in such manner that his Majesty insensibly had the sight of them all among the rest there was a slight maid an Armorers Daughter who did so far please him and gain upon his affections that he lay with her The great Ladies of the Court seeing an Artificers Girl preferred before them all mad with jealousie and rage resolved to strangle her Childe in its birth which they cruelly performed but have hitherto kept the knowledg of so black a deed from the Emperor fearing his just indignation and revenge The Japan Chronicles write that this great Kingdom hath until this hundred years been still governed by an Hereditary Prince which they call Deyro who was in such reverence with the people that never any tumults or civil broils were raised against his Person or Authority He was esteemed so Sacred that to oppose him was judged no less criminal then to fight against the Gods both being inexpiable When any difference arose betwixt his subject-Kings so that they armed each against other there was a Generalissimo appointed to mediate their quarrels and punish if need were the offending or transgressing Prince For the Deyros themselves were esteemed so holy that they never trod upon the ground neither was the Sun or Moon ever suffered to shine upon them nothing of their Body was diminished or paired off their hair beard and nails being suffered to grow at length When they did eat their meat was still dressed in new pots and served up in new dishes They have twelve married Wives apiece who are severally honored and brought with various ceremonies to this height and state When the Deyro goes abroad he is followed with these twelve Women each in her Coach adorned with her Arms and Titles these have their Houses and Trains apart all in the Deyro's Palace built in rows six on a side very magnificent and beautified as the Coaches with their Names Arms and Titles The Concubines dwell likewise by themselves Supper is provided every evening in every one of these twelve Houses with voices and instruments though none knows who shall be honored with the Deyro's company Where the Deyro enters the banqueting and provision of the other eleven Houses is immediatly brought thither the other eleven Wives following with their Ladies and Musick to divert and make merry with her whom the Deyro thinks at present worthy of his conversation They have their Comedies likewise and such other pastimes as befit so splendid an entertainment When the Deyro is blessed with a Son the hoped Successor of that Empire a Nurse is chosen for him out of eighty of the loveliest Women of the Country young and Noble Wives to Persons of great quality and birth These Women are honored and received by the Deyro's twelve Wives and all his Women as also those nine principal Lords who are of his blood and kindred and next the inheritance in case he have no issue male with extraordinary ceremonies and feasting The following day forty are chosen out of the fourscore the which the number decreasing are entertained more honorably then before the day being spent in usual and pompous diversions the recited forty retain the Titles and Dignities of Foster-Mothers but are dismissed from further attendance though not without gifts and rich presents Ten are again chosen out of the remaining forty out of these ten three and lastly out of these three one in all which elections the honors ceremonies and presents are successively heightned Three days after the last chosen Nurse is again highly entertained which being done the milk is pressed out of her brests into the Childes mouth which all this while is held by one of the noblest Ladies of the Court which ceremony done the Nurse is as then esteemed worthy to take that Childe into her custody being it hath tasted of her milk and substance The Ceremonies and Feasts of their Weddings Childe-bearings and those other which they celebrate yearly are performed with much state and modest pomp and are at this day in use by the Deyro who wants nothing save that the Land is governed by another the reason and history whereof we will briefly declare The Office of Chief General was formerly the first in the whole Kingdom which ordinarily was conferred upon the Deyro's second Son but having then another Son which for the Mothers sake he was willing to advance he divided this great charge betwixt them with command that they should govern each his three years by turn This took for some time until one of them having tasted the sweetness of ruling was loath to quit so splendid an employment he therefore leagues with the great Lords of the Country and settles his power so fast during his Commission that neither the commands and entreaties of his Father nor the violence of his offended Brother were able to remove him Yet this being a business of so ill and so great consequence and like to embroil the Kingdom in disorders the Deyro resolved to chastise his