government. In truth, in Japan as in other feudal countries there was scarcely such a thing as law in existence. The customs that prevailed, the common-sense decisions of a magistrate, the final determinations of the daimyō, were authoritative in every community. And in all these each province was in a great degree a law unto itself. The classes of daimyōs as arranged and established by Ieyasu were not altered by his successors, although the number included under each class was liable to minor changes. Before Ieyasu’s time there were three classes of daimyōs, viz.: eighteen _kokushū_, who may be termed lords of provinces, thirty-two _ryōshu_ or lords of smaller districts, and two hundred and twelve _jōshu_ or lords of castles, that is two hundred and sixty-two in all. The distinction between the first two was one of rank, but the third differed from the others in the fact that the assessment in each case was less than 100,000 _kōku_ of rice. The number of _kokushū_ daimiates was increased by the addition of Kii and Owari, to which Ieyasu appointed two of his sons as daimyōs. A third son he appointed daimyō of Mito, which was already of the _kokushū_ rank. He vacated this place by compelling the previous holder to accept in place of it another daimiate of equivalent value. Ieyasu divided all daimyōs into two distinct classes, the _fudai_ and the _tozama_. The term _fudai_ was used to designate those who were considered the vassals of the Tokugawa family. The _tozama_ daimyōs were those who were considered as equal to the vassals of the Tokugawa family, but who were not in fact vassals. Of the former there were originally one hundred and seventy-seven, and of the latter eighty-six.(232) Twenty-one of the _fudai_ daimyōs were relatives of the shōgun’s family, of whom three, as has been stated, were the “honorable families.” All the others, numbering eighteen, bore the name of Matsudaira, one of the family names of Ieyasu, derived from a small village in the province of Mikawa, where Ieyasu was born. This was allowed to them as a special honor. We give here the classification of the daimyōs as enumerated by M. Appert(233) in his list for the epoch about 1850: 1. Go-san-ké (three honorable families) 3 2. Fudai daimyōs (vassals of Tokugawa family) 137 3. Tozama daimyōs (equal to vassals) 99 4. Kamon (all the other branches of Tokugawa family) 18 5. Daimyōs, not classified 6 Total 263 The five leading _tozama_ daimyōs were Kaga, Sendai, Aizu, Chōshū, and Satsuma, and although they ranked after the _go-san-ké_, they had some superior advantages. They were classed as _kyakubun_, or guests, and whenever they paid a visit to the capital of the shōgun, they were met by envoys and conducted to their residences.