Incidentally this narrative corroborates a statement made in Chinese history (compiled in the Later Han era, A.D. 25-220) to the effect that many Japanese provinces claimed to be under hereditary rulers who exercised sovereign rights. Such, doubtless, was the attitude assumed by several of the Imperial descendants who had obtained provincial estates. The Emperor Sujin received the envoy courteously and seemed disposed to grant his request, but his Majesty's death (30 B.C.) intervened, and not until two years later was the envoy able to return. His mission had proved abortive, but the Emperor Suinin, Sujin's successor, gave him some red-silk fabrics to carry home and conferred on his country the name Mimana, in memory of Sujin, whose appellation during life had been Mimaki.

These details furnish an index to the relations that existed in that era between the neighbouring states of the Far East. The special interest of the incident lies, however, in the fact that it furnishes the first opportunity of comparing Japanese history with Korean. The latter has two claims to credence. The first is that it assigns no incredible ages to the sovereigns whose reigns it records. According to Japanese annals there were only seven accessions to the throne of Yamato during the first four centuries of the Christian era. According to Korean annals, the three peninsular principalities had sixteen, seventeen, and sixteen accessions, respectively, in the same interval. The second claim is that, during the same four centuries, the histories of China and Korea agree in ten dates and differ in two only.* On the whole, therefore, Korean annals deserve to be credited. But whereas Japanese history represents warfare as existing between Kara and Shiragi in 33 B.C., Korean history represents the conflict as having broken out in A.D. 77. There is a difference of just 110 years, and the strong probability of accuracy is on the Korean side.

*For a masterly analysis of this subject see a paper on Early Japanese History by Mr. W. G. Aston in Vol. XVI of the "Translations of the Asiatic Society of Japan."

THE ELEVENTH SOVEREIGN, SUININ (29 B.C.—A.D. 70)

Suinin, second son of his predecessor, obtained the throne by a process which frankly ignored the principle of primogeniture. For Sujin, having an equal affection for his two sons, confessed himself unable to choose which of them should be his successor and was therefore guided by a comparison of their dreams, the result being that the younger was declared Prince Imperial, and the elder became duke of the provinces of Kamitsuke (now Kotsuke) and Shimotsuke. Suinin, like all the monarchs of that age, had many consorts: nine are catalogued in the Records and their offspring numbered sixteen, many of whom received local titles and had estates conferred in the provinces. In fact, this process of ramifying the Imperial family went on continuously from reign to reign.

There are in the story of this sovereign some very pathetic elements. Prince Saho, elder brother of the Empress, plotted to usurp the throne. Having cajoled his sister into an admission that her brother was dearer than her husband, he bade her prove it by killing the Emperor in his sleep. But when an opportunity offered to perpetrate the deed as the sovereign lay sleeping with her knees as pillow, her heart melted, and her tears, falling on the Emperor's face, disturbed his slumber. He sought the cause of her distress, and learning it, sent a force to seize the rebel. Remorse drove the Empress to die with Prince Saho. Carrying her little son, she entered the fort where her brother with his followers had taken refuge. The Imperial troops set fire to the fort—which is described as having been built with rice-bags piled up—and the Empress emerged with the child in her arms; but having thus provided for its safety, she fled again to the fort and perished with her brother. This terrible scene appears to have given the child such a shock that he lost the use of speech, and the Records devote large space to describing the means employed for the amusement of the child, the long chase and final capture of a swan whose cry, as it flew overhead, had first moved the youth to speech, and the cure ultimately effected by building a shrine for the worship of the deity of Izumo, who, in a previous age, had been compelled to abdicate the sovereignty of the country in favour of a later descendant of the Sun goddess, and whose resentment was thereafter often responsible for calamities overtaking the Court or the people of Japan.

THE ISE SHRINE AND THE PRACTICE OF JUNSHI

Two events specially memorable in this reign were the transfer of the shrine of the Sun goddess to Ise, where it has remained ever since, and the abolition of the custom of junshi, or following in death. The latter shocking usage, a common rite of animistic religion, was in part voluntary, in part compulsory. In its latter aspect it came vividly under the notice of the Emperor Suinin when the tomb of his younger brother, Yamato, having been built within earshot of the palace, the cries of his personal attendants, buried alive around his grave, were heard, day and night, until death brought silence. In the following year (A.D. 3), the Empress having died, a courtier, Nomi-no-Sukune, advised the substitution of clay figures for the victims hitherto sacrificed. Nominally, the practice of compulsory junshi ceased from that date,* but voluntary junshi continued to find occasional observance until modern times.

*Of course it is to be remembered that the dates given by Japanese historians prior to the fifth century A.D. are very apocryphal.

WRESTLING

The name of Nomi-no-Sukune is associated with the first mention of wrestling in Japanese history. By the Chronicles a brief account is given of a match between Nomi and Taema-no-Kuehaya. The latter was represented to be so strong that he could break horns and straighten hooks. His frequently expressed desire was to find a worthy competitor. Nomi-no-Sukune, summoned from Izumo by the Emperor, met Kuehaya in the lists of the palace of Tamaki and kicked him to death. Wrestling thereafter became a national pastime, but its methods underwent radical change, kicking being abolished altogether.

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE

It is believed by Japanese historians that during the reign of Suinin a local government station (chinju-fu) was established in Anra province of Mimana, and that this station, subsequently known as Nippon-fu, was transferred to Tsukushi (Kyushu) and named Dazai-fu when Japan's influence in Mimana waned. The first general (shoguri) of the chinju-fu was Prince Shihotari, and the term kishi—which in Korea signified headman—was thenceforth incorporated into his family name. To the members of that family in later generations was entrusted the conduct of the Empire's foreign affairs. But it does not appear that the Imperial Court in Yamato paid much attention to oversea countries in early eras. Intercourse with these was conducted, for the most part, by the local magnates who held sway in the western regions of Japan.

It was during the reign of Suinin, if Japanese chronology be accepted, that notices of Japan began to appear in Chinese history—a history which justly claims to be reliable from 145 B.C. Under the Later Han dynasty (A.D. 25-220), great progress was made in literature and art by the people of the Middle Kingdom, and this progress naturally extended, not only to Korea, which had been conquered by the Chinese sovereign, Wu-Ti, in the second century before Christ and was still partly under the rule of Chinese governors, but also to the maritime regions of Japan, whence the shores of Korea were almost within sight. China in those ages was incomparably the greatest and most enlightened country in the Orient, and it had become the custom with adjacent States to send emissaries to her Court, bearing gifts which she handsomely requited; so that while, from one point of view, the envoys might be regarded as tribute-carriers, from another, the ceremony presented the character of a mere interchange of neighbourly civilities. In Japan, again, administrative centralization was still imperfect. Some of the local magnates had not yet been brought fully under the sway of the Yamato invaders, and some, as scions of the Imperial family, arrogated a considerable measure of independence. Thus it resulted that several of these provincial dukes—or "kings," as not a few of them were called—maintained relations with Korea, and through her despatched tribute missions to the Chinese Court from time to time.

In these circumstances it is not surprising to find the Chinese historians of the first century A.D. writing: "The Wa (Japanese) dwell southeast of Han* (Korea) on a mountainous island in midocean. Their country is divided into more than one hundred provinces. Since the time when Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) overthrew Korea, they (the Japanese) have communicated with the Han (Korean) authorities by means of a postal service. There are thirty-two provinces which do so, all of which style their rulers 'kings' who are hereditary. The sovereign of Great Wa resides in Yamato, distant 12,000 li (4000 miles) from the frontier of the province of Yolang (the modern Pyong-yang in Korea). In the second year of Chung-yuan (A.D. 57), in the reign of Kwang-wu, the Ito** country sent an envoy with tribute, who styled himself Ta-fu. He came from the most western part of the Wa country. Kwang-wu presented him with a seal and ribbon." [Aston's translation.]

*It is necessary to distinguish carefully between the Han dynasty of China and the term "Han" as a designation of Korea.

**The ideographs composing this word were pronounced "I-to" at the time when they were written by the Hou-Han historians, but they subsequently received the sound of "Wo-nu" or "wa-do."

These passages have provoked much discussion, but Japanese annalists are for the most part agreed that "Ito" should be read "I-no-na," which corresponds with the ancient Na-no-Agata, the present Naka-gori in Chikuzen, an identification consistent with etymology and supported by the fact that, in 1764, a gold seal supposed to be the original of the one mentioned above, was dug out of the ground in that region. In short, Na-no-Agata is identical with the ancient Watazumi-no-Kuni, which was one of the countries of Japan's intercourse. Further, the Yamato of the Hou-Han historians is not to be regarded as the province of that name in central Japan, but as one of the western districts, whether Yamato in Higo, or Yamato in Chikugo. It has been shrewdly suggested* that the example of Korea had much influence in inducing the local rulers in the western and southern provinces to obtain the Chinese Court's recognition of their administrative status, but, whatever may have been the dominant motive, it seems certain that frequent intercourse took place between Japan and China via Korea immediately before and after the beginning of the Christian era. Again, that Koreans came freely to Japan and settled there is attested by the case of a son of the King of Shiragi who, coming to the Tajima region, took a Japanese wife and established himself there, founding a distinguished family. The closing episode of the Emperor Suinin's life was the despatch of Tajima Mori, this immigrant's descendant, to the country of Tokoyo, nominally for the purpose of obtaining orange-seeds, but probably with the ulterior motive of exploration.

