THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The object of this abdication was twofold. The sovereigns themselves often became restless and dissatisfied in the constrained attitude which they were compelled to maintain. If they were in the least ambitious to meet the requirements of their elevated position and realized in any degree the legitimate claims which their country had upon them, their natural efforts to take part in the administration were promptly checked, and they were reminded that it was unbecoming and unfitting for the descendants of the gods to mingle in ordinary earthly affairs. In this way it often fell out that the ablest of the emperors retired from the actual position of reigning emperor in order to free themselves from the restraints of etiquette and from the burden of ennui which held them captive. They assumed the dignity of retired emperors, and often from their retirement wielded a greater influence and exerted a far more active part in the administration of affairs than they ever had been able to do when upon the imperial throne.

Besides this motive which affected the occupants of the throne, there was a corresponding one which led the officers of the court to encourage and perhaps sometimes to compel the emperors to abdicate. These administrative officers, into whose hands the management of the government had fallen, were desirous to retain their authority, and therefore whenever an emperor exhibited signs of independence, or any disposition to think or act for himself, they contrived means to have him retire and leave in his place some inexperienced boy who could be more easily controlled.

In this kind of supervising statesmanship the Fujiwara family became, and for centuries remained, supreme experts. For a period of four hundred years, from A.D. 645 to 1050, they monopolized nearly all the important offices in the government. The wives and concubines of the feeble emperors were all taken from its inexhaustible repertoire. The men of the family, among whom were always some of administrative ability, found it a task of no great difficulty to rule the emperor who was supposed to be divinely inspired to rule the empire, especially when he was usually a boy whose mother, wife, and court favorites were all supplied from the Fujiwara family. This kind of life and environment could not fail to produce on the successive emperors a sadly demoralizing effect. They were brought up in an enervating atmosphere and their whole life was spent in arts and employments which, instead of developing in them a spirit of independence and a high ambition and ability to govern well the empire committed to them, led them to devote themselves to pleasures, and to leave to others less fortunate the duty of administering the affairs of government.

The same circumstances which demoralized the occupants of the imperial throne served in a certain though less degree to enervate and enfeeble the Fujiwara family. Although they sometimes appointed one of their number the commander of an expedition against the Emishi, or to put down fresh revolts in the island of Kyushu, yet his duties were purely honorary. He usually remained at home and sent one or more of the active military chieftains to lead the forces against the enemy in the field. If the expedition was successful, however, the honorary commander did not forget to have himself duly promoted, and rewarded with additional lands and income.

Other families besides the Fujiwara, rose in these long and weary centuries to prominence, and seemed on the point of disputing the security of their position. Thus the Tachibana in the eighth century attained high honors and distinction. It was an old family, and even as far back as the legend of Yamato-dake(108) we find that a princess of the Tachibana family was his wife, who sacrificed herself in the bay of Yedo to appease the turbulent waters. It was Maroye, a member of the Tachibana family and a favorite of the Emperor Shomu (A.D. 724-756), who compiled the collection of ancient Japanese poetry called Man-yoshu or collection of Myriad Leaves.

Another family which attained prominence was the Sugawara. It originated in the province of Kawachi. The most noted representative of this family was Sugawara Michizane, who was first conspicuous as the teacher of the young prince who afterward became the Emperor Uda (A.D. 888-898). He was a brilliant scholar in Chinese, which was then the learned language of the East. Even down to modern times his family has been devoted to learning. The Sugawara(109) and Oye families both had adopted literature as their hereditary profession, and the government made them an allowance for the expenses(110) of those who might be pursuing their studies in the national university. The influence of Michizane over the emperor was marked and salutary. Under his wise tutelage Uda showed so much independence that the Fujiwara Kwambaku found means to lead him to abdicate in favor of his son, who became the sixtieth emperor, and is known under the historic name of Daigo. Michizane became the counsellor and was created nai-daijin under the new emperor, who at the time of his accession was only fourteen years old. But the Kwambaku Tokihira determined to free himself from the adverse influence of this wise and honest counsellor. So he had him sent in a kind of honorable banishment to Dazaifu, the seat of the vice-royalty of the island of Kyushu. It is said that he died here in A.D. 903. There was a great re-action in regard to him after his death, and he was canonized under the name of Tenjin(111) (Heavenly god), and is held sacred as the patron saint of men of letters and of students. The twenty-fifth day of each month is kept as a holiday in schools, sacred to Tenjin-Sama, and the twenty-fifth of June as an annual matsuri.

