A Fantasy of Far Japan; Or, Summer Dream Dialogues

by Kencho Suematsu

'That part of your history,' said one, 'is a most important and interesting point for us to know. Let us be further enlightened by some of your own observations.'

'Well, the inauguration of the Imperial régime took place in 1867. In the course of a few years a disinterested opinion was mooted and soon spread amongst the lords themselves to the effect that, now that the Shogun had resigned his function and had restored his administrative authority to the Imperial government, it also behoved the lords of all the clans similarly to resign and to give up to the Imperial court the administrative authority of their clan governments, together with the lands and people they governed. With such reasoning all the feudal lords, headed by the lords of Satcho, vied one with another in voluntarily taking that step. The offer was accepted, and the lords were duly nominated the governors of the different clans. Thus the nature of the position of the lords was changed. They now became mere officials appointed by the new Imperial government, and delegated to carry out its administrative measures. This was an event which took place in 1869. In the course of another few years, viz. in 1871, the clan system was finally abolished, and the prefecture system was introduced in its place. The former lords were ordered by the emperor to reside near him in the capital, and new governors were nominated in their places, chiefly from amongst the Samurai, who were already in the government service. Of course those perfectural governments were newly organised, with suitable subordinates nominated either from amongst those who were already in government service, or from amongst local celebrities. Thus was abolished our feudal system without any murmur.'

—'That is the official history,' said one, 'but there must be also some inner history which you know of in connection with it.'

—'Well,' I answered, 'the new Imperial government was inaugurated as you have already seen. It had no regular revenue as yet; it had neither army nor navy properly belonging to it. Okubo was planning a scheme for Satsuma, by which a portion of its revenue or territory was to be given up to the Imperial government, and that other clans might also be induced to follow the example. Simultaneously with Okubo, Kido was also meditating a project for making the new Imperial administration effective. He schemed the total abolition of the feudal system, the initiation of the idea having been impressed on him by Ito. He returned from Kioto to Chosiu, and presented his views to the Prince of Chosiu, who being a person of extreme loyalty, willingly gave his assent to Kido's proposal. On the return of Kido to Kioto, Okubo gave up his own plan and immediately accepted that of Kido. The matter having been thus agreed upon between the two most influential statesmen, it soon became a question of practical politics, and was successfully carried into effect in no time, as I have already told you.'

—'Can you give me,' said one, 'some idea of the clans of the Japanese feudal system? You make use of that word, as do other writers on Japan, but to me, somehow or other, it does not appear to give a clear idea.'

'The word "clan,"' I replied, 'which is used in place of the Japanese word "Han," does not convey the exact meaning, as you imagine. The word "clan" in English signifies "men," whereas our word "Han" signifies more "a territorial community with its government," including lands and population, somewhat in the same sense as the word "principality" or "duchy." Then, too, the word "clan," strictly speaking, implies the meaning of a collection of families bearing the same surname, and supposed to have descended from a common ancestor, but with our word "Han" no such meaning is implied in the word itself. Every feudal lord of Japan had a large number of retainers, and it was natural that a certain number among them were descended from the same ancestors as the lord himself; but those were, after all, in a very small minority, and the overwhelming number were in nowise connected with their lord, as far as blood relationship was concerned. Thus, you can see, the word "clan" does not represent the exact meaning of the word "Han." The technical term for the acts of giving up and restoring the clan governments to the Imperial government was "Han-seki Hokwan," which meant "restoring the Han records," whereby the giving up of the territory and its population was implied.'

—'I see the difference between the term "clan" and the term "Han,"' said one, 'but I wish to know something more about the process by which the "Han" came to be formed.'

