INTRODUCTION. 13 



The residence of the Mikado is at Miako ; that of the Ziogoon is at Yeddo ; each is sur- 

 rounded with imperial splendor ; the one is monarch dejure, the other is Emperor de facto. But 

 however ahsolute may have been the usurped authority of the Ziogoon in the beginning, it has 

 been subsequently very much modified ; and certain it is that at tliis day tlie rule of the Ziogoon 

 is by no means arbitrary. He cannot do just what he pleases. The laws of the Empire reach 

 him as much as they do the meanest subject. These laws are unalterable, and are exceedingly 

 minute in detail, controlling almost every action of life. The Emperors, both spiritual and 

 secular, are just as much enthralled by them as the humblest man in the Kingdom. In times of 

 usurpation or political trouble they may, in some few instances, have been set at naught, but 

 these are exceptional cases. 



There are two prominent features in the Japanese system of government: the one elemental, 

 the other practical ; and the two serving as the bases of almost everything else in their polity. 

 The first is feudalism, or something very similar to it ; and the second, exhibited in the practical 

 administration of the government, is a system of checks and balances, founded on an all-pervad- 

 ing secret espionage, ramifying through all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest. 



To explain this we must briefly advert to the several grades of society. We have already 

 spoken of the two Emperors. The Mikado is supreme in rank and nominally recognized as such ; 

 but he has not a particle of political power ; is not allowed to have troops, and is literally, from 

 birth to death, shut up at Miako, in his little principality of Kioto, with the revenues of which, 

 and the rich presents sent him by the Ziogoon, he must be content. Even in his own principality 

 he is governed for, as an independent prince, by some grandee of his court, so that never lived 

 there sovereign with less of sovereign attributes allowed him. But for the tenacity with which the 

 Japanese cling to their ancient usages and laws, the Mihados would, doubtless, have long .since 

 ceased to form a part of the cumbrous and complicated machinery of government. Formerly it 

 belonged to them to name or appoint the Ziogoon; they may, indeed, still nominally have this 

 power ; but it is without any real value, as the office of Ziogoon has for a long time been heredi- 

 tary. 



But politically insignificant as the Mikado is, he is venerated with a respect little, if at all, 

 inferior to that rendered to the gods themselves. Living in mysterious, though, for the mo.st 

 part, indolent seclusion, he is venerated because he is inaccessible ; and is, in truth, a prisoner 

 who must find, if he find at all, solace for his confinement in the golden chains and ornamental 

 prison-house of his captivity. No wonder that the abdication of a Mikado is common in Japanese 

 history. As to the Ziogoon, he commands the revenues of the country, has at his disposal an 

 army, and is anything but a prisoner. Once in seven years he makes a visit, surrounded with 

 royal pomp, to the court of his brother sovereign, whom he takes care to keep, at all times, 

 under the surveillance of unsuspected secret spies. He sends, too, in the intervals between his 

 visits, embassies with rich presents to the shadow king of the holy court, and receives in turn 

 what he probably deems a valueless bundle of blessings and jirayers. 



The hereditary classes in society are said to be eight in number ; and, except under very 

 peculiar circumstances, no one can leave, through life, the class in which he was born without a 

 forfeiture of respectability. 



Class I. These are the hereditary vassal princes of the Empire. 



Class II. These are hereditary nobility, below the rank of ^jrtnces. They hold their lands as 

 fiefs, subject to knight service or the rendition of military service to some one of the hereditary 



