INTRODUCTION. 11 



SECTION III. 



GOVERNMENT. 



Japan jiresents the singular feature of having tivo Emperors at the same time, the one 

 secxilar, the other ecclesiastical ; hut it is a mistake to suppose that this duplicate sovereignty 

 was estahlishcd from the beginning, as one of the original elements of her civil polity ; it has 

 resulted from historical events that occurred long after Japan had a system of government. 

 The Japanese, like many other people, claim for their nation an immense antiquity ; hut the 

 authentic history of the Kingdom commences with Zin-mu-ten-woo, (whoso name signifies "the 

 divine conqueror,") about the year 660 B. C. Klaproth thinks he was a Chinese warrior and 

 invader ; he tliis however as it may, he conquered Nippon, and built a temple palace, dedicated 

 to the sun-goddess, and properly called a dairi ; his own appropriate title was Mikado, though 

 the two terms are frequently confounded by European writers. He was the founder of the 

 sovereignty of the Mikados, and from liim, even to this day, the Mikados descend. 



He was sole sovereign, both secular and spiritual, and claimed to rule by divine riglit. His 

 successors, asserting the same right, added to it that of inheritance also, and their government 

 was a despotism. By degrees these monarchs ceased to lead their own armies, and entrusted 

 the military command to sons and kinsmen, though the supreme power still was theirs. This 

 jjower, however, appears gradually to have been weakened by a custom which prevailed, of 

 abdication by the Mikados, at so early an age, that the sovereignty descended upon their sons 

 while they were yet children, the abdicating monarch frequently governing for the young king. 

 The cause of these abdications was the desire to escape from the grievous burden of monotonous 

 ceremonies, and complete isolation from intercourse without, which made the occupant of the 

 throne little better than a royal prisoner. 



At length it happened that the reigning Mikado, who had married the daughter of a 

 powerful prince, abdicated in favor of iiis son, a child three years old, while the regency passed 

 into the hands of the grandfather of the infant monarch. The regent placed tlie abdicated 

 monarch in confinement, and this produced a civil war. Yorifomo, one of the most distinguished 

 characters in Japanese history, espoused the cause of the imprisoned king, and after a war of 

 several years was triumphant, when he released the captive and made him regent. But his 

 regency conferred a nominal autliority only ; the real power resided in the hands of Yoritomo, 

 who was created Sio i dai Ziogoon, or " genei'alissimo fighting against the barbarians." Ujjon 

 the death of the ex-Mikado, Yoritomo, as lieutenant of the sovereign, virtually ruled for twenty 

 years ; and when he died, liis title and authority devolved upon Iris son. Tliis was the com- 

 mencement of the power of the Ziogoons, or temporal sovereigns. 



Time contributed to strengthen it under the successive reigns of infant Mikados, until it 

 became recognized as hereditary. But, though a very important, and indeed dangerous power, 

 was tlius vested in the Ziogoons, yet the Mikado was looked on as possessing the royal authority, 

 and to him it belonged to appoint the Ziogoon, wlio was, intrutii^ vice regent, but did not ojienly 

 aspire to coequal rights of sovereigntj'. 



Tliis condition of things remained until tbe latter half of the sixteentli century. The 

 Emperor (Mikado) was an autocrat who had a sovereign deputy, (Ziogoon,) tlie efficient and 

 active ruler. During this long period, however, the power of the Ziogoons was silently and 



