see on what conditions and at what sacrifices they
continued to maintain their monopoly.

During the period of Ieyasu's retirement, which lasted from 1605 until his
death in 1616, he devoted himself, as we have seen, to the consolidation
of his family dynasty and to such literary occupations as his leisure
allowed. He was a patron of the art derived from Korea, which then was
popular in Japan, of printing with movable types.(255) This art fell into
disuse afterwards, but during Ieyasu's retirement in Sumpu he interested
himself in printing with blocks as well as by the new method. When he died
he was engaged in seeing through the press an edition of an important
Chinese work.

He left behind him a document, called the _Legacy of Ieyasu_, which to
those desirous of studying the character and motives of the founder of the
Tokugawa dynasty possesses a supreme interest. Some doubt has been thrown
by Japanese critics on the authenticity of this composition. It has been
asserted that it was not the work of Ieyasu and therefore not worthy of
the reverence in which it has been held. But whether the _Legacy_(256) was
originally composed by him or approved and sanctioned by him, matters
little for our purpose. It dates from the time of the founding of the
Tokugawa shogunate, and has been an unimpeachable authority during all its
history. One of the singular features in the disposition of the _Legacy_,
to which Professor Grigsby directs attention, was the secrecy in which it
was kept. The original was preserved in Kyoto and was never seen, while an
authenticated copy was kept at the shogun's court in Yedo, and once a year
was open to the inspection of all above a certain rank. To us it seems
unaccountable that a body of so-called laws, by which the conduct of men
was to be guided, should be kept secret from them. But it must be
remembered that in those days there were no such things as laws in the
sense we now understand the term. There were magistrates who heard causes
and complaints, but their decisions were based not on laws which had been
enacted by the government, but upon prevailing custom and upon the innate
sense of justice which was assumed to be present in the mind of every man.
Whatever laws or rules therefore were in existence were not for the
information of the people, but for the guidance of the magistrates.

The _Legacy of Ieyasu_ consists of one hundred chapters, arranged without
any attempt at logical order. Each