THE PREHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS
JIMMU
IT is held by eminent Japanese historians that the Emperor Jimmu,
when he set out for Yamato, did not contemplate an armed campaign but
merely intended to change his capital from the extreme south to the
centre of the country. This theory is based on the words of the
address he made to his elder brothers and his sons when inviting them
to accompany him on the expedition "Why should we not proceed to
Yamato and make it the capital?"--and on the fact that, on arriving
in the Kibi district, namely, the region now divided into the three
provinces of Bizen, Bitchu, and Bingo, he made a stay of three years
for the purpose of amassing an army and provisioning it, the
perception that he would have to fight having been realized for the
first time. Subsequently he encountered strongest resistance at the
hands of Prince Nagasune, whose title of Hiko (Child of the Sun)
showed that he belonged to the Yamato race, and who exercised
military control under the authority of Nigihayahi, elder brother of
Jimmu's father. This Nigihayahi had been despatched from the
continental realm of the Yamato--wherever that may have been--at a
date prior to the despatch of his younger brother, Ninigi, for the
purpose of subjugating the "land of fair rice-ears and fertile reed
plains," but of the incidents of his expedition history takes no
notice: it merely shows him as ruling in Yamato at the time of
Jimmu's arrival there, and describes how Nigihayahi, having been
convinced by a comparison of weapons of war that Jimmu was of his own
lineage, surrendered the authority to him and caused, Prince Nagasune
to be put to death.
From a chronological point of view it is difficult to imagine the
co-existence of Jimmu and his great-granduncle, but the story may
perhaps be accepted in so far as it confirms the tradition that, in
prosecuting his Yamato campaign, Jimmu received the submission of
several chieftains (Kami) belonging to the same race as himself.
Reference to these facts is essential to an understanding of the
class distinctions found in the Japanese social system. All the
chieftains who led the expedition from Kyushu were subsequently
designated Tenshin--a term which may be conveniently rendered "Kami
of the descent"--and all those who, like Nigihayahi, had previously
been in occupation of the country, were styled kum-tsu-Kami,
or "territorial Kami." Another method of distinguishing was
to include the former in the Kwobetsu and the latter in the
Shimbetsu--distinctions which will be more fully explained
hereafter--and after apotheosis the members of these two classes
became respectively "deities of heaven" and "deities of earth," a
distinction possessing historical rather than qualificatory force.
As for subdivisions, the head of a Kwobetsu family had the title of
omi (grandee) and the head of a Shimbetsu family that of muraji
(chief). Thus, the organization of the State depended primarily on
the principle of ancestor worship. The sceptre descended by divine
right without any regard to its holder's competence, while the
administrative posts were filled by men of the same race with a
similar hereditary title. Aliens like the Yezo, the Tsuchi-gumo, and
the Kumaso were either exterminated or made slaves (nuhi).
THE TERM "YAMATO"
As to the term "Yamato," it appears that, in the earliest times, the
whole country now called Japan was known as Yamato, and that
subsequently the designation became restricted to the province which
became the seat of government. The Chinese, when they first took
cognizance of the islands lying on their east, seem to have applied
the name Wado--pronounced "Yamato" by the Japanese--to the tribes
inhabiting the western shores of Japan, namely, the Kumaso or the
Tsuchi-gumo, and in writing the word they used ideographs conveying a
sense of contempt. The Japanese, not unnaturally, changed these
ideographs to others having the same sounds but signifying "great
peace." At a later time the Chinese or the Koreans began to designate
these eastern islands, Jih-pen, or "Sunrise Island," a term which, in
the fifteenth century, was perverted by the Dutch into Japan.
THE FIRST NINE EMPERORS
In attempting to construct coherent annals out of the somewhat
fragmentary Japanese histories of remote ages, the student is
immediately confronted by chronological difficulties. Apart from the
broad fact that the average age of the first seventeen Emperors from
Jimmu downwards is 109 years, while the average age of the next
seventeen is only sixty-one and a half years, there are
irreconcilable discrepancies in some of the dates themselves. Thus,
according to the Records, the eighth Emperor, Kogen, died at
fifty-seven, but according to the Chronicles he ascended the throne
at fifty-nine and reigned fifty-six years. Again, whereas the ninth
sovereign, Kaikwa, is by the Records given a life of only sixty-three
years, the Chronicles make him assume the sceptre at fifty-one and
wield it for fifty-nine years. Such conflicts of evidence are fatal
to confidence. Nor do they disappear wholly until the beginning of
the fifth century, at which time, moreover, the incidents of Japanese
history receive their first confirmation from the history of China
and Korea.
It is therefore not extravagant to conclude that the first ten and a
half centuries covered by Japanese annals must be regarded as
prehistoric. On the other hand, the incidents attributed to this long
interval are not by any means of such a nature as to suggest
deliberate fabrication. An annalist who was also a courtier, applying
himself to construct the story of his sovereign's ancestors, would
naturally be disposed to embellish his pages with narratives of great
exploits and brilliant achievements. Neither the Records nor the
Chronicles can be said to display such a propensity in any marked
degree. The Chronicles do, indeed, draw upon the resources of Chinese
history to construct ethical codes and scholarly diction for their
Imperial figures, but the Records show no traces of adventitious
colour nor make an attempt to minimize the evil and magnify the good.
Thus, while it is evident that to consolidate Jimmu's conquest and to
establish order among the heterogeneous elements of his empire he
must have been followed by rulers of character and prowess, the
annals show nothing of the kind. On the contrary, the reigns of his
eight immediate successors are barren of all striking incident. The
closing chapter of Jimmu himself is devoted chiefly to his amours,
and the opening page in the life of his immediate successor, Suisei,
shows that the latter reached the throne by assassinating his elder
brother. For the rest, the annals of the eight sovereigns who reigned
during the interval between 561 and 98 B.C. recount mainly the
polygamous habits of these rulers and give long genealogies of the
noble families founded by their offspring--a dearth of romance which
bears strong witness to the self-restraint of the compilers. We learn
incidentally that on his accession each sovereign changed the site of
his palace, seldom passing, however, beyond the limits of the
province of Yamato, and we learn, also, that the principle of
primogeniture, though generally observed, was often violated.
