betrayed friend. The most sacred relations of life were
violated. Altogether these were the darkest ages of Japan, though, as
among the red men of America, there were not wanting many noble examples
of stoical endurance, of courage, and of power nobly exerted for the
benefit of others.

The Rise of Mikadoism.

Nevertheless we must not forget that the men of the early age of the
Kami no Michi conquered the aborigines by superior dogmas and fetiches,
as well as by superior weapons. The entrance of these heroes, invaders
from the highlands of the Asian continent, by way of Korea, was
relatively a very influential factor of progress, though not so
important as was the Aryan descent upon India, or the Norman invasion of
England, for the aboriginal tribes were vastly lower in the scale of
humanity than their subduers. Where they found savagery they introduced
barbarism, which, though unlettered and based on the sword, was a vast
improvement over what may be called the geological state of man, in
which he is but slightly raised above the brutes.

For the proofs from the shell heaps, combined with the reflected
evidences of folk-lore, show, that cannibalism[22] was common in the
early ages, and that among the aboriginal hill tribes it lingered after
the inhabitants of the plain and shore had been subdued. The conquerors,
who made themselves paramount over the other tribes and who developed
the Kami religion, abolished this relic of savagery, and gave order
where there had been chronic war. Another thing that impresses us
because of its abundant illustrations, is the prevalence of human
sacrifices. The very ancient folk-lore shows that beautiful maidens were
demanded by the "sea-gods" in propitiation, or were devoured by the
"dragons." These human victims were either chosen or voluntarily
offered, and in some instances were rescued from their fate by
chivalrous heroes[23] from among the invaders.

These gods of the sea, who anciently were propitiated by the sacrifice
of human beings, are the same to whom Japanese sailors still pray,
despite their Buddhism. The title of the efficient victims was
_hitoga-shira_, or human pillars. Instances of this ceremony, where men
were lowered into the water and drowned in order to make the sure
foundation for bridges, piers or sea-walls, or where they were buried
alive in the earth in order to lay the right bases for walls or castles,
are quite numerous, and most of the local histories