"h? 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 JAPAN AND ITS 
 
 REGENERATION 
 
 {REVISED EDITION) 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. OTIS CARY 
 
 MISSIONARY IN JAPAN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 
 
 FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 
 1904
 
 Copyright, 1899, by 
 
 STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 
 
 FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 
 STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 
 
 FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS 

 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 
 This volume is one of a series of text-books primarily 
 intended for mission study classes in institutions of higher 
 learning, but also likely to be largely used by church and 
 young people's mission study circles. This fact will ac- 
 count for its condensed style and for some peculiarities of 
 typography and paragraphing, which have been suggested 
 by many years' experience of the Student Volunteer 
 Movement's Educational Department. 
 
 The subject treated is one of great fascination to every 
 student of history, and especially so to those who are 
 interested in the progress of the Kingdom of God. The 
 reader finds here the story of the most astounding trans- 
 formation within a few years that can be found in all 
 history, and that, too, in our own generation. While no 
 one can claim that Japan's regeneration, which has 
 scarcely more than begun, is wholly due to the work 
 of Christian Missions, it would be equally untrue to 
 overlook the importance of the missionary factor in 
 these sweeping changes. The aim of this little volume 
 is to exhibit the interworking of the many agencies in 
 this Oriental renaissance and their true relation one to 
 another, as well as to clearly depict the material, social, 
 and religious environment of the Japanese missionary. 
 
 The basis of this text-book is the admirable volume 
 entitled " Japan and the Japan Mission," which is pub- 
 lished by the Church Missionary Society of London. The 
 editor acknowledges most gratefully the kindness of the 
 officers of that Society, who have allowed him to use freely 
 
 iii 
 
 1 M 70 1 1 n
 
 IV PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 such portions of their book as he chose. While some 
 pages have been transcribed with little if any change, 
 more than half the present volume is wholly new. 
 
 As will be seen, the treatment is broad and catholic and 
 the attempt has been made to do equal justice to all leading 
 elements that have entered into Japan's recent wonderful 
 progress. Inasmuch as more than thirty Protestant mis- 
 sionary agencies are represented in the Empire, it was 
 manifestly impossible to even summarize the work of 
 each. As was done, however, in the case of the text-book 
 on China, " Dawn on the Hills of T'ang," published in 
 1898, so it is hoped that missionary boards will issue for 
 use with this text-book special sketches of the work of 
 their own churches in the Island Empire. Such sketches 
 will greatly increase the value of the comprehensive sum- 
 mary found in the present volume.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The Land of the Rising Sun, ... i 
 
 II. The People of Japan 19 
 
 III. Japan in Past Times 35 
 
 IV. Religions of Japan, .40 
 
 V. Jesuit Missions, 51 
 
 VI. The Locking and the Unlocking, . . . .58 
 
 VII. The Revolution, 63 
 
 VIII. New Japan, 67 
 
 IX. Modern Missions, 75 
 
 X. Methods of Work, 99 
 
 XI. Present Conditions and Opportunities, . . .113 
 
 XII. Supplementary Chapter, 124 
 
 Appendix A — Formosa, 137 
 
 Appendix B — A Select Bibliography, .... 139 
 
 Appendix C— Statistics of Christian Missions in 
 Japan for 1903, 142 
 
 Analytical Index, 144 
 
 The Pronunciation of Japanese Words, . . .151 
 Missionary Map of Japan, 153
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Interdenominational Christian Workers' Conference in 
 Front of Tokio Association Building, Frontispiece 
 
 Hon. K. Kataoka, Statesman and Christian, 
 
 A Hairy Man of the Ainu Tribe, 
 
 Shinto Shrine on Summit of Usuitoge, 
 
 Kiyomizu Temple (Buddhist) in Kyoto, 
 
 Tomb of Ieyasu at Nikko 
 
 Methodist Church on Deshima, Nagasaki, 
 
 An Ancient Edict Board Directed Against Christianity 
 
 Japan's First Student Conference on Doshisha Uni 
 versity Campus, 
 
 19 
 19 
 
 42 
 42 
 
 58 
 58 
 86 
 
 107 
 
 Map of Japan, At End
 
 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 The Land of the Rising Sun 
 
 1. The Name. — The Japanese call their country Dai 
 Nippon. Dai signifies " Great " ; while Nippon, or Nihon, 
 as it is sometimes pronounced, means " Sun-Origin." 
 The latter part of the title was probably first used by the 
 Chinese, since it was from the Japanese Islands lying to 
 the east of their empire that the sun came to them. The 
 Chinese pronunciation of the characters employed in writ- 
 ing the name is Jih-pen, or Ji-puan. From this came the 
 name Zipangu by which Marco Polo introduced the coun- 
 try to the knowledge of Europeans, and other modifica- 
 tions of the sounds have given us in English the word 
 Japan. 
 
 II. Situation. — i. The Japanese Empire consists of a 
 chain of islands stretching along the northeast coast of 
 Asia. Formerly it claimed the southern part of Sagha- 
 lien; but this was ceded in 1875 to Russia, and the Kurile 
 Islands accepted in exchange. The Bonin and Loochoo 
 Islands are now recognized as belonging to Japan. As 
 a result of the war with China its domain was increased 
 in 1895 by the addition of Formosa; but the present vol- 
 ume does not deal with this new possession. (See, how- 
 ever, Appendix A.) 
 
 2. The most southern of the Loochoo Islands is in 24 
 north latitude, while the Kuriles extend nearly to 51 . 
 The extremes thus correspond very nearly with the south- 
 ern part of the Persian Gulf and Southampton, England ; 
 or with Key West and the northern part of Newfound- 
 land. The range of longitude — 124 to 157 east of
 
 2 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 Greenwich — may be compared with that from Boston to 
 Denver. 
 
 3. The distance between the largest island and Korea 
 is about one hundred miles ; but the island of Tsushima, 
 which belongs to Japan, is only twenty-five miles from 
 the continent of Asia. 
 
 III. Area. — 1. The Japanese Islands have an area of 
 about 146,500 square miles. This is somewhat more than 
 the area of Great Britain and Ireland (121,000 square 
 miles), two and one-fifth times that of New England (66,- 
 500 square miles), and about equal to that of the two 
 Dakotas (149,000 square miles). 
 
 2. There are four large islands and more than two 
 thousand smaller ones. The relative size of the former 
 may be tabulated as follows : 
 
 2 Shikokus= 1 Kyushu. 
 
 2 Kyushus = 1 Yezo. 
 
 3 Yezos = 1 Hondo. 
 
 3. The name Hondo, though not in common use, is the 
 proper one for the largest island, which on many of our 
 maps is designated as " Nihon " or " Niphon," the name 
 of the whole empire being thus incorrectly applied to one 
 island. 
 
 IV. Physical Features. — 1. Though there are a few 
 plains, the country as a whole may be considered as a mass 
 of mountains. These sometimes plunge abruptly into the 
 sea ; but in most places the shore is fringed by a strip of 
 arable land. This broadens out near the mouths of the 
 rivers, which bring down great quantities of soil from the 
 hills. The more lofty mountains are from four thousand 
 to nine thousand feet high. 
 
 -, Mt. Fuji, a beautiful truncated cone towering in soli- 
 tary grandeur far above all other mountains in its vicin- 
 ity, rises to an elevation of 12,360 feet above the level of 
 the sea. It is no wonder that the Japanese love Fuji, and 
 that even foreigners have called it " the peerless moun- 
 tain." Its unique form has inspired the artists of Japan. 
 It is frequently the central object in the background of 
 ideal pictures. It is painted on the fan that the Japanese 
 uses, on the screens that divide his rooms, on the bowl 
 from which he eats his rice, and at the bottom of the 
 delicate china cup from which he sips his tea ; it is dyed
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 3 
 
 upon the cotton kerchief that <.he laborer knots about his 
 brow, and is woven into the texture of the silken fabrics 
 that are worn by the wealthy. 
 
 Most of the mountains are of volcanic origin. Some 
 volcanoes are still active. De Vries Island, lying near 
 the entrance to the Bay of Yedo, is constantly wreathed 
 with smoke, as is also the peak of Mt. Asama, northwest 
 of Tokyo. Mt. Aso, in Kyushu, is said to have the lar- 
 gest crater in the world. The last eruption of Mt. Fuji 
 was in 1708; and though snow may at all seasons be 
 found upon its summit, there are places where the ground 
 is so hot that eggs may be cooked. In 1888 Bandai San, 
 which had been quiet for more than a thousand years, 
 suddenly broke forth in an eruption that blew off one side 
 of the mountain and covered a large section of the sur- 
 rounding country with stones, mud, and ashes. Several 
 villages were destroyed and 461 persons lost their lives. 
 
 2. Most of the rivers are necessarily short, since there 
 is but little distance between the mountains and the sea. 
 In a dry season there will often be little more than a 
 dry bed of sand and stones where, after a few hours of 
 rain, a wide and tumultuous torrent blocks the way of the 
 traveller. The bridging of these streams forms one of the 
 most difficult problems connected with the construction of 
 railroads. Mountains may be pierced by tunnels that, if 
 well constructed, will* be as enduring as the hills them- 
 selves ; but a great flood tears away, as though they were 
 but children's toys, costly bridges that it has taken months 
 to construct. 
 
 On the lower courses of the rivers artificial embank- 
 ments have been built to keep back the water from rice- 
 fields, which in many cases are even lower than the beds 
 of the rivers. When heavy rains swell the streams these 
 banks may give way, so that the water pours out upon 
 the surrounding country, destroying life and property. 
 There is seldom a year when one or more sections of the 
 country are not visited by disastrous floods. 
 
 3. The lakes, which are said to be more than two hun- 
 dred in number, are for the most part small ; but many of 
 them, standing in silent grandeur among the mountains — 
 like the Hakone Lake near the celebrated Hakone Pass, 
 .west of Tokyo — or nestling in luxuriant beauty amidst the
 
 4 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 foliage of surrounding hills — like Chuzenji, several miles 
 above Nikko — are extremely pretty. 
 
 The largest sheet of fresh water is hake Biwa, a few 
 miles east of Kyoto. It is fifty miles long, and twenty 
 miles wide at its widest point. This lake is also subject 
 to floods that may raise the water nine or ten feet, sub- 
 merging the fields and villages upon its shores. The out- 
 let is so narrow that after a great flood the lake is two 
 or three months in regaining its ordinary level. 
 
 4. The coast-line of Japan is indented by many bays 
 that afford good harbors ; though the western coast of 
 the main island is somewhat deficient in havens adapted 
 to large vessels. The main islands are separated from 
 one another by narrow straits. The Inland Sea, separat- 
 ing Hondo from Shikoku and Kyushu, furnishes a con- 
 venient highway for commerce and is justly celebrated 
 for its fine scenery. Indeed, mountains, rivers, lakes, and 
 seas unite in making Japan a country of unusual beauty. 
 
 V. Climate. — 1. Temperature. — The climate of Japan 
 is mainly governed by the monsoons. The southwest 
 monsoon, which blows from May to August and is ac- 
 companied by heavy rains, produces a hot and damp sum- 
 mer; and the northeast monsoon, which lasts from 
 October to February, makes the winter cold ; but the 
 extremes are not so great as are experienced on the neigh- 
 boring continent. In winter, changes of temperature are 
 great and sudden, and severe night frosts are common 
 after warm and sunny days. The climate varies very 
 considerably in different parts of the country, owing to 
 the extent of latitude covered and the influence of ocean 
 currents. At Sapporo, in Yezo, the average temperature 
 for the whole year is less than 46 F. ; at Tokyo it is 
 57 F. ; and at Nagasaki it is nearly 62 F. In general, 
 it may be said that the average temperature of the coasts 
 bordering on the Pacific Ocean is about the same as that 
 of places in the same latitude on the eastern coast of 
 America. The Kuroshio, or " Black Stream," exerts an 
 influence much like that of the Gulf Stream. The western 
 coast of Japan is considerably colder and has heavy falls 
 of snow. 
 
 2. Americans living in Japan complain much of damp- 
 ness, which makes both the heat and the cold more opprcs-
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 5 
 
 sivc. Summer seems like a long succession of " dog- 
 days," when books and clothing mildew, tools rust, and 
 the least exertion induces perspiration. There is much 
 rain from the first of April until the middle of September, 
 though sometimes there will be a drought in July or Au- 
 gust. June is almost sure to bring heavy rains. In most 
 parts of Japan the pleasantest season is the autumn, the 
 weather from the first of October to the middle of De- 
 cember being comparatively tree from rain and wind. 
 
 3. It is said that the proportion of ozone in the air is 
 only about one-third of what is found in most western 
 lands. It may be for this reason, in part, that most for- 
 eigners find the climate debilitating, and that they are 
 able to accomplish much less work, especially of a mental 
 nature, than in their own land. The young missionary 
 who commences to study the language is inclined to make 
 light of the advice given by his elders who tell him to 
 spend what seems only a small amount of time in study ; 
 but he soon finds that both prudence and inclination de- 
 mand a shortening of the hours devoted to intellectual 
 activity. 
 
 4. High winds are common in Japan. The most 
 dreaded, especially by those who are on the sea, is that 
 known as the typhoon. This is a circular storm that 
 starts in the tropics and sweeps up along the coasts of 
 China, the Philippines, and Japan. In the open sea the 
 most powerful boats are hardly able to cope with its fury ; 
 while those lying in exposed harbors may be thrown far 
 up on the shore. On land the wind overthrows houses, 
 fences, and trees, while villages along the coast are likely 
 to be inundated. The salt spray driven by the wind some- 
 times withers the foliage of trees growing a mile from 
 the shore. 
 
 5. The dampness and changeableness of the climate 
 cannot fail to affect the health of residents. Lung dis- 
 eases, dysentery, and rheumatism abound. The climate 
 seems favorable to children of European parentage, and 
 it is not necessary, as in India, to send them away at an 
 early age. Most adults from western lands find the cli- 
 mate trying to their health. For some unknown reason 
 persons having a tendency to nervous diseases are almost 
 sure to suffer in Japan, nervous prostration and mental 
 disorders being of frequent occurrence among foreigners.
 
 6 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 VI. Seismic Disturbances — Japan is a land subject 
 to terrible disasters of various kinds. The ruin wrought 
 by floods, volcanic eruptions, and typhoons has already 
 been described. Still more to be dreaded are the earth- 
 quakes, which without a moment's warning destroy whole 
 cities and kill thousands of people. In 1855 Yedo was 
 thus overthrown; and in October, 1891, the earthquake 
 that destroyed Ogaki, Gifu, and many villages, killed or 
 wounded 22,000 persons, besides leaving over a million 
 homeless. It was probably a seismic movement occurring 
 in mid-ocean that in June, 1896, set in motion a high wave 
 which swept along the northern coast of Hondo, killing 
 30,000 people. 
 
 VII. Productions. — 1. Minerals. — Japan has consider- 
 able mineral wealth. Gold and silver are found. In the 
 sixteenth century the Portuguese and Dutch exported 
 considerable quantities of these metals ; and much was 
 also sent out of the country when trade with western lands 
 was renewed during the present century. Copper and 
 antimony have now become important articles of export. 
 Though there is some iron, a sufficient quantity for mod- 
 ern needs has not yet been found near supplies of fuel 
 for smelting it. Upon the western coast of Hondo there 
 is petroleum ; but not much of it is refined, as the mar- 
 kets are so cheaply supplied with oil from America and 
 Russia. 
 
 2. Agricultural Wealth. — The true wealth of Japan 
 consists chiefly in its agricultural resources, even though, 
 owing to the mountainous nature of the country, only 
 about one-eighth of the land is under cultivation. The 
 soil is fertile, and in most places yields two crops a year. 
 
 The culture of rice has led to a careful system of irriga- 
 tion. So soon as the drainage of a valley produces a little 
 runlet of water, the farmers commence to build up walls 
 of stone and earth so as to make small plats of level 
 ground which can be flowed with water. One terrace fol- 
 lows another in a series of steps that lead down to the 
 plain. If the land continues to have sufficient slope, the 
 same gradation extends to the seashore, each terrace being 
 a few inches lower than the preceding. Artificial canals 
 bring water from the rivers or from reservoirs constructed 
 among the hills. On some of the plains water is raised
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 7 
 
 from wells by means of well-sweeps almost exactly like 
 those formerly used with the old oaken buckets of western 
 lands. 
 
 Through the winter and spring the ground is usually 
 occupied by wheat, barley, rape, beans, radishes, and other 
 such crops. When these have ripened they are quickly 
 harvested, the ground is ploughed, flowed over with wa- 
 ter, and then harrowed so as to convert the soil into a 
 mass of muddy ooze intended for rice culture. Compa- 
 nies of men and women wade through the fields, trans- 
 planting the young rice-plants which have been growing 
 in little plots of ground where the grain was thickly sown 
 several weeks before. The plains that were recently 
 brown with ripening wheat now form a vast shallow lake 
 divided by narrow embankments that separate one field 
 from another, the tender plants of transplanted rice giving 
 a slightly greenish tint to the landscape. During the sum- 
 mer and until the rice is nearly ripe the fields must be 
 supplied with water. 
 
 In seasons of drought the peasants of different villages 
 often have bitter quarrels and sometimes pitched battles 
 in trying to decide who has the best right to draw supplies 
 of water from rivers and reservoirs. Recourse is often 
 had to prayers and incantations in order to produce rain. 
 The stone images of Buddhist saints placed beside the 
 road are sometimes tied up with straw-rope, the promise 
 being made that they shall be released so soon as they 
 send refreshing showers. Sometimes the farmers throw 
 a stone image into a pond, where it must lie until ready 
 to grant the request for rain, when it is dragged forth, 
 replaced upon its pedestal, and worshipped as before. 
 
 Millet, tobacco, radishes, melons, sweet potatoes, tur- 
 nips, onions, and other vegetables are extensively culti- 
 vated. 
 
 Silk and tea are the chief articles of export to western 
 lands. The former is now produced in most sections of 
 the country that are not too cold for the industry. The 
 care of the worms, the reeling of the thread, and the 
 weaving of fabrics furnish employment for many men, 
 women, and children. The annual export of silk amounts 
 to about $30,000,000. Forty million pounds of tea are 
 exported, most of it being sent to America, as Japanese 
 tea has never gained popularity in Europe.
 
 S JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 The principal fruits of Japan are excellent oranges, 
 apricots, loquats, persimmons, figs, and plums; passable 
 grapes, poor peaches, and a coarse pear that is more es- 
 teemed by Japanese than by foreigners. Good apples are 
 produced in the north. 
 
 3. Trees and Flowers. — The country is well supplied 
 with timber. Pines, firs, and giant cryptomerias cover 
 many of the mountains with their evergreen foliage, or 
 shade the highways along which they have been planted. 
 Oak and other hard-wood trees are valuable for building ; 
 the trees that furnish camphor and vegetable wax add 
 much to the national wealth ; while the delicate foliage 
 of the maple, green in summer and brilliantly tinted in 
 autumn, adds to the beauty of the landscape. 
 
 The wild camellia is a tall tree that in spring bears a pro- 
 fusion of large, single flozvers. More highly appreciated 
 by the Japanese are the cherry-trees that in spring beau- 
 tify the mountains and parks with their pure blossoms. 
 " Among flowers, the cherry ; among men, the warrior," 
 is an old saying which shows what the Japanese most 
 esteemed in blossoms and in men. Dwarf varieties of the 
 cherry bear large flowers of various hues ; but the fruit 
 of these, as of the wild trees, is worthless. The Japanese 
 preserve cherry blossoms in salt ; and cherry-tea, made 
 by placing one or two of these in a tea-cup of warm water, 
 is sometimes presented to an honored guest. The plum 
 blossom is much prized for its simple beauty, its perfume, 
 and because it blooms so early while the branches are still 
 covered with snow. The moats of old castles are often 
 used for the cultivation of the lotus, whose roots and 
 seeds are used for food, and whose pink or white blossoms 
 delight the eye. The use of the flower in Buddhistic sym- 
 bolism comes from the fact that it rises in such sweet 
 purity from the foul mud that surrounds it. The chrys- 
 anthemum, wistaria, azalea, peony, and iris are some of 
 the other plants whose blossoms are most prized. 
 
 In speaking of plants it will not do to omit the bamboo, 
 though there may be some hesitation in knowing where 
 it should be classed. It might be reckoned among the 
 edible vegetables, since the young shoots are an impor- 
 tant article of food ; it might be included among useful 
 timbers, since it is so much used in building and for
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 9 
 
 making various utensils ; but in reality it is a grass. The 
 shoot, as it springs from the ground, has nearly the diam- 
 eter of the full-grown plant ; pushing rapidly through 
 the air, it attains its full height in a few weeks ; and, 
 though its fibres grow more firm, there is afterward no 
 perceptible increase in size. 
 
 4. Animals. — The deer, bear, wild boar, monkey, hare, 
 badger, and fox are found in Japan. Until recent years, 
 deer were so plentiful in even the thickly populated prov- 
 inces that long earthen walls, which may still be seen, 
 were built on the edges of forests in order to keep them 
 out of the fields. 
 
 The fox is regarded with superstitious fear ; partly be- 
 cause it is considered the messenger of one of the gods, 
 and still more because it is supposed to bewitch people. 
 Many persons are thought to be victims of fox-possession. 
 They bark like a fox, jump about, and move their bodies 
 in a curious way. The phenomenon is evidently a form 
 of nervous disease whose manifestations are governed by 
 the superstitions prevailing among the people. Certain 
 temples are frequented by possessed persons who repeat 
 Buddhist formulas and perform various rites in the hope 
 of driving the fox from them. It is said that there are 
 no foxes in Shikoku, and that therefore no cases of fox- 
 possession occur in that island. Badger-possession, how- 
 ever, takes its place. 
 
 Domestic animals include horses, oxen, dogs, and cats. 
 Horses are used chiefly as pack-animals. In Yezo and in 
 some mountainous regions they are used for riding. In 
 ancient as in modern times they were employed for mili- 
 tary purposes. Carriages drawn by horses are not com- 
 mon. Oxen are used for ploughing and other work upon 
 the farm. Until recently, milk has not been an article of 
 diet ; and it is still regarded as a food for invalids rather 
 than for those in health. The use of meat, though for- 
 merly prevented by Buddhistic ideas, is becoming com- 
 mon. It is said that in old times venison and other meat 
 was sometimes sold under the name of " mountain whale," 
 since only the strictest Buddhists refused to eat fish, and 
 the whale was considered a fish. 
 
 5. Birds. — Among the birds of Japan are herons, 
 cranes, storks, ducks, geese, bitterns, hawks, crows,
 
 10 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 pheasants, and pigeons, besides innumerable sparrows 
 and a variety of other small birds. It is often said that 
 the birds of Japan have no song; but this is not quite 
 true. Though the cawing of the crows and the shrieks 
 of the bitterns cannot be called musical, the same can 
 hardly be said of the cooing of the wood-pigeons, the 
 plaintive notes of the nightingale, and the cheerful song 
 of the sky-lark. 
 
 6. Marine Products. — The seas surrounding Japan fur- 
 nish large quantities of excellent fish. Seals are taken 
 among the northern islands. In the capture of whales 
 nets made of coarse rope are used. After the fishermen 
 have managed to entangle the whale in them so that it 
 cannot shake them off, they act as a drag upon its move- 
 ments, thus enabling the men to despatch it with their 
 harpoons. Shell-fish of various kinds are much used for 
 food. Large quantities of seaweed are dried, to be eaten 
 by the Japanese or exported to China. 
 
 7. Insects. — Insects, with the exception of those pro- 
 ducing silk, are hardly to be considered among the useful 
 products of Japan, unless on the principle that all created 
 things must serve some useful purpose. Some of them, 
 indeed, are a delight to the eye. Moths, butterflies, and 
 dragon-flies are numerous and beautiful. In the evening 
 the lowlands sparkle with flashing fire-flies. The Jap- 
 anese capture these, sometimes carrying them about in 
 bags made of thin paper through which their rays shine, 
 sometimes enclosing hundreds in a cage to beautify a 
 garden or a room. 
 
 Other insects, however, not only fail to furnish enjoy- 
 ment, but are a source of discomfort. The traveller in 
 Yezo is tormented by the sharp bites of a large gad-fly, 
 against whose attacks ordinary clothing offers slight pro- 
 tection. Elsewhere a tiny gnat infests wooded districts. 
 Clouds of mosquitoes make the use of nets a necessity at 
 night ; but no nets are a protection against the ubiquitous 
 flea, which keeps nervous people awake at night, and by 
 day is a great annoyance, especially if its victim is at a 
 meeting where he must keep quiet, or in company where 
 propriety prevents any attempt to get rid of the crawling, 
 jumping, biting torment. 
 
 VIII. Population.— In 1895 Japan — exclusive of For-
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN II 
 
 mosa — had 42,270,620 people. Of these, 3,518 were no- 
 bles, 1,617,686 belonged to the gentry — formerly the 
 samurai, or military class — and the remainder to the com- 
 mon people. 
 
 IX. Important Cities. — 1. Kyoto, the once sacred cap- 
 ital, where the Emperors resided for upward of a thou- 
 sand years — from a.d. 794 to 1868 — is by far the most 
 interesting city of Japan. It is sometimes called Saikyo, 
 " Western Capital," in contradistinction to Tokyo, the 
 " Eastern Capital." In early European works on Japan 
 it is often called Miaco (Miyako), which is a Japanese 
 word denoting the capital city. Except on the south, the 
 plain in which it stands is encircled by mountains. On 
 its eastern side — parallel to the River Kamo, which flows 
 through and divides the city — a range of hills several 
 hundred feet high adds much to the beauty of the situa- 
 tion. The Kamo is spanned by several long bridges. It 
 is, however, little more than a dry, shingly bed, except 
 when swollen by heavy rains. The river-bed is a marked 
 feature of the city. It is utilized for bleaching cloth, long 
 strips of which may be seen spread on it any fine day. 
 In the summer evenings some portions of it are alive with' 
 multitudes of citizens, their families and friends, who 
 occupy booths and " cooling stages," sipping tea or sake, 
 eating fruit and sweetmeats, smoking, chatting, and oth- 
 erwise amusing themselves. The city is well built, and 
 the streets are clean. 
 
 The history of Japan for a thousand years centres about 
 Kyoto ; but its political importance was lost when the 
 capital was removed, in 1868, to Tokyo. Most of the 
 residences formerly occupied by nobles and court officers 
 were demolished. The Imperial Palace, however, still 
 remains, and is occupied by the Emperor when he visits 
 the city. In recent years the establishment of several 
 manufactories, and an increased demand for the silks, 
 embroideries, porcelain, and other artistic productions for 
 which the city is famous have helped to restore its pros- 
 perity. The construction of a canal which has been 
 brought by tunnels through the mountains from Lake 
 Biwa, about seven miles distant, has facilitated traffic with 
 the populous region lying about the lake, and also fur- 
 nished water-power, which, in the form gf electricity, is
 
 12 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 distributed through the city. The population, is now 
 about 330,000. The city has several educational institu- 
 tions, among them being the new University, lately estab- 
 lished by the government, and the Doshisha Schools 
 founded by Dr. Joseph Neesima and the American Board. 
 
 Kyoto has for centuries been the centre of the nation's 
 religious life. Both Buddhist and Shinto temples are nu- 
 merous. The magnificent new temple of the Shin sect 
 of Buddhists is a conspicuous object in the city. In the 
 suburbs and all along the hills which surround Kyoto are 
 many temples. Their grounds, especially those which in- 
 clude groves on the hillsides, are both extensive and beau- 
 tiful. Some are like parks, some are laid out as gardens 
 — admirable specimens of Japanese landscape gardening 
 — and in all of them the people, who are great lovers of 
 nature, find abundant pleasure and delight. 
 
 2. Tokyo. — This city, formerly called Yedo, is compara- 
 tively modern. Until the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century it was a place of no importance. Then it was 
 that Ieyasu, who had just become the Shogun or military 
 governor of Japan, laid the foundation of the city's great- 
 ness by building his castle and establishing his govern- 
 ment there. After the Shogunate was abolished by the 
 Restoration of 1868, the name of Yedo was changed to 
 Tokyo, and it became the seat of the Imperial govern- 
 ment. It has now a population of 1,269,000. 
 
 The city stands at the head of the Bay of Yedo and at 
 the mouth of the Sumida River. Originally built as a 
 military stronghold, its principal feature was the Sho- 
 gun's castle, whose walls and moats still remain, while its 
 grounds are occupied by the new Imperial Palace, parks, 
 and public buildings. The moats and other canals are 
 connected and communicate either with the Sumida River 
 or the bay. It is over one of these canals, which crosses 
 the main street of the city, that the famous Bridge of 
 Japan — Nihon Bashi — is built, from which all distances 
 in the empire are measured. The bridge, " of cedarwood, 
 with highly ornamental balustrades," or, as described 
 by another, the " humpbacked structure, a crazy mass of 
 old firewood," of former davs, has given place to a stone 
 bridge, almost level, and affording passage for a contin- 
 uous stream of tram-cars, wagonettes, and jinrikisha,
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 1 3 
 
 which were unknown in old Yedo. The city is every 
 year becoming more Europeanized. Not only are gov- 
 ernment offices, schools, military barracks, and other pub- 
 lic buildings erected in European style, but the same is 
 increasingly true of business establishments and the dwell- 
 ings of wealthy people. 
 
 Tokyo is the great educational centre of Japan, having 
 the Imperial University, normal, commercial, and mili- 
 tary schools, besides a large number of private institu- 
 tions, including many that have been established by mis- 
 sionaries. 
 
 3. Yokohama. — This city is situated on the western 
 shore of the Bay of Yedo, eighteen miles from Tokyo. 
 Forty years ago it was a small fishing village on the edge 
 of a swamp. It is now a large and flourishing town of 
 160,000 inhabitants. The treaties with western nations 
 provided for the opening of Kanagawa, and the foreign 
 ministers made loud complaints when the Japanese Gov- 
 ernment set apart this village as the place for foreign 
 residence. Business men, however, hastened to take the 
 land placed at their disposal, and an increasing commerce 
 has built up this large city. 
 
 The European commercial quarter is substantially built, 
 and the influence of its buildings is seen in those that have 
 in recent years been erected by Japanese merchants. Most 
 of the foreigners reside on the Bluff, a range of low hills 
 extending from the shore of the bay inland, on which 
 there are numerous pleasantly situated villas, with gar- 
 dens well screened from the road by evergreen hedges 
 and shrubbery. There is a small colony of Chinese resi- 
 dents in Yokohama, many of whom are merchants, brok- 
 ers, money-changers, and clerks ; others being carpenters, 
 painters, tailors, shoemakers, and domestic servants in 
 European houses. 
 
 4. Osaka. — This is the second largest city in Japan, 
 and stands in the delta of the Yodo River, about two 
 miles from the sea and thirty from Kyoto. The river is 
 formed in the plain south of Kyoto, by the union of the 
 waters of its four principal affluents — one issuing from 
 Lake Biwa, another flowing across the Kyoto plain to 
 the west of the city, another passing through the city 
 itself, and the fourth draining the country to the south
 
 14 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 and southeast — and thence flows toward the Gulf of 
 Osaka, into which it falls by several channels. Having 
 lost a portion of its water above Osaka, it enters the city 
 at its northeastern extremity and is thence divided. Its 
 several streams, together with the numerous canals cut 
 at right angles to each other, completely intersect the city, 
 and Osaka has somewhat extravagantly been called the 
 " Venice of Japan." These canals are crossed by over 
 eleven hundred bridges. Although a bar at the mouth of 
 the river prevents the entrance of large vessels, junks and 
 small steamers ascend to the lower part of the city, while 
 the canals are crowded with cargo boats conveying goods 
 to and from the large fireproof storehouses along the 
 banks. There are plans for the construction of an arti- 
 ficial harbor. 
 
 Osaka, like several other Japanese cities, is now in the 
 midst of an industrial and social revolution that is the out- 
 growth of the introduction of the modern manufacturing 
 system. The city is surrounded by a belt of factories 
 which turn out a large variety of goods for the home 
 trade and for export to China, Korea, and other countries. 
 Some of the factories are little more than rough sheds, yet 
 even in these an astonishing amount of work is accom- 
 plished. On the other hand, the buildings and equip- 
 ments of some of the large mills would compare favorably 
 with those of manufacturing cities in America. These 
 factories attract large numbers of operatives from the 
 country districts, and are bringing about some of the 
 social changes that have attended the development of 
 manufactures in the West. The population of the city 
 is nearly half a million ; but in addition to those who are 
 registered as permanent residents, the operatives in the 
 factories and the multitudes of strangers coming to the 
 city for business or pleasure largely increase the number 
 of those who at any one time are within its limits ; while 
 thousands more dwell in the populous suburbs, which are 
 separated by no visible line of demarcation from what is 
 politically known as the city of Osaka. 
 
 5. Kobe. — This city, about twenty miles distant from 
 Osaka, has become nearly as important a port as Yoko- 
 hama. In official circles it is often called Hiogo, that 
 being the name of the city that by treaties was thrown
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 1 5 
 
 open to foreign residence. It was found more convenient 
 to have the settlement at the little fishing village of Kobe ; 
 and through the growth of foreign trade this has increased 
 in importance until it has absorbed the older city. In 
 1895 it contained a population of 161,000. It has an ex- 
 cellent harbor, and the ground rises gradually for half 
 a mile to the foot of steep mountains. The town presents 
 a very attractive appearance as seen from vessels entering 
 the harbor. 
 
 6. Nagasaki. — This city is in the island of Kyushu. 
 It stands near the head of a lovely bay, which, with its 
 rocky coasts and surrounding hills, makes an attractive 
 scene, though the town itself is not so pleasant as most 
 of the other treaty ports. The region is historically in- 
 teresting because of its connection with the persecution 
 of the Roman Catholic Christians in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, and also as having been the place where the Dutch 
 were allowed to have a trading settlement which for two 
 hundred and thirty years after the expulsion of foreigners 
 in 1624 was the only point of contact between Japan and 
 the western world. 
 
 7. Hakodate. — This port, in the southern part of Yezo, 
 is an important commercial centre and is in direct steam 
 communication with Yokohama and other ports. The 
 town is pleasantly situated on the slope of a hill and the 
 shore of a land-locked bay, which forms a deep, commo- 
 dious, and safe harbor. 
 
 8. Niigata. — This city is on the west coast of Hondo, 
 at the mouth of the Shinano-gawa, the largest river in 
 Japan. It is the capital of one of the richest provinces 
 in the empire, but suffers from lack of a good harbor. 
 The important island of Sado, noted for its gold mines, 
 is near Niigata. 
 
 With the exception of Kyoto, the cities thus far men- 
 tioned are the so-called " open ports," or places where 
 foreigners belonging to countries having treaties with 
 Japan have been permitted to reside. Beyond certain spec- 
 ified limits in the vicinity of these ports, they have not 
 been allowed to travel, except as they have obtained special 
 permission from the Japanese Government ; and they 
 could not reside elsewhere unless they were employed 
 by Japanese under contracts approved by the government.
 
 l6 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 These restrictions, which have at times been a great ob- 
 stacle to travel and to missionary work, are nearly at an 
 end, as new treaties permitting foreigners to travel and 
 reside in any part of the country become effective in July, 
 1899. 
 
 9. Other Cities. — Sapporo, the capital of Yezo, is a 
 place of growing importance. It has an agricultural col- 
 lege whose graduates are doing much for the develop- 
 ment of the island, which is being colonized by immigrants 
 from the southern islands. 
 
 Sendai is the commercial, military, educational, and re- 
 ligious centre for a large part of northeastern Hondo. 
 
 Nikko is much visited by tourists because of its fine 
 scenery and the temples connected with the burial places 
 of the Shoguns Ieyasu and Iemitsu. A Japanese proverb 
 runs, " Never say kekko (magnificent) until you have 
 seen Nikko." 
 
 Nagoya, the fourth largest city of Japan, is an impor- 
 tant business and military centre. It is also noted for its 
 porcelain factories and for a fine castle. 
 
 In former times the cities where the daimyos, or feudal 
 lords, resided and had their castles were the centres of 
 the regions in which they were situated. Some of them 
 have fallen into decay ; but others of them, owing to their 
 favorable location, or to the enterprise of the people in 
 introducing manufactures, have retained their importance. 
 For the most part, it is these " castle-towns " that have 
 presented the best openings for Christian work and have 
 been chosen by missionaries for residence. 
 
 X. Means of Communication — 1. Steamers from San 
 Francisco, Tacoma, Seattle, and Vancouver sail regularly 
 to Yokohama , most of them going on from that port to 
 Kobe, Nagasaki, and China. The English, German, 
 French, Austrian, and Japanese lines to Europe touch at 
 several Asiatic ports on the way. A large number of 
 steamers connect the important parts of Japan. Many of 
 these boats are now built by the Japanese themselves. 
 
 Some sailing vessels, especially those engaged in carry- 
 ing oil, still ply between America and Japan. Much of the* 
 trade between the islands is carried on by the old-fash- 
 ioned junks, though these are fast giving place to vessels 
 of modern style.
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN I? 
 
 Small, flat-bottomed boats carry cargoes up and down 
 the larger rivers. In descending streams, the traveller 
 often finds that these furnish him a pleasant means of 
 conveyance. They take him through picturesque scenery, 
 and the shooting of rapids is exciting. 
 
 2. The country is being rapidly supplied with railroads. 
 The first lines were built by the government, and the ques- 
 tion whether it shall purchase those afterward constructed 
 by private companies is much discussed. The railways 
 are narrow-gauge. Those in Yezo have the American 
 style of cars ; elsewhere the English coaches are used. 
 Fares for the three classes of the latter are equivalent, in 
 American money, to about \ l / 2 , i, and */£ cent a mile. 
 Few of the trains travel more than twenty miles an 
 hour. A few short lines of electric roads have been 
 constructed, and the abundance of water-power available 
 for the production of electricity favors an increased use 
 of such roads. 
 
