The Mikado's Empire/Buku 1/Bab 27
XXVII.
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM.
WE have traced the rise and fall of no fewer than six families that held governing power in their persons or in reality. These were in succession the Sugawara, \Fujiwara, Taira, Minamoto, Hojo, and Ashi- kaga. The last half of the sixteenth century witnessed the rise, not of great families, but of individuals, the mark of whose genius and en- ergy is stamped upon Japanese history. These three individuals were Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and lyeyasu. Who and what were they ?
Nobunaga was one of many clan-leaders who, by genius and dar- ing, rose above the crowd, and planned to bring all the others in sub- jection to himself, that he might rule them in the mikado's name. From having been called Baka Dono (Lord Fool) by his enemies, he rose to be Nai Dai Jin, and swayed power equal to a shogun, but he never received that name or honor ; for not being a Minamoto, he was ineligible. But for this inviolable precedent, Nobunaga might have be- come Sei-i Tai Shogun, and founded a family line as proud and pow- erful as that of the Tokugawas of later time.
Who was Hideyoshi? This question was often asked, in his own time, by men who felt only too keenly what he was. This man, who manufactured his own ancestry on paper, was a parvenu from the peasant class, who, from grooming his master's horses in the stable, continued his master's work, as shogun, in the field, and, trampling on all precedent, amazed the Fujiwara peers by getting the office of kuambaku.
Who was lyeyasu ? Neither of his two predecessors had Minamoto blood. lyeyasu, though at first an obscure captain under Nobunaga, was of true Genji stock. The blood of mikados, and of the great conquerors of Eastern Japan, was in his veins. He was destined to eclipse even the splendor of his forefathers. He was eligible, by right of descent, to become Sei-i Tai Shogun, or chief of all the daimios.
The family of Tokugawa took its name from a place and river in Shimotsuke, near Ashikaga and Nitta — which are geographical as
THE PERFECTION OF DVARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 271
well as personal names — claimed descent from the mikado Seiwa through the Minamoto Yoshiiy6, thence through that of Nitta Yoshi- sada. Tokugawa Shiro, the father of Iy6yasu, lived in the village of Matsudaira, in Mikawa. lyeyasu always signed the documents sent to foreigners, Minamoto no lyeyastt.
As it is the custom in Japan, as in Europe, to name families after places, the name of this obscure village, Matsudaira, was also taken as a family name by nearly all vassals, who held their lands by direct grant from Iy6yasti. In 1867, no fewer than fifty-four daimios were holding the name Matsudaira. The title of the daimid in whose capi- tal the writer lived in 1871, was Matsudaira Echizen no Kami
Crest of the Tokugawa Family.
The Tokugawa crest was a circle inclosing three leaves of the awoi (a species of mallow, found in Central Japan) joined at the tips, the stalks touching the circle. This gilded trefoil gleamed on the Govern- ment buildings and property of the shogun, and on the official docu- ments, boats, robes, flags, and tombs. On Kaempfer's and Hildreth's books there is printed under it the misleading legend, " Insignia Im- peratoris Japonici." The trefoil flag fluttered in the breeze when Commodore Perry made his treaty under its shadow. To this day many foreigners suppose it to be the national flag of Japan. It was simply the family crest of the chief daimio in Japan.
The imperial court, yearning for peace, and finding in lyeyastt the person to keep the empire in order, command universal obedience, and
18
272 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
satisfy the blood requirements of precedent to the office, created him Sei-i Tai Shogun, and it was left to Minamoto Tokugawa lyeyasu to achieve the perfection of duarchy and Japanese feudalism.
Let us see how he arranged the chess-board of the empire. There were his twelve children, a number of powerful princes of large landed possessions whom he had not conquered, but conciliated ; the lesser daimios, who had joined him in his career ; his own retainers of every grade ; and a vast and miscellaneous array of petty feudal superiors, having grants of land and retinues of from three to one hundred fol- lowers. The long hereditary occupation of certain lands had given the holders a right which even lyeyasu could not dispute. Out of such complexity and chaos, how was such a motley array of proud and turbulent men to be reduced to discipline and obedience ? Upon such a palimpsest, how was an accurate map to be drawn, or a durable legible record to be written? lyeyasu had force, resources, and pa- tience. He was master of the arts of conciliation and of letting alone. He could wait for time to do its work. He would give men the op- portunity of being conquered by their own good sense.
Of lyeyasti's twelve children, three daughters married the daimios of Mimasaka, Sagami, and Hida. Of his nine sons, Nobuyasu died before his father became shogun. Hideyasu, his second son, had been adopted by the taiko, but a son was born to the latter. lyeyasu then gave his son the province of Echizen. Hence the Echizen clansmen, as relatives of the shogunal family, were ever their stanchest sup- porters, even until the cannon fired at Fushimi in 1868. Their crest was the same trefoil as that of their suzerain. When Hideyasu was enfeoffed with Echizen, many prominent men and heads of old families, supposing that he would, of course, succeed his father in office, followed him to his domain, and lived there. Hence in Fukui, the capital of Echizen, in which I lived during the year 1871, 1 became acquainted with the descendants of many proud families, whose ancestors had nursed a profound disappointment for over two centuries ; for lyeyasu chose his third son, Hidetada, who had married a daughter of the taiko, to succeed him in the shogunate.
