The Yamato Race and the Discovery of Japan by Commodore Perry
The Japanese state was created on the foundation of the Yamato state formation, which originated in the Yamato region (modern Nara prefecture) of the Kinki region in the III — IV centuries. In the 670 years, Yamato was renamed Nippon "Japan." Before Yamato, there were several dozen “principalities” in Japan.
According to the Japanese legend, the creator of the state of Yamato was the sun goddess Amaterasu. She became the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family, the first emperor of Jimma was her great-great-grandson. It should be noted that the entire "Yamato race" - the common name of the main ethnic group of the Japanese, is considered descendants of the gods.
The most logical version of the creation of the first powerful Japanese state is the “rider theory." The state of Yamato was formed by "horsemen" from the territory of modern North China, who in the II-III centuries invaded the Japanese islands through Korea, subordinated the local "principalities" and tribes and formed a militarized (military) state like the continental empires of the Great Scythia. The “horsemen” were noted by the culture of the mounds (Kofun) and a strictly structured, hierarchical society, where the top of society was free — nobility and peasants-communes, and the lower classes — aliens (the class of incomplete free) and captives-slaves. They brought with them to the Japanese islands "the era of iron." There were a few “horsemen” as a whole; they formed the ruling elite and quickly dissolved into the local population. However, their cultural impulse actually created Japanese civilization, with their strict hierarchy, sense of duty, discipline, cult of samurai warriors, code of honor, etc. In addition, several cultural impulses from China, including the Buddha cult, played a major role in the development of Japan. The channel of penetration of Chinese culture was Korea, which had already become acquainted with Chinese civilization. The natives of the Japanese islands lived by growing rice, millet, hemp, the sea played an important role: fishing, shellfish and crabs.
The national character of the “Yamato race” was formed on the basis of the military culture of the “horsemen”, the Chinese culture and the nature of the islands. The Japanese were courageous people, accustomed to natural and social upheavals. Japan is a country of volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Japan is also a country heavily influenced by the ocean. Nature and story made the Japanese a brave and very consolidated people, able to withstand the heavy blows of fate and the elements.
It should be noted that knowledge was highly appreciated in Japan from the early Middle Ages. Already at the beginning of the 8 century (!), The first legislative act on education was adopted. In the capital and provinces, the creation of a public school system began. In Europe, at this time, knowledge was the privilege of the church's highest hierarchs, and most of the representatives of the European feudal nobility were proud of their illiteracy (the only exceptions were Russia and Byzantium). This was a feature of the feudal nobility of Japan - literacy.
The first Europeans who visited Japan were the Portuguese - their ship appeared on the Japanese coast in 1542 (off the southern coast of Kyushu). It must be said that, despite the fact that Japanese society was strictly structured, this did not prevent outstanding individuals from reaching the very top of the social hierarchy. Thus, such an outstanding leader in the unification of Japan, as Oda Nobunaga (1534 - 1582), was born in a family of small feudal lords. Nobunaga defeated a number of hostile clans in local wars, seized the capital of Japan, the city of Kyoto (1568), and began to implement the plan to unify Japan. He was able to subdue all the lands of central Japan and carry out a number of progressive reforms in them, such as the elimination of internal customs. Effective personnel policy in the army, economic reforms, active cooperation of the Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries (received discounts during the purchase of European firearms weapons and the army of Japanese Christians loyal to his word) helped carry out a number of victorious campaigns.
A large role in these campaigns was played by his associate Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537 - 1598). He was generally born into a peasant family in the province of Owari. He started his service as a simple retainer - ashigaru (peasant infantryman). Nobunaga noticed the outstanding abilities of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and elevated him to the rank of general.