*By Dr. Ariga, an eminent Japanese authority.

The reader is already familiar with this Tokoyo-no-Kuni (Eternal Land). We hear of it first as the home of "long-singing birds" summoned to take part in enticing the Sun goddess from her cave. Then it figures as the final retreat of Sukuna-hikona, the Aescalapius of the mythological age. Then we find one of Jimmu's elder brothers treading on the waves to reach it. Then we hear of it as the birthplace of the billows that make Ise their bourne, and now it is described by Tajima Mori in his death-song as the "mysterious realm of gods and genii," so distant that ten years were needed to reach it and return. It appears in fact to have been an epithet for China in general, and the destination of Tajima Mori is believed to have been Shantung, to reach which place by sea from Japan was a great feat of navigation in those primitive days. Tajima Mori returned to find the Emperor dead, and in despair he committed suicide.

AGRICULTURE AND ADMINISTRATION

The reclamation of land for purposes of rice cultivation went on vigorously during Suinin's reign. More than eight hundred ponds and aqueducts are said to have been constructed by order of the sovereign for irrigation uses throughout the provinces. It would seem, too, that the practice of formally consulting Court officials about administrative problems had its origin at this time. No definite organization for the purpose was yet created, but it became customary to convene distinguished scions of the Imperial line and heads of great subject-families to discuss and report upon affairs of State. Another innovation referred to in this era was the offering of weapons of war at the shrines. We read of as many as a thousand swords being forged to form part of the sacred treasures at the shrine of Ise-no-Kami, and the occasion was seized to organize a number of hereditary corporations (be) of arm-makers and armourers. These were placed under the control of Prince Inishiki, another of the captains of the Imperial life-guards (mononobe-no-Obito). It is thus evident that something more than a religious rite was involved in these measures.

THE TWELFTH EMPEROR, KEIKO (A.D. 71—130)

According to the Records, Keiko was ten feet two inches high, and his shank measured four feet one inch. His nomination as Prince Imperial was an even more arbitrary violation of the right of primogeniture than the case of his predecessor had been, for he was chosen in preference to his elder brother merely because, when the two youths were casually questioned as to what they wished for, the elder said, "a bow and arrows," and the younger, "the empire." The delusive nature of the Nihongi's chronology in these prehistoric epochs is exemplified in the annals of this sovereign, for he is represented as having been in his eighty-third year when he ascended the throne, yet, in the third year of his reign, he took a consort who bore him thirteen children, and altogether his progeny numbered eighty sons and daughters by seven wives. His plan of providing for these numerous scions constituted the first systematization of a custom which had been observed in a fitful manner by several of his predecessors. They had given to their sons local titles and estates but had not required them to leave the capital. Keiko, however, appointed his sons, with three exceptions, to the position of provincial or district viceroy, preserving their Imperial connexion by calling them wake, or branch families. This subject will present itself for further notice during the reign of Keiko's successor.

One of the most memorable events in this epoch was the Emperor's military expedition in person to quell the rebellious Kumaso (q.v.) in Kyushu. There had not been any instance of the sovereign taking the field in person since Jimmu's time, and the importance attaching to the insurrection is thus shown. Allowance has to be made, however, for the fact that the territory held by these Kumaso in the south of Kyushu was protected by a natural rampart of stupendous mountain ranges which rendered military access arduous, and which, in after ages, enabled a great feudatory to defy the Central Government for centuries. In connexion with this expedition a noteworthy fact is that female chieftains were found ruling in the provinces of Suwo and Bingo. They were not aliens, but belonged to the Yamato race, and their existence goes far to account for the appellation, "Queens' Country," applied by Chinese historians to the only part of Japan with which the people of the Middle Kingdom were familiar, namely, Kyushu and the west-coast provinces. Keiko's reign is remarkable chiefly for this expedition to the south, which involved a residence of six years in Hyuga, and for the campaigns of one of the greatest of Japan's heroes, Prince Yamato-dake. The military prowess of the sovereign, the fighting genius of Yamato-dake, and the administrative ability of Takenouchi-no-Sukune, the first "prime minister" mentioned in Japanese history, combined to give signal eclat to the reign of Keiko.

Arriving at this stage of the annals, we are able to perceive what an influence was exercised on the fortunes of the country by its topographical features. The southwestern sections of the islands are comparatively accessible from the centre (Chogoku or Kinai), whether by sea or by land, but the northeastern are guarded by mountain chains which can be crossed only by arduous and easily defended passes. It was, therefore, in these northeastern provinces that the Yemishi maintained their independence until their strength was broken by the splendid campaign of Yamato-dake; it was in these northeastern provinces that the bushi, noblest product of Japanese civilization, was nurtured; it was in the same provinces that the Taira family made its brilliant debut, and it was by abandoning these provinces for the sweets of Kyoto that the Taira fell; it was in the north-eastern provinces that Minamoto Yoritomo, the father of military feudalism, established himself, to be followed in succession by the Hojo, the Ashikaga, and the Tokugawa, and it is in the northeastern provinces that the Meiji Government has its seat of power.

We can not wonder, therefore, that modern historiographers have devoted much labour to tracing the route followed by Yamato-dake's troops and rationalizing the figurative or miraculous features of the narratives told in the Kojiki and the Nihongi. It is enough to know, however, that he overran the whole region stretching from the provinces along the Eastern Sea as far as Iwaki; crossed westward through Iwashiro to Echigo on the west coast, and turning southward, made his way through Shinano and Mino to Owari, whence, suffering from a wound caused by a poisoned arrow, he struggled on to Ise and died there. This campaign seems to have occupied ten years, and Yamato-dake was only thirty at the time of his death. He had marched against the Kumaso in the south at the age of sixteen. The Chronicles relate that when crossing the Usui Pass and looking down on the sea where his loved consort had cast herself into the waves to quell their fury, the great warrior sighed thrice and exclaimed, "My wife, my wife, my wife!" (Ago, tsuma haya), whereafter the provinces east of the mountain were designated Azuma.

It was imagined until quite recent times that the pass referred to was the well-known Usui Toge on the Nakasendo road; but Dr. Kume has shown that such a supposition is inconsistent with any rational itinerary of Yamato-dake's march, and that the sea in question cannot be seen from that defile. The pass mentioned in the Chronicles is another of the same name not far from the Hakone region, and the term "Azuma" "had always been used to designate the Eastern Provinces." Throughout the Records and the Chronicles frequent instances occur of attempts to derive place-names from appropriate legends, but probably in many cases the legend was suggested by the name. In connexion with Yamato-dake's career, a circumstance is recorded which indirectly points to the absence of history at that period. In order to immortalize the memory of the hero, hereditary corporations (be) called after him were created. These Take-be gave their names to the districts where they lived, in Ise, Izumo, Mimasaka, and Bizen.

FEMALE HOSTAGES

Another custom inaugurated by this sovereign was to require that the rulers of provinces should send to the Yamato Court female hostages. The first example of this practice took place on the occasion of an Imperial visit to the regions overrun by Yamato-dake's forces. Each of twelve kuni-yatsuko (provincial rulers) was required to send one damsel for the purpose of serving in the culinary department of the palace. They were called makura-ko (pillow-child) and they seem to have been ultimately drafted into the ranks of the uneme (ladies-in-waiting). Japanese historians hold that the makura-ko were daughters of the local magnates by whom they were sent, though the fact of that relationship is not clearly stated in either the Records or the Chronicles.

TABE AND MIYAKE

In the annals of Suinin's reign brief reference is made to granaries (miyake) erected by order of the Court. The number of these was increased in Keiko's time, and it is further mentioned that a hereditary corporation of rice-field cultivators (tabe) were organized for service on the Imperial estates. The miyake were at once storehouse and offices for administering agricultural affairs.

THE THIRTEENTH EMPEROR, SEIMU (A.D. 131—190)

The thirteenth Emperor, Seimu, occupied the throne for fifty-nine years, according to the Chronicles, but the only noteworthy feature of his reign was the organization of local government, and the details of his system are so vaguely stated as to be incomprehensible without much reference and some hypotheses. Speaking broadly, the facts are these: Imperial princes who had distinguished themselves by evidences of ability or courage were despatched to places of special importance in the provinces, under the name of wake, a term conveying the signification of "branch of the Imperial family." There is reason to think that these appointments were designed to extend the prestige of the Court rather than to facilitate the administration of provincial affairs. The latter duty was entrusted to officials called kuni-no-miyatsuko and agata-nushi, which may be translated "provincial governor" and "district headman." The word miyatsuko literally signifies "honourable (mi) servant (yatsuko or yakko)."

