THE LATE PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU.
THE ELEVENTH SHOGUN, IENARI. (1786-1838)
NATURAL CALAMITIES
THE misgovernment of Tanuma and his son was not the only calamity
that befell the country during the closing years of the tenth shogun,
Ieharu's, administration. The land was also visited by famine and
pestilence of unparallelled dimensions. The evil period began in 1783
and lasted almost without intermission for four years. It is recorded
that when the famine was at its height, rice could not be obtained in
some parts of the country for less than forty ryo a koku. Sanguinary
riots took place in Yedo, Kyoto, Osaka, and elsewhere. The stores of
rice-merchants and the residences of wealthy folks were plundered
and, in many cases, destroyed. To such extremities were people driven
that cakes made from pine-tree bark served as almost the sole means
of subsistence in some districts, and the Government is found gravely
proclaiming that cakes made of straw were more nutritious. There are
records of men deserting their families, wandering into other
provinces in search of food and dying by thousands on the way. An
official who had been sent to Matsumae, in the province of Mutsu, to
observe the state of affairs, reported that the villages to the east
of Nambu had been practically depopulated and the once fertile fields
converted into barren plains. "Although farmhouses stood in the
hamlets, not a solitary person was to be seen on the road; not a
human voice was to be heard. Looking through a window, one saw dead
bodies lying without anyone to bury them, and sometimes skeletons
covered with quilts reposed on the mats, while among the weeds
countless corpses were scattered."
THE ELEVENTH SHOGUN, IENARI
Among these terrible conditions the tenth shogun, Ieharu died, in
1786, and was succeeded by Ienari, a son of Hitotsubashi Harunari and
a great-grandson of Yoshimune. Ienari was in his fifteenth year, and,
of course, at such a tender age he could not possibly deal with the
financial, economic, and administrative problems that presented
themselves at this, the darkest period of Tokugawa sway. Fortunately
a man of genius was found to grapple with the situation. Matsudaira
Sadanobu, son of Tayasu Munetake and grandson of Yoshimune, proved
himself one of the most capable administrators Japan had hitherto
produced. In 1788, he was appointed prime minister, assisted by a
council of State comprising the heads of the three Tokugawa families
of Mito, Kii, and Owari. Sadanobu was in his thirtieth year, a man of
boundless energy, great insight, and unflinching courage. His first
step was to exorcise the spectre of famine by which the nation was
obsessed. For that purpose he issued rules with regard to the storing
of grain, and as fairly good harvests were reaped during the next few
years, confidence was in a measure restored. The men who served the
Bakufu during its middle period in the capacity of ministers had been
taken almost entirely from the families of Ii, Sakai, and Hotta, but
none of them had shown any marked ability; they had allowed their
functions to be usurped by the personal attendants of the shogun.
This abuse was remedied by the appointment of the heads of the three
Tokugawa families to the post of ministers, and for a time Sadanobu
received loyal and efficient support from his colleagues.
CONFLAGRATION IN KYOTO
The series of calamities which commenced with the tempests, floods,
and famines of 1788 culminated in a fire such as never previously had
swept Kyoto. It reduced to ashes the Imperial palace, Nijo Castle,
220 Shinto shrines, 128 Buddhist temples, and 183,000 houses. The
loss of life (2600) was not by any means as severe as that in the
great fire of Yedo, but the Imperial city was practically destroyed.
Ishikawa Jinshiro, who commanded at Nijo Castle, immediately
distributed a thousand koku of rice from the Government's store to
relieve the distressed citizens. He acted in this matter without
waiting to seek sanction from the Bakufu, and his discretion was
rewarded by appointment to the high office of inspector-general of
police (o-metsuke).
The problem of restoring the palace presented much difficulty in the
impoverished state of the country, but the Bakufu did not hesitate to
take the task in hand, and to issue the necessary requisitions to the
feudatories of the home provinces. Sadanobu himself repaired to Kyoto
to superintend the work, and took the opportunity to travel
throughout a large part of the country. During his tour all that had
any grievances were invited to present petitions, and munificent
rewards were bestowed on persons who had distinguished themselves by
acts of filial piety or by lives of chastity. Such administrative
measures presented a vivid contrast with the corrupt oppression
practised by the Tanuma family, and it is recorded that men and women
kneeled on the road as Sadanobu passed and blessed him with tears.
