READING HALL

JAMES MURDOCH' HISTORY OF JAPAN FROM THE ORIGINS

TO THE ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE IN 1542 AD

OLD YAMATO.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM TO THE GREAT COUP D’ETAT (550 TO 645 A.D.)

IN the previous chapter we have confined our attention to the strictly domestic concerns of Yamato. However, it must be borne clearly in mind that during all these ages there was also an oversea Japan; and that Yamato, if she did not have extensive possessions, had, at all events, a firm foothold and vital interests in the peninsula beyond the Straits of Tsushima. The importance of all this will be clear when it is pointed out that it was the protection of these foreign interests of hers that occasioned that intimate intercourse with the kingdom of Pakche which brought Yamato to a knowledge and appreciation of the higher culture of continental Asia, and especially of China. An examination of the relations then subsisting between Pakche and Japan will disclose the interesting fact that “the gift of the image of Shaka Butsu in gold and copper, several flags and umbrellas, and a number of volumes of Sutras”, which is regarded as the introduction of Buddhism into Japan (552 ad), was merely one of a series of presents with which the Pakche King was eagerly endeavouring to conciliate the good-will of the Japanese Court, in order to enlist its aid in the desperate contest then being waged by Pakche against Ko-gur-yu and Silla.

It has been stated that Korea was then divided into three considerable States. In the north was Ko-gur-yu fierce, war­like, and aggressive. In truth it was a first class military Power, for on several occasions in its history it was able to bid successful defiance to the whole embattled might of the Chinese empire. The strip along the coast of the Sea of Japan to the south of Ko-gur-yu was occupied by the kingdom of Silla, not by any means a great military Power, although yet fairly strong. On the other hand, the Silla statesmen were adepts in diplomacy, for Pakche often found that Silla intrigue was more to be dreaded than Ko-gur-yu ferocity. This kingdom of Pakche, extending south from Ko-gur-yu along the shores of the Yellow Sea to the south-west of the peninsula, often found itself in a difficult position. At most times it was on bad terms with Silla, for both were trying to extend their influence into the buffer States that lay between their respective eastern and western boundaries to the south, and on the other hand it was frequently menaced by those hard fighters, the men of Ko-gur-yu, to the north. As Pakche felt that it could not stand alone, and as China, of which in common with its two rivals and neighbours it professed itself to be a vassal State (from 417 a.d.), was far away, it spared no effort to make a friend of Yamato.

However, as already pointed out, these three kingdoms of Ko-gur-yu, Silla, and Pakche did not occupy the whole of the peninsula. Driven in between the southern portions of Pakche and Silla like a blunt wedge, were the territories of the kingdom of Ka-rak with its dependencies the five fiefs of Kaya. Says Mr. Hulbert:—“Ka-rak extended eastward as far as Wang-san River, six miles to the west of the present Yang­san; to the north-east as far as Ka va San, the present Koryung; to the south and south-west as far as the coast, and on the west to Chi-ri San. From this we see that it was little inferior to Silla in size.” Korean historians have not found very much to say about Ka-rak:—“The kingdom of Ka-rak had existed side by side with Silla on terms of mutual friendship for 482 years, but in 527 her King, Kim Ku-hyung, gave up his sovereign power and merged his kingdom into that of Silla. He was, however, retained at the head of the Ka-rak State under appointment by the King of Silla. It does not appear from the scanty records that this was other than a peaceful change. Ka-rak had long seen the growing power of Silla and doubtless recognised that more was to be gained by becoming part of that kingdom than by standing aloof and running the chance of becoming disputed territory between the rival powers of the peninsula.”

When it is borne in mind that it was exactly among the Ka-rak and Kaya States that Yamato had its firm foothold and its sphere of influence, the dulness of the preceding quotations may probably be quickened into something with a spark of life. Moreover, in the light of these quotations, certain things given under 527 ad in the Japanese annals become pregnant with significance, for the modern historian can then easily understand what a formidable thing the Silla diplomacy of those days was, not only to Pakche, but to Yamato.

Somewhere near the confines of this Ka-rak State was situated the Miyake of Mimana or Imna. From the accounts of its overthrow by Silla in 562, it becomes apparent that it is more or less to be identified with some or all of those Kaya fiefs that at one time at least were dependencies of the kingdom of Ka-rak. From time to time we meet with mention of a Japanese garrison here; at other times we hear of a Resident­General, and we have frequently notices of Japanese “Governors” in the smaller outlying districts. By these governors are probably meant either semi-independent Japanese chiefs, or Japanese residing at the courts of the petty local princelets as advisers. In a good many instances we can see that the Japanese in Mimana were mainly fighting for their own individual hands. Intermarriage with the native aristocracy was frequent, and the issue of such unions, of uncertain nationality, and well acquainted with the languages of both parents, too often endeavoured to play the part Alcibiades played between Tissaphernes and the Athenian aristocrats in 411 bc. Occasionally these men occupied high office in the service of the Korean States. Silla and Pakche were usually on bad terms, while Ka-rak was not altogether without its differences with Silla; and when it suited their own purposes these half-Japanese politicians and adventurers would not hesitate to embroil all three States, and then if need be appeal to Yamato for assistance. A really strong Yamato ruler, like King Wu (the Emperor Yuryaku), was too formidable to be trifled with, perhaps; but on Wu’s death, some time after 502. the game of intrigue at once recommenced. With the confused data at our disposal it seems hopeless to attempt to unravel the complications that then ensued; however it is tolerably plain that they were serious. We here find a Japanese governor acting in his own interests by procuring for Pakche the cession of extensive tracts within the Yamato sphere of influence. This would seem to have caused a formidable rebellion, and the insurgents proved strong enough to repulse a considerable Yamato naval force dispatched to restore order. This was in 516; and then eleven veal’s later the Japanese statesmen found to their cost how much Silla diplomacy was to be dreaded. It was in this year, 527, that the King of Ka-rak incorporated his kingdom with his eastern neighbour, who had very astutely profited by the general discontent excited by the cession of territory and ports to Pakche by Japan. Yamato now braced itself for a great effort, and 60,000 (?) men were mustered for an attack on Silla. Says the Nihongi:—“Afumi no Kena no Omi, in command of an army of 60,000 men, was about to proceed to Mimana, in order to reestablish and unite to Mimana South Kara and Tok-sa-than, which had been conquered by Silla, when Iwai, Tsukushi (i.e. Chikuzen) no Miyakko, secretly plotted rebellion so that there was a delay of several years. Fearing that the matter would be hard to accomplish, he was constantly watching for a favourable opportunity. Silla, knowing this, secretly practised bribery with Iwai, and encouraged him to oppose the passage of Kena no Omi’s army. Hereupon Iwai occupied the two provinces of Hi and Toyo (i.e. Hizen, Higo, Buzen, and Bungo), and would not allow the taxes to be paid [that is, he seized the Imperial granaries with the estates attached to them in these provinces]. Abroad he intercepted the route by sea, and led astray the yearly tribute ships from Ko-gur-yu, Pakche, Silla, and Mimana, while at home he blocked the way for Kena no Omi’s army, which was being sent to Mimana.”

To quell this insurrection took about a year and a half. Here we have what appears very much like a determined attempt to establish an independent State, if not a rival dynasty, in Kyushu. That Iwai had been aping royalty we know from archaeological sources. In Yamato, burial in a dolmen covered with a double mound was a form of sepulture reserved for the Imperial family. Now, in his own life-time Iwai bad constructed one of these double-mounded tombs as a mausoleum for himself. This Iwai was not the only Kyushu chieftain who had questionable dealings with the peninsular States. In the strange story of Illa, “Country Ruler” of a district in Hizen or Higo, and at the same time a high official in Pakche employ (Nihongi 583 ad), we meet with incidents that lead us to suspect that Kyushu magnates had more intimate connections with the over sea Courts than they had with that of Yamato. For one thing, both Silla and Pakche were nearer and more easily accessible than was Central Japan. The position of several of these Kyushu heads of clans was not unlike that of those Norman barons in our own history who had their fiefs and followed their fortunes “in Scotland and in England both.”

This Kyushu revolt of 527 ought to have taught the Imperial councillors that it would be impossible to prosecute over-sea enterprises effectually with the Japanese clan system continually threatening the existence of the central authority. The lesson indeed seems to have been taken to heart, for in the next two reigns we hear little of Korea, and a great deal about efforts to extend the Imperial domain at home. Ankan Tenno (534-536) added considerably to his possessions by allowing chieftains between Tokyo Bay and the Pacific to compound for offences; by deciding a case of disputed succession in Kodzuke, by extorting presents of riceland in Yamato, and by the institution of various new Be in all the provinces. Besides all this, we hear of the establishment of as many as 26 miyake (granaries), no fewer than ten of which were in Kyushu, and seven in districts through which the communications between Kyushu and the capital ran. Then in the following reign (Senkwa, 536-539) we meet with the following:—“Let there be built a Government house at Nanotsu no Kuchi (in Chikuzen). The miyake of the three provinces of Tsukushi, Hi and Toyo (i.e. all Kyushu then under Yamato supremacy) are dispersed and remote: transport is therefore impeded by distance. Let the various miyake therefore be charged each severally to transfer, and to erect one jointly at Nanotsu no Kuchi.”

