A History of the Japanese People Part 56

At Kamakura, also, there was a kwanryo to guard the eastern provinces (Kwanto). In Takauji's time, his second son, Motouji, was appointed to this office, and it was thenceforth inherited for some generations, the Uesugi family furnis.h.i.+ng a s.h.i.+tsuji. Ultimately the Kamakura kwanryo became a powerful military satrap, hostile to the Muromachi shogun. The holder of the office then received the t.i.tle of kubo, and the hitherto s.h.i.+tsuji became kwanryo. In other respects the Kamakura polity retained the form it had under Yoritomo: a Hyojo-shu (Council), a Hikitsuke-shu, a Monju-dokoro, a Samurai-dokoro, and various bugyo. In Kyushu and Dewa, the princ.i.p.al officer was called shugo, that post being of special importance; while in the other provinces shugo and jito (high constables and land-stewards) continued to officiate as before.

The jurisdiction of these high constables--great military magnates or relatives of the shogun--extended to two or more provinces, and the shugo were then called kuni-mochi-shu (province-holder). A daimyo (great name, i.e. feudal lord), in communicating with Muromachi, had to make a kuni-mochi his medium. For the Kwanto and s.h.i.+koku, the Hosokawa house was the kunimochi; for s.h.i.+nano, Etchu, Echigo, and Kaga, the Hatakeyama; for Ise, Kai, and Suruga, the Yamana; and for Kyushu, the tandai. After the power of the tandai had declined, the Ouchi family took its place. In the days of Yos.h.i.+nori's shogunate, there were twenty-two shugo in the country, and seven of them administered three provinces or more, each. The provincial governors appointed by the Southern Court disappeared, for the most part, during the War of the Dynasties, and on the restoration of peace the only one of these high officials that remained was Kitabatake of Ise.

SHUGO AND JITO

Originally appointed for administrative and fiscal purposes only, the shugo said jito acquired t.i.tles of land-owners.h.i.+p from the beginning of the As.h.i.+kaga era. To plunder and annex a neighbouring province became thenceforth a common feat on the part of these officials. In 1390, tracts of land measuring from one-half of a province to two or three provinces are found to have been converted from the shugo's jurisdictional areas into military domains. Such magnates as Yamana Tokiuji held from five to eleven provinces. These puissant captains had castles and armies of their own. At first, they respected the requisitions of the Bakufu. Thus, in 1463, when an elaborate Buddhist ceremony had to be performed on the decease of Yos.h.i.+masa's mother, a tax in the form of cotton cloth was levied from the shugo, a ruler of three provinces contributing ten thousand pieces; a ruler of two provinces, five thousand, and so on.*

*A "piece" was 40 feet, approximately. When the castle of Edo was built in Tokugawa days--seventeenth century--each daimyo had to contribute "aid" (otetsudai), after the As.h.i.+kaga custom.

But after the Onin War (1467-1469), military magnates resided wholly on their own domains and paid no attention to requisitions from the Bakufu. Further, these magnates compelled all jito and go-kenin within their jurisdiction to serve as their va.s.sals. Previously to the Onin era the shugo had resided, for the most part, in Kyoto, delegating the discharge of their provincial functions to deputies (shugo-dai), chosen by the shugo and approved by the Bakufu.

Presently, the process of selection was dispensed with, and the office became hereditary. Thus, Yusa of the Hatakeyama, Oda of the s.h.i.+ba, Uragami of the Akamatsu, and so forth are examples of deputies who resided permanently in the provinces concerned and acquired influence there superior even to that of their princ.i.p.als. The deputies, in turn, had their vice-deputies (ko-shugo-dai), to whom the name daikwan (another term for "deputy") was often given. These daikwan were selected from among the members or va.s.sals of a shugo's family to act provisionally as shugo-dai. As for the jito, from the middle of the Kamakura epoch their posts became mere sinecures, the emoluments going to support their families, or being paid over to a temple or shrine. Occasionally the office was sold or p.a.w.ned. The comparatively small areas of land within which the jito officiated soon came to be recognized as their private domains, but after the Onin commotion this system underwent a change, the jito becoming va.s.sals of the shugo. Many, however, held their original position until the middle of the sixteenth century. In the days of Toyotomi Hideyos.h.i.+ and Oda n.o.bunaga--namely, the second half of the sixteenth century--the name jito was given to the headman of a village or district, who served as the immediate representative of authority.

