Japan and the Japanese illustrated . as indebted to his education by an ambitiousmother for the (pialities whlcli made him the ruler and real chief of the Empire. Hewas brought uj) at the Court of Kioto, and early appreciated the condition ofweakness into which the power of the Dairi had fdlen. The Mikado, shut up in hisseraglio, occupied himself with nothing but palace intrigues. The courtiers were givenup to idleness, or plungeil in dissipation. The old f;xmilies, who were brouglit intocommunication with the Emperor either by kinship, alliance, or official rank, thought THE DAIMIOS. 105 onlv
Japan and the Japanese illustrated . as indebted to his education by an ambitiousmother for the (pialities whlcli made him the ruler and real chief of the Empire. Hewas brought uj) at the Court of Kioto, and early appreciated the condition ofweakness into which the power of the Dairi had fdlen. The Mikado, shut up in hisseraglio, occupied himself with nothing but palace intrigues. The courtiers were givenup to idleness, or plungeil in dissipation. The old f;xmilies, who were brouglit intocommunication with the Emperor either by kinship, alliance, or official rank, thought THE DAIMIOS. 105 onlv of scrvinof the iiitorosts of themselves and their chihlren at court. Thcv fiulcavourcdto procure high dignities for their eldest sons, and put tlie into holy for the girls, rather than send them into convents, they applied for their admissioninto the raid<s of the Empresss fifty ladies of honour, who were all ohliged to takevows of chastity. The amhition of the iuatri)ns of high degree was jjcrfeetly satisfird. AK INVESTITURE. hy the puerile ceremonies which accompanied the birth of tlie heir-presumptive, and thenomination of its nurse, who was chosen among the eighty ladies of the old feudalnobility best c^ualified to fulfil this eminent function. AVhile thintrs were mm^ on thus at Kioto, the Daimios, avIio lived in ntiremcntin their ]irovinces, became by degrees less and less faithful in the maintenance of theobligations which th-y had contracted with the Crown. Some arrogated to themselves loG LIFE IN JAPAN. absolufc power in the governmont of their imperial fiefs; others aggrandized their domainsat the expense of their neighl^ours. Family wars, acts of vengeance and reprisal, stained
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidjapanjapanes, bookyear1874
