the disposal of the Court a sum of ten thousand gold ryo,* being
moved to that munificence by the urging of Fujiwara Sanetaka, a
former nai-daijin. In recognition of this service, Koken was raised
to high ecclesiastical rank.

*L30,000--$145,000.

It will be remembered that, early in this sixteenth century,
Yoshioki, deputy kwanryo and head of the great Ouchi house, had
contributed large sums to the Muromachi treasury; had contrived the
restoration of several of the Court nobles' domains to their
impoverished owners, and had assisted with open hand to relieve the
penury of the throne. The task exhausted his resources, and when
recalled to his province by local troubles in 1518, the temporary
alleviation his generosity had brought was succeeded by hopeless
penury. From time immemorial it had been the universal rule to
rebuild the two great shrines at Ise every twentieth year, but
nothing of the kind had been possible in the case of the Naigu (inner
shrine) since 1462, and in the case of the Gegu (outer shrine) since
1434. Such neglect insulted the sanctity of the Throne; yet appeals
to the Bakufu produced no result. In 1526, the Emperor Go-Kashiwabara
died. It is on record that his ashes were carried from the
crematorium in a box slung from the neck of a general officer, and
that the funeral train consisted of only twenty-six officials. For
the purposes of the coronation ceremony of this sovereign's
successor, subscriptions had to be solicited from the provincial
magnates, and it was not until 1536 that the repairs of the palace
could be undertaken, so that the Emperor Go-Nara was able to write in
his diary, "All that I desired to have done has been accomplished,
and I am much gratified." On this occasion the Ouchi family again
showed its generosity and its loyalty to the Throne.

The extremity of distress was reached during the Kyoroku era
(1528-1531), when the struggle between the two branches of the
Hosokawa family converted Kyoto once more into a battle-field and
reduced a large part of the city to ashes. The Court nobles, with
their wives and children, had to seek shelter and refuge within the
Imperial palace, the fences of which were broken down and the
buildings sadly dilapidated.

A contemporary record tells with much detail the story of the decay
of the capital and the pitiful plight of the Throne. The Emperor
Go-Nara (1527-1557) was reduced to earning his own living. This he
did by his skill as a calligra