fore desired to change his uji
name from Nakatomi to Fujiwara (wistaria), and the prince, on
ascending the throne, gave effect to this request. There thus came
into existence a family, the most famous in Japanese history. The
secluded valley where the momentous meetings took place received the
name of Tamu* no Mine, and a shrine stands there now in memory of
Kamatari. The Emperor would fain have attended Kamatari's obsequies
in person, but his ministers dissuaded him on the ground that such a
course would be unprecedented. His Majesty confined himself therefore
to conferring on the deceased statesman posthumous official rank, the
first instance of a practice destined to became habitual in Japan.

*"Tamu" signifies to converse about military affairs.

THE OMI STATUES AND THE CENSUS REGISTER

During the reign of Tenchi no rescript embodying signal
administrative changes was issued, though the reforms previously
inaugurated seem to have made steady progress. But by a legislative
office specially organized for the purpose there was enacted a body
of twenty-two laws called the Omi Ritsu-ryo (the Omi Statutes), Omi,
on the shore of Lake Biwa, being then the seat of the Imperial Court.
Shotoku Taishi's Jushichi Kempo, though often spoken of as a
legislative ordinance, was really an ethical code, but the Omi
Ritsu-ryo had the character of genuine laws, the first of their kind
in Japan. Unfortunately this valuable document did not survive. Our
knowledge of it is confined to a statement in the Memoirs of Kamatari
that it was compiled in the year 667. Two years later--that is to
say, in the year after Tenchi's actual accession--the census
register, which had formed an important feature of the Daika reforms,
became an accomplished fact. Thenceforth there was no further
occasion to appeal to the barbarous ordeal of boiling water
(kuga-dachi) when questions of lineage had to be determined.

THE THIRTY-NINTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KOBUN (A.D. 672-672)

Among four "palace ladies" (uneme) upon whom the Emperor Tenchi
looked with favour, one, Yaka of Iga province, bore him a son known
in his boyhood days as Prince Iga but afterwards called Prince Otomo.
For this lad his father conceived a strong affection, and would
doubtless have named him heir apparent had he not been deterred by
the consideration that during his own abstention from actually
occupying the throne, administrative duties would have to be
entrusted mainly to the hand