MIDDLE PERIOD
all great families of previous ages had fared: the substance of administrative power passed into the hands of a Minister, its shadow alone remaining to the Shōgun. Sakai Takakiyo was the chief author of this change. Secluded from contact with the outer world, the Shōgun, a man of weak intellect, saw and heard only through the eyes and ears of the ladies of his household. Takakiyo caused an order to be issued forbidding all access to the Court ladies except by ministerial permit. Thenceforth the Shōgun became practically deaf and dumb. He knew nothing of the novel channels into which public opinion was beginning to drift, of the calamities that marked the era, or of the irreverence that his officials displayed towards the Throne. For Yedo having been devastated by conflagrations and the nation afflicted by famine, the ministers of the Shogunate, declaring that these misfortunes were attributable to the Emperor's unworthiness, caused him to abdicate in favour of the heir apparent. They thus practised the democratic principles laid down by Mencius, and not a voice of protest was raised, the feudatories being completely overawed by the might of the Shōgun, and the Court nobles silenced by the munificence of the Yedo administration. The one authoritative act of his life was done by Iyetsuna in the hour of death. Hotta Masatoshi, a loyal minister, went secretly to his side and warned him that a scheme was on foot to transfer the office of Shōgun to an Imperial Prince. Ta-
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