CHAPTER I

[Illustration: MUTSUHITO, MIKADO OF JAPAN]

THE WORLD’S BEST HISTORIES

[Illustration]

JAPAN

BY

WALTER DICKSON

WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY

CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS

BY GILSON WILLETS

WITH AN ACCURATELY DRAWN CHART GIVING A BIRD’S-EYE

VIEW OF THE SCENE OF THE WAR IN THE EAST

_ILLUSTRATED_

[Illustration]

THE CO-OPERATIVE PUBLICATION SOCIETY

NEW YORK AND LONDON

HISTORY OF JAPAN

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND COURT 9

CHAPTER II

THE EIGHT BOARDS OF GOVERNMENT 55

CHAPTER III

HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE TO THE DEATH OF NOBU NANGA 78

CHAPTER IV

GOVERNMENT OF TAIKOSAMA 124

CHAPTER V

GOVERNMENT OF IYEYAS 160

CHAPTER VI

HISTORY TO THE EXPULSION OF CHRISTIANITY 176

CHAPTER VII

THE LAWS OF IYEYAS 192

CHAPTER VIII

THE POSITION AND COURT OF THE SHIOGOON 223

CHAPTER IX

THE DAIMIOS 228

CHAPTER X

THE DAIMIO CLASS 279

CHAPTER XI

THE HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE CONTINUED 288

CHAPTER XII

EVENTS FOLLOWING THE ABOLITION OF THE SHIOGOONATE 363

CHAPTER XIII

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF NEW JAPAN AND THE WAR WITH CHINA 374

CHAPTER XIV

TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN AND THE WAR WITH RUSSIA 385

CHAPTER XV

THE WAR WITH RUSSIA, AND JAPAN A WORLD POWER 409

PREFACE

In the preparation of the following Work the Author has to acknowledge

the assistance which he has received from a Japanese gentleman in

Yokohama, whose name, for obvious reasons, it is prudent not to mention.

With his knowledge of the history and institutions of his country,

the Author was able to fill up the blanks in short notices of history

contained in elementary Japanese books. He was further enabled to go

over the red-books of the empire, which enter into the details of the

pedigrees of illustrious families, and into the minutiæ of Government

offices.

The supposed unalterable character of these institutions induces those

who have any pretensions to learning in China and Japan to master and

retain by memory the names and duties of the different offices in the

various departments of Government; and they are frequently found to

be good authorities upon questions upon which there is no published

information.

In the history of the intercourse of the Jesuits with Japan, the

letters of the fathers have been almost the only authorities relied

upon; while in the more recent events contemporary publications have

been used.

In taking notes from the conversation of a Japanese who could speak but

little English, in too many cases they were written down in what is

known in China as “pigeon English”; and the Author has to acknowledge

and regret that in many cases the cramped nature of the notes has not

been entirely removed, and for such instances he craves the indulgence

of the reader.

HISTORY OF JAPAN

CHAPTER I

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND COURT

Man, in the earlier periods of his existence, when he was as yet

putting forth his juvenile strength to subdue creation, was ever

inclined to look upon the great forces of nature as difficulties in

his path and obstacles to his progress, which, in his more mature

strength, he has come to regard as aids to help him, and to cherish as

the very means to the attainment of his ends. Such an object of awe

to the earlier mariner was the great ocean, when he had no compass to

guide him over its unknown and apparently boundless expanse, and with

no knowledge of the winds and no experience of the currents. When he

had no means of keeping food or fresh water for any great length of

time, he was a bold man who would venture far out of sight of land.

Provided with the faithful compass, men became bolder; they enlarged

their vessels, making longer voyages, until they ran over the length

and breadth of the Eastern seas. Still the China Sea, with its typhoons

and its monsoons and currents, down to a comparatively recent period,

was looked upon as an obstacle which was to be smoothed down and not

to be wrestled with. To beat up the China Sea against the northeastern

monsoon was considered a rash struggle and a fool hardy waste of time,

and in consequence the trade-voyages to China were confined to vessels

going up the sea in summer with the southerly monsoon and returning

in winter with the northerly. Obstacles such as these made mariners

unwilling to run the risk of pushing up the sea the length of Shanghai

or Japan, when the time of their return was a matter of so much doubt.

In the present age, when man is thinking himself of some importance

from the little odds and ends of knowledge he has stored up, the

ocean, instead of being a barrier of separation between islands and

continents, has become what the Mediterranean Sea was to the Old

World--a link of connection, a highway of commerce, and steam has

become a bridge by which distant shores have been joined together. The

world is now finding out that she is one--that the interests of nations

are one, and that no one part of the body can say to the other, “I have

no need of thee.” If Japan has hitherto felt herself in a position to

use such an expression to her fellow-members of the body cosmopolitan,

and the feeling has been responded to by their acquiescence, the time

and circumstances seem to have arrived when this seclusion is to be

ended. The distance at which these islands seemed to lie from the heart

of the world’s circulation, Europe, has been almost annihilated, and

European nations have through the settlements in India and China crept

up alongside of the isles of the East. The difficulties of access have

been smoothed away, her sumptuary laws have been abrogated, while

the produce of her rich soil is daily increasing to meet the demands

which are made upon it, and which she is becoming willing and ready to

exchange for that of which she is more in need.

Steam has been the active agent in bringing about these changes,

causing the pulses of trade to beat with greater frequency and with

increased vigor. But to any one who looks below the surface there may

be seen other agents at work, all concurring at this crisis in the

world’s existence to produce changes of portentous magnitude. The

discoveries of chemistry, whether by the aggressive forces obtained in

the manufacture of munitions of war, or by the more widely extended

but silent beneficial operations of such an agent as quinine, steam

with all its ramifications of wealth, the telegraph with its tenfold

power of convertibility, the discovery of gold at the most remote

parts of the world, have combined to produce, by the sudden influx of

real wealth, by the intermingling of ranks of men, and by the rapid

throwing into men’s minds of a quantity of information or of knowledge,

a condition of things in the mass which makes that mass kneadable by

those who can knead it, and fitted for the reception of any leaven, for

good or for evil, which may be mixed with it. The mingling of ranks

in the social system, the disturbance of creeds in the religious, the

confounding of parties in the political, are preparing the way for some

world-wide change, by which old systems are to be done away and new

established. It is not working in one nation alone, but in all: it is

not confined to Christendom, showing that the time to come is not to

be like times past; but that the time is coming when it is possible

for one person to aim at one rule over the whole world. This change

is coming up like the rising of water. It may overwhelm all existing

things like a wave. Some call it Progress, others Democracy, but,

whatever it be, it is evident that every existing institution is to get

such a shaking that only the things that cannot be shaken will stand.

All national institutions having, or pretending to have, order, will

probably have to undergo this trial; and when it comes the whole

remains of the feudal system will be tested: monarchies, the peerage,

tenures of land, orders in the Church, and, above all, the question

of primogeniture, cannot fail to be put on trial. The different

sections in the religious and political world seem gradually separating

themselves into two large parties, the one standing for the _vox

Dei_, the other holding the _vox populi_ to be the _vox Dei_--the one

believing that power comes from above, the other that power comes from

below.

The leaven is working in the minds of men, whether they will it or not;

and no nation will feel the effects of this fermentation more than

Japan. Above all nations, she to this hour retains her feudal system

intact. She must learn, as others have in past times and may have to

learn again, at the expense of revolution and blood. The people are

already being stirred, and dare to question. The nobles are beginning

to quake, they know not why, in the face of changes which are being

forced upon them. The very throne of the emperor is being searched and

shaken.

In order to understand where the weakness of a building lies, or how

it is likely to fall down, it is first necessary to know how it is

constructed; and in order to comprehend the changes which events may

bring about in Japan, some idea must be formed of the government of the

country. Without some knowledge of the framework of the constitution,

it is difficult to understand the relative position of men, or to

appreciate the operation of external agents upon the system of the

empire, whether that operation work by a slow process of leavening from

within, or by a violent concussion from without.

The aim of the author in the following pages has been to give some idea

of the framework of the constitution of Japan. Having resided for some

little time in the country, he was enabled to get what seemed to him a

clearer glimpse of the working of the different parts of the machinery

of State than was to be gained from any of the able works published on

the subject. The time at his command was too short, and his knowledge

of the language too limited, to enable him to do more than prepare a

sketch which may serve a temporary purpose, before works of greater

research and fuller information are produced.

The position of the Emperor (Spiritual Emperor, as he is sometimes

erroneously called), as the first in the empire, must be recognized;

the office held by the Temporal Emperor, the Shiogoon (or Tycoon, as

he has been named), must be correctly and distinctly understood before

the nature of the rule in the empire can be comprehended. It is further

essential that the student should be acquainted with the rank and

position of the nobility or nobilities of the empire (for of these

there are two classes)--that of Miako at the court of the Emperor, the

Koongays; and that of Yedo at the court of the Shiogoon, the Daimio,

and beneath them the Hattamoto. Without some knowledge of these the

reader is lost in a maze of unmeaning names and titles; but with a

slight acquaintance with the rank, offices, and names of these nobles,

he is able not only to follow the thread of history, but to understand

the intricacies of current events.

A description of a picture by a native artist, seen by the author

of this volume, may give some idea of the relation in which these

dignitaries stand the one to the other. The upper half of the picture

represents the Shiogoon or Tycoon at the palace in the capital, Miako,

making his obeisance and performing homage before his liege lord the

Emperor, seated in the great hall, Shi shin den, of the palace. The

upper part of the Emperor’s person is concealed behind a screen of thin

slips of bamboo hanging from the roof. The throne is three mats, or

thin mattresses, placed one above the other upon the floor. There is no

chair or support to the back. On each side of the Emperor sit on their

knees on the floor the high officers of his court. Before him is seen

the late Shiogoon, kneeling and prostrating himself, with his head to

the floor. Behind the Shiogoon are his high officers Stotsbashi and the

great Daimio Owarri, both in a similar position of prostration; while

beneath, in the open court, are military officials of the Imperial

Court standing or kneeling. This picture represents accurately a fact,

and what appears to be a correct illustration of the ideas of the

people of Japan with regard to the relative status of the Emperor and

the Shiogoon.

