Chapter XL…

Chapter XL

MIDDLE PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU; FROM THE FIFTH SHOGUN, TSUNAYOSHI, TO THE TENTH SHOGUN, IEHARU (1680-1786)

ACCESSION OF TSUNAYOSHI

IN 1680, the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, fell dangerously ill, and a council of the chief Bakufu officials was held to decide upon his successor. The Bakufu prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, proposed that the example of Kamakura should be followed, and that an Imperial prince should be invited to assume the office of shogun. Thereupon Hotta Masatoshi, one of the junior ministers, vehemently remonstrated. "Is the prime minister jesting?" he is reported to have asked. "There is no question whatever as to the succession. That dignity falls to Tsunayoshi and to Tsunayoshi alone. He is the legitimate son of the late shogun, Iemitsu, and the only brother of the present shogun, Ietsuna. If the minister is not jesting, his proposition is inexplicable." This bold utterance was received with profound silence, and after a few moments Sakai Tadakiyo retired from the council chamber.

It has to be remembered in connexion with this incident, that Tadakiyo exercised almost complete sway in the Bakufu Court at that time, and the fact that he yielded quietly to Hotta Masatoshi's remonstrance goes far to acquit him of any sinister design such as securing the whole administrative power for himself by setting up an Imperial prince as a mere figurehead. The more probable explanation is that as one of the consorts of the shogun Ietsuna was enceinte at that time, the Bakufu prime minister desired to postpone any family decision until the birth of her child, since to dispense with an Imperial prince would be as easy to procure one, whereas if one of the shogun's lineage were nominated, he would be difficult to displace. There had been born to Iemitsu five sons, of whom the eldest, Ietsuna, had succeeded to the shogunate, and three others had died, the only one remaining alive being Tsunayoshi, who, having been born in 1646, was now (1680) in his thirty-fourth year.

HOTTA MASATOSHI

On Tsunayoshi's accession the prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, was released from office, and Hotta Masatoshi became his successor. Naturally, as Masatoshi had been instrumental in obtaining the succession for Tsunayoshi, his influence with the latter was very great. But there can be no question that he deserves to rank as one of Japan's leading statesmen in any age, and that he devoted his signal abilities to the cause of progress and administrative purity. The result of his strenuous services was to check the corruption which had come to pervade every department of State in the closing years of the fourth shogun's sway, and to infuse the duties of government with an atmosphere of diligence and uprightness.

THE ECHIGO COMPLICATION

For several years prior to the accession of Tsunayoshi, the province of Echigo had been disturbed by an intrigue in the family of Matsudaira Mitsunaga. It is unnecessary to enter into further details. The incident was typical of the conditions existing in many of the barons' households, and the history of Japan furnishes numerous parallel cases. But connected with this particular example is the remarkable fact that the shogun himself finally undertook in the hall of justice to decide the issue, and that the rendering of justice by the chief of the Bakufu became thenceforth a not infrequently practised habit. Instructed by his prime minister, the shogun swept aside all the obstacles placed in the path of justice by corruption and prejudice; sentenced the principal intriguer to death; confiscated the Mitsunaga family's estate of 250,000 koku on the ground of its chief's incompetence, and severely punished all the Bakufu officials who had been parties to the plot.

THE ATAKA MARU

Another act of Tsunayoshi stands to the credit of his acumen. Although the third shogun, Iemitsu, had vetoed the building of any vessels exceeding five hundred koku capacity, his object being to prevent oversea enterprise, he caused to be constructed for the use of the Bakufu a great ship called the Ataka Maru, which required a crew several hundred strong and involved a yearly outlay figuring in the official accounts at one hundred thousand koku. One of Tsunayoshi's first orders was that this huge vessel should be broken up, and when his ministers remonstrated on the ground that she would be invaluable in case of emergency, he replied that if an insurrection could not be suppressed without such extraordinary instruments, the Bakufu might step down at once from the seats of power. "As for me," he added, "I have no desire to preserve such an evidence of constant apprehension and at such a charge on the coffers of the State."

ENCOURAGEMENT OF VIRTUE

Tsunayoshi also instructed his officials to search throughout the empire for persons of conspicuous filial piety and women of noted chastity. To these he caused to be distributed presents of money or pensions, and he directed the littérateurs of the Hayashi family to write the biographies of the recipients of such rewards. In fact, the early years of the shogun's administration constitute one of the brightest periods in the history of the Tokugawa Bakufu.

ASSASSINATION OF HOTTA MASATOSHI

On the 8th of October, 1684, the Bakufu prime minister, Hotta Masatoshi, was assassinated in the shogun's palace by one of the junior ministers, Inaba Masayasu, who met his death immediately at the hands of the bystanders. This extraordinary affair remains shrouded in mystery until the present day. Hotta Masatoshi was the third son of Masamori, who died by his own hand to follow his master, Iemitsu, to the grave. Masatoshi, inheriting a part of his father's domain, received the title of Bitchu no Kami, and resided in the castle of Koga, ultimately (1680) becoming prime minister (dairo) with an annual revenue of 130,000 koku. His high qualities are recorded above, but everything goes to show that he had more than the ordinary reformer's stubbornness, and that tolerance of a subordinate's errors was wholly foreign to his disposition. Even to the shogun himself he never yielded in the smallest degree, and by the majority of those under him he was cordially detested. The records say that on one occasion, when remonstrated with by his friend, the daimyo of Hirado, who warned him that his hardness and severity might involve him in trouble, Masatoshi replied, "I thank you for your advice, but so long as I am endeavouring to reform the country, I have no time to think of myself."

It is easy to understand that a man of such methods had enemies sufficiently numerous and sufficiently resolute to compass his death. On the other hand, Masayasu, his assassin, was related to him by marriage, and possessed an estate of 25,000 koku, as well as holding the position of junior minister of State. It is extremely unlikely that a man in such a position would have resorted to such a desperate act without great provocation or ample sanction. The question is, was the shogun himself privy to the deed? It is recorded that there was found on Masayasu's person a document expressing deep gratitude for the favours he had received at the hands of the shogun, and declaring that only by taking the life of Masatoshi could any adequate return be made. It is further recorded that the steward of the Bakufu, addressing the corpse of Masayasu, declared that the deceased had shown unparallelled loyalty. Again, history says that Mitsukuni, daimyo of Mito, repaired to the Inaba mansion after the incident, and expressed to Masayasu's mother his condolences and his applause. Finally, after Masatoshi's death, his son was degraded in rank and removed to a greatly reduced estate. All these things are difficult to explain except on the supposition that the shogun himself was privy to the assassination.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF CONFUCIANISM

The third shogun, Iemitsu, addressing the mother of his son, Tsimayoshi, is said to have expressed profound regret that his own education had been confined to military science. "That is to me," he is reported to have said, "a source of perpetual sorrow, and care should be taken that Tsunayoshi, who seems to be a clever lad, should receive full instruction in literature." In compliance with this advice, steps were taken to interest Tsunayoshi in letters, and he became so attached to this class of study that even when sick he found solace in his books. The doctrines of Confucius attracted him above all other systems of ethics. He fell into the habit of delivering lectures on the classics, and to show his reverence for the Chinese sages, he made it a rule to wear full dress on these occasions, and to worship after the manner of all Confucianists. It has already been related that a shrine of Confucius was built in Ueno Park by the Tokugawa daimyo of Owari, and that the third shogun, Iemitsu, visited this shrine in 1633 to offer prayer. Fifty years later, the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi, followed that example, and also listened to lectures on the classics by Hayashi Nobuatsu. Subsequently (1691), a new shrine was erected at Yushima in the Kongo district of Yedo, and was endowed with an estate of one thousand koku to meet the expenses of the spring and autumn festivals. Further, the daimyo were required to contribute for the erection of a school in the vicinity of the shrine. At this school youths of ability, selected from among the sons of the Bakufu officials and of the daimyo, were educated, the doctrines of Confucius being thus rendered more and more popular.

Under Tsunayoshi's auspices, also, many books were published which remain to this day standard works of their kind. Another step taken by the shogun was to obtain from the Court in Kyoto the rank of junior fifth class for Hayashi Nobuatsu, the great Confucian scholar, who was also nominated minister of Education and chief instructor at Kongo College. Up to that time it had been the habit of Confucianists and of medical men to shave their heads and use titles corresponding to those of Buddhist priests. In these circumstances neither Confucianists nor physicians could be treated as samurai, and they were thus excluded from all State honours. The distinction conferred upon Hayashi Nobuatsu by the Imperial Court effectually changed these conditions. The Confucianists ceased to shave their heads and became eligible for official posts. Thereafter, ten of Hayashi's disciples were nominated among the shogun's retainers, and were required to deliver lectures periodically at the court of the Bakufu. In short, in whatever related to learning, Tsunayoshi stands easily at the head of all the Tokugawa shoguns.

CHANGE OF CALENDAR

A noteworthy incident of Tsunayoshi's administration was a change of calendar, effected in the year 1683. The credit of this achievement belongs to a mathematician called Shibukawa Shunkai. A profound student, his researches had convinced him that the Hsuan-ming calendar, borrowed originally from China and used in Japan ever since the year A.D. 861, was defective. He pointed out some of its errors in a memorial addressed to the Bakufu under the sway of the fourth shogun, but the then prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, paid no attention to the document. Shunkai, however, did not desist. In 1683, an eclipse of the moon took place, and he demonstrated that it was erroneously calculated in the Chinese calendar. The fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi, was then in power, and the era of his reforming spirit had not yet passed away. He adopted Shunkai's suggestion and obtained the Imperial sanction for a change of calendar so that the Husan-ming system went out of force after 822 years of use in Japan.

JAPANESE LITERATURE

Tsunayoshi did not confine his patronage to Chinese literature; he devoted much energy to the encouragement of Japanese classical studies, also. Thus, in 1689, he invited to Yedo Kitamura Kigin and his son Shuncho and bestowed upon the former the title of Hoin together with a revenue of five hundred koku. This marked the commencement of a vigorous revival of Japanese literature in the Bakufu capital. Moreover, in Osaka a scholar named Keichu Ajari published striking annotations of the celebrated anthologies, the Manyo-shu and the Kokin-shu, which attracted the admiration of Tokugawa Mitsukuni, baron of Mito. He invited Keichu to his castle and treated him with marked consideration. These littérateurs were the predecessors of the celebrated Kamo and Motoori, of whom there will be occasion to speak by and by.

FINE ARTS

Tsunayoshi's patronage extended also to the field of the fine arts. The Tokugawa Bakufu had hitherto encouraged the Kano School only whereas the Tosa Academy was patronized by the Court at Kyoto. This partiality was corrected by Tsunayoshi., He invited Sumiyoshi Gukei--also called Hirozumi--the most distinguished pupil of Tosa Mitsuoki, bestowed on him a revenue of two hundred koku, and gave him the official position of chief artist of the Tosa-ryu, placing him on an equal footing with the chief of the Kano-ryu. It was at this time also that the ukiyoe (genre picture) may be said to have won popular favour. Contemporaneously there appeared some dramatic authors of high ability, and as the ukiyoe and the drama appealed mainly to the middle and lower classes, the domain of literature and the fine arts received wide extension. Thus, Chikamatsu Monzaemon, of Osaka, the greatest dramatist that his country ever possessed, composed plays which have earned for him the title of the "Shakespeare of Japan;" and as for the light literature of the era, though it was disfigured by erotic features, it faithfully reflected in other respects the social conditions and sentiments of the time.

THE MERCANTILE CLASS

From the commencement of Japanese history down to the second half of the seventeenth century, the canons and customs were dictated solely by the upper class, and neither merchants nor artisans were recognized as possessing any social or literary influence whatever. But in the middle period of the Tokugawa Bakufu--the Genroku period, as it is commonly called--the tradesman became a comparatively conspicuous figure. For example, in the realm of poetry, hitherto strictly reserved for the upper classes, the classic verse called renga (linked song) was considered to be sullied by the introduction of any common or every-day word, and therefore could be composed only by highly educated persons. This now found a substitute in the haikai, which admitted language taken from purely Japanese sources and could thus be produced without any exercise of special scholarship. Afterwards, by the addition of the hokku, an abbreviation of the already brief renga and haikai, which adapted itself to the capacities of anyone possessing a nimble wit or a sparkling thought, without any preparation of literary study, the range of poetry was still further extended. Matsuo Basho Was the father of the haikai and the hokku, and his mantle descended upon Kikaku, Ransetsu, Kyoriku, and other celebrities. They travelled round the country popularizing their art and immensely expanding the field of literature. The craft of penmanship flourished equally, and was graced by such masters as Hosoi Kotaku and Kitamura Sessan. Yedo, the metropolis of wealth and fashion, became also the capital of literature and the fine arts, and a characteristic of the era was the disappearance of charlatans, whether laymen or bonzes, who professed to teach the arcana of special accomplishments. In short, every branch of study passed out of the exclusive control of one or two masters and became common property, to the great advantage of original developments.

REMOVAL OF THE ROJU

What has thus far been written depicts the bright side of Tsunayoshi's administration. It is necessary now to look at the reverse of the picture. There we are first confronted by an important change of procedure. It had been the custom ever since the days of Ieyasu to conduct the debates of the council of ministers (Roju) in a chamber adjoining the shogun's sitting-room, so that he could hear every word of the discussion, and thus keep himself au courant of political issues. After the assassination of Hotta Masatoshi this arrangement was changed. The council chamber was removed to a distance, and guards were placed in the room where it had originally assembled, special officials being appointed for the purpose of maintaining communications between the shogun and the Roju. This innovation was nominally prompted by solicitude for the shogun's safety, but as its obvious result was to narrow his sources of information and to bring him under the direct influence of the newly appointed officials, there is strong reason to believe that the measure was a reversion to the evil schemes of Sakai Tadakiyo, who plotted to usurp the shogun's authority.

YANAGISAWA YASUAKI

Tsunayoshi had at that time a favourite attendant on whom he conferred the rank of Dewa no Kami with an estate at Kawagoe which yielded 100,000 koku annually. The friendship of the shogun for this most corrupt official had its origin in community of literary taste. Tsunayoshi lectured upon the "Doctrine of the Mean," and Yasuaki on the Confucian "Analects," and after these learned discourses a Sarugaku play, or some other form of light entertainment, was organized. The shogun was a misogynist, and Yasuaki understood well that men who profess to hate women become the slave of the fair sex when their alleged repugnance is overcome. He therefore set himself to lead the shogun into licentious habits, and the lecture-meetings ultimately changed their complexion. Tsunayoshi, giving an ideograph from his name to Yasuaki, called him Yoshiyasu, and authorized him to assume the family name of Matsudaira, conferring upon him at the same time a new domain in the province of Kai yielding 150,000 koku. Thenceforth, the administration fell entirely into the hands of this schemer. No prime minister (dairo) was appointed after the assassination of Hotta Masatoshi; the council of ministers became a mere echo of Yoahiyasu's will and the affairs of the Bakufu were managed by one man alone.

DOG MANIA

Tsunayoshi lost his only son in childhood and no other being born to him, he invited a high Buddhist priest to pray for an heir to the shogunate. This priest, Ryuko by name, informed Tsunayoshi that his childless condition was a punishment for taking animal life in a previous state of existence, and that if he wished to be relieved of the curse, he must show mercy, particularly to dogs, as he had been born in the year whose zodiacal sign was that of the "Dog." It seems strange that such an earnest believer in the Confucian doctrine should have had recourse to Buddhism in this matter. But here also the influence of Yoshiyasu is discernible. At his suggestion the shogun built in Yedo two large temples, Gokoku-ji and Goji-in, and Ryuko was the prelate of the former. An order was accordingly issued against slaughtering dogs or taking life in any form, the result being that all wild animals multiplied enormously and wrought great damage to crops. Thereupon the Bakufu issued a further notice to the effect that in case wild animals committed ravages, they might be driven away by noise, or even by firing blank cartridges, provided that an oath were made not to kill them. Should these means prove defective, instructions must be sought from the judicial department. Moreover, if any animal's life was taken under proper sanction, the carcass must be buried without removing any part of its flesh or skin. Violations of this order were to be severely punished, and it was enacted that an accurate register must be kept of all dogs owned by the people, strict investigations being made in the event of the disappearance of a registered dog, and the officials were specially warned against permitting one animal to be substituted for another. Strange dogs were to be well fed, and any person neglecting this obligation was to be reported to the authorities.

At first these orders were not very seriously regarded, but by and by, when many persons had been banished to Hachijo-jima for killing dogs; when several others had been reproved publicly for not giving food to homeless animals, and when officials of the supreme court were condemned to confinement for having taken no steps to prevent dog-fights, the citizens began to appreciate that the shogun was in grim earnest. A huge kennel was then constructed in the Nakano suburb of Yedo as a shelter for homeless dogs. It covered an area of about 138 acres, furnished accommodation for a thousand dogs, and was under the management of duly appointed officials, while the citizens had to contribute to a dog-fund, concerning which it was said that a dog's ration for a day would suffice a man for a day and a half.

Tsunayoshi came to be spoken of as Inu-kubo (Dog-shogun), but all his measures did not bring him a son; neither did their failure shake his superstitious credulity. Solemn prayers were offered again and again with stately pomp and profuse circumstance, and temple after temple was built or endowed at enormous cost, while the laws against taking animal life continued in force more vigorously than ever. Birds and even shell-fish were included in the provisions, and thus not only were the nation's foodstuffs diminished, but also its crops lay at the mercy of destructive animals and birds. It is recorded that a peasant was exiled for throwing a stone at a pigeon, and that one man was put to death for catching fish with hook and line, while another met the same fate for injuring a dog, the head of the criminal being exposed on the public execution ground and a neighbour who had reported the offence being rewarded with thirty ryo. We read, also, of officials sentenced to transportation for clipping a horse or furnishing bad provender. The annals relate a curious story connected with these legislative excesses. The Tokugawa baron of Mito, known in history as Komon Mitsukuni, on receiving evidence as to the monstrous severity with which the law protecting animals was administered, collected a large number of men and organized a hunting expedition on a grand scale. Out of the animals killed, twenty dogs of remarkable size were selected, and their skins having been dressed, were packed in a case for transmission to Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, whom people regarded as chiefly responsible for the shogun's delirium. The messengers to whom the box was entrusted were ordered to travel with all speed, and, on arriving in Yedo, to repair forthwith to the Yanagisawa mansion, there handing over the skins with a written statement that the Mito baron, having found such articles useful in the cold season, availed himself of this opportunity to submit his experience together with a parcel of dressed hides to the shogun through Yoshiyasu. It is said that the recipient of this sarcastic gift conceived a suspicion of the Mito baron's sanity and sent a special envoy to examine his condition.

FINANCE

In the sequel of this corrupt administration, this constant building of temples, and this profusion of costly ceremonials, the shogun's Government found itself seriously embarrassed for money. Ieyasu had always made frugality and economy his leading principles. He had escaped the heavy outlays to which his fellow barons were condemned in connexion with the Korean campaign, since his share in the affair did not extend beyond collecting a force in the province of Hizen. Throughout his life he devoted much attention to amassing a reserve fund, and it is said that when he resigned the shogunate to his son, he left 150,000 gold oban (one and a half million ryo), and nearly two million ounces (troy) of silver in the treasury. Further, during his retirement at Sumpu, he saved a sum of one million ryo. The same economy was practised by the second shogun, although he was compelled to spend large sums in connexion with his daughter's promotion to be the Emperor's consort, as well as on the repairs of Yedo Castle and on his several progresses to Kyoto. On the occasion of these progresses, Hidetada is said to have distributed a total of 4.217,400 ryo of gold and 182,000 ryo of silver among the barons throughout the empire. The third shogun, Iemitsu, was open handed. We find him making frequent donations of 5000 kwamme of silver to the citizens of Kyoto and Yedo; constructing the inner castle at Yedo twice; building a huge warship; entertaining the Korean ambassadors with much pomp; disbursing 400,000 ryo on account of the Shimabara insurrection, and devoting a million ryo to the construction and embellishment of the mausolea at Nikko. Nevertheless, on the whole Iemitsu must be regarded as an economical ruler.

As for his successor, Ietsuna, he had to deal with several calamitous occurrences. After the great fire in Yedo, he contributed 160,000 ryo for the relief of the sufferers; he rebuilt Yedo Castle, and he reconstructed the Imperial palace of Kyoto twice. In the Empo era (1673-1680), the country was visited by repeated famines, which had the effect of reducing the yield of the taxes and calling for large measures of relief. In these circumstances, a proposal was formally submitted recommending the debasement of the gold coinage, but it failed to obtain official consent. It may be mentioned that, in the year 1659, the treasury was reduced to ashes, and a quantity of gold coin contained therein was melted. With this bullion a number of gold pieces not intended for ordinary circulation were cast, and stamped upon them were the words, "To be used only in cases of national emergency." The metal thus reserved is said to have amounted to 160,000 ryo. The register shows that when the fifth shogun succeeded to power, there were 3,850,000 gold ryo in the treasury. But this enormous sum did not long survive the extravagance of Tsunayoshi.

