Japan: From the Japanese Government History

by Unknown

THE FOUNDATION OF THE EDO GOVERNMENT. 1603-1651

We have now to speak of the fifth line of shōguns, the Tokugawa at Edo, who held administrative sway for 255 years from 1603 to the time of the imperial restoration in 1868, a period which is not far removed from the present; and during which the feudal organization of Japan attained its most perfect development.

The original name of the Tokugawa family was Matsudaira. They were of the same blood as Nitta and Ashikaga and of the clan of Minamoto. From the time of the Southern and Northern dynasties their forefathers, generation after generation, espoused the cause opposed to the Ashikaga, and consequently during the Muromachi shōgunate they were relegated to a position of insignificance. Subsequently, they acquired large territorial possessions and had their seat in Mikawa during eight generations. But being surrounded by powerful enemies, they experienced no little difficulty in maintaining themselves. When Iyeyasu was a mere child, he was confined in various places as a surety for his family's conduct. These experiences probably helped to sharpen his naturally great abilities. At the age of seventeen he succeeded to the headship of the family, and as he grew to manhood he gave proofs of magnanimity and coolness, no less than of strategical skill. Gradually and astutely he encroached upon the neighboring provinces, taking clever advantage of the disordered state of the country, until finally he obtained possession of all the provinces that had belonged to the Takeda and the Imagawa and found himself the strongest chieftain in Tōkai-dō, lord of the five provinces of Mikawa, Tōtōmi, Suruga, Kai, and Shinano. In 1590, when Hideyoshi had overthrown the Hōjō at Odawara, all the eight provinces of Kwantō—Sagami, Musashi, Izu, Kazusa, Shimōsa, Kōzuke, Shimotsuke, and Hitachi—hitherto held by the Hōjō, were given to Iyeyasu, the taikō receiving in their stead the five provinces previously possessed by Iyeyasu in Tōkai-dō; an exchange doubtless suggested to the taikō by the comparative propinquity of the latter five provinces to Kyōto, and the advisability of relegating to a distant part of the empire a chieftain of such commanding gifts as Iyeyasu exhibited. Having come into possession of the eight provinces, Iyeyasu made his headquarters at Edo (now Tōkyō). A castle had been built here more than a century before by Ota Dōkan, a vassal of the Uyesugi, but it was of insignificant dimensions, and the town which it overlooked was touched on three sides by the Musashino plain, its southeastern front being washed by the sea. The streets, where one and a half million citizens now congregate, were then overgrown with reeds. So soon, however, as Iyeyasu moved thither, he inaugurated extensive improvements, leveling hills, filling marshes, digging great moats, and building colossal parapets, until a site was fully prepared for a great capital.

Iyeyasu, though of indomitable courage in war, was a man of gentle methods. His keen perception showed him every aspect of an affair, and his patience in unraveling difficulties never failed. So long as the reins of administration remained in his hands, quiet obedience was everywhere accorded to his sway. No one opposed him. As for Hideyoshi, he soon appreciated the Tokugawa chief and treated him with all the consideration due to his great gifts. Iyeyasu had large ambition. Coming into possession of the Kwantō provinces, he sat down quietly to foster his strength and bide his time, Hideyoshi, meanwhile, wasting his resources in fruitless attacks upon Korea and thus impairing the prosperity which his transcendent abilities had obtained for him. Finally, before his foreign wars had reached any issue, he died, bequeathing his power to his son, Hideyori, then a lad of only seven years. The usual results of a minor's administration ensued. The government fell into disorder. Once more the old rivalry sprang up among the feudal chiefs, each struggling for supremacy. Above them all towered Tokugawa Iyeyasu, for his influence was superior even to that of the Toyotomi family.

