The choice of a site for the grave is determined by a professor of the

“Fung Shuy” superstition, who, compass in hand, explores the entire

district to find a spot which combines all the qualities necessary for

the quiet repose of the dead. When such a favored spot has been

discovered a priest is called in to determine a lucky day for the

burial. This is by no means an easy matter and it often happens that the

dead remain unburied for months or even years on account of the

difficulties in the way of choosing either fortunate graves or lucky

days. The ceremonies of the interment itself and of mourning that

follows are most elaborate in character, and too much involved for

detailed description here.

[Illustration: THE PUNISHMENTS OF HELL.—_From Chinese Drawings._]

But universal as the practice of burying may be said to be in China

there are exceptions to it. The Buddhist priests as a rule prefer

cremation, and this custom, which came with the religion they profess

from India, has at times found imitators among the laity. In Formosa the

dead are exposed and dried in the air; and some of the Meaou-tsze tribes

of central and southern China bury their dead, it is true, but after an

interval of a year or more, having chosen a lucky day, they disinter

them. On such occasions they go accompanied by their friends to the

grave, and having opened the tomb they take out the bones and having

brushed and washed them clean they put them back wrapped in cloth.

The necessity in the Chinese mind that their bones must rest in the soil

of their native land with their ancestors, has made to exist some

peculiar practices among the colonizing Chinese in the United States and

other countries. The bones of those who die thus far away from home are

carefully preserved by their countrymen and shipped back, sometimes

after many years, to find a resting place in the Middle Kingdom.

It is a curious circumstance that in China where there exists such a

profound veneration for everything old, there should not be found any

ancient buildings or old ruins. That there is an abundant supply of

durable materials for building is certain, and for many centuries the

Chinese have been acquainted with the art of brick making, yet they have

reared no building possessing enduring stability. Not only does the

ephemeral nature of the tent, which would indicate their original

nomadic origin and recollection of old tent homes, appear in the slender

construction of Chinese houses, but even in shape they assume a

tent-like form. Etiquette provides that in houses of the better class a

high wall shall surround the building, and that no window shall look

outward. Consequently streets in the fashionable parts of cities have a

dreary aspect. The only breaks in the long line of dismal wall are the

front doors, which are generally closed, or if not, movable screens bar

the sight of all beyond the door. Passing around one such screen one

finds himself in a court-yard which is laid out as a garden or paved

with stone. From this court-yard one reaches, on either side, rooms

occupied by servants, or directly in front, another building. Through

this latter another court-yard is reached, in the rooms surrounding

which the family live, and behind this again are the women’s apartments,

which not infrequently give exit to a garden at the back.

Wooden pillars support the roofs of the buildings, and the intervals

between these are filled up with brick work. The window-frames are

wooden, over which is pasted either paper or calico, or sometimes pieces

of talc to transmit the light. The doors are almost invariably folding

doors; the floors either stone or cement; and ceilings are not often

used, the roof being the only covering to the rooms. Carpets are seldom

used, more especially in southern China, where also stoves for warming

purposes are known. In the north, where in the winter the cold is very

great, portable charcoal stoves are employed and small chafing dishes

are carried about from room to room. Delicate little hand-stoves, which

gentlemen and ladies carry in their sleeves, are very much in vogue. In

the colder latitudes a raised platform or dais is built in the room, of

brick and stone, under which a fire is kindled with a chimney to carry

off the smoke. The whole substance of this dais becomes heated and

retains its warmth for several hours. This is the almost universal bed

of the north of China. But the main dependence of the Chinese for

personal warmth is on clothes. As the winter approaches garment is added

to garment and furs to quilted vestments, until the wearer assumes an

unwieldy and exaggerated shape. Well-to-do Chinamen seldom take strong

exercise, and they are therefore able to bear clothes which to a

European would be unendurable.

Of the personal comfort obtainable in a house, Chinamen are strangely

ignorant. Their furniture is of the hardest and most uncompromising

nature. Chairs made of a hard black wood, angular in shape, and equally

unyielding divans, are the only seats known to them. Their beds are

scarcely more comfortable, and their pillows are oblong cubes of bamboo

or other hard material. For the maintenance of the existing fashions of

female head dressing, this kind of pillow is essential to women at

least, as their hair, which is only dressed at intervals of days, and

which is kept in its shape by the abundant use of bandoline, would be

crushed and disfigured if lain upon for a moment. Women, therefore, who

make any pretension of following the fashion, are obliged to sleep at

night on their backs, resting the nape of the neck on the pillow and

thus keeping the head and hair free from contact with anything.

The ornaments in the houses of the well-to-do are frequently elaborate

and beautiful. Their wood carvings, cabinets, and ornamental pieces of

furniture, and the rare beauty of their bronzes and porcelain, are of

late years well known and much sought for in our own country. Tables are

nearly uniform in size, furnishing a seat for one person on each of the

four sides, and tables are multiplied sufficiently to accommodate

whatever number requires to be served. When guests are entertained, the

two sexes eat separately in different rooms, but in ordinary meals the

members of the family of both sexes sit down together with much less

formality.

The streets in the towns differ widely in construction in the northern

and southern portions of the empire. In the south they are narrow and

paved, in the north they are wide and unpaved, both constructions being

suited to the local wants of the people. The absence of wheel traffic in

the southern provinces makes wide streets unnecessary, while by

contracting their width the sun’s rays have less chance of beating down

on the heads of passers and it is possible to stretch awnings from roof

to roof. It is true that this is done at the expense of fresh air, but

even to do this is a gain. Shops are all open in front, the counters

forming the only barrier. The streets are crowded in the extreme, and

passage is necessarily slow.

This inconvenience is avoided in the wide streets of the cities of the

north, but these streets are so ill kept that in wet weather they are

mud and in dry they are covered inches deep in dust. Of the large cities

of the north and south Peking and Canton may be taken as typical

examples and certainly, with the exception of the palace, the walls, and

certain imperial temples, the streets of Peking compare very unfavorably

with those of Canton. The walls surrounding Peking are probably the

finest and best kept in the empire. In height they are about forty feet

and the same in width. The top, which is defended by massive

battlements, is well paved and is kept in excellent order. Over each

gate is built a fortified tower between eighty and ninety feet high.

[Illustration: CHINESE CART.]

The power of a Chinese father over his children is complete except that

it stops short with life. The practice of selling children is common,

and though the law makes it a punishable offense, should the sale be

effected against the will of the children, the prohibition is

practically ignored. In the same way a law exists making infanticide a

crime, but as a matter of fact it is never acted upon; and in some parts

of the country, more especially in the provinces of Chiang-hsi and

Fu-chien, this most unnatural offense prevails among the poorer classes

to an alarming extent. Not only do the people acknowledge the existence

of the practice, but they even go the length of defending it. It is only

however abject poverty which drives parents to this dreadful expedient,

and in the more prosperous and wealthy districts the crime is almost

unknown. Periodically the mandarins inveigh against the inhumanity of

the offense and appeal to the better instincts of the people to put a

stop to it; but a stone which stands near a pool outside the city of

Foochow bearing the inscription, “Girls may not be drowned here,”

testifies with terrible emphasis to the futility of their endeavors.

[Illustration: SCHOOL BOY.]

The large number of cast-a-way bodies of dead infants seen in many parts

of China is often regarded, though unjustly, as evidence of the

prevalence of this crime. In most instances, however, it really

indicates only the denial of burial to infants. This is due, at least in

many places, to the following superstition: When they die it is supposed

that their bodies have been inhabited by the spirit of a deceased

creditor of a previous state of existence. The child during its sickness

may be cared for with the greatest tenderness, but if it dies parental

love is turned to hate and resentment. It is regarded as an enemy and

intruder in the family who has been exacting satisfaction for the old

unpaid debt; and having occasioned a great deal of anxiety, trouble, and

expense, has left nothing to show for it but disappointment. The uncared

for and uncoffined little body is cast away anywhere; and as it is

carried out of the door the house is swept, crackers are fired, and

gongs beaten to frighten the spirit so that it may never dare enter the

house again. Thus do superstitions dry up the fountains of natural

affection.

The complete subjection of children to their parents is so firmly imbued

in the minds of every Chinese youth, that resistance to the infliction

of cruel and even unmerited punishment is seldom if ever offered, and

full-grown men submit meekly to be flogged without raising their hands.

The law steps in on every occasion in support of parental authority.

Filial piety is the leading principle in Chinese ethics.

[Illustration: CHINESE SCHOOL.]

School life begins at the age of six, and among the wealthier classes

great care is shown in the choice of master. The stars having indicated

a propitious day for beginning work, the boy presents himself at school,

bringing with him two small candles, some sticks of incense, and some

paper money, which are burnt at the shrine of Confucius, before which

also the little fellow prostrates himself three times. There being no

alphabet in Chinese the pupil has to plunge at once into the middle of

things and begins by learning to read. Having mastered two elementary

books, the next step is to the “Four Books.” Then follow the “Five

Classics,” the final desire of Chinese learning. A full comprehension of

these Four Books and Five Classics, together with the commentaries upon

them, and the power of turning this knowledge to account in the shape of

essays and poems, is all that is required at the highest examination in

the empire. This course of instruction has been exactly followed out in

every school in the empire for many centuries.

[Illustration: CHINESE ENGINEERS LAYING A MILITARY TELEGRAPH.]

The choice of a future calling, which is often so perplexing in our own

country, is simplified in China by the fact of there being but two

pursuits which a man of respectability and education can follow, namely

the mandarinate and trades. The liberal professions as we understand

them are unknown in China. The judicial system forbids the existence of

the legal profession except in the case of official secretaries attached

to the mandarins’ courts; and medicine is represented by charlatans who

prey on the follies of their fellowmen and dispense ground tiger’s

teeth, snake’s skins, etc., in lieu of drugs. A lad, or his parents for

him, has therefore practically to consider whether he should attempt to

compete at the general competitive examinations to qualify him for

office, or whether he should embark in one of the numerous mercantile

concerns which abound among the moneymaking and thrifty Chinese.

[Illustration: SCHOOL GIRL.]

The succession of examinations leading up to the various honorary

degrees and official positions, are complicated and exacting. The

successful candidates have great honor attached to them, and are the

prominent and successful people of the empire. These examinations are

open to every man in the empire of whatever grade, unless he belong to

one of the following four classes, or be the descendant of one such

within three generations; actors, prostitutes, jailers, and executioners

and servants of mandarins. The theory with regard to these people is

that actors and prostitutes being devoid of all shame, and executioners

and jailers having become hardened by the cruel nature of their offices,

are unfit in their own persons or as represented by their sons to win

posts of honor by means of the examinations.

The military examinations are held separately, and though the literary

calibre of the candidates is treated much in the same way as at the

civil examinations, the same high standard of knowledge is not required;

but in addition skill in archery and in the use of warlike weapons is

essential. It is illustrative of the backwardness of the Chinese in

warlike methods, that though they have been acquainted with the use of

gunpowder for some centuries, they revert in the examination of military

candidates to the weapons of the ancients, and that while theoretically

they are great strategists, strength and skill in the use of these

weapons are the only tests required for commissions.

[Illustration: CHINESE ARTIST.]

Persons of almost every class and in almost every station of life make

an effort to send their boys to school, with the hope that they may

distinguish themselves, be advanced to high positions in the state, and

reflect honor upon their families. Of those who compete for literary

honors a very small proportion are successful in attaining even the

first degree, though some strive for it for a lifetime. These

unsuccessful candidates and the graduates of the first and second

degrees, form the important class of literary men scattered throughout

the empire. The large proportion of this class are comparatively poor,

and their services may be obtained for a very small remuneration. They

are employed to teach the village schools. Rich families in different

neighborhoods often assist in keeping up the school for the credit of

the village, and opportunities for obtaining an education are thus

brought within the reach of all. Graduates of the first and second

degrees, generally have the charge of more advanced pupils, and many are

engaged as tutors in private families, commanding higher wages. They are

also employed as scribes or copyists, and to write letters, family

histories, genealogies, etc. In the larger cities schools are

established by the government, and in many places free schools are

supported by wealthy men, but these institutions do not seem to be

popular and are not flourishing.

