mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== _________________________________________________________________ Emperors of the Sangoku, the "Three Kingdoms," of India, China, & Japan India and China are the sources of the greatest civilizations in Eastern and Southern Asia. Their rulers saw themselves as universal monarchs, thereby matching the pretentions of the Roman Emperors in the West. The only drawbacks to their historical priority were that India suffered a setback, when the Indus Valley Civilization collapsed (for disputed reasons), and China got started later than the Middle Eastern civilizations. By the time India recovered, it was a contemporary of Greece, rather than Sumeria, with many parallel cultural developments, like philosophy. And, curiously, China reached a philosophical stage of development in the same era, the "axial age," 800 to 400 BC. Later, when the West, India, and China all had contact with each other, it was at first India that had the most influence on China, through the introduction of Buddhism. Indian influence on the West, though likely through the skepticism of Pyrrho, and possibly evident in the halos of Christian saints (borrowed from Buddhist iconography), did not extend to anything more substantial. While China then made Buddhism its own, India later endured the advent of Islâm, which introduced deep cultural and then political divisions into the Subcontinent. The only comparable development in China was the application of Marxism by the Communist government that came to power in 1949. While China has now embraced a more liberal economic vision and has outgrown India, it retains the political dictatorship of Communism. India, with a successful history as a democracy, has found its growth hampered by socialist expectations and regulations (the stiffling "License Raj"), with some, but not enough, economic liberalization in the 1990's. The idea that there are "Three Kingdoms" (Sangoku) is a Japanese conceit, placing those peripheral islands on equal standing with the great centers of civilization, India and China. Until the 20th century, there would not have been a shadow of justification for that, except perhaps in subjective judgments about the creativity or originality of Japanese culture, which I am sure would be disputed by Koreans and Vietnamese. However, after a process of self-transformation sparked by American intervention, Japan lept to the status of a Great Power by defeating Russia in 1905. The Empire then spent the next 40 years throwing its weight around, occupying Korea and invading China, ultimately taking on the United States in a disastrous bid for hegemony (1941-1945). Catastrophic defeat slowed Japan down a little, but by the 1980's, the country had vaulted to the highest per capita income in the world, with wealth and economic power that deeply frightened many, even in the United States. Japan remains the only Great Power, in economic terms (as the Japanese military establishment remains low profile), not directly derived from European civilization. Now, even after a decade of economic stagnation, Japan remains the second largest economy in the world (about half the size of the United States, more than 2.5 times the size of Germany, and finally reviving a bit in 2004), although in per capita terms smaller than Luxembourg and, of all places, Bermuda. This all might be thought to justify the Japanese view of themselves as unique, or at least special, certainly geopolitically important, giving us some motivation for the inclusion of Japan in a "Sangoku" page. Philosophy of History _________________________________________________________________ Index * Introduction * Emperors of India + The Mauryas, c.322-184 BC + The Macedonian Kings of Bactria, 256-c.55 BC + The Sakas/Parthians, 97 BC-125 AD o The Saka Era, The Indian Historical Era, 79 AD + The Kushans, c.20 BC-c.260 AD + The Guptas, c.320-550 AD + Thanesar, c.500-647 AD + Maharashtra, 543-1317 AD + Sult.âns of Delhi, 1206-1555 o Mu'izzî or Shamsî Slave Kings, 1206-1290 o Khaljîs, 1290-1320 o Tughluqids, 1320-1414 o Sayyids, 1414-1451 o Lôdîs, 1451-1526 o Sûrîs, 1540-1555 o Sikh Gurûs and the Khâlsâ + Moghul Emperors, 1526-1540, 1555-1858 o Nawwâbs of Bengal, 1704-1765 o British Governors of Bengal and Governors-General of India, 1765-1858 # British Coinage of India, 1835-1947 o Nawwâbs of Oudh, 1722-1856 o Niz.âms of Hyderabad, 1720-1948 + British Emperors and Viceroys, 1876-1947 (1858-1950) o Culmen Mundi o Prime Ministers of India o Prime Ministers of Pakistan * Emperors of China + The Chinese Historical Era, 2637 BC + Shang Dynasty, 1523-1028 + Chou Dynasty, 1027-256 + Ch'in Dynasty, 255-207 BC + Former Han Dynasty, 206 BC-25 AD + Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 AD + The Three Kingdoms, 220-265 + Northern and Southern Empires, 265-589 + Sui Dynasty, 590-618 + T'ang Dynasty, 618-906 + The Five Dynasties, 907-960 + Tartar Dynasties o Liao (Khitan) Dynasty, 907-1125 o Hsi-Hsia (Tangut) State, 990-1227 + Sung Dynasty, 960-1126 + Tartar Dynasties o Western Liao (Qara-Khitaï) Dynasty, 1125-1218 o Kin/Chin (Jurchen) Dynasty, 1115-1234 + Southern Sung Dynasty, 1127-1279 + Yüan (Mongol) Dynasty, 1280-1368 + Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 + Southern Ming Dynasty, 1644-1662 + Manchu Ch'ing Dynasty, 1644-1912 o Tibet + Republic of China, 1911-present + Communist China, 1949-present + Categories of Chinese Characters + The Dialects of Chinese o Examples of Dialect Differences Between Peking, Shanghai and, Canton o Pronouncing Mandarin Initials o The Contrast between Classical and Modern Chinese + The Solar Terms and the Chinese Calendar o The Chinese 60 Year Calendar Cycle o The Occurrence of the Solar Terms in 1995-2003 o Groundhog Day and Chinese Astronomy * Emperors, Shoguns, & Regents of Japan + The Japanese Historical Era, 660 BC + The Legendary Period, 660 BC-539 AD + The Historical Period, 539-645 + The Yamato Period, 645-711 + The Nara Period, 711-793 + The Heian Period, 793-1186 o Fujiwara Chancellors and Imperial Regents, 858-1867 + The Kamakura Period, 1186-1336 o Hôjô Regents + The Nambokuchô Period, 1336-1392 o Ashikaga Shôguns + The Muromachi Period, 1392-1573 + The Azuchi-Momoyama Period, 1573-1603 o Himeji Castle + The Edo Period, 1603-1868 o Edo Castle, Tôkyô Imperial Palace + The Modern Period, 1868-present o Prime Ministers, 1885-present * The Periphery of China -- Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Tibet, and Mongolia + Kings of Korea o Kings of Koguryo o Kings of Paekche o Kings of Silla and Korea + Kings and Emperors of Vietnam o Kings of Champa o Kings and Emperors of Annam and Vietnam + Kings of Thailand o Kings of Sukhothai, c.1240-1438 o Kings of Lan Na, 1259-1774 o Chao of Chiang Mai, 1781-1939 o Kings of Ayudhya, 1351-1767 o King of Thonburi, 1767-1782 o Kings of Bangkok, Chakri Dynasty, 1782-present + Kings of Laos o Kings of Vientiane, 1353-1778 o Kings of Luang Prabang, 1707-1975 + Kings of Cambodia, 6th century AD-present + Kings of Burma o Kings of Arakan, 788-1784 o Kings of Pagan, c.900-1325 o Kings of Pinya, 1298-1364 o Kings of Ava, 1364-1555 o Kings of Shan, 1287-1757 o Kings of Taungu, 1531-1751 o Kings of Konbaung/Burma, 1753-1885 + Kings of Tibet and the Dalai Lamas o Culmen Mundi o First Kingdom of Tibet o Mongol Regents o Second Kingdom of Tibet o The Dalai Lamas o The Panchen Lamas + The Mongol Khâns o Index o The Conquests of Chingiz Khân, 1227 o The Great Khâns and the Yüan Dynasty of China o The Grandsons of Chingiz Khân, 1280 o The Chaghatayid Khâns o The Khâns of the Golden Horde # The Khâns of the Blue Horde # The Khâns of the White Horde # The Khâns of Kazan # The Khâns of Astrakhan # The Khâns of the Crimea o The Il Khâns # The Jalâyirids, 1340-1432 # The Qara Qoyunlu, 1351-1469 # The Timurids, 1370-1501 # The Aq Qoyunlu, 1396-1508 Philosophy of History _________________________________________________________________ Emperors of India _________________________________________________________________ India has had less of a tradition of political unity than China or Japan. Indeed, most of the names for India ("India," "Hindustân") are not even Indian. As Yule & Burnell say in their classic A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases ["Hobson-Jobson," Curzon Press, 1886, 1985, p. 433]: It is not easy, if it be possible, to find a truly native (i.e. Hindu) name for the whole country which we call India; but the conception certainly existed from an early date. Bhâratavarsha is used apparently in the Purânas with something like this conception. Bhâratavars.a meant the "division of the world" (vars.a) of the Bhâratas -- the heroes of the great Mahâbhârata epic. An independent India in 1947 decided to officially become Bhârat (the short final "a" not being pronounced in Hindi). When a unified state has occurred in Indian history, it has had varying religious, political, and even linguistic bases: e.g. Hindu, Buddhist, Islâmic, and foreign. The rule of the Sult.âns of Delhi and the Moghul Emperors was at once Islâmic and foreign, since most of them were Turkish or Afghani, and the Moghul dynasty was founded directly by incursion from Afghanistan. The surpremely foreign unification of India, of course, was from the British, under whom India achieved its greatest unity, although that was lost upon independence to the religious division between India and Pakistan. The Moghuls and British, of course, called India by its name in their own languages (i.e. "Hindustân" and "India"). With a unified state in India a rare phenomenon, often under foreign influence, and with only a derivative indigenous name for the country as a whole, one might wonder if the term "Emperor," with its implications of unique and universal monarchy, is aptly applied to Indian rulers. However, from an early date there was a notion of such monarchy, which depended only on a conception of the world, whether India itself was clearly conceived or not. The universal monarch was the Cakravartin, "Who Turns the Wheel of Dominion." Thus, the prophecy was that Siddhartha Gautama might have become the Buddha, or a Cakravartin, a world ruler. The word was ambiguous, since the term can mean simply a sovereign, but its use is paralleled by the Latin word Imperator, which simply means "Commander" and grew, by usage, into a term for a unique and universal monarch. As it happened, many of the monarchs who began to claim ruler over all of India did usually use titles that were translations or importations of foreigns words. Thus, the Kushans used titles like Râjatirâjâ, "King of Kings," and Mahârâjâ, "Great King," which appear to be translations from older Middle Eastern titles. While the original "Great King" long retained its uniqueness, thanks to the durability of the Persian monarchy, the title in India experienced a kind of grade inflation, so that eventually there were many, many Mahârâjâs. With Islâm came a whole raft of new titles. One was Sult.ân, which originally was an Arabic title of universal rule itself but had already experienced its own grade inflation. Persian titles, like Pâdeshâh, centuries after the Achaemenids, were now borrowed rather than translated. With the Moghuls, however, the names of the Emperors, more than their titles, reflected their pretentions: like Persian Jahângir, "Seize (gir) the world (jahân)." The most remarkable title borrowed from the West is probably Kaisar, but the Latin title itself arrived with Queen Victoria, IND IMP, Imperatrix Indiae, in 1876. The last Imperator Indiae was King George VI, until 1947. In addition to these complications, Indian history is also less well known and dated than that of China or Japan. Classical Indian literature displays little interest in history proper, which must be reconstructed from coins, monumental inscriptions, and foreign references. As Jan Nattier has said recently [A Few Good Men, The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipr.cchâ), University of Hawai'i Press, 2003]: ...the writing of history in the strict sense does not begin in India until the 12th century, with the composition of Kalhan.a's Râjataran^.gin.î. [p.68] Because of this, even the dating of the Mauryas and the Guptas, the best known pre-Islâmic periods, displays small uncertainties. The rulers and dates for them here are from Stanley Wolpert's A New History of India [Oxford University Press, 1989] and Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies -- Gordon had the only full lists I'd ever seen for the Mauryas, Kushans, and Guptas; but the Mauryas and Guptas can now be found in the Facts On File Encyclopedia of World History (George Philip Ltd., 2000, p.520). Besides Wolpert, another concise recent history of India is A History of India by Peter Robb [Palgrave, 2002]. It is becoming annoying to me that scholarly histories like these are almost always but poorly supplemented with maps and lists of rulers, let alone genealogies (where these are known). Both Wolpert and Robb devote much more space to modern India than to the ancient or mediaeval country, and this preference seems to go beyond the paucity of sources for the earlier periods. The "Saka Era," as the Indian historical era, significantly starts rather late (79 AD) in relation to the antiquity of Indian civilization. Indeed, like Greece (c.1200-800 BC) and Britain (c.400-800 AD), India experienced a "Dark Ages" period, c.1500-800 BC, in which literacy was lost and the civilization vanished from history altogether. Such twilight periods may enhance the vividness of quasi-historical mythology like the Iliad, the Arthurian legends, and the Mahâbhârata. The earliest history of India is covered separately at "The Earliest Civilizations" and "The Spread of Indo-European and Turkish Peoples off the Steppe." The affinities of Indian languages are also covered at "Greek, Sanskrit, and Closely Related Languages." Readers should treat with caution some scholarship and a great deal of the material on the internet about the Indus Valley Civilization and its relationship to Classical Indian civilization, or all of civilization. The claims have progressed to the point now where not only are all of Indian civilization and all of its languages regarded as autochthonous (with Indo-European languages said to originate in India, and derived from Dravidian languages, rather than arriving from elsewhere and unrelated to Dravidian), but the civilization itself is said to extend back to the Pleistocene Epoch (before 10,000 BC), with any ruins or artifacts conveniently covered by rising sea levels. The urge towards inflated nationalistic claims is familiar. Particular claims about India are treated here in several places but especially in "Strange Claims about the Greeks, and about India." THE MAURYAS, c.322-184 BC Chandragupta (Gk. Sandrokotos) c.322-301 Bindusara 301-269 Ashoka 269-232 Kunala 232-225 Dasaratha 232-225 Samprati 225-215 Salisuka 215-202 Devadharma/ Devavarman 202-195 Satamdhanu/ Satadhanvan 195-187 Brihadratha 187-185 The Mauryas are the beginning of historical India. This inception is particularly dramatic when we realize that Chandragupta seems to have actually met Alexander the Great in person. Perhaps realizing that there were no historians writing down his deeds, the greatest king of the Dynasty, Ashoka, commemorated himself with monumental inscriptions, especially on a series of pillars erected around India. The most famous of these is at Sarnath, where the Buddha began preaching. The lion capital of the pillar at Sarnath is now used as the official crest of modern India, with the Wheel of the Law (Dharmachakra) on it (as at right) on the flag of India. Indeed, Ashoka is the most famous for converting to Buddhism and sending missionaries abroad. Ashoka can be rather well dated because he sent letters to the contemporary Hellenistic monarchs, Antigonus II Gonatas (Antikini) of Macedonia , Antiochus II Theos (Anityoka) of the Seleucid Kingdom, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Turamaya) of Egypt, Alexander II (Alikasudara) of Eprius, and Magas (Maga) of Cyrene, urging them to convert to Buddhism themselves. Greek history contains no record of these requests. MACEDONIAN KINGS OF BACTRIA 256-c.55 BC The decline of the Mauryas coincided with the rise of a neighboring Greek Kingdom in Bactria. This was also important for the history of Buddhism, as the Kings became converts. A classic of Buddhist literature, the "Questions of Milinda," (Milindapañha) records the convertion of one King in particular, Menander Soter Dikaios (Milinda, 155-130). This is part of the history of India, but the kingdom is listed with other Hellenistic monarchies. It now seems like one of the oddest things in history that there was once a kingdom of Greek Buddhists in Afghanistan. There are no Greeks or Buddhists in Afghanistan now. The Greek rulers then survive well into the period of the Sakas and Parthians, as follows. THE SAKAS, c.130 BC Maues 97-58 BC Vonones Spalyris Spalagademes Spalirises Azes I c.30 BC Azilises Azes II THE PARTHIANS/SUREN Pakores Orthagnes Gudnaphar (Gondophernes) c.19-45 AD Abdagases Sasas Arsaces Theos Nahapa 119-124 AD The Sakas (or Shakas) were an Iranian steppe people who descended into India, much as the Arya had earlier -- indeed, it is a pattern that would be repeated again and again until the Moghuls. The Sakas spoke an Iranian language. This is classified as "South-Eastern" Iranian, which geographically locates where the Sakas ended up, but not where they began, which was on the steppe north and east of the Aral Sea. The "North-Eastern" Iranian languages, Sarmatian and Scythian (which are poorly attested), ended up in the far North-West, north of the Caspian Sea and in the Ukraine, respectively. From the Sarmatians came the Alans, whose language survives in the Caucasus as Ossetian. Also North-Eastern Iranian was Sogdian, which remained North-East and continued to be an important Central Asian language until the Arab conquest. It has a small survivor in the Pamirs, Yaghnobi. After the arrival of the Kushans, the Sakas were simply driven further into India, into Rajasthan, where they became assimilated as Hindu Kshatriyas. Since Rajasthan later became famous for its warriors, this may indicate the cultural preservation of Saka nomadic fierceness. There are no historical documents or preserved naratives from this period, and the rulers are mostly known from coins, which may have dates, THE SAKA ERA, THE INDIAN HISTORICAL ERA 79 AD 2000 AD - 78 = 1922 Annô Sakidae but in eras or reckonings that often cannot be identified. Since 1957, the National Calendar of India uses the Saka Era (78 AD = year 0), but the origin of this benchmark is itself unknown (cf. Explandatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, edited by P. Kenneth Seidelmann, University Science Books, 1992, pp.591-594). It is certainly representative of the problems with Indian history that its own historical era dates an unknown event in a period, long after the beginning of Indian history, that itself is all but innocent of dates and historical evidence. Simultaneously with the descent of Sakas into India, Parthians (Pahlavas) or Suren appear from the west, and some of them become established in India independent (or not) of the Parthian King. The Parthians spoke a "North-Western" Iranian language, though its origin was far south of the Scythians. The sources are sometimes confused about which Indian rulers are Sakas and which are Parthians, since they are never attested as which. Gudnaphar (Greek Gondophernes), who traditionally is supposed to have welcomed the Apostle Thomas to India, seems to have been Parthian. The legend of the mission of Thomas to India is now of renewed interest because of the discovery of the text of the Gospel of Thomas, one of the Gnostic Gospels, in Egypt in 1945. THE KUSHANS Kujula Kadphises c.20 BC-c.30/64 AD Wima/Welma Taktu c.30-c.80 Welma Kadphises c.80-c.103 Kanishka I c.103-c.127 AD Vasishka I c.127-c.131 Huvishka I c.130-c.162 Vasudeva I c.162-c.200 Kanishka II c.200-c.220 Vasishka II c.220-c.230 Kanishka III c.230-c.240 Vasudeva II c.240-c.260 Vasu late 3rd century Chhu late 3rd century Shaka 3-4th century Kipanada 4th century The Kushans also began as an Indo-European steppe people, known to the Chinese as the Yuèzhi (Yüehchih), the "Moon Tribe." They seem to have been a group who moved far east on the steppe very early, speaking a language with many archaic features. By attacking the Hsiung-nu [Xiongnu], probably the later Huns, the Chinese of the Han Dynasty drove them back into the Yuèzhi, who then migrated (170 BC) into the Tarim Basin (the Lesser Yuèzhi) and Transoxania (the Greater Yuèzhi), areas which they dominated c.100 BC-300 AD. The language of the Lesser Yuèzhi is attested in Buddhist texts in two dialects of "Tocharian." The Greater Yuèzhi, as the Kushans, followed other steppe people down into India. Some small uncertainty continues over the identification of the Yuèzhi with the Kushans and the writers of Tocharian, but the recent discovery of well-preserved, European-looking mummies along the Silk Road serves to affirm the Indo-European bona fides of the still illiterate (from a period long before Tocharian) local culture. Although the dates are still very uncertain, historical information in India is rather better than for the preceding period. Of special importance is King Kanishka, under whom the Fourth Great Buddhist Council is supposed to have been held, as the Third was under Ashoka. Kanishka is said to have been converted to Buddhism by the playwright Ashvaghosha. The earliest actual images of Buddhas and Boddhisattvas date from his reign. Also of interest are the Kushan royal titles, Maharaja Rajatiraja Devaputra Kushâna. Rajatiraja, "King of Kings," is very familiar from Middle Eastern history, since monarchs from the Assyrians to the Parthians had used it. Maharaja, "Great King," is very familiar from later India but at this early date betrays its Middle Eastern inspiration, since it was originally used by the Persian Kings. Devaputra, "Son of God," sounds like the Kushans claiming some sort of Christ-like status, which is always possible, but it may actually just be an Sanskrit version of a title of the Chinese Emperor, "Son of Heaven." THE GUPTAS, c.320-550 AD Gupta 275-300 Ghatotkacha 300-320 Chandra Gupta I 320-335 Samudra Gupta 335-370 Rama Gupta 370-375 Chandra Gupta II 375-415 Kumara Gupta I 415-455 Skanda Gupta 455-467 Kumara Gupta II 467-477 Budha Gupta 477-496 Chandra Gupta III ? 