A History of the Japanese People Part 16

The twenty-fourth sovereign, Ninken, was the elder of the two brothers, Oke and Woke, whose escape from the murderous ambition of the Emperor Yuryaku and their ultimate restoration to princely rank have been already described. He succeeded to the throne after the death of his younger brother, and occupied it for ten years of a most uneventful reign. Apart from the fact that tanners were invited from Korea to improve the process followed in j.a.pan, the records contain nothing worthy of attention. One incident, however, deserves to be noted as showing the paramount importance attached in those early days to all the formalities of etiquette. The Empress dowager committed suicide, dreading lest she should be put to death for a breach of politeness committed towards Ninken during the life of his predecessor, Kenso. At a banquet in the palace she had twice neglected to kneel when presenting, first, a knife and, secondly, a cup of wine to Ninken, then Prince Imperial. It has already been related that the Empress Onakatsu, consort of Inkyo, was disposed to inflict the death penalty on a high official who had slighted her unwittingly prior to her husband's accession. There can be no doubt that differences of rank received most rigid recognition in early j.a.pan.

THE EMPEROR MURETSU

This sovereign was the eldest son of his predecessor, Ninken.

According to the Chronicles, his reign opened with a rebellion by the great Heguri family, whose representative, Matori, attempted to usurp the Imperial dignity while his son, s.h.i.+bi, defiantly wooed and won for himself the object of the Emperor's affections. Matori had been Yuryaku's minister, and his power as well as his family influence were very great, but the military n.o.bles adhered to the sovereign's cause and the Heguri were annihilated. In the Records this event is attributed to the reign of Seinei in a much abbreviated form, but the account given in the Chronicles commands the greater credence. The Chronicles, however, represent Muretsu as a monster of cruelty, the Nero of j.a.panese history, who plucked out men's nails and made them dig up yams with their mutilated fingers; who pulled out people's hair; who made them ascend trees which were then cut down, and who perpetrated other hideous excesses. Here again the Records, as well as other ancient authorities are absolutely silent, and the story in the Chronicles has attracted keen a.n.a.lyses by modern historiographers. Their almost unanimous conclusion is that the annals of King Multa of Kudara have been confused with those of the Emperor Muretsu. This Korean sovereign, contemporary with Muretsu, committed all kinds of atrocities and was finally deposed by his people. There are evidences that the compilers of the Chronicles drew largely on the pages of Korean writers, and it is not difficult to imagine accidental intermixing such as that suggested by the critics in this case.

KEITAI

The death of the Emperor Muretsu left the throne without any successor in the direct line of descent, and for the first time since the foundation of the Empire, it became necessary for the great officials to make a selection among the scions of the remote Imperial families. Their choice fell primarily on the representative of the fifth generation of the Emperor Chuai's descendants. But as their method of announcing their decision was to despatch a strong force of armed troops to the provincial residence of the chosen man, he naturally misinterpreted the demonstration and sought safety in flight. Then the o-omi and the o-muraji turned to Prince Odo, fifth in descent from the Emperor Ojin on his father's side and eighth in descent from the Emperor Suinin on his mother's. Arako, head of the horse-keepers, had secretly informed the prince of the ministers'

intentions, and thus the sudden apparition of a military force inspired no alarm in Odo's bosom. He did, indeed, show seemly hesitation, but finally he accepted the insignia and ascended the throne, confirming all the high dignitaries of State in their previous offices. From the point of view of domestic affairs his reign was uneventful, but the empire's relations with Korea continued to be much disturbed, as will be presently explained.

ANKAN

The Emperor Keitai had a large family, but only one son was by the Empress, and as he was too young to ascend the throne immediately after his father's death, he was preceded by his two brothers, Ankan and Senkwa, sons of the senior concubine. This complication seems to have caused some difficulty, for whereas Keitai died in 531, Ankan's reign did not commence until 534. The most noteworthy feature of his era was the establishment of State granaries in great numbers, a proof that the Imperial power found large extension throughout the provinces. In connexion with this, the o-muraji, Kanamura, is quoted as having laid down, by command of the Emperor, the following important doctrine, "Of the entire surface of the soil, there is no part which is not a royal grant in fee; under the wide heavens there is no place which is not royal territory." The annals show, also, that the custom of accepting tracts of land or other property in expiation of offences was obtaining increased vogue.