[Illustration: CHINESE BARBER.]

Though trade practically holds its place as next in estimation to the

mandarinate, in theory it should follow both the careers of husbandry

and of the mechanical arts. All land is held in free-hold from the

government, and principally by clans or families, who pay an annual tax

to the crown, amounting to about one-tenth of the produce. As long as

this tax is paid regularly the owners are never dispossessed, and

properties thus remain in the hands of clans and families for many

generations. In order that farming operations shall be properly

conducted, there are established in almost every district agricultural

boards, consisting of old men learned in husbandry. By these veterans a

careful watch is kept over the work done by the neighboring farmers, and

in the case of any dereliction of duty or neglect of the prescribed

modes of farming, the offender is summoned before the district

magistrate, who inflicts the punishment which he considers proportionate

to the offense. The appliances of the Chinese for irrigating the fields

and winnowing the grain are excellent, but those for getting the largest

crops out of the land are of a rude and primitive kind.

Among their artisans the Chinese number carpenters, masons, tailors,

shoemakers, workers in iron and brass, and silversmiths and goldsmiths,

who can imitate almost any article of foreign manufacture; also workmen

in bamboo, carvers, idol makers, needle manufacturers, barbers,

hair-dressers, etc. Business men sell almost every kind of goods and

commodities wholesale and retail. Large fortunes are amassed very much

in the same way and by the same means as are now in our own country. The

wealth of the rich is invested in lands or houses, or employed as

capital in trade or banking, or is lent out on good security, and often

at a high rate of interest.

[Illustration: FEMALE TYPES AND COSTUMES.]

Traveling in China is slow and leisurely, and the modes of it vary

greatly in different parts of the empire. In many of the provinces,

especially along the coast and in the south, canals take the place, for

the most part, of roads. In the vicinity of Ningpo the country is

supplied with a complete network of them, often intersecting each other

at distances of one or two miles or less. Farmers frequently have short

branch canals running off to their houses, and the farm boat takes the

place of the farm wagon. Heavy loaded passage or freight boats ply in

every direction. The ordinary charge for passage is less than one-half a

cent per mile. The boats are admirably adapted to the people and

circumstances, being built for comfort, rather than for speed. These

water courses then, with the rivers which are so numerous, furnish the

most general way of traveling throughout the empire.

In the north, where the country is level and open, the existence of

broad roads enables the people to use rude carts for the conveyance of

passengers and freight. Mules are used for riding purposes, and

palanquins borne by two horses, or sedan chairs carried by two coolies,

are popular ways of traveling. The sea-going junks are very much larger

than the river craft, and different in construction. The best ones are

divided into water tight compartments and are capable of carrying

several thousand tons of cargo. They are generally three-masted and

carry huge sails made of matting.

[Illustration: PORTER'S CHAIR.]

Although the Chinese have the compass, they are without the knowledge

necessary for taking nautical observations, so they either hug the land

or steer straight by their compass until they reach some coast with

which they are familiar. In these circumstances it is easy to understand

why the loss of junks and lives on the Chinese coast every year is so

great. The immense number of people who live in boats on the rivers in

southern China, render the terrible typhoons which sweep the sea and

land especially destructive. For the most part these boat-people are not

of Chinese origin but are remnants of the aborigines of the country.

That the race has ever survived is a constant wonder, seeing the hourly

and almost momentary danger of drowning in which the children live on

board their boats. The only precaution that is ever taken, even in the

case of infants, is to tie an empty gourd between their shoulders, so

that should they fall into the water they may be kept afloat until help

comes. They are born in their boats, they marry in their boats, and die

in their boats.

The Chinese calendar and the festivities that accompany different

seasons and anniversaries, are peculiarly interesting and different from

our own, but space forbids any detailed account of them. The four

seasons correspond to ours, and in addition to the four seasons the year

is divided into eight parts called “joints,” or divisions, and these are

again subdivided into sixteen more called “breaths,” or sources of life.

There are forty festivals of China which are celebrated with observances

generally throughout the empire and are considered to be important. They

do not occur at regular intervals, and there is no periodical day of

rest and recreation corresponding at all to our Sunday. The festivities

of the new year exceed all others in their prominence and continuance,

and in the universality and enthusiasm with which they are observed.

“The Feast of Lanterns” and “The Festival of the Tombs” are two of the

most interesting of Chinese festivals. The ninth day of the ninth month

is a great time for flying kites. On that day thousands of men enjoy the

sport and immense kites of all grotesque shapes fill the air. Theaters

are very common in China, but the character and associations of the

stage are very different from those of western lands and are very much

less respected. Actors are regarded as an inferior class. Females do not

appear upon the stage, but men act the part of female characters.

Gambling is very common in China and is practiced in a variety of ways.

Its ill effects are acknowledged, and there are laws prohibiting it, but

they are a dead letter. There are many kinds of stringed and reed

instruments used by the musicians of China. Bells, also, are very

numerous, and excellent sweet toned bells are made. A careful watch is

kept over the efforts of composers by the imperial board of music, whose

duty it is to keep alive the music of the ancients and to suppress all

compositions which are not in harmony with it. It is difficult for

western ears to find anything truly beautiful in Chinese music.

The medical art of China is not of a sort to win much admiration from

us. The Chinese know nothing of physiology or anatomy. The functions of

the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and brain are sealed books to them and

they recognize no distinction between veins and arteries and between

nerves and tendons. Their deeply rooted repugnance to the use of a knife

in surgery or to post-mortem examinations prevents the possibility of

their acquiring any accurate knowledge of the position of the various

organs. They consider that from the heart and pit of the stomach all

ideas and delights proceed, and that the gall bladder is the seat of

courage. Man’s body is believed to be composed of the five elements,

fire, water, metal, wood, earth. The medical profession in China is an

open one, for there are no medical colleges and no examination tests to

worry the minds of would-be practitioners. Some doctors have

prescriptions as valuable and of the same sort as those prepared from

herbs and vegetables by many an old woman in our own country

settlements. On the other hand, some of the most ridiculous remedies are

given, such as tiger’s teeth, gold and silver leaf, and shavings of

rhinoceros horns, or ivory. Fortunately for the people inflammatory

diseases are almost unknown in China, but small-pox, consumption, and

dysentery rage almost unchecked by medical help; skin diseases are very

prevalent, and cancer is by no means uncommon. Of late the practice of

vaccination has begun to make its way among the people.

There are hosts of superstitions among the Chinese people, and their

beliefs regarding spirits and the influence of the dead, of sorcerers,

and of devils, are myriad. These superstitions pervade every rank of

society, from the highest to the lowest. The general term applied to the

whole system of superstition and luck is fung-shwuy, and the

practitioners and learned men in this science are called upon to

determine what action shall be taken in all sorts of circumstances.

There are benevolent societies in China corresponding in variety and

almost in number to those of Christian lands. There are orphan asylums,

institutions for the relief of widows, and for the aged and infirm,

public hospitals and free schools, together with other kindred

institutions more peculiarly Chinese in their character. In some parts

of China schools for girls exist, taught by female teachers. In most

places, however females are seldom taught letters, and schools for their

benefit are not known. Foreigners in establishing them invariably give a

small sum of money or some rice for each day’s attendance, and it is

thought that these schools could not be kept together in any other way.

The Chinese describe themselves as possessing three religions, or more

accurately three sects, namely, Joo keaou, the sect of scholars; Fuh

keaou, the sect of Buddha; and Tao keaou, the sect of Tao. Both as

regards age and origin, the sect of scholars, or as it is generally

called, Confucianism, represents pre-eminently the religion of China. It

has its root in the worship of Shang-te, a deity associated with the

earliest traditions of the Chinese race. This deity was a personal god,

who ruled the affairs of men, rewarding and punishing as appeared just.

But during the troublous times which followed the first sovereigns of

the Chow dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew dim, until when

Confucius began his career there appeared nothing strange in his

atheistic teachings. His concern was with man as a member of society,

and the object of his teaching was to lead him into those paths of

rectitude which might best contribute to the happiness of the man, and

to the well-being of the community of which he formed a part. Man, he

held, was born good and was endowed with qualities, which when

cultivated and improved by watchfulness and self-restraint, might enable

him to acquire godlike wisdom. In the system of Confucius there is no

place for a personal god. Man has his destiny in his own hands to make

or mar. Neither had Confucius any inducement to offer to encourage men

in the practice of virtue, except virtue itself. He was a

matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, who was quite content to occupy

himself with the study of his fellow men, and was disinclined to grope

into the future. Succeeding ages, recognizing the loftiness of his aims,

eliminated all that was impracticable and unreal in his system, and held

fast to that part of it that was true and good. They clung to the

doctrines of filial piety, brotherly love, and virtuous living. It was

admiration for the emphasis which he laid on these and other virtues,

which has drawn so many millions of men unto him and has adorned every

city of the empire with temples built in his honor.

[Illustration: CHINESE EMPEROR, KING OF COREA, AND CHINESE OFFICIALS.]

Side by side with the revival of the Joo keaou, under the influence of

Confucius, grew up a system of a totally different nature, which when

divested of its esoteric doctrines and reduced by the practically minded

Chinamen to a code of morals, was destined in future ages to become

affiliated with the teachings of the sage. This was Taoism, which was

founded by Lao-tzu, who was a contemporary of Confucius. The object of

his teaching was to induce men, by the practice of self-abnegation, to

reach absorption in something which he called Tao, and which bears a

certain resemblance to the Nirvana of the Buddhists. The primary meaning

of Tao is “the way,” “the path,” but in Lao-tzu philosophy it was more

than the way, it was the way-goer as well. It was an eternal road; along

it all beings and things walked; it was everything and nothing, and the

cause and effect of all. All things originated from Tao, conformed to

Tao, and to Tao at last returned. It was absorption into this “mother of

all things” that Lao-tzu aimed at. But these subtilties, to the common

people were foolishness, and before long the philosophical doctrine of

the identity of existence and non-existence assumed in their eyes a

warrant for the old Epicurean motto, “Let us eat and drink, for

to-morrow we die.” The pleasures of sense were substituted for the

delights of virtue, and to prolong life the votaries began a search for

elixirs of immortality, and charms. Taoism quickly degenerated into a

system of magic. To-day the monopoly which Taoist priests enjoy as the

exponents of the mysteries of nature, inherited from the time when they

sought for natural charms, makes them indispensably necessary to all

classes, and the most confirmed Confucianist does not hesitate to

consult the shaven followers of Lao-tzu on the choice of the site for

his house, the position of his family graveyard, or a fortunate day for

undertaking an enterprise. Apart from the practice of these magical

arts, Taoism has become assimilated with modern Confucianism and is

scarcely distinguishable from it.

The teachings of Lao-tzu bore a sufficient resemblance to the musings of

Indian sages, that they served to prepare the way for the introduction

of Buddhism. A deputation of Buddhists arrived in China in the year 216

B.C., but were harshly treated, and returned to their homes without

leaving any impress of their religion. It was not until some sixty years

after Christ, in the reign of the Emperor Ming Ti, that Buddhism was

actually introduced. One night the emperor dreamed that a monster golden

image appeared and said, “Buddha bids you to send to the western

countries to search for him and to get books and images.” The emperor

obeyed, and sent an embassy to India which returned after an absence of

eleven years bringing back images, the sacred writings, and missionaries

who could translate these scriptures into Chinese. Thus was introduced

into China the knowledge of that system which in purity and loftiness of

aim takes its place next to Christianity among the religions of the

world. From this time Buddhism grew and prevailed in the land.

[Illustration: BUDDHIST TEMPLE.]

