Page:A Grammar of Japanese Ornament and Design (1880).djvu/21

3 naturally lorded it over the peasants, and despised them; whilst the latter looked up to and were subservient to the former. It is thus easy to conceive that after a time the chieftains would come to be regarded as so much above the common people that the fiction of divine descent was attributed to the ruler, and that the Japanese mythology was invented to support this pretension.

It is well known that according to Japanese tradition the present Mikado or Emperor is descended from the Sun-goddess, without a single break for 10,000 years. This presumption is to be found continually in Japanese writings, and in edicts promulgated by the Mikados. Many statements have been made concerning the origin of the word Mikado; one derivation is from mi, honourable, and kado, gate, which conveys the idea that the Emperor is so far above the rest of mortals, that it would be disrespectful to speak of him directly—just as none but the privileged few were allowed to enter his presence—and therefore he is designated by the gate of his palace; but Mr. Satow states that there is a different etymology, which he thinks harmonizes better with Japanese ideas, viz. mika, great, and to, which, according to the euphonious rules of the language, becomes do in composition, and is a root meaning “place.”

After the sovereign power had been established for a number of years at Kiôto, the members of the Imperial family had considerably increased, and they formed a class by themselves. These are the Kugés, or court nobles, so often mentioned in contradistinction to the Daimios, or territorial nobles. They all, of course, claimed divine descent, and occupied the highest offices about the court.

The form of government established by the earlier Mikados was a pure despotism. Penal laws, imperial edicts, and administrative regulations, were all supposed to emanate from the sovereign. From about the twelfth century, however, owing to internal and external commotions, the actual duty of repressing tumults and executing justice upon rebellious subjects was entrusted to a generalissimo of the Imperial forces, known as the Shôgun. (In the early treaties and diplomatic correspondence he is, under a misconception, called Tycoon.) In the beginning of the seventeenth century this office fell into the hands of a member of the Tokugawa family, in which it became hereditary, and so continued down to 1867, when the incumbent resigned the office into the hands of the Mikado. During this period of the Tokugawa power, lasting more than 250 years, the entire executive authority of the government was exercised by the Shôgun. He did not, however, assume independent sovereign power, but continued to act nominally as the representative and servant of the Mikado. It was during this period that the feudal system attained its highest development in Japan. The ancient territorial nobles, who were formerly almost independent sovereigns in their territories, were reduced to subjection, and became vassal princes under the Shôgun. New and conquered provinces were parcelled out to the connections of the Shôgun’s family; so that, at the time of the making of the foreign treaties, there were about 200 of these princes, who, under the name of Daimios, exercised local authority in their provinces, and yielded feudal obedience to the Shôgun, as their superior lord.

Beside the eighteen principal or kokushiu Daimios, there were two classes of princes, the one existing before Iyéyasu’s era, and called tozama, or “outside nobility,” and the other composed of his own adherents, and called fudai, or “vassals of the dynasty.” Next to the prince and his family came the karos, or “elders.” Next to the Daimiô (great name), but as Shomiô (small name), inferior to them in rank, were the hatamotos (under the flag). These were, as the name implies, men who rallied round the standard of the Shôgun in war time.