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New Theses: Three What Is Essential to a Nation [Kokutai] (II)

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New Theses: Three What Is Essential to a Nation [Kokutai] (II) New Theses: three What is Essential to a Nation [Kokutai] (II) Long, long ago the Imperial Court established feudatories and brought its armed might to bear against the four quarters. Expert use of arms was evinced in the Age of the Gods, and the Sword is one of our Three Imperial Regalia. For good reason, then, our country derived its name, "The Land of Proficient Halberds Aplenty."33 When Amaterasu bequeathed the Middle Kingdom to Ninigi, She dispatched Arne no Oshihi in command of the elite Kume regiment as an escort. This regiment also provided the spearhead of Emperor Jimmu's attack forces, with which he eventually pacified the Middle Kingdom. Emperor Jimmu estab­ lished the Mononobe [of warriors] and combined this with the Kume regiment to form the Imperial Guard, which he ordered to defend the Palace and bring peace to the land. Emperor Sujin dispatched generals to the Four Circuits and struck down the rebellious. One of those generals was Prince Toyoki, who suppressed insurrections in the east. Emperor Sujin ordered commoners to hunt during the agricultural off­ season and to offer up their catch as a form of tax. These hunts also gave commoners military training and enabled Emperor Sujin to press them into service on His campaigns. Such disci­ pline was upheld during succeeding reigns, and the nation's territory expanded further and further. We drove the Ezo off to the east, eliminated barbarism from Kyushu, and subdued the Three Kingdoms of Korea. We set up an Imperial Magistrate34 in Mimana, through which we governed the peninsula. At that time, our ruling prowess was manifest, and by Emperor Nin­ toku's time, the realm enjoyed such tranquillity that our armed might need no longer be exercised. But beginning with the reigns of Emperors Richu [r. 400-05] 172 Kokutai II and Anko [r. 453-56]' our position gradually weakened and declined. After the next few reigns, we lost possession of Mimana, and the Three Kingdoms of Korea ceased bearing tribute. 35 Although Emperor Tenji restored the Dynasty's for­ tunes temporarily, he was vexed at the narrow sphere of our Dynasty's moral suasion and control (kokwa). During our cam­ paigns in Mimana, Emperor Tenji personally oversaw operations, . but in the end, victory eluded us. Our campaigns in the east and north, however, met with triumph. We drove the Ezo even further eastward, and set up an Imperial Magistrate at Shiribeshi. 36 (Gloss: There is a Mt. Shiribeshi in present-day western Ezo. This probably was the site of ancient Shiribeshi. I under­ stand that in antiquity, there was a road running through this Shiribeshi mountain range and that the ancient Ezo constantly traversed it. But after a hundred years or so, they staged a rebellion, and after this was suppressed, they were forbidden to use the road, so it fell to ruin. In antiquity, Shiribeshi was an area of great strategic importance on our frontier. Because of its rugged, mountainous terrain, the Ezo barbarians could easily convert it into a staging ground for insurrection. That is probably why we forbade them access to the area and why we established an Imperial Magistrate there. We made full use of geographic advantages to check and control barbarians.) We conquered the Jurchen on the mainland. These conquests actually took place during Empress Saimei's reign [655-61], but it was through [the future Emperor] Tenji's heroic efforts as Imperial Prince that our Dynasty's fortunes revived. Po-hai began to send tribute in recognition of our might and virtue; our ruling prowess was manifest once again. Although the Way declined [due to Buddhism] for the next hundred years or more, during the reigns of Emperors Kammu [781-806] and Saga [809-23], we brought our northern and eastern regions under control and drove the Ezo across the seas [to Hokkaido]. In short, our prowess was still intact. It was Amaterasu's manifest design that Her descendents repulse ene­ mies and cultivate the frontiers of the earth, and this design 173 .
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