Chapter 32

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE, LITERATURE, ART, RELIGION, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS IN THE MUROMACHI EPOCH

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE

AFTER the Mongol invasion of Kyushu, Japan held no intercourse with the outer world for several decades, nor does her friendship seem to have been sought by any oversea nation. In the closing year of the thirteenth century, merchantmen flying the Yuan flag are reported to have arrived, but the record is nebulous, and the same may be said of a passing reference that, in 1341, Japanese vessels were sent to China to procure articles manufactured there. We reach more solid ground a year later (1342), when the Ashikaga chief, Takauji, being engaged in building the temple Tenryu-ji, opened trade with China for the purpose of obtaining apparatus, vestments, and works of art. The number of vessels was limited to two annually, and the trade must not exceed five hundred kwan-mon (£750, or $3700). Some of the objects then carried to Japan survive to this day in the form of celadon vases known in Japan as Tenryuji-seiji.* Meanwhile, not a few Buddhist priests crossed the sea from China to preach their faith, and it is certain that during the War of the Dynasties in Japan, when the south of the country was in a state of anarchy, privateering in Korean waters was freely resorted to by Japanese adventurers. A Korean envoy arrived at Fukuhara, in Settsu, in 1367, bearer of a strong protest against this marauding, and declaring that for a decade past assassination and plunder had been freely practised by Japanese subjects on the inhabitants of the Korean littoral. China and Korea were then in a troubled condition.

*The merchantmen received the name of Tenryuji-bune (bune signifies "ship")

In the year (1368) after the arrival of this envoy, the Yuan dynasty went down in China before the Ming, and in Korea the kingdom of Koma was overthrown, the Yi dynasty rising on its ruins and calling the peninsula Chosen. The Ming sovereign immediately attempted to establish tradal intercourse with Japan, but the negotiations failed, and not until 1392 is there any record of oversea relations. Then, at length, Korea's protest elicited a reply from Japan. The shogun, Yoshimitsu, sent to Chosen a despatch, signifying that piracy had been interdicted, that all captives would be returned, and that he desired to establish friendly relations. It appears that at that time China also suffered from the depredations of Japanese corsairs, for the annals say that she repeatedly remonstrated, and that, in 1401, Yoshimitsu despatched to China an envoy carrying presents and escorting some Chinese subjects who had been cast away on the Japanese coast or carried captive thither. Another record suggests that the Chinese Emperor was perplexed between the two warring Courts in Japan. At the time of his accession, a body of Mongol fugitives established themselves in Shantung, where they received assistance from some Japanese adventurers. The Ming sovereign opened communications on the subject with Prince Kanenaga, who held Kyushu in the interests of the Southern Court, but the tone of the Chinese monarch was so arrogant that Prince Kanenaga made no reply. Then Taitsu employed a Buddhist priest, but the character of this bonze having been detected, he was thrown into prison.

These things happened in 1380. In the following year Taitsu despatched a duly credited envoy who used menacing language and was sent back with a defiance from Prince Kanenaga. The priest, however, was set free in 1382, and having learned while in Japan that two Courts were disputing the title to the Crown, he informed the Chinese sovereign in that sense, and the latter subsequently addressed himself to Kyoto, with the result noted above, namely, that Yoshimitsu opened friendly relations (1401). It was to the Ouchi family of Suwo that the management of intercourse with Chosen was entrusted, the latter sending its envoys to Yamaguchi. Subsequently, after Ouchi Yoshihiro's disaffection and disaster, a Buddhist priest and well-known artist, Soami, acted as Muromachi's envoy to the Ming Court, being accompanied by a merchant, Koetomi, who is described as thoroughly conversant with Chinese conditions. By these two the first commercial treaty was negotiated. It provided that an envoy should be sent by each of the contracting parties in every period of ten years, the suite of this envoy to be limited to two hundred, and any ship carrying arms to be regarded as a pirate.

The first envoy from the Ming Court under this treaty was met by Yoshimitsu himself at Hyogo, and being escorted to Kyoto, was hospitably lodged in a hotel there. Instructions were also issued from Muromachi to the officials in Kyushu, peremptorily interdicting piracy and ordering the arrest of any that contravened the veto. Further, the high constables in several provinces were enjoined to encourage trade with China by sending the best products of their localities. In fact, Yoshimitsu showed himself thoroughly earnest in promoting oversea commerce, and a considerable measure of success attended his efforts. Unfortunately, an interruption was caused in 1419, when some seventeen thousand Koreans, Mongolians, and "southern barbarians"--a name given promiscuously to aliens--in 227 ships, bore down on Tsushima one midsummer day and were not driven off until the great families of Kyushu--the Otomo, the Shoni, the Kikuchi, and the Shiba--had joined forces to attack the invaders. The origin of this incident is wrapped in mystery, but probably the prohibition of Japanese pirates was not enforced for the protection of Chosen, and the assault on Tsushima was a desperate attempt at retaliation.

Yoshimochi, however, who was then shogun, seems to have associated China with the invasion, for a Ming envoy, arriving just at the time of the contest, was indignantly refused audience. Thereafter, the tandai appointed from Muroinachi to administer the affairs of Kyushu was driven out by the Shoni family, and the shogun's policy of checking piracy ceased to be enforced, so that the coasts of China and Chosen were much harried, all legitimate commerce being suspended. When Yoshinori became shogun, however, this was one of the directions in which he turned his reforming hand. A Buddhist priest, Doen, proceeded to the Ming Court as Muromachi's delegate, and the Chinese sovereign agreed to restore the old relations, transmitting for that purpose a hundred tallies to be carried by the merchantmen. These tallies were distributed to several high constables, to five great temples, and to merchants in Hyogo and Sakai, the corresponding tallies* being entrusted to the Ouchi family, which, having now recovered its power, was charged with the duty of superintending the trade with China. Meanwhile, So Sadamori of Tsushima had established commercial relations with Chosen, and received from thence a yearly consignment of two hundred koku of soy beans, the vessel that carried the staple being guarded by boats known as Tsushima-bune.

*The tallies were cards on which a line of ideographs were inscribed. The card was then cut along the line, and a moiety was given to the trader, the corresponding moiety being kept by the superintendent.

