Japan

by Walter G. Dickson

The immediate result of this very decisive victory was to blow to the winds the rope of sand which his enemies had been endeavoring to coil round Iyeyas. His opponents were scattered and their hands paralyzed. Iyeyas was master of the situation. He lost no time in marching westward to gain possession of Osaka. He seized Sawoyama, a castle then belonging to Jiboo no sho, and now known as Hikonay, the residence of Ee kamong no kami. The brother of the proprietor was in command of the place. He put to death all the women and children, and set fire to the house, to take from the enemy the honor of leading him in triumph. Mowori was in command at Osaka, and, as ruler over ten provinces, he was now the only chief who was likely to dispute with Iyeyas the position of regent. But he was panic-struck, and, though at the head of 40,000 men, gave up the place and surrendered to the conqueror, who immediately entered the town in a kind of triumph, and soon after all Japan submitted to his government. He was, in truth, now the monarch of Japan. The Emperor was in existence, but this was only known near Miako by the titles which he occasionally conferred on those about his court.

Hideyori, the boy representative of Taikosama, was only seven years of age, and had no very strong claim to be considered that potentate’s successor, a position which he could not hold without the assistance of Iyeyas, his wife’s grandfather. Iyeyas had felt that the peace of the state was depending upon him, and that, from the position which the governors had taken up, either he or they must yield; but neither would give way without an appeal to arms. The Jesuits seem all along to have shown a want of foresight in omitting to see that he was the coming man, and made a mistake in placing their trust in Don Austin, whose position was now to them a source of great anxiety.

Into the late war there does not seem to have entered any religious element of discord, as Christians of rank were found upon both sides. The lords of Arima and Omura and Kahi no kami (who is frequently mentioned by the Jesuit writers) were in the army of Iyeyas, while Don Austin and others took the opposite side.

Ishida, Jiboo no sho, being now a prisoner, was not likely to receive much mercy at the hands of Iyeyas. Letters had passed between them which reduced their position to a personal quarrel. He had already been once spared by his foe, and had retired on parole to his castle of Sawoyama. Thinking that an opportunity for revenge had arrived, he put himself at the head of the army of the confederates. He had again failed, and now found himself a prisoner in an ignominious and dishonorable position. But Konishi Setsu, or Tsu no kami, also a prisoner, ran the risk of losing his life, more probably from jealousy of his military capacity than from any other reason. He was the son of a drug merchant in Sakkai. The eulogiums pronounced upon him by the Christian writers may pass for what each values them at; but he had been trusted in a very responsible position by Taikosama in Corea. He had subsequently been degraded at the instigation of his rivals, and afterward reinstated for the accomplishment of schemes requiring the utmost acuteness in diplomacy, as well as for the execution of plans requiring military skill and prowess. He had shown himself capable of both. As an evidence of the position to which he had raised himself was the marriage of his son to the granddaughter of Iyeyas himself. He had been appointed to the office then known as viceroy of the island of Kiusiu, and was at the same time commander-in-chief both of the naval and military forces in the Corean war. Had Iyeyas acted with his ordinary clemency and judgment, he would after his victory have pardoned such a rival and family connection; but there were hungry wolves who personally hated Don Austin, who gloated over his downfall, and cast longing eyes on his territories, about to be confiscated. Chief of these was Toronosuqui, “Vir ter execrandus,” as the Jesuits style him, one of the coarsest men of Japanese history, but since his death canonized as a saint in the Japanese calendar as Say sho go sama of the Nitchi ren sect of Buddhists. Hitherto known by this name of Toronosuqui, he figures in the subsequent letters of the Jesuits as Canzuge dono, or properly, as the title now is, Kazuyay no kami.

After his capture, Konishi seems to have been treated with great rigor—not being allowed to see any of his relatives or any foreign priest—and was beheaded, along with the Jiboo no sho, at Awata ngootchi, the common execution-ground at Miako. His young son was shortly afterward inveigled and murdered by Mowori, who thought to please Iyeyas and save himself, after his mean surrender of himself and his position, by sending the head of Don Austin’s child to his wife’s grandfather; but Iyeyas was disgusted, and Mowori in the end was stripped of the greater part of his possessions.

Native writers agree with the Jesuit accounts in giving Iyeyas credit for great moderation and sagacity in the use of the power which had fallen into his hands. Thinking himself firmly seated, he tried to make all know that he wished the past to be forgotten—that he was not angry with those who had been in arms against him, but that he was grieved that it had been necessary that so much blood should have been shed. He granted an amnesty to all who would accept of it; and even some—such as Tatchibanna—who were not very influential, and who would neither accept of it nor submit to him, he left quietly alone to allow time to work. The great secret of his power seems to have been that when he once made a promise he never broke it, and the most perfect reliance was placed upon his word. “In effect, Daifusama, being naturally of a meek and easy temper, took quite different methods from Taikosama, who had rendered himself extremely odious by his cruel and severe oppressions. He proposed to himself to govern more by love than fear; and therefore, contrary to the maxims of his predecessor, pardoned several of the lords that bore arms against him. Moreover, he sent a pardon to Don Austin’s lady and daughter (who expected, according to law, to have shared his fate), as also to his brethren and their children; and, what is more, he did not show any resentment to the fathers for being constant to the interests of Don Austin, or for harboring his lady at the time of her retreat at Nanga saki.” The only unsettled portion of the empire was the island of Kiusiu. The territory of Don Austin in the province of Higo was handed over to Katto Kiomassa, or Toronosuqui, who, as has been said, was a virulent opponent of the Christian religion. While Don Austin held this territory, by the advice of his spiritual superiors, every one had been compelled to be baptized and turn Christian, or to leave the territory. It was now the turn of the opposite party to use the same tactics, and most mercilessly they followed the example set by these Spanish priests both in Japan and in Europe.

Satsuma, who had escaped from the field of Sekingaharra, expected that the weight of the victor’s wrath would shortly fall upon him, and he prepared for it. The subjection of Kiusiu was intrusted to Kuroda Kahi no kami and Terasawa Sima no kami, with the lesser lords who had territories in the island. Satsuma was obliged to yield, and submitted to Iyeyas, receiving back from him the greater part of the territory then held by him.

The part of the island of Nippon east of the barrier of Hakonay, in the province of Segami, is commonly called Kwanto; and the Hasshiu, or eight provinces beyond the boundary toward the east part of the island, had more or less for many years been under the entire rule of Iyeyas. Kamakura, which had at one period been a rival to Miako as a second capital, had fallen into decay. Odawara, the castle of the Hojio family, at the head of the same bay, had never risen to any position as a central city. The Nishi maro, a part of the castle of Yedo, had formerly been built and occupied by Owota do kwang, whose memory is to this day cherished in Japan, and his name and writings are still extant on some parts of his castle or shiro. On a summer house in the garden of the castle is a couplet in poetry which is looked upon as a prophecy of coming events with reference to its accomplishment in the present age:

“From this window I look upon Fusiyama,

With its snow of a thousand years.