their efforts in education and liked to see the youthful nobles learn Latin and foreign music and mathematics, and more particularly to gain any knowledge that would lead to improvement in armaments. H ow far Nobunaga availed himself of information or plans obtained from the mission­ aries to build his castle is not clear, but he was hardly likely to neglect any such opportunities. Another extremely fortunate thing for Nobunaga and also for Ieyasu was the death of Takeda Shingen in 1573. The year before, Shingen had started out to march on the capital and attack Nobunaga, and Ieyasu had come out of his castle of Hamamatsu with only about ten thousand men, including three thousand of Nobunaga’s, to attack him. Shingen was the brother-in-law of Kennyo, the Lord Abbot of the Hongwanji, and had arranged through him that the monks of this sect in Echizen and Kaga should restrain Uesugi Kenshin. Nobu­ naga was negotiating with Kenshin to attack Shingen at the same time, though they were still not at war openly. Ieyasu made a splendid resistance at Mikata-ga-hara just outside Hamamatsu, but his men had the greatest difficulty in retiring safely into their castle, and he himself only narrowly escaped with his life when the captain of the castle, Natsume Jirozaemon, rode out and impersonated him so that he was killed in his stead. But he was not perturbed even then, for he left the gates of Hamamatsu wide open and made a big illu­ mination so that Shingen’s generals feared a trap and would not L

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enter. H e also made a night attack on them with a band of only thirty men and in the end they retired. It was a piece of good fortune for Ieyasu and Nobunaga that Shingen’s death the next year was followed by that of his neighbour Kenshin1 in 1578, and in neither case was the son equal to the father. Nobunaga felt relieved and was able to carry on his campaign in the west against Mori with part of his army, while another part assisted Ieyasu to overthrow Takeda Katsuyori, son of Shingen. This campaign in the west was entrusted to the other great man of this period, Hashiba Hideyoshi, as he was then called. This sur­ name he had himself coined from the second syllable of that of one of his colleagues among Nobunaga’s generals N iw a (spelt N iha) and the first of another, Shibata. Unlike Nobunaga or Ieyasu he came of no noble family but was the son of a peasant, who may have been a foot-soldier in the army of Nobunaga’s father. H e was born in 1536 in Owari and brought up by his stepfather Chikuami, for his father died soon after his birth. There are many stories about his early life, but they seem to be largely fictitious. H e may have been a trouble­ some boy who had some education in a temple, and he may have made friends with the bandit Hachisuka Kdroku and become a page to Matsushita, a feudatory of Imagawa. JU But somewhere about 1555 he seems to have entered the service of Nobunaga and fought for him in the battle of Oke-hazama when Imagawa was killed. Owing to his great ability he was pro­ moted to command part of his lord’s forces and was of great assistance in the retreat when Asai rose behind him and in the battles in which he and Asakura were defeated. In 1574 he was given the fief of Nagahama in Omi and then the command of the armies operating against Mori. In this he was opposed by Mori Terumoto’s two uncles, K ikkaw a and Kobayakawa, both experienced and able commanders. H e advanced to Him eji in Harim a and persuaded Ukita of Bizen to come over to Nobunaga. H e had been joined by Kuroda Yoshitaka, usually known as Josui or Simon Josui, for he 4 was a Christian convert, though he did not let that stand in the way of an equal interest in Zen Buddhism and Shinto. H e was one of the best intellects of his time and acted henceforth as a military adviser to Hideyoshi. 1 According to some accounts Shingen died of disease while others say he died from a gunshot wound. Kenshin apparendy died of drink, his only failing.

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Hideyoshi now besieged Takamatsu, a castle in Bitchu, and reduc­ ed it by damming a river near by to flood it out, while at the same time he held off M ori’s armies who were trying to relieve it. As he knew that Nobunaga would like to carry the campaign to a vic­ torious conclusion himself, he sent to ask him to come up with reinforcements. Nobunaga ordered Akechi Mitsuhide, one of his chief officers, another small retainer whom he had raised for his ability, to lead an army of thirty thousand men to the front while he went on to Kyoto with his eldest son Nobutada and a small escort to stay in the Honnoji temple. Instead of carrying out this order, Akechi led these troops suddenly into Kyoto and attacked Nobu­ naga and his son. Nobunaga’s small guard fought to the death and when badly wounded he himself set fire to the temple and committed suicide. The reason that led Akechi to attack his lord has never been precisely determined, though he is said to have received several insults from him, for Nobunaga was never slow to make con­ temptuous remarks if anything displeased him; but it is likely that ambition and a tempting opportunity played a large part in his motives, for with Nobunaga’s death he became for a while the supreme power. Nobunaga was only forty-nine at his untimely death and he had already accomplished much that he had set out to do, for his pur­ pose was to bring the country under one central rule once more, and that under the supreme sovereignty of the Imperial house. He had done much to restore to the Throne its former dignity, rebuild­ ing the palace and paying ceremonial homage there, beside holding a great military review in the presence of the Emperor and Court. He had almost completely swept away the corrupt and effete remains of the Ashikaga period and had put down most of the great barons who were practically local kings. H e was the only one of them who conceived and almost carried out this conception of a central admini­ stration, for such lords as Mori and Takeda showed hardly any sign of wishing to be more than local chieftains. In order to obtain an adequate estimate of the value of property he ordered a survey of the whole country, beginning with Yamato and Izumi, and though the great temples were beside themselves with indignation they remembered Hieizan and complied. Moreover he made his castle town of Azuchi a free city and even provided free lodgings for visiting merchants. Wherever he took a province he had the roads

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put in order and widened to eighteen feet, and he made offenders against regulations construct bridges and do public works as punish­ ment. H e also put new and able men in these provinces as governors instead of confirming a former lord who would probably be disloyal and conservative. Again, he utterly destroyed the pretensions of the Buddhist sects to power, and put an end once and for all to their meddling in politics and intriguing and fighting like feudal lords, so that from this time onward no sort of disturbance was caused by them, and the ecclesiastical institutions lost all their temporal might and were purely the humble servants of the civil authority. T o do all these things drastic measures were of course necessary and Nobunaga never hesitated to take them. He penned up in their strong­ hold at Nagashima and burnt to death twenty thousand Monto sectaries besides exterminating the Hieizan monks and their families. H e crucified more than two hundred women hostages and had an unpleasant habit of never forgetting an injury or disloyalty, which he would visit on his vassals after years had elapsed. But it does not seem that he was any worse than many others of his time, for practic­ ally all of them could be savage enough when they thought it neces­ sary. His homicide was always directed to a practical purpose—his one main object of bringing the land under a central control—and if he seems more ferocious than his followers Hideyoshi and Ieyasu it may only be because after he had finished there were rather few objectionables to execute. The Hongwanji had capitulated before he died and with the exception of lords like Shimazu in the extreme west and Hojo and Date away up in the north there were almost none to offer resistance. Japanese opinion therefore places Nobunaga on a very high pinnacle, for his two successors did little more than follow in the way he began. There was, of course still much to be done in detail, and providentially these two men were singularly well qualified to do it. Nobunaga was also extremely cultivated. He was a great enthusiast for the Tea Ceremony and elegant entertaining and took the keenest interest in architecture, interior decorating, and painting. And though his tastes and manners were simple and unconventional he could, when he liked, be as polished and correct as any courtier. H e was certainly polite and even kindly to the Europeans. Akechi Mitsuhide did not live long to enjoy his triumph and has gone down in history as the “ Shogun of thirteen days” . H e only

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managed to plunder Azuchi, declare himself Shogun and visit Kyoto. For Hideyoshi had learnt before Mori of the death of his lord, or if Mori also knew he did not reveal it. So through the mediation of Ankokuji Eikei, a cunning monk who had become councillor to Mori, peace was made between the two on condition that Mori ceded the provinces of Inaba and Mimasaka. Then with the greatest speed, for which he was as famous as his late master, Hideyoshi moved his men back to his base, and a week or so after was facing Akechi at Yamasaki outside Kyoto. H e won a decisive victory, certainly assisted by the characteristic action of one Tsutsui Junkei who had supported Akechi till he saw how little likely he was to win, when he deserted him in the battle and went over to the other side. Akechi fled, and was caught and murdered by some peasants merely on the look-out for plunder. Ieyasu, who was visiting at Kyoto, managed with some difficulty to escape Akechi’s attempts to capture him and got away through Iga to the sea where he found a ship and returned to his province.

CHAPTER

22

T O Y O T O M I P E R I O D (1582-1600)

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N obunaga and his heir were dead, but this heir had a son known

afterwards as Hidenobu, while the two other sons, Nobuo and Nobutaka, both aged twenty-four and the eldest of his family of twelve sons and eleven daughters, were not without ambitions to succeed their father in the headship of the house. None of Nobunaga’s family seems to have been especially gifted except perhaps his brother Yuraku, famous as a scholar and aesthete. Besides Hideyoshi there were the other three generals, Shibata, Ikeda Nobuteru, and Niwa, to be consulted; and they were not exactly harmonious, while the two sons were even less so. After some acrimonious argument it was proposed, as Hideyoshi had suggested, that the small child, Nobu­ naga’s grandson, be recognized as heir under the guardianship of his two uncles, with Shibata, N iw a, Ikeda and Hideyoshi as grand council to guard the guardians. In the circumstances it was not remarkable that the peace was soon broken, for Shibata, who supported Nobutaka’s claim, was very senior to Hideyoshi and looked on him as an upstart. So in 1583 these two took up arms and challenged Hideyoshi. Shibata’s men were decisively defeated at Shizuga-take, at the north of Lake Biwa, and he himself retired to his capital in Echizen and committed suicide with his family. His wife, Nobunaga’s sister, died with him. It was the second husband she had lost, for she was formerly married to Asai Nagamasa and by him had three daughters more famous than either of their parents. One was Yodo, the mother of Toyotomi Hideyori, the next was the lady Sogen-in, the strong-minded wife of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the third “ Maria” Kyogoku, wife of the nobleman of that name, famous as a Christian convert. Through the first two, rather than through any of his sons, Nobunaga affected the future, for Yodo ensured the downfall of the Toyotomi house and

,

Toyotomi Period (1582-1600)

15 1

Sogen-in the stability of that of Tokugawa. Nobutaka committed suicide on the failure of his attempt. More war, however, was to follow, for the other son, Nobuo, now appealed to Tokugawa Ieyasu. H e had, with Nobunaga’s assistance and that of his fine corps of matchlockmen, defeated Takeda Shingen’s heir, Katsuyori, at Nagashino and then, taking advantage of Nobunaga’s death, seized Shingen’s former territories on the suicide of Katsuyori following his complete overthrow in 1582. He was now lord of five provinces and had their resources in men and money at his disposal, and as Shingen had been renowned for his gold-mines, good finance, and able vassals, Ieyasu profited much, as was his habit, from the good work others had done. These advant­ ages, added to his great self-control (for “ Patience” was always his watchword), his complete self-reliance, his almost inhuman lack of emotion, and his shrewd foresight, made him a very formidable opponent for anyone in the land. O f this he was evidently quite aware, for he did nothing but send his compliments to both Hide­ yoshi and Shibata and preferred to look on and see what would hap­ pen. H e had always been loyal to Nomunaga, for there he realized his profit lay. He had put to death not only his uncle and his wife, which was perhaps not so remarkable, but also his eldest son and heir on suspicion that they were involved in a plot against Nobunaga; and it followed that he did not think it proper to allow his family to be supplanted without a protest. Therefore when Nobuo appealed to him for help he at once responded. H e never feared to take risks when there was a chance of gaining something and here he was on strong ground, for he was fighting out of loyalty to his former ally and he wished to try conclusions with Hideyoshi. Nobuo’s territory of Ise, Iga and Owari was next to the Tokugawa fief and the position seemed a strong one. There followed the rather protracted campaign called that of Kom aki, from the dominating position of Komaki hill round which the fighting centred. Ieyasu was the first to arrive and seize it, and Hideyoshi whose armies were far more numerous, faced him a short distance away, both fortifying themselves well with earthworks and trenches. Only one engagement took place and that was when Ikeda Terumoto and Mori Nagayoshi, two of Hideyoshi’s generals, were inspired with the idea of moving rapidly across Ieyasu’s flank and entering and burning his capital behind him. Hide­ yoshi was not altogether convinced, but allowed them to try. Unfortu-

Toyotomi Period (1582-1600) [

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nately for them, Ieyasu’s spies informed him and he set out with a part of his force to cut them off in turn. They were the party to be taken by surprise and were completely routed with heavy losses. After this neither side exhibited much military activity, though Hideyoshi made attacks on the territory of the weaker ally, and also began his usual diplomatic persuasion which resulted in Nobuo agreeing to a separate peace. This gave Ieyasu the opportunity to follow suit since the claims of loyalty were satisfied and he had very much enhanced his martial reputation by standing up to so formid­ able an adversary. Both realized that agreement would pay better than strife, and both were big enough to admit it. Still, Ieyasu was in no hurry to go up to the capital and meet Hideyoshi. Consequently it was the latter who made advances. When peace was made Ieyasu’s second son was adopted by Hideyoshi and called Hideyasu. Later on Hideyoshi offered his half-sister, already married but apparently available for recall, to Ieyasu as his wife. T o this usual method of clinching political agreements he assented and the lady Asahi, aged forty-four and not likely therefore to interfere with the succession, went in great state and became the bride of Ieyasu who was then one year older. Probably she was not robust for she died four years after, her purpose accomplished. Naturally, of course, but conveniently; for she might have been embarrassed by later circumstances. A t the same time Hideyoshi was striking out vigorously at those who had been allied with Ieyasu and Nobuo, as a threat to the former. H e struck first at Shikoku and the Shingon monks of Saiga and Negoro with whom Nobunaga had been about to settle accounts. This took little time, and Hideyoshi dealt with them more gently than Nobunaga had been accustomed to do. Chosokabe, who had hoped to dominate all Shikoku, was limited to Tosa province; and the monks got some of their temples burnt and a severe reprimand. W ith as little trouble he forced the submission of Sasa Narimasa in Etchu and Uesugi Kagekatsu, adopted son of Kenshin, in the north. Ieyasu on his part courted a closer alliance with Hojo Ujimasa, whose son Ujinao was married to his daughter. This was just to have someone to fall back on, for it was his invariable habit never to desert one ally until he was quite sure of another. Then Hideyoshi agreed to send his mother, the most weighty hostage for a filial society, to visit her daughter at Okazaki. It is true that that suspicious and loyal old Mikawa retainer of Ieyasu, Honda Sakuza, insisted that there were

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a lot of old women about Hideyoshi; but it turned out to be the right one and Ieyasu went up safely to Osaka to be received with great honour and ceremony by Hideyoshi, delighted at the added prestige conferred by so powerful and trusty an ally. This was in 1586. Ieyasu was received in the great castle of Osaka which Hideyoshi had begun to build on the site of the Hongwanji monks’ fortress, where Nobunaga had probably intended to move had he lived. It took some five years to complete and is one of the great fortresses of the world. Hideyoshi had just appointed five Commissioners (Bugyo) to assist in the administration, and as for his own position, he would have liked the forcibly retired Shogun Yoshiaki, who did not die till 1597, to adopt him; but that was a thing that Yoshiaki would not do, so that the Shogunate was out of his reach. However, through the assistance of a courtier friend, Kikutei Akisue, he contrived to be promoted from the rank of Naidaijin, which he then held, to that of Kam baku or Regent. It was not much to the liking of the Fujiwara courtiers, but evidently it was easier to become a Fujiw ara than a Minamoto. H e also took the surname of Toyotomi. It now happened that Otomo Sorin, the very Christian lord of Bungo, commonly known as Don Francisco, was defeated in a clan war by Satsuma and in consequence came up and complained to Hideyoshi of the disloca­ tion of the balance of power in Kyushu by these warlike brothers Shimazu. Hideyoshi hardly needed the pretext, for the independence of this remote clan was a challenge to him. The Shimazu might well feel secure in refusing to defer to Hide­ yoshi as a mere distant parvenu, for as yet no great power had been able to attack them and for four hundred years they had been undisturbed. And ancient though the family was, the lords, like their retainers, had always been a pugnacious and hardy breed. But Hide­ yoshi was no ordinary man and he now had all the best military talent of the country to draw on. H e could rely, too, on Ieyasu to keep the eastern regions in order. H e used Kennyo, Abbot of the Hongwanji, to get the Mon to monks to spy out the land for him, for the approaches of Shimazu’s capital were difficult. H e won over the other small lords in Kyushu and then mobilized an army of three hundred thousand men from central and western Japan in 1587. This army was divided and timed to deliver simultaneous attacks on Kagoshima, from both land and sea. Shimazu Iehisa, brother of the daimyo, was captured in an

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engagement on the frontier and utilized in the negotiations that took place after the armies of the clan had fallen back routed on the capital. Hideyoshi refrained from taking it and made an ally of the Shimazu house instead of destroying it. In Japan antiquity is always respected—up to a point. Probably Hideyoshi had considerable knowledge of the spread of Christianity,1 for he was quite friendly with the Jesuit missionaries and had continued Nobunaga’s permission to preach and his tolera­ tion of their views. But when he actually went into Kyushu he seems to have been surprised at the extent of their penetration and the hold they had obtained over some of the magnates there. Don Francisco of Bungo, and Don Protasius of Arim a and his brother Don Bartholo­ mew of Omura, as they chose to call themselves, were the most promi­ nent of these. The Christianity they absorbed did not make them any more peace-loving than it did anyone else in that century, and they liked to fight their heathen neighbours such as Shimazu and Matsuura, besides a certain Ryuzoji, as much as ever. Thereby indirectly the port of Nagasaki came into existence, for Omura went into debt to the Portuguese missionaries for both funds and arma­ ments on the security of the taxes of the fishing port of Fukae-ura, and when he could not pay the fathers took over the territory and administered it. They made it tax-free for foreigners and Christians, and it was soon full of churches and schools and ruled by its own elected officers, and no one could enter it without the fathers’ permission. So when Hideyoshi came down to Kyushu he was far from pleased to find this town with extra-territorial rights, like a foreign settlement on Japanese soil, and in patriotic indignation he confiscated it and prohibited any more proselytizing there.2 It was through these Christian daimyos that the first Japanese went to Europe to carry their respects to the Pope. This affair was arranged through Valegnani the Jesuit Visitor General, who counted on impressing these lordlings with the glory and might of Latin Christ­ ianity and civilization. So in 1582, the year of Nobunaga’s death, 1 At least a hundred and twenty-five thousand Christians were in Kyushu in 1 5 8 2 . 2 In Hideyoshi’s time there was a definite nationalistic reaction in connection with Shinto, probably stimulated by foreign intervention. This was the adoption of the “Yuiitsu” or “One and only Shinto” doctrine, a product of the end of the Ashikaga age. It insisted that the Japanese deities were the original ones and not the Buddhas, contradicting the earlier view that these gods were only manifestations in Japan of the Indian Buddhas. Cf. the statement of the Emperor Go-Yozei that “Shinto is the base of all morality. Confucianism is the branches and Buddhism is the fruit” .

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the two envoys, Ito Yoshikata representing Otomo of Bungo, and Chijiwa Seizaemon who was a cousin of Arim a and Omura and went on their behalf, started off with two attendants Don Martin Hara and Julian Nakaura. They were all youths of about sixteen. Valegnani accompanied them as far as Goa, and all the expenses of their world tour seem to have been defrayed by the Europeans. But these voyages were very hazardous, for the Portuguese lost two vessels between Lisbon and Goa every year, and they were fortunate in getting through, for dysentery attacked them before they reached Goa and Ito nearly died of it. Eventually they arrived at Lisbon in August 1584 after a journey of two years and a half. Thence they proceeded to Madrid and were received by Philip II. H e showed them the Escorial and all his treasures, and they handed him presents from the lords at home in Kyushu. They had a splendid reception at Alcala, Pisa, Florence, and Siena, and the greatest of all in Rome where they were accorded the treatment of the envoys of a great European monarch. They entered the city in a brilliant procession dressed in the ceremonial costume of their country, which with their splendidly mounted weapons, was everywhere much admired. They were received by Pope Gregory at the Vatican and handed him a letter from Otomo: To His Most Worshipful Majesty the Pope, High Representative of God (Ten-tei) on earth. We by the grace and help of God humbly present this letter. The Lord of all creation has showed mercy and favour to us in our darkness and caused the light of Heaven to shine on us by sending missionaries to our country, so that for the first time we have been made to understand His Grace, of which we have had knowledge now this thirty years, and we are grateful beyond measure to Your Majesty for these benefits. But as we are unfortunately usually at war, and are now aged and weary we cannot ourselves have the honour of coming to the Holy City to behold your countenance and kiss your feet and receive on our breast the sign of the cross from your august hand. We had hoped to have sent our nephew Jerome, but since he was away when the father set out and unable to return in time we have sent our younger cousin Don Mancio as our representative, and humbly pray that Your Majesty will send your grace upon us and our officials and people, since we are inexpressibly grateful to the fathers who represent Your Majesty for conferring on us the inestimable benefit of the teaching of the Gospel. First month, eleventh day, 1 5 8 2 . F rancoa K ing of B ungo (O tomo S orin )

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The Japanese were described by the fathers in an oration as “ a people clever and sincere, brave and warlike and of splendid deeds, in no way comparable to the other races of Asia and differing from Europeans only in that they lacked the True Faith” . Pope Gregory, who was eighty-four years old, died less than a week after he received them, and fortune thus favoured them in enabling them to be present at a papal election. A t the accession ceremony of the next Pope, Sixtus, they were given special privileges such as the honour of sitting in the College of Cardinals and were made Knights and Patricians of Rome. They were also presented with large sums for their return journey. Curiously enough it was this Pope who was later to canonize Buddha as Saint Josaphat. After Rome they went to Bologna and Venice and had their portraits painted by Tintoretto. Thence to Mantua, Milan, and Genoa, and from that port to Barcelona where K in g Philip bade them farewell and presented them with four thousand crowns and an Arab horse. They started on their return journey from Lisbon in April 1586 and reached Goa in May 1587. There they stayed another year and set sail for Japan with Valegnani and others who were being sent as an embassy from the Viceroy of the Indies to Hideyoshi. This, too, was fortunate for them, since when they returned to Japan in 1590 Hideyoshi had become anti-Christian though not anti-foreign. The Japanese were impressed by the scientific and geographical knowledge of the Europeans and by their imposing ecclesiastical buildings and ritual, and brought back various instructive presents with them in the shape of musical and scientific instruments, books and maps. They must have learnt something of the political situation! also, and they might have learnt more, for the ship in which they travelled back to Goa was that great carrack San Felipe, which Drake fell in with and captured on its way back to Spain after he had raided Cadiz.3 Its size and fine furnishings astonished the English who had never taken one of these ships bound for India before. Morever, says Hakluyt, it taught them two things, first “ that Caracks were no such bugs but that they might be taken”, and in the second place that there was great wealth in the Indies, which they and their neighbours of Holland were quite as competent as the Portuguese 3 “It was his good fortune to meet with a Portugale Carack called Sant Philip, being the same shippe which in the voyage outward had carried the Princes of Japan, that were in Europe, into the Indies.” Hakluyt, Voyages, iv, p. 2 8 4 .

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and Spaniards to share. The result of this knowledge is evident in the arrival of sailors from England and Holland in Japan just thirteen years after. But had Drake taken this vessel when the Japanese were in it their education in European affairs would have been even more advanced. Hideyoshi had not made any move against the Christians in spite of the trouble they had stirred up by inciting their converts against \Buddhists and by destroying temples and shrines, and it seems likely that this was because he found them useful to him. Nobunaga had used the fathers in political negotiations and Hideyoshi almost certainly did the same. Besides which, as the Japanese put it, the \ missionaries held the keys of commerce as well as of the Kingdom of Heaven, and even the heathen daimyos made concessions to them to get trade, ordering their people or even their children to become converts. Thus while on this campaign in Kyushu Hide­ yoshi had asked the missionaries to get him a couple of heavily armed Portuguese carracks because he was going to take China and Korea when he had subdued all Japan. He added, with some con­ sideration, that he would order any number of the Chinese to become Christians when he had done so. This sounds rather like his observa­ tion, attributed to others as well, that only the obsession of the Christians about monogamy prevented him from becoming one. The Jesuit Vice-Provincial, Father Coello, had therefore good reason to be surprised when Hideyoshi suddenly demanded an explanation of why he and his colleagues proselytized forcibly and destroyed Japanese temples and persecuted monks and ate meat and engaged in the slave trade. And without paying any attention to the answer he followed this up by an edict in July 1587 requiring all foreign missionaries to leave the country within twenty days under severe penalties if they disobeyed. Foreign merchants were not to be interfered with as long as they had no priests with them? Hide­ yoshi evidently regarded Christianity as the same kind of menace to the State as Monto Buddhism, a sect that promised paradise to those who worked hard to establish it as a temporal power on earth. Actually this edict was not enforced at all rigorously and only some of the missionaries left, though Hideyoshi had all their churches and colleges shut up or destroyed. But it was meant as a very positive warning. Meanwhile Hideyoshi was busy with the ornamental side of state-

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craft. His hobby was aestheticism, architecture, gardening and Tea Ceremony, and he is described as making Japan an artistic paradise while he ruled it. H e now built an elegant residence for himself and called it the Juraku Mansion, and when it was finished the Emperor paid him a visit there in great state. A t the same time the allowance made to the Court and also to the Court nobility was considerably increased. About this time, too, was finished the great castle of Osaka which he had begun in 1583. It was the strongest strategic position in the country and was his headquarters till he retired. The massive strength of its walls and moats was as impres­ sive as the beauty and splendour of its interior apartments, where was gathered all the elegance that money could command and talented artists create. It was in all probability after his triumphant return from the Kyushu expedition that he held the big tea-party at Kitano outside Kyoto to which he invited anyone who liked to come and make tea in the open air. He exhibited, too, all his famous collection of tea utensils and walked informally round the great assembly of tea enthusiasts inspecting their equipages and taking a sip wherever he saw something to admire. Sen Rikyu, the greatest Tea-master of all time, was his aesthetic adviser and constant com­ panion even on his campaigns, and whenever he could Hideyoshi would make tea and arrange flowers. Only two powers of any importance now remained who had not formally proclaimed themselves his vassals, Hojo of Odawara and Date Masamune of Sendai. The first, a conservative lord who had not realized how the times had changed, would not consent to tender his allegiance, so Hideyoshi led an army against Odawara to compel him. Odawara was a strong place, but he now had all the country be­ hind him, so he took his time about this expedition which was called the “ picnic campaign” because of the elaborate and comfortable semi-permanent positions that were built to besiege the place. It fell to Ieyasu, who was Hojo’s brother-in-law and former ally, to make most of the preparations and provide a large part of the force, but there was not much actual fighting and eventually the Hojos sur­ rendered. The head of the house and some others had to commit seppu\u and all their fiefs were confiscated and given to Ieyasu, who vacated his five provinces and moved eastward to the eight of the Kanto. Date Masamune of Sendai, a person of great shrewd­ ness and adaptability as well as not a little useful eccentricity, now

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came forward and made his submission, so that at last Hideyoshi had completed the work undertaken by Nobunaga and become the ruler of a once more united Empire of Japan. That however did not content him, and it may well be that here again he was only carrying out what Nobunaga had con­ ceived. There has been considerable debate about the motive that led Hideyoshi to undertake the conquest of China, but perhaps it is enough to say that he was full of energy and ambition, a parvenu without tradition and of infinite self-confidence, and that he now commanded all the armed resources of the country. H e may have wished to keep his great vassals too well employed to find time for discontent or rebellion, while the nationalistic spirit so characteristic of this period, partly engendered by contact with foreign countries, certainly played a part. The Wako or pirate raiders of the Ashikaga period were the pioneers in this aggressive spirit, and the activities of the great merchant venturers of Hideyoshi’s day with their licensed ships, or privateers who had branch houses and agencies in Korea and China and the Philippines, were a source of both inspira­ tion and information to him as they had been to Nobunaga. Tw o of them, Kam iya Sotan and Shimai Soshitsu of Hakata in Kyushu were bosom friends of his and often entertained him at the teaparties at which both were great experts. Soshitsu is said to have gone specially to Korea to make maps and collect the necessary information before the expedition. The great merchants of these days were most important figures and Soshitsu even refused an offer of a province in Kyushu which Hideyoshi made him. So Hideyoshi sent a message to the K in g of Korea demanding a pass­ age through his country for the Japanese armies, but this was not granted since Korea was an ally of China. The result was that the Japanese forces landed in Korea as hostile conquerers and China was saved from a similar fate at the expense of her unfortu­ nate neighbour. The Japanese forces drawn mostly from Kyushu and western Japan numbered in all about three hundred thousand, and they were assembled at Nagoya in Hizen, which was chosen as the base for operations. It is a beautiful place at the head of Karatsu Bay and, since it lies right opposite to the isle of Iki, was as con­ venient for embarking the troops as it was for the entertainments

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and boating excursions of Hideyoshi and his friends. Hideyoshi did not go to the front at all, partly because his mother, to whom he was very attached, did not wish it, and pardy because he had many other affairs to look after. Ukita Hideie, Lord of Bizen, was in chief command and Asano Nagamasa was in charge of the com­ missariat. The various daimyos commanded each of his own con­ tingent, varying from more than ten thousand men to less than one. The plan was for the first divisions of nearly forty thousand men to cross to Fusan and march through the country, taking the capital on their way, and when they had reached Pieng Yang or Heijo not very far from the frontier another large contingent would have been transported round by sea to join them. Another rapid march would then be made by the combined armies across the frontier and into China. As far as the first part of this arrangement went the programme was carried out without much difficulty, and nearly forty thousand men under Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga, the latter an enthusiastic Christian convert and the former an equally fanatic Nichiren Buddhist, took the capital in eighteen days or so, and in about the same time made their way to Heijo, which they reached in the middle of July 1592. But Hideyoshi had either underrated, or was unaware of, the sea-power of Korea. He had a number of high-charged warships beside his many transports under the com­ mand of K uki and W akizaka and other daimyos who had com­ manded his and also Nobunaga’s fleets before, but they were far inferior to the Korean navy, which was better equipped and trained and under a most brilliant and dashing commander named Y i Sun Sin. H e had devised a “ tortoise ship” roofed in with curved decks spiked to prevent boarding, and mounting six guns each side and two more in the tortoise head and tail that decorated the bow and stern. These weapons projected both shot and incendiary arrows as well as something like Greek Fire, and Y i Sun Sin knew how to manoeuvre them effectively, and also how to entice the enemy’s fleets so that he could engage them in the positions most advantageous to himself. H e had, in fact, a thorough knowledge of his profession and was a most inspiring and gallant figure as well. So when the Japanese transports and warships were proceed­ ing along the southern coast of Korea Y i Sun Sin attacked them and completely defeated them in several engagements, setting their ships M

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on fire and raking them with bombardments to which they could not reply, since they had nothing much heavier than matchlocks and were not trained to any concerted action. By this time the Chinese had, rather belatedly (for it was six months since the Japanese landed), sent first a small army of five thousand which was defeated, and then, after getting the Japanese to agree to an armistice, a much bigger force, possibly of about one hundred thousand men, composed of the best troops they had. The Japanese garrison of Heijo, less than a quarter of their numbers, after a hard fight, managed with great difficulty and heavy losses to retire on their communication posts, to withdraw these and then fall back on the capital Seoul, their movements hampered by the arctic winter and the devastation of the country. Outside Seoul they rallied and turned on the Chinese, and under the fine leadership of the veterans Kobayakawa Takakage and Tachibana Muneshige completely defeated them, owing to the superiority of their matchlock fire and the irrestible dash of their swordsmen. But they found it impossible to remain in the capital or to live on the country which they had wasted, and which was now infested by guerrilla bands and disease. So they withdrew their forces to a series of strong positions along the coast and settled down to negotiate about terms. A Chinese envoy and his suite went to Nagoya and was entertained very splendidly by Hideyoshi, and after a while a Japanese mission went to Peking. Neither side was in any hurry about the discussions, which dragged out for three years, and both China and Japan seemed quite willing to make peace and regard Korea as a scapegoat. Hideyoshi wanted to be declared Ming Emperor on condition he made peace, while the Chinese Emperor wished to hand him the Imperial Throne of Japan, which he really wondered why he had not already assumed. Hideyoshi, whose choice lay between the unobtainable and the inconceivable, was therefore intensely annoyed when there arrived from China a dia­ dem and robe with an edict declaring him K in g of Japan under the suzerainty of China. There was nothing to be done but break off negotiations with such an arrogant power and so, rather illogically, in 1597 another large Japanese army was sent to attack Korea. The Chinese also dispatched more reinforcements, and various battles were fought in which, as usual, Japan was vict irious. She was also successful on the sea, because Y i Sun Sin had been superseded by

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an incompetent as a result of one of these intrigues that were com­ mon at the Korean Court. By this time the Japanese commanders as well as the men had become very tired of this war that resulted in nothing but hardship. Dissension, too, had broken out among them, so that there was an anti-war party anxious to withdraw and concern itself with affairs at home. Particularly was there bad feeling between Kato Kiyomasa, who was for continuing to fight, and Ishida Mitsunari, one of Hideyoshi’s commissioners and a great favourite of his, who had been raised from nothing to be lord of Sawayama Castle in Omi and appointed inspector to report on the armies in Korea. H e was not a soldier but a clever administrator and diplomat, and his pre­ tensions irritated the genuine warriors. He also offended Kuroda Josui, friend and neighbour of Kiyomasa, who was one of the ablest and most subtle of Hideyoshi’s generals. But the Korean war did not occupy all Hideyoshi’s time. H e was also busy setting the country in order. He continued the land survey that Nobunaga had commenced and revised the measures for land area and weights so that without obviously raising them the taxes yielded much more than they had previously. This does not mean that he taxed the whole country, for like Nobunaga he defrayed his various expenses out of the revenue of the provinces that he took as his fief. H e also made a huge Buddha in an equally big temple at Kyoto of the same type as that at Nara which had been burnt by Matsunaga Hisahide. And he took advantage of this to require all farmers and artisans and non-fighting people to contri­ bute their weapons, swords, spears and guns, to be turned into the required metal-work of this great structure. Since the land would be at peace, he said, they would not need them, and the sight of these things might distract their thoughts from their very necessary labours of agriculture and craftsmanship. Such a cunning trick, as the Jesuits observed in admiration, only Hideyoshi would have thought of. Fairly favourable as he was to Buddhism, since he had nothing more to fear from it, he had become extremely hostile to Christianity. The Portuguese did not cease their propaganda, though they tried to keep it quiet, and the Spanish Franciscans, who had come to Japan from the Philippines on a diplomatic mission, started in their turn to proselytize but with less discretion.

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Then in 1596 the Spanish galleon San Felipe was driven off the usual trade route from Manila to Acapulco in Panama and went ashore on the coast of Tosa in Shikoku. The Japanese went to con­ fiscate the cargo as was their custom in that province, and the cap­ tain was overcome with indignation at their presumption in laying hands on the property of so mighty a power as Spain. He showed them on the map the extent of its greatness and in answer to the question of how it had acquired such an Empire he retorted that it subdued its territories first by religious propaganda and later by armed forces that were aided by the converts. This only confirmed the Japanese suspicions and when Hideyoshi heard it he flew into a rage and ordered the arrest and execution of the Spanish Franciscan priests and those associated with them. Twenty-six, including three Jesuits, were paraded and exposed in Kyoto, Osaka, and Sakai, and then taken to Nagasaki and crucified. A number of churches and colleges in Kyushu were also destroyed and all daimyos were forbidden to become converts. However, no other priests or converts were executed and this action was more political than religious. The Franciscans, who really had no right to be in Japan according to the papal demarcation, were blamed by the Jesuits and the two nationalities became mutually hostile. A s some of his agents in Manila reported that the Philippines certainly could not resist him, Hideyoshi ordered the governor there to regard himself as his vassal. The governor did not refuse but temporized and as Hideyoshi’s death occurred soon after nothing more came of this proposal; for though it was afterwards renewed to the Tokugawa Shogunate, accident again prevented its being carried out. Besides the castle of Osaka and the Juraku Mansion, Hideyoshi started in 1592 to build another castle and residence, that of Fushimi just outside Kyoto. It took three years to complete and has given rise to the name of his era since it was known as the Momoyama castle of Fushimi, and Hideyoshi’s period is known as that of Mo­ moyama, though this name was not given it till a century later. But the brilliance of this short but significant period is well recalled by the splendid Hall of Audience with the adjoining apartments and the N o stage and Great Gate that were later removed to the Nishi Hongwanji Temple in Kyoto, where they can still be seen together with Hideyoshi’s lakeside villa similarly transferred from the Juraku.

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There was one thing, however, in which Hideyoshi was deficient, and that was the capacity to raise a family by his many consorts. Since he had no children he had adopted several, one son of Nobunaga, one of Ieyasu, and two nephews. His delight was great therefore when in 1591 his favourite consort Yodo had a son, and his grief equally so when it died after a few months. H e was then fifty-seven and Yodo twenty-six. H e flattered himself about his paternity in the opinion of some, but he must have despaired of repeating it, for the year after he formally adopted his nephew Hidetsugu as his heir, handing over to him his office of Kambaku and taking the title of Taiko, the designation of a retired Kambaku, by which he has ever since been usually known. This was not because Hidetsugu appealed to him particularly, for he was self-willed and more of an aesthete than a soldier. He showed no inclination to go to the front in Korea but preferred to amuse himself at home. Still there was no one else who seemed more suitable. Strangely enough Yodo had another son the year after this and he lived. This was Hideyori, and Hideyoshi became so devoted to him and his interests that he could think of little else. When Hidet­ sugu refused to adopt him because he had sons of his own and this would make his succession difficult, it was not altogether sur­ prising that Hideyoshi began to suspect his nephew of plotting a rebellion. Ishida Mitsunari, a strong supporter of the lady Yodo, may have been responsible for some of this suspicion, but anyhow in 1595 Hidetsugu was suddenly confronted with a series of accusa­ tions of rebellion and unbecoming conduct and sequestered on Mount Koya where he was told to commit suicide. His consorts and children were all executed so that none of his family survived. Thus the way was made clear for Hideyori and he became K am ­ baku at the age of three. A ll this went to accentuate the division between the anti-war party his mother favoured and in which Ishida was a prominent personality, and the more militaristic set with which the lady Yae, Hideyoshi’s wife, was more in sympathy. And Tokugawa Ieyasu, who liked to be correct when such an atti­ tude suited his interests, leaned toward the latter side. This episode of Hidetsugu was not a pleasant one, but Hideyoshi’s failing health and his anxieties made his temper very uncertain in his last years. He had similarly ordered the seppu\u of Sen Rikyu a couple of years before this, though exactly how this old friend the diplomat

1 66

A Short History of Japan

Tea-master had offended is still quite obscure. Life was not valuable in this age, though Hideyoshi was comparatively disinclined to take it. When possible, he preferred using people to killing them. During these last years there was no lack of entertainments. Hide­ yoshi went in great state to admire the cherry-blossoms at Yoshino and made a pilgrimage to Mount Koya where he built the Seiganji as a chantry chapel for his mother, who had died to his great grief in 1592, aged eighty. When she had been ill some time before, he set every temple and shrine in the land praying vociferously for her recovery, for his filial affection was, like his loyalty to the Throne, a very striking trait in his character. He also gave a fancy dress enter­ tainment in a melon patch at Nagoya at which all the great daimyos including Ieyasu and Maeda Toshiie had to dress as hawkers and mendicant monks, while Hideyoshi himself was a melon seller in straw apron and hat. The refreshments were only rice cakes and buns and sake. But the most imposing and elaborate of his fetes was that which he gave at the Sambo-in temple at Daigo, where he held a flower-viewing party in the spring of 1598. It was as character­ istic of Hideyoshi that he should spend his last days laying out a garden and preparing for a fete as it was of Ieyasu that he should depart while superintending the publication of a history book. Hide­ yoshi completely rebuilt this beautiful temple and laid out the grounds himself and had a forest of cherry-trees planted there. It was a very fine site on the side of a hill and when it was finished Hideyoshi with his six consorts and his great vassals and officers went out there and spent the whole day going from one charming spot to another admiring the view and partaking in the various amuse­ ments prepared for them. Hideyoshi was so pleased with the locality that he declared he would come again later in the year with the Emperor to view the autumn tints. Unfortunately soon after his return he was taken ill, apparently with some dysenteric affection, and though he rallied for a while, in September he became “ a guest in the White Jade Pavilion” . Hideyoshi’s last days were spent in anxious endeavour to ensure the succession to his son Hideyori, his only hope of founding a dynasty. He must have known that the position of this child of five was a precarious one, in view of the probable clashing of the great powers that surrounded him, but he had perforce to trust to the loyalty of the majority of these. So he appointed a Supreme

Toyotomi Period (1582-1600)

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Council consisting of his most powerful vassal-allies, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, Mori Terumo to, and Ukita Hideie. These were called Tairo or Great Elders, and under them were three smaller daimyos called Churo or Intermediate Elders whose business it was to be intermediaries between this Council and the five commissioners already appointed, should any differences of opinion arise between them. This is in accordance with the Japanese custom of conducting negotiations through a third person to avoid friction. A ll these administrators were required to swear very solemnly that they would always consider the interests of Hideyori in every­ thing and not their own personal ones; that they would work together in harmony and decide controversial matters by the will of the majority, though giving due consideration to that of the minority; that the rules laid down by Hideyoshi were not to be altered; that Hideyori was to be consulted through Ieyasu and Maeda, who were his guardians; and the Emperor was to be the final court of appeal. As soon as Hideyoshi was dead the Council withdrew the armies from Korea and closed that campaign from which nothing had resulted but losses among the soldiers and bad blood among the commanders, none of whom were killed except one or two of the sea captains. On the credit side, some Korean potters were brought to Japan, and some movable metal types for printing, which on experiment did not make much appeal to Japanese taste. The evacuation of the troops was not entirely without casualties, for the great Admiral Y i Sun Sin had been restored to his command and made a last desperate attack on the retiring Japanese, determined to do as much damage as possible. He intercepted Shimazu’s divi­ sion of five hundred vessels and destroyed some two hundred of them with heavy loss of life; but as usual fearlessly driving his ship right into the midst of the enemy, he was mortally wounded by a bullet and died soon after. H e was only fifty-two years old and had been forty-six when he fought his greatest engagements, almost the same age as Nelson at Trafalgar. Drake who died two years before him was six years older. “ Not only was he the hero of Korea in the war,” says a modern Japanese history, “ he was the hero of the three countries engaged in it.” Modern Japanese opinion, however, regards his campaign—“ though it was as great a failure in its way

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A Short History of Japan

as Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow”—as a splendid manifestation of the national enterprise that might have had very different results if Hideyoshi had been in a position to undertake it when he was ten years younger, and go to the front himself to lead it. The administrative structure that Hideyoshi left was not in the nature of things likely to remain in equilibrium for long. Maeda Toshiie, who was living in Osaka Castle as guardian of Hideyori, was very ill and there was every prospect of disagreement between the others. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had made up his mind not to be backward in taking the lead, now challenged the rest by breaking one of the rules that Hideyoshi had made prohibiting marriage alliances between the daimyos without the consent of the rest. On the other hand, Ishida Mitsunari was equally prominent in intriguing to bring together as many of the others as he could in opposition, on behalf of what he called Hideyori’s threatened interests. Ieyasu’s friends Hosokawa Tadaoki and Kuroda Josui, who with Kato Kiyomasa disliked Ishida for personal reasons, busied themselves in undermining his opponents, and when it was rumoured that Ishida was trying to have Ieyasu assassinated they made up a band of seven associates to kill him when he went to Osaka to see Maeda, who was now on his death-bed. Curiously enough, Ieyasu himself prevented this by giving Ishida protection when he asked for it, and sending his son to escort him safely home to his castle of Sawayama. It was probably an example of his principle of using others while letting them think they were using him. But this did not prevent Ishida from requesting Uesugi to move against Ieyasu in the north since he would not resign from the Coun­ cil, and this precipitated the conflict that was practically inevitable. Ieyasu had in 1590 moved into the Eight Eastern Provinces, formerly the fief of Hojo, and had made his headquarters, not at Odawara as before, but at a small town called Edo at the head of the bay of that name and surrounded by the wide flat plain of Musashi. Hideyoshi is said to have recommended it as a good strategic position, and it already had a small castle with the usual moats and earthworks. Ieyasu had strengthened this to some extent and given his chief vassals estates and castles round it. His famous M ikawa warriors led by his four paladins Ii Naomasa, Honda Tadakatsu, Sakai Tadatsugu and Sakakibara Yasumasa were as formid­ able a body of troops as any in Japan, and he had very much added

Toyotomi Period (1582-1600)

169

to his resources by taking over the veteran retainers of Takeda Shingen, mountaineers equally renowned for their fighting qualities. And not only in men but in money was he well found, for Shingen’s mining activities which he inherited also provided him with strong financial support for his armies. It was said that he and Mori were the wealthiest lords in Japan, but Mori Terumoto, who was nomi­ nally on the opposite side, was in no way an outstanding personality. And unlike Hideyoshi, with his one infant heir, Ieyasu had four sons, three of them, including his heir Hidetada, over twenty years old and in command of divisions in his army. Ieyasu marched back to his capital, protecting himself against any attack by Uesugi by arranging with Date and Mogami in the north to checkmate him, and having twenty thousand men under the command of his son Hideyasu on his northern frontier. He then sent two divisions back westward to seize the strategic point of Kiyosu not far from Gifu, which with Ogaki was held by Ishida and his party. They soon took G ifu as well and then waited for Ieyasu to arrive with his main army. His object was to get through and take Osaka, capturing Ishida’s castle of Sawayama (now Hikone) on the way. To prevent this Ishida with his allies, Konishi, Ukita, Shimazu, Kobayakawa, K ikkawa, and Mori, drew up their troops at the village of Sekigahara where the two roads from the north and west to Kyoto met at a pass surrounded by hills on all sides. The position was a strong one and they had in all about a hundred and twenty thousand men to the seventy-five thousand under Ieyasu, but they were not as effectively commanded, since there was no real leader, and Kobayakawa and K ikkaw a both had an arrangement with Ieyasu to assist him rather than their own side. Ishida’s detachments were so drawn up that if they had co-operated as his experts had planned, Konishi, Shimazu, Ukita, and Otani would have held the enemy in front while Kobayakawa and the Mori divisions would have descended from their posts on the hills on to his flanks and rear which were not very well defended. But Ieyasu knew this risk was not so great as it seemed and on 21st October 1600 his side confidently began the attack. It turned out as he had expected, for at the critical moment when the centre had been hotly engaged for some hours without a decision, the troops under Kobayakawa and some other smaller detachments near them turned and attacked their own side, while the thirty thousand under Mori on the flank did nothing. So

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in a short time the front gave way and the victory of Ieyasu was complete. And this, like every other decisive Japanese battle, was decided by treachery. O f the opposition leaders, Otani committed suicide in the field, while Ishida and Konishi fled, but were caught and beheaded together with Ankokuji Eikei, the ex-priest daimyo who had brought Mori into the struggle on the wrong side. Shimazu cut his way out and escaped and was not penalized at all, but most of the other Ishida allies, with the exception of those who deserted in the battle and were rewarded, had their fiefs confiscated or greatly curtailed. Promi­ nent among these was Mori, deprived of all his provinces except Suo and Nagato and left with little more than a quarter of his former income, and Uesugi, transferred from A izu to Yonezawa with an even greater loss. Satake was also reduced by more than half, and ninety lesser daimyos were deprived of everything. Kuroda Josui, whose son Nagamasa had fought in the forefront of the battle as well as intrigued behind it, had led a campaign in Kyushu ostensibly on behalf of Ieyasu, but probably with an eye to his own interests had things gone differently. So the pair were reward­ ed with the province of Chikuzen with an income of more than half a million \o\u, and Kato Kiyomasa’s wealth was increased to about the same as that at Kumamoto in Hizen. Ieyasu benefited by about four and a half million \o\u, but much of this was used to reward his allies. N o large incomes, however, were given to his direct vassals, and the most important of them, Ii and Sakakibara, got less than two hundred thousand; but they were placed in positions that commanded the strategic points of the country and given posts of honour and responsibility in the government from which the others were excluded. It was one of the principles of Ieyasu that political power and wealth should not go together. The income of Maeda of K aga was increased to more than a million \o\u and he thus became what he always remained, the richest of all the daimyos. Date Masamune at Sendai got more than six hundred thousand, and Matsudaira Hideyasu, Ieyasu’s eldest son, was given Echizen province with seven hundred and fifty thousand.