After the assassination of Hotta Masatoshi, the administrative power fell entirely into the hands of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, and the example set by him for those under his guidance, and by his master, the shogun, soon found followers among all classes of the people. As an instance of ludicrous luxury it may be mentioned that the timbers intended for the repair of the castle in Yedo were wrapped in wadded quilts when transported to the city from the forest. Finally, the treasury became so empty that, when the shogun desired to repair to the mausolea at Nikko, which would have involved a journey of ten days at the most, he was compelled to abandon the idea, as the officials of the treasury declared themselves unable to find the necessary funds. That sum was calculated at 100,000 ryo, or about as many pounds sterling, which fact is alone sufficient to convey an idea of the extravagance practised in everything connected with the Government.

The immediate outcome of this incident was the summoning of a council to discuss the financial situation, and after much thought the suggestion of Hagiwara Shigehide, chief of the Treasury, was accepted, namely, wholesale debasement of the gold, silver, and copper coins. The old pieces, distinguished as "Keicho coins," that being the name of the year period (1596-1614) when they were minted, were replaced by greatly inferior "Genroku coins" (1688-1703), with the natural results--appreciation of commodities and much forging of counterfeit coins. Presently the Government is found levying a tax upon 27,200 sake brewers within the Kwanto, and, in 1703, fresh expedients became necessary to meet outlays incurred owing to a great earthquake and conflagration which destroyed a large part of Yedo Castle and of the daimyo's mansions. Further debasement of the currency was resorted to, the new coins being distinguished by the term "Hoei," after the name of the year-period when they were minted.

About this time several of the feudatories found themselves in such straits that they began to issue paper currency within their dominions, and this practice having been interdicted by the Bakufu, the daimyo fell back upon the expedient of levying forced loans from wealthy merchants in Osaka. Meanwhile, the crime of forgery became so prevalent that, in the interval between 1688 and 1715, no less than 541 counterfeiters were crucified within the districts under the direct control of the Bakufu., The feudatory of Satsuma is credited with having justly remarked that the victims of this cruel fate suffered for their social status rather than for their offence against the law, the real counterfeiters being Yanagisawa and Hagiwara, who were engaged continuously in uttering debased coins.

It must be admitted in behalf of the financiers of that era that their difficulties were much accentuated by natural calamities. The destructive earthquake of 1703 was followed, in 1707, by an eruption of Fuji, with the result that in the three provinces of Musashi, Sagami, and Suruga, considerable districts were buried in ashes to the depth of ten feet, so that three years and a heavy expenditure of, money were required to restore normal conditions. Thenceforth the state of the Bakufu treasury went from bad to worse. Once again Hagiwara Shigehide had recourse to adulteration of the coinage. This time he tampered mainly with the copper tokens, but owing to the unwieldy and impure character of these coins, very great difficulty was experienced in putting them into circulation, and the Bakufu financiers finally were obliged to fall back upon the reserve of gold kept in the treasury for special contingencies. There can be no doubt that Japan's foreign trade contributed materially to her financial embarrassment, but this subject will be subsequently dealt with.

TSUNAYOSHI'S FAVOURITE

When Tsunayoshi became shogun, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu occupied the position of a low-class squire in the shogun's household and was in receipt of a salary of three hundred koku yearly. Four years later, he received the title of Dewa no Kami and his revenue was increased to 100,000 koku. Finally, in 1703, he was appointed daimyo of Kai province and came into the enjoyment of a total income of 150,000 koku. This was the more remarkable inasmuch as, owing to the strategical importance of Kai, it had been reserved as a fief for one of the Tokugawa family, and its bestowal on a complete outsider was equivalent to the admission of the latter into the Tokugawa circle. This remarkable promotion in rank and income shows how completely the shogun had fallen under the influence of his favourite, Yoshiyasu, who exhibited wonderful skill in appealing at once to the passions and to the intellect of his master. Some historians of the time relate that the shogun's infatuation betrayed him into promising to raise Yoshiyasu's revenue to a million koku, and to nominate as successor to the shogunate a son borne by Yoshiyasu's wife to Tsunayoshi; but according to tradition, these crowning extravagances were averted on the very night preceding the day of their intended consummation, the shogun being stabbed to death by his wife, who immediately committed suicide. This tale, however, has been shown to be an invention with no stronger foundation than the fact that Tsunayoshi's death took place very suddenly at a highly critical time. It is not to be doubted that many of the excesses and administrative blunders committed by the fifth Tokugawa shogun were due to the pernicious influence of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu.

DECLINE OF THE SAMURAI SPIRIT

The no dance was among the indulgences which Tsunayoshi affected and among the accomplishments in which he himself excelled. He took into his service a number of skilled dancers of the no, and treated them as hereditary vassals, setting aside the chamber of the Paulownia for their use. These performers, whatever their origin, received the treatment of samurai, and their dainty posturing in the dance became a model for the lords of the Bakufu Court, so that the simple demeanour of military canons was replaced by a mincing and meretricious mien. Another favourite dance in Yedo Castle was the furyu. A book of the period describes the latter performance in these terms: "Sixteen youths made their appearance; they all wore wide-sleeved robes and purple figured silk with embroidery of oak leaves in gold and silver threads. They carried two swords with gold mountings and scarlet tassels, so that when they danced in harmony with the flutes and drums the spectacle presented was one of dazzling brilliancy." Thenceforth this "Genroku dance," as it came to be called, obtained wide vogue. The same is true of the joruri, which is one of the most emotional forms of chant. Hitherto the samisen had been regarded as a vulgar instrument, and its use had never received the sanction of aristocratic circles. But it now came into favour with all classes of women from the highest to the lowest, and the singing of the joruri was counted a far more important accomplishment than any kind of domestic education.

Such an appeal to the emotional side of human nature could not fail to undermine the stoicism of the samurai and the morality of society in general. The practice of the military arts went out of fashion, and it became an object with the bushi not only to have his sword highly ornamented, but also to adapt its dimensions to the fashion of the moment, thus sacrificing utility to elegance. In short, the Genroku era (1688-1703) was essentially a time of luxury and extravagance, its literature abounding in theatrical plays, songs, verses, and joruri, and its ideals involving the sacrifice of the noble to the elegant. Men were promoted in rank not merely because they could dance gracefully, but also because they made themselves conspicuous for kindness to dogs, in obedience to the shogun's foible, and as many of these men had not learned to ride on horseback they petitioned for permission to use palanquins. This marked a signal departure from the severe rules of former days. Street palanquins (machi-kago) ultimately came into use by all who could afford the luxury. In short, the ancient order of educational precedence was reversed, and polite accomplishments took the place of military science.

ENGRAVING: FORTY-SEVEN RONIN

THE AKO VENDETTA

Nevertheless, this degenerate era produced one of the most remarkable acts of self-sacrificing loyalty that stand to the credit of Japanese samurai. On the 7th of February, 1703, forty-seven bushi, under the leadership of Oishi Yoshio, forced their way into the mansion of Kira Yoshihide; killed him in order to avenge the death of their feudal chief, Asano Naganori, daimyo of Ako; and then surrendered themselves to justice. Under the title of The Forty-seven Ronins, this story has been told in history, on the stage, and in all forms of literature, so that its details need not be repeated here. It will suffice to say that, under great provocation, the Ako feudatory drew his sword in the precincts of Yedo Castle and cut down Kira Yoshihide, for which breach of court etiquette rather than for the deed of violence, the Ako baron was condemned to commit suicide and his estates were confiscated. Thereupon, forty-seven of his principal vassals pledged themselves to wreak vengeance, and, after nearly two years of planning and watching, they finally succeeded in achieving their purpose. Degenerate as was the spirit of the time, this bold deed aroused universal admiration. The vendetta was not illegal in Japan. It had been practised from medieval times and often with direct sanction of the authorities. But in no circumstances was it officially permissible within the cities of Kyoto, Yedo, Osaka, and Sumpu, or in the vicinity of the shogun's shrines. The forty-seven ronins had therefore committed a capital crime. Yet they had only obeyed the doctrine of Confucius, and the shogun therefore endeavoured to save their lives. More than a year was spent discussing the issue, and it is recorded that Tsunayoshi appealed to the prince-abbot of Ueno in order to secure his intervention in the cause of leniency. The day was ultimately carried by the advocates of stern justice, and the forty-seven ronins were ordered to commit suicide.

They obeyed without a murmur. One of them, Terasaka Kichiemon by name, had been sent to carry the news to Ako immediately after the perpetration of the deed of vengeance. He returned when his comrades were condemned and gave himself up to the authorities, but they declined to punish him on the ground that the case had already been disposed of. The eminent Confucian scholar, Hayashi Nobuatsu, petitioned for the pardon of the ronins, and the scarcely less celebrated Muro Kyuso compiled a book describing the incident; but, for some reason never fully explained, the noteworthy scholar, Ogyu Sorai, took the opposite side. One act of the authorities is eloquent as to the sentiment prevailing at the time. They condemned Yoshihide's son, Yoshikata, to be deprived of his ancestral domain for not having died in company with his father. As for the feeling of the nation at large, it was abundantly manifested by many of the great feudatories, who vied with one another in conferring offices and revenues on the sons and grandsons of the "Forty-seven."

YAMAGA SOKO

The affair of the forty-seven ronins helped to bring into eminence the name of Yamaga Soko, a firm believer in Confucianism and an ardent follower of military science. Amid an environment of unfavourable conditions Soko preached the cult of bushido, and was the first to embody that philosophy in a written system. His books--the Shi-do (Way of the Warrior) and Bukyo Shogaku (Military Primer)--contain minute instructions as to the practice and the morale of the samurai. Soko rejected the Chutsz interpretation, then in vogue, of the Chinese classics, and insisted on the pure doctrine of the ancient sages, so that he found himself out of touch with the educational spirit of the time. Thus, falling under the displeasure of the Bakufu, he was charged with propagating heterodox views and was sent to Ako to be kept in custody by Asano Naganori, who treated him throughout with courtesy and respect. In return, Soko devoted his whole energy during nineteen years to the education of the Ako vassals, and the most prominent of the Forty-seven Ronins was among his pupils.

THE SIXTH SHOGUN, IENOBU

Tsunayoshi died of small-pox in 1709, after a brief illness. He had no son, and: five years previously, his nephew Ienobu (third son of his deceased elder brother, Tsunashige) had been declared heir to the shogunate. Having been born in 1662, Ienobu was in his forty-seventh year when he succeeded to the office of shogun. His first act was to abolish Tsunayoshi's legislation for the protection of animals. He is said to have offered the following explanation at the tomb of the deceased shogun: "You desired to protect living animals and strictly interdicted the slaughter of any such. You willed that even after your death the prohibition should be observed. But hundreds of thousands of human beings are suffering from the operation of your law. To repeal it is the only way of bringing peace to the nation."

ARAI HAKUSEKI

Ienobu gave evidence of his sagacity by dismissing Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the corrupt favourite of the late shogun; by appointing in his stead Manabe Norifusa to the office of personal assistant (soba yoniri), and by reposing full confidence in Arai Hakuseki. This last is recognized by posterity as the most distinguished among Japanese Confucianists. He studied the literature of both the Tang and the Sung dynasties, and he laboured to apply the precepts of Chinese philosophy to the practical needs of his own country. Moreover, he devoted exceptional attention to the conditions existing in Occidental States, and he embodied his thoughts and researches on the latter subject in a book called Sairan Igen, the first treatise of its kind published in Japan.

A practical illustration of his knowledge was furnished in connexion with the reception of Korean envoys. It had been customary to convey to these officials an imposing conception of Japanese magnificence by treating them with lavish hospitality. Hakuseki was able to detect that the conduct of the envoys violated in many respects the rules of Chinese etiquette, and having obtained the shogun's nomination to receive the envoy, Cho, he convinced the latter that there must be no more neglect of due formalities. He then memorialized the shogun in the sense that these Korean ambassadors were merely Chinese spies, and that instead of receiving a lavish welcome, they should be required to limit their journey to the island of Tsushima, where only a very restricted ceremonial should be performed in their honour. This shrewd, though somewhat conservative, suggestion elicited general approval, but was not carried into effect until the time of the eleventh shogun.

ENGRAVING: ARAI HAKUSEKI

ADJUSTMENT OF THE FINANCES

It has been shown above that the fifth shogun bequeathed to his successor a much embarrassed treasury. In this realm, also, the advice of Arai Hakuseki proved invaluable. In his volume of reminiscences there is an interesting statement connected with finance. It quotes Hagiwara Shigehide, commissioner of the Treasury, as saying that the shogun's estate at that time yielded four million koku annually, in addition to which there accrued from 760,000 ryo to 770,000 ryo in money, representing the proceeds of dues and taxes. In this latter sum was included 40,000 ryo, customs duties collected at Nagasaki, and 6000 ryo yielded by a tax on sake. The same report mentions that a sum of 160,000 ryo had been expended in clearing away the volcanic ashes which fell in the three provinces of Musashi, Sagami, and Suruga after the great eruption of Fujisan. Arai Hakuseki was able to prove the erroneous character of this report, but his demonstration did not impugn any of the above figures. Incidentally it is mentioned in Arai's comments that 700,000 ryo were allotted for building an addition to Yedo Castle, and 200,000 ryo for the construction of the deceased shogun's mausoleum, out of which total Hakuseki explicitly charges the officials, high and low alike, with diverting large sums to their own pockets in collusion with the contractors and tradesmen employed on the works. Another interesting investigation made by Arai Hakuseki is in connexion with the country's foreign trade. He showed that the amount of coins exported from Nagasaki alone, during one year, totalled 6,192,800 ryo of gold; 1,122,687 kwamme of silver and 228,000,000 kin of copper.* He alleged that the greater part of this large outflow of specie produced nothing except luxuries with which the nation could very well dispense, and he therefore advised that the foreign trade of Nagasaki should be limited to thirteen Chinese junks and two Dutch vessels annually, while stringent measures should be adopted to prevent smuggling.

*One kin equals 1.25 lbs.

The ordinance based upon this advice consisted of two hundred articles, and is known in history as the "New Nagasaki Trade Rules of the Shotoku Era" (1711-1715). One portion of the document ran as follows: "During the Jokyo era (1684-1687), the trade with Chinese merchants was limited to 6000 kwamme of silver, and that with Dutch traders to 50,000 ryo of gold, while the number of Chinese vessels was not allowed to exceed seventy per annum. After a few years, however, copper coins came into use as media of exchange in addition to silver, and moreover there was much smuggling of foreign goods. Thus, it resulted that gold, silver, and copper flowed out of the country in great quantities. Comparing the aggregate thus exported during the 107 years since the Keicho era with the amount coined in Japan during the same interval, it is found that one-quarter of the gold coins and three-quarters of the silver left the country. If that state of affairs continue, it is obvious that after a hundred years from the present time one-half of the empire's gold will be carried away and there will be no silver at all left. As for copper, the sum remaining in the country is insufficient, not only for purposes of trade but also for the needs of everyday life. It is most regrettable that the nation's treasure should thus be squandered upon foreign luxuries. The amount of currency needed at home and the amount produced by the mines should be investigated so as to obtain a basis for limiting the foreign trade at the open ports of Nagasaki, Tsushima, and Satsuma, and for fixing the maximum number of foreign vessels visiting those places."

IMPEACHMENT OF HAGIWARA SHIGEHIDE

In connexion with Arai Hakuseki's impeachment of the Treasury commissioner, Hagiwara Shigehide, it was insisted that an auditor's office must be re-established, and it was pointed out that the yield of rice from the shogun's estates had fallen to 28.9 per cent, of the total produce instead of being forty per cent., as fixed by law. Nevertheless, the condition of the farmers was by no means improved, and the inevitable inference was that the difference went into the pockets of the local officials. Similarly, enormous expenses were incurred for the repair of river banks without any corresponding diminution of floods, and hundreds of thousands of bags of rice went nominally to the bottom of the sea without ever having been shipped. During the year that followed the reconstruction of the auditor's office, the yield of the estates increased by 433,400 bags of rice, and the cost of riparian works decreased by 38,000 ryo of gold, while, at the same time, the item of shipwrecked cereals disappeared almost completely from the ledgers. In consequence of these charges the commissioner, Shigehide, was dismissed. History says that although his regular salary was only 3000 koku annually, he embezzled 260,000 ryo of gold by his debasement of the currency, and that ultimately he starved himself to death in token of repentance.

Ienobu and his able adviser, Hakuseki, desired to restore the currency to the system pursued in the Keicho era (1596-1614), but their purpose was thwarted by insufficiency of the precious metals. They were obliged to be content with improving the quality of the coins while decreasing their weight by one half. These new tokens were called kenji-kin, as they bore on the reverse the ideograph ken, signifying "great original." The issue of the new coins took place in the year 1710, and at the same time the daimyo were strictly forbidden to issue paper currency, which veto also was imposed at the suggestion of Arai Hakuseki.

THE SEVENTH SHOGUN, IETSUGU

The seventh Tokugawa shogun, Ietsugu, son of his predecessor, Ienobu, was born in 1709, succeeded to the shogunate in April, 1713, and died in 1716. His father, Ienobu, died on the 13th of November, 1712, so that there was an interval of five months between the demise of the sixth shogun and the accession of the seventh. Of course, a child of four years who held the office of shogun for the brief period of three years could not take any part in the administration or have any voice in the appointment or dismissal of officials. Thus, Arai Hakuseki's tenure of office depended upon his relations with the other ministers, and as all of these did not approve his drastic reforms, he was obliged to retire, but Manabe Norifusa remained in office.

ENGRAVING: TOKUGAWA YOSHIMUNE

THE EIGHTH SHOGUN, YOSHIMUNE

By the death of Ietsugu, in 1716, the Hidetada line of the Tokugawa family became extinct, and a successor to the shogunate had to be sought from the Tokugawa of Kii province in the person of Yoshimune, grandson of Yorinobu and great-grandson of Ieyasu. Born in 1677, Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun, succeeded to office in 1716, at the age of thirty-nine. The son of a concubine, he had been obliged to subsist on the proceeds of a very small estate, and he therefore well understood the uses of economy and the condition of the people. His habits were simple and plain, and he attached as much importance as Ieyasu himself had done to military arts and literary pursuits. It had become a custom on the occasion of each shogun's succession to issue a decree confirming, expanding, or altering the systems of the previous potentate. Yoshimune's first decree placed special emphasis on the necessity of diligence in the discharge of administrative functions and the eschewing of extravagance. Always he made it his unflagging aim to restore the martial spirit which had begun to fade from the samurai's bosom, and in the forefront of important reforms he placed frugality. The Bakufu had fallen into the habit of modelling their systems and their procedure after Kyoto examples. In fact, they aimed at converting Yedo into a replica of the Imperial capital. This, Yoshimune recognized as disadvantageous to the Bakufu themselves and an obstacle to the resuscitation of bushido. Therefore, he set himself to restore all the manners and customs of former days, and it became his habit to preface decrees and ordinances with the phrase "In pursuance of the methods, fixed by Gongen" (Ieyasu). His idea was that only the decadence of bushido could result from imitating the habits of the Imperial Court, and as Manabe Norifusa did not endorse that view with sufficient zeal, the shogun relieved him of his office of minister of the Treasury.

One of Yoshimune's measures was to remodel the female department of the palace on the lines of simplicity and economy. All the ladies-in-waiting were required to furnish a written oath against extravagance and irregular conduct of every kind, and in the sixth year after his accession the shogun ordered that a list should be furnished setting forth the names and ages of such of these ladies as were, conspicuously beautiful. Fifty were deemed worthy of inscription, and quite a tremor of joyful excitement was caused, the measure being regarded as prefacing the shogun's choice of consorts. But Yoshimune's purpose was very different. He discharged all these fair-faced ladies and kept only the ill-favoured ones, his assigned reason being that as ugly females find a difficulty in getting husbands, it would be only charitable to retain their services.

