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The Emperor in 1801 had been known before his ascension of the throne as Prince Kanin Kanehito (from whom the present Prince Kanin has descended); but he is now known by his posthumous title of Kōkaku. He is said to have been "a sovereign of great sagacity"; but he was, as we know, only a nominal ruler, like the fainéant kings of France, while the actual authority was held, and the real power was exercised, by a Mayor of the Palace, a Shōgun of the Tokugawa family. The Emperor was "powerless and lived in splendid poverty."

The Imperial Court was organized in Kyōto "with all pomp and circumstance; it had its Ministers, Vice-Ministers, and subordinate officials; it had its five principal, as well as more than a hundred ordinary, Court nobles; but the sovereign's actual power did not extend beyond the direction of matters relating to rank and etiquette, the classification of shrine-keepers, priests and priestesses, and professionals of various kinds,—in a word, actual functions of no material importance whatever." In an absolute empire Kōkaku was Emperor in name and fame only.

"He was practically confined in sacred seclusion; his person must neither touch the earth nor be polluted by contact with common mortals. The most scrupulous care was exercised about his dress, food, even the very dishes themselves; he was, to the common people, a real invisible deity. It is reported that the Emperors of the olden days must sit motionless upon the throne for a certain number of hours each day, in