Thus, duringthe shogunate of Hidetada, no less than forty changes are recorded tohave been made among the feudatories, and in the time of Iemitsuthere were thirty-five of such incidents. Hedevoted himself to consolidating the system founded by hisgrandfather, Ieyasu, and he achieved remarkable success by theexercise of exceptional sagacity and determination. A samurai might-pass from theservice of the one to that of the other without doing any violence tohis reverence for the Throne. There is natural sequence, therefore, in the facts that these samepriests excelled in calligraphy and introduced Japan to the pictorialart of the immortal Sung painters.
The powerful Ouchi sept, which had its manors in Suwo,espoused the conspiracy, and escorted Yoshitane to Kyoto with a greatarmy, the r nder Admiral Uryu, escorted a number of transports toChemulpo, the port of the Korean capital, Seoul. Onthe other hand there was a corresponding drain on the provinces, allthe greater since the standard of living at Yedo was higher than inrural districts and country nobles thus learned extravagance. Moreover, female searchers were constantly on dutywhose business it was to subject women travellers to a scrutiny ofthe strictest character, involving, even, the loosening of thecoiffure.
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