The very apparent fact seems to have been grasped that unless the Imperial authority was strengthened and extended, and Kyushu thoroughly secured above all things, it was hopeless for Yamato to attempt to deal with the Korean situation. After Iwai had been crushed in 528 or 529, Kena no Omi had been sent with a small force to Mimana as Resident-General. But his tenure of office had been a glaring failure, and he had to be recalled in disgrace within a year (530). Now, at last, a fresh start was made. While one son of Ohotomo, the Mili­tary Minister, stayed in Chikuzen to keep order in Kyushu, and to make preparations for war in Korea, another went to Mimana and restored peace there while he also lent aid to Pakche. However, Yamato’s worst enemies in Korea were the Japanese domiciled there. The Pakche King (Myung-nong, 524-555) could read the signs of the time readily enough. His fierce northern neighbour Ko-gur-yu was a standing menace to Pakche, while Silla, rapidly increasing in power, was almost as much to be dreaded. It was Pakche’s policy to get the Ka-rak territories detached from Silla, and either re-established as an independent State, or partitioned between herself and the Japanese who still maintained control over the Ka-ya cantons. This is what is really meant by the phrase “the Re-establishment of Mimana” (or Imna) of which we hear so much in the Nihongi. That is, between 527 and 562, for in that year Silla seized the last of the Japanese possessions in the peninsula, and after that the same phrase (the Re-establishment of Imna) comes to have an essentially different purport.

Now, after 540, we see Pakche effectually thwarted by Silla diplomacy. King Myung-nong of Pakche had got promises of Yamato support; a strong Japanese force was to be sent to cooperate with him. But meanwhile Silla had successfully bribed the Imna agents and the local Japanese authorities, and Ki no Omi and Kawachi no Atahe, with the all-powerful half-breeds Yanasa and Mato, were, while ostensibly acting as Yamato officers, not much more than Sillan tools. It was to little purpose that the poor Pakche King, in mortal dread of Ko-gur-yu, Silla, and these treacherous Japanese agents and half-breeds, sent mission after mission to Yamato to press the dispatch of an expeditionary force. Each mission was fortified with the argument of valuable presents, and Myung-nong, finding the first of these ineffective, was driven to rack his royal brains and to ransack his kingdom for novelties that might prove acceptable. And it was this sad strait to which the Pakche monarch was put that actually led to the introduction of Buddhism into Japan! For, as already remarked, that present of an image of Shaka Butsu in gold and copper, several flags and umbrellas, and a number of volumes of Sutras in 552, was only one in a long series of gifts with which Myung-nong was strenuously endeavouring to cajole the Yamato Court into dispatching troops to fight for him. And Buddhism, as much as Christianity, is a gospel, if not of peace, at all events of brotherly love! However, as it is given to but few of the sinful sons of men to appreciate Comedy on the grand scale, we refrain from dilating on this incident.

As a compensation, we crave the indulgence of the reader for the reproduction of the following passages from the Nihonji, 554 a.d.—“Pakche sent A, B, C, D, etc., to communicate with E, F, G, etc., etc. They said:—‘Our previous envoys stated that Uchi no Omi and his colleagues would come in the first month of this year. But although they said so, it is still doubtful whether you are coming or not. Moreover, what of the number of the troops ? We pray that you will inform us of their number, so that we may prepare cantonments in advance.

“In a separate communication they said: We have just heard that thou, by command of the August Emperor, hast arrived in Tsukushi in charge of the troops bestowed on us by him. Nothing could compare with our joy when we heard this. The campaign of this year is a much more dangerous one than the last; and we beg that the force granted to us may not be allowed to be later than the first month.

“Hereupon Uchi no Omi answered in accordance with the commands of the Emperor (Kimmei): Accordingly there is being sent an auxiliary force to the number 1,000 men, 100 horses, and 40 ships.

“Second month.—Pakche sent A, B, etc., to ask fop auxiliaries. They took the opportunity of offering Makko in exchange for the hostage the Nasol Won (both sons of a former king), whose turn it had previously been; and Wang Yang- Kwi, a man learned in the five (Chinese) classics, in exchange for the Ko-tok, Ma Tyong an, and the Buddhist priest Tam-hyé, and eight others in exchange for To-sim and six others.

“Separately, in obedience to the Imperial commands, they brought the Si-ok, Wang To-nyang, a man learned in divination, the Ko-tok, Wang Po-son, a man learned in the calendar, a physician, two herbalists, and four musicians, all which persons were exchanged according to request.

“Fifth month, 3rd day.—Uchi no Omi proceeded to Pakche in command of a naval force.”

The drift of the foregoing should be tolerably apparent. Then, as now, the Japanese were before all things first-class fighting men, and it was his real regard for their powers in the field of battle that led the Pakche sovereign to study the tastes and consult the whim of the Yamato Court. And so it came to pass that Japan actually got her first Buddhist Sutras and her first calendars in exchange for the services of a naval force!

When Pakche at last succeeded in getting Yamato auxiliaries, it was not a moment too soon. That very year (554) the storm broke; and both Silla and Ko-gur-yu hurled their forces against the stout little kingdom. Before the year was out King Myung-nong had been taken and killed by the Silla men, who in their turn were very roughly handled by the Yamato contingent. When hostilities ceased temporarily in the following year, 555, Silla was able to form a new province out of her Pakche spoils. The next seven years were filled with diplomatic intrigues, and then under 562 we at last read:— “Silla destroyed the miyake of Tmna.” And with the fall of this Japanese Calais in the peninsula, the islanders lost all prospects of continental expansion. Several attempts were indeed made to recover Mimana, but they came to nothing. That of the same year (562) ended in foul disaster. In 583 an outbreak of pestilence in Japan made a projected expedi­tion impossible. In 600 there seems to have been a Mimana revolt against Silla, and 10,000 Japanese were sent to co­operate with the insurgents. Here again Silla diplomacy proved as effective as of old; the Yamato leaders were presumably bought off, and when they withdrew the rebels’ cause was hopeless. The final Japanese attempt of 622 would appear to have been frustrated in a somewhat similar fashion.

Meanwhile, in old Yamato there had been strange and startling developments. That very harmless-looking Pakche present of 552—“an image of Shaka Butsu in gold and copper, several flags and umbrellas, and a number of volumes of Sutras,”—very soon threatened to assume the form of a verit­able Pandora’s box. Before a year was out it had caused seri­ous dissensions in the Imperial councils. The Pakche King’s memorial accompanying the present was as follows:—“This doctrine is among all doctrines the most excellent. But it is hard to explain and hard to comprehend. Even the Duke of Chow and Confucius had not attained to a knowledge of it. This doctrine can create religious merit and retribution without measure and without bounds, and so lead on to a full appreciation of the highest wisdom. Imagine a man in possession of treasures to his heart’s content, so that he might satisfy all his wishes in proportion as he used them. Thus it is with the treasure of this wonderful doctrine. Every prayer is fulfilled and naught is wanting. Moreover from distant India it has extended hither to the three Han, where there are none who do not receive it with reverence, as it is preached to them.”

“This day,” continues the Nihongi, “the Emperor, having heard to the end, leaped for joy, and gave command to the envoys saying: ‘Never from former days until now have we had the opportunity of listening to so wonderful a doctrine. We are, however, unable to decide of ourselves.’ Accordingly he inquired of his Ministers one after another, saying: ‘The countenance of this Buddha which has been presented by the Western frontier State is of a severe dignity such as we have never at all seen before. Ought it to be worshipped or not?’ Soga no Oho-omi addressed the Emperor, saying: ‘All the Western frontier lands without exception do it worship. Shall Akitsu-Yamato alone refuse to do so?’ Mononobe no Oho-Muraji and Nakatomi no Muraji addressed the Emperor jointly, saying: ‘Those who have ruled the Empire in this our State have always made it their care to worship in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter the 180 Gods of Heaven and Earth, and the Gods of the Land and of Grain. If just at this time we were to worship in their stead foreign deities it may be feared that we should incur the wrath of our National Gods.

“The Emperor said: ‘Let it be given to Soga no Iname, who has shown his willingness to take it, and as an experiment make him worship it.

“Soga knelt down and received it with joy. He enthroned it in his house at Oharida, where he diligently carried out the rites of retirement from the world, and on that score purified his house at Muku-hara and made it a Temple. After this a pestilence was rife in the Land, from which the people died prematurely. As time went on it became worse and worse, and there was no remedy. Mononobe no Muraji and Nakatomi no Muraji addressed the Emperor jointly, saying: ‘It was because thy servants’ advice on a former day was not approved that the people are dying thus of disease. If thou dost now retrace thy steps before matters have gone too far, joy will surely be the result. It will be well promptly to fling it away, and diligently to seek happiness in the future.

