PREFACE
In the following pages I have depicted certain Japanese ideals and notions, as well as some historical facts which seemed likely to interest those of the sympathetic Western public who may be inclined to study the mental side of Japan.
The dialogues are founded upon actual conversations, not indeed always in exactly the same phraseology, nor under exactly the same circumstances, but something very like. The questions put into the mouths of the characters in the book are the kind of questions which are being constantly put to me, and my answers are always on the same lines; so that my readers may regard the book as a serious treatise so far as the materials are concerned. This is the reason why I have written this book in a light, conversational style, and not in the form of an ordinary critical or expository treatise. Besides, I thought that more lucidity of exposition and more penetration into the inner views could be achieved by writing in the way I have done.
The period to which these conversations relate is chiefly the summer of the present year, 1905, and the greater part of this book was written before peace was concluded, and therefore there may be occasionally some dicta which sound somewhat polemic. On that point I can request my readers to show leniency.
I have appended to the dialogues a few papers on various subjects. They deal with subjects germane to those treated in the body of the work, and it is hoped that they will afford the reader first aid in acquiring information relative to the analysis of Japanese social life which has here, however imperfectly, been attempted.
I may add a few words. In publishing this volume, I am not in the least degree actuated by a desire to exalt my country unduly,—still less to boast about her achievements. My sole object has been to show Japan as she is, and to claim Occidental sympathy to such a degree as she may deserve.
K.S.
CONTENTS
[I]
The issue of the war—Some Forecasts—English and French papers—Political situation in the summer of 1905 —Beaconsfield—Japanese fictions and their plots—Some similarities between the customs of Greece, Rome, and Japan—Love stories—A Japanese love tale—Custom of adoption—Jane Eyre and Japan—Japanese art —Japanese gardening—Full description of marriage ceremonies—Preliminary inquiries—Description of the rooms, and decorations—Butterflies—The banquet—Wedding presents—Position of the women in Japan—Japanese mothers and wives—A Samurai mother illustrated by a drama—Lays of Ancient Rome and Commandant Hirosé—Japanese notions of pardon and forgiving—Trip to Japan.
[II]
Greek inspiration—Semitic sympathy—Religion—Difference between Japanese and European chivalry—What is the Bushi?—The weakest point of a hereditary military organisation—Introduction of the new system—New commoners and the history of their emancipation—Combination of democratic ideas and conservative traditions—Old bottles and new wine—The Great Change of 1867—Napoleon—Negligence of a proper estimation—Scenery of Japan—-History of Tokio—European and Japanese method of dwelling—President Roosevelt and jiujitsu.
[III]
Japanese art and the West—Night-fêtes—Sale of flowers and plants—Singing Insects—A discussion on the moon, flowers, snow, etc.—Music of snow and rain—Lines on hailstones—A particular evening for lunar perspective—A blind scholar and his wife—The deaf, dumb, and blind of Japan—The calendar and its radical change in Japan—Calumnies on Japan, and an anonymous letter—Japanese ways of counting ages—The question of women and a lady's opinion on Japanese women—Lafcadio Hearn—Japanese names—Difficulty of distinguishing between 'L' and 'R'—Discussion on pronunciation—London and Tokio patois—Japanese nobility and the method of addressing nobility—Books on Japan—Once more on Lafcadio Hearn—Discussion on women's education—The Risen Sun.
[IV]
A talk on brackens—Eating of fruits without peeling—A pet tortoise—Remarks on languages—Discourses on jiujitsu—Comparison of jiujitsu and wrestling—Japanese art and the Kokkwa—Pictures in the Gospel—Discourse on Bushido, its history and the origin of the term—Explanation of the terms Daimio, Samurai, and Bushi—Its literature—Japanese revenge and European duel—Japanese sword—Soul of Samurai—General Stoessel and a broken sword—Discussion on Japanese social morality—Japan far cleaner than any other nation—The condition at the time of the transition—General view of the westernised Japan—Occidental vulgarity.
