THE DAIKA REFORMS
THE THIRTY-SIXTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOTOKU (A.D. 645-654)
AFTER the fall of the Soga and the abdication of the Empress Kogyoku,
her son, Prince Naka, would have been the natural successor, and such
was her own expressed wish. But the prince's procedure was largely
regulated by Kamatari, who, alike in the prelude and in the sequel of
this crisis, proved himself one of the greatest statesmen Japan ever
produced. He saw that the Soga influence, though broken, was not
wholly shattered, and he understood that the great administrative
reform which he contemplated might be imperilled were the throne
immediately occupied by a prince on whose hands the blood of the Soga
chief was still warm. Therefore he advised Prince Naka to stand aside
in favour of his maternal uncle, Prince Karu, who could be trusted to
co-operate loyally in the work of reform and whose connexion with the
Soga overthrow had been less conspicuous. But to reach Prince Karu it
was necessary to pass over the head of another prince, Furubito,
Naka's half-brother, who had the full sympathy of the remnant of the
Soga clan, his mother having been a daughter of the great Umako. The
throne was therefore offered to him. But since the offer followed,
instead of preceding the Empress' approval of Prince Karu, Furubito
recognized the farce, and knowing that, though he might rule in
defiance of the Kamatari faction, he could not hope to rule with its
consent, he threw away his sword and declared his intention of
entering religion.
Very soon the Buddhist monastery at Yoshino, where he received the
tonsure, became a rallying point for the Soga partisans, and a war
for the succession seemed imminent. Naka, however, now Prince
Imperial, was not a man to dally with such obstacles. He promptly
sent to Yoshino a force of soldiers who killed Furubito with his
children and permitted his consorts to strangle themselves. Prince
Naka's name must go down to all generations as that of a great
reformer, but it is also associated with a terrible injustice. Too
readily crediting a slanderous charge brought against his
father-in-law, Kurayamada, who had stood at his right hand in the
great coup d'etat of 645, he despatched a force to seize the alleged
traitor. Kurayamada fled to a temple, and there, declaring that he
would "leave the world, still cherishing fidelity in his bosom," he
committed suicide, his wife and seven children sharing his fate.
Subsequent examination of his effects established his innocence, and
his daughter, consort of Prince Naka, died of grief.
THE DAIKA, OR "GREAT CHANGE"
Not for these things, however, but for sweeping reforms in the
administration of the empire is the reign of Kotoku memorable. Prince
Naka and Kamatari, during the long period of their intimate
intercourse prior to the deed of blood in the great hall of audience,
had fully matured their estimates of the Sui and Tang civilization as
revealed in documents and information carried to Japan by priests,
literati, and students, who, since the establishment of Buddhism, had
paid many visits to China. They appreciated that the system
prevailing in their own country from time immemorial had developed
abuses which were sapping the strength of the nation, and in sweeping
the Soga from the path to the throne, their ambition had been to gain
an eminence from which the new civilization might be authoritatively
proclaimed.
Speaking broadly, their main objects were to abolish the system of
hereditary office-holders; to differentiate aristocratic titles from
official ranks; to bring the whole mass of the people into direct
subjection to the Throne, and to establish the Imperial right of
ownership in all the land throughout the empire. What these changes
signified and with what tact and wisdom the reformers proceeded, will
be clearly understood as the story unfolds itself. Spectacular effect
was enlisted as the first ally. A coronation ceremony of
unprecedented magnificence took place. High officials, girt with
golden quivers, stood on either side of the dais forming the throne,
and all the great functionaries--omi, muraji, and miyatsuko--together
with representatives of the 180 hereditary corporations (be) filed
past, making obeisance. The title of "Empress Dowager" was conferred
for the first time on Kogyoku, who had abdicated; Prince Naka was
made Prince Imperial; the head of the great uji of Abe was nominated
minister of the Left (sa-daijiri); Kurayamada, of the Soga-uji, who
had shared the dangers of the conspiracy against Emishi and Iruka,
became minister of the Right (u-daijiri), and Kamatari himself
received the post of minister of the Interior (nai-daijin), being
invested with the right to be consulted on all matters whether of
statecraft or of official personnel.
These designations, "minister of the Left"*, "minister of the Right,"
and "minister of the Interior," were new in Japan.** Hitherto, there
had been o-omi and o-muraji, who stood between the Throne and the two
great classes of uji, the o-omi and the o-muraji receiving
instructions direct from the sovereign, and the two classes of uji
acknowledging no control except that of the o-omi and the o-muraji.
But whereas the personal status of Kurayamada was only omi (not
o-omi), and the personal status of Kamatari, only muraji (not
o-muraji), neither was required, in his new capacity, to take
instructions from any save the Emperor, nor did any one of the three
high dignitaries nominally represent this or that congeries of uji. A
simultaneous innovation was the appointment of a Buddhist priest,
Bin, and a literatus, Kuromaro, to be "national doctors." These men
had spent some years at the Tang Court and were well versed in
Chinese systems.
*The left takes precedence of the right in Japan.
**The offices were borrowed from the Tang system of China a remark
which applies to nearly all the innovations of the epoch.
The next step taken was to assemble the ministers under a patriarchal
tree, and, in the presence of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and
the Prince Imperial, to pronounce, in the names of the Kami of heaven
and the Kami of earth--the Tenshin and the Chigi--a solemn
imprecation on rulers who attempted double-hearted methods of
government, and on vassals guilty of treachery in the service of
their sovereign. This amounted to a formal denunciation of the Soga
as well as a pledge on the part of the new Emperor. The Chinese
method of reckoning time by year-periods was then adopted, and the
year A.D. 645 became the first of the Daika era. But before
proceeding to really radical innovations, two further precautions
were taken. In order to display reverence for the foundations of the
State, the sovereign publicly declared that "the empire should be
ruled by following the footsteps of the Emperors of antiquity," and
in order to win the sympathy of the lower orders, his Majesty
directed that inquiry should be made as to the best method of
alleviating the hardships of forced labour. Further, a solemn
ceremony of Shinto worship was held by way of preface.
