Kyushu: Gateway to Japan. A Concise History

KYUSHU: GATEWAY TO JAPAN A CONCISE HISTORY

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan A CONCISE HISTORY

 Andrew Cobbing University of Nottingham

GLOBAL ORIENTAL

KYUSHU: GATEWAY TO JAPAN A CONCISE HISTORY

First published 2009 by GLOBAL ORIENTAL LTD PO Box 219 Folkestone Kent CT20 2WP UK www.globaloriental.co.uk © Andrew Cobbing 2009 ISBN 978-1-905246-18-2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library

Set in Garamond 11 on 12.5pt by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire Printed and bound in England by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wilts

CONTENTS

 Plate section faces page 162. viii ix xi xiii

List of Maps List of Plates Preface Introduction 1. Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven Early settlement Myth in the making Landfall in memory

1 5 9 16

2. Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa The Yayoi imprint in northern Kyushu Yayoi society in the Wajinden Looking for Yamatai Yamatai landmarks in Kyushu

25 28 33 37 43

3. Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires The age of great tombs The Korean impact on Tsukushi The Iwai Rebellion Tsukushi as a frontier zone

46 49 53 57 62

4. Dazaifu: The Distant Court The Dazaifu Headquarters

67 68 v

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan The Tsukushi Lodge (Kōrokan) Cultural influences from Tang China Dazaifu in decline 5. Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre Imperial authority in the provinces Private estates in Kyushu Trade and the emergence of Hakata Hakata in the Taira heyday

71 75 80 84 86 92 94 98

6. Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions The Kamakura bakufu Approach of the Mongol empire The Mongol invasions The Kamakura bakufu in decline

103 105 111 113 119

7. Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts The road to Tatarahama Kyushu in the age of rival courts Seaborne samurai – the Matsura-tō The tally trade and pirates

123 125 128 133 136

8. All under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords Europeans in Kyushu Kyushu’s Christian daimyo Kyushu in the age of warring states The final campaigns

142 145 150 153 156

9. Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance The Toyotomi regime in Kyushu A hub of international trade Persecution and exclusion edicts The Shimabara Rebellion and Kakure Kirishitan

162 163 173 177 181

10. The Great Peace in Kyushu The Tokugawa order in Kyushu Towns, country and roads vi

187 189 194

Contents Trade and the Nagasaki system Education and intellectual currents

204 210

11. Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration Nagasaki in the ‘opening of Japan’ Nagasaki in the overthrow of the Tokugawa regime Meiji reforms and rebellions The later Meiji world

213 214 220 225 234

12. The Twentieth Century The colonial age in Kyushu The post-war era Contemporary Kyushu

239 241 247 255

Postscript Appendix: Major domains in Kyushu circa 1850 Notes Bibliography Index

262 265 267 305 320

vii

LIST OF MAPS

 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

East Asia Kyushu Physical Ancient Kyushu (Saikaidō) Medieval Kyushu Early Modern Kyushu Modern Kyushu

xxiv xxv xxvi xxvii xxviii xxix

viii

LIST OF PLATES

 Plate section faces page 162. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

Mt Aso in central Kyushu Newly planted rice paddies Takachiho Gorge in Miyazaki Prefecture Mt Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture A yokagura dance, Takachiho Miyazaki Shrine Kirishima Shrine Part of the complex of burial mounds, Miyazaki Prefecture Reconstructed storehouses and dwellings at Yoshinogari Another view of Yoshinogari Notice at Setaka Station Statue of Sayō-hime, Kyūragi Kashii Shrine, Fukuoka City Usa Shrine, Ōita Prefecture Tomb of Iwai Stone figures (sekijin) Remains of the Mizuki defensive earthwork Site of the Dazaifu Headquarters (Tofuro Ato) Site of the Dazaifu Headquarters (Tofuro Ato) Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine Fields of green tea, Yame City Shōfukuji Temple Defensive wall at Iki no Matsubara Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka City ix

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60.

Takashima Island, Imari Bay Terraced paddy fields at Hizen Maenohama Beach, Tanegashima Island Maenohama Beach with Cape Kadokura in the distance Mt Kaimon, Satsuma peninsula Monument of the Twenty-Six Martyrs, Nagasaki City Ruins of Nagoya Castle Kumamoto Castle Walls of Kumamoto Castle Samurai residence (buke yashiki) Shimabara Castle Ruins of Hara Castle Sakitsu Village, Kumamoto Prefecture Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge), Nagasaki Gateway to the Shinchi (‘Chinatown’), Nagasaki Dejima today Nagasaki Bay in 1804 Tsūjunkyo Bridge, Kumamoto Prefecture The Seirenkata, or experimental workshop, Saga Officers of Saga returning ashore in front of Dejima View of Kagoshima City facing east Roof of Iso-tei on the outskirts of Kagoshima The Shūseikan, next to Iso-tei villa Bronze statue of SaigōTakamori Bombardment of Kagoshima, August 1863 Ōura Church, 1864 View of Nagasaki Bay from the Glover villa Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki Statue of Aburaya Kumahachi View of Beppu Peace Statue, Nagasaki Huis ten Bosch leisure resort, Nagasaki Seagaia resort, Miyazaki City Hainuzuka Station Modern skyline of Fukuoka Tower and Fukuoka Dome Kyushu National Museum, Dazaifu City

x

PREFACE

 his book began life several years ago when I was teaching a course on regional history for international students at Kyushu University in Fukuoka City. An abiding memory of classes on the Hakozaki campus was the earth-shattering sound of low-flying aircraft coming into land at the nearby airport. A new campus is now taking shape at a quieter location on the western outskirts of Fukuoka. Also memorable were the field trips to some of the key sites that feature in Kyushu’s history and contemporary life. These took us to castles, shrines, pottery kilns and steelworks. We tried our hands at tea ceremony, Zen meditation, and planting and harvesting rice in terraced fields high in the mountains (followed by well-earned barbecues courtesy of the local farmers). In one year, students became quite accustomed to exploring Sakana Mura (Fish Village), a seafood market on the Karatsu Bypass, which always seemed to be on the way home during the long journeys back to Fukuoka. Perhaps it was the thin mountain air that clouded my judgement, but standing ankle-deep in terraced rice paddies one day it suddenly seemed to me quite important, and even possible, to try and convey an impression of this land’s history. And when I left Kyushu after twelve years on the island (in three different prefectures), it appeared that the time had finally come. Surely it was not unrealistic to think of writing up some of the lecture notes I had accumulated along the way. It was only when I sat down and tried, of course, that I realized the true scale of such a task. Needless to say, I am indebted to the long-suffering coach driver (I think he liked Sakana Mura), also students and university staff who, in different ways, were all a great help in developing the ideas that appear

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan in this text. I am especially grateful to Tam Mito for his unfailing good cheer, in spite of the aircraft, and Tim Cross and Tamah Nakamura for their lucid insights during the planning stages. For their guidance and inspiration I will always remember Kawasoe Yoshiatsu and the late Nakamura Tadashi, who introduced me to so much behind the scenes in the world of history in Kyushu. In Britain, Paul Norbury of Global Oriental has been extremely supportive throughout this project, even though his patience was sorely tested by months, even years, of near silence as the manuscript took shape. I would also like to thank Richard Sims for his very helpful comments as the final hurdle approached. Japanese names in this book are arranged in the order used in Japan, with family names preceding given names. Readers familiar with ancient history will see that, with the exception of some early legendary figures, I have dispensed with the custom of linking names with the possessive ‘no’ particle (so – Sugawara Michizane, rather than Sugawara no Michizane). The style of romanization employed follows the standard system (hyōjun-shiki), which is an adaptation of the Hepburn system, with macrons – like the accent on ‘hyo’ above – indicating long vowels. Macrons, however, are omitted in the case of a few familiar place names such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Honshu and, of course, Kyushu. Terms that are specifically Japanese are generally given in italics, except in cases such as shogun, samurai and tsunami, which have now entered the English lexicon. There are also some Korean and Chinese names to grapple with, spelt here using the McCune-Reischauer and pinyin systems respectively. Trying to cover such a broad sweep of time and different languages – English conventions are a minefield enough – presents numerous difficulties in achieving consistency in content and style. Reams of paper might be needed to list up the errors which need deleting, refining or further exploration, but there would have been many more without the kind help of the people mentioned above. Any inaccuracies that still remain, of course, are entirely my own. Woodside Park, London June 2008

xii

INTRODUCTION

 n October 2005, the Kyushu National Museum was opened in Dazaifu City in Fukuoka Prefecture. There was much talk of its innovative modern design, and how its wave-like structure reminiscent of an airport terminal somehow manages to blend in with the surrounding landscape of wooded hills. The opening ceremony was a landmark event because this was the first ‘national museum’ to be established in Japan for over a hundred years. In fact, this is only the fourth such museum in the country – after Tokyo, Nara and Kyoto, the last to open in 1897. During the early years of Meiji rule, Tokyo was a natural choice for the first national museum as the capital of the new modern state. Nara and Kyoto soon followed, also boasting fine pedigrees as ancient imperial capitals in central Honshu.1 So why build a fourth national museum in this small city off the beaten track in northern Kyushu? Dazaifu is important because, more than a thousand years ago, a diplomatic facility here served as the designated site for receiving foreign envoys. For ambassadors from the Korean peninsula and imperial China, it was this area that formed their first and often most lasting impression of Japan. Unlike its illustrious predecessors, which were built primarily to house art treasures, the theme of this new museum is historical and, significantly, framed in an international context. In the words of its director Miwa Karoku, it is ‘built around the concept of understanding the formation of Japanese culture from the perspective of Asian history’.2 Also embedded in this theme is the key role that Kyushu has played in the development of Japan. After all, it is Kyushu, not Dazaifu, which gives the museum its name. From the very inception of a Japanese state,

I

xiii

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan and even before, this island has been the principal stepping stone in the reception of cultural influences from the world outside. During the formative stages of Japanese society some of these ingredients added new layers to an existing cultural core; others were part, or even defining features, of the core itself. Tea, coffee, guns and the printing press are just some of the commodities and devices that were introduced through Kyushu. Zen Buddhism and Christianity were among the religious teachings which reached this island first. It is here that rice culture and even the imperial line make their appearance in Japanese history. In short, Kyushu is the gateway to Japan. Of the four main islands in the archipelago, only Hokkaido far to the north is within comparably easy reach of the Asian continent. With its location to the southwest on the rim of the East China Sea, however, Kyushu has accumulated by far the richest experience of early contacts with sophisticated cultures from the continent and beyond. Japan’s encounters with Chinese civilization, and subsequently Europe, have all started here. Whenever questions are raised on the origins of Japanese culture, identity and relations with the outside world, at some stage the focus inevitably returns to the history of Kyushu. The conscious emphasis on ‘the perspective of Asian history’ at Dazaifu is also revealing. It was the influential art critic Okakura Tenshin who, in 1899, first suggested that it was essential to set up such a museum in Kyushu. His vision was not realized at the time, so why has it finally taken shape now? The opening of the new museum in 2005, in fact, represents the fruition of a long campaign originally launched in 1968. Now sixty years on from the end of the Pacific War, it perhaps signals something of a new phase in Japan’s cultural dialogue with the Asian continent. The rhetoric still harbours an implicit belief in a unique or distinct Japanese culture – this is a national institution after all – but it does explicitly acknowledge a cultural debt to the country’s immediate neighbours. Perhaps these ideas can be located within a narrative of Japan’s second ‘return to Asia’ during the modern era. In the late Meiji period a strategy of ‘leaving Asia’ (datsu-A) had first allowed the country to join the Western powers in a policy of colonial expansion in the region, only to ‘return’ in the 1930s with the avowed intention of ‘protecting’ its neighbours from Western imperialism. Subsequently, Japan was isolated from the continent by the strategic demands of the Cold War. It was only xiv

Introduction after normalizing relations with South Korea (1965) and China (1972) that there was another opportunity to fully re-engage for a second time. Since then, the development of economic ties has again been impressive although, understandably, the ideology remains ‘muted’.3 Central to the museum’s declared theme of Japanese culture with an Asian historical perspective is the concept of Kyushu itself. Yet a brief review shows that the meaning of this term is not as simple as it seems. Geographically, it seems clear enough. Kyushu is the third largest of Japan’s four main islands, a little over the size of Switzerland or the Netherlands. It is a land of active volcanoes, none more spectacular than the giant caldera of Mt Aso in the central uplands. The fast-flowing rivers that radiate from these mountains are channelled through steep wooded valleys to the sea. The human population is largely confined to the coastal plains, mountain basins and levelled clearings along the valley floors. Now home to thirteen million people, this island accounts for about 10 per cent of the national GDP, carrying economic weight not only in Japan but throughout East Asia and beyond. In historical terms, however, the idea of Kyushu is more complex. To begin with, rulers of small ‘countries’ (kuni) on the island established their own diplomatic relations with imperial China several centuries before any state called Japan came into being. The concept of Kyushu, or land of ‘nine provinces’, was actually an administrative term, subsequently imposed by the central authorities in neighbouring Honshu. Moreover, it only came into common usage in the fourteenth century during the course of the long civil wars between rival claimants of the imperial line. Previously, this island had gone under various names, including Kyūkoku (nine countries) and Saikoku (western country). Under imperial rule it had initially been developed as the Saikaidō (Western Sea Road), used in apposition to the Tōkaidō (Eastern Sea Road), which is still the name for the main trunk line of the shinkansen ‘bullet’ train that runs between Tokyo and Osaka today. In effect, the Saikaidō stood for the western circuit of highways that was built around the coasts of ‘Kyushu’ in the eighth century. It was an important step for the emerging Yamato state since it effectively brought the whole island, now divided into nine provinces, within reach of central control for the first time. Before the Saikaidō, however, this remote territory had generally been known to the Yamato court by the more local name of Tsukushi – or Chikushi, to the chroniclers of xv

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Chinese dynastic histories. At first this referred mainly to the lands around the north coast, but it was later extended to include the whole island after the recalcitrant tribes further south were finally subjugated under Yamato rule.4 Kyushu, therefore, was the last of several terms to be used by various central regimes to impose control on these lands on the western peripheries of their domain. Even after the Meiji Restoration in the nineteenth century when it was divided into seven prefectures, the name of Kyushu (nine provinces) stuck. This perspective alone, however, does not resonate strongly with the idea of Kyushu that is projected at the new national museum in Dazaifu. It is only when looking overseas to encompass other lands beyond Japan that the concept of a cultural gateway comes into view. Alternatively, viewed from abroad, it was the natural destination for ships sailing across the Tsushima (or Korea) Straits from the Korean peninsula, across the East China Sea from mainland China, or catching the Kuroshio Current and approaching from the south. There are hundreds of ports along Kyushu’s coasts, and all have been involved in this cultural interaction at one stage or another. Three coastal cities have played particularly dominant roles as ‘gateways’, and as such occupy pride of place in this history of Kyushu. On the north coast is Hakata (now Fukuoka), a thriving port since early medieval times, situated just a few miles north of Dazaifu. On the west coast is Nagasaki, the pre-eminent port for foreign trade in the early modern era. On the south coast is Kagoshima, an important gateway for overseas trade as the one-time capital of the Satsuma domain. In this conceptualization Kyushu is seen as an outward-looking place, receptive to cultural influence from abroad. Yet where does this leave the lands in the east of Kyushu which do not feature so prominently? Do the ports along the coastline facing the islands of Shikoku and Honshu form part of some other cultural system instead? It is worth reiterating that any formulation of ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ networks assumes the existence of a ‘centre’ in Honshu. Kyushu, after all, is an island, and Honshu is also ‘abroad’. An alternative perspective is to view this island in terms of two maritime spheres of influence, one centred on the East China Sea and another formed around the Inland Sea. Variations on these spatial themes have been advanced by a number of scholars and, although an oversimplified framework, it at least allows us to look on xvi

Introduction Kyushu as a confluence zone of two overlapping cultural worlds. The ambivalent relations with the centre inherent in this model can also help to explain some of the dualistic images of Kyushu that emerge at key stages in the political development of these islands.5 On the one hand, Kyushu is generally considered to be an integral part of Japan. It could hardly house a national museum without this consensus. Ever since the rise of the Yamato state, however, there has been a strong tendency to view it as a remote, peripheral region, physically separated from the ‘mainland’ by the Kanmon (Shimonoseki) Straits. To one eighth-century poet, Tsukushi (Kyushu) appeared as a land ‘far beyond the mountains where white clouds hover’.6 In medieval times, its location at the edge of the known world made it feared as a source of unknown threats, some of them real such as epidemics and Mongol invasions. In the medieval imagination – for example in the Heike Monogatari (The Tale of Heike) – these fears found expression in Kikaigashima (Demon Island), an unidentified land of savages and exiles off the south coast of Kyushu.7 At times it was even viewed with contempt as a lawless realm of wakō, the bands of ‘Japanese pirates’ who Murai Shōsuke describes as carving out their own hybrid world in the water margins around the East China Sea.8 Kyushu, therefore, always lay rather precariously on the frontier between the ‘civilized’ (ka) and ‘barbarian’ (i) lands in the ka:i paradigm of cultural supremacy, which Japan had borrowed from China. In early modern constructions, the island was granted ‘civilized’ status, while Okinawa and Ezo (Hokkaido) were beyond the pale, but it was still a long way from the refined ‘Kamigata’ culture of the Kansai area or the Edo culture in the Kantō plain. According to the social pathology identified by Irokawa Daikichi, the creation of the centralized Meiji state also reinforced the tendency to typecast this and other peripheral regions as backward places far away from the metropole. In the twentieth century as well, people from Kyushu could still receive derogatory comments about their ‘branch culture’ (shiten bunka), as opposed to ‘head office’ in Tokyo, and even their ‘colonial university’ (shokuminchi daigaku) in Fukuoka, one of pre-war Japan’s ‘seven imperial universities’ (nana teidai) – or nine, including Seoul and Taipei.9 In the context of Japan’s cultural relations with the Asian continent, of course, Kyushu has never been peripheral. Some effects of the island’s proximity to and close relations with ‘other’ cultures are clearly xvii

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan visible in the way it is perceived in Japan today. Many visitors from Honshu immediately find what they call exotic traits there. To some extent, this emphasis on cultural difference has been encouraged by the tourist industry. Yet such an outlook immediately introduces what Tessa Suzuki-Morris calls ‘the continuing interplay between similarity and difference, outside and inside, space and time’ that can threaten to dismantle some of our common assumptions about Japan.10 Throughout the post-war era, Japan has generally been viewed as a monocultural society. This is despite the fact that, as Gaynor MacDonald points out, ‘we have only to scratch the surface in Japan to find rich cultural diversity based on regional, ethnic, social and physical differences.11 A number of seminal works in English, from Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946) onwards, have also reinforced a belief in the unusual degree of social homogeneity that is held to exist in these islands. A closely-linked idea is the largely monoethnic population sometimes seen as the key element in the country’s social cohesion. The concept of a ‘pure Yamato spirit’, however, is not the timeless tradition often supposed, but was constructed by early modern scholars like Motoori Norinaga, who developed the branch of learning called Kokugaku (study of our country). Moreover, it was not until the Meiji period that the Japanese began to characterize themselves as culturally homogeneous.12 Arguably, the idea of Japan as a monoethnic society dates only to the middle of the twentieth century, when it was welcomed in an understandable effort to distance post-war society from the multiethnic wartime empire.13 This is relevant to Kyushu because the proliferation of works on the Nihonjinron discourse (the theory of being Japanese) that accompanied Japan’s post-war rise as an economic superpower has also been mirrored throughout the country by a vigorous debate on regional identity. Popular interest in the supposed unique qualities of Japanese culture escalated in the aftermath of the 1970 Osaka Expo, but also raised questions in various parts of Japan. One reaction in the southwest, for example, was the considerable media exposure given to the theme of ‘one Kyushu’. This simultaneous fashion for imagined communities at different levels is no coincidence but inextricably linked. Now, more than ever, culture has become contested ground. As Paul Claval points out, drawing on the experience in Europe, the revival of regional consciousness can be seen as a response to the decline of xviii

Introduction historical philosophies that once supported the framework of the nation state.14 In the early 1970s, there were even calls for Kyushu to claim a more self-autonomous role from Tokyo, or to declare independence altogether. Other catalysts in this debate included the new confidence inspired by a booming economy on the eve of the oil shocks, and the return of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty in 1972.15 Visions of a bright future were also encouraged by the opening of a shinkansen ‘bullet train’ station in Hakata (Fukuoka) and the completion of the Kanmon Suspension Bridge across the Shimonoseki Straits. The irony of the fact that these pulled Kyushu closer to Tokyo just as much as they drew Kyushu together was not lost on some at the time. Declaring independence is not entirely without precedent in the Japanese islands. In 1869, the Tokugawa ‘rebel’ Enomoto Takeaki attempted to found his own republic in Hokkaido, and in 1945, there was briefly a Yaeyama Republic in Okinawa.16 The driving force behind the ‘one Kyushu’ movement, however, was the prodigious growth of Fukuoka City as a regional capital, a trend that is still conspicuous thirty years later. The enthusiasm shown by Fukuoka politicians and businessmen for assuming a leading role on Kyushu’s behalf – plans for a Kyushu museum included – prompted fresh debate on the island’s identity. Others seemed less enthused by the prospect of replacing rule from Tokyo with domination by Fukuoka. What this argument has perhaps served to highlight most is the cultural diversity within Kyushu itself. One outcome of such dialogues has been to raise the profile of regional studies throughout Japan. For decades already, local authorities had been making sustained efforts to produce weighty tomes of prefectural and municipal histories packed with documents. Painstakingly transliterated by small armies of calligraphy experts, they demonstrated the depth of local patriotism to be found everywhere. It was only from the 1970s, however, that the interpretational framework of national histories was seriously challenged. The new focus on the concept of Kyushu, for example, gathered momentum with the appearance of a series of major collaborative works drawing together research on different regions within the island.17 In 1977, an academic journal called Seinan Chiiki-shi Kenkyu [Research on Southwest Regional History] was even founded in conscious apposition to the tradition of national histories developed since the onset of the Meiji state.18 xix

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Partly inspired by the groundbreaking work of scholars like Amino Yoshihiko, recent research in English has also been placing more emphasis on cultural diversity in Japan.19 Edited works reflecting this shift include Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language (1995), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (1996), and Japan’s Minorities: the illusion of homogeneity (1997). In some cases this has found geographical expression in studies on the most easily identifiable minority groups in the southern and northern peripheries of the Japanese islands. There have been a number of works with a focus on Okinawa, including a major twovolume anthology on Ryukyu Studies (2000, 2002) and Visions of Ryukyu (2001) by Gregory Smits. Several works have also explored Ainu identity, among them ‘Ainu Ethnicity and the Boundaries of the Early Modern State’ (1994) by David Howells, ‘The Ainu: construction of an image’ (1995) by Richard Siddle, and Brett Walker’s The Conquest of Ainu Lands (2001). Yet having made these geographical inroads from the edges of the archipelago, where does that leave the rest of Japan? Are the regional societies throughout the remaining islands synonymous with central Honshu? There is now a rich and growing discourse on regional or prefectural differences, although John Lie suggests that ‘these articulations of internal heterogeneity. . .do not fundamentally challenge the belief in essential Japanese homogeneity’.20 Nevertheless, in ancient times some other distinct ethnic groups certainly lived on these islands, notably the Kumaso and Hayato in Kyushu, and the Emishi in eastern Honshu. They left no records of their own, however, and are visible only from the ‘outside’ perspective of early Japanese historical sources. With no surviving trace of ethnic consciousness or narrative of loss to draw upon, these people appear to have become assimilated once their lands were colonized by the Yamato state. At the same time, it cannot be assumed that they left no imprint on the landscape. After all, some provinces in modern France owe their origins to the historic regions staked out as tribal territories of the Gauls between the third and fifth centuries BCE.21 Ōbayashi Taryō has attempted to devise models articulating regional diversity within a multicultural Japan by identifying several ‘culture areas’ within the archipelago. Like Amino he demarcates western and eastern Japan between the Kansai (Kamigata) and Kantō areas in Honshu, but thinks Kyushu may also qualify, ‘not so much in ecological terms but rather due to historical reasons of cultural exchange xx

Introduction around the East China Sea’. Linguistically, Kyushu’s sometimes impenetrable dialects also place it in a different category from the rest of western Japan.22 Bruce Batten, who has examined borders and frontiers in some detail, however, remains sceptical about drawing internal boundaries between territories where cultural similarities may outweigh their differences.23 As any model of overlapping spheres of influence suggests, culture can always flow across notional borders as long as there is unrestricted access. Kyushu Island, therefore, may be easy to define geographically, but is culturally more complex. This is underlined by some of the background factors driving regional studies in Kyushu today. To some extent, the growing interest in the Asian continent has been generated by the lure of new economic opportunities in Korea and the eastern seaboard of mainland China. Fukuoka City, in particular, is always keen to point out the strategic advantages of a business location almost equidistant between Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul. The Japanese state’s emphasis on internationalization (kokusaika) over the last thirty years has also resonated strongly in the historic ‘cultural gateways’ of Kyushu. Moreover, with the role of the nation state now under scrutiny through the pressures of globalization, some areas are being approached not so much in a local or even national context but rather, as in the case of Satsuma for example, in terms of their place in the wider world.24 Regional studies on Hakata, Nagasaki and Satsuma in particular, have attracted so much interest that they have even been framed as academic disciplines in their own right. The project to open Kyushu’s own national museum in nearby Dazaifu has fostered renewed awareness of Hakatagaku (study of Hakata). In English, the Dazaifu system of border control and diplomatic exchange is also the subject of Bruce Batten’s Hakata: gateway to Japan (2005). On the west coast of Kyushu, meanwhile, Nagasaki-gaku (study of Nagasaki) is already well established, since the influence of Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch and other foreign communities there has long been the subject of integrated research. In English this has been promoted through the publication of Crossroads: a journal of Nagasaki history and culture, which was launched in 1993.25 Satsuma-gaku (study of Satsuma) has also become a focus of attention in the south of Kyushu, addressing cultural encounters such as the arrival of firearms and Christianity, besides Satsuma’s influential role in the formation of the Meiji state. Recent works in English that address related xxi

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan themes include Olof Lidin’s Tanegashima: the arrival of Europe in Japan (2002), and my own The Satsuma Students in Britain (2000). These local studies can be valuable in exploring core-periphery relations. At the same time, just as bureaucratic structures have dictated the rather fragmented organization of municipal and prefectural histories, there is always a danger of losing sight of wider cultural forces when approaching any particular place in isolation. Indeed, Hakata, Nagasaki and Satsuma can acquire collective significance in their shared roles as cultural gateways and, to some extent, are inextricably related to each other. In the last years of Tokugawa rule, for example, Nagasaki became something of a hunting ground for politically active samurai from around Kyushu, but records on such individuals can often be found in places like Satsuma or Saga, not just in Nagasaki itself.26 This study is an attempt to highlight some of the undercurrents within the mainstream of Japanese history by presenting a regional field of view located between these local and national perspectives. As such, it cannot match the level of detail in, say, an individual study on Hakata, Nagasaki or Kagoshima. Instead, I seek to provide an overview with a closer focus on salient themes in Kyushu’s development than can be found in most general histories. Since my approach is framed within the broader context of the Japanese islands (and indeed East Asia), much of the material will undoubtedly be familiar to readers acquainted with Japanese history. Some episodes may also seem familiar in that so many key events with wider implications have unfolded in a Kyushu setting. At the same time, I hope that the regional angle emphasized here helps to cast them in a fresh light not always obvious when viewed from the centre. Among the various excellent survey histories of Japan that have recently appeared in English, some stand out for their innovative approach. Conrad Totman’s A History of Japan (2000) is the first comprehensive work to place such consistent emphasis on the environment. Marius Jansen’s The Making of Modern Japan (2000) draws attention to the combined influence of regional power groups and external relations. Andrew Gordon’s A Modern History of Japan (2003) highlights the growing interconnectivity that has characterized Japanese society’s encounters with modernity. General histories, however, tend to be informed by an outlook located mainly in Honshu, invariably with a focus on central administrations either in Kyoto or Tokyo. As such, xxii

Introduction they do not always reflect the rich cultural diversity that often makes such a lasting impression on anyone who has lived and travelled in the Japanese islands for any length of time. The timescale considered in this study stretches from ancient to modern times, encompassing the full spectrum of historical experience that makes Kyushu such an integral part of Japan, and yet so unique. Themes include the ‘melting pot’ of early migrations and cultural influences from the Asian continent, followed by further interactions such as trade, diplomacy and war. Several pivotal conflicts receive particular attention, among them the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century, pirate raids in the fourteenth, the Shimabara Rebellion in the seventeenth, the Satsuma Rebellion in the nineteenth, and Nagasaki’s experience of the atomic bomb in the twentieth. Each chapter opens with a brief survey of a location in Kyushu that has particular relevance to the period in question. The aim is to emphasize the impact of historical episodes at a local level, past and present. It also illustrates how regional consciousness can be embedded in collective memory, and reflected in the still faintly visible layers of human imprints on the landscape – a palimpsest of accumulated culture.27 This was the abiding impression I formed during my twelve years in Kyushu. The rich cultural diversity to be found here has been framed by the island’s landscape, as the densely populated coastal plains are isolated from each other by steep mountains, and the valleys and basins inland are cut off from the sea. It is also a legacy of the fragmented political structures that have often influenced communities in the past. Above all, it draws on the multiple contacts with the Asian continent and beyond that have combined through the course of history to make Kyushu a gateway to Japan.

xxiii

1

MAP 1. Kyushu’s Situation in East Asia

EAST ASIA

2

MAP 2. Kyushu (Physical)

KYUSHU PHYSICAL

3

ANCIENT KYUSHU (SAIKAIDO)

MAP 3. Ancient Kyushu The Saikaido¯ circuit of highways had taken shape by the early eighth century, linking nine provinces (and the islands of Iki and Tsushima).

4

MEDIEVAL KYUSHU

MAP 4. Medieval Kyushu (late 12th–early 17th century)

5

EARLY MODERN KYUSHU

MAP 5. Early Modern Kyushu (17th–19th century) Shows family seats circa 1850.

6

MODERN KYUSHU

MAP 6. Modern Kyushu After the domains were abolished in 1871, Kyushu’s nine provinces were reorganized into seven prefectures.

CHAPTER 1

TAKACHIHO: THE FLOATING BRIDGE OF HEAVEN

 he recorded origins of Japan’s imperial line begin at Takachiho, a remote area steeped in ancient myths high in the mountains of southern Kyushu. Here in Miyazaki Prefecture people find it natural enough to call their region the ‘land of legend’. Situated far inland, the Takachiho district in particular retains a strong identity as a ‘sacred’ area. From the landscape it is not difficult to see why. Invariably swathed in cloud, even the upper slopes of these steep gorges are walled in by mountains on all sides. The weather can turn suddenly, as veils of mist frequently descend to crowd the field of view. Looking down, the thickly-wooded slopes drop to seemingly impossible depths, and threads of water trace a path through the rapids on the valley floors below. In some places, jade-coloured streams flow beneath cliffs of basalt columns, suggesting powerful natural forces at work. The impression of superhuman strength shaping the landscape is reinforced by the massive boulders that have been hurled down on the riverbanks through the effects of weathering on these towering slopes. The iconic image often photographed at the scenic Takachiho Gorge is a sheet of white water plunging from the top of a cliff into the deep green river below. This is just one example of how the natural setting has influenced human activity in the area. Together with forestry, livestock and crop cultivation – mostly vegetables and tobacco – tourism now forms a central part of the Takachiho economy. It is partly sustained by the Takachiho Railway that links these inaccessible mountains to the small city of Nobeoka on the east coast, a line recently threatened

T

1

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan with closure but since revived under private ownership. On some days each year the station staff greet their passengers dressed in the ancient costumes more commonly seen in the ceremonial dances performed at Shinto shrines. Partly because of its evocative landscape Takachiho is littered with sacred places bearing names such as the ‘Hall of the Gods’ and the ‘Cave of the Sun Goddess’. Often these are marked by wooden shrines that can indeed look as old as the hills. In the eighteenth century there were as many as 554 shrines in the area, although most were closed down a century later when the new Meiji state stipulated one shrine for each village. Sacred sites and shrines still abound nonetheless. For anyone interested in dynastic roots, one place of note is Mt Futagami, a short distance outside the town of Takachiho. This unprepossessing hill does not really stand out from the surrounding landscape, but according to legend it marks the junction between the celestial plain and the earth below, and the place where, one day several aeons ago, the ‘floating bridge of heaven’ (Ame no Uki Hashi) was joined with the land of men. It was this temporary pontoon of cloud that allowed Ninigi, august grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, to appear in what is called ‘the descent of the heavenly race’ (tenson kōrin). Touchdown on Mt Futagami heralded the arrival of the Yamato rulers of Japan, a dynasty that continues, more or less, unbroken to the present day. This at least is the narrative that unfolds in Japan’s earliest histories, compiled several centuries after the ‘event’ they describe. The written word, it would appear, came late to these islands, when Chinese letters were imported in the sixth century. No earlier texts survive, either because the inhabitants had no script of their own, or because any documents they kept have since perished. The theory of an earlier indigenous written language known as jindai moji is generally considered to be a fabrication created during the eighteenth century. The earliest extant records, therefore, are sixth-century transcriptions based on oral accounts that recall memories of a former time. These include Teiki (Imperial Record), a genealogy of the Yamato line, and Kuji (Ancient Tales), a collection of ‘house histories’ compiled by prominent families near the court to promote their own lineage. It was not until early in the eighth century that a systematic attempt was made to construct a dynastic chronicle in the style of Chinese models to place on record the background of the imperial line. This was based on the recitations provided 2

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven by a certain Hieda Are who, by order of the ‘Great King’ Tenmu some years before, had committed the Teiki and Kuji to memory.1 The edited transcription produced as a result in 712 was the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), followed eight years later by the more extensive Nihongi, or Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan).2 The accounts of the Heavenly Grandchild’s descent at Takachiho appear in the opening chapters of both these chronicles. Of course, the divine ancestry this would suggest remains a highly emotive subject. In the post-war era the issue has been largely avoided as a taboo theme, particularly since the emperor Shōwa publicly renounced his ‘divinity’ in 1946. The broader movement to disclaim the historicity of texts revered as ‘national histories’ was in itself a reaction to the way in which they had been manipulated during Japan’s period of colonial expansion. In the early twentieth century these foundation myths had been interpreted literally and any connotations of divine ancestry were exploited to political ends, often accompanied by rousing slogans lifted from the texts themselves. In a park in Miyazaki City, for example, is a tall monument that has now been renamed the ‘Tower of Peace’ (heiwa no tō). This was built in 1940 as the ‘Founding Pillar of Brotherhood’ (hakkō no kichū), and bears an inscription proclaiming ‘universal brotherhood’ (hakkō ichiu). Also inscribed is the ‘Year 2,600’, the time that had elapsed since 660 BCE when, according to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki (collectively known as the ki-ki, or ki-gi), Ninigi’s great-grandson Jinmu left the Miyazaki area to set up the imperial line in Japan’s main island of Honshu. Although not specified as such in these ancient ki-ki texts (in this work abbreviated as the Chronicles), the reign of this first human ruler was always considered to mark the transition from the ‘Age of Gods’ to the ‘Age of Men’.3 The four characters meaning ‘universal brotherhood’, or more literally ‘all the world under one roof’, were originally a symbol of unity in the ‘Land of Eight Great Islands’ (Japan). These were taken out of context from the Chronicles by the militarist wartime regime, and liberally invoked to glorify the ‘Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ under Japan’s leadership. Yet as Umehara Takeshi notes, nowhere in the Chronicles is it stated as such that the inhabitants of Japan are innately superior to the people of other lands.4 The deities (kami) who appear in the ‘Age of the Gods’, in fact, are ‘not radically different from human beings’.5 The main exceptions are 3

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan seven heavenly deities who feature at the start of the creation myth in a time before the universe took shape. In the post-war intellectual climate, however, it became almost obligatory to dismiss the various legendary figures who walk through the mountains, valleys and plains of Miyazaki in the pages of the Chronicles. This was partly because a number of scholars, notably Maruyama Masao, implicated the field of Kokugaku – the study of ancient indigenous texts – in having produced the emperor system that ultimately enabled ‘the descent into fascism’.6 It was in an attempt to rehabilitate this Kokugaku discourse, therefore, that in the 1970s Haga Noboru stressed how it could only be fully understood if viewed in isolation from politics.7 The legends of Miyazaki are to be found in the so-called Hyūga Myth in the ‘Age of the Gods’. From the outset a survey of these texts also needs to be consciously removed, and to some extent reclaimed, from any political stigma still attached to notions of ‘divine descent’ and Kokugaku studies as a whole. In the year 2000, for example, the prime minister Mori Yoshirō created a fierce controversy when he referred to Japan as the ‘land of the gods’, and he touched on the still sensitive taboo surrounding imperial divinity by specifically referring to ‘the emperor (tennō) at its core’.8 There are signs, nevertheless, that it is becoming possible to invoke this cultural heritage without necessarily inviting comparisons with political extremism. This was evident within a month of Mori’s faux pas when the G8 summit of foreign ministers was held at the futuristic new Seagaia resort on the Miyazaki coast. A poster highlighting the occasion played on words in Japanese to proclaim that here in this land of ‘legend’ (shinwa), a ‘new story’ (shinwa) was about to begin. It did not provoke a storm of protest. Partly because of this loaded political background, the most pragmatic stance in post-war Japan has been to subscribe to the authoritative Tsuda Sōkichi’s judgement that none of the rulers described before Ōjin have any historical foundation. Such a response has encouraged the general assumption often made that the various allusions to places in southern Kyushu found in the ‘Age of the Gods’ are a fictional construct imagined by the compilers of the Chronicles. As early as the 1960s, however, Inoue Mitsusada questioned Tsuda’s dependence on textual analysis, and the combined use of anthropology and archaeology that he pioneered has reopened these early chapters preceding Ōjin for historical review. More recently, several works have revisited Takachiho 4

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven amid growing interest in the hidden import of the ancient texts.9 These legends, moreover, can offer valuable insights into early settlement in Kyushu, providing clues on the arrival of people from somewhere beyond its mountains and shores. Early settlement Archaeological evidence suggests that the islands of Japan were first settled by waves of migrations from various directions – some inland peoples from continental Asia, but also ‘islanders’ from the south and possibly as far away as Polynesia. These migrations contributed to what ultimately became a complex racial mix, certainly not the homogenous race sometimes portrayed by later generations. Some of these arrivals occurred so long ago, however, that in the absence of records, they have largely passed out of cultural memory. Even so, the eighth-century world described in the Chronicles was an archipelago still inhabited by a number of established tribes together with quite recent immigrants from overseas. From the outset the island of Kyushu was often the first area to be settled. Some animals preceding them may have simply walked across the land now covered by the sea of the Tsushima Straits that separates Kyushu from the Korean peninsula. The Japanese islands were once joined to the continental land mass at either end, enclosing a huge lake now known as the Sea of Japan. Then, as now, the landscape was dominated by highly active volcanoes, situated above the subduction zone where the Pacific plate sinks below the continental crust. Kyushu, in particular, has always been known as a land of fire. Mt Aso in the heart of the island is the largest active volcano in Japan and, by some accounts, on earth. Stretching twelve miles across and with a circumference of seventy-five miles, the outer rim is certainly among the world’s largest calderas, and the only visible remains of a once vast supervolcano. It is still a common sight today to see plumes of vapour rising from volcanic peaks such as Aso and nearby Mt Kujū, at 5,876 feet the highest mountain on the island. In the extreme south Mt Sakurajima is also highly active and, even though situated across the bay, is still alarmingly close to the city of Kagoshima. To the north, in Nagasaki Prefecture, the series of eruptions that began at Mt Unzen in 1991 deeply scarred the surrounding landscape and created a new lava 5

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan dome at its summit. This is also the site of Japan’s worst ever recorded volcanic disaster in 1792, when about 15,000 people were killed or injured after the collapse of a lava dome triggered an earthquake that sent tsunami waves racing across the Ariake Sea. To any early settlers arriving in Kyushu from the Asian continent, volcanoes would have been a phenomenon entirely beyond their previous experience. It has been suggested that the scribes who wrote the Chronicles may even have been recalling the impact of volcanic eruptions long ago when their ancestors formulated their own creation myth. After all, volcanoes are perhaps the closest equivalent in the natural world to their descriptions of deities who literally gave birth to the islands of Japan. Creation myths involving this notion of giving birth to land are also found in various Polynesian islands, in geological terms another region that lies within the Pacific ‘Rim of Fire’.10 An alternative theory is that the disruptive behaviour of some deities portrayed in the ‘Age of the Gods’ may also be an allusion to volcanic activity, since this is a feature that is otherwise curiously absent from the Chronicles.11 The earliest human settlers arrived by sea around 10,000 BCE at some stage after the last ice age. These are known generically as the Jōmon people after the distinctive ‘coiled rope’ style of earthenware vessels found on archaeological sites. There is mounting evidence to suggest that they were connected to the prehistoric Yue populations of southern China, and by extension to a cultural sphere incorporating what is now Indonesia. This is reflected in the Jōmon customs of intentionally extracting teeth, tattooing and also styles of ornamentation.12 If their journey did involve a circuitous route from the continent through the South Seas, such early settlers may well have acquired some degree of cultural hybridity already before they set foot in the Japanese archipelago. During the Stone Age in Japan, the Jōmon people inhabited easily protected upland caves and sometimes straw huts. Typified as ‘hunter gatherers’, they lived a simple nomadic life feeding on wild berries and other fruits of the land. From around 500 BCE some settled down to cultivate berries, nuts and even rice, but this was invariably dry rice rather than the wet paddy rice cultivation that would subsequently arrive, and in general their communities reached no great level of social organization. Tribes would certainly have varied from one region to the next, but with their thick brows, deep-set eyes and prominent features, 6

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven these Jōmon people were physically distinct from the next wave of migrant settlers. Climate change far inland in continental Asia could have been a catalyst in bringing such new arrivals to the shores of Kyushu. From around 500 BCE, lands on the fringes of the Gobi Desert that had once sustained significant populations rapidly became practically uninhabitable. According to one scenario the resulting diaspora of displaced people spread both east and west, their culture becoming so widely diffused that on a linguistic level parallels have been drawn between such far-flung languages as Turkish and Japanese. Although it also bears Austronesian traces, modern Japanese is often associated with the hypothetical Altaic family, a language group that includes distant cousins spread widely across the Asian continent.13 Those people heading east through the valleys and plains of China could in turn have caused population pressure that drove communities towards the coast and even across the sea in search of new land. Waves of ‘boat people’ perhaps brought migrants to the Japanese islands across the Tsushima Straits, Yellow Sea or East China Sea. In many cases this would not have been a single voyage but rather the result of island-hopping, via Tsushima and Iki for those arriving from the north, or through the Ryukyu Islands for those approaching from the south. Whatever triggered the process, the result was a broad influx of migrants into Kyushu and the other main islands between 300 BCE and 300 CE.14 These waves of new settlers are generically known as Yayoi people after the archaeological site near Tokyo where their remains first came to light. Typified by flatter faces and less pronounced features than the Jōmon inhabitants they found there, their arrival created a diverse ethnic mix in the western archipelago and prompted some revolutionary changes in lifestyle. Perhaps the most striking impact was initially made in northern Kyushu where the earliest traces of wet paddies have been found. The sites of Yayoi villages there show close links with architectural styles in the Korean peninsula. This suggests a significant level of migration across the Tsushima Straits and with it the introduction of superior technology and wet rice cultivation into the Japanese islands. In place of the simpler Jōmon pottery found in earlier settlements, they also reveal more sophisticated earthenware pots, evidence of metallurgical skills, and some social and political organization. John C. Maher suggests that a North Kyushu creole language may have 7

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan emerged during early attempts by these diverse settler communities to communicate with each other. In this model, northern Kyushu was the linguistic melting pot before the subsequent spread of the Japanese language through the archipelago. As he points out, ‘we have no reason to believe that there was a single Yayoi language’.15 These migrations, moreover, were not necessarily channelled exclusively through the Korean peninsula. Wet rice cultivation, for example, appears to have been introduced not only from the north but also perhaps from the Chinese mainland, or alternatively via the Ryukyu Islands to the extreme south of Kyushu. There is still debate as to whether wet rice cultivation was first introduced through the north or south of the island, and recent DNA analysis has reinforced claims that it may have arrived from the Jiangnan region south of the Yangtze River in China. Some elements of imported culture also bear the stamp of southern influence. The Yayoi practice of jar burial, for example, was particular to Kyushu and prominent even in the north of the island, but appears to have originated in the South Sea Islands.16 In architectural terms the roof structures of Shinto shrines and the subsequent custom of building houses on stilts are more reminiscent of societies in Southeast Asia than anything found in Korea. Agricultural implements traditionally used in Miyazaki such as bamboo fish cages also recall farming styles in the Celebes and Bali. The prevalence of such anthropological links has inspired a theory that the Kuroshio or ‘Black’ Current, the world’s second largest ocean current, may have played a key role in bringing seafarers from the coasts of what is now Indonesia directly to the shores of southern Kyushu.17 The concept of heavenly descent and other elements of kingship myths may have close parallels on the Asian continent, but a number of themes in the Chronicles also recall legends found in islands far to the south. The lands of Japan, for example, are created following the union of Izanagi and Izanami when the primal couple imitate the movements of a passing wagtail, a theme that has close analogies with legends to the south in Okinawa and Taiwan. The story of how their daughter, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, hides away in a cave also recalls widespread myths in Southeast Asia occurring as far away as the Andaman Islands. The tale of how her grandson Ninigi chooses his bride is clearly reminiscent of the ‘stone and banana’ myth that relates man’s loss of immortality in parts of Indonesia. He unknowingly condemns his descendants to short 8

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven life spans when he selects the beautiful ‘Princess-BlossomingBrilliantly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees’ (Ko no Hana Sakuya Hime) and rejects her uglier elder sister ‘Princess-Long-as-the-Rocks’ (Iwa Naga Hime). As their father explains, if only Ninigi had not sent his eldest daughter back, his offspring ‘might [have] live[d] eternally immovable like unto the enduring rocks’, but now they would ‘be but as frail as the flowers of the trees’.18 In the Indonesian version the first humans reject the gift of a stone lowered from the sky, but accept a banana, only to be told, ‘had ye chosen the stone, your life would have been like the life of the stone changeless and immortal’.19 In another tale suggesting the influence of the South Sea Islands, Ninigi’s son Ho-ori sets out on a quest to find a lost fishhook and spends several years in the palace of the Sea Deity Watatsumi, a theme also reflected in the wellknown but certainly ancient Japanese folktale of Urashima Tarō.20 Of course, there are also legends in the Chronicles that appear to reflect more universal themes, such as Izanagi’s descent to the underworld in pursuit of Izanami, which recalls the Greek myth of Orpheus’s search for Persephone. Nevertheless, surrounding regions do seem to have had a profound influence on the development of myths in Japan. Whether arriving in Kyushu from the north or south, early Yayoi migrants brought their own folk traditions with them. They would also have the technology and military power to drive out the Jōmon inhabitants they found there and create space for their own settlement. Drawing on their findings from sites in Kyushu and Honshu, however, archaeologists have revised such a view of indigenous communities necessarily being forced from their homelands by overseas invaders. Some displacement was certainly involved, but there also appears to have been a degree of coexistence and even inter-racial mixing between Yayoi and Jōmon populations. These finds suggest intriguing possibilities for the development of hybrid cultures. It would appear that one such example, situated in southern Kyushu, is even portrayed in the ‘Age of the Gods’. Myth in the making In the early years of the eighth century, the political and cultural climate at the new court in Nara had a critical bearing on the composition of the Chronicles. Scribes such as Ō Yasumaro, who was centrally involved in 9

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan both compilations, were probably not familiar with the terrain of southern Kyushu themselves, and yet it was here that these dynastic histories located the origins of the imperial line. Their information on this far-off region drew mainly on an oral tradition of ancient stories recounted and possibly embellished, which Ō Yasumaro had then heard from Hieda Are, Tenmu’s appointed narrator. In recent years they would also have become acutely aware of this area from reports on the Yamato state’s ongoing campaign to pacify the Hayato people who inhabited the extreme south of the island. Just as the Kojiki was being completed in 712, plans were in train to reform the administration of Hyūga, the province on the outer edge of Yamato control. In 713, this was reduced in size and confined to the area now equivalent to Miyazaki Prefecture, while a new province called Ōsumi was created in the frontier zone to the south. At the same time, a community of two hundred migrants from further north in Kyushu was settled at the new provincial capital of Kokubu in the heartland of the Ōsumi Hayato, possibly to help introduce the agricultural techniques and cultural values that had already been established in the central core of the Yamato realm.21 Relations between the local inhabitants and these new settlers were volatile and conflict broke out seven years later in 720 – incidentally the same year that the Nihon Shoki was completed. Alienated by the imposition of foreign rule, the Ōsumi Hayato took up arms in one last concerted effort to regain control of their lands. The Yamato state took the threat seriously and sent a 10,000-strong army south to contain the rebellion. They encountered fierce resistance as they were forced to mount a series of sieges targeting the mountain fortresses around Kokubu, and it took a full year and five months before the rebels were finally subdued. With this victory the entire territory of Kyushu Island at last came under Yamato rule. Scribes like Ō Yasumaro would certainly have seen some of these Hayato warriors. In 682, for example, many were recorded as appearing at court bearing gifts, and in 687, there were 330 of them present there.22 Such men were called upon to perform dances for the court’s amusement, or were pressed into service in the imperial bodyguard. As Basil Hall Chamberlain points out in his translation of the Kojiki, ‘the Hayato were chiefly known as forming the Infantry of the Imperial Guard, a curious choice of provincials for which mythological sanction was invoked’.23 10

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven This distinctive escort may recall some later examples in Europe such as the Swiss Guards at the Vatican, or the Varangian Guard in Byzantium. Were these Hayato guards also chosen simply for their martial valour, the exotic touch they added to life at court, or perhaps due to some other connection with the Yamato line? The ‘mythological sanction’ Chamberlain mentions was to name Ho-ori’s own elder brother Hoderi, Ninigi’s first son, as the ‘ancestor of the Hayato’. In a scene that features in both the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Hoderi loses out in a sibling power struggle and submits before Ho-ori, telling him, ‘in future my descendants for eighty-nine generations shall serve thee’.24 Although they may have been subservient figures at court, therefore, both texts effectively informed their readers that these provincial Hayato from the far south of Kyushu were as much descendants of Ninigi’s line as Jinmu himself. Moreover, this would have been a bizarre corruption of an existing legend if, as Ōbayashi Tarō suggests, it was based on the story of a sibling power struggle to be found in the foundation myths of the Korean kingdom of Paekche.25 There are certainly various examples of continental influence. In an effort to promote the political legitimacy of the imperial line, the Chronicles were framed in the Chinese cultural terms that had now become prevalent at the Yamato court. Perhaps one reason why the more elaborate Nihon Shoki was commissioned was that the Kojiki was considered to be too ‘Japanese’ in its literary style. Of course, the Kojiki had been recorded in Chinese letters, albeit with some archaic ‘Koreanisms’ that may suggest its compilers were descendants of Paekche exiles themselves.26 Nevertheless, the two works form ‘a study in contrast’. A male chauvinist emphasis is more embedded in the Nihon Shoki, for example, and a Taoist spatial hierarchy is apparent in both.27 Another singular example of continental style was pointed out by the nineteenth-century historian Naka Michiyo, who claimed that in both works the concern for auspicious years in the Chinese zodiac was the overriding motive for dating Jinmu’s Eastern Expedition to as early as 660 BCE.28 A ramification of this was that his immediate successors were recorded as having ruled for over a hundred years each, suitable perhaps for human emperors with heavenly ancestry, but hardly credible to modern eyes. Moreover, the seventh century BCE predates even the emergence of Jōmon berry cultivation, let alone rice paddies, and was several hundred years before the first incursions of the more 11

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan technologically advanced Yayoi migrants from the Asian continent. As such, it was also long before the introduction of the much-vaunted skills in cultivating rice that the Chronicles insist were a defining feature of Jinmu and his ancestors. The migration from Kyushu to Honshu described in the Eastern Expedition, therefore, would appear to be more consistent with the archaeological record tracing the influx of Yayoi people from the continent between 300 BCE and 300 CE. In the Takachiho district in the mountains of Miyazaki, far away from the Nara plain, there are some intriguing place names that must have either inspired or been inspired by key episodes in the ‘Age of the Gods’. On the slopes of a thickly wooded ravine a few miles north of the town of Takachiho, for example, stands the secluded but imposing Shrine of Ama no Iwato (literally ‘Gate of the Cave of Heaven’). Here pilgrims are allowed a fleeting glimpse of the cave in which, according to legend, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu once hid herself away and plunged the world into darkness. This was the refuge she sought from the chaos and destruction caused by her mischievous brother Susanoo, after he sabotaged her celestial rice paddies and defiled her palace in ‘the plain of High Heaven’. Since their sibling quarrel threatened the livelihood of all, the other deities gathered to confer at a place called Ama no Yasukawara, which can also be found a short distance upstream. The world was then saved from darkness when Amaterasu, in her curiosity, was finally lured out by the assembled gods’ laughter at a female deity who performed a lewd dance in front of the cave.29 Given that this episode is set in heaven before her grandson Ninigi’s descent to earth, can Ama no Iwato be viewed as a plausible site for Amaterasu’s retreat? Since he was a migrant, one possible explanation is that it would have been perfectly natural to choose such a spot to commemorate the ancestor who had sent him to this land.30 Alternatively, this and other sites have been viewed as rather part of an imagined tradition constructed more recently by subsequent generations. Like Ama no Iwato, there are shrines in the Takachiho area which, although suitably ancient in appearance, date back only to the early modern period. At one time it became something of a trend to identify sacred places from the ‘Age of the Gods’ in the Japanese landscape, inspired partly by Motoori Norinaga, who in the eighteenth century did much to revive interest in the subject through a lifetime of research on the Kojiki. 12

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven At the same time, some sites that are mentioned in the Chronicles have curiously been overlooked. In an uncharacteristic slip, for example, Motoori asserted that the birthplace of Amaterasu could not be found in Hyūga Province, even though this was clearly located in both texts at Awakihara, a place by the coast now on the outskirts of Miyazaki City.31 The Eta Shrine here is hardly prepossessing, partly because floods have forced it to relocate several times, but also because it has escaped the attention of any shrine builders in search of the ‘Age of the Gods’. It has ancient origins nevertheless, since it features among the four shrines in the province recorded in the Engi Shiki, a compendium compiled by the court in the ninth century. The fact that the chroniclers assigned such a specific location to an occasion as auspicious as the birth of the Sun Goddess also merits some attention. Significantly perhaps, the oldest Yayoi site in the region has been discovered in the sand dunes nearby, including evidence of the earliest wet rice cultivation yet found anywhere in Hyūga. Given the importance of rice cultivation ascribed to the imperial line’s arrival in ‘Japan’, Umehara suggests that this place on the coast could even provide a missing link.32 Also revealing are not so much the stories included in the Chronicles as the details that have been left out. There are around ten texts considered important enough to merit careful quotation in the ‘Age of the Gods’, although no mention is made of their titles, a trait that has prompted Furuta Takehiko to suggest that they were systematically erased from historical memory.33 Some places in Kyushu also harbour either alternative narratives or portray slight but significant variations on the themes written up far away in the eighth-century Nara court. In the mountains of southern and central Kyushu, for example, there is an enduring belief that a relative or descendant of Jinmu returned from Honshu to vanquish Kihachi, a wild mountain demon who had taken advantage of his absence to wreak havoc in the region. Among the deities revered at the Takachiho Shrine is a certain Mikenu, an elder brother of Jinmu’s who, together with another sibling, lost out in the power struggle that projected this first ‘emperor’ to power in the Nara basin following his Eastern Expedition. The Chronicles relate how the other sibling was banished and died, but the fate of Mikenu is left unclear, perhaps because this passed out of memory in Honshu. According to tradition in Takachiho, however, he 13

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan returned to the mountain area originally settled by his great-grandfather Ninigi, only to find the Kihachi now in control. Mikenu killed him, but for centuries afterwards the local community made sacrificial offerings each year to placate the demon’s angry spirit, beseeching him not to unleash the heavy mountain mists that could damage their crops.34 A similar theme can be found in the story of Takei Watatsu, a deity revered at the Aso Shrine situated further north in the shadow of Mt Aso. One character is different, but this is clearly Tatei Watatsu, a grandson of Jinmu’s whose fate again is not specified in the Chronicles, but who is also held to have left Honshu to settle in Kyushu and is credited with founding Miyazaki Shrine in honour of his grandfather.35 In Takachiho the community’s desire to placate Kihachi’s angry spirit inspired the development of the sacred yokagura dances that have now become such a cultural feature of the area. Initially, these mostly portrayed episodes from the legend of Mikenu and Kihachi, but they have since been embellished with various scenes from the ‘Age of the Gods’ featuring deities including Izanagi, Izanami and Amaterasu. Also prominent are the ancient mountain demons known as oni who feel threatened by the appearance of the deities, and are shown as resorting to mischievous antics to ward them off, such as throwing boulders from the tops of cliffs. Yokagura dances are to be found performed in and around shrines in a number of places in Japan, but in terms of range and complexity the cycle of dances to be seen over the thirty-three-day winter season here is unmatched, and there are no less than twentythree dance groups in Takachiho Town alone. The stories these dances portray evoke an imagined world in which gods, demons and men co-existed, tracing themes of conflict, mischief and reconciliation. Reflecting a tradition handed down from one generation to the next, a single dance usually lasts less than twenty minutes, although a full performance can continue through the night. The dancers wear two types of stylized mask; flat-faced white okame masks for the deities, and the more vivid tengū masks worn by demons, with their deep-set eyes and more prominent features. To some extent the characters they portray appear to follow the distinction drawn in the Chronicles between deities of heaven (ama tsu kami) and those of earth (kuni tsu kami). In Umehara’s view, judging from these features, ‘a natural anthropologist would say that the tengū are Jōmon and the okame are Yayoi’.36 14

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven It is hard to ignore the possibility that encoded here is some memory of ancient cultural interaction. In the Kyushu context it is also tempting to read into these contrasting styles of masks traces of contact between people of different cultural backgrounds, perhaps introduced through migration from overseas. Could yokagura dance even recall the roots of a hybrid people intimated by the chroniclers in stories of intermarriage between the heavenly race and indigenous people in southern Kyushu? Seen in this light the imagery embedded in the folk tradition of Takachiho conceivably includes metaphors of cultural fusion, or in some cases even a re-enactment of ‘heavenly descent’ itself. One dance, for example, represents the story of Sarutahiko, cast as a tengū, and his marriage to Ame no Uzume, cast as an okame. According to the Chronicles, Sarutahiko was a local figure who acted as Ninigi’s guide on his arrival in Takachiho, and as such was one of the original inhabitants already there. Ame no Uzume was Ninigi’s maidservant, who accompanied him on his journey from the celestial plain. Their subsequent union, therefore, is an intermarriage of symbolic importance, and a theme later repeated in the case of Ninigi’s own match with Princess Ko no Hana Sakuya.37 Mark Hudson points out that past research on ethnogenesis in the Japanese islands has often contained an undercurrent of nationalistic discourses. This was most noticeable among proponents of the ‘nativist myth’ in search of an indigenous race, yet ‘even after the diverse roots of Japanese culture became widely accepted, the idea that a “pure” unitary culture was formed out of those roots remained – and continued to remain – a powerful one’.38 Not even archaeological studies have completely escaped such a subjective framework, however subconscious it may have been.39 Nevertheless, it is by no means the only approach to the exploration of Japan’s ancient past. The cultural hybridity suggested by yokagura dance, for example, is hardly unusual in itself, and the outcome only acquires political meaning when overlaid with subsequently acquired notions of communal identity. The case of Takachiho shows above all how the shrines, folklore and dance in one remote mountain area in Kyushu still reflect a particular and ancient cultural tradition at a localized level, rather more than any sense of shared identity imagined by later inhabitants of the Japanese islands as a whole. 15

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Landfall in memory The event commonly portrayed as ‘the descent of the heavenly race’ (tenzoku kōrin) represents the landfall of migrants, whoever they were. According to the Chronicles, the location was Takachiho in the mountains of Hyūga, but to complicate matters from the start, in southern Kyushu there are two places called Takachiho, each with a strong claim to be the site of the ‘heavenly descent’. Even Motoori Norinaga, the celebrated eighteenth-century expert on ancient texts, declared that it was difficult to choose between the two. The precedent he set of forbearing to pass judgment was later upheld by his famous disciple Hirata Atsutane and has largely remained to the present day.40 The Takachiho district in Miyazaki (Hyūga) has been introduced already, but further south, just across the prefectural border with Satsuma, stands ‘Takachiho Peak’, at 5,164 feet high a towering summit among the spectacular cluster of volcanoes in Kirishima National Park. In the eighteenth century, the mere suggestion by Norinaga that the ‘other’ Takachiho in Hyūga might be the site of the ‘heavenly descent’ provoked outrage among Kokugaku scholars in Satsuma. In the view of Shirao Kunihashira, the stupendous grandeur of Takachiho Peak clearly made it a more appropriate site for any junction between earth and sky. Although more ancient shrines do exist in the area, by far the most imposing of these today is Kirishima Shrine, which was built in the eighteenth century to revere Ninigi by Shimazu Yoshitaka, daimyo lord of the Satsuma domain. In the nineteenth century as well, the growing political power of Satsuma was consciously projected through what became known as the ‘national myth’. After the Meiji Restoration this domain was in the vanguard of the movement to separate Shinto and Buddhist sites, and temples in Satsuma suffered terrible damage as a result. It was also through Satsuma’s influence in the Jingishō (Ministry of Shintō) set up in 1871, and the Kyōbushō (Ministry of Religion) created the following year, that the burial mounds officially designated as the tombs of the first three generations of imperial ancestors (starting with Ninigi) are all located in Kagoshima Prefecture.41 The Takachiho district in Miyazaki cannot boast the grandeur of Takachiho Peak, but it does feature a hill called Mt Kujifuru, apparently the peak of Kuzhifuru or Kushifuru specified in both the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki as the site of the ‘heavenly descent’.42 Yet local tradition, 16

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven together with the eighth-century Hyūga Fudoki (Gazetteer of Hyūga Province), places the event not at Mt Kushifuru but at a nearby hill called Mt Futagami. The Gazetteer also recounts how local inhabitants exhorted Ninigi to cultivate rice there. Takachiho is located high in the mountains, but its abundant water supply certainly makes the terrain ideal for wet rice cultivation. Such a landscape would also suit the technological skills ascribed to Ninigi’s line, reflected perhaps in the tiers of terraced fields that scale the hillsides to this day. Only such an environment, moreover, could sustain the textual consistency of the Hyūga myth in the Chronicles. Jinmu, for example, speaks of his greatgrandfather Ninigi’s realm as a ‘land of fair rice-ears of the fertile reed plain’, a description hardly consistent with the volcanic landscape around Mt Takachiho in Kirishima, where farming has always been hampered by water shortages.43 Of course, the relative merits of these rival sites for Ninigi’s arrival would be largely irrelevant if the site had simply been chosen at random. Tsuda believed, after all, that the ‘Age of the Gods’ was fictional, and this event was entirely the product of the chroniclers’ imaginations. As such, the ‘Sun-Facing Country’ expressed in the Chinese letters for ‘Hyūga’ could have been selected just because it looked like an appropriate location for the arrival of the descendant of the Sun Goddess. Other cultures certainly offer comparable cases in which the process of transcribing creation stories was meant to be viewed as therapeutic rather than historically accurate.44 Moreover, the narrative of ‘heavenly descent’ at a suitable local mountain-top might be no more than a literary device of symbolic importance, since it was also used on the Asian continent as far inland as Mongolia.45 In the Korean peninsula similar examples can be found in the foundation myths of the kingdoms of Silla, Paekche and also Koguryŏ.46 Even within Japan the concept was not confined to Ninigi’s line alone, as the Nihon Shoki admits that Nigi Hayahi, ancestor of the powerful Mononobe family, descended from heaven himself and, moreover, in the Yamato area in Honshu. Any suggestion of a rival ‘heavenly ruler’, however, is qualified by stressing that Nigi Hayahi promptly submitted to Jinmu as the ‘chosen’ representative of the imperial line.47 If it was acceptable to choose any mountain at will, however, why did the eighth-century chroniclers not simply locate the ‘heavenly descent’ in Nara, the area that had become the power base of the Yamato state? Nara boasts a wealth of royal tombs 17

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan and archaeological treasures, particularly around Mt Miwa, which appears to have been a focal point for the early Yamato court. If the aim of the exercise was to lend prestige to the ruling line, as Tenmu’s orders for compiling these chronicles suggests, a familiar nearby site such as Mt Miwa could hardly be overlooked.48 One plausible reason why Takachiho may have been chosen was a perceived need for a remote, scenic mountain location with a suitably mystical quality for such an auspicious event. This form of literary device has been used widely in other cultures, such as by the Hebrews in Biblical times. Yet there are plenty of appropriate sites in Honshu, and the conscious choice of a mountain in Kyushu would hardly seem politically expedient, unless there was some hidden subtext embedded in the original sources used in writing up the Chronicles. First, it traces the origins of the imperial line not only to Kyushu but also close to the Asian continent. Second, it entails Jinmu’s Eastern Expedition, a military conquest of the Yamato heartland by an invading force from Kyushu. Third, it results in a blood lineage for the imperial line that, by the standards of the eighth-century Nara court, was of decidedly inferior stock. Although he was a great-grandson of the ‘divine’ Ninigi, Jinmu himself was seven parts in eight descended from the inhabitants of southern Kyushu. Moreover, he and his descendants would have been largely of Hayato extraction. If the chroniclers did enjoy full artistic licence, it would be a puzzling choice in the cultural context of the early Nara court to make this far-off subject people such close bloodrelatives of the ruling Yamato line.49 Intermarriage, in fact, is an abiding theme of the Hyūga myth. It relates how, following his landfall in Takachiho, Ninigi comes across a fine country, where he falls in love with and courts the king’s daughter. In both the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki this occurs in a place called Cape Kasasa, which has often been identified as the present-day Kasasa City, situated close to the Noma peninsula on the west coast of Kagoshima Prefecture. Since the Chronicles specify that ‘this place is opposite Karakuni (land of Korea)’, one theory proposes that Kasasa was located on the north Kyushu coast, and that the ‘heavenly descent’ was deliberately placed far inland in the mountains of Hyūga so as to mask Ninigi’s own Korean origins.50 However, it should not be forgotten that there is also a peak called Karakuni in the Kirishima mountains in Kagoshima. Moreover, not only does the Noma peninsula face north in the direction 18

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven of Korea, but it happens to be the one place along the entire Kyushu coast where there exists a folk tradition of the ‘heavenly race’ making landfall by sea. At the small port of Kurose there is even a monument, once again built in 1940, which commemorates the tale of how Ninigi and his companions were blown off-course and their ships arrived at nearby Funagasaki in the shadow of Mt Noma. The hill of Miyanoyama (literally ‘Palace Mountain’) close by is also considered sacred, and contains traces of an as yet unexcavated archaeological site.51 Such a narrative clearly implies that the ‘heavenly race’ were human migrants who made their way to Kyushu by sea. They could even have set out from the Korean peninsula, since the Noma coastline would be a difficult headland to miss for any boats sailing along the west coast of Kyushu.52 Given this location so far to the south, however, it is hard to dismiss the possibility that they might have arrived from the Chinese mainland. Moreover, there are several traditions of senior Chinese officials making their way to the Japanese islands. In the early modern era, Confucian scholars drew on ancient Chinese texts to link the family of Jinmu with Wu Taibo, a member of the Zhou royal line who gave up his claim to the throne. In the eighteenth century, for example, Tō Teikan suggested that Wu Taibo’s descendants had reached Kyushu by way of the Ryukyu Islands. Other figures linked with migration from China to Japan included a son of Shaokang dating back to the legendary Xia dynasty. The influential scholar Arai Hakuseki, together with Motoori Norinaga, rejected any Chinese links with the imperial line, but he did admit the possibility that some Kyushu chieftains might have been descended from Wu Taibo or Shaokang. 53 Another enduring tradition is that Xufu, a servant of the First Emperor at the Qin court found his way to the Japanese islands in the third century BCE. The Houhanshu (History of the Latter Han Dynasty) relates, for example, how he was commanded to search for the elixir of youth and set out across the sea at the head of a sizeable expedition, never to return. In Wakayama Prefecture there is a shrine where Xufu (known as Jōfuku in Japan) is said to have lived and died, but there are at least two such sites in western Kyushu as well. Not only was landfall here more likely in geographical terms, but their locations near the shore of the shallow Ariake Sea are also in keeping with the Chinese tale that Xufu arrived in a land of marshes. One of these is Morodomi Town in Saga Prefecture, where his party is said to have landed, and in nearby 19

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Saga City there is a small museum which traces his search for the elixir of youth. In Yame City in Fukuoka Prefecture, the Dōnanzan tomb is also held to be the site where Xufu was buried.54 Regardless of whether they reached the Noma peninsula from Korea or China, any migrants making landfall in the third century BCE would certainly have brought with them more advanced knowledge of rice cultivation than that prevailing in southwest Kyushu at the time. A journey then undertaken in search of suitable terrain for farming would also be entirely in keeping with the narrative traced in the ‘heavenly descent’. The volcanic soils near the coast would not have been ideal, and previous settlers may already have staked a claim to agricultural land on the narrow valley floors.55 A singular feature of the Takachiho district is that, due to its remote upland location, it was practically the last area anywhere in Kyushu to be brought under cultivation. Migrants arriving by sea may have found low-lying areas already colonized, but this hinterland in the mountains offered rich potential for anyone with the technological skills to harness its abundant water supply. Takachiho’s situation at a crossroads in the centre of Kyushu also made it something of a cultural confluence zone. The archaeological record at late Yayoi sites in the area suggests there was some interaction between communities on either side of the mountain backbone running north-south through the island. Two distinct styles of earthenware pottery have been excavated: traditional long urns associated with communities on the eastern seaboard; and the more sophisticated mendatype vases used by communities to the west. In some cases both types have been found on the same site. Such a distribution is consistent not only with the arrival of migrants in an already inhabited region, but indicative of some level of co-existence between communities of different cultural origins.56 Following his marriage at Cape Kasasa, Ninigi is recorded as having reigned over his lands until his death and burial in the Hyūga plain that lies along the east coast of Miyazaki Prefecture.57 One place strongly associated with his burial is Saitobaru a few miles north of Miyazaki City, the site of a remarkable cluster of ancient tombs, including the largest examples found anywhere outside the Kinai or Kibi areas in central Honshu. Umehara has suggested that although Ninigi may have passed through Cape Kasasa on the west coast of Kyushu as the local tradition of landfall by sea implies, the ‘Kasasa’ referred to in the 20

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven Chronicles is more likely to have been located around Saitobaru. Indeed, there is a tradition in nearby Saito City that the Mifune-zaka area there is the Cape Kasasa found in the Hyūga myth.58 In this interpretation Ninigi’s union with Princess Ko no Hana Sakuya might have amounted to a marriage alliance that enabled him to move down from his mountain fastness in Takachiho and extend his authority over the rich agricultural lands of the Hyūga plain. The complex of ancient tombs at Saitobaru probably dates only to the fourth century CE, but it boasts some significant connections with the Yamato court, which around this time is also thought to have been at a formative stage of development in central Honshu. The Chronicles also relate how the ‘emperor’ Keikō once resided for six years at the palace of Takaya in the Saitobaru area during an extended campaign to subdue the Kumaso people in Kyushu. The reign of Keikō appears to fall too early for the historicity of this monarch to have been recognized by Tsuda Sōkichi, yet a number of scholars have now questioned this assumption. It has been claimed, for example, that Keikō may have been separated from the more historically credible Ōjin by only one generation rather than the four described in the Chronicles. Given that the great tomb attributed to Ōjin in the Kinai area has been dated to the late fourth century, this would certainly place his reign in the same period as the early tombs at Saitobaru.59 The remarkable tombs at Saitobaru, in fact, suggest that such a royal sojourn may not be without foundation. Moreover, some significant late fourth-century tombs have been found at other locations along the route that Keikō is supposed to have taken on his tour around Kyushu. The style of burial goods excavated at Saitobaru also bears a striking resemblance to those used in royal tombs in the Kinai area, including some fine examples of equine goods. Clearly, there was some aristocratic cultural connection between Hyūga and the Yamato court. According to Hidaka Masaharu there is considerable evidence to support the existence of a strong, culturally independent Hyūga realm that cultivated its own political ties with the emerging Yamato state. In this case the largest tomb at Saitobaru, which is 718 feet in length, may not have been built so much for Ninigi, as local tradition maintains, but for some ruler of this Hyūga realm.60 After the death of Ninigi the ‘Age of the Gods’ cloaks the next two generations of the ‘imperial’ line in mythological imagery, relating how 21

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan his son Ho-ori and then his grandson marry daughters of the Sea Deity Watatsumi. This again betrays a strong hint of encounter with an alien society. Ho-ori’s bride Toyo Tama, for example, pleads with him not to look on her in the act of childbirth, warning him that, in her culture, ‘whenever a foreigner is about to be delivered, she [the expectant mother] takes the shape of her native land’. When Ho-ori breaks his word and looks he sees her changed into a dragon according to the Nihon Shoki, or a crocodile in the Kojiki.61 This scene takes place at the ‘Parturition House of Cormorant Feathers’, which is held to be located at the Udo Shrine on the Nichinan coast to the south of Miyazaki. Again the narrative takes the descendants of Ninigi still further south as new alliances perhaps enable them to expand their sphere of influence. In Umehara’s view Ho-ori’s union with Toyo Tama might symbolize a marriage alliance with the Hayato. This draws on a local tradition that places the realm of Watatsumi in the far south of the Satsuma peninsula which, in ancient times, was the homeland of the Ata Hayato people. The Hirakiki Shrine located at the foot of the majestic Mt Kaimon in this area was once known as Watatsumi Shrine. Nearby is a well where Ho-ori is held to have first met Princess Toyo Tama, and a few miles north in the town of Chiran there is even a Toyo Tama Hime Shrine. The people living here would certainly have been culturally distinct from other communities further north in Kyushu. The archaeological record, for example, reveals a style of burial mound particular to this peninsula. The area appears to have been inhabited by a seafaring race that had already developed maritime trade connections. A notable find is the site of an ancient workshop in Makurazaki to the west of Mt Kaimon, where shells from the Ryukyu Islands were processed to make the bracelets or armlets that were in such high demand as status symbols among Yayoi aristocrats further north in Kyushu and Honshu.62 The Kojiki relates how Ho-ori and his descendants go on to reside at Takachiho Palace attended by Hayato guards, who are themselves descended from his elder brother. Given such a close association with the Hayato and the apparent southward shift of the narrative in the Chronicles, this may refer to Takachiho Peak in Kirishima rather than the Takachiho district further north. It is also in this area that Ho-ori’s grandson Jinmu is born and raised. Moreover, when he grows up the man who is later credited with founding the Yamato dynasty in Honshu chooses his bride from the ‘district of Ata’, a clear reference 22

Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven to the Ata Hayato of the Satsuma peninsula. If this, too, indicates a marriage alliance, it may have been instrumental in strengthening his realm’s naval power, for at the age of forty-five Jinmu is described as resolving to launch his Eastern Expedition, a seaborne invasion of Honshu. 63 At the start of this campaign the Chronicles assign a key facilitating role to Shio Tsutsu no Ōji, the ‘Ancient of the Sea’. It is he who informs Jinmu that, to the east, lies ‘a fair land encircled on all sides by blue mountains’.64 It was also this Ancient of the Sea who had once led his grandfather Ho-ori to the realm of the Sea Deity when he found him in a distraught state on the shore lamenting the loss of his fishhook. Shio Tsutsu no Ōji is one of several possible ‘seafarers’ who have been linked with supplying the maritime power that could have allowed Ninigi’s descendants to embark on their naval campaign.65 Two places in southern Kyushu have long been associated with the launch of Jinmu’s Eastern Expedition. At the port of Mimitsu on the Miyazaki coast, a local festival commemorates this event each year. Before their departure, Jinmu and his brothers are also held to have stayed at Miyanoura Shrine by the sea near Kokubu in what is now Kagoshima Prefecture. This is a tradition at least as ancient as the onethousand-year-old gingko trees in the shrine grounds, and would suggest that Jinmu’s fleet set sail from Hayato territory on the shores of Kagoshima Bay before possibly calling into port at Mimitsu on the voyage north along the Kyushu coast.66 In either case the expedition as represented by the chroniclers of the Nara court involves a military invasion from Kyushu that culminates in Jinmu’s rise to power in Yamato. Tracing four generations of the august Ninigi’s line through southern Kyushu until Jinmu’s departure to the east opens a labyrinth of memory, folklore and tradition. At least some of the places encountered en route appear to have been creatively projected onto the landscape by the imagination of subsequent generations, to varying extents under the influence of the Chronicles. Nevertheless, local features including archaeological sites and shrines also contribute to a complex web of circumstantial evidence that suggests the narrative thread transcribed far away at the Nara court recalls a not entirely fictional background. The existence of associated places with ancient traditions that sometimes stretch back more than a thousand years certainly demands a more convincing historical explanation than to be simply dismissed as pure fantasy. One 23

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan approach is to suggest the emergence of the Hyūga realm as a powerful regional polity in league with the rise of Yamato in the Kinai area of Honshu. It seems that the chroniclers at the Nara court also nurtured some awareness that their rulers’ forbears hailed from this island in the west. This narrative, of course, would be consistent with an archeological record that traces the arrival of technologically advanced Yayoi migrants from the Asian continent. Kyushu was certainly the gateway of Yayoi colonization in Japan and, as such, the Hyūga myth, with its symbolic emphasis on wet rice cultivation, may reflect Yayoi expansion from Kyushu to Honshu. After all, the theme of an ‘eastern expedition’ is not confined to the story of Jinmu’s campaign alone, but has parallels in other traditions, among them the rise to power of Ōjin, the first Yamato ruler acknowledged by Tsuda Sōkichi as a historical figure. Even if Jinmu himself remains elusive, there remains a possibility that his legendary exploits might represent the activities of other early military leaders, perhaps including Ōjin himself. The creative identification of composite figures from ancient texts offers the prospect of finding answers to some of the riddles of ancient Japan. What even a cursory survey of Kyushu demonstrates, however, is the complexity of the influences involved. Gina Barnes, for example, has suggested that settlers from the Korean peninsula may have undergone an ‘incubation’ stage lasting several generations in northern Kyushu before moving on to extend their influence in Honshu.67 This model resonates on a number of levels, yet any narrative of migration through Kyushu ultimately needs to take into account various other cultural elements found on the island. Rather than any subsequently formed discourse on nation-building, what emerges most clearly is a profile of early settlement indicating successive waves of inward migration followed by interaction or even fusion and the development of cultural hybridity. In this regional perspective the Takachiho connection and its metaphor of landfall represents above all some of these early contacts with the continent and the island chains to the south.