The power of Oda existed for a relatively short time. In 1582, during the preparation of the campaign against the largest feudal clan of Mori, Oda sent to defeat one of the allies of Mori - Prince Tesu - the expeditionary force of tested General Hideyoshi. To help him, Oda sent another of his closest associates - General Aketi Mitsuhide (he also went upstairs from ordinary soldiers). Here Aketi performs an amazing act, historians have not yet determined his motives, he turned 10-thousand. Corps on the capital of Kyoto, where Oda was located in the temple of Honno-ji with a small guard. After a fierce battle, the guards were cut out, and Oda Nobunaga committed seppuku (ritual suicide) to avoid being captured by the traitor. Aketi Mitsuhide, after meeting with the emperor (for several centuries the emperors had retained only formal authority), declared himself a shogun (army commander and head of government). Hideyoshi by hiding this news from the enemy, concluded a truce with the native Mori, and quickly led all the troops to the capital to destroy the traitor. At the same time, another well-known comrade-in-arms of Oda, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543 — 1616), led the troops to Aketi. 12 June 1582 of the year 40-thousandth army of Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide troops in the battle of Yamazaki. Mitsuhide who escaped was killed by local peasants.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued the policy of uniting Japan into a single centralized state. He led the fight against major feudal lords, subjugated the islands of Shikoku, Kyushu. Thus, he subdued the whole of Western Japan. By 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi actually became the sole ruler of the Japanese islands. In domestic policy, Hideyoshi destroyed feudal obstacles hindering free trade, began minting the first Japanese gold coin. He compiled the All-Japan Land Cadastre and assigned the land to the peasants who worked it. He introduced a three-tribe system: the nobility (samurai), they actually became military administrators, peasants (hyakus) and citizens (temin) with him.
Note that among the estates there is no traditional clergy for medieval societies. Already, Oda considered Buddhist monks and their monasteries for deadly enemies. During his wars, many monasteries were captured as enemy fortresses and experienced their fate. For the harsh temper and the destruction of the monasteries, Oda was called the "Demon Lord of the Sixth Heaven" and "the enemy of the Buddha Law." It must be said that the Buddhists at that time were not “white and fluffy”, as at present they had whole detachments of warrior monks. Oda also pursued a policy of centralization; there should not have been other centers of power in the state. In this struggle, Oda relied on Christian missionaries.
Hideyoshi generally continued this policy. He was more moderate, while the monks did not get involved in the affairs of the state - let them pray to themselves, but he reacted harshly with interference in politics. No material privileges were allowed to the monks. Why are they "God's people"? He put an end to the expansion of Christianity. Even during the struggle with major feudal lords, he banned the spread of Christianity in the conquered lands. And then he passed the law on the expulsion of missionaries, there were massacres of Christians on the island of Kyushu (1587, 1589). Thus, Japanese politicians rather ingeniously used the help of the Portuguese and the Jesuits to unify the country, but they did not allow the establishment of their own rules and strong points of influence of Western civilization.
Hideyoshi's name is legendary in Japan and because he initiated large-scale external expeditions. He proclaimed a plan to conquer the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, China, the Philippine Islands, and even India. There were even plans to move the capital to the Chinese city of Ningbo. The reasons for such ambitious plans are not entirely clear. Some researchers believe that Hideyoshi wanted to shed the excess forces of the samurai from the Japanese islands, who had nothing to occupy themselves with. Others speak of Hideyoshi's stupefaction. He saw conspiracies everywhere, revolts, imagined himself a god of war, surrounded by hundreds of concubines. External war could be another whim of the all-powerful ruler.
In April 1592, 160 thousand. the Japanese army, the most advanced in Asia at that time, armed with muskets and commanding modern methods of warfare, crossed the Sea of Japan on a thousand ships and landed in Busan on the Korean Peninsula (Korea, like Japan, was formally a vassal of China). Initially, the Japanese were successful. They captured the main Korean cities, and reached the borders of China. Seoul, Pyongyang was captured. Gyeongju - the former capital, was completely destroyed. However, Japanese terror led to a massive Korean partisan movement. Outstanding Korean Admiral Lee Songxing, using armored turtle ships (kobuksons), inflicted on the Japanese the fleet a series of defeats and actually paralyzed the enemy’s sea communications. China sent an army to help the Korean state, which was able to oust the samurai from North Korea. The death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598 led to the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Korea. The ardor of foreign policy adventures faded. Although, as time has shown, not forever.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was able to crush competitors during the unfolding power struggle, becoming the founder of the Tokugawa Shogun dynasty (existed from 1603 up to 1868) and completed the creation of a centralized feudal state in Japan. In 1605, he transferred the title of shogun to his son Hidetad, retired to Sumpu, where he lived alone, studied history, spent time in conversations with the wise men, but in reality he retained all the controls. His power was based on financial control - he founded a number of mints, continuing the monetary policy of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, and he also owned vast land holdings confiscated from defeated major feudal lords, major cities, mines and forest land. The land was the basis of wealth and the source of the existence of the feudal lords; therefore, possessing the largest land holdings, Ieyasu could control them. The emperor and his entourage lost all real power. And the salary of the courtiers paid the same shogun.