It may almost be a matter of wonder that so little was known of Japan

until the advent of the Portuguese. Men were in old times adventurous

travelers, and yet, except what is contained in the pages of Marco

Polo, written in the thirteenth century, nothing more was known of the

existence of the country. The Buddhism of India had permeated China,

Corea, and Japan, but it brought nothing back. Mohammedanism, at an

early stage, reached China, and gained many converts, and the Arabs

carried on an extensive trade with China and the Eastern Isles; but

neither by their writings nor by the early native accounts do they

seem to have reached the shores of Japan, or, at least, ever to have

returned from them. This may perhaps be attributed to the wars of

the Crusades, which appear to have lighted up such a fierce feeling

between the Christian and the Moslem as to have proved a barrier to

the inquisitiveness of the former in his investigations regarding the

East. When the Portuguese, in the beginning of the sixteenth century,

had pushed their discoveries and trade as far as Malacca, and thence to

China, it was to be expected that such adventurous seamen as they then

were would, before long, solve the question of a people living under

the rising sun. It is fortunate that, among the lawless buccaneers

and pirates, as they evidently were, on those seas during this time,

one man, Mendez Pinto, should have been found with the zeal to write

some account of the doings on the Sea of China, and to lift the veil

which, until he wrote, hung over the events which he records. That

the latter part of his narrative, relating principally to China,

should have been called mendacious, is not to be wondered at. But all

that he relates with reference to Japan is not only corroborated by

a closer acquaintance with the country and people, but also by the

native historians in their accounts of the arrival of foreigners in the

country, as well as by the letters of the Jesuits who visited Japan

very shortly after it was first discovered by the Portuguese traders.

Subsequently to the period at which Mendez Pinto wrote, the history

of foreign relations with the country is kept up by the letters of

priests and Jesuits who occupied Japan as a field for the spread

of Christianity. In the “Histoire de l’Église du Japon” there is

an excellent summary of occurrences connected with the Church, its

missions, its successes, its difficulties, its martyrs, and its

enemies, together with a glance at events in Japan during the most

eventful crisis in the history of the country. After the expulsion of

the Jesuits and Roman Catholic doctrines from the empire, there are

accounts from time to time published by the officers connected with

the establishment kept up by Holland at Nagasaki. Caron, Fischer,

Meylan--but, above all, Kæmpfer and Thunberg, and Titsingh and

Klaproth--and, in our own times, Siebold--have done much to elucidate

the manners and customs and natural history of Japan.

Kæmpfer has given a most interesting and instructive account of what

he saw in the country during a long residence, and upon more than

one progress to the courts at Miako and Yedo. His delineation of the

manners and customs of the people of Japan will remain as a memorial of

a state of things seen under circumstances not likely to occur again.

But the work was published by another after the death of the author,

and, in consequence of this, many of the names of men, places and

things are nearly unintelligible. Kæmpfer’s work is well known to the

Japanese, having been translated or repeatedly copied in manuscript,

and is known as “Su koku rong.” It is an interdicted book, and only

recently a man was punished upon being detected in the act of copying

the translation. The translation by Klaproth of the “Annales des

Empereurs de Japon” is a most valuable work, and contains a wonderful

amount of information, being, as it were, the complement of Kæmpfer’s

work, drawn entirely from books and not from personal observation.

The natives of Japan appear to have an intense love and reverence for

their own country, and every individual in the empire seems to have a

deep and thorough appreciation of the natural beauties and delights

of the country. To this the genial climate, the rich soil, and the

variety of the surface contribute. The islands lie at such a latitude

as to make the air in summer warm without being hot, and in winter cold

without being raw. The soil, as in all recent lava soils, is of a rich

black mould, raising the finest crops of millet, wheat and sugar-cane,

and when supplied in unstinted profusion rearing splendid timber, or

capable, when nearly entirely withdrawn, of keeping life and vigor

and seeding power in a pine tree of two inches in height. The trees

have a tendency to break out into excrescences from plethora. The

variety of surface arises from the great height to which the mountains

rise in an island which at no part presents so great a breadth as

England, and yet slopes gradually from the mountain tops to the sea.

Some of these ridges appear to rise to the height of Mont Blanc, one

of them, Fusiyama, being upward of thirteen thousand feet in height,

and it would appear that other ranges are higher. The great beauty of

Fusi (_pah rh_, not two) consists in its rising singly out of a low

country with a beautifully curved sweep to a conical apex; and the

atmospheric effects changing from hour to hour, as it is seen from

thirteen provinces, give such a variety to this single object that it

is rightly called by a name to express the feeling that there are not

two such in the world. The variations of atmospheric density make it

look at one time much higher than at another. It may be seen with its

head clear in the blue sky rising out of a thick base of clouds--or the

clouds rise and roll in masses about the middle, leaving the gentle

curve to be filled up by the mind’s eye from the base to the apex.

Again, the whole contour, in a sort of proud, queenly sweep, stands out

against a cloudless ether, or with a little vapor drifting to leeward

of the summit giving the appearance of a crater--or, after a cool night

in September, the eye is arrested by the appearance of the bursting

downward of a flattened shell, the pure white snow filling the valleys

from the top, the haze of the morning half concealing the hill beneath.

Every hour brings a change upon a landscape which consists of a single

object which the lover of nature can never weary of admiring, in a

climate where seventy miles of atmosphere does not obscure the larger

features on the face of the mountain even to the naked eye. How often

would such an object be visible in the climate of England?

The first settlement of inhabitants upon an island is always a

subject of interesting speculation and inquiry. The insular position

gives an idea of a definite time or period at which the peopling of

a large island must have taken place. The freedom of possession of

boundless wealth presents every inducement to the immigrant to remain,

while distance and difficulties repel the idea of return. In Japan

this immigration may in all probability have commenced by a gradual

spreading from the north of inhabitants of Manchuria through the

islands of Saghalien and Jezo to those of the Japanese group.

During the earlier periods of a nation’s existence, the art of writing

has been generally kept in the hands of men who have devoted themselves

to a life of retirement and seclusion from the strife and temptations

of the outer world. These have been found among the priesthood, and

it has been their business or their amusement to gather up and commit

to writing what had been up to the time current as oral tradition in

regard to prehistoric occurrences. Men are forced by reasoning to refer

the appearance of their first ancestors to a creation by, or procession

from, a Divine Being. At the same time, those who have wielded the

power of writing, and thereby reached and influenced a larger circle of

their fellowmen, have generally endeavored to clothe the deities from

whom they profess to have sprung with virtues which were to be emulated

by their descendants, or to inculcate through them, by precept, a

purity of moral conduct to be practiced by their followers.

The group of islands generally included under the one name Japan was

known in remote times by a variety of names--“Akitsu sima, Toyo aki,

Toyo ashiwarra no nakatsa kooni.” “Wo kwo,” the country of peace, is

used by the Chinese for Japan. “Ho,” pronounced “Yamato,” and used for

one province, is frequently applied in Japan to the whole country.

The name Nippon--Nits pon--“Yutpone” in Cantonese, “Jih pun” in the

Mandarin dialect, by which the whole empire is now known--is of

Chinese origin, and has probably been conveyed to the country by the

first Chinese settlers. Denoting, as the name implies, that it is

the country where the sun rises, the idea must have originated with

the people to the west. “Hon cho,” another name by which it is known,

conveys the same idea, “The beginning or root of the morning.” The name

“Yamato,” peaceful, harmonious, was more likely to have originated

with the natives. “Akitsu sima” implies that the island resembles a

dragonfly in shape, and was at first applied to Kiusiu alone. “Shin

koku,” a name by which the Japanese speak of their own empire, means

the land of spirits; and a similar idea is conveyed by the name “Kami

no kooni.” “Awadsi sima” refers to the supposed origin of the islands

from mud or froth, and is still applied to the large island lying

between Nippon and Sikok.

Some of these names probably retain the old words used by the original

inhabitants of the country translated into Chinese by the new

immigrants. To these newcomers it was no doubt a work of pleasure to

gather up what stores of tradition were floating among the inhabitants

of the country, and, adding thereto much from their own imagination, to

compose a mythology suited to the genius of the people. This mythology,

which we may suppose to have been composed by some of the Chinese

_literati_ about the court, had for its object the elevation of the

reigning family, and the assertion for that family of a divine origin

and divine ancestry. It is worthy of note that these divine ancestors

were known at a very early period by Chinese names, that of the mother

and founder of the imperial family being “Ten sho dai jin”--the “great

spirit of the celestial splendor of the sun,” four distinct Chinese

words.

According to this mythology, the heavens and the earth having formed

themselves out of nothing, gave forth a spirit--a “kami”--who was the

father of a line of seven generations of spiritual beings who ruled

the universe as it then was, during a period extending over millions

of years, ending in a male and a female, respectively named Issanaghi

and Issanami. These seem equivalents to or representatives of the male

and the female principles which, according to the Chinese, pervade

all animate creation. They are allegorically represented as producing

the islands of Japan, the mountains, seas and other natural objects

therein. Subsequently a daughter was brought forth, “Ten sho dai jin,”

who is the spirit of the sun; and another, “Tsuki no kami,” the spirit

of the moon. These divinities are of no further importance in history

than as serving to make a line of ancestry for the reigning family. At

the time when, according to tradition, the genealogy merged in mortal

men, the country was found to be peopled, and there is no attempt to

show whence these people came, though described as hairy, uncivilized,

and living in the open air. These myths are generally of a Buddhistic

origin, and were probably brought over or invented by some missionary

of that religion at an early time, when the influence of India operated

strongly in the spread of its doctrines. This influence is shown to

this day in the repetition of prayers in an unknown language, and

the retention of an Indian alphabet and writing--the Sanskrit or

Devanagari--in all the religious works of Japan.

