* If any representative of a foreign nation comes to the country, the officers must take care that everything is in good order--that horses and horse-furniture be good, the houses and roads clean. If they are dirty, it can be seen at a glance whether the nation is prosperous or the reverse. * If a foreign vessel should be wrecked on the shore of Japan, the officers of government are to be immediately informed, and an interpreter is to be sent to ask what they require. Sometimes the officers may require to be strict and severe, at other times hospitable and kind. The vessel is to be watched, and no trading allowed. * It is said that the Mikado, looking down on his people, loves them as a mother does her children. The same may be said of me and of my government. This benevolence of mind is called Jin. This Jin may be said to consist of five parts; these are humanity, integrity, courtesy, wisdom and truth. Therefore I have divided the government into Tozamma, Fudai, Shing and Sso. This mode of government is according to the way of heaven. This I have done to show that I am impartial, and am not assisting my own relations and friends only. Between the Shing and Sso it is improper that there should be any communications, and therefore they are not to be in correspondence with each other. * If punishments and rewards are distributed unjustly, upright men will disappear. The people will become timid and niggardly. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that there be not the smallest act of injustice committed by government officers. These laws have not been made recently by me, but have existed from generation to generation in the Minnamoto family. What I have written is like a reflection in a mirror. The arrow, if it does not pierce the bull’s-eye, will perhaps strike the target. Old customs must, when found good on examination, be retained. * * * * * The principles and sentiments, and at times the very words of these laws, seem to be taken from the writings of the old sages of China, Confucius and Mencius. Confucius, in the Chung yung, seems to have been the model after which the code was drawn up. It is founded upon the five duties of universal obligation--that of a sovereign and minister, of a father and son, of husband and wife, of elder and younger brothers, and between friends; and upon the principle that the administration of government lies in getting proper men, and that such are to be obtained by means of the ruler’s own character. The idea of turning to look inward and examine one’s self is prominent in the writings of Mencius.