(By "Student.")
"How patient we were during the protracted and tedious negotiations with Russia all the world knows. The war is not the result of any racial hatred, or of the spirit of revenge, or of aggressive designs. Having been forced upon us, not sought by us, it is purely defensive. When the war is concluded the whole world will be surprised to see, as after the war with China, that not a trace of enmity or any ill-feeling exists towards our temporary enemy. Not even towards the Russians shall we cease to possess the feeling of amity, which comes from confidence in our own strength, and from the fact that through 2,500 years of our history we have never known a defeat; and as in the past, so in the future, it will be our sole guide in our efforts to attain a high stage of Western civilisation!" (Count Okuma, "The New Japan, in "The Monthly Review," Aug., 1904.)
As to the killing of the Portuguese missionaries, he says: "Although the object of the pioneer of the mission, St. Francis Xavier, was to preach the gospel of Christ, that of those who followed him was by no means to spread the doctrine of Christianity, but to absorb our country by a series of most treacherous intrigues. However well disposed we were towards them at first, however willing we were to listen to things consonant to nature and reason, we could not tolerate that foreign intriguers should appropriate even an inch of our territory, and hence the wholesale massacre and expulsion."
He further says : "Had the Portuguese missionaries confined their energy to religious enterprises only, Japan would easily have been transformed into a Christian country, with a sect of her own for a few years' exertion by Xavier and his followers succeeded in making more than a million converts, including several of the feudal lords and their retainers a most wonderful achievement when we take into consideration the population of the country in those days." "But the pioneers of the Portuguese mission had not only absolute immunity from persecution or interference, but their religion was eagerly taken up by every class of the population and he quotes Xavier's own words in a letter to the Christian Society at Goa to the effect that the Japanese people "surpasses in goodness any of the nations ever discovered. They are of a kindly disposition, wonderfully desirous of honour, which is placed above everything else. They listen with great avidity to discourse about God and divine things."
There is another article entitled "How Japan reformed herself," by O. Eltzbacrer, in the "Nineteenth Century" for July, 1906.
The Japanese were a "politically highly organised, well-ordered, and therefore a highly cultured people centuries before the time of Alexander the Great." The first census was taken in 86 B.C., and in 645 the Emperor ordered that it should be taken every six years, whereas the first census of Great Britain was taken only in 1861. The first postal service was established in the year 202. In the 7th and 8th centuries was organised the administrative system of the country, and Prince Shotoku created that spirit of Japan which combines absolute fearless-ness, patriotism, and the keenest sense of personal honour and unselfishness, unfailing courtesy, gentleness, and obedience to authority." The following are the rules laid down by the Prince during a time of disorder, and are still religiously observed:—
Concord and harmony, obedience to established principles. Disputes to be settled by arbitration.
Respect for authority.
Courtesy.
The evil to be punished, and the good rewarded. Sycophancy and dishonesty condemned.
Faith, mutual confidence between Sovereign and subject.
"Anger should be curbed, and wrath cast away. The faults of another should not cause for resentment."
To chide a fault does not prevent its repetition, nor can the censor himself be secure from error. The sure road to success is that trodden by the people in unison."
"Those in authority should never harbour hatred or jealousy of one another. Hate begets hate, and jealousy is blind."
"The imperative duty of man in his capacity of a subject is to sacrifice his private interest to the public good. Egotism forbids co-operation, and without co-operation there cannot be any great achievement."
This was written about 600 A.D., and has been taught continuously from that time. Japan, we are told, "is the only country in the world where, regardless of birth, wealth, and connections, all careers and the very highest offices in the land are open to all comers."
Japan was always ready "to learn from the foreigners all that could be learned, and to adapt, but not slavishly to copy, all that could benefit and elevate the nation."
A long period of peace had made the military class—the Samurai—neglect their training, and there was a want of unity among the people when, in 1853, the American Commodore Perry forced the Japanese to open their ports to foreigners. This roused the latent patriotism of the people, and induced the Shogun— the practical ruler—to resign his office, and place it in the hands of the Mikado, who established a liberal and constitutional government, using his added power, not for his own pleasure or profit, but for the good of his country.
