A History of the Japanese People. Kikuchi Dairoku
That is all I have attempted to do in these pages, and I beg to solicit pardon for any defect they may be found to contain.
F. BRINKLEY.
TOKYO, 1912.
CHAPTER
I. The Historiographer's Art in Old Japan
II. Japanese Mythology
III. Japanese Mythology (Continued)
IV. Rationalization
V. Origin of the Japanese Nation: Historical Evidences
VI. Origin of the Nation: Geographical and Archaeological
Relics
VII. Language and Physical Characteristics
VIII. Manners and Customs in Remote Antiquity
IX. The Prehistoric Sovereigns
X. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued)
XI. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued)
XII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns
XIII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns (Continued)
XIV. From the 29th to the 35th Sovereign
XV. The Daika Reforms
XVI. The Daiho Laws and the Yoro Laws
XVII. The Nara Epoch
XVIII. The Heian Epoch
XIX. The Heian Epoch (Continued)
XX. The Heian Epoch (Continued)
XXI. The Capital and the Provinces
XXII. Recovery of Administrative Authority by the Throne
XXIII. Manners and Customs of the Heian Epoch
XXIV. The Epoch of the Gen (Minamoto) and the Hei (Taira)
XXV. The Epoch of the Gen and the Hei (Continued)
XXVI. The Kamakura Bakufu
XXVII. The Hojo
XXVIII. Art, Religion, Literature, Customs, and Commerce in the
Kamakura Period
XXIX. Fall of the Hojo and Rise of the Ashikaga
XXX. The War of the Dynasties
XXXI. The Fall of the Ashikaga
XXXII. Foreign Intercourse, Literature, Art, Religion, Manners, and Customs in the Muromachi Epoch
XXXIII. The Epoch of Wars (Sengoku Jidai)
XXXIV. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu
XXXV. The Invasion of Korea
XXXVI. The Momo-Yama Epoch
XXXVII. Christianity in Japan
XXXVIII. The Tokugawa Shogunate
XXXIX. First Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu; from the First
Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, to the Fourth, Ietsuna
(1603–1680)
XL. Middle Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu; from the Fifth
Shogun, Tsunayoshi, to the Tenth Shogun, Ieharu
(1680–1786)
XLI. The Late Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu. The Eleventh
Shogun,Ienari (1786–1838)
XLII. Organization, Central and Local; Currency and the
Laws of the Tokugawa Bakufu
XLIII. Revival of the Shinto Cult
XLIV. Foreign Relations and the Decline of the Tokugawa
XLV. Foreign Relations and the Decline of the Tokugawa (Continued)
XLVI. The Meiji Government
XLVII. Wars with China and Russia
APPENDIX
1. Constitution of Japan, 1889
2. Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 1905
3. Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905
INDEX
HISTORICAL MAPS
Japan about 1337: Northern and Southern Courts
Japan in Era of Wars, 1577: Distribution of Fiefs
Japan in 1615: Feudatories
Japan, Korea and the Mainland of Asia
FULL PAGE HALF-TONES
Capt. F. Brinkley, R. A.
The Emperor Jimmu
The Shrine of Ise
Prehistoric Remains: Plate A
Prehistoric Remains: Plate B
Prince Shotoku
Kaigen Ceremony of the Nara Daibutsu
Thirty-six Versifiers (Painting by Korin)
Cherry-Viewing Festival at Mukojima
Kamakura Daibutsu
Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)
Court Costumes
Tokugawa Shrine at Nikko
The Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito)
Sinking of the Russian Battleship Osliabya
Admiral Togo
WORKS CONSULTED
ENGRAVING: MT. FUJI SEEN FROM THE FUJI-GAWA
CHAPTER I
THE HISTORIOGRAPHER'S ART IN OLD JAPAN
MATERIALS FOR HISTORY
IN the earliest eras of historic Japan there existed a hereditary corporation of raconteurs (Katari-be) who, from generation to generation, performed the function of reciting the exploits of the sovereigns and the deeds of heroes. They accompanied themselves on musical instruments, and naturally, as time went by, each set of raconteurs embellished the language of their predecessors, adding supernatural elements, and introducing details which belonged to the realm of romance rather than to that of ordinary history. These Katari-be would seem to have been the sole repository of their country's annals until the sixth century of the Christian era. Their repertories of recitation included records of the great families as well as of the sovereigns, and it is easy to conceive that the favour and patronage of these high personages were earned by ornamenting the traditions of their households and exalting their pedigrees. But when the art of writing was introduced towards the close of the fourth century, or at the beginning of the fifth, and it was seen that in China, then the centre of learning and civilization, the art had been applied to the compilation of a national history as well as of other volumes possessing great ethical value, the Japanese conceived the ambition of similarly utilizing their new attainment. For reasons which will be understood by and by, the application of the ideographic script to the language of Japan was a task of immense difficulty, and long years must have passed before the attainment of any degree of proficiency.
Thus it was not until the time of the Empress Suiko (593–628)