FINANCE

Cultivated land (koden) was the great source of official revenue. The area under rice--the princ.i.p.al staple of production--in the middle of the fifteenth century was about a million of cho,* or two and a half million acres; and this was owned by the Court, the Court n.o.bles, the military magnates, the temples, and the shrines. From an uncertain date, but probably the close of the Kamakura Bakufu, the area of a domain ceased to be calculated in terms of cho and tan and was expressed in kwan (one thousand cash, or mori). The use of the kwanior this purpose had reference to the military service leviable upon the land. Thus, when land of one hundred kwan-mon was mentioned, an area capable of supporting military service valued at one hundred kwan-mon was understood. The calculation was very simple: one tsubo corresponded to one mon, so that one kwan-mon represented one thousand tsubo for the purposes of this a.s.sessment.**

*The cho was equal to 10 tan, and the tan comprised 360 tsubo, the tsubo being a square of 6 feet side. At present the area under cultivation is some 3 millions of cho (7.5 millions of acres).

**In the As.h.i.+kaga era the unit of currency may be said to have been the copper cash of China--called Eiraku-sen after the name (Chinese, Yunglo) of the Chinese year period when it was issued. Gold and silver coins were also in use; namely, the gold ryo, which was equivalent to 10 silver ryo; but their circulation was comparatively small. The gold ryo was equal to 2000 mon of copper coins, and as 100 mon purchased 1 to (one-tenth part of a koku) of rice, it follows that the gold ryo represented 2 koku, or 30 yen of modern currency, the silver ryo representing 3 yen (1 yen=2 s.h.i.+llings-50 cents). It follows also that 10 strings of cash (one kwan) were worth a koku of rice, or 15 yen. As for silk piece-goods, 1 roll (hiki = 48 yards) of the best kind was worth 45 yen, and the second and third-cla.s.s kinds ranged from 33 to 22.5 yen. Finally, in the year 1498, the records show that the daily wage of a labourer was some 16 sen of modern money (about 4 pence or 8 cents).

From various doc.u.ments it appears that the three grades of land--best, medium, and inferior--were taxed at the rate of sixty, forty, and thirty per cent., respectively, of the yield. In other words, the average land-tax was forty per cent, of the yield--called s.h.i.+-ko roku-min--or four parts to the Government and six to the farmer. If we consider the rates between the current price of land and the tax, there is a record, dated 1418, which shows that the tax levied by a temple--Myoko-ji--was twenty per cent, of the market price of the land. But it would seem that the ratio in the case of Government taxation was much smaller, being only one and a half per cent, of the market value. There were, however, other imposts, which, though not accurately stated, must have brought the land-tax to much more than forty per cent, of the yield.

Turning to the Imperial Court, we find it supported by domains hereditarily held; by contributions from the seizei (expediency taxes, that is to say, taxes set aside for extraordinary State requirements); by occasional presents, and by revenues from kuG.o.den (private Imperial land). The Court n.o.bles had their own domains, usually small. All these estates, those of the Crown, of princes, and of Court n.o.bles, were subject to a system called hansai. That is to say, one-half of their revenues were leviable for military purposes.

Originally this impost was understood to be a loan to the Bakufu, but ultimately it came to be regarded as a normal levy, though its practical effect was to reduce the revenue from such domains by one-half. Moreover, as the arrogance of the military magnates in the provinces grew more insistent, and as the Bakufu's ability to oppose them became less effective, the domain of the Court n.o.bles suffered frequent encroachments.

REVENUES OF THE BAKUFU

One source of revenue for the Bakufu was its domains in various places; another was the buke-yaku, or military-house dues. These were at first two per cent, of the land-tax of the house concerned, but afterwards they increased to five per cent. Thus an estate paying one hundred koku in the form of land-tax, had to pay a further five koku as buke-yaku, the latter proceeds being sent to Kyoto for the use of the shogun's household. Another important levy was the tansen, which, as its name implies, was a land-rate levied at so much per tan (one-quarter of an acre), the proceeds being devoted to special purposes, as, for example, to defray the cost of grand ceremonials or of new edifices. The records show one payment of tansen which works out at fifty mon per tan. Another doc.u.ment indicates that the monthly expenses of the Man-dokoro were some sixty kwanmon and that they were defrayed by levying taxes upon p.a.w.nbrokers and sake-dealers in Kyoto and in Omi province. The latter tax (shuko-zei) is shown to have been, on one occasion, two kwan eight hundred mon per house. The Bakufu collected dues on foreign commerce, also, and miscellaneous imposts of an irregular character made no small addition to its income.

