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substitution of Chinese political institutions for those of native growth. Amongst other matters of interest to the historical student, it is proved that the hôken, or feudal system, the destruction of which only a few years back was hailed as a ‘return to the ancient regime,’ was the original form of government in Japan, and that a central power, ruling by means of a council of state, ministries and local prefects, was an innovation derived from China.
Hirata’s next work of importance was the Tama no Mi-hashira, completed early in the year 1813. It is of similar character to the Sandaikô, already named as forming a supplemental volume to the Kojiki-Den. The peculiar feature of the Sandaikô is that it for the first time identifies the sun with Ame, usually interpreted ‘heaven,’ and yomi no kuni, the region of darkness, which Motoöri explained as the abode of departed spirits, with the moon. According to this new view, Amaterasu oho-mi-kami, instead of being the ruler of heaven, is the ruler of the sun, and Tsukuyomi no mikoto is the ruler of the moon, and not the moon itself. In the Kojiki-Den Motoöri defined Ame as a region above the sky, in which the celestial gods have their abode, and Takama-no-hara as merely another name for it. In several places in the same work he speaks of the sun as being identical with Amaterasu oho-mi-kami, and his comments on the passage of the text in which the origination of this goddess and Tsukuyomi no mikoto from the eyes of Izanagi is related, are “the sun and moon originated from this washing” (i. e. of the god’s eyes), and “the sun and moon did not exist before this.” He makes the same statement in the Nawobi no Mitama and in the Tenso tojô Bemben, and although the passage in the Sakitase no Ben, “Amaterasu oho-mi-kami * * ima mo yo wo terashi-tamafu ama-tsu-hi no kami ni mashimasu nari” might at first sight appear imply that the goddess is the deity of the sun, this view is negatived by a senteace which follows on the very next page to the effect that “this great deity actually is the sun in heaven, which even now illuminates the world before our eyes, a
