Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/184

 of the Ashikaga Shogunate, that he made a resolute, though unsuccessful, endeavour to abolish these barriers. That was in the middle of the fourteenth century. Two hundred years elapsed, however, before a thorough reform could be effected. Oda Nobunaga accomplished it. He removed all the barriers except those established for military purposes, caused the roads to be widened to fixed dimensions, planted pines and willows along the principal highways, and provided proper means of crossing at the ferries.

Trade with China was resumed, though under somewhat novel conditions, during the Muromachi period; that is to say, under the sway of the Ashikaga Shōgun. The rulers of Japan found themselves at that time in constant need of funds to defray the cost of the interminable military operations caused by the struggle between the Northern and the Southern Courts and other civil disturbances. In their distress they turned to the neighbouring Empire as a source from which money might be obtained. This idea appears to have been suggested to the Shōgun Takauji by Buddhist priests, when he undertook the construction of the temple Tenryu-ji. Two ships were fitted out laden with goods, and it was decided that the enterprise should be repeated annually, the Shōgun promising that, whatever its pecuniary result, a sum of five thousand kwan (two thousand pounds sterling) should be subscribed to the temple. These vessels were popu-