Western public and Japan are alike to be congratulated on the production of the present work. I may say this without any fear of reproach for self-praise, for although my name is mentioned in the title-page, my share is very slight, consisting merely in general advice and in a few suggestions on some special points. DAIROKU KIKUCHI. KYOTO, 1912. AUTHOR'S PREFACE During the past three decades Japanese students have devoted much intelligent labour to collecting and collating the somewhat disjointed fragments of their country's history. The task would have been practically impossible for foreign historiographers alone, but now that the materials have been brought to light there is no insuperable difficulty in making them available for purposes of joint interpretation. That is all I have attempted to do in these pages, and I beg to solicit pardon for any defect they may be found to contain. F. BRINKLEY. TOKYO, 1912. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. The Historiographer's Art in Old Japan II. Japanese Mythology III. Japanese Mythology (Continued) IV. Rationalization V. Origin of the Japanese Nation: Historical Evidences VI. Origin of the Nation: Geographical and Archaeological Relics VII. Language and Physical Characteristics VIII. Manners and Customs in Remote Antiquity IX. The Prehistoric Sovereigns X. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued) XI. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued) XII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns XIII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns (Continued) XIV. From the 29th to the 35th Sovereign XV. The Daika Reforms XVI. The Daiho Laws and the Yoro Laws XVII. The Nara Epoch XVIII. The Heian Epoch XIX. The Heian Epoch (Continued) XX. The Heian Epoch (Continued) XXI. The Capital and the Provinces XXII. Recovery of Administrative Authority by the Throne XXIII. Manners and Customs of the Heian Epoch XXIV. The Epoch of the Gen (Minamoto) and the Hei (Taira) XXV. The Epoch of the Gen and the Hei (Continued) XXVI. The Kamakura Bakufu XXVII. The Hojo XXVIII. Art, Religion, Literature, Customs, and Commerce in the Kamakura Period XXIX. Fall of the Hojo and Rise of the Ashikaga XXX. The War of the Dynasties XXXI. The Fall of the Ashikaga XXXII. Foreign Intercourse, Literature, Art, Religion, Manners, and Customs in the Muromachi Epoch XXXIII. The Epoch of Wars (Sengoku Jidai) XXXIV. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu XXXV. The Invasion of Korea XXXVI. The Momo-Yama Epoch XXXVII. Christianity in Japan XXXVIII. The Tokugawa Shogunate XXXIX. First Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu; from the First Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, to the Fourth, Ietsuna (1603-1680)