Then the reformers commenced their work in earnest. Governors
(kokushi) were appointed to all the eastern provinces. These
officials were not a wholly novel institution. It has been shown that
they existed previously to the Daika era, but in a fitful and
uncertain way, whereas, under the system now adopted, they became an
integral part of the administrative machinery. That meant that the
government of the provinces, instead of being administered by
hereditary officials, altogether irrespective of their competence,
was entrusted for a fixed term to men chosen on account of special
aptitude. The eastern provinces were selected for inaugurating this
experiment, because their distance from the capital rendered the
change less conspicuous. Moreover, the appointments were given, as
far as possible, to the former miyatsuko or mikotomochi. An ordinance
was now issued for placing a petition-box in the Court and hanging a
bell near it. The box was intended to serve as a receptacle for
complaints and representations. Anyone had a right to present such
documents. They were to be collected and conveyed to the Emperor
every morning, and if a reply was tardy, the bell was to be struck.
Side by side with these measures for bettering the people's lot,
precautions against any danger of disturbance were adopted by taking
all weapons of war out of the hands of private individuals and
storing them in arsenals specially constructed on waste lands. Then
followed a measure which seems to have been greatly needed. It has
been already explained that a not inconsiderable element of the
population was composed of slaves, and that these consisted of two
main classes, namely, aborigines or Koreans taken prisoners in war,
and members of an uji whose Kami had been implicated in crime. As
time passed, there resulted from intercourse between these slaves and
their owners a number of persons whose status was confused, parents
asserting the manumission of their children and masters insisting on
the permanence of the bond. To correct these complications the whole
nation was now divided into freemen (ryomin) and bondmen (senmin),
and a law was enacted that, since among slaves no marriage tie was
officially recognized, a child of mixed parentage must always be
regarded as a bondman. On that basis a census was ordered to be
taken, and in it were included not only the people of all classes,
but also the area of cultivated and throughout the empire.
At the same time stringent regulations were enacted for the control
and guidance of the provincial governors. They were to take counsel
with the people in dividing the profits of agriculture. They were not
to act as judges in criminal cases or to accept bribes from suitors
in civil ones; their staff, when visiting the capital, was strictly
limited, and the use of public-service horses* as well as the
consumption of State provisions was vetoed unless they were
travelling on public business. Finally, they were enjoined to
investigate carefully all claims to titles and all alleged rights of
land tenure. The next step was the most drastic and far-reaching of
all. Hereditary corporations were entirely abolished, alike those
established to commemorate the name of a sovereign or a prince and
those employed by the nobles to cultivate their estates. The estates
themselves were escheated. Thus, at one stroke, the lands and titles
of the hereditary aristocracy were annulled, just as was destined to
be the case in the Meiji era, twelve centuries later.
*Everyone having a right to use public-service horses was required to
carry a token of his right in the shape of a small bronze bell, or
group of bells, indicating by their shape and number how many horses
the bearer was entitled to.
This reform involved a radical change in the system and method of
taxation, but the consideration of that phase of the question is
deferred for a moment in order to explain the nature and the amount
of the new fiscal burdens. Two kinds of taxes were thenceforth
imposed, namely, ordinary taxes and commuted taxes. The ordinary
consisted of twenty sheaves of rice per cho* (equivalent to about
eight sheaves per acre), and the commuted tax--in lieu of forced
labour--was fixed at a piece of silk fabric forty feet in length by
two and a half feet in breadth per cho, being approximately a length
of sixteen feet per acre. The dimensions of the fabric were doubled
in the case of coarse silk, and quadrupled in the case of cloth woven
from hemp or from the fibre of the inner bark of the paper-mulberry.
A commuted tax was levied on houses also, namely, a twelve-foot
length of the above cloth per house. No currency existed in that age.
All payments were made in kind. There is, therefore, no method of
calculating accurately the monetary equivalent of a sheaf of rice.
But in the case of fabrics we have some guide. Thus, in addition to
the above imposts, every two townships--a township was a group of
fifty houses--had to contribute one horse of medium quality (or one
of superior quality per two hundred houses) for public service; and
since a horse was regarded as the equivalent of a total of twelve
feet of cloth per house, it would follow, estimating a horse of
medium quality at £5, ($25.), that the commuted tax in the case of
land was above 5s.4d., ($1.30) per acre. Finally, each homestead was
required to provide one labourer as well as rations for his support;
and every two homesteads had to furnish one palace waiting-woman
(uneme), who must be good-looking, the daughter or sister of a
district official of high rank, and must have one male and two female
servants to attend on her--these also being supported by the two
homesteads. In every homestead there was an alderman who kept the
register, directed agricultural operations, enforced taxes, and took
measures to prevent crime as well as to judge it.
*The cho was two and a half acres approximately.
Thus it is seen that a regular system of national taxation was
introduced and that the land throughout the whole empire was
considered to be the property of the Crown. As for the nobles who
were deprived of their estates, sustenance gifts were given to them,
but there is no record of the bases upon which these gifts were
assessed. With regard to the people's share in the land, the plan
pursued was that for every male or female over five years of age two
tan (about half an acre) should be given to the former and one-third
less to the latter, these grants being made for a period of six
years, at the end of which time a general restoration was to be
effected. A very striking evidence of the people's condition is that
every adult male had to contribute a sword, armour, a bow and arrows,
and a drum. This impost may well have outweighed all the others.
SEPULCHRES
Another important reform regulated the dimensions of burial mounds.
The construction of these on the grand scale adopted for many
sovereigns, princes, and nobles had long harrassed the people, who
were compelled to give their toil gratis for such a purpose. What
such exactions had entailed may be gathered from Kotoku's edict,
which said, "Of late the poverty of our people is absolutely due to
the construction of tombs." Nevertheless, he did not undertake to
limit the size of Imperial tombs. The rescript dealt only with those
from princes downwards. Of these, the greatest tumulus permitted was
a square mound with a side of forty-five feet at the base and a
height of twenty-five feet, measured along the slope, a further
restriction being that the work must not occupy more than one
thousand men for seven days. The maximum dimensions were similarly
prescribed in every case, down to a minor official, whose grave must
not give employment to more than fifty men for one day. When ordinary
people died, it was directed that they should be buried in the ground
without a day's delay, and, except in the case of an Emperor or an
Empress, the custom of temporary interment was strictly vetoed.
