Koishikawa, Shitaya, Asakusa, Honjo, and Fukagawa. The district included under these names was in the days of the Tokugawa Shogunate called Yedo, and was under the jurisdiction of the north and south yakushos, or offices. After the revolution of 1868 its name was changed into Tokio.

"Not only is it a great metropolis, but it is a seat of the imperial palace, of the chief posts of the army and navy, of the various kuans and shos, the source of all laws and institutions, and place of the foreign legations; where the traders and artisans crowd from all quarters of the empire, where the key of the foreign commerce is kept; nay, it is the centre of all business, political, civil, commercial, industrial, agricultural, literary, and artistic. It is indeed the greatest city of the whole empire, and must not be considered as equalled by other fus and kens.

"As to the 6 guns or koris, they are the following: Yebara, East Tama, South Tashima, North Tashima, South Adachi, and South Kadzushika. These consist mainly of extensive fields, and are inhabited by farmers, almost all of whom subsist by cultivation, thus separating the guns from the fifteen kus, or the Fu proper. Every ku has its kucho, and every gun its guncho, who are respectively the president of each ku and gun office, and there are kuchos in the mura into which the guns are divided.

"These officers are all under the superintendence of the Fu Cho, and are ordered to manage the affairs of the local executive government under their respective jurisdictions. The kuchos and gunchos are appointed by the Fuchiji, or the governor, and the kochos are chosen by the people of the mura. Besides there are the representatives from every ku and gun, who are chosen by the people, and are summoned periodically or occasionally to the Fucho to discuss the local interests and benefits. They compose what is called Fu Kai, or the Fu Parliament. There are also Ku Kais and Cho-Son Kais (or the ku and mura assemblies), consisting of the deputies elected by the people to discuss the economy of their own districts.

"The administration of affairs under Tokio Fu differs in several respects from that of other local governments. For instance, in other local governments the police affairs are under the direction of the governors, but in Tokio they are superintended by Daikeishi, who is the head of Keishi Honsho, wholly separate from Tokio Fu, and established by Keishi Kioku, a department of Naimu Sho in the central government. Thus the execution of all regulations concerning the persons and property must be subject to the approval of Daikeishi before they are carried into effect.

The situation of the office of Tokio Fu is No. 1 Sichi Saiwai cho Tokio, occupying seven thousand tsubo (57 acres). It is divided into many departments, and has under its jurisdiction the fifteen

kus and six guns before mentioned. Its affairs are very multitudinous. The following is a brief summary:

"The investigation of the census.

"The education of the people.

"The development of industry, agricultural, manufactural, and commercial.

"The inspection of the franchised market-place (Tsukiji).

"The management of rivers, dykes, aqueducts, and banks.

"The construction and repairing of roads and bridges.

"The supply of water for city use.

"The drainage and the prevention of plague.

"The control of sanitary affairs in general.

"The payment of yearly pensions to the decoration-wearers and pension-holders of Kuwazokus, Shizoku, and of Heimin.

"The making of awards to virtuous people, obedient children, and faithful wives and servants.

"The superintendence of the Shinto and Buddhist priests.

"The helping of the poor widows and widowers, orphans, childless old men, maimed persons, and paupers.

"The establishment of the means of giving medicines to, and curing the diseases of, the poor and helpless.

Besides, it manages the affairs concerning the appeals of the people. But in all cases of importance it needs the direction from the central government, or every sho, concerning the affair. Every sho is subject to the control and guidance of the central government, and has for its management the department of the navy and army, the home and state affairs, the finance and justice, the public works and education.

"A brief account of the landed property and the number of houses and population is as follows. The area of Tokio Fu is estimated at 33 square ris (197.5 sq. miles), and the landed property is more than 100,000,000 tsubo (82,101-8 acres), of which 7,000,000 tsubo (5747-1 acres) belong to the government, and 93,000,000 tsubo (76,3547 acres) belong to the people. The number of houses is 25,830, and population is 1,000,000; the length of public roads is more than 87 ris (212.8 miles); the number of rivers is 32, bridges 350, ships 18,000, carriages more than 44,000, temples both Shinto and Buddhist nearly 2000 each, colleges and schools 890, hospitals 30, and banks and other companies more than 100."

