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Transcribers Notes:

1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
2. 4 minor spelling corrections have been made. See list at end of text.




                           Edition d'Elite




                           Historical Tales

                        The Romance of Reality


                                  By

                            CHARLES MORRIS

    _Author of "Half-Hours with the Best American Authors," "Tales from
                         the Dramatists," etc._


                          IN FIFTEEN VOLUMES

                              Volume XII


                         Japanese and Chinese


                       J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
                       PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON


              Copyright, 1898, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.

              Copyright, 1904, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.

              Copyright, 1908, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.


[Illustration: GREAT GATE NIKKO.]




                             _CONTENTS._


                                                         PAGE

      THE FIRST OF THE MIKADOS                              5

      HOW CIVILIZATION CAME TO JAPAN                       12

      YAMATO-DAKE, A HERO OF ROMANCE                       19

      JINGU, THE AMAZON OF JAPAN                           27

      THE DECLINE OF THE MIKADOS                           35

      HOW THE TAIRA AND THE MINAMOTO FOUGHT FOR POWER      41

      THE BAYARD OF JAPAN                                  51

      THE HOJO TYRANNY                                     59

      THE TARTAR INVASION OF JAPAN                         67

      NOBUNAGA AND THE FALL OF THE BUDDHISTS               73

      HOW A PEASANT BOY BECAME PREMIER                     80

      THE FOUNDER OF YEDO AND OF MODERN FEUDALISM          86

      THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN                97

      THE DECLINE AND FALL OF CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN       106

      THE CAPTIVITY OF CAPTAIN GOLOWNIN                   113

      THE OPENING OF JAPAN                                123

      THE MIKADO COMES TO HIS OWN AGAIN                   133

      HOW THE EMPIRE OF CHINA AROSE AND GREW              142

      CONFUCIUS, THE CHINESE SAGE                         150

      THE FOUNDER OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE                   156

      KAOTSOU AND THE DYNASTY OF THE HANS                 172

      THE EMPRESS POISONER OF CHINA                       180

      THE INVASION OF THE TARTAR STEPPES                  186

      THE "CRIMSON EYEBROWS"                              192

      THE CONQUEST OF CENTRAL ASIA                        197

      THE SIEGE OF SINCHING                               202

      FROM THE SHOEMAKER'S BENCH TO THE THRONE            205

      THREE NOTABLE WOMEN                                 212

      THE REIGN OF TAITSONG THE GREAT                     217

      A FEMALE RICHELIEU                                  223

      THE TARTARS AND GENGHIS KHAN                        228

      HOW THE FRIARS FARED AMONG THE TARTARS              236

      THE SIEGE OF SIANYANG                               242

      THE DEATH-STRUGGLE OF CHINA                         249

      THE PALACE OF KUBLAI KHAN                           255

      THE EXPULSION OF THE MONGOLS                        264

      THE RISE OF THE MANCHUS                             272

      THE MANCHU CONQUEST OF CHINA                        281

      THE CAREER OF A DESERT CHIEF                        290

      THE RAID OF THE GOORKHAS                            299

      HOW EUROPE ENTERED CHINA                            306

      THE BURNING OF THE SUMMER PALACE                    315

      A GREAT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT AND ITS FATE             323

      COREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS                             330

      THE BATTLE OF THE IRON-CLADS                        339

      PROGRESS IN JAPAN AND CHINA                         347




                       LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                       JAPANESE AND CHINESE.


