A History of Japan, 1334-1615 9781503621152

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A HISTORY OF JAPAN

1334-1615

A HISTORY OF JAPAN 1334-1615

George Sansom

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA

Stanford University Press Stanford, California © 1961 by the Board ofTrustecs of the Leland Stanford junior University Printed in the United States of America Cloth ISBN 0-8047-0524-0 Paper ISBN 0-8047-0525-9 Original printing 1961

PREFACE

This volume relates the course of events in a period of some two hundred and eighty years during which the whole of Japan was tom by factions and plagued by incessant civil war until late in the shteenth century, when a process of national unification by force of arms was begun by a great general, Nobunaga, continued by his successor Hideyoshi, and completed by the victories of Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa ShOgun. Examined in retrospect this prolonged achievement of the military power reveals a decline in the moral standards of its leaders. The rule of the Hojo had been distinguished by prudent administration and a concern for justice until after the Mongol invasion of 1281, which threw a great strain upon the feudal economy. At the turn of the century the Hojo were showing clear signs of weakness, anc;t in 1334 (perhaps because any feudal system harbours an internal contradiction) they succumbed to the pressure of dangerous rivals. Kamakura fell, the Regency was destroyed, and the Throne, after a fruitless restoration, was subjected to the dominance of a new line of Shoguns, beginning with Ashikaga Takauji. Takauji and his kinsmen and associates were men without scruple. They have been blamed for their ill-treatment of the Imperial House, although in this they were no more guilty than the Hojo, who had banished an Emperor in 1221. Their real faults were their gross ambition and their ruthless greed. Yet the two centuries and more of Ashikaga rule (from 1336 to 1573) are the liveliest, the most varied and interesting period in Japanese history, whether military, political, or social. In the nineteenth century, because political orthodoxy regarded the Ashikaga Shoguns as traitors, Japanese historians tended to neglect this period; but today it is enthusiastically explored by specialists in almost every field bent upon tracing the evolution of the national life during the middle ages. Some scholars describe the dynastic struggle of the fourteenth century and its sequels as a social revolution. Such a label seems to me misleading, for what took place was a redistribution of feudal privilege and power due to economic stresses rather than to conscious political design and affecting the lives of both warrior and peasant in unforeseen ways. It is upon this aspect of Ashikaga history that I have mainly dwelt in the following chapters. I have paid comparatively little attention to the activities of Western missionaries and traders in Japan in the six-

vi

PREFACE

teenth century because I regard their intrusion as an episode of secondary importance in the history of the nation. From the Western viewpoint it has been amply treated by Murdoch. Since warfare was almost incessant during the years treated here, I have dealt at length and in what may seem tiresome detail with campaigns and the clash of arms. I wish I could have abbreviated these chronicles, but they are a necessary part of any study of a society in which the warriors compose the ruling class. Moreover, because development in the arts of war was rapid, the changing needs of armies influenced the direction of the economic development of the whole country and often dictated changes in its social and political structure. Even the aesthetic climate of the fifteenth century reflects the taste of successful fighting men. G. S.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe a great debt to many friends in Japan for continued assistance and encouragement. Fukui Rikichiro (formerly Professor at Tohoku Daigaku, Sendai), as well as reading critically parts of my manuscript, took pains to select and procure photographs for use as illustrations and gave me good advice out of his store of learning on mediaeval art and letters. Yashiro Yukio (celebrated as an art historian and now Director of the Yamato Bunkakan Museum at Nara), whose friendship I have enjoyed for many years, never failed to give me generous help. For several months in the spring and summer of 1959 I had the exceptional advantage of almost daily guidance by Toyoda Takeshi, of Tohoku Daigaku, one of the leading Japanese historians, who was at that time a guest of Stanford University. Our collaboration was as fruitful and harmonious as he is erudite and kind. We worked at the same desk side by side, although metaphorically I sat at his feet, with great profit and enjoyment. I also owe thanks to his accomplished wife, Toyoda Yoshiko, a specimen of whose calligraphy adorns the page preceding the half title of this volume. Sakamoto Taro, the learned director of the Historiographical Institute of Tokyo University, supplied me with much valuable material in the shape of photographs of documents of historical importance. Ishizawa Masao, of the Tokyo National Museum and a member of the Commission for the Protection of Cultural Property, also kindly furnished photographs of paintings and other articles under his care. Here I must also acknowledge the permission granted to me by the above Commission ( Bunkazai Hogo linkai) to publish photographs of materials under its protection. At Stanford Dr. Joseph Williams, Professor of Geography, again generously gave time and care to the preparation of maps and diagrams. I am indebted to Helen Craig McCullough of the University of California at Berkeley for research assistance, especially in regard to the first five chapters of this volume. Her translation of part of the Taiheiki covers some of the matters treated in those chapters. Other friends here and at Berkeley, in particular the library staff of the East Asiatic collections, gave me valuable assistance. I am especially obliged to J. G. Bell and Linda Brownrigg, of the Stanford University Press, for highly skilled editorial work.

CONTENTS I. THE REIGN OF GO-DAIGO

3

1. The Rival Dynasties. Go-Daigo's Accession, 1318. 2. GoDaigo's Resistance and Exile. 3. Go-Daigo's Return. 4. The Fall of Kamakura.

II. THE KEMMU RESTORATION 1. Go-Daigo's Policies. 2. Provincial Affairs. 3. The Failure of the Revival Movement.

22

III. THE RISE OF ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI 1. Takauji in Kyoto, 1336. 2. Retreat to the West. 3. Return from Kyiishii. 4. Minatogawa. 5. Takauji's Success. 6. The Kemmu Shikimoku.