But the families which finally displaced the Fujiwara from their position of supremacy were what were technically called the military families. The separation of officers into civil and military was made under the reforms introduced from China. The Fujiwara in the main restricted themselves to civil duties. Wherever it was necessary to send military expeditions against the barbarians of the north, or rebels in Kyushu, or into the disaffected districts of Korea, commanders were selected from families devoted to military service. The Taira family was of this class. Hei is the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese name Taira, and is more often used in the literature of the times. The Taira family sprang from the Emperor Kwammu (A.D. 782-806) through one of his concubines. The great-grandson of Kwammu, Takamochi, received permission to adopt the name of Taira, and thus became the founder of the family. They were the military vassals of the crown for many generations.

A little later than the Taira arose another family, the Minamoto, whose equivalent Chinese name was Gen. It sprang from the Emperor Seiwa (A.D. 859-880). His son Tadazumi became minister of war. Tadazumi had two sons, who were granted the family name of Minamoto; the descendants of one of them, Tsunemoto, being created military vassals.

The almost constant wars in which the empire was engaged led to the extension of the military class. From the time now under discussion the military class came to be looked upon as a distinct and separate part of the population. It was composed of those who in the time of war showed an aptitude for arms, and who were most serviceable in the campaigns which they undertook. Gradually they became distinct from the agricultural peasantry, and by education and training came to look upon arms as their legitimate profession. They naturally attached themselves to the military commanders who led them in their various expeditions, and thus were in time regarded as the standing troops of the empire. This growth of a military class, whose commanders were restless and ambitious, gradually undermined the authority which the Fujiwara up to the tenth century had almost unrestrictedly exercised. The employment of commanders from the military families raised in them an ambition to share in the powers of government. The struggles which ensued, first between the Fujiwara and Taira, and then between the Taira and Minamoto, continued to keep the country embroiled for more than a century. The suffering and desolation resulting from these weary internecine wars can only be paralleled by such conflicts as that between the White and Red Roses in England, or the Thirty Years’ War in Germany. Of these struggles it will be possible to give only an outline.

It has already been mentioned that the Taira family sprang from the Emperor Kwammu,(112) whose great-grandson, Takamochi received permission to take Taira as his family name. The Emperor Shirakawa tired of the arrogance of the Fujiwara in A.D. 1087 retired into a cloister, and from this seclusion continued to exercise a controlling influence in the conduct of affairs. Tadamori a descendant of Taira-no-Takamochi was a favorite in his court, and even had a liaison with one of his concubines.

The ex-emperor complaisantly informed the courtier that if the child to be born proved to be a daughter he himself would adopt it, but if a son then it should belong to Tadamori. Accordingly the child being a son was a Taira, and rose to great eminence as Taira-no-Kiyomori. Tadamori acquired for himself great credit by his successful expedition against Korean pirates who had cruised along the eastern coasts of Japan. In the troubles which subsequently arose in reference to the succession the Taira took an important part. The Emperor Toba, who succeeded to the throne in A.D. 1108 at the age of six, abdicated in A.D. 1123 at the age of twenty-six. Both his father, the ex-Emperor Horikawa, and his grandfather, the ex-Emperor Shirakawa, were still living in retirement. He was succeeded by his son the Emperor Shutoku in A.D. 1124, then six years old, who after reigning seventeen years abdicated. He had a son but was succeeded A.D. 1142 by his brother Konoye who was four years of age. This mature youth reigned thirteen years and died without abdicating. On his death-bed he adopted as the crown prince his brother Go-Shirakawa, thus displacing the lineal heir. The succession was now bitterly disputed. The Minamoto chiefly espoused the cause of the displaced heir, while Kiyomori and the Taira together with Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo supported Go-Shirakawa. In a battle fought A.D. 1156 Kyomori won the victory. This victory raised him to a pinnacle of power. He began a career of nepotism and patronage which was not inferior to that of the Fujiwara. The ex-Emperor Shutoku and his son were banished to the province of Sanuki where it is said that Shutoku died of starvation. Tametomo a member of the Minamoto clan who was famed for his great strength and for his skill in archery was sent as an exile to the island of Hachijo, southeast of the promontory of Izu. From this island he escaped, and it is a tradition that he made his way to the Ryukyu islands where he rose to prominence and became the ancestor of the kings of these islands.

