In Kyoto, painting was represented by the schools of Koze, Kasuga, Sumiyoshi, and Tosa; in Kamakura, its masters were Ma Yuan, Hsia Kwei, and Mu Hsi, who represented the pure Southern Academy of China, and who were followed by Sesshu, Kao, and Shubun. So, too, the art of horticulture, though there the change was a transition from the stiff and comparatively artificial fashion of the no-niwa (moor garden) to the pure landscape park, ultimately developed into a Japanese specialty. Tradition ascribes to a Chinese bonze, who called himself Nei-issan (or Ichinei), the planning of the first landscape garden, properly so designated in Japan. He arrived in Kyushu, under the name of I Ning, as a delegate from Kublai Khan in the days of Hojo Sadatoki, and was banished, at first, to the province of Izu. Subsequently, however, the Bakufu invited him to Kamakura and assigned the temple Kencho-ji for his residence and place of ministrations. It was there that he designed the first landscape garden, furnishing suggestions which are still regarded as models.

LITERATURE

The conservatism of the Imperial city is conspicuously illustrated in the realm of literature. Careful perusal of the well-known work, Masukagami, shows that from year's end to year's end the same pastimes were enjoyed, the same studies pursued The composition of poetry took precedence of everything. Eminent among the poetasters of the twelfth century was the Emperor Go-Toba. The litterateurs of his era looked up to him as the arbiter elegantiarum, especially in the domain of Japanese versification. Even more renown attached to Fujiwara no Toshinari, whose nom de plume was Shunzei, and who earned the title of the "Matchless Master." His son, Sadaiye, was well-nigh equally famous under the name of Teika.

After the Shokyu disturbance (1221), the empire enjoyed a long spell of peace under the able and upright sway of the Hojo, and during that time it became the custom to compile anthologies. The first to essay that task was Teika. Grieving that the poets of his time had begun to prefer affectation and elegance to sincerity and simplicity, he withdrew to a secluded villa on Mount Ogura, and there selected, a hundred poems by as many of the ancient authors. These he gave to the world, calling the collection Hyakunin-isshu, and succeeding generations endorsed his choice so that the book remains a classic to this day. Teika's son, Tameiye, won such favour in the eyes of the Kamakura shogun, Sanetomo, that the latter conferred on him the manor of Hosokawa, in Harima. Dying, Tameiye bequeathed this property to his son, Tamesuke, but he, being robbed of it by his step-brother, fell into a state of miserable poverty which was shared by his mother, herself well known as an authoress under the name of Abutsu-ni. This intrepid lady, leaving her five sons in Kyoto, repaired to Kamakura to bring suit against the usurper, and the journal she kept en route—the Izayoi-nikki—is still regarded as a model of style and sentiment. It bears witness to the fact that students of poetry in that era fell into two classes: one adhering to the pure Japanese style of the Heian epoch; the others borrowing freely from Chinese literature.

Meanwhile, at Kamakura, the Bakufu regents, Yasutoki, Tokiyori and Tokimune, earnest disciples of Buddhism, were building temples and assigning them to Chinese priests of the Sung and Yuan eras who reached Japan as official envoys or as frank propagandists. Five great temples thus came into existence in the Bakufu capital, and as the Chinese bonzes planned and superintended their construction, these buildings and their surroundings reflected the art-canons at once of China, of Japan, and of the priests themselves. The same foreign influence made itself felt in the region of literature. But we should probably be wrong in assuming that either religion or art or literature for their own sakes constituted the sole motive of the Hojo regents in thus acting. It has already been shown that they welcomed the foreign priests as channels for obtaining information about the neighbouring empire's politics, and there is reason to think that their astute programme included a desire to endow Kamakura with an artistic and literary atmosphere of its own, wholly independent of Kyoto and purged of the enervating elements that permeated the latter.

This separation of the civilizations of the east (Kwanto) and the west (Kyoto) resulted ultimately in producing asceticism and religious reform. The former, because men of really noble instincts were insensible to the ambition which alone absorbed a Kyoto litterateur—the ambition of figuring prominently in an approved anthology—and had, at the same time, no inclination to follow the purely military creed of Kamakura. Such recluses as Kamo Chomei, Saigyo Hoshi and Yoshida Kenko were an outcome of these conditions. Chomei has been called the "Wordsworth of Japan." He is immortalized by a little book of thirty pages, called Hojoki (Annals of a Cell.) It is a volume of reflections suggested by life in a hut measuring ten feet square and seven feet high, built in a valley remote from the stir of life. The style is pellucid and absolutely unaffected; the ideas are instinct with humanity and love of nature. Such a work, so widely admired, reveals an author and an audience instinct with graceful thoughts.

In the career of Saigyo—"the reverend," as his title "hoshi" signifies—there were episodes vividly illustrating the manners and customs of the tune. Originally an officer of the guards in Kyoto, he attained considerable skill in military science and archery, but his poetic heart rebelling against such pursuits, he resigned office, took the tonsure, and turning his back upon his wife and children, became a wandering bard. Yoritomo encountered him one day, and was so struck by his venerable appearance that he invited him to his mansion and would have had him remain there permanently. But Saigyo declined. On parting, the Minamoto chief gave him as souvenir a cat chiselled in silver, which the old ascetic held in such light esteem that he bestowed it on the first child he met. Yoshida Kenko, who became a recluse in 1324, is counted among the "four kings" of Japanese poetry—Ton-a, Joben, Keiun, and Kenko. He has been called the "Horace of Japan." In his celebrated prose work, Weeds of Tedium (Tsure-zure-gusa), he seems to reveal a lurking love for the vices he satirizes. These three authors were all pessimistic. They reflected the tendency of the time.

RELIGION

The earliest Buddhist sect established in Japan was the Hosso. It crossed from China in A.D. 653, and its principal place of worship was the temple Kofuku-ji at Nara. Then (736) followed the Kegon sect, having its headquarters in the Todai-ji, where stands the colossal Daibutsu of Nara, Next in order was the Tendai, introduced from China by Dengyo in 805, and established at Hiei-zan in the temple Enryaku-ji; while fourth and last in the early group of important sects came the Shingon, brought from China in 809 by Kukai, and having its principal metropolitan place of worship at Gokoku-ji (or To-ji) in Kyoto, and its principal provincial at Kongobo-ji on Koya-san. These four sects and some smaller ones were all introduced during a period of 156 years. Thereafter, for a space of 387 years, there was no addition to the number: things remained stationary until 1196, when Honen began to preach the doctrines of the Jodo sect, and in the space of fifty-six years, between 1196 and 1252, three other sects were established, namely, the Zen, the Shin, and the Nichiren.

THE TWO GROUPS OF SECTS

In what did the teachings of the early groups of sects differ from those of the later groups, and why did such a long interval separate the two? Evidently the answers to these questions must have an important bearing on Japanese moral culture. From the time of its first introduction (A.D. 522) into Japan until the days of Shotoku Taishi (572-621), Japanese Buddhism followed the lines indicated in the land of its provenance, Korea. Prince Shotoku was the first to appreciate China as the true source of religious learning, and by him priests were sent across the sea to study. But the first sect of any importance—the Hosso—that resulted from this movement does not seem to have risen above the level of idolatry and polytheism. It was a "system built up on the worship of certain perfected human beings converted into personal gods; it affirmed the eternal permanence of such beings in some state or other, and it gave them divine attributes."* Some of these were companions and disciples of Shaka (Sakiya Muni); others, pure creations of fancy, or borrowed from the mythological systems of India. It is unnecessary here to enter into any enumeration of these deities further than to say that, as helpers of persons in trouble, as patrons of little children, as healers of the sick, and as dispensers of mercy, they acted an important part in the life of the people. But they did little or nothing to improve men's moral and spiritual condition, and the same is true of a multitude of arhats, devas, and other supernatural beings that go to make up a numerous pantheon.

*Lloyd's Developments of Japanese Buddhism, "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," Vol. XXII; and Shinran and His Work, by the same author.

It was not until the end of the eighth century that Japanese Buddhism rose to a higher level, and the agent of its elevation was Dengyo Daishi, whom the Emperor Kwammu sent to China to study the later developments of the Indian faith. Dengyo and his companions in 802 found their way to the monastery of Tientai (Japanese, Tendai), and acquired there a perception of the true road to Saving Knowledge, a middle route "which includes all and rejects none, and in which alone the soul can be satisfied." Meditation and wisdom were declared to be the stepping-stones to this route, and to reach them various rules had to be followed, namely, "the accomplishment of external means"—such as observing the precepts, regulating raiment and food, freedom from all worldly concerns and influences, promotion of all virtuous desires, and so forth; "chiding of evil desires"—such as the lust after beauty, the lust of sound, of perfumes, of taste, and of touch; "casting away hindrances;" "harmonizing the faculties," and "meditating upon absolute truth."

Now first we meet with the Buddhas of Contemplation, and with a creed which seems to embody a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit. Such, in briefest outline, was the doctrine taught at the close of the sixth century by a Chinese bonze at the monastery of Tientai, and carried thence to Japan two hundred years later by Dengyo, who established the Tendai sect on Mount Hiei near Kyoto. Dengyo did not borrow blindly; he adapted, and thus the Tendai creed, as taught at Hiei-zan, became in reality "a system of Japanese education, fitting the disciplinary and meditative methods of the Chinese propagandist on the pre-existing foundations of earlier sects."

