uccess was assured; Temmu desired that the additions
made by him to the Daika system should be consolidated by the genius
of his wife before the sceptre passed finally into the hands of his
son. Jito had stood by her husband's side when, as Prince Oama, he
had barely escaped the menaces of the Omi Court, and there is reason
to think that she had subsequently shared his administrative
confidence as she had assisted at his military councils. The heir to
the throne, Prince Kusakabe, was then in his twenty-fifth year, but
he quietly endorsed the paternal behest that his mother should direct
State affairs. The arrangement was doubtless intended to be
temporary, but Kusakabe died three years later, and yielding to the
solicitations of her ministers, Jito then (690) finally ascended the
throne.

Her reign, however, was not entirely free from the family strife
which too often accompanied a change of sovereigns in Japan's early
days. In addition to his legitimate offspring, Kusakabe, the Emperor
Temmu left several sons by secondary consorts, and the eldest
survivor of these, Prince Otsu, listening to the counsels of the Omi
Court's partisans and prompted by his own well-deserved popularity
and military prowess, intrigued to seize the throne. He was executed
in his house, and his fate is memorable for two reasons: the first,
that his young wife, Princess Yamanobe, "hastened thither with her
hair dishevelled and her feet bare and joined him in death;" the
second, that all his followers, over thirty in number, were
pardoned--rare clemency in those days. Prince Otsu is said to have
inaugurated a pastime which afterwards became very popular--the
composition of Chinese verses.

SLAVES

The most important legislation of the Empress Jito's reign related to
slaves.* In the year of her accession (690), she issued an edict
ordering that interest on all debts contracted prior to, or during
the year (685) prior to Temmu's death should be cancelled. Temmu
himself had created the precedent for this. When stricken by mortal
illness, he had proclaimed remission of all obligations, "whether in
rice or in valuables," incurred on or before the last day of the
preceding year. But Jito's edict had a special feature. It provided
that anyone already in servitude on account of a debt should be
relieved from serving any longer on account of the interest. Thus it
is seen that the practice of pledging the service of one's body in
discharge of debt was