43

IV. THE SOUTHERN COURT 1. Go-Daigo's Resistance. 2. Go-Murakami. 3. Loyalist Efforts in the Northern Region. 4. Kanenaga's Mission in Kyiishii. 5. Prospects in the Home Provinces.

59

V. DISSENSION IN THE BAKUFU 1. Opposition to Takauji's Policy. 2. Moronao and Moroyasu. 3. Tadayoshi and the Southern Court. 4. Rivalry between Takauji and Tadayoshi. 5. The Struggle for Kyoto, 1352-55.

78

VI. THE F AlLURE OF THE SOUTHERN COURT 1. Takauji Recaptures Kyoto. 2. Takauji. 3. Chikafusa. 4. The Last Phase of Loyalist Resistance. 5. The Kyiishii Campaign. 6. Imagawa Sadayo.

96

VII. THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR 1. Agreement between the Northern and Southern Courts. 2. A Note on Mediaeval Warfare. 3. The Ashigaru. 4. Wives and Children.

116

VIII. THE LIFE OF THE COURT

127

IX. ASHIKAGA SUPREMACY 1. The Throne Humiliated. 2. The Structure of Government under Yoshimitsu. 3. The Enemies of the Bakufu. 4. The Extravagance of Yoshimitsu. 5. Yoshimitsu's Relations with the Throne. 6. The Influence of Zen Buddhists. 7. Gid6 and Yoshimitsu.

141

CONTENTS

X

X. FOREIGN RELATIONS UNDER YOSHIMITSU AND YOSHIMOCHI 1. Trade with China under Yoshimitsu. 2. Relations with China after 1408. 3. Japanese Pirates. 4. Trade with Korea. 5. Trade with the Luchu Islands.

167

XI. ECONOMIC GROWTH 1. Increased Production. 2. Money Economy. 3. The Growth of Towns. 4. Wholesale Trade. 5. Trade Guilds.

181

XII. YOSHIMOCHI'S SUCCESSORS 1. Yoshinori. 2. The Kanto Warriors. 3. The Constable-Daimyo. 4. Rural Society. 5. Agrarian Risings. 6. Yoshimasa. 7. The Finances of the Muromachi Bakufu.

195

XIII. THE ONIN WAR

217

1. Its Origins. 2. The First Year of Onin. 3. Later Hostilities. 4. Higashiyama.

XIV. THE CAPITAL AND THE ONIN WAR 1. Hosokawa and the Rising of 1485. 3. The the Onin War. 5. War

THE PROVINCES AFTER 23.3

Ashikaga ShOguns. 2. The Yamashiro Capital in Ruins. 4. The Provinces after in the Kanto. 6. Provincial Autonomies.

XV. SENGOKU-DAIMYO, THE CIVIL WAR BARONS I. Asakura Toshikage. 2. House Laws and Civil Administration. 3. Peasant Protection. 4. Industrial Growth. 5. Communications, Travel, and Transport.

249

XVI. SEABORNE TRADE 1. Development in the Western Provinces. 2. The Arrival of the Portuguese. 3. Piracy and Foreign Trade. 4. Seaport Towns.

261

XVII. THE ROAD TO UNIFICATION 1. Oda Nobunaga. 2. Okehazama. 3. Mino Subdued. 4. Nobunaga in Kyoto. 5. Nobunaga's Strategic Problems. 6. The Fall of the Honganji.

273

XVIII. CHRISTIANITY AND BUDDHISM UNDER NOBUNAGA 1. Missionaries in the Capital. 2. Nobunaga and the Buddhist Sects. 3. Japanese Christians.

291

XIX. NOBUNAGA'S LAST YEARS 1. Civil Government. 2. Nobunaga's Political Power. 3. Nobunaga and Sakai. 4. Nobunaga's Last Campaigns. 5. Nobunaga's Character.

300

CONTENTS

xi

XX. HIDEYOSHI'S RISE TO POWER 1. First Steps. 2. Hideyoshi's Land Survey. 3. Hideyoshi's Military Problems: Kyushii. 4. Hideyoshi's Military Problems: the Kanto.

311

XXI. HIDEYOSHI'S POLITICAL AIMS 1. Hideyoshi and Nobunaga. 2. The Organization of Government. 3. Rural Life. 4. Administrative Organs. 5. Hideyoshi's Relations with the Throne. 6. Hideyoshi and Buddhism. 7. Hideyoshi and Christianity.

330

XXII. THE INVASION OF KOREA

352

1. First Steps. 2. The Landing at Pusan and the Drive to Seoul.

3. Hideyoshi's Political Situation after 1590. XXIII. HIDEYOSHI'S LAST YEARS 1. Domestic Affairs. 2. Hideyoshi's Character. 3. Foreign Affairs.

363

XXIV. AZUCHI-MOMOYAMA

380

XXV. TOKUGAWA IEYASU 1. His Early Life. 2. Relations with Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. 3. Sekigahara. 4. Osaka.

385

XXVI. THE FIRST YEARS OF THE TOKUGAW A BAKUFU 1. leyasu's Politics. 2. leyasu's Foreign Policy. 3. Administrative Methods.