In the most ancient times all subjects were yakko, but subsequently those holding office at Court were distinguished as omi (grandee). Persons eligible for the post of provincial governor seem to have been chosen from among men of merit, or Imperial princes, or chiefs of aboriginal tribes. There was little exclusiveness in this respect. The rate of expansion of the area under Imperial sway may be inferred from the fact that whereas there were nine provinces (kuni) in Jimmu's time, one was added by Kaikwa, eleven by Sujin, seven by Keiko, and sixty-three by Seimu, making a total of ninety-one. Yet, though by the time of the last named sovereign almost the whole of the southern and central regions were included in the administrative circle, the northern provinces, some of the western, and certain regions in the south (Kyushu) were not yet fully wrested from the Yemishi and the Kumaso. In subsequent reigns the rate of growth was as follows: Chuai (A.D. 192-200), two provinces; Ojin (270-310), twenty-one; Nintoku (313-399), seven; Hansho (406-411) and Inkyo (412-453), one each; Yuryaku (457-459), three; Keitai (507-531), one; and eight others at untraceable periods, the total being one hundred thirty-five.

The agata was a division smaller than a province (kuni). It corresponded to the modern kori or gun, and its nearest English equivalent is "district." A distinction must be made, however, between agata and mi-agata. The latter were Imperial domains whence the Court derived its resources, and their dimensions varied greatly. A smaller administrative district than the agata was the inagi.* This we learn from a Chinese book—the Japanese annals being silent on the subject—consisted of eighty houses, and ten inagi constituted a kuni. The terra inagi was also applied to the chief local official of the region, who may be designated "Mayor."

*Supposed to be derived from ine (rice) and oki (store).

THE FOURTEENTH EMPEROR, CHUAI (A.D. 192—200) AND THE EMPRESS JINGO (A.D. 201—269)

Were the Records our sole guide, the early incidents of Chuai's reign would be wrapped in obscurity. For when we first meet him in the pages of the Kojiki, he is in a palace on the northern shores of the Shimonoseki Strait, whence he soon crosses to the Kashii palace in Kyushu. His predecessors, while invariably changing their residences on mounting the throne, had always chosen a site for the new palace in Yamato or a neighbouring province, but the Records, without any explanation, carry Chuai to the far south after his accession. The Chronicles are more explicit. From them we gather that Chuai—who was the second son of Yamato-dake and is described as having been ten feet high with "a countenance of perfect beauty"—was a remarkably active sovereign. He commenced his reign by a progress to Tsuruga (then called Tsunuga) on the west coast of the mainland, and, a month later, he made an expedition to Kii on the opposite shore. While in the latter province he received news of a revolt of the Kumaso, and at once taking ship, he went by sea to Shimonoseki, whither he summoned the Empress from Tsuruga. An expedition against the Kumaso was then organized and partially carried out, but the Emperor's force was beaten and he himself received a fatal arrow-wound. Both the Records and the Chronicles relate that, on the eve of this disastrous move against the Kumaso, the Empress had a revelation urging the Emperor to turn his arms against Korea as the Kumaso were not worthy of his steel. But Chuai rejected the advice with scorn, and the Kojiki alleges that the outraged deities punished him with death, though doubtless a Kumaso arrow was the instrument. His demise was carefully concealed, and the Empress, mustering the troops, took vengeance upon the Kumaso.

Thereafter her Majesty became the central figure in a page of history—or romance—which has provoked more controversy than any incident in Japanese annals. A descendant of the Korean prince, Ama-no-Hihoko, who settled in the province of Tajima during the reign of the Emperor Suinin, she must have possessed traditional knowledge of Shiragi, whence her ancestor had emigrated. She was the third consort of Chuai. His first had borne him two sons who were of adult age when, in the second year of his reign, he married Jingo,* a lady "intelligent, shrewd, and with a countenance of such blooming loveliness that her father wondered at it." To this appreciation of her character must be added the attributes of boundless ambition and brave resourcefulness. The annals represent her as bent from the outset on the conquest of Korea and as receiving the support and encouragement of Takenouchi-no-Sukune, who had served her husband and his predecessor as prime minister. A military expedition oversea led by a sovereign in person had not been heard of since the days of Jimmu, and to reconcile officials and troops to such an undertaking the element of divine revelation had to be introduced. At every stage signs and portents were vouchsafed by the guardian deities. By their intervention the Empress was shown to be possessed of miraculous prowess, and at their instance troops and ships assembled spontaneously. The armada sailed under divine guidance, a gentle spirit protecting the Empress, and a warlike spirit leading the van of her forces. The god of the wind sent a strong breeze; the god of the sea ruled the waves favourably; all the great fishes accompanied the squadron, and an unprecendented tide bore the ships far inland. Fighting became unnecessary. The King of Shiragi did homage at once and promised tribute and allegiance forever, and the other monarchs of the peninsula followed his example. In short, Korea was conquered and incorporated with the dominions of Japan.

*It should be clearly understood that the names by which the sovereigns are called in these pages, are the posthumous appellations given to them in later times when Chinese ideographs came into use and Chinese customs began to be followed in such matters. The posthumous was compiled with reference to the character or achievements of the sovereign, Thus Jingo signifies "divine merit," on account of her conquests; "Chuai" means "lamentable second son," with reference to his evil fate, and "Keiko" implies "great deeds." These three sovereigns were called during life, Okinaga-Tarashi, Tarashi-Nakatsu, and 0-Tarashi, respectively.

CRITICISM OF THE ALLEGED CONQUEST OF KOREA

By some learned historiographers the whole of the above account is pronounced a fiction. There was no such invasion of Korea, they say, nor does the narrative deserve more credit than the legend of the Argonauts or the tale of Troy. But that is probably too drastic a view. There can indeed be little doubt that the compilers of the Nihongi embellished the bald tradition with imaginary details; used names which did not exist until centuries after the epoch referred to; drew upon the resources of Chinese history for the utterances they ascribe to the Empress and for the weapons they assign to her soldiers, and were guilty of at least two serious anachronisms.

But none of these faults disfigures the story as told in the pages of the Kojiki, which was written before the Nihongi. It has always to be remembered that the compilers of the latter essayed the impossible task of adjusting a new chronology to events extending over many centuries, and that the resulting discrepancies of dates does not necessarily discredit the events themselves. It has also to be remembered that the same compilers were required to robe their facts in Chinese costume and that the consequent ill-fits and artificialities do not of necessity vitiate the facts. In the particular case under consideration did the Kojiki stand alone, little doubt would ever have been entertained about the reality of an armed expedition to Korea, under the Empress Jingo. The sober and unexaggerated narrative of that history would have been accepted, less only the miraculous portents which accompany it.

As to the date of the invasion, however, it must have remained obscure: the Kojiki's narrative furnishes one clue. According to Korean history, an apparently unimportant descent upon Sinra (Shiragi) took place in A.D. 219; a more serious one in 233, when the Japanese ships were burned and their crews massacred, and a still more formidable one in 249, when a Sinra statesman who had brought on the invasion by using insulting language towards the sovereign of Japan in presence of a Japanese ambassador, gave himself up to the Japanese in the hope of appeasing their anger. They burnt him, and proceeded to besiege Keumsyong, the Sinra capital, but were ultimately beaten off. "No less than twenty-five descents by Japanese on the Sinra coast are mentioned in Korean history in the first five centuries of the Christian era, but it is impossible to identify any one of them with Jingo's expedition." [Aston.] Nevertheless, modern Japanese historians are disposed to assign the Jingo invasion to the year 364, when Nai-mul ruled Shiragi, from which monarch's era tribute seems to have been regularly sent to Yamato. Indeed the pages of the Nihongi which deal with the last sixty years of Jingo's reign are devoted almost entirely to descriptions of incidents connected with the receipt of tribute and the advent or despatch of envoys. The chronology is certainly erroneous. In no less than four several cases events obviously the same are attributed by the Korean annals to dates differing from those of the Nihongi by exactly two cycles; and in one important instance the Japanese work assigns to A.D. 205 an occurrence which the Tongkan* puts in the year 418.

*Korean history. Its full title is Tong-kuk-lhong-kan.

Whichever annals be correct—and the balance sways in favour of the Korean so far as those protohistoric eras are concerned—"there can be no doubt that Japan, at an early period, formed an alliance with Paikche" (spoken of in Japan as "Kudara," namely, the regions surrounding the modern Seoul), "and laid the foundation of a controlling power over the territory known as Imna (or Mimana), which lasted for several centuries." [Aston.] One evidence of this control is furnished in the establishment of an office called uchi-tsu-miyake in addition to the chinju-fu already spoken of. From early times it had been customary in Japan that whenever any lands were acquired, a portion of them was included in the Imperial domain, the produce being thenceforth stored and the affairs of the estate managed at a miyake presided over by a mikoto-mochi. Thus, on the inclusion of certain Korean districts in Japan's dominions, this usage was observed, and the new miyake had the syllables uchi-tsu ("of the interior") prefixed to distinguish it as a part of Japan. It is on record that a mikoto-mochi was stationed in Shiragi, and in the days of Jingo's son (Ojin) the great statesman, Takenouchi-no-Sukune, took up his residence for a time in Tsukushi to assist this mikoto-mochi and the chinju-fu, should occasion arise. Modern Japanese historians describe this era as the first period of Japanese national development, for an almost immediate result of the oversea relations thus established was that silk and cotton fabrics of greatly improved quality, gold, silver, iron, implements, arts, and literature were imported in increasing quantities to the great benefit of civilization.

SHIFTING OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE

An important change dates from the reign of Jingo. It has been shown above that, from a period prior to the death of Suinin, the power and influence of the Imperial princes and nobles was a constantly growing quantity. But the political situation developed a new phase when the Sukune family appeared upon the scene. The first evidence of this was manifested in a striking incident. When the Emperor Chuai died, his consort, Jingo, was enceinte* But the Emperor left two sons by a previous marriage, and clearly one of them should have succeeded to the throne. Nevertheless, the prime minister, Takenouchi-no-Sukune, contrived to have the unborn child recognized as Prince Imperial.** Naturally the deceased Emperor's two elder sons refused to be arbitrarily set aside in favour of a baby step-brother. The principle of primogeniture did not possess binding force in those days, but it had never previously been violated except by the deliberate and ostensibly reasonable choice of an Emperor. The two princes, therefore, called their partisans to arms and prepared to resist the return of Jingo to Yamato. Here again Takenouchi-no-Sukune acted a great part. He carried the child by the outer sea to a place of safety in Kii, while the forces of the Empress sailed up the Inland Sea to meet the brothers at Naniwa (modern Osaka). Moreover, when the final combat took place, this same Takenouchi devised a strategy which won the day, and in every great event during the reign of the Empress his figure stands prominent. Finally, his granddaughter became the consort of the Emperor Nintoku (313-399), an alliance which opened a channel for exercising direct influence upon the Throne and also furnished a precedent adopted freely in subsequent times by other noble families harbouring similarly ambitious aims. In short, from the accession of the Empress Jingo a large part of the sovereign power began to pass into the hands of the prime minister.

*As illustrating the confused chronology of the Nihongi, it may be noted that, calculated by the incident of Chuai's career, he must have been fully one hundred years old when he begot this child. That is marvellous enough, but to add to the perplexity the Nihongi says that Chuai died at fifty-two.

**The legend says of this child that its birth was artificially delayed until the return of the empress from the Korean expedition, but the fact seems to be that the Emperor died at the end of June and the Empress' accouchement took place in the following April.

ENGRAVING: DEVIL WITH DRAGON HEAD (Sculptured Wood Figure in the Museum at Kyoto)

ENGRAVING: HORSE RACE IN OLD JAPAN



CHAPTER X

THE PREHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS (Continued)

THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

AT the beginning of the previous chapter brief reference was made to the three great divisions of the inhabitants of Japan; namely, the Shimbetsu (Kami class) the Kwobetsu (Imperial class) and the Bambetsu (aboriginal class). The Shimbetsu comprised three sub-classes; namely, first, the Tenjin, a term used to designate the descendants of the great primeval trinity and of the other Kami prior to the Sun goddess; secondly, the Tenson, or descendants of the Sun goddess to Jimmu's father (Ugaya-fukiaezu), and thirdly, the Chigi, an appellation applied to the chiefs found in Izumo by the envoys of the Sun goddess and in Yamato by Jimmu—chiefs who, though deprived of power, were recognized to be of the same lineage as their conquerors. It is plain that few genealogical trees could be actually traced further back than the Chigi. Hence, for all practical purposes, the Shimbetsu consisted of the descendants of vanquished chiefs, and the fact was tacitly acknowledged by assigning to this class the second place in the social scale, though the inclusion of the Tenjin and the Tenson should have assured its precedence. The Kwobetsu comprised all Emperors and Imperial princes from Jimmu downwards. This was the premier class. The heads of all its families possessed as a birthright the title of omi (grandee), while the head of a Shimbetsu family was a muraji (group-chief). The Bambetsu ranked incomparably below either the Kwobetsu or the Shimbetsu. It consisted of foreigners who had immigrated from China or Korea and of aboriginal tribes alien to the Yamato race. Members of the Ban class were designated yakko (or yatsuko), a term signifying "subject" or "servant."

THE UJI

In addition to the above three-class distribution, the whole Yamato nation was divided into uji, or families. An uji founded by one of the Tenson took precedence of all others, the next in rank being one with an Imperial prince for ancestor, and after the latter came the families of the Tenjin and Chigi. All that could not thus trace their genealogy were attached to the various uji in a subordinate capacity. It is not to be supposed that one of these families consisted simply of a husband and wife, children, and servants. There were great uji and small uji, the former comprising many of the latter, and the small uji including several households. In fact, the small uji (ko-uji) may be described as a congeries of from fifty to ninety blood relations.

In the uji the principle of primogeniture was paramount. A successor to the headship of an uji must be the eldest son of an eldest son. Thus qualified, he became the master of the household, ruled the whole family, and controlled its entire property. The chief of an ordinary uji (uji no Kami) governed all the households constituting it, and the chief of a great uji (o-uji no Kami) controlled all the small uji of which it was composed. In addition to the members of a family, each uji, small and great alike, had a number of dependants (kakibe or tomobe). In colloquial language, an o-uji was the original family; a ko-uji, a branch family. For example, if the Abe family be considered, Abe-uji is a great uji (o-uji), while such names as Abe no Shii, Abe no Osada, Abe no Mutsu, etc., designate small uji (ko-uji). If a great uji was threatened with extinction through lack of heir, the proper Kami of a small uji succeeded to the vacant place. As for the kakibe or tomobe, they were spoken of as "so and so of such and such an uji:" they had no uji of their own.

All complications of minor importance were dealt with by the Kami* of the uji in which they occurred, consultation being held with the Kami of the appropriate o-uji in great cases. Reference was not made to the Imperial Court except in serious matters. On the other hand, commands from the sovereign were conveyed through the head of an o-uji, so that the chain of responsibility was well defined. An interesting feature of this ancient organization was that nearly every uji had a fixed occupation which was hereditary, the name of the occupation being prefixed to that of the uji. Thus, the uji of gem-polishers was designated Tamatsukuri-uji, and that of boat builders, Fune-uji.

*An uji no Kami was called uji no choja in later ages.

There were also uji whose members, from generation to generation, acted as governors of provinces (kuni no miyatsuko) or headmen of districts (agata-nushi). In these cases the name of the region was prefixed to the uji; as Munakata-uji, Izumo-uji, etc. Finally, there were uji that carried designations given by the sovereign in recognition of meritorious deeds. These designations took the form of titles. Thus the captor of a crane, at sight of which a dumb prince recovered his speech, was called Totori no Miyatsuko (the bird-catching governor), and Nomi-no-Sukune, who devised the substitution of clay figures (haniwa) for human sacrifices at Imperial obsequies, was designated as Hashi no Omi (the Pottery Grandee).

THE TOMOBE

The tomobe (attendants)—called also mure (the herd) or kakibe (domestics)—constituted an important element of the people. They were, in fact, serfs. We find them first spoken of in an active role as being sent to the provinces to provide foodstuffs for the Imperial household, and in that capacity they went by the name of provincial Imibe. Perhaps the most intelligible description of them is that they constituted the peasant and artisan class, and that they were attached to the uji in subordinate positions for purposes of manual labour. By degrees, when various kinds of productive operations came to be engaged in as hereditary pursuits, the tomobe were grouped according to the specialty of the uji to which they wore attached, and we hear of Kanuchibe, or the corporation of blacksmiths; Yumibe, or the corporation of bow-makers; Oribe, or the corporation of weavers, and so on.

It is not to be supposed, however, that all the tomobe were thus organized as special classes. Such was the case only when the uji to which they belonged pursued some definite branch of productive work. Moreover, there were corporations instituted for purposes quite independent of industry; namely, to perpetuate the memory of an Imperial or princely personage who had died without issue or without attaining ancestral rank. Such tomobe were collectively known as nashiro (namesakes) or koshiro (child substitutes). For example, when Prince Itoshi, son of the Emperor Suinin, died without leaving a son to perpetuate his name, the Itoshibe was established for that purpose; and when Prince Yamato-dake perished without ascending the throne, the Takebe was formed to preserve the memory of his achievements. A be thus organized on behalf of an Emperor had the title of toneri (chamberlain) suffixed. Thus, for the Emperor Ohatsuse (known in history as Yuryaku) the Hatsuse-be-no-toneri was formed; and for the Emperor Shiraga (Seinei), the Shiraga-be-no-toneri. There can be little doubt that underlying the creation of these nashiro was the aim of extending the Imperial estates, as well as the number of subjects over whom the control of the Throne could be exercised without the intervention of an uji no Kami. For it is to be observed that the sovereign himself was an o-uji no Kami, and all tomobe created for nashiro purposes or to discharge some other functions in connexion with the Court were attached to the Imperial uji.

TAMIBE

Another kind of be consisted of aliens who had been naturalized in Japan or presented to the Japanese Throne by foreign potentates. These were formed into tamibe (corporations of people). They became directly dependent upon the Court, and they devoted themselves to manufacturing articles for the use of the Imperial household. These naturalized persons were distinguished, in many cases, by technical skill or literary attainments. Hence they received treatment different from that given to ordinary tomobe, some of them being allowed to assume the title and enjoy the privilege of uji, distinguished, however, as uji of the Bambetsu. Thus, the descendants of the seamstresses, E-hime and Oto-hime, and of the weavers, Kure-hatori and Ana-hatori, who were presented to the Yamato Court by an Emperor of the Wu dynasty in China, were allowed to organize themselves into Kinu-nui-uji (uji of Silk-robe makers); and that a Hata-uji (Weavers' uji) was similarly organized is proved by a passage in the records of the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 284) which relates that the members of the Hata-uji had become scattered about the country and were carrying on their manufacturing work in various jurisdictions. This fact having been related to the Throne, steps were taken to bring together all these weavers into the Hata-uji, and to make them settle at villages to which the name of Kachibe was given in commemoration of the weavers' ancestor, Kachi. The records show that during the first four centuries of the Christian era the people presented to the Yamato Court by the sovereigns of the Wu dynasty and of Korea must have been very numerous, for no less than 710 uji were formed by them in consideration of their skill in the arts and crafts.

SLAVES

The institution of slavery (nuhi) existed in ancient Japan as in so many other countries. The slaves consisted of prisoners taken in war and of persons who, having committed some serious offence, were handed over to be the property of those that they had injured. The first recorded instance of the former practice was when Yamato-dake presented to the Ise shrine the Yemishi chiefs who had surrendered to him in the sequel of his invasion of the eastern provinces. The same fate seems to have befallen numerous captives made in the campaign against the Kumaso, and doubtless wholesale acts of self-destruction committed by Tsuchi-gumo and Kumaso when overtaken by defeat were prompted by preference of death to slavery. The story of Japan's relations with Korea includes many references to Korean prisoners who became the property of their captors, and that a victorious general's spoils should comprise some slaves may be described as a recognized custom. Of slavery as a consequence of crime there is also frequent mention, and it would appear that even men of rank might be overtaken by that fate, for when (A.D. 278) Takenouchi-no-Sukune's younger brother was convicted of slandering him, the culprit's punishment took the form of degradation and assignment to a life of slavery. The whole family of such an offender shared his fate. There is no evidence, however, that the treatment of the nuhi was inhuman or even harsh: they appear to have fared much as did the tomobe in general.

THE LAND

There are two kinds of territorial rights, and these, though now clearly differentiated, were more or less confounded in ancient Japan. One is the ruler's right—that is to say, competence to impose taxes; to enact rules governing possession; to appropriate private lands for public purposes, and to treat as crown estates land not privately owned. The second is the right of possession; namely, the right to occupy definite areas of land and to apply them to one's own ends. At present those two rights are distinct. A landowner has no competence to issue public orders with regard to it, and a lessee of land has to discharge certain responsibilities towards the lessor. It was not so in old Japan. As the Emperor's right to rule the people was not exercised over an individual direct but through the uji no Kami who controlled that individual, so the sovereign's right over the land was exercised through the territorial owner, who was usually the uji no Kami. The latter, being the owner of the land, leased a part of it to the members of the uji, collected a percentage of the produce, and presented a portion to the Court when occasion demanded. Hence, so long as the sovereign's influence was powerful, the uji no Kami and other territorial magnates, respecting his orders, refrained from levying taxes and duly paid their appointed contributions to the Court.

But in later times, when the Throne's means of enforcing its orders ceased to bear any sensible ratio to the puissance of the uji no Kami and other local lords, the Imperial authority received scanty recognition, and the tillers of the soil were required to pay heavy taxes to their landlords. It is a fallacy to suppose that the Emperor in ancient times not only ruled the land but also owned it. The only land held in direct possession by the Throne was that constituting the Imperial household's estates and that belonging to members of the Imperial family. The private lands of the Imperial family were called mi-agata.* The province of Yamato contained six of these estates, and their produce was wholly devoted to the support of the Court. Lands cultivated for purposes of State revenue were called miyake.** They existed in several provinces, the custom being that when land was newly acquired, a miyake was at once established and the remainder was assigned to princes or Court nobles (asomi or asori). The cultivators of miyake were designated ta-be (rustic corporation); the overseers were termed ta-zukasa (or mi-ta no tsukasa), and the officials in charge of the stores were mi-agata no obito.

*The prefix mi (honourable) was and is still used for purposes of courtesy.

**In ancient Japan, officials and their offices were often designated alike. Thus, miyake signified a public estate or the store for keeping the produce, just as tsukasa was applied alike to an overseer and to his place of transacting business.

As far back as 3 B.C., according to Japanese chronology, we read of the establishment of a miyake, and doubtless that was not the first. Thenceforth there are numerous examples of a similar measure. Confiscated lands also formed a not unimportant part of the Court's estates. Comparatively trifling offences were sometimes thus expiated. Thus, in A.D. 350, Aganoko, suzerain of the Saegi, being convicted of purloining jewels from the person of a princess whom he had been ordered to execute, escaped capital punishment only by surrendering all his lands; and, in A.D. 534, a provincial ruler who, being in mortal terror, had intruded into the ladies' apartments in the palace, had to present his landed property for the use of the Empress. These facts show incidentally that the land of the country, though governed by the sovereign, was not owned by him. Lands in a conquered country were naturally regarded as State property, but sufficient allusion has already been made to that custom.

THE SPHERE OF THE SOVEREIGN'S RULE

It is related in the Records that, in prehistoric days, the last of the chieftains sent by Amaterasu to wrest Japan from its then holders addressed the leaders of the latter in these terms, "The central land of reed plains owned (ushi-haku) by you is the country to be governed (shirasu) by my son." Japanese historiographers attach importance to the different words here used. Ushi-haku signifies "to hold in intimate lordship"—as one wears a garment—whereas shirasu means "to exercise public rights as head of a State." A Japanese Emperor occupied both positions towards mi-nashiro (q.v.), toward naturalized or conquered folks, towards mi-agata, miyake, and confiscated estates, but his functions with regard to the people and the land in general were limited to governing (shirasu).

If the ancient prerogatives of the sovereign be tabulated, they stand thus:

(1) to conduct the worship of the national deities as general head of all the uji;

(2) to declare war against foreign countries and to make peace with them, as representative of the uji, and (3) to establish or abolish uji, to nominate uji no Kami, and to adjudicate disputes between them. The first of these prerogatives remains unaltered to the present day. The second was partly delegated in medieval times to the military class, but has now been restored to the Throne. As for the third, its exercise is to-day limited to the office of the hereditary nobility, the Constitution having replaced the Crown in other respects.

Two thousand years have seen no change in the Emperor's function of officiating as the high priest of the nation. It was the sovereign who made offerings to the deities of heaven and earth at the great religious festivals. It was the sovereign who prayed for the aid of the gods when the country was confronted by any emergency or when the people suffered from pestilence. In short, though the powers of the Emperor over the land and the people were limited by the intervention of the uji, the whole nation was directly subservient to the Throne in matters relating to religion. From the earliest eras, too, war might not be declared without an Imperial rescript, and to the Emperor was reserved the duty of giving audience to foreign envoys and receiving tribute. By foreign countries, China and Korea were generally understood, but the Kumaso, the Yemishi, and the Sushen were also included in the category of aliens. It would seem that the obligation of serving the country in arms was universal, for in the reign of Sujin, when an oversea expedition was contemplated, the people were numbered according to their ages, and the routine of service was laid down. Contributions, too, had to be made, as is proved by the fact that a command of the same sovereign required the various districts to manufacture arms and store them in the shrines.

THE THRONE AND THE UJI

The sovereign's competence to adjudicate questions relating to the uji is illustrated by a notable incident referred to the year A.D. 415, during the reign of Inkyo. Centuries had then passed since the inauguration of the uji, and families originally small with clearly defined genealogies had multiplied to the dimensions of large clans, so that much confusion of lineage existed, and there was a wide-spread disposition to assert claims to spurious rank. It was therefore commanded by the Emperor that, on a fixed day, all the uji no Kami should assemble, and having performed the rite of purification, should submit to the ordeal of boiling water (kuga-dachi). Numerous cauldrons were erected for the purpose, and it was solemnly proclaimed that only the guilty would be scalded by the test. At the last moment, those whose claims were willingly false absconded, and the genealogies were finally rectified.

Instances of uji created by the sovereign to reward merit, or abolished to punish offences, are numerously recorded. Thus, when (A.D. 413) the future consort of the Emperor Inkyo was walking in the garden with her mother, a provincial ruler (miyatsuko), riding by, peremptorily called to her for a branch of orchid. She asked what he needed the orchid for and he answered, "To beat away mosquitoes when I travel mountain roads." "Oh, honourable sir, I shall not forget," said the lady. When she became Empress, she caused the nobleman to be sought for, and had him deprived of his rank in lieu of execution. There is also an instance of the killing of all the members of an uji to expiate the offence of the uji no Kami. This happened in A.D. 463, when Yuryaku sat on the throne. It was reported to the Court that Sakitsuya, Kami of the Shimotsumichi-uji, indulged in pastimes deliberately contrived to insult the occupant of the throne. Thus he would match a little girl to combat against a grown woman, calling the girl the Emperor and killing her if she won; or would set a little cock with clipped wings and plucked feathers to represent the sovereign in a fight with a big, lusty cock, which he likened to himself, and if the small bird won, he would slaughter it with his own sword. The Emperor sent a company of soldiers, and Sakitsuya with all the seventy members of his uji were put to death.

ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION

The administrative organization in ancient Japan was simply a combination of the uji. It was purely Japanese. Not until the seventh century of the Christian era were any foreign elements introduced. From ministers and generals of the highest class down to petty functionaries, all offices were discharged by uji no Kami, and as the latter had the general name of kabane root of the uji the system was similarly termed. In effect, the kabane was an order of nobility. Offices were hereditary and equal. The first distribution of posts took place when five chiefs, attached to the person of the Tenson at the time of his descent upon Japan, were ordered to discharge at his Court the same duties as those which had devolved on them in the country of their origin. The uji they formed were those of the Shimbetsu,* the official title of the Kami being muraji (group chief) in the case of an ordinary uji, and o-muraji (great muraji) in the case of an o-uji, as already stated. These were the men who rendered most assistance originally in the organization of the State, but as they were merely adherents of the Tenson, the latter's direct descendants counted themselves superior and sought always to assert that superiority.

*The distinction of Shimbetsu and Kwobetsu was not nominally recognized until the fourth century, but it undoubtedly existed in practice at an early date.

Thus, the title omi (grandee) held by the Kami of a Kwobetsu-uji was deemed higher than that of muraji (chief) held by the Kami of a Shimbetsu-uji. The blood relations of sovereigns either assisted at Court in the administration of State affairs or went to the provinces in the capacity of governors. They received various titles in addition to that of omi, for example sukune (noble), ason or asomi (Court noble), kimi (duke), wake (lord), etc.

History gives no evidence of a fixed official organization in ancient times. The method pursued by the sovereign was to summon such omi and muraji as were notably influential or competent, and to entrust to them the duty of discharging functions or dealing with a special situation. Those so summoned were termed mae-isu-gimi (dukes of the Presence). The highest honour bestowed on a subject in those days fell to the noble, Takenouchi, who, in consideration of his services, was named O-mae-tsu-gimi (great duke of the Presence) by the Emperor Seimu (A.D. 133). Among the omi and muraji, those conspicuously powerful were charged with the superintendence of several uji, and were distinguished as o-omi and o-muraji. It became customary to appoint an o-omi and an o-muraji at the Court, just as in later days there was a sa-daijin (minister of the Left) and an u-daijin (minister of the Right). The o-omi supervised all members of the Kwobetsu-uji occupying administrative posts at Court, and the o-muraji discharged a similar function in the case of members of Shimbetsu-uji. Outside the capital local affairs were administered by kuni-no-miyatsuko or tomo-no-miyatsuko* Among the former, the heads of Kwobetsu-uji predominated among the latter, those of Shimbetsu-uji.

*Tomo is an abbreviation of tomo-be.

VALUE OF LINEAGE

It will be seen from the above that in old Japan lineage counted above everything, alike officially and socially. The offices, the honours and the lands were all in the hands of the lineal descendants of the original Yamato chiefs. Nevertheless the omi and the muraji stood higher in national esteem than the kuni-no-miyatsuko or the tomo-no-miyatsuko; the o-omi and the o-muraji, still higher; and the sovereign, at the apex of all. That much deference was paid to functions. Things remained unaltered in this respect until the sixth century when the force of foreign example began to make itself felt.

ENGRAVING: FISHERMAN'S BOAT AND NET



CHAPTER XI

THE PREHISTORIC SOVEREIGNS (Continued)

THE FIFTEENTH SOVEREIGN, OJIN (A.D. 270-310)

The fifteenth Sovereign, Ojin, came to the throne at the age of seventy, according to the Chronicles, and occupied it for forty years. Like a majority of the sovereigns in that epoch he had many consorts and many children—three of the former (including two younger sisters of the Emperor) and twenty of the latter. Comparison with Korean history goes to indicate that the reign is antedated by just 120 years, or two of the sexagenary cycles, but of course such a correction cannot be applied to every incident of the era.

MARITIME AFFAIRS

One of the interesting features of Ojin's reign is that maritime affairs receive notice for the first time. It is stated that the fishermen of various places raised a commotion, refused to obey the Imperial commands, and were not quieted until a noble, Ohama, was sent to deal with them. Nothing is stated as to the cause of this complication, but it is doubtless connected with requisitions of fish for the Court, and probably the fishing folk of Japan had already developed the fine physique and stalwart disposition that distinguish their modern representatives. Two years later, instructions were issued that hereditary corporations (be) of fishermen should be established in the provinces, and, shortly afterwards, the duty of constructing a boat one hundred feet in length was imposed upon the people of Izu, a peninsular province so remote from Yamato that its choice for such a purpose is difficult to explain. There was no question of recompensing the builders of this boat: the product of their labour was regarded as "tribute."

Twenty-six years later the Karano, as this vessel was called, having become unserviceable, the Emperor ordered a new Karano to be built, so as to perpetuate her name. A curious procedure is then recorded, illustrating the arbitrary methods of government in those days. The timbers of the superannuated ship were used as fuel for roasting salt, five hundred baskets of which were sent throughout the maritime provinces, with orders that by each body of recipients a ship should be constructed. Five hundred Karanos thus came into existence, and there was assembled at Hyogo such a fleet as had never previously been seen in Japanese waters. A number of these new vessels were destroyed almost immediately by a conflagration which broke out in the lodgings of Korean envoys from Sinra (Shiragi), and the envoys being held responsible, their sovereign hastened to send a body of skilled shipmakers by way of atonement, who were thereafter organized into a hereditary guild of marine architects, and we thus learn incidentally that the Koreans had already developed the shipbuilding skill destined to save their country in later ages.

IDEALISM OF THE THIRD CENTURY

In connexion with the Karano incident, Japanese historians record a tale which materially helps our appreciation of the men of that remote age. A portion of the Karano's timber having emerged unscathed from the salt-pans, its indestructibility seemed curious enough to warrant special treatment. It was accordingly made into a lute (koto),* and it justified that use by developing "a ringing note that could be heard from afar off." The Emperor composed a song on the subject:

"The ship Karano "Was burned for salt: "Of the remainder "A koto was made. "When it is placed on "One hears the saya-saya "Of the summer trees, "Brushing against, as they stand, "The rocks of the mid-harbour, "The harbour of Yura." [Aston.]

*The Japanese lute, otherwise called the Azuma koto, was an instrument five or six feet long and having six strings. History first alludes to it in the reign of Jingo, and such as it was then, such it has remained until to-day.

LAW, INDUSTRY, LOYALTY

Five facts are already deducible from the annals of this epoch: the first, that there was no written law, unless the prohibitions in the Rituals may be so regarded; the second, that there was no form of judicial trial, unless ordeal or torture may be so regarded; the third, that the death penalty might be inflicted on purely ex-parte evidence; the fourth, that a man's whole family had to suffer the penalty of his crimes, and the fifth, that already in those remote times the code of splendid loyalty which has distinguished the Japanese race through all ages had begun to find disciples.

