Japan

by Walter G. Dickson

To my gate ships will come from the far East

Ten thousand miles.”

Considering the associations which hung around Miako and Narra and Osaka as the capitals, imperial, ecclesiastical and commercial, of the empire, it might be deemed a great stretch of power and firm confidence in himself and the stability of his system of government, that Iyeyas should think of removing the location of the executive to Yedo. He had doubtless pondered long and deeply over the best system of government for the country. He had seen the anarchy which preceded the rise of Nobu nanga to power; he had seen the want of system by which the structure of government at that time had crumbled down with the fall of the one man upon whoso shoulders it had been supported; he had all the experience since that time to be gained from ruling an extensive territory of his own, combined with what observations he might make upon the system of Taikosama. In the settling of that system, doubtless, he had a large share; but he went further than Taikosama, and, disregarding the old associations connected with Miako, he removed the seat of the executive to his own provinces and to his own court in the city of Yedo, in what was considered a remote part of the empire, the inhabitants of which were looked upon as rude and unpolished, and regarded with contempt as savages of the east—“Azuma yebis.” The city, when Iyeyas first took possession of the shiro, consisted only of one street, known then and now as Koji matchi. It had increased very much in size under his care, and through the residence of the court, the Daimios, and their wives and families, and in no long time became a city of commercial importance. Although Yoritomo, and the Shiogoons and Kwanreis who succeeded him, held court at Kamakura and in the Kwanto, no one had ever called upon the great feudal lords, or Daimios, as we may now call them, to reside or keep up establishments there; but Iyeyas seemed to think that in an empire like Japan, without external foes, strength would be gained by a division of the empire. All his plans seem to have had regard to the welfare and peace of the country rather than the gratification of ambition, which he never allowed to master his judgment.

This year (1600) and the following Iyeyas devoted to internal improvements, especially in the highways of the empire. The road between the two capitals, Yedo and Miako, was greatly improved. He arranged the stations (tsoongi, or shooku), to the number of fifty-three, at nearly equal distances along the road, for the accommodation of Daimios and others traveling on official business. The Do chioo, or laws of the roads, were laid down, regulating the traffic, but more especially the movements and service of these lords when traveling.

In the year 1603 to Iyeyas was given the hereditary title and power of Se i dai shiogoon, or tranquilizer of barbarians and commander-in-chief. The last who had held this office was Yoshikanga Yoshiteru, who died in 1597. Hideyori was made Naidaijori.

CHAPTER VI
HISTORY TO THE EXPULSION OF CHRISTIANITY

This termination of the sixteenth century was in Japan one of the most notable time-marks in the history of the empire. It was an era at which a long series of intestine broils and of civil war came to an end, and gave way to an unexampled period of peace and happiness. Indirectly, Japan was affected by changes of greater ultimate results which had commenced long before at the opposite side of the world.

Portugal, in the zenith of its maritime glory and power, had hitherto retained in her own hands the navigation and the trade of the East. Bold as these early navigators were, the accounts given of their proceedings show them to have conjoined, in strange recklessness, religion with war, trade with piracy—“the sweet yoke” of their own ideas of government with ferocious cruelty to every one opposed to them. Perhaps this was to some extent necessary, when the health and prowess of a few men, not easily replaced in case of loss, were opposed to the climate and weight of numbers whose losses could easily be recruited by others equally useless and contemptible as foes. Grotius says of Englishmen of that time, that they obey like slaves and govern like tyrants. Toward the latter part of the century, the bigotry of Philip II. was raising powers against him in Europe, before which the then colossal but unwieldy empire under his rule was destined to crumble to pieces. The same intolerant policy which his emissaries in Japan were pursuing was being carried out by the old man, in the conscientious belief that he was furthering and hastening the kingdom of heaven, by fierce persecution and diabolical atrocities. The dreams which led men to undertake long voyages to America in the pursuit of a Utopia, infused a new spirit of boldness and adventure into the navigators of maritime countries. At the same time, the Reformation and the changes in the religious ideas among the people of Europe, and especially in Holland, England, and for a time in France, tended to throw contempt on the concessions and grants and privileges given by the Pope to Portugal, and by which their trade to the East was up to that time hedged in.

In 1577 Sir Francis Drake broke in upon this monopoly; and the Spaniards complained of the English infringing their rights, granted by the Pope, by sailing in the Eastern seas.

The Portuguese vessels which traded with the East had hitherto carried their produce to Lisbon or Cadiz, and thence it was carried to the coasts of Europe by the Dutch and English. But when war broke out between these countries, Philip, thinking to clip the wings of his enemies, interdicted this trade. This compelled them to take a longer flight and seek Eastern commodities at the fountain-head. The navies of the Dutch and Portuguese came into collision on the Eastern seas, and the former were victorious, and one after another of the large Portuguese carracks fell to the English and Dutch privateers.