HSU FUH
A Japanese tradition assigns to the seventy-second year of the reign
of Korei the advent of a Chinese Taoist, by name Hsu Fuh. Korei,
seventh in descent from Jimmu, held the sceptre from 290 to 215 B.C.,
and the seventy-second year of his reign fell, therefore, in 219 B.C.
Now, to the east of the town of Shingu in Kii province, at a place on
the seashore in the vicinity of the site of an ancient castle, there
stands a tomb bearing the inscription "Grave of Hsu Fuh from China,"
and near it are seven tumuli said to be the burial-places of Hsu's
companions. Chinese history states that Hsu Fuh was a learned man who
served the first Emperor of the Chin dynasty (255-206 B.C.), and that
he obtained his sovereign's permission to sail to the islands of the
east in search of the elixir of life. Setting out from Yentai (the
present Chefoo) in his native province of Shantung, Hsu landed at
Kumano in the Kii promontory, and failing to find the elixir,
preferred to pass his life in Japan rather than to return
unsuccessful to the Court of the tyranical Chin sovereign, burner of
the books and builder of the Great Wall. A poem composed in the Sung
dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) says that when Hsu Fuh set out, the books had
not been burned, and that a hundred volumes thus survived in his
keeping. Of course, the date assigned by Japanese tradition to the
coming of Hsu may have been adapted to Chinese history, and it
therefore furnishes no evidence as to the accuracy of the Chronicles'
chronology. But the existence of the tomb may be regarded as proving
that some communication took place between China and Japan at that
remote epoch.*
*The route taken by Hsu Fuh namely, from Chefoo down the China Sea
and round the south of Japan is difficult to understand.
THE TENTH EMPEROR, SUJIN
The reign of this sovereign (97-30 B.C.) is the first eventful period
since the death of Jimmu. It is memorable for the reorganization of
religious rites; for the extension of the effective sway of the
Throne, and for the encouragement of agriculture. When the first
Emperor installed the sacred insignia in the palace where he himself
dwelt, the instinct of filial piety and the principle of ancestor
worship were scarcely distinguishable. But as time passed and as the
age of the Kami became more remote, a feeling of awe began to pervade
the rites more strongly than a sense of family affection, and the
idea of residing and worshipping in the same place assumed a
character of sacrilege. This may have been directly suggested by a
pestilence which, decimating the nation, was interpreted as implying
the need of greater purity. A replica of the sacred mirror was
manufactured, and the grandson of the great worker in metal
Mahitotsu, the "One-eyed" was ordered to forge an imitation of the
sacred sword. These imitations, together with the sacred jewel, were
kept in the palace, but the originals were transferred to Kasanui in
Yamato, where a shrine for the worship of the Sun goddess had been
built. But though the pestilence was stayed, it brought an aftermath
of lawlessness and produced much unrest in the regions remote from
Yamato. Sujin therefore organized a great military movement, the
campaign of the Shido shogun, or "Generalissimo of the four
Circuits."*
*The term "do" indicates a group of provinces.
The leaders chosen for this task were all members of the Imperial
family--a great-uncle, an uncle, a younger brother, and a first
cousin of the Emperor--and the fields of operation assigned to them
were: first, to the west along the northern shore of the Inland Sea;
secondly, to the northwest into Tamba, Tango, and Tajima; thirdly, to
the north along the sea of Japan, and finally to the east along the
route now known as the Tokaido. No attempt is made by the writers of
either the Records or the Chronicles to describe the preparations for
this extensive campaign. Tradition seems to have preserved the bare
fact only.
One interesting interlude is described, however. Before the first
body of troops had passed beyond range of easy communication with
Mizugaki in Yamato, where the Court resided, the prince in command
heard a girl singing by the wayside, and the burden of her song
seemed to imply that, while foes at home menaced the capital, foes
abroad should not be attacked. The prince, halting his forces,
returned to Mizugaki to take counsel, and the Emperor's aunt
interpreted the song to signify that his Majesty's half-brother,
Haniyasu, who governed the adjacent province of Yamato, was plotting
treason. Then all the troops having been recalled, preparations to
guard the capital were made, and soon afterwards, news came that
Haniyasu, at the head of an army, was advancing from the direction of
Yamashiro, while his wife, Ata, was leading another force from Osaka,
the plan being to unite the two armies for the attack on Yamato. The
Emperor's generals at once assumed the offensive. They moved first
against Princess Ata, killed her and exterminated her forces; after
which they dealt similarly with Haniyasu. This chapter of history
illustrates the important part taken by women in affairs of State at
that epoch, and incidentally confirms the fact that armour was worn
by men in battle.
The four Imperial generals were now able to resume their temporarily
interrupted campaigns. According to the Chronicles they completed the
tasks assigned to them and returned to the capital within six months.
But such chronology cannot be reconciled with facts. For it is
related that the generals sent northward by the western seaboard and
the eastern seaboard, respectively, came together at Aizu,* one
reaching that place via Hitachi, the other via Echigo. Thus, it would
result that Yamato armies at that remote epoch marched hundreds of
miles through country in the face of an enemy within a few months.
