JAPAN BEFORE THE RESTORATION
For modern China, the most important foreign nation is Japan. In order
to understand the part played by Japan, it is necessary to know
something of that country, to which we must now turn our attention.
In reading the history of Japan, one of the most amazing things is the
persistence of the same forces and the same beliefs throughout the
centuries. Japanese history practically begins with a "Restoration" by
no means unlike that of 1867-8. Buddhism was introduced into Japan from
Korea in 552 A.D.[40] At the same time and from the same source Chinese
civilization became much better known in Japan than it had been through
the occasional intercourse of former centuries. Both novelties won
favour. Two Japanese students (followed later by many others) went to
China in 608 A.D., to master the civilization of that country. The
Japanese are an experimental nation, and before adopting Buddhism
nationally they ordered one or two prominent courtiers to adopt it,
with a view to seeing whether they prospered more or less than the
adherents of the traditional Shinto religion.[41] After some
vicissitudes, the experiment was held to have favoured the foreign
religion, which, as a Court religion, acquired more prestige than
Shinto, although the latter was never ousted, and remained the chief
religion of the peasantry until the thirteenth century. It is remarkable
to find that, as late as the sixteenth century, Hideyoshi, who was of
peasant origin, had a much higher opinion of "the way of the gods"
(which is what "Shinto" means) than of Buddhism.[42] Probably the
revival of Shinto in modern times was facilitated by a continuing belief
in that religion on the part of the less noisy sections of the
population. But so far as the people mentioned in history are concerned,
Buddhism plays a very much greater part than Shinto.
The object of the Restoration in 1867-8 was, at any rate in part, to
restore the constitution of 645 A.D. The object of the constitution of
645 A.D. was to restore the form of government that had prevailed in the
good old days. What the object was of those who established the
government of the good old days, I do not profess to know. However that
may be, the country before 645 A.D. was given over to feudalism and
internal strife, while the power of the Mikado had sunk to a very low
ebb. The Mikado had had the civil power, but had allowed great
feudatories to acquire military control, so that the civil government
fell into contempt. Contact with the superior civilization of China made
intelligent people think that the Chinese constitution deserved
imitation, along with the Chinese morals and religion. The Chinese
Emperor was the Son of Heaven, so the Mikado came to be descended from
the Sun Goddess. The Chinese Emperor, whenever he happened to be a
vigorous man, was genuinely supreme, so the Mikado must be made so.
The similarity of the influence of China in producing the Restoration of
645 A.D. and that of Europe in producing the Restoration of 1867-8 is
set forth by Murdoch[43] as follows:--
In the summer of 1863 a band of four Choshu youths were smuggled
on board a British steamer by the aid of kind Scottish friends
who sympathized with their endeavour to proceed to Europe for
purposes of study. These, friends possibly did not know that some
of the four had been protagonists in the burning down of the
British Legation on Gotenyama a few months before, and they
certainly could never have suspected that the real mission of the
four youths was to master the secrets of Western civilization
with a sole view of driving the Western barbarians from the
sacred soil of Japan. Prince Ito and Marquis Inouye--for they
were two of this venturesome quartette--have often told of their
rapid disillusionment when they reached London, and saw these
despised Western barbarians at home. On their return to Japan
they at once became the apostles of a new doctrine, and their
effective preaching has had much to do with the pride of place
Dai Nippon now holds among the Great Powers of the world.
The two students who went to China in 608 A.D. "rendered even more
illustrious service to their country perhaps than Ito and Inouye have
done. For at the Revolution of 1868, the leaders of the movement harked
back to the 645-650 A.D. period for a good deal of their inspiration,
and the real men of political knowledge at that time were the two
National Doctors."
Politically, what was done in 645 A.D. and the period immediately
following was not unlike what was done in France by Louis XI and
Richelieu--curbing of the great nobles and an exaltation of the
sovereign, with a substitution of civil justice for military anarchy.