24

CHAPTER 2

HIMIKO’S LANDS: GATEWAY TO WA

 n a quiet corner of the Kanzaki district a few miles east of the prefectural capital of Saga City, work began in 1985 to clear an area of land for the construction of a new industrial estate. Plans for the site were soon abandoned when it became clear that the workers had stumbled upon a major archaeological discovery. Before long there were scenes of unprecedented interest as, every Sunday, crowds of visitors from all over Japan flocked here to the village of Yoshinogari. Amid growing speculation on its significance, a series of excavations conducted over the next three years gradually uncovered the single largest Yayoi settlement yet found. It is easy enough to see why a populous community might have developed in this low-lying area some two thousand years ago. The fertile Saga plain is the granary of Kyushu, with a longstanding tradition of crop cultivation. The largest stretch of open land on the island, it is noted particularly for its rice, and various brands of sake are brewed in the small distilleries scattered across the area. In Saga City itself, banners on the streets provide a reminder of the local farmers’ ongoing campaign to protect their rice from foreign competition. Overlooked by a wall of mountains rising to Mt Tenzan at 3,431 feet, the plain is intersected by several rivers, which flow south towards the Ariake-Kai, Kyushu’s own inland sea. These are linked by a complex system of irrigation channels to form what is known as a ‘creek network’.1 The scenic canals in nearby Yanagawa City have even invited comparison with Venice. Almost completely enclosed by the Shimabara peninsula and the Amakusa Islands, the shallow waters of the Ariake Sea teem with crab and mudfish, and the tidal flats provide

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan ideal conditions for cultivating seaweed. Recently, the catch has been depleted by the environmental impact of the vast sluice gates closed in 1997 as part of the Isahaya Bay reclamation project along the west coast, which cut off more than eleven square miles of tidal flats from the sea. In response to concerted pressure a government panel has now recommended that they should be reopened in an effort to restore the local ecosystem. This area’s natural abundance could certainly have supported a sizeable population in ancient times. What the archaeologists uncovered at Yoshinogari in the heart of the Saga plain were the remains of a small fortified city stretching over an area of thirty-six acres. There seems to have been a heavy emphasis on defence, for the site is surrounded by inner and outer moats spaced some distance apart, and clusters of deep holes reveal the foundations of high watchtowers. The burial mounds nearby contained 2,500 pottery jars, as well as bronze swords and the characteristic embryo-shaped glass beads (magatama) once worn as necklaces in Yayoi times. This settlement was a major centre with a developed system of political control. A clearly-defined social hierarchy is reflected in the separate burial site reserved for members of the leader’s family located away from the graves of the general population. It was a society involved in war, for the watchtowers reflect the perceived threat of attack, and mutilated skeletons found here confirm that fighting took place. There is also evidence of an extensive trade network, as the large shells found could only be obtained from the Ryukyu Islands. With their centres hollowed out so that they could be worn as armlets, these decorative items might even have been made in southern Kyushu at workshops such as the example found at Makurazaki in the Satsuma peninsula. From the artefacts discovered it would appear that Yoshinogari reached the height of its prosperity some two thousand years ago. As such, it bears all the hallmarks of a powerful local polity in the Middle Yayoi period.2 Ancient sites such as this offer clues on the formation of early societies in the Japanese islands. Archaeological finds, in fact, provide the only real on-site evidence of what life here was once like. No written records survive, either because the inhabitants had no script of their own or because any records they did keep have perished. To all intents and purposes, therefore, the first written records of Japan’s early 26

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa inhabitants appear in dynastic histories compiled on the continent by Chinese chroniclers when referring to what they called the islands of ‘Wa’. The first reference is in the Hanshu (Book of Former Han) completed towards the end of the first century CE, which states simply that ‘across the ocean from Lelang [in the Korean peninsula] are the people of Wa, where there are more than a hundred states, and who come to offer tribute from time to time’.3 The Yayoi period, therefore, falls into the somewhat hazy category of proto-history, a crucial gap in our knowledge of the archipelago that lies between prehistory, traceable mostly through archaeology, and the onset of the historical period with the advent of textual records in the sixth century. What intrigued many people about Yoshinogari when the site was discovered in the 1980s were the close parallels it suggested with the first detailed Chinese description of the islands of Wa. High watchtowers, for example, were specifically mentioned in Sanguozhi (History of the Three Kingdoms), the official chronicle of the period written by a scholar called Chen Shou in the late third century. These were built to protect the populous capital of a certain Himiko (or Pimiko), described by Chen as ‘Queen of Wa’, and as such the first historical figure known to have lived and ruled in the Japanese islands. Chen’s account describes the tributary relations with the mainland which this Himiko had established some fifty years before, but also records political and social conditions. Her capital was located, he wrote, in a place called Yamatai, or Yamai according to a recent closer reading of the text. But where this Yama[ta]i actually was, if it existed at all, remains the subject of ongoing controversy.4 Could the discovery at Yoshinogari, then, at long last offer some evidence on the elusive realm that Himiko once ruled in these ancient lands of Wa? Much as the quest for the historical Arthur has exercised minds in Britain, the search for Himiko and Yamatai has captured the popular imagination for generations in Japan. In recent years it has even generated an extensive publications industry, as works on Yamatai alone dominate whole rows of major bookshops. The ongoing fascination with this subject is partly facilitated by the absence of conclusive evidence. With no surviving records from the islands of Wa themselves, the only textual clues in these proto-historical mists of early state formation are near contemporary records from across the East China Sea left by chroniclers like Chen Shou. 27

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan It is little wonder, therefore, that Chen’s account of Wa has come under intense scrutiny. Chen, however, never set foot in these islands himself, but relied on second-hand information from travelling emissaries. Moreover, his informants had never been allowed to venture inland but were confined during their stay to the northern coast of Kyushu. Quite apart from the political questions surrounding Yamatai, his account nevertheless provides a fascinating insight into the culture and lifestyle of the inhabitants of this coastline in Yayoi times. It also complements the increasingly rich archaeological record now being pieced together in the region. A survey of the Yayoi imprint found at some of the major sites excavated demonstrates that, around two thousand years ago, migrants were arriving on these northern coasts by sea from the Korean peninsula. The settlements they built there were part of a wider movement that was transforming society on these shores and beyond in the islands of Wa. The Yayoi imprint in northern Kyushu Ever since Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki expedition across the Pacific on board a traditional raft in 1947, there has been growing recognition of the ability of ancient peoples to travel surprising long distances by sea.5 In 1975, a not dissimilar experiment was carried out on the Yasei-gō, a specially constructed vessel based on the clay model of a boat found at the Saitobaru burial tombs in Miyazaki. The exercise was an attempt to show how people from the Korean peninsula might have reached Japan around two thousand years ago – using oars and sail to travel along the coast before island-hopping across the straits, first to Tsushima and then Iki, until they reached northern Kyushu. Boats were certainly plying these waters – indeed, at Haranotsuji, a large Yayoi site on Iki, is the earliest evidence of a landing stage yet found in the Japanese islands. The voyage of the Yasei-gō turned out to be an arduous experience, revealing how primitive boats must have struggled to negotiate the local currents on the south coast of the Korean peninsula. Nevertheless, it vindicated the circuitous route recorded by Chen Shou along this coastline, which had previously puzzled those attempting to reconstruct the course he described in his Sanguozhi.6 On approaching the north Kyushu coast, in many places the strong currents, cliffs and rocks would have made landing a risky operation. A 28

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa natural target would have been the safe haven of what is now called Hakata Bay, protected from the inclement Genkai Sea by a long spit of land. This is one of the few stretches along a coastline flanked by thickly-wooded mountains which offers easy access inland to the south through the wide Mikasa valley. Further east along the coast, the lowlying valley of the Onga River also allowed migrants an unobstructed passage to the Kyushu hinterland, clearly reflected in the finds upstream at the Middle Yayoi site of Tateiwa. Today the shores around Hakata Bay are dominated by the urban landscape of Fukuoka, the largest metropolis in Kyushu. With a population of over 1.4 million and hemmed in on either side by mountains, this growing city continues to sprawl wherever space allows – south down the valley, and east and west along the coast. All this construction has contributed to the recent boom in archaeological discoveries, partly because the high-rise reinforced concrete buildings now in vogue require deeper foundations than ever before. Excavating here in an area that has been densely populated for thousands of years frequently unearths signs of human settlement through the ages, and the front pages of local newspapers regularly carry announcements of the latest finds. Somewhat less prominently featured are the ongoing battles between the construction companies and archaeologists that often follow. In most cases, precious little time is granted to preserve any discoveries in the form of ‘virtual records’ before the developers’ patience wears thin and the site is buried in concrete. Sometimes, however, the finds are significant enough to enforce a change of plan. It was hardly a surprise, for example, when Yayoi remains were uncovered during recent excavations prior to the construction of the new Kyushu University campus on the Itoshima peninsula to the west of Fukuoka City. An entire hill has now been flattened in order to accommodate the changes needed to preserve some tumuli around the proposed site of the central library. Partly as a result of the post-war construction boom and recent development, archaeologists working in Fukuoka and other places in northern Kyushu have accumulated a rich body of evidence – some real, some virtual – which reveals much about Yayoi society around two thousand years ago. It shows that the entire region was settled by migrants from across the Tsushima Straits, and some sites reveal a strikingly high level of social and political development. Undoubtedly 29

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan the jewel in this archaeological crown is the ‘Gold Seal’ (kin’in). Today the single most treasured and publicized exhibit at the Fukuoka Municipal Museum, what surprises visitors is its miniature size, measuring just one centimetre across. This tiny object features in the fifthcentury Houhanshu (History of the Latter Han Dynasty), which records that in 57 CE the emperor Guangwu sent a seal to a magnate in the lands of Wa in return for tribute.7 It was apparently lost during the medieval era, but rediscovered in 1784 by a peasant tending his fields one day in Shikanoshima, the large island at the mouth of Hakata Bay. For a century the characters inscribed on the seal puzzled scholars until in 1896 it was successfully deciphered by Miyake Yonekichi as reading ‘From the Han Emperor to the King of Na in the Land of Wa’ (Wa-NaKoku-Ō-kin-Tei).8 At first glance this corresponds closely with Chen Shou’s thirdcentury account, which appears to situate a small polity called Na in what is now the Fukuoka area. The Houhanshu also specifies that there were ‘more than one hundred communities’ in the islands of Wa, and that ‘nearly thirty of these communities have held intercourse with the Han [dynasty] court by envoys or scribes’.9 In the early twentieth century, Inaba Iwakichi raised doubts over Miyake’s reading of the Gold Seal, suggesting that this would never have been bestowed on such a small state as Na alone.10 No more persuasive explanation has emerged, however, and it has gone on to become a powerful symbol of local pride in Fukuoka, indicating perhaps that, several centuries before the emergence of any state called Japan, the realm of Na here in the valley south of Hakata Bay maintained diplomatic relations – albeit on subordinate terms – with the might of imperial China. Whatever the nature of the connection between China and Na, the archaeological record in the Fukuoka area certainly reveals evidence of extensive trade in Yayoi times. Links with peoples far to the south are reflected in finds of shells comparable with those discovered at Yoshinogari. To the west of Fukuoka, no less than thirty-nine bronze mirrors – the largest quantity on any one site – have also been found among the burial goods at the Hirabaru tomb in the Itoshima peninsula, the site of a polity that Chen Shou recorded as ‘Ito’. Many of these were imported from China, but in addition there are four mirrors measuring 46.5 centimetres across – the largest found anywhere in East Asia – which appear to have been made locally from a Chinese prototype.11 30

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa Another notable feature from the archaeological record is this area’s possibly important role in the development of agriculture. As mentioned already, there is still debate over whether rice cultivation first arrived through the north or south of Kyushu. In support of the north, a few miles down the valley from Hakata Bay in the Itazuke district is the earliest evidence of wet rice cultivation in Japan. To mark the spot a mock Yayoi village has been built, surrounded by an outer wall and moat. These enclose wooden huts featuring half-sunken interiors – structures that have close equivalents in Korea – together with raised storehouses. The suburban location of this Yayoi settlement adds a surreal touch not found at Yoshinogari, which is set in the countryside. Visitors trying to imagine life here two thousand years ago emerge from the darkness inside the huts to find concrete blocks looming over the village on all sides, and low-flying aircraft coming in to land at the international airport nearby. Halfway up the valley slopes a few miles east of Itazuke, the graveyard site at Kanenokuma reveals a vivid portrait of Yayoi burial patterns. On display here are sophisticated pottery techniques far superior to the Jōmon vessels previously found in these islands. The inhabitants used thinner, harder clay than their predecessors to make elongated hemispherical earthenware jars large enough to use for burying their dead. Less ostentatious than the vast keyhole burial mounds that followed later, this practice of jar burial demonstrates the advanced technology already harnessed here around two thousand years ago. A few miles further south down the valley is the Suku Okamoto site, the centre of power in the one-time kingdom of Na. This has yielded the largest cache of Yayoi bronze weapons yet found anywhere in Japan. Also discovered at this site are some multiple casts, indicating the mass production of spears and arrowheads. Whoever held power here clearly had the motive and the means to field a substantial array of weapons. For much of the Yayoi era it would seem that most of the bronze and iron used was imported from the Korean peninsula. Large reserves of copper, for example, were not found in Japan until the eighth century. Nevertheless, the earliest evidence of iron smelting has also been discovered here, and possibly a foundry as well. Suku Okamoto and other archaeological sites in this region collectively demonstrate that the Yayoi people of northern Kyushu possessed a far greater quantity of weapons than other communities in these 31

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan islands. One factor was the close proximity to the more advanced metallurgical technology of the Korean peninsula, particularly the area of Kaya on the coastal plain just across the Tsushima Straits, which was famous for its iron. Another may be the fact that this location near the coast created potential for conflict with any fresh waves of migrants arriving from the continent. In any event, war and violence were clearly central features of Yayoi society here. According to Sahara Makoto, such was their fixation with military imagery that ‘the people of northern Kyushu worshipped weapons’.12 Fierce-looking symbolic spearheads have been found in the tombs of what must once have been powerful local leaders. Some of these are as much as three feet long, too large and heavy to be of much practical use. Traces of warfare on such a scale suggest a high degree of organization. The walls and moats found at sites including Yoshinogari, for example, show the importance of defence as growing populations engaging in wet rice cultivation were enclosed in lowland settlements along the exposed valley floors. They also indicate how early subsistence-level communities may have integrated, partly in self-defence, to form small polities under the rule of a local magnate, such as at Na. This was a very early stage in a process of state formation that would eventually culminate in the Yamato dynasty gaining political hegemony over the islands of Wa. In a Yayoi village like Itazuke, for example, the wall and moat would have enclosed more than a dozen habitats, housing a community under the leadership of one chief. He and his next of kin were buried in the larger tombs beyond the moat, set apart from the common graves of other villagers. Through a process of trade, negotiation and conflict, whether prompted by expansion, natural disaster or the need for mutual protection, neighbouring settlements in the same valley could have united to form a small polity (kuni) under a king or queen, such as the realms of Ito and Na described by Chen. A confederation organized between several such polities would be able to exercise considerable power across a broad area encompassing the valleys of northern Kyushu at least. The single realm of Na, for example, incorporated a linear core of villages around the Suku Okamoto site, strung out along the top of a line of low hills on the western side of the valley. Its sphere of influence probably extended over a wider area perhaps encompassing Itazuke and other settlements on the valley floor. Close to Suku Okamoto itself is a series of large tombs which are thought to be the 32

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa last resting places of the kings of Na, one of them perhaps even the recipient of the emperor Guangwu’s gold seal. Evidence of the social structure in these communities can be seen not only in the hierarchy of rank under this ruling class, but in the division of labour. On the valley floor a few miles east of Itazuke, close to the runway of Fukuoka Airport, recently discovered traces of rice paddies and workshops suggest that the agricultural and pre-industrial labour force were consciously segregated. Several decades of excavation at Suku Okamoto have shown that the kingdom of Na probably reached the height of its prosperity around the first century CE, around the same time as Yoshinogari in the Saga plain. Subsequently, what had once been a powerful local polity with the resources to feed and protect a sizeable population somehow fell into decline. Whether this was precipitated by invasion, disease or some other cause remains unclear. In the case of Yoshinogari, Yasumoto Biten points to evidence that the moats were filled in to suggest that the community decided to abandon the location and move elsewhere in the islands of Wa.13 Did the armies of Na also march inland and settle some other territory. This would certainly coincide with Gina Barnes’s model of an ‘incubation’ stage in which Yayoi migrants of Korean origins settled in northern Kyushu for several generations before colonizing lands in western Honshu. Whatever the case, when emissaries from Wei arrived on the Kyushu coast in the third century, the state of Na was probably still there but already a shadow of its former self.14 Yayoi society in the Wajinden Many of the remains found at sites in Kyushu such as Suku Okamoto and Hirabaru in the old kingdoms of Na and Ito correlate with Chen Shou’s descriptions of local society in the Wajinden (Account of the People of Wa). This appears in his Weizhi (History of Wei) at the end of a section devoted to tributary states in the Sanguozhi (History of the Three Kingdoms), a multi-volume chronicle that charts the fortunes of Wei, Wu and Shu, the three rival states in China in the third century CE. Chen, a native of the southern state of Shu, was employed by the court of Wei to record its relations not only with rival powers on the Chinese mainland, but also with disparate peoples on the peripheries of the celestial kingdom. Compiled in 289, his Wajinden draws on information 33

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan received through the Wei representatives who, some fifty years before, had set out from their empire’s most distant outpost at Daifang (near modern-day Seoul), and recounts their observations of the people they encountered during their travels on the north coast of Kyushu.15 These impressions present a fascinating collage of daily life in Kyushu in late Yayoi times. In some cases they recall customs immediately recognizable among subsequent generations of inhabitants in the islands of Wa, lending weight to the veracity of Chen’s account. In others they pose questions by omitting what have since come to be thought of as key elements in ‘Japanese’ culture, implying perhaps that these could have been imported at some later date. Of course, an account of life in northern Kyushu can hardly be called representative of the islands as a whole. As the earliest historical account of any of their inhabitants, however, the Wajinden features prominently in documentary collections such as Sources of Japanese Tradition.16 According to Chen, people in the lands of Wa were familiar with spinning and weaving, the married women blackened their teeth with lacquer (much like the custom that survived into the late nineteenth century), and were extremely fond of liquor fermented from rice (a pastime alive and well today in the form of sake). When going about their daily business, the people would squat when talking to each other or, as a mark of respect, kneel with both hands placed in front of them (still a familiar sight on arriving at traditional Japanese restaurants and inns). They walked barefoot, as traces of footprints in early paddy fields also reveal.17 Chen records that the living quarters of the people of Wa were segregated according to age and sex, although they could mix in public gatherings. In daily life, they displayed an intense concern for purification and pollution, just as Shinto rites and ancient texts reveal an obsession for cleaning shrines and tidying rice paddies – from Amaterasu’s heavenly fields to the rice terraces in the plain of men. Still today, the washing of hands is a ritual part of any visit to a Shinto shrine. It remains a matter of conjecture to what extent these customs were originally motivated by the need for hygiene in a sub-tropical climate, the logistics of producing rice to support a populous community, or some combination of the two. In contrast to such signs of cultural continuity, some elements in Chen’s account suggest changes that might have occurred before or 34

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa after the Yayoi heyday. He writes, for example, that the people of Wa ate their food with their hands. The first evidence for the use of chopsticks has been found in late seventh-century palaces, and appears to have been imported from the continent. Chen also records how the men often bore tattoos in various patterns according to their home state (kuni) and rank, a custom that would subsequently disappear from mainstream culture in ‘Japan’. One curious observation is a comment on the absence of any livestock, not even sheep, oxen or horses. This is in marked contrast to the situation in the eleventh century when large numbers of livestock were recorded on the coast of northern Kyushu.18 Any new arrivals in the third century would have found the people of Wa in a vigilant state of military alert. Chen records how their walled settlements were equipped with watchtowers such as those at Yoshinogari, and that they were constantly engaged in war, as the archaeological record in Kyushu suggests. In peacetime as well, the inhabitants seem to have been subjected to some political control. Each small state (kuni) had its own revenue officials appointed to administer the collection of grain levies. It also had its own market where, under supervision, the people engaged in barter. A diplomatic representative was even stationed by the coast in Ito to supervise contacts with emissaries and the exchange of tribute and gifts, explaining why Chen’s informants were not allowed to travel inland. This official was appointed by the ruler of a confederation of states in Wa, who is identified in the Wajinden as Himiko (Pimiko). Chen’s account of Himiko’s dominion in the 230s and 240s begins by noting that there had once been a king who was the most powerful ruler in the lands of Wa but after seventy years of infighting the people turned to a woman, whose capital lay in a place called ‘Yama[ta]i’. Himiko had restored peace to the region by establishing her supremacy over a confederation of some thirty small states (kuni). Many of these can be easily identified with place names today, including Matsura, Ito and Na, all along the north Kyushu coast from Karatsu to Fukuoka. Although the Wei emissaries never travelled beyond this coastline, by reputation at least, Himiko’s capital at Yamatai was populous, described in the Wajinden as a settlement of around 70,000 households. Chen’s portrait of Himiko herself suggests an enigmatic personality. Although mature in age she remained unmarried and lived in a palace surrounded by towers and stockades, with armed guards in a constant 35

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan state of vigilance. After becoming queen, her aura of mystery was reinforced by the fact that few people were allowed to see her. She had 1,000 female attendants, but only one man was granted access. This was her younger brother, who served her food and drink and assisted her in exercising power. As such he was the visible ruler of everyday affairs, communicating his sister’s will to the outside world. In 238, Chen records, Himiko sent a mission to Daifang, the Chinese commandery in the Korean peninsula, and the emperor responded by granting her official recognition as ‘Queen of Wa, Friendly to Wei’. In return for tribute goods received from Wa he also bestowed a number of gifts, including gold, silk, pearls and ‘a hundred bronze mirrors’. In 243, Himiko sent a further mission, possibly to ask for assistance against the hostile forces of Kuna to the south beyond her Wa confederation, and in 247, to report that they were now at war. At this juncture, however, she died and was buried in a vast tomb ‘one hundred paces in diameter. More than a hundred male and female servants followed her to the grave.’ Subsequently, several men tried and failed to win recognition as ruler of Wa, but control was only restored with the accession of a thirteen-year old girl called Iyo, or Toyo according to later chronicles, who in turn was recognized by the kingdom of Wei. Not only is Himiko the earliest historical figure known to have lived in these islands, but together with Iyo her appearance in the Wajinden suggests a time when it was not unusual to have female rulers, before an emphasis on patriarchal lineage was imported from China. According to Chen, these women were the only figures capable of exercising political control in a divided land. Undoubtedly, the key to their authority lay in the powers of sorcery which they used to bend the people to their will. Himiko is described as a practitioner of kidō (way of demons), foretelling the future from the cracks that appeared in bones when they were cast into a fire. This form of shamanism is strongly reminiscent (and indicative of links with) similar early religious practices found in the Korean peninsula, and stretching over large areas in China.19 According to the Wajinden, the people of Wa were also deeply superstitious and would consult such an oracle before embarking on any new venture. Himiko’s life of seclusion added mystique to her powers as she fulfilled her role acting as a medium between her people and the gods. 36

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa Looking for Yamatai Recognized as the ‘Queen of Wa’, Himiko thus ruled over lands encompassing some thirty small states, although this confederation was often at war with others, notably Kuna to the south. While some states like Ito and Na can be easily identified, what is less clear is the location of Himiko’s capital in the place that Chen Shou records as Yama[ta]i. Her vast tomb, large enough to inter a hundred servants, has never been found, although a number of possible sites have been suggested. Chen’s informants supplied him with accurate details about the route from the Korean peninsula as far as the coast of northern Kyushu but, confined to the visitors’ reception area in Ito, they had to rely on reports to describe the onward journey inland. At this stage, the orientation, distances and time frames provided in the Wajinden no longer correspond with the geography of the islands of Wa since, if followed to the letter, these would locate Yamatai in the Pacific Ocean beyond the southeast coast of Kyushu. Numerous attempts have been made to find Yamatai, for it lies at the heart of the first polity known to have exercised political authority on any scale in the Japanese islands. It does not feature prominently, however, in Japan’s eighth-century chronicles, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which trace the origins of the Yamato state. The closest parallel figure to Himiko mentioned is the empress Jingū, the mother of Ōjin, who has also been described as a ‘shamaness ruler’.20 In the chapter in the Nihon Shoki devoted to Jingū’s reign, the chroniclers of the early Nara court even quote Chen Shou’s lines in the Wajinden relating the diplomatic missions that Himiko sent to Wei, although they do not discuss their significance.21 The chronology presented also fits neatly with the Wajinden, but the events attributed to Jingū’s reign cover several centuries of known developments from the fourth to the seventh century, suggesting that she, too, is perhaps ‘a composite figure who reflects the personalities and deeds of several real-life female rulers in Japan’.22 The meaning of Yamatai was reviewed in the eighteenth century as some prominent scholars turned their attention to the ancient texts of the Yamato state. Arai Hakuseki began by suggesting that Yamatai may have been located somewhere in the Kinai area in central Honshu which includes Nara, Kyoto and Osaka, although in later life he tended towards Kyushu instead. Subsequently, the celebrated Kokugaku scholar 37

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Motoori Norinaga also decided that it must have been in Kyushu. In an interesting twist, however, he claimed that Himiko was a usurper, presenting herself to Wei as the ‘Queen of Wa’, even though her confederation may not have been the strongest power in the islands.23 It was after the creation of the Meiji state in the nineteenth century that scholars began to consciously dissociate Himiko from the figure of Jingū, and various locations in Kyushu were put forward as a possible location for Yamatai. Naka Michiyo and Shigeno Yutsugu both suggested that Himiko’s realm must have been some distance inland from the north coast. Suga Masatomo and Yoshida Tōgo claimed that it could be found as far south as the vicinity of Himeki Castle in Kagoshima Prefecture, also the site of the Ōsumi Hayato rebels’ last stand in 721. Hoshino Hisashi and Kondō Yoshiki adopted a semantic approach that was later widely followed, identifying sites for Yamatai in contemporary places called Yamato in Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures respectively. These various arguments persuaded Kume Kunitake – a noted historian in Tokyo, although originally from Hizen (Saga) – that, irrespective of the exact site, the issue of whether it was located in Kyushu or the Kinai area had effectively been resolved.24 It was at the onset of the twentieth century that the Yamatai debate began in earnest. In response to Kume Kunitake’s show of support for Naka Michiyo and others, in 1910, Naitō Torajirō of Kyoto University marshalled a strong counter-argument for the Kinai area, claiming that measures of distance rather than compass readings held the key to deciphering the Wajinden. Naitō’s thesis was criticized by Shiratori Kurakichi, who pointed out that by placing Kuna in Kyushu and Yamatai in the Kinai area, he failed to explain how and why Himiko could possibly have appealed for help from China.25 In 1920, Watsuji Tetsurō struck an ingenious compromise by suggesting in his Nihon Kodai Bunka (Ancient Culture of Japan) that Yamatai was originally located in Kyushu but subsequently moved east to establish the Yamato state.26 He later switched his affiliation to the Kinai theory, but this has proved to be a resilient concept, partly because of the intriguing parallels it suggests with Jinmu’s Eastern Expedition and also Ōjin’s rise to power. Over the last hundred years the controversy has at times taken on a partisan tone, developing into something of an intellectual game between advocates of the Kyushu theory (largely based in Tokyo and Kyushu) and supporters of the Kinai theory (largely based in Kyoto). 38

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa The case for Kyushu revolves around the notion that Chen’s compass bearings were more accurate than his measurement of distance. The case for Kinai holds that the distances he recorded were more accurate than his sense of direction, suggesting that he should have located Yamatai to the east rather than the south. Perhaps the most striking contribution to this argument in recent years has been Furuta Takehiko’s comment that although Chen made 2,237 references to directions in the Weizhi (History of Wei), not once did he confuse east with south.27 Nevertheless, despite the frequent claims that appear by the year to have conclusively solved this riddle, there is no sign of any consensus in sight, and the number of publications on the subject continues to soar. Since there can never be any agreement until incontrovertible evidence of Himiko’s tomb is found, the post-war boom in archaeology has also fuelled the search for Yamatai. This was why there was so much excitement on the discovery of the Yoshinogari site in the 1980s. With its evidence of high watchtowers and a large population, it certainly bore some of the hallmarks of Yamatai recorded in the Wajinden, and initially there were claims that Yoshinogari might even be Yamatai itself.28 No sign was found, however, of an appropriately grand tomb in the area. Moreover, the objects discovered there have since been mostly dated to the Middle Yayoi period (c.100 BCE – 200 CE), too early for the great third-century capital at Yamatai.29 Nevertheless, archaeological discoveries continue to present new evidence to support the case for either Kyushu or Kinai. These broadly affirm a cultural divide between Yayoi settlements in western Japan (Kyushu and western Honshu) where bronze weapons predominate, and the Kinai area, where bronze bells have been found instead. The most dramatic finds in Kinai have been piles of small bronze mirrors with distinctive triangular-shaped rims, and decorated with carved motifs of beasts and deities. These recall the one hundred bronze mirrors of this type which, according to the Wajinden, the emperor of Wei sent to Himiko. As such, they have become a central feature of claims supporting Kinai as the location of Yamatai. Bronze mirrors like this have been found in many places, usually in tombs, but as many as 50 per cent have been found in Kinai, as opposed to just 12 per cent in Kyushu. In 1952, Kobayashi Yukio argued that their widespread distribution suggests they were bestowed on lesser 39

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan chiefs by some primate, possibly as a mark of loyalty. The theory that these were the mirrors sent to Himiko by the emperor of Wei, however, has been challenged on various grounds, notably by Chinese scholars.30 Some have pointed out that, judging from their composition and design, many of them originated in southern China rather than Wei. A discrepancy over the dates has even led one to claim that the mirrors were made by migrants from southern China who had settled in the Kinai area. The style of the inscriptions has also been described as too low in register to have emanated from the Wei court.31 Nevertheless, similar inscriptions have been discovered just recently not only in the Liaodong peninsula but also the Yellow River basin. The case for linking these mirrors with Yamatai, therefore, looks set to continue.32 Perhaps the most convincing argument against it has come from Hirano Kunio, who points out that Kobayashi’s theory rests entirely on the assumption that the mirrors were distributed through political channels alone, ignoring the evidence that many would have been used for trade purposes instead.33 After all, these particular mirrors amount to just one design among the many styles discovered, and viewed collectively 80 per cent of all the mirrors unearthed so far have found been in northern Kyushu. If access to iron signifies political power in Yayoi times, the archaeological record also shows that northern Kyushu possessed relative advantages over Kinai. Iron goods from this period have been found at 663 different sites in northern Kyushu, as compared with just seventy-nine in Kinai.34 Clearly, Kyushu’s proximity to the Korean peninsula gave any regional primates a strategic edge, for initially at least iron would have been imported across the Tsushima Straits. It has also been suggested that the relative weight attached to the Izumo area in the Chronicles was partly because it might have given the Yamato court in Kinai access to iron without having to rely on supplies through Kyushu. Described in the ‘Age of the Gods’ as the stamping ground of Susanoo, the impetuous brother of Amaterasu, Izumo’s location on the Japan Sea coast could also be reached with relative ease from the Korean peninsula.35 Shortly before the discovery of Yoshinogari, new impetus was given to the Yamatai debate in 1983 when Furuta Takehiko pointed out that Himiko’s capital as transcribed by Chen in the Wajinden cannot be pronounced ‘Yamatai’ at all, but should be read ‘Yamaichi’ or ‘Yamai’. It was the fifth-century Chinese scholar Fan Yeh, who converted this to 40

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa ‘Yamatai’ in the Houhanshu by changing the last character. Either this was a simple error confusing two very similar characters, or Fan was consciously taking account of the subsequent emergence of the Yamato state. In this case, however, he would have been more likely to have chosen any of the ten characters used for the sound ‘-to’ found in these Chinese texts, rather than a character for ‘-tai’. Whatever Fan’s intent may have been, perhaps more than any other single detail it has been his creation of ‘Yamatai’ that has led to connections being made between Himiko’s realm and the Yamato state.36 As the twentieth century drew to a close there was considerable support for Nishijima Sadao’s argument that the emphasis should be placed not so much on Yamatai as on Wa, a polity he suggested that could even have emerged in the early second century, a hundred years or so before the time of Himiko.37 At the same time there was no consensus on the Yamatai debate itself, either in Japanese or English works. Edward Kidder, for example, asserted that recent excavations around Makimuku in the Nara basin have strengthened claims linking the area with Yamatai.38 John Maher, on the other hand, saw the wealth of mirrors found in northern Kyushu –‘sometimes thirty mirrors in a single burial jar’ – as indicative of the shamanistic practice ascribed to Himiko, and suggested that ‘Yamatai may have been in the area of Fukuoka’.39 Imamura Keiji also insisted that, even if Yoshinogari was a ‘false alarm’, the discovery of large sites have now given Kyushu an ‘advantage over the Kinai theory’.40 Hirano Kunio, meanwhile, has criticized the increasing emphasis placed on circumstantial archaeological evidence by calling for renewed study on documentary sources, both Chinese and Japanese. In his view, a close textual analysis of the Wajinden seen in the context of other Chinese chronicles would indicate that Yamatai was situated in Kyushu. One line in particular stands out: ‘about one thousand li across the sea to the east of the Queen’s land, other lands are to be found. These are also all of the Wa race.’41 On the premise established by Furuta that compass bearings seem more reliable than measures of distance, these would appear to be the islands of Honshu and Shikoku across the sea to the east of Kyushu. Viewed from Kinai, the only possible candidate would be Shikoku, across the Inland Sea to the south.42 Although the Yamatai debate ultimately remains a matter of conjecture, it does have a significant bearing on our understanding of early 41

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan state formation in Japan. If Himiko’s power base was located in Kyushu her confederation of thirty small states would probably have stretched across much of the northern and central part of the island, but no further. In other words, it was a regional confederation, not large enough to exert control over the whole archipelago. If, however, Yamatai was located in the Kinai area, then the confederation must have been a significantly more powerful organization, stretching from northern Kyushu and covering much of western Honshu. The question is whether or not any states of late Yayoi times were sufficiently developed to operate beyond a regional level and exert political control on what would now be recognized as a ‘national’ scale. There are some further implications. If Himiko’s confederation was a regional power in Kyushu, then it may have fallen at some later stage and passed out of memory. If it was based in Kinai, however, it would be inextricably linked with the subsequent rise of the Yamato state. As such, Himiko herself would be among the founders of a dynasty that has survived to the present day. A third possibility is that, as Watsuji suggested, her confederation had a regional base in Kyushu but subsequently expanded and moved east to the Kinai area. In the fast-moving world of modern archaeology, however, even the discovery of Yoshinogari is now considered to be ancient history, and the case for such a transfer of power from Kyushu to Honshu has recently been described as ‘out of date’.43 Nevertheless, excerpts from Chinese dynastic chronicles still lend some credence to this theory. One example can be found in the eleventh-century Xintangshu (New History of the Tang Dynasty) which declares, ‘the Japanese say that from their first ruler . . . there were altogether thirty-two generations of rulers, all bearing the title of mikoto and residing in the Palace of Tsukushi’.44 Tsukushi was an archaic name for Kyushu, and until the ‘barbarian’ tribes in the south were finally conquered in the eighth century, referred mainly to the northern part of the island. Hirano also draws attention to a line in the Suishu (History of the Sui Dynasty), citing a visiting envoy who observed in 608, ‘all the lands to the east of Tsukushi were subject to Wa’. Pointing out that Chinese scribes customarily drew on existing records to update their knowledge of political conditions at home and abroad, he asserts that they must have been consciously referring to the line from the Wajinden – ‘across 42

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa the sea to the east of the Queen’s land’ – when they elected to replace ‘the Queen’s land’ with ‘Tsukushi’.45 Yamatai landmarks in Kyushu At a local level in some parts of Kyushu, Yamatai never seems far away. The small hot spring town of Funagoya, for example, is in the extreme south of Fukuoka Prefecture. As they cross the bridge over the Yaba River, drivers passing through on National Route Number Three are greeted by a roadside sign with a picture of a woman in ancient dress on the far bank. The image is accompanied by the message, ‘Welcome to Setaka, home of Himiko.’ It is perhaps the boldest such claim that drivers will find on their travels in Kyushu, but so vague are Chen Shou’s directions that numerous locations on the island have been suggested for the lost site of Yamatai, too many to list here.46 By contrast, supporters of the Kinai theory are largely agreed at least on where to look. Even if the Hashihaka tomb has been identified as too recent to have possibly been that of Himiko, there is a large concentration of impressive Yayoi tombs and relics excavated in the Nara basin. The case for Setaka in Kyushu is based to some extent on local place names. Of the nine ancient tombs that have so far been identified as candidates for the site of Himiko’s burial, three are located in the Setaka area. The most impressive of these is Zoyama Kuramazuka, although closer inspection has revealed that this dates to a period after the heyday of Himiko’s rule. The numerous Hachiman shrines in the district suggest another tenuous link due to their association with Ōjin, son of Jingū who, as we have seen, is the closest parallel figure to Himiko found in the Chronicles. At the same time, there is almost as much dissension among supporters of a Kyushu location for Yamatai as that reserved for advocates of the Kinai area. In the late nineteenth century, Naka Michiyo proposed a place near Setaka called Yamato as a possible site, only for Kume Kunitake to then suggest another place by the same name further inland in the Kikuchi valley. After the Pacific War, the suggested links with Ōjin influenced Tomiki Takashi to make the case for the town of Usa to the east in Ōita Prefecture, since this is the site of the head shrine of the Hachiman sect.47 Based on both topography and archaeology the Chikugo basin has also won support as an inland area that could 43

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan certainly have sustained a sizeable population, and excavation work in the Amagi area in particular continues to be a focus of interest.48 Others have argued that Yamatai was not inland at all, and at least two recent theses have claimed that Himiko’s palace was situated on the north Kyushu coast, either in the Itoshima peninsula or on a hill in the Fukuoka area overlooking Hakata Bay.49 To complicate matters, both place names and textual records indicate the widespread prevalence of female rulers in the region. As Michiko Aoki points out, ‘undoubtedly there lived in Kyushu some seafaring people who had the custom of electing female chieftains in ancient times’. Place names that literally mean ‘Female Hill(s)’ include, for example, Zoyama in Setaka and Ominayama in Saga Prefecture. According to the eighth century Hizen no Kuni Fudoki (Gazetteer of Hizen Province), the Ominayama hills were named after a group of recalcitrant sorceresses called tsuchikimo who used to live there. The impressive Hirabaru tomb discovered in the Itoshima peninsula in 1965 was also clearly reserved for a female of high rank, possibly a priestess, who was buried surrounded by a thousand jewels.50 Such a connection with early worship is reinforced by the fact that many of the tombs in the area are aligned with the fall of light at sunrise on significant days of the year, rather like Stonehenge and other Neolithic stone circles and tombs in the British Isles and continental Europe. Some place names have even been linked with the name of Himiko herself. The numerous small Shinto shrines in Japan are usually left mostly unattended, but at larger shrines there are always priests together with priestesses called o-miko-san, attired in white tops and red dresses. These women perform various tasks from assisting religious services to cleaning sacred areas and selling lucky charms. As a shamaness who divined the future by looking for cracks in bones, Himiko, too, has sometimes been described as a priestess (miko) of fire (hi). There are parallel associations in the Kyushu landscape, notably in Kumamoto Prefecture, which has long been identified as the ‘Land of Fire’ (Hi-no-Kuni). Much like the various theories of Yamatai, what can start as the search for a specific location ends with more general comments on the nature of early societies in Japan. Without conclusive evidence, all the candidates for the site of Himiko’s realm fade into the landscape. Archaeological discoveries sometimes provide clues that lend weight to a particular argument, such as at Yoshinogari twenty years ago, but the 44

Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa nucleus of the third-century confederation of Wa remains elusive. Such finds strengthen the case for arguing that northern Kyushu was the centre of Yayoi political hegemony, but do not amount to evidence for Yamatai itself. After Chen Shou’s Sanguozhi, it is not until the late fifth century that an extant Chinese chronicle hints at political developments on the islands of Wa. In the interim, there were clearly some significant changes, enabling the emergence of a line of powerful kings in the Kinai area. How the pattern of political control developed from the confederation of Wa in the third century to grow into the Yamato dynasty by the fifth, however, is still largely concealed by the historical void often described as ‘the mysterious fourth century’ that followed the era of Himiko.

45

CHAPTER 3

TSUKUSHI: ISLE OF UNKNOWN FIRES

 rom Saga City, near the Yayoi remains of Yoshinogari, the main road north heads across the plain and then winds through wooded mountains before reaching the north Kyushu coast. The spectacular stretch of coastline here in Karatsu Bay is called Niji no Matsubara, or ‘Rainbow Forest of Pines’ after its long bow-shaped beach flanked by trees. Its sheltered position makes it second perhaps only to Hakata Bay further to the east as a safe haven for ships. Today the journey from Saga features a recently built landmark as the road runs through the mountains to the sea. Around a corner on the approach to a services area near the town of Kyūragi, an impressive white statue looms into view. Standing forty-six feet high and rotating gently, this giant figure of a young woman – wearing loose robes and with one hand held aloft – recalls at first glance the Statue of Liberty, until closer inspection reveals she is waving a cloth. This is Sayō-hime, the celebrated beauty who, according to legend, captured the heart of the general of the Yamato army when he passed this way in 537.1 Ōtomo Sadehiko, a renowned military leader, was bound for Karatsu to lead his troops across the sea to fight in the Korean peninsula. Shortly before leaving he married Sayō-hime, and so she joined him in Karatsu as the expedition prepared to embark. Her statue recalls the scene when, as Sadehiko’s ship set sail, she climbed a hill near the shore and waved farewell from the top. From this episode the site takes its name of Hirefuri no Mine (scarf-waving hill). In one version, Sayō-hime is held to have been so distraught that she followed the fleet in a small boat as far as the nearby port of Yobuko where, in her grief, she turned to stone.2

F

46

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires Although little more than a tale of courtly love transferred to the country, this legend reflects the considerable political changes that had taken effect by the mid-sixth century. The island of Kyushu, or at least the northern part, was now generally known as Tsukushi to the courtiers of the growing Yamato state. Viewed from their capital in the Nara basin it was a mysterious region in the outer reaches of the realm. In the verse that they wrote, military officials posted to this far-off land conveyed the sense of a remote frontier zone. Examples such as this one were later included in the Man’yōshū (Songs of Myriad Leaves), Japan’s oldest anthology of poetry compiled in the mid-eighth century. Our Sovereign’s far-off court Is Tsukushi, the isle of unknown fires It is the citadel defending Her Empire against the foreign enemy 3

The ‘unknown fires’ cited here refer to the light effects that still appear in the inland seas enclosed by the islands off the west coast of Kyushu. It was only in the early twentieth century that a scientific explanation was finally offered for this natural phenomenon, when it was identified as a type of mirage. This rare optical illusion has been compared with a similar effect found in Lake Geneva, but is becoming increasingly difficult to see due to the prevalence of electric lighting along the coast and now polluted water. Recalling a time when it was a defining local feature, however, there is a town on the coast of the Ariake Sea in the north of Kumamoto Prefecture called Shiranui (literally ‘unknown fire’). Further south along the coast is another stretch of water called the Shiranui Sea. According to the Nihon Shoki it was this sea, rather than the region’s volcanoes, that gave Kumamoto its reputation as the ‘Land of Fire’ (Hi no Kuni). It records how, on one occasion, having subjugated the recalcitrant Kumaso people of the region in battle, the ‘emperor’ Keikō was travelling along this coastline one night when, catching sight of some lights out at sea, none of his followers could answer his question, ‘Whose fire is this?’4 In the Hizen no Kuni Fudoki (Gazetteer of Hizen Province), the episode is attributed instead to a victorious general who was serving under Keikō, and when the emperor later 47

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan passed this way he declared, ‘now I know why this land is called Hi no Kuni’.5 Judging from verses in the Man’yōshū, to be sent to these frontier lands of Tsukushi was not a popular assignment for soldiers of the Yamato state who had grown up in Honshu. They lamented their exile in tones reminiscent of the Tang dynasty border poetry written by Chinese soldiers sent to man the Great Wall. Tsukushi was also a dangerous place. In some areas lay rebellious peoples who had only recently submitted to what they saw as the civilizing influence of Yamato rule. These included the Kumaso, based largely in the central highlands of Kyushu (around present-day Kumamoto Prefecture) who, according to the Chronicles, had finally been pacified by Keikō. Beyond their lands in the far south of the island were the warlike Hayato (in Kagoshima Prefecture). To the north of Tsukushi beyond the Tsushima Straits also lay the warring states of the Korean peninsula, and Yamato rulers were repeatedly drawn into the complex power struggles unfolding there. Either they coveted some wider influence for themselves, or they could not ignore the pleas for help that increasingly arrived from their allies across the sea. The departure of Ōtomo no Sadehiko at the head of an army was one example of the lengths they would go to in order to secure what they saw as their vested interests on the continent. This precarious state of affairs poses several questions. Why would Yamato devote its scarce military resources to sending armies across the sea from Tsukushi to fight in the Korean peninsula at a time when there were still untamed peoples in the Japanese islands – the Kumaso and Hayato in Kyushu, and the Emishi in Honshu – yet to be brought under their control? Of course, our earlier themes on the development of proto-historic Kyushu provide some relevant background in exploring the nature of Yamato control, such as the legend of an imperial ancestor moving out of Kyushu and conquering the Yamato area in the Nara basin. Also important is the formation of the Yamatai confederation of the third century, and whether this was just a regional organization based in Kyushu, or already the genesis of the Yamato state in the Nara basin. What is unquestionable is that, no matter how the Chronicles compiled in the eighth century are interpreted, they indicate extremely close links between the Yamato rulers and the island of Kyushu during a sustained period of military involvement in the Korean peninsula. 48

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires The age of great tombs It is tempting to search for a direct connection between the worlds of Yamatai in the third century and the subsequent rise of Yamato, but unfortunately the Chinese dynastic histories, the only source of textual information at this stage, reveal nothing on developments during the fourth century. The archaeological record, however, clearly shows that by the end of the century significant changes were in train, ushering in an age of great tombs (kofun), which would dominate the political landscape in the Japanese islands for the next two hundred years. These distinctive keyhole-shaped tumuli include some of the largest tombs ever built, surpassing in terms of area, if not height, the Pyramids of Egypt, and in length comparable with even the tomb of the First Emperor of China near Xian.6 Substantial examples can be found in Kyushu and western Honshu, but the massive tombs of Ōjin and Nintoku in what is now the city of Osaka, point to the emergence of a dominant polity in the Kinai area at this time. While its political hegemony in these islands may not yet have extended beyond a loose confederation of allies, such impressive monuments indicate the formative years of what became the Yamato state. A culture of building giant tombs like these can be found in much of East Asia, originating in China and spreading into the Korean peninsula before it appeared in Japan. It remains unclear, however, whether the distinctive design of the keyhole-shaped tombs in Japan was perfected in these islands of Wa or imported directly from the Korean peninsula. Similar examples have been found in southern Korea but might conceivably have been built for Yamato soldiers who had fallen in battle there. Nevertheless, the artefacts found in the tombs in Japan point to a significant level of cultural interaction between the early Yamato state and the Korean peninsula, much of which was conducted through ‘Tsukushi’ in northern Kyushu. In some ways conditions in Tsukushi were shaped just as much by the emergence of new states across the Tsushima Straits as by the development of Yamato into the dominant force in the islands of Wa. By this time the Chinese commanderies at Lelang and Daifang which had enabled Chen Shou’s informants to travel as far as Himiko’s lands in the third century were long gone. In place of these outposts of Chinese power, three kingdoms had emerged in the Korean peninsula. One of 49

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan these, the state of Koguryŏ in the north, had always remained independent of Chinese rule and was now in a position to extend its territories. Further south, two substantial new powers were formed, Paekche in the west and Silla in the east. Between these states lay a smaller stretch of territory known as Kaya, a loose federation of several principalities along the southern shores just across the water from Tsukushi.7 This is a controversial theme since it marks the onset of historical contacts between Korea and Japan, a chequered relationship in early modern and modern times. What is clear, however, is that the Yamato state was deeply involved in the political rivalries between the three kingdoms in the Korean peninsula. Much less certain are exactly how and why it became involved. Some surviving texts and artefacts can nevertheless help to provide clues in piecing together the nature of early ties between Yamato and Korea. These include a passage in the Chronicles, a unique seven-branched sword and an ancient monument on the banks of the Yalu River, which today marks the border between North Korea and China. Compiled in the early eighth century to place on record the dynasty’s lineage, the Chronicles recount how several centuries before, the ‘emperor’ Chūai had once arrived in Tsukushi at the head of an army to subdue the Kumaso inhabitants to the south. His ships managed to land in northern Kyushu although not, it would appear, without some difficulty. If he did encounter resistance and had to land by force this is obscured in the text by references to the ritual offerings he made to pave his way.8 He then prepared for his Kumaso campaign, establishing his court at a palace in Kashii, now an area in the eastern suburbs of Fukuoka City. On one occasion he was visited by a deity who spoke through his wife Jingū, counselling him to turn his attention across the water, where a land called Silla offered rich opportunities. Chūai offended the deity, however, when he refused to believe this story, saying that to the north lay only sea. 9 The same night he died, leaving Jingū to take his place and launch the campaign against Silla that, according to the Chronicles, established an enclave under Yamato control in the region of Kaya, known as Imna, or retrospectively as Mimana Nihonfu. Whether or not such a colony ever existed in Korea, and in what form if it did, has been the subject of much debate. The Chronicles refer to residents at the ‘Japanese Government House’ (Mimana Nihonfu) being supervised by a ‘Governor of Imna’, but also mention a ‘King of Imna’ 50

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires of equal rank with the rulers of Paekche, Silla and Koguryŏ. This would suggest more of a diplomatic facility than a colony as such. Its exact location on the coast also remains something of a mystery. 10 On a more dynastic note, it is worth mentioning the epilogue to this Korean campaign described in the Chronicles. Tradition holds that Kashii Shrine (Kashii-gū) was built as a mausoleum dedicated to the spirits of both Chūai and Jingū, who died in Tsukushi following her return from the peninsula.11 The fact that three female deities – daughters of Amaterasu – are revered at the Great Shrine of Munakata just along the coast also hints at the arrival of royal blood from across the water. Throughout the campaign, moreover, Jingū had been carrying a child, and it was shortly before her death that she gave birth to the son called Homuda-wake who would grow up to become Ōjin, ruler of the Yamato state.12 This is where legend merges with history, for while Jingū is sometimes thought of as a semi-fictional composite figure of historical female rulers (Himiko, Suiko and Jitō among them), Ōjin is the first Yamato ruler listed in the Chronicles who, according to Tsuda Sōkichi’s model, is generally acknowledged as having lived and ruled in these islands. His reign also appears to mark the onset of historical relations between the Yamato state and the Korean peninsula, particularly through state-level contact with the western kingdom of Paekche based in the region around modern-day Seoul.13 Since he was born in Tsukushi, Ōjin has been portrayed as a north Kyushu chieftain who marched east to take the Kinai area by force and establish his own dynasty.14 As such, his rise to power bears more than a passing resemblance to the Eastern Expedition of Jinmu, the legendary founder of the Yamato state. It has been suggested that the compilers of the Chronicles contrived to create a composite figure when they ‘created both Jinmu the Conqueror and Ōjin the Man of Peace out of Homuda-wake’.15 Traditionally renowned for his martial valour, Ōjin’s military exploits and aggressive character are highlighted in the eighth-century gazetteers of various provinces. In Kyushu his name is associated with a number of places, but most closely identified with the Hachiman Shrine at Usa, where he is revered as the ‘God of War’. This is in stark contrast, however, with the passive nature of Homuda-wake (Ōjin) portrayed in the Chronicles. As Aoki has observed, ‘the compilers of Kojiki and Nihongi seem to have taken pains to conceal his belligerence before and 51

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan after his emergence as the ruler of the Yamato state, or the unifier of the several confederacies of the Japanese islands’.16 Gina Barnes agrees that ‘the Ojin story echoes that of the eastward trek of Jinmu and’, moreover, ‘is thought to reflect the same grain of reality’.17 By whatever means he used to take control, Ōjin certainly stamped his authority on the Kinai area. Visible testimony of his power can be found in the vast tomb which, according to tradition, was built for him in the suburbs of Osaka. This measures 1,316 feet in length, and has been dated by archaeologists to the end of the fourth century. In terms of scale it is surpassed only by the nearby tomb of his son and successor Nintoku, which is all of 1,594 feet long. These giant structures are clearly symbols of the ascendancy of the Yamato state although, as they remain under the protection of the Imperial Household, they are yet to be excavated.18 Another ancient relic mentioned in the Chronicles, which unquestionably points to close political links between Yamato and the Korean peninsula, is the famous seven-branched sword. A unique artefact made with considerable technical skill, this was shown to be more than a literary fantasy on its discovery in 1873, and is now kept at the Isonakami Shrine in Nara, not far from the great tombs of Ōjin and Nintoku. It was certainly a ‘gift’ to Wa (Yamato) from the Korean state of Paekche, although the terms under which it was given are contested. It even bears a date, for although it was recorded in the Chronicles as having arrived in 372, the inscription on the scabbard itself reads the year 369. Attempts to decipher the Chinese letters inscribed have been inconclusive, but suggest that either Wa was a vassal state of Paekche, or was on at least equal terms. According to one reading, the Yamato ruler this was made for is even named as Keikō who, perhaps to enable the association of Jingū with Himiko, is recorded in the Chronicles as having ruled more than 150 years before Ōjin.19 What is beyond doubt is that, already by the late fourth century, these two states were important to each other.20 A third clue pointing towards some early Yamato involvement in the Korean peninsula takes the form of an ancient thirty-three-foot high monument on the north bank of the Yalu River. This was discovered, coincidentally, by a Japanese army officer in 1884 at a time when, after a passage of several centuries, Japanese activities in Korea were gaining fresh momentum. Erected in 414 to commemorate the death of Kwanggaet’o, the king of Koguryŏ, the inscription consists of more 52

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires than 1,800 characters which relate at length his glorious exploits spanning nearly two decades of war from 390 to 407. It records the southern advance of the Koguryŏ army and how this was resisted by other states in the Korean peninsula, who received assistance from Wa troops until Koguryŏ achieved a crushing victory. It is far from clear whether or not this Wa contingent actually implies an overseas expeditionary force sent by the Yamato state, but is at least consistent with the legacy of friendship between Yamato and Paekche inscribed on the sevenbranched sword some thirty years before.21 Piecing together archaeological and textual records from Japan, China and Korea, the military narrative that emerges suggests that, over a period spanning nearly three hundred years, a series of Yamato expeditions crossed the Tsushima Straits and fought in the Korean peninsula. This chronology unfolds in three phases. First, with the gift of the seven-branched sword, Yamato was allied with Paekche from around 372 and may have helped to resist the advance of Koguryŏ until meeting defeat in 407. Second, Yamato continued to assist Paekche with some success in fighting campaigns against both Koguryŏ and Silla, although it is unclear whether it ever really had the means to establish the enclave in Kaya claimed in the Chronicles. Finally, the confederation of Kaya itself fell to Silla in the sixth century following a process of gradual encroachment, and Paekche then repeatedly called on Yamato for military assistance to resist the advance of Silla until it was destroyed in turn during the seventh century. The Korean impact on Tsukushi At times, these Yamato military expeditions must have transformed the sheltered bays of Hakata and Karatsu into armed camps before they embarked across the sea. The influence this exerted on Tsukushi, however, cannot be viewed in isolation from the cultural impact transmitted in the other direction from the Korean peninsula. The three kingdoms of Koguryŏ, Paekche and Silla, together with the Kaya confederation, all possessed technology superior to that of Yamato. Whether obtained through military or diplomatic channels, the ruling elites in the Japanese islands were clearly motivated by the prospect of acquiring prized goods and knowledge. The increasing flow of traffic across the Tsushima Straits would have a marked impact on life at the 53

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Yamato culture and also had a profound effect on communities in Tsukushi. At the same time, a distinction needs to be drawn between the influence of Paekche on the Yamato state, and the overall Korean influence on northern Kyushu, which were by no means always synonymous. To some extent soldiers brought artefacts back from their overseas campaigns in the service of the Yamato armies. Diplomatic ties with Korean states such as Paekche also resulted in the flow of gifts, expertise and ideas to the islands of Wa. Then there was the growing trade carried out across the Tsushima Straits, and if the monument on the Yalu River is to be believed, pirates from Wa were already active in these waters. Above all, successive waves of migrants driven across the sea by the political convulsions in the Korean peninsula had a major impact. For many new arrivals the first landfall after island-hopping from Tsushima to Iki en route was the north coast of Tsukushi. In the early stages these were often people from different parts of Kaya driven out by the advance of Silla, and there were also migrants from Silla itself. In the seventh century the expansion of Silla would eventually precipitate a diaspora of high-ranking Paekche migrants, although many of these ventured on to a life of exile at the Yamato court. Ultimately, the migrant culture in the Kinai area took on a distinctly Paekche flavour by comparison with Tsukushi and the western tip of Honshu, where new arrivals were drawn from various places of origin in the Korean peninsula, Silla included. The effect would serve to complicate the profile of political and cultural affiliations across the Tsushima Straits, which were certainly not confined to bilateral ties between Yamato and Paekche alone. The influx of such migrant communities would transform society in the islands of Wa. Cultural legacies that can be traced to the political ties between Yamato and Paekche, for example, include the introduction of writing and Buddhism. An understanding of Chinese characters seems to have appeared at the Yamato court during the fifth century, but it was probably the arrival of scribes from the Korean peninsula that allowed stylized letters to be drafted and sent to China.22 Of course, political leaders not just in Yamato but also Kyushu would have been aware of writing systems for some time already, through their diplomatic ties and items such as bronze mirrors found among their burial goods. Among the very earliest examples of Chinese characters 54

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires known to have been written in the islands of Wa is the 714-letter inscription on a large sword discovered at the Funayama tomb in the north of Kumamoto Prefecture, which is thought to date to the middle of the fifth century. How they interpreted or utilized these imported symbols in a time before they and their subjects could read remains a matter of conjecture.23 The introduction of Buddhist teaching was also largely statesponsored. In 538, or possibly 552, the king of Paekche, in an exceptional mark of favour, despatched some Buddhist monks among the men of culture who were regularly sent to reside at the Yamato court. These parties included royal princes of Paekche, sometimes heirs to the throne, portrayed as ‘hostages’ in the Chronicles but who possibly saw themselves rather as cultural supervisors. One striking result was that, whereas Chinese chronicles had previously pointed out the differences between clothing in the Japanese islands and the Korean peninsula, now they remarked on the similarities between them. Another important outcome was the adoption of the uji-kabane system which gave rise to the powerful clans (uji) and titles (kabane) that dominated Yamato court politics.24 The most impressive symbols of continental influence were the giant burial mounds (kofun), which first appeared in the mid-third century, subsequently grew in size, and in places remain prominent features of the landscape today. In many cases, the crests of these mounds are ringed by rows of haniwa, small earthenware cylinders surmounted mostly by figurines, some wearing armour, together with models of buildings and even boats. These at least would appear to be a feature particular to the Japanese islands. A famous passage in the Nihon Shoki records how this practice was developed to replace the longstanding custom of burying servants alive on the death of their lords.25 In later examples there are also figurines depicting horses with stirrups, bridles and saddles.26 While the largest keyhole tombs ever built are concentrated in the Kinai area, the two earliest known examples are both located in Fukuoka Prefecture.27 The burial goods they contain reveal a particularly strong Korean influence. Most of the chambers in which brightly coloured wall paintings have been found, indeed, are located in northern Kyushu. It would appear that, for whatever reason, from the fifth to the seventh centuries, regional chieftains there consciously 55

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan drew inspiration for their burial practices from models in the Korean peninsula.28 In 1921, Kida Sadakichi suggested that there must have been some link between the emergence of three powerful kingdoms in the Korean peninsula around the fourth century and the appearance of the first Japanese state in Yamato.29 The power balance involved in any cultural and technological transfer, however, remains a matter of controversy. At one extreme among the various theories advanced is a tale of Japanese military expansion and even colonization in the Korean peninsula, as apparently portrayed in the Chronicles commissioned by the Yamato court. At the other is a scenario of conquest by Korean migrants settling in the islands of Wa and establishing the Yamato state. A striking model is the ‘horse-rider theory’ developed in 1948 by Egami Namio, who claimed that only invasion by mounted warriors from a nomadic tribe somewhere on the continent can account for the absence of horses in the Chinese account of Yamatai in the third century, and their subsequent appearance in the age of great tombs. Horses are first mentioned in the Chronicles, for example, in a reference to cavalry in the reign of Nintoku.30 Equine equipment has also been found among burial goods and portrayed in haniwa pottery. The archaeological record, however, does not fully support this theory. The evidence for horse trappings does not appear until the late fifth century.31 Moreover, bones and teeth unearthed at Neolithic sites show that, unknown to the Wei envoys, there were horses already on these islands. As in the case of rice, they appear to have been introduced either through the north or south of Kyushu, and the inhabitants raised them as livestock for food, as beasts of burden, and for religious rituals.32 Gari Ledyard later developed Egami’s ideas to assert that the mounted invaders he had identified came from Puyeo in southern Manchuria. Yet as Wontack Hong has pointed out, both Egami and Ledyard ignore the fact that ‘there is no record of Korea being invaded by any nomadic peoples from northeastern Asia during or before the fourth century’.33 This would suggest that any invasion of Japan at this time must have been the work of the Korean kingdom of Paekche, whose leaders themselves were of Puyeo descent, having first reached the Paekche region in 18 BCE.34 By extension, this interpretation even identifies the all-conquering Homuda-wake (Ōjin) as a royal prince of Paekche. 56

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires Between these two extremes of overseas conquest by either Yamato or Paekche are some other less dramatic perspectives. These could include some late manifestation of an ‘incubation’ stage, with Korean migrants settling in northern Kyushu for several generations before extending their influence to Honshu. Another model is the Korean satellite theory, which holds that groups of migrants from various parts of the peninsula established outpost communities at different times in the islands of Wa, while at the same time retaining contacts with their cousins across the Tsushima Straits. In its initial stages at least, therefore, the Yamato realm can hardly be thought of as an integrated state. The giant tombs of Ōjin and Nintoku reflect considerable political power, but some impressive large examples also indicate the emergence of strong regional polities in Kibi, northern Kyushu and Hyūga in the late fourth and early fifth centuries.35 Moreover, the particular style of tombs confined to northern Kyushu not only reveals close ties with Kaya, but even suggests a culturally distinct ‘Kyushu realm’ (Kyushu Ōchō), just as the emergence of a ‘Hyūga realm’ is possibly reflected in the Saitobaru complex further south in Miyazaki. Regional rulers in Kyushu may have pledged their loyalty at some stage to the emerging Yamato regime, but they maintained an international outlook and had their own overseas connections. In the north they could also control the sea lanes linking the islands of Wa with the Korean peninsula. Although tenuously incorporated within the Yamato polity, therefore, these rulers were involved in a wider network of alliances, and could draw on alternative sources of political support. When one such leader rebelled against his overlords, he potentially had the power to threaten the viability of the Yamato state. The Iwai Rebellion By the late fifth century the political authority of the Yamato regime had become more widely established under the rule of Yūryaku. He was recorded as the fifth and last in a dynastic line that had begun with Ōjin and Nintoku, and whose power was so extensive that they are collectively mentioned as the ‘five great kings’ in Chinese chronicles.36 This is borne out by the increasingly uniform design of great tombs (kofun), and also the discovery in tombs as far apart as Kumamoto in Kyushu and the Kantō plain (near present-day Tokyo) of swords with 57

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan inscriptions pledging allegiance to Yūryaku’s rule. Yamato, however, was not yet so much a unified polity as the dominant power in a confederation of regional rulers distributed through the islands of Wa. Bound by the personal authority of the ‘king’ and the allegiance of several powerful clans grouped strategically in the Nara basin, it was still a fragile hegemony. Following the rule of Yūryaku and this formative era of ‘five great kings’, the Yamato state of the early sixth century appears to have been beset with internal conflict. Neighbouring Kibi (now in Okayama Prefecture) was a powerful threat, with its own independent cultural tradition.37 Across the mountains on the northern shores of Honshu, Izumo (now in Shimane Prefecture) had also remained largely beyond Yamato’s control during the era of the ‘five great kings’. As late as 608, Chinese envoys passing through Suō (now Yamaguchi Prefecture) were also surprised to find that the ‘people [there] were identical with the Chinese of the Middle Kingdom’. It has been suggested that they may have been a migrant colony, partly because the Ōuchi family which dominated the area in medieval times traced its ancestry to a Korean prince thought to have settled in the area at the onset of the seventh century.38 If Yamato authority was less than emphatic in western Honshu, the regime had a precarious hold across the Kanmon (or Shimonoseki) Straits in Tsukushi. The Chronicles refer to several regional chieftains in the sixth century who controlled large territories in northern and central Kyushu apparently on behalf of the Yamato state, among them Tsukushi no Kimi, Hi no Kimi, Aso no Kimi (based in the highland area around Mt Aso), and Ōkita no Kimi (ruling lands now in Ōita Prefecture). According to a model devised by Inoue Tatsuo, Kyushu may be broadly divided into three geographical categories until it was brought more firmly under Yamato control from the mid-seventh century onwards. The ‘Tsukushi’ region in the north was culturally the most akin to the Yamato state and served as its base of operations there. Further south in central Kyushu, the lands of the now subjugated Kumaso people had less in common with Yamato. In the far south the Hayato were yet to be fully pacified, and although their representatives would appear at court to pay tribute from the mid-seventh century onwards, it was not until the eighth century that they were finally reconciled to Yamato rule.39 58

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires Even in the Tsukushi heartland in the north of the island, Yamato authority was still far from assured. This was because, although closer to Honshu, the region was also subject to political influence from the Korean peninsula. There was, for example, a significant level of contact with Silla, a power whose territorial expansion was now threatening the interests of Paekche, and, if they clung on to dreams of a presence on the continent, the Yamato rulers as well. According to the Chronicles, Yūryaku had acknowledged a longstanding Silla presence in Tsukushi when he warned of an approaching conflict: ‘Silla occupies the Western land; age after age he has done us homage . . . [but now] . . . he has betaken himself beyond Tsushima.’40 This helps to explains why records held at the Great Shrine of Munakata to the east of Fukuoka City indicate the receipt of gifts from not just Yamato but Silla as well. A few miles inland in Tagawa City, the Kawara Shrine is also dedicated to a deity from Silla, and colourful roof tiles characteristic of Silla design have also been found in the area. These are not isolated cases, as the north coast of Kyushu abounds with place names suggesting Korean influence, among them Hakata, Munakata and Yahata. According to one claim, Shirakibaru, now a station on the Nishitetsu line in the suburbs of Fukuoka, also reflects the arrival of migrants from Silla (pronounced Shira in Japanese).41 A combination of dynastic rivalries at court, Tsukushi’s strategic importance, and its contacts with the Korean peninsula always made this region vulnerable to the threat of rebellion against the Yamato state. The Chronicles even suggest a precedent in an episode in which Takenouchi Sukune, a powerful figure at Ōjin’s court, once plotted an uprising there by claiming, ‘Alone I will cut off Tsukushi and will invite the three Han to come and do homage to me.’42 It was little surprise, therefore, that the first major uprising against the Yamato state broke out in northern Kyushu. The occasion was the rise to power of Keitai, Yūryaku’s successor and a ruler from a different regional background than the ‘five great kings’, possibly from Echizen to the northeast of the Kinai area.43 Since Ōjin, the supposed founder of this first line of kings, had apparently been born in Kyushu, the accession of this new overlord in itself might have weakened the allegiance of Kyushu chieftains to the Yamato state. It was Keitai’s ambitious plans for an overseas military campaign that seem to have provoked armed resistance in 527. According to the 59

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Chronicles his aim was to defend Yamato’s interests in the rich coastal plains of Kaya, specifically the enclave at Mimana Nihonfu which had come under sustained attack from the mountain kingdom of Silla. Preparations for the campaign, however, were delayed for several years when the most powerful figure in northern Kyushu, Iwai Tsukushi no Kimi (Lord of Tsukushi), raised an army and challenged the Yamato state. He also took command of the sea-lanes across the Tsushima Straits, intercepting ships from the peninsula bearing gifts (or tribute) to the Yamato court. Iwai’s opposition to the campaign against Silla has been characterized as an internal rebellion on an international scale. ‘Fearing that the matter would be hard to accomplish’, he had now struck up an alliance against Yamato, or as the Chronicles relate, succumbed to Silla’s secret bribery.44 His dissenting outlook, however, was perhaps more realistic than that of the Yamato court, which for years afterwards would try to maintain a presence in the Korean peninsula that it were ultimately powerless to uphold.45 Iwai had a formidable power base in northern Kyushu. His title Tsukushi no Kimi implies at least that he had previously recognized Yamato authority, but he was lord of a regime that had its own distinct style. Iwai held court at a place called Iwatoyama near Yame (now in the far south of Fukuoka Prefecture), tucked away in the foothills of the central Kyushu mountains. Judging from the statues of men and horses found there, this was unlike anything within the Yamato cultural sphere. The extent of his territories is also evident from the fact that such stone images (sekijin) have been found over a wide area stretching across Kumamoto, Fukuoka and Ōita prefectures. Another feature indicative of a regional political centre spanning several generations is the long line of tombs strung out along a high ridge near Iwatoyama, commanding a prominent position overlooking the Chikugo and Yabe rivers that wind through the flood plains on either side.46 The Yamato state moved swiftly to confront the threat of Iwai’s insurrection, as an army said to have numbered 60,000 men was despatched to Tsukushi under the leadership of the general Mononobe Ōmuraji Arakabi.47 Iwai’s position was severely weakened when the reinforcements he had been promised by Silla failed to materialize. Nevertheless, the rebellion lasted for a year and a half until the decisive battle in which Iwai is recorded to have been killed, although some sources claim that he managed to escape into hiding. His son quickly 60

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires came to terms and ceded the ‘granary’ of Kasuya no Miyake, a military supply base a few miles to the south of Hakata Bay. Iwai himself is thought to have been buried at the great tomb next to his court at Iwatoyama.48 The removal of this rebel lord reinforced Yamato control over some vital bases on the north Kyushu coast, but it did not yet allow the imposition of direct rule in the region. Indeed, the most conspicuous shift in power relations in the decades that followed seems to have been the emergence of another powerful regional lord called Hi no Kimi, who was based in Higo in central Kyushu to the south of Iwai’s capital at Iwatoyama. According to Hizen no Kuni Fudoki (Gazetteer of Hizen Province), this ruler boasted a proud lineage as a descendant of Tate Wokumi, the general who had once subjugated the Kumaso on behalf of the ‘emperor’ Keikō.49 The archaeological record reveals that in the late sixth century Higo-style tombs can be found increasingly in the area to the north as well, suggesting political expansion into the territories that had once been under Iwai’s control. One example has even been found near Hakata Bay less than half-a-mile away from the principal military base for overseas campaigns to the Korean peninsula. It would appear, therefore, that the Yamato state was only able to maintain its hegemony and control over supply routes in Tsukushi through cooperative ties with Higo-based regional chieftains. The Chronicles, for example, report that when Prince Hye of Paekche was escorted from Yamato en route to his homeland in 556, ‘[t]he Lord of Hi in Tsukushi was sent separately . . . in command of 1,000 valiant soldiers to escort him’ through his lands.50 For how long any distinct ‘Kyushu realm’ maintained its own control over the north of the island remains open to question. It has long been claimed that Chinese records describing the islands of Wa from Yamatai up to the time of the ‘five kings’ may have referred to regional polities in Kyushu rather than the Yamato state of the Kinai area. Furuta Takehiko has provoked considerable debate by extending this notion to argue that an independent ‘Kyushu realm’ (Kyushu Ōchō) endured until late in the seventh century. In support of his claims he asks why, for example, there are Chinese records of an envoy from the ‘king of Wa’ visiting the Sui court in China in 600, although this does not feature at all in the Chronicles (it was in 607 that the empress Suiko is recorded as sending an embassy from the Yamato court).51 Also, the 61

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan observations of Sui envoys visiting Japan graphically describe the landscape around Mt Aso ‘where the rocks for no reason erupt in fire that touches the heavens’, but make no reference of any onward journey through the Inland Sea to the Yamato court.52 Around 670 there was certainly an important political watershed with what amounted to the official declaration of Nihon (Japan), the realm of the ‘rising sun’. Before then, Amino Yoshihiko suggests that it would be more accurate to refer to the inhabitants of the islands of Wa as ‘pre“Japanese” dwellers and civilizations of the archipelago’.53 Furuta maintains that when the Tang court in China finally recognized a state called ‘Nihon’, it was also acknowledging a shift in the political regime in northern Kyushu.54 His claims that this was just one of several regionally-based polities have recently drawn support, together with some scepticism.55 Even if the Yamato state had already secured a degree of political hegemony in northern and central Kyushu, Iwai Kimi and then Hi no Kimi clearly promoted distinctive cultural regimes there for much of the sixth century and possibly beyond. Rather than any programme of state expansion, moreover, it was the Yamato court’s external relations and the security of Tsukushi in particular that seems to have prompted the announcement of ‘Nihon’. As Gavan McCormack suggests, ‘the process was stimulated by events in Korea . . . creating a need for the dwellers of the “Japanese” islands to conceive of an identity for themselves, and perhaps to prepare a unified response to any invasion’.56 Tsukushi as a frontier zone The fall of Iwai had some important implications for the islands of Wa. It enabled an unprecedented flow of cultural exchange between Paekche and the Yamato court, including the arrival of doctors, herbalists and astronomers. Significantly, it was also just a decade or so after his death that Buddhism was transmitted to Japan. At the same time it marked the onset of concerted Yamato activity in establishing military bases in key areas on the northern coasts of Tsukushi. In addition to the ‘granary’ of Kasuya no Miyake ceded by Iwai’s son, a base called Nanotsu Miyake was set up closer to the shore of Hakata Bay, and in 536 a line of miyake bases was established along the Inland Sea. After the Iwai Rebellion, therefore, Tsukushi developed into a front line of attack as successive generations of soldiers were stationed in this 62

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires outpost of Yamato rule. According to the Nihon Shoki it was Ōtomo Sadehiko who, having left his new bride Sayō-hime behind ‘went to Imna and restored peace there. He also lent aid to Pèkché.’57 Such campaigns to ‘retrieve’ Mimana Nihonfu were arguably an agenda of conquest, but as Iwai had suspected, they were unable to prevent Silla’s gradual expansion. By 562, Silla had completely absorbed the Kaya confederacy on the southern coast of the Korean peninsula and now shared borders with Paekche. This marked the onset of territorial rivalry between these two kingdoms as, in response to Paekche’s requests for assistance, Yamato military operations based in Tsukushi increasingly took on the form of relief expeditions.58 In return for aid against Silla, cultural ties between Yamato and Paekche were reinforced as scholars and rare gifts continued to arrive at court. At the same time senior members of the imperial line ended up spending months and sometimes years based along the north coasts of Tsukushi, as they marshalled their forces in support of their allies across the Tsushima Straits. Occasional successes provided glimpses of hope, such as in 600 when a Yamato army sent by the empress Suiko achieved a great victory over Silla. Later in the seventh century another empress – known as Kōgoku during her first term as ruler and Saimei during the second – launched several overseas campaigns in response to Paekche’s desperate pleas for help. Silla was clearly becoming the dominant force in the southern half of the Korean peninsula. An important factor was the alliance struck with the might of Tang China in response to provocation from a mutual enemy, the kingdom of Koguryŏ to the north. To clear their path for an assault on the Koguryŏ capital of P’yŏngyang, by 660 Silla and Tang armies had agreed to strike first against the embattled state of Paekche in the west, which was now threatened with encirclement. After receiving a request for help, Saimei moved to Tsukushi to supervise preparations for a relief expedition, but before this could be launched she died in 661 at Asakura, a few miles south of the army’s headquarters at Nanotsu Miyake. Without Saimei the war effort was taken up by her son Naka, later known as the ‘Great King’ Tenji. At a critical naval encounter two years later, however, a fleet of Tang and Silla warships intercepted and crushed a force of Yamato vessels as they arrived at the mouth of the Kŭm River, downstream from the Paekche capital of Puyŏ (Sabi). In the Battle of 63

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Paekchon River (as the Kŭm River used to be called), Chinese sources record that as many as four hundred Yamato ships were sunk.59 This all but confirmed the destruction of the kingdom of Paekche which, despite an attempted restoration, was finally overrun within a decade. Moreover, it swiftly brought an end to the Yamato state’s overseas military activities, and nearly a thousand years would pass before a ruler of Japan would next attempt to send troops across the Tsushima Straits.60 Following the destruction of Paekche, exiles fled to the islands of Wa and began to arrive on the northern shores of Tsukushi, which now became a front line of defence against the expected invasion from Silla and Tang China. Nanotsu Miyake was considered too close to the sea to be safe from attack, so the military headquarters was moved further inland, several miles to the south. In response to the perceived threat, the task of defending the Yamato army’s positions in Tsukushi was entrusted to engineers from Paekche. Under their supervision an earthwork rampart stretching across the valley was constructed in 664, just a year after the Battle of Paekchon River. According to the Nihon Shoki, ‘a great embankment was built in Tsukushi to store water. It was named the Water Fortress (mizuki).’ This was an impressive work of engineering, originally forty-six feet high and 115 feet thick at the base, and would have required a workforce of several thousand to complete the project within just one year. Moreover, border guards and signal fires were put in place in the Tsushima and Iki islands, and along the coast of Tsukushi. These border guards (sakimori) manned the defences on a three-year tour of duty, but they appear to have been largely conscripted from eastern Honshu, not drawn locally from Kyushu.61 This may have been partly motivated by the need to guarantee the loyalty of troops along this sensitive frontier; the Yamato state did not want any repeat of the Iwai Rebellion. It was a system that would remain in place until 795, when guards from Kyushu were finally introduced instead.62 Mizuki was just the start of a concerted effort to protect northern Kyushu from attack. As Bruce Batten has noted, ‘the post-war construction must have dwarfed the war effort itself’. In 665, the fortress of Ōnojō was built under the supervision of Paekche exiles on a high hill overlooking Mizuki on the east side of the valley.63 Today, the foundations of this castle can still be seen, just as sections of the now wooded Mizuki wall remain as a thin green line stretching three quarters of a mile across the valley floor below, bisected by the railway lines 64

Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires and motorways that run from Fukuoka to the city of Kurume further south. All this construction was intended to confront an invasion that, fortunately for the inhabitants of Tsukushi, Yamato guards and Paekche exiles alike, never materialized. After their joint victory at Paekchon River, Silla and Tang China were unable to maintain a united front and fought instead over the spoils in the kingdom they had combined to destroy. The ramparts of Mizuki would not be used against a foreign invader until five hundred years later when the Mongols, having conquered much of continental Asia, turned their attention to the subjugation of Japan. As Batten points out, while the impact of the Battle of Paekchon River on Japan as a whole is sometimes overestimated, it unquestionably had a major effect on northern Kyushu as, in effect, ‘it created an international boundary where none had existed before’.64 The Paekche diaspora also exerted a significant cultural influence on Yamato, as leading figures from the fallen Korean state regrouped to build a new life in the Japanese islands. For defensive reasons Tenji built a new Korean-style fortress capital at Ōtsu, near the shores of Lake Biwa. The Paekche nobility in exile also became prominent figures at the increasingly multicultural Yamato court. Most of the Taihō Code, a groundbreaking set of land reforms implemented in 701, was written by such exiles, using Korean units of measurement (jōrei) to determine the size of fields. As already noted, there was also a certain Korean influence on the Chronicles compiled a decade later. Other Paekche migrants settled in Kyushu, and not only on the northern coastline to guard against attack from their former enemies. In the village of Nangō in the mountains of Miyazaki Prefecture, for example, stands the Mikado Shrine, which is dedicated to the Paekche royal line. Tradition holds that Prince Shika of Paekche and his extended family arrived in the area after a dispute drove them out of the Yamato court. Their two ships were initially bound for Tsukushi through the Kanmon Straits but were blown off course in the Inland Sea and driven south through the Bungo Channel before arriving at different points on the north Miyazaki coast. The two groups then made their way separately inland to the mountains, with Prince Shika establishing a community at Nangō while his son settled in the village of Kijō sixty-five miles to the south.65 The Paekche nobility, however, were not the only exotic new arrivals at the late seventh-century Yamato court. There were also hostages and 65

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan vassals from the so-called barbarian peoples on the fringes of their ‘empire’, as Yamato armies, barred from further military adventures in Korea, now turned their attention to pacifying the people with whom they shared the islands of Wa. It is still something of a puzzle that Yamato rulers were content to defer the subjugation of people like the Kumaso and Hayato in Kyushu in favour of military adventures in the Korean peninsula. It would seem that for long periods the allure of the cultural capital obtainable from associating with relatively advanced kingdoms such as Paekche outshone the prospect of territorial expansion closer to home. This certainly helped to reinforce the still fragile political legitimacy that the Yamato state tried to invoke when staking its claim to rule over powerful regional lords such as Iwai in northern Kyushu, who after all could boast Korean connections of their own. In cultural terms, defeat at sea in 663 also proved to be a pivotal moment for the Yamato state. As the memory of the disaster on the Paekchon River faded, the balance of power in the Korean peninsula lost the burning importance it had once held for the inhabitants of these islands. Over time, the Paekche court in exile would be absorbed into Yamato society, and Tsukushi no longer served as an advance base for overseas military expeditions. Instead, the northern coastline evolved into the outer extremity of Yamato rule as an international frontier with a fortified border, clearly demarcating Japanese political control from other states across the sea. Even if the victory over Iwai more than a hundred years before had not yet confirmed its political authority in the region, as a result of this state-led construction ‘the island and its inhabitants were now firmly under Yamato’s thumb’.66 The area around Nanotsu Miyake that had once been the centre for planning military expeditions became instead the first line of defence, and also a gateway for diplomatic exchange with the continental powers.67 This was characterized by formal ties with imperial China, which by the seventh century had emerged from centuries of fragmentation to take a more active role in orchestrating international relations. Even as the walls of Mizuki and Ōnojō were being built in the 660s, Tang emissaries were arriving in Hakata Bay with a view to drawing the Yamato state more closely into the China-centred political order in East Asia.

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CHAPTER 4

DAZAIFU: THE DISTANT COURT

 very year, thousands of high school students make their way to the Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine, a few miles south of Fukuoka City. After lining up and waiting their turn, these young pilgrims pray to Tenjin, the ‘God of Letters’, for success in passing their university entrance exams. The shrine is housed in a distinctive building, with a sweeping roof of thatched bark and lacquered crimson beams dating back to the seventeenth century. It has a far more ancient heritage, however, stretching to an era over a thousand years ago when Dazaifu was known among the courtiers of Kyoto as the ‘distant court’ of Heian Japan. In life, Tenjin was the renowned scholar Sugawara Michizane, whose prodigious talent illuminated the imperial court at Heian (Kyoto) during the late ninth century. Such was his skill in composing Chinese verse that even visiting emissaries sent by Tang dynasty emperors were impressed. Although he hailed from an illustrious noble family, however, factional infighting at court led to his appointment as governor of far-off Dazaifu in 901. As an administrative centre Dazaifu was second in importance only to Kyoto, and to be governor was the highest post in the realm outside the imperial seat at Heian. At the same time it effectively meant banishment from court. Condemned to a life of reluctant exile, Sugawara died in Dazaifu two years later in 903. His demise cast such a shadow over the court, especially among his former enemies. In years to come his hand was seen at work in a wave of ominous signs, most conspicuously in 930 when there was a severe drought and lightning struck the palace. Now feared as a thunder god, Sugawara was formally deified in the form of Tenjin in 947

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan when the Kitano Tenmangū Shrine was built on the outskirts of Heian in an effort to placate his angry spirit. In Dazaifu, meanwhile, a small altar had appeared in his memory as early as 905, and the cult of Tenjin would become a feature of devotional life at the Anrakuji Temple later built on this site. Buddhist elements were finally removed in 1869 when Shinto shrines and temples were separated by order of the new Meiji state, and this grand building took its present form as a place devoted solely to the cult of Tenjin.1 References to the Sugawara legend abound in Dazaifu. Inside the entrance to the shrine marked by an imposing torii gate is a statue of an ox, recalling the animal that effectively decided the location of Sugawara’s grave when, carrying his body during the funeral procession, it suddenly collapsed and died en route. The approach to the shrine is lined with stalls selling umegae-mochi, a red bean-paste cake taking its name from plum branches. In the inner courtyard is the so-called tobiume (flying plum), a tree recalling the poems that Sugawara composed before his departure for Dazaifu, in which he begged his favourite plum tree to let the wind carry its fragrance to him far away in exile. The legend holds that the tree was so moved that it uprooted from his garden and flew to join him there.2 Today the surrounding area is also covered with thousands of plum trees. Other nearby attractions set up in the post-war era to lure the hordes of visitors include a rusting amusement park. A more recent addition, reached by escalators running through a tunnel cut into the hillside, is the futuristic new Kyushu National Museum, concealed from view on the other side. The Dazaifu Headquarters The name Dazaifu translates literally as ‘Great Government Headquarters’. According to the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), an official had been appointed to the post of Tsukushi Dazai, or ‘Viceroy’ of Tsukushi, as early as 609 to represent the Yamato court and receive overseas guests.3 How much authority this title initially carried is open to question, but the idea of a permanent government presence certainly took hold in the middle of the seventh century. In the years following the Yamato fleet’s crushing defeat at the Battle of Paekchon River in 663, new headquarters were built for the viceroy here in the relative safety of this site a few miles inland from the shores of Hakata Bay. The 68

Dazaifu: The Distant Court northern coasts of Tsukushi had long since been a military frontier for overseas campaigns on the Korean peninsula, but now with the threat of attack from the victorious forces of Tang China and Silla they were rapidly transformed into a fortified defensive border. Dazaifu itself was tucked behind the defensive ramparts of Mizuki and overlooked by the hilltop fortress of Ōnojō, both built with the help of Paekche exiles. Instead of invading troops, however, the small fleets that arrived in Hakata Bay – now the ‘designated gateway’ – carried emissaries from Yamato’s former enemies. The role of ‘gatekeeper’ fell to government officials at the Dazaifu Headquarters, which Bruce Batten describes as ‘the command centre south of the bay’.4 Before long it had become an important centre of diplomatic and cultural exchange. Away from the crowds that today make their way from the station to the Tenmangū Shrine, the streets off the beaten track are relatively quiet. A fifteen-minute stroll to the north, for example, leads to a surprisingly large area of open ground covered with grass, an unusual feature in this built-up valley. This is known as ‘Tofuro Ato’, the site of the ancient government buildings at Dazaifu. All that remains today are the foundation stones of the colonnades that once enclosed an imposing courtyard and a grand reception hall. These are the remnants of a later structure built in the tenth century after the original seventhcentury buildings had been destroyed. Reconstructions of how Tofuro Ato might once have looked portray a noticeably Korean architectural style, comparable perhaps with the last Paekche capital of Sabi (Puyŏ). In terms of layout it also carries the unmistakable stamp of Chinese cultural influence. Like the medieval palaces in Seoul, for example, the choice of location is governed by Taoist cosmology, situated in a splendid setting with mountains behind and a river running in front. The imperial cities later built in Japan were modelled on Chang’an, the magnificent Tang capital (now in Xian), in the form of grid patterns criss-crossed by broad avenues. Although not as extensive Dazaifu also bears the hallmarks of such a design. Today the southern approach to the main entrance of Tofuro Ato is still called Suzaku Avenue, just like the road that leads to the ancient palaces in Nara, Kyoto, and, inevitably, the approach to the main gate in Chang’an.5 Dazaifu was consciously laid out to impress official visitors from the continent. The importance of ceremony and diplomatic protocol were 69

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan always paramount, with close attention paid to ensuring that the style and level of culture on display would reflect favourably on the Yamato state when these guests reported back to their own courts. Musicians trained in gagaku (the world’s first polyphonic music) and dancers would be on hand to entertain them during the official banquets laid on during their stays here on the north coast of Tsukushi. Developed first in China with some variations introduced from Korea, these art forms were the direct forbears of the formal dance styles that subsequently developed in medieval Japan into sarugaku and Nō theatre.6 Among the grand buildings a short walk down Suzaku Avenue was the Buddhist temple of Kanzeonji. According to tradition this was built in honour of the empress Saimei who died in nearby Asakura in 661. Although destroyed on several occasions, it still boasts one of the two oldest bells in Japan dating to 697. It held great symbolic importance, reflecting the state’s receptivity to the ‘civilizing’ influence of Buddhist culture and its participation in a common East Asian religious language, as travellers from abroad could give thanks here or pray to a familiar deity for safe passage across the sea. It was also one of only three temples during the early days of Buddhism in Japan – the others were in Nara and Kantō – where trainee priests were allowed to graduate.7 According to the Taihō Code of 701, a systematic attempt by the Yamato state to impose control over its expanding territories, Dazaifu was officially charged with two main functions as an administrative centre. Its primary domestic role was to supervise the lands of Tsukushi, or the Saikaidō circuit, the new administrative term for the island that was just coming into use. Its other major task was to receive foreign emissaries. Batten has described Dazaifu as the ‘Immigration Office’ of Heian Japan.8 The analogy could even be extended to call it a ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs’. Based on a Chinese model the Taihō Code established a Council of State called the Dajōkan, which featured the equivalent of most modern ministerial posts including departments for finance, law and the military, but with the glaring exception of foreign affairs. More by default than design, perhaps, it fell to the governor of Dazaifu to fill this role. The official appointed was often an imperial prince, for he had to be suitably senior in rank to represent the state when receiving guests from abroad. 70

Dazaifu: The Distant Court The Tsukushi Lodge (Kōrokan) A key element in the Dazaifu Headquarters’ role as a centre of diplomatic exchange was the Tsukushi Lodge, a lavishly appointed guesthouse close to the shore of Hakata Bay. This was where foreign dignitaries were accommodated on their arrival and also where they spent most of their time during their sojourns in Japan. Occasional invitations to official banquets would be the signal for day trips down the valley to Dazaifu itself. For the most part, however, there was little to relieve the tedium for these often large retinues of officials who had made the trip by sea. A strictly regulated regime enforced at the Tsukushi Lodge also limited opportunities for contact with the local population to an absolute minimum. Their stays could last for several months, especially if an invitation was forthcoming for a smaller delegation to make the return voyage to the imperial capital in the Nara basin. A guesthouse for receiving foreign envoys had first been set up in this area close to the sea in the early seventh century. Initially called Tsukushi no Taizai, this was probably located near Nanotsu Miyake, the military base the Yamato regime used for its Korean campaigns. Previously, emissaries had been described in the Nihon Shoki as ‘messengers’, but now they were referred to as ‘guests’. The Tsukushi Lodge (Tsukushi no Murotsumi) first appears in the Nihon Shoki in 688, as construction appears to have begun shortly after the Battle of Paekchon River in 663. The war prompted a series of high-profile diplomatic visits, with no less than five Tang embassies arriving between 664 and 671, some of them bringing large numbers of Paekche and Yamato prisoners for resettlement. Not surprisingly, these overtures were greeted with guarded suspicion by the Yamato authorities, even if they offered less of a military threat than simply the intention ‘to impress upon Japan its subordinate place in the Tang-centred universe’.9 Only one such mission received an invitation to attend the Yamato court, so these honoured guests often had to be accommodated and entertained for months on end here by the shores of Hakata Bay, and it fell to the new governor of Dazaifu to furnish them with the lavish gifts their exalted status demanded. Long sojourns at the Tsukushi Lodge were also the order of the day for most members of the twenty-three embassies from Silla that arrived 71

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan in Hakata Bay in the late seventh century. Quite apart from any lingering suspicions over the intentions of their former enemies this policy of keeping foreign envoys away from the Yamato court was partly motivated by a sense of embarrassment at the lack of suitably imposing buildings there. Any dearth of facilities was largely overcome with the construction of new capitals in the early years of the eighth century, and envoys from Silla subsequently used the Tsukushi Lodge more as a staging post before the onward journey to the imperial court.10 By the middle of the eighth century, moreover, any remaining inferiority complexes were largely overcome by the completion of the impressive new temple of Tōdaiji in Nara, a building that drew the admiration of the East Asian Buddhist world. The Tsukushi Lodge was actively used for several hundred years. During its heyday in the Nara and early Heian periods in the eighth and ninth centuries, it played an important role in enabling the reception of Chinese culture. It was during this period that the Tang emperors developed the tribute system to project a Sino-centric world order throughout East Asia. The Yamato court was content to subscribe to tributary status in return not only for the prestige this conferred, but for the access it granted to sophisticated political and cultural models for possible adaptation in Japan. The agents of this cultural transfer were visiting Tang and Silla envoys, besides Japanese emissaries, students and priests returning from their travels on the continent. Known as the kentōshi, the Japanese court’s diplomatic missions to Tang China were elaborate expeditions with, on occasion, more than five hundred participants travelling on four ships fitted out in Hakata Bay to cross the East China Sea. In total, fifteen such expeditions were sent to the Tang capital between 630 and 838. Partly due to Chang’an’s location deep inland in China, participants might spend several months or even years travelling on the continent, or longer if they stayed to absorb the cosmopolitan culture there. In a park on the outskirts of Xian today, for example, is a monument to Abe Nakamaro, a Japanese official who arrived in Chang’an in 717 as part of an embassy comprising 570 delegates and remained behind to become an established figure at the Tang court for several decades until his death in 770.11 These official expeditions included large numbers of Japanese monks, some of whom were given permission to travel within China to explore different religious teachings. This resulted in the introduction 72

Dazaifu: The Distant Court of various Buddhist sects. A priest called Ennin, for example, kept records of the nine years he spent travelling in China. On his return in 847 he stayed at the Tsukushi Lodge, which in 883 had been renamed the Dazaifu Kōrokan, adapting the imagery of an equivalent facility at the Tang capital of Chang’an called the Kōroji.12 Ennin went on to found the Tendai sect on Mt Hiei on the outskirts of Heian (Kyoto).13 With the development of overseas travel to the Asian continent, the Kōrokan came to feature in contemporary literature as the point of departure at the outset of ocean voyages. Several verses in the Man’yōshū (Songs of Myriad Leaves) refer to the beach and headland of Aratsu, the inlet of Hakata Bay by the shore just below the Kōrokan, where travellers would embark at the start of their journey. The name of the modern city of Fukuoka can even be traced to this small peninsula, since the connotations of ‘rough waters’ implicit in the characters for Aratsu were later considered so unsuitable that it was replaced with the more propitious name of Fukusaki. The first character was then used when the Kuroda family built the castle they called Fukuoka on the nearby hill in the early seventeenth century.14 Besides the treasures brought as ‘gifts’ from China, artefacts of great value were brought to the Kōrokan by emissaries from Silla, now the pre-eminent state in the Korean peninsula following the fall of Paekche. The most valuable items were often sent on to the Kinai area where, from the eighth century they were collected at the Shōsōin, the imperial court’s treasure-trove in Nara which survives to this day, and offers a wonderful insight into craftsmanship throughout East Asia more than a thousand years ago. Several miles off the northern coast of Kyushu there is also a small rocky island called Okinoshima which, due to its own rich array of treasures, has gained a reputation as the ‘Shōsōin of the Sea’. Whereas the articles found on Okinoshima range mostly from the fourth to the seventh centuries, those kept in the Shōsōin date mainly from the eighth. This apparent shift in location for storing treasures from abroad has been cited in support of the argument that the Yamato court did not exert systematic control over northern Kyushu (and its imported wealth) until well into the seventh century.15 The small shrine on Okinoshima, together with another on the island of Ōshima and a grander structure on shore, form between them the Great Shrine of Munakata, and are each dedicated to one of Amaterasu’s three daughters. Prized objects have traditionally been 73

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan stored there as devotive gifts, ceremonially placed by priests who are still the only people allowed to set foot on the island, for since time immemorial women have not been permitted to tread this sacred ground. Surveys of the treasures on Okinoshima have revealed evidence of a surprisingly extensive trade network. Among them are items from the Middle East and Africa, which may have reached the East China Sea through the hands of Persian and Arab merchants as their activities expanded across the Indian Ocean during the seventh century. It was due to such far-flung traders that Okinoshima and later the Shōsōin became the terminus of the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ which emerged in competition with land routes across the Gobi Desert.16 The Kōrokan, meanwhile, continued to be used even after diplomatic contacts with the continent lapsed in the late ninth century, but the facility was finally abandoned around 1100. While the location of the Dazaifu Headquarters was never in doubt, the site of the Kōrokan was forgotten for centuries after the heyday of Heian Japan, and was only rediscovered in the closing years of the twentieth century. Today one of the most prominent landmarks in Fukuoka City is the Fukuoka Dome, a futuristic baseball stadium complete with retractable roof, built in 1993 on reclaimed land by the sea. The impetus for its construction was partly influenced by the unexpected demise of the old Heiwa-dai (Peace Stadium), a more modest structure built shortly after the Pacific War, just inside the moat of Fukuoka Castle. This was the home of the legendary Nishitetsu Lions baseball team, subsequently known as the Seibu Lions. An amateur archaeologist had tentatively identified this area as a possible site of the long-lost Kōrokan in the 1920s, and some early excavations revealed a large quantity of ancient tiles. Yet it was only when the remains of an ancient structure were revealed during the course of renovation work around the Heiwa-dai stadium in 1987 that his theory was finally confirmed. By this time the scale of popular interest in local heritage was approaching the modern passion for baseball, and after the importance of the find became apparent the stadium was dismantled and a full-scale excavation launched. The discovery of this iconic building, which features after all in the Manyōshū and Nihon Shoki, stirred local civic pride and symbolically reinforced Fukuoka City’s proud claims to have become once again Japan’s ‘Gateway to Asia’ in the aftermath of the Cold War. 74

Dazaifu: The Distant Court More than twenty years later excavation work is still going on at the site of the Kōrokan, and three stages of construction have been identified. It is perhaps indicative of how communities choose symbols to reflect their cultural heritage that there was never a strong movement to restore the keep of Fukuoka Castle, despite the grandeur of its outer walls and moat. This is in marked contrast with the citizens of Kumamoto who, as soon as they had gathered enough capital in the post-war economic boom, set about restoring the magnificent black keep of their castle in the mid-1960s, as the long list of donations inside the entrance reveals. Modern residents of Fukuoka never had quite the same attachment to their castle as found in other cities in Japan. After all, this is a relatively recent addition by comparison with the adjoining merchant town of Hakata, let alone the Kōrokan of yore. If any ancient structure was to be restored here it would perhaps be the Kōrokan itself, reflecting Fukuoka’s outward-looking self-image at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Cultural influences from Tang China Dazaifu and the Kōrokan developed against a backcloth of the Yamato state’s engagement with the resurgent power of imperial China. After centuries of division and conflict much of the territory of the original empire carved out by the First Emperor was once again under the hegemony of one ruler. The territories previously divided between three kingdoms were reunited first by the short-lived Sui dynasty founded in 589 and then the mighty Tang, which would rule for nearly three hundred years. With the tribute system now encouraging state-level contacts, large numbers of envoys, priests and students passed through the Kōrokan on their return from the continent, and Chinese cultural influences went on to make a lasting impression in the islands of Japan. In earlier times these had arrived indirectly, filtered through the hands of Korean envoys mainly from Paekche. The import of letters and Buddhism were found to be particularly useful devices for exerting political control. Buddhism, for example, had been introduced in the sixth century but was not actively promoted until a power struggle at the Yamato court when the Soga clan destroyed the heads of the Mononobe line. The Soga family’s zeal for Buddhism gave them leverage over other powerful families at court, and the teaching was officially 75

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan recognized during the reign of the empress Suiko, whose brother Prince Shōtoku, a devout adherent, actively encouraged the creation of formal links with the new Sui dynasty in China. Diplomatic relations opened in the early seventh century when the Yamato court sent its first embassies to the Sui capital at Chang’an. The Chinese, however, probably viewed them as bearers of tribute from an insignificant client state, and according to Furuta Takehiko’s argument for a still largely independent ‘Kyushu realm’, they had yet to be even convinced of Yamato’s claims to supremacy in the islands of Wa. Suiko certainly took great efforts to stress the power of her court, claiming in her official letter to the Sui in 607 to rule as ‘Heavenly Heir (tenshi), in the land where the sun rises’, suggesting parity with China, the land where the sun sets.17 Some sixty years later in the sensitive political climate following the destruction of Paekche, the Yamato court again protested against the Tang envoys’ habit of referring to their lands as ‘Wa’, using a character meaning ‘dwarf’. Instead, they insisted on the two characters of ‘Ni-hon’, drawn from the old pillow word hinomoto (source of the sun), a term used for the lands of barbarian Emishi to the east and north of Yamato.18 It was a name that stuck, for six hundred years later during his travels in China Marco Polo recorded these same characters phonetically as ‘Cipangu’, the origin of ‘Japan’ as used in English today. Not all of Prince Shōtoku’s cultural innovations caught on in the islands of Wa, notably his preference for sitting on chairs rather than on the floor. Nevertheless, through his contact with the Sui court he pioneered the adoption of existing Chinese models to build institutions and extend the control of the Yamato state. In 603, he introduced a merit-based bureaucratic hierarchy with different coloured caps to distinguish twelve grades of official rank. The following year he announced his influential seventeen-article constitution founded on a combination of Confucian and Buddhist rhetoric. This used the Confucian concept of li for the first time to express human relations in cosmological terms, such as in Article Three which stated that ‘Lord is heaven and the minister is earth.’ As if to reinforce the message, Suiko took to presiding over her courtiers garbed in Chinese-style robes, unlike the warrior kings of the past who had commanded their men wearing armour.19 Such new institutions created a platform for building a centralized bureaucracy as the state tried to extend its political authority to include 76