SENKWA

Senkwa was the younger brother of Ankan. He reigned only three years and the period of his sway was uneventful, if we except the growth of complications with Korea, and the storing of large quant.i.ties of grain in Tsukus.h.i.+, as a "provision against extraordinary occasions,"

and "for the cordial entertainment of our good guests" from "the countries beyond the sea."

RELATIONS WITH KOREA

With whatever scepticism the details of the Empress Jingo's expedition be regarded, it appears to be certain that at a very early date, j.a.pan effected lodgement on the south coast of Korea at Mimana, and established there a permanent station (chinju-fu) which was governed by one of her own officials. It is also apparent that, during several centuries, the eminent military strength of Yamato received practical recognition from the princ.i.p.alities into which the peninsula was divided; that they sent to the Court of j.a.pan annual presents which partook of the nature of tribute, and that they treated her suggestions, for the most part, with deferential attention. This state of affairs received a rude shock in the days of Yuryaku, when that sovereign, in order to possess himself of the wife of a high official named Tasa, sent the latter to distant Mimana as governor, and seized the lady in his absence. Tasa revolted, and from that time j.a.pan's position in the peninsula was compromised. The Koreans perceived that her strength might be paralyzed by the sins of her sovereigns and the disaffection of her soldiers. s.h.i.+ragi (Sinra), whose frontier was conterminous with that of the j.a.panese settlement on the north, had always been restive in the proximity of a foreign aggressor. From the time of Yuryaku's accession she ceased to convey the usual tokens of respect to the Yamato Court, and, on the other hand, she cultivated the friends.h.i.+p of Koma as an ally in the day of retribution.

It may be broadly stated that Korea was then divided into three princ.i.p.alities: s.h.i.+ragi in the south and east; Kudara in the centre and west, with its capital at the modern Seoul, and Koma in the north, having Pyong-yang for chief city. This last had recently pushed its frontier into Manchuria as far as the Liao River, and was already beginning to project its shadow over the southern regions of the peninsula, destined ultimately to fall altogether under its sway.

In response to s.h.i.+ragi's overtures, the King of Koma sent a body of troops to a.s.sist in protecting that princ.i.p.ality against any retaliatory essay on the part of the j.a.panese in Mimana. But the men of s.h.i.+ragi, betrayed into imagining that these soldiers were destined to be the van of an invading army, ma.s.sacred them, and besought j.a.panese succour against Koma's vengeance. The j.a.panese acceded, and s.h.i.+ragi was saved for a time, but at the cost of incurring, for herself and for j.a.pan alike, the lasting enmity of Koma. s.h.i.+ragi appears to have concluded, however, that she had more to fear from Koma than from j.a.pan, for she still withheld her tribute to the latter, and invaded the territory of Kudara, which had always maintained most friendly relations with Yamato. The Emperor Yuryaku sent two expeditions to punish this contumacy, but the result being inconclusive, he resolved to take the exceptional step of personally leading an army to the peninsula.

This design, which, had it matured, might have radically changed the history of the Far East, was checked by an oracle, and Yuryaku appointed three of his powerful n.o.bles to go in his stead. The s.h.i.+ragi men fought with desperate tenacity. One wing of their army was broken, but the other held its ground, and two of the j.a.panese generals fell in essaying to dislodge it. Neither side could claim a decisive victory, but both were too much exhausted to renew the combat. This was not the limit of j.a.pan's misfortunes. A feud broke out among the leaders of the expedition, and one of them, Oiwa, shot his comrade as they were en route for the Court of the Kudara monarch, who had invited them in the hope of composing their dissensions, since the existence of his own kingdom depended on j.a.pan's intervention between Koma and s.h.i.+ragi.

