1850.
Notice of Japan in the Hi-kooh Tú Chi.
213
Dependent upon it are some tens of states. It has a hierarch, whose succession has continued from the creation to the present time, without a change; he takes no part in politics, and has no control over the army; nor has he aught to do, save to enjoy his royal revenue from generation to generation. The wáng (executive sovereigns) who ad- minister the state, and command the forces, have not been always the same, but have risen or fallen with the fortunes of the time, according to the degree of their influence. There is an officer entitled the kwán peh, whose functions are the same as those of the Chinese ching-siáng," who has also changed with each succeeding dynasty. He has the special charge of the civil government, and of the forces. The four clans of Ping, Yuen, Táng, and Kiuh, the most powerful families in Japan, have each in turn usurped the executive sovereignty. There is no historical authority for the order of the succession of the princes, and the appointments of the ministers, save the Wú-tsi King,† a work in 52 chapters by the Japanese bonze, Tiáu-jen, which embraces a period of 87 years, viz., from the 5th of Chí-ching, the mikado of An- teh, to the third of Wanyung of Kwei-shán-yuen. This is minute in details, but treats briefly of important matters. In the extracts made by Li Yenkung from the Annals of Japan, the customs of the country are given with tolerable precision, but the chronology is confused in its order.
The sovereign's surname is traditionally Wang (the king); his resi- dence is at a place called Mí-yá-kuh (Miako), which being interpreted means "the capital," to the northeast of Chángkí, from which the journey to it by land occupies nearly a month. It is farther from Liáutung than from Fuhkien and Chehkiáng.
The Chronicles (of the Ming) tell us that to go by water from Tái- fång to the country of Wo, you must keep along Corea, steer south and east, traverse three seas, and after coasting along seven countries, and sailing 12,000 li, you will reach Japan. In another place they say, that to the district of Loh-lang as well as to Tái-fáng the distance is 12,000 li, to the east of Hwui-kí, and not far from Tán-'rh. By Japan they mean its capital, the circuitousness of the route to which accounts for the language of the Chronicles; for, as far as Japan is concerned,
• Ching-siáng,e. g. the tá hioh-sz' of the present dynasty.
+ Wü-tst King, My Handmaid's Mirror. The name is said
吳妻鏡
to be chosen as indicative of the intention of the writer to confine himself to
matters relating to home alone, without digressing to foreign subjects. The
word rendered handmaid' is properly concubine, or wife of the second degree.