The emperor was alarmed at the coolness and ferocity of his son, and bethought how he might employ him advantageously. Now there were at Kumaso in Kyushu two brothers, fierce and rebellious bandits, who paid small respect to the imperial wishes. The emperor conceived that it would be a fitting achievement for his fearless son to put an end to these reckless outlaws. So Yamato-dake borrowed from his aunt her female apparel, and hiding a sword in the bosom of his dress, he sought out the two outlaws in their hiding-place. They were about to celebrate the occupancy of a new cave which they had fitted up for themselves. They had invited a goodly number of their neighbors, and especially of the female sex. Prince Yamato-dake, who was young and fresh-looking, put on his female disguise and let down his hair which was still long. He sauntered about the cave and went in where the two outlaws were amusing themselves with their female visitors. They were surprised and delighted to see this new and beautiful face. They seated her between them and did their best to entertain her.

Suddenly, when the outlaws were off their guard, he drew his sword from his bosom and slew the elder brother. The younger rushed out of the door of the cave, the prince close at his heels. With one hand he clutched him by the back and with the other thrust him through with his sword. As he fell he begged the prince to pause a moment and not to withdraw his sword from his fatal wound.

Then the outlaw said, Who art thou? And he told him and for what purpose he had come.

The outlaw said, There were in the west none so brave as we two brothers. From this time forward it shall be right to praise thee as the August Child Yamato-dake (the bravest in Yamato).

As soon as he had said this, the prince "ripped him up like a ripe melon."(56)

Then after he had subdued and pacified the rebellious princes of the districts about the straits of Shimonoseki he returned to the emperor and made his report.

Following this account of Yamato-dake's adventures in the West, there are given the interesting traditions concerning his expedition to the East, and his encounters with the Ainos, who inhabited the northern part of the island. That there was a basis of fact to these traditions there cannot be a doubt. Yet the events have such an air of fable and poetry that it is impossible to separate the fact from the legend. As we have done in previous instances, we give the stories in their essential entirety, leaving to scholars hereafter the task of winnowing the grains of fact out of the chaff which the imagination of the race has left for us.

Prince Yamato-dake took on his expedition to the East the Prince Mi-suki-tomo-mimi-take. The emperor gave him these instructions: "Subdue and pacify the savage deities, and likewise the unsubmissive people of the twelve roads(57) of the East."

Prince Yamato-dake first visited the temple of the Sun Goddess in Ise, where he worshipped at the shrine of his great ancestress. He must have had a presentiment that he never would return alive from this expedition. His aunt Yamato-hime,(58) who was the priestess of this temple, gave him on his departure the sword(59) which the Impetuous-Male-Deity discovered in the tail of the snake which he slew in Izumo. She also gave him a bag which he was not to open until he found himself in pressing difficulty.

He came to the land of Owari, and appears there to have been smitten by the charms of the Princess Miyazu. And, planning to wed her on his way back, he plighted to her his troth and went on. Then he came to the province of Sagami, where he met the chief of the land. But he deceived him and said that in the midst of a vast moor there is a lagoon where lives a deity. Yamato-dake went over the moor to find the deity. Whereupon the chief set fire to the grass, expecting to see him consumed. But Yamato-dake seeing his danger, and being assured that the time of pressing difficulty had come, opened the bag which his aunt, Yamato-hime, had given him. There he found a fire drill,(60) with which a fire could be struck. He cut away the grass around him with the sword which had been given him, and then set fire to the moor. When he was safe from the fire he sought out and slew the traitorous chief and all the chiefs who were associated with him.

From Sagami he undertook to cross in a boat the waters of Yedo bay to Kazusa opposite. But the sea was rough and they were on the point of being overwhelmed and drowned. Then his wife, the Princess Oto-Tachibana, who accompanied him on this expedition, threw out mats from the boat, and saying, "I will enter the sea instead of the prince; you must finish the task on which you are sent," she sprang from the boat and sat down on the mats(61) she had thrown out. Immediately the waves were quiet and the boat sailed on in safety. And the comb of the princess was washed ashore, and the people built for it a sacred mausoleum in which it was kept.

Then Prince Yamato-dake penetrated the regions occupied by the Ainos(62) and subdued them. Having accomplished this principal object of his undertaking, he returned by way of the Usui pass opposite to mount Fuji. As he stood in this lofty position and looked out on the sea where his wife had sacrificed herself for his safety, he cried out: "Azuma ha ya!" (O my wife!) Azuma is a name often used in poetry for the part of Japan north of this pass. But whether this myth was invented to explain the name, or the name was derived from the incident, it is impossible to determine.

Then Prince Yomato-dake went into the high lands of Shinano and after he had settled the disturbances which existed there, he came back to Owari where he had left the Princess Miyazu. In one of his excursions into the rebellious regions he was stricken with a fatal illness. In his enfeebled condition he struggled on, almost unable to walk. He made his way towards Ise. At Otsu, a village on the coast of Owari bay, he recovered the sword which he had left on his way to the East. In his painful journey he sat down under a pine tree. The spirit of poesy even in his pain came upon him and he sang this little poem(63) in praise of the pine tree:

O mine elder brother, the single pine tree That art on cape Otsu, which directly faces Owari! If thou single pine tree! wert a person, I would gird my sword upon thee, I would clothe thee with my garments,— O mine elder brother, the single pine tree!

He went on a little farther to Nobono and his sickness became more serious. And there in the open fields he felt that his end had come. He sent the spoils of his expedition to the temple of his great ancestress, the Sun Goddess. He sent his faithful companion Prince Kibi-no-Takehito to the emperor to carry his last message. It was: "I have chastised the eastern barbarians according to your imperial order with the help of the gods and with your imperial influence. I hoped to return in triumph with my weapons wrapped in white. But I have been seized with a mortal disease, and I cannot recover. I am lying in the sweet open fields. I do not care for my life. I only regret that I cannot live to appear before thee and make my report of my expedition."

And he died in the thirty-second year of his age. And they buried him there and built a mausoleum over his remains. The emperor lamented the death of his gallant and immortal son, and made an imperial progress into the regions which he had conquered and pacified.

The successor to the Emperor Keiko was known by the canonical name of Seimu. He was the thirteenth emperor, and was the grandson of his predecessor, having been a son of the hero Yamato-dake who was the crown prince until his death. The Emperor Seimu reigned fifty-nine years and died at the age of one hundred and eight. Nothing noteworthy is narrated of his reign.

His successor, the fourteenth emperor, was Chuai, his eldest son. He reigned only eight years and died at the age of fifty-two. It is remarkable that his capital was in the island of Kyushu and not in the Main island, like his predecessors from the time of the Emperor Jimmu. This removal was probably due to the preparations which had already begun for the invasion of Korea. The island of Kyushu is most favorably situated for the preparation and sailing of such an expedition. The wife of this emperor was Jingo-Kogo, who was a much more forcible and energetic character than her husband.

She is one of the heroines around whom much tradition has gathered, and her successful invasion of Korea is an event which the Japanese writers and artists are never tired of representing. The legend—for undoubtedly much of the story is legendary—is essentially as follows:

The emperor was busy in Kyushu in reducing to subjection the tribes of the Kumaso who inhabited the southern portion of the island. Up to this time these restless tribes had given much trouble to the empire and expeditions were constantly needed to keep them in order. They were unquestionably of a kindred race with the Japanese who accompanied the Emperor Jimmu into the Main island. The empress, afterward known as Jingo-Kogo and the faithful prime-minister Take-no-uchi(64) were at their temporary palace at Kashihi. The empress in an interview on the campaign became divinely possessed. And she spoke to the emperor in the name of the deity that possessed her saying, "There is a land at the westward, and in that land there is abundance of various treasures dazzling to the eye, from gold and silver downwards. I will now bestow this land upon thee."

Then the emperor replied, "If you ascend to a high place and look westward, no country is to be seen; there is only the great sea." And he pushed away the lute upon which he was playing and said, "They are lying deities which have spoken to you." Then the deity was very angry and spoke again through the empress. "This empire is not a land over which thou art fit to rule. Go thou the one road."

The prime-minister Take-no-uchi then said to the emperor, "I am filled with awe, my heavenly sovereign, at this fearful message. I pray thee continue playing thy august lute." Then he played softly; and gradually the sound died away and all was still. And they took a light and looking in his face, behold he was dead.