Owing to this feud among her generals, j.a.pan's hold on Mimana became more precarious than ever while her prestige in the peninsula declined perceptibly. Nevertheless her great military name still retained much of its potency. Thus, ten years later (A.D. 477), when the King of Koma invaded Kudara and held the land at his mercy, he declined to follow his generals' counsels of extermination in deference to Kudara's long friends.h.i.+p with Yamato. It is related that, after this disaster, the j.a.panese Emperor gave the town of Ung-chhon (j.a.panese, k.u.manari) to the remnant of the Kudara people, and the latter's capital was then transferred from its old site in the centre of the peninsula--a place no longer tenable--to the neighbourhood of Mimana. Thenceforth Yuryaku aided Kudara zealously.

He not only despatched a force of five hundred men to guard the palace of the King, but also sent (480) a flotilla of war-vessels to attack Koma from the west coast. The issue of this attempt is not recorded, and the silence of the annals may be construed as indicating failure. Koma maintained at that epoch relations of intimate friends.h.i.+p with the powerful Chinese dynasty of the Eastern Wei, and Yuryaku's essays against such a combination were futile, though he prosecuted them with considerable vigour.

After his death the efficiency of j.a.pan's operations in Korea was greatly impaired by factors. .h.i.therto happily unknown in her foreign affairs--treason and corruption. Lord Oiwa, whose shooting of his fellow general, Karako, has already been noted, retained his post as governor of Mimana for twenty-one years, and then (487), ambitious of wider sway, opened relations with Koma for the joint invasion of Kudara, in order that he himself might ascend the throne of the latter. A desperate struggle ensued. Several battles were fought, in all of which the victory is historically a.s.signed to Oiwa, but if he really did achieve any success, it was purely ephemeral, for he ultimately abandoned the campaign and returned to j.a.pan, giving another shock to his country's waning reputation in the peninsula. If the Yamato Court took any steps to punish this act of lawless ambition, there is no record in that sense. The event occurred in the last year of Kenso's reign, and neither that monarch nor his successor, Ninken, seems to have devoted any special attention to Korean affairs.

Nothing notable took place until 509, when Keitai was on the throne.

In that year, a section of the Kudara people, who, in 477, had been driven from their country by the Koma invaders and had taken refuge within the j.a.panese dominion of Mimana, were restored to their homes with j.a.panese co-operation and with renewal of the friendly relations which had long existed between the Courts of Yamato and Kudara. Three years later (512), Kudara preferred a singular request. She asked that four regions, forming an integral part of the Yamato domain of Mimana, should be handed over to her, apparently as an act of pure benevolence. j.a.pan consented. There is no explanation of her complaisance except that she deemed it wise policy to strengthen Kudara against the growing might of s.h.i.+ragi, Yamato's perennial foe.

The two officials by whose advice the throne made this sacrifice were the o-muraji, Kanamura, and the governor of Mimana, an omi called Os.h.i.+yama. They went down in the pages of history as corrupt statesmen who, in consideration of bribes from the Kudara Court, surrendered territory which j.a.pan had won by force of arms and held for five centuries.

In the following year (513) the Kudara Court again utilized the services of Os.h.i.+yama to procure possession of another district, Imun (j.a.panese, Komom), which lay on the northeast frontier of Mimana.

Kudara falsely represented that this region had been wrested from her by Habe, one of the petty princ.i.p.alities in the peninsula, and the Yamato Court, acting at the counsels of the same o-muraji (Kanamura) who had previously espoused Kudara's cause, credited Kudara's story.

This proved an ill-judged policy. It is true that j.a.pan's prestige in the peninsula received signal recognition on the occasion of promulgating the Imperial decree which sanctioned the transfer of the disputed territory. All the parties to the dispute, Kudara, s.h.i.+ragi, and Habe, were required to send envoys to the Yamato Court for the purpose of hearing the rescript read, and thus j.a.pan's pre-eminence was constructively acknowledged. But her order provoked keen resentment in s.h.i.+ragi and Habe. The general whom she sent with five hundred wars.h.i.+ps to escort the Kudara envoys was ignominiously defeated by the men of Habe, while s.h.i.+ragi seized the opportunity to invade Mimana and to occupy a large area of its territory.

