Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/612

 584 JAPAN [HISTOKY. Christianity was finally proscribed, a decree of expulsion was directed against the Jesuit missionaries then in Japan, and persecu tion raged until 1637. In that year the peasantry of a convert district in the province of llizen, oppressed past endurance by the cruelties to which they were subjected, assembled to the number of 30,000, and fortifying an old feudal castle at the town of Shimabara, declared open defiance to the Government, lyemitsu, who was then shdgun (1623-1650), despatched an army against them, and after a brief but desperate struggle the Christians were all massacred. These stern measures repressed the profession of the religion, but many clung to it in secret, and several prohibitory edicts were issued through out the 17th and 18th centuries. So lately, indeed, as 1868 these proclamations might still be seen on the public notice-boards in every village throughout the country. Feuds of Although the Tokugawa period was not disturbed by the warlike nobles, expeditions or civil conflicts from which Japan had until then suffered, there nevertheless existed considerable cause of uneasiness in the numberless intrigues or petty conspiracies which prevailed among the great han and in the families of the feudal nobles. The question of succession to the chieftainship of a clan not unfre- quently stirred up strife amongst the retainers, and in many cases the most unscrupulous means were adopted in order to obtain the desired result. Towards the close of the dynasty several con spiracies were set on foot, but these were promptly stamped out. Japan was now in seclusion from the rest of the world, the inhabi tants having been forbidden to leave its shores without express per mission under pain of heavy punishments; but the direction of the internal affairs of the country was a task that fully occupied the rul ing house. The jealousy and private feuds of the daimio increased to such an extent that on several occasions even the sacred pre cincts of the sMgun s palace became the scene of quarrel and blood shed. The great nobles gradually rebelled more and more against the rule of enforced attendance in Yedo, and became far less disposed to brook the restrictions imposed upon them by a lord who was virtually but one of their own class; while to the peasants the feudal system was in most cases exceedingly distasteful. Reaction against the military domination thus set in, and men s eyes natur ally turned towards the renewal of the ancient regime when the mikado was the sole sovereign, before whose authority every subject, whether gentle or simple, bowed in submission. These, among other causes, gradually led to the revolution of 1868, by which Appear- the mikado s power was restored. In the meantime, since 1858, ance of treaties had been made by the shftguris ministers Avith several of foreign- the foreign powers, and the foreign element had thus been introduced ers. into Japanese political affairs. By some writers undue stress has been laid upon this fact, as if the advent of &quot;Western nations had been the main cause of the downfall of the Tokugawa supre- macy. From an attentive perusal, however, of native works treat ing of political matters for some time previous, it would appear that Decay of such was not the case. The decay of the shogunate had gradually fihogun- been going on for years back ; the whole system was tottering to ate. its fall, and it is not improbable that even in the total absence of Revolu- foreigners the revolution would have occurred exactly as it did. tion of The shogim was declared a usurper, and the great clans of Satsuma, 1868. Choshiu, and Tosa warmly espoused the cause of the mikado. The Tokugawa clan did not present any very determined front, and the struggle was exceedingly brief. Some fighting, did, however, take place in the vicinity of Kioto, and also at various points around Yedo ; but the most severe conflict was the siege of the castle of Wakamatsu, in Oshiu. This castle was the stronghold of the powerful northern daimi6 of Aidzu, a partisan of the shogunate ; his troops offered a stout resistance, but the place was eventually taken by the mikado s army after a siege of some two months duration. The shdgun himself had resigned in 1867, and this virtu ally settled the question in favour of the emperor s army, although some desultory fighting occurred both at Yedo and near Hakodate tvo years afterwards. In 1869 the official name of Yedo was changed to Tokio (the &quot;eastern capital&quot;), and the mikado re moved thither from Kioto with his court. The i-sh6gun retired to the town of Shidzuoka, in the province of Suruga, where he still lives in retirement, his only title being that of a noble of the empire. The ancient form of government was thus restored, and the feudal system is now a thing of the past. Foreign Since this revolution Japan has become tolerably well known to relations. Europeans. Although her relations with foreign countries were never of any very great importance, they nevertheless commenced at an early date. Allusion has already been made to early Chinese and Corean arrivals in Japan. Dr Kaempfer asserts that in later times young Chinese of good family constantly came to Nagasaki on pleasure excursions. In 201 A.D. the empress Jingo invaded Corea, and gained several victories over the troops that opposed her ; and on her return she introduced into Japan the Corean arrangement of geographical division. The Japanese being a maritime nation, it is not surprising that, prior to the edict forbidding them to leave their country, they should have ex tended their voyages throughout the whole of the Eastern seas. We read