REVENUE OF SHRINES AND TEMPLES

Temples and shrines derived part of their income from port-dues and barrier-tolls. Thus, the Hachiman temple of Iwas.h.i.+mizu received tolls from all traffic pa.s.sing the Yamazaki barrier; Kof.u.ku-ji levied duties on vessels entering Hyogo port, and Engaku-ji of Kamakura collected tolls at the Hakone barrier (sekisho). Such taxes proving very prolific and easy to levy, the number of barriers increased rapidly, to the no small obstruction of trade and travel. Further, the priests were constantly enriched with donations of land and money, in addition to the rents and taxes obtained from their own domains, and thus it resulted that several of the great monasteries possessed much wealth. To that fact is to be attributed the numerous establishments of soldier-priests maintained at Enryaku-ji, on Hiei-zan, and at Kof.u.ku-ji, in Nara. To that also is to be ascribed in part the signal development of literature among the friars, and the influence wielded by the s.h.i.+nto officials of Kitano and the betto of Hachiman.

REVENUE OF JITO

A special tax levied by the jito was the hyakusho-yaku, or farmers'

dues. These were one per cent, of the land-tax originally, but the rate was subsequently doubled. Other heavy imposts were frequently and arbitrarily enacted, and there can be no doubt that financial disorder contributed materially to bringing about the terrible calamities of the Battle era (Sengoku Jidai), as the period of eleven decades ending in 1600 is called. For, if the fiscal system was thus defective during the comparatively prosperous age of the As.h.i.+kaga, it fell into measureless confusion at a later date. It has been stated above that the area under rice cultivation at the middle of the fifteenth century was about one million did; at the close of that century the figure was found to have decreased by more than fifty thousands of cho. From such a result, opposed as it is to all records of normal development, the unhappy plight of the agricultural cla.s.ses may be inferred.

TOKENS OF CURRENCY

Minting operations also were discontinued under the As.h.i.+kaga. Cotton cloth and rice served as princ.i.p.al media of exchange. Fortunately, commerce with China in the days of the Ming rulers, and Yos.h.i.+masa's undignified though practical requests, brought a large supply of Yunglo (j.a.panese, Eiraku) copper cash, which, with other Chinese coins of the Tang and Sung dynasties, served the j.a.panese as media.

This fortuitous element was conspicuous in all the domain of finance, especially after the Onin War, when the territorial magnates fixed the taxes at their own convenience and without any thought of uniformity. One of the only sincere and statesmanlike efforts of reform was made, in 1491, by Hojo Soun. He reduced the rate then ruling, namely, equal parts to the tax-collector and to the taxpayer, and made it forty per cent, to the former and sixty to the latter, and he ordained that any jito collecting so much as a mon in excess of the official figure, should be severely punished. How the people fared elsewhere it is not possible to say accurately, but the records show that extraordinary imposts were levied frequently, and that the tansen was exacted again and again, as also were taxes on trades. As for the Imperial household, such was its condition that it barely subsisted on presents made by certain military magnates, so complete was the decentralization of the empire in this period.

ATt.i.tUDE OF THE As.h.i.+KAGA TOWARDS THE THRONE

The policy of the As.h.i.+kaga towards the Daikagu-ji line (the Southern Court) of the Imperial house was evidently one of complete elimination at the outset. But the impossibility of achieving such a programme soon came to be recognized and reconciliation was subst.i.tuted. Thenceforth, in appearance at all events, the representatives of the Daikagu-ji line received due consideration and were sufficiently provided with incomes, as witness the treatment of the ex-Emperor Go-Kameyama by Yos.h.i.+mitsu. But subsequent and repeated neglect of the claims of the Southern branch in regard to the vital matter of the succession betrayed the insincerity of the As.h.i.+kaga, and provoked frequent appeals to arms.

The situation may be said to have been saved by the habit inaugurated at the close of the Heian epoch. From that time princes and n.o.bles who saw no prospect of secular distinction began to take the tonsure, and this retirement to the cloister was a.s.siduously encouraged by the Muromachi shoguns. A similar policy commended itself in the case of princes of the Jimyo-in branch (the Northern Court). It is true that, from the first, the representatives of this line had relied on the Bakufu, whether of Kamakura or of Muromachi. But in their hearts they deeply resented the usurpation of the shogunate, and the latter, fully cognisant of that sentiment, guarded against its effective display by providing only meagre allowances for the support of the Imperial household (Kinri) and the ex-Emperor's household (Sendo), and by contriving that only young and delicate princes should succeed to the throne. Thus, of seven sovereigns who reigned between 1336 and 1464, the oldest was only sixteen at the time of his succession and the youngest was six. When an Emperor reached maturity, it was usual that he should abdicate and administer thenceforth from the Inchu.