rebellious Son which by the assistance of his Kings and the valour of his former General he did And this was the beginning and the first intestine war that ever happened against the Deyro's State and Authority The aforesaid General being for his good service continued in his command ordered his business so well that after his Majesties death he made himself Lord of his inheritance usurping the Government of the Kingdom wholly into his hands leaving yet the Deyra's Court in its former state and greatness his Successor to his Revenue and commanding he should be used in all things with the same respect and ceremony as before These proceedings produced another War another General being chosen who having overthrown the former usurped to himself what he had condemned in his Predecessor the Soveraignity of the whole Land which occasioned a third intestine War more cruel and more destroying then the other two For now the Kings and Governors of Provinces began to set up each for himself so that the Countrey was well nigh ruined Town being against Town and City against City by these dissenting Grandees During these troubles it fell out that a bold active Fellow formerly a private Souldier thinking it best fishing in troubled waters resolved to put in for a share Having therefore got together forty or fifty Companions as desperate as himself he in a little time what with his good fortune and good conduct grew very numerous and considerable and having taken several Castles and Towns drove likewise all that stood him out of the field so that in less then three years he became absolute and Soveraign Lord of the whole Kingdom He as the other Usurpers left the Deyro in quiet possession of all he formerly enjoyed except the Government which he held himself and was afterwards by the said Deyro unable to vindicate his own right acknowledged and crowned Emperor of Japan with unimaginable pomp and magnificence This Emperor whose name was Taycko being no less prudent then brave fearing
and chief Ministers of State these come dayly to Court and dispatch all Publick Affairs by his Majesties directions and are as likewise the other minor Senators highly respected and honored by the subordinate Kings and Lords The chief of these have two hundred thousand pounds a year the middle half so much and the lesser thirty twenty and ten thousand pounds per An. Their Authority and Power is confined to the Emperor's Pleasure none of them upon pain of Banishment or worse daring to advise a second time after Answer once received from the Prince His Majesty chuses these his Councellors out of those Gentlemen that have served well and long having been bred up in the Court with him and had the address to please him most All the Affairs of the Kingdom pass these mens hands but they are very circumspect in observing his Majesties eye and pleasure before they adventure to propose advice or answer and all to continue in his good grace and favour nay they are fo fearfully slavish that they approve of whatever the Prince proposes and though the ruine of a Province depended upon it will not seem to have sentiments differing from his The quality of his Princes and Lords and their might THe Revenues of the commanding Lords as appears by their specifications are very great and yet they have by reason of their vast expences enough to do with their moneys First they are obliged though never so far distant from Court to reside six moneths every year in the City of Jedo to wait upon the Emperor Those of the North and East come one half year which being expired they are relieved by them of the South and West who depart with his Majesties leave after much Ceremony Feasting and receiving of Presents back to their several Countries Thus they take their turns at Court which is infinite expensive by reason of their numerous trains some of them travelling to and fro with one two three four five and six thousand men The Lord of Firando where our East-India-Company hath a Lodge being but one of the least among them travels with three hundred Men Gentlemen and others and hath in his two Houses at Iedo above a thousand Persons Men and Women Thus each Lord lives according to his Means and Dignity rather profuse then sparing so that the City swarms with Men and Attendance which makes the Markets high and very dear Their sumptuous Buildings their gorgeous Cloathing of their Servants especially their Women and their Attendants their Feasts their Presents and other extraordinary Expences of that proud and pompous Court do sufficiently keep under these great Men for their Charges surmount their Revenues and they are found most commonly to be much behinde hand Besides all this his Majesties orders the making of several publick Buildings as High-Ways Channels Castles and the like all which are divided amongst the aforesaid Lords then at Court each his share which they cause to be made without