THE CAPITAL AND THE PROVINCES
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COURT AND THE FUJIWARA
We now arrive at a period of Japanese history in which the relations
of the Fujiwara family to the Throne are so complicated as greatly to
perplex even the most careful reader. But as it is not possible to
construct a genealogical table of a really helpful character, the
facts will be set down here in their simplest form.
THE SIXTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MURAKAMI (A.D. 947-967)
Murakami, son of Daigo by the daughter of the regent, Fujiwara
Mototsune, ascended the throne in succession to Shujaku, and Fujiwara
Tadahira held the post of regent, as he had done in Shujaku's time,
his three sons, Saneyori, Morosuke, and Morotada, giving their
daughters; one, Morosuke's offspring, to be Empress, the other two to
be consorts of the sovereign. Moreover, Morosuke's second daughter
was married to the Emperor's younger brother, Prince Takaaki, who
afterwards descended from princely rank to take the family name of
Minamoto. Saneyori, Morosuke, and Takaaki took a prominent part in
the administration of State affairs, and thus indirectly by female
influence at Court, or by their own direct activity, the Fujiwara
held a supreme place. Murakami has a high position among Japan's
model sovereigns. He showed keen and intelligent interest in
politics; he sought to employ able officials; he endeavoured to check
luxury, and he solicited frank guidance from his elders. Thus later
generations learned to indicate Engi (901-923), when Daigo reigned,
and Tenryaku (947-957), when Murakami reigned, as essentially eras of
benevolent administration. But whatever may have been the personal
qualities of Murakami, however conspicuous his poetical ability and
however sincere his solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, he
failed signally to correct the effeminate tendency of Kyoto society
or to protect the lives and property of his people. Bandits raided
the capital, broke into the palace itself, set fire to it, and
committed frequent depredations unrestrained. An age when the
machinery for preserving law and order was practically paralyzed
scarcely deserves the eulogies of posterity.
THE SUCCESSION
The lady with whom Murakami first consorted was a daughter of
Fujiwara Motokata, who represented a comparatively obscure branch of
the great family, and had attained the office of chief councillor of
State (dainagori) only. She bore to his Majesty a son, Hirohira, and
the boy's grandfather confidently looked to see him named Prince
Imperial. But presently the daughter of Fujiwara Morosuke, minister
of the Right, entered the palace, and although her Court rank was not
at first superior to that of the dainagon's daughter, her child had
barely reached its third month when, through Morosuke's irresistible
influence, it was nominated heir to the throne. Motokata's
disappointment proved so keen that his health became impaired and he
finally died--of chagrin, the people said. In those days men believed
in the power of disembodied spirits for evil or for good. The spirit
of the ill-fated Sugawara Michizane was appeased by building shrines
to his memory, and a similar resource exorcised the angry ghost of
the rebel, Masakado; but no such prevention having been adopted in
the case of Motokata, his spirit was supposed to have compassed the
early deaths of his grandson's supplanter, Reizei, and of the
latter's successors, Kwazan and Sanjo, whose three united reigns
totalled only five years.
A more substantial calamity resulted, however, from the habit of
ignoring the right of primogeniture in favour of arbitrary selection.
Murakami, seeing that the Crown Prince (Reizei) had an exceedingly
feeble physique, deemed it expedient to transfer the succession to
his younger brother, Tamehira. But the latter, having married into
the Minamoto family, had thus become ineligible for the throne in
Fujiwara eyes. The Emperor hesitated, therefore, to give open
expression to his views, and while he waited, he himself fell
mortally ill. On his death-bed he issued the necessary instruction,
but the Fujiwara deliberately ignored it, being determined that a
consort of their own blood must be the leading lady in every Imperial
household. Then the indignation of the other great families, the
Minamoto and the Taira, blazed out. Mitsunaka, representing the
former, and Shigenobu the latter, entered into a conspiracy to
collect an army in the Kwanto and march against Kyoto with the sole
object of compelling obedience to Murakami's dying behest. The plot
was divulged by Minamoto Mitsunaka in the sequel of a quarrel with
Taira no Shigenobu; the plotters were all exiled, and Takaaki,
youngest son of the Emperor Daigo, though wholly ignorant of the
conspiracy, was falsely accused to the Throne by Fujiwara Morotada,
deprived of his post of minister of the Left, to which his accuser
was nominated, and sent to that retreat for disgraced officials, the
Dazai-fu. Another instance is here furnished of the readiness with
which political rivals slandered one another in old Japan, and
another instance, also, of the sway exercised over the sovereign by
his Fujiwara ministers.