Thus the influence of the Court was divided between the Kinri and the Sendo--the reigning sovereign and the retired. But the real depository of power was the s.h.i.+kken (regent) of the Inchu, to which office a member of the Hino family, maternal relatives of the Bakufu, was habitually appointed. When Yos.h.i.+nori was shogun, he himself acted as s.h.i.+kken of the Inchu. As for the Court officials properly so called, from the kwampaku downwards, they were mere figureheads.

Holding their posts, indeed, as of old, they const.i.tuted, not administrative actors, but an audience.

YOs.h.i.+MITSU AND THE THRONE

The shogun Yos.h.i.+mitsu inst.i.tuted the custom of inviting the sovereign to his mansion, and thenceforth such visits became a recognized feature of the relations between the Imperial and the Muromachi Courts. Yos.h.i.+mitsu himself frequently repaired to the Kinri and the Sendo, and frequently accompanied the Empresses and their ladies on social visits or pleasure excursions. He is said to have gone in and out at the Imperial palaces without the slightest reserve, and on more than one occasion history accuses him of flagrantly transgressing the limits of decency in his intercourse with Suken-mon-in, mother of the Emperor Go-Enyu. As a subverter of public morals, however, the palm belongs, not to Yos.h.i.+mitsu, but to his immediate successor, Yos.h.i.+mochi. He is said to have visited the Kinri and the Sendo six or seven times every month, and to have there indulged in all kinds of licence. History says, indeed, that he was often unable to appear at Court owing to illness resulting from intoxication.

PRINCES AND PRIESTS

As to the fact that, from the close of the Heian epoch, the cloister often proved a prison for Imperial princes whose ambition might have been troublesome had they remained at large, the following figures are eloquent:

Number entering religion

Of 8 sons born to Emperor Fus.h.i.+mi (1287-1298) 7

9 " " " Emperor Go-Fus.h.i.+mi (1298-1301) 9

4 " " " Emperor Hanazono (1307-1318) 4

2 " " " Emperor Suko (1348-1352) 2

9 " " " Prince Sadatsune, 8 grandson of the Emperor Suko

14 " " " Emperor Go-Kogon (1352-1371) 14

Absolute accuracy is not claimed for these figures, but they are certainly close approximations. In fact, under the Muromachi Bakufu, every son of a sovereign, except the Prince Imperial, was expected to become a monk. The As.h.i.+kaga adopted a similar system and applied it ruthlessly in their own families. In truth, the As.h.i.+kaga epoch was notorious for neglect of the obligations of consanguinity. Father is found pitted against son, uncle against nephew, and brother against brother.

ENGRAVING: TILES OF THE DAIBUTSUDEN OF TODAI-JI

ENGRAVING: DECORATION OF TOKONOMA (AN ALCOVE IN A j.a.pANESE PARLOUR)--Muromachi Period

CHAPTER x.x.xII

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE, LITERATURE, ART, RELIGION, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS IN THE MUROMACHI EPOCH

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE

AFTER the Mongol invasion of Kyushu, j.a.pan held no intercourse with the outer world for several decades, nor does her friends.h.i.+p seem to have been sought by any oversea nation. In the closing year of the thirteenth century, merchantmen flying the Yuan flag are reported to have arrived, but the record is nebulous, and the same may be said of a pa.s.sing reference that, in 1341, j.a.panese vessels were sent to China to procure articles manufactured there. We reach more solid ground a year later (1342), when the As.h.i.+kaga chief, Takauji, being engaged in building the temple Tenryu-ji, opened trade with China for the purpose of obtaining apparatus, vestments, and works of art. The number of vessels was limited to two annually, and the trade must not exceed five hundred kwan-mon (750, or $3700). Some of the objects then carried to j.a.pan survive to this day in the form of celadon vases known in j.a.pan as Tenryuji-seiji.* Meanwhile, not a few Buddhist priests crossed the sea from China to preach their faith, and it is certain that during the War of the Dynasties in j.a.pan, when the south of the country was in a state of anarchy, privateering in Korean waters was freely resorted to by j.a.panese adventurers. A Korean envoy arrived at f.u.kuhara, in Settsu, in 1367, bearer of a strong protest against this marauding, and declaring that for a decade past a.s.sa.s.sination and plunder had been freely practised by j.a.panese subjects on the inhabitants of the Korean littoral. China and Korea were then in a troubled condition.

