Japan Part 6

Who is it tells in the great presence that game is lying on the peak of Womuro, at Mi-Yeshinu? Our Great Lord who tranquilly carries on the government, being seated on the throne to await the game, a horse-fly alights on and stings the fleshy part of his arm fully clad in a sleeve of white stuff, and a dragon-fly quickly eats up the horse-fly. That it might properly bear its name, the land of Yamato was called the Island of the Dragon-Fly.(82)

After a long reign Yuriyaku is said in _Kojiki_ to have died at the age of one hundred and twenty-four.

The son of the Emperor Yuriyaku, Prince Shiraka, succeeded him. He is known in history as the Emperor Seinei. He lived only five years after his accession and left no descendant to fill the throne. Search was accordingly made for some one of imperial blood who might become emperor.

It will be remembered that the Emperor Yuriyaku, before his accession, had murdered Prince Ichin.o.be-no-Oshiwa, son of the eighteenth emperor, and that his two sons, then young boys, Princes Oke and Woke, made their escape into the province of Harima. A new governor of this province had just arrived and was in attendance at the festivities in honor of the opening of a new cave(83) by a citizen of the place. As usual there was feasting, and drinking, and dancing. The two young men Oke and Woke, who occupied menial positions in this household, were called upon to dance.

After some hesitation they each in succession danced and sang some of the songs which they had learned in their boyhood.(84) The new governor recognized these songs to be such as were taught at the court, and on enquiring found the young men to be grandsons of the Emperor Richu. He brought them to the palace and presented them to their aunt Queen Ii-Toyo.

After a friendly contest between the two brothers, the younger one, Prince Woke, became the twenty-third emperor under the canonical name of Kenzo.

His reign was a very short one, only eight years according to the _Kojiki_ and three years according to the _Nihongi_. The only incident of consequence recorded of him is that he sought out the burial place of his father, who had been murdered by the Emperor Yuriyaku, and transferred his remains to a fitting mausoleum. He also contemplated the desecration of the mausoleum of the murderer as a mark of his vengeance, but was dissuaded by his brother from the undertaking.

He died without children and was succeeded by his elder brother Prince Oke who became A.D. 488 the twenty-fourth emperor under the canonical name of Ninken.

Concerning the emperor and several of his successors there is little of interest to record. The twenty-fifth emperor, Muretsu (A.D. 499), who was a son of the emperor Ninken, was chiefly notable for his cruelty. Some of the acts recorded of him can only be equalled by those of the degenerate occupants of the imperial throne of Rome in its worst days. He reigned eleven years and died without children. The twenty-sixth emperor was Keitai Tenno, who was the fifth descendant from Ojin Tenno. The only noticeable events in his reign were an expedition to Korea to settle difficulties which had then intervened, and an expedition to Chikushi, the northern part of Kyushu, to repress tumults which had arisen. The next emperors were Ankan Tenno and Senkuwa Tenno, whose reigns were uneventful.

The twenty-ninth emperor was Kimmei Tenno, (A.D. 540-571), who was the son of Keitai Tenno. He reigned thirty-two years and died at the age of sixty-three. It was during his reign, in A.D. 552, that an amba.s.sador from Kudara, one of the three provinces of Korea, presented to the emperor an image of Shaka, and also Buddhist books explaining the doctrine. He commended highly the new religion, and the emperor was deeply impressed with its novelties. This seems the more probable because up to this time j.a.pan looked upon China and Korea as leaders in civilization, and therefore was disposed to regard what had obtained a footing there as worthy of acceptance.

The prime-minister Soga-no-Iname favored the new religion, and urged that the image of Shaka which had been brought over should be duly set up and worshipped. But the ministers Mon.o.be-no-Okoshi and k.u.mako opposed the proposition, saying, "Our country has its own G.o.ds; and they perhaps will be angry with us if we pay our devotions to a foreign G.o.d."

But the emperor settled the matter by saying, "Let Iname try it." He gave the idol to Iname with the directions that he should set it up and pray to it. Accordingly Iname took the image of Shaka and established it in a house of his own, which he created a temple, and worshipped it.