496-500 Vainya Gupta 500-515 Narasimha Gupta 510-530 Kumara Gupta III 530-540 Vishnu Gupta 540-550 This was one of the classic ages of Indian history, for whose culture we have a rather full description by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa-Hsien, who was in India between 399 and 414, in the time of Chandra Gupta II. This was the last time that India, or at least the North, would be united by a culturally indigenous power. The Guptas patronized the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religions equally. Towards the end of the period, the Guptas began to experience inroads from the Huns (Huna), the next steppe people, whose appearance in Europe, of course, pressured German tribes to move into the Roman Empire. By 500, Huns controlled the Punjab and in short order extended their rule down the Ganges. They don't seem to have founded any sort of durable state. The Huns were the last non-Islamic steppe people to invade India. While the name of Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryas, is usally given as one word, the "Gupta" ("guarded, protected") element in names of the Gupta dynasty is usually, but not always, written as a separate word. Thanesar Naravardhana c. 500-? Rajyavardhana I Adityavardhana Prabhakaravardhana c.580-c.605 Rajyavardhana II c.605-606 Harsha Vardhana 606-647 In the political fragmentation of the following period, Harsha Vardhana, from Thanesar, north of Delhi, was one ruler who for a time united most of the North of India again, and, as luck would have it, we have the account of Hsüan-tsang (Xuánzang, 600-664), another Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, who went to India between 629 and 645, during his time. Maharashtra Châlukyas Pulakeshin I 543-566 Kirtivarman I 566-597 Mangalesa 597-609 Pulakeshin II 609-642 killed in battle by Narasimha Varman I of Pallava; interregnum, 642-655 Vikramaditya I 655-680 Vinayaditya 680-696 Vijayaditya 696-733 Vikramaditya II 733-746 Kirtivarman II 746-757 Rashtrakutas Dantidurga 754-768 Krishna I 768-783 Govinda I 768-? Dhruva Govinda II 793-814 Amoghavarsha I 814-877 Krishna II 877-915 Indra I 915-917 Amoghavarsha II 917-918 Govinda III 918-934 Amoghavarsha III 934-939 Krishna III 939-968 Khottiga 968-972 Karka Amoghhavarsha IV 972-973 Indra II 973-982 Châlukyas Taila Ahavamalla 973-997 Satyasraya Irivabedanga 997-1008 Vikramaditya I 1008-1014 Ayyana 1014-1015 Jayasimha 1015-1042 Somesvara I 1042-1068 Somesvara II 1068-1076 Vikramaditya II 1076-1127 Somesvara III 1127-1138 Jagadekamalla 1138-1151 Tailapa 1151-1156 Kalachuris Bijjala 1156-1168 Somesvara 1168-1177 Sankama 1177-1180 Ahavamalla 1180-1183 Singhana 1183-1184 Harsha enjoyed a long reign but then was defeated by forces from Maharashtra ("Great country"), in the Deccan. Pulakeshin II, also visited by Hsüan-tsang, declared himself "Lord of the Eastern and Western Waters." Although Maharashtrans never united the north and dominating the country like the Guptas or Harsha, I have included them to span the period down to the Sult.âns of Delhi. There were many other states of similar size and power during this era, but I take Maharashtra as representative and with a titular priority derived from the defeat of Harsha. [LINK] Indian Buddhism, although patronized by Harsha, already seemed to be in decline to Hsüan-tsang, and, indeed, the contemporary development of Tantrism was obscuring the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. It was also during this period that we begin to get identifiable individual Indian philosophers, like Shankara (c.780-820), from whom we have a classic formulation of the doctrine of the Vedanta School. With the period of the Classical Empires over, it is striking that only now do individuals appear in the light of history in Indian philosophy. There is speculation that Shankara already represents a reaction to the arrival of Islâm on the borders of India. The following period, then, is the calm before the full force of Islâm burst on the country with the invasions of Mah.mûd of Ghazna, from 1001 to 1024. While Shankara's views were later criticized as too influenced by Buddhism, they are more faithful to the Upanishads than the theism of the critics, who themselves seem increasingly influenced by the monotheism of Islâm. There also appears to be a decisive influence from Islâm on Indian dress. While in Classical India women are typically shown bare breasted, as at left, the rigors of the Middle Eastern nudity taboo came into full force in modern India, at least for women. I am not aware just when this transition occurs. By the 19th century Krishna's lover Radha is shown in a full shoulder to floor woven dress. Someone could easily chronicle the transition by cataloguing such sculpture. The Châlukya dynasty, residing at Badami, suffered a severe reverse when Pulakeshin II was killed in battle by Narasimha Varman I of Pallava, and Badami occupied. After reestablishing themselves, they were eventually overthrown by their own vassals, the Rashtrakutas, who moved the capital to Ellora. The Rashtrakutas were then deposed by new Châlukyas, who established themselves at Kalyâni. A couple more brief changes of dynasty occur before the area is annexed by Delhi in 1317. The rulers of Maharashtra are entirely from Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies, where they seem to have been added recently. Details of the period are from Wolpert's A New History of India (pp.95-103). There seems to be some uncertainty about the dates, since Wolpert has Krishna I, patron of the remarkable Kailasanatha temple to Shiva, reigning 756-775, while Gordon has 768-783. This is, of course, not too surprising, given the problems with Indian historiography. Châlukya Somesvara IV 1184-1200 Yadava Singhana 1200-1247 Krishna 1247-1261 Mahadeva 1261-1271 Amana 1271 Ramachandra 1271-1311 Sankaradeva 1311-1313 Harapaladeva 1313-1317 To Delhi, 1317 SULT.ÂNS OF DELHI (DILHÎ) Mu'izzî or Shamsî Slave Kings Aybak Qut.b adDîn Malik in Lahore for Ghûrids, 1206-1210 Ârâm Shâh 1210-1211 Iltutmish Shams adDîn Sult.ân in Delhi, 1211-1236 Fîrûz Shâh I 1236 Rad.iyya Begum Sult.âna, 1236-1240 Bahrâm Shâh 1240-1242 Mas'ûd Shâh 1242-1246 Mah.mud Shâh I 1246-1266 Balban Ulugh Khân viceroy since 1246 1266-1287 Kay Qubâdh 1287-1290 Kayûmarth 1290 Khaljîs Fîrûz Shâh II Khaljî 1290-1296 Ibrâhîm Shâh I Qadïr Khân 1296 Muh.ammad Shâh I 'Alî Garshâsp 1296-1316 'Umar Shâh 1316 Mubârak Shâh 1316-1320 Khusraw Khân Barwârî 1320 Tughluqids Tughluq Shâh I 1320-1325 Muh.ammad Shâh II 1325-1351 Fîrûz Shâh III 1351-1388 Tughluq Shâh II 1388-1389 Abû Bakr Shâh 1389-1391 Muh.ammad Shâh III 1389-1394 Sikandar Shâh I 1394 Mah.mûd Shâh II 1394-1395, 1401-1412 Nus.rat Shâh 1395-1399 Dawlat Khân Lôdî 1412-1414 Sayyids Khid.r Khân 1414-1421 Mubârak Shâh II 1421-1434 Muh.ammad Shâh IV 1434-1443 'Âlam Shâh 1443-1451 Lôdîs Bahlûl 1451-1489 Sikandar II Niz.âm Khân 1489-1517 Ibrâhîm II 1517-1526 Moghul Rule, 1526-1540 Sûrîs Shîr Shâh Sûr 1540-1545 Islâm Shâh Sûr 1545-1554 Muh.ammad V Mubâriz Khân 1554 Ibrâhîm III Khân 1554-1555 Ah.mad Khân Sikandar Shâh III 1555 Islâm came to India in great measure in the person of Mah.mûd of Ghazna, who began raiding the country at the turn of the Millennium. This progressed to permanent occupation under his successors, the Ghurids, whose slave viceroys became independent at the beginning of the 13th century, founding the Sult.ânate of Delhi. This began an Islâmic domination of India that lasted until the advent of the British. The consequences of his can hardly be underestimated. Up to a quarter of all Indians ended up converting to Islâm. Buddhism disappeared. Some of the greatest monuments of Indian architecture, like the Taj Mahal, really reflect Persian and Central Asian civilization rather than Indian. Indian Moslems became accustomed, as was their right under Islâmic Law, to be ruled by a Moslem power. In practical terms, that meant that they did not want to be ruled by Hindus, when and if India should become independent. Today, the separation of Pakistan and Bangladesh from the Republic of India, with ongoing strife between them, and the occasional riot between Hindus and Moslems in India itself, are all the result of this. Sikhism, from Pâli sikkha (Sanskrit shis.ya), "follower," was a new religion that attempted to reconcile and replace Hinduism and Islâm. Sikh Gurûs 1 Nânak 1469-1539 2 An^.gad 1539-1552 3 Amar Dâs 1552-1574 4 Râm Dâs Sod.hi 1574-1581 5 Arjun Mal 1581-1606 6 Hargobind 1606-1644 7 Har Râi 1644-1661 8 Hari Krishen 1661-1664 9 Tegh Bahâdur 1664-1675 10 Gobind Râi Singh 1675-1708 Khâlsâ, 1699 Bandâ Singh Bahâdur 1708-1716 Khâlsâ Râj, Punjab, 1761 Ranjît Singh 1780-1839 Kharak Singh 1839-1840 Nao Nehal Singh 1840 Chand Kaur 1840-1841 Sher Singh 1841-1843 Duleep Singh 1843-1849, d. 1893 First Sikh War, 1845-1846; Second Sikh War, 1848-1849; annexed by British, 1849 Although there are some 18 million Sikhs today, this never made much of a dent in the numbers of Hindus or Moslems, and long earned the Sikhs little but hositility from both. After the Fifth Gurû ("Teacher") was executed by the Moghuls, the Sixth rejected Moghul authority and was forced to flee to the mountains. When the Ninth Gurû was later again executed by the Moghuls, the Tenth, Gobind Râi, took things a step further by transforming the community into an army, the Khâlsâ, "Pure." Every Sikh became a Singh, "Lion." The succession of Gurûs was then ended. At first this transformation did not seem to improve things much. Gobind Singh and his temporal successor, Bandâ Singh Bahâdur, both died violent deaths, and the community fragmented. But with the decline of Moghul power, opportunity knocked. The Khâlsâ was soon again unified and installed in Lahore, under Ranjît Singh, who became Mahârâjâ of the Punjab. Henceforth the Sikhs, although never more than a minority, were the greatest military power in northern India. The death of Ranjît, however, led to a chaotic succession and conflict among his heirs. Two sharp wars with the British led to the annexation of the Punjab, after which Sikh warlike ambitions could be directed through membership in the British Indian Army, where the Sikhs stood out with their characteristic turbans and beards. In modern India a movement began for Sikh independence from India, with the Indian Punjab becoming Khâlistân. Led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrânwale, this led to a catastrophic showdown in 1984 when the Golden Temple in Armitsar, the fortified center of the Sikh Faith, was stormed by the Indian Army, and Bhindrânwale killed. When Prime Minister Indria Gandhi was assassinated later the same year by Sikh bodyguards, few doubted that this was an act of revenge. Sikh nationalism continues to trouble India. MOGHUL EMPERORS Great Moghuls Bâbur 1498-1500, 1500-1501 in Transoxania 1526-1530 Humâyûn 1530-1540, 1555-1556 Akbar I 1556-1605 Jahângîr 1605-1627 Dâwar Bakhsh 1627-1628 Shâh Jahân I Khusraw 1628-1657, d. 1666 Awrangzîb 'Âlamgîr I 1658-1707 Shâh 'Âlam I Bahâdur 1707-1712 Jahândâr Mu'izz adDîn 1712-1713 Farrukh-siyar 1713-1719 Shams adDîn Râfi' adDarajât 1719 Shâh Jahân II Râfi' adDawla 1719 Nîkû-siyar Muh.ammad 1719 Muh.ammad Shâh Nâs.ir adDîn 1719-1748 Looting of Delhi by Nâdir Shâh, 1739 Ah.mad Bahâdur Shâh I 1748-1754 'Azîz adDîn 'Âlamgîr II 1754-1759 Shâh Jahân III 1759 Shâh 'Âlam II 1759-1788, 1788-1806 Bîdâr-bakht 1788 Mu'în adDîn Akbar II 1806-1837 English replaces Persian, 1828; Moghul authority replaced by Britain, 1827; Suttee illegal, 1829; suppression of Thugee launched, 1836 Sirâj adDîn Bahâdur Shâh II 1837-1858 Great Sepoy Mutiny, 1857-1858; British Rule, 1858-1947 Moghul is Persian (Mughûl in Arabic) for "Mongol" -- although the Moghuls were rather more Turkish than Mongol. An alternative pronunciation in Persian is Moghol, which, with a different final vowel, would give a Hindi-Urdu pronunciation of Mughal, which now tends to be used by historians. Pretentions to universal rule, which figure in Indian mythology, in Persian imperial tradition, and in the titles of earlier Indian rulers, figure in many of the actual names of Moghul emperors. "Akbar" in Arabic is "Greatest." "Jahângir" in Persian means to "seize" (gir) the "world" (jahân). "Shâh Jahân" is also Persian for "World King." "'Âlamgir" and "Shah 'Âlam" both simply substitute the Arabic word for "world," 'âlam, for the Persian word. As the Moghul state decays in the 18th century, of course, these names and pretentions become increasingly farcical. Almost from the first, Moghul policy was to tolerate and win the cooperation of Hindus, especially the warriors of Rajasthan. With Akbar this approached a policy of positive toleration and religious syncretism, which earned Akbar the disfavor of Moslem clerics but, like Ashoka, the esteem of modern liberal opinion. Even the most basic elements of this policy, however, were reversed by Awrangzîb (or Aurangzeb), who briefly brought the Empire to its greatest extent but whose measures against Hindus and Sikhs (the execution of the ninth Sikh Gurû) fatally weakened the state. Non-Moslems no longer had any reason to support the Moghuls, and in short order the Empire was only a shell of its former strength and vigor, with the Persians sacking Delhi itself (1739), under the Emperor, Muh.ammad Shâh, who had done somewhat well at maintaining things. Henceforth, the shell of Moghul authority would stand just until a new conquering power would appear. That turned out to be the British, who, however, only gradually conceived the notion of actually replacing nominal Moghul authority with an explicit British Dominion in India. Although the last Moghul was deposed in 1858, the full process was not complete until Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of Indian in 1876. The British Râj would then last exactly 71 more years -- testimony to the rapidity of modern events after the 332 years of the Moghuls. How durable the British heritage will be is a good question. The form of government in India, which has in general remained democratic, is far more British than that of other former British possessions. And English, with its own distinctive Indian accent, remains the only official language of the country that does not provoke communal conflict. What the British hertiage thus tends to stand for is something unifying, fair, and evenhanded -- a plus for India and a tribute to the British. Nawwâbs & Kings of Oudh (Awadh), 1722-1856 Sa'âdat Khân Burhân alMulk 1722-1739 Abû Mans.ûr Khân S.afdâr Jang 1739-1754 H.aydar Shujâ' adDawla 1754-1775 Âs.af adDawla 1775-1797 Wazîr 'Alî 1797-1798, d. 1817 Sa'âdat 'Alî Khân 1798-1814 H.aydar I Ghâzî adDîn 1814-1827; King, 1819 H.aydar II Sulaymân Jâh 1827-1837 Muh.ammad 'Alî Mu'în adDîn 1837-1842 Amjad 'Alî Thurayyâ Jâh 1842-1847 Wâjid 'Alî 1847-1856; d. 1887 Deposed by British, Oudh annexed to British India, 1856; Great Sepoy Mutiny, 1857-1858 Barjîs Qadïr 1857, during the Mutiny British Rule, 1858-1947 Oudh was a Moghul province that drifted into independence. The growth of British influence after 1764 led to a treaty in 1801 that required "sound government." British judgment that there wasn't such government became the pretext for deposing the king and imposing direct British rule in 1856. This and other resentments over British rule in India helped spark the Great Mutiny of British Sepoy troups in 1857-1858. Oudh was a center of the rebellion. The British were beseiged in Cawnpore and Lucknow. The seige of Cawnpore ended in a massacre of the whole British garrison, women and children included -- to which the British retaliated with their own massacre later. The seige of Lucknow ended better. One relief force simply joined the beseiged, then another rescued the garrison but abandoned the city. Finally the city was retaken in 1858. This all led to a transformation of British rule in India, with the East India Company being disbanded and the Royal Government taking responsibility for the country. Niz.âms of Hyderabad, (Haydarâbâd) 1720-1948 Chin Qïlïch Khân Niz.âm alMulk 1720-1748 Nâs.ir Jang 1748-1751 Muz.affar Jang 1751-1752 S.alâbat Jang 1752-1762 Niz.âm 'Alî Khân 1762-1803 Farkhanda 'Alî Khân Nâs.ir adDawla 1829-1857 Mîr Mah.bûb 'Ali I Afd.al adDawla 1857-1869 Mîr Mah.bûb 'Ali II 1869-1911 Mîr 'Uthmân 'Alî Khân Bahâdur Fath. Jang 1911-1948 Annexation by Dominion of India, 1948 Hyderabad, originally most of the Deccan plateau, was another Moghul province (under a s.ûbadâr) that drifted into independence. Despite the collapse of Moghul power, becoming surrounded by the British, and becoming allies of the British, the Niz.âms still listed the Moghul Emperors on their coins all the way until the end of the line in 1858. British sovereignty was not acknowledged until 1926. Although Hyderabad was relatively improverished compared to the surrounding British territories, the last Niz.âm eventually accumulated enough wealth to be considered the richest man in the world. He did not outlive British rule by long. When India was partitioned, the Moslem Niz.âm chose to go with Pakistan, from whose other parts he was separated by hundreds of miles. Since Hyderabad was overwhelmingly Hindu, the new Dominion of India, ironically with King George VI of England still as official Head of State, already fighting with Pakistan over Kashmir, soon invaded and attached Hyderabad to India by force. Nawwâbs of Bengal, 1704-1765 Murshid Qulî Khân 'Alâ' adDawla 1704-1725 Shujâ' Khân Shujâ' adDawla 1725-1739 Sarfarâz Khân 'Alâ' adDawla 1739-1740 'Alîwirdî Khân Hâshim adDawla 1740-1756 Mîrzâ Mah.mûd Sirâj adDawla 1756-1757 Defeated & dethroned by Robert Clive, Battle of Plassey, 1757 Mîr Ja'far Muh.ammad Khân Hâshim adDawla 1757-1760 1763-1765 Mîr Qâsim 'Alî 1760-1763 British East India Company Rule, 1765-1858, Presidency of Calcutta Robert Clive Governor, 1755-1760, 1764-1767 Henry Verelst 1767-1770 Cartier 1770-1772 Originally the Moghul governors (dîwân) of Bengal, the decline of Moghul power resulted in effective independence for the Nawwâbs. The clash with British power, however, spelled the end of independence and the beginning of British India. Clive became the effective founder of the British Empire in India, and the Battle of Plassey one of the supreme moments of British Imperial history. The titular line of Nawwâbs actually continued, however, even until the present day. The title also passed into English, as "nabob," which became a name for successful British merchants in India, especially those who in the early days had somewhat assimilated to Indian culture and practices. Bengal became one of the three "Presidencies" through which direct British rule in India was effected (with different arrangements for the Princely States, which remained nominally under local rule). The others were Bombay and Madras. However, Bengal was also the seat of general British authority; and when the Governor of Bengal became the actual Governor-General of India, his seat continued to be in Calcutta. The capital of India was not moved to Delhi until rather late in British rule, in 1912. New Delhi became the capital in 1931. British Governors-General of India Warren Hastings Governor-General 1772-1785 John MacPherson 1785-1786 Lord Cornwallis 1786-1793 & 1805 Sir John Shore 1793-1798 Lord Mornington 1798-1805 Sir G. Barlow 1805-1807 Lord Minto 1807-1813 Lord Moira (Lord Hastings) 1813-1823 Gurkha War, 1814-1816 Lord Amherst 1823-1828 First Burmese War, 1824-1826; Moghul authority replaced by Britain, 1827 Lord Bentinick 1828-1835 English replaces Persian, 1828; Suttee illegal, 1829; name of Moghul Emperor removed from coinage, 1835 Lord Metcalfe 1835-1836 Lord Auckland 1836-1842 suppression of Thugee launched, 1836; First Afghan War, 1839-1842 Earl of Ellenborough 1842-1844 Lord Hardinge 1844-1848 First Sikh War, 1845-1846 Earl of Dalhousie 1848-1856 Second Sikh War, 1848-1849; Punjab annexed, 1849; Second Burmese War, 1852; Oudh annexed, 1856 Lord Canning 1856-1858 Viceroy, 1858-1862 Great Sepoy Mutiny, 1857-1858; British Rule, 1858-1947 The very odd thing about this period is the ambiguity about just who owned British possessions in India and who the real sovereign authority was. Originally British Indian coins simply said "East India Company," the chartered British company that was the ruler of British India. Since Bengal had been a possession of the Moghul Emperors, this fiction was maintained at least until 1827. The Moghul court language, Persian, was replaced by English in 1828. In 1835, the face of the King of England (William IV) began appearing on East India Company coins, but this implication of sovereignty does not seem to have been accompanied by a formal claim of sovereignty. This was not settled until 1858, when the last Moghul was deposed, the East India Company was abolished, and the Governor-General became the Viceroy, the sovereign agent for Queen Victoria. Nevertheless, another ambiguity continued, which is what kind of entity India was, simply a "Crown Colony" or something else? This was cleared up in 1876, when Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India, meaning that India itself was an Empire, as it was presumed to be under the Moghuls. Two remarkable undertakings in this period were the suppression of Suttee and of Thugee. Suttee was the burning of widows on the pyres of their husbands. This was supposed to be voluntary, as an act of devotion, as Sita did for her husband Rama (though a correspondent has denied this), but it mainly became an act of murder, by which the husband's family could rid themselves of an unwanted daughter-in-law. The Thugs were devotees of the goddess Kali, who murdered and then robbed in her name (the practice of Thugee). Since the Thugs were a secret society, exposing and arresting them was a more difficult and protracted process. That these practices were worthy of suppression provides an interesting subject for arguments about cultural relativism. At the time they did raise fears that the British intended to replace native religion with Christianity, which helped provoke the Great Mutiny. The list of British Viceroys is compiled from The British Conquest and Dominion of India, Sir Penderel Moon [Duckworth, Indiana University Press, 1989]. Most or all of them have biographies at the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Lord Reading was actually Jewish, probably the highest ranking Jew in the history of the British Empire, where the Viceroy of India, always raised to the Peerage for his office, held the highest Office of State next to the Throne itself. BRITISH EMPERORS OF INDIA Viceroys & Governors- General of India Victoria Queen, 1858-1901 Lord Elgin 1862-1863 Lord Lawrence 1863-1869 Lord May 1869-1872 Lord Northbrook 1872-1876 Empress, 1876-1901 Lord Lytton 1876-1880 Second Afghan War, 1878-1881 Lord Rippon 1880-1884 Lord Dufferin 1884-1888 Lord Landsdowne 1888-1894 Third Burmese War, 1885 Lord Elgin 1894-1899 Lord Curzon 1899-1905 Edward (VII) 1901-1910 Lord Minto 1905-1910 George (V) 1910-1936 Lord Hardinge 1910-1916 Lord Chelmsford 1916-1921 Third Afghan War, 1919 Lord Reading 1921-1926 Lord Irwin (Lord Halifax) 1926-1931 Lord Willingdon 1931-1936 In explicitly assuming the sovereignty of India, Queen Victoria assured her new Subjects that their religions would be respected. The British had been shaken, however, and units of the Indian Army, for instance, were never again trusted with artillery. When India became independent in 1947, it legally became a British Dominion, which means that the King of England was still the formal Head of State. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, was asked by Jawaharlal Nehru, the new Prime Minister, to stay on as Governor-General of the Dominion. There was then only one Indian Governor-General before the country was declared a Republic in 1950. The first Governor-General of Pakistan, which similarly became a Dominion, was the Moslem nationalist leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah died of cancer in 1948, and there were several Pakistani Governors-General before the country became a Republic in 1956. British Coinage of India, 1835-1947 Edward (VIII) 1936 Lord Linlithgow 1936-1943 George (VI) Emperor, 1936-1947 Lord Wavell 1943-1947 Lord Mountbatten 1947 King; India 1947-1950, Pakistan 1947-1952 Governor- General of India, 1947-1948 Mohammad Ali Jinnah Governor- General of Pakistan, 1947-1948 Chakravarti, Rajagopalachari Governor- General of India, 1948-1950 Khwaja Nazimuddin Governor- General of Pakistan, 1948-1951 India becomes a Republic, 1950 Elizabeth (II) Queen, Pakistan, 1952-1956 Ghulam Mohammad Governor- General of Pakistan, 1951-1955 Iskander Mirza Governor- General of Pakistan, 1955-1956 Pakistan becomes a Republic, 1956 [LINK] Prime Ministers of India Prime Ministers of Pakistan The Sun Never Set on the British Empire The Kings of England, Scotland, & Ireland Dreadnought British Coins before the Florin, Compared to French Coins of the Ancien Régime The Bank of England Bibliography and Suggested Reading Sangoku Index Philosophy of History Home Page Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved _________________________________________________________________ Emperors of China _________________________________________________________________ The list of Chinese Emperors is basically that of Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary [Harvard University Press, 1972, pp. 1165-1175], O.L. Harvey's pamphlet The Chinese Calendar and the Julian Day Number [1977], and the Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors by Ann Paludan [Thames & Hudson, London, 1998]. Other details of Chinese history are from A Concise History of China by J.A.G. Roberts [Harvard University Press, 1999], The Horizon History of China by C.P. Fitzgerald [American Heritage Publishing, 1969], A Short History of the Chinese People by L. Carrington Goodrich [Harper Torchbooks, 1943, 1963], A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet [translated by J.R. Foster, Cambridge University Press, 1972, 1982, 1990], The Glory and Fall of the Ming Dynasty by Albert Chan [U. of Oklahoma Press, 1982], The Southern Ming, 1644-1662 by Lynn A. Struve [1984], and various books and documentaries that I have not kept track of. Wade-Giles writings are usually used, consistent with the older sources. But Pinyin versions are occasionally given, especially for the dynasties. Superscript numbers are given for the tones in Pinyin, when HTML codes are not available for them (i.e. the lst & 3rd tones). Note that Wade-Giles "ho" and "he" can both be found for Pinyin "he" -- as other writings sometimes reflect older Mandarin pronunciations (e.g. "Peking" itself). While newer sources use Pinyin exclusively, I think this is improper, like teaching Chinese with only the "simplified" characters. Simplified characters themselves are not given here because they are (1) ugly, (2) ahistorical, (3) not used in older sources, and (4) not used in Taiwan or by many or most overseas Chinese communities (though, I understand, this is changing). It may be too late to stop the simplified character bandwagon, but the attempt should be made. While the idea was that simplified characters would make literacy easier, it actually makes larger literacy more difficult when traditional characters must be learned anyway to read older books, historical inscriptions, overseas Chinese, or Japanese kambun, i.e. written Chinese from Japanese writers who didn't actually speak Chinese (a similar phenomenon was formerly found in Korea and Vietnam). A break with the past was certainly one motivation for the simplification -- though Mao Tse-tung (Zedong) then published his own poetry in traditional characters! Curiously, The Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary [Editor-in-chief Wu Jingrong, The Commercial Press, Beijing, Hong Kong, & John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1979, 1985], which gives the simplified character for in the text [p.266] and in the Chinese Foreword [p.2], nevertheless has the traditional character on the front of the book and on the title page. The traditional Chinese dates for the Emperors are usually for the first full year of the reign. This can be a little confusing, and sources on Chinese history are not always consistent. The convention is even applied to the Chinese Republic, which is often said to have begun in 1912, even though the Ch'ing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911. The convention also makes it possible that Emperors who do not survive beyond their initial calendar year may not even be counted, which is the case, creating some confusion, with a couple of the Mongols. As in Mathews', only the first year of a reign is ordinarily given. THE CHINESE HISTORICAL ERA, short count 2637 BC 1998 AD + 2637 = 4635 Annô Sinarum THE CHINESE HISTORICAL ERA, long count 2852 BC 1998 AD + 2852 = 4850 Annô Sinarum The Legendary Period, Age of the Five Rulers 647 years Hsia [Xià] Dynasty 1962-1523 (2205-1766) The "short count" Chinese historical era is given in the Astronomical Almanac [U.S. Government Printing Office, various annual editions]. The "long count" is from the list of Dynasties in Mathews'. Like the era of the City of Rome (A.U.C.), the Chinese historical era really has not been used for dating. Citing the era as the Chinese "year" seems to be a very recent phenomenon. The maps are based on L. Carrington Goodrich, A Short History of the Chinese People [Harper Torchbooks, The University Library, 1963], The Anchor Atlas of World History, Volume I [Hermann Kinder, Werner Hilgemann, Ernest A. Menze, and Harald and Ruth Bukor, 1974], Michael Prawdin, The Mongol Empire, its Rise and Legacy [Free Press, 1961], The [London] Times Concise Atlas of World History, edited by Geoffrey Barraclough [Times Books Ltd, Hammond Inc., 1988], and a few other sources I've lost track of. Paludan's Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors, although an excellent book in every other way, is suspiciously deficient in maps, with a glaring mistake on one that is given -- the absence of the trans-Amur Maritime Province, later lost to Russia, on the map of the Ch'ing Empire [p.11]. There seem to be considerable uncertainties, or at least disagreements, about the boundaries in many periods, even well documented ones, like the T'ang and Ming. The Thought Police are hereby informed that the color yellow is used for the tables and maps for China, not because China is the racial "Yellow Peril," but because the color yellow is associated with the element earth (tu^3, at left) in Chinese philosophy, which implies the direction "center" -- with China itself, the "Middle Kingdom" (Chung^1-kuo^2) at the center. Also, at least from the Ming Dynasty, yellow tiles were reserved for use on the roofs of Imperial palaces, and so the color came to mean the Emperor himself. While the "Middle Kingdom" gives China a central place in the world, another locution, , "Under Heaven," can mean both China and the entire World -- all under heaven. Since the title , "Emperor," when introduced in the Ch'in, signified uniqueness, supremacy, and universal monarchy, "Emperor," Latin Imperator, is a suitable translation in relation to Roman ideology of universal monarchy over the Cosmopolis, the world state. To all the countries around China, as to Imperial Princes, the Emperors bestowed no more than the title , "King." This was not graciously received in courts, like Japan, where the Monarch was regarded as the equal of the , "Son of Heaven." Shang [Shang^1] Dynasty 1523-1028 (1766-1122) Ch'êng-t'ang T'ai-chia Wu-ling T'ai-kêng Hsiao-chia Yung-chi T'ai-wu Chung-ting Wai-jên Tsien-chia Tsu-yi Tsu-hsin Ch'iang-chia Tsu-ting Nan-kêng Hu-chia P'an-kêng Hsiao-hsin Hsiao-yi Wu-ting Tsu-kêng Tsu-chia Lin-hsin K'ang-tin Wu-yi Wên-wu-ting Ti-yi Ti-hsin The Shang, a splendid Bronze Age civilization, is the true beginning of Chinese history, emerging just as India was falling into its own Dark Ages period (1500-800 BC). The system of writing we see developing in the Shang already displays most of the characteristics of Chinese characters and was destined to be the only ancient system of ideographic writing to survive into modern usage, both in China and Japan. However, Shang writing is known mainly from oracle bones. There is no surviving literature, documents, or monumental inscriptions from the period. Data like the list of Shang kings or the excavation of Shang royal tombs thus leaves us pretty much in the dark about historical events, though this is not much different from what is often the case with contemporary Egypt or Mesopotamia. The sophistication of Shang culture, on the other hand, may be inspected directly in the magnificient bronzes that are featured in many of the world's museums. The beginning of Chinese civilization in the North, in the Hwang Ho (or Huang He) valley, means that, among many things, the Chinese diet was not at first what we would expect. Rice only grows further South, where there is much greater rain. The Huang He valley is semi-arid. Even today it is wheat that is grown there. Of course, wheat was used for another characteristic Chinese food: Noodles -- which Marco Polo is supposed to have brought back to Italy. Chinese characters in the Shang were still pictographic in form. At right are some examples of common modern characters with their Shang antecedents. The pronunciation, of course, is modern. There is little evidence about the pronunciation of Chinese at this early period. Chinese at this point may not even have had tones. There are no tones in related languages, like Tibetan, but there are tones in unrelated regional languages, like Vietnamese. Chinese may have picked up tones as part of a Southeast Asian Sprachbund, where, as in the Balkans, unrelated or distantly related languages borrow features from each other. Chou [Zhou^1] Dynasty 1027-256 (1122-255) Western Chou 1027-722 Early Chou 1027-771 Wu Wang Chêng Wang K'ang Wang Chao Wang Mu Wang Kung Wang I Wang Hsiao Wang I Wang Li Wang 878 841, first solid date in Chinese chronology Hsüan Wang 827 Yu Wang 781 Middle Chou 771-473 P'ing Wang 770 Spring and Autumn Period 722-481 Huan Wang 719 Chuang Wang 696 Hsi Wang 681 Hui Wang 676 Hsiang Wang 651 Ch'ing Wang 618 K'uang Wang 612 Ting Wang 606 Chien Wang 585 Ling Wang 571 Ching Wang 544 Ching Wang 519 Warring States Period 481-221 Late Chou 473-256 Yüan Wang 475 Chêng-ting Wang 468 K'ao Wang 440 Wei-lieh Wang 425 An Wang 401 Lieh Wang 375 Hsien Wang 368 Shên-ching Wang 320 Nan Wang 314-256 Over the long history of the Chou Dynasty (commonly pronounced "Joe" in English), China went from a period even more obscure than the Shang to a flourishing, fully documented historical civilization. The changes were so drastic that the dynasty is typically divided into three parts, though there are different versions of exactly how to do this. The Early Chou presents us with the least satisfactory material, since things seem to have rather declined after the fall of the Shang. Of much greater interest is what happens when the central authority of the state actually collapses, which moves us into the Middle Chou or the Spring and Autumn Period. The country breaks up into small domains, which separately become vigorous and expansive, and the Chou kings are reduced to ruling a small county on the Huang He River. We finally get into a period with secure historical dating. The name of the Spring and Autumn Period itself is derived from the Spring and Autumn Annals, one of the Chinese classics, which was a chronicle of the state of Lu, the birthplace of Confucius. Suddenly we have the beginning of Chinese literature, history, and philosophy, curiously at about the same time as the beginnings of Greek and Indian philosophy also. The following links deal with matters in Chinese philosophy. * The "Six Schools" of China * The Chinese Elements and Associations * Confucius [K'ung-fu-tzu or Kongfuzi] * The Six Relationships and the Mandate of Heaven * The Confucian Chinese Classics * Yin & Yáng and the I Ching * Comments on the Tao Te Ching Although Confucius hoped to end the warfare between the small states of his time, things actually got worse after he died. The following time thus is often called the "Warring States" period. As time went on, however, one of the Warring States began to win, and to conquer the others. This was the state of Ch'in (Qin), which lay in Shensi (Shaanxi) Province, in the great bend of the Huang He river. In 256, the ruler of Ch'in, Chao-Hsiang, dethroned the last Chou king. Although the Warring States period was not over, the Chou Dynasty was. Ch'in [Qín] Dynasty 255-207 BC Chao-hsiang Wang (302) 255 Hsiao-wên Wang 250 Chuang-hsing Wang 249 Wang Chêng (changes his name to) Shih-huang-ti/ Shihuangdi 247 221 End of Warring States Period, 221 Erh-shih-huang-ti 209 The ruler who accomplished the unification of China may not even have been of the Ch'in royal house. While Wang Chêng was the son of the wife of Chuang-Hsiang, she may have already been pregnant, previously having been the concubine of another man, like the Empress Eudocia Ingerina at the beginning of the Macedonian Dynasty of Romania. Whatever his origins, Wang Chêng conquered most of the other Warring States and by 221 brought the country together for the first time since the Early Chou. And a much larger and more sophisticated country it now was, too. Although one might say that he was a combination, for Chinese history, of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, nevertheless he was not a great general himself, just the ruler. One of the first things he decided to do was come up with a more appropriate title. Previously, Chinese rulers had been styled , or "king" (ô in Japanese, wang in Korean). This was not going to be good enough. So Wang Chêng made up a new title, , the "August God," or, as we would say, the Emperor. Later, either one of these characters could be used individually to mean "emperor," as the latter became a suffix for the names of many Han Emperors. The whole expression would become kôtei in Japanese (hwangje in Korean), but much more commonly in Japanese only the first character was used (kô or ô), suffixed to "heaven," , as Tennô in Japanese, "heavenly" or "divine" Emperor. This distinction is even preserved in Vietnamese, where hoàng-ðê´ is "emperor" but thiên-hoàng is "Emperor of Japan." The Emperor could also simply be the "Son of Heaven," , tenshi in Japanese, thiên-tù^. in Vietnamese. The new "Emperor" of China then decided that he would simply be known as the "First Emperor," and that all rulers after him would continue the sequence, "Second Emperor," etc. This made him (Shih^3-huang^2-ti^4), which he is still usually called. After the "Second Emperor," however, nobody bothered with the numbering. Wàng came to be used for foreign rulers and Imperial Princes. Thus, the "Prince of Fu" who resisted the Manchus as the first Emperor of the Southern Ming, was really Fu Wang, "King of Fu." The rulers of Japan didn't like being called this, but it stuck for Siam/Thailand. Until the Ming, Chinese Emperors are usually known by their postumous "temple" names, which frequently describe something characteristic of the Emperor or his reign. Until the T'ang, these names most frequently end in ti (dì), "Emperor." Starting with the T'ang, the final character is most commonly tsu (zu^3), "Founder," or tsung (zong^1), "Ancestor." Personal names, which are not used after ascending the Throne, are given for many of the following Emperors. They are identifiable because they begin with the family name of the Dynasty, e.g. Liu for the Han (both of them), Yang for the Sui, Li for the T'ang, and Chu for the Ming. The Mongols and Manchus did not use Chinese family names. With the Ming, Emperors starting being known by the name they chose themselves for their Era. Earlier there usually were several Eras per reign, so this was not a convenient device, but the Ming Emperors stuck to one, a practice maintained by the Ch'ing and adopted by the Japanese in 1868. The Founder of the Ming, Chu Yüan-chang, thus was given the temple name T'ai Tsu ("Great Founder"), but instead is usually known as the "Hung-wu [Vast Military Power] Emperor." Shih-huang-ti had a ferocious and ruthless disposition that found the advice of the Legalist philosopher Li Szu [Li Si] agreeable. In 213, on Li Szu's urging, Shih-huang-ti outlawed all other schools of thought and began to burn their books. This may be why more is not know about the "Hundred Schools" reputed to have existed under the Chou Dynasty. Scholars who resisted the order were executed: 346 (or more) are supposed to have actually been buried alive. The fall of the Ch'in Dynasty soon thereafter was later seen as proof of the working of the Mandate of Heaven. Mao Tse-tung is reported as saying in 1958: What's so unusual about Emperor Shih Huang of the Chin Dynasty? He had buried alive 460 scholars only, but we have buried alive 46,000 scholars....We are 100 times ahead of Emperor Shih of the Chin Dynasty in repression of counter-revolutionary scholars. Mao is often compared, not surprisingly, to Shih-huang-ti. Elsewhere, the Emperor's ruthlessness was evident in his construction of the Great Wall of China, which is supposed to have cost many lives per mile. A wall in the North, however, was reasonable when nothing but desert and nomads lay beyond. In the South, he sent an army, which for the first time extended the county down to the South China Sea. It would take some years before the enclosed coastal mountains were settled and pacified by the Chinese. If these things were more good than bad for China, Shih-huang-ti also set in motion some real reforms, like a simplification of the writing system and the end of feudal tenure in farmland. While Mao is gone, his political heirs still favor positive portrails of Shih-huang-ti. We see this in a recent movie, Hero [Yingxióng], by director Zhang Yimou. This was released in China in 2002, and DVD's of it were soon available elsewhere. The movie was not released to theaters in the United States until 2004. It was said to be "presented by" director Quentin Tarantino, with the hope perhaps that Tarantino's well known enthusiam for martial arts movies would help draw in audiences. They needn't have worried, since the movie opened in the number one position. The story is about how assassins attempting to kill Shih-huang-ti become converted to his cause. Although the King of Ch'in himself says that many people think of him as a tyrant, we do not yet see the degree to which his ruthlessness later went. Instead, we are given to understand that, whatever he does, it is simply for the sake of unifying the country and bringing peace. The key element in the conversion of the assassins are the two characters . These are not actually shown in the film, simply read by the lead assassin. In the Chinese DVD, which did have English subtitles, it is literally translated "under heaven," and means the world or, the practical equivalent, China. This represents the unifying program of Ch'in. However, the subtitles of the film as released in the United States rather awkwardly translate it as "our country," which may indeed be a suitable translation but does have a very different feel to it. We lose the Chinese sense of the universality of its civilization, or of the universal sovereignty of the Emperor. Probably this was not thought suitable for foreign audiences. Much of the enduring interest in Shih-huang-ti is because of his tomb. This is not far from the modern city of Sian (Xian), which was the capital of China, Ch'ang-An, in several periods. The mound of the tomb has never been excavated. It was robbed after the Dynasty fell, but it was described by historians, with a sarcophagus surrounded by a pool of mercury and other marvels. But a surprise came in the 1970's, when a farmer digging a well near the mound found the first figure in what became an entire army of terracotta soldiers, buried in orderly rows to defend the tomb. These amazing figures appear to be individual portraits, and they show the grooming and appearance of Chinese military men of the 3rd century BC. In the Shang Dynasty, such men had themselves been buried with the kings. Now, even the ruthless Frist Emperor