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The remaining forty volumes give a description of the organisation of the various Government departments, the duties of the officials, &c. The VYengishiki is a most valuable work of reference. The Wamosh6 is a Chinese-Japanese dictionary, arranged according to categories, such as Heaven, Earth, &c., and is valuable to philologists, but not otherwise. The author of this lexicon was one Mina- moto no Shitagaii (911-983). BOOK- THE FOURTH KAMAKURA PERIOD (1186-1332) (DECLINE OF LEARNING) BOOK THE FOURTH KAMAKURA PERIOD (1186-1332) (DECLINE OF LEARNING) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY IN the history of Japan, as in that of many other countries, there is observable an alternate tendency towards strong and weak central governments, which is all the more pronounced as the insular position of the country protects this natural oscillation against foreign interference. From time to time rulers of commanding abilities and resolute character made their appearance, who enlarged the sphere of authority of the State, and kept local ambitions in check. But sooner or later the central control became relaxed, and each province estab- lished a sort of Home Rule for itself, until another swing of the pendulum took place, and the reins of govern- ment were again grasped by the strong hand of a single authority, The establishment by the Shogun Yoritomo, after much hard fighting, of the sway of the military caste at Kamakura, near the end of the twelfth century, marked the beginning of one of these periods of vigorous 331 132 JAPANESE LITERATURE centralisation. Though the Mikados were allowed to retain an outward semblance of authority, all real power, civil and military, had passed from their hands; while, on the other hand, the local nobles saw themselves supplanted by officers appointed by the Shoguns and entirely dependent on them. Yoritomo was succeeded by his two sons, who with their father are known to history as the “Three Shoguns.” After them the H6j6 dynasty of Shikken (directors), who were simply Shdguns under a different name, took their place as the rulers of Japan. They remained in power until A.D. 1335. The rule of a class to whose very existence a practical knowledge of war and warlike accomplishments was vital, and who necessarily neglected, if they did not despise, intellectual culture, was not conducive to the production of important literary works. Nor was this the only unfavourable condition of the time. Inter- course with China and Corea had become much inter- rupted. The shores of these countries were infested by Japanese pirates, in punishment for whose descents it was that Kublai Khan despatched his famous but abortive expedition against Japan. Chinese learning consequently languished. Buddhism, on the other hand, flourished greatly, as the colossal figure of Buddha (A.D. 1252) at Kamakura testifies to this day. Most of the Mikados, after a few years of reign, became monks, as did also many of the highest personages of their court, though it must be said that the adage “ Cucullus non facit monachum” was in their case abundantly exemplified. The three thousand monasteries which at this time dotted the slopes of Hiyeisan (a mountain north-east of Kidto) were a very material embodiment of Buddhist Rn Ae ee en LR a 4 KAMAKURA PERIOD 133 | influence. Not content with mere spiritual weapons, the inmates of these establishments were always ready, on the smallest provocation, to don their armour over their monastic frocks and troop down to the streets of Kioto to place their swords in whatever scale of the politics of the day seemed to them most expedient. They were the terror of the Mikados, one of whom is recorded to have said: “There are three things I cannot control— the water of the Kamogawa (a river which does frequent damage to Kisdto by its floods), the fall of the dice, and the monks of Buddha.” It was, however, the Buddhist monks who were the chief maintainers of learning during this period. Some of the men of letters were ecclesiastics, and even when this was not the case, their writings are deeply imbued with Buddhist teachings and sentiments. The vanity of wealth and power, and the uncertainty of human things, form the constant refrain of their moralisings. In comparison with the Heian period, the contribu- tions by women to the literature of this time are insig- nificant, and altogether a more virile, if less refined, spirit is discernible. There are hardly any of those debonair romances which in the preceding period amused the leisure of the nobles of Kioto. The newer literature, with its tales of combats and battles, reflects the more warlike temper of the times of which it is the product. As a Japanese writer has observed, ‘The Heian literature is like the Kaido (Pyrus spectabzlzs) drooping after rain; that of the Kamakura