Japan and the Japanese

PRODUCE AND INCOME. 197
nes, and rose in time to the head of the establishment. He spoke
the language fluently, had married a Japanese wife, and from the
liberty of intercourse then allowed, and his long residence in the
country, enjoyed means of information which no European has since
possessed.
In describing the political state of Japan, Caron gives the names,
residences and revenues, of thirty-two princes, that is, rulers of one
or more provinces (spoken of in the earlier relations as kings), of
whom the prince of Kanga, who was also ruler of two other provinces,
had a revenue of one hundred and nineteen mankokf, and the
others revenues varying from seventy to eighteen mankokf. He
adds the names, residences and incomes, of one hundred and seven
other lords, twenty of whom had revenues of from fifteen to seven
mankokf, and the others of from six to two mankokf. Another
list contains the names of forty-one lords, with revenues of from one
to two mankokf; and in a fourth list, he enumerates sixteen lords at-
tached to the imperial court, of whom the first four had from fifteen
to nine mankokf, and the others from six to one mankokf. The
total revenues of these one hundred and ninety-six great nobles
amounted to nineteen thousand three hundred and forty-five man-
kokf, exclusive of nine thousand mankokf of imperial revenue, of
which four thousand were employed in the maintenance of the
court, and the remainder in the support of the imperial guard, all of
whom were nobles, many of them children of the concubines of the
emperors and great princes, and excluded on that account from the
prospect of succession.* Thus the total annual revenues of the
great landed proprietors of Japan amounted to twenty-eight million
three hundred and forty-five thousand kokfs of rice, equal to about
ninety million cwt., or one hundred and thirty-three million five
hundred thousand bushels ; nor is it probable that in this respect
there has been much change from that time to this.t Caron gives
* According to Titsingh, tlicy amounted in his time (1780) to eighty thou-
sand in number. Apparently they are the Dosiu, or imperial soldiers, of
whom \ve shall have occasion hereafter to speak.
fThis quantity of rice would suffice for the support of twelve million rersons
or more. The cultivators of the imperial domains retained, according
to Kampfer, six tenths of the produce, and those who cultivated the lards
of inferior lords four tenths. Hence it may be conjectured that the estimate
-}f twenty-five millions of people for Japan, is not excessive.
17*