Japan Part 23

101 Satow and Hawes' _Handbook of j.a.pan_, London, 1884.

102 For ten years preceding 794 the capital was a wanderer.

103 See the _Transactions of the Asiatic Society of j.a.pan_, vol. viii., p. 88. The inscription is in part as follows:

Castle of Taga, Distant from the capital, Ri 1500 Distant from the frontier of Yezo, Ri 120 Distant from Hitachi, Ri 412 Distant from s.h.i.+motsuke, Ri 274 Distant from Makkatsu, Ri 3000.

_ 104 Education in j.a.pan_, New York, 1873, p. 17.

105 See p. 47.

106 These instances are taken from the paper on abdication and adoption, by s.h.i.+geno An-eki, as translated by Mr. Walter Dening, _Asiatic Society Transactions_, vol. xv., p. 74.

107 See Chamberlain's _Things j.a.panese_, under the article on abdication. Yokohama, 1892.

108 See p. 66 _et seq._

109 At the time that d.i.c.kson collected his statistics of the families of the court, two of the Sugawara family were teachers of the young emperor. Six families of _kuges_ count their descent from the Sugawara. d.i.c.kson's _j.a.pan_, London, 1869, p. 59.

110 See chapter on "Education in the Early Ages," by Otsuki Sinji, in _j.a.panese Education_, New York, 1876, p. 64.

111 While I write these lines there is hanging before me a _kakemono_ representing Sugawara Michizane, which it has been proposed to hang in every public school under the care of the Department of Education, as an emblem of the true scholarly temperament.

112 See p. 132.

113 See Satow and Hawes' _Handbook_, p. 383.

114 He was born in A.D. 1146 and therefore was twelve years older than Yos.h.i.+tsune.

115 Doves are not eaten by the Minamoto to this day, owing, it is said, to this miraculous interposition in behalf of Yoritomo.

116 About A.D. 1618 Hakone was created a barrier to separate the eastern from the central provinces. Persons were not allowed to go through this barrier without a pa.s.sport.

117 In A.D. 1286, more than a century after his death, a monument was erected to Kiyomori in Hyogo which still exists. Satow and Hawes'

_Handbook_, p. 338.

118 The t.i.tle of shogun is said to have been created by the Emperor Sujin, who divided the empire into four military divisions, each commanded by a shogun or general. When Yos.h.i.+naka a.s.sumed control in Kyoto at the time of his victory he was appointed _sei-i-shogun_ (barbarian compelling general). Subsequently Yoritomo secured the supreme military authority and having resigned the civil offices held by him he was appointed by imperial edict _sei-i-tai-shogun_ or great barbarian compelling general.

See G. Appert's _Ancien j.a.pon_, vol. iii., p. 84; also Satow's note to Adams' _History of j.a.pan_, vol. i., p. 42.

119 Adams, in his _History of j.a.pan_, vol. i., p. 37, gives a quaint quotation from _Nihon-Gwais.h.i.+_ as follows: "The crimes of the Heis.h.i.+ against the imperial family were atoned for by their services, and heaven therefore would not cut off their posterity. And this probably was right."

120 See Satow and Hawes' _Handbook_, p. 57.

121 There are almost as many legends current concerning Benkei as his master. Their first encounter was upon the Gojo bridge in Kyoto, where Benkei prowled for the purpose of robbing pa.s.sengers.

Yos.h.i.+tsune, then only a youth of sixteen years, displayed so much agility and swordsmans.h.i.+p that the veteran robber yielded to him, and ever after followed him as his faithful body servant. The _j.a.panese Fairy World_, by W. E. Griffis, contains the legend of Benkei stealing a huge bell five feet high from the monastery at Miidera, and carrying it on his shoulders to Hiyesan (see p. 93).

When Yos.h.i.+tsune was compelled to flee from the vengeance of his brother, he came with Benkei, both disguised as begging priests, to a guarded barrier. The custodians refused them pa.s.sage, but Benkei, who was cunning as well as strong, pulled out from his bosom a roll of blank paper and pretended to read a commission from the abbot of Hokoji, in Kyoto, authorizing the two travellers to collect funds throughout the country for casting a great bell for their temple.

The custodians were deeply impressed with this holy message and allowed the travellers to pa.s.s without further question.

122 There are many legends, existing among the Ainos, of Yos.h.i.+tsune having lived among them and taught them improved arts of hunting and fis.h.i.+ng. There is a wooden image of him at the village of Upper Piratori, which is saluted (not wors.h.i.+pped) in token of honor to his memory. Rev. John Batchelor, who has lived as a missionary among the Ainos many years, is of the opinion that this reverence is largely due to a desire on the part of the Ainos to conciliate their j.a.panese masters. It has seemed not unreasonable to suppose that the traditions concerning Yos.h.i.+tsune among the Ainos have been carried from the Main island by the retreating tribes, and that Yos.h.i.+tsune never lived with them in Yezo, but was only familiar with them in the wild regions of Mutsu and Dewa.