THE SIXTY-THIRD SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR REIZEI (A.D. 968-969)
THE SIXTY-FOURTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR ENYU (A.D. 970-984)
The reigns of Reizei and Enyu are remarkable for quarrels among the
members of the Fujiwara family--quarrels which, to be followed
intelligently, require frequent reference to the genealogical table
(page 203). Fujiwara Morosuke had five sons, Koretada, Kanemichi,
Kaneiye, Tamemitsu, and Kinsuye. Two of these, Koretada and Kaneiye,
presented one each of their daughters to the Emperor Reizei, and
Koretada's daughter gave birth to Prince Morosada, who afterwards
reigned as Kwazan, while Kaneiye's daughter bore Okisada,
subsequently the Emperor Sanjo. After one year's reign, Reizei, who
suffered from brain disease, abdicated in favour of his younger
brother, Enyu, then only in his eleventh year. Fujiwara Saneyori
acted as regent, but, dying shortly afterwards, was succeeded in that
office by his nephew, Koretada, who also had to resign on account of
illness.
Between this latter's two brothers, Kanemichi and Kaneiye, keen
competition for the regency now sprang up. Kanemichi's eldest
daughter was the Empress of Enyu, but his Majesty favoured Kaneiye,
who thus attained much higher rank than his elder brother. Kanemichi,
however, had another source of influence. His sister was Murakami's
Empress and mother of the reigning sovereign, Enyu. This Imperial
lady, writing to his Majesty Enyu at Kanemichi's dictation, conjured
the Emperor to be guided by primogeniture in appointing a regent, and
Enyu, though he bitterly disliked Kanemichi, could not gainsay his
mother. Thus Kanemichi became chancellor and acting regent. The
struggle was not concluded, however. It ended in the palace itself,
whither the two brothers repaired almost simultaneously, Kanemichi
rising from his sick-bed for the purpose. In the presence of the boy
Emperor, Kanemichi arbitrarily transferred his own office of kwampaku
to Fujiwara Yoritada and degraded his brother, Kaneiye, to a
comparatively insignificant post. The sovereign acquiesced; he had no
choice. A few months later, this dictator died. It is related of him
that his residence was more gorgeous than the palace and his manner
of life more sumptuous than the sovereign's. The men of his time were
wont to say, "A tiger's mouth is less fatal than the frown of the
regent, Kanemichi."
THE SIXTY-FIFTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KWAZAN (A.D. 985-986)
THE SIXTY-SIXTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR ICHIJO (A.D. 987-1011)
Eldest son of the Emperor Reizei, Kwazan ascended the throne in 985.
His mother was a daughter of Fujiwara Koretada, and Yoritada, whose
appointment as regent has just been described, continued to act in
that capacity. Kaneiye's opportunity had now come. Kwazan having
succeeded Enyu, nominated the latter's son to be Crown Prince,
instead of conferring the position on his own brother, Prince Okisada
(afterwards Sanjo). Now the Crown Prince was the son of Kaneiye's
daughter, and that ambitious noble determined to compass the
sovereign's abdication without delay. Kwazan, originally a fickle
lover, had ultimately conceived an absorbing passion for the lady
Tsuneko. He could not be induced to part with her even at the time of
her pregnancy, and as there was no proper provision in the palace for
such an event, Tsuneko died in labour. Kwazan, distraught with grief,
was approached by Kaneiye's son, Michikane, who urged him to retire
from the world and seek in Buddhism the perfect peace thus alone
attainable. Michikane declared his own intention of entering the
"path," and on a moonlight night the two men, leaving the palace,
repaired to the temple Gwangyo-ji to take the tonsure. There,
Michikane, pretending he wished to bid final farewell to his family,
departed to return no more, and the Emperor understood that he had
been deceived.
Retreat was now impossible, however. He abdicated in favour of
Ichijo, a child of seven, and Kaneiye became regent and chancellor.
He emulated the magnificence of his deceased brother and rival,
Kanemichi, and his residence at Higashi-Sanjo in Kyoto was built
after the model of the "hall of freshness" in the palace. He had five
sons, the most remarkable of whom were Michitaka, Michikane, and
Michinaga. It will be presently seen that in the hands of the last
the power of the Fujiwara reached its zenith. On the death of Kaneiye
the office of kwampaku fell to his eldest son, Michitaka, and, in
993, the latter being seriously ill, his son, Korechika, looked to be
his successor. But the honour fell to Michitaka's brother, Michikane.