The Buddhism of China is not, however, exactly that of India. The

Chinese believe in a material paradise, which is obviously inconsistent

with the orthodox belief in Nirvana. Like the other faiths of China,

orthodox Buddhism could not entirely satisfy the people. Like the Jews

of old they were eager after signs, and self interest made their

spiritual rulers nothing loth to grant them their desire. From the

mountains and monasteries came men who claimed to possess the elixir of

immortality, and proclaimed themselves adepts in witchcraft and sorcery.

By magic incantations they exorcised evil spirits, and dissipated

famine, pestilence, and disease. By the exercise of their supernatural

powers they rescued souls from hell, and arrested pain and death. In the

services of the church they added ritual to ritual. By such means they

won their way among the people, and even sternly orthodox Confucianists

make use of their services to chant the liturgies of the dead. But while

superstition compels even the wise and the learned to pay homage to this

faith, there is scarcely an educated man who would not repudiate a

suggestion that he is a follower of Buddha; and though the common people

throng the temples to buy charms and consult astrologers, they yet

despise both the priests and the religion they profess. But Buddhism has

after all been a blessing rather than a curse in China. It has to a

certain extent lifted the mind of the people from the too exclusive

consideration of mundane affairs, to the contemplation of a future

state. It has taught them to value purity of life more highly; to

exercise self-constraint and to forget self; and to practise charity

towards their neighbors.

It will be seen that no clearly defined line of demarcation separates

the three great sects of China. Each in its turn has borrowed from the

others, until at the present day it may be doubted whether there are to

be found any pure Confucianists, pure Buddhists, or pure Taoists.

Confucianism has provided the moral basis on which the national

character of the Chinese rests, and Buddhism and Taoism have supplied

the supernatural element wanting in that system. Speaking generally

then, the religion of China is a medley of the three great sects which

are now so closely interlaced that it is impossible either to classify

or enumerate the members of each creed. The only other religion of

importance in China is Mohammedanism, which is confined to the

south-western and north-western provinces of the empire. In this faith

also the process of absorption in a national mixture of beliefs is

making headway. And since the suppression of the Panthay rebellion in

Yun-nan, there has been a gradual decline in the number of the followers

of the prophet.

The speech and the written composition of the Chinese differ more than

those of any other people. The former addresses itself, like all other

languages, to the mind through the ear; the latter speaks to the mind

through the eye, not as words but as symbols of ideas. All Chinese

literature might be understood and translated though the student of it

could not name a single character. The colloquial speech is not

difficult of acquisition, but the written composition is slow of

learning by foreigners. “Pidgin English” is a mixed Chinese, Portuguese

and English language, which is a creation of the necessities of

communication between Chinese and foreigners at the open ports, while

neither party had the time or means or wish to acquire an accurate

knowledge of the language of the other. “Pidgin” is a Chinese attempt to

pronounce our word business, and the materials of the lingo are nearly

all English words similarly represented or misrepresented. The idiom on

the other hand is entirely that of colloquial Chinese. Foreigners master

it in a short time so as to carry on long conversations by means of it,

and to transact important affairs of business. This jargon is passing

away. Chinese who know English and English who know Chinese are

increasing in number from year to year.

In the first two chapters, containing a sketch of Chinese history,

mention has been made of the greater literary works produced in the

early centuries of the empire; and the calamity of the burning of the

books has been described. Of the famous classics which are yet cherished

we will not speak again here. After the revival of literature, and the

encouragement given to it by the successors of the emperor who destroyed

the libraries of the empire, the tide has flowed onward in an

ever-increasing volume, checked only at times by one of those signal

calamities often overtaking the imperial libraries of China. It is

noteworthy that however ruthlessly the libraries and intellectual

centers have been destroyed, one of the first acts of the successful

founders of succeeding dynasties has been to restore them to their

former completeness and efficiency.

The Chinese divide their literature into four departments, classical,

philosophical, historical and belles lettres. The “nine classics,” of

which we have already spoken as being the books studied by every Chinese

student, form but the nucleus of the immense mass of literature which

has gathered around them. The historical literature of China is the most

important branch of the national literature. There are works which

record the purely political events of each reign, as well as those on

chronology, rites and music, jurisprudence, political economy, state

sacrifices, astronomy, geography, and records of the neighboring

countries. On drawing, painting, and medicine much has been written.

Poems, novels, and romances, dramas, and books written in the colloquial

style, are frequent in the Chinese literature. There is no more pleasant

reading than some of their historical romances, and some of the best

novels have been translated into European languages. There is, however,

considerable poverty of imagination, little analysis of character, and

no interweaving of plot in the fiction.

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF FIVE HUNDRED GODS, AT CANTON.]

The glance that we have taken at the habits and customs of life among

the Chinese people, shows that while they lack many of the things that

we have been taught to believe essential to civilization, they

nevertheless are equipped with many good things. They have the same

human instincts, and are ready and able to absorb learning with great

rapidity, when once they become convinced of the value of it. It is

their conservatism and their belief that they are the only truly

civilized people in the world, while all others are barbarians, that has

made them so slow to adopt any of the better things of western

civilization. The war which this work records may prove to be the most

effective means that could possibly have been devised to awaken China

from the sleep of centuries, and convince her of the value and efficacy

of western methods. If this prove true, a description of China written a

generation in the future may have to describe the things here related as

existing conditions, to be historical facts after twenty years.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_JAPAN_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration: JAPANESE MUSICIAN.]

[Illustration: THE MIKADO AND HIS PRINCIPAL OFFICERS.]

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JAPAN FROM THE EARLIEST

TIMES TO FIRST CONTACT WITH

EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION.

--------------

The Oldest Dynasty in the World and its Records—The First Emperor of

Japan—Some of the Famous Early Rulers—Invasion and Conquest of Corea by

the Empress Jingo—How Civilization Came from Corea to Japan—The Rise of

the Dual System of Government—Mikado and Shogun—Expulsion of the Hojo

Dynasty of Shoguns—The Invasion of the Mongol Tartars—Annihilation of

the Armada—Corruption of the Shogun Rule—Growth of the Feudal

System—Another Conquest of Corea—Founding of the Last Dynasty of

Shoguns—Advance of Japan in the Age of Hideyoshi.

In a historical sketch of the life of a nation which counts twenty-five

centuries of recorded history, but the briefest outline can be given.

The scope of such a work as this does not admit of minute historical

details. When it is said that traditions exist carrying back the history

for a number of years which requires several hundred ciphers to measure,

the effort to relate even an outline becomes almost appalling. Until the

twelfth century of our era, Europe did not know even of the existence of

Japan; and the reports which were then brought by Marco Polo, who had

learned of the island empire of Zipangu from the Chinese were as vague

as they were enticing. The successes of the Jesuit missionaries led by

Xavier, and the commercial intercourse established by the Portuguese in

the latter part of the 16th century, and by the Dutch somewhat later,

promised to disclose the mysteries of the far Pacific empire; but within

a few generations these were more hopelessly than ever sealed against

foreign intrusion. Only forty years ago the United States of America

knocked at the door of Japan, met a welcome under protest, and the

country began to open to western civilization. Even yet the great mass

of the people of our own country have far from a right conception of the

ancient civilization which has for ages prevailed in these islands of

the Pacific.

The Japanese imperial dynasty is the oldest in the world. Two thousand

five hundred and fifty-four years ago in 660 B.C., the sacred histories

relate that Jimmu Tenno commenced to reign as the first Mikado, or

Emperor of Japan. The sources of Japanese history are rich and solid,

historical writings forming the largest and most important divisions of

their voluminous literature. The period from about the ninth century

until the present time is treated very fully, while the real history of

the period prior to the eighth century of the Christian era is very

meagre. It is nearly certain that the Japanese possessed no writing

until the sixth century A.D. Their oldest extant composition is the

“Kojiki,” or “Book of Ancient Traditions.” It may be called the Bible of

the Japanese. It comprises three volumes, composed A.D. 711-712, and is

said to have been preceded by two similar works about one hundred years

earlier, but neither of these have been preserved. The first volume

treats of the creation of the heavens and earth, the gods and goddesses,

and the events of the holy age or mythological period. The second and

third give the history of the mikados from the year I (660 B.C.) to the

year 1280 of the Japanese era. It was first printed in the years A.D.

1624-1642. The “Nihongi” completed A.D. 720 also contains a Japanese

record of the mythological period, and brings down the annals of the

mikados to A.D. 699. These are the oldest books in the language. They

contain so much that is fabulous, mythical or exaggerated, that their

statements especially in respect of dates cannot be accepted as true

history. A succession of historical works of apparent reliability

illustrate the period between the eighth and the eleventh centuries, and

still better ones treat of the mediæval period from the eleventh to the

sixteenth century. The period from 1600 to 1853 is less known than

others in earlier times, because of mandates that existed forbidding the

production of contemporary histories.

[Illustration: JAPANESE GOD OF THUNDER.]

Whatever may be the actual fact, Jimmu Tenno is popularly believed to

have been a real person and the first emperor of Japan. He is deified in

the Shinto religion, and in thousands of shrines dedicated to him the

people worship his spirit. In one official list of mikados he is named

as the first. The reigning Emperor refers to him as his ancestor, from

whom he claims unbroken descent as the 123rd member of this dynasty. The

seventh day of April is fixed as the anniversary of his ascension to the

throne and that day is a national holiday on which the birth, the

accession and death of this national hero are still annually celebrated.

Then one may see flags flying from both public and private buildings,

and hear the reverberations of a royal salute fired by the ironclad navy

of modern Japan from Krupp guns, and by the military in French uniforms

from Remington rifles. The era of Jimmu is the starting point of

Japanese chronology, and the year 1 of the Japanese era is that upon

which he ascended the throne at Kashiwavara.

In the beginning there existed, according to one interpretation of the

somewhat perplexing Shinto mythology, chaos, which contained the germs

of all things. From this was evolved a race of heavenly beings and

celestial “Kami” of whom Izanagi, a male, and Izanami, a female, were

the last individuals. Other authorities on Shinto maintain that infinite

space and not chaos existed in the beginning; others again that in the

beginning there was one god. However, all agree as to the appearance on

the scene of Izanagi and Izanami, and it is with these we are here

concerned; for by their union were produced the islands of Japan, and

among their children were Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and her younger

brother, Susanoo, afterward appointed god of the sea. On account of her

bright beauty the former was made queen of the sun, and had given to her

a share on the government of the earth. To Ninigi-no-mikoto, her

grandson, she afterward consigned absolute rule over the earth, sending

him down by the floating bridge of heaven upon the summit of the

mountain Kirishima-yama. He took with him the three Japanese regalia,

the sacred mirror, now in one of the Shinto shrines of Ise; the sword,

now treasured in the temple of Atsuta, near Nagoya; and the ball of rock

crystal in possession of the emperor. On the accomplishment of the

descent, the sun and the earth receded from one another, and

communication by means of the floating bridge ceased. Jimmu Tenno, the

first historic emperor of Japan, was the great grandson of

Ninigi-no-mikoto.

[Illustration: JAPANESE GOD OF RIDING.]

According to the indigenous religion of Japan, therefore, a religion

which even since the adoption of western civilization has been

patronized by the state, the mikados are directly descended from the sun

goddess, the principal Shinto divinity. Having received from her the

three sacred treasures, they are invested with authority to rule over

Japan as long as the sun and moon shall endure. Their minds are in

perfect harmony with hers; therefore they cannot err and must receive

implicit obedience. Such is the traditional theory as to the position of

the Japanese emperors, a theory which was advanced in its most elaborate

form, as recently as the last century, by Motoori, a writer on Shinto,

which of late years has no doubt been much modified or even utterly

discarded by many of the more enlightened among the people. Even yet,

however, it is far from having been abandoned by the masses.

[Illustration: JAPANESE PEASANTRY.]