Some of these divinities are so frequently heard of, and

representations of them, in pictures and carvings, are so common,

that even a slight acquaintance with their names and attributes is

useful. The different Buddhas are worshiped; Compera; the five hundred

“Rakhan” or “Lohon”; the “Kwanon,” or goddess of mercy; and the “Stchi

fuku jing,” or seven gods of riches. These last are generally drawn

or carved on a boat, with emblems around them of long life, etc.--the

stork, tortoise, a deer, a bag of money, a fir-tree, a bamboo, a

crystal ball, a fish. Their names are--Hotay Daikoku, Yaybissu, Benten,

Gayho, Bistamong, Fukowo kojiu. But the religion is more or less

pantheistic, and there are many other gods and divinities, even down to

shapeless stones.

To “Ten sho dai jin” is attributed the origin of the imperial house,

as is shown by the words of the Emperor, in a letter recently written

on the political position of affairs, “I am grieved, standing as I do

between ‘Ten sho dai jin’ and my people.”

In the fifth generation after “Ten sho dai jin,” was born “Zinmu” or

“Jin mu” (Chin: Shinwu--_i.e._, spirit of war). He was the first of

the earthly or human rulers. He is said to have been born in Fiuga, a

mountainous province on the east side of Kiu siu, on the west coast

of the Boo ngo Channel. This part of the islands is well suited for

trading purposes, and it is also well adapted for the landing of an

invading force, and it is not unlikely that Zinmu either originally

came from China, or was the son of some Chinese who had settled there,

and who started thence on a design of conquest. At the time when he set

out upon his career, the people of the country are said to have been

hairy and uncivilized, but under the rule of a headman in each village.

The Japanese have to this day a great contempt for the people of Yezo,

who may be thus described, and they allege that similar tribes occupied

the whole of the islands, and that they were gradually driven back

before the armies of Zinmu. It is more likely that they were conquered,

and gradually amalgamated with their conquerors by the intermarriage of

these with native females, and that in this way, and by the effects of

the warm climate of the south, they lost that hirsute appearance which

is so characteristic of the people of Yezo.--Aino, the name given to

the hairy inhabitants of Yezo by the Japanese, means “between,” and has

reference to a contemptuous idea of the origin of these people from

a dog.--There are two strongly-marked varieties of feature in Japan,

which are always strikingly portrayed in their own pictures. There is

the broad flat face of the lower classes, and the high nose and oval

face of the higher. The difference is so marked as to be some argument

in favor of a previous mixing of two different races; the one of which

had extended southward from the Kurile Islands and Siberia, hairy and

broad-featured; while the other had originated from the south, with

Indian features and smooth skins.

The Japanese themselves do not pretend that there is any native

documentary evidence in support of their history at the date of Zinmu,

and the best writers allow that no writings prior to the seventh

century are authentic. The introduction of Chinese letters into Japan

is generally attributed to Onin, a learned man who came from Corea

about the year 285 A.D. But prior to the date of Onin, many of the

names of offices and officers were Chinese. It is hardly credible that,

with the communication which is known to have existed at different

times between Japan and China, and also with Corea, there should have

continued for so long a time such complete ignorance. More than one

embassy had resided at the court of China for months. The Chinese

annals speak of an embassy during the reign of the Han dynasty, A.D.

238, when China was divided into “three kingdoms.” The ruler of Woo,

one of these three, proposed to invade Japan, but the expedition

miscarried. Nearly two centuries before this, in A.D. 57, an embassy

was sent from Japan to China by Sei nin, which arrived at the court of

Kwang ou, of the Eastern Han dynasty, in the last year of his reign.

It is unlikely that, residing as such an embassy must have done for a

considerable time at the court of China, they should not have brought

away some knowledge of letters or some instructors in reading and

writing. This Corean, Onin, may have been brought over to replace or to

reteach what had been lost: for in more recent times it is known that,

after the long civil wars of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,

so little attention had been given to the instruction of youth that

only two men were found in the empire competent to teach the written

language.

We may be permitted to believe that much of what became tradition had

at one time been committed to writing, and that, corroborated as it is

at some points by Chinese history, there is a foundation for much of

that part of history subsequent to the time of Zinmu, for the support

of which there existed, when writing recommenced, no documentary

evidence.

THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN

The line of gods carried on through godlike mortal descendants was

prolonged in ordinary mortals, the first of whom was Zinmu. It is of

little consequence by whom this pedigree was written or invented. It

evidently was solely written for the then _de facto_ rulers of the

land. It does not pretend to deal with the people of Japan, or with

the mode in which the peopling of the empire took place, but simply

invents and details a divine pedigree for one family. At the time when

this family is first heard of, the islands of Japan are acknowledged

by Japanese historians to have been already peopled and divided into

villages, each under some municipal rule.

The reign of Zinmu is the era of Japan, and is placed at 667 years

before Christ. Setting out from Miazaki in Fiuga, on the east side

of the island of Kiusiu, he with troops under his command gradually

overran that island, and the adjoining one of Sikok, together with

the west half of the island of Nippon, as far as the province of Mino

to the east of Miako. Coming from the most rugged and comparatively

barren province in the empire, he was attracted by the beauty and

desirableness of the country around Miako. He settled at a place named

Kashiwarra or Kashiwabarra, a site near the city of Narra, about

fifteen miles from the present capital. This choice of a site has been

ratified by every succeeding emperor, the Kio or capital (“King,”

Chinese) of the empire having been frequently changed, but never

removed to any great distance from the spot originally selected by

Zinmu.

In truth, the site is in every way most suitable for the capital of the

country. It is, geographically, nearly in the center of the islands

which constitute the empire. From the port of the capital, Osaka (or

Naniwa, as it was named of old), a great fringe of the coast of the

three islands in almost land-locked waters is accessible to ships

without their venturing into the open sea. To this port a large body

of water is rolled down by the confluence of several rivers, which

at one time were dispersed into several mouths and branches; but by

labor these have been collected and confined within two outlets. There

is, in consequence, a large extent of alluvial ground producing rice

and wheat for a numerous population. The inland water-communication

extends to the large lake Owomi--upward of sixty miles in length and

eighteen in breadth; and thence, with an interval of a few miles only

of land-carriage, to the port of Tsurunga, on the northern coast;

while to the southeast, the natives report that there is uninterrupted

water-communication to Owarri, and thence to Sinano, and, with a short

interval of land-carriage, even to Yedo--whence, again, it extends

northward by rivers and canals to the vicinity of Nambu. The city

of Miako of the present day stands on a plain, among hills clothed

with wood, where art has done what it could to assist nature in the

completion of landscape scenery, of the beauties of which the natives

speak with rapture. During twenty-four centuries, members of the family

of Zinmu have sat upon the throne, and during that long time the palace

has been only at short intervals removed to any considerable distance

from the site on which it at present stands.

The imperial residence in Japan is a very different structure from

anything that European ideas of palaces would expect, being chiefly

built of wood and other materials so inflammable that a palace has

been reconstructed and destroyed within a year. When we read of each

emperor, at an early date, building a palace for himself, it is not to

be supposed that these were either expensive or very durable buildings.

Each emperor seems to have occupied a different habitation from his

predecessor, removing from one site to another, but generally keeping

within the province of Yamashiro, or that adjoining, Yamato. Kwanmu, in

the year 794, built a palace on the site where the present city stands,

and since his time Miako has been always looked upon as the metropolis.

The palace of the Emperor of Japan is called, as a whole, “Kinri

go sho.” Though built of fine and expensive timber, it presents no

appearance of that outward splendor which is generally considered by us

to be necessary to an imperial residence. The roofs of the buildings

are said to be white. It is surrounded by a common inclosure of wooden

boarding. This inclosure is pierced by several gates. These entrances

are graduated, and the settlement of the gate by which a great man

shall make his entrance or his exit is a matter of no small importance

at court. These gates lead into a large open space; in this is another

inclosure (with other gates), in the center of which stands the wooden

building, the “Shi shin deng,” or imperial office, in which the emperor

receives the highest officers of the empire. This he appears to do

almost in the open air. The emperor does not sit upon a throne or

chair, but is slightly raised above the floor--three of the ordinary

mats of the country, placed one above the other, being used as a

throne. To the back of this public office is the residence or private

apartments of the emperor; and behind these are the female apartments

of the empress, the empress-mother, and other high ladies.

The “Shi shin deng” (Ch. “Tsz shin tien”) faces to the south, to the

large outer gate, the “Yio may mong”; within this is another gate of a

red inclosure, the gate of the sun, “Hi no go mong.” On passing through

this, the large wooden-pillar-supported hall, with its roof with

immense eaves, is seen raised from the ground upon a lower framework

of wood. Before it stand an orange and a cherry tree. Between these,

six steps lead up to the wooden gallery or veranda, which goes round

the hall under eaves projecting five or six feet from the supports. A

low balustrade surrounds this veranda. Under this large canopy of roof,

almost in the open air, the Emperor sits while he receives homage. The

“Shi shin deng” occupies the red inclosure, having on the east side

a small wooden building for covering the car used in processions; to

the east of that is the building in which the “three jewels” are kept,

the “Naishi dokoro.” Within the “Shi shin deng” all extraordinary

formal business of importance is transacted. The Shiogoon here presents

himself to the Emperor. In the long hall to the west of the “Shi shin

deng,” the “Say rio deng” (“Tsing liang tien”) or “Hiru no ma,” the

mid-day room, ordinary business is transacted. Immediately in the

rear of the “Shi shin deng” is the “Nai go bansho,” or inner hall for

business. To the east side, and overlooking the garden, is the “Tsunay

no goteng,” or hall of meeting, or drawing-room. Behind, in the “Ko ngo

sho,” the Emperor’s son and heir lives; here also are the apartments

of the elder women. “Nanga Hashi no Tsubo nay” is the room in which

levees are held, where rank is given, and degradations or punishments

are awarded. Formerly all the offices of the different departments of

government were in the neighborhood of the palace, but outside, at a

distance of one “cho,” or 120 yards.

At the back of all are the female apartments. On the east side, outside

of the inclosure, is the Gakumonjo, or imperial school.

