The Chief Qualities of the Race
Throughout the Far East the whole social fabric is based on the family; the whole state is, indeed, considered as one great family, with the Emperor at its head. It is the mothers who train Japanese children from infancy in the spirit of reverence and obedience to parents and elders in the family circle, and to the Emperor as the supreme chief of the great national family. And well do the children assimilate the lessons of obedience and devotion so carefully inculcated by the mother, for there are none more docile than the boys and girls of Japan, whose respectful, courteous manners, not only towards their parents, but towards elder brothers and sisters, earn the admiration of Occidentals. The chief qualities of the Japanese race are patriotism—which is, with them, synonymous with loyalty—courage, filial piety, and cleanliness. In love of country, in self-sacrifice for the common weal, in loyalty to the sovereign—with them a cult—in reckless gallantry, and in bodily cleanliness, the Japanese surpass all other nations of our time. It may be truly said that patriotism is their real religion; it inspires their magnificent courage in war, on land and sea; it supplies the incentive of their lives in times of peace, all merely personal considerations being subordinate to this passionate national feeling.
WINTER IN JAPAN; BY A JAPANESE ARTIST
The people of Japan are distinguished, besides, by quick intelligence, a remarkable power of observation—derived, no doubt, from their close study of Nature, of which they are devoted lovers—by a mastery of detail, and a very retentive memory, fostered by the system of learning by rote imported from China, together with the writing by means of ideographic signs, necessitating the memorising of thousands of characters standing for words. In politeness they stand first amongst the nations, every incident of life being attended by strictly-defined rules of social etiquette, observed by all, not only, as in Occidental countries, by the more highly educated classes. Their courtesy, though often degenerating into mere hollow formality, is based on a kindly regard for the feelings of others, a generous altruism and a consequent depreciation of self. They are hospitable and open-handed, the giving of presents attending numerous festivals and many occasions in social life.
Schooled from babyhood by the rules of their rigid etiquette, Japanese, young and old, of all classes, are remarkably quiet in their demeanour, the higher ranks being extremely dignified in manner, and completely concealing their feelings under an imperturbable mask. They bear pain, both physical and mental, with Spartan stoicism, their nerves being much less easily excited than those of Occidentals, so that they have often been described as “a nation without nerves.” Their apparent contempt for death arises chiefly from the fact that, to most of them, the passing out of this world does not imply a total severance from mundane interests, their general belief being that the spirits of the departed have cognisance of the doings of those they leave behind. This idea, inseparable from the ancestor-worship that has prevailed amongst them from time immemorial, and still prevails, was well exemplified in their great struggle with Russia, their forces being buoyed up by the conviction that the spirits of all the warriors who had died for Japan were fighting side by side with their gallant successors.
Artistic Taste of the Japanese
The love of the beautiful in Nature, common to all members of the Japanese race, is probably one of the chief factors in the artistic feeling so highly developed among all classes. Their appreciation of beauty of form and colour, their exquisite sense of appropriateness in decoration, the delicate restraint so evident in the productions of their wonderfully skilful, patient artist-craftsmen, are too well known to require more than passing mention. Even their commonest household utensils are beautiful in shape, elegant, and well adapted to their purpose. Their innate good taste has added a delicate refinement to the vigorous art they received, in early times, from China, chiefly by way of Korea. Their æsthetic perception enables even the poorest Japanese to derive intense pleasure from the contemplation of the beautiful, thus providing them with many delights unknown to the vast majority of modern Occidentals. Combined with the simplicity and frugality of their lives, and with their naturally contented spirit, it would seem to have enabled the Japanese to solve the great problem “how to be happy, though poor.”
A nation possessing, to a high degree, the virtues and qualities just enumerated would appear to be living in a perfect Utopia. There is, however, shade in the picture as well as bright light. This happy, contented, smiling people, pre-eminent in domestic virtues, industrious, fond of learning, easily governed, gentle in manners and speech, capable of rising, in moments of national emergency, to admirable heights of patriotic heroism and self-sacrifice, is, after all, human, and consequently tainted with some of the vices and many of the defects inherent in human nature. The defects of the Japanese character are, to a great extent, inseparable from their very virtues and good qualities in their extreme manifestations. Their intense patriotism is the cause of the anti-foreign spirit still, unfortunately, rife amongst them. Their country is to them “the Land of the Gods,” their nation the Elect People, living under the special protection of Heaven, whose blessings are transmitted to them by the benevolence of a superhuman sovereign, directly descended, in unbroken line, from the Sun Goddess.
National Pride of the Japanese