Cemeteries were ordered to be constructed for the first time, and
peremptory injunctions were issued against self-destruction to
accompany the dead; against strangling men or women by way of
sacrifice; against killing the deceased's horse, and against cutting
the hair or stabbing the thighs by way of showing grief. It must be
assumed that all these customs existed.
ABUSES
Other evil practices are incidentally referred to in the context of
the Daika reforms. Thus it appears that slaves occasionally left
their lawful owners owing to the latter's poverty and entered the
service of rich men, who thereafter refused to give them up; that
when a divorced wife or concubine married into another family, her
former husband, after the lapse of years, often preferred claims
against her new husband's property; that men, relying on their power,
demanded people's daughters in marriage, and in the event of the girl
entering another house, levied heavy toll on both families; that when
a widow, of ten or twenty years' standing, married again, or when a
girl entered into wedlock, the people of the vicinity insisted on the
newly wedded couple performing the Shinto rite of harai (purgation),
which was perverted into a device for compelling offerings of goods
and wine; that the compulsory performance of this ceremony had become
so onerous as to make poor men shrink from giving burial to even
their own brothers who had died at a distance from home, or hesitate
to extend aid to them in mortal peril, and that when a forced
labourer cooked his food by the roadside or borrowed a pot to boil
his rice, he was often obliged to perform expensive purgation.
OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION
At the head of all officials were the sa-daijin (minister of the
Left), the u-daijin (minister of the Right) and the nai-daijin
(minister of the Interior), and after them came the heads of
departments, of which eight were established, after the model
of the Tang Court in China. They were the Central Department
(Nakatsukasa-sho); the Department of Ceremonies (Shikibu-sho); the
Department of Civil Government (Jibu-sho); the Department of Civil
Affairs (Mimbu-sho); the Department of War (Hyobu-sho); the
Department of Justice (Gyobu-sho); the Treasury (Okura-sho), and the
Household Department (Kunai-sho). These departments comprised a
number of bureaux. All officials of high rank had to assemble at the
south gate of the palace in time to enter at sunrise, and they
remained there until some time between 11 A.M. and 1 P.M.
In a province the senior official was the governor, and under him
were heads of districts, aldermen of homesteads (fifty houses),
elders of five households--all the houses being divided into groups
of five for purposes of protection--and market commissioners who
superintended the currency (in kind), commerce, the genuineness of
wares, the justness of weights and measures, the prices of
commodities, and the observance of prohibitions. Since to all
official posts men of merit were appointed without regard to lineage,
the cap-ranks inaugurated by Prince Shotoku were abolished, inasmuch
as they designated personal status by inherited right only, and they
were replaced by new cap-grades, nineteen in all, which were
distinguished partly by their borders, partly by their colours, and
partly by their materials and embroidery. Hair-ornaments were also a
mark of rank. They were cicada-shaped, of gold and silver for the
highest grades, of silver for the medium grades, and of copper for
the low grades. The caps indicated official status without any
reference to hereditary titles.
RATIONALE OF THE NEW SYSTEM
The radical changes outlined above were all effected in the short
space of eight years. If it be asked what motive inspired the
reformers, the obvious answer is that experience, culminating in the
usurpations of the Soga, had fully displayed the abuses incidental to
the old system. Nothing more memorable than this flood of reforms has
left its mark upon Japan's ancient history. During the first thirteen
centuries of the empire's existence--if we accept the traditional
chronology--the family was the basis of the State's organization.
Each unit of the population either was a member of an uji or belonged
to the tomobe of an uji, and each uji was governed by its own omi or
muraji, while all the uji of the Kwobetsu class were under the o-omi
and all those of the Shimbetsu class, under the o-muraji. Finally, it
was through the o-omi and the o-muraji alone that the Emperor
communicated his will. In other words, the Japanese at large were not
recognized as public people, the only section that bore that
character being the units of the hereditary corporations instituted
in memory of some Imperial personage and the folk that cultivated the
miyake (State domains).
All these facts, though already familiar to the reader, find a
fitting place in the context of the great political development of
the Daika era. For the main features of that development were that
the entire nation became the public people of the realm and the whole
of the land became the property of the Crown, the hereditary nobles
being relegated to the rank of State pensioners. This metamorphosis
entailed taking an accurate census of the population; making a survey
of the land; fixing the boundaries of provinces, districts, and
villages; appointing officials to administer the affairs of these
local divisions, and organizing the central government with boards
and bureaux. The system of taxation also had to be changed, and the
land had to be apportioned to the people. In former days, the only
charges levied by the State on the produce of the land were those
connected with religious observances and military operations, and
even in imposing these the intervention of the heads of uji had to be
employed. But by the Daika reforms the interest of the hereditary
nobility in the taxes Avas limited to realizing their sustenance
allowances; while as for the land, it was removed entirely beyond
their control and partitioned among the people, in the proportion
already noted, on leases terminable at the end of six years.
Of course, whatever political exigency may have dictated this
short-tenure system, it was economically unsound and could not remain
long in practice. The measures adopted to soften the aspect of these
wholesale changes in the eyes of the hereditary nobility whom they so
greatly affected, have been partly noted above. It may here be added,
however, that not only was the office of district governor--who
ranked next to the provincial governor (kokushi)--filled as far as
possible by former kuni no miyatsuko, but also these latter were
entrusted with the duty of observing and reporting upon the conduct
of the new officials as to assiduity and integrity, to which duty
there were also nominated special officials called choshu-shi. By the
aid of these and other tactful devices, the operation of the new
system was guaranteed against disturbance. Nothing was deemed too
trivial to assist in promoting that end. Even such a petty incident
as the appearance of a white pheasant was magnified into a special
indication of heaven's approval, and a grand Court ceremony having
been held in honour of the bird, the Emperor proclaimed a general
amnesty and ordered that the name of the period should be changed to
Haku-chi (White Pheasant). Something of this may be set down frankly
to the superstitious spirit of the time. But much is evidently
attributable to the statecraft of the Emperor's advisers, who sought
to persuade the nation that this breaking away from all its venerable
old traditions had supernatural approval.
