In the letters written by the Jesuits at this period, the Taiko had generally been spoken of as the Emperor, and very rarely is any notice taken of the real Emperor, then living at Miako. Still less notice is accorded to the Shiogoon, Yoshitaru, who was then living at Miako, and holding the highest hereditary office that could be held by a subject. He was of the Ashikanga family, and, so long as he lived, neither Nobu nanga nor Taikosama could hold this office. In 1597 he died, and the office, which in the family had become an empty title, was not conferred on any of his relations. The family is still represented by individuals at Miako, who, though receiving some privileges, live in poverty and obscurity. The death of this man, and the cessation of the hereditary claim to the office, opportunely opened to Iyeyas the prospect of combining once more the chief power with the highest hereditary office in the state. The year 1599 is given, in the native annals, as the first year in which the English and Dutch ships visited Japan (they are said to have come to the town of Saccay, near Osaka). Dutch pilots had been navigating those seas during several years past; some of the accounts given by Linschoten being the results of observations by Dutchmen. William Adams, the English pilot of the Dutch fleet of five sail, which left the Texel on June 24, 1598, did not reach Boongo till April, 1600, with only nine or ten men surviving out of the crew, and these nearly worn out with scurvy and privations. He was taken to Osaka, where he had an interview with Iyeyas, who was much pleased with him; but the jealousy of the Portuguese was roused, and they tried to instill into the ears of those to whom they had access malicious reports against these newcomers. Meantime, it was impossible that affairs should continue long peaceably on the present critical footing. The Jesuits, however, were elated with the appearance of things. “(Gieiaso) Iyeyas ko,[3] now called Daifusama” (another name for Nai dai jin), “spoke favorably of religion, giving them leave to exercise their religion at Nagasaki, so that every one thought the Society re-established in the exercise of her functions.