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Finally, Masakado carried his raids so far that
he allowed himself to be persuaded of the hopelessness of pardon. It
was then that he resolved to revolt. Overrunning the whole eight
provinces of the Kwanto, he appointed his own partisans to all posts
of importance and set up a court after the Kyoto model. A letter
written by him at this time to the regent Tadahira affords an
interesting guide to the ethics of the era:
"The genealogy of my house shows that I am the fifth in descent from
the Emperor Kwammu. Therefore, though I hold one-half of a province,
that cannot be attributed to mere good fortune. In the history of
ancient times there are occasions where a whole country was
appropriated by force of arms. Nature has endowed me with military
talent. None, I presume, excels me in that respect. You, however, had
no praise to bestow on me. Rather was I frequently reprimanded when I
served in the capital, so that my shame was unendurable, whereas your
sympathy would have delighted me. While Masakado was still a youth he
served Tadahira, the prime minister, for tens of years, and when
Tadahira became regent, Masakado never entertained his present
project. I have no words to express my regret. Though I have
conspired to revolt, I will not forget my old master, and I hope that
he will make allowances for the circumstances in which I am placed."
*The vice-governor of Musashi, Minamoto Tsunemoto, was at feud with
the governor, Prince Okiyo, and Masakado espoused the latter's cause.
Had it rested with Kyoto to subdue this revolt, Masakado might have
attained his goal. But chance and the curious spirit of the time
fought for the Court. A trifling breach of etiquette on the part of
Masakado--not pausing to bind up his hair before receiving a
visitor--forfeited the co-operation of a great soldier, Fujiwara
Hidesato, (afterwards known as Tawara Toda), and the latter, joining
forces with Taira Sadamori, whose father Masakado had killed,
attacked the rebels in a moment of elated carelessness, shattered
them completely, and sent Masakado's head to the capital. The whole
affair teaches that the Fujiwara aristocrats, ruling in Kyoto, had
neither power nor inclination to meddle with provincial
administration, and that the districts distant from the metropolis
wore practically under the sway of military magnates in whose eyes
might constituted right. This was especially notable in the case of
the Kwanto, that is to say the eight provinces surrounding the
present Tokyo Bay, extending north to the Nikko Mountains. Musashi,
indeed, was so infested with law-breakers that, from the days of the
Emperor Seiwa (859-876), it became customary to appoint one kebiishi
in each of its districts, whereas elsewhere the establishment was one
to each province. The kebiishi represented the really puissant arm of
the law, the provincial governors, originally so powerful, having now
degenerated into weaklings.
THE REVOLT OF FUJIWARA SUMITOMO
Another event, characteristic of the time, occurred in Nankai-do (the
four provinces of the island of Shikoku) contemporaneously with the
revolt of Masakado. During the Shohei era (931-937) the ravages of
pirates became so frequent in those waters that Fujiwara no Sumitomo
was specially despatched from Kyoto to restrain them. This he
effected without difficulty. But instead of returning to the capital,
he collected a number of armed men together with a squadron of
vessels, and conducted a campaign of spoliation and outrage in the
waters of the Inland Sea as well as the channels of Kii and Bungo.
Masakado's death, in 939, relieved the Court from the pressure in the
east, and an expedition was despatched against Sumitomo under the
command of Ono no Yoshifuru, general of the guards.
Yoshifuru mustered only two hundred ships whereas Sumitomo had
fifteen hundred. The issue might have been foretold had not the
pirate chief's lieutenant gone over to the Imperial forces. Sumitomo,
after an obstinate resistance and after one signal success, was
finally routed and killed. Some historians* have contended that
Masakado and Sumitomo, when they were together in Kyoto, conspired a
simultaneous revolt in the east and the south; but such a conclusion
is inconsistent with the established fact that Masakado's treason was
not premeditated.
*Notably the authors of the Okagami and the Nihon Gwaishi.
That the two events synchronized is attributable wholly to the
conditions of the time. We have seen what was the state of affairs in
Kwanto, and that of Kyushu and Shikoku is clearly set forth in a
memorial presented (946) by Ono Yoshifuru on his return from the
Sumitomo campaign. In that document he says: "My information is that
those who pursue irregular courses are not necessarily sons of
provincial governors alone. Many others make lawless use of power and
authority; form confederacies; engage daily in military exercises;
collect and maintain men and horses under pretext of hunting game;
menace the district governors; plunder the common people; violate
their wives and daughters, and steal their beasts of burden and
employ them for their own purposes, thus interrupting agricultural
operations. Yesterday, they were outcasts, with barely sufficient
clothes to cover their nakedness; to-day, they ride on horseback and
don rich raiment. Meanwhile the country falls into a state of decay,
and the homesteads are desolate. My appeal is that, with the
exception of provincial governors' envoys, any who enter a province
at the head of parties carrying bows and arrows, intimidate the
inhabitants, and rob them of their property, shall be recognized as
common bandits and thrown into prison on apprehension."