“The Emperor said: Let it be done as you advise. Ac­cordingly officials took the image of Buddha and abandoned it to the current of the Canal of Naniha. They also set fire to the Temple, and burnt it so that nothing was left. Hereupon there being in the heavens neither clouds nor wind a sudden conflagration consumed the Great Hall (of the Palace.) ”

Soga Iname appears to have acquiesced in all this quietly enough. Though he continued to direct the most important affairs of the Empire down to the date of his death in 570, we find him giving no further offence to the National Deities. Nay, indeed, in 555, we actually meet with him remonstrating with a Pakche Prince, then in Japan, about the worship of the Shinto God, Onamuji, having been abandoned in Pakche. “But if,” he wound up, “you now repent your former errors, if you build a shrine to the God and perform sacrifice in honour of his divine spirit, your country will prosper. Thou must not forget this.”

In 577, the King of Pakche sent back with a Japanese mission to his court a number of volumes of religious books, with an ascetic, a meditative monk, a nun, a reciter of mantras (magic spells), and a temple architect, six persons in all.” The gift does not appear to have been very highly appreciated; at all events in 584 Soga no Mumako (son of Soga Iname), on sending Shiba Tatto and two other emissaries “in all directions to search out persons who practised Buddhism,” “only found in the province of Harima a man named Hyé-phyon of Ko-gur-yu, who from a Buddhist priest had become a layman again.” “So the Oho-omi (Soga Mumako) made him teacher, and caused him to receive Shima, the daughter of Shiba Tatto, into religion. She took the name of the Nun Zen-shin (twelve years of age). Moreover he received into religion two pupils of the Nun Zen-shin Soga, still in accordance with the Law of Buddha, reverenced the three nuns, and gave them to Hida no Atahe and Tatto, with orders to provide them with food and clothing. He erected a Buddhist Temple on the east of his dwelling, in which he enshrined the stone image of Miroku. He insisted on the three nuns holding a general meet­ing to partake of maigre fare. At this time Tatto found a Buddhist relic in the food of abstinence, and presented it to Soga no Mumako. Soga, by way of experiment, took the relic, and placing it on the middle of a block of iron, beat it with an iron sledge-hammer, which he flourished aloft. The block and the sledge-hammer were shattered to atoms, but the relic could not be crushed. Then the relic was cast into water, when it floated on the water or sank as one desired. In consequence of this Soga no Mumako, Hida no Atahe, and Shiba Tatto held faith in Buddhism and practised it unremittingly. Soga built another Buddhist Temple at his house in Ishikawa. From this arose the beginning of Buddhism”

In the spring of the following year (585), Soga “took ill. Having made inquiry of a diviner (i.e. a native or Shinto augur), the diviner answered: It is a curse sent by the will of Buddha worshipped in thy father’s (Soga no Iname, a.d. 570) time. Soga accordingly sent a young man of his family to report to the Emperor (Bidatsu, 572-586) the nature of the divination. The Emperor gave orders saying: ‘In accordance with the words of the diviner, let thy father’s Gods be worshipped.’ Soga, in obedience to the Emperor’s commands, worshipped the stone image (of Miroku, the Buddhist Messiah), and prayed that his life might be prolonged. At this time there was a pestilence rife in the land, and many of the people died.’ A week later, “Mononobe no Ohomuraji and Nakatomi no Daibu (Minister) addressed the Emperor, saying: ‘Why hast thou not consented to follow thy servants’ counsel? Is not the prevalence of pestilence from the reign of the late Emperor thy father down to thine, so that the nation is in danger of extinction, owing absolutely to the establishment of the Buddhist religion by Soga?’ The Emperor gave command, saying: ‘Manifestly so; let Buddhism be discontinued.”

A month after this we find Mononobe going to the Tem­ple, and sitting on a chair, cutting down the pagoda, which he then set fire to and burnt. He likewise burnt the image of Buddha, and the temple of Buddha. Having done so he took the remains of the image of Buddha which were left from the burning and flung them into the Naniha Canal. On this day there was wind and rain without any clouds, and Mononobe had on his rain-coat. He upbraided Soga and those who followed him in the exercise of religion and made them feel shame and contrition of heart. Moreover, he sent two emissaries to summon Zen-shin and the other Nuns provided for by Soga. So Soga did not dare to disobey the command, but with grief and lamentation called forth the Nuns and delivered them to the messengers. The officials accordingly took away from the Nuns their garments, imprisoned them and flogged them at the road-station of the market of Tsubaki. Presently, again the Land was filled with those who were attacked with sores and died thereof. The persons thus afflicted with sores said: ‘Our bodies are as if they were burnt, as if they were beaten, as if they were broken,’ and so lamenting they died. Old and young said privately to one another: ‘Is this a punishment for the burning of the image of Buddha?’ A little later Soga addressed the Emperor, saying: ‘Thy servant’s disease has not yet been healed; nor is it possible for succour to be afforded me unless by the power of the three precious things (i.e. Buddha, the Law, and the Priesthood).’ Hereupon the Emperor commanded Soga saying: ‘Thou mayst practise the Buddhist religion alone, but discontinue it so far as others are concerned.’ So the three Nuns were given back to Soga, who received them with rejoicing, lamenting their unexampled misfortunes and bowing down his head in their honour. He built them a Temple anew, into which he welcomed them, and provided them with sustenance.”

The following extract, dated two months later, may not at first blush seem to have much to do with the nascent fortunes of Buddhism in Japan. But a very little reflection will serve to dispel that erroneous impression:—

“The Emperor’s (Bidatsu’s) disease having become more and more inveterate, he died in the Great Hall. At this time a palace of temporary interment was erected at Hirose. Soga delivered a funeral oration with his sword girded on. Mononobe burst out laughing and said: ‘He is like a sparrow pierced by a hunting-shaft.’ Next Mononobe, with trembling hands and legs, delivered his funeral oration. Soga laughed and said: ‘He ought to have bells hung upon him.’ From this small beginning the two Ministers conceived a hatred of each other.”

The two chief opponents of the new religion were Nakatomi and Mononobe. The former was a Muraji, or noble of non­Imperial descent. He traced his lineage back to a henchman of Jimmu’s who had followed him from Kyushu, even as the first ancestor of the Nakatomi clan, Ama no Koyane, had ac­companied the Heavenly-Grandchild when he descended on Mount Takachiho in the Land of So. The Nakatomi chiefs had from time immemorial been charged with the superintendence of certain matters connected with the native cult. If that cult were to be dethroned by an alien religion, the Nakatoini would infallibly lose in prestige, in importance, and in influence.

The Mononobe had strong reasons for acting in union with the Nakatomi at this conjuncture. Their head was also a Muraji. His first ancestor was that Idzumo chieftain, Nigi-haya-hi, who is represented as tendering a dutiful submission to Jimmu. These Mononobe constituted one of the two great military clans of Yamato; and at this time it would appear that the rival military clan of Ohotomo had sunk into comparative insignificance. The Mononobe were also concerned with religious matters, being especially devoted to the cult of the Idzumo God, Onamuji and charged with the care of the divine treasures of the Temple of Iso-no-kami in Yamato. A new State religion could not fail to touch them very nearly in this respect also. And they seem to have been still further embittered by what they doubtless regarded as an insidious attempt on the part of the Soga to rob them of an immemorial prerogative. From the earliest times we find them, in conjunc­tion with the Ohotomo, furnishing the guardsmen for the Im­perial Palace. Now this function had lately been, at least partially, assigned to Haya to,—that is, to warriors brought from Satsuma and Osumi, the ancient seats of the Kumaso.

These latter make their first appearance in connection with the fierce succession quarrels that ensued on the death of the Emperor Bidatsu in 585 or 58G. It will be remembered that Bidatsu was one of the Emperor Kimmei’s (540-571) three sons by his chief consort. Two of Kimmei’s other consorts were sisters of Soga no Mumako, and one of these presented him with thirteen and the other with five children. Bidatsu’s chief consort, who was the mother of eight of his own seventeen sons and daughters, was one of the senior Soga lady’s family of thirteen, and consequently Bidatsu’s own half-sister and Soga no Muniako’s niece. On the death of Bidatsu a determined attempt to seize the person of his chief consort was made by Prince Anahobe, a half-brother of Bidatsu, and also of his chief consort, for Anahobe was a son of Kimmei by the junior Lady Soga. This attempt was frustrated by the Hayato under the command of a certain Sakae, Miwa no Kimi, a favourite officer of the dead Emperor Bidatsu. Thereupon Anahobe made common cause with Mononobe, and the latter sent an armed force to make away with the obnoxious official. Soga no Mumako bestirred himself in Sakae’s behalf—only to find that he was too late, however. On hearing of the death of Sakae, Soga “broke into bitter lamentations, saying: Civil disorder in the empire is not far off, Mononobe, hearing this, answered and said: Thy position is that of a small Minister; thou dost not know”

Meanwhile, on the death of Bidatsu, all his own children and his elder brothers had been passed over, and the eldest of the senior Lady Soga’s thirteen children had ascended the throne (Yomei, 586-587). This sovereign, we are told, believed in the Law of Buddha and reverenced the way of the Gods. In 587, after performing the Shinto ceremony of tasting the new rice on the riverbank of Iware he took ill, and returned to the palace. All the Ministers were in attendance. The Emperor addressed them, saying: It is Our desire to give Our adherence to the three precious things (i.e. Buddha, the Law, and the Priests). Do ye Our Ministers advise upon this? All the Ministers entered the Court and consulted together. Mononobe no Moriya and Nakatomi no Katsumi opposed the Imperial proposal and advised, saying: Why should we reverence strange deities, and turn our backs upon the gods of our country? Of course we know naught of any such thing? Soga no Mumako said: Let us render assistance in compliance with the Imperial command. Who shall offer advice to the contrary?” Then at this point Prince Anahobe, that stormy petrel, always keenly alive to his own interests, introduced a Buddhist priest into the palace. Mononobe no Moriya glared at them in great wrath. When told that all the Ministers were plotting against him and intended to waylay him, he made a hurried exit and retired to one of his numerous country-houses, where he assembled a strong force. Meanwhile Nakatomi no Katsumi assembled troops at his house and went with them to the assistance of Mononobe. At length he prepared figures of the Heir-Apparent and the Imperial Prince Takeda (sons of Bidatsu Tenno, 572-586) and loathed them (i.e. practised witchcraft upon them). But presently finding that success was impossible he repaired to the palace of the Heir-Apparent at Mimata. Here one of the attendants, Ichu by name, watched till Nakatomi no Katsumi was withdrawing from the presence of the Heir-Apparent, and drawing his sword slew him.” In the meantime Soga had also put himself under the protection of an armed force of Ohotomo men, “which did not leave him by night or by day.”