CHAPTER T O K U G A W A

23 P E R IO D

(1600-1867) FO U N D ATIO N OF T H E BA KU FU : 1600-51 N ow that he had crushed all open opposition Ieyasu was able to apply himself to the task of entrenching his family so that it could look forward to a long tenure of the administration. H e can have had no illusions about the fate of the house of Toyotomi, though as there were still many great daimyos who were loyal to it, he thought it well to make no definite move in that direction but simply to go on consolidating his own position. So Hideyori was left alone as before in Osaka, but in 1601 Ieyasu had the castle of N ijo built in Kyoto to dominate the capital and in 1603 he caused Hideyori to be married to his grand-daughter, Hidetada’s daughter Sen Hime, thus attaching him to the family and keeping himself well posted in his affairs through her attendants. In 1603 Ieyasu was appointed Shogun, as his Minamoto descent warranted, but he held the office only for two years and in 1605 abdicated in favour of Hidetada who was then aged twenty-six, so that he could train and supervise him. H e made his headquarters at Sumpu (Shizuoka) and sent to Edo with Hidetada his trusted sec­ retary Honda Masanobu who was deeper in his councils than anyone else, keeping with him Honda’s no less capable son Masazumi. The wise and discreet liaison of these two Hondas, who completely identi­ fied themselves with their lord’s interests, went far to prevent fric­ tion between the Shogun and Ieyasu, whose temper was none of the sweetest in his old age. And Hidetada was well qualified to carry on his father’s work, for he was by nature calm and calculating and patient, with a courteous and pleasing manner that hid a strong and impartial relentlessness. Hidetada’s qualities have 6een somewhat underrated because he has been overshadowed by the greatness of his father on the one hand and the showy brilliance of his son Iemitsu

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174

A Short History of Japan

on the other. Like his beautiful stupa-mausoleum at Shiba, litt e known compared with the gorgeous shrines of Nikko, the qual.ty of Hidetada’s work, though unobtrusive, proves on closer acquaint­ ance to be extremely high. Ieyasu was on good terms with the Euro­ peans and so far had not taken any steps to suppress Christianity. He had a Jesuit secretary, Rodriguez, an able Japanese scholar, and he had also now acquired an English adviser, the pilot W ill Adams who had arrived in Japan in 1600 in the Dutch ship De Liefde, the only survivor of five vessels that had set out from Holland for the Far East via the Straits of Magellan. Adams had been master of one of the ships that took part in the repulse of the Spanish Armada under Drake, and was a very clever and adaptable Elizabethan sea­ man. He married the daughter of Magome Kageyu, the chief of the packhorse transport station in Edo, and supervised the building of a couple of foreign style ships for Ieyasu. He was given an estate and the status of samurai by him too, in which he would appear to be unique, though he hardly deserves the title of “ Father of the Japanese N avy”, sometimes accorded him, which would better suit Nobunaga. A street in Tokyo, Anjin Street, was named after him, and another and better-known one, Yaesu Street, after Jan Joostens, also one of the Liefde’s crew, who was Ieyasu’s Dutch adviser. W ith these three Europeans and a map of the world that he had Ieyasu was not badly informed on foreign affairs. In 1604 he and Hidetada took in hand the complete reconstruction of the city of Edo, which was to be the military capital of the Empire as Kam akura had been before. Ieyasu did not favour the enervating atmosphere of Kyoto and was no courtier, for it was his intention to keep the Court and the military very much apart. H e drew up the plans for it with Honda Masanobu and Todo Takatora, a daimyo who was ever ready with suggestions that were advantageous to the house of Tokugawa, and who profited accordingly. For the immense amount of excavation of moats and building of stone-faced ramparts and gates they requisitioned the resources of the daimyos both great and small in men, money and materials, thus occupying their time and emptying their pockets to such an extent that they were left with little capacity to oppose the Shogunate even had they wished. When Ieyasu died he left the city practically finished except for the outer moat completed under Iemitsu. In order to reclaim the area on the sea-front from Hibiya to

To\ugawa Period (1600-1867)

175

Fukagawa, which was then partially submerged and marshy, Kanda Hill was levelled and the soil transferred to it. It was on this lowlying portion, about two miles square, that the business quarter of the city, the modern Tokyo, was built. The best sites on the high ground within or just outside the moats were allotted to the daimyos for residences. Maeda, lord of Kaga, was the first to build a mansion there when he sent his mother and the wives of his councillors to live in Edo as hostages, even before Sekigahara. This example was quickly followed by Todo Takatora, Hosokawa Tadaoki, Date Masamune and the other chief supporters of the Shogunate, though it was not till much later that this residence was enforced. That part of the castle within the Outer Sakurada Gate was thus allotted specially for daimyo residences and became known as Daimyo Street. It is this quarter that now forms the great open park in front of the Imperial palace, the former Western Casde. From 1604 to 1612 the work of building the city went on, the daimyos being called up to take part in batches from all parts of the country. Tradespeople were naturally attracted by all this activity and ecclesiastics as well, for Ieyasu wanted his capital to be quite self-contained, with even a spiritual life quite independent of Kyoto. Besides Edo Castle, his own at Sumpu and another half-dozen or so in the provinces were needed, for which the daimyos had also to provide, so that in all it is calculated that they were the poorer by at least one hundred million pounds. In Ieyasu’s time the administra­ tion had not taken on the complicated form it assumed later. He governed the country just as he ruled his clan, with only his two secretaries the Hondas, his military staff and councillors, and the Commissioners (Bugyo) who were both administrative and judicial, with the Deputy Commissioners (Daikan) under them to look after the peasants and see they paid their taxes. And Ieyasu considered it was best for the farmer to be left with just enough to live on and no more, when these were paid. In his time there was nobody who could be called a minister, and all the expenses of government were paid out of the Shogunate income. On the whole the Tokugawa Bakufu never departed from these principles to any extent. Neither Nobunaga nor Hideyoshi had taxed the country, possibly because they had as yet no need, and the Tokugawas followed their example, so that it was not until quite late in their career that they thought of doing so. Ieyasu must have prepared for a more developed system

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of administration in the future, for he consulted the experts who were best acquainted with the elaborate Ashikaga system and he was a great student of Yoritomo’s methods. So it was on much the same lines as these that the Bakufu was formed. As before there was a } Governor (shoshidai) in Kyoto, and Commissioners in Fushimi, Nagasaki, and Sakai, important centres of strategy or trade. In 1609 the Dutch sent a ship to Japan and opened a factory in Hirado, the fief of Matsuura. This lord had taken into his service some of the survivors of the Liefde and assisted others to go home and persuade their countrymen to come and trade. Ieyasu received the Dutch captain and would have liked the Hollanders to settle at Uraga near Edo, but they preferred Hirado. Friendly letters were exchanged between Ieyasu and Maurice of Nassau, Stadthalter of the Nether­ lands, and so began the only foreign trade that was able to survive the closing of the country in 1637. Tobacco was introduced into Japan by the Portuguese somewhere about the end of the sixteenth century. Before long its use was prohibited by Ieyasu on pain of con­ fiscation of the property of anyone who dealt in it, because smoking was contrary to his principles of economy. However even the Shogunate, quite capable of putting down Christianity and gambling, could not, or possibly would not, suppress it. And the Japanese pipe with the clock and the matchlock did not alter at all from that time right up to the period of Meiji. * In the same year overtures were made for trade with N ew Spain through the shipwreck in Japan of Don Roderigo Vivero y Velasco, Governor of Manila, on his way back to Spain via Panama. H e had audience with Ieyasu and in the course of the discussion that followed, which W ill Adams superintended, the Governor asked for freedom for Spanish ships to enter all Japanese ports, for shipyards to be established where more could be built, for a Spanish Ambassador to be appointed and properly treated, for the right of entry for such priests as they would need, and for the expulsion of the Dutch. Ieyasu quite approved of the trading arrangements, but was not enthusiastic about any religious connections and would not hear of discrimination against the Dutch. What Ieyasu wanted were miners, but he would not consent to the Spaniard’s terms that if fifty of these were sent they should have half the profits, while the K in g of Spain and Ieyasu should divide the other half. Then Don Roderigo was sent back in one of the ships Adams had built with a letter to the Governor of

Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Hideyoshi's Hall of Audience at the Momoyania castle of Fushimi (now at the Nishi Hongwanji temple, Kyoto).

To\ugawa Period ( 1 600-186j )

1 7 7

New Spain and some presents, and in 16 11 an envoy, Nuno de Sotomayor, came to return thanks to Ieyasu and to prefer the same demands about trading and the Dutch, and also for making a survey of the Japanese coasts. W ith him came one Sebastian Viszcaino as captain, who was to do the survey, and who was also searching for the Isles of Gold. This survey was allowed, but aroused the suspicions of Ieyasu when Adams told him that in Europe it would be regarded as espionage, and proceeded to comment on the ways of the Spanish and Portuguese, both civil and religious, and how they were regarded in his own country. Therefore in his next letter Ieyasu emphasized the fact that Japan had its own gods and was not contemplating any change, so that propaganda was, they must understand, as unacceptable as trade was desirable. It may seem a little curious therefore that in the same year Date Masamune of Sendai, Ieyasu’s great friend and supporter, should send an embassy to the Pope requesting that some Franciscans be sent to make his vassals Christ­ ians. One of his officers, Hasekura Rokuemon, was in charge and a ship was built under the supervision of the Shogunate admiral, Mukai Shogen. Viszcaino acted as navigator for he had found no gold and wanted a passage home again. A company of 180 sailed in this vessel which was 108 feet long by 36 feet wide, and they reached the other side safely and proceeded over the isthmus from Acapulco to San Juan d’Ulloa and sailed thence for Spain. A Franciscan monk, Father Sotelo, went with them and their expenses were paid by Europe as had been those of the mission of the Kyushu daimyos, and their welcome was as warm, at least outwardly. But privately the Jesuits complained of them and declared that they were only after trade. Sotelo is credited with having declared that Date came next in power to the Shogun and proposed to supplant him, when he would make all the other lords servants of Rome. Perhaps the Japanese comment that this mission was composed partly of people trying to use trade to advance the Kingdom of Heaven and partly of those who were using the Kingdom to advance trade is not so far out. Anyhow when Hasekura returned eight years later Ieyasu was dead, Christianity was proscribed and foreign trade not much encouraged. It is suggested that the invasion and annexation of Luchu by Shimazu that took place a few years before (1609), and of which Ieyasu highly approved, may have prompted Date to start this oversea N

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A Short History of Japan

enterprise. Ieyasu regarded Luchu as an excellent base for trade with China, which he was very anxious to increase. Ieyasu’s opinion of Christianity was further affected by two inci­ dents in which officials of this faith were concerned. One was that of Okamoto, secretary to Honda, Ieyasu’s own secretary, who was involved in a bribery case with Arim a Harunobu, for which both of them were executed; and the second was the revelations after the death of his great mining expert Okubo Nagayasu, which are said to have shown that he had been plotting to bring in foreign assistance to overthrow the Shogunate. There was a marriage connection between this Okubo, who had risen from being a N o player of Takeda Shingen to be a wealthy daimyo under Ieyasu, and the chief coun­ cillor of Matsudaira Tadateru, Ieyasu’s sixth son, who had married Date Masamune’s daughter; and this led to suspicion falling on them also. Date was cleared of it but Tadateru lost his fief and remained in disgrace all his life. Therefore in 1614 Ieyasu ordered all Jesuits to leave the country and forbade nobles and samurai to be Christians, though he did not interfere with foreign merchants or ordinary Japanese. So at the end of this year there was a considerable exodus of Christians, includ­ ing sixty-three Jesuits who went to Manila, and thither went also Takayam a Ukon and Naito Hida-no-kami, now almost the only remaining Christian nobles, for all the others were now dead or had apostatized. Arim a Harunobu was actually the last of them, and even he in 1609 attacked and sunk the Portuguese galleon Madre de Dios at the order of Ieyasu because its captain had been concerned in a quarrel in Macao in which some of the crew of a Japanese ship were killed. The Madre de Dios had a very valuable cargo and twelve Jesuits on board, and all went to the bottom of Nagasaki harbour when the Captain, Pessoa, blew up the magazine after being sur­ rounded by the Arim a men and fighting gamely for three days. In 1613 came John Saris of the English East India Company in the Clove and set up a factory at Hirado beside the Dutch, through whose enterprise the company had come to hear of the possibilities of Japan, by way of Adams. Saris brought a letter from James I, and was granted permission to trade anywhere in Japan and offered land in Edo as well as practically extra-territorial rights of property and person. H ad they taken the advice of Adams they might have gone to Edo and been better off for a time at any rate, but Saris

Tohugawa Period (1600-186'])

17 9

did not trust him, thinking him too Japonized and too friendly with the Dutch and other Europeans. Since he was a diplo­ matic agent for Ieyasu this was perhaps natural. The one who pro­ fited by all this was Matsuura Shigenobu, lord of Hirado. But Saris and his men were greatly hampered in their business by lack of know­ ledge of the language and of the ways of their agents. They were also too inclined to offer the Japanese articles they considered they ought to want without regard for their taste. Since “ Old K in g Foyne” , as they called Matsuura, was squeezed by Edo like the rest and had not a very large fief, he and his relations became rather a liability to the Company than otherwise in the matter of loans and presents. The English would have been wiser to have attached themselves to the squeezer. So though they did combine with the Dutch who had treated them rather roughly, and make an agreement in 1619 to plunder the Spanish and Portuguese, they had not sufficient capital to support their side of the bargain, and at length after ten years concluded that the best policy was to retire before they lost any more. After the death of Ieyasu the Bakufu began to restrict foreign trade more and more, and it was at last confined entirely to Hirado. And Adams, who worked quite loyally for the Company for no great remuneration, had no longer the influence he had “ in the Old Man’s days” . The English had, however, done some good business in armaments with the Edo government and were as opportune in providing Ieyasu with ammunition and guns for his Osaka siege as the Liefde had been in supplying him before Sekigahara. For Japan then as now needed good iron and that of “ the Western Barbarians” was highly appreciated. And whatever else they did, the letters that Saris and his successor Cocks1 sent home have quite unique value for the picture they give of the life of the country at this period, and are so recognized by the Japanese historians. Their outlook is quite different from that of the missionaries who provide practically all the rest of the outside information, and their comment on the character of the people and how they are treated often shows how little fundamentals have changed even now, and is more enlightening than most modern works. They retail the current gossip and political rumours and 1 It may interest Australians to know that this Richard Cocks “Cape Merchant” or Chief of the English Company is the ancestor of Arthur Cocks, Lord Somers, formerly Governor of Victoria.

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descriptions of individuals as well as the market prices and the ways of their households, and it is chiefly from their pages that we know what Adams did in Japan. And all in terse, salty Elizabethan phrase with a most entertaining disregard for any regularity of spelling. The only fly in Ieyasu’s ointment was the existence of Hideyori in the impregnable castle of Osaka, which might well become a rally­ ing ground for those who wished no good to his family, though of the great lords who were the old friends and supporters of Hideyoshi only one was now left. This was Fukushima Masanori, for Kato Kiyomasa and Asano and Ikeda had all died by this time—so fortu­ nately for Ieyasu that it was even suggested that he had them poisoned. Also one hundred and ninety new daimyos had been created, half of them relatives and retainers of the Tokugawa house, and all of them thoroughly identified with its interests. But it was Ieyasu’s nature to leave nothing to chance and to regard the world as a place where “ all men are thieves and it will rain tomorrow” . So he adopted a policy of pin-pricks that made Hideyori’s retainers uneasy and drove them to take measures to ensure their safety, and to welcome and recruit free-lances and unemployed retainers of whom there were many as the result of the wholesale confiscation of fiefs. It is never difficult to find an “ incident” when it is needed. Ieyasu had previously consented to the deification of Hideyoshi as the N ew Hachiman or W ar God, and had encouraged his family to spend very large sums of money on a temple for him, though he was any­ thing but pleased when it was tactfully hinted that he also should contribute. But on the very eve of the great ceremony for its dedica­ tion he protested that the inscription on the great bell of the temple contained an implied imprecation on his house and ordered a post­ ponement. The lady Yodo, mother of Hideyori, and his guardian Katagiri tried to placate Ieyasu; but while he tried to sow discord between them, not without success, he was not able to effect the removal of Hideyori from Osaka or get Yodo to go to Edo as a hostage. So as there was no time to be lost, for he was now seventythree, in the autumn of 16x4 he marched on the fortress with some hundred and fifty thousand men. The defenders under Ono Harunaga, the lady Yodo’s friend and councillor, and Sanada Yukim ura, a very experienced general, were about sixty or seventy thousand, and as he probably expected Ieyasu made little impression on it. H e and Hidetada with their own levies

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and those of the friendly daimyos surrounded the casde on every side, but they never even got inside the outermost of the triple moats that defended it. They did not make many assaults but bombarded the defenders, particularly at night, with a lot of heavy guns. Ieyasu had himself bought five culverins and a saker from the Clove, for they were considered better than the local make. They managed to hit the lady Yodo’s apartment and kill some of her ladies and this, added to the continual suggestions and intrigues that were applied by Ieyasu at the same time, after a while inclined the generals of Hideyori to negotiate. This was done partly through Acha-notsubone, Matron of Ieyasu’s ladies-in-waiting, whom he often employ­ ed in matters of diplomacy and who had been with him in the field in many of his campaigns. So peace was made in January of the next year and it was agreed that Hideyori, his family and his supporters should not be penalized in any way, while they undertook to cause no trouble in future. But Ieyasu got them to agree, merely as a friendly gesture, to fill in the outer moats of the castle, kindly offering to provide the labour. A nd he provided it so generously, or rather caused his allies to do so, that much more was pulled down and filled in than they had bargained for. However, as he pointed out to them, as peace had been made armaments were no longer needed. Then he marched away, and so ended the winter campaign of Osaka. But now the defences of the castle were dangerously weakened it was not likely that Ieyasu would fail to take advantage of it, on the pretext that Hideyori was again enlisting soldiers and preparing to revolt. So in the early summer a large army under Hidetada and his father was again before Osaka. This time the troops of Hideyori did not stay in the castle but took the offensive outside it and a fierce battle was fought. Nothing could have been more valiant than the conduct of the defenders, and the Tokugaw a troops were driven back and almost broken in more than one direction by their fierce and sustained onset. Hidetada’s own bodyguard was rallied with difficulty, but at last the far greater numbers of the Shogunate army succeeded in stemming the attack and, when Sanada and the other leaders fell, their men were driven back into the castle, which was soon afterwards set on fire. Hideyori and his mother and chief retainers committed suicide in the inner keep when they saw that all was over, and Ieyasu afterwards executed the only other survivor

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of the family, a small son of eight, so that the house of Toyotomi was completely destroyed. It was now both safe and expedient to destroy the shrine of the deified Hideyoshi and to obtain his removal from the ranks of the deities by Imperial edict. As Hideyoshi had supplanted the family of Nobunaga so did Ieyasu supplant his. Unquestionably it preserved the peace of the Empire, since there was no other successor as reliable. But Japanese opinion regards the method as little to his credit. After the Osaka affair was finished and all implicated in it put to death wherever they were found, no opposition was left. Without delay Ieyasu summoned all the daimyos to Kyoto and requested them to subscribe to a set of regulations drawn up by the Shogunate called the Law s of the Military Families. “L aw may be contrary to reason,” states this code, “ but reason is no excuse for breaking the law.” And there was no other law during the Tokugawa period but the order of the Shogun. Though the country was not yet closed the fiefs were, for all intercourse between them was strictly prohibited, and all inno­ vations or associations were at once to be reported to the government. Marriages between daimyos, useful as they had been to Ieyasu, were now again forbidden, while proper attention to the distinctions of rank and their appropriate costume was to be insisted on. Frugality was to be practised by the military and learning was not to be neglected. “ The way of letters and of arms” summed up the life of the daimyos and their samurai. Another set of rules was drawn up for the guidance of the Emperor and Court nobility, who were enjoined to keep strictly to themselves and to be diligent in their proper studies (of poetry and classical literature), and in their ceremonial duties at Court. Par­ ticularly were they to shun any intercourse with the military houses. Neither were the Buddhist ecclesiastics overlooked, for similar orders were given to them to deport themselves in conformity with the Sho­ gunate policy. The Shogun’s Council was responsible for enforcing these rules in the case of the daimyos, the Governor of Kyoto and his liaison officers in that of the Court, and the Shrine and Temple Commissioners in that of the ecclesiastics. Buddhist sects were organ­ ized so that the branch temples had to obey the orders of the main temples, and these in turn those of the Bakufu Commissioner. There were many instruments of government in the Tokugawa Bakufu, so that it was not quite an autocracy of the Shogun alone,

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nor did everything necessarily go just as he wished. But on the other hand he was no drawing-room ornament. For every Shogun was the chief of the government as soon as he was appointed, and though his will was not always carried out, yet without him nothing could proceed, for he had the final decision in every question. When he was a child, or too stupid or too senile to bother about the administra­ tion, power might get into the hands of the Tairo or the Council or the Chamberlains, but if he were energetic and capable then these councils and officials were no more than his private secretaries. And even when the administration did fall into the hands of subordinates, should the Shogun take the least offence at anything they did they were liable to instant dismissal or degradation. The Shogun was there­ fore no constitutional ruler but an autocrat with complete power over those under him, whom he could and did condemn to loss of fief, “ gating” , retirement and suicide. Even at the end of the system the great and powerful Nariaki of M i to, one of the Three Families, was summarily retired by the Shogun, just as Tsunayoshi made his much greater ancestor Mitsukuni give up public life. The earlier Shoguns certainly administered themselves, but later on, when the Bakufu became cumbered with conventions and red tape, the Lord of the Empire lived in the seclu­ sion of his palace, accessible only to chamberlains and ladies of the Great Interior. And these latter, since they could often manipulate the Shogun’s views, became so powerful that even ministers like Matsudaira Sadanobu in the late eighteenth century and Mizuno in the early nineteenth were not able to hold their own with them. Probably it was not so often the Shogun’s wife who had this influence over him or even his much better appreciated consorts, but the old dowagers and matrons who dominated this Inner Palace. Wise, or perhaps cunning, ministers and officials found a way to approach these ladies and win them over by bribery or honours or some other attrac­ tion, and so get them to influence the Shogun in their favour. The early days of the seventeenth century saw the beginning of an institution intended to promote public order, the segregated pleasure quarter known at Edo as the Yoshiwara because it was laid out on a reed-plain that was the poorest land in the city. The object of its founder, one Shoji Jinnai, an unattached samurai, was by gov­ ernment control to prevent people spending all their money by limit­ ing the time they could stay there to one day, to enable the authorities

C en tra l Ja p a n .

i8 6

A Short History of Japan

to find out the schemes of plotters and arrest evil-doers, since the disorderly would be sure to frequent it, and to maintain order in the city by limiting brothels to this walled-in enclosure with one entrance and official supervision, and incidentally suitably taxed. In the Tokugawa period this quarter became a common meeting ground for all classes of society and the centre of a peculiar bohemian culture. This principle of segregation was applied also to the theatres, and actors, who were forbidden to live outside their quarter. The ways of these societies should be well known to Europeans since the popular colour prints are so largely their advertisements. One of the consequences of Hideyoshi’s strong administration was the suppression of piracy, which he put down with a firm hand, threatening to confiscate the fief of any daimyo who was found harbouring sea-robbers. Then, to provide the adventurous with a somewhat more honest occupation, he instituted in 1593 the system of “ licensed ships” under the August Red Seal (Go-Shuin) therefore known as Shuin-sen or Red Seal Ships. These armed merchantmen traded all over the Pacific as far as Siam and it may be even farther. They belonged to various merchant-venturer families like Suetsugu of Nagasaki, Chaya, and Sumikura of Kyoto, the Japanese equiva­ lents of the Hawkinses and Frobishers, as well as to the lords Shimazu, Matsuura, Arim a, Nabeshima, and Hosokawa, and even one Father Thomas, apparendy a Christian missionary. Later on W ill Adams and the English Company and Jan Joostens the Dutchman also held this licence, often referred to by Cocks as the “ Goshon” . These ships were generally somewhere about three to four hundred tons, a hundred feet long by nearly fifty wide and carried more than three hundred men. The ancient votive pictures of the period show them to have been of mixed Japanese, Chinese, and European style. They exported Japanese lacquer work and swords, screens, fans, umbrellas, paper, copper, and camphor beside various food­ stuffs and imported cotton and woollen and woven silk stuffs, sugar and incense and drugs. Japanese exports then were good specimens of their art and craft, and do not appear to have been particularly cheap. A s a result of this trade there were many Japanese colonies in the Philippines, Indo-China, and the Pacific Islands, and as these wanderers were as pugnacious abroad as at home a few “ incidents” occurred. Their chance meeting with the same type of English

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explorer, in the person of John Davis, resulted in his death. In 1609 Ieyasu issued an order that Japanese in Manila should obey the laws there and commit no violence as the result of a complaint by the governor of that place. But after that no great interest was taken by the government in these traders, and when the exclusion laws were passed and the size of Japanese ships limited to five hundred \o\u, their settlements were left to languish and eventually died out. It is not very surprising therefore that a present-day Japanese writer should comment, “ Japan then fell out of the current of world pro­ gress and missed the chance of annexing the whole of the South Sea Islands, which for geographical reasons should naturally have fallen into her hands.” 2 Letters that have survived from these settlers show that they lived abroad just as they had done at home, importing Japanese foodstuffs and clothing, and building houses and shrines like those of their native land. One of them, the famous Yamada Nagamasa, became Minister and Regent of Siam for a while, dying there in 1633 by poison as the result of a political intrigue. H e sent a complimentary present of dried sharks and gunpowder to Doi Toshikatsu, Iemitsu’s Tairo, who retorted with another of five pairs of leather breeches. The Dutch continued their trade all through the Tokugawa period, confined to the island of Deshima, connected by a bridge with the Nagasaki waterfront and about two hundred and fifty yards square. There were only some seven or eight of them permanently resident, but they were surrounded by a crowd of servants, interpreters, and officials all maintained by the Dutch Company. These took charge of the ships when they arrived, disarmed them and unloaded them and kept them under observation till they left. The treatment of the Dutch was actually much that of an outside daimyo, for the director and the doctor had the privilege of going up to Edo and having audience with the Shogun. Their trade was entirely in the hands of the Bakufu who entrusted it to a ring of licensed merchants. This Dutch community served, however, as the only means by which the Japanese could keep in touch with the outer world to a certain extent, and by which Europe could obtain some knowledge of Japan. There is much valuable information in the writings of Francis Caron, Director 1629-41, and the well-known History of Englebert Kaempfer, Doctor to the Company 1657-1716, who had 2 Takekoshi, Economic History of Japan.

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A Short History of Japan

audience with Tsunayoshi, while later on the Swedish doctor and botanist Carl Thunberg (c. 1775), pupil of Linnaeus and Professor of Botany in Upsala, taught the Japanese medicine and studied the natural history of the country. Izaac Titsingh who was Director from 1779-84 w rites with much insight on various aspects of commercial, historical, and political affairs, and Philipp von Siebold, Prussian surgeon, who was in Japan from 1823 to 1830, was also very promi­ nent as a source of information and enlightenment to the Japanese liberals of the “ Dutch school” who were agitating, at no small risk to themselves, for removal of the barriers to association with the world outside. D uring his latter years Ieyasu had spent a good deal of time study­ ing Confucianism and history and encouraging scholars and collect­ ing and publishing books.3 Even on his campaigns and the hawking expeditions that were his principal outdoor hobby he would listen to lectures and discuss texts and problems with his favourite Confucian expert, Hayashi Doshun. H is appetite for knowledge of any sort was never satisfied, and his physical energy seemed inexhaustible. W ith the learned priests Tenkai and Suden he would hold consultations on Buddhist affairs, and with Bonshun on Shinto, in both of which cults he took a great and very practical interest. In the early part of 1616 he became ill, and soon afterward was promoted by Imperial edict to be Dajodaijin of the Lower First Rank, the highest possible honour. To the very end he was busy revising the plans to ensure the permanence of the rule of his family and arranging for his own future as its tutelary deity. He died on 17th April, just a week before Shakespeare. H e was buried at Kunozan by the sea just outside Sumpu, and deified under the title of Tosho Dai-Gongen, that is, a Buddha who manifests himself as a Shinto deity. But a year later, under the superintendence of Tenkai, who constituted himself the revealer of the will of the new deity till his death in 1643, he was disinterred and taken in great state to Nikko, which has been the chief seat of his worship ever since. Cocks, the English factor, did not believe the report of his death when he heard it for he thought, “ It is a fable given out on purpose to see how the people would take the matter.” 3 “It is because people’s minds are not logical and enlightened that the Empire is in disorder,” he observed. “And if anyone wishes to get the knowledge of how to rule it properly he will only find it in books. That is why the publication of books is the beginning of beneficent rule.”

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The Shogunate has been described as a permanent martial law converting the country into one great barracks, with a policy antiCourt, anti-daimyo and anti-foreign. A s to the people, they were to be treated with just so much kindness as would ensure the maximum amount of tax and keep them healthy providers of labour and supply. And Hidetada, the second Shogun, certainly set this permanent policy of his father on a thoroughly firm basis. It is to him more than to any other that the Bakufu owes its stability, for had he been weak or unwise at this critical period it might have suffered irreparable damage. Ieyasu had made proposals to the Emperor Go-Yozei for an alliance between his house and the Imperial family, but they were not favour­ ably regarded. However, after his death they were renewed by Hide­ tada through the ever-faithful Todo Takatora and the Udaijin Konoe who was actually the younger brother of the new Emperor Go-Mizuno-o, and this time with success, so that in 1620 Hidetada’s daughter, Kazuko, became the consort of this Emperor. Go-Mizu-no-o Tenno is famous for his literary and artistic ability and fine character, and also for his longevity, for he lived to be eighty-five, the greatest age of any Emperor in historic times. This marriage enabled the Shogun­ ate to infiltrate the Court even more effectually and with due regard for ceremony. For this service Todo received an increase of fifty thousand \o\u, bringing his income up to three hundred and twenty thousand, while the house of Konoe became the leader of the Five Regent Families and stood high in the favour of the Shoguns, who twice took their consorts from it. The daimyos Hidetada treated with consistent though no doubt courteous severity, and made no exceptions in the case of his own rela­ tives, for he deprived his brother Tadateru of his five hundred thou­ sand ho\u fief and similarly made his other brother Tadanao of Echizen retire in favour of his son. It was not long before he found a reason for stripping Honda Masazumi, the former confidant of Ieyasu, of his fief also. His own chief councillor was Doi Toshikatsu, cousin of Ieyasu on his mother’s side. And so he continued to shift and remove all these lords whom the Bakufu considered dangerous or doubtful. Forty in all were thus dealt with in his days and thirty-seven under his son Iemitsu. And all this was very necessary from the standpoint of the Shogunate, which depended for its supremacy on the balance of power of its possible opponents.

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The daimyos were by this time divided into three classes: first, the Related Houses (Shimban or Kam on), sons of Ieyasu and their descendants; second, the Vassal Clans (Fudai), hereditary vassals of his house and their descendants; the third, Outside Feudatories (Tozam a), or lords who did not come under this head. The Bakufu arranged that all the strategic positions should be held by the first two classes, and that the “ outside lords” should be so placed that they were separated by these, and adjacent to unfriendly neighbours. Thus these outside lords mutually checked each other and were in turn restrained by the hereditary vassals. The Related Houses also might in an emergency be controlled by the hereditary vassals, and both these classes were finally overawed by the Shogun’s personal bodyguard, the Hatamoto, whose interests were entirely bound up with those of the Bakufu. H ow successful was this system that Ieyasu put together with such shrewdness can be seen from the fact that from his day till the latest period of the Shogunate in 1850 there was not a single rebellion of any of these feudatories. A s to the foreign policy, Hidetada was also very definite. In the autumn of 1616 Cocks had recommended to the Bakufu that they should take the Philippines from Spain because they were a menace with their warships and troops. H is advice was not taken, but Hide­ tada published an edict ordering all priests to be expelled and all Japanese not only to have nothing to do with Christianity but to give such information as would assist the government in suppressing it, on pain of death if they disobeyed. The persecutions that followed this edict, and which became more and more severe, were the conse­ quences of resisting it, since none but those priests who stayed in the country in defiance of it were executed. In the next six years, up to the time that Hidetada retired, fifteen foreign priests were put to death, most of them by decapitation. But this was not all, for foreign trade was also restricted. N o branches or agencies were allowed and all business was confined entirely to Hirado and Nagasaki and, as Cocks4 put it: “ It was defended that no Japon should buy any mer­ chandize of strangers.” And when Adams applied to “ Codskin 4 Cocks bears very positive testimony to Hidetada’s severity in his observation: “In fine every one complaineth that matters are worse than in the ould man’s daies, and that this man doth nothing but change offecers and displace tonos (lords) send­ ing and changing one into anothcrs contrey. . . . What will come of us and our sute I know not for I tell them it were as good for the Emperor to banish us out of Japon as to shut us up in Firando, it being a place of no sales.”

To\ugawa Period ( 1 600-186j )

19 3

Dono” , as the English called Honda Masazumi (Kozuke Dono) he was told that a Shogun’s edict could not be altered but that some­ thing might be done later on—though of course there was no such intention. These orders were aimed at the Portuguese and Spanish, but they applied also to the Dutch and English, since they too were regarded as Christians of a sort, though neither had supplied any missionaries. In the spirit of its founder the Bakufu was leaving nothing to chance. However they were in good company for, says Tokutomi’s History : If the Bakufu was suspicious of foreign countries in the first place it was not less so of the Imperial Court. These were its two bogies, and it exerted all its power to blockade them and keep them at a respectful distance. The Court was isolated to prevent any possible rebels influenc­ ing it or acting in its name, and while it was always treated with great respect to avoid rousing any popular feeling in its favour, it was not treated with too much, for that might have endangered the position of the Shogunate. In 1622 Hidetada retired and his son Iemitsu became Shogun. Hide­ tada had five daughters who were suitably married to great lords, and one other son Tadanaga by his wife the lady Sogen-in, daughter of Nobunaga’s sister and Asai Nagamasa. She was very strongminded, and Hidetada’s domestic life was unique among Shoguns for its monogamy. She and perhaps Hidetada seem to have preferred Tadanaga. But the nurse of Iemitsu, the lady Kasuga, was equally strong-minded and she informed Ieyasu through Tenkai how matters stood. He immediately came down to Edo and treated Iemitsu as the heir, ostentatiously ignoring Tadanaga. That, of course, setded it, and explains to some extent the extraordinary reverence Iemitsu always showed for his grandfather and the influence both the lady Kasuga and Tenkai had with him. Hidetada’s monogamy was not quite flawless, for he had another son by a lady-in-waiting, though he managed with his usual astuteness to keep it from his wife’s knowledge; but after her death this son was acknowledged and became the very eminent scholar Daimyo Hoshina Masayuki, who shares with Mitsukuni son of Yorifusa, lord of Mito, Ieyasu’s youngest son, the reputation of being the most learned and cultivated of all the early Tokugawas. As soon as Iemitsu was proclaimed Shogun he called together all the daimyos and informed them that, though he was not a waro

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lord who had subjected them by force of arms like his grandfather and father, he proposed to treat them as his vassals as they had done, and if anyone wished to defy him, he could go to his castle and await his attack. None showed any inclination to do so, and Date Masamune at once volunteered to save the Shogun the trouble by march­ ing on any recalcitrant himself. This note is quite in the style of Iemitsu, an imperious and self-willed young man who never quite lost the spoiled child temperament. H e was handsome and dignified and never quite forgot that he was the Great Lord of Edo, so much so that he was far more difficult of approach than either Hidetada or Ieyasu. H e had neither the slightly deferential manner of the first nor the disciplined urbanity of the second. Consequently he did not take any criticism at all well, and was often saved from indiscretions only by the wisdom of his councillors. These were very experienced and capable men—Doi Toshikatsu, Sakai Tadayo, Sakai Tadakatsu, Ii Naotaka, Matsudaira Nobutsuna “ the Wise” , and several others— and all these just mentioned were Tokugawa relatives except Ii, Chief of the Fudai Daimyo. The two councils were constituted during this period, the Roju or Senior Council consisting of five lords, each of whom was in attend­ ance for one month in rotation, while the others were available for consultation when needed. One of them might be specially selected as Tairo5 (Chief Elder) or Chancellor, though this was not so much a fixed office as a function rather like chairman of the Council and was by no means always filled, for from the Shogunate of Ienobu to that of Ieshige there was no Tairo. When the Shogun was a child a guardian (Koken) was appointed for him from the Three Houses, K ii, Owari, and Mito, descended from the three youngest sons of Ieyasu from whom the heir to the Shogunate was to be taken failing an heir in the direct line. The lord of Mito might be the Vice-Shogun, and had a smaller salary than the other two. When the Shogun was a minor an adjutant was selected from his relations to assist him and in this capacity Matsu­ daira Tadaaki served Iemitsu, and Hoshina Masayuki, Ietsuna.

5 The name of this office was taken from that of Hideyoshi’s Five Tairo but it w somewhat equivalent to the Shikken or Regent of Kamakura days. Doi Toshikatsu and Sakai Tadakatsu were first appointed in 1 6 3 9 by Iemitsu “to consult with the Great Vassals when any specially important question arises and to be free from lesser affairs” . But a Tairo was not Regent and his influence varied according to the indi­ vidual and the period.

T o \u g a w a Period ( i6oo-i86y)

19 5

The Senior Council supervised the affairs of the daimyos and under it was formed a Junior Council (Waka-doshiyori) which saw to those of the Hatamoto and lesser retainers. They were something like the Five Commissioners of Hideyoshi, but there were six of them. Both councils were chosen from Fudai daimyos only, though there were some exceptions to this in the last days of the Shogunate; and any talented vassal, not necessarily a daimyo, might be appointed to the Junior Council, which was very often a training place for the Senior. Those who were chosen to sit on these councils had gener­ ally first to serve in one of the great offices such as Lord Warden of Osaka, Governor of Kyoto and then perhaps as Shogunal Chamberlain or Secretary (Soba-shu). In the early days these councils met in the Council Chamber (Goyobeya), adjoining the sitting-room of the Shogun, so that he could overhear their deliberations at his pleasure; but after the assassina­ tion of one of the councillors in the time of Tsunayoshi, the fifth Shogun, they were removed to a distance. Their views were then conveyed by the chamberlains, who became correspondingly more influential. A very important official was the O-metsuke or Chief Censor who was the “ eyes and ears” of the Senior Council, and had charge of the supervision of everything concerning the daimyos, their families, status, and movements, something like a combination of the Chief of the Peerage Bureau and Chief of Police of the present day. Under him were the censors (Metsuke) who acted in a similar capacity under the Junior Council and supervised the affairs of the Hatamoto and lesser Bakufu retainers whose incomes were less than ten thou­ sand ko\u. Below them again were the Foot-Metsuke and Minor Metsuke who looked after the lesser samurai who were below the rank of those who could be received by the Shogun. As to the rest of humanity, it was in charge of the various com­ missioners and local deputies (D aikan), if on territory that belonged to the Shogun, or under similar officers of the provincial lords if on that of a daimyo. Great cities had two or more city commissioners who were the judicial as well as administrative officers in charge of the people. They administered justice and other things from their official residences which were their courts, and had a force of police officers and constables (Yoriki and Doshin) beside their own samurai. The people were organized under village chiefs in the country and

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ward chiefs in the towns, who were held responsible for the good behaviour of those under them. There were also representatives of guilds and the groups of five families into which the population was divided, all bound to give information to the officials in case of any apparent infraction of the laws, and all liable to have the consequences visited on all members of group and family if they did not. When Hidetada retired to the Western Castle as Ogosho Sama or Abdicated Shogun the system was almost complete, though Iemitsu was able to put the finishing touches to it just as he completed the outer moats of the castle. And he too was almost as severe toward the daimyos as his father had been and he shifted and reduced only three less. After his time they were completely subdued. His own brother Tadanaga who was, or was considered likely to be, trouble­ some, was removed from his fief and requested to commit suicide. Another institution of this period was the Hyojosho or H igh Court which consisted of the city, temple and finance commissioners, the chief censor, one of the Senior Council, and other officials. The full court sat three times a month from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and there were three other less formal sittings of the three commissioners with a chamberlain and a censor to hear evidence. In 1717, under Yoshimune, a petition box was instituted at this court into which anyone might put a complaint. It was taken to the Shogun and unlocked by him with a key which he alone possessed. The courts of the three commissioners were also held three times a month on a different day in their residences. The councils, commissioners, and censors were also duplicated in the Western Castle where the Shogun’s heir or the Abdicated Sho­ gun resided; so there too, as in the Main Castle, was a numerous and ever-increasing staff of officials, both male and female, whose busi­ ness it was to conduct the more and more complicated ceremonial that came to hedge in this headquarters of the Bakufu government. It was largely the result of the inevitable influence of Kyoto, which set in when the Shogun’s consorts and their suites and their advisers and following of artists and aesthetes began to flow from that centre of culture, and it caused the Shogun’s Court to bear a strong resemblance to that of the Old Serai at Constantinople, though on a much larger and more elaborate scale. Nothing could have been more incom­ patible than all this with the views of Ieyasu, who had inspected the socks of his ladies-in-waiting before allowing them to be passed

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on, and made them do their own washing. But he was now a deity and, as with other gods, his divinity was more important than his advice. Iemitsu made an imposing visit to Kyoto with a great armed force and demonstrated the might of the Bakufu there, and even in such a small affair as the granting by the Emperor of robes of honour to two eminent Buddhist ecclesiastics, the Shogunate interfered and deprived them of these because its permission had not been sought. The Emperor Go-Mizu-no-o therefore abdicated and his daughter by the sister of Iemitsu was put on the Throne at the age of seven as the Empress Myosho, the first female Sovereign for 860 years. The channels of communication between the Court and the Shogun were the liaison officials called Denso, chosen from among the courtiers, whose business it was to report anything and everything that happened there to the Shoshidai or Shogun’s deputy in Kyoto, who again forwarded it to the Emperor. There were also the Giso, similar officials of higher rank who acted in the same capacity between the palace and the Shogun. The concentration of the spiritual side of life round Edo was also advanced in this period by the building of the imposing shrine of Nikko as the mausoleum of Ieyasu, and that of the Kaneiji temple at Edo as a rival to the temple of Hieizan at Kyoto. These things were planned by Archbishop Tenkai and Todo Takatora and the Kaneiji was built on Todo’s estate. It was of the Tendai sect, and here later on, as Tenkai suggested, an Imperial Prince was installed as abbot of both establishments together, N ikko and Ueno, known as Rinnoji-no-miya. The Bakufu therefore became independent of Kyoto, for this Imperial abbot could at any time be proclaimed Emperor. Since Iemitsu was such a profound believer in the divinity of his grandfather, one of the first things he did was to plan a mausoleum shrine for him at N ikko which should be the most resplendent in the country. For twelve years nearly six thousand carpenters and seven thousand workmen were occupied on it and when it was finished in 1636 it had cost at least two million pounds. A ll the best crafts­ men from the whole Empire were requisitioned and two daimyos were in charge as Commissioners of Works. Eighteen years later a similar shrine was begun for Iemitsu himself, and so he alone shares the special distinction of the Great Founder in his mountain retreat.

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The Bakufu provided most of the funds for the construction, though some daimyos offered valuable contributions, such as the five-storeyed pagoda of red and black lacquer work 105 feet high from Sakai Tadakatsu, and the stone torii from Kuroda Nagamasa. But where the Tokugawa shrines both here and in Edo differed from other such buildings was in the outside being as highly decorated as the interior, so that very frequent renewal was needed; and these restorations, which were practically continuous, were one of those “ embarrassing favours” conferred by the Bakufu on the daimyos to keep them in what it considered a suitably healthy state of penury. Another device for the same purpose that had its origin under Iemitsu was the “ Sankin-kotai” system or “ Coming into residence for alternate periods” . This meant that all daimyos had to stay in Edo and in their own province for alternate years, except those who lived in the Edo district, when it was for half this time. As they travelled with a large train and had more than one mansion in Edo, all the greater ones having at least three (Upper, Middle, and Lower mansions, the first quite close to the castle for convenience when they were in waiting) it followed that the expense was very great and money drained from all directions into Edo. And so were both wealth and power centralized in the hands of the government, and the feudatories became more and more tamed. But it is for his foreign policy that Iemitsu is most famous, though it was more the result of Bakufu principles than of his personal views, for it was difficult to ensure the continuity of the system in any other way. But the continued resistance of Christianity could not be toler­ ated by such an imperious autocrat and he ordered the persecution started by Hidetada to be intensified.6 So in 1624 all intercourse with Spain and the Philippines was interdicted and Japanese Christians were forbidden to leave the country. Only the Portuguese and Dutch were left and they were hostile to each other. The new Commissioner for Nagasaki, Takenaka Uneme, began a campaign of torture against all Christians and it may be he, or Inoue Chikugo who followed him, who introduced the torture of “ the pit” which made the Jesuit Pro­ vincial Ferreyra apostatize. Recalcitrants were hung up head-down-

6 The story that Hidetada sent one Ibi Masayoshi to Europe to study conditio there and on his return listened to him uninterruptedly for three days, is perhaps uncorroborated, but Cocks had told Doi how the Jesuits had been banished from England for the gunpowder plot and stirring up sedition. Date’s mission, too, probably brought an unfavourable report.

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wards in this pit till they recanted or died. Possibly it was suggested by the experiences of the Dutch, for Don Frederick son of Alva hung people by their feet from gallows. Very many met their death in this way, but missionaries continued to come to Japan in spite of it. And the stoic courage of the converts was remarkable. Caron, the Dutch factor, observes truly and with quiet impartiality: “ Neither men nor women are afraid of death. Yet an uncommon steadfastness in the faith must, at the same time, be requisite to continue in these trying circumstances.” The “ trying circumstances” included roasting and boiling and other tortures as well as the pit. But those who recanted were pensioned and well cared for. In 1630 Matsukura, lord of Shimabara, undertook to invade and conquer Manila, and had made considerable preparations when he died and nothing more was done. But his fief became famous as the scene of a rebellion that finally decided the Bakufu to close the country completely. Matsukura’s heir was a prodigal and spent with great free­ dom in Edo money he wrung out of his peasants and farmers, many of whom were dispossessed samurai. So they revolted and most of the persecuted Christians in Kyushu joined them in desperation. About twenty thousand fortified themselves in the ruined castle of Hara on a cliff by the sea, and their leader was a Christian named Masuda. The Bakufu sent a force against them under Itakura Shigemasa, a trusted vassal, but it was repulsed with heavy loss and he was killed. Then Matsudaira Nobutsuna, the sage of the council, was put in command, and with levies from the Kyushu feudatories he besieged it with more than a hundred thousand men. He was assisted by the Dutch factor Koeckebacker, who lent a twenty-gun ship to bombard the place from the sea. Eventually the garrison was exhausted by continuous artillery fire and the position was carried by a fierce attack in which all the defenders were destroyed. Naturally such a serious affair made a deep impression on the government, and they issued orders that no foreigners except the Dutch should be allowed to remain in the country and that no Japanese should leave it, while those who had already left should be executed if they dared to return. And to show that they meant it, when the Portuguese of Macao sent an embassy to explain, the Bakufu arrested and executed all four of the envoys as well as fifty-seven of the crew, and burnt the ship. A s for the Dutch, they were confined to the island of Deshima,

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$ J&p&nese Trading Pert... ® J\p *n e s s Residents... b Japanese Town Japanese colonizing and trading activities in the Pacific before the Closing Edict of 1636.

a small area in Nagasaki connected with the mainland by a bridge, which they were not allowed to cross. And their ships were carefully disarmed and put under guard by the Bakufu officers and their trade had to be conducted through specially selected merchants. N o demon­ strations of Christianity were permitted and even the date in Anno Domini had to be eschewed.7 This early period of the Bakufu was a flourishing one for art. Following on the development under Hideyoshi, who encouraged all branches of it, there was plenty of construction to keep artists and craftsmen busy under Hidetada and Iemitsu, especially the latter who liked a fine setting for the imposing ceremonial in which he delighted to play the central part. The Kano artists, Tannyu and Naonobu, followed on Eitoku and Sanraku and decorated the Sho­ gun’s palaces and shrines, while Honami Koetsu, who inaugurated 7 In 1 6 3 6 the Bakufu prohibited the construction of any ship over five hundred hpk.u or built so that it would be navigable outside the coastal areas.

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a really Japanese style of decoration, and to whom Ieyasu had given land for a village of artists near Kyoto, was still alive, and so too was Konoe Ozan, a great aesthete and litterateur, who became Kambaku in 1623. H e was the son of the Emperor Go-Yozei, adopted into the Konoe house. The Kano house was chosen by the Tokugawas as the official academy of painting, just as the Hayashi family was as official professors of Confucianism, for there was no sphere of life which the Bakufu did not control. Iemitsu was a devotee of Cha-no-yu also and the influence of his Tea-masters, Kobori Enshu and Katagiri Sekishu, on architecture and interior decoration was naturally con­ siderable. The K abuki or popular drama had now come into being ^ ith its theatre quarters at Edo and elsewhere. Here the common people could go and divert themselves as the samurai did with the No, for by this time the samurai were forbidden to mix with the lesser breeds or to engage in any kind of industry or trade. A new set of regulations was issued to all classes ordering the people not to wear certain fabrics or use specified articles of luxury, and telling the farmer just what he must and must not grow and what he must eat and drink, and adjuring him to work hard if he wished to avoid punishment. It was the first of a series of such orders issued all through the Tokugawa period,8 reinforced by placards put in public places, and not seldom by a severed head with a suitable inscription. In the days of Ieyasu there was a revival of Confucian studies owing to the enthusiasm of Fujiw ara Seigwa and his pupil Hayashi Razan (1583-1657), and Ieyasu’s interest in learning prompted him to patron­ ize Hayashi and make him official Confucianist to the Shogunate. The system these scholars studied was the school called Teishu, which had evolved during the Sung period and was the most fashionable one in China. It was a blend of the varieties of Confucianism with Buddhist and Taoist philosophy, so that in addition to its ethical side it had an explanation of man and the universe, with which Con­ fucius had not concerned himself. Since Ieyasu realized the necessity of providing the Empire with a suitable official philosophy, and especially one that emphasized the virtues of loyalty and filial piety, he had this Teishu school adopted, and it retained this position all through the Tokugawa era, with the Hayashi family as its hereditary 8 Among them was a prohibition of all sorts of gambling, public and private, under penalty of banishment and confiscation of property. In this the modern Japanese government follows the example of the Bakufu.

Arrangements of the daimyos in 1643. Triangles indicate hereditary vassals; circles indicate outside lords.

