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war which broke out immediately after the death of Tenchi Tennô in 671 between that emperor’s brother and son, which only came to an end in 672 by the suicide of the latter. In the 8th century the Chinese costume and etiquette were adopted by the Court. This foreign pomp and splendour covered the rapid depravation of men’s hearts, and created a wide gulf between the Mikado and his people. So long as the sovereign maintains a simple style of living, the people are contented with their own hard lot. Their wants are few and they are easily ruled. But if the sovereign has a magnificent palace, gorgeous clothing, and crowds of finely-dressed women to wait on him, the sight of these things must cause in others a desire to possess themselves of the same luxuries; or if they are not strong enough to take them by force, it excites their envy. If the Mikado lived in a house roofed with shingles, and whose walls were of mud, wore hempen clothes, carried his sword in a scabbard wound round with the tendrils of some creeping plant, and went to the chase carrying his bow and arrows, as was the ancient custom, the present state of things would never have come about. But since the introduction of Chinese manners, the sovereign, while occupying a highly dignified place, has been degraded to the intellectual level of a woman. The power fell into the hands of servants, and although they never actually assumed the title, they were sovereigns in fact, while the Mikado became an utter nullity.
Some one had observed to Mabuchi that it was owing to the Chinese system of morals that the practice of marriage between brothers and sisters was discontinued. He explains in reply that according to ancient Japanese custom the children of the same mother were alone regarded as united by the fraternal tie; that it was not considered in any way objectionable for children of the same father by different mothers to intermarry. The Chinese forbid marriages between persons who bear the same surname, and it was the adoption of this ridiculously strict rule that led to the gradual disuse of the ancient practice, which was in itself quite harmless.