To the southeast of the whole is another inclosure, the “Ko een go

sho,” the palace of the Emperor after he has abdicated, when he is

known as Kubo, covering a space of ground nearly as large as the

palace inclosure. Adjoining this, and immediately to the south, is the

residence of the father or predecessor of the abdicated emperor. He is

known as Sento (Tsin tung). To the southwest is that of the empress

dowager, and the females of the old emperor’s court. The Shi sin wo,

or four royal families, are located in the neighborhood, while all

around are the residences, with inclosures of ground, belonging to the

“Go sekkay,” or “five assisting” families. Among these also is found

a small inclosure, the residence of the Sho shi dai, the envoy of the

Shiogoon at the imperial court.

Except the greater elevation and whiteness of the roofs, there is

nothing to distinguish the palace from the adjacent streets. That

the Emperor should be thus housed probably involves a great state

principle. The houses of Daimios and high officers are built in a

much more durable manner. The Shiogoon’s residences at Osaka, Miako,

Yedo, and other places, are generally built more like fortifications

or places of great strength. In similar style are raised the houses,

palaces or forts of the Daimios in their respective provinces. It

cannot, therefore, be from any fear of earthquakes that this style of

a plain wood-and-paper house is adopted, but it is probably founded on

the same principle as that on which the imperial pedigree is drawn up;

viz., with the view of giving to it the appearance of a temple, and

surrounding the Emperor with the circumstances and attributes of a god.

This palace in Miako appears to be the only one now used by the

Emperor. He is supposed to move from it temporarily only upon rare

occasions. When he is obliged to change his residence, as when the

palace is burned down, he occupies apartments in some one of the many

temples in the neighborhood. Any display of splendor in building is

reserved for the Shiogoon, who has several palaces of great size

and strength, as at Miako, Osaka, Fusimi, Yedo, Kofoo, Soonpoo, all

of which are laid out on the plan of forts and built with a view to

defense from military attacks.

[Illustration: JAPAN AND HER ISLANDS]

It has been stated, and often repeated, that the Emperor of Japan

sits on a throne all day without moving his hands, or even his eyes;

that he is treated as a god, and that his subjects believe that the

empire totters if he is unsteady. These are the exaggerations of the

lower classes. There is no doubt that he is treated with the greatest

reverence and respect--that he is, as it were, an ideal abstraction, a

thing apart, necessary to the empire--that he is the Lord’s anointed,

and not to be touched, and that no subject, however great he may be,

or however firmly he may have grasped the power of the empire in the

convulsions of a revolutionary period, may contemplate placing himself

upon that seat; and we shall find that two of the greatest men who

rose to the highest power did not dare to take such a step, though

one, and perhaps both, proposed it to himself, and broached the idea

to his followers. Though Nobunanga set up a representation of

himself to be worshiped, he did not set aside the Emperor; and though

Taikosama proposed to depose the Emperor, his followers would not

allow it, or at least dissuaded him from making the attempt. Still

the Emperor is not altogether looked upon as the spiritual being

he is generally represented in modern books. Indeed, in the first

periods of the history of the country the head of the empire was the

commander, the leader of the army. Zinmu led his army to victory; and

long after him the Empress Jinku Kogoo led her army into Corea. Her

son Osin, better known by his posthumous title of Hatchimang, was at

the head of his army. But where there is no enemy to fight the post

of commander-in-chief soon falls into abeyance. Japan has long been

in this position--of having no enemy to watch or to attack. Such a

position entails, almost of necessity, the creation of a duality or

double power. The weak condition to which the imperial court descended,

after it had been denuded of its power, and after the command of its

armies had fallen from the hands of scions of the blood-royal into

those of other families, was followed by convulsions, civil wars, and

bloodshed, till the people returned to a state of ignorance, and the

fields to barrenness; but this seems only a consequence of having no

enemy, no near neighbor with whom, by a process of constant watching

and battling, as in Europe, the sinews of a nation are strengthened,

and national feeling is concentrated into a unity.

The annals of the emperors show that, for long after the time of Zinmu,

his successors took an active part in the politics, the wars, and the

intrigues of the state. It is not a matter of wonder that the hands

which held the scepter should have become feeble during the fierce

civil wars which raged in the sixteenth century. The country would seem

to have been driven by necessity to have two emperors--or at least,

two opposing interests; and when the hereditary commander-in-chief

had in turn become a nonentity, one adventurer after another started

up--first, Nobunanga; secondly, Taikosama; thirdly, Iyeyas, all able

men. The first battled with the Buddhist priesthood, the second turned

his arms against Corea, the third, the ablest of all, devised that

dual system of seemingly divided empire, by which the power of the

executive remained in the hands of the Shiogoon at Yedo, while the

source or fountain of honors remained with the Emperor in Miako. The

configuration of the islands prevents their being cut into two empires;

it remained for Iyeyas to devise a dual system by which peace has been

preserved in a remarkable way for two hundred and fifty years.

As to the titles by which the Emperor is known, these are drawn in

most part from the Chinese, and denote, in language suited to Oriental

ideas, the illustrious position which he holds. The names express

the idea that he reigns by divine right. The oldest of these titles

seems to be Mikoto. This is a Japanese word meaning “venerable,” and

translated into Chinese, “tsun.” The word Mikado is more commonly

used now, and is translated by the Chinese “Ti,” or emperor. The

word “O” or “Wo” is the Chinese “Wang,” emperor; and the word “ten,”

or heaven, is commonly added--“Ten wo,” the heavenly ruler; or the

combination “Owo,” or “Oho-wo,” meaning the great ruler, in which

sense “Dai-wo” is also used. “Tenshi” is the “tien-tsi” of China, the

son of heaven. “O-ooji,” the great family, is sometimes applied to

the Emperor. The common people talk of the Emperor as “Miyako sama,”

in contradistinction to “Yedo sama,” the Shiogoon, the Lord of Yedo.

“Ooyaysama,” or the superior lord, is also used. “Dairi,” made up of

two Chinese words signifying the inner court or “the interior,” is

equivalent to the words “the court” in English, and seems to include

the residences of the royal families and higher nobility. It is,

however, sometimes applied to the Emperor himself, and sometimes to the

palace as a building. The first word, “dai” is written both “great,”

_ta_, and “inner,” _nai_. The latter seems the more common. “Gosho” is

a word sometimes applied to the palace, at others to the Emperor and

the government. The word “in,” or “een,” is a Buddhist word, added to

the posthumous name of some of the deceased emperors instead of “Ten

wo.” In addition to these, other names are used, as “Kwo tei,” or ruler

of the people, “Chokku,” etc.

From the earliest period in the history of Japan, mention is made of

three things which necessarily appertain to the person who sits upon

the throne. They seem to be looked on as symbols of the imperial power,

as palladia of the empire. In one of the treatises upon the Emperor’s

court it is said of these mysterious emblems: “In that early time the

heaven-illuminating god arrived at Kashiwabarra, then the capital, and

placed an eight-cubit mirror and a grass-shaving sword in the palace,

on the throne of the Emperor, and these received such homage as was

rendered in the early times. The efficacy of the god was very great,

so that the Emperor, dwelling with this god (these divine symbols),

was, as it were, equal to a god. Within the palace these things were

laid up, that the divine power might remain wherever these things were.

At that time (two high officers) regulated the sacrificial rites and

ceremonies until the tenth emperor, who, fearing the sacredness of the

divine presence, took these two efficacious symbols, the sword and the

mirror, and put them away in another place, which was the origin of the

idea of the Emperor sitting like a god in the place of a god.”

In this quotation only two things are mentioned--the sword and the

mirror. A third is spoken of sometimes as a ball of crystal, at others

as a seal, “sinji.” Klaproth calls it a ball of greenstone with two

small round holes. The three things go by the name of “Sanjioo no

jinji.” During the long and bloody wars between the emperors of the

north and south, in the sixteenth century, the former, who resided

in Miako, and finally established himself on the throne, was not

considered incontestably emperor until he obtained possession of these

three sacred symbols. Though the emperor of the south was hard pressed,

and almost a refugee in the mountains, he kept possession of them, and

finally concluded a truce, delivering them up to his opponent, emperor

_de facto_. On one occasion the three precious jewels were stolen, and

after being kept several months were recovered or sent back. On several

occasions they have narrowly escaped destruction by fire, and in the

year 1040 A.D. the mirror was broken by the heat; but the pieces were

recognized and placed together. Within the last few years (in 1851)

they were again nearly exposed to a similar chance of destruction, but

were saved by Hoongay Hashimoto, who brought them out at the risk of

his life.

In Japan it is usual to perform a ceremony at the time when the boy

assumes the _toga virilis_ and becomes a man. The age at which this

takes place is not settled, and seems to vary from the tenth to the

fifteenth year. The eldest son of the Emperor undergoes this operation

(known as “Gembuko”; Ch., “yuen fuh”) about the age of ten or eleven,

when he, according to the custom, receives a new name. His hair is

shaved off in the manner usual with men, and he assumes a dress. In

all families the occasion is an important one, and in the case of the

son of the Emperor, the heir-apparent, it becomes national. At the

inauguration of the Emperor (according to Klaproth) his height is

measured with a bamboo, which is deposited in one of the great temples

in the province of Isse until his death, when it is removed to another,

and revered as a spirit. With the bamboo of the reigning Emperor are

deposited a straw-hat, a grass rain-mantle, and a spade, emblems of

agriculture, held in Japan as an occupation second only to that of the

soldier.