See paper by Rev. J. Batchelor, _Asiatic Society Transactions_, vol.

xvi., part 1, p. 20.

123 Oye-no-Hiromoto was a powerful adherent of Yoritomo, and was a member of his administrative council. He was the ancestor of the Mori family, who afterward became famous as the daimyos of Choshu.

124 We owe to Kaempfer, perhaps, the erroneous notion which has been repeated by subsequent writers that there was both an ecclesiastical and a temporal emperor. This was never true. There has been only one emperor, who, in the j.a.panese theory, was the direct descendant of divine ancestors and who has always been the supreme authority. From the time of Yoritomo, however, the administration was in the hand of an hereditary shogun who always received the commission of the emperor for the performance of his duties. See Kaempfer's _Histoire de l'Empire du j.a.pon_, vol. i., p. 182.

125 The j.a.panese term is _s.h.i.+kken_, which is usually translated _regent_.

126 A travelling palanquin.

127 See _Travels of Marco Polo_, second edition, London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 240.

128 In the year A.D. 1890 two pictures were brought to light which represent the events of this memorable battle. They are believed to have been painted about A.D. 1294 by Naganori and Nagatoki, painters of the Tosa school. They have been in the family of one of the captains in the j.a.panese army of that day, and while the figures of the men and horses are not well drawn the pictures in other respects have great historical value. Alongside of the scenes represented, legends are written in explanation. It is said that these valuable historical pictures are likely to come into the Household Department and thus be more carefully preserved than they are likely to be in a private house.-_j.a.pan Weekly Mail_, 1890, p. 581.

129 For a description of this locality, which is justly famed in j.a.panese annals, see Satow and Hawes' _Handbook_, p. 56.

130 See Chamberlain's _Handbook_, 1891, p. 337.

131 Quite an animated and interesting controversy took place a few years ago with reference to this suicide of Kusunoki. Popular opinion strongly justifies the act and rewards with its highest approval the memory of the patriot. But Mr. f.u.kuzawa, one of the most radical of the public men of to-day and an active and trenchant writer, condemned the act as indefensible and cowardly.

132 Mr. Griffis says that when he resided in f.u.kui in A.D. 1871-more than five hundred years after the event,-he saw the grave of the heroic Nitta almost daily strewed with flowers.-_The Mikado's Empire_, 1876, p. 190.

133 Satow and Hawes' _Handbook_, p. 356.

134 It is an evidence of the feeling which still exists towards the As.h.i.+kaga shoguns that in 1863 these figures were taken from the To-ji-in and beheaded and the heads pilloried in the dry bed of the Kamogawa, at the spot where it is customary to expose the heads of the worst criminals. Several of the men who were guilty of this outrage were captured and were put into the hands of various daimyos by whom they were kept as prisoners.-Satow and Hawes' _Handbook_, p.

357.

135 See the full account of tea ceremonies in Chamberlain's _Things j.a.panese_, 1892, p. 404.

136 The official list of emperors will be found in Appendix I. The names of the northern which are not included in this list are as follows:

DATE OF ACCESSION.

Komio, 1996 years from Jimmu, 1336 A.D.

Shuko, 2009 years from Jimmu, 1349 A.D.

Go-Kogen, 2012 years from Jimmu, 1352 A.D.

Go-Enyu, 2032 years from Jimmu, 1372 A.D.

Go-Komatsu, 2043 years from Jimmu, 1383 A.D.

137 See _Asiatic Society Transactions_, vol. xiii., p. 139.

138 It is said that in this disastrous time the poverty of the country was so great that when, in A.D. 1500, Go-Tsuchimikado died at his palace in Kyoto, the corpse was kept for forty days because the means for the usual funeral expenses could not be had. M. von Brandt as quoted in Rein's _j.a.pan_, p. 261.

139 Mr. W. A. Woolley, in a paper read before the Asiatic Society of j.a.pan, gives an account derived from j.a.panese sources as follows: "Amongst those who landed on this occasion was one of the _Literati_ of China, who acted as interpreter between the foreigners and the chief of the island Hyobu-no-jo Tokitada. [Since both the Chinese and j.a.panese used the same ideographic characters, they could understand each other's writing but not speech.] In reply to questions the interpreter is represented as having described his friends the foreigners as being ignorant of etiquette and characters, of the use of wine cups and chop sticks, and as being, in fact, little better than the beasts of the field. The chief of the foreigners taught Tokitada the use of firearms, and upon leaving presented him with three guns and ammunition, which were forwarded to s.h.i.+mazu Yos.h.i.+hisa, and through him to the shogun."-_Asiatic Society Transactions_, vol. ix., p. 128.

140 See _Adventures of Mendez Pinto_, done into English by Henry Cogan, London, 1891, pp. 259 etc.