Gradually the various dissentient elements disposed themselves into two great parties. The one, including Katō Kiyomasa, Fukushima Masanori, Kuroda Nagamasa, Asano Yukinaga, and other notables, was under the leadership of Iyeyasu, and the other, to which belonged Mōri Terumoto, Uyesugi Kagekatsu, Ukita Hideiye, and forty-three other feudal chiefs, hostile to the Tokugawa, was under the real leadership of Ishida Mitsunari, a favorite of the late Hideyoshi, and under the nominal leadership of the taikō's son, Hideyori. The latter party had their headquarters in the Ōsaka castle, and the struggle for mastery was finally concluded in a great battle, fought on September 15, 1600. Iyeyasu was the assailant. Marching westward at the head of an army of 80,000, he encountered Mitsunari's forces, numbering 130,000, on the Sekigahara plain in Mino, the Ōsaka confederates having moved thus far to the combat. Swords were crossed at eight in the morning, and the battle waged with the utmost fierceness for six hours, the Ōsaka army being ultimately defeated with a loss of 30,000. Mitsunari and Yukinaga were among the slain, and tradition says that the whole plain was red with gore. So decisive was this victory that other nobles who had espoused the cause of Hideyori and were fighting for it in their own districts now laid down their arms and hastened to come to terms with the victor. Iyeyasu now set himself to consolidate his power. Confiscating, wholly or in part, the estates of the chiefs who had opposed him, he made ample grants to his own supporters. The administrative power of the empire came wholly into his hands, and every part of the country accepted his control. Three years later he was nominated sei-i-tai-shōgun, and thenceforth, through many generations, his family ruled in Edo.

THE PROCESSION OF FEUDAL LORDS

But although the administrative supremacy had been acquired by the Tokugawa, the taikō's son and successor, Toyotomi Hideyori, still resided at Ōsaka. Possessing a princely income of 650,000 koku of rice, ruler of three provinces, Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi, old enough now to direct his own affairs, and enjoying the prestige of his renowned father, he wielded a degree of influence which even Iyeyasu could not afford to despise. Among Hideyori's adherents there were some who hoped to see him restored to the position his father had occupied, and these, plotting secretly to effect their purpose, found supporters among the feudal chieftains, who, though they had made act of submission to the Tokugawa, still remembered the benefits they had received from the late Hideyoshi and were fain to succor his son. Thus Ōsaka remained a constant menace to the Tokugawa, who, on their side, watched keenly for some act on the part of the Toyotomi that might furnish a pretext for their overthrow, whereas the adherents of the Toyotomi, bitterly jealous of the Tokugawa supremacy and resenting every evidence of it, naturally committed acts of tactlessness and contumacy.

Just at this time the Toyotomi family caused to be rebuilt a great image of Buddha which stood in the temple of Hōkōji, in Kyōto. The work was completed in 1614. A bell was cast to commemorate the event, and in its superscription there appeared a phrase praying for the tranquillity of the state. Two of the four characters forming this phrase happened to be the ideograms spelling the name of Iyeyasu. The latter pretended to be much offended at this. He declared that the obvious intention of the affair was to invoke the curse of heaven on his head, and being strongly supported in this view by the nobles who espoused his cause, he directed that an inquiry of the strictest nature should be at once instituted in Ōsaka. The Toyotomi family refusing to submit tamely to this indignity, determined to appeal to the sword, and there flocked to Ōsaka from the provinces some 60,000 rōnin (unenrolled military men), who formed themselves into a garrison for the defense of the castle. But the power of Iyeyasu was too great for such a movement to develop large proportions. Intelligence of the designs of the Toyotomi, so far from enlisting the sympathy of the feudal chieftains, led them rather to renew their professions of loyalty to Iyeyasu, and the latter, who had anticipated this, ordered them to march to the conquest of Ōsaka. After the castle had undergone a long siege, peace was temporarily restored, only to be broken again in the following year, when rivalry led the Ōsaka folks to once more declare war. On this occasion the number of Toyotomi partisans who assembled at Ōsaka was twice as great as it had been in the preceding year. They were all brave men, resolved to fight to the death. But among such a variously composed host it was difficult to secure unanimity of opinion or concert in action. Moreover, the moats of the castle having been filled on the conclusion of peace the year before, it had lost its old impregnability and become useless as a defensive stronghold. Hence, the vast army marshaled under the Tokugawa banners had little difficulty in taking it by assault.[1] Hideyori and his mother, Yodogimi, threw themselves into the flames of the burning castle, and Ōno Harunaga, together with the principal of those who had counseled war, killed themselves out of respect to their lord. The Toyotomi family was thus finally overthrown, and the power of the Tokugawa completely established. Thenceforth the country entered upon a long era of peace.