Tadayashi, fifth son of lyeyasu, whose title was Matsudaira Satsuma no Kami, died young. At his death five of his retainers disemboweled themselves, that they might follow their young master into the happy land. This is said to be the last instance of the ancient custom of jun-shi (dying with the master), such as we have noticed in a former chapter. During the early and medieval centuries occur authentic in-
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 273
stances of such immolation, or the more horrible test of loyalty in the burial of living retainers to their necks in the earth, with only the head above ground, who were left to starve slowly to death. Burying a man alive under the foundations of a castle about to be built or in the pier of a new bridge, was a similar instance of lingering superstitions.
In the Bu Kan (" Mirror of the Military Families of Japan "), a com- plete list of the " Yedo nobility," or clans, no record is given of lye- yasu's sixth and ninth male children. On his three last sons were bestowed the richest fiefs in the empire, excepting those of Satsuma, Kaga, Mutsu, Higo, and a few others — all-powerful daimios, whose lands lyeyasu could not touch, and whose allegiance was only secured by a policy of conciliation. These three sons were invested with the principalities of Owari, Kii, and Mito. They founded three families, who were called Gosanke (the three illustrious families), and from these, in case of failure of heirs in the direct line, the shogun was to be chosen. The assessed revenue of these families were 610,500, 555,000, and 350,000 koku of rice, respectively. They were held in great respect, and wielded immense influence. Their yashikis in Yedo were among the largest, and placed in the most conspicuous and com- manding sites of the city. At the tombs of the shoguns at Shiba and Uyeno, the bronze memorial lanterns presented in honor of the de- ceased ruler are pre-eminent above all others for their size and beauty.
In the course of history down to 1868, it resulted that the first sev- en_ah^guns_were_d£sc_endants of lyeyasu in the line of direct heirs.* From the eighth, and thence^ downward to the sixteenth, or next to the last, the shoguns were all really of the blood of Kii. The Owari fam- ily was never represented on the seat of lyeyasu. It was generally believed, and is popularly stated, that as the first Prince of Mito had
- SHOGUNS OF THE TOKUGAWA FAMILY.
1. ly^yasQ 1603-1604
2. Hi<tetada 1605-1633
3. ly&nitsu 1633-1649
4. ly^tsuna 1650-1680
5. Tsunayoshi 1681-1708
6. ly^nobu 1709-1713
7. lyStsugu 1713-1716
8. Yoshimun(§... ,. 1717-1744
9. Iy6shig<§ 1745-1763
10. ly^haru 1763-1786
11. Iy<§nori 1787-1837
12. lydyoshi 1838-1853
13. Iy<§sada* 1853-1858)
14. Iy<§mochi 1858-1866 [•
15. Noriyoshit 1866-1868'
- First shogun ever styled Tai-knn (" Tycoon ") in a treaty document. The last three
shoguus were styled Tai-knn by themselves and foreigners. t Keiki, or Hitotsubashi, the last Sei-i Tai Shogun, still living (1376) at Shidzuoka, in Su-
274 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
married the daughter of an enemy of lyeyasu, the Mito family could not furnish an heir to the shogunate. In 1867, however, as we shall see, Keiki, a son of Mito, but adopted into the Hitotsubashi family, be- came the thirty-ninth and last Sei-i Tai Shogun of Japan, the fifteenth and last of Tokugawa, and the fourth and last " Tycoon " of Japan.
Next to the Gosanke ranked the Kokushiu (koku, province ; shiu, ruler) daimios, the powerful leaders whom lyeyasu defeated, or won over to obedience, but never tamed or conquered. He treated them rather as equals less fortunate in the game of war than himself. Some of them were direct descendants of the Kokushiu appointed by Yori- tomo, but most were merely successful military adventurers like lye- yasu himself. Of these, Kaga was the wealthiest. He ruled over Kaga, Noto, and Etchiu, his chief city and castle being at Kanezawa. His income was 1,027,000 koku. The family name was Maeda. There were three cadet families ranking as Tozama, two with incomes of 100,000, the other of 10,000 koku. The Maeda crest consisted of five circles, around ten short rays representing sword-punctures. The Shimadzu family of Satsuma ruled over Satsuma, Ozumi, Hiuga, and the Liu Kiu Islands — revenue, 710,000 koku; chief city, Kagoshima. There was one cadet of the house of Shimadzu, with a revenue of 27,000 koku. The crest was a white cross* within a circle.
The Datte family ruled over the old northern division of Hondo, called Mutsu; capital, Sendai; revenue, 325,000 koku. There were three cadet families, two having 30,000 koku ; and one, Uwajima, in lyo, 100,000. Their crest was two sparrows within a circle of bamboo and leaves.
The Hosokawa family ruled Higo ; income 540,000 : the chief city is Kumamoto, in which is one of the finest castles in Japan, built by Kato Kiy omasa. Of three cadets whose united incomes were 81,300 koku, two had cities in Higo, and one in Hitachi ; crest, eight disks around a central smaller disk.
