lage it was still more important to promote friendship. As the
interests of landowners and tenants was the same it was necessary to
bring about an understanding. I began by asking landowners to
contribute a proportion of the crops to make a fund. I was blamed by
only fourteen out of two hundred. But the landowners who did blame me
blamed me severely, so much so that my family[183] were uneasy. I went
from door to door with a bag collecting rice as the priests do. My
eccentric behaviour was reported in the papers. The anxiety of my
household and relatives grew. My children were told at the school that
their father was a beggar. During the first harvest in which I
collected I gathered about 40 _koku_ (about 200 bushels). In the
fourth year a hundred tenants came in a deputation to me. They said:
'This gathering of rice is for our benefit. But you gather from the
landowners only. So please let us contribute every year. Some of us
will collect among ourselves and bring the rice to you, so giving you
no trouble.' I was very pleased with that. But I did not express my
pleasure. I scolded them. I said: 'Your plan is good but you think
only of yourselves. You do not give the landowners their due. When you
bring your rent to them you choose inferior rice. It is a bad custom.'
I advised them to treat their landowners with justice and achieve
independence in the relation of tenant and landowner. They were moved
by my earnestness.

"In the next year the tenants exerted themselves and the landowners
were pleased with them. Thus the relation of landlord and tenant
became better. The landowners in their turn became desirous of showing
a friendly feeling toward the tenants. Some landlords came to me and
said, 'If you wish for any money in order to be of service to the
tenants we will lend it to you without interest.' I received some
money. I lent money to tenants to buy manure and cattle, to attack
insect pests, to provide protection against wind and flood and to help
to build new dwellings nearer their work. By these means the tenants
were encouraged and their welfare was promoted. The landlords were
also happier, for the rice was better and the land improved. The
landlords found that their happiness came from the tenants. There was
good feeling between them. The landlords began to help the tenants
directly and indirectly. Roads and bridges and many aids to
cultivation were furnished by the landlords. A body of landlords was
constitu