In a word, the aristocratic officialdom in Kyoto, headed by the
Fujiwara, though holding all the high administrative posts, wielded
no real power outside the capital, nor were they competent to
preserve order even within its precincts, for the palace itself was
not secure against incendiarism and depredation. When the heads of
the Minamoto and the Taira families were appointed provincial
governors in the Kwanto, they trained their servants in the use of
arms, calling them iye-no-ko (house-boys) or rodo (retainers), and
other local magnates purchased freedom from molestation by doing
homage and obeying their behests. Taira Masakado, Minamoto Tsunemoto,
Fujiwara Hidesato, and Taira Sadamori, who figure in the above
narrative, were all alike provincial chiefs, possessing private
estates and keeping armed retinues which they used for protection or
for plunder. The Imperial Court, when confronted with any crisis, was
constrained to borrow the aid of these magnates, and thus there came
into existence the buke, or military houses, as distinguished from
the kuge, or Court houses.
ENGRAVING: UMBRELLAS
ENGRAVING: KINKAKU-JI, AT KYOTO
CHAPTER XXI
THE CAPITAL AND THE PROVINCES
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COURT AND THE FUJIWARA
We now arrive at a period of Japanese history in which the relations
of the Fujiwara family to the Throne are so complicated as greatly to
perplex even the most careful reader. But as it is not possible to
construct a genealogical table of a really helpful character, the
facts will be set down here in their simplest form.
THE SIXTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MURAKAMI (A.D. 947-967)
Murakami, son of Daigo by the daughter of the regent, Fujiwara
Mototsune, ascended the throne in succession to Shujaku, and Fujiwara
Tadahira held the post of regent, as he had done in Shujaku's time,
his three sons, Saneyori, Morosuke, and Morotada, giving their
daughters; one, Morosuke's offspring, to be Empress, the other two to
be consorts of the sovereign. Moreover, Morosuke's second daughter
was married to the Emperor's younger brother, Prince Takaaki, who
afterwards descended from princely rank to take the family name of
Minamoto. Saneyori, Morosuke, and Takaaki took a prominent part in
the administration of State affairs, and thus indirectly by female
influence at Court, or by their own direct activity, the Fujiwara
held a supreme place. Murakami has a high position among Japan's
model sovereigns. He showed keen and intelligent interest in
politics; he sought to employ able officials; he endeavoured to check
luxury, and he solicited frank guidance from his elders. Thus later
generations learned to indicate Engi (901-923), when Daigo reigned,
and Tenryaku (947-957), when Murakami reigned, as essentially eras of
benevolent administration. But whatever may have been the personal
qualities of Murakami, however conspicuous his poetical ability and
however sincere his solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, he
failed signally to correct the effeminate tendency of Kyoto society
or to protect the lives and property of his people. Bandits raided
the capital, broke into the palace itself, set fire to it, and
committed frequent depredations unrestrained. An age when the
machinery for preserving law and order was practically paralyzed
scarcely deserves the eulogies of posterity.
THE SUCCESSION
The lady with whom Murakami first consorted was a daughter of
Fujiwara Motokata, who represented a comparatively obscure branch of
the great family, and had attained the office of chief councillor of
State (dainagori) only. She bore to his Majesty a son, Hirohira, and
the boy's grandfather confidently looked to see him named Prince
Imperial. But presently the daughter of Fujiwara Morosuke, minister
of the Right, entered the palace, and although her Court rank was not
at first superior to that of the dainagon's daughter, her child had
barely reached its third month when, through Morosuke's irresistible
influence, it was nominated heir to the throne. Motokata's
disappointment proved so keen that his health became impaired and he
finally died--of chagrin, the people said. In those days men believed
in the power of disembodied spirits for evil or for good. The spirit
of the ill-fated Sugawara Michizane was appeased by building shrines
to his memory, and a similar resource exorcised the angry ghost of
the rebel, Masakado; but no such prevention having been adopted in
the case of Motokata, his spirit was supposed to have compassed the
early deaths of his grandson's supplanter, Reizei, and of the
latter's successors, Kwazan and Sanjo, whose three united reigns
totalled only five years.
A more substantial calamity resulted, however, from the habit of
ignoring the right of primogeniture in favour of arbitrary selection.