Seven days after his nomination, Michikane died, and, as a matter of
course, men said that he had been done to death by the incantations
of his ambitious nephew. Again, however, the latter was disappointed.
Kaneiye's third son, Michinaga, succeeded to the regency.
Almost immediately, the new regent seems to have determined that his
daughter should be Empress. But the daughter of his elder brother,
the late Michitaka, already held that position. This, however,
constituted no sort of obstacle in the eyes of the omnipotent
Michinaga. He induced--"required" would probably be a more accurate
expression--the Empress to abandon the world, shave her head, and
remove to a secluded palace, (the Kokideri); where-after he caused
his own daughter to become the Imperial consort under the title of
chugu,* her residence being fixed in the Fujitsubo, which was the
recognized palace of the Empress.
*A lady on introduction to the palace received the title of jokwan.
If the daughter of a minister of State, she was called nyogo. Chugu
was a still higher title devised specially for Michinaga's purpose,
and naturally it became a precedent.
It is not to be imagined that with such a despotic regent, the
Emperor himself exercised any real authority. The annals show that
Ichijo was of benevolent disposition; that he sympathized with his
people; that he excelled in prose composition and possessed much
skill in music. Further, during his reign of twenty-four years many
able men graced the era. But neither their capacity nor his own found
opportunity for exercise in the presence of Michinaga's proteges,
and, while profoundly disliking the Fujiwara autocrat, Ichijo was
constrained to suffer him.
THE SIXTY-SEVENTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SANJO (A.D. 1012-1017)
THE SIXTY-EIGHTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-ICHIJO (A.D. 1017-1036)
Prince Okisada, younger brother of the Emperor Kwazan, ascended the
throne at the age of thirty-six, on the abdication of Ichijo, and is
known in history as Sanjo. Before his accession he had married the
daughter of Fujiwara Naritoki, to whom he was much attached, but with
the crown he had to accept the second daughter of Michinaga as chugu,
his former consort becoming Empress. His Majesty had to acquiesce in
another arbitrary arrangement also. It has been shown above that
Michinaga's eldest daughter had been given the title of chugu in the
palace of Ichijo, to whom she bore two sons, Atsunari and Atsunaga.
Neither of these had any right to be nominated Crown Prince in
preference to Sanjo's offspring. Michinaga, however, caused Atsunari
to be appointed Prince Imperial, ignoring Sanjo's son, since his
mother belonged to an inferior branch of the Fujiwara. Further, it
did not suit the regent's convenience that a ruler of mature age
should occupy the throne. An eye disease from which Sanjo suffered
became the pretext for pressing him to abdicate, and, in 1017,
Atsunari, then in his ninth year, took the sceptre as Emperor
Go-Ichijo, or Ichijo II. Michinaga continued to act as regent,
holding, at the same time, the office of minister of the Left, but he
subsequently handed over the regency to his son, Yorimichi, becoming
himself chancellor.
Go-Ichijo was constrained to endure at Michinaga's hands the same
despotic treatment as that previously meted out to Sanjo. The
legitimate claim of his offspring to the throne was ignored in favour
of his brother, Atsunaga, who received for consort the fourth
daughter of Michinaga. Thus, this imperious noble had controlled the
administration for thirty years; had given his daughters to three
Emperors; had appointed his son to be regent in his place, and had
the Crown Prince for grandson. Truly, as his historians say, he held
the empire in the hollow of his hand. His estates far exceeded those
of the Crown; the presents offered to him by all ranks reached an
enormous total; he built for himself a splendid mansion (Jotomon)
with forced labour requisitioned from the provinces, and for his wife
a scarcely less magnificent residence (Kyogoku) was erected at the
charges of the Emperor Go-Ichijo. At the approach of illness he took
refuge in Buddhism, but even here the gorgeous ostentation of his
life was not abated. He planned the building of a monastery which
should prove a worthy retreat for his declining years, and it is on
record that his order to the provincial governor was, "though you
neglect your official duties, do not neglect to furnish materials and
labour for the building of Hojo-ji." Even from the palace itself
stones were taken for this monastery, and the sums lavished upon it
were so enormous that they dwarfed Michinaga's previous
extravagances. Michinaga retired there to die, and on his death-bed
he received a visit from the Emperor, who ordered three months' Court
mourning on his decease. There is a celebrated work entitled Eigwa
Monogatari (Tales of Splendour), wherein is depicted the fortunes and
the foibles of the Fujiwara family from the days (889) of the Emperor
Uda to those (1092) of the Emperor Horikawa. Specially minute is the
chronicle when it treats of the Mido kwampaku, as Michinaga was
called after he set himself to build the monastery Hojo-ji.