He revived the sport of hawking, after the manner of Ieyasu, for he counted it particularly suitable to soldiers; and he pursued the pastime so ardently that men gave him the name of the Taka-shogun (Falcon shogun). He also inaugurated a new game called uma-gari (horse-hunting); and it is on record that he required the samurai to practise swimming in the sea. By way of giving point to his ordinances inculcating frugality, he himself made a habit of wearing cotton garments in winter and hempen in summer--a custom habitually practised by the lower orders only. The very detailed nature of his economical measures is illustrated by an incident which has independent interest. Observing that the fences erected on the scarp of Yedo Castle were virtually useless for purposes of defence and very costly to keep in repair, he caused them all to be pulled down and replaced by pine trees. This happened in 1721, and the result was that the battlements of this great castle were soon overhung by noble trees, which softened and beautified the military aspect of the colossal fortress. To the same shogun Yedo owes the cherry and plum groves of Asuka-yama, of the Sumida-gawa, and of Koganei. The saplings of these trees were taken from the Fukiage park, which remains to-day one of the most attractive landscape gardens in the world.

ENGRAVING: VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN, KYOHO ERA

OTHER MEASURES

For the purpose of acquiring accurate information about the condition of the people, Yoshimune appointed officials who went by the name of niwa-ban (garden watchmen). They moved about among the lower orders and reported everything constituting knowledge useful for administrative purposes. Moreover, to facilitate the ends of justice, the shogun revived the ancient device of petition-boxes (meyasu-bako), which were suspended in front of the courthouse in order that men might lodge there a written statement of all complaints. It was by Yoshimune, also, that the celebrated Ooka Tadasuke, the "Solomon of Japan," was invited from Yamada and appointed chief justice in Yedo. The judgments delivered by him in that capacity will be famous as long as Japan exists. It has to be noted, however, that the progressive spirit awakened by Yoshimune's administration was not without untoward results. Extremists fell into the error of believing that everything pertaining to the canons of the immediate past must be abandoned, and they carried this conception into the realm of foreign trade, so that the restrictions imposed in the Shotoku era (1711-1715) were neglected. It became necessary to issue a special decree ordering the enforcement of these regulations, although, as will presently be seen, Yoshimune's disposition towards the civilization of the Occident was essentially liberal.

CODES OF LAW

By this time the miscarriages of justice liable to occur when the law is administered with regard to precedent only or mainly, began to be plainly observable, and the shogun, appreciating the necessity for written codes, appointed a commission to collect and collate the laws in operation from ancient times; to embody them in codes, and to illustrate them by precedents. Matsudaira Norimura, one of the ministers of State, was appointed chief commissioner, and there resulted, after four years of labour, the first genuine Japanese code (Oshioki Ojomoku). This body of laws was subsequently revised by Matsudaira Sadanobu, and under the name of Osadame Hyakkajo ("Hundred Articles of Law"), it remained long in practice.

LITERATURE

Yoshimune was not behind any of his ancestors in appreciation of learning. In 1721, when his administrative reforms were still in their infancy, he invited to Yedo Kinoshita Torasuke (son of the celebrated Kinoshita Junan), Muro Nawokiyo, and other eminent men of letters, and appointed them to give periodical lectures. Nawokiyo was named "adviser to the shogun," who consulted him about administrative affairs, just as Arai Hakuseki had been consulted by Ienobu. In fact, it was by the advice of Arai Hakuseki that Nawokiyo (whose literary name was Kyuso), entered the service of Yoshimune. Contemporaneous with these littérateurs was the renowned Ogyu Sorai, whose profound knowledge of finance and of administrative affairs in general made him of great value to the Bakufu. He compiled a book called Seidan (Talks on Government) which, immediately became a classic. Special favour was shown to the renowned Confucianist, Hayashi Nobuatsu. He and his son were asked to deliver regular lectures at the Shohei College, and these lectures were the occasion of a most important innovation, namely, the admission of all classes of people, whereas previously the audience at such discourses had been strictly limited to military men.

It is to be observed that in the days of Yoshimune's shogunate the philosophy of Chutsz (Shu-shi) was preferred to all others. It received the official imprimatur, the philosophy of Wang Yang-ming (O Yo-mei) being set aside. One consequence of this selection was that the Hayashi family came to be regarded as the sole depositories of true Confucianism. Yoshimune himself, however, was not disposed to set any dogmatic limits to the usefulness of men of learning. He assumed an absolutely impartial attitude towards all schools; adopting the good wherever it was found, and employing talent to whatever school it belonged. Thus when Kwanno Chqkuyo established a place of education in Yedo, and Nakai Seishi did the same in Osaka, liberal grants of land were made by the Bakufu to both men. Another step taken by the shogun was to institute a search for old books throughout the country, and to collect manuscripts which had been kept in various families for generations. By causing these to be copied or printed, many works which would otherwise have been destroyed or forgotten were preserved.

It is notable that all this admirable industry had one untoward result: Japanese literature came into vogue in the Imperial capital, and was accompanied by the development of a theory that loyalty to the sovereign was inconsistent with the administration of the Bakufu. The far-reaching consequences of this conception will be dealt with in a later chapter. Here, it is sufficient to say that one of the greatest and most truly patriotic of the Tokugawa shoguns himself unwittingly sowed the seeds of disaffection destined to prove fatal to his own family.

ADOPTION OF WESTERN LEARNING

Yoshimune was fond of astronomy. He erected a telescope in the observatory at Kanda, a sun-dial in the palace park, and a rain-gauge at the same place. By his orders a mathematician named Nakane Genkei translated the Gregorian calendar into Japanese, and Yoshimune, convinced of the superior accuracy of the foreign system, would have substituted it for the Chinese then used in Japan, had not his purpose excited such opposition that he judged it prudent to desist. It was at this time that the well-informed Nishikawa Masayasu and Shibukawa Noriyasu were appointed Government astronomers.

Previously the only sources of information about foreign affairs had been the masters of the Dutch ships, the Dutch merchants, and the Japanese interpreters at Nagasaki. The importation of books from the Occident having been strictly forbidden by the third shogun, Iemitsu, Yoshimune appreciated the disadvantage of such a restriction, and being convinced of the benefits to be derived from the study of foreign science and art, he rescinded the veto except in the case of books relating to Christianity. Thus, for the first time, Japanese students were brought into direct contact with the products of Western intelligence. In 1744, Aoki Konyo received official orders to proceed to Nagasaki for the purpose of seeking instruction in Dutch from Dutch teachers. Shibukawa and Aoki are regarded as the pioneers of Occidental learning in Japan, and, in the year 1907, posthumous honours were conferred on them by the reigning Emperor of their country.

THE SANKIN KOTAI

It has already been stated that the financial embarrassment of the Bakufu in Yoshimune's time was as serious as it had been in his predecessor's days. Moreover, in 1718, the country was swept by a terrible tornado, and in 1720 and 1721, conflagrations reduced large sections of Yedo to ashes. Funds to succour the distressed people being imperatively needed, the shogun called upon all the feudatories to subscribe one hundred koku of rice for every ten thousand koku of their estates. By way of compensation for this levy he reduced to half a year the time that each feudal chief had to reside in Yedo. This meant, of course, a substantial lessening of the great expenses entailed upon the feudatories by the sankin kotai system, and the relief thus afforded proved most welcome to the daimyo and the shomyo alike. Yoshimune intended to extend this indulgence ultimately by releasing the barons from the necessity of coming to Yedo more than once in from three to five years, and, in return, he contemplated a corresponding increase of the special levy of rice. But his ministers opposed the project on the ground that it would dangerously loosen the ties between the feudatories and the Bakufu, and inasmuch as events proved that this result threatened to accrue from even the moderate indulgence granted by the shogun, not only was no extension made but also, in 1731, the system of sankin kotai was restored to its original form. The experiment, indeed proved far from satisfactory. The feudatories did not confine themselves to assertions of independence; they also followed the example of the Bakufu by remitting some of the duties devolving on their retainers and requiring the latter to show their gratitude for the remissions by monetary payments. Nominally, these payments took the form of loans, but in reality the amount was deducted from the salaries of vassals. This pernicious habit remained in vogue among a section of the feudatories, even after the sankin kotai had been restored to its original form.

OFFICIAL SALARIES

From ancient times it had been the habit of the Bakufu to assign important offices to men who were in enjoyment of large hereditary incomes. This was mainly for financial reasons. Salaries were paid in the form of additions to the hereditary estates in other words, the emoluments of office became permanent, and the charge upon the Bakufu being correspondingly increased, it was obviously expedient to fill high administrative posts with men already in possession of ample incomes. This system was radically changed by Yoshimune. He enacted that a clear distinction should be made between temporary salary and hereditary income. Thenceforth, salary was to be received only during the tenure of office and was to cease on laying down official functions. This reform had the effect not only of lightening the burden upon the Bakufu income, but also of opening high offices to able men without regard to their private fortunes.

ENGRAVING: VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN, KYOHO EHA

THE CURRENCY

From the first day of assuming administrative power, Yoshimune gave earnest thought to reform of the currency. His ambition was to restore the gold and silver coins to the quality and sizes existing in the Keicho era. This he effected, though not on a sufficiently large scale. Each of the new coins was equal in intrinsic value to two of the corresponding kenji coins, and the circulation of the latter was suspended, the new coins being called Kyoho-kin after the year-name of the era (1716-1735) when they made their appearance. It was a thoroughly wholesome measure, but the quality of the precious metals available did not suffice. Thus, whereas the gold coins struck during ten years of the Kyoho era totalled only 8,290,000 ryo, a census taken in 1732 showed a total population of 26,921,816. Therefore, the old coins could not be wholly withdrawn from circulation, and people developed a tendency to hoard the new and more valuable tokens.

Other untoward effects also were produced. The shogun paid much attention to promoting agriculture and encouraging land reclamation, so that the yield of rice increased appreciably. But this proved by no means an unmixed blessing. Side by side with an increase in the quantity of rice appearing in the market, the operation of the new currency tended to depreciate prices, until a measure of grain which could not have been bought at one time for less than two ryo became purchasable for one. In fact, the records show that a producer considered himself fortunate if he obtained half a ryo of gold for a koku of rice. This meant an almost intolerable state of affairs for the samurai who received his salary in grain and for the petty farmer. Thus, a man whose income was three rations of rice annually, and who consequently had to live on 5.4 koku for a whole year, found that when he set aside from three to four koku for food, there remained little more than one ryo of assets to pay for salt, fuel, clothes, and all the other necessaries of life.

So acute was the suffering of the samurai that a rice-exchange was established at Dojima, in Osaka, for the purpose of imparting some measure of stability to the price of the cereal. Just at this time (1732), the central and western provinces were visited by a famine which caused seventeen thousand deaths and reduced multitudes to the verge of starvation. The Bakufu rendered aid on a munificent scale, but the price of rice naturally appreciated, and although this brought relief to the military class, it was misconstrued by the lower orders as a result of speculation on 'Change. Riots resulted, and rice-merchants fearing to make purchases, the market price of the cereal fell again, so that farmers and samurai alike were plunged into their old difficulties.

Ultimately, in 1735, the Bakufu inaugurated a system of officially fixed prices (osadame-soba), according to which 1.4 koku of rice had to be exchanged for one ryo of gold in Yedo, the Osaka rate being fixed at forty-two momme of silver for the same quantity of the cereal. Anyone violating this rule was fined ten momme of silver for each koku of rice purchased or sold by him. It is related that the osadame-soba was operative in name only, and that the merchants secretly dealt in the cereal at much lower prices than those officially fixed. The Yedo financiers now concluded that the quantity of currency in circulation was insufficient and its quality too good. Accordingly, the gold and silver coins were once more reminted, smaller and less pure tokens being issued under the name of bunji-kin with reference to the Genbun era (1736-1740) of their issue. Thus, the reform of the currency, achieved with so much difficulty in the early years of Yoshimune's administration, had to be abandoned, and things reverted to their old plight.

If this difficulty operated so acutely under a ruler of Yoshimune's talent, the confusion and disorder experienced when he withdrew his able hand from the helm of State may be imagined. The feudatories were constantly distressed to find funds for supporting their Yedo mansions, as well as for carrying out the public works imposed on them from time to time, and for providing the costly presents which had become a recognized feature of ordinary and extraordinary intercourse. As an example of the luxury of the age, it may be mentioned that when the fifth shogun visited the Kaga baron, the latter had to find a sum of a million ryo to cover the expenses incidental to receiving such a guest. In these circumstances, there arose among the feudatories a habit of levying monetary contributions from wealthy persons in their fiefs, the accommodation thus afforded being repaid by permission to carry swords or by promotion in rank. The poorer classes of samurai being increasingly distressed, they, too, borrowed money at high rates of interest from merchants and wealthy farmers, which loans they were generally unable to repay. Ultimately, the Bakufu solved the situation partially by decreeing that no lawsuit for the recovery of borrowed money should be entertained--a reversion to the tokusei system of the Ashikaga shoguns.

Of course, credit was completely undermined by the issue of this decree. It is strange that such conditions should have existed under such a ruler as Yoshimune. But even his strenuous influence did not suffice to stem the current of the time. The mercantile instinct pervaded all the transactions of every-day life. If a man desired to adopt a son, he attached much less importance to the latter's social status or personality than to the dimensions of his fortune, and thus it came about that the family names of petty feudatories were freely bought and sold. Yoshimune strictly interdicted this practice, but his veto had no efficiency; wealthy farmers or merchants freely purchased their way into titled families. From this abuse to extortion of money by threats the interval was not long, and the outcome, where farmers were victims, took the form of agrarian riots. It was to the merchants, who stood between the farmers and the samurai, that fortune offered conspicuously favourable opportunities in these circumstances. The tradesmen of the era became the centre of extravagance and luxury, so that in a certain sense the history of the Yedo Bakufu may be said to be the history of mercantile development.

INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

Yoshimune devoted much attention to the encouragement of industrial progress. Deeming that a large import of drugs and sugar caused a ruinous drain of specie, he sent experts hither and thither through the country to encourage the domestic production of these staples as well as of vegetable wax. The feudatories, in compliance with his suggestion, took similar steps, and from this time tobacco growing in Sagami and Satsuma; the weaving industry in Kotsuke and Shimotsuke; sericulture in Kotsuke, Shinano, Mutsu, and Dewa; indigo cultivation in Awa; orange growing in Kii, and the curing of bonito in Tosa and Satsuma--all these began to flourish. Another feature of the time was the cultivation of the sweet potato at the suggestion of Aoki Konyo, who saw in this vegetable a unique provision against famine. Irrigation and drainage works also received official attention, as did the reclamation of rice-growing areas and the storing of cereals.

THE NINTH SHOGUN, IESHIGE

In 1745, Yoshimune resigned his office to his son, Ieshige, who, having been born in 1702, was now in his forty-third year. Yoshimune had three sons, Ieshige, Munetake, and Munetada. Of these the most promising was the second, Munetake, whose taste for literature and military art almost equalled his father's. Matsudaira Norimura, prime minister, recognizing that Ieshige, who was weak, passionate, and self-willed, would not be able to fill worthily the high office of shogun, suggested to Yoshimune the advisability of nominating Munetake. But Yoshimune had his own programme. Ieshige's son, Ieharu, was a very gifted youth, and Yoshimune reckoned on himself retaining the direction of affairs for some years, so that Ieshige's functions would be merely nominal until Ieharu became old enough to succeed to the shogunate.

Meanwhile, to prevent complications and avert dangerous rivalry, Yoshimune assigned to Munetake and Munetada residences within the Tayasu and Hitotsubashi gates of the castle, respectively, gave the names of these gates as family titles, and bestowed on each a revenue of one hundred thousand koku, together with the privilege of supplying an heir to the shogunate in the event of failure of issue in the principal house of Tokugawa or in one of the "Three Families." The shogun, Ieshige, followed the same plan with his son, Yoshishige, and as the latter's residence was fixed within the Shimizu gate, there came into existence "Three Branch Families" called the Sankyo, in supplement of the already existing Sanke.*

*The present Princes Tokugawa are the representatives of the main line of the shogun; the Marquises Tokugawa, representatives of the Sanke, and the Counts Tokugawa, of the Sankyo.

Of course, the addition of the Shimizu family had the approval of Yoshimune. In fact, the whole arrangement as to the Sankyo was an illustration of his faithful imitation of the institutions of Ieyasu. The latter had created the Sanke, and Yoshimune created the Sankyo; Ieyasu had resigned in favour of his son and had continued to administer affairs from Sumpu, calling himself 0-gosho; Yoshimune followed his great ancestor's example in all these respects except that he substituted the western part of Yedo Castle for Sumpu. Ieshige's most salient characteristic was a passionate disposition. Men called him the "short-tempered shogun" (kanshaku kubo). He gave himself up to debauchery, and being of delicate physique, his self-indulgence quickly undermined his constitution. So long as Yoshimune lived, his strong hand held things straight, but after his death, in 1751, the incompetence of his son became very marked. He allowed himself to fall completely under the sway of his immediate attendants, and, among these, Tanuma Okitsugu succeeded in monopolizing the evil opportunity thus offered. During nearly ten years the reforms effected by Yoshimune steadily ceased to be operative, and when Ieshige resigned in 1760, the country had fallen into many of the bad customs of the Genroku era.

THE TENTH SHOGUN, IEHARU

After his abdication in 1760, Ieshige survived only fourteen months, dying, in 1761, at the age of fifty-one. He was succeeded, in 1760, by his son, Ieharu, who, having been born in 1737, was twenty-three years old when he began to administer the country's affairs. One of his first acts was to appoint Tanuma Okitsugu to be prime minister, bestowing on him a fief of fifty-seven thousand koku in the province of Totomi, and ordering him to construct a fortress there. At the same time Okitsugu's son, Okitomo, received the rank of Yamato no Kami and the office of junior minister. These two men became thenceforth the central figures in an era of maladministration and corruption. So powerful and all-reaching was their influence that people were wont to say, "Even a bird on the wing could not escape the Tanuma." The shogun was not morally incapable, but his intelligence was completely overshadowed by the devices of Okitsugu, who took care that Ieharu should remain entirely ignorant of popular sentiment. Anyone attempting to let light into this state of darkness was immediately dismissed. It is related of a vassal of Okitsugu that he was found one day with three high officials of the shogun's court busily engaged in applying a moxa to his foot. The three officials knew that their places depended on currying favour with this vassal; how much more, then, with his master, Okitsugu! Everything went by bribery. Justice and injustice were openly bought and sold. Tanuma Okitsugu was wont to say that human life was not so precious as gold and silver; that by the liberality of a man's gifts his sincerity might truly be gauged, and that the best solace for the trouble of conducting State affairs was for their administrator to find his house always full of presents.

Ieharu, however, knew nothing of all this, or anything of the natural calamities that befell the country under his sway--the eruption of the Mihara volcano, in 1779, when twenty feet of ashes were piled over the adjacent country through an area of several miles; the volcanic disturbance at Sakura-jima, in Osumi, which took place about the same time and ended in the creation of several new islands; the outbreak of the Asama crater, in 1783, when half the provinces of the Kwanto were covered with ashes; and the loss of forty thousand lives by a flood in the Tone-gawa. Of all these visitations the shogun remained uninformed, and, in spite of them, luxury and extravagance marked the lives of the upper classes. Many, however, were constrained to seek loans from wealthy merchants in Osaka, and these tradesmen, admonished by past incidents, refused to lend anything. At last the intolerable situation culminated in a deed of violence. In April, 1784, Sano Masakoto, a hereditary vassal of the shogun, drew his sword upon Okitsugu within the precincts of the castle in Yedo and wounded him severely. Masakoto was seized and sentenced to commit suicide, but the justice of his attempt being recognized, the influence of Okitsugu and his son began to decline. Two years later (1786), there appeared a decree in the name of the Bakufu, ordering that the temples in all the provinces, the farmers, the artisans, and the merchants should send their gold and silver every spring to the Central Government, to the end that the latter might lend this treasure to the feudatories, who would pledge themselves to pay it back after five years.*

*The funds thus obtained were called yuzu-kin (accommodation money).

There is reason to believe that the shogun himself knew nothing of this ordinance until a multitude of complaints and remonstrances found their way, in part, to his ears. At all events, the extraordinary decree proved to be the last act of Okitsugu's official life. He was dismissed from office, though whether the credit of that step belongs to the Sanke and the elder officials or to the shogun, is not certain, for Ieharu is said to have died just before the final disgrace of the corrupt statesman was consummated. The Yedo upon which he closed his eyes in October, 1786, presented features of demoralization unsurpassed in any previous era. In fact, during the period of forty-one years between the accession of the ninth shogun, Ieshige, in 1745, and the death of the tenth, Ieharu, in 1786, the manners and customs of the citizens developed along very evil lines. It was in this time that the city Phryne (machi-geisha) made her appearance; it was in this time that the theatre, which had hitherto been closed to the better classes, began to be frequented by them; it was in this time that gambling became universal; it was in this time that parents learned to think it an honour to see their daughters winning favour as dancing girls, and it was in this time that the samurai's noble contempt for money gave place to the omnipotence of gold in military and civil circles alike.