ENGRAVING: SANNO FESTIVAL OF TOKYO IN EARLY DAYS
SUMPTUARY REGULATIONS
Convinced that the most important step towards economic improvement
was the practice of frugality, Sadanobu caused rules to be compiled
and issued which dealt with almost every form of expenditure. He
himself made a practice of attending at the castle wearing garments
of the coarsest possible materials, and the minute character of his
ordinances against extravagance almost taxes credulity.
Thus, he forbade the custom of exchanging presents between official
colleagues; ordered that everyone possessing an income of less than
ten thousand koku should refrain from purchasing anything new,
whether clothing, utensils, or furniture; interdicted the wearing of
white robes except on occasions of ceremony; ordained that wedding
presents should henceforth be reduced by one-half, advised that dried
lobsters should be substituted for fresh fish in making presents;
prohibited the wearing of brocade or embroidered silk by ladies not
of the highest class; enjoined simplicity in costumes for the no
dance, in children's toys, in women's pipes, or tobacco-pouches, and
in ladies' hairpins or hairdress; forbade gold lacquer in any form
except to delineate family crests; limited the size of dolls; vetoed
banquets, musical entertainments, and all idle pleasures except such
as were justified by social status, and actually went to the length
of ordering women to dress their own hair, dispensing entirely with
professional Hairdressers, who were bade to change their occupation
for tailoring or laundry work.
This remarkable statesman laboured for the ethical improvement of his
countrymen as well as for their frugality of life. In 1789, we find
him legislating against the multiplication of brothels, and, two
years later, he vetoed mixed bathing of men and women. One of the
fashions of the time was that vassals left in charge of their lords'
mansions in Yedo used to organize mutual entertainments by way of
promoting good-fellowship, but in reality for purposes of
dissipation. These gatherings were strictly interdicted.
Simultaneously with the issue of this mass of negative legislation,
Sadanobu took care to bestow rewards and publish eulogies. Whoever
distinguished himself by diligent service, by chastity, by filial
piety, or by loyalty, could count on honourable notice.
THE KWANSEI VAGABONDS
During the Kwansei era (1789-1800), Yedo was infested by vagabonds,
who, having been deprived of their livelihood by the famine during
the years immediately previous, made a habit of going about the town
in groups of from three to five men committing deeds of theft or
incendiarism. Sadanobu, acting on the advice of the judicial
officials, dealt with this evil by establishing a house of correction
on Ishikawa Island. There homeless vagrants were detained and
provided with work, those ignorant of any handicraft being employed
as labourers. The inmates were fed and clothed by the Government, and
set free after three years, their savings being handed to them to
serve as capital for some occupation. The institution was placed
under the care of Hasegawa Heizo, five hundred bags of rice and five
hundred ryo being granted annually by the Bakufu for its support.
ADOPTION
It has been stated above that one of the abuses which came into large
practice from the middle period of the Tokugawa Bakufu was the
adoption of children of ignoble birth into samurai families in
consideration of monetary payments by their parents. This mercenary
custom was strictly interdicted by the Matsudaira regent, who justly
saw in it a danger to the solidity of the military class. But it does
not appear that his veto received full observance.
EDUCATION
Since the shogun Tsunayoshi (1680-1709) appointed Hayashi Nobuatsu as
chief of Education in Yedo, and entrusted to him the conduct of the
college called Seido, Hayashi's descendants succeeded to that post by
hereditary right. They steadily followed the principles of
Confucianism as interpreted by Chutsz, a Chinese philosopher who died
in the year 1200, but in accordance with the inevitable fate of all
hereditary offices, the lapse of generations brought inferiority of
zeal and talent. During the first half of the seventeenth century,
there appeared in the field of Japanese philosophy Nakaye Toju, who
adopted the interpretation of Confucianism given by a later Chinese
philosopher, Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529). At a subsequent date Yamaga
Soko, Ito Jinsai, and Ogyu Sorai (called also Butsu Sorai) asserted
the superiority of the ancient Chinese teaching; and finally
Kinoshita Junan preached the rule of adopting whatever was good,
without distinction of Tang or Sung.
