Japan -- History; Japan -- Politics and government
O Russui are Hattamoto officers, but rank as Daimios, who have charge
of the apartments of the Shiogoon, and of the women of the palace when
he is absent. They are all old men. All young persons entering or
leaving the private quarter of the palace are examined as to sex. In
the office there is a female examiner. These officers give passes to
females on visits of business or ceremony. There are generally eight
officers, who have each under them ten Yoriki and fifty Do sin. The
income of each is 15,000 koku.
Owo ban kashira.--These are the captains of the great guards of the
castle of Yedo. There are twelve, seven Daimios and five Hattamoto.
Their duties are entirely military. Under these twelve are one hundred
Owo ban, who are all Hattamoto.
Sho eeng ban kashira is also a military office, apparently the
bodyguard of the Shiogoon. There are ten commanding officers.
Okosho ban kashira.--These seem to be lords-in-waiting upon the
Shiogoon, of whom there are ten. They are Hattamoto, each having thirty
men under him.
Owo metsuki--literally, great or senior attached eye.--Of these there
are five head men. Beneath these are the Metsuki, and an inferior body
of men called Katchi metsuki.
This is a very important department of the government of Japan. The
title is frequently translated “spy,” and the duties seem in some cases
to corroborate this view. But the idea of espionage by no means conveys
an accurate understanding of the subjects under the care or control of
these officers.
One of the principal objects of the superintendence of this department
is the eight roads of Japan, and the regulations of the laws of these
roads. Another is the manners and customs of officers in reference
to state dress, their intended marriages, going and coming to Yedo,
and visiting elsewhere; death and mourning of officers; receiving
reports sent in by the branches of the office in the provinces as to
the military equipment of Daimios, the uniforms, devices, flags, which
they use; in regard to religion, and especially the Roman Catholic; as
to the Yakunins, or inferior officers of the Shiogoon’s government,
their number and duties, and the census of Japan. Such are some of the
different kinds of business which come before this office.
The laws of the roads are regulated in a separate branch of the office,
under the Do chiu boonio. The book of laws or orders is the Do chiu
boonio kokoroee, and, in its present form, seems to have been published
about 1840.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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