Thus, it fell out that the right of supervising the trade with China and Korea came into the exclusive possession of the Ouchi and the So, respectively, and being liberally encouraged, brought great wealth to them as well as to other territorial magnates of the central and southern provinces. The records show that large profits were realized. Four or five hundred per cent, is spoken of, and, further, the Ming sovereign, in Yoshimasa's time, responded generously, as has been already shown, to the shogun's appeal for supplies of copper cash. One Japanese fan could be exchanged for a copy of a valuable book, and a sword costing one kwan-mon in Japan fetched five kwan-mon in China. Such prices were paid, however, for rare goods only, notably for Japanese raw silk, fifty catties (sixty-seven lbs.) of which sold for ten kwan-mon (£15, or $75, approximately). Gold, too, was much more valuable in China than in Japan. Ten ryo of the yellow metal could be obtained in Japan for from twenty to thirty kwan-mon and sold in China for 130. Sealskins, swords, spears, pepper, sulphur, fans, lacquer, raw silk, etc. were the chief staples of exports; and velvet, musk, silk fabrics, porcelains, etc., constituted the bulk of the imports. The metropolis being Kyoto, with its population of some 900,000, Hyogo was the most important harbour for the trade, and after it came Hakata,* in Chikuzen; Bonotsu, in Satsuma; Obi, in Hyuga, and Anotsu, in Ise. The customs duties at Hyogo alone are said to have amounted to the equivalent of £15,000, or $75,000, annually.

*Hakata's place was subsequently taken by Hirado.

In China, Ningpo was the chief port. It had a mercantile-marine office and an inn for foreign guests. The tribute levied on the trade was sent thence to Nanking. In size the vessels employed were from 50 to 130 tons, greater dimensions being eschewed through fear of loss. An invoice shows that the goods carried by a ship in 1458 were: sulphur (410,750 lbs.); copper (206,000 lbs.); spears (11); fans (1250); swords (9500); lacquered wares (634 packages), and sapan-wood (141,333 lbs.). During the days of Yoshimasa's shogunate such profits were realized that overtrading took place, and there resulted a temporary cessation. Fifty years later, when Yoshiharu ruled at Muromachi (1529), a Buddhist priest, Zuisa, sent by the shogun to China, and an envoy, Sosetsu, despatched by the Ouchi family, came into collision at Ningpo. It was a mere question of precedence, but in the sequel Zuisa was seized, Ningpo was sacked, and its governor was murdered. The arm of the shogun at that time could not reach the Ouchi family, and a demand for the surrender of Sosetsu was in vain preferred at Muromachi through the medium of the King of Ryukyu. Yoshiharu could only keep silence.

The Ming sovereign subsequently (1531) attempted to exact redress by sending a squadron to Tsushima, but the deputy high constable of the Ouchi compelled these ships to fly, defeated, and thereafter all friendly intercourse between Japan and China was interrupted, piratical raids by the Japanese taking its place. This estrangement continued for seventeen years, until (1548) Ouchi Yoshitaka re-established friendly relations with Chosen and, at the same time, made overtures to China, which, being seconded by the despatch of an envoy--a Buddhist priest--Shuryo from Muromachi, evoked a favourable response. Once more tallies were issued, but the number of vessels being limited to three and their crews to three hundred, the resulting commerce was comparatively small. Just at this epoch, too, Occidental merchantmen arrived in China, and the complexion of the latter's oversea trade underwent alteration. Thereafter, the Ashikaga fell, and their successor, Oda Nobunaga, made no attempt to re-open commerce with China, while his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, planned the invasion of the Middle Kingdom, so that the sword was more in evidence than the soroban.

JAPANESE PIRACY

It is difficult to trace the beginnings of Japanese piracy in Far Eastern waters, but certainly it dated from a remote past and reached its extreme in the middle of the sixteenth century. The records show that Murakami Yoshihiro, of Iyo province, obtained control of all the corsairs in neighbouring seas and developed great puissance. Nor did any measure of opprobrium attach to his acts, for on his death he was succeeded by Morokiyo, a scion of the illustrious Kitabatake family. Numbers flocked to his standard during the disordered era of the War of the Dynasties, and from Korea in the north to Formosa and Amoy in the south the whole littoral was raided by them.

For purposes of protection the Ming rulers divided the coast into five sections, Pehchihli, Shantung, Chekiang, Fuhkien, and Liangkwang, appointing a governor to each, building fortresses and enrolling soldiers. All this proving inefficacious, the Emperor Taitsu, as already stated, addressed to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu a remonstrance which moved the shogun to issue a strict injunction against the marauders. It was a mere formality. Chinese annals show that under its provisions some twenty pirates were handed over by the Japanese and were executed by boiling in kettles. No such international refinement as extra-territorial jurisdiction existed in those days, and the Japanese shogun felt no shame in delivering his countrymen to be punished by an alien State. It is not wonderful that when Yoshimitsu died, the Chinese Emperor bestowed on him the posthumous title Kung-hsien-wang, or "the faithful and obedient king." But boiling a score of the Wokou* in copper kettles did not at all intimidate the corsairs. On nearly all the main islands of the Inland Sea and in the Kyushu waters they had their quarters. In fact, the governors of islands and a majority of the military magnates having littoral estates, took part in the profitable pursuit. No less than fourteen illustrious families were so engaged, and four of them openly bore the title of kaizoku tai-shogun (commander-in-chief of pirates). Moreover, they all obeyed the orders of the Ouchi family. It is on record that Ouchi Masahiro led them in an incursion into Chollado, the southern province of Korea, and exacted from the sovereign of Chosen a promise of yearly tribute to the Ouchi. This was only one of several profitable raids. The goods appropriated in Korea were sometimes carried to China for sale, the pirates assuming, now the character of peaceful traders, now that of ruthless plunderers. The apparition of these Pahan** ships seems to have inspired the Chinese with consternation. They do not appear to have made any effective resistance. The decade between 1553 and 1563 was evidently their time of greatest suffering; and their annals of that era repay perusal, not only for their direct interest but also for their collateral bearing on the story of the invasion of Korea at the close of the century.

