the inside or outside service, must be sent
back; that those who are to be in personal attendance on the rulers
must be selected for that duty; that ceremonial etiquette should be
the predominant principle; that men noted for probity and adherence
to high principle should be rewarded by more than ordinary
distinction; that the petitions and complaints of the poor and lowly
should be heard and redress granted; that the petitions of temples
and shrines should be dealt with on their merits, and that certain
fixed days should be appointed for the rendering of decisions and the
issue of government orders.**

*Kemmu was the Northern Court's name of the year-period 1334 to 1338:
see p. 398.

**The Kemmu Shikimoku by Mr. Consul-General Hall, in the
"Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan;" epitomized by
Murdoch.

THE JINNO SHOTOKI

Before proceeding with the history of this troubled era, it is
advisable to speak of a great political brochure which was compiled
by Kitabatake Chikafusa during the period (1340-1343) of his attempt
to harass the Ashikaga from the direction of Hitachi. This was a work
designed to establish the divine claim of the sovereign of the
Southern Court. Hence the title of the treatise, Correct Genealogy
(Shotoki) of the Divine Emperor (Jinno). The reader knows that when,
in the eighth century, Japan went to Chinese sources for
jurisprudential inspiration, she had to eliminate the Confucian and
Mencian doctrine that the sceptre may not be wielded by anyone whose
virtues do not qualify him for the task in the eyes of the nation.
This same doctrine permeated by construction the commentaries that
accompanied the articles of the Kemmu Shikimoku as quoted above, and
in that fact Chikafusa saw an opportunity of winning adherents for
the Southern Court by proclaiming its heaven-conferred rights.

"Great Yamato," Kitabatake wrote, "is a divine country. It is only
our land whose foundations were first laid by the divine ancestor. It
alone has been transmitted by the Sun goddess to a long line of her
descendants. There is nothing of this kind in foreign countries.
Therefore it is called the divine land. . . It is only our country
which from the time when the heaven and earth were first unfolded,
has preserved the succession to the throne intact in one single
family. Even when, as sometimes naturally happened, it descended to a
lateral branch, it was held according to just principles. This shows
that the