But shortly after this an epidemic broke out in the country, and Okoshi and k.u.mako declared that it was due to the strange G.o.d which had been received from the western barbarians, and besought the emperor to have it thrown away. The image therefore by the emperor's command was thrown into the sea near Naniwa,(85) and the temple in which it had been erected was destroyed. This was the first movement towards the introduction of Buddhism.

In the reign of the thirtieth emperor, Bitatsu Tenno, A.D. 572, who was the son of Kimmei Tenno, Kudara again made a contribution of Buddhist emblems, viz.: books of Buddhist doctrine; a priest of Ritsu sect; a priest; a nun; a diviner; an image maker; and a Buddhist temple carpenter.

These were all housed in the temple of Owake-no-O at Naniwa. Seven years after this two j.a.panese amba.s.sadors who had been sent to Kudara brought back with them several Buddhist images of stone, which the Daijin Umako obtained as his possession. He built several Buddhist temples in which he placed the images and other precious relics which he had secured. He also built a paG.o.da and houses in which the priests and nuns resided. When Umako was sick he asked from the emperor that he might avail himself of the Buddhist ritual. The emperor gave him this privilege, but commanded him to restrict it to himself.

The Emperor Bitatsu died A.D. 585 at the age of forty-eight. His successor was Emperor Yomei the thirty-first in order from the Emperor Jimmu. He was by his mother a descendant of the Soga family and his first wife was also a daughter of the prime-minister, the n.o.ble Iname who was also of the Soga family. The bitter hostility between the members of the court who favored Buddhism and those who opposed it continued. The leader of the former party was Umako now the prime-minister, while the opponents of Buddhism were led by Moriya. One of the occasions when their hostility broke out was when the emperor was taken sick and he wished to try the effect of the Buddhist Sampo, that is, the three precious elements of Buddhism, Buddha, the rites of Buddhism, and the Buddhist priests. Moriya and his party advised against this conformity to Buddhism, but Umako supported him in his wishes and introduced a Buddhist priest into the palace to attend upon the emperor. In spite of all this effort, however, the emperor died, having reigned only three years.

The death of the emperor was the signal for the breaking out of serious disturbances. Moriya the champion of the old religion was killed and his party overpowered. From this time Buddhism may be said to have triumphed in j.a.pan. The thirty-second emperor, Sujun, was crowned A.D. 588. He was the son of the Emperor Kimmei, and at the time of his accession was sixty-nine years of age. The communication with Korea continued, and more and more of the Buddhist culture was introduced. Umako, who now had undisputed sway in the government, sent out to Korea persons to study the Buddhist faith, and consecrated many priests and nuns and erected temples for the new worship.

But everything did not move smoothly. Umako, with all his zeal and enthusiasm for Buddhism, was suspected of personal ambition, and was looked upon with distrust. A plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate the emperor was planned by Umako, which terminated his life, after a reign of only four years, in the seventy-third year of his age.

The thirty-third sovereign was the Empress Suiko, who was the sister of the Emperor Yomei. Her coronation took place A.D. 593. Her reign was chiefly remarkable for the active influence of Umaydo-no-Oji (A.D.

572-622), who was the second son of the Emperor Yomei, and who was made crown prince under the empress, and aided her in the administration of the political affairs of the government. This prince is better known by his posthumous t.i.tle of Shotoku Taishi (great teacher of the divine virtue), and is held in great reverence as the princ.i.p.al founder and promoter of Buddhism in j.a.pan. His name has been linked with many legends, which are still current after the lapse of fourteen hundred years. It is said that as soon as he was born he was able to speak, and was in all respects a very clever boy. His memory was wonderfully acute. He had Napoleon the Great's talent of attending to several things at the same time. He could hear the appeals of eight persons at once, and give to each a proper answer. From this circ.u.mstance he sometimes went by the name of Yatsumimi-no-Oji, that is, Prince of Eight Ears.

