CHAPTER XXXVI
ANCIENT JAPAN
Wu kingdom—Name begins 585 B.C.—This is the year Japanese "history" begins—The first king and his four sons—Prince Ki- chah—War with Ts'u and sacking of its capital—King Fu-ch'ai and his wars against Yiieh—Offered an asylum in Chusan—Suicide of Fu-ch'ai—Escape of his family across the seas to Japan—China knew nothing of Japan, even if Wu did—Story reduced to its true proportions—Traces of prehistoric men in Japan—Possible movements of original inhabitants—Existing evidence better than none at all—East from Ningpo must be Japan—Like early Greeks and Egyptian colonists—Natural impulses to emigration—Refugees from China compared to Will Adams—Natural desire to improve pedigrees— No shame to Japan's ruling caste to hail from China—European comparisons—How the Japanese manufactured their past history— Imagination must be kept separate from evidence.