In ancient China, there was a special system, that is, the eunuch system, and the eunuch is what we commonly call the eunuch. In ancient China, in the emperor's residence and the residence of the concubines, the figure of eunuchs can often be seen, eunuchs are almost an indispensable part of harem life, and even in some dynasties, eunuchs have formed a situation of eunuchs controlling the government.
As we all know, Japan is keen to learn the ancient culture of the mainland, and many of its customs and systems are based on the ancient feudal system of the mainland, but there is no such special eunuch system in Japan.
Japan is good at learning
Since ancient times, Japan has been a country that admires the strong and is good at learning. Japan has a long history with the mainland, and even the earliest can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty, the alchemist Xu Fu led three thousand boys, girls and boys to flourish in Yingzhou, and developed into the later Japan.
In ancient China, the architectural tea ceremony was widely studied by Japan. At the same time, as a representative of the same feudal system, japan's imperial system still has many similarities with the mainland imperial system, and it can even be said that many places are imitating the domestic imperial power system at that time.
But why did the eunuch system, which was a powerful defender of imperial power, disappear in Japan? Emperor Toei once said: There is no need, and why?
Because of its unique geographical location and land area limitations, Japan has been constrained in the development of feudal society, but Japan is very good at learning from the surrounding powers, and China was one of the most powerful countries at that time, since the seventh century AD, Japan has been in contact with our country many times, learning and absorbing the culture and traditions of our country.
The most prominent period of study was the Tang Dynasty period, when Japan sent Envoys to China many times, and the scale, scope and time became a peak period of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges. It was also during that period of great exchanges that Japan learned from many of the mainland's excellent traditional cultures, customs, and even objects.
However, the eunuch system that runs through all feudal dynasties, even during the Tang Dynasty, was not learned by Japan, why?
To understand why japan does not have a eunuch system, we must start with the advantages and disadvantages of the eunuch system.
Eunuch system
Eunuchs, also known as eunuchs or eunuchs, are a unique product of China's feudal autocracy, and their most typical feature is that they are all male, but they are all castrated, losing part of the man's physiological system, losing their sexual function, so they are also called eunuchs, which are used exclusively for the palaces in the emperor's palace.
While serving the members of the royal family, the eunuch also ensured the purity of the royal bloodline, which was a product under the influence of the "family world" at that time. The emergence of eunuchs not only maintained the purity of the royal bloodline, but also ensured that people as eunuchs would not be disloyal to the emperor or even rebel because of their descendants or personal emotional problems.
The earliest appearance of eunuchs can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, when the feudal system of "family world" began to gradually improve, and the eunuch system came into being in line with the principle of the supremacy of imperial power under the feudal system.
The long-term continuation of the feudal monarchy centralized system allowed the eunuch system to continue. It was not until after the fall of the Qing Dynasty that China completely lost the eunuch system and did not have the position of eunuch.
The birth of the eunuch is only the product of the monarch's centralization, and many things of the emperor can only be done by men on the one hand, but on the other hand, the emperor is worried that the appearance of men will cause trouble to the harem. In the dilemma, I thought of casting these men who served themselves without sexual function, and could enter the harem to serve concubines without worrying about the occurrence of sexual immorality.
The emergence of eunuchs did take on more heavy labor and improve work efficiency, and because these eunuchs had lost the ability to reproduce, they could only rely on the imperial power and more convenient for the management of the monarchy's centralism.
Therefore, fundamentally speaking, the main role of the eunuch system is to ensure the purity of the royal bloodline, and to make the monarchy centralized more centralized, so as to achieve the purpose of the emperor being able to normally rule the harem and the world. Although there has been a phenomenon of cholera in the eunuch system in history, in general, for the imperial power, the flaws have not been hidden, and they have been maintained.
And why didn't Japan learn from this eunuch system, which had many benefits for maintaining imperial power? This also brings to mention the Japanese emperor system and some of the peculiarities of Japan itself.
Emperor's Wa Shogunate
First of all, as a country with a small land area and a small population, Japan's population problems hindered them from learning the eunuch system. On the one hand, the fertility problem that has plagued Japan for a long time is bound to be exacerbated by the introduction of the eunuch system.
Eunuchs entered the court after castration and lost their offspring, which was extremely detrimental to the fertility rate that had been low at that time.
On the other hand, the customs and customs of Japan at that time, the lack of materials in Japan during the feudal period, and all along, Japan was in a patriarchal society, when men as the main labor force, to be responsible for more important physical activities, and the depreciation of women's status at that time increased the burden of men's survival, Japan's traditional families naturally did not want to put men into the palace as eunuchs.
At the same time, the special status of the emperor in Japan cannot give eunuchs a high power and status like in China, and the superiority of being a eunuch is gone, and the general family is even more reluctant to send their heirs to the palace to become eunuchs. In this way, the social value of a eunuch in Japan is much lower than that of an ordinary man.
At the same time, Japan's emperor system is different from the feudal monarchy system on the mainland, where the emperor has many concubines, and the Japanese emperor has only one queen and two concubines, which can be described as very rare in terms of numbers.
The small number of people naturally does not require too many people to do things or serve. Moreover, at that time, Japan promoted women to do things for officials or women, and the low status of women made a large number of women available for use, and eunuchs were dispensable.
Another reason is related to the imperial system. In fact, Japan is not a complete feudal monarchy, not a centralized monarchy, the embodiment of imperial supremacy in Japan can be said to be minimal, and the Japanese emperor is more like a symbol, rather than real power.
The real ruler of the country was the shogunate, and the whole country basically obeyed the shogunate's instructions, not the emperor. The shogunate was a centralized system that once overrode the emperor, and the supreme ruler of the shogunate, Shogun Seiyi, held the military and political power, which was a form of "holding the son of heaven to order the princes".
Although the shogun needs the emperor's appointment, the emperor has no right to give orders to the shogun. The eunuch system was originally created to strengthen the concentration of imperial power, and now that the emperor has no real power, there is no need for a eunuch system.
And there are many other reasons, such as japan at that time did not master the castration technology, even animal castration did not fully master, human castration naturally can not be talked about. Castration technology was first used by nomadic peoples, but Japan's dangerous terrain lacked grazing areas, and it was impossible to master castration technology, and the eunuch system naturally could not be effectively implemented.
At the same time, the Japanese imperial family at that time vigorously adopted the system of marriage between close relatives, and the sparsely populated imperial family reduced the possibility of women cheating because of the marriage of close relatives, and eunuchs were naturally unnecessary.
Brief summary:
The continuation of a system must be due to its necessity, and its demise must no longer adapt to the development of the times, the different treatment of the eunuch system in China and Japan, but it is the national conditions of the two countries, it is no wonder that Emperor Toei said that the eunuch system is unnecessary for Japan.