The War in the East: Japan, China, and Corea

by Trumbull White

The Oldest Dynasty in the World and its Records—The First Emperor of Japan—Some of the Famous Early Rulers—Invasion and Conquest of Corea by the Empress Jingo—How Civilization Came from Corea to Japan—The Rise of the Dual System of Government—Mikado and Shogun—Expulsion of the Hojo Dynasty of Shoguns—The Invasion of the Mongol Tartars—Annihilation of the Armada—Corruption of the Shogun Rule—Growth of the Feudal System—Another Conquest of Corea—Founding of the Last Dynasty of Shoguns—Advance of Japan in the Age of Hideyoshi.

In a historical sketch of the life of a nation which counts twenty-five centuries of recorded history, but the briefest outline can be given. The scope of such a work as this does not admit of minute historical details. When it is said that traditions exist carrying back the history for a number of years which requires several hundred ciphers to measure, the effort to relate even an outline becomes almost appalling. Until the twelfth century of our era, Europe did not know even of the existence of Japan; and the reports which were then brought by Marco Polo, who had learned of the island empire of Zipangu from the Chinese were as vague as they were enticing. The successes of the Jesuit missionaries led by Xavier, and the commercial intercourse established by the Portuguese in the latter part of the 16th century, and by the Dutch somewhat later, promised to disclose the mysteries of the far Pacific empire; but within a few generations these were more hopelessly than ever sealed against foreign intrusion. Only forty years ago the United States of America knocked at the door of Japan, met a welcome under protest, and the country began to open to western civilization. Even yet the great mass of the people of our own country have far from a right conception of the ancient civilization which has for ages prevailed in these islands of the Pacific.

The Japanese imperial dynasty is the oldest in the world. Two thousand five hundred and fifty-four years ago in 660 B.C., the sacred histories relate that Jimmu Tenno commenced to reign as the first Mikado, or Emperor of Japan. The sources of Japanese history are rich and solid, historical writings forming the largest and most important divisions of their voluminous literature. The period from about the ninth century until the present time is treated very fully, while the real history of the period prior to the eighth century of the Christian era is very meagre. It is nearly certain that the Japanese possessed no writing until the sixth century A.D. Their oldest extant composition is the “Kojiki,” or “Book of Ancient Traditions.” It may be called the Bible of the Japanese. It comprises three volumes, composed A.D. 711-712, and is said to have been preceded by two similar works about one hundred years earlier, but neither of these have been preserved. The first volume treats of the creation of the heavens and earth, the gods and goddesses, and the events of the holy age or mythological period. The second and third give the history of the mikados from the year I (660 B.C.) to the year 1280 of the Japanese era. It was first printed in the years A.D. 1624-1642. The “Nihongi” completed A.D. 720 also contains a Japanese record of the mythological period, and brings down the annals of the mikados to A.D. 699. These are the oldest books in the language. They contain so much that is fabulous, mythical or exaggerated, that their statements especially in respect of dates cannot be accepted as true history. A succession of historical works of apparent reliability illustrate the period between the eighth and the eleventh centuries, and still better ones treat of the mediæval period from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. The period from 1600 to 1853 is less known than others in earlier times, because of mandates that existed forbidding the production of contemporary histories.

JAPANESE GOD OF THUNDER.

Whatever may be the actual fact, Jimmu Tenno is popularly believed to have been a real person and the first emperor of Japan. He is deified in the Shinto religion, and in thousands of shrines dedicated to him the people worship his spirit. In one official list of mikados he is named as the first. The reigning Emperor refers to him as his ancestor, from whom he claims unbroken descent as the 123rd member of this dynasty. The seventh day of April is fixed as the anniversary of his ascension to the throne and that day is a national holiday on which the birth, the accession and death of this national hero are still annually celebrated. Then one may see flags flying from both public and private buildings, and hear the reverberations of a royal salute fired by the ironclad navy of modern Japan from Krupp guns, and by the military in French uniforms from Remington rifles. The era of Jimmu is the starting point of Japanese chronology, and the year 1 of the Japanese era is that upon which he ascended the throne at Kashiwavara.

In the beginning there existed, according to one interpretation of the somewhat perplexing Shinto mythology, chaos, which contained the germs of all things. From this was evolved a race of heavenly beings and celestial “Kami” of whom Izanagi, a male, and Izanami, a female, were the last individuals. Other authorities on Shinto maintain that infinite space and not chaos existed in the beginning; others again that in the beginning there was one god. However, all agree as to the appearance on the scene of Izanagi and Izanami, and it is with these we are here concerned; for by their union were produced the islands of Japan, and among their children were Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and her younger brother, Susanoo, afterward appointed god of the sea. On account of her bright beauty the former was made queen of the sun, and had given to her a share on the government of the earth. To Ninigi-no-mikoto, her grandson, she afterward consigned absolute rule over the earth, sending him down by the floating bridge of heaven upon the summit of the mountain Kirishima-yama. He took with him the three Japanese regalia, the sacred mirror, now in one of the Shinto shrines of Ise; the sword, now treasured in the temple of Atsuta, near Nagoya; and the ball of rock crystal in possession of the emperor. On the accomplishment of the descent, the sun and the earth receded from one another, and communication by means of the floating bridge ceased. Jimmu Tenno, the first historic emperor of Japan, was the great grandson of Ninigi-no-mikoto.

JAPANESE GOD OF RIDING.

According to the indigenous religion of Japan, therefore, a religion which even since the adoption of western civilization has been patronized by the state, the mikados are directly descended from the sun goddess, the principal Shinto divinity. Having received from her the three sacred treasures, they are invested with authority to rule over Japan as long as the sun and moon shall endure. Their minds are in perfect harmony with hers; therefore they cannot err and must receive implicit obedience. Such is the traditional theory as to the position of the Japanese emperors, a theory which was advanced in its most elaborate form, as recently as the last century, by Motoori, a writer on Shinto, which of late years has no doubt been much modified or even utterly discarded by many of the more enlightened among the people. Even yet, however, it is far from having been abandoned by the masses.