The Kuroda family ruled Chikuzen ; revenue, 520,000 ; chief city Fukuoka ; crest, a black disk. One cadet in Kadzusa had 30,000 koku ; crest, a slice of cucumber. Another in Chikuzen ; revenue, 50,000 ; crest, Wistaria flowers.
- This cruciform figure of the Greek pattern puzzled Xavier, who suspected
theology in it. It has been a perpetual mare's-nest to the many would-be anti- quarians, who burn to immortalize themselves by unearthing Christian relics in Japan. It is a standard subject of dissertation by new-comers, who help to give a show of truth to the platitude of the ports, that " the longer one lives in Japan, the less he knows about it."
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 275
The Asano family ruled Aki; chief city, Hiroshima; revenue, 426,000 ; one cadet.
The Mori family ruled Choshiu ; chief city, Hagi ; revenue, 369,000. Of three cadet families, two were in Nagato, one was in Suwo. Their united incomes, 100,000 koku ; crest, a kind of water-plant.
The above are a few specimens from the thirty-six families outside of the Tokugawa, and the subject (fudai) clans, who, though not of the shogunal family, took the name of Matsudaira. There were, in 1862, two hundred and sixty-seven feudal families, and as many dai- mios of various rank, income, and landed possessions. Japan was thus divided into petty fragments, without real nationality, and utterly un- prepared to bear the shock of contact with foreigners.
The Tozama [outside (of the shogunal family) nobility] were cadet families of the Kokushiu, or the smaller landed lords, who held heredi- tary possessions, and who sided with lyeyasu in his rise to power. There were, in 1862, ninety whose assessed revenue ranged from ten to one hundred thousand koku each.
The Fudai (literally, successive generations) were the generals, cap- tains, and retainers, both civil and military, on whom lyeyasu be- stowed land as rewards. They were the direct vassals of the Toku- gawa family. The shogun could order any of them to exchange their fiefs, or could increase or curtail their revenues at will. They were to the shogun as the old " Six Guards " of Kioto, or household troops of the mediaeval mikadoate. There were, in 1862, one hundred and fif- teen of this class, with lands assessed at from ten to one hundred thousand koku. It was only the fudai, or lower-grade daimios, who could hold office under the Yedo bakufu, and one became regent, as we shall see.
When once firmly seated on the throne, lyeyasu found himself master of almost all Japan. His greatest care was to make such a disposal of his lands as to strike a balance of power, and to insure harmony among the host of territorial nobility, who already held or were about to be given lands. It must not be forgotten that lydyastt and his successors were, both in theory and reality, vassals of the em- peror, though they assumed the protection of the imperial person. Neither the shogun nor the daimios were acknowledged at Kioto as nobles of the empire. The lowest kuge was above the shogun in rank. The shogun could obtain his appointment only from the mi- kado. He was simply the most powerful among the daimios, who had won that pre-eminence by the sword, and who, by wealth and
276 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
power, and a skillfully wrought plan of division of land among the other daimios, was able to rule for over two and a half centuries. Theoretically, he was primus inter pares ; in actuality, he was supreme over inferiors. The mikado was left with merely nominal power, de- pendent upon the Yedo treasury for revenue and protection, but he was still the fountain of honor and preferment, and, with his court, formed what was the lawful, and, in the last analysis, the only true power. There was formed at Yedo the de facto, actual administrative government of the empire. With the imperial family, court, and no- bles, lyeyasu had nothing to do except as vassal and guardian. He simply undertook to settle the position and grade the power of the territorial nobles, and rule them by the strong hand of military force. Nevertheless, real titles were bestowed only by the emperor ; and an honor granted, however empty of actual power, from the Son of Heaven in Kioto was considered immeasurably superior to any gift which the awe-compelling chief daimio in Yedo could bestow. The possession of rank and official title is the ruling passion of a Japanese. The richest daimios, not content with their power and revenue, spent vast sums of money, and used every influence at the Kioto court, to win titles, once, indeed, the exponent of a reality that existed, but, since the creation of the duarchy and the decay of the mikado's ac- tual power, as absurdly empty as those of the mediatized princes of Germany, and having no more connection with the duties implied than the title of Pontifex Maximus has with those of Chief Bridge- builder in Rome.
The head of the proud Shimadzii family, with his vast provinces of Satsuma, Hiuga, Ozumi, and the Liu Kiu Islands, cared as much for the pompous vacuity of Shuri no daibu (" Chief of the Office of Ecclesiastical Carpenters ") as to be styled Lord of Satsuma.
It is in the geographical distribution of his feudal vassals that the genius of lyeyasu is seen. Wherever two powerful clans that still bore a grudge against the Tokugawa name were neighbors, he put be- tween them one of his own relatives or direct vassals, which served to prevent the two daimios from combining or intriguing. Besides dis- posing of his enemies so as to make them harmless, his object was to guard the capital, Kioto, so that aspiring leaders could never again seize the person of the mikado, as had been repeatedly done in times past. He thus removed a chronic element of disorder.
Echizen commands Kioto from the north ; it was given to his eldest son. Omi guards it from the east; it was divided among his direct
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHT AND FEUDALISM. 277
vassals, while Owari and Kii were assigned to his sons. His fudai vassals, or " household troops," were also ranged on the west, while to the south-west was Ozaka, a city in the government domain, ruled by his own officials. Thus the capital was completely walled in by friends of Tokugawa, and isolated from their enemies.