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exponents. That was not because it was necessarily the best possible but because the Bakufu could do no wrong. O f course it did not preclude Buddhism. That, too, had its uses, and both Tendai, the sect of Archbishop Tenkai which included Shinto, and Zen, that of Suden and the aesthetes and favoured by Iemitsu, were popular enough. The Am ida sects of Jodo and Shinshu appealed as before to the peasants and workers, for Confucianism could only be an educa­ tion for the leisured samurai. On the other hand there was an opposition philosophy, that of Oyomei, which owed its fame to its adoption by Nakae, the peasant stage of Omi, and Kum azawa Banzan, the wise samurai administrator who served Ikeda of Bizen. This system is monist of the type of the Vedanta of India and teaches the supreme importance of intuition, and of altruism and righteousness for its own sake; whereas Teishu is dualistic like the Sankya and insists that ethical conduct must be the result of knowledge. Nakae Toju was a lofty and benevolent, and at the same time practical and broad-minded, character, very similar to Kagawa Toyohiko of the present day, and their tenets were similar too, for Nakae was entirely this-worldly. The Bakufu did not appre­ ciate this opposition and suppressed by severe penalties from time to time what they regarded as dangerous thought that had not the official imprimatur. Another kind of thought they liked equally little, though it was much more elusive, was that of the Imperialists who insisted that Japan was a unique and divine country and emphasized the reverence due to the god-descended Imperial house in this period just as Kitabatake had done in that of Ashikaga. Foreign contact stimulated these ideas, as might be expected, and the pioneer in Tokugawa days was Yam aga Soko (1622-85), a professor of the military art and originally a disciple of the official school of Hayashi, which he afterwards attacked and fell into disfavour accordingly. And it is he who appears to be the real originator of that combination of martial virtue with Confucian and Buddhist sentiments that is called Bushido, and is the product of the peaceful days of the Tokugawa Shoguns. He is also famous as the teacher of Oishi Kuranosuke the chief of the Ako Ronin, who is prominent as one of the chief practical exponents of this Bushido, and through the drama perhaps its greatest propagandist. The Emperor G o-K 5 myo who reigned from 1643 to 1654 was the son of Go-Mizu-no-o Tenno and was, like his father, full of intelli-

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gence and energy. He studied philosophy, particularly that of Teishu, with great enthusiasm and even took an interest in the military arts, which the Bakufu naturally regarded as highly improper in such a personage. But he did not take after his father in longevity, for he died of smallpox when only twenty-two. A s he had a strong will and a great distaste for the poetry and Japanese classics which the Shogunate considered the only desirable literary fare for an occupant of the throne, it is likely that had he lived there would have been some awkward possibilities for the government. After Go-Komyo two more sons of the abdicated Emperor GoMizu-no-o succeeded as Go-Saiin and Reigen, so that four of his sons reigned during the lifetime of their father who had all the power, such as it was, for the Bakufu had restored the rule of the abdicated Emperor. In contrast to the Shogun the Imperial families were large, for Go-Mizu-no-o had thirty-two children, his father GoYozei had twenty-six, while his two sons Go-Saiin and Reigen had twenty-eight and thirty-two respectively. This was perhaps a special burst of fertility, but many other sovereigns had equalled and even surpassed it. In 1646 the Court agreed to send an Imperial envoy to Nikko every year. This was a distinction formerly confined to the Ise shrine but the custom had fallen into abeyance owing to want of funds. So the Shogunate now provided them and the envoy was again sent there too, thus placing the two shrines on a similar footing. DEVELO PM EN T OF TH E BA KUFU :

1651-1716

Iemitsu was unfortunately unable to prolong his life to the extent he might have liked, for he died at the age of forty-eight and so was not able to retire and train his son to take his place. He wished to be accompanied to the other world, however, and so the councillors Hotta Masamori and Abe Shigetsugu with several other lesser vassals committed suicide to follow him. His eldest son Ietsuna was only ten years old, so Hoshina Masayuki, the late Shogun’s half-brother, acted as his guardian, while Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who was too wise to commit seppuku, continued with Ii Naotaka and Sakai Tadakatsu to function as before. The lady Kasuga and Tenkai had both departed in 1643, but their work was well done and all the younger govern­ ing clique were their clients. H ow all-pervading was their influence

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is apparent from the dry remark of the old wit Okubo Hikozaemon, whom no one could abash, when the Bakufu forces were repulsed at Shimabara: “ They want the Old Lady and the Old Monk to lead them.” Todo Takatora, who had predeceased them by three years, was scarcely less of a power in the background, and these three, who never held any special office, certainly had much more influence than the councils. And thus it has so often been in Japan. Through them the spirit of Ieyasu still lived and they had set his divinity on a firm basis. Kasuga also organized the O-oku, or Great Inner Palace of the castle,

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where the Shogun’s consorts and their ladies lived, and she is credited with the institution of the guarded wall and brass door that secluded it from the outer world, but did not prevent its inmates following in her footsteps at times and making themselves very potent factors in the government. The early days of Ietsuna’s Shogunate were unfortunate, for two rather curious affairs happened. One was the conspiracy of Y ui Shosetsu and Marubashi Chuya, a kind of Japanese gunpowder plot, and the other was the Great Fire of Meireki (1657). This conspiracy was the most serious attempt to overthrow the government that ever occurred in its history. But it may have been intended to displace supposedly evil councillors rather than to destroy the Shogunate altogether. The plot had been maturing for some years and the death of Iemitsu provided the occasion. The arrangement was to blow up the Bakufu arsenal, set fire to Edo, and then assassi­ nate the members of the council as they hurried to the castle. The rebels would then force their way in under the guise of retainers of Yorinobu, lord of K ii, and kidnap the Shogun. Y u i was in Suruga, which he was to seize simultaneously, and Marubashi in Edo, and other emissaries were to arrange outbreaks in Osaka and Kyoto. But the authorities got wind of it just in time, so that Y u i and his men were killed or committed suicide while resisting arrest, and Marubashi was taken, tortured, and executed. A ll their relations and connections were crucified too, though the worst torture did not force any betrayal of others who must have been concerned in it. The conspirators were mostly unemployed samurai or Ronin who always formed a dangerous reservoir of anti-government elements and were ready to engage in any risky gamble for excitement or profit. | It was not long after this that the wearing of swords and the possession ' of firearms was prohibited to all but samurai. In 1657, early in March, the whole city of Edo was reduced to ashes, from the Shogun’s castle to the tradesmen’s shops. A ll the great man­ sions of the daimyos and the temples and bridges were destroyed, and the loss of life was more than a hundred thousand, which Mur­ doch, writing before the great calamity of 1923, considered incredible, but which was about equalled on that occasion. This heavy mortality was caused on both occasions by the rapid rush of the fire through 1 the close-packed wooden houses before a strong wind, and by the difficulty of escape where the many moats and rivers penned the

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people in when the bridges were burnt. It was only after this that the Ryogoku bridge over the Sumida River was built, and some attempts made to improve the planning of the city generally, though naturally more for the advantage of its military population than any­ one else. And the mansions of the daimyos were not rebuilt with the splendour, recalling the Momoyama period, that some of them seem to have exhibited before. A better supply of water was also brought to Edo by two citizens who volunteered to make an aque­ duct from the Tam agawa, thirty miles long. The Bakufu assisted with a subsidy and made them a present of money and a grant of the family name of Tam agawa when it was finished, but in Japan honours do not come easily or often to civilians. Some civilians, however, began to become wealthy, and so not entirely insignificant, as the career of Kawam ura Zuiken demon­ strates, for he hurried away out of the burning city to corner all the timber he could buy in the neighbouring provinces and profited accordingly, even though the Bakufu did fix prices to prevent the further fleecing of the citizens. His interest in timber transport led him to undertake a number of engineering works to improve river navigation and he did much for irrigation and the prevention of floods. By this time also the ancestors of some of the great banking houses were beginning to develop their financial powers as exchange mer­ chants who handled the rice incomes of the daimyos at their ware­ houses in Osaka, always the centre of Japanese commerce. Wealthiest of all these were Yodoya, which did not survive, and Konoike, which still does. A little later, in 1673, Mitsui Hachirobei started in Kyoto the business that was soon to extend to Edo, to become ever greater there and eventually, after the restoration of 1868, spread farther and make itself felt in every part of the world as one of the biggest financial and industrial combines in existence. By about 1672 or so all the old councillors of Ietsuna had passed away, one of the last being his sagacious uncle Hoshina Masayuki. The one strong-minded character left now was Sakai-uta-no-kami Tadakiyo, grandson of Tadayo, Ieyasu’s adviser, and of the house that of all the Fudai daimyos was most closely related to the Tokugawas. H e was more pushing than wise and capable, and he thrust all the others into the background and reigned supreme as Tairo, to which office he was promoted in 1666, chiefly because there was nobody else firm enough to oppose him. Ietsuna was a

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kindly and cultured man but with little interest in the details of government, so that it was notorious that he would always merely say “Sayo itase” to anything his councillors suggested, and he was therefore dubbed the “ So be it Shogun”, while the arbitrary Tadakiyo was similarly nicknamed the “ Shogun outside the Gate” because his mansion was just outside the main gate of the castle.9 A s Ietsuna was mostly ill during the last decade of his life the Tairo became even more independent and seems to have become so accustomed to this condition that he wished to perpetuate it after his master’s death, for when that event was near in 1680 he proposed that an Imperial Prince should be made Shogun. There may be a difference of opinion as to why he did this, but anyhow it was an action more in his own interest than in that of the Bakufu. And he might have carried his proposal but for the unexpected and unyielding opposition of Inaba Masatoshi, a younger member of the council, and a conscientious and stubborn character who was entirely without any ulterior motive. H e was outspoken and always con­ sidered the advantage of the Bakufu before his own. A s Ietsuna left no son the obvious heir was his brother Tsunayoshi, Iemitsu’s fourth son; for the second, Tsunashige, lord of Kofu, had died leaving an heir Tsunatoyo, afterwards the Shogun Ienobu, and the third had also not survived. Tsunayoshi had been made lord of Tatebayashi Casde with an income of twenty-five thousand I{o\u and was an experienced man of thirty-four when he succeeded. O f all the fifteen Shoguns of the Tokugawa line Tsunayoshi was the most remarkable personality. H e was a strong and entirely auto­ cratic ruler completely indifferent to anyone else’s views and never tolerating any councillor who might try to interfere. Y et in spite of all this his excessive filial affection placed his mother in a position of supreme influence.10 And as she was a superstitious woman consider­ ably under the sway of a Buddhist priest this influence was further complicated again. It was from this connection that the “ animal 9 One thing that Tadakiyo did was to prohibit junshi or suicide on the death of one’s lord. He objected to it, perhaps not disinterestedly, as depriving the new lord of trusted supporters, as Ieyasu had done. When this prohibition was flouted by the councillors of Okudaira, lord of Utsunomiya, shortly afterwards, the heir was removed and deprived of twenty thousand kpk.u as a penalty. This effectually dis­ couraged it. 1 0 “Tsunayoshi was strong enough to impose his rule on the whole country and filial enough to submit to that of his mother.” —Tokutomi.

I liT M I i l I Tokugawa Hidetada in court dress.

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protecting” legislature that afflicted the people and gave Tsunayoshi the nickname of “ Dog Shogun” proceeded. His mother was certainly favoured by fortune. She was the daughter of a Kyoto greengrocer and was adopted by a scion of a Court noble family named Honjo when her mother, on becoming a widow, went to him first as housekeeper and then as consort. The daughter, O Tama, was recommended as a maid to the powerful lady Kasuga, and by her brought into contact with Iemitsu, who was pleased to favour her. And when she bore him a son she was correspondingly exalted in rank and emoluments. But since she had a peasant faith in Buddhism, before his birth she had consulted a monk Ryoken who foretold that she would have a son and that not only would he become a great lord, which would not be difficult to foretell, but also that he would become the “ Lord of the Empire” . When these things duly came to pass, a great and splendid temple, the Gokokuji at Otsuka, was built for Ryoken and he was naturally made an arch­ bishop. It became the chief seat in Edo of the Shingon sect to which he belonged. But the superstition of the lady Keishoin, as Tsunayoshi’s mother is usually called, did not stop here. Archbishop Ryoken had a disciple named Ryuko who was even more insinuating than he, and this disciple came to Edo and soon became equally favoured. His plan of advancement was to pray for a son for the Shogun who had no heir, for his one son had died young, and all the temples and prayers and odd legislation never procured him another. However, Ryuko got his temple, the Gojiin, an elaborate Ieyasu shrine and Shingon temple combined, and he too became an archbishop. The zeal of Keishoin went still farther, for she and her son gave huge sums of money for other Buddhist and Shinto establishments as well. All this building went to impoverish the already depleted treasury of the Shogunate, and must have been very entertaining; but Ryuko was then moved to prompt Tsunayoshi to do what was far more enter­ taining for posterity than for those who had to suffer it. Ryuko’s opinion was that the not specially merciful habits of the Shogun’s ancestry were the cause of his childlessness and might be corrected by a special campaign of “ kindness to animals”, especially dogs, since Tsunayoshi happened to be born in the Year of the Dog.11 11 The years were calculated according to the Zodiacal signs. His two chamber­ lains, Makino, twelve years older, and Yanagisawa, twelve years younger, were also born in the dog year, and the three were commonly called the “Three Boss Dogs”. P

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So the Bakufu set to work and issued regulations prohibiting the killing or ill-usage of any kind of animal, and for the next twenty years until Tsunayoshi’s death more and more stringent and minute orders were issued for the cherishing and pampering of animal and even reptile and insect life, but above all of dogs. A ll the forces of the Bakufu, administrative, military, and police, were concentrated on enforcing this legislation, and the lives of the citizens were of far less value than those of animals, for the number of people executed and imprisoned and fined for breaches of these prohibitions was very great. H igh officers and samurai were exiled for shooting at a bird, and naturally the daimyo in whose services they were was mulcted too, for the Bakufu could never resist the temptation to impoverish a feudal lord. But it was the ordinary people who were the most inconvenienced, for they had to report every phase of a dog’s life to the authorities: its colour, its sex, its family, the state of its health, and above all its death and the manner of it. Should there be any suspicious circumstances about this, all the might of the law would be employed to discover the cause and the culprit. Nobody dared to strike or even admonish a dog, and how perplexed the local authori­ ties were may be seen from the curious statement: “ The Grand Council does not, after consideration, think it seemly that there should be provided in each block a bucket inscribed ‘Dog-parting water’ with an attendant bearing a ladle and wearing a jacket with the character ‘D og’ on the back of it.” Such was the business that the Go R 5 ju had perforce to deliberate about in these days. But though the people generally suffered there were some adaptable ones whom “ kindness to animals” brought to distinction, for instance, the chamberlain who got himself appointed Lord Warden of the Kennels, and by his assiduity rose to be a member of the Junior Council; and the chopstick maker who made a reputation by curing a few animals and so became in such demand as physician to the “ Hon. M r D og”, as such a privileged animal was usually now called, that he became very wealthy. And there was plenty of opportunity, for the Shogun gave a lot of land for dog institutions where all the strays were fed and looked after at the public expense, since there was a very large increase in their numbers now that no puppies were killed; and these establishments had large numbers of well-paid officers, D og Com­ missioners, D og Samurai, and of course the necessary Dog-doctors, while the beasts were taken there in comfortable palanquins escorted

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by Bakufu officers before whom all the common people had to bow down. Tsunayoshi’s relations with his councils and the daimyos were more autocratic than those of any before him. Since Hotta Masatoshi had been so instrumental in making him Shogun it was natural that he should become Tairo and he was an extremely good one. He worked hard for the improvement of local administration and the benefit of the people generally as he saw it, and he raised the salaries of the officials too, for they had already become rather inade­ quate. A ll this with the co-operation of Tsunayoshi, who made his gesture to the daimyos almost as soon as he became Shogun, by sitting in great state with all the councils, commissioners, high officers of his household and the great daimyos as supreme judge in the High Court to decide the case of a scandal in one of the related feudal families. Nearly all concerned were exiled and the daimyo removed, and the effect was most salutary. And Tsunayoshi was quite as strict as his predecessors had been in intimidating these lords, for under him more than twenty of the greater ones were changed and a much larger number of lesser men. However, nothing was ordinary about Tsunayoshi and after four years of office Hotta was assassinated by a fellow councillor Inaba Masayasu in the corridor just outside the council chamber. The motive, though not very clear, was probably extreme irritation with Hotta’s domineering and puritanic manner, which had apparently given offence all round. And it must have been a relief to Tsunayoshi, who by nature was not in the least sympathetic with such a regime. As the result of this murder the councillors ceased to meet so near the Shogun’s chamber and the chamberlains became the go-betweens through whom information was brought to him. This made them the more powerful and Tsunayoshi’s methods further increased their influence. For he did not appoint anyone else Tairo, but practically governed through these chamberlains, especially through one who possessed the required skill and adaptability to do what he wanted and keep him well amused. This was Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, who rose from being just an ordinary samurai attendant to be lord of the important fief of K ofu with one hundred and fifty thousand \o!{u, by the use of much the same methods as had brought Ryoken and Ryuko archbishops; that is, by ingratiating himself both with the Shogun and his mother.

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Tsunayoshi was the most learned of all the Shoguns, and his hobby was to act as professor of both Chinese and Japanese classics, which he was well qualified to do. So he used to give lectures on these texts to the daimyos when they came to visit him, and it was largely in this connection that Yanigasawa obtained his favour, for he was able to be scholarly and artistic and support his master in his studies and lectures. And the Shogun’s enthusiasm for learning led him to build and endow the Seido or College of Confucianism in Edo, and also to give the Confucian scholars official position and rank which greatly improved their standing, for till now they had been ecclesi­ astics with a monk’s tonsure and Buddhist title. Hayashi, chief of the Edo college, was now given the title of “ Lord of Learning” (Daigaku-no-kami) and respected accordingly. This was a flourishing period for literature, for three of the most prominent men of letters belong to it: Chikamatsu Monzaemon, famous Japanese dramatist; Ibara Saikaku, a first-rate novelist and essayist; and Matsuo Basho, whose short poems also take first rank. The N o drama had always been patronized by the Court and nobility, but under Tsunayoshi it was specially singled out for favour, and N o performers of the Five Families were given official positions. Painting and architecture was no less stimulated, for temples, man­ sions and gardens were constructed in large numbers and craftsmen of all kinds were needed for the decorations, furniture, costumes, and appurtenances of a life as elegant as has ever been seen in any country. A nd as Tsunayoshi grew older he became more and more given up to luxurious living and to every kind of pleasure, normal and abnormal. Hanabusa Icho, Ogata Korin, Ogawa Kenzan, Kano Doan, Kano Tsunenobu, and Hishikawa Moronobu adorned this era. But all this expenditure, added to the result of natural calamities which were many, caused the Bakufu great financial difficulties which were even felt by the Shogun personally. They did not start in his days, for the great fire and its accompanying loans and rebuilding under Ietsuna had not left Tsunayoshi with a very healthy treasury. In fact the burden of the government was beginning to be too much for theTokugaw aBakufu,for it had to administer the country entirely out of its own private income of about four million \o\u, since it did not tax the daimyos or the people generally. This was because in the early days there had been no need, and Ieyasu could hardly

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have foretold the increasing expenses his successors would have to meet. And the only way they were able to meet them was by debas­ ing the coinage and issuing more and more stringent prohibitions of luxury. But from this time the military became more embarrassed in their living, and the wealth, and to a great extent the power, of the merchants and financiers increased. Of course this latter process was resented and business people who were too ostentatious were liable to be stripped of all their possessions, as in the famous case of Yodoya Tatsugoro of Osaka, who lost everything for daring to possess objects that the greatest daimyo might have coveted. So it was decided to issue coins that contained less gold and silver than those of the beginning of the Shogunate, and this was done several times by Ogiwara Shigehide, Commissioner for the Treasury. The result was, as might be expected, an outbreak of counterfeiting and a rise in prices which particularly affected the Hatamoto and samurai, for the price of rice in which they were paid did not rise. The Bakufu made a large profit, however, and probably the officials did too. Ogi­ wara particularly got the credit of filling his pockets at the expense of the people and was eventually dismissed after the death of Tsuna­ yoshi. In an age like this corruption was likely to be more than ordinarily widespread, and where the custom of present-giving and polite remuneration of professional services by gifts is the normal procedure, as it is in Japan, the limits of bribery are always difficult to define. However, since in the country districts and provinces money was less used and barter and rice-currency were common, this debasing of the coinage was not so harmful there as in the great cities. Ordinary farmers never at any time had much of it. Naturally the thrift ordinances did not apply to the Shogun and his friends, for though daimyos and samurai officials were forbidden to use gold and silver in their clothing, ornaments, and furniture, and farmers and citizens were told to dress and live as simply as possible, in the course of eighteen years Tsunayoshi paid fifty-four ceremonial visits to the mansion of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, and on no occasion was the necessary expenditure less than ten thousand gold ryo. These large sums no doubt went largely into the pockets of artists, decorators, and purveyors. And this question of bribery, or presents, underlay the notorious case of the Vendetta of the Forty-seven Ronin, probably the most

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famous of any story in Japanese history. It occurred under Tsunayoshi and it was he who gave the decision that made it the “ Mirror of Chivalry” or the “ Toilet of Bushido”—the standard, that is to say, of the conduct that best befits a samurai. The facts were that in April 1701 Asano Takumi-no-kami, lord of Ako (fifty-three thousand \o\u) had attacked and wounded in the Shogun’s palace K ira Kozuke-no-suke, one of the masters of ceremonies, in revenge for some insult offered him. The insult was said to be the result of failing to give K ira sufficiently valuable presents in return for his assistance on the occasion of the reception of the Imperial envoy at the Shogun’s Court, at which Asano had to officiate. In consequence he was at once told to commit seppu\u and his fief was confiscated. When his castle was taken over his retainers were discharged and a number of them resolved to avenge him. After considerable diffi­ culty, entailing much clever contriving, the forty-seven—actually forty-six—led by Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, chief councillor of the late lord, broke into K ira’s mansion on the night of 14th December 1702, and killed him and took his head, which they laid respectfully in front of their lord’s tomb in the temple of Sengakuji at Takanawa. They then surrendered themselves to the authorities, since such revenge without official permission was a breach of the peace and illegal, though to have applied for permission would have put Kira on his guard and made it impossible to accomplish their end. It took the authorities a year to decide what to do with them, and meanwhile they were placed in the custody of four great daimyos, in itself a very great honour. They were regarded as popular heroes and the H igh Court in its pronouncement left their sentence unde­ termined, so that it was for the Shogun to decide it. H e did so appar­ ently according to the opinion of the eminent Confucian scholar Ogyu Sorai, supported by that of the sagacious Imperial Abbot of Toeizan. Ogyu said: “ There can be no question about it. Revenge is a private, but order is a public duty, so to pardon those who commit a breach of the peace would be against the public interest.” The Prince Abbot also considered that, since such mirrors of loyalty could not be employed by a second master, their future might be less bright than their present, and to prevent such an anti-climax, “if they are granted death and thus finally display their Bushido they •vill have really attained their object, in that, while satisfying the

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demands of justice, they will have carried out their duty of loyalty to their lord” . A nd so Tsunayoshi passed sentence and the forty-six duly committed suicide and have been enshrined in the national memory as the supreme examples of loyalty ever since. N o doubt much of Tsunayoshi’s extravagance, which was partly due to the raised standard of living and was only relatively excessive, as well as his other eccentricities, are balanced by his great filial piety, his reverence for the Throne and his patronage of fine arts. He increased the allowance of the Emperor by ten thousand ko\u and that of the Retired Emperor by three thousand, besides restoring the ancient Court festivals which had been allowed to lapse for lack of funds. So he was very highly regarded at Court, and eventually through the petitions of Yanagisawa and the favour of his father-inlaw Lord Takatsukasa and other Court nobles his mother Keishoin was granted the honour, very rarely conferred even on men, of the Lower First Court Rank, the highest that a living person can attain. Tsunayoshi was contemporary with Charles II of England and there would seem to be much in common between this most brilliant of the Shoguns and the wittiest and most elegant of British monarchs, though the Shogun’s witticisms, if any, seem not to have been published. Anyhow his ordinances elicited not a few from the people. It is curious that there is apparently no portrait of him. Tsunayoshi died in 1709 at the age of sixty-three without a direct heir, and though there are some sensational stories about his end, the fact seems to be that it was only smallpox that killed him. Some years before this, in 1705, he had nominated as his heir his nephew Tsunatoyo, son of his late elder brother Tsunashige lord of Kofu, and he had come to reside in the Western Castle and changed his name to Ienobu. A s he was the son of a waiting-maid, he had been consigned to a councillor of the clan to bring up, and so had had the advantage of a rather simple and healthy environment in his early days. A nd he had also that of the services as tutor of Arai Hakuseki, generally considered the greatest Confucian scholar of the Tokugawa period, who continued to instruct him and give him the benefit of his advice all the time he was Shogun. Arai instructed his lord in the Chinese classics and also wrote at short notice for his information, the well-known Han\ampu, a history of the feudal clans, the first work of its kind and still a very valuable source of information about all the daimyo families. Arai was not only a classical scholar but to

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some extent at least a practical statesman as well. He wrote a work on foreign affairs and is particularly famous for his advice about limiting the trade of the Chinese and Dutch at Nagasaki in order to check expenditure on useless luxuries. H e was also entrusted with the examination of Father Sidotti, an Italian missionary who had managed to get to Japan from Manila in the hope of being able some­ how or other to resume Christian propaganda. Arai published a report on him and he was not executed but merely kept in prison till he died in 1715, six years after his arrival. Evidently this was because it seemed to Arai that Christianity was quite illogical and not likely to convince anybody. A s soon as Tsunayoshi was dead his “ kindness to animals” policy and its regulations were allowed to lapse, much to everyone’s satis­ faction, for the countrymen had found them as great a hindrance to agriculture as the city people had to their comfort. Manabe Norifusa, an honest and efficient councillor, took the place of Yanagisawa as chamberlain and adviser, and an auditor-general was appointed to investigate the Shogunal income, with the eventual result that the former finance commissioner, Ogiwara, was dismissed. This too was due to Arai’s interest in finance.12 The fact that Yanagisawa was not reduced but that he and his family continued to hold a fief of one hundred and fifty thousand \o\u right through the Tokugawa period would suggest that he was not so black as some paint him and rather the follower of Tsuna­ yoshi and his mother than their instigator. H e died in 1714 aged fifty-six and his son Yoshisato, by some said to be the son of Tsuna­ yoshi, succeeded him. As a careerist who rose from an ordinary samurai of one hundred and fifty ho\u to be a daimyo of one hundred and fifty thousand, he can have had almost no equal, since Honda Masazumi, for instance, who was a similarly pliant character though he had a very different type of lord to serve, held his fief of Utsunomiya (one hundred and forty-five thousand \o\u) only for a few years. And he was clever enough to make friends with Manabe who occu­ pied the same position of page to Ienobu as he had formerly to Tsunayoshi.

12 One of the things Arai did was to insist on the title King for the Shogun when dealing with the King of Korea instead of that of Taikun (Great Prince) which had previously been used, and by which the Shogun was described in the early days of the Restoration period.

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Ienobu was an independent and fair-minded ruler, anxious to do his best for the people and to repair the financial situation precipitated, though not caused, by his predecessor’s extravagance. H e was very generally popular and must have decided a good many things him­ self, but he did not survive long enough to do very much more than make a beginning. There is a very detailed account of the life of this period in A rai’s Reminiscences, the best description of the habits of the stricter samurai of the late seventeenth century Ienobu left only a small child of four, who succeeded as the Shogun Ietsugu. W ith a child Shogun his nurses might be expected to be of some importance, and this seems to have been the case, for his mother the lady Gekkoin and Manabe Norifusa, who constituted himself male nurse to some extent, seem to have done much as they pleased. They had a good deal in common, for she was the lively daughter of an Edo citizen while he had originally been a N o per­ former. A glimpse of life in the castle then is presented by the descrip­ tion of Manabe taking off his ceremonial costume and putting on a skull-cap and sitting round the brazier with Gekkoin and the child Shogun, who was moved to lisp, “ Is Manabe the Shogun, mother?” —apparently the only recorded utterance of this infant Lord of the Empire. And there was no very good order in the palace in these days, for it was the year 1714 that saw the famous incident of the lady Ejim a. Ejim a, who was chief lady-in-waiting to Gekkoin, had the temerity to go to the theatre and hold a not too sober party afterwards with her friends and a lot of actors and the manager of the theatre, when she had been ordered to go to the Zozoji temple and worship there by proxy for her mistress. She gave away the temple presents to the actors and even told the priests to buy the tickets. This public impro­ priety, for naturally these ladies were never supposed to appear out­ side the castle at all, much less at a common play-house prohibited to the military class, drew the attention of the censors and the Great Council, and Ejim a and others were expelled and an investigation started which revealed that these ladies had been diverting them­ selves in similar fashion for some years, and that bribery and outside influences were very prevalent. Mitsukuni, second lord of Mito and grandson of Ieyasu, was one of the great figures of the Tokugawa era. He was a model daimyo as well as a historian and economist and a lofty character withal.

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Quite early in life he came to realize the need of historical study to nourish patriotic sentiment, and he collected a great library in his mansion in Koishikawa in Edo and selected a number of eminent scholars whom he supported so that they might assist him in his design of writing the history of Japan. Am ong them was a naturalized Chinese named Shunsui. Particularly prominent was the Japanese classical scholar Keichu Ajari, a Buddhist monk of Mount Koya, who wrote commentaries on the Manyoshu and Genji Monogatari, which were then little understood, and on other literature of the monarchic period. Mitsukuni was a strong supporter of Shinto, and built many shrines while he destroyed, it is said, a thousand Buddhist temples in his province. He was the first also to set up a monument to the great loyalist Kusunoki Masashige at the Minatogawa with the significant inscription “ Tom b of Kusunoki, a Loyal Subject” . In administering his clan he did all he could to encourage learning and good manners and consideration among his samurai, and econo­ mic independence among the townsfolk and farmers. In his great work the Dai Nihon Shi or History of Great Japan, begun in 1657, but not finished till 1715, there stood out clearly the doctrine that the Emperor was the focus of all reverence and patriotic sentiment, and the proper ruler of the country through his divine descent. But in his lifetime Mitsukuni was not at all anti-Shogunate in his views, somewhat contrary though these were to the orthodox teaching of the Hayashis and their respect for everything Chinese. But his position and his personality gave great prestige to these studies which developed into what is called the “ Mito school” of loyalism and led eventually to the more outspoken Imperialists who attacked the Shogun as a usurper and in the end brought about his overthrow. And none was more active in this than Tokugawa Nariaki, Mitsukuni’s successor in the Mito fief. So from its own house­ hold came forth the most insidious enemy of the Bakufu. Mitsukuni did not approve of the Shogun Tsunayoshi and his eccentric and uneconomic regulations, and said so in no uncertain manner, which led to his retirement from his fief in 1689. H e died in 1700 at the age of seventy-three. Education in the Edo period was provided for the sons of samurai in the clan colleges founded and maintained by the great daimyos. The first of these institutions was the Shizutani College founded in 1669 at that place by Ikeda Mitsumasa, the enlightened lord of

The Im p e ria lis t H is t o r ia n s

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Okayama in Bizen, and his adviser Kum azawa Banzan. It taught the Chinese classics, history, poetry, and military science and was not afterwards confined to samurai but open to other young men of the province. It has a Hall of Confucius with a bronze statue of the Sage, lecture-rooms and dormitories and houses for the staff very little different from an English public school of the older type, and is still used as a Middle School at the present day. It is not in the provincial capital but in a country village more than fifty miles away, well named “ Quiet Vale” . It was followed by others of the same type at Wakayama in K ii (the Gakushukan, 17 13 ), H agi in Choshu (the Meirinkan, 1718 ), Sendai in Mutsu (the Yokendo, 1736), Nagoya in Owari (the Meirindo, 1749), Kumamoto in Higo (the Jishukan, 1752), Kagoshima in Satsuma (the Zoshikan, 1773, now the Seventh National College), Wakamatsu in A izu (the Nisshinken, 1788), Kanazawa in K aga (the Meirindo, 1792), Yonezawa (the Kojokan, 1827), and at Mito in Hitachi (the Kodokan, 1828). PERIOD OF TH E STRESS OF TH E BA KUFU :

1716-86

It was proposed to encourage closer relations between Court and Shogun once more by wedding Ietsugu to the daughter of the Emperor, but he was delicate and eventually died in 1716 before he was seven years old, so this project came to nothing. The death of Ietsugu brought the main line of the Tokugawas to an end, so it was necessary, as Ieyasu had arranged, to select an heir from one of the threg_houses of K ii, Owari, and Mito. The obvious choice was Yoshimune of the K ii house, great-grandson of Ieyasu, now thirty-nine years old, who had been Ietsugu’s guardian and the choice of his father Ienobu. Yoshimune’s early career much resembled that of Ienobu, since he was the son of the daughter of an ordinary samurai and was brought up by another retainer in quite a simple fashion. From this style he never departed, and since he was hard-working and conscientious he is always cited as the typically righteous ruler. With him a fresh strain of energy entered the family that did much to restore its somewhat impaired stability. Yoshimune disliked the luxurious Kyoto style that had been so fashionable under his immediate predecessors, and set himself to restore the simplicity and economy of his great-grandfather. He did not approve of the size and extravagance of the Great Interior, and discharged a large

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number of the best-looking ladies-in-waiting with the observation that they were the best fitted to get a living outside. H e imitated Ieyasu in his taste for hawking and outdoor sports. H e naturally selected councillors like himself, and Manabe Norifusa was not one of them. He dressed in the plainest garments and was always rebuking people for lack of thrift. H e was, in fact, very much like a somewhat saintly edition of Ieyasu, if such a thing can be imagined. Always associated with him is the City Commissioner Ooka Echizen-no-kami, most celebrated of the wise judges of the Tokugawa period, whose astute decisions are still the subject of many of the tales of the professional story-teller. Yoshimune ordered the laws to be codified, so that the first complete collection of Tokugawa legislation was made in his time. Previously only sets of regulations had been issued, for it was feared that the effect of precedents would be to fetter the independence of the judges. Decisions were made chiefly according to the principles of Confucian ethics, and it was the business of the bench to reward as well as to punish. Yoshimune was an enthusiastic Confucianist and especially favoured the Hayashi school and the puritanic Ogyu Sorai.13 He also not only permitted but encouraged scholars to investigate Western sources of learning once more through the Dutch, but only so far as they were scientific and not religious. As natural calamities continued to strain the Bakufu finances, which were even less healthy than before, since expenditure tended always to increase while income remained stationary, Yoshimune considered very carefully how to remedy this, and for the first time the daimyos were asked to contribute one hundred \o\u to the Shogunate treasury for every ten thousand of their income. As compensation, their compulsory stay in Edo was reduced from a year to six months. This concession did not continue long, however, for fear of loss of control over the feudatories which would threaten the security of the government. The daimyos on their part passed on the tax by cutting down the salaries of their vassals. Again, the giving of permanent increases of income to Bakufu officials was abolished and their emoluments limited to their period of office. Thus it was considered that it would be easier to employ poorer but 13 The well-known verse “Now the Plum-blossom is fragrant, but I have for my neighbour Ogyu Soemon” gives an idea of how he was regarded by the not so strait-laced.

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abler men as well as save money, for the tendency had been to give offices to daimyos with a good income and expect them to serve for the honour of association with the Shogun—to do the same as the Shogunate did, govern the country out of their own pockets. Actually these lords had always been expected to give presents of money and valuables to the Shogun and his heir and his wife on all sorts of con­ gratulatory occasions, and this came to be regarded as part of the Bakufu assets. The coinage was also improved by Yoshimune as far as he was able, though he had not the amount of bullion to do as much as he would have liked. H e was equally anxious to increase the cultiva­ tion of rice and cereals, but his success here sent down the price so that the samurai, whose income was reckoned in rice, were hard hit as well as the farmers. He then ordered the prices of commodities to be lowered to meet that of rice, under severe penalties. So Yoshi­ mune got the nickname of “Rice Shogun” because he was always issuing some regulation or other about it. And the business com­ munity continued to take advantage of the financial difficulties of daimyos and samurai, most of whom were in debt. And as the mer­ chant and broker became comfortably off again he became more and more cultivated, for he could afford elegance and the best teachers as well as anyone. It is true that the Bakufu had at last to proclaim a remission to assist the Hatamoto who were badly in debt to the Fudasashi, or official rice-brokers of Edo, whose wealth and luxury were famous; but these were only temporary checks, as were the cases of ruin of individual families through the refusal of daimyos to pay their debts, and the power of money went on steadily increasing. One of the great benefits of this era was the cultivation of the sweet potato associated with Aoki Konyo, an enthusiastic investigator of foreign matters, economics and natural history. This vegetable, usually known as the Satsuma potato, had been introduced from Luchu about 1665, where it had been brought from America via Manila and China. Silk and cotton, the latter introduced by the Portuguese, were now grown everywhere and no longer needed to be imported, and the standard of living among the people was certainly rising. Taxes on rice land, or perhaps they should be called rent, were now raised to be half for the lord and half for the farmer, instead of the 40 per cent for the lord and 60 per cent for the farmer as had

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previously been the rule; and the levy on the acreage was fixed instead of being paid according to the assessment of the local deputy. It was hoped that more would be forthcoming, because many of the deputies were bribed to underrate the yield of the crops. In order to save money and still keep up appearances the Hatamoto samurai had taken to employing temporary retainers when they needed them for guard and ceremonial purposes, for which they had to produce so many men according to their income. But these men, though samurai of a sort, had not the same loyalty and spirit as the hereditary vassal and certainly did not improve the fighting capacity of the Shogun’s army. Yoshimune was one of the four Shoguns who ruled for almost thirty years, but when he was sixty-two he retired and gave place to his heir, continuing to supervise affairs from the Western Castle. And it was well that he could do so even for six years, for the new Shogun Ieshige was the least suitable to succeed of Yoshimune’s sons. He was delicate and neurotic, and dissipation aggravated these qualities so that he became afflicted with some sort of paralysis that affected his speech among other things. The presumption that his ideas never went beyond women and wine seems correct enough, since there is no evidence of any other interest. However his father did not care to pass him over, as his councillor Matsudaira Norimura is credited with suggesting, because he considered it a bad example to other families; for with primogeniture there was less excuse for intrigue in the matter of succession. Probably he hoped to live long enough for Ieshige’s promising son Ieharu to succeed his father before he had time to do much damage. In order further to safeguard the succession he made his two younger sons Munetake and Munetada heads of branch families which were to live in the castle enclosure and not to become local daimyos. Since the sites they were given for residences were by the Tayasu and Hitotsubashi gates they took these as the names of their families, and later Ieshige’s younger son was similarly made the head of the new family of Shimizu. These three were known as the Three Lords, and from them the Shogun could be selected if there was no suitable heir among the Three Houses. However, Yoshimune died, somewhat unexpectedly, in 1751, leaving Ieshige to rule alone after six years of supervision, and he proved as wayward and difficult as had been anticipated. Almost inarticulate in speech and of an *

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extremely irritable temper he was perhaps the least attractive of all the Shoguns. H e was almost entirely confined to the palace and neither knew nor cared anything about the administration, and what he did decide was through his chamberlains, one of whom was par­ ticularly favoured because he had specialized in interpreting his master’s incoherent utterances. This was Ooka Tadamitsu, a relative of the wise judge of the same name, a mere supple courtier by no means incorruptible. A nd there was another official who gained some influence, too, a certain Tanum a Okitsugu, formerly a small retainer of Yoshimune’s, whose abilities were considerably greater. But Ieshige’s nine years of independent rule did not produce any­ thing much worth recording (except the dismissal of ministers he dis­ liked as much as Matsudaira Norim ura), and he grew by degrees even less active until he retired in 1760 and died the year after, aged fifty-one, to go down to posterity as the “ Short-tempered Shogun” . His son Ieharu was intelligent and capable and shone in martial exercises and outdoor sports as well as in intellectual affairs. H e was very energetic and only twenty-three when he succeeded, and in theory was an admirable ruler. But actually he did not care to see anybody but his palace officials to whom he was accustomed, and made no independent investigations, so that in practice he was quite ignorant of the world outside the castle. O f this the chamberlains took full advantage, and soon the pliant and adaptable Tanuma Okitsugu rose from one office to another and finally became Tairo. H e made the most of his position to get his relatives such offices and connections as would assist him in monopolizing all channels of approach to the Shogun, and his son Okitomo was made a member of the Junior Council. So this is generally known as the “ Tanuma period” from the regime of bribery and luxury for which this family was responsible. Tanum a was no very distinguished figure and by no means to be compared with Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, but merely the most diplo­ matic and pushing of the rather mediocre personages who made up the Shogunal entourage at this period. He is said to have remarked that “ since money is more precious than life, when people seek office the value of the presents they bring is evidence of their sincerity and loyalty” , a truly odd sentiment for a samurai official. But by this time the military aspect of the Shogunate was little in evidence in Edo and entertainments were much more important than drill. It

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was never more obvious that the Bakufu survived more through the weakness of the feudatories than through its own strength. The Great Interior was again very luxurious and expensive and its influence was great, but since Tanuma diverted a proportion of his bribes to it this was all to his advantage. There were even more calamities in the latter years of Ieharu than usual. In 1772 Edo was destroyed by a fire little less devastating than that of 1657. Much of the castle was burnt, and most of the daimyo mansions and temples, and naturally the houses of the citizens. Then from 1779 to 1785 there was a series of droughts, famines, floods, and volcanic eruptions, particularly that of Mount Asama in Shinano, which put a very large area of land out of cultivation and killed some twenty thousand people. It is calculated that in these seven years the population fell from something over twenty-six to little more than twenty-five million. Eventually Tanuma decided to require the great capitalists to entrust their savings to the Bakufu so that they might again be lent to the daimyos for a five-year period, since there was so much distress in the provinces and so little money in the treasury.14 Tw o years before this Tanum a Okitomo, the son of the Tairo, was suddenly attacked in the castle by a certain Sano Masakoto who had a grievance against him. Okitomo died of his wounds shortly after, and Sano had to commit suicide, but he left a written accusation of the Tanumas and became a popular hero while the minister was very much the reverse. Ieharu was now very ill and the Three Houses took advantage of it to obtain control, with the result that Tanuma was forced to retire, degraded and stripped of his revenues and ill-gotten property. But corrupt and luxurious though the high officials in Edo were at this time, and though the infection spread outside the capital to some extent through the continual movement g f the d^jmyos, yet the Tokugawa government had a centrifugal as well as a centripetal effect. The isolation of the provinces from each other preserved the peculiar style and spirit that they had developed, and they were often almost immune from the influence of Edo. So there were several quite model feudal lords in these days, particularly Hosokawa Shigeyuki of Kumamoto and Tokugawa Harusada of K ii, popularly 14 The Bakufu was to pay seven per cent on it and take one-seventh for its trouble since, as it guaranteed repayment, it was a safe investment. Mitsui and another house were the agents.

Q

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spoken of as “ the K ilin of Higo and the Phoenix of K ii” . Then there was the famous Uesugi Harunori of Yonezawa in the north and Matsudaira Sadanobu, son of Tayasu Munetake, at Shirakawa in Iwaki, and a little later on Matsudaira Fum ai in Izumo. A ll these daimyos worked hard and lived economically themselves as an example to their officials and subjects. They lived up to the maxim of combining martial virtues with sound education and discouraging flattery and extravagance, and their existence contributed very largely to the comparatively stable condition of society that obtained even when the central government was no longer able to function. A nd another thing that was more important than the luxury of Tanuma, though not at the time so evident, was the teaching of the Nationalist scholars. Kada Azumamaro and Kam o Mabuchi belong to this period, and they were busy emphasizing the futility of Chinese learning and the superiority of everything Japanese. They studied and annotated and lectured on the Japanese classics, the K d ji\i and the Manyoshu, the Genji Monogatri and the rest, and reiterated the excellence of Shinto as compared with Buddhism and Con­ fucianism, particularly the latter. A little later came Motoori Norinaga, the most famous of them all, and Hirata Atsutane, his disciple, who carried on the work of preaching the gospel of honouring the Japanese deities and their descendants the Mikados, and of making this principle the main object of loyalty. It was a more direct state­ ment of what the earlier scholars of the Mito school had only sug­ gested. The Bakufu did not pay any more attention to these views at first than they had to the Mito school of historians. But when a cer­ tain Takeuchi Shikibu, pupil of Yam azaki Anzai, another Shinto enthusiast, went to Kyoto and lectured to the Court about the correct position of the Mikado, the Regent families, who were in favour of not disturbing the status quo with the Shogunate, did not appreciate it and got some seventeen courtiers removed from office and exiled for supporting him. They even went so far as to reprove the Emperor Momozono for his interest in these historical studies. Takeuchi was reported to the Bakufu and sentenced to exile too. This was in Ieshige’s time, but in that of Ieharu another loyalist, Yamagata Daini, was put to death by the authorities for the same offence. This loose, easy-going, artistic Tanum a period, when the people

T o \u g a w a P erio d (1600-186"])

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Edo Castle about the end of the eighteenth century.

1. Front gate of the western castle (Nishi Maru). 2. Inner gate. 3. Double bridge. 4. Outer palace. 5. Inner palace. 6. Momijl-yama. 7. Mausoleum shrine of Ieyasu. 8. Mausolea of the other Shoguns. 9. Sakashita gate. 10. Inner Sakurada gate. 11. Front gate of main castle (Gohon Maru). 12. Middle gate. 13. Great entrance porch. 14. Outer palace. 15. Inner palace. 16. Back gate.

17. Great tower. 18. Outer palace of second castle (Ni-noM aru). 19. Inner palace. 20. Site of third castle (San-no-Maru). 21. Hirakawa gate. 22. Hanzo gate. 23. Outer Sakurada gate. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Takebashi gate. Taka gate. Hitotsubashi gate. Fukiage gate.

28. Herb garden. 29. Fukiage park. 30. Momiji-yama gate. 31. Racecourse. 32. No stage. 33. Shogun’s garden.

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were free to indulge in any amusement and divert themselves with any novelty, was very favourable to the growth of those two bugbears of the Bakufu, Imperialist sentiments that taught loyalty to the Mikado on the one hand, and the liberal ideas of the pro-foreign group of “ Dutch scholars” who wanted more freedom of intercourse with the outer world on the other. And both these tendencies were now undermining the authority of the Bakufu. Actually this authority was in no way challenged for over half a century, for the feudatories were no trouble and the peasant riots that now and again broke out owing to the ravages of flood and drought were easily put down, for they were local and the people were unarmed. Severe punishment on the one hand, and the reward of a surname and samurai rank to the local headmen who gave information and assisted to put down these risings on the other, were sufficient. Another aspect of this period was the rise of the Ukiyoe or genre colour-print artists whose names are better known in Europe and America than those of any Shogun or great minister, and whose work has made the outside world familiar with the stage, or some aspects of it, on which these figures played their parts. Such were Suzuki Harunobu, Chobunsai Eishi, Kitao Shigemasa, Torii Kiyonaga, Utagawa Toyoharu, and Kitagawa Utamaro, whose work developed from that of the many fine book illustrators in black-and-white who had been working ever since the days of Honami Koetsu and others who responded to the patronage of Ieyasu. Am ong the artists, too, were Kano Eisen, Maruyama Okyo, and Ito Jakuchu, while the potters, metal-workers, and lacquerers as well as the cabinet-makers and weavers were all hard at work producing those articles of infinitely varied design that were needed by the wealthy officials, and even more by the plutocratic merchants and financiers, and were so often given as presents to obtain some favour. PATC H IN G UP TH E BA KUFU :

1786-1853

Jeharu had only one son, who was very promising indeed, but he died young and another heir had to be found. The one selected was Ienari son of Harunari of the Hitotsubashi house, and he became Shogun at the age of fifteen. Matsudaira Sadanobu, who had been appointed to the Senior Council on account of his ability in reorganiz­ ing his fief of Shirakawa, was made his guardian. Sadanobu was the

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son of Tayasu Munetake, and therefore grandson of Yoshimune, whom he took as a model. H e was only thirty years old and full of energy, and at once began a campaign of economy and reform which was certainly needed, for the finances of the Bakufu were in a very shaky condition and calamities did not cease. T w o years after he became Regent Kyoto was completely destroyed by fire, and the Imperial palace, courtiers’ mansions, temples and shrines had some­ how to be rebuilt. Sadanobu had the palace built according to an earlier and more extensive plan in keeping with the increased respect for the Throne that was becoming evident, and so earned the thanks of both Emperor and Shogun; but yet it was his uncompromising decision that brought about a more serious rift than ever between the two capitals. Sadanobu certainly restored and gave a new lease of life to the failing strength of the Shogunate and if he erred it was through his great thoroughness, for the regulations he issued for economy were profuse and minute. Very great laxity had previously prevailed in many directions and he was determined to bring in an era of simplicity and order. H e was unlike the European type of puritan of course, for he was not specially religious or anti-aesthete or kill-joy provided joy and aestheticism were not expensive. N o ostentation was to be permitted, and he issued regulations prohibiting the use of gold or silver or brocade among the upper classes, and forbidding any but economical entertaining; they and all the rest of society had to live strictly in proportion to their means, and to ensure this his edicts left little to the imagination. This kind of legislation was not new, but it was the severity and determination with which it was now enforced that were noticeable and not at all pleasing to very many. What does seem to be new was the refuge and reformatory he estab­ lished for indigent ne’er-do-wells and vagabonds, where they could be kept for three years and taught a trade. Probably for the first time also a censorship of books and prints was instituted, and frivolous books and colour-prints that were expensive and had not enough loyalty and filial piety in them were prohibited. The famous author Santo Kyoden or Kitao Masanobu suffered among others, and the publisher Tsutaya Jusaburo, a name no doubt familiar to the colour-print enthusiast. Another reform was the attempt to prevent merchants buying their way into samurai families by marriage and adoption. For six years these reforming

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activities continued with excellent results for the Bakufu, but then Sadanobu resigned and matters began to relax. Just why he resigned is not quite clear, but it may have been connected with the clash between the Court and the Bakufu, and also with the discontent and irritation felt by the members of the Great Interior with his measures of economy, which extended to them also. The trouble with the Court was due to one of those succession questions that so often caused friction. The Emperor Kokaku had been taken from the Kanin family for want of a direct heir, and wished to give his father the title of Retired Emperor to improve his status. So he informed the Bakufu of the fact. But the Shogun, that is to say Sadanobu, objected, for the very good reason that the Shogun’s father Hitotsubashi Harunari was also trying to get the position of Ogosho or Retired Shogun conferred on him, though he had no more been Shogun than Prince Kanin had been Emperor, and if the honour were granted to one it would be difficult to with­ hold it from the other. Sadanobu did not like the extravagance and wilfulness of the Shogun’s father and did not want to see his influence increased.10 But he also maintained that it was a very bad precedent to allow an adoptive father to become head of a family because his son had entered it. So the Bakufu not only held up the project but punished some Court nobles for giving incorrect advice to the Throne. All this made Sadanobu unpopular and there were no doubt many who echoed the sentiment of the punning verse made by some wit:

Though the waters of the White River (Shirakawa) may be pure enough, We loo\ bac\ with regret to the dirty Ricefield Swamp (Tanuma). Three more famous loyalists too, Takayama Hikokuro, Gamo Kumpei, and Hayashi Shihei were moved to lecture and write on the neglect of the Imperial prerogatives and of European knowledge, and Takayama inaugurated the practice of making obeisance towards the Imperial palace as a sign of reverence for the Throne. Later he committed suicide to emphasize the sincerity of his convictions. By this time the Russians had penetrated through Siberia to the

15 Harunari managed to get his way after Sadanobu retired and continued to l extravagantly and encourage his son to do likewise all his days, and after his death he too was promoted to be Dajodaijin.

