Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/132

 a cabinet with a bureau of councillors, two secretariats, and finally eight departments of State. A system of civil-service examination was also inaugurated. Youths desiring administrative posts had to enter one of the educational institutions then founded, and subsequently to undergo examination, though this routine might be departed from in the case of men whose fathers had deserved conspicuously well of the country. The name of a man's office now ceasing to do duty as a patronymic, the hats mentioned above became the only means of recognising rank, so that their importance grew greater, and their number gradually increased, first to thirteen and afterwards to forty-eight. But at that point the system ceased to be practicable, and certificates of grade were substituted, a method still pursued.

Great pains were taken to effect a distinct classification of the people, the general divisions adopted being "divine" (Shin-betsu, i. e. descended direct from the deities); "imperial" (Kwo-betsu), and "alien" (Ham-betsu), distinctions which will be more fully explained in a future chapter. A still broader division was that of ryō-min (noble) and sem-min (ignoble), the former including the Kwo-betsu and the Shin-betsu; the latter the Ham-betsu only. The constant tendency was to accentuate these distinctions, though it sometimes happened that men reduced to a state of indigence sold their family name and descended to the position of servants. Clandes