They say there is a beautiful country surrounded on all sides by blue mountains. Why not go there? Ivaro turned to his brother Itsuse. Taking his silence as consent, Ivaro added resolutely:"Let's go there." So, according to legend, the people of the Tenson and Izumo tribes migrated from the island of Kyushu to the island of Honshu. Ivaro put his people on the ships and set off. The campaign lasted 7 years. They rounded the shores of their native Kyushu, entered the Sea of Japan and landed on the western coast of Honshu. Moving east, they settled on flat lands, which later formed the possessions of the Yamato state they created, were the center of the formation of the Japanese people.
However, Ivaro was met as an enemy by the elders of the tribes who previously settled in these places. They put up strong resistance to the invaders. The local elder Nagasune-hiko and his supporters fought especially hard. Ivaro even had to leave Yamato. Only after the death of the enemy, he and his fellow tribesmen returned there. Having settled in a new place, Ivaro, as the legend says, first of all built a sanctuary to store three magical items:a metal mirror, a sword and a jasper necklace. According to beliefs, they were passed on as signs of power to her grandson, the god Ninigi, by the sun goddess Amaterasu. Possession of them gave Ivaro a reason to rank himself among the heirs of the gods and consider his power divine. With his campaigns of conquest, he laid the foundation for the formation of a tribal union under the leadership of leaders, and later kings - tenno. Ivaro, according to Japanese chronicles, ruled from 660 to 585 BC. e. After his death, he was named "Jimmu-tenno" - "Heavenly" or "Divine King".
Starting with Jimmu-tennō, power in the lineage of the Yamato ruler was hereditary. At first, the king differed little in his position from the head of the ruling family or the leader of the tribe, but gradually his power extended to the other leaders of the Yamato. With the increase in the number of members of the royal family, it becomes customary to allocate land to them. Important transformations in the country are associated with the activities of King Sujin (97-30 BC). He, as the Japanese chronicles testify, for the first time introduced taxes of two types. The men had to send the spoils of their “bows and arrows” to the king, i.e. obtained by them on the hunt, and women - "handicrafts", i.e. fabrics. Sujin waged wars with aliens beyond his control. In four directions from Yamato, he sent commanders with an order:"If there are people who do not recognize our orders, take troops and throw these people to the ground." His name - and it translates as "He who honors the gods" - Sujin owes the fact that he was not only the king, but also the high priest of Yamato.
There was a custom in the country to bury living people together with the king or members of the royal family. Tradition says that King Suinin, who succeeded Sujin on the throne, was shocked by the spectacle of burying people in the ground. He told his advisers:“It is a pity to force those who loved someone during his life to follow him after his death. Although it is an old custom, why observe it if it is bad? Think about how to stop following the dead? The resourceful head of the potters Nomi-no-sukune thought up. He suggested replacing living people with their clay images. The king liked the idea, so they began to do it.
There was a custom in Yamato where each new king moved the old capital to a new location, but within the country. This was done for two reasons. Firstly, because of the fear of living in the house of the deceased, which was not only a palace, but shrines were kept there. Over time, a common sanctuary of the Japanese kings was created in Ise. Thus commanded the sun goddess Amaterasu to Princess Yamato, daughter of King Suinin. Since then, the high priestesses of the shrine in Ise have always been virgin princesses. Secondly, the prince-heir lived separately in his headquarters, which was declared the capital.
Over time, Yamato's holdings increased. Wars of conquest were fought during the reign of Keiko (71-130 AD). His son, Prince Yamato-takeru, which means "Hero of Yamato", fought against the recalcitrant tribes - Kumaso on the island of Kyushu and Ebisu on the island of Hokkaido. 16-year-old boy with a squad of skilled archers Yamato-takeru went on a campaign against kumaso. Before that, he proved himself at home:he killed his twin brother for disobedience to the king-father.