Dazaifu: The Distant Court provincial administration. Despite internal unrest and later the threat of outside attack, or rather perhaps because of them, the trend towards increased central control continued throughout the seventh century. The coup d’état which removed the Soga clan from power in 645 did nothing to diminish the Chinese cultural impact. In fact, the Taika Edicts announced the following New Year by the triumphant Nakatomi clan (later the house of Fujiwara) marked the first attempt to introduce a comprehensive system of codified law. Then in the 660s, faced with the prospect of invasion following the destruction of Paekche, ‘Great King’ Tenji’s response was to mark out the territories of his realm in provinces and districts. It was left to his successor Tenmu to organize an integrated system of administrative control when he emerged victorious after a violent power struggle in 672 known as the Jinshin War. The standardized laws he commissioned would set a precedent for the Taihō and Yōrō Codes which followed in 701 and 718. These created the Dajōkan (Council of State) and uniform court ranks. In place of the clan warfare among uji houses that had previously characterized the Yamato court, there emerged instead a bureaucratic culture rife with nepotism, dominated by the powerful Fujiwara and Mononobe houses. The Chinese impact on Japanese court culture became increasingly conspicuous during the seventh century, most visibly in the design first of palaces, temples and then new capitals. In a symbolic gesture after taking power from the Soga clan in the 640s, for example, Kōtoku used Chinese-style tiles for the first time when he rebuilt the palace at Naniwa (Osaka). Before long entire cities were modelled on the layout of the Tang capital at Chang’an. In addition to Dazaifu, the ‘distant court’ in Kyushu, Tenmu planned the first large-scale Chinese-style capital to be built at Fujiwara in 694. This precedent was soon followed by grander examples at Heijō (Nara) in 710, Nagaoka in 784 and finally Heian (Kyoto) in 794. Importantly, however, the introduction of Buddhism did not altogether replace existing Shinto rituals or beliefs and, even as they accepted Buddhist symbolism, the court never lost sight of the power of the kami in the foundation myth of Yamato rule. By the mid-eighth century, for example, a number of grand buildings with a strong Buddhist influence were appearing in and around Heijō (Nara), notably Hyōryūji Temple with its square courtyard and majestic pagoda, and the 77

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan impressive Tōdaiji Temple, which remains the largest wooden building in the world today.20 Emperor Shōmu, who built Tōdaiji, consciously portrayed himself as a servant of the Buddha, and the project was presented as a symbolic expression of common purpose and values, achieved with the active cooperation of several outlying provinces. Nevertheless, just a few years after this magnificent edifice was completed, in 748 a shrine of the Hachiman sect was set up within Tōdaiji’s grounds. It was the first time a Shinto shrine had ever been placed within a Buddhist temple, creating what has been described as ‘a multiplex ritual centre’, and setting a significant precedent that would endure for centuries to come.21 It seems that the Hachiman sect had only recently been founded, having been established when Usa Shrine (now in Ōita Prefecture) was built during the Yōrō era (717–724). Today, the Usa Hachiman Shrine remains the centre of the largest Shinto sect in Japan, with a network of 25,000 shrines spread across the country.22 The presence of a Hachiman shrine at Tōdaiji reflects the unusual prestige this sect enjoyed at court from an early stage. It is not clear exactly what this high reputation was founded on, although the sect’s strong association with Ōjin may have provided some notional link with the ruling Yamato dynasty. At the same time it was more for his martial characteristics as a ‘God of War’ that this kami was invoked by warriors (pirates included) for centuries to come when they carried ‘Hachiman’ banners into battle.23 The use of Chinese imagery, therefore, did not necessarily entail the rejection of existing belief systems and traditions. In place of the indigenous Ōkimi (Great King) that had been used previously, some monarchs in the seventh century took to calling themselves Tenshi (Child of Heaven), Kōtei (Emperor) and, albeit posthumously, even Tennō (Heavenly Sovereign), the title accorded to the sovereign, or ‘emperor’, of Japan today. In Chinese texts this term denoted the pole-star of the northern heavens, so its adoption placed the ruler at the centre of a constellation of satellite states. It was probably at the very end of the seventh century that the ‘empress’ Jitō became the first ruler to be called Tennō in her own lifetime. It marked a cultural shift already apparent in the 670s under ‘Great King’ Tenji, who envisioned his realm as an insular version of tiensha (all under heaven). Based on the Chinese model of a middle kingdom receiving tribute from its surrounding satellites (Silla and Japan included), Tenji now presented himself as a universal 78

Dazaifu: The Distant Court sovereign and lord of a multi-ethnic empire of tributary states, among them the Paekche court in exile and the Hayato people of southern Kyushu. Tenji’s successor Tenmu was thus using continental influences when he went on to portray himself as a heavenly warrior, but he also retained a deep respect for the myth-history he had inherited from his forbears. This Sino-Yamato cultural fusion was nowhere more apparent than when he commissioned the dynastic histories that finally took shape as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Just as Taoist concepts of spatial precedence were employed, for example, in articulating the hierarchy in the Dajōkan by placing the minister of the left (sadaijin) higher in rank than the minister of the right (udaijin), it was no coincidence that in the Kojiki the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and the Moon God Tsukiyomi were born from Izanagi’s left and right eyes in turn.24 These Chronicles were completed at a significant stage in Yamato state formation. In Kyushu the regime’s armies had extended their control far beyond the frontier zone of Tsukushi in the northern part of the island and were encroaching on the homelands of the Hayato people in the far south. The Taihō system introduced a decade before provided for a provincial militia, but in this region it was more through the cooperation of local strongmen that troops were conscripted and organized for the final push.25 Hayato hostages and bodyguards were now seen at court, influencing perhaps the suggestion clearly implied in the Chronicles that a special bond or even blood-link existed with the Yamato line. It was in 720, the same year that the Nihon Shoki was completed, that the Hayato rose up in a last rebellion before, after a bitter campaign, their resistance was finally broken and the whole of Kyushu Island at last came under the rule of the empire of Nihon.26 This period was also an important stage in the development of coreperiphery relations in Japan. There would be occasions afterwards when rebellious lords in Kyushu might challenge the authority of the central regime, but never again in the manner of the Iwai Rebellion of the early sixth century when Yamato control was barely secured, or its encroachment was still resisted by independent cultures like the Hayato. Subsequently, the recurring pattern of rebellion in Kyushu would involve exile or flight from the centre instead. One of the earliest examples occurred within decades of the Yamato court imposing its political control over Kyushu. In 739, the powerful noble Fujiwara 79

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Hirotsugu was sent to the Dazaifu Headquarters. Although he was awarded the prestigious title of Dazai Shōni, a combination of bad harvests and a smallpox epidemic drove him into rebellion in his frustration at ‘the failures of recent policy’ by the court. Before long he had raised an army of 15,000 men, including Hayato warriors from the south who, twenty years on from their final defeat, still resented the extent of outside interference in their lands. The court responded by sending a force of 17,000 and, after a three-month campaign, the uprising was suppressed, partly because the Hayato themselves turned against him.27 Hirotsugu fled west to the Gotō Islands off the coast of Hizen Province but was soon captured and beheaded.28 Nevertheless, his campaign set a new tone because, unlike previous insurrections, on this occasion the state had been forced to take up arms ‘not so much to pacify rebel forces of the periphery as to put down a rogue leader from the metropole itself’.29 Dazaifu in decline Fujiwara Hirotsugu’s rebellion may have temporarily disrupted the administration at the Dazaifu Headquarters, but the central regime based at Heijō (Nara) was now consolidating its political control in the provinces. The grand buildings for receiving ‘guests’ at Dazaifu and the Tsukushi Lodge had largely taken shape, and the procedure for conducting diplomatic relations became a matter of established routine. From a ‘domestic’ or insular perspective the outlook in Kyushu appeared to be relatively stable. There was no military threat such as had galvanized the state into fortifying the northern coasts of Tsukushi nearly eighty years before. At the same time an air of uncertainty had begun to fall over the future of Japan’s diplomatic relations. In China the revolt of An Lushan in 755 posed a far greater threat to the incumbent regime than Hirotsugu had in Japan, with the capital of Chang’an itself falling into rebel hands the following year. This was subsequently recalled as a watershed, marking the onset of the Tang dynasty’s long decline. Ultimately, it would also take much of the lustre away from Dazaifu’s role as a diplomatic centre, which after all had drawn its inspiration from cultural models at Chang’an. On a more practical level, the failing political authority of the Tang regime around the peripheries of its vast empire now made it harder to 80

Dazaifu: The Distant Court maintain cultural contacts across the East China Sea. Japanese envoys, priests and students found the prospect of undertaking long voyages increasingly fraught with danger. This was partly because, beset by palace coups and internal conflict, Silla’s control over its own territories in the Korean peninsula had also been seriously weakened. With a substantial area in the southwest (formerly Paekche territory) now effectively beyond Silla’s control, the islands of Tsushima and Iki, and the northern shores of Kyushu as well, were subjected to a series of pirate attacks from across the straits. The earliest recorded incident of Korean piracy on the Kyushu coast was in 811, and in 869 two ships were even attacked within the confines of Hakata Bay. As the power of Silla declined the number of incidents rose, and by the onset of the tenth century raids along the coast were becoming commonplace. Some of these included hundreds of armed assailants, in which case their intent was clear. On other occasions these ‘Silla pirates’ as they were generally known, perhaps crossed the straits with other motives in mind – trade or even settlement among them.30 In some cases, moreover, the raids were not really from Silla at all, but launched by seafarers based on other coasts in the East China Sea. Just as with the wakō (Japanese pirates) who would become the scourge of Korean and Chinese coasts in medieval times, the perceived origins of such brigands, and their place in recorded histories, have owed much to the imaginations of the communities that fell victim to their attacks. Due to this unsettled overseas climate the number of travellers venturing between Japan and China decreased significantly during the ninth century, and the flow of Chinese culture through the Tsukushi Lodge (Kōrokan) to the Heian court rapidly declined. The last kentōshi expedition to Chang’an departed in 838, and although another was planned in 894 the appointed Japanese envoy, none other than Sugawara Michizane, judged that conditions had become so dangerous that he postponed the voyage. At the time this was considered a temporary measure and not intended as a conscious break in diplomatic relations. In the event, however, it marked the end of Japan’s official links with the Tang dynasty. Isolated from developments on the continent in the tenth century, the court at Heian would rely less on imitating Chinese models and develop its own distinct style, signalling the onset of what has been described as a new phase of Sino-Japanese hybrid culture.31 81

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan The decline in Tang power and the increasingly lawless conditions in the seas off the Kyushu coast transformed Dazaifu’s place in Heian Japan. Instead of being at the hub of a transport network supporting cultural exchange throughout the known world, it found itself once again on a perilous frontier with the shores of nearby Hakata Bay prone to attack by pirates. It was little wonder that Sugawara was less than enthused by the prospect of being appointed governor of Dazaifu in 901. He made his way there by ship, arriving in Hakata Bay before making the short journey south to Dazaifu. On the way, he stopped to rest at a place that was later named after him. This was Tenjin, the thriving downtown area of Fukuoka City today. Within a few years of Sugawara’s death at Dazaifu, the neighbouring states across the sea crumbled at last. The Tang dynasty fell in 907 and it would not be until 960 that China’s divided territories were reunited. After a prolonged series of military campaigns, Silla finally collapsed in 935 when its king submitted to control by a new rival power to the north. This was the kingdom of Koryŏ, which would rule for nearly five hundred years and bequeath the name ‘Korea’ to the peninsula. Given such political instability across the Tsushima Straits, the Heian court was understandably reluctant to engage in continental affairs and diplomatic overtures from both China and Korea were greeted with little enthusiasm. To some extent this was also due to the fact that newly forged trading links made luxury goods and information obtainable without the expense of organizing or receiving official missions.32 At the same time there was a crisis of confidence in the once prestigious Tang model of diplomatic relations. The tribute system would not be invoked again until several hundreds of years later when subsequent Chinese dynasties projected their own ambitions by trying to emulate their illustrious forebears. The Dazaifu Headquarters still retained its strategic importance as an administrative centre and base for organizing the frontier against outside attack. It was a less glamorous role, however, restricted to defending the coast from pirates. Towards the end of the tenth century a wave of large-scale raids was even launched by brigands mostly from the Ryukyu Islands to the south of Kyushu. On one occasion more than four hundred locals were abducted. The largest assault on Hakata Bay and environs, however, was the Toi invasion of 1019, which involved more than fifty ships. Although these were manned by Korean pirates 82

Dazaifu: The Distant Court who had possibly been press-ganged into service, the expedition itself may have been orchestrated by people of Jurchen origins far to the northeast on the coast of Manchuria. Faced with such overseas threats it was left entirely up to the Dazaifu Headquarters to manage the defences along the coast, for by the time any news reached the court the incursions would be over.33 No longer active so much as a prestigious centre of diplomatic exchange, the ‘distant court’ at Dazaifu became known instead as a treasure trove offering rich opportunities for collecting revenues. As part of this transition, in its last years the Kōrokan also became less of a guesthouse for diplomats and more of a trading post. The conspicuous wealth to be found there made these centres near the coast potential targets of attack, not just for Korean but Japanese pirates as well. In 939, an ambitious noble and kinsman of the emperor called Fujiwara Sumitomo rebelled against the court. Styling himself the ‘New Emperor’, he fled Heian first of all to the island of Shikoku where he raised an army and rampaged through the countryside. Operating in collusion with pirates, in 941, he evaded the pursuit of forces sent by the court to catch him and landed in Kyushu. There his army overcame the resistance of troops guarding Dazaifu and burned the state buildings. It was the first time that the headquarters itself had been attacked, although the area would later become the site of numerous battles in the medieval era.34 Sumitomo himself was defeated in a pitched battle fought in Hakata Bay featuring the capture of several hundred pirate ships, but the episode served to undermine the authority of Dazaifu. Although the regional administration continued to be run from here, the level of control exerted from the capital gradually diminished. The prestige and status associated with this symbolic site of imperial authority enabled it to function to some extent until the end of Heian rule, and even afterwards its reflected glory would always command respect among medieval warlords. Ultimately, however, Dazaifu never quite recaptured its former importance, and over time the ‘Great Government Centre’ came to sound like more of an ancient place name than a central link in Japan’s cultural world.

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CHAPTER 5

HAKATA: THE MAKING OF A MERCANTILE CENTRE

 wai, the lord of Tsukushi who rose up against the Yamato state, built his power base in what is now the Yame area in the far south of Fukuoka Prefecture. The long line of burial mounds along a ridge and the unusual stone sculptures near his tomb recall a time in the sixth century when this was an important political centre. Now the area has a reputation for the stone lanterns that are produced by hand further up the Yaba valley. A fine example decorates an otherwise indistinctive patch of grass enclosed by a slip road as drivers leave the Yame interchange on the Kyushu Expressway. Yame today is best known for its highly-prized green tea. The most striking feature of the surrounding landscape is the series of uniform deep-green rows of tea plants, spread across the hills. This is not the only area in Kyushu, or Japan for that matter, which claims a proud tradition of producing high-quality green tea. It certainly boasts one of the oldest, however, as just across the Chikugo valley on the slopes of Mt Seburi to the north is the spot where tea is thought to have been first grown in Japan. Mt Seburi is an imposing landmark overlooking the Saga plain and the Chikugo River, and faces the long valley that stretches northwards past the old Dazaifu Headquarters towards Hakata Bay. Here on the western slopes of the valley, not far from the one-time ‘distant court’, stand a number of ancient temples, evidence of a time when the area was actively developed by Buddhist priests. At the foot of nearby Mt Tenpai, for example, Buzōji is held to be one of the oldest temples in Kyushu and has a sprawling wisteria tree of great antiquity. It was in 1195 that a Japanese monk of the Tendai sect called Eisai stepped ashore in Kyushu, bringing with him some tea plants he had obtained

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Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre during his travels in China. Tea was not entirely unknown at the Heian court in Kyoto for, as a herbal medicine, it was among the sought-after luxury items brought from the continent for the use of a privileged few. Eisai, however, took this one step further as he set about cultivating his own tea plants in the garden of Ishigamibō on the slopes of Mt Seburi. It was a limited experiment at first, but in effect the success he had there would lead to popularizing the custom of tea-drinking among all social classes in Japan.1 Eisai, otherwise known as Yōsai, is also credited with introducing the Linji school of Zen on his return from China, for it was he who succeeded in establishing the Japanese line of Rinzai Zen. Often viewed now as something quintessentially Japanese, Zen practice in these islands is certainly unique in its form and interpretation. Like many other Buddhist sects, however, it had continental origins. Eisai had encountered this teaching during his eight years of travel abroad when, like other itinerant priests, he visited Mingzhou (now Ningbo), a flourishing port situated to the south of Hangzhou Bay (on the other side from what is now Shanghai). Two of the five sacred ‘mountains’ (temples) in Zen Buddhism are located in this area.2 Tea, Zen and meditation would come together in the form of tea ceremony, which also developed into a highly stylized and refined cultural pursuit. Again, the forms of tea ceremony observed in Japan, with ceramic bowls served in hushed tones kneeling on tatami mats, soon diverged from the traditional practice still to be seen sitting on chairs at lacquered tables in the tea-houses of Ningbo.3 Tucked away down a quiet side street in Hakata, now a bustling district in the heart of Fukuoka City, a gateway opens onto an unexpectedly spacious area, with a pathway leading to a group of temple buildings. Although imposing enough these are somehow out of keeping with the grand scale of the site, and were built after the original structure had been destroyed by fire. This is Shōfukuji, the first Zen temple ever built in Japan, which Eizai established here in 1195 shortly after his return from China. The town of Hakata that he knew was already an important port, with ships regularly arriving from the Korean peninsula and the Chinese coast.4 Hakata’s emergence as a thriving mercantile centre during the last centuries of Heian rule may appear at odds with the insularity that increasingly characterized life at court in Kyoto. The diplomatic links 85

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan with China that had once fostered cultural developments had remained neglected ever since 894, when the unstable international climate led Sugawara Michizane to postpone his kentōshi tribute mission to the continent. Isolated from the political chaos engulfing both the Tang empire and the kingdom of Silla, in the tenth and eleventh centuries a distinctive Sino-Japanese hybrid culture emerged at court. With this flowering of ‘classical’ Japanese style, the aristocratic society of Heian Kyoto was vividly portrayed in new literature such as Sei Shōnagon’s Pillow Book and Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji.5 While these works offer fascinating images of the so-called ‘World of the Shining Prince’ as seen by noble ladies, they reveal little about how ordinary people lived in Heian Kyoto, let alone in the provinces beyond. Away from the capital in far-flung regions such as the nine provinces of Kyushu a rather different narrative emerges. This was more a tale of initial conquest and political consolidation under centralized imperial rule, followed by a gradual process of fragmentation and decline. In Honshu an influential role in power politics was also taken by the samurai, a new breed of professional warrior bound to his lord that first emerged in the Kantō area, the site of modern-day Tokyo. In Kyushu, meanwhile, this period sees the growth of international trade, the appearance of the Hakata merchant and some important arrivals from the continent, returning monks like Eisai among them. Imperial authority in the provinces The central control systems which imposed Yamato rule in the provinces were based on codified law. Until the time of Suiko the Yamato state was still a largely fragmented polity, more of a confederation joined by personal loyalty to a single overlord than a unified state as such. Regional territories were controlled mainly by country chieftains, the descendants of rulers buried in the great kofun tombs of times past, such as Iwai Tsukushi no Kimi, lord of Tsukushi, who had once rebelled against the court. Their power depended on localized kinship relations rather than recognition from the centre, and no clear regulations were yet in place for either paying tribute or rendering service to a higher authority. In effect, these regional paramounts were autonomous allies of the Yamato court, and the monarch rarely interfered in their affairs.6 86

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre From the seventh century the conscious attempts made to adapt Chinese administrative models from the Sui and Tang capital of Chang’an were instrumental in finally bringing these country chieftains to heel. The rhetoric of Prince Shōtoku’s constitution, for example, provided a framework for Buddhist monks to be pressed into service as ambassadors, advisers and scribes, and before long attendance records and timekeeping were becoming regular features of life at court.7 At this stage the effect was only really visible at the centre, but subsequent episodes of internal unrest and the threat of invasion prompted further efforts to extend the court’s control over outlying regions. The Taika Edicts of 645, for example, were more a statement of intent than real, but symbolized at least the concept of direct imperial rule over the subject population. According to the Chronicles, these would abolish the loosely organized worker groups still prevalent at the time and replace them with tribute-paying households. There was to be a population census, and lands would be registered based on standardized measurements. Tax records would also be kept to monitor the tribute ‘payable by every registration unit in rice, cloth, other goods or corvée labour’.8 The planned reforms directly threatened the authority of the old country chieftains, for such close control from the centre would undermine their claims to rule in their own power bases. For ambitious smaller lords, however, they presented an opportunity to increase their influence by acquiring new status as official agents administering lands on behalf of the court. With the political leverage this gave them, they could now act more independently of the country chieftains who, until then, had been the dominant force in regional affairs. The potential for self-advancement on offer was underlined in the 650s, when these local lords were officially incorporated as royal clients in a new table of ranks. Some district boundaries were already being laid out in the wake of the Taika Edicts, but it was the threat of a Tang-Silla invasion in the 660s that allowed Tenji to justify royal intervention and reorganize the countryside on a wider scale. New codes were put in effect, and in 670 a first census was carried out in those districts which had already been developed.9 After taking power by force in 672, his successor Tenmu tried to extend central control by redrawing whatever maps existed to create an ambitious layout of provinces. Based on the model in Tang China these were then grouped into seven ‘circuits’, each one linked 87

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan together and joined to the central Kinai area by a network of new highways. The island of ‘Kyushu’, for example, was now organized into a circuit called the Saikaidō (Western Sea Road), and as Yamato territories expanded in the following years, the land they knew as Tsukushi was divided into nine still largely notional provinces. In time it would be referred to as Saikoku (West Country), and eventually in medieval times as Kyushu (Nine Provinces), while Tsukushi was reduced to an archaic term recalled in poetry evoking a bygone age before Yamato armies had consolidated their control over the Hayato people in the south. Already in Tenmu’s day some provincial governors were being appointed at court and despatched to their designated territory to administer central law. In most places, however, the extent of their political control was limited, for although in terms of status and culture they clearly outranked the regional elites, they had few soldiers to enforce their authority on site. A notable exception, of course, was the governor of the Dazaifu Headquarters who, because of the perceived threat of foreign invasion, now controlled a fortified border manned by guards (sakimori) recruited from the centre. Elsewhere, these early representatives of the court were heavily dependent on the cooperation of regional chieftains, whose role in any royal rituals organized at a local level was still largely voluntary. The powers exercised by provincial governors expanded significantly with the implementation of the Taihō Code in 701 and then the Yōrō Code in 718.10 Based on recent models from Tang China, these put into effect a universal control network known as the ritsuryō system, ritsu for ‘penal law’, and ryō for ‘administrative rules’. As Joan Piggott vividly describes, ‘by the first decade of the eighth century, teams of provincial governors, numbering up to seven for the largest provinces, were travelling out from the capital to their assigned posts via the great trunk highways’.11 On the way they could change horses at the staging posts recently established to improve communications. Following their arrival, the governors’ main task was to supervise the taxation and census records gathered at ground level by local officials now working for the state. To allow the system to operate effectively a headman was also appointed in charge of each village (ri). The unusual prevalence of place-names in Saga Prefecture ending in -ri (e.g. Imari, Yoshinogari) is a vestigial remnant of these times.12 88

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre The headman reported on village affairs to the district magistrate, often a local chieftain, who held his own designated district office, complete with workshops, stables and granaries. He then reported in turn to the provincial governors. This involved a journey, often across country, to the provincial capital (kokubu), which in the Nara and Heian periods was the most visible symbol of royal power. Much like the Dazaifu Headquarters, although laid out on a smaller scale, each kokubu had its own government office, an official temple (kokubunji) and a nunnery. Visitors arriving from the surrounding countryside could hardly fail to be impressed by these grand Chinese-style buildings, notably the towering pagoda in the temple precinct, which reflected a world far removed from their own daily lives. Apart from collecting records and tribute the role of the provincial governors, together with this community of officials, priests and nuns, was to act as cultural ambassadors, spreading the civilizing influence of Buddhism, courtly style and letters. Official notices were written out in Chinese characters on wooden tablets (mokkan). In the humid Japanese climate few of these have survived. Some of the earliest examples yet discovered have been unearthed in the western outskirts of Fukuoka City on the site of the new campus of Kyushu University. Every year the governors were required to leave their provincial capitals and retrace their steps on the great trunk highways leading back to the court, where they reported on affairs in the areas under their jurisdiction. The single exception was in Kyushu, where provincial governors of the Saikaidō circuit reported instead to the Dazaifu Headquarters in the north of the island. One reason was the distance involved. Another was the high status (Junior Third) of the governor general of Dazaifu (sotsu) in the administrative hierarchy at court. The grand layout of the state buildings, and the refined culture at a court familiar with entertaining envoys and handling gifts from Tang China and Silla, made Dazaifu easily the most impressive symbol of imperial rule anywhere in the provinces. By the middle of the eighth century the provisions contained in the Taihō Code were being put into effect, and it seemed as if the ritsuryō system had become a unifying feature across many areas of Japan. In the far south of Kyushu, however, the recently pacified Hayato continued to pay ‘tribute’ rather than taxes until public land was finally allocated early in the ninth century.13 At a local level, in fact, the power 89

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan relations were often finely balanced. One day in 883, for example, local guards in the provincial capital of Chikugo (present-day Kurume City) were unable to prevent a mob from surrounding the governor’s residence, killing him and stealing his possessions. The offenders then managed to evade capture when the Dazaifu authorities, just a day’s ride away, sent officials to investigate.14 Although the hallmarks of centralized imperial rule were now being introduced in theory, in practice the authorities were still forced to operate pragmatically by cooperating with existing local interests. In Piggott’s view, ‘ritsuryō officialdom was an archipelago-wide alliance of elites unified by mutual acceptance of elements of the worldview promulgated by Yamato court society’.15 The central authorities were still powerless to remove the country chieftains, who remained largely autonomous with hereditary posts, so they tried to enlist their services instead as agents of imperial rule. As a result, the administration of the ritsuryō system was in effect negotiated rather than imposed. Given this delicate balance of power, the ritsuryō system never really crystallized into a uniform control network. Instead, it was subjected to a gradual process of fragmentation as the powers nominally in the hands of officials at court were dispersed among prominent figures in the provinces. A key factor that appeared in the eighth century was the growing prevalence of lands integrated into private estates (shōen) and exempted from paying imperial taxes. Another reason was an ambitious phase of military expansion which overstretched the state’s resources as Yamato armies rolled back the frontiers inhabited by other native peoples in the archipelago. In the south of Kyushu, the pacification of the Hayato people made the Saikaidō circuit a territorial unit in fact as well as in name. In eastern Honshu, meanwhile, a series of campaigns drove the Emishi, who had once inhabited much of the island, far to the north. Even as the court prepared to relocate to the new capital of Heian (Kyoto) in 794, the ritsuryō system was already under pressure. Moreover, the established system of conscription had been abolished just two years before. This spelt an end to the system of centrallyrecruited guards (sakimori) who, for over a century, had manned the defences around Dazaifu, and raised questions over how the realm’s expanding frontiers would be protected in future. In the absence of support from the centre some frontier zones produced new military 90

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre leaders who would go on to exert a powerful force over regional politics. To the east a new breed of warrior – the samurai – appeared on the plains of Kantō, where they had space to train the horses needed for their campaigns against the Emishi. They were loyal only to their military leaders, such as the men from the powerful Taira and Minamoto families who would one day fight over the spoils of the Heian court. In Kyushu as well, the growth of shōen estates created a need for armed guards, and ‘mounted warriors wearing armour’ were recorded in Bungo Province, for example, as early as 828.16 Warrior families who protected remote valleys and upland areas were sometimes able to carve out their own spheres of influence, among them the Kikuchi, Aso and Ōkura who subsequently went on to feature prominently in medieval Kyushu. The new upper level of regional aristocracy that was now emerging were not so much descendants of the old country chieftains as ambitious nobles from the court itself. The appointed task of officials sent to the provinces as governors was to reinforce central control, but in a number of cases they acted in effect as agents of decentralization instead. Some became so powerful that they styled themselves ‘regional princes’. Viewed from Heian they appeared rather as over-mighty subjects, introducing a new dynamic that always had the potential to fracture relations between the court and regional authorities.17 Attracted by the private wealth of shōen estates, many chose to stay and build their fortunes, often intermarrying with the descendants of country chieftains. Complaints of oppression in the provinces soared. In 842, for example, Nakai no Ōkimi refused to return to court when his term as governor of Bungo Province came to an end. During his time there he had settled in the Hita basin in the central highlands of Kyushu, and managed to extend his control over estates in surrounding provinces as well. When complaints over the high levies Nakai had imposed on the peasants reached the attention of the Dazaifu Headquarters, steps were eventually taken to force him to return to Kyoto.18 Some of these ‘over-mighty subjects’ and ‘regional princes’ in Kyushu were intent not just on private financial gain but also posed a political threat to imperial rule. On more than one occasion the court’s efforts to impose its authority on the island were undermined by problems encountered in finding officials it could trust. In 866, for example, an imperial officer serving in Hizen travelled to Silla in the Korean 91

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan peninsula to advise on techniques for manufacturing weapons to be used in a planned invasion of Tsushima.19 In 870, a senior official at Dazaifu, the Dazai Shōni, Fujiwara Motori, was also found to have been plotting a rebellion in collusion with the king of Silla. Perhaps the most conspicuous example of treason by a prominent courtier was Fujiwara Sumitomo in the tenth century. After rebelling against the court in 937 Sumitomo built his power base in northern Kyushu and even burned down the Dazaifu Headquarters in 941 before his forces were finally defeated in Hakata Bay.20 Private estates in Kyushu In provinces throughout Japan it was the growth of shōen estates that was most influential in gradually dismantling the ritsuryō system. All the land originally measured out by order of the court was considered to be under public ownership, meaning that it belonged to the emperor and all its produce was taxable by the state. A system of reallocating plots every six years was supposed to ensure that people would work the land and pay tribute without staying long enough to justify any claims to ownership. As a comprehensive approach, however, this attempt to settle all the ordinary people (hyakushō) on taxable plots of land proved to be effective for only about a hundred years. For a start, to measure out and cultivate land was often impractical in coastal and mountainous areas where the local population depended for their livelihood more on fishing and hunting. In 743, an imperial decree also allowed any new land reclaimed from virgin forest and marshes to be kept in perpetuity and remain exempt from tax. This loophole provided scope for accumulating private wealth, an opportunity not lost on court nobles and religious sects alike who soon colluded with local aristocrats and officials to gather peasants on large shōen estates of newly-cultivated land. Tired of the high levies they had to pay on public lands, people migrated to these new tax havens in large numbers. Before long the system of periodically reallocating public land had been seriously undermined. The public family registers kept by provincial officials looked increasingly meaningless, partly due to a shortage of paddy-fields and because people were now escaping to the countryside and private estates. In central and northern Honshu they often tried to 92

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre settle on lands won from the now retreating Emishi. The flight of peasants from the taxable core of public land became so conspicuous that decrees were issued for their capture and return. The central authorities also offered incentives to stay on public land by reallocating plots to the same peasants, but in effect this compromise invited a slow slide towards private ownership there as well. In an ironic twist, under Heian rule even the imperial family bypassed its own central treasury in the pursuit of private wealth by joining in the rush to sponsor shōen estates. These estates were largely self-sufficient, loosely comparable with the lands organized under the manorial system in medieval Europe. By extension, therefore, they have been closely linked with the emergence of the Japanese equivalent of feudal society. Each estate had a clearly identifiable tax-free nucleus, from which there usually developed a complex hierarchy of associates. Typically, large numbers of peasants were set to work on wet paddies to cultivate rice. Those less well off might have to work dry fields, where a variety of crops were grown, including millet, vegetable roots and wild grasses. Other activities included fishing and raising livestock, which was a far more common practice in Heian rural life than in contemporary Japan. The peasants were supervised by resident managers, possibly drawn from regional elites such as district chieftains and the local aristocracy. These would answer to a central proprietor, probably a member of the court nobility or a large temple or shrine. Above this tier was a guarantor, usually an even more powerful noble, temple, shrine, or in some cases, the imperial family. Naturally, such private wealth created a need for security measures, and in effect the abolition of conscription in 792 would encourage proprietors to recruit their own forces to patrol and defend their land. To date, some 463 shōen estates have been identified in Kyushu, amounting to about one-sixth of the total throughout the Japanese islands. These were generally quite large by comparison with estates in the Kinai area. Often entire districts were converted wholesale into private holdings. Shimazu-shō was the largest to be found anywhere, with lands stretching over the borders of three provinces in Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga. The most powerful shōen proprietor at this regional level was Usa Hachimangū Shrine in Buzen, which eventually held estates throughout Kyushu. Influential temples holding large estates also included Kanzeonji and Anrakuji in Dazaifu. In many cases, 93

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan however, the central proprietors were based in Honshu, and this relatively high degree of absentee landlordism in Kyushu is thought to have contributed to the rapid decline of shōen there during the civil wars of the medieval era.21 Kanzaki-shō in Hizen Province, for example, was an imperial estate. Overlooked by Mt Seburi to the north, this was located in the Saga plain on what today is rich farmland on the eastern outskirts of Saga City. It was in one corner of this site that in 1985 archaeologists first came across the much older Yayoi community of Yoshinogari. Some of this land seems to have fallen into disuse after the ancient people who had once lived there apparently abandoned the settlement. In the ninth century it lay in an uncultivated state until 839, when an area of 690 chō (3.5 square miles) was cleared by imperial order. Surrounding lands were later added until, by the late Heian period, it had grown into a large imperial estate covering an area of over thirteen square miles. Kanzaki-shō was an important element in the flourishing regional economy that developed within the compass of Hakata on the north coast. Documents are sparse but testify to the estate’s wide influence at home and abroad. In 1015, monks from China were reported to have visited. In 1127, Kanzaki-shō presented the emperor with a specimen of ambergris, a rare and prized source of perfume from the intestines of sperm whales found occasionally floating out at sea. Shortly afterwards, it came under the control of the increasingly powerful Taira family as part of their wider strategy to control the economy in western Japan. Following the destruction of the Taira line in 1185, Kanzaki-shō continued to operate as an imperial estate. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, however, it was finally divided up among samurai warriors seeking rewards of land for their services in defending Kyushu’s shores in the aftermath of the Mongol invasions.22 Trade and the emergence of Hakata The gradual shift from centralized economic management to private ownership had a profound impact, but in Kyushu another significant element was the rise of trade, sometimes operating on an international scale. On occasion these local and overseas interests would interact, notwithstanding the efforts made by the Dazaifu Headquarters to regulate contacts and control both domestic and foreign affairs. At the 94

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre heart of such developments was the growth of Hakata into a mercantile centre. A superb natural port, Hakata Bay has always been a safe haven for ships, sheltered by a long spit of land from the rough waters of the Genkai Sea. It was by the banks of one of several small rivers that flow into the bay that Nanotsu Miyake had once been set up as a military base for Yamato expeditions to Korea. Later it was designated as the place for the reception of envoys from Tang China and Silla with the construction of the Tsukushi Lodge. It was the growth of trade, however, that provided the impetus for Hakata’s subsequent development into a flourishing medieval city. Seaborne commerce in East Asia had expanded rapidly during the seventh and eighth centuries, partly stimulated by the Persian and Arab merchants in the Indian Ocean who helped to develop the ‘Maritime Silk Road’. Trade conducted through Hakata Bay as an activity distinct from diplomacy first appears in records in 831 with a reference to the arrival of ‘Silla merchants’. It was in this year that the Dajōkan, the Great Council of State in Heian, laid down guidelines for handling merchant ships from overseas. Commerce was permitted but subject to close regulation, including the minute inspection of arriving merchandise by officials from the Dazaifu Headquarters. The trade operating from the Korean peninsula was soon supplemented by expeditions from across the East China Sea, with the arrival of Tang merchants first recorded in 842. Even after the demise of the Tang dynasty, merchants from successor states continued to test these waters. Chinese junks appeared at a number of locations in Kyushu, such as when Wu Yue landed on the Hizen coast in 945, but such vessels were consistently redirected to the now designated gateway for trade at the Tsukushi Lodge (Kōrokan) in Hakata Bay.23 The origins of the Hakata merchant community are not entirely clear. It seems that the Kōrokan was finally abandoned in the late eleventh century, possibly after a fire in 1047. By this stage, however, a diaspora community of Chinese merchants had already appeared a short distance to the east, situated on a long sandbar between the Mikasa and Naka rivers that would later form the core of the medieval city of Hakata. The inhabitants were possibly merchants operating out of ports like Mingzhou (Ningbo), who had previously traded through the Kōrokan and decided to settle. The Dazaifu authorities turned their attention to supervising the trade that they were now conducting on the beach and in the streets of their new settlement.24 95

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan A major catalyst in Hakata’s development was the expansion of overseas trade fostered by the dynamic economic growth in China under the Song dynasty, which came to power in the late tenth century. Partly in response to an explosion in the size of the population, which doubled within two hundred years, there were significant increases in the production of quality goods on the continent, including silks, metals and ceramic ware. To cope with demand a flourishing network of private commerce emerged, and the effects were felt far and wide from Japan to the Arabian Sea. Under Tang rule there had been strict regulations on domestic trade, while in international relations the emphasis had always been on diplomacy, and what limited overseas trade there was remained largely confined within the official language of tribute and gifts. Under Song rule, however, while there were still some government monopolies over key industries, free markets appeared in Chinese cities and merchants took advantage of a boom in shipbuilding to invest their funds in joint expeditions and seek their fortunes abroad. The rulers of the new dynasty developed no official ties with Japan, but this did not prevent trade contacts across the East China Sea flourishing during the last centuries of Heian rule. Such were the innovative strides made in technology, art and philosophy during the Song dynasty that the period has often been compared with the Renaissance. Japan’s wealthy nobility in Kyoto and the provinces showed a keen interest in the latest commodities from China. As a result, Song merchants arriving in Hakata to sell their goods found a growing market for cotton, silks, perfume, medicine and especially the newly developed style of jade-coloured glazed pottery. Books and paper were also popular, particularly now that the invention of printing in China had drastically reduced costs. From the twelfth century onwards, substantial quantities of copper coinage were also transported to Japan. Song merchants often set out on their overseas voyages from Mingzhou, the main port for trade with the Korean peninsula as well as Japan, although some used other ports such as Quanzhou and Hangzhou. Available records confirm that Song vessels bound for Japan invariably ended up in Hakata, as the designated gateway for both imports and exports.25 Despite the inconvenience of tight security checks by the Dazaifu authorities on arrival, experience showed that this was usually the best place to sell their merchandise. For the return voyage to China their cargoes could include a range of goods, 96

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre among them gold, pearls, mercury, sulphur, timber, fans, metalwork and swords.26 It is easy to overestimate the level of commerce between Heian Japan and Song China. Extant sources indicate an average of only one junk arriving each year during the tenth and eleventh centuries.27 Nevertheless, the volume of trade subsequently grew, and anyone visiting Hakata in the eleventh or twelfth century would have been struck by the level of Song influence on this cosmopolitan town. Moreover, a short distance west along the coast of Hakata Bay, a rival port of Imazu had also sprung up as a favoured destination for Song merchants, sponsored by an extensive private estate called Itōnoshō. In 1922, a large quantity of Song coins was unearthed in the Imazu district. It was also there that Eisai spent his early years in the Hakata area, working on a project to build Seiganji Temple, and where he first came into contact with merchants and monks from the continent before going on to travel to China himself.28 Far away in Honshu, Kyoto may have been characterized by the relatively isolated court culture of the late Heian period, but this was a very different world from the merchant community in Hakata. At the same time, their overseas commercial contacts carried some dangers, among them exposure to contagious disease. The inhabitants of these islands had little natural immunity to the viruses that were endemic on the continent. If there was any outbreak of epidemics in ports along the Chinese or Korean coasts, Hakata was often the place most seriously at risk. In cultural terms it was perhaps the new developments in religious thought and philosophy under Song rule that, together with the advent of printing, would have the most lasting impact. During this period Zhu Xi developed the tenets of neo-Confucian thought which subsequently influenced Japanese political doctrine and society in the early modern era and beyond. New strains of Buddhism were also emerging, and the clergy’s appetite for religious texts from the continent survived long after the lapse in diplomatic relations that had once provided the official conduit for the inflow of Buddhist culture. Song monks, such as those who visited Kanzaki-shō, played an important role in disseminating these new ideas, while intrepid Japanese priests venturing abroad were also heavily involved. The Dazaifu Headquarters still required individuals to obtain a licence before they 97

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan could gain a passage to the continent. In 1082, however, a monk by the name of Kaikaku defied this ban and slipped aboard a Song merchant’s vessel in Hakata bound for Mingzhou. From there he went on to record his travels to various holy sites in China.29 A century later, Eisai, the founder of Zen Buddhism in Japan, travelled through China twice, first in 1168 and then in 1187. On his second trip he failed in his avowed goal of reaching India, but spent more than eight years abroad before returning to found Shōfukuji Temple in Hakata.30 In addition to overseas trade, the mercantile culture of Hakata was generated by the growth of a regional economy in northern Kyushu as a complex network of shōen estates was mobilized to support the private wealth of absentee landlords. Quite apart from the tribute collected by the imperial administration from public lands, private profits from these estates were regularly shipped through Hakata Bay, and it was these rich cargoes which tempted pirates to the area. The oldest sacred site in the Nakasu district in the heart of Hakata, for example, is the small Kushida Shrine, usually quiet but always thronging with crowds in July each year when it serves as the departure point for the floats paraded though the streets during the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. Its unusual name is derived from the older but much less well-known Kushida Shrine on the imperial estate of Kanzaki-shō. This was acquired in the days when sacks of rice were brought from Kanzaki and stored in a granary there before being shipped on to the imperial capital. According to one theory these loads were carried over Mt Seburi, the shortest distance from Kanzaki to Hakata as the crow flies. Such a mountain hike would have been so demanding for any baggage train, however, that it seems more likely that they would have been transported instead along the valleys or perhaps by sea.31 Hakata in the Taira heyday With its growing concentration of commercial wealth, Hakata attracted not only overseas merchants seeking profits and the occasional incursion of pirates but also domestic powers intent on building their political fortunes. Foremost among these was the Taira family, a line of samurai warriors of distant imperial lineage who, together with their rivals, the Minamoto, eventually rose to become more powerful than the nobles they served. These families traced their origins to the early 98

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre days of the Heian court. The Minamoto line was created in 814 as the family name chosen by the emperor Saga for several of his children. The name of Taira was bestowed in 825 on the emperor Kanmu’s grandson. Subsequently, they developed into warrior leagues and served as the military arm of the powerful Fujiwara family at court. Eventually they commanded strong territorial bases – the Taira in the west and the Minamoto in the east. For a time the Minamoto also held some interests in western Japan, but in the early twelfth century it was the Taira who became the dominant force there. An important step was taken in 1119 when, operating from his base in western Honshu, Taira Masamori first extended his family’s influence across the narrow Kanmon Straits (at Shimonoseki) and into Kyushu. High on the Taira’s list of priorities was to control the mercantile wealth of Hakata, which had now become an established entrepôt of domestic and overseas trade between China, Kyoto and the Kyushu hinterland. At the same time they also exerted considerable power over the countryside beyond. In the early twelfth century, for example, Taira Tadamori managed to take control of the old imperial estate of Kanzaki-shō in the Saga plain. In 1133, he even forged an imperial document which permitted Song merchant ships to sail up the Ariake Sea and offload their cargo on the shores near the estate, a ruse designed to evade the inspections imposed by the Dazaifu authorities at Hakata.32 Tadamori’s son, Kiyomori, later extended the power of the Taira to such an extent that, at one stage, they were in control of twenty provinces in western Honshu and Kyushu. Both he and his half-brother served as Dazai Shōni and through their control of the Dazaifu Headquarters they developed a coordinated strategy to promote the Song trade by investing in Hakata. Kiyomori built a new port facility called Sode no Minato to the east of the existing docks, which was soon filled with merchant shipping. Another place in Japan where his patronage is remembered is the strategically located island of Itsukushima near Hiroshima, home of the Miyajima Shrine with its famous crimson torii gates standing in the seawater. This was also part of the Taira trading empire, as the island was an ideal staging post for merchant ships passing through the Inland Sea. With such a formidable power base and transport network at his disposal, Taira Kiyomori was able to dominate politics at court. In 1160, he expelled his rivals, the Minamoto, from the imperial capital. At the 99

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan same time he consolidated his control over Kyushu. When one lord in Hizen called Hyūga Michiyoshi honoured his Minamoto connections and refused to submit, Taira Iesada was furnished with an imperial edict for a punitive raid and sent to storm his castle.33 In 1167, Kiyomori then became the first man from a samurai background ever to hold the title of Daijō Daijin, the highest post in the Heian bureaucracy. Finally, in 1180, he forced the emperor Takakura to abdicate in favour of his infant half-brother Taira Antoku, who was also Kiyomori’s grandson. The prospect of a Taira imperial dynasty was too much to bear for Minamoto Yoritomo, who had been building his own power base in exile far to the east in Izu. Provoked into rebellion, Yoritomo launched the campaign that would destroy the Heian world. This was the Genpei War – gen and hei are alternative readings of Minamoto and Taira respectively – a conflict subsequently immortalized in the medieval war tale Heike Monogatari (Tale of the Taira Line). Although the initial advance by Yoritomo ended in defeat, an insurrection in Kyushu deprived the Taira of the financial strength they needed to press their advantage, and the island was not pacified until late in 1181. By this time Kiyomori had died after a long illness and the Minamoto forces were advancing from the east. In 1183, the Taira ranks in Kyoto were forced to abandon the capital and retreat to western Honshu. Early in 1185 an army under Minamoto Yorinori was able to land in Bungo Province with the aid of a local lord called Ogata Koreyoshi, who provided eighty-two ships and safe passage. This prevented the Taira forces from regrouping in Kyushu, and after Yorinori’s men then advanced into the north of the island, they were finally cornered near the Kanmon Straits separating Kyushu from Honshu. Here, at the decisive naval battle of Dannoura, many of the Taira warriors either drowned or committed suicide, and when all was lost a court lady jumped into the sea, taking the infant Emperor Antoku and the imperial regalia with her. In the aftermath of Dannoura the surviving Taira warriors of the Heike clan were scattered and many appear to have gone into hiding. In centuries to come, legends would surface about the existence of ‘Heike villages’ in remote mountains and coastal areas mainly in Kyushu and Shikoku, but also in parts of Honshu. Today there are nearly two hundred such villages that claim to have been founded by some fugitive warrior of the Heike clan. In many cases these are based on longstanding 100

Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre traditions of ritual and local folklore that hover between myth and history, but remain difficult to substantiate.34 Examples deep in the mountains of southern Kyushu include the village of Itsuki in the upper stretches of the Kuma River, which flows west through Kumamoto Prefecture, and Shiiba nearby, close to the source of the Mimigawa River, which flows east through Miyazaki.35 With the destruction of the Taira in 1185 the Heian government fell into disarray. The authority of the central bureaucracy had long been in a state of gradual decline, eroded by the ambitions of court and local elites alike. Existing mechanisms and loopholes in the system of civil administration had been systematically exploited to furnish private sources of wealth and power. Central control over the provinces had been undermined as the ritsuryō system fragmented beyond repair. To what extent this can even be called a process of decentralization, however, is open to question, given that the extent of the court’s power in many provinces had never quite matched the theory enshrined in codified law. The eclipse of Heian rule nevertheless marked an important transition as provincial governors, once the emperor’s direct representatives throughout the land, no longer carried the influence they had previously held, and in many areas disappeared from the local scene altogether. With his territories practically unmanageable in the aftermath of the Genpei War, the emperor eventually charged the victorious Minamoto Yoritomo with the task of maintaining order in the realm. To carry out these duties Yoritomo set up a military government apparatus in his own base far to the east in Kamakura. This was the first occasion on which the axis of political power clearly shifted to the Kantō area. It also set a precedent that would be repeated subsequently, and is still reflected in the shape of Tokyo as the capital of Japan today. The loss of influence to Kamakura was reflected in life at court in Kyoto. In the provinces of Kyushu as well, new authorities were sent to enforce peace in lands once held by the Taira. The subsequent shifts in the chain of command, for example, were keenly felt in Dazaifu. In the more confused world of Kamakura politics, no single authority would have the power to exert control over incoming shipping in the carefully managed way prescribed in times past. As a result, Hakata lost its status as the single designated gateway for vessels from overseas. It still flourished as the most important merchant 101

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan city in Kyushu due to the continuing growth of the Song trade, but foreign ships could now put into port elsewhere along the coast, creating what Bruce Batten calls a ‘borderless’ Japan in the medieval era. One example was Bōnotsu situated in the Satsuma peninsula in the far south of the island, a small town today but once a thriving medieval port in its own right.36 In some respects, however, the fall of Heian rule had a relatively mild impact on Hakata, as commercial life there was not entirely dependent on political forces in Honshu. Incorporated into a wider sphere of influence extending across the East China Sea, Hakata merchants were at the same time more sensitive to developments on the continent. In this sense, the greatest threat to their livelihood proved to be not so much from Kyoto or Kamakura as from Beijing, the new capital of the Mongol empire.

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CHAPTER 6

DIVINE WIND: THE MONGOL INVASIONS

 n the western outskirts of Fukuoka City along the shores of Hakata Bay is a long sandy beach called Iki no Matsubara. From the land this is approached, as the name suggests, by a wood of pines, which shields the coastline from the wind. On emerging through the trees and into the open, in places the path to the sea is barred by the foundations of a thick stone wall. Now barely three feet high, this barrier stretching along the shore is the best preserved remnant of what was once a series of formidable defences. It used to stand over fourteen feet tall, guarding the shore from attack as one of seven ramparts built around the bay in the thirteenth century. In most places these walls have disappeared beneath urban developments as Fukuoka has developed into a modern city, sprawling along the coast and down the valley towards Dazaifu a few miles inland. Nevertheless, traces can still be seen on some of the more remote beaches, along one stretch visible only in the shape of what appears at first to be a bank of sand dunes. These walls were built to protect the coast from the Mongols, who had carried all before them in Asia and beyond. Their leader Khubilai Khan ruled over an empire that now stretched over practically the known world. Having conquered the Korean kingdom of Koryŏ and even China, all that stood between them and the islands of Japan were the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea. Mongol warriors are generally noted more for their celebrated riding skills than any tradition of seamanship, but on one occasion already they had prepared a vast fleet and set sail, targeting Hakata Bay in an attempt to gain a foothold on the coast of northern Kyushu. Something of a hiatus followed in the aftermath of this first assault, providing valuable time needed to

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan prepare these defensive walls around the bay, but it was clear that a second campaign would follow. When they finally appeared off the Kyushu coast, the fleets assembled by the Mongols for the subjugation of Japan would amount to the largest seaborne invasion the world had ever seen. Waves of attacks followed on the shores of Hakata Bay. It came as a surprise to the inhabitants, therefore, when the assault finally stopped and the sails of the enemy ships disappeared over the horizon, never to return. Just as when a fleet of brigands had attacked Hakata Bay in the Toi invasion of 1019, the people offered up prayers at local shrines in thanks for their safe deliverance from danger. The sudden disappearance of the Mongol fleets seemed little short of miraculous, and such was the relief that popular legend grew in praise of a ‘Divine Wind’ (kamikaze), which had apparently risen up to smash the invaders’ ships off the Kyushu coast. This phrase was hardly new, having first been used by the poet Kakimoto Hitomaro in a verse to describe the stormy weather during the Jinshin War of 672.1 The story of a divine wind off the Kyushu coast, however, would later foster a headstrong belief that Japan’s shores were somehow immune from attack. There was no living memory of any successful invasions by sea, even if these may have occurred during migrations from the continent in unrecorded ancient times. This alone set the inhabitants of these islands apart from, for example, the English experience of the Norman Conquest. The north coast of Kyushu, the closest point on the Japanese mainland to the continent, moreover, is 120 miles away from the Korean peninsula across the Tsushima Straits, six times the distance separating Dover from Calais. Any belief that Japan was safe, however, would prove to be a rather ineffectual insurance against modern gunboat diplomacy in the nineteenth century. In the culture of military expansion that followed, the notion would nevertheless persist. During the last months of the Pacific War in 1945, the ‘Divine Wind’ (kamikaze) was again invoked in a desperate show of bravado, lending symbolic weight to the suicide attacks by young pilots who flew out from the southern coast of Kyushu and tried, unsuccessfully, to protect their homeland from foreign control. Stormy weather certainly contributed to saving these islands from the Mongols. Yet this alone cannot account for their defeat, as the invaders encountered not just the elements but well-organized troops 104

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions barring their progress. For weeks on end the ramparts at Iki no Matsubara and the other six walls along the shores of Hakata Bay were put to the test as wave upon wave of soldiers disembarked and charged up through the sand. The contest also brought together two very different warrior cultures as samurai and Mongol soldiers were locked in combat. Given the immense resources devoted to both expeditions on the orders of Khubilai Khan, the spectacular failure of these invasions continues to be the subject of controversy. To what extent was Japan saved from the Mongols by the elements, the military prowess of the samurai or the constraints of physical geography?2 Recently, the debate has been fuelled by the discovery of wrecked Mongol hulls beneath the waves just off Takashima Island in Imari Bay further west along the Kyushu coast. More than six hundred years after the event, these submerged vessels have yielded some new clues which can help to piece together the last days of the ill-fated fleet. The battles on the beaches of Hakata Bay had far-reaching consequences, throughout the Japanese islands and the Asian continent. This was easily the greatest challenge yet faced by the military order that had emerged out of the chaos of the last years of Heian rule some seventy years before. Based in the small town of Kamakura on the Honshu coast to the south of what is now modern Tokyo, the new government had developed its own institutions to apply a measure of jurisdiction over the lands under the sovereignty of the emperor. The Mongol invasions were a severe test of the regime’s resilience in the face of outside pressure, and the ramifications would unfold for decades afterwards. On the Asian continent as well, the effects were felt far and wide among the subject populations of Mongol rule. The Kamakura bakufu Although not immediately apparent at the time, Minamoto Yoritomo’s victory over the Taira at Dannoura in 1185 sounded the death-knell to nearly four centuries of Heian rule. The civil bureaucracy’s claims to exercise imperial authority from Kyoto based on the old ritsuryō system was increasing irrelevant to daily life in many provinces, Kyushu included. With a high proportion of the cultivated land now segmented into shōen estates, much of the country’s wealth lay outside the taxable base of the imperial economy. Much of the population, too, was beyond the reach of 105

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan the imperial administration, and often it was only the samurai warriors guarding private lands who were in a position to exert control on site. In 1192, in an attempt to forestall the perceived danger of a descent into anarchy, Yoritomo received an imperial appointment as shogun, the post that in effect made him the sword arm of the emperor. He did not – or could not – dispense with the institutions of the imperial government in Kyoto, but to protect the emperor’s lands he set up his own administrative network controlled from the Minamoto power base in Kamakura. This new system of political control signalled at least the partial overhaul of civil government with military power, and underlined the rise of the samurai as a new ruling class. The administration established at Kamakura was known as the ‘bakufu’. Literally meaning ‘tent government’, the term was taken from the name for the headquarters of the emperor’s palace guards in Tang China. In the context of medieval Japan, it initially described the equivalent of a field headquarters, an operational military command with a bare minimum of administrative apparatus. Since it was permanently stationed in Kamakura, however, in time this area acquired the trappings of a political and cultural capital, albeit on a modest scale. The first Zen temple there, for example, was Kenchōji, built in 1253 several decades after Eisai had introduced Zen following his return from China. Perhaps the most impressive feature was the ‘Grand Buddha’ (daibutsu) statue at Kōtokuin for which the town is famous today, once covered by a roof until a tsunami wave smashed the temple building late in the fifteenth century, leaving it open to the air. The traditional paradigm for the political transition at the onset of this new regime is one of military control in Kamakura replacing imperial rule in Kyoto. In reality, the balance of power was more complex as a dual system emerged based on the coexistence of civil and military authority. The emperor in Kyoto gradually became little more than a figurehead of sovereign power, but the Dajōkan, the Council of State which ruled in his name, was still in operation. In many cases governors were still appointed and dispatched to the provinces, and in some regions imperial power remained largely in force. In others, governors might arrive in their appointed province, only to find that their titles carried little weight. It was in such localized power vacuums where imperial authority was weak that the military officials appointed by Kamakura were often most active in imposing new models of control. 106

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions At the centre itself, wherever that now was, the delegation of political authority that evolved in medieval Japan was a complex web of hidden powers. When Minamoto Yoritomo died in 1199 his son was still in his teens and his trusted advisers, the Hōjō clan, stamped their authority on political affairs in their role as regents (shikken). Although the title of shogun was inherited in turn by Yoritomo’s two sons, they were both assassinated by the Hōjō, who saw them as a threat to their own power. The post continued to exist but it became a largely symbolic appointment. Those selected for the role included members of the Fujiwara, the illustrious noble line from Heian antiquity, and even members of the imperial family. Through their monopoly on the post of shikken, meanwhile, successive generations of Hōjō rulers were in a position to exercise control by supervising the Samurai-dokoro, the bakufu council in Kamakura. It was the Samurai-dokoro that controlled the Kamakura bakufu’s network of vassals in the provinces. These were loyal samurai warriors appointed to the newly-created posts of shugo and jitō, who acted as marshals to maintain law and order, especially in regions where imperial governance had failed. The shugo were usually favoured officials selected from among the samurai vassals (go-kenin) of the Minamoto to exercise authority on the bakufu’s behalf. Although not appointed to every province, they served in effect as constables in charge of policing duties, with powers to punish serious offences including murder and rebellion. There was always the danger, therefore, that they could in turn become over-mighty subjects in the same way that provincial governors had once eroded the Heian state by building their own power bases at a regional level. Aware of this threat from the start, the Kamakura bakufu limited the power of shugo officials by trying to ensure that they did not become hereditary posts or include any rights to land ownership. In some regions the shugo were nevertheless able to become influential military governors. They never made much headway in central Honshu, where the Heian structure remained largely intact. In the provinces of Kyushu, however, some of the most powerful dynasties of medieval warrior lords – Shōni, Ōtomo and Shimazu – counted men who held the post of shugo among their ancestors in Kamakura times. The shugo, in fact, would become the leading figures in Kyushu during the post-Taira era, although the creation of these new posts appears to have been relatively late. It was only in 1197, for example, that the head 107

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan of the Shimazu-shō estate in the far south was handed effective control over the Satsuma and Ōsumi provinces, and his appointment as shugo was not confirmed until around 1203. In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Dannoura, it had been Minamoto Yorinori who was sent to the island to follow up his earlier military campaign there and hunt down fugitive Taira rebels. Then, in 1186, Amano Tōkage was despatched to Dazaifu under the title of Chinzei Bugyō (literally ‘magistrate for the pacification of the west’), a new military post outside the old bureaucratic framework of Heian rule. His first recorded mission in Kyushu was to control the samurai who were then rioting in Kanzaki-shō.3 The post of Chinzei Bugyō appears to have lapsed after Amano was recalled, but according to Toyama Mikio, the duties it encompassed were subsequently shared between two shugo lords: the Mutō in charge of security in the west; and the Ōtomo, who protected the east.4 Besides the shugo the other main agents of bakufu authority were the estate stewards known as jitō. Their role was more closely linked to managing the landed wealth that had increasingly slipped through the hands of civil governors under imperial rule. The jitō were paid fees for the services they performed on behalf of the often absentee proprietors of the estates they supervised. In Kyushu there was a two-tier system of jitō stewards. The officials who were given overall charge of these estates were often trusted Minamoto vassals from eastern Honshu, who had been sent to Kyushu to assist in the pacification of the island. Under their supervision was a further sub-category of local jitō, who were allowed to keep their longstanding land rights as a reward for their cooperation in hunting down Taira fugitives after 1185. A conspicuous feature of provincial life in Japan under Kamakura rule was the escalation in legal disputes between jitō stewards and proprietors as they fought over the profits from their shōen estates. In the case of Kyushu the uneasy coexistence between ‘colonist’ and ‘native’ jitō stewards on the same estates also became a frequent source of tension. In 1226, for example, a local steward in Hizen called Takagi Sueie filed a suit against his own superior Hasunama Saburō for taking his rice levies. As a result, Hasunama received a warning from the bakufu the following year.5 In Honshu the rising tensions over land revenues even led to the outbreak of military conflict with the Jōkyū disturbance of 1221, finally prompting the Kamakura regime to take a more proactive approach 108

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions towards dispute resolution. Ironically, this led to the formation of a complex bureaucratic system that belied the bakufu’s own tradition of minimal administration. Before long its main function had become to act as a supreme judiciary, processing the hundreds of law suits that were sent up to Kamakura for arbitration. Detailed codes were drawn up to guarantee an even-handed procedure for reviewing each case, with guidelines covering any conflict of interests. A side-effect, however, was the growth of a labyrinth of ‘red tape’. Marginal cases could last for several years, even after 1259 when the bakufu allowed them to be handled at a provincial level to help clear a mounting backlog of unresolved suits.6 Ultimately, the military regime in Kamakura amounted to a limited government, as its control extended to some provinces more than others. To try to piece together an overall patchwork of rule from the ‘centre’ would require records for both the Samurai-dokoro in Kamakura and the Dajōkan in Kyoto. Information lacking from records for Kamakura, for example, may appear in documents from Kyoto.7 The respective governing bodies in these two capitals, however, did not really function as an integrated complementary network, but developed instead in isolation, exercising authority simply where they could. With its now complex bureaucratic machinery, the bakufu in Kamakura also took on some of the features more commonly associated with the decline of Heian rule. The mechanisms of civil administration in Kyoto, meanwhile, were never systematically overhauled, so the culture of the Heian era was by no means wiped out by the onset of warrior rule in medieval Japan. The selection of members of the Fujiwara family to act as shogun also reaffirms the respect paid to existing symbols of authority. The bakufu in Kamakura, therefore, did not so much replace the imperial government as coexist with the regime in Kyoto. In some cases local conditions even conspired to allow the two systems to merge, creating a hybrid form of authority never imagined by any institutional architects in Kamakura or Kyoto. A striking example occurred at Dazaifu, although this had always been a special case as the ‘distant court’ of Heian tradition. Here a shugo appointed by the Kamakura bakufu was able to assume a senior title in the imperial hierarchy, which he then used to project his family’s regional power. This was Mutō Sukeyori, who in 1196 was sent to northern Kyushu by 109

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Minamoto Yoritomo to help impose Kamakura rule. Together with the appointment of Ōtomo Yoshinao, his arrival was intended to contain the influence of the Kikuchi, a powerful family based in Higo that had once served under the Taira. The Mutō family traced its origins to a branch of the noble Fujiwara line, and since the middle of the Heian era had won favour as loyal retainers of the rising Minamoto clan.8 Now based in northern Kyushu, Mutō Sukeyori spent several decades imposing his authority in his post as shugo until in 1226 he was finally rewarded with the title of Dazai Shōni. Although not quite as elevated in status as Dazai Daini, this was one of the most senior imperial posts at the Dazaifu Headquarters and had been held by some illustrious forebears, among them Taira Kiyomori when he held sway in this region half a century before. As such it helped to consolidate Mutō’s political control in the area, and he was so flattered by the honour that he changed his family name to Shōni. It was under this name that his successors would go on to consolidate their power and lead the way in defending the coast of northern Kyushu during the Mongol campaigns. As Dazai Shōni, Mutō Sukeyori held jurisdiction over security matters in nearby Hakata, which as it turned out proved to be an unenviable role for his son to inherit. The thriving trade in this mercantile port was the most visible symbol of the ‘Shōni’ family’s growing power. It also brought them into contact with a cosmopolitan world, as they now shared space with merchants from China. For well over a century overseas traders had been establishing their own commercial empires, none more so than Xie Guoming, a Song merchant who even owned a small island off the coast and lived in a large house in central Hakata. It was Xie, for example, who supervised the construction of the new Jōtenji Temple on land donated for this purpose by the Shōni in 1242.9 At the time, a severe plague epidemic was sweeping through the port of Hakata, and, in response, Enni, the head priest of Jōtenji, was carried around the town on a portable shrine from which he sprinkled holy water to cleanse the streets. In years afterwards, the procession was ceremoniously re-enacted, inspiring a tradition that developed into the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival, still one of the major annual street parties in Japan today. As a spectacle Yamakasa arguably surpasses even the cast of thousands who take part in the Hakata Dontaku festival in 110

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions May. Setting out from Kushida Shrine in the early hours of 15 July each year, teams of bearers representing local wards put months of training to the test as they carry the full weight of seven towering Yamakasa floats through the crowded streets.10 Chinese merchants such as Xie Guoming contributed to the impact of Song culture by selling commodities from the continent. With their networks of overseas contacts they were also well placed to convey news from the outside world. Any reports of disease outbreaks in ports along the Chinese coast were always treated seriously here. Political developments could also cause concern, especially if they threatened to affect commerce. Even so, the first reports on the rise of the Mongols in the far-off lands of continental Asia must have been difficult to comprehend for people who had never been beyond the shores of Kyushu. Later they would form a more graphic impression when Mongol warriors sailed into Hakata Bay. Approach of the Mongol empire In 1204, just a few years after Minamoto Yoritomo had set up his bakufu government in Kamakura, Genghis Khan established his position as leader of all the Mongols. Originally a general serving under Togrul, khan of the Kerait tribe, he was involved in destroying the Tatars and later the Kerait themselves to stamp his authority on the Mongolian plains. His military exploits enabled him to found an empire that, within just a generation, would dominate the known world. He also had a reputation for cruelty that inspired fear throughout Asia. Genghis Khan once ordered the deaths of thousands of prisoners in a single day during his conquest of northern India, and on another occasion he notoriously had the King of Kiev smothered in a carpet. Nevertheless, there was method to his brutality, which was certainly effective in forcing the submission of several populous cities in the interior of China.11 The Mongols first invaded Koryŏ (Korea) in 1231, but met unusually fierce resistance there which would keep them at bay from the coast facing Kyushu for the next thirty years. Further inland in central Asia their conquests unfolded with breathtaking range and speed. To the west they invaded the plains of eastern Europe in 1241, and to the east they attacked China and Annam (Vietnam) in 1253. By 1260 they had 111

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan taken control of the northern territories of Song China, and Genghis Khan’s nephew, Khubilai, was installed as emperor of the new Yüan dynasty in Beijing. It was the first time this city was used as an imperial capital. Three years afterwards, in his nostalgia for his native Mongolian plains, Khubilai Khan built a summer palace on a site ten days’ journey to the north. This was Shangdu, the Xanadu of Coleridge’s famous poem composed more than five hundred years later.12 Khubilai Khan’s all-conquering armies gradually wore down the remaining pockets of resistance in the continental lands of East Asia. By 1260 Koryŏ had been cowed into submission at last, although rebellion persisted in the far south of the peninsula for another decade. A focal point of resistance was the large island of Cheju, which was invested with formidable defensive ramparts and held out until 1273. Calls for aid were even sent across the Tsushima Straits, although it is not clear to what extent, if at all, any Japanese forces responded to help their embattled neighbours.13 In China, meanwhile, the increasingly fragile Song regime retreated south beyond the Yangtze River and clung onto the remnants of its empire for a few more years. Unquestionably now ruler of the dominant power, Khubilai Khan looked for ways to shore up the foundations of Mongol hegemony. One method he chose was to revive the tribute system, the old network of diplomatic relations developed centuries before under the Tang dynasty, which had served to formalize the subordinate status of surrounding satellite states. During the Tang heyday, Japan had also been incorporated into this network, as tribute and gifts were exchanged across the East China Sea. At that time there were clear advantages to be gained from basking in the cultural glow of Chang’an, but the allure had lapsed since 894 when Sugawara Michizane abandoned the last attempt to send an embassy. Now that neighbouring states were once again being forced to submit to the supreme rule of the ‘Middle Kingdom’, Japan, in the eyes of Khubilai Khan, was a conspicuous absentee from the new Mongol tribute system. Establishing relations may also have been part of a strategic design to pave the way for his preparations to attack the remnants of the Song regime in the south of China.14 In 1266, an official letter was dispatched from Beijing inviting Japan to renew its tributary status. Couched in the rhetoric of the old Tang system, the terms on offer were clearly unequal, as the letter was addressed ‘from the Emperor of Great Mongolia to the King of Japan’. 112

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions Neither was there any real option to politely decline, for Khubilai’s invitation carried with it a thinly veiled threat. ‘Is it reasonable’, he asked, ‘to refuse intercourse with each other? It will lead to war, and who is there who likes such a state of things!’15 The king of Koryŏ was charged with arranging the safe passage of the Mongol emissaries bearing this letter. Partly because of rough seas but also due to his reluctance over their mission, nearly two winters passed before they finally reached the shores of Kyushu. When they did, it created a state of emergency that lasted for the next thirty years. The Mongol invasions Early in 1268, the envoys stepped ashore in Hakata Bay and handed over the letter from Khubilai Khan. One reason for the heated discussion that followed was that, being addressed to the ‘King of Japan’, the delicate balance of power struck between emperor and shogun made it far from clear who should respond. In the first instance it was delivered into the hands of Shōni Sukeyoshi, the son of Sukeyori, who was in charge of local security matters. By now he would have been fully aware of the threat posed by the Mongols, having perhaps seen maps of their vast empire brought from China by merchants like Xie Guoming.16 The letter was sent on to Kamakura where it was seen first by Hōjō Tokimune, the regent (shikken) in charge of bakufu affairs, and passed on to the shogun before being forwarded to Kyoto for inspection by the emperor. Amid much uncertainty the court may have concluded that it would be damaging to Japan’s pride to send a response at all. Alternatively, it may have drafted a response, only for a decision not to send it to then be taken by the bakufu when this was received in Kamakura.17 In either case the result was that the letter from ‘the Emperor of Great Mongolia’ was simply ignored, clearly an insult to the dignity of Khubilai Khan. When his envoys returned to Beijing empty-handed later in 1268, he immediately ordered the king of Koryŏ to construct ships and conscript troops for a full-scale invasion. At the same time he sent further envoys to Kyushu, promising peace but in effect delivering a more threatening ultimatum each time. One arrived in Imazu on the west coast of Hakata Bay in 1271, and another went as far as Dazaifu in 1273. On neither occasion were they able to take back with them a reply from the ‘King 113

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan of Japan’. By this time a consensus had emerged not to respond, even if this meant facing the wrath of the Mongols. The Kamakura bakufu also began their preparations for a possible attack, in 1268 alerting the shugo to secure their defences.18 Intelligence received in 1271 that the Mongols were planning an invasion from Koryŏ territory prompted what amounted to a mobilization order. All the go-kenin warriors residing in Kyushu had already been commanded to be on the alert for an attack on the coast, but now absentee landholders as well were instructed to return there ‘to fortify the land and pacify local outlaws [akutō]’.19 On the continent, meanwhile, Khubilai Khan’s attention was diverted by the ongoing siege of Hsiang-yang, the last great stronghold blocking the Mongols’ path to the Yangtze River and beyond to the southern heartland of the Song regime. When Hsiang-yang fell and the remaining rebels in Koryŏ were crushed in 1273, he was at last able to concentrate on the subjugation of Japan, now a rogue state in the Mongol world order. During the summer of 1274 a huge invasion force was massed on the southern coast of Koryŏ, with 28,000 troops (8,000 of them Korean) ready for transportation in 900 ships.20 In November the fleet moved south across the straits from one island to the next, devastating Tsushima and then Iki. A leader called Taira Tsunetaka – possibly the descendant of a Taira fugitive – manned the defences in Iki, but was killed in the first skirmishes with the Mongols.21 Now within sight of the Kyushu coast, their ships then sailed into Hakata Bay and cast anchor in the shelter of Shikanoshima Island across the water from the town itself. From this base they made their way ashore. The Mongol invaders immediately encountered resistance from the forces of Kyushu lords such as Shimazu and Kikuchi, led by the shugo commanders Shōni Sukeyoshi and Ōtomo Yoriyasu. Also present were some warriors from the Matsura territories in northwest Kyushu whose mobile lightweight boats would prove useful in harrying the enemy fleet. Even so, between them they had nowhere near the 100,000 men later claimed in Chinese records.22 Samurai were accustomed, moreover, to the individual combat that had become the accepted style of fighting in conflicts such as the Genpei War nearly a century before, and were unprepared for military innovations recently developed on the continent. For their part the Mongol warriors were unable to take much advantage of their exalted horsemanship in this seaborne attack, but they could call 114

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions on a host of techniques and weapons honed in combat in China, including the use of tight group formations, fireballs and poisoned arrows.23 Despite the samurai warriors’ efforts to contain them, detachments of Mongol troops at last broke through and began marauding inland. After twenty days of fighting the Japanese were forced to fall back from the coastal area and regroup behind the ramparts of Mizuki, which guarded the approach to Dazaifu. The invaders, however, had also sustained losses and were suffering from a shortage of supplies, so they decided to withdraw to their ships moored in Hakata Bay. On the way back they continued to inflict damage, burning down the grand shrine at Hakozaki built in honour of the empress Jingū. According to the Hachiman Gūdoki, the Japanese had little hope of resisting the Mongols the following day: ‘We lamented all through the night, thinking that we were doomed and would be destroyed to the last man and that no “seeds” would be left to fill the nine provinces.’24 Under the cover of darkness, however, fierce gales were pounding the coast. At sunrise, much to the surprise of the defenders on shore who were steeling themselves for a further onslaught, the enemy fleet had completely disappeared. A traditional explanation of this miraculous delivery from attack is that the Mongol ships were damaged by a fierce storm and dashed on the rocks of Shikanoshima Island.25 There is also a suggestion that, because they still lay at their moorings, some ships were dragged below the waves as other vessels around them foundered. It is unclear, however, whether or not the Mongol fleet had decided to set sail already, and if it encountered this stormy weather while it was still in Hakata Bay or already on the way back to Iki or Tsushima islands. Moreover in 1958 the meteorologist Arakawa Hidetoshi pointed out that, as the disaster occurred in late November, it was far too late in the year for the typhoon season. Drawing attention to the fact that it does not appear in any reliable records either, he suggested that the great storm remembered from this first invasion has been confused with the typhoon which certainly befell the second.26 What is clear is that the Japanese believed they had been saved by a ‘divine wind’, and when the remaining Mongol ships limped back into harbour in Koryŏ, they were found to be missing more than 13,500 men, over a third of the force that had left port just a few weeks before.27 In Japan there was even talk of retaliating by sending a military 115

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan campaign across the Tsushima Straits but this plan came to nothing. In his role as shikken, however, Hōjō Tokimune did set about mobilizing a small navy, relying on the seafaring skills of pirates based in Kyushu. He also sent a close relative called Hōjō Sanemasa to coordinate security measures in Hakata Bay on Kamakura’s behalf, in effect assuming the responsibilities hitherto held by the Shōni. The bakufu was aware of reports that the Mongols could be expected to mount a further attack. For the time-being, they were given valuable breathing space by the fact that Khubilai Khan was now concentrating on finally crushing the resistance of the ailing Song regime in southern China. It was in 1275, a year after this first Mongol invasion that a young Venetian traveller called Marco Polo is thought to have held his first audience with Khubilai Khan. The attacks on Japan feature in the famous Travels he wrote several years later. The ‘Cipangu’ he described was a land rich beyond compare, reflecting perhaps how these islands were viewed as a treasured prize at the Mongol court. Khubilai Khan had certainly not forgotten, and may have believed that this first show of military strength had been enough to intimidate the ‘King of Japan’. The next year a further group of Mongol envoys was dispatched to the islands to reinforce the point. On their arrival they were sent on to Kamakura, only to be summarily executed when they stepped ashore. By this stage preparations were underway to protect the north coast of Kyushu. In 1275, vassals in Kyushu were ordered to combine their forces into units of two to three provinces, which then took turns to spend three months of the year manning defences. In 1276, Hōjō Sanemasa also organized the construction of the seven massive walls along the beaches of Hakata Bay. The cost of this ambitious project was shared among the major shugo lords of Kyushu, who called on the resources of both the go-kenin and shōen estates in their lands to complete the task just within six months. It was certainly time well spent because, following a Mongol offensive lasting six years, the Song dynasty in the south of China finally collapsed in 1279. Now free to focus again on the islands across the East China Sea, Khubilai Khan sent another envoy to announce the defeat of the Song and warn the Japanese that they would be next if they did not submit. On Kamakura’s orders this emissary was executed on the spot when he landed in Hakata.28 Preparations for a second invasion were soon in full swing. As they had now imposed their control on the continent, for this next 116

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions campaign the Mongols were able to draw on the resources of the subject population south of the Yangtze River as well as Koryō. Before long they had amassed a vast invasion force, divided into two grand fleets. On the south coast of the Korean peninsula the eastern fleet was comparable in strength with the first invasion seven years before, with 900 ships ready to carry 40,000 troops across the Tsushima Straits. A southern fleet was also to sail from Ningbo, carrying a force of no less than 100,000 Song soldiers on board 3,500 ships across the East China Sea.29 The plan was for the two fleets to meet at a rendezvous point near Iki Island off the north coast of Kyushu and combine their forces in a direct assault on Hakata Bay. This would give them well over five times the troop strength that would later sail to England in the Spanish Armada in 1588. Moreover, thirty times as many ships were involved, although these were mostly smaller and less seaworthy than the Spanish galleons of the sixteenth century.30 The objective was conquest and then occupation, for a number of Mongol troops even brought hoes with them to cultivate the land once it was in their power. From the outset, however, the invasion did not go according to plan. Tsushima Island with its newly-built defences proved difficult to take, so the eastern fleet pressed on across the straits to Iki, where the thirteen-year-old Shōni Suketoki was killed trying to defend the island.31 They were unable to rendezvous with their allies, however, as the departure of the southern fleet from China was delayed due to the sudden death of its commander. Deciding not to wait, in June the eastern fleet sailed into Hakata Bay and promptly launched a series of attacks on the shore. The fighting continued for two months in the heat of the summer, as the new protective walls manned by samurai troops held the Mongols on the beaches. Unable to break through the invaders captured Shikanoshima Island at the mouth of Hakata Bay, but were constantly harried by squadrons of small Japanese boats. Their provisions were also soon exhausted and disease broke out on board their ships, striking down large numbers of men and horses. Eventually, the eastern fleet was forced to lift the siege on the Hakata coast and fall back to Iki. From there it sailed west to the island of Hirado off the northwest coast of Kyushu and joined up at last with the southern fleet, which had now completed its passage across the East China Sea. Armed with these reinforcements their combined armada moved east to renew the assault on Hakata Bay. If this 117

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan immense force had ever arrived, the Mongols and their allies would have heavily outnumbered the samurai warriors manning the walls. On 14 August, however, a fierce storm caught the fleet as it made its way along the coast. Seeking a safe haven in Imari Bay, the ships became tightly packed together and were driven by tide and storm towards the rocks off Takashima Island. Within hours, hundreds of vessels sank, taking their crews with them. To press their advantage a small fleet of Japanese ships under Shōni Kagesuke was despatched along the coast to capture or kill any survivors they found scattered along the shore.32 Unable to mount a further challenge, the remaining ships of the grand fleet limped back across the Tsushima Straits to the safety of the Koryŏ coast. Less than half of those who had left the continent made it back alive.33 The catastrophic failure of the Mongol invasions has sometimes been linked to Khubilai Khan’s dependence on large numbers of troops from Koryŏ and on the second occasion from Song China. Many of these soldiers certainly lacked any strong motive for attacking the Kyushu coast. Nevertheless, there were significant numbers of battle-hardened Mongol warriors among their ranks. The recent discovery of the wrecks of the fleet on the bed of Imari Bay has thrown further light on the demise of the disastrous second expedition. This confirms suspicions that, in his haste to attack, Khubilai Khan gave the shipyards in southern China too little time to prepare the fleet. A number of wrecks discovered have turned out to be low-keeled vessels with flat-bottomed hulls, much like the river boats used in the Yangtze basin. Boats quite unsuitable for this sea-crossing were thus pressed into service and would certainly have been the first to capsize in the stormy waters off the Kyushu coast.34 Also found among the remains of the fleet have been stone anchors of a type used only by Arab trading ships, suggesting that Muslim merchants then active in Quanzhou in southern China provided material assistance for the second Mongol invasion. One of the most striking facts to emerge, however, is the discovery that many of the wrecks lie aligned in the same direction on the sea bed, indicating how quickly they must have sunk and also the power of the natural forces that drove them towards the rocks on the shore.35 Incensed by the failure of this second expedition, Khubilai Khan entertained plans for a third invasion for several years afterwards. For 118

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions a long time this was impossible due to the outbreak of rebellion in parts of China and Annam, together with rampant inflation and political infighting at the Mongol court.36 Nevertheless, in 1293 he did send another envoy to Japan. The unfortunate messenger got only as far as Tsushima before he was executed, whereupon Khubilai Khan gave orders to Koryŏ to prepare another attack. He died the following year, however, and the news was greeted by scenes of open celebration in those states – Koryŏ and Song China – which had been forced to comply with his dream of overseas conquest. Careful not to be caught off guard, the coastal defences in Hakata Bay were maintained for years to come, and even as late as 1314 there were occasions when they were reinforced amid renewed fears of another Mongol attack.37 The Kamakura bakufu in decline A torii gate by the shore in Hakata Bay marks the gateway from the sea leading to Hakozaki Shrine a short walk inland. Destroyed in the first Mongol invasion, this was rebuilt shortly afterwards in an act of defiance. Facing out to sea, a symbolic placard above the entrance bears four characters that read tekikoku kōfuku, or ‘the enemy country surrender[ed]!’38 This became the subject of some controversy in later generations, particularly during the twentieth century, but the message was originally inspired by the intense relief felt when Kyushu’s shores were spared from conquest. While there was widespread rejoicing from Hakata to Kamakura and Kyoto, however, in the long term the ramifications of the conflict arguably had a greater impact on Japan than the Mongol empire itself. These disastrous expeditions did not entirely destroy Khubilai Khan’s power in China, but they certainly damaged his prestige as the myth of Mongol invincibility was irrevocably undermined. The campaigns also created severe economic problems, as the costs incurred forced the Mongol rulers to devalue the central currency. The tax increases ordered by Khubilai Khan also caused deep resentment among the Chinese population, especially as Mongol residents did not have to pay. The Yüan dynasty he had founded would ultimately become one of the most short-lived regimes to hold sway in China, lasting barely a hundred years until its collapse in 1368. Ironically, however, by this time the Kamakura bakufu was already a fading 119

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan memory in Japan, its own authority shattered within fifty years of the celebrated military victories on the coasts of Hakata Bay. A significant factor in the decline of Kamakura’s power was the immense cost involved in defending Kyushu’s coasts against the two invasions. These campaigns had caused economic hardships for all those samurai vassals, mostly from Kyushu, who were mobilized to man the coasts. After so much sacrifice many of them considered themselves ‘war heroes’. In the Shōni family, for example, the eighty-fouryear-old Sukeyoshi had received a severe wound, while his sons Tsunesuke and Kagesuke were ‘decorated’ for bravery. In the years that followed, the Kamakura bakufu was besieged by demands from such veterans for some form of compensation. It was customary to distribute land and booty after any military victory, but this was no civil conflict in which the defeated side’s territory could be divided and shared, or an overseas expedition in which riches could be plundered. Despite the enormous effort involved, there was precious little in the way of spoils of war after these defensive campaigns. This was why the imperial estate of Kanzaki-shō was one of the many shōen to disappear when, within a year of the second Mongol invasion, it was divided up by drawing lots among four hundred samurai veterans.39 The most famous example of a compensation suit was the case of Takezaki Suenaga, a middle-ranking samurai from Higo Province. After lobbying the authorities in Kyushu to no avail, he finally made the journey all the way to Kamakura to press his claim and was eventually rewarded with land and also a prize horse. To commemorate this event the grateful Takezaki later commissioned some elaborate pictorial scrolls to recount his exploits during both Mongol campaigns. The vivid illustrations they contain present the most detailed available record of the armour, weapons and techniques employed in military combat between the samurai and Mongol warriors.40 Only the sort of persistence that Takezaki had shown, however, could offer hope of success, and the majority of samurai involved were left feeling less than satisfied with the meagre rewards they received. The level of disaffection among Kyushu vassals became so conspicuous that, in the 1290s, the bakufu supplanted the lapsed post of Chinzei Bugyō with the new position of Chinzei Tandai in an effort to maintain order on the island.41 The Shōni naturally hoped to receive this appointment, having represented Kamakura interests in northern Kyushu for 120

Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions more than two generations already. Instead it went to a member of the Hōjō family who was sent down from Kamakura to re-impose control. Moreover, the post of Chinzei Tandai carried with it shugo jurisdiction over Hizen Province, and was subsequently extended to incorporate six of Kyushu’s nine provinces. The Hōjō were so intent on stamping their authority on the island that by the end of Kamakura rule the only three provinces left in the hands of the shugo families were Chikuzen (Shōni), Bungo (Ōtomo) and Satsuma (Shimazu). To some extent the bakufu’s mistrust of these powerful Kyushu lords was understandable, even if their forebears had originally been sent to the island on Kamakura’s behalf. Nevertheless, given these circumstances, it was hardly surprising that forty years later the Shōni would turn against the Hōjō in their hour of need. It was becoming increasingly clear that the bakufu could no longer command the loyalty of the samurai, a precarious state of affairs for a military regime. When a political conflict did occur, therefore, it might divide the realm into two or more military camps. In 1331, an attempted coup d’état by the ambitious emperor Go-Daigo came to nothing, but by this time enemies of the Kamakura regime were never short of support. Two years later, the powerful vassal Ashikaga Takauji suddenly declared for the emperor and, after a swift attack on Kamakura itself, destroyed the ruling Hōjō line. In Kyushu, meanwhile, just a few days later Shōni Sadatsune marched on Dazaifu and killed Hōjō Hidetoki, the serving Chinzei Tandai and symbol of Kamakura power. With the bakufu government in ruins, Ashikaga, with some help from his Kyushu allies at a critical juncture, would soon be in a position to set up his own military regime. After a tense diplomatic stand off the military confrontation between the Mongol empire and the Kamakura regime had been played out on the shores of Hakata Bay. The cumulative burden these campaigns placed upon the bakufu in Honshu contributed directly to its long-term decline. Already struggling to manage the resolution of land disputes in peacetime, the claims on land in the aftermath of war stretched the capacity of the authorities to keep control. The fragmentation of shōen estates was symptomatic of the challenges facing representatives of the Hōjō despatched to Kyushu. Once on site, they found it was no longer just the former allies of the Taira or ‘outlaws’ that posed a threat to Kamakura rule, but even vassals appointed by the 121

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan bakufu itself. The military regime had been able to unite its vassals against the Mongols, but loyalty to the Chinzei Tandai did not stretch far beyond his headquarters in Dazaifu, the ‘distant court’ of Heian times.

