from
their work, or interfere with them in their efforts to supply food and
clothing.

XVII.--Important matters should only be settled after due conference with
many men. Trifling matters may be decided without conference, because they
are not so material in their effects; but weighty matters, on account of
their far-reaching consequences, must be discussed with many councillors.
It is thus that the right way shall be found and pursued.

FOOTNOTES

_ 1 The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian_; translated by Colonel
Henry Yule, C.B. Second edition, London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 235.

2 These islands belonged to Russia until 1875, when by a treaty they
were ceded to Japan in exchange for the rights of possession which
she held in the island of Saghalien.

3 E. M. Satow, _Transactions of the Asiatic Society_, vol. i., p. 30.

4 This word is not a _proper name_ but a descriptive designation, and
must be understood in this way when used by Dr. Griffis in his
_Mikado's Empire_ and by Dr. Rein in his two works on Japan. In the
successive issues of the _Resume Statistique_, published by the
Statistical Bureau, the term Nippon is used to designate the
principal island. This name has the advantage of having been used
extensively in foreign books, but its restricted use is contrary to
the custom of Japan. After much consideration we have determined to
designate the principal island by the term "Main island," which is
the translation of the word _Hondo_.

5 See Satow and Hawes' _Handbook_, p. 108.

6 See Chamberlain's _Things Japanese_, second edition, p. 122.

7 One of the most notable of these is that which occurred in 1596 when
Hideyoshi was at Fushimi. In 1854 a series of shocks followed by
tidal waves occurred on the east coast of the Main island. The town
of Shimoda, which had been opened as a port for foreign trade was
almost destroyed, and the Russian frigate _Diana_ which was lying
there was so injured that she had to be abandoned. In 1855 a severe
earthquake occurred at Yedo, which was accompanied by a great fire.
About 16,000 dwelling-houses and other buildings are said to have
been destroyed, and a large number of lives were lost. _Transactions
of Asiatic Society of Japan_, vol. vi., p. 249.

8 Rein's _Japan_, p. 44. In _Things Japanese_ second