made do with copies. Shih-huang-ti is a good example the Taoist ruler who is successful from fear. When he died, however, his success could not endure. A plot at the court faked a message to the Crown Prince, ordering him to kill himself, which he did. A weak younger brother become the "Second Emperor," but he was the tool of manipulators who did not know how to actually govern the country, which began to slip into rebellion. It was a former peasant, Liu Pang, who soon took the capital and founded a new dynasty. Former (Western) Han [Hàn] Dynasty 206 BC- 25 AD Kao Tsu Liu Pang 206 Hui Ti Liu Ying 194 Lu Hou Lu Chih regent 187 Wên Ti Liu Heng 179 Ching Ti Liu Ch'i 156 Wu Ti Liu Ch'e 140 Chao Ti Liu Fu-ling 86 Hsüan Ti Liu Ping-i 73 Yüan Ti Liu Shih 48 Ch'eng Ti Liu Ao 32 Ai Ti Liu Hsin 6 BC P'ing Ti Liu Chi-tzu 1 AD Ju-tzu Liu Ying 6 Wang Mang (Hsin [Xin] Dynasty) 9 Huai-yang Wang 23 The importance of the Han Dynasty should be evident in the circumstance that this is what the Chinese have called themselves ever since, , the "Han People." The Chinese language is the (kango in Japanese), "Han speech"; and Chinese characters are called the (Kanji in Japanese, Hanja in Korean), the "Han letters." The expression can mean "Chinese writing," or "literature of the Han Dynasty," or the "Han Emperor Wên Ti." In Japanese, however, where it is pronounced Kambun, it usually means Chinese as written by Japanese writers, who usually did not speak Chinese. We see the combination of the second characters wén and zì in (moji or monji in Japanese), which can mean "characters, script, writing." (Be warned that there is a simplified character now used for "Hàn" in China.) The greatest Emperor of the Former Han Dynasty was probably Wu Ti. This name means "Martial Emperor," because of the success of Chinese arms in the occupation of the Tarim Basin; but the cultural heritage of his long reign was far more durable. The present definition of the Chinese New Year, as the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice, dates from the inception of the T'ai-ch'u Era in 103 BC. The establishment of Confucianism as the official moral and political ideology of the state was due to the advice of Wu Ti's minister Hung Kung-sun (d.121). In 136 official experts in each of the Five Classics were appointed at court, and in 124 they took on fifty students. By 50 BC this palace school had 3000 students, and by 1 AD graduates staffed the bureaucracy. Also at Wu Ti's court was the historian Szu-ma Ch'ien [Si^1ma^3 Qian^1] (145-86 BC). Szu-ma angered the Emperor in some way and was ordered castrated. Ordinarily, this humiliation would have led to suicide, but the historian lived with his shame in order to finish the first great Chinese history, the Shih Chi [Shi^3jì], "Historical Records," which covers the Ch'in and early Han Dyansties. This established the standard for subsequent official Chinese dynastic histories. By a curious coincidence, the Chinese Emperor whose brief reign begins with the year 1 AD is called P'ing Ti, the "Peaceful Emperor." Later (Eastern) Han [Hàn] Dynasty 25- 220 AD Kuang-wu Ti Liu Hsiu 25 Ming Ti Liu Yang 58 Chang Ti Liu Ta 76 Ho Ti Liu Chao 89 Shang Ti Liu Lung 106 An Ti Liu Yü 107 Shun Ti Liu Pao 126 Ch'ung Ti Liu Ping 145 Chih Ti Liu Tsuan 146 Huan Ti Liu Chih 147 Ling Ti Liu Hung 168 Hsien Ti Liu Hsieh 190 The Later Han is often called the "Eastern" Han because the capital was moved down the Huang He valley, back to where the capital of the Chou had been. This location was actually more easily supplied than the area of Ch'ang-An. Since the previous dynasty is often called the "Former" Han, it seems like the new one should be the "Latter" rather than the "Later" Han, but the usage is established and, after all, it is "later" that is a translation from Chinese, since the "Former Han" is traditionally simply called the "Han." The change of dynasty was mainly because of rebellion against the "dictator" Wang Mang at the end of the Former Han. The Throne was successfully seized by a distant Han cousin, who retained the Dynastic name. Eventually, the Later Han Emperors returned to the Tarim Basin, conquered Hainan, Tonkin, and Annam, and even moved north of the Great Wall into Mongolia. Like Szu-ma Ch'ien before him, the compiler of the History of the Former Han Dynasty [simply the Han Shu, "Han History," in Chinese], Pan Ku (Ban Gu, 32 AD-92), ran afoul of the Emperor, in this case actually dying in prison. Nevertheless, this confirmed the tradition of the history of each dynasty being written under the following one. The Three Kingdoms, 220-265 Minor Han [Shu Hàn] Dynasty, 221-263 Chao-lieh Ti 221 Hou Chu 223 Wei [Wèi] Dynasty, 220-264 Wen Ti Ts'ao P'i [Cao Pei] 220 Ming Ti 227 Shao Ti 240 Kao Kuei Hsiang Kung 254 Yüan Ti 260 Wu [Wú] Dynasty, 222-280 Wu Ti 222 Fei Ti 252 Ching Ti 258 Mo Ti 264 The period of the "Three Kingdoms" is a brief interlude before things settle down for a while in the dynamic of the following period. It may be remembered now with special attention because of a literary source, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (from the 14th century). The Minor Han (Shu Han) is supposed to derive from the previous dynasty. I have always been intrigued that the Shu Han is shown by L. Carrington Goodrich (A Short History of the Chinese People, Harper Torchbooks, 1959, 1963, p.59) occupying an area of Yunnan that had only been partially occupied by the Han, is missing from many maps of the T'ang, and was only properly settled by Chinese with veterans at the beginning of the Ming. J.A.G. Roberts, in A Concise History of China [Harvard, 1999], more resonably identifies the area as Szechwan [Sichuan, north of the Yangtze], but then doesn't provide a map of the period (the maps he does provide jump directly from Confucius to the T'ang). Ann Paludan (Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors, Thames & Hudson, 1998) provides a nice map of the Three Kingdoms, though, mysteriously, none of the Sui or T'ang, showing somewhat less, thought still substantial, territory south of the Yangtze. Be that as it may, the kingdom is eventually absorbed by the Wei. The Wei is replaced by the founder of the Western Tsin [or Chin, Pinyin Jìn], Sima Yan, who conquers Wu in 280, reunifying the country. This doesn't last, as civil war breaks out in 290. Barbarians, the Hsiung-nu [Xiongnu], sacked the capital of Luoyang in 311. Debate continues whether the Hsiung-nu are none other than the Huns who later (within two centuries) invaded Europe and India. Whether they are or not, they inaugurate an era when barbarians dominate the North. The Northern and Southern Empires 265-589 The Six Southern Dynasties 1. Western Tsin/Chin [Jìn] Dynasty, 265-316 Wu Ti Ssu-ma/Sima Yan 265 Hui Ti 290 Huai Ti 307 Min Ti 313, d.318 2. Eastern Tsin/Chin [Jìn] Dynasty, 317-419 Yüan Ti Ssu-ma Jui 317 Ming Ti 323 Ch'êng Ti 326 K'ang Ti 343 Mu Ti 345 Ai Ti 362 Fei Ti, Hai-hsi Ti 366 Chien-wên Ti 371 Hsiao-wu Ti 373 An Ti 397 Kung Ti 419 3. Anterior Sung [Liu Sòng] Dynasty, 420-479 Wu Ti Liu Yü 420 Fei Ti, Ying-yang Wang Liu I-fu 423 Wen Ti Liu I-lung 424 Hsiao-wu Ti Liu Chün 454 Ming Ti Liu Yü 465 Fei Ti, Ts'ang-wu Wang Liu Yeh 473 Shun Ti Liu Chün 477 4. Southern Ch'i [Qí] Dynasty, 479-501 Kao Ti Hsiao Tao-ch'eng 479 Wu Ti Hsiao Tse 483 Ming Ti Hsiao Luan 494 Tung Hun Ho Hsiao Pao 499 Ho Ti 501 5. Southern Liang [Liáng] Dynasty, 502-556 Wu Ti Hsiao Yan 502 Chien-wên Ti Hsiao Kan 550 Yü-chang Wang 551 Yüan Ti Hsiao I 552 Ching Ti Hsiao Fang-chih 555 6. Southern Ch'ên [Chén] Dynasty, 557-589 Wu Ti Ch'en Pa-hsien 557 Wên Ti Ch'en Ch'ien 560 Fei Ti, Lin-hai Wang Ch'en Po-tsung 567 Hsuan Ti Ch'en Hsü 569 Hou Chu Ch'en Shu-pao 583 For a while, Imperial China looked like it would suffer the same fate as the Roman Empire. After the Fall of the Han, the brief interlude of the Three Kingdoms, and the even briefer reunification under the Western Tsin, the country split into North and South, with the North overrun by Barbarians. However, the major difference was that no geographical barriers would inhibit a reunited South from regaining the North, and no massive external invasion, like the advent of Islâm, would inhibit the process. Northern, usually Barbarian, Dynasties the Sixteen Dynasties of the Five Barbarians Early Chao, Northern Han Dynasty, 304-329 (Hsiung-nu) fell to Later Chao Ch'eng Han Dynasty 304-347 (Ti) Eastern Chin Sack of Loyang, 311 Later Chao Dynasty, 319-352 (Chieh) Early Yen Early Liang Dynasty, 313-376 (Chinese) Early Ch'in Later Liang Dynasty, 386-403 (Ti) Later Ch'in Southern Liang Dynasty, 397-404, 408-414 (Hsien-pei) Western Ch'in Northern Liang Dynasty, 397-439 (Hsiung-nu) Northern Wei Western Liang Dynasty, 401/5-421 (Chinese) Northern Liang Early Yen Dynasty, 349-370 (Hsien-pei) Early Ch'in Later Yen Dynasty, 384-408 (Hsien-pei) Northern Yen Southern Yen Dynasty, 398-410 (Hsien-pei) Eastern Chin Northern Yen Dynasty, 409-436 (Chinese) Northern Wei Early Ch'in Dynasty, 351-394 (Ti) Western Ch'in Fu Chien 357-385 Later Ch'in Dynasty, 384-417 (Ch'iang) Eastern Chin Western Ch'in Dynasty, 385-390, 409-431 (Hsien-pei) Hsia Hsia 407-431 (Hsiung-nu) Northern Wei Western Yen Dynasty? 384-396 (Hsien-pei) Later Liang Dynasty? 555-587 the Five Northern Dynasties Northern Wei [Wèi] Dynasty, 386-534 (Hsien-pei) Tao Wu Ti T'o-pa Kuei 386-409 Ming Yüan 409-423 T'ai Wu Ti 423-452 Nan-an Wang 452 Wên Ch'êng Ti 452-465 Hsien Wên Ti 465-471, d.476 Hsiao Wên Ti 471-499 Hsüan Wu Ti 499-515 Hsiao Ming Ti 515-528 Lin-t'ao Wang 528 Hsiao Chuang Ti 528-530, d.531 Tung-hai Wang 530-531, d.532 Chieh Min Ti 531-532 An-ting Wang 531-532 Hsiao Wu Ti 532-535 Western Wei [Wèi] Dynasty, 535-556 (Hsien-pei) Wên Ti T'o-pa Pas-chü 535-551 Fei Ti 551-554 Kung Ti 554-557 Eastern Wei [Wèi] Dynasty, 534-550 (Hsien-pei) Hsiao Ching Ti T'o-pa Shan-chien 534-550, d.552 Northern Ch'i [Qí] Dynasty, 550-577 Wên Hsüan Ti Kao Yang 550-559 Fei Ti 559-560, d.561 Hsiao Chao Ti 560-561 Wu Ch'êng Ti 561-565, 569 Hou Chu 565-577 Yu Chu 577 Northern Chou [Zhou] Dynasty, 557-581 (Hsien-pei) Hsiao Min Ti Yü-wên Chüeh 557 Ming Ti 557-560 Wu Ti 560-578 Hsüan Ti 578-579, d.580 Ching Ti 579-581 overthrown by Yang Chien, 581 Chinese historians regarded the Southern Dynasties as the legitimate succession of the Chinese Throne, which is why the period is reckoned to extend down to 589, and the Sui begun in 590, even though Yang Chien came to a unified Northern Throne in 581. All sources tend to neglect listing the rulers of the Northern Dynasties, or even many of the Northern Dynasties themselves. The latter neglect tends to follow a division, between the less Chinese, more ephemeral, and so less noteworthy "Sixteen Dynasties," and the "Five Northern Dynasties" which last longer, become much more Sinified, and which lead, by way of the Northern Chou, to the reunification of the country. The Sixteen Dynasties are of the "Five Barbarians," i.e. five barbarian peoples. These were the Hsiung-nu [Xiongnú], the Chieh, the Hsien-pei [or Hsien-pi, Xianbei], the Ch'iang, and the Ti. The Ch'iang and the Ti, like the later Hsi-Hsia kingdom, were early groups of Tibetan or Tangut peoples, all speaking languages ultimately related to Chinese in the Sino-Tibetan language family. The other groups were all speaking Altaic languages, closely related to Turkish, Mongolian, and Manchu. The Indo-European speaking Yüeh-chih [Yuezhi] are probably long gone (appearing as the Kushans in Central Asia and India). As noted above, a reasonable speculation holds that the Hsiung-nu are none other than the Huns, whose linguistic affinity was probably with Mongolian, though some sources say Turkish. The Hsien-pei [Xian Bei], in turn, appear to have been Turkish. A few of the Northern Dynasties were evidently Chinese, but all became increasingly Sinified both in culture and, through intermarriage, ethnically. Note that two additional Dynasties, mentioned by L. Carrington Goodrich [A Short History of the Chinese People, Harper Torchbooks, 1943, 1963], have been added to the Sixteen -- a Western Yen and an additional (and much later) Later Liang. There are some minor differences in dates for the Sixteen between Goodrich and Jacques Gernet [A History of Chinese Civilization, translated by J.R. Foster, Cambridge University Press, 1972, 1982, 1990]. The rulers of the Five Northern Dynasties I have only found in the Oxford Dynasties of the World, by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1989, 2002, pp.217-218]. One thing that weakened government made possible was basic cultural innovation. Buddhism took a while to catch on in China. Confucians would really never accept a teaching that advised people to abandon their families and become dependants on society, as Buddhist monks and nuns did. Buddhism had arrived during the Later Han, not always attracting negative official notice, but basic Confucian hostility was only overcome by weaking of central authority with the now fragmented nature of the country, especially under the barbarian Northern dynasties, where undiscriminating "barbarian" tastes perhaps didn't know any better. It was from the Northern Wei that the fabulous Buddhist cave shrines began to be carved and painted at Dunhuang, on the Silk Road in western Kansu [Gansu]. There was also a change in Buddhism itself: Mahâyâna Buddhism had become less hostile to the world than earlier forms, and this was altogether more agreeable to the Chinese. The popularity of Buddhism ushered in the great era of missionaries and pilgrims. Buddhist missionaries arrived to spread the dharma. One of these was Kumârajîva (344-413), the great translator of the Lotus Sutra, who arrived in China in 401. Another was the semi-mythical Bodhidharma (died circa 528), who founded the Ch'an (Zen) School of Buddhism, which combined Buddhism with Chinese ideas from Taoism. This missionary effort was reciprocated by Chinese pilgrims who travelled to India, like Fa-Hsien, whose route, overland going (on the Silk Road), by sea returning, is shown above. The purpose of the pilgrams was usually not just to visit holy sites but to learn Sanskrit and fetch back texts to translate into Chinese. It is under the Anterior Sung Dynasty (420-479) that the tradition of dynastic histories was continued, with the publication of the History of the Later Han Dynasty (the Hou Han Shu) by Fan Ye (398-455). Sui [Suí] Dynasty, 590-618 Wên Ti Yang Chien 581/590 Yang Ti Yang Kuang 605, d.618 Kung Ti Yang Yü 617-618, d.619 Yang Chien was rather like the Chinese Justinian, with some important exceptions: (1) He began in the Barbarian North (as a general of the Northern Chou, grandfather and regent for the Chou King (Ching Ti) whom he deposed in 581) and conquered the Chinese South; and (2) he completely restored the Empire. Justinian's work began from the remaining Empire and was incomplete. If Charlemagne had reunited the entire Roman Empire, the effect would have similar to what we see in China. Yang Chien was raised a Buddhist; and on assuming the Northern Throne in 581, he announced that his rule would be like that of a Cakravartin, the universal monarch of Indian ideology, promoting the "ten Buddhist virtues." There could be no more striking a testimony to the legitimization of Buddhism as a Chinese religion. Besides reuniting the country, the Sui is particularly famous for the building of the Grand Canal. This took essentially the entire duration of the Dynasty, and aroused great resentment from the severity of the forced labor. More than 3,000,000 workers were impressed, and those evading service were executed. The project was pursued by the Emperor Yang Kuang, who also provoked opposition with disastrous attempts to conquer Korea. Then, when rebellions broke out, he did little to suppress them and was eventually killed by the captain of his own guard. Meanwhile, the T'ang had become established at Ch'ang-an. T'ang [Táng] Dynasty, 618-906 Kao Tsu Li Yüan 618 T'ai Tsung Li Shih-min 627 Legendary life of Ti Jen-chieh (Di Renjie) Judge Dee, 630-700; Nestorian missionaries arrive in Ch'ang-an, 635; Conquest of Tarim Basin, 645 Kao Tsung Li Chih 650 Transoxania occupied, 659-665; Korea occupied, 668-676 Chung Tsung Li Che 684 Jui Tsung Li Tan 684 Wu Hou, "Empress Wu," (Chou [Zhou^1] Dynasty) 690 Chung Tsung (restored) 705 Jui Tsung (restored) 710 Hsüan Tsung Li Lungchi 712 Battle of Talas, 751; Arabs defeat Chinese, under Kao Hsien-chih, but advance no further into Central Asia Su Tsung Li Yü 756 Loss of Tarim Basin to Tibetans, Ch'ang-An occupied by Tibetans, 763 Tai Tsung Li Yü 763 Tê Tsung Li Shih 780 Battle of T'ing-chou, Kansu lost to Tibetans, 791 Shun Tsung Li Sung 805 Hsien Tsung Li Ch'un 806 Mu Tsung Li Heng 821 Ching Tsung Li Chan 825 Wen Tsung Li Ang 827 Wu Tsung Li Yen 841 Persecution of Buddhism, 845 Hsüan Tsung Li Ch'en 847 Yi Tsung Li Wen 860 Hsi Tsung Li Yen 874 Chinese ports closed to foreigners, 878; rebel Huang Ch'ao seizes Ch'ang-an, 881 Chao Tsung Li Chieh 889 Chao-hsüan Ti, Ai Ti Li Chu 904 The T'ang may very well have been the greatest Chinese dynasty. None other, for a time, so dominated its surroundings or so influenced its neighbors. Japanese civilization, for instance, basically came into existence under T'ang influence. Similarly, the mountainous coastal regions of the South of China were first integrated into the state. A remaining artifact of this is that in Cantonese, the Chinese people are not the "Han People," , but the "T'ang People," -- Tong^4yen^4, as pronounced in Cantonese itself. The Founder of the dynasty was more or less a figurehead for his great son, Li Shih-min, the real creator of the T'ang state, and the mastermind of rebellion against the Sui while only 16 years old. This, at least, is what Li Shih-min later said, and some scepticism is now expressed about it. Nevertheless, while Emperor himself, remembered as T'ai Tsung, with the realm well established, Li Shih-min created the system of civil service examinations in the Classics that would choose China's bureaucrats for nearly the next 1300 years. Buddhism, which became entrenched during the period of the Northern and Southern Empires, was finally accepted (probably with ill grace by Confucian officials) as a properly Chinese religion (the third of the "Three Ways") during the Sui and T'ang. Chinese pilgrims, like Hsüan-tsang, continued to brave the Silk Road and the Pamirs to travel to India to learn Sanskrit and bring back Buddhist texts. One of T'ai Tsung's own concubines seduced his weak son on his succession and, as the Empress Wu, dominated the next 45 years of Chinese history. Consort of Kao Tsung, mother of Chung Tsung and Jui Tsung, effectively the sole ruler from 684 to 705, and ruler in her own name from 690, she was the only woman to thus rule China in all of Chinese history. Her career was very similar to that of the Empress Irene, who was the first Roman Empress to rule in her own name, and the only one to seriously exercise power on her own initiative. Thus, like Irene, the Empress Wu had a relatively weak willed husband; and, when he died, she acted first as regent for one son, dethroned him, then for another, and then assumed the throne in her own right. While Irene had her son blinded, an injury from which he died, and ruled only briefly in her own right, Wu did not harm her sons and then ruled for fifteen years (when each followed her). Both Wu and Irene ruled rather well, but were then deposed, without being killed. At that point Wu herself may have just been too old to resist. Subsequently, misogynistic Confucians portrayed Wu as consumed with bloody and immoral appetites. Irene's reign gave Pope Leo III justification for crowning Charlemagne Roman Emperor, since neither believed that a woman could be a legitimate Roman ruler. The Empress Wu's grandson Hsüan Tsung was the last great figure of the dynasty, also known as "Ming Huang," or the "Bright [or brilliant] Emperor." Unfortunately, Hsüan Tsung's long reign ended troubled by rebellion, which substantially impaired the strength of the state for the rest of the history of the dynasty. Nevertheless, important innovations continued to occur. Books began to be printed in the 9th century, porcelain became common, and tea began to be made regularly, not just used as a medicine. The wine drinking of Judge Dee's day gave way to the more sober potable. Judge Ti (Di, Dee; 630-700) became the hero of later Chinese detective fiction. Such stories always featured a District Magistrate as the protagonist; and since the Magistrate was also the Police Chief, Prosecutor, and Judge in his District, this allowed for dimensions of crime fiction that now in Western fiction would usually belong to separate genres. Judge Ti was brought into modern fiction by the Dutch diplomat and linguist Robert van Gulik (1910-1967). Van Gulik first translated a Chinese story, the Di Gongàn ("Ti Cases"), as the Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee in 1949. He hoped this would spark a revival of such stories in Chinese and Japanese; but when it didn't, he began writing a series of such stories himself. This is examined in more detail elsewhere. The culture of van Gulik's Dee stories, and the costumes he illustrated in his own drawings, were more of Ming times than of T'ang, however, since van Gulik was more familiar with that. In the decline of the T'ang, Tibet becomes a major factor. It was the Tibetans who drove the T'ang out of the Tarim Basin (763) and then even took Kansu (791). This collapse even included an brief occupation of Ch'ang-An itself by the Tibetans (763). Tibetans remained in Kansu, later founding the durable Tangut or Hsi-Hsia state, which survived until the Mongol conquest. The irony of these Tibetan successes is now considerable, in light of recent events. Some might think of present Chinese claims and policies in Tibet as little more than a long delayed revenge for the Tibetan humiliation of the T'ang. The Five Dynasties, 907-960 1. Posterior Liang [Liáng] Dynasty, 907-923 T'ai Tau, T'ai Tsu Chu Wen 907 Mo Ti 915 2. Posterior T'ang [Táng] Dynasty, 923-935 Chuang Tsung 923 Ming Tsung 926 Min Ti, Fei Ti 934 3. Posterior Tsin [Jìn] Dynasty, 936-947 Kao Tsu 936 Ch'u Ti 943 4. Posterior Han [Hàn] Dynasty, 947-951 Kao Tsu 947 Yin Ti 948 5. Posterior Chou [Zhou^1] Dynasty, 951-960 T'ai Tsu 951 Shih Tsung 944 Tartar Dynasties Liao [Liáo] (Khitan) Dynasty 907-1125 T'ai Tsu, Yeh-lü A-pao-chi 907-926 T'ai Tsung 927-947 Shih Tsung 947-951 Mu Tsung 951-969 Ching Tsung 969-982 Shêng Tsung 982-1031 Hsing Tsung 1031-1055 Tao Tsung 1055-1101 Yeliuy Tianzo, T'ien-tso Ti 1101-1125, d.1128 displaced by the Kin/Chin; relocated to Sinkiang as Western Liao The Hsi-Hsia (Tangut) State 990-(1032) -1227 conquered by Mongols, 1226-1227 In this transition period some basic Chinese customs of later history are supposed to have originated. Previously people sat on floor mats, as the Japanese continued to do, but now chairs came into common use. Also, the bizarre and disturbing custom of binding the feet of women began, an affectation, as with the long fingernails of the Mandarin bureaucrats, to display one's freedom from physical labor. Unfortunately, a long fingernail seems merely ridiculous, and can easily be cut off in need, but ruined feet cannot be remade without extensive modern reconstructive surgery. Interestingly, when the Manchurians came to power, footbinding was prohibited among their own people; but the tyranny of fashion, or the desire to assimilate to the Chinese, meant that the prohibition eroded in practice. The Five Dynasties were all in the North. In the South were the "Ten Kingdoms," whose rulers do not seem to be given in the common lists of Emperors. One of the rulers of the Kingdom of Shu, in Szechwan, was Wang Chien (907-918). As at the end of the Northern and Southern Empires, a coup against the last Northern Dynasty ushered in the unification of the country, under the Sung. (Northern) Sung [Sòng] Dynasty, 960-1126 T'ai Tsu Chao K'uang-yin 960 T'ai Tsung Chao Kuan-i 976 Chên Tsung Chao Te-ch'ang 998 Jên Tsung Chao Chen 1023 Observation of Crab Nebula Supernova, 1054 Ying Tsung Chao Shu 1064 Shên Tsung Chao Hsü 1068 Chê Tsung Chao Hsü 1086 Hui Tsung Chao Chi 1101 Ch'in Tsung Chao Huan 1126 displaced by the Kin/Chin, 1126 The Sung restored the unity of China, but it would never have the power or empire of the T'ang. "Tartar" states, the Hsi Hsia and Liao, hemmed it in from the north, forshadowing the era of barbarian domination that would overwhelm the Huang He valley under the Jurchen and then all of China under the Mongols. Nevertheless, the Sung would be remembered along with the T'ang as the classic period of Chinese civilization, so that Chu Yüan-chang, founder of the Ming, would promise the restoration of "the T'ang and the Sung." Of great interest during the Sung was the observation of a supernova in the constellation Taurus. Unlike Western astronomers at the time, the Chinese did not believe that the heavens were unchanging, and they were always on the lookout for what they called "guest" stars, i.e. novas (nova stella in Latin, "new star") and supernovas. It would not be understood until modern astronomy that these were exploding stars. The guest star of 1054 was an extraordinarily bright and enduring supernova. A supernova can shine for a while with light equivalent to the whole rest of the galaxy. The remnant of the explosion today is the Crab Nebula, with an active Pulsar, or Neutron Star, at its center. Tartar Dynasties Western Liao [Liáo] Dynasty (Qara-Khitaï) 1125-(1141) -1218 John Yeliuy Dashi 1124-1144 Elias Yeliuy I-lich 1144-1151 T'a-Pu-Yen 1151-1177 Shao-Hsing 1151-1163 Ch'eng-T'en-Hou 1163-1178 George Yeliuy Zhuikhu 1177-1211, 1213 David Kuchlug 1211-1218, d.1229 conquered by Mongols, 1217-1218 Kin/Chin [Jin^1] Dynasty (Jurchen/Nü-chên) 1115-1234 T'ai Tsu, Wan-yen A-ku-ta 1115-1123 T'ai Tsung 1123-1135 Hsi Tsung 1135-1150 Hai-ling Wang 1150-1161 Shih Tsung 1161-1189 Chang Tsung 1189-1208 Wei-shao Wang 1208-1213 Hsüan Tsung 1213-1224 Ai Tsung 1224-1234 Mo Ti 1234 conquered by Mongols, 1230-1234 "Tartar" is a European rendering of Persian Tâtâr. The extra "r" seems to have crept in from Greek/Latin Tartarus, the deepest region of Hades, i.e. Hell. This reflects the judgment that the Tartars were like demons from Hell, which is more or less what the Chinese and ultimately other objects of Mongol conquest would have thought themselves. The earlier "Tartar" dynasties above and at right were not in the same league as the Mongols, and were ultimately Mongol victims, but were regarded as no less alien by the Chinese. Southern Sung [Sòng] Dynasty, 1127-1279 Kao Tsung Chao Kou 1127 Hsiao Tsung Chao Po-tsung 1163 Kuang Tsung Chao Tun 1190 Ning Tsung Chao K'uo 1195 Li Tsung Chao Yü-chü 1225 Tu Tsung Chao Meng-ch'i 1265 Kung Tsung Chao Hsien 1275 Tuan Tsung Chao Shi 1276 Ping Ti Chao Ping 1279 conquered by Mongols, 1267-1279 The Southern Sung is inevitably remembered mainly as the victim of Mongol conquest. It is noteworthy, however, that the Sung gave the Mongols the hardest time of any of their ultimate conquests. The final campaign by Qubilai Khân took twelve long years, when most people were lucky if they could resist the Mongols for twelve weeks. One explanation of this is that the Mongols were definitely out of their preferred element. The saying in China is that "in the north, you go by horse; in the south, you go by boat." The Mongols undoubtedly were more comfortable with horses than with boats. The southern terrain posed a challenge that the Mongols could not meet with their accustomed cavalry tactics. The Sung state was also more formidably organized than many opponents of the Mongols. The Sung had resources unavailable to the Russians or the Khawarizm Shâhs. But the wages of resistance to the Mongols was, of course, death. On one account, Qubilai Khân, in the course of his conquest and rule over China, killed "more than 18,470,000 Chinese" (R.J. Rummel, Death by Government, Transaction Publishers, 1995, p. 51). This would put him in the same league, at least, as Adolph Hitler Readily available histories of China never seem to give any of the actual "Tartar" dynasty rulers, despite their importance in this era. The rulers of the Liao and the Kin/Chin Dynasties are from the Oxford Dynasties of the World, by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1989, 2002, p.219]. I have discovered a list of the Qara-Khitaï (Western Liao) rulers at Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies. The names are fascinating for their combination of Christian, Chinese, and Turkic elements. The Christian elements are due to the effect of the Nestorian missionaries who converted many in Central Asia in this period. Because of this, the Syriac alphabet ended up being adopted for many Central Asian languages, including Mongolian and Manchu, although written vertically, like Chinese, rather than right to left. The first name given by Gordon antedates the beginning of the Qara-Khitaï state, which is a little perplexing since the Western Liao was simply the relocation of the Liao. Since the Liao was breaking up under Jurchen attack, my suspicion is that John Yeliuy Dashi begins as a bit of a rebel. Morby's comment on this would have been nice, but the Oxford Dynasties is innocent of narrative. The closest we get is a note that "Chinese dates for Western Liao (here omitted) are unreliable" [p.221]. OK. Yüan [Yuán] (Mongol) Dynasty, 1280-1368 Temüjin Chingiz Khân T'ai Tsu 1206-1227 Western Liao conquered, 1217-1218; The Hsi-Hsia State conquered, 1226-1227 Ögedei Khân T'ai Tsung 1229-1241 Kin/Chin Dynasty conquered, 1230-1234 Töregene Khâtûn, regent 1241-1246 Güyük Khân Ting Tsung 1246-1248 Oghul Ghaymish, regent 1248-1251 Möngke Khân Hsien Tsung 1251-1259 Yünnan conquered, 1253/54; Annam invaded, 1257-1258; Southern Sung invaded, 1257-1259 Qubilai Khân Shih Tsu 1260-1294 1280 Southern Sung conquered, 1267-1279; Japan invaded, 1274, 1281 Temür Öljeytü Khân Ch'êng Tsung 1294-1307 1295 Qayshan Gülük Hai-Shan Wu Tsung 1307-1311 1308 Ayurparibhadra Ayurbarwada Jên Tsung 1311-1320 1312 Suddhipala Gege'en Shidebala Ying Tsung 1320-1323 1321 Yesün-Temür Tai-ting Ti 1323-1328 1324 Arigaba Aragibag 1328 Jijaghatu Toq-Temür Wen Tsung 1328-1329 1329-1332 1330 Qoshila Qutuqtu Ming Tsung 1329 1329 Rinchenpal, Irinjibal Irinchibal Ning Tsung 1332-1333 Toghan-Temür Shun Ti 1333-1370 1333 Mongols expelled from China, 1368 Togus-Temür 1370-1388 Altan Khan 1507-1582 line continues in Mongolia until Manchurian Conquest, 1696 Although it is understandable that the Mongols chose an auspicious name, Yüan [Yuán], "Beginning," rather than a traditional Chinese regional name for their Dynasty, this creates a precedent that lasts for the rest of Chinese Imperial history -- though certainly the Ch'ing [Qing^1] as foreigners also were in a similar situation. This character is now familiar for the monetary unit of the People's Republic of China. As such it replaces, and simplifies, the traditional character for "dollar," which meant "round" and was applied to the Spanish silver dollars that were brought to Manila every year from Mexico and distributed across East Asia. A silver coinage had never existed in China, and the Spanish dollars established a monetary standard all over the Orient. Thus, the Japanese ¥en was also originally a silver dollar, long debased. In Japan now a special simplified character is used for the yen, and, as it happens, the "y" in the old Romanization never was pronounced -- just as the "y" in Mandarin is not pronounced either (cf. John DeFrancis, Beginning Chinese, Yale U. Press, 1963, 1966, p.xxvii note). While Mongol occupation and rule is an important chapter in the history of China, the Mongol domain, which extended all the way to Hungary and Egypt, is a much larger topic, covered separately under the "The Mongol Khâns." * Index * The Conquests of Chingiz Khân, 1227 * The Great Khâns and the Yüan Dynasty of China * The Grandsons of Chingiz Khân, 1280 * The Chaghatayid Khâns * The Il Khâns + The Jalâyirids, 1340-1432 + The Qara Qoyunlu, 1351-1469 + The Timurids, 1370-1500 + The Aq Qoyunlu, 1396-1508 * The Khâns of the Golden Horde + The Khâns of the Blue Horde + The Khâns of the White Horde + The Khâns of Kazan + The Khâns of Astrakhan + The Khâns of the Crimea There may be some question about just how bad Mongol rule was in China. Apart from R.J. Rummel's figures, like that above, we have accounts like this: For a time it appeared as if the conquest would destroy Chinese culture and even the nation itself... Cities were annihilated, and tens of thousands of homeless refugees fled to the mountains, where they starved or survived as vast hordes of wandering mendicants. Great areas of land went out of cultivation... [C.P. Fitzgerald, The Horizon History of China, American Heritage Publishing, 1969, p.244] The great scholar families... Many of them had probably been almost wiped out in the conquest... Famous double surnames of great antiquity, such as Ssu-ma and Ssu-tu, Shang-kuan and Ou-yang, were borne by many great men of the Sung dyansty. But after the Mongol period no more is heard of these ancient families except for some branches surviving in the far south, in Kuangtung, which in T'ang times had been a place of exile for disgraced officials, and in Sung times the last stronghold of Southern Sung power. [ibid., p.249] On the other hand, other accounts, e.g. L. Carrington Goodrich, A Short History of the Chinese People [Harper Torchbooks, 1943, 1963] or Ann Paludan, Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors [Thames & Hudson, London, 1998], don't describe anything in the way of population loss. Each account, however, gives some hint of the Mongol ferocity familiar from their other campaigns. Paludan mentions the loss of over 100,000 Chinese in the very last, three week long battle of the Mongol conquest of the Southern Sung, off Kwantung in 1279 [p.147], and the proposal by Bayan, chancellor of Toghan-Temür, to exterminate "all Chinese with the five most popular names, some 90 per cent of the population!" [p.157]. There was always a faction among the Mongols that wanted a steppe culture imposed on China, with the extermination of agriculture, and population, that that would entail. Paludan mentions [p.161] that the amount of land under cultivation tripled just between 1371 and 1379, in the early years of the Ming. This would imply some neglect or abandonment under the Yüan. Goodrich mentions how Qubilai Khân, emulating Shih-huang-ti, tried to suppress Taoism, ordering (1258 & 1281) that all of its books (with some exceptions) be burned [op.cit., pp.183-184]. I had some problems with reconciling the Mongolian dates and names [The Mongols, David Morgan, Basil Blackwell, 1986, and The New Islamic Dynasties, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Edinburgh University Press, 1996, which do not give Chinese names] with the Chinese list of Yüan emperors [Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Harvard University Press, 1972, p. 1175, which does not give the Mongolian names]. This is now cleared up by Ann Paludan's Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors. Two Emperors did not reign long enough to be acknowledged by Chinese historians. Also, Chinese sources list Ming Tsung before Wen Tsung (or Wen Ti, in Mathews') because only the second reign of the latter is counted. The list is confirmed by the Oxford Dynasties of the World, by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1989, 2002, p.220], which also gives Chinese names for the Khâns before Qubilai. The Míng was the first Chinese dynasty not to be named after a local ancient kingdom (Ch'in, Han, T'ang, etc.). This was because the Founder, Chu Yüan-chang, was of humble origin, not nobility that would have identified with such a locality. Like the Mongol Yüan ("Beginning"), the name is instead chosen to be auspicious, "Bright." The Founder of the Han had originally been of low station also, a peasant, but he had already styled himself "King of Han" (Han Wang) before definitively claiming the Ch'in Emperorship. Also perhaps because of his origins, the Ming Founder was suspicious of the Scholars and sought to balance their influence in the Court with a competing Military institution of comparable depth and prestige. This wise provision, a kind of system of checks and balances, ultimately failed, as Emperors fell under the influence of the Scholars, and then even of the Palace Eunuchs, and neglected the Military. When the Manchus then seized power, some Chinese generals actually went over to them, expecting better status and attention. It was a Chinese general who overthrew the last of the Southern Ming Emperors. For the first time in Chinese history, the Míng Emperors employed only one Era name for their reigns. It thus becomes convenient to refer to the Emperors by the Era, e.g. the "Yung-Lo Emperor." This practice continued in the following Dynasty, but was not adopted in Japan until the Meiji Restoration. Ming [Míng], "Bright" Dynasty, 1368-1644 Era T'ai Tsu Chu Yüan-chang 1368 Hung-wu Hui Ti Chu Yün-wen 1399 Chien-wên Ch'eng Tsu Chu Ti 1403 Yung-Lo moves capital from Nanking (Nan-ching/Nanjing) to Peking (Pei-ching/Beijing) Jen Tsung Chu Kao-chih 1425 Hung-hsi Hsüan Tsung Chu Chan-chi 1426 Hsüan-tê Ying Tsung Chu Ch'i-chen 1436 Chêng-T'ung captured by Mongols, 1449 T'ai Tsung, or Ching Ti Chu Ch'i-yü 1450 Ching-t'ai Ying Tsung (restored) 1457 T'ien-shun Hsien Tsung Chu Chien-shen 1465 Ch'eng-hua Hsiao Tsung Chu Yü-t'ang 1488 Hung-chih Wu Tsung Chu Hou-chao 1506 Chêng-tê Shih Tsung Chu Hou-ts'ung 1522 Chia-tsing Mu Tsung Chu Tsai-hou 1567 Lung-ch'ing Shên Tsung Chu I-chün 1573 Wan-Li Kuang Tsung Chu Ch'ang-le 1620 T'ai-ch'ang Hsi Tsung Chu Yü-chiao 1621 T'ien-ch'i Szu Tsung Chu Yü-chien 1628 Ch'ung-chên Pei-ching occupied by rebels; Emperor commits suicide; rebels thrown out by Manchuria; Manchurian occupation, 1644 Southern Ming [Míng] Dynasty, 1644-1662 Era Fu Wang, Prince of Fu Chu Yu-sung 1644 Hung-kuang T'ang Wang Chu Yü-chien 1645 Lung-wu Yung-ming Wang Chu Yü-lang 1646 Yung-li Emperor captured in Burma, 1661, executed by Manchus, 1662 The necessity or convenience of this device may not be obvious, but it should be noted that the personal names (e.g. Chu Yüan-chang) of the Emperors were properly no longer used once they came to the Throne, and that the names they are otherwise known by (e.g. T'ai Tsu) are postumous. If a reigning Emperor is not simply to be called the "Current Emperor" (which is proper), he can at least be unambiguously identified by the Era. Early Míng Emperors, mainly the Yung-Lo Emperor, sent Admiral Chêng Ho (Zheng He), a Moslem eunuch who started out as a prisoner of war slave, on seven great naval expeditions into the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433. Chinese historians report that the largest ships, the baochuan or "treasure ships," were 440 feet long. 1 1405-1407 317 ships 2 1407-1409 249 ships 3 1409-1411 48 ships 4 1413-1415 63 ships 5 ? ? 6 1421-1422 41 ships 7 1431-1433 100 ships However, most of the records of the expeditions were destroyed, and the reported dimensions are unrealistic (e.g. a beam of 180 feet, which sounds more like a bathtub than a sailing ship). Bruce Swanson [Eighth Voyage of the Dragon, Naval Institute Press, 1982, p. 33] reports that a modern surviving Chinese junk of five masts, the Jiangsu trader, was 170 feet long. He does not think the Ming ships were any larger; but since baochuan were reported to have up to nine masts, if this is accurate and the number of masts was proportional to the length, we might extrapolate ships of 306 feet in length. This is comparable to the length of some 19th century clipper ships: The Great Republic of 1853, the largest ship of its time, was 325 feet long. Although this is larger, by half again, than Swanson wants to allow, there now have been some archaeological discoveries of ship fittings that seem consistent with the larger sizes, as with the rudder below. Admiral He paid particular attention to India, even putting troops ashore and interfering in local politics (as Europeans would do later), but some detachments from his forces went into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and even down the coast of Africa, perhaps as far as Zanzibar. The triumph of the xenophobic faction of the Scholars at Court, however, meant that the expeditions were terminated. That is when the records were destroyed, and it became a capital offense to build a ship with more than two masts. Chinese were even prohibited from trading abroad. Thus, China withdrew into itself at the very time when the sea-lanes of the world were about to open to cosmopolitan traffic. Vasco da Gama arrived in Indian in 1498, just 65 years after Admiral He had left. The Portuguese found little to resist them at sea, when the Chinese probably had had superior technology and much larger forces. Having simply abdicated the contest, China would shortly fall behind and never catch up. The triumph of the Scholars thus not only opened China to foreign conquest but stiffled the innovative spirit of the Chinese to explore and create. This then exposed China again, although under the Qing, to new foreign encroachment, as European creativity and power waxed in the 18th and 19th centuries. The cultural readiness of the Chinese people to compete on modern terms was later demonstrated time and again as overseas Chinese communities often came to dominate the economy of places where they started with nothing and were often disliked -- the Philippines, Malaya, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. In China itself, the first chance for the Chinese to really prosper in a free economy was, ironically, in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Manchu Ch'ing [Qing^1], "Clear" Dynasty, (1636)-1644-(1662)-1912 Era Nurhachi 1629 Aberhai Shih Tsu 1644 Shun-Chih Shêng Tsu 1662 K'ang-Hsi Shih Tsung 1723 Yung-chêng Kao Tsung 1736 Ch'ien-Lung Jên Tsung 1796 Chia-ch'ing Hsüan Tsung 1821 Tao-kuang Wen Tsung 1851 Hsien-fêng Mu Tsung 1862 T'ung-chih Tz'u Hsi [Cixi] the Empress Dowager 1862-1908 Tê Tsung 1875 Kuang-hsu Mo Ti (Pu Yi) 1909 Hsuan-t'ung The Manchurian conquest of China was a deeply humiliating experience for the Chinese. The Manchus, indeed, made things harder for themselves, as foreign rulers, with their decree that Chinese men would have to adopt Manchu costume (including the infamous "queue"). This provoked violent Chinese popular resistance and helped the "Southern Ming" princes rally forces against the Manchus for almost two decades. Some Chinese histories do not begin the list of Ch'ing rulers until the fall of the Southern Ming in 1662 -- hence two successive Emperors are named "Tsu," "Founder," when usually this means the sole first Emperor of the Dynasty. Like the Mongols, the Manchus practiced the Vajrayâna form of Buddhism, and their Nestorian derived alphabet continued to be used for some purposes right down to the end of the Empire. The desire of the Manchus to be accepted as proper Chinese rulers, however, was otherwise intense. Even before incursion into China proper, they chose (1636) a name for the dynasty following the Ming precedent: Ch'ing (Qing^1) means "Clear." Despite the foreign origin of the Ch'ing, it is noteworthy that subsequent Chinese governments, both Nationalist and Communist, regarded all Manchurian conquests as "intrinsic" parts of China. Thus Tibet, which had been conquered by both Mongols and Manchus, and was independent after the fall of the Ch'ing in 1911, is claimed as an "intrinsic" part of China even though it had never actually been ruled by Chinese until the Communist invasion of 1950. The Tibetan language is related to Chinese, but culturally Tibet is a sub-Indian rather than a sub-Chinese civilization. Although the Tibetans were promised internal autonomy by the Chinese, they soon were subjected to the inevitable oppression, vandalism, and massacres of Communist government. Since there never were very many Tibetans in their poor, Alpine country, this kind of treatment plus Chinese colonization began to produce a genocidal effect. The International Community, once energized about "de-colonization," and formerly alert to every police beating in South Africa, has shown little stomach for consistently confronting the Chinese over Tibet. On the other hand, the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959, has proven to be an appealing, eloquent, and respected spokesman for his country, attacting attention by many, including the Nobel Peace Prize committee and Hollywood devotees who now have produced sympathetic movies about Tibet and its plight (e.g. Seven Years in Tibet and Kundun). We can only hope that international pressure will increase and rescue a unique nation preserving an ancient heritage. Although Western, usually American, defenders of Tibet are sometimes belabored with charges of hypocrisy, because of the treatment of the Indian tribes in American history, so that Americans are in no moral position to belabor the Chinese over the treatment of Tibet, it remains true that nowhere in the world have traditional tribal peoples, who were at neolithic or even paleolithic levels of development at their time of contact with the advanced civilizations (Eastern or Western), not been incorporated into larger modern states. There are often complaints about the status and treatment of tribal peoples in many places, from the United States to Brazil to the Sudan, but there is no special level of criticism about such peoples, of which there are many, in China. Tibet, however, was, for all its poverty and isolation, an organized state far beyond the tribal level. Like Ethiopia or Afghanistan, Tibet was the sort of state that, in the era of "decolonization," would be expected to become independent, regardless of its backward features. But the Chinese Empire and Chinese colonization survive, with no more justification than the precedent of the Manchurian Empire. International Campaign for Tibet Government of Tibet in Exile Presidents of the Republic of China Sun Yat-sen 1911-1912 Peking Yüan Shih-k'ai 1912-1916 Li Yüan-hung 1916-1917 Feng Kuo-chang 1917-1918 Hsü Shih-ch'ang 1918-1922 Li Yüan-hung 1922-1923 Tsao Kun 1923 Tuan Chi-jui 1924 Kuomintang, Nanking Sun Yat-sen 1923-1925 Chiang Kai-shek 1948-1975 Taiwan, 1949 Chiang Ching-kuo 1975-1988 Lee Teng-hui 1988-2000 Chen Shui-bian 2000-present The beginning of Republican China was a very flawed business. While Sun Yat-sen had some control in the South, the General in Peking, Yüan Shih-k'ai, refused to depose the Emperor unless he was made President. Sun Yat-sen agreed and resigned as Provisional President so that the country could be unified. It then was not long before Yüan Shih-k'ai entertained plans of establishing himself as Emperor. This was not popular, but he soon died anyway. Some semblance of a Constitutional order was maintained, but the Central Government quickly lost authority over most of the rest of the country; and Peking itself became a pawn of the Warlords who now came to dominate China. Foreign governments, however, continued to recognize the titular government in Peking, and the foreign run customs service remitted its revenues there. Nevertheless, even assembling a list of the nominal Presidents is a challenge, and I do not have complete information. Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen set up a counter-government in the South. He died in 1925 and his disciple, Chiang Kai-shek, took over the Kuomintang Party. Chiang marched North, and eventually, in 1928, took Peking and received foreign recognition as the Government of China. Nevertheless, it is not clear to me who the nominal Head of State was under Chiang's regime. He was certainly in control, and during World War II was commonly known as "Generalissimo," a title he shared with Josef Stalin, but I don't know that he actually called himself President until 1948. By then, his days on the Mainland were numbered. The Communists, with whom Chiang had originally cooperated but whom he then purged and later drove out of the South, defeated him utterly in 1949. The Nationalist Government fled to Taiwan, taking most of the records of the Empire and the Republic, and the contents of the National Museum, with it. In 1950, as Mao attacked in Korea and occupied Tibet, the United States undertook to defend Taiwan from Communist invasion. Still styling itself the Republic of China (ROC), the Government on Taiwan has grown into a democracy, with an economy counted as one of the "Four Tigers" of East Asia (South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore being the others), and notions about repudiating its claims to the Mainland and going its own way. Recently electing a pro-independence President, Taiwan has been harshly threatened by the Communists. The agreement that the United States made to recognize the People's Republic, however, precludes resolution of this issue by force, and Communist military demonstrations have been met with American counter-demonstrations. When democracy comes to the People's Republic, reunification may happen easily. But there are no signs that the Communists are anywhere near giving up power. Communist China Prime Minister Communist Party President Mao Zedong, Mao Tse-tung Chairman, 1935-1976 Zhou Enlai, Chou En-lai 1949-1976 1949-1959 Liu Shaoqi 1959-1968 Dong Biwu 1968-1975 Zhu De 1975-1976 1976-1980 Hua Guofeng 1976-1981 Song Qingling 1976-1978 Zhao Ziyang 1980-1987 Hu Yaobang 1981-1982 Ye Jianying 1978-1983 General Secretary, 1982-1987 Li Xiannian 1983-1988 Li Peng 1987-1998 Zhao Ziyang 1987-1989 Yang Shangkun 1988-1993 1993-2002 Jiang Zemin 1989-present Zhu Rongji 1998-present Hu Jintao 2002-present Mao Tse-tung (Zedong) didn't want China to end up like Stalinist Russia. This did not mean he disapproved of dictatorship, mass murder, or torture. He simply didn't want the country ruled by a bunch of bureaucrats. So his ultimate inspiration was the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," in which mass political action would produce the sort of stateless utopia predicted by Marx. What it actually produced was chaos, not to mention widespread vandalism, torture, murders, etc. Like Stalin's purges in 1938, the Communist Party itself came in for attack. The disgraced and humiliated Deng Xiaoping (d.1997) never forgot it. With the death of Mao and the defeat of the "Gang of Four" political radicals, Deng, although never holding any of the highest posts in the state (above), became the guiding force behind market reforms. But he was never prepared to allow political liberalization and is generally credited with the decision to crush the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. This left China still where it is today, with the Communist Party firmly in place and in charge, but with an economy growing rapidly from de facto capitalist innovations, whose frank acknowledgement as such would void the whole purpose of the existence of the Communist Party. Yet the process continues. Farmland is in the hands of private leaseholders, although the de jure possession of Maoist communes. State industries, whose output is so worthless that some of it is simply warehoused and forgotten, are being steadily retired -- probably more quickly than in Russia, where the workers protest losing their (largely worthless) state incomes. Just the paradox of our time, where real laissez-faire capitalism flourishes under Communist government, in Hong Kong, while the voters in the democracies keep voting for bigger government handouts and ever more intrusive regulations and paternalism. Perhaps Deng was right about democracy. It is certainly not worth having when it means the violation of property rights and voluntary association that is now commonplace under laws, e.g. the United State Constitution, that were supposed to protect all that. Late in 2002 Jiang Zemin turned the Chairmanship of the Communist Party over to Hu Jintao. He is due to turn over the Presidency also in March 2003. Zhu Rongji is also expected to resign as Prime Minister at the same time. Chairman Hu was designated for his job by the late Deng Xiaoping and fits in rather awkwardly among Jiang's personal supporters in the Politburo. All are faced with the continuing mental gymnastics of simultaneously defending Commmunism and promoting Capitalism. Sangoku Index Philosophy of History Home Page Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved _________________________________________________________________ The Ming Dynasty, Note _________________________________________________________________ Except for the three central ones, the masts and sails depicted in the drawing of the baochuan are relatively small. Western sailing ships settled down to three large, composite masts in the 18th century. When ships grew larger in the 19th century, because of cross bracing for the ribs and then iron hulls, larger sets of the masts began to be seen. The largest full-rigged ship, the Preussen, of five masts, transported nitrates from Chile to Germany, until it was rammed in the English channel by a steamship that, typically, underestimated the sailing ship's speed. Although such ships were, to say the least, energy efficient, and dependable on routes with steady winds, their day passed permanently with World War I. American coastal schooners expanded beyond five masts. The Thomas W. Lawson, built in 1902, had seven masts, which evidently were simply numbered from the Mizzen back to the Spanker. With the customary names for schooner masts, plus the Middlemast used in full-rigged ships and barks, we can get a set of names up to eight masts. Nine masts, however, as shown, would require at least one numbered mast, as in the Lawson. Considering the subordinate look of the three front masts on the baochuan, however, a different system of naming would probably be more appropriate. The three sets of three masts suggest first, middle, and rear members of fore, main, and mizzen groups. The names that the Chinese actually used would be lost with the tradition that was extinguished when the multi-masted ships were prohibited. Return to text _________________________________________________________________ Emperors, Shoguns, & Regents of Japan _________________________________________________________________ The list of Japanese Emperors, etc., is based on Andrew N. Nelson, The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary [Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1987, pp. 1018-1022], The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature [Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell, Princeton University Press, 1988, pp. 119-127 & 463-475], E. Papinot, Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan [Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1910, 1988], and other sources I've lost track of. The genealogies are entirely from Papinot. THE JAPANESE HISTORICAL ERA 660 BC 1998 AD + 660 = 2658 Annô Japoniae In modern times the Japanese historical era, unlike the Chinese, has frequently been used for ordinary dating. Thus the famous naval fighter aircraft of World War II, the Mitsubishi A6M, was known as the "Zero" for the year in which it became operational, 2600 of the Jimmu Era (=1940 AD), the last two digits of which are zeros. The Era is now less frequently used, in part because of unpleasant associations with Japanese totalitarianism. The Legendary Period, 660 BC-538 AD l Jimmu (660 BC) First Century AD 2 Suizei 3 Annei 4 Itoku 5 Kôshô 6 Kôan Second Century 7 Kôrei 8 Kôgen 9 Kaika Third Century 10 Sujin 219-249 11 Suinin 249-280 12 Keikô 280-316 13 Seimu 316-342 14 Chûai 343-346 Jingû Kôgô regent 15 Oojin 346-395 16 Nintoku 395-427 17 Richû 427-432 18 Hanzei 433-438 19 Ingyô 438-453 20 Ankô 453-456 21 Yûryaku 456-479 22 Seinei 480-484 23 Kenzô 485-487 24 Ninken 488-498 25 Buretsu 498-506 26 Keitai 507-531 27 Ankan 531-535 28 Senka 535-539 In pre-war Japan, publicly questioning the historicity of Jimmu or the antiquity of the Japanese Throne could land one in jail, or worse. We are not out of mythic and legendary material with some certainty until Kimmei. Japan enters history with a description in the Chinese chronicle of the Wei Dynasty. It is called the kingdom of -- Wo is the modern Mandarin pronunciation, Wa the Japanese pronunciation of the old Chinese word (the on reading). This is not a flattering name, since the word can mean "small," "mean," "dwarf," or even "hunchback" -- so Japan was the "Land of the Dwarves." Eventually a less insulting character began to be used, , which means "harmony" or "peace." The Mandarin pronunciation of these two characters is now very different (the latter also turns up as Ho and Huo), but they both are still Wo in Cantonese. The Historical Period, 539-645 29 Kimmei 539-571 30 Bidatsu 572-585 31 Yômei 585-587 32 Sushun 587-592 33 Suiko 592-628 34 Jomei 629-641 35 Kôgyoku 642-645 The Yamato Period, 645-711 36 Kôtoku 645-654 37 Saimei 655-661 38 Tenji 662-671 39 Kôbun 671-672 40 Kemmu 673-686 41 Jitô 690-697 42 Mommu 697-707 43 Gemmei 707-715 The pleasant Wa is still commonly used, in Chinese and Japanese, to mean Japanese (as is in Chinese to mean Chinese) -- as in , a Japanese 31 syllable poem. However, the older, insulting character still turns up in another term, , meaning Japanese pirates. Japan itself can still be called , "Great Wa," but this combination is now always read Yamato, the old Japanese name for Japan, derived from the area, later a province, where the Dynasty of Emperors and the Japanese State originated (hence the "Yamato Period"). The modern name for Japan may have originated in a letter sent from Prince Shôtoku (d.621), Regent for his aunt, the Empress Suiko, to the Sui court in 607. This was addressed from the "Son of Heaven in the land where the Sun Rises," to the "Son of Heaven in the land where the Sun Sets." The Emperor Yang Kuang naturally found this insulting and requested that he no longer be shown letters from barbarians who did not know proprieties of address. The Chinese would never regard the Emperor of Japan as any more than the , the "King of Wa." Now, however, Japan begins to see itself as the , "Sun Source." There is considerable phonetic change in this expression. "Sun" gets borrowed into Japanese as nit; but since a Japanese word cannot end in a "t," the vowel "i" is added, which changes the pronunciation to nichi. "Source" is borrowed as hon or pon. In the combination, the vowel "i" is lost, and the "t" is either assimilated to the "p" as Nippon, or to the "h" as Nihon. Nihon is now much more common, with Nippon retaining some overtones of the "bad" old, pre-War Japan. Pre-War Japan, however, was not just Japan, but "Great Japan," Dai Nippon; and while Japan now is, officially, just "Nihon," pre-War Japan was the , the Dai Nippon Teikoku, the "Empire of Great Japan." Prince Shôtoku is a historical figure, but not without legendary accumulations. He is supposed to have established Buddhism, fixed Court ranks, promulgated a law code (604), written histories, the Tennô-ki and Koku-ki (620), built multiple temples, like the Hôryû-ji near Nara (607), introduced the Chinese calendar (604), etc. It is always possible that Shôtoku accomplished so much, but the period imposes a few uncertainties on the account. Some suspect that Shôtoku was operating through Korean advisors, not a thought ever agreeable to Japanese nationalism. To a legend that Shôtoku exchanged poetry with an image of the goddess Kannon at the Hôryû-ji, one scholar has remarked that the image probably was as well able to write poetry as the Prince. Nevertheless, whatever Shôtoku's role or abilities, he represents an period in which Japan actively entered history and helped itself to the heritage of Chinese civilization, just as in the Meiji Era the process would be repeated with respect to the West. The Nara Period, 712-793 44 Genshô 715-724 45 Shômu 724-749 46 Kôken 749-758 47 Junnin 758-764 48 Shôtoku 764-770 49 Kônin 770-781 The foundation of the city of Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan (death pollution had impelled abandonment of previous seats of government), defines the Nara period. It was at this time that the title of the Emperor is borrowed from China, a version as , the "Heavenly" (or divine) Emperor. The title Mikado, , "Honorable/Imperial Gate," had been used and would survive, even into Gilbert and Sullivan. This is rather like the government of Ottoman Turkey being called the "Sublime Porte," or the King of Egypt being called "Pharaoh," , i.e. "Great House." Indeed, there were a couple of streets of Kyôto that were called "mikado," e.g. Nakamikado, "Middle Imperial Gate," which led to a central gate of the Imperial Palace. Nevertheless, in characters, nothing more than the other Chinese character for emperor might be written for the word, i.e. . The later miltary ruler, who exercised authority for the Emperors, was called the Shôgun, short for an expression usually translated "Barbarian Subduing Generalissimo." The Shôgun was also called the Taikun, "Great Ruler," which became the word "tycoon" in English. The Heian Period, 794-1186 50 Kammu 781-806 51 Heizei 806-809-824 52 Saga 809-823-842 53 Junna 823-833-840 54 Nimmyô 833-850 55 Montoku 850-858 56 Seiwa 858-876-880 57 Yôzei 877-884-949 58 Kôkô 884-887 59 Uda 887-897-937 60 Daigo 897-930 61 Suzaku 930-946-952 62 Murakami 946-967 63 Reizei 967-969-1011 64 Enyû 969-984-991 65 Kazan 984-986-1008 66 Ichijô 986-1011 67 Sanjô 1011-1016-1017 68 Go-Ichijô 1016-1036 69 Go-Suzaku 1036-1045 70 Go-Reizei 1045-1068 71 Go-Sanjô 1067-1072-1073 72 Shirakawa 1072-1086-1129 73 Horikawa 1086-1107 74 Toba 1107-1123- 1129-1156 75 Sutoku 1123-1141-1156 76 Konoye 1141-1155 77 Go-Shirakawa 1156-1158-1179- 1180-1192 78 Nijô 1159-1165 79 Rokujô 1166-1168-1176 80 Takakura 1169-1180-1181 81 Antoku 1181-1183-1185 Battle of Dan-no-ura, Taira Clan overthrown by Minamotos, 1185 The Heian Period begins with the founding of the city of Kyôto in 794. The city was called Heian-kyô, "Peaceful Capital." Kyôto is the more prosaic designation, "Capital District." The city was laid out as a regular Chinese square and grid between the Katsura River on the west side and the Kamo River on the east. The two rivers flowed together just south of town, to be joined slightly downstream by the Uji coming in from the east. Forces approaching Kyôto from the south needed to cross the Uji, often at the Uji-bashi, the Uji Bridge, in the small town of Uji itself. Over time, the southern and western parts of the original city were abandoned, and settlement moved north and east, so that now old parts of the city lie on both sides of the Kamo, pressing right up to the eastern hills, including Mt. Hiei. Now, of course, the modern city has grown back over all the lost ground, and more. East-west streets were numbered, starting with Ichijô, "First Street," in the north down to Kujô, "Ninth Steet," in the south -- now joined by a modern Jujô-dori, "Tenth Street." Later, Emperors and noble families of the Fujiwara were named after many of these streets, where they had residences. Many of the steets survive today, in longer or shorter stretches. Thus, one of the oldest surviving wood structures in Japan, the Sanjusangendo temple of the goddess and bodhisattva Kannon, is off Shichijô-dori, "Seventh Street," just east of the Kamo River (where there is now a MacDonald's right on the east bank). Some aspects of the geomancy of Kyôto are discussed elsewhere. In the list of Emperors, where three dates are given, the second date represents the retirement of the Emperor (or, later, the Shôgun or Regent). This came to be a device by which Fujiwara ministers, starting with the Regent (Sesshô) Fujiwara Yoshifusa (858-872), could excerise control over minor Emperors. The Fujiwaras would excerise control as Regents for minor Emperors, and then as Chancellors (Kampaku) when the Emperors formally came of age. As Fujiwara power declined, retired Emperors, who had become monks, began to exercise influence from their monasteries. This became the institution of the "Cloistered Emperors." Such Emperors were known by the title "In," hence, Shirakawa In -- who himself was the first to assume authority in this way, in 1086. The names of Cloistered Emperors are given in boldface, as are the dates of their assumption of Cloistered power. Usually this is identical to the dates of their retirement, but sometimes there is a delay between retirement and the assumption of Cloistered power (e.g. Toba). There may also be a second retirement date. Go-Toba was the last effective Cloistered Emperor. His second retirement was forced after his abortive attack on the Hôjô Regent Yoshitoki, the Jôkyû War, in 1221. He was exiled for the rest of his life to the remote Oki Islands, where, among other things, he worked on forging a sword. This was to replace the sword of the Imperial Regalia that had been lost at sea, with the child Emperor Antoku, in the battle of Dan-no-ura. He also intended to use it to kill the Hôjôs. That never happened. Later in Japanese history, it became common for many figures, Regents and Shôguns as well as Emperors, to retire from office but sometimes to continue exercising much of their previous power. The Heian Period ends with the naval battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. The Taira (or Heike) Clan had dominated the Court under Kiyomori (1118-1181), but the Minamoto (or Genji) Clan overwhelmed them after his death. The leader of the Minamotos was Yoritomo (1147-1199), who became the first Shôgun (Sei-i Taishôgun, "barbarian subduing generalissimo"), founding his own military capital at Kamakura, after which the era is named; but it was his brother, Yoshitsune (1159-1189), who commanded the Minamoto forces and who destroyed the Tairas at Dan-no-ura. The battle ended with one of the most dramatic and poignant moments in world history. Kiyomori's widow, Nii-no-ama, with her grandson, the seven-year-old Emperor Antoku, decided to leap into the sea, carrying the Imperial Regalia with them, rather than be taken by their enemies. The scene is recounted in the epic Heike-Monogatari and hauntingly portrayed in Masaki Kobayashi's movie Kwaidan (1964). Later the spirits of Taira warriors were thought to haunt the straits at Shimonoseki, and the local "Heike" crabs have shells that look like human faces as seen in Japanese theater masks -- Carl Sagan commented on this as the outcome of fishermen throwing back crabs that even faintly resembled human faces. Yoritomo and Yoshitsune soon fell out and Yoshitsune was killed. Ironically, when Yoritomo died, his wife, Hôjô Masako, steered her own family, descendants of the Tairas, into power. Starting with her