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The first mention
of it occurs in A.D. 400 when Richu condemned the muraji, Hamako, to
be thus branded, but whether the practice originated then or dated
from an earlier period, the annals do not show. It was variously
called hitae-kizamu (slicing the brow), me-saku (splitting the eyes),
and so on, but these terms signified nothing worse than tattooing on
the forehead or round the eyes. The Emperor Richu deemed that such
notoriety was sufficient penalty for high treason, but Yuryaku
inflicted tattooing on a man whose dog had killed one of his
Majesty's fowls.

Death at the stake appears to have been very uncommon. This terrible
form of punishment seems to have been revived by Yuryaku. He caused
it to be inflicted on one of the ladies-in-waiting and her paramour,
who had forestalled him in the girl's affections. The first instance
is mentioned in the annals of the Empress Jingo, but the victim was a
Korean and the incident happened in war. To Yuryaku was reserved the
infamy of employing such a penalty in the case of a woman. Highly
placed personages were often allowed to expiate an offence by
performing the religious rite of harai (purification), the offender
defraying all expenses.

ARCHITECTURE

As Chinese literature became familiar and as the arts of the Middle
Kingdom and Korea were imported into Japan, the latter's customs
naturally underwent some changes. This was noticeable in the case of
architecture. Lofty buildings, as has been already stated, began to
take the place of the partially subterranean muro. The annals make no
special reference to the authors of this innovation, but it is
mentioned that among the descendants of the Chinese, Achi, and the
Korean, Tsuka, there were men who practised carpentry. Apparently the
fashion of high buildings was established in the reign of Anko when
(A.D. 456) the term ro or takadono (lofty edifice) is, for the first
time, applied to the palace of Anko in Yamato. A few years later
(468), we find mention of two carpenters,* Tsuguno and Mita, who,
especially the latter, were famous experts in Korean architecture,
and who received orders from Yuryaku to erect high buildings. It
appears further that silk curtains (tsumugi-kaki) came into use in
this age for partitioning rooms, and that a species of straw mat
(tatsu-gomo) served for carpet when people were hunting, travelling,
or campaigning.

*It should be remembered that as all Japanese edifices were made of
timber, the carpenter and the architect were one and the same.

SHIPS

Occasional references have been made already to the art of
shipbuilding in Japan, and the facts elicited may be summed up very
briefly. They are that the first instance of naming a ship is
recorded in the year A.D. 274, when the Karano (one hundred feet
long) was built to order of the Emperor Ojin by the carpenters of Izu
promontory, which place was famed for skill in this respect; that the
general method of building was to hollow out tree-trunks,* and that
the arrival of naval architects from Shiragi (A.D. 300) inaugurated a
superior method of construction, differing little from that employed
in later ages.

*Such dug-outs were named maruki-bune, a distinguishing term which
proves that some other method of building was also employed.

VEHICLES

A palanquin (koshi) used by the Emperor Ojin (A.D. 270-310) was
preserved in the Kyoto palace until the year 1219, when a
conflagration consumed it. The records give no description of it, but
they say that Yuryaku and his Empress returned from a hunting
expedition on a cart (kuruma), and tradition relates that a man named
Isa, a descendant in the eighth generation of the Emperor Sujin,
built a covered cart which was the very one used by Yuryaku. It is,
indeed, more than probable that a vehicle which had been in use in
China for a long time must have become familiar to the Japanese at an
early epoch.

MEDICAL ART

For relief in sickness supplication to the gods and the performance
of religious rites were chiefly relied on. But it is alleged* that
medicines for internal and external use were in existence and that
recourse to thermal springs was commonly practised from remote times.

*By the Nihon Bummei Shiryaku.

PICTORIAL ART

While Yuryaku was on the throne, Korea and China sent pictorial
experts to Japan. The Korean was named Isuraka, and the Chinese,
Shinki. The latter is said to have been a descendant of the Emperor
Wen of the Wei dynasty. His work attracted much attention in the
reign of Muretsu, who bestowed on him the uji title of Ooka no Obito.
His descendants practised their art with success in Japan, and from
the time of the Emperor Tenchi (668-671) they were distinguished as
Yamato no eshi (painters of Yamato).