 3. In old times the chief method of travel was by the 
 kago, a sort of chair carried on the shoulders of men. It 
 is still used in mountainous districts. Foreigners, not 
 being made on the jack-knife plan, find it tiresome to ride 
 doubled up in the fashion that these vehicles require. 
 Many people think that the only comfortable way to ride 
 in them is to get out and walk behind. 
 
 In most places they have been replaced by the jinrikisha. 
 An American missionary, desiring some conveyance for 
 his invalid wife, showed the picture of a baby carriage to 
 a Japanese carpenter and had him make something simi- 
 lar. The new vehicle was found so convenient that the 
 Japanese copied it, and now the jinrikisha (or " man- 
 power carriage," as the name signifies) is found in most 
 parts of the country and has been introduced into China 
 and India. The main roads of Japan are good, and in 
 fair weather the traveller may expect to average between 
 five and six miles an hour, or somewhat more, if he isi 
 going but a short distance. The same man will sometimes 
 carry a passenger over fifty miles in a day. In Yezo and 
 some other places carts and very uncomfortable coaches 
 are the vehicles in use. 
 
 4. Japan has a good system of posts. Carriers deliver 
 letters not only in large towns, but also in small villages.
 
 18 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 There are very few places that do not have at least one 
 mail a day. There is a parcel-post. A postal savings- 
 bank pays a good rate of interest. Telegraphs owned by 
 the government connect all the large towns, and there is 
 the commencement of a system of telephones.
 
 / * , * 
 
 SStSfe 
 
 -TV* ? ST. 

 
 11 
 
 The People of Japan 
 
 1. Origin of the Japanese. — i. The difference be- 
 tween two types found among the Japanese people has 
 been described by Dr. Griffis as follows : " Among the 
 upper classes, the fine, long, oval face, with prominent, 
 well-chiselled features, deep-sunken eye-sockets, oblique 
 eyes, long, drooping eyelids, elevated and arched eye- 
 brows, high and narrow forehead, rounded nose, bud- 
 like mouth, pointed chin, small hands and feet, contrast 
 strikingly with the round, flattened face, less oblique eyes 
 almost level with the face, and straight noses, expanded 
 and upturned at the roots. The former type prevails 
 among the higher classes — the nobility and gentry ; the 
 latter among the agricultural and laboring classes." 
 
 2. These types probably represent two streams of im- 
 migration. People from Northern Asia may have crossed 
 over from Korea or have entered by way of Saghalien, 
 which is separated from Siberia by a channel only five 
 miles wide that is sometimes left dry by the wind and 
 is frozen over in winter. Some students of the problem" 
 suppose that Southern Japan was peopled by persons who 
 came from the Malay Archipelago. They point to the 
 fact that the Black Stream sometimes brings to Japan 
 shipwrecked sailors who have drifted in their boats from 
 the south. It is thought that these southern immigrants 
 conquered those who had entered from the north, and 
 that in the course of time the races blended so as to form 
 the Japanese people. Other writers oppose the theory 
 of a Malayan immigration. While recognizing that there 
 were two races, they claim that both were Mongolian and 
 probably came by way of Korea or China. 
 
 II. The Ainu. — Whatever may be the truth concern- 
 ing these two sets of immigrants, they probably found the 
 
 . 19
 
 20 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 islands already occupied by other people whose origin is 
 unknown. These were the Ainu, or Aino, whom the new- 
 comers gradually forced back into Yezo, where they long 
 maintained independence and their purity of race. A 
 remnant numbering about 17,000 still survives, but they 
 are subject to the Japanese. The Ainu " are the hairiest 
 race in the whole world, their luxuriantly thick black 
 beards and hairy limbs giving them an appearance which 
 contrasts strangely with the smoothness of their Japanese 
 lords and masters. They are of a sturdy build, and dis- 
 tinguished by a flattening of certain bones of the arm and 
 leg — the tibia and humerus — which has been observed no- 
 where else except in the remains of some of the cave-men 
 of Europe. The women tattoo mustaches on their upper 
 lips and geometrical patterns on their hands. Both sexes 
 are of a mild and amiable disposition, but are terribly 
 addicted to drunkenness. They are filthily dirty, the prac- 
 tice of bathing being altogether unknown. . . . Their 
 religion is a simple nature-worship. The sun, wind, ocean, 
 bear, etc., are deified . . . and whittled sticks are 
 set up in their honor. The bear, though worshipped, is 
 also sacrificed and eaten with solemnities that form the 
 most original and picturesque features of Ainu life." 
 (Chamberlain, " Things Japanese.") 
 
 III. Possible Relation between the Japanese and the 
 American Indians. — The Japanese are thought by some 
 to have been the progenitors of the North American In- 
 dians and the Mexicans. In some respects the physical 
 characteristics are similar, and it is easy to see that the 
 Black Stream might have borne shipwrecked people across 
 the Pacific. Indeed, it is said that between 1782 and 1876, 
 forty-seven Japanese junks are known to have been cast 
 upon the American coast. 
 
 IV. Physical Characteristics of the Japanese. — 
 The average height of Japanese men is about the same as 
 that of European women. The low stature is largely due 
 to shortness of the lower limbs, and, when seated, they 
 do not seem so diminutive as when standing. They are' 
 of light weight. With the exception of the professional 
 wrestlers, who look like mountains of fat, very few portly 
 persons are to be seen. The upper and middle classes 
 appear to be physically weak; but the peasantry have
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 21 
 
 great powers of endurance, even the women carrying 
 heavy burdens upon their heads. 
 
 V. Mental Characteristics. — i. The Japanese are 
 keenly intelligent. Most of the men and a considerable 
 proportion of the women are able to read books written in 
 a simple style. Even the peasants are interested to know 
 what is going on in the world, their questions and re- 
 marks showing much shrewdness and quickness of per- 
 ception. 
 
 2. The people are cheerful and good-natured. They take 
 life in a light-hearted way. With a smile, or sometimes 
 with a laugh, the Japanese will tell of some terrible dis- 
 aster or bereavement; yet one who understands the peo- 
 ple knows that a heavy heart often lies beneath the cheer- 
 ful exterior, and that a sympathetic word may lead to 
 a flood of tears. It is often hard to tell whether the laugh 
 that accompanies the narration of bad news comes from 
 nervousness or from the person's feeling that he ought 
 not to let his own sorrow annoy another. 
 
 3. It is often said that the Japanese are imitative, but 
 do not have inventive power. The correctness of this as- 
 sertion may be doubted. It is true that Japan in former 
 times copied what it received from China, and more re- 
 cently it has adopted or imitated what has come from the 
 West. Yet the copying has not been servile. If an object 
 is placed before a Chinaman and a Japanese with direc- 
 tions to make something like it, the former will produce 
 what can hardly be distinguished from the model. The 
 Japanese, on the other hand, will introduce some ideas of 
 his own. If he understands the use of the article, the 
 change will probably be an improvement. Where there 
 is a chance for variation he does not like to make two 
 things alike. Here we see what is at least allied to a 
 capacity for invention. Tell a country blacksmith or an 
 ordinary mechanic that an instrument is desired for a 
 certain use, and if he once grasps the idea he will show 
 a surprising ability to make something that will serve the 
 desired end. 
 
 4. Japanese often lack steadfastness of purpose. They 
 do not like to begin with small things and make them 
 grow to something great. New enterprises must be start- 
 ed with grand opening exercises and great enthusiasm,
 
 22 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 only to be abandoned when difficulties arise. The Japa- 
 nese are easily discouraged. The phrase " Shikata ga 
 nai," " There is no help for it," is constantly heard as 
 a reason for discontinuing effort, or even as an excuse 
 for yielding to sin instead of bravely fighting against evil. 
 The people are opportunists, allowing their action to be 
 governed by what will serve the present purpose rather 
 than by great principles. There is little courage in re- 
 sisting public opinion. " The spirit of the times is unfa- 
 vorable " is given as a sufficient reason for yielding to 
 evil or failing to uphold what is known to be right. 
 
 5. The Japanese are changeable. " There is nothing 
 fixed in Japan except change," was the remark of a keen 
 observer. It may be questioned, however, whether the 
 Japanese are naturally quite so fickle as is generally sup- 
 posed. It must be remembered that during the last forty 
 years new ideas, theories, sciences, and inventions have 
 poured into the country like a flood. It is no wonder that 
 a people so anxious to receive the benefits of the new civ- 
 ilization have been bewildered, attention being called now 
 in one direction and now in another. The new movements 
 have been largely in the hands of young men, and have 
 lacked the steadying influence that would come from the 
 conservatism natural to age ; for the older people have 
 been disregarded as men hopelessly wedded to the past, 
 or they themselves have recognized their inability to take 
 a leading part in movements that needed the energy and 
 adaptability of youth. When we consider how descend- 
 ants of the Roman Catholic Christians, though deprived 
 of the outward helps and forms which seem so important 
 an element in their religion, retained their faith through 
 two and a half centuries ; when we see the steady way 
 in which Japanese statesmen have carried out the pro- 
 gramme inaugurated at the time of the Restoration of 
 1868, we may question whether the Japanese are so fickle 
 as has been alleged, and also whether what was said in 
 the preceding paragraph does not need to be modified by 
 remembrance of many who in the face of great obstacles 
 have persisted in carrying out their purposes. 
 
 6. Some one has wittily said that the Japanese are 
 " great in little things, and little in great things." Though 
 ruch generalizations are likely to be misleading, the cur-
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 2$ 
 
 rency that this epigram has gained shows that it is not 
 wholly devoid of truth. Japanese artists are skilful in 
 painting flowers, small birds, insects, and tiny bits of 
 scenery ; they seldom succeed in their pictures of men, 
 large animals, and broad landscapes. Japanese poetry 
 consists chiefly of diminutive odes of thirty-one syllables 
 that give a mere hint of some poetical thought ; nothing 
 has been produced that can be .compared with the great 
 epics, dramas, and heroic poems of Europe. In prose 
 literature there is little in which Europeans can find much 
 pleasure, except novels and miscellaneous collections of 
 anecdotes. While the Japanese are ready and pleasing 
 speakers, there have been no great orators. 
 
 7. The Japanese are very appreciative of beauty. Even 
 the lower classes take great pleasure in flowers and in 
 natural scenery. Ordinary utensils are often decorated 
 with simple but pleasing ornaments. Japanese art, which 
 has been so enthusiastically welcomed in the West, is the 
 outgrowth of an aesthetic taste that is widely diffused 
 among the people. 
 
 8. The Japanese are hero-worshippers in both a literal 
 and figurative sense. Shrines are erected to the memory 
 of great warriors and statesmen. School-books and other 
 literature for the young record the deeds of noted men. 
 Children whose filial piety found exaggerated methods of 
 expression are held up as models for those who come after 
 them. One unfortunate result of this, as noted by Mr. 
 Yokoi, is that " the quiet, peaceful performance of daily 
 duties, small and unheroic, but so necessary for the high- 
 est social welfare, seemed to fall into comparative neglect." 
 The same mental qualities that make the Japanese worship 
 the heroes of the past make them enthusiastic followers 
 of great leaders in the present. " It is difficult," says 
 Professor G. T. Ladd, " to secure from natives friendship 
 and devotion, or even much steadfast interest, for anyone 
 out of whom they cannot make and maintain a hero." 
 
 9. A very valuable study of Japanese characteristics 
 is to be found in the article from which the last quotation 
 is taken, and which appeared in Scribner's Magazine for 
 January, 1895. Professor Ladd accounts for peculiarities 
 and seeming contradictions by saying that the Japanese 
 are of the " sentimental temperament." The distinguish-
 
 24 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 ing mark of this temperament is " great susceptibility to 
 variety of influences — especially on the side of feeling, 
 and independent of clear logical analysis or fixed and 
 well-comprehended principles — with a tendency to a will 
 that is impulsive and liable to collapse. Such susceptibil- 
 ity is likely to be accompanied by unusual difficulty in 
 giving due weight to those practical considerations which 
 lead to compromises in politics, to steadiness in labor, to 
 patience in developing the details of science and philos- 
 ophy, and to the establishment of a firm connection be- 
 tween the higher life of thought and feeling and the de- 
 tails of daily conduct. On the other hand, it is the artistic 
 temperament, the temperament which makes one ' inter- 
 esting,' the ' clever ' mind, the temperament which has 
 a suggestion of genius at its command." 
 
 io. So much has been said by some writers about the 
 Japanese being wholly or nearly without the idea of per- 
 sonality, that reference should be made to this opinion. 
 It can be found elaborated in Mr. Percival Lowell's 
 " Soul of the Far East." The editor of the present vol- 
 ume cannot accept the view, but an adequate discussion 
 of the question would require too much space. Suffice 
 it to say that many of the facts adduced in support of the 
 opinion are explained by a dull sense of individual respon- 
 sibility. This may be due in part to pantheistic ideas dat- 
 ing from ancient times, but has been increased by the 
 influence of Buddhism, which explains man's present 
 deeds by those that preceded them in another state of 
 existence, thus blunting the sense of obligation to do right, 
 and taking away the sense of guilt for sin. 
 
 ii. Comparisons are often made between the Japanese 
 and the Chinese. In doing this, Americans are likely to 
 be unfair to the latter. It must be remembered that the 
 Chinese who come to this country belong, for the most 
 part, to the lower classes, while the Japanese — except the 
 laborers who come to the Pacific Coast — are nearly all 
 students or the most enterprising men of business. The 
 Japanese are more progressive, and so quicker to adopt 
 western ideas ; the Chinese are slower and exceedingly 
 conservative. The European finds the Japanese more 
 companionable ; but he is more likely to trust the Chinese. 
 The Japanese are brilliant ; the Chinese more profound.
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 25 
 
 The former are the French; the latter, the Germans of 
 Asia. 
 
 VI. Japanese Standards of Morality. — It is difficult' 
 to write impartially concerning the moral condition of any 
 people; and an examination of what different authors 
 have said about the Japanese will show that the most di- 
 verse opinions have been expressed. Some speak of them 
 as though they were models of all that is good, " who have 
 nothing to learn from western lands," while others have 
 described them as wholly given over to immorality. Per- 
 haps it cannot rightly be said that one people is naturally 
 superior or inferior to another in morality. If men of dif- 
 ferent lands were asked to write down the names of the 
 virtues, the lists might not vary much, except that the 
 order of the words would show the comparative emphasis 
 laid on the virtues specified. Vices vary in outward forms 
 more than in heinousness. The evil that most forcibly 
 tempts those brought up in one land is replaced by some- 
 thing else with those whose early education has been dif- 
 ferent. We ought to remember that the besetting sins of 
 a foreign people seem worse to us because they are not 
 the ones that most tempt us ; and that we may fail to 
 appreciate another's virtues because they are not the ones 
 that we make most prominent. 
 
 i. The Japanese emphasize the importance of loyalty. 
 The Imperial family has been considered to be of divine 
 origin, and so the devotion with which it was formerly 
 regarded partook of a religious nature. Though few 
 educated people now consider that the Emperor is more 
 than man, the influence of the old idea remains. For 
 centuries, indeed, the mass of the people had but little 
 thought of the Emperors, and loyalty meant chiefly de- 
 votion to one's feudal lord ; but those who were leaders 
 in the revolution that overthrew the Shogunate, did away 
 with the feudal system, restored the government to the 
 Emperor, and have emphasized the idea of loyalty to him 
 until it has taken an extreme form, which often finds 
 expression in ways that to foreigners seem childish and 
 ridiculous. 
 
 It is somewhat difficult to draw the line between loyalty 
 and patriotism; and patriotism in the sense of love for 
 the whole country is almost a new sentiment among the
 
 26 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 Japanese ; for, as the feudal lord was the object of loyalty, 
 the province which he governed was the " country " of 
 his subjects. The revolution of 1868 expanded these nar- 
 row views, and readiness to make great sacrifices for Em- 
 peror and country has aided national progress and given 
 Japan a great advantage over China, where patriotism is 
 still comparatively unknown. Unfortunately, these patri- 
 otic sentiments, all the stronger because of recent growth, 
 have led to an exaggerated nationalism that unduly praises 
 whatever is Japanese, dislikes foreigners, and insists that 
 everything coming from abroad must be thoroughly Jap- 
 anized before it can be accepted by one who loves his 
 country. This may be but a temporary phenomenon of 
 awakening national consciousness, to be compared with 
 what was seen in Russia, as described by Tourgenieff: 
 " Some young people among us have discovered even a 
 Russian arithmetic. Two and two do indeed make four 
 with us as well as elsewhere, but more pompously it 
 would seem. All this is nothing but the stammering of 
 men who are just awaking." It is sometimes hard to be 
 patient with the childish bumptiousness and self-suffi- 
 ciency, but better that such offences should come than 
 that the nation should not be aroused to its new life. 
 
 2. Filial piety, which is the first principle of Confucian 
 ethics, stands next to loyalty in the estimation of the 
 Japanese. Perhaps " fulfilment of duty toward one's fam- 
 ily " would more fully express what is inculcated. It is 
 hard for occidentals to understand how the family or 
 " house " is regarded by the Japanese. It is considered a 
 terrible calamity to have a family come to an end ; it is 
 incumbent upon every one of the members to uphold its 
 honor. Formerly, in obedience to the Confucian maxim, 
 " One cannot live under the same heaven with the slayer 
 of one's lord or father," violent death must be avenged 
 by the nearest relatives. The person who brought dis- 
 grace upon his house could be called upon to wipe out 
 the stain by suicide. Twenty-five years ago a mother 
 called before her a son who had become interested in 
 Christianity, placed before him the sword of his dead 
 father, and said : " You are disgracing our family. Prom- 
 ise to have nothing more to do with the foreign religion, 
 vor else slay yourself with your father's sword." " Moth-
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 2J 
 
 cr," he replied, " I cannot cease to study that which 
 seems to me to be true ; neither can I feel that it is right 
 for me to take the life that Heaven has given me." 
 " Then but one thing remains possible," she said, grasp- 
 ing the sword. " I will do what little is in my power 
 to preserve the honor of our house," and it was with diffi- 
 culty that she was restrained from taking her own life. 
 
 Anxiety to keep the family from extinction has in- 
 creased the prevalence of concubinage. Adoption is also 
 common, not from motives of charity, but to preserve the 
 family name. The person who is adopted or comes into 
 a family by marriage — and men often " marry into the 
 wife's house " — is supposed to transfer to it his obedience 
 and affections. A few years since a young man, who 
 had but a week or two before been adopted, nearly lost 
 his life at sea. In telling of his experiences, he said the 
 one thought that filled his soul was sorrow at the grief 
 his new father would feel en account of his death. So 
 far as his words went, there was nothing to show that 
 he remembered the one who a few days before had been 
 his father. Mr. Yokoi says, " The wife obeys her husband 
 because he is the head of the household; the mother [if 
 a widow] obeys her son because he is the head of the 
 household. The father did the same, if he had resigned 
 his place as the head of the household and was living in 
 retirement." It will thus be seen that filial obedience may 
 sometimes be replaced by paternal obedience. 
 
 One unfortunate result of the Japanese view is that 
 when poverty overtakes her family a girl is expected to 
 be willing to give herself to a life of shame in order to 
 provide funds to support her parents. The government 
 requires that the girl shall give her consent; but few 
 would long resist the command of the parent or elder 
 brother, and the transaction practically amounts to her 
 sale to the keeper of a brothel. Japanese literature 
 abounds with tales of daughters who have shown praise- 
 worthy devotion to their parents by voluntarily offering 
 themselves, while other stories tell of men who have sold 
 their wives in order to get means to help aged parents 
 or even impoverished masters. A great difference be- 
 tween Japanese ideas of filial piety and our own is that 
 the former insist upon obedience for the benefit of the
 
 28 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 parents or the family, while we desire children to be 
 obedient because we believe it will be for their own good. 
 
 3. Propriety in conduct is reckoned among the leading 
 virtues. Hence has come much of the courtesy that 
 makes so favorable an impression on travellers, who are, 
 however, somewhat misled by what appears upon the 
 surface. The peasantry are naturally polite. This could 
 hardly be the case without the same being to some extent 
 true of other classes. Yet the emphasis laid upon pro- 
 priety, whose rules are largely determined by the com- 
 parative ranks of the persons concerned, has tended to 
 make etiquette replace real politeness. The inferior is 
 careful to show due respect to his superior and to the 
 one from whom he expects some favor ; but a superior is 
 apt to have little regard for those beneath him. He ad- 
 dresses them in contemptuous language and treats them 
 in a way he would not think of using toward those whom 
 he considers his equals. The very words and the termi- 
 nations of his verbs show how he regards them. The 
 traveller from foreign lands is usually received as a man 
 to be ranked among the upper classes, and he is treated 
 accordingly. Many tourists see only merchants, hotel- 
 keepers, and others who seek their patronage and are 
 therefore very low in their bows. Hence more courtesy 
 is often attributed to the people than they really possess. 
 If the best test of politeness is to be found in the treatment 
 accorded to a person of lower rank than one's own, the 
 Japanese of the upper classes do not deserve all the praise 
 that has been accorded to them. 
 
 4. Truthfulness is not a prominent characteristic of the 
 Japanese. Townsend Harris, the first American Minister 
 to Japan, may have gone too far when, after several try- 
 ing experiences, he pronounced them " the greatest liars 
 upon the face of the earth ; " yet it must be confessed 
 that, while the Japanese have much to say about sincerity 
 as the great duty of one friend to another, they have not 
 emphasized the necessity of what we understand by truth- 
 fulness. In books for western children and in the stories 
 that we tell them, this is one of the first virtues incul- 
 cated ; but the juvenile and ethical literature of Japan is 
 nearly silent upon the subject. Truth for truth's sake is 
 little valued. Few persons seem abashed if caught in
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 2$ 
 
 falsehood. Buddhist priests, when talking with educated 
 people, do not hesitate to say that much of what they 
 teach to the masses is only a tissue of pious devices by 
 which they seek to influence men too ignorant to under- 
 stand the truth. 
 
 5. The inculcation of financial honesty by the ethical 
 teachers of Japan has been lessened by the fact that in 
 feudal times the military gentry were taught to despise 
 money and moneymaking. The merchant was considered 
 to belong to the lowest of the recognized classes of so- 
 ciety, being inferior to the farmer and the artisan. Since 
 tradesmen were despised and hampered by many restric- 
 tions, it is not strange that the code of business ethics 
 was very lax. Within the last few years business meth- 
 ods have been transformed. Many of the gentry and 
 some of the nobility are engaging in trade ; but the influ- 
 ence of old ideas and customs still remains, and it will be 
 long ere a high standard of business morality is estab- 
 lished. Foreigners trading in Japan are loud in their 
 complaints against the native merchants, who do not de- 
 liver goods equal to the sample nor fulfil contracts that 
 involve them in any loss. The peasantry is, in the main, 
 honest. Domestic servants and other employees are in 
 the habit of taking " squeezes " from what passes through 
 their hands. They also make arrangements with grocers 
 and others for receiving a percentage from all sales. 
 If refused, they will complain to their employers of the 
 quality of goods furnished, or in other ways will cause 
 the patronage to be transferred to some other merchant 
 more ready to divide the profits. While charges of brib- 
 ery are frequently brought against legislators and others, 
 there appears to be but little of the official peculation that 
 abounds in many oriental lands. The emphasis laid upon 
 loyalty has done much to prevent cheating the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 6. Outside of Christian circles not much has been done 
 to promote temperance. One of the Buddhist command- 
 ments, indeed, forbids the use of intoxicating liquor, and 
 writers on ethics have not wholly overlooked the evils of 
 intemperance ; still, public opinion does not frown upon 
 occasional intoxication, and there are few people who 
 do not at times drink to excess. Fortunately, however,
 
 30 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 except on public holidays and religious festivals, there is 
 but little drunkenness seen on the streets. Most of the 
 drinking takes place in the evening, either at home or 
 in " tea-houses " and other places where companies gather 
 for merry-making. The Japanese, when intoxicated, are 
 seldom quarrelsome. They sing, dance, and are jolly 
 rather than ugly. This may be partly owing to the char- 
 acteristics of the people and partly to the qualities of the 
 liquor commonly used. This is brewed from rice and 
 is called sake. Some observers think that a change in the 
 actions of intoxicated people can be seen as new kinds of 
 drink are being used. Foreign liquors of various kinds 
 have been introduced ; but most of them are too costly 
 to be purchased by any except the wealthy. Large quan- 
 tities of cheap alcohol are therefore imported from Amer- 
 ica and Europe. This is mixed with water, saccharine, 
 and some flavoring substance. It is thought that these 
 artificial drinks produce a more riotous form of intoxica- 
 tion, and they are vastly increasing the evils of intem- 
 perance. 
 
 Tobacco is not chewed nor used as snuff, but both men 
 and women smoke. Children commence the habit at a 
 very early age. Cigarettes imported from America or 
 manufactured in the country are taking the place of the 
 diminutive Japanese pipes, and their almost universal use 
 by young people works great harm. 
 
 7. Chastity is a virtue that public opinion in Japan 
 does not demand in men, nor in unmarried women with 
 any such insistence as prevails in western lands. Licen- 
 tiousness is the vice that has given the country its most 
 unsavory reputation. There is no strong public senti- 
 ment against it. The government licenses houses of ill- 
 fame and puts its seal on the documents by which girls 
 are delivered over to a life of shame. Concubinage is 
 common among officials and men of wealth. Men and 
 even boys are not ashamed to speak of their immoral 
 deeds. In mixed companies there is a freedom in con- 
 versation and story-telling that helps to lower the moral 
 tone of society. Many customs, though not to be judged 
 by our standards, tend to decrease modesty of thought, 
 word, and deed. 
 
 Earnest Japanese are recognizing the evil reputation
 
 THE PEOPLE OP JAPAN' 31 
 
 that their country has gained, and are anxious that it may 
 not merit the title, " Land of Licentiousness." The influ- 
 ence of foreign opinion has caused the removal from 
 public gaze of many things that were common at the 
 time of which Professor Chamberlain has written : " Not 
 the loosest of European viveurs, not the lewdest grogshop- 
 haunting English Jack-ashore but would have blushed at 
 the really unimaginable indecency which preceded our 
 advent in this country. Why ! until we, the Yokohama, 
 Tokyo, and other foreign residents, came here and had 
 been here long enough for our influence to be generally 
 felt, the very sweetmeats were indecent, the very toys of 
 the children were indecent, the very temples of religion 
 were indecent." 
 
 VII. The Position of Woman. — i. In Japan the po- 
 sition of woman is much higher than in other Asiatic 
 countries. This is the more creditable to the people be- 
 cause Buddhism accords her a very low place, saying 
 that her only hope of salvation is through being re-born 
 as a man. In the history and literature of Japan women 
 have gained great honor. Still, it must be said that from 
 a western standpoint the Japanese woman is not to be 
 envied. Her lot is summarized in " the three obediences " 
 — while unmarried, obedience to her father; when mar- 
 ried, obedience to her husband ; when widowed, obedience 
 to her son. 
 
 2. " The Great Learning for Woman," a treatise com- 
 posed by the celebrated moralist, Kaibara, gives the ideas 
 that have prevailed in Japan. A few extracts from Pro- 
 fessor Chamberlain's translation will show their general 
 spirit : 
 
 " The only qualities that befit a woman are gentle obe- 
 dience, chastity, mercy, and quietness. 
 
 " It is the chief duty of a girl living in the parental 
 house to practise filial piety toward her father and mother. 
 But after marriage her chief duty is to honor her father- 
 in-law and mother-in-law — to honor them beyond her own 
 father and mother — to love and reverence them with all 
 ardor, and to tend them with every practice of filial piety. 
 
 " A woman has no particular lord. She must look to 
 her husband as her lord, and must serve him with all 
 worship and reverence, not despising or thinking lightly 
 of him. The great life-long duty of woman is obedience.
 
 32 JAP A 17 AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 " The five worst maladies that afflict the female mind 
 are indocility, discontent, slander, jealousy, and silliness. 
 Without any doubt, these five maladies infest seven or 
 eight out of every ten women, and it is from these that 
 arises the inferiority of women to men. A woman should 
 cure them by self-inspection and self-reproach. 
 
 " We are told that it was the custom of the ancients, on 
 the birth of a female child, to let it lie on the floor for 
 the space of three days. Even in this may be seen the 
 likening of the man to Heaven and of the woman to 
 Earth ; and the custom should teach a woman how neces- 
 sary it is for her in everything to yield to her husband 
 the first, and to be herself content with the second, place." 
 
 3. The book enumerates the faults that are termed the 
 " Seven Reasons for Divorce." They are disobedience to 
 parents-in-law, barrenness, lewdness, jealousy, leprosy, 
 garrulity, and theft. Though divorce is not so common 
 as formerly, there were, in 1894, 114,436 divorces to 361,- 
 319 marriages. The marriage customs doubtless have 
 much to do with the frequency of divorce, matches being 
 usually arranged by a " go-between," who is requested 
 by a young man's parents to find a wife for their son. 
 There is little opportunity for the young people to become 
 acquainted before marriage, and sometimes they do not 
 see each other until the wedding-day. It is not strange 
 that divorces often follow marriages arranged in such a 
 way. Very often incompatibility between the bride and 
 her mother-in-law causes separation between a husband 
 and wife who are well satisfied with each other. 
 
 4. Western ideas are doing much to make the lot of 
 Japanese women easier. They are not shut up so closely 
 in their homes, and a larger proportion of them is being 
 educated, though outside of Christian schools there are 
 but few educational institutions of the higher grades that 
 are open to them. A gratifying advance in connection 
 with the ordinary public schools is shown by the statistics 
 which tell us that whereas, in 1873, only forty per cent, 
 of the boys and fifteen per cent, of the girls were in 
 school, in 1896 the attendance had risen to seventy-nine 
 and forty-eight per cent., respectively. 
 
 VIII. Classes of Society. — 1. The people of Japan 
 below the nobility were formerly divided into four prin-
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 1 33 
 
 cipal classes : The samurai, or military and literary class 
 — the sword and the pen being united as in no other coun- 
 try ; the farmers and agriculturists ; the artisan class ; 
 the merchants and shop-keepers, who have always been 
 regarded as the lowest in social rank in Japan. Below 
 those, again, outside the pale of humanity, were the pa- 
 riahs of Japan, the eta — generally living in separate vil- 
 lages, and following the occupation of skinners, tanners, 
 leather-dressers, grave-diggers, etc. — and the hinin, or 
 beggars. These were enfranchised in 1871. Since then, 
 farmer, artisan, trader, and etc have been on an equal 
 footing before the law ; while the distinction between them 
 and the shizoku, as the samurai are now called, is little 
 more than one of name. Society is now divided into three 
 classes : the kwasoku, or nobility ; the shizoku, or gen- 
 try ; and the heimin, or common people. 
 
 2. At the head of the samurai in feudal times were the 
 daimyos, the great feudal chiefs ; and above them again 
 in rank, though not in wealth and power, were the kuge, 
 or court nobles of Kyoto, numbering 150 families, all 
 branches, more or less distant, of the Imperial house. 
 The samurai had the right to wear two swords. For 
 centuries they " monopolized arms, learning, patriotism, 
 and intellect." They furnished the leaders who brought 
 about the Revolution of 1868. Since then most of the 
 officials and leaders of public thought have come from 
 their midst. The advance of education and the establish- 
 ment of representative government has had a tendency 
 to give more power to other classes. Hence, in the lower 
 house of the first Imperial Parliament, only 107 of the 300 
 members were shizoku ; and only nine of the forty-five 
 persons chosen by the highest tax-payers of the prefect- 
 ures to represent them in the upper house. 
 
 IX. The Language — 1. When Japan was first opened 
 the opinion became common that its language would 
 be an easy one for Europeans to acquire ; now it is rec- 
 ognized to be one of the most difficult. " But, of course, 
 not so hard as Chinese," says many a person, little know- 
 ing that in addition to the original Japanese, the student 
 must also learn Chinese in two or more of its ancient 
 dialects. The civilization of Japan came largely from" 
 China, and with it came the Chinese method of writing, 
 
 3
 
 34 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 as well as a large infusion of Chinese words. Since that 
 time there has been but little development of the real Jap- 
 anese language, new ideas having found expression in 
 compound Chinese words. Nearly every ideograph has 
 two and sometimes three Chinese pronunciations which 
 must never be confused and must sometimes be replaced 
 by the Japanese word. 
 
 2. The use of these ideographs imposes a great burden 
 upon the young people of Japan, who must learn a large 
 number of them in order to read any but the simplest 
 books, or even to understand the signs upon the shops. 
 There has been much discussion about the possibility of 
 doing away with the system. Anything can be easily 
 written with the Japanese syllabary of fifty characters, 
 or even with the Roman letters, and there is no trouble 
 in pronouncing what is so written ; but since so many 
 of the syllabic words introduced from the Chinese have 
 the same sound, the ambiguity is so great that without 
 the accompanying ideographs to help the eye it is often 
 impossible to understand the meaning. 
 
 3. There is probably no way to get over the difficulty 
 until Japanese writers are ready to adopt a simpler style, 
 to shun Chinese words, and thus to develop the language 
 of their own country. The colloquial language differs 
 considerably from the written. There are local dialects, 
 but those of Tokyo or Kyoto are everywhere understood.
 
 Ill 
 
 Japan in Past Times 
 
 1. Alleged Antiquity of the Imperial Dynasty. — 
 I. The present Emperor of Japan, Mutsuhito, claims to 
 be the 123d sovereign in direct succession. Remembering 
 that Queen Victoria was only the thirtieth from William 
 the Conqueror, we can form an idea of the alleged an- 
 tiquity of Japanese annals. The Japanese boast that, in 
 marked contrast to all other nations, they can point to one 
 line of emperors that has been unbroken for more than 
 2,500 years. Many would consider it almost treasonable 
 to doubt the assertion. The first Emperor is said to have 
 been Jimmu Tenno, the date of whose accession corre- 
 sponds with 660 B.C., and who would thus be contempo- 
 rary with Manasseh King of Judah and Assurbanipal 
 King of Assyria. His parents were gods, descended from 
 the great Sun-Goddess. The title Tenno signifies Heav- 
 enly King, and, like Tenshi, or Son of Heaven, is a com- 
 mon appellation for the Emperors. The word Mikado, 
 formerly current, is now but seldom heard. 
 
 2. Whatever may be believed by Japanese, foreign 
 scholars consider that authentic history does not begin 
 till the seventh century, a.d. ; but from that time to the 
 present the records are complete and trustworthy. 
 Whatever reduction must be made from the alleged 
 antiquity of the Imperial line, it occupies a unique place 
 in the world. It should be remembered, however, that 
 the family has been kept up by concubinage and by 
 adoption from collateral lines. 
 
 II. Ancient Literature. — 1. Japan possesses a volumi- 
 nous literature that contains the traditions and history of 
 past ages. The oldest works extant are the "Kojiki," 
 or "Records of Ancient Matters," and the "Nihongi" or 
 " Chronicles of Japan," the former completed in 712 a.d., 
 
 35
 
 36 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 and the latter in 720. The two books treat of the same 
 things, but, as said by Professor Chamberlain, " the lan- 
 guage of the latter and its manner of treating the national 
 traditions stand in notable contrast to the unpretending 
 simplicity of the elder work." " The subject-matter is 
 touched up, rearranged, and polished, so as to make the 
 work resemble a Chinese history as far as possible." Many 
 commentaries have been written upon these books. They 
 contain the cosmogony, the mythology, and the early his- 
 tory of the nation. Much of the contents is fabulous on 
 Jhe face of it. 
 
 * 2. The chief authority for the later and more trust- 
 worthy history is the Dai Nihon Shi, or " History of 
 Great Japan," a really great work, published in 1715. It 
 is written in pure Chinese, which is to Japanese what 
 Latin is to the languages of modern Europe, and fills 
 243 volumes. The people are enthusiastically fond of the 
 history of their country, and local records, diaries, official 
 guide-books, etc., abound. There are hundreds of chil- 
 dren's histories ; and the national annals hold a promi- 
 nent place in the education of the young. 
 
 III. Early Traditions — 1. This is not the place to 
 attempt any summary of Japanese history, but a few notes 
 of real or fancied events may be added. The earliest tra- 
 ditions of the empire, embodied in the " Records of An- 
 cient Matters " and the " Chronicles of Japan," are of the 
 scantiest kind possible. From the beginning of the reign 
 of Jimmu's successor there is, says Professor Chamber- 
 lain, " a blank of — according to the accepted chronology 
 — 500 years, during which absolutely nothing is related 
 excepting dreary genealogies — the place where each sov- 
 ereign dwelt and where he was buried, and the age to 
 which he lived." 
 
 2. But the later traditions have their heroes: Suijin, 
 the civilizer, who, with the aid of his generals, subdued 
 various turbulent districts in the first century B.C. ; 
 Yamato-Dake, of the Imperial family, a great conqueror ; 
 and the Emperor Seimu, who divided the empire into 
 provinces, districts, cities, towns, etc., in the second cen- 
 tury a.d. ; and, in particular, the Empress Jingu (i.e., 
 " Godlike Exploit "), who, after her husband's death, took 
 the reins of power, and subsequently assisted her son,
 
 JAP AM IN PAST TIMES 37 
 
 who was born after her return from Korea, in the govern- 
 ment of the empire. She flourished in the third century 
 a.d., was renowned for her " beauty, piety, intelligence, 
 energy, and martial valor," and is particularly remem- 
 bered as the conqueror of Korea. In the fourth century 
 a.d. lived Nintoku, the sage Emperor, a man of simple 
 tastes and habits, whose benign rule was characterized 
 by paternal consideration for the poorer classes of his 
 subjects. He remitted all taxation for three years, and 
 it is said that during his reign there was no criminal trial. 
 
