BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Rein’s “Japan,” “The Gist of Japan” (Peery), “Japan and its Regeneration” (Cary), “The Soul of the Far East” (Lowell), “Feudal and Modern Japan” (Knapp), “Lotos-Time in Japan” (Finck), and Hearn’s works discuss the subject of Japanese characteristics with intelligence from various points of view. The most interesting and instructive Japanese writer on the subject is Nitobe in his “Bushidō, the Soul of Japan.” Dening’s paper in vol. xix. Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan is very valuable. “The Evolution of the Japanese” (Gulick) should also be carefully studied, especially as he differs from Lowell and others, who contend that Orientals in general, and Japanese in particular, have no “soul,” or distinct personality.
Hearn’s best work, entitled “Japan, An Interpretation,” is interesting and instructive in this connection. “Japanese Life in Town and Country” (Knox), “Dai Nippon” (Dyer), chap. iii., and “Every Day Japan” (Lloyd) also throw light on this topic.
CHAPTER VII
HISTORY (OLD JAPAN)
Outline of Topics: Outline of mythology and history; sources of material; earlier periods; Japanese and Græco-Roman mythology; prehistoric period; continental influences; capitals; Imperialism; Fujiwara Epoch; Taira and Minamoto; Hōjō tyranny; Ashikaga Period; Nobunaga and Hideyoshi; Iyeyasu; Tokugawa Dynasty.—Bibliography.
THE mythology and history of Japan may be outlined in the following manner:—
A. Sources of material.
1. Oral tradition.
2. Kojiki [711 A. D.].
3. Nihongi [720 A. D.].
B. Chronology.
I. Old Japan.
1. “Divine Ages.” Creation of world; Izanagi and Izanami; Sun-goddess and brother; Ninigi; Princes Fire-Shine and Fire-Fade; Jimmu.
2. Prehistoric Period [660 B.C.-400 (?) A. D.]. Jimmu Tennō; “Sūjin, the Civilizer”; Yamato-Dake; Empress Jingu; Invasion of Korea; Ōjin, deified as Hachiman, the Japanese Mars; Take-no-uchi. Native elements of civilization. Chinese literature.
3. Imperialistic Period [400 (?)-888 A. D.]. Continental influences (on language and literature, learning, government, manners and customs, and religion); Buddhism; Shōtoku Taishi; practice of abdication; Nara Epoch; capital settled at Kyōto; Sugawara; Fujiwara family established in regency (888 A. D.).
4. Civil Strife [888-1603 A. D.]. Fujiwara bureaucracy; Taira supremacy (1156-1185); wars of red and white flags; Yoritomo and Yoshitsune; Minamoto supremacy (1185-1199); first Shōgunate; Hōjō tyranny (1199-1333); Tartar armada; Kusunoki and Nitta; Ashikaga supremacy (1333-1573); “War of the Chrysanthemums”; tribute to China; fine arts and architecture; cha-no-yu; Portuguese; Francis Xavier; spread of Christianity; Nobunaga, persecutor of Buddhists (1573-1582); Hideyoshi, “Napoleon of Japan” (1585-1598); persecution of Christianity; invasion of Korea; Iyeyasu; battle of Sekigahara (1600 A. D.).
5. Tokugawa Feudalism [1603-1868 A. D.]. Iyeyasu Shōgun (1603); capital Yedo, girdled by friendly fiefs; perfection of feudalism; Dutch; Will Adams; English; extermination of Christianity; seclusion and crystallization (1638-1853); Confucian influences.
II. New Japan.
5 (continued). Perry’s Expedition; treaties with foreign nations; internal strife; Richardson affair; Shimonoseki affair; resignation of Shōgun; abolition of Shōgunate; Revolutionary War; New Imperialism; Imperial capital Yedo, renamed Tōkyō; Meiji Era.
