The Development of Welfare in Japan (500-1600 AD)
The Shitennō-ji Temple, home of the Hiden-in
The development of welfare in Japan, and consequently the development of care for orphaned children, has been theorised to come from three different sources. The first of which was from a man named Shōtoku Taishi, a man dubbed as the first ever state-wide policy-maker in the country. He was active from 574 to 622 AD, and was also thought to have brought Buddhism to Japan, which was the driving force of policy making. This led to the creation of the first welfare institute in 591 AD, the Shika-in (Translation: Four facilities) located at Shitennō-ji Temple in Naniwa, now present-day Osaka. There were four different types of welfare and medical institutions located within the Shika-in, these were the Keiden-in, Seyaku-in, Ryobyo-in, and Hiden-in, and respectively their roles were music & religion, a free pharmacy, a free hospital, and the catering of the poor and orphans. Such institutions originated in China during the Tang period and are believed to be the earliest examples of social welfare. In Japan, the livelihood of the needy was dependent first on the immediate family, then any relatives, then the surrounding community - it would be the state’s responsibility to provide welfare in last resorts. They would only deliver care to those who were not able to receive care from the family or local community, or if they were incapable of looking after themselves. The main demographic of which were children under the age of 16 without fathers and the elderly who were over the age of 60 without any children. The Hiden-in is thought to be a precursor for today’s welfare institutions in Japan for both the elderly and the young. It was formally conceived in 702 AD as the Taihō Code, Japan’s first public assistance programme and an adaptation of China’s Tang dynasty governmental system - the Code of Yonghui.
The charitable Wake no Hiromushi
Buddhism was also attributed to the work of two other significant figures who were prominent in their welfare activities during the Nara and early Heian periods. The first was the priest Gyōki (668 – 749 AD), who was credited with different civil engineering feats such as creation of road infrastructure, as well as determining the shape of the country using a one-pointed vajra: a symbol that combined a diamond and a lightning bolt. The second was the Wake no Hiromushi (730 – 799 AD), a lady-in-waiting who has been recorded to devote herself to the nursing of sickly orphans. She is still remembered annually at the Kyoto Jidai Matsuri procession, with the English-translated leaflet describing her as a ‘woman who took care of many orphans, her merciful deeds served as the foundation for Japanese orphanages’.
During the late Kamakura and Muromachi periods of Japan, the country was split into small, non-unified states. During these periods, the welfare of the needy was left to the actions of local feudal lords, most of which are recorded to care very little about the needs of those most dire. Welfare during Japan’s Middle Ages was mainly attributed to practitioners of Buddhism, such as Chōgen (1128 – 1206 AD), Eison (1201 – 1290 AD), and Ninshō (1217 – 1303 AD). Ninshō has been recorded to re-establish the Hiden-in over 500 years after its initial development, furthering the care for orphaned and needy children. As these priests were carrying out their endeavours without any form of state support backing them, they are believed to be the predecessors of today’s social work volunteers. Almost every account of these acts of altruism from early Japanese Buddhists have been described using the term jihi, which is derived from two Pali and Sanskrit words that effectively mean ‘true brotherly/parental love’ and ‘compassion’, ‘pity’, or ‘pathos’. It is a concept that is regarded as the basic attribute of an individual who seeks salvation through Mahayan Buddhist thought, otherwise known as bosatsu. Commentators believe that an understanding of jihi helps understanding the development of the welfare movement in Japan.
The second origin of welfare institutions is recorded as the Imperial Family’s efforts. There are recorded examples of welfare activity from the Imperial Family that are dated 200 years prior to Shōtoku Taishi’s introduction of the Hidenin, including almshouses within Kōkufu-ji Temple that were allegedly founded by the Empress Kōmyō in the eighth century. Official sources state that this connection of the Imperial Family with welfare activity in Japan has been a steadfast effort ever since these original recorded sources.