In the following year, 1616, Iyeyasu fell ill and died at the age of seventy-five. He was interred at Kunōzan in Suruga, but his remains were subsequently transferred to Nikkō in Shimotsuke, where, amid natural scenery of the greatest beauty, a mausoleum of unexampled magnificence was erected in his honor.

Hidetada, the second Tokugawa shōgun, devoted his energies to enforcing and observing the laws and precepts of his father. Under him the influence and prestige of the Tokugawa family increased greatly. Further, the third shōgun, Iyemitsu, was a man of high courage and magnanimous generosity. In his hands the organization of the government was brought to a state of perfection. This system we shall now describe, as it shows the feudalism of Japan at the height of its development.

During many centuries it had been customary for the military classes to own estates and to govern the people residing on them according to feudal methods. In the closing days of the Ashikaga many military families of old standing were ruined, and, on the other hand, not a few soldiers who followed the fortunes of Oda and Toyotomi became the founders of new and opulent families. When the Tokugawa came into power they divided the nobles into two classes. The fudai class comprised the barons who had espoused the Tokugawa cause from the time of the latter's residence in Mikawa and Tōtōmi. The second were called tozama, that is to say, those who did not give in their adherence until after the decisive battle of Sekigahara of 1600. This distinction was intended to define the intimacy existing between the Tokugawa and the other military chiefs. For the rest, the estates of the nobles were fixed according to their exploits at the battle of Sekigahara. In consideration of the vital importance of preserving uninterrupted communication with the capital, the estates of the barons were so distributed that none of the tozama class held sway along the line of communications. Further, although the fudai barons were chiefly of the smaller order, they occupied the most important provinces, and were so distributed that they could easily combine if necessary; whereas the tozama magnates, though ruling great territories, were separated from each other by the fudai barons, and were moreover remotely situated from important centers of action. For example, Mayeda, the most puissant among the tozama nobles, had his territories extended over the three provinces of Kaga, Noto, and Echizen, and his annual revenues aggregated over a million koku of rice, while his prestige and popularity were very high. Hence, a number of fudai barons were located in Echigo, to act for the Tokugawa in case of emergency, and in Echizen also one of the nobles most closely related to the Tokugawa was placed to block the route of the Mayeda to Kyōto. A similar policy was adopted throughout the empire, so that everywhere, at a given instant, the Tokugawa partisans would find themselves in a majority. Places of vantage were also occupied by the shōgun's adherents. Such was the case with Nagasaki, the most important port of foreign trade; the Island of Sado, where valuable gold and silver mines were worked; the shrine of Daijin-gū at Yamada in Ise, the headquarters of Shintō worship, and so forth. At other places the management of local affairs was entrusted to nominees of the shōgunate, gundai and daikwan, all of which arrangements operated to prevent any effective union among the tozama nobles.

In the opening years of the Tokugawa administration an uncompromising policy was pursued. Even such a puissant tozama noble as Fukushima Masanori, and such a loyal feudatory as Honda Masazumi, who had assisted in the first organization of the shōgunate, had their estates confiscated by way of punishment for violations of the law, while several other important nobles were deprived of their territories on the ground of incompetence to govern them. The principle of succession was enforced with especial strictness among the samurai. If a man died without direct male issue his family was declared extinct, and were he a noble, his estate reverted to the shōgunate. Subsequently the severity of this system was modified and adoption began to be permitted, to the great satisfaction of the feudal chiefs and the military class in general. But in the early days the reins of administration were held so unflinchingly that even consanguinity with the shōgun did not save from condign punishment a nobleman who failed in respect for the law. Degradations and removals from one province to another were frequent forms of punishment for slight breaches of law.