“The Emperor’s sores became worse and worse, and when the end was approaching the son of Shiba Tatto came forward and addressed him saying: ‘Thy servant, on behalf of the Emperor, will renounce the world and exercise religion. Moreover, he will make an image of Buddha sixteen feet high, and a temple’. The Emperor was deeply moved.”

On the death of Yomei Tenno (587) there was yet another fierce succession dispute. The Heir-Apparent, Prince Takeda, and the restless Prince Anahobe were equally set aside, and a son of Kimmei by the junior Lady Soga became Emperor of Yamato (Sujun Tenno, 588 -592). Mononobe did not rest quiet at this unexpected development, and made a strong effort to establish Prince Anahobe on the throne. As the result of three abortive émeutes Anahobe lost his life, and Soga no Mumako determined to have a final settlement of accounts with his colleague in the Ministry (Mononobe) who had inflicted so many humiliations upon him. The forces of five Imperial Princes and ten great clan chieftains were mobilised and launched against the great surviving foe of Buddhism, Mononobe, who, “in personal command of the young men of his family and a slave-army, built a rice-fort and gave battle” in Kawachi. “Mononobe climbed up into the fork of an elm at Kisuri, from which he shot down arrows like rain. His troops were full of might. The army of the Imperial Princes and the troops of the Ministers were timid and afraid and fell back three times. At this time the Imperial Prince Mumayado, his hair being tied up on his temples, followed in the rear of the army. He pondered in his own mind, saying to himself: ‘Are we not going to be beaten? Without prayer we cannot succeed.’ So he cut down a nuride tree and swiftly fashioned images of the four Heavenly Kings. Placing them on his top­knot he uttered a vow: ‘ If we are now made to gain the vic­tory over the enemy, I promise faithfully to honour the four Heavenly Kings, guardians of the world, by erecting to them a temple with a pagoda.’ Soga also uttered a vow: ‘Oh, all ye Heavenly Kings, and great Spirit King, aid and protect us, and make us to gain the advantage. If this prayer is granted, I will erect a pagoda in honour of the Heavenly Kings, and the great Spirit King, and will propagate everywhere the three precious things.’ When they had made this vow, they urged their troops of all arms sternly forward to the attack. Now there was a man named Ichu (the assassin of Nakatomi no Katsumi), who shot down Mononobe from his branch and killed him. Mononobe’s troops accordingly gave way suddenly. Joining their forces they every one put on black clothes, and going hunting on the plain of Magari in Hirose, so dispersed. In this war some of the children and relatives of Mononobe made their escape, and concealing themselves on the plain of Ashihara changed their personal names and altered their titles (i,e. their surnames), while others fled away nobody knew where. The people of that time said of them to one another: The wife of Soga is the younger sister of Mononobe, and Soga, injudiciously acting on his wife’s advice, slew Mononobe.”

When the civil troubles had been quieted, a temple of the Four Heavenly Kings was built in the province of Settsu. Half of Mononobe’s slaves, together with his house, were constituted the slaves and farm-house of the Great Temple, and 10,000 shiro of rice-land were given to Ichu (who had assassinated Nakatomi no Katsumi, and killed Mononobe in battle). Moreover Soga, in fulfilment of his vow, erected the Temple of Hokoji (near Nara).

From the very first the fortunes of Buddhism had been bound up with those of the house of Soga; and as the Soga chieftain now bade fair to become all-powerful, the new religion obtained a firm foothold and began to make rapid progress at the Court and among certain sections of the Yamato aristocracy. In 594 we are told that “at this time all the Omi and Muraji vied with one another in erecting Buddhist shrines for the benefit of their lords and parents. These were called temples.” Not only priests, but temple architects and artists and artificers of various kinds had been brought from Korea; and the simple Japanese, if unimpressed by the spiritual and moral aspects of the new cult, could not fail to have their interest excited by art and the new arts and crafts the demands of its ritual were introducing into the Empire.

Soga’s persecuted nuns had been sent to Pakche for instruction in discipline; and after a short sojourn there they returned to Japan, to be joined by a daughter of the Ohotomo Chief and his two Korean wives. It would seem from this and various other indications that the heads of the former great military clan of Ohotomo had virtually become clients of the Soga. At all events, from this time onwards, we no longer find an Ohotomo acting as an Oho-muraji; henceforth down to 645, indeed, there is only an Oho-omi, and that always a Soga. Soga influence was especially strong among the Aya of Yamato, people of Korean or Chinese descent; and many of these became religieux. However, the new religion was mainly under foreign direction. “In 595 a priest of Ko-gur-yu, named Hyé-cha, emigrated to Japan, and was taken as teacher by the Prince Imperial (Mumayado). In the same year a Pakche priest, named Hyé-chhong, arrived. These two priests preached the Buddhist religion widely, and were together the mainstay of the Three Precious Things.”

The Three Precious Things, whose interests were so zealously promoted by Soga no Mumako, do not appear to have done very much for Soga’s morals, however. In 592 “a wild boar was presented to the Emperor (Sujun). Pointing to it, he said: When shall those to whom we have an aversion be cut off as this wild boar’s throat has been cut?’ An abundance of weapons was provided beyond what was customary. Soga, having been told of the pronouncement of the Emperor, and alarmed at this detestation of himself, called his people together and conspired with them to assassinate the Emperor.” A little later, he lied to the Ministers, saying : Today I present the taxes of the Eastern Provinces,’ and sent Koma, ‘Chief of the Yamato Aya, who killed the Emperor.”

Many Imperial Princes had lost their lives in the fierce succession quarrels that had raged from time to time in old Yamato, and yet more were destined to perish as the victims of their ambition in the course of the next few generations. But this was only the second occasion on which a reigning Emperor of Japan had been assassinated by a subject.

The immediate effect of the outrage, however, was not to shake but to consolidate Soga’s power. For centuries, with the exception of Princess Ihitoyo’s brief rule in 484, there had been ’no Empress ruling over Japan in her own right. At the present time there were perhaps a score of Imperial Princes, all more or less eligible for the Imperial dignity. Yet this king maker, Soga, passed them all over, and raised his own niece, Bidatsu Tenno's Empress, to the throne. Suiko Tenno, as she is called in history, was now thirty-nine years of age, and the mother of seven children. Yet with the nomination of Prince Mumayado as Heir-Apparent, a few months after Suiko’s accession, their subsequent claims to the throne were set aside.

This Prince Mumayado, better known as Shotoku Taishi (572-621), we have met with playing a prominent part when a youth of fifteen in that battle of Shigisen (587) which ended in the death of the Mononobe chieftain and the annihilation of his clan. Possibly it was Mumayado’s fervent zeal on behalf of Buddhism that first recommended him to the favourable consideration of the great kingmaker. At all events, now at the age of twenty-one, we find him nominally, at least, “with general control of the Government, and entrusted with all the details of the administration.” That this Constantine of Japanese Buddhism, as he is usually christened by European scholars, was a man of undoubted ability, if not of commanding intellect, can scarcely be questioned. He certainly was, what Constantine was not, not merely one of the greatest, but the very greatest scholar of his time,—not merely an adept in Buddhistic lore, but highly proficient in the classics and philosophy (ethical and political) of the Middle Kingdom. And in him we distinctly recognise the possessor of a highly developed rational moral sense,—a thing which, pace that great man Motoori, was by no means common in the Japan of those days. Whether because of all this, or in spite of all this, the fact remains that Shotoku’s administration was a highly popular one, as we can infer from not one but from many stray indications. At his death in 621, “all the Princes and Omi, as well as the people of the Empire—the old, as if they had lost a dear child, had no taste for salt and vinegar (i.e. well flavoured food) in their mouths ; the young, as if they had lost a beloved parent, filled the ways with the sound of their lamenting. The farmer ceased from his plough, and the pound­ing woman laid down her pestle. They all said: ‘ The sun and moon have lost their brightness; heaven and earth have crumbled to ruin; henceforth, in whom shall we put our trust?” Obituary eulogies—especially those of emperors and kings and Imperial princes and of other great personages with whose descendants it is profitable to curry favour by the exercise of a cheap and fulsome adulation—are always to be looked upon somewhat askance by the honest historian, who does not choose to forget that even Alexander the son of Jupiter Ammon had perforce to return to the dust of which he was made. Accordingly this very fine obituary notice of his Imperial Highness Shotoku Taishi, Regent of Japan under the Empress Suiko, was at first greeted with the cynical smile that courtly panegyrics are wont to provoke. But in course of time, a somewhat careful consideration of the incidents of Prince Mumayado’s life, and of the social, political, intellectual, and moral circumstances of the Japan of his day, brought more than a suspicion that this special obituary notice of Shotoku Taishi was not the mere dithyrambic of conventionality such notices usually are; that, on the contrary, it may very well have been the sincere and heart-felt expression of regret for a loss that almost amounted to a national calamity.

