Perang Dunia Timur. Jepang, Tiongkok, dan Korea/Bab 5

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JAPAN FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO FIRST CONTACT WITH EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION.

The Oldest Dynasty in the World and its Records—The First Emperor of Japan—Some of the Famous Early Rulers—Invasion and Conquest of Corea by the Empress Jingo—How Civilization Came from Corea to Japan—The Rise of the Dual System of Government—Mikado and Shogun—Expulsion of the Hojo Dynasty of Shoguns—The Invasion of the Mongol Tartars—Annihilation of the Armada—Corruption of the Shogun Rule—Growth of the Feudal System—Another Conquest of Corea—Founding of the Last Dynasty of Shoguns—Advance of Japan in the Age of Hideyoshi.

In a historical sketch of the life of a nation which counts twenty-five centuries of recorded history, but the briefest outline can be given. The scope of such a work as this does not admit of minute historical details. When it is said that traditions exist carrying back the history for a number of years which requires several hundred ciphers to measure, the effort to relate even an outline becomes almost appalling. Until the twelfth century of our era, Europe did not know even of the existence of Japan; and the reports which were then brought by Marco Polo, who had learned of the island empire of Zipangu from the Chinese were as vague as they were enticing. The successes of the Jesuit missionaries led by Xavier, and the commercial intercourse established by the Portuguese in the latter part of the 16th century, and by the Dutch somewhat later, promised to disclose the mysteries of the far Pacific empire; but within a few generations these were more hopelessly than ever sealed against foreign intrusion. Only forty years ago the United States of America knocked at the door of Japan, met a welcome under protest, and the country began to open to western civilization. Even yet the great mass of the people of our own country have far from a right conception of the ancient civilization which has for ages prevailed in these islands of the Pacific.

The Japanese imperial dynasty is the oldest in the world. Two thousand five hundred and fifty-four years ago in 660 B.C., 188the sacred histories relate that Jimmu Tenno commenced to reign as the first Mikado, or Emperor of Japan. The sources of Japanese history are rich and solid, historical writings forming the largest and most important divisions of their voluminous literature. The period from about the ninth century until the present time is treated very fully, while the real history of the period prior to the eighth century of the Christian era is very meagre. It is nearly certain that the Japanese possessed no writing until the sixth century A.D. Their oldest extant composition is the “Kojiki,” or “Book of Ancient Traditions.” It may be called the Bible of the Japanese. It comprises three volumes, composed A.D. 711-712, and is said to have been preceded by two similar works about one hundred years earlier, but neither of these have been preserved. The first volume treats of the creation of the heavens and earth, the gods and goddesses, and the events of the holy age or mythological period. The second and third give the history of the mikados from the year I (660 B.C.) to the year 1280 of the Japanese era. It was first printed in the years A.D. 1624-1642. The “Nihongi” completed A.D. 720 also contains a Japanese record of the mythological period, and brings down the annals of the mikados to A.D. 699. These are the oldest books in the language. They contain so much that is fabulous, mythical or exaggerated, that their statements especially in respect of dates cannot be accepted as true history. A succession of historical works of apparent reliability illustrate the period between the eighth and the eleventh centuries, and still better ones treat of the mediæval period from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. The period from 1600 to 1853 is less known than others in earlier times, because of mandates that existed forbidding the production of contemporary histories.

Whatever may be the actual fact, Jimmu Tenno is popularly believed to have been a real person and the first emperor of Japan. He is deified in the Shinto religion, and in thousands of shrines dedicated to him the people worship his spirit. In one official list of mikados he is named as the first. The reigning Emperor refers to him as his ancestor, from whom he claims unbroken descent as the 123rd member of this dynasty. The 189seventh day of April is fixed as the anniversary of his ascension to the throne and that day is a national holiday on which the birth, the accession and death of this national hero are still annually celebrated. Then one may see flags flying from both public and private buildings, and hear the reverberations of a royal salute fired by the ironclad navy of modern Japan from Krupp guns, and by the military in French uniforms from Remington rifles. The era of Jimmu is the starting point of Japanese chronology, and the year 1 of the Japanese era is that upon which he ascended the throne at Kashiwavara.

