een noised
abroad, Ne no Omi was required to show it at the palace. It was
immediately recognized by the Empress, sister of the ill-starred
prince, and Ne no Omi, having confessed his crime, was put to death,
all the members of his uji being reduced to the rank of serfs. One
moiety of them was formed into a hereditary corporation which was
organized under the name of Okusakabe, in memory of Prince Okusaka.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

The reign of Yuryaku is partially saved from the reproach of selfish
despotism by the encouragement given to the arts and crafts. It has
already been related that the members of the Hata-uji, which had been
constituted originally with artisans from China, gradually became
dispersed throughout the provinces and were suffering some hardships
when Yuryaku issued orders for their reassembly and reorganization.
Subsequently the sovereign gave much encouragement to sericulture,
and, inspired doubtless by the legend of the Sun goddess, inaugurated
a custom which thereafter prevailed in Japan through all ages, the
cultivation of silkworms by the Empress herself. At a later date,
learning from a Korean handicraftsman (tebito)--whose name has been
handed down as Kwan-in Chiri--that Korea abounded in experts of
superior skill, Yuryaku commissioned this man to carry to the King of
Kudara (Paikche) an autograph letter asking for the services of
several of these experts. This request was complied with, and the
newcomers were assigned dwellings at the village of Tsuno in Yamato;*
but as the place proved unhealthy, they were afterwards distributed
among several localities.

*There were potters, saddlers, brocade-weavers, and interpreters.

It is also recorded that, about this time, there came from China a
man called An Kiko, a descendant of one of the Wu sovereigns. He
settled in Japan, and his son, Ryu afterwards--named Shinki--is
reputed to have been the first exponent of Chinese pictorial art in
Japan. In the year A.D. 470, there was another arrival of artisans,
this time from Wu (China), including weavers and clothiers. They
landed in the province of Settsu, and to commemorate their coming a
road called the "Kure-saka" (Wu acclivity) was constructed from that
port to the Shihatsu highway. The descendants of these immigrants
were organized into two hereditary corporations (be) of
silk-clothiers, the Asuka no Kinu-nui-be and the Ise no Kinu-nui-be.
Two years later (472), orders were issued for the cultivation