A little later than this, in a.d. 1338, the great companion and friend of Kusunoki, Nitta Yoshisada, came to his end. He had undertaken to promote the cause of the Emperor Go-Daigo in the northwestern provinces by co-operating with Fuji-wara-no-Yoritomo. Nitta with about fifty followers was unexpectedly attacked by Ashikaga Tadatsune, with three thousand men near Fukui in the province of Echizen. There was no way of escape with his [pg 163] little troop. In this condition he was urged to secure his personal safety. But he refused to survive his comrades. Then he rode with his brave company upon the enemy until his horse was disabled and he himself was pierced in the eye with an arrow. He drew out the arrow with his own hand, and then, in order that his body might not be identified, with his sword cut off his own head, at least so it is said! Each member of his troop followed this grewsome example, and it was only after examining the bodies of these headless corpses and the finding upon one a commission from the Emperor Go-Daigo, that the remains of the heroic Nitta were recognized. The head was sent to Kyōto and there exposed by the Ashikaga commander, and the body was buried near the place where the tragic death occurred.[132]
The Ashikaga family had now the uninterrupted control of affairs. They resided at Kyōto and inherited in succession the office of shōgun. Taka-uji, the founder of the Ashikaga shōgunate, and who had held the office from a.d. 1334, died in a.d. 1358, when about fifty-three years old. He was succeeded by his son Yoshinori who was shōgun from a.d. 1359 to a.d. 1367. Having retired he was succeeded by his grandson Yoshimitsu who in turn retired in favor of his son Yoshimotsu. By this time the precedents of abdication and effeminacy began to tell upon the [pg 164] Ashikaga successors, and like all the preceding ruling families it gradually sank into the usual insignificance. Some of the Ashikaga shōguns, however, were men of uncommon ability and their services to their country deserve to be gratefully remembered. A number of them were men of culture and evinced their love of elegance and refinement by the palaces which they built in Kyōto. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was shōgun from a.d. 1368 to 1393, and at the latter date retired in favor of his young son Yoshimotsu, but lived in official retirement in Kyōto till a.d. 1409. He built the palace now known as the Buddhist monastery Kinkakuji.[133] Its name is derived from kinkaku (golden pavilion) which Yoshimitsu erected. The whole palace was bequeathed by him to the Zen sect of Buddhists and is still one of the sights best worth seeing in Kyōto.
Yoshimitsu has been visited by much obloquy because he accepted from the Chinese government the title of King of Japan, and pledged himself to the payment of one thousand ounces of gold as a yearly tribute. It is said in explanation of this tribute that it was to compensate for damages done by Japanese pirates to Chinese shipping. But it was probably negotiated for the purpose of securing an ambitious title on the one hand and on the other making a troublesome neighbor a tributary kingdom.
Another building which takes its origin from the Ashikaga is the Tō-ji-in. It was founded by Ashikaga Taka-uji and contains carved and lacquered wooden figures of the Ashikaga shōguns which [pg 165] are believed in most cases to be contemporary portraits.[134]
Another of the notable Ashikaga shōguns was Yoshimasa, who held the office from a.d. 1443-1473. He retired at the latter date, and lived as retired shōgun until a.d. 1490. In this interval of seclusion he cultivated the arts, and posed as the patron of literature and painting. That curious custom called cha-no-yu, or tea ceremonies,[135] is usually adjudged to him as its originator, but it is most probable that he only adopted and refined it until it became the fashionable craze which has come down to modern times. These ceremonies and his other modes of amusement were conducted in a palace which he had built called gin-kaku (silver pavilion). Yoshimasa left this palace to the monks of Shō-koku-ji, with directions that it should be converted into a monastery, and in that capacity it still serves at the present time.
The period of the two imperial dynasties lasted until a.d. 1392, when a proposition was made by the Shōgun Yoshimitsu to the then reigning emperor of the south, that the rivalry should be healed. It was agreed that Go-Kameyama of the southern dynasty [pg 166] should come to Kyōto and surrender the insignia to Go-Komatsu, the ruling emperor of the northern dynasty. This was duly accomplished, and Go-Kameyama, having handed over the insignia to Go-Komatsu, took the position of retired emperor. Thus the long rivalry between the northern and southern dynasties was ended, and Go-Komatsu stands as the ninety-ninth in the official list of emperors. In that list, however, none of the other emperors[136] of the northern dynasty appear, they being regarded as pretenders, and in no case entitled to the dignity of divine rulers of Japan.
This settlement of dynastic difficulties and the unrestricted ascendancy of the Ashikaga shōguns gave the country a little interval of peace. The condition of the peasantry at this time was most deplorable. The continual wars between neighboring lords and with the shōguns had kept in the field armies of military men, who were forced to subsist on contributions exacted from the tillers of the soil. The farmers everywhere were kept in a state of uncertainty, and had little encouragement to cultivate [pg 167] crops which were almost sure to fall into the hands of others.
On the coasts of Kyūshū and other islands facing towards the continent piracy also sprang up and flourished apace. It was indeed an era of piracy all over the world. The Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch traders of this period were almost always ready to turn an honest penny by seizing an unfortunate vessel under the pretence that it was a pirate. The whole coast of China, according to the accounts of Pinto, swarmed with both European and Asiatic craft, which were either traders or pirates, according to circumstances. Under this state of things, and with the pressure of lawlessness and want behind them, it was not surprising that the inhabitants of the western coasts of Japan should turn to a piratical life.
Knowing the Japanese only since centuries of enforced isolation had made them unaccustomed to creep beyond their own shores, we can scarcely conceive of their hardihood and venturesomeness during and subsequent to this active period. Mr. Satow[137] has gathered a most interesting series of facts pertaining to the intercourse between Japan and Siam, beginning at a period as early as that now under review. Not only did this intercourse consist in sending vessels laden with chattels for traffic, but a colony of Japanese and a contingent of Japanese troops formed part of the assistance which Japan furnished to her southern neighbor.
While these signs of activity were apparent on the [pg 168] coast, the provinces in the interior were alive with political unrest. Particularly the principal daimyōs, who had never since the days of Yoritomo felt a master's power over them, took the present occasion to extend their dominions over their neighbors. For centuries the conflicts among them were almost unending. It is needless to undertake to disentangle the story of their wars. These daimyōs were a far more distinct and pressing reality than the harmless emperor, or even than the far-removed shōgun. While their ceaseless civil wars rendered the condition of the country so uncertain and so unsettled, yet the authority of the local rulers tended to preserve peace and dispense a rude kind of justice among their own subjects. Thus while in many parts of Japan poverty and desolation had eaten up everything, and lawlessness and robbery had put an end to industry, yet there were some favored parts of the islands where the strong hand of the daimyōs preserved for their people the opportunities of life, and kept alive the chances of industry.[138]