The death of Yoritomo brought into prominence the very same system which
had been the bane of the imperial house during many centuries. His son and
the hereditary successor to his position and power was Yoriiye, then
eighteen years of age. He was the son of Masago, and therefore the
grandson of Hōjō Tokimasa, who had been Yoritomo’s chief friend and
adviser. He was an idle, vicious boy, and evinced no aptitude to carry on
the work of his father. In this wayward career he was not checked by his
grandfather, and is even said to have been encouraged to pursue a life of
pleasure and gayety, while the earnest work of the government was
transacted by others. Tokimasa assumed the duties of president of the
Council as well as guardian of Yoriiye, and in these capacities conducted
the administration entirely according to his own will. The appointments of
position and rank which the father had received from the emperor were in
like manner bestowed upon the son. He was made head of the military
administrators stationed in the several provinces, and he also received
the military title of _sei-i-tai-shōgun_, to which Yoritomo had been
appointed. But these appointments were only honorary, and the duties
pertaining to them were all performed by the guardian of the young man.
In the year A.D. 1203, that is in the fourth year succeeding Yoritomo’s
death, Yoriiye was taken sick, and was unable to fulfil his duties even in
the feeble manner which was customary. His mother consulted with Tokimasa,
and they agreed that Yoriiye should abdicate and surrender the headship of
the military administration to his brother Semman, who was twelve years of
age, and his son Ichiman. Yoriiye seems to have resisted these
suggestions, and even resorted to force to free himself from the influence
of the Hōjō. But Tokimasa was too powerful to be so easily dispensed with.
Yoriiye was compelled to yield, and he retired to a monastery and gave up
his offices. Not content with this living retirement, Tokimasa contrived
to have him assassinated. Semman, his brother, was appointed
_sei-i-tai-shōgun_, and his name changed to Sanetomo. But Sanetomo did not
long enjoy his promotion, because his nephew, the son of his murdered
predecessor, deemed him responsible for his father’s murder, and took
occasion to assassinate him. Then in turn the nephew was put to death for
this crime, and thus by the year A.D. 1219 the last of the descendants of
the great Yoritomo had perished. In the meantime Tokimasa had, A.D. 1205,
retired to a Buddhist monastery in his sixty-eighth year, and in A.D.
1216, when he was seventy-eight, he died. The court at Kamakura was now
prepared to go on in its career of effeminacy after the pattern of that at
Kyōto.
Mesago, the widow of Yoritomo and daughter of Tokimasa, although she too
had taken refuge in a Buddhist nunnery, continued to exercise a ruling
control in the affairs of the government. She solicited from the court at
Kyōto the appointment of Yoritsuné, a boy of the Fujiwara family, only two
years old, as _sei-i-tai-shōgun_ in the place of the murdered Sanetomo.
The petition was granted, and this child was entrusted to the care of the
Hōjō, who, as regents(125) of the shōgun, exercised with unlimited sway
the authority of this great office. The situation of affairs in Japan at
this time was deplorable. Go-Toba and Tsuchi-mikado were both living in
retirement as ex-emperors. Juntoku was the reigning emperor, who was under
the influence and tutelage of the ex-Emperor Go-Toba. Fretting under the
arrogance of the Hōjō, Go-Toba undertook to resist their claims. But
Yoshitoku, the Hōjō regent at this time, quickly brought the Kyōto court
to terms by the use of his military power. The ex-Emperor Go-Toba was
compelled to become a monk, and was exiled to the island of Oki. The
Emperor Juntoku was forced to abdicate, and was banished to Sado, and a
grandson of the former Emperor Takakura placed on the throne. Even the
ex-Emperor Tsuchi-mikado, who had not taken any part in the conspiracy,
was sent off to the island of Shikoku. The lands that had belonged to the
implicated nobles were confiscated and distributed by Yoshitoku among his
own adherents. The power of the Hōjō family was thus raised to its supreme
point. They ruled both at Kyōto and Kamakura with resistless authority.
They exercised at both places this authority without demanding or
receiving the appointment to any of the high positions which they might
have claimed. They were only the regents of young and immature shōguns,
who were the appointees of a court which had at its head an emperor
without power or influence, and which was controlled by the creatures of
their own designation. This lamentable state of things lasted for many
years. The shōguns during all this time were children sent from Kyōto,
sons of emperors or connections of the royal family. The Hōjō ruled them
as well as the country. Whenever it seemed best, they relentlessly deposed
them, and set up others in their places. In A.D. 1289 the Regent Sadatoki,
it is said, became irritated with one of these semi-royal shōguns, named
Koreyasu, and in order to show his contempt for him, had him put in a
_nori-mono_(126) with his heels upward, and sent him under guard to Kyōto.