Further, to bring the aboriginal tribes into subjugation, an isolated
campaign would have been quite inadequate. Some kind of permanent
control was essential, and there is collateral evidence that the
descendants of the four princely generals, during many generations,
occupied the position of provincial magnates and exercised virtually
despotic sway within the localities under their jurisdiction. Thus in
the provinces of Omi, of Suruga, of Mutsu, of Iwashiro, of Iwaki, of
Echigo, of Etchu, of Echizen, of Bizen, of Bitchu, of Bingo, of
Harima, of Tamba, and elsewhere, there are found in later ages noble
families all tracing their descent to one or another of the Shido
shoguns despatched on the task of pacifying the country in the days
of the Emperor Sujin. The genealogies which fill pages of the Records
from the days of Jimmu downwards point clearly to the growth of a
powerful feudal aristocracy, for the younger sons born to successive
sovereigns bear, for the most part, names indicative of territorial
lordship; but it seems justifiable to conclude that the first great
impetus to that kind of decentralization was given by Sujin's
despatch of the Shido shoguns.
*Hence the term "Aizu," form, signifies "to meet."
AGRICULTURE AND TAXATION
The digging of reservoirs and tunnels for irrigating rice-fields
received unprecedented attention in the reign of this Emperor, and
mention is for the first time made of taxes--tributes of "bow-notches
and of finger-tips," in other words, the produce of the chase and the
products of the loom. A census was taken for taxation purposes, but
unhappily the results are nowhere recorded. The Court gave itself
some concern about maritime transport also. A rescript ordered that
ships should be built by every province, but nothing is stated as to
their dimensions or nature. In this rescript it is mentioned that
"the people of the coast not having ships, suffer grievously by land
transport." What they suffered may be inferred from a description in
the Chronicles where we read that at the building of the tomb of a
princess, "the people, standing close to each other, passed the
stones from hand to hand, and thus transported them from Osaka to
Yamato."
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE
Korea, when Japanese history is first explicitly concerned with it,
was peopled by a number of semi-independent tribes, and the part of
the peninsula lying southward of the Han River--that is to say,
southward of the present Seoul--comprised three kingdoms. Of these
Ma-Han occupied the whole of the western half of the peninsula along
the coast of the Yellow Sea; while Sin-Han and Pyong-Han formed the
eastern half, lying along the shore of the Sea of Japan. The three
were collectively spoken of as Sam-Han (the three Han). But Japan's
relations with the peninsula did not always involve these major
divisions. Her annals speak of Shiragi (or Sinra), Kara, Kudara, and
Koma. Shiragi and Kara were principalities carved respectively out of
the southeast and south of Pyong-Han. Thus, they lay nearest to
Japan, the Korea Strait alone intervening, and the Korea Strait was
almost bridged by islands. Kudara constituted the modern Seoul and
its vicinity; Koma, (called also Korai and in Korea, Kokuli), the
modern Pyong-yang and its district. These two places were rendered
specially accessible by the rivers Han and Tadong which flowed
through them to the Yellow Sea; but of course in this respect they
could not compare with Shiragi (Sinra) and Kara, of which latter
place the Japanese usually spoke as Mimana.
There can scarcely be any doubt that the Korean peninsula was largely
permeated with Chinese influences from a very early date, but the
processes which produced that result need not be detailed here. It
has been also shown above that, in the era prior to Jimmu,
indications are found of intercourse between Japan and Korea, and
even that Susanoo and his son held sway in Shiragi. But the first
direct reference made by Japanese annals to Korea occurs in the reign
of Sujin, 33 B.C. when an envoy from Kara arrived at the Mizugaki
Court, praying that a Japanese general might be sent to compose a
quarrel which had long raged between Kara and Shiragi, and to take
the former under Japan's protection. It appears that this envoy had
travelled by a very circuitous route. He originally made the port of
Anato (modern Nagato), but Prince Itsutsu, who ruled there, claimed
to be the sole monarch of Japan and refused to allow the envoy to
proceed, so that the latter had to travel north and enter Japan via
Kehi-no-ura (now Tsuruga.)
Incidentally this narrative corroborates a statement made in Chinese
history (compiled in the Later Han era, A.D. 25-220) to the effect
that many Japanese provinces claimed to be under hereditary rulers
who exercised sovereign rights. Such, doubtless, was the attitude
assumed by several of the Imperial descendants who had obtained
provincial estates. The Emperor Sujin received the envoy courteously
and seemed disposed to grant his request, but his Majesty's death (30
B.C.) intervened, and not until two years later was the envoy able to
return. His mission had proved abortive, but the Emperor Suinin,
Sujin's successor, gave him some red-silk fabrics to carry home and
conferred on his country the name Mimana, in memory of Sujin, whose
appellation during life had been Mimaki.
These details furnish an index to the relations that existed in that
era between the neighbouring states of the Far East. The special
interest of the incident lies, however, in the fact that it furnishes
the first opportunity of comparing Japanese history with Korean. The
latter has two claims to credence. The first is that it assigns no
incredible ages to the sovereigns whose reigns it records. According
to Japanese annals there were only seven accessions to the throne of
Yamato during the first four centuries of the Christian era.
According to Korean annals, the three peninsular principalities had
sixteen, seventeen, and sixteen accessions, respectively, in the same
interval. The second claim is that, during the same four centuries,
the histories of China and Korea agree in ten dates and differ in two
only.* On the whole, therefore, Korean annals deserve to be credited.
But whereas Japanese history represents warfare as existing between
Kara and Shiragi in 33 B.C., Korean history represents the conflict
as having broken out in A.D. 77. There is a difference of just 110
years, and the strong probability of accuracy is on the Korean side.
*For a masterly analysis of this subject see a paper on Early
Japanese History by Mr. W. G. Aston in Vol. XVI of the "Translations
of the Asiatic Society of Japan."
THE ELEVENTH SOVEREIGN, SUININ (29 B.C.--A.D. 70)
Suinin, second son of his predecessor, obtained the throne by a
process which frankly ignored the principle of primogeniture. For
Sujin, having an equal affection for his two sons, confessed himself
unable to choose which of them should be his successor and was
therefore guided by a comparison of their dreams, the result being
that the younger was declared Prince Imperial, and the elder became
duke of the provinces of Kamitsuke (now Kotsuke) and Shimotsuke.
