nds of officialdom. The Emperor's power now began
to cease to be initiative and to be limited to sanction or veto. The
Kurando-dokoro was the precursor of the kwampaku; the Kebiishi-cho,
of the so-tsuihoshi.

FUJIWARA FUYUTSUGU

Fujiwara Fuyutsugu, who, as mentioned above, took such an important
part in the legislation of his era, may be adduced as illustrating
the error of the too common assertion that because the Fujiwara
nobles abused their opportunities in the later centuries of the Heian
epoch, the great family's services to its country were small.
Fujiwara Fuyutsugu was at once a statesman, a legislator, an
historian, and a soldier. Serving the State loyally and assiduously,
he reached the rank of first minister (sa-daijiri) though he died at
the early age of fifty-two, and it is beyond question that to his
ability must be attributed a large measure of the success achieved by
his Imperial master, Saga. The story of his private life may be
gathered from the fact that he established and richly endowed an
asylum for the relief of his indigent relatives; a college (the
Kwangaku-iri) for the education of Fujiwara youths, and an uji-tera
(Nanyen-do) at Nara for soliciting heaven's blessing on all that bore
his name.

THE JAPANESE PEERAGE

An interesting episode of Saga's reign was the compilation of a
record of all the uji (family names). Originally the right to use a
family name had been guarded as carefully as is a title of nobility
in Europe. The uji was, in truth, a hereditary title. But, as has
been occasionally noted in these pages, an uji was from time to time
bestowed on families of aliens, and thus, in the course of ages,
confusion gradually arose. From the middle of the eighth century,
efforts to compile a trustworthy record were made, and in Kwammu's
reign a genealogical bureau (kankei-jo) was actually organized, its
labours resulting in a catalogue of titles (seishi mokuroku). This
proved defective, however, as did a subsequent effort in Heijo's
time. Finally, the Emperor Saga entrusted the task to Prince Mamta,
who, with a large staff of assistants, laboured for ten years, and,
in 814, produced the Seishi-roku (Record of Uji) in thirty volumes.
Though not absolutely exhaustive, this great work remained a classic
down to modern times. It divided into three classes the whole body of
uji--1182--enrolled in its pages: namely, Kwobetsu, or those of
Imperial lineage; Shimbetsu, or those descended from the K