A Handbook of Modern Japan

by Ernest W. Clement

There are two distinct types of Japanese: the oval-faced, narrow-eyed, small aristocratic class; and the pudding-faced, full-eyed, flat-nosed, stout common people. Of these, the latter is the one claimed to be Malay. The plebeians, having always been accustomed to hard labor by the sweat of the brow, are comparatively strong; the others, having been developed by centuries of an inactive life, have inherited weak constitutions. Indeed, the people, as a whole, are subject to early maturity and early decay. There is a Japanese proverb to this effect: “At ten, a god-like child; at twenty, a clever man; from twenty-five on, an ordinary man.” And, in spite of the fact that there have been remarkable exceptions to this rule, careful investigation by Japanese supports the truth of the proverb. And yet there seems to be no doubt that modern education and conditions of life show a gradual improvement in this respect.

GROUP OF COUNTRY PEOPLE

The average Japanese, compared with the average European or American, has a lower stature[43] with a long body and short legs. A good authority states that “the average stature of Japanese men is about the same as the average stature of European women”; and that “the [Japanese] women are proportionately smaller.” Some one has wittily called the Japanese “the diamond edition of humanity.”

The Japanese also weigh much less than Europeans. The average weight of young men of twenty years of age in Europe is about 144 pounds, while the average weight of the strongest young men of the suburban districts of Tōkyō was only about 121 pounds; which gives the European an advantage of 23 pounds.

The Japanese are very quick to learn. Their minds are strong in observation, perception, and memory, and weak in logic and abstraction. As born lovers of nature, they have well-trained powers of observation and perception, so that their minds turn readily to scientific pursuits. And as the ancient Japanese system of education followed Chinese models, the power of memorizing by rote has been strongly developed, so that the Japanese mind has little difficulty in becoming a storehouse of historical and other facts. But, as the powers of reasoning and abstraction have not been well trained, the Japanese do not take so readily to mathematical problems and metaphysical theorems.

The typical Japanese is loyal, filial, respectful, obedient, faithful, kind, gentle, courteous, unselfish, generous.[44] His besetting sins are deception, intemperance, debauchery,—and these are common sins of humanity. In respect to these evils, he is unmoral rather than immoral; and in his case these sins should not be considered so heinous as in the case of one who has been taught and knows better.[45] And it is with reference to these very evils that Shintō, Buddhism, and Confucianism have been a complete failure in Japan, and that Christianity is making its impress upon the nation.

There never were distinct and rigid castes in Japan, as in Egypt and India, but formerly there were four classes in society. These were, in order, the official and military class; the agricultural class, or the farmers; the laboring class, or the artisans; and the mercantile class, or merchants. Above all these were the Emperor and the Imperial family; below all these were the tanners, grave-diggers, beggars, etc., who were the Japanese pariah, or outcasts. The first class included the court nobility, the feudal lords, and their knights; they alone were permitted to carry two swords, were exempt from taxation, and were also the special educated and literary class, because they had the most leisure for study. The other three classes together constituted the common people, who were kept in rigid subjection and bled profusely by taxes.

Under the present régime there are three general classes of the entire population of Japan: the nobility, the gentry, and the common people. The nobility, created in 1884, comprises five orders: prince, marquis, count, viscount, and baron; the gentry are the descendants of the knights (samurai) of the old first class; the common people include all the rest of the population. By the census of 1903 the nobility numbered 5,055; the gentry, 2,168,058; and the common people, 44,559,015. (These figures are exclusive of Formosa.) Even now the burden of taxation falls upon the mass of the common people, especially upon the farming class, for the land tax is the most important source of revenue in Japan.

The fundamental principle of Japanese society was, and still is, reverent obedience to superiors. This polite and humble deference is exhibited in their language and in their manners and customs, and has become so thoroughly incorporated into their natures that it even yet resists the levelling tendency of the present age. The language is full of honorifics to be applied to or concerning another, and of humilifics to be applied concerning self. I and mine are thus always ignorant, stupid, dirty, homely, insignificant, etc., while you and yours are ever intelligent, wise, clean, beautiful, noble etc. Perhaps there is nothing that causes the student of the vernacular deeper chagrin than to find that he has made so serious an error as to transpose the humble and the honorific words or phrases! The ordinary salutation is really an obeisance, as it consists of a profound bow,—on the street with body bent half forward, in the house with forehead touching the floor. This deep and universal feeling of reverence for superiors and elders early developed into worship, both of the family and of the national ancestors. This is the fundamental and central idea of Shintō, the native cult, of which more will be written in a subsequent chapter.