With perhaps ninety-nine per cent, of Shotoku Taishi’s fellow-concerts to the new religion Buddhism was simply another device for adding to, or ensuring, their material prosperity. It is true that we find him as a stripling of fifteen attempting to bribe the Four Deva Kings at the critical point in the great battle of Shigi-sen, an action that the Buddha himself would infallibly have condemned. But as he grew to manhood his Buddhism with him really became a religion of the rational conscience, while what was best and highest in Chinese ethics also appealed to his sympathies very strongly. His so-called “Laws”—sadly misnamed a Constitution by some modern Japanese historians—may very well strike us as being nothing but a jumble of old and outworn moral platitudes,—short homilies on prosy copy-book texts. But those “ hints to officers in the execution of their duties,”—for that is just what the famous seventeen articles of 604, amount to,— must have come home to his subordinates with all the force of novelty and originality. It was an attempt to rule by moral suasion—by an appeal to the strength and charm of what has been called sweet reasonableness. And to such an appeal no people lend more willing and attentive ears than the Japanese; with the most turbulent among them even, it has time and again proved irresistible. Only, the slightest suspicion of lack of sincerity, of good faith, of absolute disinterestedness on the part of the preacher is sure to prove fatal. Prince Mumayado early succeeded in winning the full and complete confidence of his fellow-countrymen, and he retained it unimpaired till the end. Even Soga no Mumako, that pietistic ruffian of a murderer and a liar, had to acknowledge the moral and intellectual ascendancy of the young Regent, in whom no doubt he expected to find a mere docile and pliable tool. During the whole of the Prince’s administration (593-621) Soga continued to be the Oho-omi, the sole Great Minister; and on the occasion of the reception of Embassies and of other Court functions we meet with him playing the role of the Great Man. But withal, during all these eight and twenty years he appears to have been kept out of all mischief very effectually. Doubtless the Prince induced him to expend his energies on a study of the sutras and the classics. At all events Soga in his later days developed scholarly proclivities. “This year’’ (620), we read, “the Prince Imperial, in connection with Soga, drew up a history of the Emperors, a history of the country, and the original record of the Omi, the Muraji, the Tomo no Miyakko, the Kuni no Miyakko, the 180 Be, and the free subjects.”

The Prince evidently made an endeavour to strengthen the Imperial power at the expense of the clan chieftains and heads of groups. Article XII of his “Laws” runs as follows: Let not the provincial authorities, or the Kuni no Miyakko, levy exactions on the people. In a country there are not two lords; the people have not two masters. The sovereign is the master of the people of the whole country. The officials to whom he gives charge are all his vassals. How can they, as well as the Government, presume to levy taxes on the people?” Why Soga did not get restive at this importation of Chinese political theory into Yamato can perhaps be explained. The Empress was a Soga, and the interests of the great Soga house were getting more and more intertwined with those of the Imperial family, and so the extension of the authority of the Crown did not necessarily involve any diminution of Soga influence. The Prince may have used this or similar arguments, or he may not. At all events Soga remained quiet during the life of the Regent. However, two years after the death of the latter, we find Soga endeavouring to possess himself of an Imperial estate that could be held by none but the actual occupant of the throne; and twenty years still later this Soga’s son and grand­son flouted Article XII. of the so-called Constitution in most glaring and audacious fashion.

That Soga and the Prince, while both working for the spread of Buddhism in the land, had very different ideas about what was really important and vital in that cult is perfectly plain. The former did not trouble himself over much about the quality of the converts; and hypocrites and profligates early made their appearance in the monasteries. In 623, two years after the Prince’s death, a Buddhist priest smote his paternal grand-father with an axe. This incident gave rise to a general investigation of affairs among the religieux, and a fair number of wicked priests and nuns were detected. A Sogo and a Sodzu were appointed for the superintendence of ecclesiastics, a Korean being assigned to the former, and a Japanese to the latter office, while a Japanese noble was made Chief of the Department of the Buddhist religion. Furthermore, “There was an inspection of the temples, and of the priests and nuns, and an accurate record made of the circumstances of the building of the temples, and also of the circumstances under which the priests and nuns embraced religion, with the year, month, and day of their taking orders. There were at this time 46 temples, 816 priests, and 569 nuns,—in all 1,385 persons.” Of these no fewer than a thousand had entered religion on the occasion of Soga’s illness in 614.

Some of the young ladies who had professedly abandoned the frivolities and vanities of the world were occasionally found to have failed to emancipate themselves entirely from the frailties of the flesh and mundane passions of the vulgar sort. In 628, for example, a certain young nobleman, a nephew of Sago Yemishi, fleeing for his life, “concealed himself in the tiled house of a nunnery. Here he had intrigues with one or two of the nuns. Now, one of the nuns was jealous and informed on him,” and as a final result, the young man “ com­mitted suicide on the mountain (to which he had escaped) by stabbing himself in the throat.”

The death of Shotoku Taishi was really a most serious loss to Japan, for he was doing rare service in moralising a people that stood sadly in need of being moralised. It is all to no purpose that Motoori paints old Yamato as a sort of sinless garden of Eden. “In ancient times,” says he, “although there was no prosy system of doctrine in Japan, there were no popular disturbances, and the Empire was peacefully ruled.” That very Kojiki and those very “ancient writings” on which he relies as his authorities for his doctrines emphatically condemn this assertion as an audacious and unblushing falsehood. “ The country was spontaneously well governed, in accordance with the ‘way’ established by the gods.” Yuryaku Tenno dealt with his brothers and the Imperial Princes in the most approved Turkish fashion, while Buretsu’s government can scarcely be characterised as a good one by the most servile of courtly historians, nor do incidents like the assassination of the Emperor Sujun by Soga’s emissary, to say nothing of the numerous internecine succession disputes, say much for the morality of old Japan. “It is because the Japanese were truly moral in their practice that they required no theory of morals. In 562, in connection with the Imna campaign of that year, the Nihongi tells us bluntly that “at this time between father and child, husband and wife, there was no mutual commiseration,” and the cowardly and disgusting episode it then goes on to recount is strong evidence in support of its allegation. Again, in 646, the new Reformed Government found itself called upon to deal vigorously with certain public abuses. Not a few of these sprang from superstitions not remotely connected with the Way of the Gods. “ There have been cases of men employed on forced labour in border lands who, when the work was over and they were returning to their village, have fallen suddenly ill and lain down to die by the roadside. Upon this the (inmates of the) houses by the roadside say: ‘Why should people be allowed to die on the road?’ And they have accordingly detained the companions of the deceased and compelled them to do purgation. For this reason it often happens that even if an elder brother lies down and dies on the road, his younger brother will refuse to take up his brother (for burial).

“Again, there are cases of peasants being drowned in a river. The bystanders say, ‘Why should we be made to have anything to do with the drowned men?’ They accordingly detain the drowned men’s companions and compel them to do purgation. For this reason it often happens that even when an elder brother is drowned in a river his younger brother will not render assistance.

“Again, there are cases of people who, when employed on forced labour, cook their rice by the roadside. Upon this the (inmates of the) houses by the roadside say: ‘Why should people cook rice at their own pleasure on our road?’ and have compelled them to do purgation.

“Again, there are cases when people have applied to others for the loan of pots in which to boil their rice, and the pots have knocked against something and have been upset. Upon this the owner of the pots compels purgation to be made.

“All such practices arc habitual among the unenlightened vulgar. Let them now be discontinued without exception and not permitted again?”

Now, inasmuch as “the unenlightened vulgar” constituted at least 95 per cent, of the three million or three million and a half subjects ruled by his Imperial Majesty, Kotoku Tenno, these reprehensible and inhumane, if not actually inhuman, practices must have prevailed very extensively. “Purgation” may need some explanation. The idea was that those who were compelled to do purgation had been defiled, and that contact with them was contaminating to the lieges. Hence a ceremony or ritual had to be performed to cleanse them, and this involved expenses. Accordingly putting to purgation was merely an extortionate device. “Shinto,” we have been told, “provides no moral code, and relies solely on the promptings of conscience for ethical guidance. If man derives the first principles of his duties from intuition a schedule of rules and regulations for the direction of everyday conduct becomes not only superfluous but illogical.” In 646, the ethical guidance supplied to the unenlightened vulgar by the promptings of conscience, judged by its practical results, argued little for the pretensions of the Apostles of the Way of the Gods. Again, we are assured that “Shinto is essentially a religion of gratitude and love”.