For several years the Yamato Court made no attempt to re-a.s.sert itself, but in 527 an expedition of unprecedented magnitude was organized. It consisted of sixty thousand soldiers under the command of Keno no Omi, and its object was to chastise s.h.i.+ragi and to re-establish Mimana in its original integrity. But here an unforeseeable obstacle presented itself. For all communication with the Korean peninsula, Tsukus.h.i.+ (Kyushu) was an indispensable basis, and it happened that, just at this time, Kyushu had for ruler (miyatsuko) a n.o.bleman called Iwai, who is said to have long entertained treasonable designs. A knowledge of his mood was conveyed to s.h.i.+ragi, and tempting proposals were made to him from that place conditionally on his frustrating the expedition under Keno no Omi.

Iwai thereupon occupied the four provinces of Higo, Hizen, Bungo, and Buzen, thus effectually placing his hand on the neck of the communications with Korea and preventing the embarkation of Keno no Omi's army. He established a pseudo-Court in Tsukus.h.i.+ and there gave audience to tribute-bearing envoys from Koma, Kudara and s.h.i.+ragi.

For the s.p.a.ce of a twelvemonth this rebel remained master of the situation, but, in A.D. 528, the o-muraji, Arakahi, crushed him after a desperate conflict in the province of Chikugo.* Iwai effected his escape to Buzen and died by his own hand in a secluded valley.

Although, however, this formidable rebellion was thus successfully quelled, the great expedition did not mature. Keno, its intended leader, did indeed proceed to Mimana and a.s.sume there the duties of governor, but he proved at once arrogant and incompetent, employing to an extravagant degree the ordeal of boiling water, so that many innocent people suffered fatally, and putting to death children of mixed Korean and j.a.panese parentage instead of encouraging unions which would have tended to bring the two countries closer together.

*In the Chikugo Fudoki a minute description is given of Iwai's sepulchre, built during his lifetime but presumably never occupied by his body. The remarkable feature of the tomb was a number of stone images, several representing grave-guards, and one group being apparently designed to represent the judicial trial of a poacher.

In all her relations with Korea at this epoch, j.a.pan showed more loyalty than sagacity. She was invariably ready to accede to proposals from her old friend, Kudara, and the latter, taking astute advantage of this mood, secured her endors.e.m.e.nt of territorial transfers which brought to the Yamato Court nothing but the enmity of Kudara's rivals. By these errors of statesmans.h.i.+p and by the misgovernment of officials like Keno, conditions were created which, as will be seen hereafter, proved ultimately fatal to j.a.pan's sway in the peninsula. Meanwhile, every student of j.a.panese ancient annals cannot but be struck by the large s.p.a.ce devoted to recording her relations with Korea. As the eminent historian, Rai Sanyo, said in later times, her soldiers were wearied by constant campaigns oversea, and her agriculturists were exhausted by frequent requisitions for supplies. During the epoch of Jingo and Ojin, j.a.pan was palpably inferior to her peninsular neighbour in civilization, in wealth, and in population. But in one respect the superiority was largely on her side; namely, in the quality of her soldiers. Therefore, she utilized her military strength for campaigns which cost comparatively little and produced much. The peninsula, at that time, verified the term commonly applied to it, Uchi-tsurmiyake, or the "Granary of the Home-land." But as the material development of j.a.pan and her civilization progressed, she stood constantly to lose more and gain less by despatching expeditions to a land which squandered much of its resources on internecine quarrels and was deteriorating by comparison. The task of maintaining Mimana and succouring Kudara then became an obligation of prestige which gradually ceased to interest the nation.

