Fuji San.
The Gist of Japan
The Islands
Their People
And Missions
By the Rev.
R. B. Peery, A.M., Ph.D.
With Illustrations
New York — Chicago — Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
M DCCC XCVII
Copyright, 1897, by
Fleming H. Revell Company
To My Wife
To whose Kindly Sympathy and Help is Largely Due
Whatever of Value there may be in these Pages
This Book is Affectionately Dedicated
PREFACE
Although a great deal has already been published in English concerning Japan and the Japanese people, nothing, to my knowledge, has yet been published which attempts to give a full treatment of mission work in Japan. "An American Missionary In Japan," by Dr. Gordon, is the only book I am aware of that deals exclusively with this subject; but its scope is quite different from that of the present volume. Therefore I have been led to believe that there is a place for this book.
I have written for the common people and hence have tried to give the subject a plain, popular treatment. There has been no attempt at exhaustive discussion, but great pains have been taken to make the hook reliable and accurate.
In the preparation of this little book I have consulted freely the following works in English: "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan"; files of the "Japan Mail"; "Transactions of the Osaka Conference, 1882"; Rein's "Japan"; Griffis's "Mikado's Empire"; Griffis's "Religions of Japan"; Chamberlain's "Handbook of Things Japanese"; Miss Bacon's "Japanese Girls and Women"; Dr. Lawrence's "Modern Missions in the East"; "Report of the World's Missionary Conference, London, 1888"; and reports of the various missionary societies operating in Japan. In Japanese I have consulted some native historians and moral and religious writers—especially in the preparation of the chapters on History, Morality, and Religions.
The book is sent forth with the prayer that it may be the means of begetting in the American churches a deeper interest in the work it portrays.
R. B. P.
SAGA, JAPAN.
CONTENTS
I. [The Land of Japan]
II. [A Brief History of the Japanese People]
III. [Japanese Characteristics]
IV. [Manners and Customs]
V. [Japanese Civilization]
VI. [Japanese Morality]
VII. [Religions of Japan]
VIII. [First Introduction Of Christianity]
IX. [Modern Roman and Greek Missions]
X. [A Brief History of Protestant Missions in Japan]
XI. [Qualifications for Mission Work in Japan]
XII. [Private Life of the Missionary]
XIII. [Methods of Work]
XIV. [Hindrances]
XV. [Special Problems]
XVI. [The Outlook]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
[ Fuji San . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece ]
I
THE LAND OF JAPAN
The empire of Japan consists of a chain of islands lying off the east coast of Asia, and extending all the way from Kamchatka in the north to Formosa in the south. Its length is more than 1500 miles, while the width of the mainlands varies from 100 to 200 miles. The entire area, exclusive of Formosa, recently acquired, is 146,000 square miles—just about equal to that of the two Dakotas or the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. On this territory, at the beginning of the year 1893, there lived 41,089,940 souls.
The country is divided into four large islands and more than two thousand smaller ones. The larger ones are named respectively Hondo, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Yezo. Of these the first named is by far the largest and most important. This island originally had no separate name, but in recent years it is very generally called Hondo. Western geographers have frequently made the mistake of applying the term "Nihon" to it; but "Nihon" is the native name for the whole empire, and not for its chief island. The capital, Tokyo, the ancient capital, Kyoto, and the commercial center, Osaka, are all situated on this island.
Kyushu is the second largest island in the group, and lies southwest of the main island. It was on this island, in the town of Nagasaki, that the Dutch lived for more than two hundred years, forming the only means of communication Japan had with the outside world.
Shikoku is next in size. It lies south of Hondo and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku and Kyushu are separated from the main island by the Inland Sea, one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world.
The island of Yezo is in the extreme north, It has very cold winters and resembles the central part of North America somewhat in climate and productions. On this island the aborigines of Japan, called Ainu, now live.
Among the more important of the smaller groups are the Liukiu Islands, in the extreme south; the Goto Islands, in the west; and the Kuriles, in the north. Besides these there are numerous other islands of considerable size lying around the coasts, and the whole Inland Sea is beautifully dotted with them.
Japan is a very mountainous country. For this reason hardly twelve per cent. of her total area is cultivated. In general the land gradually ascends on both sides as it recedes from the ocean, at first forming hills and table-lands, and then huge mountains. Thus a chain of mountains is formed in the center of the islands, extending throughout the whole length of the empire. The mountains are nearly all of volcanic origin, which accounts for their jagged appearance. There are many active volcanoes, continually sending up great clouds of smoke, and occasionally emitting streams of fire and molten lava, deluging the whole neighborhood with sulphur and ashes. One of the first sights that greets the traveler from the West as he approaches Japan is the smoke of a volcano, ever active, on Vries Island, in the entrance to Yokohama harbor. The chief volcanoes active at present are Asama, Shirane-san, Bandai-san, Aso-san, and Koma-ga-take. I shall never forget the ascent of Asama at night, in 1894. The volcano had been unusually active recently, and a large part of the crater had fallen in, completely changing its appearance. The sulphurous vapors and smoke came up so thick and fast that we dared not approach near the crater for fear of suffocation. At that time we could not see down into the crater at all, but occasionally one can see the blue-red flames curling and writhing far down in the bowels of the earth like a sea of fire, a veritable gate of hell.
Of extinct volcanoes Japan boasts a large number. The mightiest of these is the peerless Fuji-san, the pride of every Japanese, the highest mountain in Japan. It is 12,365 feet high, and snow is found on its summit at all seasons. This mountain is now a huge pile of ashes, lava, and boulders—apparently harmless. As late as 1708 it was in eruption, and when I stood on its snowy summit in August, 1893, there were certain places where vapors hot enough to cook an egg came up from the ground. For aught we know, it may at any time burst forth again and devastate whole provinces.
This is a land of earthquakes. The records show that from earliest times this country has been subject to great ruin by their visitations. Whole villages and towns have been suddenly swallowed up, and huge mountains have disappeared in a day. These earthquakes are of frequent occurrence. The seismic instruments now in use throughout the empire record about three hundred and sixty-five per year—one for each day. Certain localities are much more exposed to them than others, although none is entirely free from them. These disturbances are very destructive of life and property, especially injuring railways, bridges, and high buildings. They have left their mark upon the whole country. Through the effect of volcanoes and earthquakes together, the surface of Japan presents an appearance seldom seen in any other land.
The forces of nature are unusually destructive in Japan. Besides the volcanoes and earthquakes, the country is subject to occasional tidal waves, which kill thousands of people and destroy millions of dollars' worth of property. Impelled by some mighty force, the great sea rises in its bed mountain high, and, angrily breaking out of its accustomed bounds, sweeps everything before it. While I am writing this chapter (June, 1896) news has come of one of the most destructive waves known here for decades, which has just swept over the north coast of Hondo. More than 30,000 people were killed instantly, and great destruction wrought to property. So terrible is nature in her fiercer aspects!
Japan being a very narrow country, her rivers are short and small, few of them being serviceable for navigation. Ordinarily they are quiet, lazy streams, but when the heavy rains fall in the mountains, the waters sweep down like a flood, swelling these rivers to huge size and converting them into fierce, angry torrents. The Tone-gawa is the longest and widest river, but its length is only 170 miles. Other important ones are the Shinano-gawa, the Kiso-gawa, and the Kitakami. A peculiar feature about these rivers is that none of them bears the same name from source to mouth, but all change their name in nearly every province.
There are few lakes of importance. The largest is Lake Biwa, near Kyoto; it is 50 miles long, and 20 wide at its widest point. Lake Inawashiro is of considerable size. Lake Chuzenji, at the foot of Nantai-zan, is unrivaled for beauty, and is hardly surpassed in any land. Hakone is also a beautiful lake, and the reflection of Fuji-san in its waters by moonlight is a sight well worth seeing. Indeed, the whole of Japan abounds in picturesque landscapes and scenic beauty. Mountain scenes rivaling those of Switzerland; clear, placid lakes, in which the image of sky and mountains blends; and smiling, fertile valleys, heavily laden with fruits and grain, make the landscape one of surpassing beauty. Few countries are more pleasing to the eye than is Japan.
The coasts are indented by many bays and inlets, affording fine harbors. The seas are very deep and often wild and stormy. The islands are favorably located for commercial enterprises, and the Japanese are by nature destined to be a maritime people. As regards situation and harbors, there is a striking resemblance to England. The two countries are of nearly equal size, they both are insular powers, and are situated about equidistant from a great continent. It is safe to assume that Japan's development will be along lines somewhat similar to England's.
There is a good system of roads. The mountain roads are carefully graded; hollows are filled up and ridges cut through in such a manner as we employ only for railroads. Indeed, some of the roads are so carefully graded that ties and rails could be laid on them almost without any further modification. Many of them are as straight as the engineer's art can make them. A new road was built recently from Saga to the small seaport town of Wakatsu, and between the two towns it is as direct as a bee-line. This road crosses a river just at the junction of two streams. The fork of the river lay exactly in the path of the road; by slightly swerving to either the right or the left a bridge half the length of the present one would have sufficed, but the long, costly bridge was built rather than have the road swerve from its course even a little.
In the plains most of the roads are elevated three or four feet above the surrounding fields. They are not macadamized, but are covered with large, coarse gravel known as jari. When this jari is first spread on, the roads are almost impassable, but it soon becomes beaten down and makes a good road. Unfortunately, it must be applied nearly every year.
Some of the chief highways are very old. The most famous is the Tokaido, extending from the old capital, Kyoto, the seat of the imperial court, to the city of Yedo (now called Tokyo), the seat of the shogun's government. It was over this road that the ancient daimios of the western provinces used to journey, with gorgeous pageantry and splendid retinues, to the shogun's court.
Some highways are lined on either side with tall cryptomeria and other trees, giving a delightful shade and making of them beautiful avenues. The most beautiful of these is the road approaching Nikko. This is said to be lined on both sides with rows of magnificent cedars and pines for a distance of 40 miles.
The bridges add a great deal to the peculiar beauty of the landscape. They are substantial, beautiful structures, generally built in the shape of an arch, and are of stone, bricks, or wood. The Japanese are very careful about bridges, and little streams across foot-paths, where in America one sees at best only a plank or log, are here carefully bridged. The bridge called Nihon-bashi, in Tokyo, is said to be the center of the empire, the point at which all roads converge.
A Bridge Scene.
Japan is a land in which the rural population largely predominates. Most of the people live in the villages and small towns. But in recent years a process similar to that going on in America has set in, and large numbers of the rural classes are drifting into the cities.
The chief city is Tokyo, with a population of 1,323,295. Being now the home of the emperor and the seat of government, it is held in much reverence by the people. In popular parlance this city is exalted on a pedestal of honor, and the people speak of "ascending to" or "descending from" it. It is really a fine city, with broad, clean streets and many splendid buildings, and has been called the "city of magnificent distances." One can travel almost a whole day and not get outside the city limits. It was formerly called Yedo, but when the emperor removed his court hither after the Restoration its name was changed to Tokyo. The term means "east capital." The city has enjoyed a marvelous growth and is to-day a vigorous, active place. It has many of the conveniences of modern Western cities, such as electric lights, water-works, tram-cars, telephones, etc.
Kyoto is the ancient capital, the place where the mikados lived in secluded splendor for so many centuries. It was the most magnificent city of old Japan, and many highly cherished national memories and traditions cluster around it. The old classical Japanese, to whom the ancient régime is far superior to the present, still lingers fondly in thought round its sacred temples, shrines, and groves. When the imperial court was removed to Tokyo the name of Kyoto was changed to Saikyo, a term meaning "west capital." Western geographers frequently have been guilty of the error of calling this city "Miyako"; but that has never been the city's name, and is simply the Japanese word for "capital." Kyoto is a beautiful, prosperous city, with a population of 328,354.
Osaka is the commercial center. It is a city of manufactories, and nearly all native articles of merchandise bear the mark, "Made in Osaka." As a business center this city surpasses all others in the empire. It is centrally located, at the head of Osaka Bay, about 20 miles from the open port of Kobé. Here we find the imperial mint, with long rows of splendid buildings. The population is 494,314.