respect of expence to the envy of each other with all speed and industry imaginable The chief Lords when they build new Palaces for themselves do besides the ordinary Gates and Doors cause another great and sumptuous Port to be made beautified with Statues and wrought all with hard Wax or Indian Lack and richly guilt This Entry being finished it is covered all over with Plancks to keep the Sun and Rain from it and continueth so inclosed and shut up until such time as the Emperour honours that House with his presence After his Majesty hath passed and re-passed through the said Gate it is wholly shut up and never opened more no man being afterwards found worthy to go in or out at that Door which hath been graced with the Princes entry His Majesty doth go but once to feast in one House all the preparations for his entertainment being made ready long before with great care and cost every thing being adorned with his Arms and afterwards never used more but preserved with great devotion in remembrance that the Emperour did vouchsafe to eat in that House His Majesty is always invited three years before hand in which time the preparations fit for so royal a Guest are making After the Emperour hath been there one day the Princes of his blood his Councellors and the Kings and great Lords are treated with incredible magnificence three whole Moneths together Briefly the building of such a Palace and the treating of so great a Prince is sufficient to make a rich King poor and yet these ruinning profusions are not to be avoided When his Majesty goes a Hern-hunting and hath taken some of those Birds being of great esteem in those Countries he sometimes bestows one of them upon one Favorite or other which Present costs the Receiver at least a half years Revenue for the Gift is so highly valued having been taken by the Emperor's Hawks and given with his own hands that the whole City seems to partake of the joy it being abundantly testified by Feasting and Presents The Lord of Satsuma had lately the honour to entertain the Emperour in his new Palace but with better fortune then any of his greatest Princes for his Majesty was so well pleased with his treatment that he made him a Present of Beans as he pleased to tearm it for his Horses worth threescore thousand Pounds a year The Emperor disposes of the marriages of his great Lords who entertain their Wives which are ordered them by him with extraordinary carresings they receive and lodge them in their best Palaces and allow them ten twenty c. to a hundred and more Gentle women and Maid-Servants according to their abilities to wait upon them when they go abroad to visit their Friends which is allowed but once a year Their Women follow them in shut Pallacquins forty or fifty in number each of them with two Chamber-Maids on each side of their Pallacquins one These Pallacquins are very richly made wrought with Lack and inlaid with Gold carried some nine foot from each other in good order with great modesty The Wife that is given by the Emperor is the Mother of those Children which succeed in their Father's honors but if she prove Childeless or have no Heir male the Kingdom or Government is ordinarily bestowed upon a Stranger to that Race and Family Every Lord may have as many Concubines as he pleases or can maintain whereby Children indeed are multiplied though none inherit but those that are legitimate These Lords enjoy all the pleasures they can imagine in the fruition of their Women Houses Gardens Ponds Walks Musick Plays and the like They suffer no Men to come into their Wives Houses upon any pretence whatsoever unless it be some few who are next of blood and that but very seldom these are kept close and careful and all their Women young and old great and of lower condition must thus spend their time without any manner of conversation with men the least suspition is punisht with death it
or seven Years to give the Deyro which is the true Heir of the Kingdom and lives there a visit the preparations are making an whole year before the orders are given on what day and with what train every great Man shall go to the end that the ways may not be pestered with their numbers Half of the great Lords according to their turns set out some days before then follows his Maiesty with his Councellers who are followed some days after by the remaining Kings and Lords The concourse of people at such a time is incredible the whole City though containing above One hundred thousand Houses not being big enough to lodge them all so that tents and huts are raised round about the same for the Souldiers and common People The distance betwixt Jedo and Miako is reckoned to be one hundred twenty five Dutch miles At every two or three miles there is a City or open Town and the whole is divided into twenty and eight Gists or Lodgings whereof twenty are strong Castles there is in every quarter from the first to