"The comprehensiveness of the Tendai system caused it to be the parent of many schisms. Out of it came all the large sects, with the exception of the Shingon," to be presently spoken of. "On the other hand, this comprehensiveness ensured the success of the Tendai sect. With the conception of the Buddhas of Contemplation came the idea that these personages had frequently been incarnated for the welfare of mankind; that the ancient gods whom the Japanese worshipped were but manifestations of these same mystical beings, and that the Buddhist faith had come, not to destroy the native Shinto, but to embody it into a higher and more universal system."*

*"The Buddhists recognized that the Shinto gods were incarnations of some of the many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas brought from India and China, and then the two faiths amalgamated and for centuries comfortably shared the same places of worship."—Every-Day Japan, by Lloyd.

THE SHINGON SECT

It was not to Dengyo, however, that Japan owed her most mysterious form of Buddhism, but to his contemporary, Kukai, remembered by posterity as Kobo Daishi. The traditions that have been handed down with reference to this great teacher's life and personality reveal one of those saints whose preaching and ministration have bestowed a perpetual blessing on humanity. Here, it must suffice to say that he found no peace of mind until a visit to China brought comprehension of a Sutra which he had vainly studied in Japan. On his return, in 806, he appeared before the emperor and many bonzes, and astonished all by his eloquence and his knowledge.

There are three "vehicles" in Buddhism, but only two of them need be mentioned here—the Hina-yana, or Small Vehicle, and the Maha-yana, or Great Vehicle. The term "vehicle" signifies a body of doctrine on which "a believer may ride to the perfect consummation of his humanity." The difference between these two requires many words to explain fully, whereas only a few can be devoted to the purpose here. "The Hina-yana Sutra is intended for beginners; the Maha-yana for those more advanced in the path of the law." The teaching in the former is negative; in the latter, positive. In the Hina-yana the perfect path is to abstain from four things—women, palaces, beautiful objects, and riches. In the Maha-yana perfect virtue is the presence of four things—the spirit of wisdom, the love of virtue, patience and firmness, and the retired life. By the "spirit of wisdom" is meant the constant desire for the truth; by the "love of virtue" is signified the abhorrence of evil; by "patience and firmness" are indicated perfect manliness as exhibited towards the weak; by "the retired life" is designated humility and self-effacement.

"There is nothing in the world like the Chinese scriptures of the Maha-yana. The canon in China is seven hundred times the amount of the New Testament," and, of course, this vast extent means that there is a correspondingly wide field for eclecticism. "The Hina-yana did not trouble itself with metaphysical speculation; that was reserved for the Maha-yana, and Kukai was the greatest Japanese teacher of the arcana of Buddhism. How much of his system he owed to studies conducted in China, how much to his own inspiration, research has not yet determined. An essentially esoteric system, it conceived a world of ideas," grouped logically and systematically according to genera and species, forming a planetary cosmos, the members of which, with their satellites, revolved not only on their own axes but also round a central sun.

This was the "world of golden effulgence"—a world permeated by the light of truth. The sect was called the Shingon (True Word); and the central body was Dainichi (Great Sun), the Spirit of Truth, anterior to Shaka and greater than him. "To reach the realization of the Truth that Dainichi is omnipresent and that everything exists only in him, a disciple must ascend by a double ladder, each half of which has ten steps, namely, the intellectual ladder and the moral ladder." These ladders constitute, in fact, a series of precepts, warnings, and exhortations; some easily comprehensible, others demanding profound thought, and the whole calculated to educate an absorbing aspiration for the "transcendental virtues," to possess which is to attain to perfect Buddhahood. Unquestionably the offspring of a great mind, this Shingon system, with its mysterious possibilities and its lofty morality, appealed strongly to the educated and leisured classes in Kyoto during the peaceful Heian epoch, while for the illiterate and the lower orders the simpler canons of the Tendai had to suffice.

THE JODO SECT

It has been shown, however, that the preachers of these sects, one and all, were readily prone to resort to violence and bloodshed in pursuit of worldly interests, not even the exponents of the exalted "True Word" creed being exempt from the reproach. Teachers of a doctrine having for cardinal tenet the sacredness of life, the inmates of the great monasteries nevertheless did not hesitate to appeal to arms, at any time, in defence of their temporal privileges or in pursuit of their ambitious designs. Yet the discredit attaching to such a flagrant discrepancy between precept and practice might not have produced very signal result had not the twelfth century brought the Gen-Hei struggle, which plunged the empire into a state of turbulence and reduced the lower orders to a condition of pitiable misery.

For this distress neither the Tendai doctrines nor the Shingon conceptions were sufficiently simple to supply a remedy. Something more tangible and less recondite was needed, and it came (1196), in the sequel of twenty-five years' meditation and study, to Genku—posthumously called Honen Shonin—a priest of the Tendai sect. The leading characteristics of the Jodo (pure land) system introduced by him are easily stated. "Salvation is by faith, but it is a faith ritually expressed. The virtue that saves comes, not from imitation of, and conformity to, the person and character of the saviour, Amida, but from blind trust in his efforts and from ceaseless repetition of pious formulae. It does not necessitate any conversion or change of heart. It is really a religion of despair rather than of hope. It says to the believer: 'The world is so very evil that you can not possibly reach to Buddha-ship here. Your best plan, therefore, is to give up all such hope and simply set your mind upon being born in Amida's paradise after death.'"*

*Lloyd's Development of Japanese Buddhism and Shinran and His Work.

THE SHIN SECT

An immediate offspring of the Jodo, though not directly following it in the chronological sequence of sects, was the Shin, established (1224) under the name of Jodo Shin-shu* (True Sect of Jodo), and owing its inception to Shinran, a pupil of Genku. It was even simpler and less exacting than its parent, the Jodo-shu, for it logically argued that if faith alone was necessary to salvation, the believer need not trouble himself about metaphysical subtleties and profound speculations; nor need he perform acts of religion and devotion; nor need he keep a multitude of commandments; nor need he leave his home, renounce matrimony, or live by rule. Only he must not worship any save Amida, or pray for anything that does not concern his salvation. As for the time of attaining salvation, the Jodo sect taught that if the mercy of Amida be called to remembrance, he would meet the believer at the hour of death and conduct him to paradise; whereas Shin-shu preaches that the coming of Amida was present and immediate; in other words, that "Buddha dwelt in the heart now by faith."

*It is called also the Monto-shu.

THE ZEN SECT

In the Jodo and the Shin sects an ample spiritual rest was provided for the weary in mind or body, for the illiterate, and for the oppressed. But there was for a time no creed which appealed specially to the military men; no body of doctrine which, while strengthening him for the fight, could bring to him peace of mind. The Zen-shu ultimately satisfied that want. Zen is the Japanese equivalent of the Indian term dhyana, which signifies "meditation." In fact, the Zen is a contemplative sect. Its disciples believe that, "knowledge can be transmitted from heart to heart without the intervention of words." But though purely a contemplative rite at the time of its introduction into Japan, 1168, it was subsequently modified—from 1223—by two teachers, in whose hands it took the form known as the Soto sect. This "joined scholarship and research to contemplation," and taught that, when the highest wisdom and most perfect enlightenment are attained, all the elements of phenomenal existence are seen to be empty, vain, and unreal. "Form does not differ from space or space from form; all things surrounding us are stripped of their qualities, so that in this highest state of enlightenment, there can be no longer birth or death, defilement or purity, addition or destruction. There is, therefore, no such thing as ignorance, and therefore none of the miseries that result from it. If there is no misery, decay, or death, there is no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as attaining to happiness or rest. Hence, to arrive at perfect emancipation we must grasp the fact of utter and entire void." Such a creed effectually fortified the heart of a soldier. Death ceased to have any terrors for him or the grave any reality.

ENGRAVING: NICHIREN PREACHING IN THE STREET

THE NICHIREN SECT

This is the only one among Japanese sects of Buddhism that derives its name from that of its founder. And justly so, for Nichiren's personality pervades it. The son of a fisherman, from youth he applied himself to the study of Buddhism, became a bonze of the Shingon sect, and took the name of Nichiren (lotus of the sun). He, too, studied originally at Hiei-zan under Tendai tutors, but he ultimately followed an eclectic path of his own, which led him to the "Scripture of the Lotus of Good Law," and he taught that salvation could be attained merely by chaunting the formula, "namu myo ho renge kyo" ("hail to the Scripture of the Lotus of Good Law") with sufficient fervour and iteration. In fact, Nichiren's methods partook of those of the modern Salvation Army. He was distinguished, also, by the fanatical character of his propagandism. Up to his time, Japanese Buddhism had been nothing if not tolerant. The friars were quick to take up arms for temporal purposes, but sectarian aggressiveness was virtually unknown until Nichiren undertook to denounce everyone differing from his views.* His favourite formula for denouncing other sects was, "nembutsu mugen, Zen temma, Shingon bokoku, Ritsu kokuzoku" ("incantations are phantasms; the Zen is a demon; the Shingon, national ruin; and the Ritsu, a rebel"). Nichiren gained great credit for predicting, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, that a heavy calamity was about to fall upon the country, but owing to an accusation of political intrigues, he was first condemned to be beheaded, and then was banished to the island of Sado. His sentence was soon revoked, however, by the regent Tokimune, who granted him written permission to propagate his doctrines. Thereafter the spread of his sect was very rapid.

