un himself evinced keen interest in
this undertaking. He frequently consulted with the veteran officials
of his court, and during a period of several years he revised "The
Rules for Judicial Procedure." Associated with him in this work were
Kada Arimaro, Ogyu Sorai, and the celebrated judge, Ooka Tadasuke,
and not only the Ming laws of China, but also the ancient Japanese
Daiho-ritsu were consulted.

This valuable legislation, which showed a great advance in the matter
of leniency, except in the case of disloyal or unfilial conduct, was
followed, in 1767, by reforms under the shoqun, Ieharu, when all the
laws and regulations placarded or otherwise promulgated since the
days of Ieyasu were collected and collated to form a prefatory
vol-ume to the above-mentioned "Rules for Judicial Procedure," the
two being thenceforth regarded as a single enactment under the title
of Kajo-ruiten. "The Rules for Judicial Procedure" originally
comprised 103 articles, but, in 1790, Matsudaira Sadanobu revised
this code, reducing the number of articles to one hundred, and
calling it Tokugawa Hyakkajd, or "One Hundred Laws and Regulations of
the Tokugawa." This completed the legislative work of the Yedo
Bakufu. But it must not be supposed that these laws were disclosed to
the general public. They served simply for purposes of official
reference. The Tokugawa in this respect strictly followed the
Confucian maxim, "Make the people obey but do not make them know.":

ENGRAVING: MATSUDAIRA SADANORU

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

In Tokugawa days the principal punishments were; six: namely,
reprimand (shikari), confinement (oshikome), flogging (tataki),
banishment (tsuiho), exile to an island (ento), and death (shikei).
The last named was divided into five kinds, namely, deprivation of
life (shizai), exposing the head after decapitation (gokumon),
burning at the stake (hiaburi), crucifixion (haritsuke), and sawing
to death (nokogiri-biki). There were also subsidiary penalties, such
as public exposure (sarashi), tattooing (irezumi)--which was resorted
to not less for purposes of subsequent identification than as a
disgrace--confiscation of an estate (kessho), and degradation to a
status below the hinin (hininteshita).

The above penalties were applicable to common folk. In the case of
samurai the chief punishments were detention (hissoku), confinement
(heimon or chikkyo), deprivation of status (kaieki), placing in the
custody of a feudatory (azuke