the greatest solicitude. And when during the same year the
_kogisho_(326) (parliament) was called together, great hopes were
entertained of its usefulness. It was composed of persons representing
each of the daimiates, who were chosen for the position by the daimyos. It
was a quiet peaceful debating society,(327) whose function was to give
advice to the imperial government.

That it was a thoroughly conservative body is apparent from the result of
its discussion upon several of the traditional customs of Japan. On the
proposition to recommend the abolition of the privilege of _hara-kiri_ the
vote stood: Ayes 3, noes 200, and not voting 6. On the proposition to
abolish the wearing of swords, which was introduced and advocated by Mori
Arinori, the final vote was unanimously against it in a house of 213.(328)
After a short and uneventful career the _kogisho_ was dissolved in the
autumn of the same year in which it was summoned. It had been a step, but
not a very important step, in the direction of parliamentary government.

We must now give an account of the most remarkable event in the modern
history of Japan. We refer to the termination of feudalism by the
voluntary surrender of their feudal rights on the part of the daimyos.
This action was a logical consequence of the restoration of the executive
power into the hands of the emperor. It was felt by the statesmen of this
period that in order to secure a government which could grapple
successfully with the many questions which would press upon it, there must
be a centralization of the powers which were now distributed among the
powerful daimyos of the empire. To bring this about by force was
impossible. To discover among the princes a willingness to give up their
hereditary privileges and come down to the position of a powerless
aristocracy was something for which we have hitherto looked in vain.

[Illustration]

Mori Arinori.

Doubtless the _faineant_ condition of nearly all the daimyos at this time
made the accomplishment of this event more easy. With only a few
exceptions, the hereditary princes of the provinces had come to be merely
the formal chiefs of their daimiates. The real power was in the hands of
the energetic and capable _samurai_, who were employed to manage the
affairs. They saw that any scheme for transferring the political authority
of the daimyos to the central government would render more