and this produced a civil war. Yoritomo, one of the most distinguished
characters in Japanese history, espoused the cause of the imprisoned king,
and after a war of several years was triumphant, when he released the
captive and made him regent. But his regency conferred a nominal
authority only; the real power resided in the hands of Yoritomo, who was
created Sio i dai Ziogoon, or “ generalissimo fighting against the barbarians.”
Upon the death of the ex-Mikado, Yoritomo, as lieutenant of the sovereign,
virtually ruled for twenty years; and when he died, his title and authority
devolved upon his son. This was the commencement of the power of the
Ziogoons, or temporal sovereigns.
Time contributed to strengthen it under the successive reigns of infant
Mikados, until it became recognized as hereditary. But, though a very important,
and indeed dangerous power, was thus vested in the Ziogoons, yet
the Mikado was looked on as possessing the royal authority, and to him it
belonged to appoint the Ziogoon, who was, in truth, vice regent, hut did
not openly aspire to coequal rights of sovereignty.
This condition of things remained until the latter half of the sixteenth
century. The Emperor (Mikado) was an autocrat who had a sovereign
deputy, (Ziogoon,) the efficient and active ruler. During this long period,
however, the power of the Ziogoons was silently and imperceptibly increasing
; until, at last, that happened which it requires hut little sagacity to
perceive could not hut be, in the end, the unavoidable result. Men invested
with power are more apt to encourage its growth than to keep it stationary
or diminish i t ; more especially when those whose interest it is to check
their ambition are known to be imbecile.
I t was about the middle of the sixteenth century that two brothers, descendants
from Yoritomo, became rivals for the office of Ziogoon. The
princes of the Empire took part with the one or the other, domestic strife
raged, and the end of the contest was the death of both the rival brothers.
The mightiest prince of that day was the prince of Owari, who, on the
death of the brothers, immediately set up for himself as Ziogoon. One of
the most sagacious as well as the bravest of his adherents was an obscure
man named Hide-yosi or Eide-yosi. His station was so lowly that, even in
his own times, his parentage was matter of doubt; but his zeal and talents
commended him to the notice of his master, and he became the trusted
friend and confidential adviser of the prince of Owari, who, by his aid,
succeeded in being appointed Ziogoon. Men’s minds had been wrought to
such excitement by the civil strife, that when the prince triumphed over his
opponents, the reigning Mikado did not dare to breast popular opinion, and
therefore conferred on him the office. The new Ziogoon, of course, rewarded
his faithful ally, and conferred on Eide-yosi a high military appointment.
Presently, the Prince of Owari was murdered by one who usurped
his office ; he, in his turn, shared a like fate; and now the hour had come
for Eide-yosi. When all was in confusion, he seized upon the office for himself;
and so well known were his talents and power, that the frightened
Mikado, at once, without hesitation, approved and confirmed him in the
office, and he took the name of Tayko-sama, (the Lord Tayko.) With his
title thus legitimated, in the confidence of his abilities, he trusted to himself
for the rest, and has left behind him a name among the most celebrated
in the history of Japan.
He was a statesman and a soldier, and displayed on the throne all the
energy and ability which had contributed to place him there. He put an
end at once to the civil commotions, by giving to the opposing princes of the
Empire work to do in the invasion and conquest of Corea. He was about
marching to subdue China, when death arrested him, in the year 1598, at
the age of sixty-three. The Japanese, to this day, consider him as one of
the ablest men their country has produced. During his reign he made large
progress in the work of reducing the sovereignty of the Mikado almost to a
shadow; and inthralling him by more and more burdensome ceremonials,
and a most rigorous seclusion, all under the seemingly loyal pretext of profound
deference and respect for his heaven-born authority, he quietly left
him to “ wield a barren sceptre.”
Tayko-sama left an only son, six years old. To secure him in the succession,
his father on his death bed, caused him to marry the granddaughter
of one of his own most particular friends and counsellors, Iyeyas, prince of
Micava, from whom he obtained a most solemn promise that when the
boy should have attained his fifteenth year he would have him recognized
as Ziogoon.
Iyeyas proved unfaithful, became Ziogoon himself, and his descendants
to this day hold the office, while a veil of mystery covers up the fate of the
wronged son of Tayko. As to the Mikado, Iyeyas pursued the policy of
his predecessor, and depriving him even of the little power which Tayko had
left to him in temporals, he reduced the once absolute autocrasy which he
represented to a mere ecclesiastical supremacy, and brought him down to
the utter helplessness and dependence which at this day mark his condition.
And this is, in brief, the history of events by which Japan has come to present
that singular and unique feature in government of one empire simultaneously
under two sovereigns.
The residence of the Mikado is at Miako; that of the Ziogoon is at
Yeddo; each is surrounded with imperial splendor; the one is monarch de
jwre, the other is Emperor de facto. But however absolute may have been
the usurped authority of the Ziogoon in the beginning, it has been subsequently
very much modified ; and certain it is that at this day the rule of
the Ziogoon is by no means arbitrary. He cannot do just what he pleases.
The laws of the Empire reach him as they do the meanest subject. These
laws are 'unalterable, and are exceedingly minute in detail, controlling al