Japan: From the Japanese Government History

by Unknown

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.