THE IMPERIAL COURT. THE 113TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR HIGASHIYAMA (A.D. 1687-1710)

In 1687, the Emperor Reigen abdicated in favour of Higashiyama, then a boy of thirteen, Reigen continuing to administer affairs from behind the curtain as was usual. Tsunayoshi was then the shogun in Yedo. He showed great consideration for the interests of the Imperial Court. Thus, he increased his Majesty's allowance by ten thousand koku of rice annually, and he granted an income of three thousand koku to the ex-Emperor. Moreover, all the Court ceremonies, which had been interrupted for want of funds, were resumed, and steps were taken to repair or rebuild the sepulchres of the sovereigns throughout the empire.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE FEUDATORIES AND THE COURT NOBLES

According to a rule made in the beginning of the Tokugawa dynasty, a lady of Tokugawa lineage was forbidden to marry a Court noble, but the shogun himself was expected to take a consort from one of the noble houses in the Imperial capital. From the days of Iemitsu this latter custom was steadily maintained, and gradually the feudatories came to follow the shogun's example, so that marriages between military magnates and noble ladies of Kyoto Were frequent. To these unions the Court nobles were impelled by financial reasons and the military men by ambition. The result was the gradual formation of an Imperial party and of a Bakufu party in Kyoto, and at times there ensued sharp rivalry between the two cliques. In the days of the seventh shogun, Ietsugu, the Emperor Reigen would have given his daughter Yaso to be the shogun's consort for the purpose of restoring real friendship between the two Courts, but the death of the shogun in his boyhood interrupted the project.

THE 114TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR NAKANOMIKADO (A.D. 1710-1735)

Higashiyama abdicated (1710) in favour of Nakanomikado, who reigned for twenty-five years. This reign is remarkable for a change in the system hitherto uniformly pursued, namely, that all Imperial princes with the exception of the direct heir should become Buddhist priests (ho-shinnd), and all princesses except those chosen as consorts of the shoguns, should become Buddhist nuns (bikuni-gosho). It has already been shown that this custom found many followers in the days of Ashikaga administration, and it was observed with almost equal strictness under the Tokugawa, who certainly aimed at the gradual weakening of the Imperial household's influence. Arai Hakuseki remonstrated with the shogun, Ienobu, on the subject. He contended that however humble a man's lot may be, his natural desire is to see his children prosper, whereas in the case of Imperial princes, they were condemned to the ascetic career of Buddhist priests. He denounced such a system as opposed to the instincts of humanity, and he advised not only that certain princes should be allowed to form families of their own, but also that Imperial princesses should marry into branches of the Tokugawa. Ienobu is said to have acknowledged the wisdom of this advice, and its immediate result was the establishment of the princely house of Kanin, which, with the houses of Fushimi, Kyogoku (afterwards Katsura), and Arisugawa, became the four Shinnoke. Among other privileges these were designated to furnish an heir to the throne in the event of the failure of direct issue. When Yoshimune succeeded to the headship of the Bakufu, and after Arai Hakuseki was no longer in office, this far-seeing policy was gradually abandoned, and all the relations between the Imperial Court and the Bakufu became somewhat strained.

THE 115TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SAKURAMACHI (A. D, 1732-1735), AND THE 116TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MOMOZONO (A.D. 1735-1762)

After the death of the ex-Emperor Reigen (1732), the Emperor Nakanomikado administered affairs himself during three years, and then abdicated in 1735 in favour of Sakuramachi, who was sixteen years of age, and who reigned until 1747, when he abdicated in favour of Momozono, then seven years of age. It was in this reign that there appeared an eminent scholar, Yamazaki Ansai, who, with his scarcely less famous pupil, Takenouchi Shikibu, expounded the Chinese classics according to the interpretation of Chutsz. They sought to combine the cults of Confucianism and Shinto, and to demonstrate that the Mikados were descendants of gods; that everything possessed by a subject belonged primarily to the sovereign, and that anyone opposing his Majesty's will must be killed, though his brothers or his parents were his slayers. The obvious effect of such doctrines was to discredit the Bakufu shoguns, and information having ultimately been lodged in Yedo through an enemy of Takenouchi, seventeen Court nobles together with others were arrested and punished, some capitally and some by exile. Among those executed the most remarkable was Yamagata Daini, a master of military science, who, having endured the torture without confession, was finally put to death on the ground that in teaching the method of attacking a fortress he used drawings of Yedo Castle. This incident is remarkable as indicating the first potent appearance of a doctrine to the prevalence of which the fall of the Tokugawa Bakufu was ultimately referable.

THE 117TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS GO-SAKURAMACHI (A.D. 1762-1770), AND THE 118TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-MOMOZONO (A.D. 1770-1780)

The Emperor Momozono died in 1762 after having administered the Government for sixteen years. His eldest son, Prince Hidehito, being a mere baby, it was decided that Princess Tomo, Momozono's elder sister, should occupy the throne, Prince Hidehito becoming the Crown Prince. Her Majesty is known in history as Go-Sakuramachi. Her reign lasted only eight years, and in 1770 she abdicated in favour of her nephew, Hidehito, who ascended the throne as the Emperor Go-Momozono and died after a reign of nine years. This exhausted the lineal descendants of the Emperor Nakanomikado.

THE 119TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOKAKU (A.D. 1780-1816)

In default of a direct heir it became necessary to have recourse to one of the "Four Princely Families," and the choice fell upon Prince Tomohito, representing the Kanin house. He succeeded as Kokaku, and a Japanese historian remarks with regard to the event and to the growth of the spirit fostered by Yamazaki Ansai, Takenouchi Shikibu, and Yamagata Daini, that "the first string of the Meiji Restoration lyre vibrated at this time in Japan." Kokaku's reign will be referred to again later on.

ENGRAVING: (Keyari) SPEAR CARRIER (One of a Daimyo's Procession)

ENGRAVING: PICKING TEA LEAVES IN UJI, A CELEBRATED TEA DISTRICT

XLI. THE LATE PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU

THE ELEVENTH SHOGUN, IENARI. (1786-1838)

NATURAL CALAMITIES

THE misgovernment of Tanuma and his son was not the only calamity that befell the country during the closing years of the tenth shogun, Ieharu's, administration. The land was also visited by famine and pestilence of unparallelled dimensions. The evil period began in 1783 and lasted almost without intermission for four years. It is recorded that when the famine was at its height, rice could not be obtained in some parts of the country for less than forty ryo a koku. Sanguinary riots took place in Yedo, Kyoto, Osaka, and elsewhere. The stores of rice-merchants and the residences of wealthy folks were plundered and, in many cases, destroyed. To such extremities were people driven that cakes made from pine-tree bark served as almost the sole means of subsistence in some districts, and the Government is found gravely proclaiming that cakes made of straw were more nutritious. There are records of men deserting their families, wandering into other provinces in search of food and dying by thousands on the way. An official who had been sent to Matsumae, in the province of Mutsu, to observe the state of affairs, reported that the villages to the east of Nambu had been practically depopulated and the once fertile fields converted into barren plains. "Although farmhouses stood in the hamlets, not a solitary person was to be seen on the road; not a human voice was to be heard. Looking through a window, one saw dead bodies lying without anyone to bury them, and sometimes skeletons covered with quilts reposed on the mats, while among the weeds countless corpses were scattered."

THE ELEVENTH SHOGUN, IENARI

Among these terrible conditions the tenth shogun, Ieharu died, in 1786, and was succeeded by Ienari, a son of Hitotsubashi Harunari and a great-grandson of Yoshimune. Ienari was in his fifteenth year, and, of course, at such a tender age he could not possibly deal with the financial, economic, and administrative problems that presented themselves at this, the darkest period of Tokugawa sway. Fortunately a man of genius was found to grapple with the situation. Matsudaira Sadanobu, son of Tayasu Munetake and grandson of Yoshimune, proved himself one of the most capable administrators Japan had hitherto produced. In 1788, he was appointed prime minister, assisted by a council of State comprising the heads of the three Tokugawa families of Mito, Kii, and Owari. Sadanobu was in his thirtieth year, a man of boundless energy, great insight, and unflinching courage. His first step was to exorcise the spectre of famine by which the nation was obsessed. For that purpose he issued rules with regard to the storing of grain, and as fairly good harvests were reaped during the next few years, confidence was in a measure restored. The men who served the Bakufu during its middle period in the capacity of ministers had been taken almost entirely from the families of Ii, Sakai, and Hotta, but none of them had shown any marked ability; they had allowed their functions to be usurped by the personal attendants of the shogun. This abuse was remedied by the appointment of the heads of the three Tokugawa families to the post of ministers, and for a time Sadanobu received loyal and efficient support from his colleagues.

CONFLAGRATION IN KYOTO

The series of calamities which commenced with the tempests, floods, and famines of 1788 culminated in a fire such as never previously had swept Kyoto. It reduced to ashes the Imperial palace, Nijo Castle, 220 Shinto shrines, 128 Buddhist temples, and 183,000 houses. The loss of life (2600) was not by any means as severe as that in the great fire of Yedo, but the Imperial city was practically destroyed. Ishikawa Jinshiro, who commanded at Nijo Castle, immediately distributed a thousand koku of rice from the Government's store to relieve the distressed citizens. He acted in this matter without waiting to seek sanction from the Bakufu, and his discretion was rewarded by appointment to the high office of inspector-general of police (o-metsuke).

The problem of restoring the palace presented much difficulty in the impoverished state of the country, but the Bakufu did not hesitate to take the task in hand, and to issue the necessary requisitions to the feudatories of the home provinces. Sadanobu himself repaired to Kyoto to superintend the work, and took the opportunity to travel throughout a large part of the country. During his tour all that had any grievances were invited to present petitions, and munificent rewards were bestowed on persons who had distinguished themselves by acts of filial piety or by lives of chastity. Such administrative measures presented a vivid contrast with the corrupt oppression practised by the Tanuma family, and it is recorded that men and women kneeled on the road as Sadanobu passed and blessed him with tears.

ENGRAVING: SANNO FESTIVAL OF TOKYO IN EARLY DAYS

SUMPTUARY REGULATIONS

Convinced that the most important step towards economic improvement was the practice of frugality, Sadanobu caused rules to be compiled and issued which dealt with almost every form of expenditure. He himself made a practice of attending at the castle wearing garments of the coarsest possible materials, and the minute character of his ordinances against extravagance almost taxes credulity.

Thus, he forbade the custom of exchanging presents between official colleagues; ordered that everyone possessing an income of less than ten thousand koku should refrain from purchasing anything new, whether clothing, utensils, or furniture; interdicted the wearing of white robes except on occasions of ceremony; ordained that wedding presents should henceforth be reduced by one-half, advised that dried lobsters should be substituted for fresh fish in making presents; prohibited the wearing of brocade or embroidered silk by ladies not of the highest class; enjoined simplicity in costumes for the no dance, in children's toys, in women's pipes, or tobacco-pouches, and in ladies' hairpins or hairdress; forbade gold lacquer in any form except to delineate family crests; limited the size of dolls; vetoed banquets, musical entertainments, and all idle pleasures except such as were justified by social status, and actually went to the length of ordering women to dress their own hair, dispensing entirely with professional Hairdressers, who were bade to change their occupation for tailoring or laundry work.

This remarkable statesman laboured for the ethical improvement of his countrymen as well as for their frugality of life. In 1789, we find him legislating against the multiplication of brothels, and, two years later, he vetoed mixed bathing of men and women. One of the fashions of the time was that vassals left in charge of their lords' mansions in Yedo used to organize mutual entertainments by way of promoting good-fellowship, but in reality for purposes of dissipation. These gatherings were strictly interdicted. Simultaneously with the issue of this mass of negative legislation, Sadanobu took care to bestow rewards and publish eulogies. Whoever distinguished himself by diligent service, by chastity, by filial piety, or by loyalty, could count on honourable notice.

THE KWANSEI VAGABONDS

During the Kwansei era (1789-1800), Yedo was infested by vagabonds, who, having been deprived of their livelihood by the famine during the years immediately previous, made a habit of going about the town in groups of from three to five men committing deeds of theft or incendiarism. Sadanobu, acting on the advice of the judicial officials, dealt with this evil by establishing a house of correction on Ishikawa Island. There homeless vagrants were detained and provided with work, those ignorant of any handicraft being employed as labourers. The inmates were fed and clothed by the Government, and set free after three years, their savings being handed to them to serve as capital for some occupation. The institution was placed under the care of Hasegawa Heizo, five hundred bags of rice and five hundred ryo being granted annually by the Bakufu for its support.

ADOPTION

It has been stated above that one of the abuses which came into large practice from the middle period of the Tokugawa Bakufu was the adoption of children of ignoble birth into samurai families in consideration of monetary payments by their parents. This mercenary custom was strictly interdicted by the Matsudaira regent, who justly saw in it a danger to the solidity of the military class. But it does not appear that his veto received full observance.

EDUCATION

Since the shogun Tsunayoshi (1680-1709) appointed Hayashi Nobuatsu as chief of Education in Yedo, and entrusted to him the conduct of the college called Seido, Hayashi's descendants succeeded to that post by hereditary right. They steadily followed the principles of Confucianism as interpreted by Chutsz, a Chinese philosopher who died in the year 1200, but in accordance with the inevitable fate of all hereditary offices, the lapse of generations brought inferiority of zeal and talent. During the first half of the seventeenth century, there appeared in the field of Japanese philosophy Nakaye Toju, who adopted the interpretation of Confucianism given by a later Chinese philosopher, Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529). At a subsequent date Yamaga Soko, Ito Jinsai, and Ogyu Sorai (called also Butsu Sorai) asserted the superiority of the ancient Chinese teaching; and finally Kinoshita Junan preached the rule of adopting whatever was good, without distinction of Tang or Sung.

These four schools engaged in vehement controversy, and showed such passion in their statements and such intolerance in their contradictions, that they seemed to have altogether forgotten the ethical principles underlying their own doctrines. In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, other schools came into being, one calling itself the "eclectic school," another the "inductive school," and so forth, so that in the end one and the same passage of the Confucian Analects received some twenty different interpretations, all advanced with more or less abuse and injury to the spirit of politeness.

In these circumstances the educational chief in Yedo lost control of the situation. Even among his own students there were some who rejected the teachings of Chutsz, and Confucianism threatened to become a stumbling-block rather than an aid to ethics. The prime minister, Sadanobu, now appointed four philosophers of note to assist the Hayashi family, and these famous teachers attended in turn at the Seido to lecture, commoners as well as samurai being allowed to attend. Sadanobu further directed that the heads of Government departments should send in a list of those best educated among their subordinates, and the men thus recommended were promoted after examination. Moreover, the prime minister himself, attended by his colleagues and the administrators, made a habit of inspecting personally, from time to time, the manner of teaching at the college, and finally, in 1795, the Seido was definitely invested with the character of a Government college, a yearly grant of 1130 koku being apportioned to meet the expenses, and an income of 1500 koku being bestowed upon the Hayashi family.

In the same year, it was decreed that no one should be eligible for a post in the civil service unless he was an avowed follower of the Chutsz philosophy. This bigoted measure, spoken of as the "prohibition of heterodoxy," did not produce the desired effect. It tended rather to accentuate the differences between the various schools, and a petition was presented to the Bakufu urging that the invidious veto should be rescinded. The petitioners contended that although the schools differed from each other, their differences were not material, since all stood on common foundations, namely, the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, and all agreed in inculcating the virtues of filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, humanity, righteousness, politeness, and general tranquillity.

THE PHILOSOPHIES OF CHUTSZ AND WANG YANG-MING

It will be interesting to pause here a moment in order to inquire briefly the nature of the philosophies which occupied Japanese thought throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. We need not go beyond the schools of Chutsz and Wang Yang-ming, for the third, or "ancient," school adopted the teachings of Confucius and Mencius in their purity, rejecting all subsequent deductions from the actual words used by these sages. These two schools have been well distinguished as follows by a modern philosopher, Dr. Inouye Tetsujiro:

"(1) Chutsz maintained that it is necessary to make an extensive investigation of the world and its laws before determining what is the moral law. Wang held that man's knowledge of moral law precedes all study and that a man's knowledge of himself is the very highest kind of learning. Chutsz's method may be said to be inductive; Wang's, deductive.

"(2) The cosmogony of Chutsz was dualistic. All nature owed its existence to the Ri and Ki, the determining principle and the vital force of primordial aura that produces and modifies motion. Wang held that these two were inseparable. His teaching was therefore monistic.

"(3) Chutsz taught that the primary principle, Ri, and the mind of man were quite separate, and that the latter was attached to the Ki. Wang held that the mind of man and the principle of the universe were one and the same, and argued that no study of external nature was required in order to find out nature's laws. To discover these, man had only to look within his own heart. He that understands his own heart understands nature, says Wang.

"(4) Chutsz's system makes experience necessary in order to understand the laws of the universe, but Wang's idealism dispenses with it altogether as a teacher.

"(5) Chutsz taught that knowledge must come first and right conduct after. Wang contended that knowledge and conduct cannot be separated. One is part of the other. Chutsz may be said to exalt learned theories and principles, and Wang to extol practice.

"The moral results of the systems briefly stated were as follows: Chutsz 'a teaching produced many learned men in this country, but not infrequently these men were inferior, being narrow-minded, prejudiced, and behind the age. Wang's doctrines, on the other hand, while they cannot escape the charge of shallowness on all occasions, serve the moral purpose for which they were propagated better than those of the rival school. Though in the ranks of the Japanese followers of Chutsz there were numbers of insignificant, bigoted traditionalists, the same cannot be said of those who adopted Wang's views. They were as a class fine specimens of humanity, abreast, if not ahead, of the age in which they lived. No system of teaching has produced anything approaching such a number of remarkable men. If a tree is to be judged by its fruit, Wang's philosophy in Japan must be pronounced one of the greatest benefits that she received from the neighbouring continent, though not a little of its power in this country is to be traced to the personality of the man who was the first to make it thoroughly known to his fellow countrymen, Nakaye Toju."*

*See Professor Walter Dening's brochure on Confucian Philosophy in Japan.

Dr. Inouye adds: "By exclusive attention to the dictates of conscience and by sheer force of will the Wang school of philosophers succeeded in reaching a standard of attainment that served to make them models for posterity. The integrity of heart preached by his followers in Japan has become a national heritage of which all Japanese are proud. In the West, ethics has become too exclusively a subject of intellectual inquiry, a question as to which of rival theories is the most logical. By the Japanese, practical virtue has been exalted to the pedestal of the highest honour."

The same authority, discussing the merits of the Chutsz school, says: "To the question which has so often been asked during the past few years, whence comes the Japanese fine ethical standard, the answer is that it undoubtedly originated with the teaching of Chutsz as explained, modified, and carried into practice in Japan. The moral philosophy of the Chutsz school in Japan compared with that of the other two schools was moderate in tone, free from eccentricities, and practical in a rare degree. In the enormous importance it attached to self-culture and what is known in modern terminology as self-realization, the teaching of the Chutsz school of Japanese moralists differed in no material respects from the doctrines of the New Kantians in England."

RETIREMENT OF SADANOBU

After six years of most enlightened service, Matsudaira Sadanobu resigned office in 1793 to the surprise and consternation of all truly patriotic Japanese. History is uncertain as to the exact cause of his retirement, but the explanation seems to be, first, that his uncompromising zeal of reform had earned him many enemies who watched constantly for an opportunity to attack him, and found it during his absence on a visit to inspect the coasts of the empire with a view to enforcing the veto against foreign trade; and secondly, that a question of prime importance having arisen between the Courts of Kyoto and Yedo, Sadanobu's influence was exercised in a manner deeply resented by the sovereign as well as by the loyalists throughout the empire. This important incident will be presently referred to in detail. Here it will suffice to state that Sadanobu did not retire in disgrace. He was promoted to the rank of general of the Left, which honour was supplemented by an invitation to attend at the castle on State occasions. He chose, however, to live in retirement, devoting himself to the administration of his own domain and to literary pursuits. The author of several well-known books, he is remembered by his pen-name, Rakuo, almost as constantly as by his historical, Sadanobu. He died in 1829, at the age of seventy-two.

