knows the great difficulties by which the learner is beset.

For the illustrations, at least, I feel that I need make no apology.
Drawn, in the first instance, by one Ôdaké, an artist in my employ,
they were cut on wood by a famous wood-engraver at Yedo, and are
therefore genuine specimens of Japanese art. Messrs. Dalziel, on
examining the wood blocks, pointed out to me, as an interesting fact,
that the lines are cut with the grain of the wood, after the manner of
Albert Dürer and some of the old German masters,--a process which has
been abandoned by modern European wood-engravers.

It will be noticed that very little allusion is made in these Tales to
the Emperor and his Court. Although I searched diligently, I was able
to find no story in which they played a conspicuous part.

Another class to which no allusion is made is that of the Gôshi. The
Gôshi are a kind of yeomen, or bonnet-lairds, as they would be called
over the border, living on their own land, and owning no allegiance to
any feudal lord. Their rank is inferior to that of the Samurai, or men
of the military class, between whom and the peasantry they hold a
middle place. Like the Samurai, they wear two swords, and are in many
cases prosperous and wealthy men claiming a descent more ancient than
that of many of the feudal Princes. A large number of them are
enrolled among the Emperor's body-guard; and these have played a
conspicuous part in the recent political changes in Japan, as the most
conservative and anti-foreign element in the nation.

With these exceptions, I think that all classes are fairly
represented in my stories.