Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/71

 but must either be attended by extenuating self-sacrifice or result from uncontrollable misfortune. In truth, the ranks of prostitution were chiefly recruited with children sold to save their parents or brothers from starvation or dishonour and with kidnapped girls. No female regarded the profession with any feeling but the profoundest horror.

Among the ignominious populace there were some whose relegation to such a place is hard to understand; as the makers of tiles, of hats, of bow-strings, of lamp-wicks, and of horse-reins; the caster of metal, the stone-cutter, the ferry-man, the dyer, and the barrier-watchman.

Danzayemon Yorikane, the first official commissioned to control this large class of persons, was a military man of some standing, but his office ultimately shared the degradation attaching to its connections. The power he wielded and the wealth he accumulated must have compensated to a great extent for his loss of caste. As to his power, the members of the degraded classes being disqualified to enter a Court of Justice, full authority to adjudicate their disputes and punish their offences was vested in Danzayemon; and as for his wealth, it is recorded that many merchants of standing borrowed large sums from him habitually. Such transactions were secretly arranged, for even pecuniary dealings with a Chōri involved contamination. The representative of the family in the beginning of the eighth century, desiring