THE AWAKENING OF JAPAN
but not for what or for whom. This deficiency it was the mission of the Historical School to supply. The Historical School was not a heresy, and was therefore rarely regarded with suspicion by the censors. On the contrary, the Tokugawas themselves encouraged it, for it accorded with their traditional policy. The movement began early in their rule with a compilation of the genealogies of the chief families in the empire and the publication of histories redounding to the credit of the Tokugawas themselves. One important history written by the chief academician of his time is interesting as evincing the utmost servility to Confucian classicism, in that the author tries to prove the descent of the Mikado from the Chinese sages. By the beginning of the eighteenth century
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