The autonomy of each individual fief was complete within itself. The feudal barons, whether large or small and whether their relations with the shōgunate were close or remote enjoyed the privilege of governing the districts under their control in whatever manner they pleased, entirely independent of the administration in Edo. This applied to financial, military, judicial, educational, industrial, and all other matters, the central government reserving to itself only the right of declaring war or concluding peace, of coining money and of repairing or constructing roads. But while, on the one hand, this principle of non-interference was strictly observed, any dangerous independence that it might have developed was effectually obviated by another device, namely, that of requiring the sojourn in Edo of every feudal baron at fixed intervals and for a fixed period. This was one of the most remarkable measures conceived by the Tokugawa. The policy itself had been formulated in the time of Iyeyasu, but it did not come into operation until 1635, under the third shōgun, Iyemitsu. Each feudal chief was compelled to spend a part of every second year in Edo, the dates of setting out from his province and of leaving Edo on his return journey being fixed by the shōgunate. Nothing could have been simpler than this device; nothing more efficacious in establishing and preserving the Tokugawa sway. Probably no factor in the Tokugawa system contributed more materially to the unprecedented duration of domestic peace throughout two centuries and a half. It was not until 1862, a few years before the fall of Edo, that this astute policy was allowed to fall into abeyance. Further, during the first part of the Tokugawa shōgunate the feudal barons were obliged to leave their sons in Edo as pledges of their own good behavior. This custom was discontinued, however, in the days of the fourth shōgun, though the rule that the barons with their wives and children must reside for a given time in the capital every second year was enforced up to within five years of the restoration. One consequence of the rule was that the feudal lords built mansions for themselves in Edo, some owning three, some as many as six, of such city residences, their inmates varying from hundreds to thousands. The effect thus produced upon the prosperity of the capital may easily be conceived. It was also the custom under the Tokugawa régime to prevent undue accumulation of wealth in the hands of individuals by ordering conspicuously rich folks to carry out some great public work at their own expense. In fact, no means were neglected to prevent the feudal barons from developing inconvenient strength.

In addition to these rules, exact and rigidly enforced laws—called buke hatto, or military statutes—were enacted for observance by feudal chiefs and samurai in general. The first body of such laws, comprising thirteen articles, was promulgated in 1615. Subsequently, the laws were repromulgated on the accession of each shōgun, sometimes with modifications or additions. The principal provisions of these statutes were: that attendance in Edo must be as punctual as possible; that no new castles must be built; that repairs of old ones must not be undertaken without special permission; that leagues must not be formed; that marriages must not be contracted without due permission; that garments must be worn and methods of conveyance employed such as suited the rank of the wearer or traveler, and so forth; these vetoes being supplemented by provisions for encouraging the pursuit of military and literary professions, the practice of frugality and other virtues.

The position of the feudal lords was further lowered and that of the shōgun made more secure when, with a consummate tact, Iyemitsu, the third Tokugawa, annulled the formal distinction between the tozama and fudai barons, and reduced the former to the level of the latter. On his accession he summoned to the palace in Edo all the tozama barons, and addressed them as follows: "Our ancestor, having been originally of the same rank with yourselves and enabled to pacify the country through your assistance, was prompted by a sentiment of deference to refrain from classing you with the fudai barons. But I differ from my ancestor in that I was born to the position which he acquired, and am under no obligation to preserve any distinction. It is therefore my intention to place you on the same footing as the fudai. Should this be displeasing to any of you, an interval of three years will now be given you, during which time you should consider the matter maturely in your own dominions and come to a final decision." Then, adding that the creed of the samurai was to guard with weapons of war the things acquired by such means, he presented to each of the barons a sword. This injunction, at once so frank and so irresistible, evoked no dissent. The barons acquiesced respectfully, but the greater tozama never forgot the position they once held, and their loyalty was often more formal than sincere, until after 1860, when some of them turned open enemies of the Tokugawa.