In the beginning there existed, according to one interpretation of the somewhat perplexing Shinto mythology, chaos, which contained the germs of all things. From this was evolved a race of heavenly beings and celestial “Kami” of whom Izanagi, a male, and Izanami, a female, were the last individuals. Other authorities on Shinto maintain that infinite space and not chaos existed in the beginning; others again that in the beginning there was one god. However, all agree as to the appearance on the scene of Izanagi and Izanami, and it is with these we are here concerned; for by their union were produced the islands of Japan, 190and among their children were Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and her younger brother, Susanoo, afterward appointed god of the sea. On account of her bright beauty the former was made queen of the sun, and had given to her a share on the government of the earth. To Ninigi-no-mikoto, her grandson, she afterward consigned absolute rule over the earth, sending him down by the floating bridge of heaven upon the summit of the mountain Kirishima-yama. He took with him the three Japanese regalia, the sacred mirror, now in one of the Shinto shrines of Ise; the sword, now treasured in the temple of Atsuta, near Nagoya; and the ball of rock crystal in possession of the emperor. On the accomplishment of the descent, the sun and the earth receded from one another, and communication by means of the floating bridge ceased. Jimmu Tenno, the first historic emperor of Japan, was the great grandson of Ninigi-no-mikoto.

According to the indigenous religion of Japan, therefore, a religion which even since the adoption of western civilization has 193been patronized by the state, the mikados are directly descended from the sun goddess, the principal Shinto divinity. Having received from her the three sacred treasures, they are invested with authority to rule over Japan as long as the sun and moon shall endure. Their minds are in perfect harmony with hers; therefore they cannot err and must receive implicit obedience. Such is the traditional theory as to the position of the Japanese emperors, a theory which was advanced in its most elaborate form, as recently as the last century, by Motoori, a writer on Shinto, which of late years has no doubt been much modified or even utterly discarded by many of the more enlightened among the people. Even yet, however, it is far from having been abandoned by the masses.

The mikados being thus regarded as semi-divinities, it is not surprising that the very excess of veneration showed them tended more and more to weaken their actual power. They were too sacred to be brought much into contact with ordinary mortals, too sacred even to have their divine countenances looked upon by any but a select few. Latterly it was only the nobles immediately around him that ever saw the mikado’s face; others might be admitted to the imperial presence, but it was only to get a glimpse from behind a curtain of a portion of the imperial form, less or more according to their rank. When the mikado went out into the grounds of his palace in Kioto, matting was spread for him to walk upon; when he left the palace precincts he was borne in a sedan chair, the blinds of which were carefully drawn down. The populace prostrated themselves as the procession passed, but none of them ever saw the imperial form. In short, the mikados ultimately became virtual prisoners. Theoretically gifted with all political knowledge and power, they were less the masters of their own actions than many of the humblest of their subjects. Although nominally the repositories of all authority, they had practically no share in the management of the national affairs. The isolation in which it was deemed proper that they should be kept, prevented them from acquiring the knowledge requisite for governing, and even had that knowledge been obtained, gave no opportunity for its manifestation.

From the death of Jimmu Tenno to that of Kimmei, in whose 194reign Buddhism was introduced, A.D. 571, there were thirty mikados. During this period of one thousand three hundred and thirty-six years, believed to be historic by most Japanese, the most interesting subjects are the reforms of Sujin Tenno, the military expeditions to eastern Japan by Yamato-Dake, the invasion of Corea by the Empress Jingo Kogo, and the introduction of Chinese civilization and Buddhism.

Sujin—or Shujin, B.C. 97-30, was a man of intense earnestness and piety. His prayers to the gods for the abatement of a plague were answered, and a revival of religious feeling and worship ensued. He introduced many forms in the practices of religion and the manners of life. He appointed his own daughter priestess of the shrine and custodian of the symbols of the three holy regalia, which had hitherto been kept in the palace of the mikado. This custom has continued to the present time, and the shrines of Uji in Ise, which now hold the sacred mirror, are always in charge of a virgin princess of imperial blood.

The whole life of Sujin was one long effort to civilize his half savage subjects. He regulated taxes, established a periodical census, and encouraged the building of boats. He may also be called the father of Japanese agriculture, since he encouraged it by edict and example, ordering canals to be dug, water courses provided, and irrigation to be extensively carried on.