The next largest city is Nagoya, with a population of 206,742. Other prominent cities are: Hiroshima, 91,985; Okayama, 52,360; Kanagawa, 89,975; Kagoshima, 55,495, etc.
There are seven open ports in which foreigners reside at present and engage in commerce. In the order of importance they are: Tokyo, population 1,323,295; Osaka, 494,314; Yokohama, 160,439; Kobé, 150,993; Nagasaki, 67,481; Hakodate, 66,333; Niigata, 50,300. Formerly Nagasaki was in the lead, but now has fallen to the fifth place. It is probable that other ports will be opened to foreign trade in the near future.
Climate
As Japan is so long a country, she has every variety of climate. In the northern provinces, and especially on the northwest coast, it is extremely cold in winter, and snow falls in such quantities as practically to stop all kinds of business. In Formosa and Liukiu there is perpetual summer. That part of Japan in which the West is most interested, and about which it knows most,—which is far the most important portion of the empire,—has a mild, damp climate, free from great extremes of either heat or cold. Each winter snow falls frequently, but it is seldom known to lie on the ground for more than a few hours at a time. Cold frosts are rare. Judged by the thermometer, the summers are no warmer than those of the Carolinas or Tennessee, but their effect upon people of the West resident here is much more trying than the summers of those places. Various reasons are assigned for this. Physicians are well aware that humidity affects health for good or bad as much as temperature. In considering the healthfulness of a climate, not only is the temperature to be taken into account, but the amount of moisture in the air must also be considered. Now, in Japan there is so excessive an amount of moisture in the atmosphere that it makes the heat exceedingly depressing.
The presence of this dampness makes it very hard to keep things clean and free from rust and mold. Sewing-machines, bicycles, scissors, knives, and such things have to be watched carefully and oiled. Carpets, clothing, shoes, etc., have to be sunned well and then shut up in air-tight boxes during the summer season. Often a single night is sufficient to make a pair of shoes white with mold. Were it only on the machines and clothing that the dampness and mold settle, it would not be so bad; but we feel that this same clammy mold is going down into our very bones and marrow, gradually sapping their vigor and strength.
Besides this great excess of moisture in the atmosphere, there are other reasons why the climate is so debilitating. One of these is the lack of ozone. This element is known to be one of the greatest atmospheric purifiers, and also to have a very invigorating and stimulating effect upon mind and body. The proportion of ozone in the atmosphere of Japan is only about one third as great as that in the atmosphere of most Western countries.
The proportion of electricity in the atmosphere is also thought to be much below the average. While not much is known in regard to the effect of atmospheric electricity upon the healthfulness of a country, it is generally believed by scientific and medical men that the proportion of electricity in the air has much to do with our physical well-being.
These three factors, viz., too much moisture, not enough ozone, and not enough electricity, are named as the chief causes which conduce to make the climate depressing and enervating to people from the West. We missionaries have neither the energy nor the strength to do here what we could do at home, and after a five or six years' residence, to do effective work must be permitted to recuperate in the home lands.
The rainfall is far above the average of most countries. Two thirds of the annual downpour falls during the six months from April to October. The rainy season proper begins early in June and lasts about six weeks. At this season it sometimes rains for weeks consecutively. This year (1896) during the rainy season we did not once get a sight of the sun for at least three weeks. The amount of rain varies greatly from year to year, as also in different localities.
Notwithstanding the heavy rainfall, bright, sunny days are far in excess of dark, rainy ones. Clear, balmy skies are the rule rather than the exception. There is a softness and delicacy about Japanese skies rare in America, but common in European countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.
Japanese winds are irregular and violent, and subject to sudden changes. During three months of the year the dreaded typhoons are expected, and once or twice each year great damage is done by them. These typhoons generally blow from the southwest. They often sweep houses, forests, and everything else before them, their wake being a mass of ruins. In fair weather, on the sea-shore, there is a gentle land- and sea-breeze in summer.
Productions
Japan is blessed with a fertile soil, capable of bearing a variety of products. By centuries of the most careful fertilization and irrigation (arts in which the Japanese are adepts) the land has been brought to a very high state of cultivation. One of the peculiar things to the people of the West is the manner in which the fields are irrigated. Nearly all the land under cultivation can be freely watered at the will of the cultivator. Streams and canals everywhere wind in and out through the plains and round the hills, making easy the irrigation of all arable lands.
A striking feature of the farming is the manner of terracing the sides of the hills and mountains. These are not cultivated in their natural state, as in America, but stone walls are built at regular gradations on the mountain-sides, and the soil dug down until level with the tops of the walls. Arranged in this way a mountain-side looks not unlike a huge stairway, and lends beauty to the landscape.
The land here is not divided into large farms, as is usual in the West. Most of the farms are very small. One never sees a field of ten or fifteen acres, but little plots hardly as large as our vegetable gardens. The cultivation is mostly done by hand, the women laboring in the fields with their husbands and brothers. The implements in general use are very rude. Plows are used, but they are roughly made of wood, with an iron point attached, and do poor work. Nearly all the cultivating is done with a hoe, the blade of which is almost as long as the handle, and is attached to it at an angle of less than forty-five degrees, making it an awkward thing to use. All grains are harvested and threshed by hand. The land being so fertile, the yield is large.
In enumerating the products of their country, the native writers usually begin with the go-koku, or five cereals—wheat, rice, millet, beans, and sorghum. Fine crops of wheat are grown, especially in the southern provinces. Perhaps no country in the world produces better rice or a greater quantity per acre. One half of all the land under cultivation is used in the production of rice.
Green grasses are remarkably rare in Japan, and the soil does not seem to be adapted to their growth. Long plains of green meadow- and pasture-lands, so pleasing to the eye in home landscapes, are never seen. Almost the only grass in the empire is the long, coarse grass that grows on the hills and mountains.
Corn and oats are met with rarely. The cultivation of corn is now being introduced in the northern provinces, however, and will probably soon become more general. Hemp and cotton both flourish. The cotton does not grow as large or yield as bountifully as it does in our own Southern States, but a very good crop is raised each year. There is a large variety of vegetables, such as turnips, pumpkins, radishes, beets, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, etc.
Japan produces a great variety of fruits and berries. We can have fresh fruit all the year round. Some of the more prominent are oranges, persimmons, figs, apricots, pears, peaches, plums, loquats, grapes, etc. As a rule the fruit is inferior to that of the West, but the oranges, persimmons, and figs are excellent.
Until comparatively recent years apples were unknown here, but now they are being rapidly introduced and successfully cultivated. They are grown only in the northern provinces, the southern soil not being well adapted to them.
For bright, gay flowers Japan can hardly be excelled. At certain seasons the whole country resembles an immense garden. The crysanthemum is the national flower, and magnificent specimens of it are grown. The cherry blossoms are universal favorites, and when they are at their best the whole population turns out to see them. Lotus flowers are highly prized, and in our city of Saga there is an old castle moat, 200 or 300 yards wide and more than 1 mile long, filled with them, which in July and August is a sea of large red-and-white blossoms, beautiful to behold. The hills and valleys abound in wild flowers, but the natives seem to prize them less than the cultivated ones. In recent years Western flowers are being extensively cultivated, and most of them do well. Flowers that must be carefully housed and nursed in America, such as geraniums, fuchsias, etc., will grow all the year in the open in Japan. Some one only partially acquainted with Japan has said that the flowers have no odor, but this is not true; they are, however, less fragrant than those of the West.
There is no country in the East so well supplied with useful timber. On the island of Yezo alone there are thirty-six varieties of useful timber-trees, including the most useful of all trees, the oak. These vast forests as yet are untouched practically, and the whole of the Hokkaido is one huge lumber-yard. The main island, Kyushu, and Shikoku are also well timbered. But the demand for building material, fire-wood, and charcoal is so great that rapid inroads are being made upon the supply of timber. Unless a more thorough system of forestry is adopted the supply will some day be exhausted. The mulberry-tree flourishes, and immense tracts of land are given to its cultivation. The fruit is not used, but the leaves are highly valuable in silk culture. Lacquer-trees also abound, from which a considerable revenue is derived.
The camphor-supply of the world is almost entirely in the hands of Japan. Magnificent camphor-trees are growing over all southern Japan, and in the newly acquired territory of Formosa there are large groves of them. The camphor industry is a lucrative one, and happy is the man who possesses a few trees. Within a few yards of my former home in Saga, on a little strip of waste land, there were four camphor-trees which sold, standing, for $2000, silver.
This account would be very incomplete without a notice of the bamboo, which grows in large quantities over all the empire. In the northern provinces it is only a small shrub; in the southern it grows to a large tree. The uses to which it is put are innumerable, and the people hardly could do without it.
The chief articles of foreign export produced in Japan are silk, tea, and rice. Silk is produced throughout the country, with the exception of the island of Yezo, but the best yielding districts are in the center and north of the main island. The Japanese cocoon seems to be equally as good as the European, but the methods of manufacturing are not yet up to the highest standard; for this reason Japanese silks are hardly as good as those of France or Italy. The annual export of silk is worth to Japan about $30,000,000.
Second only to silk in importance among exports is tea. Most of it is shipped by foreign merchants to America, Chinese and Indian teas being more popular in Europe. About 40,000,000 pounds are annually exported. The quantity consumed at home must be very great, at least equal to that sent abroad.
The foreign trade in rice is large, and is increasing continually. Japanese rice is far better than that grown in India or Burmah, and is esteemed highly in European markets. Formerly the government exported the rice, as it levied taxes in rice and hence had great stores of it; but this practice has been discontinued. Native merchants are now taking up this branch of the export trade and are pushing it with vigor. The value of the export varies very much each year, in accordance with the crop produced.
Japan is not only rich and fertile, yielding the greatest variety of products, but she is also endowed with great mineral wealth. Kaempfer, in the first history of Japan given to the West, enumerates the minerals thus: sulphur, gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, coal, salt, agates, jasper, pearls, naphtha, ambergris, etc. Coal of fairly good quality is present in great quantities in many parts of the empire. Much of it is sold to the foreign steamers that call here on their way to China. The export of copper amounts to more than $5,000,000 per year. Iron, chiefly in the form of magnetic oxide, is present along the sea-coast and in the diluvium of rivers. As yet the iron resources have not been developed. Gold and silver are present in many places, but the mines have never been worked to very great advantage. Large quantities of salt are made from sea-water. Traces of petroleum are found in several localities, but not much has yet been made of it. The great mineral wealth of Japan as yet is developed only partially.
Animals
The fauna is represented generally as very meager, but this is an injustice. A large portion of the animals now found here may have been imported, but, taking Japan as we find her to-day, animals are abundant.
Horses and oxen are the beasts of burden, and are found everywhere. The horses are smaller than those of the West, and are not so gentle, though very sure-footed and hardy. An effort is now being made to improve the breed by importing American and Australian horses. Native oxen do most of the carrying and plowing. Strange to say, the oxen are gentler and more manageable than the horses. There are very few sheep, and it seems that the country is not adapted to them. Almost the only sheep I have seen here were in menageries, caged, along with lions, bears, etc. Pigs are found, but the people are not fond of their flesh, and consequently not many are raised.
Domestic animals are plentiful, such as cats, dogs, ducks, geese, chickens, etc. Many of the cats have no tails, and the people are prejudiced against cats that have tails. If one happens to be born with a tail they will probably cut it off. Turkeys are scarce.
There are many wild animals, such as bears, wild boars, deer, monkeys, tanuki, wild dogs, foxes, and hares. The people are fond of the chase, but, as large game is rare, the opportunity to indulge this taste is very limited.
Among the wild birds are found herons, cranes, ducks, geese, pheasants, pigeons, storks, falcons, hawks, ravens, woodcocks, crows, and a small bird, called uquisu, resembling the nightingale. The stork and the heron are perhaps most popular, and have been pictured in all kinds of native art. Wild geese and ducks spend the summer in Yezo and the winter in Hondo. Singing birds are rare, but not, as some have affirmed, unknown.