The empress and the prime-minister Take-no-uchi concealed for the time the death of the emperor, and she herself proceeded to carry out the plan for the invasion of Korea. With indefatigable energy she gathered her forces and equipped a fleet for the descent upon Korea. She set out from Wani in Kyushu in the tenth month of the year A.D. 202. Even the fish of the sea were her allies, for with one accord they bore the ship in which she sailed across the intervening straits on their backs.

The coming of the Japanese was a complete surprise to the people of Korea. At this time the peninsula now known to us as Korea and to the Japanese as Chosen, was divided into three kingdoms, Korai, Shiraki, and Kudara. The fleet of Jingo-Kogo landed in the kingdom of Shiraki. The king was so completely unprepared for this incursion that he at once offered his subjection and proposed to become a tributary kingdom. The proposition was accepted. The kings of Korai and Kudara made similar proposals which also were accepted. Each was to make an immediate contribution to the empress, and annually thereafter to send tribute to the capital of Japan. Thus they became the three tributary countries (sankan) dependent on Japan. Although this invasion of a foreign country without cause or provocation must be pronounced indefensible, yet it is not unlikely that the subject kingdoms were quite as safe and free under the distant and little intermeddlesome dominion of the Japanese empire, as they had been in the past or were likely to be in the future from their troublesome neighbors, China and the restless Mongolian tribes. To Japan the connection with the continent was of momentous value. It opened up a natural and easy way for the influx of those continental influences which were to be of so great service in their future history.

The empress, having within three years completely accomplished the object of her expedition, returned with her fleet to Kyushu. She brought back with her hostages from the conquered kingdoms, to ensure their fulfilment of the promises they had made. She had learned many lessons of government which she was not slow to introduce into her administration at home. Soon after reaching Kyushu she was delivered of the son of whom she was pregnant at the time of the death of the emperor, and who afterwards became the Emperor Ojin.

The object which she and her faithful prime-minister had in concealing the death of the emperor was accomplished. They now made the fact public, and proclaimed her own son as her successor. Two older sons of Chuai by another empress were unwilling to submit to the rule of a younger brother. But the Empress Jingo, who had now become a national idol by her Korean expedition, soon put down the conspiracy of these princes and reigned till the end of her life and left a quiet succession to her son.

She is said to have reigned as empress-regent(65) sixty-eight years, and to have died at the age of one hundred.

Her son became the fifteenth emperor and is known by the canonical name of Ojin. He commenced his reign in the year A.D. 270, and reigned forty years and died at the age of one hundred and ten. But the beginning of his reign is reckoned in the government list from the death of his father. The Emperor Ojin is widely worshipped as Hachiman the god of war, although he is by no means noted as a warrior. The explanation of this curious circumstance is found in the fact that his mother was pregnant with him during her famous invasion of Korea, and her heroism and success are attributed to the martial character of her unborn son.

The good fruits of the Korean conquest particularly showed themselves in A.D. 284, when the king of Kudara sent his usual tribute to the emperor of Japan. The ambassador for that year was Ajiki, a learned man who was familiar with Chinese literature. At the request of the emperor he gave the young prince, who afterwards became the Emperor Nintoku, lessons in the Chinese language and literature. The year following the king of Kudara seeing how much his efforts to furnish Chinese learning were appreciated, sent an eminent Chinese scholar, Wani, who took with him the Confucian Analects and the Thousand Character Essay, two noted Chinese classics and presented them to the emperor. The prince continued his studies under Wani and became a very learned man.

The emperor had three sons between whom he wished to divide his authority, wishing however to establish his youngest son as the crown prince and his successor. He summoned them before him and put this question to the elder, "Which should be preferred, a younger son or an older?" Then the elder son replied that he thought the older son should be preferred. But the emperor turned to the second son and asked him the same question. He replied that as the older son was more grown and less of a care, he thought the younger son would be more of a favorite. The emperor was pleased with this reply because it coincided with his own sentiment. He created his youngest son, Prince Waka-iratsu, the crown prince and ordered his second son, Prince Osasagi, to assist him. He gave the charge of the mountains, rivers, forests, fields, etc. to his eldest son.

So when the Emperor Ojin died A.D. 310, the younger son urged his brother to accept the imperial power; but he declined, saying: "How can I disobey the commands of my father?" The oldest of the three brothers, learning of the controversy, undertook to secure the authority for himself by a plot. The conspiracy was, however, soon put down and the elder brother slain. The friendly dispute between the two other brothers lasted three years and was finally ended by the younger committing suicide, and thus devolving the imperial office on his remaining brother. This brother was the noted Emperor Nintoku. He began his reign in the year A.D. 313, and died A.D. 399 in the one hundred and tenth year of his age. He was a most careful and considerate ruler. By observing his subjects he was convinced that they were overburdened and impoverished with the taxes which the government collected from them. So he announced by an imperial decree that for three years all taxes should be remitted. Even the sums which were necessary to keep the palace in repair and to provide his court with suitable clothing were not collected. And the palace grew shabby, and its roof leaked, and he himself went about in coarse and cheap garments. And the farmers came to him and begged that they might contribute to his wants. But he refused, and suffered three years to pass. In the meantime the country revived, and the farmers being relieved from the burdens which they had so long borne entered on a long period of encouraging prosperity. He surveyed the land from a high outlook, and saw the curling smoke and the fertile fields and rejoiced. Then he gave commands, and the taxes were renewed, and the people paid them willingly, and they in their gratitude called Nintoku the Sage Emperor.

It was in the reign of the Emperor Nintoku that the noted prime-minister Prince Take-no-uchi is said to have died. He had served six emperors, viz.: Keiko, Seimu, Chuai, Jingo-Kogo, Ojin, and Nintoku. His age(66) is given variously from two hundred and eighty-two to three hundred and eighty, in different books, one of which is a Chinese work and one a Korean. It will be remembered that he was the chief adviser of the warlike Empress Jingo in her invasion of Korea, and took an active part in the events which followed that expedition. That there was such a figure in Japanese history there can be little doubt, but that much of his life and the great age to which he lived are like many of the stories of the characters in the midst of which he lived, legendary and mythical, no one can question.

It was in this reign also that we have it stated that historiographers were sent out to the provinces and directed to make record of all important events and forward them to the court.

We have now reached a point in Japanese history where the accounts compiled by the historians of the times have written records on which to rely. The legendary and marvellous stories which have been the bulk of the preceding history may now be replaced by the soberer narrations which writing has preserved for us. It will be seen that the lives(67) of the emperors now drop from the astonishing age which in previous years they attained to a very moderate and reasonable length. In the subsequent chapters will be found the sober and chastened story to which Japanese history is henceforth reduced.



CHAPTER V. NATIVE CULTURE AND CONTINENTAL INFLUENCES.

Before going on to the meagre story which is supplied to us by the early years of Japanese history, it will be well to glean from the myths and legends which tradition has preserved the lessons which they contain. Although we may be unable to concede the truth of these traditions in their entirety, and believe in the celestial origin of the race and the wonders of the divine age, we may be able to obtain from them many important facts regarding the habits and manner of life of the early Japanese.

We have often referred to the admirable work Mr. Chamberlain has done in his translation of the Kojiki, and in the scholarly notes he has added. But in our present enquiries we must give him still greater credit for the important lessons which he has drawn from the myths and legends of the Kojiki in his learned introduction. No writer at the present day can afford to dispense with the deductions which he has been able to draw from the oldest writings of the Japanese, and from the traditions of an older date which these writings have preserved. Relying therefore chiefly on this learned introduction,(68) we propose to enumerate in a summary manner the particulars concerning the early Japanese life.

In the first place the government of the early Japanese was of the tribal order. The emperor was the chieftain of an expedition which came from the island of Kyushu and established a government by conquest. The chiefs of the various localities were reduced to subjection and became tributary to the emperor, or were replaced by new chiefs appointed by the emperor. The government was therefore essentially feudal in its characteristics. The emperor depended for the consideration of his plans and for their execution upon officers who were attached to his court. There were guilds composed of those who manufactured various articles, or who were employed to execute special plans. Thus we have guilds of clay image makers, guilds of ladies attendant on the emperor, guilds of butlers, guilds of cooks, guilds of guards, etc. To each of these there was a captain who became by appointment hereditary chief. We have no mention of money for the payment of services rendered. The taxes were probably paid in kind. And all transactions as far as they are mentioned at all seem to have been of the nature of barter.