The prince threw the whole influence of the government in favor of Buddhism. Many temples were built in different central districts for the convenience of the new religion. Under his influence the officers of the government rivalled each other in founding temples and maintaining them at their own expense. He took as his teacher a priest who had recently come from Korea, and from him for the first time learned the five Buddhist commandments:

1. Against stealing.

2. Against lying.

3. Against intemperance.

4. Against murder.

5. Against adultery.

He gave command to an artificer in copper to make large images of Buddha for each of the officers in the government. The king of Koma in Korea hearing of this great undertaking sent a contribution of three hundred _ryo_ of gold. The images were finished in due time and an imposing religious ceremonial was held in honor of the event. Many of the princ.i.p.al temples of Buddhism in different parts of j.a.pan take their origin from the time of Shotoku Taishi, and no single character in history is so intimately connected with the development of Buddhism.

It was not only as a religious reformer, however, that he deserves to be remembered. He was a a most painstaking and enlightened ruler. He studiously gathered from the Chinese the elements and methods of government and adapted them to his own country.(86) From his time the study of Chinese literature became the essential culture of the active minds of j.a.pan.

Shotoku Taishi died A.D. 622, having been the princ.i.p.al officer of the government for twenty-nine years.

The impulse which Shotoku had given to Buddhism did not subside. In the year following his death officers were appointed to govern the growing religious communities, called Sosho and Sozu, which in dignity and power corresponded to archbishops and bishops in Christian nomenclature. The first archbishop was Kw.a.n.kin, a priest from Kudara, and the first bishop was Tokuseki of Kurabe. These officials examined every priest and nun and made a register of them. A census of Buddhism is also given which belongs to this same period. According to this there were forty-six Buddhist temples and 1385 priests and nuns.

In the year A.D. 626, Soga-no-Umako the _daijin_ and a life-long friend and promoter of Buddhism died, and two years later the Empress Suiko died.

So nearly all the prominent partic.i.p.ants in the events which had taken place since the first entrance of Buddhism into j.a.pan, had disappeared. In the meantime a religion had taken possession of a field in which it was destined to exert a wide influence and undergo a national development.

Along with this religion had come a literature and a culture, which when absorbed into the life of this people gave them the permanent characteristics which we now recognize as the j.a.panese civilization. The freer and more frequent intercourse with China and Korea brought with it not only a knowledge of books and writing, but many improvements in arts and many new arts and agricultural industries. When the forces of the Empress Jingo returned from Korea they brought with them persons skilled in many industrial occupations. It is a tradition that a descendant of the Kan dynasty in China had fled to Korea on the fall of that dynasty, and in the twentieth year of the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 290) had migrated to j.a.pan with a colony who were familiar with weaving and sewing. In the thirty-seventh year of the same emperor an officer was sent to China to obtain more weavers and sewers. The cultivation of the mulberry tree and the breeding of silk-worms(87) was introduced from China in A.D. 457, and in order to encourage this industry the empress herself engaged in it. At this early period this important industry was begun, or at least received an impulse which has been continued down to the present time.

With these industrial arts came in rapid succession the elements of a higher civilization. Books on almanac-making, astronomy, geography and divination were brought to j.a.pan from Korea and China. The Chinese calendar(88) was first used in the reign of the Empress Suiko under the regency of Shotoku Taishi. This almanac was based on the lunar periods and the civil year began with the new moon occurring about the beginning of February. But as the length of the civil year is not an exact multiple of the number of days contained in a lunation, the twelve lunar months used by the Chinese and j.a.panese will be about eleven days shorter than the solar year. Hence to prevent the discrepancy from increasing and throwing the seasons entirely out of their place in the calendar, an intercalary month was inserted nearly every third year. It was inserted not at the end of the year but whenever the discrepancy had reached the number of days in a lunation. The month thus inserted was called by the same name as the preceding with an explanatory prefix. From this period therefore the dates of j.a.panese events may be relied upon with some degree of certainty. For events occurring before this period, a knowledge of which must have been transmitted by oral tradition, the dates a.s.signed to them in the _Nihongi_ must have been computed by counting back to the supposed time according to the calendar in use at the time of the writing.