The Emperor is said to have his eyebrows shaved, and to blacken his

teeth every morning, which operation is effected by a mixture of

sulphate of iron and some astringent bark. The state dresses of the

Emperor are generally of very rich strong silk of a bright green

color. The shape, the color, the pattern are all fixed, and not left

to choice. His under garments are of white silk, and called “mookoo”;

and this is the part of his dress which he never wears twice. Besides

being changed every morning, there are other occasions during the day

in which necessity demands a change. These white silk dresses are the

perquisites of one of the servants, and are sold by him in Miako. The

Emperor always uses cold water for bathing. The cups which he uses for

his meals are also broken; but when it is remembered that the Chinese

and Japanese style of eating requires only one cup, and this perhaps

not a very expensive one, the total does not amount to a large sum in

the annual budget. He is said to devote his time to business matters,

with discussions upon history, laws, and religion. In times past he has

taken but little part in the business of the country; but his share

in this is every year upon the increase, and he is courted by those

who see in what direction political power is tending. The power of

conferring titles and rank may have given him an amount of occupation

and an acquaintance with mankind which would hardly leave him the

nonentity he has generally been described. Twelve days of the month are

set apart for conversations and discussions upon the history, laws,

and religion of Japan. Such spare time as he has is devoted to the

composition of poetry, with music and chess. The Emperor is supposed

to move out of his palace and the grounds and gardens adjoining only

twice a year--once during spring, and once in autumn--when he goes in

a covered car, inclosed by semi-transparent screens of bamboo, drawn

by large bullocks, to visit the environs of Miako. This procession is

known as “Miyuki” or “Gokowo.”

On this state procession the Emperor is accompanied by all the high

officers in Miako. He does not always strictly adhere to this rule of

seclusion, however. Twenty-five years ago Kokaku was in the practice of

walking about the town with his son, afterward Jin-ko, dressed like a

common man. The excuse for this was that his palace was being rebuilt,

after having been burned down. After the Emperor has abdicated no

restrictions are placed upon him.

The Emperor, like the majority of his countrymen, is a vegetarian in

his diet, and, in addition, eats only fish. At one time such animal

food as venison was considered fit for royalty; but the story goes

that the Emperor Ssu-jio heard one evening a doe crying plaintively

for her mate. On the succeeding morning he came to the conclusion

that some venison for his breakfast was the missing lover; and, ever

since, venison has not been included among the dainties of the royal

kitchen. In his time the Emperor and all his court began to wear the

stiff-starched ample robes still used, and the long “kio” or train,

which was introduced to prevent the feet of retreating courtiers being

seen. On leaving the presence of the Emperor, officers walk backward on

their knees.

Some writers have alleged that the Emperor is looked upon as a god,

and that the people think that he goes in the eleventh month to the

meeting of the spirits, the “kami.” This meeting is believed by the

lower classes in Japan to take place during the eleventh month in the

province of Idzumo, at the temple of Oyashiro, which temple is thus

honored because the first spirit dwelt there. At this meeting the

spirits arrange the sublunary and mundane business of Japan for the

subsequent eleven months. The inhabitants of Idzumo call this month

“Kami ari tski,” or the spirit month. All the other provinces call it

“Kami nashi tski,” the month without spirits. The Emperor is supposed

to be above all the kami or spirits, inasmuch as he can confer honors

upon the dead; but he is not looked upon as above the “Tento sama,” or

Lord of heaven, showing that a lower position is assigned to the kami

(or “Shin” of the Chinese) than to the highest deity. But no one of

any ordinary education in Japan believes that the Emperor goes to this

meeting of spirits; these ideas, like many others similar in China,

are only current among the least educated of the people. During this

month, when the spirits are so occupied, none of those ceremonies in

which their assistance must be invoked, such as marriages, adoptions,

etc., takes place; no prayers are offered, as the spirits are supposed

to be engaged. At this meeting they arrange all the marriages which are

to take place during the ensuing year. Each individual in this world,

male and female, is supposed to have a thread of existence, “yeng.”

The spirits take the pairs of threads of those who are to be joined in

matrimony and knot them together. So we speak of marriages being made

in heaven while the hymeneal knot is tied on earth. From this the month

is called “Yeng moosoobi tski”--_i.e._, Tie-the-knot month.

Abdication from positions of active life is very common among all ranks

in Japan. No position seems to be more easily renounced than that of

the occupation of the throne. In a country where the heir may have the

misfortune to be brought up in the lap of luxury, and amid sensual

excitements and indulgences of every kind, it is not surprising that

the irksomeness of his position should make the holder sigh to be

relieved from it, or that vigor of mind or body is only to be found in

those cases where, the heir-apparent having been cut off, the successor

has been adopted at a late period of his life, having been reared

without the expectation of subsequent elevation. After the Emperor has

abdicated he is named “Tai sho ten wo”--equivalent to “His most exalted

and sacred Majesty.” At the present day, upon his taking this step,

should he devote himself to religion and become “Fo wo,” his head is

shaved, and he retires to a monastic life, and generally occupies the

temple Ninaji or Omuro in the neighborhood of Miako.

The Japanese are unostentatious in their customs, and in the treatment

of their great ones after death are singularly undemonstrative.

Considering that all the rites connected with the dead are after

the Buddhist ritual, and that the Chinese devote so much money and

soil to the tombs and monuments of their ministers and great men and

women, something of the same veneration might be expected in Japan.

But, on the contrary, the tombs are generally very small unpretending

structures, consisting of a basement, upon which a single stone is

erected of no great size. Such is the tomb of Yoritomo, the great hero,

in the neighborhood of Kamakura; and such, we are told, are the tombs

of the emperors. They are covered over with a roofing of straw, to keep

before their countrymen and subjects the remembrance of their primeval

simplicity.

As to the succession to the throne, the laws or regulations in Japan

do not seem to be very decided. The frequent abdication of the ruler

gives the opportunity for securing that his successor shall have all

the weight and assistance that the predecessor can give to overcome

the pretensions of rival claimants. When the death of the Emperor has

suddenly left the throne vacant, the eldest son is supposed to be the

rightful heir. But when, as frequently has happened, his mind and

body have been enfeebled by dissipation, and he has neither wit nor

vigor to seize the reins of power, he has too often been supplanted by

the ambition of a brother, or a wife of his father. When the Emperor

leaves only a daughter, she is married to a member of the four imperial

families, and her husband in that case becomes Emperor. In reality, the

most powerful party about the court, when any difficulty occurs, puts

in and supports the member of the imperial family most favorable to

their continuing in power.

The genealogy of the Emperors is considered true and authentic as

published in the Red Book of the empire; the pedigree of the Shiogoon

is looked upon as made up. The former is to be found fully detailed

from native sources in the works of Klaproth and Kæmpfer. The “Oon jo

may rang” is the title of a small book giving the pedigrees and crests

of the Emperor’s family, and of the koongays or nobility. Two crests

or coats-of-arms are used by the Emperor--the one, “kiku,” for outside

imperial government business, like the flower of a chrysanthemum, with

sixteen petals; the other, the “kiri,” is used for the palace matters

personal to the Emperor and his family. No notice seems to be taken of

the common assumption of the imperial crest, but no one dares to use

the crest of the Shiogoon except by permission.

The following sayings give some idea of the reverence with which the

Emperor is spoken of: “Mikado ni ooji nashi,” is a saying to express

that the Emperor is of no family. “Tenshi foo bo nashi”--“The Emperor

has neither father nor mother.” “In heaven there is one sun, on earth

there is one Emperor,” is a Confucian saying in accordance with the

ideas of the country. “O wo wa jiu zenn, kami wa ku zenn”--“The power

of the Emperor is as ten, that of the gods as nine”; implying that more

reverence is due to the Emperor than to the lesser spirits, and that

he has more power. “The Emperor all men respect, the Shiogoon all men

fear.” “Heaven is his father, earth is his mother, his friends are the

sun and moon.” Such ideas are taken from the Chinese classics.

The Emperor marries one wife, who is the Empress. He is allowed by the

laws of the country to take twelve concubines, who are generally the

daughters of the poorer nobility. The throne can be, and has frequently

been, occupied by a female. The Emperor is supposed to receive, as an

allowance from the Shiogoon, 100,000 kobangs, equal to $350,000 per

annum. This he receives from the Yedo government, but he probably has

a large revenue from land in the “Go ki nai” or “Go ka koku,” or five

provinces. He is said to complain of the duties from foreign trade not

being paid into his treasury, inasmuch as when the trade was conducted

formerly by the Portuguese at Sakkye, the Emperor received the duties;

but as Yokohama is out of the Gokinai, the Shiogoon prefers that the

duties should flow to Yedo. These five provinces are frequently spoken

of by the writers of the sixteenth century as the Tensee--heavenly

or sacred soil. They are Yamashiro, Yamato, Setsu, Kaawdsio, and

Idzumi. The whole empire is spoken of, as in China, as all under

heaven--“Tenka.”

Two officers in the Emperor’s palace are appointed from Yedo--two

Hattamoto, or inferior barons--to superintend the disbursement of

money, and to keep accounts of the money paid by the Shiogoon’s

government. These men have fifty soldiers under them. Under them are

nine “Toritsungi,” generally men of some rank and position.

The Emperor’s own private establishment consists of the following

officers:

1. Makanye Kashira, generally a Hattamoto, who keeps the accounts of

the imperial table and pays the money.

2. Kye mon tskye, called “Kimsakye,” two Hattamoto, who go to buy the

provisions for the palace.

3. Go zembang, six men, whose business is to examine the Emperor’s food.

4. Shuri siki, five men, to look after the buildings; generally Miako

men of old families.

5. Makanye kata, six men, whose duty is to say what, and how much, is

to be purchased for the palace.

6. Gim miakoo and Itamoto--of the former three, of the latter

seventeen--head cooks and ordinary cooks.

7. Kangay bang, keepers of the keys, seven men.

8. Sosha bang, messengers.

9. Tskye bang or Kashira, three men, lower messengers.

These are all given in the official list as the ordinary household in

daily attendance on the emperor.

After his death an honorific title is given to the deceased Emperor, by

which he is subsequently known in history.

THE SHI SINWO, OR FOUR IMPERIAL FAMILIES

The “Shi sinwo” (“sz tsan wang”) are “four imperial relatives,” or

royal families of Japan. This name denotes four families of imperial

descent set apart, with allotted residences and revenues, as supporters

to the imperial family. The families are cadets of the royal line

descended from junior branches. From among the members of these four

families, in case of failure of male heirs of the body, an heir to the

throne, or a husband to the Princess Imperial, is to be sought.