"On the 23d of the fifth month of 1553, twenty-seven Japanese vessels arrived at Lungwangtang. They looked like so many hills and their white sails were as clouds in the sky. On the fifth day of the fourth month of 1554, there appeared on the horizon a large ship which presently reached Lungwang-tang. Her crew numbered 562. They blew conches after the manner of trumpets, marshalled themselves in battle array, and surrounding the castle with flying banners, attacked it. On the fourth day of the ninth month of 1555, a two-masted ship carrying a crew of some hundreds came to Kinshan-hai, and on the next day she was followed by eight five-masted vessels with crews totalling some thousands. They all went on shore and looted in succession. On the 23d of the second month of 1556, pirate ships arrived at the entrance to Kinshan-hai. Their masts were like a dense forest of bamboo."

*Yamato enemies.

**Chinese pronunciation of the ideographs read by the Japanese "Hachiman" (god of War). The pirates inscribed on their sails the legend Hachiman Dai-bosatsu.

Further records show that in 1556 the pirates entered Yang-chou, looted and burned the city; that in 1559 they attacked Chekiang; that in 1560, they made their way to Taitsang, and thence pushed on towards Shanghai, Sungteh, etc., looting towns almost daily. There was no effective resistance. We find also the following appreciation of Japanese ships:

"The largest of the Japanese vessels can carry about three hundred men; the medium-sized, from one to two hundred, and the smallest from fifty to eighty. They are constructed low and narrow. Thus, when they meet a big ship they have to look up to attack her. The sails are not rigged like those of our ships which can be navigated in any wind. But wicked people on the coast of Fuhkien sold their ships to the foreigners; and the buyers, having fitted them with double bottoms and keels shaped so as to cleave the waves, came to our shores in them."

Evidently the Chinese were better skilled in the art of shipbuilding than the Japanese. As for the defensive measures of the Chinese the following is recorded:

"The Government troops on sea and on land made every effort to keep off the pirates. They flew banners at morn and eve and fired guns seaward, so that the enemy, understanding by the flash and the detonation that we were prepared to resist, abstained from landing. But when the pirates handled their swords skilfully, their attack was fearful. Our countrymen when they saw these swordsmen, trembled and fled. Their fear of the Japanese was fear of the swords. The pirates' firearms were only guns such as men use in pursuit of game. They did not range over one hundred paces. But their skill in using their guns was such that they never missed. We could not defeat them. They rise early in the morning and take their breakfast kneeling down. Afterwards their chief ascends an eminence and they gather below to hear his orders. He tells them off in detachments not exceeding thirty men, and attaching them to officers, sends them to loot places. The detachments operate at distances of from five hundred to a thousand yards, but unite at the sound of a conch.

"To re-enforce a detachment in case of emergency, small sections of three or four swordsmen move about. At the sight of them our men flee. Towards dark the detachments return to headquarters and hand in their loot, never making any concealment. It is then distributed. They always abduct women, and at night they indulge in drinking and debauchery. They always advance in single rank at a slow pace, and thus their extension is miles long. For tens of days they can run without showing fatigue. In camping, they divide into many companies, and thus they can make a siege effective. Against our positions they begin by sending a few men who by swift and deceptive movements cause our troops to exhaust all their projectiles fruitlessly, and then the assault is delivered. They are clever in using ambushes, and often when they seem to be worsted, their hidden forces spring up in our rear and throw our army into a panic."

There is no reason to doubt the truth of these records, naive as are some of the descriptions. Unquestionably the Wokou were a terrible scourge to the Chinese on the eastern littoral.

INTERCOURSE WITH RYUKYU

Japanese annals say that the royal family of Ryukyu was descended from the hero Minamoto Tametomo who was banished to the island in 1156, and certainly the inhabitants of the archipelago are a race closely allied to the Japanese. But in 1373, the then ruler, Chuzan, sent an envoy to the Ming Court and became a tributary of the latter. In 1416, however, an ambassador from the islands presented himself at the Muromachi shogunate, and twenty-five years later (1441), the shogun Yoshinori, just before his death, bestowed Ryukyu on Shimazu Tadakuni, lord of Satsuma, in recognition of meritorious services. Subsequently (1471) the shogun Yoshimasa, in compliance with a request from the Shimazu family, forbade the sailing of any vessel to Ryukyu without a Shimazu permit, and when, a few years later, Miyake Kunihide attempted to invade Ryukyu, the Shimazu received Muromachi's (Yoshitane's) commission to punish him. Historically, therefore, Ryukyu formed part of Japan, but its rulers maintained a tributary attitude towards China until recent times, as will presently be seen.

LITERATURE DURING THE MUROMACHI PERIOD

Throughout the Muromachi period of two and a half centuries a group of military men held the administration and reaped all rewards and emoluments of office so that literary pursuits ranked in comparatively small esteem. Some education was necessary, indeed, for men of position, but eminent scholars were exceptional. Noteworthy among the latter were Nijo Yoshimoto, Ichijo Fuyuyoshi, Doin Kinsada, Sanjonishi Sanetaka, and Kiyowara Naritada. Most renowned was Ichijo Kaneyoshi. Equally versed in the classics of China and Japan, as well as in Buddhism and Confucianism, he composed several works of high merit. A feature of the period was the erudition of the priests. Gen-e, a bonze of the temple Hiei-zan, adopted the commentaries of the Sung savants, Chengtzu and Chutsu, rejecting those of the earlier Han and Tang writers. In other words, he adopted the eclectic system of Buddhism and Confucianism as compounded by the scholars of the Sung and the Yuan epochs, in preference to the system of earlier pundits. The Emperor Go-Daigo invited Gen-e to Court and directed him to expound the Sutras. Thereafter, the Sung philosophy obtained wide allegiance, being preached by the priests of the Five Great Temples in Kyoto, and by all their provincial branches. On the other hand, the hereditary schools of Oye and Sugawara, adhering to their old dogmas, fell behind the times and declined in influence.

