CHAPTER XIV

FROM THE 29TH TO THE 35TH SOVEREIGN

The 29th Sovereign, Kimmei A.D. 540-571

" 30th " Bidatsu " 572-585

" 31st " Yomei " 586-587

" 32nd " Sushun " 588-592

" 33rd " Suiko " 593-628

" 34th " Jomei " 629-641

" 35th " Kogyoku " 642-645

THE seven reigns five Emperors and two Empresses commencing with the

Emperor Kimmei and ending with the Empress Kogyoku, covered a period

of 105 years, from 540 to 645, and are memorable on three accounts:

the introduction of Buddhism; the usurpation of the great uji, and

the loss of Japan's possessions in Korea.

THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM

During the reign of the Emperor Ming of the Hou-Han dynasty, in the

year AD. 65, a mission was sent from China to procure the Buddhist

Sutras as well as some teachers of the Indian faith. More than three

centuries elapsed before, in the year 372, the creed obtained a

footing in Korea; and not for another century and a half did it find

its way (522) to Japan. It encountered no obstacles in Korea. The

animistic belief of the early Koreans has never been clearly studied,

but whatever its exact nature may have been, it certainly evinced no

bigotry in the presence of the foreign faith, for within three years

of the arrival of the first image of Sakiya Muni in Koma, two large

monasteries had been built, and the King and his Court were all

converts.

No such reception awaited Buddhism in Japan when, in 522, a Chinese

bonze, Shiba Tachito, arrived, erected a temple on the Sakata plain

in Yamato, enshrined an image, of Buddha there, and endeavoured to

propagate the faith. At that time, Wu, the first Emperor of the Liang

dynasty in China, was employing all his influence to popularize the

Indian creed. Tradition says that Shiba Tachito came from Liang, and

in all probability he took the overland route via the Korean

peninsula, but the facts are obscure. No sensible impression seems to

have been produced in Japan by this essay. Buddhism was made known to

a few, but the Japanese showed no disposition to worship a foreign

god. Twenty-three years later (545), the subject attracted attention

again. Song Wang Myong, King of Kudara, menaced by a crushing attack

on the part of Koma and Shiragi in co-operation, made an image of the

Buddha, sixteen feet high, and petitioned the Court of Yamato in the

sense that as all good things were promised in the sequel of such an

effort, protection should be extended to him by Japan. Tradition says

that although Buddhism had not yet secured a footing in Yamato, this

image must be regarded as the pioneer of many similar objects

subsequently set up in Japanese temples.

Nevertheless, A.D. 552 is usually spoken of as the date of Buddhism's

introduction into Japan. In that year the same King of Kudara

presented direct to the Yamato Court a copper image of Buddha plated

with gold; several canopies (tengai), and some volumes of the sacred

books, by the hands of Tori Shichi (Korean pronunciation, Nori

Sachhi) and others. The envoys carried also a memorial which said:

"This doctrine is, among all, most excellent. But it is difficult to

explain and difficult to understand. Even the Duke Chou and Confucius

did not attain to comprehension. It can produce fortune and

retribution, immeasurable, illimitable. It can transform a man into a

Bodhi. Imagine a treasure capable of satisfying all desires in

proportion as it is used. Such a treasure is this wonderful doctrine.

Every earnest supplication is fulfilled and nothing is wanting.

Moreover, from farthest India to the three Han, all have embraced the

doctrine, and there is none that does not receive it with reverence

wherever it is preached. Therefore thy servant, Myong, in all

sincerity, sends his retainer, Nori Sachhi, to transmit it to the

Imperial country, that it may be diffused abroad throughout the home

provinces,* so as to fulfil the recorded saying of the Buddha, 'My

law shall spread to the East.'"** It is highly probable that in the

effort to win the Yamato Court to Buddhism, King Myong was influenced

as much by political as by moral motives. He sought to use the

foreign faith as a link to bind Japan to his country, so that he

might count on his oversea neighbour's powerful aid against the

attacks of Koma and Shiragi.

*That is to say, the Kinai, or five provinces, of which Yamato is the

centre.

**The memorial is held by some critics to be of doubtful

authenticity, though the compilers of the Chronicles may have

inserted it in good faith.

A more interesting question, however, is the aspect under which the

new faith presented itself to the Japanese when it first arrived

among them as a rival of Shinto and Confucianism. There can be no

doubt that the form in which it became known at the outset was the

Hinayana, or Exoteric, as distinguished from the Mahayana, or

Esoteric. But how did the Japanese converts reconcile its acceptance

with their allegiance to the traditional faith, Shinto? The clearest

available answer to this question is contained in a book called

Taishiden Hochu, where, in reply to a query from his father, Yomei,

who professed inability to believe foreign doctrines at variance with

those handed down from the age of the Kami, Prince Shotoku is

recorded to have replied:

"Your Majesty has considered only one aspect of the matter. I am

young and ignorant, but I have carefully studied the teachings of

Confucius and the doctrine of the Kami. I find that there is a plain

distinction. Shinto, since its roots spring from the Kami, came into

existence simultaneously with the heaven and the earth, and thus

expounds the origin of human beings. Confucianism, being a system of

moral principles, is coeval with the people and deals with the middle

stage of humanity. Buddhism, the fruit of principles, arose when the

human intellect matured. It explains the last stage of man. To like

or dislike Buddhism without any reason is simply an individual

prejudice. Heaven commands us to obey reason. The individual cannot

contend against heaven. Recognizing that impossibility, nevertheless

to rely on the individual is not the act of a wise man or an

intelligent. Whether the Emperor desire to encourage this creed is a

matter within his own will. Should he desire to reject it, let him do

so; it will arise one generation later. Should he desire to adopt it,

let him do so; it will arise one generation earlier. A generation is

as one moment in heaven's eyes. Heaven is eternal. The Emperor's

reign is limited to a generation; heaven is boundless and

illimitable. How can the Emperor struggle against heaven? How can

heaven be concerned about a loss of time?"

The eminent modern Japanese historiographer, Dr. Ariga, is disposed

to regard the above as the composition of some one of later date than

the illustrious Shotoku, but he considers that it rightly represents

the relation assigned to the three doctrines by the Japanese of the

sixth and seventh centuries. "Shinto teaches about the origin of the

country but does not deal with the present or the future.

Confucianism discusses the present and has no concern with the past

or the future. Buddhism, alone, preaches about the future. That life

ends with the present cannot be believed by all. Many men think of

the future, and it was therefore inevitable that many should embrace

Buddhism."

But at the moment when the memorial of King Myong was presented to

the Emperor Kimmei, the latter was unprepared to make a definite

reply. The image, indeed, he found to be full of dignity, but he left

his ministers to decide whether it should be worshipped or not. A

division of opinion resulted. The o-omi, Iname, of the Soga family,

advised that, as Buddhism had won worship from all the nations on the

West, Japan should not be singular. But the o-muraji, Okoshi, of the

Mononobe-uji, and Kamako, muraji of the Nakatomi-uji, counselled that

to bow down to foreign deities would be to incur the anger of the

national gods. In a word, the civil officials advocated the adoption

of the Indian creed; the military and ecclesiastical officials

opposed it. That the head of the Mononobe-uji should have adopted

this attitude was natural: it is always the disposition of soldiers

to be conservative, and that is notably true of the Japanese soldier

(bushi). In the case of the Nakatomi, also, we have to remember that

they were, in a sense, the guardians of the Shinto ceremonials: thus,

their aversion to the acceptance of a strange faith is explained.

What is to be said, however, of the apparently radical policy of the

Soga chief? Why should he have advocated so readily the introduction

of a foreign creed? There are two apparent reasons. One is that the

Hata and Aya groups of Korean and Chinese artisans were under the

control of the Soga-uji, and that the latter were therefore disposed

to welcome all innovations coming from the Asiatic continent. The

other is that between the o-muraji of the Kami class (Shimbetsu) and

the o-omi of the Imperial class (Kwobetsu) there had existed for some

time a political rivalry which began to be acute at about the period

of the coming of Buddhism, and which was destined to culminate, forty

years later, in a great catastrophe. The Emperor himself steered a

middle course. He neither opposed nor approved but entrusted the

image to the keeping of the Soga noble. Probably his Majesty was not

unwilling to submit the experiment to a practical test vicariously,

for it is to be noted that, in those days, the influence of the Kami

for good or for evil was believed to be freely exercised in human

affairs.

This last consideration does not seem to have influenced Soga no

Iname at all. He must have been singularly free from the

superstitions of his age, for he not only received the image with

pleasure but also enshrined it with all solemnity in his Mukuhara

residence, which he converted wholly into a temple.

Very shortly afterwards, however, the country was visited by a

pestilence, and the calamity being regarded as an expression of the

Kami's resentment, the o-muraji of the Mononobe and the muraji of the

Nakatomi urged the Emperor to cast out the emblems of a foreign

faith. Accordingly, the statue of the Buddha was thrown into the

Naniwa canal and the temple was burned to the ground. Necessarily

these events sharply accentuated the enmity between the Soga and the

Mononobe. Twenty-five years passed, however, without any attempt to

restore the worship of the Buddha. Iname, the o-omi of the Soga,

died; Okoshi, the o-muraji of the Mononobe, died, and they were

succeeded in these high offices by their sons, Umako and Moriya,

respectively.

When the Emperor Bidatsu ascended the throne in A.D. 572, the

political stage was practically occupied by these two ministers only;

they had no competitors of equal rank. In 577, the King of Kudara

made a second attempt to introduce Buddhism into Japan. He sent to

the Yamato Court two hundred volumes of sacred books; an ascetic; a

yogi (meditative monk); a nun; a reciter of mantras (magic spells); a

maker of images, and a temple architect. If any excitement was caused

by this event, the annals say nothing of the fact. It is briefly

related that ultimately a temple was built for the new-comers in

Naniwa (modern Osaka). Two years later, Shiragi also sent a Buddhist

eidolon, and in 584--just sixty-two years after the coming of Shiba

Tachito from Liang and thirty-two years after Soga no Iname's attempt

to popularize the Indian faith--two Japanese high officials returned

from Korea, carrying with them a bronze image of Buddha and a stone

image of Miroku.* These two images were handed over, at his request,

to the o-omi, Umako, who had inherited his father's ideas about

Buddhism. He invited Shiba Tachito, then a village mayor, to

accompany one Hida on a search throughout the provinces for Buddhist

devotees. They found a man called Eben, a Korean who had originally

been a priest, and he, having resumed the stole, consecrated the

twelve-year-old daughter of Shiba Tachito, together with two other

girls, as nuns. The o-omi now built a temple, where the image of

Miroku was enshrined, and a pagoda on the top of whose central pillar

was deposited a Buddhist relic which had shown miraculous powers.