 IV. Historical Events. — Although some actual facts 
 may have been at the foundation of the traditions already 
 given, they must be classed as myths where a possible 
 sub-stratum of truth has been overlaid with fancy and 
 fable. We now turn to a later period, where we find 
 surer ground for tracing the historical development of 
 the nation. 
 
 i. Important Changes. — In the seventh century a.d. 
 the custom of attaching special names to successive pe- 
 riods of years, as in China, was introduced, though unlike 
 that country, these periods have not always coincided 
 with the reigns of different emperors. The present era, 
 commencing with 1868, is known as that of Meiji, " Illus- 
 trious Rule." The Emperor who introduced this system 
 also appointed governors over the provinces, established 
 posts, and enrolled an army for defensive purposes. In 
 the same century the reign of Tenji, which was charac- 
 terized by the introduction of water-wheels, the first man- 
 ufacture of iron-ware, and the foundation of schools, is 
 considered the most prosperous one of the middle ages. 
 In the next century the Chinese calendar was introduced. 
 It continued in use until 1872, when it was superseded by 
 the Gregorian. 
 
 2. Rise of the Feudal System. — Though the Emperor 
 remained the absolute sovereign, the actual power passed 
 into the hands of the noble families, who set up puppet 
 mikados, to whom they married their daughters and whom 
 they surrounded by influences that tempted to indolence 
 and debauchery. After this had continued for three or 
 four centuries, great military leaders arose. The wars 
 between contending factions favored the development of 
 a feudal system. The great nobles or daimyos in their
 
 38 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 fortified castles became more and more powerful and in- 
 dependent. Their armed retainers formed the military 
 caste of samurai, already noticed. For many centuries, 
 coming down to our own day, Japan was in much the 
 same condition as Scotland is pictured to us in the pages 
 of Sir Walter Scott, parcelled out among great clans, the 
 chiefs of which professed unbounded loyalty to the sov- 
 ereign, while keeping much of the real power in their 
 own hands. The daimyos were the Macduffs and the 
 Macdonalds, the Campbells and the Douglases of Japan. 
 3. Rise of the Shogunate. — Toward the close of the 
 twelfth century a.d., Yoritomo, who belonged to the Mi- 
 namoto clan, one of the two great rival families of the 
 time, and who after his father's defeat had been exiled 
 as a boy, succeeded, in concert with other members of the 
 family, in completely destroying the power of the rival 
 house. Thus becoming military master of the country, 
 he ended by himself usurping all the executive authority 
 of the state while still acknowledging the Emperor as his 
 liege lord. He subsequently received the title of Shogun 
 (General), and laid the foundation of the dual form of 
 government which lasted till 1868, more than 200 years. 
 Foreigners have been greatly puzzled by this system, and 
 long supposed that there were two emperors — the Mikado, 
 or spiritual Emperor, and the Shogun, or temporal Em- 
 peror. The latter became better known by the name of 
 Tycoon (the word signifies Great Prince), a title which 
 was used without authorization by the later Shoguns in 
 their negotiations with foreigners. Though the Shoguns 
 were practically rulers of the land, they acknowledged the 
 Emperor as their superior and were nominally appointed 
 by him. Yoritomo made Kamakura his capital, and there 
 the power of the Shoguns was chiefly centred until 
 Ieyasu transferred it to Yedo in the seventeenth century. 
 The Mikado held his court at the sacred capital Kyoto, 
 rarely appearing before his subjects, but was worshipped 
 by them as a god, though often treated with great neglect. 
 For instance, it is related that the body of one Emperor 
 lay for several days unburied because sufficient money 
 could not be raised for funeral expenses, while for a like 
 reason the coronation ceremony of another was delayed 
 for twenty-two years.
 
 JAPAN IN PAST TIMES 39 
 
 4. Noted Military, Rulers. — The greatest of the mili- 
 tary rulers was Hideyoshi, who, however, never took the 
 title of Shogun. He is better known as Taiko Sama (a 
 title meaning "Great Counsellor"), and was contempo- 
 rary with Queen Elizabeth. He sent out an expedition 
 that conquered Korea, and he is said to have planned for 
 an invasion of China. It was he who, as will be afterward 
 narrated, banished the Jesuit missionaries. On his death 
 in 1598 one of his generals, Ieyasu, of the Tokugawa 
 clan, usurped power, and after a severe struggle, which 
 is interesting to us on account of the part taken in it 
 by the Roman Catholic Japanese, totally defeated his rivals 
 at the battle of Sekigahara. " This battle decided the 
 condition of Japan for over two centuries, the settlement 
 of the Tokugawa family in hereditary succession to the 
 Shogunate, the fate of Christianity, the isolation of Japan 
 from the world, the fixing into permanency of the dual 
 system and of feudalism, the glory and greatness of Yedo 
 as the Shogun's capital." The last of the Shoguns, who 
 was deposed in 1868, belonged to the Tokugawa family, 
 and was the fifteenth in succession from Ieyasu.
 
 IV 
 
 The Religions of Japan 
 
 1. Shintoism. — i. Meaning of the Name. — The an- 
 cient religion of the Japanese is called Kami no micJii, 
 " the way of the gods." The Chinese equivalent of the 
 name, Shin-to, is the one commonly used ; hence this 
 religion is called by English writers Shintoism. 
 
 2. General Description. — Mr. Kodera describes it as 
 " simply a remnant of the primitive worship long preva- 
 lent among the rude tribes of the islands of Japan, and 
 subsequently developed and shaped according to the de- 
 gree of civilization to which they attained ; " "a mixture 
 of that nature worship which is so common among unciv- 
 ilized races, and the worship of ancestors, especially of 
 some chiefs or heroes." Nature worship led to the deifica- 
 tion of the heavenly bodies, and at least reverence for 
 lofty mountains, bold cliffs, aged trees, and other striking 
 objects. It also took on debased forms; and though the 
 government, after the advent of foreigners, caused many 
 offensive images to be removed, they are still occasionally 
 seen. Shintoism in its present forms is chiefly founded 
 on the mythologies and traditions preserved in the Ko- 
 jiki, where it appears as " a bundle of miscellaneous 
 superstitions, rather than a co-ordinate system." 
 
 3. Its Mythology. — Shintoism represents the first dei- 
 ties as coming into existence when from a state of chaos 
 heaven and earth spontaneously began. Five single dei- 
 ties and seven pairs, called the Seven Divine Generations, 
 successively appear, while the earth still continues as a 
 formless mass, and the land is like floating oil that drifts 
 about as does a jelly-fish. Then Izanagi and Izanami, 
 the last of these divine pairs, receive commandment from 
 the heavenly deities to consolidate and give form to the 
 drifting land. They " are united in marriage and give 
 
 40
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 4 1 
 
 birth to the various islands of the Japanese archipelago. 
 When they have finished producing islands they proceed 
 to the production of a large number of gods and god- 
 desses, many of whom correspond with what we should 
 call personifications of the powers of nature." 
 
 Subsequently Izanami dies in childbirth and goes to 
 the land of Hades. Izanagi visits her there, and on his 
 return " purifies himself by bathing in a stream, and, 
 as he does so, fresh deities are born from each article 
 of clothing that he throws down on the river-bank, and 
 from each part of his person. One of these deities was 
 the Sun-goddess, who was born from his left eye," and 
 to whom he gave the charge- to rule the Plain of High 
 Heaven. This late-born child of Izanagi is the supreme 
 deity of Shintoism, and her supremacy rests not only on 
 the fact that the sun is the greatest visible sign of the 
 powers of nature, but on the belief that the Sun-goddess 
 is the ancestress of the ruling family of Japan. Each suc- 
 cessive Emperor, according to the orthodox Shinto view, 
 is directly descended from her. This is, indeed, the funda- 
 mental belief of present-day Shintoism, and out of it 
 grows the duty of absolute obedience to the Emperor, 
 which is one of the main characteristic features of the 
 system. According to Motoori, as summarized by Sir 
 Ernest Satow, he " is the immovable ruler who must 
 endure to the end of time, as long as the sun and moon 
 continue to shine." In ancient language the Emperor was 
 called a god, and, although no longer worshipped, he is 
 regarded with extreme veneration, and unquestioning 
 obedience is enforced as a fundamental duty. 
 
 4. Objects of Worship. — Together with the Sun-god- 
 dess, numerous other deities, commonly spoken of as " the 
 eight hundred myriads of gods," are worshipped. These 
 include " not only the Imperial ancestors and those divine 
 personages who lived in the mythological age, but numer- 
 ous poets, scholars, warriors, statesmen, and patriots 
 " who have been successively deified in both ancient and 
 modern times by Imperial decree, it being a part of the 
 prerogative of the representative of the Sun-goddess thus 
 to appoint gods to be honored by the nation." 
 
 These multitudinous deities govern all things. " They 
 direct the changes of the seasons, the wind and the rain,
 
 42 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 the good and bad fortune of states and individual men ; " 
 hence the occasions for seeking their protection and de- 
 liverance are manifold. Their worship is very general. 
 In most houses the " god-shelf " is found, on which are 
 placed symbols showing that one or more Shinto deities 
 are reverenced by the family. Every village, town, or 
 division of a town has its patron deity and common tem- 
 ple ; the inhabitants of the district are called the children 
 of the god and bring their infant children to be dedicated 
 to him. When the local festivals are held business is 
 often suspended and each householder hangs a large lan- 
 tern at his door in honor of the god. 
 
 5. " Revival of Pare Shinto." — The introduction of 
 Buddhism in the sixth century a.d. checked the develop- 
 ment of Shintoism. By different sects + .he two religions 
 were combined in varying degrees ; but Buddhism, as 
 the stronger force, was the most prominent element in 
 these admixtures. In the eighteenth century began what 
 has been called the " Revival of Pure Shinto." Literary 
 men became interested in the ancient history of the coun- 
 try and inaugurated a movement, partly religious and 
 partly political, whose object was a renewed reverence 
 for the Imperial family and a return to the old ways. This 
 movement culminated in the revolution of 1868, which 
 overthrew the Shogunate and restored the government 
 to the Emperors. Shintoism was then made the state re- 
 ligion, to be superintended by a Council for Spiritual Af- 
 fairs, of equal rank with the council that controlled tem- 
 poral matters. Many Buddhist temples that occupied the 
 places once held by Shinto shrines were stripped of their 
 images and ornaments as they were restored to the care 
 of Shinto priests. The movement soon lost its intensity, 
 the Council of Spiritual Affairs was gradually reduced 
 to the rank of a sub-bureau, and most of the temples 
 returned to their former condition. 
 
 6. Shinto Shrines. — Great simplicity characterizes the 
 architecture of Shinto shrines. During the ascendency 
 of Buddhism elaborately decorated and highly ornament- 
 ed temples were erected with torii — a kind of gateway — 
 of bronze or granite ; but the pure Shinto shrine is built 
 of plain, uncolored wood, thatched with bark or covered 
 with shingles, and its torii are made of trunks of fir with
 
 SHINTO SHRINE ON SUMMIT OF USUITOGE 
 
 KIYOMIZU TEMPLE (Buddhist) IN KYOTO
 
 THR RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 43 
 
 the bark removed. The most sacred shrines in the coun- 
 try are those of the Sun-goddess and the Goddess of Food 
 in the province of Ise, which are near each other and are 
 known as the " Two Great Divine Palaces." They are 
 annually visited by thousands of pilgrims from all parts 
 of the Empire. 
 
 Pure Shintoism has no images, but every temple con- 
 tains some object, which properly should be within the 
 doors of the actual shrine, and in it the spirit of the deity 
 is supposed to reside. In the temple of the Sun-goddess 
 this object is the mirror that, according to the tradition, 
 was given by the goddess to her grandson, Ninigi, when 
 he was sent to subdue the earth, and with reference to 
 which she said, " Look upon this mirror as my spirit, 
 keep it in the same house and on the same floor with 
 yourself, and worship it as if you were worshipping my 
 actual presence." All the mirrors in Shinto temples are 
 imitations of this one, but it is Buddhist influence that 
 has led to their being usually exposed to view. The 
 gohei — " a slender wand of unpainted wood from which 
 depend two long strips of paper notched alternately on 
 opposite sides " — may be seen wherever the gods are wor- 
 shipped. Originally offerings of white cloth, which, from 
 its preciousness, was supposed to attract the gods, " they 
 came in later times to be considered as the seats of the 
 gods, and even the gods themselves." 
 
 7. Priests and Worshippers. — Shinto priests, except 
 when engaged in religious rites, do not wear a distinctive 
 dress. Celibacy is not required, and they are at liberty 
 to give up the priesthood. Girls and sometimes adult 
 women act as priestesses and perform religious dances. 
 The other services consist chiefly of the recital of ancient 
 formulas, and the offering of rice, rice-beer, salt, fruit, 
 vegetables, and other articles of food. The rites are often 
 accompanied by shrill, mournful music performed upon 
 flutes and other instruments. Much stress is laid on bod- 
 ily purification. Not only must the priest bathe before 
 officiating and place a piece of paper over his mouth when 
 presenting offerings, but every worshipper before he ap- 
 proaches the god must wash his hands and rinse his 
 mouth with water from the laver at the entrance of the 
 temple. In the morning worshippers go into the open
 
 44 JAP A 1ST AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 air before their houses, bow their heads, clap their hands, 
 and adore the rising sun. 
 
 8. Is Shintoism a Religion? — By many persons, both 
 foreign and Japanese, it is said that Shintoism is not a 
 religion, but a system for inculcating loyalty and patriot- 
 ism. The ceremonies at the shrines of heroes and of the 
 Imperial ancestors are declared not to be worship, but 
 simply services in honor of great men ; the offerings made 
 at these shrines being like the wreaths that are placed on 
 the tomb of Napoleon, or the flowers that on Memorial 
 Day are strewn over the graves of American soldiers. 
 
 Though this theory is held by many educated men who 
 join in the Shinto ceremonies, and though the rites may 
 ultimately be modified in accordance with such a view, 
 it cannot be doubted that most frequenters of the shrines 
 consider that they there worship divine beings, and that 
 the services are of a religious nature. 
 
 II. Buddhism. — Whatever the influence of Shintoism 
 has been upon the social and political life of the Japanese, 
 and however closely it is interwoven with their customs 
 and institutions, Buddhism has been the most powerful 
 religious force in the nation. 
 
 i. Introduction into lapan. — Buddhism had run its 
 course of a thousand years in India and had been finally 
 overthrown and banished by the Brahmins, before it 
 spread to Japan, whither it was brought by way of China 
 and Korea. At first it made its way but slowly among 
 the Japanese. Introduced into the Empire toward the 
 close of the sixth century a.d., it was, after some opposi- 
 tion, adopted by many of the nobles ; but it did not make 
 much headway among the people until the ninth century, 
 when a priest named Kukai, better known by his posthu- 
 mous name of Kobo Daishi, who had travelled in China, 
 tried to combine the two religions by teaching that the 
 Shinto gods and heroes were manifestations of Buddhist 
 saints. 
 
 2. Doctrines. — Japanese Buddhism has assumed forms 
 that differ considerably from those now found in China, 
 and still more from the religion as it formerly flourished 
 in India. The Buddhists of Japan must not be thought 
 of as a homogeneous body. They are divided into many 
 widely varying sects — sku — and between some of these
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 45 
 
 there is much antagonism. A discussion of the various 
 doctrines would occupy too much space, but mention may 
 be made of a few points in which there is general agree- 
 ment. 
 
 There is no recognition of a Creator or Sovereign Ruler 
 of the universe, but this is said to have been produced 
 spontaneously. There is belief in a kind of transmigra- 
 tion. When a man dies the good or evil deeds that he 
 wrought during life will lead to the production of a new 
 being. If the demerits of the person have exceeded his 
 merits, the new being will be of a lower grade than the 
 old; thus a man may be re-born as a woman, or even 
 as an animal or plant. On the other hand, a meritorious 
 life leads to birth in some higher class of humanity or as 
 a blessed spirit. All of this is wrought by the law of cause 
 and effect ; and sooner or later every evil deed will 
 yield its fruit of calamity ; every good deed will bring 
 its happiness ; or, reasoning in the other direction, every 
 calamity and even every evil deed came from something 
 in the past, and so could not be avoided. The succession 
 of birth and death is an evil, and salvation from it is 
 to be attained through the enlightenment that enables one 
 to see the illusory nature of all things and so to cease from 
 all desire. Thus the enlightened one at last reaches " Nir- 
 vana," a state whose exact nature it is difficult to define 
 and concerning which the opinions of different sects vary. 
 
 3. The Shin Sect. — The sect that has the most influ- 
 ence among the common people is the Shin-shu, which 
 is an offshoot from the older Jodo-shu. Its importance 
 will justify some account of its teaching, chiefly summa- 
 rized from a paper by Mr. James Troup, formerly the 
 British Comul at Kobe. According to Buddhism, the 
 " unenlightened," who have not attained to Buddhahood, 
 are subject, to the evil of birth and death, " sinking and 
 floating in the sea of existence " through ages measured 
 by millions of years ; and the aim of all sects is to obtain 
 deliverance from the cycle of birth and death — in other 
 words, to reach Nirvana. Thus far agreed, they differ 
 in regard to the means of attaining this end. Those sects 
 which follow what is called the " Holy Path " seek deliv- 
 erance " by the practice of the moral and religious pre- 
 cepts and prohibitions of Buddhism " — that is to say, by 
 good works and virtuous actions.
 
 40 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 On the other hand, those of the " Pure Land " — the 
 Jodo-shu, and its offshoot the Shin-shu — look upon this 
 way of salvation as utterly impossible for men in the pres- 
 ent age of the world, this being, according to Buddhist 
 doctrine, the " Period of the Latter Days of the Law," 
 when " the inferior capacities of men are dark, and they 
 cannot tread the Holy Path and rise to perfection." They 
 consequently seek deliverance by birth into the Pure Land 
 of Amida Buddha, resting their faith and hope on the 
 vows which this imaginary being of bygone ages is said 
 to have made. The eighteenth of these vows is as fol- 
 lows : " If, when I attain Buddhahood, any of the living 
 beings in the ten regions, who with sincerity, having faith 
 and joy and an ardent desire to be born into My Country, 
 call My Name to remembrance ten times, should not then 
 be born there, I shall not accept enlightenment." This is 
 interpreted by the Shin-shu to mean that men of all classes 
 and conditions and in all ages of the world — whether 
 priests or laymen, merchants or husbandmen, whether 
 married or single, with or without families, whether ab- 
 staining from flesh and wine or not — if they only put 
 forth the believing heart and invoke Amida Buddha, after 
 this life they will be born in Heaven — they will reach Nir- 
 vana. 
 
 Three points of this teaching must be noted : ( I ) Believ- 
 ers invoke Amida alone. The formula of the sect re- 
 peated hundreds of times in a day is Namu Amida Butsu, 
 " Hail, Amida Buddha." (2) The believing heart is not 
 faith by one's own power, faith excited and kept alive 
 by means of religious observances, but " faith by the 
 power of another " — a believing heart conferred by the 
 power of Amida. (3) The invocation of Amida — "the 
 action of calling to remembrance with the living voice " 
 his sacred name — results from the possession of a believ- 
 ing heart. Its object is not to obtain salvation as a re- 
 ward, but to express gratitude for the boundless com- 
 passion of Amida and for the certainty of deliverance by 
 being born into his Pure Land. 
 
 4. Buddhist Temples. — Whereas Shinto shrines are 
 very simple in their architecture, Buddhist temples are 
 usually massive and beautiful edifices. They are often 
 built in dark valleys or on mountain sides, and are sur-
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 47 
 
 rounded by groves of ancient trees. The Shin sect, how- 
 ever, pats its temples in the midst of the cities. Some 
 of the most beautiful places in Japan are the groves and 
 gardens connected with Buddhist temples. Massive bells, 
 struck on the outside by a piece of timber, suspended by 
 ropes so as to swing like a battering-ram, flood the air 
 with their deep, mellow tones. The altars within the 
 temples are gorgeous with gilded images, candelabra, and 
 the other paraphernalia of worship. The air is heavy with 
 incense. Priests in gorgeous robes chant Sanskrit pray- 
 ers whose meaning is unintelligible to the hearers and 
 even to most of the priests themselves. In the yards of 
 some temples are to be seen wooden pillars inscribed with 
 prayers and having a little iron wheel attached. The 
 wheel can easily be set in motion by the hand, every revo- 
 lution bringing as much merit to the worshipper as though 
 he had repeated the prayer. Sometimes there is a large 
 octagonal structure said to contain all the books of the 
 Buddhist canon. This can be made to revolve, and so 
 with a little effort one can gain all the benefit that would 
 come from a perusal of the volumes. Some of the most 
 popular temples have on their grounds a number of build- 
 ings occupied by shops, tea-houses, theatres, peep-shows, 
 etc. 
 
 5. Buddhist Priests. — Priests, monks, and nuns, of all 
 grades, abound in Japan. In Japanese history, romance, 
 drama, and art, as in those of Europe, the monk and nun 
 are staple characters ; and as in the West, so in the East, 
 their character and reputation vary greatly. In medi- 
 aeval Japan the monks were not seldom the sole possessors 
 of scholarship and the most civilizing agency in the com- 
 munity. The sciences of astronomy and mathematics, 
 the arts of painting and sculpture, were cultivated in the 
 monasteries. Many of them took an important part in 
 politics. Some of the temples were at that time very 
 much like military camps, and the priest often wore ar- 
 mor under his robes. One Emperor, who was congratu- 
 lated upon his power, said that there remained three 
 things that he could not control : the waters of the Kamo 
 River, which sometimes overflowed its banks ; the throw 
 of the dice; and the turbulent priests of Mt. Hiei, near 
 Kyoto. Even in modern times the priests have had con-
 
 48 JAPAN- AMD ITS REGENERATION 1 
 
 siderable political influence, and especially those of Shin- 
 shu have compelled the government to modify its policy 
 rather than to offend such a powerful sect. 
 
 6. Persecution by Buddhists. — It is sometimes asserted 
 that Buddhism has never exhibited a persecuting spirit, 
 but such has not been the case in Japan. When the priest 
 Nichiren in the thirteenth century founded a new sect 
 that bears his name, a host of enemies rose against him 
 and secured his banishment. Through their efforts he 
 was condemned to be beheaded, and was saved, as his fol- 
 lowers believe, by a miracle. The sect has ever since 
 had to contend against the enmity of the others, though 
 its own bigotry furnishes some excuse for this opposi- 
 tion. In recent years there have been in some sections 
 of the country excited meetings to denounce the belief 
 of the Nichiren-shu as not being true Buddhism. 
 
 The Jesuit missionaries of the sixteenth century soon 
 found the Buddhist priests bitterly arrayed against them 
 and their believers. Unfortunately, as soon as the Chris- 
 tians gained power they showed as much of the spirit 
 of persecution and perhaps more than that which had 
 thus far assailed them. The Buddhists had no small part' 
 in exciting the suspicion of the government against Chris- 
 tianity and in the movements for driving it from the land. 
 Afterward the Buddhist priests exerted themselves to 
 search out secret adherents of the hated doctrine in order 
 to secure their imprisonment or exile. In recent years 
 the priests have brought their power to bear against the 
 spread of Christianity. They have found many ways to 
 annoy believers and sometimes have stirred up their pa- 
 rishioners to deeds of violence. In many places they have 
 induced people to sign an agreement that they will not 
 have any social or business relations with Christians. 
 This has sometimes gone so far that the latter have been 
 forbidden to draw water from the village wells. 
 
 III. Confucianism. — Perhaps Confucianism deserves 
 even less than Shintoism to be reckoned as a religion. 
 It is more properly a system of ethical and political phi- 
 losophy. Confucius himself refused to declare any opin- 
 ion about the gods or concerning the future life. As de- 
 veloped by some of his commentators, the system has 
 taken on doctrines and ideas that are more closely re- 
 lated to religion. It has certainly modified the religious
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 49 
 
 thinking of the Japanese, has been combined with other 
 systems to form new sects, and has been with many peo- 
 ple the only religion professed. Like Buddhism, Confu- 
 cianism probably made its first entrance to Japan by way 
 of Korea. Its ethics are based upon the " five relations " : 
 of lord and retainer, father and son, husband and wife, 
 elder and younger brother, friend and friend. As a re- 
 ligion it is pantheistic. Though the thought of Japan has 
 been largely shaped by its teaching, Confucianism as a 
 system is now regarded with but little reverence. The 
 Chinese Classics, which were its text-books, are much 
 neglected ; for Japan feels that China is no longer fitted 
 to be her teacher. Nevertheless the influence that has 
 been exerted by Confucianism in the past will long modify 
 the whole philosophical, political, ethical, and religious 
 thought of the land. 
 
 IV. Other Religious Systems — There are various mi- 
 nor sects, many of them being of recent origin, which have 
 considerable influence over the common people. Most of 
 them are combinations in varied proportions of elements 
 derived from the three systems already mentioned. In 
 some cases they may have been affected by the Christian 
 doctrines taught by the Jesuit missionaries which have 
 not been wholly forgotten by the people. Two of these 
 religions may be mentioned as specimens of the class. 
 
 I. Kurozumi. — This is reckoned as a sect of Shinto. 
 Kurozumi, its founder, was born in 1780 and died in 1850. 
 When about thirty-five years old he was brought near to 
 death's door by consumption. He was led to believe that 
 the cause of his disease was that his soul had become filled 
 with the gloomy negative spirit, and this he determined 
 to expel by imbibing the cheerful positive spirit that comes 
 from the sun. He commenced to worship the rising sun, 
 at the same time inhaling deep breaths of the fresh air 
 lighted by its rays. Soon his health and spirits were re- 
 stored ; and he commenced to heal and teach others. 
 
 The success of the sect is largely attributable to the 
 belief that its leaders are able to cure diseases through 
 faith accompanied by certain rites. At this point it bears 
 a striking resemblance to many theories found in Western 
 lands. The Sun-god is the chief object of worship. Man's 
 soul is regarded as an emanation from this god, and so as
 
 50 JAPAN AND ITS' REGENERATION 
 
 being holy at birth. By intercourse with other men and 
 through the temptations of the flesh a man becomes cor- 
 rupt. Righteousness is to be regained by conquering self- 
 ishness ; or, as otherwise expressed, by freeing one's self 
 from evil desire. When men, through divine aid, are freed 
 from sin, they become one with the Sun-god. Cheerful- 
 ness, thankfulness for the blessings received from the 
 gods, faith, freedom from evil desires, and self-restraint 
 are the virtues most emphasized. 
 
 2. Tenrikyo. — The name signifies " Doctrine of the 
 Heavenly Reason." The sect that follows this teaching 
 has during the last twenty years had a remarkable growth, 
 and claims to number over five million adherents. Its 
 founder was a peasant woman who was born in 1798. 
 When forty years old she fell into a trance, during which 
 she received, as she afterward declared, revelations from 
 the gods, who chose her to give new light to mankind. 
 One feature of the message was that the relation between 
 the gods and men is like that between parents and chil- 
 dren. The soul of man is an emanation from the gods, 
 to whom it returns after death. Sin and disease are caused 
 by impurity of the heart. It is said that, while the found- 
 er's teaching recognized many gods, it had a tendency 
 toward monotheism. She left no writings except some 
 hymns whose meaning is not very plain to outsiders, and 
 the doctrines of the sect seem to be a strange jumble. 
 
 Whether or not she knew anything of Christian ideas, 
 it is certain that many preachers of the present day do 
 not hesitate to incorporate them into their sermons. The 
 missionary spirit of the believers is an interesting feature. 
 Even jinrikisha-pullers and other uneducated men engage 
 in preaching and other means of propagating" the doctrine. 
 Men of means sometimes give over their whole property 
 for the use of the sect. There are numerous meetings 
 with sermons, singing of hymns, and dancing. As with 
 the Kurozumi sect, much is made of faith-healing, and 
 stories of wonderful cures are abundant. The sect is rec- 
 ognized by the government, but is bitterly attacked by 
 the Buddhists. Its enemies charge that the meetings are 
 often attended with great immorality. There is some 
 reason for thinking that the sect has passed the zenith 
 of its power and that the number of adherents is n^v^ 
 diminishing. *..
 
 V 
 The Jesuit Missions 
 
 I. Europeans Become Acquainted with Japan. — " Zi- 
 
 pangu," says Marco Polo, " is an island toward the east, 
 in the high seas, 1,500 miles distant from the Continent, 
 and a very great island it is. The people are white, civ- 
 ilized, and well-favored. They are idolators, and they 
 are dependent on nobody, and I can tell you the quantity 
 of gold they have is endless." These words, written by 
 the old Venetian traveller six centuries ago, however in- 
 accurate, first revealed to Europe the existence of Japan. 
 Marco Polo spent seventeen years, 1275- 1292, at the court 
 of Kublai Khan ; and there he heard of the Land of the 
 Rising Sun, which the great Tatar chieftain had tried 
 in vain to conquer, his fleet being utterly destroyed by 
 the winds and waves. Marco Polo's book appeared in 
 1298. Two hundred years later it found an ardent stu- 
 dent in Christopher Columbus ; and there is little doubt 
 that, when the discoverer of America sailed out into the 
 West, it was Japan that he sought; but not until 1542 
 did any European reach Japan, and then it was not across 
 the Atlantic, but around the Cape of Good Hope; and 
 it was not a Spaniard, but a Portuguese, Mendez Pinto, 
 whose vessel was driven thither by stress of weather. 
 Japanese historians note that year as the date of the first 
 appearance of foreigners, Christianity, and fire-arms. 
 
 II. The Missionaries. — 1. Xavier. — A young Japa- 
 nese named Anjiro, wandered to India in one of the 
 Portuguese vessels and there met Francis Xavier, the 
 famous Jesuit missionary. Having accepted Christian- 
 ity, he became a student in the college that had been es- 
 tablished at Goa. Xavier became much interested in 
 the young man and in his country. When he asked Anjiro 
 what prospects Christianity would have in Japan, the 
 
 5i
 
 52 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 latter answered : " My people would not immediately as- 
 sent to what might be said to them, but they would inves- 
 tigate this religion by a multitude of questions, and, above 
 all, by observing whether your conduct agreed with your 
 words. This done, the daimyos, the nobility, and the 
 people would flock to Christ, being a nation which always 
 follows reason as a guide." Notwithstanding the op- 
 position of his friends and the great dangers that at- 
 tended such an undertaking, Xavier determined to go 
 to Japan. 
 
 He was accompanied by another priest, a lay brother, 
 Anjiro, and two servants who had come with the latter 
 to India. After various adventures they landed, in Au- 
 gust, 1549, at Kagoshima, a port in the southern part of 
 Kyushu. Here they were at first kindly received. Xavier 
 relates that in an interview with the Prince of the prov- 
 ince Anjiro " showed a beautiful picture he had brought 
 from India, of the Blessed Mary and the Child Jesus 
 sitting in her lap. When the Prince looked upon it, he 
 was overwhelmed with emotion, and, falling on his knees, 
 he very devoutly worshipped it, and commanded all pres- 
 ent to do the same." Xavier visited several cities and 
 made his way as far as Kyoto, but the civil commotions 
 of the time had brought the capital into such a state of 
 turmoil as was unfavorable for his work. In some other 
 cities he was well received. The same restless nature 
 that had prevented him from remaining long in any one 
 part of India urged him on to new enterprises, and he 
 remained only about two years in Japan. He departed 
 with the intention of carrying Christianity to China, but 
 died on a little island near the coast of that empire. We 
 cannot but admire the zeal and devotion of Xavier; yet, 
 had he not been followed by others who were willing to 
 labor steadily and persistently, little would have been ac- 
 complished by his visit to Japan. 
 
 2. Xavier' s Successors. — Those who had accompanied 
 Xavier to Japan remained after his departure, and were 
 joined by others whose zeal had been aroused by the 
 glowing letters sent back to Europe. To them was grant- 
 ed the joy of reaping an extraordinary harvest. Within 
 five years Christian communities were rising in every di- 
 rection. At the end of thirty years the converts numbered
 
 THE JESUIT MISSIONS 53 
 
 150,000 and the churches 200. The Japanese themselves 
 give two millions as the figure ultimately reached, but 
 the Jesuits do not claim that, and perhaps half a million 
 mav be nearer the number. 
 
 III. Conditions That Aided the Jesuits. — i. Relig- 
 ions. — In many respects the time at which the Jesuits came 
 to Japan was favorable for their work. Shintoism had 
 little influence with the people. Buddhism, with all its 
 external splendor, had lost most of the religious fervor 
 and life it had once possessed. The Jesuit priests gave 
 the Japanese all that the Buddhist priests had given them 
 — gorgeous altars, imposing processions, dazzling vest- 
 ments, and all the scenic display of a sensuous worship — 
 but added to these a freshness and fervor that quickly 
 captivated the imaginative and impressionable people. 
 The Buddhist preacher — unless of the Shin sect — prom- 
 ised heavenly rest, such as it was, only after many trans- 
 migrations involving many weary lives. The Jesuit 
 preacher promised immediate entrance into paradise after 
 death to all who received baptism. There was little in 
 the Buddhist paraphernalia that needed to be changed, 
 much less abandoned. The images of Buddha, with a 
 slight application of the chisel, served for images of 
 Christ. Each Buddhist saint found his counterpart in 
 Roman Christianity ; and the roadside shrines of Kwan- 
 on, the Goddess of Mercy, were rededicated to Mary. 
 Temples, altars, bells, holy-water vessels, censers, rosaries, 
 all were ready and could be easily adapted to the needs 
 of the new religion. To Japanese, accustomed to the 
 thought of changing from one sect to another, this new 
 change seemed slight. Those who have seen both rituals 
 often wonder whether Buddhism is a child of Romanism, 
 Romanism a child of Buddhism, or whether both did not 
 have some common origin. 
 
 2. Political. — There was also a political cause for the 
 success of the Jesuits. Nobunaga, who possessed power 
 similar to that of the Shoguns, though he never took the 
 title, hated the Buddhists and openly favored the mis- 
 sionaries, thinking to make them a tool for his own de- 
 signs. Among the early converts were several men of 
 high rank who used their influence and power in favor 
 of the new religion. In 1583 four nobles were sent by
 
 54 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 the Christian daimyos of Kyushu to Europe as an em- 
 bassy to Pope Gregory XIII. to declare themselves vas- 
 sals of the Holy See; and at the same time the subjects 
 of these same daimyos were ordered to embrace Chris- 
 tianity or go into exile. The decree was carried out with 
 great cruelty. The spirit of the Inquisition was intro- 
 duced into Japan. Buddhist priests were put to death, and 
 their monasteries burnt to the ground. The details are 
 given, with full approval, by the Jesuit Charlevoix in 
 his " Histoire du Christianisme au Japon." Take one 
 passage as a specimen: " In 1577, the lord of the island 
 of Amakusa issued his proclamation by which his subjects 
 — whether priests or gentlemen, merchants or tradesmen 
 — were required either to turn Christians, or to leave the 
 country the very next day. They almost all submitted 
 and received baptism, so that in a short time there were 
 more than twenty churches in the kingdom. God wrought 
 miracles to confirm the faithful in their belief." 
 
 IV. Persecution of the Christians. — 1. By Hideyoshi. 
 — Nobunaga's successor, the famous Hideyoshi, was led 
 to suspect that the foreign priests were plotting against 
 Japan. A Portuguese sea-captain was reported to have* 
 said, " The King, my master, begins by sending priests 
 who win over the people ; and when this is done, he de- 
 spatches his troops to join the native Christians, and the 
 conquest is easy and complete." In 1587 Hideyoshi issued 
 a decree of expulsion against the priests. It was not so 
 easy to get rid of them. Closing their churches, they 
 withdrew from public notice for awhile, but secretly 
 continued their work as actively as ever. The Spanish 
 Government had been jealous of the monopoly of trade 
 enjoyed by the Portuguese, and the governor of the Philip- 
 pines sent an embassy to Hideyoshi seeking permission 
 to trade with Japan. In the embassy were some Francis- 
 cans, who came in the guise of envoys and under the ex- 
 press condition that they were not to teach their religion. 
 Notwithstanding this and the fact that the Pope had given 
 to the Jesuits the exclusive privilege of conducting mis- 
 sions in Japan, the Franciscans soon commenced to preach 
 openly in the streets, and their activity led to new perse- 
 cution. In 1597 twenty-six persons, including six of the 
 Franciscan fathei :, were crucified together at Nagasaki.
 
 THE JESUIT MISSIONS 55 
 
 2. By Ieyasu. — Hideyoshi died in 1598, and in the 
 struggle for power that followed, the Christian nobles 
 took the side of his young son ; but the battle of Seki- 
 gahara, as already noticed, decided the conflict in favor 
 of Ieyasu. For a time, however, the Church enjoyed com- 
 parative peace and prosperity, and Ieyasu himself re- 
 ceived the Bishop and other ecclesiastics with some de- 
 gree of favor. A number of Dominican and Augustinian 
 fathers, disregarding, as the Franciscans had, the mo- 
 nopoly that the Pope had given to the Jesuits, came 
 to the country. The quarrels that broke out among the 
 different orders proved a source of weakness. In 1614, 
 Ieyasu, believing that he had discovered a plot of the na- 
 tive Christians and foreigners for overthrowing his power, 
 issued a decree in which he denounced the missionaries 
 as enemies of the gods, of Japan, and of the Buddhas. 
 All members of religious orders, whether natives or for- 
 eigners, were to be sent out of the country, and their 
 converts were commanded to recant. Three hundred per- 
 sons were at one time deported to Macao. Some Chris- 
 tians were sent to the Philippine Islands, where their 
 descendants still live. Fire and sword were freely used 
 during the following years against the Christians. 
 
 The unhappy victims met torture and death with a forti- 
 tude that compels our admiration. They were crucified, 
 burnt at the stake, buried alive, torn limb from limb, and 
 put to unspeakable torments. Japanese accounts speak 
 of many who apostatized; but all agree that multitudes 
 remained unshaken. One Jesuit priest, Christopher Fer- 
 reyra, after enduring horrible tortures, was at last hung 
 by his feet in such a way that his head was in a hole in 
 the ground, from which light and air were nearly ex- 
 cluded. His right hand was left loose, that with it he 
 might make the prescribed sign of recantation. He hung 
 for four hours, it is said, before yielding. He was at once 
 released and compelled to become a Japanese inquisitor 
 to consign other Christians to torture and death. Many 
 of the European missionaries, as well as a far larger 
 number of the Japanese Christians, lost their lives during 
 these persecutions. Dr. Griffis justly compares their suf- 
 ferings and fortitude with those of the martyrs of Roman 
 arenas and the bloody Colosseum.
 