But listen to Motoori, its eighteenth-century Mahomet:—“Whenever anything goes wrong in the world it is to be attributed to the action of the evil gods, whose power is so great that the Sun-goddess and the Creator-God 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 people prayed to the good gods in order to obtain blessings, and performed rites in honour of the bad gods in order to avert their displeasure. If they committed crimes, or defiled themselves, they employed the usual methods of purification taught them by their own hearts. As there are bad as well as good gods, it is necessary to propitiate them with offerings of agreeable food, playing the harp, blowing the flute, singing and dancing, and whatever else is likely to put them in a good humour. The gratitude to the good gods is evidently of the kind which has been defined as a very lively sense of favours to come; while the naivete with which the necessity of what is virtually demon or devil worship is justified suggests that there may be a soupçon of truth in the primus in orbe Deos fecit timor account of the origin of religion, after all.

In view of the prevalence of the inhuman practices de­nounced by the legislators of 646, we begin to understand how a whole page of the Nihongi is devoted to the account of an act of Good Samaritanship on the part of Shotoku Taishi in 613. The episode ought to have proved a most invaluable object lesson in the circumstances of the time. And then what of old Yamato when smitten with famine and pestilence, as she was from time to time? In 624, the year after the death of Shotoku Taishi, “there was a great famine in the Empire. The old ate the roots of herbs, and died by the road-side. Infants at the breast died with their mothers. Thieves and robbers sprang up in great numbers and could not be put down.” In 567 there “were floods in the districts and provinces with famine. In some cases men ate each other” The extracts cited in connection with the introduction of Buddhism serve to indicate that Japan was then almost in equally evil case with the civilised parts of contemporary Europe, when at one time five and at another ten thousand persons were dying each day at Constantinople, when many of the cities of the East were left vacant, and when in several districts of Italy the harvest and the vintage rotted on the ground. It will be remembered that at this time pestilence continued either to stalk abroad or to lurk in the Eastern Empire for 52 years,—from 542 to 594. Our first notice of pestilence in Japan is in 552, and we hear of it again in 585 and 586. It would be interesting to discover whether the pest in Japan proceeded from the same centre of infection as that which devastated the Byzantine Empire about the same date.

During the twenty-eight years’ administration of Shotoku Taishi (593-621) Japan enjoyed the unwonted blessings of good government. Shortly after the death of the Regent, old Soga Mumako began to show signs of renewed turbulence, but he was fortunately removed by death in 626 before he could do much mischief. His power and his office of Great Minister (Oho-onu) thereupon passed to his son Soga Yemishi. On the death of the Empress Suiko, in 628, this Soga also aspired to the role of king-maker,—“he wished to decide the matter of the succession on his sole authority.” The Empress on her deathbed had spoken to two of the Imperial Princes,—one a grandson of Bidatsu Tenno and the other a son of Shotoku Taishi,—about the succession in a perplexingly ambiguous manner. The good understanding between old Soga Mumako and Shotoku Taishi did not continue to exist between their respective sons and successors, and Soga exerted himself actively to set Yamashiro no Oye (Shotoku’s son) aside. This led to acute dissensions among the eight Ministers who then appear as acting under the Great Minister, and between Soga and the chief of a cadet house of the great Soga clan. The result was that the latter was “executed,” otherwise murdered, and that Bidatsu’s grandson was made Emperor (Jomei, 629-641). On his death in 641, the Heir Apparent, then six­teen years of age, was summarily set aside, and a great grand­daughter of Bidatsu Tenno raised to the throne as Empress. (Kogyoku Tenno, 642-645). Of course this was the work of Soga, or rather of the Sogas, for at this date yet another Soga chieftain comes prominently on the scene. “Yemishi, Soga no Omi, was made Great Minister as before. His son, Iruka, took into his own hands the reins of government, and his power was greater than his father’s. Therefore thieves and robbers were in dread of him, and things dropped on the highway were not picked up.” Before this year of 642 was out, Soga had given pretty clear indications that he aspired to something even higher than the position of the most powerful, if not the first, subject in the realm of Yamato.

“Yemishi Soga-no-Oho-omi erected his own ancestral temple and performed an eight-row dance. Moreover, he levied all the people of the land as well as the serfs of the 180 Be and constructed two tombs in preparation for his death. One was called the Great Misasagi and was intended as the tomb of the Great Minister; one was called the Small Misasagi and was meant for the tomb of his son, Iruka. It was his desire that after his death other people might not be troubled. Moreover he assembled all the serfs of the Princess, the daughter of Shotoku Taishi, and made them do forced labour in the precincts of the tombs. Hereupon the Princess was wroth and said: ‘Soga wantonly usurps the government of the land and does many outrageous things. In Heaven there are not two suns; in a State there cannot be two sovereigns. Why should he, at his own pleasure, employ in forced labour all the people of the fief?’ From this time her hate began to gather, and she at length fared in the common downfall (of the family of Shotoku Taishi).”

The ancestral temple and the eight-row dance amounted to an assumption of Imperial rank, while we have already seen a rebellious subject when aping royalty erecting a double­mounded mausoleum for himself (Iwai in Kyushu, 527). The wish “not to have other people put to trouble after his death” was merely an excuse—Soga was putting many people to trouble during his lifetime. Shotoku’s daughter here falls back upon the Chinese political doctrine set forth in Article XII. of her father’s so-called Constitution, over which the Soga were now riding rough-shod.

In the following year “Soga Yemishi, on his own private authority, bestowed a purple cap on his son Iruka, thus advancing him to the rank of Great Minister, while Iruka’s younger brother Mononobe was at the same time promoted by him to the same dignity.” This was a clear usurpation of an Imperial prerogative.

Shotoku’s son, Yamashiro no Oye, whose claims to the succession had been set aside in 629 was now in the prime of life, with sons who showed signs of real ability. This family was the chief obstacle to the Soga ambition. Ostensibly acting in the interests of the Soga Imperial Prince, Furubito no Oye, but really in his own, Soga Iruka now sent emissaries to arrest,—in plain language to murder,—Yamashiro no Oye. The latter proved himself to be a true son of Shotoku Taisha’s. In 629 his claims were supported by a numerous body of adherents, who would have gladly fought to the death to make them good. Now, when urged to gather forces in the eastern provinces, he made answer: “If we did as thou sayest, we should certainly succeed. In my heart, however, I desire for ten years not to impose a burden on the people. For the sake of one person only, why should I distress the ten thousand subjects? Moreover I do not wish it to be said by after generations that for my sake anyone has mourned the loss of a father or mother. Is it only when one has conquered in battle that he is to be called a hero ? Is he not also a hero who has made firm his country at the expense of his own life f” After various attempts at escape he returned to the temple of Ikaruga, where he was immediately surrounded by Soga Iruka’s bloodhounds. To their officers he sent the message: “If I had raised an army, and attacked Iruka. I should cer­tainly have conquered. But for the sake of one person I was unwilling to destroy the people. Therefore I deliver myself up to Iruka.” “Finally he and the younger members of his family, with his consorts, strangled themselves at the same lime and died together”. Soga Yemishi, hearing that Prince Yamashiro no Oye and all his people had been destroyed by Iruka, chid him angrily, saying:—‘Ah! Iruka! Thou art foolish exceedingly, and dost arbitrarily practise outrage. Is not thine own life precarious? ”

Ominous words, indeed; and much truer than the speaker of them could believe. For at this time, the Grand Conspirator who was soon to lay the whole Soga edifice of grandeur in ruins had thought out his problems, and was on the outlook for suitable confederates.

Meanwhile the Soga seemed to be marching steadily onward to the destined goal,—the throne of Yamato. In the summer of 644 “the witches and wizards of the whole country, breaking off leafy branches and hanging them with tree fibre, watched the time when the Great Minister was crossing a bridge and vied with one another in addressing to him subtle interpretations of divine words. They were in great numbers, so that they could not be distinctly heard. Old people said that this was a sign of changes.”

In the winter of the same year, “Iruka built two houses on the Amagasaki Hill. The Grand Minister’s house was called the Palace-Gate; Iruka’s house was styled the Valley-Palace- Gate. Their sons and daughters were styled Princes and Princesses. Outside the houses palisades were constructed, and an armoury was erected by the gate. At each gate was set a tank for water, and several tens of wooden hooks (to pull down intervening buildings) as a provision in case of fire. Stout fellows were constantly employed to guard the houses with arms in their hands”

“The Grand Minister (Soga Yemishi) built a house on the east side of Mount Unebi, and dug a moat so as to make of it a castle. He erected an armoury, and provided a store of arrows. In his goings-out and comings-in he was always sur­rounded by an attendant company of fifty soldiers. These sturdy fellows were called the Eastern Company (probably Ainus). The people of the various noble houses came to his gate and waited upon him. He called himself their father and them his boys. The Aya no Atahe (Chief of the Korean and Chinese settlers in Japan) attended wholly upon the two houses.”

