cherry-blossom business has lost its novelty. I shall not have much to
say about cherry-blossom; it was not flowering when I was in Japan.

Before, 1867, Japan was a feudal federation of clans, in which the
Central Government was in the hands of the Shogun, who was the head of
his own clan, but had by no means undisputed sway over the more powerful
of the other clans. There had been various dynasties of Shoguns at
various times, but since the seventeenth century the Shogunate had been
in the Tokugawa clan. Throughout the Tokugawa Shogunate, except during
its first few years, Japan had been closed to foreign intercourse,
except for a strictly limited commerce with the Dutch. The modern era
was inaugurated by two changes: first, the compulsory opening of the
country to Western trade; secondly, the transference of power from the
Tokugawa clan to the clans of Satsuma and Choshu, who have governed
Japan ever since. It is impossible to understand Japan or its politics
and possibilities without realizing the nature of the governing forces
and their roots in the feudal system of the former age. I will therefore
first outline these internal movements, before coming to the part which
Japan has played in international affairs.

What happened, nominally, in 1867 was that the Mikado was restored to
power, after having been completely eclipsed by the Shogun since the end
of the twelfth century. During this long period, the Mikado seems to
have been regarded by the common people with reverence as a holy
personage, but he was allowed no voice in affairs, was treated with
contempt by the Shogun, was sometimes deposed if he misbehaved, and was
often kept in great poverty.

Of so little importance was the Imperial person in the days of
early foreign intercourse that the Jesuits hardly knew of the