HITOTSUBASHI HARUNARI

After Sadanobu's resignation of the post of prime minister, the shogun's father, Hitotsubashi Harunari, moved into the western citadel of Yedo Castle, and thenceforth the great reforms which Sadanobu had effected by the force of genius and unflagging assiduity, were quickly replaced by an age of retrogression, so that posterity learned to speak of the prodigality of the Bunka and Bunsei eras (1804-1829), instead of the frugality of the Kwansei (1789-1800). As for the shogun, Ienari, he received from the Throne the highest rank attainable by a subject, together with the office of daijo-daijin. Such honour was without precedent since the time of Ieyasu. Ienari had more than fifty daughters, all born of different mothers, from which fact the dimensions of his harem may be inferred.

THE 119TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOKAKU (A.D. 1780-1816)

The Emperor Kokaku ascended the throne in 1780 and abdicated in 1816. He was undoubtedly a wise sovereign and as a classical scholar he won considerable renown. After reigning for thirty-six years, he administered State affairs from the Palace of Retirement during twenty-four, and throughout that long interval of sixty years, the country enjoyed profound peace. The period of Sadanobu's service as prime minister of the Bakufu coincided with the middle of Kokaku's reign, and in those days of happiness and prosperity men were wont to say that with a wise sovereign in the west a wise subject had appeared in the east. Up to that time the relations between Kyoto and Yedo were excellent, but Sadanobu's resignation and the cause that led to it produced between the two Courts a breach which contributed materially, though indirectly, to the ultimate fall of the Tokugawa.

REBUILDING OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE

It has already been noted that after the great fire of 1788, the Bakufu, acting, of course, at the instance of their prime minister, ordered Sadanobu to supervise the work of reconstructing the Imperial palace. Since the days of Oda and Toyotomi, the palace had been rebuilt or extensively repaired on several occasions, but always the plans had been too small for the requirements of the orthodox ceremonials. Sadanobu determined to correct this fault. He called for plans and elevations upon the bases of those of the tenth century, and from the gates to the roofs he took care that everything should be modelled on the old lines. The edifices are said to have been at once chaste and magnificent, the internal decorations being from the brushes of the best artists of the Tosa and Sumiyoshi Academies. Sealed estimates had been required from several leading architects, and Sadanobu surprised his colleagues by awarding the work to the highest bidder, on the ground that cheapness could not consist with true merit in such a case, and that any thought of cost would evince a want of reverence towards the Imperial Court. The buildings were finished in two years, and the two Emperors, the reigning and the retired, took up their residence there. His Majesty Kokaku rewarded the shogun with an autograph letter of thanks as well as a verse of poetry composed by himself, and on Sadanobu he conferred a sword and an album of poems. The shogun Ienari is said to have been profoundly gratified by this mark of Imperial favour. He openly attributed it to Sadanobu's exertions, and he presented to the latter a facsimile of the autograph letter.

THE TITLE TROUBLE

In the very year (1791) following the Emperor's entry into the new palace, a most untoward incident occurred. Up to that time the relations between the Courts of Kyoto and Yedo had left nothing to be desired, but now a permanent breach of amity took place. The sovereign was the son of Prince Tsunehito, head of the Kanin family. This prince, in spite of his high title, was required by Court etiquette to sit below the ministers of State on ceremonial occasions in the palace. Such an order of precedence offended the sovereign, and his Majesty proposed that the rank of dajo tenno should be given to his father, thus placing him in the position of a retired Emperor. Of course it was within the prerogative of the Emperor to confer titles. The normal procedure would have been to give the desired rank to Prince Tsunehito, and then to inform the Bakufu of the accomplished fact. But, in consideration of the very friendly relations existing between the two Courts, the sovereign seems to have been unwilling to act on his own initiative in a matter of such importance.

Yedo was consulted, and to the surprise of Kyoto, the Bakufu prime minister assumed an attitude hostile to the Court's desire. The explanation of this singular act on Sadanobu's part was that a precisely analogous problem perplexed Yedo simultaneously. When Ienari was nominated shogun, his father, Hitotsubashi Harunari, fully expected to be appointed guardian of the new potentate, and being disappointed in that hope, he expressed his desire to receive the title of o-gosho (retired shogun), so that he might enter the western citadel of Yedo Castle and thence administer affairs as had been done by ex-Emperors in Kyoto for hundreds of years, and by ex-shoguns on several occasions under the Tokugawa. Disappointed in this aspiration, Harunari, after some hesitation, invited the attention of the shogun to the fact that filial piety is the basis of all moral virtues, and that, whereas the shogun's duty required him to set a good example to the people, he subjected his own father to unbecoming humiliation, Ienari referred the matter to the State council, but the councillors hesitated to establish the precedent of conferring the rank of o-gosho on the head of one of the Sankyo families--Tayasu, Shimizu, and Hitotsubashi--who had never discharged the duties of shogun.

The prime minister, Sadanobu, however, had not a moment's hesitation in opposing Harunari's project. He did, indeed, order a well-known Confucian scholar to search the annals in order to find whether any precedent existed for the proposed procedure, either in Japan or in China, but he himself declared that if such an example were set in the shogun's family, it might be the cause of grave inconvenience among the people. In other words, a man whose son had been adopted into another family might claim to be regarded as the head of that family in the event of the death of the foster-father. It is certain, however, that other and stronger reasons influenced the Bakufu prime minister. Hitotsubashi Harunari was generally known as Wagamama Irikyo (the Wayward Recluse*). His most intimate friends were the shogun's father-in-law, Shimazu Ei-O, and Ikeda Isshinsai. The latter two were also inkyo and shared the tastes and foibles of Harunari. One of their greatest pleasures was to startle society. Thus, when Sadanobu was legislating with infinite care against prodigality of any kind, the above three old gentlemen loved to organize parties on an ostentatiously extravagant scale, and Sadanobu naturally shrank from seeing the title of o-gosho conferred on such a character, thus investing him with competence to interfere arbitrarily in the conduct of State affairs.

*It has always been a common custom in Japan for the head of a family to retire nominally from active life after he attains his fiftieth year. He is thenceforth known as inkyo (or recluse). The same is true of women.

Just at this time, the Court in Kyoto preferred its application, and Sadanobu at once appreciated that if the rank of dajo tenno were conferred on Prince Tsunehito, it would be impossible to withhold that of o-gosho from Harunari. Consequently the Bakufu prime minister wrote privately to the Kyoto prime minister, Takatsukasa Sukehira, pointing out the inadvisability of the proposed step. This letter, though not actually an official communication, had the effect of shelving the matter for a time, but, in 1791, the Emperor re-opened the question, and summoned a council in the palace to discuss it. The result was that sixty-five officials, headed by the prime minister and the minister of the Right, supported the sovereign's views, but the ex-premier, Takatsukasa Sukehira, and his son, the minister of the Left, with a few others, opposed them.

The proceedings of this council with an autograph covering-letter from the sovereign were sent to the Bakufu, in 1792, but for a long time no answer was given. Meanwhile Prince Tsunehito, already an old man, showed signs of declining health, and the Imperial Court pressed Yedo to reply. Ultimately the Bakufu officially disapproved the project. No statement of reasons accompanied the refusal, but it was softened by a suggestion that an increase of revenue might be conferred on the sovereign's father. This already sufficiently contumelious act was supplemented by a request from the Bakufu that the Imperial Court should send to Yedo the high secretary and the chief of the Household. Unwillingly the Court complied, and after hearing the arguments advanced by these two officials, Sadanobu sentenced them to be placed in confinement for a hundred days, and fifty days, respectively, which sentence was carried out at the temple Seisho-ji in Yedo, and the two high officials were thereafter sent back to Kyoto under police escort. Ultimately they were both dismissed from office, and all the Court dignitaries who had supported the sovereign's wishes were cautioned not to associate themselves again with such "rash and unbecoming acts." It can scarcely be denied that Sadanobu exercised his power in an extreme and unwise manner on this occasion. A little recourse to tact might have settled the matter with equal facility and without open disrespect to the Throne. But the Bakufu prime minister behaved after the manner of the deer-stalker of the Japanese proverb who does not see the mountain, and he thus placed in the hands of the Imperialist party a weapon which contributed materially to the overthrow of the Bakufu seventy years later.

ENGRAVING: YO-MEI-MON GATE, AT NIKKO

Chapter XLII

ORGANIZATION, CENTRAL AND LOCAL; CURRENCY AND THE LAWS OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKAFU

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU

THE organization of the Tokugawa Bakufu cannot be referred to any earlier period than that of the third shogun, Iemitsu. The foundations indeed were laid after the battle of Sekigahara, when the administrative functions came into the hands of Ieyasu. By him a shoshidai (governor) was established in Kyoto together with municipal administrators (machi bugyo). But it was reserved for Iemitsu to develop these initial creations into a competent and consistent whole. There was, first, what may be regarded as a cabinet, though the name of its members (roju, or seniors) does not suggest the functions generally discharged by ministers of State. One of the roju was appointed to the post of dairo (great senior). He corresponded to the prime minister in a Western Cabinet, and the other roju may be counted as ministers. Then there were junior ministers, and after them came administrators of accounts, inspectors, administrators of shrines and temples, and municipal administrators. The place where State business was discharged went by the name of Go-Yo-beya. There, the senior and junior ministers assembled to transact affairs, and the chamber being situated in the immediate vicinity of the shogun's sitting-room, he was able to keep himself au courant of important administrative affairs. During the time of the fifth shogun, however, as already related, this useful arrangement underwent radical alteration. As for judicial business, there did not originally exist any special place for its transaction. A chamber in the official residence was temporarily assigned for the purpose, but at a later date a court of justice (Hyojo-sho) was established at Tatsunokuchi in Yedo. This organization, though carried within sight of completion in the days of the third shogun, required to be supplemented by the eighth, and was not actually perfected until the time of the eleventh.

THE DAIRO

The duties of the dairo--sometimes called karo or o-doshiyori--were to preside over the roju and to handle important administrative affairs. In many respects his functions resembled those discharged by the regent (shikken) of the Kamakura Bakufu. To the office of dairo a specially distinguished member of the roju was appointed, and if no one possessing the necessary qualifications was available, that post had to be left vacant. Generally the Ii, the Hotta, or the Sakai family supplied candidates for the office.

THE ROJU

The roju or senior ministers--called also toshiyori--discharged the administration. They resembled the kwanryo of the Muromachi Government. There were five of these ministers and they exercised control over all matters relating to the Imperial palace, the palace of the ex-Emperor (Sendo), the Imperial princes, the princely abbots (monzeki) and all the daimyo. It was customary to choose the roju from among officials who had previously served as governors of Osaka or Kyoto or as soshaban, who will be presently spoken of at greater length.

THE WAKA-DOSHIYORI

There were five junior ministers (waka-doshiyori) whose principal functions were to exercise jurisdiction over the hatamoto and the kenin. These latter names have already been alluded to, but for the sake of clearness it may be well to explain that whereas the fudai daimyo consisted of the one hundred and seventy-six barons who joined the standard of Ieyasu before the battle of Sekigahara, the hatamoto (bannerets), while equally direct vassals of the shogun, were lower than the daimyo though higher than the go-kenin, who comprised the bulk of the Tokugawa samurai. Members of the waka-doshiyori might at any time be promoted to the post of roju. Their functions were wide as well as numerous, and resembled those performed by the Hyojo-shu and the hikitsuke-shu of the Kamakura and Muromachi Governments. A junior minister must previously have occupied the post of administrator of temples and shrines (jisha-bugyo) or that of chamberlain (o-soba-shu) or that of chief guard (o-ban). The offices of minister and junior minister were necessarily filled by daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the shogun.

SECRETARIES

There were two secretariats, the oku-yuhitsu (domestic secretariat) and the omote-yuhitsu (external secretariat). They discharged, on account of the senior ministers, the duties of scribes, and were presided over by a todori, who, in later days, wielded large influence.

THE JISHA-BUGYO

The jisha-bugyo, as their name suggests, supervised all affairs relating to shrines, temples, Shinto officials, bonzes, and nuns as well as persons residing within the domains of shrines and temples. They also discharged judicial functions in the case of these various classes. The number of these administrators of shrines and temples was originally three, but afterwards it was increased to four, who transacted business for a month at a time in succession. The soshaban, who were entitled to make direct reports to the shogun, had to fill the office of jisha-bugyo in addition to their other functions, which were connected with the management of matters relating to ceremony and etiquette.

At first there were only two of these soshaban, but subsequently their number was increased to twenty-four, and it became customary for one of them to keep watch in the castle at night. They were generally ex-governors of Osaka and Fushimi, and they were necessarily daimyo who had the qualification of direct vassalage to the shogun. The jisha-bugyo performed their judicial functions in their own residences, each administrator employing his own vassals for subordinate purposes, and these vassals, when so employed, were distinguished as jisha-yaku or toritsugi. Further, officiating in conjunction with the jisha-bugyo f were chief inspectors (daikenshi), and assistant inspectors (shokenshi) whose duties require no description. The classes of people to whom the jisha-bugyo's jurisdiction extended were numerous: they embraced the cemetery-keepers at Momiji-yama, the bonzes, the fire-watchmen, the musicians, the Shinto officials, the poets, the players at go or chess, and so forth.

THE MACHI-BUGYO

The municipal administrator (machi-bugyo) controlled affairs relating to the citizens in general. This was among the oldest institutions of the Tokugawa, and existed also in the Toyotomi organization. At first there were three machi-bugyo, but when the Tokugawa moved to Yedo, the number was decreased to one, and subsequently increased again to two in the days of Iemitsu. Judicial business occupied the major part of the machi-bugyo's time. His law-court was in his own residence, and under his direction constables (yoriki or doshiri) patrolled the city. He also transacted business relating to prisons and the municipal elders of Yedo (machi-doshiyori) referred to him all questions of a difficult or serious nature.

THE KANJO-BUGYO

The financial administrator (kanjo-bugyo) received also the appellation of kitchen administrator (daidokoro-bugyo), and his duties embraced everything relating to the finance of the Bakufu, including, of course, their estates and the persons residing on those estates. The eight provinces of the Kwanto were under the direct control of this bugyo, but other districts were administered by a daikwan (deputy). There were two kinds of kanjo-bugyo, namely, the kuji-kata and the katte-kata (public and private), the latter of whom had to adjudicate all financial questions directly affecting the Bakufu, and the former had to perform a similar function in cases where outsiders were concerned. Various officials served as subordinates of these important bugyo, who were usually taken from the roju or the waka-doshiyori, and, in the days of the sixth shogun, it was found necessary to appoint an auditor of accounts (kanjo-gimmiyaku), who, although nominally of the same rank as the kanjo-bugyo, really acted in a supervisory capacity. The Bakufu court of law was the Hyojo-sho. Suits involving issues that lay entirely within the jurisdiction of one bugyo were tried by him in his own residence, but where wider interests were concerned the three bugyo had to conduct the case at the Hyojo-sho, where they formed a collegiate court. On such occasions the presence of the censors was compulsory. Sometimes, also, the three bugyo met at the Hyojo-sho merely for purposes of consultation.

THE CENSORS

An important figure in the Tokugawa organization was the censor (metsuke), especially the great censor (o-metsuke). The holder of the latter office served as the eyes and ears of the roju and supervised the feudal barons. There were four or five great censors. One of them held the additional office of administrator of roads (dochu-bugyo), and had to oversee matters relating to the villages, the towns, and the postal stations along the five principal highways. Another had to inspect matters relating to religious sects and firearms--a strange combination. Under the great censors were placed administrators of confiscated estates. The ordinary censors had to exercise surveillance over the samurai of the hatamoto and were under the jurisdiction of the waka-doshiyori. There were altogether sixty metsuke, and they travelled constantly throughout the empire obtaining materials for reports which were submitted to the waka-doshiyori. Among them are found censors who performed the duties of coroners.*

*The employment of censors by the Bakufu has been severely criticized as indicating a system of espionage. It scarcely seems necessary to observe that the same criticism applies to all highly organized Occidental Governments with their secret services, their detectives and their inquiry agencies.

THE CHAMBERLAINS

Even more important than the censors were the chamberlains (soba yonin) who had to communicate to the shogun all reports submitted by the roju, and to offer advice as to the manner of dealing with them. They also noted the shogun's decisions and appended them to documents. The exercise of these functions afforded opportunities for interfering in administrative affairs, and such opportunities were fully utilized, to the great detriment of public interest. There were also pages (kosho); castle accountants (nando); literati to the shogun (oku-jusha), and physicians (oku-isha).

MASTERS OF CEREMONIES

The duty of transmitting messages from the shogun to the Emperor and of regulating all matters of ceremony connected with the castle was discharged by fifteen masters of ceremonies (koke) presided over by four chiefs (the office of chief being hereditary in such families as the Osawa and the Kira) who, although their fiefs were comparatively small, possessed influence not inferior to that of the daimyo. A koke was usually on watch in the castle by day. These masters of ceremonies are not to be confounded with the chamberlains (soshaban) already spoken of. The latter numbered twenty-four. They regulated affairs connected with ceremonies in which all Government officials were concerned, and they kept watch at the castle by night. Subordinate to the koke and the chamberlains were various officials who conveyed presents from the feudal lords to the shogun; directed matters of decoration and furniture; had charge of miscellaneous works in the castle, and supervised all persons, male or female, entering or leaving the shogun's harem. Officials of this last class were under the command of a functionary called o-rusui who had general charge of the business of the harem; directed the issue of passports to men and women of the samurai class or to commoners, and had the care of all military stores in the castle. The name rusui signifies a person in charge during the absence of his master, and was applied in this case since the o-rusui had to guard the castle when the shogun was not present. The multifarious duties entrusted to officials over whom the o-rusui presided required a large number and a great variety of persons to discharge them, but these need not be enumerated in detail here.

THE TAMARIZUME

Characteristic of the elaborate etiquette observed at the shogun's castle was the existence of semi-officials called tamarizume, whose chief duty in ordinary times was to repair to the castle once every five days, and to inquire through the roju as to the state of the shogun's health. On occasions of emergency they participated in the administration, taking precedence of the roju and the other feudatories. The Matsudaira of Aizu, Takamatsu, and Matsuyama; the Ii of Hikone, and the Sakai of Himeji--these were the families which performed the functions of tamarizume as a hereditary right. It is unnecessary to describe the organization and duties of the military guards to whom the safety of the castle was entrusted, but the fact has to be noted that both men and officers were invariably taken from the hatamoto class.

THE WOMEN'S APARTMENTS

In the o-oku, or innermost buildings of the shogun's castle, the harem was situated. Its chief official was a woman called the o-toshiyori (great elder), under whom were a number of ladies-in-waiting, namely, the toshiyori, the rojo, the churo, the kojoro, and others. There were also ladies who attended solely to visitors; others who kept the keys; others who carried messages to public officers, and others who acted as secretaries. All this part of the organization would take pages to describe in detail,* and is necessarily abbreviated here. We may add, however, that there were official falconers, sailors, grooms, gardeners, and every kind of artist or mechanician.

*For fuller particulars of the manner of daily life at the shogun's court, see Chapter 1. Vol. IV, of Brinkley's "Oriental Series."

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM

In organizing a system of local government the Tokugawa Bakufu began by appointing a shoshidai in Kyoto to guard the Imperial palace, to supervise Court officials, and to oversee financial measures as well as to hear suits-at-law, and to have control over temples and shrines. The shoshidai enjoyed a high measure of respect. He had to visit Yedo once in every five or six years for the purpose of making a report to the shogun in person. The municipal administrator of Kyoto and the administrators of Nara and Fushimi, the Kyoto deputy (daikwan), and all the officials of the Nijo palace were under the jurisdiction of the shoshidai. To qualify for this high office a man must have served as governor of Osaka. In the Imperial city the municipal administrator heard suits-at-law presented by citizens, managed the affairs of temples and shrines, and was responsible for collecting the taxes in the home provinces. There were two of these officials in Kyoto and, like their namesakes in Yedo, they had a force of constables (yoriki) and policemen (doshin) under their command.

THE JODAI

Regarded with scarcely less importance than that attaching to the shoshidai was an official called the jodai of Osaka, on whom devolved the responsibility of guarding the Kwansei. For this office a hereditary daimyo of the Tokugawa family was selected, and he must previously have occupied the offices of soshaban and jisha-bugyo. The routine of promotion was from the jodai of Osaka to the shoshidai of Kyoto and from thence to the roju. Originally there were six jodai but their number was ultimately reduced to one. Sumpu also had a jodai, who discharged duties similar to those devolving on his Osaka namesake. In Nagasaki, Sado, Hakodate, Niigata, and other important localities, bugyo were stationed, and in districts under the direct control of the Bakufu the chief official was the daikwan.

ADMINISTRATION IN FIEFS

The governmental system in the fiefs closely resembled the system of the Bakufu. The daimyo exercised almost unlimited power, and the business of their fiefs was transacted by factors (karo). Twenty-one provinces consisted entirely of fiefs, and in the remaining provinces public and private estates were intermixed.

