Ainus, the Japanese aborigines. The first to hold this office in the
form which it had at most times until the Restoration was Minamoto
Yoritomo, on whom the title was conferred by the Mikado in 1192. But
before long the Shogun became nearly as much of a figure-head as the
Mikado. Custom confined the Shogunate to the Minamoto family, and the
actual power was wielded by Regents in the name of the Shogun. This
lasted until near the end of the sixteenth century, when it happened
that Iyeyasu, the supreme military commander of his day, belonged to the
Minamoto family, and was therefore able to assume the office of Shogun
himself. He and his descendants held the office until it was abolished
at the Restoration. The Restoration, however, did not put an end to the
practice of a real Government behind the nominal one. The Prime Minister
and his Cabinet are presented to the world as the Japanese Government,
but the real Government is the Genro, or Elder Statesmen, and their
successors, of whom I shall have more to say in the next chapter.

What the Japanese made of Buddhism reminds one in many ways of what the
Teutonic nations made of Christianity. Buddhism and Christianity,
originally, were very similar in spirit. They were both religions aiming
at the achievement of holiness by renunciation of the world. They both
ignored politics and government and wealth, for which they substituted
the future life as what was of real importance. They were both religions
of peace, teaching gentleness and non-resistance. But both had to
undergo great transformations in adapting themselves to the instincts of
warlike barbarians. In Japan, a multitude of sects arose, teaching
doctrines which differed in many ways from Mahayana orthodoxy. Buddhism
became national and militaristic; the abbots of great monasteries became
important feudal chieftains, whose monks constituted an army which was
ready to fight on the slightest provocation. Sieges of monasteries and
battles with monks are of constant occurrence in Japanese history.