Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/612

Christianity was finally proscribed, a decree of expulsion was directed against the Jesuit missionaries then in Japan, and persecution raged until 1637. In that year the peasantry of a convert district in the province of Hizen, oppressed past endurance by the cruelties to which they were subjected, assembled to the number of 30,000, and fortifying an old feudal castle at the town of Shimabara, declared open defiance to the Government. Iyémitsu, who was then shôgun (1623–1650), despatched an army against them, and after a brief but desperate struggle the Christians were all massacred. These stern measures repressed the profession of the religion, but many clung to it in secret, and several prohibitory edicts were issued throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. So lately, indeed, as 1868 these proclamations might still be seen on the public notice-boards in every village throughout the country.

Feuds of nobles.Although the Tokugawa period was not disturbed by the warlike expeditions or civil conflicts from which Japan had until then suffered, there nevertheless existed considerable cause of uneasiness in the numberless intrigues or petty conspiracies which prevailed among the great han and in the families of the feudal nobles. The question of succession to the chieftainship of a clan not unfrequently stirred up strife amongst the retainers, and in many cases the most unscrupulous means were adopted in order to obtain the desired result. Towards the close of the dynasty several conspiracies were set on foot, but these were promptly stamped out. Japan was now in seclusion from the rest of the world, the inhabitants having been forbidden to leave its shores without express permission under pain of heavy punishments; but the direction of the internal affairs of the country was a task that fully occupied the ruling house. The jealousy and private feuds of the daimiô increased to such an extent that on several occasions even the sacred precincts of the shôgun’s palace became the scene of quarrel and bloodshed. The great nobles gradually rebelled more and more against the rule of enforced attendance in Yedo, and became far less disposed to brook the restrictions imposed upon them by a lord who was virtually but one of their own class; while to the peasants the feudal system was in most cases exceedingly distasteful. Reaction against the military domination thus set in, and men’s eyes naturally turned towards the renewal of the ancient régime when the mikado was the sole sovereign, before whose authority every subject, whether gentle or simple, bowed in submission. These, among other causes, gradually led to the revolution of 1868, by which the mikado’s power was restored. Appearance of foreigners.In the meantime, since 1858, treaties had been made by the shôgun’s ministers with several of the foreign powers, and the foreign element had thus been introduced into Japanese political affairs. By some writers undue stress has been laid upon this fact, as if the advent of Western nations had been the main cause of the downfall of the Tokugawa supremacy. From an attentive perusal, however, of native works treating of political matters for some time previous, it would appear that such was not the case. Decay of shôgunate.
Revolution of 1868.The decay of the shôgunate had gradually been going on for years back; the whole system was tottering to its fall, and it is not improbable that even in the total absence of foreigners the revolution would have occurred exactly as it did. The shôgun was declared a usurper, and the great clans of Satsuma, Chôshiu, and Tosa warmly espoused the cause of the mikado. The Tokugawa clan did not present any very determined front, and the struggle was exceedingly brief. Some fighting, did, however, take place in the vicinity of Kiôto, and also at various points around Yedo; but the most severe conflict was the siege of the castle of Wakamatsu, in Ôshiu. This castle was the stronghold of the powerful northern daimiô of Aidzu, a partisan of the shôgunate; his troops offered a stout resistance, but the place was eventually taken by the mikado’s army after a siege of some two months’ duration. The shôgun himself had resigned in 1867, and this virtually settled the question in favour of the emperor’s army, although some desultory fighting occurred both at Yedo and near Hakodaté two years afterwards. In 1869 the official name of Yedo was changed to Tôkiô (the “eastern capital”), and the mikado removed thither from Kiôto with his court. The ex-shôgun retired to the town of Shidzuoka, in the province of Suruga, where he still lives in retirement, his only title being that of a noble of the empire. The ancient form of government was thus restored, and the feudal system is now a thing of the past.