*The Sanskrit Maitreya, the expected Messiah of the Buddhist.

Thus, once more the creed of Sakiya Muni seemed to have found a

footing in Japan. But again the old superstitions prevailed. The

plague of small-pox broke out once more. This fell disease had been

carried from Cochin China by the troops of General Ma Yuan during the

Han dynasty, and it reached Japan almost simultaneously with the

importation of Buddhism. The physicians of the East had no skill in

treating it, and its ravages were terrible, those that escaped with

their lives having generally to lament the loss of their eyes. So

soon as the malady made its second appearance in the immediate sequel

of the new honours paid to Buddhism, men began to cry out that the

Kami were punishing the nation's apostacy, and the o-muraji, Moriya,

urged the Emperor (Bidatsu) to authorize the suppression of the alien

religion. Bidatsu, who at heart had always been hostile to the

innovation, consented readily, and the o-muraji, taking upon himself

the duty of directing the work of iconoclasm, caused the pagoda and

the temple to be razed and burned, threw the image into the canal,

and flogged the nuns. But the pestilence was not stayed. Its ravages

grew more unsparing. The Emperor himself, as well as the o-omi,

Umako, were attacked, and now the popular outcry took another tone:

men ascribed the plague to the wrath of Buddha. Umako, in turn,

pleaded with the Emperor, and was permitted to rebuild the temple and

reinstate the nuns, on condition that no efforts were made to

proselytize.

Thus Buddhism recovered its footing, but the enmity between the

o-muraji and the o-omi grew more implacable than ever. They insulted

each other, even at the obsequies of the sovereign, and an occasion

alone was needed to convert their anger into an appeal to arms.

DISPUTES ABOUT THE ACCESSION

When the Emperor Bidatsu died (A.D. 585) no nomination of a Prince

Imperial had taken place, and the feud known to exist between the

o-omi and the o-muraji increased the danger of the situation. The

following genealogical table will serve to elucidate the relation in

which the Soga-uji stood to the Imperial Family, as well as the

relation between the members of the latter:

\

| Prince Shotoku******

/ Emperor Yomei** > (married to a daughter

/ \ | (originally Prince Oe)| of Soga no Umako)

|Princess Kitashi| | /

|(consort of >< Empress Suiko*****

|Emperor Kimmei* | | (originally consort

| / | of Emperor Bidatsu***

Soga | \

no <

Iname | \ /

|Oane-kimi | | Prince Anahobe*******

|(consort of ><

|Emperor Kimmei) | | Emperor Sushun****

| / \

|

|Omako-Emishi-Iruka

\

*The Emperor Kimmei was the elder brother-in-law of Soga no Umako.

**The Emperor Yomei was the nephew of Soga no Umako.

***The Emperor Bidatsu was a nephew of Umako.

****The Emperor Sushun was a nephew of Umako.

*****The Empress Suiko was a niece of Umako.

******Prince Shotoku was son-in-law of Umako.

*******Prince Anahobe was a nephew of Umako.

It is thus seen that the great uji of Soga was closely related to all

the Imperial personages who figured prominently on the stage at this

period of Japanese history.

THE EMPEROR YOMEI

The Emperor Yomei was the fourth son of the Emperor Kimmei and a

nephew of the o-omi, Umako. The Chronicles say that he "believed in

the law of Buddha and reverenced Shinto" which term now makes its

first appearance on the page of Japanese history, the Kami alone

having been spoken of hitherto. Yomei's accession was opposed by his

younger brother, Prince Anahobe (vide above genealogical table), who

had the support of the o-muraji, Moriya; but the Soga influence was

exerted in Yomei's behalf. Anahobe did not suffer his discomfiture

patiently. He attempted to procure admission to the mourning chamber

of the deceased Emperor for some unexplained purpose, and being

resisted by Miwa Sako, who commanded the palace guards, he laid a

formal complaint before the o-omi and the o-muraji. In the sequel

Sako was killed by the troops of the o-muraji, though he merited

rather the latter's protection as a brave soldier who had merely done

his duty, who opposed Buddhism, and who enjoyed the confidence of the

Empress Dowager. To Umako, predicting that this deed of undeserved

violence would prove the beginning of serious trouble, Moriya

insultingly retorted that small-minded men did not understand such

matters. Moriya's mind was of the rough military type. He did not

fathom the subtle unscrupulous intellect of an adversary like Umako,

and was destined to learn the truth by a bitter process.

SHOTOKU TAISHI

Umayado, eldest son of the Emperor Yomei, is one of the most

distinguished figures in the annals of Japan. He has been well called

"the Constantine of Buddhism." In proof of his extraordinary

sagacity, the Chronicles relate that in a lawsuit he could hear the

evidence of ten men without confusing them. From his earliest youth

he evinced a remarkable disposition for study. A learned man was

invited from China to teach him the classics, and priests were

brought from Koma to expound the doctrine of Buddhism, in which faith

he ultimately became a profound believer. In fact, to his influence,

more than to any other single factor, may be ascribed the final

adoption of the Indian creed by Japan. He never actually ascended the

throne, but as regent under the Empress Suiko he wielded Imperial

authority. In history he is known as Shotoku Taishi (Prince Shotoku).

FINAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE MONONOBE AND THE SOGA

In the second year of his reign, the Emperor Yomei was seized with

the malady which had killed his father. In his extremity he desired

to be received into the Buddhist faith to which he had always

inclined, and he ordered the leading officials to consider the

matter. A council was held. Moriya, o-muraji of the Mononobe, and

Katsumi, muraji of the Nakatomi, objected resolutely. They asked why

the Kami of the country should be abandoned in a moment of crisis.

But Umako, o-omi of the Soga, said: "It is our duty to obey the

Imperial commands and to give relief to his Majesty. Who will dare to

suggest contumely?" Buddhist priests were then summoned to the

palace. It was a moment of extreme tension. Prince Umayado (Shotoku)

grasped the hands of the o-omi and exclaimed, "If the minister had

not believed in Buddhism, who would have ventured to give such

counsel?" Umako's answer is said to have been: "Your Imperial

Highness will work for the propagation of the faith. I, a humble

subject, will maintain it to the death." Moriya, the o-muraji, made

no attempt to hide his resentment, but recognizing that his adherents

in the palace were comparatively few, he withdrew to a safe place and

there concentrated his forces, endeavouring, at the same time, to

enlist by magic rites the assistance of the Kami against the

disciples of the foreign faith. Meanwhile the Emperor's malady ended

fatally. His reign had lasted only one year. At the point of death he

was comforted by an assurance that the son of Shiba Tachito would

renounce the world to revere his Majesty's memory and would make an

image of the Buddha sixteen feet high.

Buddhism had now gained a firm footing at the Yamato Court, but its

opponents were still active. Their leader, the o-muraji, thought that

his best chance of success was to contrive the accession of Prince

Anahobe, whose attempt to take precedence of his elder brother, the

Emperor Yomei, has been already noted. The conspiracy was discovered,

and the Soga forces, acting under the nominal authority of the

deceased Emperor's consort, Umako's niece, moved against Anahobe and

Moriya, who had not been able to combine their strength. The

destruction of Prince Anahobe was easily effected, but the work of

dealing with the o-muraji taxed the resources of the Soga to the

utmost. Moriya himself ascended a tree and by skill of archery held

his assailants long at bay. Archery had been practised assiduously by

the Yamato warrior from time immemorial, and arrows possessing

remarkable power of penetration had been devised. During the reign of

Nintoku, when envoys from Koma presented to the Court iron shields

and iron targets, a Japanese archer, Tatebito, was able to pierce

them; and in the time of Yuryaku, a rebel named Iratsuko shot a shaft

which, passing through his adversary's shield and twofold armour,

entered the flesh of his body to the depth of an inch. There was an

archery hall within the enclosure of the palace; whenever envoys or

functionaries from foreign countries visited Yamato they were invited

to shoot there; frequent trials of skill took place, and when oversea

sovereigns applied for military aid, it was not unusual to send some

bundles of arrows in lieu of soldiers.

Thus, the general of the Mononobe, perched among the branches of a

tree, with an unlimited supply of shafts and with highly trained

skill as a bowman, was a formidable adversary. Moriya and his large

following of born soldiers drove back the Soga forces three times.

Success seemed to be in sight for the champion of the Kami. At this

desperate stage Prince Shotoku--then a lad of sixteen--fastened to

his helmet images of the "Four Guardian Kings of Heaven"* and vowed

to build a temple in their honour if victory was vouchsafed to his

arms. At the same time, the o-omi, Umako, took oath to dedicate

temples and propagate Buddhism. The combat had now assumed a

distinctly religious character. Shotoku and Umako advanced again to

the attack; Moriya was shot down; his family and followers fled, were

put to the sword or sent into slavery, and all his property was

confiscated.

*The "Four Guardian Kings" (Shi-Tenno) are the warriors who guard the

world against the attacks of demons.

An incident of this campaign illustrates the character of the

Japanese soldier as revealed in the pages of subsequent history: a

character whose prominent traits were dauntless courage and romantic

sympathy. Yorozu, a dependent of the o-muraji, was reduced to the

last straits after a desperate fight. The Chronicles say: "Then he

took the sword which he wore, cut his bow into three pieces, and

bending his sword, flung it into the river. With a dagger which he

had besides, he stabbed himself in the throat and died. The governor

of Kawachi having reported the circumstances of Yorozu's death to the

Court, the latter gave an order by a stamp* that his body should be

cut into eight pieces and distributed among the eight provinces."**

In accordance with this order the governor was about to dismember the

corpse when thunder pealed and a great rain fell. "Now there was a

white dog which had been kept by Yorozu. Looking up and looking down,

it went round, howling beside the body, and at last, taking up the

head in its mouth, it placed it on an ancient mound, lay down close

by, and starved to death. When this was reported to the Court, the

latter, moved by profound pity, issued an order that the dog's

conduct should be handed down to after ages, and that the kindred of

Yorozu should be allowed to construct a tomb and bury his remains."

*A stamp in red or black on the palm of the hand.

**This custom of dismembering and distributing the remains was

practised in Korea until the time, at the close of the nineteenth

century, when the peninsula came under Japanese protection. It was

never customary in Japan.