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CHAPTER 7

DIVIDED LOYALTIES: PIRATES AND RIVAL COURTS

 hen the Mongol ships went down off Takashima Island in Imari Bay in August 1281, the first survivors to clamber ashore were promptly despatched or rounded up by local fishermen. These were men who spent much of their working lives spreading their nets at sea, but who clearly knew how to fight as well. In the defence of their communities they were often drawn into the long civil wars that dominated politics in medieval Kyushu. Some also used their boats to look for booty as well as fish, for here in this mountainous terrain, the forested slopes made the land ill-suited to agriculture and the inhabitants were forced to seek their livelihood at sea. Many of these fishing villages were so isolated that they were largely cut off from any central or even regional authorities’ spheres of influence. With their independent spirit and durable local organization, however, they could certainly make an impact on the overall balance of power both in Japan and overseas. These were the Matsura-tō, a loose confederation of coastal communities who united to protect their interests in times of need. In Korea and China these and other bands of men from across the water had long been recognized as wakō, the notorious ‘Japanese pirates’ who spread fear whenever they appeared offshore. This is the Japanese pronunciation of a term in Chinese letters that first appears as early as 414 CE, inscribed on the Kwanggaet’o monument on the banks of the Yalu River in northern Korea. It is formed from two characters; wa- meaning ‘dwarf’, the pejorative name traditionally used for the people and islands of ‘Wa’, together with -kō, meaning ‘brigand’. In medieval times,

W

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan from the thirteenth century onwards, such bands – known as waegu in Korean, or wōkòu in Chinese – began to feature prominently around the coasts of the East China Sea.1 Fear of the wakō, real or imagined, created a powerful discourse of victimhood among coastal communities in Korea and China, just as people in northern Kyushu for a long time had lived in fear of ‘Silla pirates’.2 At least some of these seafarers set out with trade foremost in mind, only to arouse the suspicion of local populations. In Murai Shōsuke’s analysis, the inhabitants of remote areas on the northern coasts of Kyushu or Iki and Tsushima islands can be thought of as ‘people of the margins’, as they developed a culturally distinct maritime livelihood of their own. In many cases those who ventured overseas could also be described as what Philip Curtin calls ‘crosscultural brokers’, playing intermediary roles in negotiations across these borderlands.3 There was always scope for conflict when trade was involved, and any visiting seafarers disappointed with their haul could soon turn violent. It would be misleading, however, to characterize the wakō only as disgruntled merchants. The Chinese described them as ‘shrewd by nature’, noting how ‘they carried merchandise and weapons together and appeared here and there along the sea-coast’.4 Clearly, there was a thriving culture of piracy, and from their bases in Japan, they were able to launch raids far and wide on the coasts of the Tsushima Straits and East China Sea. Together with fleets operated by adventurers in the Inland Sea, the Matsura-tō in particular built a reputation for their naval power. Their activities escalated in times of weak political control, notably in the fourteenth century when Japan was gripped by civil war during the ‘age of rival courts’ (nanboku jidai). Such raids were less conspicuous in the peaceful interlude that followed as order was restored and new dynasties, Ming and Chosŏn, took charge in China and Korea, but they returned with a vengeance in the sixteenth century, in the chaotic political climate that prevailed during the ‘age of warring states’ (sengoku jidai). At their height wakō raids could be full-scale military operations, involving fleets carrying small armies on board that sometimes numbered in their thousands. On arrival these bands would terrorize the coastline, burning everything in sight, stealing all they could lay their hands on from rice to gold, and enslaving local villagers. Their ships 124

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts flew the distinctive flag of the Hachiman Daibosatsu, the Buddhist title bestowed on Ōjin, or in popular memory the ‘God of War’. In Kyushu this was a particularly emotive symbol, as Ōjin himself was held to have been born and raised on the island. The power of such symbolism was not lost on Ashikaga Takauji, the rebellious vassal of the Hōjō who destroyed the Kamakura bakufu in 1333. It was later in 1336, after being forced west to regroup his forces, that he raised his standard in Kyushu at the start of the military campaign that would sweep him to power. His victories enabled him to found a new dynasty of Ashikaga shogun rulers in charge of another military bakufu, this time based in (and named after) Muromachi, an area on the outskirts of Kyoto. At the onset of this campaign, however, his political fortunes hinged on the outcome of a battle fought at a place called Tatarahama by a riverbank now in the suburbs of Fukuoka City. Heavily outnumbered, it seemed at first that his cause was lost, and according to the Taiheiki, Japan’s most epic medieval war tale, he was so disheartened that his younger brother Tadayoshi had to dissuade him from committing suicide.5 In the event, the tide turned when a number of enemy troops, the Matsura-tō among them, suddenly changed sides. They may have hailed from remote villages in the country, but these men exemplified the juxtaposition of inner and outer networks of power that were a feature of everyday life in medieval Kyushu. The road to Tatarahama The collapse of the Kamakura bakufu divided loyalties in many areas of Japan, and at a regional level these were often reflected in the form of longstanding family rivalries. In northern Kyushu, for example, the great power struggle that emerged was between the Kikuchi and Shōni families. To some extent this bitter feud involved issues of land, wealth and local status. It would also assume wider importance when it became directly linked with Ashikaga Takauji’s bid for supremacy. The episode illustrates how, in the fragmented world of medieval politics, struggles at the centre were affected by localized conflicts, and how events in Kyushu could have a bearing on the balance of power in Kyoto. The bad blood between the Kikuchi and the Shōni can be traced to the final days of the Kamakura regime. At the start of 1333, Hōjō 125

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Hidetoki was worried. In Kyoto the emperor Go-Daigo had recently sent out golden brocade banners to all corners of the realm, calling on his subjects to rally behind his campaign to overthrow the bakufu and ‘restore’ imperial rule. As the Chinzei Tandai in Dazaifu, Hōjō considered sending out his own call to arms to secure the support of the most powerful families in Kyushu. First there were the shugo lords, the Ōtomo based in Bungo Province in the east and the Shōni in the north, both loyal servants who had spearheaded the campaigns against the Mongols fifty years before. Then there were the Kikuchi, an influential family controlling territories in Higo Province in the centre of the island. Like the Shōni, the Kikuchi could claim descent from the noble Fujiwara line, although their ancestors in Heian times may have simply adopted this name to reflect the status they held as senior officials at the Dazaifu Headquarters.6 Moreover, they had a proud record of protecting the north coast from attack, having fought in both the Toi and Mongol invasions. In the twelfth century they had been associated with the Taira hegemony in Kyushu, but the Kamakura regime then allowed them to retain their lands as they had led the insurrection against the Taira at the start of the Genpei War, and finally deserted to the Minamoto at the decisive Battle of Dannoura. From the perspective of Hōjō Hidetoki in his position as Chinzei Tandai, of all these lords it was Kikuchi Takatoki whose loyalty appeared the most suspect, and to pre-empt unrest he summoned him to appear in Dazaifu. Kikuchi was wary of being trapped so far north of his own lands, and although he reluctantly complied he took his time to make the journey. When Hōjō reprimanded him for not obeying more promptly, Kikuchi called on the Shōni and Ōtomo to honour a previous agreement they had made to join together in presenting a show of regional solidarity. Judging that it was too soon to act, however, neither of these shugo lords responded to his appeal and he was left critically exposed. Kikuchi was killed in action when Hōjō’s men launched a punitive attack and, branded a rebel, his head was paraded in Dazaifu. The public humiliation this brought upon the Kikuchi was exacerbated by their sense of outrage at what they saw as the treachery of the Shōni in particular, for failing to make even the short journey from their base nearby to help their lord in his hour of need. As such, his death marked the onset of a bitter feud that would last for the next sixty years.7 126

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts Having made an example of Kikuchi Takatoki, the Dazaifu authorities hoped that they had managed to assert the bakufu’s control in Kyushu. It was only shortly afterwards, however, that the shogunate itself collapsed when, after suffering a decisive military defeat on the outskirts of Kamakura, the Hōjō and over seven hundred retainers committed suicide. When the news reached Kyushu, Shōni Sadatsune promptly marched on Dazaifu and killed Hōjō Hidetoki as well. They may have had little sympathy for the Kikuchi, but it would appear that the Shōni had never quite forgotten the slight of having been overlooked for the post of Chinzei Tandai in Kyushu. Following the collapse of the Kamakura bakufu, the emperor GoDaigo attempted to restore imperial rule with the military backing of Ashikaga Takauji. In 1335, however, this ‘Kenmu Restoration’ fractured when Go-Daigo refused to grant his general’s request for official recognition as the new shogun. Ashikaga turned against the emperor he had helped to gain power, but after some initial clashes he was hounded out of Kyoto. Taking only a small force of loyal vassals with him, he escaped west to Kyushu to seek protection from the Shōni. When Ashikaga arrived in Kyushu he found that hostilities had already broken out between the Kikuchi and the Shōni as, following the removal of Hōjō Hidetoki, the two families struggled for regional supremacy. Kikuchi Taketoshi launched the first attack, only for Shōni Sadatsune to retaliate by capturing Kikuchi Castle. Taketoshi managed to escape, however, and now that many samurai in Kyushu were rallying behind the golden brocade banners sent out by the emperor GoDaigo, he soon found himself at the head of a large army marching north into Shōni territory to seek out the rebel Ashikaga. For his part, Ashikaga had been wary of being branded a rebel as an ‘enemy of the court’, and was clearly relieved when a monk arrived in Kyushu bearing an order (inzen) from the retired emperor Kōgon of the rival Daikakuji branch. This gave him the semblance of legitimacy he needed to command his forces to hoist his own golden brocade banner and prepare for battle around Hakata.8 On his way north Kikuchi laid siege to Shōni Sadatsune at Uchiyama Castle, and although there seemed little danger at first, Shōni was suddenly attacked by traitors within his ranks and forced to commit suicide.9 Now deprived of his main ally, Ashikaga’s prospects looked bleak indeed as the enemy army approached Hakata, and he withdrew 127

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan his troops to a low hill on the far side of the Tatara River a short distance to the east of the city. The battle site of Tatarahama is today occupied by a large distribution centre reserved for container trucks. The surrounding area is littered with battlegrounds, as control over the rich port of Hakata was contested on numerous occasions. Nevertheless, the Battle of Tatarahama in particular lives on in local memory as a place of treachery and bloodshed.10 Waiting on the hill to the east of the river, Ashikaga Takauji was supported by Shōni Yorihisa, Sadatsune’s son, but he had less than 2,000 men to protect him. Approaching the River Tatara from the west, Kikuchi Taketoshi, together with Aso Korenao, a neighbouring lord from the central uplands of Kyushu, commanded an army of anything between 30,000 and 50,000 men. Against such overwhelming odds Ashikaga should not have stood a chance, but Shōni Yorihisa seemed confident that some of those in Kikuchi’s ranks would desert once battle was joined. His prediction proved to be well-founded as large numbers in the rear of the enemy army changed sides, including the Matsura-tō who had fought with the Shōni in the past. Now trapped in a defenceless position by the riverbank, the Kikuchi warriors tried to break out but were soon hacked down in their thousands.11 Kikuchi Taketoshi was killed in action, while the fatally wounded Aso Korenao fled and escaped south down the valley. He managed to ride as far as the town of Ogi at the foot of Mt Tenzan in neighbouring Hizen, and was laid to rest at the summit according to his dying request, ‘Bury me where I can see the smoke of my homeland Aso.’12 In reality, even on a clear day it would have been impossible to see Mt Aso from there, although such is the dominance of volcanoes in the Kyushu landscape that they never seem far away. Kyushu in the age of rival courts Tatarahama was a pivotal moment in Ashikaga Takauji’s political fortunes. Defeat would have cast his flight west to Kyushu in the same light as that of the Taira on the way to Dannoura in 1185. Victory gave him the power base he needed to march on Kyoto. On his approach to the imperial capital he was confronted by the celebrated general Kusunoki Masashige, but a further victory at the Battle of Minatoguchi allowed him to enter the city and set up his new shogunate. He did not have 128

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts undisputed control, however, since the emperor Go-Daigo escaped south to the mountain sanctuary of Yoshino, where he and his sons set up and ruled over a ‘Southern Court’. In Kyoto, meanwhile, Ashikaga set the rival emperor Kōmyō on the imperial throne of the ‘Northern Court’. This age of rival courts divided loyalties everywhere, plunging the land into continuous warfare for the next fifty years. In Kyushu the resulting conflict took on a complex form as, at one stage, the island was divided into at least three camps. To protect the interests of the Northern Court, Ashikaga followed the model of the Kamakura bakufu and assigned the role of Chinzei Tandai to Isshiki Noriuji, one of his trusted generals, to assert the power of the Muromachi shogunate. Isshiki, however, found it hard to win the support of Kyushu lords and in his first four years in office alone, he unsuccessfully tendered his resignation no less than nine times.13 Following their defeat by the Shōni, meanwhile, the Kikuchi had managed to regroup and they continued to fight under Go-Daigo’s golden brocade banner on behalf of the Southern Court. Their campaign received a boost in 1342 when Prince Kaneyoshi, Go-Daigo’s twelve-year-old son, landed in Satsuma and consolidated a power base in the south.14 The new bakufu’s authority suffered a further blow in 1349 when Ashikaga Tadafuyu, Takauji’s son, rebelled against his father and landed in Kyushu as well. For several years Tadafuyu enjoyed the support of Shōni Yorihisa, his father’s saviour at Tatarahama, who felt slighted that his family had once again been overlooked for the post of Chinzei Tandai. With the support of the Shōni, Tadafuyu briefly held control over much of northern Kyushu, but his fortunes waned when he returned to Honshu in 1352 to press his claims in Kyoto. For long periods it was the forces of the Southern Court that held the balance of power in Kyushu. On several occasions the KikuchiKaneyoshi alliance managed to defeat Isshiki’s armies, and their ascendancy was assured when Isshiki himself was hounded from the island in 1356. A decisive confrontation followed at the Battle of Chikugo River in 1359, the largest single engagement in Kyushu involving 60,000 men on either side. By defeating the combined forces of the Shōni and the Ōtomo there, the Kikuchi effectively stamped their authority on the region and, under their protection, Prince Kaneyoshi was able to hold court at Dazaifu for nearly a decade. 129

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan This high watermark in the fortunes of the Kikuchi was interrupted when the third shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu came to power in 1368. Determined to revive the Muromachi regime’s fading claims to rule in the west, Yoshimitsu appointed Imagawa Ryōshun to the new post of ‘Kyūshū Tandai’ and charged him with the task of imposing control over the nine provinces that gave the island its name. During a series of hard-fought campaigns Imagawa went on to break the resistance of both the Kikuchi and Shōni. His authority, however, was never more than tenuous, partly because he never won the trust of the three great shugo lords of Kyushu. A key moment occurred on the eve of the Battle of Mizushima in 1375 when Imagawa called on the Shōni, Ōtomo and Shimazu to join his army in a show of force within striking distance of Kikuchi Castle in Higo. When Shōni Fuyusuke responded late, Imagawa had him promptly assassinated during a banquet supposedly held in honour of his arrival. Appalled at this slight on the honour of Kyushu’s three shugo families, Shimazu Ujihisa promptly left the camp and refused to listen to Imagawa’s attempts to explain. Even twentytwo years later when the Kyūshū Tandai was finally recalled to Kyoto in 1395, Shimazu’s son Korehisa sent a pointed message to his fellow shugo lord Ōtomo Chikayo, celebrating Imagawa’s departure from the island.15 For years the Muromachi shogunate’s territorial control had been largely confined to Honshu and Shikoku, and at times did not encompass much of Kyushu at all.16 Despite the contempt in which he was held by the shugo lords, however, Imagawa managed to re-impose a measure of order. As shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also asserted his military supremacy in Honshu and revived the credibility of the Muromachi regime. In 1392, moreover, the schism between the rival courts was finally resolved when the emperor Go-Kameyama made a symbolic return from Yoshino to the imperial court in Kyoto. Due to these decades of fighting, however, the shugo lords originally appointed as shogunal vassals had also increased their own authority at a regional level. Already they could be seen as shugo daimyo, or semiindependent lords, just one step away from becoming sengoku daimyo, the independent princes who wielded complete power in the subsequent age of warring states. Whereas the Kamakura bakufu had asserted its jurisdiction even at the expense of courting unpopularity, the Muromachi authorities were more inclined to appease any shugo daimyo 130

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts claims for land. Partly in recognition of their own weakness, in 1368 they established a principle of settling territorial disputes by dividing land equally among rival claimants. This accelerated the break-up of shōen estates and allowed regional lords further scope to expand their power. It also undermined the bakufu’s control in the provinces, for in a local context any decrees from Muromachi could appear less persuasive than the number of men-at-arms on site. As they acquired more land the shugo daimyo were able to collect taxes for themselves, offering their samurai vassals an income and protection in return for their support. The remaining nominal links with central authority gradually disappeared from view, as disparate parcels of land and their resources were integrated into largely independent domains under the military jurisdiction of these daimyo lords. Having dominated much of regional politics in medieval Kyushu, the houses of Kikuchi and Shōni may have been expected to thrive in this less regulated environment. Faced with the rise of new competition, however, they both drifted into terminal decline. The Kikuchi had briefly held power in Dazaifu, but after being crushed by Imagawa Ryōshun at the battle of Mizushima in 1375, they faded to become a line of small sengoku daimyo. In the sixteenth century they would be unable to prevent the Ōtomo armies from marching west past Mt Aso and taking control of their lands in Higo. Nevertheless, the memory of the Kikuchi as loyal defenders of the emperor’s cause would live on in some quarters. Saigō Takamori, the Satsuma general who in the nineteenth century led the coup d’état that restored imperial rule, always believed that he was a distant descendant of the Kikuchi line.17 The power of the Shōni, meanwhile, had once stretched across the whole of northern Kyushu, but in the fifteenth century, they were gradually pushed west into Hizen. Their chief adversaries were now the Ōuchi, an emerging power based in western Honshu who had crossed the Kanmon Straits at Shimonoseki and expanded into Kyushu. When the Ōuchi closed in on the coveted target of Hakata in 1431, they were pushed back at first by a combined army of Shōni and Ōtomo troops on the city outskirts. The reverse was only temporary, however, as the Muromachi bakufu supported the subsequent Ōuchi advance in an attempt to extend its own influence over Hakata’s trading networks. By the early sixteenth century the Ōuchi had finally replaced the 131

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Shōni as the dominant power in the north of the island. Ōuchi Yoshitaka acquired so much territory that in 1534 he was able to establish his own base at Dazaifu, in former times the Shōni heartland. Two years later he even received an appointment as Dazai Daini, a post more senior than the proud title that had given the Shōni their name. Confined to their castles in Hizen, the power of the Shōni was visibly on the wane. Then in 1547, after openly criticizing his military strategy, Shōni Fuyuhisa’s most powerful vassal Ryūzōji Takanobu turned against him and attacked his garrison at Seifukuji Castle in Kanzaki (on the site of the estate of Kanzaki-shō). Seven years later he pursued him to Ayabe Castle and finally back to Seifukuji once more in 1559. Surrounded and isolated, Fuyuhisa committed suicide. His death marked the end of the once powerful Shōni line, which had destroyed the Hōjō in Kyushu and helped Ashikaga Takauji to set up his shogunate more than two hundred years before.18 On one level the age of rival courts was an important transitional stage in the political fragmentation of the late medieval era, as shugo daimyo and their vassals carved up territory in a succession of regional wars. At the same time social groups other than the samurai vassals of local lords were also taking on more active roles to secure their interests. These ranged from fishing villages along the coasts to monastic retreats in the mountains. The Shugendō sect, for example, had developed over the centuries to become a powerful force in medieval Kyushu. A hybrid Shintō-Buddhist organization with a strong emphasis on sacred mountains, Shugendō communities led a secluded existence on sacred ground such as Mt Hiko in northeast Kyushu, Mt Hōman near Dazaifu and in the Kunisaki peninsula on the east coast. For self-protection they made security arrangements with local powers and built elaborate defences in their mountain refuges. These communities would survive until late in the sixteenth century when Mt Hiko was finally attacked and destroyed by the Ōtomo, and Mt Hōman also suffered terrible damage during the battles around Dazaifu. Since it was under Ōtomo protection and isolated from the most contested territories, however, the Kunisaki peninsula was largely spared, and to this day small shrines and temple buildings can be found on practically every hill in the area. The Shugendō movement itself was banned in 1869 when the new Meiji state severed the connections between Shintō and Buddhism, but recently there have been some localized efforts to revive 132

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts a tradition that has been part of the Kyushu landscape for over a thousand years.19 Seaborne samurai – the Matsura-tō A singular example of a community that took the initiative in mobilizing its own armed forces was the Matsura-tō in northwest Kyushu. To some extent they were involved in defensive activities, as they had once cooperated with the Kamakura bakufu’s representatives in Kyushu and used their naval power to protect the coastline during the Mongol invasions. They were also involved in the military campaigns on land in Kyushu during the conflicts of the rival courts. Their field of operations, however, extended overseas as well, since they featured prominently in the renewed wave of attacks by wakō (Japanese pirates) on the Korean and Chinese coasts during the fourteenth century. The Matsura-tō exercised considerable power operating as a loose federation of communities scattered along the northwest coast, some of them based on the small islands offshore. Their lands extended from Karatsu in the east to Hirado Island in the west, covering a long stretch of coastline in what are now the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. They boasted a proud and independent heritage. Already this stretch of coastline had been known as Matsura for over a thousand years, since a small state of that name had been recorded in China in the third century during the age of Himiko, the ruler of Yamatai. The Matsura families traced their own roots to Heian times and the arrival of Hisashi, a descendant of the emperor Saga, who they claimed had settled here in 1069. After adopting the name of Matsura, Hisashi divided his lands among his sons rather than select one family head. This resulted in a form of power-sharing among equals that was unusual in medieval Japan, where the tendency towards a system of inheritance through primogeniture took hold during the Kamakura period.20 The Matsura-tō developed an egalitarian decision-making process. When heads gathered to discuss pressing issues in council, the objective was to reach a united front, known as ikki, based on a majority vote. Each voter’s name was listed on a document drawn up to record their resolution, although there was no prescribed order of rank and lots were drawn to decide whose name should appear first. As a result, there was no one dominant voice and they each retained an equal degree of 133

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan independent control within their own area. The earliest known document of this kind dates to 1373.21 Their practice of divided inheritance could be seen as a weakness in that it resulted in the fragmentation of the Matsura territories. Nevertheless, the flexibility of their organization proved to be as much an advantage as the unity they demonstrated in wartime. Moreover, in an age when powerful families were often betrayed by relatives or their own vassals, this was also perhaps one reason why they managed to survive for 500 years without destroying themselves from within.22 If it suited them the combined forces of the Matsura-tō might cooperate with powerful regional interests in northern Kyushu when they received calls to arms, often from the Shōni during their heyday, and most notably when they deserted to Shōni Yorihisa’s side at the Battle of Tatarahama in 1336. Other key battles in which they had taken part included Dannoura on the side of the Taira in 1185. During the age of rival courts, however, they also devoted considerable energies on overseas raids, which contributed to exporting the military conflict in Japan to Korea and China. They even colluded with the imperial prince Kaneyoshi who, as a champion of the Southern Court’s cause in Kyushu for several decades, actively promoted wakō operations to supply his military campaigns.23 Japan’s civil wars at home and pirate raids abroad thus did not develop independently of each other. They were part of the same struggle.24 Taking advantage of new developments in shipbuilding, some wakō raids had already been launched on the Korean coast during the thirteenth century.25 Invariably, the bases for these expeditions were in Matsura territory in northern Kyushu, Iki and also Tsushima, which were identified in Korean records as the ‘three islands’. The complaints these raids provoked were taken so seriously by the Kamakura bakufu’s representatives that in 1226 Shōni Sukeyori had sixty pirates executed in the presence of the Koryŏ envoy.26 Under the protracted threat of the Mongol invasions, however, such attacks became increasingly rare. Then in the fourteenth century, as the wars between rival courts became entrenched, from the 1350s the Korean coastline was again subjected to a series of raids, this time on a scale never seen before. These attacks reached a peak in the late 1370s and early 1380s, and now extended beyond just Korea to include the Chinese seaboard. The first ever such raid across the Yellow Sea was made on the Shandong peninsula in 1358. 134

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts In both China and Korea, wakō attacks contributed to undermining the stability of the ailing Yüan and Koryŏ regimes. In China, defences along the coast were strengthened during the last years of Mongol rule, and in 1363, a wakō force was defeated in battle in the Shandong peninsula. The new Ming dynasty which came to power five years later made concerted efforts to contain piracy. Envoys were sent to Japan, but the ongoing domestic conflict there forestalled any attempts to resume diplomatic relations, and their papers never reached the Muromachi bakufu in Kyoto. Some of these Ming emissaries were killed on the way, either by pirates or, invoking the memory of the Mongol threat, on the orders of Prince Kaneyoshi when they reached Hakata.27 Subsequently, Kaneyoshi was even recognized by the Ming court as the ‘King of Japan’, partly because he agreed to accept subject status and also because he was based strategically at Dazaifu, the traditional centre of diplomatic relations with China.28 This did not stop wakō raids on China continuing, however, as the attacks now extended down the coast as far south as Fujian Province. To facilitate such widespread operations, some bases were located in advanced positions, notably the Zhoushan Islands just off the coast near Ningbo, which remained for long periods under wakō control. The Ming authorities took the threat they posed very seriously, withdrawing entire communities inland from coastal areas and building a series of nearly sixty forts stretching from Shandong in the north to Fujian in the south.29 At the same time wakō attacks on the coasts of Korea continued to compound the problems of the struggling Koryŏ regime, with raids often reaching far inland. Large quantities of products such as rice and cloth were stolen, and the loss of coinage was so severe that in many places the inhabitants were forced to return to a barter economy. As in China, the state tried to intervene by sending the first of several delegations to Japan to protest in 1366. In time, it was found that direct negotiations with powerful lords in Kyushu, notably the Sō family on Tsushima Island, were the most effective way to curb further attacks. Representations were also made to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. An envoy sent to Kyoto in 1375 marked the onset of revived diplomatic relations with the Muromachi bakufu that would last well into the next century. In the last years of Koryŏ rule a campaign to stamp out wakō influence was already underway. In 1381, a force of Korean ships destroyed a fleet of several hundred ships at the mouth of the Kŭm River, the site of the Yamato 135

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan fleet’s demise at the Battle of Paeckchon River more than seven hundred years before. Before long, most of the wakō bases had been eliminated from the offshore islands, and as many as 300 Japanese ships were burned in a punitive raid on Tsushima in 1385.30 After the installation of the Chosŏn dynasty (Korea’s last) in 1392, new initiatives were taken to address the problem. In return for abandoning piracy many people were given land and allowed to settle in the peninsula, a policy that met with considerable success as the number of attacks fell sharply afterwards. Some raids persisted, however, and in response to continued provocation, in 1419 the Chosŏn authorities executed 737 Japanese traders and launched another punitive raid on Tsushima. On this occasion 17,000 Korean troops arrived on the island on board 200 ships. When Sō Sadamori retaliated tensions ran high until he finally persuaded them to withdraw, warning of an impending typhoon. Having caused widespread devastation along coasts throughout the region, it now appeared that wakō activities were at last being held in check. The new regime was exerting tighter controls, and a measure of diplomatic dialogue enabled a safer passage for licensed merchant ships crossing the Tsushima Straits. The tally trade and pirates When Ashikaga Yoshimitsu finally resolved the schism between the rival courts in 1392, the Muromachi bakufu was able to re-impose its political authority in much of Japan. Kyushu had for long remained on the periphery of its control, but the northern coastline at least had now been largely pacified. A key element in projecting the regime’s power in the region and beyond was Imagawa Ryōshun’s success in securing control over Dazaifu and Hakata, albeit achieved only with the cooperation of the Shōni and Ōtomo. This enabled renewed diplomatic dialogue with neighbouring states, which now had added significance after Prince Kaneyoshi’s recent attempts to control these links himself. Moreover, with the new Ming and Chosŏn regimes established in China and Korea, collective efforts were being made to police the coasts in the region as a whole. In 1401, Yoshimitsu returned to China a number of Ming subjects who had been captured by the wakō. This conciliatory gesture accompanied an initiative to reopen official trade links in accordance with the 136

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts tribute relations once employed by the Tang dynasty more than five hundred years before. Sending an envoy to China together with a list of tribute goods, he drew a favourable response the following year when a Ming emissary arrived bearing a letter from the second emperor Chien Wen, recognizing him as the ‘King of Japan’. Implicit in the message was the assumption that Japan would become a Ming vassal, but on this occasion the sensitive issue of nomenclature that had provoked the Mongol invasions was overlooked. Yoshimitsu responded with a tribute mission the next year, signing away the independent status that so many samurai had fought to protect more than a hundred years before.31 Yoshimitsu has been accused by champions of early nationhood of betraying Japan, not only as an impostor in masquerading as sovereign ruler in place of the emperor, but for accepting a subordinate rank in the East Asian international order. In practice, however, this detail of diplomatic protocol did not lead to any real encroachment from China on his regime’s political jurisdiction. There was good reason, moreover, to court the cooperation of the Ming authorities, for he was never slow to exploit an opportunity to fill the coffers of the Muromachi bakufu. Today Yoshimitsu’s most visible legacy is Kinkakuji, the lavish ‘Golden Pavilion’ he had built at vast expense in 1401 by the side of a lake in Kyoto, an architectural jewel among the many treasures of the imperial city. The now retired shogun had as keen an eye for wealth as any pirate, and the revival of trade with China offered an opportunity he could hardly overlook.32 Tight control over the inflow of continental goods was also possible because the new Ming regime had prohibited Chinese merchants from trading overseas. Nevertheless, ships from recognized ‘tributary’ states were allowed to arrive in port, so long as they bore the official licences known as tallies (kangō) bestowed by the Ming court. The one hundred Yüan Lo tallies which Yoshimitsu’s envoys brought back to Japan in 1403 were designed to distinguish these authorized vessels from pirate ships. They also flew banners displaying the characters for ‘tribute ship’ as they sailed upriver into Ningbo, the designated port of entry, where the tallies were inspected before their cargo could be unloaded on the quay.33 Initially at least, only two ships from Japan were allowed into Ningbo harbour each year, although this restriction were subsequently relaxed. The ‘tribute goods’ they took to China included horses, swords, gold screens and sulphur. Among the ‘gifts’ they brought back to Japan 137

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan on the return voyage were large quantities of copper coins and highly prized silk. The monopoly this arrangement allowed the Muromachi bakufu to exercise over the inflow of copper in particular resulted in huge profits for the regime. During their stay in Ningbo, participating merchants could also buy a wide range of goods on the open market, including silk, drugs, books, porcelain ware and paintings. From the time this tally trade got underway until it was eventually stopped in the mid-sixteenth century, some eighty-seven ships made the voyage from Hakata or the port of Sakai near Osaka across the East China Sea. There were nine ships in the largest fleet ever to sail from Hakata, although these were later limited to three vessels. On each occasion, hundreds of merchants would pay the sponsor of the expedition for their passage and a chance to trade in China. Initially, this would be the shogun himself, but later the privilege was granted at a high price to influential Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and regional lords, who then handed over preparations to guilds of merchants in the cities they controlled. Major sponsors included the Hosokawa family in the case of Sakai, while Hakata was contested between the houses of Shōni, Ōtomo and Ōuchi. Although they were based in Bungo in eastern Kyushu, the Ōtomo were able to participate in this trade as they had been granted control of the Itōnoshō estate on the shores of Hakata Bay after the Mongol invasions. It was the threat of losing control of these vested interests that prompted both the Ōtomo and Shōni to present such fierce resistance to the advance of the Ōuchi from Honshu. Hakata was now a flourishing merchant city, boasting strong commercial links with China and Korea, and also a base for the trade across the Tsushima Straits developed by the prosperous new Chūzan kingdom of Ryukyu.34 According to a late fifteenth-century account, there were 4,000 houses in the southwest area of the city under Shōni control, and 6,000 houses in the northeast under the protection of the Ōtomo. Assuming an average of five people to each household, this would make the population of Hakata in the region of 50,000.35 Merchants had a powerful voice in running the port, to the extent that it has even been characterized as an autonomous city state. As Bruce Batten has pointed out, however, they also needed military protection and were heavily dependent on patronage. As a result, control of the city’s commercial wealth was always contested between the region’s powerful lords.36 138

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts Although Hakata was briefly recaptured by the Shōni in the 1490s, the Ōuchi eventually stamped their authority on much of northern Kyushu by the end of the fifteenth century. The Ōtomo still held considerable influence over Hakata’s commerce, but it was the Ōuchi who increasingly dominated the tally trade there. Intense competition developed between the licensed trade organized by the Ōuchi through Hakata and the Hosokawa through Sakai. It was not unknown for rival fleets to come to blows, most notoriously in 1523 when Ōuchi and Hosokawa forces clashed in Ningbo harbour. After a pursuit to the nearby walled city of Shaoxing, the ‘unruly band’ of Ōuchi men returned to Ningbo where they started fires, stole the police magistrate’s boat and made their escape.37 Later in the sixteenth century, the powerful Ōuchi Yoshitaka managed to exert a near monopoly over this overseas trade, but he was unable to prevent the growing domestic unrest from affecting his commercial interests. Previously, both the Ōuchi and Hosokawa had been in a position to curb the wakō activities within the territories they controlled in northern Kyushu and Shikoku. Now the anarchic climate of warring states at home was again manifest abroad in a renewed outbreak of pirate raids along the coasts of Korea and China. In 1549, the patience of the Ming authorities finally snapped and permission to engage in the tally trade was revoked. Beset by enemies, Ōuchi Yoshitaka himself was assassinated two years later, and with this last restraining hand removed there was little to stop the pirates from marauding overseas once more. Thereafter, the wakō streamed abroad in considerable numbers, pillaging the Korean coastline, but also increasingly active on the Chinese seaboard. Attacks were also launched from the coast of Satsuma in the far south of Kyushu, where fierce fighting and internal divisions for a time prevented the Shimazu rulers from reasserting their territorial control. Moreover, a one-time Chinese salt-merchant called Wang Zhi who had taken to the life of a buccaneer, colluded with wakō groups to orchestrate what has been described in the Mingshi (History of Ming) as a full-scale invasion. In 1553, these pirate forces ‘arrived like clouds over the water’, and the campaign reached a height three years later when their attacks reached as far inland as Nanjing.38 An early Portuguese visitor to Malacca in 1555 noted how ‘a great fleet from Camgoxima [Kagoshima] had destroyed many places in China which 139

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan were situated along the sea coast, including a very populous city.’39 Operating from camps such as those in the secluded coves of the Zhoushan Islands, the raids extended further south than ever before. In the same year, a wakō army of 7,000 men even rampaged through Canton, taking rice and enslaving large numbers of villagers. One hundred years earlier in 1446, the king of Chosŏn claimed to have heard that four out of every five wakō pirates raiding the Korean coastline were actually Korean.40 Now in the sixteenth century, Chinese records estimated that the majority of these brigands wreaking havoc along the coast were of Chinese origin. Moreover, various ‘influential families’ in the coastal Zhejiang and Fujian provinces apparently felt aggrieved by the official restrictions on contact with the ‘Wa’ seafarers, and reports emerged of ‘the connivance of rich traders with the pirates’.41 Distinctions of political loyalty, it would seem, were principally the concern of central administrations in capitals far inland, and less important perhaps to many of the coastal inhabitants around the East China Sea. According to David Shapinsky, the portolan charts used and shared by pilots from various backgrounds in these waters also belie the ‘common fallacy of state-centred histories that identify a seafarer’s primary identity by his or her land of origin’.42 Wang Zhi, for example, had kept his headquarters in ‘that old wakō lair’, the island of Hirado. Another, Teng Wen-chün, was based on the north Kyushu coast in the port of Yobuko. Both locations lay within the territories and under the protection of the Matsura-tō.43 These wakō bases at last came under threat as the age of warring states drew to a close. In 1576, a Matsura army under the leadership of Yamashiro Tora-Ōmaru suffered a major military defeat on land at the hands of Ryūzōji Takanobu, who had recently also destroyed the Shōni line. Eleven years later, their room for manoeuvre was curtailed still further when an even mightier warlord called Toyotomi Hideyoshi proclaimed a purge on piracy after bringing Kyushu under his control. In 1593, the stone fortress built by the Matsura-tō in the mountains near the port of Imari was finally destroyed. Brought to heel at last, their remaining leaders were eventually confined to the domain of Hirado Island in the west and converted into the role of daimyo lords.44 The case of the Matsura-tō illustrates the inseparable links between domestic and overseas spheres of influence in late medieval Kyushu. Together with local interest groups such as Hakata merchants who made 140

Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts their fortunes through the tally trade, they were able to use their navigating skills to extend their activities far beyond their own shores. What might appear as peripheral coastlines viewed from Kyoto often played a central role in Japan’s external relations. Unlike the Hakata merchants, however, the licence that wakō pirates had to roam the seas was most conspicuous during times of internal conflict, notably during the ages of ‘rival courts’ and ‘warring states’. The scope of wakō operations was also affected by the level of control that neighbouring states held along their own coasts. Regardless of whether they hailed originally from Japan, Korea or China, such adventurers were well placed to exploit any power vacuums emerging around the rim of the East China Sea. Whenever regimes in the region fragmented under the strain of dynastic decline and civil conflicts, their coastlines were most vulnerable to seaborne incursions. The wakō, however, were not the only navigators to take advantage of such opportunities. Before long they were joined from the south by a hitherto unknown breed of seafarers. Wearing clothes of an unusual style not seen before in these waters, their arrival on the Kyushu coast in the sixteenth century heralded the onset of a cultural encounter that would have a long-lasting impact on Japan. They came from lands far beyond the East China Sea called Portugal and Spain.

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CHAPTER 8

ALL UNDER HEAVEN: MISSIONARIES AND WARLORDS

 athed in the warm currents of the East China Sea, the island of Tanegashima off the south coast of Kyushu has a subtropical climate and flowers bloom all year round. An ecosystem unique to the area is relatively intact, and on neighbouring Yakushima Island the ‘Yaku cedar trees’ found only here are renowned for their unusual longevity. The most famous example is the huge ‘Jōmon cedar’, which has a girth of nearly fifty-four feet and is reputed to be up to 7,200 years old. Today, Tanegashima usually features in news bulletins from Tokyo only on those occasions when Japan sends a satellite into space from the rocket launch-pad situated on a cliff at the southern tip of the island. In the sixteenth century, however, it was here that the unexpected arrival of some unusual visitors marked the beginning of a cultural encounter that would transform Japan’s relations with the outside world. In September 1543, a Chinese junk was blown off-course and drifted east for several days before managing to cast anchor in a cove on the Tanegashima coast, close to the site of the rocket launch-pad today.1 The ship caused something of a sensation when she was towed into the island’s main town of Akōgi two days later. What caught the locals’ eyes most were two of these castaways, who spoke in a language unlike anything heard before. At a nearby temple was a priest who knew some Chinese, and a Ryukyu woman who acted as an interpreter for the Chinese captain of the junk. It was established that his strange-looking passengers were merchants from a land called Portugal. Tanegashima

B

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All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords Tokitaka, lord of the island, was particularly intrigued by the ‘fire rod’ these men had brought with them. When they responded to his request to show him how it worked they were, in effect, introducing firearms to Japan.2 Tanegashima and its neighbouring islands lay within the sphere of influence of the Shimazu family, lords of the Satsuma domain who ruled over an extensive territory on the mainland in southern Kyushu. Like other sengoku daimyo of the time, they were caught up in a continuous struggle for survival as they fought for supremacy with other regional warlords. Reports of the strange fire weapons observed on Tanegashima soon reached the Shimazu family’s castle town at Kagoshima on the Kyushu mainland. After initial experiments to manufacture replica models, some ‘Tanegashima guns’ were probably first put to use by Satsuma troops when they stormed the fortress of Kajiki in 1549.3 In a climate of endemic warfare the new technology spread rapidly. A Portuguese adventurer was probably exaggerating when he claimed that there were already 300,000 guns in Japan by 1556.4 Nevertheless, they would be deployed with spectacular effect by the powerful warlord Oda Nobunaga in central Honshu, when he used 3,000 matchlocks and volleys of musket-fire to defeat Takeda Shingen’s celebrated cavalry at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575.5 The age of warring states (sengoku jidai) is commonly held to have begun with the outbreak of hostilities in Kyoto in 1467 known as the Ōnin War, heralding more than a century of anarchic conflict in Japan. During this period, various ambitious sengoku daimyo such as Nobunaga were bent first on securing a regional power base and ultimately on becoming the lord of tenka – ‘all under heaven’ – by establishing their power throughout the land. He was the first of ‘three great unifiers’ originally from Owari Province in central Honshu (now around the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture), demonstrating the strategic importance of controlling the Tōkaidō, the Great Eastern Highway that linked Kyoto with the Kantō plain. These men commanded the military resources to finally re-impose temporal power in a realm where neither the increasingly moribund Muromachi bakufu nor the imperial court held much authority beyond Kyoto. Nobunaga gained control over the lands flanking the Tōkaidō in 1560 when he won a stunning victory at the mountain pass of Okehazama against Imagawa Yoshimoto, until then the strongest 143

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan daimyo in the region. By 1568 he was powerful enough to make his entry into Kyoto, and five years later he presided over the official demise of the Muromachi bakufu when the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki was banished from the imperial capital. In 1575, the guns he deployed at Nagashino against his arch-rival Takeda Shingen left much of central Honshu at his mercy. In 1582, however, while still at the height of his power, Nobunaga was ambushed at Honnōji Temple and he committed suicide. It was left to two other ‘great unifiers’, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, to finish his work over the next decades and secure control of ‘all under heaven’. This passage culminated in the creation of the Tokugawa regime, an outcome reflected in the Japanese saying, ‘Nobunaga mixed the cake, Hideyoshi baked it, Ieyasu ate it.’6 To some extent developments in Kyushu mirrored those in Honshu. Some regional lords were immediately drawn into the wider conflict in 1467, as the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa called on them to fight against Ōuchi Masachika, who had sent an army to march on Kyoto. Since the Ōuchi were now preoccupied in Honshu, the Shōni were even able to regain temporary control of Dazaifu in 1491. In the case of Kyushu, however, it may be said that such civil conflict had never really disappeared, even in the decades preceding the outbreak of the Ōnin War. Starting with their attack on Tachibana Castle near Hakata in 1431, it was during these years after all that the Ōuchi had first extended their control over northern Kyushu. In the south of Kyushu as well, the Shimazu were already involved in fighting local rivals, such as the Ijūin in 1450 and the Ichiki in 1462. Nevertheless, just as in Honshu, after several decades of initial skirmishes at a local level, in Kyushu as well there emerged three potential unifiers with regional power bases large enough to contend for the prize of tenka, at least on this one island. The fact that two of them could trace their family lines back to shugo lords originally appointed by the Kamakura bakufu has been interpreted as a sign that Kyushu’s relative ‘political insularity’ made it less volatile than Honshu.7 This, however, would be to overlook the fact that the region was deeply influenced by cultural dynamics that transcended the territorial confines of the Japanese islands alone, among them the activities of marginal communities including merchants and pirates. In Kyushu, moreover, the balance of power was also influenced by alternative claims to lordship over ‘all under heaven’ that had recently 144

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords arrived from overseas, and on a scale unimaginable in Honshu. The agents of this movement were Jesuit missionaries who made their appearance within a few years of the Portuguese merchants shipwrecked in 1543. Although their activities would extend to isolated parts of Honshu, it was in Kyushu that these pioneers enjoyed their most sustained results in founding and developing sizeable communities of converts. And when Western scholars used to describe this historical period as Japan’s ‘Christian century’, it was largely Kyushu to which they referred.8 This may have exaggerated the influence exerted by Europeans on early modern state formation in Japan as a whole, but in some parts of Kyushu, particularly along the western seaboard, they certainly had a profound social impact.9 Europeans in Kyushu Even before they arrived in Japan some European travellers may have already met people from these islands, as wakō pirates were now patrolling waters far to the south along the Chinese coast. As Jurgis Elisonas has vividly described, they ‘were carried to Japan on the backwash of the wakō tide’.10 The first to reach these shores themselves, however, appear to have been the two merchants who landed in Tanegashima with their musket in 1543. An alternative tradition suggests that a compatriot called Jorge Faria arrived in Bungo on the east Kyushu coast in 1541. In later years, the powerful local daimyo, Ōtomo Sōrin, certainly recalled having met him there at around this time.11 Another Portuguese explorer by the name of Fernão Mendes Pinto also claimed that it was he who had been the first to reach these islands. The veracity of this and many of his stories has been discounted, but it seems that he did make several voyages around the Kyushu coast during the 1540s.12 In medieval times European ships had been mainly confined to more local waters, stretching from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic seaboard in the south, to the Baltic and North seas. It was in the fifteenth century under the influence of Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’ of Portugal that explorations began to develop a sea route to ‘the Indies’. The search for a maritime passage was partly motivated by the fact that the coveted riches of the East were becoming unobtainable overland as the Ottoman Turks closed their net around Constantinople. As the first 145

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Portuguese ships pushed their way south along the coast of West Africa, there was as yet no hint of any changes to come in the East China Sea, where the tally trade was now underway with Japanese vessels sailing out of Hakata or Sakai on their voyages to Ningbo. An early sign that Japan might one day feature in European plans can be traced to Christopher Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. His avowed target was to find Cipangu (Japan), the land of gold mentioned in Marco Polo’s Travels, and until his death he always believed that the lands he had chanced upon were the Indies. Their ‘discovery’ prompted the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1493, an agreement of global vision that attributed to Spain, Columbus’s sponsor, all the lands to the west of the Azores, leaving territories found to the east in the hands of Portugal. Drawn through the Atlantic Ocean at 50 degrees West longitude, this boundary would run straight through Honshu in the middle of Japan if extended beyond the poles to encompass the ‘other’ side of the globe. Unconsciously, perhaps, it also ensured that adventurers from both countries could lay claim to Japan when they finally approached, the Portuguese via the Indies from the west and the Spanish via the Americas from the east. Shortly afterwards in 1498, Portugal achieved an important breakthrough when Vasco da Gama confirmed the existence of a sea-route around the Cape of Good Hope and sailed into the Indian Ocean. The colony he went on to establish at Goa on the west coast of India became the base for further exploration. Merchant ships soon found a way through the Malacca Straits to the Spice Islands, including some that then sailed north into the South China Sea, leading to the establishment of the colony at Macao in 1512. From there it was a natural step to venture further along the coast and into the East China Sea. In Japan, the Europeans would become known as nanbanjin, literally ‘barbarians from the south’, indicating the direction from which they arrived. The first to land in Kyushu during the 1540s were merchants and explorers. In 1549, however, a Jesuit missionary from Spain by the name of Francis Xavier stepped ashore in the castle town of Kagoshima. Just as trading interests and technological advances had once encouraged Prince Henry to send his ships in search of the Indies, now the forces of the Counter-Reformation far away in Europe had an almost immediate effect on the other side of the world. No more than a decade had passed since Ignatius Loyola and a small group of 146

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords associates in Paris had founded the Jesuit Society in 1539. The following year it was recognized by Pope Paul III as an official order of the Catholic Church. Soon the Jesuit ‘Province of the East Indies’ was established at Goa, and it was under the auspices of the Portuguese that the Jesuits made their mark in Japan. Xavier’s arrival in Kagoshima was prompted by a chance encounter in Malacca with a certain Anjiro from Satsuma, who had mastered enough Portuguese to draw his interest with tales of his homeland. Xavier reached the city after two months at sea on board a Chinese junk, with Anjiro acting as his interpreter and guide. The ruling Shimazu family greeted him with curiosity and respect, well aware of the material benefits gained after the last such appearance in Tanegashima six years before. Xavier was allowed to address the people and gave them sermons in a mixture of Latin, Portuguese, Spanish and the occasional word of Japanese. Anjiro helped by conveying the import of his message in his native Satsuma dialect. The frequent references he made to the marvels he had seen at Goa in Tenjiku (India) led some to believe that Xavier represented a new Buddhist sect. The people of Kagoshima, for their part, appeared receptive enough, as they lived in a society where the addition of a new deity was hardly an exceptional event.13 Xavier was captivated by the gentle manners of the locals and in his reports to Goa he emphasized the rich potential for spreading the Christian faith in this land. After more than a year in Kagoshima, however, he had managed to convert only about a hundred people. After hearing news that a Portuguese ship had put into port at Hirado, he then travelled north and was able to meet the explorer Mendes Pinto there. His journey next took him first to Yamaguchi at the western tip of Honshu where he achieved some success, building a church with 300 cruzados he had borrowed from Pinto on the way.14 He was later allowed to enter Kyoto although, during his eleven-day stay, he failed to achieve his avowed goal of gaining an audience with the emperor. Instead, he responded to an invitation to move on to Bungo in Kyushu, where he was received generously by the young daimyo Ōtomo Yoshishige – the later Ōtomo Sōrin – in years to come a convert to Christianity himself. Xavier finally left Japan in 1551, nurturing plans to spread his activities to China. Travelling with him at the start of this voyage was a young convert from Satsuma called Bernardo, who became the first person 147

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan from the Japanese islands known to have reached Europe when he landed in Lisbon in 1553. Still pursuing his mission in Asia, meanwhile, Xavier was struck down by illness in the same year and died on Sancian Island near the mouth of the Canton River.15 The reports on Japan that Xavier had sent back to Goa were positive enough for the Province of the East Indies to follow up his initiative. For Portuguese merchants in Macao the prospects for trade also encouraged them to take their galleons into the East China Sea. It was on board such ships that Jesuit missionaries arrived in Kyushu, side by side with merchants keen to sell gold bullion, silk and other wares from China. These distinctive ocean-going vessels became known as kurofune, or ‘black ships’. As they approached the coast they could easily be marked out from other craft afloat in these waters due to their immense size, the black tar painted on the sides of their hulls to keep them watertight, and the unusual patterns of their rigging and sails. Often these galleons would make landfall on the west coast of Kyushu, where political developments ensured that they found a welcome reception. This trend was reflected in early European maps of Japan, which show a disproportionate emphasis and level of detail on this stretch of coast by comparison with the hazily sketched information on other regions, particularly inland. Sailing from the south the first landmark to be sighted might be Mt Kaimon, the cone-shaped ‘Satsuma Fuji’. Continuing east past this mountain could bring ships into Kagoshima Bay, but the Shimazu lords who ruled there never again showed the same favour to Christian missionaries that they had once reserved for Xavier. Portuguese captains became familiar enough with the local sea currents to head north instead along the west coast of Kyushu, leading them towards the sheltered bays and inlets of the Amakusa Islands. If they pressed on further north, the towering peak of Unzen would come into view, looming over the Shimabara peninsula and inviting them to weigh anchor in its shadow at the port of Kuchinotsu. Some would continue still further up the west coast of Hizen as far as Hirado. Alternatively, they might call at Yokose, or, nearer at hand still, find their way to the entrance of a long, narrow bay flanked by wooded hills that went by the name of Nagasaki. This was the terrain known to the Jesuit missionaries despatched to Kyushu to spread Christianity in Japan. It was in 1563 that Luis Frois arrived in Yokose Bay. From there he made the journey on to Kyoto, 148

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords and six years later he managed to persuade Oda Nobunaga to grant Christians the right to stay ‘unmolested’ in the imperial capital. Under Frois there was a total of thirty Jesuit missionaries, but within five years of Allessandro Valignano’s arrival at Kuchinotsu in 1579, this figure had climbed to eighty-five, of whom twenty-nine were Japanese. One reason for Valignano’s success was the tactical change he made in ordering Jesuits to follow Japanese customs rather than impose European ways. Frequent bathing was encouraged, and fish featured more often than meat in their diet. He also created a systematic network of seminaries and colleges, small educational centres where the first generation of native priests were trained. These were concentrated in areas where missionaries were most favourably received by local daimyo, predominantly along the west coast around Amakusa and Nagasaki. Valignano returned to Europe for several years in the 1580s, but during this time a Jesuit priest called João Rodrigues found special favour with Hideyoshi, Nobunaga’s successor, and went on to spend much of his career serving as his adviser in the world of political intrigue in Honshu. In Kyushu, meanwhile, the most active missionary was Luis Almeida, who employed his knowledge of medicine to win local support. Under the protection of Ōtomo Sōrin, he set up a hospital in the castle town of Funai (now Ōita) in Bungo. Later he employed his medical skills in the Amakusa Islands, where he was welcomed by the daimyo of Kawachi. It was here in Kawachinoura that a home was also found for the printing press that Valignano brought with him on his return from Europe in 1590. Producing a variety of works including Aesop’s Fables and Cicero’s speeches besides religious texts, the mass distribution of reading matter this enabled had a significant effect on the early diffusion of European culture. Its heyday as a Christian community lasted for just a few years, but with a hospital, college and printing press, the small town of Kawachinoura in Amakusa briefly became a flourishing cultural centre.16 The Jesuits enjoyed considerable success in promoting Christianity along the western shores of Kyushu. Estimates suggest there may have been as many as 150,000 converts in Japan already by the time Valignano arrived, a figure that possibly doubled over the following thirty-five years. In 1606, it was even claimed that the Christian community now numbered 750,000 believers. Such a large figure is open to 149

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan question. The Jesuits had good reason to exaggerate, since the reports they sent back to the Province of the East Indies in Goa were required to include some measure of progress to justify the allocation of further resources to the mission in Japan. At the same time they were certainly making headway, partly through their declared policy of ‘being all things to all men’ as they set about presenting their message in a palatable form, including the provision of medical care. It was also due to their strategic efforts to win favour in high places. This is most visible perhaps in the attempts made by Jesuit missionaries from Xavier onwards to ingratiate themselves with the emperor or the most powerful warlords in the land from Nobunaga to Hideyoshi. In terms of adding to their growing lists of converts, however, it was most effective at a regional level in the favours they received from various daimyo based mainly in Kyushu, particularly those lords who proved so receptive that they converted to Christianity themselves.17 Kyushu’s Christian daimyo The appearance of ‘black ships’ laden with gold off the west coast and the growth of Christian communities added an extra dimension to the already complex struggle among the warring states in Kyushu. Some daimyo lords felt that they stood to gain an advantage in their military conflicts by responding to the overtures of Jesuit missionaries in search of a base of operations. Their interest was inspired to varying degrees by the prospect of wealth, new technology, overseas trade, cultural curiosity, and even the support of far-away Rome. The new religion was allowed to flourish, particularly in the domains of lords who also submitted to baptism, some of whom seem to have been genuinely devout in their Christian beliefs. The mass conversions that at times they ordered on their subject populations certainly helped the Jesuits to write up their reports back to Goa. Just as Xavier’s first sermon in Kagoshima may have left his audience confused, however, many of the resulting converts claimed by the Jesuit mission probably had an incomplete understanding of the teachings of the Church. Ōmura Sumitada, the first Christian daimyo, laid the foundations for the growth of Nagasaki by providing a safe haven for Portuguese ships in his territories on the northwest coast of Kyushu. In 1563, the year he was baptized, he offered Portuguese merchants the use of Yokose Bay 150

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords when they were driven out of Hirado. After they came under attack there as well, in 1570 he then gave the Jesuits access to a safer stretch of coastline at the head of Nagasaki Bay, and allowed them to keep the profits from all their trade. They settled in to their new base the following year, and, from 1580, Ōmura even allowed them to control the territory outright. It was in the form of a Jesuit colony, therefore, that Nagasaki subsequently grew from a small fishing town to become a hub of international trade and rival the much older port of Hakata to the north. A symbolic remnant of this remarkable transition is Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge), which was built here by a Chinese monk in 1634. Now the oldest stone bridge in Japan, this takes its name from the way its two arches are reflected in the Naka River to form perfect spheres. Although Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants were the first foreign visitors to settle in Nagasaki, they were later joined not only by Chinese merchants and Buddhist monks, but, from the 1590s, also Spanish traders and Franciscan and Dominican friars arriving from the Philippines, another European colony recently established by Spain. Nagasaki’s multicultural origins gave rise to a cosmopolitan range of culinary traditions that is still in evidence today. A short stroll away from Megane-bashi is one of Nagasaki’s oldest shops and among the most exclusive purveyors of ‘Castella’, the distinctive sponge cake for which Nagasaki is famous throughout Japan. With its profusion of boiled meats, the local cuisine known as shippoku-ryōri also betrays a strong Chinese influence. Deep-fried tenpura, too, is based on a cooking style introduced from Portugal and reminiscent of dishes found in other former Portuguese colonies such as Brazil. It was through this connection as well that ‘pan’, the Japanese word for bread, was introduced to these islands. Commodities from the Americas such as tobacco were also transported here through Iberian hands, for part of the way at least. A singular example was cayenne pepper, which failed to find a market in Europe but was then introduced to India from where it found its way to China, and from there at last to Japan. Today it features in small red pots on many a dining table, often sprinkled on noodles, ironically under the label of tō-garashi, literally ‘Chinese spice’. The most powerful lord to become a Christian daimyo was Ōtomo Sōrin, ‘the Great King’, who ruled over extensive territories from his base at Funai (now Ōita) on the Bungo coast in eastern Kyushu. First 151

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan introduced to this new faith by Xavier nearly thirty years before, Ōtomo was baptized in 1578 and became known as Don Francisco. He took his religion seriously, attending mass every day, and disposed of one wife who opposed his conversion to marry the Christian Julia instead. Ōtomo had the power to dream even of establishing a Christian realm, and at one stage he controversially followed the commandment in Exodus ‘not to have any other gods before me’ by ordering the destruction of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in his lands. Another notable Christian daimyo was Arima Harunobu, who was baptized a year after Ōtomo in 1579. Controlling lands in the Shimabara peninsula adjoining those of Ōmura, his conversion ensured that much of the western coastline in Hizen Province became, in effect, Christian territory. Although they ruled over domains on opposite coasts of the island, Ōmura, Ōtomo and Arima found enough in common to form a Kyushu confederation of Christian daimyo. Their most significant joint project was to select the young relatives who would form an ‘embassy of princes’ that visited Rome. Led by Itō ‘Dom Mancio’, Ōtomo’s grand-nephew, ‘Dom Miguel’, ‘Dom Martinho’ and ‘Dom Juliao’ were all fourteen and fifteen years old when, under the protection of Valignano, they set out from Nagasaki in 1582. In the first official visit to Europe to be undertaken from anywhere in East Asia, this group reached Portugal and Spain before travelling on to Rome where, on 23 March 1585, they received a ceremonial papal audience with Gregory III.18 By the time the young princes returned to Kyushu with Valignano in 1590, the ranks of the Christian daimyo on the island had been joined by the zealous Konishi Yukinaga. Now in control of the southern half of Higo, Konishi drew notice from the Church for the safe haven he offered to Jesuit missionaries in the Amakusa Islands. On one occasion Valignano was even able to report that as many as 30,000 converts had been baptized there within just six months.19 Less auspicious was the fact that Konishi’s power in the islands had been acquired by brutally suppressing a rebellion organized by the ‘five Amakusa barons’ (goninshū), at least three of whom were Christians themselves.20 As a powerful warlord he became the Church’s leading hope of a ruler who might unite the Christian daimyo although, in the event, others chose not to rally to his cause. In 1600, when he was finally defeated in battle against Tokugawa Ieyasu and offered the usual option of committing ritual 152

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords suicide (seppuku), Konishi refused on account of his Christian faith and was publicly executed instead.21 At this stage the first restrictions imposed on missionary activities were already being felt, and the young princes who had triumphantly entered Rome faded into obscurity.22 Ōmura and Ōtomo had already died, and Arima Harunobu now cut an increasingly isolated figure as the last of the Christian daimyo in Kyushu, although Kuroda Yoshitaka, the recently installed lord of Chikuzen, always remained privately sympathetic to the new religion. In 1612, Arima’s lands were finally confiscated by Ieyasu when he was found to have taken part in a seditious conspiracy to reclaim some of the territory he had lost. In a case similar to that of Konishi, he was beheaded when he refused to commit suicide on religious grounds. Kyushu in the age of warring states A colony at Nagasaki, Jesuit missionaries, Christian daimyo and mass conversions were among the unusual features that complicated the struggle for power in Kyushu during the age of warring states. After decades of fighting, three contenders emerged among a host of sengoku daimyo to tilt at the prize of becoming the undisputed master of Kyushu. Ōtomo Sōrin had his base in the east, Ryūzōji Takanobu in the northwest, and Shimazu Takahisa in the far south. Their respective profiles reveal some of the ways in which an ambitious daimyo could become a successful warlord in Kyushu during the sixteenth century. The Ōtomo and Shimazu families had long since been the leading powers in the east and south, as their ancestors had been appointed as shugo in control of these lands by the Kamakura bakufu three hundred years before. Ryūzōji, however, was a new force in the region, a former vassal of the once powerful Shōni line who had turned against his master and taken his domains. Based in Funai on the east coast, Ōtomo often seemed to be the dominant figure in this land as the head of an extended family with territories stretching across the central mountains of Kyushu. Incidentally, these included the Kujū highlands, which in more recent times Kurosawa Akira used as the setting for Ran, his epic film based on Shakespeare’s King Lear and also set in Ōtomo’s day during the age of warring states. In the event of a military campaign, Ōtomo could 153

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan summon support from no less than sixty-one families of cousins and thirty-one vassal daimyo. In order to control these disparate groups, however, a notoriously rigid social hierarchy developed within his empire. It proved difficult to satisfy so many vested interests and his lands were beset by factional infighting. Although he usually enjoyed numerical superiority when he raised an army, some of his allies were prone to defect in battle. Moreover, Ōtomo’s own conversion to Christianity would test the loyalty of many of his vassals. From his base at Saga in Hizen, Ryūzōji Takanobu also gained control over large territories in northwest Kyushu. Known as the ‘Bear of Hizen’, he was ferocious in combat and lesser lords were so intimidated by his reputation for cruelty that they quickly rallied to his flag. He did not always command their loyalty, however, for at times the fear he inspired also served to undermine his authority. Given a realistic opportunity to break ranks, there were vassals who would turn against him, just as he himself had risen to power by overthrowing the Shōni. The most notorious example of Ryūzōji’s brutality was the occasion in 1581 when his forces destroyed the Kamachi family in nearby Yanagawa. After the battle they needed two boats to carry their victims’ severed heads across the Saga plain to show their lord.23 As the cases of Ōtomo and Ryūzōji suggest, the foremost quality for any successful sengoku daimyo was an ability to command the loyalty of his vassals. In many cases these men would be his former enemies who had been subdued during localized conflicts in the initial stages of the civil war. If they survived defeat in battle, they could save their necks by pledging loyalty to their new overlord. Under this arrangement their primary duty was to supply and lead their men whenever they received a call to arms. Through this self-perpetuating culture of warfare, fighting became a way of life and taking up weapons the only way to survive. No matter how unwelcome the conflict these vassals had orders to fight, and their loyalty was frequently put to the test on the occasions when they were commanded to attack their own neighbours or even blood relatives. At Yanagawa in 1581, for example, Tajiri Akitane had no option but to attack the town situated just across the river from his own castle, even though his cousins in the Tajiri and Kamoike lines were among the inhabitants. At Hibikibaru in the same year, no sooner had Sagara Yoshihi fallen to Shimazu Yoshihiro than he was ordered to break 154

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords written oaths of friendship, including one in the keeping of Aso Shrine, in order to attack the neighbouring Aso domain to the north.24 Leadership was also a key factor. One daimyo, Itō Yoshitsuke, held rich lands in Hyūga Province in southeast Kyushu, and fielded such a powerful army that his troops boasted of how they could brush Shimazu or any other rivals aside armed only with bamboo sticks. At the same time he was a distant figure who led a decadent lifestyle and never led his men into battle. In a decisive encounter with his most powerful rival in the south, Itō’s much vaunted troops were scattered by a smaller Shimazu army at the Battle of Kizakibayu. By contrast, Shimazu Yoshihiro, the victor, always led from the front and shared the hardships of camp life with his soldiers. So committed were his men, it was said, that they never had to wait for orders to risk their lives for him in battle. It was partly this reputation that gave rise to the local legend, ‘the Shimazu do not need walls – they are defended by their men’.25 Fighting techniques had changed significantly from the old days of single combat romantically portrayed in medieval war tales. Samurai warriors now rode into battle on horseback, and troops of foot soldiers (ashigaru) were mobilized from among the daimyo lord’s subject population. When a warlord was on the offensive, his troops would burn houses and anything else they found while marching through enemy territory. When forced onto the defensive, he would often seek the protection of a fortified hilltop castle. A rare example to have survived is the impressive fortress at Taketa in Ōita Prefecture, the one-time base of the Shiga family, who were relatives of the Ōtomo line. Although military campaigns were often brutal, a distinctive samurai code of honour was developed and refined through the experience of the warring states. This would be written up more formally afterwards in works on bushidō (The Way of the Warrior), notably Hagakure (In the Shadow of Leaves) which was based on commentaries by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a retainer of the Saga domain in the early eighteenth century.26 Central to these attitudes was the notion of an honourable death. Complex conventions governed the timing of when it was appropriate to send out a relief force, and it was common for a samurai to prove his valour by fighting to the death. Troops surrounding an enemy warrior in the heat of battle might also pause and give him the chance to uphold his family name by committing suicide (seppuku) with his sword. In this age of ceremonial suicide, if a powerful daimyo died, however peacefully, 155

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan his vassals sometimes followed him to the grave. In the early seventeenth century, for example, some forty to fifty loyal samurai took their lives on the death of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai in northern Honshu, and also in the case of Nabeshima Naoshige, who became lord of Saga in Hizen after the fall of Ryūzōji Takanobu. It was a practice that perhaps had its origins in the distant past, although echoes survived into the modern era, such as when General Nogi committed suicide on the death of the emperor Meiji in 1912. Respect for the enemy was also a singular feature of war etiquette. It was not uncommon for daimyo lords in the field to send messengers to deliver fresh fish and sake to the enemy general on the eve of battle. Occasionally, celebrated poets who found themselves on opposing sides might exchange verses by shooting arrows into the enemy camp. At the siege of Minamata late in 1581, for example, Shimazu Tadaharu warned Fukamizu Munakata of the fate awaiting his castle by the sea when he wrote, ‘the leaves on the trees fall in the autumn wind’. Fukamizu boldly dismissed the threat of the army encamped outside his walls when he replied, ‘the tide waxes with the sinking moon’.27 For all this rhetoric of honour, Kyushu during the age of warring states was littered with incidents of brutality and treachery. The taking of heads became a common feature in the climate of endemic violence. After a battle was won it was customary for the victor to inspect a line of heads, and some lords such as Ryūzōji and later Hideyoshi would take this practice to extremes. In Honshu it was a treacherous vassal who cost even the powerful Nobunaga his life and in Kyushu, too, similar cases abound. In 1527, for example, Usuki Nagaaki was in charge of an Ōtomo army laying siege to Togamure Castle, and he finally lured his neighbour Saiki Koreharu out with a promise of safe passage, only to put his retinue to the sword in the mountain pass on their journey south. In 1581, Ryūzōji lured his relative Kamachi Shigenami to Saga with an invitation to watch a performance of sarugaku, the forerunner of Nō theatre, only to ambush his party in the streets when they arrived.28 The final campaigns On several occasions during the last decades of the age of warring states, Ōtomo Sōrin tried to make his territorial advantage count and establish 156

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords his supremacy in Kyushu, only for new adversaries to block his path. In 1551, he seemed to have a clear opportunity following the assassination of Ōuchi Yoshitaka, his powerful rival in the north. Standing in his way was Mōri Motonari who, after avenging Ōuchi’s death, took over his lands in western Honshu and sent troops across the Kanmon Straits into Chikuzen Province in northern Kyushu. For nearly two decades the forces of Ōtomo and Mōri clashed repeatedly, but Ōtomo gradually gained the upper hand as Mōri found himself committed on two fronts, increasingly preoccupied with the challenge of first Amako Yoshihisa and later Oda Nobunaga further east in Honshu. In 1564, Mōri agreed a truce with Ōtomo so as to cover his western front in Kyushu. Three years later, however, the Chikuzen lords who depended on his protection found themselves in a perilous state when an Ōtomo army moved through the mountains of Kyushu and set up camp at the base of Mt Kōra in neighbouring Chikugo to the south. When Mōri responded to their appeals for help in 1569 by sending troops into Kyushu, both armies converged on the strategic port of Hakata. The Battle of Tachibana which followed on the eastern outskirts of the city takes its name from the mountain castle where a Chikuzen lord held out against Ōtomo’s men. Some of the fighting occurred near the site of Ashikaga Takauji’s momentous victory at Tatarahama more than two hundred years before. Tachibana has been viewed as the first major battle to involve muskets, since it was fought six years before Nobunaga’s spectacular victory at Nagashino. On this occasion as well it was the threat of Nobunaga which forced Mōri to pull out after six months and protect his eastern frontier in Honshu, leaving the Chikuzen lords in Ōtomo’s power.29 Ōtomo now held the whole of central and northern Kyushu with the one exception of Hizen Province in the northwest, where he encountered fierce resistance from Ryūzōji Takanobu. In 1570, therefore, a powerful Ōtomo army of 60,000 men marched into Hizen and surrounded Ryūzōji’s garrison of 5,000 warriors trapped inside Saga Castle. A war council called by Ryūzōji to discuss their predicament vacillated between a defensive strategy and a plan his captain Nabeshima Naoshige proposed for a night sortie to catch the enemy by surprise. It was the entrance of Ryūzōji’s sixty-year-old mother Keigin that decided the issue when she declared her support for Nabeshima. In the Battle of Imayama that followed, the Ōtomo forces camped in the hills to the 157

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan north of the castle were caught off-guard as Ryūzōji’s men recorded an unlikely victory. His survival also tipped the balance of power in northern Kyushu, for he was now able to consolidate his power base in Hizen and subsequently made inroads into the Ōtomo empire by seizing territories in Chikuzen, Higo and Buzen.30 Even with the rise of Ryūzōji in the north, Ōtomo still remained all powerful in much of central Kyushu, until a new threat appeared from the south with the re-emergence of the Shimazu. Physically cut off from the rest of Kyushu by steep mountainous terrain, the local conflicts in these southern domains had hitherto developed in relative isolation. The Shimazu family was well established in the area and over the course of several centuries had built up a core of loyal military vassals, such as the Iriki who had originally pledged their allegiance in 1397.31 Recent internal divisions, however, had weakened their control over the region and Ōsumi Province had largely passed out of their control, while the Satsuma coast became feared as a pirates’ lair on a par with Hirado.32 From their castle town in Kagoshima, however, the Shimazu were able to re-impose their authority on southern Kyushu by first overcoming the opposition of local lords such as Iriki, Kedōin and Kamō. Victory at the Battle of Iwatsurugi in 1554, partly achieved through the use of muskets, allowed them to break through to the Ōsumi peninsula. Their advance brought them within marching distance of the Hyūga territories ruled by an Ōtomo ally, the powerful Itō Yoshitsuke. The resounding success over Itō’s men that followed at Kizakibayu in 1572 was a defining moment in their rise to prominence and has been called Kyushu’s equivalent of Okehazama, the battle that propelled Oda Nobunaga to power along the Tōkaidō in Honshu. It was Itō’s appeal for help that brought Ōtomo Sōrin into direct confrontation with the Shimazu. Determined to destroy this challenge from the south, Ōtomo planned an ambitious march through his own territories and down the east coast of Kyushu into the lands of Hyūga. In the spring of 1578, he set out with a 50,000-strong army from Bungo. He had just been baptized and felt confident enough to dream of building Christian colonies in the lands to be conquered along the way. This was not a vision shared by all his vassals, however, and they were further dismayed by his orders to burn the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples they encountered during the march south. Questions surrounding his ability to lead were also asked as he now attended mass daily and left the 158

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords fighting to his generals. When the Ōtomo forces finally clashed with Shimazu in the autumn at the Battle of Mimigawa, poor tactics contributed to a catastrophic defeat as a whole troop of men forded the river, only to be cut off from the rest of the army.33 Ōtomo never fully recovered from the reverse at Mimigawa and subsequently some of his vassals began to drift away. In the north of Kyushu, Ryūzōji had also seized this opportunity to expand his own territories, and, to the south, Shimazu forces were now encroaching on lands in Hyūga and Higo that had traditionally lain within Ōtomo’s sphere of influence. At the Battle of Hibikibaru in 1581, Shimazu Yoshihiro defeated Sagara Yoshihi, lord of the strategically vital Hitoyoshi domain in southern Higo. He then forced Sagara to advance north and attack the lands of Aso Koremasa, a key Ōtomo vassal based in the heartland of Kyushu. As Shimazu troops swept north through the coastal plain of Higo in 1583, Ōtomo’s power was visibly on the wane, and it now seemed that any contest for supremacy in Kyushu would be settled between Shimazu and Ryūzōji instead. The catalyst for such a test of strength duly appeared in 1584 when Arima Harunobu, lord of Shimabara, rebelled against Ryūzōji’s oppressive rule and appealed to Shimazu to send help across the short stretch of sea that lay between Higo and his own domain. Enraged by the loss of such an important vassal, Ryūzōji marched south into the Shimabara peninsula to bring Arima to heel. Even though his wife was from the Arima line and their son had mixed loyalties, Ryūzōji ignored their pleas to stay behind and led his men against the Shimazu troops waiting for him there. After advancing down the coast, however, the contest was soon settled when Ryūzōji himself was killed in action at the Battle of Okidanawate. His son, the only figure in Kyushu who could still claim enough territory and men at arms to mount a serious challenge, promptly came to terms, handing Shimazu almost undisputed military control of the island.34 At this stage a conclusion to the long civil war in Kyushu seemed imminent at last. It remained only for Shimazu to reduce the vestiges of Ōtomo Sōrin’s power, now confined to pockets of control in the east and north. Clearly unable to resist, Ōtomo feared that conquest by Shimazu would spell the end for Christianity in the island. His only glimpse of hope was to appeal for help, ironically as it turned out, from Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Oda Nobunaga’s successor, who now reigned 159

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan supreme in Honshu. Ōtomo was encouraged by reports that Hideyoshi might be sympathetic to his cause, partly fostered by the taste he had developed for European fashion and the presence of João Rodrigues in his retinue. Moreover, he was now in control of territories bordering on Kyushu, as he counted the powerful Mōri Terumoto among his vassals and had just pacified the smaller island of Shikoku. So extensive was Hideyoshi’s influence already that he had even adopted the name of kanpaku, an antiquated title for a high-ranking imperial adviser in the Heian court of yore. Two Shimazu armies seized the initiative in 1586. Advancing up the east coast of Kyushu and into Bungo territory, Shimazu Iehasa captured Funai and drove Ōtomo out of his capital. Meanwhile, his elder brother Shimazu Yoshihiro had moved further north with an army of 50,000 men to destroy the last Ōtomo outposts and confirm Satsuma’s control over the island. After burning the city of Hakata they marched inland and camped at Dazaifu where, high on a hill above the town, Takahashi Joun, Ōtomo’s strongest general, held out in Iwaya Castle with just 1,000 men. Priests in Dazaifu sent Shimazu gifts, begging him not to destroy their sacred sites, and their help was even enlisted in the siege. Despite repeated calls to surrender, however, for over two weeks Takahashi’s defiant reply was that he held the castle on behalf of the emperor’s representative (kanpaku). The tale of Takahashi’s heroic defence of Iwaya lives on in local legend, and today a colourfully decorated float depicting him in full armour is kept on display in the bullet train foyer at Hakata Station. His last stand was motivated by the hope that a relief force promised by Hideyoshi would arrive in time at least to save his son, who held the castle on Mt Hōman further up the valley. Shimazu launched a series of ferocious attacks but each time his troops were repulsed, and ultimately they only found a way through when a local informant showed them a back way up the mountain. In this final assault Takahashi killed seventeen warriors himself until, realizing that their cause was lost, he committed suicide together with fifty loyal followers.35 Takahashi’s death was not in vain. Shimazu’s army had suffered 4,500 casualties during the siege and had been kept at bay long enough to thwart his plans to complete the conquest of Kyushu. Takahashi’s son was also saved as, shortly afterwards, Shimazu withdrew on hearing news of the approach of troops under Mōri Terumoto in the vanguard 160

All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords of Hideyoshi’s relief army. This marked the first of several encounters between the houses of Shimazu based in Satsuma and Mōri of the Chōshū domain in western Honshu. Ironically, had Mōri’s exhausting struggle against Nobunaga not inclined him to come to terms with Hideyoshi already, Kyushu might have been more vulnerable to Shimazu’s quest for supremacy there. In different circumstances the possibility of some collusion between Shimazu and Mōri could also not be ruled out. After all, they would later sink their differences and campaign against his successor Tokugawa Ieyasu, and again nearly three hundred years later when a Shimazu-Mōri alliance sounded the deathknell of the Tokugawa regime. In 1586, however, with Mōri by his side, Hideyoshi’s power was assured. Shimazu Yoshihisa was ordered to submit but felt confident enough in his own strength to refuse. More than anything else, it was his derisive reply to this ultimatum, invoking his ancient lineage as reason enough not to accept, that persuaded Hideyoshi to embark on the conquest of Kyushu.36 The stage was set for the arrival of the largest invading army seen since the time of the Mongol incursions three hundred years before. His agenda was to secure the submission of Shimazu, pacify Kyushu and, as the age of warring states drew to a close, complete the process of unifying the land that Nobunaga had begun. For decades this region had been contested by warlords, missionaries, merchants and pirates, operating in relative isolation from events in neighbouring Honshu. Hideyoshi’s plans for a Kyushu campaign would enable the return of centralized authority and would ultimately bring the combined armies of the warring states into this one island. The shift in the deployment of military power this entailed would have a significant impact not just on Kyushu but on East Asia as a whole.

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 ituated far from the Kyushu mainland on the outer island of Amakusa, the fishing village of Sakitsu nestles at the foot of a steep hill on the shores of a sheltered bay. The wooden houses clustered around the waterfront form a scene not unusual along this coastline of coves and cliffs by the East China Sea. What is striking, however, is the spire of a church rising above the rooftops. Today, a large proportion of those who attend services there are elderly local residents. Ironically, a faith that survived hundreds of years of persecution by the central authorities is now threatened most by the allure of modern urban life and the younger generation’s flight from the countryside. Amakusa has always been one of the poorest rural areas in Kyushu. Apart from fishing the economy is heavily dependent on sandstone quarries and a growing influx of tourists. The remote location of these islands may have been a key factor in keeping the flame of Christianity alive in former times, but they are so isolated that visitors from other parts of Kyushu – drawn by their picturesque landscapes and exotic churches – often arrive by plane. So deprived was Amakusa in the premodern era, in fact, that it was not uncommon for peasants to sell their daughters to survive. Although a practice by no means unique to this region, it was strongly associated with these islands well into the twentieth century. This is reflected in the memory of karayuki-san, the young women who left home on ships ‘bound for China’ and other parts of Southeast Asia, which in the colonial era often entailed a life in the service of the Japanese Imperial Army.1

S

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Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance The little church in Sakitsu symbolizes the remarkable survival of a curious religious tradition. It was built by a French priest in the nineteenth century after the local community was finally reconciled to the Catholic Church as European missionaries returned to Kyushu following the ‘opening of Japan’. Until then, successive generations had been forced to practise their faith in secret, ever since their religion had been driven underground centuries earlier after a ferocious wave of persecution. For over two hundred years these ‘Hidden Christians’ (Kakure Kirishitan) had preserved the beliefs of their ancestors far from the eyes of the authorities in these remote village communities. Christianity had flourished in Kyushu during the age of warring states, as Jesuit missionaries built on Francis Xavier’s early initiative. Through a combination of trade winds and the support of Christian daimyo, the new religion had taken root in communities especially on the western seaboard of Kyushu, in parts of Hizen Province like Nagasaki and Shimabara, and the Amakusa Islands in Higo. In the 1580s, however, these missions faced an uncertain future as warlords with little sympathy for their beliefs gained the upper hand in the struggle for control. Before long the entire region appeared to be at Shimazu’s mercy, yet ironically it was the overlord who arrived from Honshu at the eleventh hour to stop him who embarked on the persecution that eventually drove the Christians underground. This was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, to whom Ōtomo Sōrin turned for help in 1586 to save Kyushu (and himself) from Shimazu’s power. The new order that he imposed brought with it a confusing blend of mixed signals, in some respects revolutionary. It led to several more turbulent decades of military expansion, commercial growth and social conflict before this region was brought fully under control. The Toyotomi regime in Kyushu When Mōri Terumoto’s relief force was despatched from western Honshu in 1586, it arrived just in time to protect Ōtomo’s vassals from Shimazu Yoshihiro’s troops. This, however, was just the vanguard, for after considerable planning, early the following year Hideyoshi himself advanced into northern Kyushu at the head of a vast host recruited from no less than thirty-seven provinces. Drawing on an overall troop strength of 250,000 men, he progressed slowly down the west coast 163

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan through Higo, while another invasion force under his half-brother Hidenaga marched down the east coast through Bungo and into Hyūga. The only resistance encountered in northern Kyushu came from Akizuki Tanezane, a Chikuzen lord who had remained loyal to Shimazu, but once he had been forced to surrender he became active in persuading like-minded vassals in Hizen and Higo to defect to Hideyoshi.2 As support for Shimazu drifted away in central Kyushu, the main Satsuma army was compelled to withdraw far to the south and pin its hopes on a defensive campaign in home territory. On the eastern front, meanwhile, Shimazu Iehisa soon found himself isolated from his allies and surrendered Sadowara Castle to Hidenaga. Everything now rested on the outcome of Hideyoshi’s offensive down the west coast. Battle was joined on the banks of the Sendai River, which forms a natural barrier in the north of Satsuma’s territories. One of Shimazu’s foremost generals, the courageous Niiro Tadamoto, surprised Hideyoshi by drawing up his troop of 5,000 men on the unprotected north side of the river. Even more surprising was his decision to launch an attack on the advancing army of 170,000 men, and it was not until nightfall that a bridgehead was secured across the river. Next the Satsuma forces tried to ambush the enemy troops in the thick woods to the south of the river but they eventually had to fall back for a last stand around Kagoshima. Shimazu Yoshihiro remained confident of holding the narrow mountain passes on the outskirts of the castle town, and for a while his men succeeded in frustrating the first attempts to break through. What he had not counted on was an unexpected attack from the south by a detachment of Hideyoshi’s men who had sailed around the peninsula and landed further down the coast. Information from some Pure Land Buddhist monks who had been acting as Hideyoshi’s spies also allowed the advancing columns under Katō Kiyomasa and Kuroda Yoshitaka to find a way through these ravines, and despite their fine swordsmanship the Satsuma warriors were put to flight, as much through the element of surprise as defeat in combat.3 Hideyoshi appears to have been greatly relieved when the Shimazu brothers signalled their submission at last. With his supply lines overstretched and the army increasingly restless as the rainy season took hold in Satsuma, he was anxious to avoid a mutiny and had even considered abandoning the campaign. One report suggests that he was 164

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance within five days of striking camp himself when the Shimazu finally capitulated.4 It was something of a muted triumph, therefore, as he made his way back north, taking Shimazu Yoshihiro with him as a hostage and to serve as one of his own generals. Arriving in Hakata in July, Hideyoshi then spent a month in residence at Hakozaki Shrine a short distance to the east of the city. During his stay he gathered his generals around him and laid out the territorial settlement that would broadly determine the future balance of power among the ruling lords in the region. Shimazu Yoshihisa was allowed to stay in control of Satsuma with his lands largely intact, no doubt to the disappointment of some vassals who had been hoping for spoils of war. This was certainly magnanimous, but Hideyoshi felt confident enough of his erstwhile foe’s reputation for loyalty to announce, ‘once Satsuma submits, her allegiance is secured for ever’. Moreover, his rationale for sparing Shimazu was influenced by a dilemma of political authority, for as he was well aware, ‘he might crush the Satsuma clan, but what could he put in its place?’5 The following year Shimazu Yoshihiro was allowed to prove his loyalty when he was put in charge of stamping out piracy, a campaign which led to the confinement of the once roving house of Matsura to the island of Hirado. Elsewhere in Kyushu in 1587, Ōtomo Sōrin had just died but his son Yoshimune was restored to his family’s lands in Bungo. In Hizen, Ryūzōji Takanobu’s ailing son Masaie retained his territories, although power there now effectively lay in the hands of his regent Nabeshima Naoshige, a former Shōni vassal who would later become daimyo himself. Higo was now divided between two of Hideyoshi’s strongest generals, Katō Kiyomasa in the north and the Christian Konishi Yukinaga in the south. These new regimes were not uncontested, however, as both Katō and Konishi had to respond vigorously to stamp out peasant revolts that broke out on their arrival. Another vassal who held Christian sympathies was the renowned warrior Kuroda Yoshitaka (Josui) who, together with his son Nagamasa, was first given control of Buzen Province in northeast Kyushu, but later rewarded with the richer prize of Chikuzen, including the port of Hakata. In addition to partitioning territory among his trusted generals, the reforms Hideyoshi introduced to pacify Kyushu would lay the foundations, as in other parts of Japan, for a new social order that came to dominate the early modern era. Partly in response to the peasant revolt in 165

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Higo, sword hunts were launched from 1588 onwards to prevent weapons from remaining in the hands of commoners. This initiative was reinforced in 1591 when, in a measure called heinō bunri, a distinction was drawn between samurai warriors, who retained the privilege of carrying swords, and peasants who did not, paving the way for the clear divisions in class structure that would follow. At the same time the cadastral land surveys (taikō kenchi) that had already begun in Honshu were now extended to Kyushu as well. This led to the first comprehensive allocation of land attempted since the ritsuryō system was in place. It also enabled a rigid pecking order among daimyo lords everywhere by fixing a value (measured in rice) on the agrarian wealth in each domain. With his interest in commerce and expanding revenue, Hideyoshi paid particular attention to some of Kyushu’s major ports. In Hakata, for example, the ‘tally trade’ had previously demonstrated considerable potential, but more recently the threat of piracy and the dangers of civil war had contributed to a decrease in the volume of commercial traffic. Drawn by its wealth, the city had at times become a battleground for rival armies, and in 1559 was even attacked and burned by 2,000 troops under Tsukushi Korekado. A Jesuit missionary observing Hakata in 1571 reported that there had once been 10,000 houses there, but after a series of attacks rebuilding had begun over the past year and already 3,000 houses were to be seen.6 More recently as well, the city had suffered further damage at the hands of Shimazu Yoshihiro’s forces in 1586. From his base in nearby Hakozaki, therefore, Hideyoshi was well placed to recognize the plight of local merchants who appealed to him for help. He responded by ordering surveys to be conducted, which resulted in a new town layout that reoriented the streets, traces of which remain today. He also introduced a system of drainage channels to improve the water supply in a city which has always been vulnerable to epidemics transmitted from the continent.7 In stark contrast to the troubled experience of Hakata, the port of Nagasaki had been growing rapidly, its commercial prosperity driven partly by the Portuguese ‘black ship’ (kurofune) that arrived once a year from Macao, carrying a rich cargo of gold, silks and raw wool from China. At the same time this region of Hizen with its large Christian population presented a particular challenge for any overlord seeking to impose his rule. On his journey north through Kyushu after the Satsuma campaign, Hideyoshi had been dismayed by the political 166

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance influence that Christian missionaries appeared to exert over some local communities. This was particularly conspicuous in Hizen, nowhere more so than Nagasaki which, in effect, had been functioning as a Jesuit colony for over a decade already. Hideyoshi had acquired an avid taste for European fashions, but he showed a more guarded attitude to European political activities in territories under his control. Conscious of the Jesuits’ loyalties to Rome, he suspected that they could pose a threat to his plans to pacify Kyushu and establish his own order. In 1588, he placed Nagasaki under direct jurisdiction – in itself a statement of intent for a regime based so far away in Kyoto – and four years later Terazawa Hirotaka was appointed as the first magistrate (bugyō) to govern the city. Also in 1588, he sent agents to Nagasaki to buy up all the raw wool imported by Portuguese ships arriving from Macao. This was the origins of the itowappu system, an arrangement which secured for his government a monopoly by concentrating the distribution of raw wool only through the hands of licensed merchants in Nagasaki, Sakai and Kyoto. Following the Ming authorities’ practice of controlling trade by issuing tallies, he also awarded vermilion seals to some favoured merchants from these three cities. Now that the surrounding seas were free at last from the scourge of pirates, these served as official licences as their ‘vermilion seal ships’ (shuinsen) embarked on a new wave of commercial expeditions overseas. For the inhabitants of the Korean peninsula, however, Hideyoshi’s arrival in the island on the other side of the Tsushima Straits heralded not so much a long-awaited respite from wakō pirates as a new onslaught on a scale they had never endured before. Indeed, Kyushu was not just a commercial gateway recovering from the disruption of internal conflict, but once again a militarized frontier zone patrolled by veteran generals and their samurai troops. This island may have been pacified at last, but the question remained of how to channel the military energies that had unified these lands and still retain political control. In the event, the north coast of Kyushu became the launch pad for the Japanese state’s first overseas campaigns since the fall of Paekche in the seventh century. Hideyoshi’s uninterrupted experience of taming warlords in Japan had given him unlimited confidence in his military powers and the continent was next. He dreamt, in fact, of a new Asian order, with his 167

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan own regime replacing the Ming dynasty at the hub of an elaborate network of tributary states. This was why he summoned Sō Yoshitoshi, the lord of Tsushima, during his stay in Hakozaki in 1587, and gave him the onerous task of sending a message to the king of Korea, demanding that he accept subordinate status to Japan. Concerned more for his domain’s close ties with the peninsula, the message that Sō actually delivered indicated only Hideyoshi’s desire to enter into diplomatic relations. Similarly, Shimazu Yoshihisa was instructed to demand the submission of the king of the Ryukyu Islands to the south of Kyushu. Although he received no positive reply from either Korea or Ryukyu, Hideyoshi assumed that both these kingdoms now lay in his power. In a singular example of diplomatic misunderstanding, the Korean envoys who visited Japan in 1590 were clearly stunned when they received orders to attack China.8 For its own part the Yi court of the Chosŏn dynasty in Korea was critical of Japan’s attempt to upset the established political hierarchy and ignored a further approach, ostensibly because it was not presented in person as custom required. Just as rebellious daimyo lords had been brought to heel before, Hideyoshi would not tolerate what he saw as insubordination within his empire and preparations began for a fullscale invasion of Korea. The site of the new purpose-built headquarters he chose for the campaign was on a quiet hilltop in former Matsura territory on the north Kyushu coast called Nagoya (not to be confused with the city of Nagoya in central Honshu). Kuroda Yoshitaka was placed in overall charge of construction and Shimazu Yoshihiro built the ramparts, as a new fortress took shape within just five months. With all the daimyo lords throughout the land now summoned to set up camp beneath its walls, for a short time this Nagoya Castle became the political and military centre of Japan. The troops for the Korean campaign were drawn from Kyushu and some domains in western Honshu. Support was not unanimous, however, for shortly after the invasion was launched in 1592, a Shimazu vassal called Umekita Kunikane rebelled on the south Higo coast in protest against the Toyotomi regime. The time it took Shimazu to suppress the revolt would delay his own departure for the continent. By this stage the first detachments under Konishi Yukinaga and Sō Yoshitoshi had landed on the Korean coast – at first, local inhabitants thought they were once again under attack from wakō pirates. With the 168

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance subsequent arrival of other Kyushu lords such as Katō Kiyomasa, Ōtomo Yoshimune, Nabeshima Naoshige and finally Shimazu Yoshihiro, before long an army of 170,000 troops had crossed the Tsushima Straits. With a force of 130,000 also kept in reserve around Nagoya Castle, Hideyoshi now had a total of 300,000 men under his command. Initially, the Japanese invaders swept all before them, and despite some brave resistance many soldiers in the Korean armies fled before the onslaught. Within just seventeen days of the first landing the king of Korea was forced to abandon his capital at Hanyang (Seoul), which fell shortly afterwards. On hearing the news at his headquarters in Nagoya, a delighted Hideyoshi talked of moving his own base to Ningbo on the Chinese mainland and even dreamt of invading India. His troops, meanwhile, continued their march through the Korean peninsula and reached Pyŏngyang before they were finally stopped in their tracks by the arrival of a Ming relief army. In the spring of 1593, Konishi found his garrison there surrounded by overwhelming numbers and appealed for assistance from Ōtomo Yoshimune, who was based close by with 6,000 men. Leaving Konishi to his own devices, however, Ōtomo had already retreated south. For many years Ōtomo Sōrin, Yoshimune’s father, had been a dominant figure in Kyushu, but for this one act of cowardice in the field by his son, Hideyoshi finally stripped the family of its lands in Bungo. Korean resistance groups were now beginning to rally after their initial losses as volunteer militia, including former government troops, used guerrilla tactics to hound the Japanese armies. Having pushed so far north, the invading forces’ supply lines were increasingly stretched and vulnerable to attack, a weakness that was systematically exploited by the Korean navy. Using the so-called ‘turtle-armoured’ ships originally developed to fight the wakō, Admiral Yi Sun-sin secured control of the sea lanes across the Tsushima Straits, effectively cutting off the Japanese troops from their headquarters in Kyushu. Today in the city of Pusan on the south coast of Korea an imposing statue of Admiral Yi looks out to sea in memory of his exploits.9 The Japanese armies were decimated as a result of this Korean campaign. Within eleven months Konishi and Ōtomo lost more than half their men, while Nabeshima and Katō lost a third of theirs.10 Only a minority of these casualties had been killed in major battles, as larger 169