Yoshitomo of the Minamoto clan, who had sided with Kiyomori in the recent dynastic conflict was a brother of the Tametomo just mentioned. He was greatly offended by the violent use which Kiyomori made of the power which had come into his hands. With all the Minamoto and Fujiwara he conspired to overthrow the victorious and arrogant Taira. But Kiyomori suspecting the plans of his enemies took measures to counteract them and suddenly fell upon them in the city of Kyoto. Yoshitomo was obliged to save himself by fleeing to Owari, where he was assassinated by the agents of Kiyomori. The death of the head of the Minamoto only made the tyrant more determined to crush all opposition. Even the ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who was a son-in-law of Kiyomori, but who showed some signs of disapproval, was sent into exile. Several of the sons of Yoshitomo were put to death; but Yoritomo then a boy of thirteen was saved by the interference of the mother-in-law of Kiyomori, and was sent into exile in the province of Izu, and put into the safe-keeping of two faithful Taira men, one of whom Hojo Tokimasa will be heard of hereafter.

Besides the four sons of Yoshitomo by his wife, he had also three sons by a concubine named Tokiwa. She was a woman of great beauty, and for that reason as well as because she was the mother of the romantic hero Yoshitsune, she has often been chosen by Japanese artists as the subject of their pictures. Tokiwa and her three children, of whom Yoshitsune was then an infant at the breast, fled at the breaking out of the storm upon Yoshitomo and the Minamoto clan. They are often represented as wandering through a storm of snow, Yoshitsune being carried as an infant on the back of his mother, and the other two little ones pattering along with unequal steps at her side. In this forlorn condition they were met by one of the Taira soldiers, who took pity on them and gave them shelter. From him they learned that Kiyomori had taken the mother of Tokiwa prisoner, and held her in confinement, knowing that this would surely bring back to him the fair fugitive and her children. In the Chinese teachings of that day, in which Tokiwa had been educated, the duty of a child to its mother was paramount to that of a mother to her child. So Tokiwa felt that it was unquestionably her duty to go back at once to the capital and surrender herself in order to procure the release of her mother. But her maternal heart rebelled when she remembered that her babes would surely be sacrificed by this devotion. Her woman’s wit devised a scheme which might possibly furnish a way between these terrible alternatives. She determined to surrender herself and her children to Kiyomori, and depend upon her beauty to save them from the fate which had been pronounced upon all the Minamoto. So with her little flock she went back and gave herself up to the implacable tyrant. Softened by her beauty and urged by a number of his courtiers, he set her mother at liberty in exchange for her becoming his concubine, and distributed her children in separate monasteries. The chief interest follows the youngest boy, Yoshitsune, who was sent to the monastery at Kurama Yama(113) near Kyoto. Here he grew up a vigorous and active youth, more devoted to woodcraft, archery, and fencing than to the studies and devotions of the monastery. At sixteen years of age he was urged by the priests to become a monk and to spend the rest of his days in praying for the soul of his father. But he refused, and shortly after he escaped from the monastery in company with a merchant who was about to visit the northern provinces. Yoshitsune reached Mutsu, where he entered the service of Fujiwara-no-Hidehira, then governor of the province. Here he spent several years devoting himself to the military duties which chiefly pertained to the government of that rough and barbarous province. He developed into the gallant and accomplished soldier who played a principal part in the wars which followed, and became the national hero around whose name have clustered the choicest traditions of his country.