And then followed one of the most extraordinary perhaps the most extraordinary acts of self-effacement and patriotism ever recorded. The nobles resolved to restore the territories which they had received from the Emperor; to abandon their titles and, under a humbler name, to receive such small properties as may suffice for their wants;" while "the officers of the class were to abandon that title, call themselves officers of the Emperor, receiving the property equal to that which they had theretofore held." Thus feudalism, which had existed in Japan for over eight centuries, voluntarily extinguished itself, and patriotism triumphed over selfish interests and the love of power."
"A feverish desire to sacrifice themselves for their country, a desire which is deeply implanted in all Japanese, took hold of the whole population, and when it was recognised that the enormous caste of Samurai, the warriors, who cost the country about £2,000,000 per annum, had no room in the modern State, patriotism found again the remedy. The army of professional soldiers, who had been taught that the sword was their sole means of earning a living, and who disdained to earn their bread by industry or trade, quietly effaced themselves, surrendered the larger part of their incomes, and, without a murmur, accepted inglorious poverty in the shape of pensions, which amounted to but a few pence per day, and which barely kept the men from starvation."
The article concludes with these words: "The individualistic nations of the West, in which the interests of the nation are only too often sacrificed to the selfish interests of the individual, where party loyalty is apt to take precedence over patriotism, where ministers, generals, and admirals are rarely appointed by merit only, where jobbery occurs even in time of war, and where everything is considered permitted that is not actually punished by law, will do well to learn from Japan's example, for it cannot be doubted that the cause of Japan's greatness and of Japan's success can be summed up in the one word —patriotism."
The Japanese have a system of morals called Bushido, meaning, as we are told, literally "Military-knight-ways," being an unwritten code originally observed by the Samurai, or knightly class, and thence permeating the lower strata. Of this system an account is given by Mr. Inazo Nitobe.
The qualities which are inculcated by Bush-id-o are rectitude or justice; courage, the spirit of daring and bearing (active and passive); benevolence, politeness, truthfulness, honour, loyalty, self-control.
I know of no code of merely secular morals more noble than this; and its result is shown in these words of the author:-" 'Is there any other more loyal and patriotic?' to a question asked by many; and for the proud answer: 'There is not,' we must thank the precepts of knighthood."
It is true, as the author says, that these high principles are often not carried out by the trading class, but he accounts for this, or at least explains it, by the fact that this class was looked upon as the lowest of all, and that, therefore, only people of an inferior kind engaged in its pursuits.
The Japanese have the reputation of being kind, gentle, good-humoured, placable, easily moved to mirth. It is said that they have no abusive words in their language. They are obedient to parents and rulers, and thoroughly amenable to discipline. They are trained to endure hardships, and to develop the highest powers of body and mind; they are singularly clean in their habits, live in houses which are always open to the air, and are simple and abstemious in their diet. We see the fruit of this discipline in the marvellous courage, endurance, and self-sacrifice which, as exhibited in the present war, have won the admiration of the whole world. In no age and in no country has there ever been a more splendid display of heroism and patriotism than that of the Japanese soldiers and sailors. This it a grand lesson to all the world. The Japanese have turned to the Western nations, and assimilated whatever they thought would be beneficial to themselves, but in return they have given a noble example of discipline, perfect organisation, fidelity to the death, and utter self-immolation for their country and their Emperor, which ought to touch a responsive chord in the hearts of every Western people.
It is astonishing how closely the conduct of our brave allies approaches the standard of Christianity. Consider the declaration of forgiveness before quoted, and the kindness and generosity with which they have treated the wounded Russians who have fallen into their hands, and the respect they have shown to their dead foe, and who will venture to deny that the spirit in which they have acted is eminently Christian? And there is reason to believe that before long they will accept the distinctive doctrines of Christianity, for we are told that Christianity is making rapid progress in Japan, and that many of its prominent men have adopted it.
There is so much that is Christian in the conduct and sentiments of the Japanese people that if they should embrace the religion their character would probably approach nearer to the ideal set forth in the New Testament than that of any nation on the face of the globe.
Some years ago they were in doubt what religion to adopt, and appointed a committee to inquire into the subject. The committee reported that, theoretically, the Christian religion was the best; but, considering how little effect it had on the lives and conduct of its professors, they recommended that their people should keep to their own religion. If the Western nations had set a better example, Japan long before, this would have accepted the faith of Christianity.