In their attempt to establish a new dynasty in Yamato— for in plain language that is what the father and son were endeavouring to do—the Sogas were exerting themselves to conciliate the semi-foreign interests in the Empire. They had the Chinese and Korean immigrants at their beck and call; and Soga the elder had been very gracious to those Ainu or Yemishi whose name he bore. It must not be forgotten that these Yemishi then and for long afterwards disputed with the Kumaso or Hayato of Satsuma the claim to be the Pathans and Afridis of Japan,—the fiercest if not the finest fighting men in the archipelago. The Yamato sovereigns seem to have been ready to utilise their services whenever they could be enlisted. In 479, on the death of Yuryaku Tenno, we hear of the revolt of a body of 500 Yemishi (Ainu) in the modern province of Suwo, on their way for service in Korea. They held their ground well, and made good their retreat into the province of Tamba, where, however, they were annihilated. Eighty years before this the Yemishi had inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Yamato troops in the peninsula between T5ky0 Bay and the Pacific. In 540 we have a notice of the Yemishi and of the Hayato (i.e. the Kumaso) bringing their people with them and coming to Court and rendering allegiance. Then in 581 we are told of the haughty way in which Bidatsu Tenno addressed the repentant Ayakasu, Chief of the Yemishi on the frontier, who had shown hostility there. What may have done much to aid Soga to form the conclusion that Yemishi support was not to be despised was the incident of 637, when the Japanese commander who was sent to smite the Yemishi of the East was utterly defeated by the Ainu and cooped up in a fortress by them, and whose poltroonery was only redeemed by the heroism of his wife. At all events, when the chiefs of several thousand Echigo Ainu, who had submitted in 642, came to Court we are told that “Soga no Oho-omi entertained the Yemishi in his house, and personally made kind inquiries after their welfare.” Possibly it was then that he contrived to hire his Ainu body-guard.

Although cowed into cringing and servile subservience the people of the noble houses who fawned upon the Soga must have felt that in them they had to deal with two of those “bad gods” that had to be propitiated of necessity, and the love they bore them must have been the love of the devotee trying to cajole his devils or demons with forced exhibitions of simulated joy. The older Soga was somewhat cautious, and could unbend and be complaisant and condescending enough upon occasion. But the younger man was clearly of a mind to carry things with a high hand—indeed with the mailed fist; and the nobles felt that it was with this swaggerer they would have to deal exclusively when the father was no more. Even among the heads of certain of the cadet houses of the great Soga clan he was far from popular, and by certain of the Imperial Princes and Court nobles, who could keep their own counsel, he was hated with a bitter hatred. It was rapidly coming to be a question of who would “ bell the cat.”

It will be remembered that the great opponents of Soga Iname’s unsuccessful and Soga Mumako’s successful attempt to establish Buddhism in Japan had been the heads of the Nakatomi and of the Mononobe clans. The latter perished, and the Mononobe house was crushed in the decisive battle of Shigi-Sen (587), while the Nakatomi chieftain lost his life in the course of the troubles which immediately preceded that decisive contest. The hereditary chiefs of the Nakatomi house, as has been said, were also the hereditary heads of the native Shinto cult; but with the sovereign a devout Buddhist, and the most influential nobles adherents of the new religion, the office of head of Shintoism had lost all its prestige, and its duties had practically fallen into abeyance. In, or before 644 Nakatomi no Kamatari was, or had been, pressed to accept the post hereditary in his family, “but he declined the appointment several times, and would not take it up. On the plea of ill-health he went away and lived at Mishima?’

This Kamatari was still a young man,—25 according to one account, 31 according to another. Inferior to Shotoku Taishi in moral elevation and disinterestedness he was fully his equal, if not his superior, in sheer force of intellect. At all events his was perhaps the finest and the ablest brain in the Yamato of his day.

When pieced together the disconnected paragraphs in which the story of his successful plot and the great coup d’etat is told in the Nihongi really form a fine piece of thrilling narrative.

“At this time Prince Karu (afterwards Kotoku Tenno) had an ailment of the leg which prevented him from coming to Court. Now Kamatari had before this a friendship for the Prince, and therefore went to his palace to spend the night in attendance on him. The Prince, knowing well that Kamatari was a man of exalted sentiments, and of a bearing which made rudeness to him impossible, sent his favourite consort, a lady of the Abe House, to sweep out a separate room and to spread him a new sleeping-mat. There was nothing which was not provided for him, and the respect shown him was extraordinary. Kamatari was very sensible (of all this) and addressed the chamberlain saying: ‘I have been treated with a special kind­ness which exceeds all that I expected. Who would not make him Ruler over the Empire?  The chamberlain accordingly reported to the Prince what he had said, and the Prince was greatly pleased. Kamatari was a man of an upright and local character, and of a reforming disposition. He was indignant with the younger Soga for breaking down the order of Prince and Vassal, of Senior and Junior, and cherishing veiled designs upon the State. One after another he associated with the Princes of the Imperial line, trying them in order to discover a wise ruler who might establish a great reputation. He had accordingly fixed his mind upon Naka no Oye, but for want of intimate relations with him he had been so far unable to unfold his inner sentiments. Happening to be one of a foot­ball party in which Naka no Oye played, he observed the Prince’s leathern shoe fall oft with the ball. Placing it on the palm of his hand, he knelt before the Prince, and humbly offered it to him. Naka no Oye in his turn knelt down and respectfully received it. From this time they became mutual friends, and told each other all their thoughts. There was no longer any concealment between them. They feared, however, that jealous suspicions might be caused by their frequent meetings, and they both took in their hands yellow rolls (i.e. Chinese books), and studied personally the doctrines of Chow and Confucius with the learned teacher of Minabuchi. Thus, they at length, while on their way there and back, walking shoulder to shoulder, secretly prepared their plans. On all points they were agreed.

“Kamatari counselled Naka no Oye, saying: ‘For him who cherishes great projects, nothing is so essential as support. I pray thee, therefore, take to thee the eldest daughter of Soga no Kurayamada, and make her thy consort. When a friendly marriage relationship has been established, we can then unfold our desire to associate him with us in our plans. There is no shorter way to success than this.’ Now, when Naka no Oye heard this, he was much pleased and acted in accordance with his advice in every particular. Kamatari ac­cordingly went himself, and as go-between conducted the marriage negotiations to a successful issue. On the night, however, fixed for the wedding, the eldest daughter was stolen away by a relation. In consequence of this her father was grieved and alarmed. He looked up, and he looked down, and he knew not what to do. His younger daughter, wondering at his grief and alarm, went up to him and inquired of him, saying:  ‘Why art thou sorrowful and in fear ?’ Her father told her the cause. The younger daughter said: ‘I beseech thee do not grieve, but offer me. It is still not too late.’ Her father was greatly rejoiced and at length offered this daughter. She served the Prince with sincerity of heart and without any shyness whatever.

“Kamatari commended Komaro and Ami da to the Prince, saying,” etc., etc.

Some months after this the Empress held a Court in the Great Hall of Audience. Among others in attendance was Prince Furubito no Oye, in whose interests the younger Soga had annihilated the family of Shotoku Taishi. This Prince Furubito, a son of Jomei Tenno and a Soga consort, was a cousin of Soga Yemishi, it should be remarked.

“Kamatari, knowing that Soga Iruka was of a very sus­picious nature and wore a sword day and night, showed the sword, entered, and took his place in attendance by the throne. Kurayamada (the Koga conspirator, and Prince Naka no Oye’s father-in-law) advanced and read aloud the memorials of the three Kingdoms of Korea. Hereupon Prince Naka no Oye ordered the Guards of the Gates to fasten all the twelve gates at the same time, and to allow nobody to pass. Then he called together the Guards of the Gates to one place and offered them rewards. Prince Naka no Oye then took in his own hands a long spear and hid it at one side of the hall. Kamatari and his people, armed with bows and arrows, lent their aid. A man was sent to give two swords in a case to Komaro and Amida, with the message. ‘Up! Up! make haste to slay him!’. Komaro and the other tried to send down their rice with water, but were so frightened that they brought it up again. Kamatari chid and encouraged them. Kurayamada feared lest the read­ing of the memorials should come to an end before Komaro and his companion arrived. His body was moist with streaming sweat, his voice trembled, and his hands shook. Soga Iruka wondered at this, and inquired of him, saying: ‘Why dost thou tremble ’ Kurayamada answered and said: ‘It is being near the Empress that makes me afraid, so that uncon­sciously the perspiration pours from me. Prince Naka no Oye, seeing that Komaro and his companion, intimidated by Soga Iruka’s prestige, were trying to shirk and did not come forward, cried out ‘Ya!’ and forthwith coming out with Komaro and his companion, fell upon Iruka without warning, and with a sword cut open his head and shoulder. Iruka started up in alarm, when Komaro with a turn of his hand flourished his sword and wounded him on the leg. Iruka rolled over to where the Empress sat and bowing his head to the ground said: ‘She who occupies the hereditary Dignity in the Child of Heaven. I, Her Servant, am conscious of no crime, and I beseech Her to make an examination into this? The Empress was greatly shocked, and addressed Prince Naka no Oye saying: ‘I know not what has been done. What is the meaning of this?’ The Prince prostrated himself on the ground, and made representation to her Majesty, saying: ‘Soga Iruka wished to destroy the Celestial House utterly, and to subvert the Solar Celestial descendants.’ The Empress at once got up, and went into the interior of the palace. Komaro and Amida then slew Soga Iruka. On this day rain fell, and puddle-water overflowed the Court. They covered Iruka’s body with mats and screens. When Prince Furubito no Oye saw this lie ran into his private palace, and said to his people: The Koreans have slain Soga Iruka. My heart is sore? Then he went into his sleeping-chamber, shut the door, and would not come out.