The seas surrounding Japan, and her numerous bays and rivers, are teeming with animal life, and for multitude and variety of edible fish are perhaps unsurpassed by any in the world. Salmon, cod, mackerel, herring, bait, tai, and other small fish are very abundant, so much so that in many places they are used as a fertilizer. From time immemorial fish have formed a prominent part of the daily diet of the people. Whales are numerous on the shores of Kyushu and the southern shores of Hondo, where they are taken by means of harping-irons or darts. Quantities of oil are extracted from them, and their flesh is much relished for food.
The foregoing account will perhaps give the reader some idea of the nature, extent, climate, and products of the land of Japan. With a fertile soil, rich deposits of minerals, a genial climate, and a landscape unsurpassed, surely this is a country highly favored by Heaven. How sad to think that those to whom God has given so much know so little of Him! How one's heart bleeds to see God's beautiful handiwork all marred and stained by images and idols, and that praise which the people so justly owe Him given to gods of wood and stone! But such is the case in Japan to-day. The people know that they are indebted to some higher power for innumerable blessings, but they do not know that this power is the God whom we preach to them.
II
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE
Nothing definite is known concerning the origin of the Japanese people. Some authorities think that the southern portion of Japan was first peopled by sailors and fishermen from Malay, who were drifted thither by the strong current of the Black Stream. That this has happened to shipwrecked sailors in the present time is cited in confirmation of this view.
Some of the northern islands are within sight of the mainland, and it is possible that tribes from northern Asia made their way across the narrow seas and settled there. Ethnological and philological evidence indicates that some immigrants came over from Korea, which they could easily have done, as the southern part of Korea is very near.
If these suppositions are true, two races mingled in Japan—the Malay from the south and the Mongol from the west—and the Japanese people are the joint product of the two. But there is no certain information regarding these immigrations, and we cannot affirm them as historic facts.
Two of the greatest authorities on this subject, Baelz and Rein, affirm that the Japanese are of Mongol origin. Dr. Baelz supposes that there were two chief streams of immigration from northern and central Asia by way of Korea. The immigrants gradually spread eastward and northward and settled in the land, becoming the progenitors of the present inhabitants.
It is historically certain that some Chinamen and Koreans have settled in Japan and contributed toward the production of the Japanese race; both Chinese and Japanese histories contain accounts of such immigration; but it is likely that settlers were already here long before these, of whom we have historic accounts, arrived.
This problem is made more difficult by the fact that there are two separate and distinct races here—the Japanese and the Ainu. The latter do not appear to be Mongols. The Japanese call them the aborigines. When they entered Japan, and where they came from, is not known. There is very little intermixing of these two races. The Japanese have gradually forced the Ainu back to the northern island, just as the settlers in the United States have driven back the Indians. Efforts are being made lately to better the condition of this race, but they do not meet with much success. The Ainu appear to have little capacity for civilization, and the race is rapidly becoming extinct.
So much for the origin of the people. We will endeavor to treat their history, very briefly, under three heads: mythology, mythological history, and reliable history.
Japanese Mythology
Although we of the West are perplexed as to the origin of the Japanese, the national records give what has been a very clear and satisfactory account of this. Hence I have included a very brief statement of this native account of the origin of the Japanese people under the head of history, although it is pure mythology.
Japanese history teaches that in the beginning all things were chaos. There was no Creator, and no First Cause of the universe. There was merely a cosmic mass. By and by the ethereal matter sublimed and formed the heavens; what remained formed the earth. From the warm mold of the earth sprang up a germ which became a self-animate being—the first of the gods. Then four other gods were generated, all sexless and self-begotten. These gods separated the primordial substance into the five elements of wood, fire, metal, earth, and water, and gave to each its properties. The last of these spontaneous divine generations were a brother and a sister, named Izanagi and Izanami. Uniting in marriage, they became the parents of the various islands of Japan and of gods and goddesses innumerable. Izanami died when giving birth to the god of fire. Her divine consort afterward visits her in the lower regions to induce her to return to him. She would fain do so, but must first consult the gods of the place. Going to ask counsel of them, she does not return, and Izanagi, impatient at her tarrying, goes in search of her. He finds her a mass of putrefaction, in the midst of which the eight thunder-gods are sitting.
Disappointed in his hope, he returns to Japan and purifies himself by bathing in a stream. As he bathes new gods are born from his clothing and from each part of his body. The sun-goddess was born from his left eye, the moon-god from his right eye, and Susanoo, the last of all, was born from his nose. What a prolific breeder of gods was he!
The mythology goes on relating, tale after tale, the absurd actions of these gods residing together for several generations in Japan, the center of the universe, frequently visiting both heaven and hell, and performing all kinds of miraculous feats. In native history this period is called the "period of the gods." About six generations after Izanagi and Izanami, in the direct line of descent from them, the first human emperor of Japan was born. His name was Kamu-Yamato-Ihare-Biko, posthumously called Jimmu Tenno.
Those Japanese to whose minds the problem of the origin of the outside nations ever occurred solved it in this fashion: the barbarian nations must likewise have descended from the mikado, the son of heaven, in very remote times, but have wandered off and are now far from the divine source. The Japanese, being still under the protection of their divine father, are very much nearer in the line of descent, and hence are the first race in the world.
Thus they trace their descent direct to the gods, and their emperor is to this day considered the divine father of his people. It is a pity we cannot join with them in accepting this easy solution of the difficult problem of their origin.
Mythological History
By this term I would designate that period in Japanese history in which mythology and history are so blended as to be inseparable. For almost one thousand years records purporting to be historical are so intermingled with that which is purely mythological as to make it next to impossible to discriminate between them.
Japanese historians claim that the authentic history of their country dates from the time of Jimmu Tenno (600 B.C.), and the national records are unbroken from that time to the present. Most European and American historians have accepted these records as true, and yet critical scholars here feel bound to reject them. The oldest Japanese histories were not written until the eighth century A.D., and it does not seem probable that traditions handed down by word of mouth for more than a thousand years would be reliable. The records themselves are contradictory and self-refuting. Contemporary Chinese and Korean history, in which are frequent references to the "land of Wa," i.e., Japan, does not agree with the Japanese records, which bear evidence of having been written for a purpose other than a true statement of historical facts. These and other reasons have led Messrs. Aston and Chamberlain, the scholars who have studied this subject perhaps more than any others, to conclude that Japanese records prior to the date 461 A.D. are unreliable.
This period in dispute (from 600 B.C. to 461 A.D.) I have designated the period of mythological history. Even in the Japanese so-called histories the mythology for centuries is narrated along with that which claims to be genuine history; the gods still mingle with men and take part in their affairs. The legends of the gods and those of the emperors are given side by side in the same book, and as much credence attaches to the one as to the other.
Orthodox Shinto scholars, while recognizing the fact of the parallelism of the mythology and the history, inconsistently reject the mythological legends of the gods while strenuously holding to those relating to the emperors. My own opinion is that most of the important events related in the records during this period had some basis in fact, but that the accounts of them are exaggerated and perverted.
Commencing with the period which native historians assign as the beginning of authentic history, the first important event we find is the accession of Jimmu Tenno to the throne (600 B.C.). But the very existence of Jimmu Tenno as an historical personage is not at all certain. The evidence adduced has never been sufficient to satisfy Western scholars, although the Japanese would consider it almost treason to disbelieve in him.
Japanese histories for this period are very meager. They consist, for the most part, of a recital of the names and ages of the mikados, with perhaps a sentence or two concerning the state of the country during their reigns.
One of the most important events noted in this early period is the subjugation of Korea by the Empress Jingo. She is said to have collected a large army, and, by the help of the fishes great and small, and of favorable winds and currents, to have crossed over into Korea in small junks, and completely subjugated the country, reducing it to the position of a tributary state. The Japanese firmly believe this story, and are proud of the early success of their arms in this foreign war. Korean records justify us in assuming that Japanese influence was predominant in Korea at this time, but the story of the Empress Jingo, especially in its details, must be received with caution. She is perhaps an historical personage, but whether she invaded Korea or not is doubtful.
The next event of importance in the records is the introduction of Chinese art, science, and learning, which took place in the early centuries of the Christian era, and exerted an incalculable influence upon the people of Japan. Learning, religion, philosophy, literature, laws, ethics, medicine, art—all were brought over bodily. From this time forward the Japanese were largely students and imitators of China. Korea was the medium through which these continental influences were transmitted. With the introduction of learning and literature historical records began to be kept over all Japan, and oral tradition was no longer relied upon. From this time the authentic history of Japan begins.
Reliable History
Chamberlain, Aston, and others agree that the first trustworthy date in Japanese history is 461 A.D., and that for the succeeding century too much confidence must not be placed in details. This disproves the pretty stories told by the Japanese, and by many Western writers as well, as to the great age of this nation, and its unbroken line of emperors extending at least as far back as 600 B.C.; but it is not the first time that pretty theories have been rudely broken up by an investigation of facts. The imperial line is probably as old as that of the popes, but hardly older. Japan, in fact and in authentic history, is younger than Christianity. Her existence as a state began about the time of the fall of the Roman empire.
With the year 461 historical events and personages appear, and, in the main, we may accept the history from this time forward as accurate.
About the middle of the sixth century began one of the most important processes in Japanese history—the conversion of the nation to Buddhism. For some centuries previous Chinese learning and arts had been gradually filtering into Japan; but they had not as yet gained general acceptance. The Buddhist priests brought Chinese civilization, and in the course of two centuries it spread over the country, influencing morality, politics, and everything. Sweeping changes were made in the government, which was then organized on the Chinese centralized plan. Arts, sciences, and literature flourished. This was the golden age of classical Japan.
In the year 670 A.D. the great Fujiwara family came upon the stage. The mikados were in theory absolute rulers, but eventually they became mere figureheads. Their mode of life was not such as to make of them able rulers. Surrounded by an effeminate court, living in indolence and debauchery amid priests and court women, they were hardly competent to direct affairs. The emperor was often a mere child, who, when he grew up, either abdicated freely or was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of another child as weak as himself. The government was administered by the most powerful vassals. The great Fujiwara family held the affairs of state in its own hands from 670 to 1050 A.D.: all the important posts were filled by its sons, while its daughters were married to the imbecile emperors.
The next important event in Japanese history is the rise of feudalism. The warlike samurai classes, disgusted with this weak petticoat government, arose in arms and overthrew it. The great clans of Taira and Minamoto appeared and alternately held the reins of government for nearly two centuries. Lawlessness and disorder prevailed. The leader who could command the most men and win the victory with his sword was master of the empire. All Japan became a military camp, the chieftains waging war against one another. Thus feudalism took its rise and prevailed for many centuries, powerfully affecting every form of thought and life, just as it did in Europe at a similar period.
The Taira family was finally overthrown by the Minamotos, and the chief of the latter clan, Yoritomo, was raised to the supreme power. This man was the first to obtain from the imperial court in Kyoto the title of "shogun"—generally spoken of in the West as "tycoon." From this time forward (1190-1867) the shogun was the real ruler of Japan. The mikado was still the theoretical head of the state, descendant of the sun-goddess, and fountain of all honor, but he lived in the retirement and seclusion of his court, never seen by his subjects, and all matters of government were attended to by the shogun. Yoritomo's descendants gradually degenerated, and were finally overthrown by the Ashikaga family.
This powerful clan took charge of the government in 1338 and held it until 1565. It encouraged literature and the arts, and the court became a center of elegance and refinement. Especially did the intricate tea ceremonies flourish at this time. This family became weak and effeminate finally, like its predecessors, and was overthrown.
