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For the future, to those retainers who
may be animated by such an idea, their respective lords should
intimate, constantly and in very strong terms, their disapproval of
the custom. If, notwithstanding this warning, any instance of the
practice should occur, it will be deemed that the deceased lord was
to blame for unreadiness. Henceforward, moreover, his son and
successor will be held blameworthy for incompetence, as not having
prevented the suicides."*

*From a paper read by Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall and recorded in
the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan" for 1911.

RELEASE OF HOSTAGES

Another memorable step was taken during the administrative period of
Ietsuna. It had been the custom to require that all the great nobles
should send a number of their chief retainers or the latter's
fathers, brothers, and sons to Yedo, where they were held as hostages
for the peaceful conduct of their feudal chiefs. But when the system
of sankin kotai had been in operation for some time, and when the
power of the Tokugawa Bakufu had been fully consolidated, this
practice of exacting hostages became superfluous and vexatious. It
was therefore abandoned in the year 1665 and the hostages were all
suffered to leave Yedo.

THE MING DYNASTY

The fall of the Ming dynasty in China took place in the thirteenth
year of Ietsuna's succession, and for a moment it seemed that Japan
might possibly take the field against the conquering Tatars. A
Chinese immigrant who had settled in the island of Hirado, in Hizen,
married the daughter of a Japanese farmer, and had a son by her. The
immigrant's name was Cheng Chi-lung, and when the partisans of the
Ming dynasty made their last stand at Foochaw, they chose Cheng for
general, through him soliciting aid from the Yedo Bakufu. Their
request was earnestly discussed in Yedo, and it is possible that had
the Ming officers held out a little longer, Japan might have sent an
expedition across the sea. Cheng Chi-lung's son, Cheng Cheng-kung,
resisted to the last, and when he fell fighting at Macao, his
Japanese mother committed suicide. Other fugitives from China,
notably an able scholar named Chu Chi-yu, settled in Japan at this
time, and contributed not a little to the promotion of art and
literature.

YEDO

The influence of the sankin kotai system upon the prosperity of Yedo,
as well as upon the efficiency of the Tokugawa administration, has
already been noticed. Indeed, Yedo in the middle of the seventeenth
century was one of the most populous and prosperous cities in the
world. But very little intelligence had been exercised in planning
it. The streets were narrow and there were no bridges across the main
river. Thus, in 1657, a fire broke out which, being fanned by a
violent wind, burned for two days, destroying the greater part of the
city together with the residences of nearly all the daimyo. The
calamity occurred in the month of February and was accompanied by a
violent snowstorm, which greatly increased the sufferings of the
citizens. Tradition says that 108,000 persons lost their lives, but
that number is probably an exaggeration. In the following year,
another similar catastrophe occurred on almost the same scale, and it
seemed as though Yedo could never rise from its ashes. Yet the result
of these calamities was salutary. The Bakufu selected suitable
situations for the residences of the daimyo, and issued a law
requiring that the main thoroughfares must have a width of sixty feet
and even the by-streets must not be narrower than from thirty to
thirty-six feet. Moreover, three bridges, namely, the Ryogoku, the
Eitai, and the Shin-o, were thrown across the Sumida. This river,
which formed the eastern boundary of the city, had hitherto been left
unbridged for military reasons, and the result was that on the
occasion of the great conflagration thousands of people, caught
between the flames and the river bank, had to choose death by burning
or by drowning. Nevertheless, some officials opposed the building of
bridges, and were only silenced by the astute remark of Sakai
Tadakatsu that if Yedo was ever to be a great city, the convenience
of its inhabitants must be first consulted, for, after all, the
people themselves constituted the best stronghold. This may be
regarded as an evidence of the deference that was beginning then to
be paid to the non-military classes by the samurai.

It was at this time (1658), also, that the city of Yedo obtained its
first supply of good water. There was already an aquaduct from
Inokashira Lake to the Kanda district of the city, but it carried
only a very small volume of water, and the idea of harnessing the
Tama-gawa to supply the town was due to two citizens, Shoemon and
Seiemon, who subsequently received the family name of Tamagawa. The
Bakufu granted a sum of 7500 ryo towards the expense, and on the
completion of the work within two years, gifts of 300 ryo were made
to the two projectors. The water had to be carried through a distance
of over thirty miles, and the enterprise did high credit to the
engineering skill of the men of the time.