Some of the Hōjō regents, however, were men of character and efficiency.
Yasutoki, for instance, who became regent in A.D. 1225, was a man of
notable executive ability, taking Yoritomo as his model. Besides being a
soldier of tried capacity, he was a true friend of the farmer in his
seasons of famine and trial, and a promoter of legal reforms and of the
arts, which found a congenial home among the Japanese.
But this condition of affairs could not last always. The very same
influences which put the real power into the hands of the regents were at
work to render them unfit to continue to wield it. Abdication and
effeminacy were gradually dragging down the Hōjō family to the same level
as that of the shōguns and emperors. In A.D. 1256 Tokiyori, then only
thirty years old, resigned the regency in favor of his son Tokimune, who
was only six years. He himself retired to a monastery, from which he
travelled as a visiting monk throughout the country. In the meantime his
son was under the care of a tutor, Nagatoki, who, of course, was one of
the Hōjō family. Thus it had come about that a tutor now controlled the
regent; who was supposed to control the shōgun; who was supposed to be the
vassal of the emperor; who in turn was generally a child under the control
of a corrupt and venal court. Truly government in Japan had sunk to its
lowest point, and it was time for heroic remedies!
Occasionally, in the midst of this corruption and inefficiency, an event
occurs which stirs up the national enthusiasm and makes us feel that there
is still left an element of heroism which will ultimately redeem the
nation from impending ruin. Such was the Mongolian invasion of Japan in
A.D. 1281. According to accounts given by Marco Polo, who evidently
narrates the exaggerated gossip of the Chinese court,(127) Kublai Khan had
at this time conquered the Sung dynasty in China and reigned with
unexampled magnificence. He had heard of the wealth of Japan and deemed it
an easy matter to add this island empire to his immense dominions. His
first step was to despatch an embassy to the Japanese court to demand the
subjection of the country to his authority. This embassy was referred to
Kamakura, whence it was indignantly dismissed. Finally he sent an invading
force in a large number of Chinese and Korean vessels who took possession
of Tsushima, an island belonging to Japan and lying midway between Korea
and Japan. Trusting to the effects of this success a new embassy was sent,
which was brought before the Hōjō regent at Kamakura. The spot on the
seashore is still pointed out where these imperious ambassadors were put
to death, and thus a denial which could not be misunderstood was given to
the demands of the Grand Khan. A great invading force, which the Japanese
put at a hundred thousand men, was immediately sent in more than three
hundred vessels, who landed upon the island of Kyūshū. This army was met
and defeated(128) by Tokimune, and, a timely typhoon coming to their aid,
the fleet of vessels was completely destroyed. Thus the only serious
attempt at the invasion of Japan which has ever been made was completely
frustrated.
But notwithstanding this heroic episode the affairs of Japan remained in
the same deplorable condition. As a rule children continued to occupy the
imperial throne and to abdicate whenever their Hōjō masters deemed it
best. Children of the imperial house or of the family of Fujiwara were
sent to Kamakura to become shōguns. And now at last the Hōjō regency had
by successive steps come down to the same level, and children were made
regents, whose actions and conduct were controlled by their inferiors.
In the midst of this state of things, which continued till A.D. 1318,
Go-Daigo became emperor. Contrary to the ordinary usage, he was a man
thirty-one years old, in the full maturity of his powers. He was by no
means free from the vices to which his surroundings inevitably tended. He
was fond of the gayety and pomp which the court had always cultivated. But
he realized the depth of the degradation to which the present condition of
affairs had dragged his country. A famine brought great suffering upon the
people, and the efforts which the emperor made to assist them added to his
popularity, and revealed to him the reverence in which the imperial throne
was held. His son Moriyoshi, as early as A.D. 1307, was implicated in
plans against the Hōjō, which they discovered, and in consequence
compelled Go-Daigo to order his retirement into a monastery. Later
Go-Daigo undertook to make a stand against the arrogance and intolerance
of the Hōjō and induced the Buddhist monks to join him in fortifying
Kasagi in the province of Yamato. But this effort of the emperor was
fruitless. Kasagi was attacked and destroyed and the emperor taken
prisoner. As a punishment for his attempt he was sent as an exile to the
island of Oki. The Hōjō Regent Takatoki put Go-Kōgen on the throne as
emperor. But Go-Daigo from his exile continued his exertions against the
Hōjō, and assistance came to him from unexpected quarters. He effected his
escape from the island and, having raised an army, marched upon Kyōto.
