nce elsewhere. His palace is situated in the heart of the city,
and is surrounded by grounds several miles in circumference, and
enclosed by a deep moat. It is there that he receives the compulsory
visits of the grandees of the empire, one of whom, on the point of
being ushered into the audience-chamber, is shown opposite, in his
robes of ceremony, and attended by a sword-bearer, in token of his
high rank. The bonze, or priest, who precedes him, does not impart any
religious signification to the visit, as priests commonly act in the
double capacity of spy and master of the ceremonies. The screen, which
forms the background of the illustration is worthy of attention, as
its subject is taken from the Japanese mythology, and represents the
great sun-god from whom Ten-zio-dai-zin, the patron goddess of the
empire, sprang.

In public, these oligarchical princes are invariably surrounded by all
the pomp of feudal state, and when they travel are escorted by large
bodies of retainers. At Kanagawa, which adjoins the settlement of
Yokohama, the foreigner has frequent opportunities of witnessing their
processions as they pass to and fro along the 'tokaido,' or 'great
public road,' when they are going on their compulsory visits to Yeddo
from their own country palaces. Nor is much danger attached to this,
as the passing of Daimios whom it would be dangerous to meet on the
tokaido, is always notified by the authorities to the consul. On
witnessing a Daimio's procession for the first time, it is hard to
realise that it is not a scene from some gorgeous pantomime, ao
brilliant and varied are the costumes of the retainers, and so totally
different is it from anything which European eyes are accustomed to
gaze upon. But should anything excite the risible faculties of the
observer, his hallucinations are likely to be quickly scattered by the
scowls of the resolute-looking fellows passing by with 'hand on
sword,' needing but little encouragement to 'set a glory' to it, 'by
giving it the worship of revenge,' as they are extremely jealous of
the honour of their prince, and regard the presence of foreigners on
the tokaido at such times as an insult. This circumstance is also
rendered more galling by foreigners sitting coolly on their horses by
the road-side as the great man passes, generally in a low norimon, on
which they must necessarily look down--in contradiction to Japanese
etiquette, which permits no inferior to look down upon a
superi