399

APPENDIXES

409

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

419

GLOSSARY

427

INDEX

429

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PLATES Plates 1 and 2 follow p. 74. Plates 3-9 follow p. 138. Plates 10-13 follow p. 234. Plates 14 and 15 follow p. 282. Plates 16-20 follow p. 346. FRONTISPIECE

Suigetsu Kannon. A sculpture of the late Kamakura period, foreshadowing the strong influence of Sung art during Ashikaga times. It is of wood, painted; 47 em. in height. Now in the Kamakura Museum, it is the property of the Tokeiji. 1. Ashikaga Takauji. An equestrian portrait bearing the cipher of Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Takauji's son. Formerly the property of the Moriya family. It has been questioned, but it is almost certainly authentic. 2. Muso Kokushi. A contemporary portrait, now owned by the Myochi-In; the photograph was kindly furnished by Benrido. The Saihoji portrait is less flattering, but probably more revealing of the prelate's character. 3. A seascape by Sesson, ca. 1550. 4. Detail from the Long Scroll (Chokan) of Sesshii, ca. 1470. Property of the Mori family. 5. Portraits of the Emperor Go-Daigo and the retired Emperor Hanazono. Part of a scroll in the Imperial Collection (Rekidai Tenno Shinyei Emaki). 6. Four figures from the Tohoku-In Uta-awase, a picture scroll portraying a verse-matching party for members of various occupations. It is ascribed -both script and drawings-to Hanazono. The figures are from left to right ( 1) a gambler, ( 2) a carpenter, ( 3) a sorceress, and ( 4) a moulder of pots and pans. 7. A portrait of the Emperor Hanazono in monastic dress, by Cashin, a contemporary Court painter. It formerly belonged to the Chofukuji. A contemporary writer described it as a very good likeness. 8. A portrait of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. In the Rokuonji. 9. A portrait of Ashikaga Yoshimochi. In colour, on silk. It is the property of the Jingoji in Kyoto, and is thought to represent Yoshimochi at the age of about 21. The photograph was kindly furnished by Benrido. 10. Ashigaru destroying a building. From Shinnyodo Engi Emaki, a picture scroll belonging to the Kyoto Gokurakuji. 11. Detail from Yuki Kassen Ekotoba, a picture scroll showing episodes in the civil war of 1440, when Yiiki Ujitomo revolted against the Bal.:ufu. In colour, on paper. Property of the Hosomi family, Osaka. 12. Ritual dance at rice-planting time. 13. The market place at Fukuoka in Hizen. From the scroll Ippen Shonin E-den ("Pictorial Life of Ippen").

xiv

LIST OF PLATES

14. Portrait of Oda Nobunaga, by Kano Munehide, younger brother of Eitoku. In colour, on paper. The inscription states that the portrait was dedicated to the Chokeiji in 1583, on the first anniversary of Nobunaga's death. 15. Portrait of Ryokei, ca. 1570. He played a leading part in the defence of the Honganji in 1570-76, and was a typical militant leader of the Ikko sect. This is probably a contemporary painting by a Kano artist. Photograph kindly furnished by the publishers of Nihon Bunkashi Taikei. 16. Portrait of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In colour, on silk. Property of Date Muneakira, Tokyo. The inscription gives the date 1599, and it seems that the portrait was painted to the order of one of Hideyoshi's retainers more than six months after Hideyoshi's death in September 1598. The artist is not known. The size of the painting is 132 em. X 103 em. It is now in the Itsuo Art Museum, Osaka. 17. "Karashishi" ("Lions at Play"). Attributed to Kan6 Eitoku ( 1543-90). It was painted for Nobunaga's castle at Azuchi. A folding screen in colour, on gold, its dimensions are 22.5 em. X'459 em. In the Imperial Collection. 18. Detail from "Namban Byobu," a pair of screens portraying the Portuguese in Japan. It shows the arrival of Portuguese sea captains and merchants. These screens (on paper, in colour) are thought to have been painted before 1600, and are among the earliest of such works surviving. The dimensions are 158 em. X 334 em. The screens are in the Imperial Collection. 19. Another detail from "Namban Byobu," showing the Jesuits. 20. A portrait of leyasu, one of six from the Rinnoji at Nikko, which is the mausoleum of Ieyasu.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT General map of Japan, showing the provinces Map of the northern and eastern provinces Map of the central provinces (Chiigoku) and the Home Provinces Map of the western provinces, Shikoku, and Kyiishii Letter from Go-Daigo to Go-Uda Map showing Nitta's march to Kamakura (1333) Map of Kamakura Ciphers of the Emperor Go-Daigo and Ashikaga Takauji Map showing the campaigns of 1335-36 Map of Kyoto in the fourteenth century Map of the Inland Sea Map showing the battle of the Minato River Map of the eastern provinces A letter from Chikafusa Takauji's vow to the Kiyomizu Kannon Map showing Kusunoki's defences at Chihaya Diagram showing the central administration of the Ashikaga Bakufu The two ciphers of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu Drawing of a bowyer, after an illustration in "Shichijiiichi-ban Uta-awase" Diagram of Kyoto at the time of the Onin War Drawing of dengaku and sarugaku dancers, after an illustration in "Shichijiiichi-ban Uta-awase" Map showing the Hojo strongholds about 1550 Page from the first extant Japanese book printed from movable type Seal and ciphers of Oda Nobunaga Drawing of 0-Ichi, Nobunaga's sister, after a portrait in the JimyO-In, Koyasan Seals of four Christian daimyos: Otomo, Hosokawa, Kuroda, and Mori Diagram showing Hideyoshi's siege of Takamatsu castle Seal and cipher of Hideyoshi, and the cipher of Ieyasu Plan of a village in northern Yamashiro, based on a diagram in Nihon no Reki.shi Page from a volume of Relationes (Jesuit letters) published in Rome, 1598 Front elevation of the Hiunkaku, a pavilion of the Honganji Map showing the positions of the contending forces at Sekigahara

xvi xvii xviii xix 6 19 20 31 39 42 46 51 62 70 99 124 146 156 187 224 231 244 259 280 286 298 307 328 334 344