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northern island of Hokkaido via Kamchatka and the K urile Islands, and the government had to send expeditions there to deal with them and make investigations in these regions of which very little was known. In the course of them it was discovered that Saghalien was also an island, and the daimyo Matsumae of Hokkaido was ordered to supervise the activities of the Russians there. Later on, in 1805, the Bakufu decided to take over this territory itself and Matsumae was shifted from Hokkaido and government officers sent to administer that island as well as part of Saghalien. Russia then made further advances, both in Saghalien, where several clashes occurred with the Japanese, and also at Nagasaki, where Count Rezanov came as envoy from the Tsar in 1804 to try to open direct trade relations. This the Edo authorities refused, and Reza­ nov was not even allowed to land for more than two months. Some Russian officers, apparently without any authority from their govern­ ment, attacked and drove the Bakufu officers from one of the Kurile Islands, while later on the Japanese retaliated by enticing and captur­ ing Captain Golownin and keeping him in prison for two years. In 1808, too, a considerable commotion was caused in Nagasaki by a visit of the English frigate Phaeton, which suddenly appeared to get provisions. The officers there were quite unable to do anything against this well-armed vessel and had to allow her to take what she required, whereupon she sailed away. The Nagasaki commissioner committed suicide because of his responsibility for the incident, and the Bakufu punished a number of others involved as well. From time to time whalers also touched on the Japanese shores and managed to get fresh provisions from the people. The Shogun Ienari was no negligible character, but capable and intelligent; only, rather like Ieharu, he cared less about the administrative than the cere­ monial and ornamental side of his office. So after the retirement of Sadanobu he continued to maintain the authority and dignity of the Shogun with undiminished splendour if not with decreased expense. His regime was, in fact, a luxurious and extravagant one and in magnificence it was certainly the culmination of the Tokugawa age. Ienari is remembered particularly for two things, the length of his rule and the size of his family, in both of which he surpassed any other Shogun. He ruled for fifty-one years and then retired and was Ogosho for four more till he died at the age of sixty-nine in 1841. The number of his children is given as fifty-four, fourteen sons, of

1

To\ugawa Period ( 1600-186j )

233

whom two died young, and presumably the rest daughters. Inch dentally, the only member of his family who approached him here was Nariaki, lord of M i to, his younger contemporary, who had thirty-seven. As many of these children as he could Ienari planted out on the various daimyo families as wives or adopted sons, both for themselves and for their heirs. Sometimes this happened more than once in one family, as for instance when his daughter, the nine­ teenth child, was married to the lord of Echizen. They had a son, but he died; whereupon Ienari’s forty-ninth child, a son, was sent as the adopted heir. And as the lord himself died soon after, the Shogun’s son became lord in his stead. And so it happened to very many. This particular son happened to be blind, which made it more of an embarrassing favour than usual. Between 1800 and 1841 there were twenty-six of these alliances. So the Bakufu both impoverished a great number of lords, since such an honour involved great expense, and also relieved itself of family upkeep and extended its influence. These families were given the name of Matsudaira as well as superior status, but this bond did not prevent many of them opposing the Shogunate later on. The period of Ienari is even better illustrated pictorially than that of his predecessor as far as quantity goes, for this is the age of Hokusai, Toyokuni, and Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and their many pupils; and there are as well the illustrated guide-books and landscapes which, with pictures of battles and other virtuous things, the Bakufu required instead of actors and geisha. So landscapes became the fashion and in these is seen every aspect of the life of the Japan of the day, from that of the ordinary people at home or on the roads to that of the Shogun in his castle. For actually the historic scenes the artists paint represent their own period, though the official prohibition of any description in writing or drawing of any incident in the Tokugawa period made them label them with an earlier one, usually either Ashikaga or Kamakura. These prints were very largely advertisements of theatres or restaurants, or souvenirs of travel on the roads such as the comic writer of the time, Jippensha Ikku, so well depicts in his work the Hiza\urige , a sort of Japanese Pic\wic\. And the artistic excellence of these illustrations reveals a very high standard of appreciation among the middle and lower classes for whom they were mostly produced. Though it is Japan of the decad­ ence that the flamboyant pictures and prints show, with the actor

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and courtesan life of the city rather prominent, they are well styled Edoe or Edo pictures, for a real Edo civilization had now developed, made up of elements from Kyoto and Osaka mixed with the spirit of the military capital. The novel lna\a Genji by Ryutei Tanehiko gives a picture of Ienari’s Court, while Shikitei Samba’s works U\iyo Furo (This World Seen Through the Bathhouse) and U\iyo To\o (This World Seen Through the Barber’s Shop) present sketches of the life of the ordinary people. O f course all this luxury meant high taxation and poverty among the peasants, and these hardships were increased by more droughts and famines in the early years of the nineteenth century. The Hatamoto and the samurai became steadily worse off and the merchants and brokers, practically all hereditary monopolists, wealthier. Matsudaira Sadanobu had declared the debts of these retainers remitted soon after he came into office, by which the brokers lost the equivalent of about six million pounds, and had granted the merchants a loan as compensation; but this did not mend matters for long. Edo was now a city of some million and a half people at least, while Kyoto had probably no more than about half a million, and the standard of living of all classes had arisen very much compared with that of fifty years before. The merchants and brokers continued to do well, though the Bakufu demanded a forced loan of more than a million ryo from about two hundred of the wealthiest in 1814 to bolster up its deficit, as well as once more debasing the coinage. The result of all this was that the carpe diem point of view became every­ where more emphasized, and even the Buddhist temples were resorted to chiefly for the lotteries they had come to hold. But however shaky its foundations may have become outwardly the Bakufu made a good show, and in 1827 Ienari received the unprecedented honour of being created Dajodaijin by the Emperor, whose edict proclaimed him an admirable administrator and thanked him for his services. This office had previously only been conferred on Retired Shoguns. But Ienari treated the Imperial Court with great respect and provided quite lavishly for the celebra­ tion of the accession ceremony of the Emperor, and also for a new palace for him, as well as for many other celebrations in Kyoto. On the other hand, he paid very little heed to the condition of the people and the neglect of their interests by his officials. H ow indifferent and oppressive they were apt to be is shown by the affair of Oshio

,

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235

Heihachiro, which took place in 1837. Oshio was a samurai who held the office of Inspector of Police in Osaka. He was a fine type, humane and sympathetic and very well educated, and dur­ ing a famine he became so indignant at the callous behaviour of his superior officer, the City Commissioner, that he resigned his position and sold his property to relieve the destitute. But, seeing that this had little effect, he became more incensed and gathered a band of his samurai friends and some others to attack the authorities, seize the castle and confiscate the property of the wealthy to distribute among the needy. Oshio’s sentiments were definitely Imperialist, for he declared that the officials were disregarding the will of the Emperor; he was also a disciple of the unorthodox Oyomei philosophy of Nakae Toju. However, his plans were betrayed by the inevitable traitor of all Japanese agreements, and all his band could do was to fight to the last, at the same time setting fire to as much of the capitalist property in the city as they could before they were killed. So successful were they in this that the conflagration continued for two days and a very large part of the city was burnt. Oshio himself set fire to his house and committed suicide in it. In the same year Ienari retired and was succeeded by his son Ieyoshi, who did not take any active part in the administration but left it all to his councillors. The castle was again burnt down in 1844 and this added more expense to the budget, while the prosperity of Edo was much affected by the repressive measures against the great guilds taken by the energetic minister Mizuno Tadakuni who followed in the steps of Matsudaira Sadanobu. Mizuno fixed prices, harried the agent and middleman, and encouraged the reclama­ tion of land and the simple life, though with no great success. In the course of the next few years several American and British ships called at Japanese ports, but were in each case sent empty away, while the recommendation of the K in g of Holland that the country be opened to foreign commerce was as brusquely declined. It was the trade with Canton that brought the Americans so close to Japan that they became inclined to press their attentions on her notice also. Moreover, there were a number of whaling ships doing business in the Behring Sea and near Japanese waters. On two occa­ sions, in 1846 and 1849, American warships were sent also, the first to Uraga near Edo and the second to Nagasaki.

CHAPTER O P E N IN G

T H E

24

P O R T S

(18 5 3-6 7 )

O n 8th July 1853 Commodore Perry, in command of the East India Squadron of the United States N avy, arrived at Uraga with four warships, two steam and two sailing sloops, the largest of the former being of 2400 tons and sixteen guns. Perry had studied carefully all that was known of Japan so far, and from previous experience concluded that it was as well not to adopt an over-conciliatory attitude, but to show that his country was no longer to be trifled with. So, when the squadron anchored in the bay, the Commodore refused to present the letter he had brought from the President of the United States requesting the opening of some ports for trade to any but a Japanese official of the highest rank, and would have no dealing with any underlings. And he at once refused to go to Nagasaki, as was repeatedly suggested. After some temporizing, a building was erected on shore and the Commodore there presented his letter to the Governor of Uraga. Both sides stood to arms all the time and the guns of the ships were trained on the shore and forts. After sailing round the bay for a while and inspecting and sounding the neighbourhood, the American ships departed on the sixteenth, promising to come back for an answer next year, and leaving the Edo authorities with a further addition to their troubles. The coun­ cillors were quite nonplussed, and since they no longer had any confidence in themselves they showed the American communication to all the daimyos and asked for their opinion on it, a great con­ fession of weakness. With a deficit in accounts and no adequate armaments to defend the capital, the Bakufu was indeed in a difficult position. And about a week after the squadron left the Shogun Ieyoshi died. The month after, Japan had another unwelcome visitor, for on 21st August Adm iral Pudatin arrived at Nagasaki with four Russian

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warships, bearing a communication from the Foreign Office of his country with a similar request that Japan should open some ports for trade, and that an agreement should be made about the frontiers in the Kuriles and Saghalien. The Russians also went off for a short time, but soon returned, and remained discussing the boundary question till February 1854, taking their leave only just before Perry came back again, but without coming to any definite decision. As to the views of the daimyos, they were almost to a man on the con­ servative side and were against any intercourse with outsiders— particularly N ariaki of Mito, who, though retired, still had very great influence. The only important exceptions were Ii Naosuke, usually known by his Court title of Kamon-no-kami, lord of Hikone, and Hotta, lord of Sakura, as well as Shimazu Nariakira of Satsuma, whose interests in trade through Luchu, which belonged to his province, had given him a much wider outlook than most other lords. In February 1854 Perry was back again with a much larger squad­ ron of ten vessels in all, three steamers, four sailing ships, and the rest supply ships. This time they came right on into Edo Bay within a dozen miles of the capital. After many vain efforts to get them to move back to Uraga, the authorities agreed to present a reply at a small fishing village of fifty-nine houses called Yokohama, not very far from the post-station of Kanagawa on the Tokaido high­ road. Here another pavilion was erected and after a good deal of haggling the Bakufu conceded the opening of two ports, Shimoda on the extreme end of the Izu peninsula and Hakodate in Hokkaido, the latter for the convenience of the whaling ships, the former hardly for the convenience of anybody. Provisions were also to be supplied to American ships, and assistance was to be given to shipwrecked nationals. Entertainments were given and presents exchanged, and the Japanese were intensely interested in the telegraph and miniature railway which the Americans gave them, while the valetudinarian Shogun Iesada was duly presented with a barrel of whisky, among other things. The squadron did not leave Japanese waters till June, proceeding to Hakodate and also to Shimoda to inspect these harbours and make what arrangements were possible about the very limited business permitted to them. Similar treaties were requested and granted to Holland, England and Russia soon afterwards. These negotiations were carried out by Abe Masahiro, now retired, and

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Hotta, who succeeded him, for the new Shogun Iesada was very delicate and quite incapable of taking any interest in the proceedings. He died after only five years of office. N o special facilities for trade had been granted in the treaty, for the Bakufu had made it as vague as possible, hoping thereby to gain time. America therefore followed it up by sending Townsend Harris, an extremely capable diplomat, as resident consul to carry matters further. Every obstruction was put in the way of both of his arriving and remaining, but he persevered stubbornly and, after first securing the right of residence for his countrymen at the treaty ports, even­ tually managed even to be received in audience by the Shogun at Edo. There a treaty of commerce was made, opening Yokohama for trade in 1858. In accordance with the greater authority it was now coming to exercise, the Court of Kyoto had to be consulted about this treaty, and it was presented to the Emperor Komei accordingly; but acting on the advice of the Imperialist nobles he declined to sign it, thus placing the Bakufu in a very embarrassing position. However, Ii Kamon-no-kami, a most determined and far-seeing statesman, who was now Tairo, was equal to the occasion. He saw that the Bakufu could not afford to offend America and Europe, especially in view of the recent successful operations of these powers in China, where they had exacted a treaty from that country by force. So he had the treaty signed by the Bakufu without further reference to Kyoto, and he also proceeded to deal extremely drastically with the Imperial­ ist party and their sympathizers. The Tokugawa lords of Mito and Owari were confined to their mansions and a very large number of lesser people of all sorts imprisoned or put to death. Ii was not especially pro-foreign, he was only pro-Bakufu, and what he wanted was to gain time so that Japan might be able to arm herself and prevent further aggressive action from abroad. Before the Americans arrived a plan for constructing coast defences had been undertaken, largely under the direction of Egaw a Tarozaemon, a skilled military engineer, and the order forbidding the construction of vessels over five hundred \o\u had been repealed. But Edo was still extremely vulnerable, since most of its food supplies were con­ veyed by sea and the interruption of these would cause a famine. N ariaki of Mito was as enthusiastic as his opponents in arming, for he had destroyed temples wholesale to make their bells into R

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cannon and the stone Buddhas into road-metal. He had also estab­ lished the Kodokan college for education of a more literary kind, and the Kairakuen, an institute for holding lecture meetings under the most favourable conditions for the people of the city. This latter is a simple but finely proportioned group of buildings set in the Tokiw a park, a well-laid-out garden with excellent views. In Kyoto also there had been a revival of education, for the Emperor Ninko, shortly before the arrival of the Americans, had established the Gakushujo1 or college for the education of the Court nobility, and in consequence these families had come to be better able to participate in practical affairs than before. The Tairo Ii came into collision with N ariaki also about the succession to the Shogunate which N ariaki wished to be carried on by his son Yoshinobu, usually known as Keiki, while the Tairo favoured Iemochi of the house of K ii, a boy of twelve who could have no influence on anything. As usual Ii got his way, for on Iesada’s death in 1858 Iemochi became Shogun. But in March i860 some of the Mito samurai waylaid and attacked the Tairo as he was proceeding to the castle early in the morning and assassinated him, afterwards committing suicide themselves. And since N ariaki himself died in the September of the same year the country was thus deprived of its two strongest characters. W ith the intention of bringing the Court and the Bakufu closer together the Emperor’s sister was now married to the young Shogun. The Imperialists prevailed on the Throne to issue an edict to him to expel the barbarians at once, since that was his function. Ando Tsushima-no-kami was now Tairo, and K eiki, son of Nariaki, guardian to the Shogun, and both were in favour of compromise; so they promised to do all that was demanded, even to sending the Shogun to Kyoto in 1863 to confer with the Court about the expul­ sion of the foreigners. The extreme anti-foreign party, as well as antiBakufu party, was strongly backed by the Mori house of Choshu; but the other prominent house of Shimazu was much more moderate. It then happened in 1862 that an Englishman blundered into the middle of Shimazu’s train on the high-road near Yokohama and was cut down and killed, while his companions were wounded. For this the British Government demanded redress, and as it was not forth1 This is the institution now known as the Gakushuin or Peers’ College, where members of the Imperial family and nobility are educated.

Opening the Ports (1853-67)

.

7

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coming they bombarded Kagoshima, the Satsuma capital, and set it on fire. Not long afterwards Mori’s men fired on American, French, and Dutch ships in the Straits of Shimonoseki as a beginning of the expulsion policy; and again, as the Bakufu was apparently unable to restrain them, the European and American warships there pro­ ceeded to bombard and destroy the forts that had given offence, and demanded an indemnity of three million dollars. These affairs demon­ strated how little power Japan had to resist European armaments, and provided another lever to overthrow the Shogunate. But the Choshu clansmen still pressed on the Court for radical measures, and eventually in 1864 attacked the Bakufu forces in Kyoto. They were repulsed by Matsudaira Katamori, lord of Aizu, who was in command there, with the assistance of the Satsuma clans­ men. But since they had also put to death a Bakufu commissioner sent to their province to negotiate, the Shogunate took military action against them. However, its troops were not efficient and the other clans did not give very wholehearted assistance, so Choshu was not suppressed. The Sankin-kotai regulation requiring the daimyos to reside in Edo had now been repealed, and the Shogun had little control over any of them. Ikeda Chikugo-no-kami had been sent to Europe in 1862 to explain matters directly to the rulers there, but without much result except that his account of his travels increased the Japanese interest in foreign civilization. Five Choshu samurai were also sent secretly to Europe to investigate European science, among whom were Ito and Inoue, afterwards to become eminent statesmen. But at the same time many Europeans were attacked and killed by anti-foreign samurai, and the legations of both Britain and America were burnt in 1863 by the same disorderly element. In 1865 Sir Harry Parkes arrived in Japan as British Minister and at once set about getting the treaties properly ratified by the government. He arranged that an allied squadron of nine warships should sail to Hyogo, the nearest port to Kyoto, and also to Osaka where the Shogun now was. This demonstration resulted in the sanctioning of the treaties and the fixing of a tariff of five per cent, as well as the establishment of a system of direct trading free from the official interference that had so far fettered it. But at the same time it caused such a reaction in favour of the Imperialists, who accused

I m o m iF g

the Bakufu o£ being unable to prevent this insulting approach to the Imperial capital, that the Shogun actually tendered his resignation.

larly wish for the fall of the Bakufu just then, but rather preferred to work with it, as did many of the influential Court nobles, though they were not much enamoured of opening the country to foreign intercourse. But the wisest statesmen of the Shogunate side, Matsudaira Shungaku of Echizen and Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, were well aware of the danger, and also of the undesirability, of con­ tinuing the policy of exclusion. Imperialist sentiment was very strong among the intelligentsia of the samurai of many clans, particularly the Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa, where the daimyos were also pledged to this cause. In 1865 Saigo Takam ori and Okubo Toshimichi, prominent retainers of Satsuma, and Kido Takayoshi, who was very influential in Choshu, came to an arrangement that these two great clans should co-operate instead of opposing each other as heretofore, in order to bring about the restoration of supreme power to the Emperor. for some time to the same end. It is interesting to note that the British Minister visited these first two lords and was cordially received by thim. H e and his staff— knowledge of the Japanese language, history and institutions—early realized the real relations of the Shogun and the Imperial Court and the state of popular feeling on the subject, so that they were able to act in the most correct and effective manner. The Shogun Iemochi died in September 1866 at the age of twenty without any heir, and was succeeded by K eiki, not without reluctance, for he knew how precarious his office had become. Then, but a few months later, the Emperor Kom ei died of smallpox in February 1867, and the Emperor Meiji came to the throne at the age of fifteen. Meanwhile the Imperialists had been steadily continuing their work of influencing the clan statesmen, and it was arranged by Goto Shojiro, councillor of Yamanouchi Yodo of Tosa, that his lord, who was an Imperialist but also a friend of the Shogunate, should send a recommendation to the Shogun asking him to hand back his administrative power to the Throne. T o this K eiki agreed; for he,

Opening the Ports (1853-67)

245

too, thought there was no other way to unite all factions so that they might work in harmony in the new situation with which the country was now faced. So, after the proposal had been submitted to a council of representatives of a large number of the clans and approved, the Shogun formally handed in his resignation on 19th November 1867.

CHAPTER E R A

OF

25

M E IJI

(1867-1912) T he next question to be considered was the abolition of the inde­ pendent clan governments, which were an obvious hindrance to improved administration and financial reform as well as to suitable rearmament. It did not appear at first sight an easy task, but it was brought about without much delay when the four clans of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen, who formed a very powerful combina­ tion, voluntarily surrendered their fiefs to the Emperor and invited the other feudatories to follow their example. Most of them at once did so, and undoubtedly the majority were inspired by patriotic feelings; but the fact that in so many provinces affairs were really controlled by the lower officers, the class in which Imperialist teach­ ings had spread most widely, made the response more unanimous. And while the Restoration held out to these lesser samurai the oppor­ tunity of a more distinguished career, it did not particularly incon­ venience the daimyo, who retained an equally dignified leisure with fewer irksome restrictions. There was still a good deal of anti-foreign sentiment exhibited, but the ports of Hyogo (Kobe) and Osaka had been opened to trade soon after the retirement of the Shogun in 1868, and in that year the Emperor intimated that he would grant audience at Kyoto to the British Minister, Sir Harry Parkes, and his Secretary, Lord Redesdale. Unfortunately two fanatical samurai made an attack on the minister and his escort of soldiers and damaged the latter considerably before one of them was cut down by Goto Shojiro in attendance on the party, and the other seized by Lord Redesdale who was, as usual, in the centre of things. However, the audience took place the day after, and an edict was issued condemning all such assailants to ignominious decapitation, with excellent results.

,

A Japanese posting inn in early Meiji.

248

A Short History of Japan

The provisional government was a modified restoration of the former Imperial system with a Dajo-kwan and an Imperial Prince at its head, and minister of the Left and Right, with a council of eighteen composed of the leaders of the Imperial party of the four clans of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa and Hizen.1 In 1869 Edo was pro­ claimed the Imperial capital under the name of Tokyo (Eastern Capital) and the Emperor took up his residence there, converting the Shogun’s castle into the new palace now known as the K yu j 5 or Imperial Castle. Then in 1871 the country was divided into pre­ fectures, and the feudal lords retired from their position of governors of their former fiefs, to be replaced by officials appointed as heads of the prefectures. A ll the nobles both Court and military were now ranked in a new peerage as Prince, Marquis, Count, Viscount or Baron according to their former standing, except in some cases where their efforts on behalf of the government were rewarded by high promotion. Feudal lords were now required to live in Tokyo again, while at the other end of the social scale the outcasts were included in the ordinary population, which now consisted of commoners (H eim in), former samurai (Shizoku), and nobles (K azoku). The judicial system and penal code were also reformed, a postal service established and a silver coinage instituted, with the yen of two shil­ lings as the unit. The first railway from Tokyo to Yokohama was opened in 1872 and, the year after, the Gregorian calendar and the week of seven days were adopted and compulsory elementary education inaugur­ ated. In this year too the samurai were offered voluntary commutation of their salaries, which many accepted, and a conscription system was introduced which deprived this caste of the privilege of being the only armed force. A new Imperial army was formed of these con­ scripts and trained by French officers, while a beginning was made with a navy on the pattern of that of England, with British officers as instructors. The leaders of the government now were the Dajodaijin Sanjo Sanetomi, a Court noble of high rank, and Iwakura Tomomi, another, with Saigo Takam ori and Okubo Toshimichi of Satsuma, Kido Takayoshi, Ito Hirobumi, and Inoue Kaoru of Choshu, Okuma 1 In 1 8 6 8 there was instituted a Deliberative Assembly (Kogisho) consisting of a representative of each clan, all samurai, but it did litde except reject a proposal to abolish sword wearing and finally lapsed in 1 8 7 3 .

Era of Meiji (1867-1912)

249

Shigenobu of Hizen, and Itagake Taisuke of Tosa, the last two representing the liberal progressive element. In 1874 a punitive expedition was sent to Formosa on account of the ill-treatment of Japanese castaways by the natives there. It con­ sisted chiefly of Satsuma samurai, and was decidedly resented by China which regarded the island as its own territory; but eventually the matter was settled more or less amicably. Great indignation was aroused in Japan by the discourteous behaviour of Korea, which refused to continue relations with a neighbour that made treaties with Western countries, and moreover fired on a Japanese warship that approached its coast in 1875. Saigo Takamori, the most conservative of the ministers, and his Satsuma samurai, who had not given up their old status or point of view, agitated strongly for war—which would have given them some suitable occupation—and in this they were supported by a large body of disappointed retainers who had not found the abolition of the clans at all to their advantage. But the other members of the government, particularly Okubo Toshimichi, vigorously opposed it, and there was no actual war but only a demonstration of war­ ships against Korea to induce that country to open its ports for trade, which was successful. The government now brought in an act abolishing all samurai and giving them compensation for their salaries by either a pension or a lump sum, to be paid for by an internal loan. The wearing of swords in future was also prohibited to all but the military forces. But Saigo and his sympathizers were convinced that the old way was better and that too much was being sacrificed, while too many con­ cessions were being made to foreigners; so they broke into open revolt and there ensued what is called the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. This formidable movement led by Saigo lasted for eight months before it was finally put down by the Imperial army of European-trained recruits with Prince Arisugawa in command. Saigo’s forces numbered forty thousand, those of the government more than sixty thousand, and the fighting was severe. But the con­ servative samurai swordsmen, good as they were, were defeated by the disciplined conscript army, and Saigo and his officers committed suicide in the Satsuma capital of Kagoshima. Saigo, though in a sense a rebel, has always been honoured as a splendid character and noble example of the Satsuma spirit. But this campaign emphatically dis-

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A Short History of Japan

posed of the claim of the samurai to be any better fighters than the rest of Japan. Meanwhile the finance of the country was being taken in hand, and it certainly needed it, for the Bakufu had left no money and the paper currency of the daimyos was worth little. The government issued notes at first on its own credit, which gradually improved as it set to work to accumulate specie to back it, so that with its power of taxing the whole country it soon put into force that system of customs, excise, and income tax which all civilized countries possess, and without which those armaments that make the best defence possible cannot be obtained. The government was, of course, so far quite oligarchic, and no attempt was made to widen it, though Itagaki Taisuke strongly urged that more people be taken into consultation. The only kind of assembly was the annual one of prefectural governors, held to discuss the affairs of the people under their care, as is still done; but in 1875 an advisory council was formed to consider a more up-todate form of administration. Itagaki also inspired a group of liberals to agitate for the inclusion of others beside the clan statesmen, who so far had ordered everything. But reaction was still very strong in many quarters and Okubo was assassinated in 1878, while Okuma almost suffered a similar fate later on. However, in 1881 the Emperor issued a message to the nation promising a constitution on the European model in ten years’ time, and Ito Hirobumi was sent to Europe for two years to study all the constitutions there. H e found that of Bismarckian Germany most suitable, and based the Japanese system on a modified version of it. But the ordinary people had no interest in constitutions because they did not know what they were. In 1885 the old Imperial Government with the Dajo-kwan was abolished, and a set of new departments of state under a Prime Minister were introduced. These consisted of Home and Foreign Offices, Treasury, W ar Office and Admiralty, Departments of Justice, Education, Agriculture and Trade, and Communications. The first Prime Minister was Prince Sanjo Sanetomi who had been at the head of the old regime, a very wise and sagacious statesman. Then in February 1899 the new constitution was proclaimed. Under it there was a Diet with the usual chambers called the House of Peers and the House of Representatives. The House of Peers was and still is

Era of Meiji (1867-1912)

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composed of three kinds of members: in the first place, Princes of the Imperial house and hereditary nobles, that is, all Princes and Mar­ quises over twenty-five years old, and one-fifth of the number of the other ranks elected by themselves; in the second place, representatives of the highest tax-payers, one for each prefecture; and in the third, men of eminence in science and letters or other intellectual activity, chosen by Imperial nomination. The number of members must not exceed three hundred. The Lower House was to be composed of about the same number of elected members, of whom the electors must be men over twenty-five who pay fifteen yen in direct taxation, a sum reduced to ten in 1900. The constitution declares the Emperor to be sacred and inviolable, exercising legislative power with the consent of the Diet, which he opens, closes and prorogues. In case of urgent necessity the Emperor can issue ordinances which can take the place of laws, when the Diet is not sitting. H e has the supreme command of the army and navy, declares war and makes peace, determines the organization of the armed forces and confers all ranks and titles of nobility. Subjects cannot be deprived of the right of being tried in the courts, except according to law. Similarly they have religious freedom, liberty of speech and writing, secrecy of communication and liberty to reside anywhere, and are eligible for civil and military office, while their houses are not subject to search or entry. But in each of these cases the right is qualified by the phrase “ except according to law” , which makes a difference. Both Houses of the Diet may propose legislation and the Privy Council is to discuss important matters of state and advise the Emperor. The Diet sits for about three months and must be con­ voked every year. Actually the Lower House has little control over the budget, because fixed expenditure based upon the supreme power of the Emperor, namely that for the services as well as the expenditure of the Household, does not require the consent of the Diet, and when the budget is not voted or is rejected that of the previous year automatically comes into effect. Moreover, ministers are not responsible to the Diet but to the Emperor, who selects the Prime Minister, whereupon the Prime Minister selects the Cabinet. And an adverse vote in the House does not necessarily cause the resignation of the government. On the other hand the ministers for the army and navy must be

252

A Short History of Japan

on the active list. Should they resign because they do not see eye to eye with the Cabinet, their place cannot be filled and the Cabinet cannot continue to function. The first election held is described as being “ favourable to the government” , and in this it was prophetic, for it is commonly said in Japan that “ the government always gets in” . There had for some time been an agitation for the rectification of the original treaties with European countries by which foreigners had extra-territorial privileges and operated under tariffs fixed at a low rate. These things were the natural result of the advantage taken by foreign powers of the weakness of the country in early days, and were intended as a protection during the uncertain times of the transition period. So by 1892 negotiations went so far as to admit the possibility of mixed courts with Japanese and European judges sitting together, but Okuma Shigenobu was bombed and lost a leg for showing some inclination to agree to this, and the dis­ cussions got no further till after the Sino-Japanese war in 1894, when Japan was held to have qualified to be treated as a civilized nation and England agreed to abolish extraterritoriality and admit tariff autonomy. By this treaty foreigners were allowed to travel without passports everywhere in the country, instead of being confined to the vicinity of the treaty ports, though they were not allowed to hold landed property in their own right. The Sino-Japanese war of 1894 arose out of relations with Korea, which leaned on China and refused as far as possible to have any­ thing to do with Japan. However, the Koreans opened three ports as the result of a naval demonstration and made treaties with Eng­ land and America as an independent country. But China had a resident in Seoul and he was very influential there in supporting the conservative anti-foreign party headed by the T a i W on Kun, or Regent, and the family of the Empress. This party was very hostile to the progressives and their leader K im Ok K um and ended in attacking some Japanese who had gone there to assist them, burning the Japanese Embassy and chasing away the minister into the bar­ gain. A visit from a Japanese warship naturally followed, and Japan obtained the right to station troops in Seoul for the protection of her nationals. China, as might be expected, also sent troops and it is hardly surprising that they came to blows, and once more the Japanese Embassy was destroyed by a riotous mob. After this there were more

.

Era of Meiji ( i86j-igi2)

253

negotiations and Ito Horibumi went to Tientsin in 1885 and came to an agreement with China that both powers should recognize the independence of Korea and withdraw their troops and, further, take no measures without informing each other. For some time this agreement was kept, but in 1894 an insurrec­ tion of a semi-religious nature broke out in Korea, and China sent troops at the request of the Koreans to assist to quell it; but Japan was not informed. When she found it out she also dispatched troops and this time neither side would give way, and war was begun when Captain, afterwards Admiral, Togo, sunk a Chinese transport and damaged two cruisers that were convoying a fresh detachment of Chinese troops. The Chinese were defeated in successive battles at Songhwan and Pyong Y an g and in a naval engagement at Haiyang Island near Port Arthur. The Japanese armies under Marshals Yamagata and Oyama crossed the frontier and were also transported by sea to Port Arthur, which they took, as they also did the port and fortress of Wei-hai-wei. In Manchuria Niu-chwang was also taken, and there was nothing more to prevent the invasion of China proper, when the latter capitulated. Ito and L i H ung Chang met at Shimonoseki and signed the treaty named after that place, which gave Japan an indemnity of two hundred million taels, the islands of Formosa and the Pescadores, and the Liao-Tung Peninsula and Port Arthur. But to the ceding of this last territory Russia strongly objected, and as she was joined by France and Germany there was nothing for Japan to do but to accede to their wishes, owing to their overwhelm­ ing naval superiority in F ar Eastern waters. Japan had only cruisers at this period, though they were handled so well and the Chinese battleships so badly, that they were effective enough against these latter. Even if the Dowager Empress of China had spent the money on her navy instead of on the Summer Palace as it is alleged, it might well have been with no better result, but only with the loss of one of the splendours of the world. After this Europe began to push her interests rather more intens­ ively in the Far East. Russia completed the Trans-Siberian railway and arranged with the grateful Chinese Government for a lease of the Liao-Tung Peninsula and permission to bring the railway through Manchuria via Niu-chwang to Port Arthur. Then Ger­ many got Kiao Chou as a compensation for the death of two mis-

254

A Short History of Japart

sionaries, and England Wci-hai-wei to redress the balance. France also received K w an Chou, and all these powers marked out for themselves spheres of influence in different parts of China, where they could be free to finance railways and engage in exclusive trading. Even Italy tried to get a port, but that was too much for the Dowager Empress, who decided that the line must be drawn somewhere. Then America suggested the open door in China and equal trad­ ing rights for all, which proposal was received with moderate cor­ diality by the rest. China had also begun to consider beginning some reforms, and the Emperor K uang Hsu was in favour of them. This, however, caused a reaction on the part of the Dowager and the con­ servatives which, combined with a perhaps natural anti-foreign resent­ ment of so much grabbing, brought about the Boxer Rebellion and the attack on the foreign legations in Peking. The rebellion was suppressed by a large allied expeditionary force in which the Japanese detachment played a prominent part. Russia took advantage of all this to strengthen her already large garrisons in the Far East and make them permanent, converting Port Arthur and other strategic points into formidable fortresses. This was a very definite threat to Japan, for the presence of a strong Russian fleet based on Port Arthur and Vladivostok meant that Korea would certainly be absorbed next, which would dominate the Island Empire’s communications and put her independence in jeop­ ardy. Her trade, too, would be curtailed, since Russia objected to any commercial posts in Manchuria other than her own. For Russia the possession of these territories would round off an Empire stretching across Europe and Asia from the Baltic to the Yellow Sea, with all its enormous strategic and commercial possibilities. This prospect she would by no means relinquish, and therefore paid no attention to Japan’s repeated requests to evacuate Manchuria. Japan pressed strongly for the principle of the open door in Man­ churia so that she would not be excluded from trading there; but though Russia made some promises they were not carried out, and evidently were not likely to be, while all the time she went on busily increasing her armaments. Japan now made an alliance with Eng­ land, to whom the expansion of Russian influence in the Far East and elsewhere was a similar bogy. This guaranteed that England would give assistance against any hostile third power that might intervene, should Japan go to war to protect the interests of China and Korea

Era of Meiji (1867-1912)

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*

t

.

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and to preserve the peace of the Far East, and vice versa. A s Japan could obtain no satisfaction from Russia in these negotiations, which went on for some four months, she sent a note in February 1904 breaking them off and reserving for herself freedom of action. A t the same time Admiral Togo, in command of her fleets, sent out his destroyers to attack the battleships in the harbour of Port Arthur, as well as a squadron with transports to make a landing at Chemulpo in Korea. In the actions that resulted two Russian battleships were damaged at the former port, and two small cruisers destroyed at the latter. The Russian fleet was not concentrated, but the major part of it was at Port Arthur, which the Japanese proceeded to blockade and stop up by sinking ships in the harbour mouth, so that they were free to transport their armies to Korea and Manchuria. The only other menace was the three cruisers at Vladivostok, which did not prove a very serious one. Japan then landed troops at the rear of Port Arthur and took the very strong position that defended the neck of the isthmus, thus cutting off its land communications and laying siege to it. The Rus­ sian armies were then engaged and driven back in battles on the Yalu, at Telissu, Liao-Yang and the Sha Ho, and slowly forced back to Mukden. General N ogi’s army before Port Arthur, after many fierce attacks and heavy losses, succeeded in taking an emi­ nence called 606 Metre Hill, from which the fleet in the harbour could be observed and bombarded by indirect fire. Then more of the outer defences fell, and on 1st January 1905 the garrison surrendered after four months’ intensive operations. The besieging army was then able to join those in Manchuria, and the four armies, together numbering about two hundred and fifty thousand men, attacked Mukden in March. After a ten days’ battle the Russians were again forced to retreat with heavy losses. Meanwhile the Russian Baltic Fleet had been sent out from Europe, but since Port Arthur had fallen had to make for Vladivostok, the only remaining harbour. Under the command of Admiral Rozhestvenski it arrived in the Japan Sea in May, where it was met by the Japanese fleet under Admiral Togo, and a battle took place near Tsushima Island between Japan and Korea. The action lasted for two days and the Russian fleet was almost completely destroyed, with a loss to the Japanese of only three torpedo-boats. Soon after this President Theodore Roosevelt invited the two

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A Short History of Japan

Empires to come to terms, and plenipotentiaries, Kom ura and Witte, were appointed to discuss peace. In August a treaty was concluded by which both agreed to withdraw from Manchuria, which was Chinese territory. Russia was to recognize Japan’s interests in Korea and not to obstruct them in any way, also to surrender her rights at Port Arthur and Talien with the southern half of Saghalien. The Manchurian railway was to be divided between the two Empires. This treaty was not popular in Japan and there was great dis­ appointment at the failure to obtain an indemnity. But though Russia had been defeated, her armies were still intact and Japan was not financially in a position to make a longer war advisable. However, the treaty enabled her to obtain complete control over Korea, which first became a protectorate. Before very long, in 19x0, it was annexed as part of the Japanese Empire, shortly after the assassination by a Hfcftio UMe.

Edo Castle at the present day.

Miroku Bosatsu— the Bodhisattva Maitreva. Seventh centurv.

Era of Meiji (1867-1912)

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Korean of Prince Ito Hirobumi, the first Resident General, and per­ haps the greatest figure of the Restoration period. The result of this war was to place Japan among the Great Powers, so that it may be regarded as one of the turning-points of world history. That the Empire should have been able to achieve such a position after a period of less than forty years since its emergence from seclusion is a tribute to the order and discipline in which it had been educated by the Bakufu, combined with the inspiration of loyalty to its ancient dynasty. And it is certainly obvious that Japan had been a first-class power except in externals all along, and did not become so merely after the advent of Meiji. For miracles of that kind do not happen in history. The Anglo-Japanese alliance was renewed in 1905 and its scope extended to make it an offensive-defensive agreement for the pre­ servation of the peace of the Far East, which enabled England to reduce her fleet there. This agreement was again renewed in 19 11. In July 1912 the Emperor Meiji died after a reign of forty-five years, the longest in the history of the Empire, and the most outstanding in achievement. H e was a great and dignified ruler whose influence was profound and inspiring, and the whole nation mourned for him sincerely. H e lived very simply and took a great personal interest in all sorts of activities both at home and abroad, and his fame as a poet was great. His anniversary was appointed as one of the four great festi­ vals of the year2 and the shrine erected in Tokyo in his memory is the most impressive in the capital. His Imperial mausoleum at Momoyama near Kyoto is also on a grand scale and near it, as also in Tokyo, is a shrine to General Count Nogi, who committed suicide with his wife at the time of the Emperor’s funeral to follow him also in death.

2 New Year, Kigensetsu or Foundation of the Empire, Jimmu Tenno Festival and Meiji Tenno Festival.

S-

CHAPTER

26

TA ISH O

(1912-28) T he Taisho period after which the successor to the Emperor Meiji is named, witnessed a great development of the power and influence of Japan in the industrial and commercial, as well as in the military, sphere, and she came to take third place among the great nations in commercial as well as naval tonnage. The manufacturing and industrial activity that has become such a serious competitor with that of Europe and America had begun in these years, though its possibilities were not at once realized in the West. But Japan has always possessed great technical ability, as anyone might have per­ ceived from an inspection of her products in Occidental museums, as well as great capacity for organization, added to a standard of quite comfortable and even elegant life lower than that of most other nations. And when these capacities came to be stimulated by an ever-growing Nationalist sentiment they became formidable indeed. A god-sent opportunity was presented to Japan in this direc­ tion by World War I, when she was enabled to take advantage of the needs and incapacities of the warring nations to gain fresh markets for her industries and to rectify her financial condition so as to become a creditor instead of a debtor State. Japan took her place with the Allies in accordance with the AngloJapanese Alliance, and was not long in taking Kiao Chou from Germany. She also assisted in the convoying of the ships and par­ ticipated in naval operations in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. A nd there was peace in the Far East in conse­ quence, though there was none anywhere else. Had she been neutral or joined the other side the consequences would indeed have been incalculable. She took advantage of the first world war also to pre­ sent the Twenty-one Demands to China, which, had it been possible to enforce them, would have put Japan in complete control of that

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country both financially and diplomatically, and would have render­ ed quite unnecessary the later “ China Affair” . But the other powers, particularly America, were not quite so impotent as to make this easy, and so the matter was shelved for a while. Ever since the pro­ clamation of the Republic in 19 11 China had been practically in the hands of local military chiefs, and the central government had little power, so this kind of adventure seemed as tempting to Japan as it had been previously to the other powers. But it also helped to develop a national consciousness in China. At the Peace Conference of Versailles in June 1919 the veteran Elder Statesman Prince Saionji represented Japan as chief dele­ gate with Viscount Chinda and Baron Makino, and obtained further rights previously held by Germany in Shantung, though agreeing to return the territory to Chinese sovereignty. Japan was also given a mandate over the former German islands in the Pacific north of the Equator, thus bringing her into contact with Australia, which received a similar one over N ew Guinea. Japan also sent an expeditionary force of some seventy thousand men to Siberia in 1918 to co-operate with the United States in putting down disorder there and rescuing Czechoslovak troops who had fought their way through Russia after being made prisoners. She also occupied Russian Saghalien for some years as a reprisal for the massacre of her consular officials and nationals at Nicolaievsk in 1920. After the Soviet Government was properly established an arrangement was made and the Japanese retired. In 1921-2 the Washington Conference was held for the settlement of Pacific problems, the Anglo-Japanese alliance having been allowed to lapse out of regard for the feelings of America. A naval agree­ ment fixed a ratio of about three to five for the fleets of Japan, America, and England. Prince Tokugawa Iesato, heir to the fifteenth Shogun, was the chief delegate and Admiral Kato Tomosaburo the naval expert. Besides the limitation of warships it was agreed that certain Pacific bases such as the Bonin and other islands, Formosa, and Hong K ong should not be fortified further. Incidentally, the Japan­ ese navy grew from 59,000 tons at the time of the Sino-Japanese war in 1894 to 770,000 in 1921. Also by the Nine Power Pact Japan agreed, with the others, “ to respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial and administra­ tive integrity of China, to maintain the principle of equal oppor­

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tunity for commerce and industry in China, and to refrain from taking advantage of conditions there to seek special rights or privi­ leges that would abridge the rights of citizens and subjects of friendly States” . To the Kellogg Pact for the abolition of militaristic diplo­ macy she was also a signatory. In 1921-2, too, for the first time in history, the Crown Prince left Japan and made a tour of Europe. Soon after his return he was appointed Regent owing to the continued illness of the Emperor, who had never been robust and who now become quite unable to bear the burdens of state. Early in 1922 two of the most prominent statesmen of the Restora­ tion, Prince Yamagata and Marquis Okuma, died at the age of eighty-four and eighty-three. Since the death of Prince Ito, Prince Yamagata had been the most powerful of the Genro or Elder States­ men1 of whom now only Princes Matsukata and Saionji were left, and Matsukata did not survive long. In September 1923 a violent series of earthquakes occurred in Tokyo and the vicinity, followed by a fire that destroyed practically half the city. In Tokyo alone almost sixty thousand people were killed and very many injured, so that the capital suffered probably as badly as in the former disasters of 1651 and 1854. Fortu­ nately the palace and the mausolea of the Shoguns at Shiba and Ueno were not burnt, but most of what remained of old Edo was now blotted out. A s before, great loss of life was caused by the destruction of the bridges, preventing people’s escape. The losses at the port of Yokohama were equally great. But the nation rose to the occasion with undaunted strength and spirit and immediately set about rebuilding both cities, which was accomplished in some five years. So Tokyo became a city of steel and concrete buildings of the type called modern, but actually more in accordance with Japanese principles of functional simplicity than the earlier variety of Renais­ sance and other European styles copied from the West. Though American sympathy and assistance at the time of the 1 The description “ Genro” applied to these statesmen and to Prince Katsura does not mean that these Elder Statesmen were a part of the constitution like the Privy Council, but only that they were chosen as advisers by the Emperor Meiji. Prince Saionji was the only survivor of the early Meiji and even pre-Meiji days. He was the only aristocrat whose name figures in the former Court Noble Peerage or “View of Those Above the Clouds” of 1 8 6 3 , where he is described as “ Sho-sammi Saionji U- Chujo Kimmochi-no-Kyo" or “Lord Saionji Kimmochi, Lieutenant-General of the Right of the Upper Third Court Rank, income 5 9 7 kpku> age 1 6 ."

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earthquake were very much appreciated in Japan, the new Em igra­ tion L aw passed by the United States soon after it, completely exclud­ ing all Asiatics, was naturally regarded as something very near an insult. For there had been no trouble about immigration from Japan since the “ Gentleman’s Agreement” with President Roosevelt in 1908, by which she undertook to control it. In 1925 the government presented a bill for universal suffrage which has since come to pass, but as the Diet still had little power, perhaps even less than before, this hardly made much difference to anything, especially as more stringent laws for the control of “ danger­ ous thought” had also been passed and the Labour Party suppressed by the government. As to the Diet, though there was the liberal Cabinet of Okuma and Itagaki in early days, the later parties just worked with the bureaucratic and military governments. These parties were rather personal or clan followings than anything else, and had no special policies except nationalism, without which it would have been difficult for them to exist. They could not at any time oppose the military bureaucrats successfully, so that the administration did not differ very much from that of pre-Meiji days. For long the clan influence of Satsuma and Choshu continued, as many of the great and influential figures came from these provinces. Though this had decreased in the 1930s, the power of the Supreme W ar Council and the Privy Council—the former composed of the military and naval chiefs, the latter of veteran councillors and statesmen, and both having direct access to the Throne—was as dominant and unshakeable as ever. The activities of the various kinds of police, too, were as ubiquitous as those of the Metsuke and other samurai officers of Tokugawa days, and as capable of controlling both thought and action. But it is hardly correct to describe the government as fascist, for power was not concentrated in any one person2 but distributed among several, and these were neither prominent nor necessarily constant. Japan has nothing much to learn from Europe about the conduct of oligarchy or bureaucracy, while the sense of loyalty and discipline that is second nature to the people precludes the obsession with personal freedom that is characteristic of England and America. 2 Foreign journalists and others seemed at one time to think that General Araki Sadao, prominent Imperialist and then Education Minister, might become such a dictator, but of course he did not.

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The parliamentary system was no doubt adopted because in the middle of the nineteenth century it was considered to be indispens­ able to all who would rank with the respectable countries, but it was so modified that it proved not incompatible with the national constitu­ tion. Consequently there may be no particular need to alter it. Civilians do not fear or dislike the military, for they have never been used to any other kind of rule; and military rule has proved successful and added to the prestige of the nation, as well as being remarkably free from corruption or class feeling. The soldiers are, on their part, neither uncultivated nor overbearing, and differ only from the rest in being specialists in their profession as are others in science or administration. There are no crack regiments in the Japanese army and exceedingly few titled officers. And the salaries of military and civil officials as well as their rank and decorations, are much the same.