The Tokugawa's policy toward the imperial house and the civil nobility at Kyōto was not less clever and effective than the control of the daimio. Theoretically, the shōgun derived his powers primarily from the emperor, and ruled his vassals under the authority delegated to him by the sovereign. The Tokugawa showed deference to this theory by making every effort to enhance the social position and enrich the temporal domains of the emperor. But it was at the same time important for the shōgun that the exercise of his executive power should not be inconveniently hampered by interference on the part of the court. Hence, in the same year that saw the promulgation of the military statutes, 1615, Iyeyasu compiled a law of seventeen articles destined chiefly for observance by the court nobles, and entitled "Kinchū Jomoku," or palace regulations. In this law we find provisions recapitulating orders issued by the emperor in the Kwampei era, to the effect that men should study the ancient poetry of Japan, that the prime minister, the minister of the left, and the minister of the right should rank above the princes of the blood; that the ranks held by samurai should be considered entirely distinct from those held by court nobles, and so forth. Men said that this law was designed to augment the prestige of the imperial house, but in reality it set limits to the exercise of the sovereign's authority. The principal official of the shōgun's government, the shoshidai, was stationed in Kyōto and intrusted with the duty of supervising the imperial guards. Moreover, strict regulations were enacted to control the journeys of the feudal nobles to and from Kyōto. In a word, the policy of the shōgunate was to preserve the fullest semblance of reverence for the sovereign, simultaneously with the fullest administrative independence. The imperial court was organized in Kyōto with all pomp and circumstance; it had its ministers, vice ministers, and subordinate officials; it had its five principal, as well as more than a hundred ordinary, court nobles; but as for the sovereign's actual power, it did not extend beyond the direction of matters relating to rank and etiquette, the classification of shrine-keepers, priests, and priestesses, and professionals of various kinds—functions of no material importance whatever. Alone the kwanryō, the densō, and the gisō exercised a certain measure of authority in the shōgun's government. The control of affairs relating to lands, to the army, to finance, and to everything included in the domain of practical politics rested absolutely in the hands of the shōgun.

This state of affairs greatly mortified the Emperor Gominoö,[2] a sovereign of much talent, who reigned during 1612-1630. He would fain have effected some change in the system, but found himself helpless to accomplish anything against the all-powerful Tokugawa. An additional check to such designs was given by the marriage of Kazuko, daughter of the second shōgun, Hidetada, to the emperor, the offspring of the union, a daughter, subsequently coming to the throne as the Empress Myōshō. This close relationship with the imperial family naturally increased the prestige of the Tokugawa. Subsequently Gokōmyō, Gosai-in, and Reigen, sons of the Emperor Gominoö, successively ascended the throne and Gokōmyō cherished the design of achieving his father's ambition. But he died without accomplishing anything and the times remained unfavorable to the imperial aspirations until 1868.

With regard to the organization of the shōgun's government in Edo, the cabinet, called yōbeya, held its sessions in the castle, and was composed of the tairō, rōjiu, and wakadoshiyori. The tairō corresponded with the prime minister (daijō daijin) of Kyōto; it was an office sometimes actually filled, sometimes left without occupant. The rōjiu were five; their functions were the general direction of administrative affairs, of the feudal barons and of the city of Kyōto. The wakadoshiyori, also five in number, assisted in the administration and supervised the samurai directly connected with the shōgunate. The posts in the cabinet were given invariably to fudai nobles, the tozama barons being entirely excluded. Next in importance were the offices of the three governors (bugyō), the senior and junior supervisors (metsuke) and so forth. One of the three governors was called the jisha bugyō, and was charged with the management of temples, shrines, and Shintō and Buddhist priests. Another, the machi bugyō, had control of municipal and mercantile matters in Edo; and the third, the kanjō bugyō, had to do with all the lands in the direct possession of the shōgunate. These three governors had judicial functions also, being required to hear and determine all suits connected with matters falling within their respective provinces. In addition to duties of general supervision, the metsuke were charged with the superintendence of special classes, the ōmetsuke being intrusted with the function of keeping watch on the feudal barons and on officials below the rank of rōjiu, in conjunction with the rōjiu; while the shōmetsuke, similarly coöperating with the wakadoshiyori, had to superintend the samurai who were direct vassals of the shōgun, as well as the samurai in general. Attached to the above-mentioned principal officials there was a duly-ordered staff of subordinates, the whole constituting the organization of the general government. Posts inferior to those of the three governors were generally filled by hatamoto (bannerets). Turning to local officers, we find the shoshidai, or governor, in Kyōto, entrusted with the supervision of the imperial guards, and the Ōsaka-jōdai, or lord warden of Ōsaka castle. These two officials had general charge of affairs in the western provinces, in addition to the duties of their special offices. They also were selected from among the fudai barons, and their post was usually a stepping stone to the important position of rōjiu. Further, in Nijō of Kyōto there was a zaiban shihai, or controller of the guards; in Ōsaka, a jōban shihai, or controller of the castle guards, and in Shimpu, Kofu, and so forth, there were jōban shihai, or kinban shihai, performing functions similar to those of the Kyōto and Ōsaka shihai. Governors, who were regarded as officials of great importance, gundai (headmen) of lands under the direct control of the shōgun, daikwan and other principal officers, were selected by the shōgun from among the fudai barons and bannerets. In the city of Edo there were machidoshiyori, or wardmasters, nanushi, or mayors, and so forth, while in provincial towns there were five nanushi who managed municipal affairs.