The astronomy and geography introduced into j.a.pan along with almanac-making in the fifth century were without question very primitive sciences. At this time even in Europe the knowledge of these sciences was not advanced beyond the imperfect notions of the Greeks. It was not until the sixteenth century, when the discoveries of the Portuguese and the Spaniards and the English had revealed the shape and the divisions of the earth, and the Jesuits had carried this knowledge to China and j.a.pan, that anything like a correct astronomy or geography was possible. By divination, which is mentioned as one of the sciences brought over from Korea, was meant the determination of future events or of lucky or unlucky conditions.

The most important civilizing force introduced from China at this period was the formal inst.i.tutions of education. Although the first establishment of a school dates from the reign of the Emperor Tenji (A.D. 668-671), yet it was not till the reign of the Emperor Mommu (A.D. 697-707) that the university was regularly organized. Branch schools were also established in the several provinces. In the university there were departments for Chinese literature, for medicine, for astronomy and almanac-making, and for astrology. Under the first head were included the art of writing the Chinese characters, the practice of composition, the study of the Chinese cla.s.sics, and the reading of books of Chinese history. In like manner the training of the students in medicine chiefly consisted in making them familiar with the methods which prevailed in China. The properties of medicinal plants, the variations of the pulse in health and disease and in the changing seasons, and the anatomy of the human body were the chief subjects of study. The human cadaver was never dissected, but a knowledge of anatomy was obtained from diagrams which were wholly hypothetical. In early times medical officers were appointed to experiment with medicines upon monkeys, and also to dissect the bodies of monkeys. From these dissections, as well as from the printed diagrams of Chinese books the imperfect knowledge which they had reached was derived. It was not till 1771 that Sugita Genpaku(89) and several other j.a.panese scholars had an opportunity to dissect the body of a criminal, and by personal observation found the utter falsity of the Chinese diagrams on which they had hitherto relied, and the correctness of the Dutch books, which they had, contrary to the laws of the country, learned to read.

The great reverence felt for Chinese culture led to the introduction at an early date of the Chinese system of official rank. The system remained in force down to the restoration in 1868. The officers were _Daijo-daijin_ (Prime-Minister), _Sa-daijin_ (Minister of the Left), _U-daijin_ (Minister of the Right), together with eight boards,(90) charged with the various duties of administration. These boards were divided into sections, and the various departments of the government were respectively performed by them.

In this way the administration became thoroughly bureaucratic, in imitation of the Chinese empire, to which the j.a.panese at this time looked up with the most complete reverence.

In addition to these official boards, six official ranks were also introduced from China. These ranks were designated, first, virtue; second, humanity; third, propriety; fourth, truth; fifth, righteousness, and sixth, wisdom. Each of these ranks(91) was divided into two orders termed respectively the Greater and the Lesser. Thus there were twelve distinctions in this system. It was introduced in the reign of the Empress Suiko, A.D. 604, and is generally attributed to the Regent Shotoku, who was a great admirer of the continental civilization. It existed in this form until the time of the Emperor Kotoku, when, A.D. 649, it was extended to nineteen distinctions. These were not given to the individual in recognition of talent, but to families to be by them transmitted to their posterity as hereditary rank.

For many years during this period of active intercourse with China and Korea, Dazaifu, situated on the west coast of Kyushu, north of the present situation of Nagasaki, was the recognized port where strangers were received. This city was the seat of a vice-royalty, having control over the nine provinces of Kyushu. The office of vice-governor was considered a place of honorable banishment to which distinguished men who were distasteful at court could be sent.

These continental influences continued for many years and indeed have never ceased. There has always existed a cla.s.s of scholars who looked upon Chinese learning as the supreme pinnacle to which the human mind could attain. This was especially true of the admirers of Confucius and Confucianism. Although it was not until a much later period that the culture of a Chinese philosophy attained its highest mark, yet even in the early arrangement of the studies in the university we see the wide influence which the writings of the Chinese cla.s.sics exerted.

