enteen ethical precepts merit much approbation. With the exception
of the doctrine of expediency, enunciated at the close of the tenth
article, the code of Shotoku might be taken for guide by any
community in any age. But the prince as a moral reformer* cannot be
credited with originality; his merit consists in having studied
Confucianism and Buddhism intelligently. The political purport of his
code is more remarkable. In the whole seventeen articles there is
nothing to inculcate worship of the Kami or observance of Shinto
rites. Again, whereas, according to the Japanese creed, the sovereign
power is derived from the Imperial ancestor, the latter is nowhere
alluded to. The seventh article makes the eternity of the State and
the security of the Imperial house depend upon wise administration by
well-selected officials, but says nothing of hereditary rights. How
is such a vital omission to be interpreted, except on the supposition
that Shotoku, who had witnessed the worst abuses incidental to the
hereditary system of the uji, intended by this code to enter a solemn
protest against that system?

*It is a curious fact that tradition represents this prince as having
been born at the door of a stable. Hence his original name, Umayado
(Stable-door).

Further, the importance attached to the people* is a very prominent
feature of the code. Thus, in Article IV, it is stated that "when the
people behave with propriety the government of the State proceeds of
itself;" Article V speaks of "complaints preferred by the people;"
Article VI refers to "the overthrow of the State" and "the
destruction of the people;" Article VII emphasises "the eternity of
the State;" that "the sovereign is the master of the people of the
whole country;" that "the officials to whom he gives charge are all
his vassals," and that these officials, whether miyatsuko or
provincial authorities, must not "presume, as well as the Government,
to levy taxes on the people." All those expressions amount to a
distinct condemnation of the uji system, under which the only people
directly subject to the sovereign were those of the minashiro, and
those who had been naturalized or otherwise specially assigned, all
the rest being practically the property of the uji, and the only
lands paying direct taxes to the Throne were the domains of the
miyake.

*The word used is hyakusho, which ultimately came to be applied to
farmers only.

Forty-two years later (A.D. 646), the a