Taiko

“ The taiko returned thence faster than he had come. A cloud had risen from his mind; there in the presence of the one who had stood at his right through all those tempestuous years the truth had at last dawned: success attended insofar as others profited: thirst might be inherited, but genius transmitted—never.
On the way it became necessary to pass directly the new castle at Fushima, built for Hidetsugu, and occupied as well, for the present, by Ieyasu as a guest while returning from Nagoya to Yedo. ”

“ To this proposal Yodogima made no protest, in fact encouraged its doing, yet knew full well the purport and surmised an eagerness on the part of every daimyo—invited or not—to seize any opportunity to test underhandedly his influence or lay discreetly some self-bettered plan. The taiko had whipped them into subjection and she herself borne him a recognized successor, but would the nation accept an authority incapable of enforcing itself? Could individual powers be transmitted in the absence of personal prowess? ”

“ Iyeyasu, had he respected his pledges, should have applied himself to secure to the Taikō's son, Hideyori, the supreme place won by Hideyoshi's genius. But the ethics of the age did not require any such sacrifice of personal ambition. The Tokugawa chief not only crushed the man he had promised to support, but deliberately contrived an opportunity for crushing him, and posterity does not count the act a crime. ”

“ The Taikō threatened to put the women to death unless their sons returned to his camp, whereupon Hikoyemon's mother wrote to her son: "Fealty to his lord is the first duty of every man in the empire, and it is the law of nature that parents should die before their children. My life is sacrificed to the cause of our lord and the cause of our house. Let no one mourn for me. Do you, true to the way of the warrior and the path of filial piety, remember that to have a mother is no reason to be unfaithful." ”

“ Taiko's warlike declarations were by no means vain boasts. He did invade China, and spread such terror among the timid Celestials that they yielded him all possible submission, giving him a number of Corean provinces, a daughter of their Emperor in marriage, and the promise of an annual tribute to Japan, in token of Japanese supremacy. The tribute not appearing at the proper time, the Ziogoon immediately despatched a few armies to the Corea and again destroyed the Celestial balance of mind. These forces, however, were soon after recalled, in consequence of Taiko-sama's death. ”

“ Pupils come to Senké from all parts of Japan, but even when every tea-room is in use the same hush reigns. To subdue us to what we were to work in, and to enhance Fortune’s supreme favor of a cha no yu in the Taiko’s manner, we were made to wait and wait before we were invited into the cool twilight of a large tea-room. The house has been burned twice since Hideyoshi’s day, but each time has been exactly reproduced, so that virtually we sat where the Taiko had sat for many hours, and we used the veritable bowls, spoons, trays, and tea-caddies sanctified by his touch three hundred years ago. ”

“ Campaigns, battles, and political intrigues do not find a place in these volumes; else there would be much to tell about the events which raised the Tokugawa to supremacy. A pathetic figure lends special interest to the last act of the drama; the figure of the beautiful Yodo, the Taikō's favourite mistress and mother of the lad to whom he vainly bequeathed the fruits of his splendid victories and still more brilliant statesmanship. ”

“ There is not a particle of evidence that the conquerors ever exacted an annual tribute of “thirty human hides,” as stated by a recent French writer. While Iyéyasŭ had his hands full in Japan, he paid little attention to the country which Taikō had used as a cockpit for the Christians. Iyéyasŭ dealt with the Jesuit, the Christian, and the foreigner, in a manner different from, and for obvious reasons with success greater than, that of Taikō. He unified Japan, re-established the dual system of mikado and shō-gun, with two capitals and two centres of authority, Kiōto and Yedo. ”

“ PORTRAIT-STATUE OF IYÉYASŬ IN CEREMONIAL DRESS.
When Hidéyoshi died he had grown to be the master of Japan; he had been made Regent of the Empire, as a title of honor, for he was that and more in reality; he had become one of the greatest of Oriental warriors, and had begun life as a groom, the son of a humble peasant. The name of Taiko (Great Gate) he took like other regents, on retiring nominally from office, but with the addition of Sama (Lord) it is applied to him alone in popular memory. Naturally, then, he believed in a possible dynasty originating in him. ”