Kusunoki Masashigé, who had given his aid to the emperor on former
occasions, now exerted himself to good purpose. He is held in admiring
remembrance to this day by his grateful country as the model of patriotic
devotion, to whom his emperor was dearer than his life. Another character
who stands out prominently in this trying time was Nitta Yoshisada. He was
a descendant of Yoshiiye, who, for his achievements against the Emishi,
had received the popular title of Hachiman-tarō. Nitta was a commander in
the army of the Hōjō, which had been sent against Kusunoki Masashigé. But
at the last moment he refused to fight against the army of the emperor and
retired with his troops and went over to the side of Masashigé. He
returned to his own province of Kōtsuke and raised an army to fight
against the Hōjō. With this force he marched at once against Kamakura
through the province of Sagami. His route lay along the beach. But at
Inamura-ga-saki the high ground, which is impassable for troops, juts out
so far into the water that Nitta was unable to lead them past the
promontory. Alone he clambered up the mountain path and looked out upon
the sea that lay in his way. He was bitterly disappointed that he could
not bring his force in time to share in the attack upon the hateful Hōjō
capital. He prayed to the Sea-god to withdraw the sea and allow him to
pass with his troops. Then he flung his sword into the waves in token of
his earnestness and of the dire necessity in which he found himself.
Thereupon the tide retreated and left a space of a mile and a half, along
which Nitta(129) marched upon Kamakura.
The attack was spirited and was made from three directions simultaneously.
It was resisted with determined valor on the part of the Hōjō. The city
was finally set on fire by Nitta, and in a few hours was reduced to ashes.
Thus the power and the arrogant tyranny of the Hōjō family were sealed. It
had lasted from the death of Yoritomo, A.D. 1199, to the destruction of
Kamakura, A.D. 1333, in all one hundred and thirty-four years. It was a
rough and tempestuous time and the Hōjō have left a name in their country
of unexampled cruelty and rapacity. The most unpardonable crime of which
they were guilty was that of raising their sacrilegious hands against the
emperor and making war against the imperial standard. For this they must
rest under the charge of treason, and no merits however great or
commanding can ever excuse them in the eyes of their patriotic countrymen.
The restoration of Go-Daigo to the imperial throne, under so popular an
uprising, seemed to betoken a return to the old and simple system of
Japanese government. The intervention of a shōgun between the emperor and
his people, which had lasted from the time of Yoritomo, was contrary to
the precedents which had prevailed from the Emperor Jimmu down to that
time. It was the hope and wish of the best friends of the government at
this time to go back to the original precedents and govern the country
directly from Kyōto with the power and authority derived from the emperor.
But the emperor was not equal to so radical a change from the methods
which had prevailed for more than a century. He gave great offence by the
manner in which he distributed the forfeited fiefs among those who had
aided his restoration. To Ashikaga Taka-uji he awarded by far the greatest
prize, while to Kusunoki and Nitta, who had in the popular estimation done
much more for him, he allotted comparatively small rewards. Among the
soldiers, who in the long civil wars had lost the ability to devote
themselves to peaceful industries, this disappointment was most
conspicuous. They had expected to be rewarded with lands and subordinate
places, which would enable them to live in that feudal comfort to which
they deemed their exertions had entitled them.
At this time a feud broke out between Ashikaga Taka-uji and Nitta. The
former had accused Nitta of unfaithfulness to his emperor and Nitta was
able to disprove the charge. He received the imperial commission to punish
Ashikaga and marched with his army upon him in the province of Tōtōmi. In
the battles (A.D. 1336) which ensued, the forces of Ashikaga were
completely victorious. The emperor and his court were obliged to flee from
Kyōto and took up their residence in a Buddhist temple at Yoshino in the
mountainous district south of Kyōto. This was the same monastery where
Yoshitsuné and Benkei had taken refuge previous to their escape into
Mutsu. Almost every tree and every rock in the picturesque grounds of this
romantic spot(130) bear some evidence of the one or other of these
memorable refugees. The southern dynasty lasted in all fifty-seven years,
down to A.D. 1374, and although it was compelled to starve out a miserable
existence in exile from the capital, it is yet looked upon by historians
as the legitimate branch; while the northern dynasty, which enjoyed the
luxury of a palace and of the capital, is condemned as illegitimate.