The mikados being thus regarded as semi-divinities, it is not surprising

that the very excess of veneration showed them tended more and more to

weaken their actual power. They were too sacred to be brought much into

contact with ordinary mortals, too sacred even to have their divine

countenances looked upon by any but a select few. Latterly it was only

the nobles immediately around him that ever saw the mikado’s face;

others might be admitted to the imperial presence, but it was only to

get a glimpse from behind a curtain of a portion of the imperial form,

less or more according to their rank. When the mikado went out into the

grounds of his palace in Kioto, matting was spread for him to walk upon;

when he left the palace precincts he was borne in a sedan chair, the

blinds of which were carefully drawn down. The populace prostrated

themselves as the procession passed, but none of them ever saw the

imperial form. In short, the mikados ultimately became virtual

prisoners. Theoretically gifted with all political knowledge and power,

they were less the masters of their own actions than many of the

humblest of their subjects. Although nominally the repositories of all

authority, they had practically no share in the management of the

national affairs. The isolation in which it was deemed proper that they

should be kept, prevented them from acquiring the knowledge requisite

for governing, and even had that knowledge been obtained, gave no

opportunity for its manifestation.

From the death of Jimmu Tenno to that of Kimmei, in whose reign Buddhism

was introduced, A.D. 571, there were thirty mikados. During this period

of one thousand three hundred and thirty-six years, believed to be

historic by most Japanese, the most interesting subjects are the reforms

of Sujin Tenno, the military expeditions to eastern Japan by

Yamato-Dake, the invasion of Corea by the Empress Jingo Kogo, and the

introduction of Chinese civilization and Buddhism.

Sujin—or Shujin, B.C. 97-30, was a man of intense earnestness and piety.

His prayers to the gods for the abatement of a plague were answered, and

a revival of religious feeling and worship ensued. He introduced many

forms in the practices of religion and the manners of life. He appointed

his own daughter priestess of the shrine and custodian of the symbols of

the three holy regalia, which had hitherto been kept in the palace of

the mikado. This custom has continued to the present time, and the

shrines of Uji in Ise, which now hold the sacred mirror, are always in

charge of a virgin princess of imperial blood.

The whole life of Sujin was one long effort to civilize his half savage

subjects. He regulated taxes, established a periodical census, and

encouraged the building of boats. He may also be called the father of

Japanese agriculture, since he encouraged it by edict and example,

ordering canals to be dug, water courses provided, and irrigation to be

extensively carried on.

The energies of this pious mikado were further exerted in devising a

national military system whereby his peaceably disposed subjects could

be protected, and the extremities of his realm extended. The eastern and

northern frontiers were exposed to the assaults of the wild tribes of

Ainos, who were yet unsubdued. Between the peaceful agricultural

inhabitants and the untamed savages a continual border war existed. A

military division of the empire into four departments was made, and a

shogun or general appointed over each. The half subdued inhabitants in

the extremes of the realm needed constant watching, and seem to have

been as restless and treacherous as the indians on our own frontiers.

The whole history of the extension and development of the mikado’s

empire is one of war and blood, rivalling that of our own country in its

early struggles with the Indians. This constant military action and life

in a camp resulted, in the course of time, in the creation of a powerful

and numerous military class, who made war professional and hereditary.

It developed that military genius and character which so distinguish the

modern Japanese and mark them in such strong contrast with other nations

of eastern Asia.

Towards the end of the first century A.D., Yamato-Dake, son of the

emperor Keiko, reduced most of the Ainos of the north to submission.

These savages fought much after the manner of the North American Indian,

using their knowledge of woodcraft most effectually, but the young

prince with a well equipped army embarked on a fleet of ships and

reaching their portion of the island, fought them until they were glad

to surrender.

[Illustration: JAPANESE GOD OF WAR.]

It was in the third century that the Empress Jingo invaded and conquered

Corea. In all Japanese tradition or history, there is no greater female

character than this empress. She was equally renowned for her beauty,

piety, intelligence, energy and martial valor. To this woman belongs the

glory of the conquest of Corea, whence came letters, religion and

civilization to Japan. Tradition is that it was directly commanded her

by the gods to cross the water and attack Corea. Her husband, the

emperor, doubting the veracity of this message from the gods, was

forbidden by them any share in the enterprise.

Jingo ordered her generals and captains to collect troops, build ships,

and be ready to embark. She disguised herself as a man, proceeded with

the recruiting of soldiers and the building of ships, and in the year

201 A.D. was ready to start. Before starting, Jingo issued these orders

for her soldiers: “No loot. Neither despise a few enemies nor fear many.

Give mercy to those who yield but no quarter to the stubborn. Rewards

shall be apportioned to the victors, punishments shall be meted to the

deserters.”

It was not very clear in the minds of these ancient filibusters where

Corea was, or for what particular point of their horizon they were to

steer. They had no chart or compass. The sun, stars and the flight of

birds were their guide. None of them before had ever known of the

existence of such a country as Corea, but the same gods that had

commanded the invasion protected the invaders, and in due time they

landed in southern Corea. The king of this part of the country had heard

from his messengers of the coming of a strange fleet from the east, and

terrified exclaimed, “We never knew there was any country outside of us.

Have our gods forsaken us?”

It was a bloodless invasion, for there was no fighting to do. The

Coreans came holding white flags and surrendered, offering to give up

their treasures. They took an oath to become hostages and be tributary

to Japan. Eighty ships well laden with gold and silver, articles of

wealth, silks and precious goods of all kinds, and eighty hostages, men

of high families, were given to the conquerors. The stay of the Japanese

army in Corea was very brief, and the troops returned in two months.

Jingo was, on her arrival, delivered of a son, who in the popular

estimation of gods and mortals holds even a higher place of honor than

his mother, who is believed to have conquered southern Corea through the

power of her yet unborn illustrious offspring. The motive which induced

the invasion into Corea seems to have been mere love of war and

conquest, and the Japanese still refer with great pride to this, their

initial exploit on foreign soil.

[Illustration: TOKIO—TYPES AND COSTUMES.]

[Illustration: JAPANESE MUSICIAN.]

[Illustration: JAPANESE SILK SPINNER.]

The son Ojin, who became the emperor, was, after his death, deified and

worshipped as the god of war, Hachiman, and down through the centuries

he has been worshiped by all classes of people, especially by soldiers,

who offer their prayers and pay their vows to him. Ojin was also a man

of literary tastes, and it was during his reign that Japan began to

profit from the learning of the Coreans, who introduced the study of the

Chinese language, and indeed the art of writing itself. During the

immediately succeeding centuries various emperors and empresses were

eminent for their zeal in encouraging the arts of peace. Architects,

painters, physicians, musicians, dancers, chronologists, artisans and

fortune tellers were brought over from Corea to instruct the people, but

not all of these came at once. Immigration was gradual, but the coming

of so many immigrants brought new blood, ideas, methods and

improvements. Japan received from China, through Corea, what she has

been receiving from America and Europe for the last forty years—a new

civilization. The records report the arrival of tailors in 283 and

horses in 284 from Corea to Japan. In 285 a Corean scholar came to

Japan, and residing at the court, instructed the mikado’s son in

writing. In 462 mulberry trees were planted, together with the silk

worm, for whose sustenance they were implanted, from China or Corea. And

this marks the beginning of silk culture in Japan. When in 552 the

company of doctors, astronomers and mathematicians came from Corea to

live at the Japanese court, they brought with them Buddhist

missionaries, and this may be called the introduction of continental

civilization. Beginning with Jingo, there seems to have poured into the

island empire a stream of immigrants, skilled artisans, scholars and

teachers, bringing arts, literature and religion. This was the first of

three great waves of foreign civilization in Japan. The first was from

China, through Corea, in the sixth; the second from western Europe in

the fifteenth century; the third was from America, Europe and the world,

in the decade following the advent of Commodore Perry.

In the eighth century, during the greater part of which the capital of

the country was the city of Nara, about thirty miles from Kioto, Japan

had largely under the government of empresses reached a most creditable

stage of progress in the arts of peace. Near the close of the eighth

century the emperor Kuwammu took up his residence at Kioto, which until

1868 remained the capital of the country, and is even now dignified with

the name of Saikiyo, or “Western Capital.” Here he built a palace very

unlike the simple dwelling in which his predecessors had been content to

live. It had a dozen gates, and around it was reared a city with twelve

hundred streets. The palace, he named “the Castle of Peace,” but for

years it proved the very centre of the feuds which soon began to

distract the country. This did not happen however until some centuries

after the death of Kuwammu. But even after his time there were not

wanting indications that the control of affairs was destined to slip

into the hands of certain powerful families at the imperial court.

The first family to rise into eminence was that of Fujiwara, a member of

which it was that got Kuwammu placed upon the throne. For centuries the

Fujiwaras controlled the civil affairs of the empire, but a more

important factor in bringing about the reduction of the mikado’s power

and the establishment of that strange system of government which was

destined to be so characteristic of Japan, was the rise into power of

the rival houses of Taira and Minamoto, otherwise called respectfully

Hei and Gen. This system of government has almost always been

misunderstood in America and Europe. Two rulers in two capitals gave to

foreigners the impression that there were two emperors in Japan, an idea

that has been incorporated into most of the text books, and

encyclopedias of Christendom. Let it be clearly understood however that

there never was but one emperor in Japan, the mikado, who is and always

was the only sovereign, though his measure of power has been very

different at different times. Until the rise and domination of the

military classes, he was in fact, as well as by law, supreme.

With the feuds of Hei and Gen commences an entirely new era in the

history of the country, an era replete with tales alike of bloodshed,

intrigue and chivalry. We see the growth of a feudal system at least as

elaborate as that of Europe, and strangely enough, assuming almost

identical forms, and that during the same period.

The respective founders of the Taira and Minamoto families were Taira

Takamochi and Minamoto Tsunemoto, two warriors of the tenth century.

Their descendants were for generations military vassals of the mikado,

and were distinguished by red and white flags, colors which suggest the

red and white roses of the rival English houses of Lancaster and York.

For years the two houses served the emperor faithfully; but even before

any quarrel had arisen between them, the popularity of the head of the

Minamoto clan, with the soldiers with whom he had been placed, so

alarmed the emperor Toba (1108-1124, A.D.) that he issued an edict

forbidding the Samurai, the military class, of any of the provinces,

from constituting themselves the retainers of either of these two

families.

It was in the year 1156 that the feuds between the two houses broke out,

and it arose in this way. At the accession of Go-Shirakawa to the throne

in that year, there were living two ex-emperors who would seem to have

voluntarily abdicated; one of them, however, Shutoku, was averse to the

accession of the heir, being himself anxious to resume the imperial

power. His cause was espoused by Tameyoshi, the head of the Minamoto

house, while among the supporters of Go-Shirakawa was Kiyomori, of the

house of Taira. In the conflict which followed, Go-Shirakawa was

successful, and immediately thereafter we find Taira Kiyomori appointed

Daijo-Daijin, or prime minister, with practically all political power in

his hands. On the abdication within a few years of the mikado, the prime

minister was able to put whatever member of the imperial house he willed

upon the throne; and being himself allied by marriage to the imperial

family, he at length saw the accession of his own grandson, a mere babe.

Thus, to use the term connected with European feudalism of the same

period, the mayor of the palace virtually, though not nominally, usurped

the imperial functions. The emperor had the name of power but Kiyomori

had the reality.

But this state of matters was not destined to last long. The Minamotos

were far from being finally quieted. The story of the revival of their

power is a romantic one, but we cannot dwell upon it. It was in the

battle of Atiji that Kiyomori seemed at length to have quelled his

rivals. Yoshitomo, the head of the Minamoto clan was slain in the fight,

but his beautiful wife Tokiwa succeeded in escaping with her three

little sons. Tokiwa’s mother, however, was arrested. This roused the

daughter to make an appeal to Kiyomori for pardon. She did so,

presenting herself and children to the conqueror, upon whom her beauty

so wrought that he granted her petition. He made her his concubine, and

not withstanding the remonstrances of his retainers, also spared the

children who were sent to a monastery, there to be trained for the

priesthood. Two of these children became famous in the history of Japan.

