shogun, Ietsuna, fell dangerously ill, and a
council of the chief Bakufu officials was held to decide upon his
successor. The Bakufu prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, proposed that
the example of Kamakura should be followed, and that an Imperial
prince should be invited to assume the office of shogun. Thereupon
Hotta Masatoshi, one of the junior ministers, vehemently
remonstrated. "Is the prime minister jesting?" he is reported to have
asked. "There is no question whatever as to the succession. That
dignity falls to Tsunayoshi and to Tsunayoshi alone. He is the
legitimate son of the late shogun, Iemitsu, and the only brother of
the present shogun, Ietsuna. If the minister is not jesting, his
proposition is inexplicable." This bold utterance was received with
profound silence, and after a few moments Sakai Tadakiyo retired from
the council chamber.

It has to be remembered in connexion with this incident, that
Tadakiyo exercised almost complete sway in the Bakufu Court at that
time, and the fact that he yielded quietly to Hotta Masatoshi's
remonstrance goes far to acquit him of any sinister design such as
securing the whole administrative power for himself by setting up an
Imperial prince as a mere figurehead. The more probable explanation
is that as one of the consorts of the shogun Ietsuna was enceinte at
that time, the Bakufu prime minister desired to postpone any family
decision until the birth of her child, since to dispense with an
Imperial prince would be as easy to procure one, whereas if one of
the shogun's lineage were nominated, he would be difficult to
displace. There had been born to Iemitsu five sons, of whom the
eldest, Ietsuna, had succeeded to the shogunate, and three others had
died, the only one remaining alive being Tsunayoshi, who, having been
born in 1646, was now (1680) in his thirty-fourth year.

HOTTA MASATOSHI

On Tsunayoshi's accession the prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, was
released from office, and Hotta Masatoshi became his successor.
Naturally, as Masatoshi had been instrumental in obtaining the
succession for Tsunayoshi, his influence with the latter was very
great. But there can be no question that he deserves to rank as one
of Japan's leading statesmen in any age, and that he devoted his
signal abilities to the cause of progress and administrative purity.
The result of his strenuous services was to check the corruption
which had come to pervade every department of State in the closing