BUILDING OF TEMPLES

After order had been restored, Prince Shotoku fulfilled his vow by

building in the province of Settsu a temple dedicated to the Four

Guardian Kings of Heaven (Shitenno-ji), and by way of endowment there

were handed over to it one-half of the servants of the o-muraji,

together with his house and a quantity of other property. The o-omi,

Umako, also erected a temple called Hoko-ji in Asuka near Kara. It

has been shown above that Soga no Iname converted one of his houses

into a temple to receive the Buddhist image sent by Myong in 552, and

that his son, Umako, erected a temple on the east of his residence to

enshrine a stone image of Miroku, in 584. But these two edifices

partook largely of the nature of private worship. The first public

temples for the service of Buddhism were Shotoku's Shitenno-ji and

Umako's Hoko-ji erected in 587.

AMOUNT OF THE O-MURAJI'S PROPERTY

In the Annals of Prince Shotoku (Taishi-deri) it is recorded that the

parts of the o-muraji's estate with which the temple of the Four

Kings was endowed were 273 members of his family and household; his

three houses and movable property, together with his domain measuring

186,890 shiro, and consisting of two areas of 128,640 shiro and

58,250 shiro in Kawachi and Settsu, respectively. The shiro is

variously reckoned at from 5% to 7.12 tsubo (1 tsubo = 36 square

feet). Taking the shiro as 6 tsubo, the above three areas total 1000

acres approximately. That this represented a part only of the

o-muraji's property is held by historians, who point to the fact that

the o-omi's wife, a younger sister of the o-muraji, incited her

husband to destroy Moriya for the sake of getting possession of his

wealth.

THE EMPEROR SUSHUN

The deaths of Prince Anahobe and Moriya left the Government

completely in the hands of Soga no Umako. There was no o-muraji; the

o-omi was supreme. At his instance the crown was placed upon the head

of his youngest nephew, Sushun. But Sushun entertained no friendship

for Umako nor any feeling of gratitude for the latter's action in

contriving his succession to the throne. Active, daring, and astute,

he judged the o-omi to be swayed solely by personal ambition, and he

placed no faith in the sincerity of the great official's Buddhist

propaganda. Meanwhile, the fortunes of the new faith prospered. When

the dying Emperor, Yomei, asked to be qualified for Nirvana, priests

were summoned from Kudara. They came in 588, the first year of

Sushun's reign, carrying relics (sarira), and they were accompanied

by ascetics, temple-architects, metal-founders, potters, and a

pictorial artist.

The Indian creed now began to present itself to the Japanese people,

not merely as a vehicle for securing insensibility to suffering in

this life and happiness in the next, but also as a great protagonist

of refined progress, gorgeous in paraphernalia, impressive in rites,

eminently practical in teachings, and substituting a vivid rainbow of

positive hope for the negative pallor of Shinto. Men began to adopt

the stole; women to take the veil, and people to visit the hills in

search of timbers suited for the frames of massive temples. Soga no

Umako, the ostensible leader of this great movement, grew more and

more arrogant and arbitrary. The youthful Emperor unbosomed himself

to Prince Shotoku, avowing his aversion to the o-omi and his

uncontrollable desire to be freed from the incubus of such a

minister. Shotoku counselled patience, but Sushun's impetuosity could

not brook delay, nor did he reflect that he was surrounded by

partisans of the Soga.

A Court lady betrayed his designs to the o-omi, and the latter

decided that the Emperor must be destroyed. An assassin was found in

the person of Koma, a naturalized Chinese, suzerain of the Aya uji,

and, being introduced into the palace by the o-omi under pretence of

offering textile fabrics from the eastern provinces, he killed the

Emperor. So omnipotent was the Soga chief that his murderous envoy

was not even questioned. He received open thanks from his employer

and might have risen to high office had he not debauched a daughter

of the o-omi. Then Umako caused him to be hung from a tree and made a

target of his body, charging him with having taken the Emperor's

life. "I knew only that there was an o-omi," retorted the man. "I did

not know there was an Emperor." Many others shared Koma's comparative

ignorance when the Soga were in power. At the Emperor Yomei's death,

only one person honoured his memory by entering the Buddhist

priesthood. When Soga no Umako died, a thousand men received the

tonsure. The unfortunate Sushun was interred on the day of his

murder, an extreme indignity, yet no one ventured to protest; and

even Prince Shotoku, while predicting that the assassin would

ultimately suffer retribution, justified the assassination on the

ground that previous misdeeds had deserved it.

Shotoku's conduct on this occasion has inspired much censure and

surprise when contrasted with his conspicuous respect for virtue in

all other cases. But the history of the time requires intelligent

expansion. Cursory reading suggests that Umako's resolve to kill

Sushun was taken suddenly in consequence of discovering the latter's

angry mood. The truth seems to be that Sushun was doomed from the

moment of his accession. His elder brother had perished at the hands

of Umako's troops, and if he himself did not meet the same fate,

absence of plausible pretext alone saved him. To suffer him to reign,

harbouring, as he must have harboured, bitter resentment against his

brother's slayer, would have been a weakness inconsistent with

Umako's character. Sushun was placed on the throne as a concession to

appearance, but, at the same time, he was surrounded with creatures

of the o-omi, so that the latter had constant cognizance of the

sovereign's every word and act.

When the o-omi judged the time fitting, he proposed to the Emperor

that an expedition should be despatched to recover Mimana, which had

been lost to Japan some time previously. An army of twenty thousand

men, commanded by a majority of the omi and muraji, was sent to

Tsukushi, and all potential opponents of the Soga chief having been

thus removed, he proceeded to carry out his design against the

Emperor's life. The very indignity done to Sushun's remains testifies

the thoroughness of the Soga plot. It has been shown that in early

days the erection of a tomb for an Imperial personage was a heavy

task, involving much time and labour. Pending the completion of the

work, the corpse was put into a coffin and guarded day and night, for

which purpose a separate palace was* erected. When the sepulchre had

been fully prepared, the remains were transferred thither with

elaborate ceremonials,** and the tomb was thenceforth under the care

of guardians (rioko).

*Called Araki-no-miya, or the "rough palace." The interval during

which time the coffin remained there was termed kari-mo-gari, or

"temporary mourning."

**Known as kakushi-matsuri, or the "rite of hiding." It would seem

that the term of one year's mourning prescribed in the case of a

parent had its origin in the above arrangement.

All these observances were dispensed with in the case of the Emperor

Sushun. His remains did not receive even the measure of respect that

would have been paid to the corpse of the commonest among his

subjects. Nothing could indicate more vividly the omnipotence of the

o-omi; everything had been prepared so that his partisans could bury

the body almost before it was cold. Had Prince Shotoku protested, he

would have been guilty of the futility described by a Chinese proverb

as "spitting at the sky." Besides, Shotoku and Umako were allies

otherwise. The Soga minister, in his struggle with the military

party, had needed the assistance of Shotoku, and had secured it by

community of allegiance to Buddhism. The prince, in his projected

struggle against the uji system, needed the assistance of Buddhist

disciples in general, and in his effort to reach the throne, needed

the assistance of Umako in particular. In short, he was building the

edifice of a great reform, and to have pitted himself, at the age of

nineteen, against the mature strength of the o-omi would have been to

perish on the threshold of his purpose.

THE EMPRESS SUIKO

By the contrivance of Umako, the consort of the Emperor Bidatsu was

now placed on the throne, Prince Shotoku being nominated Prince

Imperial and regent. The Soga-uji held absolute power in every

department of State affairs.

THE CONSTITUTION OF SHOTOKU

One of the most remarkable documents in Japanese annals is the

Jushichi Kempo, or Seventeen-Article Constitution, compiled by

Shotoku Taishi in A.D. 604. It is commonly spoken of as the first

written law of Japan. But it is not a body of laws in the proper

sense of the term. There are no penal provisions, nor is there any

evidence of promulgation with Imperial sanction. The seventeen

articles are simply moral maxims, based on the teachings of Buddhism

and Confucianism, and appealing to the sanctions of conscience.

Prince Shotoku, in his capacity of regent, compiled them and issued

them to officials in the guise of "instructions."

I. Harmony is to be valued, and the avoidance of wanton opposition

honoured. All men are swayed by class feeling and few are

intelligent. Hence some disobey their lords and fathers or maintain

feuds with neighbouring villages. But when the high are harmonious

and the low friendly, and when there is concord in the discussion of

affairs, right views spontaneously find acceptance. What is there

that cannot be then accomplished?

II. Reverence sincerely the Three Treasures--Buddha, the Law, and the

Priesthood--for these are the final refuge of the Four Generated

Beings* and the supreme objects of faith in all countries. What man

in what age can fail to revere this law? Few are utterly bad: they

may be taught to follow it. But if they turn not to the Three

Treasures, wherewithal shall their crookedness be made straight?

*Beings produced in transmigration by the four processes of being

born from eggs, from a womb, from fermentation, or from

metamorphosis.

III. When you receive the Imperial Commands fail not to obey

scrupulously. The lord is Heaven; the vassal, Earth. Heaven

overspreads; Earth upbears. When this is so, the four seasons follow

their due course, and the powers of Nature develop their efficiency.

If the Earth attempt to overspread, Heaven falls in ruin. Hence when

the lord speaks, the vassal hearkens; when the superior acts, the

inferior yields compliance. When, therefore, you receive an Imperial

Command, fail not to carry it out scrupulously. If there be want or

care in this respect, a catastrophe naturally ensues.

IV. Ministers and functionaries should make decorous behavior their

guiding principle, for decorous behavior is the main factor in

governing the people. If superiors do not behave with decorum,

inferiors are disorderly; if inferiors are wanting in proper

behaviour, offences are inevitable. Thus it is that when lord and

vassal behave with propriety, the distinctions of rank are not

confused; and when the people behave with propriety, the government

of the State proceeds of itself.

V. Refraining from gluttony and abandoning covetous desires, deal

impartially with the suits brought before you. Of complaints

preferred by the people there are a thousand in one day: how many,

then, will there be in a series of years? Should he that decides

suits at law make gain his ordinary motive and hear causes with a

view to receiving bribes, then will the suits of the rich man be like

a stone flung into water,* while the plaints of the poor will

resemble water cast on a stone. In such circumstances, the poor man

will not know whither to betake himself, and the duty of a minister

will not be discharged.

*That is to say, they will encounter no opposition.

VI. Chastise that which is evil and encourage that which is good.

This was the excellent rule of antiquity. Conceal not, therefore, the

good qualities of others, and fail not to correct that which is wrong

when you see it. Flatterers and deceivers are a sharp weapon for the

overthrow of the State, and a pointed sword for the destruction of

the people. Sycophants are also fond, when they meet, of dilating to

their superiors on the errors of their inferiors; to their inferiors,

they censure the faults of their superiors. Men of this kind are all

wanting in fidelity to their lord, and in benevolence towards the

people. From such an origin great civil disturbances arise.

