My life
came like dew
and how the dew will disappear.
And all of Naniwa
- it's just a dream after a dream.
Suicide poem by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598).
Translated by the author.
Over the course of several dozen articles, although it may be somewhat in a mosaic form, we are diving deeper and deeper into Japanese history and it turns out that, in principle, it does not differ that much from the history of all other countries. People are the same swindlers, thieves and murderers, disguising their vileness with legends about the great deeds of the past, betrayal in Japan also took place and was even widespread. There were rulers - more or less cruel. There was a fragmentation of the country, more or less prolonged. And it was, and will probably be, that at the turning points in history among many ordinary people and there there were such that, thanks to personal qualities, chance or simple luck, they ended up at the very top of the pyramid of power, and not only turned out to be, but also corresponded to this high position. In Japan, over its centuries-old history, this happened more than once, but fate was pleased to make it so that when at the end of the 16th century its situation became especially difficult, there were three people at once who, by their actions, transformed the country, so much so that it is from a fragmented, torn by wars and robbery, the state turned into a "modern" by that time, centralized feudal state, in which peace finally came, and not for years - but for whole centuries! And today our story will go about these people.
Tokugawa Ieyasu examines the head of Kimura Shigenari brought to him at the Battle of Osaka. Woodcut by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892).
The first among them was Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) - the heir to a relatively small principality, which lay at the intersection of roads between Western and Eastern Japan, not far from the modern city of Nagoya. He could not be denied vanity, ability and business qualities. The beginning of his takeoff was laid by an unexpected victory for his contemporaries over a certain prince, who opposed Nobunaga, deciding to take advantage of his early childhood. It would be better if this prince did not do this, since he lost this battle. From that time on, Oda consistently and systematically expanded his sphere of influence, until finally, in 1567, his troops entered Kyoto. He put the Ashikaga shogunate under his control, and later completely expelled the unfortunate shogun from his former capital.
Portrait of Oda Nobunaga from the collection of the Chokoji Temple in Toyota.
For 20 years, Nobunaga confidently held the reins of rule over the lands subjugated to him in his tenacious hands. In this he was helped by strategic abilities and firearms. But he was quick-tempered. Publicly hit one of his very proud general, and he did not forgive him, he ambushed him, and Oda had no choice but to commit suicide. By this time, almost a third of Japan was under his control - the process of its unification began.
Oda Nabunaga. Color woodcut by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 - 1861).
The second unifier of Japan, who succeeded much more than the first, was … either the son of a peasant, or the woodcutter Hasiba Hideyoshi (1537 - 1598). In his younger years, wishing to become a samurai, he stole money given to him by his master for the purchase of armor, bought armor for himself, and began to hire himself to serve with various military leaders, until he finally got to Oda Nobunaga as … the wearer of his sandals (1554). Before serving them to his master, he warmed them on his chest, and his loyalty did not go unnoticed: starting from this modest position, he managed to rise to the rank of general, since Nabunaga appreciated his loyalty, intelligence, and brilliant military ability. In 1583, after the death of his master, Hideyoshi actually usurped the power that belonged to him, and then also received from the emperor two positions in a row, one more significant than the other: the regent-kampaku (1585) and the “great minister” (daizo-daijin, 1586). as well as the aristocratic surname Toyotomi. By 1591, “with iron and blood,” he united all the territories of Japan under his rule, that is, he did what none of his predecessors had been able to do before him!
This woodcut by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi from the series One Hundred Views of the Moon shows an interesting episode of the Sengoku Jidai war, when Oda Nobunaga and his warriors besieged Saito Castle on Mount Inabo in 1564. Then the young Toyotomi Hideyoshi found an unguarded mountain path and, taking six people with him, climbed it onto an almost impregnable rock, after which the castle was taken.