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan numbers were cut down during ambushes or died of disease, while others were driven to surrender by hunger and the severe Korean winter. These deserters amounted to the largest influx of Japanese migrants to the peninsula since pirates had been induced to settle there nearly two hundred years before. The acute loss of troops they suffered would also drastically weaken the daimyo lords of Kyushu and western Honshu. Biding his time on the outskirts of Nagoya Castle, meanwhile, one influential figure who was conspicuously unaffected by this war of attrition was Tokugawa Ieyasu. Since his own power base lay in the Kantō plain in eastern Honshu his troops had stayed at home, a factor that weighed in his favour when he made his own bid for power after Hideyoshi’s death. A year into the Korean campaign, both sides were war weary after a long winter and Konishi and Katō contrived to seal an armistice with the Ming emissary Shen Weijing. This was achieved, however, only by sending conflicting messages on the terms for peace to their respective masters in China and Japan, who they knew would never agree to mutually acceptable conditions. The misunderstanding this created came to light when a Ming envoy reached Japan in 1596, bearing a message from the emperor acknowledging Hideyoshi’s subordinate status as ‘King of Japan’ in return for evacuating the Japanese garrison that had been left in place at Pusan. Negotiations soon broke down and in his fury Hideyoshi made plans for another invasion. The second Korean campaign was launched in 1597 when an army of 140,000 troops was sent across the Tsushima Straits. Strategically this was a less ambitious venture, targeting only four provinces in the south, but it would be remembered afterwards as a more savage war than the first as large numbers of civilians were also attacked. Another reason why Hideyoshi is indentified as the most reviled Japanese figure in Korean history is due to the practice his troops developed of systematically destroying temples and other cultural treasures. On the military front the invading armies once again found themselves on the defensive after an initial advance. Retreating to coastal areas in the south of the peninsula, they built a number of forts known locally as ‘Japanese castles’ (wajie), the ruined remains of which still survive today. The contest again became a war of attrition as their enemies closed in. At Ulsan Castle, for example, the men in Katō Kiyomasa’s garrison were reduced to eating horsemeat to survive a siege by a Ming army. Later he 170

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance would put this experience of defensive fortifications to good use when he drew up plans for designing Kumamoto Castle.11 The campaign finally petered out after Hideyoshi’s death in 1598. For Kyushu these expensive military adventures had brought war exhaustion to the region’s ruling daimyo and samurai warriors. A significant proportion of the fighting population had either died or settled across the Tsushima Straits, while ships returning from the war zone also carried as many as 60,000 Korean slaves. Some of these were bought by the Jesuits and found their way to Macao, and one who ended up in Italy is thought to have been the first Korean to have reached Europe.12 Other notable hostages included the master potters who were sought out by admiring daimyo lords, giving rise to what became known as the ‘Pottery War’ (yakimono-sensō). Many distinctive earthenware and ceramic styles have their origins in this episode, including Arita and Karatsu in Hizen, Satsuma in the south, and Hagi in western Honshu. Enforced exile for these master craftsmen brought with it the consolation of high status, and occasionally they were subsequently allowed to return to Korea, such as the founders of the lesser known Takitori ware near Dazaifu.13 Another legacy of Hideyoshi’s Korean campaigns was the appearance of local festivals, such as the Fujisaki Shrine autumn festival held in Kumamoto each September to commemorate the first victory won by Katō Kiyomasa. In the port of Yobuko, not far from the abandoned ruins of Nagoya, a tug-of-war festival is held each June, recalling the games that Hideyoshi once used to rouse the morale of largely idle troops camped around his castle. The still impressive walls bear testimony to his wild ambition, although many of the stones were later removed by Nabeshima Katsushige, lord of Hizen, when he built Saga Castle. At the height of his power Hideyoshi dreamt of a Toyotomi dynasty ruling on behalf of the emperor and armed with sophisticated mechanisms of central control. He was also noted for the grand gestures he used to demonstrate his political authority. On his return to Kyoto late in 1587, for example, he threw a flamboyant party to commemorate the success of his Kyushu campaign. Lasting for ten days, this was orchestrated by Sen Rikyū, master of the now in-vogue ‘Way of Tea’ (sadō).14 For the most lasting symbol of his power he chose the construction of Hōkōji, the largest wooden temple ever built, surpassing 171

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan even Tōdaiji in size. Massive timbers from the primeval forests of Yakushima off the south Kyushu coast were shipped to Kyoto for this ambitious project. In 1596, however, the newly finished building was shattered by an earthquake, an event that also marked, it was said, the demise in the fortunes of the Toyotomi line.15 On his deathbed in 1598, Hideyoshi received Tokugawa Ieyasu’s promise to rule as regent until Hideyori, his infant son and heir had come of age. Tokugawa, however, nurtured ambitions to establish his own regime, a dream he realized in 1600 when his ‘eastern army’ defeated the ‘western army’ raised to defend Hideyoshi’s will at the Battle of Sekigahara in central Honshu. Some of the Kyushu daimyo, such as Katō Kiyomasa, declared for Tokugawa. Nabeshima Naoshige, meanwhile, sat on the fence until the eve of battle before revealing his hand and recalling his son to Kyushu to prevent him from taking the field with the western army. Kobayakawa Hideaki, who held lands including Hakata, deserted to Tokugawa‘s side at the height of battle, and was rewarded afterwards with a new fief in Okayama. Yet his reputation for treachery followed him, and two years later he died in suspicious circumstances after a hunting trip. The lands around Hakata were now bestowed instead on Kuroda Yoshitaka who had recently defeated an attempt by Ōtomo Yoshimune to land in Bungo and claim his former territory there on the western army’s behalf. Other Kyushu lords, among them Konishi Yukinaga and Shimazu Yoshihiro, took the field against Tokugawa at Sekigahara. Following his defeat, Konishi was pursued and then executed. Shimazu appears to have been less committed to the cause and spent much of the battle as a bystander. When they were surrounded by Tokugawa’s troops, however, he and his men managed to break out with a fighting retreat, and his family would once again be allowed to retain control of the Satsuma domain. Now in a position to assert his political supremacy in what became the new administrative capital of Edo, Tokugawa Ieyasu officially launched his own bakufu government in 1603 when he received the title of shogun from the emperor. Just as in the Genpei War of the late twelfth century when Minamoto Yoritomo destroyed the Taira line, an eastern army had seen off a challenge from the west to install a new military ruler based in the Kantō area in Honshu. 172

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance A hub of international trade The Battle of Sekigahara may have ushered in a new age of Tokugawa rule, but in Kyushu there remained some strong threads of continuity from the years of Toyotomi control. In particular, the foundations laid by Hideyoshi helped to create a climate in which overseas trade could flourish. Ieyasu himself was acutely aware of the potential value of commerce, and new opportunities were presented by the influx of foreign merchants now frequenting Kyushu’s ports. Traders arrived on board not only Portuguese galleons, but ships from Spain, Holland and England, besides the more familiar vessels from China, Korea and the Ryukyu Islands. As a result, in the early seventeenth century ports like Nagasaki and Hirado could boast a degree of multicultural trade rarely found on the shores of the East China Sea. Although Nagasaki had now been removed from Jesuit political control, Portuguese galleons continued to arrive each year, and with directly appointed magistrates (bugyō) on site the Tokugawa regime was able to reinforce the central government’s monopoly over the raw wool they brought from Macao. From the 1590s, there were also visits from Spanish galleons, which had gained access to trade in the East China Sea after 1565 when the conquistador Miguel López de Legaspi arrived from Spanish Mexico to establish a foothold in the Philippines. Moreover, the formation of trading companies in northern Europe would also make an immediate impression, paving the way for the Dutch and English impact in Asia as a whole. Early negotiations to plan such joint commercial ventures led to the creation of the East India Company in London in 1600, followed two years later by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Amsterdam. The first sign of this activity in Japan was in April 1600 when, after an epic two-year voyage, the surviving crew of a Dutch vessel called the Liefde made landfall on the beach at Usuki on the east Kyushu coast. After being sent to Honshu and held at Osaka Castle, their pilot, an Englishman called William Adams, made such a favourable impression in his interview with Tokugawa Ieyasu that he was given some land and allowed to settle.16 His influence contributed to the welcome that was extended in turn to Dutch and then English ships. When Ieyasu granted the Dutch permission to trade in 1605, Matsura Shigenobu, the daimyo of Hirado, responded by offering them 173

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan the use of his main port. He also built the ship that allowed the shipwrecked crew of the Liefde to leave for Europe. As a result, the trading post known as the Dutch ‘factory’ was first opened on Hirado Island in 1609. The term recalled the ‘factory system’ of allocating premises to foreign merchants or ‘factors’ that had originally been developed in medieval Flanders. Although now dying out in Europe, the system was being widely adopted by Dutch and other European merchants as they developed their trade networks in Africa and Asia.17 For both the Dutch and the English, Hirado was viewed as a potentially useful trading post for targeting the rich silks of China. In 1613, the East India Company was also granted permission to set up a factory there, and quarters were rented from the ‘Chinese Captain’, a merchantpirate by the name of Li Tan. In the same year Matsura, a lord of pirate stock himself, resorted to the intriguing ruse of burning down his own castle. It appears that he was anxious to prove his loyalty to the Tokugawa regime at a time when other daimyo in Hizen were coming under increasing scrutiny. He may have been influenced by news of the fate of Arima Harunobu, the Christian daimyo of nearby Shimabara, who had just been sentenced to death for plotting the murder of the Nagasaki bugyō.18 The castle at Hirado would be left without a wooden keep until it was rebuilt in 1707. By 1616 the rapidly developing European commerce in Hizen was brought under closer control by the Tokugawa authorities as Spanish and Portuguese vessels were confined to Nagasaki, while Dutch and English ships were restricted to Hirado. The main port on this island continued to flourish as a trading post over the next two decades, with a growing population of European men and a number of children born as a result of matches with local women. Despite the proximity of their factory settlements and the life they shared, however, there was always an intense rivalry between the Dutch and the English. The East India Company’s negative appraisal of trading prospects finally led the English to pull out in 1623, and the following year their relative weakness in the Indies was confirmed when a Dutch force attacked and destroyed an English trading post on Amboyna, an island in the Moluccas, massacring all the inhabitants including some Japanese men from Hirado. It was this ruthless streak that also enabled the Dutch to take control of the Portuguese territories in these Spice Islands and create an extensive colonial empire in the region.19 174

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance In addition to the commodities passing through European hands, trade with neighbouring states around the East China Sea had now begun to revive after the havoc caused by Hideyoshi’s dreams of conquest. From 1611 the Tokugawa authorities gave the Chinese junks known as tōsen permission to trade through Nagasaki, although this was a rather general category that included occasional arrivals from as far south as Annam (Vietnam) and Siam. Following Hideyoshi’s death commercial relations had also been reopened with Korea, allowing twenty ships to arrive each year at a trading facility in Pusan called the ‘Japan House’ (Waegwan), which housed a community of around 500 Tsushima merchants.20 Unlike his predecessor, Tokugawa Ieyasu also exchanged diplomatic credentials on equal terms, leading to the periodic arrival in Hakata of large-scale Korean embassies passing through en route for Edo, usually timed to coincide with the accession of each new shogun.21 In the south of Kyushu the port of Kagoshima also became a flourishing gateway for trade, both directly and indirectly, with China. A contributing factor was that Shimazu Yoshihiro’s stock with the Ming authorities had risen due to his magnanimity in once having spared and returned a senior Chinese general during the Korean campaigns. Junks continued to put into port at Kagoshima until 1616 when the Tokugawa authorities ordered them to be diverted to Nagasaki instead. By this stage, however, ships from the now subjugated Ryukyu Islands were also becoming a common feature in Kagoshima. In 1609, a Shimazu expeditionary force had invaded these islands with the blessing of the new Edo bakufu, after the king of Ryukyu had failed to register his gratitude when Tokugawa Ieyasu returned some castaways several years before. The campaign, moreover, allowed the Shimazu rulers of Satsuma to expand south and develop the island of Ōshima, a plan influenced to some extent by the heavy economic burden that had been placed on their domain by the shogun’s orders to provide funds for the construction of Edo Castle. After a three-day siege a force of 3,000 Satsuma troops occupied Shuri Castle, the royal seat in Okinawa. The king of Ryukyu himself was seized and taken to Kagoshima, but he was allowed to return in 1611 under an arrangement that effectively opened up a new route for indirect trade with China. While the Ryukyu Islands retained their official status as an independent kingdom, they were forced to pay tribute to 175

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Satsuma and resident officials were also sent from Kagoshima to oversee state affairs in the islands. This enabled Ryukyu to maintain the diplomatic relations it held with China, and every two years when ships bearing tribute were sent there Satsuma officials were able to furnish the mission with silver to buy raw cotton, medicine and other goods from the continent. Before long, the inflow of rich commodities arriving in Satsuma via the Ryukyu Islands prompted the new daimyo Shimazu Iehisa to build a trade depot in his capital called the Kagoshima Ryukyu Hall (Kagoshima Ryūkyū-kan). It was the Satsuma economy that benefited most from this semi-colonial rule although, as with missions from Korea, embassies led by the crown prince of Ryukyu and sometimes numbering more than a hundred officials would arrive in Kagoshima en route for Edo to pay their respects whenever a new shogun was installed. Besides the growing number of foreign ships putting into port in Kyushu, the activities of Japanese merchants abroad expanded rapidly during the early seventeenth century. Following Hideyoshi’s initiative, the Tokugawa authorities continued to grant vermilion seals which served as licences for overseas trade. In the thirty years or so that the ‘vermilion seal’ trade operated, as many as 130 merchants received this authorization, operating in up to 370 ships in all.22 Influenced by the technological skills and knowledge of their various trading partners, these sizeable vessels sometimes had curiously hybrid designs. From the 1620s, Nagasaki shipwrights in particular incorporated features they found in the hulls of European vessels to construct ships that looked part-junk and part-galleon in inspiration. Life on board the ‘vermilion seal ships’ was also multicultural, as the chief pilots they employed could be Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch or English, and various languages were commonly used.23 Supplied by such vessels Japanese communities known as Nihon-machi sprang up far and wide on the coasts of Southeast Asia. One of the most distant examples was built in the southern suburbs of Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam, and at one stage numbered several thousand people.24 These communities would later fade and only a few survived into the eighteenth century, but they nevertheless bear testimony to a brief but significant era of rapid expansion in Japan’s mercantile contacts with the world outside.25 176

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance Persecution and exclusion edicts The regular arrival of Portuguese ships in the sixteenth century had enabled Jesuit missionaries to establish their presence in Nagasaki and beyond, but the subsequent appearance of Spanish galleons would complicate the outlook for Christian communities in Kyushu. On board these vessels were sometimes Franciscan and Dominican friars who, discarding the more subtle approach used by their Jesuit forebears, were often outspoken in their criticism of existing beliefs in Japan. Hideyoshi identified their growing influence as a political threat, for although interested in the trade opportunities that accompanied the ‘black ships’, he was sensitive to any interference in state affairs. His misgivings over the political influence of Christian missionaries first emerged after his Kyushu campaign. While he had generally maintained good relations with the Jesuit padres he received, one such interview during his stay at Hakozaki prompted a change in mood towards the Christians in Japan. The conversation that Hideyoshi held in July 1587 with ViceProvincial Gaspar Coelho, the master of Nagasaki, appeared to have been cordial enough. A few days later, however, he suddenly ordered Takayama Ukon, the Christian daimyo of Takatsuki, to renounce his faith or forfeit his lands. He then issued an edict that condemned Christianity as a ‘pernicious doctrine’ and expelled the padres, who were given twenty days’ notice to leave Japan. Hideyoshi never enforced this edict, but he never renounced it either. The padres recognized the need to behave discreetly, and many of them took to wearing Japanese clothes.26 The danger seemed lost, however, on some of the Franciscan monks who began arriving in the early 1590s, ironically as a result of an attempt by Hideyoshi himself to include the Philippines in his own tribute system. One of these was Pedro Baptista, who openly set about converting local people in Hirado and, in a growing climate of Jesuit-Franciscan rivalry made the journey along the northwest Kyushu coast for an audience with Hideyoshi at Nagoya Castle. Some also made the journey on to Kyoto (‘Miyako’) and preached with what the Jesuits considered to be a reckless degree of fervour. Notoriously erratic in his judgement during these last years of his life, in 1596 Hideyoshi finally lost patience over the San Felipe affair. 177

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan This Spanish galleon packed with merchandise had been blown off course and run aground on the Tosa coast in Shikoku. Afraid that her rich cargo might be confiscated, the ship’s pilot Francisco de Olandia apparently tried to intimidate Mashida Nagamori, Hideyoshi’s agent on site, by explaining the might of the Spanish empire, and how a vanguard of missionary activities often preceded a full-scale military invasion. According to a Jesuit account, on hearing Mashida’s report Hideyoshi ‘leapt to the conclusion that the friars of St Francis, who had been in Meaco near unto three years, should also be taken for spies’.27 When he then ordered the arrest of all the missionaries in Osaka and Kyoto, twenty-one Christians were rounded up and taken back to Kyushu. Even after their arrival in Nagasaki early the following year, Hideyoshi remained unmoved and, on 5 February 1697, in the first clear-cut example of persecution, twenty-six individuals were crucified on a hill overlooking the town. Twenty of the victims were Japanese, four were Spanish, one was Mexican, and another IndoPortuguese, with six Franciscan missionaries and three Jesuits among them. These Christian martyrs were canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1862, and today a monument in Nagasaki marks the site on the hill where they died.28 As Hideyoshi died himself shortly afterwards, there was still hope among the Christian community that this may have been just another isolated incident, and no coordinated persecution followed. For the large numbers of Christians in the south of Higo and Amakusa, however, a turning point was the death of their daimyo Konishi Yukinaga after the Battle of Sekigahara. The Amakusa Islands were now placed in the hands of Terazawa Hirotaka, whose ruthlessly high taxation caused widespread suffering. In 1603, Katō Kiyomasa also expanded south from his own base in Higo, purging any local Christians who refused his orders to return to the Buddhist faith. Two leading Christians and their families were killed, and further executions followed in 1608. Nevertheless, the Christian presence survived, and in Amakusa it continued to flourish. Including the still large communities in Shimabara and Nagasaki, there may even have been around 300,000 Christians in Japan in 1614.29 The new shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu initially adopted a conciliatory approach towards the Christian daimyo in Kyushu. The mood changed quickly after 1612, however, when the discovery of Arima Harunobu’s 178

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance plot to assassinate the Nagasaki bugyō called into question the loyalty of all the western lords. Since he had actively promoted trade connections in Nagasaki, Ieyasu had remained cautious in the past about excluding the padres altogether. The recent arrival of the Dutch and English now allowed his regime to trade in European merchandise without relying on Portuguese or Spanish ships and the missionaries they brought with them. The issue was highlighted when open conflict broke out among the Europeans themselves in 1612, as the Spanish and Portuguese labelled the Dutch as pirates, only to be accused in turn of conspiring to turn Japan into a Christian state. Finally dismissing any room for accommodation, Ieyasu responded by prohibiting Christianity in his own territories, and followers of the faith were rounded up in directly ruled cities such as Edo and Sunpu. At first this purge barely scratched the surface, as it was not implemented with great force in those cities, notably Nagasaki, where sympathy for Christianity was strong. From 1614, however, persecution was extended throughout the country as notice-boards were put up, announcing rewards for informing on Christians, and churches were burnt or closed down. As part of a systematic search, people were now required to register with their local temples. This represented a challenge to the social order of Nagasaki with its mostly Christian population of around 25,000 people, and at least as many in the surrounding Hizen countryside. In 1614, some 3,000 protestors reacted by demonstrating against the ban during a religious procession through the streets. There followed a small diaspora of Christians leaving Nagasaki for Macao. A notable casualty was Takayama Ukon, the daimyo who had forfeited his lands in 1587 on Hideyoshi’s orders and was now deported to Manila where he died shortly after his arrival. At the same time a number of European missionaries chose to go into hiding and stayed in Japan.30 Moreover, as a result of their activities thousands of adults continued to be baptized each year. Tokugawa Hidetaka, Ieyasu’s successor, reacted by ordering the daimyo to devote more energy into stamping out the religion. In Nagasaki this growing culture of persecution was marked by the notorious execution of fifty-five Christians in 1622, and continued for years afterwards.31 Two years later, Spanish ships were finally expelled from the port, together with the last of the Franciscans. As the English had closed down their factory on Hirado 179

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan and pulled out the year before, the only European merchants now left were the Portuguese and the Dutch. Previously, Christianity had been singled out by the Tokugawa regime as the principal target of restrictions imposed in Kyushu, but now the agenda of imposing political control was extended to include trading interests there as well. After coming to blows with Japanese merchants overseas, both the Portuguese and Dutch were temporarily barred from putting into port during the late 1620s.32 Under Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun, a series of edicts was then issued that curtailed much of the overseas commercial activity operating through the island’s ports. In 1633, Japanese ships were prohibited from sailing abroad, a measure reinforced when Japanese people were also barred from leaving. The only exceptions were to be the bakufu’s own representatives, although such an occasion would not arise for over two hundred years. A European observer later described the effect of these edicts as having created a ‘closed country’, a state of affairs variously labelled as a ‘seclusion policy’, or even more grandly, ‘national isolation’. Exclusion would perhaps more accurately describe the mindset of Tokugawa administrators, whose main priority was to ensure political security and their own commercial supremacy relative to other trading interests in these western ports. To some extent, therefore, the attacks on Christians over previous decades had always been symptomatic of a wider strategic agenda. Given that its own power base was in the Kantō plain, the Tokugawa regime could not afford to allow domains in Kyushu unrestricted access to the new technology, ideas and commodities, ranging from guns to printing presses, that had poured into the island since the arrival of Europeans less than a century before. The experience at Sekigahara, where some Kyushu lords had taken the field against Ieyasu, also served as a reminder that if they were to capitalize on their relative proximity to China, Korea and the trade winds from the south, it could potentially swing the balance of power against the regime in Edo. It was in this climate of reinforcing political control that in 1636 the remaining Portuguese traders in Nagasaki were confined to a small fan-shaped island specially built for them by a consortium of local merchants. This was intended to be their quarters for the foreseeable future, but in the event they would not stay there for long. 180

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance The Shimabara Rebellion and Kakure Kirishitan The most violent reaction against the authority of the Tokugawa regime during its early years in power was the rebellion that broke out in Amakusa and Shimabara late in 1637. The political legitimacy of the shogun was contingent on his ability to impose order, so the news that thousands of peasants from adjoining provinces in Kyushu had united under a Christian banner posed a major threat. Debate continues over the extent to which the seeds of rebellion were economic, religious, or a combination of the two. For several decades already, the largely Christian community in the Amakusa Islands had suffered both persecution and the high taxes imposed by Terazawa Hirotaka. The Shimabara peninsula, a short distance across a channel to the north, had once been ruled by the Christian daimyo Arima Harunobu. It had since become the domain of Matsukura Shigemasa, whose plans to construct a magnificent castle at Shimabara on the shogun’s orders had resulted in a crippling tax burden on the peasants in the area. Here in the shadow of Mt Unzen, the poor volcanic soils of Shimabara forced the local population to depend on meagre returns from their land at the best of times. Symptomatic of the tyrannous rule that continued under Matsukura Katsuie, Shigemasa’s son, was the notorious ‘Mino dance’ in which, as the Dutch factor at Hirado described, those who failed to pay their taxes were dressed ‘in a rough straw coat made of a kind of grass’ that was then set on fire.33 According to a Portuguese account, the revolt broke out when one village and then the whole district rose in support of a father after he ‘killed the daimyo’s stewards who were torturing his daughter before his eyes’.34 The speed with which the rebellion spread suggests that an agreement had already been reached at a meeting held on a small island in the straits between Shimabara and Amakusa to coordinate a call to arms. Within weeks, as many as 37,000 peasants had united under the leadership of a fourteen-year-old boy, the messianic Amakusa Shirō.35 Supporters of a Christian conspiracy theory point to the prophesy left by a missionary driven from Amakusa in 1612, foretelling a time when ‘a remarkable youth will appear’ in which ‘multitudes shall bear the cross on their helmets’ and ‘white flags shall float over sea and river, mountain and plain’. Such propaganda appears to have been used to foment unrest among the population by discontented ‘masterless 181

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan warriors’ (rōnin), such as the five former vassals of Konishi who were among the rebel leaders in Amakusa.36 During initial skirmishes on both sides of the straits the rebels enjoyed some success but were unable to storm the castles of Shimabara and Tomioka. Early in 1638, they united into one force and fell back to mount a last stand at the abandoned site of Hara Castle by the coast, some twenty miles to the south of Shimabara. Soon they were surrounded by an army of samurai warriors assembled by daimyo rulers in the region. If the revolt had not been motivated by religion before it certainly took on a Christian flavour now, as the besieged rebels placed wooden crosses on the battlements, flew banners with Portuguese inscriptions and encouraged each other by shouting the names of Iesus, Mary and Santiago.37 Despite the samurai army’s superior training the first assaults on Hara Castle ended in abject failure. To defeat this peasant army a force of more than 100,000 men was eventually assembled, and it was nearly three months before they were able to force the issue. The cannon-shot fired from junks offshore proved so ineffective that, in an episode perhaps more in keeping with the Thirty Years War, even the Dutch factor Nicholas Koeckebacker was commanded to assist. The ship he sent from Nagasaki fired 426 shot on the beleaguered castle within a fortnight before he received permission to withdraw.38 In his judgement, this reprieve was motivated by a letter the rebels shot into the enemy camp, taunting them with their apparent dependence on Dutch firepower. During the siege there were moments of betrayal, such as when one rebel and his men tried to defect, and also treachery, when they were all promised a full pardon if only they surrendered. Eventually, hunger took its toll and when a desperate sortie failed to secure provisions the starving population inside was doomed. Defiant to the last, two days of slaughter followed as the castle was finally stormed and every last rebel killed.39 In the aftermath of the Shimabara Rebellion, Matsukura Katsuie was punished for the tyrannous rule that had initially provoked the unrest and ordered to commit ritual suicide. Terazawa Katataka, his counterpart in Amakusa, lost his lands and revenue before going insane and also taking his own life. It was the cost of suppressing the rebels that had most surprised the Tokugawa authorities. At least 13,000 soldiers had been killed fighting against a peasant army that, even if it did include 182

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance some of Konishi’s former retainers, should have been no match for samurai warriors. Plans then underway to launch an ambitious campaign abroad and seize the formidable Spanish garrison at Manila were rapidly reviewed and abandoned.40 In Nagasaki the repercussions were felt almost immediately as the Portuguese were finally expelled in 1639. When a galleon arrived from Macao the following year in the hope of re-establishing trade relations, the four envoys and fifty-seven members of the crew were beheaded. In a further attempt in 1647, two Portuguese ships were allowed to leave but the expedition failed to achieve its objective. Any contact with Portugal or Spain was now considered seditious, and their religion absolute taboo. Even in 1673, when an English ship called the Return put into Nagasaki harbour hoping to re-open trade, the Tokugawa bakufu rejected the request citing Charles II’s marriage to Catherine of Braganza, the King of Portugal’s daughter.41 The immediate beneficiaries of the expulsion of the Portuguese were the Dutch, who were now the only Europeans left in Kyushu allowed to trade, albeit under restricted conditions. In 1641, their factory in Hirado was closed down and they, too, were confined to the small island in Nagasaki Bay originally built for the Portuguese. In their records they usually referred to the place as Deshima, although it is as Dejima that this is commonly known in Nagasaki today. When the factory was moved to Nagasaki, the children of mixed blood on Hirado were all deported to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. A number of letters they subsequently wrote to the relatives they left behind have survived, casting light on the life of exile they led far from their homeland. The cultural memory of loss evoked by these poignant letters also inspired the occasional creative forgery, notably the famous ‘Jakatarabumi’, an embroidered copy of which is kept on display at the Hirado Tourist Archives.42 In the wake of the Shimabara Rebellion, the campaign to stamp out Christianity in Kyushu moved into its final phase. Despite the preceding years of persecution, it is thought that there were still some 150,000 Christians there when the Portuguese were expelled in 1639.43 Over the next two generations, however, so many were forced to renounce their faith that, superficially at least, the ‘problem’ appeared to have been ‘resolved’. Specially appointed magistrates known as Kirishitan bugyō led the hunt, as once a year the residents of each ward in Nagasaki were 183

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan gathered together and compelled to step on images of Jesus or Mary. The first reference to this practice of ‘picture-trampling’ (fumi-e) dates to 1658, but a Swedish doctor called Karl Thunberg employed at Dejima recorded such scenes more than a century later when he arrived in Nagasaki in 1775.44 Such was the culture of intolerance in the midseventeenth century that, of the 608 Christians who were found in the Ōmura area near Nagasaki in 1657, 411 were killed, seventy-eight were imprisoned and died from disease, twenty served life sentences and only ninety-nine were pardoned.45 Those Christians who still clung on to their faith after decades of persecution were eventually driven underground. Such communities of ‘Hidden Christians’ (Kakure Kirishitan) often developed in some of the remotest areas of Kyushu, stretching from Amakusa in the south to the north coast of Hizen, Hirado and beyond to the outlying Gotō islands. To avoid detection their religious services and imagery became ingenuously blended with existing Shinto and Buddhist symbols. In their eyes, statuettes of Kannon-sama, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, could represent Mary, with only a cross discreetly etched into the back or the base hinting at any visible distinction.46 A devotional text used by some communities called the Tenchi hajimari-koto (The Beginning of Heaven and Earth) was clearly inspired by the Book of Genesis, but also included Buddhist terms and references to Japanese folk tales.47 It is not clear to what extent this hybrid blend of Christianity and existing religions had already set in before the Kakure Kirishitan went underground, or whether it was developed purely in response to the need for survival. For many, however, the adoption of Christianity may have been ‘just an addition to their religious life’, embedded ‘within their already rich tradition of beliefs, which contained elements of Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism and folk religion’.48 The custom at Shinto festivals of carrying shrines of kami deities on portable mikoshi floats, for example, could easily be adapted to Kakure Kirishitan needs. In some places a kami known as Gozen-sama was believed to be a manifestation of Jesus and, as a result, the local devotional calendar revolved around ceremonies for the ritual preservation of this deity’s shrines. On Ikitsuki Island near Hirado, an annual festival is still held for Hattaisama, a local kami of the five cereals originally created in memory of a Christian woman who was once caught in a flood and drowned.49 It should not be forgotten that, besides these Hidden Christians, 184

Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance some Buddhist communities in southern Kyushu also suffered persecution and were driven underground. Pure Land Buddhism had grown rapidly during the age of warring states, influenced by the militant Ikkō sect which, for several decades had preserved its independent control over much of Kaga in central Honshu. Viewing such religious activity as a challenge to his authority, Sagara Haruhiro, the daimyo of Hitoyoshi, banned the Ikkō sect from his domain in 1555.50 This proscription was then reinforced by the house of Shimazu as Satsuma expanded its control over southern and central Kyushu. Quite apart from their own Zen loyalties, the Shimazu family’s intolerant attitude was influenced by their suspicion that monks of the Ikkō sect had conspired to open the way for Hideyoshi’s march on Kagoshima in 1587. The ban would remain in place in both Hitoyoshi and Satsuma, resulting in Buddhist communities hidden away in remote areas like the foothills of Mt Kirishima. When thousands of adherents were later discovered throughout Satsuma territory during the 1830s, most were punished with fines, although some ringleaders were exiled or even executed. At the onset of Meiji rule forty years later this climate of repression also contributed to the terrible destruction inflicted on temples in Satsuma during the movement to separate Shinto and Buddhist sites.51 By keeping a low profile, meanwhile, many Kakure Kirishitan communities around the western seaboard of Kyushu managed to survive throughout the Tokugawa era. The level of surveillance may have diminished over time, but there was always the danger of exposure and even reprisals. In the Urakami district of Nagasaki, for example, local informants told the authorities about their Christian neighbours on a number of occasions dating back at least to 1790.52 In 1805, large numbers of Kakure Kirishitan were also ‘discovered’ in the Ōe area near Sakitsu in Amakusa.53 Official practice dictated that an investigation be launched and the details recorded, and those on the register were subjected to fumi-e inspections such as at Nagasaki and also some legal discrimination. The local authorities, however, showed little enthusiasm for punishing otherwise law-abiding villagers, and perhaps because the forbidden religion was no longer perceived as such a major threat, these heretical activities were often tolerated, if not condoned. The remaining Christian communities were nevertheless placed in a deeply ambivalent position after 1859 when, following Commodore Perry’s demands for trade, the first treaty ports were opened in Japan. 185

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan In Nagasaki foreign merchants were free to practise their Christian faith, resulting in the construction of Ōura Church in 1864, the oldest church building in Japan today. Native residents, however, remained bound by the ban on Christianity established more than two hundred years before. When some of them took to attending mass at the new church the following year, a large Christian community was uncovered in the nearby Urakami district. French priests at the time estimated that in addition to the five or six thousand Christians still in Amakusa, there were 20,000 dispersed in various communities around Nagasaki.54 Some of these Urakami Christians were imprisoned and, since the ban remained in force even after the collapse of the Tokugawa regime, in 1868 as many as 3,500 were exiled to twenty different locations around the country. The harsh conditions they suffered in captivity proved to be a deep embarrassment to the new Meiji government until, under pressure from the Western powers, the notice-boards proclaiming the ban on Christianity were taken down at last, and they were finally allowed to return.55 It would still be several years before freedom of religion was universally recognized, but now in this more open climate various Kakure Kirishitan communities began to emerge after their long vigil underground. Catholic missionaries were initially enthused by these remarkable developments, but became more circumspect when they noticed the glaring irregularities in religious practice that some villages had acquired during the centuries of isolation from Rome. In many parts of Amakusa and Nagasaki the people were persuaded to conform and were reconciled at last to the Catholic Church. In others, notably on Ikitsuki and the outlying Gotō Islands, the local people refused to surrender the rites they had silently protected for so many generations. As a result, their hybrid form of Christianity survived, and some communities still preserve this unique religious tradition although, as with the Catholic parish of Sakitsu in Amakusa, their numbers are dwindling by the year.

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CHAPTER 10

THE GREAT PEACE IN KYUSHU

 ebruary nights in Nagasaki – or late in January if the Chinese New Year comes early – are lit up by thousands of colourful lanterns strung along the main streets. In the heart of the city crowds throng the Shinchi ‘Chinatown’ quarter and stroll through the ornately painted west gate to a little park across the road, where variety shows are held in a sea of illuminated floats. This Lantern Festival is not particularly steeped in tradition, but is one of various events that illustrate the importance of tourism to the Nagasaki economy. It is also a cultural legacy of the unique status this city once held during the centuries of Tokugawa rule, when it flourished as the only designated port for incoming foreign ships and their merchandise. The Dutch also left their imprint on Nagasaki. Just a few steps away from Shinchi lies Dejima, site of the Dutch factory which, for over two hundred years, housed the only Europeans permitted to trade. Once it was a fan-shaped island built in the bay and accessible from the shore only over a short wooden bridge. Now it is surrounded by reclaimed land, ringed by multi-storey car parks and tramway lines as modern urban Nagasaki, ever short of space, encroaches on the narrow estuary at the head of the bay. For several years now a reconstruction project has been gradually restoring the island to its original shape. Walls and moats are being built to separate its wooden buildings and stone warehouses from the bustling street life around. A few miles up the coast another example of this influence has taken shape at the resort of Huis ten Bosch (‘House in the Woods’). Built in the 1990s entirely in Dutch style, the complex has a town square, church, several hotels, self-catering cottages, windmills and canals. Naturally, springtime is a riot of tulips.1

F

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan For Japanese visitors these are just some of the ‘exotic’ features to be found especially in Nagasaki, and other parts of Kyushu. For residents it is a more a natural outcome of living on the shores of the East China Sea and the cosmopolitan level of cultural influence this has sometimes fostered. Nagasaki remains a favourite destination for parties of schoolchildren enjoying the educational trips organized by junior and senior high schools from all over the country. Visitors arrive in their coachloads, and a highlight often included at some stage in the tour is a journey by cable car up Mt Inasa. At 1,092 feet high, the observatory platform at the summit affords panoramic views over the natural amphitheatre of Nagasaki Bay. After sunset, the city lights scattered across the slopes on all sides combine to form, together with similar scenes at Kobe and Hakodate, one of Japan’s ‘three famous nightscapes’.2 Hemmed in by wooded mountains, Nagasaki Bay is a long narrow stretch of water now filled with fishing boats, ferries and the occasional warship. In times past Chinese and Dutch vessels were moored here, successors themselves to an earlier generation of Portuguese and Spanish galleons. With the aid of binoculars, visitors to Mt Inasa can make out the roofs of neo-colonial villas and church steeples on the far side of the bay, which were built in a subsequent age of mail steamers in the late nineteenth century. Looking west and far out to sea, the Gotō Islands can also be seen on a clear day, still home to communities that preserve the Kakure Kirishitan faith of their forbears. Facing inland to the east, a long red brick line can be identified as the walls of Urakami Cathedral, built in 1959 after the original building was destroyed by the atomic bomb. Nearby is the large open space of the Peace Park, a symbolic reminder of the disaster that befell Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. A walk through this park takes the visitor past rows of monuments donated in friendship, mostly by former allies of the Soviet Union. In terms of scale, however, these pale into insignificance before the massive statue – half-Buddha, half-Zeus – that forms the backdrop for commemorative ceremonies each year. By the foot of the statue people hang long chains of colourful paper cranes, often made by schoolchildren in a collective effort before they arrive. Besides tourism the main pillar of Nagasaki’s economy is the shipbuilding industry, as shown by the docks of the Mitsubishi Shipyard that dominate the Akunoura shore at the foot of Mt Inasa. This also has Dutch origins, as it was engineers sent from Holland who developed 188

The Great Peace in Kyushu the first workshops here in the 1850s. More recently in the post-war era, shipbuilding played a key role in Japan’s economic recovery, and in the 1980s the world’s longest dry dock – one kilometre from end to end – was built by Mitsubishi further along the coast of Nagasaki Bay. Competition from cheaper labour forces, first in South Korea and then China, has since affected the demand for the tankers that were once made in Japan. In response, the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard has diversified into the manufacture of high-speed cargo vessels, wind farm blades and the luxury passenger liners sometimes called ‘floating hotels’, such as P&O’s Diamond Princess.3 Today, Nagasaki is a relatively small city by Japanese standards with a population of around 430,000. At the onset of Tokugawa rule it was still in its infancy as a trading port, but was fast emerging as the strategic centre of the new regime’s tightly controlled external relations. Just as the few Europeans who were still permitted access might see it as ‘a window on Japan’, it also offered the richest source of information on developments beyond Japan’s shores. Throughout the medieval era Hakata had enjoyed undisputed status as the pre-eminent port in Kyushu, rivalled in Japan only by Sakai near Osaka. It could still boast a larger population and a substantial volume of domestic trade, but now in the more rarefied air of state control in the Tokugawa era, Nagasaki emerged in Hakata’s place as the focal point of Kyushu’s cultural relations with the outside world. The Tokugawa order in Kyushu In the generations following the Battle of Sekigahara, officials in Edo could defend the political legitimacy of the new regime by citing what became known as the ‘Great Peace’ (taihei) of the Tokugawa shogunate, often referred to also as the ‘Pax Tokugawa’. In their view, the bakufu government now in power was the natural ruling authority, having established order at last after the chaotic age of warring states. In many parts of northwest Kyushu this struck a rather hollow note as it was achieved at the expense of a long and intense campaign of persecution conducted against local Christian communities. While other areas of Japan settled down to a relatively peaceful existence as Tokugawa rule was imposed, here it would be several decades before the culture of terror was finally removed. For those religious communities forced 189

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan underground the memory of this trauma never quite disappeared. One outcome was the close attention the bakufu government paid to the region in terms of territorial control. Nagasaki itself was now under the jurisdiction of magistrates (bugyō) appointed directly by the shogun. Following the calamity of the Shimabara Rebellion, order was also quickly re-imposed by removing the two daimyo lords, Matsukura Katsuie and Terazawa Katataka, who had failed to control their domains in Shimabara and Amakusa respectively. Over time, the ‘Great Peace’ would gradually become the recognized hallmark of the Tokugawa regime for much of Kyushu as well as Honshu and Shikoku. Some domains could be reallocated or even come under the direct control of Edo if their incumbent rulers transgressed the new stringent rules of conduct for daimyo lords and forfeited their right of tenure as vassals of the shogun. The process of confiscating domains, known as kaieki, enabled the first three generations of shoguns to acquire territories amounting to a quarter of the total landed wealth in Japan. Much of this was located in the Tokugawa power base around the Kantō plain in eastern Honshu, but in addition to Nagasaki there were some notable examples in Kyushu. One was a direct result of the ignominious fall of Ōtomo Yoshimune, who was not only stripped of his lands for the cowardice he had shown in the face of the Ming armies in northern Korea, but then tried in vain to regain them by fighting against Tokugawa’s allies on the eve of Sekigahara. The new bakufu government was now in a position to acquire some of the extensive former Ōtomo lands strategically located in the mountainous uplands in the heart of Kyushu. Since this area, like Nagasaki, was under direct Tokugawa control, it became known as the ‘heavenly territory’ (tenryō) of the Hita basin. It also went on to become something of a regional cultural centre, partly due to the influence of officials despatched from Edo and also because of the prominent role that Hita merchants played in supplying commodities from Kyushu to the populous cities in central Honshu. They were well placed, moreover, to develop an influential network of contacts in most areas of Kyushu (except the far south). The Hirose family, for example, moved from Hakata to Hita in 1673 to build their fortune. From there they were able to use the profits they made from their distribution trade to provide support for several enterprises in northern Kyushu, such as the wax industry in the Fukuoka domain.4 In the financially straitened climate 190

The Great Peace in Kyushu from the late eighteenth century onwards, merchant groups like the Hirose family would also become noted for the high interest loans they advanced not only to regional businesses but prominent samurai and a number of daimyo lords as well.5 Unlike the previous Kamakura and Muromachi regimes, the Tokugawa bakufu made no attempt to rule Kyushu through Dazaifu, the ‘distant court’ of Heian antiquity. It was Hita that became the administrative hub of the island in the eyes of the central authorities and to here that bakufu officials from other tenryō territories in the region reported each year. The city was also valuable to the regime due to its rich resources in forestry and mining. With almost unerring accuracy the Tokugawa authorities managed to confiscate lands throughout Japan wherever there were important copper and silver mines to be found. This was hardly coincidental since it allowed them to control the lion’s share of the realm’s mineral wealth. In the Taio district deep in the mountains south of Hita, for example, officials and bandits alike were drawn by the prospects for gold panning. To this day there are various reminders of Hita’s once prestigious status under Tokugawa rule, among them the festival in May when floating banquets are held on boats fitted with lanterns on the Mikuma River. Another unusual sight in this wide stretch of water at the confluence of two rivers is cormorant fishing, introduced long ago from China but rarely seen now in Japan.6 Besides territories such as Hita and Nagasaki that were under direct administration, the bakufu was able to call on the allegiance of a host of smaller lords known as fudai daimyo, whose cumulative landed wealth served to tip the overall balance of power in favour of the Tokugawa regime. In such domains there was a relatively high turnover of ruling families, as they were often subject to redistribution by the shogun. Many were located in eastern Honshu and served as a buffer zone, effectively forming a protective shield around the Tokugawa heartland in the Kantō plain. In Kyushu there were few examples, largely confined to the relative safety of the east coast of the island, stretching from Kokura in the north to Nakatsu, Kitsuki, Funai (Ōita) and Nobeoka further south. There were only three fudai domains beyond this coastline: two of these were in the Amakusa Islands and the Shimabara peninsula, strategically reinforcing the bakufu’s authority in this once volatile region; the other was Karatsu, quite close by on 191

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan the north coast of Hizen. In this domain no less than six different families would rule over the territory at different times. One of these was the Matsudaira, an old name for the Tokugawa line used by distant relatives of the shogun and often adopted by lords of fudai domains to lend their families reflected prestige. From the perspective of Edo officials, however, much of Kyushu was still potentially hostile territory largely beyond their control. Isolated pockets of land under direct bakufu rule and fudai allies alone were not enough to allow them to interfere very actively in the internal affairs of the independent tozama domains. Literally meaning ‘outer lords’, these were often powerful rulers who, in the political settlement after the Battle of Sekigahara, had either been allocated or already controlled lands in outlying regions where they were strategically kept at arm’s length from the Tokugawa power base at Edo. Much of Kyushu was in the hands of such lords who, as long as they subscribed to Tokugawa regulations, were largely left to their own devices within their own domains. In some respects, therefore, the tozama domains that stretched along the ‘outer’ western seaboard of Kyushu appeared very much as self-contained autonomous states. Moreover, they included some of the richest territories in the Japanese islands. According to the rather idealized image of an agrarian economy imposed by the authorities, landed wealth was measured in terms of the unit koku – the equivalent of five bushels of rice or enough to feed a man for a year. This kokudaka (crop yield) system had become widespread among western daimyo lords during the age of warring states, and had then been extended by Hideyoshi to encompass the whole country. Satsuma, with 728,000 koku, was second in size only to Kaga (1,000,000), while Higo (Kumamoto) and Chikuzen (Fukuoka) both held lands returning over 500,000 koku, and Hizen (Saga) had 357,000.7 These were all in the top ten among the 260 or so daimyo domains that emerged intact in the late seventeenth century after the initial rounds of kaieki confiscations had finally stopped.8 In addition, a number of other tozama lords ruled over smaller territories in Kyushu, among them the Matsura (in Hirado), Sagara (Hitoyoshi), Arima (Kurume), and Tachibana (Yanagawa).9 Each daimyo developed his own administrative structure, managed by samurai retainers and organized on much the same lines as the shogun’s government in Edo, albeit on a more modest scale. This resulted in a complex dual system of fragmented powers (bakuhan taisei), 192

The Great Peace in Kyushu in which regional domainal governments coexisted and overlapped with the bakufu’s more extensive network of bureaucratic control. Some tozama lords were viewed with a measure of guarded trust by the Edo authorities, and together with the fudai daimyo they played an important role in sustaining the Tokugawa’s ‘Great Peace’ in Kyushu. The Kuroda family now in control of Fukuoka had always been loyal vassals, for example, and Nabeshima Naoshige, the daimyo of Saga in Hizen, had also thrown in his lot with Ieyasu on the eve of Sekigahara. It was this political background that prompted the bakufu to entrust Fukuoka and Saga with the task of supplying troops to maintain security in and around the port of Nagasaki. Further south, most of Higo was now under the control of Katō Kiyomasa, who had also fought with Ieyasu. His allegiance to the new regime, however, had always remained in doubt, and the fine castle he built at Kumamoto was clearly designed to withstand a protracted siege.10 The domain was later confiscated from the Katō family in 1632, after his son Tadahiro was arrested while travelling up to Edo on a charge of conspiring against the third shogun Iemitsu.11 Tadahiro was sent into exile and his lands re-assigned to Hosokawa Tadatoshi, whose father, Tadaoki, had served under Ieyasu, and his family went on to rule in Kumamoto for the rest of the Tokugawa era. Further south still, and geographically isolated beyond a line of mountain walls, lay the lands of Satsuma, the domain of the powerful Shimazu family. Now established as the oldest ruling line among the major daimyo of Kyushu, they had somehow managed to maintain the trust of Hideyoshi and Ieyasu in turn, despite having mounted a serious challenge for regional hegemony themselves. The Tokugawa regime did not have the power to impose its jurisdiction on such far-flung domains as Fukuoka, Saga, Kumamoto and Satsuma, but it was usually able to the secure the compliance of their rulers. This was achieved by issuing daimyo lords with stringent house regulations, initially applied with the buke shohattō code proclaimed by Ieyasu in 1615. Marriage matches now required the shogun’s approval and, in what amounted to taking hostages, a member of each daimyo’s family was to be kept in Edo at all times. Moreover, every domain was ordered to maintain a sizeable residence there, ostensibly to ensure the comfort of the daimyo’s relatives in exile. Through the system of ‘alternate attendance’ (sankin kōtai), the daimyo himself was also required to 193

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan report to the shogun’s capital every other year. This involved the planning and movement of large-scale processions all the way to Edo and back, their scale fixed according to a domain’s wealth. In the case of larger domains such as Satsuma, this would be an expedition of hundreds of retainers, and invariably more than half of any daimyo’s wealth was expended on these stately residences and processions.12 Systematically draining their vassals’ coffers, in fact, was a key element in the Tokugawa bakufu’s strategy for keeping powerful daimyo in a submissive state. This could also take the form of ordering expensive construction projects such as irrigation schemes. In the opening years of Tokugawa rule, it was most often evident in the stipulation contained in the buke shohattō code that each domain must have only one castle (ikkoku ichijō-rei). The hill-top fortresses that had characterized the age of warring states, particularly in Kyushu and western Honshu, were torn down and castles built instead on open low-lying sites. The cost this entailed placed a substantial burden on local economies, so much in the case of Shimabara that it contributed to provoking the rebellion of 1637. Once built, however, the settlement of daimyo lords in their new castle bases would have a lasting impact on the shape of society in Kyushu under Tokugawa rule. Towns, country and roads Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Ōita and Saga have a familiar ring today as prefectures in Kyushu, and more specifically the prefectural capitals that bear their names. Now they mean more to residents and visitors than the archaic names of the provinces they replaced: Chikuzen, Satsuma, Ōsumi, Higo, Bungo and Hizen. These regional urban centres have all grown out of the castle towns that were developed as the capitals of daimyo domains during the ‘Great Peace’ of Tokugawa rule. Intended as symbols of strength in a peacetime order, the new castles in Kyushu were formidable strongholds. The most magnificent example is Kumamoto Castle, girdled by a deep moat and outer walls rising to a great height. Inside, a maze of passages is flanked by thick stone walls surmounted by pitch-black wooden turrets, and at the centre a massive keep. These wooden buildings were later destroyed by fire during the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, but the castle was never stormed and the reconstructed towers still dominate the Kumamoto 194

The Great Peace in Kyushu skyline. From the top of the keep on a clear day, even Mt Aso can be seen far in the distance inland. In front of the main outer gate at Kumamoto stands a large bronze statue of Katō Kiyomasa, who in the early years of Tokugawa rule used all his experience of castle-building in Korea to create what has been recognized as his masterpiece. The reconstruction of the castle keep in the post-war era was by far the grandest project of its kind in Kyushu, but there are several others, notably at Shimabara and, on a smaller scale, at Karatsu, Hirado, Kokura and Kitsuki. In the whole of Japan, in fact, there are only twelve castles that retain their original keeps, since most structures of this kind today are the result of restoration work, often featuring liberal use of concrete. 13 In Kyushu, some of what were once the most imposing castles have for long been left largely unrestored. The wide outer moat of Saga Castle, for example, encloses a site large enough to house the prefectural office, museum, library, gymnasium, a school and the local television station. There is even space for the keep, which became the largest wooden castle reconstruction in Japan when it was restored in 2004. The walls of Fukuoka Castle are also a rambling ruin of open parkland, usually quiet with the one exception of the season for viewing cherry blossom in the spring. Then the grounds are packed with parties of revellers who use every inch of available grass as they stake out their territory with blue plastic sheets. Inside the outer walls of the castle there is also enough open space for an athletics ground with a running track, together with the now disused Heiwa-dai baseball stadium, which for much of the post-war era concealed the site of the ancient Kōrokan. For all the landed wealth of the Satsuma domain, however, the walls of Tsurumaru Castle in Kagoshima are laid out on a relatively modest scale. An explanation regularly offered is the local legend that the Shimazu were protected not so much by castle walls but by their men. There is still enough space within the walls to house the Reimeikan, or ‘Museum of Awakening’, built in deference to the pivotal role that Satsuma played in the nineteenth century during the ‘opening of Japan’. In each domain the castle served as the official residence of the daimyo and his immediate family of monbatsu rank, who represented the pinnacle of the local hierarchy of samurai retainers. Some daimyo lords, notably Shimazu, Nabeshima and Hosokawa, also spent much of their time in the extensive villas they built in parkland settings. Tokugawa 195

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan regulations, however, compelled them to confine their retinues of samurai vassals largely within their designated castle towns. Highranking retainers lived in the immediate vicinity of the castle walls, with each residence boasting an imposing gate, while lower-ranking officials occupied smaller dwellings beyond in more outlying quarters. In some places such residences can still be seen, such as in the ‘samurai district’ (buke-machi) close to Shimabara Castle. A partial exception to this pattern occurred in Satsuma where, in addition to the castle town of Kagoshima, small satellite communities of samurai officials were maintained in rural locations throughout the domain. This resulted in a large population of ‘rural samurai’ (gōshi), which reinforced the Satsuma tradition of strength in numbers. Due to their countryside setting, some of these old samurai quarters have been spared the modern urban development that has destroyed so many castle towns. Isolated examples of these buke-machi districts still survive around Kagoshima as a result, such as at Izumi on the west coast, and in the small town of Chiran tucked away in the hills of the Satsuma peninsula. Under the influence of first Hideyoshi and then the Tokugawa regime, Japan became a militarized society adapted for peacetime control. The ruling elite of samurai warrior bureaucrats comprised as much as 7 per cent of the population, but for their livelihood they were entirely dependent on stipends received from their daimyo lords, calculated according to rank. The crops that effectively supported the samurai in their castle town were grown by the peasantry, who made up the majority of the population, and were settled in rural villages scattered around the domain. Rice became the staple of the urban population, which is why a succession of shortages later in the Edo period quickly resulted in a state of famine. In the Fukuoka domain, the Kyōho famine in the 1730s was so severe that as many as 70,000 – or 22 per cent of the population – are thought to have died.14 In the countryside, however, the peasants who supplied the towns with food subsisted on dry field crops and ate rice only on special occasions, while fish was confined mainly to coastal areas. Physical segregation was a key element in this social system, as peasants were tied to the land and not permitted to live in the castle town. This policy reinforced the ‘sword hunts’ instigated by Hideyoshi and his campaign to draw a veil over the chaos of the warring states by concentrating weapons in samurai hands. Just as there was a clearly-defined samurai hierarchy in the castle 196

The Great Peace in Kyushu town, gradations in rank gradually became conspicuous within village communities as well. Besides the village headman, wealthier families often acquired increasingly disproportionate amounts of land. Some of this could be rented out to poorer tenant farmers who had been forced to give up their own plots after failing to pay the levies imposed by the domain. Although the principle of confining peasants to the countryside was maintained for several generations, the pressures resulting from this widening social inequality ensured that such landless farmers would be among the first to find their way to the new settlements which later grew up on the fringes of the castle town. In addition to its samurai residents, the town itself was reserved foremost for the various artisans who furnished them with everyday commodities. Prefectural capitals in Kyushu today are littered with place names that recall the quarters where they worked. Gofuku-machi in Fukuoka, Nishiki-machi in Saga and Kajiya-machi in Nagasaki, for example, were once the districts of tailors, brocade makers and blacksmiths respectively.15 Merchants were also permitted to live in the castle town, as they provided a vital lifeline for urban consumers through their distribution networks and shop premises. Between them these artisans and merchants became generally identified as ‘townsfolk’ (chōnin), sharing the town with urban dwellers of various callings from samurai officials to priests. The Tokugawa authorities employed a neo-Confucian framework to justify the rigid class-based social hierarchy they tried to enforce throughout Japan. This drew on the writings of Zhu Xi, a Song dynasty philosopher whose ideas ultimately had a wider impact in Korea and Japan than his own homeland in China. The class structure now observed in Japan consisted of four general bands abbreviated as shi-nō-kō-shō indicating, in descending order, samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants. In an adaptation of Zhu’s principles, the peasantry were ranked second only to the ruling samurai class, their value to society clearly reflected in the crops they produced to sustain the economy. Artisans were ranked next since they also made tangible products. However wealthy they were, however, merchants were classified beneath them since they had no crops or artefacts to show for their labours. Among the lowest ranked of all urban residents were the peddlers who had no capital of their own and required licences to hawk their wares. This at least was the Confucian ideal of ‘agricultural fundamentalism’ 197

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan employed by the Tokugawa authorities to impose order on their world. The vision of an agrarian economy it presupposed, however, was perhaps more of a political convention than an accurate reflection of the society they controlled. As much as 80 to 90 per cent of the population consisted of people classified as hyakushō, literally meaning ‘people with various names’. In practice, these were assorted commoners who lived mainly outside the castle towns, including many who had been disarmed during the sword hunts. There is still a strong tendency in Japan to equate hyakushō with ‘farmers’, a connotation which the same term does not carry in China or Korea. This dates back to the eighth-century ritsuryō system which attempted, ultimately without success, to tie all the people in this category to the land. In Tokugawa society, however, not all hyakushō spent their working lives ankle-deep in rice paddies. Amino Yoshihiko has estimated that as many as 40 or 50 per cent of people classified as such were engaged in activities other than farming the land. In coastal areas these would include fishing, salt-making and shipping. The rich fishing grounds in the Genkai Sea off the north Kyushu coast, for example, encouraged a high degree of occupational diversity. From the sixteenth century onwards, a number of whaling stations were set up and dolphin drives were also not uncommon.16 Even today, on some islands off this coast there are female divers (ama) who go in search of the highly prized local sea urchin (uni).17 They represent an ancient tradition, as the ‘fishermaids’ (ama) in their rowing boats near Shikanoshima Island at the mouth of Hakata Bay once caught the eyes of eighth-century poets and appear in the Man’yōshū, Japan’s oldest anthology of verse. 18 In the mountainous areas of Kyushu as well, occupations included hunting, the lumber industry, mining, carpentry and pottery. Near Kokura in the far north, for example, coal was first discovered in the fifteenth century in the area now known as Chikuhō, although it was not until the eighteenth century that there were significant levels of production.19 Also scattered in the mountains close to clay quarries were various communities of potters, among them Arita in Hizen and the hamlet of Sarayama not far from Hita.20 The proportion of the hyakushō population who devoted their time to farming, therefore, was clearly lower in these coastal and highland areas than more open spaces like the Saga and Hyūga plains. And even in those areas where the land was covered with rice paddies, other trades were developed as well, among 198

The Great Peace in Kyushu them breweries, water mills and river ferries. As Amino contends, ‘the common view that Japan was an agricultural society must be seen as a fabrication’.21 Moreover, these farming communities did not devote all their time to growing rice. Dry field crops included wheat, millet, pulse and, in Satsuma, sweet potatoes, all products now used to distil the shōchū gin that has become so popular in Kyushu and Korea. Among the fruits and other products also harvested from trees were persimmons, oranges, chestnuts, mulberry bark and lacquer. In many places still today, orchards of ripening persimmons provide a colourful feature in the autumn, for example stretching for miles along the upper slopes of the Chikugo valley. It was principally as a tool of political control, therefore, that the Tokugawa authorities employed their agrarian calculation of revenue. To accommodate such a diversity of produce, wealth was effectively measured in what amounted to a convertible rice standard. The labour supplied and the profits made from sundry trades were all understood in terms of notional koku units. In addition to sacks of rice these could be viewed under headings such as the ‘fruits of the mountains’ (yama no sachi) and ‘fruits of the sea’ (umi no sachi). It was the daimyo of Fukuoka, for example, who granted fishing villages in his domain access to the Genkai Sea. The villages paid for this privilege by providing ‘sea products for the lord’s table’ and performing corvée duties.22 Imposed by the ruling order and policed by samurai officials, the shinō-kō-shō structure allowed little room for social mobility. Intermarriage between classes was prohibited, and residential quarters clearly segregated. The four recognized categories also ignored some other smaller groups which fell outside the mainstream, among them priests, monks and street entertainers. The culture of exclusion this created was felt most keenly by those minorities who were considered beneath notice in Tokugawa society. Not far from the towns, for example, lived communities of leather workers and others involved in such tasks as handling slaughtered livestock. The sensibilities of the urban population dictated that they and their work were kept out of sight even though, in the case of the Fukuoka domain for example, they are thought to have comprised about 6 per cent of the population around 1870.23 These outcast groups, generally known as eta and hinin, suffered from a culture of discrimination which, despite legislation and ongoing campaigns to 199

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan achieve recognition and social equality, is still apparent to some extent today.24 Ironically, the principles of neo-Confucian theory that had been intended to create social stability were gradually undermined by the ramifications of economic growth which emerged in the more settled climate of Tokugawa rule. Along with several generations of peacetime arrived a level of prosperity that was instrumental in generating the rapid expansion of the castle town. The prodigious rate of urbanization was nowhere more apparent than Edo, the Tokugawa capital in the Kantō plain where, complete with its hundreds of daimyo residences, the population exceeded one million by the eighteenth century.25 Edo was rivalled only by the merchant city of Osaka, which became renowned as ‘the kitchen of Japan’ in its role as the country’s major depot and distribution centre for domestic trade. In Kyushu as well, commercial centres such as Nagasaki and Hakata experienced growth, influenced partly by the flight of impoverished tenant farmers from the countryside. Here in these mercantile cities the rigid class divisions of Tokugawa society were put under severe strain. Some merchants were able to build large personal fortunes and could end up becoming wealthier than many samurai officials, regardless of their social station. In most domains the daimyo’s retainers were also subjected to increasing pressure to lead a more frugal lifestyle, due to the strictures of economic recession that took hold in the eighteenth century. Lower-ranking samurai families could become so destitute that they might turn to loans to survive, and ultimately it would become socially acceptable in some cases to arrange marriages with wealthy merchant houses. In Kyushu these trends were perhaps most visible in Hakata which, although an old merchant city, was only a short walk away from Fukuoka, the new castle town built and developed by the Kuroda family in the seventeenth century. Over time these two settlements eventually merged, and the Tenjin district that is now the downtown area occupies the space that once lay between them. One outcome that often confuses modern travellers arriving in Fukuoka by rail or sea is when they are told to alight at Hakata Station or Hakata International Port Terminal. This is because of the decision taken in 1889 to name the city Fukuoka but keep the port as Hakata, as it had been for over a millennium already. The station, meanwhile, also retained the name of Hakata, but more recently the airport, just a short taxi ride away, was named Fukuoka 200

The Great Peace in Kyushu when it opened in 1972 on the site of the Itazuke Air Base used by the US Air Force in the post-war era. A major reason for the commercial prosperity merchants enjoyed during the ‘Great Peace’ of Tokugawa rule was the development of an integrated transport network. Communications were greatly improved as, for the first time since the Saikaidō of the Nara period, roads were laid throughout Kyushu and systematically maintained. Whereas all roads had once led to Dazaifu, in former times the region’s administrative capital, now the emphasis lay rather on facilitating access for daimyo processions to ports on the east coast of the island for the onward journey to Edo. The Nagasaki Kaidō Highway, for instance, bypassed Dazaifu and cut straight through the hills to the port at Kokura on the shore of the Kanmon Straits. The daimyo of Fukuoka would reach Kokura by the road along the north coast, while the journey from Kumamato involved traversing the central highlands of Kyushu, passing through the caldera of Mt Aso on the way, before emerging on the east coast at Funai (Ōita). After the onward voyage through the Inland Sea to Osaka, daimyo processions from Kyushu and western Honshu converged on the Tōkaidō, the Great Eastern Highway, for the last stretch of the journey to the shogun’s capital. These highways now had staging posts (shukueki) furnished with inns and stables which, in accordance with Tokugawa law, were maintained at the expense of the daimyo whose territory they ran through. In terms of scale none compared with the Tōkaidō, where the staging posts immortalized in the early nineteenth-century prints by Hiroshige were sometimes transformed into small towns overnight whenever two daimyo processions crossed paths.26 Perhaps the most unusual visitor ever to pass this way en route to Edo was an elephant the shogun acquired from Annam (Vietnam), which arrived in Nagasaki in 1728.27 In Kyushu as well, the highways helped to foster economic development and provided more scope for itinerant travellers, among them early tourists on the Buddhist pilgrimages that were popularized during the Tokugawa era. The relative leniency that border guards showed towards such pilgrims contributed to what amounted to a major travel boom throughout the country by the onset of the nineteenth century.28 Roads also had a lasting impact on modern life since the major railway lines and national highways in Kyushu still follow these winding 201

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan routes down both coasts from Kokura in the north as far as Kagoshima in the south. Only in recent years have motorways and bullet train lines strayed from this blueprint to take more direct routes inland, running over bridges high above valleys and through tunnels cut deep in the mountains. On the Kyushu Expressway, for example, a series of thirteen tunnels now stretches for over ten miles between the Yatsushiro and Yamae interchanges, through the wall of mountains that once kept Satsuma isolated from the rest of the island. This southern part of Kyushu has been geographically cut off for so long that the first bullet train route did not open here until 2004, and it will be 2010 before it is finally linked to the main terminus at ‘Hakata’ in the north. The road network may have improved communications for travellers, but social restrictions still kept most of the population largely confined to their own localities. Each domain maintained its own border controls along these major highways and operated what was in many respects a self-contained economy within its boundaries.29 Merchants, for example, were sometimes dependent on patronage from their daimyo to win monopolies over the limited niche markets in the domain. The use of currency, as well, was not always universal, for while silver was favoured in the west of Japan, copper was more prevalent further east, and in the nineteenth century several domains, including Fukuoka, Saga and Satsuma, would start issuing their own paper bills. The fragmented, almost federal system of political control that developed under Tokugawa rule served to reinforce a high degree of regional consciousness in Kyushu. This was particularly evident in the writings of the ruling samurai class. In Hagakure (In the Shadow of Leaves), his eighteenth-century treatise on the ‘way of the samurai’, Yamamoto Tsunetomo, for example, extolled ‘the wonder of being born into a clan with such a deep pledge between master and servant’.30 For much of this period, therefore, any patriotic attachment to ‘country’ often related more to the local domain than any wider notion of Japanese identity. Besides such expressions of clan affiliation, dialects also contributed to regional awareness in Kyushu. In some localities, these were so marked as to be practically incomprehensible to outsiders from other parts of Japan. The famously impenetrable Satsuma dialect, so popular tradition holds, was consciously emphasized so as to deter any attempts by Tokugawa spies to infiltrate the domain. Notwithstanding the 202

The Great Peace in Kyushu homogenizing effect of national television and other recent media in the modern era, the various dialects still spoken in Kyushu today are partly the result of the self-contained economies and cultural spheres of influence that once governed everyday life. On the east coast, for example, accents clearly betray a tradition of close relations with communities in Honshu and Shikoku on the far shores of the Inland Sea. The tenryō territory of Hita and the fudai domains seem to have been more receptive to Edo style and other influences prevalent there. The dialects in the lands of the old tozama domains on the western seaboard, however, all bear some relation to each other but are distinct from any other part of Japan. These were all areas in which a high degree of economic independence and cultural autonomy were actively encouraged by the ruling class. For a long time the old castle towns in Kyushu also retained the social conservatism that once characterized their samurai populations. For their part, the merchant communities in commercial centres like Nagasaki and Hakata took pride in their more liberal and cosmopolitan outlook. Traces of these influences survive, despite the rapid social changes that transformed urban life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They are reflected today in the character types still proudly invoked by people in different parts of Kyushu to symbolize what they perceive as their own regional identities. In Saga, for example, there is talk of the ‘spirit of Hagakure’. Kagoshima, in particular, has a reputation for the relatively low rank traditionally accorded to women, or rather the high rank of ‘Satsuma men’. The colourful festivals and urban lifestyle of Nagasaki, meanwhile, have perhaps generated a love for culture over politics. In Fukuoka, the legacy of the Hakata merchants of yore also bears testimony to the spirit of enterprise in a city that is now promoting its international profile once more.31 Viewed from other parts of Japan, some of these features combine to form the more general archetype of the ‘Kyushu man’ (Kyūshū danji), traditionally known for his strong will, loyalty, and occasionally volatile spirit. To some extent this image reflects the perspective of successive regimes based in Honshu that have looked on this island as something of a ‘sleeping volcano’, deceptively tranquil but always a potential seedbed of rebellion. In Toyama Mikio’s view, it was this sense of untapped energy that both the Taira and Ashikaga Takauji once tried to exploit when they headed west to build their power. Seen from this 203

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan angle, ‘it is certainly no coincidence that the rebellions of the Hayato and Iwai in ancient times, the action taken by Shimazu and his allies at Mizushima in the age of rival courts, and later the Saga, Shinpūren and Seinan rebellions against the new Meiji state in the modern era (Hagi excepted), were all the work of men from Kyushu’.32 At the same time, what this also reflects is that the formation of any sense of collective Kyushu identity has been partly mediated by how its people have been perceived from the ‘other’ island of Honshu. Trade and the Nagasaki system It was a desire to explore new perspectives on the world that took the noted Edo painter and scholar Shiba Kōkan to Nagasaki in 1788. On arriving in Kyushu he journeyed inland, traversing the north of the island along the Nagasaki Kaidō Highway. At last he reached the final stage of his journey and, having been allowed through the border checkpoint in the Haruki mountain pass he made his way through the hills of the Urakami district and caught his first sight of the streets of Nagasaki. In the bay he could make out a Dutch flag flying over the small island of Dejima. A short distance to the south seven or eight junks with white flags were moored at the quayside in front of the large walled quarter reserved for Chinese merchants.33 When he later tried to gain access to Dejima, Shiba dressed as a merchant so as to avoid suspicions that he might be spying on behalf of bakufu officials in Edo. He was not allowed to take anything with him, and after being thoroughly searched he made his way across the small bridge and through the guarded gate on the other side.34 The port of Nagasaki was a frontier zone with access restricted in both directions. Shiba had reached the city by way of the entrance on land. By sea the long approach through Nagasaki Bay was also patrolled and permission to land reserved for Dutch vessels and Chinese junks (tōsen). Late in the seventeenth century as trade flourished, three Dutch ships a year would make the voyage from Batavia to Nagasaki, but subsequently this was limited to two. Any Dutch ship approaching this coastline was first required to cast anchor by a tiny island called Takabokojima – known as ‘the Papenberg’ to the Dutch – at the mouth of the bay. A party of bakufu officials would arrive in rowing boats to inspect the merchandise on board before escorting the ship through the 204

The Great Peace in Kyushu bay to dock at Deijima. Intruders were subjected to close scrutiny. A Portuguese embassy of several ships which sailed into Nagasaki in 1647 was soon trapped by a pontoon bridge of small boats thrown rapidly across the bay to block their escape. The envoys on board found bakufu officials in no mood to entertain their requests to reopen trade, and they were only allowed through the chain of boats and out to sea on condition that they never returned.35 Maintaining security in Nagasaki fell to visiting troops of samurai retainers drawn from nearby domains. These men were usually sent by the lords of Fukuoka or Saga who, by the shogun’s command, took it in turns each year to shoulder the responsibility of manning the coastal defences. In the case of an emergency such as the Portuguese incursion in 1647, however, they could be reinforced by troops from various other domains in Kyushu and Shikoku. As a result, no less than thirty-six western domains maintained their own residences (yashiki) in Nagasaki.36 At the hub of this surveillance network was the Bugyō-sho, the magistrates’ offices, where a small army of bakufu retainers coordinated efforts to regulate the city’s trade. The offices located close to the wooden bridge connecting Dejima to the shore allowed them to keep a watchful eye on the small foreign community on the other side, which consisted of about twenty servants of the Dutch East India Company. The only other Japanese people allowed across the bridge were merchants delivering supplies or women from the nearby Maruyama courtesan quarter, a concession granted euphemistically on the pretext of making tea to comfort the residents. Wooden stakes were also driven into the water around the island at regular intervals to mark out an exclusion zone complete with notices warning local boats not to encroach too close.37 The Dutch residents were practically imprisoned on Dejima as nobody was allowed ashore. The only exception was the opperhoofd, the factor known to the Japanese as oranda kapitan, who was allowed to attend the Suwa Shrine festival each year. Every other year, he and a small retinue were also required to make the long journey to Edo under escort to appear before the shogun. It was these expeditions (Edo Sanpo) that furnished Europe with much of its knowledge of Japan under Tokugawa rule. In particular, the observations of Engelbert Kaempfer, a German doctor resident at Dejima in the late seventeenth century, made a significant impact when they were published following his return.38 205

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Under imperial rule in ancient times, the closest equivalent to a minister with any remit over foreign affairs had been the governor of the Dazaifu Headquarters, but for much of Tokugawa rule it was the Nagasaki bugyō who had the most regular contacts with messengers from abroad. By comparison he had much less of a ceremonial role and his portfolio had a strong emphasis on maintaining security. An important element of his remit was to gather and control the flow of information. In return for granting trade rights, bakufu officials were keen to elicit news from the Chinese and Dutch on world affairs. To communicate with the captains of incoming ships they engaged professional interpreters – known as Tō tsūji for Chinese and Oranda tsūji for Dutch – who were drawn from a select group of local families and trained from an early age. The information that officials gleaned from them was written up in the form of fūsetsugaki, which amounted to reports on developments in the world outside. From the late eighteenth century these would attract increasing attention as security fears began to grow.39 Dealing with unexpected visitors also fell under the jurisdiction of the Nagasaki bugyō. In 1708, when an Italian Jesuit priest called Giovanni Battista Sidotti was found on the island of Yakushima off the south coast of Kyushu, he was sent first of all to Nagasaki for interrogation.40 He later died in captivity in Edo, although not before providing the noted scholar Arai Hakuseki with background information for his Seiyō Kibun (Tidings of the West). Another singular example of a stray intruder occurred much later in 1848 when a shipwrecked American adventurer called Ranald MacDonald was found on the island of Rishiri near the coast of Ezo (Hokkaido) in the far north after a disastrous whaling expedition in the Pacific Ocean. MacDonald was promptly transported to Nagasaki for questioning, and it was during his sojourn there that he taught some English to a team of bakufu interpreters, including Moriyama Einosuke who would be called upon to translate when Commodore Perry arrived shortly afterwards.41 Security in Nagasaki was rigidly controlled, but foreign merchants active there were sometimes able to carve out a lucrative trade with Japan. For the Dutch East India Company the Dejima trade was an important source of wealth. When the upheaval caused by the collapse of the Ming dynasty in the seventeenth century restricted access to Chinese porcelain, demand grew instead for what the Europeans knew as ‘Imari ware’ from Japan. Produced inland in a town called Arita under 206

The Great Peace in Kyushu the patronage of the Nabeshima lords of Saga, this owed its origins to the kaolin quarry discovered in 1616 by Lee Cham-Pyung, a Korean master craftsman who had been brought to Japan after Hideyoshi’s invasions. From Arita it was transported overland to the nearby port of Imari, before being shipped around the northwest coast of Kyushu to Nagasaki. Arita porcelain became highly prized by the European aristocracy and examples can often be found displayed in country houses today. It also served as the inspiration behind the development of porcelain manufacture in Europe during the early eighteenth century, first at Meissen before spreading to other centres such as Vienna, Munich, Sèvres, Limoges and Stoke-on-Trent.42 In response to the growing Dutch demand for their products, some of the kilns in Arita also embellished their porcelain with vivid colours and designs so as to appeal to European consumers. Notable among these was the use of crimson highlights that the Kakiemon kiln achieved through a process of multiple firings. The current master of this kiln is the latest in a line stretching thirteen generations back to the seventeenth century, and is one of four ‘living treasures’ among the potters of Arita today.43 Chinese merchants, meanwhile, could make their fortunes in Nagasaki by importing silks and exporting to the continent large quantities of Japanese silver and subsequently copper.44 Their prosperity is visibly reflected in temples such as Sōfukuiji which migrant communities were allowed to build on the fringes of the city. These are clearly distinct in style from Japanese-style Buddhist buildings, and the cemeteries on the steep slopes behind are an unusual feature in a land where cremation predominates. Another striking landmark of more recent origin is the Kōshibyō, a colourfully painted Confucian shrine built by Chinese residents with the aid of the Qing regime in 1893, and the only example of its kind outside China. This longstanding cultural influence is also preserved in the dragon dance that forms a central part of the Kunchi festival held at Suwa Shrine every October, and the dragon boat racing held annually in Nagasaki Bay. Chinese residents were allowed to live anywhere in the city until the special quarter (Tōjin yashiki) was built for them at the end of the seventeenth century. With an unbroken tradition stretching back more than four hundred years, Nagasaki thus has a claim to have one of the oldest ‘Chinatown’ districts anywhere. Other cities in Kyushu such as 207

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Fukuoka and Saga also have areas known as Tōjin-machi, or ‘Chinese Town’, dating to the early seventeenth century. These did not survive as distinct communities, however, as subsequent Tokugawa restrictions either forced them to relocate to the Chinese quarter in Nagasaki or become assimilated with the local population.45 Nagasaki was clearly an international port which handled a significant volume of trade. At the same time the ban on Christianity imposed in the early seventeenth century was consciously upheld, and an intricate system of controlling trade and foreigners’ movements was finalized when the Dutch were moved to Dejima in 1641. From a European perspective, therefore, it was the limitations placed on commerce that appeared more conspicuous. In a land where Portuguese, Spanish and English ships had once traded along the Kyushu coast, now only a handful of Dutch merchants were left, and they were restricted to a tiny off-shore island and guarded night and day. Beyond the footbridge of Dejima the outside world was tantalisingly close but mostly barred from view, an outlook popularized by the influential Kaempfer when he described Japan as a ‘closed country’. This was the origin of the concept of seclusion (sakoku) that still characterizes interpretations of Tokugawa society and often underpins representations of Japanese identity. As Derek Massarella points out, it is ‘embedded in the assumption’ that the country had previously been ‘ “open” to foreigners’, but ‘then the country was “closed” . . . enabling Japan to enjoy the benefits of a “pax Tokugawa”.’46 Given the evidence of continuous external trade in Kyushu, however, this model of an ‘open/closed rhythm to Japanese history’ is probably unsustainable. Neither is it unique, since other regimes in East Asia such as China and Korea also imposed state monopolies on commerce. It was not until 1801, moreover, that Kaempfer’s idea of a ‘closed country’ was translated into Japanese by the Nagasaki interpreter Shizuki Tadao when he created the term sakoku, literally meaning ‘chained country’.47 The theme was only popularized later in the nineteenth century as part of a conscious effort to dissociate the new modern era of the ‘Meiji Enlightenment’ (bunmei kaika) from the old Tokugawa world before the ‘opening of Japan’.48 While recognizing the weakness of the sakoku model, Bruce Batten points out that ‘the frequency and volume of foreign contacts’ in early modern Japan can still be seen as limited by comparison with the 208

The Great Peace in Kyushu explosion of unrestricted trade enabled by the ‘the vacuum of central authority’ before the imposition of Tokugawa rule.49 This marked transition is clearly apparent from the strict regulations the bakufu enforced at the recognized gateways for overseas trade. Nagasaki was the single designated port for Chinese merchants and the Dutch East India Company, but there were also other ports open to foreign commodities. The only example outside Kyushu was far to the north in Ezo (Hokkaido) where officials of the Matsumae domain organized trade with Ainu communities. On the north coast of Kyushu, Hakata was allowed to receive goods imported from Korea by the Tsushima merchants licensed to trade at the ‘Japan House’ (Waegwan) in Pusan. At Kagoshima in the south, the Ryukyu Hall handled not only products imported from the Ryukyu Islands, but also goods that the kingdom’s tribute missions – often funded with silver by Satsuma officials – brought with them on their return from China. While these ‘four ports’ – Nagasaki, Hakata, Kagoshima and Matsumae – represented the full extent of overseas trade in the eyes of the Tokugawa government, as far as Satsuma was concerned its official Kagoshima trade through the Ryukyu Hall was just part of a wider maritime network. Shimazu Iehisa had complied with the directive in 1616 to redirect Chinese ships to Nagasaki as a mark of loyalty, but it seems that the domain never fully subscribed to the Tokugawa edict to confine overseas trade to these recognized gateways. Foreign commercial links continued through several small towns on the west coast of the Satsuma peninsula, notably at Bōnotsu, a natural port of call for ships sailing in these waters. The domain was aware of these activities but chose not to interfere, and this remote coastline was far beyond the pale of Tokugawa control. Significant quantities of goods, moreover, seem to have been ‘smuggled’ in with the collaboration of domain officials. Bōnotsu developed into a flourishing town and its ongoing trade connections are still reflected in the old houses and warehouses in the streets, and the graves of Chinese merchants in the cemetery there. In the nineteenth century this maritime network would also allow one group of merchants, the Hamazaki family, to become a ‘key agent in the domain’s commercial expansion’ through its success in distributing rice, sugar and other commodities to markets in Kyushu and Honshu.50 209

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Education and intellectual currents Throughout Japan the cultural differences to be found between castle towns and merchant cities were clearly reflected in the development of educational institutions. During the eighteenth century in particular, it became a matter of prestige for a domain to open its own school (hankō) in the vicinity of the castle, where the sons of samurai retainers received their training in ‘letters and martial arts’ (bunbu). The first example in Kyushu was the Jishūkan in Kumamoto which opened in 1755, while the Shūyūkan in Fukuoka dates back to 1783. In Saga the Kōdōkan was built in front of the castle, and at a regional level the sense of tradition that such names conjure still carries weight in the educational world today. For children of ‘townsfolk’ (chōnin), however, the only provision was at the schools run by local temples called terakoya. In addition to learning Confucian texts by rote like their samurai peers, pupils at these schools might also receive lessons on how to use an abacus, especially in mercantile centres where the value of calculating profit margins was more widely recognized.51 The most striking intellectual developments in the eighteenth century were the emergence of two new branches of learning; Kokugaku (study of our country) and Rangaku (Dutch Studies). Kokugaku initially arose in a climate of doubt over the ability of neoConfucian learning to inspire recovery from a growing economic malaise inflicted by rising inflation, natural disasters and the pressures of rapid growth. Scholars such as Motoori Norinaga turned instead to ancient classics such as the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) for alternative models that, in the nineteenth century, would culminate in calls for unity under the rehabilitated authority of the emperor.52 Kokugaku seems to have become most widely diffused among fudai domains and featured less prominently in tozama areas. In Kyushu, for example, it flourished in the fudai domain of Nakatsu, where Watanabe Shigena taught the subject at the hankō and attracted a large group of adherents. These ideas did permeate to some tozama domains, however, such as Kumamoto where the growth of ‘Higo Kokugaku’ fostered pride in the traditional samurai culture of this grand castle town. Further south, the study of ‘Satsuma Kokugaku’ developed by Shirao Kunihashira carried a strong element of regional patriotism with its emphasis on imperial links to the area found in the Hyūga myth. In the 210

The Great Peace in Kyushu mid-nineteenth century this tozama domain would also prove an exception to the rule when the daimyo Shimazu Nariakira took an interest in the field and added Kokugaku to the hankō curriculum.53 Rangaku, meanwhile, emerged from a growing body of information on the unseen world outside gleaned from the Dutch merchants based in Nagasaki, now Japan’s ‘window on Europe’. In the years following the expulsion of the Portuguese, the ongoing campaign to stamp out Christianity was so intense that that any European books found on incoming ships were promptly destroyed. Already by the late seventeenth century, however, some Nagasaki interpreters and locally based scholars, such as the merchant astronomer Nishikawa Joken, were able to piece together surveys on international commerce based on Dutch reports and Chinese works.54 During what was a time of rapid scientific advance in Europe, they also began to suspect that foreign learning could be of practical use, especially in the fields of astronomy and medicine. It was the fifth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune who signalled a change in approach in 1720 when he relaxed the restrictions on European books, as long as the contents did not relate to Christianity. Ships arriving in Nagasaki were always rigorously inspected, although this did not prevent a copy of the Bible finding its way to the library of the daimyo of Takeo a few miles inland, catalogued as a work on astronomy. In the eighteenth century astronomers were among the first scholars from surrounding domains to make their way to Nagasaki in an effort to improve their knowledge of calendars. In some cases this contributed to predicting eclipses with greater accuracy.55 In time, however, Rangaku became most commonly associated with medicine, again after doubts had been raised over traditional methods. Although there was still a prevailing cultural taboo against dissecting human bodies, in 1771 two physicians, Sugita Genpaku and Maeno Ryōtaku, were able to verify the accuracy of a German work entitled Tafel Anatomia when they examined the corpse of an executed criminal in Nagasaki.56 Impressed by their results compared with existing knowledge in Japan, they then spent three years translating what was published as Kaitai Shinsho in 1774. Dutch-style medicine became widely studied, particularly at prestigious private schools in Nagasaki and Osaka. It was also the forerunner of what is called ‘Western medicine’ (Seiyō igaku) in Japan today.57 By the end of the eighteenth century the study of Dutch books had developed so fast that, curiously for a society whose outlook was 211

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan confined to a single gateway, as Donald Keene observes, ‘the Japanese were better acquainted with European civilization than the people of any other non-Western country’.58 While limited at first mainly to astronomy and medicine, Rangaku later developed to include a wider range of disciplines, such as the European-style art that Shiba Kōkan popularized before and after his sojourn in Nagasaki. In the early nineteenth century renewed concerns over defence and security also led to wider interest in fields with a military application, among them navigation, gunnery and chemistry. It was the study of Western books that would also build a platform for the subsequent introduction of European science and technology. In late Tokugawa society intellectual developments were reflected in the growing numbers of privately-run specialist academies that appeared mainly in cultural centres. An unusual case in the eighteenth century was the almost reclusive Miura Baien, who retired to the Kunisaki peninsula after attending a private school in nearby Kitsuki, but through his wide reading was able to develop an original approach to philosophy and physics.59 Not far away in Hita during the early nineteenth-century, Hirose Tansō used his family’s mercantile wealth to open the Kangien academy, where he offered an education in Confucian studies with a strong emphasis on self-reliance. His school acquired such a wide reputation that it attracted nearly 5,000 students from all over Japan. Among them was Takano Chōei, who later became a noted scholar of Rangaku after studying Dutch medicine in Nagasaki.60 His career is just one of many that demonstrate the crossfertilization of ideas between Confucian studies, Kokugaku and Rangaku which informed the intellectual outlook of the late Tokugawa world. It also provided the framework for debate and the terms which scholars used to interpret some of the threats that were now emerging to challenge an increasingly fragile social order and even the rule of law from Edo.