 56 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 3. Revolt of the Christians. — These persecutions, to- 
 gether with the misgovernment of certain feudal lords, 
 led the Christians of a section of Kyushu to strike a last 
 desperate blow for freedom. In 1638 they fortified an 
 old castle in Shimabara and raised the flag of revolt. Af- 
 ter a two-months' siege they were compelled to surrender, 
 and thirty-seven thousand were massacred. This was 
 their expiring effort. The Christianity that Rome had 
 presented to the Japanese appeared to have become ex- 
 tinct. It is said that over the ruins of their castle was 
 placed a stone with this inscription : " So long as the 
 sun shall warm the earth let no Christian be so bold as 
 to come to Japan ; and let all know that the King of 
 Spain himself, or the Christians' God, or the Great God 
 of all, if he violate this command, shall pay for it with his 
 head." It has been thought by some that by " the Chris- 
 tians' God " was intended either Christ or the Pope. 
 
 4. Christianity not Wholly Destroyed. — After these 
 events, as Dr. Grifhs says, the name of Christ came to be 
 regarded as " the synonym of sorcery, sedition, and all 
 that was hostile to the purity of the home and the peace 
 of society. . . . Christianity was remembered only 
 as an awful scar on the national annals. No vestiges were 
 supposed to be left of it, and no knowledge of its tenets 
 was held, save by a very few scholars in Yedo, trained 
 experts, who were kept, as a sort of spiritual bloodhounds, 
 to scent out the adherents of the accursed creed." 
 
 Yet the historical facts show that it was not wholly 
 stamped out. A special police commission was organized, 
 called " The Christian Inquiry," and every year the Bud- 
 dhist priest had to report to the commissioners that no 
 Christians were to be found among his parishioners. At 
 the entrance to every city and village was a place where 
 certain laws were posted, among them being one that 
 prohibited belief in the hated religion. High rewards 
 were offered to those giving information against those 
 who violated this law. Suspected persons were compelled 
 to trample on pictures or images of Christ. In some parts 
 of the country it was the custom for the whole popula- 
 tion once a year to take part in the ceremony of trampling 
 on a cross. Now and then a stray Christian would be 
 detected and sent into exile. As late as 1829 six men
 
 THE JESUIT MISSIONS $J 
 
 and an old woman are said to have been crucified at 
 Osaka. Yet, as we shall see in a later chapter, it was 
 found, when the country was re-opened to foreigners, that 
 through the long years many descendants of the ancient 
 Christians retained a knowledge of the faith as it had 
 been handed down from one generation to another.
 
 VI 
 
 The Locking and the Unlocking 
 
 1. A Closed Nation. — i. Results of Foreign Inter- 
 course. — For two hundred and thirty years Japan was 
 closed to the outer world. By the century of intercourse 
 with European nations she had gained the knowledge 
 of gunpowder, firearms, and tobacco, the enrichment of 
 her language by a few foreign words, some additions to 
 her familiar forms of disease, and an inveterate hatred 
 of Christianity. Content with these acquirements and de- 
 siring no more, she retired from public gaze. 
 
 2. The Doors Closed. — In 1624 all foreigners except 
 Dutch and Chinese were banished from Japan. At the 
 same time, the Japanese were forbidden to leave the coun- 
 try, and all vessels fitted for long voyages were destroyed. 
 It is manifest that these edicts were directed especially 
 against communication with Roman Catholic nations. 
 The English were not in question. Their share in the 
 trade had been small. The first Englishman to enter the 
 country, Will Adams, did not land until fifty years after 
 Xavier. He came as the pilot of a Dutch fleet, and, be- 
 coming the trusted adviser of the Shogun Ieyasu, spent 
 the remainder of his life in the country. The first English 
 ship reached Japan only twelve years before the decree 
 of expulsion, and ere the decree was issued the English 
 traders had left the country. 
 
 3. The Dutch Merchants. — Even the Dutch had to sub- 
 mit to very humiliating terms. They were confined to 
 a little artificial islet, 600 feet by 200, in Nagasaki harbor, 
 called Deshima, and a strong Japanese guard always held 
 the small bridge connecting it with the mainland. Only 
 one ship was allowed to come to this settlement in six 
 months, and when it arrived two water-gates were opened 
 for its admission, which remained closed at all other times. 
 
 58
 
 TOMB OF IEYASU AT NIKKO (see page 55) 
 
 METHODIST CHURCH ON DESHIMA. NAGASAKI
 
 THE LOCKING AND THE UNLOCKING $9 
 
 Once in four years the Dutch Commissioner had to go 
 to Yedo, bearing the costly gifts required as tribute from 
 the foreigners. 
 
 Why were the Dutch exempted from the laws that shut 
 out other Europeans? In the first place, the government 
 considered that it owed to them the discovery of the 
 Jesuit plots. One of their vessels intercepted a letter to 
 the King of Portugal asking for troops to effect a revo- 
 lution, and they eagerly seized the opportunity to discredit 
 their Portuguese rivals. Roman Catholic writers claim 
 that this letter was forged. In the second place, the 
 Dutch carefully abstained from all profession of Chris- 
 tianity, as is acknowledged by their own historian 
 Kaempfer. One of them, being taxed with his belief, re- 
 plied, " No, I am not a Christian ; I am a Dutchman." 
 It is averred that they even consented to trample on the 
 cross. 
 
 II. Attempts to Open Japan. — i. At long intervals ef- 
 forts were made by different nations to gain an entrance 
 into Japan. A vessel sent by Charles II. was not allowed 
 to trade because the Dutch had informed the Japanese 
 authorities that Charles had married the daughter of the 
 King of Portugal. Russia made efforts to get into Japan 
 at the beginning of this century, but without success ; 
 afterward she seized some of the northern islands that 
 had been part of the Japanese Empire. Various other 
 attempts to lead the country out of its seclusion were 
 made by America and by European nations. 
 
 2. One of the most interesting efforts to this end was 
 a private enterprise in the year 1837. Several Japanese 
 sailors who had been wrecked and rescued were sent to 
 China, where they came under the care of Dr. Giitzlaff, 
 a German missionary. It was determined to make an ef- 
 fort to return the men to their homes, it being believed 
 that the nature of the errand would secure a courteous 
 reception and that thus an opening might be made for 
 trade and missions. An American firm in China fitted 
 out the ship Morrison, and everything possible was done 
 to insure a peaceful reception. Much to the disappoint- 
 ment of all, the vessel was fired upon in the two ports 
 that it entered ; for the Japanese were averse to having 
 anything to do with foreigners, and their laws forbade
 
 60 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 the return of any of their own people who had once left 
 the country. 
 
 III. The Opening. — i. The American Expedition. — It 
 was reserved for the United States to open the doors that 
 had so long been closed. On July 8, 1853, the American 
 squadron, commanded by Commodore Perry, anchored 
 off Uraga, at the mouth of the Gulf of Yedo. A Japanese 
 official went off to the flagship, but the Commodore was 
 determined to negotiate only with authorities of the high- 
 est rank, and the official was informed that the President 
 of the United States had sent a letter for the Emperor of 
 Japan, but that it could be delivered only to a functionary 
 properly qualified to receive it. He replied that the laws 
 of Japan prohibited any communication with foreigners 
 except at the port of Nagasaki, and that the squadron 
 must go there. This was exactly what Commodore Perry 
 did not mean to do. To go away hundreds of miles from 
 Yedo and humbly knock at the little wicket-gate at which 
 so many indignities had been inflicted on the Dutch would 
 entirely defeat his purpose. Ultimately the quiet but reso- 
 lute courtesy of the Commodore prevailed, and a noble 
 of high rank was sent to receive the letter. The Commo- 
 dore was content to take one step at a time, and, having 
 delivered the document with all possible ceremony, he 
 sailed away from Japan. 
 
 Eight months afterward he came back again with a 
 more powerful squadron than before, to conclude a for- 
 mal treaty. Lengthened negotiations followed with the 
 officers of the Shogun, whom the Americans supposed to 
 be the " temporal Emperor." The Japanese strove hard 
 to confine their new friends to Nagasaki, but nothing 
 would move the Commodore from his purpose, and on 
 March 31, 1854, a treaty was duly signed and sealed, 
 which opened two ports — viz.: Shimoda, 100 miles south 
 of Yedo, and Hakodate, in Yezo — to American trade. 
 Shimoda was soon afterward destroyed by an earthquake, 
 and a few years later Yokohama was opened instead. 
 
 2. Treaties with European Nations. — Other nations 
 were not slow to claim similar advantages, but it was 
 only under pressure that the Japanese granted them. 
 Russia succeeded in getting a treaty signed, as did Hol- 
 land in procuring the withdrawal of some of the restric-
 
 THE LOCKING AMD THE UNLOCKING 6l 
 
 tions under which her merchants had labored at Deshima. 
 A treaty was also negotiated by a representative of Great 
 Britain, but it was never ratified. All concessions were 
 at this time refused to France and Portugal, obviously 
 because they were Roman Catholic nations. 
 
 3. The Treaties of 1858. — The early treaties, though 
 giving foreigners but few privileges, opened the way for 
 gaining still more. In 1858 Townsend Harris, represent- 
 ing the United States, succeeded, after long and patient 
 labors, in negotiating a new treaty, which was followed 
 a few weeks later by a similar one with England, arranged 
 by Lord Elgin. These treaties for the first time permitted 
 citizens of the nations concerned to reside in certain ports 
 of Japan. Hakodate, Kanagawa, and Nagasaki were to 
 be opened to them in 1859, while Hiogo, Osaka, and Nii- 
 gata were to be available at a later date. Other important 
 concessions were granted. These treaties were followed 
 by similar ones with France and other nations. 
 
 4. Attacks upon Foreigners. — Thus far bloodless vie* 
 tories seemed to have been gained, but not without blood- 
 shed were the fruits reaped. As soon as the ports were 
 opened for residence, merchants hastened to commence 
 business, and the Japanese, both rulers and people, ap- 
 peared eager for friendly and mutually profitable inter- 
 course ; but the turbulent samurai resented the admission 
 of strangers to their sacred soil, and a succession of out- 
 rages kept the foreign communities in a state of alarm 
 for several years. In particular, the American Secretary 
 of Legation was assassinated in 1861 ; in the same year 
 a desperate assault was made on the house occupied by 
 the British Legation, some members of which were badly 
 wounded ; in 1862 an English gentleman, Mr. Richard- 
 son, was murdered on the highroad ; in 1863 some new 
 buildings for the British Legation were blown up, and in 
 1864 two English officers were assassinated at Kamakura. 
 
 5. The Bombardment of Kagoshima and Shimonoseki. 
 — The parties concerned in these outrages were in some 
 cases punished by the Shogun's government, and indem- 
 nities paid ; but for Mr. Richardson's death it disclaimed 
 responsibility, as the murderers belonged to the powerful 
 Satsuma clan, whose regent refused reparation and set 
 the Shogun at defiance. The British fleet accordingly
 
 62 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 sailed to the south end of Kyushu and bombarded the 
 chief city of Satsuma, Kagoshima, the place where Xavier 
 had landed. In the following year the guns of another 
 great feudal chief, the Prince of Choshu, fired upon for- 
 eign vessels passing through the Straits of Shimonoseki 
 at the western entrance to the Inland Sea. Accordingly, 
 an allied fleet, made up of English, French, Dutch, and 
 American vessels, bombarded his forts and destroyed them. 
 These two actions made a lively impression upon the 
 Japanese. The Satsuma and Choshu clans, having learned 
 from experience how little prepared they were to contend 
 against foreigners, became leaders in the movement for 
 closer intercourse with western nations in order to receive 
 instruction in the arts that had made them so powerful. 
 
 6. The Emperor Ratifies the Treaties. — The Shogun- 
 ate had assented to the treaties on its own authority. As 
 a result, it found itself in a very perplexing position. The 
 nobles at Kyoto induced the Emperor to send word that 
 the foreigners must be driven from the country. The 
 officials in Yedo knew how impossible it would be to 
 do this, but they could not openly disobey the Emperor. 
 They adopted a temporizing policy, on the one hand as- 
 suring the Emperor that his orders would be carried out, 
 while, on the other, they found themselves brought, will- 
 ingly or unwillingly, into closer relations with the for- 
 eigners. At last it became apparent to the latter that the 
 Shogun was not the sovereign ruler of the empire, even 
 in things temporal, that the Mikado had not sanctioned 
 what had been done, and that the great daimyos were 
 much enraged at having been ignored in the matter. The 
 latter at first objected to the admission of foreigners; 
 then, when they saw the advantages of extended trade, 
 they objected equally because the Shogun had opened only 
 ports over which he had direct control and from whose 
 opening they received no profit. This new attitude, joined 
 with other influences, led, in 1865, to a ratification of the 
 treaties by the Emperor himself. The seclusion of cen- 
 turies was over, and Japan came forth into the new and 
 strange experiences that lay before her.
 
 VII 
 
 The Revolution 
 
 I. What It Was.— The year 1868 in Japan was the 
 
 year of one of the most astonishing revolutions in the his- 
 tory of the world. What was this Revolution? It was 
 
 (1) the abolition of the Shogunate after it had lasted, 
 with slight interruptions, for seven hundred years ; 
 
 (2) the resumption by the Emperor of the reins of gov- 
 ernment ; (3) the voluntary surrender by the daimyos 
 of their feudal powers and privileges into the hands of 
 the central government; (4) the adoption of the Euro- 
 pean system of departments of state with a responsible 
 minister at the head of each. It was a radical and thor- 
 ough change from feudalism to imperialism, and the first 
 step toward constitutional government. 
 
 II. Its Progress. — 1. Preparatory Agitation. — This 
 Revolution, though to outsiders it appeared sudden and 
 seemed to be an immediate consequence of the opening 
 of Japan to foreign nations, was in reality the crisis and 
 consummation of a long period of silent preparation for 
 change. For a century and more the jealousy of the 
 daimyos at the exclusive power wielded by the Shogun, 
 who was properly only one of themselves, had been grow- 
 ing more and more restive, and at the same time an im- 
 portant intellectual movement was fashioning the political 
 views of the educated classes. A revival of Chinese learn- 
 ing, which sprang up at the end of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, imbued the Japanese mind with the ethics of Con- 
 fucius, from which they derived lofty ideas of the rever- 
 ence due to the sovereign. The publication, in 1715, of 
 the Dai Nihon Shi, the great history already mentioned, 
 whose central purpose was to exalt the sole authority of 
 the Mikado, powerfully stimulated the development of 
 these ideas. A revival of Shintoism helped the movement. 
 
 03
 
 64 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 The study of the old Shinto books showed that the Mi- 
 kado had anciently been revered as the representative of 
 the gods ; and when the Revolution came a cry arose for 
 the abolition of Buddhism, which was identified with the 
 Shogunate. 
 
 2. Effect of the Foreign Treaties. — The detailed history 
 of the Revolution cannot be given here. The foreign 
 treaties were undoubtedly the immediate occasion of it. 
 The Shogun who signed them died shortly after, under 
 suspicious circumstances. His successor being a minor, 
 there was appointed as regent an energetic and progressive 
 man, who strongly favored foreign intercourse. He was 
 soon assassinated, and his head was exhibited, with a 
 placard inscribed, " This is the head of a traitor who has 
 violated the most sacred law of Japan." Then ensued 
 a state of confusion, the Shogun's Council continuing to 
 conduct foreign affairs, but defied at home by the dai- 
 myos. The young Shogun died in 1866, but not before 
 he had at last obtained the Mikado's acceptance of the 
 treaties. The daimyos, as intimated in the preceding 
 chapter, were beginning to see that Japan would gain and 
 not lose by foreign intercourse ; and the Regent of Sat- 
 suma had already, despite the law that then prohibited 
 Japanese from going abroad, sent young men to visit 
 Europe and America. The new Shogun, Keiki, entered 
 into intrigues with the envoys of Napoleon III., hoping 
 to make France his ally in the impending struggle. Thus 
 both parties were now seeking foreign intercourse, and 
 the Revolution, which began with the cry, " Expel the 
 foreigners," ended by admitting them more freely. The 
 Satsuma men who had visited Europe returned with open 
 eyes and high hopes, just in time to guide the empire at 
 the crisis of its change, which w r as now imminent. 
 
 3. Resignation of the Shogun. — The new Shogun had 
 scarcely assumed power when the Emperor died, Febru- 
 ary 3, 1867. His successor, Mutsuhito, being a young 
 man, the party of progress seized the opportunity to push 
 their designs. They persuaded Keiki, a timid and vacil- 
 lating man, to resign the Shogunate ; and then, to insure 
 complete success, on January 3, 1868, they seized the pal- 
 ace at Kyoto and proceeded to administer the government 
 in the name of the Emperor. Civil war ensued ; but, in
 
 THE REVOLUTION 6$ 
 
 a desperate battle fought at Fushimi, near Kyoto, which 
 lasted three days, the Shogun's army was totally defeated ; 
 and, although the northern clans continued the contest 
 on their own ground, the Imperial forces were everywhere 
 victorious. Within a few months the young Emperor was 
 the undisputed ruler of all Japan. Keiki himself submit- 
 ted at once and was allowed to live in retirement. Equal 
 clemency was shown even to the leaders who held out 
 longer, and the very last to lay down his arms, a noble 
 named Enomoto, soon afterward became Japanese envoy 
 at the court of St. Petersburg, and since then has held 
 other high offices. 
 
 4. The Emperor's Oath. — The young Emperor was 
 now brought forth from behind the screen of ages, and 
 took his place as head of the State. In the presence of 
 feudal lords and court nobles he took an oath by which 
 he promised that " a deliberative assembly should be 
 formed ; all measures should be decided by public opin- 
 ion ; the uncivilized customs of former years should be 
 broken through ; the impartiality and justice displayed 
 in the workings of nature should be adopted as a basis 
 of action ; while intellect and learning should be sought 
 throughout the world in order to establish the foundations 
 of the empire." 
 
 5. Transfer of the Capital. — In the eyes of the people, 
 the outward and visible sign of the change was the transfer 
 of the capital from Kyoto to Yedo. For nearly three 
 centuries Yedo had been the seat of the executive gov- 
 ernment, but Kyoto was the sacred imperial city. During 
 the progress of the revolution, Yedo, being identified with 
 the falling cause, became much discredited, and the pop- 
 ulation was rapidly diminishing. For the Emperor, after 
 centuries of seclusion at Kyoto, to come forth and set up 
 his throne at Yedo before the world, was a token that 
 a new era had indeed begun. To emphasize the change, 
 the name of the city was changed to Tokyo (meaning 
 Eastern Capital). The Emperor entered it in state on 
 November 26, 1868. 
 
 6. The End of Feudalism. — Then followed a still more 
 remarkable phase of the Revolution. It was made clear 
 to the victorious daimyos, under the influence of the men 
 who had seen Western civilization, that the weak point in 
 
 5
 
 66 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 the Japanese polity was their own feudal power ; that 
 semi-independent principalities were an anachronism ; 
 and that, if the Mikado was to reign over a mighty and 
 united empire, a centralized government was essential. 
 In the enthusiastic tide of patriotism personal interests 
 were swept aside, and the leading daimyos, to enable their 
 country — so said their public manifesto — " to take its 
 place side by side with the other countries of the world," 
 voluntarily surrendered the whole of their feudal rights, 
 lands, and revenues into the hands of the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment, and took the position of private gentlemen. 
 Their retainers were exhorted to give their entire alle- 
 giance directly to the Emperor, and the clans became 
 absorbed in the nation. In the very same year that the 
 petty kings and princes of Germany crowned King Will- 
 iam of Prussia Emperor at Versailles, the princes and 
 nobles of Japan assembled in solemn council at Tokyo, 
 and bowed their heads in submission to the Mikado as his 
 Prime Minister read out the Imperial decree abolishing 
 feudalism. Truly, it was a wonderful spectacle. 
 
 Some writers, however, have rather overdrawn the 
 picture. In many of the clans the power of the daimyos 
 had passed into the hands of their leading retainers. The 
 change tended to increase the importance of these retain- 
 ers, and in many cases it was they who had most influence 
 in bringing about the resignation of their masters. To 
 the latter the change did not at first mean so much as 
 might be supposed. In public estimation they were still 
 looked upon as chiefs to be honored by their old retainers 
 and reverenced by the peasantry. The most efficient be- 
 came governors, under the Imperial Government, of the 
 provinces formerly their feudal domains. Life pensions, 
 afterward redeemed by government bonds, were granted 
 to them and their retainers, a heavy burden being thus im- 
 posed upon the finances of the country.
 
 VIII 
 
 New Japan 
 
 1. Changed Attitude toward Western Civilization.— 
 
 I. Employment of Foreign Instructors. — The restoration 
 of power to the Emperor was accompanied by a great 
 change in the attitude of the nation toward Western ideas. 
 The country realized that during its long isolation it had 
 fallen behind the nations of the West. For a time, at least, 
 it was necessary to become the pupil of those who had 
 been called barbarians. Some thought that this tutelage 
 need last only until they had sufficiently learned the mili- 
 tary arts of Europe to drive the foreigners from the sacred 
 soil of Japan. Others were more far-sighted and desired 
 their country to receive all that the West could teach. 
 The new government invited foreigners to come and give 
 the needed instruction. Europeans and Americans were 
 employed to drill the army, open mines, and establish 
 new industries. Others became teachers of language and 
 science. 
 
 2. Changes Introduced. — After the abolition of feudal- 
 ism the changes proceeded at a greatly accelerated rate. 
 The year 1872 is memorable in the annals of Japan as 
 a year of extraordinary progress. The Army, Navy, and 
 Civil Service were entirely reconstructed ; the Imperial 
 Mint at Osaka was opened and a new coinage introduced ; 
 the Educational Department, established in 1871, largely 
 extended its operations under an enlightened minister, 
 and a University was established at Tokyo ; the Post 
 Office was organized, runners being employed who, by 
 connections, could cover 125 miles a day; an Industrial 
 Exhibition was held in the sacred city of Kyoto ; and, on 
 June 1 2th, the first railway in Japan was opened, from 
 Tokyo to Yokohama, a distance of eighteen miles. 
 
 Nor were the changes all material in character. Many 
 
 67
 
 68 JAPAN AMD ITS R£C£M£RATIOtf 
 
 moral reforms were inaugurated. The eta, the pariahs 
 of Japan, were admitted to citizenship ; the two-sworded 
 men lost their exclusive privileges ; important regula- 
 tions relating to marriage were framed ; and, above all, 
 a move was made toward the toleration of Christianity, 
 of which more hereafter. On June 28th, the young Em- 
 peror set out on a tour of inspection through his domin- 
 ions. On New Year's day of 1873 the calendar of the 
 Western world was adopted, the years, however, being 
 reckoned from the traditional accession of the first Mi- 
 kado, or from the new period inaugurated at the Revolu- 
 tion and called Meiji, so that 1873 was the year 2533 
 of the Empire and the 6th of Meiji. 
 
 3. An Embassy Sent to the W est. — Meanwhile, in De- 
 cember, 1 87 1, Japan ratified her entrance into the comity 
 of nations by sending to America and Europe an embassy 
 of nobles and ministers of high rank. It was headed by 
 Iwakura, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and one of the 
 most enlightened men of the progressive party. Though 
 the Shogunate had sent its representatives abroad, this 
 was the first Imperial embassy to the West. It failed to 
 obtain a desired revision of the treaties, but many things 
 were learned in Western lands that had a great influence 
 upon the future of Japan. 
 
 II. Later Changes — 1. Political. — The last quarter of 
 a century has been a period of great progress. In the 
 government established immediately after the Revolution 
 of 1868 the supreme legislative and executive power had 
 been vested in the Privy Council, which, besides the Em- 
 peror, consisted of three chief Ministers of State and a 
 number of Privy Councillors. Immediately subordinated 
 to the Privy Council were the Ministries or Departments 
 of State. This was only a transition government ; for, 
 as already noted, when the Emperor assumed the reins of 
 power, he solemnly promised that " a deliberative assem- 
 bly should be formed " and all measures decided by pub- 
 lic opinion. The first steps in this direction were taken 
 in 1875 by creating a deliberative assembly composed of 
 the governors of provinces, who were to consult and ad- 
 vise on measures relating to administrative matters of 
 general application, and by establishing a House of Sen- 
 ators to discuss and decide upon measures of new legis- 
 lation or for the revision of existing laws,
 
 NEW JAPAN 69 
 
 There was a still more decided onward movement in 
 1877, when provincial representative assemblies were 
 called into existence. The discussion of questions of local 
 taxation and of matters of local interest to be pressed upon 
 the central government did much to make the people con- 
 scious of their power, to show them the value of represen- 
 tative government, and to educate them for it. The press, 
 platform, and debating club, both before and since, con- 
 tributed toward forming public opinion on the subject; 
 and in December, 1881, the Emperor, yielding to its press- 
 ure, definitely promised to establish a Parliament in 1890. 
 In 1884 the system of nobility was modified to suit the 
 altered circumstances of the country, and many who had 
 rendered distinguished service were made marquises, vis- 
 counts, barons, etc. Thus the way was prepared for form- 
 ing a House of Peers in 1890. 
 
 In anticipation of the coming change, the government 
 was reorganized in December, 1885. This was no mere 
 redistribution of offices, but a complete reconstruction 
 of the governmental system. Not only were men of the 
 old court party removed from office and young men edu- 
 cated abroad called to fill the highest posts, but " the 
 triple Premiership, Privy Council, and Ministries " were 
 abolished, a Cabinet, formed after European models, tak- 
 ing their place. 
 
 In 1889 the Emperor granted a written Constitution 
 to the people, and the first Parliament met in 1890. The 
 next step taken in this path of political progress was in 
 1898, when the principle of the Cabinet's responsibility 
 to the Parliament was acknowledged. 
 
 2. Educational, Material, and Social Changes. — Prog- 
 ress has not been confined to methods of government. 
 There has been a great intellectual azvakening. The news- 
 paper press has gone on developing in intelligence and 
 power in spite of the stringent regulations that existed 
 for several years and led to the imprisonment of so many 
 persons that it is said some periodicals employed a man 
 as nominal editor whose only duty was to go to prison 
 whenever an indiscreet utterance of the journal made this 
 necessary. These press laws have now been repealed. In 
 1894 there were 814 periodicals, with a circulation for the 
 ^year of 357,735,426, The fact that 518 new serial publi-
 
 JO JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 cations appeared and 506 ceased publication during that 
 year shows how short-lived are most of the periodicals. 
 During 1894, 8,962 books in single volumes and 18,831 
 numbers of serial works were published. Education has 
 made rapid strides. The Massachusetts system of public 
 schools was adopted as a model for Japan, but has been 
 somewhat modified, among other things a fee being col- 
 lected from the pupils. There were, in 1894, 24,046 pri- 
 mary schools, eighty-four " ordinary middle " schools, 
 seven higher schools, and one university. A second uni- 
 versity has since been established. There are also many 
 technical schools under the care of the government, and 
 numerous private schools of various grades. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the railroads, 
 steamships, and telegraphs of the country. Manufactures 
 of various kinds have been introduced. Many new forms 
 of industry were at first inaugurated by the government 
 or aided by it, but there is now little need for such foster- 
 ing care. 
 
 The social changes that have grown out of contact with 
 Western nations are too numerous for mention. They 
 have been felt in almost every department of life. Fifteen 
 years ago the country was in the midst of a great wave 
 of enthusiasm for the introduction of Western customs. 
 Officials and men of wealth adopted the European dress, 
 and their wives began to do the same. This outward 
 change was fostered by the government, and partly for 
 political reasons, it being said that, so long as the Jap- 
 anese retained their national costume, they were treated 
 by foreigners as Asiatics, but the adoption of the Euro- 
 pean dress led to the wearers being treated as equals, 
 and thus it would be easier to induce Western nations to 
 consent to such a revision of treaties as was desired by 
 the Japanese. Dancing in foreign style, balls, concerts, 
 dramatic entertainments were taken up by fashionable 
 people. 
 
 There soon came a reaction. The men had found the 
 European garments so much more convenient that they 
 were retained, but the women laid aside the bonnet, the 
 dress, and the tight shoes, that they might resume the 
 national costume ; and the foreign amusements and ac- 
 complishments that had once been sought with so much
 
 NEW JAPAN J I 
 
 avidity now fell into disfavor. In many particulars the 
 movement for rejecting foreign customs triumphed for 
 awhile, but probably there has been no time when, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, the Japanese have not been 
 vielding to influences that are affecting their modes of 
 life. 
 
 One instance of accepting the customs of Christendom 
 was the adoption of Sunday as a day of rest in govern- 
 ment offices and schools. This change from an old sys- 
 tem, by which one day in five was to some extent a holi- 
 day, was made in 1876, because many Europeans engaged 
 in various departments refused, from whatever motives,. 
 to work on Sundays. The holiday is not observed by many 
 business houses, but the freedom of officials, teachers, and 
 students on that day has been a help to Christian work. 
 
 III. The Satsuma Rebellion — The progress of which 
 we have been speaking has not been effected without diffi- 
 culty and turmoil. Disaffection repeatedly showed itself 
 among the samurai after they were dispossessed of their 
 privileges, and more than once open insurrection broke 
 out. The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, especially, was a 
 most serious affair, and demands a brief notice. 
 
 1. Satsuma. — Satsuma is in the southern part of Kyu- 
 shu. Its daimyo was the most powerful, and almost the 
 richest, of the feudal chiefs, and certainly the most inde- 
 pendent. The de facto chief, Shimazu Saburo, who had 
 acted for his son, the nominal head of the clan, but a 
 minor, since 1858, played a leading part in the Revolution. 
 It was he whose retainers killed Mr. Richardson in 1862 ; 
 it was he whose city, Kagoshima, was bombarded by the 
 English ; it was he who led the attack on the Shogunate. 
 Among his leading retainers were Saigo and Okubo, who, 
 under the new government of the Emperor, became re- 
 spectively Commander-in-chief and Minister of Finance. 
 
 2. Disaffection of the Satsuma Men. — Within a year 
 after the Revolution divergencies of opinion began to 
 appear in the Cabinet. The Prime Minister and Vice- 
 Prime Minister, Sanjo and Iwakura, headed the progres- 
 sive party, and were supported by Okubo and other Sat- 
 suma men ; while Shimazu — who held no post, but had 
 great influence — and Saigo were unwilling to go farther 
 than they had already gone, and exhibited reactionary
 
 J 2 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 tendencies. In particular, the two latter advocated the 
 old rights of the samurai and endeavored, in 1873, to force 
 Japan into a war with Korea, hoping that by gaining mili- 
 tary glory the two-sworded men would recover their for- 
 mer pre-eminence. Iwakura and Okubo, having been in 
 Europe and America, had learned the advantages of peace, 
 and their views prevailed in the government, although, 
 as a kind of sop to the discontented samurai, an expedition 
 was undertaken in 1874 to Formosa, to punish the people 
 of that island for some outrages on shipwrecked Japanese. 
 Saigo retired from the ministry, and Shimazu presented 
 to the Emperor a solemn protest against twenty specified 
 innovations contrary to national usage, one of which was 
 " the engagement of foreigners for the service of the 
 state, and the adoption of their ideas," and another, " the 
 non-prohibition of the extension of evil doctrines " — 
 i.e., Christianity. No attention was paid to this memorial, 
 and when, in 1876, the carrying of two swords was for- 
 bidden, Shimazu acknowledged the impossibility of real- 
 izing his dream, and retired from the political arena. 
 
 3. The Rebellion. — Saigo was not so easily overcome. 
 In view of a possible contest, he and his followers carried 
 on the manufacture of arms at Kagoshima on their own 
 account, and gradually perfected a military organization 
 for the overthrow of the government, all being done nom- 
 inally for the Emperor, though in avowed opposition to 
 his ministers. At length, in February, 1877, civil war 
 broke out. A desperate conflict ensued, which desolated 
 Kyushu for seven months. It ended in the defeat of 
 Saigo. On September 24th he and the remnant of his 
 personal followers were surrounded and overpowered. 
 He was one of the first to fall wounded to the ground, 
 when one of his lieutenants, true to the ancient custom 
 of Japan, cut off his chief's head with a single blow of his 
 heavy sword, and then slew himself by hara-kiri. The 
 suppression of the rebellion greatly strengthened the gov- 
 ernment, but it did not give universal satisfaction. Thou- 
 sands of people visited the grave of Saigo, and a popular 
 belief at the time of his death was that his spirit had taken 
 up its abode in the planet Mars, while those of his follow- 
 ers inhabited a new race of frogs which was said to have 
 appeared in Kyushu.
 
 NEW JAPAN 73 
 
 IV. The War with China — i. The decisive victory 
 gained in the war with China during 1894-5 has raised 
 Japan to a new position among the nations of the East. 
 The contest arose from China's unwillingness to acknowl- 
 edge the independence of Korea, and her alleged violation 
 of agreements that had been made with Japan concerning 
 that kingdom. Though Japan was victorious, the com- 
 bined interference of Russia, France, and Germany pre- 
 vented her from retaining the territory that she had con- 
 quered in Northern China. She received instead a large 
 indemnity, and was allowed to keep Formosa, which had 
 been occupied by Japanese soldiers. The necessity of 
 yielding to the demands of the three European nations 
 was felt by the Japanese to be a humiliation, and there 
 was much bitterness, especially against Russia. 
 
 2. Some of the results of the war as regards Japan 
 itself are thus described by Dr. D. C. Greene : " It gave 
 a new impetus to almost every department of secular life. 
 It was natural, in view of the large indemnity secured 
 from China, that the army and navy should be pushed 
 forward as rapidly as possible, in order that she might 
 claim to be the dominant power in Eastern Asia. This 
 undue emphasis is much to be regretted, because it can 
 hardly fail to stimulate the military spirit to a degree not 
 merely harmful to Japan, but also to the world. Still, it 
 cannot be denied that the extraordinary development of 
 the national consciousness, which is directly traceable to 
 the experiences of the past three years, has been, on the 
 whole, healthful. Some of its manifestations have been 
 unhappy, and some of the claims put forth have been 
 extravagant ; but there has been abundant evidence of 
 vigorous life, which we may well trust to assert itself 
 against the more or less morbid features incident to the 
 excitements of these stirring times." 
 
 V. Revision of the Treaties — 1. Japan had for years 
 attempted to gain the consent of Western nations for a 
 revision of treaties. Those that had been made in 1858 
 and the following years restricted the rights of Japan in 
 regard to the duties imposed on imports, and also provided 
 for a system of extra-territoriality, by which foreigners 
 charged with crime were tried in the consular courts of 
 their own nationality. The different Ministers for For-
 
 74 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 eign Affairs had labored hard to effect a change ; long 
 conferences were held with the representatives of Western 
 nations ; various drafts were prepared ; " treaty revi- 
 sion " was for years a subject for discussion in news- 
 papers, chambers of commerce, and missionary confer- 
 ences, and several cabinets went out of office because of 
 failure to bring about what the nation desired. 
 
 2. The United States had for a long time been ready 
 to grant a revision, but the consent of all the nations was 
 necessary. At last, in 1894, the country was rejoiced 
 to learn that a treaty had been signed with Great Britain, 
 which granted, after July, 1899, judicial and tariff auton- 
 omy to Japan. Upon the other hand, British subjects 
 were, after the same date, to be permitted to travel, reside, 
 and carry on business in the interior. Similar treaties 
 have since been negotiated with other nations, so that 
 July, 1899, bids fair to mark an important date in Japan's 
 history. At that time she finds herself received as an equal 
 into the sisterhood of nations.
 
 IX 
 
 Modern Missions 
 
 1. Interest concerning Japan before Its Re-opening— 
 
 Even before Japan entered into treaty relations with 
 Western lands, the eyes of those who were interested in 
 the extension of Christianity turned toward this mysteri- 
 ous country and longed to see its closed doors thrown open 
 for the entrance of the Gospel. 
 
 A. Among Roman Catholics. — i. Ecclesiastical Ap- 
 pointments. — The Roman Catholic Church could not for- 
 get the past successes of its missionaries nor cease to pray 
 that the land consecrated by the blood of so many martyrs 
 might witness a renewal of the great triumphs won by the 
 Jesuits. On some of the missionary bishops sent to Asi- 
 atic countries by the Societe des Missions Etrangeres, the 
 greatest foreign missionary society of the Roman Church, 
 was bestowed the barren title of Vicars Apostolic of Japan. 
 
 2. Sidotti. — An Italian Jesuit, named Sidotti, who, as 
 a youth, had become intensely interested in Japan, resolved 
 that he would attempt to enter the country. Going to 
 Manila, he spent some time in studying the Japanese lan- 
 guage. At last, in 1709, he persuaded a captain to take 
 him to the southern part of Kyushu, where he was set 
 ashore by a small boat and then left alone — one man 
 against a nation. He was soon discovered, and, though 
 his pronunciation was very imperfect, managed to hold 
 some slight communication with the officers who arrested 
 him. He was finally taken to Yedo, where he was put 
 under the care of an official, who closely questioned him 
 concerning foreign lands and his object in coming to 
 Japan. In one of the buildings connected with his place 
 of confinement lived an old man and woman who had 
 long before been arrested as Christians and had recanted. 
 Sidotti had the joy of leading them to a renewal of their 
 
 ?S
 
 76 JAPAN" AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 faith ; but, though he lived on as a prisoner for many 
 years, probably dying a natural death, there is nothing 
 to show that there were other visible results of his self- 
 sacrificing devotion. 
 