VII. Let every man have his own charge, and let not the spheres of

duty be confused. When wise men are entrusted with office, the sound

of praise arises. If unprincipled men hold office, disasters and

tumults are multiplied. In this world, few are born with knowledge:

wisdom is the product of earnest meditation. In all things, whether

great or small, find the right man, and they will surely be well

managed: on all occasions, be they urgent or the reverse, meet with

but a wise man and they will of themselves be amenable. In this way

will the State be eternal and the Temples of the Earth and of Grain*

will be free from danger. Therefore did the wise sovereigns of

antiquity seek the man to fill the office, and not the office for the

sake of the man.

*A Chinese expression for the Imperial house.

VIII. Let the ministers and functionaries attend the Court early in

the morning, and retire late. The business of the State does not

admit of remissness, and the whole day is hardly enough for its

accomplishment. If, therefore, the attendance at Court is late,

emergencies cannot be met: if officials retire soon, the work cannot

be completed.

IX. Good faith is the foundation of right. In everything let there be

good faith, for in it there surely consists the good and the bad,

success and failure. If the lord and the vassal observe good faith

one with another, what is there which cannot be accomplished? If the

lord and the vassal do not observe good faith towards one another,

everything without exception ends in failure.

X. Let us cease from wrath, and refrain from angry looks. Nor let us

be resentful when others differ from us. For all men have hearts, and

each heart has its own leanings. Their right is our wrong, and our

right is their wrong. We are not unquestionably sages nor are they

unquestionably fools. Both of us are simply ordinary men. How can

anyone lay down a rule by which to distinguish right from wrong? For

we are all, one with another, wise and foolish like a ring which has

no end. Therefore, although others give way to anger, let us, on the

contrary, dread our own faults, and though we alone may be in the

right, let us follow the multitude and act like them.

XI. Give clear appreciation to merit and demerit, and deal out to

each its sure reward or punishment. In these days, reward does not

attend upon merit, nor punishment upon crime. Ye high functionaries

who have charge of public affairs, let it be your task to make clear

rewards and punishments.

XII. Let not the provincial authorities or the kuni no miyatsuko levy

exactions on the people. In a country there are not two lords; the

people have not two masters. The sovereign is the master of the

people of the whole country. The officials to whom he gives charge

are all his vassals. How can they, as well as the Government, presume

to levy taxes on the people?

XIII. Let all persons entrusted with office attend equally to their

functions. Owing to illness or despatch on missions their work may

sometimes be neglected. But whenever they are able to attend to

business, let them be as accommodating as though they had cognizance

of it from before, and let them not hinder public affairs on the

score of not having had to do with them.

XIV. Ministers and functionaries, be not envious. If we envy others,

they, in turn, will envy us. The evils of envy know no limit. If

others excel us in intelligence, it gives us no pleasure; if they

surpass us in ability, we are envious. Therefore it is not until

after the lapse of five hundred years that we at last meet with a

wise man, and even in a thousand years we hardly obtain one sage. But

if wise men and sages be not found, how shall the country be

governed?

XV. To turn away from that which is private and to set one's face

towards that which is public this is the path of a minister. If a man

is influenced by private motives, he will assuredly feel resentment;

if he is influenced by resentment, he will assuredly fail to act

harmoniously with others; if he fails to act harmoniously with

others, he will assuredly sacrifice the public interest to his

private feelings. When resentment arises, it interferes with order

and is subversive of law. Therefore, in the first clause it was said

that superiors and inferiors should agree together. The purport is

the same as this.

XVI. Let the employment of the people in forced labour be at

seasonable times. This is an ancient and excellent rule. Let them be

employed, therefore, in the winter months when they have leisure. But

from spring to autumn, when they are engaged in agriculture or with

the mulberry trees, the people should not be employed. For if they do

not attend to agriculture, what will they have to eat? If they do not

attend to the mulberry trees, what will they do for clothing?

XVII. Decisions on important matters should not be rendered by one

person alone: they should be discussed by many. But small matters

being of less consequence, need not be consulted about by a number of

people. It is only in the discussion of weighty affairs, when there

is an apprehension of miscarriage, that matters should be arranged in

concert with others so as to arrive at the right conclusion.*

*The above is taken almost verbatim from Aston's translation of the

Nihongi.

For a document compiled at the beginning of the seventh century these

seventeen ethical precepts merit much approbation. With the exception

of the doctrine of expediency, enunciated at the close of the tenth

article, the code of Shotoku might be taken for guide by any

community in any age. But the prince as a moral reformer* cannot be

credited with originality; his merit consists in having studied

Confucianism and Buddhism intelligently. The political purport of his

code is more remarkable. In the whole seventeen articles there is

nothing to inculcate worship of the Kami or observance of Shinto

rites. Again, whereas, according to the Japanese creed, the sovereign

power is derived from the Imperial ancestor, the latter is nowhere

alluded to. The seventh article makes the eternity of the State and

the security of the Imperial house depend upon wise administration by

well-selected officials, but says nothing of hereditary rights. How

is such a vital omission to be interpreted, except on the supposition

that Shotoku, who had witnessed the worst abuses incidental to the

hereditary system of the uji, intended by this code to enter a solemn

protest against that system?

*It is a curious fact that tradition represents this prince as having

been born at the door of a stable. Hence his original name, Umayado

(Stable-door).

Further, the importance attached to the people* is a very prominent

feature of the code. Thus, in Article IV, it is stated that "when the

people behave with propriety the government of the State proceeds of

itself;" Article V speaks of "complaints preferred by the people;"

Article VI refers to "the overthrow of the State" and "the

destruction of the people;" Article VII emphasises "the eternity of

the State;" that "the sovereign is the master of the people of the

whole country;" that "the officials to whom he gives charge are all

his vassals," and that these officials, whether miyatsuko or

provincial authorities, must not "presume, as well as the Government,

to levy taxes on the people." All those expressions amount to a

distinct condemnation of the uji system, under which the only people

directly subject to the sovereign were those of the minashiro, and

those who had been naturalized or otherwise specially assigned, all

the rest being practically the property of the uji, and the only

lands paying direct taxes to the Throne were the domains of the

miyake.

*The word used is hyakusho, which ultimately came to be applied to

farmers only.

Forty-two years later (A.D. 646), the abolition of private property

in persons and lands was destined to become the policy of the State,

but its foundations seem to have been laid in Shotoku's time. It

would be an error to suppose that the neglect of Shinto suggested by

the above code was by any means a distinct feature of the era, or

even a practice of the prince himself. Thus, an Imperial edict,

published in the year 607, enjoined that there must be no remissness

in the worship of the Kami, and that they should be sincerely

reverenced by all officials, In the sequel of this edict Prince

Shotoku himself, the o-omi, and a number of functionaries worshipped

the Kami of heaven and of earth. In fact, Shotoku, for all his

enthusiasm in the cause of Buddhism, seems to have shrunk from

anything like bigoted exclusiveness. He is quoted* as saying: "The

management of State affairs cannot be achieved unless it is based on

knowledge, and the sources of knowledge are Confucianism, Buddhism,

and Shinto."** He who inclines to one of these three, must study the

other two also; for what one knows seems reasonable, but that of

which one is ignorant appears unreasonable. Therefore an

administrator of public affairs should make himself acquainted with

all three and should not affect one only, for such partiality

signifies maladministration.

*In the Sankyo-ron.

**The order of this enumeration is significant.

DEATH OF SHOTOKU TAISHI

Prince Shotoku died in the year 621. The Records do not relate

anything of his illness: they say merely that he foresaw the day and

hour of his own death, and they say also that when the Buddhist

priest, Hyecha of Koma, who had instructed the prince in the "inner

doctrine," learned of his decease, he also announced his

determination to die on the same day of the same month in the

following year so as "to meet the prince in the Pure Land and,

together with him, pass through the metempsychosis of all living

creatures."

The last months of Shotoku's life were devoted to compiling, in

concert with the o-omi Umako, "a history of the Emperors; a history

of the country, and the original record of the omi, the muraji, the

tomo no miyatsuko, the kuni no miyatsuko, the 180 be, and the free

subjects." This, the first Japanese historical work, was completed in

the year 620. It was known afterwards as the Kujihongi, and

twenty-five years later (645) when--as will presently be seen--the

execution of the Soga chief took place, the book was partially

consumed by fire. Yet that it had not suffered beyond the possibility

of reconstruction, and that it survived in the Ko-jiki was never

doubted until the days (1730-1801) of "the prince of Japanese

literati," Motoori Norinaga. The question of authenticity is still

unsettled.

Shotoku's name is further connected with calendar making, though no

particulars of his work in that line are on record. Japanese

historians speak of him as the father of his country's civilization.

They say that he breathed life into the nation; that he raised the

status of the Empire; that he laid the foundations of Japanese

learning; that he fixed the laws of decorum; that he imparted a new

character to foreign relations, and that he was an incarnation of the

Buddha, specially sent to convert Japan. The Chronicles say that at

his death nobles and commoners alike, "the old, as if they had lost a

dear child, the young, as if they had lost a beloved parent, filled

the ways with the sound of their lamenting."

THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM AND THE CONTROL OF ITS PRIESTS

The roots of Japanese Buddhism were watered with blood, as have been

the roots of so many religions in so many countries. From the day of

the destruction of the military party under the o-muraji Moriya, the

foreign faith flourished. Then--as has been shown--were built the

first two great temples, and then, for the first time, a Buddhist

place of worship was endowed* with rich estates and an ample number

of serfs to till them. Thenceforth the annals abound with references

to the advent of Buddhist priests from Korea, bearing relics or

images. The omi and the muraji vied with each other in erecting

shrines, and in 605, we find the Empress Suiko commanding all high

dignitaries of State to make 16-foot images of copper** and of

embroidery. Buddhist festivals were instituted in 606, and their

magnificence, as compared with the extreme simplicity of the Shinto

rites, must have deeply impressed the people. In a few decades

Buddhism became a great social power, and since its priests and nuns

were outside the sphere of ordinary administration, the question of

their control soon presented itself. It became pressing in 623 when a

priest killed his grandfather with an axe. The Empress Suiko, who was

then on the throne, would have subjected the whole body of priests

and nuns to judicial examination, a terrible ordeal in those days of

torture; but at the instance of a Korean priest, officials

corresponding to bishops (sojo), high priests (sozu) and abbots

(hotto) were appointed from the ranks of Buddhism, and the duty of

prescribing law and order was entrusted to them. This involved

registration of all the priesthood, and it was thus found (623) that

the temples numbered 46; the priests 816, and the nuns 569.