*Out of some 72,000 temples in Japan to-day, 20,000, approximately, belong to the Shin sect; an equal number to the Zen; 13.000 to the Shingon; 8000 to the Jodo; and smaller numbers to the rest.

THE PEOPLE

With the decentralization of the administrative power there was a corresponding growth of the vassal class. Of course the Court nobles had vassals in their households, but the power exercised over these vassals had legal limits, whereas the vassals of the provincial chiefs were liable to imprisonment or even death by order of their chiefs. One result was that the provinces came gradually into possession of a large body of men skilled in arms and in administration. Moreover, among these provincial vassals, men originally of humble origin, found themselves raised to the level of honoured subjects, and a man's status came to be determined by his occupation rather than by his lineage. The lines of this new discrimination were fourfold, namely, shi, no, ko, sho—that is to say, military, agricultural, industrial, and commercial. The tradesman stood at the bottom of the scale, and the farmer, as the principal taxpayer, ranked next to the military man. It will be observed that this classification does not include any persons whose occupation involved pollution. This was a result of religious prejudice. Degradation attended every profession that required contact with the sick, the dead, or offal of any kind. Persons practising such callings were designated eta (men of many impurities). All belonging to the class inferior to tradesmen were originally regarded as outlaws, but subsequently, when society was reorganized on a military basis, an official was specially entrusted with absolute control over persons excluded from the quadruple classification of soldier, farmer, mechanic, and merchant. Beggars constituted an important section of the outcasts (hiniri). Next to them were professional caterers for amusement, from dog-trainers, snake-charmers, riddle-readers, acrobats, and trainers of animals, to brothel-keepers and executioners.

DWELLING-HOUSES

During the two centuries from the middle of the twelfth, aristocratic dwellings in the capital underwent little change. Military residences, however, developed some special features, though, in general, their architecture was of the simplest character. They had two enclosures, each surrounded by a boarded fence, and the whole was encircled by a fosse crossed by outer and inner gates. There were ranges for archery and there were watch-towers, but the dwelling itself was small and plain. It consisted mainly of a hall, having a dais with a lacquered chair for important visitors; an apartment for women; a servants' room, and a kitchen, heat being obtained from a hearth sunk in the floor. Austere simplicity was everywhere aimed at, and it is related that great provincial chiefs did not think the veranda too lowly for a sleeping-place. The use of the tatami was greatly extended after the twelfth century. No longer laid on the dais only, these mats were used to cover the whole of the floors, and presently they were supplemented by cushions made of silk crepe stuffed with cotton-wool. In the great majority of cases, roofs were covered with boards. Only in the houses of magnates was recourse had to tiles imported from China or slates of copper-bronze. In the better class of house, the roof-boards were held in place by girders, but humble folks used logs of timber, or stones, to prevent wind-stripping, and these weights imparted an untidy, rude appearance to the structure.

COSTUME

A notable feature of costume in this era was that the skirt of an official's outer garment had to be long in proportion to his rank. But military men did not observe this rule. It was followed only by the comparatively effeminate Court nobles and civil officials, who shaved their eyebrows, painted their cheeks, and blackened their teeth, as women did. While the soldiers of the Kamakura period wore their hair short and shaved the top of the head,—possibly for greater comfort when they were accoutred in heavy helmets,—the Court noble and the exquisite of the day wore their hair long and gathered in a queue which was bound with paper.

As for women, long hair was counted a beauty, and when a lady of rank left the house, her tresses were gathered in a box carried by an attendant who walked behind; and when she seated herself, this attendant's duty was to spread the hair symmetrically on the ground like a skirt. Girls in their teens had a pretty fashion of wearing their hair in three clearly distinguished lengths—a short fringe over the forehead, two cascades falling below the shoulders, and a long lock behind. Women's hairdressing was simple in one respect: they wore no ornaments in the hair. Aristocratic ladies continued to wear loose trousers, but robes with skirts began to form a part of the costume of the lower classes and of unmarried girls. The girdle, so characteristic of Japanese habiliments in later days, had not yet come into use. Its predecessor was a narrow belt of silk encircling the waist and knotted in front, the outer garment being a long flowing robe, reaching from the neck to the heels and having voluminous sleeves. Female headgear was various. A woman walking abroad wore a large hat like an inverted bowl, and when she rode on horseback, she suspended from the rim of this hat a curtain from three to four feet long.

There were other fashions, but only one of them need be mentioned, namely, a hood to envelop the face so that the eyes alone remained visible. In the city streets women of the town wore a distinctive costume as courtesans did in certain parts of Europe in the Middle Ages. The badge in Japan was a spirally twisted pyramidal cap of linen, about a foot and a half high. The materials of which clothing were made varied from rich Chinese brocade to coarse homespun, but, in general, the use of brocade was forbidden except to persons who had received it as a gift from the Court in Kyoto or Kamakura. Historical mention is first made of badges during the war of the Minamoto and the Taira. Their use was originally confined to purposes of distinction, and ultimately they came to be employed as a family crest by military men. A chrysanthemum flower with sixteen petals and a bunch of Paulownia leaves and buds constituted the Imperial badges, the use of which was interdicted to all subjects. It is not to be supposed, however, that badges were necessarily a mark of aristocracy: they might be woven or dyed on the garments of tradespeople or manufacturers. Footgear, also, offered opportunities for embellishment. Common people wore brown-leather socks, but those of position used blue leather having decorative designs embroidered in white thread.

BRAZIERS, ETC.

Braziers now came into general use, and quickly became objects of ornament as well as of utility. Manufactured of brass or bronze, and sometimes even of silver, they had decorative designs repousse or chiselled, and sometimes they took the shape of a metal receptacle inserted in a case of finely grained or richly lacquered wood. Another important warming utensil was the kotatsu, a latticed wooden frame enclosing a brazier and covered by a quilt. Lanterns were also employed. They consisted of a candle fixed in a skeleton frame on which an envelope of thin paper was stretched. Their introduction was quickly followed by that of a kind of match which took the form of a thin piece of wood tipped with sulphur.

DIET

The military class did not allow themselves to be influenced by any religious scruples in their choice of viands. They ate everything except the flesh of oxen or horses. In serving meals, tables of Chinese form ceased altogether to be used, edibles being placed on a tray which stood about four inches high. These trays and cups, and the bowls and plates ranged on them, showed great refinement, rich lacquer, silver, and gold being freely used in aristocratic dwellings.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY

Agriculture was, of course, greatly interrupted by the long continuance of military campaigns; but, on the other hand, it received every encouragement from the Minamoto and the Hojo. The most important incident of the era in this context was the introduction of the tea-shrub from China in 1191. As for industrial pursuits, signal progress took place in the art of tempering steel. The Japanese swordsmith forged the most trenchant weapon ever produced by any nation. The ceramic industry, also, underwent great development from the thirteenth century onwards. It may be said to have owed its artistic beginning to Kato Shirozaemon Kagemasa, who visited China at that time, and "learned the art of applying glaze to pottery biscuit, a feat not previously achieved in Japan." Another profession carried to high excellence was the sculpturing of Buddhist images. This reached its acme in a celebrated bronze Buddha which was set up at Kamakura, in 1252, and which remains to this day "one of the most majestic creations of art in any country."

SUMPTUARY EDICTS

The laws enacted by the Hojo regents bear ample testimony to their desire of enforcing frugality. In the middle of the thirteenth century, they went so far as to interdict the brewing of sake throughout the empire, and another ordinance vetoed the serving of cakes at meals. Such interdicts could not possibly be strictly enforced, but they undoubtedly exercised much influence, so that the samurai limited themselves to two meals a day and partook only of the coarsest fare.

ENGRAVING: WRESTLERS

ENGRAVING: DAIMYO'S GATE



CHAPTER XXIX

FALL OF THE HOJO AND RISE OF THE ASHIKAGA

THE DAYS OF SADATOKI

WITH the accession (1284) of the seventh Hojo regent, Sadatoki, the prosperous era of the Bakufu came to an end. Sadatoki himself seems to have been a man of much ability and fine impulses. He succeeded his father, Tokimune, at the age of fourteen, and during nine years he remained under the tutelage of the prime minister, Taira no Yoritsuna, thereafter taking the reins of government into his own hands. The annals are unfortunately defective at this, period. They fail to explain the reason for Sadatoki's retirement and adoption of religion, in 1301, after eight years of active rule. It may be that the troubles of the time disgusted him. For alike politically and financially an evil state of affairs prevailed. In 1286, the Adachi clan, falling under suspicion of aiming at the shogunate, was extirpated. A few years later, the same fate overtook Taira no Yoritsuna, who had been the chief accuser of the Adachi, and who, being now charged by his own first-born with coveting the regency (shikken), was put to death with his second son and all his retainers. Yet again, three years subsequently to this latter tragedy, Yoshimi, a scion of Yoritomo's brother, the unfortunate Yoshinori, fell a victim to accusations of treachery, and it needed no great insight to appreciate that the Bakufu was becoming a house divided against itself.

It was at this time, also, that the military families of the Kwanto in general and of Kamakura in particular began to find their incomes distressingly inadequate to meet the greatly increased and constantly increasing outlays that resulted from following the costly customs of Kyoto as reflected at the shogun's palace. Advantage was taken of this condition by professional money-lenders, by ambitious nobles, and even by wealthy farmers, who, supplying funds at exorbitant rates of interest, obtained possession of valuable estates. The Bakufu made several futile legislative essays to amend this state of affairs, and finally, in the year 1297, they resorted to a ruinous device called tokusei, or the "benevolent policy." This consisted in enacting a law which vetoed all suits for the recovery of interest, cancelled all mortgages, and interdicted the pledging of military men's property.

