At first the invading clans were not unified. There was little
centralized government. The Yamato chieftain had only a shadowy
authority over the other clans. He was “first among equals,” rather
than an overlord. He controlled directly the territory held by his own
clan, but not the lands of other clans. Nor did his religious authority
extend far beyond his own clan.
During the first four or five centuries of the Christian era this
picture was steadily changing. Most of central and western Japan was
conquered and occupied as the result of a long series of wars. The
power of the Yamato clan was growing. Its chieftain was becoming the
ruler of a centralized state. His position was approaching that of a
king. Lesser leaders were being attached to this “Emperor,” and were
assuming the role of ministers at the “court.”
In other ways, too, the various clans were merging into a centralized
state. The Emperor, as the direct descendant of the Sun Goddess, came
to be recognized as divine ruler of the whole Japanese people. More and
more the Japanese thought of themselves as a single patriarchal family,
headed by “the Sovereign that is a manifest God.” Ancestors of the
other clan leaders, also divine, were brought into relation with those
of the Emperor, but in subordinate rank. The strongest clans were able
to claim descent from deities closely associated with the Sun Goddess.