The feature of the age in point of learning was that scholarship became a priestly specialty. From the Five Temples (Go-zari) students constantly flocked to China, where they received instructions in the exoterics and esoterics of Buddhism, as modified by the creed of Confucius, laying the foundations of systems upon which philosophers of later ages, as Kazan and Seiga, built fair edifices. These priests of the Five Temples were more than religious propagandists: they were ministers of State, as Tenkai and Soden were in after times under the Tokugawa, and they practically commanded the shoguns. One reason operating to produce this result was that, in an age when lineage or military prowess was the sole secular step to fortune, men of civil talent but humble birth had to choose between remaining in hopeless insignificance or entering the priesthood where knowledge and virtue were sure passports to distinction. It was thus that in nearly every monastery there were found men of superior intellect and erudition. The fact was recognized. When Ashikaga Takauji desired to take counsel of Muso Kokushi, he repaired to that renowned priest's temple and treated him as a respected parent; and Yoshimitsu, the third of the Ashikaga shoguns, showed equal respect towards Gido, Zekkai and Jorin, whose advice he constantly sought.

It was strange, indeed, that in an age when the sword was the paramount tribunal, the highest dignitaries in the land revered the exponents of ethics and literature. Takauji and his younger brother, Tadayoshi, sat at the feet of Gen-e as their preceptor. Yoshimitsu appointed Sugawara Hidenaga to be Court lecturer. Ujimitsu, the Kamakura kwanryo, took Sugawara Toyonaga for preacher. Yoshimasa's love of poetry impelled him to publish the Kinshudan.* Above all, Yoshihisa was an earnest scholar. He had a thorough knowledge of Chinese and Japanese classics; he was himself a poetaster of no mean ability; he read canonical books even as he sat in his palanquin; under his patronage Ichijo Kaneyoshi wrote the Shodan-chiyo and** the Bummei Ittoki; Fujiwara Noritane compiled the Teio-keizu; Otsuki Masabumi lectured on the analects and Urabe Kanetomo expounded the standard literature of the East.

*The Embroidered Brocade Discourse.

**Rustic Ideals of Government.

Yet, side by side with these patrons of learning stood a general public too ignorant to write its own name. Military men, who formed the bulk of the nation, were engrossed with the art of war and the science of intrigue to the exclusion of all erudition. The priests were always available to supply any need, and the priests utilized the occasion. Nevertheless, it stands to the credit of these bonzes that they made no attempt to monopolize erudition. Their aim was to popularize it. They opened temple-seminaries (tera-koya) and exercise halls (dojo) where youths of all classes could obtain instruction and where an excellent series of text-books was used, the Iroha-uta* the Doji-kyo, the Teikin-orai** and the Goseibai-shikimoku.*** The Doji-kyo has been translated by Professor Chamberlain (in Vol. VIII of the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan"). A few extracts will serve to show the nature of the ethical teaching given to Japanese children in medieval days:

*A syllabary of moral precepts like the ethical copy-books of Occidentals.

**A model letter-writer.

***The criminal laws of Hojo Yasutoki. All these text-books remained in use until the Meiji era.

Let nothing lead thee into breaking faith with thy friend, and depart not from thy word. It is the tongue that is the root of misfortunes; if the mouth were made like unto the nose, a man would have no trouble till his life's end. In the house where virtue is accumulated there will surely be superabundant joy. No man is worthy of honour from his birth; 'tis the garnering-up of virtue that bringeth him wisdom and virtue; the rich man may not be worthy of honour. In thin raiment on a winter's night, brave the cold and be reading the whole night through; with scanty fare on a summer's day, repel hunger and be learning the whole day long. . . . A father's loving kindness is higher than the mountains; a mother's bounty is deeper than the sea. . . . He that receiveth benefits and is not grateful is like unto the birds that despoil the branches of the trees they perch on. . . . Above all things, men must practise charity; it is by almsgiving that wisdom is fed; less than all things, men must grudge money; it is by riches that wisdom is hindered. . . . The merit of an alms given with a compassionate heart to one poor man is like unto the ocean; the recompense of alms given to a multitude for their own sake is like unto a grain of poppy-seed.

This text-book, the Doji-kyo, was compiled by a priest, Annen, who lived in the second half of the ninth century. Its origin belongs, therefore, to a much more remote era than that of the Muromachi shoguns, but, in common with the other text-books enumerated above, its extensive use is first mentioned in the Ashikaga epoch. The Five Temples of Kyoto--to be spoken of presently--were seats of learning; and many names of the littérateurs that flourished there have been handed down. Not the least celebrated were Gido and Zekkai, who paid several visits to China, the fountain-head of ideographic lore. But these conditions were not permanent. The Onin War created a serious interruption. Kyoto was laid in ruins, and rare books lay on the roadside, no one caring to pick them up.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES

Throughout the Ashikaga period the Kyoto university existed in name only, and students of Japanese literature in the provinces disappeared. A few courtiers, as Nakahara, Dye, Sugawara, Miyoshi, etc., still kept up the form of lecturing but they did not receive students at large. Nevertheless, a few military magnates, retaining some appreciation of the value of erudition, established schools and libraries. Among these, the Kanazawa-bunko and the Ashikaga-gakko were the most famous. The former had its origin in the closing years of the Kamakura Bakufu. It was founded during the reign of Kameyama (1260-1274) by Sanetoki, grandson of Hojo Yoshitoki. A large collection of Chinese and Japanese works filled its shelves, and all desirous of studying had free access. Akitoki, son of Sanetoki, adopted Kanazawa as his family name and added largely to the library. He caused the ideographs Kanazawa-bunko to be stamped in black on all Confucian works, and in red on Buddhist.

It is recorded in the Hojo Kudaiki that men of all classes, laymen and priests alike, were shut up daily in this library where they studied gratis, and that Akitoki's son, Sadaaki, was as ardent a student as his father, so that men spoke of him as well fitted to be regent (shikken), thus showing that literary skill was counted a qualification for high office. Fire, the destroyer of so many fine relics of Japanese civilization, visited this library more than once, but during the reign of Go-Hanazono (1429-1464) it was restored and extended by the Uesugi family, who also rebuilt and endowed schools for the study of Japanese literature in the province of Kotsuke. Among these schools was the Ashikaga-gakko, under the presidency of a priest, Kaigen, in the day of whose ninth successor, Kyuka, the pupils attending the schools totalled three thousand. A few great families patronized literature without recourse to priests. This was notably the case with the Ouchi, whose tradal connexions gave them special access to Chinese books. Ouchi Yoshitaka, in particular, distinguished himself as an author. He established a library which remained for many generations; he sent officials to China to procure rare volumes, and it is incidentally mentioned that he had several manuscripts printed in the Middle Kingdom, although the art of block-printing had been practised in Japan since the close of the eighth century. A composition which had its origin at this epoch was the yokyoku, a special kind of libretto for mimetic dances. Books on art also were inspired by the Higashiyama craze for choice specimens of painting, porcelain, and lacquer. Commentaries, too, made their appearance, as did some histories, romances, and anthologies.