There was, indeed, one defect in the theory of the new system. From
time immemorial the polity of the empire had been based on the family
relation. The sovereign reigned in virtue of his lineage, and the
hereditary nobles owed their high positions and administrative
competence equally to descent. To discredit the title of the nobles
was to disturb the foundation of the Throne itself, and to affirm
that want of virtue constituted a valid reason for depriving the
scions of the gods of their inherited functions, was to declare
constructively that the descendant of Amaterasu also held his title
by right of personal worthiness. That was the Chinese theory. Their
history shows plainly that they recognized the right of men like Tang
or Wu to overturn tyrants like Chieh of the Hsia dynasty, and Chou of
the Yen dynasty. The two Japanese Emperors, Kotoku and Tenchi
(668-671), seem to have partially endorsed a cognate principle. But
nothing could be at greater variance with the cardinal tenet of the
Japanese polity, which holds that "the King can do no wrong" and that
the Imperial line must remain unbroken to all eternity.
ENVOYS TO CHINA
The importance attached to intercourse with China during the reign of
Kotoku was illustrated by the dimensions of the embassies sent to the
Tang Court and by the quality of the envoys. Two embassies were sent
in 653, one consisting of 121 persons and the other of 120.* The
former included seventeen student-priests, and among them was the
eldest son of Kamatari himself. Another embassy was despatched in
654, and the records show incidently that the sea route was taken,
for after a voyage lasting some months and therefore presumably of a
coasting character, the envoys landed at Laichou in Shantung. They
finally reached Changan, the Tang capital, and were most hospitably
received by the Emperor Kao-sung. The hardships of the journey are
attested by the fact that three of the student-priests died at sea.
One remained in China for thirty-six years, and Joye, Kamatari's son,
did not return to Japan for twelve years.
*The ship carrying the embassy was wrecked off the south coast of
Japan, and out of 120 persons only five escaped.
In short, when these students left their country in search of
literary, religious, and political lore, they had no assurance of
ever thereafter finding an opportunity to see their homes again. The
overland journey was almost impossible without guides and guards, and
communication by sea seems to have been fitful and uncertain. The
last of the above three embassies was led by no less a person than
the renowned scholar, Kuromaro, who had been associated with the
priest, Bin, in modelling the new administrative system of Japan.
Kuromaro never returned from China; he died there. A few months
before the despatch of Kuromaro as envoy, his illustrious coadjutor,
Bin, expired in the temple of Azumi. The Emperor repaired in person
to the sick priest's chamber, and said, "If you die to-day, I will
follow you to-morrow." So great was the reverence showed towards
learning and piety in that era. Thus, hazardous and wearisome as was
the voyage to China over stormy waters in a rude sailing boat, its
successful accomplishment established a title to official preferment
and high honour. It will be seen by and by that similar treatment was
extended in the nineteenth century to men who visited Europe and
America in the pursuit of knowledge.
THE THIRTY-SEVENTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS SAIMEI (A.D. 655-661)
On the demise of Kotoku, in 654, his natural successor would have
been Prince Naka, who, ten years previously, had chosen to reform the
empire rather than to rule it. But the prince deemed that the course
of progress still claimed his undivided attention, and therefore the
Empress Kogyoku was again raised to the throne under the name of*
Saimei--the first instance of a second accession in Japanese history.
She reigned nearly seven years, and the era is remarkable chiefly for
expeditions against the Yemishi and for complications with Korea. To
the former chapter of history sufficient reference had already been
made, but the latter claims a moment's attention.
*It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that all
the names given in these pages to Japanese sovereigns are
posthumous. Thus Saimei, during her lifetime, was called
Ame-toyo-takara-ikashi-hi-tarashi-hime.
RELATIONS WITH KOREA
It has been shown how, in A.D. 562, the Japanese settlement in Mimana
was exterminated; how the Emperor Kimmei's dying behest to his
successor was that this disgrace must be removed; how subsequent
attempts to carry out his testament ended in failure, owing largely
to Japan's weak habit of trusting the promises of Shiragi, and how,
in 618, the Sui Emperor, Yang, at the head of a great army, failed to
make any impression on Korea.
Thereafter, intercourse between Japan and the peninsula was of a
fitful character unmarked by any noteworthy event until, in the
second year (651) of the "White Pheasant" era, the Yamato Court
essayed to assert itself in a futile fashion by refusing to give
audience to Shiragi envoys because they wore costumes after the Tang
fashion without offering any excuse for such a caprice. Kotoku was
then upon the Japanese throne, and Japan herself was busily occupied
importing and assimilating Tang institutions. That she should have
taken umbrage at similar imitation on Shiragi's part seems
capricious. Shiragi sent no more envoys, and presently (655), finding
herself seriously menaced by a coalition between Koma and Kudara, she
applied to the Tang Court for assistance. The application produced no
practical response, but Shiragi, who for some time had been able to
defy the other two principalities, now saw and seized an opportunity
offered by the debauchery and misrule of the King of Kudara. She
collected an army to attack her neighbour and once more supplicated
Tang's aid. This was in the year 660. The second appeal produced a
powerful response. Kao-sung, then the Tang Emperor, despatched a
general, Su Ting-fang, at the head of an army of two hundred thousand
men. There was now no long and tedious overland march round the
littoral of the Gulf of Pechili and across Liaotung. Su embarked his
forces at Chengshan, on the east of the Shantung promontory, and
crossed direct to Mishi-no-tsu--the modern Chemulpo--thus attacking
Kudara from the west while Shiragi moved against it from the east.
Kudara was crushed. It lost ten thousand men, and all its prominent
personages, from the debauched King downwards, were sent as prisoners
to Tang. But one great captain, Pok-sin, saved the situation.