Mori, once the lord of ten provinces, and the enemy of Tokugawa, was put away into the extreme south-west of Hondo, all his territories except Nagato (Choshiu) being taken from him, and given to Toku- gawa's direct vassals. Opposite to Nagato were Kokura and Chikuzen, enemies of Nagato. We shall see the significance of this when we treat of events leading to the Restoration (1853-1868). Shikoku was properly divided, so as to secure a preponderance of Tokugawa's most loyal vassals. Kiushiu was the weakest part of the system ; yet even here Satsuma was last and farthest away, and Higo, his feudal rival and enemy, was put next, and the most skillful disposition possi- ble made of the vassals and friends of Tokugawa.
In the daimioates succession to their lands was hereditary, but not always to the oldest son, since the custom of adoption was very preva- lent, and all the rights of a son were conferred on the adopted one. Often the adopted child was no relation of the ruler. Sickly infants were often made to adopt a son, to succeed to the inheritance and keep up the succession. One of the most curious sights on occasions of important gatherings of samurai, was to see babies and little boys dressed in men's clothes, as " heads of families," sustaining the dignity of representing the family in the clan. I saw such a sight in 1871.
One great difference between the Japanese system and that of en- tails in Europe lay in this, that the estate granted to each daimio could not be added to, or diminished, either by marriage, or by pur- chase, or by might, except by express permission and grant from the shogun, the superior of all.
Next to the daimios ranked the hatamoto, or flag-supporters (Aata, flag ; moto, root, under), who were vassals of the shogun — his special dependence in war time — having less than ten thousand koku reve- nue. Each had from three to thirty retainers in his train. They were, in most cases, of good family, descendants of noted warriors. They numbered eighty thousand in various parts of the empire, but the majority lived in Yedo. They formed the great body of military and civil officials. The gokenin, many of the descendants of lyeya- su's private soldiers, were inferior in wealth and rank to the hatamoto, but with them formed the hereditary personal following of the slid-
278 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
gun, and constituted the Tokugawa clan proper, whose united reve- nues amounted to nearly nine million koku. The shogun, or chief daimio of the empire, has thus unapproachable military resources, fol- lowing, and revenue, and could overawe court and emperor above, princes and vassals beneath.
All included within the above classes and their military retainers were samurai, receiving hereditary incomes of rice from the Govern- ment. They were privileged to wear two swords, to be exempt from taxes. They may be styled the military-literati of the country. To the great bulk of these samurai were given simply their daily portion of rice ; to others, rations of rice for from two to five persons. Some of them received small offices or positions, to which land or other sources of income were attached. The samurai's ideas of honor forbade him to do any work or engage in any business. His only duty was to keep perfunctory watch at the castle or his lord's house, walk in his lord's retinue, or on stated occasions appear in ceremonial dress. His life was one of idleness and ease ; and, as may be imagined, the long cent- uries of peace served only to develop the dangerous character of this large class of armed idlers. Some, indeed, were studious, or engaged with zeal in martial exercises, or became teachers ; but the majority spent their life in eating, smoking, and lounging in brothels and tea- houses, or led a wild life of crime in one of the great cities. When too deeply in debt, or having committed a crime, they left their homes and the service of their masters, and roamed at large. Such men were called ronins, or " wave-men." Usually they were villains, ready for any deed of blood, the reserve mercenaries from which every conspir- ator could recruit a squad. Occasionally, the ronin was a virtuous cit- izen, who had left the service of his lord for an honorable purpose.
Ill fared it with the merchants. They were considered so low in the social scale that they had no right in any way to oppose or to remonstrate with the samurai. Among the latter were many noble examples of chivalry, men who were ever ready to assist the oppress- ed and redress their wrongs, often becoming knights-errant for the ben- efit of the wronged orphan and the widow, made so by a murderer's hand. But among the hatamoto and gokenin, especially among the victors of Sekigahara, cruelties and acts of violence were not only fre- quent and outrageous, but winked at by the Government officials. These blackmailers, in need of funds for a spree, would extort money under various pretexts, or none at all, from helpless tradesmen ; or their servants would sally out to a tea-house, and, having eaten or
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 279
drunk their fill, would leave without paying, swaggering, drunk, and singing between their tipsy hiccoughs. Remonstrances from the landlord would be met with threats of violence, and it was no rare thing for them, in their drunken fury, to slash off his head. Yet these same non-producers and genteel loafers were intensely sensitive on many points of honor, and would be ready at any moment to die for their master. The possession of swords, and the arrogance bred of their superiority as a privileged class, acted continually as a temp- tation to brawls and murder.
Edinburgh, in the old days of the clans, is perhaps the best illustra- tion of Yedo during the Tokugawa times. Certain localities in Yedo at night would not suffer by a comparison with the mining regions of California during the first opening of the diggings, when to " eat " a man, or to kill an Indian before breakfast, was a feather in the cap of men who lived with revolvers constantly in their belts. As there were always men in the gulches of whom it was a standing prophecy that they would " die with their boots on," so there was many a man in every city of Japan of whom it would be a nine days' wonder should he die with his head on. Of such men it was said that their death would be inujini (in a dog's place).