father, Tokimasa, Hôjô Regents governed in the name of puppet Shôguns until overthrown by Go-Daigo over a hundred years later. Fujiwara Chancellors and Imperial Regents, 858-1867 The following diagram gives the genealogy of the Taira and Minamonto clans, whose great conflict, the Gempei War, culminated in the Battle of Dan-no-ura. Also given are the sources of the junior Minamoto lines that led to the Ashikaga and Tokugawa Shôguns and the Takeda Daimyo, whose most famous member was Shingen (or Harunobu, d.1573), the subject of Akira Kurosawa's great movie Kagemusha (1980). The Gempei War has been compared to the somewhat later War of the Roses in England. The color used by the Taira was red (like Lancaster), and that of the Minamoto was white (like York). The winner of the War of the Roses was neither Lancaster or York, but Tudor. Similarly, although the Minamoto apparently won the Gempei War, it was the Hôjô who ended up with the power. Kamakura Shôguns Minamotos 1 Yoritomo 1192-1199 2 Yoriie 1201-1203-1204 3 Sanetomo 1203-1219 Fujiwaras 4 Yoritsune 1226-1244-1256 5 Yoritsugu 1244-1252-1256 Imperial Princes 6 Munetake 1252-1266-1274 7 Koreyasu 1266-1289-1326 8 Hisa-akira 1289-1308-1428 9 Morkuni 1308-1333 After Hôjôs 10 Morinaga 1333-1334-1335 11 Narinaga 1334-1338 The Kamakura Period, 1186-1336 82 Go-Toba 1184-1198- 1221-1239 83 Tsuchimikado 1199-1210-1231 84 Juntoku 1211-1221-1242 85 Chûkyô 1221-1221-1234 86 Go-Horikawa 1222-1232-1234 87 Shijô 1233-1242 88 Go-Saga 1243-1246-1272 89 Go-Fukakusa 1247-1259-1304 90 Kameyama 1260-1274-1305 91 Go-Uda 1275-1287-1324 92 Fushimi 1288-1298-1217 93 Go-Fushimi 1299-1301-1336 94 Go-Nijô 1302-1308 95 Hanazono 1309-1318-1348 96 Go-Daigo 1319-1338 [LINK] Above is an image (click on it for a larger version) of exiled Emperor Go-Toba forging a sword with which to kill the Hôjô Regent Yoshitoki. The retired Go-Toba had revolted in 1221, attempting to overthrow the Hôjôs. He failed, and was exiled to the distant islands of Oki. Go-Toba took up the craft of sword-making, not only to have a weapon with which to inflict vengeance on the Hôjôs, but because he had been the first Emperor not to possess the Sword that was part of the Imperial Regalia, since it was lost at the battle of Dan-no-Ura in 1185. Hôjô Regents (Shikken) 1 Tokimasa 1203-1205-1215 2 Yoshitoki 1205-1224 3 Yasutoki 1224-1242 4 Tsunetoki 1242-1246 5 Tokiyori 1246-1256-1263 6 Nagatoki 1256-1264 7 Masamura 1264-1268-1273 8 Tokimune 1268-1284 Mongol Invasions, 1274 & 1281 9 Sadatoki 1284-1301-1311 10 Morotoki 1301-1311 11 Takatoki 1311-1333 The biggest problem that the Hôjôs had to face was the Mongol invasions. The invasions were defeated, with the help of apparently divine intervention (the kami kaze, "divine winds," of strategically occurring, even out of season, typhoons). The struggle, however, gravely weakened the Hôjô government, with consequences that would be felt shortly. Northern Emperors Hôjô Pretender 1 Kôgon 1331-1333-1364 The Nambokuchô Period, 1336-1392 Ashikaga Pretenders 2 Kômyô 1336-1348-1380 3 Sukô 1349-1352-1398 4 Go-Kôgon 1353-1371-1374 5 Go-En-yû 1372-1381-1393 6 Go- Komatsu 1383-1392 (1392-1412- 1433) The "Northern Emperors" were Emperors who later, for different reasons, came to be regarded as illegitimate. They were not so illegitimate, however, that they do not always get listed with the "legitimate" ones, and in fact subsequent Emperors are all descended from them. The first of the Northern Emperors, Kôgon, was intended as the replacement when Emperor Go-Daigo was retired in 1331. The problem was that Go-Daigo didn't want to retire, resisted, was arrested and exiled, but escaped from exile and raised a rebellion against the Hôjôs instead. This rebellion, or "restoration" of the Emperor, actually succeeded; and when the Hôjôs were overthrown in 1333, the Emperor Kôgon himself went into retirement. Soon enough, however, there was a falling out between Go-Daigo and his samurai supporters, the Ashikagas. In 1336, Go-Daigo fled the capital and a rival Emperor, Kômyô, was installed. Go-Daigo established himself at Yoshino and a kind of Great Schism was created in Japanese history, the period of the "Northern and Southern Kingdoms," or the Nambokuchô Period. The Nambokuchô Period, 1336-1392 Southern Emperors 97 Go-Murakami 1339-1368 98 Chôkei 1369-1372 99 Go-Kameyama 1373-1392-1424 The Muromachi Period, 1392-1573 100 Go-Komatsu 1392-1412-1433 101 Shôkô 1413-1428 102 Go-Hanazono 1429-1464-1471 103 Go-Tsuchimikado 1465-1500 104 Go-Kashiwabara 1501-1526 105 Go-Nara 1527-1557 106 Oogimachi 1558-1586-1593 The Southern Emperors gradually lost ground against the Ashikagas, and eventually a settlement was reached. The Ashikagas agreed that the Southern Emperors had been the legitimate ones, but the current one, Go-Kameyama, would retire in a favor of the last of the Northern Emperors, Go-Komatsu, who thus entered into a legitimate reign. Subsequently, the Northern and Southern lines were supposed to alternate on the Throne, much as the descendants of Go-Saga had up to Go-Daigo. The Ashikagas, however, broke this part of the agreement, and no descendant of Go-Daigo ever became Emperor of Japan again. Ashikaga Shôguns 1 Takauji 1338-1358 2 Yoshiakira 1358-1367-1368 3 Yoshimitsu 1367-1395-1408 4 Yoshimochi 1395-1423-1428 5 Yoshikazu 1423-1425 6 Yoshinori 1428-1441 7 Yoshikatsu 1441-1443 8 Yoshimasa 1449-1474-1490 9 Yoshihisa 1474-1489 10 Yoshitane 1490-1493 11 Yoshizumi 1493-1508-1511 10 Yoshitane 1508-1521-1522 12 Yoshiharu 1521-1545-1550 13 Yoshiteru 1545-1565 14 Yoshihide 1568 15 Yoshiaki 1568-1573-1597 The Ashikagas got themselves made the new Shôguns but established themselves in Kyôto itself, in the Muromachi District after which the era is named, rather than in some remote place like Kamakura, perhaps the better to keep an eye on an Emperor who might not always be a willing figurehead. This may or may not have been a good idea, but it certainly did not turn out well. The Shôguns began to lose hold of the country, which lapsed into anarchy. At times they even lost control of Kyôto, which itself suffered civil strike in the Ônin War (1467-1477). The city was then in the hands of members of the Nichiren sect (the Hoke-ikki or "Lotus Uprising") from 1532 to 1536. Parts of the Heian city became deserted during this period. The principal Gate of the city, the southern Rashômon, was famously abandoned and fell into ruin -- it is even said that it was no longer repaired after the reign of Enyû (969-984). Nothing today marks its site but a small monument in a playground. Now it is mainly remembered for Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashomon (1950), whence the name has entered international discourse to mean the difficulty or impossibility of reconstructing the truth of events from conflicting testimony. It turned out to be uncommonly difficult to find the meaning of the name Rashômon. Ra is a character whose principal meaning seems to be "gauze" and is often used to transliterate foreign words. It can also mean "net" and, by extension, "enclose." The second character is now usually replaced by another character (meaning "live"), but the older one (still on the marker on site) was jô and meant "castle" or, in Chinese, "city." It took some digging by my wife, outside the ordinary dictionaries, to discover that in Chinese luóchéng could mean the "outer/enclosure wall of a city." Luóchéngmén was thus the main gate of the outer wall of a city, and it had been used that way in Nara as well as in Kyôto -- though now, evidently, the original meaning is not often remembered. Of the protective temples that flanked the Rashômon, the Saiji ("Western Temple") and Tôji ("Eastern Temple"), only the Tôji remains. Hitherto remote areas of Kyôto, however, received enduring monuments from Ashikaga Shôguns, the Kinkaku-ji or "Golden Pavilion (Temple)" built in 1397 by Yoshimutsu just to the west of town, and the Ginkaku-ji or "Silver Pavilion (Temple)" built in 1473 by Yoshimasa in the hills to the east of the city. The former seems to represent the height of Ashikaga power, while the latter is a somber last gasp in its decline -- because money ran out, it was never covered in silver the way the Kinkaku-ji actually was with gold. [LINK] As the Ashikaga lost control of Japan, local warlords, or just gangs, took over. This has proven a rich era for Japanese samurai movies since it was, in its way, the golden age of the samurai -- with almost constant warfare. Especially memorable is Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954), about a group of unemployed samurai (ronin) hired to protect a village from robbers, and Kurosawa'a Yojimbo (1961), about a lone, nameless ronin who gets the two gangs in one village to annihilate each other (this was remade by Sergio Leone as the Western, A Fistful of Dollars in 1967, which began the movie career of Clint Eastwood; but the story seems to be based on Dashiell Hammett's much earlier book Red Harvest, where Hammett's nameless "Continental Op" detective causes similar slaughter in a Montana mining town). This also became the golden age of castle building, though most of the surviving castles, like Himeji above, were built later to secure the pacification of the country effected in the following period. The Azuchi-Momoyama Period, 1573-1603 107 Go-Yôzei 1587-1611-1617 Oda Nobunaga, Lord of Owari, won the scramble of local lords for possession of Kyôto and control of the Shôgun and the Emperor. Nobunaga entered Kyôto and installed his own candidate, Yoshiaki, as Dictator Oda Nobunaga 1568-1582 enters Kyôto, 1568; burning of Mt. Hiei, 1571; Shôgun deposed, 1573 Shôgun in 1568. Meanwhile, Japanese history had been shaken by the arrival of Europeans, at first specifically the Portuguese. In 1549 the Jesuit (St.) Francis Xavier arrived, and for some years a body of Japanese Christians became an element in Japanese politics. The Portuguese also introduced firearms, which helped Nobunaga in his triumph. Nobunaga became famous for his ferocity. Especially remembered was his burning of the temples on Mt. Hiei in 1571, which broke the secular power of the Buddhist establishment, and its monastic armies. Nobunaga then deposed the last Ashikaga Shôgun, his own creature, in 1573. He seemed on his way to personal rule of a unified Japan but didn't quite make it -- meeting assassination in 1582. For all his power, Nobunaga had never assumed one of the traditional titles or offices of rule. It is usually said that this was because he was not of the qualfying Fujiwara or Minamoto descent. However, such descent could easily have been manufactured ("discovered"), so it may be that Nobunaga actually envisioned creating a new office. Toyotomi Chancellors (Kampaku) 1 Hideyoshi 1585-1591-1598 2 Hidetsugu 1591-1595 Nobunaga was succeeded by one of his generals and retainers, Hideyoshi, whose family name was originally Nakamura. A person of no apparent significance, Hideyoshi had enlisted in Nobunaga's service and risen to prominence. After Nobunaga's assassination, Hideyoshi avenged him and then suppressed the Oda heirs in establishing his supremacy. The only setback in this progress was defeat by Tokugawa Ieyasa, Lord of Mikawa. Thus we meet the third central figure of the era. Later there was a story that illustrated the different styles of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu, about what each would say if a bird did not sing for him: Nobunaga would say, "Sing, or I will kill you"; Hideyoshi would say, "Sing, or I will make you sing"; and Ieyasu would say, "Sing, or I will wait for you to sing." Wait Ieyasu did, making an accomodation with Hideyoshi and henceforth supporting his rule. Hideyoshi then completed the reunification and pacification of Japan. He assumed the office of Imperial Chancellor in 1585, for which only Fujiwaras were hitherto qualified, and even assumed a new family name, Toyotomi, to go along with it, in 1586. In 1592 he then invaded Korea. This didn't go well, but he tried again in 1597-1598. After he died in the latter year, Ieyasu wisely withdrew Japanese forces. Hideyoshi had also turned against the Christians in 1597, inaugurating executions and persecutions that later (under Iemitsu) would drive the small remnant of Japanese Christians into the secret practice of their religion for centuries. The Edo Period, 1603-1868 108 Go-Mi-no-o 1612-1629-1680 109 Meishô [Myôshô] 1630-1643-1696 110 Go-Kômyô 1644-1654 111 Go-Saiin 1655-1662-1685 112 Reigen 1663-1686-1732 113 Higashi-yama 1687-1709 114 Nakamikado 1710-1735-1737 115 Sakuramachi 1736-1746-1750 116 Momozono 1746-1762 117 Go-Sakuramachi 1763-1770-1813 118 Go-Momozono 1771-1779 119 Kôkaku 1780-1816-1840 120 Ninkô 1817-1846 121 Kômei 1847-1866 At first, Ieyasu appeared to loyally support Hideyoshi's heir and successor, Hideyori (a previously adopted heir, Hidetsugu, had been executed), even after he defeated the Toyotomi forces at the great battle of Sekigahara in 1600. But Ieyasu then went on to get himself appointed Shôgun in 1603. Hideyori later died, with the last of his cause, when Ieyasu broke into and burned Ôsaka Castle in 1615. Ieyasu, who had by then already "retired," thus firmly established the rule of his family, which henceforth ruled from Edo, not far from where the Hôjôs had ruled at Kamakura. Tokugawa Shôguns Buried 1 Ieyasu 1603-1605-1616 Nikko 2 Hidetada 1605-1623-1632 Shiba 3 Iemitsu 1623-1651 Nikko 4 Ietsuna 1651-1680 Ueno 5 Tsunayoshi 1680-1709 Ueno 6 Ienobu 1709-1712 Shiba 7 Ietsugu 1712-1716 Shiba 8 Yoshimune 1716-1745-1751 Ueno 9 Ieshige 1745-1760-1761 Shiba 10 Ieharu 1760-1786 Ueno 11 Ienari 1786-1837-1841 Ueno 12 Ieyoshi 1837-1853 Shiba 13 Iesada 1853-1858 Ueno 14 Iemochi 1858-1866 Shiba 15 Yoshinobu, Keiki 1866-1868-1903 Taitoku, Tôkyô Of considerable interest was the English retainer that Ieyasu came to acquire. Will Adams had landed in Japan with a Dutch ship in 1600, the first ship to reach Japan from across the Pacific (which is what Christopher Columbus had originally intended to do). Adams built ships for Ieyasu, advised him on European politics, and dealt with foreign merchants, even marrying a Japanese wife. When Adams died in 1620, he was buried above Yokosuka, which later became a Japanese and then, after World War II, American naval base. British occupation forces erected a small monument to Adams at Ito in Izu. Until 1923 a section of Tokyo, the Anjin-chô, the "pilot district," had been named after Adams, since he had had a house there (and was a pilot). After the great Kanto earthquake of that year, the rebuilding of Tokyo resulted in the elimination of the district. This bothered the locals, who took up a collection and built a small shrine to Adams, which still exists, in the old neighborhood -- not far from the famous Nihonbashi ("Japan Bridge") in the downtown district of the same name. The story of Adams' advent in Japan was fictionalized by James Clavell in the very popular historical novel Shogun (1976). Edo Castle, Tôkyô Imperial Palace -- originally built as the seat of the Tokugawas. Ieyasu and then especially his grandson Iemitsu created a system of rule approaching totalitarian dimensions. Every person in the country and everything they did was subject to oversight and review. Every family had to register with a local Buddhist temple, and even their diversions and travel were the business of the government. The country became closed to foreigners -- even as Japanese were prohibited from going abroad -- except for one Dutch ship annually, which put in to Nagasaki. Christians were exterminated, and measures taken for years to hunt out any practicing secretly (not all were in fact found). "Samurai" changed from being a job description to being a caste. Commoners were forbidden to carry more than a single short sword for defense, while samurai were required to carry two swords and might summarily execute a commoner for insufficient deference. Firearms were forbidden and confiscated. Sumptuary laws limited the displays of wealth that commoners, like merchants, might engage in. All this was intended to freeze Japan in time, lock it away, and keep everything under the tight control of the government. It did produce peace, and one result was the familiar aesthetic of the samurai, who no longer needed to wear armor and fight battles, where the bow had always been the principal military weapon. Now they would usually do no more than fight duels, in which the sword rather than the bow could be celebrated as the "soul of the samurai." The problems of the samuari and their ethos in this era is explored in many movies. The plight of unemployed samurai from the demobilized feudal armies is seen in Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (1963). The story of Miyamoto Musashi, who went from digging trenches in the mud at Sekigahara to becoming the greatest of the dueling ronin (and whose own The Book of Five Rings has been kept in print as a key to Japanese business practices), is given in heavily fictionalized form in The Samurai Trilogy (1955), by Hiroshi Inagaki. Finally, the most celebrated samurai story of the Edo Period was the incident in 1701 of Lord Asano of Ako, and the revenge of 47 of his retainers. At the time, his story became a kabuki play, and since the introduction of cinema there have been countless movie versions. One of the best is Inagaki's 1963 Chushingura (the "Treasury of the Loyal [chû] Retainers [shin]"). Other versions of the story are often just called "The 47 Ronin" (the retainers were ronin after Asano's death). Modern visitors to Tokyo can still see the graves of Asano and the retainers at the Sengakuji temple (not far from the Shinagawa train station on the convenient Yamanote Line). The expected character of the Japanese as obedient and communal was fixed through the Tokugawa institutions, even if occasional troubles reminded people that there used to be older traditions of insurrection and disloyalty. The Modern Period, 1868-present Era 122 Mutsuhito 1866- 1912 Meiji 1868 123 Yoshihito 1912- 1926 Taishô 124 Hirohito 1926- 1989 Shôwa 125 Akihito 1989- present Heisei Naruhito heir Modern Japan began with much of the paradox and irony familiar in world history. When Commodore Perry arrived in Japan in 1853, it was with the determination to force the country open to trade and international contact. Why this was thought to be necessary, or the business of the United States, is a good question. Ninety years later, many Americans might have wondered if it had been a good idea. When the Shôgun agreed in 1854 to open trade and allow foreigners into the country, this set off a reaction against the Shogunate that had not been seen in its history. The cry became to "Restore the Emperor; expel the foreigners!" In 1868 the Emperor was restored. The Shôgun resigned, and the young Mutsuhito moved the Imperial Court from Kyôto to Edo, which now became Tôkyô, the "Eastern Capital." But the foreigners did not get expelled. Instead, the new government set out to completely overturn the traditional society and create a modern state. The samurai class was simply abolished in 1872, but die hard samurai had to be defeated with modern weapons. The "Satsuma Rebellion" of Saigô Takamori in 1877 has recently been the subject of a Hollywood movie, The Last Samurai [2003], but the movie fictionalizes events beyond recognition. Takamori led 15,000 men and ended up enduring a siege in Kagoshima, which destroyed the town and castle. Wounded in battle at Shiroyama, he commited suicide with the help of a retainer (Beppu Shinsuke, not an American solider). Just as hopeless and vicious folly redeemed by suicide is often celebrated in Japanese history, in 1899 Takamori earned a statue at the entrance of Ueno Park in Tôykô. There had already been trouble in Satsuma, a telling incident in 1863, when the British bombarded Kagoshima, the capital of Shimazu Hisamitsu, Daimyô of the Satsuma Clan, in revenge for the murder of an Englishman, Mr. Richardson, by Hisamitsu's retainers in Yokohama. To the British the action was a disaster, because a number of the new breech-loading guns exploded. The Japanese, however, did not know that. All they saw was the fortress getting blown to bits. The result was that the Satsuma Clan became patrons of the new Imperial Japanese Navy. This contrasts with the kind of thing that went on in China, where the first railroad, built with British money, was bought by the Chinese government simply to be torn up. Such things were apparently thought unnecessary. Trouble similar to that at Kagoshima, in the same year, occurred at Shimonoseki (near the site of the Battle of Dan-no-Ura), where the Daimyô of Chôshû, Môri Motonori, ordered that foreign ships passing by be shot at. Consequently, the French bombarded Shimonoseki, and the British did also in 1864. The Chôshû Clan subsequently became the patron of the new Japanese Army, which drew on French advice, until France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and then on German (not, as one might think from The Last Samuri, American). So it turned out that, the way Nixon could go to China, Emperor Mutsuhito could put on pants and sit in a chair -- and build a modern nation. With the "Meiji Restoration," the Japanese adopted the Chinese practice of the Ming and Ch'ing that only one Era Name is used per reign. Mutsuhito thus chose Meiji, "Enlightened Rule," for himself. As in the recent Chinese practice, with the death each Emperor, he then became known by the Era Name, i.e. "The Meiji Emperor," rather than a new postumous name, which in Japanese practice tended to reflect his residence (e.g. Nijô, the "Second Street" Emperor). Almost from the very beginning of modern Japan, its foreign policy was aggressive and expansionist. Not only the Japanese themselves, but the International Community, considered that Japan had come of age and become a Power with the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). While none of this, not even the annexation of Korea in 1910, was regarded as particularly predatory behavior at the time, things began to change when Japan tried to impose demands on China during World War I. This was disagreeable to Britain, of whom Japan was a proud ally, and infuriating to the United States, which, with a soft spot for all the