 3. Missionaries in Loochoo. — The interest of Roman 
 Catholics was freshly aroused in 1831, when twenty Jap- 
 anese sailors, wrecked on the shores of the Philippine 
 Islands, were found to have in their possession Christian 
 medals, which they regarded with great reverence, saying 
 that they had been handed down to them from their an- 
 cestors. Not far from this time partially successful at- 
 tempts were made to send catechists to Japan, but it is 
 not known whether they were able to accomplish any- 
 thing. In 1844 a naval vessel of France, which, like other 
 European nations, was seeking a way to open Japan, car- 
 ried to Loochoo a priest named M. Forcade and a native 
 catechist. Negotiations were opened with the King, who 
 permitted them to remain. They were, however, kept 
 under constant surveillance. " I was barely allowed," 
 wrote M. Forcade, " to take a little exercise on the sand 
 or mud by the seashore, and even then I might not go 
 alone. I was surrounded by the inevitable mandarins, 
 preceded by satellites armed with bamboos to strike the 
 poor people and drive off any passers-by, which was nat- 
 urally calculated to render me an object of odium." The 
 Japanese Government, which claimed authority over 
 Loochoo, demanded that the missionaries be put to death, 
 and it is said to be largely owing to the representations 
 of the Dutch resident at Nagasaki that they were unmo- 
 lested. Other priests joined them, and, to some extent, 
 they were less hampered, " but, as regards evangelical 
 work, all they could possibly achieve was to baptize a few 
 babies at the point of death and also a few old people." 
 
 B. Among Protestants. — 1. Coiitributions for Work 
 in Japan. — Protestants were not unmindful of the distant 
 land. One act of faith on the part of Christians is worthy 
 of record. About the year 1827 a Christian merchant, 
 residing in Brookline, Mass., invited a few friends to 
 meet at his house that they might pray for the conversion 
 of the world. At the first meeting, when it was proposed 
 that a contribution be made, the question arose about how 
 the money should be used, On the table was a Japanese
 
 MODERN MISSIONS Jf 
 
 basket that had been brought from the East by one of 
 the merchant's ships. Taking it in his hand, he proposed 
 that they contribute money for missionary work in Japan. 
 The proposal, which seems strange when we remember 
 what was then the condition of Japan, was adopted. In 
 a few years over $600 had been collected, and by the time 
 the American Board commenced its work in Japan this 
 money, which had been committed to its care, amounted, 
 with accrued interest, to over $4,000. 
 
 2. Dr. Bettelheim in Loochoo. — Kindness which had 
 been shown by the natives of Loochoo to shipwrecked sail- 
 ors led certain officers of the British navy to feel such an 
 interest in their behalf that they formed among themselves 
 a missionary society for the purpose of sending the Gospel 
 to Loochoo. Dr. Bettelheim, a converted Jew, a physi- 
 cian, reached the Islands in 1846. He met with opposition 
 similar to that encountered by the French priests. Though 
 at first the people gathered about him and gladly received 
 his tracts, the officers caused the latter to be gathered up 
 and returned to him. After awhile they compelled people 
 to leave the streets through which he passed, and to shut 
 up their houses so as to prevent his entrance. At least 
 three persons are said to have been baptized by him, not- 
 withstanding the difficulties under which he labored. 
 
 3. Translation of the Scriptures. — Though the living 
 preacher was excluded from Japan, it was hoped that 
 some way might be found for the entrance of the printed 
 Word. Through the knowledge of the language obtained 
 by the Dutch merchants and from shipwrecked sailors, 
 something could be learned that made it possible to pre- 
 pare very imperfect translations of portions of the Bible. 
 Dr. S. Wells Williams says of some of the Japanese who 
 were brought back to Macao after the unsuccessful ex- 
 pedition of the Morrison : " Two remained with Mr. 
 Gutzlaff for many years, and two worked in my printing 
 office at Macao. These four aided us in getting some 
 knowledge of their language, so that between us the books 
 of Genesis and Matthew, and the Gospel and Epistles of 
 John were done into Japanese for their instruction." Dr. 
 Bettelheim also attempted similar work, and some of it 
 was printed. 
 
 4. The American Expedition. — Though Commodore
 
 78 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 Perry's errand was political and commercial, he was not 
 oblivious to the fact that a successful accomplishment of 
 his task would result in opening the country to Chris- 
 tianity. The first Sunday spent in Japanese waters was 
 a time when the people were taught something of our 
 religion ; for when several officials came off from shore 
 and expected to be received on board, the officers on duty 
 courteously told them that the day was one which Amer- 
 icans used for the worship of God, and that, in order to 
 preserve due quiet, no visitors would be received. When 
 the time came for morning service Commodore Perry 
 caused the old Scotch version of the One Hundredth 
 Psalm to be sung: 
 
 " All people that on earth do dwell, 
 Sing to the Lord with joyful voice ; 
 Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell, 
 Come ye before Him and rejoice." 
 
 It was America's summons to the hermit nation that, in 
 coming out from its long seclusion, it should receive not 
 merely the material civilization of the West, but also that 
 it should learn to know and worship the God of Nations. 
 Among those connected with Perry's Expedition were 
 some who earnestly hoped that it might prepare the way 
 for missions, and they improved all opportunities to learn 
 what they could of the land in order that they might know 
 what could be done for its evangelization. Dr. S. Wells 
 Williams, who had been a missionary in China, was one 
 of the interpreters of the Expedition. As we have already 
 seen, he had before this attempted to translate portions 
 of the Scriptures into Japanese. Among the marines was 
 a young man who had enlisted for the purpose of learn- 
 ing about the land where he hoped that he could after- 
 ward engage in religious work. His good behavior and 
 a special service rendered while the Expedition was at 
 the Loochoo Islands won from Commodore Perry extra 
 opportunities to go on shore. The knowledge thus gained 
 he afterward utilized in a way that led to the establish- 
 ment of the work of the American Baptist Free Mis- 
 sionary Society. 
 II. Missionary Work. — When friends of missions
 
 MODERN MISSIONS *fo 
 
 learned that Commodore Perry had succeeded in negotiat- 
 ing a treaty with Japan, new interest was aroused in the 
 evangelization, of the land. It was as yet, however, im- 
 possible to commence any direct work, since the Ameri- 
 can treaty and those soon after secured by other nations 
 did not permit the residence of foreigners. Though, after 
 the treaties of 1858, Protestant missionaries were the fore- 
 most to enter the country, it will be more convenient to 
 consider first the work done by others. 
 
 A. Roman Catholic Missions. — 1. The First Mis- 
 sionaries. — As soon as the French had negotiated a treaty 
 with Japan, priests were sent to the country, nominally 
 to attend to the spiritual wants of European Catholics. 
 Chapels were erected at Yokohama and Nagasaki. That 
 of the former city was dedicated in January, 1862, and 
 was daily visited by many Japanese drawn thither by 
 curiosity. To these visitors the priests tried to explain 
 the meaning of the pictures upon the walls. The officials 
 soon took notice of these occurrences and arrested about 
 fifty of the people who had visited the chapel. One of 
 the priests wrote : " Immediately the panic spreads in 
 all directions, the news of the persecution is confirmed, 
 and the strangers in the land are everywhere agitated. 
 Our church is deserted." When the French representa- 
 tive called the attention of the Governor to these events, 
 the latter replied that the Japanese must suffer the penalty 
 for violating the law of the country. It was in the same 
 year, 1862, that Pius IX. proclaimed the canonization of 
 the " Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan," who had been cruci- 
 fied at Nagasaki in 1597. 
 
 2. The Discovery of Christians. — In 1865 a fi ne church 
 was dedicated, in Nagasaki, to the " Twenty-six Martyrs." 
 It was in the charge of M. Petitjean, a priest who had 
 spent several years in Loochoo, and from thence come to 
 Japan. It was in this church that there occurred a strik- 
 ing event, which filled his heart with joy, encouraged the 
 Roman Catholic workers, and was followed by momen- 
 tous consequences. The story is best told in his own 
 words : 
 
 Scarce a month had elapsed since the benediction of the 
 church at Nagasaki. On March 17, 1865, about half-past twelve, 
 some fifteen persons were standing at the church door. Urged,
 
 80 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 no doubt, by my angel guardian, I went up and opened the door. 
 I had scarce time to say a Pater when three women, between fifty 
 and sixty years of age, knelt down beside me and said, in a low 
 voice, placing their hands upon their hearts : 
 
 " The hearts of all of us here do not differ from yours." 
 " Indeed ! " I exclaimed. " Whence do you come ? " 
 They mentioned their village, adding : " At home every- 
 body is the same as we are!" 
 
 Blessed be Thou, O, my God ! for all the happiness which 
 filled my soul. What a compensation for five years of barren 
 ministry! 
 
 The women continued to talk with him in a way that 
 showed they had considerable knowledge of Christianity, 
 and they had many inquiries to make of the priest. 
 
 In the midst of this volley of questions footsteps were heard ; 
 immediately all dispersed. But soon as the new-comers were 
 recognized, all returned, laughing at their fright. 
 
 " They are people of our village," they said. " They have the 
 same hearts as we have." 
 
 However, we had to separate for fear of awakening the suspi- 
 cions of the officials whose visit I feared. On Maundy Thursday 
 and Good Friday, April 13 and 14, 1,500 people visited the 
 church of Nagasaki. The presbytery was invaded ; the faithful 
 took the opportunity to satisfy their devotion before the crucifix 
 and the statues of Our Lady. During the early days of May the 
 missioners learned of the existence of 2,500 Christians scattered 
 in the neighborhood of the city. On May 15 there arrived dele- 
 gates from an island not very far from here. After a short inter- 
 view we dismissed them, detaining only the Catechist and the 
 leader of the pilgrimage. The Catechist, named Peter, gave us 
 the most valuable information. Let me first say that his formula 
 for baptism does not differ at all from ours, and that he pro- 
 nounces it very distinctly. He declares that there are many 
 Christians left up and down all over Japan. He cited in particu- 
 lar one place where there are over 1,000 Christian families. 
 
 3. Persecutions. — The coming of so many people to 
 the church and the reports of what was happening soon 
 attracted the attention of the officials. It was not long 
 before arrests were made. The persecution which then 
 commenced reached its height in 1869. Some of the 
 Christians were tortured, beaten, or cast into prison. 
 Thousands were sent into exile, being scattered among 
 different provinces, and in many cases being forced to 
 hard labor in the mines. " It is calculated," says a Ro-
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 8 1 
 
 man Catholic writer, " that, between 1868 and 1873, from 
 6,000 to 8,000 Christians were torn from their families, 
 deported, and subjected to cruel tortures, so that nearly 
 2,000 died in prison." 
 
 Though European and American sea-captains were 
 willing-, for the sake of gain, to transport these unfortu- 
 nate people to their places of exile, the official represen- 
 tatives of Western nations, Catholic and Protestant alike, 
 united in protesting against what was being done, saying 
 that Japan, in punishing people simply because of their 
 belief in Christianity, was throwing dishonor upon the 
 Christian nations with which Japan had made treaties. 
 At first these protests were of no avail. Mr. Long, who 
 was then United States Minister, says : " After all our 
 arguments had been used we were finally told by Mr. Iwa- 
 kura that this government rested upon the Shinto faith, 
 which taught the divinity of the Mikado, that the propa- 
 gation of the Christian faith and religion tended to dispel 
 that belief, and that consequently it was the resolve of this 
 government to resist its propagation as they would resist 
 the advance of an invading army." The continued pro- 
 tests of the ministers, aided by the course of events, at 
 last led to a cessation of these persecutions, and, in 1872, 
 many of the Christian prisoners were set at liberty. It 
 will thus be seen that, on the return of these exiles to their 
 homes, and with the discovery of other Christian com- 
 munities, the Roman Catholics had several thousand be- 
 lievers at the time when the baptized converts to the Prot- 
 estant faith numbered only ten. It was not until 1873 
 that all the prisoners were freed. 
 
 4. Later History. — Roman Catholicism has had to con- 
 tend against the prejudices aroused by remembrance of 
 the troubles of three centuries ago — prejudices that have 
 existed against all forms of Christianity, though not felt 
 so much by Protestants and the Russo-Greek Church. 
 Nevertheless, it has had a considerable growth. Most 
 of the missionaries are French. Much has been done by 
 gathering children into orphanages and other charitable 
 institutions, where they can be educated in the Catholic 
 faith. Many children of unbelievers are baptized when 
 at the point of death, it being believed that such baptism 
 insures their salvation. The rite may be administered by 
 6
 
 82 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 others than ecclesiastics. The Mission publishes a 
 number of tracts and books, many of them being bitter 
 attacks on Protestantism. Recently it has published a 
 translation of the Vulgate version of the Bible, and it 
 is somewhat remarkable that the translator is a Prot- 
 estant Japanese. 
 
 The statistics of the Roman Catholic Church for 1903, 
 as given in "The Christian Movement in Its Relation to 
 the New Life in Japan, 1904," reveal the following facts : 
 Male missionaries, 114; women missionaries, 122; Japan- 
 ese priests and catechists, 299 ; Japanese women helpers, 
 34; communicants, including baptized children, 58,086; 
 organized churches, 145 ; other regular preaching places, 
 385 ; boarding and day schools, 45, with 5,967 pupils ; in- 
 and out-patients, 49,850. In comparing Catholic with 
 Protestant communicants (55,315), it should be remem- 
 bered that in most cases the latter statistics exclude 
 children. 
 
 B. The Russo-Greek Mission. — 1. In 1861 there 
 came to Japan, as Chaplain to the Russian Consulate at 
 Hakodate, a remarkable man who has since had an im- 
 portant part in the religious history of the land. He is 
 now known as Bishop Nicolai. For several years he 
 made no attempt to preach to the Japanese, but devoted 
 himself to a careful study of the language. A Buddhist 
 priest, who came to revile the Russian chaplain, was led 
 to study Christianity, and in 1866 he was baptized as 
 Father Nicolai's first convert. Three years later a physi- 
 cian was baptized. Returning in 1869 to Russia, Nicolai 
 induced the Holy Synod to establish a mission in Japan. 
 In 1 87 1 he came to Tokyo. A man of striking appearance 
 and great personal magnetism, he has exerted a wonderful 
 power over those who have come under his influence. At 
 no time have there been more than four other missionaries 
 associated with him, and at present there are only two ; 
 but many native assistants have been thoroughly trained 
 and sent to different parts of the land. A few of them 
 have been educated in Russia. 
 
 2. In the heart of Tokyo there has been erected a splen- 
 did cathedral, the most conspicuous building in the city. 
 Some have thought that in erecting such a cathedral 
 Bishop Nicolai failed to show his usual wisdom. It has 
 certainly aroused much prejudice, especially at times
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 83 
 
 when Russia has been suspected of having political rea- 
 sons for extending the influence of its national church. 
 The Russian Church in Japan uses the translation of the 
 Scriptures circulated by the American and British Bible 
 Societies, although it does not allow its followers to have 
 Christian fellowship with other churches. From Tokyo 
 the missionaries Lave extended their operations into 260 
 out-stations, where 174 churches are found. It is signifi- 
 cant that this Church should have so emphasized work 
 among women and children. This has been very effec- 
 tively done through nearly 100 Japanese Bible women. 
 In 1903 a church membership of 27,366 was reported, 
 including, doubtless, a large number of children. 
 
 C. Protestant Missions. — 1. The First Missionaries. 
 — Protestant missionaries were as eager as those of Rome 
 to take advantage of the treaties that opened the country 
 to foreign residence, and to the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church of America belongs the high honor of being the 
 first to enter Japan. On May 2, 1859, two months before 
 the time set by the treaties, Rev. J. Liggins arrived at 
 Nagasaki, where he was joined a month later by Rev. C. 
 M. (afterward Bishop) Williams. Both had been mis- 
 sionaries in China of the Protestant Episcopal Church of 
 the United States. In October, Dr. J. C. Hepburn, a med- 
 ical missionary of the American Presbyterian Board, land- 
 ed in Kanagawa ; and in November, Rev. S. R. Brown and 
 D. B. Simmons, M.D., both of the Reformed Church in 
 America, reached Kanagawa. A week later, Rev. Guido 
 F. Verbeck, also of the Reformed Church, came to Naga- 
 saki. In April of the next year came Rev. J. Goble, who 
 had been with Perry's Expedition and was now sent by 
 the American Baptist Free Missionary Society. Thus, 
 within a year from the opening of the treaty-ports to for- 
 eign residence, four American societies were represented 
 by five ordained and two medical missionaries. 
 
 2. Difficulties of the Early Years. — The pioneer mis- 
 sionaries were in circumstances of no little discourage- 
 ment and difficulty for several years after they entered 
 upon their work. The government viewed them with 
 suspicion ; the people, though by no means hostile, were 
 distant and timid, and all classes dreaded Christianity as 
 a pestilential creed whose introduction would bring mani-
 
 84 JAPAN AMD ITS REGENERATION 
 
 fold evils upon the country. Official spies were frequent- 
 ly sent to the missionaries, ostensibly to make friends with 
 them, but really to discover what object these unofficial 
 and non-trading foreigners had in coming to Japan. One 
 man afterward confessed that he became Dr. Hepburn's 
 teacher in the hope of finding a good opportunity to assas- 
 sinate him. Even in private the greatest caution was nec- 
 essary in dealing with visitors ; for, so much were the 
 consequences of being suspected of favoring Christianity 
 feared, that whenever the subject was mentioned to a Jap- 
 anese he would involuntarily put his hand to his throat 
 as a token of the danger to which the introduction of such 
 a subject exposed him. Some young men who, in these 
 early days came to a missionary to learn a little English, 
 purchased copies of a book called " The Christian Read- 
 er," and at once erased the word " Christian " from the 
 title page and cover, for fear it should be noticed by others 
 and bring them into trouble. 
 
 3. Opportunities for Usefulness. — Even then, when 
 open missionary work was an impossibility and any at- 
 tempt to engage in it would have invited disaster, the 
 personal influence of the missionaries was making itself 
 felt, and the disposal by them of numerous copies of the 
 Holy Scriptures and other books in Chinese, which were 
 imported for circulation among the educated classes — 
 who studied and read Chinese as a classical language — 
 carried the light of Christian truth to places far away 
 from the treaty ports. Almost from the first there were 
 a few earnest, though timid, seekers after truth, and every 
 year their number increased. A door of usefulness was 
 also opened to the missionaries by the desire of many 
 young men to receive instruction in the English language. 
 In 1861 the Shogun's court itself sent several persons to 
 be taught. Many who have since held high offices of 
 state or other places of influence were pupils of the mis- 
 sionaries. They not only learned to read English, but 
 some of them became Christians ; while others, who did 
 not accept the religion of their instructors, received ideas 
 in regard to morals, business, education, and the science 
 of government that affected their whole tone of thought 
 and reappeared in many of the reforms that they after- 
 ward instituted.
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 8$ 
 
 4. A Call for Prayer. — In January, 1866, " a little band 
 of believers of various nationalities " residing in Yoko- 
 hama, who had been observing the Week of Prayer, issued 
 " an address to God's people throughout the world, asking 
 their prayers in a special manner for Japan." It men- 
 tioned some favorable changes in the circumstances of 
 the Missions ; that the government no longer sent spies 
 to watch the missionaries, but began to repose confidence 
 in them by employing them as school-teachers ; that in 
 the school-rooms and in the houses of the missionaries the 
 intelligent young men who came to learn English mani- 
 fested a readiness to talk about Christianity, and no longer 
 uttered the name of Jesus with bated breath ; and that 
 some of them went daily to the missionaries' houses " in 
 groups of from two or three to six or seven, to read the 
 English Bible, preferring this to the study of school- 
 books." 
 
 5. The Laws against Christianity. — Whatever change 
 of opinion may have been discernible in some quarters, 
 the law against Christianity was still unrepealed, and the 
 Emperor's government seemed bent on maintaining it in 
 its integrity. Soon after the Revolution in 1868 the laws 
 of the Shogunate, which had been posted on the notice- 
 boards in every town and village, were replaced by those 
 of the new Imperial Government. There was, however, 
 little change in the enactment concerning Christianity — 
 " The evil sect, called Christian, is strictly prohibited. 
 Suspicious persons should be reported to the proper of- 
 ficers, and rewards will be given." A few months later 
 a further decree appeared : " With respect to the Chris- 
 tian sect, the existing prohibition must be strictly ob- 
 served. Evil sects are strictly prohibited." 
 
 6. Persecutions. — That these laws were not meaning- 
 less was shown, as already described, by the treatment of 
 the Roman Catholic Christians discovered in Kyushu. 
 Other proofs of the government's hatred of Christianity 
 were given. The man employed by Rev. Mr. Ensor as 
 a teacher was arrested in 1870, and remained in prison 
 for two and a half years. The next year Rev. O. H. Gu- 
 lick's teacher was arrested, together with the latter's wife. 
 For a long time it was impossible to find where they had 
 been sent. The teacher died a few months later in prison.
 
 $6 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 In 1872 a person who assisted Mr. Gulick to rent a house 
 in Kyoto was arrested and charged with the offence of 
 trying to have the city opened to Christianity. He and 
 his family were imprisoned in his own house. 
 
 7. Removal of the Edicts against Christianity. — The 
 Embassy, headed by Iwakura, which was sent in 1871 to 
 America and Europe, saw that the attitude of the Japa- 
 nese Government toward Christianity was injuring their 
 country in the eyes of Western nations and making it im- 
 possible to gain desired concessions. It was in accord- 
 ance with the representations made by Iwakura and oth- 
 ers that the edicts were withdrawn from the notice-boards. 
 The action of the government was equivocal. It did not 
 repeal the law against Christianity ; but, just as the laws 
 respecting murder, arson, and robbery remained in force, 
 notwithstanding the removal at the same time of the par- 
 ticular prohibitions respecting them, so was it with the 
 prohibition of Christianity. Indeed, officers were told to 
 warn the people against supposing that the law was 
 changed because the notices were no longer exhibited as 
 formerly. In spite of these explanations, the people soon 
 began to regard what had been done as equivalent to a 
 repeal of the edicts, and the government, anxious to avoid 
 offending the Christian sentiment of Western nations, 
 was not averse to such a construction being put on its 
 action, and was better able to ignore breaches of the law 
 when its existence was less conspicuous. 
 
 8. Increasing Toleration. — The central government was 
 every year pursuing a more liberal and enlightened pol- 
 icy, though local officials were in many cases slow to fol- 
 low. Ostensibly acting in the interests of public order, 
 the latter had numerous opportunities of throwing ob- 
 stacles in the way of the open propagation of Christianity, 
 and of intimidating or oppressing those who favored it. 
 Eventually the views of the party of progress gained such 
 ascendancy that all open official opposition ceased and 
 toleration became general. Buildings were set apart for 
 Christian worship, not only for foreigners, but for na- 
 tives, not only at the treaty ports, but in towns and vil- 
 lages far removed from them. Little difficulty was ex- 
 perienced after 1880 in holding public meetings in the- 
 atres and other large buildings. Christian literature was 
 exposed for sale and openly circulated by colporteurs.
 
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 MODERN MISSIONS Sf 
 
 In 1884 there was a great advance in religious toleration 
 by the issue of notifications in regard to registration and 
 burial. Until that time every citizen was registered as a 
 Buddhist or Shintoist, and difficulties were sometimes 
 experienced by Christians who, in removing their resi- 
 dences, wished to get their names transferred from the 
 register in one place to that in another. A still greater 
 difficulty was sometimes experienced in burying the Chris- 
 tian dead. In some places, where public cemeteries had 
 been established, there was no such trouble, as the ceme- 
 teries were open to all, of whatever sect or creed, and 
 the employment of a Buddhist or Shinto priest was op- 
 tional. In other places it was quite different. In 1875 
 two Japanese who had taken part in a Christian funeral 
 without Buddhist or Shinto rites at Tokyo were sum- 
 moned before one of the courts, severely reprimanded, 
 and threatened with a fine. As most of the burial-grounds 
 were connected with Buddhist temples and under the con- 
 trol of the priesthood, the difficulty was increased by the 
 tenacity with which the priests very naturally clung to 
 their prescriptive rights and dues. In process of time 
 Christian burials were allowed to take place in some of 
 the Buddhist burial-grounds with the consent of the priest, 
 who received the customary fee, and, to accommodate 
 those concerned, went out for the day, leaving the Chris- 
 tians free to bury the remains of the departed with their 
 own rites. Not all were so obliging. In one place the 
 wife of a Christian died and her body remained for several 
 days unburied, the priests refusing to allow the interment 
 until the husband would promise to have nothing more 
 to do with Christianity. By the notifications just men- 
 tioned, all religious distinctions in registration and burial 
 were abolished, and provision was made for the establish- 
 ment of public cemeteries to be open to all. 
 
 9. Christian Teachers. — Mention has been made of the 
 work of the missionaries in connection with the teaching 
 of English. There were other teachers who were em- 
 ployed by the Japanese to give instruction in schools that 
 were established by the chiefs of several clans or after- 
 ward by the government. Unquestionably, the toleration 
 that so soon obtained was in some degree due to the 
 spread, by the instrumentality of some of these teachers,
 
 83 JAPAN' AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 among the governing and literary class, of correct views 
 of the high character of the Christian religion. One of 
 these gentlemen, Mr. E. W. Clark, in his book, " Life and 
 Adventures in Japan," incidentally gives some interesting 
 glimpses of the exercise of this kind of Christian influence. 
 He was engaged as a teacher of science at the city of 
 Shizuoka. When he reached Japan from America, he 
 found in the agreement he was to sign a clause forbidding 
 him to say anything about Christianity. " It was a great 
 dilemma," he says, " for I had spent all my money in 
 coming to Japan and getting ready to go into the interior." 
 Some of his friends urged him to accept the condition, 
 and his Japanese interpreter recommended him to sign 
 the agreement and then disregard it. He felt that a great 
 principle was at stake, and stood firm. He said that unless 
 the clause was struck out he must refuse to go. " It is 
 impossible," he added, " for a Christian to dwell three 
 years in the midst of a pagan people, and yet keep entire 
 silence on the subject nearest his heart." His firmness 
 triumphed and the clause was struck out. He began the 
 very first Sunday he was in Shizuoka, and conducted a 
 Bible-class the whole time he was there. 
 
 Another American teacher in the city of Kumamoto 
 commenced to teach a Bible-class in his own house. In 
 January, 1876, a number of those who had attended it 
 went to a hill near the city. There, as afterward described 
 by one of them, " They made a solemn covenant together 
 that, as they had been blessed by God in advance of all 
 their countrymen, they would labor to enlighten the dark- 
 ness of the Empire by preaching the gospel, even at the 
 sacrifice of their lives. They prayed kneeling, and wrote 
 an oath-paper, on which they signed and sealed their 
 names." A fierce persecution broke out. Students were 
 removed from the school to be imprisoned in their homes 
 or sent away to distant places. A number of them after 
 some time reached Kyoto, where they entered the school 
 that had just been established by Joseph Neesima and the 
 missionaries of the American Board. After graduation 
 they became effective preachers and teachers. Some of 
 them continue to be earnest Christian workers. Of others, 
 even of some who were apparently among the most de- 
 voted, it must with sorrow be recorded that they seem to
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 89 
 
 have wandered far from the faith that they once pro- 
 fessed. Those who knew them in their earlier days can- 
 not but pray that they who once led others to the Saviour 
 may even yet return to Him whom they in so solemn a 
 way promised to serve. 
 
 President Clark of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 
 lege was invited to come to Japan to aid in the establish- 
 ment of a similar school at Sapporo, in the island of Yezo. 
 He was at first prohibited by the Governor from speaking 
 to the students about Christianity or giving Bibles to 
 them ; but the prohibition was removed when President 
 Clark said that he did not know how to teach ethics satis- 
 factorily without the use of the Scriptures. Many of the 
 young men became Christians through his influence. 
 
 10. The First Converts. — The first Japanese to receive 
 baptism in his own country from a Protestant missionary 
 was Yano Riyu, who had been a teacher of the language 
 to one of the missionaries since i860. He was baptized 
 at his own house in Yokohama in the presence of his fam- 
 ily and with their full consent in October, 1864, and short- 
 ly afterward died. 
 
 The three who were next baptized had in a strange way 
 been led to a knowledge of Christianity. One of them, 
 named Wakasa, was an official of high rank, who was sent 
 with a force of men to patrol the port of Nagasaki while 
 English and French men-of-war were anchored there, a 
 few months after Perry had negotiated the American 
 treaty. One day he noticed a book floating upon the water 
 near the shore and ordered one of the men to get it. None 
 of the party could tell what the book was. The curiosity 
 of the nobleman was so excited that when the foreign 
 ships had departed and he had returned home he sent one 
 of his retainers to Nagasaki to find out about the book. 
 He thus learned that it was a Dutch Bible. Learning 
 that a Chinese version of the same book had been pub- 
 lished in Shanghai, he secretly sent a man thither to pur- 
 chase a copy. Wakasa, with his younger brother and 
 some friends, commenced an earnest study of the volume. 
 In 1862 the brother went to Nagasaki, hoping to get from 
 the foreigners some aid in understanding the Bible, and 
 he there made the acquaintance of Rev. G. F. Verbeck 
 of the Reformed Mission. Afterward Wakasa sent an-
 
 90 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 other relative to Nagasaki to study English and the Bible. 
 This man carried questions and answers back and forth 
 between the two places, and in this way the strange Bible 
 class was carried on for three years. In 1866 the two 
 brothers, with the other relative, went to Nagasaki and 
 were baptized. On returning home they reported to their 
 feudal lord what they had done. He was inclined to per- 
 mit them to do as they pleased, but his superiors, hearing 
 of what had happened, ordered that they be punished. 
 Little was done, however, except to burn some of the 
 books. Wakasa died in 1874. The zeal that he had 
 shown for the conversion of his children and friends was 
 proved by fruits gathered in later years. 
 
 Other isolated converts were gained from time to time, 
 but up to the spring of 1872, a period of nearly thirteen 
 years after the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries, 
 only ten Japanese had received baptism at their hands. 
 
 11. The First Church. — The first Japanese church was 
 organized at Yokohama on March 10, 1872, nearly a year 
 before the withdrawal of the edicts against Christianity. 
 Its first membership embraced nine young men who then 
 received baptism and two who had been previously bap- 
 tized. It was called " The Church of Christ in Japan." 
 The first article of its simple constitution read : " Our 
 church does not belong to any sect whatever; it believes 
 only in the name of Christ, in whom all are one ; it be- 
 lieves that all who take the Bible as their guide and who 
 diligently study it are the servants of Christ and our 
 brethren. For this reason all believers on earth belong 
 to the family of Christ in the bonds of brotherly love." 
 
 12. Results to the End of 1872. — The years from 1859 
 to 1872 formed what has been called the " Period of Prep- 
 aration." Though mention has been made of a few events 
 that happened at a later date, it will be well to look back 
 and see what had been accomplished during this time. 
 In addition to the four missionary societies already men- 
 tioned, the Church Missionary Society of England and 
 the American Board had commenced work in 1869, while, 
 in 1 87 1, the Women's Union Missionary Society of Amer- 
 ica entered Yokohama, where it founded, during the next 
 year, a school for girls which is known as the " American 
 Mission Home." The missionaries had during these years
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 9I 
 
 made considerable progress in the language, and also pre- 
 pared books, among which should be specially mentioned 
 Dr. Hepburn's Dictionary, to facilitate the study of others. 
 They had sold many thousand Chinese Bibles and other 
 Christian books, had made a beginning in the translation 
 of the Bible into Japanese, and issued a few tracts. They 
 had engaged in medical and educational work, and had 
 gained the respect and confidence of the people about them. 
 Above all, they had been the instruments of bringing a 
 few persons to an acceptance of Christ, and had seen the 
 formation of the first church. 
 
 13. The Period of Popularity. — The year 1873 marked 
 the commencement of a new epoch. As has already been 
 said, the edicts against Christianity were taken down at 
 this time. However the government explained their re- 
 moval, the people considered that they no longer needed 
 to regard Christianity as a prohibited religion. About 
 the same time there came from Mr. Mori Arinori, the 
 ambassador in Washington, a draft for a proposed " Re- 
 ligious Charter," granting full religious liberty, and also 
 a pamphlet in which, while telling what he had seen of 
 Protestant Christianity, he said : " The growing influ- 
 ence of the Bible is remarkable and makes itself felt every- 
 where. The Bible contains an overpowering force of lib- 
 erty and justice, guided by the united strength of wisdom 
 and goodness." Other influences tended to make the offi- 
 cial and educated classes regard religion with more favor. 
 
 There began to spring up a strong desire to adopt West- 
 ern customs and ideas. Protestant Christianity, being 
 the religion of England and America, was at least worthy 
 of attention. It soon became easy to gather audiences to 
 listen to preaching. The missionaries had numerous call- 
 ers, who came to inquire about machinery, electricity, Eu- 
 ropean customs, Christianity, and other things that in the 
 minds of the people were closely associated. In a few 
 years Christian schools for young men and young women 
 became crowded. The movement continued to gain 
 strength until, in 1884, some statesmen and public leaders 
 began to urge that Christianity be adopted as the national 
 religion, one of them proposing that the Emperor at once 
 receive baptism. There were large additions to the 
 churches, and many were admitted whose mouths tittered
 
 92 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 devout confessions while their hearts were little affected 
 by the truth. In looking back upon those days it is easy 
 to see that with many persons the Christian religion was 
 regarded chiefly as a means of advancing civilization and 
 bringing good to the nation. Japanese preachers and for- 
 eign missionaries had much to say of the fruits of Chris- 
 tianity as shown in the history and present condition of 
 Western lands. An appeal to patriotism was that which 
 found the most ready response, and there was a temptation 
 to use it too constantly. Statesmen and politicians who 
 favored constitutional government and popular lights in- 
 vited preachers to hold meetings in the cities wiiere they 
 lived, believing that the spread of Christianity would tend 
 to advance their ends. 
 
 14. Opposition of the Buddhists. — It must not be sup- 
 posed that all this could go on without exciting opposition. 
 In some places the churches or the houses of the Chris- 
 tians were stoned, while preachers were occasionally as- 
 saulted. Buddhist priests held meetings in which they 
 denounced Christianity and declared that those who ac- 
 cepted it were traitors who wished to deliver their country 
 into the hands of foreigners. They formed societies whose 
 members promised that they would have nothing to do 
 with Christianity. Some went so far as to oppose every- 
 thing foreign. One priest travelled about the country 
 urging the people not to use kerosene oil, since it came 
 from a foreign land, and they ought to be satisfied with 
 the light that their fathers had used. Several tracts 
 against Christianity were issued by the Buddhists, and 
 in some cases foreigners were employed to compose them. 
 Colonel Olcott, the American theosophist, who visited 
 Japan in 1888, was hailed as a valuable ally and employed 
 to give lectures in different parts of the country. This 
 last experiment did not prove very satisfactory, so the 
 remaining engagements for lectures were cancelled and 
 he went on his way. The Buddhists also entered the polit- 
 ical arena. When several Christians were nominated for 
 the first Imperial Parliament, the priests put forth stren- 
 uous efforts against them. It was a bitter disappointment 
 to them that a Christian was elected in Kyoto, their strong- 
 hold, where they had been most active in their opposition. 
 
 A more commendable way of upholding Buddhism was
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 93 
 
 by the imitation of Christian institutions. Where Chris- 
 tians established schools for young men, the Buddhists 
 built others under their own control ; when the Christians 
 had succeeded in arousing an interest in the education of 
 girls, the Buddhists, unmindful of the low estimate they 
 had always put on women, opened schools for girls, and 
 in the same way they speedily imitated Young Men's 
 Christian Associations, women's prayer-meetings, orphan- 
 ages, temperance societies, summer schools, and other in- 
 stitutions inaugurated by the Christians. It has some- 
 times seemed as though one of the most marked results 
 of missionary effort in Japan has been, as remarked by 
 the Japan Mail, to give a new impetus to religious life 
 in general, even to Buddhism, whose adherents could be 
 heard saying, " If we do not arouse ourselves, we cannot 
 hope to hold our own over against this energetic, indefat- 
 igable propaganda." 
 
 15. The Reaction. — The great movement in favor of 
 Christianity reached its height about the year 1888. Soon 
 thereafter came a reaction. Its immediate occasion is to 
 be found in several circumstances that tended to arouse 
 a strong nationalistic spirit. Great irritation was caused 
 in connection with attempts to revise the treaties. Certain 
 untoward events connected with the introduction of West- 
 ern customs increased the feeling. Conservatives were 
 not slow to improve the opportunity, and they succeeded 
 in stirring up a strong anti-foreign sentiment. " Preserve 
 the national spirit " became a powerful watch-cry. Chris- 
 tianity, still regarded as a Western religion, now shared 
 the disadvantages as it had before reaped the benefits of 
 such a view. Pupils left the Christian schools, people no 
 longer crowded the preaching-places, there were few ad- 
 ditions to the churches, and it was necessary to strike 
 from the rolls the names of many who no longer lived 
 Christian lives nor retained a Christian belief. The na- 
 tionalistic sentiment affected even Christian ministers 
 and prominent laymen ; so that many, who perhaps de- 
 nied that they were moved by an anti-foreign spirit, took 
 pleasure in criticising the missionaries, declared that 
 Christianity must take on a Japanese form, and in other 
 ways asserted what they called " independence." 
 
 16. Doctrinal Discussions. — Another disturbing influ-
 
 94 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 ence came from the shaking of doctriral beliefs. The 
 leading Japanese pastors and evangelists could read Eng- 
 lish with more or less ease. They thus knew of the theo- 
 logical unrest of the present day and were affected by it. 
 Unitarian missionaries from America, especially, pro- 
 claimed their views in tracts and magazines that they 
 sent to the preachers and prominent laymen. It is not 
 strange that the faith of some was shaken. To many 
 Japanese it is a recommendation for any theory that it 
 is new. The desire of some to show their independence 
 of former teachers made them more ready to accept 
 strange doctrines. 
 
 Young men who had been to America for theological 
 education were asked on their return to tell what they 
 had learned. To tell of views like those commonly held 
 by the churches would be akin to confessing that nothing 
 had been gained during the months or years of absence, 
 and so they told of some new theories they had heard. 
 As questions were asked and the matter discussed, the 
 returned student would find himself defending the novel 
 view, whether he had previously adopted it or not, and 
 thus ere long he would be known as its advocate, would 
 deliver lectures upon it at summer schools, and would 
 preach upon it whenever called to supply a pulpit. 
 Views that might have done little harm in communities 
 that had long been instructed in Christian doctrines as- 
 sumed an exaggerated importance and led men to give 
 up apparently all their early faith. 
 
