Japan. Various
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of the latter from headquarters, frequently acted in a rebellious manner. During an interval of 460 years after the legendary invasion of the Empress Jingō, no less than thirty instances are recorded when the Koreans either failed to send tribute, insulted Japanese envoys, or broke into open revolt. On every occasion Japan sent embassies to demand explanation and redress, or reasserted her supremacy by force of arms. Shiragi, which in those days stood at the head of the districts into which Korea was divided, rose in 562 against Mimana and succeeded in expelling the Japanese officials and obtaining possession of the place. This disaster weighed greatly on the mind of the Emperor Kimmei, whose last behest uttered on his deathbed was that Mimana should be recovered. A great army was accordingly sent against Shiragi, but success did not attend the Japanese arms. Not only was it found impossible to reduce Shiragi, but even the maintenance of the local government at Mimana proved a task beyond the military strength of the time. Thenceforth the recovery of Mimana became an object upon which Japan's attention was ever concentrated. When in 618 China fell under the powerful sway of the T'ang dynasty, the people of Shiragi, relying on Chinese assistance, conceived the project of bringing under their rule the neighboring district of Kudara. Reduced to extremities, Kudara in 660 sent envoys to seek succor from Japan. After considerable discussion, the Japanese Government resolved to undertake an expedition against Shiragi on a large scale. Great preparations were set on foot. The sovereign himself proceeded to Tsukushi and oversaw the dispatch thence of a fleet of a hundred war vessels under the command of Azumi-no-Hirafu, whose instructions were to attack Shiragi and rescue Kudara. But the latter was found to be in a helpless condition. Invaded simultaneously by the forces of China and Shiragi, it was also torn by internal dissensions, and could not coöperate in any effective manner with the Japanese navy, which consequently withdrew, leaving Kudara to its inevitable fate. The final fall of Kudara occurred in 670, and a few years later the third Korean district of Koma was also defeated by China. Shiragi subsequently sent occasional tribute to Japan, but was never afterward included in the Japanese dominions. The Emperor Tenchi, reviewing the history of his country's relations with Korea, seems to have arrived at the definite conclusion that the wisest policy was on the side of abandoning all idea of recovering Kudara, and devoting Japan's energies solely to organizing measures of defense against foreign attack. He accordingly adopted every possible means of promoting military efficiency. It should be remembered that Japan had not only lavished money and blood for Korea, but also had outlived the days when the civilizing influence of the continent had to come by way of the peninsula and had already been in communication with the source of enlightenment, China. It was during the reign of the same Emperor Tenchi that China sent an envoy to the court of Japan, and the latter country dispatched an embassy in return, so that the two empires were brought into more friendly relations than before.
If, however, the extent of the Japanese dominions suffered reduction in the west, it in the meantime received an increment in the north by the subjection of some recalcitrant tribes. It will be recalled that the uprising of these people, called Emishi, or Ebisu, had been suppressed by Prince Yamato-dake, but further north in the island of Ezo, the present Hokkaidō;, the imperial sway received only partial acknowledgment. There the Emishi not only were restless, but also generally had the sympathy and support of their kinsmen across the waters, just as in earlier times, the Kumaso, the autochthons of Kiushū, habitually espoused the cause of Korea in any conflict between the latter and Japan. The government always found itself compelled to undertake a dual campaign in times of trouble with the island on the north or with the peninsula on the west. Because of these difficulties forts were built, about 650, at Nutari and Iwafune in Echigo, and garrisoned by the people of that province and of Shinano, for the purpose of holding the aborigines of Ezo in control. The unsettled condition of these outlying districts may be further inferred from an enactment contemporaneous with the great Taikwa reforms. For whereas a general interdict was then issued against unauthorized possession of arms and armor by private persons, dwellers in the remote parts of the east were exempted from this prohibition on the ground of their liability to attack.
During the years 658–660, in the Empress Saimei's reign, Abe-no-Hirafu, a distinguished governor of the Koshi provinces (Echigo and Uzen), conducted successful campaigns against the autochthons of Ezo, breaking their power and destroying their vessels of war, and finally invaded Manchuria at the head of a force composed of subjugated Emishi, and cut off the source from which insurgents had usually derived succor. The result of this campaign was that the Emishi were, for the most part, brought into subjection, and functionaries called Gunryō; were posted at Shiribeshi in the northern island. Frequent insurrections, however, followed, and finally it was found necessary to build the castles of Taga and Akita, where strong forces of soldiers were maintained to preserve order.
A few expeditions on a large scale were also organized against them under the command of generalissimos (shōgun) upon whom the duty of guarding the northern and eastern marches devolved, but it was not until 796, during the reign of the Emperor Kwammu, that these autochthons were effectually brought into subjection. The campaign against them at that time was directed by a renowned captain, Sakanoue-no-Tamuramaro, who, at the head of a great army, penetrated to the limits of the rebellious districts, slaughtering all who refused to surrender. This general's exploits were second only to those of his predecessor Abe-no-Hirafu. Not only was the sway of the imperial court thus extended to the east and north, but in the south also various islands—Tokuara, Tane, Yaku, Amami, Toku, and others—lying off the coasts of Satsuma and Ōsumi, were added to the Japanese dominions.
The curious "Hairy Ainos" of northern Japan hold the bear in extreme sanctity. They catch the bear when young and bring him up on human milk, a nurse being deputed to him. Then he is transferred to a cage and, when he is old enough to be slain, on the day of sacrifice the whole village turns out armed with bows and arrows, the cage is opened and each one strives to send home the fatal shaft. The chief prays the bear to pardon the violence done him, requests benefits from the now deified carcass, and presents offerings. They then behead and skin the bear, and begin an orgie which lasts several days.
Let us now see what important incidents took place during this time around the person of the sovereign. In the third year of the Emperor Tenchi's reign, 670, the celebrated statesman of the Taikwa reformation, Nakatomi-no-Kamatari died. He had been raised to the position of lord keeper of the privy seal, and had received the family name of Fujiwara, in recognition of his meritorious services. Kamatari was a man of thorough loyalty and integrity. His zeal in the emperor's service was unflagging, and he showed great ability in framing useful laws and regulations, so that, after his decease, people spoke of him as a model of fidelity. Two years later the emperor himself, formally the leader of the reforms since 645, died, leaving behind him a reputation for good government which was held in so grateful a remembrance that when more than a century later the Emperor Kwammu promulgated a law dispensing with the observance of religious ceremonies on the anniversaries of the deaths of sovereigns deceased at remote periods, public sentiment caused the Emperor Tenchi to be excepted from the general rule. Yet he had scarcely been laid to rest when a serious disturbance took place with reference to his successor. In accordance with the rule of primogeniture followed in Japan, the scepter was bequeathed to the eldest prince of the blood with almost unvarying regularity during the thirteen generations from Jimmu to Seimu; and throughout the thirty-two generations from Jimmu to Sujun no woman held the scepter, for although Jingō held regency for sixty-nine years, she was never invested with the dignity of the title of sovereign.
The accession of the Empress Suiko was due to exceptional circumstances, and did not mark a recognized departure from the old rule. Subsequently, however, not a few instances occurred of the scepter falling into the hands of an uncle or niece of a deceased emperor, and on these occasions more or less disquiet accompanied the event. But no disturbance connected with such a cause attained anything like the dimensions of the trouble that followed Tenchi's death.[1] On the occasion of the emperor's visit to Tsukushi to make arrangements for the invasion of Korea, he entrusted the administration of affairs during his absence to his younger brother, Prince Ōama,