Ex oriente lux— light comes from the East. The sun, with his brightness and life-giving power, rises in the East, and thence also came forth the Sun of Righteousness; thence also came the knowledge of letters. The East had a high state of civilisation while the West was in a condition of barbarism; and it seems not unlikely that the West is destined again to receive further benefits from an Eastern source, for the example of all the manly virtues set by our brave allies can hardly fail to excite the emulation and elevate the moral standard of our own country-men. They will have to throw off their easy habits, and exert all their powers if they are not to be left behind in the race with their active and thoroughly-in-earnest competitors. If Japan should embrace Christianity as the national religion (which is increasingly probable) the one thing now lacking to complete its progress, and to make it one of the greatest moral forces in the world will have been supplied. If its system of morals already contains so large a part of practical Christianity, so much that is excellent, and if the conduct of the people under that system has been so admirable, to what height may we not expect that it will attain when the love of God to us and our duty to him is added to the precepts of Japanese chivalry?
When we compare our own practice with that of the non-Christian Japanese —our worship of amusement, of money, our lax performance of duty, the frequent complaint that our military officers, instead of giving their whole minds to their professional studies, too often try all they can to shirk them, and only consider them a bore; when we think of our dishonesty in trade, our adulterations, the little value we attach to the spoken word and refusal to abide by it unless legalised in writing, the want of reverence for parents and respect for authority, the bitter antagonism on the part of the employed towards their employers, and their desire to gain everything for themselves, and to give the least possible in exchange, utterly ignoring the fact that they have a duty to the masters as well as the masters to them; when we see the increasing laxity in the relations of the sexes; when our novels are filled with stories of illicit love (so called), often written by women; when the only aim of society people seems to be who can devote the greatest folly, and spend most money in the most idiotic ways; when, instead of striving to be content with little, our people are multiplying luxuries; when their only notion of "raising the standard of living" is that of increasing the supply of material things; when they live only for self, and for perishable enjoyments, when there is a general tendency towards materialism, and all earnestness and enthusiasm are discouraged as being "bad form", when we see all these and many other signs of decadence in our country, we cannot shut out the fear that the grand old land of our fathers may have started on a downward course, and the thought suggests itself whether Japan, when Christianised with its higher standard of duty, may not be destined to take the first place among the nations in regard to moral qualities
An article on "The Revelation of the East" in the "Contemporary Review" for August, 1904, speaking of Japan, says that "During age-long outward stagnation qualities of racial character, have been inwardly produced, which are fit to survive the shock of contact with novelty and progress, fit also to contribute as well as to receive in a new distribution of mental and moral wealth among the nations, and to be an effective factor in a new adjustment of national characters and functions and relations. The chief note of the new day, " he says, "is this of the nation of the Rising Sun, the intensification of national consciousness to the absorption of private interest, the effective control of individualism by a heightened patriotism. The rudiments of this new consciousness of the citizen have been present throughout all past history, its completion and efficiency must be a dominant factor in the age now seen in its beginning."
Japan has learnt many things of a material kind from the Western nations, but there are many others, of an immaterial kind, which she can teach them, and which, if they are wise, they will receive and procure.
When we see how far the Japanese have advanced in the practice of many of the Christian virtues, and how far we fall short of their standard, we ought to hide our heads in shame, and resolve, by God's grace, so to live that we may not bring discredit on the religion we profess, but rather show to those who have not known it an example of what Christianity in its purity is capable of being. If we are to commend our religion to other men, it must be by carrying it out in our lives, not by merely preaching its doctrines. It is wise to know the truth, but it is better still to live it.
It is a sad, but a true, confession to make, that to a large extent the so-called Christians are the real heathen, while sometimes, as in the case of the Japanese, those who are accounted heathen by the self-righteous Pharisee show more of Christianity in their practice than he with all his confidence that he is "a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness "
There are three things that have made Japan what she is, and which we ought to learn from her : —1. Intensity, which is impressed upon us by Solomon in the well-known precept, "Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might"— throw your whole soul into it. 2. Thoroughness, shown by the Japanese in the perfection of their arrangements, and (3) self-control, leading to the subordination of the feelings and desires to the claims of duty, and the promptings of the higher nature.
These things Japan has taught us by her example. Happy for us and our nation if we take the lesson to heart ere it be too late.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. 1905, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12287466
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