ABSTRACT
I have already stated that the worship of the Imperial Ancestors is our national worship. They are worshipped, not only because they are the ancestors of our August Sovereign, but because they are the Sovereigns of our ancestors. Formerly, as has been stated, the people of Japan was divided into three classes or “Three Bodies” (三體), and each class was divided into many clans. Each individual subject had an uji, or clan-name, which was the mark of descent from a certain ancestor. Each clan, whether “great” or “small,” had its chief, called uji-no-kami (氏上) who was usually the eldest male descendant of the eponymous ancestor. He was obeyed and honoured by the clansmen as the representative of their common ancestor. He was the head of their worship, their leader in time of war, and their governor in time of peace. Small clansmen were governed by the uji-no-kami of the small clan, who was himself subject to the uji-no-kami of the great clan. During the early epoch in our history known as the “Fujiwara Period,” extending over the period of three hundred years (about 670 to 1050 a. d.), when the Fujiwara Clan engrossed the power of the State, and its members held all the great posts of the government, the office of Kwanpaku or Prime Minister, belonged to the Chōja, or uji-no-kami, of the Fujiwara Clan. It is for the same reason that during the Tokugawa Sh?gunate, each Shōgun held the title of Genji-no-Chōja, or “the Eldest of the Minamoto Clan.”