The religious notions of the prehistoric Japanese were founded on the myths relating to their ancestor. Notwithstanding the vast number of deities who came into existence according to tradition, most of them vanish as soon as they are named and are no more heard of. Even deities like Izanagi and Izanami, who are represented as taking so important a part in events, are not perpetuated as objects of worship in Japanese history, and have no temples erected to their memory and no service prescribed or maintained in their honor. The most important deity in the Pantheon of the Japanese was Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, who is also called in Chinese characters Tensho Daijin or the Sun Goddess. She appears not only in the myths concerning the origin of the Japanese race, but as the grandmother of the divine prince Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi, who first came down to rule the Japanese empire. In the Shinto temples at Ise the principal deity worshipped at Geku is Uke-moche-no-Kami, and the secondary deities Ninigi-no-Mikoto, who came down to found the Japanese empire and was the grandmother of the Emperor Jimmu, and two others. At the Naiku the principal deity is Amaterasu-o-mi-kami (from heaven shining great deity), also called the Sun Goddess, and two secondary deities. The temples at Ise, especially those that are dedicated to the Sun Goddess, are the most highly regarded of any in Japan. Other temples of considerable popularity are situated in other parts of the empire. Thus there are Shinto temples in Kyushu and in Izumo, which are old parts of Japan settled long before Buddhism was introduced.

The Shinto religion must be regarded as the primitive religion of the Japanese people. It prevailed among them long before Buddhism was propagated by priests from Korea. It differs from all known systems of religion, in having no body of dogma by which its adherents are held together. The greatest advocate of Shintoism, Moto-ori, a writer of the 18th century, admits that it has no moral code. He asserts that "morals(69) were invented by the Chinese because they were an immoral people, but in Japan there was no necessity for any system of morals, as every Japanese acted rightly if he only consulted his own heart."

Reference is frequently made in the early stories to divination, or the process of obtaining the will of the gods by indirection. The oldest method of divination was by using the shoulder-blade of a deer. It was scraped entirely free from flesh, and then placed over a fire made from cherry wood. The divine will was determined by the cracks caused by the fire in the bone. A later method of divination was by using the shell of a tortoise in the same way as the shoulder-blade of the deer was used. They had superstitions about fighting with the back to the sun; about using only one light in the house at once; about breaking off the teeth of a comb in the night-time; about the destination of the first arrow shot in battle, etc.

The superstition of impurity being attached to the mother at the birth of a child, and to the house and those associated with it in which a death occurred, is often mentioned. A mother, when about to be delivered, was required to retire alone into a separate dwelling or hut without windows. This cruel custom has prevailed in the island of Hachijo(70) down almost to the present time. A custom prevailed, also, of abandoning the dwelling in which a death had occurred. The dead body was removed to a mourning hut, where amid sobs and weeping the mourners continued to hold a carousal, feasting upon the food provided for the dead. This abandonment of the house occupied by the living may explain the custom, so often referred to, of each new emperor occupying a different palace from that of his predecessor. We have already referred to the dreadful custom which prevailed until the reign of the Emperor Suinin, of burying living retainers around the sepulchre of their dead master. The custom was replaced by burying clay images of servants and animals around the tomb, and this continued till about A.D. 700.

There is no evidence that children received any kind of education other than a training in the use of arms and implements. The art of writing was brought over from Korea in A.D. 284. Up to this time there is nothing to show that the Japanese possessed any means of recording the events which occurred. No books existed, and reading and writing were unknown. The language spoken by the people was an ancient form of that which now prevails. The earliest examples of this language are found in the songs preserved in the Kojiki and Nihongi. As in every language, the earliest preserved specimens are poetry, so in Japanese the fragments which have been remembered and brought down to us, are scraps of songs. The origin of this language is, like the origin of the race, impossible at present to verify. It seems plain that the race came from the continent by way of Korea. If this is to be taken as the origin of the race, then the language which developed into the Japanese came from the northern tribes of China and of Siberia.

There is no indication of the method by which the early Japanese reckoned time. The sun in the daytime and the cocks by night, must have given them their division of hours. The year made itself apparent by the changes of temperature. It was not, however, till the introduction of calendars from China that anything like an accurate system of estimating and recording time was introduced.

The food of the primitive Japanese was much more largely animal than it became in later times. To the early Japanese there was no restriction in the use of animal food, such as the Buddhists introduced. Fish and shell-fish have always been, and doubtless from the first were, principal articles of food. The five grains, so called, are often referred to, and are specially mentioned in the Shinto rituals, whose origin goes back to prehistoric times. These grains(71) are rice, millet, barley, and two kinds of beans. Silkworms and their food plant, the mulberry, are likewise spoken of. The only kind of drink referred to is sake. It will be remembered that in the myth concerning the Impetuous Male Deity in Izumo, the old man and old woman were directed to prepare eight tubs of sake, by drinking which the eight-headed serpent was intoxicated. In the traditional history of the emperors, they are represented as drinking sake, sometimes even to intoxication. And in the rituals recited when offerings are made to their deities, the jars of sake are enumerated among the things offered. The Japanese writers claim that sake was a native discovery, but there is a well supported belief that in very early times they borrowed the art of manufacturing it from the Chinese. There is at least a difficulty in believing that this liquor should have been invented independently in the two countries. Chopsticks are mentioned in early Japanese times, and clay vessels for food, and cups for drinking made of oak leaves. On the whole, the conclusions to be drawn from the earliest traditions concerning the Japanese lead us to regard them as having attained a material degree of civilization in all matters pertaining to food and drink. Yet it cannot be regarded as other than strange that milk, cheese and butter are nowhere mentioned, and had never been used.

In the matter of clothing we have little except hints to guide us in forming inferences. The rituals enumerate(72) "bright cloth, soft cloth, and coarse cloth." Mr. Satow remarks(73) on this enumeration that "in the earliest ages the materials used were the bark of the paper-mulberry (broussonetia papyrifera), wistaria tendrils and hemp, but when the silkworm was introduced the finer fabric naturally took the place of the humbler in the offerings to the gods." The paper-mulberry which is now used for making paper, was in early times twisted into a thread and woven into a very serviceable cloth. Cotton(74) which now furnishes so large a part of the clothing of the people is nowhere mentioned. The skins of animals were doubtless used as clothing before the introduction of Buddhism made the killing of animals uncommon. In the legend of the purification of Izanagi(75) we read of a girdle, of a skirt, of an upper garment, of trousers, and of a hat. What the shapes of these garments were we cannot tell, but the number of different garments indicates a considerable development in the ideas of clothing. In the same myth, and in many other places, mention is made of the bracelets which Izanagi wore on the left and right arm. And when he wished to show his pleasure in the daughter who had been produced in washing his left eye, he invested her with his necklace taken from his own neck. Jewelry seems in these prehistoric times to have been more commonly worn than in modern historical times. The jewels(76) used were the magatama and kudatama which have been found in the ancient burial places.



Magatama and Kudatama.

Rings have also been found which are believed to date back to prehistoric times. From the clay images which have come down to us it is now ascertained that the rings were worn as ornaments to the ears and never as rings to the fingers. These rings are of copper or bronze, plated with gold or silver. Combs and mirrors are spoken of, but how the metal mirrors are made we do not know.