FINANCE

In the period now under consideration no system of land taxation had yet come into existence. The requirements of the Court were met by the produce of the mi-agata (Imperial domains), and rice for public use was grown in the miyake districts, being there stored and devoted to the administrative needs of the region. Occasionally the contents of several miyake were collected into one district, as, for example, when (A.D. 536) the Emperor Senkwa ordered a concentration of foodstuffs in Tsukus.h.i.+. The miyake were the property of the Crown, as were also a number of hereditary corporations (be), whose members discharged duties, from building and repairing palaces--no light task, seeing that the site of the palace was changed with each change of occupant--to sericulture, weaving, tailoring, cooking, and arts and handicrafts of all descriptions, each be exercising its own function from generation to generation, and being superintended by its own head-man (obito or atae).

Any insufficiency in the supplies furnished by the sovereign's own people was made good by levying on the tomo-no-miyatsuko. It will be seen that there was no annual tax regularly imposed on the people in general, though universal requisitions were occasionally made to meet the requirements of public works, festivals or military operations.

Hence when it is said that the Emperor Nintoku remitted all taxes for the s.p.a.ce of three years until the people's burdens were lightened, reference is made only to the be and tomobe belonging to the Throne itself. Doubtless this special feature of Yamato finance was due in part to the fact that all the land and all the people, except those appertaining to the Crown, were in the possession of the uji, without whose co-operation no general fiscal measure could be adopted. When recourse to the nation at large was necessitated to meet some exceptional purpose, orders had to be given, first, to the o-omi and o-muraji; next, by these to the Kami of the several o-uji; then, by the latter to the Kami of the various ko-uji, and, finally, by these last to every household.

The machinery was thorough, but to set it in motion required an effort which const.i.tuted an automatic obstacle to extortion. The lands and people of the uji were governed by the Emperor but were not directly controlled by him. On the other hand, to refuse a requisition made by the Throne was counted contumelious and liable to punishment. Thus when (A.D. 534) the Emperor Ankan desired to include a certain area of arable land in a miyake established for the purpose of commemorating the name of the Empress, and when Ajihari, suzerain (atae) of the region, sought to evade the requisition by misrepresenting the quality of the land, he was reprimanded and had to make atonement by surrendering a portion of his private property.

There can be no doubt, however, that as the population increased and as uncultivated areas grew less frequent, the arbitrary establishment of kos.h.i.+ro or of nas.h.i.+ro became more and more irksome, and the pages of history indicate that from the time of Keitai (A.D. 507-531) this practice was gradually abandoned.

CRIMINAL LAW

Although the use of the ideographic script became well known from the fifth century, everything goes to show that no written law existed at that time, or, indeed, for many years afterwards. Neither are there any traces of Korean or Chinese influence in this realm. Custom prescribed punishments, and the solemnity of a judicial trial found no better representative than the boiling-water ordeal. If a man took oath to the deities of his innocence and was prepared to thrust his arm into boiling mud or water, or to lay a red-hot axe on the palm of his hand, he was held to have complied with all the requirements. The familiar Occidental doctrine, "the King can do no wrong," received imperative recognition in j.a.pan, and seems to have been extended to the Crown Prince also. There were no other exemptions. If a man committed a crime, punishment extended to every member of his family.

On the other hand, offences might generally be expiated by presenting lands or other valuables to the Throne. As for the duty of executing sentences, it devolved on the monon.o.be, who may be described as the military corporation. Death or exile were common forms of punishment, but degradation was still more frequent. It often meant that a family, n.o.ble and opulent to-day, saw all its members handed over to-morrow to be the serfs or slaves of some uji in whose be they were enrolled to serve thenceforth, themselves and their children, through all generations in some menial position,--it might be as sepulchre-guards, it might be as scullions.