Suinin, like all the monarchs of that age, had many consorts: nine
are catalogued in the Records and their offspring numbered sixteen,
many of whom received local titles and had estates conferred in the
provinces. In fact, this process of ramifying the Imperial family
went on continuously from reign to reign.
There are in the story of this sovereign some very pathetic elements.
Prince Saho, elder brother of the Empress, plotted to usurp the
throne. Having cajoled his sister into an admission that her brother
was dearer than her husband, he bade her prove it by killing the
Emperor in his sleep. But when an opportunity offered to perpetrate
the deed as the sovereign lay sleeping with her knees as pillow, her
heart melted, and her tears, falling on the Emperor's face, disturbed
his slumber. He sought the cause of her distress, and learning it,
sent a force to seize the rebel. Remorse drove the Empress to die
with Prince Saho. Carrying her little son, she entered the fort where
her brother with his followers had taken refuge. The Imperial troops
set fire to the fort--which is described as having been built with
rice-bags piled up--and the Empress emerged with the child in her
arms; but having thus provided for its safety, she fled again to the
fort and perished with her brother. This terrible scene appears to
have given the child such a shock that he lost the use of speech, and
the Records devote large space to describing the means employed for
the amusement of the child, the long chase and final capture of a
swan whose cry, as it flew overhead, had first moved the youth to
speech, and the cure ultimately effected by building a shrine for the
worship of the deity of Izumo, who, in a previous age, had been
compelled to abdicate the sovereignty of the country in favour of a
later descendant of the Sun goddess, and whose resentment was
thereafter often responsible for calamities overtaking the Court or
the people of Japan.
THE ISE SHRINE AND THE PRACTICE OF JUNSHI
Two events specially memorable in this reign were the transfer of the
shrine of the Sun goddess to Ise, where it has remained ever since,
and the abolition of the custom of junshi, or following in death. The
latter shocking usage, a common rite of animistic religion, was in
part voluntary, in part compulsory. In its latter aspect it came
vividly under the notice of the Emperor Suinin when the tomb of his
younger brother, Yamato, having been built within earshot of the
palace, the cries of his personal attendants, buried alive around his
grave, were heard, day and night, until death brought silence. In the
following year (A.D. 3), the Empress having died, a courtier,
Nomi-no-Sukune, advised the substitution of clay figures for the
victims hitherto sacrificed. Nominally, the practice of compulsory
junshi ceased from that date,* but voluntary junshi continued to find
occasional observance until modern times.
*Of course it is to be remembered that the dates given by Japanese
historians prior to the fifth century A.D. are very apocryphal.
WRESTLING
The name of Nomi-no-Sukune is associated with the first mention of
wrestling in Japanese history. By the Chronicles a brief account is
given of a match between Nomi and Taema-no-Kuehaya. The latter was
represented to be so strong that he could break horns and straighten
hooks. His frequently expressed desire was to find a worthy
competitor. Nomi-no-Sukune, summoned from Izumo by the Emperor, met
Kuehaya in the lists of the palace of Tamaki and kicked him to death.
Wrestling thereafter became a national pastime, but its methods
underwent radical change, kicking being abolished altogether.
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE
It is believed by Japanese historians that during the reign of Suinin
a local government station (chinju-fu) was established in Anra
province of Mimana, and that this station, subsequently known as
Nippon-fu, was transferred to Tsukushi (Kyushu) and named Dazai-fu
when Japan's influence in Mimana waned. The first general (shoguri)
of the chinju-fu was Prince Shihotari, and the term kishi--which in
Korea signified headman--was thenceforth incorporated into his family
name. To the members of that family in later generations was
entrusted the conduct of the Empire's foreign affairs. But it does
not appear that the Imperial Court in Yamato paid much attention to
oversea countries in early eras. Intercourse with these was
conducted, for the most part, by the local magnates who held sway in
the western regions of Japan.
It was during the reign of Suinin, if Japanese chronology be
accepted, that notices of Japan began to appear in Chinese history--a
history which justly claims to be reliable from 145 B.C. Under the
Later Han dynasty (A.D. 25-220), great progress was made in
literature and art by the people of the Middle Kingdom, and this
progress naturally extended, not only to Korea, which had been
conquered by the Chinese sovereign, Wu-Ti, in the second century
before Christ and was still partly under the rule of Chinese
governors, but also to the maritime regions of Japan, whence the
shores of Korea were almost within sight. China in those ages was
incomparably the greatest and most enlightened country in the Orient,
and it had become the custom with adjacent States to send emissaries
to her Court, bearing gifts which she handsomely requited; so that
while, from one point of view, the envoys might be regarded as
tribute-carriers, from another, the ceremony presented the character
of a mere interchange of neighbourly civilities. In Japan, again,
administrative centralization was still imperfect. Some of the local
magnates had not yet been brought fully under the sway of the Yamato
invaders, and some, as scions of the Imperial family, arrogated a
considerable measure of independence. Thus it resulted that several
of these provincial dukes--or "kings," as not a few of them were
called--maintained relations with Korea, and through her despatched
tribute missions to the Chinese Court from time to time.
In these circumstances it is not surprising to find the Chinese
historians of the first century A.D. writing: "The Wa (Japanese)
dwell southeast of Han* (Korea) on a mountainous island in midocean.
Their country is divided into more than one hundred provinces. Since
the time when Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) overthrew Korea, they (the
Japanese) have communicated with the Han (Korean) authorities by
means of a postal service. There are thirty-two provinces which do
so, all of which style their rulers 'kings' who are hereditary. The
sovereign of Great Wa resides in Yamato, distant 12,000 li (4000
miles) from the frontier of the province of Yolang (the modern
Pyong-yang in Korea). In the second year of Chung-yuan (A.D. 57), in
the reign of Kwang-wu, the Ito** country sent an envoy with tribute,
who styled himself Ta-fu. He came from the most western part of the
Wa country. Kwang-wu presented him with a seal and ribbon." [Aston's
translation.]