the last a train of Gentlemen Souldiers Horse Provisions and all necessaries befitting so great a Prince ordered there for his reception and entertainment Those that set out with him from Jedo stay in the first lodging those that were there remove with him to the second those of the second to the third and so to the last so that each train and their dependants follow his Majesty but half a day until all of them according to their instructions marching in order do at length arrive at Miako leaving the aforesaid Castles and Lodgings to their usual Governors and Guards In the return from Miako to Jedo the same method is observed all things being prepared as formerly without trouble or confusion This year 1636 there is an extraordinary great Edifice and Building at Niko four days journey from Jedo which is to be the Burial place of the Emperors Father in whose Temple the great Copper Crown which the East-India-Company gave his Majesty last year is hung up There is likewise in this territory of Niako a very great Castle with double moats and stone walls strong and sumptuous there are several Palaces in it as also a great number of Artificers as Painters Masons Statue-Cutters Gold Silver and Iron-Smiths Cloathiers and all sorts of Handy-Crafts-Men who have their tasks set them but are well paid This Castle which seemed to require three years for its building was finished in five moneths though it lies far in the Country and out of all ways being only made to receive his Majesty in his ceremonious visits of his Fathers Sepulchre His Majesties Treasure consists in Silver and Gold packd in Chests each weighing one thousand Teyls that is about fourscore ordinary pounds weight these are placed in the several Towers of his Castle together with other legacies with their writings which are kept for their Antiquity This vast Treasure increases dayly for the Revenue of two moneths is sufficient to defray the Emperors expences how great soever for one whole year This Emperors Father being the Son of Ongoschio who possessed himself of the Government after the late troubles died about the fiftieth year of his age in the year of our Saviour 1631 being sensible of his end he called his Son to him and amongst many other good counsels concluded to this purpose My Kingdom and all my Treasures are yours but vvhat I recommend to you I likevvise deliver you The old Lavvs and Chronicles of the Countrey our vvritten Sentences and VVisdom are inclosed in this Cabinet the principal Ievvels of my Crovvn are likevvise in it receive them all as they deserve for they are mine and vvere highly valued by your fore-Fathers The Jewels which were accounted inestimable are these following whereof he gave to his eldest Son Emperor of Japan A crooked Sable called Jeiuky Massamme Another Sable called Samoys Another less called Bungo Doyssero A Pot called Naraissiba A great t'Siapol called Stengo A Manuscript called Anckocky kindo To his Brother King of Ouvvay and Atstanomia A Picture called Darme to be vievved backvvards A Sable called Massamme To his second Brother King of Kinokouny A Sable called Jees Messamme A Picture of Frogs To his third Brother King of Mito A Sable called Sandamme A Manuscript called Seuche These six pieces bestowed on the three Brothers are but of little worth in comparison of the six other given the Emperor and yet they are valued at a thousand gold Oebans that is forty seven Teylens a piece The Silver and Gold which his Majesty gave to the Princes of his blood to several of his favorite Kings their Wives his companion Lords his Soldiers and Gentlemen amounted upon account to above Thirty Millions sterling The present Emperor being after his Fathers decease in full and peaceable possession of the Government had as then no lawful Wife being much given to Sodomy which moved the Deyro to send him two beautiful Ladies of his own kindred and every way accomplished with a desire that he would be pleased to chuse one of them that best pleased him for his Midia or Empress He did indeed consent to the Deyros request but followed his old way of living so that the young Lady being destitute of the conversation she might reasonably expect was extreamly afflicted although she durst not let it appear for fear of her Husband's displeasure At length her Foster-Mother a Lady of great credit both in respect of her age and in that she had bred up so great a Princess finding the Emperor one day in a good humor adventured though very submissively to speak to him in behalf of her Mistris which she did as followeth Hovv is it possible that your Majesties affections should be carried avvay vvith such unnatural pleasures and that so beautiful a Creature as your ovvn Handmaid vvho vvould rejoice you in bearing another like to your Self should be forgotten certainly she ought to be preferred The Tyrant though till now in his frolicks grew angry yet said