he empire of the mikados. We are told of
envoys bearing tribute from Corea of horses, and of tailors, and finally
a schoolmaster, being sent to Japan. The latter, Wani by name, is said
to have introduced the art of writing. Mulberry-trees were afterwards
planted and silk-culture was undertaken. Then came more tailors, and
after them architects and learned men. At length, in the year 552, a
party of doctors, astronomers, astrologists, and mathematicians came
from Corea to the Japanese court, and with them a number of Buddhist
missionaries, who brought a new religion into the land.

Thus gradually the arts, sciences, letters, and religions of Asia made
their way into the island kingdom, and the old life of Japan was
transformed. A wave of foreign civilization had flowed across the seas
to give new life and thought to the island people, and the progress of
Japan from the barbarism of the far past towards the civilization of the
present day then fairly began.

[Illustration: Shuzenji Village, Idzu]

Meanwhile, important changes were taking place in the government. From
the far-off days of Jimmu, the first emperor, until a century after
Buddhism was introduced, the mikados were the actual rulers of their
people. The palace was not a place of seclusion, the face of the monarch
was visible to his subjects, and he appeared openly at the head of the
army and in the affairs of government. This was the golden age of the
imperial power. A leaden age was to succeed.

The change began in the appointment by Sujin of shoguns or generals over
the military departments of the government. Gradually two distinct
official castes arose, those in charge of civil affairs and those at the
head of military operations. As the importance of these officials grew,
they stood between the emperor and his subjects, secluding him more and
more from the people. The mikado gradually became lost to view behind a
screen of officialism, which hid the throne. Eventually all the military
power fell into the hands of the shoguns, and the mikado was seen no
more at the head of his army. His power decayed, as he became to the
people rather a distant deity than a present and active ruler. There
arose in time a double government, with two capitals and centres of
authority; the military caste became dominant, anarchy ruled for
centuries, the empire was broken up into a series of feudal provinces
and baronies, and the unity of the past was succeeded by the division