Mixing Ink For Writing.
Unfortunately this movement in behalf of learning was hampered by the impracticable nature of the Chinese written language. Instead of a few characters representing sounds, like European alphabets, it consists of thousands of symbols, each representing an idea. The pupil must therefore spend years in learning to make, and know and read the mere signs of language. And in the modern necessities [pg 274] of printing,[228] the compositor must handle not less than 4,000 or 5,000 Chinese characters, besides the Japanese kana and other needful marks. The kana here mentioned were the result of a promising effort which was made to simplify the Chinese written language by expressing it in symbols representing sounds. Forty-seven kana letters—by repetition extended to fifty—each representing a syllable, are used to express Japanese words.
Styles Of Letters: (Chinese Proverb: Hiroku koriwo aisuruwo jintoyu. To love universally is true humility.) 1. Kaisho (book letters). 2. Ditto. 3. Gyosho (script letters). 4. Ditto. 5. Hirasaua (Japanese script).
Japanese Syllabary.
The castle of Yedo was reconstructed and enlarged after the battle of Sekigahara, while Ieyasu continued [pg 275] to reside at Fushimi. The Jesuit fathers, who accompanied the Father Provincial on his visit to Ieyasu, assert that 300,000 men were employed in this work. Very much of the ground where the present city of Tōkyō now stands, was then, according to old maps, covered with water. In excavating the moat which surrounds the castle, and the canals connecting this moat with the Sumida-gawa, immense quantities of earth were obtained, which were used to fill up lagoons and to reclaim from the shallow bay portions which have now become solid land. This work of building the castle and fitting the city for the residence of a great population, was carried on by many of the successors of Ieyasu. The third shōgun, Iemitsu, the grandson of Ieyasu, made great improvements both to the castle and the city, so that the population and position of Yedo in no long time placed it as the chief city of the empire.[229]
The task to which Ieyasu devoted himself during the years of his residence at Yedo was that of consolidating and settling the feudal system of the empire. The daimyōs had for centuries been so accustomed to conduct themselves independently, and to govern each his own province in his own way, that they might be expected to resent any efforts to restrict their action. Fortunately Ieyasu was a mild and temperate man, who, while he could act [pg 276] with firmness, was most considerate of the feelings and motives of others. After the decisive victory of Sekigahara he readily and cordially made terms with his enemies, and did not show himself rapacious in exacting from them undue penalties for their hostility. To the daimyō of Satsuma, as we have already seen, he restored the entire territory which Taikō Sama had given him. The daimyō of Chōshū was allowed to keep two of the provinces out of the ten which he had acquired by conquest, yet these two made him still one of the richest and most powerful princes in the empire. With others he dealt in the same liberal spirit, so that out of the old proud daimyōs whom he spared and permitted to continue in their holdings, he created for himself a body of fast friends.
But it must be remembered that the end Ieyasu had in view was to establish a system which should continue loyal to his successors, and to a line of successors who should be of his own family. Hence out of the confiscated territories, and out of those which were in part vacated as a fine on the former holders, and out of those which had become vacant by natural causes, he carved many fiefs with which he endowed members of his own family and those retainers who were closely affiliated with him. He had twelve children,[230] nine sons and three daughters. The daughters were married to three daimyōs. The oldest of his sons, Nobuyasu, had died at an early age. His second son, Hideyasu, had been adopted by Taikō Sama, and to him Ieyasu gave the province [pg 277] of Echizen as his fief. The third son, Hidetada, who shared with his father the command of the forces at the battle Sekigahara, had married a daughter of Taikō Sama, and succeeded his father as shōgun. On his youngest three sons he bestowed the rich provinces of Owari, Kii, and Mito, and constituted the families to which they gave rise as the Go-san-ké, or the three honorable families. In case of a failure in the direct line, the heir to the shōgunate was to be chosen from one of these families.