[V]
Some observations fit on peace prospects—Discussion on Anglo-French-Russo-Japanese entente—Russian views of the Japanese—Discussion on religion and Japan—Japan and the International Conventions—The meaning of religion—General Nogi—A high-priest on Japan and Russia—The Japanese conception of death—A quotation from an old book on Bushido—The notion of the name—Further remarks on the Russian views of the Japanese—England and America—The outbreak of the war—A wanton project of the Russian admiral restrained by the French admiral—Discussion on the Yellow Peril and Pan-Asiatic ambition—Japan not a small country—French poor in the caves—Paris by night—Sir Stamford Raffles and his appreciation of Japan ninety years ago —Patriotism and France—La France, c'est le pays de mon cœur—A romantic and tragical story—Discussion on Socialism and Japan—England and America—Discussion on the word 'Revolution'—The Great Change of Japan in 1867—Its political and social effects—A comparison with the French Revolution—Discussion on unity and continuity of authority—An anonymous pamphlet—Discussion on the relative position of the French Nationalists and Socialists with regard to Japan—French thrift.
[VI]
The age of the Japanese—Ito and Inouyé—Intermarriages—Commander Hirosé—Some abuse of the Japanese nationality—The climate of Japan—Chrysanthemums—Japanese rain—The two great currents—How Japan developed—Summer resorts of foreigners—Spring and autumn—Picnics—Sports—A letter by an American—Pastimes of the Japanese gentry—Description of the Japanese chess and the game of 'Go'—Description of Japanese cards—Poem cards—Flower cards—Pierre Loti—Public baths—An interview on common and military education in Japan—George Washington and Nelson—The cause of Russian defeats according to the wounded.
[VII]
Some talk on superstition—A remark on earrings—Japanese troops after the war; no fear of Chauvinism—Generals and officers—How the system of the hereditary military service was abolished and the new system was introduced—Its history—Japan after the war—Views given to the American press—Mr. Seppings-Wright and his views on the Japanese character—The Japanese navy and its history—Origin of the shipbuilding yards—The difficulty of a thorough reform in China and Russia—How Japan managed to bring about the consummation of the great reform—The feudal system was a great help—Explanation of the Japanese feudal system and the clans—The re-shuffling of the feudatories under the Tokugawa régime—Difference of grandeur of the feudatories—Exceptional formation of the Satsuma clan—Financial system of the Shogunate—Finance of the Imperial Government at the beginning of the Great Change—How the affairs of the governments of the feudatories were wound up—The old system of taxation—Thorough reform—The old notion of land tenure.
[VIII]
Commerce and industry—Old methods of communication—Roads and ships—How they have been improved—Railways, post, telegraphs, and telephones—Progress of the financial system—The Satsuma war—The Bank of Japan—The National banks—The monetary system one of the causes of Japan's success—Further remarks on the military reforms—Evolution of the mode of fighting—All reforms at much cost of blood and money—The cause of the Satsuma war—Saigo the Elder—Social condition of Japan to-day—Evolution of legislation—Chinese jurisprudence—The Japanese are not good correspondents—My future—An operatic singer—Japanese stages—Danjiuro and Irving—The old school and the new one—Kawakami and Sada Yakko—The opera Maritana—The end of the dream.
APPENDICES
[I.] Political Organism of Japan.
[II.] Japanese Education.
[III.] Anglo-French Diplomacy in Japan Forty Years ago.
[IV.] Sketches of some chief Figures of Actual Japan (Ito, Yamagata, Inouyé, Matsukata, Katsura, Okuma, Saionji).
[V.] An old Speech by Marquis Ito.
[VI.] The Commercial Morality of the Japanese.
[VII.] Japan and Foreign Capital.
[VIII.] The Languages of China and Japan.
[IX.] Once more on Japan and France.
[X.] Japan and Europe.
[XI.] The Indo-China Question.
[XII.] The Australian Question.
[XIII.] The Anglo-Japanese Alliance and America.
[Notes to Dialogues V. and VIII.], and to the [Paper on 'Commercial Morality].'