nothing but rising up retired immediatly and sending for all the Overseers of his Buildings commanded them forthwith to begin and build him a Castle with high Walls Moats Bridges and strong Gates as also to adorn it within with all manner of necessary and sumptuous appertainments and Lodgings The work being finished with more then ordinary haste the beautiful Queen her Foster-Mother and all that train of young Ladies which she brought with her from Miako were put into it where she is kept without the sight of men and intirely forsaken of her Husband The Emperor 's own Foster-Mother who was likewise in great esteem and respect as his own Mother being much troubled at this action of his Majesty and seeing he had no Children neither was like to have any whilst he lived thus sent into the several Countries in his Dominions to search out the most charming beauties that could be found which done she disposes of them
of people which I omit as superfluous The City of Iudica the Metropolis of the Kingdom and seat of the King and his chiefest Nobles is scituate upon the River Menam in a little round Island encompassed with a thick stone wall about six English miles round the Suburbs are on the other side of the River closely builded and full of Temples and Cloysters lying in a flat and fruitful Country The Streets of the walled Town are many of them large straight and regular with channels running through them although for the most part of small narrow Lanes Ditches and Creekes most confusedly placed the Citizens have an incredible number of small Boats or Prawes which come to their very doors especially at floods and high water The building of the Houses is according to the Indian fashion slight and covered with Tiles but the City is beautified with more then three hundred faire Temples and Cloysters all curiously builded and adorned with many gilded Towers Pyramids and Pictures without number The Kings Palace is seated upon the River resembling a little Town apart great and magnificent many of its Buildings and Towers being entirely gilded This royal and admirable City is perfectly well seated and populous to a wonder being frequented by all Nations and is likewise impregnable as not to be besieged but six moneths in a year by reason of the innundations of the River which covers the Countrey round with its overflowings The Soveraignity and Government of Siam is in the King a Prince of a Noble and ancient family who hath been in possession of this Kingdom and the neighbouring Provinces many hundred of years this Prince is absolute in his Dominions disposing of War and Peace Alliances Justice Pardons and Remissions c. at his pleasure He maketh Laws without any advise or consent of his Council or Lords his will being the rule he walks by unlesse his goodnesse descend sometimes to counsel with his Mandoryns them of his Council these sometimes deliberate upon his Majesties propositions and present their result to him by way of humble supplication which he confirms changes or rejects as he thinks good He disposes Soveraignity of all the Dignities and great Offices of his Kingdom without respect of persons noble or otherwise except some of the Antientest and greatest Families to such as have or may serve him well whom he againe deprives of their honours for small faults so that they are all his Slaves and Vassals which the Great ones esteem an honour and put in their titles The King thus soveraignly disposing of all things doth notwithstanding nothing without some appearance of reason and conformity to the Laws of the Kingdom which however antient he by his usurped prerogative and power doth interpret and bow to his Arbitrary will and pleasure His Majesties Court and Train is exceeding great and glorious He seldom shews himselfe to the People and very sparingly to his Grandees and Officers of the Kingdom which happens at certain appointed times and daies when he gives them Audience he is richly clothed and crowned sitting upon a golden Throne at whose feet his Gentlemen and Attendants reverently kneel accompanied with three hundred armed Souldiers of his Lifeguard All as well Strangers as Subjects who have audience of his Majesty whilest they are in his presence must continually kneele with folded hands and heads hanging down when they speak to him it must be in this humble posture loading him with titles and praises his Answers are esteemed Oracles and his commands unchangeable so that he lives happy in all imaginable worldly pleasures having many magnificent Houses up and down the Kingdom as also other places Tents and Pavilions He eateth highly but his drink is simple water or Coco all strong drinks being prohibited by the Clergy and the Laws and esteemed scandalous His Majesty goeth ordinarily by water with eight or ten very costly and fine Barges each with eighty or a hundred rowers he sits under a gilded Pavilion upon a Throne