The Decline Of The Mikados
Our journey through Japanese history now takes us over a wide leap, a
period of nearly a thousand years, during which no event is on record of
sufficient interest to call for special attention. The annals of Japan
are in some respects minute, but only at long intervals does a hero of
importance rise above the general level of ordinary mortals. We shall,
therefore, pass with a rapid tread over this long period, giving only
/>
its general historical trend.
The conquest of Corea was of high importance to Japan. It opened the way
for a new civilization to flow into the long isolated island realm. For
centuries afterwards Corea served as the channel through which the arts
and thoughts of Asia reached the empire of the mikados. We are told of
envoys bearing tribute from Corea of horses, and of tailors, and finally
a schoolmaster, being sent to Japan. The latter, Wani by name, is said
to have introduced the art of writing. Mulberry-trees were afterwards
planted and silk-culture was undertaken. Then came more tailors, and
after them architects and learned men. At length, in the year 552, a
party of doctors, astronomers, astrologists, and mathematicians came
from Corea to the Japanese court, and with them a number of Buddhist
missionaries, who brought a new religion into the land.
Thus gradually the arts, sciences, letters, and religions of Asia made
their way into the island kingdom, and the old life of Japan was
transformed. A wave of foreign civilization had flowed across the seas
to give new life and thought to the island people, and the progress of
Japan from the barbarism of the far past towards the civilization of the
present day then fairly began.
Meanwhile, important changes were taking place in the government. From
the far-off days of Jimmu, the first emperor, until a century after
Buddhism was introduced, the mikados were the actual rulers of their
people. The palace was not a place of seclusion, the face of the monarch
was visible to his subjects, and he appeared openly at the head of the
army and in the affairs of government. This was the golden age of the
imperial power. A leaden age was to succeed.
The change began in the appointment by Sujin of shoguns or generals over
the military departments of the government. Gradually two distinct
official castes arose, those in charge of civil affairs and those at the
head of military operations. As the importance of these officials grew,
they stood between the emperor and his subjects, secluding him more and
more from the people. The mikado gradually became lost to view behind a
screen of officialism, which hid the throne. Eventually all the military
power fell into the hands of the shoguns, and the mikado was seen no
more at the head of his army. His power decayed, as he became to the
people rather a distant deity than a present and active ruler. There
arose in time a double government, with two capitals and centres of
authority; the military caste became dominant, anarchy ruled for
centuries, the empire was broken up into a series of feudal provinces
and baronies, and the unity of the past was succeeded by the division of
authority which existed until far within the nineteenth century. The
fact that there were two rulers, in two capitals, gave the impression
that there were two emperors in Japan, one spiritual and one secular,
and when Commodore Perry reached that country, in 1853, he entered into
a treaty with the shogun or "tycoon," the head of the military caste,
under the belief that he was dealing with the actual ruler of Japan. The
truth is, there has never been but one emperor in Japan, the mikado. His
power has varied at times, but he is now again the actual and visible
head of the empire, and the shoguns, who once lorded it so mightily,
have been swept out of existence.
This explanation is necessary in order that readers may understand the
peculiar conditions of Japanese history. Gradually the mikado became
surrounded by a hedge of etiquette which removed him from the view of
the outer world. He never appeared in public, and none of his subjects,
except his wives and his highest ministers, ever saw his face. He sat on
a throne of mats behind a curtain, even his feet not being allowed to
touch the earth. If he left the palace to go abroad in the city, the
journey was made in a closely curtained car drawn by bullocks. To the
people, the mikado became like a deity, his name sacred and inviolable,
his power in the hands of the boldest of his subjects.
Buddhism had now become the official religion of the empire, priests
multiplied, monasteries were founded, and the court became the chief
support of the new faith, the courtiers zealously studying the sacred
books of India, while the mikado and his empress sought by every means
to spread the new belief among their people.
An emperor thus occupied could not pay much attention to the duties of
government, and the power of the civil ministers and military chiefs
grew accordingly. The case was like that of the Merovingian monarchs of
France and the Mayors of the Palace, who in time succeeded to the
throne. The mikados began to abdicate after short reigns, to shave off
their hair to show that they renounced the world and its vanities, to
become monks and spend the remainder of their days in the cloister.
These short reigns helped the shoguns and ministers in their ambitious
purposes, until in time the reins of power fell into the hands of a few
great families, who fought furiously with one another for the control.
It is with the feuds of these families that we have now to do. The
mikados had sunk out of sight, being regarded by the public with awe as
spiritual emperors, while their ministers rose into power and became the
leaders of life and the lords of events in Japan.
First among these noble families to gain control was that of the
Fujiwara (Wistaria meadow). They were of royal origin, and rose to
leading power in the year 645, when Kamatari, the founder of the family,
became regent of the empire. All the great offices of the empire in time
fell into the hands of the Fujiwaras: they married their daughters to
the mikados, surrounded them with their adherents, and governed the
empire in their name. In the end they decided who should be mikado,
ruled the country like monarchs, and became in effect the proprietors of
the throne. In their strong hands the mikado sank into a puppet, to move
as they pulled the strings.
But the Fujiwaras were not left to lord it alone. Other great families
sought a share of the power, and their rivalry often ended in war and
bloodshed. The most ancient of these rivals was the family of the
Sugawara. Greatest in this family was the renowned Sugawara Michizane, a
polished courtier and famous scholar, whose talents raised him to the
highest position in the realm. Japan had no man of greater learning; his
historical works became famous, and some of them are still extant. But
his genius did not save him from misfortune. His rivals, the Fujiwara,
in the end succeeded in having him banished to Kiushiu, where, exposed
to dire poverty, he starved to death. This martyr to official rivalry is
now worshipped in Japan as a deity, the patron god of literature and
letters. Temples have been erected to him, and students worship at his
shrine.
At a later date two other powerful families became rivals for the
control of the empire and added to the anarchy of the realm. The first
of these was the Taira family, founded 889 A.D., whose members attained
prominence as great military chiefs. The second was the Minamoto family,
founded somewhat later, which rose to be a powerful rival of the Taira,
their rivalry often taking the form of war. For centuries the
governmental and military history of Japan was made up of a record of
the jealousies and dissensions of these rival families, in whose hands
lay war and peace, power and place, and with whose quarrels and
struggles for power our next tales will be concerned.