*The merchantmen received the name of Tenryuji-bune (bune signifies "s.h.i.+p")

In the year (1368) after the arrival of this envoy, the Yuan dynasty went down in China before the Ming, and in Korea the kingdom of Koma was overthrown, the Yi dynasty rising on its ruins and calling the peninsula Chosen. The Ming sovereign immediately attempted to establish tradal intercourse with j.a.pan, but the negotiations failed, and not until 1392 is there any record of oversea relations. Then, at length, Korea's protest elicited a reply from j.a.pan. The shogun, Yos.h.i.+mitsu, sent to Chosen a despatch, signifying that piracy had been interdicted, that all captives would be returned, and that he desired to establish friendly relations. It appears that at that time China also suffered from the depredations of j.a.panese corsairs, for the annals say that she repeatedly remonstrated, and that, in 1401, Yos.h.i.+mitsu despatched to China an envoy carrying presents and escorting some Chinese subjects who had been cast away on the j.a.panese coast or carried captive thither. Another record suggests that the Chinese Emperor was perplexed between the two warring Courts in j.a.pan. At the time of his accession, a body of Mongol fugitives established themselves in Shantung, where they received a.s.sistance from some j.a.panese adventurers. The Ming sovereign opened communications on the subject with Prince Kanenaga, who held Kyushu in the interests of the Southern Court, but the tone of the Chinese monarch was so arrogant that Prince Kanenaga made no reply. Then Taitsu employed a Buddhist priest, but the character of this bonze having been detected, he was thrown into prison.

These things happened in 1380. In the following year Taitsu despatched a duly credited envoy who used menacing language and was sent back with a defiance from Prince Kanenaga. The priest, however, was set free in 1382, and having learned while in j.a.pan that two Courts were disputing the t.i.tle to the Crown, he informed the Chinese sovereign in that sense, and the latter subsequently addressed himself to Kyoto, with the result noted above, namely, that Yos.h.i.+mitsu opened friendly relations (1401). It was to the Ouchi family of Suwo that the management of intercourse with Chosen was entrusted, the latter sending its envoys to Yamaguchi. Subsequently, after Ouchi Yos.h.i.+hiro's disaffection and disaster, a Buddhist priest and well-known artist, Soami, acted as Muromachi's envoy to the Ming Court, being accompanied by a merchant, Koetomi, who is described as thoroughly conversant with Chinese conditions. By these two the first commercial treaty was negotiated. It provided that an envoy should be sent by each of the contracting parties in every period of ten years, the suite of this envoy to be limited to two hundred, and any s.h.i.+p carrying arms to be regarded as a pirate.

The first envoy from the Ming Court under this treaty was met by Yos.h.i.+mitsu himself at Hyogo, and being escorted to Kyoto, was hospitably lodged in a hotel there. Instructions were also issued from Muromachi to the officials in Kyushu, peremptorily interdicting piracy and ordering the arrest of any that contravened the veto.

Further, the high constables in several provinces were enjoined to encourage trade with China by sending the best products of their localities. In fact, Yos.h.i.+mitsu showed himself thoroughly earnest in promoting oversea commerce, and a considerable measure of success attended his efforts. Unfortunately, an interruption was caused in 1419, when some seventeen thousand Koreans, Mongolians, and "southern barbarians"--a name given promiscuously to aliens--in 227 s.h.i.+ps, bore down on Tsus.h.i.+ma one midsummer day and were not driven off until the great families of Kyushu--the Otomo, the Shoni, the Kikuchi, and the s.h.i.+ba--had joined forces to attack the invaders. The origin of this incident is wrapped in mystery, but probably the prohibition of j.a.panese pirates was not enforced for the protection of Chosen, and the a.s.sault on Tsus.h.i.+ma was a desperate attempt at retaliation.

Yos.h.i.+mochi, however, who was then shogun, seems to have a.s.sociated China with the invasion, for a Ming envoy, arriving just at the time of the contest, was indignantly refused audience. Thereafter, the tandai appointed from Muroinachi to administer the affairs of Kyushu was driven out by the Shoni family, and the shogun's policy of checking piracy ceased to be enforced, so that the coasts of China and Chosen were much harried, all legitimate commerce being suspended. When Yos.h.i.+nori became shogun, however, this was one of the directions in which he turned his reforming hand. A Buddhist priest, Doen, proceeded to the Ming Court as Muromachi's delegate, and the Chinese sovereign agreed to restore the old relations, transmitting for that purpose a hundred tallies to be carried by the merchantmen.