r entirety, and believe in the celestial origin of the race and the
wonders of the divine age, we may be able to obtain from them many
important facts regarding the habits and manner of life of the early
Japanese.

We have often referred to the admirable work Mr. Chamberlain has done in
his translation of the _Kojiki_, and in the scholarly notes he has added.
But in our present enquiries we must give him still greater credit for the
important lessons which he has drawn from the myths and legends of the
_Kojiki_ in his learned introduction. No writer at the present day can
afford to dispense with the deductions which he has been able to draw from
the oldest writings of the Japanese, and from the traditions of an older
date which these writings have preserved. Relying therefore chiefly on
this learned introduction,(68) we propose to enumerate in a summary manner
the particulars concerning the early Japanese life.

In the first place the government of the early Japanese was of the tribal
order. The emperor was the chieftain of an expedition which came from the
island of Kyushu and established a government by conquest. The chiefs of
the various localities were reduced to subjection and became tributary to
the emperor, or were replaced by new chiefs appointed by the emperor. The
government was therefore essentially feudal in its characteristics. The
emperor depended for the consideration of his plans and for their
execution upon officers who were attached to his court. There were guilds
composed of those who manufactured various articles, or who were employed
to execute special plans. Thus we have guilds of clay image makers, guilds
of ladies attendant on the emperor, guilds of butlers, guilds of cooks,
guilds of guards, etc. To each of these there was a captain who became by
appointment hereditary chief. We have no mention of money for the payment
of services rendered. The taxes were probably paid in kind. And all
transactions as far as they are mentioned at all seem to have been of the
nature of barter.

The religious notions of the prehistoric Japanese were founded on the
myths relating to their ancestor. Notwithstanding the vast number of
deities who came into existence according to tradition, most of them
vanish as soon as they are named and are no more heard of. Even deities
like Izanagi and Izanami, who are represented as taking so important a
part in events, are not perpetuated as objects of worship in Japanese
his