Japan - Various

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partisanship began to cause serious troubles around the person of the sovereign, whose conduct was in a measure responsible for them. The story of the rise and fall of various favorites and their cliques is too tedious to be retold, but the case of the priest Dōkyō deserves a brief notice. Holding the post of palace prelate and enjoying undue favor from the empress dowager, Dōkyō's power assumed such proportions that the prime minister, Emi Oshikazu, took up arms against him. The latter's forces were, however, completely routed, his adherents exterminated, and he himself killed. With his fall, the emperor, who had ascended the throne by the influence of Oshikazu, was exiled by the dowager, who resumed the scepter in 764. This was the first instance of an emperor being exiled. Many princes of the blood were also either banished with him or killed, with the result that the princely adherents of the imperial house were materially reduced in number. Thereafter Dōkyō received the posts of prime minister and second prelate of the realm (Zenshi), ultimately attaining the position of first prelate (Hō-ō). His food, raiment, and bodyguards were similar to those of the emperor, and so great was his influence that the entire administration rested in his hands. His partisans went so far as to say openly that were the prime minister made emperor, the realm would enjoy peace. Profound, however, as was the nation's belief in Buddhism at that epoch, there were just men who could not tamely endure such evil doings. Conspicuous among them was the brave Wake-no-Kiyomaro, who brought back from the shrine of the Shintō deity, Usa-Hachiman, an oracle, saying: "The distinction of sovereign and subject is fundamental. Never may a subject become emperor. The emperor must always be of the imperial line. Let the unrighteous subject who would cut off the imperial succession be at once removed." Dōkyō was much incensed by this procedure and caused Kiyomaro to be banished. But the oracle produced its effect on the empress, who at last repented of the things that had been done, and all idea of raising Dōkyō to the throne was abandoned. The next year she died and was succeeded by a grandson of Tenchi, the Emperor Kōnin. At this point the descendants of the Emperor Temmu ceased to hold the succession, and those of the Emperor Tenchi assumed it. Dōkyō was banished, and Kiyomaro was recalled to court. Posterity regards his memory with almost religious respect.

      FOOTNOTE:

       Table of Contents

      [1] Chronological table of the sovereigns of the Nara Epoch.

      43. Empress Gemmyō, 708–715.

       44. Empress Genshō, 715–724.

       45. Emperor Shōmu, 724–749.

       46. Empress Kōken, 749–759.

       47. Emperor Junnin, 759–765.

       48. Emperor Shōtoku, 765–770.

       49. Emperor Kōnin, 770–782.

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

      The Nara epoch had come to an end when in 794 the Emperor Kwammu transferred the capital to Kyōto. The new seat of government being then known as Hei-an Kyō, or Citadel of Tranquillity, the interval that separated its choice as capital from the establishment of feudal administration at Kamakura in 1186—an interval of nearly four centuries—is known in history as the Hei-an epoch. A few words may be said about the significance of the change of the seat of government from Nara to Kyōto. From ancient times it had been the custom for the emperor and the heir apparent to live apart, from which fact it resulted that when a sovereign died and his son succeeded to the throne, the latter usually transferred the capital to the site of his own palace. It sometimes happened also that the residence of the imperial court was altered as often as two or three times during the same reign. Rarely, however, did the court move out of the contiguous provinces known as the Go-kinai, the great majority of the seats of government being in the province of Yamato. So long as the government was comparatively simple, the transfer of its seat from place to place involved no serious effort. As, however, the business of administration became more complicated, and intercourse with China grew more intimate, the character of the palace assumed magnificence proportionate to the imperial ceremonies and national receptions that had to be held there. Hence the capital established at Nara by the Empress Gemmyō was on a scale of unprecedented magnitude and splendor. There seven sovereigns reigned in succession without any thought of moving elsewhere. But when the Emperor Kwammu assumed the reins of government, he found that Nara was not a convenient place for administrative purposes. He at first moved to Nagaoka in Yamashiro, but a brief residence there convinced him that his choice had not been well guided.

      At last, in 794, a new capital was built, after the model of Nara, with some modifications introduced from the metropolis of the T'ang dynasty in China, at Uda in the same province. This was called Kyōto, which means capital. It measured from north to south 17,530 feet and from east to west 15,080 feet, the whole being surrounded by moats and palisades, and the imperial palace being situated in the center of the northern portion. From the southern palace gate (Shujaku-mon) to the southernmost city gate (Rajo-mon) a long street, 280 feet wide (called Shujaku-ōji, or the main Shujaku thoroughfare), extended in one straight line, separating the city into two parts, of which the eastern was designated Sakyō, or the left capital, and the western, Ukyō, or the right capital. The whole city, from east to west, was divided into nine districts (jo), and between the first and second districts lay the imperial palace.

      An elaborate system of subdivision was adopted. The unit, or ko (house), was a space measuring 100 feet by 50. Eight of these units made a row (gyō); four rows, a street (chō); four streets, a ho; four ho, a bō, and four bō, a jo. The entire capital contained 1216 cho and 38,912 houses. The streets lay parallel and at right angles like the lines on a checkerboard. The imperial citadel measured 3840 feet from east to west, and 4600 feet from north to south. On each side were three gates, and in the middle stood the emperor's palace, surrounded by the buildings of the various administrative departments. This citadel was environed by double walls, and contained altogether seventeen large and five small edifices, every one of them picturesque and handsome.

      Great and fine as was this metropolis, it suffered such ravages during the disturbances of succeeding centuries that the Kyōto of to-day, the "Sakyō," or Western Capital, is but a shadow of the left section of ancient times. Not even the imperial palace escaped these ravages. Again and again impaired or destroyed by conflagrations, it gradually assumed smaller and smaller dimensions until only a trace remained of the splendid edifice that had once stood in the center of the citadel. But the regularity of the streets could not be obliterated. That at least survives to tell the story of the plan on which the city was constructed. Indeed, Kyōto continued to be the seat of sovereigns for a long period, covering 1074 years, and until the capital was removed in 1869 to Tōkyō.

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