*It is necessary to distinguish carefully between the Han dynasty of
China and the term "Han" as a designation of Korea.
**The ideographs composing this word were pronounced "I-to" at the
time when they were written by the Hou-Han historians, but they
subsequently received the sound of "Wo-nu" or "wa-do."
These passages have provoked much discussion, but Japanese annalists
are for the most part agreed that "Ito" should be read "I-no-na,"
which corresponds with the ancient Na-no-Agata, the present Naka-gori
in Chikuzen, an identification consistent with etymology and
supported by the fact that, in 1764, a gold seal supposed to be the
original of the one mentioned above, was dug out of the ground in
that region. In short, Na-no-Agata is identical with the ancient
Watazumi-no-Kuni, which was one of the countries of Japan's
intercourse. Further, the Yamato of the Hou-Han historians is not to
be regarded as the province of that name in central Japan, but as one
of the western districts, whether Yamato in Higo, or Yamato in
Chikugo. It has been shrewdly suggested* that the example of Korea
had much influence in inducing the local rulers in the western and
southern provinces to obtain the Chinese Court's recognition of their
administrative status, but, whatever may have been the dominant
motive, it seems certain that frequent intercourse took place between
Japan and China via Korea immediately before and after the beginning
of the Christian era. Again, that Koreans came freely to Japan and
settled there is attested by the case of a son of the King of Shiragi
who, coming to the Tajima region, took a Japanese wife and
established himself there, founding a distinguished family. The
closing episode of the Emperor Suinin's life was the despatch of
Tajima Mori, this immigrant's descendant, to the country of Tokoyo,
nominally for the purpose of obtaining orange-seeds, but probably
with the ulterior motive of exploration.
*By Dr. Ariga, an eminent Japanese authority.
The reader is already familiar with this Tokoyo-no-Kuni (Eternal
Land). We hear of it first as the home of "long-singing birds"
summoned to take part in enticing the Sun goddess from her cave. Then
it figures as the final retreat of Sukuna-hikona, the Aescalapius of
the mythological age. Then we find one of Jimmu's elder brothers
treading on the waves to reach it. Then we hear of it as the
birthplace of the billows that make Ise their bourne, and now it is
described by Tajima Mori in his death-song as the "mysterious realm
of gods and genii," so distant that ten years were needed to reach it
and return. It appears in fact to have been an epithet for China in
general, and the destination of Tajima Mori is believed to have been
Shantung, to reach which place by sea from Japan was a great feat of
navigation in those primitive days. Tajima Mori returned to find the
Emperor dead, and in despair he committed suicide.
AGRICULTURE AND ADMINISTRATION
The reclamation of land for purposes of rice cultivation went on
vigorously during Suinin's reign. More than eight hundred ponds and
aqueducts are said to have been constructed by order of the sovereign
for irrigation uses throughout the provinces. It would seem, too,
that the practice of formally consulting Court officials about
administrative problems had its origin at this time. No definite
organization for the purpose was yet created, but it became customary
to convene distinguished scions of the Imperial line and heads of
great subject-families to discuss and report upon affairs of State.
Another innovation referred to in this era was the offering of
weapons of war at the shrines. We read of as many as a thousand
swords being forged to form part of the sacred treasures at the
shrine of Ise-no-Kami, and the occasion was seized to organize a
number of hereditary corporations (be) of arm-makers and armourers.
These were placed under the control of Prince Inishiki, another of
the captains of the Imperial life-guards (mononobe-no-Obito). It is
thus evident that something more than a religious rite was involved
in these measures.
THE TWELFTH EMPEROR, KEIKO (A.D. 71--130)
According to the Records, Keiko was ten feet two inches high, and his
shank measured four feet one inch. His nomination as Prince Imperial
was an even more arbitrary violation of the right of primogeniture
than the case of his predecessor had been, for he was chosen in
preference to his elder brother merely because, when the two youths
were casually questioned as to what they wished for, the elder said,
"a bow and arrows," and the younger, "the empire." The delusive
nature of the Nihongi's chronology in these prehistoric epochs is
exemplified in the annals of this sovereign, for he is represented as
having been in his eighty-third year when he ascended the throne,
yet, in the third year of his reign, he took a consort who bore him
thirteen children, and altogether his progeny numbered eighty sons
and daughters by seven wives. His plan of providing for these
numerous scions constituted the first systematization of a custom
which had been observed in a fitful manner by several of his
predecessors. They had given to their sons local titles and estates
but had not required them to leave the capital. Keiko, however,
appointed his sons, with three exceptions, to the position of
provincial or district viceroy, preserving their Imperial connexion
by calling them wake, or branch families. This subject will present
itself for further notice during the reign of Keiko's successor.
One of the most memorable events in this epoch was the Emperor's
military expedition in person to quell the rebellious Kumaso (q.v.)
in Kyushu. There had not been any instance of the sovereign taking
the field in person since Jimmu's time, and the importance attaching
to the insurrection is thus shown. Allowance has to be made, however,
for the fact that the territory held by these Kumaso in the south of
Kyushu was protected by a natural rampart of stupendous mountain
ranges which rendered military access arduous, and which, in after
ages, enabled a great feudatory to defy the Central Government for
centuries. In connexion with this expedition a noteworthy fact is
that female chieftains were found ruling in the provinces of Suwo and
Bingo. They were not aliens, but belonged to the Yamato race, and
their existence goes far to account for the appellation, "Queens'
Country," applied by Chinese historians to the only part of Japan
with which the people of the Middle Kingdom were familiar, namely,
Kyushu and the west-coast provinces. Keiko's reign is remarkable
chiefly for this expedition to the south, which involved a residence
of six years in Hyuga, and for the campaigns of one of the greatest
of Japan's heroes, Prince Yamato-dake. The military prowess of the
sovereign, the fighting genius of Yamato-dake, and the administrative
ability of Takenouchi-no-Sukune, the first "prime minister" mentioned
in Japanese history, combined to give signal eclat to the reign of
Keiko.
