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JAPAN'S DOUBLE GOVERNMENT. 105
or scenery? I don't like a story that has all war and
soldiers and fighting in it."
" You are right in your desire, my daughter ;
and
as in the story of to-night there are two famous
women, you can stay up and hear it, if you wish."
" Oh, thank you, greatly," said Time*, bowing her
forehead to the matting.
Then Mr. Rai began his story of
YORITOMO, THE FIRST TYCOON.
"Buddhism has been the cause of many of our
national calamities," said Mr. Rai, as a sort of preface.
" In the most ancient times our Mikados were
actually rulers, and there was no omission of duties
between Throne and Camp. The one capital was
Nara, or, later, Kyoto. The Buddhist priests perverted
our emperors from the simple Shinto faith
and persuaded them to leave active government to
the nobles. In many instances the emperors shaved
off their hair and retired to monasteries. They thus
left the throne to mere babies or children, and the
work of governing the empire to the able but un-
scrupulous men like Kiyomori, the head of the Hei,
or Taira, family. The emperor did this to please the
priests, and because they thought they could win
blessedness hereafter by neglecting their duties on
earth. That is the reason why I hate the Buddhist
priests and all their ways.
" Our glorious '
Sun '
Empire of the Rising was extended
to its present frontier chiefly by the prowess
of the generals of the Gen and He*i clans, in a series