ation. But in Japan the
title to the crown being divinely bequeathed, there could be no
question of appeal to a popular tribunal. So long as men like Kotoku,
Tenchi, and Temmu occupied the throne, the Tang polity showed no
flagrant defects. But when the exercise of almost unlimited authority
fell into the hands of a religious fanatic like Shomu, or a
licentious lady like Koken, it became necessary either that the
principle of heredity should be set aside altogether, or that some
method of limited selection should be employed.

It was then that the Fujiwara became a species of electoral college,
not possessing, indeed, any recognized mandate from the nation, yet
acting in the nation's behalf to secure worthy occupants for the
throne. For a time this system worked satisfactorily, but ultimately
it inosculated itself with the views it was designed to nullify, and
the Fujiwara became flagrant abusers of the power handed down to
them. Momokawa's immediate followers were worthy to wear his mantle.
Tanetsugu, Korekimi, Tsugunawa--these are names that deserve to be
printed in letters of gold on the pages of Japan's annals. They
either prompted or presided over the reforms and retrenchments that
marked Kwammu's reign, and personal ambition was never allowed to
interfere with their duty to the State.

IMPERIAL PRINCES

Contemporaneously with the rise of the Fujiwara to the highest places
within reach of a subject, an important alteration took place in the
status of Imperial princes. There was no relation of cause and effect
between the two things, but in subsequent times events connected them
intimately. According to the Daika legislation, not only sons of
sovereigns but also their descendants to the fifth generation were
classed as members of the Imperial family and inherited the title of
"Prince" (0). Ranks (hon-i) were granted to them and they often
participated in the management of State affairs. But no salaries were
given to them; they had to support themselves with the proceeds of
sustenance fiefs. The Emperor Kwammu was the first to break away from
this time-honoured usage. He reduced two of his own sons, born of a
non-Imperial lady, from the Kwobetsu class to the Shimbetsu,
conferring on them the uji names of Nagaoka and Yoshimine, and he
followed the same course with several of the Imperial grandsons,
giving them the name of Taira.

Thenceforth, whenever a sovereign's offspring was numerous, it became
customary to