_shoshidai_, was stationed in Kyōto and intrusted with the duty of supervising the imperial guards. Moreover, strict regulations were enacted to control the journeys of the feudal nobles to and from Kyōto. In a word, the policy of the shōgunate was to preserve the fullest semblance of reverence for the sovereign, simultaneously with the fullest administrative independence. The imperial court was organized in Kyōto with all pomp and circumstance; it had its ministers, vice ministers, and subordinate officials; it had its five principal, as well as more than a hundred ordinary, court nobles; but as for the sovereign's actual power, it did not extend beyond the direction of matters relating to rank and etiquette, the classification of shrine-keepers, priests, and priestesses, and professionals of various kinds--functions of no material importance whatever. Alone the _kwanryō_, the _densō_, and the _gisō_ exercised a certain measure of authority in the shōgun's government. The control of affairs relating to lands, to the army, to finance, and to everything included in the domain of practical politics rested absolutely in the hands of the shōgun. This state of affairs greatly mortified the Emperor Gominoö,[2] a sovereign of much talent, who reigned during 1612-1630. He would fain have effected some change in the system, but found himself helpless to accomplish anything against the all-powerful Tokugawa. An additional check to such designs was given by the marriage of Kazuko, daughter of the second shōgun, Hidetada, to the emperor, the offspring of the union, a daughter, subsequently coming to the throne as the Empress Myōshō. This close relationship with the imperial family naturally increased the prestige of the Tokugawa. Subsequently Gokōmyō, Gosai-in, and Reigen, sons of the Emperor Gominoö, successively ascended the throne and Gokōmyō cherished the design of achieving his father's ambition. But he died without accomplishing anything and the times remained unfavorable to the imperial aspirations until 1868.