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HISTORIC RETROSPECT THE REVOLUTION. 471
only from the close of the third century of the Christian era, when the Chinese
ideographic writing system was introduced.
Previous to the recent revolution, which changed the form of the governments
the authority of the Mikados was little more than nominal. Since the end of the
twelfth century they had, so to say, been relegated amongst the gods, and their
power was exercised through the medium of a Shogun, who had become the virtual
sovereign. AVhen in 1853 the Americans, and after them the Russians, presented
themselves to demand the conclusion of a treaty of commerce with the
Kingdom of the Rising Sun, the only part taken by the Mikado in the deliberations
was to "address fervent prayers from morning to night to the Kami and the
ancestral shades." Shut up in his palace, or rather his temple, and a complete
slave to etiquette, he was allowed neither to tread the ground, expose his person to
the open air, nor let the sun shine on his head.
But the Shogun himself was no longer in possession of the supreme authority,
which the famous Yeyas, founder of Yedo, had bequeathed to his family at the end
of the sixteenth century. Although closely watched by the Government, the
imperial feudatories, that is to say, the eighteen great daimios and the three hundred
and forty-four lesser daimios, constituted none the less a political estate far more
powerful than the official representatives of the sovereignty. When the Shogun,
alarmed by the appearance of the American squadron under Commodore Perry,
found himself obliged to renounce the traditional policy of the Empire, and authorise
foreigners to trade directly with his people and even to take up
their residence on
Japanese soil, such a radical measure could not fail deeply to affect the opinion of
the feudal lords and of the whole Samurai class. So loud became the clamour, that
the first time for many centuries outward rumours penetrated into the sacred en-
closure of the Mikados. At the instigation of the nobles, the reigning emperor was
compelled to intervene and issue orders to the Shogun. Fierce struggles broke out
in various places between the aristocratic septs, some siding with the " King of
Yedo," others with the Mikado, othersagain acting still more independently, and tak-
ing part, now with one now with the other, according to their caprice or personal feel-
ing*. The league of the daimios of Satsma, Toza, and Nagato, always opposed to
the free admission of foreigners, acquired the upper hand in 1863, and ordered the
Shogun to abrogate the treaties of commerce. But these feudatories had themselves
Kuropean instructors in their armies, physicians and teachers from the West or the
New World in their households, while the strangers also supplied them with guns
and ammunition. Accomplished facts could no longer be undone, the barriers of
seclusion had been once for all burst asunder, and the social revolution henceforth
followed its normal course.
While steps were being taken to call together the Gakziuyin that, is, the
general assembly of the Samurai with a view to the settlement of all urgent
internal and external matters, a "'cohort of the heavenly wrath " was being formed
in the western districts, and foreign vessels penetrating
into the Inland Sea were
being bombarded by the coast batteries. But not only did the foreigners refuse to
withdraw peacefully, but they returned with their fleets, forced the passage of