The eldest was Yoritomo the founder of the Kamakura dynasty of shoguns,

and the babe at the mother’s breast was Yoshitsune, one of the flowers

of Japanese chivalry, a hero whose name even yet awakens the enthusiasm

of the youth of Japan and who so impressed the Ainos of the north whom

he had been sent to subdue, that to this day he is worshiped as their

chief god. A Japanese has even lately written a book in which he seeks

to identify Yoshitsune with Genghis Khan.

It is unnecessary to dwell on the circumstances which brought Yoritomo

and Yoshitsune into note; how the two brothers raised the men of the

eastern provinces, and after a temporary check at the pass of Hakone,

succeeded in utterly routing the Taira forces in a dreadful battle, half

by land and half by sea, at the straits of Shimonoseki. Suffice it to

say, that Yoshitsune having been slain soon after a famous victory,

through the treachery of his brother Yoritomo, who was jealous of his

fame and popularity, that warrior was left without a rival. Yoritomo

received from the emperor the highest title which could be conferred

upon him, that of Sei-i-tai-shogun, literally “Barbarian-subjugating

great general.” This title is generally contracted to shogun, which

means simply general. Thus appointed generalissimo of all the imperial

forces, he looked about for a city which he might make the center of his

power. This he found in Kamakura about fifteen miles westward of the

site of the modern Yokohama.

Thus before the close of the twelfth century was founded that system of

dual government which lasted with little change until the year 1868. The

Mikado reigned in Kioto with the authority of his sacred person

undisputed; but the shogun in his eastern city had really all the public

business of the country in his own hands. It was he who appointed

governors over the different provinces and was the real master of the

country; but every act was done in the name of the emperor whose nominal

power thus remained intact.

Yoritomo virtually founded an independent dynasty at Kamakura, but it

was not destined to be a lasting one. His son Yoriye succeeded him in

1199, but was shortly afterwards deposed and assassinated; and the power

though not the title of shogun passed to the family of Yoritomo’s wife,

that of Hojo, different members of which swayed the state for more than

a century.

After a checkered career of various shoguns of the Hojo family, their

tyranny became supreme. None of the family ever seized the office of

shogun, but in reality they wielded all and more of the power attaching

to the office. The political history of these years is but that of a

monotonous recurrence of the exaltation of boys and babies of noble

blood to whom was given the semblance of power, who were sprinkled with

titles and deposed as soon as they were old enough to be troublesome. In

an effort made by the ex-emperor Gotoba to drive the usurping Hojo from

power the chains were riveted tighter than ever. The imperial troops

were massacred by the conquering Hojo. The estates of all who fought on

the emperor’s side were confiscated and distributed among the minions of

the usurpers. The exiled emperor died of a broken heart. The nominal

Mikado of Kioto and the nominal shogun at Kamakura were set up, but the

Hojo were the keepers of both. The oppression, the neglect of public

business and the carousals of the usurpers became intolerable. Armies

were raised spontaneously to support the emperor and the Ashikaga leader

in their revolt against the existing evils. All over the empire the

people rose against their oppressors and massacred them. The Hojo

domination which had been paramount for nearly one hundred and fifty

years was utterly broken.

[Illustration: COLOSSAL JAPANESE IMAGE FIFTY FEET HIGH.]

The Hojo have never been forgiven for their arbitrary treatment of the

Mikados. Every obloquy is cast upon them by Japanese historians,

dramatists, poets and novelists, and yet there is another side to the

story. It must be conceded that the Hojos were able rulers and kept

order and peace in the empire for more than a century. They encouraged

literature and the cultivation of the arts and sciences. During their

period the resources of the country were developed, and some branches of

useful handicraft and fine arts were brought to a perfection never since

surpassed. To this time belongs the famous image carver, sculptor and

architect, Unkei, and the lacquer artists who are the “old masters” in

this branch of art. The military spirit of the people was kept alive,

tactics were improved, and the methods of governmental administration

simplified. During this period of splendid temples, monasteries,

pagodas, colossal images and other monuments of holy zeal, Hojo Sadatoki

erected a monument over the grave of Kiyomori at Hiogo. Hojo Tokimune

raised and kept in readiness a permanent war fund so that the military

expenses might not interfere with the revenue reserved for ordinary

government expenses. To his invincible courage, patriotic pride, and

indomitable energy are due the vindication of the national honor and the

repulse of the Tartar invasion.

During the early centuries of the Christian era, Japan and China kept up

friendly intercourse, exchanging embassies on various missions, but

chiefly with the mutual object of bearing congratulations to an emperor

upon his accession to the throne. The civil disorders in both countries

interrupted these friendly relations in the twelfth century, and

communication ceased. When the acquaintance was renewed in the time of

the Hojo it was not on so friendly a footing.

In China the Mongol Tartars had overthrown the Sung dynasty and had

conquered the adjacent country. Through the Coreans the Mongol emperor,

Kublai Khan, at whose court Marco Polo and his uncles were then

visiting, sent letters demanding tribute and homage from Japan. Chinese

envoys came to Kamakura, but Hojo Tokimune, enraged at the insolent

demands, dismissed them in disgrace. Six embassies were sent, and six

times rejected. An expedition from China consisting of ten thousand men

was then sent against Japan. They landed, were attacked, their commander

was slain, and they returned, having accomplished nothing. The Chinese

emperor now sent nine envoys to announce their purpose to remain until a

definite answer was returned to their master. They were called to

Kamakura, and the Japanese reply was given by cutting off their heads.

The Japanese now began to prepare for war on land and sea. Once more

Chinese envoys came to demand tribute. These were decapitated. Meanwhile

the armada was preparing. Great China was coming to crush the little

strip of land that refused homage to the invincible conqueror. The army

numbered one hundred thousand Chinese and Tartars, and seven thousand

Coreans in ships that whitened the sea. They numbered three thousand

five hundred in all. It was in July, 1281, that the sight of the Chinese

junks greeted the watchers on the hills of Daizaifu. Many of the junks

were of immense proportion, larger than the natives of Japan had ever

seen, and armed with the engines of European warfare which their

Venetian guests had taught the Mongols to construct and work. The naval

battle that ensued was a terrible one. The Japanese had small chance of

success in the water, owing to the smallness of their boats, but in

personal valor they were much superior, and some of their deeds of

bravery are inspiringly interesting. Nevertheless the Chinese were

unable to effect a landing, owing to the heavy fortifications along the

shore.

[Illustration: JAPANESE FEMALE TYPES.]

The whole nation was now roused. Re-enforcements poured in from all

quarters to swell the hosts of defenders. From the monasteries and

temples all over the country went up unceasing prayer to the gods to

ruin their enemies and save the land of Japan. The emperor and

ex-emperor went in solemn state to the chief priest of Shinto, and

writing out their petitions to the gods sent him as a messenger to the

shrines of Ise. It is recorded as a miraculous fact that at the hour of

noon as the sacred envoy arrived at the shrine and offered a prayer, the

day being perfectly clear, a streak of cloud appeared in the sky that

soon overspread the heavens, until the dense masses portended a storm of

awful violence. One of those cyclones called by the Japanese tai-fu, of

appalling velocity and resistless force, such as whirl along the coast

of Japan and China during late summer and early fall of every year,

burst upon the Chinese fleet. Nothing can withstand these maelstorms of

the air. We call them typhoons. Iron steamships of thousands of horse

power are almost unmanageable in them. The helpless Chinese junks were

crushed together, impaled on the rocks, dashed against the cliffs or

tossed on land like corks on the spray. Hundreds of the vessels sank.

The corpses were piled on the shore or floating on the water so thickly

that it seemed almost possible to walk thereon. The vessels of the

survivors in large numbers drifted or were wrecked upon Taka island,

where they established themselves and cutting down trees began building

boats to reach Corea. Here they were attacked by the Japanese, and after

a bloody struggle, all the fiercer for the despair on the one side and

the exultation on the other, were all slain or driven to the sea to be

drowned except three, who were sent back to tell their emperor how the

gods of Japan had destroyed their armada.

[Illustration: SHINTO TEMPLE.]

This was the last time that China ever attempted to conquer Japan, whose

people boast that their land has never been defiled by an invading army.

They have ever ascribed the glory of the destruction of the Tartar fleet

to the interposition of the gods of Ise, who thereafter received special

and grateful adoration as the guardian of the seas and the winds. Great

credit and praise were given to the Lord of Kamakura, Hojo Tokimune, for

his energy, ability and valor. The author of one native history says,

“The repulse of the Tartar barbarians by Tokimune and his preserving the

dominions of our Son of Heaven were sufficient to atone for the crimes

of his ancestors.”

Nearly six centuries afterward when “the barbarian” Perry anchored his

fleet in the bay of Yeddo, in the words of the native annalist, “Orders

were sent by the imperial court to the Shinto priest at Ise to offer up

prayers for the sweeping away of the barbarians.” Millions of earnest

hearts put up the same prayers their fathers had offered fully expecting

the same result.

To this day the Japanese mother hushes her fretful infant by the

question, “Do you think the Mongols are coming?” This is the only

serious attempt at invasion ever made by any nation upon the shores of

Japan.

[Illustration: JAPANESE GOD OF THE WIND.]

The internal history of Japan during the period of time covered by the

actual or nominal rule of the Ashikaga family, from 1336 until 1573,

except the very last years of it, is not very attractive to a foreign

reader. It is a confused picture of intestinal war. It was by foul means

that Ashikaga Takugi, one of the generals who overthrew the Hojos,

attained the dignity of shogun, and a period of more than two centuries,

during which his descendants held sway at Kamakura, was characterized by

treachery, bloodshed and almost perpetual warfare. The founder of this

line secured the favor of the mikado Go-Daigo, after he was recalled

from exile, upon the overthrow of the military usurpation. Ashikaga soon

seized the reins in his own hands. The mikado fled in terror, and a new

mikado was declared in the person of another of the royal family. Of

course this man was willing to confer upon Ashikaga, his supporter the

title of shogun. Kamakura again became a military capital. The duarchy

was restored, and the war of the northern and southern dynasties began,

to last fifty-six years.

[Illustration: DAIMIOS OF JAPAN.]

The act by which more than any other the Ashikagas earned the curses of

posterity, was the sending of an embassy to China in 1401, bearing

presents, acknowledging in a measure the authority of China, and

accepting in return the title of Nippon O, or king of Japan. This which

was done by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third of the line, was an insult to

the national dignity for which he has never been forgiven. It was a

needless humiliation of Japan to her arrogant neighbor and done only to

exalt the vanity and glory of the usurper, who, not content with

adopting the style and equipage of the mikado, wished to be called a

king and yet dared not usurp the imperial throne.

Japan of all the Asiatic nations seems to have brought the feudal system

to the highest state of perfection. While in Europe the nations were

engaged in throwing off the feudal yoke and inaugurating modern

government, Japan was riveting the fetters which stood intact until

1871. The daimios were practically independent chieftains, who ruled

their own provinces as they willed; and the more ambitious and powerful

did not hesitate to make war upon the neighboring clans. There were on

all sides struggles for pre-eminence in which the fittest survived,

annexing to their own territories those of the weaker class which they

had subdued. Nor was it merely rival clans that were disturbing the

country. The Buddhist clergy had acquired immense political influence,

which they were far from scrupulous in using. Their monasteries were in

many cases castles, from which themselves living amid every kind of

luxury, they tyrannized over the surrounding country. The history of

these often reads strikingly like that of the corresponding institutions

in Europe during the middle ages; indeed the hierarchical as well as the

feudal development of Europe and Japan have been wonderfully alike.

[Illustration:

SKETCH SHOWING DEVELOPMENT OF THE JAPANESE ARMY

FROM 1867 TO THE PRESENT.

