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.



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