The energies of this pious mikado were further exerted in devising a national military system whereby his peaceably disposed subjects could be protected, and the extremities of his realm extended. The eastern and northern frontiers were exposed to the assaults of the wild tribes of Ainos, who were yet unsubdued. Between the peaceful agricultural inhabitants and the untamed savages a continual border war existed. A military division of the empire into four departments was made, and a shogun or general appointed over each. The half subdued inhabitants in the extremes of the realm needed constant watching, and seem to have been as restless and treacherous as the indians on our own frontiers. The whole history of the extension and development of the mikado’s empire is one of war and blood, rivalling that of our own country in its early struggles with the Indians. This constant military action and life in a camp resulted, in the course 195of time, in the creation of a powerful and numerous military class, who made war professional and hereditary. It developed that military genius and character which so distinguish the modern Japanese and mark them in such strong contrast with other nations of eastern Asia.

Towards the end of the first century A.D., Yamato-Dake, son of the emperor Keiko, reduced most of the Ainos of the north to submission. These savages fought much after the manner of the North American Indian, using their knowledge of woodcraft most effectually, but the young prince with a well equipped army embarked on a fleet of ships and reaching their portion of the island, fought them until they were glad to surrender.

It was in the third century that the Empress Jingo invaded and conquered Corea. In all Japanese tradition or history, there is no greater female character than this empress. She was equally renowned for her beauty, piety, intelligence, energy and martial valor. To this woman belongs the glory of the conquest of Corea, whence came letters, religion and civilization to Japan. Tradition is that it was directly commanded her by the gods to cross the water and attack Corea. Her husband, the emperor, doubting the veracity of this message from the gods, was forbidden by them any share in the enterprise.

Jingo ordered her generals and captains to collect troops, build ships, and be ready to embark. She disguised herself as a man, proceeded with the recruiting of soldiers and the building of ships, and in the year 201 A.D. was ready to start. Before starting, Jingo issued these orders for her soldiers: “No loot. Neither despise a few enemies nor fear many. Give mercy to those who yield but no quarter to the stubborn. Rewards shall be apportioned to the victors, punishments shall be meted to the deserters.”

It was not very clear in the minds of these ancient filibusters where Corea was, or for what particular point of their horizon they were to steer. They had no chart or compass. The sun, stars and the flight of birds were their guide. None of them before had ever known of the existence of such a country as Corea, but the same gods that had commanded the invasion protected the invaders, and in due time they landed in southern Corea. 196The king of this part of the country had heard from his messengers of the coming of a strange fleet from the east, and terrified exclaimed, “We never knew there was any country outside of us. Have our gods forsaken us?”

It was a bloodless invasion, for there was no fighting to do. The Coreans came holding white flags and surrendered, offering to give up their treasures. They took an oath to become hostages and be tributary to Japan. Eighty ships well laden with gold and silver, articles of wealth, silks and precious goods of all kinds, and eighty hostages, men of high families, were given to the conquerors. The stay of the Japanese army in Corea was very brief, and the troops returned in two months. Jingo was, on her arrival, delivered of a son, who in the popular estimation of gods and mortals holds even a higher place of honor than his mother, who is believed to have conquered southern Corea through the power of her yet unborn illustrious offspring. The motive which induced the invasion into Corea seems to have been mere love of war and conquest, and the Japanese still refer with great pride to this, their initial exploit on foreign soil.

The son Ojin, who became the emperor, was, after his death, 199deified and worshipped as the god of war, Hachiman, and down through the centuries he has been worshiped by all classes of people, especially by soldiers, who offer their prayers and pay their vows to him. Ojin was also a man of literary tastes, and it was during his reign that Japan began to profit from the learning of the Coreans, who introduced the study of the Chinese language, and indeed the art of writing itself. During the immediately succeeding centuries various emperors and empresses were 200eminent for their zeal in encouraging the arts of peace. Architects, painters, physicians, musicians, dancers, chronologists, artisans and fortune tellers were brought over from Corea to instruct the people, but not all of these came at once. Immigration was gradual, but the coming of so many immigrants brought new blood, ideas, methods and improvements. Japan received from China, through Corea, what she has been receiving from America and Europe for the last forty years—a new civilization. The records report the arrival of tailors in 283 and horses in 284 from Corea to Japan. In 285 a Corean scholar came to Japan, and residing at the court, instructed the mikado’s son in writing. In 462 mulberry trees were planted, together with the silk worm, for whose sustenance they were implanted, from China or Corea. And this marks the beginning of silk culture in Japan. When in 552 the company of doctors, astronomers and mathematicians came from Corea to live at the Japanese court, they brought with them Buddhist missionaries, and this may be called the introduction of continental civilization. Beginning with Jingo, there seems to have poured into the island empire a stream of immigrants, skilled artisans, scholars and teachers, bringing arts, literature and religion. This was the first of three great waves of foreign civilization in Japan. The first was from China, through Corea, in the sixth; the second from western Europe in the fifteenth century; the third was from America, Europe and the world, in the decade following the advent of Commodore Perry.