Collecting the fugitive troops of Kudara he fell suddenly on Shiragi
and drove her back, thereafter appealing for Japanese aid.
At the Yamato Court Shiragi was now regarded as a traditional enemy.
It had played fast and loose again and again about Mimana, and in the
year 657 it had refused safe conduct for a Japanese embassy to the
Tang Court. The Empress Saimei decided that Kudara must be succoured.
Living in Japan at that time was Phung-chang,* a younger brother of
the deposed King of Kudara. It was resolved that he should be sent to
the peninsula accompanied by a sufficient force to place him on the
throne. But Saimei died before the necessary preparations were
completed, and the task of carrying out a design which had already
received his endorsement devolved upon Prince Naka, the great
reformer. A fleet of 170 ships carrying an army of thirty-seven
thousand men escorted Phung-chang from Tsukushi, and the kingdom of
Kudara was restored. But the conclusive battle had still to be
fought. It took place in September, 662, at Paik-chhon-ku (Ung-jin),
between the Chinese under Liu Jen-kuei, a Tang general, and the
Japanese under Atsumi no Hirafu. The forces were about equal on each
side, and it was the first signal trial of strength between Chinese
and Japanese. No particulars have been handed down by history.
Nothing is known except that the Japanese squadron drove straight
ahead, and that the Chinese attacked from both flanks. The result was
a crushing defeat for the Japanese. They were shattered beyond the
power of rallying, and only a remnant found its way back to Tsukushi.
Kudara and Koma fell, and Japan lost her last footing in a region
where her prestige had stood so high for centuries.
*He was a hostage. The constant residence of Korean hostages in Japan
speaks eloquently of the relations existing between the two
countries. There were no Japanese hostages in Korea.
Shiragi continued during more than a hundred years to maintain a
semblance of deferential intercourse, but her conduct became
ultimately so unruly that, in the reign of Nimmyo (834-850), her
people were prohibited from visiting Japan. From Kudara, however,
after its overthrow by China, there migrated almost continuously for
some time a number of inhabitants who became naturalized in Japan.
They were distributed chiefly in the provinces of Omi and Musashi,
Son-Kwang, a brother of the former King of Kudara, being required to
live in Naniwa (Osaka) for the purpose of controlling them. Koma,
also, when it fell into Chinese hands, sent many settlers to Japan,
and during the reign of the Empress Gemmyo (708-715), they were
transferred from the six provinces of Suruga, Kai, Sagami, Kazusa,
Shimosa, and Hitachi to Musashi, where the district inhabited by them
was thenceforth called Koma-gori. Thus, Japan extended her
hospitality to the men whose independence she had not been able to
assert. Her relations with her peninsular neighbour ended humanely
though not gloriously. They had cost her heavily in life and
treasure, but she had been repaid fully with the civilization which
Korea helped her to import.
THE THIRTY-EIGHTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR TENCHI (A.D. 668-671)
It will be observed that although the thirty-seventh sovereign, the
Empress Saimei, died in the year 661, the reign of her successor,
Tenchi, did not commence historically until 668. There thus appears
to have been an interregnum of seven years. The explanation is that
the Crown Prince, Naka, while taking the sceptre, did not actually
wield it. He entrusted the administrative functions to his younger
brother, Oama, and continued to devote himself to the great work of
reform. He had stood aside in favour of Kotoku sixteen years
previously and in favour of the Empress Saimei six years previously,
and now, for seven years longer, he refrained from identifying
himself with the Throne until the fate of his innovations was known.
Having assumed the task of eradicating abuses which, for a thousand
years, had been growing unchecked, he shrank from associating the
Crown directly with risks of failure. But in the year 668, judging
that his reforms had been sufficiently assimilated to warrant
confidence, he formally ascended the throne and is known in history
as Tenchi (Heavenly Intelligence).
Only four years of life remained to him, and almost immediately after
his accession he lost his great coadjutor, Kamatari. Of the four men
who had worked out the "Daika restoration," Kuromaro, the student,
died in China a year (654) after the demise of the illustrious
priest, Bin; Kamatari barely survived until success came in sight,
and Prince Naka (Tenchi) was taken two years later (671). It is
related that in the days when the prince and Kamatari planned the
outlines of their great scheme, they were accustomed to meet for
purposes of conference in a remote valley on the east of the capital,
where an aged wistaria happened to be in bloom at the most critical
of their consultations. Kamatari therefore desired to change his uji
name from Nakatomi to Fujiwara (wistaria), and the prince, on
ascending the throne, gave effect to this request. There thus came
into existence a family, the most famous in Japanese history. The
secluded valley where the momentous meetings took place received the
name of Tamu* no Mine, and a shrine stands there now in memory of
Kamatari. The Emperor would fain have attended Kamatari's obsequies
in person, but his ministers dissuaded him on the ground that such a
course would be unprecedented. His Majesty confined himself therefore
to conferring on the deceased statesman posthumous official rank, the
first instance of a practice destined to became habitual in Japan.
*"Tamu" signifies to converse about military affairs.
THE OMI STATUES AND THE CENSUS REGISTER
During the reign of Tenchi no rescript embodying signal
administrative changes was issued, though the reforms previously
inaugurated seem to have made steady progress. But by a legislative
office specially organized for the purpose there was enacted a body
of twenty-two laws called the Omi Ritsu-ryo (the Omi Statutes), Omi,
on the shore of Lake Biwa, being then the seat of the Imperial Court.
Shotoku Taishi's Jushichi Kempo, though often spoken of as a
legislative ordinance, was really an ethical code, but the Omi
Ritsu-ryo had the character of genuine laws, the first of their kind
in Japan. Unfortunately this valuable document did not survive. Our
knowledge of it is confined to a statement in the Memoirs of Kamatari
that it was compiled in the year 667. Two years later--that is to
say, in the year after Tenchi's actual accession--the census
register, which had formed an important feature of the Daika reforms,
became an accomplished fact. Thenceforth there was no further
occasion to appeal to the barbarous ordeal of boiling water
(kuga-dachi) when questions of lineage had to be determined.
