Soba yo min is an office which is only occasionally filled, as when the Shiogoon is young. He seems to be an officer of communication between the Go ro chiu and the other departments. This is the highest office filled by Hattamoto. Waka toshi yori--literally, the younger elders or senators. They are generally five in number, a second Cabinet, or Under-Secretaries of State. They are Fudai Daimios, or Hattamoto. They are frequently promoted to vacancies in the Go ro chiu. Sosha are generally Fudai, in number about thirty. Their duty seems to be attending to officers arriving at the palace. It is an office of little power and considerable expense. They rise in ordinary times to be Jee sha, temple lords, and other officers of authority. The Kokay, or Kowokay, can hardly be called officers of state. The name means high families (Ch., Kau kia), and includes the male representative lines of some of the families of distinction in ancient times, such as Nobu nanga, Ashikango, Yoritomo, Arima, etc. It seems a matter of policy to keep them under the eye of the court, giving each an allowance from the state of territory from 500 to 1,000 koku per annum. They are looked upon as men of high rank but little power, being neither Daimios nor Koongays, but between the two. They are occasionally employed to act as proxies for the Shiogoon in state visits to the temples of Nikko or Isse, and have attempted of late to assert their right to act as embassadors to foreign countries. There are about eighteen Kowokay at present. O Tsu may shiu are Fudai Daimios who act as guards to the apartments of the Shiogoon. From the room in which they meet in the palace they are spoken of as Gan no ma Daimios.--The room being painted with representations of wild geese.