“ The preparation of this aristocratic refreshment must be conducted in accordance with inviolable rules, invented or rather modified by the great Taikō himself, who, not content with military glory, desired to regulate the boudoir as imperiously as the State, in this resembling Queen Anne, who “would sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea.” The twelve utensils employed must be separately cleansed and waved in air by the demure but smart damsel who presides with becoming dignity and science, every gesture, every operation of her deft hands being prescribed by rigid etiquette. ”

“ You forget yourself; the taiko still lives: it is he that we serve.”
The festal day coming on, and all in readiness, Sen-no-rikyu apparently took his place at the bowl. No man had greater fame than he. There had been brewers of a superior flavor, but none ever reached the excellence of Hideyoshi’s day and favor, save Sen-no-rikyu, and he alone. ”

“ By making him lord of an immense and powerful country he hoped to secure him in perpetual loyalty to himself and his heirs.
In order that he might be free from the cares and responsibilities of the government at home, Hideyoshi retired from the position of kwambaku a.d. 1591 and took the title of Taikō. By this title he came to be generally known in Japanese history, Taikō Sama, or my lord Taikō, being the form by [pg 208] which he was commonly spoken of. His nephew and heir Hidetsugu was at this time promoted to the title of kwambaku, and was ostensibly at the head of the government. ”

“ He was Kwanbakku during seven years, when he retired under the usual title of Taiko, given to that officer on retiring, and was known by the name of Taiko sama, or the Taikosama. After the destruction of Azutchi, the city of Nobu nanga, Hideyoshi fixed upon Fusimi and Osaka as his places of residence, taking possession of the castle of Osaka, which commands the town, adding to its strength by immense fortifications, and building in the center a palace of great magnificence. This castle had formerly belonged to one of the powerful Buddhist sects, and had been wrested from them by Nobu nanga. ”

“ Proximity destroys this illusion. Watched from the subjacent vantage of the floor, the features of these tiny coryphées are seen to wear that fixity of resolute attention which few children when engrossed in a performance are able to repress. The art of concealing art is hard to learn. Their elder sisters smile continually behind taiko and samisen, but the gravity of the childish troupe is more in keeping with the poet’s retrospective vision. ”

“ A very few specimens—incense-burners and tea-jars—are all that now remain of the Sōshiro-yaki, but they suffice to show that the ware had considerable artistic merit, and that the lacquer decoration employed in those days was almost imperishable. The Taikō signified his high approval of Sōshiro's productions by bestowing upon him the title of Tenka-ichi, "first in the Empire," a distinction accorded only to artists of preëminent excellence. ”

“ What were the objects of Taikō in making this war? Evidently his original thought was to invade and humble China. Then followed the determination to conquer Chō-sen. Ambition may have led him to rival Ojin Tennō, who, in his mother’s womb, made the conquest of Shinra, and, as the deified Hachiman, became the Japanese god of war. Lastly, the Jesuit fathers saw in this expedition a plot to kill off the Christian leaders in a foreign land, and thus extirpate Christianity in Japan. To ship the Christians off to a foreign soil to die of wounds or disease, was easier than to massacre them. ”

“ The martial spirit which Taiko called into existence amongst his followers, exists still throughout the whole of the upper classes. Military rank takes precedence of mere literary merit, contrary to what is the case in China, and we find the Japanese of the higher classes rank far before those of the neighbouring continent in personal bravery, and they possess in a great degree that spirit of chivalry, honour, and generosity which in this country is said to define a gentleman. ”

“ Of late years, entertainers of guests without special accomplishments have been termed “no-daiko” (“field-drums” or “rustic drums”) and this name was apparently given them as a term of contempt. Nowadays, geisha of both sexes have come into existence and assist in the entertainment of guests and courtesans just like the taiko. In ancient times taiko-mochi were known as taiko-shu. The origin of the hōkan in the Yoshiwara may be traced to olden times. ”

