xpense, and on the
completion of the work within two years, gifts of 300 ryo were made
to the two projectors. The water had to be carried through a distance
of over thirty miles, and the enterprise did high credit to the
engineering skill of the men of the time.

DECADENCE OF THE BAKUFU ADMINISTRATION

The era of this fourth Tokugawa shogun, Ietsuna, was remarkable for
things other than the lawlessness of the "wave-men." From that time
the Tokugawa began to fare as nearly all great families of previous
ages had fared: the substance of the administrative power passed into
the hands of a minister, its shadow alone remaining to the shogun.
Sakai Tadakiyo was the chief author of this change. Secluded from
contact with the outer world, Ietsuna saw and heard mainly through
the eyes and ears of the ladies of his household. But Tadakiyo caused
an order to be issued forbidding all access to the Court ladies
except by ministerial permit, and thenceforth the shogun became
practically deaf and dumb so far as events outside the castle were
concerned. Some Japanese historians describe this event as an access
of "weariness" on the shogun's part towards the duties of
administration. This is a euphemism which can be interpreted by what
has been set down above. From 1666, when he became prime minister in
Yedo, Sakai Tadakiyo seems to have deliberately planned the
relegation of his master to the position of a faineant and the
succession of the shogun's son to supreme power. Tadakiyo's lust of
authority was equalled only by his cupidity. Everything went to the
highest bidder. It had gradually become the fashion that the daimyo
should invite to their Yedo residences all the leading administrators
of the Bakufu. On these entertainments great sums were squandered and
valuable presents were a feature of the fetes. It also became
fashionable to pay constant visits at the mansions of the chief
officials and these visits were always accompanied with costly gifts.
It is recorded that the mansion of Tadakiyo was invariably so crowded
by persons waiting to pay their respects that a man repairing thither
at daybreak could scarcely count on obtaining access by evening-fall.
The depraved state of affairs brought the administration of the
Tokugawa into wide disrepute, and loyal vassals of the family sadly
contrasted the evil time with the days of Ieyasu, seventy years
previously.

THE COURTS OF KYOTO AND OF YEDO

The great financial straits to whi