PICTORIAL ART

As Japan during the Ashikaga period sat at the feet of the Sung masters in philosophy and literature, so it was in the realm of art. There is, indeed, a much closer relation between literature and pictorial art in China than in any Occidental country, for the two pursuits have a common starting-point--calligraphy. The ideograph is a picture, and to trace it in such a manner as to satisfy the highest canons is a veritably artistic achievement. It has been shown above that in the Muromachi era the priests of Buddha were the channels through which the literature and the philosophy of Sung reached Japan, and it will presently be seen that the particular priests who imported and interpreted this culture were those of the Zen sect. There is natural sequence, therefore, in the facts that these same priests excelled in calligraphy and introduced Japan to the pictorial art of the immortal Sung painters.

There were in China, at the time of the Ashikaga, two schools of painters: a Northern and a Southern. The term is misleading, for the distinction was really not one of geography but one of method. What distinguished the Southern school was delicacy of conception, directness of execution, and lightness of tone. To produce a maximum of effect with a minimum of effort; to suggest as much as to depict, and to avoid all recourse to heavy colours--these were the cardinal tenets of the Southern school. They were revealed to Japan by a priest named Kao, who, during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339), passed ten years in China, and returning to Kyoto, opened a studio in the temple Kennin-ji, where he taught the methods of Li Lungmin of the Sung dynasty and Yen Hui of the Yuan. He revolutionized Japanese art. After him Mincho is eminent. Under the name of Cho Densu--the Abbot Cho--he acquired perpetual fame by his paintings of Buddhist saints.

But Mincho's religious pictures did not help to introduce the Sung academy to Japan. That task was reserved for Josetsu--a priest of Chinese or Japanese origin--who, during the second half of the fourteenth century, became the teacher of many students at the temple Shokoku-ji, in Kyoto. Among his pupils was Shubun, and the latter's followers included such illustrious names as Sotan, Sesshu, Shinno; Masanbbu, and Motonobu. It is to this day a question whether Japan ever produced greater artists than Sesshu and Motonobu. To the same galaxy belongs Tosa no Mitsunobu, the founder of the Tosa school as Motonobu was of the Kano. That official patronage was extended to these great men is proved by the fact that Mitsunobu was named president of the E-dokoro, or Court Academy of Painting; and Motonobu received the priestly rank of hogen.

APPLIED ART

Industries in general suffered from the continual wars of the Ashikaga epoch, but the art of forging swords flourished beyond all precedent. Already Awadaguchi, Bizen, Osafune, and others had attained celebrity, but for Okazaki Masamune, of Kamakura, who worked during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339) was reserved the renown of peerlessness. His long travels to investigate the methods of other masters so as to assimilate their best features, are historically recorded, and at the head of the great trinity of Japanese swordsmiths his name is placed by universal acclaim, his companions being Go no Yoshihiro and Fujiwara Yoshimitsu.* In Muromachi days so much depended on the sword that military men thought it worthy of all honour. A present of a fine blade was counted more munificent than a gift of a choice steed, and on the decoration of the scabbard, the guard, and the hilt extraordinary skill was expended. Towards the close of the fifteenth century, a wonderful expert in metals, Goto Yujo, devoted himself to the production of these ornaments, and his descendants perpetuated his fame down to the middle of the nineteenth century. The Gotos, however, constitute but a small section of the host of masters who will always be remembered in this branch of art. In the Muromachi period alone we have such names as Aoki Kaneiye, Myochin Nobuiye, Umetada Akihisa and others.** Armour making also was carried to a point of high achievement during the epoch, especially by Nobuiye.***

*Chamberlain in Things Japanese says: "Japanese swords excel even the vaunted products of Damascus and Toledo. To cut through a pile of copper coins without nicking the blade is, or was, a common feat. History, tradition, and romance alike re-echo with the exploits of this wonderful weapon."

**For an exhaustive analysis see Brinkley's China and Japan.

***See Conder's History of Japanese Costume; Vol. IX. of the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan."

LACQUER

It is generally conceded that the Japanese surpass all nations in the art of making lacquer. They not only developed the processes to a degree unknown to their original teacher, China, but they also introduced artistic features of great beauty. Unfortunately, history transmits the names of Jew masters in this line. We can only say that in the days of Yoshimasa's shogunate, that is, during the second half of the fifteenth century, several choice varieties began to be manufactured, as the nashiji, the togidashi, the negoro-nuri, the konrinji-nuri, the shunkei-nuri, the tsuishu, and the tsuikoku. Choice specimens received from later generations the general epithet Higashiyama-mono, in reference to the fact that they owed so much to the patronage of Yoshimasa in his mansion at Higashi-yama.

PORCELAIN AND FAIENCE

To the Muromachi epoch belongs also the first manufacture of faience, as distinguished from unglazed pottery, and of porcelain, as distinguished from earthenware. The former innovation is ascribed--as already noted--to Kato Shirozaemon, a native of Owari, who visited China in 1223 and studied under the Sung ceramists; the latter, to Shonzui, who also repaired to China in 1510, and, on his return, set up a kiln at Arita, in Hizen, where he produced a small quantity of porcelain, using materials obtained from China, as the existence of Japanese supplies was not yet known. The faience industry found many followers, but its products all bore the somewhat sombre impress of the cha-no-yu (tea ceremonial) canons.

ARCHITECTURE

The architectural feature of the time was the erection of tea-parlours according to the severe type of the cha-no-yu cult. Such edifices were remarkable for simplicity and narrow dimensions. They partook of the nature of toys rather than of practical residences, being, in fact, nothing more than little chambers, entirely undecorated, where a few devotees of the tea ceremonial could meet and forget the world. As for grand structures like the "Silver Pavilion" of Yoshimasa and the "Golden Pavilion" of Yoshimitsu, they showed distinct traces of Ming influence, but with the exception of elaborate interior decoration they do not call for special comment.