Loyal Japanese historians shrink from describing this era, when the
occupants of the throne were virtually puppets in the hands of the
Fujiwara. There was, however, one redeeming feature: amid this luxury
and refinement literature flourished vigorously, so that the era of
Tenryaku (947-957) lives in the memory of the nation as vividly as
that of Engi (901-923). Oye Tomotsuna, Sugawara Fumitoki, Minamoto
Shitago--these were famous littérateurs, and Minamoto Hiromasa,
grandson of the Emperor Uda, attained celebrity as a musical genius.
Coming to the reigns of Kwazan, Enyu, and Ichijo (985-1011), we find
the immortal group of female writers, Murasaki Shikibu, Izumi
Shikibu, Sei Shonagon, and Akazome Emon; we find also in the Imperial
family, Princes Kaneakira and Tomohira; we find three famous scribes,
Fujiwara Yukinari, Fujiwara Sari, and Ono no Tofu, and, finally the
"Four Nagon" (Shi-nagori), Fujiwara Yukinari, Fujiwara Kinto.
Minamoto Narinobu, and Minamoto Toshikata.
It is observable that in this necessarily brief summary the name
"Minamoto" occurs several times, as does that of "Fujiwara" also. But
that the scions of either family confined themselves to the arts of
peace, is not to be inferred. There were Fujiwara among the military
magnates in the provinces, and we shall presently see the Minamoto
taking the lead in the science of war. Already, indeed, the Fujiwara
in the capital were beginning to recognize the power of the Minamoto.
It has been related above that one of the rebel Masakado's earliest
opponents was a Minamoto, vice-governor of Musashi. His son,
Mitsunaka, a redoubtable warrior, assisted the Fujiwara in Kyoto, and
Mitsunaka's sons, Yorimitsu and Yorinobu, contributed materially to
the autocracy of the regent Michinaga. Yorimitsu was appointed by the
regent to command the cavalry of the guard, and he is said to have
brought that corps to a state of great efficiency.
There was, indeed, much need of a strong hand. One had only to emerge
from the palace gates to find oneself among the haunts of bandits.
The names of such robber chiefs as Hakamadare no Yasusuke, Kidomaru,
Oeyama Shutendoji, and Ibaraki-doji have been handed down as the
heroes in many a strange adventure and the perpetrators of many
heinous crimes. Even the Fujiwara residences were not secure against
the torches of these plunderers, and during the reign of Ichijo the
palace itself was frequently fired by them. In Go-Ichijo's tune, an
edict was issued forbidding men to carry bows and arrows in the
streets, but had there been power to enforce such a veto, its
enactment would not have been necessary. Its immediate sequel was
that the bandits broke into Government offices and murdered officials
there.
THE INVASION OF JAPAN BY THE TOI
In the spring of 1019, when Go-Ichijo occupied the throne, a large
host of invaders suddenly poured into the island of Tsushima. There
had not been any warning. Tsushima lies half-way between the south of
Korea and the northeast of Kyushu, distant about sixty miles from
either coast. Since the earliest times, its fine harbours had served
as a military station for ships plying between Japan and Korea, but
such intercourse had long been interrupted when this invasion took
place.
The invaders were the Toi, originally called Sushen or Moho, under
the former of which names they make their appearance in Japanese
history in the middle of the sixth century. They inhabited that part
of the Asiatic continent which lies opposite to the island of Ezo,
but there is nothing to show what impulse they obeyed in making this
sudden descent upon Japan. Their fleet comprised some fifty vessels
only, each from forty to sixty feet long and propelled by thirty or
forty oars, but of how many fighting men the whole force consisted,
no record has been preserved. As to arms, they carried swords, bows,
spears, and shields, and in their tactical formation spearmen
occupied the front rank, then came swordsmen, and finally bowmen.