These four schools engaged in vehement controversy, and showed such
passion in their statements and such intolerance in their
contradictions, that they seemed to have altogether forgotten the
ethical principles underlying their own doctrines. In the last
quarter of the eighteenth century, other schools came into being, one
calling itself the "eclectic school," another the "inductive school,"
and so forth, so that in the end one and the same passage of the
Confucian Analects received some twenty different interpretations,
all advanced with more or less abuse and injury to the spirit of
politeness.
In these circumstances the educational chief in Yedo lost control of
the situation. Even among his own students there were some who
rejected the teachings of Chutsz, and Confucianism threatened to
become a stumbling-block rather than an aid to ethics. The prime
minister, Sadanobu, now appointed four philosophers of note to assist
the Hayashi family, and these famous teachers attended in turn at the
Seido to lecture, commoners as well as samurai being allowed to
attend. Sadanobu further directed that the heads of Government
departments should send in a list of those best educated among their
subordinates, and the men thus recommended were promoted after
examination. Moreover, the prime minister himself, attended by his
colleagues and the administrators, made a habit of inspecting
personally, from time to time, the manner of teaching at the college,
and finally, in 1795, the Seido was definitely invested with the
character of a Government college, a yearly grant of 1130 koku being
apportioned to meet the expenses, and an income of 1500 koku being
bestowed upon the Hayashi family.
In the same year, it was decreed that no one should be eligible for a
post in the civil service unless he was an avowed follower of the
Chutsz philosophy. This bigoted measure, spoken of as the
"prohibition of heterodoxy," did not produce the desired effect. It
tended rather to accentuate the differences between the various
schools, and a petition was presented to the Bakufu urging that the
invidious veto should be rescinded. The petitioners contended that
although the schools differed from each other, their differences were
not material, since all stood on common foundations, namely, the
doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, and all agreed in inculcating the
virtues of filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, humanity,
righteousness, politeness, and general tranquillity.
THE PHILOSOPHIES OF CHUTSZ AND WANG YANG-MING
It will be interesting to pause here a moment in order to inquire
briefly the nature of the philosophies which occupied Japanese
thought throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. We
need not go beyond the schools of Chutsz and Wang Yang-ming, for the
third, or "ancient," school adopted the teachings of Confucius and
Mencius in their purity, rejecting all subsequent deductions from the
actual words used by these sages. These two schools have been well
distinguished as follows by a modern philosopher, Dr. Inouye
Tetsujiro:
"(1) Chutsz maintained that it is necessary to make an extensive
investigation of the world and its laws before determining what is
the moral law. Wang held that man's knowledge of moral law precedes
all study and that a man's knowledge of himself is the very highest
kind of learning. Chutsz's method may be said to be inductive;
Wang's, deductive.
"(2) The cosmogony of Chutsz was dualistic. All nature owed its
existence to the Ri and Ki, the determining principle and the vital
force of primordial aura that produces and modifies motion. Wang held
that these two were inseparable. His teaching was therefore monistic.
"(3) Chutsz taught that the primary principle, Ri, and the mind of
man were quite separate, and that the latter was attached to the Ki.
Wang held that the mind of man and the principle of the universe were
one and the same, and argued that no study of external nature was
required in order to find out nature's laws. To discover these, man
had only to look within his own heart. He that understands his own
heart understands nature, says Wang.
"(4) Chutsz's system makes experience necessary in order to
understand the laws of the universe, but Wang's idealism dispenses
with it altogether as a teacher.
"(5) Chutsz taught that knowledge must come first and right conduct
after. Wang contended that knowledge and conduct cannot be separated.
One is part of the other. Chutsz may be said to exalt learned
theories and principles, and Wang to extol practice.