Meanwhile, as we have seen, Yoritomo,(114) the oldest son of Yoshitomo, and by inheritance the head of the Minamoto clan, had been banished to Izu and committed to the care of two faithful Taira adherents. Yoritomo married Masago, the daughter of Hojo Tokimasa, one of these, and found means to induce Tokimasa to join him in his plans to overthrow the tyrant Kiyomori, who now ruled the empire with relentless severity. Even the retired emperor joined in this conspiracy and wrote letters to Yoritomo urging him to lead in the attempt to put down the Taira. Yoritomo summoned the scattered members of the Minamoto clan and all the disaffected elements of every kind to his assistance. It does not seem that this summons was responded to with the alacrity which was hoped for. The inexperience of Yoritomo and the power and resources of him against whom they were called upon to array themselves, led the scattered enemies of Kiyomori to hesitate to join so hopeless a cause. The rendezvous of the Minamoto was at Ishibashi Yama, and it is said that only three hundred men gathered at the call. They were followed and attacked by a greatly superior force, and utterly routed. It is a tradition that Yoritomo and six friends, who had escaped from the slaughter of this battle, hid themselves in the hollow of an immense tree. Their pursuers, in searching for them, sent one of their number to examine this tree. He was secretly a friend of the Minamoto, and when he discovered the fugitives he told them to remain, and announced to those who sent him that the tree was empty. He even inserted his spear into the hollow and turned it about to show that there was nothing there. When he did this two doves(115) flew out, and the artful soldier reported that spiders’ webs were in the mouth of the opening.

Yoritomo now fled to the promontory of Awa, east of what became known afterward as Yedo bay. He sent messages in every direction summoning the enemies of Kiyomori to join him. His brother Yoshitsune gathered what forces he could from the north and marched to the region which was to become famous as the site of Kamakura. He was joined by others of his clan and soon felt himself in such a position as to assume the aggressive. He fixed upon Kamakura as his headquarters about A.D. 1180, and as his power increased it grew to be a great city. It was difficult of access from Kyoto and by fortifying the pass of Hakone,(116) where the mountainous regions of Shinano come down to the eastern coast not far from Fujisan, it was rendered safe from attacks coming from the south.

While these notes of preparation were being sounded Kiyomori, who as daijo-daijin had ruled the empire for many years, died A.D. 1181, at the age of sixty-four. He was fully aware of the portentous clouds which were gathering around his family. On his death-bed he is said to have warned them of the danger arising from the plans of Yoritomo. According to the Nihon-Gwaishi, he said, “My regret is only that I am dying, and have not yet seen the head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto. After my decease do not make offerings to Buddha on my behalf nor read sacred books. Only cut off the head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto and hang it on my tomb.”

The death of Kiyomori(117) hastened the triumph of Yoritomo. Munemori the son of Kiyomori became the head of the Taira clan, and continued the contest. But Yoritomo’s combinations speedily reduced the country to his power. Yoshitsune with his army from the north was at Kamakura; Yoshinaka, a cousin of Yoritomo, was in command of an army gathered in the highlands of Shinano; while Yoritomo himself led the forces collected in Awa, Kazusa and Musashi. The point to which all the armies were directed was the capital where the Taira were still in full control. Yoshinaka was the first to come in collision with the forces of the capital. Munemori had sent out an army to oppose Yoshinaka who was swiftly approaching along the Nakasendo. The Taira army was completely defeated and Yoshinaka marched victoriously into the capital. Munemori with the reigning emperor Antoku, then only a child six years of age, and all the imperial court crossed the Inland sea to Sanuki, the northern province of the island of Shikoku. The two retired emperors Go-Shirakawa, and Takakura who sympathized with the revolutionary movements of Yoritomo, remained behind and welcomed Yoshinaka to the capital. The retirement of the emperor from the palace was taken as his abdication, and his younger brother, Go-Toba, then seven years old, was proclaimed emperor.

Yoshinaka, puffed up by his rapid success, and disregarding the paramount position of Yoritomo, assumed the superintendence of the government and had himself appointed sei-i-shogun,(118) which was the highest military title then bestowed upon a subject. He even went so far as to antagonize Yoritomo and undertook to pluck the fruits of the military movements which had brought about this revolution of the government.