THE THIRTY-NINTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOBUN (A.D. 672-672)
Among four "palace ladies" (uneme) upon whom the Emperor Tenchi
looked with favour, one, Yaka of Iga province, bore him a son known
in his boyhood days as Prince Iga but afterwards called Prince Otomo.
For this lad his father conceived a strong affection, and would
doubtless have named him heir apparent had he not been deterred by
the consideration that during his own abstention from actually
occupying the throne, administrative duties would have to be
entrusted mainly to the hands of a Prince Imperial, and Otomo, being
only thirteen years of age, could not undertake such a task. Thus, on
Tenchi's younger brother, Oama, the dignity of Crown Prince was
conferred, and he became the Emperor's locum tenens, in which
position he won universal applause by sagacity and energy. But during
these seven years of nominal interregnum, the fame of Prince Otomo
also grew upon men's lips. An ancient book speaks of him as "wise and
intelligent; an able administrator alike of civil and of military
affairs; commanding respect and esteem; sage of speech, and rich in
learning." When the Emperor actually ascended the throne, Otomo had
reached his twentieth year, and four years later (671) the sovereign
appointed him prime minister (dajo daijin), an office then created
for the first time.
Thenceforth the question of Tenchi's successor began to be
disquieting. The technical right was on Oama's side, but the paternal
sympathy was with Otomo. Tradition has handed down a tale about a
certain Princess Nukata, who, having bestowed her affections
originally on Prince Oama, was afterwards constrained to yield to the
addresses of the Emperor Tenchi, and thus the two brothers became
enemies. But that story does not accord with facts. It is also
related that during a banquet at the palace on the occasion of
Tenchi's accession, Prince Oama thrust a spear through the floor from
below, and the Emperor would have punished the outrage with death had
not Kamatari interceded for the prince. These narratives are cited to
prove that the Emperor Tenchi's purpose was to leave the throne to
Otomo, not Oama. There is, however, no valid reason to infer any such
intention. What actually occurred was that when, within a few months
of Otomo's appointment as dajo daijin, the sovereign found himself
mortally sick, he summoned Oama and named him to succeed But Oama,
having been warned of a powerful conspiracy to place Otomo on the
throne, and not unsuspicious that it had the Emperor's sympathy,
declined the honour and announced his intention of entering religion,
which he did by retiring to the monastery at Yoshino. The
conspirators, at whose head were the minister of the Left, Soga no
Akae, and the minister of the Right, Nakatomi no Kane, aimed at
reverting to the times when, by placing on the throne a prince of
their own choice, one or two great uji had grasped the whole
political power. The prime mover was Kane, muraji of the Nakatomi.
Immediately after Tenchi's death, which took place at the close of
671, and after the accession of Prince Otomo--known in history as the
Emperor Kobun--the conspirators began to concert measures for the
destruction of Prince Oama, whom they regarded as a fatal obstacle to
the achievement of their purpose. But the Emperor Kobun's consort,
Toichi, was a daughter of Prince Oama, and two sons of the latter,
Takaichi and Otsu, were also in the Court at Omi. By these three
persons Yoshino was kept fully informed of everything happening at
Omi. Oama fled precipitately. He did not even wait for a palanquin or
a horse. His course was shaped eastward, for two reasons: the first,
that his domains as Prince Imperial had been in Ise and Mino; the
second, that since in the eastern provinces the Daika reforms had
been first put into operation, in the eastern provinces, also,
conservatism might be expected to rebel with least reluctance.
The struggle that ensued was the fiercest Japan had witnessed since
the foundation of the empire. For twenty days there was almost
continuous fighting. The prince's first measure was to block the
passes on the eastward high-roads, so that the Omi forces could not
reach him till he was fully ready to receive them. Thousands flocked
to his standard, and he was soon able to assume the offensive. On the
other hand, those whom the Omi Court summoned to arms declined for
the most part to respond. The nation evidently regarded Prince Oama
as the champion of the old against the new. The crowning contest took
place at the Long Bridge of Seta, which spans the waters of Lake Biwa
at the place where they narrow to form the Seta River. Deserted by
men who had sworn to support him, his army shattered, and he himself
a fugitive, the Emperor fled to Yamazaki and there committed suicide.
His principal instigator, muraji of the Nakatomi and minister of the
Right, with eight other high officials, suffered the extreme penalty;
Akae, omi of the Soga and minister of the Left, had to go into exile,
but the rest of Kobun's followers were pardoned. Not because of its
magnitude alone but because its sequel was the dethronement and
suicide of a legitimate Emperor, this struggle presents a shocking
aspect to Japanese eyes. It is known in history as the "Jinshin
disturbance," so called after the cyclical designation of the year
(672) when it occurred.
THE FORTIETH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR TEMMU (A.D. 673-686)
Prince Oama succeeded to the throne and is known in history as the
fortieth Sovereign, Temmu. During the fourteen years of his reign he
completed the administrative systems of the Daika era, and asserted
the dignity and authority of the Court to an unprecedented degree.
Among the men who espoused his cause in the Jinshin struggle there
are found many names of aristocrats who boasted high titles and owned
hereditary estates. Whatever hopes these conservatives entertained of
a reversion to the old-time-order of things, they were signally
disappointed. The Daika reformers had invariably contrived that
conciliation should march hand in hand with innovation. Temmu relied
on coercion. He himself administered State affairs with little
recourse to ministerial aid but always with military assistance in
the background. He was especially careful not to sow the seeds of the
abuses which his immediate predecessors had worked to eradicate.
Thus, while he did not fail to recognize the services of those that
had stood by him in the Jinshin tumult, he studiously refrained from
rewarding them with official posts, and confined himself to bestowing
titles of a purely personal character together with posthumous rank
in special cases.
It has been shown that in the so-called "code" of Shotoku Taishi
prominent attention was directed to the obligations of decorum. This
principle received much elaboration in Temmu's reign. A law,
comprising no less than ninety-two articles, was enacted for guidance
in Court ceremonials, the demeanour and salutation of each grade of
officials being explicitly set forth. It is worthy of note that a
veto was imposed on the former custom of kneeling to make obeisance
and advancing or retreating in the presence of a superior on the
knees and hands; all salutations were ordered to be made standing.