"The moral results of the systems briefly stated were as follows:
Chutsz 'a teaching produced many learned men in this country, but not
infrequently these men were inferior, being narrow-minded,
prejudiced, and behind the age. Wang's doctrines, on the other hand,
while they cannot escape the charge of shallowness on all occasions,
serve the moral purpose for which they were propagated better than
those of the rival school. Though in the ranks of the Japanese
followers of Chutsz there were numbers of insignificant, bigoted
traditionalists, the same cannot be said of those who adopted Wang's
views. They were as a class fine specimens of humanity, abreast, if
not ahead, of the age in which they lived. No system of teaching has
produced anything approaching such a number of remarkable men. If a
tree is to be judged by its fruit, Wang's philosophy in Japan must be
pronounced one of the greatest benefits that she received from the
neighbouring continent, though not a little of its power in this
country is to be traced to the personality of the man who was the
first to make it thoroughly known to his fellow countrymen, Nakaye
Toju."*
*See Professor Walter Dening's brochure on Confucian Philosophy in
Japan.
Dr. Inouye adds: "By exclusive attention to the dictates of
conscience and by sheer force of will the Wang school of philosophers
succeeded in reaching a standard of attainment that served to make
them models for posterity. The integrity of heart preached by his
followers in Japan has become a national heritage of which all
Japanese are proud. In the West, ethics has become too exclusively a
subject of intellectual inquiry, a question as to which of rival
theories is the most logical. By the Japanese, practical virtue has
been exalted to the pedestal of the highest honour."
The same authority, discussing the merits of the Chutsz school, says:
"To the question which has so often been asked during the past few
years, whence comes the Japanese fine ethical standard, the answer is
that it undoubtedly originated with the teaching of Chutsz as
explained, modified, and carried into practice in Japan. The moral
philosophy of the Chutsz school in Japan compared with that of the
other two schools was moderate in tone, free from eccentricities, and
practical in a rare degree. In the enormous importance it attached to
self-culture and what is known in modern terminology as
self-realization, the teaching of the Chutsz school of Japanese
moralists differed in no material respects from the doctrines of the
New Kantians in England."
RETIREMENT OF SADANOBU
After six years of most enlightened service, Matsudaira Sadanobu
resigned office in 1793 to the surprise and consternation of all
truly patriotic Japanese. History is uncertain as to the exact cause
of his retirement, but the explanation seems to be, first, that his
uncompromising zeal of reform had earned him many enemies who watched
constantly for an opportunity to attack him, and found it during his
absence on a visit to inspect the coasts of the empire with a view to
enforcing the veto against foreign trade; and secondly, that a
question of prime importance having arisen between the Courts of
Kyoto and Yedo, Sadanobu's influence was exercised in a manner deeply
resented by the sovereign as well as by the loyalists throughout the
empire. This important incident will be presently referred to in
detail. Here it will suffice to state that Sadanobu did not retire in
disgrace. He was promoted to the rank of general of the Left, which
honour was supplemented by an invitation to attend at the castle on
State occasions. He chose, however, to live in retirement, devoting
himself to the administration of his own domain and to literary
pursuits. The author of several well-known books, he is remembered by
his pen-name, Rakuo, almost as constantly as by his historical,
Sadanobu. He died in 1829, at the age of seventy-two.
HITOTSUBASHI HARUNARI
After Sadanobu's resignation of the post of prime minister, the
shogun's father, Hitotsubashi Harunari, moved into the western
citadel of Yedo Castle, and thenceforth the great reforms which
Sadanobu had effected by the force of genius and unflagging
assiduity, were quickly replaced by an age of retrogression, so that
posterity learned to speak of the prodigality of the Bunka and Bunsei
eras (1804-1829), instead of the frugality of the Kwansei
(1789-1800). As for the shogun, Ienari, he received from the Throne
the highest rank attainable by a subject, together with the office of
daijo-daijin. Such honour was without precedent since the time of
Ieyasu. Ienari had more than fifty daughters, all born of different
mothers, from which fact the dimensions of his harem may be inferred.