of their visiting China, Siam, and India ; indeed at one time there existed a Japanese colony or settlement at Goa. It is also known that vessels sailed from Japan to the western coast of Mexico. The Mongol invasion in 1281 has been already noticed. In the 16th century Europeans approached the shores of Japan. As early as 1542 Portuguese trading vessels began to visit the empire, and a system of trade by means of barter was carried on. Seven years later three Portuguese missionaries, Xavier, Torres, and Fernandez, took passage in one of these merchant ships, and landed at Kago- shima in Satsuma. The island of Hirado off the coast of llizen appears to have been then the rendezvous of trade between the two nations. From that time commercial relations continued until the Portuguese were expelled the country in 1639. A second expedition against Corea was undertaken by the taiku Hideyoshi in 1592; the Japanese troops not only withdrawn till 1598, and it is interest ing to note that a number of Coreans were then brought over to Japan, where they practised the art of making pottery. Descen dants of these Coreans still occupy a village in the province of Satsuma. Towards the end of the 16th century Spanish vessels visited Japan, and in 1602 an embassy was despatched by lyeyasu to the Philippines ; but the relations between the two nations were never very close. The Dutch first arrived in 1610, and from that date down to the close of the Tokugawa dynasty they enjoyed almost a monopoly of the Japanese trade. They at first settled in the island of Hirado, but afterwards removed to Nagasaki, where they were virtually imprisoned in their factory on the small peninsula of Deshima in the harbour, connected by narrow cause ways with the town itself. Dr Kacmpfer s History of Japan gives a full and graphic description of the mode of life of the early Dutch settlers ; he himself dwelt in Japan during the rule of Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the house of Tokugawa, 1680-1709. The first Englishman who visited the shores of Japan was William Adams, a Kentish man, who came out to the East as pilot to a Dutch vessel. He lived in the city of Yedo for a considerable time in the opening years of the 17th century, during which period he is stated to have frequently been at the court of lyeyasu. He instructed tha Japanese in the art of shipbuilding, and the title of hatamoto was conferred upon him. In 1613 Captain Saris succeeded in found ing an English factory in Hirado, but it did not exist, for any length of time. Finally, in 1854, Commodore Perry s expedition from America took place, when a quasi treaty was made between him and the ministers of the shogunate at Uraga, on the Bay of Yedo ; and later in the same year Admiral Stirling concluded a similar negotiation, at Nagasaki, on behalf of Great Britain. In 1858 these treaties were extended, and others were concluded with the Dutch and French, under which the ports of Nagasaki, Hakodate, and Kanagawa (now known as Yokohama) were thrown open to foreign traders belonging to those nationalities, from the year 1859. Other European powers gradually followed the ex ample, and at the present moment Japan is in treaty with no less than eighteen nations, viz., Austria-Hungary, Belgium, China, Corea, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hawaii, Holland, Italy, Peru, Portugal, llussia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Prior to the recent revolution the foreign treaties were concluded with the ministers of the shdgun, at Yedo, under the erroneous impression that he was the emperor of Japan. The Ta title of taikun (often misspelt tycoon) was then for the first time used; it means literally the &quot;great ruler,&quot; and was employed for the occasion by the Tokugawa officials to convey the impression that their chief was in reality the lord paramount. It is, however, worthy of note that even in these earlier treaties the title corre- ponding to &quot;His Majesty&quot; was never assumed by the sJitigun. The actual position of this official remained unknown to the foreign envoys until 1868, when the British, Dutch, and French ministers proceeded to Kioto, and there obtained from the mikado his formal ratification of the treaties already concluded with his powerful subject. Since that time all treaties with Western powers arc made out in the name of the emperor of Japan. It was thus that the foreigners came prominently into notice at the time of the revolution, with which, however, beyond this they had really no connexion. In 1873-4 Japan sent an expedition against the aboriginal tribes Foi inhabiting the island of Formosa, oft the eastern coast of China, to exj demand satisfaction for the murder, some years before, of certain tioi Japanese subjects who had been shipwrecked on that island. Some skirmishing took place, in which the Japanese gained the advantage. The most important point in the whole matter was the negotiation with China. Formosa is Chinese territory, but the Japanese con tended that, if the Chinese Government would not exact reparation from the aboriginal tribes, they would themselves attack the latter. This they did, and, although at one period it appeared highly pro bable that war would be declared between China and Japan, the matter was eventually settled amicably, China paying a sum as indemnity for the outrages complained of. Towards the end of Coi 1875 a dispute arose with Corea, a Japanese gunboat having been disj fired on from a shore fort while engaged in surveying operations close by the Corean capital. The gunboat returned the fire, and landed a party of men, who attacked and destroyed the fort and stockades, and seized upon the weapons, &c., found in it. Some