labour, and the building of temples a device to acquire
property and wealth as well as to evade fiscal burdens. Sometimes the
Buddhist priests lent themselves to the deception of becoming nominal
owners of large estates in order to enable the real owners to escape
taxation. Buddhism in Japan ultimately became a great militant power,
ready at all times to appeal to force.

THE FIFTY-FIRST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR HEIJO (A.D. 806-809)

Heijo, the fifty-first sovereign, was the eldest son of Kwammu. The
latter, warned by the distress that his own great expenditures on
account of the new capital had produced, and fully sensible of the
abuses practised by the provincial officials, urged upon the Crown
Prince the imperative necessity of retrenchment, and Heijo, on
ascending the throne, showed much resolution in discharging
superfluous officials, curtailing all unneeded outlays, and
simplifying administrative procedure. But physical weakness--he was a
confirmed invalid--and the influence of an ambitious woman wrecked
his career. While still Crown Prince, he fixed his affections on
Kusu, daughter of Fujiwara Tanetsugu, who had been assassinated by
Prince Sagara during Kwammu's reign, and when Heijo ascended the
throne, this lady's influence made itself felt within and without the
palace, while her brother, Nakanari, a haughty, headstrong man,
trading on his relationship to her, usurped almost Imperial
authority.

Heijo's ill-health, however, compelled him to abdicate after a reign
of only three years. He retired to the old palace at Nara, entrusting
the sceptre to his brother, Saga. This step was profoundly
disappointing to Kusu and her brother. The former aimed at becoming
Empress--she possessed only the title of consort--and Fujiwara
Nakanari looked for the post of prime minister. They persuaded the
ex-Emperor to intimate a desire of reascending the throne. Saga
acquiesced and would have handed over the sceptre, but at the
eleventh hour, Heijo's conscientious scruples, or his prudence,
caused a delay, whereupon Kusu and her brother, becoming desperate,
publicly proclaimed that Heijo wished to transfer the capital to
Nara. Before they could consummate this programme, however, Saga
secured the assistance of Tamuramaro, famous as the conqueror of the
Yemishi, and by his aid Fujiwara Nakanari was seized and thrown into
prison, the lady Kusu being deprived of her rank as consort and
condemned to be banished from Court. Heijo mi