Of course, such legislation proved disastrous. Whatever temporary relief it afforded to indigent and improvident debtors, was far outweighed by the blow given to credit generally, and by the indignation excited among creditors. The Bakufu owed much of the stability of their influence to the frugality of their lives and to their unsullied administration of justice. But now the Kwanto bushi rivalled the Kyoto gallants in extravagance; the Kamakura tribunals forfeited the confidence of the people, and the needy samurai began to wish for the return of troublous times, when fortunes could be won with the sword. Amid such conditions Sadatoki took the tonsure in 1300, and was succeeded nominally by his cousin Morotoki, who, however, administered affairs in consultation with the retired regent. In 1303, a son was born to Sadatoki, and the latter, dying in 1311, bequeathed the office of regent to this boy when he should reach years of discretion, entrusting him, meanwhile, to the guardianship of two officials, the more active of whom was a lay priest, Nagasaki Enki.

An idea of the confusion existing at that time in Kamakura may be gathered from the fact that, during the five years between the death of Sadatoki and the accession of his son Takatoki (1316), no less than four members of the Hojo family held the regency in succession. Takatoki was destined to be the last of the Hojo regents. Coming into power at the age of thirteen, his natural giddiness of character is said to have been deliberately encouraged by his guardian, Nagasaki, but even had he been a stronger man it is doubtful whether he could have saved the situation. Corruption had eaten deeply into the heart of the Bakufu. In 1323, a question concerning right of succession to the Ando estate was carried to Kamakura for adjudication, and the chief judge, Nagasaki Takasuke, son of the old lay priest mentioned above, having taken bribes from both of the litigants, delivered an inscrutable opinion. Save for its sequel, this incident would merely have to be catalogued with many cognate injustices which disfigured the epoch. But the Ando family being one of the most powerful in northern Japan, its rival representatives appealed to arms in support of their respective claims, and the province of Oshu was thrown into such confusion that a force had to be sent from Kamakura to restore order. This expedition failed, and with its failure the prestige of the Hojo fell in a region where hitherto it had been untarnished—the arena of arms. The great Japanese historian, Rai Sanyo, compared the Bakufu of that time to a tree beautiful outwardly but worm-eaten at the core, and in the classical work, Taiheiki, the state of affairs is thus described:

The Dengaku mime was then in vogue among all classes in Kyoto. Takatoki, hearing of this, summoned two rival troupes of Dengaku players to Kamakura and witnessed their performances without regard to the passage of time. He distributed the members of the troupes among the noble families related to the Hojo, and made these nobles compete to furnish the performers with magnificent costumes. At a banquet when a Dengaku mime was acted, the regent and his guests vied with one another in pulling off their robes and throwing them into a heap, to be redeemed afterwards for heavy sums which were given to the actors. The custom thus inaugurated became perpetual. One day, a number of dogs gathered in the garden of Takatoki's mansion and had a fight. This so amused the regent that orders were despatched to collect dogs by way of taxes, the result being that many people in the provinces took steps to breed dogs and presented them by tens or scores to Kamakura, where they were fed on fish and fowl, kept in kennels having gold and silver ornaments, and carried in palanquins to take the air. When these distinguished animals were borne along the public thoroughfares, people hastening hither and thither on business had to dismount and kneel in obeisance, and farmers, instead of cultivating the fields, had to act as bearers of the dogs' sedan-chairs. Thus, the city of Kamakura presented the curious spectacle of a town filled with well-fed dogs, clothed in tinsel and brocades, and totalling from four to five thousand. Twelve days in every month used to be devoted to dog-fights, and on these occasions, the regent, the nobles, and the people inside and outside the mansion used to assemble as spectators, sitting on the verandas or the ground.

THE COURT IN KYOTO

All these things were watched with keen interest in Kyoto. It has been shown in Chapter XXVI that the Imperial family had been divided into two branches ever since the days of Go-Saga (1242-1246), one descended from his elder son, Go-Fukakusa, the other from his younger, Kameyama. These two branches may be conveniently distinguished as the senior and the junior, respectively. It has also been shown that the princes of the senior branch uniformly relied on Kamakura and kept the Bakufu informed of all intrigues devised in Kyoto, whereas those of the junior branch constantly cherished the hope of reasserting the independence of the throne. A representative of the junior branch, Go-Daigo (1318-1339), happened to be on the throne when Takatoki, holding the regency at Kamakura, scandalized the nation by his excesses and discredited the Hojo by his incompetence.

Go-Daigo was an able sovereign. He dispensed justice scrupulously and made the good of the country his prime aim. It appeared to him that the time had come for Kyoto to shake off the fetters of Kamakura. With that object he took into his confidence two Fujiwara nobles, Suketomo, a councillor of State, and Toshimoto, minister of Finance. These he despatched on a secret tour of inspection through the provinces, instructing them at the same time to canvass for adherents among the local samurai. They met with considerable success. Among the provincial families there were some of Taira origin who cherished traditional hatred towards the Minamoto; there were some of Minamoto blood who chafed at the supremacy of the Hojo, and there were some who, independently of lineage, longed for a struggle and its contingent possibilities. Leading representatives of these classes began to hold conclaves in Kyoto. The meetings were marked by complete absence of ceremony, their object being to promote free interchange of ideas. Presently, suspicions were suggested to Kamakura. The regent, Takatoki, who, though a careless libertine in his habits, living in the society of his thirty concubines, his troops of dancing mimes, and his packs of fighting dogs, was capable of stern resolution on occasions, threatened to dethrone the Emperor.

In this sore strait, Go-Daigo did not hesitate to make solemn avowal of the innocence of his purpose, and Kamakura refrained from any harsh action towards the Throne. But it fared ill with the sovereign's chief confidant, Fujiwara no Suketomo. He was exiled to Sado Island and there killed by Takatoki's instructions. This happened in 1325. Connected with it was an incident which illustrates the temper of the bushi. In spite of his mother's tearful remonstrances, Kunimitsu, the thirteen-year-old son of the exiled noble, set out from Kyoto for Sado to bid his father farewell. The governor of the island was much moved by the boy's affection, but, fearful of Kamakura, he refused to sanction a meeting and commissioned one Homma Saburo, a member of his family, to kill the prisoner. Kunimitsu determined to avenge his father, even at the expense of his own life. During a stormy night, he effected an entry into the governor's mansion, and, penetrating to Saburo's chamber, killed him. The child then turned his weapon against his own bosom. But, reflecting that he had his mother to care for, his sovereign to serve, and his father's will to carry out, he determined to escape if possible. The mansion was surrounded by a deep moat which he could not cross. But a bamboo grew on the margin, and climbing up this, he found that it bent with his weight so as to form a bridge. He reached Kyoto in safety and ultimately attained the high post (chunagon) which his father had held.

THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE

The year 1326 witnessed the decease of the Crown Prince, Kuninaga, who represented the senior branch of the Imperial family. Thereupon, Go-Daigo conceived the project of appointing his own son, Morinaga, to be Prince Imperial. That would have given the sceptre twice in succession to the junior branch, and the Bakufu regent, insisting that the rule of alternate succession must be followed, proposed to nominate Prince Kazuhito, a son of the cloistered Emperor, Go-Fushimi, who belonged to the senior branch. The question was vehemently discussed at Kamakura, Go-Daigo being represented by Fujiwara no Fujifusa, and Go-Fushimi by another noble. The former contended that never since the days of Jimmu had any subject dared to impose his will on the Imperial family. Go-Saga's testament had clearly provided the order of succession to the throne, yet the Bakufu had ventured to set that testament aside and had dictated the system of alternate succession. Thus, the princes of the elder branch not only became eligible for the throne, but also enjoyed great revenues from the Ghokodo estate, though it had been bequeathed as a solatium for exclusion from the succession; whereas the princes of the junior branch, when not occupying the throne, were without a foot of land or the smallest source of income. Fujifusa was instructed to claim that the usufruct of the Chokodo estate should alternate in the same manner as the succession, or that the latter should be perpetually vested in the junior branch. To this just demand the regent, Takatoki, refused to accede. Kazuhito was named Prince Imperial, and thus the seeds of a sanguinary struggle were sown.

CONSPIRACY IN KYOTO

Go-Daigo now conspired actively for the overthrow of the Hojo. He took Prince Morinaga into his confidence, and, under the name Oto no Miya, made him lord-abbot of the great monastery of Hiei-zan, thus securing at once a large force of soldier cenobites. To the same end other religious establishments were successfully approached. During the space of five years this plot escaped Kamakura's attention. But, in 1331, the Bakufu, becoming suspicious, laid hands on several of the plotters and, subjecting them to judicial examination after the merciless fashion of the age, soon elicited a part, at any rate, of the truth. Yet Kamakura does not appear to have appreciated the situation until, Go-Daigo having summoned the Enryaku monks to his assistance, the cloistered Emperor of the senior branch, Go-Fushimi, despatched an urgent message to the Bakufu, declaring that unless prompt action were taken the situation would elude control.