Yet the merchant and farmer were not left utterly helpless. The Otokodate were gallant and noble fellows, not of the samurai class, but their bitter enemies. The swash-bucklers often met their match in these men, who took upon themselves to redress the grievances of the unarmed classes. The Otokodate were bound together into a sort of guild to help each other in sickness, to succor each other in peril, to scrupulously tell the truth and keep their promises, and never to be guilty of meanness or cowardice. They lived in various parts of Japan, though the most famous dwelt in Yedo. They were the champions of the people, who loved and applauded them. Many a bitter conflict took place between them and the overbearing samurai, especially the " white-hilts." The story of their gallant deeds forms the staple of many a popular story, read with delight by the common people.
Below the samurai, or gentry, the three great classes were the farm- ers, artisans, and merchants. These were the common people. Be- neath them were the etas, who were skinners, tanners, leather-dressers, grave-diggers, or those who in any way handled raw -hide or buried animals. They were the pariahs, or social outcasts, of Japan. They were not allowed to enter a house, or to eat or drink, sit or cook at
280 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the same fire with other persons. These people were said by some to be descendants of Corean prisoners ; by others, to have been original- ly the people who killed animals for feeding the imperial falcons. As Buddhism prohibited the eating of animals as food, the eta were left out of the pale of society. The hinin (not human) were the lowest class of beggars, the squatters on waste lands, who built huts along the road, and existed by soliciting alms. They also attended to the execu- tion of criminals and the disposal of their corpses. In general, they were filthy and disgusting, in their rags and dirt.
There were thus, according to one division, eight classes of society : 1st, the kuge, Kioto or court nobility; 2d, the daimios, Yedo or ter- ritorial nobles ; 3d, the buke, or hatamoto, or samurai of lower rank than that of daimio and priest ; 4th, landed proprietors without title, and farmers, called hiyakusho ; 5th, artisans, carpenters, etc., called shokonin ; 6th, merchants, shop-keepers, and traders, called akindo ; 7th, actors, prostitutes, genteel beggars, etc. ; 8th, tanners, skinners, hinin, and eta.
Another division is that into four classes: 1st, military and official — samurai; 2d, agricultural — farmer; 3d, laboring — artisan; 4th, trading — merchant. Below the level of humanity were the eta and hinin.
This was the constitution of society in Japan during the rule of the Tokugawa until 1868.
lyeyasu, in 1600 and the years following, employed an army of 300,000 laborers in Yedo, in enlarging the castle, digging moats and canals, grading streets, filling marshes, and erecting buildings. His fleets of junks brought granite from Hiogo for the citadel and gate buttresses, and the river -boats the dark stone for the walls of the en- ceinte. His faith in the future of the city was shown in his ordering an immense outer ditch to be dug, which far more than completely encircled both castle and city, and gates and towers to be built, when as yet there was no wall connecting, or dwelling-houses within them, and city people sauntered out into the country to see and laugh at them. According to tradition, the great founder declared that walls would be built, and the city extend far beyond them. The prediction was verified ; for it is probable that within fifty years, as we know from old maps of Yedo, the land east of the river was built upon, and the city had spread to within two -thirds of its present proportions, and before the year 1700 had a population of over 500,000 souls. Yedo never did have, as the Hollanders guessed, and as our old text-
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCUY AND FEUDALISM. 283
books, in stereotyped phrase, told us, 2,500,000 souls. It is probable that, in 1857, when Mr. Townsend Harris, the American envoy, first entered it, it had as many as 1,000,000. In 1872, by official census, the population of Tokio, including that of the villages around it and under the municipal jurisdiction, was 925,000; of the city proper, 790,000 permanent residents, to which should be added nearly 100,000 floating population.
Outside of Yedo, the strength of the great unifier was spent on the public roads and highways, especially the Tokaido, or road skirting the Eastern Sea, which begins at Kioto and ends at Tokio. He ar- ranged fifty -three stations (skiki, relays, or post -stations), at which were hotels, pack-horses, baggage - coolies, and palanquin - bearers. A regular code of regulations to govern the movements of the daimios and nobles when traveling — the etiquette to be observed, the scale of prices to be charged — was duly arranged, and continued in force until 1868. The roads, especially the mountain-passes, bridges, and ferries, were improved, and one ri (measure of two and two -fifth miles) hill- ocks to mark the distances set up. The regulations required that the main roads should be thirty -six feet wide, and be planted with pine- trees along their length. Cross-roads should have a width of eighteen feet ; foot - paths, six ; and of by - paths through the fields, three feet. At the ferry-landing on either bank of a river there was to be an open space of about three hundred and sixty feet. Various other regula- tions, pertaining to minute details of life, sumptuary laws, and feudal regulations, were promulgated, and gradually came into force through- out the empire.