383 394

Aki B-4 Awa B-4, D-3 AwajiC4 Bingo B-4 Birchu B-3/4

Bizen B-4 Bungo A/B-4 BuzenA-4 Chikugo A-4 Chikuzcn A-4 EchigoD-2 Echizen C3 Etchu C3 Harima B/C-3/4 Hida C3 HigoA-4/5 Hitachi D-2/3 Hizen A~4 HokiB-3 Hyuga A/B-5 lga C-3/4 lnaba B-3 lse C-3/4

lwakiD-2 lwami B-4

Iwashiro D-2 lyo B-4 lzuD-3 lzumiC4 lzumo B-3 KagaC-3 Kai D-3 Kawachi C-4 Kazusa D-3 KiiC-4 Korsuke D-3 MikawaC3

Mimasaka B·3 Mino C-3 MusashiD-3 Nagato A-4 Noto C2/3 OmiC3 OsumiA-5

Rikuoku D-1 Rikuzen D-2 Sagami D-3 Sanuki B-4 Satsuma A-s Setrsu C3/4 Shimosa D-3 Shimorsukc D-2/3 Shinano C/D-3 Suruga D-3 Suwo A/B-4 Tajima B-3 Tamba C3 Tango C3 Tosa B-4 Totomi C/D-3 UgoD-r UzenD-2 Wakasa C3 Yamashiro C-3 Yarnato C-4

OwariC-3 Rikuchu D-r

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tomo and Ouchi. Thereafter, when the Ming government was faced with trouble on China's northern borders and Japan was afHicted by internal strife, official intercourse between the two countries diminished. After about 1450 the Bakufu lost interest in the China trade, but ships continued to be sent by certain monasteries and by the four leading daimyos, Shimazu, Otomo, Ouchi, and Hosokawa, the arrangements being put into the hands of merchants at Hakata, Hyogo, Sakai, and other seaports. After the Onin War (1467-77), in which control of the Bakufu was grasped by Hosokawa Katsumoto, there was great rivalry between the Hosokawa and Ouchi families, which spread from politics into the field of foreign trade. It became so acute that in 1523 a clash took place at Ningpo, where a ship from each party had arrived to unload. Ouchi's men left after pillaging the neighbouring countryside in revenge for some preference given by the Chinese officials to Hosokawa's vessel. The Ming government thereupon closed Ningpo to Japanese

FOREIGN RELATIONS

177

trade. A few years later Ouchi was permitted to send a ship, but the trade was dying, and it came to an end in 1548. 3. Japanese Pirates Pirates are mentioned in Japanese records from early times. In the year 934 a celebrated Japanese poet, Kino Tsurayuki, returned to Kyoto from his post as Governor of the province of Tosa. Describing in his diary his voyage along and across the Inland Sea, he refers to the precautions taken by the shipmaster to avoid pirate craft. Any modern traveller who has taken passage in a coasting vessel in these waters will have noticed the many inlets and channels where pirates could lie concealed in wait for victims. The Japanese pirates of whom the Chinese complained were principally those freebooters whose land bordered on the Inland Sea or the shores of Kyiishii. There were families like the Kotsuna, who made no fine distinction between piracy and legitimate trade, and most of the western warlords had an interest in seaborne traffic. The Taira clan in general and Kiyomori's branch in particular had received much of their strength from that source, and after their defeat in 1185 the central government never had a firm hold on the warrior families whose property ran down to the shore. The men who with their small craft had attacked the Mongol invaders or had transported troops along the Inland Sea to Kyiishii found their occupation gone at the end of the war with the Mongols; and since they were stingily treated by the Kamakura Bakufu, they could argue that they were driven to buccaneering. Their numbers increased, and they played an important part during the struggle between the two Courts, when they were organized under a kind of admiral named Murakami Yoshihiro, whose base was in the Iyo channel. As we have seen, they gave valuable assistance to commanders of Go-Daigo's armies, especially to Prince Kanenaga in Kyiishii. Those pirates who were not partisans in the civil war engaged in unlicensed trade, in kidnapping, and in other forms of robbery on the coasts of Korea and the Shantung Peninsula. They were feared in both China and Korea, and were !mown as the Wako, the Japanese pirates. There is no doubt that both China and Korea suffered greatly from the depredations of the Wak6, and that the Hung-wu Emperor spoke truly when he said that pirates were among his greatest troubles. The fault was partly that of the Chinese, for they were opposed to foreign commerce, whereas the Japanese authorities would have been glad to promote legitimate trade. But there were also reasons why the Bakufu was reluctant to go to extremes in suppressing piracy. It was not entirely convinced of the peaceful intentions of China, and looked upon the pirate chiefs probably as Queen Elizabeth looked upon Sir Francis

178

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Drake-as a freebooter or a naval captain according to circumstances. Moreover, action against the pirates depended upon the Bakufu's control over the western warlords, and before 1400 Yoshirnitsu was not yet firmly established in power. With the defeat of Ouchi, however, Yoshimitsu was able to take positive action, and his order sent to the western Constables in 1402 was couched in very strong terms. They were to take immediate steps not only against pirates caught in the act but against mere suspects as well. The Yung-lo Emperor's letter of gratitude of 1406 was a measure of their success. Yet even these determined measures did not succeed in stopping piracy altogether. It was too interesting and too profitable a profession to be given up by families who had followed it for generations.

