monstration did not impugn any of the above figures. Incidentally
it is mentioned in Arai's comments that 700,000 ryo were allotted for
building an addition to Yedo Castle, and 200,000 ryo for the
construction of the deceased shogun's mausoleum, out of which total
Hakuseki explicitly charges the officials, high and low alike, with
diverting large sums to their own pockets in collusion with the
contractors and tradesmen employed on the works. Another interesting
investigation made by Arai Hakuseki is in connexion with the
country's foreign trade. He showed that the amount of coins exported
from Nagasaki alone, during one year, totalled 6,192,800 ryo of gold;
1,122,687 kwamme of silver and 228,000,000 kin of copper.* He alleged
that the greater part of this large outflow of specie produced
nothing except luxuries with which the nation could very well
dispense, and he therefore advised that the foreign trade of Nagasaki
should be limited to thirteen Chinese junks and two Dutch vessels
annually, while stringent measures should be adopted to prevent
smuggling.

*One kin equals 1.25 lbs.

The ordinance based upon this advice consisted of two hundred
articles, and is known in history as the "New Nagasaki Trade Rules of
the Shotoku Era" (1711-1715). One portion of the document ran as
follows: "During the Jokyo era (1684-1687), the trade with Chinese
merchants was limited to 6000 kwamme of silver, and that with Dutch
traders to 50,000 ryo of gold, while the number of Chinese vessels
was not allowed to exceed seventy per annum. After a few years,
however, copper coins came into use as media of exchange in addition
to silver, and moreover there was much smuggling of foreign goods.
Thus, it resulted that gold, silver, and copper flowed out of the
country in great quantities. Comparing the aggregate thus exported
during the 107 years since the Keicho era with the amount coined in
Japan during the same interval, it is found that one-quarter of the
gold coins and three-quarters of the silver left the country. If that
state of affairs continue, it is obvious that after a hundred years
from the present time one-half of the empire's gold will be carried
away and there will be no silver at all left. As for copper, the sum
remaining in the country is insufficient, not only for purposes of
trade but also for the needs of everyday life. It is most regrettable
that the nation's treasure should thus be squandered upon foreign
luxuries. The