In the eighth century, during the greater part of which the capital of the country was the city of Nara, about thirty miles 201from Kioto, Japan had largely under the government of empresses reached a most creditable stage of progress in the arts of peace. Near the close of the eighth century the emperor Kuwammu took up his residence at Kioto, which until 1868 remained the capital of the country, and is even now dignified with the name of Saikiyo, or “Western Capital.” Here he built a palace very unlike the simple dwelling in which his predecessors had been content to live. It had a dozen gates, and around it was reared a city with twelve hundred streets. The palace, he named “the Castle of Peace,” but for years it proved the very centre of the feuds which soon began to distract the country. This did not happen however until some centuries after the death of Kuwammu. But even after his time there were not wanting indications that the control of affairs was destined to slip into the hands of certain powerful families at the imperial court.

The first family to rise into eminence was that of Fujiwara, a member of which it was that got Kuwammu placed upon the throne. For centuries the Fujiwaras controlled the civil affairs of the empire, but a more important factor in bringing about the reduction of the mikado’s power and the establishment of that strange system of government which was destined to be so characteristic of Japan, was the rise into power of the rival houses of Taira and Minamoto, otherwise called respectfully Hei and Gen. This system of government has almost always been misunderstood in America and Europe. Two rulers in two capitals gave to foreigners the impression that there were two emperors in Japan, an idea that has been incorporated into most of the text books, and encyclopedias of Christendom. Let it be clearly understood however that there never was but one emperor in Japan, the mikado, who is and always was the only sovereign, though his measure of power has been very different at different times. Until the rise and domination of the military classes, he was in fact, as well as by law, supreme.

With the feuds of Hei and Gen commences an entirely new era in the history of the country, an era replete with tales alike of bloodshed, intrigue and chivalry. We see the growth of a feudal system at least as elaborate as that of Europe, and strangely 202enough, assuming almost identical forms, and that during the same period.

The respective founders of the Taira and Minamoto families were Taira Takamochi and Minamoto Tsunemoto, two warriors of the tenth century. Their descendants were for generations military vassals of the mikado, and were distinguished by red and white flags, colors which suggest the red and white roses of the rival English houses of Lancaster and York. For years the two houses served the emperor faithfully; but even before any quarrel had arisen between them, the popularity of the head of the Minamoto clan, with the soldiers with whom he had been placed, so alarmed the emperor Toba (1108-1124, A.D.) that he issued an edict forbidding the Samurai, the military class, of any of the provinces, from constituting themselves the retainers of either of these two families.

It was in the year 1156 that the feuds between the two houses broke out, and it arose in this way. At the accession of Go-Shirakawa to the throne in that year, there were living two ex-emperors who would seem to have voluntarily abdicated; one of them, however, Shutoku, was averse to the accession of the heir, being himself anxious to resume the imperial power. His cause was espoused by Tameyoshi, the head of the Minamoto house, while among the supporters of Go-Shirakawa was Kiyomori, of the house of Taira. In the conflict which followed, Go-Shirakawa was successful, and immediately thereafter we find Taira Kiyomori appointed Daijo-Daijin, or prime minister, with practically all political power in his hands. On the abdication within a few years of the mikado, the prime minister was able to put whatever member of the imperial house he willed upon the throne; and being himself allied by marriage to the imperial family, he at length saw the accession of his own grandson, a mere babe. Thus, to use the term connected with European feudalism of the same period, the mayor of the palace virtually, though not nominally, usurped the imperial functions. The emperor had the name of power but Kiyomori had the reality.