Japan was first discovered by Europeans probably in 1542, when the Portuguese adventurer Mendez Pinto landed on her coasts. He brought the first definite information concerning her received in Europe, and his reports were so highly exaggerated that he was spoken of everywhere as "mendacious Pinto." Soon after his visit numbers of Portuguese adventurers came, who were received warmly by the impressible people. With them came the Jesuits and the introduction of Christianity. The growth of Christianity, and the bloody persecutions it encountered, begin from this time. These interesting subjects will be treated in another chapter and hence are passed over here.
During this period lived successively three of the greatest men in Japanese history—Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu. On these men devolved the tasks of breaking the power of the feudal lords and bringing them into more complete subjection to the shogun; of unifying the empire and of strengthening the central government. The plan was conceived by Nobunaga, begun by Hideyoshi, and completed by Iyeyasu. The former was the friend and patron of the Christians, the two latter their bitter persecutors.
After the rulers had succeeded in stamping out Christianity the country was closed to foreign influence, and for two hundred years remained hermetically sealed. Even shipwrecked foreign sailors found on her coasts were executed, and no Japanese was permitted to leave the country on pain of death. The only communication with the outside world reserved was through the Hollanders, a small band of whom were permitted to reside at Nagasaki. Through them various arts and sciences, including medicine, were introduced.
This calm seclusion was rudely broken in upon by the coming of Commodore Perry, in 1853-54, with his big guns. He came to establish treaties of commerce and trade, and to secure better treatment for American ships and sailors—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. Here it is needful, in the interests of truth, to disprove another pretty story, to the effect that Perry and his crew were very pious, godly men, and that they secured the concessions desired by peaceable methods—by praying and singing psalms. The fact is that the concessions gained were forced from Japan by intimidation, by threats, and by a show of strength. Commodore Perry also used the same tactics in Liukiu. He effected his purpose, it is true, without using his guns, except for intimidation, but it is safe to say that he would not have accomplished it without them.
The treaties then forced from the government were humiliating to Japan; for example, granting exterritoriality, by virtue of which foreigners should live under their own consuls and in no sense be amenable to the laws of the land. Such concessions are demanded by civilized states of the uncivilized only, and their very existence implies inferiority. But nothing else was possible at that time, nor did Japan object.
The coming of Perry, and his forced opening of the country, marked the birth of new Japan, so different from the old, and the beginning of an era of unprecedented prosperity. The Japanese now recognize this, and speak of Perry as one of their greatest benefactors.
During the years immediately preceding this there was a great revival of learning. A school of literati arose, which zealously studied the antiquities of its own country as opposed to the imported Chinese classics. A revival of Shinto sprang up, and with it grew again that great reverence and esteem for the ancient imperial line, the divine mikados, as against the upstart shoguns. In this way began the movement which ended in the revolution of 1868 and the overthrow of the shogunate.
When Perry came the shogun's government was already tottering to its fall, and when this government made treaties with foreign countries, admitting the "barbarians" to this "land of the gods," a loud cry arose against it over all the land. Finally the imperial court at Kyoto, prompted by the mighty daimios of Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa, decided upon the abolition of the shogunate. The shogun himself submitted to the decree of the mikado, but many of his followers did not. The War of the Revolution ensued, and after much fighting the imperial troops were victorious; the shogunate was forever abolished, and the emperor once more took personal charge of the government.
The literary party had triumphed. Buddhism was largely supplanted by Shinto; the shogunate, which had admitted the foreigners, was abolished; and the literati fondly supposed that the court would now expel the intruders, abolish the treaties, again shut up the country, and affairs would go on as in the "good old times." But they were deceived. The mighty lords of Tosa, Satsuma, and Choshu now declared in favor of foreign intercourse and the adoption of European civilization. These princes were too powerful not to be heard. Their advice was heeded; the foreigners were welcomed, the country was opened more and more, old abuses were corrected, and the Europeanization of Japan was begun.
The reformation was ably assisted from the very quarter where we would expect to find it most bitterly opposed. The young and able emperor Mutsuhito, coming out of the obscurity which had enshrouded his ancestors for ages, and putting aside the traditions of centuries, ably seconded the efforts of his ministers in every reform. The unparalleled progress during his long and enlightened reign is due in no small part to his wisdom and prudence. He has shown himself a liberal, enlightened monarch, and I am sure that I express the sentiment of every friend of Japan in saying, Long live his Majesty Mutsuhito!
The reformation of the country, the assimilation of Western civilization and institutions, and the gradual opening and development of the empire have gone on uninterruptedly since the restoration of the emperor to the supreme power.
In 1871 the daimiates were abolished and the old daimios retired to private life. Thus feudalism was at last broken up and the central government strengthened. In this same year the postal and telegraph systems were introduced and a mint was established.
In 1889 the constitution was promulgated, whereby the people were given a voice in the government, and Japan became a constitutional monarchy, very much like Prussia or other European states. In this year local self-government was also established. In accordance with the constitution, the first Diet was opened in 1890. This highest legislative body in Japan resembles somewhat, in its organization and functions, the German Reichstag.
One of the greatest recent events in Japanese history is the successful revision of the treaties. After the Restoration and the adoption of Western institutions and civilization, efforts were continually being made to have these treaties revised on a basis more favorable to Japan; but these efforts were always defeated. Thus Japan was for many years forced to submit to treaties made long ago, which were good enough then, but are outgrown entirely now. No recognition whatever was made of her great progress during these thirty years, and the foreign powers still treated her as an inferior. This was unjust, and the people naturally chafed under it. Finally, by the wisdom and perseverance of the present Japanese statesmen, treaty revision has been secured on the basis of equality. By this revision she regains the concessions forced from her in former years. After the year 1900 all foreigners residing in Japan will become amenable to her laws; exterritoriality will be abolished; power to levy taxes upon imports within prescribed limits will be regained; and Japan will be recognized as an equal by the great powers of the West. In return for these concessions on the part of foreign powers, she gives liberty of residence and travel in any part of the empire, and all privileges generally accorded aliens in Western nations, except the right of ownership of land. We rejoice with Japan that justice has at last been accorded her, and that the treaties have been satisfactorily revised.
A sketch of Japanese history would be incomplete without some mention of the recent war with China. This war was especially interesting because it afforded the first opportunity Japan has had of trying her strength with her new arms. For years she has been to school to the Western nations; now she goes out to put into practice the lessons she has learned. Her fine army and navy, constructed after the most approved Western models, are tested for the first time. The results are such as to more than satisfy Japan with her new equipment. The story of her splendid success against a nation outnumbering her ten to one is familiar to all and need not be recounted.
The war was a positive gain to Japan in many ways. Aside from the material gain in indemnity and the extension of her territory, it gave her an opportunity to demonstrate to the world the substantial progress she has made. Nothing else would have gained for her so much respect from Western powers as her prowess exhibited in this war. A demonstration of force and of ability to fight great battles is still regarded as a mark of progress and civilization.
The war also helped to settle many troublesome internal questions. Some feared the people would be so elated by their phenomenal success that their pride and arrogance would be unendurable. But it was not so. The Japanese expected to win from the beginning, and were not surprised at the result. After the war was over they settled down to the even tenor of their ways as though nothing had happened. They have shown themselves as able to bear victory as to win it.
Such is an all too brief account of the history of this interesting people. An acquaintance with the main facts of this history I thought necessary to enable American Christians rightly to appreciate the work of their missionaries in their efforts to plant the church in Japan.
III
JAPANESE CHARACTERISTICS
It is next to impossible for an alien to judge accurately the characteristics of a people. That a foreigner's interpretation of a nation's character, and of the moral influences that direct and mold its life, is apt to be imperfect and erroneous is now a recognized truth. An Englishman cannot understand a Frenchman, nor a Frenchman an Englishman. Even people so closely related as the English and Americans, with a common ancestry, common history and traditions, a common speech, common laws, and a common faith, find great difficulty in properly understanding one another. The American essayist Emerson did not venture to write "English Traits" until he had visited England, mingled freely with the people, and familiarized himself with the manifold phases of English character; and Bryce's excellent work on "The American Commonwealth," in which American characteristics are reflected more truly than they have been by any other English writer, did not see the light until its author had made frequent visits to the United States and had carefully studied his subject for seventeen years.
If it is so hard to understand a kindred people, how much harder it is to understand a people so alien as the Japanese! Here the religion, language, manners and customs, and moral ideas are so different from our own that the task of portraying the real characteristics of the race becomes a colossal one. It should be attempted only by men who have had years of practical experience with the people, who can read their language and look at things from their standpoint, and who bring to their task a loving sympathy with the people whose life they would portray.
But nothing is more common than to meet with sweeping judgments on Japanese character by persons utterly incompetent to make them. Men who have perhaps never seen Japan sit in judgment upon her with a gusto unequaled. Globe-trotters, spending at most only a few weeks here, and necessarily learning nothing of the inner life of the people, have made most sweeping statements concerning the traits of national character, such as: "The Japanese are a nation of liars;" "They are mere imitators, originating nothing;" "They are fickle and quite unreliable;" "Licentiousness is the most prominent trait in the national character," etc. Now it is unnecessary to say that judgments formed in this way are worthless. Here, if anywhere, it behooves one to write only after careful study and observation, and even then to speak with caution.
Physically the Japanese are inferior to the races of the West. They are shorter of stature and lighter of weight than Europeans or Americans. The upper part of their bodies is developed perhaps as fully as our own; but the lower limbs have been so cramped by sitting on the floor for centuries that they are shorter and weaker. Their habits of life and their vegetable diet have combined to make of them a physically weak people. They age earlier than the races of the Occident.
In color they do not differ much from the American Indians or the half-breeds of the South. There are two types of facial expression: the old samurai or noble classes have a long, narrow face, sharp nose, high, narrow forehead, and oblique eyes; the lower classes have fat, round, pudding faces, with broad mouths and flat noses. These two types are distinguished readily on the streets, and rank can be judged by them.
The Japanese are a cheerful race. The cares of life seem lightly to weigh upon them. On the surface they appear always smiling and happy. They are very fond of gay scenes and bright colors. Politeness is a national characteristic. Etiquette has been carried to such an extent as to have largely degenerated into empty forms.
Mentally they are bright and intelligent, receiving and apprehending instruction readily. The students are equally as diligent and earnest as are those in the academies and colleges of America, though physically they are not so able to endure prolonged study. They have great thirst for knowledge, and study for the sake of learning itself; hence the various devices for evading study so common in the schools at home are almost unknown. The intensity of this thirst for knowledge on the part of the young is remarkable. Hundreds of young men over all Japan are struggling for an education against very great odds. Many are now educated abroad, and these take their stand in our best colleges and universities along with the brightest of our own students. When their course is completed they are able to carry on all kinds of learned scientific investigations independently of their teachers. Witness what they have done in seismology, botany, and medicine. These facts indicate that the Japanese are an intellectual race.
In order rightly to appreciate the national character we must remember that the idea of personality is developed here only partially. This is strikingly evident in the structure of the language, which consists of nouns and verbs almost exclusively. Distinctions of person and number are generally ignored, and true pronouns are entirely wanting. From ancient times men have been considered, not as individuals, but en masse. The family has been exalted above the individual, who is hardly considered to have an existence apart from it. Thus, in ancient times, as among Occidental races also, if one member of a family came under the censure of the government, all were censured. When one member was put to death, all were executed. As the family, and not the individual, was the unit with which the laws dealt, the family became the subject of prime consideration. To perpetuate the family line came to be considered a very essential thing, and in order thereto the system of concubinage was introduced. It is proper to state that in regard to this exaltation of the family over the individual Japan is now in a transition period, and that the individual is becoming more and more important in the eyes of the law.
A marked characteristic of the Japanese is their strong patriotism. There is no more patriotic people on the face of the earth. It is said that the name of the emperor, whispered over the heads of an excited mob, will calm it as readily as oil poured on troubled waters. In the recent war with China there were many more volunteers for active service than could be sent to the front. I have seen old men lament, with tears in their eyes, that they could no longer serve their country as soldiers, even to the death if need be. This principle of loyalty is the strongest motive power in Japan to-day. It supersedes all others. A man's duty to his family, even to his parents, is nothing when compared with his duty to his country; and Japanese history abounds in pathetic stories of men, women, and even children, who have counted all other duties as naught and have willingly sacrificed their lives for their country.
