Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/154

* JAPAN. 136 JAPAN. brother, the Taira men were driven out of the capital and from their palaces. After several land battles and a great naval conllict near Shi- monoseki, the Taira were annihilated. The divi- sive evolution between military and civil puwer had so far proceeded that, leaving Kioto to he tiie centre of honor and tradititm, and of that outward form which in Japan, as in China, saves the 'face' of a thing, Yoritomo fixed his seat of authority, in the name of the Emperor, at Kama- kura, in the far east, on the bay of Yedo. He had himself appointed Shogun, or general, and was hailed as the great peace-bringer. Although his line came to an end in 1219, yet the system which he inaugurated was carried out by the Hojo family of regents, who held power until 1333. Obtaining from Kioto, in the name of the Emperor, nobles who were mere children and puppets, to whom the title of Shogun was given, while they held the power themselves, the Hojo ruled the Empire. It was during their rule at Kamakura that the armada of the Mongol Ta- tars was destroyed by storms and the valor of the Japanese. Several of the Hojo regents were men of great ability, and ruled with justice and vigor. From the moment of Yoritomo's success feu- dalism entered upon a new stage of development. Under the Imperial system, from G03 to 1182, the governors sent out from Kioto to the difTerent provinces under a four years' tenure of office had charge both of the collection of revenue and the repression of crime. Y'oritomo had no sooner got control of the east than he obtained from the Emperor a civil title P(|uivalent to that of Tiigh constable of the realm.' by which means he had the two departments of revenue and the mainte- nance of order divided, leaving the Emperor's officers to collect the revenue, while he rejjresscd crime and maintained order. This system of ap- pointing mintary magistrates seemed to be so ex- cellent that it was gradually extended all over the country. Vet all the time Y'oritomo cloaked his military ambition under the guise of his civil title, so that when, in 1192. he was made Shogun. and was thus military commander-in-chief, he was already the virtual ruler of the country. Seeing this, the Imperial officers in charge of the revenue left Kioto for Kamakura^ and the Shogim thus possessed hoth purse and sword, leaving Emperor and Court, in honor and poverty, dependent on him. Henceforth the functions of government were separated into that of throne and camp — the former the centre of mystery and the fountain of honor, the latter being the actual Government. The Hojo were overthro^vn by the brave warrior Xitta in 1333. Then followed for a while, but for two years only, what may he called the temporary mikadoate. when there was no shogim and theoretically no feudalism. That the mikados had not yet. however, vigor enough to enter upon personal riile was shown in the fact that when the adherents of rival nominees to the throne went to war over the divi- sion of spoils, the Mikado could not restrain them. Civil war broke out. lasting fifty-six years, when two rival lines of mikados held the shadow of power, in the period 1330-92, and there were two capitals, though the real rulers were the shogiins of the Ashikaga family. In 1392 one of their envoys persuaded the ^Mikado, who had the three Imperial regalia — mirror, crystal ball, and sword — to come to Kioto and hand over the sacred emblems, and the feud was healed. Now that the Ashikagas had their nominee on the Imperial throne, the .second great step in feudal- ism was taken by them, when they nuide the military magistracies, established by Yoritomo, hereditary in the families of their own nominees. Thus arose the class of daimios (q.v.). The .Vshi- kaga power lasted until 1573, during which time the Portuguese came to .Japan. .Mendez I'into (q.v.) landing in 1539 and Xavier in 1542, begin- ning a period of intercourse with lOuropeans which continued until about 1020, during which Christianity and firearms were introduced. In general the period of the Ashikaga rule was one of great refinement of manners, of high art and literary culture, along with the missionary ex- pansion of Huddhism and a remarkable phase of doctrinal evolution. On its political ^ide 15ud- dhism reached a point of wealth, luxury, and menacing military power which made it one of the great forces in the State, calling for some powerful hand to put it down. As the .shikaga became weaker in their later years, anarchy grew to i)e more general. The Buddhist abbots and their monks, in arms and armor, possessing closer organization and with fortified monasteries, often turned the scale of jjowcr. From 1573 to 1604 was the period of the three famous men Xobunaga (q.v.) (1533-82), Hidevoshi (q.v.) ( 1 53fi-98 ) . and lyeyasu ( q.v. ) ( 1 542- 1 fi 1 ) . The first humbled the Buddhists, the second reduced the daimios to submission, and the third con- solidated results. The third decisive step in the development of feudalism was taken by Hide- voshi when he rearranged the feudal map of the Empire, marking out the lioumlarics of the fiefs and appointing to tliem the daimios as his own nominees, giving them titles in his own name without reference to the Emperor. During Hide- yoshi's time Korea was invaded (159208) by his hosts of warriors, who on the return of peace in .Japan had been left without occupation. Ij'6- ya.su, his successor, making Yedo his capital, car- ried out Hidevoshi's plans, so enlarging them that he and his grandson. lyemitsu. gave the final form to .Japanese feudalism, which early in the midd!" of the seventeenth century had he- come settled in routine. It is noteworthy that alongside of elaborate feudal institutions grew up a commercial and industrial system like that contemporaneous with late feudalism in Europe. Yedo, from a village, became the greatest cit;i' in the Empire. The Tokugawa family furnished, from 1003 to 1808. fifteen shoguns. Cliristianity was, as was thought, rooted out. Then began a great development in art. literature, the study of ancient history and the native language, and the revival of pure Shinto (q.v.). The policy followed was that of the exclusion of foreigners and the inclusion of the people of .Japan within their island walls, while their intellect was kept within fixed hounds. The shipwrecks and the casting away of sea- men gave the United States Government its op- portunity to seek a treaty of friendship, and. if possible, of commerce, and Commodore Perry, to whom the task was intrusted, succeeded in 1854. Four years later other treaties opened several ports to foreign residence and trade. In 1860 a .Japanese embassy visited the United States, and in the following year an embassy was sent to the European courts. Xarrow- minded patriots protested : but the great clans of the southwest, always detesting the north-