CHAPTER

27

SH O W A

(1927-

)

O n Christmas Day 1926 the Emperor died and was given the posthu­ mous title of his era, Taisho Tenno. The Prince Regent now became Emperor and the name of the era was changed with the reign to Showa (Brilliant Peace). Ever since the acquisition by Japan of extended residential, trading, mining and advisory rights in Manchuria in connection with the South Manchurian Railway, the Chinese had been inclined to evade carrying out their side of the arrangement, which they resented as forced on them during World W ar I, and there was an increasing tendency to hamper Japanese trade by boy­ cotts. In 1928 Chang-tso-lin, Governor of Manchuria, was killed when his train was blown up—by whom, it has never been discovered— where the Peking-Mukden line crosses the South Manchurian. He had successfully entered Peking just before, but was thrust out again by Feng Y u Hsiang and Chiang Kai-shek. His son Chang Hsueh Liang then succeeded him as governor and he, like the Kuomintang Government of Nanking, was very anti-Japanese, so there were possi­ bilities of more irritation. China had tried to get rid of these obliga­ tions at the Washington Conference, but the Japanese claims were con­ firmed there, greatly to her disappointment. So affairs went on till 1931 when the Japanese army in Manchuria suddenly lost patience and seized first the capital Mukden and then the whole country because, it was alleged, the Chinese had blown up part of the railway. The General Staff appears not to have con­ sulted any other part of the government about this enterprise. There then followed the attack on Shanghai and the destruction of the Chinese city of Chapei in retaliation for disorders there arising out of the boycott and anti-Japanese crusade of the Kuomintang. In 1982 the new State of Manchukuo was proclaimed, and soon afterwards Pu Y i, the retired Emperor of China, was placed on its throne as the Emperor K an g Te. Manchukuo is henceforth an independent State allied with Japan, but assisted and advised by officers and experts from

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that country, and depending on it for defence much as Egypt used to depend on England. A s the other powers would not recognize the new State and the League of Nations did not approve of it, Japan decided to leave the League and formally did so in March 1933. Japan’s view of the League was that it was almost entirely made up of European powers and represented their opinions, whereas she did not propose to tolerate the interference of outside nations in the solution of the problems of the Pacific region in which she claimed to be supreme. Dissension among the countries of Europe was, of course, very much to the advantage of Japan, whose advances would hardly have been so easy if the Great Powers had jointly opposed them. The Showa era has been remarkable for that increase in trade and particularly in exports that caused the rest of the world no little uneasiness. Without going into details it can be seen that hostilities did not prevent the exports of rayon rising from ^47,000 to £ 135,000 and those of cotton cloth from £ 198,000 to ^496,000 between 1931 and 1936; while the beer export rose in the same period from 36,000 to 136,000 \o\u and that of clocks trebled itself. Electric bulbs, too, were >ent abroad by the hundred million. However, Japan’s import of raw materials was even greater than her export, which explained her designs in Manchuria and China and other Pacific territories. The manufacture of bicycles was larger than that of any other country, and that of cinema film second only to that of the United States. This last was all for home consumption. Taxation in Japan was not normally as heavy as in England, though it seems that the farmer paid more than twice as much as the towns­ man. Incomes under 1200 yen paid no tax, and there were many such. From that to 1500 yen it was only 2 per cent and for 10,000 yen 9 '5 per cent.* But, as there is in Japan the smallest average of arable land per person of any country, the possibilities of increase in agri­ culture are not bright, and the lot of the farmer is a hard one. There is no dole in Japan, and no old age pension; for the family provides the latter, and industry has so far managed to provide just a living wage, so that there has been no need for the former. The pres­ sure of all the foreign countries outside, which Japan regards as a sort of white peril, helps to maintain the national solidarity still further. The capacity shown by Japan for scientific and industrial adaptation and invention as well as for manufacturing cheaply, might have been * These figures refer to pre-war times of course.

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foreseen by Europeans long ago if they had taken the trouble to study the country a little more closely and to reflect on the products of its art and craft that the museums contain. It was actually predicted by one of the most distinguished students of these things, for we may read in Colonel Strange’s book Japanese Illustration, published in 1897, these words: The fact is that the Japanese have the instinct of handicraft. They have the manual traditions of generations of skilled workers, and being in no wise deficient in intelligence they are able to adopt our tools and apply to their use qualities far higher than those possessed by the average English mechanic. It has yet to be admitted that Japan is England’s most dangerous rival in commerce. With her magnificent artistic training she can, if she will, beat us from the field of skilled craftsmanship altogether. Certainly it seems that she has willed. In February 1932 Inoue Junnosuke, former Minister of Finance, was assassinated, and this was followed in March by the shooting of Baron Dan Takuma, Chairman of the Mitsui Companies. In both cases the assassins were members of a patriotic Secret Society. The month after this the Premier, M r Inukai, met a violent death at the hands of a group of young military cadets and naval officers and ultrapatriotic civilians. These assassinations were the result of a conviction that the duty of assisting the hard-pressed agricultural population had been neglect­ ed by politicians and financiers, who were engrossed in their own selfish interests.! Consequently they were not serving the Emperor and the country with the necessary sincerity, and it was advisable to txlake an example of representative members. It was very reminiscent of the outbreak of Oshio Heihachiro against the Shogunate bureau­ crats. The perpetrators were arrested and punished, but the heaviest sentence was one of penal servitude for life given to the civilian organizer of the affair, and the accused made long and impressive patriotic speeches at their trial. With this the Cabinet, which was of the Seiyukai or conservative party, came to an end, and a national one with ministers from both parties and from the Upper House was inaugurated with Admiral Viscount Saito as Premier. One of the first things it did was to con­ sider a bill for the relief of the over-burdened peasantry, whose debts were reckoned at something like the equivalent of £200 million in

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all. For a short time there had been a Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, which was formed in 1926 for the improvement of conditions of the proletariat; but it had fallen under suspicion of being communistic in its ideas and was therefore suppressed by the Cabinet of General Tanaka in 1928. Another party of the same kind was started in 1932, composed of radicals who wished to press for social legislation. It was called the Social Mass Party. Communists had become com­ paratively few in Japan, for ever since 1915 or so the various kinds of police had been very active indeed in suppressing and convert­ ing this type of thinker, and large numbers had apparently become convinced of the incompatibility of these principles with the Japanese constitution. In March 1933 an Imperial edict was issued confirming the with­ drawal of Japan from the League of Nations, notice of which had been previously given. This was the result of the report of the Com­ mission of Inquiry of that body which, under the leadership of Lord Lytton, had spent four months in the Far East the previous year. This report did not admit that Japan’s action in Manchukuo had been taken in self-defence, or recognize the alienation of Chinese sovereignty in that territory, but recommended international control of it, which was considered quite irreconcilable with Japan’s claims. The edict, however, declared: The advancement of international peace is what, as evermore, We desire, and our attitude towards enterprises of peace shall sustain no change. By quitting the League and embarking on a course of its own Our Empire does not mean that it will stand aloof in the extreme Orient, nor that it will isolate itself thereby from the fraternity of nations. It is Our desire to promote mutual confidence between Our Empire and all the other Powers, and to make known the justice of its cause throughout the world. About this time the Japanese and Manchukuo troops moved against Jehol where hostile Chinese activities were taking place, and after a short campaign of little more than a month occupied the capital of Chengte on 4th March. They then pursued the retreating Chinese forces beyond the Great W all almost as far as Tientsin and Peking, which places, however, they refrained from entering. Chinese repre­ sentatives then agreed to sign an agreement to maintain a demilitariz­ ed zone between the W all and the boundary of the territory of these two cities.

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In the middle of 1934 Admiral Saito and his Cabinet resigned on account of a politico-financial scandal and Admiral Okada suc­ ceeded him, but there was little difference in the formation of the new administration. A sum of about £ 16,000,000 was voted for the relief of the distressed farmers, and the government fund for buying up rice was also increased. This fund had been started some years before to accumulate stocks and stabilize the price. More money had to be spent also to assist the population of central Japan after the very destructive typhoon of September 1934, which did great damage in the Osaka district. An important constitutional question arose in the Diet about the relation of the Sovereign to the State in connection with the views of Professor D r Minobe, member of the Upper House, which were now challenged. He had defined the Throne as the highest organ of the State, but the nationalists now asserted that the Throne was absolute and supreme and above all institutions. After consideration by the Supreme Court the Cabinet confirmed this latter definition, and D r Minobe resigned his seat. H e was assaulted by ultra-patriots. In the election of 1935 the proletarian parties increased their num­ bers considerably and were now represented by forty-one members. In August of that year Lieutenant-General Nagata, Chief of the Board of Military Affairs of the General Staff, was assassinated by Lieutenant-Colonel Aizawa, a patriotic enthusiast, because he had come to the conclusion that the general was one of those endangering the national safety by not opposing the corrupt ways of capitalists, bureaucrats, and politicians, who cared more for their own interests than for those of their country. After a protracted trial Colonel Aizaw a was condemned to death and executed. The Premier requested the Emperor to dissolve the Diet, because the Seiyukai or conservative and capitalistic majority party were hostile to the proposed increase in expenditure for military purposes. In December 1935 Japan notified the United States that she intend­ ed to terminate the Washington N aval Treaty. A t the same time a naval conference was held in London to try to come to an agree­ ment about a limitation of armaments, and Japan proposed a com­ mon upper limit for all, but a low one, and the principle of non-aggression and non-menace; but as the former suggestion was not accepted by the other powers Admiral Nagano withdrew from the conference.

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A Short History of Japan

In the new Diet the Seiyukai was defeated, while there was a large increase in the parties in favour of social reconstruction. Then, on an administration thus facing very considerable difficulties both in its home policy and its foreign relations, there suddenly burst a violent outbreak of the extreme patriot and nationalist elements, which caused the most extensive military revolt of the Restoration era. In the early dawn of 26th February 1936 detachments of the Imperial Guards, the First Infantry Regiment, and the Heavy Artillery Regiment of Tokyo, numbering nearly fifteen hundred men under several captains, lieutenants, and N.C.O.s, suddenly attacked and murdered the Lord Privy Seal and former Premier, Adm iral Saito; the Finance Minister, Baron Takahashi; the Inspector General of Military Education, General Watanabe; seriously wounded the Grand Chamberlain, Admiral Suzuki; and killed the brother-in-law of the Premier, mistaking him for Admiral Okada himself. A t the same time they seized the General Staff office, the headquarters of the Police Department and part of the centre of Tokyo round the palace. Outside Tokyo they had also arranged to kill the aged Genro, Prince Saionji, and the former Lord Privy Seal, Count Makino. Both escaped in time, however, though the assailants burnt the inn where Count Makino had been staying. N o other damage was done and the civil population was in no way involved, the only other casualties being a number of policemen who fell at their posts bravely facing the machine-guns of the insurgents. The ringleaders of the movement then went to the W ar Minister and demanded that radical measures be taken to abolish the influence of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, to reform the social condi­ tions of the people and to safeguard the independence of the Supreme Imperial Command against such limitations as were imposed on it by the London N aval Treaty of 1930. A s in the former cases, there was no personal objection to those who were attacked, who were all men of the highest character and qualities, particularly Admiral Saito, the most enlightened and broad-minded type of officer, and Baron Takahashi, genial and universally popular, who had fear­ lessly resisted the demands of the military for heavier taxation because it seemed to him unsound. They fell, rather as Ii Kamonno-kami had done, because in the opinion of the ultra-nationalists the policy they advised was not patriotic enough.

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Meanwhile Lieutenant-General Kashii, commanding in Tokyo, had put the centre of the city under martial law and drawn a cordon of the unaffected troops round it, after which he began negotiations with the mutineers with a view to settling the affair without further bloodshed. These were eventually successful, for after a three days’ impasse the insurgents surrendered in response to an Imperial order to lay down their arms. And so ended this attempt of the radical section of the Arm y and the zealots of the ultra-patriotic societies to take charge of its policy. They do not seem to have had any special plan, and as they were not supported by the Arm y as a whole, much less the N avy, they collapsed. After this settlement the Supreme Military Council resigned and the generals and other high officers of the Guards and the Tokyo Division were relieved of their posts. A s for the insurgents themselves, two committed suicide at once, while a large number of the others were tried by court-martial. O f the ringleaders, two captains and eleven lieutenants with four civilians were sentenced to death and shot, while more than fifty others, mostly N.C.O.s, received terms of imprisonment varying from life to two years. The Premier, Admiral Okada, who had managed to escape vyith his life, immediately resigned, and his place was taken by M r Hirota, the Foreign Minister. In the Imperial address to the new Diet regret was expressed at the recent incident, and afterwards severe criticism was directed by members of the Lower House at the W ar Minister for allowing soldiers to interfere in politics contrary to the Emperor M eiji’s edict to the forces. Following the abandoned naval conference, various attempts were made to get Japan to agree to a limit for the calibre of big guns and the tonnage of battleships, but to neither of these sug­ gestions would she consent. D uring this year Canada increased her tariff against Japanese goods, whereupon Japan retaliated, with the result that the Canadian duties were modified in her favour. Australia also took similar action to prevent inroads on her Empire trade in textiles, and again Japan applied her Trade Protection Act and refrained from buying Australian wool. This action was follow­ ed by protracted negotiations and various adjustments, eventually permitting a limited amount of import on both sides. An important event of 1936 was the opening of the new Imperial Diet Building. This was begun in 1920, and is a massive and impos­

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A Short History of Japan

ing structure in the modern style, constructed all of Japanese materials, steel and concrete, granite and marble, and decorated within with native woods and mosaics with the skill for which Japanese craftsmen are famous. It is equipped with every modern electric device for ensuring the effective functioning of the two Houses in the most convenient and time-saving manner. In November 1936 was signed the German-Japanese Pact against the communistic activities of the Comintern. It was not very definite, and not directed against the Soviet Government, but intended as a common front against the further spread of the Com­ munist movement. The pact was later extended to Italy. A less pleasing matter for the people generally, especially the commercial section of it, was the introduction of increased taxation rendered necessary by the large demands of the Services—480 million yen for the Arm y and 340 million for the N avy—for up to this time the budget had been balanced by loans to make up the deficits that had existed since 1931. N ow a fundamental reform was con­ templated by which perhaps nearly two hundred million yen might be added to the national income. Also a system of national control of economics generally, and especially electric power for use in the provinces, was framed, and a council of ministers set up to investigate the whole administration of the country both central and local with a view to revising it. When the W ar Minister was interrogated about this latter proposal he said the Arm y had no wish to minimize the power of the Diet but only to see the establishment of a constitutional government characteristic of Japan and in accord­ ance with the special nature of the national structure. H e added that the political demands of the Services would be expressed only through the Ministers of the Arm y and N avy and in no other way. Later in the year the Arm y authorities published in more detail what they demanded, which was an organ to control the ministries and investigate national policies, and another to control officials; the combination of the Foreign Office and the Overseas Office; similar combination of the Ministry of Agriculture with that of Commerce and Industry; the transference of the Bureau of Shinto Shrines from the Home Office to the Education Department; and the reorganization of the Home Office. The political parties, however, did not agree to the taxation and

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electricity schemes, and in consequence the W ar Minister resigned and so brought about the fall of the Cabinet in January 1937, on the grounds that the parties had not the same understanding as had the Arm y of the present situation of the country. On the advice of the Genro and others General Ugaki, former W ar Minister and Supreme W ar Councillor, was recommended to the Throne as Premier. But though he had popular support, for reasons which were not very clear he could get no W ar Minister, and so was unable to form a Cabinet. The next recommendation was General Hayashi, who formed a Cabinet of eight ministers, four military men and four civilians. But it did not get on any better with the political parties than the previous one, and was dissolved in March. An election was held, of which the principal feature was the increase of the Social Mass Party, which expanded from ten to thirty-six members. Since it could make no progress as things were the Cabinet resigned. In June 1937 Prince Konoe Fumimaro was recommended to the Throne as Premier by the Genro and the Lord Privy Seal. Prince Konoe had been President of the Upper House since the retirement of his uncle, Prince Tokugawa Iesato, from that office, which had been held by his father Prince Konoe Atsumaro before him. Head of the senior Regent family, he was in some sense the hereditary Premier of Japan, and since he was young and of out­ standing ability, as well as of distinguished appearance, his assump­ tion of the position was welcomed by all and he had no difficulty in forming a Cabinet of thirteen members. In June 1937 the government dissolved the former Academy of Art and instituted a new one, so that it could better control the artists, who for some time had not found it easy to control them­ selves. The membership of the academy was limited to eighty, chosen by the Minister of Education from persons eminent in paint­ ing, music, and literature. This placed it somewhat on a level with the Imperial Academy, a body composed of scholars and scien­ tists appointed by the Emperor and controlled by the Education Department. On 7th July 1937 began the China Incident, as it was called. According to the Japanese version it started because Chinese soldiers fired on Japanese troops engaged in night manoeuvres outside Peking, but actually, no doubt, like the “ Manchurian Affair”, it

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A Short History of Japan

was planned by the Arm y, which was now completely under the control of the “ Young Officer” party. This may be described as a modern version of the Ronin or patriots so disliked by the Tokugawa government, strongly supported by such ultra-nationalistic societies as the “ Black Dragon”, controlled by the aged Toyama Mitsuru, who for long had instigated attacks on the lukewarm at home and stirred up trouble abroad. With the expansion of the forces and the passing of time, the older type of officer of the Russo-Japanese war period, who was usually from a samurai family with a background of culture and restraint, had given place to quite a different order drawn from the peasant or small trader class, with the same ignorant fanaticism usually found in the lower middle class of most countries, and deeply indoctrinated in addi­ tion by the modern nationalistic education system. These regarded themselves as the chosen people, disliked and despised capitalists, diplomats, politicians, and foreigners, and seemed to favour most a state of socialism in which all the land should “ belong to the Emperor”, which was merely another way of stating that it should be controlled by themselves. With them the “ Bushido” they had always on their lips became again nothing but the unscrupulous militarism it was in the sixteenth century. This China Incident soon developed into a major operation involving Shanghai, Nanking, Canton, Shantung, and the whole of central China as well as the Peking district. The coast towns and railways were seized, and with the occupation of the capital the Chinese National Government moved to Chungking in the province of Szechuan. The taking of N anking was accompanied by general looting, murder, and savagery of all kinds, and large sections of the city were burnt. The China coast was closely block­ aded and the Yangtze closed to foreign shipping, the British ambassador’s car machine-gunned outside Shanghai, and British shipping and a gunboat bombed on the Yangtze. In addition the American gunboat Panay, which had on board the staff of the American Embassy at Nanking, was sunk by bombing and gun­ fire. Belated apologies were afterwards sent and an indemnity paid to America, but British and American naval forces were completely eliminated from the China seas. Early in 1938 the Cabinet was reconstructed, the Foreign Minister, Mr Hirota, being replaced by General Ugaki, while General Araki

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became Minister for Education. A s the most eloquent and enthus­ iastic exponent of the Imperial W ay (Kodo), he was thus given the widest scope for his propaganda. The Ministers were as follows:

1

I l

,

Prime Minister Minister for War Minister for Navy Minister for Home Affairs Minister for Education Minister for Foreign and Colonial Office Minister for Treasury and Commerce Minister for Justice Minister for Agriculture and Forestry Minister for Railways Minister for Communications

Prince Konoe Fumimaro General Itagaki Seishiro1 Admiral Yonai Mitsumasa Admiral Suetsugu Nobumasa General Baron Araki Sadao2 General Ugaki Kazushige2 Mr Ikeda Seihin3 Mr Shiono Suehiko4 Count Arima Yoritsugu5 Mr Nakajima Chikuhei6 Mr Nagai Ryutaro7

Probably the Japanese Staff had not intended to campaign all over China, but on account of resistance in the south their forces had to extend their operations, with the result that they were not able to carry out the plan for a quick conquest of China and utilize her resources as they had hoped. M r Hirota declared that Japan’s naval policy was based on non-menace and non-aggression, and that she wished to retain her traditional friendship for Britain. It was regrettable that Britain, from selfish motives, was supply­ ing arms to China. These sentiments were emphasized by the tak­ ing of Canton and hemming in of Hong Kong, while the occupation of the island of Hainan completed the process. In October 1938 the Prime Minister announced that, by the August Virtue of the Emperor, all vital areas of China were now in their hands and the Kuomintang existed as a mere local regime. Japan sought the establishment of a new order having as its founda­ tion a tripartite relationship of mutual aid and co-ordination between 3 Chief Adviser to Manchukuo Government. 2 Supreme War Council. 3 Director of Mitsui Company. 4 Formerly Director of Prisons. 5 Formerly Professor of the College of Agriculture, house of Daimyo of Kurume. 6 Formerly on the Naval Staff, and Director of Aircraft Company. 7 Formerly Overseas Minister.

>

T-

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A Short History of Japan

Japan, Manchukuo, and China in the political, economic, cultural, and other fields, its object being to secure international justice, to perfect joint defence against Communism, to create a new culture, and to realize close economic cohesion throughout East Asia. A National Mobilization Council was set up for the expansion of technical training for national service. Also a Bureau of East Asian affairs was created with General Yanagawa as its Director. A Cultural Agreement with Germany was signed, providing for the foundation of cultural institutions in both countries. In the Budget for that year, amounting to 3694 million yen, excluding the China war estimates, the Arm y vote was 495 and that of the N avy 653 million yen, and there was a deficit of 809 millions to be made up by loans. In January 1939 Prince Konoe announced that he considered that a new Cabinet would better formulate the new policy and concentrate all energy on the China situation; so he resigned and was succeeded by Baron Hiranuma with the same ministers for Foreign Affairs, Arm y, N avy and Education, but with Marquis Kido, M r Ishiwata, M r Sakurauchi, M r Shiono, and M r Hatta as ministers for Home Affairs, Finance, Agriculture, Justice, and Commerce respectively. Prince Konoe was appointed President of the Privy Council and Minister without portfolio at the special wish of the Arm y. On this occasion it was reported that the Emperor asked the Lord Privy Seal, M r Yuasa, to advise him as to who should be the new Premier, and that, after consultation with Prince Saionji, he proposed Baron Hiranuma. The new Premier, a former judge and Vice-Minister of Justice, stated that Japan had no intention of claiming territory or a war indemnity. Her only object was to create a N ew Order in Asia, It was her setded policy to station her troops at the necessary points to promote this object, for she must play a leading part in the common defence of the three countries. This policy included respect for the rights of third powers in China, but Japan could not recog­ nize anything that might hamper her mission to create the New Order. The Education Minister suspended the Professor of Econo­ mics in the University of Tokyo on the suspicion ot holding “ mis­ taken liberal ideas”, and the Police Department prohibited con­ traceptives. In April 1939 the Spratley Isles were annexed by Japan, and in

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o

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4

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June began the trouble at Tientsin caused by the Japanese Arm y demanding that Chinese suspected of terrorism be handed over to them from the British concession. The British refused, owing to want of evidence, and the Japanese therefore instituted a block­ ade of the British and French concessions, in which British subjects were searched and insulted. A border “ incident” also developed between the Japanese and Soviet-Mongol forces on the ManchukuoMongol border near Nomohan, where, according to the Japanese account, the Soviet forces were repulsed with heavy losses of planes and tanks. Japanese and British delegates conferred in Tokyo on the Tientsin problem. Japan tried to get Britain to abandon her pro-Chiang attitude, “ dictated by British merchants of Jewish extrac­ tion in Shanghai”, and to co-operate with her, thus recognizing the N ew Order in Asia and forsaking the former ideas of a “ colonial policy” in China. This did not draw much response, and big antiBritish demonstrations followed in Tokyo and other large cities. Colonel Hashimoto, responsible for the Panay sinking, General Tatekawa, and Flonda Kumataro, previously ambassador in Ger­ many, figured prominently in these demonstrations, which were an outburst of the anger felt over British support of China without which that country could not have continued to resist. However, as the result of this conference the British Government agreed to recognize the actual situation in China, and noted that the Japan­ ese forces there required special measures to safeguard their security and maintain public order. Under the circumstances Britain could hardly have done otherwise. In August 1939 the United States announced notice of the termi­ nation of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 19 11 with Japan. Anti-British demonstrations continued, and at Kobe a manifesto was handed in at the British Consulate to the effect that “ Japan will eliminate any one who stands in the way of her fixed national policy of establishing a New Order in the East” . These demonstrations were justified by reference to protests in London against Japanese action in China, made by various mobs, by Lord Cecil and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Eventually Britain decided to hand over the four suspects at Tient­ sin, but Japan then demanded the suppression of nationalist cur-

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rency in the concessions and also the handing over of the silver bullion in Chinese banks there. The capture of part of the Kwantung-Kowloon frontier cut off Hong K ong from the land side. In August the Hiranuma Cabinet resigned on account of the GermanSoviet non-aggression pact signed in Moscow on the twenty-third of that month. The Foreign Minister protested to Berlin that it was a violation of the Japanese-German anti-Communist pact. Germany explained that her dire need to ensure Soviet neutrality in Europe necessitated it, whereat Japan agreed, in view of her friendship for Germany, to take no embarrassing action for the present. The new Premier was General Abe Nobuyuki, formerly Acting W ar Minister, and commander of the Formosa garrison. The War and N avy ministers were General Hata and Vice-Admiral Yoshida; Finance went to M r Aoki, Agriculture and Forestry, Commerce and Industry to Admiral Godo, and the Home Office to Mr Ohara. The Foreign Minister was Admiral Nomura. More fighting took place at Nomohan and again there was a report of large losses of Soviet planes and tanks, but in the next month it was revealed that Japanese losses totalled eighteen thousand in ten days. The enemy was superior in mechanization and numbers, it was explained, and probably suffered twice as heavily, but the strong spiritual power of the Japanese enabled them to hold their own. Over a hundred high officials of the Foreign Office resigned because a Trade Department was to be formed which, they said, would encroach on their sphere of action. Eventually the affair was settled by a compromise. “ Incompetent and inactive as Japanese diplomacy has always been,” said the Press, “ it must not be com­ pletely suspended.” A t the end of 1939 the American Ambassador, Joseph Grew, made a candid speech in which he said American opinion strongly resented some things Japan’s armed forces were doing in China. Wang Ching-Wei proposed to form a Chinese Central Government which might be supported by Japan. In January 1940 General Abe’s Cabinet resigned owing to general discontent with his administration and loss of Arm y support. The Lord Privy Seal, M r Yuasa, and Prince Konoe consulted with the ex-Premiers and decided on General Hata; but he declined. Then Admiral Yonai Mitsumasa, for three years N avy Minister, was chosen. Mr Arita Hachiro became Foreign Minister, the ministers

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for the Arm y and N avy remained, M r Sakurauchi became Finance Minister, while M r Fujiwara Ginjiro, a prominent industrial mag­ nate, became Minister for Commerce. The new Premier re-asserted the national plan of crushing the Chiang Kai-shek administration with its anti-Japanese and proComintern policy and so helping China to attain complete inde­ pendence: “And such being the lofty object of the Holy W ar there is no room for the growth of any sentiment claiming territory or indemnity.” 8 The Foreign Minister, M r Arita, also explained that Japan’s diplomacy was based on the principle of Kodo or the Imperial Way, founded on morality, and that its aim was to enable all countries to enjoy their proper place (as decided, presumably, by Japan). In his opinion the secret of diplomacy was to preclude foreign contempt. In February 1940 the city of Shizuoka was devastated by fire and over six thousand houses destroyed. The railway station was completely destroyed, with steam and electric locomotives worth three and a half million yen. The total damage was estimated at some ten million yen. This was the most serious fire since 1934, when 22,667 h °uses were destroyed at Hakodate. In March W ang Ching-Wei proclaimed a N ew National Govern­ ment at N anking to co-operate with Japan and oppose Chiang Kaishek. T o this government General Abe was dispatched as Ambass­ ador with the rank of a Japanese Cabinet Minister. The death was announced on 5th June 1940 of Prince Tokugawa Iesato, son of the last Shogun, Tokugawa Keiki, in his seventy-seventh year. H e had been President of the House of Peers since 1903. H e was a wellknown international figure beside being distinguished for his publicspirited activities at home. He was posthumously granted the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum and raised to the Lower First Rank. His heir, M r Tokugawa Iemasa, was formerly Minister to Canada and Ambassador in Turkey. M r Yuasa Kurahei, the Lord Privy Seal, resigned in favour of the Marquis Kido, grand-son of the great Meiji statesman Kido Koin. M r Yuasa had risen from the ranks of the civil service to the highest position in the Empire and had recom­ mended five Premiers. H e was, though most unobtrusive, one of the chief pillars of the government. 8 These statements were very reminiscent of those made about the condition of Korea right up to the time of its annexation.

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In June the Tientsin blockade was raised. Also Prince Konoe resigned from the Presidency of the Privy Council to assist in estab­ lishing a new political organization to cope with the difficult situa­ tion now facing the country. A t Japan’s request Britain agreed to stop for three months the arms traffic to China by the Burma Road and Hong Kong. In July 1940 the Yonai Cabinet resigned, owing to the resigna­ tion of the W ar Minister, who felt this action necessary in view of the international situation in order to put the country on a war footing and reform diplomacy. Prince Konoe once more formed a Cabinet with Mr Matsuoka as Foreign Minister, General Tojo as War Minister, and Admiral Yoshida and M r Yasui as ministers for the N avy and Home Affairs. The Foreign Minister proclaimed a “Co-prosperity Sphere in Eastern Asia” as the national policy, though he did not define this exactly. He declared that: “ The basic aim of Japan’s policy lies in the firm establishment of world peace in accord­ ance with the lofty spirit of ‘Hakko Ichiu’9 on which the country was founded, and in the construction as a first step of a N ew Order in Greater East Asia, having for its foundation the solidarity of Japan, Manchukuo and China.” In August 1940 the appointment was announced of Sir John Latham, G.C.M .G., then Chief Justice of the Federal H igh Court of Australia, as first Australian Minister to Japan. In the same month M r Matsuoka took the unprecedented step of recalling some forty diplomats from abroad, his purpose being, it was explained, to reorganize the Foreign Office, to rid it of proBritish and pro-American diplomats and to admit real talent. The ambassadors to London, Berlin, Rome, and Moscow were the only ones not recalled. In September an agreement was signed between Japan and French Indo-China to give facilities of a military nature required by the 9 This Chinese phrase means “The Eight Quarters under one Roof” , and is rendered “Universal Brotherhood” , but presumedly with Japan as the elder brother. It is attributed to Jimmu Tenno, in the Nihongi, but has not been publicized until now. The actual quotation is “And then including all the six cardinal points I will make a capital, and covering all the eight quarters of the compass I will make a territory (empire).” Nihongi III. 3 0 . Probably meaning that he will extend his rule over the whole Empire. Aston comments on this “The whole speech is thoroughly Chinese and it is preposterous to put it into the mouth of an Emperor who is supposed to have lived more than a thousand years before the introduction of Chinese learning into Japan.”

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Japanese Arm y and N avy for the settlement of the Chinese Incident. It was announced that the new political structure was being formed and would be known as the Imperial Rule Support Society (Taisei Yokusan K a i). On 27th September Japan signed a military pact with the Axis Powers for a period of ten years, recognizing German and Italian leadership in Europe and Japanese leadership in Asia. It would become actively operative if any nation joined Britain or helped China, but did not mean that Japan would enter the war,

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nor did it affect the relations of the three signatories with Soviet Russia. M r Matsuoka then announced that the Empire was faced with a grave crisis almost without parallel in her history, and that future prosperity or decline depended on her present decisions. Japan’s true mind was, he said, unfortunately not yet fully understood. Some countries held the mistaken idea that the way to peace was to main­ tain the old order. Thus some powers were attempting to obstruct

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the creation of a N ew Order in East Asia and, worse still, they were trying to impede the progress of Japan and to hinder her mis­ sion of establishing world peace. So, while building up a new struc­ ture and a perfect defence state at home, Japan must join hands firmly with Germany and Italy, whose policies and mentality were practically the same as her own. This agreement was naturally welcomed by the Axis as likely to prevent America entering the war. In October 1940 the Burma Road was reopened by Britain, and America banned the export of all scrap iron and steel except to the western hemisphere and Great Britain. A decree was published that all Shinto ritualists should become government officials with the same status as the military and civil service. A Shinto shrine called the South Sea Shrine was dedicated on the island of Palao. General Tatekawa was appointed Ambas­ sador to Russia. H e declared himself anti-Communist but proRussian, which sounded ominously like the statements of those who said they were pro-Chinese but anti-Comintern and anti-Chiang Kaishek; but, owing to the strength of Russia, this statement was unlikely to lead to similar action. On 10th November was held the Ceremony of the Inauguration of the Official Celebration of the 2600th Anniversary of the Founda­ tion of the Empire. The Emperor and Empress attended in a hall built opposite the Palace. The Emperor read a Rescript and the Premier an address. The Premier promised that the people would observe the Imperial instructions and bring the essence of the national structure into action and thereby overcome the present emergency and assist the Imperial plan of Hakko Ichiu, thus responding to His Majesty’s boundless virtue. Prince Saionji, who had been indisposed for some time, died on 24th November 1940 in his ninety-first year. Since the death of Prince Yamagata in 1922 no important state decision had been made with­ out consulting him ; but with him the status of Genro or Elder Statesman ceased to exist, since his functions were transferred to the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Privy Council, and the ex-Premier. Prince Saionji had been Minister to Vienna and Berlin, President of the Privy Council and of the Seiyukai Party, Premier and Chief Delegate at Versailles, though he never sought any office and much preferred a quiet life devoted to literary and artistic

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interests. Admiral Nomura, former Foreign Minister, was appointed Ambassador to the United States. H e spent three years there as Naval Attache, was a personal friend of President Roosevelt and other prominent Americans, and had a genuine hope of improving the strained relations. A n agreement was then formally signed by General Abe and W ang Ching-Wei, President of the Executive Yuan of the National Government of Nanking, recognizing this as the sole Chinese Gov­ ernment, with which Japan contracted to co-operate in suppress­ ing Communism, as well as in commerce and culture, politics and diplomacy. Japan was to abolish extra-territorial rights and China to open her territory for domicile and business to Japanese subjects. Japan was to withdraw most of her troops within two years. The basic idea of this treaty, declared General Abe, was Hakko Ichiu, and so it had a lofty moral significance. A t the same time America granted a credit of a hundred million dollars to the Chiang Kaishek administration. In January 1941 Mr Matsuoka declared that Japan must dominate the Western Pacific for the sake of humanity, not for the sake of Japan. If America did not listen to this there was little hope of the continuance of friendly relations between them. In February Thailand made demands on France for rectification of the frontier in her favour (giving her about forty islands in the Mekong River), adding later another proposal that Thailand should have Laos and Cambodia if French sovereignty were transferred to a third party. These demands the French refused, which led to raids and fighting between the forces of the two countries. Both Japan and Britain accused each other of stirring up this trouble. Japan then offered to mediate, and to avoid war the Vichy Govern­ ment agreed to the Japanese proposals ceding to Thailand that part of Laos west of the Mekong, with part of north Cambodia. This mediation was, said M r Matsuoka, a demonstration that Japan desired world peace; and indeed it was a demonstration of the kind of world peace Japan desired. He also declared that he believed the white race must cede Oceania to the Asiatics: it was, he said, a region twelve hundred miles north to south and a thousand miles east to west to which Asiatics could migrate. And he did not think the reinforcements of Australian troops sent to Singapore exactly a gesture contributing to peace in the Far East.

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In March 1941 M r Matsuoka left for Berlin to explain Japanese policy to the Axis leaders. According to the German Press he was given orders by Hitler to provoke Britain so that Japan could occupy the British strategic positions in the Pacific while the British fleet was occupied elsewhere, thus preventing their use by the United States and so keeping that Power out of the war. In April M r Matsuoka signed a pact of neutrality for five years with Soviet Russia, each to observe neutrality should the other be the object of military action by one or more states. This pact, said the Japanese Press, will free Japan for action in the South Seas and for the creation of the Greater East Asia Prosperity Sphere. This sphere was still somewhat vague, but, according to Matsuoka, stopped short of the Philippines, Australia, and N ew Zealand. According to Admiral Takahashi, formerly commander of the Navy, it included them, and in his opinion too, Italy would obtain command of the Mediterranean. In June Japan demanded from the Dutch East Indies supplies of all their products that she needed, the right of investment in their enterprises, and general participation in their development. The Dutch refused to provide them with raw materials and rejected inclusion in the Co-prosperity Sphere. In October 1941 the Cabinet resigned owing to “ division of opinion” . Naval Intelligence stated that relations with the U.S.A. approached the parting of the ways. General Tojo was appointed Premier and took the portfolios of War and Home Affairs. Admiral Shimada was Minister for the Navy, M r Togo for Foreign Affairs, M r Kishi for Industry and Com­ merce and General Suzuki President of the Planning Board without portfolio. M r Matsuoka was dropped in spite of his support of the Army, probably because he had said his say and now was the time for action, beside which he had not been very successful in impressing the Japanese views on the Axis leaders. The Premier declared his intention of promoting more amicable relations with friendly powers and perfecting internally the national defence. He said that the Japanese Empire now stood at the cross­ roads of expansion or downfall, but that peace in the Pacific would be maintained if America could grasp the lofty spirit which described the China Incident as a Holy War and co-operate with Japan. This possibility more sanguine people than he could hardly anticipate,

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because shortly afterwards the Cabinet warned the people against optimism about the Pacific situation in view of the anti-Japanese and self-righteous attitude prevalent in American government and Press circles. The greatest obstacle to the settlement of the China Incident, it said, was the action of hostile nations led by the United States which sought world hegemony. These nations did not understand that Japan was disinterested and engaged in a Holy W ar. But General Ando, in an address to the Imperial Rule Support Society, said that Japan must prepare to meet the situation without waging war, and so win a victory over war. However, in November 1941 the Foreign Office sent M r Kurusu, former Ambassador in Berlin, to assist Admiral Nomura. This assist­ ance was to take the form of a proposal to America that, if trade relations were resumed and especially the supply of oil, Japanese troops would be transferred from the south of Indo-China to the north. The reply to this was that they could be resumed only if these forces were withdrawn from all China as well. A s the situation was obviously critical, it was proposed, and agreed to by Admiral Nomura, that a message should be sent direct by President Roosevelt to the Emperor of Japan as a final endeavour to prevent hostilities. This was done on 5th December, but it was too late, for two days later, after attacking Pearl Harbour and Manila, Japan, without any warn­ ing, announced a state of war with Britain and the United States. The reply of the Japanese Ambassador was delivered an hour after this attack. Other attacks followed on Hong Kong, Malaya, and Wake and M idway Islands. It seems likely that these attacks were made by the military party without consulting, or even perhaps informing, the Government or the Foreign Office, for certainly the Imperial House would not have been in favour of war. But these institutions have influence only in time of peace, and when the country is con­ sidered to be in danger the soldiers take command. The attacks should not have caused surprise, for the procedure was exactly the same as in the Russo-Japanese conflict. The military authorities con­ sidered that Germany having disposed of France (so that Japan could use her possessions in the Pacific) and being practically certain to crush Britain and her Empire, and so neutralize America, the obvious solution of their difficulties was to seize and hold by force the East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere they had long contemplated. It had been stated many years before that Singapore was not secure

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against Japanese attack unless a powerful fleet was based there, just as most journalists seemed to be aware that Pearl Harbour was a dangerous place for a fleet to lie in if an air attack was likely. But nothing was done, with the result that the American fleet was temporarily crippled, with a loss of eight battleships and three cruisers and about half its air force, while the British at Singapore suffered an ignominious defeat. The Japanese forces landed at Patani in Siam and Kota Bharu in Malaya on 1st December 1941, and after a campaign of about two months of retreat by the allied British, Indian, and Australian armies they forced a landing on Singapore Island and the Allies agreed to an unconditional surrender to save further useless bloodshed. The almost complete destruction of the allied air force in the first stage of operations rendered defence extremely difficult and resulted in the sinking of the warships Prince of Wales and Repulse by air attack. The Japanese were experienced troops trained to jungle­ fighting and suitably equipped, whereas a large proportion of the Allies were poorly trained and hastily assembled and without ade­ quate supplies. Moreover, some of the Indian troops deserted to the enemy and co-operated with them. There was also no arrange­ ment for support by any of the Dutch forces in the area. There were no particular defences in Malaya either, except those of the naval base, and they were of no use. A nd the fleet could hardly have escaped destruction anyhow, since it had no air cover. It was this same lack of air cover that was to recoil on the Japanese fleets and armies later on when the American air armadas overwhelmed and destroyed them everywhere. Hong Kong, which was equally diffi­ cult to defend, was also soon taken. The only one of the commanders who managed to escape was General Gordon Bennett in charge of the Australian contingent, who did not consider himself bound by a surrender that was uncondi­ tional. The account he gave in Australia was not very compli­ mentary to those responsible for the operations, and at an inquiry held later his action was commended, though afterwards declared incorrect legally on the grounds of there having been a “capitula­ tion”, though the Japanese definitely did not so describe it. The treatment of these prisoners-of-war by the Japanese commander was by no means in accordance with European principles, but seeing that the Japanese soldier is taught to fight to the death and invariably

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does so, while the officer commits suicide on defeat, it was hardly to be expected that much consideration would be shown to those who did not conform to such ideals. As a result of these successes and their overwhelming naval and military superiority at this stage the Japanese drove the allied forces out of Malaya and Burma, Indo-China and Borneo, Java and the Pacific Islands, and forced them to retreat to the borders of India, while on the other hand they advanced to the Solomon Islands and N ew Guinea with the intention of attacking both India and Aus­ tralia. A t the beginning of May 1942 the American forces in the Philippines had been forced to surrender after a gallant resistance, and General MacArthur in command there flew off to Australia very wisely, like General Bennett, and from there took charge of operations in the Pacific, as he was ordered to do by the United States government. This was the high-water mark of Japanese success, and their leaders seemed confident of being able to hold the huge terri­ tory they had occupied and probably take India and Australia. They were equally certain that Germany would be able to overwhelm England and cut it off from aid from America, so that the United States would be forced to make a separate peace with them. Then the whole of the East would be free from European exploitation, and united in peace and prosperity under the suzerainty of Japan. Naturally they lost no time in disseminating these prospects widely among the native populations wherever they went, and so encourag­ ing the instinct of nationalism in all these territories. Combined with the loss of European prestige resulting from the defeats of the Western Powers, this occupation and its effects was destined to have a great influence on the history of the Pacific later on. But though the Japanese forces both on land and sea and in the air were highly efficient and fought with their usual reckless valour and contempt of death, their supreme command seems not to have realized, or perhaps they deliberately overlooked, the immense industrial capacity of America, and so hardly anticipated the rapidity of her recovery from the Pearl Harbour reverse and her vigorous resumption of the offensive. It was principally air power that defeated the Japanese fleets and armies in the Pacific, for they had not the numbers of aircraft or trained airmen to be able to hold the wide fronts in that ocean. Their communications suffered from the no less successful attacks

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of the American submarines that sank large numbers of their merchant ships and so produced a serious shortage of oil, food, and ammunition in the occupied islands, besides taking good toll of their warships as well. In May 1942 the battle of the Coral Sea resulted in a loss of several warships, and the next month another action at Midway was a still greater success, for with the loss of one carrier the Americans sank four, two of 36,000 tons and two of 17,500, a cruiser and several submarines, beside damaging several other vessels. Then in October and November of the same year came the Ameri­ can attacks on Guadalcanal, and in a naval action there two more battleships of 31,000 tons, three cruisers, and several more destroyers were sunk, while a convoy was badly damaged. In February 1943 Guadalcanal could no longer be held against the American attacks and was evacuated. A t about the same time there occurred the sur­ render of some quarter of a million Germans at Stalingrad, which was no encouragement to their ally. And by this time in Japan itself want of essential goods was making itself felt, for everything was being commandeered to make up for the losses in shipping and war materials. And some of the ministers were becoming very doubt­ ful of the ultimate success of their country, though the ultra-militarists who were in complete charge of everything hid their reverses from the people as far as they could, and remained as apparently selfconfident and belligerent as ever. But Prince Konoe, Marquis Kido the Lord Privy Seal, and M r Shigemitsu, formerly Ambassador in England (who was now made Foreign Minister by T ojo), were not so sure. Shigemitsu was a strong and able statesman, liberal in his views and outstanding while in office in exerting his influence on other ministers and even on some of the military leaders in the direction of peace. And these activities were evidently very welcome to the Emperor and his brother, Prince Takamatsu, and to the Imperial Household Minister, M r Tsuneo Matsudaira, to whom this war had never appealed. Next, in March 1943 a great convoy of troopships escorted by some ten destroyers bound for an attack on N ew Guinea and Aus­ tralia was attacked in the Bismarck Sea by American planes and completely destroyed. And the commander-in-chief, Admiral Yam a­ moto, was killed when his plane was shot down by American fighter aircraft.

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Again, in June 1944 in a naval engagement near Saipan, a strategic point that was invaded and captured by the United States forces, a Japanese fleet was repulsed with the loss of three carriers, while several more cruisers were sunk in the earlier part of the same year by submarine attack. And this was followed by the greatest defeat of all in the battle of Leyte G ulf, 23rd to 26th October 1944, when the whole Japanese N avy set out to attack and destroy an American force that had made a successful landing there supported by its fleet. Chiefly again owing to weakness in the air this attempt failed with the loss of three Japanese battleships, including two of the three 64,000-ton vessels mounting nine 18-inch guns which had been secretly built, ten cruisers (six heavy and four light), four carriers, and eleven destroyers. The other great battleship was badly damaged and sunk later. Other losses the same year were another battleship of 31,000 tons, three cruisers, and two carriers. Thus reduced to only a few ships, the Japanese N avy lapsed into impotence while a corresponding loss of troopships and merchant shipping and naval auxiliaries greatly hampered the movements of troops and reinforcements in the various island strongholds, which the American forces assaulted and took one by one in face of fierce opposition. The Japanese soldiers fought to the death, overwhelmed by superior weight of explosives and mechanisms they could not counter. But although the Pacific war was largely a naval one since it depended on command of the sea, the land forces of Japan also suffered a decisive defeat by the Anglo-Indian armies in Burma, where some 270,000 men were more or less wiped out in fighting or starved to death in the retreat through the jungle that followed. The successes of the Allies in Europe also dispelled any hope of victory that might have remained. And now the Americans had seized bases sufficiently near to enable them to subject the Japanese homeland to intensive bombard­ ment by heavy bombers. Meanwhile there was an increasing feeling of dissatisfaction with General Tojo and his cabinet, in which he was Minister of W ar and of Munitions and Chief of the General Staff as well as Premier, and this came to a head after the fall of Saipan. Prince Konoe, Admirals Yonai and Okada, Marquis Kido, and Baron Wakatsuki, with several other senior statesmen, backed by the Foreign Minister Mr Shigemitsu and also by Prince Taka­ matsu (who had always disapproved of Tojo and his clique), recom­

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mended the dismissal of Tojo to the Emperor, and after some expostulation he very unwillingly complied. Admiral Shimada, who was his naval counterpart as Minister of the N avy and Chief of the Naval Staff, had already been dismissed. N ow , for the first time, the civil ministerial advisors had made their will prevail to a certain extent over that of the military dictatorship which had lost the con­ fidence of the Throne. General Koiso and Admiral Yonai were now ordered to form a new cabinet as Premier and N aval Minister respect­ ively. Yonai was preferred as Premier, but he declined—which was a pity, for he was the finest character and the most trusted of all the ruling group. Shigemitsu remained Foreign Minister, and General Sugiyama was given the W ar Ministery to keep Tojo out of it. General Koiso then proceeded to set up a small W ar Cabinet or supreme W ar Council, composed of himself with the Ministers and Chiefs of Staff of the Arm y and N avy, with the declared object of achieving final victory, for even now the Arm y would not admit any other idea and continued to conceal their defeats and losses from the people. Actually these must have been known to many, but the complete control of everything by the military and civil police pre­ vented anything like a popular demonstration of any kind. Then, more or less coinciding with the capture of Saipan, came the news of the successful landing of the British and American forces in France in spite of the German assurances that their positions were quite impregnable. The Emperor had bidden the Koiso Cabinet maintain good relations with the Soviets, and consequently it had been trying to arrange a visit of an envoy to Moscow to sound the government there about some possible peace overtures. Therefore Stalin’s denunciation of Japan as an aggressor in November of this year came as another shock. Then, after taking Feyte in January 1945, the United States forces went on to land on Fuzon and followed this up by the assault and capture of fwo Island the month after. It was only taken after a month of fighting, when all the 23,000 defenders had been killed, and the casualties of the attackers were about the same. In March the Americans occupied Manila and in April landed in Okinawa, where they were received with the same fierce opposition, and it was not taken till all the enemy were annihilated by bombing and artillery fire and their commanders had committed suicide. With these advances the mainland of Japan was well within easy u-

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bombing-range, and both land-based and carrier planes began their systematic attacks on the great cities, munition and aircraft factories, docks and industrial districts of the country. On the night of ioth March Tokyo was attacked by 150 B-29 bombers, and a large part of the city was set on fire, with the loss of some 100,000 lives and the destruction of three times that number of houses, devastating about twelve square miles. These massed formations of from 150 to 300 bombers then continued their attacks on Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, and other cities, with both incendiaries and high explosives. In another 500-bomber raid on Tokyo in May even greater devastation was caused, and most of the buildings of the Imperial Palace were burnt, thereby bringing about the resignation of M r Tsuneo Matsudaira, the Household Minister. The Japanese A ir Force was quite unable to put up any defence against these attacks, and the people fled from the cities precipitately in all directions. Thus this devastation and conflagration that spread from one end of the land to the other revealed to everybody how definitely they had lost the war, when neither their N avy nor A ir Force could protect them. It also increased the friction between the Arm y and N avy, whose relations had not been very harmonious for some time, since each blamed the other for the reverses. It was not therefore surprising that the Koiso Cabi­ net could hardly survive in view of these disasters, and resigned owing to internal conflict and loss of confidence by the Throne. General Koiso was then succeeded by Admiral Suzuki, President of the Privy Council, a veteran aged eighty years who did not at all wish for the office but was persuaded by Kido and Konoe and the other senior statesmen. H e had been wounded and had a narrow escape in the army revolt of 1936 when he was Grand Chamberlain. He had won renown under Togo in the great victories of the RussoJapanese war, but an ironical fate brought the sinking of the last of the three great warships of 64,000 tons with its escort on the very day that he assumed office, as it was going into battle at Okinawa. There was now no more Japanese Navy. A t the same time Russia denounced the neutrality agreement which she had been so anxious to have Japan retain when Germany started to attack her and invited Japan to join in. M r Togo, previously Foreign Minister, now resumed this position instead of M r Shigemitsu. H e had been Ambassador in Russia, and was as much in favour of an early peace as was his predecessor. On the surrender of Germany in May 1945 the Japanese

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leaders were faced by the problem of their next move. The Foreign Office officials and most of the ministers realized that it was imposs­ ible to resist the combined forces of a triumphant America and E ng­ land, but the Arm y, which still had complete control of the country, dared not admit this, and declared that it made no difference and their business was to defend the Land of the Deities and fight to the death. They did not lack man-power, for there were some two million under arms at home, and their only idea seemed to be to defend the shores against any attempt at landing. Even now exper­ ience had not taught them that this “ wild boar valour” could do little in the most modern warfare, and that great concentrations of air power would destroy their forces without any possibility of retaliation. But the fanatical younger officers who had so much influence would not listen to any compromise. So there now ensued a struggle in the Cabinet between the military diehards and the wiser statesmen who wished to save the people from further useless sacrifice. The Emperor and Prince Takamatsu were first among these, but General Anami the W ar Minister, General Umezu the Chief of Staff, and Admiral Toyoda the Minister of the N avy still held out for fighting for ultimate victory, and got the Premier to pass through the Diet a Wartime Emergency Measure and a National Volunteer Bill placing the whole of the resources of the Empire at the dis­ posal of the military authorities. On 26th July America, China, and England issued the Potsdam Proclamation demanding unconditional surrender from the Japanese Government, requiring also the elimination of the militarist system, the limitation of her sovereignty to the main Japanese islands, and the establishment of a democratic administration with freedom of speech, religion, and thought, but at the same time stating that her peaceful industries and trade relations would not be hindered and her resumption of world trading would be eventually permitted. But those guilty of committing or instigating atrocities would be sought out and punished. The Emperor and the peace party thought these terms worth considering, though they had not yet been actually addressed to the government. But the militarists did not, and still pressed the Premier to hold out. The result was more hesitation and a statement by the Premier that led the Americans to think the Allied proposals were rejected. So on 6th August an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiro­

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A Short H istory o f Japan

shima, and another on Nagasaki three days later. And on 8th August Russia declared war on Japan. The military tried to conceal the effects of the atom bombings, but they could hardly do the same with the Russian invasion of Manchuria. These two separate shocks undoubtedly weakened their resolution to hold out, and hastened their surrender, though this must have followed soon anyhow. The Russian declaration was the heavier blow in that they had been hoping that the Soviet might be willing to act as intermediaries on their behalf. They knew nothing of the Yalta agreement and its promises to Russia of Japanese territory if she entered the war against Japan. Japan was not very happy in her relations with her Western allies in this war, for not only was she treated in this unfriendly way by Stalin but she got little if any assistance from Germany, who started the war with Russia without consulting her and very much against her wishes. The W ar Council now admitted that peace would have to be made, but still raised objections to occupation of the country, com­ pulsory disarmament of the troops, or punishment of the leaders. As the Cabinet was about equally divided, the Premier decided to submit the matter to the Imperial decision. The Emperor then ordered that the terms of the Allies should be accepted in order to save the people from further useless suffering. H e reminded the Ministers that the Emperor Meiji had made a similar decision when confronted with the demands of Russia, France, and Germany to surrender territorial gains on the continent after the Chinese war of 1895. This decision was then transmitted through Stockholm to the Allies, accepting the Potsdam terms with the reservation that the position of the Emperor should not be affected in any way. But even now, when the Allies had made a suitable reply the Arm y and Navy ministers did all they could to hinder the conclusion of peace. This was due to the action of the young and fanatical officers who were in the habit of resorting to violence in support of their ultra-patriodc principles, and who contended that the Emperor was being ill advised. A t this critical stage the Emperor summoned the Cabinet and ordered it at once to carry out the order he had given to comply with the demands of the Allies, to which end he proposed to issue an Imperial Rescript. His Majesty said he sympathized with the armed forces but he could not bear to risk the extermination of the people. A record was then made of the Rescript, read by His Majesty himself.

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“ W e are keenly aware,” it said, “ of the inmost feelings of you, Our subjects, but according to the dictates of time and fate W e have resolved to prepare for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering the insufferable. Being thus able to save and maintain the structure of the Imperial State, We are always with you, Our good and loyal subjects, relying on your sincerity and integrity. Beware most strictly of any outbursts of emotion that may cause needless complication and of any fraternal contention and strife that may create confusion and lead you astray so that you lose the confidence of the world.” The Premier, Admiral Suzuki, also broadcast the same day and said: “ The duty of us, humble subjects, is either in life or death to assist in fostering the eternal glory and prosperity of the Imperial House. This loyal spirit alone can safeguard the political structure of the Empire.” But the diehard militarists continued to be a nuisance to the end. Several of them forged an order for the Imperial Guard division to occupy the Palace and seize the record of the Imperial Rescript and so prevent its publication. The commander refused to comply, so they shot him, and the plot might have succeeded if General Tanaka, the District Commander, had not intervened, revealed the fact of the forgery, and persuaded the men to return to their barracks. The leaders then committed suicide, and the W ar Minister, General Anami, did the same. General Tanaka also killed himself before the arrival of the Americans, for he held himself responsible for not pre­ venting this disturbance in the Palace. It was only with the greatest difficulty that these sporadic outbreaks of groups of fanatic patriots were repressed, largely by the efforts of Prince Higashi Kuni, uncle of the Emperor, who now became Premier, and Prince Takamatsu, always a strong supporter of his elder brother. And so eventually, on 2nd September 1945, the terms of surrender were signed on the United States battleship Missouri lying off Yoko­ hama; General MacArthur signed for the Allies and M r Shigemitsu and General Umezu for Japan. According to these terms of surrender the whole Japanese Government submitted to the authority of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers of which General Mac­ Arthur was the Chief. H e was to be the Supreme Director of the new era, in which Japan was to be reorganized and made democratic, her military and police government dissolved, and arrangements

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made to break up the economic family trusts that dominated the trade and industry of the nation. His position was like that of another Shogun, and a benevolent and considerate one whose only object was the improvement of the condition of the people. Though there was a Far Eastern Commission in Washington and an Allied Council in Japan, he was in entire control, the only person who was in direct contact with the Japanese Government, to which he issued his various orders. The Emperor called on him occasionally and was received informally but politely, but did not see him otherwise, and the General had no social contacts with any Japanese. In spite of the views of some who wished to retire him as one responsible for the war, the personal position of the Emperor was very wisely not in any way interfered with, and in the Imperial Household only the office of Lord Privy Seal was abolished as unconstitutional. But those of Household Minister and Grand Chamberlain were retained. What was done was to disestablish the State Shinto cult of which the Emperor was the apex, and place all governmental authority in the hands of the Diet, so that the Imperial Throne became a constitutional one. Since there was to be no more war, the Arm y and N avy were disarmed and abolished and no longer represented in the Cabinet which they had formerly dominated. Both houses of the Diet were to be elected, the upper house for six years and the lower for four. Women as well as men were given votes, and were also now eligible for election as members. The Cabinet was in future to be responsible to the Diet and not to the Emperor, and the Premier was to be elected by the Diet. The Upper House is now called the House of Councillors, since the peerage has been abolished and all men are equal. The Low er House is given the control of the Budget, which it previously lacked. It can also override the veto of the councillors by a two-thirds majority. As to the fate of the leading figures at the surrender, Generals Anami, Tanaka, and Sugiyama committed suicide immediately, while Prince Konoe took poison to avoid arrest—with which he should have never been threatened, for he had never sympathized with the war party. Mr Matsuoka, the Foreign Minister in 1941, died in 1946. A s the result of the war trials, Generals Tojo, Doihara, Matsui, Muto, Kim ura, and Yamashita, and M r Hirota, a former Premier, were executed. The Marquis Kido, Baron Hiranuma, General Oshima, and M r Shiratori, ambassadors to Germany and

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Italy, Generals Sato, Minami, Hata, Araki, Koiso, and Umezu and Admiral Shimada were sentenced to life imprisonment, while Mr Togo got twenty years and M r Shigemitsu seven. There was little to justify this last sentence, and this was afterwards realized and Mr Shigemitsu was released after two years. H e was a fine character and always worked for friendly relations with England and America. Admiral Toyoda was acquitted, and so was M r Kishi Nobusuke, previously minister without portfolio in the Cabinet of Tojo, with whom he disagreed, and now Premier. Beside the trials of the war leaders who had not committed suicide, there was a purge of police and officials who had been reponsible for the thought-control and indoctrination of the popula­ tion with ultra-nationalistic and militarist sentiments. The patriotic secret societies were suppressed, as was the Bureau of Religions and Thought-control in the Department of Education, and there was no longer any objection to a labour party or to trades unions or even Communism. The people were to be encouraged to think for them­ selves, and the American authorities were anxious to avoid the appearance of anything like regimented indoctrination with democ­ racy, which might fade out when the occupation system was no longer there to enforce it. The only drawback here was that there were not enough experts in Japanese affairs among these occupying officials to carry out the censorship of school text-books and other matters, so it had perforce to be left to Japanese. Fortunately they very willingly co-operated, otherwise it could never have been carried out. The overwhelming superiority and capacity of the American forces made a very strong impression on the Japanese, so that not only did they not oppose them, but wholeheartedly admired them and appreciated these reforms, much as had been the case in the early days of the Meiji Restoration. Moreover, they were no doubt grateful for the financial and material help which America generously gave their country, which had been left so worn-out and impoverished by its war efforts as to be quite incapable of support­ ing itself. And they must have been surprised to find the occupa­ tion forces behaving more like old friends than the implacable enemies they had previously seemed to be—the more so in view of the atrocities their armies had committed, though these were probably little known to those at home. Another reform that was suggested and studied but eventually

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not ordered by the Americans was the abolition of the Chinese characters and the use of either the European alphabet or the Japan­ ese syllabary to write the language. Those in favour of this reform contended that the average Japanese never learnt to read his own language properly, in spite of the many years spent over it in the schools, so that it was a great hindrance to the efficiency of the educa­ tion system and tended to favour a reactionary and non-democratic form of government. But General MacArthur considered that this should be left for the Japanese themselves to decide, and so far they have done nothing about it, which is perhaps significant. These various reforms were by no means as drastic as they appeared to be, because they had perforce to be entrusted to the Japanese officials to be carried out, and naturally were much watered down in the process. But on the whole the people seem to have agreed about them and honestly tried to put them into practice. It was a striking tribute to the wisdom and moderation of the occupation forces that when the Korean war started in June 1950 and Japan was largely denuded of American troops, only about five thousand being left, there was no attempt to take any advantage of the situation. The liquidation and redistribution of the property of the big business combines has been difficult, since there is not much capacity in an impoverished population to take up their shares. And since the managers and staffs of these great groups are the ablest and most competent of the world of finance and industry, it would have had a crippling effect on these if they were purged or dispersed in a wholesale manner. And it is most important that Japan should become and remain self-supporting as before. A s to the Diet, it has its Conservative group, the Liberal and Democratic parties, the Socialists of the left and right—the former rather Marxist—and some Communists. But political parties have never had much power or inspired much respect. They have been associated with persons rather than policies, and the electors did not take much interest in them. The Diet has no very long history, since it was decreed by the Emperor Meiji, and now it has been revised by General MacArthur. Japanese never seemed much impress­ ed by parliamentary government as such, and no doubt realized its defects as exemplified by European countries whose temperaments may be as little suited for it as their own. They are an orderly people, and would not be content to be governed by a disorderly

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parliament. So it is not improbable that the new constitution may be somewhat modified in the future as the Conservatives and some other groups evidently desire. Neither does it seem likely that the position of the Emperor will alter to become like that of other monarchs, owing to his entirely different history and background. And the unique reverence for the Throne has unquestionably been increased by the action taken by His present Majesty in helping on the peace and tranquillizing the Empire. The Communists are well organized and active up to a point, but their numbers in the Diet have decreased recently, and the dislike and fear of most of their countrymen for the Soviets does not add to their popularity. A ll the same, Japan is very disinclined to become involved in the cold war, but would like to resume business relations with China, whose brand of Communism may appear less menacing. The problem of overpopulation is one that the Japanese are deal­ ing with in characteristically practical fashion. Previously, traditional regard for the family system and the need for cannon-fodder made the authorities very hostile to contraceptive measures, but now they are advocating them most enthusiastically by propaganda and sub­ sidy, so that no one need be ignorant of or lacking in the means of family limitation. In September 1951 the Japanese Peace Treaty was signed by fortyeight nations, not including Soviet Russia, by which Japan renounced any claim to the territories of Korea, Formosa, the Pescadores, the Kuriles, and South Sakhalin, and was confined to her original island Empire. A t the same time a security pact was made with America to undertake the protection of the country, now defenceless against any outside attack, by American garrisons maintained in it. As to the political and economic condition of the country from this period to the present it can be said, without going into details, that the former has not deteriorated, while the latter has greatly improved. Mr Shidehara was the first Premier but soon retired in favour of Mr Yoshida, his Foreign Minister, who continued in the office for several years only interrupted by a brief Socialist government. He was succeeded by Mr Hatoyama, who in turn gave place to Mr Kishi the present Premier.10 They are on the conservative side and inclined to favour only moderate reforms. And there is a natural reaction against some items of a constitution drawn up by the Allies. 1(* Mr Kishi was succeeded as Premier in i 9 6 0 by Mr Ikeda.

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The question of rearmament has also again raised its head. But the budget has been again able to be properly balanced, and the capacity for organization and co-operative hard work that the people have always shown has enabled them to effect a rapid reconstruc­ tion and to begin to take their place once more in international trade. Their textile industries are again very active, and most marked is the growth of their shipbuilding industry, in which they have equalled or even slightly surpassed the tonnage of the British Empire. This is not so surprising, because what is most striking about their war effort is that they managed to do so much with such comparatively poor resources. The last few years have been characterized by a good deal of unrestrained rowdiness in the Lower House of the Diet, which is perhaps what might be expected of a people who, like some Euro­ pean nations, do not find the rule of elected representatives very effective and are not temperamentally suited for it. T he govern­ ment, however, is still conservative like the majority of the people, and a certain equilibrium has been maintained. T he student demon­ strations that prevented the intended visit of the American Presi­ dent were certainly regrettable, but understandable as only an expression of nationalistic feeling, never far from the surface in Japan. Unusual was the marriage of the Crown Prince to a lady of the upper middle class and not one of the Court noble families as previously, but it is perhaps not such a revolutionary example as might appear, since the mothers of Court nobles have not seldom been commoners. The daughters of the Emperor have also married sons of families described in the foreign press as commoners, but actually they are scions of Court nobles (Takatsukasa, formerly Prince) and of great Daimyos (Ikeda) and an Imperial Prince, Higashi-Kuni. N o male commoner has ever entered the Imperial family or is ever likely to do so. It is proposed to rebuild the Palace, which was burnt as a result of the war bombardment; the Emperor now resides in what was previously the Imperial Household Department, a brick building that escaped the fire. Following the example of his Imperial Grand­ father, the Emperor Meiji, who lived for many years in a temporary palace, His Majesty has not wished to burden the Exchequer with the expense of a new one during the period of reconstruction.

A P P E N D IX I

T H E IM P E R IA L H O U S E T he personal name of the Emperor is never used in Japan, and it is perhaps unnecessary to say that there is no surname since there has never been any other dynasty. The reigning Emperor is spoken of as Kinjo Tenno (His Present Majesty), Tenno Heika (His Majesty the Heavenly Sovereign), or, in writing, Seijo Heika (The Sacred and Supreme). The name by which former Emperors are known is their posthumous title, and this, since Meiji, is the name of the era, which is now changed only at the end of a reign. Therefore His Former Majesty is known as Taisho Tenno and Meiji Tenno takes his title from that era. Other names for the Sovereign used in earlier days were synonyms for the Imperial palace, such as Kinri Sama (The Forbidden Interior), or Dairi Sama with the same meaning. The oldest expression of this kind seems to be that in the Manyoshu, Sumeragi no Mikado (The August Gate of the Sovereign). The title Mikado may have been rather rare after the medieval period, but is pure classical Japanese. Princes of the Imperial house are the sons of the Emperor and members of the collateral princely families. Three of these latter, the Princes of Fushimi, Kanin and Arisugawa, have the title of Shinno (which might be rendered Royal Highness) as do the Imperial children, while the others have that of O or Highness. All Princes are called Miya Denka; for example, Kuni-no-Miya Denka, Shinno or O being inserted after the Miya for the more formal title. This distinguishes their rank very clearly from that of the highest grade of nobility, Koshaku, also translated Prince in English. Imperial Princes may in some cases cease to be members of the Imperial House, and be given a new name, as Marquis or Count, by the Emperor. In noble families there is only one title, that of the head of the house, and his children have nothing to distinguish them outwardly from com­ moners. The peerage is controlled by the Peerage Bureau of the Imperial Household, which may and does deprive members of their titles if their conduct is unsatisfactory.

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0n the wife of the recipient. Except the Princesses of the Imperial house there are no titled ladies in Japan. It is only possible to describe them as for instance, the Baron’s or the Count’s wife. There is, however, the Order of the Crown which is reserved for ladies as the Order of the Golden Kite is reserved for soldiers and sailors.1 A PPEN DIX II O F F IC IA L S l l Japanese officials, both military and civil, are ranked under four classes. The first three are known as High Officials (Kotokan) and are appointed with few exceptions from those who have passed the Higher Civil Service examination or are graduates of the military or naval colleges.

A

•Shinnin officials, the highest class, are appointed by the Emperor and may report to the Throne. They include members of the Privy Council, ministers, ambassadors and the highest officers in the Services. Cho\unin officials, the second class, whose appointment is made by the Throne through the chief of a department, include vice-ministers, heads of departments, governors of prefectures, generals, admirals and high officers, senior university professors and holders of the Third Order of Merit, ministers and consuls-general. Sonin officials, the third rank, are appointed by heads of departments, with Imperial approval and consist of other high officials who are not included in the higher ranks, such as those below chiefs of departments and commissioned officers. All have the privilege of entree to Court, but only Shinnin and Chokunin officials may attend State ceremonies. Hannin officials, the fourth class, are appointed by heads of depart­ ments and prefectural governors and include all the rest. The total number of officials, both civil and military, is given as a little over half a million, which does not differ much from that of samurai families of Tokugawa days, calculated as something over four hundred thousand. It is also possible to have the standing of a High Official and to be treated as one without necessarily being paid as one. All officials are eligible for Orders of Merit, according to their length of service and rank. These Orders have eight ranks and the higher ones correspond to the knighthoods of Europe. But none of them confers any distinction

1 Since this was written all titles have been abolished except those of the

Appendix

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1 yal duty is that in the classical description of the devotion of the warrior of ancient lineage in the ode of Yakamochi of the divinely descended Otomo house, dated about the middle of the eighth century, where he says:

“ Our ancestors have served the Sovereign and we too will serve him. Leaving our bodies sodden on the high seas or rotting in the grass of the wild moor, we gladly die for our Liege Lord. Our ancient name we still keep spotless.

APPENDIX III B U SH ID O T h e expression “Bushido” is common in European books in the sense

f

of a peculiar kind of Japanese chivalry. It owes its currency very largely l to the book written about it by Dr Nitobe; but it is perhaps unnecessary to say that it did not originate with him, as seems to be assumed, for instance, in a popular American work on Oriental culture, which speaks of Bushido as “a word invented by the late Inazo Nitobe” . But this is more excusable in view of the rather strange statement of Chamberlain, ■ who is always extraordinarily accurate: “So modern a thing is it that neither Kaempfer, Siebold, Satow nor Rein, all men knowing their Japan by heart, ever once allude to it in their voluminous writings. The cause of their silence is not far to seek: Bushido was unknown until a decade or two ago. The very word occurs in no dictionary, native or foreign, before the year 19 0 0 . Chivalrous individuals j of course existed in Japan, as in all countries at every period: but Bushido, as an institution or code or rules, has never existed.” That is unequivocal enough, but seems only a reflection on Japanese dictionaries, for the word occurs in the language itself at least as early as the beginning of the Tokugawa period, in a work entitled Tales of an Old Man of Bizen.1 Bushido means merely “the way of the warrior” and seems to be only another form of the simpler expression Budo, both of these being the Sinicized form of the more Japanese Bushi-no-michi, which is very like Kami-no-michi (the way of the gods) which became Shinto. These two other forms occur much earlier than does Bushido, | the former in the twelfth century. And the meaning of it right through the war period was undoubtedly “ the art of war” or what is to be known and practised in militarism. “The warrior who does not know his business is like a cat that does not know the ‘way of ratting’,” says Tsukahara Bokuden, a great fencing master of the sixteenth century—a very clear definition. In the Records of Nobunaga, by his secretary, a synonym Mushado (Musha = Bushi) appears to include the training of the warrior’s character as well as the art of war. Kendo, the art of the sword, is somewhat similar too, for that also includes a mental training taken from Zen Buddhism. One of the most ancient expressions of this sentiment of intrepid and 1 “Hideyoshi selected three men of distinguished appearance who were experienced in etiquette and renowned for Bushido on the Lord Rokkaku.”

( B u sh id o n o h o m a r e a r it e )

to be in attendance

With catalpa bow in hand and sword and dirk on thigh At dawn and even we stand to guard our Sovereign’s Gates ( Sumeragi

no Mikado).”

The word Bundo (the way of letters) goes with it, at any rate from the sixteenth century, for we have in the Maxims of Imagawa: “ Those who do not know both the way of the warrior and of letters are not likely to win.” The soldier is no good if he is illiterate. This is repeated in other and later dicta of these feudal chiefs, as for instance those of Hojo Soun and of Tokugawa Ieyasu. So it may be said that this quality of the warrior evidently includes, besides the art of war, overcoming the natural love of life and cultivating loyalty to the lord and hostility to his enemies. Such was the Bushido of the Kamakura and Ashikaga periods, from the middle of the twelfth century to that of the sixteenth. A very good description of it is that given in the set of rules usually attributed to Kato Kiyomasa, but accord­ ing to modern critics much earlier, since it is ascribed to one Kikuchi Takemasa in 1 3 4 8 : “There must be no negligence in the samurai’s service. He must get up at four in the morning and practise martial exercises. Then he may have a meal and afterwards shoot with bow and matchlock and ride horseback. And those who are proficient in these exercises will be pro­ moted accordingly. “If he wishes for diversion he may find it in hawking, stag-hunting and wresding. With such things he must amuse himself. “His clothes must be of cotton and pongee. It is an offence to spend money on clothes so that one is embarrassed in other ways. Weapons must be provided in accordance with one’s standing, and retainers have to be kept. And in time of war money has to be spent. In ordinary social intercourse there must be only one guest beside the host, and unhulled rice only is to be eaten. However, when military exercises are held there may be a large gathering. “Military rules and etiquette are what a samurai has to know. Those who are given to unnecessary luxury will be held culpable. A stop must he put to all frivolous posturing and sword dancing. When a sword is drawn it is to kill someone. Serious concentration is the secret of every­ thing, so those who go in for these frivolous pasdmes will be required to commit seppuku. “A samurai must be diligent at his studies. He must read military

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works and particularly pay attention to matters of loyalty and filial duty “ There must be no making poems and verse-capping. If a man ij inclined to luxury and aesthetic pleasures he will become debilitated and no better than a woman. “ The business of one born in a warrior house is to take the sword and die. And if he does not give himself up entirely to the way of the warrior (Bushido) it will not be easy to die a fine death. It is most important tlierefore that he steep his mind in military things. These rules are to be observed by day and night, and if anyone finds this difficult he must resign, and if on examination he is found incapable of performing a man’s duties he will be branded as such and expelled.” Geography as well as history has had some considerable influence on the way of the warrior, for the cultivated examples were mosdy brought up not far from the Imperial capital of Kyoto or in places influenced by it. So the roughest and least amiable soldiers were those from the extreme east and south and the mountainous regions like Kiso in central Japan. Thus the Bushi in the medieval period produced elegant yet inflexible fighters like Taira Tadanori on the one side and Minamoto Yoshitsune on the other. Jealousy of his honour and reputation was a most prominent quality in the Bushi. Tsukahara Bokuden says: “ The warrior must consider reputation above all things, his own naturally, and also that of his descendants, in all that he does. He must consider this fleeting life where his good name is concerned.” It was this sentiment that lead him to commit suicide in the most painful fashion when he felt that he had been unable to carry out some responsibility. And this suicide when it takes place on the battlefield was also doubtless dictated by the desire to deprive the enemy of the satisfaction of killing the performer and taking his head. Suicide to follow the lord in death (junshi) is a very ancient custom and expresses extreme loyalty. It has persisted from the earliest times until the present day in spite of legislation against it. The most famous modern example is that of General Count Nogi, the victor of Port Arthur, who committed seppu\u to follow the Emperor Meiji in 19 11. The sentiment of the Bushi underwent some change with time, for in the Gempei era the saying “ The Genji do not serve a second master” could serve because the east country was entirely under the control of these Genji and their only enemy was the Heike. Employment therefore was assured to all these retainers. But later on in the Ashikaga age when the country was split up into many provinces, each fighting the other, if the lord was killed and his family destroyed, his retainers must become masterless Ronin and be without means of existence unless they took service with another lord. As they had no trade but war, and in most cases despised any other occupation, they did this, and even became the retainers of their late lord’s enemy, as for instance the many samurai of Takeda Shingen who were employed by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Appendix

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| I | J j.

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The sixteenth century has sometimes been called the golden age of Bushido, but actually it would be more correctly described as the golden aae of unscrupulous militarism, for in this intense competition between the feudal magnates, when every neighbour was an enemy, everybody suspected his neighbour, his retainers and even his own relations. So we find the Machiavellian Bushi of the type of Saito Dosa who killed his lord and his son-in-law to get their territory, and Matsunaga Hisahide who also killed his lord and the Shogun, and Takeda Shingen who drove out his father and killed his son, and many more like them, though it is true they were not admired for these things. What the Bushi of this period did do, however, was to die consistently for those who paid him, though it did not follow that he would con­ tinue to take the salary of the same lord. It depended on the salary and his personal inclinations. For all these Bushi reserved the right to go else­ where if the situation did not suit them. It seems that it was in Nobunaga’s time that the military spirit was at its highest level, for he was a popular and inspiring leader, perhaps the greatest in a purely military sense that Japan has ever known. He was always fighting against heavy odds and taking all sorts of personal risks, and he died in battle and cremated himself, leaving behind him that imperishable name of which he had so often sung. Hideyoshi’s age was not quite so intense, for he brought peace to the land and there was more interest in building and entertaining and also in money, which such activities demanded. Hideyoshi, with his somewhat parvenu spirit, thought a lot of money and liked to see it spent. He would give away large sums as a reward for gallant and effective deeds of arms after, and even in some cases before, the battle, handing out gold and silver coins on the field as the heads were brought in by his pages. Tokutomi2 observes that the Bushi of these days were much like the professional tennis and baseball players of today, and perhaps it might be added that these professional players have still the spirit of the Bushi, for they have committed suicide when they felt they had not lived up to their responsibilities. The same authority considers that the elements of Bushido are valour, integrity, fidelity and self-control. The first can certainly be credited to the Japanese warrior at all periods, but about the other three there is not the same certainty. “ The warrior’s lies,” said Akechi Mitsuhide, “are called strategy, and those of the priest being all things to all men. The only honest people are farmers and townsmen.” And Kuroda Josui’s remark about fighters who were not professionals—“ These com­ mon people who don’t know the way of the Bushi will soon give in and surrender”—defines this “ way” as not much more than a combination of disciplined courage and skill. 2 C f . also another passage of his: “ For the magnates of this age ( c . 1560) were just like our stock jobbers, veering from one side to the other whenever they saw a chance of profit.” ( H is t o r y o f M o d e r n J a p a n .)

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It is therefore somewhat later on, in the peaceful days of the Tokugawa rule, that these three other elements became an integral part of Bushido. Nakae Toju’s teaching that integrity is admirable for its own sake and, so the best way of life, and that consideration for others is to be put before self-gratification, tempered the stern unscrupulous character of the earlier way of the Bushi and went to make it what it unquestion­ ably came to be from the late seventeenth century, a code including Zen Buddhism, Confucianism and Japanese loyalism, very well exemplified in such a noble character as Tokugawa Mitsukuni. The Japanese are naturally a kindly and generous people where compe­ tition and adversity do not bring out a certain hardness that underlies these qualities. The Bushi of the medieval days were not nearly as silent and reserved as the samurai of Momoyama, but much more frank and open, for life was not as hard for them. They had not the same need of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s motto: “ Use others while letting them think they are using you. “ The story of Kumagai and his grief at having to kill the youthful Atsumori is as typical as the less often remembered one of Nyuzen Kotaro attacking, off his guard, an elder man who had just spared his life. Few have more tenacity in what they undertake than the Japanese, and to such deeds this tenacity sometimes leads them. Brinkley’s statement that he had found no Galahad in Japanese history seems well founded, unless such a one as Takiguchi Nyudo3 is so regarded; but celibacy was clearly not considered normal, since the distinctively Japanese sects of Buddhism permit married monks and hereditary temples. Uesugi Kenshin was a learned and also a celibate monastic warrior, apparently because it was his temperament to be so. So women were never placed on any pedestal in Japan, perhaps because sex has never been taken as seriously there as in the West. The one romance of Benkei, who was a model of devoted and exclusive loyalty to his master Yoshitsune, was doubtless regarded as rather a redeeming feature. Women were and are regarded as specialists in their duties, and a warrior would never regard an attachment to one as anything but a weakness that might make him forget his duty.4 As a mother woman has always been accorded the highest respect, and her influence over her sons was very great, so that in a warrior house she had to exercise it in favour of a Spartan upbringing. What a samurai household was like in the seventeenth century may be well seen from a perusal of Arai Hakuseki’s autobiography,5 which gives a vivid sketch of his parents and the atmosphere of their home. I think it is fairly correct to say that after the Fujiwara period there is no love poetry in Japanese, or any writing at all on this subject that can be regarded as anything but perhaps pathetic. Religion on the whole played no very prominent part in the lives 3 Hci\e Monogatari. 4 As in the case of Kiso Yoshinaka and Tomoe. 6 Knox, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.

Appendix

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of the Bushi, though it is true that some like Mori Motonari and Hojo Soun thought it well, perhaps as a discipline, to get up early and pray to the gods and Buddhas. Mori probably rated their power in helping him to victory higher than did some of the others, who preferred to rely on themselves in accordance with the proverb “Work is better than prayer” . Shimazu Tadayoshi, the contemporary of Mori Motonari, and like him one of the great contributors to the spirit of the military profession, observes that loyalty and filial duty are essentially virtues that pay; and these, like reverence for ancestors which is rather another aspect of them, were the fundamental ethics of Bushido. Without ancestor worship it would lack one of the strongest incentives to keep the family name flawless. But otherwise the Bushi was and is inclined to fear neither god nor man, for Zen Buddhism, the philosophy he is most likely to patronize, does not think in terms of the hereafter and emphasizes only the imper­ manence of phenomena and the unimportance of death. The wages of life is death and of ignorance eternal life, might sum it up in short. The Bushi probably regarded heaven rather as a carrot for the foolish farmer than a place at all suited for such as himself. So it may appear that Bushido is an ideal that varied considerably according to the period, and that like the rest of Japanese culture it came to its culmination in the Tokugawa period. Its literature is the history of the warrior caste and the various house-laws that the feudal lords drew up for the guidance of their clans. It shows no signs of having been recently invented and even the word is not very new. Some light may be thrown on the Bushi by the proverbs that relate to him, of which the following is a selection. Bravery alone does not make a samurai. The gods have no power over the brave. The real Bushi is sympathetic. The samurai is best in his own province, the priest from elsewhere. The samurai keeps up appearances though he has nothing to eat. The samurai’s child doesn’t show hunger when he has nothing to eat. The samurai is on the qui vive before he is born and he kills his man when he is seven. Horses and samurai don’t go by appearances. Three things the Bushi forgets: his house when he leaves his province, his wife and children when he crosses the frontier, and himself when he faces the enemy. A samurai is a samurai however small his stipend. Samurai, like gold, don’t rot even when they are buried. The samurai’s trade is robbery and violence. The word of a samurai is like gold or iron. Among flowers the cherry and among men the Bushi. The life of a samurai is the highest honour. A samurai holds honour dearer than life.

A P P E N D IX IV

RU LES OF CO NDUCT

The Constitution of Prince Shotoku1 A.D. 604 1. H a r m o n y is to be valued and avoidance of opposition aimed at. All men are influenced by class-feelings and few are intelligent. So some disobey their lords or fathers and others maintain feuds with their neighbours. But when the superior is harmonious and the inferior friendly and there is concord in the discussion of business, right views naturally prevail and there is nothing that cannot be accomplished. 2. Sincerely reverence the Three Treasures. The Three Treasures are the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Priesthood, the final refuge of all living creatures and the supreme objects of faith in all countries. Who in any age can fail to reverence this Doctrine? Few men are entirely bad and they can be taught to follow it. But if they do not betake themselves to the Three Treasures how shall their crookedness be made straight? 3. When you receive the Imperial Command fail not scrupulously to obey it. The Lord is Heaven, the Vassal Earth. Heaven covers and Earth supports. When this is so the Four Seasons follow their course and the powers of Nature obtain their efficacy. If the Earth attempted to cover Heaven it would fall in ruin. Therefore it is that when the Lord speaks the Vassal should obey and when the superior acts the inferior comply. So when you receive an Imperial command carry it out scrupulously. If you neglect it ruin will follow. 4. Ministers and functionaries should make Ceremony their leading principle, for correct behaviour is the main element in governing the people. If superiors have no decorum then inferiors will have no order. If inferiors do not behave properly there will surely be offences. 5. Cease from feasting and abandon covetousness and deal impartially with the suits that come before you. A thousand suits are brought by the people in a day, and if in a day there are so many how will they mount up in the course of years. If those who administer justice are in the habit of profiting by it and taking bribes, the suits of the rich will go like a stone thrown in the water, while those of the poor will be 1 Translations of W. G. Aston, somewhat modified.

Appendix

3 11

spurned like water cast on stone. So the poor will not know where to go and the duty of the minister will be defective. 6. Chastise the evil and encourage the good. This was the excellent rule of the ancients. Do not cover up the good in people, and correct the evil when you see it. Flatterers and deceivers are a ready device for the overthrow of the State and a pointed weapon for the destruction of the people. And sycophants love to speak to their superiors of the defects of the inferior and to their inferiors of the shortcoming of the superior. People of this kind are lacking in loyalty to their lord and in benevolence to the people. From this arise great rebellions. 7. Let every man have his own duty and let not these spheres be confused. If wise men are entrusted with office everyone will sing their praises, but where the unprincipled hold it there will be plenty of disasters, and tumults. In this world few are born with knowledge, it is profound thought that makes the sage. It matters not whether a thing is great or small, if you find the right man he will certainly handle it, and whether an occasion is urgent or not a wise man will make it favourable. Then will the State be lasting and society in no danger. Therefore did the wise kings of old seek the man to fill the office and not make the office for the sake of the man. 8. Let the ministers and functionaries attend the Court early in the morning and retire late. Public affairs do not admit of remissness and the whole day is not enough to finish them. If officials come late to Court emergencies cannot be met and if they retire early business cannot be completed. 9. Good faith is the foundation of right. In everything let there be good faith, for in it is the good and bad, success and failure. If there is good faith between lord and vassal, what is there they cannot accomplish ? But if this good faith is wanting all they do will end in failure. 10. Give up wrath and forsake anger and do not be annoyed when people differ from you. For everyone has his own mind and every mind has its own opinions. Another’s right is our wrong and our right is their wrong. We are not unquestionably sages and they are not unquestionably fools. Both are simply ordinary men. How can anyone lay down a rule by which to distinguish right and wrong? For we are all, one with another, wise and foolish, like a ring that has no end. Therefore though others give way to anger let us on the contrary dread our own faults, and though we alone may be in the right let us follow the multitude and act with them. 11. Give clear appreciation to merit and demerit and deal out to each its appropriate punishment and reward. In these days reward does not attend on merit nor punishment follow crime. Let all officials who administer affairs make clear discrimination in punishment and reward.

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A Short History of Japan

12. Let not the provincial authorities or local governors levy exactions on the people. In a country there are not two lords and the people have not two masters. The Sovereign is the master of all the people of the whole country. The officials to whom he gives charge are all his vassals. How can they, besides the government, dare to levy taxes on the people? 13. Let all entrusted with office attend to their business with the same discretion. Owing to illness or being sent on missions their work may at times be neglected but when they become able to attend to their affairs let them be as accommodating as though they had known it all before, and not hinder public business on the score of being unacquainted with it. 14. Ministers and functionaries, be not envious. For if we envy others people will envy us. The evils of envy know no limit. If others excel us in intelligence we are not pleased, and if they are more talented we are envious. That is why we only find a talented person in five hundred years and a sage in perhaps a thousand. And without such people how is the country to be governed ? 15. To turn away from what is private and set his face to what is public, this is the path of a minister. If an ordinary man is influenced by private motives he will certainly feel resentment and if he feels resent­ ment he will fail to act harmoniously with others. If he fails to act harmoniously with others he will certainly sacrifice the public interest to his personal feelings. When resentment arises it upsets order and perverts law. That is why in the first article it was said that superior and inferior should be in harmony. The meaning is the same as here. 16. Let the people be put to labour at seasonable times. This is an ancient and excellent rule. In the winter months when they have leisure, then you can put the people to labour. But from spring to autumn it is the time for agriculture and growing the mulberry. Then they should not be put to labour, for if they do not till the ground how can they eat, and if they do not grow the mulberry how can they be clothed. 17. Important decisions should not be made by one man. They should be discussed by many. But small matters are of no great consequence, and do not need many people. It is only in the discussion of weighty affairs, when there will be a loss if the matter is doubtful, that there should be a number of people to arrange it, so as to come to the right conclusion.

The Charter Pledge of the Emperor Meiji (17 April 1869) 1. An extensive convention should be held and all matters decided by public opinion. 2. All classes high and low shall with one mind carry on the adminis­ tration of government.

Appendix

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3. We require that all, from civil and military officials to the ordinary people, shall be enabled wholeheartedly to achieve their respective pur­ poses without hindrance. 4. All the evil customs of former days shall be abolished and every­ thing based on natural justice and equity. 5. Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world and thus shall the foundations of the Empire be developed. Our country is about to carry out an unprecedented revolution and We thus take an oath before Heaven and Earth that We will stabilize the land and protect all its people, and do you, Our people, also labour to the utmost to co-operate with Us in accomplishing this.

The Testament of Hojo Soun to His Son2 1. One ought to believe in the Gods and Buddhas. 2. One must get up early in the morning. If you get up late you cannot supervise your servants properly. For be very certain distinction between their own time and their master’s will be maintained only by the master’s vigilance. 3. Go to bed before 8 p.m. Thieves generally break in between 12 and 2 a.m., so if you spend the evening in useless talk and go to bed late you are likely to lose your valuables and your reputation as well. Save the firing and light that will be wasted by staying up and get up at four in the morning. Elave a cold bath and say your prayers, and after you have dressed give your orders for the day to your wife and children and retainers and so be ready to go on duty before six. There is an old saying “ Go to bed at twelve and get up at four” , but it all depends on the individual. But anyhow it is advantageous to get up at four. Lying in bed till six or eight will make you late in your attendance on your lord and give you no time for the affairs of your own household, so that the order of the day’s work will be thrown out of gear. 4. Before you wash go and inspect everything from the lavatory to the stable and outside the garden gate, and give orders to clean any­ where that needs it. Wash yourself quickly, but water is plentiful so don’t just gargle and leave it. Don’t shout out loudly in the house. It is unpleasing to others and inconsiderate, so be quiet. There is a saying: “You have to stoop in heaven and walk carefully on earth.” 5. Prayer is a kind of deportment. You have to keep your mind honest 2 Hojo Soun, born Ise Shinkuro Nagauji, took the name of Hojo after he had

established himself as Lord of Izu and Sagami at the castle of Odawara. Perhaps the ablest military man of his age, he died in 1 5 1 9 aged eighty-seven and was suc­ ceeded by a son and grandson who were as capable as himself and who extended the rule of their house over all the eight provinces of the Kanto.

314

-A Short H istory o f Japan

and pliant, straightforward and law-abiding, respecting your superior and being sympathetic to your inferior. Take things as they come and be natural, for that, it seems, is in accordance with the will of both Gods and Buddhas, as it is said: “ Even if you do not pray, if your mind is so ordered the deities will protect you. And if you do pray and your mind is perverted you will certainly be rejected by Heaven. So be careful.” 6. Don’t think you need necessarily have as fine swords and clothing as your neighbour. As long as they are not disreputable they will do. And if you borrow and so lose your independence you will be despised. 7. When on duty, it is unnecessary to say, but also on less important occasions and even if you think you will be in the house all day, see that your hair is done properly. To be seen by people in an unkempt state is boorish and impolite. If you are careless about your personal appearance your servants will be likely to become so too. Even if anyone of the same rank comes to see you it does not look well not to be pre­ pared to receive him at once. 8. When you go on duty don’t go right up to your lord at once. Wait in the ante-room and observe the precedence of the others. Then you may go in. Otherwise you may be thought pushing. 9. When spoken to by your superior, even if you are in waiting at a distance, answer up distinctly. Then go closer and listen respectfully to what he has to say. That is better than shuffling round by the side. And give simple straightforward answers to explain everything clearly. Don’t try to show off your personal cleverness. Sometimes it may be well to consult privately with one who knows how to put things before you reply. Be sure not to take everything on yourself. 10. When your lord is passing by stand near and don’t go with people who are talking carelessly, for light conversation and laughter are not only indecorous before one’s superiors but will be objected to even by the superior among your equals. 11. It is said that too many acquaintances are not profitable. But you have to entrust some things to other people. 12. Whenever you have any time look at a book that you should carry in your pocket. For if you don’t practise reading the characters you will forget them. And the same thing applies to writing them. 13. When you are in waiting with any of the senior councillors always bend forward in a humble manner when you pass them. It is very impolite to pass them in a careless offhand manner. One should always be most courteous when in waiting. 14. Lies should never be told to anyone of whatever rank. In nothing should there be any prevarication. Lying soon becomes a habit and

Appendix

315

brings people to derision so that they are avoided. To have to be corrected by anyone is a disgrace. 15. Those who cannot make verses are rather lacking and no class, so it should be studied. But one should be reserved in speech, for even one word can give the speaker away. 16. Riding on horseback ought to be practised when off duty. If a man is well trained on foot he will only have to get used to handling the reins and so on. 17. The best friend a man can have is reading and writing, and the bad ones to be avoided are Go and chess and flute and pipe. It is no shame to be ignorant of these things. They may not be bad in them­ selves, but so often they cause useless waste of time. And a man’s qualities depend on his friends. Where three people are together one can learn something, and choose the good and follow it and improve on the undesirable. 18. If you return to your house when you have any spare time, go round it from the stable to the back and stop up any place in the walls where a dog can get through. Maidservants and clumsy people may get out and set fire to things. And remember that in everything one has to make temporary arrangements and let the future take care of itself. 19. The gates should be shut at six o’clock in the evening and opened specially if anyone has to go in or out. If this is not done bad things will certainly happen. 20. At night it is well to go round and see that the fire in the kitchen is properly out, and get in the habit of being very careful about all other lights. They should be inspected every night regularly. Women, whether high or low, are by nature careless and leave clothes and valuables lying about. And do not leave too much to the servants. See to things yourself and know all about everything that goes on and you will find it best in the end. 21. The literary and martial arts are, it is unnecessary to say, to be practised always. The ancient rule declares that letters are the left hand and militarism the right. Neither must be neglected.

A P P E N D IX V

T H E JIN N O -SH O T O -K I O R D IR E C T L I N E O F D IV IN E S O V E R E IG N S ( Kitabata\e Chi\ajusa on ]apan and its Early Names) J apan is the Land of the Deities, for the Imperial Ancestor founded it

in the beginning, and the line of the Sun Goddess has been carried on ever since. There is nothing of this kind in any other nation. It is solely confined to our country. In the Age of the Deities it was called Toyo-ashi-hara-no-chio-aki-nomizuho-no-kuni (the Land of Many Reed-plains, of Plentiful Harvests and Full Rice-ears). This was its name from the beginning of the Uni­ verse. The Heavenly Ancestor Kuni-toko-tachi thus declared it in the Edict he issued to Izanagi and Izanami. And it had this name when it was handed over by the Sun Goddess to her Heavenly Grandson. It was also at first called Dai Hasshu Koku or the Great Eight-Province Land. Perhaps this was because when Izanagi and Izanami gave birth to it it consisted of eight islands. When they came to the eighth they produced the Deity, O Yamato Toyo Akitsu-su, or Great Yamato Land of Bounteous Harvests. Now there are forty-eight provinces, and as this was in the centre, the first Emperor Jimmu made his capital there when he conquered the East, and so it remained for many generations. Therefore the name Yamato was given to the other seven provinces as well. Just as in China the land of Chou gave its name to the whole Empire. So also with the name Han. The word Yamato means mountain path. When the heaven and earth were separated and the wet mud had not yet dried, people walked only along the hills, and there were so many of these hill paths that the province took its name from them. Another explanation is that it means mountain stopping, from to to stop, because people stopped and lived in the hills. The reason why the word Yamato is written Dai Nippon is that when Chinese characters were introduced these were selected to write it as well as those reading O Wa. And so Dai Nippon is read in Japanese Yamato. They may have chosen these characters, “Dai Nippon” , because it is the country of the Great Sun Spirit, or because it is the country that is near the Sunrise. Still it is not read Hi-no-moto with the ordinary Japanese reading of the characters, as might be expected, but Yamato.

>

Appendix

317

In our country we have many ways of reading Chinese characters, and naturally the expression can be read Hi-no-moto with the normal value of the characters, but that is not the name of the country. Again from ancient days it was read with the character “ Great” prefixed, O Yamato. Thus the full name was O Yamato Toyo Akitsu (Great Yamato of Plenteous Harvests). The Emperors Itoku, Korei and Kogen all have O Yamato prefixed to their personal names, and so has Suinin Tenno’s daughter O Yamatohime. When the Deity rode in the Heavenly Rock Boat through the sky and looked down he exclaimed, “ The Land of Yamato.” Moreover the first name of Jimmu Tenno was Yamato Iware Hiko, while that of Koan was Yamato Tarashi and of Kaika, Waka Yamato. Keiko’s son was also called Yamato Takeru. When the characters were introduced from China they wrote it with the character Wa, which we adopted, and read this character also Yamato and added to it the character “ Great” , as had been done with the expression Nippon, and read it in the same way with as without it. And the reason the Chinese chose that character for our country was that when Japanese first went to China the people there asked what their country was called, and the Japanese replied “Waga Kuni” (Our Country), which the Chinese wrote down as Wa kuni, the Land of Wa. The Chinese texts say: “ The people of Wa live on the Sea of Rakuro. It is divided into a hundred provinces.” Probably there was communication with the Minor Han period, one text says in the Ts’in age. In the after Han books it says that the King of Wa lived in Yamato, spelling out this word phonetically. In the T ’ang texts it is stated that it was in the days of Kao Tsung that the envoys of Wa first changed the name of their country to Nippon. For, they explained, their country is in the east and near to the sunrise. This is confirmed by our ancient records. In the days of Suiko the Emperor of Sui sent a letter addressed to the King of Wa. Prince Shotoku himself wrote a reply which began “ The Heavenly Sovereign of the East Respectfully addresses the Emperor of the West” . Thus he did not use either Wa or Nippon. And there were no such communications before this. In the T ’ang era, that is in the time of Tenchi Tenno, they certainly wrote Nippon. The country was also called Akitsu-su, and when Jimmu Tenno went round to inspect it he said it was well called, for it looked like a dragon­ fly ( akitsu). But the name Toyo-Akitsu-ne already existed before the time of Jimmu. And there were other names too; for example, Kuwashihoko-chitaru-kuni, Country Full of Fine Weapons, Superior True Country Encircled by Coasts, Country within the Jewel Fence, and Country of Mulberry-trees.

A P P E N D IX VI

Y A M A G A SO K O ’S IM P E R IA L ISM WORKS OF YAM AG A SOKO 1621-85 O ur country has never lacked from the age of the Gods to the present

day one of the direct line of the Sun Goddesses to be its Sovereign. And up to the time of the Fujiwara there has been a long succession of ministers and Regents to assist them. This is due to nothing but the profound benevolence and righteousness of the Divine Sovereigns. For seventeen generations after the Divine Age there were none but sovereigns of great righteousness. With the assistance of wise ministers they established the Way of Heaven and Earth, decided the adminis­ tration of Court and country and arranged all the affairs of the people, their clothing, food, marriages, and funeral ceremonies and the rest in a most adequate way, in order to set up a standard by which they might live in peace and quietness for countless generations. And here again it was by reason of the virtue of the Sovereign that the way of all, high and low, was made thus clear to them. And as for martial qualities, Korea was subdued and paid tribute to our Empire, and the King of Koma was conquered and his capital entered and a Japanese city estab­ lished in this land overseas. Thus the might of Japan has shone forth in the world from these early times to the present day. But though foreign countries trembled at our might, yet in course of time one of them launched an attack on us, of which I will say no more than a single portion of our territory was taken. And yet in strategy and tactics and drill and the equipment of both cavalry and infantry this Empire was the most pre-eminent of all. How very evident it is then that our valour is greater than that of all other countries. Now the three virtues of a sage are knowledge, benevolence and valour, and if one is lacking he is no sage. And if our country is compared with foreign lands, in each of these points how manifest is our superiority. This is not only my opinion, it is that of the whole Empire. In ancient days Prince Shotoku did not worship foreigners but understood the essential qualities of our country. But unfortunately the ancient records were burnt in the fighting with Soga Iruka and so we do not know all he wrote.

A P P E N D IX VII

T H E O R IG IN O F T H E S H O G U N S 1 first example of marshal or general was when the Emperor Jimmu appointed Michi-no-omi commander of his forces when he undertook to subdue the eastern provinces. He was the ancestor of the Mononobe. Then in the fourth year of his reign the Emperor Sujun created the four generals of the four regions. This is the first time the word “ Shogun” was used. The twelfth Emperor Keiko made his son the Prince Yamatotakeru-no-Mikoto commander-in-chief (Taisho) of his army, and with Takehi and Takehiko as lieutenant-generals of the Left and Right he subdued the eastern barbarians. When the Empress Jingo conquered Korea she appointed a military governor (Chinju Shogun) to administer it, and here we have the first use of the expression Chinju-fu (military prefecture). The eastern barbarians were very apt to rebel and attack the Imperial capital, so an East-suppressing General was created and he commanded the military prefecture which was not under the governor (Kokushi) and so kept everything secure. This started in the days of the Emperor Shomu. Only feudal chiefs of great ability, skilled in strategy and brave in the field are capable of holding such an office. From the days of Bunya-no-wata-maru we find the title of Sei-i Shogun (Barbarian-quelling General) in use. Saka-no-ue Tamura-maru was called Sei-to-i Shogun (Eastern Barbarian-quelling General) and the Sangi Fujiwara Tadabumi was appointed Sei-to Tai Shogun (East-quelling Generalissimo). After that the office fell into abeyance till Kiso Yoshinaka went to the capital and held the military command there, when he was appointed Barbarian-quelling General. After that the Udaisho Yoritomo was made Barbarian-quelling General­ issimo (Sei-i Tai Shogun) and this title was handed down in his family so that his son Yoriie held it when he was Shosho and his brother Sanetomo from the time he was Hyoe-no-suke till he became Udaijin. In earlier days governors of provinces were changed every five years and however great might be the merit of a general he was never allowed to administer more than one province, but the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa was overcome by his feelings and gave high rank and thirty-seven provinces to the Taira Minister Kiyomori, more than half of the whole country. And from that time the power of the military grew greater and greater, so that it was very troublesome for the Emperor, the Retired Emperor, and

T he

1 Hdjd Kudai-ki (History of the Nine 'Generations of Hojo), chapter i.

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A Short History of Japan

the ministers. However, for all that, the Sovereign did not repent of his decision, but appointed Yoritomo Lord High Constable of sixty-six pro­ vinces, and after a while the Court and the military became opposed to each other with the result that the monarchy grew weaker and the military party stronger. They put a commissioner (Bugyo) in the two Rokuhara mansions in the capital and a governor (Tandai) in Kyushu. They also put a warden (Shugo) in every province and a steward in every manor, so that there was nothing left for the courtiers to administer. Thus Yoritomo’s authority reached even to the clouds and passed to his sons Yoriie and Santeomo, but did not endure more than the forty-two years of these three generations, after which the Empire fell into the hands of Hoj5 Tokimasa. He brought down Court nobles to Kamakura and made them Shogun, but they also did not last more than two generations. Finally the Hojo house petitioned the Throne to send an Imperial Prince as Shogun, and there were four generations of these Princes. Meanwhile from Tokimasa to Takatoki there were nine generations of Regents of the Hojos who carried on the administration. The same number as that of the Shoguns.

I

A P P E N D IX VIII

EM PERO R S1 b .c .

1 J i m m u .......................... 660 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

S u i z e i .......................... 581 A n n e i .......................... 548 Itoku .......................... 510 K o s h o .......................... 475 Koan .......................... 392 Korei .......................... 290 K o g e n .......................... 214 K a i k a ...........................158 Sujin .................... 97 S u i n i n .................... 29 a .d .

12 K e i k o .................... 71 13 S e i m u .................... 131 14 C h u a i .................... 192 J i n g o * .................... 201 —(Regent) 15 Ojin - - - - - 270 16 Nintoku . . . - 313 17 R i c h u .................... 400 18 H a n z e i .................... 406 19 Inkyo .................... 412 20 Anko .................... 454 21 Y u ryak u .................... 457 22 Seinei .................... 480 23 K e n s o .................... 485 24 N in k e n .....................488 25 M uretsu.................... 499 26 K e i t a i .................... 507 27 A n k a n .................... 534 28 S e n k a .................... 536 29 K im m e i.................... 539 30 B id a t s u .................... 572 3 1 Y o m e i .................... 585 1 Go =

W

32 Sujun . . . . . 588 33 S u i k o * ........................... 593 34 Jomei ........................... 629 35 Kogyoku* . . . . 642 36 K o t o k u ........................... 645 37 S a im e i* ........................... 655 38 T e n c h i ........................... 668 39 K o b u n ........................... 672 40 T e m m u ........................... 673 41 J i t o * ................................ 690 42 M om m u........................... 697 43 Gemmyo* . . . . 708 44 Gensho* . . . . 715 45 S h o m u .....................724 46 K o k e n * ........................... 749 47 J u n n i n ........................... 759 48 Shotoku* . . . . 765 49 K o n i n .................... 770 50 Kwammu - - - - 782 51 H e ijo ................................ 806 52 S a g a ................................ 810 53 J u n n a ............................824 54 Nimmyo . . . - 834 55 Montoku . . . - 851 56 Seiwa ............................859 57 Yozei ............................877 58 Koko ............................885 59 U d a .................................889 60 D a i g o ............................898 61 S h u ja k u ............................931 62 Murakami - - - - 947 63 R e i z e i ............................968 64 Enyu ............................970 65 K a z a n ............................985 66 Ichijo ............................ 987

2 nd; * =

Empress.

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67 Sanjo .........................1012 68 Go-Ichijo - - - - 1017 69 Go-Shujaku - - - 1037 70 Go-Reizei - - - - 1047 71 Go-Sanjo - - - - 1069 72 Shirakawa - - - - 1073 73 Horikawa - - - - 1087 74 Toba - - - - - 1108 75 Sutoku - - - - 1124 76 K o n o e .........................1142 77 Go-Shirakawa - - - 1156 78 N i j o ..............................1159 79 Rokujo - - - - n66 80 Takakura - - - - 1x69 81 A n t o k u .........................1180 82 Go-Toba - - - - 1186 83 Tsuchi-Mikado - - 1199 84 Juntoku - - - - 12 11 85 Chukyo - - - - 1221 86 Go-Horikawa - - - 1222 87 Shijo .........................1233 88 Go-Saga - - - - 1243 89 Fukakusa - - - - 1247 90 Kameyama - - - - 1260 91 G o -U d a .........................1275 92 Fushimi - - - - 1288 93 Go-Fushimi - - - 1299 94 Go-Nijo - - - - 1302 95 Hanazono - - - - 1308

96 Go-Daigo - - - . 97 Go-Murakami - - 98 C h o k e i ..................... 99 Go-Kameyama - 100 Go-Komatsu - - 101 Shoko ..................... 102 Go-Hanazono - - 103 Go-Tsuchi-Mikado 104 Go-Kashiwabara - 105 Go-Nara - - - 106 Ogimachi - - - 107 Go-Yozei - - - 108 Go-Mizu-no-o - - 109 Myosho* - - - n o Go-Komyo - - - 111 Go-Saiin - - - 112 R e i g e n ..................... 113 Higashiyama - - 114 Naka-no-Mikado - 115 Sakuramachi - - 116 Momozono - - 117 Go-Sakura-machi* 118 Go-Momozono - 119 Kokaku - - - 120 N i n k o ..................... 121 Komei - - - - 122 Meiji - - - - 123 T a i s h o ..................... 124 The Present Emperor

Empress.

r3 ig

A P P E N D IX IX

*339

1368 1368 1393

m 3 1429 m 65 1501 1528 i 558

!587 1612 1630 1644 1655 1663 1688 1710 1736 1748 1764 1772 1780 1817 1847 1868 1912 1926

P R IN C IP A L C O U R T N O B L E F A M IL IE S (K U G E)

Name

Income

- 2860 Konoe - - Kujo - - 2°43 - 1708 Nijo - - - 2044 Ichijo - - - 1500 Takatsukasa S a n j o ............................... 4 with Prince Saionji Kinmochi -- - 1906J Russia Prince Katsura T a r o ................... 1908 Prince Saionji Kinmochi - - - - 1911 Prince Katsura T a r o .....................1912 Admiral Count Yamamoto Gombei 1913 Count Okuma Shigenobu - - - 1914 General Count Terauchi Masatake 1916 Mr Elara K e i * ..............................1918 Viscount Takahashi Korekiyo* - 1921 Admiral Kato Tomosaburo - - 1922 Count Yamamoto Gombei -- - 1923 Viscount Kiyoura Keigo -- - 1924 Baron Kato T a k a a k i ....................1924 Baron Wakatsuki Reijiro -- - 1926 General Baron Tanaka Giichi - - 1927 Mr Hamaguchi Yuk 5 * -- - 1929 Baron Wakatsuki Reijiro -- - 1931 Mr Inukai K i * ..............................1931 Admiral Viscount Saito Minoru* 1932 Admiral Baron Okada Keisuke - 1934 Mr Hirota K o k i ......................... 1936 General Hayashi Senjuro -- - 1937 Prince Konoe Fumimaro -- - 1937 Baron Hiranuma Kiichiro -- - 1939 General Abe Nobuyuki -- - 1939 Admiral Yonai Mitsumasa -- - 1940 * Assassinated.

Appendix Prince Konoe Fumimaro - - - 1940 General Tojo H id e k i.................... 1941 General Koiso Kuniaki - - - - 1944 Admiral Suzuki Kan taro - - - - 1945 Prince H ig a s h i-K u n i......................1945

Baron Shidehara Kijuro - - - - 1945 Mr Yoshida Shigeru - - - - 1946 Mr Tetsu K a ta y a m a .........................1947 Mr Ashida H i t o s h i ........................ 1948 Mr Yoshida S h ig e r u .........................1949 Mr Hatoyama I c h i r o .......................... 1954

Mr Kishi N o b u s u k e .........................1956 Mr Ikeda H a y a t o ..............................i960

APPENDIX XIV S O M E F A M O U S JA P A N E S E A R T IS T S 5 ° years ago (Shogun Kei\i)

Age in 1865

Kikuchi Y o s a i ............................................. - 7 7 Shibata Z e s h i n .................................... . . ^g Hirano G o g a k u ..................... . . . . . ^ Hine T a i z a n .................................................. - 5 3 Mori K a n s a i ................................................... Tanomura Chokunyu Tazaki S o u n ................................................... Kano Hogai ....................................................... ^g Kawanabe G y o s a i ......................................... 36 Kawabata G y o k u s h o .................................... 24

100 years ago (Shogun lenari)

Age in 181 7

Urakami G y o k u d o ............................................. 71 Shiba Kokan . .................................................. 69 Mori S o s e n ....................................................... (,g Katsushika H o k u s a i ........................................ 56 Sakai H o i t s u .......................... - . . . . ^ Tani Buncho ^ Mori T e s s a n ................................................... Tanomura C h ik u d e n ........................................39 Urakami S h u n k in ............................................. 37 Rai Sanyo . ....................................................... 36 Matsumura K e i b u n ........................................ 36 Kikuchi Y o s a i .................................................. 28 Yamamoto B a i i t s u ............................................. 27150

150 years ago (Shogun leharu)

Age in ij6 5

Okumara M a s a n o b u ........................................ 76 Tosa M itsun obu.......................... .... . . . ^ Tsukioka S e t t e i .................................................. 56 Ito J a k u c h u ....................................................... 33 Yosha B u s o n ....................................................... 30

Appendix 150 years ago (Shogun leharu)

333

Age in ij6 $

Suzuki Harunobu . ....................................... 48 Taigado ........................ . . . . - - - 4 3 Katsukawa Shunsho - - - . - - -4 0 Kano Eisen . - - - - - - - - - - 3 6 Maruyama Oky5 . . - - - - - - - 3 3 Minagawa Gien - - - - - ........................ 32 Utagawa T o yo h aru ............................................ 29 Tosa Mitsusada - ........................ - - - - 2 8 Kitao S h ig e m a s a ........................ - - - - 2 7

200 years ago (Shogun letsugu)

Age in 77/5

Kano Shunsho -- - - - - - - -7 0 Hanabusa I t c h o ........................ . . . - - 6 4 Ogata Korin - ................................................. 58 Kano Chikanobu - - - ............................. 56 Ogata Kenzan -- - - - - - - -53 Ogawa Haritsu -- - - - - - - -53 Torii Kiyonobu -- - - - - - - -5 2 Nishikawa Sukenobu . ..................................38 Tachibana M o r ik u n i....................................... 37 Ooka Shunboku................................................. 3 ^ Miyagawa Choshun -- - ..........................34 Okumura Masanobu -- - - - -2 6 Hishikawa Morofusa . .................................... ? Kaigetsudo .................................................. ......

250 years ago (Shogun letsuna)

Age in 1665

Ishikawa Hanzan - - - - - - - - -8 3 Sumiyoshi Gyokei - - - - - - - - - 6 7 Honami Koh5 ...................................................... 67 Kano T a n n y u ...................................................... 63 Kano Y a su n o b u ................................................. 53 Kano Shunsetsu................................................. 52 Tosa Mitsuoki - - - - - - - - - - - 4 9 Kano D o u n ...................................................... 4 1 Kobori M a s a t a d a ............................................ 4 1 Sumiyoshi G u k e i ............................................ 35 ^^anoEino - ................................................. 3 2 Kano T s u n e n o b u ............................................ 3 ° Iwasa M a t a b e i .....................................................? Nonomura N i n s e i .............................................. ? Hishikawa M oronobu......................................... ?

334

A Short History of Japan 300 years ago (Shogun Hidetada)

Age in 1613

Honami K o e t s u .................................................. 59 Kano S a n r a k u .................................... . . 57 Kano T ak an o b u .................................................. 45 Nonomura Sotatsu - - - - - - - - - 40 Iwasa Matabei - .......................................38 Kobori M a s a k a z u .......................................37 Tosa M its u n o ri.................................................. 33 Shokado Shojo - - - - - - - - - . 3 2 Kano Sansetsu 27

APPENDIX XV SCHOOLS OF COLOUR-PRINT ARTISTS (U K 1Y O E )

HISHIKAWA SCHOOL

JUikikauta Mororwbu (1 8 2 0 -1 7 1 4 )

Torti Kiuonobu

(1664-1729)

Toriuam a . S e K u tv (1 7 1 2 -8 8 )

r

Kino Eiiin-in

mm3*.

Llilhi

Nlfktmura Shigmaga. Torii •u Kit m ylomaiu o m ata. (1 6 9 7 - 1756)

I

K itagaw a Isk ik a u ia Utamaro Toyor\obu. (1755-1806) ( 1 7 1 1 - 8 5 )

ls o d a

Koruusai ToyoHaw

1(1789-1800')

Suzuki

Harunobu

Isukimaro

(1 7 8 9 -1 8 2 9 )

Eisho

(1789-1800)

I----------1--------- 1------Kuninaga Kuninao KuniyojYii (1 8 0 4 ) (1 8 1 2 -4 0 ) (1800-6 1 )

Soihitora ( c . 1850)

(1 7 3 5 - 8 J )

I

1

YofViUoski

Vtagawa Totjohiro

_____ L

(1773-1828)

1

SII

Ando HirosViide

(G o to tc i) (1717-1835)

(1797-1858°

(e . 1850)

ToLjoKuni

Hiroskige

(K u n isaia) ( 1 8 2 6 - 6 9 ) (1786-1865)

4

.

Torii

r (1 7 4 2 -1 8 1 5 ) S h ib a K ita o . XoKan S h ig cm a sa (1747-1818) (1749 -1819 ) U tajau ia ToyoKuni (1769-1825)

I------

Torii Kiyomitsu.

Kiuonafla

( I 1------------ 1 IBiri

U tagaw a

(' 1 6 7 9 - 1 7 6 3 )

(1 7 7 0 -8 1 ) (1735-1814) (1 7 3 0 -7 0 )

-------1

HU&maro ( c .1 8 3 0 )

,

11780-1815)

_L

T

----1 Kuba Shunman (1757-1820)

BIBLIOGRAPHY* HISTORY Brinkley, F., A History of the Japanese People (12 vols). Brinkley, F., Japan and China: History, Arts and Literature. Hara, Katsuro, Introduction to the History of Japan. Kaempfer, E., History of Japan. Kidder, J. E., Japan Before Buddhism. Longford, J. H., Story of Old Japan. Murdoch, J., History of Japan (3 vols). Sansom, G. B., Japan: A Short Cultural History. Sansom, G. B., History of Japan, vols I, II. Storry, A History of Modern Japan. SPECIAL STUDIES Asakawa, K., The Early Institutional Life of Japan. Asakawa, K., The Origin of Feudal Land Tenure in Japan. Akagi, R. H., Japan’s Foreign Relations. Batchelor, J., Ainu Life and Lore. Boxer, C. R., Jan Companie in Japan. Boxer, C. R., The Affair of the Madre de Dios. Dening, W., Japan in Days of Yore. Gubbins, J. H., The Maying of Modern Japan. Gubbins, J. H., Progress of Japan, 1853-1871. Hearn, L., Japan: An Interpretation. McLaren, W. W., A Political History of Japan, 1867-1912. Munro, N. G., Prehistoric Japan. Muto, C., Anglo-Japanese Relations. Nishimura, S., Ancient Ships of Japan. Nitobe, I. Japan. Nitobe, I, Japanese Traits and Foreign Influences. Norman, E. H., Emergence of Japan as a Modern State. Institute of Pacific Relations. Okuma, Marquis S., Fifty Years of New Japan. Paske-Smith, M., History of Japan from the East India Company’s

Records. Paske-Smith, M., Japanese Traditions of Christianity. Paske-Smith, M., Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa. Paske-Smith, M., English House at Hirado. Peffer, N., Japan and the Pacific. Ponsonby-Fane, R., History of Kyoto. •S e e also the titles listed under “Additional Bibliography" on p. 3 4 1 . X

338

A Short History of Japan

Pooley, A. M., Japan at the Cross-roads. Redesdale, Lord, Tales of Old Japan. Satow, Sir E. M. (editor), Diary of John Saris. Steichen, M., The Christian Daimyos. Thompson, Sir E. M. (editor), Diary of Richard Cocks. Trewartha, G. K., Geography of Japan. Wisconsin, 1934. Tsurumi, Y., Present-day Japan. Tsurumi, Y., Contemporary Japan. Yamada, M., The Mongol Invasion of Japan. Young, A. M., Japan under Taisho Tenno, 79/2-/926. RELIGIO N AN D PHILOSOPHY Anesaki, M., History of Japanese Religion. Armstrong, R. C., Light from the East: History of Japanese Confucianism. Aston, W. G., Shinto. Cary, O., History of Christianity in Japan. Eliot, Sir C., Japanese Buddhism. Holtom, D. C., Shinto. Kato, G., Shinto. Steinilber-Oberlin, E., Sects of Japanese Buddhism. Suzuki, D., Zen Buddhism. Suzuki, D., The Zen MonkSuzuki, D., Zen Buddhism and its Influence on Japanese Culture. BIOGRAPHY Close, Upton, Eminent Asians. Dening, W., Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Falk, E. A., Togo and the Rise of Japanese Sea Power. Hamada, K., Life of Prince Ito Hirobumi. Kiyooka, E., Life of Fukuzawa Yukichi. Matsumoto, T., Fifty Japanese Heroes. Noma, S., Nine Magazines of the Kodansha. Omura, B., Japan’s Grand Old Man: Prince Saionji. Sadler, A. L., Life of To\ugawa leyasu. LA N G U A G E Aston, W. G., Grammar of the Japanese Written Language. Brinkley, F., Unabridged Japanese Dictionary. Chamberlain, B. H., Moji no Shirube: The Study of Japanese Writing. Doi, K., Basic Japanese. Isemonger, N., Introduction to Japanese Writing. Parlett, Sir H., and Hobart-Hampton, G., English Japanese Dictionary. Piggott, Lieut-Gen. F. S. G., Elements of Sosho.

Bibliography

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Rose-Innes, A., Japanese Conversation Grammar. Rose-Innes, A., Japanese Reading for Beginners. Rose-Innes, A., Dictionary of Chinese-Japanese Characters. Sansom, Sir G. B., Historical Grammar of the Japanese Language. Takenobu, Y., Ken\yusha Japanese English Dictionary. Vaccari, O., Japanese Conversation Grammar. Yamagiwa, Modern Conversational Japanese. TRAN SLATIO N S ,

"

Aston, W. G., Japanese Literature. Aston, W. G., The Nihongi. Chamberlain, B. H., The Kojiki. Chamberlain, B. H., The Classical Poetry of the Japanese. De Barry, W. T., Five Japanese Love Stories of Taihei\i. Dickens, F. V., Japanese Texts (The Manyoshu and Ta\etori Mono-

gatari). Dickens, F. V., The Chushingura or Loyal League. Doi, K., Diaries of Court Ladies (Sei Shonagon, Murasa\i Shi\ibu and

Sarashina Diaries).

J I, j I

,i

' *

Hall, J. C., “Feudal Laws of Japan” , Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxxiv (Hoj5 ); vol. xxxvi (Ashikaga); vols xxxviii and xli (Tokugawa). Inouye, J., The Chushingura (Drama of the Ako Ronin). Knox, G., “ Autobiography of Arai Hakuseki” , Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxiv. McCullough, H. C., The Taiheikj. Miyamori, A., Masterpieces of Chi\amatsu. Miyamori, A., Masterpieces of Japanese Poetry. Miyamori, A., An Anthology of Hai\u (short poems). Miyamori, A., An Anthology of Japanese Poems. Pierson, J. L., Manyosu. Porter, W. N., The Hundred Verses (Hya\unin Isshu). Porter, W. N., The Tosa Diary. Porter, W. N., The Miscellany of a Japanese Priest (Tsurezure Gusa). Sadler, A. L., Tales of the Hei\e. Sadler, A. L., Japanese Drama: No, Kyogen, Kabu\i. Sansom, Sir G. B., “ The Tsurezure Gusa” , Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxxix. Satchell, T., The Hiza\urige. Suzuki, B. L., No. Waley, A., The Tale of Genji. Waley, A., The Pillow Bool{ of Sei Shonagon. Waley, A., No.

34°

A Short History of Japan ART

Binyon, L., and Sexton, J., Japanese Colour Prints. Bowie, H. P., On the Laws of Japanese Painting. Brown, L. N., Book Illustration in Japan. Conder, L., Landscape Gardening in Japan. Conder, L., The Floral Art of Japan. Fenellosa, E. F., Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art. Ficke, A. D., Chats on Japanese Colour Prints. Fukukita, Cha-no-yu: The Tea Cult of Japan. Harada, J., Japanese Gardens. Harada, J., The Lesson of Japanese Architecture. Harada, J., A Glimpse of Japanese Ideals. Hillier, J., Japanese Masters of the Colour Print. Japan Times and Mail, “ Architectural Japan” , 1936. Joly, H. L., Legend in Japanese Art. Joly, H. L., and Inada, H., The Sword and Same. Koehn, A., The Way of Japanese Flower Arrangement. Piggott, F. G., Music and Musical Instruments of Japan. Sadler, A. L., Cha-no-yu. Sadler, A. L., The Art of Japanese Flower Arrangement. Sadler, A. L., A Short History of Japanese Architecture. Strange, E. F., Japanese Illustration. Taki, S., Japanese Fine Art. Tamura, T., Art of the Landscape Garden in Japan. Uemoto, R., and Ishizawa, Y., Classic Dances of Japan. Von Seidlitz, W., History of Japanese Colour Prints. ECONOMICS Allen, G. C., Modern Japan and its Problems (2nd series). Tsuchiya, T., and Singer, K., “Economic History of Japan” , Transt of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xv. Takekoshi, Y., Economic History of Japan. Utley, F., Japans Feet of Clay. M ISCELLANEOUS Bogue-Luffman, C., The Harvest of Japan. Chamberlain, B. H., Things Japanese. Inouye, J., Home Life in Tokyo. Imperial Government Railways, Official Guide to Japan. Kennedy, M. D., Military Life in Japan. Morse, S., Japanese Homes and their Surroundings. Morse, S., Japan Day by Day. Robertson-Scott, J. W., The Foundations of Japan. Von Wenckstern, F., Bibliography of the Japanese Empire.

Bibliography

341

AD D ITIO N AL BIBLIO GRAPHY Allen, G. C., Short Economic History of Modern Japan. Beasley, W. G., Great Britain and the Opening of Japan. Borton, H., Japan s Modern Century. Boxer, C. R., The Christian Century in Japan. Boxer, C. R., Jan Compagnie in Japan (1600-1850). Byas, H., Government by Assassination. Cohen, J. B., Japan’s Economy in War Reconstruction. Colbert, E. S., The Left Wing in Japanese Politics. Farley, M. S., Aspects of Japan’s Labour Troubles. Field, J. A., Japan at Leyte Gulf. Gibney, F., Five Gentlemen of Japan. Gunther, J., The Riddle of MacArthur. Hall, R. K., Education for a New Japan. Holloway, O. E., The Graphic Art of Japan. Holtom, D. C., Modern Japan and Shinto Nationalism. Ike, N., The Beginnings of Social Democracy in Japan. Jones, F. C., Japan’s New Order in Eastern Asia. Kase, T., Eclipse of the Rising Sun. Kato, G., A Bibliography of Shinto in Western Languages. Keene, D., An Anthology of Japanese Literature. Leach, B ., A Potter in Japan. Leach, B., A Potter’s BookMartin, E. M., Allied Occupation of Japan. Miner, Earl, Japanese Tradition in British and American Literature. Morrison, S. E., History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War 2. 14 vols. Munsterberg, H., The Arts of Japan. Paine, R., and Soper, A., The Art and Architecture of Japan. Reischauer, E. O., The United States and Japan. Russell, Lord, of Liverpool, The Knights of Bushido. Sansom, G. B., The Western World and Japan. Sansom, G. B., Japan in World History. Shigemitsu, Mamoru, Japan and Her Destiny. Suzuki, D. T., Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Vining, E. G., Windows for the Crown Prince. Yanaga, C., Japan Since Perry. Yanaga, C., Japanese People and Politics. Yoshida, T., The Japanese House.

IN D EX Abe family, 75, 327 Abe Masahiro, 240 Abe Muneto, 75 Abe Nobuyuki, General, 276-7, 282 Abe Sadato, 75 Abe Shigetsugu, 204 Abe-no-nakamaro, 53 Academy of Art, 271 Acha-no-tsubone, 181 Adams, Will, 174, 176-80, 186, 192-3 Administration, and the Taika reforms, 45-7; and the Daiho reforms, 48-51; in the Fujiwara Age, 72, 75, 79; in the Kamakura period, 97-100, 103-6, 121; under the Ashikaga Shoguns, 120-1, 123; Nobunaga’s, 147-8, 163, 175; Hideyoshi’s, 153-4, 163, 166-7, 168, 175, 186; Ieyasu’s, 172, 174-6, 182, 184; Hidetada’s, 190, 192, 194-6, 198; Tsunayoshi’s, 208-16, 218; Yoshimune’s, 220-3; hi the Tanuma period, 224-6; under the later Tokugawa Shoguns, 228-30, 232, 234-5; aI,d the Restoration of Meiji, 248; and the Constitution, 250-2; modern, 261-2, 265-6, 267-71, 273-4, 276-7. 294-7. See also Bakufu Agriculture, 30, 72, 105, 123, 163, 216, 222-3, 235, 264, 267 Ainu, viii-xi Aizawa, Lieutenant-Colonel, 267 Akahito, 58 Akechi Mitsuhide, 1 4 7 - 9 , 3 ° 7 Aki, the lady, 68 Aki-ho, Empress, 76 Ako Ronin. See Ronin, Vendetta of the Forty-seven Albuquerque, Alphonso, 140 Alva, Frederick, son of, 199 America, United States of, early contacts of Japan with, 222, 235; and the open­ ing of the ports, 239-43; and Korea, 252; and China, 254; and the Wash­ ington Conference, 259; and Japanese immigration, 261; and the China Incident, 272-3, 276, 282; the events leading up to Japan’s attack on, 275-6, 280-4; Japan at war with, 284-93; and the occupation of Japan, 294-7; security pact between Japan and, 297

Anahobe, Prince, 36-7 Anami, General, 291, 293-4 Ando, General, 312 Ando Tsushima-no-kami, 242 Andrada, 140 Anjiro, 144 Anko, Emperor, 30, 321 Ankokuji Elkei, 149, 171 Antoku, Emperor, 88-90, 93-5, 98, 322 Aoki, Mr, 276 Aoki Konyo, 222 Arai Hakuseki, 2x5-16; Reminiscences of, 217, 308 Araki Sadao, General Baron, 26m , 273, 295

Architecture, early, 22, 42; of the Heian period, 61-5, 73; of the Kamakura period, 110; under the Ashikaga Sho­ guns, 122-3, I2 7 > 1 3 5 ; under Nobunaga, 144, 148; under Hideyoshi, 159, 164; in the Tokugawa period, 174, 197-8, 212; modern, 260, 270 Arima Harunobu, 155, 178, 186 Arima Yoritsugu, Count, 273 Arisugawa, Prince, 249 Arita Hachiro, Mr, 277 Ariwara family, 87 Ariwara Narihira, 68-9, 73, 77 Armour, ix-x, n o , 112 Army, modern Japanese, formation and organization of the, 248-9, 251; its political importance, 261, 267-70, 272, 274, 276-7, 283-4, 289-93; in World War II, 285-94. See also Militarism Arts and artists, 33, 65, 148, 159, 332-4; in the Suiko period, 41-2; in the Nara period, 53-4; in the Fujiwara Age, 73 . 7 9 . 81; and Zen Buddhism in the Kamakura period, 109-10; under the Ashikaga Shoguns, 121-5; in Sakai, 134; under the earlier Tokugawa Shoguns, 196, 200-1, 212; in the Tanuma period, 228; under Ienari, 233-4; and the Academy of Art, 271 Asahi, the lady, 153 Asahi, Shogun. See Kiso Yoshinaka Asai Nagamasa, 136, 138, 142, 146, 150, 193

Asakura of Echizen, 136, 142, 146 Asama, eruption of Mount, 225

Index

344

Asano Nagamasa, 161, 180 Asano Takumi-no-kami, 214 Ashikaga Shoguns, 99, 116-30, 325; rise of the, 116-21; rule of the, 121-30, 138, 143, 147, 176 Ashikaga Tadayoshi, 127 Ashikaga Takauji, xiii, 116, 119-21, 127, 129

. 325

Ashikaga Yoshiaki, 138, 143, 154, 325 Ashikaga, Yoshihide, 138, 325 Ashikaga Yoshihisa, 128, 325 Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 122-5, 127-8, 325 Ashikaga Yoshimi, 128 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 122-3, I25, 129, 3?5

Ashikaga Yoshinori, 122, 325 Ashikaga Yoshiteru, 138, 325 Asuka, Empress, 53 Atsumori, 308 Austerity, attempts to enforce, 121, 176, 182, 184, 220-1, 226, 229 Australia, relations of Japan with, 259, 269-70, 279, 283-8 Avatamasaka sect, 55 Axis powers, Japan’s pact with the, 2801, 283. See also Germany and Italy Azuchi, castle of, 144, 147 Ba-en, 124 Bakufu, 98-100, 102-3, 257; founda­ tion of the, 172-204; development of the, 204-20; stress of the, 220-8; patch­ ing up of the, 228-35; last days of the, 239-45 "Banzai”, first use of, 33 Bartholomew of Omura, Don, 155 Bathing, significance of, in Japanese life, 5-6 Be. See Guilds Benkei, 93, 96, 308 Bennett, General Gordon, 285-6 Bidatsu, 36, 41, 42 Bifuku-monin, the lady, 85 Bin, 45, 47 Bismarck Sea, battle of the, 287-8 Biwa singers, 3, 86, 125 Bizen, Tales of an Old Man of, 304 “Black Dragon” Society, 272 Bodhidharma. See Daruma Bonshun, 188 Borneo, Japan attacks, 286 Boxer Rebellion, 254 Britain, early trade and contacts of, with Japan, 174, 178-80, 186, 192-3, ig8n; and the opening of the ports, 232, 23 5 > 240, 242-4, 246, 252; provides officers to train Japanese fleet, 248;

T

the alliance between Japan and, 254-5

2 5 7 . 259; relations of Japan with, over

the China Incident, 272-3, 275-6, 279. events leading up to war with, 281-4’ war between Japan and, 284-6, 288-93 Buddhism, 7, 61, 208-10; and Shinto xiii. 55 . I55n, 218, 226; its beginnings in Japan, 34-8, 41; the aesthetic influence of, 42, 54-5, 79-81, 109-10, 124; in the Nara period, 54-7; sects of’ 5 5 . 65-6, 107-9, 130. 158, 182, 197’ 203, 308; and the political power of the sects and monasteries, 66, 8r-2 89-90, 96, 102, 130, 142-3, 145, I4g] J 5 4 . 158. 182; under the Emperor Shirakawa, 79-82; and Christianity, t 4 4 -5 . r58; Hideyoshi’s attitude to', 163; and Bushido, 203, 308. See also Zen Buddhism Bummei, Wars of Onin and, t27-9 Bungo, early records of, 3 Bunya Yashuhide, 73 Burma, war in, 286, 288 Burma Road, 279, 281 Bushi and Bushido, 30, 78, 135, 203, 214-15. 272, 304-9 Byodo-in temple, 79-81

/

Calligraphy, xi, 42, 65, 66 Camera system, 79 Canada, relations of Japan with, 269 Canterbury, Archbishop of, 276 Canton, capture of, 273 Caron, Francis, 199 Cecil, Lord, 276 Censorship, 49, 67, 195, 251, 261, 295 Chang Hsueh Liang, 263 Chang-tso-lin, 263 Cha-no-yu. See Tea Ceremony Charles II, 215 Chaya family, 186 Chiang Kai-shek, 263, 275, 277, 281-2 Chijiwa Seizaemon, 156 Chikamatsu Monzaemon, 212 Chikuami, 146 China, cultural influence of, on Japan, ix-xi, 5, 29, 33-6, 41-2, 53-4, 59-&>> 112, 122-5, 134. 201, 218, 220, 220, 296; early political relations of Japan with, 41-2, 47, 122; influence of, on Japanese administration, 45; and Kublai’s attack on Japan, 106-7; Japanese trade with, 133, 141, 178, 216, 222; Hideyoshi’s war against, 158, 160-3. 167-8; hostility of, towards Japan in the nineteenth century, 249, 252-4; Japan’s Twenty-one Demands ° ‘>

i 1

*

Index 258- 9; and the Nine Power Pact, 259- 60; and Japan in Manchuria, 263-4, 266-7; Japan at war (1937-45) with, 272-84, 291-2, 297; Japan's present relations with, 297 Chinda, Viscount, 259 Chobunsai Eishi, 228 Chokunin officials, 302 Choshu clan, 242-3, 246, 248, 261 Chosokabe, 135, 153 Christianity, in China, 61; introduction of, into Japan, 144-6; and Buddhism, 144-5, J58; under Hideyoshi, 154-8, 163-4; under Ieyasu, 174, 176-8; Hidetada’s persecution of, 192-3, 198; Iemitsu’s persecution and suppression of, 198-200. See also Jesuits Chuai, Emperor, 28, 321 Chukyo, Emperor, 103, 322 Chusonji temple, 81 Clan chiefs, domination of the, 34-8 Clove, 178, 181 Cocks, Richard, 179, 186, 188, 192, ig8n Coello, Father, 158 Coinage, 52, 57, 213, 222, 234, 248, 250 Colonization, Japanese, in the seventeenth century, 186-7 Colour-print artists, 228, 229 Columbus, Christopher, 140 Communism, in Japan, 266, 270, 281, 282, 295, 297 Confucianism, 29, 41, 43, 53 “4 . 155 n> 188, 215, 226; and education, 55, 134, 212, 220; revival of, under Ieyasu, 201-3; ancl Bushido, 203, 308; under Yoshimune, 221 Conscription. See under Militarism Constitution of Japan, 250-1, 270. See also Administration Coral Sea, battle of the, 287 Cortes, Hernando, 140 Court, the Imperial, 34, 46-7. 5 1. 87, 96, 298, 301-2; in the Heian period, 59-65; under the Emperor Daigo, 70-2; described in the Genji Monogatari, 76-7; and the Retired Em­ peror’s Court, 86, 88; and Kiyomori, 88-90; in the Kamakura period, 97-9, 107; the Northern, and the Southern, 119-21; in the Muromachi period, 123, 128-30; and Hideyoshi, 159; in the Tokugawa period, 174. I ®2> * 9 °, 193, 197 . 20 4 > 2 I 5 > 23 °> 2 3 4 ! in the nineteenth century, 241-2, 243-4, 248. See also Emperor, status of the Crafts, ix-x, 42, 110-12, 134, 141, 167; Y

J

345

in the Tokugawa period, 186, 197, 212, 228; and modern industry, 258, 265 Dai Nihon Shi, 218 Dai Nippon, use of the name, 316 Daianji, building of the, 54 Daigo, Emperor, 70-2, 74, 321 Daiho, Laws of, 48-51, 72 Daikakuji, I29n Daikan, office of, 195 Daimyos. See Feudal lords Dajodaijin, office of, 49 Dajo-Kwan, 49 Dan Takuma, Baron, 265 Danjo-dai. See Censorship Dan-no-ura, battle of, 95-6 Daruma, 34, 109, 126 Date Masamune, 137, 148, 159-60, 1778; his support of the Shogunate, 169, 171, 175. 177. 194; his embassy to the Pope, 177-8, 1980 Davis, John, 187 Dengaku, 113, 125 Deities, Age of the, 3-17 De Liefde, 174, 176, 179 Dengyo Daishi, 65, 127 Denso officials, 197 Diet, powers and organization of the, 250-1, 261, 270, 294, 296-8; building, 270 Dogen, 109 Dogs, their importance under Tsunayoshi, 209-11 Doi Toshikatsu, 187, 190, 194, ig8n Doihara, General, 295 Doji, 54 Dokyo, xiii, 56-7 Doshin, 195 Drake, Sir Francis, 157-8, 167, 174 Drama, the No, 86, 113, 122, 125-6, 164, 212, 217; the Dengaku, 113, 125; the Kyogen, 126; the Kabuki, 201 “Dutch school” , 188, 228 East India Company, 178-9, 186 Edo, culture and importance of, 81, 196-7, 212, 234; Ieyasu’s reconstruc­ tion of, 174-5; great fires °£. 206-7, 212, 225, 260; proclamation of, as capital under the name of Tokyo, 248; Castle, plan of, 256 Education, 50, 66, 242, 248, 271, 295-6; and Confucianism, 55, 134, 212, 21820 Egawa Tarozaemon, 241 Eifu, 49

346

A Short History of Japan

Eigwa Monogatari, 75 Eimon, 49 Eisai, 109 Eisenhower, Dwight D., 298 Ejima, incident of the lady, 217 Electricity, 1936 scheme for, 270 Emishi, viii, 27, 57 Emma, Unkei’s statue of, n o Emperor, status of the, xii-xiii, 21-2, 316-17; and the rules of succession, 48, 113; and the seizure of power by the Regents, 67-9, 74; when retired, 79; in the Kamakura period, 97, 99100, 101-3, 105-6; Go-Daigo’s efforts to improve the, 113-16, 119-20; under the Ashikaga Shoguns, 121, 128-30; improvement of the, under Nobunaga, 140, 147; and the earlier Tokugawa Shoguns, 190, 197, 203-4, 215; and the growth of Imperialist sentiment, 203, 218, 226, 228, 230, 234; restored, 244-8; as set forth in the Constitution, 251-2; modern conception of the, 267, 297; and the Allied occupation, 294; and his titles, 301, 303. See also Court, the Imperial Emperor, the present, 260, 263, 28r, 284, 287, 289, 291-4, 297-8, 322 Endo Morito. See Mongaku Shonin Engi era, 71-2 Etchu Zenji Moritoshi, 94 Europe, early contacts of Japan with, 112, 140-1, 144-5, 148, 155-8, 17780, 198-200, 221. See also under

individual European countries

Family crests, I3gn Fenellosa, E. F., n o , 124 Feng Yu Hsiang, 263 Ferrcyra, 198 Feudal lords, rise of the, 72, 74-5, 103; struggle of the, 128-9, 133-9; under Nobunaga, 141, 147-8; under the Tokugawa Shoguns, 174-5, 182, 190, 192, 196, 198, 210-11, 221-2, 225-6, 233; and the opening of the ports, 240, 243-4; and the restoration of Meiji, 246, 248 Firearms, introduction of and importance of, in Japan, 112, 140-1, 176, 179 Firuz, 59 Foreign policy, Nobunaga’s, 144-5, 155; Hideyoshi’s, 155, 158, 160, 164; Ieyasu’s, 174, 176-9, 186-8; Iemitsu’s, 198-200; in the Tanuma period, 228; in the early nineteenth century, 232, 235; and the opening of the ports, 23944; in the Era of Meiji, 246, 249, 252-

7; since 1912, 258-61, 263-4, 267-93, 297. See also under individual coun­

tries. Formosa, Japanese expedition to, 249; ceded to Japan, 253; Japan renounces claim to, 297 France, relations of Japan with, 242, 253-4, 275, 28o, 282, 284, 292 Franciscans, 163-4, 177 Francisco of Bungo, Don. See Otomo Sorin Froez, Father Aloysius, 145 Fudai, 192 Eudokj, 3 Fujiwara family, power of the, 49, 53, 5 9 , 67-70, 74-6; and Buddhism, 54, 81, 107, 124; luxury and elegance of the, 57, 73, 75'6, 87; decline of the, 79, 85-6; later importance of the, 106, 154

Fujiwara Asomaro, 56 Fujiwara Fuhito, 49, 53-4 Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, 49, 68 Fujiwara Ginjiro, 277 Fujiwara Hidehira, 78, 81, 93, 96 Fujiwara Hidesato, 72, 78 Fujiwara Kamatari, 43, 45, 47, 56 Fujiwara Kiyohira, 78, 81 Fujiwara Kusu, 66 Fujiwara Michinaga, 74-5, 79 Fujiwara Motohira, 78, 81 Fujiwara Motomichi, 90 Fujiwara Mototsune, 69-70, 79 Fujiwara Nakanari, 66 Fujiwara Nobuyori, 86 Fujiwara-no-Nakamaro, 56 Fujiwara Seigwa, 134, 201 Fujiwara Shinzei, 86 Fujiwara Sunitomo, 72 Fujiwara Tadahira, 49 Fujiwara Tadakiyo, 93 Fujiwara Tadamichi, 85 Fujiwara Taka, 69 Fujiwara Takaie, 77 Fujiwara Tanetsugu, 59 Fujiwara Tokihira, 70-1, n o Fujiwara Yasuhira, 78, 81, 96-7 Fujiwara Yorimichi, 75 Fujiwara Yorinaga, 85 Fujiwara Yoshifusa, 68-9 Fujiwara Yukinari, 66, 76 Fukuhara, moving of the capital to, 89 Fukakusa Shosho, 73 Fukushima Masanori, 180 Gakushuin, 2420 Gakushujo, establishment of the, 242

Index Guilds, 3, 21, 29, 46, 235 Gyogi Bosatsu, 55

347

Gakushukan, foundation of the, 220 Gamo Kumpei, 230 Gayuk, io6n Gei-ami, 125 Hachiman, 30, 56, 75, 93 Gekkoin, the lady, 217 Hachisuka Koroku, 146 Haga, Dr, xii Gembo, 54 Haiyang Island, naval battle of, 253 Gemmyo, Empress, 3, 52-3, 321 Hakko Ichiu, 279, 281-2 Gempei Seisuki, 86 Hakluyt, 157 Gempei wars, 91-6, 128, 306 Hakodate, great fire of, 277 Genghis Khan, 96, io6n Hakozaki, Gulf, battle of, 106-7 Genji. See Minamoto family Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari, 73 Genji, Prince, 76-7 Han dynasty, 26, 57 Genji Monogatari, 76-7, 86, 218, 226 Hanabusa Icho, 212 Genku, 107 Hangchow, cultural importance of, 123-4 Genro, 260, 271, 281 Hankflmpu, 215 Gensho, Empress, 53, 321 Hannin officials, 302 Geography of Japan, vii-viii Hara, Don Martin, 156 Germany, 250; unfriendly relations of, Hara, siege of, 199 with Japan, 253-4, 258-9; pacts and Harima, early records of, 3 alliance between Japan and, 270, 274, Harris, Townsend, 241 276, 280, 283-4, 286-7, 289, 291-2 Hasekura Rokuemon, 177 Ginkakuji, building of the, 123 Hashiba Hideyoshi. See Toyotomi HideGiso officials, 197 yoshi Go-Daigo, Emperor, 113, 119-20, 322 Hashimoto, Colonel, 275 Godo, Admiral, 276 Hata, General, 276-7, 295 Go-Fukakusa, Emperor, 106, 113 , I2gn Hatakeyama family, 127-8 Go-Hanazono, Emperor, 123, 322 Hatamoto, 192, 213, 223, 234 Gojiin, building of the, 209 Hatoyama Ichiro, Mr, 298, 331 Go-Kameyama, Emperor, 121, 322 Hatta, Mr, 274 Go-Kashiwabara, Emperor, 129, 322 Hayashi family, 201-3, 212, 218, 221 Gokokuji, building of the, 209 Hayashi Doshun, 134, 188 Go-Komatsu, Emperor, 12 1, 322 Hayashi Razan, 201 Go-Komyo, Emperor, 203-4, 322 Hayashi Senjuro, General, 271, 330 Golownin, Captain, 232 Hayashi Shihei, 230 Go-Mizu-no-o, Emperor, 190, 197, 203-4, Hayato, ix, 21; palace guards, 17 322 Heian, period, 59-67, 79; capital, 60-5 Go-Murukani, Emperor, 120, 322 Heiji period, 86-7 Go-Nara, Emperor, 129-30, 322 Heijo, Emperor, 66, 68, 321 Go-Reizei, Emperor, 79, 322 Heike. See Taira family Go-Saiin, Emperor, 204, 322 Heike Biwa, 86, 125 Go-Sanjo, Emperor, 79, 322 Heike Monogatari, 86 Goshi, 135 Henry the Navigator, Prince, 140 Go-Shirakawa, Emperor, 85-7, 88-90, 92Hida-no-takumi, 73 5 . 9 8 , 3 1 9 , 3 22 Hieizan, monastery of, 65, 108, 197; Go-Toba, Emperor, 94-5, 98, 101-3, 113, its military and political importance, 322 74, 90, 93, 113, 130, 142; its feud Goto Shojiro, 244, 246 with Miidera, 81-2, 90; its destruction Go-Tsuchi-Mikado, Emperor, 129, 322 by Nobunaga, 142-3, 147-8 Go-Yozei, Emperor, 1550, 166, 190, 201, Higashi Kuni, Prince, 293, 298, 331 204, 322 Higashiyama. See Ashikaga Yoshimasa Greece, parallels between the mythologies Higekiri, 74 of Japan and, 7 High Taste of Forest and Mountain, 124 Gregorian calendar, adoption of the, in Hiki Yoshikazu, 100 Japan, 248 Hinayana school of Buddhism, 55 Gregory XIII, Pope, 156-7 Hirade Masahide, 141-2 Grew, Joseph, 276 Hiraga Tomomasa, 101 Guadalcanal, in World War II, 287

A Short History of Japan

348

Hiraizumi, the city of, 81 Hiranuma Kiichiro, Baron, 274, 276, 295, 330

Hirata Atsutane, 226 Hiroshige, 233 Hiroshima, bombing of, 292 Hirota Koki, Mr, 269, 273, 295, 330 Hishikawa Moronobn, 212 Hitachi, ancient records of, 3 Hitler, Adolf, 283 Hitomaru, 58 Hitotsubashi family, 223 Hitotsubashi Harunari, 228, 230 Hitotsubashi Munetada, 223 Hiyeda-no-are, 3 Hizakurige, 233 Hizamaru, 74 Hizen, early records of, 3; clan, 246, 248 Hogen, the Affair of, 85-6 Hojo family, rise of the, 97-101; rule of the, as Regents, 101-12, 121, 123, 320, 325; decline of the, 113-16, 119 Hojo family, the second, 129, 133, 137, 148, 159, 168 Hojo Sadatoki, 113, 325 Hojo Soun, 305, 309 Hojo Takatoki, 113, 116, 119, 325 Hojo Tokifusa, 103 Hojo Tokimasa, 91-2, 97-8, 100-1, 320,

325

Hojo Hojo Hojo Hojo Hojo Hojo Hojo

Tokimune, 106-7, 108, H 3 > 325 Tokiyori, 106, 108, 325 Tokiyuki, 119 Ujimasa, 148, 153, 1 5 9 Ujinao, 153 Yasutoki, 102, 104, 325 Yoshitoki, 101, 102, 104, 325

H o jo ji, b u ild in g o f th e, 7 4

Hojoki,

9 1 . 10 9

Hokoji, building of the, 38 Hokusai, 233 Holland, early trade and contacts of, with Japan, 157-8, 174, i 7 6 -9 > 187-8, 193; as the only European nation trad­ ing with Japan, 198-200, 216, 221; later relations of, with Japan, 235, 240, 243; and the Dutch East Indies, 283, 286-7 Honami Koetsu, 200, 228 Honda Kumataro, 275 Honda Masanobu, 172, 1 7 4 - 5 Honda Masazumi, 172, 175, 190, 216 Honda Sakuza, 153-4 Honda Tadakatsu, 168 Honen Shonin, 107 Hong Kong, 273, 276, 279, 284-5 Hongwanji monks, power of the, in the

Muromachi period, 130; in the Oda period, 142-3, 145, 148; in the Toyotomi period, 154 Honjo family, 209 Horikawa, Emperor, 76, 81, 85, 322 Horyuji college monastery, 42 Hoshina Masayuki, 193-4, 204, 207 Hosho family, 126 Hosokawa family, 127-8, 186 Hosokawa Katsumoto, 128 Hosokawa Shigeyuki, 225-6 Hosokawa Tadaoki, 168, 175 Hosso sect, 55 Hotta, Lord of Sakura, 240-1 Hotta Masamori, 204 Hotta Masatoshi, 211-12 Hsi Kuei, 124 Huan Tsung, Emperor, of China, 124 Hui Tsung, Emperor, of China, 124 Hyojosho, 196 Hyojoshu, 104 Ibara Saikaku, 212 Ibi Masayoshi, I98n Ichijo, Emperor, 71, 76, 321 Ichijo family, 106, 135 Ii Kamon-no-kami. See Ii Naosuke Ii Naomasa, 168, 171 Ii Naosuke, 240-2, 269 Ii Naotaka, 194, 204 Ikeda family, 298, 329 Ikeda Chikugo-no-kami, 243 Ikeda Hayato, 298, 331 Ikeda Mitsumasa, 203, 218-20 Ikeda Nobuteru, 150, 180 Ikeda, Seihin, Mr, 273 Ikeda Terumoto, 151 Iki, battle of, 106 Ikko sect. See Monto sect Ikuhi, 25 Ikutama-hime, 25 Imagawa family, 129, 136 Imagawa Ryoshun, Maxims of, 305 Imagawa Ujizane, 143 Imagawa Yoshimoto, 137-8, 143, 146 Imibe, 34 Imperial Academy, 271 Imperial Rule Support Society, 278, 280 Imperialism, xii, 228, 235, 241-4; and the Mito school, 218, 226. See also Emperor, status of the Inaba Masatoshi, 208 Inaba Masayasu, 211 Inaka Genji, 234 Inari, 71 India, Japanese threat to, 286

In d ex

'

Indo-China, early Japanese settlement in, 186; Japanese demands on French, 280, 282; Japan attacks, 286 Industry, development of, in Japan, 258, 264-5, 298. See also Trade Inoue Chikugo, 198 Inoue Junnosuke, 265 Inoue Kaoru, 243, 248 Inukai Ki, Mr, 265, 330 Ise Monogatari, 73 Ise Saburo, 93 Ise Shinkuro, 133 Ishibashiyama, battle of, 92-3 Ishida Mitsunari, 163, 165, 168-9 Ishiwata, Mr, 274 Ishiyama monastery, 130 Isuzuyori, Princess, 22 Itagaki Taisuke, 249-50, 261 Itagaki Seishiro, General, 273 Itakura Shigamasa, 199 Italy, visit of Japanese to, 155-7; and China, 254; relations of Japan with, 270, 280-1, 283 Ito Hirobumi, Prince, 243, 248, 250, 253. 257, 260, 330 Ito Jakuchu, 228 Ito Sukechika, 91 Ito Yoshikata, 156 Itsukushima, 6, 90 Itsuse, 17, 22 Iwakura Tomomori, 248 Iwo Island, in World War II, 289 Izumi Shikibu, 76 Izumo, early records of, 3 Izumo, shrine of, 22

349

Jito, office of, 97, 103, 105-6 Jodo sect, 107, 203 Jodo-Shinsu sect, 107-8 Joei Code, 104-6, 121 Jojitsu sect, 55

]okan Seiyo, I 0 5 n Jomei, Emperor, 42-3, 321

I

Joostens, Jan, 174, 186 Josetsu, 125 Josui. See Kuroda Yoshitaka Junna, Emperor, 66-8, 321 Junnin, Emperor, 56, 321 Junshi, 2o8n, 306 Juntoku, Emperor, 103, 322 Juraku Mansion, 159, 164

|

Kabane, 21; period of the Uji and, 21-38 Kabuki. See under Drama Kada Azumamaro, 226 Kaempfer, Englebert, 187-8 ICagawa Toyohiko, 203 Kagoshima, bombardment of, 242 Kairakuen, establishment of the, 242 Kajiwara Kagesue, 95 Kajiwara Kagetoki, 92, 100 Kakei, 124 Kakki, 124 Kamako-muraji, 36 Kamakura, period, 97-106, 138, 305; Buddha of, n o ; destruction of, 116; its place taken by Odawara, 133 Kamatari. See Fujiwara Kamatari Kameyama, Emperor, 106, 113, I2 g n , 322 Kamiya Sotan, 160 Kamo Chomei, 91, 109 Kamo Mabuchi, 226 Kamon, 192 Kampaku, office of, 69 Kampaku-ryo, 130 Kana syllabary, xi, 5, 57, 65, 296 Kanazawa, battle of, 78 Kaneiji temple, building of the, 197 Kang Te, Emperor, of Manchukuo, 263-4 Kangakuin, 50 Kanin family, 230 Kano family, 200-1 Kano Doan, 212, 333 Kano Eisen, 228, 333 Kano Eitoku, 200 Kano Naonobu, 200 Kano Sanraku, 200, 334 Kano Tannyu, 200, 333 Kano Tsunenobu, 212, 333 Kanshin, 54, 56 Kao Tsu, Emperor, of China, 59 Karu, Prince. See Kotoku, Emperor Karu, Prince. See Mommu, Emperor

■

1 ■ j I

I

James I, 178

Upanese Illustration, 265

Japanese language, x-xi, 5, 65. See also Literature Japanese people, ethnology of the, vii-xiii, 6; national characteristics of the, xiixiii, 5-6, 107, 261, 264-5, 297, 308; domestic life of the, 135, 212, 313-15 Java, Japan’s attack on, 286 Jesuits, arrival of the, in Japan, 144-5; power and influence of the, 155-8, 174; persecution and expulsion of the, 158, 164, 177-8, 198 Jimmu, Emperor, 17, 22, 257n, 316-17, 319 , 321 Junyoin, 129 Jingi-kwan, establishment of the, 49 Jingo, Empress, 28-9, 319, 321 Jippensha Ikku, 258 Jishoji, building of the, 123 Jishukan, foundation of the, 220 lito, Empress, 3, 48, 58, 321

35°

A Short History of Japan

Kashii, Lieutenant-General, 296 Kasuga, the lady, 193, 204-5, 209 Kasuga Nobuzane, n o Kasuga school, 73 Katagiri, 180 Katagiri Sekishu, 201 Katari-be, 3 Kato Kiyomasa, 161, 163, 168, 171, 180, 305

Kato Shirozaemon, 112 Kato Tomosaburo, Admiral, 259, 330 Katsura-hime, the lady, 93 Kawamura Zuiken, 207 Kawa-nakakshima, 142 Kazuko, the lady, 190 Kebiishi, origin of the, 66-7 Kegon sect, 55 Keichu Ajari, 218 Keiko, Emperor, 27, 319, 321 Keion, n o Keishoin, the lady, 209, 215 Kellogg Pact, 260 Kemmu Shikimoku, 121 Kennyo, 145, 154 Kenreimon-in, Empress, 88, 95-6 Kenso, Emperor, 32-3, 321 Kesa, the lady, 92 Ki family, 87 Kiao Chou, taken by Germany, 253; taken by Japan, 258 Kibi-no-mabi, 53 Kido Koin. See Kido Takayoshi ICido, Marquis, 274, 277, 287, 289-90, 295 Kido Takayoshi, 244, 248, 279 Kigensetsu, 17, 257n Kii, House of, 194, 220 Kiichi Hogan, 93 Kikkawa, 146, 169 Kikuchi Takemasa, 305 Kikutei Akisue, 154 Kim Ok Kum, 252 Kimmei, Emperor, 35-6, 321 Kimura, General, 295 Kin Tartars, 124 Kinkakuji, building of the, 122 Ki-no-tsurayuki, 73 Kira Kozuke-no-suke, 214 Kisen Hoshi, 73 Kishi Nobusuke, 283, 295, 298, 331 Kiso Yoshinaka, 93-4, 3o8n, 319 Kita family, 126 Kitabatake Akiie, 119, 203 Kitabatake Chikafusa, 121 Kitagawa Utamaro, 228 Kitano, great tea-party of, 159 Kitao Masanobu, 229 Kitao Shigemasa, 228

Kiyowara family, 78, 87 ICobayakawa Takakage, 146, 162, 169 Kobe, air raids on, 290 Kobetsu, 21 Kobo Daishi, 65-6, 108, 127 Kobori Enshu, 201 Kobun, Emperor, 48, 321 Kodo, 273, 277 Kodokan, foundation of the, 220, 242 Koeckebacker, 199 Kofukuji temple, 54, 74 Kogyoku, Empress, 42-3, 47, 321 Koiso Kuniaki, General, 289-90, 295, 331 Kojiki, 3, 5, 7-8, 53, 226 Kojokan, foundation of the, 220 Kokaku, Emperor, 230, 322 Koken, Empress, 54, 56, 321 Koken, office of, 194 Kokinshu, 73 Koko, Emperor, 69, 321 Kokobunji, 55 Komaki, campaign of, 151-3 Komei, Emperor, 241, 244, 322 Komparu family, 126 Komura Jutaro, Count, 256 Komyo, Emperor, 119 Komyo, Empress, 54-6 Kongo family, 126 Konin era, 49 Konishi Yukinaga, 161, 169, 171 Konjikido, 81 Konoe, Emperor, 85, 322 Konoe family, 106, 190, 201 Konoe Atsumaro, Prince, 271 Konoe Fumimaro, Prince, 271, 273-4, 277-9, 287, 289-90, 294, 330, 331 Konoe Ozan, 190, 201 Konoike, banking house of, 207 Ko-no-Moronao, 119-20 Korea, early relations of Japan with, viii, 26, 28-30, 32, 33, 43-4; cultural influence of, on Japan, 34, 36, 42, 167; Chinese invasion of, 41; Japanese defeat in, 47; and Kublai’s attack on Japan, 106; trade with, 133; Hideyoshi’s war against, 158, 160-3, 167-8; and the Tokugawa Shoguns, 2i6n; relations of Japan with, in the Meiji Era, 249, 252-7; annexation of, by Japan, 256-7, 277n; war (1950) in, 296; Japan renounces claim to, 297 Korehito, Prince, 68 Koretaka, Prince, 68 Kose Kanaoka, 73 Kotoku, Emperor, 43, 45, 47, 321 Kuang Hsu, Emperor, of China, 254 Kublai, 106-8

Index Kudara, relations of Japan with, 26, 33, 3 5 . 47 Kuga family, 87 Kujo family, 106 Kukai. See Kobo Daishi cd-C /e& ,2.7 Kuki, 161 Kumagai, 308 Kumaso, ix; wars with the, 27-8 Kuma-washi, 29 Kumazawa Banzan, 203, 220 Kunisada, 233 Kuniyoshi, 233 Kuo Hsi, 124 Kuomintang, 263, 274 Kurando, origin of the, 66 Kurile Islands, clash between Russia and H Japan in, 232; Japan renounces claim to, 297 Kuroda Josui, 146, 163, 168, 17T, 307 Kuroda Nagamasa, 171, 198

35i

Fujiwara age, 71, 73, 75-7; and the rise of the Taira, 86-7; in the Muromachi period, 125-6, 130; in the Tokugawa period, 182, 212, 217-18, 226, 233-4; and Bushido, 304-5. See also Drama Liu Jen Kuei, 47 London Naval Treaty, 267-8 Luchu, annexation of, 177-8 Luzon, in World War II, 289 Lytton, Lord, 266

Ma Yuan, 124 MacArthur, General Douglas, 286, 293-4, 297 Madre de Dios, 178 Maeda Toshiie, 166-8 Maeda of Kaga, 171, 175 Magome Kageyu, 174 Mahayana school of Buddhism, 55 Kuroda Yoshitaka. See Kuroda Josui Makino, 2c 9 n Kuromaro, 45, 47 Makino, Baron, 259 Kurusu, Mr, 284 Makino, Count, 268 Kusha sect, 55 Makura no Soshi, 76 Kusu, the lady, 66 Madura Zoshi, 86 Kusunoki Masashige, 113, 119, 218 Malaya, Japan’s attack on, 284-6 Kusunoki Masatsura, 119-20 Manabe Norifusa, 216-17, 221 1 Kwammu, Emperor, 59, 66, 72, 89, 321 Manchukuo, 263-4, 266, 2 7 4 , 279 Kwan Chou, taken by France, 254 Manchuria, and the Russo-Japanese War, , Kwanryo, office of, 121, 127 254-6; annexation of, by Japan, 263-4, Kwanze family, 126 266, 272; in World War II, 292. See Kyogen. See under Drama also Manchukuo Kyogoku, “Maria” , 150 Mancio, Don, 156 Kyoku-sui-en, 57 Mandated territories, Japan’s, 259 Kyoto, foundation of, 59-65; aesthetic Mangu, io6n 1 and luxurious atmosphere of, 87, 97, Manila, in World War II, 289 121, 174, 196; Kiyomori’s attempt to Mantra Buddhism, 65. See also Shingon move the capital from, 89; and Kama­ sect kura, division of authority between, Manyoshu, 57-8, 218, 226 97, 121; capture of, 116; destruction Marubashi Chuya, 206 of, 128; burning of, 229 Maruyama Okyo, 228 Kyujo, 248 Masa, the lady, 91-2, 100-5 Kyushu. See Hayato Masako, 98, 100, 102, 104 Masuda, armourer, house of, n o Land laws, 46, 50, 79, 105, 163 Masuda, and the siege of Hara, 199 ' Landscape, gardening, 42, 73, 159; paint­ Matsudaira family, 136-9, 327-8 ing, 109, 124-5, 233 Matsudaira Fumai, 226 Latham, Sir John, 279 Matsudaira Hidetada. See Tokugawa League of Nations, 264, 2 66 Hidetada Legislation. See Administration Matsudaira Hideyasu. See Tokugawa Leyte, captured, 289 Hideyasu Leyte Gulf, battle of, 288 Matsudaira Ieyasu. See Tokugawa Li Hung Chang, 253 Ieyasu Li Lung Mien, 124 Matsudaira Katamori, 243-4 Li Po, 53 Matsudaira Motoyasu. See Tokugawa Li Yuan, 59 t Literature, and the early records, 3-5; Ieyasu Matsudaira Nobutsuna, 194, 199, 204 in the Nara period, 57-8; in the

i I

I (

352

A Short History of Japan

Matsudaira Norimura, 223-4 Matsudaira Sadanobu, 184, 226, 232; his financial reforms, 228-30, 234-5 Matsudaira Shungaku, 244 Matsudaira Tadaaki, 194 Matsudaira Tadanao. See Tokugawa Tadanao Matsudaira Tadateru. See Tokugawa Tadateru Matsui, General, 295 Matsukata Masayoshi, Prince, 260, 330 Matsukura of Shimabara, 199 Matsumae of Hokkaido, 232 Matsunaga Hisahide, 136, 138, 163, 307 Matsuo Basho, 212 Matsuoka, Mr, 279-83, 294-5 Matsushita, 146 Matsuura family, 137, 145, 155 Matsuura Shigenobu, 176, 179, 186 Maurice of Nassau, 176 Meiji, Restoration of, xiii, 47, 120, I39n, 244-6, 295; Era of, 246-57, 26on Meiji, Emperor, 244, 246-8, 26on, 269, 298, 322; constitution of, 250-2, 296; death of, 257, 306 Meireki, Great Fire of, 206-7 Meirindo, foundation of the, 220 Meirinkan, foundation of the, 220 Mendez Pinto, 141 Metsuke, duties of the, 195, 261 Michiyasu, Prince. See Montoku, Emperor Midway Island, in World War II, 284, 287 Miidera, monastery of, 74; its feud with Hieizan, 81-2, 90; Kiyomori’s attack on the, 90 Mikado, use of the title of, 301 Mikawa warriors, 168 Militarism, xii, 7, 87; and conscription, 48, 4 9 "5 °> 248; and the rise of the military class, 57, 67, 75; and the struggle of the feudal lords, 128-9, 134-5; Ieyasu’s control of, 182; and the impoverishment of the military class, 213, 234; and the new Imperial Army, 248-9; dominant influence of, before and during World War II, 2612, 272, 284, 287, 289, 291-3, 295; and the 1936 revolt, 268-9. See also Army, Foreign Policy and Bushi and Bushido Military families, 329; laws of the, 182 Minami, General, 295 Minamoto family, 30, 68, 73-4, 80, 103, 105, 144, 154; its feud with the Taira, 75, 85-7, 90, 91-6, 306; rule of the Shoguns of the, 97-101, 325 Minamoto Gien, 87

Minamoto Ichiman, 100 Minamoto Kugyo, 101 Minamoto Mitsunaka, 74 Minamoto Noriyori, 87, 94-5, 98 Minamoto Sanetomo, 100-2, 319, 325 Minamoto Tametomo, 85-6 Minamoto Tameyoshi, 85-6 Minamoto Tsunemoto, 74 Minamoto Yoriie, 100-1, 319, 325 Minamoto Yorimasa, 90 Minamoto Yorimitsu, 74 Minamoto Yorinobu, 74 Minamoto Yoritomo, 81, 87, 89, 106, 120, 135, 325; his rise to power, 91-6, 319-20; his administration, 97-100, 176; his death, 98, 103; destruction of the house of, 100-1 Minamoto Yoriyoshi, 75 Minamoto Yoshiie, 75, 78, 85, 116, 136, Minamoto Yoshimitsu, 78 Minamoto Yoshisue, 138 Minamoto Yoshitomo, 85-6, 87, 91 Minamoto Yoshitsune, 87, 93-6, 98, n o , I39n, 306, 308 Minamoto Yukiie, 94, 98 Ming dynasty, 122, 123, 127 Ming Ti, Emperor, of China, 34 Minobe, Professor Dr, 267 Missouri, U.S.A., 293 Mitsui, house of, 207, 225n Mitsui Hachirobei, 207 Mitsukuni of Mito. See Tokugawa Mitsukuni Mitsunaga, n o Mito, house of, 194, 217-18, 220, 241; school of loyalism, 218, 226 Miwa, shrine of, 25-6 Miyajima, shrine of. See Itsukushima Miyoshi Chokei, 138 Miyoshi Kyotsura, 71 Miyoshi Yasunobu, 97-8, 102, 104 Mizuno Tadakuni, 184, 235 Mogami, 169 Mokkei, 124 Mommu, Emperor, 48, 321 Momoyama, period, 164, 207, 308; castle of Fushimi, 164 Momozono, Emperor, 226, 322 Monchujo, foundation of the, 98 Money. See Coinage Mongaku Shonin, 92, 103, 113 Mongols, invasion of Japan by the, 106-7 Mononobe, 34, 36-8 Mononobe-no-Moriya, 36-8 Mononobe-no-Okoshi, 36 Monto sect, 130, 148, 154, 158 Montoku, Emperor, 68, 321 Mori Motonari, 6, 135-7, 145, 3 °9

Index Mori Nagayoshi, 151 Mori Terumoto, 143, 146-7, 149, 167, 169-71 Mori, house of Choshu, 242 Morinaga, Prince, 11911 Motoori Norinaga, 226 Muh-ki, 124 Mukai Shogen, 177 Mukden, battle of, 255 Munechika, n o Muramasa, n o Murasaki Shikibu, 76 Murdoch, J., 206 Muretsu, Emperor, 33, 321 Muromachi period, 121-39 Muto, General, 295 Myochin, armourer, house of, n o Myosho, Empress, 197, 322 Mythology, viii, 4-17, 125, 316-17 Nabeshima, 186 Nagai Ryutaro, Mr, 273 Nagano, Admiral, 268 Nagasaki, the Christian settlement at, 155; bombing of, 292 Nagasune, Prince, 22 Nagata, Lieutenant-General, 267 Nagaya, Prince, 53 Nagoya, air raids on, 290 Naijidokoro, robbing of the, 133 Naito Hida-no-kami, 178 Naka, Prince. See Tenchi, Emperor Nakae Toju, 203, 235, 308 Nakajima Chikuhei, Mr, 273 Nakatomi (Court Ritualist Party), 34, 36-8 Nakatomi. See Fujiwara Kamatari Nakaura, Julian, 156 Nanking, capture of, 272 Nara, period, 53-8; temples and monks of, 54-7, 74, 89-90, 96, 163; six sects of, 55, 107-8 Nariaki of Mito. See Tokugawa Nariaki Nasu-no-Yoichi, 95 Nationalism, xii, 226, 246, 249, 258, 267-9, 272, 295. See also Foreign Policy and Imperialism Natsume Jirozaemon, 145 Navy, Japanese, and the victory over the Mongols, 106-7; development of, under Nobunaga, 143, 174; in Hideyoshi’s war with Korea, 161-2; and Will Adams, 174; organization of the modern, 248, 251; in the wars of the nineteenth century, 253, 255; power and importance of the modern, 258-9, 270, 274; and the Washington Naval Treaty, 259, 267; and the London

353

Naval Treaty, 267-9; in World War II, 286-90 Nawa Nagashige, 116 Nawa Nagatoshi, 113 New Guinea, 259; attacked by Japan, 286, 287 New Order in Asia, Japan’s proposals for a, 274-5, 279, 281-3 New Zealand, 283 Nichiren sect, 107-9, t 3 ° Nicolaievsk, massacre of Japanese at, 259 Nihon Kokuminshi, 127 Nihon Maru, 143 Nihon Sho\i, 3 Nihongi, 3, 8, 53 Nijo, Emperor, 86, 88, 322 Nijo, house of, 106 Nikko, shrines of, 174, 197-8 Nimmyo, Emperor, 68, 321 Nine Power Pact, 259-60 Ning Tsung, Emperior, of China, 124 Ninken, Emperor, 33, 321 Ninko, Emperor, 234-5, 242, 322 Nintoku, Emperor, 30, 321 Nishi Hongwanji Temple, 164 Nisshinken, foundation of the, 220 Nitobe, Dr, 304 Nitta Yoshisada, 113, 116, 119, 136 Niu-chwang, capture of, 253 Niwa, 146, 150 No drama. See under Drama No-ami, 125 Nogi, General Count, 255, 257, 305 Nomi-no-sukune, 27, 70 Nomohan, Japanese-Soviet clashes at, 275-6 Nomura, Admiral, 276, 282, 284 Northern and Southern Courts, struggle of the, 119-21, 129 Noto-no-kami Noritsune, 95 Nyuzen Kotaro, 308 O Tama. See Keishoin Oama, Prince, 48 Ochikubo Monogatari, 73 Oda Hidenobu, 150 Oda Nobuhide, 136 Oda Nobunaga, 134, 136-48, 193; his character, 89 ,'i4 i-2 , 148, 307; his rise to power, 137-9; his unification of Japan, 140, 142-8, 153-4, 160; his navy, 143, 161; his attitude to Euro­ peans, 144-5, 148, 155, 158; his admin­ istration, 147-8, 175; his heirs, 150-3; Records of, 304 Oda Nobuo, 150-3 Oda Nobutada, 147

354

A Short History of Japan

Oda Nobutaka, 150-1 Oda Yuraku, 150 Odawara, rise of the city of, 133 Oe family, 87 Oe Hiromoto, 97-8, 102, 104 Ogata Korin, 212 Ogawa Kenzan, 212 Ogdai, io6n Ogimachi, Emperor, 138, 143, 322 Ogiwara Shigehide, 213, 216 Ogyu Sorai, 214, 221 Ohara, Mr, 276 Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, 203, 214 Ojin, Emperor, 28-30, 321 Okada Keisuke, Admiral Baron, 267-9 289 Okamoto, 178 Okazaki Masamune, n o Oke, 32 Oke-hazama, battle of, 137, 146 Okinawa, in World War II, 289-90 Okubo Hikozaemon, 205 Okubo Nagayasu, 178 Okubo Toshimichi, 244, 248-50 Okudaira of Utsunomiya, 2o8n Okuma Shigenobu, Marquis, 248-9, 250, 252, 260-1, 330 Olopen, 61 O-metsuke, office of, 195 Omi, Statutes of, 47-8, 49 Omori, Dr, xii Onin and Bunnei, Wars of, 127-9 Onjoji. See Miidera Ono Goroemon, n o Ono Harunaga, 180 Ono Komachi, 73 Ono-no-Imoko, 41 O-no-Yasumaro, 3 Ooka Echizen-no-kami Tadasuke, 221,

. 224

Ooka Tadamitsu, 224 O-oku, organization of the, 205-6 Osaka, importance of, 134; air raids on, 290 Osaka, castle of, 130, 159, 164; Ieyasu’s campaign against the, 180-1 Oshima, General, 295 Oshio Heihachiro, 234-5, 265 Otani, 169, 171 Otataneko, 25 Otomo family, 15, 135 Otomo, Prince. See Kobun, Emperor Otomo Kuronushi, 73 Otomo Sorin, 154-6 Otomo-no-Yakamochi, 58 Ouchi of Suo, 129, 133-5, 145 Owari, house of, 194, 220, 241 Oyama, Marshal, 253

Oyomei philosophy, 203, 235 Pacific, racial and cultural connections of Japan with the, viii-xi; early Japanese settlement in the, 186-7; Japan’s man­ dated territories in the, 259; Japan’s claim to supremacy in the, 264, 282-4; war in the, 285-90 Palace of Flowers, Yoshimasa’s, 123 Panay, sinking of the, 272, 275 Parkes, Sir Harry, 243, 246 Parliamentary system. See Diet Pearl Harbour, Japan’s attack on, 284-5, 286 Peerage, establishment of the, 248, 301, 303 Perry, Commodore, 239-40 Pescadores, ceded to Japan, 253; Japan renounces claim to, 297 Pessoa, 178 Phillip II of Spain, 156-7 Philippines, early contacts of Japan with the, 160, 163, 186-7, 222; Japanese hostility towards the, 164, 192, 198-9, 283; in World War II, 286, 289-90 Philosophy. See Religion and philosophy Piracy, 143, 160, 186 Pizarro, Francisco, 140 Polo, Marco, 140 Population problem, 297 Port Arthur, 253-6 Portsmouth, Peace of, 256-7 Portugal, trade and contacts of Japan with, 140-1, 176-9, 193, 198-9, 222. See also Jesuits Potsdam Proclamation, 291 Pottery, x, 112, 167 Prince, title of, 301 Prince of Wales, H.M.S., 285 Printing, 167 Privy Council, powers of the, 251, 261, 281 Protasius of Arima, Don. See Arima Harunobu Pu Yi, Emperor, of China, 263-4 Putiatin, Admiral, 239-40 Pyong Yang, battle of, 253 Rai Sanyo, 116, 332 Raigo Ajari, 81 Raku-yo, 61 Red Seal ships, 160, 186 Redesdale, Lord, 246 Regents, rule of the, xii, 68-78 Reigen, Emperor, 204, 322 Religion and philosophy, xiii, 5-7, 100, 134, I55n, 203-4, 226, 308-9. See also Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Mythology, and Shinto

Index Rennyo, 130 Repulse, 285 Rezanov, Count, 232 Richu, Emperor, 30, 321 Rinnoji-no-miya, 197 Ri-ryo-min, 124 Ritsu sect, 55 Rodriguez, 174 Roju, formation of the, 194-5 Rokujo, Emperor, 88, 322 Rome, ceremonial entry of the Japanese envoys into, 156 Ronin, Vendetta of the Forty-seven, 203, 213-15, 272 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 282, 284 Roosevelt, Theodore, 255, 261 Rozhestvenski, Admiral, 255 Russia, early clashes between Japan and, 230-2; trade between Japan and, 23940; and China, 253; war between Japan and, 254-7; relationships of Japan with Soviet, 259, 275-6, 280, 281, 283, 297; in World War II, 287, 290, 292 Ryobu Shinto, 55 Ryogoku bridge, building of the, 207 Ryoken, Archbishop, 209, 211 Ryuko, Archbishop, 209, 211 Ryutei Tanehiko, 234 Ryuzoji, 155

355

213, 222, 234; status of the, since the Restoration of Meiji, 248-50, 272 Samurai-dokoro, foundation of the, 98 San Felipe (carrack), 157-8 San Felipe (galleon), 164 Sanada Yukimura, 180-1 Sanjo Sanetomi, 248, 250 Sanjusangendo, building of the, 79 Sanke family, 139 Sankin-kotai system, 198, 243 Sankya, compared with Teishu, 203 Sankyo family, 139 Sano Masakoto, 225 Sanron sect, 55 Sansom, Sir George, 6 Santo Kyoden, 229 Sarashina Nil{l{i, 76 Saris, John, 178-9 Sasa Narimasa, 153 Sato, General, 295 Sato Shoji Motoharu, 93 Sato Tadanobu, 93, 96 Sato Tsuginobu, 93, 95 Satake of Hitachi, 129, 137, 171 Satsuma clan, 242, 244, 246, 248-9, 261; rebellion of the, 248-9. See also Shimazu of Satsuma, house of Sculpture, 42, 65, n o Sei Shonagon, 76 Seiganji, building of the, 166 Saga, Emperor, 66, 68, 321 Sei-i-tai Shogun, office of, 98 Saghalien, See Sakhalin Seimu, Emperor, 28, 321 Saicho. See Dengyo Daishi Seinei, Emperor, 32, 321 Saigo Takamori, 244, 248-9 Seiwa, Emperor, 68-9, 7 4 j 321 Saigyo Hoshi, 109 Seiwa Genji. See Minamoto family Saimei, Empress, 47, 321 Seiyukai party, 265, 267, 282 Saionji Kinmochi, Prince, 259-60, 268, Sen Hime, the lady, 172 274, 281-2, 330 Sen Rikyu, 159, 165 Saipan, capture of, 288-9 Seppuku, 90, 305 Saito Dosa, 136, 138, 307 Sesshu, 125, 134 Saito Minoru, Admiral Viscount, 265, Seventh National College, foundation of 267-8, 330 the, 220 Sakai, free city of, 134, 141 Shiba family, 127, 136 Sakai Tadakatsu, 194, 198, 204 Shiba Tachito, 34-5 Sakai Tadatsugu, 168 Shibata, 146, 150-1 Sakai Tadayo, 194 Shibi, 33 Sakai-uta-no-kami Tadakiyo, 207-8 Shidehara Kijuro, Baron, 297, 331 Shigemitsu, Mr, 287, 289, 291, 293, 295 Sakakibara Yasumasa, 168, 171 Saka-no-ue-no-tamura Maro, 57, 319 Shikitei Samba, 234 Shimada, Admiral, 283, 289, 295 Sakhalin, Japan and Russia clash in, 232; Shimai Soshitsu, 160 Japan renounces claim to, 297 Shimazu of Satsuma, house of, 75, 129, Sakurauchi, Mr, 274, 277 Samurai, attitude to religion of the, 81, 1 3 5 . 137 . MO, 1 4 4 -5 . 148, 167, 329; Hideyoshi’s attack on the, 154-5; its 105, 109, 309; ideal conduct of the, hostility to Ieyasu, 169-71; in the 95, 213-14, 217, 304-9 (see also Bushi Tokugawa period, 177, 186; and the and Bushido); in the Ashikaga age, opening of the ports, 240, 242. See also 135; separation of the, from other Satsuma clan classes, 201; impoverishment of the,

356

A Short History of Japan

Shiraazu Iehisa, 154-5 Shimazu Nariakira, 240 Shimazu Tadayoshi, 309 Shimban, 192 Shimizu family, 223 Shimonoseki, Treaty of, 253 Shinbetsu, 21 Shingon sect, 65-6, 107-8, 130, 209 Shinnin officials, 302 Shinran Shonin, 108, 130 Sbinshu sect, 130, 203 Shinto, 5, 71-2, 146, 188, 209; as the national religion of Japan, xiii, 49, 1550, 218, 226, 281, 294, 304; and Buddhism, xiii, 54, 55, 65, 142, 1550, 203, 226; shrines, 125, 135, 281 Shiono Suehiko, Mr, 273-4 Shipping, 29, 160, 186-7, 298. See also Navy Shirakawa, Emperor, 79, 81-2, 85, 322 Shiratori, Mr, 295 Shi-tennoji, building of the, 38, 42 Shizuga-take, battle of, 150 Shizuoka, burning of, 277 Shizutani College, foundation, 219-20 Shogunate, xii-xiii, 99-100, 325-6; powers of the Tokugawa, 105, 182-4, 190; the Imperial, 106; autocratic rule of the, 122; decline of the prestige of the, 122-9; succession to the Tokugawa, 194-5; and Sadanobu, 229-30; aboli­ tion of the, 244; origin of the, 319-20 Shoguns, list of, 325-6 Shoji Jinnai, 184 Shoji temples, 79 Shomu, Emperor, 53-6, 58, 319, 321 Shomyo, origin of the, 103. See also Feudal Lords Shosoin, 55 Shotoku, Empress, 56, 321 Shotoku, Prince, 3, 37-8, 41-3, 317; Constitution of, 41, 310-12 Shubun, 125 Shugo, office of the, 97-8, 106 Shuin-sen ships. See Red Seal ships Shuko of the Shomyoji, 127 Shunsui, 218 Siberia, Japanese expedition to, 259 Sidotti, Father, 216 Siebold, Phillip von, 188 Simon Josui. See Kuroda Josui Singapore, troops sent to, 283; captured by Japanese, 285 Sixtus, Pope, 157 So Sukekuni, 106 So-ami, 125 Social Mass Party, 266, 271 Socialism, 266-7, 271, 2 7 2> 296-7. See also Communism

Soga family, 3, 34, 36-8, 42-5, 98 Soga Emishi, 42-3 Soga Iruka, 42-3 Soga Kurayamada, 45 Soga-no-Iname, 36 Soga-no-Umako, 3, 36-8 Sogei-shuin, foundation of the, 66 Sogen-in, the lady, 150-1, 193 Sojo Henjo, 73 Solomon Islands, Japan attacks, 286 Songhwan, battle of, 253 Sonin officials, 302 Sotelo, Father, 177 Sotomayor, Nuno de, 177 Sotsuibushi, office of, 98n Spain, relations of Japan with, 156-7, 163-4, 176-7. 179 . 192-3, 198. See also Philippines Sports and pastimes, 57, 102, 113, 166, 176, 20m , 305 Spratley Isles, annexation of, 275 Srong San Gampo, 61 Stalin, Josef, 289 Stalingrad, 287 Strange, Colonel E. F., 265 Suden, 188, 203 Suetsugu family, 186 Suetsugu Nobumasa, Admiral, 273 Sugawara family, 69-70, 324 Sugawara Michizane, 70-1, n o Sugiyama, General, 289, 294 Sui dynasty, 41-2, 45, 59, 61, 317 Suiko, Empress, 3, 41-2, 317, 321 Suinin, Emperor, 26, 321 Sujin, Emperor, 25-6, 321 Sujun, Emperor, 38, 41, 319, 321 Sumikura family, 186 Sun Goddess shrine of the, 25-6. See also Mythology Sun Tz, 78n Sung dynasty, influence of the, on Japan, 124-5, * 27. 134 Supreme War Council, powers of the, 261 Surnames, Japanese use of, 139n Sushen, raid on Japan by the, 77 Susukori, 29 Sutoku, 85 Suzuki, General, 283 Suzuki Harunobu, 228, 333 Suzuki Kantaro, Admiral, 268, 290-3, 331

Sword-making, ix, n o Tachibana family, 69, 329 Tachibana Hiromi, 69 Tachibana Muneshige, 162 Tachibana-no-Moroe, 58 Tadanori, Satsuma-no-Kami. See Taira Tadanori

Index Taguchi Shigeyoshi, 95 Tai Tsung, Emperor, of China, 59, 61, iosn Taika reforms, xiii, 45-7, 72, 75 Taira family, 72-5, 80, 144, 324; its rise to power, 86-7; its rule, 88-91; rebel­ lion of the Minamoto against the, 90, 91-6; final destruction of the, 96-7 Taira Kiyomori, 85-91, 93, 141, 319 Taira Koremori, 93 Taira Masakado, 72 Taira Munemori, 93-6 Taira Sadamori, 72, 104 Taira Shigehira, 90, 94, 96 Taira Shigemori, 86, 89-90, 136 Taira Tadamasa, 85-6 Taira Tadanori, 94, 306 Taira Tomomori, 95-6, 106 Taira Tomoyasu, 94 Tairo, office of, 194 Taisei Yokusan Kai. See Imperial Rule Support Society Taisho, Emperor, 258, 260, 263, 322 Taiyu Atsumori, 94 Tajima-no-mori, 27 Takahashi Admiral, 283 Takahashi, Baron, 268 Takahito, Prince. See Go-Sanjo, Emperor Takakura, Emperor, 87-90, 96, 322 Takamatsu, Prince, 287, 289, 291, 293 Takaoka, Prince, 66 Takatsuji family, 71 Takatsukasa family, 106, 215, 298 Takayama Hikokuro, 230 Takayama Ukon, 145, 178 Takeda of Kai, house of, 129 Takeda Shingen, 137-8, 141-3, 145, I 47 > 151, 169, 178, 306; his character, 136. 3 ° 7 Takeda Katsuyori, 146, 151 Takenaka Uneme, 198 Ta\etori Monogatari, 73 Takeuchi Shikibu, 226 Takcuchi-no-sukune, 34 Takiguchi Nyudo, 308 Takuma school, 73 Tamagawa family, 207 Tamuramaro, 66 Tanaka Giichi, General Baron, 266, 293-4 Tandai, office of, 103 Tanegashima Tokitada, 141 T ’ang dynasty, 124, 127; influence of the, on Japan, 7, 45, 49, 53-4, 59 "®1 Tankei, n o Tantric Buddhism, 65. See also Shingon sect Tanuma period, 224-8 Tanuma Okitomo, 224-5 Tanuma Okitsugu, 224-6

357

Taoist philosophy, 201 Tartars, Kin, 124 Tasa, 32 Tatekawa, General, 275, 281 Taxation, 46, 50-1, 72, 97, 105, 122-3, 163; in the Tokugawa period, 175, 213, 221-3, 2 3 4 ; since the Restoration of Meiji, 250, 264, 270-1 Tayasu family, 223 Tayasu Munetake, 223, 229 Tea Ceremony, 122-3, 125, 126-7, 1481 159, 201 Teishu school of philosophy, 134, 201-4 Temmangu. See Sugawara Michizane Temmu, Emperor, 3, 48, 53, 321 Tenchi, Emperor, 43, 45, 47-8, 321 Tendai sect, 65, 107-8, 130, 197, 203 Tengu, 93 Tenjin. See Sugawara Michizane Tenkai, Archbishop, 188, 193, 197, 203, 204-5 Thailand, Japanese mediation between France and, 282 Theodosius, Emperor, 59 Thomas, Father, 186 Thousand Character Essay, 29 Thunberg, Carl, 188 Tientsin incident, 275-6 Tintoretto, 157 Titsingh, Izaac, 188 Toba, Emperor, 85, 321 Tobacco, introduction of, 176 Todaiji, 74; Great Buddha of the, 54, 56 Todo Takatora, 174-5, 197, 205 Togo, Admiral, 253, 255, 290 Togo, Mr, 283, 291, 295 Toi, raid on Japan by the, 77 Toji monastery, 66 Tojo Hideki, General Baron, 279, 283-4, 287-9, 295 Tokiwa, the lady, 87 Toku. See Kenreimon-in Tokugawa family, 134, 138-9, 151, 172, 180, 193, 220, 241 326-7. See also Tokugawa period Tokugawa period, 105, 129, 164, 172235, 272, 304, 308-9; from Ieyasu to Iemitsu, 172-203; from Ietsuna to Ietsugu, 203-20; from Yoshimune to Ieyoshi, 220-35 Tokugawa Harusada, 225-6 Tokugawa Hidetada, 150, 169, 172-4, 181, 190-3, 200, 326; his character, 172-4, 193-4; his administration, 190-2, 196; his foreign policy, 192-3, 198 Tokugawa Hideyasu, 153, 169, 171 Tokugawa Ieharu, 224-8, 326; his character, 223-4, 232 Tokugawa lemasu, Prince, 277

358

A Short History of Japan

Tokugawa Icmitsu, 174, 193-204, 209326; his character, 172, 1 9 4 ! his administration, 190, 193-8; cultural developments under, 197-8, 200-1; his foreign policy, 198-200; his death, 204, 206 Tokugawa Iemochi, 242, 244, 326 Tokugawa Ienari, 228, 232-5, 326 Tokugawa Ienobu, 194, 208, 215-17, 326 Tokugawa Iesada, 240-2, 326 Tokugawa Iesato, Prince, 259, 271, 277 Tokugawa Ieshige, 194, 223-4, 226, 326 Tokugawa Ietsugu, 217, 220, 326 Tokugawa Ietsuna, 194, 204-8, 212, 326 Tokugawa Ieyasu, 137-40, 168-88, 193, 2o8n, 305-6, 326; his character, 89, 148, 151, 166, 188, 194, 196-7, 220-1, 308; his alliance with Nobunaga, 138, 142-3, 145-6, 149; his relations with Hideyoshi, 151-4, 159, 165, 167; his rise to the Shogunate, 168-72; his administration, 172-9, 182-4, 187-8, 192, 212-13; his foreign policy, 174, 176-9, 187; his destruction of the house of Toyotomi, 180-2; his death and deification, 188, 197-8, 205; his intel­ lectual interests, 188, 201, 228 Tokugawa Ieyoshi, 235, 239, 326 Tokugawa Keiki, 242, 244-5, 277, 326 Tokugawa Mitsukuni, 184, 193, 217-18, 308 Tokugawa Nariaki, 184, 218, 233, 240, 241-2 Tokugawa Tadanaga, 193, 196 Tokugawa Tadanao, 190 Tokugawa Tadateru, 178, 190 Tokugawa Tsunashige, 208, 215 Tokugawa Tsunatoyo. See Tokugawa Ienobu Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, 184, 188, 195, 208-16, 326; his character, 208, 21112, 215; his administration, 209-13, 215, 218; cultural developments under, 212-15 Tokugawa Yorifusa, 193 Tokugawa Yorinobu, 206 Tokugawa Yoshimune, 196, 220-3, 229, 326; his administration, 221-3 Tokugawa Yoshinobu. See Tokugawa Keiki Tokutomi Soho, 136, 193, 2o8n Tokyo, proclamation of, as capital, 248; great earthquake at, 260-1; air raids on, 290. See also Edo Tokyudo, building of the, 127 Tomoe, the lady, 94, 105, 3o8n Tori, 35 Torii Kiyonaga, 228 Tosa diary, 73

Tosa clan, 244, 246, 248 Toshiro, 112 Tosho Dai-Gongen, 188 Toyama Mitsuru, 272 Toyoda, Admiral, 291, 295 Toyohara Tokiaki, 78 Toyohara Tokimoto, 78 Toyokuni, 233 Toyotomi, destruction of the house of, 150, 172, 180-1; period 150-71 Toyotomi Hidetsugu, 165 Toyotomi Hideyori, 150, 165-8, 172, 1801, 326 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 89, 146-55, 157-68, 304, 307, 326; his early career, 146-7; his rise to power, 149-55; his adminis­ tration, 154, 163, 167-8, 175, 186; and Christianity, 155, 157-8, 163-4; his aesthetic interests, 158-9, 164, 166, 200; his unification of the Empire, 159-60; his war with China and Korea, 160-3, 167-8; his last years and death, 165-7; deification of, 180, 182 Trade, with China, 133, 141, 178, 216; and the rise of the provincial cities, 133 -4 ; with the Portuguese, 140-1, 155 . 1 57 -8 , 176-8, 193, 198-9, 222; and Christianity, 144-5, 155, 158, 1768, 192-3, 198-200; Nobunaga’s help to, 147; with the Dutch, 158, 176-9, 187, 193, 198-200, 216, 235, 240, 283; with the English, 158, T78-9, 186, 193, 235, 240, 243, 252; with the Spanish colonies, 176-7, 186-7, 193; and the licensed ships, 186-7; settle­ ments founded for, 186-7; and the rise of the merchants and financiers, 207, 213, 222, 228, 234; with Russia, 232, 239-40; and the opening of the ports, 235, 239-41, 242-4, 246; with America, 235, 239-41, 283; and tariff problems, 252, 269-70; in Manchuria, 254, 290; and industrial development, 258, 264-5; and the Trade Depart­ ment, 276; and World War II, 283-4 Tsuibushi, office of, 980 Tsukahara Bokuden, 306 Tsuneo Matsudaira, 287, 290 Tsunesada, Prince, 68 Tsure-zure-gusa, 109-10 Tsushima, attack of the Mongols on, 106; naval battle of, 255 Tsutaya Jusaburo, 229 Tsutsui Junkei, 149 Tsz’e Hsi, Empress, of China, 253-4 Tuli, io6n Tzuzumi Hangwan, 100 Uda, Emperor, 69-70, 75, 321

'

Uesugi family, 129, 133, Uesugi Harunori, 226 Uesugi Kagekatsu, 153, 167 Uesugi Kenshin, 136, 141-2, >n 308 Ugaki Kazushige, General, 271, 273, 276 Uji and Kabane, period of the, 21-38 Uji, the Great, 75 Uji, fight at the bridge of, 90 Ukita Hideie, 161, 167, 169 Ukita Naoie, 136, 146 Ukiyo Furo, 234 Vkiyo Tok.o, 234 Ukiyoe, 228 Uma-ryo, organization of the, 49 Umayado, Prince. See Shotoku, Prince Umezu, General, 291, 293, 295 United States of America. See America Unkei, n o Urashima of Mizunoe, 32 Utagawa Toyoharu, 228 Vtsubo Monogatari, 73

I

Valegnani, Visitor-General, 155-7 Vedanta, Teishu compared to, 203 Vilela, Father, 145 Vimalakirtti, r 27 Viszcaino, Sebastian, 177 Vivero y Velasco, Don Roderigo, 176 Wa. See Yamato Wada Yoshimori, 98, 101 Wado era, 52

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Waka-doshiyori, formation of the, 195 Wakatsuki, Baron, 289 Wake Island, Japanese attack on, 284 Wake-no-kiyomaro, 56-7 Wakizaka, 161 Wako, 160 Wang Ching-Wei, 276-7, 282 War trials, 295 Washington Conference, 259, 263, 267 Watanabe Noboru, 92 Watanabe, General, 268 Weapons and methods of warfare, ix, 106, 110-12, 135, 141, 161-2, 176, ‘ 179, 241-2 Wei-hai-wei, 254 Wen, Emperor, of China, 41 Witte, Count Serge Julievich de, 256 Woke. See Kenso, Emperor Women, status of, in Japan, 100, 105, 3°3. 308 Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, 266 World War I, Japan’s part in, 258-9 ’ World War II, 280-1, 283; Japan’s part in, 284-95, 297, 298 i Wu, Emperor, of China, 34-5

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avier, Saint Francis, 129, 144-5 Yae, the lady, 165 Yalta agreement, 292 Yamada Nagamasa, 187 Yamaga S 5 ko, 203 Yamagata, Marshal, 253 Yamagata Aritomo, General Prince, 260, 281, 330 Yamagata Daini, 226 Yamaguchi, rise of the city of, 133 Yamamoto, Admiral, 288 Yamana Sosen, 128 Yamanouchi Yodo, 244 Yamasaki Ansai, 134, 226 Yamasaki, battle of, 149 Yamashiro, Prince, 42-3 Yamashita, General, 295 Yamato, vii-xiii, 316-17 Yamato, capitals, 2t-4; temple of, 147 Yamato-take, Prince, 27-8 Yanagawa, General, 274 Yanagisawa Yoshisato, 216 Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, 209n, 211, 213, 2t5-i6, 224 Yang, Emperor, of China, 41-2 Yang Ti, Emperor, of China, 59 Yashima, battle of, 94-5 Yasui, Mr, 279 Yi Sun Sin, 161-2, 167 Yodo, the lady, 150, 165, 180-1 Yodoya, house of, 207 Yodoya Tatsugoro, 213 Yokendo, foundation of the, 220 Yomei, Emperor, 36-7, 32T Yonai Mitsumasa, Admiral, 273-4, 277, 279, 289, 330 Yoriki, 195 Yoshida, Admiral, 276-7, 279 Yoshida Kenko, 109 Yoshida Shigeru, Mr, 297, 331 Yoshihiro, n o Yoshimitsu, the sword-maker, n o Yoshiwara, foundation of the, 184-6 “Young Officer” party, 272 Yozei, Emperor, 69, 321 Yuan dynasty, 124 Yuasa, Mr, 274, 277-9 Yui Shosetsu, 206 Yuiitsu doctrine, I55n Yuryaku, Emperor, 30-2, 321 Yzdegird, 59 Zen Buddhism, 107-10, 136, 203; popu­ larity of, amongst the samurai, 105, 109, 130, 308-9; cultural influence of, 109-10, 124-7, 134 Zoshikan, foundation of the, 220