 17. The Commercial Spirit. — Another weakening influ- 
 ence of recent years has come from the growth of the 
 commercial spirit. The wonderful increase of trade and 
 manufactures has had its influence upon all classes. A 
 desire to make money has drawn some away from higher 
 things. The claims of business have led some members 
 of the church to absent themselves from meetings, made 
 them careless about keeping the Sabbath, and sometimes 
 brought them to acts inconsistent with Christian standards 
 of morality. 
 
 18. Interference with Religious Liberty. — An article 
 in the new Constitution of Japan declares that " Japanese 
 subjects shall, within limits not prejudicial to peace and 
 order, and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects,
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 95 
 
 enjoy freedom of religious belief." This article has great- 
 ly strengthened the position of the Christians. Its spirit, 
 however, has not always been observed, even by those 
 connected with the government. The commanders of 
 some of the garrisons let it be known a few years ago 
 that soldiers, when off duty, must not attend Christian 
 services and must not read Christian books. Some sol- 
 diers and inferior officers, who were members of churches, 
 felt that they could not attend meetings without being 
 made in some roundabout way to suffer for it. The war 
 with China put an end to this persecution, at least for a 
 time, and also opened a new field for Christian work. 
 Permission was obtained by the agent of the Bible So- 
 cieties to distribute the Scriptures in the army and navy. 
 About 125,000 volumes were thus circulated. Christian 
 workers were allowed to visit the hospitals, and six pas- 
 tors were permitted to go to the front, carrying many 
 comforts to the soldiers and doing religious work among 
 them. 
 
 Much opposition to Christianity has been felt in con- 
 nection with the schools. A few years since what had 
 before been flourishing Sabbath-schools lost most of their 
 pupils. Inquiry showed that the children had been ad- 
 vised by their teachers in the public schools to stay away. 
 The fact that such advice was given in many parts of 
 the country at about the same time seems to show that 
 it was given in obedience to directions from high officials. 
 Persons have been refused positions as teachers simply 
 on the ground of their being Christians, and Christian 
 pupils have also been made to suffer in various ways. In 
 a few cases the injustice was so plainly a violation of the 
 Constitution that agitation in the newspapers and by 
 direct appeal secured justice ; but in other cases nothing 
 could be done. 
 
 In one other noteworthy particular the Department of 
 Education seems to be acting contrary to the spirit of the 
 Constitution. Pupils of the higher schools established 
 by the government are exempt from military service, aftd 
 the privilege has been extended to a few private schools. 
 When the trustees of a Christian academy asked the same 
 favor they were told that it could not be granted unless 
 the school ceased to be professedly Christian. This tteci-
 
 96 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 sion is not against Christianity as such, for Buddhist 
 schools meet the same refusal, it being said that educa- 
 tion must be divorced from religion. If the Constitution 
 would prohibit a different treatment of an individual be- 
 cause he is religious rather than agnostic, it would seem 
 as though it ought to prevent any discrimination against 
 an institution because of its religion. 
 
 19. The Rescript on Education. — An Imperial Edict 
 on Education, which was issued in 1890, has been utilized 
 by many enemies of Christianity for making an attack 
 upon it. It is claimed that Christian ethics are not in 
 harmony with those of this document, and some say that 
 those who acknowledge any other standard of morality 
 as having equal authority with the Edict are disloyal. 
 In the schools, once a year or oftener, it is read with 
 much ceremony, while the pupils, with their heads rever- 
 ently bowed, listen to its words. Since it is regarded with 
 so much honor, and references to it are frequently made 
 in the correspondence of missionaries, it will be well to 
 insert the authorized translation of the document. 
 
 Our Ancestors founded the State on a vast basis, while their 
 virtues were deeply implanted ; and our subjects, by their una- 
 nimity in their great loyalty and filial affection, have in all ages 
 shown them in perfection. Such is the essential beauty of Our 
 national polity, and such too is the true spring of Our educational 
 system. You, Our beloved subjects, be filial to your parents, 
 affectionate to your brothers, be loving husbands and wives, and 
 truthful to your friends. Conduct yourselves with modesty, and 
 be benevolent to all. Develop your intellectual faculties and per- 
 fect your moral powers by gaining knowledge and by acquiring a 
 profession. Further, promote the public interests and advance 
 the public affairs ; ever respect the national constitution and 
 obey the laws of the country ; and in case of emergency, cour- 
 ageously sacrifice yourselves to the public good. Thus offer 
 every support to Our Imperial dynasty which shall be as lasting 
 as the universe. You will then not only be Our most loyal sub- 
 jects, but will be enabled to exhibit the noble character of your 
 ancestors. 
 
 Such are the testaments left us by Our Ancestors, which must 
 be observed alike by their descendants and subjects. These 
 precepts are perfect throughout all ages and of universal appli- 
 cation. It is Our desire to bear them in Our heart in common 
 with you, Our subjects, to the end that we may constantly pos- 
 sess these virtues.
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 97 
 
 20. Charges against the Loyalty of Christians. — 
 Though the bravery and devotion shown by many Chris- 
 tian soldiers during the war with China would seem suf- 
 ficient to rebut the charge that Christians cannot be loyal, 
 this is still a favorite accusation to make against them. 
 In 1897 a new movement, which seems to be in the inter- 
 ests of a revived and modified Shintoism, was inaugu- 
 rated. Its promoters, among whom were numbered pro- 
 fessors in the Imperial University and other influential 
 men, issued a challenge to all Japanese Christians asking 
 them to return plain, unequivocal answers to certain ques- 
 tions. The first three were : " ( 1 ) Can the worship of 
 His Sacred Majesty, the Emperor, which every loyal 
 Japanese performs, be reconciled with the worship of 
 God and Christ by Christians? (2) Can the existence 
 of authorities that are quite independent of the Japanese 
 state, such as that of God, Christ, the Bible, the Pope, the 
 Head of the Greek Church (Czar), be regarded as harm- 
 less? (3) Can the Japanese who is the faithful servant 
 of Christ be regarded at the same time as the faithful ser- 
 vant of the Emperor and a true friend of His Majesty's 
 faithful subjects? Or, to put it in another way, Is our 
 Emperor to follow in the wake of Western emperors and 
 to pray, ' Son of God, have mercy on me ' ? " 
 
 21. Progress during the Time of Reaction. — Though 
 various influences, such as have been mentioned, hin- 
 dered the growth of the Church, it must not be thought 
 that no progress was made. The sifting process that took 
 from the churches many who were not true believers has 
 had its advantages. What shook the faith of some made 
 that of others stronger and more intelligent. The gross 
 immoralities into which some fell who were once preach- 
 ers, but had wandered far from the faith, showed to others 
 how necessary it is to cling close to the divine Saviour. 
 The necessity of more care in admitting persons to church- 
 membership has been made plain. Though it has been 
 less easy than it once was to get people to attend preaching 
 services, Christian ideas have more and more found their 
 way into the minds of the people. In the secular period- 
 icals there is a frequent use of Christian phrases, or even 
 of verses from the Bible, showing that new thoughts are 
 influencing the minds of men. Knowledge of Western 
 
 7
 
 98 JAP AM AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 lands and Western literature is familiarizing educated 
 people with new ways of regarding the universe and 
 mankind. Probably many who would not care to ac- 
 knowledge it have almost unconsciously come to a belief 
 in one God Who rules the world, and toward Whom they 
 have duties. When, with clearer eyes, we can look 
 back over the completed history of the evangelization of 
 Japan, we may find that the years which seemed so full 
 of difficulties and discouragements were really as fruitful 
 as those when men seemed eager to hear the Gospel 
 preached and when large numbers were seeking admission 
 to the churches.
 
 X 
 Methods of Work 
 
 The missionary, while home on furlough, is frequently 
 questioned about the way in which he conducts his work, 
 and a chapter upon this subject may help to present in 
 a clearer light many things connected with missionary 
 effort in Japan. Let us then picture to ourselves a young 
 missionary who has just landed in the country, and con- 
 sider how he will do his part in building up God's king- 
 dom there. At times we shall pause to consider how those 
 who preceded him did their work. 
 
 I. Study of the Language. — i. Its Necessity. — As 
 the newly arrived missionary sees the throngs passing 
 along the streets, he longs to tell them the Story of the 
 Cross. Yet, if he speaks to them, they understand noth- 
 ing of what he says. They are evidently talking with 
 each other, but he does not know even the subject of their 
 conversation. It is as though a great gulf separated 
 them from him. Evidently the first work to be attempted 
 by him is the bridging of the gulf — in other words, he 
 must study their language. Some, indeed, have worked 
 through interpreters, but such a method is unsatisfactory. 
 As a rule, it is only some famous man, delivering but one 
 or two addresses in a city, who can draw many hearers 
 besides those who come as students of English, desiring 
 to train their ears to catch the meaning of what is uttered 
 in a foreign tongue. Moreover, good interpreters are not 
 easily found, and the speaker would often be troubled if 
 he knew how those whom he employs transform his 
 thought, either because they do not understand his mean- 
 ing or think that they can improve upon his treatment 
 of the subject. The person who expects to engage in per- 
 manent work will probably find it better not to depend, 
 even temporarily, on such aid. By doing so he lessens the 
 
 99
 
 100 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 incentive to study, and those who commence by depending 
 upon another often find it harder to trust to their own 
 efforts. 
 
 2. Methods of Study. — In the study of the language 
 each missionary usually employs his own so-called " teach- 
 er," but the chances are that the latter knows little about 
 how to impart instruction, and the learner must invent his 
 own ways of getting desired information from him. Un- 
 fortunately, Japanese ideas of propriety prevent the aver- 
 age teacher from correcting mistakes ; very likely he will 
 adopt the erroneous expressions of his pupil in order to 
 make himself more easily understood by the latter. Some 
 missions, having found men unusually well fitted for the 
 work, permanently employ them to teach the language to 
 newcomers. There is some difference of opinion as to 
 whether it is better at the very commencement to have 
 a teacher who understands English, or to take one wholly 
 ignorant of that language. This is perhaps ceasing to be 
 a practical question, since well-educated men who have 
 not some knowledge of English are becoming rare. The 
 learner needs to take heed lest " following the line of 
 least resistance " prevents him from using Japanese in 
 conversation with his teacher. 
 
 Some students believe that they will gain a more idio- 
 matic use of the language if all dictionaries and other 
 books are discarded and the time spent in study be given 
 wholly to conversation with any people whom they can 
 find to talk with them. If, however, such persons are 
 asked to write out sentences, their methods of spelling 
 will show that their ears have failed to catch the correct 
 sounds of the words, and he who gains his knowledge of 
 a language by conversation with all classes and conditions 
 of men is likely to acquire an uncouth and inelegant dic- 
 tion. 
 
 There is such a thing as confining one's self too closely 
 to books, and also such a thing as neglecting them too 
 much. The ideal way would seem to be to lay the foun- 
 dations by study with a teacher who uses good language, 
 and by careful employment of grammar and dictionary. 
 After that, and in connection with it, the student may well 
 exercise tongue and ear by conversation with other people ; 
 only let him resolve not to adopt any new word into his
 
 METHODS OF WORK ICI 
 
 vocabulary until he has seen what the dictionary can tell 
 him about it. Some missions have prescribed courses 
 of study, with yearly examinations, for new missionaries. 
 One has a rule that during the first two years the new 
 missionary shall not engage in English teaching or similar 
 work for more than two hours a day, thus leaving most 
 of the time for the study of the language. It is gen- 
 erally felt that for the first three years no work should 
 be assumed which involves responsibility. 
 
 3. Not Lost Time. — The years spent upon the language 
 are by no means lost in other respects. The student is 
 learning about Japanese character and customs. If able 
 to speak as soon as he landed, he would doubtless make 
 very great blunders in his method of presenting the truth, 
 and his time of enforced silence, with its opportunities 
 for observation, ought to save him from many of those 
 to which he would be liable. A small amount of English 
 teaching, whether in a school or to private pupils, will 
 prevent the feeling of utter uselessness and give him 
 opportunities for a helpful acquaintance with young 
 people. With his teacher to aid him, he may, after a few 
 months, teach a Bible class ; and still later, a sermon, 
 corrected by the teacher and committed to memory, will 
 introduce him to the pulpit. If he is so fortunate as to 
 be sent to an interior town, where foreigners are a novelty, 
 he will find that, even before he knows much of the lan- 
 guage, his home will prove an important aid to missionary 
 work. Its furnishing makes the house so different from 
 those of the Japanese that numbers of people come to see 
 how the foreigner lives. Their request for admission 
 should be granted, even though important study is inter- 
 rupted. Acquaintance may thus be made with persons 
 who will be more likely to accept an invitation to some 
 meeting because of the friendly reception. Even with 
 imperfect language something can be said of Jesus Christ. 
 At the least, some tract telling the most important truths 
 of Christianity can be given to each visitor as he goes 
 away. 
 
 II. Direct Evangelistic Effort — A fair amount of 
 progress having been made in the language, the mission- 
 ary finds various forms of labor opening before him. He 
 js likely to take part in several of them. The first is the
 
 102 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 direct teaching of the Gospel, whether by preaching, con- 
 versation with individuals, or by conducting Bible classes. 
 
 1. Sunday-schools. — The missionary who commences 
 work in a new place may find that it is well to begin with 
 a Sunday-school. Since there are no sessions of the pub- 
 lic schools on Sunday, the children are at liberty. It is 
 usually easy to attract them by music, large Bible pictures, 
 the telling of stories, and other similar methods. Having 
 brought them together for the first few sessions, the skill 
 of the workers will decide whether they can be held to 
 regular attendance. Sometimes these schools are held in 
 the missionary's house ; oftener a building is hired, which 
 can also be used for preaching services and other meet- 
 ings. If there is a sufficient number of persons avail- 
 able for teachers, the children are after awhile divided 
 into classes, and a regular Sunday-school is organized. 
 Not only is there reason to hope that the thoughts put into 
 young minds will influence the whole future of these chil- 
 dren, but they will report to their parents some of the 
 things they have heard, or the papers that they are given 
 to carry home will interest others of the family in Chris- 
 tian truth. 
 
 2. Preaching. — If one walks in the evening through the 
 streets of a Japanese town, he is likely to see hanging in 
 front of one of the buildings a paper lantern, perhaps 
 three feet high, inscribed, " Teaching about the True 
 God. Please come in." A wooden sign beside the door 
 shows that this is a Christian preaching-place. Very like- 
 ly the building is directly upon the street, and the whole 
 front of it is open, so that persons who do not care to 
 enter can stand outside and hear what is being said. Here 
 the missionary and his associates preach to any who may 
 have been attracted by the words on the lantern, by spe- 
 cial invitations sent to people of the neighborhood, or by 
 the notes of the baby organ and the Christian hymn. At 
 first large numbers are likely to come ; but the missionary 
 should not be deceived by the presence of so many people 
 or by the eagerness with which they crowd about him 
 to get the tracts which he distributes at the close of the 
 service. They have come from curiosity, and not because 
 their souls hunger for a knowledge of truth. After a few 
 weeks, unless the preaching-place is on some busy street
 
 METHODS OF WORK IO3 
 
 where people are continually passing, the curiosity is 
 satiated and the numbers in attendance become discour- 
 agingly small. If, however, a few of these can be brought 
 to a real acceptance of Christ, a foundation has been laid 
 for permanent work. These new believers will try to 
 influence others, and so the little flock begins to increase 
 until it becomes large enough to be organized into a 
 church. 
 
 If the missionary who is able to preach is located in 
 a station where there are already churches, he will be 
 invited, from time to time, to occupy their pulpits. Some- 
 times he may be asked to join his Japanese brethren in 
 holding what are called " great - preaching - meetings." 
 These may occupy but a single evening, or they may con- 
 tinue through the afternoon and evening of one or more 
 days. They are held in a church or in some large build- 
 ing hired for the purpose. A few years ago such meet- 
 ings were often held in theatres — large, barn-like struct- 
 ures, with room for several hundred people — but the 
 disturbances that are likely to occur in such places have 
 made their use less common in recent years. 
 
 3. Itinerating. — Some missionaries spend considerable 
 time in travel. A part of this may be spent in going to 
 new places, where the Gospel has never before been 
 preached. Probably such a visit will be in response to 
 an invitation from one or more persons living in the place 
 where he goes. It is easy to see how much better it is 
 to go where there are people desiring to see him than it 
 is to push in where no one has any interest in him or his 
 message. The invitation may come from a Christian 
 who has removed his residence, or from some person 
 who has bought a book from a travelling colporteur, or in 
 other ways has gained a little knowledge of the truth, 
 so that he desires instruction for himself and his friends. 
 In going to such a place the missionarv will prefer to 
 be accompanied by one or more of his Japanese fellow- 
 workers. They can judge better than he of the real con- 
 ditions of the place and its people, and there are parts 
 of the work that can always be better done by the native 
 than by the foreigner. 
 
 If the people who sent the invitation know the probable, 
 hour of the missionary's coming, they will meet him two
 
 104 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 or three miles outside of the city and accompany him 
 as he continues on his way. There often comes a strange, 
 perhaps a cowardly feeling, as one draws near the city. 
 Here is this place with its thousands of inhabitants who 
 as yet know nothing of Christianity. They are to get 
 their first ideas of it now. Some mistake in the way the 
 missionary presents the truth, some awkward blunder in 
 the language, some unintentional violation of Japanese 
 ideas of propriety, may prejudice people against the Chris- 
 tian religion and make it more difficult for other workers 
 to go there than though he had never visited the place ; or 
 it may be that the right words spoken in the right manner 
 will prove as seed sown in good ground that shall spring 
 up and bear fruit to God's glory. Who is sufficient for 
 these things? How can one take such a responsibility? 
 It is now too late to retreat ; the only thing is to go for- 
 ward, with the prayer that God will guide in every word 
 and act, so that what is said and done shall be to His glory. 
 Probably arrangements will have been made for having 
 meetings in a theatre or other large building. Curiosity 
 to see the foreigner and to hear something new brings 
 together a crowded audience. In the winter the meeting 
 will not commence until eight o'clock in the evening; in 
 summer, especially in agricultural communities, it is diffi- 
 cult to get people together until nine o'clock or later. They 
 are patient listeners, and the addresses are so long that 
 it is likely to be midnight before the missionary returns 
 to his hotel, weary from the journey and the speaking. 
 He would be disappointed, however, if he could at once 
 retire to rest ; for he hopes that some people at the meet- 
 ing were so interested in what they heard that they will 
 come for conversation. He has hardly seated himself 
 upon the mats when a few persons enter, and now the 
 missionary has what may well be called an " inquiry meet- 
 ing." Outwardly it does not bear much resemblance to 
 such meetings in America. As soon as the long saluta- 
 tions are over, and cups of tea have been offered to the 
 visitors, each inquirer will probably draw out pipe or 
 cigarette, and the air becomes thick with smoke. What- 
 ever the missionary may think of tobacco, he must learn 
 to be indifferent to its fumes while he listens to the ques- 
 tions that are proposed, and strives to give satisfactory 
 answers.
 
 METHODS OF WORK IO5 
 
 At last the people depart, the hotel waitresses spread 
 upon the matted floor the quilts that serve for a bed, and 
 the missionary tries to snatch a few hours' sleep before 
 daybreak causes the hotel to be filled with noise and con- 
 fusion. Fortunate is he, however, if his first nap is not 
 interrupted by the policeman who wishes to see his pass- 
 port, or by some other person who finds an excuse for 
 wakening him. There is no privacy in a Japanese hotel, 
 and people come into the traveller's room at any hour 
 of day or night. During the two or three days that the 
 missionary remains in the town his time is occupied with 
 meetings, conversation with those who come to his room, 
 and with calls upon persons who perhaps can be interested 
 in Christianity. All of this is fatiguing, but, if it results 
 in the establishment of permanent work, the missionary 
 feels well repaid. 
 
 Another form of itinerating work, which may be com- 
 bined in the same tour with the other, consists in visiting 
 the out-stations where native evangelists reside or where 
 a little company of believers meet together for the study 
 of the Scriptures. If there is no ordained pastor in the 
 place, this will be the time for holding a communion ser- 
 vice and administering the rite of baptism. There will 
 also be consultations with evangelists and others, meet- 
 ings for the Christians, calls upon the sick or those who 
 are wandering from the faith, and evangelistic services 
 for non-believers. 
 
 4. Work with Individuals. — The missionary is likely 
 to have many people come to his house to inquire about 
 Christianity. Not all of them are honest seekers after 
 truth. Thinking that their requests are more likely to 
 be successful if prefaced by inquiries about religion, they 
 listen patiently while the missionary explains his doc- 
 trines, and at the close they ask for financial help, instruc- 
 tion in English, or some other favor. It is not so with all, 
 however, for some are really desirous to learn the truth, 
 and it is a great joy to see their faces light up as some 
 passage from the Bible or some word of explanation 
 makes plain what before had not been understood. Other 
 people must be sought out in their own homes, and some 
 missionaries have the happy faculty of being able to arouse 
 the interest of persons whom they meet in railroad cars, 
 steamboats, or in their walks through the country.
 
 106 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 5. The Work of Missionary Women. — Though the 
 women who are engaged in missionary work seldom make 
 public addresses, they are busy in other forms of activity, 
 accomplishing as much as the men, and often very much 
 more. In their own homes, in those of the people, in 
 Bible classes, and during the tours that some of them 
 make into the country, they find abundant opportunities 
 for usefulness. It may be partly because of greater pa- 
 tience and tact, and partly because there is not the fear 
 that they will try to exercise authority in the church, that 
 their advice is often sought and valued by the Japanese 
 evangelists more than is that of the men. While the un- 
 married women can give more time than the married ones 
 to evangelistic work, many of the latter have accomplished 
 much, and those who have been kept in their own homes 
 have made these an example to those who, seeing them, 
 have been moved by a desire to have their own family 
 life raised to a higher plane. 
 
 III. Educational Work — Educational work has from 
 the first held an important place in Japan. Mention has 
 already been made of the opportunities to teach English 
 that were utilized by the early missionaries. The con- 
 tinuance of a desire for such instruction favored the 
 opening of schools. Though at first there was, even 
 among progressive men, little interest in the education 
 of their daughters, it was felt that by bringing the girls 
 into schools where they would be under the care of Chris- 
 tian women they might be made powerful agents for the 
 intellectual, social, and spiritual elevation of the country. 
 Most missions founded schools for young men and young 
 women, and it cannot be doubted that they have done a 
 most useful work. There is, however, considerable dif- 
 ference of opinion as to whether education has received 
 too large a share of attention in the past, and as to how 
 much should be given it in the future. 
 
 1. Theological Training. — There is a general agree- 
 ment that provision must be made for the training of 
 pastors and other Christian workers. To some extent 
 this need may be met if each missionary gives to his 
 immediate helpers such instruction as is required for their 
 own edification and for immediate impartation to others. 
 Some persons have received valuable training by becom-
 
 METHODS OF WORK 107 
 
 ing assistants to experienced pastors, under whose direc- 
 tion they worked. It is necessary, however, that others 
 should have the more thorough instruction that can be 
 given in a theological seminary. Some missionaries con- 
 tend that the teaching should be in the vernacular, and 
 that, except in special cases, it is not wise for the student 
 to give the time and strength that is required for the ac- 
 quirement of English. On the other hand, though some 
 theological schools have courses exclusively in the ver- 
 nacular, it is usually found that the students are not satis- 
 fied unless they can have instruction in English ; for that 
 language is so much studied at the present time that one 
 who knows nothing about it is regarded as an uneducated 
 person, and hence his influence in the place where he la- 
 bors is much diminished. 
 
 Some missions have established schools that are carried 
 on a few months of each year for the training of Bible- 
 women. These workers have proved so efficient that it 
 has seemed wise to give them opportunities for systematic 
 study of the Bible and for such instruction in other sub- 
 jects as will increase their usefulness. 
 
 2. Schools of Academic Grade. — The problems con- 
 nected with schools of an academic grade are too compli- 
 cated to be discussed here. Those who are most pro- 
 nounced in their favor would acknowledge that, so far as 
 schools for young men are concerned, the government 
 has provided those that are fairly satisfactory from an 
 intellectual standpoint. The questions are rather whether, 
 in view of the materialistic, irreligious, and sometimes 
 immoral atmosphere that prevails in those schools, there 
 is need for others that shall be under Christian influences ; 
 whether the large expenditure of mission funds that is 
 needed to support schools that will compare favorably 
 with those of the government is justified ; and whether 
 the tendency to emphasize intellectual work can be so held 
 in check that the directly religious efforts of the mission 
 shall not be subordinated to it. In the boys' schools of 
 academic grade there is now little call for instruction by 
 foreign teachers, except in English conversation, compo- 
 sition, and literature. Japanese text-books have been 
 prepared in all the sciences, and native instructors can 
 usually be found who are fitted to conduct the classes.
 
 108 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 3. Schools for Girls. — There is less discussion about 
 boarding-schools for girls. This is partly because the 
 government has done but little for the higher education 
 of women, and partly because the way in which mission 
 schools are conducted gives the foreign teachers great op- 
 portunities to influence the pupils and help them to Chris- 
 tian belief and life. In addition to the schools established 
 by missions, there are some that have been founded by 
 companies of native Christians who seek the help of mis- 
 sionary women in the instruction. 
 
 4. Kindergartens. — In many places the kindergarten 
 has been found a very valuable instrument for Christian 
 work, not merely because of the opportunities it affords 
 for moulding the lives of children at the time when they 
 are most susceptible to good influences, but also because 
 through the children the parents may also be reached. 
 There are public kindergartens in the large cities, but 
 the absence from them of the religious element prevents 
 them from carrying out the principles that, in Frobel's 
 view, lie at the foundation of the system. In connection 
 with one or two of the missions there are training-schools 
 for teachers. The graduates are in great request by the 
 government kindergartens, but their best work is done 
 where they can be free to use Christian songs, stories, and 
 instruction for the help of their pupils. Kindergartners 
 are always enthusiastic, and he who sees them surrounded 
 by the bright-faced children cannot wonder that they con- 
 sider their work so important and effective. 
 
 5. Private Classes. — The missionary is likely to have 
 numerous requests to teach English to individuals or to 
 evening classes. Sometimes a number of school-teachers, 
 policemen, bank-clerks, or others will desire to form such 
 classes. If all requests were granted, the time of the 
 missionary would be fully occupied, and he must decide 
 whether the advantages that come from gaining an influ- 
 ence over the pupils and from opportunities that may be 
 wisely improved for giving a religious turn to some of 
 the exercises of the class will justify his undertaking such 
 work. Some persons have made it very effective ; and the 
 young missionary, who has not yet learned the language, 
 often finds reason to rejoice that this opportunity for use- 
 fulness is open to him from the first,
 
 METHODS OF WORK IO9 
 
 IV. Literary Work. — 1. Translation of the Scriptures. 
 — Nearly the first thing to which Protestant missionaries 
 devote their attention is the translation of the Scriptures. 
 Though in Japan this has already been accomplished, so 
 that young missionaries cannot look forward to work of 
 this kind, except as revision may sometime engage the 
 efforts of a few, it will be well to make mention of what 
 was done in the past. Before the country had been opened 
 Drs. Giitzlaff, Williams, and Bettelheim had prepared 
 translations of some parts of the Bible ; but these were 
 so imperfect that they would have been of little use, even 
 if it had been possible to introduce them into the country. 
 It was, however, a great help to missionary effort that 
 educated Japanese were able to read Chinese. Mr. Lig- 
 gins, of the Episcopal Mission, wrote from Nagasaki, in 
 i860, that, during the first ten months of his stay in Japan, 
 he had " sold sixty copies of the Scriptures and books 
 wholly religious, besides 2,000 magazines partly religious 
 and partly secular," and a little later Dr. Brown had sold, 
 at Kanagawa, 200 copies of the New Testament. Soon, 
 however, fear of being found with Christian books kept 
 the people from purchasing more. Japanese teachers were 
 afraid to help their employers in the work of translation. 
 When, notwithstanding this difficulty, some portions had 
 been prepared, no printer could be found. Owing to such 
 obstacles, it was not until 1871 that any of the Bible was 
 printed in Japan. Mr. Goble then published the Gospel 
 of Matthew. A few other portions were soon afterward 
 printed, and, in September, 1872, a committee was ap- 
 pointed by a united conference of Protestant missionaries 
 to prepare a translation of the whole New Testament. 
 The different books were published as fast as translated, 
 and the whole New Testament was completed in 1880, 
 while the Old Testament was not finished until 1887. 
 
 2. Other Books. — In the early days many books besides 
 the Scriptures were brought from China. Dr. Martin's 
 " Evidences of Christianity " had a much greater circu- 
 lation among the Japanese than among the people for 
 whom it was originally intended. Thousands of copies 
 were imported, and it was sold by native book-stores in 
 places not yet visited by Christian workers. In 1867 Dr. 
 Hepburn published the first tract in Japanese. Those who,
 
 110 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 with the aid of their teachers, prepared some of the early 
 tracts, found great difficulty in getting them written in 
 language that could be understood by the common people. 
 One missionary tells how he went over the manuscript 
 sentence by sentence, asking whether the meaning was 
 evident and forcing the reluctant teacher to use simpler 
 words. When all was ready for the press, the teacher 
 t>egged that his name should not be allowed to appear in 
 connection with the tract, as he would be ashamed to 
 have it known that he had written anything in a style 
 that could be easily understood. 
 
 Though there are now a large number of tracts and 
 other Christian publications, there is still need for new 
 and forcible presentations of the truth and for books in 
 all departments of religious literature. Most missionaries 
 will be led to publish something. The success of this 
 kind of work largely depends upon the skill of the Japa- 
 nese who assists in its preparation ; for, even more than 
 in English, style is important, while care must be taken 
 in the choice of Chinese ideographs and in many other 
 niceties that a foreigner can hardly appreciate. Though 
 missionaries had the care of publishing the first Christian 
 newspapers and magazines, most of this work has now 
 been given over to the Japanese. There are at present a 
 large number of these periodicals, and the missionary may 
 find it profitable to contribute to their columns. 
 
 V. Medical Work. — i. Those who have not had a full 
 medical education are unlikely to attempt, as they might 
 in some countries, to use what little knowledge and simple 
 remedies they may possess for helping the sick. At first 
 Japan furnished unusually favorable opportunities for the 
 medical missionary. Dr. Hepburn opened a dispensary 
 at Kanagawa soon after his arrival. " It found favor with 
 the people until the authorities forbade them to go to it. 
 Finally it was found expedient to close it. After the 
 Doctor's removal to Yokohama, at the close of 1862, he 
 established a dispensary there. Thousands of poor suf- 
 ferers were relieved of their ailments, while their spiritual 
 needs were at the same time attended to, in several cases 
 with the happiest results." 
 
 2. The medical missionaries were usually welcomed by 
 the Japanese physicians, who were desirous of gaming
 
 METHODS OF WORK III 
 
 from them a knowledge of foreign medicine. It was the 
 rule with most of these missionaries not to conduct an in- 
 dependent work. They treated the sick in connection with 
 the native doctors, thus taking somewhat the position of 
 consulting physicians. By doing this they avoided enter- 
 ing into competition with the Japanese practitioners. 
 These still received the fees from the patients, and so 
 they gladly brought their most puzzling cases, that they 
 might be advised about methods of treatment, and, where 
 surgical operations were required, they acted as assistants. 
 They thus received most valuable instruction. The med- 
 ical work did much to remove prejudices against Chris- 
 tianity; religious services were often held in the rooms 
 used for dispensaries, and many interior towns were 
 opened to evangelistic efforts by the visits of the medical 
 missionary. Those who had been healed were filled with 
 gratitude to their benefactor, sometimes literally worship- 
 ping him or putting his photograph among the objects 
 of devotion on the " god-shelf." Though medical mis- 
 sionaries who have already gained reputation and influ- 
 ence in Japan find their time well occupied, the opportu- 
 nity for new workers is now much less than in most other 
 countries, for the government has established medical col- 
 leges that every year send out many graduates whose tech- 
 nical education will compare favorably with that given 
 in the schools of the West. 
 
 3. Closely associated with the medical work is the train- 
 ing of nurses. This has been undertaken by some missions 
 with gratifying results. Though similar schools have 
 been established by the Red Cross Society and in connec- 
 tion with several hospitals, the graduates from Christian 
 schools have won a fine reputation, partly because care 
 has been taken to accept only women of superior char- 
 acter, and partly because the spirit pervading the institu- 
 tions has tended to develop high ideals of devotion, neat- 
 ness, truth, and faithfulness. 
 
 VI. Miscellaneous Work. — The missionary must be 
 prepared to turn his hand to any kind of service that will 
 increase his usefulness. The musician can help to train 
 the congregations to sing Christian hymns or can instruct 
 young women to play upon the organ, so as to aid the 
 musical part of the church services. Another may be
 
 112 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 called on to draw plans for churches or schools. Some 
 have found that the stereopticon can be so used as not 
 merely to interest large audiences, but also to impress 
 Christian truths upon their minds. There are sometimes 
 calls to address educational meetings. Temperance, phi- 
 lanthropy, social reform, may demand attention and re- 
 ceive help. There is hardly any talent possessed by a 
 missionary which he will not at some time have an op- 
 portunity to utilize and make tributary to his main pur- 
 pose. 
 
 VII. The Missionary's Relation to the Japanese 
 Churches. — i. This will evidently depend to a great extent 
 upon the polity of the Church in question. With some 
 branches of the Church the highest offices are held by 
 foreigners, and they, to a large extent, control the actions 
 and the activities of the churches ; with others, the mis- 
 sionaries and Japanese officers are upon an equal footing 
 and are together responsible for the legislation of the 
 body ; in still others, the whole control is with the Japa- 
 nese, the missionary having no vote and exerting influence 
 only through the advice that he may give. Each method 
 has its advantages and its disadvantages ; and the present 
 volume is not the fitting place to discuss the different sys- 
 tems. 
 
 2. Another difference in the views and practice of mis- 
 sionaries is not determined by denominational prefer- 
 ences, though perhaps somewhat influenced by Church 
 polity; this difference concerns the ever-burning question 
 of self-support. Some missions do almost everything for 
 the churches, paying the salaries of pastors and evangel- 
 ists, erecting church buildings, supporting pupils in 
 schools, etc. The diametrically opposite policy has been 
 adopted by no mission, though many persons connected 
 with different missions urgently advocate it. This would 
 be to pay nothing at all toward the expenses of any 
 church. Probably all missionaries recognize to some ex- 
 tent the great evils and dangers that are connected with 
 the use of foreign money ; they cannot agree as to the 
 extent in which efficient work can be done without it. 
 The aim of all is to build up Japanese churches that shall 
 ultimately be wholly independent of foreign control and 
 support ; the problem is how this can be most quickly 
 accomplished.
 
 XI 
 
 Present Conditions and Opportunities 
 
 I. What has been Accomplished. — i. The Gathering 
 i*/ the Forces. — However much or little the Church has 
 thus far accomplished in Japan, it cannot be denied that 
 k has at least succeeded in sending forth its forces and 
 Mi occupying many important centres. In military af- 
 V'airs the raising of an effective army and the occupation 
 of strategic points is considered a great and important 
 svep toward victory. It must prove to be the same in the 
 missionary enterprises of the Church if those whom it has 
 commissioned to do its work are the proper persons for 
 its accomplishment. There were in 1903, including the 
 Bible and Tract Societies, thirty-six Protestant mission- 
 ary bodies working in Japan and two in Formosa. Be- 
 sides these, there were several missionaries not connected 
 with any society. The number of missionaries, including 
 wives, was 804. Of these, 288 were men and 269 were 
 unmarried women. They lived in eighty-five different 
 cities and towns. The missionaries had organized 513 
 churches, of which 439 were wholly or partially self- 
 supporting. In their 1,074 Sunday-schools were found 
 51,450 scholars and teachers, while in 153 other schools 
 of different grades there were 12,588 pupils or students. 
 
 There is considerable difference of opinion about the 
 advisability of increasing the number of missionaries. 
 Some point to the many towns whose people have not 
 yet heard anything about Christ, and say that while so 
 much remains to be done missions must continue to call 
 for reinforcements. Others consider that the work of 
 the foreign missionary should be chiefly confined to a few 
 important points ; that the responsibility for evangelizing 
 other places must be thrown upon the native Christians, 
 and that, while many other countries are inadequately sup- 
 8 113
 
 114 JAPAN AND ITS "REGENERATION 1 
 
 plied with missionaries, men and women should not be 
 urged to come to Japan except as vacancies caused by 
 the removal of those now on the field may require, or as 
 other special needs may arise. 
 
 2. Relations between Different Missions. — In some re- 
 spects it may be unfortunate that the number of societies 
 working- in Japan should be so large ; and some writers, 
 though for the most part they have been those who have 
 little sympathy with missions, have pictured the confusion 
 of the Japanese as so many forms of Christianity are pre- 
 sented to their minds. Practically, however, there is little 
 trouble of this kind. In the first place, the Japanese are 
 accustomed to the idea of sects, those of Buddhism and 
 Shintoism differing more from each other than do the 
 Protestant, Roman, and Greek Churches. Moreover, 
 Christian missionaries, as a rule, are not inclined to em- 
 phasize denominational differences. There is little attempt 
 to draw believers from one fold to another. The Uni- 
 tarians, indeed, apparently consider that the best work 
 can be done by sending their publications to evangelical 
 believers whose former faith they desire to weaken or 
 destroy ; there are a few persons unconnected with any 
 society who attempt to induce Christians to leave the 
 churches, and peculiarities of doctrine or church govern- 
 ment have in some cases proved a bar to united effort; 
 but, taken as a whole, the influence of the missionaries' 
 has been against denominationalism. Most are very care- 
 ful not to interfere with the work of others. The mission- 
 aries have often exerted their influence to prevent the 
 native Christians from opening work in places occupied 
 by other branches of the Church. It was thought, in the 
 earlier days of the work, that there might, to some extent, 
 be a division of the field among different societies, but 
 this was soon found impracticable, as the people first 
 reached by the Gospel were such as were most liable to 
 move from one part of the country to another. As they 
 made openings for missionary work in their new homes, 
 it was natural that they should seek to have it carried 
 on by the churches with which they were affiliated. 
 
