unding provinces, assembled to witness the magnificent
fete. Suddenly an order was issued in the name of Ieyasu,
interdicting the consummation of the ceremony on the ground that the
inscription carried by the bell for the idol's temple was designedly
treasonable to the Tokugawa. This inscription had been composed and
written by a high Buddhist prelate, Seikan, reputed to be one of the
greatest scholars and most skilful calligraphists of his time.

It was inconceivable that such a man should err flagrantly in the use
of the ideographic script. Ieyasu, however, despatched to Kyoto two
rival prelates, Soden and Tengai, with instructions to convoke a
meeting of the priests of the Five Temples and invite them to express
an opinion about the inscription. Soden held the post of
administrator of temples. This placed him officially at the head of
all the other priests, and thus the opinions he expressed at the
instance of Ieyasu possessed special weight. It was in vain that
Seikan repudiated all intention of disrespect and pointed out that
the inscription did not for a moment lend itself to the
interpretation read into it by the Tokugawa chief. Only one priest,
Kaizan of Myoshin-ji, had sufficient courage to oppose Soden's view,
and the cause of the Tokugawa chief triumphed.

Without a full knowledge of the Chinese ideographic script it is
impossible to clearly understand either the charges preferred by the
Tokugawa or the arguments employed in rebuttal. Western readers may,
however, confidently accept the unanimous verdict of all modern
scholars, that the interpretation assigned to the inscription in the
first place by the Tokugawa officials, and in the second by Hayashi
Doshun, representing the Confucianists, and Soden and Tengai,
representing the Buddhists, was grossly unreasonable. That many
experts should be found to range themselves on the side of a ruler so
powerful as Ieyasu was not wonderful, but it says little for the
moral independence of the men of the time that only one Buddhist
priest among many thousand had the courage to withhold his consent to
a judgment which outraged truth and justice.

Naturally the news of the decision threw Osaka into a state of great
excitement. Lady Yodo hastened to despatch to Sumpu her principal
lady-in-waiting, Okura-no-Tsubone, accompanied by another dame of the
chamber. These two were received by Acha-no-Tsubone at the court of
Ieyasu, and through her they conveyed fervent apologi