An incident of Ojin's reign illustrates all these things. Takenouchi, the sukune (noble) who had served Ojin's mother so ably, and who had saved Ojin's life in the latter's childhood, was despatched to Tsukushi (Kyushu) on State business. During his absence his younger brother accused him of designs upon the Emperor. At once, without further inquiry, Ojin sent men to kill the illustrious minister. But Maneko, suzerain (atae) of Iki, who bore a strong resemblance to Takenouchi, personified him, and committing suicide, deceived the soldiers who would have taken the sukune's life, so that the latter was enabled to return to Yamato. Arriving at Court, he protested his innocence and the ordeal of boiling water was employed. It took place on the bank of the Shiki River. Takenouchi proving victorious; his brother with all his family were condemned to become tomo-be of the suzerain of Kii.

THE GRACE OF LIFE

Side by side with these primitive conditions stands a romantic story of Ojin's self-denial in ceding to his son, Osazaki, a beautiful girl whom the sovereign has destined to be his own consort. Discovering that the prince loved her, Ojin invited him to a banquet in the palace, and, summoning the girl, made known by the aid of poetry his intention of surrendering her to his son, who, in turn, expressed his gratitude in verse. It is true that the character of this act of renunciation is marred when we observe that Ojin was eighty years old at the time; nevertheless the graces of life were evidently not wanting in old-time Japan, nor did her historians deem them unworthy of prominent place in their pages. If at one moment they tell us of slanders and cruelty, at another they describe how a favourite consort of Ojin, gazing with him at a fair landscape from a high tower, was moved to tears by the memory of her parents whom she had not seen for years, and how the Emperor, sympathizing with her filial affection, made provision for her return home and took leave of her in verse:

"Thou Island of Awaji "With thy double ranges; "Thou Island of Azuki "With thy double ranges "Ye good islands, "Ye have seen face to face "My spouse of Kibi."

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE

The most important feature of the Ojin era was the intercourse then inaugurated with China. It may be that after the establishment of the Yamato race in Japan, emigrants from the neighbouring continent settled, from early times, in islands so favoured by nature. If so, they probably belonged to the lowest orders, for it was not until the third and fourth centuries that men of erudition and skilled artisans began to arrive. Modern Japanese historians seem disposed to attribute this movement to the benign administration of the Emperor Ojin and to the repute thus earned by Japan abroad. Without altogether questioning that theory, it may be pointed out that much probably depended on the conditions existing in China herself. Liu Fang, founder of the Han dynasty (202 B.C.), inaugurated the system of competitive examinations for civil appointments, and his successors, Wen-Ti, Wu-Ti, and Kwang-wu, "developed literature, commerce, arts, and good government to a degree unknown before anywhere in Asia." It was Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) who conquered Korea, and unquestionably the Koreans then received many object lessons in civilization. The Han dynasty fell in A.D. 190, and there ensued one of the most troubled periods of Chinese history. Many fugitives from the evils of that epoch probably made their way to Korea and even to Japan. Then followed the after-Han dynasty (A.D. 211-265) when China was divided into three principalities; one of which, since it ruled the littoral regions directly opposite to Japan, represented China in Japanese eyes, and its name, Wu, came to be synonymous with China in Japanese years.

It was, however, in the days of the Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-317) and in those of the Eastern Tsin (A.D. 317-420) that under the pressure of the Hun inroads and of domestic commotions, numbers of emigrants found their way from China to Korea and thence to Japan. The Eastern Tsin occupied virtually the same regions as those held by the Wu dynasty: they, too, had their capital at Nanking, having moved thither from Loh-yang, and thus the name Wu was perpetuated for the Japanese. In the year A.D. 283, according to Japanese chronology, Koreans and Chinese skilled in useful arts began to immigrate to Japan. The first to come was a girl called Maketsu. She is said to have been sent by the monarch of Kudara, the region corresponding to the metropolitan province of modern Korea. It may be inferred that she was Chinese, but as to her nationality history is silent. She settled permanently in Japan, and her descendants were known as the kinu-nui (silk-clothiers) of Kume in Yamato. In the same year (A.D. 283), Yuzu (called Yutsuki by some authorities), a Chinese Imperial prince, came from Korea and memorialized the Yamato Throne in the sense that he was a descendant of the first Tsin sovereign and that, having migrated to Korea at the head of the inhabitants of 120 districts, he had desired to conduct them to Japan, but was unable to accomplish his purpose owing to obstruction offered by the people of Sinra (Shiragi). Ojin sent two embassies—the second accompanied by troops—to procure the release of these people, and in A.D. 285 they reached Japan, where they received a hearty welcome, and for the sake of their skill in sericulture and silk weaving, they were honoured by organization into an uji—Hata-uji (hata in modern Japanese signifies "loom," but in ancient days it designated silk fabrics of all kinds).

An idea of the dimensions of this Chinese addition to the population of Japan is furnished by the fact that, 175 years later, the Hata-uji having been dispersed and reduced to ninety-two groups, steps were taken to reassemble and reorganize them, with the result that 18,670 persons were brought together. Again, in A.D. 289, a sometime subject of the after-Han dynasty, accompanied by his son, emigrated to Japan. The names of these Chinese are given as Achi and Tsuka, and the former is described as a great-grandson of the Emperor Ling of the after-Han dynasty, who reigned from A.D. 168 to 190. Like Yuzu he had escaped to Korea during the troublous time at the close of the Han sway, and, like Yuzu, he had been followed to the peninsula by a large body of Chinese, who, at his request, were subsequently escorted by Japanese envoys to Japan. These immigrants also were allowed to assume the status of an uji, and in the fifth century the title of Aya no atae (suzerain of Aya) was given to Achi's descendants in consideration of the skill of their followers in designing and manufacturing figured fabrics (for which the general term was aya).

When Achi had resided seventeen years in Japan, he and his son were sent to Wu (China) for the purpose of engaging women versed in making dress materials. The title of omi (chief ambassador) seems to have been then conferred on the two men, as envoys sent abroad were habitually so designated. They did not attempt to go by sea. The state of navigation was still such that ocean-going voyages were not seriously thought of. Achi and his son proceeded in the first instance to Koma (the modern Pyong-yang) and there obtained guides for the overland journey round the shore of the Gulf of Pechili. They are said to have made their way to Loh-yang where the Tsin sovereigns then had their capital (A.D. 306). Four women were given to them, whom they carried back to Japan, there to become the ancestresses of an uji known as Kure no kinu-nui and Kaya no kinu-nui (clothiers of Kure and of Kaya), appellations which imply Korean origin, but were probably suggested by the fact that Korea had been the last continental station on their route. The journey to and from Loh-yang occupied four years. This page of history shows not only the beginning of Japan's useful intercourse with foreign countries, but also her readiness to learn what they had to teach and her liberal treatment of alien settlers.

THE ART OF WRITING

It is not infrequently stated that a knowledge of Chinese ideographs was acquired by the Japanese for the first time during the reign of Ojin. The basis of this belief are that, in A.D. 284, according to the Japanese chronology—a date to which must be added two sexagenary cycles, bringing it to A.D. 404—the King of Kudara sent two fine horses to the Yamato sovereign, and the man who accompanied them, Atogi by name, showed himself a competent reader of the Chinese classics and was appointed tutor to the Prince Imperial. By Atogi's advice a still abler scholar, Wani (Wang-in), was subsequently invited from Kudara to take Atogi's place, and it is added that the latter received the title of fumi-bito (scribe), which he transmitted to his descendants in Japan. But close scrutiny does not support the inference that Chinese script had remained unknown to Japan until the above incidents. What is proved is merely that the Chinese classics then for the first time became an open book in Japan.

As for the ideographs themselves, they must have been long familiar, though doubtless to a very limited circle. Chinese history affords conclusive evidence. Thus, in the records of the later Han (A.D. 25-220) we read that from the time when Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) overthrew Korea, the Japanese of thirty-two provinces communicated with the Chinese authorities in the peninsula by means of a postal service. The Wei annals (A.D. 220-265) state that in A.D. 238, the Chinese sovereign sent a written reply to a communication from the "Queen of Japan"—Jingo was then on the throne. In the same year, the Japanese Court addressed a written answer to a Chinese rescript forwarded to Yamato by the governor of Thepang—the modern Namwon in Chollado—and in A.D. 247, a despatch was sent by the Chinese authorities admonishing the Japanese to desist from internecine quarrels. These references indicate that the use of the ideographs was known in Japan long before the reign of Ojin, whether we take the Japanese or the corrected date for the latter. It will probably be just to assume, however, that the study of the ideographs had scarcely any vogue in Japan until the coming of Atogi and Wani, nor does it appear to have attracted much attention outside Court circles even subsequently to that date, for the records show that, in the reign of the Emperor Bidatsu (A.D. 572-585), a memorial sent by Korea to the Yamato Court was illegible to all the officials except one man, by name Wang-sin-i, who seems to have been a descendant of the Paikche emigrant, Wan-i.