accompanied with his Courtiers and other Barges to the number of three or four hundred with his Train and Guards waiting upon him most of the great Ones follow the Court at such times each in his rich gilded Barge or Praw so that the whole train of them is twelve or fourteen hundred and sometimes more When he goes by land he is mounted upon a gilded seat and carried upon mens shoulders the train being ordinarily the same all marching in order and great silence no body is seen in his way or sight but upon their knees with folded hands and bowed heads and bodies this reverence better becoming a celestial Diety then an earthly Majesty Once every year about the moneth of October the King of Siam shews himself by water and land in state to his people going to the principal Temple of the Gods to offer there for the welfare of his Person and Kingdom the manner follows When he goes by land the procession is led by two hundred Elephants each attended vvith three armed men these are follovved by many Musitians vvith Gomnies Pipes and Drums and a thousand men richly armed and provided vvith Banners Then march the great Lords of the Kingdom on horse-back many of them vvearing Crovvns of Gold upon their heads and every one vvaited upon by sixty eighty or an hundred men on foot Tvvo hundred Iapan Souldiers follovv these vvith bright Arms and rich Colours and much noise of Instruments then comes the Lifeguard vvith the King's Horses and Elephants richly adorned vvith pretious Stones and Gold furniture vvhich is follovved by many Servants loaden vvith fruits and presents for the Sacrifice accompanied vvith a svvet consort of Musick These are again follovved by many of the great Ones on foot vvith folded hands as also some Crovvned Grandees vvhereof one carrieth the gilded Standard and the other the Svvord of Justice his Majesty follovvs next in person in his royal Robes sitting upon an Elephant or else a gilded Throne carried upon mens shoulders and vvaited upon by many Lords and Courtiers the Prince or Heir of the Kingdom follovveth him and then in order the Kings Wives and Concubins seated upon Elephants in little enclosed Cabinets lastly the ordinary Courtiers follovv the vvhole provision consisting of fifteen or sixteen thousand persons having its rear brought up by six hundred armed men But if the King go by vvater then tvvo hundred Lords each in his Barge seated in a gilded Cabinet vvith eighty or ninety Rovvers lead the van these are follovved by ten extraordinary rich figured Pravvs or Barges the vvhich as also the Oars are all gilded each having ninety or an hundred Watermen The King is in the richest of them sitting like an Idol upon a golden Throne vvith his Lords in their humblest posture at his feet the royal Banner is borne by one of these Grandees at the head of the Barge in state The King's Brother follovveth next vvith his Train and after him his Majesties Wives and Concubins in
lest the great Lords of his Kingdom reflecting upon the lowness of his former condition might contemn his present Authority as disdaining to be governed by one less then themselves thought it best to keep them in action the better to divert them from caviling a new he therefore sent those Kings and Chiefs that he feared most with an Army of sixty thousand Men to war against Corea and reduce that Country to the obedience of the Iapan Empire These he held there with kinde messages and reiterated promises of succours seven whole years commanding they should not return till they had subdued and made conquest of all But the Army longing for their Country their Wives and Children and despairing of a return mutined and destroying burning and plundering all they could meet endeavoured the satisfaction of their pretended wrongs by the desolation of others The Coreans unable to endure this violence any longer sent an Ambassador to the Emperour Taycko who being admitted into his Court found means to take away his life by poison in revenge of the manifold wrongs his Country had suffered by the injurious ambition of this Prince The Kings and Lords commanding the Army in Corea hearing of their Emperor's death resolved to quit that Country and to return every one to his own in expectation and hopes who amonst them might be chosen to succeed in the Soveraignty The Emperor being removed left one only Son behinde him called Fideri about six years of age but before he died he appointed him a Governor one of the greatest Lords of his Country by name Ongoschio one whom he had obliged by his favors and relied upon above all others for his fidelity To this Person he delivered his Infant-Son with command that when he was fifteen years of age he should cause him to be crowned by the Deyro with the usual Pomps and Ceremonies as Emperor of Iapan Ongoschio being thus declared Governor of the Princes Person was likewise by Taycko's will and the consent of his