Thus the introduction of Chinese learning and Buddhism was the most significant epoch Making phenomenon in the whole range of Japanese history, and Baddhiem left lasting traces• in the national customs, dispositioni and even in the politics of the naticin. The reign of the 35th empress, Kogyoku, loyal 'Nalco. unni-tio-Kaniatari assisted Francis Naltiono-Oye and succeeded In check* and destroying the .arbitrary exercise of power by the Saga family.
2. The Era of the Taiinva Reformationre OnT the fall of the. Soga family, the atit poor, Kotoku, tame to the throne, and with the help of the heir apparent, NaktontoOye, and acting en the advice of Kansatari and Others, inaugurated, in 645 A.D., the :famous forms imown inlistory as the TaikwaReforma tion, after the name of the era which :was nettled upon for the first time.
In that information, is Meier to.rmrave the wide interval between the Lich and the poor, all lands and people in the possession of private individeals were confiscated by the state and :distributed smolI the people with certain OHO ditione. The Prince Nalueno-Oye reigned as the Einperor Tenchi, and established, based on the Chinese models, the various laws of punish adreisistrative organization, education, conscription, taxation and other civil codes. Afterward, in 74a2 ex., these laws, which go by the tome of Taihoryo, were supplemented and revised and were transmitted to posterity for a long period. The emperor tnbdued the tribes of Yezo and Shukushin (iv M3nohurin), that Ow imperial authority was made known even is the modern .Hokwaido. Korea, how ever,, which had been the source • of many troubles, was abandoned in this reign.
3. The Nara Epochs—We now eater into what is known as the *Wan celebrated for its politics, Buddhism and arts.
While the 43d empress, Genunyo, reigned, the seat of the imperial government, subjeit then to frequent removals, was hcidat Nara in Yasnato (7/0 A.D.), and the palaces, and eity and buildings were planned' to meet that international intercourse which was grad.. %tally growing dose betweenjapan and aiina, the pristine simplicity •being found unseited to the capital.
One of the most noteworthy events in this epoch is the upheaval of the Fujiwara family, descendants of Nakatomi-no4Catnatari, an eau swat leader in the Talkwa Reformation. Fubito, his son, also achieved deeds of merit; nod Fubito's daughter was the first instance of a subject being raised to •imperial consort. Ex• cept a short interruption caused by internal quarrels, the FMitvara family increased mere and more in its authority, until the zenith was reached in the period called the tHeiasecho Epoch?) In that period the subjugation and cultivation of the Yezo district and the en couragemeut of agriculture were noteworthy.
In actordaece with the provisions of the Taihoryo, a university was established iit capital as well as local schools throughout the provinces, with the sins of training government officials — the subjects chiefly taught history, mathematics and the Chinese philoso phy. Hence in that epoch scholars versed in
those lines of learning were very rtnineroes, and it was then that those historical and gee graphical accounts of the •1Cojilti, Nihon Shoki and Fudoki were compiled Many students pro ceeded to China to Anish their •educatien. and Mire, such as 'AbenceNaltamaro, eltaisted high position in China. Men and memo, of that epoch wrote good Japanese poetry, which is preserved in the collection 'named Mannyoshra. In.that age the Japtimuse syllabaria, iCata-kaaa and were invented to be substituted for the.inconvenient Chinese ideographs.
Among the events of the epoch none is more noteworthy titan the wide spread of Beiddhism. Mils remit may be 'Attributed to the fact that it feund many fervent devotees in the imperial family. The Emperor Shown bent provincial temples Koitebtin-11) for nuns and priests and endowed them With liberal deeations. He more over bad a huge image of Buddha committed, and put it in tele, Todaiji, at Nara, the largest woMeti edifice the wert4d known. Record says that the Emperor Shoran adopted the tbnottre and took a Buddiet appellation. The Empress ICotnyo, his consort, 'was *Ise zealously devoted to Buddhism] and founded a charity-hospital for medical treat want, and measures were taken also for resen iitg foundlings. Among many priests of high reptitetion, Gyogibosatsu is reeogniee4 as the mast eminent. He and other high priests who sucteesieely rose to fame were not satisfied with the mere preaehing doctrines, but showed great activity hi bonding bridges and tom% and teaching the people to be industrious. 'there were, of course, priests who abused their religious atidanity —the destroyer of one of whom was the still celebrated kyal Wstice-no Kiiire. Carpenters, from the practice ac quired in building temples, learned how to con struct large edifices, and the workmanship of the temle idols is wonderful and never fails to decklet se who Todai-ji, Yalmshi-ji and other terepies at Nara. Painting and weaving alto made tremendousprogress, and the storehouse called Shoso-in, formerly form leg part of the Todai-ji and now in the im perial possession, witnesses 'how far the civil iration m That epoch advanced. It contains things used by the Emperor Shetee, among which are several articles illustrating the inter mingling of the culture of India western Asia and even Europe through the Chinese, and con tains the census register, the Book of Taxes, etc., as old as 702 AM. The wooden copies of Sutras, contained in many dransand small pagodas, sculptured by order of the Emperor Shonnt; are gestats the extant aanales IA wooden pinning, While the capitaiatteemda high level in this epoch, it is undeniaide that the test of the country was still in a atate of com parative ignorance.