period resembles the plum-blossom which exhales its perfume in the snow and frost.” It is to be noted that the more important writings of this period belong to the earlier part of it. pce) CHAPTER II HISTORICAL WORKS THE authorship of the Gempet Setsuzkt is doubtfully ascribed to one Hamuro Tokinaga, of whom we know little or nothing. He is also conjectured to have written the Heit Monogatari ana Hogen Monogatari, but of this too there is no certainty. The precise date of its com- position is likewise unknown. It must belong to the early part of the Kamakura period. The Gempet Sezsutki, as its name indicates, is a history of the rise and fall of the Gen and Hei, two great noble families whose struggles for supremacy convulsed Japan during the latter half of the twelfth century. It is in forty-eight books, and embraces the period from A.D, 1161 to 1185. No doubt itself suggested by the Chinese Yengi or “ Paraphrases of History,” of which the Saz- kwo-chih is the best known, the Gempet Setsuzki is the first example in Japan of a large class of quasi-historical works to which there is nothing precisely similar in our literature, though a comparison with Shakespeare’s historical plays will convey some idea of the relative pro- portions of fact and fiction which they contain. They have no original plot, and little or no introduction of imaginary personages. The writers content themselves with following the general course of real history, while adorning it with what flourish their nature prompts. 134 GEMPEI-SEISUIKI 135 But the ‘‘flourish” means a great deal. It is not only rhetorical ornament and sententious reflections which these authors provide. They evolve from their inner consciousness speeches for statesmen and soldiers, war- like stratagems for generals, prayers for the devout, appropriate omens, dreams, incantations, and miraculous incidents in great variety, with a host of minute details of dress, of pompous processions, of hairbreadth escapes, of single combats, and the like. Tanka, original or otherwise, are supplied whenever the occasion seems to demand them. The Gempet Setsuzki is a work of considerable literary pretensions, and in its own special style is only surpassed by the Zazhezkz. The language marks a considerable advance towards the modern form of Japanese. While the works of the Heian period are very imperfectly intelligible to an ordinary educated Japanese, with the Gempet Setsuiki he finds little difficulty. Much of the older grammatical equipment of particles and termina- tions 1s now dispensed with, and the vocabulary shows a large increment of Chinese words, a notable propor- tion of which owe their introduction to Buddhist influences. The following is part of the account of the naval engagement of Dannoura, one of the decisive battles of Japanese history. By it the strife between the great Hei (or Taira) and Gen (or Minamoto) factions was rought to an end for the time, and Yoritomo enabled to establish his authority over all Japan. “The capture of Yashima shut out the House of Hei from Kiushiu. Unable to find a port of refuge, they drifted on to Dannéura in Nagato, Akama (Shimono- seki), Moji, and Hikushima. Here they remained afloat 136 JAPANESE LITERATURE upon the waves, passing the time on board their ships. The Gen fleet arrived at the bay of Katsura, in the province of Awa. They had been victorious in the conflicts engaged in in various places, and had taken the palace of Yashima. They now followed the movements of the Hei ships, pursuing them by land, as the hawk urges the pheasants when the moors are burnt and no cover is left. The Gen fleet reached a place called Oitsuheitsu, twenty cké or more [about two miles] from where the adherents of the Hei House were stationed. “On the 24th day of the third month of the same year [1185], Yoshitsune [the Gen general, brother of Yoritomo] and his army, in seven hundred ships or more, attacked the enemy at dawn. The House of Hei were not unprepared. With five hundred war-ships or more, they advanced to meet him, and the exchange of arrows [by way of formal defiance] took place. The Gen and Hei troops numbered together over 100,000 men, and the sound of the battle-cry raised on both sides, with the song of the turnip-headed arrows [a special kind of arrow which made a noise like a hum- ming-top] as they crossed each other’s course, was startling to hear—audible, one would think, as far as the azure sky above, and re-echoing downwards to the depths of the sea. “Noriyori [with other Gen generals] had arrived at Kiushiu with 30,000 cavalry, and had cut off the retreat in that direction. The Hei were like a caged bird that cannot escape, or a fish in a trap from which there is no exit, On the sea there were ships floating, by land were bridle-bits in ranged lines. East and west, south and north were closed, and on no side was evasion possible.