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of Ko-toku Tenno to the beginning of the Meiji era—that is, from about A.D. 645 to thirty-five years ago. It again may be subdivided into two parts, the first of which ends in A.D. 1200. In this period the principle of the centralization of administration prevailed, and portions of the Chinese legal system were freely adopted. (China was then in the flourishing age of the Tung Dynasty, and under it her administrative organization and legal system were undoubtedly as highly developed as at any other time in history.)

The principal points on which the new system differed from the old may be briefly indicated. The pontifical office, or Board of Ecclesiastical Rites, was placed on the same footing as the Government (the highest administrative office). Under the Government were established eight departments, somewhat like the Ministerial departments of the present day, but with this difference, that the modern Ministry constitutes the Government itself in all its branches, and forms the Cabinet, with general control of the national affairs. The departments of former days were under the direction and superintendence of Government. The country was divided into prefectures, districts, and villages, each of which had its chief officer to supervise ecclesiastical rites and act as general administrator. The residents of every five houses formed a union which was locally self-governing, but was jointly responsible to the State. Hereditary tenure of office was abolished, and all were eligible for appointment according to ability, regardless of class distinction. The hereditary principle was set aside also in professions and trades, in which all were now free to engage. The military system was revised and conscription introduced. One third of all men above the age of twenty, except public officials and infirm or sickly persons, were liable for military service. Private occupation of land beyond space required for places of residence was prohibited, and a severe blow was thus dealt at the evil of absorption. All the land within the realm was recognised as national property, and everyone, from Prince of the blood to peasant, received his allotted piece of ground, which remained his during his life, and at his death reverted to the State. No sale or bequest of land was permitted, and its owner had power to let it to another for one year only. Certain lands were set aside for the maintenance of various temples and shrines, and strict supervision was exercised over the Buddhist priests. A land tax and a kind of per capita tax were for the first time levied. The national income was augmented by rents derived from letting State property and interest on money loans from revenue. Schools were established in the capital and its neighbourhood, pupils from which were afterwards selected by Government for office by means of