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162 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
was no dual system of government, the Mikado
ruling the whole empire from Kyoto, as
cient time.
in the an-
Honda Jiro's ambition was to emulate and imitate
Nitta. Excelling as a swordsman in fencing, in
spear exercise, horsemanship, and the military virtues
and training, he had also studied Rai Sanyo's
history of Japan, and the effect was to make him
hate the Yedo rulers, in whom he saw only the successors
of the Hojo and the He longed to
usurpers of Kamakura.
see the Tokugawa family humiliated
and reduced to their proper level as but one among
the many other vassals of the emperor. He was
fanatically patriotic, and his energies found vent in
hatred of the Tycoon and in passionate love to the
Mikado. For this reason he had of late come almost
daily to Nitta's shrine. In winter he brushed away
the snow to lay before the tablet camellias, in the
spring-time plum-blossoms and wistarias, in summer
the peach and cherry blooms, in autumn the chrysanthemums,
and at all times evergreenery and wild
flowers.
With his floral offering Honda put up prayers to
the gods to make him pure in heart, loyal and de-
voted to the emperor, and unflinching in his purpose
when opportunity came.
For three years the young man had been with vary-
ing regularity an habitual visitor to Nitta's shrine,
but a hint of news from his uncle, Rai Goro, given
since the latter's return from Higo, had made him
a daily comer. Further, it had diverted his prayers