*The endowment of religious edifices was not new in Japan. A

conspicuous instance was in A.D. 487, when rice-fields were dedicated

to the Moon god and to the ancestor of the Sun goddess.

**The metal employed was of gold and copper; in the proportion of one

part of the former to 430 of the latter. It is related that when

these images were completed, the temple door proved too low to admit

them, and the artisan--Tori the Saddle-maker--whose ingenuity

overcame the difficulty without pulling down the door, received large

honour and reward.

INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA

That not a few Chinese migrated to Japan in remote times is clear.

The Records show that in the year A.D. 540, during the reign of

Kimmei, immigrants from Tsin and Han were assembled and registered,

when their number was found to be 7053 households. The terms "Tsin"

and "Han" refer to Chinese dynasties of those names, whose sway

covered the period between 255 B.C. and A.D. 419. Hence the

expression is too vague to suggest any definite idea of the advent of

those settlers; but the story of some, who came through Korea, has

already been traced. It was in A.D. 552, during the reign of this

same Kimmei, that Buddhism may be said to have found a home in Japan.

China was then under the sceptre of the Liang dynasty, whose first

sovereign, Wu, had been such an enthusiastic Buddhist that he

abandoned the throne for a monastery.. Yet China took no direct part

in introducing the Indian faith to Japan, nor does it appear that

from the fourth century A.D. down to the days of Shotoku Taishi,

Japan thought seriously of having recourse to China as the

fountain-head of the arts, the crafts, the literature, and the moral

codes which she borrowed during the period from Korea.

Something of this want of enterprise may have been attributable to

the unsettled state of China's domestic politics; something to the

well-nigh perpetual troubles between Japan and Korea--troubles which

not only taxed Japan's resources but also blocked the sole route by

which China was then accessible, namely, the route through Korea. But

when the Sui dynasty (A.D. 589-619) came to the Chinese throne, its

founder, the Emperor Wen, on the one hand, devoted himself to

encouraging literature and commerce; and on the other, threw Korea

and Japan into a ferment by invading the former country at the head

of a huge army.* This happened when Shotoku Taishi was in his

sixteenth year, and though the great expedition proved abortive for

aggressive purposes, it brought China into vivid prominence, and when

news reached Japan of extensions of the Middle Kingdom's territories

under Wen's successor, the Japanese Crown Prince determined to open

direct intercourse with the Sui Court; not only for literary and

religious purposes, but also to study the form of civilization which

the whole Orient then revered. This resolve found practical

expression in the year 607, when the omi Imoko was sent as envoy to

the Sui Court, a Chinese of the Saddlers' Corporation, by name

Fukuri, being attached to him in the capacity of interpreter. China

received these men hospitably and sent an envoy of her own, with a

suite of twelve persons, to the Yamato sovereign in the following

year.

*Reputed to have mustered 300,000 strong.

The annals contain an instructive description of the ceremony

connected with the reception of this envoy in Japan. He was met in

Tsukushi (Kyushu) by commissioners of welcome, and was conducted

thence by sea to Naniwa (now Osaka), where, at the mouth of the

river, thirty "gaily-decked" boats awaited him, and he and his suite

were conducted to a residence newly built for the occasion. Six weeks

later they entered the capital, after a message of welcome had been

delivered to them by a muraji. Seventy-five fully caparisoned horses

were placed at their disposal, and after a further rest of nine days,

the envoy's official audience took place. He did not see the Empress'

face. Her Majesty was secluded in the hall of audience to which only

the principal ministers were admitted. Hence the ceremony may be said

to have taken place in the court-yard. There the gifts brought by the

envoy were ranged, and the envoy himself, introduced by two high

officials, advanced to the front of the court, made obeisance twice,

and, kneeling, declared the purport of his mission. The despatch

carried by him ran as follows:

The Emperor greets the sovereign of Wa.* Your envoy and his suite

have arrived and have given us full information. We, by the grace of

heaven, rule over the universe. It is Our desire to diffuse abroad

our civilizing influence so as to cover all living things, and Our

sentiment of loving nurture knows no distinction of distance. Now We

learn that Your Majesty, dwelling separately beyond the sea, bestows

the blessings of peace on Your subjects; that there is tranquillity

within Your borders, and that the customs and manners are mild. With

the most profound loyalty You have sent Us tribute from afar, and We

are delighted at this admirable token of Your sincerity. Our health

is as usual, notwithstanding the increasing heat of the weather.

Therefore We have sent Pei Shieh-ching, Official Entertainer of the

Department charged with the Ceremonial for the Reception of Foreign

Ambassadors, and his suite, to notify to you the preceding. We also

transmit to you the products of which a list is given separately.**

*It has already been stated that Japan was generally known in China

and Korea by the term "Wa," which, being written with an ideograph

signifying "dwarf" or "subservient," was disliked by the Japanese.

The envoy sent from Yamato in 607 was instructed to ask for the

substitution of Nippon (Place of Sunrise), but the Sui sovereign

declined to make the change and Japan did not receive the designation

"Nippon" in China until the period Wu Teh (A.D. 618-626) of the Tang

dynasty. It is not certain at what time exactly the Japanese

themselves adopted this nomenclature, but it certainly was before the

seventh century.

**Translated by Aston in the Nihongi.

When the reading of the document was concluded, a high noble stepped

forward, took it from the envoy's hands and advanced with it towards

the audience-hall, from which another noble came out to meet him,

received the letter, deposited it on a table before the chief

entrance, and then reported the facts to the Empress. This ended the

ceremony. The haughty condescension of the Chinese despatch does not

appear to have offended the Japanese, nor did they cavil at the

omission of one important ideograph from the title applied to their

Empress. China's greatness seems to have been fully recognized. When,

a month later, the envoy took his departure, the same Imoko was

deputed to accompany him, bearing a despatch* in which, to China's

simple "greeting," Japan returned a "respectful address;" to China's

expression of ineffable superiority Japan replied that the coming of

the embassy had "dissolved her long-harboured cares;" and to China's

grandiloquent prolixity Japan made answer with half a dozen brief

lines. Imoko was now accompanied by eight students four of literature

and four of religion. Thus was established, and for long afterwards

maintained, a bridge over which the literature, arts, ethics, and

philosophies of China were copiously imported into Japan.

*In this despatch Japan called herself "the place where the sun comes

forth," and designated China as "the place where the sun sets." The

idea, doubtless, was merely to distinguish between east and west, but

the Sui sovereign resented the diction of this "barbarian letter."

RANKS

It will be recognized by considering the uji system that while many

titles existed in Japan, there was practically no promotion. A man

might be raised to uji rank. Several instances of that kind have been

noted, especially in the case of foreign artists or artisans

migrating to the island from Korea or China. But nothing higher was

within reach, and for the hereditary Kami of an uji no reward offered

except a gift of land, whatever services he might render to the

State. Such a system could not but tend to perfunctoriness in the

discharge of duty. Perception of this defect induced the regent,

Shotoku, to import from China (A.D. 603) the method of official

promotion in vogue under the Sui dynasty and to employ caps as

insignia of rank.* Twelve of such grades were instituted, and the

terminology applied to them was based on the names of six moral

qualities--virtue, benevolence, propriety, faith, justice, and

knowledge--each comprising two degrees, "greater" and "lesser." The

caps were made of sarcenet, a distinctive colour for each grade, the

cap being gathered upon the crown in the shape of a bag with a border

attached. The three highest ranks of all were not included in this

category.

*In China to-day the distinguishing mark is a button of varying

material fastened on the top of the cap.

THE EMPEROR JOMEI AND THE EMPRESS KOGYOKU

In the year 626, the omnipotent Soga chief, the o-omi Umako, died.

His brief eulogy in the Chronicles is that he had "a talent for

military tactics," was "gifted with eloquence," and deeply reverenced

"the Three Precious Things" (Buddha, Dharma, and Samgha). In the

court-yard of his residence a pond was dug with a miniature island in

the centre, and so much attention did this innovation attract that

the great minister was popularly called Shima (island) no o-omi. His

office of o-omi was conferred on his son, Emishi, who behaved with

even greater arrogance and arbitrariness than his father had shown.

The Empress Suiko died in 628, and the question of the accession at

once became acute. Two princes were eligible; Tamura, grandson of the

Emperor Bidatsu, and Yamashiro, son of Shotoku Taishi. Prince

Yamashiro was a calm, virtuous, and faithful man. He stated

explicitly that the Empress, on the eve of her demise, had nominated

him to be her successor. But Prince Tamura had the support of the

o-omi, Emishi, whose daughter he admired. No one ventured to oppose

the will of the Soga chieftain except Sakaibe no Marise, and he with

his son were ruthlessly slain by the orders of the o-omi.

Prince Tamura then (629) ascended the throne--he is known in history

as Jomei--but Soga no Emishi virtually ruled the empire. Jomei died

in 641, after a reign of twelve years, and by the contrivance of

Emishi the sceptre was placed in the hands of an Empress, Kogyoku, a

great-granddaughter of the Emperor Bidatsu, the claims of the son of

Shotoku Taishi being again ignored. One of the first acts of the new

sovereign was to raise Emishi to the rank held by his father, the

rank of o-omi, and there then came into prominence Emishi's son,

Iruka, who soon wielded power greater than even that possessed by his

father. Iruka's administration, however, does not appear to have been

altogether unwholesome. The Chronicles say that "thieves and robbers

were in dread of him, and that things dropped on the highway were not

picked up." But Emishi rendered himself conspicuous chiefly by aping

Imperial state. He erected an ancestral temple; organized

performances of a Chinese dance (yatsura) which was essentially an

Imperial pageant; levied imposts on the people at large for the

construction of tombs--one for himself, another for his son,

Iruka--which were openly designated misasagi (Imperial sepulchres);

called his private residence mikado (sacred gate); conferred on his

children the title of miko (august child), and exacted forced labour

from all the people of the Kamutsumiya estate, which belonged to the

Shotoku family.

This last outrage provoked a remonstrance from Shotoku Taishi's

daughter, and she was thenceforth reckoned among the enemies of the

Soga. One year later (643), this feud ended in bloodshed. Emishi's

usurpation of Imperial authority was carried so far that he did not

hesitate to confer the rank of o-omi on his son, Iruka, and upon the

latter's younger brother also. Iruka now conceived the design of

placing upon the throne Prince Furubito, a son of the Emperor Jomei.

