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villages. Since the great reform of the Taika era, in spite of the fact that the clan system of government continued for a long time afterward, the bases of administration division of the country gradually changed from being personal to being territorial.

In the Middle Ages clans began to gradually disintegrate, and households took their place. This transition may be illustrated by the history of our Law of Registration. The development of this law can be divided into three epochs: (1) The epoch of clan registration; (2) of house registration; and (3) of personal registration. In those early days, when the clan formed the unit of the State, it was of the utmost importance that each person’s clan name should be kept sacred. As only those who belonged to certain clans could fill high official positions or join the Imperial Bodyguard, and as several other privileges were enjoyed by particular clans, attempts were often made to forsake original clans and surreptitiously adopt the names of some influential clans. In order to put a stop to these abuses, an ‘ordeal of hot water,’ or ‘kuga dachi,’ was held, in obedience to an Imperial proclamation in the fourth year of the Emperor Inkyo (A.D. 415), to test the truth or falsehood of the clan names borne by the people. This ordeal consisted in plunging the hand into hot water before the temple of a god, and it was claimed that those who had assumed false clan names would suffer injury, whilst the innocent would escape unhurt. In the fifth year of the era of Tempei Hoji (A.D. 761) an office called ‘Sen Shizoku Jo’ was founded for the compilation of a clan registry, and a Commission was appointed which numbered among its members the most distinguished scholars of the time. The work of the Commission was, however, not completed. Since this time Imperial proclamations were frequently issued ordering all clans in the empire to send their genealogical records to the Government, in order that they might be included in the Imperial archives. It was ordered that in these records the name of the first ancestor, and also the name of the ancestor from whom the small clan branched out, should always be given, and the records of those claiming to belong to noble clans had to be attested by the signature of the head of the whole clan. In the reign of the Emperor Saga, in the sixth year of the era of Konin, the ‘Register of Clan Names,’ or ‘Seishi Roku,’ was compiled, a part of which is still in existence to-day. This register consists of thirty volumes, and contained 1,182 clan names. In that year ‘Kan Kei Jo,’ or the Bureau of Genealogical Investigation, was established. The preservation of genealogical records and their accuracy