6. New Empire [1868- ]. Opening of ports and cities; “Charter Oath”; telegraphs, light-houses, postal system, mint, dockyard, etc.; outcasts acknowledged as human beings; abolition of feudalism; first railway, newspaper, and church; Imperial University; Yokohama Missionary Conference; Gregorian calendar; anti-Christian edicts removed; Saga rebellion; Formosan Expedition; assembly of governors; Senate; treaty with Korea; Satsuma rebellion; bi-metallism; Loo Choo annexed; new codes; prefectural assemblies; Bank of Japan; Ōsaka Missionary Conference; new nobility; Japan Mail Steamship Company; Privy Council; Prince Haru made Crown Prince; anti-foreign reaction; promulgation of Constitution; first Diet; Gifu earthquake; war with China; Formosa; tariff revision; gold standard; freedom of press and public meetings; opening of Japan by new treaties; war with China; Tōkyō Missionary Conference; Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
The student of Japanese history is confronted, at the outset, with a serious difficulty. In ancient times the Japanese had no literary script, so that all events had to be handed down from generation to generation by oral tradition. The art of writing was introduced into Japan, from China probably, in the latter part of the third century A. D.; but it was not used for recording events until the beginning of the fifth century. All these early records, moreover, were destroyed by fire; so that the only “reliance for information about ... antiquity” has to be placed in the Kojiki,[74] or “Records of Ancient Matters,” and the Nihongi,[75] or “Chronicles of Japan.” The former, completed in 712 A. D., is written in a purer Japanese style; the latter, finished in 720 A. D., is “much more tinctured with Chinese philosophy”; though differing in some details, they are practically concordant, and supply the data upon which the Japanese have constructed their “history.” It is thus evident that the accounts of the period before Christ must be largely mythological, and the records of the first four centuries of the Christian era must be a thorough mixture of fact and fiction, which it is difficult carefully to separate.
ŌSAKA CASTLE
According to Japanese chronology, the Empire of Japan was founded by Jimmu Tennō in 660 B. C. This was when Assyria, under Sardanapalus, was at the height of its power; not long after the ten tribes of Israel had been carried into captivity, and soon after the reign of the good Hezekiah in Judah; before Media had risen into prominence; a century later than Lycurgus, and a few decades before Draco; and during the period of the Roman kingdom. But according to a foreign scholar who has sifted the material at hand, the first absolutely authentic date in Japanese history is 461 A. D.,[76]—just the time when the Saxons were settling in England. If, therefore, the Japanese are given the benefit of more than a century, there yet remains a millennium which falls under the sacrificial knife of the historical critic. But while we cannot accept unchallenged the details of about a thousand years, and cannot withhold surprise that even the Constitution of New Japan maintains the “exploded religious fiction” of the foundation of the empire, we must acknowledge that the Imperial family of Japan has formed the oldest continuous dynasty in the world, and can probably boast an “unbroken line” of eighteen or twenty centuries.
1. “Divine Ages.”
2. Prehistoric Period [660 B. C.—400 (?) A. D.].
Dr. Murray, in “The Story of Japan,” following the illustrious example of Arnold in Roman history, treats these more or less mythological periods in a reasonable way. He says: “Yet the events of the earlier period ... are capable, with due care and inspection, of furnishing important lessons and disclosing many facts in regard to the lives and characteristics of the primitive Japanese.” These facts concerning the native elements of civilization pertain to the mode of government, which was feudal; to food, clothing, houses, arms, and implements; to plants and domestic and wild animals; to modes of travel; to reading and writing, as being unknown; to various manners and customs; to superstitions; and to “religious notions,” which found expression in Shintō, itself not strictly a “religion,” but only a cult without a moral code. “Morals were invented by the Chinese because they were an immoral people; but in Japan there was no necessity for any system of morals, as every Japanese acted rightly if he only consulted his own heart”! So asserts a Shintō apologist. And from the fact that so many myths cluster around Izumo, it is a natural inference that one migration of the ancestors of the Japanese from Korea landed in that province, while the legends relating to Izanagi and Izanami, the first male and female deities, since they find local habitation in Kyūshiu, seem to indicate another migration (Korean or Malay?) to that locality. These different migrations are also supposed to account for the two distinct types of Japanese.
