kotoku's

Updated: May 27, 2025

The construction of these on the grand scale adopted for many sovereigns, princes, and nobles had long harrassed the people, who were compelled to give their toil gratis for such a purpose. What such exactions had entailed may be gathered from Kotoku's edict, which said, "Of late the poverty of our people is absolutely due to the construction of tombs."

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era