Subject-Kings made Regent of the Kingdom during the minority which for some time he peaceably ruled in his Master's name But growing now weary of subordination he quickly forgot his promise made to Taycko and sealed with his blood Fideri being therefore to be removed to make place for his greatness he assaulted him first in his reputation by laying those things to his charge he was no way guilty of amongst others he accused him of distrust of his Tutor and that he made private preparations to extort the Government out of his hands by force before his time he laid likewise ambition and an untimely desire of honor to his charge in that he suffered himself to be adored as Emperor before he was invested with the Power and that the Kings and Lords of the Realm had done him that reverence which was only due to a received Emperor But armed ambition needs not many excuses Ongoschio musters his united forces in the Kingdom of Surnga and marching thence to Onsacka where Fideri held his Court besieged him with all his might Fideri having held out three moneths being now reduced to great extremity would prevent his ruine by a sordid submission he therefore sent to Ongoschio to beg his life quitting all his pretence to the Empire and desiring only to survive a Vassal to the Conqueror But Ongoschio refused all manner of capitulation and though Fideri sent out his Wife who was his Adversaries Daughter to supplicate his safety she could not be heard of her Father The Castle being taken the Palace where Fideri had retired himself with his Mother and chief Friends was encompassed with great posts and pallisadoes and much wood being piled up about it the unfortunate Prince and all them that were with him were miserably burnt and consumed with sire Ongoschio having thus destroyed his Master put all them to death who were considerable and of his party bringing the whole Empire under his obedience by force as Taycko had done before him The year following Ongoschio died not enjoying long what his violence had so quickly got him his Son Coubo or Coubosanna succeeded him who was Father to this present Emperor Chiongon now reigning The number of his Souldiers and their Arms. THe Revenue which is divided amongst the Kings and governing Lords amounts as is already demonstrated to 18400000 Coquyns or Pounds sterling according to which account each of them must proportionably entertain a select company of Souldiers always in readiness for the Emperor's service so that he who hath a thousand Coquyns yearly must bring into the field when ever he is commanded twenty Foot Souldiers two Horse-Men Thus the Lord of Fiarmor who hath 60000 Coquyns a year must entertain as he easily may one thousand two hundred Foot and one hundred and twenty Horse besides Servants Slaves and what more is necessary for the Train The number therefore of Souldiers which the Emperor hath continually in service entertained by the aforesaid Kings and Lords amount to three hundred sixty eight thousand Foot and thirty six thousand eight hundred Horse Besides these his Majesty hath one hundred thousand Foot and twenty thousand Horse which he paies out of his own Revenue and keeps for the Garrisoning of his Castles and Forts and the securing of his own Person Most of the Lords especially the most powerful do ordinarily keep double the number of Souldiers and many more then they are obliged to by their tax and all to out vie each other and the better to ingratiate themselves with their common Master as hath appeared at large in the late War The Horse-Men are all harnassed though the Foot have no other defensive arms then a Head-piece the Horse are armed some with short Guns some with short Pikes others with Bows and Arrows and all with Swords or Sables The Foot have likewise Sables Pikes and Halberts and those that are divided into Companies Fire-Arms every five Souldiers have their Commander armed as they are five of these Chiefs have likewise those who command them and their five and twenty and twice twenty five make a compleat Company commanded by two Heads who with their fifty are commanded by a Captain in chief five of these ordinary Companies are again commanded by another and fifty Companies have likewise their principal Officer the same method and order being held under the Horse His Majesty may easily and exactly know how many living souls how many Souldiers and how many Citizens he hath in his whole Kingdom Manieâ—e van Justitie in Jappon for the Houses being built by five and five and every five having their Commander who must register all them that are born and die within their Jurisdiction and report the same to their Lords who again are obliged to tell it their Kings and they to two Officers appointed by the Emperor for that purpose The Authority of his Councellors and Vassals THe Senators or Councellors hath each his Office apart excepting only four who are the principal