]

Probably the three names most renowned in Japan are Nobunaga, Hideyoshi

and Iyeyasu. The second and third of these were generals subordinate to

the first, who deposed the Ashikaga shoguns, persecuted the Buddhists,

encouraged the Jesuits, and restored to a great extent the supremacy of

the mikado. The Buddhists look on this leader as an incarnate demon sent

to destroy their faith. He was a Shintoist, with bitter hatred for the

Buddhists, and never lost an opportunity to burn property of his enemies

or butcher priests, women, and children of that faith. These who have

just been named, by their prowess and the strength of their armies, rose

to highest positions among the daimios.

[Illustration: BUDDHIST PRIESTS.]

When these three great men appeared, the country was in a most critical

state. The later Ashikaga shoguns had become as powerless as the mikado

himself in the management of affairs. Nobunaga first rose into note. By

successive victories, he became ruler of additional provinces, and his

fame became so great that the emperor committed to him the task of

tranquilizing the country. He deposed first one usurping shogun and then

another, and thus came an end to the domination of the Ashikagas.

Nobunaga was now the most powerful man in the country, and was virtually

discharging the duties of shogun though he never obtained the title.

Hideyoshi became virtual lord of the empire, after the assassination of

Nobunaga. He rose from the ranks of the peasants to the highest position

in Japan under the emperor. Having in connection with Nobunaga and

Iyeyasu reduced all the Japanese clans into subjection, he looked abroad

for some foreign power to subdue.

The immoderate ambition of Hideyoshi’s life was to conquer Corea, and

even China. Under the declining power of Ashikaga, all tribute from

Corea had ceased and the pirates who ranged the coasts scarcely allowed

any trade to exist. We have seen how it was from Corea that Japan

received Chinese learning and the arts of civilization, and Coreans

swelled the number of Mongol Tartars who invaded Japan with the armada.

On the other hand Corea was more than once overrun by Japanese armies,

even partly governed by Japanese officials, and on different occasions

had to pay tribute to Japan in token of submission. Japanese pirates too

were for six hundred years as much the terror of the Chinese and Corean

coasts as were the Danes and Norsemen of the shores of the North Sea.

The discontinuance of the embassies and tribute from Corea, thus

afforded the ambitious general a pretext for disturbing the friendly

relations with Corea, by the dispatch of an embassador to complain of

this neglect. The behavior of this embassador only too clearly reflected

the swagger of his overbearing lord, and the consequence was an invasion

of Corea.

Hideyoshi promised to march his generals and army to Peking, and divide

the soil of China among them. He also scorned the suggestion that

scholars versed in Chinese should accompany the expedition. Said he,

“This expedition will make the Chinese use our literature.” Corea was

completely overrun by Hideyoshi’s forces, although the commander himself

was unable to accompany the expedition, owing to his age and the grief

of his mother. Further details of this invasion will be found later in

the historical sketch of Corea. It may be said here however, that the

conquest terminated ingloriously, and reflects no honor on Japan. The

responsibility of the outrage upon a peaceful nation rests wholly upon

Hideyoshi. The Coreans were a mild and peaceable people, wholly

unprepared for war. There was scarcely a shadow of provocation for the

invasion, which was nothing less than a huge filibustering scheme. It

was not popular with the people or the rulers, and was only carried

through by the will of the military leader. The sacrifice of life on

either side must have been great, and all for the ambition of one man.

Nevertheless, a party in Japan has long held that Corea was by the

conquests of the third and sixteenth centuries a part of the Japanese

empire, and the reader will see how 1772 and again in 1775 the cry of

“On to Corea” shook the nation like an earthquake.

After the deaths of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Iyeyasu was left

the virtual ruler of Japan. At first he governed the country as regent,

but his increasing popularity awoke the jealousy of the partisans of

Hideyori, the son of Hideyoshi, who was nominated as his successor, as

well as of Nobunaga’s family. These combined to overthrow him, and the

consequence was the great battle of Sekigahara, fought in 1600, in which

Iyeyasu came off completely victorious. Three years later, he was

appointed by the emperor shogun. Like Yorotomo he resolved to select a

city as the center of his power, and that which seemed to him most

suitable was not Kamakura, which ere this had lost much of its glory,

but the little castle town of Yeddo, about thirty-five miles farther

north. Here he and his successors, and the dynasty he founded, swayed

the destinies of Japan from 1603 until the restoration in 1868.

[Illustration: JAPANESE JUNK.]

It is not difficult to account for the tone of admiration and pride with

which a modern Japanese speaks of “The age of Taiko.” There are many who

hold that Hideyoshi, or Taiko, was the real unifier of the empire.

Certain it is that he originated many of the most striking forms of

national administration. In his time the arts and sciences were not only

in a very flourishing condition, but gave promise of rich development.

The spirit of military enterprise and internal national improvement was

at its height. Contact with the foreigners of many nations awoke a

spirit of inquiry and intellectual activity; but it was on the seas that

genius and restless activity found their most congenial field.

[Illustration: OLD TIME JAPANESE FERRY.]

This era is marked by the highest production in marine architecture, and

the extent and variety of commercial enterprise. The ships built in this

century were twice the size and vastly the superior in model of the

junks that now hug the Japanese shores or ply between China and Japan.

The pictures of them preserved to the present day, show that they were

superior in size to the vessels of Columbus, and nearly equal in sailing

qualities to the contemporary Dutch and Portuguese galleons. They were

provided with ordnance, and a model of a Japanese breech-loading cannon

is still preserved in Kioto. Ever a brave and adventurous people, the

Japanese then roamed the seas with a freedom that one who knows only of

the modern bound people would scarcely credit. Voyages of trade

discovery or piracy have been made to India, Siam, Birmah, the

Philippine Islands, Southern China, the Malay Archipelago and the

Kuriles, even in the fifteenth century, but was more numerous in the

sixteenth. The Japanese literature contains many references to these

adventurous sailors, and when the records of the far east are thoroughly

investigated, and this subject fully studied, very interesting results

are apt to be obtained showing the widespread influence of Japan at a

time when she was scarcely known by the European world to have

existence.

[Illustration: SCENES OF INDUSTRIAL LIFE. (_From a Japanese Album._)]

HISTORICAL SKETCH FROM THE COMING OF THE

FIRST EUROPEAN TRAVELERS TO THE

PRESENT TIME.

--------------

A New Dynasty of Shoguns—Mendez Pinto’s Visit—Arrival of the Jesuit

Missionaries—Kind Reception of Christianity—Quarrels Between the

Sects—Beginning of Christian Persecution—Expulsion of the

Missionaries—Torture and Martyrdom—The Massacre of Shimabara—Expulsion

of all Foreigners—Closing the Door of Japan—History of the Last

Shogunate—Arrival of Commodore Perry’s Fleet—The Knock at the Door of

Japan—An Era of Treaty Making—Rapid Advance of Western Manners and Ideas

in Japan—Attacks on Foreigners—The Abolition of the Shogunate—Japan’s

Last Quarter Century.

Hitherto we have seen two readily distinguishable periods in the history

of Japan, the period during which the mikados were the actual as well as

the nominal rulers of the empire; and the period during which the

imperial power more and more passed into the hands of usurping mayors of

the palace, and the country was kept in an almost constant ferment with

the feuds of rival noble families which coveted this honor. Successively

the power, although not always the title, of shogun, had been held by

members of the Minamoto, Hojo, Ashikaga, Ota and Toyotomi families. With

Iyeyasu we pass into a third period, like the second in that the dual

system of feudal government still prevailed, but unlike it in that it

was a period of peace. Much strife had accompanied the erection of the

fabric of feudalism, but it now stood complete. The mikado in Kioto and

the daimios in their different provinces, alike ceased to protest

against the dual administration. Within certain limits they had the

regulation of their own affairs; the mikado was ever recognized as the

source of all authority, and the daimios in their own provinces were

petty kings; but it was the shogun in Yeddo who, undisputed, at least in

practice, whatever some of the more powerful daimios may have said,

swayed the destinies of the empire.

Let us now note the policy which the Shoguns adopted towards the

foreigners who as missionaries or merchants had found their way to

Japan, and the course of settlement and trade of foreigners.

It seems now certain that when Columbus set sail from Spain to discover

a new continent, it was not America he was seeking, but the land of

Japan. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler, had spent seventeen years,

1275-1292, at the court of the Tartar emperor Kublai Khan, and while in

Peking had heard of a land lying to the eastward, called in the language

of the Chinese, Zipangu, from which our modern name Japan has been

corrupted. Columbus was an ardent student of Polo’s book, which had been

published in 1298. He sailed westward across the Atlantic to find this

kingdom. He discovered not Japan, but an archipelago in America on whose

shores he eagerly inquired concerning Zipangu. Following this voyage,

Vasco de Gama and a host of other brave Portuguese navigators sailed

into the Orient and came back to tell of densely populated empires

enriched with the wealth that makes civilization possible, and of which

Europe had scarcely heard. Their accounts fired the hearts of the

zealous who longed to convert the heathen, aroused the cupidity of

traders who thirsted for gold, and kindled the desire of monarchs to

found empires in Asia.

Mendez Pinto, a Portuguese adventurer, seems to have been the first

European who landed on Japanese soil. On his return to Europe he told so

many wonderful stories that by a pun on his Christian name he was dubbed

“the mendacious.” His narrative was, however, as we now know,

substantially correct. Pinto while in China had got on board a Chinese

junk, commanded by a pirate. They were attacked by another corsair,

their pilot was killed, and the vessel was driven off the coast by a

storm. They made for the Liu Kiu Islands, but unable to find a harbor,

put to sea again. After twenty-three days’ beating about, they sighted

the islands of Tanegashima and landed. The name of the island, “island

of the seed,” was significant. The arrival of these foreigners was a

seed of troubles innumerable. The crop was priestcraft of the worst

type, political intrigue, religious persecution, the inquisition, the

slave trade, the propagation of Christianity by the sword, sedition,

rebellion, and civil war. Its harvest was garnered in the blood of

sixty-thousand Japanese.

The native histories recount the first arrival of Europeans in 1542, and

note that year as the one in which fire-arms were first introduced. The

pirate trader who brought Pinto to Japan cleared twelve hundred per

cent. on his cargo, and the three Portuguese returned to China loaded

with presents. The new market attracted hundreds of Portuguese

adventurers to Japan, who found a ready welcome. The missionary followed

the merchant. Already the Portuguese priests and Franciscan friars were

numerous in India. Two Jesuits and two Japanese who had been converted

at Goa, headed by Xavier, landed at Kagoshima in 1549. Xavier did not

have great success, and in a short time left Japan disheartened. He had,

however, inspired others who followed him, and their success was

amazingly great.

The success of the Jesuit missionaries soon attracted the attention of

the authorities. Organtin, a Jesuit missionary in Kioto, writing of his

experiences, says that he was asked his name and why he had come to

Japan. He replied that he was the Padre Organtin and had come to spread

religion. He was told that he could not be allowed at once to spread his

religion, but would be informed later on. Nobunaga accordingly took

counsel with his retainers as to whether he would allow Christianity to

be preached or not. One of these strongly advised not to do so, on the

ground that there were already enough religions in the country, but

Nobunaga replied that Buddhism had been introduced from abroad and had

done good in the country, and he therefore did not see why Christianity

should not be granted a trial. Organtin was consequently allowed to

erect a church and to send for others of his order, who, when they came,

were found to be like him in appearance. Their plan of action was to

care for the sick, and so prepare the way for the reception of

Christianity, and then to convert every one and make the thirty-six

provinces of Japan subject to Portugal. In this last clause we have an

explanation of the policy which the Japanese government ultimately

adopted towards Christianity and all foreign innovations. Within five

years after Xavier visited Kioto, seven churches were established in the

vicinity of the city itself, while scores of Christian communities had

sprung up in the south-west. In 1581 there were two hundred churches and

one hundred and fifty thousand native Christians.

