hink or act for
himself, they contrived means to have him retire and leave in his place
some inexperienced boy who could be more easily controlled.

In this kind of supervising statesmanship the Fujiwara family became, and
for centuries remained, supreme experts. For a period of four hundred
years, from A.D. 645 to 1050, they monopolized nearly all the important
offices in the government. The wives and concubines of the feeble emperors
were all taken from its inexhaustible _repertoire_. The men of the family,
among whom were always some of administrative ability, found it a task of
no great difficulty to rule the emperor who was supposed to be divinely
inspired to rule the empire, especially when he was usually a boy whose
mother, wife, and court favorites were all supplied from the Fujiwara
family. This kind of life and environment could not fail to produce on the
successive emperors a sadly demoralizing effect. They were brought up in
an enervating atmosphere and their whole life was spent in arts and
employments which, instead of developing in them a spirit of independence
and a high ambition and ability to govern well the empire committed to
them, led them to devote themselves to pleasures, and to leave to others
less fortunate the duty of administering the affairs of government.

The same circumstances which demoralized the occupants of the imperial
throne served in a certain though less degree to enervate and enfeeble the
Fujiwara family. Although they sometimes appointed one of their number the
commander of an expedition against the Emishi, or to put down fresh
revolts in the island of Kyushu, yet his duties were purely honorary. He
usually remained at home and sent one or more of the active military
chieftains to lead the forces against the enemy in the field. If the
expedition was successful, however, the honorary commander did not forget
to have himself duly promoted, and rewarded with additional lands and
income.

Other families besides the Fujiwara, rose in these long and weary
centuries to prominence, and seemed on the point of disputing the security
of their position. Thus the Tachibana in the eighth century attained high
honors and distinction. It was an old family, and even as far back as the
legend of Yamato-dake(108) we find that a princess of the Tachibana family
was his wife, who sacrificed herself in the bay of Yedo to appease the
turbulent waters. It was Maroye, a member of the Tachibana family an