the Court dignitaries who had
supported the sovereign's wishes were cautioned not to associate
themselves again with such "rash and unbecoming acts." It can
scarcely be denied that Sadanobu exercised his power in an extreme
and unwise manner on this occasion. A little recourse to tact might
have settled the matter with equal facility and without open
disrespect to the Throne. But the Bakufu prime minister behaved after
the manner of the deer-stalker of the Japanese proverb who does not
see the mountain, and he thus placed in the hands of the Imperialist
party a weapon which contributed materially to the overthrow of the
Bakufu seventy years later.

ENGRAVING: YO-MEI-MON GATE, AT NIKKO

CHAPTER XLII

ORGANIZATION, CENTRAL AND LOCAL; CURRENCY AND THE LAWS OF THE
TOKUGAWA BAKAFU

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU

THE organization of the Tokugawa Bakufu cannot be referred to any
earlier period than that of the third shogun, Iemitsu. The
foundations indeed were laid after the battle of Sekigahara, when the
administrative functions came into the hands of Ieyasu. By him a
shoshidai (governor) was established in Kyoto together with municipal
administrators (machi bugyo). But it was reserved for Iemitsu to
develop these initial creations into a competent and consistent
whole. There was, first, what may be regarded as a cabinet, though
the name of its members (roju, or seniors) does not suggest the
functions generally discharged by ministers of State. One of the roju
was appointed to the post of dairo (great senior). He corresponded to
the prime minister in a Western Cabinet, and the other roju may be
counted as ministers. Then there were junior ministers, and after
them came administrators of accounts, inspectors, administrators of
shrines and temples, and municipal administrators. The place where
State business was discharged went by the name of Go-Yo-beya. There,
the senior and junior ministers assembled to transact affairs, and
the chamber being situated in the immediate vicinity of the shogun's
sitting-room, he was able to keep himself au courant of important
administrative affairs. During the time of the fifth shogun, however,
as already related, this useful arrangement underwent radical
alteration. As for judicial business, there did not originally exist
any special place for its transaction. A chamber in the official
residence was temporarily assigned for the purpose, but at a later
date a court of jus