Turning to the foreign relations of Japan during this period, we find that, after the invasion of Hideyoshi's army, which, like the Hundred Years' War in France, devastated Korea from one end to the other, the people of the peninsula regarded the Japanese with such aversion that the relations between the two countries were virtually severed. It was with great difficulty that Iyeyasu at last succeeded in convincing the Koreans that the Japan of the Tokugawa differed essentially from the Japan under Hideyoshi, and that the former's intentions were entirely pacific. Finally the Koreans, having obtained tacit consent of China, sent to Japan a letter from their king together with some presents, and thenceforth, on each occasion of a change of shōgun, Korean envoys came to offer their country's congratulations, the Tokugawa, on their side, treating these delegates with all courtesy and consideration. In the days of the Ashikaga family, it had been customary for the shōgun to assume the title of king of Japan in his communications with other sovereigns. The Tokugawa discontinued this, on the ground that it was an infraction of the imperial dignity, and adopted instead the title taikun, or great prince. The Sō family of Tsushima acted from generation to generation as intermediaries between Japan and Korea. They had a monopoly of the trade with the latter country, whither they dispatched twenty vessels annually, the total value of the trade being limited, however, to 18,000 ryō. But though Korea thus accepted Japan's amicable overtures, China would not do so. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of her southeastern parts came to Nagasaki in great numbers for purposes of commerce, and many Japanese ships crossed to the neighboring empire with the same object. These ships, called shuin-bune, because of the vermilion-seal permits of the shōgun, were owned by wealthy merchants residing in or near Kyōto, Sakai, and Nagasaki.

The Portuguese, who were the first Europeans to establish commercial intercourse with Japan, held a monopoly of the trade for some time, so that the Dutch settlers in the Indies were excluded from competing with them. Finally, however, in 1608, the Dutch managed to make their way to Hirado in the province of Hizen, in order to arrange the preliminaries of a commerce destined to continue for a long time. Among the persons who arrived in the Dutch ships were a Dutchman named Jan Joost and an Englishman, William Adams, the latter coming in the capacity of pilot. These two foreigners had an interview with Iyeyasu, who, much pleased with them, conceived the idea of trading with Western countries. Houses and lands were given to the two strangers, and they resided in Edo, the streets now known as Yayosugashi and Anjinchō being the places where they are said to have lived. The Dutch, eager to monopolize the trade with Japan, made another visit to Japan in a vessel of war, with a view to expelling the Portuguese merchants. They brought with them an autograph letter and presents from the King of Holland for the shōgun, and solicited permission to carry on commerce, to which Iyeyasu readily acceded. In 1612 the first Dutch merchantman arrived in Japanese waters and was soon afterward followed by a British ship, the coming of the latter being due to information furnished by William Adams to his country with reference to the state of affairs in Japan. Iyeyasu placed no obstacles in the way of British trade, but the relations between the Dutch and the English at Hirado were so inharmonious that at one time they were on the point of resorting to open hostilities. The Dutch finally prevailed upon the shōgun to impose as many restrictions as possible on the trade of the English, and the result was that although the friction between the British and the Dutch was ostensibly removed, the former, finding themselves unable to carry on business profitably, finally took their departure. About this time great numbers of merchants came to Japan from Annam, Siam, Luzon, and other places of the south, as well as from the southern districts of China and from India, while on the Japanese side wealthy traders of Kiushū traveled abroad to a great extent for business purposes, and Iyeyasu himself went so far as to dispatch people across the Pacific to New Spain in America in order to open commercial relations. The Japanese at that era possessed very strongly constructed vessels, measuring as much as 120 feet by 54, fully rigged with three masts, having dark-red lacquered hulls and capable of carrying a great number of passengers. In these ships were exported copper, bronze utensils, lacquered articles, umbrellas, fans, screens, sulphur, camphor, dyed textile fabrics, wheat flour, and so forth, and on their return voyage they brought to Japan silk cocoons, silk fabrics, woolen stuffs, sugar, drugs, incense, vermilion, quicksilver, glass, coral, whalebone and so forth. This list of exports and imports furnishes some clue to the industries and customs of the Japanese of that era. Foreign trade flourished greatly, and a spirit of enterprise prevailed throughout the country. Date Masamune, feudal chief of Sendai, sent an envoy to Rome who came back eventually to Japan, having devoted seven years to studying the state of affairs in Rome, where he was received in audience by the Pope. Early in the seventeenth century one Yamada Nagamasa (or Nizayemon), a native of Suruga, crossed to Siam, and organizing a force with the Japanese settlers in that country—who had already become sufficiently numerous to people a village, hence called Nippon-machi—rendered material assistance to the king of the country, twice quelling a rebellion that prevailed at the time. This same Yamada, fighting always for Siam, led his troops against an invading army of Spaniards and defeated them, an exploit regarded with the greatest admiration at that era when the prestige of the Spanish arms was at its height. The king rewarded Yamada by adopting him into the royal family and giving him his own daughter in marriage, so that the Japanese adventurer's name became widely renowned. Another example of the adventurous spirit of the age was afforded by Hamada Yahei, who led a considerable force to Formosa, to avenge the plunder of a Japanese ship by the natives, and having overrun the island, brought back the son of the chief as a hostage to Nagasaki.