Arriving at this stage of the annals, we are able to perceive what an
influence was exercised on the fortunes of the country by its
topographical features. The southwestern sections of the islands are
comparatively accessible from the centre (Chogoku or Kinai), whether
by sea or by land, but the northeastern are guarded by mountain
chains which can be crossed only by arduous and easily defended
passes. It was, therefore, in these northeastern provinces that the
Yemishi maintained their independence until their strength was broken
by the splendid campaign of Yamato-dake; it was in these northeastern
provinces that the bushi, noblest product of Japanese civilization,
was nurtured; it was in the same provinces that the Taira family made
its brilliant debut, and it was by abandoning these provinces for the
sweets of Kyoto that the Taira fell; it was in the north-eastern
provinces that Minamoto Yoritomo, the father of military feudalism,
established himself, to be followed in succession by the Hojo, the
Ashikaga, and the Tokugawa, and it is in the northeastern provinces
that the Meiji Government has its seat of power.
We can not wonder, therefore, that modern historiographers have
devoted much labour to tracing the route followed by Yamato-dake's
troops and rationalizing the figurative or miraculous features of the
narratives told in the Kojiki and the Nihongi. It is enough to know,
however, that he overran the whole region stretching from the
provinces along the Eastern Sea as far as Iwaki; crossed westward
through Iwashiro to Echigo on the west coast, and turning southward,
made his way through Shinano and Mino to Owari, whence, suffering
from a wound caused by a poisoned arrow, he struggled on to Ise and
died there. This campaign seems to have occupied ten years, and
Yamato-dake was only thirty at the time of his death. He had marched
against the Kumaso in the south at the age of sixteen. The Chronicles
relate that when crossing the Usui Pass and looking down on the sea
where his loved consort had cast herself into the waves to quell
their fury, the great warrior sighed thrice and exclaimed, "My wife,
my wife, my wife!" (Ago, tsuma haya), whereafter the provinces east
of the mountain were designated Azuma.
It was imagined until quite recent times that the pass referred to
was the well-known Usui Toge on the Nakasendo road; but Dr. Kume has
shown that such a supposition is inconsistent with any rational
itinerary of Yamato-dake's march, and that the sea in question cannot
be seen from that defile. The pass mentioned in the Chronicles is
another of the same name not far from the Hakone region, and the term
"Azuma" "had always been used to designate the Eastern Provinces."
Throughout the Records and the Chronicles frequent instances occur of
attempts to derive place-names from appropriate legends, but probably
in many cases the legend was suggested by the name. In connexion with
Yamato-dake's career, a circumstance is recorded which indirectly
points to the absence of history at that period. In order to
immortalize the memory of the hero, hereditary corporations (be)
called after him were created. These Take-be gave their names to the
districts where they lived, in Ise, Izumo, Mimasaka, and Bizen.
FEMALE HOSTAGES
Another custom inaugurated by this sovereign was to require that the
rulers of provinces should send to the Yamato Court female hostages.
The first example of this practice took place on the occasion of an
Imperial visit to the regions overrun by Yamato-dake's forces. Each
of twelve kuni-yatsuko (provincial rulers) was required to send one
damsel for the purpose of serving in the culinary department of the
palace. They were called makura-ko (pillow-child) and they seem to
have been ultimately drafted into the ranks of the uneme
(ladies-in-waiting). Japanese historians hold that the makura-ko were
daughters of the local magnates by whom they were sent, though the
fact of that relationship is not clearly stated in either the Records
or the Chronicles.
TABE AND MIYAKE
In the annals of Suinin's reign brief reference is made to granaries
(miyake) erected by order of the Court. The number of these was
increased in Keiko's time, and it is further mentioned that a
hereditary corporation of rice-field cultivators (tabe) were
organized for service on the Imperial estates. The miyake were at
once storehouse and offices for administering agricultural affairs.
THE THIRTEENTH EMPEROR, SEIMU (A.D. 131--190)
The thirteenth Emperor, Seimu, occupied the throne for fifty-nine
years, according to the Chronicles, but the only noteworthy feature
of his reign was the organization of local government, and the
details of his system are so vaguely stated as to be incomprehensible
without much reference and some hypotheses. Speaking broadly, the
facts are these: Imperial princes who had distinguished themselves by
evidences of ability or courage were despatched to places of special
importance in the provinces, under the name of wake, a term conveying
the signification of "branch of the Imperial family." There is reason
to think that these appointments were designed to extend the prestige
of the Court rather than to facilitate the administration of
provincial affairs. The latter duty was entrusted to officials called
kuni-no-miyatsuko and agata-nushi, which may be translated
"provincial governor" and "district headman." The word miyatsuko
literally signifies "honourable (mi) servant (yatsuko or yakko)."
In the most ancient times all subjects were yakko, but subsequently
those holding office at Court were distinguished as omi (grandee).
Persons eligible for the post of provincial governor seem to have
been chosen from among men of merit, or Imperial princes, or chiefs
of aboriginal tribes. There was little exclusiveness in this respect.
