Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/66

 of the masses found a security unprecedented in the days of the predatory barons. Within a limited sphere, they were even allowed to develop self-government. Industry and commerce flourished unmolested. Agriculture was specially encouraged, as rice was the medium in which the revenues of the government were taken. It is to the commoners that we owe the arts and crafts which have made Japan famous. It is to them that we are indebted for our modern drama and popular literature, the color-prints of Torii and Hokusai.

Toward the commoners also, however, the Tokugawas pursued their policy of segregation, inclosing them by barriers of tradition within a separate compartment of their social structure. They were welcome to their