Further, the clear differentiation of official functions, which had
been commenced under the sway of Tenchi, was completed in this reign.
But, though relying on military force in the last resort, Temmu did
not neglect appeals to religion and devices to win popularity. On the
one hand, we find him establishing a War-Office (Heisei-kan) and
making it second in grade and importance to the Privy Council
(Dajo-kwan) alone; on the other, he is seen endowing shrines,
erecting temples, and organizing religious fetes on a sumptuous
scale. If, again, all persons in official position were required to
support armed men; if the provincials were ordered to practise
military exercises, and if arms were distributed to the people in the
home provinces (Kinai), at the same time taxes were freely remitted,
and amnesties were readily granted. Further, if much attention was
paid to archery, and if drastic measures were adopted to crush the
partisans of the Omi Court who still occasionally raised the standard
of revolt, the sovereign devoted not less care to the discharge of
the administrative functions, and his legislation extended even to
the realm of fishery, where stake-nets and other methods of an
injurious nature were strictly interdicted. The eating of flesh was
prohibited, but whether this veto was issued in deference to Buddhism
or from motives of economy, there is no evidence to show.
One very noteworthy feature of Temmu's administration was that he
never appointed to posts in the Government men who did not give
promise of competence. All those who possessed a claim on his
gratitude were nominated chamberlains (toneri), and having been thus
brought under observation, were subsequently entrusted with official
functions commensurate with their proved ability. The same plan was
pursued in the case of females. With regard to the titles conferred
by this sovereign in recognition of meritorious services, they were
designed to replace the old-time kabane (or sei), in that whereas the
kabane had always been hereditary, and was generally associated with
an office, the new sei was obtained by special grant, and, though it
thereafter became hereditary, it was never an indication of office
bearing. Eight of these new titles were instituted by Temmu, namely,
mahito, asomi, sukune, imiki, michi-no-shi, omi, muraji, and inagi,
and their nearest English equivalents are, perhaps, duke, marquis,
count, lord, viscount, baron, and baronet. It is unnecessary to give
any etymological analysis of these terms; their order alone is
important. But two points have to be noted. The first is that the
title imiki was generally that chosen for bestowal on naturalized
foreigners; the second, that a conspicuously low place in the list is
given to the revered old titles, ami and muraji. This latter feature
is significant. The new peerage was, in fact, designed not only to
supplant, but also to discredit, the old.
Thus, in the first place, the system was abolished under which all
uji having the title of omi were controlled by the o-omi, and all
having the title of muraji by the o-muraji; and in the second, though
the above eight sei were established, not every uji was necessarily
granted a title. Only the most important received that distinction,
and even these found themselves relegated to a comparatively low
place on the list. All the rest, however, were permitted to use their
old, but now depreciated kabane, and no change was made in the
traditional custom of entrusting the management of each uji's affairs
to its own Kami. But, in order to guard against the abuses of the
hereditary right, an uji no Kami ceased in certain cases to succeed
by birthright and became elective, the election requiring Imperial
endorsement.
The effect of these measures was almost revolutionary. They changed
the whole fabric of the Japanese polity. But in spite of all Temmu's
precautions to accomplish the centralization of power, success was
menaced by a factor which could scarcely have been controlled. The
arable lands in the home provinces at that time probably did not
exceed 130,000 acres, and the food stuffs produced cannot have
sufficed for more than a million persons. As for the forests, their
capacities were ill developed, and thus it fell out that the
sustenance fiefs granted to omi and muraji of the lower grades did
not exceed a few acres. Gradually, as families multiplied, the
conditions of life became too straightened in such circumstances, and
relief began to be sought in provincial appointments, which furnished
opportunities for getting possession of land. It was in this way that
local magnates had their origin and the seeds of genuine feudalism
were sown. Another direction in which success fell short of purpose
was in the matter of the hereditary guilds (be). The Daika reforms
had aimed at converting everyone in the empire into a veritable unit
of the nation, not a mere member of an uji or a tomobe. But it proved
impossible to carry out this system in the case of the tomobe (called
also kakibe), or labouring element of the uji, and the yakabe, or
domestic servants of a family. To these their old status had to be
left.
THE FORTY-FIRST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS JITO (A.D. 690-697)
The Emperor Temmu died in 686, and the throne remained nominally
unoccupied until 690. A similar interregnum had separated the
accession of Tenchi from the death of his predecessor, the Empress
Saimei, and both events were due to a cognate cause. Tenchi did not
wish that his reforms should be directly associated with the Throne
until their success was assured; Temmu desired that the additions
made by him to the Daika system should be consolidated by the genius
of his wife before the sceptre passed finally into the hands of his
son. Jito had stood by her husband's side when, as Prince Oama, he
had barely escaped the menaces of the Omi Court, and there is reason
to think that she had subsequently shared his administrative
confidence as she had assisted at his military councils. The heir to
the throne, Prince Kusakabe, was then in his twenty-fifth year, but
he quietly endorsed the paternal behest that his mother should direct
State affairs. The arrangement was doubtless intended to be
temporary, but Kusakabe died three years later, and yielding to the
solicitations of her ministers, Jito then (690) finally ascended the
throne.
Her reign, however, was not entirely free from the family strife
which too often accompanied a change of sovereigns in Japan's early
days. In addition to his legitimate offspring, Kusakabe, the Emperor
Temmu left several sons by secondary consorts, and the eldest
survivor of these, Prince Otsu, listening to the counsels of the Omi
Court's partisans and prompted by his own well-deserved popularity
and military prowess, intrigued to seize the throne. He was executed
in his house, and his fate is memorable for two reasons: the first,
that his young wife, Princess Yamanobe, "hastened thither with her
hair dishevelled and her feet bare and joined him in death;" the
second, that all his followers, over thirty in number, were
pardoned--rare clemency in those days. Prince Otsu is said to have
inaugurated a pastime which afterwards became very popular--the
composition of Chinese verses.