The movement was represented by its promoters as a Restoration, probably
with about the same amount of truth as in 1867. At the latter date,
there was restoration so far as the power of the Mikado was concerned,
but innovation as regards the introduction of Western ideas. Similarly,
in 645 A.D., what was done about the Mikado was a return to the past,
but what was done in the way of spreading Chinese civilization was just
the opposite. There must have been, in both cases, the same curious
mixture of antiquarian and reforming tendencies.
Throughout subsequent Japanese history, until the Restoration, one seems
to see two opposite forces struggling for mastery over people's minds,
namely the ideas of government, civilization and art derived from China
on the one hand, and the native tendency to feudalism, clan government,
and civil war on the other. The conflict is very analogous to that which
went on in mediæval Europe between the Church, which represented ideas
derived from Rome, and the turbulent barons, who were struggling to
preserve the way of life of the ancient Teutons. Henry IV at Canossa,
Henry II doing penance for Becket, represent the triumph of civilization
over rude vigour; and something similar is to be seen at intervals in
Japan.
After 645, the Mikado's Government had real power for some centuries,
but gradually it fell more and more under the sway of the soldiers. So
long as it had wealth (which lasted long after it ceased to have power)
it continued to represent what was most civilized in Japan: the study
of Chinese literature, the patronage of art, and the attempt to preserve
respect for something other than brute force. But the Court nobles (who
remained throughout quite distinct from the military feudal chiefs) were
so degenerate and feeble, so stereotyped and unprogressive, that it
would have been quite impossible for the country to be governed by them
and the system they represented. In this respect they differed greatly
from the mediæval Church, which no one could accuse of lack of vigour,
although the vigour of the feudal aristocracy may have been even
greater. Accordingly, while the Church in Europe usually defeated the
secular princes, the exact opposite happened in Japan, where the Mikado
and his Court sank into greater and greater contempt down to the time of
the Restoration.
The Japanese have a curious passion for separating the real and the
nominal Governments, leaving the show to the latter and the substance of
power to the former. First the Emperors took to resigning in favour of
their infant sons, and continuing to govern in reality, often from some
monastery, where they had become monks. Then the Shogun, who represented
the military power, became supreme, but still governed in the name of
the Emperor. The word "Shogun" merely means "General"; the full title of
the people whom we call "Shogun" is "Sei-i-Tai Shogun," which means
"Barbarian-subduing great General"; the barbarians in question being the
Ainus, the Japanese aborigines. The first to hold this office in the
form which it had at most times until the Restoration was Minamoto
Yoritomo, on whom the title was conferred by the Mikado in 1192. But
before long the Shogun became nearly as much of a figure-head as the
Mikado. Custom confined the Shogunate to the Minamoto family, and the
actual power was wielded by Regents in the name of the Shogun. This
lasted until near the end of the sixteenth century, when it happened
that Iyeyasu, the supreme military commander of his day, belonged to the
Minamoto family, and was therefore able to assume the office of Shogun
himself. He and his descendants held the office until it was abolished
at the Restoration. The Restoration, however, did not put an end to the
practice of a real Government behind the nominal one. The Prime Minister
and his Cabinet are presented to the world as the Japanese Government,
but the real Government is the Genro, or Elder Statesmen, and their
successors, of whom I shall have more to say in the next chapter.
What the Japanese made of Buddhism reminds one in many ways of what the
Teutonic nations made of Christianity. Buddhism and Christianity,
originally, were very similar in spirit. They were both religions aiming
at the achievement of holiness by renunciation of the world. They both
ignored politics and government and wealth, for which they substituted
the future life as what was of real importance. They were both religions
of peace, teaching gentleness and non-resistance. But both had to
undergo great transformations in adapting themselves to the instincts of
warlike barbarians. In Japan, a multitude of sects arose, teaching
doctrines which differed in many ways from Mahayana orthodoxy. Buddhism
became national and militaristic; the abbots of great monasteries became
important feudal chieftains, whose monks constituted an army which was
ready to fight on the slightest provocation. Sieges of monasteries and
battles with monks are of constant occurrence in Japanese history.
