Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/190

 administrators and ex-officials, and he directed that they should be constantly trained in military arts. He made a bold effort to free himself from the interference of the great families which were again beginning to usurp the governing power. He essayed to get into close touch with the people, as his great-grandfather, Tenchi, had done. He tried to thrust aside the provincial autocrats and to bring the lower officials within the range of direct responsibility. He exhibited magnanimity rare in any record. In short, he ranks as one of Japan's three greatest sovereigns,—Tenchi, Kwammu, and Godaigo,—yet he left no permanent mark upon his time, except, perhaps, the subjugation of the northern rebels,—the Yezo,—whose revolt, continuous during twenty-two years, was finally quelled by his generals after an eight years' campaign. It was partly Kwammu's misfortune, largely his fault, that so far from giving any financial relief to the lower classes, he imposed upon them a heavier burden of taxation than ever; for to the inevitable outlays caused by the long war against the Yezo, he added large expenditures for the building of temples in spite of his professed desire to check such extravagance,—and still larger for the indulgence of his passionate love of hunting, a mania that led him to organise no less than one hundred and forty hunting excursions during his reign of twenty-five years.