He continued the policy of enslaving the peasants, divided the population not three, but four classes: samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants. Tokugawa continued the predecessors' policy of containing the confessors. The clergy as a separate class was not created. Tokugawa banned Christianity in Japan. In 1614, Tokugawa issued a law banning foreigners from staying in the state. The reason for this decree were the intrigues of Catholics. In 1600, on a Dutch ship, I arrived in Japan a British sailor, William Adams. He eventually became a translator and advisor to the shogun in shipbuilding (“Chief Navigator”). The period of the Anglo-Dutch trade with Japan begins. The Portuguese were pushed aside from Japanese trade.
The heirs of Tokugawa continued his cautious policy regarding foreigners, and they gradually proceeded to isolate Japan from the outside world. It was allowed to trade certain goods only through specific ports. Already in 1616, only Nagasaki and Hirado were among the “allowed” ports. In 1624, trade with the Spaniards was banned. In 1635, a decree was issued forbidding the Japanese to leave the country and banning those who had already left to return. From 1636, foreigners - the Portuguese, later the Dutch, could only be on the artificial island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor.
The Simabara Uprising - the uprising of Japanese peasants and samurai in the area of the city of Shimabara in 1637 — 1638, caused by a complex of socio-economic and religious reasons, became the last major armed conflict in Japan for more than 200 years, until the 60-s of the XIX century. There is a possibility that the uprising was provoked by the Portuguese Jesuits. So, the spiritual leader of the uprising in Shimabara was Amakusa Shiro, who was called the “Fourth Son of Heaven”, who was to lead the Christianization of Japan (this prediction was given by Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier). The uprising was brutally suppressed, thousands of peasants were beheaded. "Barbarian Christians" was banned from entering Japan. Relations with Portugal, and then Holland, were broken. Any Portuguese or Spanish ship coming to the shores of Japan was subject to immediate destruction, its crew was sentenced to death in absentia. The Japanese, on pain of death, were forbidden to leave their homeland. Contacts with the Western world were maintained only through the Dutch trade mission of Dejima near Nagasaki, but it was under strict control of the authorities. Christianity in Japan was forbidden and went underground. However, after that, more than 200 years on the Japanese islands was the world.
The shogunate defended the interests of Japanese civilization very harshly, preventing the subversive activities of Christianity, which undermined the foundations of the state system in the interests of forces alien to the Japanese. So, in 1640, a Portuguese mission with gifts was sent from Macau to the shogun. The mission was to get Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu (ruled by Japan from 1623 of the year to 1651 of the year) to revise the ban. The result was unexpected for Europeans - almost the entire mission was executed. Only a few people were left alive and sent back with a document stating that "the Portuguese should no longer think of us, as if we are no longer in the world." Thus, the Iron Curtain was created far from the USSR.
Trade with Holland retained because of the desire to receive firearms. True, for him had to give silver and gold. However, as the arsenals were filled, and the Japanese gunsmiths themselves mastered the production of firearms, trade with the Dutch was greatly reduced. Initially limited, and then banned the export of gold. In the 1685 year, the export of silver to tons of silver was reduced to 130 and the export of copper was limited. In 1790, the export of silver was already equal to 30 tons.
