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Rh above, but there was no new departure and no writer of conspicuous merit.

During the Yedo period the Chinese language held a position in Japan similar to that of Latin in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was the vehicle of all literature of a serious kind, and more especially of history. Japanese scholars attained to great skill in composition in the literary dialect of the Han dynasty, a period which may be taken as corresponding for China to the Augustan era in Rome.

One of the chief historical works of this kind was the Dainihonshi, a history of Japan from the accession of the first Mikado, Jimmu Tennō, B.C. 660, to the abdication of Go Komatsu in A.D. 1413, which, with its numerous addenda, extends to one hundred volumes. It was written by a number of scholars engaged for that purpose by Mitsukuni, Prince of Mito, and was completed about 1715, although not printed until 1851. The Dainihonshi is much admired for its concise and elegant style.

The Nihon Gwaishi, which was brought out by Rai Sanyo in 1837, is probably the best known work of its class in Japan. It relates the history of the Shōgunate from its beginnings in the twelfth century down to the establishment of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shōguns under Iyeyasu in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Both this and the last-named work are invaluable for the study of Japanese history; but they present few attractions to ordinary European readers, who will heartily concur in the unflattering estimate of the Gwaishi contained in Mr. Chamberlain's Things Japanese.