To defend the Kuanto, and strengthen his position as military ruler of the empire, he built or improved the nine castles of Mito, Utsuno- miya, Takasaki, Odawara, and five others in the Kuanto. At Sumpu, Ozaka, and Nijo, in Kioto, were also fine castles, and to their command officers were assigned. All these, and many other enterprises, required a vast outlay of money. The revenue of the empire amounted to near- ly 30,000,000 koku (165,000,000 bushels) of rice. Of this, nearly 9,000,000 koku were retained as the revenue of the Tokugawas. The mines were government property ; and at this time the gold of Sado was discovered, which furnished Iy6yasu with the sinews of war and peace. This island may be said to be a mass of auriferous quartz, and has ever since been the natural treasure-house of Japan.
lyeyasu had now the opportunity to prove himself a legislator, as well as a warrior. He began by granting amnesty to all who would
284 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
accept it. He wished the past forgotten. He regretted that so much blood had been spilled. He entered upon a policy of conciliation that rapidly won to his side all the neutral and nearly all the hostile clans. There were some who were still too proud or sullen to submit or ac- cept pardon. These were left quietly alone, the great unifier waiting for the healing hand of time. He felt sure of his present power, and set himself diligently to work during the remainder of his life to con- solidate and strengthen that power so that it would last for centuries.
lyeyasu was created Sei-i Tai Shogun in 1603. Only twice during his life-time was peace interrupted. The persecution of the Christians was one instance, and the brief campaign against Hideyori, the son of the taiko, was the second. Around this young man had gather- ed most of the malcontents of the empire. lyeyasu found or sought a ground of quarrel against him, and on the 3d of June, 1615, at- tacked the Castle of Ozaka, which was set on fire. A bloody battle, the last fought on the soil for two hundred and fifty-three years, re- sulted in the triumph of lyeyasu, and the disappearance of Hideyori and his mother, who were probably consumed in the flames. His tomb, however, is said to be in Kagoshima. It is most probably a cenotaph.
The greatest of the Tokugawas spent the last years of his life at Sumpu (Shidzuoka), engaged in erasing the scars of war, securing the triumphs of peace, perfecting his plans for fixing in stability his sys- tem of government, and in collecting books and manuscripts. He be- queathed his " Legacy," or code of laws (see Appendix), to his chief retainers, and advised his sons to govern in the spirit of kindness. He died on the 8th of March, 1616. His remains were deposited tem- porarily at Kuno Zan, a few miles from Snmpu, on the side of a love- ly mountain overlooking the sea, where the solemnity of the forest monarchs and the grandeur of sea and sky are blended together. Acting upon the dying wish of his father, Hidetada had caused to be erected at Nikko Zan, one hundred miles north of Yedo, a gorgeous shrine and mausoleum. The spot chosen was on the slope of a hill, on which, eight centuries before, the saintly bonze Shodo, following Kobo Daishi's theology, had declared the ancient Shinto deity of the mountain to be a manifestation of Buddha to Japan, and named him the Gongen of Nikko. Here Nature has glorified herself in snow- ranges of mighty mountains, of which glorious Nantaizan reigns king, his feet laved by the blue splendors of the Lake Chiuzenji, on which his mighty form is mirrored. Nikko means sunny splendor; and
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 286
through Japanese poetry and impassioned rhetoric ever sparkle the glories of the morning's mirror in Chiuzenji, and the golden floods of light that bathe Nantaizan. The water-fall of Kiri Take (falling mist), over seven hundred feet high; the lake's outlet; the foaming river, grassy green in its velocity; the colossal forests and inspiring scen- ery, made it the fit resting-place of the greatest character in Japanese history.
In 1617, his remains were removed from Kuno, and in solemn pag- eantry moved to Nikko, where the imperial envoy, vicar of the mikado, court nobles from Kioto, many of his old lords and captains, daimios, and the shogun Hidetada, awaited the arrival of the august ashes. The corpse was laid in its gorgeous tomb, before which the vicar of majesty presented the gohei, significant of the apotheosis of the mighty warrior, deified by the mikado as the divine vice-regent of the gods of heaven and earth, under the title Sho ichi i To Sho Dai Gongen, or " Noble of the first Degree of the first Rank, Great Light of the East, Great Incarnation of Buddha." During three days, a choir of Bud- dhist priests, in their full canonical robes, intoned the Hokke sacred classic ten thousand times. It was ordained that ever afterward th'3 chief priest of Nikko should be a prince of the imperial blood, under the title of Rinnoji no miya.
Of Hidetada, the successor of lyeyasu, there is little to record. The chief business of his life seems to have been to follow out the policy of his father, execute his plans, consolidate the central power, establish good government throughout the empire, and beautify, strengthen, and adorn Yedo.
lyemitsu, the grandson of lyeyasu, is acknowledged to have been the ablest ruler of all the Tokugawas after the founder, whose system he brought to perfection. In 1623, he went to Kioto to do homage to the mikado, who invested him with the title of Sei-i Tai Shogun. By this time many of the leaders and captains who had fought under lyeyasu, or those who most respected him for his prowess, were dead or superannuated, and had been succeeded by their sons, who, as though fated to follow historical precedent, failed to possess the vigor of their fathers, their associations being those of peace, luxury, and the effeminacy which follows war.
lyemitsu was a martinet as well as a statesman. He proposed that all the daimios should visit and reside in Yedo during half the year. Being at first treated as guests, the shogun coming out to meet them in the suburbs, they swore allegiance to his rules, sealing their signa-
286
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
tares, according to custom, with blood drawn from the third finger of
the right hand. Gradually, however, these rules became more and
more restrictive, until the honorable position degenerated into a con-
dition tantamount to mere vassalage. Their wives and children were
kept as hostages in Yedo, and the rendition of certain tokens of re-
spect, almost equivalent to homage to the shogun, became imperative.