The rate of expansion of the area under Imperial sway may be inferred
from the fact that whereas there were nine provinces (kuni) in
Jimmu's time, one was added by Kaikwa, eleven by Sujin, seven by
Keiko, and sixty-three by Seimu, making a total of ninety-one. Yet,
though by the time of the last named sovereign almost the whole of
the southern and central regions were included in the administrative
circle, the northern provinces, some of the western, and certain
regions in the south (Kyushu) were not yet fully wrested from the
Yemishi and the Kumaso. In subsequent reigns the rate of growth was
as follows: Chuai (A.D. 192-200), two provinces; Ojin (270-310),
twenty-one; Nintoku (313-399), seven; Hansho (406-411) and Inkyo
(412-453), one each; Yuryaku (457-459), three; Keitai (507-531), one;
and eight others at untraceable periods, the total being one hundred
thirty-five.
The agata was a division smaller than a province (kuni). It
corresponded to the modern kori or gun, and its nearest English
equivalent is "district." A distinction must be made, however,
between agata and mi-agata. The latter were Imperial domains whence
the Court derived its resources, and their dimensions varied greatly.
A smaller administrative district than the agata was the inagi.* This
we learn from a Chinese book--the Japanese annals being silent on the
subject--consisted of eighty houses, and ten inagi constituted a
kuni. The terra inagi was also applied to the chief local official of
the region, who may be designated "Mayor."
*Supposed to be derived from ine (rice) and oki (store).
THE FOURTEENTH EMPEROR, CHUAI (A.D. 192--200) AND THE EMPRESS JINGO
(A.D. 201--269)
Were the Records our sole guide, the early incidents of Chuai's reign
would be wrapped in obscurity. For when we first meet him in the
pages of the Kojiki, he is in a palace on the northern shores of the
Shimonoseki Strait, whence he soon crosses to the Kashii palace in
Kyushu. His predecessors, while invariably changing their residences
on mounting the throne, had always chosen a site for the new palace
in Yamato or a neighbouring province, but the Records, without any
explanation, carry Chuai to the far south after his accession. The
Chronicles are more explicit. From them we gather that Chuai--who was
the second son of Yamato-dake and is described as having been ten
feet high with "a countenance of perfect beauty"--was a remarkably
active sovereign. He commenced his reign by a progress to Tsuruga
(then called Tsunuga) on the west coast of the mainland, and, a month
later, he made an expedition to Kii on the opposite shore. While in
the latter province he received news of a revolt of the Kumaso, and
at once taking ship, he went by sea to Shimonoseki, whither he
summoned the Empress from Tsuruga. An expedition against the Kumaso
was then organized and partially carried out, but the Emperor's force
was beaten and he himself received a fatal arrow-wound. Both the
Records and the Chronicles relate that, on the eve of this disastrous
move against the Kumaso, the Empress had a revelation urging the
Emperor to turn his arms against Korea as the Kumaso were not worthy
of his steel. But Chuai rejected the advice with scorn, and the
Kojiki alleges that the outraged deities punished him with death,
though doubtless a Kumaso arrow was the instrument. His demise was
carefully concealed, and the Empress, mustering the troops, took
vengeance upon the Kumaso.
Thereafter her Majesty became the central figure in a page of
history--or romance--which has provoked more controversy than any
incident in Japanese annals. A descendant of the Korean prince,
Ama-no-Hihoko, who settled in the province of Tajima during the reign
of the Emperor Suinin, she must have possessed traditional knowledge
of Shiragi, whence her ancestor had emigrated. She was the third
consort of Chuai. His first had borne him two sons who were of adult
age when, in the second year of his reign, he married Jingo,* a lady
"intelligent, shrewd, and with a countenance of such blooming
loveliness that her father wondered at it." To this appreciation of
her character must be added the attributes of boundless ambition and
brave resourcefulness. The annals represent her as bent from the
outset on the conquest of Korea and as receiving the support and
encouragement of Takenouchi-no-Sukune, who had served her husband and
his predecessor as prime minister. A military expedition oversea led
by a sovereign in person had not been heard of since the days of
Jimmu, and to reconcile officials and troops to such an undertaking
the element of divine revelation had to be introduced. At every stage
signs and portents were vouchsafed by the guardian deities. By their
intervention the Empress was shown to be possessed of miraculous
prowess, and at their instance troops and ships assembled
spontaneously. The armada sailed under divine guidance, a gentle
spirit protecting the Empress, and a warlike spirit leading the van
of her forces. The god of the wind sent a strong breeze; the god of
the sea ruled the waves favourably; all the great fishes accompanied
the squadron, and an unprecendented tide bore the ships far inland.
Fighting became unnecessary. The King of Shiragi did homage at once
and promised tribute and allegiance forever, and the other monarchs
of the peninsula followed his example. In short, Korea was conquered
and incorporated with the dominions of Japan.
*It should be clearly understood that the names by which the
sovereigns are called in these pages, are the posthumous appellations
given to them in later times when Chinese ideographs came into use
and Chinese customs began to be followed in such matters. The
posthumous was compiled with reference to the character or
achievements of the sovereign, Thus Jingo signifies "divine merit,"
on account of her conquests; "Chuai" means "lamentable second son,"
with reference to his evil fate, and "Keiko" implies "great deeds."
These three sovereigns were called during life, Okinaga-Tarashi,
Tarashi-Nakatsu, and 0-Tarashi, respectively.
CRITICISM OF THE ALLEGED CONQUEST OF KOREA
By some learned historiographers the whole of the above account is
pronounced a fiction. There was no such invasion of Korea, they say,
nor does the narrative deserve more credit than the legend of the
Argonauts or the tale of Troy. But that is probably too drastic a
view. There can indeed be little doubt that the compilers of the
Nihongi embellished the bald tradition with imaginary details; used
names which did not exist until centuries after the epoch referred
to; drew upon the resources of Chinese history for the utterances
they ascribe to the Empress and for the weapons they assign to her
soldiers, and were guilty of at least two serious anachronisms.