4. Trade with Korea Throughout the Muromachi era the Kyiishii Tandai and the leading western dairnyos had kept in communication with Korea by annual or more frequent voyages. During this period Japanese pirates were active along the Korean coast, and in 1375 Yoshimitsu was pressed by the Korean government to deal with them; but he was not at that time strong enough to give orders to the more powerful western chieftains and therefore took no action. The King of Korea (Koryo; in Japanese, Korai) pressed him time after time, but to no avail. The damage done by the pirates was so serious that the King had to take defensive measures on a large scale. His efforts had some success, but were not followed up. Internal troubles in his kingdom ended in the fall of his dynasty. In 1392, when peaceful conditions were restored under a new dynasty, in Korea-now named Chosen-friendly intercourse with Japan was resumed, and trade relations improved to such a point that a number of Japanese emigrated to southern Korea (through Pusan) and carried on business there. But the Japanese pirates continued to raid Korean ports, sacking towns and emptying granaries, wreaking such havoc that the King made continuous protests. To these Yoshirnitsu, through the powerful western baron Ouchi Yoshihiro, gave an astonishing reply. He said that he would deal with the Japanese pirates, but by way of payment in advance he wished for a copy of the new Korean blockprinted Chinese version of the Tripitaka. 5 Time after time, whenever a mission went from Japan to Korea, the request was repeated; and not only by the Shogun, for in 1409 the Kanrei Shiba Yoshimasa wrote asking for a gift to celebrate the foundation of a small chapel which he had built. The gift he desired was the complete The Tripitaka (Three Baskets) is the canon of Buddhist literature, completed B.C. It has three divisions, and its name arose because the palm leaves on which the text was written were kept in baskets. 6

in 250

FOREIGN RELATIONS

179

edition of the Tripitaka in seven thousand volumes. Later Yoshimitsu's successor Yoshimochi was to repeat this request, and at last in 1423 the books arrived, with a prayer for the return of Koreans who had been captured by Japanese corsairs. These unfortunates were traced and sent home. When further requests for the edition were made by Japan, the Koreans said that there were no copies to spare, and for a time intercourse was broken off. But it was resumed under Yoshimochi and presents were exchanged. It should be added that the Koreans themselves were not innocent of piracy, nor were the Chinese. Indeed it has been said that more than half the crews and many of the vessels of the so-called Wako were Chinese or Korean. The island of Tsushima, which had been Japanese territory for centuries, was a favourite base for pirates, being especially convenient for attacks on the Korean coast or on ships in coastal waters. The head of the So family was hereditary Constable of Tsushima, and the holders of this office usually tried to keep relations between Japan and Korea on a friendly footing. According to Korean annals, the Constable So who had been smoothing out difficulties in trade relations for some time before 1418 died in that year and was succeeded by his son, who was only a child. Thereafter, it appears, the affairs of the island were managed for a time by a pirate chieftain named Wada Saemon Taro, much to the alarm of the King of Korea. Very soon large pirate craft were seen frequently off the Korean coast, and although most of these were on their way to the Shantung Peninsula, others were stealing supplies of food from Korean granaries. The Korean authorities were on the alert, and the King devised a plan by which in the absence of the Japanese pirates during one of their raids on the China coast, a fullscale attack should be delivered on Tsushima. He overcame the timid objections of his ministers and issued a declaration of war in the summer of 1419. According to Korean records over 200 ships carrying 17,000 men set sail on July 17 and anchored next day in shallow water off the shore of Tsushima at a point called Ozaki. They had with them provisions for sixty-five days, and So (or his advisers), aware that they meant to land, made careful preparations for defence. The Koreans put ashore a large force on July 19, which So cleverly ambushed and defeated. So then made a friendly truce with the invaders, who withdrew a few days later. The story of this affair as it reached Kyoto was incorrect in almost every particular and caused great alarm. The Koreans' demonstrations of anger seem to have had more effect than their military effort, for after this incident Japanese pirates confined their depredations to the coast of China. Relations between Japan and Korea were soon resumed in comparative harmony, and trade flourished. The chief articles of trade were pottery, cotton thread, and textiles

180

FOREIGN RELATIONS

from Korea, and sulphur and copper from Japan. Japan was relatively late among the countries of eastern Asia in cultivating and using cotton, the usual dress material other than silk being coarse or £ne linen. The Koreans learned the use of cotton from China and were growing and weaving it before 1400. One reason why the Bakufu and the western daimyos wished to promote trade with Korea was their desire to obtain copper coins. Both Chinese coins and coins minted in Korea circulated there. Japanese efforts to take them out of the counb·y embarrassed the Korean government, who placed an embargo on their export. But despite this restriction the flow of coins from Korea to Japan seems to have continued throughout the £fteenth century.