Every man had a shield. Their arrows were short, measuring little
over a foot, but their bows were powerful, and they seem to have
fought with fierce courage.
At first they carried everything before them. The governor of
Tsushima, being without any means of defence, fled to the Dazai-fu in
Kyushu, and the inhabitants were left to the mercy of the invaders,
who then pushed on to the island of Iki. There the governor, Fujiwara
Masatada, made a desperate resistance, losing his own life in the
battle. It is said that of all the inhabitants, one only, a Buddhist
priest, escaped to tell the story.
Ten days after their first appearance off Tsushima, the Toi effected
a landing in Chikuzen and marched towards Hakata, plundering,
burning, massacring old folks and children, making prisoners of
adults, and slaughtering cattle and horses for food. It happened,
fortunately, that Takaiye, younger brother of Fujiwara Korechika, was
in command at the Dazai-fu, whither he had repaired partly out of
pique, partly to undergo treatment for eye disease at the hands of a
Chinese doctor. He met the crisis with the utmost coolness, and made
such skilful dispositions for defence that, after three days'
fighting, in which the Japanese lost heavily, Hakata remained
uncaptured.
High winds and rough seas now held the invaders at bay, and in that
interval the coast defences were repaired and garrisoned, and a fleet
of thirty-eight boats having been assembled, the Japanese assumed the
offensive, ultimately driving the Toi to put to sea. A final attempt
was made to effect a landing at Matsuura in the neighbouring province
of Hizen, but, after fierce fighting, the invaders had to withdraw
altogether. The whole affair had lasted sixteen days, and the
Japanese losses were 382 killed and 1280 taken prisoners. Two hundred
and eighty of the latter--60 men and 220 women--were subsequently
returned. They were brought over from Koma six months later by a Koma
envoy, Chong Cha-ryang, to whom the Court presented three hundred
pieces of gold.
Kyoto's attitude towards this incident was most instructive. When the
first tidings of the invasion reached the capital, the protection of
heaven was at once invoked by services at Ise and ten other shrines.
But when, on receipt of news that the danger had been averted, the
question of rewarding the victors came up for discussion, a majority
of the leading statesmen contended that, as the affair had been
settled before the arrival of an Imperial mandate at the Dazai-fu, no
official cognizance could be taken of it. This view was ultimately
overruled since the peril had been national, but the rewards
subsequently given were insignificant, and the event clearly
illustrates the policy of the Central Government--a policy already
noted in connexion with the revolt of Masakado--namely, that any
emergency dealt with prior to the receipt of an Imperial rescript
must be regarded as private, whatever its nature, and therefore
beyond the purview of the law.
A more effective method of decentralization could not have been
devised. It was inevitable that, under such a system, the provincial
magnates should settle matters to their own liking without reference
to Kyoto, and that, the better to enforce their will, they should
equip themselves with armed retinues. In truth, it is not too much to
say that, from the tenth century, Japan outside the capital became an
arena of excursions and alarms, the preservation of peace being
wholly dependent on the ambitions of local magnates.
A history of all these happenings would be intolerably long and
tedious. Therefore only those that have a national bearing will be
here set down. Prominent among such is the struggle between the Taira
and the Minamoto in the Kwanto. The origin of these two families has
already been recounted. Some historians have sought to differentiate
the metropolitan section of the Minamoto from the provincial
section--that is to say, the men of luxury and literature who
frequented the capital, from the men of sword and bow who ruled in
the provinces. Such differentiation is of little practical value.
Similar lines of demarcation might be drawn in the case of the Taira
and Fujiwara themselves. If there were great captains in each of
these famous families, there were also great courtiers. To the former
category belonged Taira Tadatsune. For generations his family had
ruled in the province of Shimosa and had commanded the allegiance of
all the bushi of the region. Tadatsune held at one time the post of
vice-governor of the neighbouring province of Kazusa, where he
acquired large manors (shoen). In the year 1028, he seized the chief
town of the latter province, and pushing on into Awa, killed the
governor and obtained complete control of the province.* The Court,
on receiving news of these events, ordered Minamoto Yorinobu,
governor of Kai, and several other provincial governors to attack the
Taira chief.
*Murdoch, in his History of Japan, says that in three years
Tadatsune's aggressions "reduced the Kwanto to a tangled wilderness.
Thus, in the province of Shimosa, in 1027, there had been as much as
58,000 acres under cultivation; but in 1031 this had shrunk to
forty-five acres."
