three principal divisions of southern Korea became tributary to Japan. It should be noted, however, that from this time on neither was Korea always obedient nor did the Kumaso cease to be rebellious. In the meantime, however, an important event in an entirely different direction resulted from Japan's intimate relations with Korea. It was the introduction through Korea of the Chinese art of writing. Many Koreans accompanied the commissioners who brought the annual tribute to Japan, and the literature and art of the west were gradually introduced. Annals attribute the beginning of Chinese learning in Japan to the reign of the Emperor Ojin, son of the Empress Jingō, when in 218 A. D. a celebrated Korean scholar, Achiki, visited Japan and was appointed by the emperor tutor to his son, Wakairatsuko. At the suggestion of Achiki, another learned man named Wani was sent for, who is said to have brought with him blacksmiths, weavers, and brewers, as well as ten copies of the "_Lun-yu_" (the Confucian Analects) and a copy of the "_Chien-tze-wen_" (the book of one thousand characters). Achiki and Wani were naturalized in Japan and received official positions, and their descendants continued to hold professorships at court. About 110 years after the introduction of Chinese literature, the Emperor Richū appointed historiographers in all the local districts to chronicle the chief events of the locality. This was, so far as we know, the first organized attempt to compile regular records. Subsequently, as the administrative machinery grew more complex, the necessity of writing became more imperative, and to a service of this kind none were more fitted than the descendants of the naturalized Korean scholars, who kept up their intellectual heritage and occupied important posts at the court. Fresh scholars also arrived from Korea in increasing numbers. Thus, in the reign of the Emperor Keitai, there came from Kudara two doctors in the Five Classics, and a little later doctors in medicine and astronomy and other _savants_ settled in the country and opened classes to instruct the Japanese in their special branches of study. The introduction of Buddhism from Korea, which soon occurred, and the circumstances of which will presently be narrated, gave an added impetus to the learning. Some of the gifted men of the court, particularly the wise Prince Shōtoku, began to distinguish themselves as accomplished scholars in Chinese classics and Buddhist canons. As yet, however, the native language and the Chinese grammar, which are so radically different from each other, did not begin their long history of struggle to reconcile themselves to one another. The vernacular could hardly lend itself to expression in Chinese characters, and histories and inscriptions were written only in the pure Chinese style.