SLAVES
The most important legislation of the Empress Jito's reign related to
slaves.* In the year of her accession (690), she issued an edict
ordering that interest on all debts contracted prior to, or during
the year (685) prior to Temmu's death should be cancelled. Temmu
himself had created the precedent for this. When stricken by mortal
illness, he had proclaimed remission of all obligations, "whether in
rice or in valuables," incurred on or before the last day of the
preceding year. But Jito's edict had a special feature. It provided
that anyone already in servitude on account of a debt should be
relieved from serving any longer on account of the interest. Thus it
is seen that the practice of pledging the service of one's body in
discharge of debt was in vogue at that epoch, and that it received
official recognition with the proviso that the obligation must not
extend to interest. Debts, therefore, had become instruments for
swelling the ranks of the slave class.
*The senmin, or slave class, was divided into two groups, namely,
public slaves (kwanko ryoko, and ko-nuhi), and private slaves (kenin
and shi-nuhi).
But while sanctioning this evil custom, the tendency of the law was
to minimize its results. In another edict of the same reign it was
laid down that, when a younger brother of the common people
(hyakusei) was sold by his elder brother, the former should still be
classed as a freeman (ryomin), but a child sold by its father became
a serf (senmin); that service rendered to one of the senmin class by
a freeman in payment of a debt must not affect the status of the
freeman, and that the children of freemen so serving, even though
born of a union with a slave, should be reckoned as freemen. It has
been shown already that degradation to slavery was a common
punishment or expiation of a crime, and the annals of the period
under consideration indicate that men and women of the slave class
were bought and sold like any other chattels. Documents certainly not
of more recent date than the ninth century, show particulars of some
of these transactions. One runs as follows:
Men (nu) 3
Women (hi) 3
--
Total 6
2 at 10000 bundles of rice each
2 at 800 bundles of rice each.
1 at 700 bundles of rice.
1 at 600 bundles of rice.
-----
Total 4900 bundles
1 man (nu) named Kokatsu; age 34; with a mole under the left eye
Price 1000 bundles of rice.
The above are slaves of Kannawo Oba of Okambe in Yamagata district.
Comparison of several similar vouchers indicates that the usual price
of an able-bodied slave was one thousand bundles of rice, and as one
bundle gave five sho of unhulled rice, one thousand bundles
represented fifty koku, which, in the modern market, would sell for
about six hundred yen. It is not to be inferred, however, that the
sale of freemen into slavery was sanctioned by law. During the reign
of the Emperor Temmu, a farmer of Shimotsuke province wished to sell
his child on account of a bad harvest, but his application for
permission was refused, though forwarded by the provincial governor.
In fact, sales or purchases of the junior members of a family by the
seniors were not publicly permitted, although such transactions
evidently took place. Even the manumission of a slave required
official sanction. Thus it is recorded that, in the reign of the
Empress Jito, Komaro, an asomi, asked and obtained the Court's
permission to grant their freedom to six hundred slaves in his
possession. Another rule enacted in Jito's time was that the slaves
of an uji, when once manumitted, could not be again placed on the
slaves' register at the request of a subsequent uji no Kami. Finally
this same sovereign enacted that yellow-coloured garments should be
worn by freemen and black by slaves. History shows that the sale and
purchase of human beings in Japan, subject to the above limitations,
was not finally forbidden until the year 1699.
THE MILITARY SYSTEM
It has been seen that the Emperors Kotoku and Temmu attached much
importance to the development of military efficiency and that they
issued orders with reference to the training of provincials, the
armed equipment of the people, the storage of weapons of war, and the
maintenance of men-at-arms by officials. Compulsory service, however,
does not appear to have been inaugurated until the reign of the
Empress Jito, when (689) her Majesty instructed the local governors
that one-fourth of the able-bodied men in each province should be
trained every year in warlike exercises. This was the beginning of
the conscription system in Japan.
THE ORDER OF SUCCESSION OF THE THRONE
That the throne should be occupied by members of the Imperial family
only had been a recognized principle of the Japanese polity from
remotest epochs. But there had been an early departure from the rule
of primogeniture, and since the time of Nintoku the eligibility of
brothers also had been acknowledged in practice. To this latitude of
choice many disturbances were attributable, notably the fell Jinshin
struggle, and the terrors of that year were still fresh in men's
minds when, during Jito's reign, the deaths of two Crown Princes in
succession brought up the dangerous problem again for solution. The
princes were Kusakabe and Takaichi. The former had been nominated by
his father, Temmu, but was instructed to leave the reins of power in
the hands of his mother, Jito, for a time. He died in the year 689,
while Jito was still regent, and Takaichi, another of Temmu's sons,
who had distinguished himself as commander of a division of troops in
the Jinshin campaign, was made Prince Imperial. But he too died in
696, and it thus fell out that the only surviving and legitimate
offspring of an Emperor who had actually reigned was Prince Kuzuno,
son of Kobun.
To his accession, however, there was this great objection that his
father, though wielding the sceptre for a few months, had borne arms
in the Jinshin disturbance against Temmu and Jito, and was held to
have forfeited his title by defeat and suicide. His assumption of the
sceptre would have created a most embarrassing situation, and his
enforced disqualification might have led to trouble. In this dilemma,
the Empress convened a State council, Prince Kuzuno also being
present, and submitted the question for their decision. But none
replied until Kuzuno himself, coming forward, declared that unless
the principle of primogeniture were strictly followed, endless
complications would be inevitable. This involved the sacrifice of his
own claim and the recognition of Karu, eldest son of the late
Kusakabe. The 14th of March, 696, when this patriotic declaration was
made, is memorable in Japanese history as the date when the principle
of primogeniture first received official approval. Six months
afterwards, the Empress abdicated in favour of Prince Karu, known in
history as forty-second sovereign, Mommu. She herself was honoured by
her successor with the title of Dajo-Tenno (Great Superior).
ENGRAVING: ONE OF THE ORNAMENTAL GATES USED IN JAPANESE GARDENS
ENGRAVING: SWORDS