The names of the four “families” are—1, Fusimi; 2, Arisungawa; 3, Katsura; 4, Kunnin. Of these the last two are the dormant houses. The revenues of these two houses are managed by factors or agents, and the fourth is said to be very wealthy.
The heads of the two existing families are:
1. Fusimi no mia, who has a nominal revenue of 1,016 koku[1] of rice; but he has probably twenty or thirty thousand koku. The present man is a Koboong of Jinko, the late Emperor.
This “boong” is a voluntary union between two persons, and is quite different from adoption. It is more of the character of a Masonic connection. In the relation of a child he is called Koboong; of a father, Oyaboong; of brothers or sisters, Kiodaiboong: and this connection is a very common tie between two individuals in Japan, as well as in China, to help and assist each other. It runs through all ranks and both sexes. It is a connection which may be as easily severed as it is made, but it is often strictly adhered to. It is generally made by drinking formally out of the same cup, each taking half of the liquor. It may be severed by cutting off the queue, or simply by formally intimating that it is at an end.
2. Arisungawa Nakatskasa no kio, or head of the Central Board. His nominal income is 1,000 koku, but his real revenue is much larger.
3. Katsura; the revenue is 3,006 koku.
4. Kunnin; the revenue is nominally 1,006 koku.
In these families there is generally a sufficient number from among whom to select a successor in case of the death, or what seems more common in Japan, the abdication and retirement, of the Emperor. But, at the same time, the arrangement has its disadvantages. It places a number of men and women of all ages in a very high position, with apparently no occupation for their leisure time. These men might become troublesome in the state by carrying on intrigues for their own advancement and for the gratification of their ambition. Within the last few years much disquietude has been caused by one of the Sinwo engaging in intrigues to upset the reigning Emperor. A means has been arrived at for at once giving these persons income, business, position, and at the same time getting them out of the way.
The Buddhist priesthood was at one time a very powerful element in the country. The number of priests was very great, and the revenues of the monasteries were enormous. By their wealth, and from among their vassals, they were able to keep up a respectable army; and not by their vassals alone—the priests themselves filled the ranks. The different sects built magnificent temples, and these were endowed with ample lands. Immediately before the period of the advent of the Christians in the sixteenth century, the power of the priesthood seems to have reached its highest point. Nobunanga, who at one time was inclined to favor the foreign priests, had always a great jealousy of, and bore a great ill-will to, the Buddhist priesthood. He destroyed their temples, killed their priests, and confiscated their revenues, and thus gave a blow to their power from which they have never recovered, and under which they are withering more and more every day.
In Japan, a man while a priest, after having shaved his head and taken the vows, is supposed to be out of the world, and it is then much easier to keep a certain amount of surveillance over him, and to see that he is attending to his duties, and is not engaged in political intrigues.