“ There are many who hold that Hideyoshi, or Taiko, was the real unifier of the empire. Certain it is that he originated many of the most striking forms of national administration. In his time the arts and sciences were not only in a very flourishing condition, but gave promise of rich development. The spirit of military enterprise and internal national improvement was at its height. Contact with the foreigners of many nations awoke a spirit of inquiry and intellectual activity ”

“ Taiko-Sama, who was a man of genius, although he was the son of a peasant, conceived the plan, as soon as he gained power, of uniting the sixty-one petty kingdoms composing Japan into a single kingdom, to be ruled by the Shogun. The life of one man was not long enough to see this project realized. ”

“ Hideyoshi, better known as the Taiko, who had risen from the ranks to be the most powerful general in the latter half of the sixteenth century, was intimate with artists, poets, and other men of peaceful calling, whose society he sought in his leisure hours. ”

“ At the time when Teaism was in the ascendency the Taiko's generals would be better satisfied with the present of a rare work of art than a large grant of territory as a reward of victory. Many of our favourite dramas are based on the loss and recovery of a noted masterpiece. ”

“ There is not to be found elsewhere a more striking monument of military power, nor can anyone considering such a work, as well as its immediate predecessor, the Taiko's stronghold at Osaka, and its numerous contemporaries of lesser but still striking proportions in the principal fiefs, refuse to credit the Japanese with capacity for large conceptions and competence to carry them into practice. ”

“ Hideyoshi, the Taikō, adopted a more respectful attitude towards the Throne, though in some respects he was essentially democratic. Thus he showed absolute indifference to aristocratic claims in choosing his assistants, being guided solely by his judgment of a man's capacity. Among his great captains, Fukushima Masanori was originally a carpenter; Katō Kiyomasa, a nameless nobody like the Taikō himself; Konishi Yukinaga, the son of a druggist ”

“ I summoned to Osaka the wives and children of the absent lords, under pretext of protecting them from all danger, if by any accident the Chinese army should invade the land. When the princes returned, we refused to let the women go home. They were to live permanently at Osaka; they are still there, precious hostages, who answer for the fidelity of their husbands and fathers. As Taiko was also a great warrior, victory crowned his dangerous enterprise and strengthened his power. ”

“ Better still, we see, when war’s alarms are laid aside, little touches of nature, which make the whole world a-kin. We read of Japanese Portias, who will not survive disgrace;—of others, whose gentle wit saves a husband’s life and honour; and last, but not least, we hail such proofs of the civilisation of these Eastern people as are evinced in the little sketch on the opposite page.
A distinguished general—it may be the great Taiko-sama himself, although we fear the officer is not half ugly enough—encounters a beautiful maiden, in a heavy shower of rain. ”

“ And the next scene, presenting the Daibutsu, or great Buddha of Hideyoshi, is elegantly illustrative of the Buddhist teaching of permanence in transition. The first wooden image, 160 feet high, erected by the Taiko in 1588, was destroyed by earthquake in 1596. After his death his widow constructed a second in bronze, which was almost completed save for the casting of the head when fire devoured it in 1603. ”

“ The strong castle of Ōsaka had been chosen by Taikō-Sama as the residence of his son during his minority, and there he dwelt with his baby wife, in charge of his mother, while the administration of affairs passed into the hands of Iyeyasu, who, as head of the regency, governed with the title of Daifu-Sama. ”

“ At the moment of death, the nearest relative present administers water to the dying person, an act of purification for the next life. Hence, on the departure of any member of the family on an errand to which he has vowed his life, the farewell cup that is given him is not the saké, typifying joy and good-fellowship, but water, the symbol of purification. In one of the Japanese classical dramas, Taikoki, the scenes of which are laid in the time of Hideyoshi, the Taiko (1582–98 d.d.) , a young man is about to depart on a forlorn hope, with the certainty of ending his life in battle. ”