DECADENCE OF THE BAKUFU ADMINISTRATION

The era of this fourth Tokugawa shogun, Ietsuna, was remarkable for
things other than the lawlessness of the "wave-men." From that time
the Tokugawa began to fare as nearly all great families of previous
ages had fared: the substance of the administrative power passed into
the hands of a minister, its shadow alone remaining to the shogun.
Sakai Tadakiyo was the chief author of this change. Secluded from
contact with the outer world, Ietsuna saw and heard mainly through
the eyes and ears of the ladies of his household. But Tadakiyo caused
an order to be issued forbidding all access to the Court ladies
except by ministerial permit, and thenceforth the shogun became
practically deaf and dumb so far as events outside the castle were
concerned. Some Japanese historians describe this event as an access
of "weariness" on the shogun's part towards the duties of
administration. This is a euphemism which can be interpreted by what
has been set down above. From 1666, when he became prime minister in
Yedo, Sakai Tadakiyo seems to have deliberately planned the
relegation of his master to the position of a fainéant and the
succession of the shogun's son to supreme power. Tadakiyo's lust of
authority was equalled only by his cupidity. Everything went to the
highest bidder. It had gradually become the fashion that the daimyo
should invite to their Yedo residences all the leading administrators
of the Bakufu. On these entertainments great sums were squandered and
valuable presents were a feature of the fetes. It also became
fashionable to pay constant visits at the mansions of the chief
officials and these visits were always accompanied with costly gifts.
It is recorded that the mansion of Tadakiyo was invariably so crowded
by persons waiting to pay their respects that a man repairing thither
at daybreak could scarcely count on obtaining access by evening-fall.
The depraved state of affairs brought the administration of the
Tokugawa into wide disrepute, and loyal vassals of the family sadly
contrasted the evil time with the days of Ieyasu, seventy years
previously.

THE COURTS OF KYOTO AND OF YEDO

The great financial straits to which the Imperial Court was reduced
during the time of the Muromachi shoguns have been already described.
Both Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi made some endeavours to
correct this evil state of affairs, and when Tokugawa Ieyasu came
into power he adopted still more liberal methods. In 1604, he
increased the revenue of the Court by 10,000 koku annually, and in
the course of the next few years he caused the palace to be rebuilt
on a scale of considerable grandeur. The same policy was pursued by
the second shogun, Hidetada, who assigned to the ex-Emperor an income
of 3000 koku and made various allowances to princes and other members
of the Imperial family. The recipients of these allowances totalled
140, and it is on record that, in the year 1706, the revenues of the
Imperial Court aggregated 29,000 koku; those of the ex-Emperor
15,000; those of the princes and Court nobles, 44,000; those of the
Monzeki* temples, 19,000; those of the Court ladies and Imperial
nuns, 7500, and those of the Court officials 2300, the whole making a
total of about 120,000 koku. The income of the retired shogun alone
equalled that amount, and it was enormously surpassed by the revenues
of many of the daimyo. It must be noted, however, that although the
rice provided for the above purposes was made a charge upon the Kinai
provinces as well as upon Tamba and Omi, neither to the Emperor nor
to the Imperial princes nor to the Court nobles were estates granted
directly. These incomes were collected and transmitted by officials
of the Bakufu, but not a tsubo of land was under the control of
either sovereign or prince.

*Temples governed by Imperial princes.

Military affairs, civil administration, financial management,
including the casting of coins, judicial and legislative affairs, the
superintendence of temples, and so forth, were all in the hands of
the Bakufu in Yedo or of provincial officials nominated by the
shogun. Nothing could have been more complete than the exclusion of
the Kyoto Court from the whole realm of practical government; nor
could any system have contrasted more flagrantly with the theory of
the Daika reforms, according to which every acre of land throughout
the length and breadth of the empire was the property of the
sovereign. It might have been expected that the Tokugawa shoguns
would at least have endeavoured to soften this administrative
effacement by pecuniary generosity; but so little of that quality did
they display that the Emperor and the ex-Emperor were perpetually in
a state of financial embarrassment. As for the Court nobles, their
incomes did not always suffice even for the needs of every-day life,
and they were obliged to have recourse to various devices, such as
marrying their daughters to provincial governors or selling
professional diplomas, the right of conferring which was vested in
their families.

THE SEKKE, DENSO, AND SHOSHIDAI

The sole functions left to the Imperial Court were those of
appointing the shogun--which of course was only formal--conferring
ranks, fixing the name of year-periods, ordering the calendar, taking
part in ceremonials, nominating priests and officials, and
sanctioning the building of temples.