Patriotism here amounts to a passion—I had almost said a fanaticism. From earliest infancy it is instilled into the minds of the children, and there is not one of the little ones in whose heart his country has not the first place. A native writer has expressed the sentiments of every Japanese thus: "My native land! everywhere and always the first affections of my heart and the first labor of my hands shall be thine alone."
This patriotism is not always held intelligently. The masses of the people have very mistaken ideas as to what patriotism is. I meet not a few who believe that love for Japan necessitates a hatred of all other countries, and that no man can be loyal and at the same time admire and praise foreign lands. Fortunately, the class whose nationalism is so unenlightened is not an influential one; otherwise patriotism itself would check the growth and development of the country. As it is, the strong nationalistic feeling serves to prevent a too indiscriminate adoption of Western institutions and to preserve the good elements of old Japan.
Respect for parents and teachers is one of the most prominent elements in the national character. The first principle of Confucian ethics, as taught in China, is reverence and obedience to parents; and although in Japan this has been subordinated to the principle of loyalty, it is still a prominent factor in the national life. The proper attitude of children toward parents, and pupils toward teachers, is not one of love, but one of absolute obedience and reverence. It is said here that true love can come only from a superior to an inferior, while the proper feeling of inferiors toward their superiors is one of reverence. This relation of superior and inferior is carried into every phase of society, and on it depends much of the family and national life. The principle of obedience is almost the only moral teaching given to the girls, and when they are grown up their moral ideas cluster round this one point. In olden times parents had absolute control over their children and could dispose of them as they saw fit, even killing them if they so desired. But now the parent's control over the child is limited by law. Children are expected to yield implicit, unquestioning obedience to their parents, and Japanese children are usually more virtuous in this respect than the children of Americans.
As a result of this fundamental principle of obedience, inculcated from childhood, has grown the universal respect for authority found in Japan. Whatever the government does the common people do not question. Even petty officials are respected and obeyed in a manner surprising to us independently thinking people of the West. No matter how disagreeable and unjust an act on the part of the authorities may be, it is usually accepted meekly with the comment, "There is no help for it."
The counterpart of this reverence and unquestioning obedience to authority is a feeling of meekness and dependence. The government is depended upon for much more than is the government in the United States. It is expected to inaugurate all great commercial and industrial enterprises. Thus the building of railroads, the construction of telegraphs, and other great works have had to be executed by the government. In recent years this spirit is changing somewhat, and private corporations are beginning to inaugurate great enterprises. But in general it may be said that the national character is lacking in independence and decision.
Love of the beautiful is a prominent and highly developed Japanese trait. Their ideals of beauty differ much from Western ideals, and many things that they pronounce beautiful would not be so judged in the Occident. Most Americans at first cannot appreciate Japanese art, landscape scenery, or flowers; but a short residence here and an acquaintance with native life and scenes soon bring one to appreciate them. The esthetic faculty is much more highly developed than in America. It is possessed by all classes. The gardens of the rich are laid out with especial care, and no money or pains are spared to make them beautiful. I have seen day-laborers stand and gaze for a long time at a beautiful sunset, or go into raptures over a dwarfed cherry-bush just putting forth its tiny buds. Men who have worked in the fields all day, until they are exhausted, on their return home in the evening will stop by the wayside to pluck some beautiful shrub or flower and carry it back with them. Go into the room of a school-boy and you will almost invariably find his table brightened by a pretty bouquet of flowers. When the cherries are in bloom the whole population leaves off work and turns out to enjoy them. Japan is a beauteous land, and no people are more capable of appreciating her beauty than her own.
The Japanese are open-minded and receptive of truth, from whatever quarter it may come. Were this not true it would have been impossible for her to have become what she is to-day. When Buddhism was first brought to Japan it was seen to possess elements of religious power that Shinto did not have, and the people by and by accepted it. When Confucianism was introduced its moral teachings were seen to be lofty and inspiring, and it was given a warm welcome. When Christianity first came many of the daimios took especial pains to examine into it to see if it were likely to benefit their country, with the full intention of accepting it. How many of them did accept it is told in another chapter. The present attitude of opposition is the result of prejudice, instilled in part by past experience with Christianity, and in part by the misrepresentation of its enemies; it is not the result of natural intolerance. The readiness with which Western learning of all kinds has been adopted, and the patient hearing and investigation native scholars give to all new theories of science and knowledge, clearly show that their mind is an open and receptive one. A native professor has expressed this characteristic in these words: "The Japanese as a race are open-hearted, with a mind free from prejudice and open to conviction." But that it is as receptive of prejudice and misrepresentation as of truth and knowledge is evidenced by its present attitude toward Christianity.
Many critics have pronounced the Japanese a very speculative people, but it is doubtful if this is true. By nature, I think, they are more inclined to be practical than speculative. Abstract metaphysical and theological ideas have little charm for them.
But there is a large element in Japan that simulates a taste for philosophical study. Philosophy and metaphysics are regarded by them as the profoundest of all branches of learning, and in order to be thought learned they profess great interest in these studies. Not only are the highly metaphysical philosophies of the East studied, but the various systems of the West are looked into likewise. Many of the people are capable of appreciating these philosophies, too; but they do it for a purpose.
Japanese character is lacking in steadfastness and fixedness of purpose. Huge enterprises will be begun with great enthusiasm, only to be abandoned in a short while. There is not that steadfastness and fixedness which lays out far-reaching plans, extending years into the future, and which adheres to these plans until their purpose is accomplished. On the contrary, they are vacillating and changeful, as is shown by their migratory disposition. This want of steadfastness is even evinced by many ministerial candidates. It is a frequent occurrence for young men to enter the mission schools with the firm intention of becoming evangelists, and, by the time their academic course is finished, to change their mind and go into some other calling. Some of those who have become evangelists are restless and vacillating, and after they have been located in one place for a few years like to be transferred to another. The "stick-to-it-iveness" of the Anglo-Saxon is largely wanting. But we must not speak too dogmatically upon this point, for the Japanese government has shown itself capable of laying out far-reaching plans, and of adhering to its original purpose until it is successfully accomplished.
Inconsistency is another trait of the Japanese mind, which often turns square about and takes positions exactly opposed to its avowed principles, realizing no inconsistency in doing so. This is well illustrated in the political life of the people. In theory the emperor, as the divine head of the nation, cannot go wrong, and whatever he does is necessarily right. It is the duty of every subject unquestioningly to obey the will of the emperor. To this all Japanese will readily agree, but in practice the people are often found arraigned against the government, which has the emperor for its head. Lines of policy which the emperor himself has mapped out and pursued for years are often bitterly opposed; and yet the people are all unconscious of this, and resent very much any insinuation that they are opposing his will.
Another evidence of inconsistency is seen in their opposition to Christianity. The usual objection that is made against our faith is that it is a Western religion, and there are thousands of people who oppose it solely on this ground. But, even while opposing the Western religion, they are daily using all kinds of Western institutions gladly. All manner of material things are received from abroad with pleasure, and are considered none the worse for their foreign origin, the line being drawn at religion.
Japanese character is largely wanting in originality. The people have originated almost nothing, having accepted nearly everything at the hands of others. In ancient times Japan had Korea for a teacher; afterward she studied under China; now she is at school to Europe and America. Her medieval civilization was accepted bodily from Asia, just as her modern is from Europe. No important inventions have been made. Even the little jinrikisha, which is the universal means of locomotion, and which, I believe, is found nowhere else except in certain Chinese ports, is said to have been first made by an American missionary for the comfort and convenience of his invalid wife. It should be said, however, that some claim the native origin of the jinrikisha, and contend that its inventor lived in Kyoto.
But while the Japanese are not originators, they are excellent imitators. The ability to imitate well is a power not to be despised. This, when coupled with assimilation, is a very fruitful source of progress, as the Japan of to-day witnesses. The ease and facility with which Japan has imitated the West and assimilated her institutions, applying them to new and changed conditions, is marvelous. Given a model, the people can make anything, no matter how diminutive or complicated. Even the American dude is most successfully imitated.
The Japanese do not slavishly follow their models, but are able to change, modify, and develop them at will. Given the general idea, they can easily construct the rest. Thus in the adoption of Western institutions they have in some cases actually improved upon their models. Especially is this true of the postal and telegraph systems, which, though copied after our own, are in many respects superior. They are not blind followers of their teachers, but often start out on independent exploration and investigation. Such powers of imitation are second only to those of invention, and have made Japan what she is to-day.
Another national peculiarity is the slight value placed upon human life. The idea that the family, and not the individual, is of supreme importance, and the Buddhistic teaching that life itself is the greatest of all evils, are responsible for this. To pour out one's blood upon the battle-field for one's lord has from of old been considered a privilege. Death has not that terror that it has in the West, and the people are not afraid to die. Hence suicides are of very frequent occurrence, and to take one's own life is, under certain circumstances, considered a meritorious act. Under the old régime a member of the samurai or warrior classes could not be executed like a common man, but after condemnation was left to take his own life.
About seven thousand suicides occur in Japan each year. The slightest reasons will induce a man to take his own life. Statistics show that the proportion of suicides varies with the success or failure of the rice crop. If sustenance is cheap, people live; if it is dear, they rid themselves of the burden of life. The number of suicides also varies much with the season of the year, showing that such little matters as heat and discomfort will outweigh the value put upon life.
A young girl recently came to Saga from Kagoshima as a household servant She did not like her new home, and asked her mistress to send her back to her birthplace. The mistress refused, and the next morning the poor girl was found dead in the yard, having hanged herself during the night—all, forsooth, because she could not go home. So low is the value placed upon life here! Human life is valued highly in the West solely because of Christian teaching; outside of Christendom it is cheap.
It has been charged upon the Japanese that they are wanting in gratitude, or, at least, that their gratitude lasts only so long as they are looking for favors. This is but partially true. Ever since I came to Japan I have been teaching a few boys English at odd hours, and they have really embarrassed me by the number of their presents. On the other hand, I have helped young men with money at school, who were at first grateful apparently, and would come to my home to perform various small services in return, but by and by would object to doing the least service, even while living on my charity.
In past years Japan has in various capacities employed a great number of Americans and Europeans, and has usually rendered them a very adequate return for their services. In addition to the stipulated salary, she has often given them costly presents. But recently a good deal of complaint has been made by foreign employees to the effect that, after they have given the best years of their lives to the service of Japan, they have been summarily dismissed, without previous notice and without thanks.
Evidences of ingratitude are very numerous in the native church. The missionary who has left home, friends, and country for the sake of these people, and who labors for them with all the powers God has given him, is often not rewarded by that gratitude and kindness on the part of his converts which he reasonably expects. Frequently he takes young men from the humbler walks of life, provides both their food and clothing, gives them six or eight years' instruction in well-equipped schools, supports them liberally as evangelists, only to have them rise up against him, oppose him in his work, and pronounce him an ignoramus. In many parts of the native church there is a strong anti-missionary spirit, and the feeling of gratitude which these churches should have for their founders, organizers, and supporters is wanting. From such facts as these we are forced to conclude that the feeling of gratitude is not very strong.
Much has been said in regard to the commercial honor and integrity of the Japanese. Our first American minister to Japan, Townsend Harris, pronounced them "the greatest liars upon the face of the earth." A foreign employee in a government school, when asked concerning the native character, replied in two words—deceit and conceit. The numerous exceptions to upright dealing in mercantile circles seem to justify these judgments. Native merchants are unreliable in such matters as punctuality, veracity, and the keeping of contracts. They will do all in their power to avoid the fulfilment of a contract which would entail a loss. The artisan class is even more unreliable in these respects than are the merchants.