A large part of the work of the Japanese architect consisted in selecting rare woods and uniquely grown timber, in exquisite joinery, and in fine plastering. Display and ornament in dwelling-houses were not exterior but interior; and beginning with the twelfth century, interior decoration became an art which occupied the attention of the great schools of Japanese painters. The peculiar nature of Japanese interior division of the house with screens or light partitions instead of walls lent itself to a style of decoration which was quite as different in its exigencies and character from Occidental mural decorations as was Japanese architecture from Gothic or Renaissance. The first native school of decorative artists was the Yamato-ryu, founded in the eleventh century by Fujiwara Motomitsu and reaching the height of its powers in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth century Fujiwara Tsunetaka, a great painter of this school, took the title of Tosa. Under him the Tosa-ryu became the successor of the Yamato-ryu and carried on its work with more richness and charm. The Tosa school was to a degree replaced after the fifteenth century in interior painting by the schools of Sesshu and Kano.

RELIGION

As one of Yoritomo's first acts when he organized the Kamakura Bakufu had been to establish at Tsurugaoka a shrine to Hachiman (the god of War), patron deity of the Minamotos' great ancestor, Yoshiiye, so when Takauji, himself a Minamoto, organized the Muromachi Bakufu, he worshipped at the Iwashimizu shrine of Hachiman, and all his successors in the shogunate followed his example. Of this shrine Tanaka Harukiyo was named superintendent (betto), and with the Ashikaga leader's assistance, he rebuilt the shrine on a sumptuous scale, departing conspicuously from the austere fashion of pure Shinto.* It may, indeed, be affirmed that Shinto had never been regarded as a religion in Japan until, in the days of the Nara Court, it was amalgamated with Buddhism to form what was called Ryobu-shinto. It derived a further character of religion from the theory of Kitabatake Chikafusa, who contended that Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism were all capable of being welded into one whole. Moreover, in the Muromachi period, the eminent scholar, Ichijo Kaneyoshi (1402-81), wrote a thesis which gave some support to the views of Chikafusa.

*The shrine covered a space of 400 square yards and had a golden gutter, 80 feet long, 13 feet wide, and over 1 inch thick.

But, during the reign of Go-Tsuchimikado (1465-1500), Urabe Kanetomo, professing to interpret his ancestor, Kanenobu, enunciated the doctrine of Yuiitsu-shinto (unique Shinto), namely, that as between three creeds, Shinto was the root; Confucianism, the branches, and Buddhism, the fruit. This was the first explicit differentiation of Shinto. It found favour, and its propounder's son, Yoshida, asserted the principles still more strenuously. The fact is notable in the history of religion in Japan. Yoshida was the forerunner of Motoori, Hirata, and other comparatively modern philosophers who contended for the revival of "Pure Shinto." Many Japanese annalists allege that Shinto owes its religious character solely to the suggestions of Buddhism, and point to the fact that the Shinto cult has never been able to inspire a great exponent.

ENGRAVING: BELL TOWER OF TODAI-JI

BUDDHISM

The attitude of the Ashikaga towards Buddhism was even more reverential. They honoured the Zen sect almost exclusively. Takauji built the temple Tenryu-ji, in Kyoto, and planned to establish a group of provincial temples under the name of Ankoku-ji. There can be little doubt that his animating purpose in thus acting was to create a counterpoise to the overwhelming strength of the monasteries of Nara and Hiei-zan. The latter comprised three thousand buildings--temples and seminaries--and housed a host of soldier-monks who held Kyoto at their mercy and who had often terrorized the city and the palace. In the eighth century, when the great temple, Todai-ji, was established at Nara, affiliated temples were built throughout the provinces, under the name of Kokubun-ji.

It was in emulation of this system that Takauji erected the Tenryu-ji and planned a provincial net-work of Ankoku-ji. His zeal in the matter assumed striking dimensions. On the one hand, he levied heavy imposts to procure funds; on the other, he sent to China ships--hence called Tenryuji-bune--to obtain furniture and fittings. Thus, in the space of five years, the great edifice was completed (1345), and there remained a substantial sum in the Muromachi treasury. The monks of Enryaku-ji (Hiei-zan) fathomed Takauji's purpose. They flocked down to the capital, halberd in hand and sacred car on shoulder, and truculently demanded of the Emperor that Soseki, high priest of the new monastery, should be exiled and the edifice destroyed. But the Ashikaga leader stood firm. He announced that if the soldier-monks persisted, their lord-abbot should be banished and their property confiscated; before which evidently earnest menaces the mob of friars turned their faces homeward. Thereafter, Takauji, and his brother Tadayoshi celebrated with great pomp the ceremony of opening the new temple, and the Ashikaga leader addressed to the priest, Soseki, a document pledging his own reverence and the reverence of all his successors at Muromachi. But that part of his programme which related to the provincial branch temples was left incomplete. At no time, indeed, were the provinces sufficiently peaceful and sufficiently subservient for the carrying out of such a plan by the Ashikaga.

GREAT PRIESTS

The priest Soseki--otherwise called "Muso Kokushi," or "Muso, the national teacher"--was one of the great bonzes in an age when many monasteries were repositories of literature and statesmanship. His pupils, Myoo and Chushin, enjoyed almost equal renown in the days of the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, whose piety rivalled that of Takauji. He assigned to them a residence in the Rokuon-ji, his own family temple, and there he visited them to hear discourses on Buddhist doctrine and to consult about administrative affairs. A still more illustrious bonze was Ryoken, of Nanzen-ji. It is related of him that he repaired, on one occasion, to the Kita-yama palace of the shogun Yosh mitsu, wearing a ragged garment. Yoshimitsu at once changed his own brocade surcoat for the abbot's torn vestment, and subsequently, when conducting his visitor on a boating excursion, the shogun carried the priest's footgear. It is not possible for a Japanese to perform a lowlier act of obeisance towards another than to be the bearer of the latter's sandals. Yoshimitsu was in a position to dictate to the Emperor, yet he voluntarily performed a menial office for a friar.