Foreign relations.Since this revolution Japan has become tolerably well known to Europeans. Although her relations with foreign countries were never of any very great importance, they nevertheless commenced at an early date. Allusion has already been made to early Chinese and Corean arrivals in Japan. Dr Kaempfer asserts that in later times young Chinese of good family constantly came to Nagasaki on pleasure excursions. In 201 A.D. the empress Jingô invaded Corea, and gained several victories over the troops that opposed her; and on her return she introduced into Japan the Corean arrangement of geographical division. The Japanese being a maritime nation, it is not surprising that, prior to the edict forbidding them to leave their country, they should have extended their voyages throughout the whole of the Eastern seas. We read of their visiting China, Siam, and India; indeed at one time there existed a Japanese colony or settlement at Goa. It is also known that vessels sailed from Japan to the western coast of Mexico. The Mongol invasion in 1281 has been already noticed. In the 16th century Europeans approached the shores of Japan. As early as 1542 Portuguese trading vessels began to visit the empire, and a system of trade by means of barter was carried on. Seven years later three Portuguese missionaries, Xavier, Torres, and Fernandez, took passage in one of these merchant ships, and landed at Kagoshima in Satsuma. The island of Hirado off the coast of Hizen appears to have been then the rendezvous of trade between the two nations. From that time commercial relations continued until the Portuguese were expelled the country in 1639. A second expedition against Corea was undertaken by the taikô Hidéyoshi in 1592; the Japanese troops not only withdrawn till 1598, and it is interesting to note that a number of Coreans were then brought over to Japan, where they practised the art of making pottery. Descendants of these Coreans still occupy a village in the province of Satsuma. Towards the end of the 16th century Spanish vessels visited Japan, and in 1602 an embassy was despatched by Iyéyasu to the Philippines; but the relations between the two nations were never very close. The Dutch first arrived in 1610, and from that date down to the close of the Tokugawa dynasty they enjoyed almost a monopoly of the Japanese trade. They at first settled in the island of Hirado, but afterwards removed to Nagasaki, where they were virtually imprisoned in their factory on the small peninsula of Deshima in the harbour, connected by narrow causeways with the town itself. Dr Kaempfer’s History of Japan gives a full and graphic description of the mode of life of the early Dutch settlers; he himself dwelt in Japan during the rule of Tsunayoshi, the fifth shôgun of the house of Tokugawa, 1680–1709. The first Englishman who visited the shores of Japan was William Adams, a Kentish man, who came out to the East as pilot to a Dutch vessel. He lived in the city of Yedo for a considerable time in the opening years of the 17th century, during which period he is stated to have frequently been at the court of Iyéyasu. He instructed the Japanese in the art of shipbuilding, and the title of hatamoto was conferred upon him. In 1613 Captain Saris succeeded in founding an English factory in Hirado, but it did not exist, for any length of time. Finally, in 1854, Commodore Perry’s expedition from America took place, when a quasi treaty was made between him and the ministers of the shôgunate at Uraga, on the Bay of Yedo; and later in the same year Admiral Stirling concluded a similar negotiation, at Nagasaki, on behalf of Great Britain. In 1858 these treaties were extended, and others were concluded with the Dutch and French, under which the ports of Nagasaki, Hakodaté, and Kanagawa (now known as Yokohama) were thrown open to foreign traders belonging to those nationalities, from the year 1859. Other European powers gradually followed the example, and at the present moment Japan is in treaty with no less than eighteen nations, viz., Austria-Hungary, Belgium, China, Corea, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hawaii, Holland, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Prior to the recent revolution the foreign treaties were concluded with the ministers of the shôgun, at Yedo, under the erroneous impression that he was the emperor of Japan. Taikun.The title of taikun (often misspelt tycoon) was then for the first time used; it means literally the “great ruler,” and was employed for the occasion by the Tokugawa officials to convey the impression that their chief was in reality the lord paramount. It is, however, worthy of note that even in these earlier treaties the title correponding to “His Majesty” was never assumed by the shôgun. The actual position of this official remained unknown to the foreign envoys until 1868, when the British, Dutch, and French ministers proceeded to Kiôto, and there obtained from the mikado his formal ratification of the treaties already concluded with his powerful subject. Since that time all treaties with Western powers are made out in the name of the emperor of Japan. It was thus that the foreigners came prominently into notice at the time of the revolution, with which, however, beyond this they had really no connexion.

Formosa expedition.In 1873–4 Japan sent an expedition against the aboriginal tribes inhabiting the island of Formosa, off the eastern coast of China, to demand satisfaction for the murder, some years before, of certain Japanese subjects who had been shipwrecked on that island. Some skirmishing took place, in which the Japanese gained the advantage. The most important point in the whole matter was the negotiation with China. Formosa is Chinese territory, but the Japanese contended that, if the Chinese Government would not exact reparation from the aboriginal tribes, they would themselves attack the latter. This they did, and, although at one period it appeared highly probable that war would be declared between China and Japan, the matter was eventually settled amicably, China paying a sum as indemnity for the outrages complained of. Corean disputes.Towards the end of 1875 a dispute arose with Corea, a Japanese gunboat having been fired on from a shore fort while engaged in surveying operations close by the Corean capital. The gunboat returned the fire, and landed a party of men, who attacked and destroyed the fort and stockades, and seized upon the weapons, &c., found in it. Some