This period of exile witnessed many notable events in the bloody history
of the country. Ashikaga Taka-uji was of course the ruling spirit while he
lived. He proclaimed that Go-Daigo had forfeited the throne and put Kōmyō
Tennō, a brother of Kōgen Tennō upon it in his stead. The insignia of the
imperial power were in the possession of Go-Daigo, but Kōmyō, being
supported by the battalions of Ashikaga, cared little for these empty
baubles. The bloody sequence of affairs brought with it the death of the
heroic Kusunoki Masashige. He with Nitta and other patriots had undertaken
to support Go-Daigo. It is said that contrary to his military judgment he
attacked the forces of Ashikaga, which were vastly superior in number. The
battle took place A.D. 1336, on the Minato-gawa, near the present site of
Hyōgo. The Ashikaga forces had cut off Kusunoki with a small band of
devoted followers from the main army. Seeing that his situation was
hopeless and that his brave troops must be destroyed, with one hundred and
fifty men—all that were left of his little army—he retired to a farmer’s
house near by and there they all committed _hara-kiri_.(131) Kusunoki
Masashige, when about to commit suicide, said to his son Masatsura: “For
the sake of keeping yourself out of danger’s way or of reaping some
temporal advantage, on no account are you to submit to Taka-uji. By so
doing you would bring reproach on our name. While there is a man left who
belongs to us let our flag be hoisted over the battlements of Mount Konzo,
as a sign that we are still ready to fight in the emperor’s cause.”
A little later than this, in A.D. 1338, the great companion and friend of
Kusunoki, Nitta Yoshisada, came to his end. He had undertaken to promote
the cause of the Emperor Go-Daigo in the northwestern provinces by
co-operating with Fuji-wara-no-Yoritomo. Nitta with about fifty followers
was unexpectedly attacked by Ashikaga Tadatsune, with three thousand men
near Fukui in the province of Echizen. There was no way of escape with his
little troop. In this condition he was urged to secure his personal
safety. But he refused to survive his comrades. Then he rode with his
brave company upon the enemy until his horse was disabled and he himself
was pierced in the eye with an arrow. He drew out the arrow with his own
hand, and then, in order that his body might not be identified, with his
sword cut off his own head, at least so it is said! Each member of his
troop followed this grewsome example, and it was only after examining the
bodies of these headless corpses and the finding upon one a commission
from the Emperor Go-Daigo, that the remains of the heroic Nitta were
recognized. The head was sent to Kyōto and there exposed by the Ashikaga
commander, and the body was buried near the place where the tragic death
occurred.(132)
The Ashikaga family had now the uninterrupted control of affairs. They
resided at Kyōto and inherited in succession the office of shōgun.
Taka-uji, the founder of the Ashikaga shōgunate, and who had held the
office from A.D. 1334, died in A.D. 1358, when about fifty-three years
old. He was succeeded by his son Yoshinori who was shōgun from A.D. 1359
to A.D. 1367. Having retired he was succeeded by his grandson Yoshimitsu
who in turn retired in favor of his son Yoshimotsu. By this time the
precedents of abdication and effeminacy began to tell upon the Ashikaga
successors, and like all the preceding ruling families it gradually sank
into the usual insignificance. Some of the Ashikaga shōguns, however, were
men of uncommon ability and their services to their country deserve to be
gratefully remembered. A number of them were men of culture and evinced
their love of elegance and refinement by the palaces which they built in
Kyōto. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was shōgun from A.D. 1368 to 1393, and at the
latter date retired in favor of his young son Yoshimotsu, but lived in
official retirement in Kyōto till A.D. 1409. He built the palace now known
as the Buddhist monastery Kinkakuji.(133) Its name is derived from
_kinkaku_ (golden pavilion) which Yoshimitsu erected. The whole palace was
bequeathed by him to the Zen sect of Buddhists and is still one of the
sights best worth seeing in Kyōto.
Yoshimitsu has been visited by much obloquy because he accepted from the
Chinese government the title of King of Japan, and pledged himself to the
payment of one thousand ounces of gold as a yearly tribute. It is said in
explanation of this tribute that it was to compensate for damages done by
Japanese pirates to Chinese shipping. But it was probably negotiated for
the purpose of securing an ambitious title on the one hand and on the
other making a troublesome neighbor a tributary kingdom.