These four priests, Soseki, Myoo, Chushin, and Ryoken, all belonged to the Zen sect. The doctrines of that sect were absolutely paramount in Muromachi days, as they had been in the times of the Kamakura Bakufu. A galaxy of distinguished names confronts us on the pages of history--Myocho of Daitoku-ji; Gen-e of Myoshin-ji; Ikkyu Zenji of Daitoku-ji, a descendant of the Emperor Go-Komatsu; Tokuso of Nanzen-ji; Shiren of Tofuku-ji; Shushin of Nanzen-ji; Juo of Myoshin-ji; Tetsuo of Daitoku-ji, and Gazan of Soji-ji. All these were propagandists of Zen-shu doctrine. It has been well said that the torch of religion burns brightest among dark surroundings. In circumstances of tumultuous disorder and sanguinary ambition, these great divines preached a creed which taught that all worldly things are vain and valueless. Moreover, the priests themselves did not practise the virtues they inculcated. They openly disregarded their vow of chastity; bequeathed their temples and manors to their children; employed hosts of stoled soldiers; engaged freely in the fights of the era, and waxed rich on the spoils of their arms.

It is recorded of Kenju (called also Rennyo Shoniri), eighth successor of Shinran, that his eloquence brought him not only a crowd of disciples but also wealth comparable with that of a great territorial magnate; that he employed a large force of armed men, and that by dispensing with prohibitions he made his doctrine popular. This was at the close of the fifteenth century when Yoshimasa practised dilettanteism at Higashi-yama. It became in that age a common habit that a man should shave his head and wear priest's vestments while still taking part in worldly affairs. The distinction between bonze and layman disappeared. Some administrative officials became monks; some daimyo fought wearing sacerdotal vestments over their armour, and some priests led troops into battle. If a bonze earned a reputation for eloquence or piety, he often became the target of jealous violence at the hands of rival sectarians and had to fly for his life from the ruins of a burning temple. Not until the advent of Christianity, in the middle of the sixteenth century, did these outrages cease.

THE FIVE TEMPLES OF KYOTO

The Zen sect had been almost equally popular during the epoch of the Hojo. They built for it five great temples in Kamakura, and that example was followed by the Ashikaga in Kyoto. The five fanes in the capital were called collectively, Go-zan. They were Kennin-ji, Tofuku-ji, Nanzen-ji, Tenryu-ji, and Shokoku-ji. After the conclusion of peace between the Northern and Southern Courts the temple Shokoku-ji was destroyed by fire and it remained in ashes until the time of Yoshimasa, when the priest, Chushin, persuaded the shogun to undertake the work of reconstruction. A heavy imposition of land-tax in the form of tansen, and extensive requisitions for timber and stones brought funds and materials sufficient not only to restore the edifice and to erect a pagoda 360 feet high, but also to replenish the empty treasury of the shogun. Thus, temple-building enterprises on the part of Japanese rulers were not prompted wholly by religious motives.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

The frugal austerity of life under the rule of the Hojo was changed to lavish extravagance under the Ashikaga. Yet things should have been otherwise, for in Takauji's time there was enacted and promulgated the code of regulations already referred to as the Kemmu Shikimoku, wherein were strictly forbidden basara, debauchery, gambling, reunions for tea drinking and couplet composing, lotteries, and other excesses. Basara is a Sanskrit term for costly luxuries of every description, and the compilers of the code were doubtless sincere in their desire to popularize frugality. But the Ashikaga rulers themselves did not confirm their precepts by example. They seemed, indeed, to live principally for sensuous indulgence.

A Japanese writer of the fifteenth century, in a rhapsodical account of the Kyoto of his day, dwells on the wonderful majesty of the "sky-piercing roofs" and "cloud-topping balconies" of the Imperial palace. And he points with evident pride to the fact that this splendor--a splendor only a little less--was to be found besides in many other elegant residences which displayed their owners' taste and wealth. The chronicler notes that even those who were not noble, including some who had made their money by fortune-telling or by the practice of medicine, were sometimes able to make such display, to live in pretentious houses and have many servants. So could the provincial nobles, who it seems did not in other periods make much of a showing at the capital.

The dwellers in these mansions lived up to their environment. The degree of their refinement may be inferred from the fact that cooking became a science; they had two principal academies and numerous rules to determine the sizes and shapes of every implement and utensil, as well as the exact manner of manipulating them. The nomenclature was not less elaborate. In short, to become a master of polite accomplishments and the cuisine in the military era of Japan demanded patient and industrious study.

MODE OF TRAVELLING

The fashions of the Heian epoch in the manner of travelling underwent little change during the military age. The principal conveyance continued to be an ox-carriage or a palanquin. The only notable addition made was the kago, a kind of palanquin slung on a single pole instead of on two shafts. The kago accommodated one person and was carried by two. Great pomp and elaborate organization attended the outgoing of a nobleman, and to interrupt a procession was counted a deadly crime, while all persons of lowly degree were required to kneel with their hands on the ground and their heads resting on them as a nobleman and his retinue passed.

LANDSCAPE GARDENING

Great progress was made in the art of landscape gardening during the Muromachi epoch, but this is a subject requiring a volume to itself. Here it will suffice to note that, although still trammelled by its Chinese origin, the art received signal extension, and was converted into something like an exact science, the pervading aim being to produce landscapes and water-scapes within the limits of a comparatively small park without conveying any sense of undue restriction. Buddhist monks developed signal skill in this branch of esthetics, and nothing could exceed the delightful harmony which they achieved between nature and art. It may be mentioned that the first treatise on the art of landscape gardening appeared from the pen of Gokyogoku Yoshitsune in the beginning of the thirteenth century. It has been well said that the chief difference between the parks of Japan and the parks of Europe is that, whereas the latter are planned solely with reference to a geometrical scale of comeliness or in pure and faithful obedience to nature's indications, the former are intended to appeal to some particular mood or to evoke special emotion, while, at the same time, preserving a likeness to the landscapes and water-scapes of the world about us.