5. Trade with the Luchu Islands Among exports from Japan to Korea were certain tropical products brought to Hakata from the Luchu ( Ryiikyii) Islands. The trade of the Luchu Islands with Japan is of peculiar interest. In the fourteenth century, Hakata in Kyushii was an important entrepot in East Asian trade. It was frequently visited by ships from Ming China and from Korea. According to Chinese records Luchuan ships often called there and also at Bonotsu, a port in Shimazu territory. From this time the connexion between Satsuma and the Islands was especially close. Japanese ships frequently entered Luchu ports (principally Naha), where they purchased for sale in Korea and China articles from southern countries-Indonesia and Malaya. The triangular trade began shortly before the fall of Korai. The voyages of the Luchuan craft were quite remarkable, for they reached as far as Siam, Burma, Sumatra, and Java. Every year the Luchu traders would collect Chinese porcelain and silk and Japanese swords, fans, and sulphur, and exchange them for tropical products, such as the spices and perfumes of Indonesia. They made use of the monsoons, and in order to £nd favourable winds the ships went by way of the Fukien coast to Malacca and thence to their several destinations across the seas east and west of Malaya. The islands were uni£ed under a king in the early years of the fifteenth century. He sent envoys to Ming China and also approached the Bakufu through the Shimazu leader at Bonotsu.

CHAPTER XI

ECONOMIC GROWTH

1. Increased Production AT THE DEATH of the Shogun Yoshimochi in 1428, the Ashikaga Bakufu had been in existence for close to a century, and during that time hardly a year had passed without some episode of violence. The armed conflict between the two Courts had lasted for fifty years, and when that issue was resolved, the Ashikaga leaders had to deal with insubordinate warlords from one end of the country to the other. It might be supposed that the national economy would suffer from the plague of armies and the depredations of greedy barons. But mediaeval warfare was not in fact especially deadly or destructive. The damage done by warfare to the true economic foundation of the country, its rice fields and its forests, was almost negligible. The industrious cultivators were usually unhurt, though from time to time they were inconvenienced by being conscripted for war service. Even the country's total loss in manpower was not serious, for death in battle was not so common as the military romances would have us believe, and few civilians were killed. Indeed the civil wars in some respects served to stimulate and not to reduce economic activity. There were campaigns in almost every province, and armies moved for long distances, thus creating a need for the services of local entrepreneurs in the procurement, storage, and transport of supplies and the improvement of communications. There is no evidence, moreover, that the total product of agriculture and industry declined during the civil wars. On the contrary, it seems to have increased; and there is no doubt that the renewal of traffic with China gave a stimulus to commerce in general, partly because it opened a new market for Japanese goods, but also because it created a plentiful supply of copper coins, which facilitated all kinds of transactions in domestic trade. There can be no doubt that the economy of Japan at the simple level of the early days of the Kamakura Bakufu could not have sustained the almost continuous wars that began with the defeat of the Hojo in 1333. There is, it is true, no statistical basis for assuming a great increase in production during the thirteenth century, but it is only on this assumption that we can account for the nature and scale of the succession wars. There are doubts about the exact numbers of the contending armies, but it is certain that very large bodies of men were supplied with food and arms as they moved often hundreds of miles along and across the whole country. The wars of succession could not have been fought on

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the reckless scale they were had there not been a flourishing economy upon which the generals of the two Courts could depend. The factors affecting the growth of the economy in the hundred years before 1333 are complex, and need not be discussed in detail here. It is enough to say that the years of peace after the Gempei War ( 1185) saw a steady increase in the total product of agriculture and an advance in the manufacture and use of farm implements. These trends had their roots in certain social changes that were transforming the rural areas and gradually undennining the foundations of the Kamakura Bakufu. Social developments will be considered in the next chapter, but it is important to notice here the gradual change in the system of inheritance. fn the early Kamakura period it was customary for a father to bequeath his whole estate to one of his sons, thus providing the Bakufu with direct vassals and preserving the family in its accustomed position in the complex land-ownership system that was the foundation of mediaeval feudalism in Japan. But gradually the practice of sole inheritance ( s6ryb ) 1 was abandoned, and estates came to be divided more or less equally among the sons of the family, with the result that after a generation or so the area of a single holding fell sharply. 2 It is difficult to express the rate of diminution in averages, but it would not be unusual for a total family holding of 100 chO ( 250 acres) to fall within a generation to five individual holdings of 20 chO. The decrease in the size of individual holdings, as one might expect, brought about an increase in the productivity of the land. From midway in the Kamakura period the small landholders devoted their energy to increasing the yield of their fanns, and as the new inheritance system gained acceptance they were of necessity emulated by the sons of large landholders. Seeking the maximum yield from every cho, they imposed 1 The word soryo, often used loosely to mean "eldest son," sbictly speaking means "the whole estate." 2 This is well illustrated in the history of the Ono manor in the province of Bungo. This fief was granted to Otomo, Constable of Bungo and Buzen, in 1240. Its area was 307 chi>, or about 750 acres. When C>tomo died, his widow inherited the whole estate, which she held for seventeen years. On her death it was divided among her sons, except for a portion which Ono (the original owner) was allowed to retain for life. In the third generation the whole area had been divided into ten portions held by ten different legatees, their respective areas being 3, 33, 36, 35, .25, 76, 89, 22, 5, and 3 chi>. Details will be found in Maki Kenji, Nihon Hokenseido Seiritsu-shi. Similar evidence is furnished by analysis of the history of a monastic sho over a longer period. In 1189 it was composed of 90 portions held by different persons, while in 1343 there were 149 holders of portions in the same area. The change in the size of the holdings is indicated by the record that in 1189 there were 7 holdings over 10 cho and 29 holdings under 1/2 chi>, while in 1343 there were 96 holdings under 1/2 ch6 and only one over 10 ch6. FuJI particulars are in Nagahara, Nihon Hoken Shakai Ron. On the general question of succession and inheritance there is a very clear exposition in Joiion des Longrais, L'Est et l'Ouest (Tokyo: Maison Franco-Japonaise, 1959).

