1906-7.] A Sketch of Japanese National Development. 335 
ancestors, this relation would not derive the importance it has from the fact 
of its persistence for generations of our ancestors. 
I have tried to explain briefly the essential or fundamental characteristics 
of the Japanese people : I would refer you to my inaugural address at 
London University, published in the Nineteenth Century for June, for 
some further details, and now pass on to a brief account of what happened 
within more recent times, in order that you may know in what condition 
we were just before we were brought into contact with the Occidental 
nations. 
From the beginning of the sixth century, and for more than a century 
after, some of the great noble houses took advantage of the somewhat 
peculiar condition of the Imperial House at the time to usurp a great deal 
of the power of government into their hands ; and, although it was restored 
for some time into the Imperial hands, the great house of Fujiwara again 
succeeded gradually in establishing itself in authority. Empresses were 
always chosen from daughters of their house, and none but issues of these 
ascended the throne, and the Fujiwaras became practical rulers of the land; 
high government offices were almost exclusively conferred on members of 
their house. The court was given up to refinement and luxury, and 
governors of provinces stayed in the capital, preferring easy and pleasant 
life at the court to the rough and hard duties in the provinces. Under 
such conditions it is not to be wondered at that maladministration and 
abuses of all kinds were rampant ; then it was that the military class first 
came into existence. At first they were willing to serve in minor and 
rougher offices about the court, and to undertake military expeditions into 
outlying provinces, and even to serve as guards to the nobles of the 
Fujiwara house. Gradually the two houses of Taira and Minamoto, who 
were both of them descended from the emperors, became leaders of this 
class, and, as was almost inevitable, they were not content long to occupy 
subordinate positions. At first the Tairas got hold of the government, but 
they soon followed in the footsteps of the Fujiwaras, and became arrogant, 
luxurious, and degenerate. The Minamoto house, which had been almost 
destroyed by its rival, the Tairas, arose under its able leader, Yoritomo, and 
in its turn destroyed the Taira house entirely. It is a remarkable fact, as 
showing the reverence in which the Imperial House has always been held 
through all its vicissitudes, that in the rising of Yoritomo the Imperial 
rescript given him to rise and destroy the Tairas and deliver the court from 
their arrogance played a highly important part. Yoritomo, wise enough to 
perceive the mistakes of the Tairas, established himself in Kamakura, 
instead of Ky5to, and, leaving the court to itself, proceeded to frame a 
