d. Branch schools were also established
in the several provinces. In the university there were departments for
Chinese literature, for medicine, for astronomy and almanac-making, and
for astrology. Under the first head were included the art of writing the
Chinese characters, the practice of composition, the study of the Chinese
classics, and the reading of books of Chinese history. In like manner the
training of the students in medicine chiefly consisted in making them
familiar with the methods which prevailed in China. The properties of
medicinal plants, the variations of the pulse in health and disease and in
the changing seasons, and the anatomy of the human body were the chief
subjects of study. The human cadaver was never dissected, but a knowledge
of anatomy was obtained from diagrams which were wholly hypothetical. In
early times medical officers were appointed to experiment with medicines
upon monkeys, and also to dissect the bodies of monkeys. From these
dissections, as well as from the printed diagrams of Chinese books the
imperfect knowledge which they had reached was derived. It was not till
1771 that Sugita Genpaku(89) and several other Japanese scholars had an
opportunity to dissect the body of a criminal, and by personal observation
found the utter falsity of the Chinese diagrams on which they had hitherto
relied, and the correctness of the Dutch books, which they had, contrary
to the laws of the country, learned to read.

The great reverence felt for Chinese culture led to the introduction at an
early date of the Chinese system of official rank. The system remained in
force down to the restoration in 1868. The officers were _Daijo-daijin_
(Prime-Minister), _Sa-daijin_ (Minister of the Left), _U-daijin_ (Minister
of the Right), together with eight boards,(90) charged with the various
duties of administration. These boards were divided into sections, and the
various departments of the government were respectively performed by them.
In this way the administration became thoroughly bureaucratic, in
imitation of the Chinese empire, to which the Japanese at this time looked
up with the most complete reverence.

In addition to these official boards, six official ranks were also
introduced from China. These ranks were designated, first, virtue; second,
humanity; third, propriety; fourth, truth; fifth, righteousness, and
sixth, wisdom. Each of these ranks(91) was divided into two orders termed
respectively the Gr