Yorinobu did not wait for his associates. Setting out with his son,
Yoriyoshi, in 1031, he moved at once against Tadatsune's castle,
which stood on the seashore of Shimosa, protected by moats and
palisades, and supposed to be unapproachable from the sea except by
boats, of which Tadatsune had taken care that there should not be any
supply available. But the Minamoto general learned that the shore
sloped very slowly on the castle front, and marching his men boldly
through the water, he delivered a crushing attack.
For this exploit, which won loud plaudits, he was appointed
commandant of the local government office, a post held by his
grandfather, Tsunemoto, whom we have seen as vice-governor of Musashi
in the days of Masakado; by his father, Mitsunaka, one of the pillars
of the Minamoto family, and by his elder brother, Yorimitsu, who
commanded the cavalry of the guards in Kyoto. The same post was
subsequently bestowed on Yorinobu's son, Yoriyoshi, and on the
latter's son, Yoshiiye, known by posterity as "Hachiman Taro,"
Japan's most renowned archer, to whom the pre-eminence of the
Minamoto family was mainly due. Tadatsune had another son, Tsunemasa,
who was appointed vice-governor of Shimosa and who is generally
spoken of as Chiba-no-suke. The chief importance of these events is
that they laid the foundation of the Minamoto family's supremacy in
the Kwanto, and thus permanently influenced the course of Japanese
history.
THE CAMPAIGN OF ZEN-KUNEN
It is advisable at this stage to make closer acquaintance with the
Japanese bushi (soldier), who has been cursorily alluded to more than
once in these pages, and who, from the tenth century, acts a
prominent role on the Japanese stage. History is silent as to the
exact date when the term "bushi" came into use, but from a very early
era its Japanese equivalent, "monono-fu," was applied to the guards
of the sovereign's palace, and when great provincial magnates began,
about the tenth century, to support a number of armed retainers,
these gradually came to be distinguished as bushi. In modern times
the ethics of the bushi have been analysed under the name "bushido"
(the way of the warrior), but of course no such term or any such
complete code existed in ancient days. The conduct most appropriate
to a bushi was never embodied in a written code. It derived its
sanctions from the practice of recognized models, and only by
observing those models can we reach a clear conception of the thing
itself.
ENGRAVING: HALL OF BYODOIN TEMPLE (1052), AT UJI
To that end, brief study may be given to the principal campaigns of
the eleventh century, namely, the century immediately preceding the
establishment of military feudalism. It must be premised, however,
that although the bushi figured mainly on the provincial stage, he
acted an important part in the capital also. There, the Throne and
its Fujiwara entourage were constrained to enlist the co-operation of
the military nobles for the purpose of controlling the lawless
elements of the population. The Minamoto family were conspicuous in
that respect. Minamoto Mitsunaka--called also Manchu--served at the
Court of four consecutive sovereigns from Murakami downwards, was
appointed governor of several provinces, and finally became
commandant of the local Government office. Yorimitsu, his son, a
still greater strategist, was a prominent figure at five Courts, from
the days of Enyu, and his brothers, Yorichika and Yorinobu, rendered
material assistance in securing the supremacy of the great Fujiwara
chief, Michinaga. Indeed, the Minamoto were commonly spoken of as the
"claws" of the Fujiwara. It was this Yorinobu who won such fame by
escalading the castle of Taira Tadatsune and who established his
family's footing in the Kwanto. His uncle, Yoshimitsu, had a large
estate at Tada in Settsu, and this branch of the family was known as
Tada Genji.*
Then there were:
The Yamato Genji descended from Yorichika
" Suruga " " " Mitsumasa
" Shinano " " " Mitsunaka
" Uda " of Omi, called also the Sasaki family
" Saga " of Settsu " " " Watanabe
" Hizen " of Hizen " " " Matsuura
The Taira family became famous from the time of Sadamori, who quelled
the insurrection of Masakado. Of this clan, there were these
branches:
The Daijo-uji of Hitachi, so called because for generations they held
the office of daijo in Hitachi.
The Ise-Heishi of Ise, descended from Korehira, son of Sadamori.
" Shiro-uji of Mutsu, Dewa, Shinano, and Echigo, descended from
Shigemori and Koremochi
" Nishina-uji " " " " " " " "
" Iwaki-uji " " " " " " " "
" Miura-no-suke of Musashi, Kazusa, and Shimosa, descendants of
Taira no Yoshibumi
" Chiba-no-suke " " " " "
" Chichibu-uji " " " " "
Soma family, who succeeded to the domains of Masakado.