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strict discipline upon their workers as they passed from extensive to intensive farming, and even, in some areas, to double-cropping. As the total product of agriculture and manufacturing increased, there was in many commodities an excess over the producers' needs, which encouraged the development of market places and shops, and ultimately led to an all-round increase in facilities for the exchange of goods. Such an increase in the number of transactions could scarcely have taken place without the aid of a circulating medium to hasten the passage from barter to purchase; and conversely, of course, the availability of cash multiplied the number of transactions. This kind of development, though immediately profitable to individuals, had the effect of raising the standard of living and causing the less efficient cultivators to contract debts, a process accelerated by the rapidly expanding circulation of metallic currency and a consequent rise in prices in terms of coins. A related factor in the growth of the economy was the improved position of the peasants, who in several areas, particularly in the Home Provinces, had acquired virtually complete freedom. There by the late fourteenth century the peasants constituted an important class of small farmers who found it to their advantage to form associations in their villages, and also to combine with similar bodies in other villages so as to further their interests by joint action. Their freedom gave them an incentive to improve their position, and those who lived near a town or a great city like Kyoto or Nara found it profitable to sell their produce for cash. They had a ready market for their rice and vegetables, and also for articles of handicraft made in their spare time. This traffic encouraged them to increase production, and the desire for greater and more diversified crops resulted in a steady improvement in agricultural methods. Special attention was naturally paid to intensive cultivation of rice, the staple food crop. Efforts were made to avoid an unbalanced distribution of labour at crucial times, care being taken in the selection of seeds so as to spread the period of growth and ripening. Early, middle, and late crops were cultivated in part because of local conditions of climate, but no doubt also for the purpose of reducing the risk of total loss by storm or other misfortunes. In the collection of seed rice, grades of quality were carefully distinguished. In the thirteenth century a strain of rice from Indo-China (Champa) was introduced by way of China. It was appreciated by growers because of its early ripening and its resistance to cold and to pests, and by the end of the fourteenth century it was widely grown in the western provinces. According to the records of the Daigoji manors in Sanuki and Harima, about one-third of their tax rice was of this strain. It was a low-grade rice in colour and flavour, but it was consumed in quantity by the poorer classes. The cultivation of barley was taken up with energy in the thirteenth century, and the total crop increased rapidly. The Kamakura Bakufu

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encouraged double-cropping, ordering farmers to plant barley in rice fields after the rice harvest. Early in the Muromachi period visitors from Korea were impressed by the rotation of crops (rice-barley-buckwheat) in the fertile area near Amagasaki. Vegetables were grown in variety, and tea became an important article of commerce. Tea estates were common in the neighbourhood of Uji, where Yoshimitsu ordered the tea bush to be planted. Other crops grown by the farmers where conditions were suitable were hemp, mulberry leaves for silkworms, vegetable dyestuffs (particularly indigo), bcquer, and sesame for lamp oil. Fresh fruits were not an ordinary article of diet, but the new Muromachi society had a taste for luxuries. This encouraged the supply of melons and persimmons of improved varieties, and also of fresh vegetables grown in market gardens for sale in the city. In general, however, preserved fruits and sweetmeats were most appreciated-pickled plums, dried persimmons, and later flavoured jellies, such as sat6-y6kan. Sugar was scarce. It had been imported in small quantities from China and the Luchu ( Ryiikyii) Islands in the twelfth century, and on a larger scale after the opening of trade relations with Ming China, but it was still highly prized as a luxury at the end of the fifteenth century.

2. Money Economy The use of metallic currency goes back a long way in Japanese history, but the most rapid increase in its circulation took place from the end of the twelfth century. One of the first clear mentions of the growth of monetary transactions is a passage in the H yakurensho under the date 1179, which says: "There is a strange sickness going round the country nowadays. It is called the money disease." In conservative Court circles the use of coins was thought (not without some reason) to upset the price of commodities, and even so grave a statesman as Kujo Kanezane, writing in the 1180's, said that the decay of government at this time was due entirely to these coins. But no order, whether of the Court or the Bakufu, could be enforced against the use of Chinese copper cash, which were being freely imported and became legal tender in 1226, when certain kinds of barter were prohibited. Thereafter their use increased rapidly. By 1261, when the Kamakura Bakufu was in its prime, we find the Regent sending gold to China for the purchase of copper coins, and before long they were legal tender for the payment of taxes as well as in ordinary private transactions. By 1300 there was perhaps ten times as much metal currency in circulation as there had been a century earlier. This increase can be correlated to the growth of market places and market towns, for there can be little doubt that the function of markets became more and more important, and more essential to the total economy, as cash transactions became usual. In addition, the use of metallic

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currency was of great advantage to producers who had hitherto been obliged to send their goods, whether farm produce or manufactures, for long distances by road as tax or tribute, or as payments to a landlord. As we have seen, trade with China was severely curtailed during the reign of the Mongol dynasty, with the result that the amount of currency available failed to keep pace with the growth of the economy. These circumstances explain the massive imports of copper coins from China during the years when Yoshimitsu and his successors were in treaty relations with the Ming government and trade between the two countries was flourishing. An interesting feature of the circulation of copper coins in the fifteenth century is the official recognition of "bad" coins. The relative values of "good," "medium," and "bad" coins were established by regulations on erizeni or the classification of coins. The "bad" coins were usually counterfeits made in Japan. 3. The Grou;th of Towns