                                                         PAGE

      GREAT GATE, NIKKO                         _Frontispiece._

      FUJIYAMA                                             10

      SHUZENJI VILLAGE, IDZU                               36

      FARMERS PLANTING RICE SPROUTS, JAPAN                 52

      LETTER-WRITING IN JAPAN                              63

      KARAMO TEMPLE, NIKKO                                 78

      RETURNING FROM MARKET, JAPAN                         98

      MAIN STREET, YOKOHAMA                               108

      CHUSENJI ROAD AND DAIYA RIVER                       132

      A CHINESE IRRIGATION WHEEL                          165

      AN ITINERANT COBBLER, CANTON, CHINA                 180

      A CHINESE PAGODA                                    197

      WATER CART, PEKIN, CHINA                            210

      SHANGHAI, FROM THE WATER-SIDE                       222

      MARKET SCENE IN SHANGHAI                            255

      CHINESE GAMBLERS                                    281

      CHAIR AND CAGO CARRIERS                             306

      STREET SCENE, PEKIN, CHINA                          318

      A BRONZE-WORKER'S SHOP                              330

      THE PEKIN GATE                                      347

       *       *       *       *       *




_THE FIRST OF THE MIKADOS._


The year 1 in Japan is the same date as 660 B.C. of the Christian era,
so that Japan is now in its twenty-sixth century. Then everything began.
Before that date all is mystery and mythology. After that date there is
something resembling history, though in the early times it is an odd
mixture of history and fable. As for the gods of ancient Japan, they
were many in number, and strange stories are told of their doings. Of
the early men of the island kingdom we know very little. When the
ancestors of the present Japanese arrived there they found the islands
occupied by a race of savages, a people thickly covered with hair, and
different in looks from all the other inhabitants of Asia. These in time
were conquered, and only a few of them now remain,--known as Ainos, and
dwelling in the island of Yezo.

In the Japanese year 1 appeared a conqueror, Jimmu Tenno by name, the
first of the mikados or emperors. He was descended from the goddess of
the Sun, and made his home at the foot of Kirishima, a famous mountain
in the island of Kiushiu, the most southerly of the four large islands
of Japan. As to the smaller islands of that anchored empire, it may be
well to say that they form a vast multitude of all shapes and sizes,
being in all nearly four thousand in number. The Sea of Japan is truly
a sea of islands.

By way of the sailing clouds, and the blue sky which rests upon
Kirishima's snowy top, the gods stepped down from heaven to earth. Down
this celestial path came Jimmu's ancestors, of whom there were four
between him and the mighty Sun goddess. Of course no one is asked to
accept this for fact. Somewhat too many of the fathers of nations were
sons of the gods. It may be that Jimmu was an invader from some foreign
land, or came from a band of colonists who had settled at the mountain's
foot some time before, but the gods have the credit of his origin.

At any rate, Hiuga, as the region in which he dwelt was called, was not
likely to serve the ends of a party of warlike invaders, there being no
part of Japan less fertile. So, as the story goes, Jimmu, being then
fifty years old, set out to conquer some richer realm. He had only a few
followers, some being his brothers, the others his retainers, all of
them, in the language of the legends, being _kami_, or gods. Jimmu was
righteous; the savages were wicked, though they too had descended from
the gods. These savages dwelt in villages, each governed by a head-man
or chief. They fought hard for their homes, and were not easily driven
away.

The story of Jimmu's exploits is given in the _Kojiki_, or "Book of
Ancient Traditions," the oldest book of Japan. There is another, called
the _Nihongi_, nearly as old, being composed in 720 A.D. These give us
all that is known of the ancient history of the island, but are so full
of myths and fables that very little of the story is to be trusted.
Histories of later times are abundant, and form the most important part
of the voluminous literature of Japan. The islanders are proud of their
history, and have preserved it with the greatest care, the annals of
cities and families being as carefully preserved as those of the state.

Jimmu the conqueror, as his story is told in the _Kojiki_, met strange
and frightful enemies on his march. Among them were troops of spiders of
colossal size and frightful aspect, through whose threatening ranks he
had to fight his way. Eight-headed serpents had also to be dealt with,
and hostile deities--wicked gods who loved not the pious
adventurer--disputed his path. Some of these he rid himself of by
strength of arm and sharpness of sword, some by shrewdness of wit. His
line of march lay to Usa, in the district of Buzen; thence to Okada,
where he took ship and made his way through the windings of the Suwo
Nada, a part of the Inland Sea of Japan.

Landing in Aki, Jimmu built himself a palace, and dwelt there for seven
years, after which he sought the region of Bizen, where for eight years
more he lived in peace. Then, stirred once more by his in-dwelling love
of adventure, he took to the sea again with his faithful band and sailed
to the eastward. Rough waves and swift currents here disputed his way,
and it was with difficulty that he at length landed on Hondo, the main
island of Japan, near where the city of Osaka now stands. He named the
spot