The Japanese, as every one knows, decided, after about 100 years'
experience of Western missionaries and merchants, to close their country
completely to foreigners, with the exception of a very restricted and
closely supervised commerce with the Dutch. The first arrival of the
Portuguese in Japan was in or about the year 1543, and their final
expulsion was in the year 1639. What happened between these two dates is
instructive for the understanding of Japan. The first Portuguese brought
with them Christianity and fire-arms, of which the Japanese tolerated
the former for the sake of the latter. At that time there was virtually
no Central Government in the country, and the various Daimyo were
engaged in constant wars with each other. The south-western island,
Kyushu, was even more independent of such central authority as existed
than were the other parts of Japan, and it was in this island
(containing the port of Nagasaki) that the Portuguese first landed and
were throughout chiefly active. They traded from Macao, bringing
merchandise, match-locks and Jesuits, as well as artillery on their
larger vessels. It was found that they attached importance to the spread
of Christianity, and some of the Daimyo, in order to get their trade and
their guns, allowed themselves to be baptized by the Jesuits. The
Portuguese of those days seem to have been genuinely more anxious to
make converts than to extend their trade; when, later on, the Japanese
began to object to missionaries while still desiring trade, neither the
Portuguese nor the Spaniards could be induced to refrain from helping
the Fathers. However, all might have gone well if the Portuguese had
been able to retain the monopoly which had been granted to them by a
Papal Bull. Their monopoly of trade was associated with a Jesuit
monopoly of missionary activity. But from 1592 onward, the Spaniards
from Manila competed with the Portuguese from Macao, and the Dominican
and Franciscan missionaries, brought by the Spaniards, competed with the
Jesuit missionaries brought by the Portuguese. They quarrelled
furiously, even at times when they were suffering persecution; and the
Japanese naturally believed the accusations that each side brought
against the other. Moreover, when they were shown maps displaying the
extent of the King of Spain's dominions, they became alarmed for their
national independence. In the year 1596, a Spanish ship, the _San
Felipe_, on its way from Manila to Acapulco, was becalmed off the coast
of Japan. The local Daimyo insisted on sending men to tow it into his
harbour, and gave them instructions to run it aground on a sandbank,
which they did. He thereupon claimed the whole cargo, valued at 600,000
crowns. However, Hideyoshi, who was rapidly acquiring supreme power in
Japan, thought this too large a windfall for a private citizen, and had
the Spanish pilot interviewed by a man named Masuda. The pilot, after
trying reason in vain, attempted intimidation.
He produced a map of the world, and on it pointed out the vast
extent of the dominions of Philip II. Thereupon Masuda asked him
how it was so many countries had been brought to acknowledge the
sway of a single man.... "Our Kings," said this outspoken seaman,
"begin by sending into the countries they wish to conquer
_religieux_ who induce the people to embrace our religion, and
when they have made considerable progress, troops are sent who
combine with the new Christians, and then our Kings have not
much trouble in accomplishing the rest."[44]
As Spain and Portugal were at this time both subject to Philip II, the
Portuguese also suffered from the suspicions engendered by this speech.
Moreover, the Dutch, who were at war with Spain, began to trade with
Japan, and to tell all they knew against Jesuits, Dominicans,
Franciscans, and Papists generally. A breezy Elizabethan sea captain,
Will Adams, was wrecked in Japan, and on being interrogated naturally
gave a good British account of the authors of the Armada. As the
Japanese had by this time mastered the use and manufacture of fire-arms,
they began to think that they had nothing more to learn from Christian
nations.