Yoritomo at once despatched Yoshitsune at the head of his army to Kyoto to put down this most unexpected and unnatural defection. He met Yoshinaka’s army near lake Biwa and inflicted upon it a severe defeat. Overwhelmed with shame and knowing that he deserved no consideration at the hands of his outraged relatives, Yoshinaka committed suicide. Yoshitsune then followed the fugitive court. He destroyed the Taira palace at Hyogo, and then crossed over to Sanuki, whither the court had fled. Alarmed by the swift vengeance which was pursuing them, Munemori together with the emperor and his mother and all the court hastily embarked for what they hoped might be an asylum in the island of Kyushu. They were pursued by the Minamoto army in the junks which had brought them to Sanuki. They were overtaken at Dan-no-ura not far from the village of Shimonoseki, in the narrow straits at the western extremity of the Inland sea. The naval battle which here took place is the most famous in the annals of the Japanese empire. According to the Nihon-Gwaishi the Taira fleet consisted of five hundred junks, and the Minamoto of seven hundred. The vessels of the Taira were encumbered by many women and children of the escaping families, which put them at a great disadvantage. The young emperor, with his mother and grandmother, were also the precious freight of this fugitive fleet. Of course, at this early date the vessels which contended were unlike the monstrous men-of-war which now make naval warfare so stupendous a game. They were not even to be compared with the vessels which made up the Spanish Armada in A.D. 1588, or the ships in which the gallant British sailors repulsed them. Cannon were no part of their armament. The men fought with bows and arrows, and with spears and swords. It was, however, a terrible hand-to-hand fight between men who felt that their all was at stake. Story-tellers draw from this battle some of their most lurid narratives, and artists have depicted it with realistic horrors. The grandmother of the emperor, the widow of Kiyomori, seeing that escape was impossible, took the boy emperor in her arms, and in spite of the remonstrances of her daughter, who was the boy’s mother, she plunged into the sea, and both were drowned.

The great mass of the Taira perished in this battle, but a remnant escaped to the island of Kyushu and hid themselves in the inaccessible valleys of the province of Higo. Here they have been recognized in recent times, and it is claimed that they still show the surly aversion to strangers which is an inheritance derived from the necessity under which they long rested to hide themselves from the vengeance which pursued them.(119)

This battle was decisive in the question of supremacy between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The same policy of extermination which Kiyomori had pursued against the Minamoto was now remorselessly enforced by the Minamoto against the Taira. The prisoners who were taken in the battle were executed to the last man. Munemori was taken prisoner and decapitated. Whenever a Taira man, woman, or child was found, death was the inevitable penalty inflicted. Yoritomo stationed his father-in-law Hojo Tokimasa at Kyoto to search out and eradicate his enemies as well as to supervise the affairs of the government.

It will be remembered that Go-Toba, a mere child (A.D. 1186) only seven years of age, had been put on the throne, in the place of the fugitive Antoku. Now that the latter had perished at Dan-no-ura, there could be no question about the legitimacy and regularity of Go-Toba’s accession. The retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who had been a friend and promoter of the schemes of Yoritomo, was still alive, and rendered important aid in the re-organization of the government.

The darkest blot upon the character of Yoritomo is his treatment of his youngest brother Yoshitsune. It was he who had by his generalship and gallantry brought these terrible wars to a triumphant conclusion. He had crushed in the decisive battle of Dan-no-ura the last of the enemies of Yoritomo. With his victorious troops he marched northward, and with prisoners and captured standards was on his way to lay them at the feet of his now triumphant brother at Kamakura. But the demon of jealousy had taken possession of Yoritomo. He resented the success and fame of his more winning and heroic brother. He sent orders to him not to enter Kamakura, and to give up his trophies of battle at Koshigoye near to Enoshima. Here at the monastery of Mampukuji is still kept the draft of the touching letter(120) which he sent to his brother, protesting his loyalty and denying the charges of ambition and self-seeking which had been made against him. But all this availed nothing. Yoshitsune returned to Kyoto and, in fear of bodily harm from the machinations of his brother, made his escape with his faithful servant Benkei,(121) into his old asylum with his friend Fujiwara Hidehira the governor of Mutsu. Shortly after his arrival, however, Hidehira died, and his son Yasuhira abjectly connived at his assassination(122) A.D. 1189, with a view to secure Yoritomo’s favor. He was at the time of his death only thirty years of age. He has lived down to the present time in the admiring affection of a warlike and heroic people. Although Yoritomo is looked upon as perhaps their greatest hero, yet their admiration is always coupled with a proviso concerning his cruel treatment of his brother.

In order not to rest under the imputation of having encouraged this assassination, Yoritomo marched at the head of a strong force and inflicted punishment upon Yasuhira for having done what he himself desired but dared not directly authorize.