The story of the creation of the world bears considerable resemblance to that related in Ovid’s Metamorphoses; and this is only one of many points of remarkable similarity between the mythology of Japan and the Græco-Roman mythology.[77] And one famous incident in the career of the Sun-Goddess is evidently a myth of a solar eclipse.
Although the Emperor Jimmu cannot be accepted as a truly historical personage, neither can he be entirely ignored, for he is still an important “character” in Japanese “history” and continues to claim in his honor two national holidays (February 11 and April 3). And, just as Jimmu may be considered the Cyrus, or founder, of the Japanese Empire, so Sūjin, “the Civilizer,” may be called its Darius, or organizer. The Prince Yamato-Dake is a popular hero, whose wonderful exploits are still sung in prose and poetry. As for the Empress Jingu, or Jingō, although she is not included in the official list[78] of the rulers of the empire, she is considered a great heroine, and is especially famous for her successful invasion of Korea, assigned to about 200 A. d. And it is her son, Ōjin, who, deified as Hachiman, is still “worshipped” as god of war; while Take-no-uchi is renowned for having served as Prime Minister to five Emperors and one Empress (Jingu). It was during this period that the Chinese language and literature, together with the art of writing, were introduced into Japan through Korea.
3. Imperialistic Period [400(?)-888 A. D.].
The continental influences form an important factor in the equation of Japanese civilization. The Japanese “have been from the beginning of their history a receptive people,” and are indebted to Korea and China for the beginnings of language, literature, education, art, mental and moral philosophy (Confucianism), religion (Buddhism), and many social ideas. The conversion of the nation to Buddhism took place in the sixth and seventh centuries, and was largely due to the powerful influence of the Prime Minister of the Empress Suiko. He is best known by his posthumous title of Shōtoku Taishi, and is also famous for having compiled “the first written law in Japan.”
For a long period, on account of superstitions, the capital was frequently removed, so that Japan is said to have had “no less than sixty capitals.” But during most of the eighth century the court was located at Nara, which gave its name to that epoch; and in 794 A. D. the capital was permanently established at Kyōto.
At first the government of Japan was an absolute monarchy, not only in name, but also in fact; for the authority of the Emperor was recognized and maintained, comparatively unimpaired, throughout the realm. But the decay of the Imperial power began quite early in “the Middle Ages of Japan,” as Dr. Murray calls the period from about 700 to 1184 A. D. The Emperors themselves, wearied with the restrained and dignified life which, as “descendants of the gods,” they were obliged by etiquette to endure, preferred to abdicate; and in retirement “often wielded a greater influence and exerted a more active part in the administration of affairs.” This practice of abdication frequently brought a youth, or even an infant, to the throne, and naturally transferred the real power to the subordinate administrative officers. This was the way in which gradatim the “duarchy,” as it is sometimes called, was developed, and in which seriatim families and even individuals became prominent.
4. Civil Strife [888-1603 A. D.].
Although actual warfare did not begin for a long period, the date of the appointment of a Fujiwara as Regent practically ended Imperialism and was the beginning of jealousy and strife. And yet the Fujiwara Epoch was the “Elizabethan Age” of classical literature. But after that family had for about 400 years “monopolized nearly all the important offices in the government,” and from 888 had held the regency in hereditary tenure, it was finally deposed by the so-called “military families.”
The first of these was the Taira, who, after only a short period of power (1156-1185) through Kiyomori, were utterly overthrown in the “wars of the red and white flags,” and practically annihilated in the great naval battle of Dan-no-ura. Next came the Minamoto, represented by Yoritomo,[79] whose authority was further enhanced when the Emperor bestowed on him the highest military title, Sei-i-Tai-Shōgun. And from this time (1192) till 1868 the emperors were practical nonentities, and subordinates actually governed the empire. The Japanese Merovingians, however, were never deprived of their titular honor by their “Mayors of the Palace.”
