Religions of Japan.—There are two prevailing religions in Japan—Shintoism (The way of the gods), the indigenous faith; and Buddhism, introduced from China in 552.
The characteristics of Shintoism in its pure form are the absence of an ethical and doctrinal code, of idol-worship, of priestcraft, and of any teachings concerning a future state, and the deification of heroes, emperors, and great men, together with the worship of certain forces and objects in nature.
Of Buddhists there are no fewer than thirty-five sects. The monks have assumed the functions of priests, and Japanese Buddhist worship presents striking resemblances to that of the Roman Catholic Church. Notwithstanding the increased patronage recently bestowed upon Shintoism by the government, Buddhism is still the dominant religion among the people.
Japan is a land of temples, but many are now falling into decay, while others are turned into schoolhouses. Every grove has its shrine and torii, a structure in wood or stone, consisting of two upright pillars joined at the top by two transverse beams or slabs; metal torii are also not unknown. The Buddhist monasteries in the Japanese middle ages were undoubtedly wonderful centers of civilization, and the priests for long commanded reverence by their self-denial.
Latins, or Latini (la-tī´ni), or Romans.—The ancient Latins inhabited Latium, on the west coast of central Italy, before the existence of Rome. It would seem that they had branched off from the Aryan stem next after the Celts, and upon entering Italy soon united with the primitive Liguirians, later forming a confederation or league of which Alba Longa became the head.
Out of the Latins, [Etruscans] (which see) and Sabines (another primal stock), the Roman people were originally formed, each speaking a most marked variety of the original Italic mother-tongue. The principal element was Latin, as the language shows. The next in importance was the Sabine, and the third, in order both of time and of influence, was the Etruscan. But with the spread of the Roman arms (the Romans were Latins), all were absorbed by the Latin variety, which still lives in its modern progeny—Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Langue d’Oc (South France), Langue d’Oïl (North or Standard French), Roumanian, Walloon of Belgium, Rumansch or Ladin and Vaudois of Switzerland. Thus half of Europe has been Latinized, while the different nationalities still retain their distinctive physical and mental characters.
Malays (mālāz´).—Blumenbach, the father of ethnology, regarded the Malays as one of the five grand divisions of mankind; but the weight of modern authorities is in favor of considering them as a branch of the Mongolian race. They are distinguished in color by a variety of shades of brown, and are native to the Malay Archipelago and Peninsula and the Island of Madagascar, with perhaps a few related remnants of tribes in Indo-China. The Malay Archipelago includes the Philippines, but not New Guinea on the east. Within this archipelago there is no other native race with the exception of the small groups of pigmy Negroes called Negritos distantly related to the Papuan of New Guinea, if not to the Australian.
All the languages spoken by the Malay race belong to the great Malayo-Polynesian family of languages, which are found everywhere among Polynesians; that is, as far east as the waters of South America and northward to include the Hawaiian Islands. The term Malay is also applied in a narrower sense to that part of the Malay race called the “true Malay” or “Orang [288] Malaya,” that is, the section speaking the standard Malay tongue and which lived originally in and about the Malay Peninsula.
While linguistically the Malays are radically distinct from the Mongolians, physically they approach them more nearly than any other great race. The lighter brown color found in some sections approaches the yellow of the Chinese, and the slanting eye or “Mongol fold” of the upper lid is frequently found where no intermixture can be assumed. The appearance of the face and head is also somewhat similar in these races. In temperament and native civilization, however, the Malay is quite distinct. He has primitive, cruel instincts more like those of the American Indian. He has nowhere accepted the Mongolian type of civilization so much as the Caucasian type. The Filipinos are far in advance of any other Malay people in the latter respect, although the earlier Malayan civilization was most highly developed in Java. Buddhism has here been replaced by Mohammedanism, which has extended even into the southern Philippines.
The question of their origin has been much discussed, some fixing the cradle of the race on the Asiatic mainland, others in Sumatra.