It will be remembered that the Soga chief, Emishi, had lent his

omnipotent influence to secure the sceptre for Jomei, because of the

latter's affection for Emishi's daughter. This lady, having become

one of Jomei's consorts, had borne to him Prince Furubito, who was

consequently Iruka's uncle. Iruka determined that the prince should

succeed the Empress Kogyoku. To that end it was necessary to remove

the Shotoku family, against which, as shown above, the Soga had also

a special grudge. Not even the form of devising a protest was

observed. Orders were simply issued to a military force that the

Shotoku house should be extirpated. Its representative was Prince

Yamashiro, the same who had effaced himself so magnanimously at the

time of Jomei's accession. He behaved with ever greater nobility on

this occasion. Having by a ruse escaped from the Soga troops, he was

urged by his followers to flee to the eastern provinces, and there

raising an army, to march back to the attack of the Soga.

There is reason to think that this policy would have succeeded. But

the prince replied: "I do not wish it to be said by after generations

that, for my sake, anyone has mourned the loss of a father or a

mother. Is it only when one has conquered in battle that one is to be

called a hero? Is he not also a hero who has made firm his country at

the expense of his own life?" He then returned to the temple at

Ikaruga, which his father had built, and being presently besieged

there by the Soga forces, he and the members of his family,

twenty-three in all, committed suicide. This tragedy shocked even

Emishi. He warned Iruka against the peril of such extreme measures.

ENGRAVING: FUJIWARA KAMATAKI

There now appears a statesman destined to leave his name indelibly

written on the pages of Japanese history, Kamatari, muraji of the

Nakatomi-uji. The Nakatomi's functions were specially connected with

Shinto rites, and Kamatari must be supposed to have entertained

little good-will towards the Soga, who were the leaders of the

Buddhist faction, and whose feud with the military party sixty-seven

years previously had involved the violent death of Katsumi, then

(587) muraji of the Nakatomi. Moreover, Kamatari makes his first

appearance in the annals as chief Shinto official. Nevertheless, it

is not apparent that religious zeal or personal resentment was

primarily responsible for Kamatari's determination to compass the

ruin of the Soga. Essentially an upright man and a loyal subject, he

seems to have been inspired by a frank resolve to protect the Throne

against schemes of lawless ambitions, unconscious that his own

family, the Fujiwara, were destined to repeat on a still larger scale

the same abuses.

The succession may be said to have had three aspirants at that time:

first, Prince Karu, younger brother of the Empress Kogyoku; secondly,

Prince Naka, her son, and thirdly, Prince Furubito, uncle of Soga no

Iruka. The last was, of course, excluded from Kamatari's

calculations, and as between the first two he judged it wiser that

Prince Karu should have precedence in the succession, Prince Naka not

being old enough. The conspiracy that ensued presents no specially

remarkable feature. Kamatari and Prince Naka became acquainted

through an incident at the game of football, when the prince, having

accidently kicked off his shoe, Kamatari picked it up and restored it

to him on bended knee. The two men, in order to find secret

opportunities for maturing their plans, became fellow students of the

doctrines of Chow and Confucius under the priest Shoan, who had been

among the eight students that accompanied the Sui envoy on his return

to China in the year 608.

Intimate relations were cemented with a section of the Soga through

Kurayamada, whose daughter Prince Naka married, and trustworthy

followers having been attached to the prince, the conspirators

watched for an occasion. It was not easy to find one. The Soga

mansion, on the eastern slope of Mount Unebi, was a species of

fortress, surrounded by a moat and provided with an armoury having

ample supply of bows and arrows. Emishi, the o-omi, always had a

guard of fifty soldiers when he went abroad, and Iruka, his son, wore

a sword "day and night." Nothing offered except to convert the palace

itself into a place of execution. On the twelfth day of the sixth

month, 645, the Empress held a Court in the great hall of audience to

receive memorials and tribute from the three kingdoms of Korea. All

present, except her Majesty and Iruka, were privy to the plot. Iruka

having been beguiled into laying aside his sword, the reading of the

memorials was commenced by Kurayamada, and Prince Naka ordered the

twelve gates to be closed simultaneously. At that signal, two

swordsmen should have advanced and fallen upon Iruka; but they showed

themselves so timorous that Prince Naka himself had to lead them to

the attack. Iruka, severely wounded, struggled to the throne and

implored for succour and justice; but when her Majesty in terror

asked what was meant, Prince Naka charged Iruka with attempting to

usurp the sovereignty. The Empress, seeing that her own son led the

assassins, withdrew at once, and the work of slaughtering Iruka was

completed, his corpse being thrown into the court-yard, where it lay

covered with straw matting.

Prince Naka and Karaatari had not been so incautious as to take a

wide circle of persons into their confidence. But they were

immediately joined by practically all the nobility and high

officials, and the o-omi's troops having dispersed without striking a

blow, Emishi and his people were all executed. The Empress Kogyoku at

once abdicated in favour of her brother, Prince Kara, her son, Prince

Naka, being nominated Prince Imperial. Her Majesty had worn the

purple for only three years. All this was in accord with Kamatari's

carefully devised plans. They were epoch making.

RELATIONS WITH KOREA DURING THE SEVEN REIGNS FROM KIMMEI TO KOGYOKU

(A.D. 540-645)

The story of Japan's relations with Korea throughout the period of

over a century, from the accession of Kimmei (540) to the abdication

of Kogyoku (645), is a series of monotonously similar chapters, the

result for Japan being that she finally lost her position at Mimana.

There was almost perpetual fighting between the petty kingdoms which

struggled for mastery in the peninsula, and Kudara, always nominally

friendly to Japan, never hesitated to seek the latter's assistance

against Shiragi and Koma. To these appeals the Yamato Court lent a

not-unready ear, partly because they pleased the nation's vanity, but

mainly because Kudara craftily suggested danger to Mimana unless

Japan asserted herself with arms. But when it came to actually

rendering material aid, Japan did nothing commensurate with her

gracious demeanour. She seems to have been getting weary of expensive

interference, and possibly it may also have occurred to her that no

very profound sympathy was merited by a sovereign who, like the King

of Kudara, preferred to rely on armed aid from abroad rather than

risk the loss of his principality to his own countrymen.

At all events, in answer to often iterated entreaties from Kudara,

the Yamato Court did not make any practical response until the year

551, when it sent five thousand koku of barley-seed (?), followed,

two years later, by two horses, two ships, fifty bows with arrows,

and--a promise. Kudara was then ruled by a very enterprising prince

(Yo-chang). Resolving to strike separately at his enemies, Koma and

Shiragi, he threw himself with all his forces against Koma and gained

a signal victory (553). Then, at length, Japan was induced to assist.

An omi was despatched (554) to the peninsula with a thousand

soldiers, as many horses and forty ships. Shiragi became at once the

objective of the united forces of Kudara and Japan. A disastrous

defeat resulted for the assailants. The Kudara army suffered almost

complete extermination, losing nearly thirty thousand men, and

history is silent as to the fate of the omi's contingent.

Nevertheless the fear of Japanese vengeance induced Shiragi to hold

its hand, and, in the year 561, an attempt was made twice to renew

friendly relations with the Yamato Court by means of tribute-bearing

envoys. Japan did not repel these overtures, but she treated the

envoy of the victorious Shiragi with less respect than that extended

to the envoy of the vanquished Kudara.

In the spring of the following year (562), Shiragi invaded Mimana,

destroyed the Japanese station there and overran the whole region

(ten provinces). No warning had reached Japan. She was taken entirely

unawares, and she regarded it as an act of treachery on Shiragi's

part to have transformed itself suddenly from a tribute-bearing

friend into an active enemy. Strangely enough, the King of Shiragi

does not appear to have considered that his act precluded a

continuance of friendly relations with the Yamato Court. Six months

after his invasion of Mimana he renewed the despatch of envoys to

Japan, and it was not until their arrival in Yamato that they learned

Japan's mood. Much to the credit of the Yamato Court, it did not

wreak vengeance on these untimely envoys, but immediately afterwards

an armed expedition was despatched to call Shiragi to account. The

forces were divided into two corps, one being ordered to march under

Ki no Omaro northwest from Mimana and effect a junction with Kudara;

the other, under Kawabe no Nie, was to move eastward against Shiragi.

This scheme became known to the Shiragi generals owing to the seizure

of a despatch intended for Kudara. They attempted to intercept

Omaro's corps, but were signally defeated.

The movement under Kawabe no Nie fared differently. Japanese annals

attempt to palliate his discomfiture by a story about the abuse of a

flag of truce, but the fact seems to have been that Kawabe no Nie was

an incompetent and pusillanimous captain. He and his men were all

killed or taken prisoners, the only redeeming feature being the

intrepidity of a Japanese officer, Tsugi no Ikina, who, with his wife

and son, endured to be tortured and killed rather than utter an

insult against their country.

It is difficult to interpret the sequence of events after this

catastrophe. Japan immediately despatched a strong army--from thirty

to forty thousand men--but instead of directing it against Shiragi,

sent it to the attack of Koma, under advice of the King of Kudara.

Possibly the idea may have been to crush Koma, and having thus

isolated Shiragi, to deal with the latter subsequently. If so, the

plan never matured. Koma, indeed, suffered a signal defeat at the

hands of the Japanese, Satehiko, muraji of the Otomo, but Shiragi

remained unmolested, and nothing accrued to Japan except some

attractive spoils--curtains of seven-fold woof, an iron house, two

suits of armour, two gold-mounted swords, three copper belts with

chasings, two variously coloured flags, and two beautiful women. Even

as to the ultimate movements of Satehiko and his army the annals are

silent.

Things remained thus for nine years. Tribute-bearing envoys arrived

at intervals from Koma, but with Shiragi there was no communication.

At last, in 571, an official was sent to demand from Shiragi an

explanation of the reasons for the destruction of Mimana. The

intention may have been to follow up this formality with the

despatch of an effective force, but within a month the Emperor

Kimmei died. On his death-bed he is said to have taken the Prince

Imperial--Bidatsu--by the hand and said: "That which comes after

devolves on thee. Thou must make war on Shiragi and establish Mimana

as a feudal dependency, renewing a relationship like that of husband

and wife, just as it was in former days. If this be done, in my grave

I shall rest content."

