^342:1 The pre-Tokugawa Shoguns may be distributed as follows: (1) Three of the Minamoto family--Yoritimo (1192), Yoriie (1202), Sanetomo (1203); then (2) two Fujiwaras--Yoritsune (1226), Yoritsugu (1244); then (3) seven Shoguns of the Imperial Blood--Munetaka (1252), Koreyasu (1266), Hisa-akira (1289), Morikuni (1308), Morinaga (1333), Narinaga (1334), and Moriyoshi (1338). These all resided at Kamakura, with Regents of the Hojo family to look after them. Then came (4) fifteen Ashikaga Shoguns (1338-1573), residing at Kyoto. They were for the most part quite as insignificant as their Kamakura predecessors.

^343:1 The Sacred Treasures are the Sword, the Mirror, and the Magatame, the possession of which constitutes in Japan the right to the Imperial Crown. Even to-day the Japanese are extremely touchy on the subject of the Rival Dynasties and the consequent displacements in the line of Imperial Succession.

^346:1 A tale which redounds to their honour is told of this sect. They were engaged in a controversy on some theological point with the Nichirenists, and both sides appealed to Nobunaga, who appointed a day to hear their disputations. The night before the disputation he sent for the Jodoist leaders. "If the decision should be given in your favour, what punishment do you think should be given to your adversaries?" "None at all," they replied; "we only want to have a clear statement of the Truth" Nobunaga then turned to the Nichirenists. "We," they said, not knowing what the Jodoists had answered, "should demand the death of our obstinate opponents." The verdict was given in favour of the Jodoists; the full penalty was exacted from the defeated Nichirenists.

^347:1 An indication of the miseries of the time maybe found in the list of Nengo or year periods. It was always customary that these periods must be changed whenever any great calamity occurred. During the whole of the Muromachi period they were changed on an average every three years.

^347:2 The miseries of this time have been set forth far more forcibly than I can do it in the Introduction to Murdoch and Yamagata's "History of Japan," which I strongly recommend to the student. It was published at Kobe in 1903.

^348:1 See K. Florenz, "Geschichte der Japanischen Literatur," and my notes on the Japanese Drama in Transactions of Ass. Society of Japan, vol. xxxv. pt. 2.

^348:2 Yet in spite of what I have said here, with justifiable reason, it must be remembered that there have always been in the ranks of the Buddhist clergy a certain number of devout and pious men whose lives and precepts have served to keep religion alive and in popular estimation. But these have mostly been the incumbents of rustic temples whose lives have been spent far from the pressure of contemporary life.