The ministers of state and other great men at court, some of whom the Dutch were to visit, and to make presents to others, were the five chief councillors of state, called _Gorōjū_, or the five elderly men; four imperial deputy councillors of state; the three Jisha-bugyō, as they are called, that is, lords of the temple; the imperial commissioners, as the Dutch call them, described by Kämpfer as the emperor’s attorney-generals for the city of Yedo; the two governors of Yedo; and, last of all, that one of the governors of Nagasaki resident at Yedo. “On the 29th of March,”[27] says Kämpfer, “the day appointed for our audience, the presents designed for his imperial majesty[28] were sent to court, to be there laid in due order on wooden tables, in the hall of hundred mats, as they call it, where the emperor was to view them. We followed soon after with a very inconsiderable equipage, clad in black silk cloaks, as garments of ceremony, attended by three stewards of the governors of Nagasaki, our Dōshin, or deputy Bugiō, two town messengers of Nagasaki, and an interpreter’s son, all walking on foot. We three Dutchmen and our second interpreter rode on horseback, behind each other, our horses led by grooms, who took them by the bridle. Our president, or captain, as the Japanese call him, came after us, carried in a norimono, and was followed by our old chief interpreter, carried in a kago. The procession was closed by the rest of our servants and retinue, walking a-foot at proper distances, so far as they were permitted to follow us. “In this order we moved on towards the castle, and after about half an hour’s riding came to the first enclosure, which we found well fortified with walls and ramparts. This we entered over a large bridge across a broad river, on which we saw great numbers of boats and vessels. The entry is through two strong gates, with a small guard between them. Having passed through the second gate, we came to a large place, where we found another more numerous guard, which, however, seemed to be intended more for state than defence. The guard-room was hung about with cloth; pikes were planted in the ground near the entry, and within it was curiously adorned with gilt arms, lackered guns, pikes, shields, bows, arrows, and quivers. The soldiers on the ground were in good order, clad in black silk, each with two scymitars stuck in their girdle.