y of the regent Michinaga. Yorimitsu was appointed by the
regent to command the cavalry of the guard, and he is said to have
brought that corps to a state of great efficiency.

There was, indeed, much need of a strong hand. One had only to emerge
from the palace gates to find oneself among the haunts of bandits.
The names of such robber chiefs as Hakamadare no Yasusuke, Kidomaru,
Oeyama Shutendoji, and Ibaraki-doji have been handed down as the
heroes in many a strange adventure and the perpetrators of many
heinous crimes. Even the Fujiwara residences were not secure against
the torches of these plunderers, and during the reign of Ichijo the
palace itself was frequently fired by them. In Go-Ichijo's tune, an
edict was issued forbidding men to carry bows and arrows in the
streets, but had there been power to enforce such a veto, its
enactment would not have been necessary. Its immediate sequel was
that the bandits broke into Government offices and murdered officials
there.

THE INVASION OF JAPAN BY THE TOI

In the spring of 1019, when Go-Ichijo occupied the throne, a large
host of invaders suddenly poured into the island of Tsushima. There
had not been any warning. Tsushima lies half-way between the south of
Korea and the northeast of Kyushu, distant about sixty miles from
either coast. Since the earliest times, its fine harbours had served
as a military station for ships plying between Japan and Korea, but
such intercourse had long been interrupted when this invasion took
place.

The invaders were the Toi, originally called Sushen or Moho, under
the former of which names they make their appearance in Japanese
history in the middle of the sixth century. They inhabited that part
of the Asiatic continent which lies opposite to the island of Ezo,
but there is nothing to show what impulse they obeyed in making this
sudden descent upon Japan. Their fleet comprised some fifty vessels
only, each from forty to sixty feet long and propelled by thirty or
forty oars, but of how many fighting men the whole force consisted,
no record has been preserved. As to arms, they carried swords, bows,
spears, and shields, and in their tactical formation spearmen
occupied the front rank, then came swordsmen, and finally bowmen.
Every man had a shield. Their arrows were short, measuring little
over a foot, but their bows were powerful, and they seem to have
fought with fierce courage.

At first they carried everything before them. The gove