The two rebellious kumaso chiefs were dealt with by Yamato-takeru with some cunning. To one he entered under the guise of a beautiful girl, and when the leader of the kumaso became drunk during the feast, he stabbed him in the heart with a dagger. With another, the prince made friends for the sake of appearance, but during the bath he killed him defenseless. In Hokkaido, Yamato-takeru fought for 10 years with rebellious ebisus. His aunt, Yamato-hime, the high priestess of the shrine in Ise, helped the prince to accomplish the legendary feats. She gave her nephew a magic flint and the sword of the hurricane god Susanoo, which later became known as "Kusanagi" - "Healing Herb" or "Grass Slayer". The legend tells that one day the enemies set fire to thickets of tall grass in which Yamato-takeru was hiding. The fire was getting closer, then the prince began to cut the burning grass with his sword and in the end escaped death.
Yamato-takeru died of his wounds in a foreign land. Before his death, he wrote to the king:“I am lying among the fragrant fields, but I do not care about life. I only regret that I can’t appear before you…” These words sound the courage and devotion of a warrior that Yamato-takeru left as a legacy to his descendants.
Wars played an important role in strengthening the power of the Yamato royal family. During campaigns, the king or his closest relatives became the head of the militia. The lion's share of the captured booty went to the king and his relatives, to the temples, where, again, people from the royal house served as priests. Prisoners of war cultivated the royal lands or were included in the category of artisans, many of whom worked for the royal family.
As a result of the Yamato conquests, the elders of the defeated foreigners became subordinate to the Yamato rulers, their tributaries. To strengthen their power in the conquered lands, the Yamato kings appointed their relatives there as rulers, who proved to be brave or capable people.
With the expansion of the territory subject to the Yamato kings, and the increase in the population on it, it is already difficult for them to cope with the affairs of government alone. During the reign of Seimu (131-190), the position of “omi” appeared for the first time - the closest assistant to the king in managing Yamato, and governors and district chiefs were appointed in the region.
King Seimu's successor, the handsome giant Tuai, was not known for his warlike spirit. One day, his wife, Queen Jingu, saw in a dream the lands lying southwest of Yamato that could be conquered. It was Korea. Jingu told her dream to the king, ending the story with the words:“There is an abundance of various treasures that beckon the eye, from gold to silver. I will now give this land to you." Tuay continued to play the flute instead of answering. Still, his peace was disturbed. The recalcitrant kumaso rose again. They defeated Tuai's troops, mortally wounding him. Queen Jingu cruelly avenged them for the death of her husband, but she also failed to subdue them completely. They, like the ebisu, fought for freedom over the next few centuries.
Having buried her husband and pacified the rebels, Queen Jingu embarked on a campaign against the Korean state of Silla, a longtime ally of the Kumaso. She personally led a trip to the overseas region. The military expedition required a lot of money and labor to build ships, prepare equipment, many people were forcibly taken to war. The discontent of the population took advantage of the princes of Kagosaka and Oshikuma. In Jingu's absence, they led the rebellion. However, people loyal to Jingu, led by adviser Takenouchi no Sukune, managed to suppress it in time.
Jingu's heir, Ojin, who ruled the country from 270 to 310, dreamed of sea voyages and obliged the inhabitants of the Izu maritime region to build ships for him free of charge, as a tribute. At that time, their bodies were made by hollowing out tree trunks.
Ojin now has a fleet of 500 carano ships. So much before him was not a single king of Yamato. The inhabitants of Korea unwittingly turned out to be involved in shipbuilding in Yamato. Part of Ojin's ships burned down near the houses where the ambassadors of the Korean kingdom of Silla were stationed. They were accused of arson. Then the ruler of Silla sent skilful shipbuilders to Yamato. There they later founded a hereditary union of shipbuilders. Under Ojin, a fishing union of fishermen is created. Before that, they were separated. Taking advantage of this, the royal court took away fish from them. Over time, realizing their strength, the fishermen refused to follow the orders of the royal authorities. After lengthy negotiations, a royal decree allowed the creation of a fishermen's union that represented their interests.
With the development of various crafts in the country, special groups of artisans appeared who served the royal court and the nobility. So, at the end of the III century. 10 artels of artisans were allocated to one of the princes:brocade weavers, shield makers, swords, bows, arrows, carved stones, etc.