MINIATURE LANDSCAPE GARDENING

By observing the principles and practical rules of landscape gardening while reducing the scale of construction so that a landscape or a water-scape, complete in all details and perfectly balanced as to its parts, is produced within an area of two or three square feet, the Japanese obtained a charming development of the gardener's art. Admirable, however, as are these miniature reproductions of natural scenery and consummate as is the skill displayed in bringing all their parts into exact proportion with the scale of the design, they are usually marred by a suggestion of triviality. In this respect, greater beauty is achieved on an even smaller scale by dwarfing trees and shrubs so that, in every respect except in dimensions, they shall be an accurate facsimile of what they would have been had they grown for cycles unrestrained in the forest. The Japanese gardener "dwarfs trees so that they remain measurable only by inches after their age has reached scores, even hundreds, of years, and the proportions of leaf, branch and stem are preserved with fidelity. The pots in which these wonders of patient skill are grown have to be themselves fine specimens of the keramist's craft, and as much as £200 is sometimes paid for a notably well-trained tree."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, article "Japan," Brinkley.

TEA CEREMONIAL

The tea ceremonial (cha-no-yu) is essentially Japanese in its developments though its origin came from China. It has been well described as "a mirror in which the extraordinary elaborations of Japanese social etiquette may be seen vividly reflected." In fact, the use of tea as a beverage had very little to do with the refined amusement to which it was ultimately elevated. The term "tasting" would apply more accurately to the pastime than "drinking." But even the two combined convey no idea of the labyrinth of observances which constituted the ceremonial. The development of the cha-no-yu is mainly due to Shuko, a priest of the Zen sect of Buddhism, who seems to have conceived that tea drinking might be utilized to promote the moral conditions which he associated with its practice. Prof. H. B. Chamberlain notes that "It is still considered proper for tea enthusiasts to join the Zen sect of Buddhism, and it is from the abbot of Daitokuji at Kyoto that diplomas of proficiency are obtained." The bases of Shuko's system were the four virtues--urbanity, purity, courtesy, and imperturbability--and little as such a cult seemed adapted to the practices of military men, it nevertheless received its full elaboration under the feudal system. But although this general description is easy enough to formulate, the etiquette and the canons of the cha-no-yu would require a whole volume for an exhaustive description.

INCENSE COMPARING

The Muromachi epoch contributed to aristocratic pastimes the growth of another amusement known as ko-awase, "comparing of incense," a contest which tested both the player's ability to recognize from their odour different varieties of incense and his knowledge of ancient literature. As early as the seventh century the use of incense had attained a wide vogue in Japan. But it was not until the beginning of the sixteenth century that Shino Soshin converted the pastime into something like a philosophy. From his days no less than sixty-six distinct kinds of incense were recognized and distinguished by names derived from literary allusions. This pastime is not so elaborate as the cha-no-yu, nor does it furnish, like the latter, a series of criteria of art-objects. But it shows abundant evidence of the elaborate care bestowed upon it by generation after generation of Japanese dilettanti.

IKE-BANA

The English language furnishes no accurate equivalent for what the Japanese call ike-bana. The literal meaning of the term is "living flower," and this name well explains the fundamental principle of the art, namely, the arrangement of flowers so as to suggest natural life. In fact, the blossoms must look as though they were actually growing and not as though they were cut from the stems. It is here that the fundamental difference between the Occidental and the Japanese method of flower arrangement becomes apparent; the former appeals solely to the sense of colour, whereas the latter holds that the beauty of a plant is not derived from the colour of its blossoms more than from the manner of their growth. In fact, harmony of colour rather than symmetry of outline was the thing desired in a Japanese floral composition. It might be said that Western art, in general, and more particularly the decorative art of India, Persia and Greece--the last coming to Japan through India and with certain Hindu modifications--all aim at symmetry of poise; but that Japanese floral arrangement and decorative art in general have for their fundamental aim a symmetry by suggestion,--a balance, but a balance of inequalities. The ike-bana as conceived and practised in Japan is a science to which ladies, and gentlemen also, devote absorbing attention.

OTHER PASTIMES

It will be understood that to the pastimes mentioned above as originating in military times must be added others bequeathed from previous eras. Principal among these was "flower viewing" at all seasons; couplet composing; chess; draughts; football; mushroom picking, and maple-gathering parties, as well as other minor pursuits. Gambling, also, prevailed widely during the Muromachi epoch and was carried sometimes to great excesses, so that samurai actually staked their arms and armour on a cast of the dice. It is said that this vice had the effect of encouraging robbery, for a gambler staked things not in his possession, pledging himself to steal the articles if the dice went against him.

SINGING AND DANCING

One of the chief contributions of the military era to the art of singing was a musical recitative performed by blind men using the four-stringed Chinese lute, the libretto being based on some episode of military history. The performers were known as biwa-bozu, the name "bozu" (Buddhist priest) being derived from the fact that they shaved their heads after the manner of bonzes. These musicians developed remarkable skill of elocution, and simulated passion so that in succeeding ages they never lost their popularity. Sharing the vogue of the biwa-bozu, but differing from it in the nature of the story recited as well as in that of the instrument employed, was the joruri, which derived its name from the fact that it was originally founded on the tragedy of Yoshitsune's favourite mistress, Joruri. In this the performer was generally a woman, and the instrument on which she accompanied herself was the samisen. These two dances may be called pre-eminently the martial music of Japan, both by reason of the subject and the nature of the musical movement.

The most aristocratic performance of all, however, was the yokyoku, which ultimately grew into the no. This was largely of dramatic character and it owed its gravity and softness of tone to priestly influence, for the monopoly of learning possessed in those ages by the Buddhist friars necessarily made them pre-eminent in all literary accomplishments. The no, which is held in just as high esteem to-day as it was in medieval times, was performed on a stage in the open air and its theme was largely historical. At the back of the stage was seated a row of musicians who served as chorus, accompanying the performance with various instruments, chiefly the flute and the drum, and from time to time intoning the words of the drama. An adjunct of the no was the kyogen. The no was solemn and stately; the kyogen comic and sprightly. In fact, the latter was designed to relieve the heaviness of the former, just as on modern stages the drama is often relieved by the farce. It is a fact of sober history that the shogun Yoshimasa officially invested the no dance with the character of a ceremonious accomplishment of military men and that Hideyoshi himself often joined the dancers on the stage.

ENGRAVING: FLOWER POTS AND DWARF TREE

ENGRAVING: SWORDS PRESERVED AT SHOSO-IN TEMPLE, AT NARA