Henry II doing penance for Becket, represent the triumph of civilization
over rude vigour; and something similar is to be seen at intervals in
Japan.

After 645, the Mikado's Government had real power for some centuries,
but gradually it fell more and more under the sway of the soldiers. So
long as it had wealth (which lasted long after it ceased to have power)
it continued to represent what was most civilized in Japan: the study
of Chinese literature, the patronage of art, and the attempt to preserve
respect for something other than brute force. But the Court nobles (who
remained throughout quite distinct from the military feudal chiefs) were
so degenerate and feeble, so stereotyped and unprogressive, that it
would have been quite impossible for the country to be governed by them
and the system they represented. In this respect they differed greatly
from the mediæval Church, which no one could accuse of lack of vigour,
although the vigour of the feudal aristocracy may have been even
greater. Accordingly, while the Church in Europe usually defeated the
secular princes, the exact opposite happened in Japan, where the Mikado
and his Court sank into greater and greater contempt down to the time of
the Restoration.

The Japanese have a curious passion for separating the real and the
nominal Governments, leaving the show to the latter and the substance of
power to the former. First the Emperors took to resigning in favour of
their infant sons, and continuing to govern in reality, often from some
monastery, where they had become monks. Then the Shogun, who represented
the military power, became supreme, but still governed in the name of
the Emperor. The word "Shogun" merely means "General"; the full title of
the people whom we call "Shogun" is "Sei-i-Tai Shogun," which means
"Barbarian-subduing great General"; the barbarians in question being the