During his rule the Christian insurrection and massacre at Shimabara
took place. The Dutch were confined to Deshima. Yedo was vastly
improved. Aqueducts, still in excellent use, were laid, to supply the city with water. To guard against the ev- er-threatening enemy, fife, watch-towers, or lookouts, such as are to be seen in every city, were erected in great numbers. Bells are hung at the top and a code
--**— — ™ I *"^ 31 \ ^Na! °^ S^gna^s» an(l a prescribed
' *J^ ^~ ' number of taps give the lo- cality and progress of the conflagration. Mints were established, coins struck, weights and measures fixed ; the system of official espion- age, checks, and counter- checks established; a gen- eral survey of the empire executed ; maps of the vari- Pire-lookonts in Yedo. (Height shown by a kite OUS provinces and plans of flown by a boy in the street.) ^ daimi5s> castleg were
made, and their pedigrees made out and published ; the councils called Hiojo-sho (Discussion and Decision), and Wakadoshi (Assembly of Elders), established, and Corean'envoys received.
The height of pride and ambition which lyemitsu had already reached is seen in the fact that, in a letter of reply from the bakufu to Corea, the shogun is referred to as Tai Kun (" Tycoon "), a title never conferred by the mikado on any one, nor had lyemitsu any le- gal right to it. It was assumed in a sense honorary or meaningless to any Japanese, unless highly jealous of the mikado's sovereignty, and
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHT AND FEUDALISM. 287
was intended to overawe the " barbarian " Coreans. It is best explain- able in the light of the Virgilian phrase, magna pars fui, or the less dignified " Big Indian I."
The building of the fine temples of Toyeizan, at Uyeno, in Yedo, and at Nikko, were completed in lyemitsii's time, he making five jour- neys thither. He died in 1649, after a prosperous rule of twenty-six years, and was buried with his grandfather at Nikko.
The successors of lyeyasu, the shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty, fourteen in all, were, with one exception, buried alternately in the cemeteries of Zozoji and Toyeizan, in the city districts of Shiba and Uy6no. These twin necropolises of the illustrious departed were the chief glories of Yedo, which was emphatically the city of the Toku- gawas. The remains of six of them lie in Uyeno, and six in Shiba, while two are at Nikko.
During the summer of 1872, in company with an American friend and three of my brightest students, I made a journey to Nikko, and for nearly a week reveled in its inspiring scenery and solemn asso- ciations. During my three years' residence in Tokio, I visited these twin sacred places many times, spending a half -day at a visit. No one has described these places better than Mr. Mitford, in his " Tales of Old Japan." He says : " It is very difficult to do justice to their beauty in words. I have the memory before me of a place green in winter, pleasant and cool in the hottest summer, of peaceful cloisters, of the fragrance of incense, of the subdued chant of richly robed priests, and the music of bells of exquisite designs, harmonious color- ing, and rich gilding. The hum of the vast city outside is unheard here, lyeyasu himself, in the mountains of Nikko, has no quieter resting-place than his descendants in the heart of the city over which he ruled."
Passing through an immense red portal on the north side of Shiba, we enter the precincts of the sacred place through a long, wide ave- nue, lined by overarching firs, and rendered solemnly beautiful by their shade. A runner is usually on hand to conduct visitors to the gate, inside of which a priest is waiting. We enter a pebbled court- yard, in which are ranged over two hundred large stone lanterns. These are the gifts of the fudai daimios. Each lantern is inscribed with the name of the donor, the posthumous title of the deceased sho- gun, the name of the temple at Shiba, and the province in which it is situated, the date of the offering, and a legend, which states that it is reverently offered. On the following page is the reading on one, and will serve as a specimen :
19
288 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
TO THE
ILLUSTRIOUS TEMPLE OF LEARNING*
[Posthumous title of the sixth Shogun lyenobu]
THIS STONE LANTERN, SET UP BEFORE THE TOMB AT THE TEMPLE OF ZOZOJI,
IN MUSASHI, IS REVERENTLY OFFERED
BY THE
RULING DA1MIO, NOBLE OF THE FIFTH RANK,
MASUYAMA FUJIWARA MASATO,
LORD OF TSUSHIMA,
IN THE SECOND YEAR OF THE PERIOD OF STRICT VIRTUE, IN THE CYCLE OF THE WATER DRAGON
[1711].
Passing through a handsomely gilt and carved gate-way, we enter another court -yard, the sides of which are gorgeously adorned. Within the area are bronze lanterns, the gift of the Kokushiu daimios. The six very large gilded lanterns standing by themselves are from the Go San Ke, the three princely families, in which the succession to the office of shogun was vested. To the left is a monolith lavatory ; and to the right is a splendid building, used as a depository of sacred utensils, such as bells, gongs, lanterns, etc., used only on matsuri, or festival days. Passing through another handsome gate which eclipses the last in richness of design, we enter a roofed gallery somewhat like a series of cloisters. In front is the shrine, a magnificent specimen of native architecture.
