ABSTRACT
In the first half of the ninth century the evil effects of the practice were perhaps not so very conspicuously apparent. But within a hundred and fifty years thereafter it was impossible for even the dullest capacity to misinterpret the results. Doubtless in accordance with the dying instructions of Kwammu, the work of retrenchment and reform was vigorously prosecuted, the two favoured and pampered departments of the Nakatsukasa-Sho and the Kunai-Sho coming in for a large measure of unappreciated attention. The simple fact is that the energies of three rulers were sadly misdirected. The hopeless inefficiency of the police and the criminal courts made some serious attempt at reform imperative, and in 839 a special Board,—the Kebiishi-cho,—was instituted to meet the urgent needs of the situation. At the conclusion of the campaign of 812, the northern aborigines were for the first time definitely placed upon the same footing as ordinary Japanese subjects.