LOCAL AUTONOMY

Both the Bakufu and the feudatories were careful to allow a maximum of autonomy to the lower classes. Thus the farmers elected a village chief--called nanushi or shoya--who held his post for life or for one year, and who exercised powers scarcely inferior to those of a governor. There were also heads of guilds (kumi-gashira) and representatives of farmers (hyakushodai) who participated in administering the affairs of a village. Cities and towns had municipal elders (machi-doshiyori), under whom also nanushi officiated. The guilds constituted a most important feature of this local autonomic system. They consisted of five householders each, being therefore called gonin-gumi, and their main functions were to render mutual aid in all times of distress, and to see that there were no evasions of the taxes or violations of the law. In fact, the Bakufu interfered as little as possible in the administrative systems of the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial classes, and the feudatories followed the same rule.

FINANCE

The subject of finance in the Bakufu days is exceedingly complicated, and a very bare outline will suffice. It has already been noted that the unit of land-measurement varied from time to time and was never uniform throughout the empire. That topic need not be further discussed. Rice-fields were divided into five classes, in accordance with which division the rates of taxation were fixed. Further, in determining the amount of the land-tax, two methods were followed; one by inspection, the other by average. In the case of the former, the daikwan repaired in the fall of each year to the locality concerned, and having ascertained the nature of the crop harvested, proceeded to determine the rate of tax. This arrangement lent itself so readily to abuse that the system of averages was substituted as far as possible. That is to say, the average yield of crops for the preceding ten or twenty years served as a standard.

The miscellaneous taxes were numerous. Thus, there were taxes on business; taxes for post-horses and post-carriers; taxes in the form of labour, which were generally fixed at the rate of fifty men per hundred koku, the object in view being work on river banks, roads, and other public institutions; taxes to meet the cost of collecting taxes, and taxes to cover defalcations. Sometimes the above taxes were levied in kind or in actual labour, and sometimes they were collected in money. To facilitate collection in cities, merchants were required to form guilds according to their respective businesses, and the head of each guild had to collect the tax payable by the members. Thus, upon a guild of sake-brewers a tax of a thousand gold ryo was imposed, and a guild of wholesale dealers in cotton had to pay five hundred ryo. There was a house-tax which was assessed by measuring the area of the land on which a building stood, and there was a tax on expert labour such as that of carpenters and matmakers. In order to facilitate the levy of this last-named tax the citizens were required to locate themselves according to the nature of their employment, and thus such names were found as "Carpenter's street," "Matmaker's street," and so forth. Originally these imposts were defrayed by actual labour, but afterwards money came to be substituted.

An important feature of the taxation system was the imposition of buke-yaku, (military dues). For these the feudatories were liable, and as the amount was arbitrarily fixed by the Bakufu, though always with due regard to the value of the fief, such dues were often very onerous. The same is true in an even more marked degree as to taxes in labour, materials, or money, which were levied upon the feudatories for the purposes of any great work projected by the Bakufu. These imposts were called aids (otetsudai).

MANNER OF PAYING TAXES

The manner of paying taxes varied accordingly to localities. Thus, in the Kwanto, payment was generally made in rice for wet fields and in money for uplands, at the rate of one gold ryo per two and a half koku of rice. In the Kinai and western provinces as well as in the Nankai-do, on the other hand, the total tax on wet fields and uplands was divided into three parts, two of which were paid with rice and one with money, the value of a koku of rice being fixed at forty-eight mon of silver (four-fifths of a gold ryo). As a general rule, taxes imposed on estates under the direct control of the Bakufu were levied in rice, which was handed over to the daikwan of each province, and by him transported to Yedo, Kyoto, or Osaka, where it was placed in stores under the control of store-administrators (kura-bugyo).

In the case of cash payments the money was transported to the castle of Yedo or Osaka, where it came under the care of the finance administrator (kane-bugyo). Finally, the accounts connected with such receipts of cash were compiled and rendered by the administrator of accounts (kane-bugyo), and were subsequently audited by officials named katte-kata, over which office a member of the roju or waka-doshiyori presided. Statistics compiled in 1836 show that the revenue annually collected from the Tokugawa estates in rice and money amounted to 807,068 koku and 93,961 gold ryo respectively. As for the rate of the land-tax, it varied in different parts of the provinces, from seventy per cent, for the landlord and thirty for the tenant to thirty for the landlord and seventy for the tenant.

CURRENCY

It has been shown above that, from the time of the fifth shogun, debasement of the coins of the realm took place frequently. Indeed it may be said that whenever the State fell into financial difficulty, debasement of the current coins was regarded as a legitimate device. Much confusion was caused among the people by repeated changes in the quality of the coins. Thus, in the days of the eighth shogun, no less than four varieties of a single silver token were in circulation. When the country renewed its foreign intercourse in the middle of the nineteenth century, there were no less than eight kinds of gold coin in circulation, nine of silver, and four of copper or iron. The limits within which the intrinsic value of gold coins varied will be understood when we say that whereas the gold oban of the Keicho era (1596-1614) contained, approximately, 29.5 parts of gold to 13 of silver and was worth about seventy-five yen. The corresponding coin of the Man-en era (1860) contained 10.33 parts of pure gold to 19.25 of silver, and was worth only twenty-eight yen.

PAPER CURRENCY

The earliest existing record of the use of paper currency dates from 1661, when the feudal chief of Echizen obtained permission from the Bakufu to employ this medium of exchange, provided that its circulation was limited to the fief where the issue took place. These paper tokens were called hansatsu (fief notes), and one result of their issue was that moneys accruing from the sale of cereals and other products of a fief were preserved within that fief. The example of Echizen in this matter found several followers, but the system never became universal.

JUDICIAL PROCEDURE

The administration of justice in the Tokugawa days was based solely on ethical principles. Laws were not promulgated for prospective application. They were compiled whenever an occasion arose, and in their drafting the prime aim was always to make their provisions consonant with the dictates of humanity. Once, indeed, during the time of the second shogun, Hidetada, a municipal administrator, Shimada Yuya, having held the office for more than twenty years, and having come to be regarded as conspicuously expert in rendering justice, it was proposed to the shogun that the judgments delivered by this administrator should be recorded for the guidance of future judges. Hidetada, however, objected that human affairs change so radically as to render it impossible to establish universally recognizable precedents, and that if the judgments delivered in any particular era were transmitted as guides for future generations, the result would probably be slavish sacrifice of ethical principles on the altar of stereotyped practice.

In 1631, when the third shogun, Iemitsu, ruled in Yedo, a public courthouse (Hyojo-sho) was for the first time established. Up to that time the shogun himself had served as a court of appeal in important cases. These were first brought before a bugyo, and subsequently, if specially vital issues were at stake, the shogun personally sat as judge, the duty of executing his judgments being entrusted to the bugyo and other officials.

Thenceforth, the custom came to be this: Where comparatively minor interests were involved and where the matter lay wholly within the jurisdiction of one administrator, that official sat as judge in a chamber of his own mansion; but in graver cases and where the interests concerned were not limited to one jurisdiction, the Hyojo-sho became the judicial court, and the three administrators, the roju, together with the censors, formed a collegiate tribunal. There were fixed days each month for holding this collegiate court, and there were also days when the three administrators alone met at one of their residences for purposes of private conference. The hearing by the shogun was the last recourse, and before submission to him the facts had to be investigated by the chamberlains (sobashu), who thus exercised great influence. A lawsuit instituted by a plebeian had to be submitted to the feudatory of the region, or to the administrator, or to the deputy (daikwari), but might never be made the subject of a direct petition to the shogun. If the feudatory or the deputy Were held to be acting contrary to the dictates of integrity and reason, the suitor might change his domicile for the purpose of submitting a petition to the authorities in Yedo; and the law provided that no obstruction should be placed in the way of such change.

LAW

As stated above, the original principle of the Bakufu was to avoid compiling any written criminal code. But from the days of the sixth and the seventh shoguns, Ienobu and Ietsugu, such provisions of criminal law as related to ordinary offences came to be written in the most intelligible style and placarded throughout the city of Yedo and provincial towns or villages. On such a placard (kosatsu) posted up, in the year 1711, at seven places in Yedo, it was enjoined on parents, sons, daughters, brothers, husbands, wives, and other relatives that they must maintain intimate and friendly relations among themselves; and that, whereas servants must be faithful and industrious, their masters should have compassion and should obey the dictates of right in dealing with them; that everyone should be hard working and painstaking; that people should not transgress the limits of their social status; that all deceptions should be carefully avoided; that everyone should make it a rule of life to avoid doing injury or causing loss to others; that gambling should be eschewed; that quarrels and disputes of every kind should be avoided; that asylum should not be given to wounded persons; that firearms should not be used without cause; that no one should conceal an offender; that the sale or purchase of human being, should be strictly prohibited except in cases where men or women offered their services for a fixed term of years or as apprentices, or in cases of hereditary servitude; finally, that, though hereditary servants went to other places and changed their domicile, it should not be lawful to compel their return.

In the days of the eighth shogun, Yoshimune, it being held that crimes were often due to ignorance of law, the feudatories and deputies were directed to make arrangements for conveying to the people tinder their jurisdiction some knowledge of the nature of the statutes; and the result was that the mayors (nanushi) of provincial towns and villages had to read the laws once a month at a meeting of citizens or villagers convened for the purpose. Previously to this time, namely, in the days of the fourth shogun, Ietsugu, the office of recorder (tome-yaku) was instituted in the Hyojo-sho for the purpose of committing to writing all judgments given in lawsuits. But in the days of Yoshimune, the rules and regulations issued by the Bakufu from the time of Ieyasu downwards were found to have fallen into such confusion that the difficulty of following them was practically insuperable.

Therefore, in 1742, Matsudaira Norimura, one of the roju, together with the three administrators, was commissioned to compile a body of laws, and the result was a fifteen volume book called the Hatto-gaki (Prohibitory Writings). The shogun himself evinced keen interest in this undertaking. He frequently consulted with the veteran officials of his court, and during a period of several years he revised "The Rules for Judicial Procedure." Associated with him in this work were Kada Arimaro, Ogyu Sorai, and the celebrated judge, Ooka Tadasuke, and not only the Ming laws of China, but also the ancient Japanese Daiho-ritsu were consulted.

This valuable legislation, which showed a great advance in the matter of leniency, except in the case of disloyal or unfilial conduct, was followed, in 1767, by reforms under the shoqun, Ieharu, when all the laws and regulations placarded or otherwise promulgated since the days of Ieyasu were collected and collated to form a prefatory vol-ume to the above-mentioned "Rules for Judicial Procedure," the two being thenceforth regarded as a single enactment under the title of Kajo-ruiten. "The Rules for Judicial Procedure" originally comprised 103 articles, but, in 1790, Matsudaira Sadanobu revised this code, reducing the number of articles to one hundred, and calling it Tokugawa Hyakkajd, or "One Hundred Laws and Regulations of the Tokugawa." This completed the legislative work of the Yedo Bakufu. But it must not be supposed that these laws were disclosed to the general public. They served simply for purposes of official reference. The Tokugawa in this respect strictly followed the Confucian maxim, "Make the people obey but do not make them know.":

ENGRAVING: MATSUDAIRA SADANORU

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

In Tokugawa days the principal punishments were; six: namely, reprimand (shikari), confinement (oshikome), flogging (tataki), banishment (tsuiho), exile to an island (ento), and death (shikei). The last named was divided into five kinds, namely, deprivation of life (shizai), exposing the head after decapitation (gokumon), burning at the stake (hiaburi), crucifixion (haritsuke), and sawing to death (nokogiri-biki). There were also subsidiary penalties, such as public exposure (sarashi), tattooing (irezumi)--which was resorted to not less for purposes of subsequent identification than as a disgrace--confiscation of an estate (kessho), and degradation to a status below the hinin (hininteshita).

The above penalties were applicable to common folk. In the case of samurai the chief punishments were detention (hissoku), confinement (heimon or chikkyo), deprivation of status (kaieki), placing in the custody of a feudatory (azuke), suicide (seppuku), and decapitation (zanzai). Among these, seppuku was counted the most honourable. As a rule only samurai of the fifth official rank and upwards were permitted thus to expiate a crime, and the procedure was spoken of as "granting death" (shi wo tamau). The plebeian classes, that is to say, the farmers, the artisans, and the tradesmen, were generally punished by fines, by confinement, or by handcuffing (tegusari). Priests were sentenced to exposure (sarashi), to expulsion from a temple (tsui-iri), or to exile (kamai).

For women the worst punishment was to be handed over as servants (yakko) or condemned to shave their heads (teihatsu). Criminals who had no fixed domicile and who repeated their evil acts after expiration of a first sentence, were carried to the island of Tsukuda, in Yedo Bay, or to Sado, where they were employed in various ways. Blind men or beggars who offended against the law were handed over to the chiefs of their guilds, namely, the soroku in the case of the blind, and the eta-gashira in the case of beggars.* Some of the above punishments were subdivided, but these details are unimportant.

*For fuller information about these degraded classes see Brinkley's "Oriental Series," Vol. II.

PRISONS

In Yedo, the buildings employed as prisons were erected at Demmacho under the hereditary superintendence of the Ishide family. The governor of prisons was known as the roya-bugyo. Each prison was divided into five parts where people were confined according to their social status. The part called the agari-zashiki was reserved for samurai who had the privilege of admission to the shogun's presence; and in the part called the agariya common, samurai and Buddhist priests were incarcerated. The oro and the hyakusho-ro were reserved for plebeians, and in the onna-ro women were confined. Each section consisted of ten rooms and was capable of accommodating seven hundred persons. Sick prisoners were carried to the tamari, which were situated at Asakusa and Shinagawa, and were under the superintendence of the hinin-gashira. All arrangements as to the food, clothing, and medical treatment of prisoners were carefully thought out, but it is not to be supposed that these Bakufu prisons presented many of the features on which modern criminology insists. On the contrary, a prisoner was exposed to serious suffering from heat and cold, while the coarseness of the fare provided for him often caused disease and sometimes death. Nevertheless, the Japanese prisons in Tokugawa days were little, if anything, inferior to the corresponding institutions in Anglo-Saxon countries at the same period.

LOYALTY AND FILIAL PIETY

In the eyes of the Tokugawa legislators the cardinal virtues were loyalty and filial piety, and in the inculcation of these, even justice was relegated to an inferior place. Thus, it was provided that if a son preferred any public charge against his father, or if a servant opened a lawsuit against his master, the guilt of the son or of the servant must be assumed at the outset as an ethical principle. To such a length was this ethical principle carried that in regulations issued by Itakura Suo no Kami for the use of the Kyoto citizens, we find the following provision: "In a suit-at-law between parent and son judgment should be given for the parent without regard to the pleading of the son. Even though a parent act with extreme injustice, it is a gross breach of filial duty that a son should institute a suit-at-law against a parent. There can be no greater immorality, and penalty of death should be meted out to the son unless the parent petitions for his life." In an action between uncle and nephew a similar principle applied. Further, we find that in nearly every body of law promulgated throughout the whole of the Tokugawa period, loyalty and filial piety are placed at the head of ethical virtues; the practice of etiquette, propriety, and military and literary accomplishments standing next, while justice and deference for tradition occupy lower places in the schedule.

A kosatsu (placard) set up in 1682, has the following inscription: "Strive to be always loyal and filial. Preserve affection between husbands and wives, brothers, and all relatives; extend sympathy and compassion to servants." Further, in a street notice posted in Yedo during the year 1656, we find it ordained that should any disobey a parent's directions, or reject advice given by a municipal elder or by the head of a five-households guild, such a person must be brought before the administrator, who, in the first place, will imprison him; whereafter, should the malefactor not amend his conduct, he shall be banished forever; while for anyone showing malice against his father, arrest and capital punishment should follow immediately.

In these various regulations very little allusion is made to the subject of female rights. But there is one significant provision, namely, that a divorced woman is entitled to have immediately restored to her all her gold and silver ornaments as well as her dresses; and at the same time husbands are warned that they must not fail to make due provision for a former wife. The impression conveyed by careful perusal of all Tokugawa edicts is that their compilers obeyed, from first to last, a high code of ethical principles.

ENGRAVING: "INRO," LACQUERED MEDICINE CASE CARRIED CHIEFLY BY SAMURAI

ENGRAVING: TOKUGAWA MITSUKUNI

XLIII. REVIVAL OF THE SHINTO CULT

RYOBU SHINTO

THE reader is aware that early in the ninth century the celebrated Buddhist priest, Kukai (Kobo Daishi), compounded out of Buddhism and Shinto a system of doctrine called Ryobu Shinto. The salient feature of this mixed creed was the theory that the Shinto deities were transmigrations of Buddhist divinities. Thereafter, Buddhism became the national religion, which position it held until the days of the Tokugawa shoguns, when it was supplanted among educated Japanese by the moral philosophy of Confucius, as interpreted by Chutsz, Wang Yang-ming, and others.

REVIVAL OF PURE SHINTO

The enthusiasm and the intolerance showed by the disciples of Chinese philosophy produced a reaction in Japan, and this culminated in the revival of Shinto, during which process the anomalous position occupied by the shogun towards the sovereign was clearly demonstrated, and the fact contributed materially to the downfall of the Tokugawa. It was by Ieyasu himself that national thought was turned into the new channel, though it need scarcely be said that the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate had no premonition of any results injurious to the sway of his own house.

After the battle of Sekigahara had established his administrative supremacy, and after he had retired from the shogunate in favour of Hidetada, Ieyasu applied himself during his residence at Sumpu to collecting old manuscripts, and shortly before his death he directed that the Japanese section of the library thus formed should be handed over to his eighth son, the baron of Owari, and the Chinese portion to his ninth son, the baron of Kii. Another great library was subsequently brought together by a grandson of Ieyasu, the celebrated Mitsukuni (1628-1700), baron of Mito, who, from his youthful days, devoted attention to Japanese learning, and, assembling a number of eminent scholars, composed the Dai Nihon-shi (History of Great Japan), which consisted of 240 volumes and became thenceforth the standard history of the country. It is stated that the expenditures involved in producing this history, together with a five-hundred-volume work on the ceremonies of the Imperial Court, amounted to one-third of the Mito revenues, a sum of about 700,000 ryo. There can be little doubt that Mitsukuni's proximate purpose in undertaking the colossal work was to controvert a theory advanced by Hayashi Razan that the Emperor of Japan was descended from the Chinese prince, Tai Peh, of Wu, of the Yin dynasty.

Chiefly concerned in the compilation of the Dai Nihon-shi were Asaka Kaku, Kuriyama Gen, and Miyake Atsuaki. They excluded the Empress Jingo from the successive dynasties; they included the Emperor Kobun in the history proper, and they declared the legitimacy of the Southern Court as against the Northern. But in the volume devoted to enumeration of the constituents of the empire, they omitted the islands of Ezo and Ryukyu. This profound study of ancient history could not fail to expose the fact that the shogunate usurped powers which properly belonged to the sovereign and to the sovereign alone. But Mitsukuni and his collaborators did not give prominence to this feature. They confined themselves rather to historical details.

ENGRAVING: KAMO MABUCHI

ENGRAVING: MOTOORI NOBINAGA

It was reserved for four other men to lay bare the facts of the Mikado's divine right and to rehabilitate the Shinto cult. These men were Kada Azumamaro (1668-1736), Kamo Mabuchi (1697-1769), Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), and Hirata Atsutane (1776-1834). Associated with them were other scholars of less note, but these are overshadowed by the four great masters. Kada, indeed, did not achieve much more than the restoration of pure Japanese literature to the pedestal upon which it deserved to stand. That in itself was no insignificant task, for during the five centuries that separated the Gen-Hei struggle from the establishment of the Tokugawa family, Japanese books had shared the destruction that overtook everything in this period of wasting warfare, and the Japanese language itself had undergone such change that to read and understand ancient books, like the Kojiki and the Manyo-shu, demanded a special course of study. To make that study and to prepare the path for others was Kada's task, and he performed it so conscientiously that his successors were at once able to obtain access to the treasures of ancient literature. It was reserved for Mabuchi to take the lead in championing Japanese ethical systems as against Chinese. By his writings we are taught the nature of the struggle waged throughout the Tokugawa period between Chinese philosophy and Japanese ethics, and we are enabled, also, to reach a lucid understanding of the Shinto cult as understood by the Japanese themselves. The simplest route to that understanding is to let the four masters speak briefly, each for himself:

"Learning is a matter in which the highest interests of the empire are involved, and no man ought to be vain enough to imagine that he is able by himself to develop it thoroughly. Nor should the student blindly adhere to the opinions of his teacher. Anyone who desires to study Japanese literature should first acquire a good knowledge of Chinese, and then pass over to the Manyo-shu, from which he may discover the ancient principles of the divine age. If he resolve bravely to love and admire antiquity, there is no reason why he should fail to acquire the ancient style in poetry as well as in other things. In ancient times, as the poet expressed only the genuine sentiments of his heart, his style was naturally direct, but since the practice of writing upon subjects chosen by lot came into vogue, the language of poetry has become ornate and the ideas forced. The expression of fictitious sentiment about the relations of the sexes and miscellaneous subjects is not genuine poetry. [Kada Azumamaro.]

