JAPAN.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 296, 25 May 1875, Page 4

JAPAN.

From the Gazette of February 25th we give the following ; The Government has a difficulty on hand, and Ito and Okubo, two of the Sangi, or Ministers of State, went to Osaka to meet Kido, who was also until lately a sangi, and others, in consultation upon the trouble. The two clans of Satsuma and Choshia are the prominent causes of the disquietude, but the exact matter of disturbance is not clearly understood by the public. The Emperor, however, has ordered Saigo Kitchinosuke, elder brother of the General Saigo, who was in command of the Formosan expedition, and all the other leading men who are required in the discussions, to come to Tokei ; and an endeavor will be made to place things on a proper and solid basis. The general report is that the two above-named clans are at variance, bat on what grounds we do not now clearly understand. Be that as it may, the Government have their hands full, in keeping the old samourai quiet. They are discontented on two points ; first, they still demand that an expedition be sent to punish Corea for the old insults on Japan; and, secondly, they are discontented respecting their personal condition since the abolition of the feudal systtm. All this discontent gived much concern to the Government, and some persons fancy that ere long there will be efforts made to upset the Government by these uneasy spirits, but our opinion is that there will not be any rising at present, and that, should there be, it will be easily put down. A good sign of the times is that several of the most spirited nobles have turned their attention to the construction of a railway from Tokio northward to Utsonomiya, an important town on the high road to Awomori, the northernmost port on the large island of Niphon, between which and Hako'date there is constant communication. Smallpox, though still raging in certain portions of the native quarters, both in Yokohama and Tokel, seems to have exhausted its powers on the foreign communities. Fires have been very prevalent during the past fortnight. At Osaka there was a fire on the 7th, which burnt over the space of sixteen "cho," destroying thousands of houses. At Homura and Amauuma, suburbs of Yokohama, a large fire occurred on the evening of the 6th, which destroyed hundreds of houses. To avoid the infection of smallpox the people of Chibaken have begun to worship the idol of Ni-o at Kannon-ji, Urabemura. Inabagori, believing that anyone who passes creeping between the idol's legs, will, without doubt, escape the epidemic. The practice commenced, crowds came fco perform the ceremony, and people from a distance of seven and eight ri having heard of it, came flocking to the spot like ants on a summer's day. The stream of crawling worshippers is now almost incessant,