But this state of matters was not destined to last long. The Minamotos were far from being finally quieted. The story of the revival of their power is a romantic one, but we cannot dwell 203upon it. It was in the battle of Atiji that Kiyomori seemed at length to have quelled his rivals. Yoshitomo, the head of the Minamoto clan was slain in the fight, but his beautiful wife Tokiwa succeeded in escaping with her three little sons. Tokiwa’s mother, however, was arrested. This roused the daughter to make an appeal to Kiyomori for pardon. She did so, presenting herself and children to the conqueror, upon whom her beauty so wrought that he granted her petition. He made her his concubine, and not withstanding the remonstrances of his retainers, also spared the children who were sent to a monastery, there to be trained for the priesthood. Two of these children became famous in the history of Japan. The eldest was Yoritomo the founder of the Kamakura dynasty of shoguns, and the babe at the mother’s breast was Yoshitsune, one of the flowers of Japanese chivalry, a hero whose name even yet awakens the enthusiasm of the youth of Japan and who so impressed the Ainos of the north whom he had been sent to subdue, that to this day he is worshiped as their chief god. A Japanese has even lately written a book in which he seeks to identify Yoshitsune with Genghis Khan.

It is unnecessary to dwell on the circumstances which brought Yoritomo and Yoshitsune into note; how the two brothers raised the men of the eastern provinces, and after a temporary check at the pass of Hakone, succeeded in utterly routing the Taira forces in a dreadful battle, half by land and half by sea, at the straits of Shimonoseki. Suffice it to say, that Yoshitsune having been slain soon after a famous victory, through the treachery of his brother Yoritomo, who was jealous of his fame and popularity, that warrior was left without a rival. Yoritomo received from the emperor the highest title which could be conferred upon him, that of Sei-i-tai-shogun, literally “Barbarian-subjugating great general.” This title is generally contracted to shogun, which means simply general. Thus appointed generalissimo of all the imperial forces, he looked about for a city which he might make the center of his power. This he found in Kamakura about fifteen miles westward of the site of the modern Yokohama.

Thus before the close of the twelfth century was founded that system of dual government which lasted with little change until 204the year 1868. The Mikado reigned in Kioto with the authority of his sacred person undisputed; but the shogun in his eastern city had really all the public business of the country in his own hands. It was he who appointed governors over the different provinces and was the real master of the country; but every act was done in the name of the emperor whose nominal power thus remained intact.

Yoritomo virtually founded an independent dynasty at Kamakura, but it was not destined to be a lasting one. His son Yoriye succeeded him in 1199, but was shortly afterwards deposed and assassinated; and the power though not the title of shogun passed to the family of Yoritomo’s wife, that of Hojo, different members of which swayed the state for more than a century.

After a checkered career of various shoguns of the Hojo family, their tyranny became supreme. None of the family ever seized the office of shogun, but in reality they wielded all and more of the power attaching to the office. The political history of these years is but that of a monotonous recurrence of the exaltation of boys and babies of noble blood to whom was given the semblance of power, who were sprinkled with titles and deposed as soon as they were old enough to be troublesome. In an effort made by the ex-emperor Gotoba to drive the usurping Hojo from power the chains were riveted tighter than ever. The imperial troops were massacred by the conquering Hojo. The estates of all who fought on the emperor’s side were confiscated and distributed among the minions of the usurpers. The exiled emperor died of a broken heart. The nominal Mikado of Kioto and the nominal shogun at Kamakura were set up, but the Hojo were the keepers of both. The oppression, the neglect of public business and the carousals of the usurpers became intolerable. Armies were raised spontaneously to support the emperor and the Ashikaga leader in their revolt against the existing evils. All over the empire the people rose against their oppressors and massacred them. The Hojo domination which had been paramount for nearly one hundred and fifty years was utterly broken.

The Hojo have never been forgiven for their arbitrary treatment 205of the Mikados. Every obloquy is cast upon them by Japanese historians, dramatists, poets and novelists, and yet there is another side to the story. It must be conceded that the Hojos were able rulers and kept order and peace in the empire for more than a century. They encouraged literature and the cultivation of the arts and sciences. During their period the resources of the country were developed, and some branches of useful handicraft and fine arts were brought to a perfection never since surpassed. To this time belongs the famous image carver, sculptor and architect, Unkei, and the lacquer artists who are the “old masters” in this branch of art. The military spirit of the people was kept alive, tactics were improved, and the methods of governmental administration simplified. During this period of splendid temples, monasteries, pagodas, colossal images and other monuments of holy zeal, Hojo Sadatoki erected a monument over the grave of Kiyomori at Hiogo. Hojo Tokimune raised and kept in readiness a permanent war fund so that the military expenses might not interfere with the revenue reserved for ordinary government expenses. To his invincible courage, patriotic pride, and indomitable energy are due the vindication of the national honor and the repulse of the Tartar invasion.