Chinese who were expected to convert to Christianity any day, suddenly became an international powerbroker by delivering victory to the Allies. Japan backed off and for a while was on relatively good behavior, the period of "Taishô Democracy." But darker impulses were always stirring, and the Depression did much the same work in Japan that it did in Germany. The greedy capitalists and the disloyal communists should both be defeated so that the National Essence could prosper and bring the Emperor's Benevolence to all of East Asia. The takeover of Manchuria in 1931 was the first major act of fascist aggression in the 1930's, though the Japanese had long stationed troops there, as the Russians had before them. The League of Nations, whose principal members already had their own colonial empires, now became queasy over the naked continuation of the old style imperialism. The United States, probably the most outraged, was no longer involved enough in international affairs to make much difference. The saddest thing about the business was that none of it was really a considered policy of the Japanese Government. Military zealots, usually on the spot, initiated actions that the Government was literally afraid to repudiate -- Prime Ministers were assassinated just for the impression of not being sufficiently hard-line (though some revisionist historians now argue that the whole business was masterminded by Emperor Hirohito himself). The only real military question was whether action should be aimed at the Soviet Union or at China. This was decided, in effect, by the failure of a coup in Tokyo on February 26, 1936, the "2/26 Incident." China would be the target, and pretexts were duly arranged that were used to invade China in 1937. This began a war that lasted until 1945. Everything else, like the Pacific War with the United States and Britain, was just a detail coincident to the attack on China. For, as it happened, China was rather too large to be overrun by the Japanese, and Chiang Kai-shek was too stubborn, or stupid, to come to any accommodation with them. His expectation was that the Americans would eventually be drawn in, and then they would win the war for him. In that he turned out to be quite right. Japanese strategy can be observed on the map of their East Asian Empire at its height. China is in practical terms surrounded. The last route of overland supply, through Burma (the arduous "Burma Road"), was the last one cut off. The Allies were reduced to flying supplies in over "The Hump," i.e. the Himalayas. This turned out to be less desperate than it might seem, since Chiang didn't want the supplies to fight the Japanese anyway. He figured that Japan would be defeated elsewhere, which it was, and that he needed to prepare for the post-War struggle with the Communists. Meanwhile, the Japanese secured a strategic oil supply in Indonesia and protected it by conquering adjacent territories, like the Philippines. The military, however, had paid insufficient attention to boring practical questions like running the oil fields and then getting the fuel back to Japan. A convoy system, which the Allies had to use against German submarines in World War I and World War II in the Atlantic, was never used by Japan, even when American submarines were decimating and even annihilating ships carrying desperately needed strategic supplies. One gets the impression that the whole affair had not been thought out very well, and it hadn't. The Japanese military wanted to die in battle, not to babysit civilian tankers and cargo ships. For much the same reason, Japanese submarines never returned the favor of general warfare against Allied shipping -- they went after warships, winning some prizes (the Yorktown, Wasp, and Indianopolis), but more often getting sunk by screening ships. The ironically named Shôwa, "Radiant Peace," Era brought down the world, and the Bomb, on Japan and its ambitions. China was left to the grave miscalculations of its own leader, and the Japanese were left to pick up the pieces of flattened, blasted cities. Astonishingly, all the impractical foolishness and haughty distain for mere mundane details were soon traded in for an economic and commercial practicality rivaled by few. Japan had rolled with the punches and remade itself before, and it did again. Whether the moral lesson had really been learned was a question often asked by the Asian neighbors who had experienced the old Japanese "benevolence" first hand. But one thing remains clear: nothing but lack of determination has ever stopped "Third World" countries from entering the modern era and competing with European states as equals, in war and peace. Japan emerged from Tibetan isolation and xenophobia and, with no "natural resources" to speak of, save the human capital of its own people, became a Great Power in less than 40 years. Today the Japanese economy is in a Tokugawan torpor, but no one is deceived that the frenzy of Japanese life cannot most unexpectedly erupt in new achievements and ambitions (even alarming ones). Prime Ministers, 1885-present The Battleship Kongô Japanese Battleships Advanced Japanese Destroyers of World War II A Guadalcanal Chronology, 7 August 1942 - 6 March 1943 Zen and the Art of Divebombing, or The Dark Side of the Tao _________________________________________________________________ Sangoku Index Philosophy of History Home Page Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved _________________________________________________________________ Fujiwara Chancellors and Imperial Regents, 858-1867; Prime Ministers, 1885-present _________________________________________________________________ Regent, Sesshô Chancellor, Kampaku Dates Fujiwara Yoshifusa 858-872 Fujiwara Mototsune 872-880 Fujiwara Mototsune 880-890 Fujiwara Tadahira 930-941 Fujiwara Tadahira 941-949 Fujiwara Saneyori 967-970 Fujiwara Saneyori 969-970 Fujiwara Koretada 970-972 Fujiwara Kanemichi 972-977 Fujiwara Yoritada 977-986 Fujiwara Kaneie 986-990 Fujiwara Kaneie 990 Fujiwara Michitaka 990 Fujiwara Michitaka 990-993 Fujiwara Michitaka 993-995 Fujiwara Michikane 995 Fujiwara Michinaga 1016-1017 Fujiwara Yorimichi 1017-1019 Fujiwara Yorimichi 1019-1067 Fujiwara Norimichi 1068-1075 Fujiwara Morozane 1075-1086 Fujiwara Morozane 1086-1090 Fujiwara Morozane 1090-1094 Fujiwara Moromichi 1094-1099 Fujiwara Tadazane 1105-1107 Fujiwara Tadazane 1107-1113 Fujiwara Tadazane 1113-1121 Fujiwara Tadamichi 1121-1123 Fujiwara Tadamichi 1123-1129 Fujiwara Tadamichi 1129-1141 Fujiwara Tadamichi 1141-1150 Fujiwara Tadamichi 1150-1158 Konoe Motozane 1158-1165 Konoe Motozane 1165-1166 Fujiwara Motofusa 1166-1172 Fujiwara Motofusa 1172-1179 Konoe Motomichi 1179-1180 Konoe Motomichi 1180-1183 Fujiwara Moroie 1183-1184 Konoe Motomichi 1184-1186 Kujô Kanezane 1186-1191 Kujô Kanezane 1191-1196 Konoe Motomichi 1196-1198 Konoe Motomichi 1198-1202 Kujô Yoshitsune 1202-1206 Konoe Iezane 1206-1221 Kujô Michiie 1221 Konoe Iezane 1221-1223 Konoe Iezane 1223-1228 Kujô Michiie 1228-1231 Kujô Norizane 1231-1232 Kujô Norizane 1232-1235 Kujô Michiie 1235-1237 Konoe Kanetsune 1237-1242 Konoe Kanetsune 1242 Nijô Yoshizane 1242-1246 Ichijô Sanetsune 1246 Ichijô Sanetsune 1246-1247 Kanoe Kanetsune 1247-1252 Takatsukasa Kanehira 1252-1254 Takatsukasa Kanehira 1254-1261 Nijô Yoshizane 1261-1265 Ichijô Sanetsune 1265-1267 This wonderful list is entirely from The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, by Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell [Princeton University Press, 1985, 1988], p. 463-467. Stretching from the time of Charles the Bald to Andrew Johnson, this list, as few things can, provides a vivid testament to the continuity of custom and tradition in Japan. The offices, originally symbolic of the passing of real power from the Emperors to the Fujiwaras, later become largely symbolic themselves, as power passes to Cloistered Emperors, Shôguns, and even Regents of Shôguns. Starting in 1158 individuals from branch lines of the Fujiwara appear in the offices. These are the "five regent families" (the gosekke -- Konoe, Kujô, Nijô, Takasukasa, & Ichijô), and they alone would soon be considered for these offices, with the sole exceptions of the two Toyotomis. Also, until very recently, wives for the Emperors were supposed to come from these families. Down to 1267, the genealogy of the Fujiwara, with the beginning of the regent families, can be examined in a popup diagram. The genealogy is from the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, Volume 2 [Kodansha Ltd., 1983, p.369]. This is at present just the stetch of a diagram. The women near the top of the diagram are those who became consorts of Emperors. More women can be added and the Emperors identified to fill out the genealogy. Other Fujiwara, besides those who became Regents or Chancellors, can also be added. The first Fujiwara is Kamatari. In 644, under the Empress Kôgyoku (642-645), he helped purge members of the Soga clan. With the Soga gone, Kamatari became the supporter of the new Emperor Kôtoku (645-654), ushering in the Yamato Period (645-711). Kôtoku granted Kamatari and his descendants the name Fujiwara. The family divides into a number of branches, the most important of which is the Hokke or Northern house. Yoshifusa (d.872) ushers in the heyday of the Fujiwara. With a sister and daughter married to Emperors, when his young grandson comes to the throne as the Emperor Seiwa, Yoshifusa inaugurates a Regency. Seiwa reigns but Yoshifusa rules. His nephew and adopted son Mototsune (d.891) refines and extends this system. First, an Emperor, like Seiwa himself, can be persuaded to retire, with a Regency then continuing for a new minor Emperor, in this case Yôzei (858). Or, as subsequently with Yôzei, the Regency may be ended but the arrangement of rule continued through a new office, that of Kampaku or Chancellor (in 880 or 882). This becomes the mechanism of Fujiwara power: (1) Fujiwara mothers for the Emperors, (2) early retirement for Emperors, (3) Regencies for minor Emperors, and (4) the Chancellorship for Emperors between their minority and their retirement. This system continued to dominate the government until the Cloistered Emperors began excerising authority in their own right (with Shirakawa in 1086) and then, finally, when the war between the Taira and the Minamoto was ended at Dan-no-Ura in 1185 -- then the samurai Shôguns (or the Hôjô Regents) began exercising the real power of the government. Nevertheless, the institution of Regents, Chancellors, and even Cloistered Emperors continued down to the Meiji Restoration. Only Fujiwaras (and then the five regent families) were qualified for Imperial marriages, Regencies, or, except for the Toyotomis, the Chancellorship. Regent, Sesshô Chancellor, Kampaku Dates Konoe Motohira 1267-1268 Takatsukasa Mototada 1268-1273 Kujô Tadaie 1273-1274 Kujô Tadaie 1274 Ichijô Ietsune 1274-1275 Takatsukasa Kanehira 1275-1278 Takasukasa Kanehira 1278-1287 Nijô Morotada 1287-1289 Konoe Iemoto 1289-1291 Kujô Tadamori 1291-1293 Konoe Iemoto 1293-1296 Takatsukasa Kanetada 1296-1298 Takatsukasa Kanetada 1298 Nijô Kanemoto 1298-1300 Nijô Kanemoto 1300-1305 Kujô Moronori 1305-1308 Kujô Moronori 1308 Takatsukasa Fuyuhira 1308-1311 Takatsukasa Fuyuhira 1311-1313 Konoe Iehira 1313-1315 Takatsukasa Fuyuhira 1315-1316 Nijô Michihira 1316-1318 Ichijô Uchitsune 1318-1323 Kujô Fusazane 1323-1324 Takatsukasa Fuyuhira 1324-1327 Nijô Michihira 1327-1330 Takatsukasa Tsunatada 1330 Takatsukasa Fuyunori 1330-1333 Konoe Tsunetada 1336-1337 Konoe Mototsugu 1337-1338 Ichijô Tsunemichi 1338-1342 Kujô Michinori 1342 Takatsukasa Morohira 1342-1346 Nijô Yoshimoto 1346-1358 Kujô Tsunenori 1358-1361 Konoe Michitsugu 1361-1363 Nijô Yoshimoto 1363-1367 Takatsukasa Fuyumichi 1367-1369 Nijô Moroyoshi 1369-1375 Kujô Tadamoto 1375-1379 Nijô Morotsugu 1379-1382 Nijô Yoshimoto 1382-1387 Konoe Kanetsugu 1387-1388 Nijô Yoshimoto 1388 Nijô Morotsugu 1388-1394 Ichijô Tsunetsugu 1394-1398 Nijô Morotsugu 1398-1399 Ichijô Tsunetsugu 1399-1408 Konoe Tadatsugu 1408-1409 Nijô Mitsumoto 1409-1410 Ichijô Tsunetsugu 1410-1418 Kujô Mistunori 1418-1424 Nijô Mochimoto 1424-1428 Nijô Mochimoto 1428-1432 Ichijô Kaneyoshi 1432 Nijô Mochimoto 1432-1433 Nijô Mochimoto 1433-1445 Konoe Fusatsugu 1445-1447 Ichijô Kaneyoshi 1447-1453 Nijô Mochimichi 1453-1454 Takatsukasa Fusahira 1454-1455 Nijô Mochimichi 1455-1458 Ichijô Norifusa 1458-1463 Nijô Mochimichi 1463-1467 Ichijô Kaneyoshi 1467-1470 Nijô Masatsugu 1470-1476 Kujô Masamoto 1476-1479 Konoe Masaie 1479-1483 Takatsukasa Masahira 1483-1487 Kujô Masatada 1487-1488 Ichijô Fuyuyoshi 1488-1493 Konoe Naomichi 1493-1496 Ichijô Naomoto 1497 Konoe Naomichi 1513-1514 Takatsukasa Kanesuke 1514-1518 Nijô Tadafusa 1518-1525 Konoe Taneie 1525-1533 Kujô Tanemichi 1533-1534 Nijô Tadafusa 1534-1536 Konoe Taneie 1536-1542 Takatsukasa Tadafuyu 1542-1545 Ichijô Fusamichi 1545-1548 Nijô Haruyoshi 1548-1553 Ichijô Kanefuyu 1553-1554 Konoe Harutsugu 1554-1568 Nijô Haruyoshi 1568-1578 Kujô Kanetaka 1578-1581 Ichiô Uchimoto 1581-1584 Nijô Akizane 1585 Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1585-1591 Toyotomi Hidetsugu 1591-1595 Kujô Kanetaka 1600-1604 Konoe Nobutada 1605-1606 Takatsukasa Nobufusa 1606-1608 Kujô Tadasaka 1608-1612 Takatsukasa Nobunao 1612-1615 Nijô Akizane 1615-1619 Kujô Tadasaka 1619-1623 Konoe Nobuhiro 1623-1629 Ichijô Kanetô 1629 Ichijô Kanetô 1629-1634 Nijô Yasumichi 1635-1647 Kujô Michifusa 1647 Ichijô Akiyoshi 1647 Ichijô Akiyoshi 1647-1651 Konoe Naotsugu 1651-1653 Nijô Mitsuhira 1653-1663 Nijô Mitsuhira 1663-1664 Takatsukasa Fusasuke 1664-1668 Takatsukasa Fusasuke 1668-1682 Ichijô Fuyutsune 1682-1687 Ichijô Fuyutsune 1687-1689 Ichijô Fuyutsune 1689-1690 Konoe Motohiro 1690-1703 Takatsukasa Kanehiro 1703-1707 Konoe Iehiro 1707-1709 Konoe Iehiro 1709-1712 Kujô Sukezane 1712-1716 Kujô Sukezane 1716-1722 Nijô Tsunahira 1722-1726 Konoe Iehisa 1726-1736 Nijô Yoshitada 1736-1737 Ichijô Kaneka 1737-1746 Ichijô Michika 1746-1747 Ichijô Michika 1747-1755 Ichijô Michika 1755-1757 Konoe Uchizaki 1757-1762 Konoe Uchizaki 1762-1772 Konoe Uchizaki 1772-1778 Kujô Naozane 1778-1779 Kujô Naozane 1779-1785 Kujô Naozane 1785-1787 Takatsukasa Sukehira 1787-1791 Ichijô Teruyoshi 1791-1795 Takatsukasa Masahiro 1795-1814 Ichijô Tadayoshi 1814-1823 Takatsukasa Masamichi 1823-1856 Kujô Naotada 1856-1862 Konoe Tadahiro 1862-1863 Takatsukasa 1863 Nijô Naritoshi 1863-1867 Nijô Naritoshi 1867 The maintenance of titular authority while real power is exercised elsewhere becomes a striking characteristic of Japanese government. The assumption by Hideyoshi of the office of Chancellor represented a moment when a traditional office might have been revived with real authority; but then Ieyasu was content to return the Kyôto government to its traditions, while taking for himself the Shôgunate -- from which he quickly retired (1605) but continued to direct events, like the reduction of Osaka Castle in 1615. The Fujiwara regent families thus played out the roles created by Yoshifusa and Mototsune all the way to 1867. The difference between titular and real power, however, continues as a serious question into the 20th century. Were Emperors like Meiji and Hirohito constitutional figureheads or active and involved rulers? The forms of Japanese government served to enclose and obscure the authority they may actually have been exercising. This is of interest with Meiji but becomes a most important question with Hirohito, whose involvement and responsibility for the policies and actions of the Japanese government leading up and into World War II are a matter now hotly disputed. The post-war representation was that he had always been, consciously, a British style Monarch who merely reigned. Only on the rarest of occasions would he even express an opinion, and he only directed specific policy in one case, when he ordered the War to be ended. Subsequently, charges have been made that the Emperor actually masterminded all of Japanese aggression, directing policy and commanding actions as much as Hitler or Mussolini. This seemed rather wild at the time, but subsequent research has seemed to show that Hirohito, at least, was rather more involved in things than the official story allowed. Be that as it may, the very uncertainty of it is of a piece with Japanese history -- even as we see exactly six hundred years (1267-1867) of relatively powerless Fujiwaras in the table at left. PRIME MINISTERS Itô Hirobumi December 1885-April 1888 Kuroda Kiyotaka April 1888-December 1889 Yamagata Aritomo December 1889-May 1891 Matsukata Masayoshi May 1891-August 1892 Itô Hirobumi August 1892-September 1896 Matsukata Masayoshi September 1896-January 1898 Itô Hirobumi January 1898-June 1898 Ôkuma Shigenobu June 1898-November 1898 Yamagata Aritomo November 1898-October 1900 Itô Hirobumi October 1900-June 1901 Katsura Tarô June 1901-January 1906 Saionji Kimmochi January 1906-July 1908 Katsura Tarô July 1908-August 1911 Saionji Kimmochi August 1911-December 1912 Katsura Tarô December 1912-February 1913 Adm. Yamamoto Gonnohyôe February 1913-April 1914 Ôkuma Shigenobu April 1914-October 1916 Gen. Terauchi Masatake October 1916-September 1918 Hara Takashi September 1918-November 1921, assassinated Takahashi Korekiyo November 1921-June 1922 Adm. Katô Tomosaburô June 1922-September 1923 Adm. Yamamoto Gonnohyoe September 1923-January 1924 Kiyoura Keigo January 1924-June 1924 Katô Takaaki June 1924-January 1926 Wakatsuki Reijirô January 1926-April 1927 Gen. Tanaka Giichi April 1927-July 1929 Hamaguchi Osachi July 1929-April 1931, assassinated Wakatsuki Reijiro April 1931-December 1931 Inukai Tsuyoshi December 1931-May 1932, assassinated Adm. Saitô Makoto May 1932-July 1934 Adm. Okada Keisuke July 1934-March 1936 Hirota Kôki March 1936-February 1937 Gen. Hayashi Senjûrô February 1937-June 1937 Konoe Fumimaro June 1937-January 1939 Hiranuma Kiichirô January 1939-August 1939 Gen. Abe Nobuyuki August 1939-January 1940 Adm. Yonai Mitsumasa January 1940-July 1940 Konoe Fumimaro July 1940-October 1941 Gen. Tôjô Hideki October 1941-July 1944 Gen. Koiso Kuniaki July 1944-April 1945 Adm. Suzuki Kantarô April 1945-August 1945 Higashikuni Naruhiko August 1945-October 1945 Shidehara Kijûrô October 1945-May 1946 Yoshida Shigeru May 1946-May 1947 Katayama Tetsu May 1947-March 1948 Ashida Hitoshi March 1948-October 1948 Yoshida Shigeru October 1948-December 1954 Hatoyama Ichirô December 1954-December 1956 Ishibashi Tanzan December 1956-February 1957 Kishi Nobusuke February 1957-July 1960 Ikeda Hayato July 1960-November 1964 Satô Eisaku November 1964-July 1972 Tanaka Kakuei July 1972-December 1974 Miki Takeo December 1974-December 1976 Fukuda Takeo December 1976-December 1978 Ôhira Masayoshi December 1978-July 1980 Suzuki Zenko July 1980-November 1982 Nakasone Yasuhiro November 1982-November 1987 Takeshita Noboru November 1987-June 1989 Uno Sosuke June 1989-August 1989 Kaifu Toshiki August 1989-November 1991 Miyazawa Kiichi November 1991-August 1993 Hosokawa Morihiro August 1993-April 1994 Hata Tsutomu April 1994-June 1994 Murayama Tomiichi June 1994-January 1996 Hashimoto Ryûtarô January 1996-July 1998 Obuchi Keizô July 1998-April 2000 Mori Yoshirô April 2000-April 2001 Koizumi Junichiro April 2001-present Theoretically, there might be a continuous succession from the Edo Chancellors to modern Prime Ministers; but it took a little while to get the forms of a modern Government organized, so there is not formally a "President of Ministers" until 1885. Since Japan adopts a Constitution patterned after that of Prussia, the Prime Minister is not necessarily accountable to the Diet, but to the Emperor. What ended up happening is that, rather than choosing the other ministers, the Prime Ministers themselves were often those acceptable to the Army and the Navy, who scorned civilian authority and exercised vetoes on the rest of the Government. This ultimately had disastrous consequences, promoting militarism, military rule, and then wars of aggression. Pre-World War II Prime Ministers who were assassinated are in boldface. Also highlighted are Prince Konoe, a familiar Fujiwara name, who committed suicide after the War rather than be tried as a war criminal, and General Tôjô, who attempted suicide for the same reason but failed, was convicted, and was hung. Tôjô, it might be noted, resigned in 1944 after the loss of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, after which the Japanese realized that nothing could hold off the Allied advance on Japan. Unlike Germany, where the Nazi government simply ceased to exist and the Allies divided and directly ruled Germany, a formal Japanese Government never ceased to exist during the Allied Occupation. A new Constitution was written, and Prime Minister Katayama was the first to govern under it. Now the Emperor had no theoretical power at all, not even as much as the Queen of England. He was no longer the Sovereign, and Japan was no longer an Empire. The Prime Minister was responsible to the Diet. Most Post-War Prime Ministers (since 1955) have been from the Liberal-Democratic Party, which people like to say is neither liberal nor democratic. Instead, Diet seats have tended to become hereditary, and Japanese government often seems to be little more than a system of influence-peddling. Consequently, corruption and bribery scandals are commonplace. Such a scandal led to the downfall of the familiar 1980's Prime Minister Nakasone, who got to preside over Japan's greatest period of world economic domination. The 1990's were less good for Japan, whose prosperity turned out to be a little too much of a speculative bubble, with a great deal of capital based on inflated real estate values and fraudulent loans. Since almost nobody really believes in laissez-faire anymore, it always takes a long time for the economy to shake stuff like that off. This list is based on the list of Japanese Prime Ministers at the Mizuho Financial Group site and on the list in The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen [Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 2000]. _________________________________________________________________ Sangoku Index Philosophy of History Home Page Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2004 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved