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38 has since regained favour; but its former prosperity is gone for ever.

Thus we find that wrestling went through four stages corresponding to the four great periods of Japanese history. In the first, which preceded the establishment of the Shogunate in 1185, the Imperial Court encouraged wrestling as it supplied it with guards and varied the monotony of its life. Wrestlers flocked willingly to the capital as their position at the palace gave them a military status. In the second period from the rise of feudalism to the accession of Tokugawa, wrestling was practised by all warriors as an important military art; and in the third, during the Tokugawa Shogunate, it became a special and honoured profession under the patronage of the daimyo. In the last period, which followed the Restoration, the wrestlers fell back into the same rank as other professionals, and though they still to some extent enjoy private patronage, it is chiefly to the public that they must turn for their livelihood. When the annual matches at Ekoin, which determine their position in the profession, are over, they make tours in companies in the provinces, which are the chief sources of their income.

The wrestlers form a guild with two other classes of men intimately connected with their profession, the elders and umpires. Elders are retired wrestlers or umpires of high grade, and take part in the management of the guild. No one can become a wrestler without being articled to an elder, whose recommendation is necessary for his appearance at Ekoin and his entrance into the guild. Elders are subdivided into two classes, those who do, and those who do not, contribute towards the expenses of the Ekoin matches. The bukata, as the former are called, also divide the profits of those matches, which are not very great though the wrestling-booth may be daily crowded. For the matches are held for ten consecutive fine days, and if rainy days intervene, the arena is temporarily closed; but the