Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/53

 since the days when they actively participated in the conduct of the empire, they have ever remained faithful. Herein again lies another remarkable example of that obstinate tenacity which makes the Japanese race preserve the old while it welcomes the new.

The kuges were the successors of those princely bureaucrats who participated in the imperial rule from the year 645 to 1166. The old system of government, together with its social customs and art expressions, was based mainly on that of the Tang dynasty of China. The kuges have always remained guardians of its ideals. While China was trying one policy after another, and Japan herself was passing through various different phases of feudalism toward the monarchism of the Tokugawas, the kuges continued