We close this chapter with an event which evinced the advance which j.a.panese civilization had made, and aided greatly in promoting this advance in the subsequent centuries. This event was the publication of the _Kojiki_ (Record of Ancient Things) and the _Nihongi_ (Chronicles of j.a.pan). A book still older than these is said to have been composed in A.D. 620, but it perished in a fire in A.D. 645, although a fragment is said to have been rescued. The circ.u.mstances attending the preparation of the _Kojiki_ are given by Mr. Satow in his paper(92) on the "Revival of Pure Shinto," and also by Mr. Chamberlain(93) in his introduction to the translation. The Emperor Temmu had resolved to take measures to preserve the true traditions from oblivion. He had the records carefully examined and compiled. Then these collated traditions were one by one committed to one of the household officers, Hiyeda-no-Are, who had a marvellously retentive memory. Before the work of compilation was finished the emperor died; but the Empress Gemmyo, who after an interval succeeded him, carried it on to its completion in A.D. 712. By her direction the traditions were taken down from Are's dictation in the form in which we now have them. It is by no means a pleasing or attractive work, even in the opinion of the j.a.panese. It is bald and archaic in its form and composition. It is, however, notable as being freer from the admixture of Chinese learning, and therefore a better index of the native culture of the race than the works which followed it.(94) Much of it consists of mere genealogies of the emperors and naked statements of leading events, but there are besides this many legends and poems which bear evidence of having been handed down in essentially their present form. As an authority for the chronology of the early events it is, of course, of small value. It is evident that where a narrative of events has been carried through many centuries by tradition alone, without written records to check or a.s.sist it, no dependence can be placed on the chronology of the events, further than, perhaps, on the order of sequence.

Only eight years after the publication of the _Kojiki_, a second work termed _Nihongi_ or Chronicles of j.a.pan was issued. It was prepared by imperial command and appeared in A.D. 720 in the reign of the Empress Gensho. It differs from the older book in being composed in the Chinese idiom, and in being much more tinctured with the ideas of Chinese philosophy. These two works, so nearly contemporaneous, both of them composed in so great a degree of the legendary elements of j.a.panese history, must be looked upon as marking a distinct epoch in the story of j.a.pan.

CHAPTER VI. THE MIDDLE AGES OF j.a.pAN.

The theory of the j.a.panese government during the greater part of its long career has been that of an absolute monarchy. The emperor was supposed to hold in his hands the supreme authority, and to dispose, as he saw fit, of honors and emoluments, offices and administrative duties. There was no fundamental law of succession, by which the order of accession to the throne was regulated. The reigning emperor usually selected during his lifetime some one of his sons, or, if he had no sons, some other prince of the imperial family, who became the crown prince during the life of the emperor, and on his death succeeded to the throne.(95) The selection was usually made with the concurrence of the officers of the court, and very often must be credited entirely to the preference of these officers.

Sometimes the emperor died before the appointment of a crown prince had taken place. In this case the selection lay in the hands of the court officers, and many cases are recorded in the history of the empire where serious disturbances arose between the partisans of different aspirants to the throne. These disturbances usually account for the _interregna_ which are so often found between the reigns of successive sovereigns.

To the freedom which has prevailed, not only in the imperial house but also in all the families of the empire, in regard to the rights of succession, must be attributed the long and unbroken line which the imperial house of j.a.pan is able to show. That a line of sovereigns should continue from the time of Jimmu down to the present without break by reason of the failure of children, is of course impossible. But the difficulty disappears when it is remembered, that in case of the failure of a son to succeed, the father provided for the want by adopting as his son some prince of the imperial family, and appointing him as his heir.

With this principle of adoption must be mentioned the practice of abdication(96) which produced a marked and constantly recurring influence in the history of j.a.pan. Especially was this the case in the middle ages of j.a.panese history. The practice spread from the imperial house downwards into all departments of j.a.panese life. Although the principle of abdication and adoption was probably brought from China and was adopted by the j.a.panese as a mark of superior culture, yet these practices were carried to a much greater extent in j.a.pan than was ever thought of in their original home. We shall see in the story of j.a.panese times the amazing and ludicrous extent to which the abdication of reigning sovereigns was carried. We shall witness even the great and sagacious Ieyasu himself, after holding the office of shogun for only two years, retiring in favor of his son Hidetada, and yet from his retirement practically exercising the authority of the office for many years.