THE 119TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOKAKU (A.D. 1780-1816)
The Emperor Kokaku ascended the throne in 1780 and abdicated in 1816.
He was undoubtedly a wise sovereign and as a classical scholar he won
considerable renown. After reigning for thirty-six years, he
administered State affairs from the Palace of Retirement during
twenty-four, and throughout that long interval of sixty years, the
country enjoyed profound peace. The period of Sadanobu's service as
prime minister of the Bakufu coincided with the middle of Kokaku's
reign, and in those days of happiness and prosperity men were wont to
say that with a wise sovereign in the west a wise subject had
appeared in the east. Up to that time the relations between Kyoto and
Yedo were excellent, but Sadanobu's resignation and the cause that
led to it produced between the two Courts a breach which contributed
materially, though indirectly, to the ultimate fall of the Tokugawa.
REBUILDING OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE
It has already been noted that after the great fire of 1788, the
Bakufu, acting, of course, at the instance of their prime minister,
ordered Sadanobu to supervise the work of reconstructing the Imperial
palace. Since the days of Oda and Toyotomi, the palace had been
rebuilt or extensively repaired on several occasions, but always the
plans had been too small for the requirements of the orthodox
ceremonials. Sadanobu determined to correct this fault. He called for
plans and elevations upon the bases of those of the tenth century,
and from the gates to the roofs he took care that everything should
be modelled on the old lines. The edifices are said to have been at
once chaste and magnificent, the internal decorations being from the
brushes of the best artists of the Tosa and Sumiyoshi Academies.
Sealed estimates had been required from several leading architects,
and Sadanobu surprised his colleagues by awarding the work to the
highest bidder, on the ground that cheapness could not consist with
true merit in such a case, and that any thought of cost would evince
a want of reverence towards the Imperial Court. The buildings were
finished in two years, and the two Emperors, the reigning and the
retired, took up their residence there. His Majesty Kokaku rewarded
the shogun with an autograph letter of thanks as well as a verse of
poetry composed by himself, and on Sadanobu he conferred a sword and
an album of poems. The shogun Ienari is said to have been profoundly
gratified by this mark of Imperial favour. He openly attributed it to
Sadanobu's exertions, and he presented to the latter a facsimile of
the autograph letter.
THE TITLE TROUBLE
In the very year (1791) following the Emperor's entry into the new
palace, a most untoward incident occurred. Up to that time the
relations between the Courts of Kyoto and Yedo had left nothing to be
desired, but now a permanent breach of amity took place. The
sovereign was the son of Prince Tsunehito, head of the Kanin family.
This prince, in spite of his high title, was required by Court
etiquette to sit below the ministers of State on ceremonial occasions
in the palace. Such an order of precedence offended the sovereign,
and his Majesty proposed that the rank of dajo tenno should be given
to his father, thus placing him in the position of a retired Emperor.
Of course it was within the prerogative of the Emperor to confer
titles. The normal procedure would have been to give the desired rank
to Prince Tsunehito, and then to inform the Bakufu of the
accomplished fact. But, in consideration of the very friendly
relations existing between the two Courts, the sovereign seems to
have been unwilling to act on his own initiative in a matter of such
importance.
Yedo was consulted, and to the surprise of Kyoto, the Bakufu prime
minister assumed an attitude hostile to the Court's desire. The
explanation of this singular act on Sadanobu's part was that a
precisely analogous problem perplexed Yedo simultaneously. When
Ienari was nominated shogun, his father, Hitotsubashi Harunari, fully
expected to be appointed guardian of the new potentate, and being
disappointed in that hope, he expressed his desire to receive the
title of o-gosho (retired shogun), so that he might enter the western
citadel of Yedo Castle and thence administer affairs as had been done
by ex-Emperors in Kyoto for hundreds of years, and by ex-shoguns on
several occasions under the Tokugawa. Disappointed in this
aspiration, Harunari, after some hesitation, invited the attention of
the shogun to the fact that filial piety is the basis of all moral
virtues, and that, whereas the shogun's duty required him to set a
good example to the people, he subjected his own father to unbecoming
humiliation, Ienari referred the matter to the State council, but the
councillors hesitated to establish the precedent of conferring the
rank of o-gosho on the head of one of the Sankyo families--Tayasu,
Shimizu, and Hitotsubashi--who had never discharged the duties of
shogun.
