Jingu The Amazon Of Japan
To-day the women of Japan are kept in seclusion and take no part in
affairs of state. This does not seem to have been always the case. In
the far past, we are told, women often rose to posts of honor and
dignity, and some even filled the mikado's throne. Nor is this all. To a
woman is given the glory of the greatest event in the history of ancient
Japan, the conquest of Corea, from which land civilization, literature,
The name of this Japanese heroine was Okinaga Tarashi hime, but she is
best known under the title of Jingu, or "warlike deed." The character
given her in tradition is an attractive one, combining beauty, piety,
intelligence, energy, and valor. The waves of the sea, the perils of the
battle-field, and the toils or terrors of war alike failed to fill the
soul of this heroine with fear, and the gods marched with her and aided
her in her enterprises. Great as she was in herself, the Japanese give
her higher honor still, as the mother of their god of war.
This imperial Amazon was the wife of the mikado Chinai, who in 193 A.D.
set out at the head of his army for Kiushiu, a rebellion having broken
out at Kumaso, in that island. His courageous wife took ship and
followed him to the seat of war. On her voyage thither she stopped at
one of the islands of the Inland Sea to offer worship to the gods. And
as she did so the voice of the deity of the shrine came to her ears.
"Why do you trouble yourself to conquer Kumaso?" spoke the mysterious
voice. "It is but a poor and barren spot, not worth your labor nor the
work of your army. There is a country, larger and richer by far, a land
as lovely as the face of a fair virgin, dazzlingly bright with gold,
silver, and rare colors, and rich with treasures of every kind. Such a
noble region is Shiraki [Corea]. Continue to worship me, and this rich
land shall be yours without the shedding of blood. As for Kumaso, my
help and the glory of your conquest will cause it to yield."
On joining the emperor, Jingu repeated to him the words of the god, but
she found in him a doubting listener. There was a high mountain near the
camp, and to the summit of this he climbed and looked far out over the
westward sea. No land was visible to his eyes where she had declared the
rich realm of Shiraki lay, and he was confirmed in his doubts. On
returning to her he said,--
"I looked everywhere, and saw water alone; no land was to be seen. Is
there a country in the sky? If not, your words are false. And my
ancestors worshipped all the gods; or if there are any they did not
worship, I know them not. Why, then, should they not speak to me?"
"If you credit only your doubts," answered the god through the lips of
the empress, "and declare that there is no country where I have said a
country exists, you blaspheme, and shall never see this land, but the
empress, your wife, shall have the glory of its conquest."
Even this was not enough to overcome the doubts of the emperor. He was
not ready to believe that a god could speak through a woman, and refused
to risk his army on an unknown sea. On the contrary, he led it against
Kumaso, from which the rebels drove him back in defeat. Soon after he
died suddenly in camp, or, as some declare, was slain in battle by an
arrow. Takenouchi, his minister, kept his death a secret from the
soldiers, while the valiant Jingu continued the war and soon brought the
rebellion to an end.
The death of the mikado had left the power of the state and the command
of the army in the hands of his wife, who had shown her valor and
ability in the conquest of Kumaso. Her mind was now filled with the
promise of the god and the hope of new glory to be won beyond the sea.
But first she deemed it wise to obtain further signs from the celestial
powers.
Going to the shore of the sea, she baited a hook with a grain of rice
and threw it into the water, saying, "If a fish be caught with this
grain of rice, then the conquest of a rich country shall indeed be
mine."
When she drew up the line, to her delight she saw a fish on the hook.
"Medzurashiki mono!" ("wonderful thing!"), she exclaimed, viewing the
marvel as a sure signal that the gods approved her design. Her words
have been corrupted into Matsura, which is the name of the place to this
day, and here, every year, at the opening of the fourth Japanese month,
the women of the vicinity go fishing, no men being permitted to cast in
their lines on that day.
The pious empress, as if some of the doubts of the mikado had clung to
her mind, sought still another sign from the gods. She now let her long
hair fall into the water, saying that if the gods favored her design her
tresses would come out of the water dry and parted in two divisions.
Again the celestial powers heard. Her abundant black locks left the
water dry and neatly parted as by a comb.
Doubt no longer troubled her soul. She at once ordered the generals of
the army to recruit new forces, build ships, and prepare for an ocean
enterprise.
"On this voyage depends the glory or the ruin of our country," she said
to them. "I intrust its details to you, and will hold you to blame if
anything goes amiss through lack of care. I am a woman, and am young.
But I shall undertake this enterprise, and go with you disguised as a
man, trusting to you and my army, and, above all, to the gods. If we are
wise and valiant, a wealthy country shall be ours. If we succeed, the
glory shall be yours; if through evil fortune we fail, on me shall lie
all the guilt and disgrace."
