SECRET SOCIETIES exist in China and Japan. The Komoso Society of the latter couutry is a semi-monastic institution not unlike the Order of Templar& Its existence vi.as formally recognised by the government in the early part of the 17th century, and certain lands were granted to it by the Tokugawa dynasty of Shoguns. The society was filled from the ranks of the stunttrai class alone, by assuming the white robe of the Komoso. None were admitted into the ranks of the brotherhood who had been guilty of the meaner crimes. The chief was invested with a priestly character, and usually resided at the chief temple in the province of Owari. He had povver of life and death over his fellows, and was so far independent of the Government that he could put any of the brethren to death, provided he formally reported to the authorities that he had punished an offender against the laws of Komoso, according to its recognised rules. He was not
required to specify the offence for which punish ment had been inflicted. The society has never, it seems, been a large one, as, after a man bad availed himself of the privileges of asylmn which the fraternity afforded, he often retired to his own province, using the Komoso as a sanctuary. Men have been known to join the society with a view to carry out in safety plans of revenge on the murderer of a relative, taking refuge in the same temple in the dress of the brotherhood. The tragic climax of such a situation is reached, when the avenger carries out the vendetta by killing the man he sought, in spite of all oaths and bonds of union. The triad society of the Chinese seems to have been partly political, partly religious.