In 1583 an embassy of four young noblemen was dispatched by the

Christian daimios to the pope to declare themselves vassals of the Holy

See. They returned after eight years, having had audience of Phillip II.

of Spain, and kissed the feet of the pope at Rome. They brought with

them seventeen Jesuit missionaries, an important addition to the list of

religious instructors. Spanish mendicant friars from the Philippine

Islands, with Dominicans and Augustinians, also flocked into the

country, teaching and zealously proselyting. The number of “Christians”

at the time of the highest success of the missionaries in Japan was,

according to their own figures six hundred thousand, a number that seems

to be no exaggeration if quantity and not quality are considered. The

Japanese less accurately set down a total of two million nominal

adherents to the Christian sects. Among the converts were several

princes, large numbers of lords, and gentlemen in high official

positions, and beside generals of the army and admirals of the navy.

Churches and chapels were numbered by the thousand, and in some

provinces crosses and Christian shrines were as numerous as the kindred

evidences of Buddhism had been before. The methods of the Jesuits

appealed to the Japanese, as did the forms and symbols of the faith, but

the Jesuits began to attack most violently the character of the native

priests, and to incite their converts to insult their gods, burn the

idols and desecrate the old shrines.

As the different orders, Jesuits, Franciscans and Augustinians

increased, they began to clash. Political and religious war was almost

universal in Europe at the same time, and the quarrels of the various

nationalities followed the buccaneers, pirates, traders and missionaries

to the distant seas of Japan. All the foreigners, but especially

Portuguese, then were slave traders, and thousands of Japanese were

bought and sold and shipped to China and the Philippines. The sea ports

of Hirado and Nagasaki were the resorts of the lowest class of

adventurers of all European nations, and the result was a continuous

series of uproars, broils and murders among the foreigners. Such a

picture of foreign influence and of Christianity as the Japanese saw it

was not calculated to make a permanently favorable impression on the

Japanese mind.

Latterly Nobunaga had somewhat repented of the favor he had shown to the

new religion, though his death occurred before his dissatisfaction had

manifested itself in any active repression. Hideyoshi had never been

well disposed to Christianity, but other matters prevented him from at

once meddling with the policy of his predecessors. In 1588 he ventured

to issue an edict commanding the missionaries to assemble at Hirado, an

island off the west coast of Kiushiu and prepared to leave Japan, and

the missionaries obeyed, but as the edict was not enforced they again

returned to the work of evangelization in private as vigorously as ever,

averaging ten thousand converts a year. The Spanish mendicant friars

pouring in from the Philippines, openly defied Japanese laws. This

aroused Hideyoshi’s attention and his decree of expulsion was renewed.

Some of the churches were burned. In 1596 six Franciscan and three

Jesuit priests with seventeen Japanese converts were taken to Nagasaki

and there burned.

When Hideyoshi died, affairs seemed to take a more favorable turn, but

only for a few years. Iyeyasu was as much opposed to Christianity as

Hideyoshi, and his hatred of the new religion was intensified by his

partiality for Buddhism. The new daimios, carrying the policy of their

predecessors as taught them by the Jesuits, but reversing its direction,

began to persecute their Christian subjects, and to compel them to

renounce their faith. The native converts resisted, even to blood and

the taking up of arms. The idea of armed rebellion among the farmers was

something so wholly new that Iyeyasu suspected foreign instigation. He

became more vigilant as his suspicions increased, and resolving to crush

this spirit of independence and intimidate the foreign emissaries, met

every outbreak with bloody reprisals.

Iyeyasu issued a decree of expulsion against the missionaries in 1600,

but the decree was not at once carried into effect. The date of the

first arrival in Japan of Dutch merchants was also 1600. They settled in

the island of Hirado. In 1606 an edict from Yeddo forbade the exercise

of the Christian religion, but an outward show of obedience warded off

active persecution. Four years later the Spanish friars again aroused

the wrath of the government by defying its commands and exhorting the

native converts to do likewise. In 1611 Iyeyasu obtained documentary

proof of what he had long suspected, the existence of a plot on the part

of the native converts and the foreign emissaries to reduce Japan to the

position of a subject state. Fresh edicts were issued, and in 1614

twenty-two Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian friars, one hundred and

seventeen Jesuits and hundreds of native priests were embarked by force

on board junks and sent out of the country. The next year the shogun

pushed matters to an extreme with Hideyori, who was entertaining some

Jesuit priests, and laid siege to the castle of Ozaka. A battle of

unusual ferocity and bloody slaughter raged, ending in the burning of

the citadel and the total defeat and death of Hideyori and thousands of

his followers. The Jesuit fathers say that one hundred thousand men

perished in this brief war.

The exiled foreign friars kept secretly returning, and the shogun

pronounced sentence of death against any foreign priest found in the

country. Iyemitsu, the next shogun, restricted all foreign commerce in

Nagasaki and Hirado; all Japanese were forbidden to leave the country on

pain of death. Any European vessel approaching the coast was at once to

be referred to Nagasaki, whence it was to be sent home; the whole crew

of any junk in which a missionary should reach Japanese shores were to

be put to death; and the better to remove all temptation to go abroad,

it was decreed that no ships should be constructed above a certain size

and with other than the open sterns of coasting vessels.

Fire and sword were used to extirpate Christianity and to paganize the

same people who in their youth were Christianized by the same means.

Thousands of the native converts fled to China, Formosa and the

Philippines. The Christians suffered all sorts of persecutions and

tortures that savage ingenuity could devise. Yet few of the natives

quailed or renounced their faith. They calmly let the fire of wood,

cleft from the crosses before which they once prayed, consume them.

Mothers carried their babes to the fire or the edge of the precipice

rather than leave them behind to be educated in pagan faith. If any one

doubt the sincerity and fervor of the Christian converts of to-day, or

the ability of the Japanese to accept a higher form of faith, or their

willingness to suffer for what they believe, he has but to read the

accounts of various witnesses to the fortitude of the Japanese

Christians of the seventeenth century.

[Illustration: JAPANESE BELL TOWERS.]

The persecution reached its climax in the tragedy of Shimabara in 1637.

The Christians arose in arms by tens of thousands, seized an old castle,

repaired it and fortified it, and raised the flag of rebellion. The

armies of veterans sent to besiege it expected an easy victory, and

sneered at the idea of having any difficulty in subduing these farmers

and peasants. It took two months by land and water, however, of constant

attack before the fort was reduced, and the victory was finally gained

only with the aid of Dutch cannon furnished under compulsion by the

traders of Deshima. After great slaughter the intrepid garrison

surrendered, and then began the massacre of thirty-seven thousand

Christians. Many of them were hurled into the sea from the top of the

island rock of Takaboko-shima, by the Dutch named Pappenberg, in the

harbor of Nagasaki.

[Illustration: IMAGE OF BUDDHA.]

The result of this series of events was that the favorable policy

adopted by Iyeyasu in regard to foreign trade was completely reversed.

No foreigners were allowed to set foot on the soil of Japan, except

Chinese and a few Dutch merchants. The Dutch gained the privilege of

residing in confinement on the little island of Deshima, a piece of made

land in the harbor of Nagasaki. Here under degrading restrictions and

constant surveillance lived less than a score of Hollanders, who were

required every year to send a representative to Yeddo to do homage to

the shogun. They were allowed one ship per annum to come from the Dutch

East Indies for the exchange of the commodities of Japan for those of

Holland.

[Illustration: JAPANESE SAMURAI OR WARRIOR OF THE OLD TIME.]

Says Doctor Griffis in his study of this era of Japanese history, “After

nearly a hundred years of Christianity and foreign intercourse, the only

apparent results of this contact with another religion and civilization

were the adoption of gunpowder and fire-arms as weapons, the use of

tobacco and the habit of smoking, the making of sponge cake, the

naturalization into the language of a few foreign words, the

introduction of new and strange forms of disease, among which the

Japanese count the scourge of the venereal virus, and the permanent

addition to that catalogue of terrors which priest and magistrate in

Asiatic countries ever hold as welcome, to overawe the herd. For

centuries the mention of that name would bate the breath, blanch the

cheek and smite with fear as with an earthquake shock. It was the

synonym of sorcery, sedition, and all that was hostile to the purity of

the home and the peace of society. All over the empire, in every city,

town, village and hamlet; by the roadside, ferry or mountain pass; at

every entrance to the capitol, stood the public notice boards on which

with prohibitions against the great crimes that disturbed the relations

of society’s government was one tablet written with a deeper brand of

guilt, with a more hideous memory of blood, with a more awful terror of

torture, than when the like superscription was affixed at the top of a

cross that stood between two thieves on a little hill outside Jerusalem.

Its daily and familiar sight startled ever and anon the peasants who

clasped hands and uttered a fresh prayer; the Bonze, or Buddhist priest,

to add new venom to his maledictions; the magistrate to shake his head;

and to the mother a ready word to hush the crying of her fretful babe.

That name was Christ. So thoroughly was Christianity or the “corrupt

sect” supposed to be eradicated before the end of the seventeenth

century, that its existence was historical, remembered only as an awful

scar on the national memory. No vestiges were supposed to be left of it,

and no knowledge of its tenets was held save by a very few scholars in

Yeddo, trained experts who were kept as a sort of spiritual blood hounds

to scent out the adherents of the accursed creed. It was left to our day

since the recent opening of Japan, for them to discover that a mighty

fire had been smoldering for over two centuries beneath the ashes of

persecutions. As late as 1829 seven persons, six men and an old woman,

were crucified in Ozaka on suspicion of being Christians and

communicating with foreigners. When the French brethren of the Mission

Apostolique of Paris came to Nagasaki in 1860, they found in the

villages around them over ten thousand people who held the faith of

their fathers of the seventeenth century.”

The Portuguese were not the only race to attempt to open a permanent

trade with Japan. Captain John Saris, with three ships, left England in

April, 1611, with letters from King James I. to the “Emperor” (shogun)

of Japan. Landing at Hirado he was well received, and established a

factory in charge of Richard Cocks. The captain and a number of the

party visited Yeddo and other cities and obtained from the shogun a

treaty defining the privileges of trade, and signed Minamoto Iyeyasu.

After a tour of three months Saris arrived at Hirado again, having

visited Kioto, where he saw the splendid Christian churches and Jesuit

palaces. After discouraging attempts to open a trade with Siam, Corea

and China, and hostilities having broken out between them and the Dutch,

the English abandoned the project of permanent trade with Japan, and all

subsequent attempts to reopen it failed.

[Illustration:

JAPANESE GENERAL OF THE OLD TIME.

(_From a Native Drawing._)

]

Will Adams, who was an English pilot, and the first of his nation in

Japan, arrived in 1607 and lived in Yeddo till he died thirteen years

later. He rose into favor with the shoguns and the people by the sheer

force of a manly, honest character. His knowledge of shipbuilding,

mathematics, and foreign affairs made him a very useful man. Although

treated with kindness and honor, he was not allowed to leave Japan. He

had a wife and daughter in England. Adams had a son and daughter born to

him in Japan, and there are still living Japanese who claim descent from

him. One of the streets of Yeddo was named after him, and the people of

that street still hold an annual celebration on the fifteenth of June in

his honor.

The history of the two centuries and a half that followed the triumphs

of Iyeyasu is that of profound peace and stern isolation. We must pass

rapidly in review of them. This great shogun took pains to arrange the

empire after the appointment to the office, in such a way that the

shoguns of the Tokugawa family, the dynasty which he founded, should

have strictest power and most certain descent. His sons and daughters

were married where they would be most powerful in influence with the

great families of daimios. It must not be forgotten that Iyeyasu and his

successor were both in theory and in reality vassals of the emperor,

though they assumed protection of the imperial person. Neither the

shogun nor the daimios were acknowledged at Kioto as nobles of the

empire. The lowest kuge, or noble, was above the shogun in rank. The

shogun could obtain his appointment only from the mikado. He was simply

the most powerful among the daimios, who had won that pre-eminence by

the sword, and who by wealth and power and a skillfully wrought plan of

division of land among the other daimios was able to rule.