The way was now clear for Yoritomo to establish a system of government which should secure to him and his family the fruits of his long contest. In A.D. 1190, he went up to the capital to pay his respects to the Emperor Go-Toba as well as to the veteran retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. The latter was now in his sixty-sixth year, and had held his place through five successive reigns, and was now the friend and patron of the new government. He died, however, only two years later. Yoritomo knew the effect produced by a magnificent display, and therefore made his progress to the capital with all the pomp and circumstance which he could command. The festivities were kept up for a month, and the court and its surroundings were deeply impressed with a sense of the power and irresistible authority of the head of the Minamoto clan.

Yoritomo did not, however, choose to establish himself at Kyoto amid the atmosphere of effeminacy which surrounded the court. After his official visit, during which every honor and rank which could be bestowed by the emperor were showered upon his head and all his family and friends, he returned to his own chosen seat at Kamakura. Here he busied himself in perfecting a system which, while it would perpetuate his own power, would also build up a firm national government.

His first step, A.D. 1184, was to establish a council at which affairs of state were discussed, and which furnished a medium through which the administration might be conducted. The president of this council was Oye-no-Hiromoto.(123) Its jurisdiction pertained at first to the Kwanto that is, to the part of the country east of the Hakone barrier. This region was more completely under the control of the Minamoto, and therefore could be more easily and surely submitted to administrative methods. He also established a criminal tribunal to take cognizance of robberies and other crimes which, during the lawless and violent disturbances in the country, had largely prevailed.

But the step, which was destined to produce the most far-reaching results, consisted in his obtaining from the emperor the appointment of five of his own family as governors of provinces, promising on his part to supervise their actions and to be responsible for the due performance of their duty. Up to this time the governors and vice-governors of provinces had always been appointed from civil life and were taken from the families surrounding the imperial court. He also was authorized to send into each province a military man, who was to reside there, to aid the governor in military affairs. Naturally, the military man, being the more active, gradually absorbed much of the power formerly exercised by the governor. These military men were under the authority of Yoritomo and formed the beginning of that feudal system which was destined to prevail so long in Japan. He also received from the court, shortly after his visit to Kyoto, the title of sei-i-tai-shogun, which was the highest military title which had ever been bestowed on a subject. This is the title which, down to A.D. 1868, was borne by the real rulers of Japan. The possession of the power implied by this title enabled Yoritomo to introduce responsible government into the almost ungoverned districts of the empire, and to give to Japan for the first time in many centuries a semblance of peace.

There were also many minor matters of administration which Yoritomo, in the few remaining years of his life, put in order. He obtained from the emperor permission to levy a tax on the agricultural products of the country, from which he defrayed the expenses of the military government. He established tribunals for the hearing and determining of causes, and thus secured justice in the ordinary affairs of life. He forbade the priests and monks in the great Buddhist monasteries, who had become powerful and arrogant, to bear arms, or to harbor those bearing arms.

In all these administrative reforms Yoritomo was careful always to secure the assent and authority of the imperial court.(124) In no case did he assume or exercise independent authority. In this way was introduced at this time that system of dual government which continued until the resignation of the Tokugawa Shogun in 1868. After his first visit to Kyoto, in A.D. 1190, Yoritomo devoted the remaining years of his life to the confirmation of his power and the encouragement of the arts of peace. In A.D. 1195 he made a second magnificent visit to Kyoto and remained four months. It is because of these peaceful results, which followed the long internecine struggles, that the Japanese regard Yoritomo as one of their most eminent and notable men. Under the influence of his court Kamakura grew to be a great city and far outranked even Kyoto in power and activity, though not in size.

In the autumn of the year A.D. 1198, when returning from the inspection of a new bridge over the Sagami river, he had a fall from his horse which seriously injured him. He died from the effects of this fall in the early part of the following year, in the fifty-third year of his age. He had wielded the unlimited military power for the last fifteen years. His death was almost as much of an epoch in the history of Japan as his life had been. We shall see in the chapters which follow the deplorable results of that system of effeminacy and nepotism, of abdication and regency, which Yoritomo had to resist, and which, had he lived twenty years more, his country might have escaped.