“Prince Naka no Oye presently entered the Temple of Hokoji, which he fortified and prepared to defend. The Imperial Princes, Ministers, Daibu, Omi, Muraji, Tomo no Miyakko, and Kuni no Miyakko one and all followed him. Men were sent to deliver the body of Iruka to his father, Soga Yemishi. Hereupon the Aya no Atahe (i.e. chiefs of the Chinese and Korean immigrants) assembled all their clan. Clad in armour, and with weapons in their hands, they came to the assistance of the Great Minister (Soga Yemishi) and formed an army. Prince Naka no Oye sent Kose no Tokudai no Omi to explain to the rebel band that ever since the creation of Heaven and Earth there were lords and vassals, and to make himself acquainted with the cause of this uprising. Hereupon Kunioshi, Takamuku no Omi, addressed the Aya no Atahe, saying: ‘We are bound to receive (capital) punishment on account of Soga Iruka. Moreover it is not doubtful that today or to morrow swift execution awaits the Great Minister. This being so, for whom should we fight to no purpose, rendering ourselves all liable to be put to death?’ When he had finished speaking, he ungirded his sword, flung away his bow, and went away, deserting the cause. The rebel troops, moreover, follow­ing his example, dispersed and ran away.”

On the following day, “Soga Yemishi and his people, when about to be executed, burnt the “History of the Emperors,” the “ History of the Country,” and the objects of value. The Chief of the Shipping Office (an erstwhile Soga protégé) straightway hastened to seize the burning “History of the Country,” and delivered it to Prince Naka no Oye (afterwards the Emperor Tenchi). On this day permission was given for the interment of the bodies of Soga Yemishi and Soga Iruka in tombs. Lament for them was also allowed.”

Desperate diseases call for desperate remedies, and seventh century Japanese patriots and Imperialists may very well have fancied that they had abundant justification for making a summary end of the Soga domination by any means, no matter how questionable. But the fact remains that the recital of the vile and dirty work of this coup d’etat leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth. For Kamaro and Amida, cowards no less than assassins, there can be nothing but contempt and detestation, while Kose Tokudai no Omi was perhaps even worse than they. He had been Soga Iruka’s willing hangman in the extirpation of the noble Yamashiro no dye and his family; and now, like the despicable cur he was, he is found turning upon his master and snapping at the hand that had fed him and upon which he had cringingly fawned. Kunioshi stands in a some­what different category; in 643 he had excused himself when called upon by Soga Iruka and Prince Furubito to do their filthy work.

It is to be observed that the death of the two all-powerful Sogas in 645 did not carry with it the consequences that attended the fall of the Mononobe about 60 years before. In and after the battle of Shigi-Sen (587) the Mononobe house was virtually extirpated. On the other hand the Soga continued to be the most influential clan in the land for at least a full generation after the events of 645. Soga Kurayamada, Prince Naka no dye’s father-in-law, was at once advanced to the position of Great Minister in the reformed administration; and when he fell a victim to the intrigues of a younger half­brother of his own in 649, and had to strangle himself, the prestige of the great house of which he had been the head for five years was but little impaired.

During the night following the execution of the elder Soga and his adherents, and the conflagration of the great house on the hill, the conspirators must have been very busy. At all events, on the following day we meet with the first instance of the abdication of a sovereign in the annals of Japan. The Empress sent for her son, Prince Naka no Oye, and signified her intention of transferring the Imperial dignity to him. Acting on the advice of the shrewd Kamatari, Prince Naka recommended his mother to make her younger brother, Prince Karu, then about fifty years of age, her successor. This Prince Karu in turn advocated the claims of the Soga Prince, Furubito no Oye, in whose interests Soga Iruka had been professedly acting. Prince Furubito knew better than to accept, however. He ungirt his sword, and flung it on the ground, and ordering all his household to do likewise, he went off to the temple of Hokoji; and there, between the Hall of Buddha and the pagoda, he shaved off his beard and hair, and put on the kesa. However, it was pretty well appreciated that he had retired merely to mark the course of events from a safe and convenient retreat. Three months later he was at the head of a strong party of malcontents,—Sogas and Yamato no Ayas;—and early in 646 he was slain by the emissaries of Prince Naka no Oye, together with his children, while his consorts had to strangle themselves perforce.

The new sovereign, known as Kotoku Tenno (645-654), who “honoured the religion of Buddha and despised the Way of the Gods,” was a simple-minded, kindly-hearted, easy-going old man,—a docile and pliant instrument in the hands of the vigorous Naka no Oye, now nominated Heir Apparent. For form’s sake, two Great Ministers were appointed,—Abe and Soga Kurayamada, both fathers-in-law of the Emperor, and the latter father-in-law of Naka no Oye as well. But the real power lay not with them. “A great brocade cap of honour was given to Kamatari, and he was made Naijin (not Naidaijin, be it remarked), with an increased feudal revenue of a large number of houses, etc., etc. Trusting to his power as ruling Minister, he took place over the various functionaries. In respect, therefore, to advancements and dismissals, taking measures or abandoning them, everything was done in accordance with his counsel,” etc., etc. And yet for the next nine years Kamatari’s name does not make a single appearance in the annals of Japan (until 654), when we are curtly informed that “he was granted a purple cap, and his fief increased by a number of houses.” Under Tenchi Tenno (661-671), his old fellow-conspirator Naka no Oye, his name appears once or twice, but it is only on the occasion of his death in 669 that he is mentioned with emphasis. “ The Emperor sent his younger brother, the Prince Imperial, to the house of Naidaijin Fujiwara to confer on him the cap of the Great Woven Stuff and the rank of Oho-omi (Great Minister). He also granted him a surname, and made him the house of Fujiwara. From this time forward he was generally known as Fujiwara no Daijin.”

And this is all we hear not merely of the greatest man of his time, but of one of the greatest men that Japan has ever produced! Kamatari, the founder of the Fujiwara family, was the first and perhaps the most illustrious of those Kuromaku who have been the real rulers of the Japanese Empire from time to time. Maku signifies a curtain, and Kuro means black; and the man behind the “Black Curtain” on the Japanese stage is known to Europeans as the “stage-prompter.” Only it is to be remarked that the Kuromaku of Japanese politics has not un frequently been very much more than a mere prompter. Kamatari, for example, was responsible for most of the text of the play, for the distribution of the parts, and for the wise en scene.

To the general public of the time it was Prince Naka no Oye who appeared as the protagonist among the Reformers. On the morning after the execution of Soga Yeimishi we have found him declining to ascend the throne vacated by his mother. Possibly his youth may have been one consideration which moved him to this act of self-abnegation, for according to one account he was no more than eighteen at the time. Although only Heir Apparent, and acting in everything through his uncle, the Emperor, he evidently wielded well-nigh absolute authority. In 653 a little episode serves to cast a flood of light upon the real situation: “This year the Heir Apparent petitioned the Emperor, saying:—“I wish the Imperial residence were removed to the Yamato capital”. The Emperor refused to grant his request. Upon this the Heir Apparent took with him the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and the younger Imperial Princes, and went to live in the temporary palace of Asuka, in Yamato. At this time the Ministers and Daibu with the various functionaries all followed and changed their residence. The Emperor resented this and wished to cast away the national dignity.” He had a palace built at Yamazaki and sent a pitiful little ode of remonstrance to his Empress.

On this Emperor’s death in the following year (654) the Heir Apparent again refused to ascend the throne, and reinstalled his mother, the abdicated Empress Kogyoku, there (Empress Saimei, 654-661). In 658, Prince Arima, son of Kotoku Tenno, made an abortive attempt to possess himself of the Imperial dignity, and as usual in such cases, was “executed”. Then in 661, when the Empress Saimei died, we meet with a puzzling state of things. For seven years there appears to have been an interregnum. At all events it was only in 668 that Prince Naka no Oye at last ascended the throne (Tenchi Tenno, 668-671), which he occupied for only three years. He and the great Kuromaku Kamatari were thus re­moved by death within two years of each other. Their work was not complete; it had to lie supplemented and amended in various respects during the next half-century or so. But the foundations had been solidly laid, and all that was of cardinal importance in the new State-structure had been erected. The following chapter will be devoted to a consideration of what the Reformers attempted.

CHAPTER III. OLD YAMATO (400 A.D. - 550 A.D.)

CHAPTER IV. OLD YAMATO.FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM TO THE GREAT COUP D’ETAT (550 TO 645 A.D.)

CHAPTER V. THE GREAT REFORM OF 645.