Hasty council was now held in Kamakura. Nagasaki Takasuke, the corrupt kwanryo, advised that Go-Daigo should be dethroned and sent into exile, together with Oto no Miya, and that all implicated in the plot should be severely punished. This violent course was opposed by Nikaido Sadafusa, who pleaded eloquently for the respect due to the Throne, and contended that without the sovereign's favour the Bakufu could not exist. But Takasuke's advice prevailed, re-enforced as it was by reference to the Shokyu disturbance when vigorous daring had won the day. With all possible expedition an army under the command of Sadafusa marched from Kamakura for Kyoto. Advised of these doings, Prince Morinaga persuaded the Emperor to change costumes with Fujiwara Morokata; whereafter the latter, riding in the Imperial palanquin, took ostensible refuge at Hiei-zan, and the sovereign, travelling in a Court lady's ox-car, made his way, first, to Nara and thence to Kasagi in Yamato, guarded by the troops of Fujiwara Fujifusa. Rokuhara was then under the command of Hojo Nakatoki, and upon him devolved the duty of seizing the Emperor's person. He directed an army against Hiei-zan, where Go-Daigo was believed to have found asylum. But Fujiwara Morokata, who personified the sovereign, managed to escape, as did also Prince Morinaga (Oto no Miya). Go-Daigo then sent to Kusunoki Masashige a mandate to raise troops and move against the "rebels," for to that category the Hojo now belonged in the absence of an Imperial commission.

This Kusunoki Masashige (called Nanko) is one of Japan's ideal types of loyalty and courage. He and Nitta Yoshisada are the central figures in the long campaign upon which Japan now entered. Masashige belonged to the Tachibana family, which stood second among the four great septs of Japan—the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, the Minamoto, and the Taira—and Yoshisada claimed kinship with the Minamoto. Receiving Go-Daigo's order, Kusunoki Masashige quickly collected a troop of local bushi and constructed entrenchments at Akasaka, a naturally strong position in his native province of Kawachi. Takatoki now caused Prince Kazuhito to be proclaimed sovereign under the name of Kogon. But this monarch was not destined to find a place among the recognized occupants of the throne. For a time, indeed, fortune smiled on the Hojo. Within a few days after Kogon's assumption of the sceptre, Go-Daigo's retreat at Kasagi became untenable, and he fled, still escorted by the faithful Fujiwara Fujifusa. It must be recognized that, whatever the Fujiwara family's usurpations in the past, their loyalty to the Throne throughout this era of cruel vicissitudes redeems a multitude of sins.

During his flight from Kasagi, the Emperor was without food for three days, and had to sleep with a rock for pillow. Overtaken by the Rokuhara troops, his Majesty was placed in a bamboo palanquin and carried to the temple Byodoin, where, after the battle of the Uji Bridge, the aged statesman and general, Yorimasa, had fallen by his own hand, a century and a half previously. Here Go-Daigo received a peremptory order to surrender the Imperial insignia to the Hojo nominee, Kogon. He refused. The mirror and gem, he alleged, had been lost, and there remained only the sacred sword, which he kept to defend himself against the traitors when they fell upon him. The high courage of this answer would have been finer had Go-Daigo's statement been true; but in reality the three insignia were intact. It was then announced to his Majesty that he should be removed to Rokuhara where he would be entirely in the power of the Hojo. Nevertheless, he maintained his lofty bearing, and refused to make the journey unless all appropriate forms of etiquette were observed. At Rokuhara the demand for the insignia was repeated and the Emperor handed over duplicates, secretly retaining the genuine articles himself. Takatoki now issued orders for Go-Daigo to be removed to the island of Oki, sent all the members of his family into exile elsewhere, and banished or killed his principal supporters.

RAISING OF A LOYAL ARMY

Kusunoki Masashige had but five hundred men under his command when he entrenched himself at Akasaka. There for twenty days he held out against the attacks of the greatly superior Hojo forces, until finally, no help arriving and his provisions being exhausted, he would have committed suicide had he not realized that his life belonged to the Imperial cause. He contrived to escape through the enemy's lines, and thus the only organized loyal force that remained in the field was that operating in Bingo under the command of Sakurayama Koretoshi. Thither a false rumour of Masashige's death having been carried, Koretoshi's troops dispersed and he himself committed suicide. Kojima Takanori, too, commonly known as Bingo no Saburo, was about to raise the banner of loyalty when the false news of Masashige's death reached him. This Takanori is the hero of an incident which appeals strongly to the Japanese love of the romantic. Learning that the Emperor was being transported into exile in the island of Oki, and having essayed to rescue him en route, he made his way during the night into the enclosure of the inn where the Imperial party had halted, and having scraped off part of the bark of a cherry tree, he inscribed on the trunk the couplet:

Heaven destroy not Kou Chien, He is not without a Fan Li.

This alluded to an old-time Chinese king (Kou Chien) who, after twenty years of exile, was restored to power by the efforts of a vassal (Fan Li). The Emperor's guards, being too illiterate to comprehend the reference, showed the writing to Go-Daigo, who thus learned that friends were at hand. But Takanori could not accomplish anything more, and for a season the fortunes of the Throne were at a very low ebb, while at Kamakura the regent resumed his life of debauchery. Neither Prince Morinaga nor Masashige was idle, however. By skilful co-operation they recovered the entrenchments at Akasaka and overran the two provinces of Izumi and Kawachi, gaining many adherents. The fall of 1332 saw Masashige strongly posted at the Chihaya fortress on Kongo Mountain; his lieutenants holding Akasaka; Prince Morinaga in possession of Yoshino Castle, and Akamatsu Norimura of Harima blocking the two highways called the Sanindo and the Sanyodo.

In other words, the Imperialists held the group of provinces forming the northern littoral of the Inland Sea and commanded the approaches from the south. But now again Kamakura put forth its strength. At the close of February, 1333, a numerous force under the Hojo banners attacked Yoshino and its fall became inevitable. Prince Morinaga, wounded in several places, had resolved to make the castle his "death-pillow," when he was saved by one of those acts of heroic devotion so frequently recorded in the annals of the Japanese bushi. Murakami Yoshiteru insisted on donning the prince's armour and personating him so as to cover his retreat. At the supreme moment, Yoshiteru ascended the tower of the entrenchments and loudly proclaiming himself the prince, committed suicide. His son would fain have shared his fate, but Yoshiteru bade him live for further service. Subsequently, he fell fighting against Morinaga's pursuers, but the prince escaped safely to the great monastery of Koya in Kishu.* The victorious Hojo then turned their arms against Akasaka, and having carried that position, attacked Chihaya where Masashige commanded in person. But the great soldier held his foes successfully at bay and inflicted heavy losses on them. Thus, the early months of 1333 witnessed a brighter state of affairs for the Imperial cause. It was supported by Kusunoki Masashige, in Yamato, with Chihaya for headquarters; Prince Morinaga, at Koya-san in Kishu; Akamatsu Norimura, in Harima and Settsu, whence his fortress of Maya menaced Rokuhara, and by Doi Michiharu and Tokuno Michikoto, in Iyo, whence, crossing to Nagato, they had attacked and defeated Hojo Tokinao, the tandai of the province.

*Yoshiteru's loyal sacrifice received official recognition, in 1908, on the occasion of military manoeuvres in the neighbourhood of the scene of the tragedy. The Emperor honoured his memory by bestowing on him high posthumous rank.

ESCAPE OF THE EMPEROR FROM OKI

The Oki group of islands lie in the Sea of Japan forty miles from the coast of the provinces Izumo and Hoki. Beppu, in Nishi-no-shima, one of the smallest of the group, was Go-Daigo's place of exile. By employing the services of a fishing-boat, Prince Morinaga succeeded in conveying to his Majesty some intelligence of the efforts that were being made in the Imperial cause. This was early in 1333, and when the news spread among the guards at Beppu, they began to talk of the duties of loyalty. Narita Kosaburo and the Nawa brothers, Yasunaga and Nagataka—the name of the last was afterwards changed by the Emperor to Nagatoshi—thus became associated in a scheme for assisting the exile to recover his freedom. To remove him from Nishi-no-Shima was not difficult to contrive, but to traverse the provinces of Izumo or Hoki en route for a safe asylum seemed at first impossible, for in Izumo not only the governor but also the chief official of the great Shinto shrine were hostile, and in Hoki the strictest watchfulness had been enjoined from Rokuhara.

Nevertheless, it became necessary to make the attempt at once or refrain altogether. On the 8th of April, 1333, the guards at Beppu were given a quantity of sake on the plea that the accouchement of a Court lady was imminent. Custom prescribed that in such a case the lady should be removed to a different house, and therefore when the guards had well drunk, a palanquin was carried out, bearing ostensibly this lady only, but in reality freighted with the sovereign also. The night was passed in the village, and at daybreak the little party, leaving the lady behind, set out on foot for the nearest seaport, Chiba. The Emperor could scarcely walk, but happily a man was encountered leading a pack-horse, and on this Go-Daigo rode. The next three days were devoted to seeking a safe landing in Izumo and endeavouring to procure provisions. On one occasion, being pursued by servants of the great shrine, they had to re-embark and put out to sea, the Emperor and his sole attendant, Tadaaki, lying hid in the bottom of the boat beneath a quantity of seaweed and under the feet of the sailors. Finally, on the 13th of April, they made Katami port in the province of Hoki, and, being cordially welcomed by Nawa Nagataka, Go-Daigo was ultimately taken to a mountain called Funanoe, which offered excellent defensive facilities. It is recorded that on the first stage of this journey from Nagataka's residence to the mountain, the Emperor had to be carried on the back of Nagataka's brother, Nagashige, no palanquin being available. Very soon many bushi flocked to the Imperial standard and Funanoe was strongly entrenched. It was on this occasion that Go-Daigo changed Nagataka's name to Nagatoshi, and conferred on him the title of "captain of the Left guards" (saemon-no-jo).

