“It is not too much to say that he has written the epic of the New York firemen, and not only are they the best sort of stories about firemen, but some of them would stand as models of all that any short stories should be—so compact, so restrained, and yet possessed of a vigor and force that keep expectation keyed to the highest tension.”
| + + | N. Y. Times. 10: 178. Mr. 25, ‘05. 770w. |
“The stories are full of action, fine character-drawing, and humor.”
| + | Outlook. 79: 704. Mr. 18, ‘05. 60w. | |
| + | Reader. 6: 592. O. ‘05. 210w. |
Okakura-Kakuzo. Awakening of Japan. [*]$1.20. Century.
Assuming that the West has as much to unlearn about the East as the East has to learn about the West, the author frames his evolutionary study for general enlightenment. He answers the question “From what sources are drawn the intellectual and moral qualities which have enabled the present generation of statesmen, citizens, soldiers and sailors, under an able emperor, to enter suddenly, as a first class liberal power, into the company of nations?” The sketch touches the conditioning factors of Japanese development from the period of isolation during the dark Night of Asia, to the present period which the author characterizes as the “dusk of humanity.” He shows Japan in her chrysalis state when the shogunate exercised the powers of government, in her rallying state when the power of the shoguns was overthrown, and in her state of a developing national conscience which made ready the way for Commodore Perry and the western aid in the restoration. The author’s virility, enthusiasm and conscience are stamped upon every page.
| + + — | Acad. 68: 176. F. 25, ‘05. 290w. |
“He is a poet, a philosopher and a historian, and he possesses in no small degree an intimate knowledge of Occidental history and the trend of our civilization, while his knowledge of our language enables him to write of The awakening of Japan with the skill of a master of English. For these reasons this work is a volume that no Occidental student of the Orient can afford to slight.”
| + + + | Arena. 33: 100. Ja. ‘05. 4950w. |
“With Mr. Kakuzo’s views on the older civilization of Japan we entirely disagree. Even his chronology is wrong by a thousand years.”