But none of these faults disfigures the story as told in the pages of
the Kojiki, which was written before the Nihongi. It has always to be
remembered that the compilers of the latter essayed the impossible
task of adjusting a new chronology to events extending over many
centuries, and that the resulting discrepancies of dates does not
necessarily discredit the events themselves. It has also to be
remembered that the same compilers were required to robe their facts
in Chinese costume and that the consequent ill-fits and
artificialities do not of necessity vitiate the facts. In the
particular case under consideration did the Kojiki stand alone,
little doubt would ever have been entertained about the reality of an
armed expedition to Korea, under the Empress Jingo. The sober and
unexaggerated narrative of that history would have been accepted,
less only the miraculous portents which accompany it.
As to the date of the invasion, however, it must have remained
obscure: the Kojiki's narrative furnishes one clue. According to
Korean history, an apparently unimportant descent upon Sinra
(Shiragi) took place in A.D. 219; a more serious one in 233, when the
Japanese ships were burned and their crews massacred, and a still
more formidable one in 249, when a Sinra statesman who had brought on
the invasion by using insulting language towards the sovereign of
Japan in presence of a Japanese ambassador, gave himself up to the
Japanese in the hope of appeasing their anger. They burnt him, and
proceeded to besiege Keumsyong, the Sinra capital, but were
ultimately beaten off. "No less than twenty-five descents by Japanese
on the Sinra coast are mentioned in Korean history in the first five
centuries of the Christian era, but it is impossible to identify any
one of them with Jingo's expedition." [Aston.] Nevertheless, modern
Japanese historians are disposed to assign the Jingo invasion to the
year 364, when Nai-mul ruled Shiragi, from which monarch's era
tribute seems to have been regularly sent to Yamato. Indeed the pages
of the Nihongi which deal with the last sixty years of Jingo's reign
are devoted almost entirely to descriptions of incidents connected
with the receipt of tribute and the advent or despatch of envoys. The
chronology is certainly erroneous. In no less than four several cases
events obviously the same are attributed by the Korean annals to
dates differing from those of the Nihongi by exactly two cycles; and
in one important instance the Japanese work assigns to A.D. 205 an
occurrence which the Tongkan* puts in the year 418.
*Korean history. Its full title is Tong-kuk-lhong-kan.
Whichever annals be correct--and the balance sways in favour of the
Korean so far as those protohistoric eras are concerned--"there can
be no doubt that Japan, at an early period, formed an alliance with
Paikche" (spoken of in Japan as "Kudara," namely, the regions
surrounding the modern Seoul), "and laid the foundation of a
controlling power over the territory known as Imna (or Mimana), which
lasted for several centuries." [Aston.] One evidence of this control
is furnished in the establishment of an office called uchi-tsu-miyake
in addition to the chinju-fu already spoken of. From early times it
had been customary in Japan that whenever any lands were acquired, a
portion of them was included in the Imperial domain, the produce
being thenceforth stored and the affairs of the estate managed at a
miyake presided over by a mikoto-mochi. Thus, on the inclusion of
certain Korean districts in Japan's dominions, this usage was
observed, and the new miyake had the syllables uchi-tsu ("of the
interior") prefixed to distinguish it as a part of Japan. It is on
record that a mikoto-mochi was stationed in Shiragi, and in the days
of Jingo's son (Ojin) the great statesman, Takenouchi-no-Sukune, took
up his residence for a time in Tsukushi to assist this mikoto-mochi
and the chinju-fu, should occasion arise. Modern Japanese historians
describe this era as the first period of Japanese national
development, for an almost immediate result of the oversea relations
thus established was that silk and cotton fabrics of greatly improved
quality, gold, silver, iron, implements, arts, and literature were
imported in increasing quantities to the great benefit of
civilization.
SHIFTING OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE
An important change dates from the reign of Jingo. It has been shown
above that, from a period prior to the death of Suinin, the power and
influence of the Imperial princes and nobles was a constantly growing
quantity. But the political situation developed a new phase when the
Sukune family appeared upon the scene. The first evidence of this was
manifested in a striking incident. When the Emperor Chuai died, his
consort, Jingo, was enceinte* But the Emperor left two sons by a
previous marriage, and clearly one of them should have succeeded to
the throne. Nevertheless, the prime minister, Takenouchi-no-Sukune,
contrived to have the unborn child recognized as Prince Imperial.**
Naturally the deceased Emperor's two elder sons refused to be
arbitrarily set aside in favour of a baby step-brother. The principle
of primogeniture did not possess binding force in those days, but it
had never previously been violated except by the deliberate and
ostensibly reasonable choice of an Emperor. The two princes,
therefore, called their partisans to arms and prepared to resist the
return of Jingo to Yamato. Here again Takenouchi-no-Sukune acted a
great part. He carried the child by the outer sea to a place of
safety in Kii, while the forces of the Empress sailed up the Inland
Sea to meet the brothers at Naniwa (modern Osaka). Moreover, when the
final combat took place, this same Takenouchi devised a strategy
which won the day, and in every great event during the reign of the
Empress his figure stands prominent. Finally, his granddaughter
became the consort of the Emperor Nintoku (313-399), an alliance
which opened a channel for exercising direct influence upon the
Throne and also furnished a precedent adopted freely in subsequent
times by other noble families harbouring similarly ambitious aims. In
short, from the accession of the Empress Jingo a large part of the
sovereign power began to pass into the hands of the prime minister.
*As illustrating the confused chronology of the Nihongi, it may be
noted that, calculated by the incident of Chuai's career, he must
have been fully one hundred years old when he begot this child. That
is marvellous enough, but to add to the perplexity the Nihongi says
that Chuai died at fifty-two.
**The legend says of this child that its birth was artificially
delayed until the return of the empress from the Korean expedition,
but the fact seems to be that the Emperor died at the end of June and
the Empress' accouchement took place in the following April.
ENGRAVING: DEVIL WITH DRAGON HEAD (Sculptured Wood Figure in the
Museum at Kyoto)
ENGRAVING: HORSE RACE IN OLD JAPAN