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CHAPTER 11

KYUSHU IN THE MEIJI RESTORATION

 he Kagoshima skyline is dominated by the volcano of Sakurajima, a short ferry ride from the city across the bay. Plumes of smoke rise from the crater, dissolve into haze, and when the wind blows from the east the streets are covered in a thin layer of ash. Just along the coast from the city is the Iso-tei villa, situated at the foot of a steep wooded hill with panoramic views over the bay. This was the residence of the Shimazu family, daimyo rulers of the Satsuma domain. It was here on 23 July 1866 that a party of British diplomats was treated to a forty-course banquet to celebrate the renewed friendship between two powers that had recently been at war.1 The bombardment of Kagoshima by a squadron of Royal Navy ships three years before had controversially reduced much of the city to flames, but the invaders also suffered some damage under fire from the gun batteries on the shore. To this day, the sites of these batteries recall the conflict generally known in Japanese as the ‘Anglo-Satsuma War’. It was a pivotal encounter in the final years of Tokugawa rule, reflecting the emergence of Satsuma as a central force in creating the new Meiji state. Close to the entrance of the Iso-tei villa is an old building with thick stone walls. Now called the Shūseikan Museum, in the nineteenth century it housed many of Satsuma’s early experiments with modern technology. Nearby is the Ijinkan, or ‘Foreigners’ Residence’, where a team of Lancashire engineers lived when they helped to set up the Kagoshima Cotton Mill, Japan’s first, here on this site in 1867. The scheme was devised by a samurai with entrepreneurial flair called Godai Tomoatsu. Subsequently he was active in promoting the commercial development of Osaka, a city that would go on to develop such a

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan flourishing textile industry that it later became known abroad as the ‘Manchester of the Orient’. A statue of Godai near his birthplace in the old castle town of Kagoshima is just one of various monuments that represent Satsuma figures who had a formative influence on the growth of the Meiji state. Among these is Tōgō Heihachirō, who as Admiral Togo was hailed in Britain as the ‘Nelson of the Orient’ for his spectacular success in sinking the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima Straits in 1905. Another is Ōkubo Toshimichi, who emerged as the leading architect of Meiji domestic policy in the early years of the new regime. The unassuming statue of Ōkubo is located in a riverside spot slightly removed from the centre, and close to the old castle public attention is mainly focused on the larger-than-life bronze figure of Saigō Takamori, which stands so tall that a signpost directs visitors to a designated place for framing photographs on the other side of the road. Saigō is revered in Japan today as a popular hero of the Meiji Restoration, commemorated in Tokyo by the prominent statue unveiled in Ueno Park in 1898. In Kagoshima Prefecture he is an almost omnipresent figure, his name invoked on roadside advertisements everywhere that lure drivers to the hot spring ‘where he bathed’ or extol the shōchū gin ‘that he loved’. Only recently, a giant statue of Saigō thirtysix feet high was set up outside the main entrance to Kagoshima International Airport. Despite his military victories against the Tokugawa regime, however, he remains an enigmatic figure. In his role as caretaker prime minister in 1873 he was heavily implicated in an unsuccessful movement to launch a military campaign against Korea. Later in 1877, he would lead a rebellion against the same Meiji state that he had helped to install, and he died fighting here in Kagoshima to preserve – according to his legend – traditional samurai values, in the last civil war ever fought on Japanese soil. To many he represents the contradictions of the age in which he lived, as the familiar framework of Tokugawa authority was swept away in the social and economic upheavals that followed the opening of treaty ports to overseas trade. Nagasaki in the ‘opening of Japan’ If Kagoshima took centre stage at some critical moments in the formation and survival of the Meiji state, for much of the nineteenth century 214

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration it was Nagasaki that consistently drew attention as a source of valuable information. Ultimately, it would be the arrival of a squadron of black steamships off the Uraga coast not far from Edo that caused the largest political shockwaves when Commodore Perry delivered his government’s demands to open ports for trade. This was certainly the most visible statement yet of the encroachment of foreign powers in Japanese waters, and clearly demonstrated the technology gap that had opened up in the ‘Age of Steam’. From a Nagasaki perspective, however, it could hardly be viewed as a surprise, as it amounted to just the latest visitation in a series of incidents stretching back over the previous fifty years. Sightings of foreign ships were on the increase, and while the growing number of whaling ships active in the Pacific Ocean might be spied off any Japanese coast, for local observers and Tokugawa officials alike the appearance of unusual vessels in Nagasaki Bay had long served as a barometer of political changes in the world outside. Expansion into East Asia was the Russian agenda when a mission under Nikolai Rezanov arrived in Nagasaki in 1804, presenting requests to open trade together with a goodwill gesture of returning Japanese castaways who had been found on the Kamchatka coast. Although he was allowed to spend several months in the port as he waited for an answer, his request was eventually refused. The outraged Rezanov retaliated by inciting his compatriots in the Russian American Company to raid settlements in Ezo (Hokkaido). Far away in Europe the Napoleonic Wars were also creating a new hostile threat as, following France’s conquest of Holland and the resulting British occupation of Batavia, the island of Dejima in Nagasaki became the only outpost still flying the Dutch flag. In 1808, the British man o’ war HMS Phaeton sailed into Nagasaki Bay to demand the handover of Dutch personnel. Some adroit negotiations by Hendrik Doeff, the Dutch factor, secured the vessel’s withdrawal, but the daimyo of Saga, who was responsible for ensuring security in Nagasaki that year, was placed under house arrest for failing to prevent this intrusion, and the Nagasaki bugyō committed suicide.2 The danger of Russian encroachment had been pointed out since the 1770s, particularly by Hayashi Shihei, but it was the furore over HMS Phaeton’s visit that set the tone for bakufu foreign policy over the next forty years. If Japan ever approached the ‘closed country’ of the archetypal sakoku image it was during this period of bristling hostility towards 215

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan foreign shipping. Other unusual-looking vessels contributed to this defensive response, such as the American ships the Dutch were forced to hire while Batavia lay in British hands.3 Stamford Raffles, now installed as the British lieutenant-governor of Java, even sent two of his own ships to Nagasaki under Dutch colours in a covert trading operation in 1813.4 The resulting conspiracy theories promoted by Ōtsuki Gentaku, an expert in Dutch Studies based in Nagasaki, inspired the bakufu’s ‘shoot-on-sight’ policy (uchiharai-rei), which was implemented in 1825 after the crew of a British whaler ran amok on the Hitachi coast to the north of Edo. This was evident in the hostile reception that greeted an American vessel called the Morrison when it tried to return some Japanese castaways in 1837. The incident prompted scholars such as Takano Chōei and Watanabe Kazan to challenge bakufu policy and call for a more receptive response to overtures for trade, but their arguments for ‘opening the country’ (kaikoku) fell on deaf ears and they were imprisoned for spreading such seditious ideas.5 News of China’s defeat in the Opium War shortly afterwards seemed only to renew the bakufu’s determination to keep uninvited guests at bay. With the opening of treaty ports such as Shanghai in 1842, however, Western merchants were now only a week’s voyage away from Nagasaki across the East China Sea. Increasing numbers of British and French vessels were sighted in the waters of the Ryukyu Islands to the south. In 1844, the Dutch factor at Dejima even presented a letter from King Willem II of Holland advising the Tokugawa authorities that, in the current international climate, it was difficult to see how their longstanding restrictions on overseas trade could be maintained.6 Despite these warnings the embattled bakufu councillors largely shied away from such an unsettling concept and looked instead to the state of the country’s coastal defences. The Phaeton incident in 1808 also set the tone for advances in military technology as it was the incursion of this British warship that demonstrated the inadequacy of security measures in Nagasaki. This was felt nowhere more keenly than in Saga, where the humiliating experience inspired concerted efforts by the domain to study cannon technology. In the 1830s some experimental guns were produced in Takeo, a branch domain of the Nabeshima line, a short distance inland from Nagasaki. The technical knowledge acquired there then filtered up to Saga, where Japan’s first reverberatory furnace – essential for firing 216

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration metals at high temperatures – was built in 1850. Other examples were later built at Kagoshima (Satsuma), Hagi (Chōshū) and Mito, while the Tokugawa bakufu built its own furnace at Nirayama in 1854, but Saga never lost its lead in this strategically vital field. Large orders for cannon were placed with the domain, for example, when the bakufu drew up plans for gun batteries along the Kanagawa coast not far from Edo. Moreover, replicas of the latest Armstrong guns were produced in Saga in 1863 and four such pieces of artillery would later be used to devastating effect against the Tokugawa bakufu’s own troops at the Battle of Ueno in 1868.7 The emergence of these small-scale industrial plants in castle-towns like Saga, Kagoshima and Hagi showed that some domains had the capacity to harness the sophisticated technology now being imported through the Dutch in Nagasaki. Some Kyushu lords, notably Shimazu Nariakira and Nabeshima Naomasa, became so fascinated with these innovations – in Shimazu’s case notwithstanding his interest in Kokugaku – that they earned a reputation as ranpeki daimyo for their ‘obsession with Dutch learning’. By the late 1850s, for example, the workshops near the reverberatory furnace in Nabeshima’s castle town of Saga were producing steam-trains and steam-boats, albeit on a model scale, and these can still be seen exhibited in the prefectural museum situated within the castle walls. Not all technological developments, however, were dependent on mediation by Dutch merchants. There are also various examples of impressive engineering works, from irrigation schemes to stone bridges, which were all built in an age before the advent of steam. More than 90 per cent of the stone bridges in Japan are located in Kyushu. A notable case is Tsūjunkyo Bridge in Kumamoto Prefecture which, although built in 1854, remains Japan’s largest stone-arch aqueduct. During the Hassaku festival held every September, blocks of stone at the top of the arch are ceremonially removed, releasing jets of water that tumble spectacularly into the river far below.8 By the mid-nineteenth century growing concerns over security had led to Rangaku diversifying into new areas such as technology and science. The now traditional emphasis on medicine, however, remained very much in the mainstream of this field, especially after Philipp von Siebold, a German doctor employed at Dejima in the 1820s, was given permission to teach some leading physicians, among them influential scholars like 217

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Takano Chōei.9 Some of the students at his Narutaki-juku school in Nagasaki, notably Itō Genboku from Saga, would in turn become the masters of prestigious schools in Osaka and Nagasaki, which attracted considerable numbers of apprentices in the last years of Tokugawa rule.10 Nearby castle towns such as Saga and Fukuoka were also noted for the high standard of their physicians trained in the Dutch style. In Nagasaki itself, however, the most visible development in Rangaku during the 1850s was the training in navigation provided by experts from the Dutch Navy. These senior officers were sent by their government in 1855, invited to Japan as part of the bakufu’s efforts to shore up the country’s coastal defences. They arrived on board the Soembing, a ship that King Willem III presented to the shogun, and not only Tokugawa officers but retainers from various south-western domains were allowed to take part in a series of training exercises which lasted through to 1859.11 The presence of hundreds of naval cadets from these mainly Kyushu domains quickly raised the profile of Nagasaki as not just a gateway for valuable information but also a hive of political intrigue, a role that would grow in years to come. Also sent from Holland at this time was a team of scientists who built the Nagasaki Steel Plant just across the bay in Akunoura, on the site of what would later become the Mitsubishi Shipyard. The arrival of these Dutch experts was a direct response to the first treaties the bakufu had concluded with foreign powers in 1854. With commerce rapidly growing in Shanghai across the East China Sea, the race to extract permission for trade with Japan was contested by Russian and American expeditions under Admiral Putiatin and Commodore Perry. Both made attempts in 1853 and 1854, but while Putiatin initially put into port at Nagasaki, Perry increased the pressure on the Tokugawa authorities by heading for the coastline near their seat of power in Edo. The threats he made on his first visit cowed the bakufu into submission when he returned as promised with a larger squadron on the second. The treaty he procured as a result did not yet include any guarantee of trade, but secured right of passage for ships and permission for an American diplomatic representative to reside on site at Shimoda, down the coast from Edo. Shortly afterwards squadrons from Russia, Britain and Holland all converged on Nagasaki and spent several months with their ships moored in the bay – sometimes at the same time – as they negotiated treaties on similar terms.12 218

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration Obtaining the right to trade became the primary target for Townsend Harris, the US envoy who arrived in Shimoda in 1856. One ruse he used to this end was the threat of British and French military intervention in Japan, once their troops then in China had finished their operations in the Second Opium War. While the bakufu councillor, Hotta Masayoshi, agreed to Harris’s demands, he failed to win the emperor’s approval and, left with a state of impasse, his successor Ii Naosuke then took responsibility upon himself for opening the country by signing a series of treaties in 1858 with the United States, Russia, Britain, France and Holland. These agreements heralded an end to more than two centuries of seclusion by opening the first three treaty ports the following year at Nagasaki, Kanagawa (Yokohama) and Hakodate in Ezo (Hokkaido). Ii’s actions, however, had deeply compromised the political authority of the Tokugawa regime. On the one hand he tried to restore control by clamping down on critics of bakufu policy. This was a reaction to the weakness the government had recently shown over foreign affairs by canvassing the opinion of daimyo throughout the land on the most appropriate response to Perry’s demands. At the same time, by signing the treaties without imperial consent, Ii enabled those same critics to unite under the banner of loyalty to the emperor who, with the rising popularity of Kokugaku studies, had once again become a potent symbol of unity in a divided land. Shimazu Nariakira was so incensed by this apparent volte-face that, in 1858, he marshalled his troops in Satsuma and prepared to march on Edo. Only his sudden death from illness – some claimed it was poison – prevented him from leading this army into Honshu.13 The opening of treaty ports the following year unleashed political forces that, within a decade, had resulted in the demise of the Tokugawa bakufu. External pressure, however, was not the only cause of the overthrow of the regime. Domestic political forces were already sharply divided, the loyalties of more than two hundred daimyo wavering as, within each domain, factions for and against open trade vied for power. Long-term domestic pressures also contributed, notably the government’s failure to adapt the anachronistic social structure in the face of recurrent economic crises. Moreover, the rising incidence of peasant rebellions in various regions reflected a pattern of growing unrest, albeit with localized economic grievances often more apparent than any overtly political motives. Nevertheless, the controversial new treaty 219

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan ports were certainly dangerous territory for a regime that had always claimed political legitimacy on the premise of maintaining the ‘Great Peace’ of Tokugawa rule. Nagasaki in the overthrow of the Tokugawa regime As soon as the new treaty ports opened on 1 July 1859, foreign merchants set out from Shanghai, sailed across the East China Sea and began arriving in Nagasaki. Initially confined to Dejima, this closely guarded community was relocated to a new foreign settlement the following May when a site was laid out and lots allocated in the Ōura district along the south coast of the bay. Well-appointed villas were built, notably the house of the Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover in 1863, which is the oldest Western-style building in Japan today. Down the road a church was built the following year as, under the terms of the treaty, foreign residents were granted the freedom of worship still denied their Japanese neighbours. Nagasaki was now becoming a key centre of intelligence on political affairs at home and abroad, so senior retainers at the residences maintained there by various western domains were charged with gathering information. In some cases these officials were called kiki-yaku, their role being, as the term implies, to ‘listen’ for news. Since British and American merchants made up the vast majority of the population in the foreign settlement, however, almost overnight the primary source of overseas information changed from Dutch to English. In 1861, the first English newspaper in Japan was published in Nagasaki and, although this quickly folded, newspapers printed in Yokohama and Hong Kong arrived regularly by sea. The first newspaper to be issued in Japanese was set up in Nagasaki by one Joseph Heco, a returned castaway, in 1865. It was also there that a local expert in Rangaku called Ueno Hikoma became the first Japanese exponent of the new art of photography.14 Another young scholar of Dutch Studies from the Nakatsu domain called Fukuzawa Yukichi would later recall how, on his first visit to the foreign settlement at Yokohama in 1860, he was amazed to find that all the signs were in English.15 Nagasaki was much the same although, unlike Yokohama, the existing tradition of linguistic training enabled a smoother transition from Dutch to English Studies. Already by 1848, 220

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration the bakufu had enlisted the services of the castaway Ranald MacDonald to teach English to some Dutch interpreters in Nagasaki, and in 1858 its first English school was opened there. After foreign merchants arrived in the treaty ports, some domains, such as Saga, began sending retainers to Nagasaki to learn English.16 By 1865, Saga had set up its own English school there called the Chienkan under the tutelage of Guido Verbeck, an influential Dutch-American missionary who attracted students from far and wide in Kyushu and beyond. There is a famous photograph of Verbeck taken around 1867 surrounded by his students, among them a significant proportion of the figures often noted for plotting the overthrow of the Tokugawa regime.17 It was hardly surprising, therefore, when Verbeck later found employment in Tokyo as a key adviser to the new Meiji government. Not until 1867 when Fukuzawa founded his Keiō Gijuku – the forerunner of Keio University – did Edo emerge as a centre for English Studies as well. Incidentally, Ōkuma Shigenobu, who would found the Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō – now Waseda University and Keio’s traditional rival – was also from Saga and at the time was still a student of Verbeck’s at the Chienkan in Nagasaki. As political tensions rose during the 1860s, Nagasaki became the major source of imported second-hand ships and weapons. Leading roles in this frantic arms race fell to so-called ‘merchants of death’ such as William Alt and Thomas Blake Glover, who sold to the Tokugawa bakufu and rival domains alike. Many of the key turning points, however, occurred elsewhere, at the seat of Tokugawa power in Edo, or the imperial capital of Kyoto. It was at one of the gates to Edo Castle in January 1860 that the bakufu councillor Ii Naosuke was surrounded and killed. The plot was hatched and carried out by a group of men from Mito, but a samurai from Satsuma delivered the final blow. Initially, assaults on foreigners were also concentrated mainly in Yokohama and Edo, where the British legation was twice attacked in 1859 and 1862, the second time reducing the building to flames.18 Quite apart from any sense of rage against foreigners themselves, the growing numbers of radicalized samurai soon realized that such attacks could be deeply embarrassing to the bakufu. They certainly made it increasingly difficult for the Tokugawa authorities to present any semblance of control or political credibility to the foreign powers with whom they had signed the treaties in 1858. 221

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan As the xenophobic emperor still refused to sanction this arrangement anyway, slogans of ‘honour the emperor’ (sonnō) and ‘expel the barbarian’ (jōi) were now being intoned together by critics of bakufu policy. This highlighted the growing strategic importance of the court as rival domains competed for control of Kyoto. At first, the strong jōi faction in Chōshū held the ascendancy there, encouraged by a radical priest from Kurume called Maki Izumi who was already lobbying for an imperial restoration. This was intolerable, however, in the eyes of Shimazu Hisamitsu, the ambitious regent of Satsuma, who tried to raise his own influence by brokering instead a marriage alliance between the shogun and the imperial princess Kazu no Miya. The attempt at a fusion of court and military interests (kōbu gattai) ultimately proved ineffectual, not least through Shimazu’s own readiness to embarrass the bakufu in front of the treaty powers. One day in September 1862, for example, while on his way back from these marriage negotiations in Edo, his daimyo procession was blocked on the Tōkaidō Highway by Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant out for a ride near Yokohama, and a Satsuma guard in his escort showed no hesitation in cutting the intruder down.19 Shimazu’s intervention in state politics nevertheless resulted in the shogun receiving a summons to appear before the emperor in the hostile environment of Kyoto early in 1863, the first such interview for 230 years. There he received instructions to ‘expel the foreigner’ with effect from 25 June, a directive the bakufu was in no position to carry out due to its own commitments to the treaty powers. When the appointed day arrived however, this did not stop Chōshū firing on passing foreign shipping from its batteries around the town of Shimonoseki on the north side of the Kanmon Straits. A punitive expedition was launched in response the following year, when a combined squadron of British, French, American and Dutch ships would silence these guns in a matter of hours. Later in the summer of 1863, meanwhile, Satsuma’s refusal to bow to demands for compensation over Richardson’s murder also brought a squadron of seven Royal Navy ships into Kagoshima Bay. Over the course of three days they fired on Shimazu’s capital in the pouring rain before they finally withdrew, leaving the city in flames. Both sides claimed victory, as the Satsuma batteries had also managed to inflict some damage and the enemy had been ‘put to flight’. This painful experience, however, exposed the full extent of the technology gap with the foreign powers. In the Shūseikan Museum in Kagoshima, for example, 222

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration traditional Satsuma cannonballs used in this contest are displayed side by side with the vastly more powerful shells of the British Armstrong guns. During their subsequent peace negotiations, therefore, rather than dwell on confronting the treaty powers, Satsuma, and later Chōshū, concentrated instead on finding common interests with the British. In particular, it was their mutual antipathy for the bakufu’s restrictive monopoly over trade that drew representatives from Satsuma and Chōshū more closely together with British merchants in the treaty ports. In the summer of 1863 tensions also ran high in Nagasaki where, with supporters of kaikoku, jōi and foreign merchants juxtaposed in one urban area, the city at times seemed like a microcosm of the wider political landscape. In the build-up to the bombardment of Kagoshima the foreign settlement became a ghost town as most residents, Verbeck among them, evacuated temporarily to Shanghai. Fears of a mass attack on foreigners were compounded by the growing presence of troops on the hills around the city, which themselves had been mobilized in response to fears that Nagasaki, not Kagoshima, was the Royal Navy’s target.20 Afterwards, life in the port quickly returned to relative normality as the jōi campaign was now on the defensive, especially after Satsuma troops in Kyoto suddenly turned on Chōshū forces and expelled them from the city. Chōshū’s demise seemed complete the following year when, in addition to the allied squadron’s attack on Shimonoseki, the bakufu mobilized a punitive campaign for breaking the peace in the imperial capital. Satsuma was among the Kyushu domains that provided troops under the leadership of Saigō Takamori. As a result of the peace agreement he negotiated, some court nobles sympathetic to the jōi campaign who had taken refuge in Chōshū, among them the future prime minister Sanjō Sanetomi, were placed under the protection of the Fukuoka domain and symbolically relocated to the old ‘distant court’ at Dazaifu.21 The foreign merchants in Nagasaki were now fostering closer links with the south-western domains, whose trading interests and appetite for overseas knowledge were becoming increasingly apparent. In 1865, for example, Glover made arrangements for three different ‘escapes’ as samurai from Satsuma, Chōshū, Saga and Hiroshima defied the longstanding ban on overseas travel and went to study in Britain. The largest 223

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan of these was a Satsuma expedition planned by Godai Tomoatsu, in which nineteen retainers were picked up by a ship that Glover sent to a prearranged spot on the Satsuma coast.22 Through these covert adventures Satsuma and Chōshū gained the overseas experience that was largely denied them on the official missions the bakufu sent to ratify the treaties in America and Europe. By contrast, Saga (in Hizen) managed to include several of its leading technicians in these large delegations, so much so that another participant, Fukuzawa Yukichi, told his own domain of Nakatsu, ‘I hope urgent steps will be taken so that we do not fall behind the lord of Hizen.’23 A high proportion of the officers from Satsuma, Chōshū and Saga who, by legal means or otherwise, gained experience of travel abroad, would soon be appointed to influential posts in the new Meiji government following their return. Other bakufu expeditions included a trade mission to Shanghai in 1863, which coincided with the last throes of the Taiping Rebellion and, on a grander scale, participation in the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1867. Overseas travel had just been legalized at last the year before under pressure from the treaty powers, and domains from all over Japan were now invited by the Tokugawa bakufu to take part. The only two that did so were Satsuma and Saga. The Saga delegation travelled with the bakufu party and attracted less notice, but the ostentatious banner unfurled by the Satsuma party at the exhibition hall in the Champ de Mars and the distribution of commemorative medals from ‘The Satsuma Kingdom of Ryukyu’ led European observers to believe that they were from a realm altogether distinct from the bakufu’s Japanese state.24 By this stage the Tokugawa bakufu’s grip on power had been severely weakened after a disastrously ineffectual second punitive campaign against Chōshū in 1866. A covert alliance struck between Satsuma and Chōshū also swung the balance of power significantly away from the incumbent regime. The role played by a Tosa samurai called Sakamoto Ryōma in persuading these erstwhile enemies to sink their differences has often been highlighted, but it was through his activities based in Nagasaki that he was most influential. It was there in 1864 that he had formed the corps of Tosa samurai who became known as the Kaientai (literally ‘Marine Support Force’) for their activities in distributing locally bought weapons, mainly to Satsuma and Chōshū.25 The British 224

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration remained neutral, although there has been much speculation on their increasingly cordial links with the south-western domains, notably a visit by the minister Sir Harry Parkes to Kagoshima in July 1866. The Tokugawa regime, meanwhile, turned belatedly to French expertise for military training.26 By 1867 there was spiralling inflation, exacerbated by the foreign merchants who flooded the market with cheap Mexican silver. Civil unrest became widespread, including riots in the streets of Osaka. Faced with escalating difficulties the new shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, resigned his powers to the emperor. This alone, however, did not placate the regime’s enemies, since the Tokugawa line could still boast a quarter of the landed wealth in Japan, an imbalance that undermined some conciliatory calls for a ‘council of daimyo’. In January 1868, Saigō Takamori led the Satsuma troops that took control of the palace in Kyoto and announced the restoration of imperial rule. Tokugawa supporters raced to Kyoto to challenge his control, but after their defeat at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi on the city’s outskirts they fled to the east. Backed by Tosa, the forces of Satsuma and Chōshū – now calling themselves the ‘imperial army’ – marched on Edo and swept to victory. At this stage they were also reinforced by the naval strength of Saga, which further tipped the military balance of power against the bakufu. As the British diplomat Ernest Satow observed, Nabeshima Naomasa, lord of Hizen, kept everyone guessing about his intentions until the last minute when he reversed the decision of his ancestor before Sekigahara, and took sides instead against the house of Tokugawa.27 Edo Castle was surrendered without bloodshed to Saigō by Katsu Kaishū, the bakufu official who had supervised the naval training in Nagasaki a decade before. There was some resistance at the Battle of Ueno on the outskirts of the capital, and also further north, notably from the Aizu domain, as the ‘Boshin’ civil war dragged on into the following year. With the forces of these south-western domains now in control, however, the young emperor Meiji himself moved out of Kyoto and into the ‘eastern capital’ of Tokyo, the new name for the old city of Edo. Meiji reforms and rebellions While ports in Kyushu had featured among the military conflicts of the early 1860s, the battles of the Boshin war took place far away in Honshu 225

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan and even as far north as Hokkaido. News of Tokugawa military defeats arrived first by sea, confirming the end of the old order. Troops from two Kyushu domains were in the ‘imperial army’ that had seized power to form the new Meiji government. Yet although Satsuma and Saga claimed a greater stake than ever before in determining the future of central politics, within a few years they themselves would be reduced to battlegrounds as the locations of the most significant rebellions to threaten the survival of the fledgling Meiji state. The concerted resistance against the new government that grew in the 1870s would severely test the loyalty of retainers from these domains who, in the aftermath of the Meiji Restoration, had moved up to Tokyo to take up central government posts. As the victors in the overthrow of the bakufu, such men often received substantial plots of real estate in the old Tokugawa capital, which in some cases their descendants still hold today. The ‘restoration’ may have been presented as a return to imperial rule (ōsei fukko), complete with an archaic Dajokan structure recalling Heian times, but it was entirely innovative in that the reins of power were grasped by often young and ambitious men who had emerged during the collapse of the Tokugawa bakufu. In years to come, the survivors would come to be known as the ageing Meiji oligarchs (genrō), symbols of institutional conservatism in a rapidly changing society, but at the onset of this new regime they represented a new world of revolutionary reform.28 From the outset their political careers in Tokyo were marked by the stamp of victor’s justice, and the departments they controlled by the factional interests of their home domains. A culture of patronage, for example, was clearly evident in the foreign ministry where many early diplomatic posts were filled by men from Satsuma. The army was largely in the hands of Chōshū, while Satsuma men often filled senior posts in the navy (hence the rise of Admiral Tōgō). Quite apart from their competing military interests, the factional rivalry between army and navy that this invited would have a marked impact on Japanese foreign policy over the following decades. Also strategically vital was the financial ministry, where Chōshū featured prominently, although running the new Imperial Mint required the technical skills offered by men from Saga. In the Ministry for Public Works as well, Chōshū men were in charge, while Saga officers supervised construction projects from lighthouses to telegraph cable lines. 226

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration Landmarks such as these lighthouses and cables were among the most visible changes during an age called the ‘Meiji Enlightenment’ (bunmei kaika). Already, the Charter Oath, the inaugural vow of allegiance sworn by daimyo throughout the land in 1868, had enshrined the regime’s receptivity to ‘new ideas from abroad’.29 Among the various foreign experts known as o-yatoi who were hired by separate ministries to this end, civil engineers from Britain were prominent in shaping the infrastructure of modern Japan (which is why motorists there still drive on the left). In Kyushu, for example, Richard Henry Brunton helped to build lighthouses at Cape Sata at the southern tip of the island, and also at Iyōjima, a small island close to the mouth of Nagasaki Bay. An engineer called J. Morris was involved in the ambitious three-year project to build telegraph lines stretching from Tokyo to Nagasaki by 1874. When a Danish company laid a telegraph cable linking Shanghai and Nagasaki the same year, it even became possible to send a telegram directly from Tokyo to London.30 Yet it was the domains just as much as the central government that initiated the trend for hiring foreign experts. The team of British engineers employed by Satsuma to set up Japan’s first Western-style cotton mill had arrived in Kagoshima in 1867. In the same year Saga signed a contract with Thomas Glover to develop the first Western-style coal mine on the island of Takashima off the Nagasaki coast (not the Takashima in Imari Bay where the Mongol fleet sank). Samuel Morris, the engineer hired by Glover from India to drill the coal-shafts there, was later employed by Saga to develop the Kisu mine on the outskirts of Imari.31 A few miles inland in Arita, meanwhile, a German chemist called Gottfried Wagner was engaged by the domain to develop the ceramics industry, using his scientific knowledge to introduce the cobalt blue dye that is still employed today. Now with a new export market available through Shanghai, the industry expanded rapidly with massproduced tableware in addition to the traditional handcraft of the Edo period. Due to Saga’s close connection with telegraph technology, ceramic insulators were also produced there, replacing the glass models initially introduced by British engineers to prevent electric currents escaping from overhead cables.32 Another notable foreign expert in Kyushu during these early Meiji years was the Irishman Dr William Willis, who for some time had served as physician to the British Legation. In 1870, he was invited by Satsuma 227

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan to teach in Kagoshima where he spent seven years introducing the English school of medicine, unusual at a time when the Prussian school was starting to dominate in Tokyo.33 What these adventurous projects to employ expert guidance at a regional level show is that the domains, to varying extents, were themselves making dynamic future plans, regardless of the central government’s agenda to transform the political map of Japan. Just as ministries were laying the foundations of farreaching reforms, during a brief period of uninhibited experimentation several domains also went ahead and overhauled their own bureaucratic structures. This was before the domains themselves were finally abolished in 1871 and replaced by prefectures governed from Tokyo. In one fell swoop, the fragmented patchwork of 260 or more territories that had survived for centuries was converted into a single centralized state. Unity against the threat of the foreign powers was ostensibly the rationale that persuaded central government figures like Kido Takayoshi to advocate this sweeping reform. In 1869, the process was begun when the territories of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa were voluntarily returned to the emperor. Two years later an imperial guard of troops drawn from this ruling coalition was stationed around Tokyo to ensure security in the capital as all the other domains were required to follow suit by imperial decree. Despite vociferous cries of local patriotism, everyone was surprised by the absence of any concerted resistance. In some cases it was their crippling debts – the central government had finally called them in the previous year – which enabled the domains to swallow their pride and face up to the prospect of an administrative takeover. Another powerful reason to comply was to head off what was seen as the growing threat of another civil war, this time between Satsuma and Chōshū.34 The victorious coalition of the Meiji Restoration, in fact, was looking increasingly fragile. In 1870, rumours had even circulated that Saigō Takamori was planning to march on Tokyo and attempt another coup d’état. He appeared to be the only figure in Kagoshima who could control the restless Satsuma troops now returning from the front after the recent civil war. Conservative by nature, he also harboured mistrust of the Meiji leaders’ more radical plans for reform, and refused their overtures to join the government. Satsuma seemed to lie beyond the reach of Tokyo, ruled by traditional forces complete with a standing army of war veterans, while peasant disturbances in western Japan over 228

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration the winter contributed to the prevailing sense of disorder. It was only after a change of heart by Saigō when he decided to join the government the following year that the Tokyo authorities were able to seize the moment and abolish the domains.35 Shimazu Hisamitsu, the exregent, complained bitterly that Satsuma had been betrayed by his former retainers, Saigō conspicuous among them. In a fit of disgust, on one occasion he even arranged for fireworks to be launched through the night from a coal barge placed in the bay in front of his Iso-tei villa in Kagoshima.36 In terms of lost influence Fukuoka was perhaps the region in Kyushu that suffered most during these early Meiji years. This domain had boasted a reputation as a powerful mediating force in the political turmoil of the early 1860s, having played a key role in protecting court nobles such as Sanjō Sanetomi. In the final struggle against the Tokugawa regime, however, it had missed the chance to make an impact in establishing the new state. Moreover, in 1870 it was severely reprimanded by the government for issuing its own bills of currency. Since 1868 all the domains had been repeatedly warned not to print their own money, and Fukuoka was by no means the only continuing offender. Nevertheless, it was singled out for punishment and the former daimyo Kuroda Nagatomo was even removed from his post as governor, an insult that provoked considerable bitterness among his retainers towards the fledgling state.37 Just as revolutionary as its early political reform was the Meiji government’s attempts at social levelling. With domains abolished and regional coffers empty, the unproductive ruling samurai class gradually had their stipends withdrawn until they received one final pay-off by 1876. In Satsuma the arrangements were not as draconian as elsewhere, although this did little to placate the unruly samurai veterans there who had led the way to victory over the Tokugawa regime. Together with their loss in income came a loss in status as the samurai’s privilege to wear swords was removed, a sanction proposed amid great controversy by a young politician from Satsuma called Mori Arinori, who had recently returned from studying abroad. In a bid to overcome the factional rivalries that had marked the Edo period, the government turned for protection instead to a conscript army drawn from the ranks of the peasantry. The loyalty to one’s home domain that had been such a powerful motivating force in recent years was to be discarded in favour of 229

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan patriotic attachment to the Japanese empire as a whole. Such constructs of national consciousness, however, were a perplexing notion for many ex-samurai, who had now been reclassified into an unfamiliar new social class called the ‘gentry’ (shizoku). When the Meiji government experienced a severe political crisis in 1873, it turned out to be a pivotal moment in alienating some shizoku groups in Kyushu from the central regime. Perhaps it was because their domains had triumphed through the use of force just a few years before that these disinherited and politically marginalized samurai in Saga and Satsuma were the first to take up their weapons now. At any rate, while peasants in areas scattered throughout Japan rebelled against the burden of social reforms from conscription to the new land tax system, it is striking how the samurai rebellions in the 1870s flared up mostly in the territories of these once powerful south-western domains.38 The initial catalyst involved the resignation of Saigō Takamori, prime minister of the caretaker government left in control while a highranking diplomatic embassy under Prince Iwakura Tomomi travelled the world to formally announce the Meiji state. Having seen the industrial development in America and Europe, Iwakura and his viceambassadors were convinced that the key to Japan’s security lay in internal growth, the policy of ‘enriching the country and strengthening the army’ (fukoku kyōhei) – otherwise summed up as ‘iron and coal’ – that characterized much of the Meiji era. On their return in 1873, therefore, they found it hard to sanction a commitment Saigō had made, albeit under pressure from supporters of the ‘argument to attack Korea’ (seikan-ron), to launch a punitive campaign across the Tsushima Straits. Claims of a diplomatic snub to the emperor, together with alleged attacks on Japanese merchants in Pusan, were fuelling enthusiasm for a foreign military adventure. Although he was still the only full general in the Japanese army, Saigō resigned his post and, disillusioned by developments in Tokyo, returned to his native Kagoshima. It remains a matter of debate whether his motive was to retire at last from public life, consolidate his own power base, or achieve some combination of the two. The first samurai rebellion broke out the following year in Saga, capital of the old Nabeshima territories in Hizen. Tensions had risen when two senior government figures from Saigō’s old cabinet, Etō Shinpei (Saga) and Itagaki Taisuke (Tosa), resigned their posts in 230

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration protest against the government’s authoritarian style and jointly submitted a ‘declaration of liberal rights’. Participants in government yet largely confined to the fringes of power, Tosa and Saga were fast becoming become seedbeds of shizoku resistance to early Meiji reforms. Tosa is often associated with the unfolding campaign for liberal rights as this was where, following Saigō’s lead, Itagaki returned to gather support. Etō’s own return to his native Saga was even more explosive. Welcomed back as a hero, Etō soon found himself at the head of a small shizoku army. Rival groups in Saga, the Seikantō (Attack Korea Party) and Yūkokutō (Patriots’ Party) joined forces in response to news that the government, alarmed at the threat of imminent rebellion, had sent an expeditionary force into the prefecture. With the die already cast, Etō agreed to organize what was now seen as an unavoidable campaign of resistance. Given a power base limited to just one former domain, however, there was never any realistic hope of victory.39 The rebels did launch one successful assault on the army garrison in Saga City, but they were quickly pressed back following the arrival of the expeditionary force and, heavily outnumbered, the revolt was over within two weeks. Etō was captured and hanged in Ōkubo’s presence, together with several other ringleaders.40 The political ramifications of the Saga Rebellion were swift. The sizeable territory of Saga Prefecture (formerly Hizen Province) was partitioned, and for several years the name of Saga disappeared from the map altogether until 1883, when it was restored in the much reduced form that this prefecture has today. It was ironic that the newly completed telegraph line from Tokyo to Nagasaki which enabled government troops to react so quickly, perhaps too quickly, had been the work of Ishimaru Yasuyo, a Saga man himself. He was one of several government figures whose loyalties were tested during the Saga Rebellion. Another was Yamaguchi Masuka, who had served as a vice-ambassador during the Iwakura Embassy’s recent world tour. He played an influential role in his home town of Takeo a few miles west of Saga, where he implored his countrymen not to take up arms and join Etō’s rebels. Meanwhile, the ex-daimyo Nabeshima Naohiro was in London when he heard news of the unrest and hurried back to Japan the same year to assess the damage in his former domain. After Saga, fragmented shizoku rebellions followed two years later in Kumamoto, Akizuki (Fukuoka Prefecture) and Hagi (Yamaguchi), provoked partly by the final commutation of samurai stipends. The 231

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Shinpūren (Divine Wind League) in Kumamoto was also inspired by the local tradition of ‘Higo Kokugaku’ and articulated its campaign in Shinto nativist terms. Followers expressed outrage at the way that Captain Leroy Janes, an American teacher at the new foreign school, had been spreading Christian values among his students. Refusing to use firearms since these were also of ‘foreign’ origin, these rebels were easily picked off by government troops, particularly since they seemed incapable of orchestrating a united campaign with sympathizers from neighbouring prefectures.41 None of these revolts compared, however, with the threat of the Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori in 1877. Known in Japanese as the Seinan Sensō (South-west War) or Seinan no Eki (South-west Campaign), this was a full-scale civil war, and the last ever fought on Japanese soil. Since his return to Kagoshima four years before, Saigō and his associates had run private schools (shigakkō) that were in effect military training camps and, regardless of his intentions, these ‘did evolve into a rebel army’.42 The prefectural governor Ōyama Tsunayoshi was also a close friend, and actively colluded with Saigō as state authority in Kagoshima all but disappeared. To some extent Satsuma’s remote location obscured the danger from the Tokyo regime, but again it was the authorities’ response to the threat of internal revolt that provided the catalyst for insurrection. Attempts to infiltrate the shigakkō backfired when government spies were exposed, and the confession extracted of a plot to assassinate Saigō provoked a call to arms in the Satsuma army.43 It is by no means clear that Saigō ever planned or intended a full-scale rebellion, and there is no conclusive evidence that he instigated the revolt. After government attempts to seize munitions in Kagoshima, however, and prompted by a sense of obligation to followers who were desperate to fight in his name, he gave the order for his troops to mobilize.44 This samurai army of 4,000 trained men marched out of Kagoshima, challenging the Meiji regime’s largely untested conscript troops. Some detachments from neighbouring prefectures quickly rallied to his standard, but Saigō’s decision to lay siege to the garrison at Kumamoto Castle denied him the chance of advancing into northern Kyushu and swelling his ranks with disaffected shizoku groups there. Founded mainly on shizoku loyalty in one domain, moreover, his campaign made little attempt to carry broader social appeal. Some farmers 232

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration in the Kumamoto area looted property on the approach of his army, encouraged by rumours that the new regime would abolish the land tax and cancel debts. The men from Satsuma, however, treated farmers in the area so roughly that, during the course of the siege, they lost whatever support they initially had.45 Against all expectations, the government garrison in Kumamoto Castle held out, even though Katō Kiyomasa’s great wooden keep was finally burned down in the process. This allowed the Meiji government the time it needed to rush troops to Kyushu, where the numerical superiority of its conscript army proved enough to contain Saigō’s advance. In total the government sent 65,000 soldiers to the front, whereas the Satsuma forces had no more than 30,000 in the field.46 Both sides sustained heavy losses at a pitched battle lasting several days in the hills of Tabaruzaka north of Kumamoto, but the result was decisive. Now on the defensive and threatened with encirclement, Saigō was forced to raise the siege on Kumamoto Castle after a campaign lasting fifty-five days, in effect acknowledging the failure of his revolt. Withdrawing south, the Satsuma troops turned to fight off the imperial army in a series of rearguard actions, notably at Hitoyoshi Castle which guarded the route across the Kuma River. Ultimately, however, Saigō had to fall back on Kagoshima where his men, heavily outnumbered, prepared for a last stand on the crest of Mt Shiroyama overlooking the castle. On 24 September, after refusing a demand to surrender, tradition holds that he committed ritual suicide in classic samurai fashion after being hit by a bullet, although his autopsy report showed no evidence of any self-inflicted wound.47 The assassination of Ōkubo Toshimichi in Tokyo by a shizoku group from Kanazawa the following year also contributed to establishing the Saigō legend that has become such a fixture in modern Japan. The explanatory note they left denounced him as a traitor to the traditional values they saw embodied in Saigō. Rather than his own qualities, however, which at best can be defined only in the haziest terms, it was perhaps as the antithesis of the pragmatic Ōkubo that Saigō struck a chord with people later when they wistfully recalled the passing of the Tokugawa world and the advent of Meiji. He may have been a flawed character, with question marks surrounding his motives at key moments in his career, but in the popular imagination the image of the Great Saigō still appears larger than the sum of its parts.48 233

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan The later Meiji world With the defeat of Saigō’s army the Meiji regime had survived its sternest test, and the promise it made shortly afterwards to install a new constitution also served to forestall the growing demands for popular representation. This was the concession made in 1881 by Itō Hirobumi, the rising star of the Meiji government, in response to a political challenge from Ōkuma Shigenobu, now his nearest rival following the deaths of Kido and Ōkubo. When Ōkuma broke ranks with colleagues who favoured a constitution on a Prussian model and spoke out in favour of an English-style parliament, he was attempting partly to harness popular support as a spokesman for liberal rights within the government. He was doubtless influenced also by the liberal ideas championed in his native Hizen by Etō Shinpei and his associates at the time of the Saga Rebellion several years before. It was on a platform of voicing popular grievances, for example, that Ōkuma – together with Fukuzawa Yukichi and Iwasaki Yatarō, the founder of Mitsubishi – caused political waves in 1881 when they orchestrated a press campaign against the sale of assets planned by the Hokkaido Colonization Board. Not only was this state property undervalued, but Kuroda Kiyotaka, chief of the board, and Godai Tomoatsu, the chief recipient, were both from Satsuma. There was a public outcry against the perceived favouritism reserved for such men from the victorious domains of the Meiji Restoration. Ōkuma’s gathering assault on conservative interests in the government became so conspicuous, however, that Itō was able to mobilize a concerted response. Colleagues closed ranks against him and he was forced to resign, while his compatriots and allies in the central administration were hounded out of office. Itō’s triumph served to reinforce the factional nature of the Meiji oligarchy, concentrating power in the hands of Satsuma and Chōshū officials. It was achieved, however, only at the expense of suspending the Hokkaido sale and promising to deliver a constitution within eight years. Nevertheless, the prospect of an elected government shattered the political cohesion of the liberal rights movement, whose supporters spent the following years vacillating between Itagaki Taisuke’s Jiyūtō (Liberal Party) and Ōkuma’s Rikken Kaishintō (Constitutional Progressive Party).49 In 1882, a Kyūshū Kaishintō was also formed in Kumamoto with representatives drawn from all over the island, only 234

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration for the party to follow the example of others when it was disbanded three years later. It was Itō’s Prussian model that came into effect when the new Meiji Constitution was promulgated in 1889. Although this gave the vote to just 1 per cent of the population, it was immensely significant as the first example of a representative constitutional government in Asia. It also lent weight to the Meiji government’s longstanding efforts to revise the ‘unequal’ treaties signed by the Tokugawa authorities thirty years before. This campaign had been launched when the Iwakura Embassy toured the world in the early 1870s, but it was only in the 1890s that a changing political climate and Japan’s assiduous efforts to appear as a ‘civilized’ state in Western eyes won reluctant acceptance from Britain and the other treaty powers. In 1899, the old ‘treaty ports’ finally lost their special status as the foreign residents there came under Japanese jurisdiction for the first time. In Nagasaki, this handover seems to have been prepared and implemented quite smoothly, for it was in the interests of neither foreign consuls nor the local government to provoke a flight of merchants from the port.50 Moreover, the terms of trade were still weighted in these merchants’ favour, since the Japanese government did not manage to wrest control over tariff rates until 1911. Nevertheless, Nagasaki was no longer Kyushu’s designated gateway for overseas trade. In 1900, for example, the old merchant city of Hakata (now called Fukuoka) was in a position to launch itself once again as an ‘international port’. Some trade also continued through Kagoshima, although no longer in the form of ‘gifts’ from China to the Ryukyu Islands. As the twentieth century approached, another port to emerge was Moji near Kokura on the Kyushu side of the Kanmon Straits, the terminus station of the first railway line built on the island. A few miles down the track from Moji, Japan’s rapid industrial growth at the turn of the century was exemplified in the shape of the massive Yawata Steelworks, which opened in 1901.51 Great strides forward had been taken in preceding decades, prompted initially by state-sponsored plans for internal strengthening through fukoku kyōhei, and recently boosted by reparation payments from China. Perhaps the greatest economic challenge met so far had been the deflationary policies of the 1880s implemented by the finance minister Matsukata Masayoshi (from Satsuma), who restored the value of the yen by 235

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan withdrawing the large amounts of paper money that had been printed over the previous decade. In the countryside this created wide disparities in wealth as many peasants ended up working as tenant farmers on land which, unable to pay their taxes as a result, they were now forced to sell.52 In the newly-developed industrial areas, meanwhile, the 1880s were a period of privatization, as state-owned factories, mines and shipyards were sold off to the growing zaibatsu conglomerates. The Takashima coal mine near Nagasaki, for example, passed into government hands after the bankruptcy of Thomas Glover in 1870, but was then acquired by Mitsubishi, which also controlled the Nagasaki Shipyard. In the far south of Fukuoka Prefecture, the Miike coal mine was also taken over by the Mitsui conglomerate. By this stage, a populous mining community was growing up around the rich coal seams of the Chikuhō region in the hills inland from Kokura. Although the miners at Takashima gained notoriety for their strike actions in 1888, the coalfields of Kyushu would go on to feature prominently in the modernization of Japan. Miike alone consistently accounted for over 10 per cent of the country’s annual coal output, and the Chikuhō mines collectively earned a reputation as a powerhouse of industrial growth.53 Another singular project was the development of the Taio gold mine a few miles south of Hita. Here, in what had once been tenryō territory under Tokugawa rule, the local mountain streams had long attracted the interest of prospectors panning for gold. It was in 1894, however, that a gold seam was first discovered. The mine was later taken over by Hans Hunter, the half-Japanese son of a British merchant based in Kobe, who drew on his considerable family fortune to invest in hiring foreign engineers and modern machinery. Growth was so rapid in the first half of the twentieth century that Taio gained a reputation as the largest gold mine in East Asia.54 Industrialists were now looking beyond Kyushu’s shores as well to explore new opportunities on the continent, as the early Meiji decades of peaceful consolidation gave way to the first steps of colonial expansion. Despite the initial fracas that had so nearly led to war as early as 1873, these overseas military campaigns arose not so much from disputes with Korea as tensions with China. A bilateral treaty on equal terms was agreed for the first time in 1871, but it was so vaguely worded and half-hearted that friction soon mounted over Japan and China’s 236

Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration respective spheres of influence in the territories that lay between them. After all, the Ryukyu Islands and Korea still maintained their traditional tributary relations with China. In 1874, a punitive expedition to Formosa was launched in retaliation for the murder of some Ryukyu fishermen, and, as a result, the Ryukyu Islands were formally brought under the political jurisdiction of Japan. Although reconfigured as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879, however, it would be several decades before the islands gained full representation in central assemblies like the National Diet in Tokyo. Korea, meanwhile, was opened to trade after Japanese gunboat diplomacy forced the signing of the Treaty of Kangwha in 1876. Internal divisions, however, led to the emergence of competing factions at court in Seoul backed by Japan and China respectively. Only a hurriedly agreed non-intervention pact prevented a confrontation in 1885. The crisis prompted Fukuzawa Yukichi, a staunch advocate of ‘Westernization’, to call on his compatriots to disown their cultural ties with a continent increasingly under semi-colonial domination and ‘leave Asia’ altogether (datsu-A). A right-wing group that spearheaded calls for colonial expansion was the Genyōsha (Black Ocean Society), which took its name from the Genkai Sea on the north Kyushu coast. This had been launched in 1881 by some former Fukuoka samurai, who still nursed grievances over the humiliation inflicted on their former domain. Initially active in the campaign for liberal rights, the Genyōsha was outspoken in its criticism of Meiji foreign policy and developed into a radical anti-government movement. Outraged at the perceived lack of progress in negotiations over the unequal treaties, in 1889 it was also responsible for the bomb attack in which Ōkuma Shigenobu, as foreign minister, lost a leg.55 War between Japan and China finally broke out in 1894, when the Korean government seemed powerless to prevent civilians in Seoul from demonstrating against increasing levels of foreign interference. The Chinese defeat that followed surprised the world, and, with the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Formosa became Japan’s first official overseas colony. In place of China, Japan now faced a new rival in the shape of Russia. Tensions escalated when Russian troops remained massed in Manchuria near the Korean frontier after the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Negotiations to defuse the situation ultimately failed, including a suggested compromise of trading political influence in 237

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Manchuria for control of Korea. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 may have reinforced Japan’s status as an emerging power, but if anything it also made war with Russia more likely, precluding the interference of third parties in any direct contest. The military conflict that then broke out in 1904 placed a heavy burden on the resources of both sides. In Russia’s case, it was the catalyst for the first revolution of 1905. The Russo-Japanese War also featured such a heavy concentration of new modern weapons that, recently, it has even been described as World War Zero.56 It was Admiral Tōgō’s naval victory in the Tsushima Straits in May 1905 that effectively ended the contest. The resulting Treaty of Portsmouth negotiated by the foreign minister Komura Jutarō (a native of Miyazaki), gave Japan exclusive control over Korea, together with the south of Sakhalin Island, the Liaodong peninsula and rights over the Russianbuilt Chinese Eastern Railway. Although further disturbances followed in Korea, none of the major Western powers made any strong objections to Japan’s increasing influence there, and the peninsula was finally annexed in 1910. By the time the emperor Meiji died in 1912, Japan had become a rapidly growing colonial power, with ports such as Moji, Hakata, Nagasaki and Kagoshima now important staging posts in maintaining communications with overseas satellites including Formosa and Korea.

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CHAPTER 12

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

 n 1938, construction work began on the Musashi at the Mitsubishi Shipyard in Akunoura on the north side of Nagasaki Bay. Together with her sister ship Yamato she would be the largest battleship ever built. As the vessel took shape a short distance across the harbour from the streets of Nagasaki, Musashi symbolized a highly visible and thinly veiled message of intent, sweeping aside the international agreement on limiting naval expansion that Japan had signed in London eight years before. It also posed a sensitive issue for the local authorities, since the commercial prosperity of this former treaty port had been closely linked with the growth of the foreign settlement on the south side of the bay. A makeshift warehouse was even put up along the seafront facing the British Consulate in an attempt to mask the view of the battleship under construction across the water. The grand villa built by Thomas Blake Glover in 1863 on the slopes of the Minami-Yamate district enjoys splendid views over this harbour. Originally from the small port of Fraserburgh in northern Scotland, Glover had become a powerful merchant in the foreign settlement after Nagasaki first opened as a treaty port seventy years before.1 The house had since passed into the hands of his son Tomisaburō, who was now in his late sixties having carved out a singular business career himself during the early years of the twentieth century. This had been his home for much of his life, but with the construction of Battleship Musashi underway he was relocated to a smaller building at the foot of the hill. Tomisaburō was a prominent figure in a city where, over the years, the foreign community had become increasingly integrated with the native population. Half-Japanese himself, he was an active member of

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan the Naigai Club (International Club) formed in 1899 to create ‘a good understanding between the Japanese and foreign residents’ when Nagasaki lost its status as a treaty port.2 He was also the first person in the city to own a motor car, although its use was largely confined by the steep hills to a road along the seafront. The port itself was no longer the new frontier of commercial opportunity that it had once been in his father’s day. The handover to Japanese jurisdiction had been smooth enough and, at the turn of the new century, the number of foreign ships arriving was on the rise, with thirty-six Western saloons and nineteen hotels also open for business to cope with the demand.3 Trade dipped sharply after the Russo-Japanese War, however, and in 1907 Tomisaburō pointed out that locally-based businessmen were now exploring prospects in the Korean port of Chemulpo, as the government began to exploit land resources on the continent.4 Tomisaburō’s later years encapsulate the change of mood in Nagasaki from a cosmopolitan city with an international outlook to a place where outsiders were treated with suspicion by the authorities. By the end of the 1920s Western influence had practically disappeared from the port, but this was due not so much to the closing of the foreign settlement as wider economic and political forces.5 Tomisaburō, for example, had helped to build Japan’s first public golf course on the uplands of Mt Unzen in the nearby Shimabara peninsula. When it opened in 1913 everything seemed to augur well for this hot spring area, popular among foreign tourists trying to escape the summer heat in treaty ports around the East China Sea. The opening of the picturesque Unzen Kanko Hotel in 1935, however, was not such a well-timed venture. The hotel register on display in the reception area shows the signatures of foreign guests who stayed there in its early years, but their numbers dwindled as the wartime regime took hold. By this stage Tomisaburō and the few remaining foreign residents were regularly being trailed through the streets of Nagasaki by members of the military police (kenpeitai). He never shook off their suspicions that he might be acting as a spy against the Japanese war effort. Tomisaburō survived the atomic bomb that was dropped on the Urakami district of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. Not only was the Mitsubishi Shipyard spared, but the old foreign settlement with its neocolonial villas was far enough away to survive the worst of the damage. Mabel Shigeko Walker (née McMillan), another long-term resident who had stayed during the war, remembered seeing a light ‘as bright as the 240

The Twentieth Century sun’ projected on the wall of her air-raid shelter for an instant before she managed to close the door.6 In the weeks that followed, with the city in ruins and the emperor announcing Japan’s surrender, rumours spread about the impending arrival of American troops. For Tomisaburō they brought the prospect of further close attention and pressure to cooperate, this time from the US Army. On 26 August he was found dead in the house at the bottom of the hill. It was clearly suicide, a strange ending for a man who had lived to see the end of the war but not the start of peace. He was seventy-four years old.7 The colonial age in Kyushu With the growth of the Japanese empire in the early years of the twentieth century, Kyushu’s ports became gateways for supplying the new colonies. Between the various passenger steamers, transport ships and cargo vessels, the volume of shipping reached unprecedented levels across the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea. Much of this traffic passed through ports like Moji and Hakata in the north, Nagasaki in the west, and Kagoshima in the south. Coastal areas in Kyushu were also being intensively developed during Japan’s first wave of modern industrialization. Situated far away from the Meiji state’s main urban centres in Honshu, railways had reached this region relatively late. Now there were trunk lines extending down both coasts, enabling the growth of heavy industrial plants such as the Yawata Steelworks near Kokura. Some railway lines were also stretching into the mountainous interior, bringing the mineral resources of Kyushu’s hinterland within reach of a wider market. Coal from the Chikuhō mines was taken on barges down the Onga River, and hauled by rail to the terminus at Moji. Further inland, the construction of a railway line across Kyushu enabled timber from the Hita area to be transported by train.8 In times past, logs from Hitoyoshi in the far south of Kumamoto Prefecture had been floated down the Kuma River in rafts, shooting rapids in the gorges along the way. Now with the opening of the Hisatsu railway line in 1909 – a project involving hundreds of Chinese and Korean workers – these loads could reach the coast by rail.9 Together with industrialization and the expansion of transport networks, significant numbers of Japanese labour migrants were leaving their rural homelands to seek work elsewhere. Already in the early Meiji 241

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan era there had been isolated cases of entire communities being relocated from Kyushu to Hokkaido as part of the government’s programme to develop this untamed region in the north, and traces of a Kurume dialect, for example, can still be found in some places there. In Kyushu, meanwhile, communities of labourers formed in localized pockets due to the growth of heavy industry, particularly around mines and steelworks. These were particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in the economy, such as the catastrophic shortfalls in rice harvests and rising inflation in the second decade of the twentieth century. The protests in 1918 against the high price of rice were started by a community of fishermen’s wives in Toyama Prefecture, but the wave of violent strikes that followed in the Chikuhō coal mines contributed to the downfall of the Terauchi administration. As the population boomed, government-sponsored migration programmes aimed at relieving pressure on local resources were underway by the 1920s, and large numbers travelled across the Pacific Ocean to a new life overseas. Many headed for South America after the United States imposed a ban on Japanese immigrants in 1924. It was this phase that resulted in the growth of what is now the largest overseas Japanese community in Sao Paolo. A substantial proportion of these migrants came from farming communities in parts of Kyushu which had been badly hit, first by poor harvests, and then by the effects of the Great Depression. Among them were the parents of Alberto Fujimori, the recent president of Peru, who in 1934 left their village of Kawachi, now a district in the suburbs of Kumamoto City. The scale and range of these migrations belie recurring post-war notions of Japan as an insular and introspective society. Some people from southern Kyushu, for example, turned their gaze to the south and relocated to islands in New Caledonia to seek their fortunes in phosphate mining. During the 1930s Kumamoto families also featured among the thousands of people who moved to Manchuria as part of the government’s drive to instil Japanese culture in its new continental empire.10 It would be misleading to portray the migration of rural workers to the growing cities in Japan simply as a process of leaving a static traditional society behind to embrace the attractions of modern urban life. In Kyushu’s agricultural communities, significant innovations were also transforming the landscape. The Saga plain, for example, had always been a rich agrarian belt, but over time the introduction of technological 242

The Twentieth Century improvements like mechanized pumps and new techniques for seed planting and crop rotation had a striking effect on productivity. By the 1930s, Saga Prefecture had the highest average rice yield in the country, and this period has even been described as the ‘Saga stage’ of development. As Penelope Francks notes, ‘Saga represented the first evidence that Japanese agriculture was beginning to follow the path which the agricultural sectors of the then-developed countries were believed to have followed, towards higher labour productivity, larger scale and the use of machinery.’11 Changes were clearly underway in these rural communities, therefore, but the rapid transformation of urban society nevertheless created a widening gap between town and country life. In the 1920s, for example, the so-called ‘mass culture’ (taishū bunka) of the Taishō era was marked by an influx of cheap books, magazines and newspapers, all of which served to raise political awareness among the urban population. The political pressures this heaped on the ruling elites led to legislation in 1925 that widened eligibility to vote to a quarter of the population, although not as yet to women. Developed within the framework of the Meiji Constitution, however, this ‘Taishō Democracy’ would prove to be a fragile platform for the newly emerging political parties in the face of a powerful military lobby intent on protecting its vested interests in the colonies. Together with printed media, novelties including Charlie Chaplin films, jazz music and new fashions were also appearing in the cities. For the first time, in fact, a significant proportion of cultural influences from abroad were arriving not so much through Kyushu but ports like Yokohama, the destination of many ships crossing the Pacific from the United States. Kyushu’s previous dominance as a cultural gateway was now challenged in what would become, in effect, Japan’s Pacific century. It was a trend that continued in the post-war era with the development of commercial air travel as airports in Tokyo and later Kansai became Japan’s main international gateways. By comparison, it was only in the last years of the twentieth century that airports in Kyushu, notably Fukuoka, started to handle a large volume of international traffic. Nevertheless, in the very early days of air travel, geographical proximity to the Asian continent was still a key factor. The biplanes that launched Japan’s first airmail service in 1929 took off from an airfield on the narrow spit of land that encloses Hakata Bay. 243

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan In this new modern age of telephones, radio and department stores, Japanese cities were very much part of the consumer society emerging at the same time in urban landscapes across Europe and America. As a founder member of the League of Nations after the First World War, the civilian government in Tokyo also appeared to embrace an internationalist outlook, only to find the international community now looking askance at Japan’s growing influence on the Asian continent. In the prevailing climate of demilitarization and US insistence on an ‘Open Door’ for trade in China, scope for expansion was curtailed by the Washington Conference in 1922 and subsequent agreements on disarmament, culminating in the London Naval Pact in 1930. The civilian government even signed up to the idealistic Kellogg-Briand Pact that renounced all war in 1928. For the Kwantung Army, which had been based in Manchuria since the Russo-Japanese War, the Tokyo government’s adherence to these international conventions often seemed to bear little relation to the immediate pressures on the ground. Years of civil conflict had contributed to creating a deeply insecure environment, now complicated by the rise of warlords and the growing threat of Soviet expansion to the north. The ultra-nationalist factions which emerged within the military as a result can be traced back to the nineteenth century. Perhaps the earliest such group had been the Genyōsha (Black Ocean Society), formed in 1881, but this was followed in 1901 by the Kokuryūkai (Black Dragon Society) during the build-up to the Russo-Japanese War. Within the armed forces they soon began orchestrating resistance to the government line from Tokyo, culminating in the creation of the Sakurakai (Cherry Society) in 1930, in response to the London Naval Pact. Following the Wall Street Crash, meanwhile, the Great Depression only served to increase the air of desperation as it hit many rural communities, the traditional recruiting ground for conscripts in the Japanese Army. During the 1930s the power of this military lobby drove a wedge between the civilian government in Tokyo and the international community. A fabricated attack on the Manchuria Railway on the outskirts of Mukden in September 1931 served as the pretext for the Kwantung Army’s occupation of the entire region. Defying calls from the Tokyo government and the world outside to withdraw, the army then established the colony of Manchukuo in 1933, effectively forcing Japan to 244

The Twentieth Century leave the League of Nations the same year. A series of assassinations also removed high-profile critics and undermined the civilian government as army and navy figures increasingly dominated the cabinet. In 1936, sections of the army even plotted a coup d’état in Tokyo in a bid to achieve a ‘Showa Restoration’. Although this attempt failed, a wave of popular sympathy for the conspirators served only to reinforce the military’s hold on power. As plans were approved to expand the armed forces and tensions escalated on the continent, war with China broke out in 1937. In a series of campaigns described in hindsight as the ‘China Quagmire’, rapid advances led to over-extended supply lines and a prolonged war of attrition which, given the economic embargoes imposed in response, the Japanese army was never in a position to win. As part of this struggle, the search for resources in South-east Asia finally drove Japan into war against the United States, launched with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 (8 December in the eastern hemisphere). While Japanese troops rapidly advanced through Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma and the Philippines, at home the entire population was mobilized into a national defence state with the country’s industrial resources devoted to the war economy. Communities were marshalled into small mutual surveillance units (gonin-gumi) and Western cultural influences increasingly attacked. After defeat at Midway finally halted the Japanese advance in 1942, the US forces’ strategy of island-hopping eventually brought their B29 planes within reach of Japan’s shores by the summer of 1944. Subsequent air raids had a devastating effect on a population that had only been given news of unbroken military success. Okinawa Island far to the south of Kyushu bore the brunt of the following advance in the spring and summer of 1945, as the local community came under attack, not only from American troops but also Japanese soldiers suspicious of their loyalty.12 After capturing the island following a land campaign lasting nearly three months, the Americans now had a clear field of advance north through the Ryukyu Islands to the Japanese mainland on the Kyushu coast. The strength of the regiments now gathering in Kyushu became the focus of US strategic calculations as preparations were laid for a final assault. There were thirteen field divisions deployed there by the end of July, amounting to a force of 435,000 men.13 At the Chiran airfield in the hills of the Satsuma peninsula, meanwhile, kamikaze pilots 245

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan were being despatched on a wave of desperate missions to protect their homeland. The rhetoric may have grandly invoked the divine wind said to have saved Kyushu from the Mongols more than six hundred years before, but many of these suicide bomber pilots were barely out of their teens, recruited and trained at airbases nearby. Faced by the daunting prospect of concerted resistance from the Japanese army, the US plans for a land invasion of Kyushu were also a key factor in President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb. On 18 June 1945 he had approved a proposal presented by the Joint War Plans Committee to launch the Kyushu campaign in November. In the event, however, it was specifically to avoid the loss of US troops in this offensive that he then sanctioned the use of nuclear weapons. Even if a further campaign in Honshu had ultimately proved unnecessary, it was the estimated casualties of more than 100,000 men that Truman invoked to justify his use of the bomb, however inflated these predictions may have been. His decision was predicated on the assumption, however, that only nuclear strikes could force Japan’s surrender before the Kyushu campaign was due to commence. Not enough consideration was given to the possibility that this could have been achieved by November through a combination of non-combat strategies such as direct negotiations, mediation by a third party and blockade-bombing. To some extent Truman’s resort to ‘prompt and utter destruction’ was therefore influenced by his advisers, who only ever presented plans for a naval blockade and continued bombing in conjunction with committing US troops to a land campaign in Kyushu.14 By the summer of 1945 the central districts of several cities in Kyushu had already been subjected to heavy bombing. Contemporary photographs of central Fukuoka show the concrete shell of the Iwataya department store as practically the only building left standing. Any visitor to Nagasaki these days who expects to find it visibly different from other Japanese cities due to its experience of the atomic bomb can only be left struck by how faded the scars have become, at least superficially. This is partly testimony to the resilience of the local population in rebuilding their city from the ashes. It also reflects the fact that other cities in Kyushu were also devastated, if not on quite the same scale, and how post-war rebuilding demolished large areas as well in a headlong rush for prosperity and desire to raze the past. Nevertheless, the loss of between 40,000 and 75,000 lives on a single 246

The Twentieth Century day in 1945 makes Nagasaki’s experience of bombing comparable only with that of Hiroshima.15 The city was not even the primary target for this second atomic bomb. On 9 August the US B-29 bomber carrying the nuclear device code-named ‘Fat Man’ was on its way back from Kokura further north, which had been singled out for attack due to its concentration of industrial plants like the massive Yawata Steelworks. Cloud cover over Kokura had forced a change of plan, and only a parting in the clouds as the plane passed over Nagasaki later that morning allowed the pilot to identify his secondary target far below. The bomb destroyed the Urakami munitions factory and also shattered the red-brick walls of Urakami Cathedral a short distance from the hypocentre. Today a replica of the only wall left standing is the largest exhibit on display at the atomic bomb museum near the Peace Park. On a much smaller scale are the molten forms of a metal rosary liquefied by the intense heat, and glass bottles fused together. Other exhibits recall a moment frozen in time, such as the silhouette of a human form projected on a charred wooden wall. Another is a clock that forever reads 11:02. The post-war era The bombing of Nagasaki was the last major air strike of the Second World War and, following the earlier attack on Hiroshima, was arguably more than enough to secure Japan’s surrender six days later. Within a matter of days the last rallying cries of resistance from the Japanese military were replaced, first by an uneasy wait, and then, with the arrival of American troops, by the onset of the Allied Occupation. With General MacArthur in charge of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers (SCAP) in Tokyo, a predominantly US team of army officials and bureaucrats set about designing post-war reforms intended to systematically dismantle the ‘national defence state’. At the International Military Tribunal of the Far East held in Tokyo in 1947, twenty-five defendants were tried and seven of them executed for Class A war crimes, including the wartime prime minister General Tōjō Hideki. Although the emperor was not subjected to trial and was allowed to remain as head of state, he was compelled to publicly renounce the imperial family’s claim to divinity. The powerful zaibatsu conglomerates which had been a moving force in the economic expansion of Japan’s wartime colonies were also dissolved into smaller units. The army itself 247

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan was overhauled, as Article Nine in the new constitution promulgated in 1947 declared that ‘the Japanese people forever renounce war’, and to that end, ‘land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained’.16 With the corridors of power in Tokyo now the domain of Washington bureaucrats, the censorship imposed during the occupation served to compound the suffering inflicted by the atomic bombs. In John Dower’s view, ‘it is at this local level that US censorship was most inhumane’.17 Doctors were compelled to rely on local resources to help treat surviving victims (hibakusha), and were not permitted to publish their findings on radiation sickness. The Japanese authorities were also slow to respond, and it was not until 1952 that the medical community was free to share knowledge on this new field of research. After censorship began to ease late in 1948, one dying victim, a young Catholic doctor called Nagai Takashi, prompted a wave of public sympathy through his vivid portrait of the collective suffering of Nagasaki. Published in 1949, his best-selling Nagasaki no Kane (The Bells of Nagasaki) was later made into a film, and even the emperor visited him at his bedside.18 It remained the most influential work on the subject of the bombs until Ibuse Masuji’s 1965 novel Kuroi Ame (Black Rain) on the experience of Hiroshima. These literary works were among several important landmarks in articulating ‘victim consciousness’ (higaisha ishiki), when open discussion was allowed to surface after the censorship of the occupation years. Perhaps the most dramatic was the outpouring of public indignation after a Japanese trawler was affected by fallout from a US thermonuclear test on the Bikini atoll in 1954. The following year the Peace Statue was unveiled in Nagasaki and the first World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs was held in Hiroshima. More than sixty years on, the anniversaries in August are always marked by large crowds at ceremonies of remembrance in both cities. On a more everyday level, surviving victims still report weekly to the hospitals that have become world leaders in the treatment of radiation sickness. No immediate timescale was placed on the Allied Occupation. Most of those involved expected it to last for a minimum of ten years, while some thought it would take a generation to pull out. In the event, the return to independence with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1951 reflected US strategic needs as East Asia developed into a key theatre 248

The Twentieth Century of conflict in the Cold War. The mutual security treaty signed on the same day enlisted Japan’s cooperation in the US operations on Japanese soil that have continued to varying degrees to the present day. The largest concentration of US troops remains in the extensive bases on Okinawa Island, but Sasebo Port in Nagasaki Prefecture is still used by US Navy ships, including nuclear-powered vessels. In a striking local example of Japan’s often ambivalent relations with the United States, these ships are welcomed in Sasebo, where the economy depends heavily on the US Navy, but are met with protests on the quayside in Nagasaki whenever they try to dock in a city that, understandably, is a self-proclaimed nuclear-free zone. Another controversial by-product of US strategic interests was the rehabilitation of the Japanese military in the shape of the Self-Defence Forces. This is still the official description of what is now a wellequipped army, although participation in peacekeeping operations and other United Nations exercises has led to growing support for a revision to Article Nine of the Constitution. Each year, Japanese forces and US troops still meet to conduct joint training exercises in the hills of Kyushu, often in the Kujū highlands in Ōita or the Ebino basin in Miyazaki. Whenever these are held, vociferous bands of protestors gather outside the camp gates, an ongoing reminder of the vast crowds that once surrounded the National Diet Building in Tokyo when the Security Treaty was controversially renewed in 1960. Japan’s post-war economic recovery also emerged in the course of efforts by the United States to prevent the spread of communism in East Asia. In 1949, the year that Mao Ze Dong took power in China, rampant inflation and black markets were dominant features of daily life in cities all over Japan. Some legacies of this unstable period survive, such as the street stalls in Fukuoka called yatai where, under licence from the municipal authorities, vendors avoided the expense of renting premises by selling hot food on pavements and along the banks of the Naka River. It was a Detroit banker called Joseph Dodge, meanwhile, who drafted the package designed to rescue the sinking economy, including the ‘Dodge Line’, a fixed rate of exchange that allowed Japanese exports to sell at competitively low rates for the next two decades. The intention was to create a climate in which Japan could become the ‘Workshop of Asia’, as the undersecretary of state Dean Acheson outlined in a speech in 1947. On a political level it was an 249

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan agenda closely linked with the perceived need to turn Japan into a ‘bastion of democracy’. Numerous politicians and businessmen who had previously been linked with the wartime regime now found themselves rehabilitated, or ‘de-purged’, as a result. In some cases this contrast was so conspicuous that revisionist historians have pointed to a ‘Reverse Course’, a shift away from the idealistic agenda of the occupation in its early years.19 The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 also provided a catalyst that helped to kick-start the Japanese economy. Special procurement orders were now received for large quantities of goods to supply the US armed forces in the Korean peninsula. Many of these commodities were shipped from ports such as Hakata and Moji, or flown out from the Itazuke Air Base on the outskirts of Fukuoka. With the entrenchment of troops on either side of the 38th parallel, however, Japan’s inclusion in US strategic interests would cast Kyushu once again in the role of a military frontier zone during the Cold War. A graphic reminder during the Vietnam conflict, for example, was the incident on 5 June 1968 when a US warplane on a night flight from Itazuke crashed in the nearby Hakozaki campus of Kyushu University.20 The tense relations with Korea and mainland China following the Pacific War led to a drastic reduction in commercial shipping across the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea. At the height of the Cold War the level of maritime traffic was minimal compared with the thriving network developed during the early twentieth century to supply products and personnel to Japan’s colonies. The strictures imposed were briefly even reminiscent of sakoku, as previously important ports like Hakata and Nagasaki became gateways to practically nowhere. Nevertheless, the revival of commercial ties that soon followed played an important role in post-war diplomatic rapprochement. Under US pressure, Japan controversially recognized South Korea in 1965, but trade across the Tsushima Straits had already been growing for over a decade. Similarly, business ties with mainland China increased steadily throughout the 1960s before the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations in 1972 following President Nixon’s sudden decision to engage in talks with the communist regime in Beijing.21 During the Cold War American influences were also significant in shaping the cultural landscape of Japan, and Kyushu was no exception. In some respects these were imposed by statute in Tokyo during the 250

The Twentieth Century Allied Occupation, as votes for women, the US high school system and the ideals of a nuclear family had a profound impact on the outlook of the post-war generation. Images from Hollywood would also popularize the material affluence of the ‘American dream’, inspiring a consumer culture of large cars, bowling alleys and family restaurants. Some elements of this are still very much in evidence today, as are cultural influences picked up more informally at a grass roots level. During the occupation allied soldiers posted to prefectural cities, for example, helped to foster an interest in music styles from Country to Swing, and in subsequent years US forces in naval ports and air bases were instrumental in popularizing what became an enduring fascination with Rock ‘n’ Roll. One legacy is ‘Country Gold’, a music festival of now international standing which is held every October at an outdoor venue in the shadow of Mt Aso. This was inspired by ‘Charlie’ Nagatani who, after growing up in Kumamoto City, formed a country group in 1956 and went on to acquire a wide following after touring US bases around Japan.22 Perhaps the most visible landmarks in Kyushu’s post-war economic recovery were the opening ceremonies of several modern transport networks, which inspired confidence in new technology and offered the prospects of a brighter commercial future. Construction on the first Kanmon railway tunnel beneath the Shimonoseki Straits had already begun in the late 1930s. When this was finally completed eight years later in 1944 it not only provided a direct link between Kyushu and Honshu but became the first undersea tunnel built anywhere in the world. A road tunnel under the straits was later completed in 1958, but it was in the 1970s that the most impressive projects were realized. After five years of construction, the Kanmon Suspension Bridge was opened in 1973. Not only was this the first bridge between Kyushu and Honshu, but for some years held the distinction of being the longest bridge in East Asia. Equally significant was the completion of another rail tunnel in 1975 which, for the first time, enabled the new shinkansen ‘bullet trains’ to run directly from Tokyo to Hakata. Just after the war this journey would have taken the best part of twenty-four hours, but now it became possible to cover the distance in only seven. Anyone familiar with the old kodama bullet trains, however, will know that it still took over nine hours during the 1980s. These days the fastest trains can make the trip in just five hours.23 Together with expanding transport networks the development of 251

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan media communications exerted a powerful force on culture and language throughout post-war Japan. In regional areas like Kyushu the diffusion of radio and then television in the 1960s contributed to the increasingly uniform language often employed in schools and the workplace, if not always at home. Since not all households had radios until the mid-1940s, it has been suggested that ‘the linguistic unification of Japan occurred [only] in the post-war period’.24 Still today, the tensions between a notional Tokyo-based ‘standard’ language and regional dialects contribute to what at times can even approach a bilingual environment. In various parts of Kyushu people still switch from polite speech to dialect in less than the time it takes to put the phone down. This is perhaps most marked in the case of the notoriously thick Satsuma dialect, but is by no means the only case. In the congested cities of Kyushu, meanwhile, high-speed economic growth during the 1960s was reshaping the urban landscape as industry flourished and the construction of large concrete residential blocks expanded into the suburbs. As in other regions, the first signs of rural depopulation had appeared earlier in the twentieth century, with the growth of heavy industry and labour migration overseas. It was in the post-war era, however, that the decreasing numbers in the countryside became conspicuous, as the pressures of rapid urbanization created new social tensions memorably evoked in Ōzu Yasujirō’s 1953 film Tōkyō Monogatari (Tokyo Story). Around the old castle town of Kokura, for example, there appeared the first city in Kyushu after Fukuoka with a population over a million, as communities adjoining the Yawata Steelworks and other industrial plants merged to form the sprawling metropolis collectively known as Kitakyushu. For many years in the late twentieth century the perennial clouds hanging over this new city were synonymous with the heavy pollution that accompanied Japan’s rise as an industrial power. Environmental warning signs were ignored in the rush towards post-war recovery by companies and local authorities alike. In some long-suffering communities the consequences were disastrous. The most notorious case occurred in Minamata, a small coastal city in the south of Kumamoto Prefecture. Here the local fish stocks were poisoned over a sustained period by mercury released from a nearby chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corporation, the city’s largest employer. The result was ‘the single worst long-term, man-made industrial pollution disaster in history’.25 252

The Twentieth Century People in Minamata would later recall having noticed unusually dirty water as early as 1951. The following year the local fishing cooperative even filed a complaint, prompting Kumamoto Prefecture to request data from Chisso, but the company was evasive in its response. In 1954, there was also concern over the puzzling behaviour of local cats which suddenly became prone to wild gyrating fits. In the nearby fishing village of Modō, as many as a hundred cats died within two months. It was the resulting explosion in the mice population that first drew the attention of the media to the possibility that something out of the ordinary was happening in Minamata.26 By this stage, humans were being affected as well, but no one knew the cause of their symptoms of numbness and uncontrollable shaking hands. In some cases doctors thought their patients had been poisoned by the acetylene lamps that were often used in the area during night fishing off the coast.27 It took until 1956 before it was realized that Minamata was in the grip of an epidemic and a direct link was established with the chemical factory. Even then, several years elapsed before the full scale of the problem finally emerged. Many victims had tried to conceal their sickness, as the growing fear of this mysterious disease made them ‘outcasts, stigmatized and degraded, frequently even in their own eyes’.28 Their plight was also shunned by society at large, for it raised uncomfortable questions over culpability. After all, it clearly implicated a major company that, until then, had been emblematic of post-war economic success. Coverage was thus restricted to a mainly local audience until Chisso quietly tried to close the case in 1959 by making ‘sympathy payments’ to victims and arranging compensation for local fishing cooperatives. In the 1960s, however, the issue attracted wider attention as the subsequent appearance of pollution scandals in other parts of the country served to raise awareness of ‘Minamata disease’ at a national level. What had seemed like an isolated local problem was now placed within the context of the growing citizen protests emerging across a broad range of social, political and environmental concerns. Encouraged by a nationwide support network, Minamata campaigners openly championed their cause, consciously identifying themselves with atomic bomb victims (hibakusha) and also Burakumin, the descendants of social outcasts from a former age.29 During an extended process of litigation it became one of the so-called ‘big-four’ pollution cases in the late sixties, 253

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan which broke new ground by exposing social taboos and reshaping the power relations between industry and the community. In 1970, a group of Minamata protestors even confronted Chisso President Egashira Yutaka at the company shareholders’ meeting. By 1973 they were able to claim a moral victory at last when Chisso was forced to accept responsibility and publicly apologize.30 This ruling was perhaps the single most important landmark in the long campaign to seek redress over Minamata disease, although it was not until more than twenty years later in the mid-1990s that uncertified patients would also receive compensation. Even then, some victims received nothing and, significantly, the government still accepted no legal blame. Even today the ramifications are still felt widely in the area.31 The local fishing industry, for example, had to wait until the dawn of the new century before the water in the Shiranui Sea off the coast of Minamata was clean enough to resume business. Pollution was just one of various side-effects caused by rapid industrial expansion in the post-war era. To meet the growing demand for Japanese exports the labour force was also being systematically mobilized with long working shifts at factories across the country. The social pressures these created in turn led to new approaches to work and leisure, including some early initiatives in the development of mass tourism. In Kyushu the coastal town of Beppu in Ōita Prefecture, with its unmatched concentration of sulphuric hot springs, became a popular resort, as ferries brought large numbers of holidaymakers across the Inland Sea from the industrial centres of Honshu. Beppu Spa had initially been developed in the early years of the twentieth century. It was in 1911 that the influential Aburaya Kumahachi first arrived in the area and founded the Kamenoi Inn, which still runs as the Kamenoi Hotel today. The fleet of buses he created in 1927 provided guided tours around the famous ‘Beppu Hells’, nine boiling pools where the mineral contents create a range of vivid colours from milky white to blood red. The Kamenoi Hotel claims that Aburaya’s innovative idea of hiring beautiful girls to provide the commentary was the first time that bus guides were employed in Japan. After the Pacific War, Beppu rapidly grew into a busy, commercialized resort. The first sight to greet many passengers arriving by ship from Honshu was Beppu Tower, a lattice steel structure with an observation deck built in 1957 that, at 328 feet high, dominates the seafront today. Inspired perhaps 254

The Twentieth Century by the Eiffel Tower, it is also reminiscent of Blackpool Tower, the symbol of another coastal resort on the Lancashire coast in England. Since Ōita Prefecture boasts more hot springs than anywhere else in the country, the area was destined to become a popular leisure destination as commercial prosperity returned to post-war Japan. The growth of Beppu into a tourist centre in turn fostered a market for travellers wishing to escape to the more secluded hot springs in the mountains inland. The Kamenoi Bus Company, for example, opened a regular bus service from Beppu to Yufuin, which gave visitors access to the exclusive new Kamenoi Bessō Hotel situated by the picturesque Kinrin Lake. During the last decades of the twentieth century Yufuin would develop into a bustling resort itself, conspicuous now as much for its gift shops and little museums as for its celebrated waters. The construction of a motorway stretching across Kyushu from Nagasaki in the west to Ōita in the east has also created easier access to the still relatively unspoilt hot springs hidden away in these mountains. A notable example is Kurokawa, just across the border in Kumamoto Prefecture. Here by a river in a quiet woodland setting, a remote village community overcame years of hardship in the post-war era to pioneer the growth of what is arguably now the most sought-after hot spring location anywhere in Kyushu. Contemporary Kyushu For several decades the strategic conditions imposed by the Cold War placed severe limitations on interaction across the East China Sea, but towards the end of the twentieth century there were increasing signs of renewed contact between Kyushu and the Asian continent. On a broader level, the relative cultural isolation of the Japanese population in the post-war era was already being overhauled by the 1960s after years of sustained economic growth and the staging of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The floating of the yen against the dollar in 1973 also enabled the first post-war boom in overseas travel, although Japanese tourists initially flocked mainly to places like New York, London, Paris and Hawaii. While commercial shipping was already booming, sea gateways to the Asian continent such as Hakata and Nagasaki were largely bypassed in the new age of jet travel. Besides any political considerations, lands in Asia were still often overlooked as leisure destinations, 255

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan partly through a lack of infrastructure to support demand, and partly through the lack of awareness to create it. In recent years, however, there has been a significant revival in channels of communication across the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea. For Kyushu in particular, this has had an increasing impact on commerce, culture and tourism. To a large extent it has been fostered by the ongoing diplomatic rapprochement with mainland China and South Korea. Geopolitical forces have also contributed as the ramifications of the oil shocks in the 1970s, for example, have prompted a more broadly based diplomatic outlook than reliance on the so-called San Francisco System alone. On a cultural level, the emphasis that has since been placed on ‘internationalization’ as a result has led to an influx of students and workers from regions around the globe. Now in the twenty-first century, many Japanese cities boast an often small but diverse profile of foreign residents. There was a sharp rise in the number of immigrants in the 1980s, attracted by the high yen and the prospect of better wages. Away from the cities, there has also been a less conspicuous but steady influx of imported brides from various countries including the Philippines and Sri Lanka. This reflects the acute problem of rural depopulation and the plight of Japanese farmers who have been unable to find partners to share their agricultural lifestyle in the countryside. Whether in the town or the country, the current wave of cultural hybridization is becoming an increasingly recognized feature of daily life in Japan today.32 In Kyushu, such an influx of foreign migrants is nothing new since, in cities like Kitakyushu, for example, there are substantial communities of Korean residents now in their third or fourth generation, whose forbears arrived as labourers during the colonial era. In coastal areas around Fukuoka, Kagoshima and Nagasaki, untold numbers of people also have some Korean, Chinese and even European ancestry dating back to earlier contacts in the now distant past. A noticeable feature of the influx of foreign residents in Kyushu over the last decade, however, has been the relatively high proportion of Korean and Chinese students. Until the late 1980s the high yen made Japanese universities prohibitively expensive, but due in part to Kyushu’s geographic proximity, growing numbers of first Korean and, more recently, Chinese students have since arrived. At the same time the sharp decline in the birth rate in Japan has raised question marks over the future of universities 256

The Twentieth Century throughout the country, many of which were built in the 1960s to cater for the baby boom generation. Overseas students, predominantly from continental Asia, therefore, are increasingly welcomed as part of a longterm survival strategy. An innovative example is the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, where nearly 40 per cent of the student body are from overseas.33 In some respects this trend is a revival as well as a new departure, since it recalls the early years of the twentieth century when there were as many as 20,000 Chinese students studying in Japan.34 Besides students and labour migrants, there has recently been a striking increase in the number of Korean and Chinese tourists. This is reflected in the fact that road signs on motorways in many parts of Kyushu are now presented not only in Japanese characters together with Roman letters, but often in Korean and Chinese as well. Landmark events held in Fukuoka have contributed, notably Yokatopia, the Asian Pacific Expo in 1989, which inspired the construction of Fukuoka Tower on the seafront, at 400 feet high a building often cited as the new symbol of the city today. In 1993, the World Student Games were also held there, and the World Cup football tournament held jointly by Japan and Korea in 2002 prompted a rise in the numbers of tourists heading in both directions across the Tsushima Straits. Many of these travellers take the hydrofoil ‘Beetle’ service that has operated between Fukuoka and Pusan since 1991, crossing the straits in less than three hours. This reopening of channels of communication with the Korean peninsula and mainland China has helped to foster a reawakening to ‘Asia’ in a broader sense. It was in the 1990s that the volume of air traffic over the Pacific Ocean exceeded that over the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. China’s recent prodigious growth has also prompted widespread predictions of a ‘Pacific century’, with the Asia Pacific region emerging as the centre of the world economy. Seen from a Kyushu perspective, however, the last few years have been a case of looking not so much across the Pacific, but rediscovering longstanding links with the Asian continent. In recent decades, for example, the volume of shipping between Kyushu and the continent has increased dramatically, especially following the liberalization of the Chinese economy since the 1980s. Growing prosperity and new markets in both China and Korea have also encouraged the business community in Kyushu to focus on the 257

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan island’s strategic position in the centre of East Asia rather than at the edge of Japan. In promotional literature on the city’s advantages as a conference centre, for example, Fukuoka often boasts of a location almost equidistant between Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul. In fact, Seoul is marginally the nearest of the three. It is within this context that the municipal and prefectural authorities in Fukuoka have drawn on the city’s long heritage as an international port (albeit under the name of Hakata) to promote its unique position as ‘Japan’s Gateway to Asia’.35 Any inherent implication this may have that Japan and its inhabitants are somehow not part of Asia perhaps recalls Fukuzawa Yukichi’s famous call to ‘leave Asia’ (datsu-A) in 1885, and the justifications this allowed for then ‘returning’ to impose colonial rule. The idea of a ‘Gateway to Asia’ today can certainly be seen in the context of a second ‘return’. Unlike the experience of the early twentieth century, however, it is essentially a reaction to a post-war era dominated by the barriers to cultural contact imposed by Japan’s strategic role in the Cold War. Seen in this light, it is worth noting that much of the discussion concerning Japanese character and identity that developed during the postwar era was framed in a cultural environment with an unusually high degree of isolation from the Asian continent. The Nihonjinron discourse of self-interpretation, for example, includes a marked emphasis on what is often seen as the unique and culturally homogenous qualities of the Japanese people. In some respects this drew inspiration from the renewed confidence that accompanied Japan’s revival and emergence as an economic superpower by the 1980s. At the same time, it described a society heavily dependent on the economic infrastructure imposed during the Allied Occupation and for several years placed in a state of near seclusion from neighbouring states. It would seem now that these almost laboratory conditions were perhaps more of a transient interlude before the onset of cultural reintegration with the Asian continent. Nevertheless, on a strategic level the coasts of Kyushu still remain something of a frontier zone. In contrast to Europe where the Cold War ended dramatically with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the East China Sea today continues to be a highly sensitive region, heavily patrolled by security vessels. The rise of Chinese military power has also served to heighten tensions over disputed waters, an issue exacerbated by renewed prospects of securing access to potential reserves of oil. Even as com258

The Twentieth Century mercial and cultural channels of communication rapidly expand, therefore, political fracture lines still remain never far beneath the surface. Today, Kyushu has a population of thirteen million, and the island’s economy accounts for about 10 per cent of Japan’s gross domestic product. The emphasis has shifted considerably away from the steel, shipbuilding and chemical industries that once dominated during the era of high-speed growth. To a large extent these have been replaced by a wide range of tertiary industries. Also prominent are the Toyota and Nissan automobile factories, while the presence of Bridgestone in Kurame has made the company’s owners, the Ishibashi family, the city’s most prominent sponsor of culture and the arts. The semiconductor industry, meanwhile, grew so rapidly in the last years of the twentieth century that by 1997 it accounted for 10 per cent of the world’s production of integrated circuits.36 Symptomatic of this transition has been the redevelopment of facilities more commonly associated with the age of heavy industry. Where the Yawata Steelworks and Miike coal mine once employed large work-forces, now there are theme parks called ‘Space World’ and ‘Mitsui Greenland’, built in an effort to absorb some of the shock of large-scale redundancies. The rapid growth of the leisure industry is also reflected in the new resorts built in the 1980s and 1990s, often with a focus on the exotic appeal of foreign climes. Besides Huis ten Bosch, the Dutch village near Nagasaki, a notable case is the ambitious Seagaia complex on the Miyazaki coast which – equipped with a man-made beach and wave machine inside a retractable dome – ensures climatically controlled summer weather all year round. Kyushu now seems to be taking on many of the features of a postindustrial society. Fukuoka, in particular, continues to grow into a prosperous regional capital, but everywhere the effects of rapid urbanization, rural depopulation and the emergence of an affluent workforce have resulted in significant shifts in outlook. Increasingly, urban dwellers have fostered aspirations to rediscover some imagined lost origins away from their city environment. In the 1980s, for example, extensive parks of log-cabins were developed in various locations in the highlands of central Kyushu. These have become popular as weekend homes in the country for city workers missing the fresh air or rural tranquillity they either remember from childhood or hope to find there. Such a desire to rediscover a notional ‘home village’ (furusato) has become a powerful force in the regeneration of depopulated rural areas, 259

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan often through the development of tourism and leisure facilities.37 It has also been galvanized by the ‘one village one product’ (isson ippin) movement, a programme for regional development first inaugurated in Ōita Prefecture by the governor Hiramatsu Morihiko in 1979. Also indicative of a post-industrial society in Kyushu is the relatively high level of environmental awareness that has emerged in recent years. A notable success, for example, has been the transformation of Kitakyushu from a once polluted industrial city perpetually shrouded in smog into a metropolis of cleaner air and green belts. A disadvantage of this greener image has been a falling population that frequently threatens to drop below the one million mark. Unfortunately, this jeopardizes the municipal authorities’ entitlement to the support from the central government that is reserved for Japan’s larger urban areas. To a large extent the metamorphosis of Kitakyushu in the late twentieth century also reflects changing economic priorities with the contraction of the steel industry and the closure of the nearby Chikuhō coal mines. At their height in 1957, there were as many as 400,000 coal miners throughout Japan, but faced with the challenge of cheaper petroleum and subsequent environmental concerns, five in six of them had been laid off by 1972. Forced redundancies caused severe social dislocation, as miners were given practically no support and there was often little prospect of alternative employment in the surrounding area. Both in Kyushu and Hokkaido there were a number of strikes, but the most antagonistic of all was launched by workers at the Miike coal mine, who in 1959 took their campaign to Tokyo and protested in front of the Diet building and the prime minister’s residence. Although it failed to prevent the steady stream of redundancies – their numbers halved over the next five years – they did raise awareness of the plight of the miners and the urgency of the social problems their communities faced.38 During the high-speed economic growth of the 1960s, meanwhile, the environmental consequences of industrial expansion and urbanization had been largely overlooked. Besides the extreme cases of pollution such as mercury poisoning in Minamata, some construction projects and land reclamation schemes did provoke civilian protest at a local level, but the balance of power was always weighted heavily in favour of large corporations. The construction industry still exerts immense influence over local authorities, but environmental protection groups have now grown significantly in stature as well. Schemes that 260

The Twentieth Century have recently been the target of orchestrated protests include the giant sluice gates in the Ariake Sea, and current plans to develop an ‘Island City’ in the southeast corner of Hakata Bay, threatening the habitat of rare birds that live in the marshes along the coast. The impact of information technology and ever-increasing access to ‘borderless’ communication in recent years has also helped to promote the development of these civilian networks. In addition to concerns over the natural environment, interest in conservation is becoming reflected in the emergence of a heritage industry. Whereas buildings of historical importance were liable to be destroyed with little thought in the immediate post-war era, there is now growing awareness of the need to preserve local sites of cultural value. Municipal and prefectural authorities have devoted considerable resources to the construction of impressive new museum facilities. Striking examples include the Reimeikan (Museum of Awakening) within the castle walls in Kagoshima City, and the recently built Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, in part a reconstruction of the magistrate’s office (Bugyōsho) that once stood on this site in the Tokugawa era. In keeping with the times, this was opened in October 2005 as one of the few museums in Japan – according to the promotional literature – organized around a theme of ‘overseas exchange’.39 This more outward-looking theme and focus on shared heritage has also been the inspiration behind some high-profile developments in the arts. The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum which opened in 1999, for example, houses the largest collection of contemporary Asian art in the world. It is no coincidence that this was established one hundred years after Okakura Tenshin first called for a museum in Kyushu on a par with Tokyo, Nara and Kyoto. Okakura’s vision itself was finally realized in October 2005 with the opening of the new Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu, with its expansive message of embracing ‘the perspective of Asian history’ in ‘the formation of Japanese culture’. Perhaps this does signal a more reflective approach in these early years of the twenty-first century. At the same time it is part of an ongoing cultural dialogue that, in and around these gateways of Kyushu at least, has never been far from view.