But the successors of Yoritomo in the office of Shōgun were young and sensual, and gladly relinquished the executive duties to their guardians of the Hōjō family, who, as regents, ruled “with resistless authority” and “unexampled cruelty and rapacity,” but yet deserve credit for defeating (in 1281) an invading force of Tartars sent by Kublai Khan. The great patriots, Kusunoki and Nitta, with the aid of Ashikaga, finally overthrew the Hōjō domination in 1333; but the Ashikaga rule succeeded and continued till 1573.
During the fourteenth century occurred the Japanese “War of the Roses,” or the “War of the Chrysanthemums,” which was a conflict between two rival branches of the Imperial family. It resulted in the defeat of the “Southern Court” by the “Northern Court,” and the reunion of the Imperial authority in the person of the Emperor Komatsu II. It was an Ashikaga Shōgun who encouraged the quaint tea-ceremonial, called cha-no-yu; it was the same family who fostered fine arts, especially painting and architecture; it was an Ashikaga who paid tribute to China; it was “in almost the worst period of the Ashikaga anarchy” that, in 1542, “the Portuguese made their first appearance in Japan”; and it was only seven years later when Francis Xavier arrived there to begin his missionary labors, from which Christianity spread rapidly, until the converts were numbered by the millions.[80]
The next few decades of Japanese history are crowded with civil strife, and include the three great men, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu, each of whom in turn seized the supreme power. The first-named persecuted Buddhism and was favorable to Christianity; the other two interdicted the latter. Hideyoshi, who “rose from obscurity solely by his own talents,” has been called “the Napoleon of Japan.” He is generally known by his title of Taikō; and he extended his name abroad by an invasion of Korea, which was not, however, a complete success. He is regarded by many as “the greatest soldier, if not the greatest man, whom Japan has produced.” If this statement can be successfully challenged, the palm will certainly be awarded to Iyeyasu, who, by the victory of Sekigahara in 1600, became the virtual ruler of the empire.
5. Tokugawa Feudalism [1603-1868 A. D.].
Iyeyasu founded a dynasty (Tokugawa) of Shōguns, who, for more than 260 years, ruled at Yedo, surrounded by faithful vassals, and who at least gave the empire a long period of peace. He brought Japanese feudalism to its perfection of organization. His successors destroyed Christianity by means of a fearful persecution; prohibited commercial intercourse, except with the Chinese and the Dutch,[81] and allowed it with these only to a limited extent, and thus crystallized Japanese civilization and institutions. It may be true that “Japan reached the acme of her ancient greatness during the Tokugawa Dynasty”; but it is also true that by this policy of insulation and seclusion she was put back two and a half centuries in the matter of progress in civilization.
The long years of peace under the Tokugawas were also years of literary development. Chinese history, literature, and philosophy were ardently studied; Confucianism wielded a mighty influence; but Japanese history and literature were not neglected. The Mito clan especially was the centre of intellectual industry, and produced, among a large number of works, the Dai Nihon Shi (History of Great Japan), which is even to-day the standard. The study of Japanese history revealed the fact that the governmental authority had been originally centred in the Emperor, and not divided with any subordinate; and the study of Confucian political science led to the same idea of an absolute monarchy. Thus the spirit of Imperialism grew, encouraged, perhaps, by clan jealousies and fostered by anti-foreign opinions, until “the last of the Shōguns” resigned his position, and the Emperor was restored to his original sole authority. Then the leaders of the Restoration abandoned their anti-foreign slogan, which had been only a pretext, and by a complete but wise volte-face, began to turn their country into the path of modern civilization, to make up for the lost centuries. But the story of this wonderful transformation belongs to the next chapter.