CHAPTER III.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Early Japanese an unwritten language-Transmission of records by word of mouth-The Indian Vedas-A colossal system of mnemonics— Ancient language of Japan-The Loo-choo dialect-Japanese a Turanian tongue-Mr. Hyde Clarke's theory of an ancient Turano-African empire-Intercourse with Korea-Influence of Chinese literature"Letters of the god-age "The alphabet-Spoken and written language -Difficulties of exploring Japanese literature-Diary of the old court noble-A Japanese classic-Japanese poetry-Poetry of the gods-A verse by the god Susanoo-Chant of the goddess Uzumé-A “No”— Specimens of native poetry-Remarkable influence of women upon literature-Interchange of prose and poetry between a Chinaman and a Japanese-Captain Brinkley on the Japanese language-Mr. Hyde Clarke on his Turano-African theory.

A MODERN official Japanese treatise says, "In the earliest times the Japanese language had no written characters," an opinion which is based upon the results of the researches of the most learned men of the country. There are those who hold a contrary opinion, but the authority which I have quoted affirms that the grounds for their belief are the "mere forgeries of literary impostors." The point is, of course, one of great importance, for a nation which commences its career with a written language usually carries with it much more direct demonstrations, or at least indications, of its origin than a nation that grows up, on its historic ground, from a condition so little developed as to be devoid of written characters.

In the chapter on the God-period I have had occasion to refer to the circumstances under which the sacred book Kojiki assumed its known form by being taken down from

the dictation of Hiyetano Aré, by whom it had been committed to memory; and although this occurred as late as the year 711 of our period, while we know that Confucian books were introduced into Japan in the third century, still it is an illustration of the fact that there, as in other countries, the transmission of traditions, etc., by word of mouth was a national practice. And but few people know to how great an extent this practice prevailed in some nations, even long after the introduction of written languages. However strange it may seem to say so, it is a fact that the most ancient of all the sacred books in which we ourselves, as part of the Aryan world, are interested, viz. the Rig-Veda, has been transmitted orally down to our own day, and has had its sacred text first published in a complete form by a scholar who is still alive, and still illuminating his age by his genius. The Rig-Veda has in some sense been the Bible of millions upon millions of our fellow-creatures for thousands of years, but it was Mr. Max Müller who brought out "the first complete edition of that sacred text, together with the most authoritative commentary of Hindu theologians." * There, no doubt, have long existed manuscripts of the Veda, but Mr. Max Müller himself states that but few MSS. in India are older than one thousand years after Christ, and there is no evidence that the art of writing was known in India much before the beginning of Buddhism— the last remark being one which may be applied to Japan likewise, bearing in mind that Buddhism only reached Japan a thousand years after the life and death of Buddha—

"Prince Siddartha styled on earth

In earth and heavens and hells incomparable."

The sacred traditions were handed down from generation to generation by disciplined and practised memory alone. "As far back as we know anything of India, we find that the years which we spend at school and at university were spent by the sons of the three higher classes in learning from the mouth of a teacher their sacred literature. This

VOL. II.

* The Commentary of Sayana Akarya.

E

was a sacred duty, the neglect of which entailed social degradation, and the most minute rules were laid down as to the mnemonic system that had to be followed. Before the invention of writing, there was no other way of preserving literature, whether sacred or profane, and in consequence every precaution was taken against accidents." Stranger still is the fact that those Brahmans who may be considered the especial guardians of the sacred traditions of India in our own day do not employ either the written or the printed texts in learning and transmitting their holy lore: They learn it, as their ancestors learnt it thousands of years ago, from the mouth of a teacher, so that the Vedic succession should never be broken," and so well do they perform the duty, and so accurately do they transmit the text, that "there is hardly a various reading, in the proper sense of the word, or even an uncertain accent, in the whole of the Rig-Veda," which consists of more than a thousand hymns averaging ten verses, and contains more than one hundred and fifty thousand words.†

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These glimpses into the system of transmitting literature by oral teaching and by the training of the memory are valuable, as serving to account for the extreme elaboration which written characters underwent in Japan after their invention and adoption. Educated as we now are, and living as we do, it is difficult to think with toleration of any language, whether spoken or written, which cannot be fairly mastered in a year or two, and it is with impatience that we read of Japan that "at the lowest estimate a schoolboy was required to learn one thousand different characters;" that "in the government elementary schools of the present time, about three thousand characters are taught;" and that "a man laying any claim to scholarship knows eight or ten thousand characters, while those who

*The Hibbert Lectures, 1878.

In a postscript to his third Hibbert Lecture Mr. Max Müller cites very interesting passages from an ancient work showing in detail how

the oral teaching of the Vedas was carried on at least 500 B.C., and adds statements from the pens of two native scholars to show how it is maintained at the present day.