Twelve years passed before Bidatsu took any step to comply with this

dying injunction. During that long interval there were repeated

envoys from Koma, now a comparatively feeble principality, and

Shiragi made three unsuccessful overtures to renew amicable

relations. At length, in 583, the Emperor announced his intention of

carrying out the last testament of his predecessor. To that end his

Majesty desired to consult with a Japanese, Nichira, who had served

for many years at the Kudara Court and was thoroughly familiar with

the conditions existing in Korea. Nichira came to Japan, but the

annals indicate that his counsels were directed wholly against

Kudara, which was ostensibly on the friendliest terms with Japan, and

not at all against Shiragi, whose punishment was alone in question.

Besides, instead of advising an appeal to arms, he urged the

necessity of developing Japan's material resources, so that her

neighbours might learn to count her formidable and her people might

acquire ardour in her cause. Whether the wisdom of this advice

appealed to Bidatsu, or whether the disputes consequent upon the

introduction of Buddhism paralyzed his capacity for oversea

enterprise, he made no further attempt to resolve the Korean problem.

In the year 591, the ill-fated Emperor Sushun conceived the idea of

sending a large army to re-establish his country's prestige in the

peninsula, but his own assassination intervened, and for the space of

nine years the subject was not publicly revived. Then, in 600, the

Empress Suiko being on the throne, a unique opportunity presented

itself. War broke out between Shiragi and Mimana. The Yamato Court at

once despatched a force of ten thousand men to Mimana's aid, and

Shiragi, having suffered a signal defeat, made act of abject

submission, restoring to Mimana six of its original provinces and

promising solemnly to abstain from future hostilities. The Japanese

committed the error of crediting Shiragi's sincerity. They withdrew

their forces, but no sooner had their ships passed below the horizon

than Shiragi once more invaded Mimana. It seemed at this juncture as

though the stars in their courses fought against Japan. Something,

indeed, must be ascribed to her own methods of warfare which appear

to have been overmerciful for the age. Thus, with the bitter

experience of Shiragi's treachery fresh in her recollection, she did

not execute a Shiragi spy seized in Tsushima, but merely banished him

to the province of Kozuke. Still, she must be said to have been the

victim of special ill-fortune when an army of twenty-five thousand

men, assembled in Tsukushi for the invasion of Shiragi, was twice

prevented from sailing by unforseeable causes, one being the death of

Prince Kume, its commander-in-chief; the other, the death of the

consort of his successor, Prince Taema.*

*Early Japanese history furnishes several examples showing that wives

often accompanied their husbands on campaigns.

These things happened in the year 603, and for the next five years

all relations with Korea seem to have been severed. Then (608) a

brief paragraph in the Chronicles records that "many persons from

Shiragi came to settle in Japan." It is certainly eloquent of the

Yamato Court's magnanimity that it should have welcomed immigrants

from a country with which it was virtually at war. Two years later

(610), Shiragi and Mimana, acting in concert, sent envoys who were

received with all the pomp and ceremony prescribed by Shotoku

Taishi's code of decorum. Apparently this embassy was allowed to

serve as a renewal of friendly relations, but it is not on record

that the subject of former dispute was alluded to in any way, nor was

the old-time habit of annual tribute-bearing envoys revived. Visitors

from Korea were, indeed, few and far-between, as when, in 616,

Shiragi sent a golden image of Buddha, two feet high, whose

effulgence worked wonders; or in 618, when an envoy from Korea

conveyed the important tidings that the invasion of the peninsula by

the Sui sovereign, Yang, at the head of three hundred thousand men,

had been beaten back. This envoy carried to Yamato presents in the

form of two captive Chinese, a camel, and a number of flutes,

cross-bows, and catapults (of which instruments of war mention is

thus made for the first time in Japanese history).

The Yamato Court had evidently now abandoned all idea of punishing

Shiragi or restoring the station at Mimana; while Shiragi, on her

side, was inclined to maintain friendly relations though she did not

seek frequent intercourse. After an interval of five years'

aloofness, she presented (621) a memorial on an unrecorded subject,

and in the following year, she presented, once more, a gold image of

Buddha, a gold pagoda, and a number of baptismal flags.* But Shiragi

was nothing if not treacherous, and, even while making these valuable

presents to the Yamato Court, and while despatching envoys in company

with those from Mimana, she was planning another invasion of the

latter. It took place that very year (622). When the news reached

Japan, the Empress Suiko would have sent an envoy against Shiragi,

but it was deemed wiser to employ diplomacy in the first place, for

the principalities of Korea were now in close relations with the

great Tang dynasty of China and might even count on the latter's

protection in case of emergency.

*"The Buddhist baptism consists in washing the top of the head with

perfumed water. The baptismal flags were so called because they had

the same efficiency, raising those who passed under them, first, to

the rank of Tchakra Radja, and, ultimately, to that of a Buddha."

(Aston.)

Two plenipotentiaries were therefore sent from Japan. Their mission

proved very simple. Shiragi acquiesced in all their proposals and

pledged herself once for all to recognize Mimana as a dependency of

Japan. But after the despatch of these plenipotentiaries, the

war-party in Japan had gained the ascendancy, and just as the

plenipotentiaries, accompanied by tribute-bearing envoys from Shiragi

and Mimana, were about to embark for Japan, they were astounded by

the apparition of a great flotilla carrying thousands of armed men.

The exact dimensions of this force are not on record: it is merely

described as having consisted of "several tens of thousands of men,"

but as it was commanded by two generals of the first rank and seven

of the second, it must have been a very formidable army, and nothing

is more remarkable about it than that it was assembled and embarked

in the space of a few weeks. Shiragi did not attempt to resist. The

King tendered his submission and it was accepted without a blow

having been struck. But there were no tangible results. Japan did not

attempt to re-establish her miyake in Mimana, and Shiragi refrained

from sending envoys to Yamato except on special occasions. Friendly,

though not intimate, relations were still maintained with the three

kingdoms of Korea, mainly because the peninsula long continued to be

the avenue by which the literature, arts, and crafts of China under,

the Tang dynasty found their way to Japan. Since, however, the office

in Mimana no longer existed to transact business connected with this

intercourse, and since Yamato was too distant from the port of

departure and arrival--Anato, now Nagato--a new office was

established in Tsukushi (Kyushu) under the name of the Dazai-fu.

LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN JAPAN AND KOREA

The record of Japan's relations with Korea, so far as it has been

carried above--namely, to the close of the Empress Kogyoku's reign

(A.D. 645)--discloses in the Korean people a race prone to

self-seeking feuds, never reluctant to import foreign aid into

domestic quarrels, and careless of the obligations of good faith. In

the Japanese we see a nation magnanimous and trustful but of

aggressive tendencies.

IMPORTATION OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION

Although Japan's military influence on the neighbouring continent

waned perceptibly from the reign of Kimmei (540-571) onwards, a

stream of Chinese civilization flowed steadily into the Island Empire

from the west, partly coming direct from the fountain head; partly

filtering, in a more or less impure form, through Korean channels.

Many of the propagandists of this civilization remained permanently

in Japan, where they received a courteous welcome, being promoted to

positions of trust and admitted to the ranks of the nobility. Thus a

book (the Seishi-roku), published in 814, which has been aptly termed

the "peerage of Japan," shows that, at that time, nearly one-third of

the Japanese nobility traced their descent to Chinese or Korean

ancestors in something like equal proportions. The numbers are,

China, 162 families; Kudara, 104; Koma, 50; Mimana, 9; Shiragi, 9;

doubtful, 47. Total, 381 Chinese and Korean families out of a grand

aggregate of 1177. But many of the visitors returned home after

having sojourned for a time as teachers of literature, art, or

industrial science.

This system of brief residence for purposes of instruction seems to

have been inaugurated during the reign of Keitai, in the year 513,

when Tan Yang-i, a Chinese expounder of the five classics, was

brought to Yamato by envoys from Kudara as a gift valued enough to

purchase political intervention for the restoration of lost

territory; and when, three years later, a second embassy from the

same place, coming to render thanks for effective assistance in the

matter of the territory, asked that Tan might be allowed to return in

exchange for another Chinese pundit, Ko An-mu. The incident suggests

how great was the value attached to erudition even in those remote

days. Yet this promising precedent was not followed for nearly forty

years, partly owing to the unsettled nature of Japan's relations.

with Korea.

After the advent of Buddhism (552), however, Chinese culture found

new expansion eastward. In 554, there arrived from Kudara another

Chinese literatus, and, by desire of the Emperor, Kimmei, a party of

experts followed shortly afterwards, including a man learned in the

calendar, a professor of divination, a physician, two herbalists, and

four musicians. The record says that these men, who, with the

exception of the Chinese doctor of literature, were all Koreans, took

the place of an equal number of their countrymen who had resided in

Japan for some years. Thenceforth such incidents were frequent. Yet,

at first, a thorough knowledge of the ideographic script seems to

have spread very slowly in Japan, for in 572, when the Emperor

Bidatsu sought an interpretation of a memorial presented by the Koma

sovereign, only one man among all the scribes (fumi-bito), and he

(Wang Sin-i) of Chinese origin, was found capable of reading the

document.

But from the accession of the Empress Suiko (593), the influence of

Shotoku Taishi made itself felt in every branch of learning, and

thenceforth China and Japan may be said to have stood towards each

other in the relation of teacher and pupil. Literature, the

ideographic script,* calendar compiling, astronomy, geography,

divination, magic, painting, sculpture, architecture, tile-making,

ceramics, the casting of metal, and other crafts were all cultivated

assiduously under Chinese and Korean instruction. In architecture,

all substantial progress must be attributed to Buddhism, for

it was by building temples and pagodas that Japanese ideas of

dwelling-houses were finally raised above the semi-subterranean type,

and to the same influence must be attributed signal and rapid

progress in the art of interior decoration. The style of architecture

adopted in temples was a mixture of the Chinese and the Indian.

Indeed, it is characteristic of this early epoch that traces of the

architectural and glyptic fashions of the land where Buddhism was

born showed themselves much more conspicuously than they did in later

eras; a fact which illustrates Japan's constant tendency to break

away from originals by modifying them in accordance with her own

ideals.

*The oldest ideographic inscription extant in Japan is carved on a

stone in Iyo province dating from A.D. 596. Next in point of

antiquity is an inscription on the back of an image of Yakushi which

stands in the temple Horyu-ji. It is ascribed to the year A.D. 607.

ENGRAVING: THE KONDO, HALL or THE HORYU-JI TEMPLE (Ji means temple)

None of the religious edifices then constructed has survived in its

integrity to the present day. One, however,--the Horyu-ji, at

Nara--since all its restorations have been in strict accord with

their originals, is believed to be a true representative of the most

ancient type. It was founded by Shotoku Taishi and completed in 607.