DOWNFALL OF THE HOJO

When the Emperor's escape from Oki became known, loyal samurai in great numbers espoused the Imperial cause, and a heavy blow was given to the prestige of the Hojo by Akamatsu Norimura who, after several successful engagements with the Rokuhara army in Settsu, pushed northward from the fortress of Maya, where his forces were almost within sight of Kyoto. Takatoki, appreciating that a crisis had now arisen in the fortunes of the Hojo, ordered Ashikaga Takauji to lead a powerful army westward. Takauji represented a junior branch of the Minamoto family. He was descended from the great Yoshiiye, and when Yoritomo rose against the Taira, in 1180, he had been immediately joined by the then Ashikaga chieftain, who was his brother-in-law. Takau ji, therefore, had ambitions of his own, and his mood towards the Hojo had been embittered by two recent events; the first, that, though in mourning for the death of his father, he had been required to join the attack on Masashige's fortress at Kasagi; the second, that his own illness after returning from that campaign had not availed to save him from frequent summonses to conference with Takatoki.

ENGRAVING: ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI

Thus, this second order to take the field found him disposed to join in the overthrow of the Hojo rather than in their support. Learning something of this mood, Takatoki demanded that the Ashikaga chief, before commencing his march, should hand in a written oath of loyalty, and further, should leave his wife, his children, and his brother-in-law as hostages in Kamakura. Takauji, who shrunk from no sacrifice on the altar of his ambition, complied readily, and the confidence of the Bakufu having thus been restored, a parting banquet was given in his honour, at which the Hojo representative presented him with a steed, a suit of armour, a gold-mounted sword, and a white flag, this last being an heirloom from the time of Hachiman (Yoshiiye), transmitted through the hands of Yoritomo's spouse, Masa.

All these things did not turn Takauji by a hair's-breadth from his purpose. His army had not marched many miles westward before he despatched a message to the entrenchments in Hoki offering his services to the Emperor, who welcomed this signal accession of strength and commissioned Takauji to attack the Bakufu forces. Entirely ignorant of these things, Hojo Takaiye, who commanded at Rokuhara, made dispositions to move against the Hoki fortress in co-operation with Takauji. The plan of campaign was that Takaiye's army should march southward through Settsu, and, having crushed Akamatsu Norimura, who occupied that province, should advance through Harima and Mimasaka into Hoki; while Takauji, moving northward at first by the Tamba highway, should ultimately turn westward and reach Hoki by the littoral road of the Japan Sea. In addition to these two armies, the Hojo had a powerful force engaged in beleaguering the fortress of Chihaya, in Yamato, where Kusunoki Masashige commanded in person.

It will thus be seen that, at this time (May, 1333), the Imperialists were everywhere standing on the defensive, and the Bakufu armies were attacking on the southeast, south, and north of Kyoto. Nothing seemed less probable than that the Imperial capital itself should become the object of an assault by the partisans of Go-Daigo. But the unexpected took place. Hojo Takaiye was killed and his force shattered in the first collision with Norimura, who immediately set his troops in motion towards Kyoto, intending to take advantage of Rokuhara's denuded condition. Meanwhile, Takauji, whose march into Tamba had been very deliberate, learned the course events had taken in Settsu, and immediately proclaiming his allegiance to the Imperial cause, countermarched for Kyoto, his army receiving constant accessions of strength as it approached the city. Rokuhara, though taken by surprise, fought stoutly. Attacked simultaneously from three directions by the armies of Norimura, Takauji, and Minamoto Tadaaki, and in spite of the death of their commandant, Hojo Tokimasu, they held out until the evening, when Hojo Nakatoki escaped under cover of darkness, escorting the titular sovereign, Kogon, and the two ex-Emperors. Their idea was to flee to Kamakura, but taking an escort too large for rapid movement, they were overtaken; the three leaders together with four hundred men killed, and Kogon together with the two ex-Emperors seized and carried back to Kyoto.

THE FALL OF KAMAKURA

These things happened at the close of June, 1333, and immediately after the fall of Rokuhara, Nitta Yoshisada raised the Imperial standard in the province of Kotsuke. Yoshisada represented the tenth generation of the great Yoshiiye's family. Like Ashikaga Takauji he was of pure Minamoto blood, though Takauji belonged to a junior branch. The Nitta estates were in the district of that name in the province of Kotsuke; that is to say, in the very heart of the Kwanto. Hitherto, the whole of the eastern region had remained loyal to the Hojo; but the people were growing weary of the heavy taxes and requisitions entailed by this three-years' struggle, and when Nitta Yoshisada declared against the Hojo, his ranks soon swelled to formidable dimensions. It has been stated by some historians that Yoshisada's resolve was first taken on receipt of news that Rokuhara was lost to the Hojo. But there can be no doubt that, like others of his sept, he had long resented the comparatively subordinate position occupied by Yoritomo's descendants, and the most trustworthy annals show that already while engaged in besieging Masashige in Chihaya fortress, he conceived the idea of deserting the Hojo's cause. Through one of his officers, Funada Yoshimasa, he obtained a mandate from Prince Morinaga, and then, feigning sickness, he left the camp in Yamato and returned to Kotsuke, where he lost no time in making preparations for revolt.

This actual declaration did not come, however, until the arrival of an officer from Kamakura, carrying a requisition for a great quantity of provisions to victual an army which the Hojo were hastily equipping to recover Rokuhara. The officer was put to death, and Yoshisada with his brother, Yoshisuke, set their forces in motion for Kamakura. Menaced thus closely, the Hojo made a supreme effort. They put into the field an army said to have numbered one hundred thousand of all arms. But their ranks were perpetually reduced by defections, whereas those of the Imperialists received constant accessions. The campaign lasted only a fortnight. For the final attack Yoshisada divided his army into three corps and advanced against Kamakura from the north, the east, and the west. The eastern column was repulsed and its general slain, but the western onset, commanded by Yoshisada himself, succeeded. Taking advantage of a low tide, he led his men over the sands and round the base of a steep cliff,* and carried the city by storm, setting fire to the buildings everywhere. The Hojo troops were shattered and slaughtered relentlessly. Takatoki retreated to his ancestral cemetery at the temple Tosho-ji, and there committed suicide with all the members of his family and some eight hundred officers and men of his army. Thus, Kamakura fell on the 5th of July, 1333, a century and a half after the establishment of the Bakufu by Yoritomo. Many heroic incidents marked the catastrophe and showed the spirit animating the bushi of that epoch. A few of them will find a fitting place here.

*This cliff—Inamura-ga-saki—may be seen at Kamakura to-day. Tradition says that Yoshisada threw his sword into the waves, supplicating the god of the Sea to roll back the water and open a path for the loyal army. At dawn on the following day the tide was found to have receded sufficiently.

HEROIC DEATHS

It has been related above that, when Ashikaga Takauji marched westward from Kamakura, he left his family and his brother-in-law as hostages in the hands of the Bakufu. Subsequently, on the occasion of the assault by Nitta Yoshisada, this brother-in-law (Akabashi Moritoki) resisted stoutly but was defeated at the pass of Kobukoro. He committed suicide, remarking calmly, "It is better to die trusted than to live doubted."

Osaragi Sadanao, one of the Hojo generals, was in danger of defeat by Odate Muneuji at the defence of Kamakura, when Homma Saemon, a retainer of the former, who was under arrest for an offence, broke his arrest and galloping into the field, restored the situation by killing the enemy's general, Odate Muneuji. Carrying the head of Muneuji, Saemon presented it to his chief and then disembowelled himself in expiation of his disobedience. Sadanao, crying that his faithful follower should not go unaccompanied to the grave, dashed into the enemy's ranks and fell, covered with wounds.

Ando Shoshu, returning from the successful defence of the eastern approaches to Kamakura on the 5th of July, 1333, found the Government buildings a mass of charred ruins, and being ignorant of the multitude of suicides that had taken place in the cemetery at Tosho-ji, cried out: "The end of a hundred years! How is it that none was found to die the death of fidelity?" Dismounting he prepared to take his own life when a messenger arrived carrying a letter from his niece, the wife of Nitta Yoshisada. This letter counselled surrender. Shoshu exclaimed furiously: "My niece is a samurai's daughter. How could she venture to insult me with words so shameless? And how was it that Yoshisada allowed her to do such a thing?" Then, wrapping the letter round the hilt of his sword, he disembowelled himself.

THE LAST SCENE

The last act of the Hojo tragedy, which took place in the cemetery of the temple Tosho-ji, showed the fidelity of the samurai character at its best. Among the Kamakura warriors was one Takashige, son of that Nagasaki Takasuke who had made himself notorious by corrupt administration of justice. Takashige, a skilled soldier of enormous physical power, returned from the battle when all hope of beating back Nitta Yoshisada's army had disappeared, and having warned the regent, Takatoki, that the bushi's last resource alone remained, asked for a few moments' respite to strike a final stroke. Followed by a hundred desperate men, he plunged into the thick of the fight and had almost come within reach of Yoshisada when he was forced back. Galloping to Tosho-ji, he found Takatoki and his comrades drinking their farewell cup of sake. Takatoki handed the cup to Takashige, and he, after draining it thrice, as was the samurai's wont, passed it to Settsu Dojun, disembowelled himself, and tore out his intestines. "That gives a fine relish to the wine," cried Dojun, following Takashige's example. Takatoki, being of highest rank, was the last to kill himself.

Eight hundred suicides bore witness to the strength of the creed held by the Kamakura bushi. An eminent Japanese author* writes: "Yoritomo, convinced by observation and experience that the beautiful and the splendid appeal most to human nature, made it his aim to inculcate frugality, to promote military exercises, to encourage loyalty, and to dignify simplicity. Moral education he set before physical. The precepts of bushido he engraved on the heart of the nation and gave to them the honour of a precious heirloom. The Hojo, by exalting bushido, followed the invaluable teaching of the Genji, and supplemented it with the doctrines of Shinto, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Thus every bushi came to believe that the country's fate depended on the spirit of the samurai." Another and more renowned annalist** wrote: "The Hojo, rising from a subordinate position, flourished for nine generations. Their success was due to observing frugality, treating the people with kindness, meting out strict justice, and faithfully obeying the ancestral behest to abstain from seeking high titles." They took the substance and discarded the shadow. The bushido that they developed became a model in later ages, especially in the sixteenth century.

*Yamada Tesshu (modern).

**Rai Sanyo (1780-1832).

LAST HOJO ARMY

When Kamakura fell the only Hojo force remaining in the field was that which had been engaged for months in the siege of Chihaya, where Kusunoki Masashige held his own stoutly. This army had retired to Nara on receipt of the news of Rokuhara's capture, and when Kamakura met with the same fate, the leaders of the last Hojo force surrendered at the summons of Ashikaga Takauji's emissaries. Subsequently, fifteen of these leaders were led out at midnight and beheaded.

THE RESTORATION OF THE KEMMU ERA

The conditions that now resulted are spoken of in Japanese history as "the Restoration of the Kemmu era" (1334-1336). It will be presently seen that the term is partly misleading. After his escape from Oki, Go-Daigo remained for some time in the fortress of Funanoe, in Hoki. Kamakura fell on the 5th of July, and his Majesty entered Kyoto on the 17th of that month. While in Hoki he issued various rescripts having special significance. They may be summarized as follows:

From bushi down to priests, any man who performs meritorious deeds in battle will be duly recompensed, in addition to being confirmed in the possession of his previously held domain, and that possession will be continued in perpetuity to his descendants. In the case of persons killed in fight, suitable successors to their domains will be selected from their kith and kin.

With regard to Court officials and bushi down to temple priests and functionaries of Shinto shrines, any that come immediately to join the Imperial forces will be rewarded, in addition to being confirmed in the tenure of their original estates.

Similar consideration will be shown to all who, though unable to come in person, supply provisions or military necessaries, submit suggestions with loyal intent, or otherwise work in the interests of the Imperial army. Men surrendering in battle will be pardoned for their previous offences, and will be rewarded for services subsequently rendered.

The fate of the eastern outlaws (i.e. the Hojo) being sealed, their destruction is imminent. They have slain many innocent people; plundered the property of all classes, despoiled temples, burned houses, and conducted themselves with extreme wickedness. Unless they be punished, public peace cannot be restored. Our army has to remove those evils, and therefore all in its ranks, while uniting to attack the rebels, will be careful not to inflict any suffering on the people or to plunder them and will treat them with all benevolence. If prisoners be common soldiers, they shall be released at once, and if officers, they shall be held in custody pending Imperial instructions. They shall not be punished without judgment. No buildings except the enemy's fortresses and castles shall be burned, unless the conditions of a battle dictate such a course, and it is strictly forbidden to set fire to shrines and temples. When the Imperial forces enter a city and have to be quartered in private houses, the owners of the latter shall be duly recompensed. If these injunctions be obeyed, the deities of heaven and earth and the ancestral Kami will protect the virtuous army in its assault upon the wicked traitors.

These edicts make it clear that in one most important respect, namely, the terms of land tenure, there was no idea of reverting to the old-time system which recognized the right of property to be vested in the Throne and limited the period of occupation to the sovereign's will.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

When Go-Daigo entered Kyoto on the 17th of July, 1333, it was suggested by some of his advisers that a ceremony of coronation should be again held. But the sa-daijin, Nijo Michihira, opposed that course. He argued that although his Majesty had not resided in the capital for some time, the sacred insignia had been always in his possession, and that his re-entering the capital should be treated as returning from a journey. This counsel was adopted. It involved the exclusion of Kogon from the roll of sovereigns, though the title of "retired Emperor" was accorded to him.

There were thus three ex-Emperors at the same time. Go-Daigo assigned the Chokodo estates for their support, retaining for himself only the provincial taxes of Harima. The Bakufu no longer having any official existence, the machinery of the Government in Kyoto was organized on the hypothesis of genuine administrative efficiency. There was no chancellor (dajo daijiri) or any regent (kwampaku). These were dispensed with, in deference to the "Restoration" theory, namely, that the Emperor himself should rule, as he had done in the eras of Engi and Tenryaku (901-957). But for the rest, the old offices were resuscitated and filled with men who had deserved well in the recent crisis or who possessed hereditary claims. Prince Morinaga, the sometime lord-abbot of Hiei-zan, was nominated commander-in-chief (tai-shoguri), and for the sake of historical lucidity hereafter the following appointments should be noted:

Prince Narinaga to be governor-general (kwanryo) of the Kwanto, with his headquarters at Kamakura, and with Ashikaga Tadayoshi (brother of Takauji) for second in command.

Prince Yoshinaga to be governor-general of O-U (Mutsu and Dewa), assisted by Kitabatake Chikafusa (an able statesman and a historian), and the latter's son, Akiiye, as well as by the renowned warrior, Yuki Munehiro.

Nijo Michihira to be sa-daijin.

Kuga Nagamichi to be u-daijin.

Doin Kinkata to be nai-daijin.

It is observable that the occupants of all these great offices were Court nobles. The creed of the Kemmu era was that the usurping buke (military families) had been crushed and that the kuge (Court nobility) had come to their own again. As for the provinces, the main purpose kept in view by the new Government was to efface the traces of the shugo system. Apparently the simplest method of achieving that end would have been to appoint civilian governors (kokushi) everywhere. But in many cases civilian governors would have been powerless in the face of the conditions that had arisen under military rule, and thus the newly nominated governors included

Ashikaga Takauji, governor of Musashi, Hitachi, and Shimosa.

Ashikaga Tadayoshi (brother of Takauji), governor of Totomi.

Kusunoki Masashige, governor of Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi.

Nawa Nagatoshi, governor of Inaba and Hoki.

Nitta Yoshisada, governor of Kotsuke and Harima.

Nitta Yoshiaki (son of Yoshisada), governor of Echigo.

Wakiya Yoshisuke (brother of Yoshisada), governor of Suruga.

One name left out of this list was that of Akamatsu Norimura, who had taken the leading part in driving the Hojo from Rokuhara, and who had been faithful to the Imperial cause throughout. He now became as implacable an enemy as he had previously been a loyal friend. The fact is significant. Money as money was despised by the bushi of the Kamakura epoch. He was educated to despise it, and his nature prepared him to receive such education. But of power he was supremely ambitious—power represented by a formidable army of fully equipped followers, by fortified castles, and by widely recognized authority. The prime essential of all these things was an ample landed estate To command the allegiance of the great military families without placing them under an obligation by the grant of extensive manors would have been futile. On the other hand, to grant such manors in perpetuity meant the creation of practically independent feudal chiefs.

The trouble with the restored Government of Go-Daigo was that it halted between these two alternatives. Appreciating that its return to power had been due to the efforts of certain military magnates, it rewarded these in a measure; but imagining that its own administrative authority had been replaced on the ancient basis, it allowed itself to be guided, at the same time, by capricious favouritism. Even in recognizing the services of the military leaders, justice was not observed. The records clearly show that on the roll of merit the first place, after Prince Morinaga, should have been given to Kusunoki Masashige's name. When Kasagi fell and when the Emperor was exiled, Masashige, alone among the feudatories of sixty provinces, continued to fight stoutly at the head of a small force, thus setting an example of steadfast loyalty which ultimately produced many imitators. Nitta Yoshisada ought to have stood next in order; then Akamatsu Norimura; then Nawa Nagatoshi, and finally Ashikaga Takauji.* In the case of Takauji, there was comparatively little merit. He had taken up arms against the Imperial cause at the outset, and even in the assault on Rokuhara he had been of little service. Yet to him the Crown allotted the greatest honour and the richest rewards. Some excuse may be found in Takauji's lineage, but in that respect he was inferior to Nitta Yoshisada.

*Arai Hakuseki (1656-1725).

Still more flagrant partiality was displayed in other directions. Relying on the promises of the Funanoe edicts epitomized above, thousands of military officers thronged the Court in Kyoto, clamouring for recognition of their services. Judges were appointed to examine their pleas, but that proved a tedious task, and in the meanwhile all the best lands had been given away by favour or affection. Go-Daigo himself appropriated the manors of Hojo Takatoki; those of Hojo Yasuie were assigned to Prince Morinaga; those of Osaragi Sadanao went to the Imperial consort, Renko. The immediate attendants of the sovereign, priests, nuns, musicians, litterateurs—all obtained broad acres by the Imperial fiat, and when, in the tardy sequel of judicial procedure, awards were made to military men, no spoil remained to be divided. Soon a cry went up, and gained constantly in volume and vehemence, a cry for the restoration of the military regime. As for Go-Daigo, whatever ability he had shown in misfortune seemed to desert him in prosperity. He neglected his administrative duties, became luxurious and arrogant, and fell more and more under the influence of the lady Ren. Of Fujiwara lineage, this lady had shared the Emperor's exile and assisted his escape from Oki. It had long been her ambition to have her son, Tsunenaga, nominated Crown Prince, but as Prince Morinaga was older and had established a paramount title by his merits, his removal must precede the accomplishment of her purpose. Fate furnished a powerful ally. Prince Morinaga, detecting that Ashikaga Takauji concealed a treacherous purpose under a smooth demeanour, solicited the Emperor's mandate to deal with him. Go-Daigo refused, and thereafter the lady Ren and the Ashikaga chief, whose influence increased daily, entered into a league for the overthrow of Prince Morinaga.

It was at this time, when symptoms of disorder were growing more and more apparent, that Fujiwara Fujifusa, a high dignitary of the Court and one of the great statesmen of his era, addressed a solemn warning to Go-Daigo. The immediate occasion was curious. There had been presented to the Court by the governor of Izumo a horse of extraordinary endurance, capable of travelling from Tomita, in that province, to Kyoto, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, between dawn and darkness. The courtiers welcomed the appearance of this horse as an omen of peace and prosperity, but Fujiwara Fujifusa interpreted it as indicating that occasion to solicit speedy aid from remote provinces would soon arise. He plainly told the Emperor that the officials were steeped in debauchery; that whereas, in the early days of the restoration, the palace gates had been thronged with warriors, to-day none could be seen, thousands upon thousands having left the capital disgusted and indignant to see Court favourites enriched with the rewards which should have fallen to the military; that the already distressed people were subjected to further heavy exactions for building or beautifying Imperial palaces; that grave injustice had been done to Akamatsu Norimura, and that unless the sovereign refrained from self-indulgence and sought to govern benevolently, a catastrophe could not be averted. But Go-Daigo was not moved, and finally, after repeating his admonition on several occasions, Fujifusa left the Court and took the tonsure. It says much for the nobility of the Emperor's disposition that he commissioned Nobufusa, father of Fujifusa, to seek out the persistent critic and offer him a greatly higher office if he would consent to return, and it says much for Fujifusa's sincerity that, hoping to give weight to his counsels, he embraced the life of a recluse and was never seen in public again.

DEATH OF PRINCE MORINAGA

Things now went from bad to worse in Kyoto, while in the provinces the remnants of the Hojo's partisans began to raise their heads. The ever-loyal Kusunoki Masashige and Nawa Nagatoshi entered the capital to secure it against surprise; Ashikaga Takauji, ostensibly for the same purpose, summoned large forces from the provinces, and Prince Morinaga occupied Nawa with a strong army. Takauji saw that the time had come to remove the prince, in whom he recognized the great obstacle to the consummation of his ambitious designs. Securing the co-operation of the lady Ren by a promise that her son, Narinaga, should be named Crown Prince and commander-in-chief (shoguri) in succession to Morinaga, he informed the Emperor that Prince Morinaga was plotting Go-Daigo's deposition and the elevation of his own son to the throne. The Emperor credited the accusation, summoned the usurping Morinaga to the palace, and caused him to be arrested. This happened in November, 1334. Morinaga vehemently declared his innocence. In a memorial to the Throne he recounted the loyal service he had rendered to his sovereign and father, and concluded with these words:

In spite of all this I have unwittingly offended. I would appeal to heaven, but the sun and moon have no favour for an unfilial son. I would bow my head and cry to the earth for help, but the mountains and the rivers do not harbour a disloyal subject. The tie between father and son is severed, and I am cast away. I have no longer anything to hope in the world. If I may be pardoned, stripped of my rank, and permitted to enter religion, there will be no cause for regret. In my deep sorrow I cannot say more.

Had this piteous appeal reached Go-Daigo, he might have relented. But just as the memorial addressed by Yoshitsune to his brother, Yoritomo, was suppressed by Hiromoto, so the chamberlain to whom Prince Morinaga entrusted his protest feared to carry it to the sovereign. Before the close of the year, the prince was exiled to Kamakura, and there placed in charge of Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, who confined him in a cave dug for the purpose. He never emerged alive. Seven months later, Tadayoshi, on the eve of evacuating Kamakura before the attack of Hojo Tokiyuki, sent an emissary to assassinate Morinaga in the cave. The unfortunate prince was in his twenty-eighth year. His name must be added to the long list of noble men who fell victims to slander in Japan. A Japanese annalist* contends that Morinaga owed his fate as much to his own tactlessness as to the wiles of his enemies, and claims that in accusing Takauji to the throne, the prince forgot the Emperor's helplessness against such a military magnate as the Ashikaga chief. However that may have been, subsequent events clearly justified the prince's suspicions of Takauji's disloyalty. It must also be concluded that Go-Daigo deliberately contemplated his son's death when he placed him in charge of Takauji's brother.

*Raj Sanyo.

ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI OCCUPIES KAMAKURA

The course of events has been somewhat anticipated above in order to relate the end of Prince Morinaga's career. It is necessary, now, to revert to the incident which precipitated his fate, namely, the capture of Kamakura by Hojo Tokiyuki. This Tokiyuki was a son of Takatoki. He escaped to Shinano province at the time of the Hojo downfall, and being joined there by many of his family's vassals, he found himself strong enough to take the field openly in July, 1335, and sweeping away all opposition, he entered Kamakura in August. Ashikaga Takauji's brother was then in command at Kamakura. It seemed, indeed, as though the Emperor deliberately contemplated the restoration of the old administrative machinery in the Kwanto, changing only the personnel; for his Majesty appointed his tenth son, Prince Narinaga, a boy of ten, to be shogun at Kamakura, and placed Ashikaga Tadayoshi in a position amounting, in fact though not in name, to that of regent (shikken). Probably these measures were merely intended to placate the Kwanto. Before there had been time to test their efficacy, the Hojo swept down on Kamakura, and Tadayoshi and the young shogun found themselves fugitives. Meanwhile, Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto had been secretly fanning the discontent of the unrecompensed bushi, and had assured himself that a reversion to the military system would be widely welcomed. He now applied for a commission to quell the Hojo insurrection, and on the eve of setting out for that purpose, he asked to be nominated shogun, which request being rejected, he left the capital without paying final respects to the Throne, an omission astutely calculated to attract partisans.

The Hojo's resistance was feeble, and in a few weeks the Ashikaga banners were waving again over Kamakura. The question of returning to Kyoto had now to be considered. Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, strongly opposed such a step. He compared it to putting one's head into a tiger's mouth, and in fact information had already reached Kamakura in the sense that the enemies of the Ashikaga were busily slandering the victorious general. It may fairly be assumed, however, that Takauji had never intended to return to Kyoto except as dictator. He assumed the title of shogun; established his mansion on the site of Yoritomo's old yashiki; undertook control of the whole Kwanto; confiscated manors of his enemies; recompensed meritorious deeds liberally, and granted pardons readily. In fact, he presented to public gaze precisely the figure he desired to present, the strong ruler who would unravel the perplexities of a distraught age. From all quarters the malcontent bushi flocked to his flag.

TAKAUJI AND YOSHISADA

A serious obstacle to the achievement of the Ashikaga chief's purpose was Nitta Yoshisada. Both men were of the Minamoto family, but Yoshisada's kinship was the closer and his connexion with the Hojo had always been less intimate. Further, he had never borne arms against Go-Daigo's cause, as Takauji had done, and his unswerving loyalty made him an inconvenient rival. Therefore, the Ashikaga leader took an extreme step. He seized the domains of the Nitta family in the Kwanto and distributed them among his own followers; he caused his brother, Tadayoshi, to send letters inviting the adherence of many bushi; he addressed to the Throne a memorial impeaching Yoshisada on the ground that, whereas the latter's military successes had been the outcome entirely of opportunities furnished by the prowess of the Ashikaga, he did not hesitate to slander Takauji to the sovereign, and he asked for an Imperial commission to destroy the Nitta leader, whom he dubbed a "national thief."

Yoshisada, when he learned of the presentation of this memorial, seized the Ashikaga manors within his jurisdiction and addressed to the Throne a countermemorial in which he conclusively proved the falsehood of Takauji's assertion with reference to military affairs; charged him with usurping the titles of governor-general of the Kwanto, and shogun; declared that Prince Morinaga, the mainstay of the restoration, had become the victim of Takauji's slanders, and asked for an Imperial mandate to punish Takauji and his brother, Tadayoshi. It is significant that the leal and gallant Yoshisada did not hesitate thus openly to assert the innocence and merits of Prince Morinaga, though only a few months had elapsed since the Emperor himself had credited his most unhappy son's guilt. While Go-Daigo hesitated, news from various provinces disclosed the fact that Takauji had been tampering with the bushi in his own interests. This settled the question. Takauji and Tadayoshi were proclaimed rebels, and to Nitta Yoshisada was entrusted the task of chastising them under the nominal leadership of Prince Takanaga, the Emperor's second son, to whom the title of shogun was granted.