The practical enforcement of this new central ized system of rule from Kioto was not accept able, and was in many places long and stoutly resisted. Gradually a military class was formed, which became separate from the agricultural, the latter comprising the farmers and those who per manently tilled the =oil. By parallel develop ment the men at arms became professional sol diers. Other great lines of movement may be summarized in the increasing centralization of government, and the withdrawal of the Mikado from active service in the field,' or even in the affairs of government. and his comparative seclu sion. Under the pretext of religion, or a desire to lay aside the cares of government, eonunitting, the actual work of administration to his sub ordinates in order to seek retirement, he became in the national life rather an abstraction than a person_ By means of the superior valor, force, and skill of its soldiers, the Empire was extended north, south, east, and west until all Kiushiu and Shikoku were subdued and the arms of Japan extended to the far east and north. Meantime, in the capital and palace, the Fujiwara family, who had come into position and power about the year 670, had developed a bureaucracy, so that they gradually monopolized most of the offices in and about the Court and the administrative board:. In other civilian families, the particular administration of sacred rites nr the cultivation of learning became the specialty or monopoly. The military commands were always given to the rival clans of the Taira and Minamoto. The Taira warriors, fighting under the white crest or banner, gained renown and power in the south west. The Minamoto, under the red banner or crest, won victory and held power in the east and north; hut when once the activities of the field were comparatively things of the past, both clans lusted for power nearer the throne. Then began a struggle in the capital. The Fujiwara, who had formed a ring around the Emperor. and by their own henchmen blocked most of the ways of ap proach by nepotism, were ousted by the Taira, whose star was now in the ascendent. This nat urally excited the jealousy of the Minamoto. and in the year 1159 the two rival military clans came to blows. Then began that famous period of the wars of `Genji and which have since colored all Japanese history. literature, and art. and which in later times, even to this day. have given the standard and motives for games of skill and chance. Kiyomori, the Taira chief, became Premier in 1167. He not only redis tributed the offices. civil and military. among his own clansmen, hut by marrying his daughter to the Emperor controlled the throne itself. The Minamoto men, their leaders beheaded or ban ished, were scattered, one line becoming rulers of far-off Loo-ehoo. In 11g1, after Kiyomori's death, Yoritomo led the Minamoto in an uprising, and under the generalship of Yoshitsune, his brother, the Taira men were driven out of the capital and from their palaces. After several land battles and a great naval near Shi monoseki, the Taira were annihilated. The divi sive evolution Iwtween military and civil power had so far proceeded that, leaving Kioto to be the centre of honor and tradition, and of that outward form which in Japan, as in China, saves the 'face' of a thing, Yoritomo fixed his seat of authority, in the name of the Emperor, at Kama kura. in the far east, on the bay of Ledo. Ile had himself appointed Shogun. or general. and was hailed as the great peace-bringer. Although his line came to an end in 1219. yet the system which he inaugurated was carried out by the Hojo family of regents, who held power until 1333. Obtaining from Kioto, in the name of the Emperor, nobles who were mere children and puppets, to whom the title of Shogun was given, while they held the power themselves. the Hopi rifled the Empire. It was during their rule at Kamakura that the armada of the Mongol Ta tars was destroyed by storms and the valor of the Japanese. Several of the Hojo regents were men of great ability, and ruled with justice and vigor.
From the moment of Yoritomo's success feu dalism entered upon a new stage of development. Under the Imperial system. from 603 to 11S2, the governors sent out from Kioto to the different !provinces under a four years' tenure of office had charge both of the collection of revenue the repression of crime. Yoritomo had no sooner got control of the east than he obtained from the Emperor a civil title equivalent to that of 'high constable of the realm,' by which means lie had the two departments of revenue and the mainte nance of order divided. leaving. the Emperor's
officers to collect the revenue. while he repressed crime and maintained order. This system of ap pointing military magistrates seemed to be so ex cellent that it was gradually extended all over the country. Yet all the time Yoritomo cloaked his military ambition under the guise of his civil title. so that when. in 1192. he was made Shogun. and was thus military commander-in-ehief, he was already the virtual ruler of the country. Seeing this. the Imperial officers in charge of the revenue left Kinto for Kamakura, and the Shogun thus possessed both purse and sword. leaving Emperor and Court. in honor and poverty, dependent on him. Henceforth the functions of government were separated into that of throne and camp—the former the centre of mystery and the fountain of honor, the latter being the actual Government. The llojo were overthrown by the brave warrior Nitta in 1332. Then followed for a while, hut for two years only, what may he called the temporary mikadoate. when there was no shogun and theoretically no feudalism.
That the mikados had not yet, however, vigor enough to enter upon personal rule was shown in the fact that when the adherents of rival nominees to the throne went to war over the divi sion of spoils. the Mikado could not restrain them. Civil war broke out, lasting fifty-six years. when two rival lines of mikados held the shadow of power. in the period 1336-92. and there were two capitals, though the real rulers were the shoguns of the .Ashikaga family. In 1392 one of their envoys persuaded the who had the three Imperial re!mlia—mirror, crystal ball. and sword—to come to Kinto and hand over the sacred emblems, and the feud was healed. Now that the Ashikagas had their nominee on the Imperial throne, the second great step in feudal ism was taken by them, when they made the military magistracies, established by Yoritonio, hereditary in the families of their own nominees. Thus arose the class of daimios (q.v.). The Ashi kaga power lasted until 1573, luring which time the Portuguese came to Japan. Mendez Pinto (q.v.) landing in 15:39 and Xavier in 1542. begin ning a period of intercourse Europeans Which continued until about 1620, during which Christianity and firearms were introduced. In general the period of the Ashikaga rule was one of great refinement of manners, of high art and literary culture. along with the missionary ex pansion of Buddhism and a remarkable phase of doctrinal evolution. On its political side Ilud Ilhism reached a point of wealth, luxury, and menacing military power which made it one of the. great forces in the State, calling for some powerful hand to put it down. As the .1-hikaga became weaker in their later years. anarchy grew to be more general. The Buddhist abbots and their monks. in arms and armor, closer and with fortified monasteries, often turned the scale of power. From 1573 to 1604 was the period of the three famous neon Nobunaga (9.v.) (1533-S2), Hideyoshi ( 1536-9S ) . and lyeyasu (q.v.) ( 1542-1616 ) . The first humbled the Buddhists, the second reduced the daimios to submission. and the third con solidated results. The third decisive step in the development of feudalism was taken by flidC. yoshi when he rearranged the feudal inap of the Empire. marking out the boundaries of the fiefs and appointing to then) the daimios as his own nominees. giving them titles in his own name without reference to the Emperor. During IIi& yoshi's time Korea was invaded (1592•9S) by his hosts of warriors, who on the return of peace in Japan had been left without occupation. fyj yasu, his successor. making Yedo his capital. car ried out Hidr.yoshi's plans, so enlarging them that he and his g.randson, lyimitsu, gave the final form to Japanese feudalism. which early in the middle of the seventeenth century had be come settled in routine. It is noteworthy that alongside of elaborate feudal institutions grew up a commercial and industrial system like that contemporaneous with late feudalism in Europe. Yedo, from a village, became the g.reatest city in the Empire. The Toku,mwa family fmmished. from 1603 to MS. fifteen shoguns. Christianity was, as was thought. rooted out. Then began a great development in art, literature. the study of ancient history and the native language. and the revival of pure Shinto (q.v.). The polies followed was that of the exclusion of foreigners and the inclusion of the people of Japan within their island walls, while their intellect was kept within fixed hounds.