Footnotes
[1.]The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian; translated by Colonel Henry Yule, C.B. Second edition, London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 235.[2.]These islands belonged to Russia until 1875, when by a treaty they were ceded to Japan in exchange for the rights of possession which she held in the island of Saghalien.[3.]E. M. Satow, Transactions of the Asiatic Society, vol. i., p. 30.[4.]This word is not a proper name but a descriptive designation, and must be understood in this way when used by Dr. Griffis in his Mikado's Empire and by Dr. Rein in his two works on Japan. In the successive issues of the Résumé Statistique, published by the Statistical Bureau, the term Nippon is used to designate the principal island. This name has the advantage of having been used extensively in foreign books, but its restricted use is contrary to the custom of Japan. After much consideration we have determined to designate the principal island by the term “Main island,” which is the translation of the word Hondo.[5.]See Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 108.[6.]See Chamberlain's Things Japanese, second edition, p. 122.[7.]One of the most notable of these is that which occurred in 1596 when Hideyoshi was at Fushimi. In 1854 a series of shocks followed by tidal waves occurred on the east coast of the Main island. The town of Shimoda, which had been opened as a port for foreign trade was almost destroyed, and the Russian frigate Diana which was lying there was so injured that she had to be abandoned. In 1855 a severe earthquake occurred at Yedo, which was accompanied by a great fire. About 16,000 dwelling-houses and other buildings are said to have been destroyed, and a large number of lives were lost. Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi., p. 249.[8.]Rein's Japan, p. 44. In Things Japanese second edition, p. 122, Japan is credited with no less than fifty-one active volcanoes.[9.]The word gawa (river) takes the form kawa when euphony so requires.[10.]Dr. Rein was the first clearly to apprehend and state the influence of the northeast monsoon on the climate of Japan. See Rein's Japan, p. 104.[11.]Camellia trees are frequently found from twenty to twenty-five feet high.[12.]Chamberlain, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xi., p. 162.[13.]These details of the population, area, etc., are taken from the government publication, Résumé Statistique de l'Empire du Japon, 1892.[14.]In the population of the imperial cities is included that of the suburban districts politically attached to them.[15.]Résumé Statistique (Government publication), 1892, p. 11.[16.]Asiatic Society Transactions, supplement to vol. x., p. 213.[17.]Batchelor, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. x., p. 211.[18.]Batchelor, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. x., p. 216.[19.]Miss Bird's Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, vol. ii., p. 96.[20.]Professor E. S. Morse, Memoirs of the University of Tokio, vol. i., part i.[21.]Henry von Siebold, Notes on Japanese Archæology, p. 14.[22.]“But I must tell you one thing still concerning that island (Japan) (and 'tis the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no meat in the world so good!”—The Book of Ser Marco Polo, London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 245.[23.]Professor Milne, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. viii., p. 82.[24.]Rev. John Batchelor, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x., p. 209.[25.]Hildreth's Japan, etc., p. 337.[26.]Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft, etc., as reviewed in The Chrisanthemum, May, 1883.[27.]Rein's Japan, p. 383.[28.]“We know that for all points of detail and for keeping a correct account of time, tradition is worthless.”—The History of Rome, by Rev. Thomas Arnold, D.D., 1864, p. 10.[29.]For easy access to this valuable Japanese work we are indebted to the translation by Basil Hall Chamberlain, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x., Supplement.[30.]See Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki, or Records of Ancient Matters, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x., Supplement.[31.]Satow, “Ancient Japanese Rituals,” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vols. vii. and ix.[32.]Satow, Westminster Review, July, 1878.[33.]See [Appendix I].[34.]Bramsen, Japanese Chronological Tables, p. 30.[35.]I remember presenting this point to a Japanese scholar in this way, and he answered me that he thought this great age of the Japanese emperors no more wonderful or unreasonable than the ages of the patriarchs in the Bible.[36.]“I wished to give these legends at once with the best effect, and at the same time with a perpetual mark, not to be mistaken by the most careless reader,—they are legends and not history.”—The History of Rome by Thomas Arnold, D.D., 1864, Preface, p. vii.[37.]For the translation of these names, and for the principal events of these myths, we rely upon Mr. Chamberlain's translation of the Kojiki, and his admirable notes and introduction. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x., Supplement.[38.]This is supposed to have been one of the small islands off the coast of Awaji in the Inland sea.[39.]An island about fifty miles long in the Inland sea.[40.]This probably means that the sword was ten breadths of the hand in length.[41.]The Japanese name of this most venerated goddess is Amaterasu-ō-mi-kami.[42.]There seemed to have been an old superstition about flaying from the tail toward the head.[43.]This is one of the ancient names of the Main island of Japan.[44.]The name of this prince of which the translation is here given is usually shortened to Ninigi-no-Mikoto.[45.]Nakatomi-no-Muraji is also among these, who was the ancestor of the Fujiwara family that from the reign of the Emperor Tenji attained great political distinction.[46.]Dr. Rein in 1875 was shown an old sword on the top of this mountain which is claimed to have been carried on this occasion.—Rein's Japan, p. 214, note.[47.]This canonical name was given to him in the reign of the Emperor Kwammu, who commanded Mifune-no-Mikoto to select suitable canonical names for all past emperors, and these have since been used.[48.]See Milne's paper on “Pit-Dwellers of Yezo and Kurile Islands,” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x., p. 187.[49.]
A large number of songs are handed down in the traditions of this period. They are in the most ancient form of the language and are not easy to translate. We give as a specimen Jimmu's song from Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. x., Supplement, p. 142.