Meanwhile, a succession of three great men--Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and
Iyeyasu--had succeeded in unifying Japan, destroying the
quasi-independence of the feudal nobles, and establishing that reign of
internal peace which lasted until the Restoration--period of nearly two
and a half centuries. It was possible, therefore, for the Central
Government to enforce whatever policy it chose to adopt with regard to
the foreigners and their religion. The Jesuits and the Friars between
them had made a considerable number of converts in Japan, probably about
300,000. Most of these were in the island of Kyushu, the last region to
be subdued by Hideyoshi. They tended to disloyalty, not only on account
of their Christianity, but also on account of their geographical
position. It was in this region that the revolt against the Shogun began
in 1867, and Satsuma, the chief clan in the island of Kyushu, has had
great power in the Government ever since the Restoration, except during
its rebellion of 1877. It is hard to disentangle what belongs to
Christianity and what to mere hostility to the Central Government in the
movements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However that may
be, Iyeyasu decided to persecute the Christians vigorously, if possible
without losing the foreign trade. His successors were even more
anti-Christian and less anxious for trade. After an abortive revolt in
1637, Christianity was stamped out, and foreign trade was prohibited in
the most vigorous terms:--
So long as the sun warms the earth, let no Christian be so bold
as to come to Japan, and let all know that if King Philip
himself, or even the very God of the Christians, or the great
Shaka contravene this prohibition, they shall pay for it with
their heads.[45]
The persecution of Christians, though it was ruthless and exceedingly
cruel, was due, not to religious intolerance, but solely to political
motives. There was reason to fear that the Christians might side with
the King of Spain if he should attempt to conquer Japan; and even if no
foreign power intervened, there was reason to fear rebellions of
Christians against the newly established central power. Economic
exploitation, in the modern sense of the word, did not yet exist apart
from political domination, and the Japanese would have welcomed trade if
there had been no danger of conquest. They seem to have overrated the
power of Spain, which certainly could not have conquered them. Japanese
armies were, in those days, far larger than the armies of Europe; the
Japanese had learnt the use of fire-arms; and their knowledge of
strategy was very great. Kyoto, the capital, was one of the largest
cities in the world, having about a million inhabitants. The population
of Japan was probably greater than that of any European State. It would
therefore have been possible, without much trouble, to resist any
expedition that Europe could have sent against Japan. It would even have
been easy to conquer Manila, as Hideyoshi at one time thought of doing.
But we can well understand how terrifying would be a map of the world
showing the whole of North and South America as belonging to Philip II.
Moreover the Japanese Government sent pretended converts to Europe,
where they became priests, had audience of the Pope, penetrated into the
inmost councils of Spain, and mastered all the meditated villainies of
European Imperialism. These spies, when they came home and laid their
reports before the Government, naturally increased its fears. The
Japanese, therefore, decided to have no further intercourse with the
white men. And whatever may be said against this policy, I cannot feel
convinced that it was unwise.
For over two hundred years, until the coming of Commodore Perry's
squadron from the United States in 1853, Japan enjoyed complete peace
and almost complete stagnation--the only period of either in Japanese
history, It then became necessary to learn fresh lessons in the use of
fire-arms from Western nations, and to abandon the exclusive policy
until they were learnt. When they have been learnt, perhaps we shall see
another period of isolation.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 40: The best book known to me on early Japan is Murdoch's
_History of Japan_, The volume dealing with the earlier period is
published by Kegan Paul, 1910. The chronologically later volume was
published earlier; its title is: _A History of Japan during the Century
of Early Foreign Intercourse_ (1542--1651), by James Murdoch M.A. in
collaboration with Isoh Yamagata. Kobe, office of the _Japan Chronicle_,
1903. I shall allude to these volumes as Murdoch I and Murdoch II
respectively.]
[Footnote 41: Murdoch I. pp. 113 ff.]
[Footnote 42: Ibid., II. pp. 375 ff.]
[Footnote 43: Murdoch I. p. 147.]
[Footnote 44: Murdoch, II, p. 288.]
[Footnote 45: Murdoch II, p. 667.]