To offset this, it should be said that, while the people are frequently unreliable in private matters, in public affairs and in all governmental relations they are honest and fair-dealing. Public office is seldom perverted for private ends, and the national conscience would quickly call to account any official who would enrich himself at the public expense. In this respect Japan is in striking contrast with the other nations of the East, and, alas! with many of those of the West as well.
I have not endeavored to give an exhaustive statement of the national characteristics of the Japanese people, but have simply tried to give enough to help my readers to an appreciation of the native character. I have endeavored to be strictly truthful and at the same time to do justice to the race. While fully recognizing the failings of the Japanese, we must also recognize the great improvement of the national character in recent years, and must remember that they are in many respects laboring at a great disadvantage, and deserve, not hatred and contempt, but our warmest sympathy and love.
IV
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
A study of the manners and customs of foreign peoples is both interesting and profitable. If we have no knowledge of the customs of other nations we are apt to think that our own customs have their ground in eternal reason, and that all customs differing from ours are necessarily false and wrong. But if we study the manners of other lands, and learn of the daily observance of customs many of which are squarely opposed to our own, and which nevertheless work well, we will be led to value our own customs at their true worth, and to realize that we have not a monopoly of all that is good, convenient, and useful.
To know the manners and customs of a country is to know much about that country. There is no truer index of the character of a people's life. Knowing these, the prevailing morality and governing laws may be very largely inferred. In fact, every phase of a nation's life has so intimate a connection with the manners and customs that a study of these is exceedingly profitable.
Such a study is especially necessary to those who would gain a correct knowledge of the nature and difficulties of mission work in foreign lands. The customs of a people will have a direct bearing upon mission work among them. If Christianity violates national customs it will be condemned; if it observes them it will be tolerated. Whether it observes or violates them must depend upon the nature of the customs themselves. The success of Christianity in any country will depend, in part, upon the nature of the customs prevalent there. Therefore it is wise for us to study those of Japan, in order to a better understanding of the people and of the condition and prospects of mission work among them.
One of the most striking facts in connection with Japanese customs is that many of them are exactly opposed to those which prevail in the West. People who have been accustomed to doing certain things one way all their lives, and have come to look upon that as the only way, upon coming out here are shocked to find these very same things done in precisely the opposite way. This is so to such an extent that Japan has been called "Topsyturvydom." But to those who are acquainted with the customs of both East and West it is a serious question which one is topsy-turvy. After one has become used to them, many of the customs appear just as sensible and convenient as those of America or Europe. Why this opposition, we do not know, but perhaps the fact that the Japanese are antipodal to us makes it fitting that their customs should be antipodal too. I will point out a few of the things that are so different.
The manner of making books and of writing letters is very different from that to which my readers are accustomed. An Occidental has an idea that something inherent in things necessitates that a book begin at the left side, and the thought of beginning at the other side appears to him ridiculous. But in reality it is every whit as convenient, fitting, and sensible to begin at one side as at the other; and all Japanese books begin at the side which people of the West call the end, i.e., at the right side, and read toward the left. While English books are printed across the page in lines from left to right, Japanese books are printed from right to left in columns. An Occidental generally turns the leaves of his book from the top with his left hand; an Oriental turns them from the bottom with his right hand. In Western libraries the books are placed on their ends in rows; in Japan they are laid flat down on their sides and piled up in columns. If we see several good dictionaries or encyclopedias in a man's study we are apt to infer that he is a man of studious habits; the Japanese of olden times inferred just the opposite. The idea seems to have been that a scholar would already have the meaning and use of all words in his head and would not need to refer to a dictionary. A Japanese friend who came into my study one day expressed great surprise at seeing several large dictionaries there. "You have certainly had better educational advantages than I have," he said, "and yet I can get along with a very small dictionary; why cannot you?" Upon inquiry, I learned that many Japanese keep their dictionaries concealed, because they do not want it said that they must refer to them often.
The manner of addressing letters in Japan is exactly opposed to ours. Take a familiar example. We write:
MR. FRANK JONES,
110 Gay Street,
Knoxville,
Tennessee.
A Japanese would write it:
Tennessee,
Knoxville,
Gay Street, 110,
JONES, FRANK, MR.
The latter is certainly the more sensible method, because what the postmaster wants to see is not the name of the man to whom the letter is addressed, but the place to which it is to go.
In matters of dress there are some customs quite opposed to our own. The American lady, especially if she goes to a ball, has her neck and arms bare, but she would be shocked at the very mention of having her feet bare. The Japanese lady puts her heaviest clothing on her arms and shoulders, but does not at all mind being seen with bare feet and ankles. Many of the ladies do not wear any foot-gear at all in the house, but these same women could hardly be induced to expose their arms and necks as Western women do.
A Western lady is very anxious to have a thin, narrow waist; her Japanese sister wants a broad one. In the West curly hair is highly prized on girls and women; in the East it is considered an abomination. If you tell a little girl here that her hair is curly, she will consider it a disgrace and will cry bitterly. The most striking difference in regard to dress, however, is in mourning dress. Whereas in the West it is always black, in Japan it is always white.
Another remarkable contrast is found in the relation of the sexes. In America the woman is given the precedence in everything. Her husband, and all other men who come within her influence, must serve and honor her. Attend an evening party and see woman in her glory. How the men crowd round her, anxious to serve or entertain! When supper is announced they vie with one another for the honor of escorting her to the dining-room. She must have first seat at table and be first served, and during the progress of the meal the men must be careful to see that she has everything her sweet will desires. When supper is over the ladies precede the men to the drawing-room, and by the time the men again appear on the scene the ladies, including the hostess, are settled in the easiest chairs. When the time for departure has come it is my lady who announces to the hostess—not the host—her departure, and her husband or escort simply awaits her bidding. In Japan all of this is changed. The man takes precedence everywhere, and the woman must serve him. At meals the woman must first wait on her husband and then she herself may eat. When, guests come, the husband is the chief entertainer, and the wife takes a back seat and says little. On passing through a door, entering a train or carriage, etc., the husband always precedes his wife. When walking on the street together she does not walk by his side, but comes along behind. The men do not intend to mistreat the women; they simply take what they regard their due as the head of the family.
Among the customs most peculiar in the eyes of Westerners and most squarely opposed to their own are those relating to marriage. In Japan the young man and woman have nothing whatever to do with the match-making, except to give their consent to the arrangements of their parents; and frequently even this is not asked. The wedding is arranged in some such manner as this: Whenever the parents of a young man think their son old enough to get married they secure the services of some friend, who acts as "go-between." It is the duty of this party to search out a suitable girl and win the consent of her parents to the marriage. While this is going on it is not likely that either of the young people is aware of it, but as soon as the parents have arranged matters to their own satisfaction they are informed. It often happens that the man has never seen his bride until the wedding-day. Young people seldom object to the arrangements of their parents, and marriages made in this way seem to work well.
In the West the wedding often takes place in church; in Japan the temples are studiously avoided at such times. There a minister is nearly always present; here they are very careful to exclude priests. The wedding is to be joyous, and as priests are known best as officiators at funerals, and ideas of sadness and misfortune are associated with them, they are excluded.
In the West, if the wedding does not take place in church, it will probably be held in the home of the bride; in the East it is always held in the home of the groom. There the bride's household prepares the feast; here the groom's prepares it. There the groom must go to fetch his bride; here she must come to him. It makes no difference whether she lives in the same city or in a distant province; she must go to the groom, not he to her.
The poor mother-in-law is evil spoken of in the East as well as in the West; but while there it is the mother of the bride who is said to make life miserable for the groom, here it is the mother of the groom who often makes life miserable for the bride.
Customs in regard to the use of houses are quite different. In America the front rooms of a house are considered most desirable; in Japan the back rooms are preferred. There the parlors, sitting-rooms, etc., are in front, and the kitchen and store-rooms are relegated to the back; here the kitchen and store-rooms are in front, and the parlors and sitting-rooms behind. There the front yards are kept clean, but the back yards are proverbially dirty; here all sorts of dirt and trash may be lying around in the front yard, while the back yard is a perfect little garden of beauty.
Signs made with the hands are very different in Japan from those to which my readers are accustomed, and are much more graceful. Here, when we call some one to us by the hand, instead of the awkward, ungainly motion of the index-finger used in the West, we simply hold out the whole hand horizontally in front of us and gently move all the fingers up and down. The latter motion is very graceful, while even a pretty girl cannot execute the former one gracefully. Here, when we refuse a request or repel one from us by a sign of the hand, instead of turning the palm of the hand outward and pushing it from the body in a rough, uncivil manner, we merely hold the hand perpendicularly before the face, palm outward, and move it back and forth a few times.
Japanese carpenters saw by pulling the saw toward them instead of pushing it from them; the planes cut in the same way; and screws are put in by turning them to the left instead of the right.
Even in the nursery we find customs directly antipodal. While the American nurse takes the child up in her arms, the Japanese nurse takes it on her back.
These are some of the customs most squarely opposed to our own. The first thought of my readers when learning of them will probably be, how ridiculous and inconvenient! And yet they are just as convenient and sensible as their own, and some of them much more so. There is nothing in the nature of things why most customs should be either this way or that.
The most interesting things about foreign peoples are those connected with their daily lives—their homes, food, and dress. Let us examine a Japanese house, take a meal with its occupants, and then observe their manner of dress.
The houses are usually very light structures, built of wood, one or two stories high. They resemble an American house but little. The roofs are made of tiles, straw, or shingles. Tiles make a pretty and durable roof, but they cost much more than straw, and hence the common people generally use the latter. The skilful Japanese workman can make a very pretty, lasting, and effective roof of straw. The houses of the rich are large and have many nice rooms in them; those of the poor are small, with only one or two rooms. Houses are so constructed as to permit the air to pass through them freely. The rooms are separated only by light, detachable partitions made of paper, and these are frequently taken away and the whole house thrown into one room. Many of the outer walls are also detachable, and on a warm summer day are put aside, when a delightful breeze constantly passes through the house. The floors are covered with thick, soft straw mats, which are kept so clean that the people, even when dressed in their best clothes, sit or loll on them. On entering a Japanese house you must leave your shoes at the door, just as you do your hat. It would be an unpardonable offense to come inside and tread on the mats with your shoes on.
A Kitchen Scene.
The average Japanese eats, sleeps, and lives in the same room. He has no chairs, no bedsteads, and no tables to get in his way. During the day he sits on the soft straw mats; when evening comes two large comfortables are brought, and one is spread on the floor to lie on, while the other is used for covering. No sheets are used, and the pillow is a funny little block of wood. On this simple bed the man sleeps as soundly as we in our more elaborate ones. In the morning the bed is rolled up and packed away. At meal-time little tables, four or six inches high and about sixteen inches square, are brought, and one is placed before each person. The food is served in pretty little lacquer or china bowls, and each one's portion is placed on his own table. The people eat with chopsticks about eight inches long and one fourth of an inch in diameter. These answer their purpose well, but are hard to use until one is accustomed to them. When the meal is over all these things are carried away to the kitchen, and the room is ready for any other use to which one may desire to put it. In this way one room is made to serve for all the purposes of a household.
The most conspicuous thing in a Japanese room is the hibachi—a little wooden or china box about one foot square. This is kept half full of ashes, and on top of the ashes is a handful of burning charcoal. On this usually sits a little tea-kettle, filled with boiling water used in making the tea, which is drunk without milk or sugar at every hour of the day. When one first enters a Japanese house, politeness requires that the host or hostess immediately offer the guest a small cup of this tea. There is no other provision than this hibachi for heating a room; and, as one would imagine, it gives out but little heat Japanese houses are very cold in winter. They would not at all answer in a cold climate, and even here the people suffer from the cold.
Japanese food is unpalatable to most foreigners, and the eating of it is an art which must be acquired gradually. After repeated experiments we learn to like it, and can live on it fairly well; but most foreign residents usually take more or less European food with them every time they go into the interior.