Hideyoshi ordered the compilation of a land registry of all land holdings, which helped to tax the population over the next three centuries, ordered the withdrawal of all weapons from the peasants and townspeople, and most importantly, divided the entire Japanese society into four estates and established their hierarchy. His reign was marked by an attempt to ban the Christian religion in Japan (1587) and a military expedition against Korea and China (1592 - 1598), which ended in failure, although, perhaps, he was counting on it. However, his triumph was incomplete, since he died in 1598, leaving his young son Hideyori as his heir, although he had managed to appoint before the time of his majority a board of trustees of five people. He appointed people personally loyal to him to many responsible positions, regardless of their origin. And all this for the sake of their future son, which they had to provide at any cost. Of course, those who considered themselves the descendants of noble families were simply outraged that they were ruled by some upstart without a clan, without a tribe, and that he, along with him, had dragged such people “upward”. Thus, enmity arose between these two groups, and each of them believed that they care about Japan more than the other. In any case, the enmity did not subside between them for a single moment.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi in d-maru armor of red embroidery with the coat of arms of the paulownia on the o-soda - shoulder pads.
And it was just among these five people that there was a man who was destined by fate to consolidate the unity of the country and complete the unification of the country into one state - Prince Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543 - 1616) from the Minamoto clan, who first bore the childhood name of Matsudaira Takechiyo; then became Matsudaira Motonobu (the name he received after the coming-of-age ceremony in 1556) and Matsudaira Motoyasu (the name given to him by his overlord, Imagawa Yoshimoto), who chose the name Matsudaira Ieyasu as a sign of his independence from the Imagawa clan in 1562; and, finally, who became Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1567. Tosho-Daigongen is also his name, but only posthumous, the divine name he received after death "The Great Savior God Who Illuminated the East", which became his reward for everything he did for Japan.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquers Shikoku (ukiyo-e Toyohara Chikanobu (1838 - 1912), 1883).
He walked to the heights of power long and hard. At first, he spent many years as a hostage with stronger daimyo, lost his father early, and very often his life hung in the balance. However, he did not lose his presence of mind, he constantly remembered that he was from the Minamoto family, while Hideyoshi was just a peasant who managed to succeed, for whom his wedding dress was even sewn from the banners of his master, and that patience and work would grind everything! The different character of all the "three unifiers of the empire" is best shown by the following legendary story: they all seemed to be standing under a tree, and a nightingale was sitting on it, and they wanted to hear his singing. But the nightingale did not sing. "He's not singing, so I'll kill him," Nobunaga decided viciously. "He's not singing, so I'll make him sing," said the impatient Hideyoshi.“He doesn’t sing, so I’ll wait for him to sing,” Ieyasu decided, and this quality of his - “wait and hope” turned out to be the best strategy for him in all respects.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Oda Nobunaga. Part of the triptych Chikanobu Toyohara (1838 - 1912), 1897
Interestingly, unlike Oda Nobunaga, who maintained ties with Portugal and Spain, and did not interfere with the spread of Catholicism to the Jesuits in Japan, Tokugawa believed that it was better to deal with Protestants from the Netherlands. Since 1605, Ieyasu's chief consultant on European politics has become an English sailor, the helmsman William Adams - the same one that was introduced under the name of John Blackthorne in James Claywell's novel The Shogun. Thanks to the advice of the latter, only the Dutch obtained a monopoly on trade with the Japanese. In 1614, Ieyasu issued a decree, which completely banned the stay of "southern barbarians" and Christians in his country. Throughout Japan, massive repressions and demonstrative crucifixion of believers on crosses began. A small group of Japanese Christians managed to escape to the Spanish Philippines, but most of them, on pain of death, were forcibly converted back to Buddhism. Formally, he transferred his title of shogun to his son, but retained the power in his hands, and in his spare time he took up the drafting of the Code on Samurai Clans (Buke Syo Hatto), which determined both the norms of the samurai's behavior in the service and in his personal life, and where the traditions of the samurai of Japan (the Bushido Code), which had previously been passed down orally, were formulated and recorded in a succinct but exhaustive way.
Portrait of Ieyasu Tokugawa.
Under him, Edo became the capital of the country, which later turned into Tokyo. He died at the age of seventy-four, taking part in countless battles and battles, after conspiracies and struggles for a lifetime, becoming the full-fledged ruler of Japan. He transferred power to his eldest son Hidetada, and the Tokugawa clan then ruled Japan for 265 years until 1868!
Mausoleum of Ieyasu Tokugawa in Toshogu.