The beginning of the 19 century. The first attempts to establish contact with Japan from Russia
At the beginning of the 19th century, the situation did not change - Japan was still closed to foreigners. In a world where the great Western powers led an intensified expansion and colonization of everything that was poorly defended, Japan was left to itself. Initially, this was explained by the remoteness of the Japanese islands, the harsh isolation regime that did not allow the creation of internal forces of influence (the “fifth column”), and the raw material poverty of Japan. The Japanese people had no obvious riches that could be taken.
The great world that has come since the defeat of the large feudal rulers and the expulsion of the Europeans, lasted more than two hundred years. Many generations of samurai, who wore a traditional sword on their belts (the other classes were completely disarmed), never used it in battle! True, having lost its external impulses, Japanese society was conserved. Interestingly, even the population has remained constant for a very long time: according to government censuses, in 1726, the Japanese were 26,5 million, in 1750, 26 million, 1804, 25,5 million, in 1846, 27 million . The population of Japan increased dramatically only when life was “cheerful”: during the “Meiji revolution” in 1868, 30 million people already, 1883 year 37,5 million, 1925 year 59, 7 million, 1935 year 69 million people.
It cannot be said that during the years of isolation Japan was in a complete hibernation of civilization. In the field of art, Japan remained a civilized wealthy society. Japanese art speaks of the richest spiritual world of this eastern civilization.
Years passed, the world changed. Japan has already become interesting as a springboard that can influence the policies of China and Russia, as a market for goods. Unfortunately, the Americans were the first to establish contact with Japan, not the Russians. Although there have been attempts. So, in 1791, the Japanese Kodai crashed near the Russian coast, he and his companion were taken to Irkutsk, and from there to the capital of the Russian Empire. He was accompanied by a native of Finland, academician of "economy and chemistry" Eric (Kirill) Laxman, who lived in Siberia and visited St. Petersburg. He enjoyed great respect in the scientific community. Laxman suggested using the opportunity and sending a trade relationship with Japan when sending the victim to his homeland. Empress Catherine accepted the offer and the son of a scientist - Captain Adam Laxman, had to fulfill this mission. 13 September 1792 of the year on the gallete St. Catherine Laxman went to sea. Formally, Laxman carried to Japan a letter from the Irkutsk governor-general, gifts on his behalf and gifts from his father to three Japanese scientists. 9 October 1792, the ship entered the Namuro harbor on the north shore of Hokkaido. In general, the Japanese authorities received the Russians kindly, although they isolated them from contact with the residents. Laxman was able to get permission for one Russian ship to pester the port of Nagasaki once a year. Given the tight isolation of Japan - it was a big victory.
Returning, Laxman was summoned to St. Petersburg with his father, and preparations began for a new expedition, scheduled for the 1795 year. The scientific part was entrusted to Eric Laxman, and the commercial part to the famous founder of Russian America, Grigory Shelikhov. However, the expedition did not take place. Shelikhov suddenly died in Irkutsk on July 20 1795 of the year, Laxman - January 5 of the year 1796, and also suddenly. Both were people of excellent health. Soon the young Adam Laxman left for another world. After their death in Russia, Japan was forgotten for some time.
26 September 1804 arrived in Japan with the “Hope” by I. Krusenstern, on its board was N. P. Rezanov, who was sent by the sovereign Alexander I as the first Russian envoy to Japan to establish trade between the powers. Minister of Commerce Rumyantsev in a memorandum “On bargaining with Japan” from February 20 of 1803, wrote: “...“ Nature itself, placing Russia adjacent to Japan and bringing both empires together by sea, gives us all trade powers the advantage and convenience in trade, to which our merchants, as it seems, are awaiting only one approval from the government. ” However, the Japanese Embassy Rezanov failed. Apparently, the Dutch played a certain role in this, setting up the Japanese authorities against the Russians. The Russian ambassador was awarded diplomas prohibiting Russian ships from pestering the Japanese shores.
The failures of the first contacts with Japan became in fact a prologue to the failed “Japanese” policy of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19 and the beginning of the 20 centuries. As a result, the West was able to "open up" Japan and conduct an operation to clash the two powers. And it was a long-term success, so far Japan is our potential enemy.
To be continued ...
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