From of old Buddhism forbade the eating of anything that had animal life, and hence it came about that the Japanese are probably as vegetarian in their diet as any people on earth. Even such animal food as butter and milk is not used. Butter is very unpalatable to them, but many are beginning to use a little milk. Bread, so necessary to a Western table, forms no part of a Japanese bill of fare. The staple here is rice, not boiled and mashed to pieces, with milk and butter, but simply boiled in water sufficiently to cook it well without breaking the grains. When it is cooked each grain remains intact, and it is snowy white and perfectly dry. No salt or seasoning of any kind is put into it, as it is thought to spoil the flavor.
The rivers, lakes, and seas of Japan are teeming with splendid fish, which form an important part of the native diet. It seems that Buddhism, while forbidding the use of meats generally, permitted the eating of fish. Certain kinds of fish, cut into thin slices and eaten raw with a kind of sauce, are considered a great delicacy. The idea of eating raw fish seems very repugnant, but many of my readers would eat it without realizing what it is unless they were told. I often eat it. But only a few of the fish consumed are eaten raw; most are boiled or fried.
Foreign vegetables are rare, and are not much liked by the natives. But there is an abundance of native vegetables. The most common one is a large, coarse radish called daikon, which is pickled, and eaten at nearly every meal. This daikon is very cheap, and is a chief part of the diet of that small portion of the population that cannot afford rice. Sweet potatoes are abundant and cheap. They are considered the poor man's food, and the well-to-do people are ashamed to eat them. Often at hotels, when I have asked for sweet potatoes, the servant has replied in astonishment, "Why, do you eat sweet potatoes? They are for coolies." A mountain-potato and the roots of the lotus and bamboo are also eaten. Since the country has been opened to foreign trade and foreigners have settled here it is possible to get meats and flour and some foreign vegetables at most places.
Japanese clothing is frequently conspicuous by its absence. Many of the people do not realize the necessity of burdening themselves with clothing on a hot summer day, and wear very little. The government has been constrained to make laws against nudity, but these are enforced only in the cities. The usual summer garment of many of the children in my city is simply the dark-brown one given them by nature. Most of the coolies wear nothing but a little loin-cloth when at work.
The real native costume is both pretty and becoming. It consists usually of a single robe reaching from the shoulders to the ankles, and tied round the waist with a heavy girdle. Tight-fitting undergarments, in foreign style, are sometimes worn now, but they form no part of the original native costume. A black outer garment, reaching only to the knees, is placed over the ordinary robe on state occasions. Formerly the Japanese did not wear hats, and even now half of the men one meets on the street are bareheaded. The women wear neither hats nor bonnets.
It is not considered improper to go barefooted in Japan, but generally the better classes are shod when they go out of doors. If anything resembling a stocking is worn, it is what they call tabi, a sort of foot-glove, made of either white or black cloth, with a separate inclosure for the great toe. A block of wood called geta corresponds to our shoes. It has two cords attached to the same place in front, and then dividing, one being fastened on each side at the back. These cords slip in between the great toe and the others, and, passing over the foot, secure the geta.
Japanese bathing customs are peculiar. Perhaps there are no other people on earth that bathe as often as they. It is customary for every one, even the coolies, to bathe well the whole body every day. The baths are taken very hot—about 110°F. Each private house has a large bath-tub, which in many instances is capacious enough to accommodate the whole family at once. Besides these private baths each city and town has its public ones, where a good hot bath, in a place large enough for you to swim round, can be had for one cent. Men, women, and children go into them at the same time, indiscriminately. Japan is a land of hot springs, so that almost every district has its natural hot baths. Most of them have medicinal value, and the people flock to them by thousands.
The funeral customs are very different from ours. It is a strange feature of the native character that when one is deeply moved he is very likely to cover up his emotion with a laugh. If a man announces to you the death of his child, he will probably laugh as he does so. At funerals there is not that solemn silence which we expect, but frequently loud talking and laughter. The coffin is a square, upright box with considerable ornamentation. The corpse is placed in it in a sitting posture. In Japan are found the hired mourners of whom we read in the Bible. Anciently they were employed to follow the corpse, mourning in a loud voice; but that has become obsolete, and now they simply follow in the procession, wearing the white garments. The usual manner of disposing of dead bodies is by interment, but cremation is rapidly growing in favor. The government will not permit a body to be buried until it has been dead twenty-four hours.
For several weeks after a body has been interred it is customary for the members of the bereaved family to make daily visits to the tomb and present offerings to the departed spirit in the temple. Each year, on the anniversary of the death, the children are expected to visit the tomb and worship the spirit of the departed. This custom of ancestor-worship is forbidden by Christianity, and hence the people charge us with teaching disrespect to parents and ancestors.
Hara-kiri.
A custom peculiar to Japan is a form of suicide known as hara-kiri, or "belly-cutting." From time immemorial, to take one's own life in this manner has been considered very honorable and has expiated all crimes and offenses. In olden times, if the life of any one of noble blood became hurtful to the state, he was simply sent a certain kind of short sword. This meant that he was to take his own life by the favorite national method. So the recipient quietly ate his last meal, bade his family farewell, and, seating himself squarely on the mat, deliberately thrust the sword into the left side of his abdomen, and drew it across to the right side. As this cut does not kill immediately, a retainer, from behind, placed there for that purpose, struck off his master's head with one blow of a heavy sword. In the eyes of the law this death atoned for all sins and offenses; hence it was often practised in old Japan. It is almost obsolete now.
The Japanese are an exceedingly polite people. They have been called the Frenchmen of the Orient in recognition of this national characteristic. Politeness is exalted above everything, above even truth and honor. If you ask an ordinary Japanese which is better, to tell a falsehood or be impolite, he will at once reply, "To tell a falsehood." But while the people are exceedingly polite, a large part of this politeness is merely surface, without any meaning. Etiquette requires that you always address and treat your equals as though they were your superiors. There is a separate form of address for each step in the social scale. I have seen Japanese men stand at a door for five minutes, and blush, and beg each other to pass through first, each hesitating to precede the other. A Japanese gentleman never stops to converse with a friend, be he only a child, without taking off his hat.
To look down upon one from a superior elevation is considered very impolite. Thus if the emperor or any one of especial distinction passes through a city, all the upper stories of the houses must be vacated. Under no circumstances are any permitted to observe the procession from an upper window. I was out walking one day in our good city of Saga with a foreign friend who was leading his little boy by the hand. It happened that a countess was passing through the city. The policemen had cleared the street for the procession, and a large crowd was standing at the corner. We joined this crowd. The little boy could not see, so his father held him up that he might look over the people's heads. At once the police forbade it and made him put the child down.
In many instances forms of politeness are carried to a ridiculous extreme. When you give a present, no matter how nice, you must apologize by saying that it is so cheap and insignificant that you are ashamed to lift it up to the honorable person, but if he will condescend to accept it he will make you very happy. If you receive a present you must elevate it toward the top of the head (as that is considered the most honorable part of the body) and at the same time say that it is the most beautiful thing on earth. When you are invited to a dinner the invitation will carefully state that no special preparation will be made for the occasion. At the beginning of the meal the hostess will apologize for presuming to set before you such mean, dirty food, and will declare that she has nothing whatever for you to eat, although she will doubtless have a feast fit for a king. Even if it should not be good, you must say that it is and praise it extravagantly.
The greetings between friends are sometimes right funny. I have often overheard such conversations as the following. Two men meet in the street, and, taking off their hats, bow very low, and begin as follows:
A. "I have not had the pleasure of hanging myself in your honorable eyes for a long time."
B. "I was exceedingly rude the last time I saw you."
A. "No; it was surely I who was rude. Please excuse me."
B. "How is your august health?"
A. "Very good, thanks to your kind assistance."
B. "Is the august lady, your honorable wife, well?"
A. "Yes, thank you; the lazy old woman is quite well."
B. "And how are your princely children?"
A. "A thousand thanks for your kind interest. The noisy, dirty little brats are well too."
B. "I am now living on a little back street, and my house is awfully small and dirty; but if you can endure it, please honor me by a visit."
A. "I am overcome with thanks, and will early ascend to your honorable residence, and impose my uninteresting self upon your hospitality."
B. "I will now be very impolite and leave you."
A. "If that is so, excuse me. Sayonara."
V
JAPANESE CIVILIZATION
The question is often asked, Are the Japanese a civilized people? The answer will entirely depend upon our definition of civilization. If civilization consists in a highly organized commercial and industrial life, in the construction and use of huge, towering piles of manufactories and commercial houses, such as are seen in New York and Chicago, in amassing enormous capital, controlling the trade of the country by monopolies, and doing the work of the world by machinery that moves with the precision of clockwork, then Japan is not yet civilized. But if civilization consists in a courteous, refined manner, in a calm enjoyment of literature and the arts, in an ability to live easily and comfortably with a due regard to all the amenities of life, then the Japanese are a civilized people.
A very brilliant writer on Japanese subjects[[1]] has said that the Japanese have been a civilized people for at least a thousand years. Chinese civilization was brought to Japan early in the Christian era, and flourished for more than fifteen hundred years. While it differs much from European civilization, it is a highly organized and developed system, venerable with age. When people of the West speak of civilized countries they are apt to think of Europe and America, to the exclusion of all the rest of the world. This is unfair. Chinese civilization is much older than our own. Long before the dark ages of Europe the Chinese were living under a regular system of laws and were engaged in all peaceful pursuits. Systematic methods of agriculture, the art of printing, gunpowder, and the mariners' compass were all known and used. While our own forefathers in northern Europe roamed the forests as wild men and dressed in skins, the Chinese were living quietly in cities and towns, dressed in silks. This venerable Chinese civilization was readily adopted in Japan, and prevailed down to the time of the Restoration, in 1868. Since that time the adoption and assimilation of Western civilization have been progressing with a rapidity and success which have no precedent in the history of the world. The old immobile, crystallized Chinese civilization has been thrown off, and the vigorous, elastic forms of the West have been successfully adopted. Japanese civilization of to-day is European, only with a national coloring.
[[1]] Lafcadio Hearn.
On the advice of an American missionary,[[2]] who was then president of the Imperial University, and who arranged the program for the expedition, in 1872 a committee of seventy intelligent Japanese gentlemen, many of them from the noble families, was sent to the West to visit the capitals of the several countries, examine into their forms of government and civilization, and, of all that they found, to choose and bring back with them what was best adapted to Japan. This committee, after visiting Washington, London, Berlin, and other places, and carefully examining into their different institutions, returned and reported to the government. From this time began the rapid adoption of Western civilization, which is still in progress.
[[2]] Dr. Verbeck.
Foreign employees have played an important part in this peaceful revolution. At first nearly everything that was adopted was under foreign superintendence; but the Japanese are such apt learners that they are now capable of managing this new civilization for themselves, and the foreign employees have been mostly dispensed with.
With this brief history of Japanese progress before us, let us now examine into the present condition of Japanese civilization.
One of the best indicators of the civilization of a country is its literature. No writers of world-wide fame have arisen in Japan, yet the country has a literature of which she is not ashamed. In ancient times the Chinese classics were alone studied, and all literature was molded by Confucian ideas; to-day these models have been cast aside, and a school of young, independent writers has arisen, by whom history, political and moral science, botany, sociology, belles-lettres, and numerous other subjects are discussed with vigor and originality.
In the number of newspapers and magazines published Japan can compare favorably with any country of equal size. The great dailies have not yet grown to such importance as those of America or England, but they already wield a mighty influence. Nearly every small town has its morning and its evening sheet. Even in our backward old town of Saga we have two very good dailies. There are a large number of able magazines published. Nearly every branch of learning has a magazine devoted exclusively to its interests, as is frequently the case in the West. The very existence of this innumerable multitude of newspapers and magazines shows that the Japanese are great readers.