Tattooing on the face was another form of penalty. The first mention of it occurs in A.D. 400 when Richu condemned the muraji, Hamako, to be thus branded, but whether the practice originated then or dated from an earlier period, the annals do not show. It was variously called hitae-kizamu (slicing the brow), me-saku (splitting the eyes), and so on, but these terms signified nothing worse than tattooing on the forehead or round the eyes. The Emperor Richu deemed that such notoriety was sufficient penalty for high treason, but Yuryaku inflicted tattooing on a man whose dog had killed one of his Majesty's fowls.

Death at the stake appears to have been very uncommon. This terrible form of punishment seems to have been revived by Yuryaku. He caused it to be inflicted on one of the ladies-in-waiting and her paramour, who had forestalled him in the girl's affections. The first instance is mentioned in the annals of the Empress Jingo, but the victim was a Korean and the incident happened in war. To Yuryaku was reserved the infamy of employing such a penalty in the case of a woman. Highly placed personages were often allowed to expiate an offence by performing the religious rite of harai (purification), the offender defraying all expenses.

ARCHITECTURE

As Chinese literature became familiar and as the arts of the Middle Kingdom and Korea were imported into j.a.pan, the latter's customs naturally underwent some changes. This was noticeable in the case of architecture. Lofty buildings, as has been already stated, began to take the place of the partially subterranean muro. The annals make no special reference to the authors of this innovation, but it is mentioned that among the descendants of the Chinese, Achi, and the Korean, Tsuka, there were men who practised carpentry. Apparently the fas.h.i.+on of high buildings was established in the reign of Anko when (A.D. 456) the term ro or takadono (lofty edifice) is, for the first time, applied to the palace of Anko in Yamato. A few years later (468), we find mention of two carpenters,* Tsuguno and Mita, who, especially the latter, were famous experts in Korean architecture, and who received orders from Yuryaku to erect high buildings. It appears further that silk curtains (tsumugi-kaki) came into use in this age for part.i.tioning rooms, and that a species of straw mat (tatsu-gomo) served for carpet when people were hunting, travelling, or campaigning.

*It should be remembered that as all j.a.panese edifices were made of timber, the carpenter and the architect were one and the same.

s.h.i.+PS

Occasional references have been made already to the art of s.h.i.+pbuilding in j.a.pan, and the facts elicited may be summed up very briefly. They are that the first instance of naming a s.h.i.+p is recorded in the year A.D. 274, when the Karano (one hundred feet long) was built to order of the Emperor Ojin by the carpenters of Izu promontory, which place was famed for skill in this respect; that the general method of building was to hollow out tree-trunks,* and that the arrival of naval architects from s.h.i.+ragi (A.D. 300) inaugurated a superior method of construction, differing little from that employed in later ages.

*Such dug-outs were named maruki-bune, a distinguis.h.i.+ng term which proves that some other method of building was also employed.

VEHICLES

A palanquin (kos.h.i.+) used by the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 270-310) was preserved in the Kyoto palace until the year 1219, when a conflagration consumed it. The records give no description of it, but they say that Yuryaku and his Empress returned from a hunting expedition on a cart (kuruma), and tradition relates that a man named Isa, a descendant in the eighth generation of the Emperor Sujin, built a covered cart which was the very one used by Yuryaku. It is, indeed, more than probable that a vehicle which had been in use in China for a long time must have become familiar to the j.a.panese at an early epoch.

MEDICAL ART

For relief in sickness supplication to the G.o.ds and the performance of religious rites were chiefly relied on. But it is alleged* that medicines for internal and external use were in existence and that recourse to thermal springs was commonly practised from remote times.

*By the Nihon b.u.mmei s.h.i.+ryaku.

PICTORIAL ART

While Yuryaku was on the throne, Korea and China sent pictorial experts to j.a.pan. The Korean was named Isuraka, and the Chinese, s.h.i.+nki. The latter is said to have been a descendant of the Emperor Wen of the Wei dynasty. His work attracted much attention in the reign of Muretsu, who bestowed on him the uji t.i.tle of Ooka no Obito.

His descendants practised their art with success in j.a.pan, and from the time of the Emperor Tenchi (668-671) they were distinguished as Yamato no es.h.i.+ (painters of Yamato).