Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/164

 Nara epoch, when a new conception of the proper attributes of an empire's capital presented itself to Shomu's privy councillors. They addressed to the Throne a memorial insisting that the nation needed a metropolis worthy of the sovereign's residence and of the receptions his Majesty had to give to foreign embassies, and they argued that though houses with roofs of thatch and shingle had the sanction of ancient custom, such a method of construction could not be reconciled with any principles of sound economy. The result of these representations was an edict ordering that the houses of all officials of the central government from the fifth grade of rank upwards, as well as those of all wealthy commoners, must be tiled and painted red as expeditiously as possible, and soon afterwards the system was extended to the provinces. To estimate the significance of such an edict it has to be remembered that a change of generation usually meant the construction of a new house in that era. The religious prejudice against pollution was so strong that a house where a death had taken place was considered unfit for further occupation, and was either pulled down and rebuilt or abandoned altogether. The edict, therefore, had an immediately practical interest for those to whom it was addressed. As to the seemingly capricious order about red paint, its evident purpose was to put an end to the use of timber carrying the bark, and of course the