 Missionaries and Christians of different bodies unite in 
 evangelistic and other services. The Week of Prayer is 
 observed by union meetings, and in one large city it was
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES 115 
 
 for several years the custom to have it close with a com- 
 munion service in which missionaries of the Church of 
 England, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal 
 Churches of America united with the Japanese Christians 
 in commemorating the dying love of their common Lord. 
 There are not so many branches of the Church in Japan 
 as there are missionary bodies. Seven Presbyterian so- 
 cieties work in connection with the one " Church of Christ 
 in Japan," and four Episcopal societies with the " Nippon 
 Sei Kokwai." There have been propositions for uniting 
 the work of the different Methodist societies, and a few 
 years ago a union of the Presbyterian and Kumi-ai — 
 Congregational — Churches came very near being effected. 
 
 3. Assertions that Missions Accomplish Little. — The 
 Christian Church has little cause to rejoice in the numbers 
 of men sent to the front, unless they are accomplishing 
 something or are likely to do so in the near future. Do 
 missions succeed? From time to time, persons who have 
 visited Japan return to tell their friends or to write to 
 various periodicals that missions are a failure. As they 
 have been in the country, even though it was for only 
 a few days, their testimony is regarded as conclusive. 
 One inquiry should be made of such persons. Did they 
 visit the missionaries, the schools, and the churches? or 
 did they depend upon the gossip they heard on the steam- 
 ers and in the hotels? Among the European merchants 
 there are some who take a real and helpful interest in 
 Christian work, but it is a matter for regret that most of 
 them do not. It would take too much space to discuss the 
 reasons for this, but the fact is evident. Dr. Griffis has 
 written: " A community in which the lives of the major- 
 ity are secretly or openly at variance with the plainest 
 precepts of the Great Master cannot, even on general prin- 
 ciples, be expected to sympathize very deeply with, or even 
 comprehend, the efforts of men who are social heretics. It 
 is hard to find an average ' man of the world ' in Japan who 
 has any clear idea of what the missionaries are doing 
 or have done. Their dense ignorance borders on the ri- 
 diculous." Yet it is from such people that the ordinary 
 traveller is likely to get his ideas. 
 
 A gentleman, whose brother had written an excellent 
 book on missions, came to Japan, saying : " I, too, am
 
 Il6 JAPAN AMD ITS REGENERATION 
 
 going to investigate the question, but not as my brother 
 did. He went to the missionaries, who naturally made 
 the best showing possible. I shall keep away from them, 
 and by asking the sea-captains and merchants what they 
 think, shall get disinterested testimony." There might 
 be some reason in this if he had found men who really 
 had any information ; but what would he think of one 
 who, wishing to find out about trade in Japan, should 
 keep aloof from merchants and gather the opinions of 
 missionaries who never went into the offices and stores 
 of the great business firms. A person often fails to see 
 because he does not care to see. A lady who lived several 
 years in Japan said, on returning home : " I know that 
 those missionaries do not reach the people. For years 
 I lived opposite the church, and I never saw a Japanese 
 enter its doors." To her friends this must have been con- 
 vincing testimony, for they did not know, and apparently 
 she did not, that the church in question was that of the 
 foreign community, all its services being in English. Had 
 she walked a few steps some Sunday morning into the 
 native town, she might have seen crowded congregations 
 of Japanese Christians. 
 
 4. Converts. — A person who is acquainted with the 
 facts may reply to the one who says nothing is being 
 accomplished : " Up to the spring of 1872 only ten Prot- 
 estant Christians had been baptized in all Japan. The 
 statistics for 1903 show a church membership of 42,900, 
 and 3,640 adult baptisms during the year. That looks as 
 though Christianity had made some progress." Let it not 
 be thought that such statements will change the traveller's 
 verdict. He remembers other things that he heard on the 
 steamer, and, with a scornful smile, he says : " Oh, yes, 
 I know that a good number of church members are re- 
 ported, but who are they? Only people of the lowest 
 classes, most of them mere rice-Christians who have been 
 led into the Church from hope of personal gain." If this 
 is true, it is strange that their contributions during the 
 year amounted to 134,941 yen ($67,470 in American 
 gold). When one considers the persecution and loss that 
 some of them have endured for Christ's sake, there seems 
 just cause for indignation at their being called " rice- 
 Christians." Only those of the " lowest classes " !
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 117 
 
 If we should learn that the Speaker of our national 
 House of Representatives had accepted some belief that 
 is despised or hated by most of his countrymen, should 
 we speak of him as one of the lowest classes who had been 
 influenced by hope of personal gain ? The presiding offi- 
 cer of the Lower House in the first Japanese Parliament, 
 which met in 1890, was a Christian. The one who held 
 the same position from 1898 until his death in 1903 was an 
 elder in a Presbyterian church. He had been a member 
 of every parliament from the beginning. When he was 
 first nominated some of his political friends came to him, 
 saying, " You hold a prominent place among the Chris- 
 tians, and our opponents will use the fact against you. Of 
 course, we cannot ask you to give up your religion ; but 
 we do wish you to resign your eldership. After being 
 elected, you could resume the office, but it is necessary for 
 you to lay it aside for a time." " No," answered Mr. 
 Kataoka, " I would rather lose my chance of going to 
 Parliament than give up my office in the Church." If 
 we heard that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States had become the follower of some de- 
 spised religion, should we say that he is another of the 
 lowest classes who has been led by the hope of personal 
 gain? One who for some time held the corresponding 
 position in Japan is a Christian who did not hide his re- 
 ligion and who finally resigned his high office because 
 certain things occurring in connection with judicial af- 
 fairs were contrary to his ideas of right. Mention might 
 be made of many more — judges, legislators, ex-daimyos, 
 officers in army or navy, lawyers, physicians, merchants, 
 editors, and other well-known men — the list proving the 
 gross ignorance displayed by the remarks of those who 
 hate missions or do not take the trouble to learn the truth 
 about them. 
 
 No claim is made that all of these believers were brought 
 to Christ by the direct efforts of the missionaries. So 
 far as human agency is concerned, most of them were led 
 by Japanese pastors and evangelists ; but it is the work 
 of missions as a whole that has set in motion the influences 
 that are building up the Church in Japan. 
 
 5. Successful Work among the Ainu. — An earlier chap- 
 ter contained a description of the aboriginal race whose
 
 Il8 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 remnant is found in the northern islands. Representa- 
 tives of the Church Missionary Society had made a few 
 visits to these Ainu previous to 1883, when a new effort 
 for their evangelization was inaugurated. In that year 
 Rev. Mr. Batchelor, who had previously made them two 
 visits of two months each, went again into the Ainu coun- 
 try, in the northern island of Yezo, where he remained 
 six months. His former friends had not forgotten him. 
 They manifested great pleasure at his return, almost 
 whole villages turning out to welcome him, and their 
 chiefs expressing the hope that he would remain among 
 them for a long time. He located himself at Piratori, the 
 old Ainu capital, where Chief Penri lent him a corner 
 of his hut. The study of the language was resumed, a 
 vocabulary of about 6,000 words collected, and an Ainu 
 grammar compiled. Since then Mr. Batchelor has trans- 
 lated the Scriptures, the Prayer-Book, and other works. 
 The Ainu, though quiet and gentle, are much addicted to 
 drunkenness. This vice, connected as it is with their 
 worship, is one of the greatest obstacles in the way of 
 their receiving the Gospel. In 1897 over 700 Ainu had 
 been baptized, a very encouraging result when we remem- 
 ber that the whole number of these aborigines is only 
 about 17,000. Schools for both boys and girls have been 
 established. The centre of the work is now at Sapporo. 
 Here has been built a " Rest House " for the accommoda- 
 tion of Ainu out-patients attending the Japanese Hospi- 
 tal. Out of the seventy-five patients received during the 
 first year, eleven definitely embraced Christianity, and all 
 heard much of Christ and His Gospel. 
 
 6. Philanthropy. — A living Christianity will not be in- 
 different to the needs of suffering humanity. Love for 
 God will lead to labors of love for His children. The 
 missionaries themselves have engaged in such work, but 
 it is encouraging to see that many of the Japanese Chris- 
 tians have felt that God called them to earnest and self- 
 sacrificing efforts for the weak and suffering. For ex- 
 ample, Mr. Ishii, a young medical student in Okayama, 
 became so interested in orphan children that he gave up 
 the profession for which he had nearly prepared himself, 
 burned his medical books that they might not tempt him 
 to resume his studies, and took some of these children
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES II9 
 
 into his home. The work grew upon his hands, and the 
 asylum which he founded has won the admiration of be- 
 lievers and non-believers in Christianity. In like man- 
 ner, Mr. Hara became interested in prisoners and has de- 
 voted himself to work for released convicts. 
 
 There are now several charitable institutions that are 
 entirely under the direction of Japanese Christians. Rev. 
 J. H. Pettee, D.D., prepared, in 1897, a list of Christian 
 charities from which the following summary of what is 
 done in connection with Protestant missions and Churches 
 is drawn : 
 
 58 Day and Night Schools for the poor, with 2,963 
 scholars. 
 
 19 Orphan Asylums, with 719 inmates. 
 
 14 Homes for various classes, with 287 inmates. 
 
 16 Hospitals and Dispensaries. 
 
 The orphan asylums have especially appealed to the 
 charitable sentiments of the people. The kind of children 
 who find in them a home will be illustrated by the follow- 
 ing account of the inmates in one of the smaller asylums : 
 " Five were sold or about to be when we took them ; eight 
 cast off to become waifs or beggars ; six had respectable 
 widowed mothers unable to support their families ; one 
 of the three foundlings was out in the fields several days 
 before found, and one all but murdered by its mother; 
 five of our children had been beggars, one being born 
 a beggar. Of the twenty-seven, nine have begged more 
 or less. Three are eta. Suicides, murders, whole families 
 in prison much of the time, runaway parents, and sisters 
 sold to a life of shame, are items in their family his- 
 tories." 
 
 The influence of these institutions is felt by others, and 
 the Buddhists have been led to imitate them. Thus many 
 who are in need of help may indirectly receive the fruits 
 of Christianity. The sufferers are many, and we cannot 
 but hope that the example set by the Christians will incite 
 others to deeds of charity. 
 
 Though there are thousands of lepers in the country, 
 the only asylums for them, so far as known, are one 
 Roman Catholic and two Protestant institutions ; the only 
 work for the blind is in two government schools and 
 two Protestant asylums, both of them small, while ap-
 
 120 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 parently nothing is done for the idiotic and but little for 
 the insane. 
 
 7. Reforms. — Among the results accomplished by 
 Christianity must be counted the inauguration of many 
 movements in the interest of social reform. Temperance 
 societies established by Christians have many unbelievers 
 among their members. 
 
 A few years ago the Christians of several prefectures 
 commenced agitations in favor of doing away with the 
 system of licensed prostitution. Unfortunately, in most 
 places little was accomplished ; but in one prefecture, 
 where several Christians were members of the provincial 
 assembly, a great victory was won. After a few years 
 the coming of a new governor was made the occasion 
 for an attempt to restore the system, and large sums of 
 money were expended by those who hoped to profit by the 
 evil business. Those who opposed this looked to the 
 Christians for leadership, and did not look in vain. There 
 was a long and hard battle, which at last resulted in the 
 defeat of those who tried to bring back the licensing sys- 
 tem. 
 
 Some of the Christians are taking an interest in the so- 
 cial problems that grow out of the modern manufacturing 
 system, and we may believe that, as the questions take 
 more definite shape, the churches will furnish those who 
 will be leaders in seeking wise ways of overcoming or 
 preventing the evils that threaten the poor. 
 
 8. Only a Beginning Has Been Made. — If some make 
 the mistake of supposing that almost nothing has been 
 accomplished, others may err in the opposite direction and 
 get an idea that the victory is almost won. Such persons 
 hardly appreciate what it means to lead a nation of forty- 
 two million people to new beliefs and practices so different 
 from the old. The leaven has indeed been placed in the 
 meal, but it will be long before the whole lump is leavened. 
 Perhaps the rapid progress of fifteen years ago excited 
 too high hopes. The slower movement of recent years 
 has caused disappointment, which was increased by the 
 weakness of many churches and individuals who had 
 seemed thoroughly established in Christian belief. It had 
 been forgotten that they were yet but children in the 
 faith, that it was easy for them to be led away by new
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES 121 
 
 and striking theories, and that they had not yet gained 
 such strength that it was easy to resist the temptations 
 that surrounded them. Much remains to be done in Japan. 
 There are multitudes who have not yet heard the name 
 of Christ. The churches are few in number, the Chris- 
 tians form but a little flock, and they are surrounded by 
 those who would lead them astray. 
 
 II. The Present Religious Condition of Japan. — 
 I. The Weakening of the Old Religions. — As Japan has 
 passed through great changes affecting all other depart- 
 ments of human life and thought, the religious beliefs and 
 sentiments of the people could not remain unaffected. 
 The old religions have been subjected to a great strain 
 and have failed to satisfy those who were receiving new 
 ideas from the West. Young people taught the truths 
 of science cannot, as their parents did, bow their heads 
 and worship the rising sun ; they cannot go into the 
 Buddhist temples, kneel before images made of wood or 
 stone, and from their hearts repeat the Buddhist prayers. 
 The forms may at times be preserved, but the reality 
 has gone. Hence multitudes of the young men speak of 
 themselves as having no religion. 
 
 As has already been said, Confucianism is being neg- 
 lected and Shintoism considered as something else than 
 a religion. Many Buddhists regard the outlook as very 
 gloomy. In 1896 one of their leading journals said: 
 " Buddhism is holding its own to-day by the mere force 
 of inertia. By force of custom the older and middle-aged 
 people of the present day are still sustaining the old 
 religion, though the faith of even these is gradually grow- 
 ing cold. But what will come to pass when society falls 
 into the hands of those born in the Meiji Era [the era 
 that commenced in 1868] ? . . . Within ten years 
 Buddhism will fail in all its endeavors." In 1897 another 
 Buddhist journal said, " Buddhism is dead. There is 
 no advantage in concealing the fact ; " and still another 
 asserted, " All that remains of Buddhism is its literature." 
 It would be easy to multiply similar quotations. The 
 expressions may be stronger than the facts justify, but 
 they show the despondent feeling that prevails, and there 
 is at least a foundation of truth for their description of 
 the situation.
 
 122 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 2. Statistics of Students. — A Buddhist magazine re- 
 cently took the religious statistics of students in three of 
 the higher institutions of learning. In one school the 
 average age of the pupils was nineteen and a half years, 
 in another twenty-one and three-fourths years, and in the 
 third twenty-three years. Of the students, 409 gave their 
 religions as follows : 
 
 Confucianist 1 Atheists 60 
 
 Shintoist 1 Agnostics 282 
 
 Buddhists 15 Non-committal 46 
 
 Christians 4 
 
 It will be seen that only seventeen declared their belief 
 in any of the old religions of Japan. Surely, this cannot 
 be a cause of rejoicing so long as nothing better takes 
 their place. 
 
 3. Seeking a Religion. — Japan might be described as 
 a nation in search of a religion. Though young men may 
 be satisfied for awhile with agnosticism, the people as 
 a whole cannot be. Thoughtful men are recognizing that 
 irreligion tends to moral degeneracy. Whatever may 
 have been the defects of the old religions, they had some 
 influence in restraining the evil passions of men, and the 
 loss of faith is being followed by evil consequences that 
 are too apparent to all observers. Hence many writers 
 for the periodical press are declaring that the great need 
 of the country is religion. They may have little thought 
 of religious faith as something that they themselves ought 
 to possess, but they recognize how their country is suffer- 
 ing from the present tendency. Some would attempt a 
 revival of Shintoism, others advocate eclecticism, and 
 there are many who would like to take a hand in manu- 
 facturing something that they would call religion. Among 
 the people at large there is, in a way, something of this 
 same search for a religion, and hence has come the sud- 
 den popularity of Tenrikyo and other minor sects. 
 
 III. America's Responsibility. —Japan was for a long 
 time a hermit nation. She did not wish to have any 
 intercourse with Western lands. America sent out its 
 Expedition to call forth Japan from its long seclusion. 
 She held back; but we dragged her forth, unwilling as
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES 123 
 
 she was, into a life that was new and strange. We have 
 been the means of bringing her many blessings. We have 
 also brought her face to face with many problems and 
 many perils. In all the political, commercial, and edu- 
 cational progress she has made we have rejoiced. If this 
 is all, however, we cannot be satisfied. We would see her 
 enjoying the blessings of a pure religion, and since the 
 old faiths have been shaken because of what America did, 
 American Christians should feel a special responsibility 
 to see that something better takes their place. The agnos- 
 ticism and atheism of the young men of Japan have been 
 largely the result of the undermining of old beliefs by 
 what they have learned in the schools. The educational 
 system of Japan was largely modelled upon that of Massa- 
 chusetts, so that, as we look upon the statistics that were 
 given of the religious beliefs of students, we must again 
 feel that America is largely responsible for the prevailing 
 irreligion. We who have done the destructive work are 
 guilty unless we see to it that the constructive work is 
 not neglected. 
 
 IV. Japan's Influence upon Asia. — Success or failure 
 will not be confined to Japan. It is no longer a secluded 
 nation. What is done there affects other countries, and 
 especially those of Eastern Asia. The Japanese sometimes 
 compare their country to the rudder of a ship ; though 
 the rudder is small, it directs the course of the whole 
 vessel. The figure is not wholly unreasonable. The influ- 
 ence of Japan upon the nations of the continent is becom- 
 ing more and more marked. Unless all the signs are 
 deceptive, much of the world's history during the next 
 century will centre about Eastern Asia. Great political, 
 social, and religious changes are at hand. If Japan should 
 be given over to materialism and infidelity, the Church 
 will have lost a powerful ally and will have its difficulties 
 increased. If Japan should speedily become a Christian 
 nation, Korea, Siam, and the vast empire of China would 
 be profoundly influenced by the event itself, while the 
 Japanese Christians, imbued with a missionary spirit, 
 would join the Churches of the West in hastening forward 
 to bring about the redemption of Asia.
 
 XII 
 
 Supplementary Chapter 
 (July, 1904) 
 
 1. Recent Political Events. — 1. The year 1899 marked 
 a new point in the history of Japan. The new treaties 
 that she had negotiated with Western nations came into 
 effect in July of that year. On the last day of June, the 
 Emperor issued a Rescript expressing his " earnest wish " 
 that his subjects " should all unite with one heart to asso- 
 ciate cordially with the peoples from afar," and command- 
 ing his Ministers to instruct the officials of all classes 
 that they should " observe the utmost circumspection in 
 the management of affairs, to the end that subjects and 
 strangers alike may enjoy equal privileges and advan- 
 tages." The Minister of Education also sent out instruc- 
 tions that, since the number of foreigners visiting the 
 interior of the country would greatly increase, students 
 should be carefully taught not to behave " in a violent, 
 outrageous, or vulgar manner." Similar instructions were 
 sent to the army by the Minister of War. The leading 
 Buddhist sects — probably at the behest of the govern- 
 ment — issued addresses warning their adherents not to 
 be guilty of rude or violent behavior toward foreigners. 
 
 2. Japanese Influences in China since 1900. — In 1900 the 
 fact that Japan had gained a place in the sisterhood of the 
 great nations was demonstrated by its joining with them 
 in the military operations made necessary by the outbreak 
 of the Boxers in China. The conduct of the Japanese 
 at that time was such as to increase the esteem in which 
 they were held by Europeans ; and also, strangely enough, 
 it led the Chinese to regard them as the ones who would 
 be the most sympathetic advisers and guides of their 
 country in the new paths upon which it must enter. Since 
 
 194
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER \2% 
 
 then the influence of Japan has greatly increased in China. 
 Many Japanese are being employed as teachers in the new 
 schools that have been established there, and students 
 from China are in increasing numbers coming to Japan 
 for scientific and technical education. The proximity of 
 the two countries, the use of the same ideographs, and the 
 similarity in the manner of living enable many to seek 
 Western learning in Japan who would find it impossible 
 to go to Europe, or to America. 
 
 3. British and Japanese Alliance. — In 1902 the govern- 
 ments of Japan and Great Britain, " actuated solely by a 
 desire to maintain the status quo, and general peace in 
 the Extreme East ; being moreover specially interested 
 in maintaining the independence and territorial integrity 
 of the Empire of China and the Empire of Korea, and in 
 securing equal opportunities in those countries for the 
 commerce and industry of all nations," entered into a 
 treaty of alliance. That Great Britain should thus aban- 
 don the traditional policy of European nations by forming 
 such an alliance with an Oriental nation was another proof 
 of the unique position to which Japan has attained. The 
 part of the treaty having most practical importance was 
 that by which, if either nation in defence of its interests 
 in China or Korea found itself involved in war with 
 two other powers, the other ally must then come to its 
 assistance. 
 
 4. Japan's War with Russia. — Ever since 1895 the 
 Japanese have cherished very bitter feelings toward 
 Russia, the nation which then took the lead in depriving 
 them of part of the fruits of their victory over China, 
 by uniting with Germany and France in declaring that 
 it would be prejudicial to the peace of the Far East, if 
 Japan should retain possession of the Liaotung Penin- 
 sula. It was not long before Russia herself had leased 
 that territory and was busy in strengthening the fortifica- 
 tions at Port Arthur, which it had cost Japan so much 
 to capture. The Japanese have also regarded with alarm 
 the tightening of Russia's grip upon Manchuria and what 
 they considered indications of designs upon Korea. For 
 a long period it has been evident that war was almost 
 certain to come sooner or later between the two nations. 
 After much time had been spent in diplomatic negotiations,
 
 126 JAPAN- AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 the patience of Japan was exhausted, and in February, 
 1904, active hostilities began with nearly simultaneous 
 attacks upon Russian war-vessels at Port Arthur and 
 Chemulpo. Up to the time that these words are written, 
 Japan has been almost constantly victorious upon both 
 sea and land. It would be idle to utter prophecies con- 
 cerning the future progress of a struggle in which each 
 nation expresses confidence of ultimate success. To 
 whichever side the victory may come, it is certain that 
 Japan has already astonished the world by its military 
 strength, and has deserved praise for the admirable way 
 in which it has conducted itself during the attempts to 
 secure a peaceful settlement of the points at issue and in 
 the succeeding conflict. 
 
 5. An extension of the franchise has increased from 
 450,000 to about a million the number of persons qualified 
 to vote for members of the Lower House of the National 
 Diet. The question whether the Cabinet shall be respon- 
 sible to the Lower House, which at one time seemed to 
 have received an affirmative answer, continues to furnish 
 the chief point of controversy among politicians. Dis- 
 agreements between the Cabinet and the Lower House 
 cause frequent dissolutions of the latter, thus making it 
 necessary to hold new elections. 
 
 II. Social Progress. — 1. Western Traz 'el— Japan is 
 becoming more and more permeated with Western ideas. 
 The number of persons going to America and Europe for 
 study, observation, business, or pleasure, has greatly in- 
 creased, and those who return bring back more or less 
 of the spirit of the countries that they have visited. 
 Improved means of communication carry the influence 
 of the cities into the rural districts. Officials, soldiers, 
 students in boys' schools, and many business men wear 
 the European dress, and this in various ways is affecting 
 the domestic customs of the people. 
 
 2. English books, and to a less extent those in other 
 European languages, are widely read. Many of them are 
 being issued in cheap form by Japanese publishers. In 
 addition to translations of scientific, historical, and philo- 
 sophical works, renderings into Japanese of Shakespeare's 
 dramas, Dickens's " Christmas Carol," Hawthorne's 
 " Scarlet Letter," Bellamy's " Looking Backward," Bui-
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 12J 
 
 wer's " Eugene Aram," Lessing's "Minna von Barn- 
 helm," and similar books, as well as adaptations of such 
 novels as Hugo's " Les Miserables " and Dumas's 
 " Monte Cristo " have been produced. They must be 
 exerting a powerful influence in gradually transforming 
 Japanese thought and sentiment. 
 
 3. Increased interest is taken in the education of 
 women. One illustration of this was the opening of the 
 Woman's University in Tokyo. Though the institution 
 is on a non-religious basis, the President and some others 
 prominently connected with it are Christians. In many 
 ways it is showing the influence and following the example 
 of the schools established by missions. 
 
 4. Labor Problems. — It is not strange, in view of the 
 growth of the factory system and the aviditv with which 
 Japanese follow the course of public discussion in the 
 West, that attention should be drawn to the problems 
 connected with labor, although thus far the interest in 
 them is perhaps more academic than practical. In 1902 
 the government for the second time prepared the draft 
 of a bill for the regulation of factories, and published it 
 for public consideration before it should be presented 
 to the Diet. That the bill was not extreme in its require- 
 ments is shown by the section concerning the labor of 
 children. At first no person under eight yeais of age was 
 to be employed in a factory, and this limit was to be 
 gradually raised, so that in ten years from the passage of 
 the bill it should become eleven years. Under ordinary 
 circumstances women and persons under sixteen were 
 not to be employed between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. ; the hours 
 of labor in ordinary workshops not to be more than four- 
 teen hours and in smaller ones fifteen hours a day, these 
 to be gradually lessened so that in ten years they should 
 be twelve and thirteen hours respectively. From this time 
 was to be taken one hour and a half for meals and rest. 
 Two rest-days should be given each month. The bill has 
 not yet been considered by the Diet, and the fact that it 
 
 ■ met much adverse criticism from employers of labor 
 shows how much some legislation is needed. It is not 
 uncommon to find girls eight years old working in fac- 
 tories where the hours are from six to six, and on alter- 
 nate weeks by night. In some weaving establishments
 
 128 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 people work for fourteen, or even sixteen, hours a day. 
 Apprentices are often herded — sometimes young men and 
 young women in the same room — in lodging-houses owned 
 by the factories. Sometimes they are kept carefully 
 guarded in order to prevent their running away. In one 
 case, when a fire occurred, a large number of girls lost 
 their lives because unable to escape from a building whose 
 doors were locked from the outside. Such facts afford 
 abundant material for the denunciations of a small but 
 earnest band of socialists, who by books, magazines, and 
 lectures are striving to bring their views before the people. 
 In several cases the police have interrupted their meet- 
 ings, and some of their writings have been adjudged 
 violations of the press laws. There is much reason for 
 believing that socialistic views will hereafter gain a con- 
 siderable degree of popularity. Some of their leading 
 advocates are Christians. The work originally estab- 
 lished by the Unitarians of America is now to a consider- 
 able extent given up to an agitation of social questions. 
 
 5. The influence of Western ideas is probably to be 
 seen also in connection with gifts that are being made by 
 wealthy men for public or charitable purposes. Such 
 persons have recently founded schools, libraries, and 
 hospitals. 
 
 6. Reformers and the Social Evil. — One great social 
 reform of this period had its origin in an agitation started 
 by Rev. U. G. Murphy, of the Methodist Protestant Mis- 
 sion. Having read in the newspapers of girls who had 
 been arrested by the police and returned to houses of 
 shame from which they were trying to escape, he deter- 
 mined to test the laws and see whether they upheld such 
 a system of slavery. He and others who joined with 
 him in trying to aid these persons and in supporting their 
 cause in the courts were mobbed and in some cases 
 received personal injuries. Some of the newspapers were 
 aroused to take their view of the case and to urge that 
 the land be purged from what was a disgrace to its boasted 
 civilization. The office of the paper that took the most 
 prominent part in the agitation was sacked by a mob. It 
 is noteworthy that, as in a former movement against the 
 license system, Buddhist lecturers and journals were 
 bitterly opposed to the reformers. The decisions of the
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 120. 
 
 courts were such as showed that under the laws regulat- 
 ing the system of legalized vice it was practically impossi- 
 ble for a woman, however much she might desire it, to 
 escape from a hateful life to which she had perhaps been 
 sold in girlhood by her parents, or by other relatives under 
 whose control she happened to be. As a result, however, 
 of this agitation the Home Department in 1900 issued the 
 " Free Cessation Regulations," permitting these women 
 to give up their occupation without obtaining the consent 
 of their masters. Since that time thousands have taken 
 advantage of the possibility thus set before them of 
 escape from slavery. Rescue homes have been opened 
 by the Salvation Army and others to afford a temporary 
 shelter for such persons. 
 
 III. Shintoism and Buddhism. — 1. Shintoism not a 
 Religion. — The heading of one of the sections in Chapter 
 IV. reads, " Is Shintoism a Religion ? " The official 
 answer, so far at least as the most important shrine is 
 concerned, has been given in the negative. The heads of 
 the shrine at Ise sent a petition to the government ask- 
 ing that they no longer be considered as forming a relig- 
 ious body, but rather as a purely secular organization. 
 This request was granted, and those who were once priests 
 are now the performers of certain ceremonies whose ob- 
 ject is to preserve the nation's veneration for the Imperial 
 Ancestors. 
 
 2. Among the Buddhists a movement, calling itself 
 " Reformed Buddhism/' has attracted considerable atten- 
 tion, though it is hard to say how much real influence 
 it has gained. It is rationalistic in its spirit, and that its 
 success would be revolutionary is shown by the following 
 extract from an article by one of its leaders, who is a 
 priest and a teacher in a prominent Buddhist school : 
 " There are a great many differences between the old 
 and the new beliefs, which are hardly reconcilable. They 
 are contending with each other for supremacy, and the 
 Buddhist society is now torn by dissensions. The new 
 spirit that rapidly spreads itself among the rising gener- 
 ation is overthrowing old customs one after another. The 
 yellow robe, the tonsure, the rosary, the almsbowl, the 
 staff, and such like things monastic, together with those 
 ancient beliefs that made them sacred, are swept away
 
 130 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 by the new tide. Time will come, we hope, when 
 Buddhism will undergo a change, a change so great that 
 a Japanese Rip Van Winkle will be at a loss to tell 
 whether it is Buddhism or not." 
 
 3. In 1899 the government brought before the Diet a 
 bill for the regulation of religious organizations. It put 
 Christianity on an equality with Buddhism and Shintoism. 
 This was directly contrary to a movement already inaug- 
 urated by a large section of Buddhists who hoped to get 
 their own system recognized as the State Religion. In 
 Tokyo and other cities meetings were held to protest 
 against this bill. Objection was made, not only because 
 the bill put all religions on the same footing, but also be- 
 cause it lessened the control of the principal temples over 
 their branches. This would make it more difficult for the 
 former to raise funds. The Eastern Branch of the great 
 Shin Sect, which was burdened by a large debt, was a 
 leader in the agitation, while the Western Branch sup- 
 ported the bill. It was commonly believed, and by one 
 party within its own fold openly charged, that the Eastern 
 Branch spent large sums in bribing members of the Diet 
 and so succeeded in preventing the passage of the bill. 
 
 IV. Progress of Christianity Since "1900 — 1. The 
 opening of the country to residence and travel has added 
 greatly to the facilities for extending a knowledge of 
 Christianity. There has been a considerable increase in 
 the number of missionaries and of the stations that they 
 occupy. In addition to persons connected with the regu- 
 lar missions, many independent workers have come to 
 Japan. Nearly all shades of belief now have their advo- 
 cates. Even the Mormons have been given permission 
 to propagate their views, though it is understood that the 
 reluctance of the government to do this was overcome 
 only after the strongest assurances that their system no 
 longer advocated polygamy. 
 
 2. With a few exceptions Protestant missionaries of dif- 
 ferent denominations work in full harmony. One outcome 
 of a General Convention held in 1900 was the formation 
 of The Standing Committee of Co-operating Christian 
 Missions. This is made up of representatives from most 
 of the bodies working in Japan to " serve as a general 
 medium of reference, communication, and effort ... in
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 131 
 
 matters of common interest and in co-operative enter- 
 prises." A union hymnal is used by practically all except 
 the Episcopal churches, and by an arrangement with 
 them 125 of the standard hymns appear with unchanged 
 word« and tunes in their book, thus helping the service 
 of song in the many meetings where their members unite 
 with those of other churches. 
 
 3. To mark the opening of the twentieth century the 
 churches in 1901 united in special evangelistic services. 
 It was found that many of the unbelievers in attendance 
 were willing to write their names and addresses on cards 
 and thus to express their desire to receive further instruc- 
 tion. Though the number of those who afterward joined 
 the churches seemed small when compared with the thou- 
 sands of names handed in, great good was accomplished 
 by this effort, whose methods, somewhat modified, con- 
 tinued to be frequently used. A National Exhibition held 
 at Osaka in 1903 gave an opportunity for Christians of 
 different denominations to unite in the conduct of a Gos- 
 pel Hall where several well-attended evangelistic services 
 were held every day and evening, the sixteen thousand 
 persons who signed papers to request further instruction 
 coming from every prefecture of the country. Christian 
 literature was afterwards mailed to them and their names 
 were sent to Christian workers in the localities whence 
 they came. 
 
 4. Right to Hold Real Estate. — Formerly it was impos- 
 sible for foreigners to have legal possession of any real 
 estate outside of the open ports. More than one mission 
 has been deprived of the use of its property through the 
 dishonesty of those in whose name it was held. The new 
 code of laws enables missions, or their representatives, to 
 be incorporated as associations with the right to hold real 
 estate. Those taking advantage of this arrangement are 
 required to present a somewhat detailed statement of their 
 organization, their methods of work, and the doctrines 
 that they teach. Here, therefore, as in certain regulations 
 concerning churches and preaching places, there is a rec- 
 ognition of Christianity by the government. 
 
 5. There has been a great development of the work of 
 the Young Men's Christian Association. Student Asso- 
 ciations are to be found in most of the higher institutions
 
 132 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 of learning, while the work of city Associations is being 
 strengthened by the placing of secretaries in important 
 centres. In 1903 a National Union was formed, includ- 
 ing fifty-one student Associations with 1,450 members 
 and six city Associations with 1,100 members. About 
 one-half of these are active members, that is, persons 
 connected with evangelical churches. The secretaries are 
 doing a work that is highly appreciated by the govern- 
 ment schools in acting as agents for securing teachers of 
 English whose character and intellectual fitness they can 
 guarantee. There are now about a score of these teachers, 
 who for the most part are recent graduates from Ameri- 
 can colleges. Though they cannot use the schools as 
 places for propagating Christianity, their general influ- 
 ence is helpful, and in their own homes or the churches 
 they can teach Bible classes. 
 
 6. Legislation Affecting Christian Schools. — In 1899 
 the Department of Education issued the following instruc- 
 tion : " It being essential from the point of view of edu- 
 cational administration that general education should be 
 independent of religion, religious instruction must not be 
 given or religious ceremonies performed at government 
 schools, public schools, or schools whose curricula are 
 regulated by provisions of law, even outside the regular 
 course of instruction." Before this some Christian insti- 
 tutions had found it advisable to obtain licenses as 
 " middle schools," and thus this new regulation was 
 applicable to them, preventing biblical instruction and 
 even prayer or the reading of the Scriptures in connection 
 with any public exercises. After vain attempts to have 
 this restriction confined to schools supported by public 
 funds, most of these institutions felt obliged to "give "P 
 their connection with the national system, though their 
 pupils were thus subject to certain disadvantages. These 
 last have since been almost entirely removed by the more 
 liberal policy adopted by the Department, which now gives 
 to institutions meeting certain conditions the privileges 
 enjoyed by the " middle schools," while leaving them con- 
 siderable freedom in regard to courses of study and not 
 interfering with religious instruction. Even theological 
 seminaries are now among the " special schools " recog- 
 nized by the government and can secure for their students
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 1 33 
 
 the important privilege of postponing military service until 
 after graduation. 
 
 7. A Gospel Schooner. — In 1899 the Fukuin Maru 
 (Glad Tidings), a schooner of sixty-eight tons register, 
 which had been presented to the American Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Union by a Scottish ship-owner, was dedicated and 
 sent forth to carry the Gospel message to the many islands 
 scattered through the Inland Sea. With great liberality 
 the Japanese government has given the requisite permits 
 to this little vessel, whose log is an interesting record of 
 visits to places that had hitherto been untouched by the 
 Gospel, but whose inhabitants give a hearty welcome 
 to those who are now bringing it to them. 
 
 8. Christian charities are to an increased extent gaining 
 the support of non-Christians, except that lately the out- 
 break of the war has somewhat lessened the stream of 
 contributions. Among new enterprises under Christian 
 direction are rescue homes, homes for factory girls, and 
 boarding-houses for students. In 1903, Mr. Ishii, the 
 founder of the Okayama Orphan Asylum, was decorated 
 with the " Blue Ribbon " as a sign of Imperial appreci- 
 ation of his work ; while in June, 1904, their Imperial 
 Highnesses, the Emperor and Empress, presented the 
 asylum with a gift of 2,000 yen ($1,000). Such a recog- 
 nition has deep significance in a country like Japan. 
 
