The amount of contribution made by Korea to the civilization of Japan in those earlier days has probably been somewhat exaggerated. Both these countries are chiefly indebted to China for the elements of the arts and of letters, and for most of the other refinements of their culture; these came to Japan, however, to a considerable extent _through_ Korea. According to the records of the Japanese themselves, in the century before the Christian era Chinese scholars came to Satsuma through Korea, Tsushima, and the intervening islands. At about the same time Koreans also brought Chinese civilization to Japan.[7] During the reign of the Emperor Kimmei (555 A.D.), according to Japanese tradition, the king of Kudara in Korea sent to Japan an envoy bearing an image of Buddha and a copy of the Sutras. But while the Minister-President was experimenting with its worship, the occurrence of a pestilence proved that the ancestral deities were angry at the intrusion of a foreign form of worship.[8] After the “subjugation of the three kingdoms of Korea a number of Chinese and Koreans came to settle in Japan. In order to avert confusion in family names and titles which might have arisen from this cause, an investigation of family names was made in the 1430th year after the Emperor Jimmu (about A.D. 770).” It will thus be seen that there are probably in both countries families which have in their veins the mingled blood of both races. Relations tending to exasperate the feeling of each country against the other continued through the centuries which constituted the Middle Ages in Europe. In Japan the feudal system was approaching its more elaborate and powerful development; in Korea the weakness and corruption of the Court, the ignorance, suffering from oppression, and lawlessness of the people were not improving. Thus the two nations were drawing further and further apart and were following the paths which have led to such a wide divergence in the now existing conditions—mentally, politically, and socially. The various embassies sent by Kublai Khan to Japan during the years of 1268-1274 A.D. came _via_ Korea and were accompanied by Korean officials. The attempted Mongol invasions of Japan were assisted by Korea. On the other hand, the peninsula continued to suffer from the attacks of Japanese pirates. The inhabitants of the Southwest coasts of Japan made raids upon the opposite coasts, engaging in open conflict with the Korean troops, killing their generals, destroying their barracks, and carrying away as plunder, horses, ships, and stores of grain. In these encounters the soldiers of Korea showed their traditional lack of courage in the field, frequently retreating before the Japanese raiders without striking a single blow. Frequent envoys were sent from Korea to remonstrate and demand reparation; and one of these took back with him (1377 A.D.) several hundred Koreans who had been made prisoners by