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Again, in 1622,
the prime minister, Honda Masazumi, lord of Utsunomiya, lost his fief
of 150,000 koku and was exiled to Dawe for the sin of rebuilding his
castle without due permission, and killing a soldier of the Bakufu.
To persons criticising this latter sentence as too severe, Doi
Toshikatsu is recorded to have replied that any weakness shown at
this early stage of the Tokugawa rule must ultimately prove fatal to
the permanence of the Bakufu, and he expressed the conviction that
none would approve the punishment more readily than Masazumi's dead
father, Masanobu, were he still living to pass judgment.

Doubtless political expediency, not the dictates of justice, largely
inspired the conduct of the Bakufu in these matters, for in
proportion as the material influence of the Tokugawa increased, that
of the Toyotomi diminished. In 1632, when the second shogun,
Hidetada, died, it is related that the feudal barons observed the
conduct of his successor, Iemitsu, with close attention, and that a
feeling of some uneasiness prevailed. Iemitsu, whether obeying his
own instinct or in deference to the advice of his ministers, Sakai
Tadakatsu and Matsudaira Nobutsuna, summoned the feudal chiefs to his
castle in Yedo and addressed them as follows: "My father and my
grandfather, with your assistance and after much hardship, achieved
their great enterprise to which I, who have followed the profession
of arms since my childhood, now succeed. It is my purpose to treat
you all without distinction as my hereditary vassals. If any of you
object to be so treated, let him return to his province and take the
consequences."

Date Masamune assumed the duty of replying to that very explicit
statement. "There is none here," he said, "that is not grateful for
the benevolence he has received at the hands of the Tokugawa. If
there be such a thankless and disloyal person, and if he conceive
treacherous designs, I, Masamune, will be the first to attack him and
strike him down. The shogun need not move so much as one soldier."
With this spirited reply all the assembled daimyo expressed their
concurrence, and Iemitsu proceeded to distribute his father's
legacies to the various barons and their vassals. Very soon after his
accession he had to order the execution of his own brother, Tadanaga,
and the banishment of Kato Tadahiro, son of the celebrated Kato
Kiyomasa. The latter was punished on the ground that he sent away his
family from Yedo during the time of mourning for the late shogun,
Hidetada. He was deprived of his estate at Kumamoto in Higo and was
exiled to Dewa province.

The punishment of these two barons is said to have been in the sequel
of a device planned by Iemitsu and carried out by Doi Toshikatsu. The
latter, being accused of a simulated crime, was sentenced to
confinement in his mansion. Thence he addressed to all the daimyo a
secret circular, urging them to revolt and undertaking to make
Tadanaga shogun instead of Iemitsu. With two exceptions every baron
to whose hands this circular came forwarded it to the Bakufu in Yedo.
The exceptions were Tadanaga and Tadahiro, who consequently fell
under the shogun's suspicion. Thereafter, it is related that some of
the barons set themselves to deceive the Bakufu by various wiles.
Thus, Maeda Toshinaga had recourse to the manoeuvre of allowing the
hair in his nostrils to grow long, a practice which speedily earned
for him the reputation of insanity, and Date Masamune conceived the
device of carrying a sword with a wooden blade. The apprehensions of
which such acts were indicative cannot be considered surprising in
view of the severe discipline exercised by the Bakufu. Thus, during
the shogunate of Hidetada, no less than forty changes are recorded to
have been made among the feudatories, and in the time of Iemitsu
there were thirty-five of such incidents. History relates that to be
transferred from one fief to another, even without nominal loss of
revenue, was regarded as a calamity of ten years' duration. All this
was partly prompted by the Bakufu's policy of weakening the
feudatories. To the same motive must be assigned constant orders for
carrying out some costly public work.

ENGRAVING: FANS

ENGRAVING: "THE BUGAKU," ANCIENT DANCING AND MUSIC



CHAPTER XL

MIDDLE PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU; FROM THE FIFTH SHOGUN,
TSUNAYOSHI, TO THE TENTH SHOGUN, IEHARU (1680-1786)

ACCESSION OF TSUNAYOSHI

IN 1680, the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, fell dangerously ill, and a
council of the chief Bakufu officials was held to decide upon his
successor. The Bakufu prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, proposed that
the example of Kamakura should be followed, and that an Imperial
prince should be invited to assume the office of shogun. Thereupon
Hotta Masatoshi, one of the junior ministers, vehemently
remonstrated. "Is the prime minister jesting?" he is reported to have
asked. "There is no question whatever as to the succession. That
dignity falls to Tsunayoshi and to Tsunayoshi alone. He is the
legitimate son of the late shogun, Iemitsu, and the only brother of
the present shogun, Ietsuna. If the minister is not jesting, his
proposition is inexplicable." This bold utterance was received with
profound silence, and after a few moments Sakai Tadakiyo retired from
the council chamber.