Murakami, seeing that the Crown Prince (Reizei) had an exceedingly
feeble physique, deemed it expedient to transfer the succession to
his younger brother, Tamehira.
he allowed himself to be persuaded of the hopelessness of pardon. It
was then that he resolved to revolt. Overrunning the whole eight
provinces of the Kwanto, he appointed his own partisans to all posts
of importance and set up a court after the Kyoto model. A letter
written by him at this time to the regent Tadahira affords an
interesting guide to the ethics of the era:
"The genealogy of my house shows that I am the fifth in descent from
the Emperor Kwammu. Therefore, though I hold one-half of a province,
that cannot be attributed to mere good fortune. In the history of
ancient times there are occasions where a whole country was
appropriated by force of arms. Nature has endowed me with military
talent. None, I presume, excels me in that respect. You, however, had
no praise to bestow on me. Rather was I frequently reprimanded when I
served in the capital, so that my shame was unendurable, whereas your
sympathy would have delighted me. While Masakado was still a youth he
served Tadahira, the prime minister, for tens of years, and when
Tadahira became regent, Masakado never entertained his present
project. I have no words to express my regret. Though I have
conspired to revolt, I will not forget my old master, and I hope that
he will make allowances for the circumstances in which I am placed."
*The vice-governor of Musashi, Minamoto Tsunemoto, was at feud with
the governor, Prince Okiyo, and Masakado espoused the latter's cause.
Had it rested with Kyoto to subdue this revolt, Masakado might have
attained his goal. But chance and the curious spirit of the time
fought for the Court. A trifling breach of etiquette on the part of
Masakado--not pausing to bind up his hair before receiving a
visitor--forfeited the co-operation of a great soldier, Fujiwara
Hidesato, (afterwards known as Tawara Toda), and the latter, joining
forces with Taira Sadamori, whose father Masakado had killed,
attacked the rebels in a moment of elated carelessness, shattered
them completely, and sent Masakado's head to the capital. The whole
affair teaches that the Fujiwara aristocrats, ruling in Kyoto, had
neither power nor inclination to meddle with provincial
administration, and that the districts distant from the metropolis
wore practically under the sway of military magnates in whose eyes
might constituted right. This was especially notable in the case of
the Kwanto, that is to say the eight provinces surrounding the
present Tokyo Bay, extending north to the Nikko Mountains. Musashi,
indeed, was so infested with law-breakers that, from the days of the
Emperor Seiwa (859-876), it became customary to appoint one kebiishi
in each of its districts, whereas elsewhere the establishment was one
to each province. The kebiishi represented the really puissant arm of
the law, the provincial governors, originally so powerful, having now
degenerated into weaklings.
THE REVOLT OF FUJIWARA SUMITOMO
Another event, characteristic of the time, occurred in Nankai-do (the
four provinces of the island of Shikoku) contemporaneously with the
revolt of Masakado. During the Shohei era (931-937) the ravages of
pirates became so frequent in those waters that Fujiwara no Sumitomo
was specially despatched from Kyoto to restrain them. This he
effected without difficulty. But instead of returning to the capital,
he collected a number of armed men together with a squadron of
vessels, and conducted a campaign of spoliation and outrage in the
waters of the Inland Sea as well as the channels of Kii and Bungo.
Masakado's death, in 939, relieved the Court from the pressure in the
east, and an expedition was despatched against Sumitomo under the
command of Ono no Yoshifuru, general of the guards.
Yoshifuru mustered only two hundred ships whereas Sumitomo had
fifteen hundred. The issue might have been foretold had not the
pirate chief's lieutenant gone over to the Imperial forces. Sumitomo,
after an obstinate resistance and after one signal success, was
finally routed and killed. Some historians* have contended that
Masakado and Sumitomo, when they were together in Kyoto, conspired a
simultaneous revolt in the east and the south; but such a conclusion
is inconsistent with the established fact that Masakado's treason was
not premeditated.
*Notably the authors of the Okagami and the Nihon Gwaishi.
That the two events synchronized is attributable wholly to the
conditions of the time. We have seen what was the state of affairs in
Kwanto, and that of Kyushu and Shikoku is clearly set forth in a
memorial presented (946) by Ono Yoshifuru on his return from the
Sumitomo campaign. In that document he says: "My information is that
those who pursue irregular courses are not necessarily sons of
provincial governors alone. Many others make lawless use of power and
authority; form confederacies; engage daily in military exercises;
collect and maintain men and horses under pretext of hunting game;
menace the district governors; plunder the common people; violate
their wives and daughters, and steal their beasts of burden and
employ them for their own purposes, thus interrupting agricultural
operations. Yesterday, they were outcasts, with barely sufficient
clothes to cover their nakedness; to-day, they ride on horseback and
don rich raiment. Meanwhile the country falls into a state of decay,
and the homesteads are desolate. My appeal is that, with the
exception of provincial governors' envoys, any who enter a province
at the head of parties carrying bows and arrows, intimidate the
inhabitants, and rob them of their property, shall be recognized as
common bandits and thrown into prison on apprehension."