In Japan all ranks are under laws more or less strict, and from such

the imperial family does not escape. The succession to the throne,

at all times an object in Eastern countries for daring ambition to

aim at, and a fruitful source of revolution and misery to the people,

is regulated and guarded in Japan on a basis wide enough to secure a

succession, and preserved by such safeguards as to put it out of the

power of collaterals to hope for success from intriguing ambition. One

of these safeguards is supposed to be in the Emperor’s being allowed

to take twelve concubines over and above his lawful wife, the Empress.

These are generally daughters of men of high rank about the court,

and the son of any one of them, if there is no son by the Empress,

may succeed. If there be a daughter, she marries one of the members

of these four families, and he becomes Emperor. Jinko, the father of

the late Emperor, succeeded in this way. His father, Kokaku, was a

member of the royal Kunnin family, and married the only daughter of

the Emperor, and so became Emperor. He had a concubine, the daughter

of Koongay Kwadjooji. The wife and the concubine had each one son.

Satchay no mia was the son of the wife, and heir-apparent to the

throne. But the concubine was a fierce, jealous woman, and determined

that her son should succeed, and she poisoned Satchay. It was the duty

of the Shiogoon’s envoy, Sakkye, to inquire into the reports that

were circulating; and having done so, he discovered the truth, and

put the concubine into confinement. But, though the Emperor was much

distressed, he loved her too well and insisted on her being released.

The government at Yedo heard of what had happened, and required the

envoy to give his reasons for releasing her, when she had committed

so heinous a crime. He committed suicide. Her son, Jinko, it is said,

always paid the Empress the greatest respect, and would never see his

own mother afterward.

But even with this wide matrimonial basis allowed to the Emperor, there

may be a failure of heirs direct. These four families are therefore

established as a further safeguard to the succession.

They take their names from collateral branches of the imperial house,

being originally the families of younger sons of previous Emperors. At

present there are only two families of Sinwo, two having become extinct

by failure of heirs. They are, however, only dormant, as it is a part

of the policy of the state that these families should be in existence,

and it is in the power of the Emperor to put one of his sons into,

as it were, the extinct family--that is, to call him by the name and

give him the revenues belonging to the house, which revenues have been

accruing until the family is re-established.

The four families are called collectively Shi (four) sin (relations) wo

(imperial). The sons of these families are called Sinwo O’nkatta, or

O’nkatta sama [O’nkatta is used as an address of respect to ladies, and

also to Sinwo and high officers in personal attendance on the Emperor],

and from these sons a successor to the Emperor may be taken.

The names of the four “families” are--1, Fusimi; 2, Arisungawa; 3,

Katsura; 4, Kunnin. Of these the last two are the dormant houses. The

revenues of these two houses are managed by factors or agents, and the

fourth is said to be very wealthy.

The heads of the two existing families are:

1. Fusimi no mia, who has a nominal revenue of 1,016 koku[1] of rice;

but he has probably twenty or thirty thousand koku. The present man is

a Koboong of Jinko, the late Emperor.

This “boong” is a voluntary union between two persons, and is quite

different from adoption. It is more of the character of a Masonic

connection. In the relation of a child he is called Koboong; of a

father, Oyaboong; of brothers or sisters, Kiodaiboong: and this

connection is a very common tie between two individuals in Japan, as

well as in China, to help and assist each other. It runs through all

ranks and both sexes. It is a connection which may be as easily severed

as it is made, but it is often strictly adhered to. It is generally

made by drinking formally out of the same cup, each taking half of

the liquor. It may be severed by cutting off the queue, or simply by

formally intimating that it is at an end.

2. Arisungawa Nakatskasa no kio, or head of the Central Board. His

nominal income is 1,000 koku, but his real revenue is much larger.

3. Katsura; the revenue is 3,006 koku.

4. Kunnin; the revenue is nominally 1,006 koku.

In these families there is generally a sufficient number from among

whom to select a successor in case of the death, or what seems more

common in Japan, the abdication and retirement, of the Emperor. But,

at the same time, the arrangement has its disadvantages. It places

a number of men and women of all ages in a very high position, with

apparently no occupation for their leisure time. These men might

become troublesome in the state by carrying on intrigues for their own

advancement and for the gratification of their ambition. Within the

last few years much disquietude has been caused by one of the Sinwo

engaging in intrigues to upset the reigning Emperor. A means has been

arrived at for at once giving these persons income, business, position,

and at the same time getting them out of the way.

The Buddhist priesthood was at one time a very powerful element in the

country. The number of priests was very great, and the revenues of

the monasteries were enormous. By their wealth, and from among their

vassals, they were able to keep up a respectable army; and not by their

vassals alone--the priests themselves filled the ranks. The different

sects built magnificent temples, and these were endowed with ample

lands. Immediately before the period of the advent of the Christians

in the sixteenth century, the power of the priesthood seems to have

reached its highest point. Nobunanga, who at one time was inclined to

favor the foreign priests, had always a great jealousy of, and bore a

great ill-will to, the Buddhist priesthood. He destroyed their temples,

killed their priests, and confiscated their revenues, and thus gave

a blow to their power from which they have never recovered, and under

which they are withering more and more every day.

In Japan, a man while a priest, after having shaved his head and taken

the vows, is supposed to be out of the world, and it is then much

easier to keep a certain amount of surveillance over him, and to see

that he is attending to his duties, and is not engaged in political

intrigues.

Of the larger Buddhist temples of different sects, fourteen are

retained as having the largest revenues; and whenever a male member of

the royal family is unprovided for he is put in as head abbot or bishop

of one of these temples. They are generally appointed while children,

and brought up to the position; and as the revenues of the office have

thus time to accumulate, the reverend holder has sufficient for his

wants and those of a respectable retinue. They are then called Sinwo

Monzekke (Muntsih).

1. The first is Rinoji Monzekke, or abbot of Rinoji temple. The temple

over which he is abbot is To yay zan, in Yedo. The first high-priest

put into this was Koboong of Iyeyas, then Shiogoon. The revenue amounts

to 13,000 koku of rice. The holder is of the Arisungawa family, and is

of the first rank and second degree. He is known as “Kwan rayee no mia”

(from the nengo, or date, of his appointment), and Yedo no mia or Ooyay

no mia. In 1860 the incumbent was very old, and a boy, Gofutay, of the

Fusimi family, was appointed assistant and successor.

2. The second is Ninaji no mia, otherwise called Omuro. The income is

1,502 koku. The incumbent is of the Fusimi family. He is head of the

Singong sect, and was appointed to the office in 1843, when four years

of age. To this temple the Emperor generally retires should he become a

priest after abdication.

3. Dai Kakuji, otherwise called Sanga, is vacant.

4. Mio ho in, at Hiyayzan, a large temple near Miako. The Monzekke is

of the Kunnin family. He is head of the Tendai sect of Buddhists, and

is known as Tendai zass.

5. Sho ngo in no Monzekke is head of the Yamabooshi religion. He is of

the Fusimi family, with an income of 1,430 koku. His temple is at Omine

Honzan.

6. Sho ko in; vacant, but the revenues are held by No. 5.

7. Say ray in Monzekke: is known as Awata Mia. He is of the Fusimi

family. The income is 1,330 koku.

8. Chi wong in Monzekke, of the Arisungawa family. The temple is in

Miako, and he is the head of the Jodoshiu sect of Buddhists.

9. Kwajooji is vacant.

10. Itchi jo in Monzekke. The temple is in Narra, and is very old. Held

by one of the house of Fusimi.

11. Kaji ee Monzekke, of the Tendai sect. Of the family of Fusimi, with

an income of 1,600 koku.

12. Manjo in Monzekke is vacant.

13. Bissa mondo Monzekke is also vacant.

14. Emmang in Monzekke, commonly called Medora, in the province of

Owomi, is also vacant.

All these bishoprics, as they may be called, are held, or may be held,

by Sinwo or sons of Sinwo.

But as it is in many countries, both European and Eastern, as necessary

and as difficult to dispose of the females of high families as the

males, they also are in many cases provided for.

There are twenty-four temples or nunneries which are, or may be,

under the superintendence of daughters or relatives of the four royal

families.

1. Daijoji, in Miako; of this temple a daughter of the Emperor was

formerly abbess.

2. Hokio ji.

3. Dan kay in.

4. Ko shio in.

5. Ray gan ji, held by one of the Fusimi family, who has the title of

Nio-wo, or Queen of Nuns.

6. Yenshoji, in Narra, the ecclesiastical metropolis of Japan.

7. Rin kinji.

8. Chiu goji and sixteen others of lower class. Many of them are,

however, unoccupied; partly, perhaps, from want of ladies of the royal

family to fill them, and partly from failure of zeal for the Buddhist

religion all over the country.

The laws with reference to the perpetuity of the vows of these priests

and priestesses do not seem to be very strict, as we find that, when

opportunity offers, the garb is thrown off, the hair is allowed to

grow, and he or she mixes again in the world in whatever capacity their

worldliness, their ambition, or their sense, has prompted them to

desire.

It has been stated that the Emperor, as the fountain of honor,

reserves to himself the sole right of conferring titles and rank.

This reservation throws great political power into his hands, the

acquisition of title and rank being, with rare exceptions, an object of

the highest ambition to a Japanese. The amount of business connected

with this power is great, and may be said to have been for many

years the sole occupation for the Miako court. A special office and

officers are set apart within the palace inclosure for carrying on the

correspondence and settling disputes connected with the department.

RANKS OF MEN IN JAPAN

Every individual in Japan, whether noble, priest or peasant, is

supposed to know the rank in which he stands relatively to those

about him. The marks of respect to superiors--which in degree

appear excessive to Western nations--are graduated from a trifling

acknowledgment to the most absolute prostration. When two men or women

meet, the first point to be ascertained seems to be, which of the two

is to make the acknowledgment of the social position of the other.

This state of things is supported by law as well as custom, and more

particularly by the permission given to a two-sworded man, in case of

his feeling himself insulted, to take the law into his own hands. What

would be irksome to us seems to become easy and a matter of course in

Japan; and though, no doubt, the assumption of position is often the

source of brawls and fights, the system works more smoothly than might

have been expected.