*"Gen" is the alternative pronunciation of "Minamoto" as "Hei" is of
"Taira." The two great families who occupy such a large space in the
pages of Japanese history are spoken of together as "Gen-Pei," and
independently as "Genji" and "Heishi," or "Minamoto" and
The Fujiwara also had many provincial representatives, descended
mainly from Hidesato, (called also Tawara Toda), who distinguished
himself in the Masakado crisis. There were the Sano-uji of
Shimotsuke, Mutsu, and Dewa; and there were the Kondo, the Muto, the
Koyama, and the Yuki, all in different parts of the Kwanto. In fact,
the empire outside the capital was practically divided between the
Minamoto, the Taira, and the Fujiwara families, so that anything like
a feud could scarcely fail to have wide ramifications.
The eleventh century may be said to have been the beginning of such
tumults. Not long after the affair of Taira Tadatsune, there occurred
the much larger campaign known as Zen-kunen no Sodo, or the "Prior
Nine Years' Commotion." The scene of this struggle was the vast
province of Mutsu in the extreme north of the main island. For
several generations the Abe family had exercised sway there, and its
representative in the middle of the eleventh century extended his
rule over six districts and defied the authority of the provincial
governors. The Court deputed Minamoto Yoriyoshi to restore order. The
Abe magnate was killed by a stray arrow at an early stage of the
campaign, but his son, Sadato, made a splendid resistance.
In December, 1057, Yoriyoshi, at the head of eighteen hundred men,
led a desperate assault on the castle of Kawasaki, garrisoned by
Sadato with four thousand picked soldiers. The attack was delivered
during a heavy snow-storm, and in its sequel the Minamoto general
found his force reduced to six men. Among these six, however, was his
eldest son, Yoshiiye, one of the most skilful bowmen Japan ever
produced. Yoshiiye's mother was a Taira. When she became enceinte her
husband dreamed that the sacred sword of the war deity, Hachiman, had
been given to him, and the boy came to be called Hachiman Taro. This
name grew to be a terror to the enemy, and it was mainly through his
prowess that his father and their scanty remnant of troops escaped
over roads where the snow lay several feet deep.
On a subsequent occasion in the same campaign, Yoshiiye had Sadato at
his mercy and, while fixing an arrow to shoot him, composed the first
line of a couplet, "The surcoat's warp at last is torn." Sadato,
without a moment's hesitation, capped the line, "The threads at last
are frayed and worn,"* and Yoshiiye, charmed by such a display of
ready wit, lowered his bow. Nine years were needed to finish the
campaign, and, in its sequel, Yoriyoshi was appointed governor of
Iyo, and Yoshiiye, governor of Mutsu, while Kiyowara Takenori,
without whose timely aid Sadato could scarcely have been subdued,
received the high post of chinju-fu shogun (commandant of the local
Government office). Yoshiiye's magnanimity towards Sadato at the
fortress of Koromo-gawa has always been held worthy of a true bushi.
*The point of this couplet is altogether lost in English. It turns
upon the fact that the word tate used by Yoshiiye means either a
fortress or the vertical threads in woven stuff, and that koromo was
the name of the fortress where the encounter took place and had also
the significance of "surcoat."
Sadato was ultimately killed, but his younger brother Muneto had the
affection and full confidence of Yoshiiye. Muneto, however,
remembered his brother's fate and cherished a desire to take
vengeance on Yoshiiye, which mood also was recognized as becoming to
a model bushi. One night, the two men went out together, and Muneto
decided that the opportunity for vengeance had come. Drawing his
sword, he looked into the ox-carriage containing Yoshiiye and found
him sound asleep. The idea of behaving treacherously in the face of
such trust was unendurable, and thereafter Muneto served Yoshiiye
with faith and friendship. The confidence that the Minamoto hero
reposed in the brother of his old enemy and the way it was
requited--these, too, are claimed as traits of the bushi.
Yet another canon is furnished by Yoshiiye's career--the canon of
humility. Oye no Masafusa was overheard remarking that Yoshiiye had
some high qualities but was unfortunately ignorant of strategy. This
being repeated to Yoshiiye, he showed no resentment but begged to
become Masafusa's pupil. Yet he was already conqueror of the Abe and
governor of Dewa.