—'That question requires a long answer, because to explain in detail would amount to writing a history of the feudal system of Japan, but I will give you a succinct answer. Feudal lords originally were local celebrities, with some landed property and retainers. In the sixteenth century the country had reached the height of disorder: it was then that countless warriors appeared in the arena, all fighting their way to distinction, some on their own account, and some under the leadership of greater men. The leaders as they became greater had to enlist more followers, and the greater of those followers had in turn to enlist their own followers. These followers were generally enlisted from all sources, some being fortunate sons of mere peasants, some being masterless fighters of a former lord, whose house had become extinct, either through war, or from some other reason. Those who offered service and those who accepted it necessarily entered upon a new relationship of master and servant. The best example of this was the famous Hideyoshi and his followers. Of course, there were many who had better antecedents and pedigrees, but the process by which the cadre of their military organisation had become enlarged was similar. After the country had returned to its normal condition of peace, and those leaders became feudal lords, those followers, viz. retainers, formed their cadre of Samurai. Each lord established his government in his province, to govern the land and people under his authority, and the executive officials were appointed by him from amongst those retainers. All those feudal governments enjoyed autonomy, subject to the general control of the central government of the Shogun. There were also several feudal lords who were made such by virtue of their close relationship with the Shogun, or for their distinguished services, other than military, but the method by which their government and military cadre were formed was much the same. I may add that the word "Han" was originally Chinese, and its literal meaning is a "fence." It was used figuratively to signify an idea of protection or defence, as a fence serves to protect a house, for the central government against external aggressors.'

—'That explains very clearly,' said one, 'the difference between your "Han" and the Western "clans," but I should like to know more about the evolution of your feudal system from its earliest stage.'

—'Very well,' I answered, 'under the ancient Imperial régime, local governors were despatched from the central government. Imperial guards were taken from amongst the provincial youth, there were also several military stations, at different strategic points of the country; the soldiers having been similarly taken from the neighbouring provinces. In the course of time, first with the growth of luxury in the capital, then with the decay of the Imperial authority, the governors themselves ceased to go to their respective provinces, and deputies came to be appointed to discharge their provincial affairs for them. These deputies began to settle in the provinces and to make their functions hereditary, or local celebrities came to be appointed as deputies, often by heredity also. In the meantime, as I told you once before, a sort of hereditary warrior families gradually sprang up in the provinces. The more enfeebled the Imperial court became, the less effective the administrative authority of the Imperial government became in the distant provinces, where fighting between those warrior families was often waged without any knowledge or any recognition of the Imperial government. When, towards the end of the twelfth century, Yoritomo defeated his foes, the Taira, and made himself master of the situation, he established his seat of government at Kamakura, and began to control the whole empire. At first he did so on the pretext of keeping peace and order with Imperial sanction. He called himself, in that respect, Sotsuibushi, which means nothing else than police-master-general. He appointed new local governors, chiefly from amongst the leaders of the warrior families. The official names for these new governors differed from those instituted formerly by the Imperial government. He did not try to do away with the Imperial official organisation, which had become almost nominal, but, in fact, he introduced a new organisation in the provinces. Needless to say, these new governors soon became the real governors in all respects, though their ostensible duties at first were for police affairs in its broad sense. This was the beginning of our system of the military governments. Although there were several vicissitudes, that system in the main lasted down to the great reform of our own days. This period of the system of military power is the period called by the writers in the Western languages the "feudal period," and the system is called the "feudal system." There was, of course, much resemblance in customs and manners, and even institutions, between the European feudal system and our military system, but I do not think the words themselves convey exactly the meaning of our appellation for the system. We call the system "Hoken," which was originally Chinese. That term, which is a combination of two words, means to "create and install" and signifies an act by which some particular person is created a hereditary prince of certain districts. Thus the idea that the persons so created were only made so by the favour of the central government is implied in the term itself. I have already told you that in the sixteenth century, Japan laboured under a condition of the greatest disorder. Many feudal lords rose and fell. When the Tokugawa family assumed the Shogunate, the country was brought to a perfect peace, and that system of "Hoken" was brought to a state of perfection. It was then that a total re-shuffling, so to say, not of the cards but of the feudal lords, was effected. Many old lords retained their positions by acknowledging the supremacy of Tokugawa, but many who were the followers of Tokugawa itself, were newly created lords. The former were called "Tozama" (exterior) Daimio, and the latter were called "Fudai" (adherents) Daimio. Those who had been created, on account of blood relationship to Tokugawa, formed a somewhat different category. The tenure of the lords was not looked upon in the light of private property in its strict sense. The Shogunate freely exercised its authority, to confiscate or to transfer to another place, when political expediency demanded it, though of course such steps were taken only when some blamable action had been committed, or on the offer of some higher and better position. The feudal lords had no right to sell or alienate any portion of the land. In the early part of the Tokugawa régime, the tenure was confiscated in case of default of male heir to a deceased lord, though later on the system of adoption came to the rescue and an adopted heir was allowed to succeed.'