to the throne and is known in history as the
fortieth Sovereign, Temmu. During the fourteen years of his reign he
completed the administrative systems of the Daika era, and asserted
the dignity and authority of the Court to an unprecedented degree.
Among the men who espoused his cause in the Jinshin struggle there
are found many names of aristocrats who boasted high titles and owned
hereditary estates. Whatever hopes these conservatives entertained of
a reversion to the old-time-order of things, they were signally
disappointed. The Daika reformers had invariably contrived that
conciliation should march hand in hand with innovation. Temmu relied
on coercion. He himself administered State affairs with little
recourse to ministerial aid but always with military assistance in
the background. He was especially careful not to sow the seeds of the
abuses which his immediate predecessors had worked to eradicate.
Thus, while he did not fail to recognize the services of those that
had stood by him in the Jinshin tumult, he studiously refrained from
rewarding them with official posts, and confined himself to bestowing
titles of a purely personal character together with posthumous rank
in special cases.

It has been shown that in the so-called "code" of Shotoku Taishi
prominent attention was directed to the obligations of decorum. This
principle received much elaboration in Temmu's reign. A law,
comprising no less than ninety-two articles, was enacted for guidance
in Court ceremonials, the demeanour and salutation of each grade of
officials being explicitly set forth. It is worthy of note that a
veto was imposed on the former custom of kneeling to make obeisance
and advancing or retreating in the presence of a superior on the
knees and hands; all salutations were ordered to be made standing.
Further, the clear differentiation of official functions, which had
been commenced under the sway of Tenchi, was completed in this reign.

But, though relying on military force in the last resort, Temmu did
not neglect appeals to religion and devices to win popularity. On the
one hand, we find him establishing a War-Office (Heisei-kan) and
making it second in grade and importance to the Privy Council
(Dajo-kwan) alone; on the other, he is seen endowing shrines,
erecting temples, and organizing religious fetes on a sumptuous
scale. If, again, all persons in official position were required to
support armed men; if the provincials were ordered