261

POSTSCRIPT

 n June 2008, after finishing the manuscript for this book, I travelled to Japan on a whistle-stop tour of Kyushu. It was the rainy season, hence the dark skies in some of the photographs in the plate section. As I took local trains from one place to the next, it came as something of a relief to find that many of the scenes I have described here remain much as I had remembered them. After writing a history that encroaches on the present day, however, I could hardly expect not to come across the odd change since the last time I had passed this way. This tour of reflection also allowed me to see how features in the landscape can shift as time and society move on. Rather than draw up a list of errata as such, I decided to point out here, by way of an update, some of the details that caught my eye. Perhaps the most dramatic change I found was the sight of the new bullet train tracks now under construction along the Kagoshima Trunk Line. In an island where the mountainous terrain has always made communications difficult, this new line running the length of Kyushu will have a major impact when it opens in 2010. Sadly, however, the privately-run little railway from Nobeoka to Takachiho that I describe in Chapter 1 is no longer in operation. It was forced to close down after suffering severe damage when Typhoon No. 14 ripped through the Miyazaki countryside on 6 September 2005. A few months later the prohibitive cost of repair work convinced the prefectural and local authorities to close the line permanently. The Takachiho community and local businesses have since been campaigning to save their railway. As of April 2008 these efforts are being coordinated by the newly-created Takachiho Amaterasu Railway

I

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Postsscript Company, and there are hopes to reopen a section of the track in the not too distant future. In Chapter 2 I describe the Yayoi settlement at Yoshinogari, but what I remember as an archaeological site with scattered examples of reconstructed buildings has now expanded to encompass dozens of wooden huts, storehouses, watchtowers and palisades spread over a large area. In nearby Saga City, meanwhile, the banners that I describe as protesting against imports of cheap foreign rice have now disappeared. These were an abiding memory of the bus journeys I used to take from Saga Station to the prefectural library. At the time, considerable efforts were being made to open up Japan’s once notoriously protectionist agricultural markets; long-term residents may recall the initial furore over importing Californian oranges, Australian beef and Thai rice. Today, advertisements still encourage consumers to buy food ‘made in Japan’, but outwardly at least this no longer appears to be the burning issue that once dominated headlines in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Another roadside landmark I refer to in Chapter 2 is the sign welcoming drivers to the ‘home of Himiko’ as they cross the bridge over the Yabe River in the small hot spring town of Funagoya. On my return there, I was impressed at first by how clean and smart the bridge was looking – I remembered a rusting iron structure with fading red paint. On closer inspection it transpired that the old bridge had been torn down in 2002 and replaced by a new one, also painted red. The weathered sign of Himiko I once knew had disappeared in the process. Nevertheless, as the photograph taken on the platform of Setaka Station shows, images of this ancient queen are still a feature of the area. Similarly, in Chapter 8 I point out a colourful float portraying Takahashi Joun, the general who heroically defended Iwaya Castle in 1586, which I remember seeing in the bullet train foyer of Hakata Station each time I passed by. Today the float has gone, as this concourse has been closed off and is undergoing renovation. When I returned there on 1 July, another float was being unveiled to an admiring crowd in front of the station. It marked the start of the countdown for the Gion Yamakasa festival in which, in the early hours of 15 July, this and other towering floats would be carried through the streets by rival teams of bearers. Notices were giving details of special trains to be laid on during the night to allow people in surrounding areas to travel in and watch. 263

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan In Chapter 9 I also mention that the keep of Saga Castle had become the largest reconstructed wooden castle building in Japan when it was completed in 2004. This has now been surpassed by the new Honmaru Palace next to the keep of Kumamoto Castle, which opened in April 2008. Built at a cost of 5,400 million yen, the Kumamoto municipal authorities provided around 60 per cent of the funding, although the state has also helped, and around 1,000 million yen has been received in private donations. In the grounds of Fukuoka Castle, meanwhile, archaeological work continues on the remains of the Tsukushi Lodge (Kōrokan) that once stood there in Nara and Heian times. When this is finished at last, perhaps in ten years’ time, there are plans for the area to take on a new lease of life as the ‘Fukuoka Castle-Kōrokan Park’. Like other ongoing projects to preserve and represent symbols of local heritage, it looks set to continue for some time yet.

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APPENDIX

 Major domains in Kyushu circa 1850 Domains with revenue less than 20,000 koku not shown Crest Family name Castle town

Location (province)

Type

Revenue (koku)

Shimazu

Kagoshima

Satsuma Ōsumi

tozama

770,000

Hosokawa

Kumamoto

Higo

tozama

540,000

Kuroda

Fukuoka

Chikuzen

tozama

520,000

Nabeshima

Saga

Hizen

tozama

357,000

Arima

Kurume

Chikugo

tozama

210,000

Ogasawara

Kokura

Buzen

fudai

150,000

Tachibana

Yanagawa

Chikugo

tozama

119,600

Okudaira

Nakatsu

Buzen

fudai

100,000

Nabeshima

Ogi

Hizen

tozama

73,000

Nakagawa

Oka (Taketa)

Bungo

tozama

70,400

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Location (province)

Crest Family name Castle town

Type

Revenue (koku)

Matsudaira

Shimabara

Hizen

fudai

70,000

Naitō

Nobeoka

Hyūga* Bungo

fudai

70,000

Matsura

Hirado

Hizen

tozama

60,170

Ogasawara

Karatsu

Hizen Chikuzen

fudai

60,000

Nabeshima

Hasuike

Hizen

tozama

52,000

Itō

Obi

Hyūga

tozama

51,000

Inaba

Usuki

Bungo

tozama

50,000

Kuroda

Akizuki

Chikuzen

tozama

50,000

Hosokawa

Tamana

Higo

tozama

35,000

Matsudaira

Kitsuki

Bungo

fudai

32,000

Akizuki

Takanabe

Hyūga

tozama

27,000

Ōmura

Ōmura

Hizen

tozama

27,000

Shimazu

Sadowara

Hyūga

tozama

27,000

Kinoshita

Hiji

Bungo

tozama

25,000

Sagara

Hitoyoshi

Higo

tozama

22,000

Matsudaira

Funai (Ōita)

Bungo

fudai

21,000

Mōri

Saiki

Bungo

tozama

20,000

Nabeshima

Kashima

Hizen

tozama

20,000

* Includes enclave northwest of Miyazaki City

266

NOTES

 Introduction: 1. The term ‘national museum’ here refers to ‘Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan’ preceded by its location. Kyushu National Museum (Kyūshū Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan) is thus the fourth such museum following the opening of its counterparts in Tokyo (1872), Nara (1889) and Kyoto (1897). It falls into a different category from subject-specific ‘national’ museums where no location is specified. The National Museum of Science (Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan) was founded in 1877 on a site in Ueno Park adjacent to Tokyo National Museum. The National Museum of Art (Kokuritsu Kokusai Bijutsu Hakubutsukan) and the National Museum of Ethnology (Kokuritsu Minzoku Hakubutsukan) both opened in Osaka in 1977 in the aftermath of the 1970 Expo there. The National Museum of Japanese History (Kokuritsu Rekishi Minzoku Hakubutsukan) opened in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture, in 1983. 2. Karoku Miwa (director), Kyushu National Museum, Museum Guide. 3. Gavan McCormack, ‘Kokusaika: impediments in Japan’s deep structure’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 274. 4. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), pp. 13–16. 5. This conceptualization of maritime spheres is reflected in Joan Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 2, 18. See also Gina Barnes, Protohistoric Yamato: the archaeology of the first Japanese state (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988), p. 3. The concept of two distinct Western Seto and Eastern Seto cultural spheres was first developed in the early twentieth century by Naka Michiyo and Watsuji Tetsurō. Inoue Mitsusada, Nihon no Rekishi, I: Shinwa kara rekishi e [Japanese History, vol.1: from myth to history] (Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha, 1965), pp. 258–9. Murai Shōsuke identifies a ‘Pan East China Sea Region’ in the

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan

6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

medieval era. Murai Shōsuke, Chūsei Wajinden [Medieval Account of the people of Wa] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1993), p. 39. Ōbayashi Taryō presents categories described by Shimono Toshimi as the ‘East China Sea Culture Sphere’ and the ‘Yamato Culture Sphere’ in Ōbayashi Taryō, Higashi to Nishi, Umi to Yama: Nihon no bunka ryōiki [East and West, Sea and Mountain: Japan’s cultural regions] (Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1990), p. 55. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, Manyōshū: one thousand poems (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1940), p. 122. Helen Craig McCullough, The Tale of Heike (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 110. Another medieval text identifies a land located in the sea between Japan and China where ‘fifty thousand little demons (ko-oni) live’. The fear of shipwreck and being left at the mercy of unknown islanders clearly had a powerful effect on the author’s imagination. The accompanying images of creatures with horns and bulging eyes recall Maurice Sendak’s illustrations in Where the Wild Things Are (first published in 1963). Murai Shōsuke, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon [Medieval Japan within Asia] (Tokyo: Kōsō Shobō, 1988), pp. 46, 55. Murai Shōsuke, Chūsei Wajinden, (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1993), p. 39. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), p. 347. Tessa Morris-Suzuki, ‘A Descent into the Past: the frontier in the construction of Japanese identity’ in Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan, p. 92. Gaynor MacDonald, ‘The Politics of Diversity in the Nation-State’ in John C. Maher and Gaynor MacDonald (eds), Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language (London: Kegan Paul International, 1995), pp. 291–2. Makiko Hanami, ‘Minority Dynamics in Japan: towards a dynamics of sharing’ in Maher and MacDonald (eds), Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language, p. 121. On the idea of Japan as a monoethnic society being a post-war construct, the political scientist Kamishima Jirō has written, ‘In pre-war Japan, everyone said that Yamato people are hybrid people . . . But, rather strangely, in the post-war period, beginning with progressive intellectuals, people began to say that Japan is monoethnic. There is no basis for this.’ John Lie, Multiethnic Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), pp. 134, 137. Paul Claval, An Introduction to Regional Geography (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p. 155. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, p. 38. Lie, Multiethnic Japan, p. 178. Examples of Kyushu-centred collaborative projects in the 1970s include Ōkubo Toshiaki (ed.), Meiji Ishin to Kyūshū [The Meiji Restoration and Kyushu] (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1973), Yanai Kenji (ed.), Gairai Bunka to

268

Notes

18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Kyūshū [Imported Culture and Kyushu] (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1973), Sugimoto Isao (ed.) Kyūshū Tenryō no Kenkyū: Hita o chūshin toshite [Research on Tokugawa ‘Heavenly Territory’ in Kyushu: focus on Hita] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1976). Hidemura Senzō, ‘Sōkan no Ji’ (Inaugural Volume Foreword), Seinan Chiiki-shi Kenkyū [Southwest Regional History Research], vol.1, May 1977, p. 1. Bruce Batten, To the Ends of Japan: premodern boundaries, frontiers and interactions (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press: 2004), p. 4. Lie, Multiethnic Japan, p. 51. Claval, Regional Geography, p. 146. Ōbayashi Taryō, Higashi to Nishi, Umi to Yama, pp. 55, 243. Bruce Batten, To the Ends of Japan: premodern boundaries, frontiers and interactions (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press: 2004), pp. 70–1. Kagoshima Junshin Daigaku Kokusai Bunka Kenkyū Centre (ed.), ShinSatsuma-gaku: sekai no naka no Satsuma [New Satsuma Studies: Satsuma in the world] (Kagoshima: Nanpō Shinsha, 2002), pp. 3, 240. Lane R. Earns and Brian Burke-Gaffney (eds.), Crossroads: a journal of Nagasaki history and culture, No. 1, Summer 1993 (Showado Printing Co., Nagasaki). See, for example, Andrew Cobbing, ‘The Nagasaki Information War of 1863’, Kyushu University International Student Centre Bulletin, no.14, 2002, pp. 58–68. A palimpsest is a metaphor for the process of landscape change. The term derives from a medieval tablet that could be used on multiple occasions, although residual traces of earlier scripts were never completely erased. Mike Crang, Cultural Geography (London: Routledge, 1998), pp. 22–3.

Chapter One: Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven 1. The title of tennō, often translated as ‘emperor’, seems to have come into use from the late seventh century after the reign of Tenmu. ‘Great King’ (Ōkimi) is therefore a more appropriate title for Tenmu himself. In the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, all previous rulers as far back as Jinmu, whether imagined or real, were retrospectively ascribed the title of tennō. 2. John Bentley argues that the Sendai Kuji Hongi, although derivative in nature and later edited, was being compiled in the early Nara court at about the same time as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. John Bentley, The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi: a new examination of texts, with a translation and commentary (Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 80–1. 3. John S. Brownlee, Japanese Historians and the National Myths, 1600–1945: the age of the gods and Emperor Jinmu (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1997), p. 5.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 4. Umehara Takeshi, Tennō-ke no Furusato: Hyūga o yuku [Homeland of the Imperial Family: journey to Hyūga] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2000), p. 7. 5. Michiko Y. Aoki, ‘Empress Jingū: the shamaness ruler’ in Chieko Irie Mulhern (ed.), Heroic with Grace: legendary women of Japan (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1991), p. 23. 6. Susan L. Burns, Before the Nation: kokugaku and the imagining of community in early modern Japan (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2003), p. 6. 7. Ibid., pp. 6–7. 8. Address by Japanese Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro to the Council of the Shinto Political Federation of Diet Members. 15 May 2000. 9. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, p. 16. 10. Inoue Mitsusada, Nihon no Rekishi, vol. 1: shinwa kara rekishi e [History of Japan, vol.1: from myth to history] (Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha, 1965), p. 31. 11. Alexander Vannovsky, Volcanoes and the Sun: a new concept of the mythology of the Kojiki (Tokyo and Rutland VM: Bridgeway Press 1960). 12. Charles Holcombe, The Genesis of East Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2001), p. 184. 13. Ibid., p. 185. 14. Hanihara Kazurō has estimated that as many as a million migrants may have settled in the Japanese islands during the Yayoi and subsequent Kofun periods between 500 BCE and 700 CE, although others place the figure much lower. Gavan MacCormack, ‘Introduction’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: from the paleolithic to the postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 4. See Hanihara Kazurō, ‘Estimation of the Number of Early Migrants to Japan: a simulative study’ in Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon, no.95, 1987, pp. 391–403. 15. John C. Maher, ‘North Kyushu Creole: a language-contact model for the origins of Japanese’ in Denoon et al., Multicultural Japan, pp. 31, 40. 16. Holcombe, The Genesis of East Asia, p. 184. 17. Hidaka Masaharu, Saitobaru Kodai Bunka o Saguru [In Search of the Ancient Culture of Saitobaru] (Miyazaki: Kōmyakusha, 2003), pp. 176–7, 195. 18. Basil Hall Chamberlain (trans.), The Kojiki: records of ancient matters (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1981), pp. 138–9. According to one of several versions presented in the Nihon Shoki, ‘this is the reason why the life of man is so short’. W.G. Aston (trans.), Nihongi: chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D.697, vol. I (Rutland VM and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1972), p. 85. 19. J.G. Frazer, The Belief in Immortality (London: MacMillan & Co., 1913), pp. 74–5. 20. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, pp. 98, 105. 21. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, p. 170. 22. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 107.

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Notes 23. Chamberlain, The Kojiki, p. 142. 24. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 100. 25. Wontack Hong, Paekche of Korea and the Origin of Yamato Japan (Seoul: Kudara International, 1994), p. 101. 26. Ibid., p. 126. 27. Aoki, ‘Empress Jingū’, pp. 24–5. 28. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 253. See also David J. Lu, Japan: a documentary history, vol.1 (Armonk. NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), p. 9. 29. Chamberlain, The Kojiki, pp. 44–5. Aston, Nihongi, p. 69–70. 30. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, p. 59. 31. In Chamberlain’s translation the Odo district of Awakihara is presented as ‘a plain [covered with] ahagi [bushclover], at a small river mouth near Tachibana in Himuka [archaic name for Hyūga] in [the island of] Tsukushi [archaic name for Kyushu].’ Chamberlain, The Kojiki, pp. 46–7. In the Nihon Shoki this appears as ‘the plain of Ahagi at Tachibana in Wodo in Hiuga of Tsukushi.’ Aston, Nihongi, I, pp. 26–7. 32. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, p. 109. 33. Furuta Takehiko, Kyūshū Ōchō no Rekishi-gaku [Historical Study on the Kyushu Realm] (Tokyo: Shinshindō, 1991), pp. 109–10. 34. Ibid., p. 50. 35. Ibid., pp. 46–7, 95. 36. Ibid., p. 43. 37. Sarutahiko and Ame no Uzume are the main deities revered at the Aratate Shrine in Takachiho Town. Ibid., p. 43. 38. Mark J. Hudson, ‘Tales Told in a Dream’ in Michael Weiner (ed.), Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan (London: Routledge, 2004), p. 123. 39. Mizoguchi Koji, An Archaeological History of Japan, 30,000 B.C. to A.D. 700 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), p. 7. 40. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, p. 18. 41. Ibid., pp. 19, 158. 42. Chamberlain, The Kojiki, p. 134. Aston, Nihongi, p. 78. 43. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 110. 44. Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2005), p. 137. 45. Inoue, Nihon no Rekisihi, I, p. 88. 46. Hong, Paekche of Korea, pp. 99–100. 47. The Sendai Kuji Hongi goes further than the Chronicles’ description of Nigi Hayahi’s descent and an alternative ‘heavenly line’ by asserting that he was Ninigi’s older brother. Bentley, The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi, p. 74. Aston, Nihongi, I, pp. 127–8. 48. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, pp. 188, 202. 49. John Bentley suggests that one reason the Sendai Kuji Hongi may have been suppressed by the early Nara court was because it implied a strong Silla

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50. 51. 52. 53. 54.

55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60.

61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67.

blood connection with the imperial family, thus ‘melding continental blood with the children of the sun lineage’. If such editorial licence did exist, it is even more surprising that the Hyūga myth was allowed to survive in the form it appears, since it clearly links the imperial line with the ‘barbarian Hayato’ (cf. civilized Silla). Given this anomaly, any desire to eliminate links with Silla may have been driven not so much by questions of lineage so much as the political sensibilities of the Paekche court in exile. Bentley, The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hong, p. 79 Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 78. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, pp. 28, 31. Seki Yūji, Kodaishi no Shuyaku [Lead Roles in Ancient History] (Tokyo: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha, 2005), p. 114 Hudson, ‘Tales Told in a Dream’, pp. 120–1. ‘Tradition says that the first emperor of Ch’in sent a Taoist, Hsü Fu, at the head of many thousand young boys and girls in quest of the immortals of P’êng-lai [off coast of Shandong peninsula], but without success. Being afraid of the death sentence, Hsü Fu did not dare return home, but settled on an island. Generation followed generation, and there are now tens of thousands of families there.’ ‘History of the Latter Han Dynasty’ in Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), p. 3. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, pp. 34–5, 189. Ibid., p. 62. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 73. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, pp. 40, 78. Hidaka, Saitobaru Kodai Bunka, p. 244. A candidate for the role of King of Hyūga and occupant of this largest tomb at Saitobaru is Toyo-kuni-wake. According to the Chronicles, ‘King’ or ‘Prince’ Toyo-kuni-wake was ‘the ancestor of the Rulers of the Land of Himuka’ and ‘the first ancestor of the Miyakko of the Land of Hiuga’. Chamberlain, The Kojiki, pp. 245, 247. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 196. Hidaka, Saitobaru Kodai Bunka, pp. 245–6. Chamberlain, The Kojiki, p. 152. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 52. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, pp. 181, 184–5. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 110. Ibid. Hidaka, Saitobaru Kodai Bunka, pp. 232–4. Seki, Kodai-shi no Shuyaku, p. 124. Umehara, Tennō-ke no Furusato, p. 176. Gina Barnes, ‘Miwa Occupation in Wider Perspective’ in Gina L. Barnes and M. Okita (eds), The Miwa Project Report: survey, coring and excavation at the Miwa site (Oxford: Tempvs Repartvm, 1993), pp. 181–92. Cited in Mark Hudson, Ruins of Identity: ethnogenesis in the Japanese islands (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999), p. 133.

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Notes Chapter Two: Himiko’s Lands: Gateway to Wa 1. Penelope Francks, Technology and Agricultural Development in Pre-war Japan (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), pp. 100–103. 2. Gina Barnes, The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: the archaeology of China, Korea and Japan (London: Thames and Hudson, 1999), pp. 220–1. 3. Inoue Mitsusada, Nihon no Rekishi, vol. I: shinwa kara rekishi e [History of Japan, vol.1: from myth to history] (Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha, 1965), p. 173. 4. Barnes, The Rise of Civilization in East Asia, p. 219 5. Furuta Takehiko, Yamatai-koku wa Nakatta [Yamatai Did Not Exist] (Tokyo: Asahi Bunko, 1993), p. 289. See also Heyerdahl, Thor, Kon-Tiki (London: Rand McNally, 1950). 6. Hirano Kunio, Yamatai-koku no Genshō [The Phenomenon of the Yamatai State] (Tokyo, Gakuseisha, 2002), p. 143. 7. ‘History of the Latter Han Dynasty’ in Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories: later Han through Ming dynasties (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), p. 2. 8. Takeno Yōko, Hakata: chōnin ga sodateta kokusai toshi, [Hakata: international city fostered by townspeople] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2000), p. 4. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 172. 9. ‘History of the Latter Han Dynasty’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 1. 10. John Young, ‘The Location of Yamatai: a case study in Japanese historiography, 720–1945’ in The John Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series, LXXV, No.2, 1957, p. 104. 11. For details on this site see Barbara Seyock, ‘The Hirabaru Site and Wajinden Research: notes on the archeology of the kings of Ito’, NOAG, 173–174, 2003, pp. 211–12. 12. William Wayne Farris, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: issues in the historical archaeology of ancient Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998), p. 37. 13. Kanaseki Hiroshi and Sahara Makoto, Yamatai-koku to Yoshinogari [The Yamatai State and Yoshinogari] (Tokyo: Gakuseisha, 1997), p. 132. 14. On the theory that Na was destroyed by Yamatai see Yasumoto Biten, Nakoku no Metsubō: Yamatai-koku ni horobasareta kin’in-koku [End of Na: the gold seal state destroyed by Yamatai] (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1990), pp. 35–46. 15. The full text of the Wajinden appears in Chinese with Japanese translation in Saeki Arikiyo, Yamatai-koku Ronsō [The Yamatai State Debate] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho, 2006), pp. 207–17. In English it appears in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp. 8–16. Also

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16.

17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

J. Edward Kidder Jr, Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007), pp. 12–18. William Theodore de Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley (eds), Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol.1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp. 6–8. David Lu, Japan: a documentary history (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), pp. 11–17. Farris, Sacred Texts, p. 13. Hirano, Yamatai-koku no Genshō, pp. 221–7. Bruce Batten, Hakata: gateway to Japan (Honolulu: Hawai‘i University Press, 2004), p. 99 For a discussion on shamanism and the role of the miko see Carmen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow: a study of shamanistic practices in Japan (Richmond: Japan Library, 1999), p. 115. Michiko Aoki, ‘Empress Jingū: the shamaness ruler’ in Chieko Irie Mulhern (ed.), Heroic with Grace: legendary women of Japan (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1991), pp. 3–38. W.G. Aston (trans.), Nihongi: chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D.697, vol. I (Rutland VM and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1972), pp. 245–6. Aoki, ‘Empress Jingū’, p. 17. This interpretation still has some support today. See Seki Yūji, Yamataikoku no Nazo o Toku [Solving the Riddle of Yamatai] (Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho, 2006), p. 90. Young, ‘The Location of Yamatai’, pp. 97–100. Ibid., p. 110. In the late twentieth century the theory that Yamatai moved east from Kyushu to Kinai won support from several scholars such as Inoue Mitsusada, Mori Hiroichi and Yasumoto Biten. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 258. Yasumoto, Na-koku no Metsubō, pp. 214–16. Hong, Paekche of Korea and the Origin of Yamato Japan, p. 249. Kanaseki and Sahara, Yamatai-koku to Yoshinogari, p. 400. Saeki Arikiyo, Yamatai-koku Ronsō [The Yamatai Debate] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho, 2006). For summaries and criticism of Kobayashi’s theory on mirrors see Farris, Sacred Texts, pp. 42–6. Kidder, Himiko and Yamatai, pp. 180–5. Saeki, Yamatai-koku Ronsō, pp. 183, 187–8. Ibid., pp. 188–9. Hirano, Yamatai-koku no Genshō, pp. 165–8. Farris, Sacred Treasures, p. 51. Seki Yūji, Kodaishi no Shuyaku, [Lead Roles in Ancient History] (Tokyo: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha, 2005), pp. 102–103. Hong, Paekche of Korea and the Origin of Yamato Japan, p. 249. Nishijima Sadao, Yamatai-koku to Wakoku, [Yamatai and Wa] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1994), pp. 175, 185.

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Notes 38. Kidder, Himiko and Yamatai, p. 238. 39. John C. Maher, ‘North Kyushu Creole: a language-contact model for the origins of Japanese’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: Paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 41. 40. Keiji Imamura, Prehistoric Japan: new perspectives on insular East Asia (London: UCL Press, 1996), p. 191. 41. My translation. Tsunoda’s translation reads: ‘Over one thousand li to the east of the Queen’s land, there are more countries of the same race as the people of Wa.’ ‘History of Wei’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 13. Kidder’s translation reads: ‘Across the ocean more than one thousand li east of the queen’s domain are more chiefdoms, all like the Wa.’ Kidder, Himiko and Yamatai, p. 16. 42. Hirano, Yamatai-koku no Genshō, pp. 216–36. 43. Seki, Yamatai-koku no Nazo o Toku, p. 22. 44. ‘New History of the Tang Dynasty’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 38 45. Hirano, Yamatai-koku no Genshō, p. 238. ‘History of the Sui Dynasty’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 32. 46. For an exhaustive list of places identified as possible sites of Yamatai see Kidder, Himiko and Yamatai, pp. 232–3. 47. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 230. In addition to the three sites in Setaka, tombs also associated with Himiko can be found in Kurume (1), Kikusui (1), Asakura (1), Sendai Kurume (1), all in Kyushu, and Nara (3) in Kinai. Visual Nihon no Rekishi, [Visual Japanese History], no.82 (Tokyo: De Agostini Japan, 2001), p. 79. 48. Kuroda Zenkō, Yamatai-koku Chikushi Kōiki Setsu, [Case for Locating Yamatai in the Chikushi Basin] (Fukuoka: Ashi Shobō, 1994). Yasumoto Biten has also linked Yamatai to Amagi. Kanaseki and Sahara, Yamataikoku to Yoshinogari, p. 129. 49. Ikuno Masayoshi and Furuta Takehiko locate Yamatai in the Itoshima peninsula and Fukuoka respectively. Ikuno Masayoshi, Chen Shou ga Shirushita Yamatai-koku, [The Yamata Recorded by Chen Shou] (Fukuoka: Kaichōsha, 2001). Furuta, Yamatai-koku wa Nakatta, pp. 267–72. Okuno Masao suggests that Himiko’s tomb is in the Itoshima peninsula. Okuno Masao, Yamatai-koku wa Kodai Yamato Seifuku shita, [Yamatai Conquered Ancient Yamato] (Tokyo: JICC Shuppan-kyoku, 1990), p. 32. 50. Aoki, ‘Empress Jingū’, pp.19, 21. Chapter Three: Tsukushi: Isle of Unknown Fires 1. The date of this supposed Korean campaign is thought to be probably spurious. Like the date selected for Jinmu’s accession, 537 was an auspicious year in the Chinese zodiac. Inoue Mitsusada, Nihon no Rekishi, I:

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2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

shinwa kara rekishi e [History of Japan, vol.1: from myth to history] (Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha, 1965), p. 481. Michiko Aoki, Records of Wind and Earth: a translation of fudoki with introduction and commentaries (Ann Arbor: Association of Asian Studies, 1997), p. 262. David Lu, Japan: a documentary history, vol.1 (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), p. 45. W.G Aston, (trans.), Nihongi: chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697, vol. I (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1972), p. 198. Aoki, Records of Wind and Earth, pp. 249–52. Nintoku’s tomb is 1,594 feet long. The area at the base of the First Emperor’s tomb near Xian measures 1,689 by 1,591 feet. The sides of the Great Pyramid at Giza near Cairo are each approximately 755 feet long. Gina Barnes, State Formation in Korea: historical and archaeological perspectives (Richmond: Curzon, 2001), pp. 20–44. Gina Barnes, Protohistoric Yamato: archaeology of the first Japanese state (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998), p. 13. Aston, Nihongi, I, pp. 220–1. Basil Hall Chamberlain (trans.), The Kojiki: record of ancient matters (Tokyo: Charles Tuttle, 1981), pp. 277–8. This enclave cannot have been called Mimana Nihonfu at the time as this was a later construct devised by the compilers of the Chronicles, since ‘Nihon’ did not come into usage until the seventh century. Wontack Hong, Paekche of Korea and the Origin of Yamato Japan (Seoul: Kudara International, 1994), p. 217. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 249. Jingū is also associated with maritime power, reflected in the fact that she is revered at the Hakata Sumiyoshi Shrine together with three sea deities who are themselves a common feature on this north Kyushu coastline. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi I, p. 351. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 88. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi I, pp. 375, 377. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 89. Michiko Aoki, Ancient Myths and Early History of Japan: a cultural foundation (New York: Exposition Press, 1974), p. 37. Gina Barnes, Protohistoric Yamato (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988), p. 13. Although never excavated, in September 1872 a landslide at one end of Nintoku’s tomb revealed some burial goods, examples of which are now held by Boston Museum. Ibid., p. 389. Hidaka Masaharu, Saitobaru Kodai Bunka o Saguru [In Search of the Ancient Culture of Saitobaru] (Miyazaki: Kōmyakusha, 2003), p. 243. Hong, Paekche of Korea, pp. 251–2.

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Notes 21. Barnes, State Formation in Korea, pp. 20–1. Hong, Paekche of Korea, pp. 195–203. 22. See, for example, Yūryaku’s letter to the Liu Song dynasty. William Theodore de Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley (eds), Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol.1: from earliest times to 1600 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), p. 9. 23. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 409. 24. Hong, Paekche of Korea, pp. 116, 131–5, 159. 25. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 178. 26. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, pp. 401–402. 27. Farris, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures, p. 92. 28. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), p. 59. 29. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 97. 30. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 296. 31. Farris, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures, pp. 62–3. 32. Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), p. 5. William Wayne Farris, Heavenly Warriors: the evolution of Japan’s military, 500–1300 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 15–16. 33. Hong, Paekche of Korea, pp. 4, 67. 34. Ibid., pp. 64–5. 35. Yun Sokkyo, Kanegawa Susumu (trans.), Kaya to Wachi [Kaya and the Land of Wa] (Tokyo: Shinsensha, 1993), p. 195. 36. Joan Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), p. 41. 37. Ibid., pp. 53–4. In Okayama, for example, the popular children’s story Momotarō is held to be based on the local legend of Kibitsuhiko. 38. Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp. 32, 151. 39. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 22–3. 40. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 109 Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 353. 41. Tamura Enchō, Tsukushi no Kodai-shi [Ancient History of Tsukushi] (Tokyo: Gakuseisha, 1991), I, p. 136. 42. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 108. Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 258. 43. Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 69. Inoue, Nihon no Rekishi, I, p. 451. 44. Aston, Nihongi, II, p. 15. 45. Tamura, Tsukushi no Kodai-shi, pp. 141–2. 46. Ibid., pp. 124, 130–1. 47. Aston, Nihongi, II, p. 15. It has been suggested that the Iwai Rebellion occurred a decade earlier than stated in the Chronicles. Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 70.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 48. Iwai’s grave was identified as the Iwatoyama burial mound in 1957, a rare case of a kofun tomb where the identity of the individual interned is known. Tamura, Tsukushi no Kodai-shi, p. 126. 49. Aoki, Records of Wind and Earth, p. 249. 50. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 112. Aston, Chronicles, II, p. 78. 51. On the question of which Wa power sent the embassy recorded by the Sui court in 600, Furuta suggests this may have been an envoy from the ‘Kyushu realm’. There is also a theory that it was a special embassy from Imna on the Korean peninsula although, even if this territory was ever under Yamato control, it had already been overrun by Silla. Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 34. 52. My translation. Tsunoda’s translation reads: ‘There is a mountain [there] called Mt Aso, the rocks of which, for no reason whatever, belch forth fire. The people, astonished, offer up prayers and conduct religious rites.’ Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp. 31–2. Furuta Takehiko, Kyūshū Ōchō no Rekishi-gaku [Historical Study on the Kyushu Realm] (Tokyo: Shinshindō Shuppan, 1991), pp. 85, 89. 53. Gavan McCormack, ‘Kokusaika: impediments in Japan’s deep structure’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 268. 54. Ibid., pp. 103–105. 55. Critics of Furuta’s theory include Inoue Mitsusada, Enoki Kazuo and Yamao Yukihisa. Furuta Takehiko, Yamatai-koku kara Kyūshū Ōchō e [From the Yamatai State to the Kyushu Kingdom] (Tokyo: Shinsensha, 1987). 56. McCormack, ‘Kokusaika: impediments in Japan’s deep structure’, p. 267. 57. Aston, Nihongi, II, p. 35. 58. Tamura, Tsukushi no Kodai-shi, pp. 135, 139. 59. Bruce Batten, Hakata: Gateway to Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005), p. 22. 60. Hong, Paekche of Korea, p. 123. 61. Farris, Heavenly Warriors, pp. 54–5 62. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, p. 98. 63. Batten, Hakata, pp. 26, 31. 64. Ibid. 65. Nangō Village in Miyazaki Prefecture has even been called the ‘Shōsōin of the West’, since seventeen of the three hundred Paekche bronze mirrors found in Japan are held there. This theme has framed the development of tourism in the area over the last twenty years as part of the ‘one village, one product’ (isson, ippin) movement that became widespread in the 1980s. The project has included the construction of cultural attractions such as ‘Kudara no Sato’ (Home of Paekche) and ‘Kudara no Yakata’ (Paekche Hall).

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Notes 66. Batten. Hakata, p. 31. 67. Ibid., pp. 24, 28. Chapter Four: Dazaifu: The Distant Court 1. Robert Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. 1994), pp. 308–10. 2. Ibid., pp. 290, 304. 3. W.G. Aston (trans.), Nihongi: chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D.697, vol. II (Rutland VM and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1972), p. 139–40. 4. Bruce Batten, Hakata: Gateway to Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005), p. 24. 5. Suzaku is the Japanese name for the ‘Vermilion Bird’ (Zhū Què), the Guardian of the South which is one of the Four Symbols of Chinese Constellations. In modern-day Xian this ‘Vermilion Bird’ Avenue is still a wide boulevard, although the imposing city gate at its southern end the scale of which once amazed visitors to Chang’an, no longer remains. 6. Today gagaku is often associated with the Imperial Household and formal imperial family events. In recognition of Dazaifu’s links with this ancient music, however, the nearby temple of Shōgyōji created its own gagaku ensemble in 1957, and this has since become one of the most recognized exponents of gagaku music outside the Imperial Household. 7. Tamura Enchō, Tsukushi no Kodai-shi [Ancient History of Tsukushi] (Tokyo: Gakuseisha, 1992), p. 219. 8. Bruce Batten, ‘Kodai Nihon no Kokkyō to Dazaifu’ (Dazaifu and Borders in Ancient Japan) in Chihōshi Kenkyū Kyōgikai (eds.), Ikoku to Kyūshū – rekishi ni okeru kokusai kōryū to chiiki keisei [Foreign Lands and Kyushu – international interaction and regional formation] (Tokyo: Oyamakaku Publishing, 1992), p. 66. 9. Batten, Hakata, pp. 25–6. 10. Ibid., p. 53. 11. Katō Shūichi and David Chibbett, A History of Japanese Literature: the first thousand years (London: MacMillan Press, 1979), p. 80. 12. The Tsukushi Lodge was one of three diplomatic guesthouses given the name of Kōrokan in 833, after the Kōroji in Chang’an. The other two were at Naniwa and Heian, where emissaries from the Parhae state of northern Manchuria were received. The Chinese characters literally mean ‘voice’ (kō) – ‘convey’ (ro) – ‘house’ (kan). 13. Takeno Yōko, Hakata: chōnin ga sodateta kokusai toshi [Hakata: international city built by townspeople] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1991), pp. 17–22. On Ennin’s search for the law in China see David Lu, Japan: a documentary history, vol.1 (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), pp. 60–2.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 14. A more common explanation is that the castle was named after a place called Fukuoka in Bizen Province (now Okayama Prefecture), where the Kuroda family had lived before their move to Kyushu. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), p. 109. 15. Furuta Takehiko, Kyushū Ōchō no Rekishi-gaku [Historical Study on the Kyushu Realm] (Tokyo: Shinshidō Shuppan, 1991), pp. 107–108. 16. Oda Fujio (ed.), Okinoshima to Kodai Saiki [Okinoshima and Ancient Festivals] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1988), pp. 6, 13–14. 17. Joan Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997) p. 81. 18. ‘About this time, the Japanese who had studied Chinese came to dislike the name Wa and changed it to Nippon. According to the words of the [Japanese] envoy himself, that name was chosen because the country was so close to where the sun rises. Some say, [on the other hand], that Japan was a small country which had been subjugated by the Wa, and the latter took its name.’ ‘New History of the Tang Dynasty’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 40. For a discussion on the problems associated with defining ‘Hinomoto’ see Mark Hudson, Ruins of Identity: ethnogenesis in the Japanese islands (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999), pp. 223–4. 19. Lu, Japan: a documentary history, vol.1, pp. 22–6. 20. The current building was constructed in 1709, although this was 30 per cent smaller in scale than the original structure. 21. It was not until the new Meiji government announced the order to separate shrines from temples in 1869 that this dual use of sacred space was significantly challenged. Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 268. 22. Another Shinto sect that has a strong connection with Kyushu is the Kasuga Cult, although this appears to derive not so much from any provincial influence on the court so much as the spread of Yamato political control from the centre. Allan Grapard, The Protocol of the Gods: a study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), pp. 40–2 23. Inoue Nobutaka (ed.), Shinto: a short history (London: RoutledgeCurzon 1998), p. 103. 24. Chamberlain, The Kojiki, pp. 50–1. Aston, Nihongi, I, pp. 27–8. 25. William Wayne Farris, Heavenly Warriors: the evolution of Japan’s military, 500– 1300 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press), p. 65. 26. Umehara Takeshi, Tennōke no Furusato: Hyūga o yuku [Homeland of the Imperial Family: journey to Hyūga] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2000), p. 166. 27. Farris, Heavenly Warriors, pp. 60–3

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Notes 28. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), p. 24. 29. Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 254. 30. Batten, Hakata, pp. 83, 87. 31. W.G. Beasley, The Japanese Experience: a short history of Japan (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2000), pp. 61–2. 32. Batten, Hakata, p. 79. 33. Ibid., pp. 97, 100. 34. Takeuchi, Rizō, ‘The Rise of the Warriors’ in Donald Shively and William H. McCullough, The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.2: Heian Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 659. Chapter Five: Hakata: The Making of a Mercantile Centre 1. Sen Sōshitsu XV, The Japanese Way of Tea (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998), p. 59. 2. For a description of the Five Mountains see Martin Collcutt, Five Mountains: the Rinzai zen monastic institution in medieval Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), p. 10. The longstanding historical connections between Japan and Ningbo are now being explored by a major collaborative research project organized at Tokyo University under the title, ‘Maritime Cross-cultural Exchange in East Asia and the Formation of Japanese Traditional Culture: interdisciplinary approach focusing on Ningbo’. 3. Tea ceremony practice varies greatly between China and Japan. In Ningbo, for example, liberal quantities of tea are spilt over a lacquer tray, something that never happens in Japan where it is essential that tatami mats remain dry. 4. Takeno Yōko, Hakata: chōnin ga sodateta kokusai toshi [Hakata: international city built by townspeople] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1991), pp. 37–9. 5. On Heian court life see Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince (New York: Kodansha America, 1964). For an interpretation emphasizing more cultural diversity at the Heian court see Thomas Lamarre, Uncovering Heian Japan: an archaeology of sensation and inscription (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2000). 6. Joan Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 97–8. 7. Timekeeping was introduced in 636, with a bell in the assembly courtyard rung each day at appointed hours. Ibid., p. 109. 8. Ibid., p. 106. 9. These were the Ōmi and Kiyomihara Codes, which have not survived. 10. The Taihō Code (701) was based on the 651 Tang Code and the Yōrō Code (718) was based on the 715 Tang Code. 11. Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 194. 12. These appear in the Hizen Fudoki [Gazetteer of Hizen Province], a rich

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13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

31. 32.

source from these times recording administration in the area which is now Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. See Oda Fujio, Fudoki no Kōkogaku, vol.5, Hizen Fudoki no kan [Archaeology of the Fudoki, vol. 5: Hizen Fudoki] (Tokyo: Dōseisha, 1995), pp. 221–2. Bruce Batten, To the Ends of Japan: premodern boundaries, frontiers and interactions (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004), p. 32. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), pp. 25–6. Piggott, The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 233. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 29. Cornelius Kiley, ‘Provincial Administration and Land Tenure’ in Donald Shively and William H. McCullough (eds), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.2: Heian Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 264. Ibid., p. 27. Ibid., pp. 28, 32. Takeuchi Rizō, ‘The Rise of the Warriors’ in Shively and McCullough (eds), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.2: Heian Japan, p. 659. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, pp. 37, 42–3. Kawasoe Yoshiatsu, Kyōdo no Rekishi to Bunka, 18 [Local History and Culture] (Saga: Kanzaki Kioyaki Kōtō Gakkō, 1998), pp. 1–4. Ibid., p. 112. Batten, Hakata, p. 121. Ibid., p. 117. Conrad Totman, A History of Japan (Oxford: Blackwell. 2000), p. 109. Batten, Hakata, p. 120. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), pp. 123, 126. Chikushi Yutaka, ‘Kaikaku no Tosō-ki’ (Kaikaku’s Record of Voyage to Song China), Fukuoka Rekishi Sanpo [Walk through Fukuoka’s History] (Fukuoka: Fukuoka City, 1977), pp. 43–4. Although religious contacts between China and Japan were affected by the Mongol invasions during the late thirteenth century, the Yüan authorities chose Zen priests from Putuoshan in the Zhoushan Islands near Ningbo to act as envoys when they tried to re-establish diplomatic ties after Khubilai Khan’s death. Moreover, judging from extant records alone it is clear that at least 220 Japanese Zen priests travelled to China in the last seventy years of Yüan rule. Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), pp. 91–2. Murai Shōsuke, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon [Medieval Japan within Asia] (Tokyo: Kōsō Shobō, 1988), p. 81. Kawasoe, Kyōdo no Rekishi to Bunka 18, pp. 1–4. Takeno, Hakata, p. 33.

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Notes 33. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 49. 34. Carmen Blacker, ‘Legends of Heike Villages: the fugitive warrior as ancestor’ in Japan Society Proceedings, no.132, Spring 1999, pp. 6, 12. 35. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, p. 259. 36. Batten, Hakata, p. 123. Chapter Six: Divine Wind: The Mongol Invasions 1. Umehara Takeshi, Tennō-ke no Furusato: Hyūga o yuku [Homeland of the Imperial Family: journey to Hyūga] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2000), p. 198. 2. Bruce Batten, Hakata: gateway to Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, 2005), pp. 47–8. 3. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), p. 63. 4. Ibid., p. 117. 5. Ibid., p. 104. 6. A 1250 land survey of the Iriki estate in Satsuma shows that the jitō steward held about 5 per cent of the land, ‘with the warrior receiving about 31 per cent, the proprietor about 30 per cent, and the provincial office 39 per cent’. A 1244 land survey of the Hitoyoshi estate in southern Higo shows that the jitō held 5.5 per cent of productive land and taxed the rice from other paddies, but the warrior held 40 per cent of the silk cloth and 70 per cent of the hemp. William Wayne Farris, Heavenly Warriors: the evolution of Japan’s military, 500–1300 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 346–7. K. Asakawa, The Documents of Iriki: illustrative of the development of the feudal institutions of Japan (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1974), pp. 136–42. Jeffrey P. Mass, ‘The Kamakura Bakufu’ in Yamamura Kozo, The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.3: medieval Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 66. 7. Jeffrey Mass, Antiquity and Anachronism in Japanese History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), pp. 175–7. 8. The name Mutō denotes ‘the Fujiwara of Musashi no Kuni’, composed of ‘tō’, an alternative reading of the character for ‘Fuji’ in Fujiwara, together with the ‘Mu’ in Musashi, the province in the Kantō plain where the family was originally based. Kawasoe Yoshiatsu, Kyōdo no Rekishi to Bunka 18 [Local History and Culture] (Saga: Kanzaki Kioyaki Kōtō Gakkō, 1998), pp. 1–4. 9. Takeno Yōko, Hakata: chōnin ga sodateta kokusai-toshi [Hakata: international city built by the townspeople] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2000) p. 39. 10. Iwanaka Yoshifumi, Hakata-gaku [‘Hakatology’] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2002), pp. 254, 256. 11. Although Genghis Khan may have perpetrated ‘ethnocide’ in practically obliterating the Xi Xia state, he also showed leniency during his conquests

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12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

24. 25.

26.

in China, as long as cities submitted rather than resist. John Man, Genghis Khan (London: Bantam Press, 2004), pp. 117, 143. Samuel Coleridge composed Xanadu in an opium dream in Porlock, North Devon, in 1797. Little remains of Shangdu today other than stone foundation stones, much like those at Dazaifu. The palace was destroyed on the demise of the Yüan (Mongol) dynasty in 1368. Murai Shōsuke, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon [Medieval Japan within Asia] (Tokyo: Kōsō Shobō, 1988), pp. 14–17, 163–9. Kawazoe Shōji, ‘Japan and East Asia’ in Yamamura Kōzō (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan: vol.3: medieval Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 415. James Murdoch, A History of Japan, vol.1 (London: Routledge, 1996), pp. 499–500. The NHK Taiga drama broadcast in 2011 was a serialized portrait of Hōjō Tokimune’s life. The filmset was put on public display for several months over the summer and called Medieval Hakata Exhibition (Chūsei Hakataten). Among the exhibits was a replica of the map of China said to have been shown to Japanese authorities by Song merchants such as Xie Guoming. Murdoch, A History of Japan, vol. 1, p. 505. Ishii Susumu, ‘The Decline of the Kamakura Bakufu’ in Yamamura Kozo (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 3: medieval Japan, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 134. The only such Kamakura directive to have survived was sent to the shugo of Sanuki in Shikoku, but doubtless similar orders were sent to Kyushu as the front line of defence. Ibid., p. 136. Kawazoe, ‘Japan and East Asia’, p. 418. Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories: later Han through Ming dynasties (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), p. 81. Ishii, ‘The Decline of the Kamakura Bakufu’, p. 139. Pictorial representations of these fireballs are visible in the scrolls commissioned by Takezaki Suenaga. Thomas Conlan, In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga’s scrolls of the Mongol invasions of Japan (Ithaca: Cornell, 2001), p. 73. Arthur Marder, ‘From Jimmu Tennō to Perry: sea power in early Japanese history’, The American Historical Review, vol. LI, no.1, October 1945, p. 13. According to the ‘History of the Yüan Dynasty’, ‘That night there was a great storm and our fighting craft were dashed against the rocks and destroyed in great numbers. Hu-tsu’s forces thereupon went away under cover of darkness.’ Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 82. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 113.

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Notes 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

34. 35.

36. 37. 38.

39. 40. 41.

Ishii, ‘The Decline of the Kamakura Bakufu’, p. 140. Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 84. Kawazoe, ‘Japan and East Asia’, p. 418. For comparison, the Spanish Armada consisted of 30,000 men on 130 ships; Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea in 1592 consisted of 170,000 men, with 130,000 kept in reserve at Nagoya Castle on the north Kyushu coast. Shōni Suketoki’s valiant defence is commemorated by a statue on Iki Island, and he is remembered at Iki Shrine. Marder, ‘From Jimmu Tennō to Perry’, p. 17. According to the ‘History of the Yüan Dynasty’, ‘On the first day of the tree and the rat, in the eighth month, a furious hurricane blew up and all the ships were either damaged or destroyed. Very many men were drowned, among them the assistant commander-in-chief A-la-t’ieh-muerh. Dead bodies came floating into the bay, borne by the tide, and piled up like a hill. There were, however, several thousand survivors who managed to escape to Takashima. There they tried to repair the damaged ships in order to return home, but all were slain by the Japanese.’ Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 88. The survey of the Mongol wrecks in Imari Bay was carried out in July and August 2004, led by the marine archaeologist Hayashida Kenzō. Kazuhiro Suzuki, Yoshifumi Karakida and Yasuhiko Kamada, ‘Provenance of Granitic Anchor Stones Recovered from the Takashima Submerged Site: an approach using the CHIME method for dating of zircons’, Proceedings of Japan Academy, 76, Ser. B, 2000, pp. 139–44. Kawazoe, ‘Japan and East Asia’, pp. 419–20. Conlan, In Little Need of Divine Intervention, p. 7. The characters reading ‘enemy country surrender[ed]’ (tekikoku kōfuku) also feature at the foot of the seventy-one-foot high bronze statue of the emperor Kameyama near the Fukuoka prefectural office in Higashi Park. This was built in 1904 to commemorate the Mongol defeat. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 129. Takezaki Suenaga’s famous scrolls are now in the possession of the Imperial Household. Ishii, ‘The decline of the Kamakura Bakufu’, pp. 141–2. 1293 is often given as the year in which the post of Chinzei Tandai was created, although Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō maintain that this only took effect with the appointment of Hōjō Sanemasa in 1296 or 1297. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, pp. 121–2.

Chapter Seven: Divided Loyalties: Pirates and Rival Courts 1. Murai Shōsuke, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon [Medieval Japan within Asia] (Tokyo: Kōsō Shobō, 1988), pp. 313–14.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 2. There is a room with cases of exhibits devoted to the wakō (wōkòu) at the Museum of Coastal Defence in Zenhai, Zhejiang Province, China. 3. Peter Shapinsky, ‘Polyvocal Portolans: nautical charts and hybrid maritime cultures in early modern East Asia’ in Early Modern Japan, XIV (2006), p. 9. Philip Curtin, Cross-Cultural Trade in World History, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 2. 4. According to the ‘History of Ming’, ‘If opportunity arrived, they displayed their weapons, raiding and plundering ruthlessly. Otherwise, they exhibited their merchandise, saying they were on the way to the Court with tribute.’ Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), p. 117. 5. Takahashi Sadaichi (ed.), Taiheiki, vol.1 (Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 1976), p. 446. 6. The Kikuchi claimed descent from the Heian court noble Fujiwara Takaie, but were in fact descended from Fujiwara Masanori, a Dazaifu official who fought in the Toi invasion in 1019. 7. Seno Seiichirō, ‘The Kikuchi and their Enemies in the 1330s’ in Jeffrey P. Mass (ed.), The Origins of Japan’s Medieval World: courtiers, clerics, warriors, and peasants in the fourteenth century (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), p. 69. 8. Ibid., p. 72. 9. Ibid., p. 73. 10. Chikushi Yutaka, ‘Tatarahama no Gassen’ (The Battle of Tatarahama) in Fukuoka Rekishi Sanpo [Walk through Fukuoka’s History] (Fukuoka: Fukuoka City, 1977), pp. 61–2. 11. Ibid., p. 62. 12. Kawasoe Yoshiatsu, Kyōdo no Rekishi to Bunka, 22 [Local History and Culture] (Saga: Kanzaki Kioyaki Kōtō Gakkō, 1998), p. 2. 13. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), p. 138. 14. Prince Kaneyoshi often appears in Kyushu and Chinese sources under the name of Kanenaga. 15. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), pp. 147–8. 16. John Whitney Hall, ‘The Muromachi Bakufu’ in Yamamura Kozo (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.3: Medieval Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 206. 17. During his three years of exile in Amami Ōshima from 1859 to 1862, Saigō Takamori took to calling himself Kikuchi Gengo, and his friends addressed him as ‘great lord Kikuchi’. He linked his own loyalty to the emperor with the Kikuchi’s activities on behalf of Go-Daigo and the Southern Court in

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Notes

18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

35. 36. 37.

38.

the fourteenth century. Mark Ravina, The Last Samurai: the life and battles of Saigō Takamori (Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004), pp. 21–4. Kawasoe, Kyōdo no Rekishi to Bunka, 22, p. 3. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 186–90. The Ōtomo family, for example, converted to inheritance through primogeniture in 1333. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 109. Kawasoe Yoshiatsu, Kyōdo no Rekishi to Bunka, 19, p. 1. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 168. Hyungsub Moon, Matsura-to: pirate-warriors in northwestern Kyushu, Japan, 1150–1350 (Ann Arbor: Proquest, 2005), p. 182. Ibid., p. 89. Kawazoe, Shōji, ‘Japan and East Asia’ in Yamamura Kozo, The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.3: medieval Japan, pp. 397–8. For details on wakō activities in the thirteenth century see B.H. Hazard, ‘The Formative Years of the Wakō, 1223–63’, Monumenta Nipponica, vol.22 (1967), pp. 260–77. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 150–1. Murai, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon, p. 84–5. ‘History of Ming’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp. 107–108. Kawazoe, ‘Japan and East Asia’, p. 425. Roger Tennant, A History of Korea (London: Paul Kegan International, 1996), pp. 124–5. Kawazoe, ‘Japan and East Asia’, pp. 433–4. Ibid., p. 435. Besides Ningbo, the other two Ming ports designated for incoming overseas trade were at Canton and Fujian. In Murai Shōsuke’s view, during the fifteenth century the two ports of Hakata and Naha can be thought of as cosmopolitan centres, ‘the gateways to the states of Japan and the Ryukyu Islands and at the same time the “capitals” of the East China Sea maritime region’. Murai, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon, p. 95. Toyama, Chūsei no Kyūshū, p. 183. Bruce Batten, Hakata: gateway to Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005), p. 132. Nishijima Sadao, Nihon Rekishi no Kokusai Kankyō [The International Environment in Japanese History] (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1987), pp. 212–13. ‘History of Ming’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp. 121–2. Wang Zhi is also thought to have been the captain of the junk that brought the first Portuguese merchants to Tanegashima Island in 1543. He was finally captured and executed in 1559. ‘History of Ming’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp. 128–9.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 39. Olof Lidin, Tanegashima: the arrival of Europe in Japan (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2002), p. 83 40. Pierre Francois Souyri, The World Turned Upside Down: medieval Japanese society (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), p. 128. Murai, Ajia no Naka no Chūsei Nihon, pp. 328–34. 41. ‘History of Ming’ in Tsunoda and Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, p. 127. 42. Shapinsky, ‘Polyvocal Portolans’, p. 9. 43. Jurgis Elisonas, ‘The Inseparable Trinity: Japan’s relations with China and Korea’ in John Whitney Hall (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.4: early modern Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 250. 44. Some of the stones from this Matsura castle were transported the short distance to Nagoya where Hideyoshi built the castle that served as the base for his invasions of Korea. Nagoya itself is situated in what had been Matsura territory near the port of Yobuko. Chapter Eight: All Under Heaven: Missionaries and Warlords 1. There are some discrepancies between Japanese and Portuguese records on the details of this first encounter in Tanegashima. For the debate on whether these first Portuguese merchants reached the island in 1543 or 1542 see Olof Lidin, Tanegashima: the arrival of Europe in Japan (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2002), pp. 24–7. 2. Primitive ‘guns’ or ‘fire arrows’ (hiya) had been developed in China in the fourteenth century and are known to have reached Japan via the Ryukyu Islands as early as 1466. Wakō pirates may also have introduced European matchlock guns at an earlier stage. It was following the arrival of these Portuguese merchants in 1543, however, that the manufacture of replica ‘Tanegashima’ guns led to the duffusion of firearms on a significant scale. Ibid., 3–4, 7–8, 93–4. 3. Yoshinaga Masaharu, Kyūshū Sengoku Gassen-ki [Record of Battles in Kyushu in the Age of Warring States] (Fukuoka: Kaichōsha, 1994), p. 34. 4. Delmer Brown, ‘The Impact of Firearms on Japanese War’, reproduced in Stephen Turnbull (ed.), The Samurai Tradition, vol.1 (Folkestone: Global Oriental and Edition Synapse, 2000), p. 205. 5. Jeroen Lamers, Japonius Tyranus: the Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga reconsidered (Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000), p. 112. 6. W.G. Beasley, The Japanese Experience (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1999), p. 117. 7. Mary Elizabeth Berry, Hideyoshi (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), p. 87. 8. See C.R. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, 1549–1650 (Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 1951).

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Notes 9. Derek Massarella, ‘Some Reflections on Identity Formation in East Asia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 136. 10. Jurgis Elisonas, ‘Christianity and the Daimyo’ in John Whitney Hall, The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 4: early modern Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 303. 11. Lidin, Tanegashima, pp. 33–4. 12. On Pinto’s activities in Japan see Chapter Six: ‘Fernão Mendes Pinto’s Four Voyages to Japan’ in Lidin, Tanegashima, pp. 102–29. 13. Ibid., p. 167. 14. Xavier later repaid the 300 cruzados he had borrowed from Pinto when he met him in Malacca in 1551. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, pp. 20–1. 15. Bernardo later travelled to Rome but died at Coimbra in Portugal in 1557. Lidin, Tanegashima, pp. 255–6. 16. J.F. Moran, The Japanese and the Jesuits: Alessandro Valignano in sixteenth-century Japan (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 153. 17. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, pp. 187, 230. 18. Ibid., pp. 14–16. For details of this mission see Michael Cooper, The Japanese Mission to Europe, 1582–1590 (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2005). 19. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, p. 180 20. Elisonas, ‘Christianity and the Daimyo’, p. 365. 21. Michael Cooper (ed.), João Rodrigues’ Account of Sixteenth-century Japan, Third Series, no.7 (London: The Hakluyt Society, 2001), p. 194. 22. Mancio Itō lived in various areas but died in Nagasaki in 1612 at the age of forty-three. Michael Chijiwa lived in the Ōmura area until 1633 but may have renounced his Christian faith. Martin Hara left for Macao after the expulsion edict of 1614. Julian Nakaura was persecuted after trying to help Christians in Amakusa and died under torture in 1633 after being suspended upside down. Before his death he said, ‘I am Fr Julian Nakaura who went to Rome.’ On the young princes’ later careers see Cooper, The Japanese Mission to Europe, pp. 180–92. 23. Yoshinaga, Kyūshū Sengoku Gassen-ki, p. 228. 24. Ibid., pp. 225–7, 245. 25. Ibid., p. 176. 26. Yamamoto Tsunetomo, The Book of the Samurai: hagakure (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1979). 27. Yoshinaga, Kyūshū Sengoku Gassen-ki, p. 213. 28. Ibid., pp. 15–16, 223–4. 29. Ibid, pp. 144–5. 30. Yoshinaga Masaharu, Sengoku Kyūshū no Onna-tachi [Women of the Age of Warring States in Kyushu] (Fukuoka: Nishi Nihon Shinbunsha, 1997), p. 45.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 31. K. Asakawa (trans.), The Documents of Iriki: illustrative of the development of the feudal institutions of Japan (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1974), p. 30. 32. Elisonas, ‘The Inseparable Trinity: Japan’s relations with China and Korea’, p. 257. 33. Yoshinaga, Kyūshū Sengoku Gassen-ki, pp. 205–207. 34. Ibid., p. 264. 35. Ibid., pp. 280–1. 36. Adriana Boscaro, 101 Letters of Hideyoshi (Tokyo: Sophia University 1975). p. 27. Chapter Nine: Turbulent Decades: State Control and Resistance 1. Documentary evidence on these karayukui-san is meagre since those who returned to Japan in later life have often been reluctant to speak of their experiences as young women overseas. On the recollections of a woman from Sakitsu in Amakusa who later told her story see Tomoko Yamazaki, Karen Colligan-Taylor (trans.), Sandakan Brothel No. 8: an episode in the history of lower-class Japanese women (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999). Another woman from Hiroshima who revealed her story became the theme of Karayuki-san, a documentary film made by Imamura Shōhei in 1973. 2. J.H. Gubbins, ‘Hideyoshi and the Satsuma Clan in the Sixteenth Century’ in Stephen Turnbull (ed.), The Samurai Tradition, vol.1: the art of war (Richmond: Japan Library, 2000), p. 243. 3. Stephen Turnbull, The Samurai: a military history (Richmond: Japan Library, 1996), p. 176. 4. Adriana Boscaro, 101 Letters of Hideyoshi (Tokyo: Sophia University, 1975), p. 31. 5. Gubbins, ‘Hideyoshi and the Satsuma Clan’, p. 266. 6. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), p. 227. 7. Takeno Yōko, Hakata: chōnin ga sodateta kokusai toshi [Hakata: international city built by townsfolk] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1991), pp. 96–8. 8. Stephen Turnbull, Samurai Invasion: Japan’s Korean War, 1592–96 (London: Cassell & Co., 2002), p. 38. 9. On Yi’s ‘turtle-armoured’ ships see Andrew J. Marder, ‘From Jimmu Tennō to Perry: sea power in early Japanese history’, The American Historical Review, vol. LI, no.1, October 1945, pp. 25–6 10. Imperial Army General Staff (ed.), Nihon Senshi [Military History of Japan], cited in Kiyohara Shinichi (ed.), Visual Nihon no Rekishi [Visual Japanese History] no.7 (Tokyo: de Agostini, April 2000), p. 260. 11. A magnificent screen recording the siege of Ulsan Castle graphically depicts the plight of Katō Kiyomasa’s starving garrison inside. ‘Chōsengun Jinzu Byōbu’, Nabeshima Hōkōkai, Saga.

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Notes 12. Kiyohara (ed.), Visual Nihon no Rekishi, no.7, p. 289. 13. Roger Tennant, A History of Korea (London: Paul Kegan International, 1996), pp. 176–7. 14. This event took place in the grounds of Kitano Tenmangū, the shrine that had been built to placate the angry spirit of Sugawara Michizane in the tenth century. Sen Rikyū, the master of tea, had also been in Hakozaki during Hideyoshi’s stay there in 1587. Sen Sōshitsu XV, The Way of Tea (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998), pp. 172–3. 15. Mary Elizabeth Berry, Hideyoshi (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp. 197–8. 16. In addition to James Clavell’s novel Shogun, the life of William Adams has been the subject of several biographies, including Giles Milton, Samurai William: the adventurer who unlocked Japan (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2002) and William Corr, Adams the Pilot: the life and times of Captain William Adams, 1564–1620 (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1995). 17. Philip Curtin, Cross-cultural Trade in World History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 4. 18. Jurgis Elisonas, ‘Christianity and the Daimyo’ in John Whitney Hall (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.4: early modern Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 367. 19. For details on the English Factory see Derek Massarella, A World Elsewhere: Europe’s encounter with Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990). For documents see Anthony Farrington, The English Factory in Japan, 1613–1623, two vols. (London: The British Library, 1991). 20. James Lewis, ‘Pusan Wakan ni okeru Nitchō Bōeki’ (Korea-Japan Trade at the Japan House [Waegwan]) in Nakamura Tadashi (ed.), Sakoku to Kokusai Kankei [Sakoku and International Relations] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan), pp. 269, 274. 21. Nakamura Tadashi, ‘Chihō Kenkyū to Sakoku’ (Regional History and Sakoku) in Chihōshi Kenkyū Kyōgikai (eds), Ikoku to Kyūshū: rekishi ni okeru kokusai kōryū to chiiki keisei [Foreign Lands and Kyushu: international interaction and regional formation] (Tokyo: Oyamakaku Publishing, 1992), pp. 130–3. Tennant, A History of Korea, pp. 178–9. 22. Iwao Seiichi, Shinpen Shuinsen Bōeki-shi no Kenkyū [New Research on the Mercantile History of Vermilion Seal Ships] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1985), p. 220. 23. Peter Shapinsky, ‘Polyvocal Portolans: nautical charts and hybrid maritime cultures in early modern East Asia’ in Early Modern Japan, XIV (2006), p. 14. 24. The most celebrated resident of the Nihon-machi in Siam was Yamada Nagamasa, who served as head of the samurai volunteer militia organized there by the king of Siam. Ishii Yoneo, ‘Siam and Japan in Pre-Modern

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25.

26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

36. 37. 38. 39.

40. 41.

42.

Times: a note on mutual images’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 154–5. See Iwao Seiichi, Nanyō Nihon-machi no Kenkyū [Research on Japanese Settlements in Southern Oceans] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1966). Also Iwao Seiichi, ‘Reopening of the diplomatic and commercial relations between Japan and Siam during the Tokugawa period’, Acta Asiatica, vol.4 (July 1963), pp. 1–31 Jurgis Elisonas, ‘Christianity and the daimyo’, pp. 359–61. Ibid., p. 364. Berry, Hideyoshi, pp. 225–7. Ann Harrington, Japan’s Hidden Christians (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1993), p. 27. The theme of a European Jesuit padre in hiding features in Endō Shūsaku’s celebrated 1966 novel Chinmoku (Silence), currently the subject of a film project by Martin Scorsese. Elisonas, ‘Christianity and the daimyo’, p. 368. L.M. Cullen, A History of Japan, 1582–1941: internal and external worlds (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 36. Otis Cary, A History of Christianity in Japan, vol.1 (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1993), p. 221. C.R. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, 1549–1650 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951), p. 377. According to Japanese accounts a total of 20,000 men and 17,000 women and children were involved in the rebellion, although it is unlikely that there can have been more than 20,000 in the last stand at Hara Castle. See Cary, A History of Christianity in Japan, vol.1, pp. 224, 227. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, p. 379. Cary, A History of Christianity in Japan, vol.1, p. 222. Ibid., p. 224. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, p. 378. Ibid., p. 225. The only survivor was Yamada Emonsaku, an ex-Jesuit dojuku painter from Nagasaki, who had recently tried to defect to the enemy camp. When this was discovered he had been kept imprisoned in the castle for the remainder of the siege. Cary, A History of Christianity in Japan, vol.1, p. 226. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, pp. 379, 383. Ronald Toby, State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the development of the Tokugawa Bakufu (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1984), p. 14. Andrew Cobbing, The Satsuma Students in Britain: Japan’s early search for the essence of the West (Richmond: Japan Library, 2000), p. 47. For letters written by Hirado exiles see Iwao Seiichi, Zoku Nanyō Nihonmachi no Kenkyū [Further Research on Japanese Settlements in Southern

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Notes

43. 44. 45. 46.

47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55.

Oceans] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1987), pp. 137–74. See also Andrew Cobbing, ‘The First Japanese Woman in Europe?’ in The Japan Society Proceedings, no.132, Spring 1999, p. 38. Harrington, Japan’s Hidden Christians, p. 28. Cary, A History of Christianity in Japan, vol.1, p. 228. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), p. 218. Examples of places where Madonna symbols ‘hidden’ in Kannon-sama figurines (Maria kannon) can be found include Shimabara Castle Museum and two museums in Nagasaki City, one next to Ōura Church and the other next to the Monument of the Twenty-Six Martyrs. Harrington, Japan’s Hidden Christians, pp. 77–8. Ibid., p. 79. Stephen Turnbull, The Kakure Kirishitan of Japan (Richmond: Japan Library, 1998), p. 130. See also John Breen and Mark Williams (eds), Japan and Christianity: impact and responses (London: MacMillan Press, 1996). Maeyama Mitsunori, Kumagawa Mongatari [Kuma River Story] (Fukuoka: Ashi Shobō, 1997), p. 44 Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 200–2. John Breen, ‘Heretics in Nagasaki: 1790–1796’ in S.R. Turnbull (ed.), Japan’s Hidden Christians, vol.2: secret Christianity in Japan, 1640–1999 (Folkestone: Japan Library, 2000), pp. 55–6. Turnbull, The Kakure Kirishitan of Japan, pp. 231–2. Peter Nosco, ‘Secrecy and the Transmission of Tradition: issues in the study of the “underground” Christians’ in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, March 1993, 20–1, p. 23. Following their return from exile, the Urakami Christians vowed to build a cathedral on the site where the fumie interrogations had once been held. Construction of Urakami Cathedral began in 1895 and it became the largest Catholic church in East Asia when it was completed in 1914. John Breen, ‘Public Statements and Private Thoughts: the Iwakura Embassy in London and the religious question’, The Iwakura Mission in Britain, 1872, STICERD, IS no.349, March 1998, pp. 53–67.

Chapter Ten: The Great Peace in Kyushu 1. The Huis ten Bosch complex in Nagasaki Prefecture was named after the Huis ten Bosch Palace, The Queen of the Netherlands’ summer residence in The Hague. 2. The penchant for sets of threes in Japan may be traced to the imperial regalia. More specifically, the ‘three famous nightscapes’ are the modern equivalent of the ‘three famous views’ in Tokugawa Japan, which are

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3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

usually attributed to the scholar Hayashi Razan. These are the torii gate of Miyajima Shrine on Itsukushima Island, the pine-clad islands in Matsushima Bay north of Sendai extolled by the haiku poet Bashō, and the ‘Heavenly Bridge’ of Ama no Hashidate, a narrow strip of land stretching across Miyazu Bay in northern Kyoto Prefecture. In December 2002, a major fire broke out on board the Diamond Princess when she was still under construction at Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard. Completion was delayed by several months and the first voyage was in March 2004. The vessel can accommodate 2,670 passengers, has four swimming pools, a wedding chapel and a nine-hole golf course. Kawazoe Shōji to Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdoki to Rekishi [Culural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), p. 256. The domains in Kyushu which received loans from Hita merchants were Kumamoto, Fukuoka, Akizuki, Kurume, Yanagawa, Tsushima, Karatsu, Kashima, Ōmura, Kokura, Nakatsu, Funai, Hiji, Kitsuki, Mori, Taketa and Nobeoka. Sugimoto Isao (ed.), Kyūshū Tenryō no Kenkyū: Hita Chihō o chūshin toshite [Research on Kyushu’s Heavenly Territory: focus on the Hita region] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1976), pp. 306, 308–309. Perhaps the first reference to cormorant fishing in Japan is this passage in the seventh-century Suishu [History of the Sui Dynasty]: ‘[The people] attach a small ring to the neck of the cormorant and then let it go into the water to catch fish. Their daily catch is more than a hundred fish.’ Eighthcentury references can also be found in the Chronicles and the Manyōshū anthology of verse. Ryūsaku Tsunoda and L. Carrington Goodrich (eds), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories: later Han through Ming dynasties (South Pasadena: P.D. & Ione Perkins, 1951), p. 31. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, Manyōshū: one thousand poems (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1940), pp. 29, 147. The only other domains with more landed wealth than Fukuoka (523,000 koku) and Kumamoto (510,000 koku) were Nagoya (619,000 koku) and Wakayama (555,000 koku). Together with the Mito domain these comprised the three sanke ruling houses, close relatives of the Tokugawa from whom the shogun themselves were selected. Besides Kaga, Satsuma and Saga, the other domains in this notional top ten were Chōshū (369,000 koku), Hiroshima (346,000 koku) and Okayama (315,000 koku). The definition of a daimyo was a local magnate who held land producing at least 10,000 koku. During the age of warring states there had been more than 300 warlords who qualified in this category, but following the political settlement after Sekigahara their numbers were reduced and after the kaieki confiscations in the seventeenth century, finally stabilized around 260 lords. The Tachibana family were descendants of Takahashi Joun, the hero of the Battle of Iwaya Castle in 1586, which saved Kyushu from Shimazu domination.

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Notes 10. Local tradition holds that Katō Kiyomasa ordered seeds to be placed in the cracks in the stone walls of Kumamoto Castle so that vegetables could be grown in the event of a siege. 11. William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: the life of Miyamoto Musashi (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2004), p. 90. 12. Luke Roberts, Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: the merchant origins of economic nationalism in 18th-century Tosa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 18. 13. Hirai Akira, Nihon no Meijō [Japan’s Famous Castles] (Tokyo: Shinjinbutsu Ōraisha, 1977), p. 157 14. Arne Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1995), p. 54. 15. Note that in many cities in Kyushu districts are often called machi rather than chō, the reading usually used in Tokyo and other parts of Japan. 16. On whaling off the Kyushu coasts see ‘Fukuoka and Whaling’ in Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan, pp. 180–97. 17. On ama see ‘The World of the Female Divers’ in Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan, pp. 163–79. 18. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, Manyōshū, pp. 96, 213. 19. Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan, p. 76. 20. The pottery produced at Sarayama is called Onta ware (ontayaki). For generations this was less celebrated than other varieties such as Arita ware, but a visit by the English potter Bernard Leach in 1954 helped to promote awareness of its artistic value. Brian Moeran, Folk Art Potters of Japan: beyond an anthropology of aesthetics (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1997), pp. 45–9. 21. Amino Yoshihiko, ‘Emperor, Rice, and Commoners’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 237. 22. Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan, p. 146. 23. Ibid., p. 19. 24. On the origins of the Burakumin see, for example, Makiko Hanami, ‘Minority Dynamics in Japan: towards a society of sharing’ in John C. Maher and Gaynor MacDonald (eds), Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language (London: Kegan Paul International, 1995), pp. 123–5. In the same collection is a powerful account of growing up in a Burakumin district in Miyazaki Prefecture in the twentieth century. Ryūichi Kariya, ‘The Confidence to Live: experiencing the Buraku Liberation Movement’, pp. 178–201. 25. James McClain, John Merriman and Ugawa Kaoru, Edo & Paris: urban life & the state in the early modern era (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), p. 13. 26. For details on the organization of these staging posts (shukueki) see Patrick Carey, Rediscovering the Old Tokaido: in the footsteps of Hiroshige (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2000). Also Oliver Statler, Japanese Inn (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, 1961).

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 27. Marius Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 37–8. 28. Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, Breaking Barriers: travel and state in early modern Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), pp. 4, 15. 29. The level of surveillance in border controls varied from one domain to the next. At the Higo-guchi gate (bansho) on the Satsuma-Higo border travellers were subjected to checks by Satsuma guards, but over the border in Higo these were less strict. On entering the Hitoyoshi (Sagara) domain, incoming travellers were escorted by the guards to the next village. Ibid., p. 170. 30. Yamamoto Tsunetomo, The Book of the Samurai: hagakure (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1983), p. 168. 31. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), pp. 326, 339–43. 32. Toyama Mikio, Chūsei no Kyūshū [Medieval Kyushu] (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1979), p. 18. 33. Shiba Kōkan, Kōkan Saiyū Nikki [Kōkan’s Diary of a Journey to the West] (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1986), p. 104. 34. Donald Keene, Travelers of a Hundred Ages (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1989), p. 363. 35. A.J.R. Russell-Wood, The Portuguese Empire, 1415–1808: a world on the move (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), p. 81. 36. Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World, p. 12. 37. Grant Goodman, Japan and the Dutch, 1600–1853 (Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000), pp. 18–20. 38. Engelbert Kaempfer (Beatrice Bodart-Bailey trans.), Tokugawa Culture Observed (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999), p. 7 39. Fūsetsugaki date to 1644 when Dutch and Chinese captains were given orders to submit reports. Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World, p. 12. 40. Kate Wildman Nakai, Shogunal Politics: Arai Hakuseki and the premises of Tokugawa rule (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp. 328– 9. 41. MacDonald was of Scottish Highlander and Chinook descent, the son of a Hudson Bay Company clerk called Archibald MacDonald and Koale’ zoa, or Princess Raven, the daughter of King Comcomly, leader of the Chinook nation. He was born in the Chinook homeland near the mouth of the Columbia River, in what is now the northwest region of USA. Jo Ann Roe, Ranald MacDonald: Pacific Rim adventurer (Pullman, Washington State University Press: 1997), pp. 1–2, 96–7. 42. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 249. 43. Among the master potters of Arita today three are currently designated as ‘Living National Treasures’: Sakaida Kakiemon XIV, Imaizumi Imaemon XIII and Manji Inoue.

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Notes 44. Chinese demand was so great that Japan became the largest producer of silver in the world. In 1688, however, the bakufu placed a ban on the export of silver, and promoted copper exports instead. Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World, pp. 16, 28. 45. Ibid., pp. 9–10. 46. Derek Massarella, ‘Some Reflections on Identity Formation in East Asia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: Paleolithic to modern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 135. 47. Ronald Toby, State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the development of the Tokugawa Bakufu (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984), p. 12. 48. John Lie, Multiethnic Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), pp. 131–2. 49. Bruce Batten, To the Ends of Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004), pp. 5, 46. 50. Robert Hellyer, ‘The Missing Pirate and the Pervasive Smuggler: regional agency in coastal defence, trade, and foreign relations in nineteenthcentury Japan’, The International History Review, vol. XXVII, no.1, March 2005, p. 12. 51. On hankō and terakoya schools see Ronald Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965), pp. 68–73, 252–65. 52. Although Kokugaku is often translated as ‘national studies’, it is not the most appropriate term for an age before any distinct nationalist consciousness had necessarily emerged. Susan L. Burns, Before the Nation: kokugaku and the imagining of community in early modern Japan (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2003), pp. 1, 231–2. 53. Mark McNally, Proving the Way: conflict and practice in the history of Japanese nativism (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), p. 55 54. Nishikawa was the author of Kai Tsūshō Kō (Study of Commercial Relations with China and the Barbarians), a groundbreaking geographical gazetteer that served as a platform for subsequent work in the field. Andrew Cobbing, The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain (Richmond: Japan Library, 1998), p. 6. 55. Andrew Cobbing, The Satsuma Students in Britain (Richmond: Japan Library, 2000), pp. 29–30. 56. Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720–1830 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969), p. 22. 57. In Japan today ‘Western medicine’ (seiyō igaku) is still used in contrast to East Asian treatments such as the herbal remedies of ‘Chinese medicine’ (kanpō-yaku), and traditional therapies including acupuncture and shiatsu massage. 58. Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, p. 123.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 59. See Rosemary Mercer, ‘Miura Baien’s Search for a New Logic’ in William Theodore de Bary, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E. Tiedemann (eds), Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol.2: 1600 to 2000 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), pp. 424–31. 60. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 235–6. Chapter Eleven: Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration 1. Hugh Cortazzi, Victorians in Japan: in and around the treaty ports (London: Athlone Press, 1987), pp. 254–5. 2. Sugitani Akira, Nabeshima Kansō (Tokyo: Chūkō Shinsho, 1992), p. 2. 3. Japanese observers thought these American ships might be British, since they were not aware of US independence until 1809. Andrew Cobbing, The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain: early travel encounters in the far west (Richmond: Japan Library, 1998), p. 11. 4. W.G. Beasley, Great Britain and the Opening of Japan, 1834–1858 (Richmond: Japan Library, 1995), pp. 5–7. 5. Takano and Watanabe outlined their arguments for opening the country in Bojutsu Yume Monogatari (1838) and Shinki ron (1839). Katō Bunzō, Watanabe Kazan (Tokyo: Ōtsuki Shoten, 1996), pp. 114–18. 6. It was Philipp von Siebold who drafted this letter and, with the exception of minor changes, it was this message that was delivered to Japan in 1844. Herbert Plutschow, Philipp Franz von Siebold and the Opening of Japan (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2007), pp. 35–6. 7. Iida Kan’ichi, ‘Saga-han no Gijutsu Sentaku’ (The Saga Domain’s Choice of Technology) in Sugimoto Isao (ed.), Kindai Seiyō Bunmei tono Deai: reimeiki no seinan yuhan [Encounter with Modern Western Civilization: awakening of the powerful south-western domains] (Tokyo: Shibunkaku, 1989), p. 77. Sugitani, Nabeshima Kansō, pp. 27–30, 147, 167. Andrew Cobbing, Bakumatsu Saga-han no Taigai Kankei no Kenkyū: kaigai keiken ni yoru jōhō dōnyū o chūshin ni [Research on the Saga Domain’s External Relations in the 1860s: information transfer through overseas travel] (Saga: Nabeshima Hōkō-kai, 1994), pp. 47–8. 8. Chen, Wai-fah, Bridge Engineering Handbook (Boca Raton FL: CRC Press, 1999), pp. 65–6. 9. On Siebold’s teaching and medical practice in Nagasaki see Arlette Kouwenhoven and Matthi Forrer, Siebold and Japan (Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000), pp. 24–6. 10. For example, Itō Genboku went on to run the Shōsendō School of Science in Edo, Ogata Kōan, who studied under a Dutch doctor in Nagasaki in the 1830s, went on to found the Teki-juku in Osaka. Numata Jirō, Yōgaku [Western Studies] (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1989), pp. 183, 209–12. 11. Renamed Kankō Maru, the Soembing was later taken into service by the Saga

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12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

18. 19.

20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Navy. A replica built in 1987 was displayed first at the Oranda Mura theme park and then Huis ten Bosch in Nagasaki Prefecture. For a comparison of these treaties see William McOmie, The Opening of Japan, 1853–1855 (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2006), pp. 440–55. Mark Ravina, The Last Samurai: the life and battles of Saigō Takamori (Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004), pp. 72–3. Ishiguro Keishichi, Utsusareta Bakumatsu: Ishiguro Keishichi collection [Last Years of the Bakufu on Camera: the Ishiguro Keishichi Collection] (Tokyo: Akaishi Shoten, 1990), pp. 252–63. Fukuzawa Yukichi, Fukuō Jiden [Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi] (Tokyo: Hakuōsha, 1970), pp. 97–8. Cobbing, Bakumatsu Saga-han no Taigai Kankei no Kenkyū, p. 36. There is an entire book on the subject of this photograph of Verbeck with his students in Nagasaki. See Katō Shōichi, Bakumatsu Ishin no Angō [Code for the Overthrow of the Bakufu and Meiji Restoration] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 2007). Sugitani, Nabeshima Kansō, p. 97. For a description of the first attack on the British Legation see Cortazzi, Victorians in Japan, pp. 103–104. Contemporary reports of Richardson’s death in the ‘Namamugi incident’ feature in Japan Herald. A detailed account is presented in Miyazawa Shinichi, Satsuma to Eikoku tono Deai [Encounter between Satsuma and Britain] (Kagoshima: Kōjō Shobō Shuppan, 1987), pp. 77–95. Andrew Cobbing, ‘Foreign Intelligence Reports in the Nagasaki Information War of 1863’, Kyushu International Student Centre Bulletin, no.10, 1999, pp. 58–60. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), p. 292. Andrew Cobbing, The Satsuma Students in Britain (Richmond: Japan Library, 2000), pp. 35–6. Fukuzawa Yukichi, letter to Shimazu Yutarō cited in Sugitani, Nabeshima Kansō, p. 74. W.G. Beasley, Japan Encounters the Barbarian: Japanese travellers in America and Europe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 114–6. Cobbing, The Satsuma Students in Britain, pp. 109–10. On the Kaientai and Sakamoto’s activities to promote cooperation between Satsuma and Chōshū see Marius Jansen, Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), pp. 216–9. On Britain’s diplomatic stance in the last years of the Tokugawa regime see Gordon Daniels, Sir Harry Parkes: British representative in Japan (Richmond: Japan Library, 1996), pp. 51–7. On ‘Matsudaira Kansō, the ex-daimiō of Hizen, an oldish-looking man’, Satow wrote, ‘He had the reputation of being a time-server and a great

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28.

29. 30.

31. 32. 33.

34. 35. 36. 37. 38.

intriguer, and certainly, up to the very moment of the revolution, which took place in 1868, he never allowed anyone to guess what side he would take.’ Ernest Satow, A Diplomat in Japan (New York: ICG Muse, 2000), p. 250. The ‘Meiji Restoration’ is the commonly used English term for the transfer of power and reforms known in Japanese as Meiji Ishin, although ‘Meiji Renovation’ would be a more accurate translation. Richard Sims, Japanese Political History since the Meiji Renovation (London: Hurst & Co., 2001), p. 1. William Theodore de Bary, Carol Gluck, and Arthur Tiedemann (eds), Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol.2 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), pp. 671–2. As a result of the cable laid between Nagasaki and Shanghai in 1874, by the mid-1870s correspondence between Japanese diplomats in Europe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo was conducted by means of telegrams written in English. Both Brunton and Morris wrote memoirs of their experiences in Japan. J. Morris, Advance Japan (London: Wyman and Sons, 1895). R.H. Brunton, Building Japan, 1868–78 (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 1995). Andrew Cobbing, ‘Irei no O-Yatoi Gaikokujin: kōzan gishi Morisu no sokuseki o saguru’ (An Unusual Oyatoi: in search of mining engineer Morris) in Nishi Nihon Bunka, no.339, 1998. Andrew Cobbing, ‘The Western Technological Impact on Arita Porcelain in the Early Years of the Meiji Period’, Kyushu University International Student Centre Research Bulletin, no.13, 2003, pp. 113–23. See Hugh Cortazzi, Dr Willis in Japan: British medical pioneer, 1862–1877 (London: The Athlone Press, 1985). Another example of a foreign expert employed in Kyushu was the celebrated writer Lafcadio Hearn, who spent some time in the 1890s teaching at the Fifth Higher Middle School in Kumamoto. The house where he spent his first year there is now a museum. On Hearn’s Kumamoto sojourn see Yoji Hasegawa, A Walk in Kumamoto: the life and times of Setsu Koizumi, Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese wife (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 1997). Sims, Japanese Political History since the Meiji Renovation, p. 29. Ibid., pp. 21–7. Charles Yates, Saigō Takamori: the man behind the myth (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), pp. 131–5. Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, p. 299. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, p. 298. A notable example of a ‘peasant’ rebellion that actually involved various social classes was the Takeyari Ikki of 1873, in which 100,000 people converged on Hakata in protest against government policy. Houses and even the prefectural offices in Fukuoka Castle were damaged before government troops restored order.

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Notes 39. Sonoda Hiyoshi, Etō Shinpei to Saga no Ran [Etō Shinpei and the Saga Rebellion] (Tokyo: Shinjinbutsusha, 1978), p. 154. 40. Stephen Vlastov, ‘Opposition Movements in Early Meiji, 1868–1885 in Marius Jansen (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, vol.4: the nineteenth century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 389. 41. Ibid., pp. 392, 402. 42. Yates, Saigō Takamori, p. 169. 43. Vlastos, ‘Opposition Movements in Early Meiji’, p. 396. 44. Yates, Saigō Takamori, pp. 165–6, 168. 45. Tamamuro Taijō, Seinan Sensō [The Southwest War] (Tokyo: Shibundō, 1958), p. 157. 46. Vlastov puts Saigo’s armed strength at 22,000, Yates at 30,000. Vlastov, ‘Opposition Movements in Early Meij’, pp. 398–9. Yates, Saigō Takamori, p. 167. 47. Saigō’s head had been severed but was not found next to his body, adding to the mystery surrounding his death. The most reliable accounts suggest that the head was recovered later by government troops. Ravina, The Last Samurai, p. 211. Yates, Saigō Takamori, p. 168. 48. Tobu ga gotoku, Shiba Ryōtarō’s novel on Saigō’s career was televised in the 1990 NHK Taiga drama series, with Nishida Toshiyuki playing the lead role. Yates, Saigō Takamori, pp. 169, 183. 49. Sims, Japanese Political History, p. 53. 50. Lane Earns, ‘Local Implications for the End of Extraterritoriality in Japan: the closing of the foreign settlement in Nagasaki’ in Helen Hardacre and Adam l. Kern (eds), New Directions in Meiji Japan (Boston: Brill, 1997), p. 319. 51. The spelling of ‘Yawata’ reflects the influence of the central authorities in Tokyo. In Kyushu this is commonly pronounced ‘Yahata’, but it appears as Yawata in English documents relating to the steelworks. 52. Sims, Japanese Political History, p. 58. 53. Kawazoe and Seno, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi, pp. 312–14. 54. The Taio gold mine remained in operation until 1972. Matsumoto Kōhei, Taio Kinzan-shi [History of Taio Gold Mine] (Ōita: Saiki Printing Corporation, 1989), pp. 13, 75. 55. Ibid., p. 307. 56. See, for example, John Steinberg et al. (eds), The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective: World War Zero, vol.1 (Boston: Brill, 2005). David Wolff et al. (eds), The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective: World War Zero, vol.2 (Boston: Brill, 2006). Chapter Twelve: The Twentieth Century 1. Links with Thomas Glover’s homeland in north-east Scotland today include the Glover Room in Fraserburgh Library and Braehead House,

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2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14.

where his parents lived in Aberdeen. In Nagasaki, a ceremony is held in front of the Glover villa every September commemorating his arrival in Japan. Lane Earns, ‘Local Implications for the End of Extraterritoriality in Japan: the closing of the foreign settlement in Nagasaki’ in Helen Hardacre and Adam L. Kern (eds), New Directions in Meiji Japan (Boston: Brill, 1997), p. 317. Ibid., p. 316. Tomisaburō foresaw the demise of Nagasaki quite early. ‘It is very difficult to make money in Nagasaki nowadays. Moji and Bakan [Shimonoseki] have taken all the business away from here. I am afraid we shall never see Nagasaki of ten fifteen years ago again. To my idea Korea or Manchuria will be the business field of the future.’ Tomisaburō Glover to Walter Bennett, 21 April 1907. ‘Glover Family Papers’, Nagasaki Prefectural Library. Earns, Local Implications for the End of Extraterritoriality in Japan’, p. 316. Interview with Mabel Shigeko Walker by Andrew Cobbing for Link Productions, Nagasaki, 5 October 1994. After the Pacific War the Glover villa passed into the hands of Nagasaki City. Several other Western-style houses from the age of the foreign settlement have since been dismantled and reassembled on this site to form the ‘Glover Garden’. This attracts so many visitors that there is a coach park at the bottom of the hill and ‘skywalk’ escalators to facilitate the climb to the top. On the contrasting fortunes of the Glover family over two generations see Brian Burke-Gaffney, Hana to Shimo: Gurabā-ke no hitobito [Flower and the Frost: people in the Glover family] (Nagasaki: Nagasaki Bunkensha, 1989). Steven Ericson, The Sound of the Whistle: railroads and the state in Meiji Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), pp. 41–3. On the Hisatsu Railway see Maeyama Mitsunori, Kumagawa Monogatari [Kuma River Story] (Fukuoka: Ashi Shobō, 1997), pp. 27–8. Louise Young, Japan’s Total Empire (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 328–9. Penelope Francks, Technology and Agricultural Development in Pre-war Japan (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), pp. 237, 276. On the suffering of the Okinawa population at the hands of the Japanese army in 1945 see Matthew Allen, ‘Wolves at the Back Door: remembering the Kumejima massacres,’ in Laura Hein and Mark Selden (eds), Islands of Discontent: Okinawan responses to Japanese and American power (Lanham ML: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), pp. 39–64. Max Hastings, Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45 (London: Harper Press, 2007), p. 480. Barton Bernstein, ‘Understanding the Atomic Bomb and the Japanese Surrender; missed opportunities, little-known near disasters, and modern

302

Notes

15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

memory’ in Michael Hogan (ed.), Hiroshima in History and Memory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 45, 69. At the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki it is now acknowledged that there were considerable numbers of Korean and other non-Japanese victims. About 20,000 Koreans in Hiroshima and 2,000 in Nagasaki are thought to have died as a result of these two attacks. Mikiso Hane, Modern Japan: a historical survey (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), p. 413. David Lu, Japan: a documentary history, vol.2, p. 472. John Dower, ‘The Bombed: Hiroshimas and Nagasakis in Japanese Memory’ in Michael Hogan (ed.), Hiroshima in History and Memory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 126. Ibid., p. 129. See, for example, John Dower, Embracing Defeat (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999), pp. 271–3. Frank Langdon, ‘Japan: multi-party drift and Okinawa reversion’ in Asian Survey, vol.9, no.1: A Survey of Asia in 1968, Part 1 (Jan. 1969), p. 48. Paul Bailey, Postwar Japan: 1945 to the present (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1996), pp. 100–101. Yutaka Kosai, ‘The Postwar Japanese Economy’ in Yamamura Kozo (ed.), The Economic Emergence of Modern Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 191–2. Nagatani has a club in Kumamoto City called ‘Good Time Charlie’s’, which is a popular venue for live music. See http://www.countrygold.net/ us/(accessed 10 March 2008). Kawazoe Shōji and Seno Seiichirō, Kyūshū no Fūdo to Rekishi [Cultural Environment and History of Kyushu] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1977), pp. 32–3. John Lie, Multiethnic Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 188. Timothy George, Minamata: pollution and the struggle for democracy in postwar Japan (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 17. Ibid., pp. 3–5. Ibid., p. 18. W. Eugene Smith and Aileen Smith, Minamata (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), pp. 10–11 George, Minamata, p. 218. Ibid., p. 259. Ibid., p. 8. Gavan McCormack, ‘Kokusaika: impediments in Japan’s deep structure’ in Donald Denoon et al. (eds), Multicultural Japan: paleolithic to postmodern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 275. At APU’s multicultural campus in Beppu there are approximately 2,300 international students from seventy-eight countries and regions throughout the world together with around 3,000 Japanese students.

