The Project Gutenberg EBook of Japan by David Murray This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: Japan Author: David Murray Release Date: August 25, 2009 [Ebook 29798] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAPAN*** Japan By David Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Late Advisor to the Japanese Minister of Education Third Edition London T. Fisher Unwin Paternoster Square New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons 1896 Copyright by T. Fisher Unwin, 1894 (For Great Britain) Copyright by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1894 (For the United States of America Contents Preface. .2 Chapter I. The Japanese Archipelago. .5 Chapter II. The Original And Surviving Races. 21 Chapter III. Myths And Legends. 30 Chapter IV. Founding The Empire. 45 Chapter V. Native Culture And Continental Influences. 68 Chapter VI. The Middle Ages Of Japan. 96 Chapter VII. Emperor And ShMgun. 123 Chapter VIII. From The Ashikaga ShMguns To The Death Of Nobunaga. 137 Chapter IX. Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 156 Chapter X. The Founding Of The Tokugawa ShMgunate. 181 Chapter XI. Christianity In The Seventeenth Century. 193 Chapter XII. Feudalism In Japan. 215 Chapter XIII. Commodore Perry And What Followed. 245 Chapter XIV. Revolutionary Preludes. 265 Chapter XV. The Restored Empire. 290 Appendix I. List Of Emperors. 313 Appendix II. List Of Year Periods. 318 Appendix III. List Of ShMguns. 326 Appendix IV. Laws Of ShMtoku Taishi. 331 Footnotes . 335 [iii] Preface. It is the object of this book to trace the story of Japan from its beginnings to the establishment of constitutional government. Concerned as this story is with the period of vague and legendary antiquity as well as with the disorders of mediæval time and with centuries of seclusion, it is plain that it is not an easy task to present a trustworthy and connected account of the momentous changes through which the empire has been called to pass. It would be impossible to state in detail the sources from which I have derived the material for this work. I place first and as most important a residence of several years in Japan, during which I became familiar with the character of the Japanese people and with the traditions and events of their history. Most of the works treating of Japan during and prior to the period of her seclusion, as well as the more recent works, I have had occasion to consult. They will be found referred to in the following pages. Beyond [iv] all others, however, I desire to acknowledge my obligations to the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. A list of the contributors to these transactions would include such names as Satow, Aston, Chamberlain, McClatchie, Gubbins, Geerts, Milne, Whitney, Wigmore and others, whose investigations have made possible a reasonably complete knowledge of Japan. The Transactions of the German Asiatic Society are scarcely less noteworthy than those of her sister society. To these invaluable sources of information are to be added Chamberlain's Things Japanese, Rein's Japan and the Industries of Japan, Griffis' Mikado's Empire, Mounsey's Satsuma Rebellion, Dening's Life of Hideyoshi, the published papers of Professor E. S. Morse, and the two handbooks prepared successively by Mr. Satow and Mr. Chamberlain. Preface. 3 To friends who have taken an interest in this publication I owe many thanks for valuable and timely help: to Dr. J. C. Hepburn, who for so many years was a resident in Yokohama; to Mr. Benjamin Smith Lyman of Philadelphia who still retains his interest in and knowledge of things Japanese; to Mr. Tateno, the Japanese Minister at Washington, and to the departments of the Japanese government which have furnished me material assistance. In the spelling of Japanese words I have followed, with a few exceptions, the system of the Roman Alphabet Association (RMmaji Kai) as given in its published statement. I have also had constantly at hand Hepburn's Dictionary, the Dictionary of Towns and Roads, by Dr. W. N. Whitney, and Murray's Handbook of Japan, by B. H. Chamberlain. In accordance with [v] these authorities, in the pronunciation of Japanese words the consonants are to be taken at their usual English values and the vowels at their values in Italian or German. DAVID MURRAY. Bell At Kyoto 4 Japan [001] Chapter I. The Japanese Archipelago. The first knowledge of the Japanese empire was brought to Europe by Marco Polo after his return from his travels in China in A.D. 1295. He had been told in China of “Chipangu,1 an island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles from the continent; and a very great island it is. The people are white, civilized, and well favored. They are idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless; for they find it in their own islands.” The name Chipangu is the transliteration of the Chinese name which modern scholars write Chi-pen-kue, by which Japan was then known in China. From it the Japanese derived the name Nippon, and then prefixed the term Dai (great), making it Dai Nippon, the name which is now used by them to designate their empire. Europeans transformed [002] the Chinese name into Japan, or Japon, by which the country is known among them at present. Marco Polo's mention of this island produced a great impression on the discoverers of the fifteenth century. In Toscanelli's map, used by Columbus as the basis of his voyages, “Cipango” occupies a prominent place to the east of Asia, with no American continent between it and Europe. It was the aim of Columbus, and of many subsequent explorers, to find a route to this reputedly rich island and to the eastern shores of Asia. The islands composing the empire of Japan are situated in the northwestern part of the Pacific ocean. They are part of the long line of volcanic islands stretching from the peninsula of 1 The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian; translated by Colonel Henry Yule, C.B. Second edition, London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 235. 6 Japan Kamtschatka on the north to Formosa on the south. The direction in which they lie is northeast and southwest, and in a general way they are parallel to the continent. The latitude of the most northern point of Yezo is 45° 35', and the latitude of the most southern point of Kykshk is 31°. The longitude of the most eastern point of Yezo is 146° 17', and the longitude of the most western point of Kykshk is 130° 31'. The four principal islands therefore extend through 14° 35' of latitude and 15° 46' of longitude. The Kurile islands2 extending from Yezo northeast to the straits separating Kamtschatka from the island of Shumushu [003] belong also to Japan. This last island has a latitude of 51° 5' and a longitude of 157° 10'. In like manner the Rykkyk islands, lying in a southwest direction from Kykshk belong to Japan. The most distant island has a latitude of 24° and a longitude of 123° 45'. The whole Japanese possessions therefore extend through a latitude of 27° 5' and a longitude of 33° 25'. The empire consists of four large islands and not less than three thousand small ones. Some of these small islands are large enough to constitute distinct provinces, but the greater part are too small to have a separate political existence, and are attached for administrative purposes to the parts of the large islands opposite to which they lie. The principal island is situated between Yezo on the north and Kykshk on the south. From Omasaki, the northern extremity at the Tsugaru straits, to TMkyM, the capital, the island runs nearly north and south a distance of about 590 miles, and from TMkyM to the Shimonoseki straits the greatest extension of the island is nearly east and west, a distance of about 540 miles. That is, measuring in the direction of the greatest extension, the island is about 1130 miles long. The 2 These islands belonged to Russia until 1875, when by a treaty they were ceded to Japan in exchange for the rights of possession which she held in the island of Saghalien. Chapter I. The Japanese Archipelago. 7 width of the island is nowhere greater than two hundred miles and for much of its length not more than one hundred miles. Among the Japanese this island has no separate name.3 It is often called by them Hondo4 which may be translated Main [004] island. By this translated name the principal island will be designated in these pages. The term Nippon or more frequently Dai Nippon (Great Nippon) is used by them to designate the entire empire, and it is not to be understood as restricted to the principal island. The second largest island is Yezo, lying northeast from the Main island and separated from it by the Tsugaru straits. Its longest line is from Cape Shiretoko at its northeast extremity to Cape Shira-kami on Tsugaru straits, about 350 miles; and from its northern point, Cape Soya on the La Perouse straits to Yerimosaki, it measures about 270 miles. The centre of the island is an elevated peak, from which rivers flow in all directions to the ocean. Hakodate the principal port is situated on Tsugaru straits and possesses one of the most commodious harbors of the empire.