The custom of wearing two swords was introduced in the sixteenth

century. The old Miako nobility do not adopt the custom--civilian

Koongays wearing no sword, and military only one as of old. All Japan

is divided into two classes: those who have a right to wear two swords,

the “Nihon sashi shto” or “two-sworded man,” called also “Yashiki

shto” or castle retainers; and those who have no such right, the

“Matchi shto” or street man (otherwise called Chonin). The latter class

comprises merchants, artisans, workmen, etc., who work at some trade,

but possess no ground; and also Hiaksho, farmers who do not trade, but

farm or rent ground. In some cases individuals of these classes can

wear two swords. The “swordless man” in Yedo pays rent for his ground,

house and shop. The “two-sworded man” pays no rent and no taxes,

because he is not allowed to trade. In Yedo, parts of the town are

known as “Matchi tsuchee,” street ground, and other parts as “Yashiki

tsuchee,” castle ground. Persons living on the former can open shops

and trade; in the latter this is not allowed. This last two-sworded

class is known as “Samurai” (Ch. Sz), which may be translated “an

officer and a gentleman,” and is an important distinction conferring

valuable rights and privileges at the expense of the rest of the

community.

This division of the people into two classes is a measure issuing from

the executive at Yedo, the Shiogoon’s government, rather than from

Miako. The Samurai class may be said to include the Koongays, the

Daimios, the “Jiki sang,” who are the officers and sub-officers in the

service of the Shiogoon; the Byshing--_i.e._, officers in the service

of Daimios; and such Chonin as are doing duty as officers in some large

town, such as Osaka or Miako, and are always spoken of in connection

with the city--as Osaka chonin, for instance. The term “Samurai” is

applied more particularly to all below the fifth rank, military or

civilians who are not merchants or artisans. There are others who

have the right to wear two swords, such as Goshi, large farmers or

landed proprietors whose ancestors were Daimios. These are strongest

in the provinces of Kahi, Etsjiu and Dewa, some being very wealthy--as

Homma in Dewa, and Hanagura in Etsjiu. The Samurai who have the right

to wear two swords assume the right of giving two swords to their

attendants; and this right, once assumed, is not readily relinquished,

seeing that a two-sworded man has the privilege of traveling at a much

cheaper rate than other members of society, pays no tolls or taxes,

and not infrequently pays nothing for food and lodging, their power

being so great that they are feared, if not in actual attendance upon

some superior. These men are frequently dismissed by, or voluntarily

leave the service of, their Daimio or master; but as those who are so

dismissed are often brawlers, they retain their swords, and gain a

living by their becoming a terror to quiet people. They are said to be

“floating,” without any attachment, like straws on a stream, and are

thence called “Ronin” or “floating-man.” These men are most imperious

and domineering toward others not having the same privileges as

themselves, and this power compels wealthy traders and others to enroll

themselves in the retinue of some Daimio, or take some other roundabout

mode to prevent themselves being insulted. This is not the character of

every Ronin, many of whom are respectable members of society, holding

their privileges in abeyance until called upon to give feudal service

by some superior.

The people of Japan are divided generally into the following classes:

1. Koongays, or Miako nobility.

2. Daimios, or Yedo nobility.

3. Hattamoto--Lower Daimio class.

4. Hiaksho--Farmers and landed proprietors without rank or title.

5. Shokonin--Artisans, carpenters, etc.

6. Akindo--Merchants.

7. Kweiamono--Actors, beggars, etc.

8. Yayta--Tanners, shoemakers, leather workers, skinners.

Beneath these are prostitutes, and all connected with them, who are

considered beasts, or on a level with them.

In opposition to the name of “Koongay” (Kung kia), “exalted house,” the

nobility of Miako, the Daimios and officers of the Shiogoon’s court,

are called “Jee ngay” (Ti hia), meaning persons low, on a level with

the ground, the latter not being recognized by the Emperor as feudal

lords further than as servants of his servant, “Tokungawa”--_i.e._ the

Shiogoon.

The Japanese titles and classification of officers have been taken

generally from China. As in China, all the officers honored with titles

by the Emperor, or performing duties about the court, are divided into

classes or ranks. In China the Mandarins are divided into nine classes.

Each of these classes is again subdivided into a first and secondary

division. The same division and subdivision are found in Japan, with

this difference, that there are six classes, each subdivided into four

ranks. The word used for rank is I, otherwise called Kurai. This is the

Chinese word Wai. The six ranks in order are, Itchi-i, Ni-i, Sanm-i,

Shi-i, Go-i and Roko-i. Each of these is divided according to the

Chinese classification into two, the “shio” (or “jio”) and the “jiu,”

corresponding to the “ching” and the “tsung.” These are subdivided

again into two--upper and lower--“jio” and “gay,” the Chinese “shang”

and “hia.” The full description of men of the first and second ranks

would be respectively “Jo itchi-i no jio” and “Jo itchi-i no gay”--the

“no” meaning “of.” The minor divisions “jio” and “gay” are not much

used in the higher ranks until the highest is reached, an honor now

reserved only for the dead. Indeed, all below Shi-i, or the fourth

grade, are commonly known now by a general name, “Sho dai boo” (“Chu

ta fu”). The higher classes wear at court distinguishing dresses and

colors, or devices upon black dresses, and they are entitled in virtue

of their rank to have a spear carried before them when moving about

officially. Officers are presented at court, both at Miako and Yedo,

according to their rank, not according to the importance of their

office. Few of the Daimios are higher than the first subdivision of the

fourth rank. The Shiogoon himself is elevated from one rank to another

by the favor of the Emperor, at times not rising higher than the first

subdivision of the second class. To attain such rank at the imperial

court is the great object of ambition in Japan, and next in importance

is the acquisition of a title conferred by the Emperor. But as some

titles, though not recognized at court, are used by the Daimios as

holding territory under the Shiogoon, there is a distinction observed

between the two. The holders of titles conferred by the Emperor are

known as “Kio kwang” (King kwan) or imperial officers, while the

Daimios are known from their territorial appellations as “Kooni kami”

(Kwoh shau), or keepers of the provinces. An imperial title in the

address is always placed before the territorial title.

THE KOONGAY

After the Emperor and royal families, the first in rank in the state

are the Koongays. Until further light be thrown upon Japanese history,

the remote origin of this class will be somewhat obscure, some tracing

their pedigree back upward of 1,500 years. Many of the Koongays are

descendants of younger sons and cadets of the imperial family branching

off at former periods, while the surnames of some of the other families

are as old as historic records. In all probability their forefathers

came over to Japan at the time of its invasion and conquest by Zinmu,

and being the assistants, brothers in arms, and mainstays of his

throne and power, the soil about the center of the empire was divided

among them, and they thenceforward became the nobility of the court

of the Emperor. So long as the empire was under one emperor who ruled

vigorously, this aristocracy seems to have existed in the central

provinces as feudal lords, much in the same way as the Daimios of

the present day. But when the vigor of rule relaxed, and power fell

into the hands of a commander-in-chief, or mayor of the palace, with

uncertainty in the rulers, there followed division in the aristocracy.

Previous to the beginning of the fifteenth century, the western part

of the empire was all that was known to any who could throw light

upon its position by writing. The large tract of country to the north

and northeast of Yedo, called the obscure or unpenetrated way, was

comparatively unknown and uninhabited, and was divided into four or

five large territories, under princes who seldom heard of, and more

rarely visited, the court at Miako. The dissensions and struggles for

power between the two powerful families of Heji and Genji gave rise to

a nearly continual state of civil war for upward of 200 years. During

the Onin war families were destroyed, territories were lost, might was

everywhere right, and though several of the oldest and noblest families

among the Koongays retained their honors and titles and places about

the court, they lost their property, and many have ever since remained

at the lowest ebb of poverty.

Those few noble families which had previously to this period of civil

war divided among themselves the places and titles of the court,

were denuded of their splendor; but their representatives continued

to struggle on with poverty, proud in the possession of an ancient

lineage, and of their names being enrolled as nobles in the Great Book

of the empire. These are the Koongays of the present day. They are

not all in this state of poverty, many of them being well off, and

some very wealthy; but others are very poor, and eke out the scanty

subsistence given them by the Emperor by painting, basket-making,

and other manual employments, affording, in their persons, their

poverty, and their pretensions, ample scope for the pen of the native

caricaturist. The names, history, and pedigree of the Koongays are

enrolled in the Great Book of the empire, the equivalent to the

Heralds’ Office or Patent Office of England. A book, the “Koongay

no Kayzu,” or Pedigree of the Koongays, is printed in Japan, giving

all these particulars, and is generally by the natives considered

authentic. The names of Daimios (as such) are not so enrolled; they

have no patents of nobility from the Emperor, and the “Hang campu,”

giving the pedigree and history of the families of Daimios, is regarded

as anything but authentic, and is looked upon as in many cases made up

by individuals to conceal the origin of the family.

The Koongay class includes all the illustrious families of Japan. In

common estimation the Daimios are far below this class; and even the

Shiogoon, though he is feared as the head of the executive, is looked

upon as comparatively a parvenu.

The class is divided into two, an older or higher, the “Koongio,” and

a lower, or more recently created, “Ten jio bito” (Tien shang jin).

“Koongio” (Kung hiang) is a name which includes all the officers of

the first, second and third ranks. All of the fourth rank and below

are called “So shing,” in which are included “Ten jio bito,” “Sho

diabu,” and “Samurai.” The appellation “Mayka” (ming kia) seems to

denote that the bearer is a civilian. All the higher offices in the

state are filled by Koongays, but only five families are eligible to

fill the highest. These five families are known as the “Go sek kay”

(Wu ship kia), or “Shippay kay,” or “Sessio no eeyay,” helper of

emperor--lit., to take the handle--“the five assisting families.” They

are: 1, Konoyay; 2, Koojio; 3, Nijio; 4, Itchijio; 5, Takatskasa. If

the highest offices under the Emperor (as those of “Dai jio dai jin,”

“Kwanbakku,” or “Sessio”) be vacant, no one who is not of one of these

five families is eligible to fill such office.

