' HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE TO 1889. Introftction.— The Japanese Empire has been ruled for above 25 centuries (2,567 years) under one unbroken line of sovereigns since the Emperor Jimmui whose.I23d descend ant is the present emperor. The people may be justly. Proud of their long history, the pages of which have never been polluted by any for ,eign conquest; and of that matchless continu ity,of their illustrious rulers, whom they never .ured. of revering and loving, even while polit ical supremacy was in subjects' hands, Per haps we may seek •the main source of the harmonious unison of ruler and subject in that patriarchal administration adopted by Japanese from the earliest .age; and besides, the singur larly harmonious temperament .of the people and the isolated position of their islands to the sea seem to have contributed much toward forming a solid nationality.
,,Reliable r calendars first cane into use in Japan early in the middle part of the 7th cen tury of the Christian era, so that the genuine ness of dates- given by anoient chroniclers to events lying still earlier must be considered doubtful. .Modern specialists affect to find a prolongation of $00 to 600 years in that part of Japanese history, and that the Christian era is one century later than the Japanese.
The period prior to the Emperor Jimmu is called aKamiyon ("Age of Deities"), and is Ailed with a mixture of legends and mythology relating to deities, regarded as ancestors of the emperor, and their administration in the coun try. Among others, "Tenshodaiiie or "Ama terasu-o-mikam? ("Deers Slii: g in Heaven") plays, in this period, the most important role as the lineal ancestress of the imperial family. Her throne was on a-Hara,x' the locality not yet ascertained, and it was she who pronounced that celebrated edict: "The Im perial family shall ever prosper as sure as the heaven and earth,)) and bequeathed to her suc cessors the jewels, mirror and sword, venerated as the three sacred insignia of sovereignty.
The historic period may be divided into three great periods: (1) The Age of Imperial Administration; (2) the Age of Military Dicta torship; (3) the Restoration and Constitutional Imperial AdministratiOn; and these further sec tioned into minor series.