The enthusiasm of the empress infected the commanders, who promised her
their full support in her enterprise, which was by far the greatest that
Japan had ever ventured upon. The ships were built, but the perils of
the voyage frightened the people, and the army increased but slowly.
Impatient at the delay, but with no thought of giving up her task, the
empress again appealed to the gods. A shrine of purification was built,
lustrations were made, sacrifices offered, and prayers for speedy
success sent up to the celestial hosts. The Kami, or gods, proved
favorable still. Troops now came rapidly in. Soon a large army was
assembled and embarked, and all was ready for the enterprise. It was the
year 201 A.D., the first year of the third Christian century.
Jingu now issued her final orders, to the following effect:
"There must be no plundering.
"Despise not a few enemies, and fear not many.
"Give mercy to those who yield, but no quarter to the stubborn.
"The victors shall be rewarded; deserters shall be punished."
Then through her lips the gods spoke again: "The Spirit of Peace will
always guide and protect you. The Spirit of War will guide your ships
across the seas."
It must here be remarked that the annals of Japan do not seem to be in
full harmony. In the days of Sujin the civilizer, a century and a half
earlier, we are told that there was regular communication between Corea
and Kiushiu, and that a prince of Corea came to Japan to live; while the
story of Jingu seems to indicate that Corea was absolutely unknown to
the islanders. There were none to pilot the fleet across the seas, and
the generals seemed ignorant of where Corea was to be found, or of the
proper direction in which to steer. They lacked chart and compass, and
had only the sun, the stars, and the flight of birds as guides. As Noah
sent out birds from his ark to spy out the land, so they sent fishermen
ahead of the fleet, and with much the same result. The first of these
messengers went far to the west, and returned with the word that land
was nowhere to be seen. Another messenger was sent, and came back with
cheering news. On the western horizon he had seen the snowy peaks of
distant mountains.
Inspired by this report, the adventurers sailed boldly on. The winds,
the waves, the currents, all aided their speed. The gods even sent
shoals of huge fishes in their wake, which heaped up the waves and drove
them forward, lifting the sterns and making the prows leap like living
things.
At length land was seen by all, and with shouts of joy they ran their
ships ashore upon the beach of Southern Corea. The sun shone in all its
splendor upon the gallant host, which landed speedily upon the new-found
shores, where it was marshalled in imposing array.
The Coreans seem to have been as ignorant of geography as the Japanese.
The king of this part of the country, hearing that a strange fleet had
come from the east and a powerful army landed on his shores, was lost in
terror and amazement.
"Who can these be, and whence have they come?" he exclaimed. "We have
never heard of any country beyond the seas. Have the gods forsaken us,
and sent this host of strangers to our undoing?"
Such was the fear of the king that he made no resistance to the
invaders. Corean envoys were sent to them with the white flags of peace,
and the country was given up without a fight. The king offered to
deliver all his treasures to the invading host, agreed to pay tribute to
Japan, and promised to furnish hostages in pledge of his good faith. His
nobles joined with him in his oath. The rivers might flow backward, they
declared, or the pebbles in the river-beds leap up to the stars, but
they would never break their word.
Jingu now set up weapons before the gate of the king in token of her
suzerainty and of the peace which had been sworn. The spoils won from
the conquered land consisted of eighty ships well laden with gold and
precious goods of every kind the country possessed, while eighty noble
Coreans were taken as hostages for the faith of the king. And now, with
blare of trumpet and clash of weapons, with shouts of triumph and songs
of praise to the gods, the fleet set sail for home. Two months had
sufficed for the whole great enterprise.
Nine empresses in all have sat upon the throne of Japan, but of these
Jingu alone won martial renown and gained a great place in history. The
Japanese have always felt proud of this conquest of Corea, the first war
in which their armies had gone to a foreign country to fight. They had,
to use their common phrase, made "the arms of Japan shine beyond the
seas," and the glory of the exploit descended not only on the Amazon
queen, but in greater measure upon her son, who was born shortly after
her return to Japan.
The Japanese have given more honor to this son, still unborn when the
conquest was achieved, than to his warlike mother. It was in him, not in
his mother, they declare, that the Spirit of War resided, and he is now
worshipped in Japan as the God of War. Ojin by name, he became a great
warrior, lived to be a hundred and ten years old, and was deified after
his death. Through all the centuries since he has been worshipped by the
people, and by soldiers in particular. Some of the finest temples in
Japan have been erected in his honor, and the land is full of shrines to
this Eastern Mars. He is represented with a frightful and scowling
countenance, holding in his arms a broad, two-edged sword. In all
periods of Japanese art a favorite subject has been the group of the
snowy-bearded Takenouchi, the Japanese Methuselah, holding the infant
Ojin in his arms, while Jingu, the heroic mother, stands by in martial
robes.
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