Buddhism, introduced into Japan in A.D. 552, doubtless supplied the chief incentive to the acquisition of knowledge. But had the Japanese a script of their own at any period of their history? The two oldest manuscripts which contain a reference to this subject are the Kogo-shui, compiled by Hironari in A.D. 808, and a memorial (kammori) presented to the Throne in A.D. 901 by Miyoshi Kiyotsura. Both explicitly state that in remote antiquity there were no letters, and that all events or discourses had to be transmitted orally. Not until the thirteenth century does the theory of a purely Japanese script seem to have been conceived, and its author* had no basis for the hypothesis other than the idea that, as divination was practised in the age of the Kami, letters of some kind must have been in use. Since then the matter has been much discussed. Caves used in ancient times as habitations or sepulchres and old shrines occasionally offer evidence in the form of symbols which, since they bear some resemblance to the letters of the Korean alphabet (onmuri), have been imagined to be at once the origin of the latter and the script of the Kami-no-yo (Age of the Kami). But such fancies are no longer seriously entertained. It is agreed that the so-called "letters" are nothing more than copies of marks produced by the action of fire upon bones used in divination. The Japanese cleverly adapted the Chinese ideographs to syllabic purposes, but they never devised a script of their own.

*Kanekata, who wrote the Shaku Nihongi in the era 1264—1274.

ETHICAL EFFECTS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LITERATURE

A generally accepted belief is that the study of the Chinese classics exercised a marked ethical influence upon the Japanese nation. That is a conclusion which may be profitably contrasted with the views of Japan's most distinguished historians. Mr. Abe Kozo says: "Acquaintance with the Chinese classics may be supposed to have produced a considerable moral effect on the people of Japan. Nothing of the kind seems to have been the case. The practical civilization of China was accepted, but not her ethical code. For any palpable moral influence the arrival of Buddhism had to be awaited. Already the principles of loyalty and obedience, propriety, and righteousness were recognized in Japan though not embodied in any written code." Dr. Ariga writes: "Our countrymen did not acquire anything specially new in the way of moral tenets. They must have been surprised to find that in China men did not respect the occupants of the throne. A subject might murder his sovereign and succeed him without incurring the odium of the people." Rai Sanyo says: "Moral principles are like the sun and the moon; they cannot be monopolized by any one country. In every land there are parents and children, rulers and ruled, husbands and wives. Where these relations exist, there also filial piety and affection, loyalty and righteousness may naturally be found. In our country we lack the precise terminology of the classics, but it does not follow that we lack the principles expressed. What the Japanese acquired from the classics was the method of formulating the thought, not the thought itself."

THE SIXTEENTH SOVEREIGN, NINTOKU (A.D. 313-399)

This sovereign is represented by the Chronicles as having reigned eighty-six years, and by the Records as having died at the age of eighty-three. The same Chronicles make him the lover of a girl whom his father, also her lover, generously ceded to him. This event happened in A.D. 282. Assuming that Nintoku was then sixteen, he cannot have been less than 133 at the time of his death. It is thus seen that the chronology of this period, also, is untrustworthy. Nintoku's reign is remembered chiefly on account of the strange circumstances in which he came to the throne, his benevolent charity, and the slights he suffered at the hands of a jealous consort. His father, Ojin, by an exercise of caprice not uncommon on the part of Japan's ancient sovereigns, had nominated a younger son, Waka-iratsuko, to be his heir. But this prince showed invincible reluctance to assume the sceptre after Ojin's death. He asserted himself stoutly by killing one of his elder brothers who conspired against him, though he resolutely declined to take precedence of the other brother, and the latter, proving equally diffident, the throne remained unoccupied for three years when Waka-iratsuko solved the problem by committing suicide.

Such are the simplest outlines of the story. But its details, when filled in by critical Japanese historians of later ages, suggest a different impression. When Ojin died his eldest two sons were living respectively in Naniwa (Osaka) and Yamato, and the Crown Prince, Waka-iratsuko, was at Uji. They were thus excellently situated for setting up independent claims. From the time of Nintoku's birth, the prime minister, head of the great Takenouchi family, had taken a special interest in the child, and when the lad grew up he married this Takenouchi's granddaughter, who became the mother of three Emperors. Presently the representatives of all branches of the Takenouchi family came into possession of influential positions at Court, among others that of o-omi, so that in this reign were laid the foundations of the controlling power subsequently vested in the hands of the Heguri, Katsuragi, and Soga houses. In short, this epoch saw the beginning of a state of affairs destined to leave its mark permanently on Japanese history, the relegation of the sovereign to the place of a faineant and the usurpation of the administrative authority by a group of great nobles.

Nintoku had the active support of the Takenouchi magnates, and although the Crown Prince may have desired to assert the title conferred on him by his father, he found himself helpless in the face of obstructions offered by the prime minister and his numerous partisans. These suffered him to deal effectively with that one of his elder brothers who did not find a place in their ambitious designs, but they created for Waka-iratsuko a situation so intolerable that suicide became his only resource. Nintoku's first act on ascending the throne explains the ideographs chosen for his posthumous name by the authors of the Chronicles, since nin signifies "benevolence" and toku, "virtue." He made Naniwa (Osaka) his capital, but instead of levying taxes and requisitioning forced labour to build his palace of Takatsu, he remitted all such burdens for three years on observing from a tower that no smoke ascended from the roofs of the houses and construing this to indicate a state of poverty. During those three years the palace fell into a condition of practical ruin, and tradition describes its inmates as being compelled to move from room to room to avoid the leaking rain.*

*Doubts have been thrown on the reality of this incident because a poem, attributed to Nintoku on the occasion, is couched in obviously anachronistic language. But the poem does not appear in either the Records or the Chronicles: it was evidently an invention of later ages.

Under Nintoku's sway riparian works and irrigation improvements took place on a large scale, and thus the eminent historian, Rai Sanyo, may not be without warrant for attributing to this ruler the sentiment quoted in the Chronicles: "A sovereign lives for his people. Their prosperity is his enrichment; their poverty, his loss." Yet it is in connexion with Nintoku's repairs of the Manda river-bank that we find the first mention of a heinous custom occasionally practised in subsequent ages—the custom of sacrificing human life to expedite the progress or secure the success of some public work.

At the same time, that habits indicating a higher civilization had already begun to gain ground is proved by an incident which occurred to one of the Imperial princes during a hunting expedition. Looking down over a moor from a mountain, he observed a pit, and, on inquiry, was informed by the local headman that it was an "ice-pit." The prince, asking how the ice was stored and for what it was used, received this answer: "The ground is excavated to a depth of over ten feet. The top is then covered with a roof of thatch. A thick layer of reed-grass is then spread, upon which the ice is laid. The months of summer have passed and yet it is not melted. As to its use—when the hot months come it is placed in water or sake and thus used." [Aston's Nihongi.] Thenceforth the custom of storing ice was adopted at the Court. It was in Nintoku's era that the pastime of hawking, afterward widely practised, became known for the first time in Japan. Korea was the place of origin, and it is recorded that the falcon had a soft leather strap fastened to one leg and a small bell to the tail. Pheasants were the quarry of the first hawk flown on the moor of Mozu.

Light is also thrown in Nintoku's annals on the method of boatbuilding practised by the Japanese in the fourth century. They used dug-outs. The provincial governor* of Totomi is represented as reporting that a huge tree had floated down the river Oi and had stopped at a bend. It was a single stem forked at one end, and the suzerain of Yamato was ordered to make a boat of it. The craft was then brought round by sea to Naniwa, "where it was enrolled among the Imperial vessels." Evidently from the days of Ojin and the Karano a fleet formed part of the Imperial possessions. This two-forked boat figures in the reign of Nintoku's successor, Richu, when the latter and his concubine went on board and feasted separately, each in one fork.

*This term, "provincial governor," appears now for the first time written with the ideographs "kokushi." Hitherto it has been written "kuni-no-miyatsuko." Much is heard of the koushi in later times. They are the embryo of the daimyo, the central figures of military feudalism.

THE FAMILY OF TAKENOUCHI-NO-SUKUNE

For the better understanding of Japanese history at this stage, a word must be said about a family of nobles (sukune) who, from the days of Nintoku, exercised potent sway in the councils of State. It will have been observed that, in the annals of the Emperor Keiko's reign, prominence is given to an official designated Takenouchi-no-Sukune, who thereafter seems to have served sovereign after sovereign until his death in the year 368, when he must have been from two hundred to three hundred years old. This chronological difficulty has provoked much scepticism. Dr. Kume, an eminent Japanese historian, explains, however, that Takenouchi was the name not of a person but of a family, and that it was borne by different scions in succeeding reigns. The first was a grandson of the Emperor Kogen (B.C. 214-158), and the representatives of the family in Nintoku's era had seven sons, all possessing the title sukune. They were Hata no Yashiro, Koze no Ogara, Soga no Ishikawa, Heguri no Tsuku, Ki no Tsunu, Katsuragi no Sotsu, and Wakugo.