Another building which takes its origin from the Ashikaga is the Tō-ji-in.
It was founded by Ashikaga Taka-uji and contains carved and lacquered
wooden figures of the Ashikaga shōguns which are believed in most cases to
be contemporary portraits.(134)
Another of the notable Ashikaga shōguns was Yoshimasa, who held the office
from A.D. 1443-1473. He retired at the latter date, and lived as retired
shōgun until A.D. 1490. In this interval of seclusion he cultivated the
arts, and posed as the patron of literature and painting. That curious
custom called _cha-no-yu_, or tea ceremonies,(135) is usually adjudged to
him as its originator, but it is most probable that he only adopted and
refined it until it became the fashionable craze which has come down to
modern times. These ceremonies and his other modes of amusement were
conducted in a palace which he had built called _gin-kaku_ (silver
pavilion). Yoshimasa left this palace to the monks of Shō-koku-ji, with
directions that it should be converted into a monastery, and in that
capacity it still serves at the present time.
The period of the two imperial dynasties lasted until A.D. 1392, when a
proposition was made by the Shōgun Yoshimitsu to the then reigning emperor
of the south, that the rivalry should be healed. It was agreed that
Go-Kameyama of the southern dynasty should come to Kyōto and surrender the
insignia to Go-Komatsu, the ruling emperor of the northern dynasty. This
was duly accomplished, and Go-Kameyama, having handed over the insignia to
Go-Komatsu, took the position of retired emperor. Thus the long rivalry
between the northern and southern dynasties was ended, and Go-Komatsu
stands as the ninety-ninth in the official list of emperors. In that list,
however, none of the other emperors(136) of the northern dynasty appear,
they being regarded as pretenders, and in no case entitled to the dignity
of divine rulers of Japan.
This settlement of dynastic difficulties and the unrestricted ascendancy
of the Ashikaga shōguns gave the country a little interval of peace. The
condition of the peasantry at this time was most deplorable. The continual
wars between neighboring lords and with the shōguns had kept in the field
armies of military men, who were forced to subsist on contributions
exacted from the tillers of the soil. The farmers everywhere were kept in
a state of uncertainty, and had little encouragement to cultivate crops
which were almost sure to fall into the hands of others.
On the coasts of Kyūshū and other islands facing towards the continent
piracy also sprang up and flourished apace. It was indeed an era of piracy
all over the world. The Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch traders of this
period were almost always ready to turn an honest penny by seizing an
unfortunate vessel under the pretence that it was a pirate. The whole
coast of China, according to the accounts of Pinto, swarmed with both
European and Asiatic craft, which were either traders or pirates,
according to circumstances. Under this state of things, and with the
pressure of lawlessness and want behind them, it was not surprising that
the inhabitants of the western coasts of Japan should turn to a piratical
life.
Knowing the Japanese only since centuries of enforced isolation had made
them unaccustomed to creep beyond their own shores, we can scarcely
conceive of their hardihood and venturesomeness during and subsequent to
this active period. Mr. Satow(137) has gathered a most interesting series
of facts pertaining to the intercourse between Japan and Siam, beginning
at a period as early as that now under review. Not only did this
intercourse consist in sending vessels laden with chattels for traffic,
but a colony of Japanese and a contingent of Japanese troops formed part
of the assistance which Japan furnished to her southern neighbor.
While these signs of activity were apparent on the coast, the provinces in
the interior were alive with political unrest. Particularly the principal
daimyōs, who had never since the days of Yoritomo felt a master’s power
over them, took the present occasion to extend their dominions over their
neighbors. For centuries the conflicts among them were almost unending. It
is needless to undertake to disentangle the story of their wars. These
daimyōs were a far more distinct and pressing reality than the harmless
emperor, or even than the far-removed shōgun. While their ceaseless civil
wars rendered the condition of the country so uncertain and so unsettled,
yet the authority of the local rulers tended to preserve peace and
dispense a rude kind of justice among their own subjects. Thus while in
many parts of Japan poverty and desolation had eaten up everything, and
lawlessness and robbery had put an end to industry, yet there were some
favored parts of the islands where the strong hand of the daimyōs
preserved for their people the opportunities of life, and kept alive the
chances of industry.(138)