THE GO-SANNEN CAMPAIGN
Thereafter the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa were again the scene of
another fierce struggle which, since it began in the third year
(1089) of the Kwanji era and ended in the fifth year (1091), was
called the "After Three-years War." With regard to the nature of this
commotion, no enumeration of names is necessary. It was a family
quarrel between the scions of Kiyowara Takenori, a magnate of Mutsu
who had rendered conclusive assistance to Yoshiiye in the Nine-years'
War; and as a great landowner of Dewa, Kimiko Hidetake, took part,
the whole north of Japan may be said to have been involved. It fell
to Yoshiiye, as governor of Mutsu, to quell the disturbance, and very
difficult the task proved, so difficult that the issue might have
been different had not Fujiwara Kiyohira--who will be presently
spoken of--espoused the Minamoto cause.
When news of the struggle reached Kyoto, Yoshiiye's younger brother,
Yoshimitsu, who held the much coveted post of kebiishi, applied for
permission to proceed at once to his brother's assistance. The Court
refused his application, whereupon he resigned his office and, like a
true bushi, hastened to the war. Yoshimitsu was a skilled performer
upon a musical instrument called the sho. He had studied under a
celebrated master, Toyohara Tokimoto, now no more, and, on setting
out for the field of battle in the far north, he became apprehensive
lest the secrets imparted to him by his teacher should die with him.
He therefore invited Tokimoto's son, Tokiaki, to bear him company
during the first part of his journey, and to him he conveyed all the
knowledge he possessed. The spectacle of this renowned soldier giving
instruction in the art of music to the son of his deceased teacher on
moonlit nights as he travelled towards the battlefield, has always
appealed strongly to Japanese conception of a perfect samurai, and
has been the motive of many a picture.
This Go-sannen struggle furnished also another topic for frequent
pictorial representation. When about to attack the fortress of
Kanazawa, to which the approaches were very difficult, Yoshiiye
observed a flock of geese rising in confusion, and rightly inferred
an ambuscade of the enemy. His comment was, "Had not Oye Masafusa
taught me strategy, many brave men had been killed to-night." Yet one
more typical bushi may be mentioned in connexion with this war.
Kamakura Gongoro, a youth of sixteen, always fought in the van of
Yoshiiye's forces and did great execution. A general on the enemy's
side succeeded in discharging a shaft which entered the boy's eye.
Gongoro, breaking the arrow, rode straight at the archer and cut him
down. A shrine in Kamakura was erected to the memory of this intrepid
lad.
When Yoshiiye reported to the Throne the issue of this sanguinary
struggle, Kyoto replied that the war had been a private feud and that
no reward or distinctions would be conferred. Yoshiiye therefore
devoted the greater part of his own manors to recompensing those that
had followed his standard. He thus won universal respect throughout
the Kwanto. Men competed to place their sons and younger brothers as
kenin (retainers) in his service and the name of Hachiman-ko was on
all lips. But Yoshiiye died (1108) in a comparatively low rank. It is
easy to comprehend that in the Kwanto it became a common saying,
"Better serve the Minamoto than the sovereign."
THE FUJIWARA OF THE NORTH
Fujiwara Kiyohira, who is mentioned above as having espoused the
cause of the Minamoto in the Go-sannen, was descended from Hidesato,
the conqueror of Masakado. After the Go-sannen outbreak he succeeded
to the six districts of Mutsu which had been held by the insurgent
chiefs. This vast domain descended to his son Motohira, and to the
latter's son, Hidehira, whose name we shall presently find in large
letters on a page of Japanese history.
The Mutsu branch of the Fujiwara wielded paramount sway in the north
for several generations. Near Hiraizumi, in the province of Rikuchu,
may still be seen four buildings forming the monastery Chuson-ji. In
one of these edifices repose the remains of Kiyohira, Motohira, and
Hidehira. The ceiling, floor and four walls of this Konjiki-do
(golden hall) were originally covered with powdered gold, and its
interior pillars are inlaid with mother-of-pearl on which are traced
the outlines of twelve Arhats. In the days of Kiyohira the monastery
consisted of forty buildings and was inhabited by three hundred
priests.
ENGRAVING: A CONJUROR
ENGRAVING: SIDE VIEW OF THE "KOHO-AN" OF DAITOKU-JI, AT KYOTO