The only indications of the character of the houses(77) used by the early Japanese are found in the traditions respecting the primitive Shinto temples. The early methods of building were perpetuated in these temples, and in the eighteenth century a very persistent effort was made for the revival of pure Shinto. Under the influence of this movement the temples at Ise and elsewhere were purified from the contaminations which had been introduced by Buddhism. After the close of the war which resulted in the restoration of the emperor to his proper authority in 1868 a small temple in the most severe Shinto style was built at Kudan, one of the picturesque heights of Yedo, in memory of the soldiers who perished in the conflict. From a careful examination of all that can illustrate the houses of the early Japanese, we infer that they were of extreme simplicity. Stone was never used. The structures were entirely of wood. Even the palaces of the emperors were what we would call merely huts. Four upright posts sunk in the ground formed the corners. At the half-way intervals between these posts, were planted four other posts; those at the gable ends were high enough to sustain the ridge pole. On the other sides on the top of the posts were laid two plates. Abutting on these plates and crossing each other at the ridge pole stood the rafters, which sustained the thatched roof. In the absence of nails and pins, the timbers were fastened together by the tough tendrils of climbing plants. A hole in the gable end permitted the escape of the smoke from the fire built on the ground floor. Around the sides of the interior stood a raised couch on which the occupants sat by day and slept at night. The other parts of the floor were uncovered and consisted only of earth. They used mats made from the skins of animals or from rushes, on which they sat and slept. The doors of their dwellings were fastened by means of iron hooks, and swung on hinges unlike the modern Japanese door which always is made to slide.

The agricultural plants spoken of are numerous but leave unmentioned many of the plants of first importance. Tea, now so extensively cultivated, is nowhere spoken of. Tobacco was a late importation and came in with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Cotton was not introduced, as we have already said, until the beginning of the ninth century. Potatoes, including both the sweet potato and the white potato, are unmentioned. The orange came to Japan according to the received tradition at the close of the reign of the Emperor Suinin (A.D. 29-70).

Very little is said of the implements used by the primitive Japanese. Metal of any kind was almost unknown. We read of swords and fish-hooks, but these are the only implements referred to which seem to have been made of metal. Pots and cups of earthenware were used. The axes which they must have used to cut down the trees for building and for fuel must have been of stone, or sometimes of deer's horn. Archaeologists both native and foreign have brought to light many ancient implements of the Stone age. An interesting and detailed account of these discoveries will be found in the work on Japanese Archaeology by Henry Von Siebold, Yokohoma, 1879.

The arms used by the warriors were spears, bows and arrows, and swords. Numerous arrow heads have been found which bear a striking likeness to those found in Europe and America. Spear heads of flint have also been found. That the people were emerging from the Stone age is shown by the swords made of metal which they are represented as habitually using. They also seem to have had a small sword or dagger, as in the myth of the traitorous plot entered into by the empress and her brother against the Emperor Suinin. Castles in the modern sense are not referred to, although the same word shiro is used to represent the stockades with which they protected themselves. The castles of modern times, such as those at Kumamoto, Owari, and Yedo, are without doubt the outgrowth of the primitive stockade, and the same name has continued to be applied in all the successive changes.

Few domestic animals are mentioned. The horse is spoken of as an animal for riding, but not for driving. The same thing may be said of the use of horses in Japan even until modern times. The domestic fowl is referred to in the myth of the disappearance of the Sun Goddess. Dogs are mentioned in the later parts of the traditional period, but not cats. The cow and the products of the cow are not referred to. To these domestic animals may be added the cormorant,(78) which was used for fishing, in the same way that it is used in the eastern parts of China and to a small extent in the waters of Owari and Mino at the present time. The wild animals of that day were the deer, the bear, the boar, the hare, etc. These animals were hunted for their flesh and for their skins.

The islands of Japan being largely interspersed with water much of the travel even from the earliest time was performed in boats. The expedition of Jimmu from the island of Kyushu was in part conducted in the boats which the colony had constructed for the purpose. Whether these boats were of the form now used in Japan it is impossible to determine. It is probable however that the present form of boat is an evolution of the primitive boat, which was used by the prehistoric Japanese and which was a part of the equipment with which their ancestors came over from Korea to the islands of Japan. Travel on land was principally on foot, although as we have said the horse was used at this early day for riding. No wheeled vehicle is mentioned. The bullock cart used in later times was restricted to the use of the imperial household, and probably was introduced by the Buddhists. There were government roads constructed from the home provinces in different directions to those more distant. It is said that this scheme was more fully carried out after the return of the Empress Jingo from her conquest of Korea.

Let us now turn from these evidences of native culture to the events of Japanese history which have to do with the introduction of the civilization from the continent. For three thousand years before the Christian era China has been looked upon as one of the cultured nations of the earth. No written language has ever been or is now understood by so many people as the Chinese. The Chinese were a civilized people centuries before the Japanese had, even according to their own uncertain legends, emerged into the light as an empire. If we accept the opinion which seems most reasonable, that the Japanese came over to the Japanese islands from the continent by way of Korea, and belong to the Mongol tribes of central Asia, then we must assume that the Japanese were closely related to a large section of the Chinese. They have been from the beginning of their history a receptive people. They have stood ready to welcome the good things which were offered to them, coming from whatever direction. They accepted eagerly the Chinese written language and the philosophy with which it came charged. They accepted Buddhism with its priesthood and dogma and ritual, and permitted it to crowd their native religion until it became a pitiful minority. They have in recent times accepted with a hearty impetuosity the civilization of western nations, and are absorbing it as rapidly as the habits and thoughts of a people can take in so important a change.

We have already referred to the first introduction(79) of Chinese literature into Japan. It took place in the reign of the Emperor Ojin A.D. 284. The ambassador who brought the tribute from Korea that year was Ajiki who was familiar with the Chinese literature. He gave lessons in Chinese to the crown prince. The next year the king of Korea sent out an eminent scholar named Wani,(80) who continued to give instruction to the crown prince. From this time a knowledge of Chinese gradually spread and scholars were attached to the government to make a written record of the events which took place. Historiographers were sent out during the reign of the Emperor Hanzei, A.D. 404, who were directed to make a record of all important events and forward them to the court. These steps soon began to show themselves in the absence of the wonderful and legendary from the narrative of events. Beginning with the reign of the Emperor Richu the ages of the emperors which before his time had been of such a marvellous length now drop to a reasonable and moderate period.

The nineteenth emperor was Inkyo, the fourth son of the Emperor Nintoku. He was of an amiable and philanthropic temperament, and accepted the position of emperor with great reluctance. His health was delicate, and he feared to take upon himself such a responsibility. In the meantime there was an interregnum, and the court officials were anxious to have him enter upon the duties of emperor. At last he consented and became emperor A.D. 412. It was during his reign that confusion arose concerning the family names, or rather, that the confusion which had been long growing now had its settlement. Family names had been a matter of growth, and many persons claimed the right to use a certain name who were in no wise entitled to it. The emperor took a singular and effectual method to settle the troublesome and personal questions that arose. He summoned all those who claimed to belong to any family whose claim was disputed to appear at Amakashi and show that they were entitled to the names they claimed. He placed jars of boiling water and required each one to plunge his hand in the water. He who was injured by the hot water was pronounced a deceiver, and he who came off unhurt was pronounced as entitled to the name. The emperor took occasion to settle the questions concerning names, and put the matter on a more stable basis. And as the art of writing now began to be more common among the people mistakes in regard to names did not again seriously recur.

The emperor's ill-health was the occasion for the introduction of another of the civilizing arts of the continent. When the annual tribute from Korea was sent it so chanced that the ambassador who came with it was a person versed in the medical art. If we estimate this man's science or skill by that of the Chinese practitioner of a later day, we should certainly not place a very high value on it. It is narrated, however, that he cured the imperial invalid, and by this means gained great credit for his profession, and added another to the obligations which Japan owed to the continent.

After the death of the Emperor Inkyo there was a quarrel about the succession between his two sons, Prince Kinashi-no-Karu and Prince Anaho-no-Oji. The courtiers all favored the latter, who was the younger brother, and he surrounded his elder brother in the house of Monobe-no-Omai. Seeing no way of escape he committed suicide.(81) The younger brother then became the twentieth emperor, who is known under the canonical name of Anko. He had another difficulty growing out of social complications. He wanted to make the younger sister of Okusaka-no-Oji, who was the brother of the preceding Emperor Inkyo, the wife of Ohatsuse-no-Oji, his own younger brother, who afterwards became the Emperor Yuriyaku. He sent as a messenger the court official, Ne-no-Omi, to ask the consent of her elder brother, who gladly gave it, and as a token of his gratitude for this high honor he sent a rich necklace. Ne-no-Omi, overcome with covetousness, kept the necklace for himself, and reported to the emperor that Okusaka-no-Oji refused his consent. The emperor was very angry, and sent a detachment of troops against the supposed offender. They surrounded the house and put him to death. His chief attendants, knowing his innocence, committed suicide by the side of their dead master. The emperor then completed his design of taking the sister of Okusaka-no-Oji as the wife of the Prince Ohatsuse-no-Oji, and he also took his widow and promoted her to be his empress.

