Japan and the Japanese

262 JAPAN. A. D. 1C90 1692
Amida,* with a loud voice, for the relief of his soul. The like is
done by certain fraternities or societies of devout neighbors, friends
or relations, who meet by turns in their houses, every day, in the
morning or evening, in order to sing the Nimada by way of precaution
for the future relief of their own souls.
Nagasaki, down to the year 1088, had, like the other imperial
cities, two governors, commanding by turns ; the one not in the im-
mediate exercise of authority being resident meanwhile at Jedo.
In 1088, the policy was adopted of having three governors ;
two to
be always resident at Nagasaki, to watch each other, and presiding
alternately for two months, while the third was to come in each
alternate year from Jedo to relieve the senior resident.! The resi-
dent governors leave their families at Jedo as hostages for their good
behavior, and, during the time of their absence from court, are
woman within their
strictly prohibited, so it is stated, to admit any
palaces. The establishments of these imperial governors, as
described by Kiimpfer, may probably be taken as a specimen of
the ordinary way of life with the higher order of Japanese
officials. Their salary did not exceed fifteen hundred or two thou-
sand kokf of rice (in money, the price of the article being very va
riable, from seven thousand to ten thousand taels) ; but the per-
quisites were so considerable that in a few years they might get
vast estates, did not the presents which must be made to the em-
peror and the grandees of the court consume the greater part of
their profits. Out of their allowance they were obliged to maintain
an extensive retinue, two Karoo, or stewards of the household,
ten Joriki, all noblemen of good families, who acted both as civil
and military officers, and thirty Doosiu, likewise military and civil
officers, but of inferior rank.
The business of the Joriki was to assist the governor with their
advice, if required, and to execute his commands, either as military
officers or as magistrates. They had, besides their food and a new
* This prayer, or invocation, unintelligible to the Japanese, is, as our
modern Orientalists have discovered, good Sanscrit.
t Another change, simultaneous with the restrictions upon Dutch and
Chinese trade, was the selection of the governors from the military and
noble class, instead of from the mercantile class, as had previously been the
case.