At the time of its construction, this Horyu-ji was the chief academy

of Buddhist teaching, and it therefore received the name of

Gakumon-ji (Temple of Learning). Among its treasures is an image of

copper and gold which was cast by the Korean artist, Tori--commonly

called Tori Busshi, or Tori the image-maker--to order of Shotoku; and

there is mural decoration from the brush of a Korean priest, Doncho.

This building shows that already in the seventh century an imposing

type of wooden edifice had been elaborated--an edifice differing from

those of later epochs in only a few features; as, slight inequality

in the scantling of its massive pillars; comparatively gentle pitch

of roof; abnormally overhanging eaves, and shortness of distance

between each storey of the pagoda. These sacred buildings were roofed

with tiles, and were therefore called kawara-ya (tiled house) by way

of distinction, for all private dwellings, the Imperial palace not

excepted, continued to have thatched roofs in the period now under

consideration,* or at best roofs covered with boards. The annals show

that when the Empress Kogyoku built the Asuka palace, timber was

obtained from several provinces; labour was requisitioned throughout

a district extending from Omi in the east to Aki in the west; the

floor of the "great hall"** was paved with tiles; there were twelve

gates, three on each of the four sides, and the whole was in the

architectural style of the Tang dynasty. Yet for the roofs, boards

alone were used.

*Down to A.D. 645.1

**It was here that the assassination of Soga no Iruka took place.

PAINTING

Little is recorded about the progress of painting in this epoch. It

has been shown above that during Yuryaku's reign pictorial experts

crossed to Japan from Korea and from China. The Chronicles add that,

in A.D. 604, when the Empress Suiko occupied the throne, two schools

of painters were established, namely, the Kibumi and the Yamashiro.

It is elsewhere explained that the business of those artists was to

paint Buddhist pictures, the special task of the Kibumi men being to

illuminate scrolls of the Sutras. We read also that, in 603, on the

occasion of the dedication of the temple of Hachioka, Prince Shotoku

painted banners as offerings. These had probably the same designs as

those spoken of a century later (710) when, at a ceremony in the

great hall of the palace, there were set up flags emblazoned with a

crow,* the sun, an azure dragon, a red bird, and the moon, all which

designs were of Chinese origin. Shotoku Taishi himself is

traditionally reported to have been a skilled painter and sculptor,

and several of his alleged masterpieces are preserved to this day,

but their authenticity is disputed.

*The three-legged crow of the sun.

AGRICULTURE

In the field of agriculture this epoch offers nothing more remarkable

than the construction of nine reservoirs for irrigation purposes and

the digging of a large canal in Yamashiro province. It is also

thought worthy of historical notice that a Korean prince

unsuccessfully attempted to domesticate bees on a Japanese mountain.

COMMERCE

Considerable progress seems to have been made in tradal matters.

Markets were opened at several places in the interior, and coastwise

commerce developed so much that, in A.D. 553, it was found expedient

to appoint an official for the purpose of numbering and registering

the vessels thus employed. The Chinese settler, Wang Sin-i, who has

already been spoken of as the only person able to decipher a Korean

memorial, was given the office of fune no osa (chief of the shipping

bureau) and granted the title of fune no fubito (registrar of

vessels). Subsequently, during the reign of Jomei (629-641), an

akinai-osa (chief of trade) was appointed in the person of Munemaro,

whose father, Kuhi, had brought scales and weights from China during

the reign of Sushun (558-592), and this system was formally adopted

in the days of Jomei (629-641). There had not apparently been any

officially recognized weights and measures in remote antiquity. The

width of the hand (ta or tsuka) and the spread of the arms (hiro)

were the only dimensions employed. By and by the Korean shaku (foot),

which corresponds to 1.17 shaku of the present day, came into use. In

Kenso's time (485-487) there is mention of a measure of rice being

sold for a piece of silver, and the Emperor Kimmei (540-571) is

recorded to have given 1000 koku of seed-barley to the King of

Kudara. But it is supposed that the writer of the Chronicles, in

making these entries, projected the terminology of his own time into

the previous centuries. There were neither coins nor koku in those

eras.

COSTUME AND COIFFURE

Up to the time (A.D. 603) of the institution of caps as marks of

rank, men were in the habit of dividing their hair in the centre and

tying it above the ears in a style called mizura. But such a fashion

did not accord with the wearing of caps which were gathered up on the

crown in the shape of a bag. Hence men of rank took to binding the

hair in a queue on the top of the head. The old style was continued,

however, by men having no rank and by youths. A child's hair was

looped on the temples in imitation of the flower of a gourd--hence

called hisago-bana--and women wore their tresses hanging free. The

institution of caps interfered also with the use of hairpins, which

were often made of gold and very elaborate. These now came to be

thrust, not directly into the hair, but through the cord employed to

tie the cap above. It is recorded that, in the year 611, when the

Empress Suiko and her Court went on a picnic, the colour of the

ministers' garments agreed with that of their official caps, and that

each wore hair-ornaments which, in the case of the two highest

functionaries, were made of gold; in the case of the next two, of

leopards' tails; and in the case of lower ranks, of birds' tails.

On a more ceremonious occasion, namely, the reception of the Chinese

envoys from the Sui Court, the Chronicles state that Japanese princes

and ministers "all wore gold hair-ornaments,* and their garments were

of brocade, purple, and embroidery, with thin silk stuffs of various

colours and patterns." Costume had become thus gorgeous after the

institution of Buddhism and the establishment of intercourse direct

with the Sui, and, subsequently, the Tang dynasty. Even in the manner

of folding the garments over the breast--not from right to left but

from left to right--the imported fashion was followed. Wadded

garments are incidently mentioned in the year A.D. 643.

*These were called usu. They were, in fact, hairpins, generally

shaped like a flower.

MUSIC AND AMUSEMENTS

It has already been recorded that, in the middle of the sixth

century, musicians were sent from the Kudara Court to the Yamato, and

since these are said to have taken the place of others then

sojourning in Japan, the fact is established that such a visit was

not then without precedent. Music, indeed, may be said to have

benefitted largely by the advent of Buddhism, for the services of the

latter required a special kind of music. The first foreign teacher of

the art was a Korean, Mimashi, who went to Japan in A.D. 612, after

having studied both music and dancing for some years in China. A

dwelling was assigned to him at Sakurai (in Yamato) and he trained

pupils. At the instance of Prince Shotoku and for the better

performance of Buddhist services, various privileges were granted to

the professors of the art. They were exempted from the discharge of

official duties and their occupation became hereditary. Several

ancient Japanese books contain reference to music and dancing, and in

one work* illustrations are given of the wooden masks worn by dancers

and the instruments used by musicians of the Wu (Chinese) school.

These masks were introduced by Mimashi and are still preserved in the

temple Horyu-ji.

*The Horyu-ji Shizai-cho, composed in A.D. 747.

In the matter of pastimes, a favourite practice, first mentioned in

the reign of the Empress Suiko, was a species of picnic called

"medicine hunting" (kusuri-kari). It took place on the fifth day of

the fifth month. The Empress, her ladies, and the high functionaries,

all donned gala costumes and went to hunt stags, for the purpose of

procuring the young antlers, and to search for "deer-fungus"

(shika-take), the horns and the vegetables being supposed to have

medical properties. All the amusements mentioned in previous sections

continued to be followed in this era, and football is spoken of as

having inaugurated the afterwards epoch-making friendship between

Prince Naka and Kamatari. It was not played in the Occidental manner,

however. The game consisted in kicking a ball from player to player

without letting it fall. This was apparently a Chinese innovation.

Here, also, mention may be made of thermal springs. Their sanitary

properties were recognized, and visits were paid to them by invalids.

The most noted were those of Dogo, in Iyo, and Arima, in Settsu. The

Emperor Jomei spent several months at each of these, and Prince

Shotoku caused to be erected at Dogo a stone monument bearing an

inscription to attest the curative virtues of the water.

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE

That Buddhism obtained a firm footing among the upper classes during

the first century after its introduction must be attributed in no

small measure to the fact that the throne was twice occupied by

Empresses in that interval. The highly decorative aspects of the

creed appealing to the emotional side of woman's nature, these

Imperial ladies encouraged Buddhist propagandism with earnest

munificence. But the mass of the people remained, for the most part,

outside the pale. They continued to believe in the Kami and to

worship them. Thus, when a terribly destructive earthquake* occured

in 599, it was to the Kami of earthquakes that prayers were offered

at his seven shrines in the seven home provinces (Kinai), and not to

the Merciful Buddha, though the saving grace of the latter had then

been preached for nearly a cycle. The first appeal to the foreign

deity in connexion with natural calamity was in the opening year

(642) of the Empress Kogyoku's reign when, in the presence of a

devastating drought, sacrifices of horses and cattle to the Shinto

Kami, changes of the market-places,** and prayers to the river gods

having all failed to bring relief, an imposing Buddhist service was

held in the south court of the Great Temple. "The images of Buddha,

of the bosatsu, and of the Four Heavenly Kings were magnificently

adorned; a multitude of priests read the Mahayana Sutra, and the

o-omi, Soga no Emishi, held a censer, burned incense, and prayed."

But there was no success; and not until the Empress herself had made

a progress to the source of a river and worshipped towards the four

quarters, did abundant rain fall.

*Only three earthquakes are recorded up to the year A.D. 645, and the

second alone (A.D. 599) is described as destructive.

**This was a Chinese custom, as was also the sacrificial rite

mentioned in the same context.

Such an incident cannot have contributed to popularize the Indian

creed. The people at large adhered to their traditional cult and were

easily swayed by superstitions. The first half of the seventh century

was marked by abnormal occurrences well calculated to disturb men's

minds. There were comets (twice); there was a meteor of large

dimensions; there were eclipses of the sun and moon; there were

occultations of Venus; there was snow in July and hail "as large as

peaches" in May, and there was a famine (621) when old people ate

roots of herbs and died by the wayside, when infants at the breast

perished with their mothers, and when thieves and robbers defied

authority. It is not, perhaps, surprising in such circumstances, and

when witches and wizards abounded, that people fell into strange

moods, and were persuaded to regard a caterpillar as the "insect of

the everlasting world," to worship it, and to throw away their

valuables in the belief that riches and perpetual youth would be thus

won. A miyatsuko, by name Kawakatsu, had the courage to kill the

designing preacher of this extravagance, and the moral epidemic was

thus stayed.

ENGRAVING: ONE OF THE STATUES OF "SHITENNO" IN THE KAIDAN-IN, TODAIJI

(Tembyo Sculpture, Eighth Century)

ENGRAVING: UTENSILS USED IN THE TEA CEREMONY (CHA-NO-YU)