Out of these circumstances arose serious troubles. His new empress had a young son by her first husband named Mayuwa-no-O, said to have been only seven years old. With his mother he was an inmate of the palace, and was probably a spoiled and wayward boy. The emperor was afraid lest this boy, when he came to understand who had been the cause of the death of his father, would undertake to revenge himself. He talked with the empress about his fears and explained his apprehensions. The boy accidentally heard the conversation, and was probably stimulated thereby to do the very thing which the emperor feared. Creeping stealthily into the room where the emperor lay asleep he stabbed him and then fled, taking refuge in the house of the Grandee Tsubura. The emperor was fifty-six years of age at the time of his death. This tragical event produced a great excitement. The younger brother of the emperor, Ohatsuse, amazed and angry because his two older brothers were not, as he thought, sufficiently enraged by the murder of the emperor, killed them both. Then he attacked the Grandee Tsubura and the boy Mayuwa in their refuge. Seeing no way of escape Tsubura, at the request of the boy, first slew him and then killed himself.

Subsequently Ohatsuse, who seemed to have been of a violent disposition, murdered Ichinobe-no-Oshiha, son of the seventeenth emperor, Richu. His two sons, then merely boys, Oke and Woke (literally big basket and little basket), hearing of this catastrophe escaped into the province of Harima where they worked as cow-herds. Ohatsuse was crowned as the twenty-first emperor and is known by the canonical name of Yuriyaku Tenno.

In the year A.D. 470 an ambassador came from Go in China and by order of the emperor was entertained by the Grandee Ne-no-Omi. A court official, Toneri, was directed to see that this duty was suitably performed. Now Ne-no-Omi, it will be remembered, was the grandee who, on a former occasion, was sent by the Emperor Anko to solicit the hand of the Princess Hatahi-no-Oji for the present emperor, who was then the crown prince. In order to entertain the Chinese ambassador with becoming magnificence, Ne-no-Omi robed himself in a gorgeous manner and among other things put on the rich necklace which he had stolen. Toneri reported to the emperor the superb entertainment which Ne-no-Omi had accorded to the Chinese ambassador, and especially the necklace which he wore. The emperor innocently asked that Ne-no-Omi should appear before him in order that he might see his superb dress. The empress, who was with her husband when Ne-no-Omi came in, recognized the necklace which had been sent by her brother to the late emperor. The theft was charged and Ne-no-Omi compelled to confess. The emperor proclaimed the innocence of Okusaka-no-Oji and his great regret at the mistaken punishments.

There are many traditions current in Japanese early history concerning this emperor. In one he is represented in his imperial journeys to have seen a house belonging to Lord Shiki built with a raised roof like that of the imperial palace. He was greatly enraged that any subject should dare to take such a liberty, and sent his attendants to burn the house down. The poor frightened lord hastened to the emperor and humbly apologized for his stupidity. And he presented to the emperor in token of his humble submission a white dog clothed with cloth and led by a string. So he was forgiven and his house was spared.

In another legend he is said to have come upon a beautiful girl by the river side washing clothes. He stopped and conferred with her, and said to her, "Do not thou marry a husband, I will send for thee." With this he returned to the palace and forgot about his promise. But the poor girl did not forget. Year after year passed, till at last after eighty years of waiting she was a very old woman. Then she thought, "My face and form are lean and withered, there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, if I do not show the Heavenly Sovereign how truly I have waited, my disappointment will be unbearable." And so with such gifts as she could afford she presented herself before the emperor. He wondering at her and her gifts asked her, "What old woman art thou, and why art thou come hither?" She replied, "Having in such and such a month and such and such a year received the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, I have been reverently awaiting the great command until this day, and eighty years have passed by. Now, my appearance is decrepit and there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, I have come forth in order to show and declare my faithfulness." Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, greatly agitated, exclaimed, "I had quite forgotten my command; and thou meanwhile, ever faithfully awaiting my commands, hast vainly let pass by the years of thy prime. It is too pitiful." He sent her back to her home with such consolation as rich gifts could impart.

We give one more of the legends which cling to the name of this emperor.

He was making an imperial progress to the moor of Akizu for the purpose of hunting. And as he sat down to rest a horse-fly bit his august arm. But immediately a dragon-fly came and seized the horse-fly and flew away. Thereupon he composed an august song as follows:

Who is it tells in the great presence that game is lying on the peak of Womuro, at Mi-Yeshinu? Our Great Lord who tranquilly carries on the government, being seated on the throne to await the game, a horse-fly alights on and stings the fleshy part of his arm fully clad in a sleeve of white stuff, and a dragon-fly quickly eats up the horse-fly. That it might properly bear its name, the land of Yamato was called the Island of the Dragon-Fly.(82)

After a long reign Yuriyaku is said in Kojiki to have died at the age of one hundred and twenty-four.

The son of the Emperor Yuriyaku, Prince Shiraka, succeeded him. He is known in history as the Emperor Seinei. He lived only five years after his accession and left no descendant to fill the throne. Search was accordingly made for some one of imperial blood who might become emperor. It will be remembered that the Emperor Yuriyaku, before his accession, had murdered Prince Ichinobe-no-Oshiwa, son of the eighteenth emperor, and that his two sons, then young boys, Princes Oke and Woke, made their escape into the province of Harima. A new governor of this province had just arrived and was in attendance at the festivities in honor of the opening of a new cave(83) by a citizen of the place. As usual there was feasting, and drinking, and dancing. The two young men Oke and Woke, who occupied menial positions in this household, were called upon to dance. After some hesitation they each in succession danced and sang some of the songs which they had learned in their boyhood.(84) The new governor recognized these songs to be such as were taught at the court, and on enquiring found the young men to be grandsons of the Emperor Richu. He brought them to the palace and presented them to their aunt Queen Ii-Toyo. After a friendly contest between the two brothers, the younger one, Prince Woke, became the twenty-third emperor under the canonical name of Kenzo. His reign was a very short one, only eight years according to the Kojiki and three years according to the Nihongi. The only incident of consequence recorded of him is that he sought out the burial place of his father, who had been murdered by the Emperor Yuriyaku, and transferred his remains to a fitting mausoleum. He also contemplated the desecration of the mausoleum of the murderer as a mark of his vengeance, but was dissuaded by his brother from the undertaking.

He died without children and was succeeded by his elder brother Prince Oke who became A.D. 488 the twenty-fourth emperor under the canonical name of Ninken.

Concerning the emperor and several of his successors there is little of interest to record. The twenty-fifth emperor, Muretsu (A.D. 499), who was a son of the emperor Ninken, was chiefly notable for his cruelty. Some of the acts recorded of him can only be equalled by those of the degenerate occupants of the imperial throne of Rome in its worst days. He reigned eleven years and died without children. The twenty-sixth emperor was Keitai Tenno, who was the fifth descendant from Ojin Tenno. The only noticeable events in his reign were an expedition to Korea to settle difficulties which had then intervened, and an expedition to Chikushi, the northern part of Kyushu, to repress tumults which had arisen. The next emperors were Ankan Tenno and Senkuwa Tenno, whose reigns were uneventful.

The twenty-ninth emperor was Kimmei Tenno, (A.D. 540-571), who was the son of Keitai Tenno. He reigned thirty-two years and died at the age of sixty-three. It was during his reign, in A.D. 552, that an ambassador from Kudara, one of the three provinces of Korea, presented to the emperor an image of Shaka, and also Buddhist books explaining the doctrine. He commended highly the new religion, and the emperor was deeply impressed with its novelties. This seems the more probable because up to this time Japan looked upon China and Korea as leaders in civilization, and therefore was disposed to regard what had obtained a footing there as worthy of acceptance.

The prime-minister Soga-no-Iname favored the new religion, and urged that the image of Shaka which had been brought over should be duly set up and worshipped. But the ministers Monobe-no-Okoshi and Kumako opposed the proposition, saying, "Our country has its own gods; and they perhaps will be angry with us if we pay our devotions to a foreign god."

