f
any kind, the above three old gentlemen loved to organize parties on
an ostentatiously extravagant scale, and Sadanobu naturally shrank
from seeing the title of o-gosho conferred on such a character, thus
investing him with competence to interfere arbitrarily in the conduct
of State affairs.

*It has always been a common custom in Japan for the head of a family
to retire nominally from active life after he attains his fiftieth
year. He is thenceforth known as inkyo (or recluse). The same is true
of women.

Just at this time, the Court in Kyoto preferred its application, and
Sadanobu at once appreciated that if the rank of dajo tenno were
conferred on Prince Tsunehito, it would be impossible to withhold
that of o-gosho from Harunari. Consequently the Bakufu prime minister
wrote privately to the Kyoto prime minister, Takatsukasa Sukehira,
pointing out the inadvisability of the proposed step. This letter,
though not actually an official communication, had the effect of
shelving the matter for a time, but, in 1791, the Emperor re-opened
the question, and summoned a council in the palace to discuss it. The
result was that sixty-five officials, headed by the prime minister
and the minister of the Right, supported the sovereign's views, but
the ex-premier, Takatsukasa Sukehira, and his son, the minister of
the Left, with a few others, opposed them.

The proceedings of this council with an autograph covering-letter
from the sovereign were sent to the Bakufu, in 1792, but for a long
time no answer was given. Meanwhile Prince Tsunehito, already an old
man, showed signs of declining health, and the Imperial Court pressed
Yedo to reply. Ultimately the Bakufu officially disapproved the
project. No statement of reasons accompanied the refusal, but it was
softened by a suggestion that an increase of revenue might be
conferred on the sovereign's father. This already sufficiently
contumelious act was supplemented by a request from the Bakufu that
the Imperial Court should send to Yedo the high secretary and the
chief of the Household. Unwillingly the Court complied, and after
hearing the arguments advanced by these two officials, Sadanobu
sentenced them to be placed in confinement for a hundred days, and
fifty days, respectively, which sentence was carried out at the
temple Seisho-ji in Yedo, and the two high officials were thereafter
sent back to Kyoto under police escort. Ultimately they were both
dismissed from office, and all