Empress Kōmyō, one of the earliest reported providers of welfare in Japan
It should be noted that these two alternative accounts on the genesis of social welfare in Japan should be taken with a grain of salt. One commentator states that the image of a generous emperor providing for his people is a modern construct and warns against treating the pre-modern accounts of Imperial activities too literally, welfare or otherwise. The image of the Imperial Family has been carefully moulded over the centuries in order to have people view them in a favourable light. In a similar vein, there are only tenuous links between the efforts of individual Buddhist priests in the sixth to thirteenth centuries with current welfare activities. Another commentator states that the shogunate during the Tokugawa period (1603 – 1868 AD) prevented the development of Buddhist social and medical work, instead making the priests focus on funeral and memorial services. Despite these accounts, these early accounts of Japanese welfare are still relevant and remain significant within welfare endeavours in present-day Japan.
A third origin for the onset of welfare facilities and activities has been credited to the arrival of the first Christian missionary in Japan, Francis Xavier (1506 – 1552 AD), as well as other missionaries from 1549 AD onwards. Xavier was recorded to perform numerous charitable acts alongside missionary and commercial activities, as well as being notably active in the organisation of welfare efforts for the elderly and orphaned in Western Japan. Another noteworthy figure was Luis d’Almeida (1525 – 1583 AD), a Portuguese missionary who arrived in 1552 AD, that set up a famous orphanage and hospital in Funai, present-day Ōita Prefecture.
St. Francis Xavier delivering his sermon
A common explanation for the activity of these missionaries was the population’s wanton abortion and infanticide of unwanted babies, despite their otherwise favourable first impressions of when they initially started exploring Japan. This could be considered one of the earliest accounts of “culture shock”, particularly in regards to the best way to provide welfare for a country’s citizens. The stable level of the country’s population over the three centuries has been explained by demographers to be a result of the purposeful abandonment of young children, where in comparison the Chinese population doubled in size over this same period. This is known as mabiki, or the thinning out of rice crops in order to ensure the best chances of survival and flourishing in the remaining stalks. This was certainly the case in north-western Japan, where the harsh climate and aggressive tax system made it increasingly difficult for individual families to survive with more than one or two children. Infanticide was so commonplace, that families would find solace in their actions by buying or making kokeshi dolls, which are small wooden representations of the children. These dolls, despite their original meaning being forgotten due to the tides of time, are still bought today as souvenirs or presents.
Vintage kokeshi dolls
The rationalisation for this level of infanticide during the feudal periods had both religious and economic reasons. In terms of religion, a child who was younger than 7 years old had an ‘uncertain life’, and could still return to the current world even if they were sent back to the ‘other world’ to bide their time until more favourable circumstances for their growth. They were deemed ‘intermediate beings’ who had left the other world but were not yet fully integrated with this one and it was thought as ‘sending them back’ – because of this, they were given a special, non-Buddhist funeral. Some commentators believe that this type of religious mindset meant that the rate of mabiki was around 40 percent over the whole population. William LaFleur in his book Liquid Life (1992), an account of the relationship between abortion and Buddhism in Japan, suggests that this behaviour was not a result of poverty as it was a common practice in the wealthier urban areas as well. This highlights the emphasis on the quality of life of those who were allowed to grow up as opposed to the quantity of those who survived. LaFleur states that mabiki was viewed as a positive practice of obtaining and maintaining the preferred family size, and was interpreted to be responsible parenting and a love for one's children.
When anti-Christian edicts in 1613 were established, Christian missionary work was significantly impaired and was stopped altogether in 1639, where missionaries were ordered to be expelled from the country after less than a century of welfare activity. Despite this, the teachings of Christian welfare work had still been introduced to Japan and could be referred back to when the country reopened its borders to the outside world at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, the main providers of private personal social services have been Christian groups, despite the fact that the Christian population of Japan has never exceeded 1 percent of the total population.
Jihi - Compassion
References
Children of the Japanese State, by Roger Goodman
https://japanese-wiki-corpus.github.io/building/Hidenin%20Temple.html
https://japanese-wiki-corpus.github.io/person/WAKE%20no%20Hiromushi.html