But the emperor settled the matter by saying, "Let Iname try it." He gave the idol to Iname with the directions that he should set it up and pray to it. Accordingly Iname took the image of Shaka and established it in a house of his own, which he created a temple, and worshipped it.

But shortly after this an epidemic broke out in the country, and Okoshi and Kumako declared that it was due to the strange god which had been received from the western barbarians, and besought the emperor to have it thrown away. The image therefore by the emperor's command was thrown into the sea near Naniwa,(85) and the temple in which it had been erected was destroyed. This was the first movement towards the introduction of Buddhism.

In the reign of the thirtieth emperor, Bitatsu Tenno, A.D. 572, who was the son of Kimmei Tenno, Kudara again made a contribution of Buddhist emblems, viz.: books of Buddhist doctrine; a priest of Ritsu sect; a priest; a nun; a diviner; an image maker; and a Buddhist temple carpenter. These were all housed in the temple of Owake-no-O at Naniwa. Seven years after this two Japanese ambassadors who had been sent to Kudara brought back with them several Buddhist images of stone, which the Daijin Umako obtained as his possession. He built several Buddhist temples in which he placed the images and other precious relics which he had secured. He also built a pagoda and houses in which the priests and nuns resided. When Umako was sick he asked from the emperor that he might avail himself of the Buddhist ritual. The emperor gave him this privilege, but commanded him to restrict it to himself.

The Emperor Bitatsu died A.D. 585 at the age of forty-eight. His successor was Emperor Yomei the thirty-first in order from the Emperor Jimmu. He was by his mother a descendant of the Soga family and his first wife was also a daughter of the prime-minister, the Noble Iname who was also of the Soga family. The bitter hostility between the members of the court who favored Buddhism and those who opposed it continued. The leader of the former party was Umako now the prime-minister, while the opponents of Buddhism were led by Moriya. One of the occasions when their hostility broke out was when the emperor was taken sick and he wished to try the effect of the Buddhist Sampo, that is, the three precious elements of Buddhism, Buddha, the rites of Buddhism, and the Buddhist priests. Moriya and his party advised against this conformity to Buddhism, but Umako supported him in his wishes and introduced a Buddhist priest into the palace to attend upon the emperor. In spite of all this effort, however, the emperor died, having reigned only three years.

The death of the emperor was the signal for the breaking out of serious disturbances. Moriya the champion of the old religion was killed and his party overpowered. From this time Buddhism may be said to have triumphed in Japan. The thirty-second emperor, Sujun, was crowned A.D. 588. He was the son of the Emperor Kimmei, and at the time of his accession was sixty-nine years of age. The communication with Korea continued, and more and more of the Buddhist culture was introduced. Umako, who now had undisputed sway in the government, sent out to Korea persons to study the Buddhist faith, and consecrated many priests and nuns and erected temples for the new worship.

But everything did not move smoothly. Umako, with all his zeal and enthusiasm for Buddhism, was suspected of personal ambition, and was looked upon with distrust. A plot to assassinate the emperor was planned by Umako, which terminated his life, after a reign of only four years, in the seventy-third year of his age.

The thirty-third sovereign was the Empress Suiko, who was the sister of the Emperor Yomei. Her coronation took place A.D. 593. Her reign was chiefly remarkable for the active influence of Umaydo-no-Oji (A.D. 572-622), who was the second son of the Emperor Yomei, and who was made crown prince under the empress, and aided her in the administration of the political affairs of the government. This prince is better known by his posthumous title of Shotoku Taishi (great teacher of the divine virtue), and is held in great reverence as the principal founder and promoter of Buddhism in Japan. His name has been linked with many legends, which are still current after the lapse of fourteen hundred years. It is said that as soon as he was born he was able to speak, and was in all respects a very clever boy. His memory was wonderfully acute. He had Napoleon the Great's talent of attending to several things at the same time. He could hear the appeals of eight persons at once, and give to each a proper answer. From this circumstance he sometimes went by the name of Yatsumimi-no-Oji, that is, Prince of Eight Ears.

The prince threw the whole influence of the government in favor of Buddhism. Many temples were built in different central districts for the convenience of the new religion. Under his influence the officers of the government rivalled each other in founding temples and maintaining them at their own expense. He took as his teacher a priest who had recently come from Korea, and from him for the first time learned the five Buddhist commandments:

1. Against stealing. 2. Against lying. 3. Against intemperance. 4. Against murder. 5. Against adultery.

He gave command to an artificer in copper to make large images of Buddha for each of the officers in the government. The king of Koma in Korea hearing of this great undertaking sent a contribution of three hundred ryo of gold. The images were finished in due time and an imposing religious ceremonial was held in honor of the event. Many of the principal temples of Buddhism in different parts of Japan take their origin from the time of Shotoku Taishi, and no single character in history is so intimately connected with the development of Buddhism.

It was not only as a religious reformer, however, that he deserves to be remembered. He was a a most painstaking and enlightened ruler. He studiously gathered from the Chinese the elements and methods of government and adapted them to his own country.(86) From his time the study of Chinese literature became the essential culture of the active minds of Japan.

Shotoku Taishi died A.D. 622, having been the principal officer of the government for twenty-nine years.

The impulse which Shotoku had given to Buddhism did not subside. In the year following his death officers were appointed to govern the growing religious communities, called Sosho and Sozu, which in dignity and power corresponded to archbishops and bishops in Christian nomenclature. The first archbishop was Kwankin, a priest from Kudara, and the first bishop was Tokuseki of Kurabe. These officials examined every priest and nun and made a register of them. A census of Buddhism is also given which belongs to this same period. According to this there were forty-six Buddhist temples and 1385 priests and nuns.

In the year A.D. 626, Soga-no-Umako the daijin and a life-long friend and promoter of Buddhism died, and two years later the Empress Suiko died. So nearly all the prominent participants in the events which had taken place since the first entrance of Buddhism into Japan, had disappeared. In the meantime a religion had taken possession of a field in which it was destined to exert a wide influence and undergo a national development.

Along with this religion had come a literature and a culture, which when absorbed into the life of this people gave them the permanent characteristics which we now recognize as the Japanese civilization. The freer and more frequent intercourse with China and Korea brought with it not only a knowledge of books and writing, but many improvements in arts and many new arts and agricultural industries. When the forces of the Empress Jingo returned from Korea they brought with them persons skilled in many industrial occupations. It is a tradition that a descendant of the Kan dynasty in China had fled to Korea on the fall of that dynasty, and in the twentieth year of the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 290) had migrated to Japan with a colony who were familiar with weaving and sewing. In the thirty-seventh year of the same emperor an officer was sent to China to obtain more weavers and sewers. The cultivation of the mulberry tree and the breeding of silk-worms(87) was introduced from China in A.D. 457, and in order to encourage this industry the empress herself engaged in it. At this early period this important industry was begun, or at least received an impulse which has been continued down to the present time.

With these industrial arts came in rapid succession the elements of a higher civilization. Books on almanac-making, astronomy, geography and divination were brought to Japan from Korea and China. The Chinese calendar(88) was first used in the reign of the Empress Suiko under the regency of Shotoku Taishi. This almanac was based on the lunar periods and the civil year began with the new moon occurring about the beginning of February. But as the length of the civil year is not an exact multiple of the number of days contained in a lunation, the twelve lunar months used by the Chinese and Japanese will be about eleven days shorter than the solar year. Hence to prevent the discrepancy from increasing and throwing the seasons entirely out of their place in the calendar, an intercalary month was inserted nearly every third year. It was inserted not at the end of the year but whenever the discrepancy had reached the number of days in a lunation. The month thus inserted was called by the same name as the preceding with an explanatory prefix. From this period therefore the dates of Japanese events may be relied upon with some degree of certainty. For events occurring before this period, a knowledge of which must have been transmitted by oral tradition, the dates assigned to them in the Nihongi must have been computed by counting back to the supposed time according to the calendar in use at the time of the writing.

The astronomy and geography introduced into Japan along with almanac-making in the fifth century were without question very primitive sciences. At this time even in Europe the knowledge of these sciences was not advanced beyond the imperfect notions of the Greeks. It was not until the sixteenth century, when the discoveries of the Portuguese and the Spaniards and the English had revealed the shape and the divisions of the earth, and the Jesuits had carried this knowledge to China and Japan, that anything like a correct astronomy or geography was possible. By divination, which is mentioned as one of the sciences brought over from Korea, was meant the determination of future events or of lucky or unlucky conditions.