To develop handicrafts, the Yamato kings encouraged skilled craftsmen from abroad to migrate to their country. Under Ojin, several embassies were sent to other countries for this purpose. By order of the king, Achi no omi, who arrived from there, went to China, to the kingdom of Wu, with his son. They were to bring skilful weavers and tailors to Yamato. Later, potters, saddlers, and embroiderers arrived from the Korean kingdom of Baekje.
After Ojin's death, there was a power struggle for nearly three years. The eldest son of the king was killed, the youngest committed suicide. The throne went to the middle one - Nintoku (313-399). What the new king saw around him amazed him:wars, civil strife of the nobility turned into troubles and poverty for the population of the country. The Japanese chronicles brought to us the words of Nintoku:“We climbed a high tower and looked around, but no smoke rose from the ground anywhere. From this we concluded that the people are poor and no one cooks rice in their houses.” After that, Nintoku wrote off the arrears, refused to receive land tax for three years. He himself began to walk in old clothes and worn shoes. In his palace, it is said in a laudatory ode in honor of the king, in the rain they moved from one room to another, as the roof was leaking.
The economic state of the country was not indifferent to the king. Natural conditions suitable for the cultivation of cereals, and the sea rich in fish, determined the main occupations of the inhabitants of the Yamato country - agriculture and fishing. According to legend, farming was not an easy task. There was little suitable land for cultivation. The development of mountainous areas required great effort. With the spread of iron tools, the soil began to be worked with picks, hoes, and shovels. The plow with bovine traction came into use. The cultivation of rice, which has become a favorite food of the Yamato population, required the creation of irrigated fields, canals, dams, reservoirs - extensive hydraulic works.
The name of King Yuryaku (457-479) is associated with special concerns about the development of sericulture. According to legend, he allegedly gathered people of the Khata clan who settled in different places, who knew how to get silk threads, and settled them together, ordering them to engage in sericulture and weave silk fabrics. In 472, decrees were issued on the cultivation of mulberry wherever it can grow. And at the same time, it was ordered to re-settle the people of the Khata clan in different places so that they could teach more peasants silk weaving. During the years of the reign of the kings Nintoku and Yuryaku, the economy of the country became stronger, the people began to live better. The kings received such great power that the most powerful heads of clans could not interfere with their rule. However, discord gradually began in the royal family. They inspired Matori, a member of the Heguri family, to seize the throne from the ten-year-old king Buretsu (499-506). But the military nobility opposed Matori, and the Heguri clan was exterminated.
In VI c. the importance of royal power is falling, once again influential elders of the clans are in charge. Lawlessness and strife reign in Yamato. They came to an end after the decisive battles of the Mononobe and Soga houses. The Mononobe warriors were led by the ancestor Moriya, the Soga warriors were led by the sixteen-year-old prince Shotoku-taishi. In the decisive battle, Morya was killed, many of his relatives and supporters were killed, and the survivors were enslaved. Their property went to the treasury. According to legend, during the battle, Shotoku-taishi's head was decorated with a helmet depicting four kings - guardians of the world who protect the world and people from evil forces. With their images, as well as with other images of Buddhist gods and protectors, the Japanese first met in 552, when the king of the Korean state Paekche sent a statue of Buddha cast in gold to Yamato. He was accompanied by Buddhist monks. The royal court was initially introduced to the new religion. Shotoku-taishi was an adherent of Buddhism and did his best to promote its spread in the country, hoping with his help to become the arbiter of the destinies of the people.
In 604, he published the Law of 17 Articles. It outlined the fundamentals of government. For example, article 3 said:“When you receive the sovereign’s command, be sure to follow it ... If you don’t follow it, destroy yourself”; in article 4:“All dignitaries and officials, consider the law to be the most important ... If there is no law above, there is no order below. If there is no law below, crimes will certainly appear”; “The duty of an official is to fairly, without succumbing to the temptation of gluttony and greed, to consider complaints submitted to him” - Article 5; “Dignitaries and officials! Arrive early and leave late! There is a lot to do” - article 8.
At the turn of the middle of the 7th c. for the country of Yamato, the period of antiquity ends, and it enters a new era in its development. "Yamato" is being replaced by "Nippon" - "Japan" - "Land of the Rising Sun".