During the early centuries of the Christian era, Japan and China kept up friendly intercourse, exchanging embassies on various missions, but chiefly with the mutual object of bearing congratulations to an emperor upon his accession to the throne. The civil disorders in both countries interrupted these friendly relations 206in the twelfth century, and communication ceased. When the acquaintance was renewed in the time of the Hojo it was not on so friendly a footing.

In China the Mongol Tartars had overthrown the Sung dynasty and had conquered the adjacent country. Through the Coreans the Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, at whose court Marco Polo and his uncles were then visiting, sent letters demanding tribute and homage from Japan. Chinese envoys came to Kamakura, but Hojo Tokimune, enraged at the insolent demands, dismissed them in disgrace. Six embassies were sent, and six times rejected. An expedition from China consisting of ten thousand men was then sent against Japan. They landed, were attacked, their commander was slain, and they returned, having accomplished nothing. The Chinese emperor now sent nine envoys to announce their purpose to remain until a definite answer was returned to their master. They were called to Kamakura, and the Japanese reply was given by cutting off their heads. The Japanese now began to prepare for war on land and sea. Once more Chinese envoys came to demand tribute. These were decapitated. Meanwhile the armada was preparing. Great China was coming to crush the little strip of land that refused homage to the invincible conqueror. The army numbered one hundred thousand Chinese and Tartars, and seven thousand Coreans in ships that whitened the sea. They numbered three thousand five hundred in all. It was in July, 1281, that the sight of the Chinese junks greeted the watchers on the hills of Daizaifu. Many of the junks were of immense proportion, larger than the natives of Japan had ever seen, and armed with the engines of European warfare which their Venetian guests had taught the Mongols to construct and work. The naval battle that ensued was a terrible one. The Japanese had small chance of success in the water, owing to the smallness of their boats, but in personal valor they were much superior, and some of their deeds of bravery are inspiringly interesting. Nevertheless the Chinese were unable to effect a landing, owing to the heavy fortifications along the shore.

The whole nation was now roused. Re-enforcements poured in from all quarters to swell the hosts of defenders. From the monasteries and temples all over the country went up unceasing 209prayer to the gods to ruin their enemies and save the land of Japan. The emperor and ex-emperor went in solemn state to the chief priest of Shinto, and writing out their petitions to the gods sent him as a messenger to the shrines of Ise. It is recorded as a 210miraculous fact that at the hour of noon as the sacred envoy arrived at the shrine and offered a prayer, the day being perfectly clear, a streak of cloud appeared in the sky that soon overspread the heavens, until the dense masses portended a storm of awful violence. One of those cyclones called by the Japanese tai-fu, of appalling velocity and resistless force, such as whirl along the coast of Japan and China during late summer and early fall of every year, burst upon the Chinese fleet. Nothing can withstand these maelstorms of the air. We call them typhoons. Iron steamships of thousands of horse power are almost unmanageable in them. The helpless Chinese junks were crushed together, impaled on the rocks, dashed against the cliffs or tossed on land like corks on the spray. Hundreds of the vessels sank. The corpses were piled on the shore or floating on the water so thickly that it seemed almost possible to walk thereon. The vessels of the survivors in large numbers drifted or were wrecked upon Taka island, where they established themselves and cutting down trees began building boats to reach Corea. Here they were attacked by the Japanese, and after a bloody struggle, all the fiercer for the despair on the one side and the exultation on the other, were all slain or driven to the sea to be drowned except three, who were sent back to tell their emperor how the gods of Japan had destroyed their armada.

This was the last time that China ever attempted to conquer Japan, whose people boast that their land has never been defiled by an invading army. They have ever ascribed the glory of the destruction of the Tartar fleet to the interposition of the gods of Ise, who thereafter received special and grateful adoration as the guardian of the seas and the winds. Great credit and praise were given to the Lord of Kamakura, Hojo Tokimune, for his energy, ability and valor. The author of one native history says, “The repulse of the Tartar barbarians by Tokimune and his preserving the dominions of our Son of Heaven were sufficient to atone for the crimes of his ancestors.”

Nearly six centuries afterward when “the barbarian” Perry anchored his fleet in the bay of Yeddo, in the words of the native annalist, “Orders were sent by the imperial court to the Shinto priest at Ise to offer up prayers for the sweeping away of the barbarians.” 211Millions of earnest hearts put up the same prayers their fathers had offered fully expecting the same result.

To this day the Japanese mother hushes her fretful infant by the question, “Do you think the Mongols are coming?” This is the only serious attempt at invasion ever made by any nation upon the shores of Japan.

The internal history of Japan during the period of time covered by the actual or nominal rule of the Ashikaga family, from 1336 until 1573, except the very last years of it, is not very attractive to a foreign reader. It is a confused picture of intestinal war. It was by foul means that Ashikaga Takugi, one of the generals who overthrew the Hojos, attained the dignity of shogun, and a period of more than two centuries, during which his descendants held sway at Kamakura, was characterized by treachery, bloodshed and almost perpetual warfare. The founder of this line secured the favor of the mikado Go-Daigo, after he was recalled from exile, upon the overthrow of the military usurpation. Ashikaga soon seized the reins in his own hands. The mikado fled in terror, and a new mikado was declared in the person of 212another of the royal family. Of course this man was willing to confer upon Ashikaga, his supporter the title of shogun. Kamakura again became a military capital. The duarchy was restored, and the war of the northern and southern dynasties began, to last fifty-six years.

The act by which more than any other the Ashikagas earned the curses of posterity, was the sending of an embassy to China in 1401, bearing presents, acknowledging in a measure the authority of China, and accepting in return the title of Nippon O, or king of Japan. This which was done by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third of the line, was an insult to the national dignity for which he has never been forgiven. It was a needless humiliation of Japan to her arrogant neighbor and done only to exalt the vanity and glory of the usurper, who, not content with adopting the style and equipage of the mikado, wished to be called a king and yet dared not usurp the imperial throne.

Japan of all the Asiatic nations seems to have brought the feudal system to the highest state of perfection. While in Europe the nations were engaged in throwing off the feudal yoke and inaugurating modern government, Japan was riveting the fetters which stood intact until 1871. The daimios were practically independent chieftains, who ruled their own provinces as they willed; and the more ambitious and powerful did not hesitate to make war upon the neighboring clans. There were on all sides struggles for pre-eminence in which the fittest survived, annexing to their own territories those of the weaker class which they had subdued. Nor was it merely rival clans that were disturbing the country. The Buddhist clergy 215had acquired immense political influence, which they were far from scrupulous in using. Their monasteries were in many cases castles, from which themselves living amid every kind of luxury, they tyrannized over the surrounding country. The history of these often reads strikingly like that of the corresponding institutions in Europe during the middle ages; indeed the hierarchical 216as well as the feudal development of Europe and Japan have been wonderfully alike.

Probably the three names most renowned in Japan are Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu. The second and third of these were generals subordinate to the first, who deposed the Ashikaga shoguns, persecuted the Buddhists, encouraged the Jesuits, and restored to a great extent the supremacy of the mikado. The Buddhists look on this leader as an incarnate demon sent to destroy their faith. He was a Shintoist, with bitter hatred for the Buddhists, and never lost an opportunity to burn property of his enemies or butcher priests, women, and children of that faith. These who have just been named, by their prowess and the strength of their armies, rose to highest positions among the daimios.

When these three great men appeared, the country was in a most critical state. The later Ashikaga shoguns had become as powerless as the mikado himself in the management of affairs. Nobunaga first rose into note. By successive victories, he became ruler of additional provinces, and his fame became so great that the emperor committed to him the task of tranquilizing the country. He deposed first one usurping shogun and then another, and thus came an end to the domination of the Ashikagas. Nobunaga was now the most powerful man in the country, and was virtually discharging the duties of shogun though he never obtained the title. Hideyoshi became virtual lord of the empire, after the assassination of Nobunaga. He rose from the ranks of the peasants to the highest position in Japan under the emperor. Having in connection with Nobunaga and Iyeyasu reduced all the Japanese clans into subjection, he looked abroad for some foreign power to subdue.

The immoderate ambition of Hideyoshi’s life was to conquer Corea, and even China. Under the declining power of Ashikaga, all tribute from Corea had ceased and the pirates who ranged the coasts scarcely allowed any trade to exist. We have seen how it was from Corea that Japan received Chinese learning and the arts of civilization, and Coreans swelled the number of Mongol Tartars who invaded Japan with the armada. On the other hand Corea was more than once overrun by Japanese armies, even 217partly governed by Japanese officials, and on different occasions had to pay tribute to Japan in token of submission. Japanese pirates too were for six hundred years as much the terror of the Chinese and Corean coasts as were the Danes and Norsemen of the shores of the North Sea. The discontinuance of the embassies and tribute from Corea, thus afforded the ambitious general a pretext for disturbing the friendly relations with Corea, by the dispatch of an embassador to complain of this neglect. The behavior of this embassador only too clearly reflected the swagger of his overbearing lord, and the consequence was an invasion of Corea.

Hideyoshi promised to march his generals and army to Peking, and divide the soil of China among them. He also scorned the suggestion that scholars versed in Chinese should accompany the expedition. Said he, “This expedition will make the Chinese use our literature.” Corea was completely overrun by Hideyoshi’s forces, although the commander himself was unable to accompany the expedition, owing to his age and the grief of his mother. Further details of this invasion will be found later in the historical sketch of Corea. It may be said here however, that the conquest terminated ingloriously, and reflects no honor on Japan. The responsibility of the outrage upon a peaceful nation rests wholly upon Hideyoshi. The Coreans were a mild and peaceable people, wholly unprepared for war. There was scarcely a shadow of provocation for the invasion, which was nothing less than a huge filibustering scheme. It was not popular with the people or the rulers, and was only carried through by the will of the military leader. The sacrifice of life on either side must have been great, and all for the ambition of one man. Nevertheless, a party in Japan has long held that Corea was by the conquests of the third and sixteenth centuries a part of the Japanese empire, and the reader will see how 1772 and again in 1775 the cry of “On to Corea” shook the nation like an earthquake.

After the deaths of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Iyeyasu was left the virtual ruler of Japan. At first he governed the country as regent, but his increasing popularity awoke the jealousy of the partisans of Hideyori, the son of Hideyoshi, who was nominated as his successor, as well as of Nobunaga’s family. 218These combined to overthrow him, and the consequence was the great battle of Sekigahara, fought in 1600, in which Iyeyasu came off completely victorious. Three years later, he was appointed by the emperor shogun. Like Yorotomo he resolved to select a city as the center of his power, and that which seemed to him most suitable was not Kamakura, which ere this had lost much of its glory, but the little castle town of Yeddo, about thirty-five miles farther north. Here he and his successors, and the dynasty he founded, swayed the destinies of Japan from 1603 until the restoration in 1868.

It is not difficult to account for the tone of admiration and pride with which a modern Japanese speaks of “The age of Taiko.” There are many who hold that Hideyoshi, or Taiko, was the real unifier of the empire. Certain it is that he originated many of the most striking forms of national administration. In his time the arts and sciences were not only in a very flourishing condition, but gave promise of rich development. The spirit of military enterprise and internal national improvement was at its height. Contact with the foreigners of many nations awoke a spirit of inquiry and intellectual activity; but it was on 221the seas that genius and restless activity found their most congenial field.

This era is marked by the highest production in marine architecture, and the extent and variety of commercial enterprise. The ships built in this century were twice the size and vastly the superior in model of the junks that now hug the Japanese shores or ply between China and Japan. The pictures of them preserved to the present day, show that they were superior in size to the vessels of Columbus, and nearly equal in sailing qualities to the contemporary Dutch and Portuguese galleons. They were provided with ordnance, and a model of a Japanese breech-loading cannon is still preserved in Kioto. Ever a brave and adventurous people, the Japanese then roamed the seas with a freedom 222that one who knows only of the modern bound people would scarcely credit. Voyages of trade discovery or piracy have been made to India, Siam, Birmah, the Philippine Islands, Southern China, the Malay Archipelago and the Kuriles, even in the fifteenth century, but was more numerous in the sixteenth. The Japanese literature contains many references to these adventurous sailors, and when the records of the far east are thoroughly investigated, and this subject fully studied, very interesting results are apt to be obtained showing the widespread influence of Japan at a time when she was scarcely known by the European world to have existence.