The prime minister, Sadanobu, however, had not a moment's hesitation
in opposing Harunari's project. He did, indeed, order a well-known
Confucian scholar to search the annals in order to find whether any
precedent existed for the proposed procedure, either in Japan or in
China, but he himself declared that if such an example were set in
the shogun's family, it might be the cause of grave inconvenience
among the people. In other words, a man whose son had been adopted
into another family might claim to be regarded as the head of that
family in the event of the death of the foster-father. It is certain,
however, that other and stronger reasons influenced the Bakufu prime
minister. Hitotsubashi Harunari was generally known as Wagamama
Irikyo (the Wayward Recluse*). His most intimate friends were the
shogun's father-in-law, Shimazu Ei-O, and Ikeda Isshinsai. The latter
two were also inkyo and shared the tastes and foibles of Harunari.
One of their greatest pleasures was to startle society. Thus, when
Sadanobu was legislating with infinite care against prodigality of
any kind, the above three old gentlemen loved to organize parties on
an ostentatiously extravagant scale, and Sadanobu naturally shrank
from seeing the title of o-gosho conferred on such a character, thus
investing him with competence to interfere arbitrarily in the conduct
of State affairs.
*It has always been a common custom in Japan for the head of a family
to retire nominally from active life after he attains his fiftieth
year. He is thenceforth known as inkyo (or recluse). The same is true
of women.
Just at this time, the Court in Kyoto preferred its application, and
Sadanobu at once appreciated that if the rank of dajo tenno were
conferred on Prince Tsunehito, it would be impossible to withhold
that of o-gosho from Harunari. Consequently the Bakufu prime minister
wrote privately to the Kyoto prime minister, Takatsukasa Sukehira,
pointing out the inadvisability of the proposed step. This letter,
though not actually an official communication, had the effect of
shelving the matter for a time, but, in 1791, the Emperor re-opened
the question, and summoned a council in the palace to discuss it. The
result was that sixty-five officials, headed by the prime minister
and the minister of the Right, supported the sovereign's views, but
the ex-premier, Takatsukasa Sukehira, and his son, the minister of
the Left, with a few others, opposed them.
The proceedings of this council with an autograph covering-letter
from the sovereign were sent to the Bakufu, in 1792, but for a long
time no answer was given. Meanwhile Prince Tsunehito, already an old
man, showed signs of declining health, and the Imperial Court pressed
Yedo to reply. Ultimately the Bakufu officially disapproved the
project. No statement of reasons accompanied the refusal, but it was
softened by a suggestion that an increase of revenue might be
conferred on the sovereign's father. This already sufficiently
contumelious act was supplemented by a request from the Bakufu that
the Imperial Court should send to Yedo the high secretary and the
chief of the Household. Unwillingly the Court complied, and after
hearing the arguments advanced by these two officials, Sadanobu
sentenced them to be placed in confinement for a hundred days, and
fifty days, respectively, which sentence was carried out at the
temple Seisho-ji in Yedo, and the two high officials were thereafter
sent back to Kyoto under police escort. Ultimately they were both
dismissed from office, and all the Court dignitaries who had
supported the sovereign's wishes were cautioned not to associate
themselves again with such "rash and unbecoming acts." It can
scarcely be denied that Sadanobu exercised his power in an extreme
and unwise manner on this occasion. A little recourse to tact might
have settled the matter with equal facility and without open
disrespect to the Throne. But the Bakufu prime minister behaved after
the manner of the deer-stalker of the Japanese proverb who does not
see the mountain, and he thus placed in the hands of the Imperialist
party a weapon which contributed materially to the overthrow of the
Bakufu seventy years later.
ENGRAVING: YO-MEI-MON GATE, AT NIKKO