The great cities of Japan in the middle ages-Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura-were originally planned and built as either political or religious centres, although their position was decided principally on economic grounds, such as the proximity of fertile land, the supply of good water, and the ease of communication by road and river. Many of the great cities of present-day Japan grew up in a very different manner, beginning as temporary trading-posts or way stations and growing into markets and then market towns as economic pressures and opportunities increased. Few such towns attained any great size until the fourteenth century. What population would justify describing a group of dwellings and other buildings as a town must be a matter of arbitrary choice. Perhaps a concentration in one locality of about two hundred houses, with a population on the order of one thousand, might be regarded as a small town in the fourteenth century. The following account should be read in the light of this assumption. Most large manors in the Kamakura period had within their boundaries or at their gates a market place (often with permanent buildings of a simple kind), and similar settlements commonly grew up outside or just within the gates of monasteries and shrines, many of which owned and managed rich estates. Here buyers and sellers would gather on fixed days of the month, generally at intervals of ten days. Thus the Two-Day Market (futsuka-ichi) was not a market lasting for two days, but one held on the 2d, 12th, and 22d days of the month. The fact that more frequent market days were unusual until the mid-fourteenth century is an indication of the still quite limited needs of the time. So long as the economy remained simple, the great estates were selfsupporting in food, implements, and other supplies, except for salt, dried

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fish, and certain metals. But as the variety as well as the quantity of products increased and the need for markets became greater, these market places grew rapidly in number and size. By about 1350 they were spread in a network over the whole country, with the greatest concentration in the Home Provinces, where the population was dense and the soil fertile. Markets grew up in a great variety of locations, not only near centres of production but also at key points on roads and waterways. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as the rural economy developed and the growing use of currency facilitated the sale of produce near the farms, the number of market days rose from three to six each month. Thus traders were encouraged to establish permanent stores in the market place, and to build small houses for themselves in the vicinity. Itinerant vendors also appeared at the market places, bringing merchandise from other provinces-lightweight goods such as cloth carried in bundles on their own backs, heavy goods such as salt or iron tools loaded upon the back of a horse or an ox. These small centres gradually became large villages or modest towns, an evolution revealed by the names of several modern towns, such as Yokkaichi, which began as a market place open on the "four" days of the month (the 4th, 14th, and 24th). By the end of the fifteenth century many of these towns, some of them no longer small, were trafficking in large amounts of goods in great variety. There is useful information on these mediaeval markets in a somewhat surprising source: the orai-mono, or correspondence manuals, which were used as textbooks for the education of young persons either at home or in monasteries. One of the most interesting of these is the Teikin Orai, attributed to a Zen monk named Gen-ye who flourished in the middle of the fourteenth century. It is in the form of letters giving useful information about current affairs and institutions. One letter gives a list of the special products from all parts of the country which were on sale at the leading markets. It shows a great variety, including besides agricultural produce a wide range of manufactured goods, such as textiles, plain and dyed; paper; straw mats and reed blinds; pans, pots, and kettles; needles; spades and hoes; cutlery; lacquer goods; and a number of articles made by farm workers in their spare time. Another letter gives an imposing list of skilled artisans-early evidence of the great tradition of craftsmanship in Japan. It includes workers in silver, copper, and iron; dyers; damask weavers; potters; lacquer makers; artists in lacquer; bowyers and fletchers; painters and sculptors; calligraphers; and makers of rouge, face powder, and other cosmetics, including eyebrow pencils, a specialty of the Ninnaji monastery. The development of these crafts (no longer the work of half-free servants in a manor) naturally produced a new class of independent artisans, men who welcomed the chance to exercise their calling where

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Drawing of a bowyer, after an illustration in "Shichiiuichi-ban Uta-awase," a picture scroll portraying a poetry contest of seventy-one matches between competitors of different trades and professions

they could be sure of a supply of materials and tools, and also of a market for their product. Their needs to some extent determined the locations of towns, and conversely they were attracted to towns from the rural areas. But what chiefly decided the situation of towns, particularly in the earlier period, was the number of buyers who lived in the vicinity or who passed through on some frequented route. Of such positions, those near or within the precincts of an important monastery or shrine and those at relay stations on a well-travelled highroad were the most favourable. The permanent market at the gateway of a powerful religious body could depend upon the protection of that body as well as upon the custom of its members and the crowd of pilgrims and worshippers by whom it was visited. Consequently the first towns were those known as monzen-machi ( machi meaning a group of houses and monzen meaning "before the gates"), which usually consisted of a row of shops and stalls on either side of the approach to a monastery, together with lodging houses for pilgrims. Thus Sakamoto and Otsu, places through which travellers

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must pass on the way to the Enryakuji or Miidera, became important towns from relatively early times; 8 and before reaching the Great Shrine at Ise worshippers usually stopped at Uji-Yamada, where they could find lodgings and make purchases, if only of local products or guides to the sacred places. Other settlements began as stopping places on lines of communication by land and sea. The highroads leading east and west from the capital came into use soon after the foundation of Kyoto, but apart from officials and couriers, travellers by road were not numerous. The Gempei War brought about more frequent movement along those highroads, but it was not until the Muromachi era that private travel by individuals became common. While the manorial system remained in force, the workers in the manors had no freedom to leave their boundaries; nor had they much reason to leave, since each manor was practically selfsufficient and there was not much transport of goods along the roads, except when tax-goods were carried to a seat of local government. But as we shall see, the farm workers w