"Wherein lies the value of a rule of conduct? In its conducing to the good order of the State. The Chinese for ages past have had a succession of different dynasties to rule over them, but Japan has been faithful to one uninterrupted line of sovereigns. Every Chinese dynasty was founded upon rebellion and parricide. Sometimes, a powerful ruler was able to transmit his authority to his son and grandson, but they, in their turn, were inevitably deposed and murdered, and the country was in a perpetual state of civil war. A philosophy which produces such effects must be founded on a false system. When Confucianism was first introduced into Japan, the simple-minded people, deceived by its plausible appearance, accepted it with eagerness and allowed it to spread its influence everywhere. The consequence was the civil war which broke out immediately after the death of Tenji Tenno, in A.D. 671, between that Emperor's brother and son, which only came to an end in 672 by the suicide of the latter.

"In the eighth century, the Chinese costume and etiquette were adopted by the Court. This foreign pomp and splendour covered the rapid depravation of men's hearts, and created a wide gulf between the Mikado and his people. So long as the sovereign maintains a simple style of living, the subjects are contented with their own hard lot. Their wants are few and they are easily ruled. But if a sovereign has a magnificent palace, gorgeous clothing, and crowds of finely dressed women to wait on him, the sight of these things must cause in others a desire to possess themselves of the same luxuries; and if they are not strong enough to take them by force, their envy is excited. Had the Mikado continued to live in a house roofed with shingles and having walls of mud, to carry his sword in a scabbard wound round with the tendrils of some creeping plant, and to go to the chase carrying his bow and arrows, as was the ancient custom, the present state of things would never have come about. But since the introduction of Chinese manners, the sovereign, while occupying a highly dignified place, has been degraded to the intellectual level of a woman. The power fell into the hands of servants, and although they never actually assumed the title, they were sovereigns in fact, while the Mikado became an utter nullity. . .

"In ancient times, when men's dispositions were straightforward, a complicated system of morals was unnecessary. It would naturally happen that bad acts might occasionally be committed, but the integrity of men's dispositions would prevent the evil from being concealed and growing in extent. In these days, therefore, it was unnecessary to have a doctrine of right and wrong. But the Chinese, being bad at heart, were only good externally, in spite of the teaching they received, and their evil acts became of such magnitude that society was thrown into disorder. The Japanese, being straightforward, could do without teaching. It has been alleged that, as the Japanese had no names for 'benevolence,' 'righteousness,' 'propriety,' 'sagacity,' and 'truth' they must have been without these principles. But these things exist in every country, in the same way as the four seasons which make their annual rounds. In the spring, the weather does not become mild all at once, or in the summer, hot. Nature proceeds by gradual steps. According to the view of the Chinese, it is not summer or spring unless it becomes hot or mild all of a sudden. Their principles sound very plausible but are unpractical. [Kamo Mabuchi.]

"Japan is the country which gave birth to the goddess of the Sun, which fact proves its superiority over all other countries that also enjoy her favours. The goddess having endowed her grandson with the Three Sacred Treasures, proclaimed him sovereign of Japan for ever and ever. His descendants shall continue to rule it as long as the heavens and earth endure. Being invested with this complete authority, all the gods under heaven and all mankind submitted to him, with the exception of a few wretches who were quickly subdued. To the end of time each Mikado is the son of the goddess. His mind is in perfect harmony of thought and feeling with hers. He does not seek out new inventions but rules in accordance with precedents which date from the Age of the Gods, and if he is ever in doubt, he has recourse to divination, which reveals to him the mind of the great goddess. In this way the Age of the Gods and the present age are not two ages, but one, for not only the Mikado but also his ministers and people act up to the tradition of the divine age. Hence, in ancient times, the idea of michi, or way, (ethics) was applied to ordinary thoroughfares only, and its application to systems of philosophy, government, morals, religion, and so forth is a foreign notion.

"As foreign countries (China and India, particularly the former) are not the special domain of the Sun goddess, they have no permanent rulers, and evil spirits, finding a field of action there, have corrupted mankind. In those countries, any bad man who could manage to seize the power became a sovereign. Those who had the upper hand were constantly scheming to maintain their positions, while their inferiors were as constantly on the watch for opportunities to oust them. The most powerful and cunning of these rulers succeeded in taming their subjects, and having secured their position, became an example for others to imitate. In China the name of 'holy men' has been given to these persons. But it is an error to count these 'holy men' as in themselves supernatural and good beings, superior to the rest of the world as are the gods. The principles they established are called michi (ethics), and may be reduced to two simple rules, namely, to take other people's territory and to keep fast hold of it.

"The Chinese 'holy men' also invented the Book of Changes, by which they pretended to discover the workings of the universe; a vain attempt, since it is impossible for man with his limited intelligence to discover the principles which govern the acts of the gods. In imitation of them, the Chinese nation has since given itself up to philosophizing, to which are to be attributed its constant internal dissensions. When things go right of themselves, it is best to leave them alone. In ancient times, although there was no prosy system in Japan, there, were no popular disturbances, and the empire was peacefully ruled. It is because the Japanese were truly moral in their practice that they required no theory of morals, and the fuss made by the Chinese about theoretical morals is owing to their laxity in practice. It is not wonderful that students of Chinese literature should despise their own country for being without a system of morals, but that the Japanese, who were acquainted with their own ancient literature, should pretend that Japan too had such a system, simply out of a feeling of envy, is ridiculous.

"When Chinese literature was imported into Japan, the people adopted many Chinese ideas, laws, customs, and practices, which they so mixed up with their own that it became necessary to adopt a special name for the ancient native customs, which were in consequence called Kami no michi or Shinto, the word 'michi' being applied in the same sense as the Chinese Tao, and Kami because of their divine origin. These native customs survived only in ceremonies with which the native gods are worshipped. Every event in the universe is the act of the gods. They direct the changes of the seasons, the wind and the rain, the good and bad fortune of States and individuals. Some of the gods are good, others bad, and their acts partake of their own natures. Buddhists attribute events to 'retribution' (Inga), while the Chinese ascribe them to be the 'decree of heaven' (Tien ming). This latter is a phrase invented by the so-called 'holy men' to justify murdering sovereigns and seizing their dominions. As neither heaven nor earth has a mind, they cannot issue decrees. If heaven really could issue decrees, it would certainly protect the good rulers and take care to prevent bad men from seizing the power, and, in general, while the good would prosper, the bad would suffer misfortune. But in reality we find many instances of the reverse. Whenever anything goes wrong in the world, it is to be attributed to the action of the evil gods called 'gods of crookedness,' whose power is so great that the Sun goddess and the Creator-gods are sometimes unable to restrain them; much less are human beings able to resist their influence. The prosperity of the wicked and the misfortunes of the good, which seem opposed to ordinary justice, are their doing. The Chinese, not possessing the traditions of the Divine Age, were ignorant of this truth, and were driven to invent the theory of heaven's decrees.

"The eternal endurance of the dynasty of the Mikado is a complete proof that the 'way,' called Kami no michi or Shinto, infinitely surpasses the systems of all other countries. The 'holy men' of China were merely unsuccessful rebels. The Mikado is the sovereign appointed by the pair of deities, Izanagi and Izanami, who created this country. The Sun goddess never said, 'Disobey the Mikado if he be bad,' and therefore, whether he be good or bad, no one attempts to deprive him of his authority. He is the Immovable Ruler who must endure to the end of time, as long as the sun and moon continue to shine. In ancient language the Mikado was called a god, and that is his real character. Duty, therefore, consists in obeying him implicitly without questioning his acts. During the Middle Ages, such men as Hojo Yoshitoki, Hojo Yasutoki, Ashikaga Takauji, and others, violated this duty (michi) and look up arms against him. Their disobedience to the Mikado is attributable to the influence of the Chinese learning. This 'way' was established by Izanagi and Izanami and delivered by them to the Sun goddess, who handed it down, and this is why it is called the 'way of the gods.'

"The nature of this 'way' is to be learned by studying the Kojiki and ancient writings, but mankind has been turned aside from it, by the spirits of crookedness, to Buddhism and Chinese philosophy. The various doctrines taught under the name of Shinto are without authority, Human beings, having been produced by the spirit of the two creative deities, are naturally endowed with the knowledge of what they ought to do, and what they ought to refrain from doing. It is unnecessary for them to trouble their heads with systems of morality. If a system of morals were necessary, men would be inferior to animals, all of whom are endowed with the knowledge of what they ought to do, only in an inferior degree to man. If what the Chinese call benevolence, modesty, filial piety, propriety, love, fidelity, and truth really constituted the duty of man, they would be so recognized and practised without any teaching; but since they were invented by the so-called 'holy men' as instruments for ruling a viciously inclined population, it became necessary to insist on more than the actual duty of man. Consequently, although plenty of men profess these doctrines, the number of those that practise them is very small. Violations of this teaching were attributed to human lusts. As human lusts are a part of man's nature, they must be a part of the harmony of the universe, and cannot be wrong according to the Chinese theory. It was the vicious nature of the Chinese that necessitated such strict rules, as, for instance, that persons descended from a common ancestor, no matter how distantly related, should not intermarry. These rules, not being founded on the harmony of the universe, were not in accordance with human feelings and were therefore seldom obeyed.

"In ancient times, Japanese refrained from intermarriage among children of the same mother, but the distance between the noble and the mean was duly preserved. Thus, the country was spontaneously well governed, in accordance with the 'way' established by the gods. Just as the Mikado worshipped the gods in heaven and earth, so his people pray to the good gods in order to obtain blessings, and perform rites in honour of the bad gods in order to avert their displeasure. If they committed crimes or denied themselves, they employed the usual methods of purification taught them by their own hearts. Since there are bad as well as good gods, it is necessary to propitiate them with offerings of agreeable food, playing the lute, blowing the flute, singing and dancing, and whatever else is likely to put them in good humour.

"It has been asked whether the Kami no michi is not the same as the Taoism of Laotzu. Laotzu hated the vain conceits of the Chinese scholars, and honoured naturalness, from which a resemblance may be argued; but as he was born in a dirty country not under special protection of the Sun goddess, he had heard only the theories of the succession of so-called 'holy men,' and what he believed to be naturalness was simply what they called natural. He did not know that the gods are the authors of every human action, and this ignorance constituted a cause of radical difference. To have acquired the knowledge that there is no michi (ethics) to be learned and practised is really to have learned to practise the 'way of the gods.' . . . Many miracles occurred in the Age of the Gods, the truth of which was not disputed until men were taught by the Chinese philosophy to analyse the acts of the gods by the aid of their own feeble intelligence. The reason assigned for disbelieving in miracles is that they cannot be explained; but in fact, although the Age of the Gods has passed away, wondrous miracles surround us on all sides. For instance, is the earth suspended in space or does it rest upon something else? If it be said that the earth rests upon something else, then what is it that supports that something else? According to one Chinese theory, the earth is a globe suspended in space with the heavens revolving round it. But even if we suppose the heavens to be full of air, no ordinary principles will account for the land and sea being suspended in space without moving. The explanation offered is as miraculous as the supposition previously made. It seems plausible enough to say that the heavens are merely air and are without any definite form. If this be true, there is nothing but air outside the earth, and this air must be infinite or finite in extent. If it is infinite in extent, we cannot fix any point as its centre, so that it is impossible to understand why the earth should be at rest; for if it be not in the centre it cannot be at rest. If it be finite, what causes the air to condense in one particular spot, and what position shall we assign to it?

"In any case all these things are miraculous and strange. How absurd to take these miracles for granted, and at the same time to disbelieve in the wonders of the Divine Age! Think again of the human body. Seeing with the eyes, hearing With the ears, speaking with the mouth, walking on the feet, and performing all manner of acts with the hands are strange things; so also the flight of birds and insects through the air, the blossoming of plants and trees, the ripening of their fruits and seeds are strange; and the strangest of all is the transformation of the fox and the badger into human form. If rats, weasels, and certain birds see in the dark, why should not the gods have been endowed with a similar faculty?.... The facts that many of the gods are invisible now and have never been visible furnish no argument against their existence. Existence can be made known to us by other senses than those of sight, such as odour or sound, while the wind, which is neither seen, heard, nor smelt is recognized by the impression which it makes upon our bodies. [Motoori Norinaga].

"Although numbers of Japanese cannot state with any certainty from what gods they are descended, all of them have tribal names (kabane) which were originally bestowed by the Mikado, and those who make it their province to study genealogies can tell from a man's ordinary surname who his remotest ancestor must have been. From the fact of the divine descent of the Japanese people proceeds their immeasurable superiority to the natives of other countries in courage and intelligence.*

*Although Hirata claims the superiority for his own countrymen, he frankly acknowledges the achievements of the Dutch in natural science.

". . . The accounts given in other countries, whether by Buddhism or by Chinese philosophy, of the form of the heavens and earth and the manner in which they came into existence, are all inventions of men who exercised all their ingenuity over the problem, and inferred that such things must actually be the case. As for the Indian account, it is nonsense fit only to deceive women and children, and I do not think it worthy of reflection. The Chinese theories, on the other hand, are based upon profound philosophical speculations and sound extremely plausible, but what they call the absolute and the finite, the positive and negative essences, the eight diagrams, and the five elements, are not real existences, but are fictitious names invented by the philosophers and freely applied in every direction. They say that the whole universe was produced by agencies, and that nothing exists which is independent of them. But all these statements are nonsense. The principles which animate the universe are beyond the power of analysis, nor can they be fathomed by human intelligence, and all statements founded upon pretended explanations of them are to be rejected. All that man can think and know is limited by the powers of sight, feeling, and calculation, and what goes beyond these powers, cannot be known by any amount of thinking. . . .

"The Chinese accounts sound as if based upon profound principles, and one fancies that they must be right, while the Japanese accounts sound shallow and utterly unfounded in reason. But the former are lies while the latter are the truth, so that as time goes on and thought attains greater accuracy, the erroneous nature of these falsehoods becomes even more apparent whale the true tradition remains intact. In modern times, men from countries lying far off in the West have voyaged all round the seas as their inclinations prompted them, and have ascertained the actual shape of the earth. They have discovered that the earth is round and that the sun and the moon revolve round it in a vertical direction, and it may thus be conjectured how full of errors are all the ancient Chinese accounts, and how impossible it is to believe anything that professes to be determined a priori. But when we come to compare our ancient traditions as to the origin of a thing in the midst of space and its subsequent development, with what has been ascertained to be the actual shape of the earth, we find that there is not the slightest error, and this result confirms the truth of our ancient traditions. But although accurate discoveries made by the men of the Far West as to the actual shape of the earth and its position in space infinitely surpass the theories of the Chinese, still that is only a matter of calculation. There are many other things actually known to exist which cannot be solved by that means; and still less is it possible to solve the question of how the earth, sun, and moon came to assume their form. Probably those countries possess theories of their own, but whatever they may be, they can but be guesses after the event, and probably resemble the Indian and the Chinese theories.

"The most fearful crimes which a man commits go unpunished by society so long as they are undiscovered, but they draw down on him the hatred of the invisible gods. The attainment of happiness by performing good acts is regulated by the same law. Even if the gods do not punish secret sins by the usual penalties of law, they inflict diseases, misfortunes, short life, and extermination of the race. Never mind the praise or blame of fellow men, but act so that you need not be ashamed before the gods of the Unseen. If you desire to practise true virtue, learn to stand in awe of the Unseen, and that will prevent you from doing wrong. Make a vow to the god who rules over the Unseen and cultivate the conscience implanted in you, and then you will never wander from the way. You cannot hope to live more than one hundred years in the most favourable circumstances, but as you will go to the unseen realm of Okuninushi after death and be subject to his rule, learn betimes to bow down before heaven. The spirits of the dead continue to exist in the unseen world which is everywhere about us, and they all become gods of varying character and degrees of influence. Some reside in temples built in their honour; others hover near their tombs, and they continue to render service to their princes, parents, wives, and children as when in their body. [Hirata Atsutane.]"*

*The above extracts are all taken from Sir Ernest Satow's Revival of Pure Shinto in the appendix to Vol. III. of the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan."

The great loyalist of the eleventh century, Kitabatake Chikafusa, had fully demonstrated the divine title of the sovereigns of Japan, but his work reached only a narrow circle of readers, and his arguments were not re-enforced by the sentiment of the era. Very different was the case in the days of the four literati quoted above. The arrogant and intolerant demeanour of Japanese students of Chinese philosophy who elevated the Middle Kingdom on a pedestal far above the head of their own country, gradually provoked bitter resentment among patriotic Japanese, thus lending collateral strength to the movement which took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in favour of reversion to the customs and canons of old times.

As soon as attention was intelligently concentrated on the history of the past, it was clearly perceived that, in remote antiquity, the empire had always been administered from the Throne, and, further, that the functions arrogated to themselves by the Hojo, the Oda, the Toyotomi, and the Tokugawa were pure usurpations, which deprived the Imperial Court of the place properly belonging to it in the State polity. Just when this reaction was developing strength, the dispute about the title of the ex-Emperor occurred in Kyoto, and furnished an object lesson more eloquent than any written thesis. The situation was complicated by the question of foreign intercourse, but this will be treated separately.

ENGRAVING: MITSUGUMI-NO-SAKAZUKI (Sake Cups used only on Happy Occasions such as Weddings and New Year Days)

ENGRAVING: DIFFERENT STYLES OF COIFFURE

XLIV. FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE DECLINE OF THE TOKUGAWA

FOREIGN TRADE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

FROM what has been stated in previous chapters, it is clearly understood that Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were all well disposed towards foreign intercourse and trade, and that the Tokugawa chief made even more earnest endeavours than Hideyoshi to differentiate between Christianity and commerce, so that the fate of the former might not overtake the latter. Ieyasu, indeed, seems to have kept three objects steadfastly in view, namely, the development of oversea trade, the acquisition of a mercantile marine, and the prosecution of mining enterprise. To the Spaniards, to the Portuguese, to the English, and to the Dutch, he offered a site for a settlement in a suburb of Yedo, and had the offer been accepted, Japan might never have been closed to foreign intercourse. At that time the policy of the empire was free trade. There were no customs dues, though it was expected that the foreign merchants would make liberal presents to the feudatory into whose port they carried their wares. The Tokugawa baron gave plain evidence that he regarded commerce with the outer world as a source of wealth, and that he wished to attract it to his own domains. On more than one occasion he sent an envoy to Manila to urge the opening of trade with the regions in the vicinity of Yedo, and to ask the Spaniards for expert naval architects. His attitude is well shown by a law enacted in 1602:

"If any foreign vessel by stress of weather is obliged to touch at any principality or to put into any harbour of Japan, we order that, whoever these foreigners may be, absolutely nothing whatever that belongs to them, or that they may have brought in their ship, shall be taken from them. Likewise, we rigorously prohibit the use of any violence in the purchase or sale of any of the commodities brought by their ship, and if it is not convenient for the merchants of the ship to remain in the port they have entered, they may pass to any other port that may suit them, and therein buy and sell in full freedom. Likewise, we order, in a general manner, that foreigners may freely reside in any part of Japan they choose, but we rigorously forbid them to propagate their faith."

In the year 1605, the Tokugawa chief granted a permit to the Dutch for trade in Japan, his expectation being that the ships which they undertook to send every year would make Uraga, or some other place near Yedo, their port of entry. In this he was disappointed. The first Hollanders that set foot in Japan were eighteen survivors of the crew of the wrecked Liefde. These men were at first placed in confinement, and during their detention they were approached by emissaries from the feudatory of Hirado, who engaged some of them to instruct his vassals in the art of gun casting and the science of artillery, and who also made such tempting promises with regard to Hirado that the Dutch decided to choose that place for headquarters, although it was then, and always subsequently remained, an insignificant little fishing village. The Dutch possessed one great advantage over their rivals from Manila and Macao: they were prepared to carry on commerce while eschewing religious propagandism. It was this element of the situation that the Hirado feudatory shrewdly appreciated when he enticed the Dutchmen to make Hirado their port of entry.