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Kyushu: Gateway to Japan 34. Paula Harrell, Sowing the Seeds of Change: Chinese students, Japanese teachers, 1895–1905 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), p. 2. 35. See, for example, Outline of the Fukuoka 21st-Century Plan, March 1998 issued by the Planning and Promotion Department, Fukuoka Prefectural Government. 36. Kyushu’s Advantages, Kyushu Bureau of MITI, 1998. 37. Jennifer Robertson, ‘It Takes a Village: internationalization and nostalgia in postwar Japan’ in Stephen Vlastov (ed.) Mirror of Modernity: invented traditions of modern Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), p. 119. 38. Robert Uriu, Troubled Industries: confronting economic change in Japan (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1996), pp. 99–100. 39. See http://www.nmhc.jp/ (accessed 10 March 2008).

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319

INDEX

 Abe Nakamaro, 72 Aburaya Kumahachi, fig.53, 254 Acheson, Dean, 249 Adams, William, 173 Aesop’s Fables, 149 agriculture, 198, 242–3. See also rice Ainu (people), xx, 209 airports, 31, 243, 255 Aizu domain, 225 Akizuki domain, 231, 266 Akizuki family, 266 Akizuki Tanezane, 164 Akōgi (Kagoshima), 142 Akunoura (Nagasaki), 188, 218 Allied Occupation, 247–8, 250–1, 258 Alt, William, 221 Altaic languages, 7 ama (divers), 198 Amagi (Fukuoka), 44 Amako Yoshihisa, 157 Amakusa Islands, fig.37, 148, 162, 191; Christian community, 149, 152, 178; Kakure Kirishitan, 163, 184, 185, 186; Shimabara Rebellion, 181–3 Amakusa Shirō, 181 Ama no Hashidate (Kyoto), 293n2 Ama no Iwato Shrine, 12

Amano Tōkage, 108 Ama no Yasukawara (Miyazaki), 12 America, United States of, 216, 218; army, 241, 245–7, 249; bases, 249, 251; envoy, 219 Amaterasu (deity), 2, 8, 73; birth, 13, 17, 79; concealment; 12; rice paddies, 34 ambergris, 94 Amboyna massacre, 174 Ame no Uki Hashi (floating bridge of heaven), 2 Ame no Uzume (deity), 15 Amino Yoshihiko, xx, 62, 198, 199 Andaman Islands, 8 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 238 Anglo-Satsuma War. See Kagoshima, bombardment of Anjiro (interpreter), 147 An Lushan, 80 Annam (Vietnam), 111, 119, 175, 201 Anrakuji Temple, 68, 93 Ansei Treaties, 219; revision of, 235 Antoku (emperor), 100 Aoki, Michiko, 44, 51 Arai Hakuseki, 19, 37, 206

320

Index Arakawa Hidetoshi, 115 Aratsu (Fukuoka), 73 archaeological sites; Eta, 13; Hirabaru, 30; Itazuke, 31; Kanenokuma, 31; Makurazaki, 22; Suku Okamoto, 31, 32–3; Takachiho, 20; Tateiwa, 29; Yoshinogari, 25–6 architecture: shrines, 8; Korean, 31, 69 Ariake Sea, 6, 19, 25–6, 47, 260–1 Arima family, 192, 265 Arima Harunobu, 152, 153, 159, 174, 178–9, 181 Arita, 227; (Imari) ware, 171, 198, 206–207 Armstrong guns, 217, 223 artisans, 197 Asakura (Fukuoka), 70 ashigaru (foot soldiers), 155 Ashikaga Tadafuyu, 129 Ashikaga Tadayoshi, 125 Ashikaga Takauji, 121, 125, 127–8, 132, 157, 203 Ashikaga Yoshiaki, 144 Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 144 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 130, 135, 136–7 Asian continent, xiii-xiv, xvii Asian Pacific Expo (Fukuoka), 257 Aso family, 91, 155 Aso Koremasa, 159 Aso Korenao, 128 Aso: Mt, fig.1, xv, 62, 128, 195, 201, 251; Shrine, 14, 155, 278n52 Aso no Kimi, 58 astronomy, 211 atomic bombs, 188, 240–1, 246–7, 248; hibakusha, 248, 253; museum, 247, 303n15 Austronesian languages, 7

automobiles. See motor vehicles Awakihara (Miyazaki), 13, 271n31 Ayabe Castle, 132 Ayutthaya (Siam), 176, 291n24 bakuhan-taisei, 192–3 Bali, 8 Baptista, Pedro, 177 Barnes, Gina, 24, 51 baseball, 74 Bashō (poet), 293n2 Batavia, 183, 215; Java, 216 Batten, Bruce, xxi, 64, 65, 102, 138, 208; on Dazaifu, 69, 70 Beijing, 102 bells, 39, 70 Benedict, Ruth, xviii Beppu (Ōita), figs.53–54, 254–5, 257 Bernardo (convert), 147 Bikini Atoll, 248 Black Ship. See also kurofune, 148 Bōnotsu (Kagoshima), 102, 209 border guards (sakimori), 48, 64, 89, 90 Boshin civil war, 225–6 Boxer Rebellion, 237 Brazil, 151, 242 bread (pan), 151 breweries, 25, 199 bridges, 217 Bridgestone Tyres, 259 Britain, 173, 213–15, 216, 218, 219; Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 238; consulate, 239; engineers, 227; legation, 221, 228. See also under merchants Brunton, Richard Henry, 227 Buddhism, 54, 72, 78, 97; civilizing influence, 70; Ikkō sect, 185; introduction of, 55, 75–6, 77;

321

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Buddhism (cont.) monks, 72–3, 87; persecution; 185; pilgrimages, 201; Pure Land, 164, 185; separation from Shintō, 16, 68, 132, 185; Tendai sect, 84; Zen, 85 Buddhist temples, 158; Anrakuji, 68; Buzōji, 84; Hōkōji, 171–2; Honnōji, 144; Hyōryūji, 77; Jōtenji, 110; Kanzeonji, 70; Kenchōji, 106; Kōtokuin, 106; Satsuma, 16; Seiganji, 97; Shōfukuji, 85; Sōfukuji, 207; Tōdaiji, 72, 78 buke-machi (district), fig.34, 196 buke shohattō (code), 193 bullet train. See shinkansen Bungo Province, 91, 121, 165, 169 bunmei kaika (Meiji Enlightenment), 208, 227 Burakumin, 253, 295n24. See also eta; hinin burial style: Ata, 22; jar burial, 8, 31 bushidō, 155 Buzen Province, 165 Buzōji Temple, 84 Canton, 140 carpentry, 198 castaways, 215, 216 Castella cake, 151 castles, 155; ikkoku ichijō-rei, 194; wajie, 170 castle towns, 194–6, 197, 203; urbanization, 200 Catherine of Braganza, 183 Catholics, 163, 186 cayenne pepper, 151 Celebes, The, 8 Chamberlain, Basil Hall, 10 Chang’an (Xian), 69, 72, 76, 80

Chaplin, Charlie, 243 Charles II (England), 183 Charter Oath, The, 227 Cheju Island, 112, 114 chemistry, 212 Chemulpo, 240 Chen Shou, 27, 28; Wajinden, 33–6, 37, 39, 41 Chijiwa, Michael, 152, 153, 289n22 Chikugo basin, 43–4, 199 Chikugo Province, 90 Chikugo River, 60; Battle of, 129 Chikuhō coal mines, 198, 236; strikes, 242, 260 Chikuzen Province, 121, 157, 165 China, 189, 198, 236–7, 249; economy, 257: military power, 258; Mongol conquest of, 111–12; normalization of relations with, xv, 250; Chinese dynastic histories, xv-xvi, 27, 49, 57; Hanshu (Former Han), 27; Houhanshu (Latter Han), 19, 30, 40–1; Sanguozhi (Three Kingdoms), 27; Suishu (Sui), 42; Xingtanshu (New Tang), 42; Mingshi, 139 Chinese dynasties: Xia, 19; Qin, 19; Sui, 61, 76. See also Tang; Song; Yüan; Ming; Qing Chinese Eastern (Manchuria) Railway, 238 Chinmoku (film), 292n30 Chinzei Bugyō (post), 108, 120 Chinzei Tandai (post), 120–2, 126, 127, 129 Chiran (Kagoshima), fig.34, 196, 245–6 Chisso Corporation, 252–3 chōnin (townsfolk), 197, 210 chopsticks, 35

322

Index Chōshū domain, 161, 222–6, 228 Chosŏn dynasty, 124, 136, 140; Hideyoshi’s invasions, 167–72 Christian daimyo, 150–3, 154, 178–9 Christianity, 144, 146, 158, 159; converts, 149–50, 166–7; persecution, 177–80, 183–4, 189–90, 211; prohibition, 179; twenty-six martyrs, 178. See also Catholics; Dominican Order; Franciscan Order; Jesuit Order; Kakure Kirishitan; Protestants; Shimabara Rebellion Chūai (emperor), 50 Chūzan (state), 138 Cicero, 149 civilian protest, 253, 260. See also ikki Claval, Paul, xviii coal mining: Chikuhō, 198, 236; Kisu, 227; Miike, 236, 259; strikes, 242, 260; Takashima, 227, 236 Coelho, Gaspar, 177 coinage: copper, 202; silver, 202, 207; Song, 97 Cold War, The, xiv, 74, 248–50, 255, 258 Coleridge, Samuel, 112, 284n12 Columbus, Christopher, 146 Confucianism, 97, 197, 198, 210 conscription, 90, 230, 232 conservation, 260–1 Constantinople, 145 construction industry, 29, 260 copper, 138, 207 cormorant fishing, 191, 294n6 corvée labour, 87, 199 cotton, 213 Counter-Reformation, The, 146

country chieftains, 86–7, 90, 91 currency, 202. See also coinage; deflation; inflation Curtin, Philip, 124 Daifang (Korea), 34, 36, 49 Daikakuji branch, 127 daimyo, 193, 219, 265–6, 294n8; buke shohattō, 193; fudai, 191, 192; kaieki, 190; monbatsu, 195; ranpeki, 217; sankin kōtai, 193–4, 201; tozama, 192. See also shugo daimyo: sengoku daimyo Dajōkan (council), 70, 77, 95, 106, 108, 226 Dannoura, Battle of, 100, 105, 108, 126, 128 Date Masamune, 155 datsu-A (leaving Asia), xiv, 237 Dazaifu (Fukuoka), xiii; governor, 88, 89; Headquarters, figs.18–19, 68–70, 80, 91; Kanzeonji, 70; kokubu, 89; inspections, 94–9; Tenmangū Shrine, fig.21, 67, 68; Tofuro Ato, figs.18–19, 69; decline, 82–3; destruction of, 92; Kamakura, 109, 126; rival courts, 129, 132, 135, 136; warring states, 101, 144, 160; Tokugawa, 191, 201, 223. See also Kyushu National Museum Dazai Daini (post), 110, 132 Dazai Shōni (post), 80, 92, 99, 110 deflation, 235 descent from heaven. See tenson kōrin Dejima, fig.40, 180, 183, 187, 204, 215, 220; Edo Sanpo, 205; porcelain trade, 206–7 democracy, 235, 243; votes for women, 251

323

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan demons. See kidō; oni department stores, 244, 246 Depression, The Great, 242, 244 Deshima. See Dejima Diamond Princess (ship), 189, 294n3 dialect, 202–3, 242, 252 disease, 97, 110, 117, 166; smallpox, 80 Dodge, Joseph, 249 Doeff, Hendrik, 215 Dominican Order, 151, 177 Dontaku festival, 110–11 Dower, John, 248 Dutch East India Company (VOC), 173; East Indies, 174, 183; Hirado factory, 174, 183; ships, 204. See also Dejima; opperhoofd Dutch Navy, 218 Dutch Studies. See Rangaku earthquakes, 6, 172 East China Sea, xvi, 241, 255, 258 East India Company, 173; Hirado factory, 174, 180 Ebino basin, 249 Edo, xvii, 172, 200; Castle, 173, 221, 225; culture, xx education, 210–12, 221, 223–4, 250–1, 256–7; samurai, 210; imperial universities, xvii Egami Namio, 56 Egashira Yutaka, 254 Eisai (Yōsai), 84–5, 97, 98 elephant, 201 Elisonas, Jurgis, 145 Emishi (people), xx, 48, 90, 91 Endō Shūsaku, 292n30 England. See Britain; East India Company

English (language), 220, 221 Ennin, 73 Engi Shiki, 13 Enomoto Takeaki, xix eta (class), 199–200 Eta Shrine, 13 Etō Shinpei, 231, 234 Europe,145–50, 212; trade with, 173–4, 179, 183. See also Britain; Dutch East India Company; France; Portugal; Russia; Spain Ezo. See Hokkaido Fan Yeh, 40–1 Faria, Jorge, 145 farmers, 25, 197, 198–9, 236, 242–3, 256 festivals, 171, 184, 203; Dontaku, 110–11; Hassaku, 217; Kunchi, 205, 207; Yamakasa, 98, 110–11 firearms, 143, 157, 232, 288n2. See also gunnery First Emperor, The, 19, 75, 272n54; tomb, 49 fishing, 198, 252–3, 254 football, 257 foreign experts. See o-yatoi forestry, 191, 198 Formosa, 8; campaign, 237 France, 219, 225 Franciscan Order, 151, 177; expulsion, 179–80; martyrs, 178 Francks, Penelope, 243 Frois, Luis, 148–9 fudai daimyo. See under daimyo Fujian Province, 135, 140. See also Quanzhou Fujimori, Alberto, 242 Fujiwara (capital), 77

324

Index Fujiwara family, 77, 99, 107, 110, 126 Fujiwara Hirotsugu, 79–80 Fujiwara Motori, 92 Fujiwara Sumitomo, 83, 92 Fukamizu Munakata, 156 fukoku kyōhei (policy), 230, 235 Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, 261 Fukuoka Castle, fig.59, 74, 75, 195, 264; 300n38 Fukuoka City, xix, 197, 246, 257–8; airport, xi, 31, 200; castle town, 194; Dome, fig.59, 74; formation, 200; growth, 29, Heiwa-dai, 74, 195; name, 73, 280n14; Tōjin-machi, 208; yatai, 249. See also Hakata; Kyushu University Fukuoka domain, 190, 192, 193, 199, 205, 223; currency, 202, 229; Kyōho famine, 196; Shūyūkan school, 210. See also Kuroda family Fukuzawa Yukichi, 220, 221, 224, 234; datsu-A, xiv, 237, 258 fumi-e (picture trampling), 184, 185 Funagoya (Fukuoka), 43, 263 Funai (Ōita), 149, 153, 160, 191, 201; domain, 191, 266 Funayama (tomb), 54 furusato (‘home village’), 259 Furuta Takehiko, 13, 39, 40, 61, 76 fūsetsugaki (reports), 206, 296n39 Futagami, Mt, 2, 17 gagaku music, 70, 279n6 Gama, Vasco da, 146 Gauls, xx Genesis, Book of, 184 Geneva, Lake, 47 Genkai Sea, 29, 198, 237 Genpei War, 100, 114, 126, 172

Genyōsha (Black Ocean Society), 237, 244 globalization, xxi Glover, Thomas Blake, 220, 221, 223–4, 227, 236, 301n1 Glover, Tomisaburō, 239–41 Glover villa, fig.51, 220, 239, 302n7 Goa, 147 Gobi Desert, 7, 74 Go-Daigo (emperor), 121, 126, 127, 128 Godai Tomoatsu, 213, 214, 224, 234 Go-Kameyama (emperor), 130 go-kenin (vassals), 107, 114, 116 gold, 146, 148, 150. See also Taio gold mine golden brocade banners, 126, 127 golf, 240 gonin-gumi, 245 Gordon, Andrew, xxii gōshi (rural samurai), 196 Gotō Islands, 80, 184, 186, 188 Gozen-sama (deity), 184 Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3 Gregory III (pope), 152 Guangwu (emperor), 30 gunnery, 212, 216–17 Hachiman sect, 43, 78, 125 Hagakure (book), 155, 202, 203 Haga Noboru, 4 Hagi (Yamaguchi), 204, 231; ware, 171 Hainuzuka (Fukuoka), fig.58 Hakata, xvi, 59, 101, 151; battlegrounds, 128, 157; culture, 203; destruction of, 160, 166; growth, 95–6, 98, 138–9, 200; Hakozaki, 115, 119, 165, 177;

325

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Hakata (cont.) Hideyoshi, 166; international port, 235; Jōtenji, 110; Korean trade, 209; Kushida, 98; merchants, 95; origins, 94–6; rivalry over, 131, 136; Shōfukuji, 85; Sode no Minato, 99; Song influence, 97, 102; Tachibana, Battle, of, 157; Tatarahama, Battle of, 125, 128. See also Dontaku festival; Fukuoka; Yamakasa festival Hakata Bay, 29, 83, 95, 97, 121, 243; defensive walls, fig.23, 103, 105, 116, 117, 119; Island City, 261 Hakata-gaku, xxi Hakata Station, xix, 160, 200, 202, 251, 263 Hakodate, 188, 219 hakkō ichiu (universal brotherhood), 3 Hakozaki Shrine, fig.24, 115, 119, 165, 166, 177 Hamada Hikozō (Joseph Heco), 220 Hamazaki family, 209 Hangzhou, 96 haniwa, 55, 56 hankō schools, 210, 211 hansharō. See reverberatory furnaces Hanyang. See Seoul Hara, Martin, 152, 153, 289n22 Hara Castle, fig.36, 182, 292n35 Haranotsuji (Iki), 28 Harris, Townsend, 219 harvest, 80 Hassaku festival, 217 Hasuike domain, 266 Hasunama Saburō, 108 Hayashi Razan, 293n2 Hayashi Shihei, 215 Hayato (people), xx, 48; Ata, 22–3; imperial bodyguard 10–11, 22;

Ōsumi, 10, 38; rebellion, 79, 204; subjugation of, 58, 66, 89, 90; warriors, 10, 80 Hearn, Lafcadio, 300n33 Heco, Joseph (Hamada Hikozō), 220 Heian court, 81, 82, 84; culture, 86; eclipse, 101, 105. See also Dajōkan Heian (capital). See Kyoto Heijō (capital). See Nara Heike Monogatari (Tale of Taira Line), xvii, 100 heinō bunri. See shi-nō-kō-shō social structure, Henry, Prince, Duke of Viseu (Portugal), 145 heritage industry, 261 Heyerdahl, Thor, 28 hibakusha. See under atomic bombs Hibikibaru, Battle of, 154, 159 Hidaka Masaharu, 21 Hideyoshi. See Toyotomi Hideyoshi Hieda Are, 3, 10 Higo Province, 165 Hiji domain, 266 Hiko, Mt, 132, 133 Himeki Castle, 38 Himiko (queen), fig.11, 27, 35–6, 38, 51, 263 hinin (class), 199–200 Hi no Kimi, 58, 61, 62 hinomoto, 76 Hirabaru (tomb), 30, 44 Hirado Island, 80, 117, 147, 151, 177, 184; Castle, 174, 195; domain, 165, 192, 266; factories, 173–4, 180, 183; Kakure Kirishitan, 184; Matsura-tō territory, 133, 140; in Mongol invasions, 117. See also Matsura family

326

Index Hirakiki Shrine, 22 Hiramatsu Morihiko, 260 Hirano Kunio, 40, 41, 42 Hirata Atsutane, 16 Hirohito (emperor). See under Shōwa Hirose family, 190–1 Hirose Tansō, 212 Hiroshima, 247, 248; domain, 223 Hisatsu railway line, 241 Hita, 191, 198; basin, 91, 190; Kangien Academy, 212. See also merchants Hitoyoshi: Castle, 233; domain, 159, 185, 266; estate, 283n6 Hizen Province, 121, 165, 166, 171, 184; Fudoki, 44, 47, 61 Hoderi, 11 Hōjō family, 107, 121, 125, 127 Hōjō Hidetoki, 121, 125–6, 127 Hōjō Sanemasa, 116 Hōjō Tokimune, 113, 116, 284n16 Hokkaido, xiv, xvii, 206, 209, 215, 226; Colonization Board, 234; migration, 242; Republic of, xix Hōkōji Temple, 171–2 Holland. See Dutch East India Company Hollywood, 251 Hōman, Mt., 132, 160 Homuda-wake. See Ōjin Hong, Wontack, 56 Honnōji Temple, 144 Honshu, xvi, 204 Ho-ori, 9, 11, 22 horses, 35, 55; horse-rider theory, 56 Hoshino Hisashi, 38 Hosokawa family, 138, 139, 193, 195–6, 265, 266. See also Kumamoto domain Hosokawa Tadaoki, 193

Hosokawa Tadatoshi, 193 hot springs, 43, 214, 240, 254–5 Hotta Masayoshi, 219 house histories. See Teiki; Kuji Howells, David, xxx Hsiang-yang, 114 Hudson, Mark, 15 Hunter, Hans, 236 Huis ten Bosch (resort), fig.56, 187, 259, 293n1 hyakushō, 92, 198. See also peasants Hyōryūji Temple, 77 Hyūga myth, 4, 17, 18, 24, 210, 271n49 Hyūga Michiyoshi, 100 Hyūga Province, 10, 17, 155; Fudoki, 17; plain, 20–1, 198–9; realm, 21, 24, 57. See also Miyazaki Ibuse Masuji, 248 Ichiki family, 144 Ieyasu. See Tokugawa Ieyasu Ii Naosuke, 219, 221 Ijinkan (Kagoshima), 213 Ijūin family, 144 Iki Island, 28, 64, 114, 117, 124, 134 Iki no Matsubara, fig.23, 103 ikki, 133, 219, 300n38 Ikitsuki Island, 184, 186 ikkoku ichijō-rei (one castle law), 194 Imagawa Ryōshun, 130, 136 Imagawa Yoshimoto, 143 Imamura Keiji, 41 Imari (Saga), 88; Bay, figs.25–26, 118, 123, 140; Kisu mine, 227; ware. See Arita ware Imayama, Battle of, 157–8 Imazu (Fukuoka), 97, 113 Imna, 50–1, 63 See also Mimana Nihonfu

327

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan imperial line. See tenson kōrin; Yamato (state) Inaba family, 266 Inasa, Mt, 188 India, 111; Tenjiku, 146 Indies, The, 145–6 inflation, 225, 242, 249 Inland Sea, xvi, 62, 99, 124, 254 Inoue Mitsusada, 4 Inoue Tatsuo, 58 internationalization (kokusaika), xxi, 256 International Military Tribunal (Tokyo), 247 interpreters, 142, 147, 206, 208 Iriki family, 158, 283n6 Irokawa Daikichi, xvii iron, 31, 40 Isahaya (Nagasaki), 25 Ishigamibō garden, 85 Ishimaru Yasuyo, 231 Isonokami Shrine, 52 Iso-tei villa (Kagoshima), fig.46, 213, 229 Isshiki Noriuji, 129 isson ippin (movement), 259–60 Itagaki Taisuke, 230–1, 234 Italy, 171 Itazuke (Fukuoka), 31; air base, 201, 250 Ito (state), 30, 35 Itō family, 266 Itō Genboku, 218, 298n10 Itō Hirobumi, 234, 235 Itō Mancio, 152, 153, 289n22 Itonoshō (estate), 138 Itoshima peninsula, 29, 30, 44 itowappu system, 167, 173 Itō Yoshitsuke, 155, 158

Itsuki (Kumamoto), 101 Itsukushima Island, 99, 293n2 Iwai, Lord of Tsukushi, figs.15–16, 60–1, 62, 66, 278n48 Iwakura Embassy, 230, 231, 235 Iwakura Tomomi, 230 Iwa Naga (princess), 9 Iwasaki Yatarō, 234 Iwatoyama (tomb), figs.15–16, 60–1, 84, 278n48 Iwatsurugi, Battle of, 158 Iwaya Castle, Siege of, 160 Iyo (queen), 36 Iyōjima Island, 227 Izanagi (deity) 8, 9 Izanami (deity), 8, 9 Izumi (Kagoshima), 196 Izumo (Shimane), 40, 58 Jakatara-bumi (letter), 183 Janes, Leroy, 232 Jansen, Marius, xxii Japan (name): ‘King of’, 112, 114, 135, 137, 170; Nihon (Nippon), 62, 76, 276n10, 280n18; Cipangu, 76, 116, 146 Japanese Imperial Army, 162, 225–6, 244–5, 247–8 Japan Sea, 40 Jesuit Society, 145, 146–7, 171; martyrs, 178; missionaries, 148, 149, 150, 152, 163; in Nagasaki, 151; Province of the East Indies, 147, 148, 150 See also Frois, Luis; Loyola, Ignatius; Rodrigues, João; Xavier, Francis; Valignano, Allessandro Jiangnan (region), 8 jindai moji (indigenous script), 2 Jingishō (Ministry of Shintō), 16

328

Index Jingū (empress), 37, 50, 51, 276n12 Jinmu (emperor), 3, 11, 17; Eastern Expedition, 3, 11–12, 13, 18, 23; birth, 22; marriage, 22–3; Ōjin parallels, 24, 38, 51–2; Jinshin War, 77, 104 Jishūkan school (Kumamoto), 210 Jitō (empress), 51, 78 jitō (stewards), 107, 108, 283n6 Jiyūtō Party, 234 Jōfuku. See Xufu jōi (movement). See sonnō jōi Jōkyū disturbance, 108 Jōmon: people, 6–7, 9, 11, 14; cedar, 142; pottery, 20 Jōtenji Temple, 110 Juliao, Dom. See Nakaura, Julian Jurchen (people), 83 Kadokura, Cape, figs.27–28 Kaempfer, Engelbert, 180, 205, 208 Kaga domain, 192, 233 Kagoshima City, fig.45, xvi, 5, 139, 143, 194; bombardment of, fig.49, 213, 222–3; Castle, 195; Cotton Mill, 213, 227; Iso-tei villa, fig.46, 213, 225, 229; reverberatory furnace, 217; Ryūkyū-kan, 176, 209; Saigō’s last stand, 164; Shūseikan Museum, fig.47, 222; trade, 175; Xavier, 146–7. See also Sakurajima, Mt; Satsuma Rebellion Kagoshima Prefecture, 16, 214, 232 ka:i (civilized:barbarian) paradigm, xvii kaieki (sanction), 190 Kaikaku, 98 kaikoku movement, 216, 223 Kaimon, Mt, fig.29, 22, 148 Kaitai Shinsho (book), 211

Kajiki (Kagoshima), 143 Kakiemon ware, 207 Kakimoto Hitomaro, 104 Kakure Kirishitan, 162, 184, 185–6, 188 Kamachi family, 154 Kamachi Shigenami, 156 Kamakura, 101, 105; Kenchōji, 106; Kōtokuin, 106 Kamakura bakufu, 106, 108, 121, 130; bureaucracy, 108; defences, 114; go-kenin, 107, 114, 116; Samuraidokoro, 107; decline; 119–21; fall, 121, 127 Kamchatka, 215 Kamenoi Hotel, 254 kami (deities), 3, 14, 77, 184 Kamigata culture, xvii, xx kamikaze, 104, 115; pilots, 104, 245–6 Kamō family, 157 Kamoike line, 154 Kanagawa, 217, 219. See also Yokohama Kanazawa: See Kaga domain Kanenaga, Prince. See Kaneyoshi, Prince Kanenokuma (Fukuoka), 31 Kaneyoshi, Prince, 129, 134, 135, 136 Kangien Academy (Hita), 212 kangō (licences), 137, 166 Kangwha, Treaty of, 237 Kankō Maru (ship). See Soembing Kanmon Straits, xvii, xix, 99, 131; Tunnel, 251. See also Dannoura, Battle of Kanmon Suspension Bridge, xix, 251 Kanmu (emperor), 99 Kansai, xvii. See also Kinai area

329

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Kantō area, xvii, 57; samurai, 91; Kamakura, 101; Edo, 170, 172, 190, 191, 200 Kanzaki (Saga), 25, 132; Kanzaki-shō, 94, 98, 99, 108, 120. See also Yoshinogari Kanzeonji Temple, 70, 93 kaolin, 207 Karatsu (Saga), 46, 133; Castle, 195; domain, 191–2, 266; ware, 171 Karatsu Bay, 46 karayuki-san, 162, 290n1 Kasasa, Cape, 18–19, 20–1 Kashii Shrine, fig.13, 50, 51 Kashima domain, 266 Kasuga Cult, The, 280n22 Kasuya no Miyake, 61 Katō Kiyomasa, 164, 172; Christian purge, 178; Korean campaigns; 169, 170, 171; Kumamoto Castle, 193, 233; peasant revolt, 165; statue, 195 Katō Tadahiro, 193 Katsu Kaishū, 225 Kawachinoura (Kumamoto), 149 Kawara Shrine, 59 Kaya (state), 32, 50, 53, 54, 60, 63 Kazu no Miya (princess), 222 Kedōin family, 157 Keene, Donald, 212 Keigin, 157 Keikō (emperor), 21, 47–8, 52, 61 Keiō Gijuku University, 221 Keitai (emperor), 59 Kenchōji Temple, 106 Kenmu Restoration, 127 kenpeitai (military police), 240 kentōshi missions, 72, 81, 86 Kerait tribe, 111 Khan, Genghis, 111

Khan, Khubilai, 103, 112, 113, 116, 118; death, 119 Kibi (Okayama), 57, 58 Kida Sadakichi, 56 Kidder, Edward, 41 kidō (way of demons), 36 Kido Takayoshi, 228 Kiev, 111 Kihachi (demon), 13–14 Kijō (Miyazaki), 65 Kikaigashima (Demon Island), xvii Kikuchi Castle, 127, 130 Kikuchi family, 91, 110, 125–7, 129–30, 286n6; decline, 131 Kikuchi Taketoshi, 127, 128 Kikuchi Takatoki, 126–7 Kinai area, 21, 24, 55, 73, 93. See also Kansai kin’in (gold seal), 30 Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), 137 Kinoshita family, 266 Kirishima, Mt, fig.4, 16, 17, 18, 22, 185 Kirishima Shrine, fig.7, 16 kirishitan bugyō (post), 183 Kisu mine (Imari), 227 Kitakyushu, 252, 256, 260 Kitano Tenmangū Shrine, 68, 171, 291n14 Kitsuki: Castle, 195; domain, 191, 266 Kizakibayu, Battle of, 155, 158 Kobayakawa Hideaki, 172 Kobayashi Yukio, 39 Kobe, 188 kōbu gattai movement, 222 Kōdōkan school (Saga), 210 Koeckebacker, Nicholas, 182 kofun (tombs), 49, 57; haniwa, 55, 56 Kōgoku (empress). See Saimei

330

Index Kōgon (emperor), 127 Koguryŏ (state), 50, 53, 63; foundation myth, 17. See also Kwanggaet’o Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), 3, 13, 16, 22; compilation, 9–10; Hayato, 11; Motoori Norinaga, 12, 210; Taoist imagery, 79 koku (unit). See kokudaka Kokubu (Kagoshima), 10, 23 kokubu (provincial capitals), 89 kokudaka (crop yield system), 166, 192, 199 Kokugaku (study of our country), xviii, 4, 210–11, 219, 297n52; Higo, 232; Satsuma, 16 Kokura, 201, 236, 241, 247; Castle, 195; domain, 191, 265. See also Kitakyushu Kokuryūkai (Black Dragon Society), 244 kokusaika (internationalization), xxi, 256 Komura Jutarō, 238 Kōmyō (emperor), 129 Kondō Yoshiki, 38 Konishi Yukinaga, 165; Christian faith, 152–70; Korean campaigns, 168–9; vassals, 182, 183; death, 153, 172, 178 Ko no Hana Sakuya (princess), 9, 21 Kon Tiki (raft), 28 Kōra, Mt, 157 Korea, 198, 230, 237–8; South, xv, 189, 250. See also Paekche; Silla; Koguryŏ; Koryŏ; Chŏson Korean War, The, 250 Korea Straits. See Tsushima Straits. Kōrokan, 73, 195. See also Tsukushi Lodge

Koryŏ (state), 82; resistance against Mongols, 103, 111, 112, 114; in Mongol invasions, 113, 117, 119; envoys, 134, 135 Kōshibyō (Nagasaki), 207 Kōtoku (emperor), 77 Kōtokuin Temple, 106 Kuchinotsu (Nagasaki), 148, 149 Kuji (Ancient Tales), 2–3 Kujifuru, Mt, 16 Kujū: Mt, 51; highlands, 153, 249 Kŭm River, 63, 135. See also Paekchon River, Battle of Kumamoto Castle, figs.32–33, 75, 171, 193, 194–5, 232–3; Honmaru palace, 264 Kumamoto City, 171, 194, 195, 242 Kumamoto domain, 192, 193, 265; Jishūkan school, 210. See also Katō Kiyomasa; Hosokawa family; Shinpūren Rebellion Kumamoto Prefecture, 44, 253; Hi no Kuni, 44, 47–8 Kuma River, 101, 233, 241 Kumaso (people), xx; subjugation of, 21, 47–8, 50, 58, 61 Kume Kunitake, 38, 43 Kuna (state), 36, 38 Kunchi festival, 205, 207 Kunisaki peninsula, 132, 212 Kuroda family, 73, 193, 265, 266. See also Fukuoka domain Kuroda Kiyotaka, 234 Kuroda Nagamasa, 165 Kuroda Nagatomo, 229 Kuroda Yoshitaka (Josui), 153, 164, 165, 168, 172 kurofune (Black Ship), 148, 166, 173 Kuroi Ame (film), 248

331

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Kurokawa (Kumamoto), 255 Kurosawa Akira, 153 Kurose (Kagoshima), 19 Kuroshio Current, xvi, 8 Kurume, 90; Bridgestone (Ishibashi), 259; dialect, 242; domain, 192, 265; Kōra, Mt, 157 Kushida Shrine, 98 Kusunoki Masashige, 128 Kwanggaet’o (king), 52–3; monument, 52, 54, 123 Kwantung Army, 244 Kyōbushō (Ministry of Religion), 16 Kyōho famine, 196 Kyoto (capital), 67, 90, 130, 143; Christians, 177–8; layout, 69, 77; Muromachi, 125; Kinkakuji, 137; Kitano Tenmangū Shrine, 68, 171; rivalry over, 222; Toba-Fushimi, Battle of, 225 Kyūragi (Saga), fig.2, fig.12, 46 Kyushu, concept, xv-xvi, 88; danji, 203; dialects, xxi: economy, xxi; Expressway, 84, 202; realm, 57, 61, 76 Kyūshū Kaishintō Party, 234–5 Kyushu National Museum, fig.60, xiii–xiv, 68, 261, 267n1 Kyūshū Tandai (post), 130 Kyushu University, xvii, 29, 89, 250 lacquer, 199 land reclamation projects: Isahaya, 25–6; Hakata, 261; Nagasaki, 187 land survey. See taikō kenchi; ritsuryō system Leach, Bernard, 295n20 League of Nations, 244, 245 Lear, King (play), 153

Ledyard, Gari, 56 Lee Cham-Pyung, 207 Legaspi, Miguel Lopez de, 173 leisure resorts. See Huis ten Bosch; Seagaia Lelang (Korea), 27, 49 Liaodong peninsula, 238 liberal rights movement, 231, 234, 235–6, 237 Lidin, Olof, xii Lie, John, xx Liefe (ship), 173, 174 lighthouses, 227 Li Tan, 174 livestock, 35, 93. See also horses London Naval Pact, 239, 244 Lopez de Legaspi, Miguel, 173 Loyola, Ignatius, 146–7 lumber industry, 241 Macao, 146, 148, 167, 179 MacArthur, Douglas, 247 MacDonald, Gaynor, xviii MacDonald, Ranald, 206, 221, 296n41 Maeno Ryōtaku, 211 magatama (jewellery), 26 Maher, John C., 7, 41 Maki Izumi, 222 Makimuku (Kinai), 41 Makurazaki (Kagoshima), 22, 26 Malacca, 139, 146 Manchester, 213–14 Manchukuo, 244–5 Manchuria, 237–8, 242, 244; Railway, 238, 244. See also Jurchen; Puyeo Mancio, Dom. See Itō Mancio Manila, 183 Man’yōshū (verses), 47, 48, 73, 198 Mao Ze Dong, 249

332

Index Martinho, Dom. See Hara, Martin Maruyama courtesans, 205 Maruyama Masao, 4 Mashida Nagamori, 178 Massarella, Derek, 208 Matsudaira family, 192, 266 Matsukata Masayoshi, 235 Matsukura Katsuie, 181, 182, 190 Matsukura Shigemasa, 181 Matsumae domain, 209 Matsuo Bashō, 293n2 Matsura (state), 133; family, 165, 192, 266 Matsura Shigenobu, 173–4, 175 Matsura-tō, 123, 124, 125, 128, 133–4, 140 Matsushima Bay, 294n2 McCormack, Gavan, 62 medicine, 211, 217–18, 228, 248, 297n57 Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge), fig.38, 151 Meiji (emperor), 156, 225, 238 Meiji (state): centralization, xvii, 228; Christian policy, 186; Constitution, 235; creation of, 213, 225; foreign relations, 236–8; fukoku kyōhei, 230, 235; oligarchy, 226, 234; separation of Buddhism and Shinto, 16, 18, 132 Meiji Enlightenment, The. See bunmei kaika Meiji Restoration, xvi, 214, 225–6, 300n28 Meissen, 207 Mendes Pinto, Fernão, 145, 147 merchants, 197, 200, 221; American, 220; British; 220, 223; Chinese, 207, 209; Hakata, 95, 102; Hita, 190–1,

294n5; Japanese, 176; monopolies, 202; Nihon-machi, 176; Persian and Arab, 74, 95, 118; Silla, 95; Song, 96, 110, 111; Tang, 95; Tsushima, 175, 209 mercury, 252 metallurgy, 31–2 Midway Island, 245 migration: early, 5, 7, 12, 57, 59, 270n14; rival courts, 136; warring states, 170, 171; recent, 241–2, 256–7. See also urbanization Miguel, Dom. See Chijiwa, Michael Miike coal mine, 236, 259; strikes, 260 Mikenu, 13–14 miko (priestess), fig.20, 44 mikoshi floats, 184. See also Yamakasa Mikuma River, 191 military police (kenpeitai), 240 Mimana Nihonfu, 50–1, 60, 63, 276n10 Mimigawa River, 101; Battle of, 159 Mimitsu (Miyazaki), 23 Minamata (Kumamoto): disease, 252–4; Siege of, 156 Minamoto family, 91, 98–9 Minamoto Yorinori, 100, 108 Minamoto Yoritomo, 100, 101, 105, 172; shogun, 106; death, 107 Minatoguchi, Battle of, 128 Ming dynasty, 124, 135, 167, 168; envoys, 137, 170; relief army, 169, 190; fall, 206 Mingzhou. See Ningbo mining, 191, 198; phosphate, 242. See also coal mining mirrors, 30, 36, 39, 41, 54; Kobayashi theory, 39–40

333

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Mito domain, 217, 221 Mitsubishi, 234, 236; Nagasaki Shipyard, 188–9, 218, 239, 240, 294n3 Mitsui, 236; Green Land, 259 Miura Anjin. See Adams, William Miura Baien, 212 Miwa, Mt, 18 Miyajima Shrine, 99, 293n2 Miyake Yonekichi, 30 Miyanoura Shrine, 23 Miyazaki City: Eta Shrine, 13; G8 Summit, 4; Seagaia, 4; Shrine, fig.6, 14; Tower of Peace, 3 Miyazaki Prefecture, 1, 8. See also Hyūga Province Mizuki (Water Fortress), fig.17, 64–5, 66, 69 Mizushima, Battle of, 130, 131, 204 Moji (Fukuoka), 235 mokkan (wooden tablets), 89 monbatsu rank, 195 Mongol empire, 102, 103, 111, 121; envoys, 112–14, 116, 119. See also Yüan dynasty Mongol fleet, 104, 114, 117; wreck, fig.25, 284n25, 285n33 Mongolia, 17, 111 Mongol invasions, xvii, 65, 94, 103–104, 110, 126, 133; failure, 105, 118; first, 114–15; preparation, 113, 116; second, 117–8 Mononobe (family), 75, 77; Nigi Hayahi, 17 Mononobe Ōmuraji Arakabi, 60 Mori Arinori, 229 Mōri family (Chōshū), 161. See also Chōshū domain Mōri family (Saiki), 266

Mōri Motonari, 157 Mōri Terumoto, 160, 163 Moriyama Einosuke, 206 Mori Yoshirō, 4 Morodomi (Saga), 19 Morrison (ship), 216 Morris, J., 227 Morris, Samuel, 227 Motoori Norinaga, xviii, 12, 16, 19, 37, 210 motor vehicles, 240; factories, 259 Mukden, 244 mulberry bark, 199 Munakata Shrine, 51, 59, 73 Munich, 207 Murai Shōsuke, xvii, 124 Murasaki Shikibu, 86 Muromachi bakufu, 125, 128–9, 130–1, 135–7, 143; fall, 144 Musashi, Battleship, 239 music: country, 251; gagaku, 70, 279n6; jazz, 243; rock ‘n’ roll, 251 Mutō family, 108, 283n8. See also Shōni Mutō (Shōni) Sukeyori, 109–10, 134 Mutual Security Treaty, 248–9 mythology, 6, 8–9; Greek, 9. See also Hyūga myth, 4, 17; Paekche, 11 Na (state), 30, 31, 32–3 Nabeshima family, 195–6, 216, 265, 266. See also Saga domain Nabeshima Katsushige, 171 Nabeshima Naohiro, 231 Nabeshima Naomasa, 217, 225, 299n27 Nabeshima Naoshige, 155, 157, 165, 169, 172, 193

334

Index Nagai Takashi, 248 Nagaoka (capital), 77 Nagasaki Bay, fig.41, 215, 227 Nagasaki bugyō (post), 173, 167, 190, 206; Bugyō-sho, 205, 261; plot against, 174, 178–9; suicide, 215 Nagasaki City, xvi, xxii, 148, 149, 197, 246–7; Christian community, 163, 178, 179, 185, 186; culture, 203; foreign settlement, 220, 235, 239– 41, 302n7; growth, 166, 200; Jesuit colony, 151, 167; Kaientai, 224; Kōshibyō, 207; late Tokugawa, 219, 220–1; Maruyama, 205; Meganebashi, fig.38, 151; naval training, fig.44, 218; nuclear-free zone, 249; Ōura Church, fig.50, 186; Peace Park, fig.55, 188, 247; sakoku, 183; security, 193, 205, 216; shipwrights, 176; Shinchi, fig.39, 187; Sōfukuji, 207; Steel Plant, 218; Tōjin yashiki, 204, 207; tourism, 188–9; twenty-six martyrs, fig.30, 178. See also atomic bombs; Dejima; Glover villa; Urakami Nagasaki-gaku, xxi Nagasaki Kaidō (highway), 201, 204 Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, 261 Nagasaki no Kane (film), 248 Nagasaki Prefecture, 231 Nagasaki trade, 173, 174, 208–209; tōsen, 175. See also Dejima Nagashino, Battle of, 143, 144, 157 Nagatani, Charlie, 251 Nagoya Castle (Saga), fig.31, 168, 169, 171, 177, 288n44 Naigai (International) Club, 240 Naitō family, 266

Naitō Torajirō, 38 Nakagawa family, 265 Naka Michiyo, 11, 38, 43 Nakai no Ōkimi, 91 Nakasu district. See Hakata Nakatomi family, 77. See also Fujiwara Nakatsu domain, 191, 210, 220, 224, 265 Nakaura, Julian, 152, 153, 289n22 Namamugi Incident, 222, 299n19 nanbanjin, 146. See also Europe nanboku jidai (age of rival courts), 124, 128–33, 134 Nangō (Miyazaki), 65, 278n65 Nanjing, 139 Nanotsu Miyake, 61, 62, 64, 71, 95 Napoleonic Wars, The, 215 Nara (capital), 9, 18, 69, 70, 77; Hyōryūji, 77; Shōsōin, 73; Tōdaiji, 72, 78 Nara basin, 17, 48; Hashihaka, 43; Miwa, Mt, 18; Makimuku, 41 navigation, 212 New Caledonia, 242 newspapers, 220, 234, 243 Nigi Hayahi, 17, 271n47 Nihon. See Japan Nihongi. See Nihon Shoki Nihonjinron discourse, xviii, 258 Nihon-machi, 176 Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), 3, 22; compilation, 9–10; Hayato, 11; Paekche, 55; Taoist imagery, 79; tenson kōrin, 16, 17; Yamatai, 37 Niiro Tadamoto, 164 Niji no Matsubara (Saga), 46 Ninigi: landfall, 2, 16, 17, 19; marriage, 8–9, 15, 18; rice cultivation, 17; death, 20, 21

335

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Ningbo, 85, 95, 96, 281n2; in Mongol invasions, 117; wakō threat, 135; tally trade, 137–9 Nintoku (emperor): tomb, 49, 52 Nirayama, 217 Nishijima Sadao, 41 Nishikawa Joken, 211, 297n54 Nishitetsu: Lions, 74; railway, 59, 64–5 Nixon, Richard, 250 Nobeoka (Miyazaki), 1, 262; domain, 191, 266 Nobunaga. See Oda Nobunaga Nogi Maresuke, 156 Noma, Mt, 19 Noma peninsula, 18–19 Norman Conquest, 104 Northern Court, 129 Nō theatre, 70, 156 Ōbayashi Tarō, 11 Ōbayashi Taryō, xx Obi domain, 266 Oda Nobunaga, 143, 144, 149, 156, 157, 158 Ōe (Kumamoto), 185 Ogasawara family, 265, 266 Ogata Kōan, 298n10 Ogata Koreyoshi, 100 Ogi (Saga), 128; domain, 265 oil, 258; shocks, 256 Ōita City, 194. See also Funai Ōita Prefecture, 255, 259–60 Ōjin (emperor), 4, 43, 56; birth, 51, 59; god of war, 51, 78, 125; historicity, 4, 21; Jinmu parallels, 24, 38, 51–2; tomb, 49, 52 Oka (Taketa) domain, 265 Okakura Tenshin, xiv, 261 Okayama, 172. See also Kibi

Okehazama, Battle of, 143, 158 Okidanawate, Battle of, 159 Okinawa, xvii, xx, 245, 249; Shuri Castle, 175; Yaeyama Republic, xix. See also Ryukyu Islands Okinawa Prefecture, 237 Okinoshima Island, 73–4 Ōkita no Kimi, 58 Ōkubo Toshimichi, 214, 231, 233 Okudaira family, 265 Ōkuma Shigenobu, 221, 234, 237 Ōkura family, 91 Olandia, Francisco de, 178 Olympic Games, 255 Ominayama, 44 Ōmura domain, 266 Ōmura family, 266 Ōmura Sumitada, 150–1, 152 One Village One Product (isson ippin) movement, 259–60 Onga River, 29, 241 Ōnin War, 143, 144 oni (demons), fig.5, xviii, 14, 268n7. See also Kihachi Ōnojō (fortress), 64, 66, 69 Onta ware, 198, 295n20 Open Door policy, 244 Opium Wars, 216, 219 opperhoofd (Dutch factor), 182, 205, 215, 216 oranges, 199, 263 Orpheus, 9 Osaka, xv, 49, 200, 213–14, 218, 225; Castle, 173; Expo, xviii, 267n1; Naniwa, 77 Ōshima Island, 175 Ōsumi Province, 10 Ōtomo Chikayo, 130 Ōtomo family: Hakata interests, 131,

336

Index 138–9; Kamakura, 107, 108, 121, 126; rival courts, 129, 130, 136; warring states, 132, 138–9, 153 Ōtomo Sadehiko, 46, 48, 63 Ōtomo Yoshimune, 165, 169, 172, 190 Ōtomo Yoshinao, 110 Ōtomo Yoshishige (Sōrin), 145; campaigns, 153, 156–7, 158; Christianity, 147, 149, 151–2; death, 165; decline, 159–61, 163 Ōtomo Yoriyasu, 114 Ōtsu (court), 65 Ōtsuki Gentaku, 216 Ottoman Turks, 145 Ōuchi family, 131–2, 138–9; roots, 58 Ōuchi Masachika, 144 Ōuchi Yoshitaka, 132, 139, 157 Ōura. See under Nagasaki overseas students, 223–4, 256–7 Owari Province, 143 Ōyama Tsunayoshi, 232 Ō Yasumaro, 9–10 o-yatoi foreign experts, 227 Ōzu Yasujirō, 252 Pacific Ocean, 257; Rim of Fire, 6 Pacific War, 104, 188, 245–7 Paekche (state), 50, 51; capital, 69; diaspora, 54, 64; exiles, 11, 65, 66, 69, 71, 79; foundation myth, 11, 17; Prince Hye, 61; relations with Yamato, 52, 55, 56, 62; fall, 53, 63–4, 167 Paekchon River, Battle of, 64, 65, 66 Papenberg, The, 204 Paris, 147; Exposition Universelle, 224 Parkes, Sir Harry, 225

Paul III (pope), 147 Peace Park, 188, 247; Statue, fig.55, 248 Pearl Harbor, 245 peasants, 93, 196, 197; rebellions (ikki), 219, 230, 300n38. See also farmers peddlers, 197 Perry, Matthew C., 206, 215, 218 Persephone, 9 persimmons, 199 Peru, 242 Phaeton, HMS, 215, 216 Philippines, The, 151, 173, 183, 256 photography, 220 physics, 212 Piggott, Joan, 88 Pimiko. See Himiko Pinto, Fernão Mendes, 145, 147 piracy, 82, 83. See also Silla pirates; Toi invasion; wakō Pius IX (pope), 178 pollution, 47, 252–4, 260 Polo, Marco, 76, 116 Polynesia. See South Sea Islands porcelain, 206–207 portolans, 140 Portsmouth, Treaty of, 238 Portugal, 141; colonies, 151, 174; embassy, 205; explorations, 145–6; expulsion, 183; Goa, 147; merchants, 142–3, 144, 150–1; kurofune, 148, 166, 167, 173 pottery, 198; haniwa, 55, 56; Jōmon, Yayoi, menda, 20; porcelain, 206–207. See also yakimono-sensō (Pottery War) printing, 97, 149 provincial capitals (kokubu), 89

337

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan provincial governors, 88–9, 91 Pusan, 169, 170, 230; Waegwan, 175, 209 Putiatin, Yevfimy, 218 Puyeo (people), 56 P’yŏngyang, 63, 169 Pyramids, The, 49 Qing dynasty, 207 Quanzhou, 96, 118 radio, 244, 252 Raffles, Stamford, 216 railways, 235, 238, 251; Hisatsu line, 241; Kagoshima Trunk Line, 262; Nishitetsu line, 59, 64–5; Takachiho line, 1–2, 262–3 Ran (film), 153 Rangaku (Dutch Studies), 210, 211–12, 217, 220; ranpeki daimyo, 217 rebellion, 59, 203–4; An Lushan, 80; Fujiwara Hirotsugu, 79–80; Fujiwara Sumitomo, 83; Iwai, 59–61; Saga, 226, 230–1, 234; Satsuma, 194, 226, 230, 232–4; Shimabara, 181–3, 190; Shinpūren, 232 Reimei-kan (museum), 195, 261 Return, The (ship), 183 reverberatory furnaces, 216–17 Reverse Course, The, 250 Rezanov, Nikolai, fig.41, 215 rice, fig.2, fig.26, 196; cultivation, 6, 7, 8, 20, 209, 242–3; foreign competition, 25, 263; Itazuke, 31. See also kokudaka Richardson, Charles Lennox, 222, 299n19

Rikken Kaishintō Party, 234–5 Rishiri Island, 206 Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, 257, 303n33 ritsuryō system, 88–90, 92, 101, 105, 166, 198. See also Taihō Code; Yōrō Code rival courts, age of. See nanboku jidai river ferries, 199 roads, 201–202. See also Saikaidō Rodrigues, João, 149, 160 Rome, 152 rural depopulation, 256, 259. See also urbanization Russia, 215, 218, 237–8; Baltic Fleet, 214. See also Soviet Union Russo-Japanese War, 238, 240, 244 Ryukyu Islands, xx, 8, 224, 237; Chūzan (state), 138, 168; invasion of, 175; shells, 22, 26; pirates, 82; trade, 175–6, 209 Ryūzōji Masaie, 165 Ryūzōji Takanobu, 132, 140; rise, 153; brutality, 154, 156; Imayama, Battle of, 157–8; death, 159 sadō (Way of Tea), 171 Sadowara Castle, 164; domain, 266 Saga (emperor), 99, 133 Saga Castle, 157, 171, 195, 264 Saga City, 25, 46, 203; Xufu museum, 20; Tokugawa, 194, 195, 197; Tōjinmachi, 208; Rebellion, 230–1; Ryūzōji Takanobu, 154 Saga domain, 265; Chienkan, 221; currency, 202; Hagakure, 155, 156; Kōdōkan school, 210; Meiji Restoration, 225–6; Nagasaki duties, 193, 205; overseas missions, 223–4;

338

Index revenue, 192; Seirenkata, fig.43; technology, 216–17, 224, 226–7. See also Hizen; Nabeshima family Saga plain, 25, 198–9, 242–3 Saga Prefecture, 231 Sagara family, 266 Sagara Haruhiro, 185 Sagara Yoshihi, 154–5, 159 Saga Rebellion, 204, 226, 230–1, 234 Sahara Makoto, 32 Saigō Takamori, fig.48, 214, 301n47; lineage, 131, 286n17; Chōshū campaign, 223; Meiji Restoration, 225, 228–9; resignation, 230; Satsuma Rebellion, 232–4 Saikaidō (circuit), xv, 70, 88, 89, 90 Saiki domain, 266 Saiki Koreharu, 156 Saikoku, xv, 88 Saimei (empress), 63, 70 Saitobaru (Miyazaki), fig.8, 20–1, 57, 272n60 Sakai (Osaka), 138–9, 189 Sakamoto Ryōma, 224 sake (liquor), 25, 34, 156 Sakhalin Island, 238 Sakitsu (Kumamoto), fig.37, 162, 163, 185, 186 sakoku, edicts, 180; policy, 208, 209, 215–16 Sakurajima, Mt, figs.45–46, fig.49, 5, 213 Sakurakai (Cherry Society), 244 salt-making, 198 samurai, 86, 91, 106, 200; buke-machi, fig.34, 196; bunbu, 210; combat style, 114, 120, 155, 156; gōshi, 196; monbatsu rank, 195; swords, 166, 229. See also bushidō: shizoku

Samurai-dokoro (council), 107 San Felipe (ship), 177–8 San Francisco, Treaty of, 248; System, 256 Sanjō Sanetomi, 223, 229 sankin kōtai (alternate attendance), 193–4, 201. See also Edo Sanpo Sao Paolo, 242 Sarayama (Fukuoka), 198, 295n20 sarugaku (dance), 70, 156 Sarutahiko, 15 Sasebo (Nagasaki), 249 Sata, Cape, 227 Satow, Ernest, 225, 299n27 Satsuma: Castle, 195; currency, 202; dialect, 202, 252; domain, xvi, 193, 265; gōshi, 196; Hideyoshi, 164–5; Buddhism, 16, 185; Meiji Restoration, 222–6, 228; revenue, 192; trade, 175–6, 209; students, xxii, 223–4; ware, 171. See also Shimazu family. Satsuma-gaku, xxi Satsuma peninsula, 22–3 Satsuma Province, 121 Satsuma Rebellion, 194, 204, 226, 230, 232–4 Sayō-hime, fig.12, 46, 63 Scorsese, Martin, 292n30 Scotland, 239, 301n1 Seagaia (resort), fig.57, 4, 259 sea urchin (uni), 198 Seburi, Mt, 84, 85, 98 seclusion policy. See sakoku Seifukuji Castle, 132 Seiganji Temple, 97 seikanron (movement), 230, 231 Seikantō Party, 231 Seinan War. See Satsuma Rebellion

339

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Seirenkata, The (Saga), fig.43 Sei Shōnagon, 86 Sekigahara, Battle of, 172, 180 Self-Defence Forces, 249 Sendai domain, 156 Sendai River, Battle of, 164 Sendak, Maurice, 268n7 sengoku daimyo, 130, 131, 143, 154–6 sengoku jidai (age of warring states), 124, 139, 143, 153–7 Sen Rikyū, 171, 291n14 Seoul, xvii, 69, 169 seppuku (ritual suicide), 152–3, 155–6 Setaka (Fukuoka), fig.11, 43, 263 Seven-Branched Sword, The, 50 Sèvres, 207 shamanism, 36, 37, 44 Shandong peninsula, 134, 135 Shangdu (Xanadu), 112, 284n12 Shanghai, 216, 224, 227 Shaokang, 19 Shaoxing, 139 Shapinsky, David, 140 Shiba Kōkan, 204, 212 Shiga family, 155 Shigeno Yutsugu, 38 Shiiba (Miyazaki), 101 Shika (prince), 65 Shikanoshima Island, 30, 114, 115, 198 shikken (post), 113 Shikoku, xvi, 139, 160 Shimabara: Castle, fig.35, 181, 182, 194, 196; Christians, 178; domain, 266; peninsula, 148, 152, 159, 163, 191; Rebellion, 181–3, 190 Shimazu family, 265, 266; Kamakura, 107, 121; rival courts, 130; warring states, 139, 144, 153, 155, 158, 159; firearms, 143; Xavier, 147, 148;

Buddhism, 185; conflict with Hideyoshi, 160–1, 164–5; Tokugawa, 193, 195–6, 213. See also under Kagoshima City; Satsuma Shimazu Hisamitsu, 222, 229 Shimazu Iehasa, 160, 164, 176, 209 Shimazu Korehisa, 130 Shimazu Nariakira, 211, 217, 219 Shimazu-shō, 93, 108 Shimazu Tadaharu, 156 Shimazu Takahisa, 153 Shimazu Ujihisa, 130, 204 Shimazu Yoshihiro, 155; conflict with Hideyoshi, 163, 164; Hakata, 166; Hibikibaru, 154, 159; Iwaya, 160; pirates, 165; Korean campaigns, 169, 175; Nagoya, 168; Sekigahara, 172 Shimazu Yoshihisa, 161, 165, 168 Shimazu Yoshitaka, 16 Shimonoseki, bombardment of, 222; Treaty of, 237 Shimonoseki Straits. See Kanmon Straits Shinchi (Nagasaki), fig.39, 187 shinkansen (bullet train), fig.59, xv, xix, 160, 202, 251, 262 shi-nō-kō-shō social structure, 166, 196, 197, 199 Shinpūren Rebellion, 204, 232 Shinto, 77, 78; Jingishō (Ministry), 16; miko priestesses, 44; purification ritual, 34; separation from Buddhism, 16, 68, 132, 185 Shinto shrines, 8, 158; Ama no Iwato, 12; Aso, 14, 155, 278n52; Dazaifu, fig.21, 67, 68; Eta, 13; Hakozaki, fig.24, 115, 119, 165, 166, 177; Hirakiki, 22; Isonokami, 52; Kashii,

340

Index fig.13, 50, 51; Kawara, 59; Kirishima, fig.7, 16; Kitano, 68, 171, 291n14; Kushida, 98; Mikado, 65; Miyajima, 99, 293n2; Miyanoura, 23; Miyazaki, fig.6, 14; Munakata, 51, 59, 73; Suwa, 205, 207; Takachiho, 13; Toyo Tama Hime, 22; Udo, 22; Usa, fig.14, 43, 51, 78, 93 Shio Tsutsu no Ōji, 23 shipbuilding, 259. See also under Mitsubishi Shirakibaru, 59 Shiranui (Kumamoto), 47; Sea, 47, 254 Shirao Kunihashira, 16, 210 Shiratori Kurakichi, 38 Shiroyama, Mt, 233 shizoku class, 230, 231–3 Shizuki Tadao, 208 shōchū gin, 199, 214 shōen estates, 90, 92–4; security, 91; absentee landlords, 98; jitō, 108; Mongol invasions, 116, 120; fragmentation, 121, 131 Shōfukuji Temple, fig.22, 85 shogun (post), 106, 107 Shōmu (emperor), 78 Shōni family, Kamakura, 107, 120–1; rival courts, 125–7, 129; Hakata, 110, 136, 138–9, 144; decline 131–2; fall, 153 Shōni Fuyuhisa, 132 Shōni Fuyusuke, 130 Shōni Kagesuke, 118, 120 Shōni Sadatsune, 121, 127 Shōni Suketoki, 117 Shōni Sukeyoshi, 113, 114, 120 Shōni Tsunesuke, 120 Shōni Yorihisa, 128, 129, 134

Shōsōin (Nara), 73 Shōtoku (prince), 76; constitution, 76, 87 Shōwa: Constitution, 247–8, 249; emperor, 3, 247; Restoration, 245 shrines. See Shinto shrines Shu (state), 33 Shugendō sect, 132–3 shugo (lords), 107–108, 109, 126, 130, 144, 153; daimyo, 130–1, 132 shuinsen (vermilion seal ships), 167, 176 shukueki (staging posts), 201 Shun Weijing, 170 Shuri Castle, 175 Shūseikan Museum (Kagoshima), 213, 222 Shūyūkan school (Fukuoka), 210 Siam, 175, 176 Siddle, Richard, xx Sidotti, Giovanni Baptista, 206 Siebold, Phillip von, 217, 298n6 Silk Road, 74, 95 Silla (state), 50, 53, 59–60, 63, 65, 92; embassies, 71–2, 73; fall, 82; foundation myth, 17; pirates, 81 Sino-Japanese Wars, 237, 245 slavery, 82, 125, 171 Smits, Gregory, xx Sode no Minato (Hakata), 99 Soembing (ship), 218, 298n11 Sō family, 135 Sōfukuji Temple, 207 Soga family, 75–6, 77 Song dynasty, 112, 114, 119; coinage, 97; economic growth, 96; fall, 116; merchants, 110; monks, 94, 97 sonnō jōi (movement), 221–2, 223 Sō Sadamori, 136 South America, 242

341

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Southern Court, 129, 134 South Korea, xv, 189, 250 South Sea Islands, 6, 8, 9 Soviet Union, The, 188 Sō Yoshitoshi, 168 Space Centre (Tanegashima), 142 Space World, 259 Spain, 141, 146, 173, 177; empire, 178; expulsion, 179; Philippines, 151 Spanish Armada, The, 117, 285n30 Spice Islands, 146, 174 Sri Lanka, 256 Stonehenge, 44 Suga Masatomo, 38 sugar, 209 Sugawara Michizane, 67, 68, 81, 82, 86. See also Tenjin Sugita Genpaku, 211 Sui dynasty, 61, 76 Suiko (empress), 51 61, 63, 76 Suku Okamoto (Fukuoka), 31, 32–3 Suō (Yamaguchi), 58 Susanoo (deity), 12, 40 Suwa Shrine, 205, 207 Suzaku (vermilion bird), 73, 279n5 Suzuki-Morris, Tessa, xviii sweet potatoes, 199 Swiss Guards, 11 swords, 166, 196. See also Funayama; Seven-Branched Sword, The Tabaruzaka, Battle of, 233 Tachibana: Castle, 144; family, 192, 265, 294n9 Tafel Anatomia (book), 211 Tagawa (Fukuoka), 59 Taiheiki (war tale), 125 Taihō Code, 65, 70, 77, 88, 89 Taika Edicts, 77, 87

taikō kenchi (land survey), 166 Taio gold mine, 191, 236 Taipei, xvii Taiping Rebellion, 224 Taira family, 91, 94, 98–9, 172, 203; fugitives, 100–101, 108, 114, 126 Taira Iesada, 100 Taira Kiyomori, 99–100, 110 Taira Masamori, 99 Taira Tadamori, 99 Taira Tsunetaka, 114 Taishō Democracy, 243 Taiwan, 8, 237, 238 Tajiri Akitane, 154 Takabokojima Island, 204 Takachiho (Miyazaki), 1–2, 12, 16–17, 21; archaeology, 20; Gorge, fig.3, 1; Railway, 1–2, 262–3; Palace, 22; Shrine, 13; yokagura, 14–5 Takachiho Peak. See Kirishima Takagi Sueie, 108 Takahashi Joun, 160, 263, 294n9 Takakura (emperor), 100 Takanabe domain, 266 Takano Chōei, 212, 216, 218 Takashima Island (Imari Bay), fig.25, 105, 118, 123 Takashima coal mine (Nagasaki), 227, 236 Takatsuki domain, 177 Takayama Ukon, 177 Takeda Shingen, 143, 144 Takei Watatsu, 14 Takenouchi Sukune, 59 Takeo domain, 211, 216, 231 Taketa: Castle, 155; Oka domain, 265 Takeyari Ikki, 300n38 Takezaki Suenaga, 120

342

Index Takitori ware, 171 tally trade. See kangō (licences); shūinsen (vermilion seal ships) Tamana (Kumamoto), 266 Tanegashima Island, xxii. 142, 145; guns, 143; Maenohama Beach, figs.27–8 Tanegashima Tokitaka, 143 Tang dynasty, 63, 65, 75, 96; An Lushan Rebellion, 80; decline, 80–1, 82; embassies, 71; kentōshi missions, 72, 81, 86; tribute system, 72, 75. Taoism, 11, 69, 79 Tatarahama, Battle of, 125, 128, 134 Tateiwa (Fukuoka), 29 Tate Wokumi, 47, 61 tattoes, 35 taxation, 87, 89, 92, 230 tea, fig.21, 84; ceremony, 85; sadō, 171. See also Sen Rikyū Teiki (Imperial Record), 2–3 telegraph lines, 227, 231 television, 203, 252 temples. See Buddhist temples Tenchi hajimari-koto (book), 184 Tendai sect, 84 Teng Wen-chün, 140 Tenji (emperor), 63, 65, 77, 87 Tenjin, 82, 200; god of letters, 67 tenka (all under heaven), 143, 144; tiensha, 78 Tenmu (emperor), 3, 77, 78, 87, 269n1 tennō (title), 78, 269n1 Tenpai, Mt, 84 tenpura (cuisine), 151 tenryō territory, 190, 191 Tenzan, Mt, 25, 128 tenson kōrin (descent from heaven), 2, 3, 15, 16–7

terakoya schools, 210 Terauchi Masatake, 242 Terazawa Hirotaka, 167, 178, 181 Terazawa Katataka, 182, 190 Thailand. See Siam Thunberg, Karl, 184 Toba-Fushimi, Battle of, 225 Tōdaiji Temple, 72, 78, 172 Tofuro Ato, figs.18–9. See also Dazaifu Headquarters. Togamure Castle, 156 tō-garashi (pepper), 151 Tōgō Heihachirō, 214, 226, 238 Toi invasion, 82, 104, 126 Tōjin-machi, 208 Tōjin yashiki (Chinese quarter), 204, 207–8. See also Shinchi Tōjō, Hideki, 247 Tōkaidō (highway), xv, 143, 201, 222 Tokugawa bakufu, 172, 180, 219, 224; bakuhan-taisei, 193; buke shohattō, 193; fall, 219, 225; Pax, 189, 190, 208, 220; sankin kōtai, 193–4; tenryō territory, 190, 191; uchiharai-rei, 216 Tokugawa Hidetaka, 179 Tokugawa Iemitsu, 180 Tokugawa Ieyasu, 144, 161, 170, 172, 173, 175 Tokugawa Yoshimune, 211 Tokugawa Yoshinobu, 225 Tokyo, xv, 101, 225, 226, 228; National Diet Building, 249, 260; Olympics, 255; Ueno Park, 214; War Trials, 247 Tōkyō Monogatari (film), 252 Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō, 221 tombs: Funayama, 54; Hashihaka, 43; Higo-style, 61; Hirabaru, 30, 44; Iwatoyama, 60–1, 84; Kagoshima,

343

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan tombs (cont.) 16; Makimuku, 41; Nintoku, 49, 52; Ōjin, 21, 49, 52; Saitobaru, 20–1; Zoyama Kuramazuka, 43, 44. See also kofun Tomiki Takashi, 43 Tomioka Castle, 182 Tordesillas, Treaty of, 146 Tosa, 178; domain, 224, 225, 228 tōsen (junks), 175, 204 Tō Teikan, 19 Totman, Conrad, xxii tourism, 162, 254–6, 257 Toyama Mikio, 108, 203–204 Toyama Prefecture, 242 Toyo (queen). See Iyo Toyo Tama (princess), 22 Toyotomi Hidenaga, 164 Toyotomi Hideyori, 172 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 144, 149, 156, 192; Kyushu campaign, 159–61, 163–5; Hakata, 166; pirates, 140; Korean campaigns, 167–72, 285n30; persecution of Christians, 177–8; death, 171, 172 tozama daimyo. See under daimyo trade, 82, 94–5; Yayoi, 22, 26, 35; Song, 96–7; Tokugawa, 173, 208–209; European, 173–4, 179; Meiji, 240; post-war, 250, 256; See also merchants; kangō (licences) transport networks, 201–202, 251. See also railways; roads; Saikaidō travel, 201 treaty ports, 216, 219, 220 treaty revision, 235 tribute system, 72, 78–9, 82, 112 Truman, Harry S., 246 Tsuda Sōkichi, 4, 17, 24, 51

Tsūjunkyo Bridge (Kumamoto), fig.42, 217 Tsukiyomi (deity), 79 Tsukushi, xv, xvii, 47, 53, 57, 58, 59, 62, 88; Palace, 42; Viceroy, 68 Tsukushi Korekado, 166 Tsukushi Lodge, 71–5, 81, 95, 264, 279n12 Tsukushi no Kimi. See Iwai, Lord of Tsukushi tsunami waves, 6, 106 Tsurumaru Castle, 195 Tsushima Island, 64, 92, 114, 124, 134–5, 168–9; merchants, 175, 209. See also Sō family Tsushima Straits, xvi, 5, 136, 168–71, 241, 257; Battle of, 214 ‘turtle armoured’ ships, 169 uchiharai-rei (policy), 216 Udo Shrine, 22 Ueno, Battle of, 225 Ueno Hikoma, 220 uji-kabane system, 55, 77 Ulsan Castle, 170 Umehara Takeshi, 3, 13, 20, 22 Umekita Kunikane, 168 umi no sachi, 199 uni (sea urchin), 198 United Nations, 249 Unzen, Mt, 5–6, 148, 181, 240 Unzen Kanko Hotel, 240 Uraga, 215 Urakami: Cathedral, fig.52, 188, 247, 293n55; Christians, 185, 186 Urashima Tarō, 9 urbanization, 200, 243, 252, 259 Usa Shrine, fig.14, 43, 51, 78, 93. See also Ōjin; Hachiman sect

344

Index Usuki (Ōita), 173; domain, 266 Usuki Nagaaki, 156 Valignano, Allessandro, 149, 152 Varangian Guard, 11 Verbeck, Guido, 221, 223 vermilion seal ships. See shuinsen Vienna, 207 Vietnam. See Annam Vietnam War, The, 250 villages, 197, 199; headman, 88–9 volcanoes, xv, 5–6. See also Aso; Kirishima; Sakurajima; Unzen Wa: islands, 27, 30; people, 76, 123–4, 280n18 waegu (pirates). See wakō Waegwan (Japan House), 175 Wagner, Gottfried, 227 wajie (Japanese castles), 170 Wajinden, 33–6, 37, 39, 41, 273n15 Wakayama Prefecture, 19 wakō (pirates), xvii, 54, 81; banners, 78; Hizen, 123–4, 133–6; warring states, 139–41, 145, 167, 168–9; campaigns against, 135–6, 140. See also Matsuratō Walker, Brett, xx Walker, Mabel Shigeko, 240–1 Wall Street Crash, 244 Wang Zhi, 139, 140, 287n38 warring states, age of. See sengoku jidai Waseda University, 221 Washington Conference, 244 Watanabe Kazan, 216 Watanabe Shigena, 210 Watatsumi (deity), 9, 22 water mills, 199 Watsuji Tetsurō, 38

wax industry, 190 Wei (state), 33, 36, 40; envoys, 34, 37 Weizhi, 33, 39 whaling, 206, 215, 216; stations, 198 Where the Wild Things Are (book), 268n7 Willem III (Holland), 216, 218 Willis, Dr William, 227–8 wōkòu (pirates). See wakō wool. See itowappu system World Cup (football), 257 World Student Games, 257 writing, 54–5 Wu (state), 33 Wu Taibo, 19 Wu Yue, 95 Xavier, Saint Francis, 146, 147–8, 163 Xian, 49, 72, 279n5. See also Chang’an Xie Guoming, 110 Xufu, 19–20, 272n54 Yabe River, 60, 263 Yahata, 59. See also Yawata Steelworks yakimono-sensō (Pottery War), 171, 207 Yakushima Island, 142, 172, 206 Yalu River, 50 Yamada Emonsaku, 292n39 Yamada Nagamasa, 291n24 Yamaguchi, 147 Yamaguchi Masuka, 231 Yamakasa, Hakata Gion (festival), 98, 110–1, 263 Yamamoto Tsunetomo, 155, 202 yama no sachi, 199 Yamashiro Tora-Ōmaru, 140 Yamatai (state), 27, 35, 133; confederation, 35, 36, 42, 48; location, 37–42; reading, 40–1

345

Kyushu: Gateway to Japan Yamato (state), xv, xx; dynasty, 2; rise, 24, 42, 49, 56, 57; court, 21, 54, 55, 65. 72, 73; relations with Paekche, 52, 55, 56, 62; Korean campaigns, 48, 53, 63; conquest of Hayato, 10; expansion, 90. See also Mononobe family; Soga family Yamato, Battleship, 239 Yamato spirit, xviii Yame (Fukuoka), fig.21, 20, 60 Yanagawa (Fukuoka), 25, 154; domain, 192, 265 Yangtze River, 112, 118 Yasei-go (boat), 28 Yasumoto Biten, 33 Yawata Steelworks, 235, 241, 247, 301n51; Space World, 259 Yayoi (people), 7, 8, 9, 12, 14; archaeology, 20, 25, 26, 28–33; customs, 33–6; colonization, 24; shells, 22; tattoos, 35; trade, 30; war, 26, 32, 35; weapons, 31–32 Yi dynasty. See Chosŏn dynasty, Yi Sun-sin, 169 Yobuko (Saga), 46, 171 yokagura (dance), fig.5, 14–15 Yokatopia, 257

Yokohama, 219, 243 Yokose Bay (Nagasaki), 148, 150–1 Yōrō Code, 77, 88 Yōsai. See Eisai Yoshida Tōgo, 38 Yoshino, 129, 130 Yoshinogari (Saga), figs.9–10, 25, 26, 46, 263; name, 88; trade, 30; watchtowers, 26, 27, 39; abandonment of, 33; Kanzaki-shō, 94 Yüan dynasty, 112, 119, 135 Yüan Lo tallies. See kangō (licences) Yue (people), 6 Yufuin (Ōita), 255 Yūkokutō Party, 231 Yūryaku (emperor), 57–8, 59 zaibatsu conglomerates, 236, 247 Zen, 85, 282n30 Zhejiang Province, 140. See also Ningbo; Shaoxing; Zhoushan Islands Zhoushan Islands, 135, 140, 282n30 Zhu Xi, 97, 197 Zoyama Kuramazuka (tomb), 43, 44

346

1. Mt Aso in central Kyushu. Viewed from near the summit facing north, in the foreground is the small volcanic cone of Yonezuka, and in the distance the rim of the outer caldera that encircles the mountain. (Courtesy of Kumamoto Prefectural Office for Tourism and Produce).

2. Newly planted rice paddies with a backdrop of mountains. This is in Kyūragi in Saga Prefecture, but is a familiar scene throughout Kyushu. (This and all other photographs are by the author, except where otherwise stated).

3. Takachiho Gorge in Miyazaki Prefecture. In Japanese mythology the setting for the ‘Age of Gods’ with a nearby hill the location of the descent from heaven of Ninigi, grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and founder of the imperial line. (Courtesy of Miyazaki Prefectural Society for Tourism and Conventions).

4. Mt Kirishima in the north of Kagoshima Prefecture. Since one of the summits is called Takachiho Peak this spectacular setting has also been promoted as a possible site for the August Grandchild’s ‘heavenly descent’. (Courtesy of Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau).

5. A yokagura dance performed at Takachiho in Miyazaki. Note the pronounced features of the mask worn by ‘demons’, in contrast to the flatter white masks worn by ‘gods’. (Courtesy of Miyazaki Prefectural Society for Tourism and Conventions).

6. Miyazaki Shrine. According to tradition, built by a descendant of Jinmu on the site of Takachiho Palace, his residence before he left to conquer Yamato and rule Japan.

7. Kirishima Shrine, built in 1715 by Shimazu Yoshitaka, daimyo of the Satsuma domain, and dedicated to Ninigi. (Courtesy of Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau).

8. Part of the complex of burial mounds in Saitobaru in Miyazaki Prefecture. The round tomb in the centre dates to the late sixth or early seventh century. What appears to be a wooded hill in the distance is an early fifth-century tomb, probably built for a powerful regional magnate. (Courtesy of Miyazaki Prefectural Society for Tourism and Conventions).

9. Reconstructed storehouses and a dwelling at Yoshinogari in the Saga plain, the most extensive Yayoi settlement yet found, viewed facing north with Mt Seburi in the distance.

10. Another view of Yoshinogari. Note the high watchtowers, a detail that features in Chen Shou’s third-century account of Yamatai.

11. The characters at the top of this notice on the platform of Setaka Station read ‘home of Himiko’, Japan’s first historical figure described in Chen Shou’s account. Another image of Himiko lies beyond the railway track.

12. Statue of Sayō-hime by the road in Kyūragi, Saga Prefecture. Ancient songs recall how, in the sixth century, Lady Sayō waved her scarf from a hill on the coast when her husband sailed to fight in the Korean peninsula.

13. Kashii Shrine on the outskirts of Fukuoka City, reputedly built as a mausoleum for the emperor Chūai and Jingū, his consort and successor. Jingū is recorded as having launched the first Yamato campaign on the Korean peninsula and gave birth to Ōjin following her return to Kyushu.

14. Usa Shrine in Ōita Prefecture, head shrine of the Hachiman sect which reveres Ōjin as the ‘God of War’. Ōjin is the first ruler in the imperial line often considered to be a historical, rather than mythical, figure.

15. Tomb of Iwai, Lord of Tsukushi, at Iwatoyama, Yame City in the south of Fukuoka Prefecture. Iwai led a major rebellion against the Yamato state in the early sixth century. The tomb is built in the typical keyhole shape reserved for aristocrats. More unusual is the open quad (top left) where Iwai held court. (Courtesy of Yame Municipal Office).

16. Stone figures (sekijin) lining the open quad next to Iwai’s tomb. Such statues are unique to the territory in Kyushu that once lay under Iwai’s control.

17. The remains of Mizuki, a defensive earthwork wall built across the valley north of Dazaifu in 664. Viewed looking west from the top of Mt Shiōji, today it is a bank covered by trees, flanked on both sides by sprawling suburbs in the commuter belt of Fukuoka City.

18. Site of the Dazaifu Headquarters (Tofuro Ato) built in the seventh century, situated according to Taoist convention with a backdrop of mountains.

19. Site of the Dazaifu Headquarters (Tofuro Ato) viewed looking west from the slopes of Mt Shiōji.

20. Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine, dedicated to Tenjin, the posthumous name for Sugawara Michizane, who died on this spot in 903 and is now revered as the ‘God of Letters’. On the right in front of the building is the tobi-ume, the legendary plum tree said to have flown from Sugawara’s garden in Kyoto to join him in exile. Note the prietesses (miko) filing out on the left.

21. Fields of green tea. Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

22. Shōfukuji Temple, in the Hakata district of Fukuoka City. Founded by Eisai following his return from China in 1195, this was the first Zen temple built in Japan.

23. The remaining section of a defensive wall at Iki no Matsubara, one of seven ramparts built along the shores of Hakata Bay in 1276 after the first Mongol invasion. They proved invaluable when a second invasion followed in 1281. In the distance is a recently reconstructed section standing over six feet high.

24. Hakozaki Shrine in Fukuoka City, dedicated to Jingū. Destroyed during the first Mongol invasion in 1274, the building seen here was built in 1594, facing out to sea with gold characters placed high above which read tekikoku kōfuku – ‘enemy state surrender(ed)!’

25. Takashima Island in Imari Bay, soon to be joined by a bridge to the coast. Viewed here from the east, it was in these waters that the Mongol fleet sank during a storm on 14 August 1281.

26. Terraced paddy fields in Hizen Town on the east coast of Imari Bay. This was once the territory of the Matsura-tō, local warriors notorious for piracy in the medieval era.

27. Maenohama Beach viewed from Cape Kadokura at the southern tip of Tanegashima Island. It was here that the first Europeans to reach Japan arrived on a shipwrecked junk in 1543. The headland in the distance is the site of Japan’s rocket launch centre.

28. Maenohama Beach with Cape Kadokura in the distance, viewed looking west from the rocket launch centre.

29. Mt Kaimon, the ‘Satsuma Fuji’ in the far south of the Satsuma peninsula, a landmark for travellers arriving by sea, among them Francis Xavier in 1549. This view is from Nishi Ōyama, according to the sign at the end of the platform Japan’s southernmost station (although Okinawa now has a privately run monorail line).

30. Monument of the Twenty-Six Martyrs, Nagasaki City. Set on a hill overlooking the bay, this was where the first victims of persecution against Christians were crucified on Hideyoshi’s orders in 1597.

31. Ruins of Nagoya Castle, Saga Prefecture, from where Hideyoshi launched his invasions of Korea in the 1590s. A foundation stone of his keep can be seen (bottom left), with outer ramparts in the middle distance.

32. Kumamoto Castle, Katō Kiyomasa’s masterpiece, and the result of extensive experience building castles including Nagoya on the north Kyushu coast and Ulsan in Korea. The keep was reconstructed in the 1960s. (Courtesy of Kumamoto Prefectural Office for Tourism and Produce).

33. The walls of Kumamoto Castle. In the distance is the keep, and to the right the roof of the newly reconstructed Honmaru Palace, which opened in 2008.

34. A house in the district of preserved samurai residences (buke yashiki) in Chiran, Kagoshima Prefecture.

35. Shimabara Castle, Nagasaki Prefecture. The wooden keep is a reconstruction but the massive walls are original. The cost of construction led to crippling taxes, a contributing factor in the outbreak of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1637.

36. The ruined hilltop Hara Castle in the Shimabara peninsula, Nagasaki Prefecture. Inspired by Christianity and provoked by their lord’s oppressive rule, a peasant army held out here for three months during the final stages of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638.

37. The village of Sakitsu in the Amakusa Islands, Kumamoto Prefecture. Now noted for its picturesque church, one of various ‘Hidden Christian’ communities survived here for centuries despite the ban on their religion under Tokugawa law. (Photograph courtesy of Kumamoto Prefectural Office for Tourism and Produce).

38. Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge) in Nagasaki takes its name from the two circles visible when the arches are reflected in the Naka River. Built by a Chinese monk in 1634, this is now the oldest bridge in Japan.

39. Gateway to the Shinchi ‘Chinatown’ district in Nagasaki. In the Edo period this was a small manmade island just off the coast from the Chinese Quarter (Tōjin Yashiki), fitted with storehouses for merchandise offloaded from arriving ships.

40. Dejima, once a fan-shaped island which housed employees of the Dutch East India Company, the only Europeans allowed into Japan under the Tokugawa policy of seclusion (sakoku). Now surrounded by urban Nagasaki, it is gradually being reconstructed and is due to resume its original shape in 2010.

41. Nagasaki Bay in 1804. On the left a Russian ship under Nikolai Rezanov seeks permission to trade. Immediately to the right on both sides of the bay are boats manned by retainers of the Saga domain, charged with Nagasaki’s defence. On the far right is the city; note the man-made islands of Dejima and Shinchi offshore. (Courtesy of Saga Castle History Museum).

42. Tsūjunkyo Bridge, Kumamoto Prefecture, built in 1835. Technological advances were being made before the arrival of help from the West. These jets of water are released during the Hassaku festival held every September. (Courtesy of Kumamoto Prefectural Office for Tourism and Produce).

43. The Seirenkata, an experimental workshop in the castle-town of Saga. Viewed here in the late 1850s, this was at the leading edge of Japanese technology in the mid-nineteenth century. Note the model railway in the centre and steamboat on the right. (Picture courtesy of Nabeshima Hōkōkai).

44. Officers of Saga and other south-western domains returning ashore in front of Dejima after naval training exercises conducted under Dutch supervision. Note the family crests adorning their landing boats. Organized by the Tokugawa bakufu, this scheme ran from 1855 to 1859. (Courtesy of Saga Castle History Museum).

45. View of Kagoshima City facing east with Mt Sakurajima across the bay. The summit is often enveloped in cloud, and sudden eruptions of volcanic ash are a common sight. Originally an island, the volcano was joined to the Ōsumi peninsula in 1914; the last major eruption of lava flows was in 1949. (Courtesy of Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau).

46. The roof of Iso-tei, the Shimazu lords’ villa on the outskirts of Kagoshima. In the distance, Mt Sakurajima.

47. The Shūseikan, next to the Iso-tei villa. Now a museum, this was once used by the Satsuma domain as a centre for technological experiments, such as Kagoshima Spinning Mill, Japan’s first, which was set up here in 1867.

48. Bronze statue of Saigō Takamori, Kagoshima City. A popular hero of the Meiji Restoration, Saigō is a prominent figure in Kagoshima. (Courtesy of Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau).

49. The bombardment of Kagoshima, August 1863. Undeterred by heavy rain, seven Royal Navy ships pound the city, reducing it to flames, but sustain damage themselves from Satsuma batteries in the foreground and on the shore of Mt Sakurajima across the bay. (Courtesy of Shōko Shūseikan Museum).

50. Ōura Church, built in 1864 in the Nagasaki foreign settlement, is Japan’s oldest church.

51. View of Nagasaki Bay from the Glover Villa, built by the Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover in 1863. Across the bay is the Mitsubishi Shipyard, with Mt Inasa behind.

52. Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki. The statues and bricks in the foreground are remnants of the original building destroyed by the atomic bomb which detonated nearby on 9 August 1945. The cathedral was rebuilt in 1959.

53. Statue of Aburaya Kumahachi, the entrepreneur who developed Beppu into a modern tourist resort in the early twentieth century. An English inscription above his name reads, ‘The man called “Shiny Uncle” who loved children.’

54. A view of Beppu, which has the largest concentration of hot springs anywhere in Japan. In the background is Mt Takasaki, famous for its colony of wild monkeys. To the right is Beppu Tower and, along the seafront, ryokan inns with rooftop spa baths.

55. The Peace Statue in Nagasaki. In the foreground are chains of coloured paper cranes offered by visitors with prayers for peace.

56. Huis ten Bosch in Nagasaki Prefecture, a leisure resort with a Dutch theme. It opened in 1992, drawing on the area’s long tradition of cultural exchange with Holland.

57. The Seagaia resort on the outskirts of Miyazaki City opened in 1993. Note the ‘Ocean Dome’, the world’s largest indoor water park, complete with retractable dome and wave machines. Expensive to run, this facility closed down in 2007. (Courtesy of Miyazaki Prefectural Society for Tourism and Conventions).

58. Hainuzuka Station in the south of Fukuoka Prefecture, with a shinkansen ‘bullet train’ track now under construction. When it opens in 2010 this will run the length of Kyushu from Kokura in the north to Kagoshima in the south.

59. The modern skyline of Fukuoka Tower and Fukuoka Dome (built in 1989 and 1993 respectively), viewed from the top of Fukuoka Castle (constructed 1601-7).

60. Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu City, a short walk from Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine, which opened in 2005. This vast structure boasts an innovative design – note the skyline reflected in the walls – in an effort to blend in with the surrounding landscape.