POETRY

If we credit the annals, the composition of poetry commenced in the
earliest ages and was developed independently of foreign influences.
From the sovereign down to the lowest subject, everyone composed
verses. These were not rhymed; the structure of the Japanese language
does not lend itself to rhyme. Their differentiation from prose
consisted solely in the numerical regularity of the syllables in
consecutive lines; the alternation of phrases of five and seven
syllables each. A tanka (short song) consisted of thirty-one
syllables arranged thus, 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7; and a naga-uta (long
song) consisted of an unlimited number of lines, all fulfilling the
same conditions as to number of syllables and alternation of phrases.
No parallel to this kind of versification has been found yet in the
literature of any other nation. The Chronicles and the Records abound
with tanka and naga-uta, many of which have been ascribed by skeptics
to an age not very remote from the time when those books were
compiled. But the Japanese themselves think differently. They connect
the poems directly with the events that inspired them. Further
reference to the subject will be made hereafter. Here it will suffice
to note that the composing of such verselets was a feature of every
age in Japan.

UTA-GAKI

A favourite pastime during the early historic period was known as
uta-gaki or uta-kai. In cities, in the country, in fields, and on
hills, youths and maidens assembled in springtime or in autumn and
enjoyed themselves by singing and dancing. Promises of marriage were
exchanged, the man sending some gifts as a token, and the woman, if
her father or elder brother approved, despatching her head-ornament
(oshiki no tamakatsura) to her lover. On the wedding day it was
customary for the bride to present "table-articles" (tsukue-shiro) to
the bridegroom in the form of food and drink. There were places
specially associated in the public mind with uta-gaki--Tsukuba
Mountain in Hitachi, Kijima-yama in Hizen, and Utagaki-yama in
Settsu. Sometimes men of noble birth took part in this pastime, but
it was usually confined to the lower middle classes. The great
festival of bon-odori, which will be spoken of by and by, is said to
be an outgrowth of the uta-gaki.

SUPERSTITIONS

No influences of alien character affected the religious beliefs of
the Japanese during the period we are now considering (fourth, fifth,
and sixth centuries). The most characteristic feature of the time was
a belief in the supernatural power of reptiles and animals. This
credulity was not limited to the uneducated masses. The Throne itself
shared it. Yuryaku, having expressed a desire to see the incarnated
form of the Kami of Mimoro Mountain, was shown a serpent seventy feet
long. In the same year a group of snakes harrassed a man who was
reclaiming a marsh, so that he had to take arms against them and
enter into a compact of limitations and of shrine building. Other
records of maleficent deities in serpent shape were current, and
monkeys and dragons inspired similar terror. Of this superstition
there was born an evil custom, the sacrifice of human beings to
appease the hostile spirits. The Kami of Chusan in Mimasaka province
was believed to be a giant ape, and the Kami of Koya, a big reptile.
The people of these two districts took it in turn to offer a girl at
the shrines of those Kami, and in the province of Hida another
colossal monkey was similarly appeased. There were further cases of
extravagant superstition.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Of the development of sericulture and of the arts of weaving and
ceramics in this era enough has already been written; but, as showing
the growth of refinement, it may be noted that among the articles
ordered by the Emperor Yuryaku were a silk hat and a sashiha, or
round fan with a long handle. The colour of the fan was purple, and
it is said to have been hung up as an ornament in the palace.

FORM OF GOVERNMENT

The original form of government under the Yamato seems to have been
feudal. The heads of uji were practically feudal chiefs. Even orders
from the Throne had to pass through the uji no Kami in order to reach
the people. But from the time of Nintoku (313-349) to that of Yuryaku
(457-479), the Court wielded much power, and the greatest among the
uji chiefs found no opportunity to interfere with the exercise of the
sovereign's rights. Gradually, however, and mainly owing to the
intrusion of love affairs or of lust, the Imperial household fell
into disorder, which prompted the revolt of Heguri, the o-omi of the
Kwobetsu (Imperial families); a revolt subdued by the loyalty of the
o-muraji of the Shimbetsu (Kami families).

From the days of the Emperor Muretsu (499-506), direct heirs to
succeed to the sceptre were wanting in more than one instance, and a
unique opportunity thus offered for traitrous essays. There was none.
Men's minds were still deeply imbued with the conviction that by the
Tenjin alone might the Throne be occupied. But with the introduction
of Buddhism (A.D. 552), that conviction received a shock. That the
Buddha directed and controlled man's destiny was a doctrine
inconsistent with the traditional faith in the divine authority of
the "son of heaven." Hence from the sixth century the prestige of the
Crown began to decline, and the puissance of the great uji grew to
exceed that of the sovereign.