The educational system in vogue is a good index of a nation's civilization. Perhaps no nation of the West has a better organized and developed free-school system than has Japan. Schools are found in every village and hamlet, and as all children of a prescribed age are required to attend, they are full to overflowing. The little round-faced, sleek-headed Japanese children swarm round them like bees. There are four grades of schools: the primary lower, the advanced lower, the lower middle, and the higher middle. The lower schools are found everywhere; the higher ones only in the large towns and cities. Of the higher middle schools (which correspond to our American colleges of middle grade) there are seven, distributed at various points over the empire. At the head of this whole system stands the Imperial University in Tokyo, which is itself the outgrowth of several colleges, and is largely modeled after the German universities. The lower schools are modeled after our American schools. Unfortunately, so large a part of the time of the school-children must be spent in studying Chinese characters that it takes about eight years to learn to read. What a pity that the awkward, antiquated system of Chinese writing is not abandoned! It seems that the native kana, of which there are about forty-eight, with a few of the more common Chinese characters, would answer all purposes; then the long years spent in studying Chinese could be devoted to other things, to the immense advantage of the student. In the lower schools very little is studied except Chinese. In the middle schools the branches studied are just about what American youths study in the academies. Formerly considerable stress was laid upon the study of modern languages, and all students of the middle schools were required to study English and either French or German. But in recent years only English has been required, and it, even, is not studied so carefully as it was. Since the revision of the treaties the study of foreign languages seems to be on the increase.
The Imperial University compares very favorably with Western universities of the middle class. It has six faculties, namely, law, medicine, literature, science, engineering, and agriculture. The medical department is under German influence; the others have professors of various nationalities, mostly English, German, and Japanese. The students number over 1000. The government has recently undertaken the establishment of another university in Kyoto. It also supports two higher normal schools, a higher commercial school, naval and military academies, fine-arts school, technical school, the nobles' school, the musical academy, and the blind and dumb school. Professor Chamberlain, of the Imperial University, says the leading idea of the Japanese government in all its educational improvements is the desire to assimilate the national ways of thinking to those of European countries. In view of the difference between the East and the West, this is an enormous task; and great credit is due that brave body of educators who, fighting against fearful odds, are gradually accomplishing their purpose.
The Japanese are a nation of artists. Life in one of the most beautiful countries in the world has, to a rare degree, developed in them the love of the beautiful; and this has expressed itself in the various phases of national art. In general, Japanese art is pretty, but small, isolated, and lacking in breadth of view. Its chief use in former times was largely decorative, to paint a screen or a piece of porcelain, and the artists did this to perfection. As a nation the Japanese are very skilful with the pencil. Long writing of Chinese characters has given them a control of the pencil or crayon not commonly found among the people of the West. Drawing is taught in the schools, and every school-boy can draw pretty pictures. But in art, as in other things, the Japanese are frequently inconsistent, and show a haughty disregard of details. They excel in portraying nature.
The government of Japan is progressive and enlightened. In reality it is an absolute monarchy, ruled by the "heaven-descended mikado." The empire belongs to him by divine right, and none has ever disputed this. Unquestioning, implicit obedience is the duty of all subjects. But the present emperor, who is a liberal-minded monarch, has graciously given his people a voice in the government. In 1889 the constitution was promulgated, which laid the foundation for a new order of things. It established the Diet, consisting of two houses, and gave many rights to the people, including local self-government, within certain limits. The franchise is so limited in Japan that a man must annually pay a stipulated amount of tax before he can either vote or run for office.
Japanese laws have for years been gradually approaching Western standards. The transition has been difficult and necessarily slow, but praise-worthy progress has been made. A code somewhat resembling the Code Napoleon is now the law of the land, and is being applied in the courts as fast as circumstances will permit. People coming from Europe or America will find that, in the main, the laws are not very different from those they have been accustomed to.
Nearly all the material expressions of an advanced civilization found at home are likewise met with in Japan—good railways, steamboats, telegraphs, mails, electric lights, etc. It is often a surprise to the traveler from the West who has read little about the country, and who expects only the rudest form of civilization, to find instead nearly all the conveniences to which he has been accustomed.
RAILWAYS.—Japanese railways are narrow gauge, and while in recent years the question of changing them to standard gauge has been agitated, nothing definite has been done. The narrow-gauge system seems fairly adequate to the present demand. The railways are modeled after those of England, and are miniature as compared with those thundering monsters that make the American valleys tremble with their tread. The coaches are much smaller than the American and are differently arranged, opening on the side instead of the end, passage from one coach to another being precluded. There is no conductor to come around and disturb one with the continual cry of "Tickets!" The punch, punch, punch, so annoying to sensitive people, is not heard. As the passenger leaves the station to enter the train his ticket is examined, and this ends the matter until he reaches his destination, when he must pass out through the station, where his ticket is taken by a polite official. One of the things that have most impressed me about the railroad service is the kindness and politeness of the officials, in striking contrast with the gruffness and incivility one often encounters in America.
The average Japanese train has three classes of coaches. The first class corresponds to the ordinary first-class day-coach at home; second class corresponds to our smoking-cars; while third class is poorer still. The fares are just about one half what they are in America, and one can travel in first-class style for a cent and a half per mile. Third-class fare is only a little over half a cent, and most of the people travel in this class. The trains do not have the conveniences to which my readers are accustomed. There are no sleeping- and dining-cars, no provision for heating in winter, and no water. The average running speed is about 20 miles per hour—a rate which would not at all suffice for the high-tensioned, nervous, always-in-a-hurry civilization of the West, but which meets all the demands of the slower, quieter life of the East. Running at this rate, accidents are comparatively rare, and the trains easily make their scheduled time.
There is one main trunk-line running throughout the length of the land, besides numerous shorter lines. All of the more prominent towns and cities are connected by rail. At present a railroad-construction craze has seized Japan. Many are being constructed, others are being surveyed, and the papers daily contain accounts of new ones projected. So far, Japanese railway stocks have yielded good dividends. That the more important lines are owned and operated by the government is not the result of any political or economic theory, but simply because at first private individuals had neither the means nor the energy to inaugurate such huge and hitherto untried enterprises. Many of the smaller roads are now owned and controlled by private corporations, and most of those in process of construction are private enterprises. Some months ago a private corporation made a proposition to the government to buy its main railway, but the offer was rejected.
STEAMERS.—Steamboat service in Japan is good. As the country is only a range of islands, the largest of which are very narrow, and as all the more important towns are on the sea-coast or only a short distance inland, it is possible to go nearly everywhere by boat. Travel by water is very popular. There are fairly good steamers plying daily between the most important ports, but foreigners generally prefer to travel only on those officered by Europeans or Americans. There are a number of native steamers, comfortable and speedy, which are officered by foreigners, and differ but little from the transpacific liners. These were nearly all built in England, but in recent years they are building very good ones in Japan. The facilities for travel in this empire leave little to be desired.
TELEGRAPHS.—The Japanese telegraph system is excellent. It extends to all towns of any size in the empire, and by cable to all parts of the world. From the old city of Saga, in which I live, I can send a cablegram to any point in Europe or America. A telegraph code on the basis of the Morse code has been made in Japan, which admits of internal telegrams being transmitted in the native syllabary. In this respect the Japanese system is unique among Eastern countries. For instance, in India or China telegrams can be transmitted only in Roman letters or Arabic figures. By the formation of a vernacular code the telegraph was brought within the reach of the masses of the people, and it soon became familiar and popular.
The tariff for messages is perhaps lower than any other in the world. A message of ten kana, equaling about five English words, together with name and address of sender and receiver, can be sent to any part of the empire for eight or nine cents. Telegrams in foreign languages are sent within the empire for five sen per word, with a minimum charge of twenty-five sen for five words or a fraction thereof. No charge is made for delivery within a radius of 2-½ miles of the telegraph office.
There are no private telegraph corporations. The government builds, owns, and operates the lines just as it does the mails. The postal and telegraph systems are intimately connected, and the same office does service for both.
The first telegraph line in Japan was opened in 1869. The venture proving a success, the following year the line was extended and a general telegraphic system for the whole country decided upon. The rapid construction of telegraph lines began in 1872, from which year it has gone forward uninterruptedly. At present the lines extend to every corner of the empire. The first lines were surveyed, built, and operated under foreign experts; but the natives have learned so rapidly that they have been enabled to do away with all foreign employees. All of the materials and instruments in use, with the exception of submarine cables and the most delicate electrical measuring apparatus, are made in Japan.
MAILS.—The Japanese mail system was modeled after the American in 1871. At first it was limited to postal service between the three large cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka; but in 1872 it was extended to the whole country, with the exception of a certain part of the Hokkaido, which was without roads and almost without population. To-day there is no village or hamlet in the whole land which does not enjoy the convenience of a good postal system. The mails are sent with promptness and despatch, and it requires only a few days to communicate with any part of the empire. The postal rates are very low. Postal cards cost one sen and letters two sen—about five eighths and one and two eighths of a cent, respectively.
All mail is delivered free of charge. Not only is this so in the cities and larger towns, but in the villages and rural districts as well. There is no place where the dapper little postman does not go. Another convenience of the mail system is its excellent parcel-post department. Very large parcels, containing almost anything, can be sent for a small charge. Still another praiseworthy feature is that each office is a savings-bank, where the people can deposit small sums of money at any time and receive a good rate of interest. This money can be withdrawn without previous notice. The government has established these savings-banks in connection with the post-offices to encourage the people to lay up small sums of money, and they accomplish their purpose well.
Japan was admitted into the International Postal Union in 1879, with full management of all her postal affairs. As all her rates are now based on a silver standard, postage to foreign countries is much cheaper than from them to Japan. To the United States or to China we pay five sen (about two and a half cents) per letter; to all other countries within the Postal Union ten sen per letter.
LIGHTS.—The system of lighting is an index of the civilization of a country. In this respect Japan is not yet so far advanced as the leading countries of the West, yet she is well lighted. In all the large cities there are good electric plants, and electricity is extensively used. The streets and many of the best stores and shops are very well lighted with it. However, electric lights are seldom found in interior cities of less than 40,000 people. I think electricity is too costly to come into general use, except in the centers. Illuminating gas is very little used.
The only oil used in former times was extracted from whales and large fish, and chiefly from the seed of a certain tree. Since the opening of the country, kerosene has come into general use, immense quantities being imported from the United States and from Russia. Oil has been found in several places in Japan, but as yet has never been developed.
BANKING.—One of the most useful products of the introduction of our modern civilization is the present system of banking. This system will compare favorably with those of the West. There are a number of national banks distributed over all the land, together with many substantial private banking corporations. All forms of banking business are transacted, and good interest is given on deposits. The great popularity of the banks is shown by the fact that to-day in Tokyo, only eight years after bank-checks have come into use, the amount annually drawn exceeds $100,000,000.
Having taken this rapid view of Japanese civilization, we are in a position to judge as to whether or not this is a civilized land; and we answer that it is. But although modeled after that of the West, it in many respects differs from Western civilization. Japan has shown herself capable of doing great things, but she does not do them in the same way that they are done in Europe or America. For example, consider her manufactories, which now threaten to compete with those of our own country. In America manufactories mean enormous capital invested. Costly factories must be erected, the most approved machinery provided, and the completed plant operated at great expense. Here almost no capital is used. The buildings are low, one-story sheds, not more costly than a row of stables at home. It is true that Japan has a few large, substantial buildings for manufacturing purposes; but such are rare, and, when found, look out of harmony with their surroundings. Even nature seems to protest against huge piles of brick and stone, as she so frequently demolishes them. Most of the wares of Japan are manufactured in small, cheap buildings, and little machinery is used. The best silk made is woven in a house that cost scarcely $500. The best cloisonne, of which only a small piece a few inches high will cost hundreds of dollars, is made in a little, two-story house with only six rooms. Some of the greatest porcelain-makers in the world, whose products are better known in London and Paris than in their own country, do their work in small wooden houses in Kyoto, no better than the homes of the American laborer. "The vast rice crop is raised on millions of tiny farms; the silk crop in millions of small, poor homes; the tea crop on countless little patches of soil. Japan has become industrial without becoming essentially mechanical and artificial."[[3]] On this small scale the great work of Japan is done. Japanese civilization, in its parts, is miniature.
[[3]] Lafcadio Hearn.