certain that China in the ninth century had
little to teach Japan in the matter of either material or moral
civilization.

THE AFFAIR OF THE ENGI ERA

The Emperor Uda not only possessed great literary knowledge but was
also deeply sensible of the abuse that had grown out of the virtual
usurpation of administrative authority by one family. As illustrating
his desire to extend the circle of the Throne's servants and to
enlist erudite men into the service of the State, it is recorded that
he caused the interior of the palace to be decorated* with portraits
of renowned statesmen and literati from the annals of China. Fate
seemed disposed to assist his design, for, in the year 891, the
all-powerful Fujiwara Mototsune died, leaving three sons, Tokihira,
Nakahira, and Tadahira, the eldest of whom was only twenty-one.
During the life of Mototsune, to whom the Emperor owed everything, it
would not have been politically or morally possible to contrive any
radical change of system, and even after his death, the Fujiwara
family's claim to the Throne's gratitude precluded any direct attempt
on Uda's part to supplant them. Therefore, he formed the plan of
abdicating in favour of his son, as soon as the latter should attain
a suitable age--a plan inspired in some degree by his own feeble
health and by a keen desire to pass the closing years of his life in
comparative retirement. He carried out this design in the year 897,
and was thenceforth known as Uda-in.**

*It is on this occasion that we hear of Koze no Kanaoka, the first
Japanese artist of great repute.

**The suffix in was now first used for the names of retired Emperors.

His son, Daigo, who now ascended the throne, was thirteen years old,
but no Fujiwara regent was appointed, Tokihira, the one person
eligible in respect of lineage, being precluded by youth. Therefore
the office of minister of the Left was conferred on Tokihira, and
Sugawara Michizane (called also Kwanko) became minister of the Right.

It was to this Michizane that the ex-Emperor looked for material
assistance in the prosecution of his design. The Sugawara family
traced its descent to Nomi no Sukune, the champion wrestler of the
last century before Christ and the originator of clay substitutes for
human sacrifices at burials, though the name "Sugawara" did not
belong to the family until eight hundred years later, when the
Emperor Konin bestowed it on the then representative in recognition
of his great