The most important civilizing force introduced from China at this period was the formal institutions of education. Although the first establishment of a school dates from the reign of the Emperor Tenji (A.D. 668-671), yet it was not till the reign of the Emperor Mommu (A.D. 697-707) that the university was regularly organized. Branch schools were also established in the several provinces. In the university there were departments for Chinese literature, for medicine, for astronomy and almanac-making, and for astrology. Under the first head were included the art of writing the Chinese characters, the practice of composition, the study of the Chinese classics, and the reading of books of Chinese history. In like manner the training of the students in medicine chiefly consisted in making them familiar with the methods which prevailed in China. The properties of medicinal plants, the variations of the pulse in health and disease and in the changing seasons, and the anatomy of the human body were the chief subjects of study. The human cadaver was never dissected, but a knowledge of anatomy was obtained from diagrams which were wholly hypothetical. In early times medical officers were appointed to experiment with medicines upon monkeys, and also to dissect the bodies of monkeys. From these dissections, as well as from the printed diagrams of Chinese books the imperfect knowledge which they had reached was derived. It was not till 1771 that Sugita Genpaku(89) and several other Japanese scholars had an opportunity to dissect the body of a criminal, and by personal observation found the utter falsity of the Chinese diagrams on which they had hitherto relied, and the correctness of the Dutch books, which they had, contrary to the laws of the country, learned to read.

The great reverence felt for Chinese culture led to the introduction at an early date of the Chinese system of official rank. The system remained in force down to the restoration in 1868. The officers were Daijo-daijin (Prime-Minister), Sa-daijin (Minister of the Left), U-daijin (Minister of the Right), together with eight boards,(90) charged with the various duties of administration. These boards were divided into sections, and the various departments of the government were respectively performed by them. In this way the administration became thoroughly bureaucratic, in imitation of the Chinese empire, to which the Japanese at this time looked up with the most complete reverence.

In addition to these official boards, six official ranks were also introduced from China. These ranks were designated, first, virtue; second, humanity; third, propriety; fourth, truth; fifth, righteousness, and sixth, wisdom. Each of these ranks(91) was divided into two orders termed respectively the Greater and the Lesser. Thus there were twelve distinctions in this system. It was introduced in the reign of the Empress Suiko, A.D. 604, and is generally attributed to the Regent Shotoku, who was a great admirer of the continental civilization. It existed in this form until the time of the Emperor Kotoku, when, A.D. 649, it was extended to nineteen distinctions. These were not given to the individual in recognition of talent, but to families to be by them transmitted to their posterity as hereditary rank.

For many years during this period of active intercourse with China and Korea, Dazaifu, situated on the west coast of Kyushu, north of the present situation of Nagasaki, was the recognized port where strangers were received. This city was the seat of a vice-royalty, having control over the nine provinces of Kyushu. The office of vice-governor was considered a place of honorable banishment to which distinguished men who were distasteful at court could be sent.

These continental influences continued for many years and indeed have never ceased. There has always existed a class of scholars who looked upon Chinese learning as the supreme pinnacle to which the human mind could attain. This was especially true of the admirers of Confucius and Confucianism. Although it was not until a much later period that the culture of a Chinese philosophy attained its highest mark, yet even in the early arrangement of the studies in the university we see the wide influence which the writings of the Chinese classics exerted.

We close this chapter with an event which evinced the advance which Japanese civilization had made, and aided greatly in promoting this advance in the subsequent centuries. This event was the publication of the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Things) and the Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan). A book still older than these is said to have been composed in A.D. 620, but it perished in a fire in A.D. 645, although a fragment is said to have been rescued. The circumstances attending the preparation of the Kojiki are given by Mr. Satow in his paper(92) on the "Revival of Pure Shinto," and also by Mr. Chamberlain(93) in his introduction to the translation. The Emperor Temmu had resolved to take measures to preserve the true traditions from oblivion. He had the records carefully examined and compiled. Then these collated traditions were one by one committed to one of the household officers, Hiyeda-no-Are, who had a marvellously retentive memory. Before the work of compilation was finished the emperor died; but the Empress Gemmyo, who after an interval succeeded him, carried it on to its completion in A.D. 712. By her direction the traditions were taken down from Are's dictation in the form in which we now have them. It is by no means a pleasing or attractive work, even in the opinion of the Japanese. It is bald and archaic in its form and composition. It is, however, notable as being freer from the admixture of Chinese learning, and therefore a better index of the native culture of the race than the works which followed it.(94) Much of it consists of mere genealogies of the emperors and naked statements of leading events, but there are besides this many legends and poems which bear evidence of having been handed down in essentially their present form. As an authority for the chronology of the early events it is, of course, of small value. It is evident that where a narrative of events has been carried through many centuries by tradition alone, without written records to check or assist it, no dependence can be placed on the chronology of the events, further than, perhaps, on the order of sequence.

Only eight years after the publication of the Kojiki, a second work termed Nihongi or Chronicles of Japan was issued. It was prepared by imperial command and appeared in A.D. 720 in the reign of the Empress Gensho. It differs from the older book in being composed in the Chinese idiom, and in being much more tinctured with the ideas of Chinese philosophy. These two works, so nearly contemporaneous, both of them composed in so great a degree of the legendary elements of Japanese history, must be looked upon as marking a distinct epoch in the story of Japan.



CHAPTER VI. THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN.

The theory of the Japanese government during the greater part of its long career has been that of an absolute monarchy. The emperor was supposed to hold in his hands the supreme authority, and to dispose, as he saw fit, of honors and emoluments, offices and administrative duties. There was no fundamental law of succession, by which the order of accession to the throne was regulated. The reigning emperor usually selected during his lifetime some one of his sons, or, if he had no sons, some other prince of the imperial family, who became the crown prince during the life of the emperor, and on his death succeeded to the throne.(95) The selection was usually made with the concurrence of the officers of the court, and very often must be credited entirely to the preference of these officers. Sometimes the emperor died before the appointment of a crown prince had taken place. In this case the selection lay in the hands of the court officers, and many cases are recorded in the history of the empire where serious disturbances arose between the partisans of different aspirants to the throne. These disturbances usually account for the interregna which are so often found between the reigns of successive sovereigns.

To the freedom which has prevailed, not only in the imperial house but also in all the families of the empire, in regard to the rights of succession, must be attributed the long and unbroken line which the imperial house of Japan is able to show. That a line of sovereigns should continue from the time of Jimmu down to the present without break by reason of the failure of children, is of course impossible. But the difficulty disappears when it is remembered, that in case of the failure of a son to succeed, the father provided for the want by adopting as his son some prince of the imperial family, and appointing him as his heir. With this principle of adoption must be mentioned the practice of abdication(96) which produced a marked and constantly recurring influence in the history of Japan. Especially was this the case in the middle ages of Japanese history. The practice spread from the imperial house downwards into all departments of Japanese life. Although the principle of abdication and adoption was probably brought from China and was adopted by the Japanese as a mark of superior culture, yet these practices were carried to a much greater extent in Japan than was ever thought of in their original home. We shall see in the story of Japanese times the amazing and ludicrous extent to which the abdication of reigning sovereigns was carried. We shall witness even the great and sagacious Ieyasu himself, after holding the office of shogun for only two years, retiring in favor of his son Hidetada, and yet from his retirement practically exercising the authority of the office for many years.

In A.D. 668 the Emperor Tenji(97) began a brief reign of three years. As he had been regent during the two preceding reigns, and chiefly managed the administration, very little change occurred after his accession to power. His reign is mainly remarkable for the first appearance in a prominent position of the Fujiwara family. The emperor appointed his counsellor Nakatomi-no-Kamatari as nai-daijin (private minister), an office next in rank after sa-daijin, and which was created at this time. Nakatomi, was authorized to assume the family name of Fujiwara, meaning wistaria-field. The ancestor of this family, Nakatomi-no-Muraji,(98) was fabled to have come down from the celestial plains to the island of Kyushu. The family therefore ranks with that of the emperor as the oldest and most honored in the empire. From the time of its establishment down to the present it has enjoyed many honors and privileges, and has played a very distinguished part in the history of the country. This family first became prominent during the reign of the Emperor Kotoku. The Soga family from the times of the first introduction of Buddhism had grown to be the most powerful and influential in the empire. Umako had held the position of daijin and his son Yemishi became daijin after his father's death. Yemishi presumed upon his promotion to this high office and put on the airs of hereditary rank. He built castles for himself and son and organized guards for their defence. His son Iruka became daijin after his father's death and conducted himself with even greater arrogance. At last his conduct became intolerable and he was assassinated A.D. 645. The chief actor in this plot was Nakatomi-no-Kamatari, who was at this time on intimate terms with the prince who afterwards became the Emperor Tenji.

