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are, to this day, not so much walls of defence against enemies, as stone lines of demarcation between the merchants and the samurai. The general term for all people in Japan, who are not samurai, or of the privileged classes, is cho-nin (“street-man.”)
In treating of the thoroughfares of Yedo, the water communications must not be forgotten. By a glance at the map it will be seen that these are considerable in every quarter of the city. It is possible for a boat from Yokohama, or from the interior, to convey goods to almost any point within the castle moats, excepting points on the western side, and to many places in the northern and southern portions of the city. In the district called Fukugawa and Honjo, the canals are especially numerous.
Formerly, the city was divided into thirty districts or wards. At present, by an act of the Government, which went into effect the year before last (1871), the city is divided into six large divisions, each containing sixteen subdivisions. Formerly each street, or section of it, was under the superintendence of a petty officer, or monitor, who lived in the street over which he exercised supervision. Over these monitors, a ward officer, with assistants presided. The house-holders were grouped together into fives, one of them being accountable for the others, and all acting as spies and checks upon each other. Under this system it was usually an easy matter to fix the responsibility of the origin of a conflagration, theft, riot, etc., upon the real offender. Every ward was surrounded either by canals, walls, or fences; the entrance to which were closed by guard gates. In case of disturbances of any kind, it was comparatively easy to shut the gates, and confine the infection of disease, riot, etc., to a single ward. At present the old system of municipal government having been done away, the city is governed by a body of about 3,500 policemen, who are of two grades; the one being that of the simple constable, and the other being invested to a very limited degree with the powers of a magistrate. The basis of the organization, division and local duties of this force, is the same as that of the divisions of the city,