 9. Christian Scriptures and Books. — In the period 
 of reaction which preceded that now under review the 
 sale of Christian books sank to a low ebb. This condition 
 no longer exists. In 1898 the cash received by the Bible 
 Societies from the sale of Scriptures amounted to 4,874 
 yen ($2,437). Previous to that the largest sum for one 
 year was 8,078 yen in 1888. In 1903 the sales reached 
 13,622 yen. Other Christian books are in demand, and 
 there has been much literary activity. The books now 
 published are for the most part productions of the Japan- 
 ese themselves. This change from the time when nearly 
 everything was prepared by the missionary or under his 
 direction cannot but be regarded as a cause for rejoicing. 
 In 1900 one of the leading journals of Osaka offered a 
 prize for a novel to be published in its columns. The one 
 that was accepted was an out-and-out Christian story 
 containing quotations from the Bible, giving accounts
 
 134 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 l 
 
 of Christian meetings, and winning the sympathy of its 
 readers for the heroine whose religous faith enabled her 
 to endure the trials to which she was subjected. The 
 story proved very popular, and when republished in book 
 form, its cover adorned with a cross, it had a large sale. 
 Other Christian novels have had similar success, and it 
 is easy to see that a story, like a verse, " may find him 
 who a sermon flees," and do more than learned apologetics 
 to overcome prejudice. 
 
 io. The influence of Christianity upon literature is to 
 be seen outside of the writings of believers. Neivspapers 
 and magazines have frequent references to Christian doc- 
 trines. It is not uncommon to find scriptural quotations 
 or religous phrases which show that Christian ideas, 
 though not always recognized as such, are finding their 
 way into the minds of the people and affecting even their 
 vocabulary. 
 
 ii. Sending out Japanese Missionaries. — The Board of 
 Missions connected with the Church of Christ in Japan, 
 made up of Presbyterian bodies, has sent several evangel- 
 ists to Formosa. In 1904 it sent two to China, one for 
 work among the Japanese residents, and the other for 
 that among the Chinese. The same year the Missionary 
 Society of the Kumi-ai Churches — Congregationalist — 
 sent an evangelist to Korea. Thus we have these two 
 societies commencing at about the same time the first for- 
 eign missionary enterprises undertaken by the Japanese 
 at their own expense. Several Japanese evangelists under 
 the direction of the Hawaiian Board are at work for their 
 countrymen who are living in Hawaii. 
 
 12. Visits of Occidental Workers. — Fresh impetus has 
 from time to time been given to different departments of 
 Christian effort bv the visits of such men as Mr. J. R. 
 Mott and Drs. F. E. Clark, R. A. Torrey, G. F. Pente- 
 cost, and C. C. Hall. The last came directly after his 
 visit to India as the Haskell Lecturer. It is very desira- 
 ble to have the scope of that lectureship extended so as 
 to include Japan, or to have a similar one founded for 
 the benefit of the latter country. 
 
 13. Temperance Efforts. — The National Temperance 
 League and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union 
 have carried on vigorous movements in favor of various
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 135 
 
 moral reforms. Through the efforts of a Christian mem- 
 ber of the Diet a law was enacted prohibiting the use of 
 tobacco by minors. A bill interdicting the sale to them 
 of intoxicating liquors was carried in the Lower House, 
 but, very unfortunately, it failed to reach a vote in the 
 Upper House. 
 
 14. Discouraging Factors. — Though the past five years 
 have seen so much that is encouraging, it must not be 
 thought that there is nothing on the other side. There 
 has not yet been a full recovery from the chill experi- 
 enced by the churches in the period of reaction. There 
 is not the evangelizing zeal of earlier days, nor so high 
 a standard of Christian living. The number of candidates 
 for the ministry is small, though of late there is improve- 
 ment in this respect. In some districts there is still con- 
 siderable open opposition to Christianity. Occasionally 
 there have been attempts to break up meetings by violent 
 means. Believers have often been subjected to persecu- 
 tion by relatives and friends. 
 
 15. The Russian War. — At the outbreak of the war 
 with Russia, there was an attempt on the part of some to 
 excite religious animosity. The Russo-Greek Church was 
 naturally the one most exposed to attack, but the wise 
 attitude of Bishop Nicolai, who at the request of his 
 followers decided to remain in the country, gained the 
 approval of all right-thinking people. The Prime Minis- 
 ter, who at that time also held the portfolio of Home 
 Affairs, sent out a special instruction in which, after say- 
 ing that no enmity nor rudeness should be shown toward 
 individual subjects of Russia, he continued: "Especially 
 as to religion, of whatever denomination they may be, it 
 is our fixed and unchanging principle to regard them all 
 equally and impartially. Those who are engaged in the 
 propagation of religious teaching should pay especial 
 attention to this point of the greatest consequence, and 
 those who occupy the position of high priest should now 
 earnestly admonish the evangelists and teachers under 
 their jurisdiction never to mislead the people so as to 
 inspire them with false and wrong ideas." In May a 
 mass-meeting was held in Tokyo to emphasize the view 
 that the war was not to be considered in any way as a 
 conflict between religions. There were addresses or let-
 
 I36 JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION 
 
 ters from prominent Shintoists, Buddhists, Greek Catho- 
 lics, Roman Catholics, and Protestants. 
 
 In many ways the war interferes with the regular work 
 of the churches. The calling in of the reserves has de- 
 prived some churches of their leading supporters and in 
 a few cases of their pastors. The financial stress and the 
 call for contributions to causes connected with the war 
 has affected the regular benevolences. 
 
 On the other hand, the sobered feelings of the people 
 have made them more ready than before to consider 
 religious matters, and in most places the opportunities 
 for work seem unusually good. Ways have been found 
 to help soldiers on their way to the front and those who 
 are brought back sick or wounded. The portions of 
 Scripture given to the soldiers and sailors are numbered 
 by the hundreds of thousands. The government has 
 given its approval to arrangements for sending several 
 Christian workers to the army; but, as has been the case 
 with newspaper correspondents, the military authorities 
 have constantly postponed the time when they shall be 
 allowed to go to the seat of war. As the present conflict 
 is with a Christian nation, the death-blow is given to the 
 old accusation that in such a case Japanese believers would 
 prove traitors. Rear Admiral Uryu, who won the first 
 victory in this war, is a Christian ; in both army and navy 
 other believers are fighting bravely for their country. It 
 is said that in 1900 about three per cent, of the army offi- 
 cers were Christians, and the proportion is now probably 
 larger rather than smaller. 
 
 The war! Its dark clouds close about us as we try to 
 peer into the future and to think what the next five years 
 hold in store. Whatever the end of this terrible con- 
 flict may be, it cannot fail to have tremendous effects 
 upon Japan, Korea, and China : 
 
 " But Heaven hath a hand in these events, 
 To whose high will we bound our calm contents."
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 Formosa. — Although it has not seemed advisable to 
 treat of Formosa in the body of the text-book, a few 
 words about this recent addition to the Empire of Japan 
 may here find a place. 
 
 The name Formosa is a Portuguese word meaning 
 " Beautiful." By the Chinese and Japanese it is called 
 Taiwan (" Terraced Harbor "). The island itself is sep- 
 arated from China by the Formosa Channel, which, in 
 its narrowest place, has a breadth of eighty miles. It is 
 250 miles long and has an average breadth of fifty miles. 
 The Tropic of Cancer passes through it near the centre. 
 The interior of the island is occupied by high mountain 
 ranges extending north and south. On the western side 
 there are plains between the sea and the mountains ; the 
 eastern side is more precipitous. The climate is very 
 damp and trying to foreigners. Malarial fever abounds. 
 As in Japan, there are frequent earthquakes and typhoons. 
 
 The Portuguese settled there in 1590. They were fol- 
 lowed by the Dutch and Spaniards, who quarrelled for 
 its possession. The Dutch, who drove out the Spaniards, 
 were in their turn expelled by Chinese pirates. In 1683 
 Formosa was made a part of the Chinese Empire. The 
 aborigines were of Malay origin. Though many of them 
 submitted to the Chinese and adopted their civilization, 
 the mountain tribes have never yielded, but retain their 
 savage habits. They are head-hunters, desiring to gain 
 the heads of their enemies as ornaments for their huts. 
 They lie in wait for the Chinese and also for members 
 of those tribes that have yielded to the Chinese. 
 
 When some of these savages attacked sailors from 
 Japan, that country demanded that they be punished by 
 the Chinese Government; and, since the latter did noth- 
 ing, Japan, in 1874, sent an expedition which invaded 
 
 137
 
 138 APPENDIX A 
 
 the eastern part of the island, but withdrew when China 
 at last came to terms. In 1895, as one result of the war 
 between China and Japan, Formosa was ceded to the 
 latter country, which is now engaged in the difficult task 
 of tranquillizing and developing the island. 
 
 Missionary work in the southern part of Formosa was 
 begun in 1865 by the Presbyterian Church of England, 
 and in 1872 the Presbyterian Church of Canada estab- 
 lished a mission in the northern part of the island. Among 
 the Japanese who have gone to Formosa since its annexa- 
 tion are Christians, who have to some extent joined forces 
 with the believers that they found in the island. Some 
 evangelists have been sent from Japan, with the hope that 
 they may find opportunities to labor, not only among the 
 new immigrants, but also among the native Formosans. 
 
 The Canadian Presbyterians, under the energetic lead- 
 ership of Dr. G. L. Mackay, have done a remarkable and 
 very thrilling work. While for intervals others were 
 associated with him, the work is substantially his. Rev. 
 W. Gauld and Rev. Thurlow Fraser, M.A., succeeded 
 him and are at present in charge. There are at present 
 2,037 communicants in sixty stations with fifty-six native 
 agents. There are in Oxford College forty students pre- 
 paring for Christian work. The hospital has been inter- 
 rupted because of Japanese regulations, but its work will 
 be resumed. Day schools have also discontinued because 
 of Japanese regulations. The Girls' School is about to be 
 organized upon a different basis, having been hitherto 
 simply an auxiliary of Oxford College. 
 
 The English Presbyterians, who had been on the island 
 seven years when Dr. Mackay arrived, have naturally 
 accomplished, with their force of nine men and an equal 
 number of women, an even larger work. They occupied 
 in 1903 three stations and sixty-six out-stations; they 
 employed seventy-one assistants; in their two high 
 schools and the theological college they had 152 students; 
 in their four hospitals they treated 18,801 patients ; and 
 2,553 communicants were in their churches. All things 
 considered, Formosa is a remarkably fruitful field.
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 A Select Bibliography — So many books have been 
 written upon Japan that their mere names would fill a 
 good-sized volume. The following list is intended to 
 give only such works as are likely to prove most useful 
 to those for whom the present text-book is intended. 
 
 Griffis, W. E.: The Mikado's Empire. (1896.) 
 
 Though this book was published more than twenty years ago, there 
 is perhaps no other so well fitted for the use of the general reader who 
 wishes a single book that covers nearly all points connected with the 
 subject. By adding supplementary chapters to later editions, the 
 author has kept the book up to the times. 
 
 Griffis, W. E.: Japan, in its History, Folk-lore, and Art. (1894.) 
 A small volume, written for young people. 
 
 Rein, J. J.: Japan. (1884-88.) 
 
 Rein, J. J.: The Industries of Japan. (1889.) 
 
 These two books by Dr. Rein, though not written in an interesting 
 style, are packed full of information such as cannot readily be found 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Chamberlain, B. H.: Things Japanese. (1891.) 
 
 A dictionary full of information, written in an interesting style, an- 
 swering the many miscellaneous questions that are constantly being 
 asked, and giving references to other books where more detailed state- 
 ments can be found. 
 
 Murray, D.: The Story of Japan. (In "Stories of the Nations " series, 
 1894.) 
 
 Hawkes, F. L.: Narrative of the Expedition under Commodore M. C. 
 Perry. (1856.) 
 This work, in three volumes, published by the United States Govern- 
 ment, gives an account of Commodore Perry's Expedition and also 
 several scientific papers. There is an abridgment in one volume. 
 
 Adams, F. O.: The History of Japan — to 1871. 2 vols. (1875.) 
 
 Black, J. R. : Young Japan, 1858-79. 2 vols. (1880-81.) 
 
 Norman, H.: The Real Japan. (1895.) 
 
 139
 
 140 
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Japan. (Ed. 1896.) 
 
 Indispensable for travellers, and containing much general information. 
 
 Shigemi, S.: A Japanese Boy. (1890.) 
 Describes home life, etc. 
 
 Bacon, A. M.: Japanese Girls and Women. (1891.) 
 
 Tamura, N.: The Japanese Bride. (1893.) 
 
 Miss Bacon's book pictures chiefly the brighter side of woman 1 * 
 life ; Mr. Tamura gives glimpses of the other side. 
 
 Aston, W. G.: A History of Japanese Literature. (1899.) 
 
 Mitford, A. B. F.: Tales of Old Japan. (1890.) 
 
 These old stories throw much light on ancient life and customs. 
 
 Huish, M. B.: Japan and its Art. (1888.) 
 
 In large libraries expensive books on Japanese art, adorned with 
 magnificent plates, can be found ; but this little book has been pro- 
 nounced by competent judges to be one of the best upon the subject. 
 
 Hearn, L.: Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan. 2 vols. (1894.) 
 
 Hearn, L.: Kokoro. (1896.) 
 
 Hearn, L.: Out of the East. (1895.) 
 
 Hearn, L.; Gleanings in Buddha Fields. (1897.) 
 
 Mr. Hearn embraces every opportunity to say unpleasant things 
 about missions and Christianity. He praises Buddhism and Japan in 
 extravagant terms. His essays suggest subjects for study, though his 
 descriptions are one-sided and his conclusions need to be closely scru- 
 tinized before acceptance by others. 
 
 Bird, I. L.: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. 2 vols. (1881.) 
 
 Tristram, H. B.: Rambles in Japan. (1895.) 
 
 Bickersteth, M.: Japan as We Saw It. (1893.) 
 
 The last three books, selected from many accounts written by travel- 
 lers, show the impressions made upon those who visit the country for a 
 limited time. The writers are in sympathy with missions and tell 
 something of what they saw of their work. 
 
 Griffis, W. E.: The Religions of Japan. (1895.) 
 
 Atkinson, J. L.: Prince Siddartha. (1893.) 
 
 This gives the story of the founder of Buddhism as it is told in Japan. 
 
 Casarteli.1: The Catholic Church in Japan. (1897.) 
 
 This little pamphlet, published for twopence in London by the 
 Catholic Truth Society, gives a succinct account of the work of three 
 centuries ago as well as of that in modern times. 
 
 Coleridge, H. T.: Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier. 2 vols. 
 (1872-73.) 
 
 Ritter, H.: A History of Protestant Missions in Japan. (1898.) 
 This invaluable book of reference biings together such accounts of 
 the work of different missions as could not easily be found elsewhere.
 
 APPENDIX B 141 
 
 Peery, R. B.: The Gist of Japan. (1897.) 
 
 Gordon, M. L.: An American Missionary in Japan. (1893.) 
 
 These last two works supplement each other. Though to some ex- 
 tent covering the same ground, the former treats chiefly of Japan as a 
 mission field and considers various problems connected with the work ; 
 while the latter describes the every-day experiences of the missionary 
 and relates many incidents connected with missionaries and native 
 Christians. 
 
 Hardy, A. S.: The Life of Joseph Neesima. (1891.) 
 
 Davis, J. D.: A Maker of New Japan. (1894J 
 
 Both of these books are biographies of Dr. Neesima. The former 
 gives the fuller account of various events in the life of its subject ; 
 while the latter tells more of his religious life and work. 
 
 Uchimura, K.: The Diary of a Japanese Convert. (1895.) 
 
 Batchelor, J.: The Ainu of Japan. (1892.) 
 
 No other man knows so much about the Ainu as this missionary 
 who has lived among them and zealously labored for their welfare. 
 
 Campbell, W. : Missionary Success in Formosa. (1889.) 
 
 MacKay, G. L.: From Far Formosa. (1895.) 
 
 Brinkley, F.: Japan and China. 12 vols. (1903.) 
 
 A most excellent work. First eight volumes deal with Japan. 
 
 Clement, E. W.: A Handbook of Modern Japan. (1903.) 
 
 Highly recommended as giving recent and reliable information. 
 
 Griefis, W. E.: Verbeck of Japan. (1900.) 
 
 Griffis, W. E.: A Maker of the New Orient, Samuel Roberts Brown. 
 (1902.) 
 
 These two books by Dr. Griffis give in addition to the biographies of 
 two prominent missionaries, much information about Japan. 
 
 Gulick, S. L.: Evolution of the Japanese. (1903.) 
 
 A sympathetic and interesting account of Japanese characteristics, 
 with an attempt to interpret them in the light of social science. 
 
 Murdoch, J., and Yamagata, I.: A History of Japan during the Century 
 of Early Foreign Intercourse, 1 542-1 651. (1903.) 
 Mainly devoted to early Roman Catholic missions. 
 
 Proceedings of the General Conference of Protestant Missions in Japan, 
 Tokyo, 1900. 
 Contains much historical and other valuable matter. 
 
 The Christian Movement in its Relation to the New Life of Japan. 
 
 Published annually by the Committee of Co-operating Missions. In 
 it can be found the latest information. 
 
 Those who have access to large libraries will find in the Transactions of the Asiatic 
 Society of Japan, and in those of the Japan Society (London)- mines of information upon 
 various points.
 
 142 
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
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 ANALYTICAL INDEX 
 
 Besides indicating the location of important topics, this Index is also 
 intended for use in preparing the various studies. Having read over its 
 analytical outline before taking up each chapter, the student sees exactly 
 what ground is covered by the section to be mastered. So, too, after 
 having studied the chapter, its outline can again be used in lieu of 
 questions put by a teacher, thus enabling the student to see what topics 
 have been forgotten. The numerals following each topic and sub-topic 
 refer to the pages where they may be found. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 
 
 [Study I.] 
 
 I. The name, i. 
 II. Situation, i, 2. 
 
 1. Islands included, 1. 
 
 2. Latitudes and longitudes compared, 1, 2. 
 
 3. Distance from Asia, 2. 
 ill. Area, 2. 
 
 1. Compared with known areas, 2. 
 
 2. Comparative statement of different sections of the empire, 2. 
 
 3. Hondo, 2. 
 
 IV. Physical features, 2-4. 
 
 1. Mountains, 2, 3. 
 
 (1) Mt. Fuji, 2, 3. (2) Volcanoes, 3. 
 
 2. Rivers, 3. 
 
 (1) Bridge problem, 3. (2) Embankments, 3. 
 
 3. Lakes, 3, 4. 
 
 (1) Their beauty, 3, 4. (2) Lake Biwa, 4. 
 
 4. The coast-line, 4. 
 V. Climate, 4, 5. 
 
 1. Temperature, 4. 
 
 2. Dampness, 4, 5. 
 
 3. Lack of ozone, 5. 
 
 4. High winds, 5. 
 
 5. Effect on health, 5. 
 
 VI. Seismic disturbances, 6. 
 VII. Productions, 6-10. 
 
 1. Minerals, 6. 
 
 2. Agricultural wealth, 6-8. 
 
 (1) System of irrigation, 6, 7. (2) Rice culture, 7. (3) Droughts, 7. (4) 
 Vegetables, 7. (5) Silk and tea, 7. (6) Fruits, 8. 
 
 3. Trees and Flowers, 8, 9. 
 
 (1) Timber trees, 8. (2) Blossoms and flowers, 8. (3) The bamboo, 8, 9. 
 
 4. Animals, 9. 
 
 (1) Fox and badger possession, 9. (2) Domestic animals, 9. 
 
 5. Birds, 9, 10. 
 
 6. Marine products, 10. 
 
 7. Insects, 10. 
 
 (1) A delight to the eye, 10. (2) Others a source of discomfort, 10. 
 VIII. Population and gradations in society, 10, 11. 
 IX. Important cities, 11-16. 
 1. Kyoto, 11, 12, 
 
 (1) Described, 11. (2) Its fortunes since 1868, 11, 12. (3) Its religious life, 12. 
 
 I44
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX 1 45 
 
 *. Tokyo, 12, 13. 
 
 (1) Its founder; 12. (2) Description, 12, 13. (3) Japan's educational cen- 
 tre, «3- 
 
 3. Yokohama, 13. 
 
 (1) Its growth, 13. (2) European section, 13, 
 
 4. Osaka, 13, 14. 
 
 (1) Its appearance, 13, 14. (2) Industrial and social interest, 14. 
 
 5. Kobe, 14, 15. 
 
 6. Nagasaki, 15. 
 
 7. Hakodate, 15. 
 
 8. Niigata. " Open ports,'' 15, 16. 
 
 9. Other cities, 16. 
 
 (1) Sapporo, 16. (2) Sendai, 16. (3) Nikko, 16. (4) Nagoya, 16. (5) 
 " Castle-towns " and their relation to missions, 16. 
 X. Means of communication, 16-18. 
 
 1. Steamers, sailing vessels, and boats, 16, 17. 
 
 2. Railroads, 17. 
 
 3. Other methods of travel, 17. 
 
 (1) The kago, 17. (2) Jinrikishas, 17. 
 
 4. Posts and telegTaphs, 17, 18. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN 
 
 [Study II.] 
 
 I, The origin of the Japanese, 19. 
 1. Two types, 19. 
 
 3. Two streams of immigrations, 19. 
 II. The Ainu, 19, 20. 
 
 III. Possible relation between the Japanese and the American Indians, 3a 
 
 IV. Physical characteristics of the Japanese, 20, 31. 
 V. Mental characteristics, 21-25. 
 
 1. Intelligence, 21. 
 
 2. Cheerfulness, 21. 
 
 j. Inventive power, 21. 
 
 4. Lack of steadfastness of purpose, 21, 22. 
 
 5. Changeableness, 22. 
 
 6. "Greatness in little things, littleness in great things," 22, 33. 
 
 7. Appreciation of beauty, 23. 
 
 8. Hero-worship, 23. 
 
 9. Sentimental temperament, 23, 24. 
 
 10. Dull sense of individual responsibility, 24. 
 xi. Comparison with the Chinese, 24, 25. 
 VI. Japanese standards of morality, 25-31. 
 
 1. Ideas concerning loyalty and patriotism, 25, 26. 
 
 2. Ideas concerning filial piety, 26—28. 
 
 (1) Family honor, 26, 27. (2) Necessity for family continuity, 27. (3) Evils 
 due to such views, 27, 28. 
 
 3. Ideas concerning propriety and etiquette, 38. 
 
 4. Ideas concerning truthfulness, 28, 29. 
 
 5. Ideas concerning honesty, 29. 
 
 6. Ideas concerning temperance, 29, 30. 
 
 (1) Sak6 drinking, 29, 30. (2) Tobacco, 30. 
 
 7. Ideas concerning chastity, 30, 31. 
 
 (1) Lacking largely, 30. (2) Improvement, 30, 31. 
 VII. The position of woman, 31, 32. 
 
 1. High in comparison with other Orientals, 31. 
 
 2. As described in " The Great Learning for Women," 31, 33. 
 
 3. Divorce and reasons therefor, 32. 
 
 4. Influence of Western ideas, 32. 
 VIII. Classes of society, 32, 33. 
 
 1. The different classes described, 32, 33. 
 
 2. The daimyos and samurai, 33. 
 IX. The language, 33, 34. 
 
 1. Dependence of Japanese on Chinese characters, 33, 34. 
 
 2. These idiographs a great burden, 34. 
 
 3. Solution of the difficulty, 34,
 
 I46 ANALYTICAL INDEX 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 JAPAN IN PAST TIMES 
 
 [Study III.] 
 
 I. Alleged antiquity of the Imperial dynasty, 35. 
 
 1. Japanese views, 35. 
 
 2. Foreign beliefs, 35. 
 II. Ancient literature, 35, 36. 
 
 1. Early works, 35, 36. 
 
 2. Authority for later history, 36. 
 
 III. Early traditions, 36, 37. 
 
 1. The earliest ones, 36. 
 
 2. Later traditions, 36, 37. 
 
 IV. Historical events, 37-39. 
 
 1. Important changes, 37. 
 
 2. Rise of the feudal system, 37, 38. 
 
 3. Rise of the Shogunate, 38. 
 
 4. Noted military rulers, 39. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 
 
 J. Shintoism, 40-14. 
 
 1. Meaning of the name, 40. 
 
 2. General description, 40. 
 
 3. Mythology, 40, 41. 
 
 (1) Izanagi and Izanami, 40, 41. (2) Sun-goddess and Emperor, 41. 
 
 4. Objects of worship, 41, 42. 
 
 (1) Mentioned, 40. (2) Their worship, 41, 42. 
 
 5. " The Revival of Pure Shinto," 42. 
 
 6. Shinto shrines, 42, 43. 
 
 (1) Shinto architecture, 42, 43. (2) Mirror and gohei, 43. 
 
 7. Priests and worshippers, 43, 44. 
 
 8. Is Shintoism a religion? 44. 
 
 (1) View of the educated, 44. (2) Of the masses, 44. 
 II. Buddhism, 44-48. 
 
 1. Introduction into Japan, 44. 
 
 2. Doctrines, 44, 45. 
 
 (1) Differences, 44, 45. (2) Some common views, 45. 
 
 3. The Shin sect, 45, 46. 
 
 (1) Beliefs common to other sects, 45. (2) Shln-shu way of salvation, 46, 
 (3) Three points of belief, 46. 
 
 4. Buddhist temples, 46, 47. 
 
 5. Buddhist priests, 47, 48. 
 
 6. Persecution by Buddhists, 48. 
 
 (1) Of olher sects, 48. (2) Of Christians, 48. 
 
 III. Confucianism, 48, 49. 
 
 IV. Other religious systems, 49, 50. 
 j. Kurozumi, 49, 50. 
 
 (1) His experience, 49. (2) Sect characteristics, 49, 50. 
 a. Tenrikyo, 50. 
 
 (1) Origin and character, 50. (2) Its propagation, 50. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 JESUIT MISSIONS 
 
 [Study IV.] 
 
 I. Europeans become acquainted with Japan, 51. 
 II. The missionaries, 51-53. 
 
 1. Xavier, 51, 52. 
 
 (1) Reason for entering Japan, 51, 52. (2> His work there, 53. 
 
 2. Xavier's successors, 52, 53. 
 
 III. Conditions that aided the Jesuits, 53, 54. 
 
 1. Religious, 53. 
 
 2. Political, 53, 54. 
 
 IV. Persecution of the Christians, 54-57. 
 1. By Hideyoshi, 54.
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX 147 
 
 2. By Ieyasu, 54, 55. 
 
 (1) Its rise, 54, 55. (2) Sufferings of the martyrs, 55. 
 
 3. Revolt of the Christians, 55, 56. 
 
 4. Christianity not wholly destroyed, 56, 57. 
 
 (1) Dr. Gnffis's statement, 56. (2) Christianity not stamped out, 56, 57. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE LOCKING AND THE UNLOCKING 
 
 I. A closed nation, 58, 59. 
 
 1. Results of foreign intercourse; 58. 
 
 2. The doors closed, 58. 
 
 3. The Dutch merchants, 58, 59. 
 
 (1) Their limitations, 58, 59. (2) Why allowed to remain, 59. 
 II. Attempts to open Japan, 59, 60. 
 
 1. Various efforts, 59. 
 
 2. Return of wrecked sailors, 59, 60. 
 III. The opening, 60-62. 
 
 1. The American Expedition, 60. 
 
 (1) Perry's first visit, 60. (2) American treaty, 60. 
 
 2. Treaties with European nations, 60, 61. 
 
 3. The treaties of 1858, 61. 
 
 4. Attacks upon foreigners, 61. 
 
 5. Bombardment of Kagoshima and Shimonoseki, 61, 62. 
 
 6. The Emperor ratifies the treaties, 62. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE REVOLUTION 
 
 I. What it was, 63. 
 II. Its progress, 63-66. 
 
 1. Preparatory agitation, 63, 64. 
 
 2. Effect of the foreign treaties, 64. 
 
 3. Resignation of the Shogun, 64, 65. 
 
 4. The Emperor's oath, 65. 
 
 5. Transfer of the capital, 65. 
 
 6. The end of feudalism, 65, 66. 
 
 (1) Noble action of the daimyos, 65, 66. (2) Later fortunes of daimyos and 
 their retainers, 66. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 NEW JAPAN 
 
 [Study V.] 
 
 I. Changed attitude toward Western civilization, 67, 68. 
 
 1. Employment of foreign instructors, 67. 
 
 2. Changes introduced, 67, 68. 
 
 (1) Material changes, 67. (2) Moral reforms, 67, 68. 
 
 3. An embassy sent to the West, 68. 
 II. Later changes, 68-71. 
 
 1. Political changes, 68, 69. 
 
 (1) Transition period, 68. (2) Movement of 1877, 69. (3) Reorganizatioa 
 of 1885, 69. (4) Events of 1889, 1890, and 1898, 69. 
 
 2. Educational, material, and social changes; reaction, 69-71. 
 III. The Satsuma Rebellion, 71, 72. 
 
 1. Satsuma, 71. 
 
 2. Disaffection of the Satsuma men, 71, 72. 
 
 3. The rebellion, 72. 
 IV. War with China, 73. 
 
 x. The war, 73. 
 2. Some of its results, 73. 
 V. Revision of the treaties, 73, 74. 
 
 1. The discussion, 73, 74. 
 
 2. Action of the United States and Great Britain, 74,
 
 148 ANALYTICAL INDEX 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MODERN MISSIONS 
 
 I. Interest concerning Japan before its opening, 75-78. 
 
 A. Among Roman Catholics, 75, 76. 
 
 1. Ecclesiastical appointments, 75. 
 
 2. Sidotti, 75, 76. 
 
 3. Missionaries in Loochoo, 76. 
 
 B. Among Protestants, 76-78. 
 
 1. Contributions for work in Japan, 76, 77. 
 
 2. Dr. Bettelheim in Loochoo, 77. 
 
 3. Translation of the Scriptures, 77. 
 
 4. The American Expedition, 77, 78. 
 II. Missionary work, 78-98. 
 
 A. Roman Catholic missions, 79-82. 
 
 1. The first missionaries, 79. 
 
 2. The discovery of Christians, 79, 80. 
 
 3. Persecutions, 80, 81. 
 
 (1) Their extent, 80, 81. (2) Consequent protests, 81. 
 
 4. Later history, 81, 82. 
 
 (1) Methods of work, 81, 82. (2) Statistics, 82. 
 
 B. The Russo-Greek mission, 82, 83. 
 
 1. Bishop Nicolai, 82. 
 
 2. Russian work ; attitude toward Protestants, 82, 83. 
 
 [Study VI.] 
 
 C. Protestant missions, 83-98. 
 
 1. The first missionaries, 83. 
 
 2. Difficulties of the early years, 83, 84. 
 
 3. Opportunities for usefulness, 84. 
 
 4. A call for prayer, 85. 
 
 5. The laws against Christianity, 85. 
 
 6. Persecutions, 85, 86. 
 
 7. Removal of the edicts against Christianity, 86. 
 
 8. Increasing toleration, 86, 87. 
 
 (1) Beginnings, 86. (2) Notifications of 1884, 87. 
 
 9. Christian teachers, 87-89. 
 
 (1) E. W. Clark's experiences, 87, 88. (2) Teacher at Kumarooto, 88, 
 89. (3) President Clark's stand, 89. 
 
 10. The first converts, 89, 90. 
 
 (1) Yano Riyu, 89. (2) The Wakasa brothers and their relatives, 89, 90. 
 (3) Other early converts, 90. 
 
 11. The first church and! its constitution, 90. 
 
 12. Results to the end of 1872, 90, 91. 
 
 13. The period of popularity, 91, 92. 
 
 (1) Mori Arinori s "Religious Charter," 91. (2) Later favoring influ- 
 ences, 91, 92. 
 
 14. Opposition of the Buddhists, 92, 93. 
 
 (1) Early methods, 92. (2) Opposition by imitation, 93, 93. 
 
 15. The reaction, 93. 
 
 16. Doctrinal discussions, 93, 94. 
 
 (1) Agitation within Japan, 93, 94. (a) Part taken by Japanese students 
 educated abroad, 94. 
 
 17. The commercial spirit, 94. 
 
 18. Interference with religious liberty, 94-96. 
 
 (1) In the army, 94, 95. (2) In the lower schools, 9s. (3) In the higher 
 schools, 95, 96. 
 
 19. The Rescript on Education, 96. 
 
 30. Charges against the loyalty of Christians, 97. 
 91. Progress during the time of reaction, 97, 98. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 METHODS OP WORK 
 
 [Study VII.] 
 
 I. Study of the language, 99-101. 
 1. Its necessity, 99, 100.
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX I49 
 
 a. Methods of study, 100, 101. 
 
 (1) Teachers, ioo. (2) Indiscriminate conversation, 100. (3) A safe course, 
 
 100, 101. 
 3. Not lost time, 101. 
 II, Direct evangelistic effort, 101-106. 
 1. Sunday-schools, 102. 
 a. Preaching, 102, 103. 
 
 (ij Chapels, 102, 103. (2) Exchanges and " great-preaching-meetings," 103. 
 
 3. Itinerating, 103-105. 
 
 (1) The invitation, 103. (2) Missionary's reception, 103, 104. (3) The ser- 
 vice, 104. (4) Hotel life and work, 105. (5) Visiting out-stations, 105. 
 
 4. Work with individuals, 105. 
 
 5. The work of missionary women, 106, 
 
 III. Educational work, 106-108. 
 
 1. Theological training, 106, 107. 
 
 (1) In seminaries, 106, 107. (2) Bible women's schools, 107. 
 a. Schools of academic grade, 107. 
 
 3. Schools for girls, 108. 
 
 4. Kindergartens, 108. 
 
 5. Private classes, 108. 
 
 IV. Literary work, 109, no. 
 
 1. Translation of the Scriptures, 109. 
 
 2. Other books, 109, no. 
 
 (1) Early work, 109, no. (2) Present needs, no. 
 V. Medical work, no, in. 
 
 1. A pioneer, no. 
 
 2. Methods and results, no, in. 
 
 3. Training of nurses, m. 
 VI. Miscellaneous work, m, 112. 
 
 VII. The missionaries' relation to the Japanese churches, 112. 
 1. Different polities and resulting relations, 112. 
 a. Different views as to self-support, 112. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 [Study VIII.] 
 
 I. What has been accomplished, 113-121. 
 
 1. The gathering of the forces, 113, 114. 
 
 (1) Statistics for 1903, 113. (2) Are more missionaries needed ? 113, 114. 
 
 2. Relations between different missions, 114, 115. 
 
 (1) Evils of many societies exaggerated, 114. (2) Evidences of unity of 
 various Christian bodies, 114, 115. 
 
 3. Assertions that missions accomplish little, 115, 116. 
 
 (1) Sources of such assertions, 115. (2) Some specific cases, 113, 116. 
 
 4. Converts, 116, 117. 
 
 (1) Converts not rice-Christians, 116. (2) Some conspicuous examples, 117. 
 (3) What is not claimed, 117. 
 
 5. Successful work among the Ainu, 117. 
 
 6. Philanthropy, 118-120. 
 
 (1) Work of Mr. Ishii and Mr. Hara, 118, no. (2) Statisticsof philanthropy, 
 119. (3) Orphan asylums, 119. (4) Other philanthropies, 119, 120. 
 
 7. Reforms, 120. 
 
 (1) Temperance, 120. (2) Licensed prostitution, 120. (3) Problems of 
 manufacturing system, 120. 
 
 8. Only a beginning has been made, 120, 121. 
 
 II. The present religious condition of Japan, 121, 122. 
 I. The weakening of the old religions, 121. 
 
 (1) Condition of educated youth, 121. (2) Status of old religions, 121. 
 a. Statistics of student beliefs, 121, 122. 
 3. Seeking a religion, 122. 
 
 III. America's responsibility, 122, 123. 
 
 IV. Japan's influence upon Asia, 123.
 
 150 ANALYTICAL INDEX 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 
 
 [Study IX.] 
 
 I. Recent political events, 124-126. 
 
 1. The year 1899 epoch-making, 124. 
 
 2. Japanese influence in China since 1000, 124, 125. 
 
 3. British and Japanese Alliance of 1902, 125. 
 
 4. Japan's war with Russia, 125, 126. 
 
 5. Extension of the franchise; Cabinet vs. Lower House, 126. 
 H. Social Progress, 126-129. 
 
 1. Effect of Occidental travel, 126. 
 
 2. Influence of Western literature, 126, 127. 
 
 3. Interest in woman's education, 127. 
 
 4. Problems connected with labor, 127, 128. 
 
 5. Gifts for charitable purposes, 128. 
 
 6. Reformers and the social evil, 128, 129. 
 III. Shintoism and Buddhism, 129, 130. 
 
 1. Shintoism not a religion, 129. 
 
 2. The "Reformed Buddhism" movement, 129, 130. 
 
 3. Bill for the regulation of religious organizations, 130. 
 
 IV. Progress of Christianity since 1900, 130-T36. 
 
 1. Increase in the number of missionaries, 130. 
 
 2. The Standing Committee of Co-operating Christian Missions, 130, 131. 
 
 3. Special union evangelistic services, 131. 
 
 4. Right to hold real estate, 131. 
 
 5. Work of the Young Men's Christian Association, 131, 132. 
 
 6. Legislation affecting Christian schools, 132, 133. 
 
 7. A Gospel schooner, 133. 
 
 8. Christian charities, 133. 
 
 9. Christian Scriptures and books, 133, 134. 
 
 10. Newspapers and periodicals aid Christianity, 134. 
 
 11. The sending forth of Japanese missionaries, 134. 
 
 12. The visits of Occidental workers, 134. 
 
 13. Temperance efforts, 134, 135. 
 
 14. Some discouraging factors, 135. 
 
 15. The war with Russia and missions, 135, 136. 
 
 (1) Effect on the Greek Church. (2) Interferes with work. (3) Opportu 
 nities which it furnishes. (4) The war and the Far East.
 
 THE PRONUNCIATION OF JAPANESE 
 WORDS 
 
 /HE following general rules will suffice to give approximately the 
 pronunciation of the Japanese words used in this volume. 
 
 Each syllable ends with a vowel or with the letter n (sometimes 
 changing to m in the middle of a word). A seeming exception is when 
 the system of transliteration gives a doubled consonant in the middle of 
 a word. In that case each letter is pronounced, the first being joined to 
 the preceding vowel. 
 
 Consonants have nearly the same sound as in English. Ch is pro- 
 nounced as in child. G is always hard : in some parts of Japan it is 
 pronounced like ng. 
 
 A as in father. 
 
 E like ey in they. In some monosyllables, and sometimes at the end 
 of a word, it is shortened so as to be nearly like e in then. Thus the 
 name of one of the prominent cities is pronounced Ko-be rather than 
 Ko-bay. 
 
 /as in machine. 
 
 O as in note. 
 
 U like oo in boot. At the end of words of more than one syllable it 
 is often nearly inaudible ; and it is frequently elided in the middle of a 
 word. 
 
 Japanese words are nearly if not quite without accent. 
 
 151
 
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