In A.D. 668 the Emperor Tenji(97) began a brief reign of three years. As he had been regent during the two preceding reigns, and chiefly managed the administration, very little change occurred after his accession to power. His reign is mainly remarkable for the first appearance in a prominent position of the Fujiwara family. The emperor appointed his counsellor Nakatomi-no-Kamatari as _nai-daijin_ (private minister), an office next in rank after _sa-daijin_, and which was created at this time.

Nakatomi, was authorized to a.s.sume the family name of Fujiwara, meaning wistaria-field. The ancestor of this family, Nakatomi-no-Muraji,(98) was fabled to have come down from the celestial plains to the island of Kyushu. The family therefore ranks with that of the emperor as the oldest and most honored in the empire. From the time of its establishment down to the present it has enjoyed many honors and privileges, and has played a very distinguished part in the history of the country. This family first became prominent during the reign of the Emperor Kotoku. The Soga family from the times of the first introduction of Buddhism had grown to be the most powerful and influential in the empire. Umako had held the position of _daijin_ and his son Yemishi became _daijin_ after his father's death.

Yemishi presumed upon his promotion to this high office and put on the airs of hereditary rank. He built castles for himself and son and organized guards for their defence. His son Iruka became _daijin_ after his father's death and conducted himself with even greater arrogance. At last his conduct became intolerable and he was a.s.sa.s.sinated A.D. 645. The chief actor in this plot was Nakatomi-no-Kamatari, who was at this time on intimate terms with the prince who afterwards became the Emperor Tenji.

Further experiences, this time disastrous, with Korea were encountered during this reign. A j.a.panese garrison had been maintained in Kudara, the western division of Korea. But at this time the people of Shiraki with help from China attacked this garrison and compelled it to retreat to j.a.pan. Along with the j.a.panese came many of the Koreans who had been friendly with them, and who carried with them, like the Huguenots when driven from France, a knowledge of many arts and a culture which were eagerly welcomed by the rising j.a.panese empire. They were colonized in convenient quarters in different provinces, and as an encouragement freed from taxation for a time. Their influence upon the opening civilization of j.a.pan cannot be overlooked or neglected in our estimate of the forces which conspired to produce the final result. In the book of j.a.panese annals called _Nihon Shoki_ there is a statement(99) that in the fifth month of the second year of _Reiki_ (A.D. 717) 1799 Koreans were collected together in the province of Musashi and formed the district of "Koma-gori"

or Korean district. Again in the third year of _Tempyo Hoji_ (A.D. 760) forty inhabitants of Shinra (a kingdom of Korea) and thirty-four priests and priestesses came to j.a.pan and founded the "Shinra-gori," or Korean district. These events occurred not long after the time we are now considering and show that the Korean colonization still continued and that the influence of the arts and culture which the colonists introduced was marked and important.

Few events are noted during the reigns which succeeded. The following are the most worthy of mention. The Emperor Temmu (A.D. 673-686) added several new degrees of rank to those already established. He also favored the Buddhist religion by making its services obligatory, and by forbidding the eating of flesh. Silver was first discovered in Tsushima A.D. 674, which was followed twenty years later by the manufacture of the first silver money. Copper was discovered in Musashi in the reign of the Empress Gemmyo (A.D. 708-715) and the making of copper money came into vogue. Before that time the copper money in use was obtained from Korea and China. Gold coin is said to have been first issued under the Emperor Junnin (A.D. 759-765).

An observatory was established for the inspection of the stars in connection with the new department of astrology. The cultivation of the lacquer tree and the mulberry and the raising of silk-worms were still further encouraged and extended. Cremation was first practised about A.D.

700 in the case of a Buddhist priest who left directions that his body should be burned. Since that time cremation has been employed for the disposal of the dead by the Shin (or Monto) sect, and is now authorized but not made obligatory by the government. The progress made by Buddhism is shown by the census of temples which was made in the reign of the Empress Jito (A.D. 690-702) and which gave the number as 545. The publication of the _Kojiki_ in A.D. 712, and of the _Nihongi_ eight years later, has already been referred to at the close of the preceding chapter.

These works are still looked upon as the foundations of j.a.panese literature and the highest authorities of j.a.panese history.