Into the great cave of Ōsaka people have entered in abundance and are there. Though people have entered in abundance and are there, the children of the augustly powerful warriors will smite and finish them with their mallet-headed swords, their stone-mallet swords: the children of the augustly powerful warriors, with their mallet-headed swords, their stone-mallet swords, would now do well to smite.
Yamato-hime or Yamato-princess had been appointed high priestess of the temples in Isé, and in that capacity had charge of the imperial regalia which were deposited there. She is a very celebrated person in Japanese legendary story and is said to have lived several hundred years.
See Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki, p. 183, note 7; Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. x., Supplement.
See the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. viii., p. 88. The inscription is in part as follows:
Castle of Taga,
Distant from the capital, Ri 1500
Distant from the frontier of Yezo, Ri 120
Distant from Hitachi, Ri 412
Distant from Shimotsuke, Ri 274
Distant from Makkatsu, Ri 3000.
The title of shōgun is said to have been created by the Emperor Sujin, who divided the empire into four military divisions, each commanded by a shōgun or general. When Yoshinaka assumed control in Kyōto at the time of his victory he was appointed sei-i-shōgun (barbarian compelling general). Subsequently Yoritomo secured the supreme military authority and having resigned the civil offices held by him he was appointed by imperial edict sei-i-tai-shōgun or great barbarian compelling general.
See G. Appert's Ancien Japon, vol. iii., p. 84; also Satow's note to Adams' History of Japan, vol. i., p. 42.
There are many legends, existing among the Ainos, of Yoshitsuné having lived among them and taught them improved arts of hunting and fishing. There is a wooden image of him at the village of Upper Piratori, which is saluted (not worshipped) in token of honor to his memory. Rev. John Batchelor, who has lived as a missionary among the Ainos many years, is of the opinion that this reverence is largely due to a desire on the part of the Ainos to conciliate their Japanese masters. It has seemed not unreasonable to suppose that the traditions concerning Yoshitsuné among the Ainos have been carried from the Main island by the retreating tribes, and that Yoshitsuné never lived with them in Yezo, but was only familiar with them in the wild regions of Mutsu and Dewa.
See paper by Rev. J. Batchelor, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xvi., part 1, p. 20.
The official list of emperors will be found in Appendix I. The names of the northern which are not included in this list are as follows:
Date of Accession.
Kōmiō, 1996 years from Jimmu, 1336 a.d.
Shukō, 2009 years from Jimmu, 1349 a.d.
Go-Kōgen, 2012 years from Jimmu, 1352 a.d.
Go-Enyū, 2032 years from Jimmu, 1372 a.d.
Go-Komatsu, 2043 years from Jimmu, 1383 a.d.
“This will seem to you less strange, if you consider how the Apostle St. Paul commands us to obey even secular superiors and gentiles as Christ himself, from whom all well-ordered authority is derived: for thus he writes to the Ephesians (vii. 5): ‘be obedient to them that are your temporal lords according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ; not seeming to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, with a good will seeming as to the Lord and not to men.’ ”
The above is an extract from an Epistle of St. Ignatius, the 26th of March, 1553, which is still regarded as authoritative and is read every month to each of the houses. It was supplied to me by Dr. Carl Meyer and verified by Rev. D. H. Buel, S. J. of St. Francis Xavier's College, New York City. Dr. Meyer has also pointed out that the Second General Congregation, 1565, severely forbids any Jesuit to act as confessor or theologian to a prince longer than one or two years, and gives the minutest instructions to prevent a priest from interfering in any way with political and secular affairs in such a position.
Mr. Koeckebacker says: “The rebels counted in all, young and old, as it was said, about forty thousand. They were all killed except one of the four principal leaders, being an artist who formerly used to gain his livelihood by making idols. This man was kept alive and sent to Yedo.”—Dr. Geerts' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xi., part 1, p. 107.
There is a tradition that a number of the prisoners who were captured at this castle were hurled down from the rocks of the island now called Papenberg in Nagasaki harbor. But Dr. Geerts ridicules this notion and says: “A little local knowledge would show it to be impossible to throw people from the rocks on Papenberg into the sea, as the rocks are by no means steep bluffs, but possess an inclined shape and a shore. A little knowledge of the Dutch language would further show that the name Papenberg means ‘mountain of the priest,’ in allusion to the shape of a Roman Catholic priest's cap or bonnet.”—Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xi., part 1, p. 115.
As illustrative of Buddhism at its greatest splendor we give here the figures of the great bronze image of Buddha at Kamakura, and of the great bell at the temple of Daibutsu in Kyōto. [Transcriber's Note: This bell is shown as the Frontispiece to the book.] The former was erected about a.d. 1252 after plans initiated by Yoritomo before his death. The statue in its sitting posture is nearly fifty feet in height. It is constructed of separate plates of bronze brazed together. Formerly it was enclosed in a temple, but this was twice destroyed by tidal waves, and since its last destruction in 1494 it has not been rebuilt.
The bell given in the illustration is that at the temple of Daibutsu, the inscription on which is said to have offended Ieyasu. It is nearly fourteen feet in height and nine feet in diameter. Its weight is more than sixty-three tons.—See Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 368.
From Japanese Chronological Tables, by William Bramsen, 1880.
The system of counting from year-periods (nengō) was introduced from China. These periods of Japanese history do not correspond to the reigns of the emperors. A new one was chosen whenever it was deemed necessary to commemorate an auspicious or ward off a malign event. By a notification issued in 1872 it was announced that hereafter the year-period should be changed but once during the reign of an emperor. The current period, Meiji (Enlightened Peace), will therefore continue during the reign of the present emperor.
The numbers in the second column of this table indicate the years as counted from the founding of the empire by Jimmu Tennō. According to the official chronology this occurred b.c. 660.