[Illustration: JAPANESE BRIDGE.]

In 1600 and the years following, Iyeyasu employed an army of three

hundred thousand laborers in Yeddo improving and building the city.

Before the end of the century, Yeddo had a population of more than half

a million, but it never did have, as the Hollanders guessed and the old

text books told us, two million five hundred thousand souls. Outside of

Yeddo the strength of the great unifier was spent on public roads and

highways, post stations, bridges, castles and mines. He spent the last

years of his life engaged in erasing the scars of war by his policy of

conciliation, securing the triumphs of peace, perfecting his plans for

fixing in stability a system of government, and in collecting books and

manuscripts. He bequeathed his code of laws to his chief retainers, and

advised his sons to govern in the spirit of kindness. He died on the

eighth of March, 1616.

The grandson of Iyeyasu, Iyemitsu, was another great shogun, and it was

he who established the rule that all the daimios should visit and reside

in Yeddo during half the year. Gradually these rules became more and

more restrictive, until the guests became mere vassals. Their wives and

children were kept as hostages in Yeddo. During his rule the Christian

insurrection and massacre at Shimabara took place. Yeddo was vastly

improved, with aqueducts, fire watch towers, the establishment of mints,

weights and measures. A general survey of the empire was executed; maps

of various provinces and plans of the daimios’ castles were made; the

councils called Hiojo-sho (discussion and decision), and Wakadoshiyori

(assembly of elders), were established and Corean envoys received. The

height of pride and ambition which this shogun had already reached, is

seen in the fact that in a letter of reply to Corea he is referred to as

Tai Kun, (“Tycoon”), a title never conferred by the mikado on any one,

nor had Iyemitsu any legal right to it. It was assumed in a sense

honorary or meaningless to any Japanese, unless highly jealous of the

mikado’s sovereignty, and was intended to overawe the Coreans. The

approximate interpretation of it is “great ruler.”

Under the strong rule of the Tokugawa shoguns, therefore, the long

distracted Japanese empire at length enjoyed two-and-a-half centuries of

peace and prosperity. The innate love of art, literature, and education,

which almost constant warfare had prevented from duly developing among

the people, had now an opportunity of producing fruit. And as it had

shown itself in former intervals of rest, so was it now. Under the

patronage of Iyeyasu was composed the Dai Nihon Shi, the first detailed

history of Japan. Tsunayoshi, his successor, 1681 to 1709, founded at

Seido a Confucian university, and was such an enthusiast for literature

that he used to assemble the princes and high officials about him and

expound to them passages from the Chinese classics. Yoshimune, another

shogun, was much interested in astronomy and other branches of science,

beside doing much to improve agriculture. Legal matters also engaged his

attention; he altered Iyeyasu’s policy so far as to publish a revised

criminal code, and improved the administration of the law, forbidding

the use of torture except in cases where there was flagrant proof of

guilt. He built an astronomical observatory at Kanda and established at

his court a professorship of Chinese literature.

Iyenori, shogun from 1787 to 1838, threw the classes of the Confucian

university open to the public. Every body from the nobility down to the

masses of the people began to appreciate literary studies. Maritime

commerce within the limits of the four seas was encouraged by the

shogun’s government, regular service of junks being established between

the principal ports. Nor must it be forgotten that to the Tokugawas is

due the foundation of the great modern city of Yeddo with its vast

fortifications and its triumphs of art in the shrines of Shiba and

Uyeno. It was at this period too that the matchless shrines of Nikko

were reared in memory of the greatness of Iyeyasu and Iyemitsu. The

successors of the former, the shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty, fourteen

in all, were with one exception buried alternately in the cemeteries of

Zozoji and Toyeizan, in the city districts of Shiba and Uyeno.

But throughout all this period of peace and progress the light of the

outer world was excluded. The people made the best use of the light they

had, but after all it was but dim. The learning by rote of thousands of

Chinese characters, and the acquisition of skill in the composition of

Chinese and Japanese verse, were little worthy to be the highest

literary attainments possible to the most aspiring of the youth of

Japan. In the domain of art there was more that was inviting, but

scientific knowledge was tantalizingly meagre and that little was

overlaid with Chinese absurdities. When we consider that the isolation

of the country was due to no spirit of exclusiveness in the national

character, that indeed it was the result of a policy that actually went

against the grain of the people, how many restless spirits must there

have been during these long years, who kept longing for more light.

Fortunately there was one little chink at Deshima, in the harbor at

Nagasaki, and of this some of the more earnest were able to take

advantage. Many instances are recorded and there must be many more of

which we can know nothing, of Japanese students displaying the truest

heroism in surmounting the difficulties that lay in the way of their

acquiring foreign knowledge. Let us now see how there came at length an

unsettled dawn, and after the clouds of this had cleared, a dazzling

inpouring of the light.

It was the American Union which opened the door of Japan to western

civilization. It had been desired by all of the European nations, as

well as by the United States, to obtain access to Japanese ports.

Supplies were frequently needed, particularly water and coal, but no

distress was ever considered a sufficient excuse for the Japanese to

permit the landing of a foreign vessel’s crew. Shipwrecked sailors

frequently passed through seasons of great trial and danger, before they

were restored to their own people. Even Japanese sailors who were

shipwrecked on other shores, or carried out to sea, were refused

re-admission to their own country when rescued by foreigners.

Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry of the American navy, urged upon

President Millard Fillmore the necessity and possibility of making some

sort of a treaty with the exclusive empire. It was decided that the most

effective way to advance this desire was to sail into the bay of Yeddo

with a squadron sufficient to command respect. A fleet was assigned to

the undertaking, under the command of Perry, and the American vessels

sailed away to the Orient to rendezvous at the chief city of the Liu Kiu

islands, Napha. From Napha the fleet sailed for Japan, the Susquehanna,

the flagship, the advance of the line of the ships of seventeen nations.

[Illustration: BAPTISM OF BUDDHA.]

It was on the seventh day of July, 1853, under a sky and over a sea of

perfect calm, that the four American warships appeared off Uraga in the

Bay of Yeddo. Without delay the officials of Uraga emphatically notified

the “barbarian” envoy that he must go to Nagasaki, where all business

with foreigners had to be done. The barbarian refused to go. He informed

the messengers that he was the bearer of a letter from the President of

the United States to the Emperor of Japan; that he had sailed as near as

possible to the destination of the letter and would now deliver it and

continue it on its way by land, but he would not retrace his path until

the letter was delivered. The shogun Iyeyoshi on receiving information

of such decision, was exceedingly troubled and called his officials to a

council. Alarm was wide spread, and it was ordered that strict watch

should be kept along the shore to prevent the barbarian vessels from

committing acts of violence. During the eight days while Commodore

Perry’s fleet was waiting in the Bay of Yeddo, the boats of his ships

were busily engaged in taking soundings and surveying the shores and the

anchorage. No sailors were permitted to land, and no natives were

molested. Every effort was made to indicate to the Japanese the desire

for a peaceful friendship.

A learned Chinese scholar was sent by the shogun to Uraga, who acted as

an official and eminent interpreter in an interview with the American

envoy. Continued councils were called by the shogun, not only of his

chief officers but of the daimios, the nobles, and the retired nobles of

Yeddo. The citizens of Yeddo and the surrounding villages were in great

tumult, fearing that there would be a war, for which the country was

totally unprepared. Meanwhile the envoy was impatiently demanding an

answer. At last, after eight days, the patience and the impatience,

combined with the demonstrations made by the vessels of the fleet, which

were highly impressive to the Japanese who had never seen a steamboat,

won success for Commodore Perry’s message. A high Japanese commissioner

came to Uraga, prepared a magnificent pavilion for the ceremonies, and

announced himself ready to receive the letter to the emperor. With great

pomp and ceremony the Americans landed and in this pavilion with proper

formalities, delivered the letter and presents from the president. Then

having, for the first time in history, gained several important points

of etiquette in a country where etiquette was more than law or morals,

the splendid diplomat and warrior Perry sailed away with his fleet July

17, 1853.

It was in response to a temporizing policy on the part of Japan, and to

the good judgment and careful decision of Commodore Perry, that the

fleet sailed away without demanding an immediate reply to his letter.

The American envoy was informed that in a matter of so much importance a

decision could not be at once reached, and that if he now left, he would

on his return get a definite answer. No wonder there was commotion. The

nineteenth century had come suddenly into contact with the fourteenth.

The spirit of commerce and the spirit of feudalism, two great but

conflicting forces, met in their full development, and the result was

necessarily a convulsion. We are hardly surprised to hear that the

shogun died before Commodore Perry’s return, or that during the next few

years the land was harassed by earthquakes and pestilences.

Perry’s second appearance was in February, 1854, this time with a much

larger fleet. A hot debate took place in the shogun’s council as to the

answer that should be given. The old daimio of Mito, the head of one of

the three families, which, forming the Tokugawa clan, furnished the

occupants of the shogunate, wanted to fight and settle the question once

for all. “At first,” he said, “they will give us philosophical

instruments, machinery and other curiosities; will take ignorant people

in; and trade being their chief object they will manage to impoverish

the country, after which they will treat us just as they like, perhaps

behave with the greatest rudeness and insult us, and end by swallowing

up Japan. If we do not drive them away now we shall never have another

opportunity.”

Others gave contrary advice, saying, “If we try to drive them away they

will immediately commence hostilities, and then we shall be obliged to

fight. If we once get into a dispute we shall have an enemy to fight who

will not be easily disposed of. He does not care how long he will have

to spend over it, but he will come with myriads of men-of-war and

surround our shores completely; however large a number of ships we might

destroy, he is so accustomed to that sort of thing that he would not

care in the least. In time the country would be put to an immense

expense and the people plunged into misery. Rather than allow this, as

we are not the equals of foreigners in the mechanical arts, let us have

intercourse with foreign countries, learn their drill and tactics, and

when we have made the nation as united as one family, we shall be able

to go abroad and give lands in foreign countries to those who have

distinguished themselves in battle.”

The latter view carried and a treaty with the United States was signed

on the thirty-first of March, 1854. Now be it observed that the shogun

did this without the sanction of the mikado, whom indeed he had never

yet consulted on the matter, and that he subscribed himself Tai Kun,

(“Tycoon,”) or great ruler, a title to which he had no right and which

if it meant anything at all involved an assumption of the authority of

supreme ruler in the empire. This was the view naturally taken by Perry

and by the ambassadors from European countries who a few years later

obtained treaties with Japan. They were under the impression that they

were dealing with the emperor; and hearing of the existence of another

potentate living in an inland city, surrounded with a halo of national

veneration, they conceived the plausible but erroneous theory that the

tycoon was the temporal sovereign, and this mysterious mikado the

spiritual sovereign of the country. They little dreamed that the

so-called tycoon was no sovereign at all, and that consequently the

treaties which he signed had no legal validity.

The shogun could ill afford thus to lay himself open to the charge of

treason. From the first there had been a certain class of daimios who

had never heartily submitted to the Tokugawa administration. The

principal clans which thus submitted to the regime under protest against

what they considered a usurpation, an encroachment on the authority of

the mikado, whom alone they recognized as the divinely appointed ruler

of Japan, were those of Satsuma, Choshiu, and Tosa. As the years of

peace cast their spell over the nation, making the people forgetful of

war and transforming the descendants of Iyeyasu into luxurious idlers,

much more like impotent mikados than successors of the energetic soldier

and law-giver, their hopes more and more arose that an opportunity would

be given them to overthrow the shogunate and bring about the unification

of the empire at the hands of the mikado. Their time had now come. The

shogun was enervated and he had so far forgotten himself as to open the

country to foreign trade, without the sanction of the “Son of Heaven.”

It was this illegal act of the shogun that precipitated the confusion,

violence and disaster of the next few years, reaching ultimately in 1868

to the complete overthrow of his own power and the restoration of the

mikado to his rightful position as actual as well as nominal ruler of

the empire.