classics; to be capable of composing a sonorous decree or devising a
graceful couplet--such accomplishments constituted a passport not
only to high office but even to the love of women. Tachibana Hiromi
was one of the leading literati of his era. He rendered into most
academical terms the Emperor's intentions towards Mototsune. From
time immemorial it has always been a canon of Japanese etiquette not
to receive anything with avidity. Mototsune declined the rescript;
the Emperor directed Hiromi to re-write it. Thus far the procedure
had been normal. But Hiromi's second draft ran thus: "You have toiled
for the welfare of the country. You have aided me in accordance with
the late sovereign's will. You are the chief servant of the empire,
not my vassal. You will henceforth discharge the duties of ako." This
term "ako" occurs in Chinese history. It signifies "reliance on
equity," a name given by an early Emperor to the administration of
the sage, I Yin. Hiromi inserted it solely to impart a classical
flavour to the decree and in all good faith.

But Fujiwara Sukeyo, a rival literatus who possessed the confidence
of Mototsune, persuaded the latter that the epithet "ako" could not
apply to the discharge of active duties. What followed was
characteristic. Mototsune caused a number of horses to be let loose
in the city, his explanation being that, as he had no official
functions to discharge, neither had he any need of horses. Naturally
a number of horses running wild in the streets of the capital caused
confusion which soon came to the notice of the palace. The Emperor at
once convoked a meeting of literati to discuss the matter, but these
hesitated so long between their scholarly convictions and their
political apprehensions that, for several months, a state of
administrative anarchy prevailed, and the Emperor recorded in his
diary a lament over the corruption of the age. At last, by the advice
of the minister of the Left, Minamoto Toru, his Majesty sacrificed
Hiromi. A third decree was drafted, laying the blame on Hiromi's
shoulders, and Mototsune graciously consented to resume the duties of
the first subject in the empire. Just forty-five years previously,
Hayanari, another illustrious scholar of the Tachibana family, had
been among the victims of the false charge preferred against the
Crown Prince, Tsunesada, by the Fujiwara partisans. Mototsune may
well have been desirous of removing from the immediate neighbourhood
of