It has to be remembered in connexion with this incident, that
Tadakiyo exercised almost complete sway in the Bakufu Court at that
time, and the fact that he yielded quietly to Hotta Masatoshi's
remonstrance goes far to acquit him of any sinister design such as
securing the whole administrative power for himself by setting up an
Imperial prince as a mere figurehead. The more probable explanation
is that as one of the consorts of the shogun Ietsuna was enceinte at
that time, the Bakufu prime minister desired to postpone any family
decision until the birth of her child, since to dispense with an
Imperial prince would be as easy to procure one, whereas if one of
the shogun's lineage were nominated, he would be difficult to
displace. There had been born to Iemitsu five sons, of whom the
eldest, Ietsuna, had succeeded to the shogunate, and three others had
died, the only one remaining alive being Tsunayoshi, who, having been
born in 1646, was now (1680) in his thirty-fourth year.

HOTTA MASATOSHI

On Tsunayoshi's accession the prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, was
released from office, and Hotta Masatoshi became his successor.
Naturally, as Masatoshi had been instrumental in obtaining the
succession for Tsunayoshi, his influence with the latter was very
great. But there can be no question that he deserves to rank as one
of Japan's leading statesmen in any age, and that he devoted his
signal abilities to the cause of progress and administrative purity.
The result of his strenuous services was to check the corruption
which had come to pervade every department of State in the closing
years of the fourth shogun's sway, and to infuse the duties of
government with an atmosphere of diligence and uprightness.

THE ECHIGO COMPLICATION

For several years prior to the accession of Tsunayoshi, the province
of Echigo had been disturbed by an intrigue in the family of
Matsudaira Mitsunaga. It is unnecessary to enter into further
details. The incident was typical of the conditions existing in many
of the barons' households, and the history of Japan furnishes
numerous parallel cases. But connected with this particular example
is the remarkable fact that the shogun himself finally undertook in
the hall of justice to decide the issue, and that the rendering of
justice by the chief of the Bakufu became thenceforth a not
infrequently practised habit. Instructed by his prime minister, the
shogun swept aside all the obstacles placed in the path of justice by
corruption and prejudice; sentenced the principal intriguer to death;
confiscated the Mitsunaga family's estate of 250,000 koku on the
ground of its chief's incompetence, and severely punished all the
Bakufu officials who had been parties to the plot.

THE ATAKA MARU

Another act of Tsunayoshi stands to the credit of his acumen.
Although the third shogun, Iemitsu, had vetoed the building of any
vessels exceeding five hundred koku capacity, his object being to
prevent oversea enterprise, he caused to be constructed for the use
of the Bakufu a great ship called the Ataka Maru, which required a
crew several hundred strong and involved a yearly outlay figuring in
the official accounts at one hundred thousand koku. One of
Tsunayoshi's first orders was that this huge vessel should be broken
up, and when his ministers remonstrated on the ground that she would
be invaluable in case of emergency, he replied that if an
insurrection could not be suppressed without such extraordinary
instruments, the Bakufu might step down at once from the seats of
power. "As for me," he added, "I have no desire to preserve such an
evidence of constant apprehension and at such a charge on the coffers
of the State."

ENCOURAGEMENT OF VIRTUE

Tsunayoshi also instructed his officials to search throughout the
empire for persons of conspicuous filial piety and women of noted
chastity. To these he caused to be distributed presents of money or
pensions, and he directed the littérateurs of the Hayashi family to
write the biographies of the recipients of such rewards. In fact, the
early years of the shogun's administration constitute one of the
brightest periods in the history of the Tokugawa Bakufu.

ASSASSINATION OF HOTTA MASATOSHI

On the 8th of October, 1684, the Bakufu prime minister, Hotta
Masatoshi, was assassinated in the shogun's palace by one of the
junior ministers, Inaba Masayasu, who met his death immediately at
the hands of the bystanders. This extraordinary affair remains
shrouded in mystery until the present day. Hotta Masatoshi was the
third son of Masamori, who died by his own hand to follow his master,
Iemitsu, to the grave. Masatoshi, inheriting a part of his father's
domain, received the title of Bitchu no Kami, and resided in the
castle of Koga, ultimately (1680) becoming prime minister (dairo)
with an annual revenue of 130,000 koku.