Sitting down upon the lacquered steps, we remove our shoes, while the shaven bonze swings open the gilt doors, and reveals a transept and nave, laid with finest white matting, and ceiled in squares wrought with elaborate art. The walls of the transept are arabesqued, and the panels carved with birds and flowers — the fauna of Japan, both real and mythical — and the various" objects in Japanese sacred and legend- ary art. In each panel the subjects are different, and richly repay
- The Tidmio, or posthumous titles of thirteen Tokugawa shoguns, are : 1, Great
Light of the East ; 2, Chief Virtue ; 3, Illustrious Enterprise ; 4, Strict Holding ; 5, Constant System ; 6, Literary Brightness ; 7, Upholder of the Plan ; 8, Up- holder of Virtue ; 9, Profound Faith ; 10, Steady Brightness ; 11, Learned Rever- ence ; 12, Learned Carefulness ; 13, Rigid Virtue.
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 280
study. The glory of motion, the passionate life of the corolla, and the perfection of nature's colors have been here reproduced in inani- mate wood by the artist. At the extremity of the nave is a short flight of steps. Two massive gilt doors swing asunder at the touch of priestly hands, and across the threshold we behold an apocalypse of splendor. Behind the sacred offertories, on carved and lacquered tables, are three reliquaries rising to the ceiling, and by their outer covering simulating masses of solid gold. Inside are treasured the tablets and posthumous titles of the august deceased. Descending from this sanctum into the transept again, we examine the canonical rolls, bell, book, and candles, drums and musical instruments, with which the Buddhist rites are celebrated and the liturgies read. Don- ning our shoes, we pass up a stone court fragrant with blossoming flowers, and shaded with rare and costly trees of every variety, form, and height, but overshadowed by the towering firs. We ascend a flight of steps, and arc in another pebbled and stone-laid court, in which stands a smaller building, called a haiden, formerly used by the living shogun as a place of meditation and prayer when making his annual visit to the tombs of his forefathers. Beyond it is still another flight of stone steps, and in the inclosure is a plain monumental urn, "This is the simple ending to so much magnificence" — the solemn application of the gorgeous sermon.
The visitor, on entering the cemetery by the small gate to the right of the temple, and a few feet distant from the great belfry, will see three tombs side by side. The first to the left is that of lyenobu, the sixth of the line, who ruled in 1709-1713. The urn and gates of the tomb are of bronze. The tomb in the centre is that of lyeyoshi, the twelfth, who ruled 1838-1854. The third, to the right, is that of lyemochi, the fourteenth shogun, who ruled 1858-1866, and was the last of his line who died in power.
From the tomb of lyemochi, facing the east and looking to the left, we may see the tombs of lyetsugu (l 7 13-1 7 16), the seventh, and of lyeshige (1745-1762), the ninth, shogun. Descending the steps and reaching the next stone platform, we may, by looking down to the left, see the tombs of a shogun's wife and two of his children. The court -yards and shrines leading to the tombs of lyetsugu and lyeshige are fully as handsome as the others. Hidetada (1606- 1623), the second prince of the line, is buried a few hundred yards south of the other tombs. The place is easily found. Passing down the main avenue, and turning to the right, we have a walk of a fur-
290 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
long or two up a hill, on the top of which, surrounded by cameiiia- trees, and within a heavy stone palisade, is a handsome octagon edi- fice of the same material. A mausoleum of gold lacquer rests up- right on a pedestal. The tomb, a very costly one, is in a state of perfect preservation. On one side of the path is a curiously carved stone, representing Buddha on his death-bed. The great temple of Zozoji belonged to the Jodo sect, within whose pale the Tokugawas lived and died.*
- This splendid temple and belfry was reduced to ashes on the night of Decem-
ber 31st, 1874, by a fanatic incendiary. It had been sequestrated by the Imperial Government, and converted into a Shinto miya. On a perfectly calm midnight, during a heavy fall of snow, the sparks and the flakes mingled together with in- describable effect. The new year was ushered in by a perpendicular flood of dazzling green flame poured up to an immense height. The background of tall cryptomeria trees heightened the grandeur of the fiery picture. As the volatil- ized gases of the various metals in the impure copper sheathing of the roof and sides glowed and sparkled, and streaked the iridescent mass of flame, it afforded a spectacle only to be likened to a near observation of the sun, or a view through a colossal spectroscope. The great bell, whose casting had been superintended by Iye"mitsu, and by him presented to the temple, had for two hundred years been the solemn monitor, inviting the people to their devotions. Its liquid notes could be heard, it is said, at Odawara. On the night of the fire the old bell-ringer leaped to his post, and, in place of the usual solemn monotone, gave the double stroke of alarm, until the heat had changed one side of the bell to white, the note deepening in tone, until, in red heat, the ponderous link softened and bent, dropping its burden to the earth. It is to be greatly regretted that the once sacred grounds of Shiba groves are now desecrated and common. " Sic transit gloria Tokugawarum."