Further experiences, this time disastrous, with Korea were encountered during this reign. A Japanese garrison had been maintained in Kudara, the western division of Korea. But at this time the people of Shiraki with help from China attacked this garrison and compelled it to retreat to Japan. Along with the Japanese came many of the Koreans who had been friendly with them, and who carried with them, like the Huguenots when driven from France, a knowledge of many arts and a culture which were eagerly welcomed by the rising Japanese empire. They were colonized in convenient quarters in different provinces, and as an encouragement freed from taxation for a time. Their influence upon the opening civilization of Japan cannot be overlooked or neglected in our estimate of the forces which conspired to produce the final result. In the book of Japanese annals called Nihon Shoki there is a statement(99) that in the fifth month of the second year of Reiki (A.D. 717) 1799 Koreans were collected together in the province of Musashi and formed the district of "Koma-gori" or Korean district. Again in the third year of Tempyo Hoji (A.D. 760) forty inhabitants of Shinra (a kingdom of Korea) and thirty-four priests and priestesses came to Japan and founded the "Shinra-gori," or Korean district. These events occurred not long after the time we are now considering and show that the Korean colonization still continued and that the influence of the arts and culture which the colonists introduced was marked and important.

Few events are noted during the reigns which succeeded. The following are the most worthy of mention. The Emperor Temmu (A.D. 673-686) added several new degrees of rank to those already established. He also favored the Buddhist religion by making its services obligatory, and by forbidding the eating of flesh. Silver was first discovered in Tsushima A.D. 674, which was followed twenty years later by the manufacture of the first silver money. Copper was discovered in Musashi in the reign of the Empress Gemmyo (A.D. 708-715) and the making of copper money came into vogue. Before that time the copper money in use was obtained from Korea and China. Gold coin is said to have been first issued under the Emperor Junnin (A.D. 759-765). An observatory was established for the inspection of the stars in connection with the new department of astrology. The cultivation of the lacquer tree and the mulberry and the raising of silk-worms were still further encouraged and extended. Cremation was first practised about A.D. 700 in the case of a Buddhist priest who left directions that his body should be burned. Since that time cremation has been employed for the disposal of the dead by the Shin (or Monto) sect, and is now authorized but not made obligatory by the government. The progress made by Buddhism is shown by the census of temples which was made in the reign of the Empress Jito (A.D. 690-702) and which gave the number as 545. The publication of the Kojiki in A.D. 712, and of the Nihongi eight years later, has already been referred to at the close of the preceding chapter. These works are still looked upon as the foundations of Japanese literature and the highest authorities of Japanese history.

In the reign of the Empress Gemmyo (A.D. 710) the imperial residence was fixed at Nara. Up to this time the custom(100) derived from antiquity had prevailed of changing the residence on the accession of each new emperor. But the court continued at Nara for a period of seventy-five years running through seven reigns; and in consequence Nara has always been looked upon with peculiar reverence, and is the seat of several of the most notable Buddhist and Shinto temples(101) and structures. It is here that Kasuga-no-miya was founded in A.D. 767 and dedicated to the honor of the ancestor of the Fujiwara family. Here also is To-dai-ji a Buddhist temple famed for containing the bronze statue of Great Buddha. This colossal idol was constructed in A.D. 736 under the Emperor Shomu, during the time that the imperial court resided at Nara. The height of the image is fifty-three feet, being seven feet higher than the Daibutsu at Kamakura. The temple was built over the image and in A.D. 1180 was destroyed by a fire which melted the head of the image. This was replaced. The temple was burned again A.D. 1567, from which time the image has remained as the Japanese say "a wet god."

In A.D. 794(102) during the reign of the Emperor Kwammu (A.D. 782-806) the capital was removed to Kyoto on the banks of the Kamogawa. The situation and the environs are lovely, and justify the affectionate reverence with which it has ever been regarded. Here were built the palaces and offices for the emperor and his court. It was officially called Miyako, that is, residence of the sovereign. It continued to be occupied as the capital until A.D. 1868, when the court was moved to Tokyo. At this time the name of the city was changed to Saikyo, which means western capital, in distinction from Tokyo, which means eastern capital.

The Emishi in the northern part of the Main island continued to give much trouble to the government. During the reign of the Emperor Shomu (A.D. 724-756) Fujiwara-no-Umakai was sent against these restless neighbors and succeeded in reducing them to subjection, which lasted longer than usual. A fort was built to keep them in subjection, called the castle of Taga. There is still standing a stone monument at Taga, between Sendai and Matsushima, on which is an inscription which has been translated by Mr. Aston,(103) of the British legation. The inscription gives the date of its first construction, which corresponds to A.D. 724, and of its restoration, A.D. 762. Mr. Aston points out that the ri here mentioned is not the present Japanese ri equivalent to miles 2.44, but the ancient ri which is somewhat less than half a mile. This makes it evident that the part of the Main island north of a point near Sendai was at this time denominated Yezo, and was occupied by the barbarous tribes who then as now called themselves Yezo.

The employment of a Fujiwara in this expedition was probably purely perfunctory. So far as we know, this family, which had by this time risen to a position of great influence, was in no respect military, and the appointment of Umakai as chief of the forces sent against the Ainos was due to the political prominence of his family. For many centuries the relations of the Fujiwara family to the imperial house was most intimate. Indeed the late Viscount Mori,(104) in his introduction to Education in Japan, speaks of this relation as a "proprietorship." "The throne for a time became virtually the property of one family, who exclusively controlled it." This family was that of Fujiwara,(105) to which reference has already been made. The founder of this house, Kamatari, was a man of great talent and administrative ability, and his immediate successors were worthy of their ancestor's fame, and in succession filled the office of daijin. In this way the office came to be regarded as hereditary in the Fujiwara family. The office of kuambaku, also from about A.D. 880, became hereditary in the Fujiwara house. Owing to the great age and prominence of the family, it became customary to marry the emperors and princes of the imperial house to ladies taken from it, so that after a time the mothers and wives of the princes of the imperial house were without exception descendants of the Fujiwara, and the offices of the court were in the hands of this family. In this condition of things the abdication of emperors, before they had reigned long enough to learn the duties of their position, became the common practice. This vicious custom was encouraged by the Fujiwara, because it placed greater authority in their hands, and left them to conduct the administration without troublesome interference. The Emperor Seiwa (A.D. 859-880) commenced to reign when he was nine years of age, and abdicated when he was twenty-six.(106) Shujaku (A.D. 931-952) became emperor when he was eight years of age and abdicated at the age of twenty-three. Toba became emperor (A.D. 1108) at five years of age, and resigned at the age of twenty. Rokujo was made emperor (A.D. 1166) at the age of two and resigned at the age of four. Takakura, who succeeded Rokujo (A.D. 1169), was eight years of age and abdicated at the age of nineteen. It often happened that there were living at the same time several retired emperors, besides the actual emperor.(107) Thus, in the period when Ichijo began his reign at the age of seven (A.D. 987), there were three retired emperors still living, viz.: Reizei, who began to reign (A.D. 968) at eighteen, and retired at twenty; Enyu, who began to reign (A.D. 970) at eleven, and retired at twenty-six; Kwazan, who began to reign (A.D. 985) at seventeen, and retired at nineteen. At a period somewhat later than the one now under consideration, during the reign of Go-Nijo, who had just been made emperor (A.D. 1301) at seventeen, and who retired at nineteen, there were four retired emperors living. When the emperors retired they often went into a Buddhist monastery, taking the title of ho-o or cloistered emperor. From this sacred seclusion they continued many times to wield the powers of government.