With regard to the desire of Ieyasu to exploit the mining resources of his country, the fact is demonstrated by an incident which occurred at the time. The governor--general of the Philippines (Rodrigo Yivero y Velasco), whose ship had been cast away on the coast of Japan while en route for Acapulco, had an interview with Ieyasu, and in response to the latter's application for fifty mining experts, the Spaniards made a proposal, to the terms of which, onerous as they were, Ieyasu agreed; namely that one half of the produce, of the mines should go to the miners; that the other half should be divided equally between Ieyasu and the King of Spain; that the latter might send officials to Japan to protect his mining interests, and that these officials might be accompanied by priests, who would have the right to erect public churches, and to hold religious services there.* These things happened in 1609. Previous to that time, the Tokugawa chief had repeatedly imposed a strict veto on Christian propagandism; yet we now find him removing that veto partially, for the sake of obtaining foreign expert assistance. Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu had full confidence in himself and in his countrymen. He did not doubt his ability to deal with emergencies if they arose, and he made no sacrifice to timidity. But his courageous policy died with him, and the miners never came. Moreover, the Spaniards seemed incapable of any successful effort to establish trade with Japan. Fitful visits were paid by their vessels at Uraga, but the Portuguese continued to monopolize the commerce.

*It is to be understood, of course, that these ministrations were intended to be limited to Spaniards resident in Japan.

ENGRAVING: OLD SPANISH CLOCK PRESERVED IN KUNOZAN.

That commerce, however, was not without rude interruptions. One, especially memorable, occurred at the very time when Rodrigo's vessel was cast away. "In a quarrel at Macao some Japanese sailors lost their lives, and their comrades were compelled by the commandant, Pessoa, to sign a declaration exonerating the Portuguese. The signatories, however, told a different tale when they returned to Japan, and their feudal chief, the daimyo of Arima, was much incensed, as also was Ieyasu In the following year (1609), this same Pessoa arrived at Nagasaki in command of the Madre de Dios, carrying twelve Jesuits and a cargo worth a million crowns. Ieyasu ordered the Arima feudatory to seize her. Surrounded by an attacking force of twelve hundred men in boats, Pessoa fought his ship for three days, and then, exploding her magazine, sent her to the bottom with her crew, her passenger-priests, and her cargo."

Fifty-eight years before the date of this occurrence, Xavier had conveyed to Charles V a warning that if ships from New Spain "attempted to conquer the Japanese by force of arms, they would have to do with a people no less covetous than warlike, who seem likely to capture any hostile fleet, however strong." It was a just appreciation. The Portuguese naturally sought to obtain satisfaction for the fate of Pessoa, but Ieyasu would not even reply to their demands, though he made no attempt to prevent the resumption of trade with Macao.

OPENING OF ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRADE

In the year 1609, Ieyasu had reason to expect that the Spaniards and the Dutch would both open trade with Japan. His expectation was disappointed in the case of the Spaniards, but, two years later, the Dutch flag was seen in Japanese waters. It was flown by the Brack, a merchantman which, sailing from Patani, reached Hirado with a cargo of pepper, cloth, ivory, silk, and lead. Two envoys were on board the vessel, and her arrival in Japan nearly synchronized with the coming of the Spanish embassy from Manila, which had been despatched expressly for the purpose of "settling the matter regarding the Hollanders." Nevertheless, the Dutch obtained a liberal patent from Ieyasu.

Twelve years previously, the merchants of London, stimulated by a spirit of rivalry with the Dutch, had organized the East India Company, which at once began to send ships eastward. As soon as news came that the Dutch were about to establish a trading station in Japan, the East India Company issued orders that the Clove, commanded by Saris, should proceed to the Far Eastern islands. The Clove reached Hirado on the 11th of June, 1613. Her master, Saris, soon proved that he did not possess the capacity essential to success. He was self-opinionated, suspicious, and of shallow judgment. Though strongly urged by Will Adams to make Uraga the seat of the new trade; though convinced of the excellence of the harbour there, and though instructed as to the great advantage of proximity to the shogun's capital, he appears to have harboured some distrust of Adams, for he finally selected Hirado in preference to Uraga, "which was much as though a German going to England to open trade should prefer to establish himself at Dover or Folkestone rather than in the vicinity of London." Nevertheless he received from Ieyasu a charter so liberal that it plainly displayed the mood of the Tokugawa shogun towards foreign trade:

"(1) The ship that has now come for the first time from England over the sea to Japan may carry on trade of all kinds without hindrance. With regard to future visits (of English ships), permission will be given in regard to all matters.

"(2) With regard to the cargoes of ships, requisition will be made by list according to the requirements of the shogunate.

"(3) English ships are free to visit any port in Japan. If disabled by storms they may put into any harbour.

"(4) Ground in Yedo in the place which they may desire shall be given to the English, and they may erect houses and reside and trade there. They shall be at liberty to return to their country whenever they wish to do so, and to dispose as they like of the houses they have erected.

"(5) If an Englishman dies in Japan of disease or any other cause, his effects shall be handed over without fail.

"(6) Forced sales of cargo and violence shall not take place.

"(7) If one of the English should commit an offence, he should be sentenced by the English general according to the gravity of his offence."*

*In this article, Ieyasu recognizes the principle of extra-territorial jurisdiction.

The terms of the above show that Saris was expected to make Yedo his headquarters. Had he done so he would have been practically free from competition; would have had the eastern capital of the empire for market, and would have avoided many expenses and inconveniences connected with residence elsewhere. But he did not rise to the occasion, and the result of his mistaken choice as well as of bad management was that, ten years later (1623), the English factory at Hirado had to be closed, the losses incurred there having aggregated £2000--$10,000. It has to be noted that, a few months after the death of Ieyasu, the above charter underwent a radical modification. The original document threw open to the English every port in Japan; the revised document limited them to Hirado. But this restriction may be indirectly traced to the blunder of not accepting a settlement in Yedo and a port at Uraga. For the foreign policy of the Tokugawa was largely swayed by an apprehension that the Kyushu feudatories, many of whom were not over-well disposed to the rule of the Bakufu, might derive from the assistance of foreign trade such a fleet and such an armament as would ultimately enable them to overthrow the Tokugawa. Therefore, the precaution was adopted of confining the English and the Dutch to Hirado, the domain of a feudatory too petty to become formidable, and to Nagasaki, which was one of the four Imperial cities, the other three being Yedo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

ENGRAVING: THE "ATAKA MARU" (Shogun's Barge)

It is easy to see that an English factory in Yedo and English ships at Uraga would have strengthened the Tokugawa ruler's hand instead of supplying engines of war to his political foes; and it must further be noted that the question of locality had another injurious outcome. For alike at Hirado and at Nagasaki, the foreign traders "were exposed to a crippling competition at the hands of rich Osaka monopolists, who, as representing an Imperial city and therefore being pledged to the Tokugawa interests, enjoyed special indulgences from the Bakufu. These shrewd traders who were then, as they are now, the merchant-princes of Japan, not only drew a ring around Hirado, but also sent vessels on their own account to Cochin China, Siam, Tonkin, Cambodia, and other foreign lands with which the English and the Dutch carried on trade." One can scarcely be surprised that Cocks, the successor of Saris, wrote, in 1620, "which maketh me altogether aweary of Japan."

It is, however, certain that the closure of the English factory at Hirado was voluntary; from the beginning to the end no serious friction had occurred between the English and the Japanese. When, the former withdrew from the Japanese trade, their houses and stores at Hirado were not sold, but were left in the safe-keeping of the local feudatory, who promised to restore them to their original owners should the English company desire to re-open business in Japan. The company did think of doing so on more than one occasion, but the idea did not mature until the year 1673, when a merchantman, the Return, was sent to obtain permission. "The Japanese authorities, after mature reflection, made answer that as the king of England was married to a Portuguese princess, British subjects could not be permitted to visit Japan. That this reply was suggested by the Dutch is very probable; that it truly reflected the feeling of the Japanese Government towards Roman Catholics is certain."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th Edition)'; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

END OF THE PORTUGUESE TRADE WITH JAPAN

In the year 1624, the expulsion of the Spaniards from Japan took place, and in 1638 the Portuguese met the same fate. Two years prior to the latter event, the Yedo Bakufu adopted a measure which effectually terminated foreign intercourse. They ruled that to leave the country, or to attempt to do so, should constitute a capital crime; that any Japanese subject residing abroad should be executed if he returned; that the entire kith and kin of the Spaniards in Japan should be expelled, and that no ships of ocean-going dimensions should be built in Japan. This meant not only the driving out of all professing Christians, but also the imprisonment of the entire nation within the limits of the Japanese islands, as well as an effectual veto on the growth of the mercantile marine. It is worth noting that no act of spoliation was practised against these tabooed people. Thus, when those indicated by the edict--to the number of 287--left the country for Macao, they were allowed to carry away with them their whole fortunes.

The expulsion of the Spaniards did not leave the Portuguese in an improved condition. Humiliating restrictions continued to be imposed upon them. If a foreign priest were found upon any galleon bound for Japan, such priest and the whole of the crew of the galleon were liable to be executed, and many other irksome conditions were instituted for the control of the trade. Nor had the aliens even the satisfaction of an open market, for all the goods carried in their galleons had to be sold at a fixed price to a ring of licensed Japanese merchants from Osaka. In spite of all these deterrents, however, the Portuguese continued to send galleons to Nagasaki until the year 1637, when their alleged connexion with the Shimabara rebellion induced the Japanese to issue the final edict that henceforth any Portuguese ship coming to Japan should be burned, together with her cargo, and everyone on board should be executed.

This law was not enforced with any undue haste; ample time was given for compliance with its provisions. Possibly misled by this procrastination, the Portuguese at Macao continued to strive for the re-establishment of commercial relations until 1640, when a very sad event put an end finally to all intercourse. Four aged men, selected from among the most respected citizens of Macao, were sent to Nagasaki as ambassadors. Their ships carried rich presents and an earnest petition for the renewal of commercial intercourse. They were at once imprisoned, and having declined to save their lives by abjuring the Christian faith, the four old men and fifty-seven of their companions were decapitated, thirteen only being left alive for the purpose of conveying the facts to Macao. To these thirteen there was handed at their departure a document setting forth that, "So long as the sun warms the earth, any Christian bold enough to come to Japan, even if he be King Philip himself or the God of the Christians, shall pay for it with his head." One more effort to restore the old intimacy was made by the Portuguese in 1647, but it failed signally, and would certainly have entailed sanguinary results had not the two Portuguese vessels beat a timely retreat.

THE DUTCH AT DESHIMA

In 1609, the Dutch made their appearance in Japan, and received an excellent welcome. Ieyasu gave them a written promise that "no man should do them any wrong and that they should be maintained and defended as his own vassals." He also granted them a charter that wherever their ships entered, they should be shown "all manner of help, favour, and assistance." Left free to choose their own trading port, they made the mistake of selecting Hirado, which was eminently unsuited to be a permanent emporium of interstate commerce. Nevertheless, owing partly to their shrewdness, partly to their exclusive possession of the Spice Islands, and partly to their belligerent co-operation with the English against the Spaniards, they succeeded in faring prosperously for a time.

The day came, however, when, being deprived of freedom of trade and limited to dealings with a guild of Nagasaki and Osaka merchants, they found their gains seriously affected. Other vicissitudes overtook them, and finally the Japanese concluded that the safest course was to confine the Dutch to some position where, in a moment of emergency, they could easily be brought under Japanese control. Nagasaki was chosen as suitable, and there a Dutch factory was established which, for a time, flourished satisfactorily. From seven to ten Dutch vessels used to enter the port annually--their cargoes valued at some eighty thousand pounds (avdp.) of silver, and the chief staples of import being silk and piece-goods. Customs duties amounting to five per cent, were levied; 495 pounds of silver had to be paid annually as a rent for the little island of Deshima, and every year a mission had to proceed to Yedo from the factory, carrying presents for the chief Bakufu officials, which presents are said to have aggregated some 550 pounds of silver on each occasion. The Dutch traders, nevertheless, found their business profitable owing to purchases of gold and copper, which metals could be procured in Japan at much lower rates than they commanded in Europe. Thus, the now familiar question of an outflow of specie was forced upon Japanese attention at that early date, and, by way of remedy, the Government adopted, in 1790, the policy of restricting to one vessel annually the Dutch ships entering Nagasaki, and forbidding that vessel to carry away more than 350 tons of copper.

EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON JAPAN BY THE POLICY OF EXCLUSION

Whatever losses Japan's policy of seclusion caused to the nations which were its victims, there can be no doubt that she herself was the chief sufferer. During two and a half centuries she remained without breathing the atmosphere of international competition, or deriving inspiration from an exchange of ideas with other countries. While the world moved steadily forward, Japan stood practically unchanging, and when ultimately she emerged into contact with the Occident, she found herself separated by an immense interval from the material civilization it had developed.

The contrast between the Japan of the middle of the sixteenth and that of the middle of the seventeenth century has often been made by the historian of foreign influence. In 1541 the country was open to foreign trade, foreign civilization and foreign ideas and these were welcomed eagerly and, in accordance with the remarkable natural aptitude of the Japanese for adaptation, were readily assimilated. Not only were foreign traders allowed to come to Japan, but Japanese were allowed to go abroad. And all this was in the line of a long-continued Japanese policy--the policy thanks to which Chinese influence had made itself so strongly felt in Japan, and which had brought in Buddhism and Confucianism, not to speak of arts and letters of foreign provenance.

At the close of the hundred years, in 1641, all was changed. Japan was absolutely isolated. Foreigners were forbidden to enter, except the Dutch traders who were confined to the little island of Deshima. And natives were forbidden to go out, or to accept at home the religious teachings of foreigners. Only ships suited for the coastwise trade might be built. The nation's intercourse with Occidental civilization was shut off, and its natural power of change and growth through foreign influences was thus held in check. The wonder is that it was not destroyed by this inhibition. The whole story of foreign intercourse as it has so far been told makes it plain that the reason why it was prohibited was in the nature of foreign propaganda and not in any unreadiness of the Japanese for western civilization.

SECOND ERA OF FOREIGN TRADE

Japan's seclusion was maintained unflinchingly. But, though her goods found a market in China, only during her period of self-effacement, the reputation of her people for military prowess was such that no outside nation thought of forcing her to open her ports. A British seaman, Sir Edward Michelborne, in the sequel of a fight between his two ships and a Japanese junk near Singapore, left a record that "The Japanese are not allowed to land in any part of India with weapons, being a people so desperate and daring that they are feared in all places where they come." Nevertheless, Russian subjects, their shores being contiguous with those of Japan, occasionally found their way as sailors or colonists into the waters of Saghalien, the Kuriles, and Yezo. The Japanese did not then exercise effective control over Yezo, although the island was nominally under their jurisdiction. Its government changed from one hand to another in the centuries that separated the Kamakura epoch from the Tokugawa, and in the latter epoch we find the Matsumae daimyo ruling all the islands northward of the Tsugaru Straits. But the Matsumae administration contented itself with imposing taxes and left the people severely alone. Thus, when in 1778, a small party of Russians appeared at Nemuro seeking trade, no preparations existed to impose the local government's will on the strangers. They were simply promised an answer in the following year, and that answer proved to be that all Japan's oversea trade must by law be confined to Nagasaki.

The Russians did not attempt to dispute this ruling. They retired quietly. But their two visits had shown them that Yezo was capable of much development, and they gradually began to flock thither as colonists. Officials sent from Japan proper to make an investigation reported that Kamchatka, hitherto a dependency of Japan, had been taken possession of by Russians, who had established themselves in the island of Urup and at other places. The report added that the situation would be altogether lost unless resolute steps were taken to restore it. Unfortunately, the death of the tenth shogun having just then occurred, the Yedo Court found it inconvenient to take action in remote Yezo. Thus, Russian immigration and Japanese inaction continued for some time, and not until 1792 were commissions again despatched from Yedo to inquire and report. They made an exhaustive investigation, and just as it reached the hands of the Bakufu, a large Russian vessel arrived off Nemuro, carrying some ship-wrecked Japanese sailors whom her commander offered to restore to their country, accompanying this offer with an application for the opening of trade between Russia and Japan. Negotiations ensued, the result being that Nagasaki was again referred to as the only port where foreign trade might be lawfully conducted, and the Russians, therefore, declared their intention of proceeding thither, a passport being handed to them for the purpose. It does not appear, however, that they availed themselves of this permit, and in the mean while the Yedo commissioners pursued their journey northward, and pulled up a number of boundary posts which had been erected by the Russians in Urup.

The Bakufu now began to appreciate the situation more fully. They took under their own immediate control the eastern half of Yezo, entrusting the western half to Matsumae. The next incident of note was a survey of the northern islands, made in 1800 by the famous mathematician, Ino Tadayoshi, and the despatch of another party of Bakufu investigators. Nothing practical was done, however, and, in 1804, a Russian ship arrived at Nagasaki carrying a number of Japanese castaways and again applying for permission to trade. But it soon appeared that the Bakufu were playing fast and loose with their visitors and that they had no intention of sanctioning general foreign commerce, even at Nagasaki. Incensed by such treatment, the Russians, in 1806, invaded Saghalien, carried away several Japanese soldiers, and partially raided Etorop and other places. They threatened further violence in the following year unless international trade was sanctioned.

The Bakufu had now a serious problem to solve, and their ideas of its solution were almost comical. Thus, one statesman recommended the organization of a special force recruited from the ranks of vagrants and criminals and stationed permanently in the northern islands, A more practical programme was the formation of a local militia. But neither of these suggestions obtained approval, nor was anything done beyond removing the Matsumae feudatory and placing the whole of the islands under the direct sway of the Bakufu.

For a period of five years after these events the Russians made no further attempt to establish relations with Japan, and their next essay, namely, the despatch of a warship--the Diana--to survey the Yezo coasts, was unceremoniously interrupted by the Japanese. Another vessel flying the Russian flag visited Kunajiri, in 1814. On that occasion the Japanese managed to seize some members of the Russian crew, who were ultimately saved by the shrewdness of one of their officers. These events imparted fresh vigour to Japan's prejudices against foreign intercourse, but, as for the Russians, not a few of them found their way to Saghalien and settled there without any resolute attempt on the part of the Bakufu to expel them.

COAST DEFENCE

One effect of the events related above was to direct Japanese attention to the necessity of coast defence, a subject which derived much importance from information filtering through the Dutch door at Nagasaki. Under the latter influence a remarkable book (Kai-koku Hei-dan) was compiled by Hayashi Shibei, who had associated for some time with the Dutch at Deshima. He urged frankly that Japan must remain helpless for naval purposes if her people were forbidden to build ocean-going vessels while foreigners sailed the high seas, and he further urged that attention should be paid to coast defence, so that the country might not be wholly at the mercy of foreign adventurers. The brave author was thrown into prison and the printing-blocks of his book were destroyed, but his enlightenment bore some fruit, for immediately afterwards the Bakufu prime minister made a journey along the coasts of the empire to select points for the erection of fortifications, and to encourage the feudatories to take steps for guarding these important positions.

FOREIGN LITERATURE

It has already been stated that in the days of the shogun Yoshimune (1716-1745) the veto against studying foreign books was removed. But for some time this liberal measure produced no practical effect, since there did not exist even a Dutch-Japanese vocabulary to open the pages of foreign literature for Japanese study. Indeed, very few books were procurable from the Dutch at Deshima. The most accessible were treatises on medicine and anatomy, and the illustrations in these volumes served as a guide for interpreting their contents. Earnestness well-nigh incredible was shown by Japanese students in deciphering the strange terms, and presently the country was placed in possession of The History of Russia, Notes on the Northern Islands, Universal Geography, A Compendium of Dutch Literature, Treatises on the Art of Translation, a Dutch-Japanese Dictionary and so forth, the immediate result being a nascent public conviction of the necessity of opening the country,--a conviction which, though not widely held, contributed materially to the ultimate fall of the Bakufu.

The Yedo Court, however, clung tenaciously to its hereditary conservatism. Thus, in 1825, the Bakufu issued a general order that any foreign vessel coming within range of the coast batteries should at once be fired upon, and not until 1842 was this harsh command modified in the sense that a ship driven into a Japanese port by stress of weather might be given food, water, and provisions, but should be warned to resume her voyage immediately. Meanwhile, strenuous efforts were made to strengthen the littoral defences, and a very active revival of the study of the military art took place throughout the empire, though, at the same time, the number of patriots sufficiently brave and clear-sighted to condemn the policy of seclusion grew steadily.

ENGRAVING: "OHARAME" (A FEMALE LABOURER IN THE SUBURBS OF KYOTO)

ENGRAVING: TWO DRUMS AND TSUZUMI--A and D are Drums; B and C are Tsuzumi.