Unfortunately, however, unexpected religious squabbles fatally interrupted the course of the country's foreign trade. The Dutch settlers made a discovery, real or pretended, that the Portuguese and Spanish missionaries, leaguing themselves with the native Christians, were plotting to overthrow the Japanese government. Many proofs of the truth of this accusation were submitted to the shōgun by the Dutch, and color was lent to the charge by evidence that the missionaries themselves or their converts behaved with much intolerance and arrogance. The Edo government was moved by these accusations and by the doings of the missionaries to take active steps against them. Several of the principal were put to death and the rest were expelled. Shortly afterward an order was issued against the voyages of the shuin-bune and it was further declared unlawful to construct ships of more than a certain size, while, at the same time, the method of construction was so modified that distant voyages became impossible. Travel to foreign countries was also strictly interdicted, and as a necessary consequence the arts of ship-building and navigation sensibly declined. It was at this epoch, too, that the Christian rebellion of Shimabara occurred, culminating in the battle of Amakusa in 1637-1638, which had a decisive influence upon the foreign policy of the Tokugawa.

At the time of the first introduction of Christianity into Japan, it spread very rapidly throughout the empire, receiving no check until the arrogance and intolerance of the missionaries provoked the anger of Hideyoshi and induced him to issue an edict forbidding the propagandism of the foreign faith. This law, however, was not rigorously enforced, and moreover official attention was shortly afterward diverted to the war with Korea. When Iyeyasu came to power, as has been shown, he expelled the foreign missionaries from Japan and deputed Buddhist priests to reconvert the Japanese who had embraced the Christian creed, the efforts of these priests being reinforced by an edict that all who refused to abjure Christianity should be either exiled or put to death. But it appeared that many of the Japanese Christians had adopted the new faith with sincerity and devotion which neither teaching nor threats could alter. In the provinces of Bungo and Hizen, in Kiushū, where even the feudal barons themselves had become converts to the Western creed, a great majority of the population was Christian, and from them issued the forces of propagandism which made themselves felt elsewhere. Shimabara, in Hizen, was especially regarded as the headquarters of the foreign faith, and the shōgun accordingly nominated as feudal chief of that place Matsukura Shigemasa, a bitter foe to Christianity. The latter issued proclamations against the profession of the faith, and inflicted most cruel punishments on its votaries. The people suffered in silence, for Shigemasa's military following was so great that resistance was hopeless.

