arn betimes to bow down before heaven. The
spirits of the dead continue to exist in the unseen world which is
everywhere about us, and they all become gods of varying character
and degrees of influence. Some reside in temples built in their
honour; others hover near their tombs, and they continue to render
service to their princes, parents, wives, and children as when in
their body. [Hirata Atsutane.]"*

*The above extracts are all taken from Sir Ernest Satow's Revival of
Pure Shinto in the appendix to Vol. III. of the "Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan."

The great loyalist of the eleventh century, Kitabatake Chikafusa, had
fully demonstrated the divine title of the sovereigns of Japan, but
his work reached only a narrow circle of readers, and his arguments
were not re-enforced by the sentiment of the era. Very different was
the case in the days of the four literati quoted above. The arrogant
and intolerant demeanour of Japanese students of Chinese philosophy
who elevated the Middle Kingdom on a pedestal far above the head of
their own country, gradually provoked bitter resentment among
patriotic Japanese, thus lending collateral strength to the movement
which took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in
favour of reversion to the customs and canons of old times.

As soon as attention was intelligently concentrated on the history of
the past, it was clearly perceived that, in remote antiquity, the
empire had always been administered from the Throne, and, further,
that the functions arrogated to themselves by the Hojo, the Oda, the
Toyotomi, and the Tokugawa were pure usurpations, which deprived the
Imperial Court of the place properly belonging to it in the State
polity. Just when this reaction was developing strength, the dispute
about the title of the ex-Emperor occurred in Kyoto, and furnished an
object lesson more eloquent than any written thesis. The situation
was complicated by the question of foreign intercourse, but this will
be treated separately.

ENGRAVING: MITSUGUMI-NO-SAKAZUKI (Sake Cups used only on Happy
Occasions such as Weddings and New Year Days)

ENGRAVING: DIFFERENT STYLES OF COIFFURE

CHAPTER XLIV

FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE DECLINE OF THE TOKUGAWA

FOREIGN TRADE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

FROM what has been stated in previous chapters, it is clearly
understood that Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were all well
disposed towards foreign intercourse and trade,