In regard to rank at court, the Koongays generally stand in the lower

class of the first, or in the second or third rank. They are known at

Miako by their dress. For a long time past they have had little power,

and were of little importance; but since the commencement of foreign

relations the political tide has rather flowed toward Miako, and

from Yedo, and they have increased in political power as well as in

wealth, as the Daimios and office-seekers of Yedo endeavor to obtain

the objects of their ambition through the influence of their poorer

brethren in Miako. The poverty of most of the class prevents their

entering upon an enervating life of dissipation, which too often saps

the vigor of the constitution of the Daimios, and they are able to take

a part in the discussion of political subjects. Many of them fill the

more or less nominal offices of government in one of the eight great

boards of the empire; and this amount of occupation, together with

writing imaginative pieces, keeps their minds in a sufficient state of

activity.

In addition to the distinctions of rank in Japan, there is also the

distinction into families or clans, great importance being attached to

a family name. The feuds between rival families have in past times rent

the empire to pieces. The Emperor is said to have no name; but some of

the cadets, offshoots from the imperial line, have founded lines of

their own, taking root and flourishing as distinct families. In this

way have been derived the lines known as the “Say wa Genji,” the “Ooda

Genji,” and the “Murakami Genji.” These are descendants of younger sons

of emperors of these names. But among all the families of Japan, the

first place is held by that of Fusiwara, in length of pedigree, in the

honors held in past ages, and in the present position of the family.

During every period in the annals of the empire, members of this family

have filled the highest offices, civil and military, of the state.

But it has, perhaps, shone more in civil employment than in military.

The “five families” of the Sekkay mentioned above belong to the clan

Fusiwara. Other families have risen at different times to the highest

pinnacle attainable by subjects, but after a time they have gradually

fallen back into comparative obscurity. Ninety-five of the Koongays

call themselves of the clan Fusiwara. In very remote periods the family

of Nakatomi seems to have held the highest rank, absorbing by its

members, at one time, all the offices of religion. Only one Koongay

family, Fusinami, now represents this old clan. In point of antiquity,

if not of luster of name, the Sungawara family, commonly called Kwang

kay, ranks second only to Fusiwara. The members of this family are

rarely found in military employment, generally filling the offices of

teachers or lecturers on history or religion.

The “Gen kay,” otherwise called “Minnamoto,” are more illustrious as

military men. Seventeen families of the Koongays belong to this clan.

All the Minnamoto Koongays are descended from younger sons of former

emperors. One of these, the “Say wa” Minnamoto, assert that their line

is the same as that of the present imperial dynasty of China, who are

descendants of the Emperor Say wa, or “Tsing wa,” whence the “Tsing”

or “Ta Tsing” family, which emigrated from the north of Japan several

centuries ago.

The Taira, or He kay, the great opponent of the Gen kay (otherwise

known as Heji and Genji) during many years of civil war, includes five

families.

Nishika koji, of the Tanba clan, is said to represent one of the

emperors of China of the Eastern Han dynasty, who was driven from China

and took refuge in Japan.

A new creation of Koongays is very rare. About 1830, Kitta koji (of the

clan Oway), whose family for three generations had filled the office of

Kurodo, was elevated to the rank.

The names of Koongays are, in many cases, derived from the street or

place where they originally lived, as Itchi jio, No. 1 Street.

There are in all 137 Koongays.

There is assigned to each Koongay an annual revenue calculated in

koku of rice. This, in most cases, implies so much ground held of the

Emperor. The total sum divided among these noble families does not

amount to that allowed to a third-rate Daimio. But though several of

these nobles are miserably poor, and have probably little to live upon

besides the rice which is given them by the Emperor, there are some

among them who have other sources of wealth. In old times the Koongays

possessed large landed property; but in the wars of the He kay and Gen

kay, Kiomori, the leader of the former, despoiled them, and the divided

portions of these lands were seized by whoever had the power. Some

still retain extensive landed property, but the majority have fixed

salaries, which they receive at the Emperor’s hands. Residing near

the court, and often connected with the Emperor and high officers by

marriage, the poorest may possess some influence, and this frequently

contributes to swell their incomes. This influence is courted by the

Daimios at a distance, who, aspiring to rank or titles, purchase the

assistance and influence of the Koongays, such as it may be, by solid

presents. The higher class, who really have much power, in this way

become very rich. The little land which belongs to them may, by taxes,

duties, or customs, produce much more than the exact number of koku

of the original calculation. Thus the seaport town of Itami stands

on the ground of Konoyay dono, and he levies a tax upon the exports

and imports; and, in addition to the customs, he receives the duties

upon all the saki or spirit distilled between the towns of Hiogo and

Osaka, and this is the great distilling district for the whole country.

Having acquired money, he lends it out at Oriental rates of interest

to the Daimios, who are too often in need of ready money, so that he

is a very wealthy man. The Koongays have not the large expenses which

drain the purses of the Daimios; having comparatively few retainers,

they are not obliged to make the ostentatious display which brings the

Daimios to poverty; nor have they the same number of establishments to

keep up at different places. All this contributes to make the upper

class of Koongays, already powerful by rank, position and influence,

substantial in their independence. The poorer class eke out their

existence in a variety of ways, honorable enough, but not contributing

much in the way of worldly wealth. Assukayee teaches playing at “mari,”

a sort of football, which is a fashionable game at court, and which

is probably derived from the Chinese shuttlecock, varied according

to the difference in the style of boots and shoes. In playing at this

game in Miako, the court turns out in gorgeous dresses. Jimio-in and

others teach writing. Sono dono teaches the science of dwarfing trees

and the art of arranging flowers in flower-holders. At both of these

the Japanese excel. In the former they display a wonderful power

over nature, and in the latter a highly cultivated taste. A fir-tree

has been seen in perfect vigor, bearing a cone, and eight years old,

and only an inch in height. Rayzay teaches poetry and composition.

Sijio dono teaches the art of dressing dinners and cookery, which is

considered in Japan the occupation of a gentleman. When an artist has

prepared a dinner, and laid it out, it is common for the public to go

to see it as a work of art. Yamashima and Takakura superintend and

teach the art of dressing and of etiquette. Tsutchi Mikado teaches

and explains what is known in China as the “Ta kih,” the ultimate

cause of things, the immaterial principle of the Chinese philosophers,

as contained in and exemplified by a series of diagrams; and, as an

astrologer, divines into futurity. Others paint, and sell their works

of art, or teach painting. The poorer individuals who receive rice

also get the Emperor’s cast-off outer garments. Their daughters are

in the habit of going to the families of the Daimios as governesses

(and are commonly known by the name of “jorosama”), to teach the young

ladies and gentlemen the customs and language of the court. Of these

ladies there are generally one or more at the residence of the Shiogoon

in Yedo. They sometimes act in the capacity of spies as well as of

governesses; and, having much influence, they are sometimes feared as

_censores morum_.

Under the five Go sekkay nearly all the Koongays are classed into five

divisions; and in his relation to his head, each Koongay is known as

“Monrio” or “Sorio”--one division under each of the five.

If any of those in a position of Monrio have any business with the

court, such must be dispatched through his head, who then communicates

with the Emperor.

It has been shown that the Sin wo and sons of the imperial families are

provided for by absorption into the higher offices of the priesthood,

and to fill the seats in, and receive the revenues of, the richer

abbeys and monasteries. In a similar way the sons of the Go sekkay and

higher Koongays (known as Kindatchi) are provided for. There are six

richly-endowed temples whose revenues are respectively enjoyed by a

member of one of these families. These men are known by the name of

“Sekkay Monzekke.”

If a Daimio happens to meet the norimono or sedan-chair of a Koongay

upon the highroad, he must wait with all his retinue till the latter

shall have passed. Koongays usually blacken their teeth and shave the

eyebrows, and do not follow the usual custom in shaving the head.

Civilians do not carry a sword; military carry one called “tatchi.”

In ordinary times a Koongay is not likely to be put to death, however

great may be his crimes; but he may be ordered to shave his head and

enter a monastery, or may be confined to a room in his own house.

It is not easy to ascertain what was the exact position of the Koongays

in the times before the great civil wars of the thirteenth and

following centuries. The empire seems to have been divided at that time

very much as it is now, into one large central court at the metropolis,

with a number of smaller courts in the provinces, each ruled by its

lord, king, Daimio, or dynasta, as they have been called. The court

of the Emperor always remained at Miako. There he was surrounded by

the members of the old families, among whom he distributed honors.

There was to be seen a supposed prefect form of government, the

history of which is written in the “Annals.” Probably in each of the

lesser courts--such, for instance, as that of Satsuma, Mowori, and

other wealthy lords--the same form of government was carried on in

a miniature scale; and, so far as can be gathered from history and

native historical maps, the extensive territories belonging to these

lords were always under the entire rule each of its own master, and

acknowledging no right in the central court (so long as that master did

not in any way come into collision with the general good of the empire)

to interfere in any way with what passed within these territories. The

imperial court, in its executive form, was confined to the provinces

around Miako--the Gokinai. The annals of the Emperors are devoted in

the main to the occurrences which took place within these provinces,

detailing the names and families, the titles, ranks, and history of the

men who in that court were looked upon as great and eminent. Of these,

the more prominent were brought forward and advanced by the Emperor in

hereditary rank and title above their fellows--these were the Koongays;

while the territorial lords were only known by their family names, or

the name of the provinces over which they ruled, and were only expected

to come once a year to Miako, in order to pay their respects to the

Emperor. It is not to be expected but that differences would arise

among these territorial lords, some more or less powerful; ambition and

lust of wealth or power would soon find a cause for a quarrel, and this

would light up a civil war. In such cases, the Emperor and the officers

of the imperial court were looked to as the arbiters or umpires, and

acquired and retained so firm a position in the machinery of the State

and in the minds of the people as to withstand all the shocks which

have at different times so frequently and rudely put one down and set

up another of these provincial powers.