On Shigemasa's death, his incapable and tyrannous son Shigetsugu succeeded him, and popular discontent began to take a concrete form. Gradually the plan of a combination for open resistance found advocates. Among the generals on the defeated side in the battle of Sekigahara of 1600 had been one Konishi Yukinaga, an ardent believer in Christianity. After the battle his principal retainers retired to the Island of Amakusa off the coast of Hizen, among whom the most influential constantly sought means to be revenged on the Tokugawa and to promote the spread of Christianity. They found a youth named Masuda Shirō who to remarkable graces of person added a mind of great craftiness, and they presented him to the people in 1637, alleging that he was the heavenly messenger of whom Francis Xavier had spoken twenty-five years previously when leaving Japan, and who was destined to establish the supremacy of the Christian faith. They also spread rumors that the shōgun had died in Edo, and the people, much encouraged by these things, assembled in great numbers and openly offered thanksgivings to heaven. The officials in Shimabara endeavored to disperse this meeting and to arrest the leaders, but in a contest which ensued the Christians were victorious. Now the insurrection spread far and wide throughout Shimabara, Amakusa, and the neighboring districts, until the insurgents under the command of Masuda Shirō numbered over thirty thousand. At first the Edo government regarded the rebels as a mere mob of peasants, and dispatched a petty baron, Itakura Shigemasa, to restore order. But the latter's inability to cope with the trouble having afforded a gauge of its true dimensions, the commission was given to Matsudaira Nobutsuna, a powerful chief. The insurgents fought with desperate resolution and inflicted numerous defeats on the government's troops, Shigemasa himself falling in battle. But the end came at last. In 1638, the stronghold of the rebels was taken, and its defenders were either burned in the flames kindled by their own hand or put to the sword.

This experience taught the government that the spread of Christianity was attended by the gravest dangers to public tranquillity. Strict laws were therefore enacted for its suppression. Foreigners who came to Japan for the purpose of propagating the faith were refused admission, and those who declined to depart despite the edicts were put to death. Thenceforth Buddhism was adopted as the national religion, receiving the allegiance of all classes, high and low. It is interesting to note that the revival of Buddhist influence was not only simultaneous with the downfall of Catholicism, but also due largely to an institution which was now for the first time placed on a religious basis. The system of taking a census at regular intervals, which was introduced by the Taikwa reformers, had never been successfully practiced for a long period of time, until the Tokugawa government made the extermination of Catholicism an occasion for the restoration of the system. It was ordered in 1716 that the census should be taken in each fief and the results duly reported every six years. Births, deaths, and marriages were registered in books kept by Buddhist priests, so that no Christian should remain in society under the protection of law. The operation was called, from its religious character, shūmon-aratame, or examination of faith. This of course contributed materially to the influence of the Buddhist church, for which the Tokugawa period was an era of marked prosperity, the number of temples throughout the empire aggregating four hundred thousand. Nevertheless, the government was careful to avoid a return to the excesses of former days. The building of new temples was forbidden, the lands assigned for the support of those already in existence were rigidly defined, and the people were encouraged to study Chinese literature, so that the corruption which disfigured the Buddhist priesthood in earlier ages was, in great part, corrected.

Even more important than the revival of Buddhist influence was the bearing of the Catholic extermination upon the almost total exclusion of foreign trade from the shores of Japan. The entry of all foreign ships, except those of China and Holland, into Japanese ports was peremptorily forbidden. Neither the Chinese nor the Dutch entertained any idea of religious propagandism, their sole purpose being commercial. The Dutch, indeed, having shown a disposition to assist Japan in every way, enjoyed great credit with the Edo government, as will be more fully set forth in the next chapter. At first no restrictions were imposed on the commercial transactions of the Chinese and the Dutch, but subsequently a limit was set to the amount of trade and to the number of ships engaged, and the prices at which imported articles must be offered for sale were also determined officially. These restrictions were suggested by the fact that the trade involved a heavy drain of the precious metals. Indeed, the quantity of gold and silver exported from Japan during the interval between the inauguration of foreign commerce and the imposition of the above restriction was so large that Japan's resources were seriously impaired. It was found necessary to strictly interdict the shipping away of the precious metals, but there is strong reason to doubt whether the interdict effected much, for foreigners, disregarding the laws of Japan, contrived to carry on clandestine commerce in waters beyond the purview of the government's officials.