Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/120

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JAPAN

orders received no consideration at his hands in Tokugawa times. Such a theory is inconsistent with instructions repeatedly issued for the guidance of officials travelling on public business. They were provided with certificates entitling them to demand the services of a fixed number of horses and baggage-bearers at each village, the villagers having the right to refuse any further requisition; they were ordered to pay definitely determined rates for everything they used, the people, on the other hand, being forbidden to make any extra charge under penalty of thirty days' imprisonment for the person making the charge, and a fine for the headman of the village as well as all the residents of the quarter; they were strictly warned against accepting entertainments from the inhabitants of the places they visited, and the inhabitants were admonished not to offer entertainments; they were to adjudicate, in conjunction with the deputy of the district, any disputes between their followers and the people; they were to put to death any of their retinue that fought, as well as those joining the fight, and they were to restrain their attendants from felling trees or bamboos or otherwise damaging property. When the Shōgun himself made a progress to Kyōtō, his vassals were restrained by similar orders; any act of robbery or extortion on their part was punishable with death; wanton destruction of private property was peremptorily interdicted; horses must not be let loose; no re-

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