he ordained that any jito collecting so much as a mon in excess
of the official figure, should be severely punished. How the people
fared elsewhere it is not possible to say accurately, but the records
show that extraordinary imposts were levied frequently, and that the
tansen was exacted again and again, as also were taxes on trades. As
for the Imperial household, such was its condition that it barely
subsisted on presents made by certain military magnates, so complete
was the decentralization of the empire in this period.

ATTITUDE OF THE ASHIKAGA TOWARDS THE THRONE

The policy of the Ashikaga towards the Daikagu-ji line (the Southern
Court) of the Imperial house was evidently one of complete
elimination at the outset. But the impossibility of achieving such a
programme soon came to be recognized and reconciliation was
substituted. Thenceforth, in appearance at all events, the
representatives of the Daikagu-ji line received due consideration and
were sufficiently provided with incomes, as witness the treatment of
the ex-Emperor Go-Kameyama by Yoshimitsu. But subsequent and repeated
neglect of the claims of the Southern branch in regard to the vital
matter of the succession betrayed the insincerity of the Ashikaga,
and provoked frequent appeals to arms.

The situation may be said to have been saved by the habit inaugurated
at the close of the Heian epoch. From that time princes and nobles
who saw no prospect of secular distinction began to take the tonsure,
and this retirement to the cloister was assiduously encouraged by the
Muromachi shoguns. A similar policy commended itself in the case of
princes of the Jimyo-in branch (the Northern Court). It is true that,
from the first, the representatives of this line had relied on the
Bakufu, whether of Kamakura or of Muromachi. But in their hearts they
deeply resented the usurpation of the shogunate, and the latter,
fully cognisant of that sentiment, guarded against its effective
display by providing only meagre allowances for the support of the
Imperial household (Kinri) and the ex-Emperor's household (Sendo),
and by contriving that only young and delicate princes should succeed
to the throne. Thus, of seven sovereigns who reigned between 1336 and
1464, the oldest was only sixteen at the time of his succession and
the youngest was six. When an Emperor reached maturity, it was usual
that he should abdicate and administer thenceforth from the Inchu.
Thus the influence of t