In a word, the aristocratic officialdom in Kyoto, headed by the
Fujiwara, though holding all the high administrative posts, wielded
no real power outside the capital, nor were they competent to
preserve order even within its precincts, for the palace itself was
not secure against incendiarism and depredation. When the heads of
the Minamoto and the Taira families were appointed provincial
governors in the Kwanto, they trained their servants in the use of
arms, calling them iye-no-ko (house-boys) or rodo (retainers), and
other local magnates purchased freedom from molestation by doing
homage and obeying their behests. Taira Masakado, Minamoto Tsunemoto,
Fujiwara Hidesato, and Taira Sadamori, who figure in the above
narrative, were all alike provincial chiefs, possessing private
estates and keeping armed retinues which they used for protection or
for plunder. The Imperial Court, when confronted with any crisis, was
constrained to borrow the aid of these magnates, and thus there came
into existence the buke, or military houses, as distinguished from
the kuge, or Court houses.
ENGRAVING: UMBRELLAS
ENGRAVING: KINKAKU-JI, AT KYOTO
CHAPTER XXI
THE CAPITAL AND THE PROVINCES
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COURT AND THE FUJIWARA
We now arrive at a period of Japanese history in which the relations
of the Fujiwara family to the Throne are so complicated as greatly to
perplex even the most careful reader. But as it is not possible to
construct a genealogical table of a really helpful character, the
facts will be set down here in their simplest form.
THE SIXTY-SECOND SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR MURAKAMI (A.D. 947-967)
Murakami, son of Daigo by the daughter of the regent, Fujiwara
Mototsune, ascended the throne in succession to Shujaku, and Fujiwara
Tadahira held the post of regent, as he had done in Shujaku's time,
his three sons, Saneyori, Morosuke, and Morotada, giving their
daughters; one, Morosuke's offspring, to be Empress, the other two to
be consorts of the sovereign. Moreover, Morosuke's second daughter
was married to the Emperor's younger brother, Prince Takaaki, who
afterwards descended from princely rank to take the family name of
Minamoto. Saneyori, Morosuke, and Takaaki took a prominent part in
the administration of State affairs, and thus indirectly by female
influence at Court, or by their own direct activity, the Fujiwara
held a supreme place. Murakami has a high position among Japan's
model sovereigns. He showed keen and intelligent interest in
politics; he sought to employ able officials; he endeavoured to check
luxury, and he solicited frank guidance from his elders. Thus later
generations learned to indicate Engi (901-923), when Daigo reigned,
and Tenryaku (947-957), when Murakami reigned, as essentially eras of
benevolent administration. But whatever may have been the personal
qualities of Murakami, however conspicuous his poetical ability and
however sincere his solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, he
failed signally to correct the effeminate tendency of Kyoto society
or to protect the lives and property of his people. Bandits raided
the capital, broke into the palace itself, set fire to it, and
committed frequent depredations unrestrained. An age when the
machinery for preserving law and order was practically paralyzed
scarcely deserves the eulogies of posterity.
THE SUCCESSION
The lady with whom Murakami first consorted was a daughter of
Fujiwara Motokata, who represented a comparatively obscure branch of
the great family, and had attained the office of chief councillor of
State (dainagori) only. She bore to his Majesty a son, Hirohira, and
the boy's grandfather confidently looked to see him named Prince
Imperial. But presently the daughter of Fujiwara Morosuke, minister
of the Right, entered the palace, and although her Court rank was not
at first superior to that of the dainagon's daughter, her child had
barely reached its third month when, through Morosuke's irresistible
influence, it was nominated heir to the throne. Motokata's
disappointment proved so keen that his health became impaired and he
finally died--of chagrin, the people said. In those days men believed
in the power of disembodied spirits for evil or for good. The spirit
of the ill-fated Sugawara Michizane was appeased by building shrines
to his memory, and a similar resource exorcised the angry ghost of
the rebel, Masakado; but no such prevention having been adopted in
the case of Motokata, his spirit was supposed to have compassed the
early deaths of his grandson's supplanter, Reizei, and of the
latter's successors, Kwazan and Sanjo, whose three united reigns
totalled only five years.
A more substantial calamity resulted, however, from the habit of
ignoring the right of primogeniture in favour of arbitrary selection.
Murakami, seeing that the Crown Prince (Reizei) had an exceedingly
feeble physique, deemed it expedient to transfer the succession to
his younger brother, Tamehira.
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