in Iemon's
house. Also the strange experience of the famous actor Kikugoro[u],
third of that name, is put into English for the curious reader.
Kikugoro[u] was the pioneer in the representation of the Namboku drama.

This life history of the O'Iwa Inari--the moving cause of the
establishment of her shrine--is no mere ghost story. It is a very
curious exposition of life in Edo among a class of officials entirely
different from the fighting _samurai_ who haunted the fencing schools of
Edo; from the men higher up in social status, who risked heads, or
rather bellies, in the politics of the day and the struggle to obtain
position, which meant power, in the palace clique. These latter were men
who sought to have a share in the government of the Sho[u]gun's person,
and hence of the nation. They strove to seat themselves in the high
posts of the palace. Here was a rapidly revolving wheel to which a man
must cling, or be dashed to pieces. To prevent being shoved off into
destruction they used every means of slander and intrigue, and fought
against such, that the life of a rich and luxurious court afforded. The
result, too often, was the present of a dagger from the suzerain they
sought to please. Trapped into some breach of the harsh discipline, or
even of mere form of etiquette, the gift was "respectfully received"
with the mocking face of gratitude, even from the hand of the successful
rival in office. At his home the defeated politician cut his belly open.
His obedience to the suzerain's will was duly reported. His family was
ruined or reprieved according to a capricious estimation of its power of
resentment--and it became a question of "who next?" to try for a place
on the wheel. On the contrary those lower officials,[2] engaged in the
dull routine of bureaucratic office, had a much less dangerous service
and etiquette to deal with. In insignificant ease they lived and
intrigued in their petty way, under no obligation to take sides in the
politics of the truly great. If they fell, it was largely their own
fault. Such was the position of those in immediate contact with the
working wheels of the Sho[u]gun's Government. The great _bugyo[u]_
(magistrates) were continually shifting. Their court staff was the solid
foundation of unyielding precedent in form. The one was a court officer;
the others court officers.

Hence the Kwaidan possesses value for the social lesson it conveys. The
admittance of a stranger to the ward, his evi