Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/76

 were divided, not in accordance with any principle of convenient discharge, but simply with reference to the claims of the persons undertaking them. To two of the imperial princes were entrusted sacerdotal and executive duties; to two others, military duties, which consisted chiefly of guarding the new palace and capital; and to two others, the duties of worship and administration in the provinces. The performance of religious rites formed an essential part of state-craft in those times. In fact, the term (matsuri) for "worship" was identical with that for "government," and the identity continued until a very recent era, so that, in the language of every-day life, no distinction was made between the sacred business of prayer and the secular business of ruling. That fact reveals very clearly the foundation upon which the national polity stood. The Sovereign was the nation's high-priest. Like the Jewish patriarchs, he interceded for his people direct with Heaven, and ruled them by the authority he derived from the deities. His administrative assistants followed the same principle. They invoked the aid of Heaven for the discharge of all their duties, and its blessing upon all the affairs of the people under their control.

It cannot be affirmed that the high officers of State had any officially recognised designations in remote times, and the absence of such designations goes far to confirm the theory that the functions of the patriarchs were of a general